Smallfoot—Big Lie

Last October I flew from Taiwan to the United States to visit my family in Washington, as I normally do each year. My usual routine is to leave Taiwan on a Sunday morning and arrive in Portland, Oregon on the same Sunday morning (with a tip of the hat to the International Date Line), and depart two weeks later on Saturday and arrive in Taiwan on Sunday evening (gain a day, lose a day). And since it's back to work on Monday, I don't have an extra day to spare. Most of the time, things go pretty smoothly—but this was not one of those times.

I had enjoyed my annual two weeks with my family, and was at the airport in Portland on Saturday, ready to board my flight and head home. We seemed to be waiting a disconcertingly long time to board, however, and a few people were apparently receiving lengthy individual attention at the front of the line. Finally, the rest of us got the word: The aircraft was hard down, we weren't going anywhere, and we would have to come back tomorrow. And just like that, I was stuck in the U.S. for an extra day—that I didn't have.

My sister had given me a ride to the airport and was already well on the way home, and I immediately contacted her and told her to make a U-turn. Then I contacted my wife in Taiwan and told her to call my school the following morning to let them know I would be back a day late so they could arrange a sub, and then settled in for one extra day with my family. Nice.

That Saturday night back at home, we did something special—something we don't do all that often as individuals, much less as a family: We all went to see a movie. My younger sister told us there was a new animated movie that had just come out called "Little Foot or something like that" playing at the local cineplex, and her six-year-old daughter was itching to see it. It sounded like a movie for kids, but I didn't care because I was just looking forward to enjoying the evening with my family...and besides, I usually like animated films anyway. So, after a hearty repast of Papa Murphy's pizza, we were off.

At the theater, I saw that the movie was a Warner Bros. production called Smallfoot (well, she was close), and we settled in for 96 minutes of wholesome, family entertainment.

As it turned out, however, Smallfoot served up a bit more than 96 minutes of wholesome, family entertainment.

Now, let me say one thing up front: I am not telling anyone to not go see this movie. I'm not choking on my tongue, trying to get people to boycott this film or anything of that nature. Like many such films, it's creative and highly entertaining—I actually enjoyed it from a purely cinematic perspective. All I want to do is discuss the true nature of the film's content, and as a result perhaps help you make an informed decision as to whether or not you would want to take your children to see it. Because make no mistake:

Smallfoot is a big lie.

Which pinpoints the ultimate source. I just want you to understand something in no uncertain terms: There is a message that beams through this film like a laser, and it's 100 percent anti-Bible. And like many other offerings from the father of lies, it's a message that is wrapped up in an adorably cute and entertaining package.

First off, I need to give you a brief synopsis of the movie, although I will attempt to gloss over a few of the plot points that are not critical to understanding the movie or to what I want to bring out in this article.

There is a Yeti (aka Bigfoot) community that lives high on a mountain in the Himalayas in Nepal. The Yetis live their simple, peaceful lives in accordance with a set of ancient rules and legends that are revered as absolute, unquestioned truth, and these truths are marked onto a collection of individual pieces of stone. Referred to simply as "the Stones," these rules and legends are safeguarded and interpreted by a venerable Yeti known as the Stonekeeper, whose word is law. Questioning the Stones is unthinkable to the Yetis, and is sure to be met with swift retribution.

The Stones include an absurd "Creation story," which says that the Yetis fell out of the butt of the Great Sky Yak, and teach that the mountain is held up on the back of the Giant Ox that must be fed, or else the whole mountain will fall into the Great Nothing. Since the ground level is obscured from the Yetis' view by thick clouds that constantly surround the mountain, they have never seen the ground and so believe what the Stones say. Each morning, according to the Stones, the Sky Snail (the sun) must be summoned by the ringing of a large gong. This is the task of the Gong Ringer, who launches himself headfirst toward the gong with a big slingshot.

One morning, the Gong Ringer is training his son Migo to ring the gong, but Migo misses the gong entirely and ends up tumbling some distance down the side of the mountain. Just then, a plane crashes nearby and as Migo investigates, he discovers an unconscious human (a Smallfoot) who has parachuted out of the plane. But before Migo can do anything with him, the wind blows the human with his parachute back down the mountain, and Migo returns to the community empty-handed.

