Boys' Bible Study

Subscribe today for access to our full catalog of bonus episodes, including 2+ new episodes every month! www.patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Another entry in the noble genre of “Christian one-man show,” ST. JOHN IN EXILE stars career stage and screen actor Dean Jones as the exiled saint on the island of Patmos. We were excited to review this filmed stage production, since we’re huge fans of other one-man pieces of Bible fanfiction and inspirational slop—like Curt Cloninger’s WITNESSES (a true VHS classic) and Mike Adkins’s A MAN CALLED NORMAN, a beloved sermon distributed by Focus on the Family. Both of those productions feature their leads absolutely killing it and drawing heavy laughter and applause from captive audiences. ST. JOHN IN EXILE is no exception. The late Dean Jones was clearly a trained actor, with a film career dating back to the late 1950s, including many classic family films such as THAT DARN CAT and THE COMPUTER WORE TENNIS SHOES. He kept acting well into his golden years, with his final performance in the 2009 Christian movie GOD PROVIDES. For the math-challenged, that’s over 50 years of regular acting work, much of it devoted to uplifting the Word of God or making wholesome entertainment for families. These decades of experience pay off in a captivating performance as St. John. Jones is a huge asset to the material, which would be extremely boring without his investment in the role. Unfortunately, the script in ST. JOHN IN EXILE is a little too straight-laced to match the wild, wonderful turns of WITNESSES, which we love for its constantly shifting perspective and Curt Cloninger’s 10+ voices and personalities. Still, the film raises some interesting questions about biblical history—insisting that the same St. John authored both the Gospel of John and Revelation, a belief once common but now challenged by contemporary scholarship. We only wish ST. JOHN IN EXILE had leaned into some insane end-times visionary type shit. Regardless, Dean Jones’s performance and the film’s enduring place in the Christian media video world make it a must-have for collectors and completists of the faith-based film genre. 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

The long-awaited third film in the notorious anti-Catholic parkour LEAP trilogy follows its lo-fi predecessors LEAP (2010) and LEAP: RISE OF THE BEAST (2011), continuing to proselytize its staunch anti-Vatican message with an athletic twist. Director Christopher Tempel returns, now armed with a drone camera, and delivers a crisp, ambitious reboot to a series that clearly holds nostalgic value for him despite his open disappointment in the first two films, which he considers amateurish. Characters Blake, the handsome parkour-running college boy lead, and Liz, his hometown girlfriend who works at her grandmother’s coffee shop, even watch LEAP: RISE OF THE BEAST within the movie, creating a truly meta moment. Blake remarks, “It’s a little cheesy.” Liz agrees but adds, “Better than the first one… the director spent like $200,” prompting Blake’s deadpan “Woof!” Ironically, the first two LEAP films feel more authentic and excited, with a scrappy auteur spirit that this reboot largely sacrifices in favor of Tempel’s improved technical precision. Still, LEAP (2025) features striking special effects, including a chilling scene where blood runs from a tap until a “blessed” character touches it, suddenly turning the water clear. The “blessed” in this film are Seventh Day Adventist sabbath keepers like Blake and Liz, who resist Catholic programming that encourages Sunday worship over Saturday. Tempel doubles down on his outspoken belief that a literal reading of the Bible naturally leads to Seventh Day Adventism, portraying Christianity as having been “pranked” by the devil and his servant, the Vatican, into dishonoring God’s true way—ensuring that many sincere Christians will end up in hell. It is one of the harshest, most legalistic interpretations of Protestantism, suggesting that God values paperwork over love. This uncompromising message, paired with the film’s polished digital effects and fully AI-generated soundtrack, results in a cold, tedious viewing experience. 