SOLACE, WITH ANTHONY HOPKINS, MOVIE REVIEW

The 2015 movie Solace, directed by Alfonso Poyart, was released in 2016, and stars Anthony Hopkins, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Abbie Cornish, and Colin Farrell. This movie was pitched as a science-fiction film, which I initially found to be  intriguing, because it involves a contemporary setting (rather than the usual futuristic setting which many sci-fi movies are), no aliens, and no robots trying to take over the world, just a couple of detectives and a consultant trying to solve a murder. The FBI consultant, Dr. John Clancy, played by Sir Anthony Hopkins, is called upon by Agent Joe Merriwether (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) to assist the FBI psychologist Katherine Cowles (Abbie Cornish) in solving this crime. Yet from the outset, we discover that Clancy and Cowles are unlikely to be willing to work together - and this is where the science fiction becomes apparent.  

THE CONTRIBUTION OF ANTHONY HOPKINS

I suspect Anthony Hopkins (December 31st 1937 - ) is in the enviable position for an actor that he gets to choose which roles he wishes to accept. And based on the actor’s most recent starring roles, he must have a lot to choose from. And when one considers the types of movies that Sir Anthony has selected there is an interesting golden thread through this particular selection including: 

Solace - John Clancy (2016), 

The Two Popes* - Pope Benedict XVI (2019), 

The Father - Anthony Evans (2020), 

One Life* - Nicolas Winton (2023) 

Freud’s Last Session - Sigmund Freud (2023) 

Mary* - King Herod (2024)    

This is not an exhaustive list of Hopkin’s movies, but this selection reveals a consistent supernatural and ethical thread through this particular selection. Half of this selection are true stories.* The movie I am commenting on, Solace, is not a true story but it is an example of Hopkins choosing to do a film which has supernatural and ethical themes which was oddly presented as science fictions by the producers.

ABOUT SOLACE

How is Solace a supernatural-ethical movie? Dr. John Clancy is a man living with a dark secret which comes to haunt him with his reengagement as an FBI homicide consultant. Clancy is a deeply spiritual man who has spent most of his life as a physician working with the dying, whom the FBI regard as psychic with his ability read people and situations.  This ability was perhaps heightened after the unfortunate death of his only child, his daughter, Emma. Katherine Cowles, the FBI psychologist is a sceptic and materialist who finds the invitation of Joe Merriwether for Clancy to be involved in this homicide case to be pointless. But as Cowles and Clancy spend time together investigating this murder she becomes aware that he is rather unusual with his ability to detect and see things that others can not. She then challenges Clancy to tell her what he sees when he looks at her. Clancy’s insights into her previously secretive past stuns her.

The case they are working on together leads them to finally track down the serial killer in the hope of preventing him from killing again. As they eventually trap the murderer, what happens is a significant twist where it is revealed that it was not only Cowles who was carrying a painful secret. The lead FBI detective, Joe Merriwether, was also carrying a painful secret - a secret which only Clancy had perceived. As the murderer is caught by Clancy's clever perception of his next move, we then learn that Charles Ambrose (Colin Farrell) also had a dark secret which Clancy had failed to perceive. But what no-one had perceived was that Clancy was carrying an immensely painful secret that had also contributed to the temporary estrangement from his wife. The irony of his secret is only grasped after his exchange with Charles Ambrose, the murderer, by attempting to explain to him that killing people is not a merciful act, and definitely not a compassion one. Clancy speaks to him as an experienced physician who has been at the bedside of numerous dying patients and tries to help to understand that in a person’s final moments there is a lot of what I might call ‘soul-cleansing’ that happens as a patient settles accounts with those they may had haboured unforgiveness toward and is able to share their final moments conveying their love for those closest to them. But Ambrose is fatally indifferent to Clancy’s admonitions.    

I appreciated this movie’s ‘science fiction’ label and it’s profoundly connotative presentation of the unmeasurable value of human life and why our final moments in natural death are sacred. I am aware that the subtleties of such connotative messaging may be lost on most viewers of Solace but I think that many people who appreciate their ethical instructions wrapped in fantasy will find this movie much more than just entertaining - and perhaps even heart-warming.

Dr. Andrew Corbett

SUPER NATURAL CHRISTIANITY

¶ But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know
neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.
Matthew 22:29

The Sadducees, to whom Jesus was addressing in this verse (Matt. 22:29), were very religious. They were priests. They participated religiously in Temple customs. They observed all of the traditions of their forefathers. They practiced sacred rituals. They publicly recited well-known prayers. Yet…they did not know God, God’s Word, or the power of God. They were irrelevantly religious and completely disengaged with the power of God because did not ‘know’ the Scriptures —  and perhaps sadly — they denied that there even was a supernatural which means that these highly religious people denied that there was a God! And the amazing thing about this exchange between the Christ and the Sadducees was that the One they were denying existed was the One who was talking to them! 

