Dan Martin’s job as a summer intern was simple: Go through the boxes of old movie reels that had been donated to Lauro’s Historic Films Archive, and catalog the various titles. We can imagine that is a tedious and somewhat boring job, but one day he struck gold! He found what is thought to be the only surviving copy of Francis Ford’s 1915 silent film, “The Heart Of Lincoln”.
The movie industry began with silent films, as the technology did not yet exist to combine sound with video. The articles describing Martin’s discovery state that about 70% of all silent films are now lost. This one, however, has now been cleaned and digitized, and will thus be preserved for the ages.
Ford’s film, of course, does not have actual footage of President Abraham Lincoln. The 16th President’s death happened 50 years before the film. It’s interesting to note, too, that Ford’s younger brother, John Ford, produced his own film about Lincoln, “Young Mr. Lincoln,” which starred Henry Fonda in 1939. “The Heart of Lincoln”, needless to say, is an important find.
The plan is to release this newly found film to the public at some point without sound but with a soundtrack, as the silent films always had. As a longtime fan of Abraham Lincoln, I’m interested.
At various times through the years news reports have informed us that “lost books of the Bible” have been discovered. Some of these books give startlingly different details about Jesus or other Bible figures. One claims that Jesus had a wife and children, and died in obscurity after surviving a botched crucifixion attempt. Could any of these reports be true? Are other Bible books missing?
A critical claim about the Bible is made in 2 Timothy 3:16,17: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” The fact that Scripture is “breathed out by God” is a strong statement that God wanted us to have this Book. It’s what we normally call “inspiration of the Bible”. And what God gave to us He can certainly preserve for future generations.
2 Peter 1:3 adds more important information on this topic: “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence.” Peter argued that we have “all things” we need to attain life and godliness. If there were books of the Bible that somehow went missing for centuries, what do we make of such a claim?
“The word of God is living and active,” Hebrews 4:12 tells us. The all-powerful God is capable of preserving His Book of truth for as long as the world stands. In this Book we have much more than the heart of a President; we have the heart and mind of Christ our Savior. We won’t have to depend on a summer intern to unearth for us messages that the Lord wants all humanity to have.
Come to the light God offers! Study His word, the Bible. Worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss these ideas further.
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Copyright, 2024, Timothy D. Hall
