April 20, 2026 Show with Kurt M. Smith on “A Biographer of George Whitfield Reviews the Film: ‘A Great Awakening'”

The Radio Show Introduction and Scripture Motto

Live from historic downtown Carlisle, Pennsylvania, home of founding father James Wilson, 19th century hymn writer George Duffield, 19th century gospel minister George Norcross, and sports legend Jim Thorpe, it's Iron Sharpens Iron.

This is a radio platform in which pastors, Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today. Proverbs chapter 27 verse 17 tells us iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

Matthew Henry said that in this passage, we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better. It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next two hours, and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions.

And now, here's your host, Chris Arnzen.

Introducing Kurt M. Smith and the George Whitefield Film Review

Good afternoon, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, and the rest of humanity living on the planet Earth, who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com. This is Chris Arnzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Monday on this 20th day of April, 2026.

I don't know how many of you have seen the movie A Great Awakening, which tells the story of George Whitefield, the 18th century gospel preacher, through the eyes of Benjamin Franklin, one of our founding fathers.

But I recently saw this film, absolutely fell in love with it, and knew right away that I had to come on to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio and give an enthusiastic review of this film. And I knew exactly who I wanted to conduct the review.

I couldn't think of no one better to conduct the review than my guest today, who happens to be a biographer of George Whitefield. His name is Kurt M. Smith, and he is author of the book Thundering the Word, The Awakening Ministry of George Whitefield.

And my brother, Kurt Smith, is also the pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church in Rimlap, Alabama. And it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Pastor Kurt Smith.

Hey, Chris, it is good to be back with you, brother. I was just thinking how ironic that the last time I was on your show was in the fall of 2020, when my biography on Whitefield had just come out. Amen.

So Whitefield was our subject the last time we talked, and we're taking him up again as our subject. So it's great to be with you, brother.

Amen. And by the way, I want to let my listeners know that I am conducting today's program in loving memory of two people who greatly loved George Whitefield's writings, and the first of which is my dear friend who has been in glory since 2009, Nigel Stone.

He entered into eternity with Christ at the age of 80, and Nigel Stone is the brother who first introduced me to George Whitefield when he had heard that I was having difficulty embracing the doctrines of sovereign grace.

And he approached me one day after worship service, or perhaps it was before, I don't remember. It was in the church building, and he said to me in his deep British accent, I understand you've been having difficulty embracing the doctrines of sovereign grace.

Read this. And he handed me George Whitefield's letter to John Wesley on election, which has been republished by Chapel Library. I'm sure that there are a number of other ministries who have republished that as well.

So I am dedicating this program in loving memory of Nigel Stone, and also my dear friend who had been a guest on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio a number of times, Al Stein, who at one time was the pastor of the Neighborhood Assembly of God in Belmore, Long Island, New York.

And he, although not only a pastor in a Pentecostal congregation and denomination, and even a bishop in the Assembly of God, an overseer of all the Assembly of God congregations on Long Island, Al Stein became eventually, by the grace of God, a thoroughgoing Five-Point Calvinist and was a great lover of George Whitefield.

And while on vacation, had the great honor of his life to stand behind a pulpit of George Whitefield and was photographed there. And he has been in eternity with Christ since 2015. And I dearly miss both of those brethren and looking forward to see them again someday face to face.

And that was a far more tragic circumstance when Al went home to be with the Lord. He was killed in an automobile accident and was a fairly young man at the time. I believe Al was about 12, I'm sorry, about 10 years older than I am.

And so, wonderful brethren, and both of whom would have loved to have heard today's show, but where they are now, I'm sure that Iron Trip and Zion Radio doesn't even enter their.

Minds.

They are gazing into the eyes of their Savior right now. But before we go into this wonderful movie that you and I both loved, please tell our listeners something about Providence Reformed Baptist Church there in the wonderful city of Remlap, Alabama.

Providence Reformed Baptist Church and the 1689 Confession

Well, Providence Reformed Baptist Church, we will be actually celebrating our 10-year anniversary at the end of this summer, this year. The church was started back in August of 2016. And so, yeah, so this year marks our 10-year anniversary.