The Sadducees denied the existence of angels, demons, miracles, and the resurrection of the dead (Matt. 22:23). Christ’s scolding of these Sadducees was not hate. It was said with deep and divine care (you are only truly loved by someone when they speak the truth to you). Jesus also showed the same care when He scolded another group, the very religious, scribes- 

¶ And in His teaching He said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes
and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues and
the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense
make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”
Mark 12:38-40

And He said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened,
and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
John 1:51

The disciples of Jesus were told by Him that from now on they would see extraordinary (super natural) things. And they did. Some of them saw Jesus transfigured on Mount Hermon (Mark 9:2). Some of them saw the angels who removed the grave-stone from Christ’s empty tomb. All of them heard Jesus say things that no ordinary man could have known. All of them saw Jesus raise people from the dead, cast out demons, and give sight to the formerly blind (Acts 10:38). 

Do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father,
and He will at once send Me more than twelve legions of angels?
Matthew 26:53

Sometimes the divinely supernatural is hidden from us in plain sight! It was only after Jesus displayed the greatest example of super natural miraculous power that the disciples could reflect back on their time of Christ and realise who He really was and how He could do what He did. Sometimes the divinely supernatural is hidden from us in plain sight! Jesus even told His disciples –

For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see,
and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
Matthew 13:17

Someone once said that the best way to open our spiritual eyes is to shut our physical ones! Perhaps this is why so many people in the Bible saw what God wanted them to see when they were sleeping (Matt. 1:20; 2:12-13, 22). 

¶ “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;
Acts 2:17

After Christ greatly commissioned His disciples and ascended back to His father by being translated from this material realm into the supra-real realm, the first Christians saw many divinely super natural acts on their behalf. This included: a long-term lame man being immediately healed and able to walk (Acts 3:2-7); buildings being shaken as God the Holy Spirit entered it (Acts 4:31); the sick and the demonised being healed and set free (Acts 5:16); visions of heaven revealing the divine Son of Man standing at the right hand of God the Father (Acts 7:56); people who were physically afflicted by demons being delivered and healed (Acts 8:7); miraculous conversions of opponents of Christ who encountered the risen Christ  (Acts 9:1-18); spiritual trances revealing new revelations of God’s power and grace (Acts 10:9-20); Holy Spirit inspired dreams giving supernatural directives (Acts 16:9); encouraging appearances of God the Son in times of hostile opposition (Acts 18:9); many formerly pagan idolaters turning to Christ and being healed from an apostle’s handkerchief or apron (Acts 19:12); large portions of a city’s witchcraft community collectively turning to Christ and publicly declaring their repentance (Acts 19:19); raising the dead back to life (Acts 20:9-10); and, a martyred apostle coming back to life after the local believers prayed for him (Acts 14:19; 2Cor. 12:2).

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Romans 8:14

The early Christians were sensitive to the voice of God. Ananias, who prayed for the newly converted Saul of Tarsus, was told by the Spirit where to find Saul, what to say to him, and why it was important for him to do so (Acts 9:10-18). Sometimes followers of Christ are misled to believe that they need to “learn” how to hear the voice of God. There is no example of this need anywhere in Scripture. But there are, however, injunctions to seek the Lord (Deut. 4:29; 1Chron. 16:11; Ps. 34:10; 105:3-4; Isa. 51:1; 55:6; Matt. 6:33; 7:7). 

It was John Calvin who wrote in his commentary on Ephesians that the reasons believers in his day do not experience the divinely supernatural, as it seems the early Christians did, was their lack of desire. This is what I now want to both remind you of and encourage you to do: seek God. Seek Him. Be open to Him. Pray that you might pray effectively. Ask God to confirm His Word in the hearts of those who need a supernatural encounter with God that might lead to their conversion. Perhaps even pray that God will speak to them in their dreams (since they might hear Him more clearly then without all of the distractions of being awake). Begin to take John Calvin’s advice and desire the super natural activity of God in your life. Pray then that you and I might eagerly desire spiritual gifts to accompany our witness and service (1Cor. 14:1).

And then, be still (Ps. 46:10). And use your spiritual ears. But there’s one more important aspect of super natural Christianity that we each need to give our attention to. 

What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also;
I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.
I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.
First Corinthians 14:15, 18

On the first Day of Pentecost, after the Ascension of King Jesus (Acts 2:1-4), access to God the Father was thrown open to every by the filling of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:18). The Spirit-filled believer can approach God the Father confidently with their requests because the God the Holy Spirit has now transformed their soul into being a child of God (Heb. 4:16; Gal. 4:6). It was on that Day of Pentecost when Christ sent the Holy Spirit to regenerate, fill, baptise, and empower His believers — and the Holy Spirit continues to do this (Acts 2:39). The Apostle Paul was compelled to re-explain all this to the Corinthian believers (which we will examine this in our June-July Corinthians sermon series). Paul explained to the Corinthians that the Holy Spirit could lead the believer to pray in their mother-tongue (“with their mind”) and in a language that the Holy Spirit might give them (“praying in tongues” 1Cor. 14:15).   

¶ Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness.
For we do not know what to pray for as we ought,
but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
Romans 8:26

Super natural praying is always praying to God. Therefore, prayer is not adjuring angels, binding Satan, or decreeing or declaring a desired outcome to who – or whatsoever. Only God commands angels. Only God binds Satan. Only God decrees or declares a desired outcome (because this is an exclusively divine prerogative). But the record of Scripture and history is that something uniquely super natural happens when God’s people pray in the Spirit — quite literally: prison doors have burst open (Acts 5:19; 12:5-12); signs and wonders happen; and persecutors of Christians become Christian!

May Christ’s words in Matthew 22:29 never be said of us, and may our children, grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren never have it said of them — that we or they do not know the Scriptures or the (super natural) power of God!

Your pastor,

Andrew

Let me know what you think below in the comment section and feel free to share this someone who might benefit from this Pastor’s Desk.

HEARING THE WILL OF GOD

 HEARING THE WILL OF GOD

What I am about to say may shock some. I may even upset most of you who read this. But I hope that in reading this, you will hear my pastoral heart and not prejudge me before you’ve read it all — and prematurely assume that I am being unnecessarily pedantic or petty. I need to speak up about an issue that has been troubling me for some time. I have observed many people becoming disillusioned with their concept of Christianity and walking away from Christ as a result of this issue. It has split churches and even ended marriages and it’s time for someone to finally address it despite its popularity!

And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying,
“This is the way, walk in it,”
when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.
Isaiah 30:21

 

FIRSTLY, UNDERSTAND THAT CHRISTIANITY IS SUPERNATURAL

Nearly all religions are ‘dead’ religions. While these religions are characterised by various traditions, rituals, and ceremonies, there is very little ongoing supernatural interaction or experience associated with them. Such religions stand in contradistinction with genuine Christianity which is a ‘living’ religion because such Christianity is characterised by its adherents enjoying a continual and personal interaction with the Holy Spirit. This is precisely what Jesus taught us — that the Holy Spirit would lead us, guide us, and instruct us.  

And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
John 14:16-17

Becoming a Christian requires a miraculous spiritual transformation whereby an alienated soul (described in the Bible as being spiritually “dead”, Eph. 2:1-5) is reconciled to God by the Holy Spirit mediating the sacrificial work of Christ on our behalf.

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son,
much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.
Romans 5:10

This “new life” opens up a Spirit-transformed believer to some amazing supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit. This is why we reasonably describe genuine Christianity as supernatural.

 

PRAYER AS A DIALOGUE

Most religions practice prayer — but Christianity views prayer uniquely. For Christians, prayer is not the merely the mindless reciting or chanting of religious phrases. Rather, prayer is talking from the heart to God. It’s not about saying certain words or phrases as if prayer required some kind of Hogwarts’ training! Rather, genuine prayer involves confessing, requesting, pleading, interceding, and worship. It is where the believer is invited by God to come close and to be transparent. Many Christians describe prayer is a dialogue with God. But this description can be misleading because the dialogue involved in genuine prayer is not necessarily, and in fact, is not usually, a matter of God talking back to the one praying in the same way as the one doing praying. (The Bible does not teach ‘listening prayer’ such as this.) Genuine prayer-dialogue is where the child of God prays, and then listens to what God says in His Word. In this way, your first aim in praying is not to hear a word from God, but to hear the Word of God! By treating prayer — and the Word of God — like this, you discover that when it comes to making important decisions in your life, the Word of God (the Bible) gives you wise counsel. This counsel instructs you to obey God’s general commands, to seek out wise counsel from trusted and proven advisors, to submit to those God has placed over you or alongside you, and to not be hasty.

 

LEARNING TO HEAR WHAT YOU DON’T NEED TO LEARN TO HEAR 

Over the years I have seen many people offer “How To Hear God” seminars and books. But nearly all of these (if not, all of these) ignore some blatantly obvious descriptions in the Bible about how God speaks to one of His children. When we search the Scriptures to study how God spoke to people we notice two outstanding things. Firstly, as CS Lewis depicted in the Chronicles of Narnia, it was very rare that God actually directly to an individual. Secondly, when God spoke, it was always clear and understandable. In the Old Testament God spoke to pagan rulers often through vivid dreams without any of them very having done a How To Hear God’s Voice Seminar! God also spoke His redemptive Word through just a handful of prophets. The Old Testament actually gave people some tests for determining whether any prophet who claimed to have heard from God was genuine or not. 

