It's a bit of a coincidence that on the day Pat Robertson retires from hosting The 700 Club for the past 54 years....and 60 years in broadcasting....that I go to the movies to see The Eyes Of Tammy Faye. In 1982 I had become a born again Christian. Yes that is a redundant statement for if one is a Christian....then one has indeed been born again.....but I use it because the term was mentioned all the time in the late 70s and early 80s.....just like active shooter or fake news seems to appear all the time today.
I did not know where to go to church after I became born again....so I called the 700 Club for advice....and they recommended an Assembly of God church two miles from our home....and we stayed for about ten years....and in those ten years I visited for one reason or another....dozens of Assemblies of God churches....including about a half dozen in Paraguay on a short-term mission trip. So when the film tonight opened with an Assembly of God worship service....I thought to myself....I never met Assembly Of God church goers stodgy and joyless like this....but that depiction is expected of a film from people who may know a lot of facts....but cannot possibly understand the blessed soul that has been born again.
I have always respected Jerry Falwell....(not necessarily agreed with....but respected)....for I could see the love of Christ in his face all those times that he appeared on Ted Koppel's Nightline....and as for Pat Robertson....I was a 700 Club member for many years....and even vacationed at Pat's The Founder's Inn in Virginia Beach a few times. If you want to know Pat Robertson from his first days then read his old book Shout It From The Housetops. The Tammy Faye film presented both of these good men....in a bad light....a very bad light. Pat Robertson's theology was always....on some points....in error....at times very significant error....(I shared those beliefs back then)....but his love for sharing the gospel as far and wide as possible....should not be in question.
There were times at the theater tonight where I almost asked myself....is that Jim Bakker on the screen....or the actor....as the mannerisms were exact. The actress who played Tammy Faye was obviously outstanding in her portrayal....and the film never loses your interest. I sat in that 700 Club studio....I walked the grounds of CBN....the film had that right. It's a hard film to watch. It highlights one very important facet of evangelicalism today....presenting that facet as maybe the one good side of Christianity....but in doing so....the film unintentionally....if one has the eyes to see and the ears to hear....identifies the great heresy in much of the visible church today.
The Eyes Of Tammy Faye portrays Tammy Faye in a good light actually....in spite of the fact that the Bakkers lived in luxury from the donations of often poor believing souls....it does so because in her life she presented a gospel not anywhere near as high....as the lowest bar would be today....on what the gospel is. If the film was correct in Tammy Faye's early life.....(I never read much about her)....then she would never have had a clue as to the gospel of Jesus Christ....or the blood shed on Calvary....or being born again....or of God's love which was her calling card....thus the film approved of her....for her gospel is not a threat to any unsaved soul....but Jerry Falwell's and Pat Robertson's is a threat....because although both men were too political....(I once paid $100 a plate at a Robertson for President dinner)....and Pat Robertson's theology has often strayed off into gnosticism....they both preached Christ crucified....they both lifted up God's very Word to us...and they both gave all the glory to God.
Note: Jim Bakker once said...."Trump is a test on if you're even saved". I heard him say that if you do not vote for Trump then you are not a Christian.....and he said it with great emphasis. It does not appear that he has ever had any discernment....even right up to today....when....just like Donald Trump....after all that has happened....he is still here....with a big ministry....seeking his own glory....only using evangelicals to get it.
