Write About Now

On Tuesday the movie Jesus Camp was released on DVD. Although I missed it in the theaters (do theaters even show documentaries anymore?) I made sure to swing by Blockbuster Tuesday night to pick up a copy.

The film is about a children’s minister named Becky Fischer and the “Kids on Fire” camp she leads each summer in North Dakota. Fischer unapologetically claims to be building and training an army of young soldiers for God, a new generation to take back and reform America’s corrupt government and to win others to Christ.

I knew the movie would be critical of the camp, and that plus my 30 years in Christian circles meant some things felt familiar: The rampant “Christianese” talk. (“I just want to be hungry after Jesus.”) Blaming all social ills on the removal of prayer from schools. The assertion that America is God’s chosen nation. Puppet shows. The inevitable comment that “We’ve read the back of the book and we win!” Rants against Harry Potter. (Gotta love this from Fischer: “Warlocks are the enemies of God—in the Old Testament Harry Potter would have been put to death!”)

But other things were different: The camp’s combination of revival-style, confrontational preaching and music drove children as young as six into emotional frenzies. These young kids repented for the sins of their nation, “pleading Jesus’ blood” on themselves and on the country. They fell on the floor, raised their arms in surrender, and sobbed. It was disturbing to see young children in such emotionally-charged poses.

And the puppet shows were about the antichrist taking over a person’s body in the end times.

At other points in the week of camp, these same children were encouraged to smash porcelain mugs—which represented the power of the devil in our government—with hammers while rebuking the evil spirits influencing our nation. This, also, was often accompanied by weeping.

The kids also talked to and prayed for a life-size cardboard cutout of President Bush, who was positioned in front of an American flag while the children chanted “One nation under God!” (Which left some doubt as to who they were chanting to.)

Like Fischer, I believe today’s kids can have a huge impact on our world, and it’s important to reach as many as possible with the love of Jesus. (As the movie states, 43% of evangelicals are “born again” before age 13.) Each week I teach a Sunday school class of preschoolers and each Wednesday evening I tutor five impossible fourth graders. I get it.

However, the key word there is love. When Jesus welcomed the little children to come to him, it wasn’t to stick red tape across their mouths and force them to demonstrate against abortion (another fun part of the movie). As I watched this film, I just wanted to hug these sobbing, guilt-driven young kids and remind them of Jesus’ great delight in their little lives.

Near the end, Fischer says, “The extreme liberals are watching stuff like this and quaking in their boots and saying, ‘Oh my goodness—what are these kids going to be like when they grow up?!’” I’m not an “extreme liberal,” but I wonder the same thing.