Mike, let me tell you something.
Excerpt from the film "The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao" (1964)
The whole world is a circus if you know how to look at it.
The way the sun sets when you're tired, and rises when you want to be in motion... that's true magic!
The way a leaf grows, the birdsong… the appearance of the desert at night, with the moon embracing it.
Oh, my boy, that's... that's enough circus for anyone.
Every time you see a rainbow and feel wonder in your heart.
Every time you pick up a handful of powder and see not just powder, but a mystery, a wonder, right there in your hand.
Every time you stop and think, 'I'm alive, and being alive is fantastic!'‘
Every time this happens, you become part of Dr. Lao's Circus.
The advice above, repeated more than once in the classic film:“The 7 faces of Dr. Lao”", from 1964, is an invitation to reflect on existence.".
Set in the Wild West era, in a fictional small town called Abalone, in the American state of Arizona, the film tells the story of a mysterious Chinese man, played by Tony Randall, who presents himself as the owner of a circus that will be staying in the small community for two days.
The place, although seemingly peaceful, is not what it appears to be at first glance, being dominated by a wealthy farmer who wants the city to depreciate due to water supply problems, in order to buy it entirely and resell it after the already scheduled construction of a railway, which will greatly increase its value.
Dr. Lao, through his presentations and supernatural feats, ends up completely changing the prevailing mentality of the place, showing the inhabitants themselves represented in the scenes he presents, which initially enchants them, but ends up terrifying them by showing the staged location being destroyed by the very greed of its inhabitants.
All of this makes life in that place different from then on.
The boy Mike, played in the film by Kevin Tate, is the son of a widowed librarian and teacher, played by Barbara Eden (famous for starring in the series "I Dream of Jeannie"). Enchanted by the circus, he wants to join Dr. Lao, who gives him the advice described above, which is repeated in the final scene when he leaves the town.
The film's message, showing that Dr. Lao's circus is nothing more than life itself, and that everything in it can be wonderful, depending on the point of view, can be truly beautiful and moving, but the reality is that things don't work quite that way.
The child actor who played Mike in the story, Kevin Tate, although he had a promising career, abandoned acting in 1973 at the age of 19 for reasons that were never clarified, and simply disappeared from the public eye. There is no information about what became of him until 1999, when he died, a week before his 45th birthday, from undisclosed causes.
He died even before the protagonist Tony Randall, who lived until 2004, passing away at the age of 84.
Barbara Eden, for her part, is a victim of one of the worst pains a human being can experience, having lost her only son — also an actor, Matthew Ansara — to an overdose in 2001, when he was only 35 years old.
As we can see, the lives of many of the film's actors themselves show that the message is not something one can cling to in order to give meaning and beauty to existence: it only helps up to a certain point, and often it cannot help to alleviate the pain and anguish that everyone faces in life.
No one, for example, will remember the beauty of existence when losing a loved one or when facing their own death.
Unlike the fleeting comfort and beauty that a film, however beautiful and moving, can bring, there is a comfort and beauty that are not ephemeral: those that Christ grants.
From the sad (but hopeful) narrative of Genesis 3, When humanity fell and was contaminated by sin, and consequently, God's creation was distorted, human life became a constant battle for survival, a struggle whose defeat was predetermined by God when He stated:
By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken;
(Genesis 3:19 – KJA)
For you are dust, and to dust you shall return!
In other words: no matter how hard a human being strives, takes care of their health, achieves their goals and fulfills their dreams, inevitably the moment will come when their life in this world will end, just like several of the actors in the film, some prematurely and even tragically.
There is no immortality where there is sin.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord!
(Romans 6:23 – KJA)
However, as has been said, within this same narrative of the greatest misfortune that has ever befallen human history—the disobedience of our first parents, condemning all to separation from God and to death, both temporal and eternal—there also lies the greatest hope:
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers;
(Genesis 3:15 – KJA)
For he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.
Amidst the chaos, pain, and sorrow that sin would bring to the world, God, in his mercy, had already announced the plan of human redemption, which would have a high price, but which would be paid by Himself, in the person of his Son, punished in the place of fallen humanity.
Such a work would reconcile humanity with the Creator and, in due time, restore to humankind a divine glory and image indescribably more glorious than those from which it had fallen.
Such eternal glory is too incomprehensible to be expressed in words: Paul was taken alive to paradise and stated that it was impossible to describe what he saw (check 2ⁿᵈ Corinthians 12:1-6).
And in eternity—unlike the merely momentary comfort that a film, however beautiful, can bring—there is no more sadness, pain, or death, because “the former things have passed away” (see Revelation 21:4).
The old order will have passed away when all is fulfilled because sin, which is what brings about all this misfortune, will no longer exist in the New Jerusalem.
Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life!
(Revelation 21:27 – KJV)
In the original paradise, there was the possibility of sin, which unfortunately ended up becoming a reality, limiting the happiness of unregenerate human beings to earthly life and fleeting things like those depicted in the film.
In other words, paradise, though perfect, was not immune to being lost.
The same will not happen in the New Jerusalem, and there will be no possibility of a new fall into sin: perfection will be eternal, without any unpleasant sensation or pain.
Unlike what may seem beautiful to those who only pay attention to what can be perceived with the senses, there will no longer be a need for struggles, sacrifices, or pain to obtain fleeting crumbs of reward and beauty, like those that Dr. Lao offered to little Mike.
However good the character's intentions may have been—and like any human being—he was limited by sin and had nothing more to offer.
However, there is one who can and does offer an infinite reward to all who trust in Him: the Savior Jesus Christ. May He be the motivation for us to move forward, even amidst the sorrows of earthly life, which, only for those who trust in Him, will not be eternal.
In the Bonds of Calvary
ORIGINAL TITLEThe Ephemeral and the Eternal Beauty
I admit that since a month ago, when I took a Insurance scam, I only take care of my health because it's extremely uncomfortable to remain living in this world and, on top of that, enduring unnecessary illnesses and pain.
Indeed, knowing that all the courts of this nation have been occupied by servants of Satan—whether with beautiful hair or dinosaurs—is something that only excites criminals, but even that is just another example. indication That the end times are rapidly unfolding, and before the Lord returns like a thief in the night, the prophesied reign of the Antichrist must be consolidated not only in Brazil, but throughout the world!
In the 2023 phase of "The Worst Gospel," I decided to use new formats in the hope of helping to increase the reach of content related to the Scriptures—stories, videos, shorter texts, guest authors…—and this publication, which I took the liberty of revising and illustrating, is part of that project.
Thank you for reading this far.
I still need all the help I can get: comments, shares, and reactions help spread this content, which was entirely produced with the intention of contributing to the edification of the Body of Christ in the world.
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