Migo excitedly tells the others that he saw a real Smallfoot, and takes them back to the site of the plane crash to prove he is telling the truth. But by the time they get there the plane has slid down the mountain below the cloud level, leaving Migo with no proof of what he saw. According to the Stones, the Smallfoot is a myth and doesn't exist, so the Stonekeeper declares Migo guilty of contradicting the Stones and banishes him from the community.

As Migo wanders through the snow, he is found by a small group of rogue Yetis who are members of the S.E.S. (the Smallfoot Evidentiary Society). These are a handful of Yetis who, despite the teaching of the Stones, believe in the existence of Smallfoot, and when they hear Migo's story they agree to take him to meet their leader, Meechee. Ironically enough, Meechee happens to be the daughter of the Stonekeeper himself (and also happens to be Migo's love interest). With their new member in tow, these intrepid Yetis go off in search of the "mythical" Smallfoot.

The members of the S.E.S. not only disagree with the Stones in regard to the existence of Smallfoot, but neither do they believe their mountain sits on the back a huge ox that hovers above an empty void. They believe there is a world below the clouds where Smallfoot must surely dwell, and are intent on exploring that land and ultimately making contact with Smallfoot.

Their plan entails lowering themselves down through the cloud layer with a long rope, but things go awry as the rope breaks and Migo falls into the snow at the foot of the mountain—and he gazes for the first time at the mythical land below the mountain that the Stones claim doesn't exist. Migo then heads off in the general direction of a nearby town to explore.

The human that Migo saw in the plane crash is a young man named Percy, a wildlife documentarian who is planning his next documentary shoot. He had been trying to persuade his girlfriend Brenda to don a Yeti suit so he could fake a video to boost the flagging ratings of his nature show, but she had refused on principle. As Migo nears the town, he is spotted by the plane's pilot, who comes running to breathlessly tell Percy he saw a Yeti. Percy is beside himself with excitement over the possibility of getting a real live Yeti on film, which would go a long way toward saving his failing show.

After Migo enters the town, Percy spots him...but he initially assumes it must be Brenda, whom he figures must have finally acquiesced to putting on the fake Yeti costume to help him out. But when Percy notices Brenda ride off with the suit on a snowmobile, he suddenly realizes he is face to face with a bona fide Yeti. Percy tries to tranquilize Migo, but gets knocked out in the ensuing fracas. Migo picks up Percy and heads off back up the mountain, hoping to take this Smallfoot specimen back to his community.

On their journey back up the mountain, Migo and Percy bond by having to help each other out in different ways, and they finally make it back to Migo's community. Migo reunites with Meechee and the S.E.S., and the whole community is amazed at Migo's Smallfoot—while Percy is just as amazed to be in the presence of an entire community of real Yetis. Percy tries to explain to the Yetis things about human existence through drawings, but he is beginning to feel the effects of the thin air. For the moment, however, everyone is excited and intrigued.

Everyone except the Stonekeeper, that is. With tangible proof in their midst that the Stones are wrong, the Stonekeeper is deeply troubled. Meechee urges her father to talk to Migo to gain some mutual understanding, and in the course of their meeting the Stonekeeper privately reveals to Migo that he has known all along that Smallfoot existed and lived in the land below the mountain, which he also knew existed.

The Stonekeeper confides to Migo that long ago the Yetis lived below the mountain, but were always being attacked by the Smallfoot and so had to retreat high up the mountain for their own safety. He explains that the thick layer of "clouds" that obscured the ground below was produced by "feeding the Giant Ox," which in reality involved the Yetis dutifully and unwittingly dropping blocks of ice into a machine that produced steam. Finally, he admits that the Stones are a fiction created to protect the Yetis and make it possible for them to live a stable, peaceful existence untroubled by pesky questions about their origins, their history, or the hostile world beyond their mountain. He asks Migo to recant his tale of finding a real Smallfoot so the integrity of the Stones will remain intact, and for the greater good of the community. Since Migo recalls how Percy did instinctively try to attack him at first, he reluctantly agrees to "do the right thing" and change his story.

The community gathers to listen as Migo tells them it was all a mistake. He explains that Percy (who is now in serious condition due to high altitude sickness) is not really a Smallfoot, but rather a rare species of yak. Meechee and the other members of the S.E.S. are bitterly disappointed with Migo, and know that he is involved in a cover-up.

