Sound of Freedom is making some huge waves across our country.  Tsunami-sized waves. Waves are expected to wash 40 million dollars to the American shores.

Since its release by Angel Studios on July 4th, people have reacted in a variety of different ways to “Sound of Freedom” for many different reasons. Christian groups are praising it saying, “It’s about time someone shines the light on a massive problem that elite billionaires have been hiding for years (think Epstein Island).” Conspiracy theory naysayers are hating on it saying it uses “Bogus Statistics”, “QAnon Concepts”, “Fear Mongering, and Moral Panics” to try to scare naive ignoramuses to watch such juvenile trash. Popular media outlets are ignoring the movie altogether. Barely a peep can be heard.

And then you have the Disney Disillusioned — those once faithful mouse lovers who feel his house has been taken over by the alt-left progressive militia who are pushing a new cultural revolution — and the Disney trad-fans are loving the humbling Disney is going through at the box office. They hope this string of losses will bring Mickey and his gang back to making good family-friendly entertainment again. And then there are the honest critics who are rather shocked by how this obscure unforeseen movie has impacted our culture in such a short time.

I saw the movie and I loved it. I entered the theatre with trepidation because of the subject matter, namely, child sex trafficking. Just thinking about it horrifies me, and to pay to watch it on screen was not something I was all that excited about. But the producers handled the topic with dignity and decorum.  It told a great story without needing to shock or offend. I was also impressed by the acting, especially the children’s eyes! They spoke sorrow and pain with just the look in their eyes.

It was a fantastic movie that I would recommend it to everyone over 15 to go see. So what was with all the backlash? Why do mainstream media outlets openly mock “Sound of Freedom” calling it “camp” and “political advertising for the alt-right”? There was not one thing political about it. And yet these same critics will cheerfully support a movie like “Taken” calling it a solid piece of entertainment, or even praise the Netflix show “Cuties” and seeing it as both a brave and daring work of art.

But my most vexing question is this: why is it so wrong to want young children to be safe from sex trafficking? Can’t every good-hearted person get on board to support a movie that exposes the vileness of child pornography and sex trafficking? Or should movie theaters stay away from morality-based narratives and just feature mind-numbing superhero movies and warm, fuzzy rom-coms?

Three Reasons for the Hate

I think there are three main reasons there has been such strong blowback toward this movie:

(1) Our secular society has a general disdain toward the views of conservative Christianity. There is a popular belief that sees your average evangelical Christian as part of a toxic nationalism that wants to suppress the rights of the average American. Yes, the most threatening thing to our society are those people who value traditional marriage and believe in common goodness. Those heartless Christians are so mean and nasty wanting children to grow up without having everything from Barbie to Mermaids and Buzz Lightyear politicized. So when a movie like “Sound of Freedom” is embraced and promoted by the evangelical community, there is a cultural knee-jerk reaction to not support it because they suspect there are dark motives behind everything Christians support. Popular culture sees Jim Caviezel, the actor playing the main character in the movie, as a dangerous zealot and if you watch this movie, you too may become a wide-eyed Christian zombie just like him.

(2) I do think there is a group of people who want to keep their nefarious operations hidden. Sex trafficking is a $150 billion dollar business. That is a lot of money. That is a lot of depravity. And who wants to admit that the world is this broken? Better to ignore the problem than be exposed on all those 70 x 40 ft. silver screens across the country.

(3) And then you have people who don’t believe in evil. This is especially true when the worldview of those in power promotes sexual liberation and moral relativism. There is no evil when there is no overarching truth. And now that this group is in charge of the entertainment industry, how can you say what someone does in the privacy of their own home is evil? So what if what they are doing includes 7 and 8-year-old kids, it’s their life. So naturally, anyone who claims evil and sexual deviancy is taking place must be making it up. Especially if they are conservative Christians who are longing for the golden years of Trump’s reign.

The problem with that view is that the movie was actually made 5 years ago during the Trump era, and therefore was not made in retaliation to the values pushed by the current administration. So are the producers and writers of “Sound of Freedom” making it up? Is Tim Ballard, the real-life ex-federal agent, just making it up? Is he sensationalizing the sex trafficking narrative for his own personal profit or to gain political points?

