American Gospel: Christ Alone

2019 • 139 minutes

About this movie

Does Christianity mean Christ + the American dream? American Gospel examines how the prosperity gospel (the Word of Faith movement) has distorted the gospel message, and how this theology is being exported abroad. This feature-length film is the first in a series.

Ratings and reviews

First off, well made and very nice work. However it is way too long. My wife and I both agreed this should have been a bible study or split into different episodes, mainly because it looses focus and ends up spending way too much time beating up three or four individual people. I teach film on the college level and appreciate the editing and great camera work. The message is very biased towards a Calvinist bent, so be ready for that. But very well made and eye opening stories of other believers.

There is much to like about this documentary. It has a clear reaffirmation of classic reformation theology. But it is rather polemic at times as it performs an effective and extended demolition of the prosperity heresy. One word of caution - it does delve into some of the more extreme statements that some of these preachers made decades ago which they've since disavowed. I'm really glad it explored a theology of suffering from the perspective of testimonies (including that of a former gangster who was a missionary in Peru). It was very American (but that was the intended focus anyway), and it would've been helpful to have some introspection regarding some of the blindspots within TGC circles. (ie. Gospel proclamation without community transformation, and ongoing abusive authoritarianism, although they probably wanted to keep it to 2 hrs).

When i stumbled across this, God had already been taking me through a period of trying the spirits to see if they were of him. I have felt very alone because almost everything i was hearing seemed like it was not of God. I have been questioning everything ive been hearing. This film helped me realize what i was seeing was right. Im realizing my focus was all off. The best source is directly from the bible. Its about what Christ did for us. Its all about God!!