Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Machine Gun Preacher

I loved the Sam Childs movie about the Christian orphanage in East Africa.  Kony and the LRA account for 400,000 murders and 40, 000 child abductions. The children are raped, beatten, sold as sex slaves and forced to be children soldiers.  Sam is a real life ex convict ex addict ex junkie trailer park gun toting  biker gang member  The story tells of his finding Jesus with his ex stripper wife.  He meets a preacher from Africa and decides to visit Northern Uganda and South Sudan eventually building an orphanage for children rescued from the depraved "LRA - Lord's Resistance Army".  His construction worker skills, people knowledge and gun and gang skills all contribute to his becoming known  as the "Machine Gun Preacher".  When the orphanage is attacked and he has a price on his head for stealing future child soldiers he fights back with bullets.
The screen play is written by Jason Keller, director Marc Forster.  Gerald Butler plays a mean and fully believable Sam Childers.  The beautiful grounded Michelle Monaghan plays his wife Lynn Childers.  The filming of the people of his town in America and the people of Africa is amazing.  So much character and such a hopeful story in a terrible crisis.
When Constantine made Christianity the religion of the  Roman Empire he did so because the Christian soldiers were the greatest of the day. It was mainly Christian soldiers who fought the Nazi terror.  Jesus physically threw the money lenders out of the temple. He taught peace but his message of 'turning one's cheek'  was not unliimitted.  Not all Christians were born to be martyrs and certainly not all Christianity is about milk toast values.  While I admire the peaceful Mennonites and Quakers I am glad that Sam Childs is saving children from the armies of Kony by fighting force with force. God uses each of us according to our skills.   A great man said that for evil to grow all it takes is for good men to do nothing.  Sam and Lynn Childs are definitely doing something still.

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