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.

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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!

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Clayface – Kinda Fanfiction. Kinda Incel. DC. – Cinematic Doctrine: A Movie Review Podcast Hosted by Christians

MOVIE DISCUSSION: Kathryn joins Melvin to discuss the new-DCU's latest outing: Clayface! The two share its similarities with other body-horror classics, how it stands as another villain-without-its-hero comic-book film, and if James Gunn is haunted by his own words, [paraphrased] "We only greenlight good, finished scripts".Topics:Editor's Note: No Patreon Exclusive discussion! But, I do intend to trim this episode down from its original 1:37:28 length, so if you want to hear the UNCUT version, tune in on Patreon here!Kathryn kicks things off with a compliment sandwich.Melvin wasn't a fan, and he thought the last 20-minutes were genuinely brutal to sit through.The soundtrack feels uninspired, and the two wonder what an artistic approach would sound like.Melvin, "Did you feel like you were watching a 2000's origin story [comic book movie]?"There's a ton of movies that Clayface is evoking, and its always dangerous to remind an audience of better movies.Talking about James Gunn's response to a Thread asking ironically, "Who asked for Clayface?"Kathryn & Melvin agree: it's ironic that Clayface released a week-or-so after You Can See Everything.Melvin thinks the ending is an outright disaster.Kathryn notices the end culminates in Clayface kind of being an amalgamation of other Batman villains.James Gunn has reiterated a belief that a reason for the film industry's decline in success is due to one big thing: films moving into production without a finished script. Melvin has thoughts…Recommendations:Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't (YouTube Channel)THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD: Remake 1+2 (2022 – 2025) (Video Games) 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. Clayface – Kinda Fanfiction. Kinda Incel. DC. 01:04:19
2. Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge – The Kyle Show 54:43
3. Dawn of the Dead (1978) – How Social Structures Rise & Fall 01:04:57
4. Five Nights at Freddy's 2 – Retconable 01:26:46
5. Pet Sematary (1989) – w/ Dreadful Digest on The CliffsNotes Adaptation 01:11:45