I was looking back at my younger Christian years when I was involved in conspiracy theories, attacking almost everything on the media, and there are insanely crazy sites like Chick Publications and Jesus-is-Savior.com. Both sites are extremely cheesy. As Phil Johnson would say about the two sites, “Some people insist that the only way to reach our generation with the gospel is by laboring to seem as cool or as non-confrontational as possible. This guy seems to think the goal is the opposite: to be as cheesy and offensive as possible. Both strategies are equally misguided.”
There were also fundie non-profit films such as The Burning Hell and If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do? These films were by the late fundamentalist preacher Estus Pirke. After tackling Communism, Pirkle decided it’d be a good topic to talk about Hell. Both are relevant topics to talk about. Hellfire preaching is necessary. Yet, a bit of re-review of the two films will fit into what makes Jesus-is-Savior a bad website (and I was obsessed with it due to the conspiracies and nearly became an anti-vaxxer). As Johnson would describe it, I think those two films may fit into this description:
The first thing you’ll notice about this site is how cluttered, disorderly, and tawdry it looks. The content is no different. It’s as if the page was constructed with a deliberate effort to eliminate anything that might edify or encourage. This is a seriously ugly muddle of fundamentalist pet issues, 911 Truther propaganda, and various amateur analyses—all thrown in your face with high-decibel, high-velocity force. The webmaster here seems drawn to every repugnant trope that has ever been commandeered in the name of religion—unsightly images, distasteful themes, loathsome tales, sinister gossip, and sensationalized headlines (“Satanism In The Vatican!”) He blends these themes with favorite points of fundamentalist controversy and presents them in a way that seems carefully calculated to maximize the shock value. This is not ministry; it is exploitation. It’s a lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing profitable.
You can see that. A rewatch would convince me of how cluttered, disorderly, and tawdry the films were. Not to mention, the films are full of unsightly images, distasteful themes, loathsome tales, and sinister gossip, and seem to maximize the shock value. A rewatch may also make you realize these films have unsightly images. Yes, I’m talking about that and these are supposedly evangelism films. I’m not saying that the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus wasn’t repugnant to behold. Jesus’ image in Isaiah 53 doesn’t paint a pretty picture. Yet, I don’t recommend watching The Passion of the Christ not only because of the bloody scenes (and it was rated R-18) but also because of creative artistic license not in the Bible. That’s why the late Aiden W. Tozer called religious movies a lazy preacher’s best friend. I think Tozer would probably call these films by the late Ron Ormond (who used to direct violent movies) and Pirkle to be in the same category.
The two films have a lot of questionable scenes that are usually censored in any decent news publication. Scenes of bloody corpses, a man tortured and his own children being forced to do it, a scene where a child’s ears were impaled, etc. can be seen in If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?. The next film The Burning Hell also contains questionable scenes. In the scene where Tim and Ken, two aging hippies were racing, Ken gets decapitated in an accident. Yes, it’s possible that extreme force can cause that decapitation. I felt the scene was just there for shock value and nothing more. True, life can become death any second now. However, I think putting that scene as part of evangelism might be nothing more than shock value. Yes, a watered-down presentation of the Gospel is a problem. However, to be as cheesy and offensive as possible is just as misguided. I think (now) that’s the problem with using the film, The Burning Hell, as evangelism material. It’s no different than the Alberto comic book series by Chick Publications. Alberto Rivera Sr. was a fraud through and through–not a former Jesuit priest. No wonder Lumen Productions never featured him in Catholicism: Crisis of Faith.
I decided to do a critical re-review of The Burning Hell. The artistic liberties of Estus Pirkle are something to think about. There’s no doubt that King Belshazzar and many of those who he dined with are in Hell. There’s no doubt that wicked men like Ahab, Jezebel, Athaliah, the Pharoah of the Exodus, Cain, Esau, etc. are in Hell now. However, the dramatization of Belshazzar being escorted by demons is not in the Bible. I doubt it demons are in Hell now. Satan isn’t ruling over Hell either as Chick Tracts and comics would suggest. Later, we have a paraphrase of the story of the rich man and Lazarus. Pirkle says it’s not a parable. I still think it’s no parable. However, the next scene is that it ends up getting an artistic reinterpretation. Can we be truly sure that the rich man’s five brothers went to Hell? Did the rich man truly throw a party before he died? None of that is in Luke 16:16-31. I guess I’ll have to find out in eternity if the rich man’s brothers also went to Hell.
I think the description of calling them “Motion Chick tracts” done by some non-Christians has never been so accurate. I decided to re-review some comics by Chick Publications. They are full of super-offensive content such as decapitated heads on spikes in The Force or the Inquisition drawn with all the bloody scenes. The Inquisition is so violent that I’d probably never want to put bloody drawings in contrast to describing it without pictures. Again, I could still select certain photos in black and white. Later, Ormond also directed the fundie film The Grim Reaper which also featured a racing car accident scene. An extended scene of the death of the young man was something. I decided to watch it and concluded it’s really yet another cheesy and offensive approach. That’s why I no longer praise or recommend these materials for evangelism.
Reformed Baptist Christian Blogger 