Boys' Bible Study

Christian documentarian Darren Wilson could be described as the Christian Nathan Fielder, because Wilson's films also stretch our idea of "the truth." It's for this reason that we at Boys' Bible Study have praised his films FURIOUS LOVE, HOLY GHOST, and FINGER OF GOD as "mondo" or "docsploitation" films, evoking the Italian "mondo" documentary genre where real-seeming lurid events were in fact staged and distorted for the camera. With this in mind, watch carefully as Wilson and cohorts travel to exotic lands to find new cultures to exploit -- I mean, heal. Wilson loves claiming that he is in...

What if someone was really bad at faith healing? In all our years of watching Christian media, we've never once seen media explore this scenario, until we watched a certain episode of THE X-FILES called "Miracle Man." THE X-FILES is considered one of the most beloved classic shows of the y2k era. Its quirky and sometimes disturbing sci-fi and horror plots have cemented it as nostalgic to millennials and fascinating even to younger generations streaming today. The friendly tension between FBI special agents Mulder (David Duchovny), highly open to the supernatural and conspiracy, and Scully (Gillian Anderson), a...

The eyes of the robot are upon you. In this extremely prescient episode of America's greatest television show WALKER, TEXAS RANGER, a supercomputer named Art keeps a watchful eye on his boy master, a brainchild named Chad who has powerful psychokinetic abilities. Portrayed by 7TH HEAVEN's David Gallagher, Chad is being held captive by the evil science lab Futures R&D, who force him to do grueling psychokinesis displays until his nose starts bleeding. To rescue Chad from his STEM career are our heroes, Walker (Chuck Norris) and his faithful sidekick Trivette (Clarence Gilyard). Walker and Trivette chat with...

The capstone of our 7TH HEAVEN September series shows the Camdens, in a bizarre later-series arrangement, taking on powerful social issues. This is "Got MLK?" the irreverently named racial reckoning episode in season ten, where Martin (an "accessory Camden" who used to live with the pastor's family) becomes the victim of a hate crime despite being a white man. The crime? A slur painted on his car, probably by his baseball team cohort Brad, but we don't know for sure. It all starts in class with a report on Martin Luther King. Alex (a black student) wants to do...

The Camden family of 7TH HEAVEN are preoccupied with a lot of things. Their spiritual and social anxieties generate most of the show's drama, and the interesting ways they trigger each other in various combinations creates the intrigue that keeps us coming back week after week. SIN AND EXPIATION, a gripping two parter with character arcs for almost everyone in the family, is 7TH HEAVEN at its best: a pressure cooker of Protestant anxiety. Youngest son Simon begins the episodes completely in the dog house because he's caught extending the middle finger at school in an effort to be "...

The Y2K era was a golden age for Christian pop culture in the United States, especially on television. On our podcast, we've enjoyed the several weeks we get to review TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL episodes, a TV series so quietly bizarre that it basically invented its own spinoff of Christianity. But that wasn't the only long-running show exploring religious themes for mainstream, primetime audiences: enter 7TH HEAVEN, a show exploring the day-to-day drama of a Pastor's family. Airing weekly on The CW, eventually becoming one of the network's first majorly successful shows, the plot follows the Camden family...

Ray Comfort is just like us! Why? Because he is also doomscrolling and completely at the mercy of his algorithm. You can tell what Comfort has been watching online because it becomes the inspiration for his daily sermons, posted on the Living Waters website and YouTube channel. Right now, Ray Comfort is clearly being haunted by none other than Rowan Atkinson and his extremely famous comedy alter ego, Mr. Bean. The first Comfort video we noticed about Mr. Bean, featuring the charming clickbait title "After Mr. Bean Horribly Mocks God, This Immediately Happened," takes aim at an Atkinson stand-up...

This movie about a famous, successful rapper who takes a career risk by giving his life to Christ feels like it was written by someone who has never listened to a rap song before. That writer is Jason Campbell, one of the most prolific auteurs currently active in the Christian movie scene. Campbell has produced 88 films since 2013, and per iMDB has 29 upcoming. When you make that many films, the adage "write what you know" can't apply anymore, because you have too many ideas and need to do something new. Maybe that's why Campbell decided to take on the world...

Gramps is finally clapping back at the haters and losers! Donald James Parker breaks the fourth wall in his newest feature BEAUTY AND THE ATHEIST. It's a shocking turn for a Christian film auteur, the first Christian film we've ever made fun of on our podcast, with a plot about a Christian film being made fun of on a podcast. Does your head hurt yet? It gets even more meta than that: BEAUTY AND THE ATHEIST is a film about a real event in Donald's life, when he felt (to use his words) an "inaudible message" that compelled him...

