Movie Review The Eyes of Tammy Faye

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This is day three of COVID quarantine and you know what that means.
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The wife is tired of hearing me share my opinions with her so I've decided to share them with you.
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Conversations with a Calvinist starts right now.
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Welcome back to Conversations with a Calvinist.
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My name is Keith Foskey and I am a Calvinist.
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I'm glad to have you on the program today and you know what we haven't done on the program in a while.
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Yes, it is a movie review.
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Yep, I've done movie reviews in the past.
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I enjoy doing them and this one is particularly interesting because I'm going to be reviewing a movie about the late Tammy Faye Baker.
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I'm going to tie it into a connection with Calvinism because I said on the program this year I wanted to start focusing in on more Calvinistic issues, more Calvinistic questions.
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This is Conversations with a Calvinist after all.
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So recently my wife and I watched a film about the life of the late televangelist Tammy Faye Baker and I want to say right away I didn't know much about her going into the story except that when I was a kid I remember seeing her on television.
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I think I was more familiar with the Crouches, Jan and Paul Crouch, and of course Jan Crouch had a very Tammy Faye-esque look.
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In fact I think she took her look from Tammy Faye which is the very bright makeup, big bright hair.
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That was something that obviously Tammy Faye was known for and something that the movie actually does address is her look, her unique look.
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Jan Crouch of course had a very similar look probably having borrowed it from Tammy Faye.
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There are parts in the movie having now that I've watched it I went back and did a little research before I did today's program and there are parts of the movie that are exaggerated.
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There are parts that are telescoped for film that happens anytime a bio film or bio epic is produced.
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It has to sort of truncate some of the story so nobody should be surprised by that.
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The story does though seem to hit the major beats of her life, the basic beats of the life of Tammy Faye Baker.
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I want to give a review of the film and then I want to again like I said I want to talk about some of the theology that was presented in the film and I want to talk about Calvinistic theology and sort of in response to that.
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But first of all let me say this from a purely entertainment perspective my wife and I did enjoy the film.
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We like documentaries especially documentaries that are like this.
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It was very similar to a few years ago we watched one on the Waco situation with David Koresh.
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That was a mini-series that was very well done.
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We enjoyed that.
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Felt like we learned some things from it even though we know it was fiction.
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It was a story, a fictional account of a true story.
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We you know there were still some things that we were able to go back and see were actually the case and I think the same thing is true with this.
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It was produced well.
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This movie was produced.
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It was acted very well.
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I believe it's up for some awards.
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Jessica Chastain plays Tammy Faye Baker and to my surprise Andrew Garfield, yes Spider-Man, plays Jim Baker.
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In fact that was what made me first tell my wife I was all for it.
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She said do you want to watch this movie and I said well let's watch the the trailer.
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The great thing about Prime is when you want to watch a movie on Amazon Prime it has the trailer you can watch beforehand to see if you really do want to get into watching it and so I did.
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I sat down and watched the trailer and as soon as I saw Spider-Man as Jim Baker I was like I'm in.
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I don't have to go any further.
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I don't even want to watch any more of the trailer.
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I have to watch this movie and so we did.
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I was also surprised to see some other folks, pretty famous people.
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Vincent D'Onofrio was in it.
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He played Jerry Falwell.
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That was the one that was least believable for me.
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I've seen the real Jerry Falwell on television.
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I don't think Vincent D'Onofrio looks like Jerry Falwell at all.
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I think his portrayal of him was almost intended to be a caricature because Jerry Falwell is to the left a almost comic figure.
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He's not meant to be taken seriously and I think honestly Vincent D'Onofrio tried to play him as almost like a Batman villain.
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In my opinion he sort of comes across very much like the Penguin in the Batman movies.
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Very conniving, very evil looking guy.
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Certainly did not give off any type of positive thought for Jerry Falwell.
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In fact somewhere in the movie, I think it's toward the end, he is referred to as that fat Baptist.
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Just to give you an idea of how Falwell is treated in the film.
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Like I said, it was a legitimate production.
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It certainly wasn't cheap.
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It was done very well.
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I do want to give a warning though for those of you who may want to watch it based upon my review.
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As a and as a father I like to give some sort of warnings.
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There are a few scenes, I wrote this out, there are a few scenes which are a little racy in regard to their sexual content.
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There's scenes where people touch each other in a sexual way.
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No nudity but there's discussions of affairs.
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There's one scene that depicts an affair.
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Again there's no nudity but it does depict an affair.
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I don't want to spoil anything but there are discussions and allegations of homosexual relationships particularly with Jim Bakker.
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There's also a section where a penile implant is discussed and modeled and demonstrated which or a model is demonstrated.