We are an associate member church of the Southeastern Association of Confessional Baptist Churches and have been with the Southeastern Association since our church started. So, very thankful for that, very thankful for that association.

But yeah, we are a confessional Baptist church committed to the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith. That's our doctrinal standard. Where we're located geographically in Alabama, we're 43 minutes northeast of Birmingham.

But we are actually atop one of the many Appalachian foothills, as they're called. And specifically, we're on Pine Mountain. And it's very beautiful scenery up here where we're located. But I'm just very thankful for the Lord calling me here because I'm originally from Georgia.

And so, I've just been here in Alabama ministering God's Word for the last 10 years. So, very thankful.

Praise God. And I only wish that every other church was as clear in their doctrinal position as your church is. I get requests every week from people all over the United States and all over the world asking for church recommendations.

And it's not all that easy to give church recommendations because many churches are woefully unsatisfactory in the details on their theology and their websites. But right there in your URL is prbc1689 .org.

So, you know right away where Providence Reformed Baptist Church stands. And for those of you who are listening and don't know what I'm talking about, the Confession of Faith to which Providence Reformed Baptist Church in Renlap, Alabama, adheres is the 1689 London Baptist Confession, the favorite confession of many, if not most, professedly Reformed Baptist churches.

Well, we are going to now enter into a review of this wonderful movie. It is starring Jonathan Blair as George Whitfield and John Paul Sneed as Benjamin Franklin. And one of the things that I could not get out of my mind throughout the entirety of watching the movie is how much John Paul Sneed, the actor portraying Benjamin Franklin, looks like my late friend that I mentioned earlier, Nigel Stone, who first introduced me to George Whitfield through giving me that reprint of George Whitfield's letter to John Wesley on election.

I mean, I'm talking uncanny resemblance. They could be identical twins if they were standing next to each other. Well, they're not the same age, though. Nigel was a bit older than John Paul Sneed. But when he played Ben Franklin as an older man, they were identical, really.

I couldn't see any difference. But this movie, as I already said in the beginning, is a portrayal of George Whitfield through the eyes of Benjamin Franklin. And I think it'd be wise for us just to get out of the way, since we both really love this movie, to get out of the way right up front some of the historical inaccuracies that are in the film.

We've got to be honest about this. The first of which was an inaccuracy that did not bother me at all because it was in my favor as a Baptist. They depict George Whitfield being baptized as a believer by immersion and then later baptizing other new converts by immersion.

And George Whitfield was an Anglican. And you probably know the quote better than I do. But at one point in his ministry, he actually lamented that many of his converts to Christianity were becoming Baptists.

And he said something to the effect that all my little chicks are becoming ducks. Meaning, you know, a duck referring to a Baptist. But maybe you know the exact quote. But first, tell us about that. You are in agreement that this is not the actual way that George Whitfield was himself baptized, nor did he baptize others in this way because he never, to my knowledge, ceased being an Anglican.

Yeah, that is correct. He never did cease being an Anglican. He was, as Reformed Baptists, as we would fully subscribe to the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith, George Whitfield fully subscribed to the 39 Articles of the Church of England.

And he never once veered from that for the 34 years of the entirety of his ministry. He was a committed Anglican confessionally.

Although the 39 Articles never mention a mode, I don't think.

No, no, no, they don't.

It actually doesn't even use the word for infants. It says that children should be welcomed to the baptismal font or something to that effect. And it doesn't mention their age, because we would baptize children, too, if they repent and believe.

Right, that is true. But yeah, Whitfield, yeah, he was a committed Paedo-Baptist for sure. And, of course, as you mentioned a moment ago, his very famous lament over the many converts that were brought to faith in Christ under his ministry.

He was referring to those actually in colonial America. And he was referring to what was called the Separatist Movement that started in New England during the Great Awakening. And the Separatist Movement was so called because you had all of these men and women coming to faith in Christ during the Great Awakening.

And certainly in 1740, fundamentally under the ministry of George Whitfield then. And they were separating themselves from the congregational churches where they had been a part of. And that's the reason they were called the Separatist Movement, because they were separating out of the established congregational churches.

They were starting their own churches. And there was a branch of the Separate Movement that became convinced of Baptist principles. And they would be called Separate Baptist. And so it was the Separate Baptist that George Whitfield was very specifically referring to as, you know, my little chicks have become ducks.

Because the Separate Baptist actually were actually more influenced and more impacted by Whitfield's ministry than any others among the evangelical Christians at that time and that period in colonial America.

The second historical inaccuracy, which bothered me more than the first, the first didn't bother me at all. But the second one bothered me because it does rub against my soteriology and also would be in contradiction to Whitfield's soteriology.

In that he, while evangelizing coal miners, approaches them and these are strangers to him and these are not Christians he's speaking to. These are lost people. And in his efforts to lead them to Christ, he tells them that God created them and loves them.

And this would not have been something that Whitfield would say in evangelism at this point in his life because he was certainly by then already a thoroughgoing Calvinist, was he not?

Whitefield, Calvinism, and the Gospel Call

Yeah, yes, he was. He definitely was that. Yeah, Whitfield was converted to Christ during the week of Easter, 1735. And in the latter part of that year, he went back home to Gloucester, England, which is his native home.

And he took up residence with the mayor of Gloucester, Gabriel Harris. And for those for two years, he just devoted himself to reading his Bible every day and reading the commentaries of Matthew Henry, as well as other Puritans.

And so it was from the very beginning of his Christian life, through the writings of Matthew Henry and a few other English Puritans, that Whitfield was introduced to the Reformed faith and, of course, very specifically, the Doctrines of Grace.

And he became a convinced Calvinist, really, from the outset of his new Christian life. So when you speed up the time frame of where he goes to Kingswood, which was a district of Bristol, England, where it had a coal mining industry there.

And that's, of course, what they're depicting in the movie. Yeah, I mean, by that time, in that period in Whitfield's life, he is most assuredly a very convinced Calvinist. And no, he would not have addressed the sinners there, the coal miners, in the way that they have him addressing them in the movie, where he's just saying, basically, God loves you, just in a very general kind of way.

I mean, Whitfield addressed them, as he did all sinners, with giving them the bad news before he gave them the good news. And that is how his evangelistic sermons were. He called them to repent of their sins.

He explained to them what they were as sinners before a holy God and under the wrath of God and that they needed to flee God's wrath. And that flight could only take place through faith in Jesus Christ.

And by the blood and righteousness of Christ could they come and be saved and be made right with God. Whitfield was very, very clear in his gospel preaching about that. And I will say that while the movie does make an embellishment like that, overall, when they depict Whitfield preaching, for the most part, what you hear Jonathan Blair proclaiming are actually the actual words of Whitfield's actual sermons.

Which is what really surprised me. And, of course, pleasantly surprised me because one thing that is certainly a great strength of this movie is that since they do not veer far, far away from Whitfield's actual sermons, but keep them at least 98 accurate, you actually hear the gospel of Jesus Christ in this movie.

And frankly, you hear it with such clarity that I don't think I've ever seen a major motion picture, you know, communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ that clear.

Yes, I very rarely get teary-eyed in movies. And I must confess that when I was hearing Whitfield preach, there were tears streaming down my face. And you were right because you had told me before I even saw the film that there was that scene when Whitfield is preaching to the coal miners and those that were still in the coal mine were hearing him preaching and emerging out from the coal mine in utter fascination to what they were hearing and wanting to know what the source of this voice was.

And I could not help but shed some tears while watching that. So I don't want to let people get the wrong impression that that entire scene is not worth seeing. In fact, the scene when he begins preaching is worth the entire admission to the movie.

I wholeheartedly agree. Yeah. Yeah. The scene in Kingswood with the coal miners. And then, of course, when they show him in 1739, which would be actually his second visit to colonial America. But when he's there in Philadelphia and they show the whole scene of him preaching there in the city of Philadelphia.

And, of course, that's the scene where they picture Benjamin Franklin, who's more interested in wanting to see mathematically, scientifically, how many people could hear Whitfield preach. But that whole scene in the way they depict it and, of course, the sermon that he delivers, that just brought tears to my eyes, too, because I was like, this is Whitfield.

This is his preaching, his sermon. So, yeah, they really pulled that off very well. And as a Christian, I mean, you just could not help but to be moved to tears.

Now, just in case there are people listening, especially if they're not theologically Reformed like you and I, in case they are puzzled why we would be not pleased with that one depiction of Whitfield evangelizing lost people by assuring them that God loves them.

Why is that something that would displease a thoroughgoing Calvinist like yourself and like me?

It's so stereotypical is that when you say to lost sinners, God loves you. While it is true, biblically true, that God does have a benevolent love for all of mankind. And that's the very argument that our Lord himself makes in Matthew chapter five in regards to loving our enemies.

You know, because Jesus says, I mean, you know, your father in heaven causes his son to rise on the just and the unjust. He sends rain on the righteous, the unrighteous. And so there is a benevolent love that the Lord does have for all his creation.

But that love is different, distinctively different, than the love he has specifically set upon those he has chosen to save. There is his saving love, and then there is his general love. But how a lot of evangelism is presented, and certainly, you know, in the times we've grown up in, and even somewhat before, it is this idea that God loves everyone unconditionally.

So there is no distinction. You know, God loves this lost, unregenerate sinner no differently than he loves the sinner he has saved in Christ. You know, the love is the same. Well, to communicate that, I can remember hearing R .C. Sproul once talk about this.

If you communicate to a lost, unregenerate sinner that God loves them no different than he loves his own people, well, then the lost, unregenerate sinner is going to reason, well, then why come to faith in Christ?

What's the big deal in being saved? Because if he loves me no different than he loves a Christian, then, you know, getting saved, what a waste of time that is.

Especially if the phrase is added, Jesus Christ loves you and died for you. Now, Whitefield doesn't say this in the movie, nor did he ever say it in real life. When he's talking to unbelievers, that is.

But when you add that, that even further cements the mind of someone listening, well, what do I need to fear? If he loves me and actually died for my sins, then, okay, thanks. Let me be on my way now.

Thanks for that good word of encouragement.

Yeah, that's exactly right. And as we know, that so contradicts the way that the gospel is unfolded in the scriptures themselves. I just think about Paul's epistle to the Romans, and when Paul speaks of this gospel, he's not ashamed of because it's the power of God and the salvation to them that believe.

Well, before Paul gets to, you know, the good news of the gospel, what makes the gospel such great news, he starts with the very, very bad news that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness.

And so starting at Romans 1 .18 to Romans 3 .20, Paul, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is exhausting his teaching on making it very clear that man by nature is a sinner under the wrath of God, and he therefore has no hope whatsoever of saving himself and making himself right with God.

And the sinner needs and must hear this. And of course, that is what George Whitefield never shied away from in making that very clear and very plain to the people he preached to, whether they were in England or Scotland or Wales or Ireland or in colonial America.

He was very clear about that.

Now, I don't want to belabor this whole issue, but just one last word on it. There is no instance, there's no example in Scripture of anyone evangelizing a lost person by assuring them that God loves them.

Is that anywhere in the Bible? I've never seen it.

No. No, it isn't. And while I can definitely hear, I can hear some fellow Christians arguing very quickly and making reference to John 3 .16 and going there. But, you know, here's what's interesting, though, about John 3 .16, is that John 3 .16 does not begin and end with the very first clause of that verse, which says, For God so loved the world.

That's not the beginning and the ending of the verse. You know, it is, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that, and I'm emphasizing that because that's the purpose clause, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

So, the love that our Lord is specifying there, the love of God for the sinner in John 3 .16, is the love of God for the sinner for whom Christ was given and who in turn believes in Christ. So, it's the saving love of God.

And here's the other very important thing, contextually speaking, Jesus was saying that to a Jew. He was saying it not just to a common Jew, he was saying it to a Pharisee, namely Nicodemus. So, nothing could have been more shocking to the hearing of that Jewish man, that Jewish religious leader, Nicodemus, than to hear that God so loved the world, that is, not just Jews, but Gentiles.

You know, and the way in which he has shown this love for Jew and Gentile is in the giving of his only begotten Son. And the Son was given for who? He was given only for those who believe in him. So, yeah, yeah.

So, John 3 .16 is really, that is not a good verse for these fellow Christians to run to, to say, but see, it does say he loves the whole world unconditionally, you know, there is no distinction, etc., etc.

Whitefield's Conversion and the Real History Behind It

Now, I am hoping that we are not just pouring a bucket of cold ice water on the excitement that people may be having to go see this movie, because these criticisms didn't stop me from loving it. And is there any other critique that you have before we move on to why we love the movie?

And not that we're going to belabor what we disliked about it, but is there anything else that you can think of that you'd like to critique?

Well, one thing in particular that I would very much like to critique was the whole narrative in the movie of Whitefield's conversion to Christ. What they got right was the struggle that Whitefield was having, a struggle that lasted for six months, a struggle that did literally put him in the bed for six weeks.

Whitefield almost killed himself to save himself. He wasn't, and this is in my biography of Whitefield, I compare Whitefield to Martin Luther in this respect, that Whitefield was doing exceedingly more than any member of the Holy Club there in Oxford, that was the Wesley brothers and some others.

He was doing so much more than any of those men were doing to save himself. And so I did appreciate the fact that the movie got that right and they depicted that correctly. And I was so glad because I was really anticipating how were they going to show his conversion.

So that part, they nailed it. But the part that I have to critique and say, well, but that did not happen. And that was where he's in his room, he's in his bed, he's confined to his bed, and they have John Wesley coming into his room and basically telling him, you know, you're being so self-centered in trying to save yourself, just look to Christ.

Well, that just never happened. That was, I mean, no, I mean, first of all, John Wesley never once communicated such words to George Whitefield at all, period. John Wesley was just as lost as George Whitefield at that time.

And he was trying to save himself by his own works, his own self-righteousness like Whitefield. But of course, Whitefield was outdoing everybody in trying to do that. Now, what I wish they had done, I wish they had shown, because this would have been historically accurate, it wasn't John Wesley, it was John Wesley's brother Charles, who was very concerned with what he was seeing with his friend George Whitefield and how Whitefield was trying to save himself.

And irony of irony, Charles Wesley gives George Whitefield this little book by this Scottish Puritan named Henry Scougal from the 17th century called The Life of God and the Soul of Man. It is a wonderful gospel book all about the new birth.

But as I point out in my biography of Whitefield, Charles Wesley needed the book as badly as George Whitefield did. But in the providence of God, in the mercy of God's providence, Charles Wesley hands that book to Whitefield, and Whitefield, for the first time in his life, he hears of the new birth.

Now, did he immediately convert to Christ once he read the book? No, he didn't. In fact, what he did, and this would take him for the next six months after he read the book, he was trying very hard for the next six months.

And like I said, he almost killed himself trying to regenerate himself, trying to be born again. But it wasn't until he was on that sickbed, had been there for six weeks, and finally, in the mercy and the grace of God, Whitefield came to what we would say he came to the complete end of himself.

And he did then simply look to Christ in faith. And the way that Whitefield, I've got my book here, the way that Whitefield describes it, he says, this is from his journal. He says, after having undergone innumerable buffeting, many months, inexpressible trials by night and day under the spirit of bondage, God was pleased at length to remove the heavy load to enable me to lay hold on his dear son by a living faith and by giving me the spirit of adoption to seal me as I humbly hope even to the day of everlasting redemption.