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 We kick off football season with a review of a new film by prolific Christian director Jason Campbell. WE BELIEVE, which even features a cameo by former Superman actor Dean Cain, takes an impressionistic look at a real high school football community in St. Mary’s, West Virginia, centering on the inspirational story of coach Jodi Mote. Grounded in fact, the film makes odd leaps into seemingly fictional storylines about St. Mary’s students, an attempt to introduce conflict while staying inoffensive to the community. That tension becomes the film’s biggest weakness. WE BELIEVE was cowritten by Campbell, Jodi Mote, and his wife Brandy, so the Motes clearly have a personal stake in telling the story of Jodi’s sudden stroke, which left him unable to coach the St. Mary’s Blue Devils during a crucial season. He was temporarily replaced by Bill Hanlin, a local legend remembered for coaching an undefeated season in 1963. The film’s action drifts between Mote’s recovery (as his team and special ed students miss him), Hanlin instilling Christian values in the Blue Devils, and contrived side plots: a Danish freshman exchange student turned field-goal kicker, and a troubled teen named Trey whose broken home pushes him into drinking and sexual temptation. The Danish subplot is especially bizarre, since actor Addison Dattilo, tattooed and visibly closer to 28 than 14, plays the role with the vibe of a California surfer instead of a homesick exchange student. In general, it is disappointing that the only conflicts (underage drinking, divorce, high school politics) are fictionalized; meanwhile the true story is flattened. The film would be far more compelling if it explored Mote’s actual challenges. What did loneliness and frustration feel like for a devout Christian man whose body had failed him? To admit weakness, however, would cut against the film’s purpose: flattering its collaborators. 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

While most Roblox gamers are busy with worldly pursuits such as “dressing to impress” or “stealing a brainrot,” MinisterMatt and his Robloxian Children of God Ministries are using the popular gaming platform to spread the word of God. We review an hour-long Christian narrative special created entirely in Roblox called STANDING WITH GOD, subdivided into three episodes: “Challenges,” “Trials and Faith,” and “I Believe.” The story follows a college-aged protagonist named John as he navigates the conflicts between personal faith and a secular world. Filmed entirely on location in the popular Roblox RP server Brookhaven, John begins his first term at Brookhaven School and immediately struggles with self-doubt. His new friends accept his faith but treat it as a curiosity, accusing him of being “abnormal” for requesting wine-free drinks at parties instead of getting drunk like the rest. Teachers at the school target Christian students by “preaching” pro-evolution lectures that are explicitly anti-God, while the looming threat of LGBTQ acceptance encroaches on everyday life, as rainbow-haired men go on dates with each other in full public view. What’s a Robloxian Christian to do? John seeks guidance from an older Christian mentor, a famous pastor whose program he follows on television. But more significant than the actual plot of STANDING WITH GOD (which is admittedly hard to follow thanks to the static Roblox animation and the unrelenting monotone of robot voices) is the sheer fact that a group of internet believers banded together to create a feature-length production using only the resources immediately available to them. The boundaries between film and performance, roleplay and acting, blur as the conventional movie set is digitized, and actors log into location (the RP server) in costume (avatar) to perform film ministry. STANDING WITH GOD proves that, just like “IRL” film production, it’s not the size of your Robux budget but the urgency of your message that makes for truly passionate filmmaking. 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

We first fell in love with the film character Gramps and his anti-evolution hijinks when we watched GRAMPS GOES TO COLLEGE (2014), one of the most outrageous Christian films of all time. We knew we’d eventually explore the entire Gramps cinematic universe. We continue our journey with IN GRAMPS’ SHOES, the confident first entry in this series, which, based on its morbid ending, does not feel like it’s setting itself up for a sequel. Thankfully, writer Donald James Parker and director Chip Rosetti broke canon and persisted. Donald James Parker’s work as Gramps could be compared to Jacques Tati’s “Monsieur Hulot”: an archetypal clown character wandering through our overly complex modern society and exposing its foibles. In IN GRAMPS’ SHOES, Gramps heals the broken modern nuclear family by moving into his adult daughter’s house and making a positive male role model impression on her teenage son and daughter. Sixteen-year-old Scott has taken up smoking cigarettes, is curious about marijuana, and in general has a grumpy, antisocial teenage attitude that needs to be healed with Christ’s love. Gramps challenges Scott and his teenage cohorts to a footrace, which Gramps clears spectacularly, given that his passion is long-distance running. This inspires the whole family to take up cross-country