On March 10, The History Channel will premiere the next episode of their new docudrama miniseries, “The Bible.” This series is different than other programs about the Bible that the History Channel had aired in the past. This series isn’t about history at all. It is about prime time televangelism.
The History Channel has partnered up with at least two different evangelical missionary groups. Through their partnership with a group called “Renewed Strength,” The History Channel is offering a free copy of the book version of their miniseries, “A Story of God and All of Us.” In order to qualify for this free offer all one must do is promote Renewed Strength through social media.
The Renewed Strength website was pretty vague, so I took the liberty of e-mailing them disguised as a fundamentalist Christian to ask them what their position was on marriage equality and the creation of the universe (of course I didn’t word it quite that way). This was their response:
“Renewed Strength (and myself) believe and uphold that there is only one true God. God created the earth and everything on it. Jesus Christ, God's one and only son lived a perfect life on earth before being crucified on the cross, and ascended into heaven to take the punishment of our sins. We believe that we are all sinners, and are separated from God. Jesus' death for us, bridges this gap. We fully believe in the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman, bonded together for life.
Our Statement of Faith
We believe in the one and only God the Father and his son Jesus Christ.
We believe that the Bible is God's written word and that it is without error in the original form. We believe that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life, died on the cross, and ascended to Heaven to provide forgiveness for our sins.”
They have made their views very clear here. They believe the Bible is "without error" and that they do not support marriage equality for gays. This is who the History Channel has partnered with.
Another organization called “Outreach” has also partnered up with the History Channel to market the miniseries and a “church kit” to various churches around the country. The church kit comes with:
Campaign Planning Guide
5 customizable sermons featuring clips from the epic TV miniseries
Resource DVD featuring clips from the epic TV miniseries – great for preview or sermon illustrations.
A 5 week DVD-based study for use in small groups or individually
A Bible Viewing Party Kit
30 Day Experience Daily Guidebook & Study Guide
Advanced Copy of “A Story of God and All of Us” by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett
Sample Invitation Tools
And Much More
At least with previous History Channel show dealing with the Bible there was some semblance of objectivity. But now it seems like it isn’t the past that is coming alive on the History Channel, it’s the collection plate. There is zero historical value in this series. In fact, the series producers Mark Burnett and his wife Roma Downey admit this on the first page of their book, “A Story of God and All of Us”:
"We must be clear: We are not retelling the story of the Bible; it has already been told in the richest, fullest possible way, from the mouth of God and through His chosen prophets, students, and apostles. Instead, we are dramatizing some of these beautiful stories from our scripts."
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