****************************************************************
Something New about the movie, "The Passion of Christ"

Unless you've been living under a rock, by now you are familiar with Mel Gibson's movie about the final 12 hours of Christ entitled, "The Passion of Christ." You are also probably aware that he had the entire movie shot using the original languages of the time -- Aramaic (spoken by Israelites) and "Street" Latin (Spoken by Romans and most other citizens of Rome, including most Israelites). But, did you know that these are not "dead" languages? Chaldean and Assyrians still communicate with a variant of Aramaic. The majority of these people live in modern-day Iraq and are part of the Christian community, however, World Magazine Blog reports that over 250,000 of them live in the U.S. These Aramaic-speaking Christians are flocking to the movies, delighted to hear a religious movie told in their own language.

Isn't it amazing how certain areas and regions of the world mentioned in the Bible continue to be important thousands of years later? Israel has always been a hotbed for action, and over the past couple of years, we see Babylon and Iraq once again getting attention on the world scene. Who knows -- maybe Mel's film will spark a revival in Iraq among Christians that will sweep throughout the region.