- Content: “Exploring Supernatural Beings of Good and Evil”
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What You Need To Know:
INVESTIGATING THE SUPERNATURAL: ANGELS & DEMONS is actually well made. It combines true narrative with inserts from experts on the subjects being discussed. Despite the topic being the supernatural world, the movie’s approach follows logic and the scientific method to explain what can be understood by the supernatural by using reason. In addition, the topic is Christian in worldview, but the topics are incredibly heavy and sometimes too scary or younger children. That said, ANGELS & DEMONS is an excellent, well-made documentary combining education and entertainment in beautiful harmony.
Content:
Very strong Christian, biblical worldview about angels and demons and spiritual warfare (see Ephesians 6:10-18) where all the experts that are shown are highly decorated and Ivy League educated theologians along with being experts in other fields, the narrator and interviewer mentions his own Christian faith and says he’s taking this opportunity to explore the supernatural and God’s influence on this world, there is a scene where a person prays to keep demons away, there’s also a scene where priests invoke Christ in order to save others, movie reports first-hand accounts of interactions between angels, demons and Humans and how they connect to Jesus Christ and the Bible;
No actual foul language, but there is implied foul language in two scenes, one is a Soviet Union scene with Dr. Hugh Ross and the other is a woman that Dr. Gallagher mentions where it’s implied the demon-possessed woman spouted was obscenities and foul insults toward God;
There is a scene where a bomb goes off, and a scene where a truck falls on a man, but neither scene has blood or shows a dead body;
No sex;
No nudity;
No alcohol use;
No smoking or drugs; and,
There is a scene discussing how the Soviet Union was trying to weaponize the occult but gave it up when encountering occult phenomenon, and one story is about a woman who was willingly possessed by a demon, but she died because she refused to have the demon exorcised from her soul.
More Detail:
Like other episodes in the documentary series, Billy makes his rounds talking to experts on this particular subject. On his trip, Billy spends his time visiting four experts to get their accounts and knowledge on the subject. During each interview and story, there are other theological experts putting in extra information as well as extra explanations on each individual account. The experts, scholars and theologians include Dr. Gregory Boyd, Dr. William Lane Craig, Dr. Candy Gunther Brown, John Burke, and Lee Strobel, just to name a few.
In this episode, Billy visits Dr. Hugh Ross, Dr. Richard Gallagher, Judith MacNutt, and Bruce Venetta. All of these various interviewees give their account and personal stories when it comes to Demons and Angels.
The first visit is to Dr. Hugh Ross, a famous Astrophysicist and Christian. He was originally tasked with figuring out the existence and study of how UFO’s work and their connection with Angels and Demons. Dr. Ross noticed that the UFOs that have been confirmed all defy the known laws of physics and thus are impossible without some sort of supernatural interaction. This led him to become an expert in Big Bang Cosmology.
Then, when asked why he believes in Demons, he tells a story he experienced while visiting the Soviet Union. The USSR was highly into the occult, and they wanted him to give a talk on the connection between God and the supernatural. Anytime he gave a lecture that involved God or Christ, his audience would react super aggressively, and some rolled on the floor in agony. Then one day he had a young man pray in the crowd and during this talk nobody reacted. Later he learned that, after that day, the USSR gave up on their goal of weaponizing. Between the UFO research and the encounters with the USSR, Dr. Ross has a strong belief in the supernatural.
The second interviewee for Billy was world renowned psychiatrist Dr. Richard Gallagher. Dr Gallagher is an Ivy League graduate and a practicing Catholic. He has interviewed many patients and defines the difference between demonic possession and demonic oppression. He also shares that oppressions are more common than possessions.
He then tells Billy about the time when he was recruited by some exorcist priests doing exorcisms. During his time, he was able to give his expertise and find when people were psychologically sane but clearly having problems with both Demonic possession and oppressions. One story about a woman who was part of a cult stood out to him. She knew of her possession but apparently didn’t want to give it up because it supposedly gave her psychic powers. However, Dr. Gallagher pointed out she was also afraid of her cult. There was a time when he and his priest friends were driving her to her exorcism, and she had a violent reaction and spoke in a different voice attacking the two men. The scene he describes is disturbing. Sadly, Dr. Gallagher believes the poor girl died, because she rejected her priestly exorcism.
Billy’s third interviewee is Julie MacNutt who ran a ministry called Christian Healing ministries and is considered more of an expert on angels. In her case, she tells three stories to Billy.
The first is one where she heard a voice telling her not to go to a florist. When she and her husband prayed, they chose not to go to the florist, and a few moments later a bomb went off that they had avoided. Then, she tells the story about how her preacher wanted her not to teach on Angels, and she prayed for him to meet one, and, within a week, the preacher claimed to have seen one. Finally, she tells a story about a ring she was missing that God sent an Angel to return to her to remind her of the love her Heavenly Father has for her.
The final Interviewee is Bruce Venetta who talks about how he was saved by two angels. In his story he talks about his time as a mechanic that one day an actual truck, literally fell on him and crushed him, causing his spirit to leave. While his soul was out, he saw two giant celestial beings keeping him alive. While in the hospital his small intestine is removed surgically, and through the power of prayer another angel appears and helps him. Later, the same doctor who removed his small intestine in one surgery, during a different surgery stopped in anger because he found that Bruce’s small intestine had literally and miraculously grown back.
The entire documentary is Christian friendly. However, the content might be a little terrifying for younger audiences as it deals with some true spiritual warfare. The show is also good at balancing the interviewee’s stories along with the expert insets that provide more background information, making an entertaining and educational documentary. The documentary also does a good job at not just explaining things via faith alone; all the interviewees as well as Billy take a logical and scientific approach to figuring out these mysteries. As such, they realistically show that Angels and Demons are supernatural beings outside of our natural world.
Overall, ANGELS & DEMONS is a very interesting watch, but its more intended for a mature Christian audience, and children of all ages should be careful when watching.