racing, culminating in a climactic scene where Scott wins his high school cross-country meet and the heart of a Christian runner girl on the team, who he secures as his prom date. But it wouldn’t be a Gramps movie without hearing Gramps take aim at pop culture unrelated to the main events of the film; IN GRAMPS’ SHOES chooses to attack the HARRY POTTER series of books and films, saying they are “bait” to lure kids away from the church and toward a life of witchcraft and wizardry. Gramps states that things loved by many people are probably ungodly, because what God loves is not the same as what man loves. That’s good news for IN GRAMPS’ SHOES, because not a lot of people like this movie, so God probably loves 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

The tension between faith and delusion builds to a thrilling climax in FRAILTY, the Bill Paxton-directed y2k crime drama with Christian themes. Matthew McConaughey, who we recently reviewed as a cast member of 1994’s ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD, stars as a man recounting his troubled childhood as the son of a religiously-motivated murderer (Bill Paxton) to a detective (Powers Boothe) who is trying to solve the case of the God’s Hand killer. This killer, who McConaughey’s character Fenton believes is his own brother Adam, targets seemingly random victims who are allegedly demons in human form. According to Fenton, his brother Adam is carrying out the legacy of their father, who experienced religious psychosis that led to a series of murders carried out with an axe the man believed to be a magical weapon provided by God. Young Fenton and Adam react to their father’s passion for God and murder in different ways; Adam’s naive admiration for his father foils Fenton’s teenage skepticism. The two boys are possibly a metaphor for the human journey of faith and doubt, a reading supported by a surprising twist revealing the true nature of God’s prophecy. FRAILTY does a great job of exploring Christian themes in an edgy way that condemns blind faith while still understanding the importance of faith itself. 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

TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL returns to our watchlist with another episode from its triumphant season 8, possibly one of the best runs in all of television history. Using its “human of the week” format, TBAA stars Roma Downey as Monica, Della Reese as Tess, John Dye as Andrew (the angel of death) and Valerie Bertinelli as the dumbass angel-in-training Gloria (our favorite character.) Gloria and Andrew figure prominently in “The Birthday Present”, the story of a mail carrier accidentally uncovering brutal child abuse in an idyllic suburban neighborhood. Mailman Chuck, portrayed by frequent Christian media star and former sitcom actor Kirk Cameron, is struggling with the death of his grandmother when he accidentally kills a boy with his mail truck after the boy suddenly runs into the road. When apologizing to the boy’s father, Chuck encounters a loaded gun carelessly disposed of in the front yard and realizes the young boy ordered it illegally off the internet to kill his father. Meanwhile, the boy’s sister is missing after hiding from her father’s abuse in a nearby nuclear bomb shelter (???) and being protected by Tess, who for some reason talks in baby voice the whole episode. In typical TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL fashion, human and angel stories weave together effortlessly to prove that God endlessly punishes the weak while enabling their oppressors — and this is a good thing. The addition of Kirk Cameron’s confident guest starring performance fully bridges the gap that TBAA straddles between niche Christian entertainment and mainstream pop culture. 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 “And twins!” This Christian romantic thriller about identical twins performing emotional terrorism on a Christian woman will make you believe in love during this Valentines-Day-in-July season. 2 TO TANGLE is one of a few feature films created by the son/father team (respectively) of director Caleb Johnson and writer Jeff Johnson. Per Caleb Johnson’s self-written iMDb bio, Caleb directed his first film TIME COLLECTORS at the age of 17, before immediately moving onto 2 TO TANGLE, which won him international acclaim and was even sold at Walmart! 2 TO TANGLE is pretty accessible for a DIY faith-based film, mostly because the whirlwind plot is insanely stimulating. Young Christian woman Jess is on the rocks with her boyfriend Tom, an inventor/entrepreneur who doesn’t share her Christian faith. A struggling relationship is made even worse when Jess’s coworker finds Tom on a Christian dating website. Jess catfishes Tom by signing up for the website under the screen name “Pocahontas” and messages him in disguise; she ends up catching feelings for Tom’s online persona. But things are not what they seem when Jess learns the man she’s messaging is actually Tom’s secret twin brother Michael, who is also an inventor/entrepreneur for some reason. This kicks off a bizarre series of events involving car crashes, evil spirits (!!!) and a long makeover sequence. 