¶ “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Deuteronomy 13:1-3

When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.
Deuteronomy 18:22

As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes to pass, then it will be known that the LORD has truly sent the prophet.”
Jeremiah 28:9

Based on these two important pieces of Biblical information you be assured of two important principles. Firstly, if God wants to speak to you directly, He will do so in an unmistakably clear way. Secondly, God rarely speaks directly with a person — yet He has given us His Word which is sufficient for us to know how to be reconciled to Him and to come to know Him and His will. (Anyone who claims to have had God speak directly with them yet openly and wilfully disobeys God’s written Word despite this encounter with God, is probably lying!) Knowing these two great Biblical principles should benefit any son or daughter of God who has felt that perhaps they have not been spiritual enough because they have not heard from God the way others claim to have; and, it should also cause the child of God to occasionally admit that they may have acted in presumption rather than on the basis of the Word of God’s instructions to seek wise counsel before presuming that “God told me to…” I have been guilty of such presumption.

Yet there have been several significant times in my journey with Christ when I have sensed that God has ‘spoken’ to me. As I have grown in my walk with Christ I have learned that God’s wisdom for the decisions I have to make often comes from my wife, my elders, and my trusted friends. Each Sunday before I stand to speak before the church I seek God for His word for our church and for Him to speak through me to those participating in our worship service. It is often in these moments that I sense the Holy Spirit impress upon me a word, words, or a thought, that I then convey as I minister on Sunday. I have learned, and am learning, to pay attention to the impressions that the Holy Spirit puts on my heart. But rarely will you ever me say, ”God spoke to me this morning and said…” or, “God has told me that we should…” It is when people make such expressions a part of their usual vocabulary in describing their relationship with God that they are in grave danger of committing presumption and arrogance. It has been my common experience with such people that their failure to admit their presumption and face up to the fact that God did not tell them to do something has resulted in them hurting and disillusioning other brothers and sisters in Christ. I have seen marriages end because of it. I have seen churches split because of it. I have seen friendships finish because of it. And sadly, I have seen vulnerable Christians walk away from church and Christ because of it.

If you feel God is speaking to you about something, or telling you to do something, rather than publicly declaring it as so, I would like to urge you to test it and follow the principles of wisdom from God’s Word first. 

• God will never tell you to do something that His Word clearly forbids (such as committing sexual sin).
• God does not always guarantee that you will succeed or prosper if you obey Him (think of the Prophet Jeremiah). In Scripture we see that God often let people ‘fail’ as they faithfully obeyed Him.
• God rarely asks a person to do something without first preparing them for it (think of each of the disciples that Christ appointed as apostles). Which is more likely: God telling someone to immediately leave their job and begin tomorrow working as a brain surgeon; or, God speaking to someone who has spent the last 8 years of their life getting through medical school and training as a surgeon to now begin to focus their specialist training on becoming a brain surgeon?
• God rarely directs a person to tell another person to do something that they weren’t expecting. This has sadly happened when someone has claimed that “God told me to tell you that you should marry me!” In every instance that I know of where this happened and the person complied, the marriage has ended quickly and sadly.

 

BEING A CHRISTIAN IS A RELATIONAL ADVENTURE

Christianity is a dynamic (always changing) journey with the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit within us who works within us to desire to do and pursue the will of God (Phil. 2:13). It is the illumination of the Spirit that takes God’s Word as we read, study, and meditate on it, and makes it seem fresh and alive to us. And it is the Word of God, which He, the Holy Spirit, inspired men to write so that we could clearly discern the will of God for our lives. You don’t need a word from God to know what God’s will for your life is. You don’t need to attend a “Learn To Hear The Voice of God” seminar, or to read a book on the topic. Instead, you just need to dialogue with God in prayer through pouring out your heart to Him with your requests, petitions, confessions, and thanksgiving; and then, prayerfully read His Word as the light of the Holy Spirit illuminates it to your soul.

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Second Corinthians 4:6 

Perhaps if more believers were led by the Spirit like this, less Christian marriages would end, less churches would be split, and less Christians would walk away from Christ and His Church after becoming frustrated by the false belief that since these presumptuous Christians have apparently mis-heard God so wildly, the reason must be that God doesn’t actually exist. This is one of the most pressing issues that needs to be confronted today — especially among those of us who identify as Spirit-filled Pentecostals. 

 

Your pastor,

Andrew