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Apparently this took place on the PTL program.
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This was like a real thing that Tammy Faye did with her part of the program which is weird but it was there.
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It was in the film.
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There were a few curse words.
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It was basically relatively tame but all in all I would say I wouldn't watch it with my kids.
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I don't think you should watch it with your kids but for most adults it would be fine.
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There are a few things in it that are a little racy but it's trying to tell a story of what happened.
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So again without spoilers that's my warning for the movie.
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My review is ultimately it was good at telling the story that it told.
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There's a lot about the story that I didn't know.
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I didn't realize sort of where they came from.
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Their relationship with the 700 club.
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Their relationship with Pat Robertson and all of these other figures that of course I'm very familiar with having seen them on television having grown up.
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I remember being in my grandmother's house when I was a kid seeing the 700 club on television not realizing according to the film was actually the brainchild of Jim Bakker and was later sort of taken over by Pat Robertson because Pat Robertson was the one who was producing all of these things and he had the to do that.
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So it's just an interesting little tale of how people who are looking to be in a ministry that is going to be financially successful and in their financial success they have a terrible fall and the movie of course does depict that.
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It doesn't really seem to be hiding much about their failures and one issue which is prominently displayed in the film is Tammy Faye Bakker's support of the LGBT movement.
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In fact she is seen early on discussing her concerns with Jerry Falwell as Jerry Falwell is depicted by D'Onofrio as being very anti-gay anti-LGBT saying that the gay agenda we have to go against the gay agenda we have to go against this and against that and she is seen as sort of challenging him as they're all God's children argument.
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She's also seen at one point and this did happen I understand she interviewed a homosexual man on her television show I believe he had AIDS I had to go back and check on that but he was also supposed to be a homosexual pastor and I learned after watching this because that sort of interests me because at the end they showed the real pictures of people they sort of showed like this was the real Tammy Faye Bakker and this person playing her this is the real Jerry Falwell and this is the guy playing him and it showed the man who she interviewed in the movie and then said here's the real man behind this interview so apparently it really happened and I learned after watching that she was considered a hero in the LGBT community or the movement and the film is actually based on a documentary which was put together by the team that's behind RuPaul's Drag Race now I don't watch RuPaul's Drag Race it's a television show about men who dress in drag I have heard of it have never seen it but apparently RuPaul's Drag Race the men behind that or the people behind that were the ones who who were responsible for putting together a documentary about Tammy Faye and RuPaul the famous drag queen was the one who actually was the narrator of that documentary well that documentary became the seed which became this movie see I didn't know any of this watching the film I saw this after afterward so now knowing that I can look more at the film and see how much influence there was from the LGBT movement trying to portray Tammy Faye as a hero in their movement she was essentially a she was a hero to them because she was a person who was a Christian who was willing to say that you could be homosexual and be a Christian and of course I've dealt with that on the channel before I've dealt with with what I believe the Bible teaches the Bible teaches homosexuality is a sin and the Bible teaches that if we do not repent of our sin if we do not turn from our sin if we do not recognize our sin and and and turn from it then then we are we cannot rightfully call ourselves Christians so so of course I take issue with her position on this and of course she's she's passed away now so it doesn't I'm not really taking a point issue with her position I'm saying from the program's perspective certainly there there's an issue with what the movie's intending to put out but but overall that was a that was part of the narrative and if you if you recognize that going in you'll kind of know what is going to happen in that regard they do they do sort of point the fingers at Jim Baker saying and there were allegations that he was that he had homosexual liaisons with men in his employ and with other men and with things and certainly he he got into a lot of trouble because of a of a sexual encounter with a woman that was later found out that he had paid her off and and that was part of the major downfall of of Jim Baker and why he ended up ultimately going to jail so all of these things are just part and parcel of the movie telling the story but you can tell there's sort of a sort of a driving force behind it they're they're they're wanting to to present the fact that that Tammy Faye was was correct from their perspective that um that it was okay to be gay and be and be a Christian obviously I don't agree with that and uh while it's obvious the film doesn't shy away from failures um it's also clear that Tammy Faye is the hero of the film if you watch the film closely it sort of attempts to show her as a as a legitimate Christian rising to fame falling from the grace of her viewers ultimately concluding with a portion that seems somewhat redemptive at the end and again spoiler alert this is a spoiler at the end she does um she ends up triumphantly singing the battle hymn of the republic at the oral roberts university she was invited to come and sing and that that's how the film closes sort of her having redeemed in the eyes of the sort of uh you know community that she had that she had fallen with her husband from um and so and so that's it right so that's that that's the movie and what concerns me most I think about the movie ultimately uh is is part and parcel the the LGBT stuff uh I think people who have a position on that this movie isn't going to move you one way or the other so I really don't see that being a huge issue except it is promoting the idea that you can be gay and Christian and then that's not a problem there's not a there's not a sin that needs to be repented of there and I think that's certainly uh something we should consider it's important it does have to be addressed but what concerns me more uh in this review is the theology which sort of undergirds the whole film because there is a theology in the movie um which is was held by Jim Baker it was held by Tammy Faye Baker continues to be held to this day by men like Pat Robertson and many other televangelists and it is a dangerous theology and it is the theology of God being almost like a genie in a bottle um it seems as if this film tries to present Tammy Faye and even Jim Baker in one sense as as people who legitimately were doing God's work and they just fell into temptation but in reality the theology of Jim and Tammy Faye Baker was flawed long before their personal failures long before their financial indiscretions long before any of that was exposed outside of anything to do with LGBTQ or any of the rest or or Jim Baker's supposed homosexual situation outside of any of that just what was on the television just what they were presenting was not biblical Christianity and um obviously I would take issue with almost everything uh if not everything that Jim Baker said in regard to God and uh and not just because he's a charismatic because yes he's a charismatic I am a Baptist and they do make jokes about that in the film you know I mentioned earlier about what they said about um about Jerry Falwell being a fat Baptist well okay um you know they certainly make a distinction between Baptists and Charismatics in the movie so they recognize that and I recognize the theological difference but they represent something else not just Charismaticism but they represent um really the the the growth and and spread of what would be known as the prosperity gospel and that's more dangerous than anything that is just inherently charismatic um and and if you're not familiar with the prosperity gospel I've talked about it before I'll give you this quick definition I found this this was from a historian uh her name's Kate Bowler and she I think she gives a very good explanation she says the prosperity gospel was formed from the intersection of three different ideologies Pentecostalism new thought and an American gospel of pragmatism individualism and upward mobility and I just love that last phrase that's why I wanted to give her credit because an American gospel of pragmatism individualism and upward mobility it was all about what can God do for me what can God give me what you know my service to God is not because he is God my service to God is because God has something for me and God has something for me that I need to go and get and therefore to get it I have to get I have to get him because he's part of the package and prosperity theology is dangerous uh if you've never heard me talk about if you've never if you've never looked into it I I would encourage you to please be careful prosperity gospel is is uh it is plutonium it is it is uh deadly um and if you want to learn more about it I would recommend another movie if you've never seen American gospel um there are actually two American gospel films now there's a third one on the way so let me give you the exact it's the first one if you want to learn more about the dangers of prosperity gospel look up American gospel Christ alone that's the the full title and the second one is American gospel Christ crucified and I recommend both but but if you're looking for specifically the prosperity gospel American gospel Christ alone there's a short version online there's a long version online I recommend the long version if you have time but if you don't obviously the short version is useful uh but watch it and it gives you sort of a history of and the dangers of the prosperity gospel um but based on that there's there there was one thing that kept kept being said in the movie uh that I want to uh I want to address and this is going to where the program's going to take slightly a turn because because I want to I'm going to move now into my Calvinism conversation but one of the things that the film depicts over and over is the couple saying into the camera God loves you he really really does God loves you he really does and one might think that well that's the least controversial thing in the whole movie I mean that's that's true isn't it God really loves you so um that's where I want to turn now because now I'm going to switch we're going to go to our second segment of today's program and we're going to talk about specifically the question of does God really really love everyone okay so now we're going to move to part two of today's program and part two of today's program is where each week I'm going to be having a Calvinism section where I deal with a specific Calvinistic issue and today's issue is going to be the question of God's love um does God really really love everyone as was presented by Jim and Tammy Faye Baker at the end of their program they would say God loves you he really really does well this is actually a pretty big issue when the subject of Calvinism arises because Calvinism teaches that God has not chosen to save everyone but that God has chosen to save only his elect and the word elect means those whom he has chosen and Calvinism believes that God chose the elect before the foundation of the world before they had done anything uh that God chose to set his affection on his elect and according to Romans 9 he did he set his affection before we had done anything good or bad so that his purpose and election might stand so God has chosen to save his elect therefore some conclude that God only loves the elect and that is an argument that some Calvinists do make and so I don't want to say that there's universality and what I'm going to say today I'm going to say this is one Calvinist position on this I do believe I'm holding the biblical position uh but but if if it is in fact the case that there are some Calvinists who would disagree with me out there that's fine I'm I'm okay with that uh you know we we sometimes will hold different small different views but but I am going to present what I think is the is the is the classic Calvinist position on the subject of God's love and uh how we distinguish in in regard to God's love and that and that's what we want to talk about today um and and we want to talk about it because of this whole thing God loves you he really really does well is that the case is is it the case that God loves every single individual and um can we say that uh without any qualification and my answer is no we cannot say that without any qualification the subject of God's love requires us to consider several things about the nature of God the nature of man uh our relationship to God and our relationship which is in Christ the relationship of the elect which is in Christ so I want to give you three thoughts today on the subject of the love of God um all of these I'm going to I'm going to try to give a biblical foundation for these these positions number one God does show loving kindness to all men uh in his providential mercy and when I say all in that in that case because I know the word all sometimes is debated about does it mean all without exception or all without um uh all without exception or all without distinction uh let me just say and when I'm saying the word all here I'm referring to universal so God does show a universal loving kindness to all men in his acts of providential mercy sometimes this is referred to as common grace though uh there are those who do not like the term common grace so for the sake of argument we can call it maybe common mercy or God's universal benevolent mercy which is shown to all men we see this in two specific passages one old testament one new testament the old testament passage is psalm 145 verse 8 it says the lord is gracious and merciful slow to anger and abounding and steadfast love the lord is good to all and his mercy is over all that he has made okay so again the word good is used there the word mercy is used there and the word is the word all is used twice in referring to it says the lord is is good to all and his mercy is over all that he has made God is God is constantly showing mercy to his creation that would include all men and women who are part of his creation uh and this is how we see this explained to us in the new testament Matthew chapter 5 verse 45 says um so that you may be sons of your father who in heaven for he makes his son to rise on the evil and on the good he he sends rain on the just and on the unjust so God sends rain on the good and the bad on the evil and the the good get get get rain and sunshine that is a part of his universal benevolent providential mercy and i'm using big words but but that that that is shown to all men um and so no one can say that God has not given them good that God has not shown them kindness that God has not given them mercy you know we we often say the very beating of our hearts and our chest is is is at the mercy of God and therefore uh the fact that he has not immediately judged me and sent me to hell is an act of his mercy and so because men are living currently under his mercy we could say that God is is showing loving kindness to all men in his providential mercy um now this that one shouldn't be debated even though i know some will um that one i think is fairly simple second one is is more more difficult for some people because this one's a little harder for them to accept and that is that God does not love everyone the same okay so the first one God does show loving kindness to all men in his providential mercy number two God does not love everyone the same um and i i i have remembered certain conversations i've had about this with my friends who are not calvinist and here here's how the conversation usually goes uh they'll say God loves everybody the same and um i'll say okay what about Romans 9 13 Jacob i loved Esau i hated and they'll say oh no no no no no the word hate there simply means to love less okay you just proved my point if that's your if that's how you understand Romans 9 13 is that it doesn't mean God hated Esau but that he loved Esau less than Jacob you're still proving my point that God's love is not the same for every individual and i think that that has to be that has to be uh affirmed that God's love is not the same for every individual um and certainly his his demonstration of mercy is not the same for every individual we would never say that God has extended the same amount of mercy to the Canaanites that he extended to the Israelites would we say that God extended the same amount of revelation and and love and grace to to the Amorites as he did to to Moses um not at all and and so God does have a ability to choose how to love and to whom he will show his love and God does not love everyone the same any more than than than i do i have the freedom to love dr white dr James White points this out a lot he says i have the freedom to love different people different ways i love my wife differently than i love other men's wives i love my children differently than i love other people's children i love my father in a different way than i love my fellow elders we have a different relationship and we have a different love and God has a special love for his elect and this does not mean that he doesn't show loving kindness to the non-elect but the elect are the recipients of a special form of love from God and here's the thing we don't deserve it nobody deserves it everybody deserves hatred in fact the bible does use the word hate in regard to the wicked and we do have to address that too because in like in psalm 11 5 it says the lord tests the righteous but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence the bible says he hates them now again if you want to interpret that as love less because there are times where that idiomatic phrase hate does mean to love less jesus said unless you hate you know if any man who comes after me and hates not his mother father that have certainly meant love less and so there is a time when the word hate can be an idiomatic way of saying to love less but even even if that's what it means it's still it's still proving the point that God's love is not the same when people talk about the universal unconditional love of God that is not a biblical concept it's not God does not have a universal unconditional love God has a benevolent kindness that is shown to all men but a special love that he gives to his elect and i want to bring up the third point okay so the first point was God does show loving kindness to all men in his providential mercy number two God does not love everyone the same but three God does express a disposition of benevolence now this is sort of similar to number one but i want to go further because i remember one time and i think it was Dr.
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R.C.
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Sproul i could be wrong but Dr.