2 TO TANGLE has the madcap precocious energy of DIY filmmakers wanting to put absolutely everything they can think of into their film. The barely coherent plot will keep you guessing until the final scene of the movie. 2 TO TANGLED is the fun type of Christian film where if you showed it to someone not hip to the genre, they would describe it as a train wreck, but if you watch faith-based films every week (as we do here at BBS) you would find it a delightful “breath of fresh air.” 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

Do you ever reminisce about the good old days? We took a trip down memory lane to a time when political decisions were based on strong moral values, and when faith allowed men of consequence to weather tumultuous times. Our source material for this nostalgia sesh is GEORGE W. BUSH: FAITH IN THE WHITE HOUSE, a “documentary” (heavy emphasis on the scare quotes) produced by GRIZZLY ADAMS creator Charles E. Sellier Jr. and hosted by conservative radio host Janet Parshall. The thesis of the documentary is that the 43rd American president’s strong personal Christian faith is what gave him strength during the September 11th terrorist attacks, the toughest circumstances ever beset upon an American president since George Washington. On the DVD jacket for the documentary, it bills itself as alternative programming to Michael Moore’s FAHRENHEIT 9/11, a cultural product also from 2004 that argues active malice among politicians and the media class leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths in the Iraq War. Wanting to be more fair and balanced than Michael Moore, GEORGE W. BUSH: FAITH IN THE WHITE HOUSE takes the funny tone of pretending to present sides of praise and criticism of George W. Bush, but then immediately settling on the most maudlin stories of Bush giving great hugs and being caring to his staffers during hard times in their lives. The obvious point of view here is to launder Bush’s difficult and destructive political decisions through the lens of him being a real sweetie. The stories of Bush’s day-to-day demeanor may be true, but how does that explain his desire to enter the Iraq War? Did God guide Bush to the “lesser of two evils” that protected American lives and liberated the Islamic world? I guess we’ll never know for sure, because God hasn’t allowed us to live in the reality where we saw the other side. It could have been even worse! GEORGE W. BUSH: FAITH IN THE WHITE HOUSE assures us that is probably the case; after all, Bush’s is constantly seen praying in the Oval Office, always wears a suit, and donated money to the evangelical “crusades” of roving minister Arthur Blessitt, whom he met at a Holiday Inn. A guy like that is probably gonna do the right thing, so don’t worry about 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

To celebrate Father’s Day, we spend time with the story of one of the most important Old Testament patriarchs as depicted by acclaimed American filmmaker Darren Aronofsky. NOAH takes great liberties with the biblical legend of Noah, adding elements inspired by the pseudepigraphical Book of Enoch. In Aronofsky’s NOAH, the harsh realities of day-to-day life in Bible times are exaggerated with high fantasy elements. The most notable addition to the story are the giant stone “Watchers”,  towering giants whose stone exteriors imprison the souls of fallen angels doomed to wander Earth. These Watchers have a relationship with Noah’s family, who they see as some of the last remaining humans on earth who care about doing God‘s will. Noah (Russell Crowe) hears the call of the Lord in a mysterious dream, which is later expanded upon when Noah’s grandfather Methuselah (Anthony Hopkins) feeds Noah an ayahuasca-like hallucinogen, revealing the Great Flood and its brutal cleansing of the earth. Methuselah also gives Noah a seed from the garden of Eden, allowing Noah to carry on the esoteric knowledge of the garden to the new family line he will begin once the earth is destroyed. However, Noah is apprehensive about repopulating the Earth with humans who are by their nature prone to sin. He vows to kill the twins carried by his daughter-in-law Ila (Emma Watson) if they turn out to be girls, so humans will go extinct. He also doesn’t let his incel son Ham (Logan Lerman) take a goth e-girl to be his wife. Fortunately, Noah’s innate sense of human decency prevails (at least with Ila), because if he had killed Ila’s babies, we wouldn’t be alive to have a podcast today. Aronofsky’s adaptation of Noah is similar to THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST in the fact that it executes a Bible story with a mixture of ambitious high fantasy and gritty realness. It’s admirable that Aronofsky is able to turn one of the most implausible Bible stories into something that feels real. 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

