Boys' Bible Study

ANNOUNCEMENT: a new perk is available on our $20 patreon tier! BOOTLEG BIBLE STUDY is a monthly physical media series where we send you handmade and custom-edited DVDs of faith-based films curated and assembled by BBS cohost Scott. Sign up by EOD Sunday April 5 to receive the first DVD "MURDER BIBLE"! Any signups after that date will be automatically enrolled for the May 2026 drop and beyond. Thank you for your generous support! https://www.patreon.com/c/boysbiblestudy Happy Easter! Three days before the resurrection miracle that defined Christianity, Jesus died on an Old Rugged Cross for the sins of podcasters everywhere. Therefore, it felt right to review OLD RUGGED CROSS, a drama about two pastors fighting for hearts and minds in a small town, by beloved auteur Donald James Parker. Parker, a frequently reviewed filmmaker on this podcast, had an insanely productive streak from 2014–2016, during which he wrote ten feature films, sometimes directing and starring in them. These include his famous GRAMPS series as well as the legendary THE UNEXPECTED BAR MITZVAH, some of our favorite movies we have ever watched in the faith-based genre. OLD RUGGED CROSS is a reskin of some of Donald's favorite topics, and although it lacks some of the explosive novelty of THE UNEXPECTED BAR MITZVAH (a film that prominently featured an Orthodox Jewish family arguing about Tim Tebow), OLD RUGGED CROSS keeps the viewer engaged with an entertaining story and dialogue so unmistakably Donald it boggles the mind. For example, OLD RUGGED CROSS's three main characters are groan-inducingly on-the-nose: Parker himself plays the pure-hearted Pastor "Evan Shepherd," his evil rival is the scheming Pastor Luke "Wolf," and his love interest torn between the two holy men is "Anita Rock." Seriously. Some other tropes from Parker's work are presented well here: Pastor Shepherd observes a Saturday Sabbath, as Jewish people do, because this is more biblically accurate. Also, Shepherd is portrayed as being so devout a Christian as to alienate his wife and daughters, a biographical aspect of nearly all of Parker's self-cast characters. Why this very specific creative choice? Parker's expressive performance as Shepherd and the jaw-dropping dialogue of his script combine in a pleasing way that makes OLD RUGGED CROSS one of the most solid and entertaining entries in Parker's filmography, a real compliment considering his catalog contains some of the most legendary contemporary Christian films of all time. If your name happens to be Anita Christianfilm, look no further. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on X: https://x.com/boysbiblestudy

Subscribe today for access to our full catalog of bonus episodes, including 2+ new episodes every month! www.patreon.com/boysbiblestudy This millennial-coded 2011 DVD Bible study series uses Facebook lingo, which was very en vogue at the time, to encourage people to upgrade their relationship with Jesus from casual to committed. NOT A FAN, the brainchild of minister Kyle Idleman, uses a clickbait-style title to grab your attention: what do you mean you're "NOT A FAN" of Jesus? What Idleman means is that on Facebook at the time, you could click a thumbs up to "become a fan" of something you liked, a shallow and performative gesture that serves as a metaphor for going through the motions of Christianity without participating with your full heart. Going to church every Sunday is meaningless without loving the process. To illustrate this, Idleman released a serial drama of 6 DVD study episodes about fictitious Eric Nelson, a cutthroat executive and "pleasure seeking rebel" who commits his life to Christ after a stress-induced heart attack. These episodes were condensed to a feature film, which we watched this week, with interstitial sermons narrated by Idleman himself. Nelson's family, shocked at his sudden transformation, does their best to keep up with his newfound enthusiasm but doesn't exactly love the life changes. The Nelsons go from a McMansion in the suburbs to a humble farmhouse, and Eric goes from the boardroom to the soup kitchen. They stay devoted to their patriarch and go along with what he says, but don't really "feel" the love and resent the new Christian austerity. A not-so-shocking tragic ending gives the Nelsons new perspective, and the entire family learns to be Followers of Jesus, not just Fans: people whose devotion to Christ has caused them to take on great sacrifice and inconvenience. Idleman basically says that if you're not feeling the burn of Christianity in your life, you're probably not going hard enough. NOT A FAN is delightful for its now-extremely-dated branding and vocabulary, but is overall a total slog, with constant scenes of death and suffering that don't do a good job of "selling" the Christian lifestyle to casuals. But then again, this DVD is for the Followers, NOT the Fans. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy

A team of the world's top athletes has weighed the pros and cons and concluded: sex really ain't worth it. On IT AIN'T WORTH IT: ATHLETES FOR ABSTINENCE, a whimsical 80s VHS tape with obligatory hip hop aesthetic influence meant to appeal to the youth, former pro basketball player AC Green tells teens that sex is an unnecessary temptation best handled by just saying no. Green's career spanned 16 years in the NBA, during which he set the record for perfect attendance with 1,192 consecutive games played. This earned him the nickname Iron Man, which fans mockingly shifted to Iron Virgin in response to Green's proud claims that he remained a virgin bachelor throughout his entire NBA career as a devout Christian waiting for marriage. Green was surely aware of jokes at his expense, but he held firm to his convictions and spent his career running youth ministries, using his celebrity to connect with Christian teens. While that is a nice sentiment, materials like his tape IT AIN'T WORTH IT provide glaringly inaccurate statistics about sexual health topics like contraceptives and also refuse to acknowledge the real reason teens have sex: because they are horny. Green's thesis seems to be that teen sex culture is purely a result of media influence and social pressure, ignoring that biological processes begin in adolescence that make people actively want sex. There are good reasons for teens to manage these impulses until they are more mature, but the clumsy testimonies of Green and his teen cohorts instead rely on fallacies such as claiming everyone who has sex will get AIDS and that condoms fail 50 percent of the time. Unfortunately for Christians, the message remains laughable and feels as if they themselves are asexual (as opposed to abstinent.) If Christians can't relate to sexual desire, they will never reach teens on an authentic level with an abstinence message. Also, although an original rap song seemed to be a requirement for youth media in the late 80s and early 90s, here it does little to help the abstinence cause. It simply ain't worth it. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy

Subscribe today for access to our full catalog of bonus episodes, including 2+ new episodes every month! www.patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Much of what we know about history is a lie. The biggest lie of them all, both literally and figuratively, is the coverup of the existence of giants. Primary sources such as the Bible (heard of it?) speak of a race called the Nephilim. These larger-than-life offspring of angels and human women have been depicted in documentaries such as NOAH by Darren Aronofsky. Nephilim were said to have been destroyed in the Great Flood, but a race of giant people supposedly persisted on Earth into contemporary times. If this news comes as a surprise to you, there is one group to blame: the evil Smithsonian Institution, whose alleged purpose is to destroy the remains of giant skeletons so the lie of evolution can persist. Fortunately, some brave souls like the creator of A RACE OF GIANTS boldly proclaim this history and were able to sneak it past the censors. The documentary teaches us a few things: 1) that throughout North America, the bones of giant humans and even fossilized remains of their giant tools (pause) have been found and then lost through a series of unfortunate coincidences or outright archaeological malice; 2) that the legend of Big Guys has existed in many ancient cultures for a reason, because sometimes guys are really tall; and 3) that certain findings, such as the famous Guadalupe Woman skeleton embedded in rock formations inappropriate for the generally accepted carbon dating of Earth, supposedly go as far as to disprove the very concept of evolution. Without coming across as overtly Christian, A RACE OF GIANTS makes the case for the young earth creationism described by the Old Testament in a compelling, albeit confusing and roundabout way. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy

Wim Wenders's intriguing and often baffling sequel to WINGS OF DESIRE reunites several actors from the original but places them in a shifting narrative that can be difficult to follow. At times FARAWAY, SO CLOSE! even transforms into a straight mafia crime thriller, a tonal detour that feels sudden and disorienting. In many ways it is clearly a sequel, tying off threads from the first film and expanding its angel mythology in ways that feel almost like fan service. We revisit Damiel, the former angel now living as a human with his trapeze artist wife Marion, happily running a pizza place called Angel's House. The film even repeats the musical cameo idea from the original. Where Nick Cave performed live in WINGS OF DESIRE, here we get a performance from Lou Reed. But other additions feel like they belong to a completely different cosmology. Willem Dafoe plays Emit Flesti, whose name reversed reveals his nature as "Time Itself." The character functions almost like a demon, tormenting angels who have fallen to the human world. These ideas add intriguing layers to Wenders's angel lore, but they also make the mythology far more complicated than the elegant framework established in WINGS OF DESIRE. That earlier film's bold choices, like casting Peter Falk as himself but secretly a former angel, ultimately reinforced its central themes. FARAWAY, SO CLOSE! often feels both too close and too far from its source. The film's ending highlights the tension. Cassiel is killed during an elaborate plot involving a hijacked barge, only for the tragedy to turn into relief when he is restored to angelhood. It raises an odd implication. If fallen angels can simply become angels again after death, the sacrifice at the heart of WINGS OF DESIRE begins to lose its weight. Still, this is not to say we did not enjoy watching FARAWAY, SO CLOSE! It is a fascinating and often strange expansion from one of cinema's most distinctive filmmakers, even if its ambitious ideas occasionally threaten the elegant foundation of the original. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy

Subscribe today for access to our full catalog of bonus episodes, including 2+ new episodes every month! www.patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Sensationalist Christian filmmaker Danny Carrales has a talent for conveying the urgency of Jesus's teachings. It's one thing to hear the words that those who don't accept God's grace will be doomed to a life of eternal torture; it's another thing to actually see this happen to a guy who seemed like a pretty decent person but unfortunately dropped dead before he decided to accept Jesus. In an instant, he's floating above his body, traveling through a pillar of light, until the direction suddenly switches and he screams in terror as the sky around him turns to fire. This is an example of the high drama level of ESCAPE FROM HELL, cowritten by Danny Carrales and Michael Martin, the team who gave us the high-octane rapture movie THE GATHERING and also HEAVEN'S WAR, a CGI-heavy story of the eternal spiritual struggle unseen to humans. ESCAPE FROM HELL inhabits a couple of well-traveled Christian movie tropes. It takes place in a hospital, a frequent setting for faith-based movies, since it's a hub for souls entering and leaving Earth. Also, similar to Australian thriller TABERNACLE 101, the film's action largely concerns a scientifically minded explorer inducing a near-death experience in himself to prove the idea of life beyond death. Both films are like FLATLINERS for Christians, and both show that taking such a risk costs opening the door between worlds in very uncomfortable ways. ESCAPE FROM HELL is probably the more successful of the two for its tight structure, extremely laid-on-thick melodrama of family members crying while their loved ones' souls are experiencing eternal damnation, and weird, campy experimental techniques, like putting a sign saying "Ducks Be Not Proud" on the hospital roof so dying souls can read it before getting to heaven. Every collector of Christian films should have a copy of this VHS on their Bible study shelf, along with THE GATHERING and FINAL EXIT, the Carrales film we plan to watch next. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy  

Did Wim Wenders's WINGS OF DESIRE give a generation of angel films their wings? The seminal German film certainly inspired one major American box office hit: Brad Silberling's CITY OF ANGELS, a loose remake cleverly relocated to Los Angeles. Recently Boys' Bible Study has moved into full-time analysis of the Y2K angel boom in American cinema, and CITY OF ANGELS may be the most essential film of that wave, spawning countless imitations. One of the movie's main draws is its A-list cast. Nicolas Cage plays Seth, an angel stationed at an LA hospital, where he becomes unprofessionally enamored with heart surgeon Dr. Maggie Rice, played by Meg Ryan. Dennis Franz, fresh off his fame from NYPD BLUE, co-stars as Nathaniel Messenger, a hedonistic patient of Dr. Rice who is later revealed to be an angel who chose to "take the fall" and live as a mortal. The idea of angels longing to inhabit the world of flesh is a key trope pioneered by WINGS OF DESIRE, where the fallen angel was portrayed by American actor Peter Falk playing himself. CITY OF ANGELS expands on this idea by making the fallen angel a physically weak, unremarkable everyman, offering Seth a grim preview of the fate that may await him if he gives up eternity for love. After an emotionally intense courtship that unfolds across planes of existence, Maggie and Seth commit to each other, and Seth rejects immortality in order to experience human love and sex. He gets to do this exactly once before a cruel twist of fate, seemingly engineered by a mischievous God, befalls the newly mortal couple. CITY OF ANGELS lays its melodrama on thick and can feel like a tedious watch more than 25 years later, but it remains a well-made artifact of an era when nondenominational angels dominated the airwaves and lived vividly in the public imagination. Humans live briefly, angels live forever, and movies exist somewhere in between. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy

Subscribe today for access to our full catalog of bonus episodes, including 2+ new episodes every month! www.patreon.com/boysbiblestudy The urge to self-categorize as either a jock or a nerd seems inherent to human nature, even though those labels are relatively recent inventions. Today's looksmaxxing culture all over social media is really just a jargon-heavy reskin of those same old tribal attachments, complete with terms like "chad," "stacy," and "subhuman." The TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL episode "Most Likely to Succeed" does a great job showing how everyone still feels trapped by their high school caste, because even if you reinvent yourself, that nostalgic self-identification can be a prison. Case in point, Dennis Loggins was a total nerd in high school, complete with thick glasses and a precocious interest in computers. He was clearly in love with cheerleader Melissa, who treated him with sincere kindness, but her boyfriend, football star Ricky Jessup, made Dennis's life a living hell through cruel bullying. Flash forward ten years and Dennis is now a multimillionaire tech entrepreneur taking meetings with Bill Gates, yet he still harbors intense feelings for Melissa and deep resentment toward Ricky. He plans revenge at their ten year reunion by buying Ricky's football team and kicking him off the starting lineup to intentionally destroy his career. This is where the angels come in. Gloria, played by Valerie Bertanelli, is newly created by God and unfamiliar with the human world, and she poses as Dennis's assistant to earn his trust and convince him to forgive Ricky instead of staying trapped in the past. TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL remains one of our favorite pieces of faith-based media, a campy drama that constantly switches from absurd to melodramatic. The show is often at its best when it feels unconcerned with lore continuity, because it is funnier that way. Plus, the "revenge of the nerds" plot feels especially timely alongside the rise of looksmaxxing streamer Clavicular and his quest to mog the world. We highly recommend "Most Likely to Succeed," and if you watch, stick around for a jaw-dropping musical guest performance that comes out of nowhere and is guaranteed to make you smile. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy

Powerhouse faith-based production company Angel Studios takes a break from raising awareness of human trafficking to bring us a heartwarming tale from the gridiron. THE SENIOR is an inspiring sports drama about a man willing to do whatever it takes to reclaim his former glory. Haunted by regret, 59 year old strength coach Mike Flynt takes the incredible step of rejoining his former college football team, becoming, at the time, the oldest man to play in NCAA Division III. THE SENIOR is based on Flynt's life, though major liberties are taken to make the story more watchable. In reality, Flynt is a bodybuilder and gym equipment entrepreneur who likely rejoined a college team as a kind of brand building publicity stunt. In the film, however, Mike is reimagined as an out of shape construction worker who grinds his way back to a 21 year old's level of athleticism through sheer willpower. It feels more authentic to watch a man pining over his glory days than to imagine him pulling a cynical stunt. THE SENIOR even shows Mike contemplating three football jerseys on the wall, missing a fourth. But why would a man with a career and family harbor regret for decades over a missed opportunity from when he was barely old enough to drink? THE SENIOR tugs the heartstrings in the predictable way most inspirational sports movies do, but it falters when it comes to showing Mike Flynt learning real adult lessons about moving on from regret. Sometimes the man giving the pep talks is the one who needs a pep talk the most. Our special guest this week is Nathan Faustyn (@loosenate) of the Loose Lips by @loosemeat.biz podcast, back on Boys' Bible Study as a dear friend of the show and our go-to sports movie correspondent. Listen to Nathan's podcast Loose Lips: https://looselipsbyloosemeat.libsyn.com  Subscribe to Nathan's podcast Loose Lips on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/LooseLips/  View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy

Subscribe today for access to our full catalog of bonus episodes, including 2+ new episodes every month! www.patreon.com/boysbiblestudy This week we continue our education on the mysterious ways of angels and what they're supposedly up to on Earth, this time by checking out a classic from one of the great film masters, Wim Wenders. What quickly becomes clear is that nearly everything we think we know about angels, whether in highbrow film or lowbrow TV, somehow circles back to TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL, the definitive compilation of contemporary angel lore. WINGS OF DESIRE (1987) is contemporary but predates TBAA, yet it's remarkable how many similarities these works share despite occupying different cultural zones. For all the ways storytellers have tried to mix angels and humans, modern takes tend to rely on the same handful of ideas, treating them like biblical canon even though they're mostly invented. It's fascinating how much angel mythology comes from movies and TV rather than ancient texts, even when it feels old and authoritative. WINGS OF DESIRE is a gorgeously shot film that looks beautiful both in black and white, representing a guardian angel's professional distance, and in color, representing the human world. Its images of angels silently hovering around their charges feel like both a love letter to Berlin and a meditation on angels. The film centers on two angels, Damiel and Cassiel, who independently long for the authenticity of human experience as an escape from their impartial immortality. That longing deepens for Damiel when he falls in love with a mortal circus performer named Marion. An unlikely bridge between worlds appears in Peter Falk, playing himself in an inventive twist on the angel myth. A former angel who gave up immortality to become an actor, Falk communicates with Damiel and Cassiel about mortal life. Will they follow his lead? At Boys' Bible Study, we appreciate the film's inventive addition to the trope: former angels living extraordinary lives on Earth. Using a recognizable name like Peter Falk makes the idea land harder for a celebrity-obsessed audience, pushing the fantasy of angels longing for humanity even further. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy

Can you love a bad man? Can an angel be born yesterday? Can a dog be a Kat? These are the questions that have haunted us for six years of Boys' Bible Study, questions we haven't been able to answer until now. Six is a very powerful number. Put a lot of sixes together and that's the devil. But just one more is seven. And when those two numbers sit next to each other, it's the most evil and powerful force unleashed on mankind, greater than God and greater than Satan. On our anniversary, we like to do a yearly recap episode celebrating the film, TV, and other Christian media that was new to us this past year and that we reviewed on the show. We also commemorate the best of the best with our trademark Golden Calf Awards, honoring creators of outsider media we feel are underrecognized by the lamestream. Some major themes from Boys' Bible Study this year include a deep investigation of angels in media, especially 1990s television, the crowning achievement of which is obviously TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL. We became even more immersed in Christian and inspirational television with WALKER, TEXAS RANGER, HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN, and the more contemporary SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED, while continuing our passion for uncovering faith-based film auteurs. Our favorite discovery of the year was probably the father and son team Jeff and Caleb Johnson. Even more exciting, we acted in one of the films we reviewed. Our brief foray into stardom as cast members of CHI ANN BLAZE OF FURY by 3 ANGELS POWER will be an angel encounter we treasure forever. Some biblical wisdom for our sixth year: And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb." You don't want that to happen, right? So stick tight to your angels and try not to be intoxicated by the evil urges of 666 years of Boys' Bible Study. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy

By watching TIME COLLECTORS we have now "collected" reviews of all three feature films written by Jeff Johnson and directed by Caleb Johnson. We've realized that the father and son team specialize in extremely convoluted plots involving double lives and criminal intrigue, usually with storylines tying together in a manner far more ambitious than your average DIY filmmaker. For instance, 2 TO TANGLE (2013) is about twins who were separated at birth and have never met each other, and all the confusion that could arise from that. ECHO RHYME (2016) involves faked deaths, revenge plots, and a gang of high level jewel thieves. While it's admirable that the Johnsons strive for such vivid storytelling, sometimes it's tedious to watch their films because the details get in the way of the entertainment. Fortunately, TIME COLLECTORS is probably the easiest to follow of the Johnson films, all the more impressive because it was their first major work and director Caleb Johnson was only 17 years old when it was released. TIME COLLECTORS is the story of Sam, a rich and influential Christian paleontologist, who dies in the film's first act and leaves property to his grandson Brad. While executing Sam's will, Brad realizes that Sam has left him clues hinting at an archaeological discovery so big that it could rock scientists' understanding of geological history, specifically that it would prove young earth creationism, the conservative Christian belief that the earth is only 6,000 years old based on certain biblical interpretations, is true and backed by scientific evidence. It turns out that Sam is in possession of the skeletons of human giants, which blows the lid off a massive conspiracy to cover up biblical truths in the academy. A gang of criminal toughs will stop at nothing to prevent this discovery from reaching the public. This entertaining Christian film is worth a watch for its explanation of the Christian myth of the giant Nephilim, but it also shows a common yearning we see in the genre for matters of faith to be proven without a doubt by science, something that seems contrary to what "faith" means. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy

Subscribe today for access to our full catalog of bonus episodes, including 2+ new episodes every month! www.patreon.com/boysbiblestudy In the past, natural occurrences such as sunsets and eclipses were thought to be miracles. Now, human reason has solved many mysteries, yet occurrences still happen that boggle the mind and make us wonder if there is still angelic influence on Earth. In the mid-90s, a TV series documented these freak happenings. COULD IT BE A MIRACLE? is an entertaining anthology of documented miracles retold with dramatic reenactments, and it also represents the non-denominational love of angels that permeated 1990s American media. We at Boys' Bible Study have examined this phenomenon previously by covering TV and film such as TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL and MICHAEL (1996), where ordinary people who are not devout Christians call upon angels in their lives without referencing Jesus or God specifically. COULD IT BE A MIRACLE? aids this worldview by presenting pulp authors of books about angels as expert witnesses and retelling stories of guardian angels and messenger spirits. In one example, a "tall, elegant nurse" rescues a hospitalized child from the brink of death by injecting him with "angel power." In another, a man is warned against boarding a train doomed to crash by the spirit of his identical twin brother who died as a baby. Expert witness Eileen Freeman claims angels are a different species, neither divine nor human, so apparitions of dead loved ones are not true "angel sightings," since the spirits of the dead are only "messengers." This idea is not backed up by biblical theology, but it feels nice, so most people were happy to let figures like Freeman make a lot of stuff up back in the 90s. Now that people experiencing religious psychosis get all their energy out by having frantic conversations with ChatGPT, is there any room for angels in big 2026? Angel sightings may have gone down, but one thing is true: TV "angelslop" like COULD IT BE A MIRACLE? is higher quality than the AI YouTube brainrot slop of our contemporary age. With lovingly composed music and graphic design, even a stupid program like this one feels like a miracle compared to what we have now. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy

This notorious VHS tape has taken on a second life on the Internet as a treasured relic of found footage. Recorded live at First Baptist Church in Perrine, Florida (year unknown), LIL MARKIE LIVE IN MIAMI is a rare chance to see Christian entertainer Mark Fox fully embody his iconic Lil Markie character in the flesh. Lil Markie is basically Mr. Fox doing a cartoonish child's voice, which in practice sounds like a combination of TV characters Elmo from Sesame Street and Meatwad from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. As Lil Markie, Mark Fox recorded multiple albums. He is perhaps most known for "Diary of an Unborn Child," a spoken word monologue recorded over jazz piano in which Fox uses the Lil Markie voice to narrate what an unborn child might say to his mommy in the womb before his untimely abortion. But Fox mostly inhabits Lil Markie as an unelected spokesperson for real, living children. In his live special, he takes aim at selfish adult actions that make children sad, mainly divorce, moms going to work, and dads watching too much TV. He advocates for daddies to "date" their daughters and for divorce to be outlawed. He also finds time to monologue extensively about his favorite show Alvin and the Chipmunks, and to sing a song about loving the world in which each verse is a crude racist stereotype of a different race. Ultimately LIL MARKIE LIVE IN MIAMI feels too dark for kids and too uncanny for adults, a perfectly useless piece of family entertainment that alienates Christians of all ages. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy

Subscribe today for access to our full catalog of bonus episodes, including 2+ new episodes every month! www.patreon.com/boysbiblestudy This brand new installment in the HANK'S CHRISTMAS WISH series was released just a few weeks ago and adds a key legendary figure to the Hankiverse Christmas pantheon: Elvis. Directed by West Virginia's finest filmmaker, Jason Campbell, the yearly updates to the HANK'S CHRISTMAS WISH saga show the series becoming increasingly meta and disjointed. Although it's clear the HANK films are meant to be lighthearted, silly romps, as Campbell fanatics we found ourselves distracted by the confusing lore updates in this entry. For instance, is the titular character Hank actually an elf, or just a human who transracially identifies as one? The series long implied he had magical abilities, but HANK 3 reveals that Hank was a human orphan rescued by Santa as a boy. This unfortunately undercuts the entire plot of HANK 2, which focused heavily on racial tensions between elves and snowmen, a conflict that feels pointless if Hank is the Rachel Dolezal of elfdom. Elvis's relationship with Santa is even more bewildering. Flashbacks show Elvis living at the North Pole as the "third" of Santa and Mrs. Claus, yet when he appears in the present he is described as "a ghost." If ELVIS LIVES, as the title proudly announces, why would he be a ghost? Alive or dead, we're at least lucky Elvis is able to save Christmas. The central conflict involves a biker gang hired to bring "edge" to the town Christmas parade, who secretly plan to sabotage it by burning the tree and tearing down decorations. Gang leaders Slider and Onyx kidnap Hank, but Elvis appears to Slider and convinces him not to commit kristallnacht against Christians. This resolves the plot in roughly 25 minutes, leaving the rest of the film as random and inconsequential meditations on Christmas. Ultimately, HANK'S CHRISTMAS WISH 3 is refreshing because it is a Christian film more interested in having fun than evangelizing, but the confusing writing fries the brain instead of warming the heart. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy

Just when you thought you had meditated enough on the true meaning of Christmas, Santa's favorite aged former elf reminds you that you still have so much to learn. Hank returns in the sequel to the popular, at least to us, HANK'S CHRISTMAS WISH, directed by West Virginia film icon Jason Campbell, bringing back many of the familiar faces from the first film for another round of holiday magic. Remember Tippee and Toes, the elves? No? You don't? Well, too bad, because they're back. Bella has been recast and is largely absent, as she and her husband Kevin are away on a mission trip to Africa, but her brother Liam is still working in Hank's independently contracted toy workshop. Mayor Dean, played by actor and ICE agent Dean Cain, continues his agreeable stewardship of the town's Christmas festivities. Now openly known as a real elf and former custodian of Santa, Hank has more influence than before and uses it to push for a town production of The Nutcracker, choreographed by local dance teacher Heather. Mayor Dean quickly agrees, motivated by the fact that Heather is single and he is looking for love. The holiday peace is disrupted by Frosty, a Christmas comedian hired by the town council whose jealousy over The Nutcracker leads him to spread the common cold throughout the town. Frosty is revealed to be the son of Jack Frost, a former North Pole intern alienated by the elves, a grudge he still holds. It's a creative and contemporary take on familiar Christmas cultural tropes, and Jason Campbell succeeds at what seems to be his goal of making a family-friendly Christmas film that pays lip service to Jesus without hitting you over the head with religious themes, allowing you to relax and enjoy your hot cocoa. It's honestly refreshing that the film isn't so serious, though its greatest flaw may be its characterization of Frosty, who is a genuinely annoying screen presence largely because his entire thing is being the brunt of fat jokes. Lesson learned: never hire a Christmas comedian to do an elf's job! View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy

Is a heart transplant also a soul transplant? A real-life news story from 2008 concerns Sonny Graham, a heart transplant recipient who married his donor's wife and ultimately committed suicide in the exact same method as his donor. Likely inspired by this bizarre event is ECHO RHYME, a Christian thriller with far too many plot points, but mostly about a career criminal who receives a Christian's heart transplant and gets saved. ECHO RHYME is by director Caleb Johnson and his son and frequent writing collaborator Jeff Johnson, who also made 2 TO TANGLE, a film we absolutely love that is also about shared souls and tangled identity, in this case involving the lives of two identical twins separated at birth. The Johnsons have clearly built up their skill set for the ambitious ECHO RHYME, but in growing have bitten off more than they can chew with the film's concept. ECHO RHYME protagonist Frank is a gallery artist and jewel thief who practices martial arts, but when he does a hit on a devout Christian man on behalf of his jealous ex–business partner, he sets off a chain of events that leads to him inheriting the heart. Confused yet? It does not stop there, as the heart begins influencing his own Christian thought, inspiring a mission trip to Central America, where another rival gang targets him and he learns a secret that links every character in the movie in a bizarre web. It is too much to handle, and the first 20 minutes of the movie's exposition are impossible to parse on first watch. The artistic spirit of the genuinely talented Johnson family comes through in this enthusiastic feature, but ultimately ECHO RHYME would have been stronger with some serious editing. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy

This shocking Christian film about the power of forgiveness at all costs will stun you with its gripping plot twists and the hilarious Stephen Baldwin reveal (in prison at the 30min mark, covered in drawn-on white supremacist tattoos). LOVING THE BAD MAN is by director, producer, and writer Péter Engart, an extremely competent filmmaker with a few features under his belt, each featuring a faith-based celebrity cameo. Stephen Baldwin is a recurring presence in this genre, and he is extremely entertaining here as "the ethical Nazi" who leads a white gang in prison. But the real star is Cree Kelly as Julie, a beautiful and humble Christian girl who missions to juvenile delinquents while working at a grocery store. When her car breaks down late at night outside a dive bar, she goes inside for help and is raped by Mike Connor, a mechanic with rage issues. Julie's rape becomes an unexpected miracle when she becomes pregnant and decides to keep the baby, much to her family's chagrin as they beg her to end the pregnancy. She then commits to the ultimate Christian project of "loving the bad man," taking her baby to the prison for daily visits with her rapist so he can be part of his son's life. Mike is bewildered and angry at first, but Julie's persistent kindness slowly brings him to Christ, although violent racial tensions between black, white, and latino gangs threaten his newfound inner peace. LOVING THE BAD MAN works because the actors give their performances total commitment. The film stays surprisingly believable despite a plot that would feel unrealistic to most viewers, including many Christians. It often reads like a male fantasy of how an ideal Christian woman should respond to tragedy, rather than a sympathetic portrait of a woman's strength. Its approach to race relations also has to be seen to be believed. Overall, LOVING THE BAD MAN is one of the most entertaining films we have ever watched for this podcast, thanks to its fascinating and deeply insensitive portrayals of some of the darkest corners of human behavior. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy

"In 1994, at age 40, Pastor Richard Gazowsky saw his first movie. Later that year, he received a vision from God." So begins the saga of AUDIENCE OF ONE, a brilliant documentary that serves as a cultural Rosetta stone for our podcast, an intimate portrait of where faith in God meets faith in movies. It's both a monument to the power of belief and a sobering testimony of how unchecked pride can poison spiritual authority. Director Michael Jacobs was given deep access to Gazowsky, his family, and his church (Voice of Pentecost, San Francisco). The film opens as the congregation-turned-film crew prepares their first feature. Having felt "called" by God to make a movie, Gazowsky appoints himself director and enlists family, parishioners, and a few hired outsiders despite no one having experience. Their ambitious project, GRAVITY: THE SHADOW OF JOSEPH, reimagines the biblical story of Joseph as a futuristic, Star Wars-inspired epic to be shot in Italy. Funded through church offerings, the production quickly spirals. Gazowsky secures favors and finances he can't repay, including a $17,000-per-month studio he's eventually evicted from. His leadership is strikingly confident, and he makes quick decisions and commands authority, but many are disastrous. He insists the film be shot on 70mm at 60 frames per second, a technically absurd and prohibitively expensive choice. In Italy, the crew manages to film only two incomplete, soundless scenes before the production collapses. Yet Gazowsky remains undeterred. In the film's haunting conclusion, he preaches that his next plan is to create a company producing 47 films a year, alongside resorts, airlines, and a space program. Gazowsky's faith seems consumed by ambition, though his audacity occasionally borders on genius. Still, his willingness to endanger and exploit his congregation, including children on unsafe sets, feels reckless and cruel. AUDIENCE OF ONE is an extreme but eye-opening look at faith-based film, where the movie is a powerful totem that allows the filmmaker to create an idol to both himself and God. In a roundabout way, it is an inspiring tale of faith, art, and the creative spirit. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy

Christian imagery and biblical references abound in this violent early 1990s crime thriller, tonally similar to THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS is a lesser-known entry in the 1990s serial killer canon. Instead of a theatrical run, it premiered on HBO in 1993, which may have contributed to its obscurity. That's unfortunate, because the movie takes creative risks and deserves to be reevaluated as a cult classic. The film stars Scott Glenn as FBI Special Agent Stephen Broderick, a family man whose crime scene experience makes him a natural choice to investigate the Provo Canyon Massacre, a brutal child murder committed by someone calling himself "God." A man awaits execution for the crime, but Broderick believes the real killer is still at large. His son Jesse, played by Jesse Cameron-Glickenhaus (the real-life son of director James Glickenhaus), is a precocious 10-year-old computer whiz whose tech skills help his dad link the massacre to a recent abduction in the same Utah area. Jesse's inclusion is one of the film's funniest choices—it's bizarre to see a cheerful 10-year-old browsing crime scene photos and discussing grisly details of child violence. For us at Boys' Bible Study, SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS stands out for its Christian imagery. The "God" killer, Mordecai Booth (Zitto Kazann), is consumed by a biblical obsession so intense he even steals two giraffes from a zoo to honor Noah's Ark. The title itself comes from the biblical story of King Herod slaughtering infants to prevent Jesus's rise. The final scene is so strange and powerful that we won't spoil it, but it perfectly captures what we love to see as a Christian film review podcast. Though this is a secular movie, it features two actors familiar from faith-based cinema: Kevin Sorbo as FBI agent John Willison and Michael D. Weatherred (of THE BUTTERCREAM GANG) in a small role. We love when secular films engage with biblical imagery, even when it borders on blasphemy. The aura Christian symbolism lends to a story—its power to evoke awe, fear, and moral imagination—shows religion's lasting influence on culture's darkest corners. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy