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Hollywood Flips Over Oscar-Nominated Christian Movie Theme Song
The family-friendly drama 'Alone Yet Not Alone' garnered a 2014 Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. (Enthuse Entertainment)
Enthuse Entertainment’s family-friendly drama Alone Yet Not Alone garnered a 2014 Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. The nominated title song was written by Bruce Broughton and Dennis Spiegel and sung by best-selling author and artist Joni Eareckson Tada.
The song beat out others by Coldplay, Taylor Swift, Celine Dion and Lana Del Rey. The other nominations include Frozen's "Let it Go," "Ordinary Love" by U2 from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, Pharrell Williams' "Happy" from Despicable Me 2 and Karen O's "The Moon Song" from Her.
Some people in Hollywood have questioned the nomination from a Christian film that is virtually unknown. Broughton, one of the writers, is a former music branch governor of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as well as a former chair of the music branch. Deadline.com claims he used his connections to gain a nomination.
Ray Costa, who helped promote the song to Academy members, disputes the claim.
"If he could influence the Academy in that way, he should have got a lot more nominations over the past 30 years," Costa said, according to the Hollywood Reporter. "There were 75 songs being considered, and this one was different. It was inspirational and integral to the movie."
The title track single is available to audiences digitally through iTunes. The full soundtrack, composed by William Ross, will be available in stores this year.
No DVD release information has yet been announced. An Alone Yet Not Alone young adult book by Tracy Leininger Craven was released earlier this month by Zonderkidz.
Alone Yet Not Alone tells the story of Barbara and Regina Leininger and their journey of faith and survival during the French and Indian War in 1755. Captured by the Delaware Indians in a raid on their home and transported across 300 miles of wilderness to Ohio, the sisters are sustained only by their trust in God and their hope of escape against all odds to be reunited with their family.
In its limited theatrical release in September, Alone Yet Not Alone became the highest-grossing film on opening weekend in terms of per-screen average, reaching $13,396 per screen in its limited opening in select cities. This per-screen average surpassed the per-screen average of most other wide-release movies, including Enough Said ($9,238 per screen) and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 ($8,439 per screen), ranking Alone Yet Not Alone with one of the highest per-screen-averages for independently released faith-based films to date, according to an Enthuse Entertainment representative.
The 86th Annual Academy Awards will be held March 2 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Calif.
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Prophetic Word for 2014: The Righteous Will Never Be Shaken
The righteous will never be shaken. (Stock.xchng)
For many years I’ve heard prophecies proclaiming, “Whatever can be shaken will be shaken.” Indeed, I’m sure I’ve prophesied along those lines in years past. These types of prophecies are in line with Hebrews 12:27, which promises “the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.”
To be sure, the shaking is underway. There have been more earthquakes, famines, wars and volcanoes in the first 13 years of this century than the entire 20th century. At the same time, we’ve seen economic collapses, rising turmoil in the Middle East, the redefinition of marriage in a growing number of U.S. states and foreign nations, and a decline in church attendance. Clearly, the shaking is intensifying, just as many have prophesied.
A Mighty Promise From God
But there is yet good news. The Lord spoke these words to my heart, “The righteous will never be shaken.” This is in line with a mighty promise in Psalm 112 (NKJV):
“Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth; The generation of the upright will be blessed.
“Wealth and riches will be in his house, And his righteousness endures forever. Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness; He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous. A good man deals graciously and lends; He will guide his affairs with discretion.
“Surely he will never be shaken; The righteous will be in everlasting remembrance. He will not be afraid of evil tidings; His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is established; He will not be afraid, until he sees his desire upon his enemies.
“He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever; His horn will be exalted with honor. The wicked will see it and be grieved;
He will gnash his teeth and melt away; The desire of the wicked shall perish.”
You Are the Righteousness of God
This promise is for you, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).
Now, this is your legal position. Your living condition may not line up with your legal position. In other words, you may not fear the Lord or delight greatly in His commandments as you should. You may need to come up higher in trusting the Lord to battle the fearful imaginations that come against your mind. You may not be giving to the poor—or giving at all. You may need to cooperate a little more with the grace of God so that your living condition matches your legal position.
I beseech you by the mercies of God to come up higher this year. Yes, we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. But we still live in these fleshly tents. God wants to change us from glory to glory to reflect the image of Christ (2 Cor. 3:18). Press into the gospel, “for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith” (Romans 1:17). As you pursue gospel truths, you’ll receive revelation of God’s righteousness in you that will spark faith to walk in His Word.
Vows to the Consistently Righteous
In the days and years ahead, you’ll want to tap into the promises to the righteous. The New King James version of Proverbs alone mentions the “righteous”—what the Amplified calls the “consistently righteous”— or “righteousness” 75 times. The righteous are promised:
Sound wisdom (Prov. 2:7)
God as their buckler Prov. 2:8)
His secret (Prov. 3:32)
Deliverance from death (Prov. 10:2)
Avoiding famines (Prov. 10:3)
Granted desires (Prov. 10:24)
Gladness (Prov. 10:28)
Immovability (Prov. 10:30)
Direction (Prov. 11:5)
Deliverance for family (Prov. 11:21)
Flourishing (Prov. 11:28)
Recompense in the earth (Prov. 11:31)
Right thoughts (Prov. 12:5)
Excellence (Prov. 12:26)
Life (Prov. 12:28)
Favor (Prov. 14:9)
Hope in death (Prov. 14:34)
Treasure (Prov. 15:6)
Heard prayers (Prov. 15:29)
Safety (Prov. 18:10)
Honor (Prov. 21:21)
Boldness (Prov. 28:1)
Rejoicing (Prov. 29:6)
Yes, there is a shaking going on. But the Lord wants you to know this: “The righteous will never be shaken.” Those things you put your trust in apart from God—people, money, positions, or something else—may be shaken but God won’t be shaken and you won’t be shaken if your rely completely on Him. So ask the Holy Spirit if your living condition lacks His righteousness in any way, and then work with His grace to pursue righteousness. Jesus put it this way: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matt. 6:33-34). Amen.
From left, clockwise: Richard Twiss, Edith Schaffer, Charles Lamb, Pat Summerall
Media outlets have published lists this week of celebrities who died in 2013—lists that include Nelson Mandela, Margaret Thatcher, Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, novelist Tom Clancy and actors Peter O’Toole, Jean Stapleton and Paul Walker of Fast and Furiousfame.
But religious leaders often don’t make these lists, mostly because the work of the Spirit is rarely celebrated on this side of eternity. As this year comes to a close, I decided to look back at 2013 and honor the memory of church leaders who died this year. They include:
1. Samuel Lamb. This brave Chinese pastor died in August at age 88. He spent 20 years in prison for his faith because he refused to bow to his communist oppressors. He taught his flock: “The laws of God are more important that the laws of men.” Today the illegal church he planted in the city of Guangzhou has grown to 4,000 members.
2. George Beverly Shea. Perhaps the best-known gospel singer of all time, Shea performed at Billy Graham’s crusades for decades and recorded more than 70 albums. A Canadian known for his booming bass-baritone voice, he teamed up with Graham in 1947. Ever willing to stand in the shadow of the more famous evangelist, Shea prepared audiences for Graham’s message by singing trademark songs such as “I’d Rather Have Jesus” and “How Great Thou Art.” He died in April at age 104.
3. Edith Schaffer. She and her husband, Francis, both Presbyterian missionaries, established L’Abri Fellowship, a retreat center in Switzerland that became a think tank for Christian theologians and activists. Some believe Edith and her husband—through their many books and lectures—galvanized the Christian Right in the 1980s by encouraging believers to challenge culture rather than hide from it. She was 98.
4. C. Everett Koop. Hated by some members of Congress because of his personal opposition to abortion, this distinguished pediatric surgeon was tapped by President Reagan to serve as U.S. Surgeon General. When Dr. Koop took office in 1981, 33 percent of Americans smoked; when he left in 1989, the percentage had dropped to 26 percent because of his strident campaign against tobacco use. A devoted Presbyterian who wrote a book about his faith journey, Sometimes Mountains Move, he also defended the rights of the elderly and children with birth defects. He was 96.
5. Richard Twiss. Once a monthly columnist for Charisma, Twiss was a rare breed: An outspoken charismatic Christian from a Native American background. His ministry, Wiconi International, focused on promoting reconciliation between whites and Native people. Born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, Twiss wrote the popular book One Church, Many Tribes, and used his pulpit to reach Native people for Christ. He was only 58.
6. Pat Summerall. Perhaps the best known sportscaster in the U.S., he was fondly referred to as “the voice of the NFL” because his career spanned more than 40 years—and 16 Super Bowls. But what many TV viewers did not know was that the man with the famous voice experienced a dramatic conversion to Christ in 1992 after battling alcoholism. He wrote in his autobiography: “My thirst for alcohol was being replaced by a thirst for knowledge about faith and God. … I felt ecstatic, invigorated, happier, and freer. It felt as though my soul had been washed clean.” Summerall became a Southern Baptist before he died at age 82.
7. Paul Crouch. Raised in the Assemblies of God and driven by a desire to spread the gospel through television, Crouch built his Trinity Broadcasting Network from scratch, starting in 1973 with a station in Tustin, California, using $20,000 of his own money. When Crouch died in November at age 79, TBN had more than 18,000 network affiliates. His fund-raising tactics and spending habits made him plenty of enemies, but millions of donors looked beyond his flaws to help him build the largest Christian TV ministry in the world.
8. Dallas Willard. Considered a leading authority on spiritual formation, Willard was a philosophy professor at the University of Southern California whose books included The Spirit of the Disciplines, The Divine Conspiracy, Renovation of the Heart and Hearing God. He was a passionate proponent for rigorous discipleship, and he chided the American church for thinking we can be Christians without being disciples. He wrote: “The spiritual life is a life of interaction with a personal God, and it is pure delusion to suppose that it can be carried on sloppily.” He was 77.
9. Matthew Warren. He was not famous, nor a church leader. But because Matthew was the son of California megachurch pastor Rick Warren, he did not live far from the media spotlight. He killed himself in April after a long struggle with depression—and the tragedy caused churches around the world to take a more compassionate attitude toward mental illness. Rick Warren and his wife, Kay, spoke candidly about their son’s dilemma in a September interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan in which they said their congregation, Saddleback Community Church, has been fully supportive of them during their painful grieving period. Matthew was only 27.
10. Faye Pama Mysa. Few Americans have ever heard of this 47-year-old Pentecostal pastor who served as secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria. But he died a martyr’s death in May when Islamic militants burst into his home in Borno state and shot him. He is only one of hundreds of Christians who have died in Nigeria in recent years, victims of the Boko Haram terrorist group.
Organizations that monitor the persecution of Christians say the numbers of martyrs increased in 2013, especially in Nigeria, Egypt and Pakistan. In September in Pashawar, Pakistan, 78 worshipers were killed in a bomb attack at a church. In May, officials at the Vatican announced they believe 100,000 Christians are killed annually because of their faith.
I can’t list all their names here. But I pray our hearts will be filled with the courage of a martyr as we head into 2014.
J. Lee Grady is the former editor of Charisma and the director of The Mordecai Project (themordecaiproject.org). You can follow him on Twitter at leegrady. He is the author of Fearless Daughters of the Bible and other books.
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In the days and weeks ahead, prophetic voices around the world will release prophecies for 2014. You’ll read a handful of them on the "Prophetic Insight" section of charismamagazine.com.
But before we charge ahead to weigh prophetic mandates, directives and warnings for 2014, let’s take a minute to look back at the prophetic words declared over 2013. After all, you can’t always limit God’s words to a 12-month timeline. Indeed, it’s possible that some 2013 prophecies won’t be relevant for years and others will remain relevant for years to come. So, again, before we move on to the next new word, let’s review what the Lord said last year and respond according to His Spirit.
The Spiritual Avalanche That Could Kill Millions
About this time last year, evangelist Steve Hill had a vision. He saw a massive, majestic mountain covered in glistening snow. It turned out to be an avalanche of heretical teachings, including universal reconciliation, the deification of man, a challenge against the validity of the Word of God including His judgments, and even the lifting of any boundaries, claiming His amazing grace is actually amazing freedom. We’ve certainly seen a rise in heretical teachings in 2013. But I believe the avalanche has yet to completely fall. Have you girded the loins of your mind for the onslaught in the years ahead?
Be Free of Satan’s False Accusations in 2013
Sandie Freed, founder and director of the School of the Prophets and Apostolic Training Center in Bedford, Texas, declared freedom from Satan’s false accusations in 2013. She charged us to “step into 2013 with an understanding of who God is and with the revelation that He is not a God that lies.” This was less of a prophetic word and more of an apostolic decree. Did you heed the call?
'My Hand Is Moving Across Your Nation in a Miraculous Way'
Eileen Fisher, author of Embracing the Prophetic, released a prophetic word declaring, “My hand is moving across your nation in a miraculous way.” The conclusion of the prophecy proclaimed, “You will hear a miraculous report of the Lord. You will dance in the streets and you will sing and you will declare, 'All is well!' I will say until you, sing it in faith, sing it when you are alone, declare it, decree it, and so it shall be: All shall be well because the well of salvation is going to be poured out fresh over your nation. I am causing places that have been dry to open up to My reign. I will come down and you will hear, 'Let us go to the sanctuary of the Lord our God and be dipped in the well of our own salvation,' says the Lord your God.” Did you experience this in your life, family or church?
Return to Antioch
The Lord told Jennifer LeClaire (that’s me) to issue a prophetic directive. It came to my spirit in three words: “Return to Antioch.” In my article, I wrote, “We need to ‘return to Antioch.’ We need to return to sound doctrine that strengthens the spirits and souls of the disciples, encourages them to contend for the true faith, and refuses to sugar coat the Christian walk. We need to ‘return to Antioch’ and leave behind the Hollywood Christianity, the pillow prophets, the prosper-me gospel and the other foolish practices that have crept into the 21st century church while we were sleeping. We need to ‘return to Antioch’ and walk with Christ no matter what it costs us. We need to be found faithful when the Lord returns.” I believe this is still true for 2014.