Migo feels bad for lying and betraying his friends, and goes to find Meechee to smooth things over. But Meechee is gone—she has secretly taken Percy back down the mountain because she knows otherwise he will die. Migo and the other S.E.S. members go back down the mountain to find Meechee, and as they approach the town, a sequence of madcap misadventures ensues involving the Yetis, Percy and Brenda, the police from the town, and the townfolk that climaxes with the entire community of Yetis and the people of the town coming face to face in mutual wonder and amazement, albeit tempered by a degree of ingrained distrust.

The Yetis and the humans slowly begin to warm up to each other and have friendly interactions; and as they do so the closing credits begin to roll, which show markings on new Stones that depict Yetis and humans playing together and learning from each other and interacting in positive ways.

I have a feeling you can already see the direction this is heading, because it's fairly blatant. (As we were exiting the theater, my sister and I glanced at each other and a silent roll of the eyes said all that needed to be said.) There are several problematic ideas presented in the movie that I want to flesh out a bit, and I've winnowed it down to the following five items.

1. The Stones are representative of the Bible.

Well, duh...that one's pretty hard to miss. It is clear the Stones constitute the Yetis' "Bible," and the Yetis regard them as possessing the same degree of absolute authority as does the Bible in the eyes of born-again Christians (sadly, not all of them). The biblical aura of the Stones is made even more obvious (if that's possible) by the way they are depicted in the film.

In the movie, the Stones have been fitted into a type of robe-like garment the Stonekeeper wears on occasion, which was clearly inspired by the ephod and breastplate worn by the High Priest when he entered the Holy of Holies in the Old Testament (Exod. 28). There were 12 gems fitted into the breastplate that represented the 12 tribes of Israel, so the High Priest effectively bore them over his heart when he entered the Holy of Holies once a year on the Day of Atonement.

Etched in stone...NOT: Note that during the closing credits new Stones are shown, reinforcing the idea that the Stones (and thus the words of Scripture) certainly do not represent absolute, unalterable truth, but are merely myths written by fallible men. Thus we are free to add to them!

2. The Stones are ancient myths, and so the Bible must be as well.

Each Stone bears a crude scrawling that looks as if it were drawn by...well, a Yeti. It is quite clear early on in the film that the Stones certainly do not convey literal truth, but merely fanciful myths and legends that have been handed down for many generations.

The biblical parallel is equally clear—the Stones correspond to the Bible, which means that since the Stones are a collection of nonsensical myths and legends scrawled onto pieces of rock by subhuman bipeds, the Bible is similarly a collection of equally nonsensical myths and legends scrawled onto parchment by Bronze Age nomads.

Thus, anyone today who believes the Bible is the Word of God is on par with the happy but clueless Yetis who go about their simple lives without a thought in their heads concerning the infallibility (or fallibility, as the case may be) of the Stones, all while being blissfully unaware of the truth.

3. Putting their faith in the Stones allows the Yetis to maintain a peaceful, stable society, but at the expense of knowing the truth.

This is a key point, because the creators of the movie exercise a clever ploy to make their thinly veiled onslaught on God's Word go down more smoothly. You see, the Stones, even though they are a collection of absurd myths, are not without value.

The Stones give the Yetis answers to many of their deepest questions, and as a result the Stones give them comfort. The Stones give the Yetis a sense of peace and stability, and allow them to live and work together in harmony as a community. They are a good thing, and the only reason this remains true for the Yetis is the simple fact that they don't know the truth. They have no idea that the Stones are fiction, and such thoughts are banished from their midst as they live their simple lives in peace and contentment.

Here is a key snippet from the conversation in which the Stonekeeper reveals to Migo that the Stones are fiction:

Migo: Wait...so none of those Stones are true? They're all lies?!
Stonekeeper: Let it lie. Good lies...to protect our world.
Migo: But they need to know the truth!
Stonekeeper: Oh, do they?

Good lies...to protect our world. In other words, although the Stones are lies, they are lies that serve a noble, beneficial purpose and so are worthy of veneration. And that noble, beneficial purpose is more important to the Yeti community than learning the truth about the Stones. Thus, it's better for all concerned to do what the Stonekeeper says and "let it lie."

The obvious parallel is that the Bible, while actually a collection of myths, should be treated with respect because it is so important to many people: It brings them peace and comfort and a deep sense of spiritual community. Of course, these people are unable to see that the Bible is merely a collection of ancient myths, but that's OK—it brings them peace and comfort, and that's all that matters. The Bible is a collection of good lies. Besides...