Before there was TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL there was HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN, an 80s sitcom that may be the blueprint for the angel media craze that swept American pop culture at the end of the 20th century. HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN was created and directed by American television legend Michael Landon, who also stars in the series as the angel Jonathan Smith. Landon, known for his roles on all-American historical dramas BONANZA and LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, enlisted his former LITTLE HOUSE… co-star Victor French to play Jonathan Smith’s buddy Mark Gordon, a retired policeman (and mortal human) who accompanies Jonathan on his weekly assignments to use angelic influence to improve people’s lives. God is referred to as “The Boss” in the series; this world-building is consistent with TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL’s commitment to never discussing Jesus’s sacrifice or the concept of sin on network television. Both series only refer to a faceless God and His angelic messengers who can impact earthly forces. This week on BBS, we chose to explore this historical television series in our ongoing study of angel media, focusing on an episode with a trope we love: body swap. On previous BBS episodes ME AGAIN and SWITCHED we discuss the sub-genre of Christian body swap stories, and HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN s1e20 “The Banker and the Bum” is a triumphant new entry in that category. When homeless man Willy the Waver (Ned Beatty) has 24 hours to live, he makes a simple wish to tell elitist mayoral candidate Melvin Rich (also played by Ned Beatty) to “be nice”. Angel Jonathan Smith grants this wish by swapping the two men’s positions, teaching Melvin Rich an important lesson on empathy for others. The character of Willy the Waver reminds us of a common trope in Christian media: the homeless person who does unnecessary “kindness” to others that no one asked for in order to prove his unfortunate life is cheerful (in this case, waving to random cars on the road on a strict schedule like it’s his job.) “The Banker and the Bum” is both a charming tale of acceptance and a reminder of the shallow understanding much Christian media has of homeless people. 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 For the first time in the history of our podcast, we are reviewing a film in which we co-starred. This is CHI ANN BLAZE OF FURY, the brand new film by 3Angels Power, a Canadian film production company based in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. In 2019, BBS co-host Julian struck up a friendship and artistic relationship with the Karam sisters (Gladys, Mona Lisa, and Jeanne d’arc) whose films he found by accident after misspelling a search term on YouTube. He was immediately captivated by the creative writing and directing of the sisters’ 2013 feature film FRANCESKA FINGER NAILZ, a 3 hour long epic about a misunderstood spirit wreaking havoc on a rural Canadian town. Julian wrote to the 3Angels, offering to film any script they sent to us with a troupe of actors. Weeks later, we had a script in hand for several scenes of a film that would become CHI ANN BLAZE OF FURY. We got about 20 of our friends together, drove to Marina del Rey and recorded a long scene on a beach in which a group of people discuss love and philosophy while fielding phone calls warning them to the existence of yet another evil spirit named Chi Ann. A long time passes and we are unsure about the status of the production; six years later, 3Angels surprise posts the film and we get to watch in its entirety. As fans and promoters of DIY filmmaking, it was so exciting to yield our will to filmmakers we admire and do whatever they asked us to do to realize their vision. 3Angels have a unique command of language and storytelling. No films look and sound like theirs. We’re proud to be involved, and we hope our review inspires lovers of film to watch CHI ANN BLAZE OF FURY, subscribe to 3Angels’ channel, and stay tuned to their electrifying updates. Watch CHI ANN BLAZE OF FURY for free on YouTube: https://youtu.be/NWUde4NBhSM?si=9ptEXxdSHb2pN810 While watching, please like and subscribe 3Angels' channel to support creative DIY filmmaking.

