War Room: A Movie Worth Seeing

Full Disclosure: I am generally not favorably inclined to “Christian” movies like War Room for a number of reasons.  (Scroll down to the end of this blog if you want to know why.)  That said, I came away from this movie encouraged and impressed by three specific things:

The movie showed that a strong prayer life is developed over time.

Ms Clara – the central figure - had been praying for years by the time we meet her in this film.  She had grown into a strong prayer life through years of prayer and adversity.  She had learned, practiced, made mistakes and kept on pressing forward.  I remember being a 17 year old who thought he knew about prayer and the spiritual life.  I now cringe to think of such self-righteous self-deception.  A deep and authentic prayer life doesn’t come with age alone, passion alone or training alone, but it is the fruit of years of faithfulness with Jesus in the presence of the Holy Spirit. 

The movie showed that there is “more than meets the eye” in life and prayer.

Ms. Clara loved, engaged and served people, but she recognized that there was more to reality than simply what we see.  She tells Elizabeth to fight for her marriage, but not with her husband.  The purposeful reality of evil was clear, without being dominant, creepy or trivial.  This comes from being deeply grounded in the written word of God.  Prayer for Ms. Clara was not just “spiritual thoughts” and “self-reflection,” it was joining with God, led by the Spirit and the Word, in His great work of redemption through prayer.  Her life was a wonderful expression of what Paul means in Ephesians 6:10-19

The movie showed the process of Great Commission Discipling at work.

Ms. Clara actively sought to pass her prayer life on to others, who then passed it on to others.  This is what a “Chain Reaction of Great Commission Discipleship” looks like.  In this case, three generations of women growing in the Gospel of Grace: from Ms Clara to Elizabeth to Danielle.  Along the way, a whole host of others are touched.

In Closing

It is worth warning, that one could sit down to view War Room with the thought that “if I just do right” – (in this case pray) – “then everything will turn out fine and that is what being a good Christian is all about” and then walk out of the theater with that deception reinforced and missing my three points.  I’m thankful that the movie writers and producers seemed to work to avoid that sort of “cause and effect” confusion that so permeates American life and contradicts the Gospel of Grace.  Elizabeth’s life did not turn around on a dime when she began to pray.  Tony had to face some painful consequences, even as his life was turning towards God.  Still, so many people come to a movie like this with a mindset of religion – “I obey to be blessed and get what I want from God.” – rather than a mindset of the Gospel – “I am accepted by grace, therefore I have God Himself as my blessing and so obey with gratitude.” – that each viewer will have to fight against the magnetism of that lie.

Why I’m Typically Not A Fan of the “Christian Movie” Genre

First a question: Can anyone name from memory even three of the commitments from the movie Courageous?  Like most movies of this genre, that one was long on simplistic inspiration and short on real Gospel.  Film is a powerful medium, ripe for the manipulating of our emotions.  We can be moved to “new commitments” that often disappear as soon as the lights go up, because we have been moved to act in our own strength, rather than surrender to the transforming work of Jesus on the cross.  Ever notice how rarely Jesus and that cross are actually mentioned?  They will talk about God and decisions and obey, but rarely Jesus the substitute for our sin.

Second: It is the nature of film to present tension and resolution in less than two hours.  We all love it because that is what makes for good entertainment.  Brian Mills kills the sex-trafficking creep who has the knife to his daughter’s throat.  Dorothy gets home to Kansas.  But the tension/release of a good movie works against the real-life message of the gospel with grace, suffering, mystery and the like.  There are masterpieces – Les Mierables comes to mind – that communicate an aspect of the Gospel as a great story, but they start with a great story.

And finally, I recognize the complaint that many “Christian movies” are low budget affairs with unsophisticated production.  I think that reflects more on the market and the industry – that will spend gazillions of dollars on special effects for a superhero – than it does on these films.  As these producers have access to more money for production, the production will develop.  What will be much harder to change than lack of money will be my first two concerns.