© By the Rev. Edward Chinn, D.Min.

“As an actor, I’m thankful that I’ve lived not one life, but many,” said Charlton Heston on Friday, August 9, as he told the public that he has symptoms consistent with Alzheimer’s Disease. The disease is named after Dr. Alois Alzheimer, a German doctor. Charlton Heston is grateful that as an actor he has been allowed to live many lives. His words remind me of the author of the Book of Ecclesiastes who said: “The wise man’s words . . . put the mind of one man into many a life” (Ecclesiastes 12:11, Moffatt).

An actor such as Heston has put an author’s mind into many lives through the movies. Heston put the mind of Lew Wallace into many lives when he portrayed Ben Hur in 1959. In the 1870s a famous atheist encouraged Wallace to write a book to prove Jesus never existed. After years of research, Lew Wallace came to the opposite conclusion and wrote Ben Hur: a Tale of the Christ. Similarly, Heston put the mind of the authors of the Bible book of Exodus into many lives as he portrayed Moses in the motion picture, The Ten Commandments. “I am grateful,” said Heston, “for the gift of the greatest words ever written to let me share with you the infinite scope of the human experience” (Fox News, August 9, 2002).

A scientist puts his mind into many lives by his research and its implications. If you had your blood pressure checked recently, then the mind of an English physician, William Harvey, has entered your life as well as entering the lives of millions of other human beings. In 1628, Harvey published a book about the circulation of blood in the human body. Likewise, think how the minds of Thomas Edison (the electric light), Louis Pasteur (vaccine against rabies and the pasteurization of milk and beer!), Guglielmo Marconi (the radio), and Alexander Graham Bell (the telephone) have entered into many lives and affected us today.

Many of the world’s religions are the lengthened shadows of one man whose mind has entered into many lives. Siddhartha Gautama was born near the Indian border in 563 B.C. His mind has entered many lives through the religion of Buddhism. Muhammad was born into the leading tribe of Mecca in approximately A.D. 570. His convictions about Allah (The God) and the words of the Koran have entered into countless lives. Around 6 B.C. Jesus of Nazareth was born. His mind has entered many lives. Twenty years after Jesus’ lifetime, one of his followers wrote: “Make your own the mind of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5, New Jerusalem Bible).