But oh, with what joy, joy unspeakable, even joy that was full of and big with glory, was my soul filled when the weight of sin went off and an abiding sense of the pardoning love of God and a full assurance of faith broke in upon my disconsolate soul.

Surely it was the day of my espousals, a day to be had in everlasting remembrance. At first, my joys were like a spring tide, and as it were, overflowed the banks. Go where I would, I could not avoid singing of psalms aloud.

Afterwards, it became more settled, and blessed be God, saving a few casual intervals, has abode and increased in my soul ever since. Those are his words of his converging.

And don't go away, we'll be right back.

The Movie’s Quality, Acting, and Gospel Clarity

And I've always been thrilled to see their members filling many seats at my New York debates. I do not hesitate to highly recommend Hope Reformed Baptist Church of Coram, Long Island to anyone who wants to be accurately taught, discipled, and edified by the Holy Scriptures, and to be surrounded by truly loving and caring brothers and sisters in Christ.

For more information on Hope Reformed Baptist Church, go to hopereformedli .net. That's hopereformedli .net, or call 631 -696 -5711. That's 631 -696 -5711. Tell the folks at Hope Reformed Baptist Church of Coram, Long Island that you heard about them from James White on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

Hello, this is Brian Nye, President of Hearts for the Lost Ministry. Our sole mission is to serve the local church and work directly with and alongside pastors and elders with their efforts to equip, excite, and educate their flock in biblical evangelism.

We also provide practical experience opportunities in sharing the gospel directly within your immediate community. We accomplish this mission with training and Christ-centered outreach events designed to equip the church and proclaim the good news of the gospel.

Our services are always 100 free. If you're looking to equip and mobilize your church for faithful gospel witness, please partner with us. Hearts for the Lost Ministry, serving the church, proclaiming the gospel.

Contact us today at heartsforthelost .com. That's heartsforthelost .com. Now, have a heart and go share your faith.

I'm Simon O'Mahoney, Pastor of Trinity Reformed Baptist Church in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Originally from Cork, Ireland, the Lord in his sovereign providence has called me to shepherd this new and growing congregation here in Cumberland County.

At TRBC, we joyfully uphold the Second London Baptist Confession. We embrace congregational church government, and we are committed to preaching the full counsel of God's word for the edification of believers, the salvation of the lost, and the glory of our triune God.

We are also devoted to living out the one another commands of scripture, loving, encouraging, and serving each other as the body of Christ. In our worship, we sing psalms and the great hymns of the faith, and we gather around the Lord's table every Sunday.

We would love for you to visit and worship with us. You can find our details at trbccarlisle .org. That's trbccarlisle .org. God willing, we'll see you soon.

When Iron Sharpens Iron Radio first launched in 2005, the publishers of the New American Standard Bible were among my very first sponsors. It gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the Iron Sharpens Iron Radio audience have been sticking with or switching to the NASB.

I'm Pastor Nate Pickowitz of Harvest Bible Church in Gilmanton Ironworks, New Hampshire, and the NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Rich Jensen of Hope Reform Baptist Church in Quorum, New York, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Pastor Sule Prince of Oakwood Wesleyan Church in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Pastor John Samson of King's Church in Peoria, Arizona, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Pastor Chuck Volo of New Life Community Church in Kingsville, Maryland, and the NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Steve Herford of Eastport Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Pastor Roy Owens Jr. of the Church in Friendship in Hockley, Texas, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.

Here's a great way for your church to help keep Iron Sharpens Iron Radio on the air. Pastors, are your pew Bibles tattered and falling apart? Consider restocking your pews with the NASB, and tell the publishers you heard about them from Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

Go to nasbible .com, that's nasbible .com to place your order.

I'm Dr. Joseph Piper, President Emeritus and Professor of Systematic and Applied Theology at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Every Christian who's serious about the Deformed Faith and the Westminster Standards should have and use the eight-volume commentary on the theology and ethics of the Westminster Larger Catechism, titled Authentic Christianity, by Dr. Joseph Morecraft.