One Pastors Opinion

When I went into church ministry I was both excited to preach and teach the word of God. I wanted to help counsel people to walk with Jesus. I find the human mind very interesting and people’s personal stories quite compelling. Over the years of working in ministry, I have found that God works in amazing ways to transform people into people who reflect his Son’s glory. But I was not quite prepared for the evil I would have to face as I helped families work through the brokenness of this world. Once in a while, I will have a person come into my office who admits to me some dark sins they have committed that are shocking, repulsive, and completely depraved.

Generally speaking, I have met fathers who abuse their young daughters and sons, grandfathers their grandkids, wives having multiple affairs without their husbands knowing, couples who swing, and I even saw the aftermath of some grizzly murder scenes. I thought ministry would only be walking in the garden alone where the dew is still on the roses. But after a few years, I have seen the effects of sin in full vivid color. Evil is sneaky, evil is dark, and evil is real.

Why is the Heart so Dark?

I think the heart can become so depraved because of our inherent design. Each human being is made in the image of God, which means the Almighty has designed me with the ability to reflect his Son in my life. I can glorify him, show him off to the world in my body. This is both an enormous honor and a very serious responsibility. The famed Jewish sage Maimonides wrote, “One should see the world, and see himself as a scale with an equal balance of good and evil. When he does one good deed the scale is tipped to the good — he and the world is saved. When he does one evil deed the scale is tipped to the bad — he and the world is destroyed.” So what if I refuse to fulfill my design? Satan knows how to use that same ability God gave me to bring derision and disdain to God’s name. 

There is a story in Job, the oldest book of the Bible, about a conversation between God and Satan. Listen to both God’s purpose for man and Satan’s counterattack to God’s goodness in 1:8-12: 

“Then the Lord asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.” Satan replied to the Lord, “Yes, but Job has good reason to fear God. You have always put a wall of protection around him and his home and his property. You have made him prosper in everything he does. Look how rich he is! But reach out and take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face!” “All right, you may test him,” the Lord said to Satan. “Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don’t harm him physically.” So Satan left the Lord’s presence.”

Did you notice, God wants human beings to reflect him, like a father being proud of his virtuous son? But Satan, the accuser, wants to hurt God by ruining the soul of people God loves. He knows how to twist, pervert, and possess human beings to run and disobey their good, good Father. The New Testament is very clear about this:

• “Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature, we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.” (Ephesians 2:1-3)
• “A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people. Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth. Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil’s trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants.” (2 Timothy 2:24-26)
• “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

Satan hates people. And he has no qualms about leading people to do twisted and terrible things. Even sacrificing people’s own children to the flames of Moloch in the Old Testament (Jeremiah 32:35).

Mercy is the Answer

Evil is not just real, but it is unending, and the pit of darkness is bottomless. When people say they have reached the end of themselves, the truth is, there is no end. In the same way, goodness is eternal, it is ever-expanding. In the movie “Sound of Freedom,” one of the main characters told of the time when he was caught up in a life of wanton sexual deviancy. After taking home a prostitute that he thought was 20-25 years old, he looked down and saw a painted face on her toenail which made him realize she was much younger than that. It turned out, he said, that she was 13 or 14 years old. The realization of his disgusting action caused him to question everything he knew. He had to face the darkness in his soul, which eventually caused him to turn to God.

That is called mercy. Mercy is the only thing that stops the slide into darker and darker chambers of sinister evil.

So I praise God for the movie “Sound of Freedom” because I not only want the evil of sex trafficking exposed and slowed down. But I am hoping that the viewers stop for a second and realize that the same heart that is in the child abuser is the same heart that is in all of us. As Alexander Solzhenitsyn once famously said, “The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either — but right through every human heart — and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained.”

May God have mercy on our souls!

Doorway urges everyone to get out and see Sound of Freedom while it’s still available in theaters. If money is a concern, you can retrieve your free tickets at angel.com/freetickets. As a supporter of the film, you can also help spread the word by purchasing tickets for others on their Pay-it-Forward program at angel.com/pay-it-forward/sound-of-freedom.