"It's no wonder, with that kind of intense training and discipling, that those young people are ready to kill themselves for the cause of Islam. I wanna see young people who are as committed to the cause of Jesus Christ as the young people are to the cause of Islam. I wanna see them as radically laying down their lives for the Gospel as they are over in Pakistan and Israel and Palestine and all those different places, you know, because we have... excuse me, but we have the truth! "
Directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
2006
Date Viewed : Tuesday January 19, 2011
This is the second time that I have seen this film and I was even more terrified this time than I was last time. This is about radical evangelical Christians and how they “go for kids” because they’re so impressionable (That wording is the exact wording of the pastor). The things that struck me this time were different than last time. This time I noticed all of the militaristic and almost violent wording and depictions. After the shooting in Tuscon happened and Sarah Palin came under all that criticism for her website and other things that she’s said I read a news article that talked about how when your whole life is immersed in guns and using military words etc. then seeing the world as a battle field is just what happens. You consider every person who disagrees with you as the enemy that you must do away with. I really started thinking about that while watching this movie. They’re using kids as a way to promote their political agenda and the kids do it to please their parents and so they don’t burn in hell. It shows an intense church service where these young kids (not even teenagers, but kids) are being told that if they mess up and say a bad word then they’re a sinner and God doesn’t want sinners. They’re also told that if they say they want God but then don’t stand up for Him against their peers then they’re weak and phony and God doesn’t want phonies. These kids give their all in worship and they weep to God. I’m all worship and for giving your all for Christ, but the anguish on these kids faces just really got to me. Loving Christ is not supposed to hurt your heart so much. This church totally forgot about the whole Grace aspect of Jesus, which is sort of a huge part. During the movie there was a radio talk show host who was talking about the ultra conservative right wing Christians and how they attack and attack and attack and he says something to the effect of “The thing that they forget is that Jesus said ‘blessed are the peacemakers.’” which really got to me too because I feel like there's so much militaristic talk amongst this group and there's not a whole lot of peacemaking. Anyways, this was a super well made documentary. I highly recommend it. A