Welcome to a new Boys' Bible Study side project called "The DharMann Bums," which is what we're renaming the show whenever we cover an episode of Dhar Mann, the inspirational YouTube filmmaker who racks up hundreds of millions of views making dramaslop with a questionable moral compass. We've covered Dhar Mann before, enjoying his decadent world where archetypes like "nice guys" and gold diggers duke it out, usually over money, and the evil party gets punished for their hubris. Since it's time for our annual Christmas in July episode, we decided to delve into two Christmas-themed Dhar Mann videos: "...

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While cattle were loading into IMAX theaters all over the country to catch THE ODYSSEY, intellectuals and patriots alike found themselves seated for a different kind of hero's journey. YOUNG WASHINGTON is the story of American mythology, and its founder George Washington, when he was but a twink and the empire he was about to preside over was but a twinkle i...

This strange genre combination of "end times film," "pro-abstinence film," and "time travel film" will give you whiplash. 2080 is a 40 minute long film by Joshua Wright, a Christian social media influencer successful online for his Instagram Reels content, now breaking into a filmmaking form that rewards a slightly longer attention span. The title 2080 hints at a not so far off future, but the film begins in the present day with the story of high school athlete Jacob. Having been accepted into many colleges due to his football prowess, he seems like a man with a bright future ahead of...

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The 2000s marked a huge shift in the methods available to DIY outsider filmmakers. Internet connectivity became a necessity for the average person instead of just a hobbyist pursuit, and powerful consumer softwares offered new ways of making stories come to life and be distributed directly to a global audience. Case in point: CHRISTIAN PRINCESS AND THE MUSLIM PAUPER, a religious-themed w...

America's 250th birthday is coming up this weekend (unc much?) so we decided to celebrate with another film taking place within the hallowed halls of the barracks. COUNTER COLUMN is a story of three teenagers who, for different reasons, sublimate themselves into US military basic training while growing spiritually in the process. Unfortunately, the film is very confusing, and just seems to be a reimagining of FULL METAL JACKET from memory but without any of the artistry. The military is a somewhat common backdrop for Christian films for a few reasons – most obviously, it signals the contemporary conservative value of...

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This historically important film with an all black cast takes a unique narrative approach in its depiction of the Christian afterlife. THE BLOOD OF JESUS was directed by Spencer Williams, an accomplished black actor and filmmaker with a prolific media career in the 1920s-40s before starring in the television adaptation of AMOS 'N' ANDY. The highly-rated show featured black actors in...

This Christian-leaning film directed by a martial arts expert preaches a confusing mix of liberal pro-science atheism and Christian deism that would be way more interesting if the fight scenes weren't such a slog. It's too bad because ABSOLUTE DOMINION has so much good going for it. Director Lexi Alexander has a genuinely interesting career and an obvious expertise and passion for combat sports. Her most notable film is possibly PUNISHER: WAR ZONE (2008), a commercial failure at the time that has since become a cult classic. She was notable for being the first female director of a Marvel franchise...

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From director Darren Wilson, the mind behind one of our least favorite films we've ever watched for the podcast (HEAVENQUEST: A PILGRIM'S PROGRESS), comes a similarly off-putting documentary about an enthusiastic band of faith healers causing chaos all over the world. The thesis of HOLY GHOST is basically that most preachers underemphasize the Holy Ghost aspect of the trinity -- the i...

In filmmaker Belinda M. Wilson's video introduction to the BLACK MAMBA DVD, she claims the film is inspired by a real life encounter with a mysterious woman at Wilson's own family reunion who never aged, could never prove her relation to the family, and was suspected of putting curses on people she disagreed with. This reverence for the supernatural forces that guide our day to day lives is powerfully captured in BLACK MAMBA, one of the most impressive DIY auteur films we've ever seen, that deserves to be seen by all film lovers who prioritize work that exists outside...

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The number one rule of being in an "angelslop" movie (a new genre we invented for a certain type of whimsical ~1990s film where angels and demons meddle in human affairs) is a private detective should not be taking the case of a man named Louis Cyphre. Say "Louis Cyphre" out loud if you haven't put it together already. ANGEL HEART p...

This intense Bible fanfiction thriller starring Christopher Walken is now heralded as a cult classic despite not being critically understood at the time of its release. The New York Times described it as "…bad enough to end the recent proliferation of religious thrillers." It's true that the 1990s were filled with religious thrillers -- we at Boys' Bible Study have extensively covered the "angelslop" and "devilslop" that proliferated through the era, with audiences fascinated by Christian pop culture moral frameworks imbued on human life. But the New York Times is completely wrong — THE PROPHECY has stood the test of time...

