The Finger of God is a new documentary that is out which captures what God is doing today around the world. What exactly is this documentary about? Well, I think filmmaker Darren Wilson puts it best when he says this, "Every artist has an agenda. Mine is simple. Document what God is doing in the world today, prove that He is alive and relevant, and don’t bog Him down with my own preconceived ideas of how He should go about being God." The following is a blog titled "I'm Not Checking My Intellect at the Door," from Seth Barnes who talks about the filmmaker Darren Wilson and the movie Finger of God.
We're stuck - here we are, children of a cynical culture, and we serve a master whose top priority is teaching his disciples to trust a God they can't see. Along the way, Jesus said and did some outrageous things. How do we live the life of faith while not checking our intellect at the door?
Along comes a minor documentary that helps us wrestle with the issue. It's called The Finger of God. Filmmaker Darren Wilson was a natural-born skeptic, never having personally witnessed a miracle. When his uncle and aunt showed him the amazing gold teeth God gave them, he decided to go in search of the miraculous, wherever it may lead him.
While starting in places like the local Pentecostal church, where falling down in the Spirit is regular fare and gold dust and gemstones showed up out of thin air, Wilson soon moved on to places like Mozambique to interview Rolland and Heidi Baker. Seeing God heal is the standard way the Bakers start their outreaches in a village. In one scene, Baker calls a deaf woman to the front. She asks the crowd, "Is this woman
deaf?" Everyone shouts back that she is. Then, after praying for her, the woman is healed. While seeing is believing for the locals, and many come to faith, I wish it were so easy for us Americans. Weaned on movies replete with special effects, we tend to be like Toto, wanting to pull back the curtain on the Great and Powerful Oz. With Roger Daltry of The Who, we sing, "I won't get fooled again."It's hard to be a person of faith when you're born in a nation of Doubting Thomases. We're not going to check our intellects at the door. Some of us have polished them to a fine sheen at the best graduate schools. In an age of science, gold teeth look to us to be some kind of hoax. People lie all the time, and the religious crowd so earnestly desires to believe. Why shouldn't they fudge the facts a bit?
Yet, at the end of the day, I believe in a God who is still in the healing business. I can't explain the gemstones, but when Wilson interviews a man who was murdered, raised from the dead, and then converted his murderer (who subsequently became a preacher), I find the story compelling. It reminds me of Paul of Tarsus, and I choose to believe. All of us who call ourselves "believers" (believing in stuff we can't
see) at some point have to make that choice. What's your experience with doubt
and faith?
4 comments:
ya!ya!ya! this is so good! worth it and an amazing story of a skeptic's journey to belief.
Ok so I saw the 1 hour version of this documentary style film. While the images of apparent signs, wonders and miracles depicted were at times compelling. I saw nothing that offered indisputable evidence of genuine supernatural involvement of any kind. It's not skepticism that blinds me, I just don't see what is not there. Consider that in most instances depicted the narrator explains what has happened as opposed to what is on film speaking for itself. Also if these were genuine events and those involved had a genuine desire to share their "gifts" with the world as evidence of God's awesome power and love for humanity then why wouldn't they submit themselves to some sort of independant investigation of the facts. What I saw was a poorly executed attempt at documenting the supernatural or perhaps a crude attempt at pulling the proverbial wool over the eyes of the viewer.
I for one was left in tears (and throughout)at the Mighty Power of God demonstrated in "The Finger of God". That an admitted amateur film maker (darren wilson) could do such a good job of showing what God is doing ,and sticking with that long journey, is amazing in itself. If an unbeliever saw a miracle on film, it would be highly likely that he still would not believe for hardness of heart. I am a believer and have experienced first hand healing and the Presence of The Holy Spirit, seeing what He was willing to do in and through me has been an amazing journey of years. Shoot, I still find when confronted face to face with a new, fresh miracle that I am simply "astonied" as the King James puts it, unable to get a grip on something this out of the box of my daily life. In the video, I saw people who after experiencing healing often times couldn't make an expression of excitement and carried over their normal inexpressive masks. That would be emotionally repressed me! Maybe we need to go to that place of risk more and experience those super (natural) things more to be able to respond with the obvious glee of some of the "healers" shown on the video!
Heidi Baker's approach is so refreshing and simple, just let God show His Love through us by "Practicing His Presence" in intimate conversation every moment. When we are His Own familiar trusted friend, He will show us His Secrets and let that Love flow in and through us out to all sorts of others!
More LORD, MORE!
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