In the 1990s, filmmakers and audiences seemed obsessed with “magic men” who caused chaos in their communities while teaching everyone an important lesson. Some of these men were angels; some of them were just weird little freaks who made a big difference. Some examples of this: POWDER, MEET JOE BLACK, PHENOMENON, and another John Travolta starring film called MICHAEL. MICHAEL is an interesting hybrid magic man/religious film where this “magic man” archetype is also the archangel Michael from the Bible. This device allows the film to be safe-religious while not directly invoking Jesus, a storytelling technique also used by popular Y2K-era television show TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL. In the film, Michael is an angel discovered living in Iowa by tabloid reporters who specialize on documenting unexplained phenomena. When they travel to meet Michael, they find out he is indeed a real angel, but not in the way that most of us would expect to experience one. He is sweet, but with bad manners, and prone to seducing earth women because he’s very interested in sex with them. Michael also introduces new rules of angel encounters on earth: for instance, angels are only allowed to visit earth 26 times and they can only perform small miracles. Inventing fake angel tropes outside of the Bible is a very common device of these safe religious 90s films, usually used to tie up plot continuity issues. In the end, Michael’s secret mission is to unite the characters Frank (played by William Hurt) and Dorothy (played by Andie MacDowell) in a romantic love they will treasure forever. Although it’s a sweet but ultimately quite stupid film that uses half-baked angel powers as a cop out, MICHAEL is an extremely interesting study in trends of biblical imagery in mainstream pop culture of the recent past. 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 infamous sci-fi film is perhaps the church of Scientology’s biggest attempt to ingratiate itself with mainstream culture. BATTLEFIELD EARTH is based on a novel by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, whose end goal was to adapt this book into a Hollywood film. Hubbard made an attempt in the mid-1980s to produce the adaptation himself, but it failed, and Hubbard died in 1986. Hubbard had hinted to John Travolta, a prominent Scientologist, that Hubbard would have liked Travolta to star in the film. Travolta took it upon himself to bring BATTLEFIELD EARTH to life in the mid-90s, eventually co-producing and starring as Terl, the dreadlocked 9-foot-tall antagonist of the film. Travolta’s character Terl is a “Psychlo”, a colonial race of humanoid aliens on a universe-wide mission to strip less powerful planets of their resources. 3000 years in the future, earth is one of these planets. Johnny Goodboy is a human “man-animal” living like a post apocalyptic caveman and being hunted by the Psychlos. When Terl meets Johnny, Terl enslaves the human, thinking him inferior, but Johnny quickly adapts to Psychlo civilization and reads the historical Declaration of Independence which inspires him to thwart his captors with a daring escape. Although BATTLEFIELD EARTH doesn’t demonstrate much about the Scientologist doctrine, perhaps it proves that Hubbard’s main spiritual goal was aimed at the lowest heights possible — achieve fame and attention in the Hollywood system.  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 We’re back with coverage of TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL, the television series that may hold the key to understanding the American psyche once and for all. The popular 90s and 2000s era show uses an “angel of the week” format as each story is about different angels inflicting themselves upon the lives of hapless humans. This week we focus on SIGN OF THE DOVE, a dueling angel experience which interweaves stories of Andrew (angel of death, portrayed by John Dye) and Monica (the show’s protagonist, played by Roma Downey) helping two humans whose life paths have woven for generations. Andrew tells us the story of a human family he’s been taking to heaven since the 1200s, including delightful time travel skits in period costumes (such as Revolutionary War-era powdered wigs.) Ben Mason is the last of this family; unfortunately he doesn’t know he’s about to perish in a bombing by his neighbor Nick Freeman, who doesn’t mean harm to Ben but wants to collect insurance money and will kill Ben by accident. The history of a freed African American slave could be the key that unlocks Nick’s humanity and prevents him from setting the fateful bomb. While we’re waiting at the edge of our seats, we ponder the angel logic of TBAA. Why don’t angels drink alcohol? Why do they make themselves visible to some humans but not all? What is it they can really do? TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL reviews have become our favorite fodder for podcast episodes because they are so dense with insane moments and inconsistent world building. Hopefully our review of “The Sign of the Dove” will be one you write about in your family Bible to remember forever. 