A young church in Southern California has sprouted in an unusual place: the middle of a rescue mission. And this rescue mission is no hovel in a rundown part of town. At Orange County Rescue Mission’s Village of Hope in Tustin, Calif., palm trees, statues, and fountains greet visitors inside a set of beautiful carved gates.

Noah has floated through a flood of vocal opposition and doubts, landed a solid box office opening, and planted a victory flag that promises more big-studio biblical epics in the future. The $125 million movie by Paramount finished strong in its opening weekend at over $44 million in domestic box office sales, exceeding expectations. With the additional $51 million it made overseas, Noah (PG-13) seems to be on good forecast for profitability.

LAKE FOREST, Calif.— If the sold out seats for Saddleback Church’s mental health conference last Friday are any indication, Christians are aching for more and better mental health ministry in the church. 

The God central to the latest Paramount film, Noah, is silent. Ever since mankind was driven out of the Garden of Eden after the Fall, God has left his image-bearing creation to rot and fester in their own iniquities. Man eats dog, man kills man, man destroys the earth. Grieved by the devastation of his creation, God decides to wipe out all men with a big flood, but preserves the lives of Noah, his family, and two of each living creature in a massive ark. 

Weeks after Australian missionary John Short was deported from North Korea for “anti-state” religious acts, the state-controlled news website Uriminzokkiri (literally, “Within our nation”) released an article on March 24 that uses biblical terms and references to describe the country as a utopian paradise.