It is much more than an exposition of the Larger Catechism. It is a thoroughly researched work that utilizes biblical exegesis as well as historical and systematic theology. Dr. Morecraft is Pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, and I urge everyone looking for a biblically faithful church in that area to visit that fine congregation.

For details on the eight-volume commentary, go to westminstercommentary .com, westminstercommentary .com. For details on Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, visit heritagepresbyterianchurch .com, heritagepresbyterianchurch .com.

Please tell Dr. Morecraft and the saints at Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, that Dr. Joseph Piper of Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary sent you.

Welcome back, if you just tuned us in. Our guest today is George Whitfield biographer Kurt M. Smith, and we are providing a review of the recently released film A Great Awakening, which is the story of George Whitfield, the 18th century preacher, as told through the eyes of one of the founding fathers of America, Benjamin Franklin.

Both my guest, Kurt Smith, and myself loved this movie, and we were just sharing some criticisms of some inaccuracies that should not prevent people from seeing it, nonetheless. But are you done with giving some critique, or do you have anything else to say in that end?

Well, one more thing to add, just adding another layer that I think will bring even a sharper clarity to what we're talking about regarding Whitfield. Whitfield, as a Calvinist, preaching the gospel to sinners, and this whole thing about, you know, what he has said to them, generally speaking, God loves you all, in a letter like that.

So, there's a chapter in my biography on Whitfield called The Calvinistic Evangelist. And in that chapter, one of the things that I do is I take the reader through one of Whitfield's most famous sermons, a sermon that he preached in 1741 called The Method of Grace.

And in the introduction to that sermon, a sermon that he based on Jeremiah 614, they've healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no beast. Taking that text, Whitfield opened it up in this way.

He said, Our hearts are exceedingly deceitful and desperately wicked. None but the eternal God knows how treacherous they are. How many of us cry peace, peace to our souls when there is no peace? How many are there who are now settled upon their leaves, that now think they are Christians, that now flatter themselves that they have an interest in Jesus Christ, whereas if we come to examine their experiences, we shall find that their peace is but a peace of the devil's making.

It is not a peace of God's giving. It is not a peace that passeth human understanding. That's how Whitfield started that sermon. And what I simply say in response to that is, notice how the Calvinistic evangelist begins his application to the hearers.

He gives no warm, misty story to loosen the people up and relax them. There is no assurance that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. No, Whitfield speaks plainly and directly to a vastly churched people who've all been lulled into a confidence from birth that they're right with God by alarming them to the fact that their depraved hearts were deceiving them into an assurance that was not theirs to claim.

This is how the Calvinistic evangelist commences his work. It is a call for serious self-examination as to whether we have peace with God.

Amen. Well, I guess we should move on to what we loved about this movie. One of the things that I could say right off the bat is that there is nothing cheesy about this movie, which, unfortunately, every single movie that I have ever seen that has been produced by Christians has been in some way cheesy.

I can't think of one that wasn't. The best movies I've ever seen on Christian themes were produced, unfortunately, by Hollywood, by unbelievers who somehow got things right. What comes to mind, not that everything was accurate in that movie either, but Chariots of Fire, one of the greatest films of all time as far as I'm concerned.

But would you agree that that is one of the powerful aspects of this film, is the quality of the filmmaking, the acting, and the script, even when they had to use artistic license, other than those things that we mentioned that were glaringly at odds with history.

It was just a well-done movie, wasn't it? I mean, the cast was superb. And Jonathan Blair, what a perfect choice for Whitfield in his ability to—the oration that he has the capability of providing for bellowing out the gospel in the way that he did.

And John Paul Sneed, the actor who played Benjamin Franklin, I couldn't think of a better person to play that role. And as I said, it was a constant haunting reminder throughout the program that he looked exactly like a dear friend of mine who's in heaven now, who was the one that introduced me to George Whitfield.

But what do you have to say about this aspect of it?

Well, first of all, I wholeheartedly agree with you. I can echo with conviction everything you just said positively about the movie. I was very much impressed with the production. I was very much impressed with the musical score.