American Gospel – Christ Alone: Challenging, Empowering, Overwhelming

This movie was selected by my patron supporters over at the Cinematic Doctrine Patreon. Support as little as $3 a month and have your voice heard!

American Gospel: Christ Alone has been a word-of-mouth juggernaut in Christian circles both online and offline. I remember the impact it had on social media Reformed groups back in 2018, and I even remember when my pastor was recommending it at the pulpit during morning announcements. It was crazy. Now, in 2020, it’s landed on Netflix and you would think it was American Gospel: Christ Alone’s second coming, as groups online and offline have been praising its successes.

Through-out the episode we talk about balancing an appropriate appreciation of the documentary alongside healthy critique, how American Gospel: Christ Alone has both an excitement and frustration within its response to the prosperity gospel, and in our closing section, which runs quite long this time around, Daniel shares at length his first-hand experience with the prosperity gospel, and reveals how deep its damaging roots have entered the American culture.

Featuring talking heads with Matt Chandler, Paul Washer, and Benny Hinn’s nephew Costi Hinn, American Gospel: Christ Alone explores the core question of Christianity – “What is the Gospel?” – and juxtaposes the gospel proposed in Scripture against the gospel proposed by popular western televangelists. In doing so, it shines a light on real-life accounts from several prosperity gospel survivors and the dangers that lurk around every corner when misunderstanding and twisting the word of God for monetary gain.

American Gospel: Christ Alone is Rated TV-PG. IMDB doesn’t have a detailed certificate, so I’m going to run off what Netflix describes in their certificate: suicide, substances, and language. It features Costi Hinn, Paul Washer, Matt Chandler, Mark Dever, Justin Peters, Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, Bill Johnson, and Todd White. Directed by Brandon Kimber. American Gospel: Christ Alone is currently available on Netflix.

Consider supporting Cinematic Doctrine on Patreon! As a bonus, you can gain access to a once-a-month movie poll where you decide a movie we discuss on the podcast, early unedited episodes of the podcast, and merch!!

Melvin Benson is the Founder, Editor-In-Chief, and Lead Host of Cinematic Doctrine. Whether it’s a movie, show, game, comic, or novel, it doesn’t matter. As long as it’s rich, he’s ready and willing to give it a try! His hope is to see King Jesus glorified as far as the east is from the west!

Cinematic Doctrine is available on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, and other major podcast apps.

Backrooms – The Liminal Space Between Character & Vibes – Cinematic Doctrine: A Movie Review Podcast Hosted by Christians

Send us a Question!MOVIE DISCUSSION: Shirleon & Kathryn join Melvin to discuss Kane Parsons' silver-screen debut for his hugely popular web-series; Backrooms! How does Parsons handle the transition from in-world storytelling to omniscient camera storytelling? The web-series doesn't really have character-driven narratives, so what do they think of Clark & Mary as the film's leads? And most importantly… is it good? Tune in and find out!Topics:(PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 37-minutes discussing The Mandalorian & Grogu's shockingly awful 70% second-weekend drop-off against Obsession's generational box-office legs & Backrooms' incredible first weekend, and what this might signal for the industry (PATREON EXCLUSIVE)This is the first of Kane Parsons' "Backrooms" entries to be character-led, whereas the rest of the story has been largely ambient and abstract. How did it turn out?Rather than overloading the film with "lore-bloat", Backrooms cleverly adds nods to fans of the web-series through background material, visual trickery, dialogue, and much more.Thoughts on the characters of Clark & Mary.When the film ends… are they still in the Backrooms?The correlation between the Backrooms and people's consciousness.Clark's pivot in the third act feels like it jumps the shark, but the gang still thinks the ending works.Talking about Kane Parsons' appreciation of Valve and his impressive exploration of the deteriorating 90s aesthetic despite being born in the later 2000s.Recommendations:I Found a Lost Hallway in a Dying Mall by Ben Farthing (2024) (Book)The real story behind the Backrooms (2025) (YouTube Video)People Still Live Here (2025 – X) (YouTube Series) Support the showSupport on Patreon for Unique Perks! Early access to uncut episodes Vote on a movie/show we review One-time reward of two Cinematic Doctrine Stickers & PinsSocial Links: ThreadsWebsiteInstagramLetterboxdFacebook Group 

1. Backrooms – The Liminal Space Between Character & Vibes 01:26:34
2. Josee, the Tiger and the Fish – "I will not remember this film." 01:03:07
3. Serial Experiments Lain – w/ Beneath the Tangles on Loving Lain 01:16:55
4. Tomie – Toxic Femininity Explored 01:17:38
5. My Neighbor Totoro – w/ Paryss Bryanne on Childhood Whimsy as Adults 01:09:30