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 stylized post-apocalyptic thriller is a unique example of a mainstream Hollywood blockbuster with overtly Christian themes, even if it stops just short of a true Christian message. Directed by the Hughes Brothers (MENACE II SOCIETY, DEAD PRESIDENTS, FROM HELL) and starring beloved leading man Denzel Washington, THE BOOK OF ELI depicts the Bible as a source of tremendous power in a fallen world. Eli (Denzel Washington) is a survivor of a nuclear holocaust, wandering westward on a mysterious mission with few possessions except for a large book that he treasures. When Eli crosses paths with local warlord Carnegie (Gary Oldman), Carnegie suspects that Eli’s book may be the Bible, which Carnegie himself has been seeking because he believes reading it will give him the power to control large groups of people. Carnegie is perhaps a metaphor for hypocritical conmen religious leaders who use Christianity as a way to acquire power and money, whereas Eli could represent Christ or even just a true honest believer who has made it his mission to spread faith into the world. This metaphor becomes even more clear when Eli’s quest is revealed to be delivery of the Bible to an enclave of secret archivists who will reprint and preserve it forever. The authenticity of Eli’s faith becomes even more clear when Carnegie does steal the Bible, only to be upset to find it is written in Braille, revealing Eli to have been blind the whole time. Despite being mortally wounded by Carnegie, Eli makes it to the archivists in time to speak the entire Bible to them as an oral tradition, ensuring its preservation. In the final scene of the movie, we see the archivists putting the newly reprinted Bible on a shelf alongside the Torah and the Quran. This ending, which is obviously inspired by the novel FAHRENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury, shows that THE BOOK OF ELI is not a truly Christian genre film — few faith-based films would equate the Bible and the Quran. To view THE BOOK OF ELI through the lens of faith-based film criticism is to see it as a religious cop out; hinting that the Bible is the source of spiritual truth but ultimately dismissing it as “just another book on a shelf.” 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

We dip into cinematic classics of the silent age (before people learned how to talk) with 1923 classic SALOMÉ, co-directed by married couple Charles Bryant and Alla Nazimova. The latter stars as the titular SALOMÉ, a Bible character who has achieved historical infamy despite not being officially referred to by her first name. The story is provocative: a teenage princess dances seductively for her stepfather King Herod who promises her anything in reward; she picks the head of prophet John the Baptist, who is summarily executed and presented to her on a platter. Bryant and Nazimova’s SALOMÉ takes cues from the Oscar Wilde play on the subject, adding extra-historical depth to the characters to portray Herod's throne in the throes of self destructive decadence. Male characters are simpering and devilishly gay (note that Alla Nazimova herself was openly bisexual, so this feels like intentional camp rather than homophobia.) Fashions are extravagant and imaginative, seeming both historical and futuristic. Physical acting is taken to extremes: SALOMÉ is a truly exciting watch, showcasing how much depth of character is possible from a silent film. To watch SALOMÉ is to not only experience an avant-garde take on Bible story, but also to see human ingenuity on full display with no boundaries to self expression despite limitations by emerging technology. Unrelated, in this episode the Bible Boys also discuss our new obsessions in ultra contemporary media: Harmony Korine’s BABY INVASION and teen orthodox Jewish influencer Flynn Goldstein. 