Someday people who are slaves to such religious dogma will know the truth and join the rest of enlightened humanity who have succeeded in shaking off those ancient myths and are prepared to evolve spiritually.

Note that at no point in the movie are the Stones ever criticized, mocked, or disrespected in any way, even by those who question their teachings or know them to be fiction.

So as we shift from the Stones to the Bible, we see that the movie never does anything that could be construed as an overt attack on the Bible, nor does it in any way dismiss it as meaningless. On the contrary. Rather, it fawningly pays lip service to it by suggesting that, just like the Stones, the Bible has great value to people—even though it's a bunch of myths, which is something that all enlightened people know is clearly true.

In this way, the movie attempts to gently mask its true intention of getting people to view the Bible as so much nonsensical religious dogma that we need to cast off and leave behind so we can take the next step up in our spiritual evolution, just as the Yetis leave the Stones behind and discover a whole new world with the Smallfoot.

4. By courageously questioning the Stones, a few enlightened Yetis are able to boldly go off to seek and ultimately find the truth.

In the film, Migo and Meechee and the other members of the S.E.S. have the courage and tenacity to pursue their dream of finding and making contact with the Smallfoot, and that is only possible because they have the gumption to question the teachings of the Stones, which insist that Smallfoot is a myth.

Migo and Meechee are heroes because they have the courage to question that which cannot be questioned and bravely pursue the truth, no matter the cost. So, boys and girls, if you want to be a hero, that's how it's done:

Rather than passively and obediently submitting to ancient religious myths, have the courage to question the unquestionable. After all, they really are myths. Seriously. Six days? A talking snake? A global flood? The truth is out there—and you must find it for yourself.

And if you have the strength and fortitude to reject the dogma of the past and accept the fact that you no longer need to live under its protective blanket of ignorance and security, you will find the truth.

"Truth" that is obviously far removed from anything the Bible has to say.

5. By moving past the Stones and embracing the truth, the Yetis are introduced to a brave new world and an alien race of beings that can greatly benefit them.

At the end of the movie the entire Yeti community is introduced to the human population of the town, and so obviously the mythical dogma of the Stones no longer holds sway. The Yetis have taken their first bold step outside their little world, and have been introduced to what for them is a highly advanced alien race that is in a position to be of great assistance to them and to protect them in various ways.

Planet of the Smallfoot: I'm not going to go off on a tangent here, but I sincerely believe that an important part of the deception that Satan has in store for the post-Rapture world will be in some ways akin to what the Yetis experienced in the film—being introduced to a so-called "alien race" of beings that can ostensibly benefit mankind in terms of evolving spiritually. I wrote about this a couple of months ago in an article entitled "The Event."

Even though I saw the movie Smallfoot two months prior to writing that article, I don't recall giving the film any conscious thought during the writing. That article was simply a topic the Lord had impressed upon my heart, although presumably the movie must have been floating around in my subconscious. As I look back, I can see that what was depicted in the movie does bear some striking similarities to what I wrote in that article.

The key point is that this bold step for the Yetis was only made possible by moving past their religious dogma and embracing the truth:

The truth that the Stones are lies.

The biblical parallel is clear—the only way for mankind to take that bold step up and evolve spiritually with the help of an alleged "alien race" (of demonic beings of light) is by moving past the archaic religious dogma that has held so many in bondage for so long and embracing the truth:

The "truth" that the Bible is a lie.

The truth about the Bible

Smallfoot encapsulates the prevailing attitude of the world towards the Bible in a cute, creative, and entertaining package, and it is this:

The Bible is a lie that must be discarded
in order to free mankind to seek the truth.

But I'm here to tell you this is a lie:

It is the biggest lie ever told
from the biggest liar who ever lived.

And that would be Satan. In fact, the only thing that will ever top this lie will be the strong delusion that God Himself will pour out upon mankind during the Tribulation, when He will sovereignly allow a Christ-rejecting world to be deluded into worshiping the Antichrist as the Messiah.

Rather than being a lie, in reality the Bible is the only source of ultimate truth mankind has been given by the holy, just, loving God who created us—and it's the only truth we ultimately need.

Mark Hitchcock, one of my favorite Bible teachers and authors who specializes in eschatology, has this to say about prophecy and the truth of the Bible—and I am more than happy to defer to him because I can scarcely imagine it being said any better:

The God of the Bible is not shy about telling us that He alone knows all events for all time:

Neither is He shy about challenging all false gods and idols to demonstrate their ability to do anything of the sort:

Neither is He shy about telling us exactly why He gave prophecies to His servants the prophets:

Why? So people will know they have heard from God—not from fallible men.

