So tonight I watched a film that I had been really wanting
to watch, but yet at the same time I was putting off seeing.
Now I know that is an oxymoron but it is truth. And it is a great depiction of this film as
well.
The movie was “Machine Gun Preacher” the story of Sam
Childres.
You can read multiple different reviews on this film. It was very controversial since it was a
story of FAITH but rated R and filled with violence.
In the first 10 min’s the film would turn any Christian
watching it for Christian Values (Or at least make them blush). From the on screen, yet not visible, sex in a
car to extreme profanity, violence and alcohol and Drug abuse scenes… yet all
these items are in context and are used to build the Character of the man.
This man who was a biker gang member who upon getting out of
jail finds his wife had gone ‘religious’.
Yet in a turn of events he realizes there has to be something more and
in a non-dramatic scene we find him believing and being baptized. There weren’t angels, there weren’t shouts
from him but a sort of groggy sense of awe.
We again see that same feeling when he arrives back from a
trip to Northern Uganda to help with
construction of a mission. He, unlike
the other members, wanted to see the truth of the war. And did he ever… His soon to be friend Deng took him to a
village where the children would come each night in order to not be
abducted.
Finally he senses God’s call to build an orphanage and a
Church. One in American and one in Sudan. This is the story of the trials and floods
that he goes against. You will be pulled
into the reality of this war that has been waged for 30+ years and that has
taken the lives of over 400,000 people.
You will feel his anguish, his hurt, and his anger.
There were two parts of this movie that moved me the most
outside of the general message of Orphan care that you all know is my
passion.
First: When he is arriving back in the states after his
monumental first trip. You see on his
face the unspoken emotion of one whose world has just been changed. I have been there. From my first visit to a squatters village in
Mexico, or a small tribal village in Guatemala; but most vividly in the post
earthquake Haiti where orphans begged for water on every street corner; where
bodies are still being found among the ruble…
I understood this vague look of heartache.
Second: we watch as Sam’s story progress’ and eventually we
see what happens to most of us who become passionate about something. We come up against opposition and we want to
quit. Sam didn’t; but once he kept going
he began to see others who didn’t understand his passion, or share his passion
as unworthy of being called Christians.
His passion became the only true passion of Christ instead of one means
of showing God’s passion.
I would HIGHLY recommend this film to all of you who wish to
learn more about what one man is doing in Sudan/Uganda. I do not recommend it for those who are
easily offended. This Machine Gun
Preacher lives up to his name not only with his gun but with his mouth.
There is a quick note from the Real Sam at the end of the
film in the credits that says in essence that I know that I may not have gone
about this the best or right way at times… but
"If a madmen abducted your child or a family member and I said I
could bring them home, does it matter how I bring them home?"
So to sum it all up: Don't watch it with the kids. But don't watch it if you don't want your heart pulled out, trampled on cause you will finish asking yourself (I Hope) What on earth am I doing!!
This movie is not about Sam Childers. It’s about you. What
are you going to do?
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