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Perhaps the best of the 1990s films fixated on pop Christian themes (that we affectionately call "angelslop" or, if more appropriate: "devilslop"), THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE is a wildly entertaining film that despite being firmly secular, manages to hit a ton of tropes we associate with the Christian film genre. Keanu Reeves stars as Kevin Lomax, a small town defense lawyer with a...

This sequel to what is now regarded as one of the most beloved Christian films of all time (THE BUTTERCREAM GANG) misses the mark by messing with the original formula. Released only one year after the original, THE BUTTERCREAM GANG: SECRET OF TREASURE MOUNTAIN feels like a completely different series by focusing on a GOONIES-style adventure subplot instead of the friendship between the ButterCreamers. The original idea of the ButterCream Gang is that they were a group of neighborhood boys who do good deeds; the new generation now admits girls (woke much?) and seems to have forgotten entirely about...

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We continue our immersion into Rev. Kenya Cagle's AI-generated world of secret agents, advanced technology, and an evil white nationalist conspiracy with episode 2 of the AI action series OUR MAN KENT. The past few weeks on our show have been dedicated to delving seriously into Rev. Cagle's AI work, an experience that has been alternately exciting and really tedious. As lovers o...

For the first time on this podcast, we watched a feature-length AI film, a venture we wouldn't have embarked on if we didn't already trust the creative spirit of the great Kenya Cagle. In fact, none of us on the show had ever even watched an AI feature before, Christian or otherwise. Ethical questions aside, the discontinuous style of AI video, with warping lines, uncanny movements, and constantly changing character models, makes watching for an extended period of time a disturbing experience like a dream you can't wake up from. MAN OF THE NIGHT is a real nightmare of...

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Have we discovered the first great piece of AI filmmaking? We'd like to believe we are the first Christian film podcast to cover the OUR MAN KENT series, since installment one was released less than two weeks ago and currently has fewer than 100 views. AI seems to be the current artistic focus of auteur Kenya Cagle, an extremely prolific faith-based film director proven capable of creating live-action films such as our favorites THE BOY WHO SAW CHRIST and THIRTEEN M...

ANNOUNCEMENT: a new perk is available on our $20 patreon tier! BOOTLEG BIBLE STUDY is a monthly physical media series where we send you handmade and custom-edited DVDs of faith-based films curated and assembled by BBS cohost Scott. Sign up by EOD Sunday April 5 to receive the first DVD "MURDER BIBLE"! Any signups after that date will be automatically enrolled for the May 2026 drop and beyond. Thank you for your generous support!

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Happy Easter! Three days before the resurrection miracle that defined Christianity, Jesus died on an Old Rugged Cross...

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This millennial-coded 2011 DVD Bible study series uses Facebook lingo, which was very en vogue at the time, to encourage people to upgrade their relationship with Jesus from casual to committed. NOT A FAN, the brainchild of minister Kyle Idleman, uses a clickbait-style title to grab your attention: what do you mean you're "NOT A FAN" of Jesus? What Idleman means is that on Facebook at the time, you could click a thumbs up to "become...

A team of the world's top athletes has weighed the pros and cons and concluded: sex really ain't worth it. On IT AIN'T WORTH IT: ATHLETES FOR ABSTINENCE, a whimsical 80s VHS tape with obligatory hip hop aesthetic influence meant to appeal to the youth, former pro basketball player AC Green tells teens that sex is an unnecessary temptation best handled by just saying no. Green's career spanned 16 years in the NBA, during which he set the record for perfect attendance with 1,192 consecutive games played. This earned him the nickname Iron Man, which fans mockingly shifted to Iron Virgin...

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Much of what we know about history is a lie. The biggest lie of them all, both literally and figuratively, is the coverup of the existence of giants. Primary sources such as the Bible (heard of it?) speak of a race called the Nephilim. These larger-than-life offspring of angels and human women have been depicted in documentaries such as NOAH by Darren Aronofsky. Nephilim were said to have been destroyed in the Great Flood, but...

Wim Wenders's intriguing and often baffling sequel to WINGS OF DESIRE reunites several actors from the original but places them in a shifting narrative that can be difficult to follow. At times FARAWAY, SO CLOSE! even transforms into a straight mafia crime thriller, a tonal detour that feels sudden and disorienting. In many ways it is clearly a sequel, tying off threads from the first film and expanding its angel mythology in ways that feel almost like fan service. We revisit Damiel, the former angel now living as a human with his trapeze artist wife Marion, happily running a...

