It remains my second favorite film of all time.....the 1999 adaptation of Terence's Rattigan's play The Winslow Boy directed by David Mamet.....a short summary of which is....a London banker's son is accused of petty theft while at the national naval academy and expelled, precipitating his family's all-out defense in the Parliament and national media.
The film begins as the family.....minus the fourteen year old son.....returns from church in this Edwardian England. The dismissal of the boy is not known yet. The stately father is commenting on the sermon as they enter their home....he seems profoundly interested in the sermon topic of Pharaoh's Dreams in Genesis 41 where....in the first....seven healthy cows are observed....followed by seven ugly and gaunt cows who appear and devour the healthy cows. The scene is then repeated in the second dream with seven good heads of grain being devoured by seven withered heads of grain. The meaning of this of course is that God...through Joseph...is informing Pharaoh that there will be seven good years to prepare for seven years of famine.
As the film progresses the Winslow family sticks together as they suffer financially and even in their personal lives in support of the youngest son. We have had, here in America, adequate time to prepare for what we have brought upon ourselves. We of course did not prepare....and will be as the Winslow family where paintings and furniture slowly disappear....and difficult personal times accompany their defense of what is right.
If your heart seems to stop for a moment every time a new abomination envelops our nation....as it does mine....you might consider preparing for what is ahead as did Pharaoh as he believed Joseph. Some possibilities might be to purchase that needed and dependable vehicle now instead of later after your 401k is hard hit. Another might be to take the advice of most financial advisers and put some gold in your portfolio. It is very possible....some believe even probable....that the government....whatever government this is that replaced that of the Founders....will feel forced to limit your money withdrawals when financial catastrophes hit. Live like the Floridian who is always prepared for a major hurricane to take their power, food and water away for weeks if not months. You might accumulate items that could be used for barter.
You may think that this kind of thinking is a lack of faith in God but it is rather the opposite....it is faith that the Word of God is true. Do we not live as in the days of Noah? Has violence not overcome us as a nation? Are there not false teachers everywhere? Are we not as scoffers saying...."Where is the promise of his coming?" We surely don't really believe in Noah's flood so how can we take seriously God's judgment on the world....at any time?
Spiritual preparation is far more important than physical preparation but both are scriptural and therefore to be heeded. Peter.....who wrote the above verse.....finished his 2nd Epistle with these words...."You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in grace and in knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen."
The film begins as the family.....minus the fourteen year old son.....returns from church in this Edwardian England. The dismissal of the boy is not known yet. The stately father is commenting on the sermon as they enter their home....he seems profoundly interested in the sermon topic of Pharaoh's Dreams in Genesis 41 where....in the first....seven healthy cows are observed....followed by seven ugly and gaunt cows who appear and devour the healthy cows. The scene is then repeated in the second dream with seven good heads of grain being devoured by seven withered heads of grain. The meaning of this of course is that God...through Joseph...is informing Pharaoh that there will be seven good years to prepare for seven years of famine.
As the film progresses the Winslow family sticks together as they suffer financially and even in their personal lives in support of the youngest son. We have had, here in America, adequate time to prepare for what we have brought upon ourselves. We of course did not prepare....and will be as the Winslow family where paintings and furniture slowly disappear....and difficult personal times accompany their defense of what is right.
If your heart seems to stop for a moment every time a new abomination envelops our nation....as it does mine....you might consider preparing for what is ahead as did Pharaoh as he believed Joseph. Some possibilities might be to purchase that needed and dependable vehicle now instead of later after your 401k is hard hit. Another might be to take the advice of most financial advisers and put some gold in your portfolio. It is very possible....some believe even probable....that the government....whatever government this is that replaced that of the Founders....will feel forced to limit your money withdrawals when financial catastrophes hit. Live like the Floridian who is always prepared for a major hurricane to take their power, food and water away for weeks if not months. You might accumulate items that could be used for barter.
You may think that this kind of thinking is a lack of faith in God but it is rather the opposite....it is faith that the Word of God is true. Do we not live as in the days of Noah? Has violence not overcome us as a nation? Are there not false teachers everywhere? Are we not as scoffers saying...."Where is the promise of his coming?" We surely don't really believe in Noah's flood so how can we take seriously God's judgment on the world....at any time?
Spiritual preparation is far more important than physical preparation but both are scriptural and therefore to be heeded. Peter.....who wrote the above verse.....finished his 2nd Epistle with these words...."You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in grace and in knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen."
