The other night, I saw the movie, “A Great Awakening.”
Wow. Just in time for America’s 250th birthday comes this wonderful movie on the ministry of Rev. George Whitefield of England in the mid-1700s and how his unlikely partnership with printer and quasi-skeptic Ben Franklin helped spiritually awaken a whole generation of Americans.
Unbeknownst to me, my boss, Dr. Robert J. Pacienza, president and host of the Coral Ridge Ministries program (radio and TV), also came to see the film that night with his family, at the same showing.
For this piece, I asked him for his remarks on the film: “‘A Great Awakening’ is a must see for every American, including children! George Whitefield is one of our forgotten Founding Fathers. His preaching planted the seeds of American liberty leading up to the revolution. In the midst of our 250th anniversary of independence, the true story of our founding and Christian heritage must be told and preserved for generations to come!”
I also sought a statement from Dr. Peter Lillback, who served as an historical consultant for the film. Lillback is the founding president of Providence Forum, for which I serve as executive director. He was very pleased with how well the film turned out, and he highly recommends it.
Lillback added: “The climax of Franklin’s profound faith in the midst of the conflict of the Constitutional Convention is not only riveting, it shows how faith is ever critical.”
Another man I know who also knows his American history is author Phil Webster. He often portrays Founding Father John Jay, and he was an extra in “A Great Awakening.” He told me: “I give the film 5 stars out of 5. I have only seen it five times … so far.”
The film is exceedingly well done and from what I can tell is historically accurate. Its message is simple. It can be summarized by John Adams, writing about 200 years ago: “The Revolution was effected before the War commenced. The Revolution was in the mind and hearts of the people and change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations.”
America was born as a result of a national revival, known as the First Great Awakening. What follows are my remarks on that spiritual movement, including some supplemental, historical background information, that was beyond the purview of the movie.
The Great Awakening began in the 1730s under the preaching of the humble and brilliant Rev. Jonathan Edwards. Edwards was a Congregationalist minister in Northampton, Massachusetts. He preached the famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”
Edwards wrote of the awakening, which started under his pulpit: “In the spring and summer following, anno 1735, the town seemed to be full of the presence of God; it never was so full of love, nor of joy, and yet so full of distress, as it was then.” The “distress” refers to the cognitive dissonance felt by unconverted sinners who realized their sinfulness and their need for Christ.
Edwards once said that nothing could keep one out of the reach of the devil more effectively than humility.
After those initial sparks in Massachusetts, the Great Awakening spread from colony to colony through many itinerant preachers, but especially by Rev. George Whitefield. Whitefield was an amazing preacher, with a background in acting. He preached to thousands in a day long before microphones.
Sarah Edwards, Jonathan’s wife, said this about the impact of George Whitefield’s messages: “It is wonderful to see what a spell he casts over an audience by proclaiming the simplest truths of the Bible. … Our mechanics shut up their shops, and the day laborers throw down their tools to go and hear him preach, and few return unaffected.”
The film helps capture that sentiment.
Whitefield returned repeatedly to America. The great British historian Paul Johnson, author of “A History of the American People” (1997), writes, “He returned again and again to the attack – seven continental tours in the thirty years from 1740 – and all churches benefited from his efforts.”
Even Ben Franklin, clearly not orthodox in his theology, commented on the social effects of the revival and of Whitefield’s preaching: “It was wonderful to see the change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seemed as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk through the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street.”
To quote Paul Johnson again: “The Great Awakening was thus the proto-revolutionary event, the formative movement in American history, preceding the political drive for independence, and making it possible.”
I highly recommend this film. And I pray God will use it to awaken the nation in time for this important milestone, America at 250.