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Sensationalist Christian filmmaker Danny Carrales has a talent for conveying the urgency of Jesus's teachings. It's one thing to hear the words that those who don't accept God's grace will be doomed to a life of eternal torture; it's another thing to actually see this happen to a guy who seemed like a pretty decent person but unfortunately dropped dead before he decided to accept Jesus. In an instant, he's floating above his body, traveling...

Did Wim Wenders's WINGS OF DESIRE give a generation of angel films their wings? The seminal German film certainly inspired one major American box office hit: Brad Silberling's CITY OF ANGELS, a loose remake cleverly relocated to Los Angeles. Recently Boys' Bible Study has moved into full-time analysis of the Y2K angel boom in American cinema, and CITY OF ANGELS may be the most essential film of that wave, spawning countless imitations. One of the movie's main draws is its A-list cast. Nicolas Cage plays Seth, an angel stationed at an LA hospital, where he becomes unprofessionally enamored...

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The urge to self-categorize as either a jock or a nerd seems inherent to human nature, even though those labels are relatively recent inventions. Today's looksmaxxing culture all over social media is really just a jargon-heavy reskin of those same old tribal attachments, complete with terms like "chad," "stacy," and "subhuman." The TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL episode "Most Likely to Succeed" does a great job showing how everyone still feels trapped by their high school...

Powerhouse faith-based production company Angel Studios takes a break from raising awareness of human trafficking to bring us a heartwarming tale from the gridiron. THE SENIOR is an inspiring sports drama about a man willing to do whatever it takes to reclaim his former glory. Haunted by regret, 59 year old strength coach Mike Flynt takes the incredible step of rejoining his former college football team, becoming, at the time, the oldest man to play in NCAA Division III. THE SENIOR is based on Flynt's life, though major liberties are taken to make the story more watchable. In reality, Flynt...

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This week we continue our education on the mysterious ways of angels and what they're supposedly up to on Earth, this time by checking out a classic from one of the great film masters, Wim Wenders. What quickly becomes clear is that nearly everything we think we know about angels, whether in highbrow film or lowbrow TV, somehow circles back to TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL, the definitive compilation of contemporary angel lore. WINGS OF DESIRE (1987...

Can you love a bad man? Can an angel be born yesterday? Can a dog be a Kat? These are the questions that have haunted us for six years of Boys' Bible Study, questions we haven't been able to answer until now. Six is a very powerful number. Put a lot of sixes together and that's the devil. But just one more is seven. And when those two numbers sit next to each other, it's the most evil and powerful force unleashed on mankind, greater than God and greater than Satan. On our anniversary, we like to do a...

By watching TIME COLLECTORS we have now "collected" reviews of all three feature films written by Jeff Johnson and directed by Caleb Johnson. We've realized that the father and son team specialize in extremely convoluted plots involving double lives and criminal intrigue, usually with storylines tying together in a manner far more ambitious than your average DIY filmmaker. For instance, 2 TO TANGLE (2013) is about twins who were separated at birth and have never met each other, and all the confusion that could arise from that. ECHO RHYME (2016) involves faked deaths, revenge plots, and a gang of high level jewel...

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In the past, natural occurrences such as sunsets and eclipses were thought to be miracles. Now, human reason has solved many mysteries, yet occurrences still happen that boggle the mind and make us wonder if there is still angelic influence on Earth. In the mid-90s, a TV series documented these freak happenings. COULD IT BE A MIRACLE? is an entertaining anthology of documented miracles retold with dramatic reenactments, and it also represents the non-denominational...

This notorious VHS tape has taken on a second life on the Internet as a treasured relic of found footage. Recorded live at First Baptist Church in Perrine, Florida (year unknown), LIL MARKIE LIVE IN MIAMI is a rare chance to see Christian entertainer Mark Fox fully embody his iconic Lil Markie character in the flesh. Lil Markie is basically Mr. Fox doing a cartoonish child's voice, which in practice sounds like a combination of TV characters Elmo from Sesame Street and Meatwad from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. As Lil Markie, Mark Fox recorded multiple albums. He is perhaps...

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This brand new installment in the HANK'S CHRISTMAS WISH series was released just a few weeks ago and adds a key legendary figure to the Hankiverse Christmas pantheon: Elvis. Directed by West Virginia's finest filmmaker, Jason Campbell, the yearly updates to the HANK'S CHRISTMAS WISH saga show the series becoming increasingly meta and disjointed. Although it's clear the HANK films are meant to be lighthearted, silly romps, as Campbell fanatics we found ourselves distracted by...