Whirlwind

This was always a favorite of mine, having first read it in high school out of a hardback book that weighed more than a newborn baby.

*SPOILERS: Beware*

Anyway, a tremendous storm knocks something loose in a government facility called The Arrowhead Project. There's great secrecy surrounding the Project...nobody knows for sure what they're working on, but many think that it might be particle accelerators or "different atoms" or high intensity lasers or "masers".

The accident, some think, has ripped a hole from another dimension into this world. All sorts of creepy-crawlies come through, along with a thick mist, trapping a quarrelsome bunch of people in a supermarket.

These people find that it isn't the creatures outside in the mist that aren't their biggest threats...but each other!

One of the characters, Mrs. Carmody, is portrayed as a loonie. She's a bible-thumper, a trouble-maker. She's explaining to the people in the store how the mist was foretold in the Book of Revelation. It's God's judgement on the world, she says.

Later on, Mrs. Carmody begins telling these people that the only way to bring back balance is through a blood sacrifice.

This story really makes you consider what might happen, in reality, if a monster-saturated mist ever rolled out onto the world. The way Stephen King tells the story, you feel like one of the townspeople, trapped inside a place that isn't so safe.

However, if you're easily offended by Christians being portrayed as the bad people and the zealots and the crazies (as I am), then I really wouldn't recommend this story. I'm not sure about the movie, which comes out this week, but as an old Stephen King reader...I think I'm going to see it. Just for old-times sake.

The "hero" of the story actually has an adulterous affair while at the same time worrying about the safety of his wife (who he left at home, in the mist).

Troublesome, isn't it, that a hero would commit adultery. And the bad guy would be a bible-thumper...?

Boanerges

Typical hollwood though.

Whirlwind

I couldn't help it, really. I went to see it on Thanksgiving Day.

The movie pretty much stuck to the story (but they kindly took out the part where the main character has an adulterous affair).

The audience broke out into applauds, though, when Mrs. Carmody (the bible thumper) was hurt.

I mean, I know it's just a story. But I can see Mrs. Carmody's side of the story, too. I wouldn't want to be sealed into a room with any of the people who clapped when the Rapture comes around.

(...then it was foggy when we left the theater, that was the juicy part. Everybody walked to their cars in silence, he he he)

Boanerges

I always liked sci fi and horror (within reason) but I see no need to put down Christians. Well let me restate that; there are some religious folks that I would hate to be locked up with!

Fluffy

I used to be Stephen King fan. The Mist is one of his tamer stories. He can really get into the human psyche, huh? He has really scared me in the past!

__________________
Be transparent before God, He sees right thru you, anyway!
http://www.likepreciousfaith.org/testimony_val.htm
Please pray for your local emergency responders, daily.

violet

Whirlwind

I was thinking about this the other day...yeah, I used to be the biggest King fan ever! Whewww!

I used to write to him back when I was in high school (before he got super-famous). He sent me autographed books and letters and such. It was great to have that kind of attention from someone I really looked up to.

BUT...now, later on in life, I'm starting to see patterns in his stories. In Carrie, for example, the Mrs. White was the bad person (or one of them). She was a bible thumper. She insisted that Carrie pray in the closet, made her obey rules, and such...but Mrs. White was also the bad guy! She was a "zealot", telling Carrie that certain bodily functions were God's punishment or curse.

In Needful Things, King has two churches fighting a bloody battle! Was it Protestants against Baptist? Something like that. I can't remember right now. One of them had a casino night, and the other church said it was a vile sin to gamble, and all H-E-double-hockey-sticks broke out.

I can see where some people would consider religious folk as a bad person (constantly screaming eternal damnation rather than Jesus' love)...but not all Christians are like that.

I've spent many nights wide-eyed up against my night-light, unable to close a King book. The Mist was one such story. Another favorite of mine has always been Gerald's Game. Nerve-wracking!

Fluffy

The battle of the churches in the book Needful Things was between Catholics and Baptists.
There was also a televangilist/slave owner in The Talisman, a traveling bible salesman/child molestor in I think the same story. He has many examples of so called "christians" doing bad things. Pattern there, huh?
He also has a pattern of child molesters in his books as well as demonic themes. That's one of the reasons I now longer read his works. He also got redundant, writing the same story twice with different titles. And the gunslinger series is nothing more than a rewrite of the Wizard of Oz.
One day, I was in the fire station (I'm a volunteer firefighter) and I had a strong mental picture of my husband stabbing me in the back with a screw driver. It was so strong, I had to turn around and see where he was and what did he have in his hands??? (he was across the station, holding a wrench, working on a truck)
It shook me up really bad, so I asked the Lord what was going on and He told me I was reading too much Stephen King and to let HIM choose my reading materials. Needless to say, I no longer read his stuff!

__________________
Be transparent before God, He sees right thru you, anyway!
http://www.likepreciousfaith.org/testimony_val.htm
Please pray for your local emergency responders, daily.

Whirlwind

Did you know there's a Christian "Stephen King"?

His name is T.L. Hines. I read his first book, Lazarus, and have been wanting to read his second one for a while now.

I've been chatting with him in email for a while...he's really down to earth. A fine, Christian author.

Fluffy

Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti are also good reads. Although some people are taking Frank Peretti too seriously and are using his works for teaching spiritual warfare!

__________________
Be transparent before God, He sees right thru you, anyway!
http://www.likepreciousfaith.org/testimony_val.htm
Please pray for your local emergency responders, daily.