L'épreuve du feu, les 7 églises de l'Apocalypse

First off, Mama taught me that if you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all. So, we'll start with the good. I loved seeing the footage of many places that I have experienced in person while touring Turkey, and loved hearing some of the back story of these places and the history of them during the time of the early church. Done. On with the review.

Times of Fire is one of if not the most bizarrely edited films I have ever seen. The theater experience that was presented to us in Riverbank was equally bizarre and inept. The film was slated to begin at 7pm. After 20 minutes of silence in the theater a large portion of the audience walked out, presumably to find a projectionist and remind the theater that they had a house of patrons waiting for a film. The movie experience than began with a 20-minute advertisement loop of various Christian organizations that looped around 4 times before the movie...seemed...to begin.

After two hours of this loosely edited footage and dialog the film abruptly jumps into a contrived panel of unknown talking heads in front of an audience of about 6 on a badly lit stage featuring an uneven red wash with a single malfunctioning blue par can in the middle of it which again prompts one to ask the question, "Have you considered being good at your job?'

The movie then drones on for another 40 minutes jumping from this panel to other.....the movie referred to them as "Scholars", one of which was a weird, creepy, guy on a zoom call in what looked to be a dark closet filled with filing cabinets. I can't even tell you what he was saying due to the distraction of the creepiness. I hope the gentleman is OK as he looked like he was in his last few weeks of life.

Durring the panel discussion you learn that the presenters have a post trib eschatology view and that the primary focus of the film demonstrates that view in the persicuted church. OK.....I don't have a problem with a group of believers with a different eschatological view from mine, but again, it was just weird. The woman on the panal at one points admits that this view causes her apprehention as to the solidity of her place in Christ. It seemed really out of place and no one else on the panel touched that one. Again, just weird.

It was around the two hour-fourty minute mark of the night that you find out.....SPOILER ALERT! That this is film 1 of 3! Oh joy! Who could possibly wait the drop another $35 for this experience? Two more times?

I believe this movie set a record for me for amount of people who walked out durring the presentation. By the time we reached the end of the film the house was nearly empty.

If there is any consolation here, is I seriously doubt that this film will make it to a trilogy. At least in theaters. In my opinion the film offers nothing for a non-Christian and has plenty of poor quality and weirdness to make a believer cringe.

I liked this documentary a lot. You get to see a lot of what when on during the biblical times and many people who followed Christ were persecuted and how the 7 churches of Revelation still impact us to this day. This film has strengthen my faith in Christ and I definitely realize that I have the freedom to celebrate my faith that so many Christians around the world are unable to.

This film was okay. Good camera work. Nice to see the actual sites. It was kind of insightful as well into the nature of the cities the letters are written to. It went very slowly, though, and could have been more engaging. I don't know how they might have done that, but that's up to producers and directors to figure out.

And then, they were talking about the antichrist, and mentioned Nero, and then flashed a portrait of Martin Luther, then went to describe Hitler.

So I would have gotten up and left right there, except the wife didn't want to leave. So, it then made a lot more sense why the narrator was reading a Bible in Latin. Catholic. Martin Luther, an antichrist? You now, the Martin Luther who risked his life repeatedly for the sake of the gospel of grace? I don't appreciate that.

I'm glad for the insight and awareness I got into persecuted Christians. Overall I would watch it again maybe, but I wouldn't pay $35 for two tickets to watch it.

The seven letters to the churches, early on in revelation, are a complete unfolding of a prophecy about the way the church would evolve over the 2000 years that has come to pass since then. The movie makes no mention of that. Additionally, a movie with the title seven churches should feature seven churches. This one falls flat, in that it only gets to the first three churches, and then pads the film with a panel interview. At that point, someone reveals the fact that there are multiple movies, but only late in the movie do we see the French producer, In a bizarre zoom message, tell us that there are actually three films. I only want to pay for one. Give me my seven churches. I am a strong Christian, but this movie did not get over the bar.