Viewing Recommendation: A Great Awakening

On Saturday, as we celebrate the 250^th Anniversary of Independence Day, we celebrate an incredible milestone in the life of our country.

I’d like to personally recommend that you considering watching “A Great Awakening,” a film which explores the unlikely friendship between English evangelist George Whitefield and Founding Father Benjamin Franklin.

The film tells the story of Whitefield’s role in the revival of the 1740s. That revival laid the spiritual foundation for the American Revolution. While Ben Franklin and George Whitefield had different perspectives on religion, they worked closely together and formed a bond of mutual respect. 

I enjoyed watching this film, and our friend and historian David Barton of WallBuilders has shared that from a historical perspective, it is accurate.  

The film concludes around the 1789 Constitutional Convention. The proceedings were going badly when Ben Franklin spoke his famous words calling on the wisdom of God Almighty. He said, in part:

“I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth – that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that “except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it.” I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and byword down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human Wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest.

I therefore beg leave to move, that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the Clergy of the City be requested to officiate in that service.” (This need for prayer rings ever true today!)

I hope you enjoy “The Great Awakening” as much as I did.

Happy Independence Day, and God Bless America!