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 If we had to nominate one piece of broadcast media to be “the best episode of television of all time”, in the shortlist would be this compelling TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL episode about human cloning, with a cameo by (an actor portraying) the legendary Albert Einstein. TBAA (as our listeners are well aware by this point) is a famous y2k era TV drama where a Greek chorus of angels inflict themselves upon humans going through moral crises. In this episode, a genetic scientist named Dr. Conover (portrayed by Annabella Sciorra who notably plays Gloria Trillo in THE SOPRANOS) is desperate for a child to call her own, so she fuses her personal longings with work and decides to give birth to a baby cloned from Albert Einstein. This doesn’t sit right with our favorite angels, Monica, Tess, and Andrew, who see human cloning as sacrilegious means for humans to “play God.” Monica becomes a bioethicist to monitor the doctor closely; meanwhile Andrew and Tess go back in time to tend to the dying Albert Einstein in his final days of life, to show Dr. Conover that even a brilliant man like her idol Einstein would be conflicted by the harmful effects caused by his life’s work. Like most TBAA episodes, “The Face of God” takes a hard ideological stance using incredibly convoluted evidence written by humans and delivered by fictional angels as a means to completely eschew narrative continuity and moral consistency. But UNLIKE most TBAA episodes, this one is the origin of the character Gloria (Valerie Bertinelli) who is by far our favorite angel and is created by God out of thin air in this episode as a “flex” by humans for wanting to make cloned animals. Get good! 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 Christian feature film about an aspiring DJ feels like a remake of the 2015 Zac Efron-fronted EDM movie WE ARE YOUR FRIENDS, but unfortunately is lacking a lot of substance both in its spiritual and musical themes. FACE THE BEAT is the story of Zack aka “ZDJ Grey”, a teenager who wants to escape the rat race by kickstarting his career as a DJ and music producer. The film uses a lot of EDM stock music to represent Zack’s creative output, which confusingly runs the gamut from chill house to lo-fi hiphop. Zack’s support system includes his divorced parents (a working-class nurse mother and a father who works in the music industry), his rich playboy friend Cooper who books him for gigs, and his vocalist girlfriend Ava who is played by notable Christian singer V. Rose. Zack feels discouraged in realizing his dream as a successful DJ, but eventually his dedication (and some crucial financial support from his father and Cooper) pay off to being discovered by a “music influencer” and artist representative at his first big gig, hinting toward a successful future in Christian music. You would think a movie like this would explore the sacrifices one must make to preserve personal faith in a secular industry, but it really doesn’t do anything like that at all. However, the film did inspire us to ruminate on what it takes to actually be a career DJ. Our DJ friend Pretty R1cky (@sobasedsopretty) joined us in the studio to discuss Los Angeles DJ politics, music as a force that comes directly from God, and their viral crucifixion tattoo that has earned them internet infamy.  Stream "DJ" by Pretty R1cky feat. Ash Nerve on Spotify Follow Pretty R1cky on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sobasedsopretty/ 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 We were very intrigued to find out just how deep this cartoon anthology series of Bible stories would go into the story of Sodom. GREATEST HEROES AND LEGENDS OF THE BIBLE is a y2k era animated series of biblical stories tied together by live action segments hosted by none other than the legendary Charlton Heston. Heston is well known for his portrayal of Moses in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, one of the most famous  Bible adaptations in American film history, so he’s the closest thing we have to a primary source for life in Bible times. Heston delivers his narrator lines with the poise of an aged Hollywood legend, but the cartoons themselves are unremarkable and low budget, clearly cutting on key frames to save time and money. The low quality animation does a huge disservice to the tale of Abraham, one of the most notable characters in biblical history, who rejected idol worship and did the first circumcision. But all would have been redeemed if the cartoon were brave enough to condemn Sodom directly for the sin of homosexuality. Unfortunately, it does not — the most wickedness we see in Sodom is a man laughing at another man being whipped (non-sexually.) But the director of this series, William R. Kowalchuk, has a sexy secret: his only feature film credit is on an obscure Canadian soft core porn comedy called SUMMERLUST, which looks extremely stupid and is about two men going on a sexy fishing trip (finding hot babes, not fucking each other.) When will God destroy Canada for its sins of lust and pornography? 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