Inspired by Tim Challies’ idea for an end-times, Christian vampire novel, I thought up an idea for an end-times, Christian disaster movie. It just came to me when I was working on a sermon from Mark 2:18-22 and thinking about all the pressures we sometimes put on new believers to learn this and start doing that and try to fit in like this. I thought about a bunch of books I’ve read and heard of, all advertising how to be a super-Christian, but few of which actually seem to emphasize the continual reading and hearing of the Gospel itself for the spiritual life, growth and health of every believer.
Some of you will have seen the popular 2002 movie, 28 Days Later. I haven’t seen it, but the plot is about a lethal virus that wipes out most of the population and follows the stories of four survivors. That’s along the lines of what I’m thinking of. With a twist. Most of you will have heard of some of these “how-to-” books for making people into great Christians? You know what I mean: Rick Warren’s Forty Days of Purpose; one writer answered Steven Covey with a book titled Nine Habits of Highly Effective Christians; then there’s Bill Hybel’s Becoming a Contagious Christian… someone should make a movie based on all these books about a lethal virus that wipes out all the Christians in the end-times, just as they finally master all this advice. And what would we call this blockbuster, end-times, Christian disaster thriller? Forty Days of Highly Contagious Christians.