And neither is Jesus shy about telling us why He gave prophecies to His disciples and to us:

Although I have read varying totals as far as the specific number of prophecies the Bible contains as compared to the numbers Mark Hitchcock gives, the fundamental point is extremely well made:

The Bible is nothing less than the prophetically
self-confirming Word of the living God.

And that means...

• I don't believe the Bible is true because my Mommy and Daddy told me so.

• I don't believe the Bible is true because I heard it from some preacher.

• And I don't believe the Bible is true because I have closed my eyes and clicked my heels together and wished really hard for it to be true.

In fact, I don't have to believe anything—I know the Bible is true because, as I have said on occasion and will no doubt say again:

The Bible foretells historical events in advance, and does so with a degree of accuracy that silences all but the most woefully misinformed, wilfully ignorant, and rabidly biased critics.

As a result, it's not unreasonable to conclude that the Bible is exactly what it claims to be: the Word of the one, true, living God—the Creator of all things (not the Word of Allah, Buddha, Krishna, Lord Maitreya, the Force, or the Great Benevolent Whatever). And the more one studies the Bible with anything remotely resembling intellectual honesty, the more sharply this unavoidable (and for some, unpalatable) fact comes into focus.

One more time: I've said it before, but it bears repeating: I actually feel sorry for Christians who haven't studied the Word enough to see this for themselves, because they are forced to merely believe the Bible is true. I find that profoundly saddening, because there's nothing like the study of prophecy to pour cement into the foundation of your faith. The study of prophecy takes you to a new level—a level where you know it's true beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Big difference.

One big whopper

You know as well as I do, however, that the world doesn't give a rat's patootie about the Bible's prophecies, or the 100 percent accurate fulfillment thereof. When you talk to people in the world, all you hear is the same old refrain over and over again, countless times:

Nope, never happened. All those verses must mean something different, you brainwashed bozo. And stop trying to confuse me with historical facts.

They avoid touching Bible prophecy as if it were a plague-infected corpse, and I know why. It's w-a-a-y out of their comfort zone—a comfort zone in which God is a delusion for people who flunked science in school (either that or He's a cosmic teddy bear of their own creation), and the Bible is a bundle of ancient, error-riddled myths that are about as divinely inspired as the Stones. As far as the world is concerned, the Bible's account of Creation in the book of Genesis is a whopper on par with us falling out of a yak's butt.

So, it should surprise no one that a number of movie critics praised the movie Smallfoot for the very reasons I have brought out in this article. They praised it for encouraging young people to dare to question the religious dogma imposed on them by certain segments of society, and be tough and smart and willing to seek the "truth":

So, "kids both brave and smart" should watch this "daring" movie to learn that they should question religious orthodoxy in order to stop those who would impose a "Christian Sharia." (He actually said "Christian Sharia.")

I found several other similarly positive reviews from those who have been in orbit around Planet Liberal Left a bit too long. Here's one more:

#ScienceRulesBibleDrools: Real "science," such as the theory of evolution, obviously refutes the Bible's ridiculous Creation story, and exposes the Bible as a bunch of myths. And yet brainwashed believers deny, deny, deny the "scientific evidence" that's right in front of them. Clearly they must be silenced and eliminated for the good of mankind.

So what else is new? It's just the world being the world by rejecting the God who created them and who expressed His grace and mercy to them through Christ. And while they're at it, they applaud and celebrate anything that mocks or calls into question the Bible, the God described therein, and any deluded subhuman bipeds who believe in Him and trust in His Word.

In Romans chapter 1, Paul says that God's existence is made manifest in Creation itself, and as a result people who stubbornly refuse to so much as acknowledge Him as Creator have no excuse. Then he tells us what God does with such people:

He gives them over to the lusts of their heart, and Paul goes on to describe the specific types of things such people are given over to—and it's not pretty. But notice the way Paul characterizes what such people have done:

They have exchanged the truth of God for a lie.

The movie Smallfoot is just one insignificant little product from a world that has exchanged the truth of God for a lie—and it's a real whopper:

The Bible is a collection of myths, and those myths include the holy, just, loving God described within its pages.

And that's the biggest whopper the world has ever fallen for.

Greg Lauer — FEB '19

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