Christianity in the News: April 2024
Hello all, I hope that the month of April went well for everyone. We’re now through a third of the way through this calendar year, so I thought it would be appropriate to publish another installment of the “Christianity in the News” series here on RVIVR.
Therefore, let’s look at some of the major Christian news stories from the month of April 2024.
#1 Mark Driscoll calls out Strip Show at Christian Men’s Conference
Last month, controversial Christian pastor Mark Driscoll ignited a viral debate online about a popular Christian men’s conference. Last month, Driscoll was invited to speak at the Stronger Men’s Conference hosted by megachurch James River Church.
However, when Driscoll went up to speak at the conference, he decided to speak out against a “strip show” that took place at the beginning of the conference. The conference organizer John Lindell was so upset by Driscoll’s comment that he interrupted Driscoll’s speech and kicked him out of the conference.
The post below from X/Twitter user Collin Rugg about this controversy received over 12 million:
Political commentator Matt Walsh gave a fair assessment of the situation in one of his recent videos, so I recommend that you watch Walsh’s video if you want to learn more about this situation:
Christianity is under attack from both within and outside the Church, and this story is another example of the decay coming from supposed American Christian churches.
#2 Islamic Terrorist stabs popular Christian pastor in Australia
Last month, a Muslim immigrant in Australia stabbed a popular Orthodox pastor Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel. Bishop Emmanuel has a large following online for fantastic preaching, so this story made international headlines online.
The attack was caught on video during the Church’s livestream, but the Australian government attempted to block the video from X/Twitter. Elon Musk criticized the Australian government for this blatant act of censorship.
Due to the attack, Bishop Emmanuel lost sight in his right eye. Yet, Emmanuel still forgave his attacker for his abominable actions. The video below from one of Bishop Emmanuel’s recent sermons shows his deep faith in Christ.
#3 Angel Studios’ upcoming films Sight and David
Angel Studios is an up-and-coming independent media company known for promoting Christian-themed content–such as The Chosen series and The Sound of Freedom movie. Angel Studios enables filmmakers to gain funding for their projects through crowdsourcing–rather than going through one of the major film studios.
Angel Studios’ Sound of Freedom from last year was one of my favorite movies of all-time. So, I greatly appreciate the work that Angel Studios is doing to promote pro-Christian movies.
Recently, I discovered that Angel Studios has a couple of major films set to air in the coming year. The first film is called Sight. According to Angel Studios, this movie is “based on the inspiring true story of Dr. Ming Wang, a renowned eye surgeon who is determined to give sight to a blind orphan“. Sight is set to premier in theaters on Memorial Day weekend (May 24th, 2024).
Here is a trailer for the film Sight:
Later next year (2025), the feature-length animated film David from Angel Studios is set to premiere in theaters. The animated David film is set to become the first major Christian animated film in over 25 years. The Prince of Egypt (1998) by Dreamworks is widely considered to be the last major Christian animated film in the United States.
The David film is currently raising funds for its creation and is well on its way to earning its $60 million budget goal. My hope and prayer is that this future film will faithfully tell the story of King David—one of the great saints of the Old Testament.
If you want a glimpse into what the David film will look like, then make sure to check out this demo video from Slingshot Productions—the creators of the David movie.
