Category: Movies

Courageous – Movie Review

In 2007 while browsing through a Christian bookstore I found a movie that touched my life.  The movie was Facing the Giants.  I resisted the movie at first because it is a football movie, and being a geek means I am not really much of a sports fan.  But I gave the movie a chance, and I am glad I did, that movie touched my life and encouraged me to put God first once again in my life.

Sherwood Pictures, the group that created the movie, just came out with another movie this month in theaters called Courageous: Honor Begins at Home.

The Message

The message of the movie is an important one.  It focuses on the man’s responsibility to his children and wife, and how important that relationship is.  The men in the movie are like any of us, imperfect fathers from all walks of life.  Men who suck at being a father and men who are doing a good enough job.  The men get to a point in their life where they decide “good enough” is not really good enough, and they seek to change.

Stephen Kendrick, one of the movie’s producers stated the mission they have for the movie during an interview.  He said “We want to challenge men to forgive their dads, their dads wounded them, or provided poor example for them. And them seek God as their father and then step up to spiritual leadership. We can change the world if we can get dads to step up and disciple and lead this next generation.”

Story Elements

The story is very engaging and emotional for all audiences.  There is action, humor, tragedy, and redemption.  The characters are very believable and the actors are good.  Despite the fact that this movie is made by a church congregation, it has all the elements and look of a Hollywood blockbuster, but with a strong Christian message.

I went to the movie during a weekday so there were not a lot of people there, maybe a dozen or so sitting all around me.  Throughout the movie, in every direction, were people laughing, and even sobbing.  (I was too, but don’t tell anybody)  That tells me the entire audience really engaged and connected with characters and the story in a deeply emotional way.

Go see it!

Courageous, I would say, is an epic film.  You need to see it.  The message given make this far exceed any entertainment available today.  It will encourage families to take a more courageous stand in their family, even if it is not easy.  It will encourage men to want to do the right thing in their marriages and with their children, and will show them how it is possible.

And while you are at it, go see Sherwood Picture’s other movies available on DVD.  Flywheel, Facing the Giants, and Fireproof.

Courageous, the book

After seeing the movie, get the book.  There are two books, The Resolution for Men, and a companion book The Resolution for Women.  I have The Resolution for Men at home sitting at the top of my book pile, so I will be reading it soon.  As soon as I finish it I will write a review for you guys.  However, based on the quality of Biblical work Sherwood puts out I would say you do not need to wait for my review to get the book and read it.

If anybody has read The Resolution for Women, please write a small review and send it to us.  Email it to Info@EternalTruthMinistry.com.

What are your thoughts?

Have you seen the movie yet?  What are your thoughts?  Post a comment below telling me how this movie has impacted you and your family!

Flame On – A true story of Tragedy, and God’s provision

“Flame On” is the story of Cooper Jasper, a five year old boy who died in a dune buggy accident, and the story of a family who is fully devoted to God.

The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the LORD.” – Job 1:21

Blessed be the name of the Lord. Can you honestly say that? In times where God gives? Or when He takes away?  In the face of real tragedy in your life, when it seems that your life is over, can you say “Blessed be the name of the Lord”?

The Jasper family had the greatest tragedy that can happen to a family. They lost their only son. The grief that they went through was beyond anything any of us can imagine. But they did not turn to depression or to alcohol or to drugs during this low point in their life like so many others would do. They fell to their knees and worshiped God, drawing on what they knew of God to get them through this tragedy.

I heard this story on the radio first, where “JJ,” Cooper’s father, was talking about how important it was in a tragedy to read your Bible every day and to pray, even though you will not feel like it. And how important having a body of believers around was to them.

JJ also talked about the sovereignty of God. God is in control of everything, all events that happen are put there by God, for whatever purpose He declares, even if we do not know the why. (Rom 8:28) Believing in this sovereignty is extremely difficult during a tragedy, but this family did it. And then they turned this story into a documentary movie.

Flame On illustrates the struggle between the sovereignty of God and human responsibility while examining how faith in the Lord Jesus Christ can take you from the very bottom of despair to victory through tragedy. This film is a “must see” for those grieving the loss of a loved one and will leave you with a peaceful knowledge that we serve a gracious, loving God who gives us light through the dark moments of life.

