The Candidates on Faith
This political season, the three remaining candidates for the presidency all have pretty solid Christian credentials — and are probably more outspokenly Christian than most candidates have ever been — but watchdogs of the religious right don’t like any of them. Why? Apparently, they’re not Christian enough. Or conservative enough. (Or maybe, in their minds, […]
The Believer’s Heaven (Take 2)
As promised, I’d like to revisit the previous post about Estus Pirkle’s mind-boggling evangelistic film from the 70s. If you’re anything like me, you go through a multi-stage emotional process when you watch something like “The Believer’s Heaven.” Let me sum up this mental journey, with apologies to Elisabeth Kubler-Ross:
Stage 1: Shock.
(Is this real? This […]
The Believer’s Heaven
In recent weeks, a really short, low-budget religious film has been making the you’ve-gotta-see-this rounds among cackling irreligious hipsters and flinching people of faith. Written and produced by old-time Mississippi Baptist minister Estus Pirkle, the film is called “The Believer’s Heaven.” It was made in 1977. And it’s…fascinating. Wonderful. Super-creepy. Pretty much any adjective you […]
Buy Shoes, Save Lives
I was speaking at a college church event in Waco, Texas, in October when my host mentioned that a guy named Jeremy Courtney was going to be there. Jeremy had once attended that church before moving to Turkey — and later, Iraq — where he eventually started a nonprofit organization called Buy Shoes, Save Lives. […]
It Wasn’t God
If you watched the Super Bowl, you gasped when you saw it…whether during the actual live play or the 37 times it was replayed from every conceivable angle afterward. If you didn’t watch the Super Bowl, you’ve no doubt seen it already in game recaps and on news shows and on YouTube. When New York […]
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