Cry Out for a Youth Awakening
Former Charisma editor J. Lee Grady believed God had redemption in mind for 2013. Lee says God told him, "Pray for a great awakening in the younger generation.” He offered three Spirit-led prayer points and concluded, “God wants to give America another chance. The prophet Jeremiah pronounced many words of judgment on wayward Israel, yet he prayed this: 'Restore us to You, O Lord, that we may be restored; renew our days as of old' (Lam. 5:21). God loves to answer that prayer! His desire is to restore—and He can orchestrate a great turnaround in our nation if we will humble ourselves and cry to Him with all our hearts.” Amen. I believe this prophetic word is still relevant today.
13 Prophecies for 2013
The most-shared 2013 prophecy article on Charisma magazine last year was revivalist Matt Sorger’s "13 Prophecies for 2013." He shared a number of visions, from stagnant waters being stirred in a fresh way to a prophetic ear to comprehend to a new God-given language to communicate His truths clearly to blueprints for a new wineskin. Sorger encouraged us to pursue these things aggressively as invitations to lay hold of.
Stay tuned in the coming days and weeks as we’ll share more prophetic words. In the meantime, review these decrees, announcements, insights and directives. Grab what rings with your spirit even as you prepare your heart to receive what God has for you in the new year.
Another School Shooting: America Reaps What It Has Sown
R. Loren Sandford
I cannot remain silent. Call me legalistic for calling out sin. Call me harsh for pointing out the destruction that comes from it. But I’m not proclaiming God’s active judgment or pronouncing any kind of condemnation. I’m talking about the inevitable reaping of what we have sown as a culture, and I grieve for the resulting tragedies I see unfolding in so many lives every day.
Once more we have seen a school shooting, and once more it has happened in the Denver metro, my city, this time at Arapahoe High School, not far from Columbine High School, where another and more devastating shooting happened in 1999. It wasn’t long ago that a shooter opened up in a theater in my city and destroyed dozens of lives. My heart is broken. My chest aches, and my eyes are wet with tears for the trauma these students have experienced, for the injured ones and for the shooter himself, so emotionally disturbed and in so much pain that he not only had to harm others but took his own life. This is destiny and promise stolen and destroyed by the enemy of our soul.
Why? These things never happened a generation ago, when, whether or not we really lived it, our nation at least acknowledged God and our families for the most part remained whole. I want to scream, “America! Wake up!” I have unhappily prophesied in writing that we are witnessing the catastrophic collapse of a once-great culture and our children are paying the price. I warned in my annual prophetic word just a few weeks ago of the rising tide of hatred around us that will surface in many arenas of life. This shooting is a manifestation of that hatred which inevitably results when a nation forgets its rightful Lawgiver and turns from His principles that were given to ensure the well-being of all God’s creation.
This generation of young people is lost! Our self-centeredness as a culture has led to the breakup of our families and the abandonment of our children. We’ve failed to pass them stability. We’ve not imparted a faith in God and His absolute laws and principles, substituting instead a mushy postmodernism that eliminates the concept of a higher power who created us and who rules over us with love, wisdom and holy intent. When God’s morality is abandoned, love is lost and lives are destroyed.
Unless you listen—really listen—to the young, you cannot know how much destruction has been visited upon them or the depth to which it goes. We, as an older generation, must bear the responsibility for this. Guns are not the cause. We are the cause, and our sin is the root. Our broken covenants have left us naked and vulnerable to the ravages of the one who hates us.
New laws will accomplish nothing in the long run. The violence and destruction will simply leave the campus to find another location where young people gather. Put security guards at the doors of our schools and workplaces and the violence will simply move to the street and even the homes. Nothing short of a strong move of national repentance can turn this around, but in convincing us that we’re all victims and not sinners, that law and morality are relative to the feelings of the individual, our enemy has effectively eliminated repentance from the conceptual realm for those who have not been reached for Jesus, and even from the hearts of many who call themselves Christian.
Can we who really understand plumb now the depths of the cross and the blood and the selflessness of our Lord imparted into us? Can we recover the joy and beauty of repentance as an essential and ongoing element of the Christian life? Can we finally conform to the image of the Son (Rom. 8:29) and begin to shine as lights in a dark place, as we have been called and destined to do?
Lord, forgive us. We have fallen so far.
R. Loren Sandfordis the founder and senior pastor of New Song Church and Ministries in Denver, Colo. He is a songwriter, recording artist and worship leader, as well as the author of several books, including Understanding Prophetic People, The Prophetic Church and his latest, Visions of the Coming Days: What to Look For and How to Prepare, which are available with other resources at the church's website.