The movie is called Flame On, and is available to watch for free on their website FlameOn.net. Or you can order the DVD for only the cost of shipping. This is a story that you should watch, because we will all go through tragedy at some point in our life, and knowing how to stay focused on God is necessary.

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. – 2 Timothy 1:6-7

The Star of Bethlehem

When you read about the star of Bethlehem in the Bible, what do you think of? Do you think of a really bright star that nobody could possibly miss with a tail as big as a kite? Or do you think it is nothing but poetry, that the events are too unbelievable to be true?

My dad pointed me to this short documentary, The Star of Bethlehem. Fredrick Larson, a Christian lawyer, takes a journey into every detail in the Bible about this miraculous event and compares it against a very accurate model of the sky’s during that time. The results, which encompassing years of research by Larson, are amazing.

Not only does this give us yet another piece of evidence that what the Bible says is true, it will deepen your desire to praise the creator, seeing how God set everything into motion with a purpose, from day 1.

I highly encourage checking this video out. (You absolutely should purchase the movie, but you can try it before you buy it.)

Movie Warning: The Golden Compass

The Golden Compass is a movie that is coming out early December of this year. It looks like it will be a very enjoyable fantasy movie, and it is being made into a trilogy, so it should be a great series.

Or maybe not…

I got this warning today in an email that directed me to the snopes.com page about this movie. Here is what the movie is really about.

 

[Collected via e-mail, October 2007]

There will be a new Children’s movie out in December called THE GOLDEN COMPASS. It is written by Phillip Pullman, a proud athiest who belongs to secular humanist societies. He hates C. S. Lewis’s Chronical’s of Narnia and has written a trilogy to show the other side. The movie has been dumbed down to fool kids and their parents in the hope that they will buy his trilogy where in the end the children kill God and everyone can do as they please. Nicole Kidman stars in the movie so it will probably be advertised a lot. This is just a friendly warning that you sure won’t hear on the regular TV.

[Collected via e-mail, October 2007]I don’t just generally dismiss a movie or book just because someone ‘says’ it’s meant to be something else…but this is worth knowing if you plan to see it (or plan to take your kids).

“Hi! I just wanted to inform you what I just learned about a movie that is coming out December 7, during the Christmas season, which is entitled THE GOLDEN COMPASS. It stars Nicole Kidman and it is directed toward children. What is disturbing to me is that this movie is based on the first of a trilogy of books for children called HIS DARK MATERIALS written by Philip Pullman of England.

He’s an atheist and his objective is to bash Christianity and promote atheism. I heard that he has made remarks that he wants to kill God in the minds of children, and that’s what his books are all about. He despises C.S. Lewis and Narnia, etc. An article written about him said “this is the most dangerous author in Britain” and that Pullman would be the writer “the atheists would be praying for, if atheists prayed.” Pullman said he doesn’t think it is possible that there is a God and he has great difficulty understanding the words “spiritual” and “spirituality.” What I thought was important to communicate is what part of the agenda is for making this picture. This movie is a watered down version of the first book, which is the least offensive of the three books. The second book of the trilogy is THE SUBTLE KNIFE and the third book is THE AMBER SPYGLASS. Each book gets worse and worse regarding Pullman’s hatred of God. In the trilogy, a young girl becomes enmeshed in an epic struggle against a nefarious Church known as the Magisterium. Another character, an ex-nun, describes Christianity as “a very powerful and convincing mistake.” As I understand it, in the last book, a boy and girl are depicted representing Adam and Eve and they kill God, who at times is called YAHWEH (which is definitely not Allah). Since the movie would seem mild if you viewed it, that’s been done on purpose.

They are hoping that unsuspecting parents will take their children to See the movie, that they will enjoy the movie and then the children will want the books for Christmas. That’s the hook. Pullman says he wants the children to read the books and decide against God and the kingdom of heaven.

If you decide that you do not want to support something like this, I suggest that you boycott the movie and the books. I googled a synopsis of THE GOLDEN COMPASS. As I skimmed it, I couldn’t believe that in a children’s book part of the story is about castration and female circumcision.

After that, snopes goes into some details about the facts of these claims. You really should check it out.

http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp

Spread the word, don’t let people support this movie.

< (((><
Join our forums: Eternal Truth Ministry