I’ve always been fascinated by the story of George Muller — how he ran several orphanages without ever appealing to people for money.  So I was very glad to find his story on Sky Angel!  You can find it in the Vision Video section of Video on Demand.

The orphanages came later in Muller’s life.  When he was young, his father wanted him to be an Anglican minister, so that he would have a guaranteed salary and benefits.  But Muller ended up getting saved, and he decided to put his faith into action — he attended, and ministered in, churches, and he did practical ministry.

After trying to go on the mission field, he decided to reach out to the orphans of England, who were basically abandoned children on the rough streets.  He made a commitment not to solicit funds, but only to ask God for support.  God enabled him to open up three orphanages within a year!

Eventually, he needed to move, so he built a new facility on 7 acres of land.  Again, God provided everything he needed.

After leaving the orphanages in capable hands, he embarked on a preaching tour in North America.

He outlived both of his wives and his daughter.

This is a really great story!

My Outlaw Brother is a western movie staring Robert Stack and Mickey Rooney.  At the risk of giving away too much of the movie, let me say that Robert Stack plays a bad guy, and Mickey Rooney plays a good guy.

Mickey Rooney goes into Mexico in search of his brother.  He is accompanied by a Texas Ranger who wants to find Mickey Rooney’s brother, because he is a criminal.

You wonder how the two will ever get out of Mexico alive, let alone find the guy they are looking for.

It’s a great movie, and you can find it under Action/Thriller in the Video on Demand section.

Did you know that Pilgrim’s Progress, by John Bunyan, is the second-best selling book in the world, second only to the Bible?

Pilgrim’s Progress is an allegory on the Christian life, written by John Bunyan when he was in prison for preaching the gospel.  In fact, he spent 12 years in prison because he refused to agree not to preach!

This video tells the story of someone who was very important in Christian history.  It’s short, and it’s in cartoon format, making it an enjoyable viewing.

I encourage you to watch The John Bunyan Story.  You can find it in the Vision Video part of the Video on Demand section.

We just passed the 400th anniversary of the greatest literary work in the history of the English language — the King James Version of the Bible.

Back in the early 1600s, England was divided along religious lines — the Anglicans / the Puritans / the Catholics.  And each had their own version of the Bible.  When King James took the throne, it was proposed to him that there should be a new translation of the Bible into English, in order to try to bring the groups together, and to address the concerns of each.  The result was the King James Version of the Bible.
The greatest scholars were assembled, and for seven years, they worked on the project.  The result was the “Authorized Version”, or the King James Version.  The KJV has influenced all of us in more ways that we know of.

Learn the history of the King James Version of the Bible.  It’s under Vision Video in the Video on Demand section.

J S Bach has for very long been my favorite of the great composers of music.  In fact, I actually changed my major to music in college while in a group which was singing Jesu Meine Freude (Jesus My Great Pleasure) by J S Bach.

So I was very pleasantly surprised to see a documentary about Bach on Sky Angel!

The documentary covers his entire life — how he grew up living with his brother, because his parents had died; how he became a master organ builder; the different musical positions he had; etc.

But most of all, how he wanted to glorify God with his music.

There’s not a lot of pizazz in this video; but you’ll learn all about perhaps the greatest musical composer of all time!

Look for it under Vision Video in the Video on Demand section.

The other day, we had family day at my church, to give people an alternative to Mardi Gras.

We had lots of food, games, an air jump for the kids, and Spirit Television on the big screen!

I recorded several 2-hour segments of Spirit Television on DVD, and the pastor allowed me to show them all day on the big screen in the sanctuary while all the other activities were going on.

I noticed that some people were paying attention to it, so I was able to give a little sales pitch for Sky Angel.  Hopefully, some of them will sign up.

This is an easy way to show off Sky Angel, without having to work through any technical issues!

I just saw the very inspiring story of Tony Melendez.

Tony was born with no arms.  That might have stopped some people, but not Tony.  Tony learned how to play the guitar WITH HIS FEET!  And let me tell you, he is really good.  I have played the guitar for about 43 years, and I can tell you that it takes a long time to get really good WITH YOUR FINGERS.  But Tony uses his toes!  I’m not sure exactly how he does it, but he plays a wide variety of chords, which means that he needs to use his individual toes to press individual strings.

He sings very well, too.  Not only does he have a great voice, but he stays right on pitch and right on time.

He is a very gifted guitar player AND singer.

And God has given him a beautiful, loving, and very devoted wife, as well as two adopted daughters.

Reminds me a lot of Joni Earekson Tada — she became paralyzed from the neck down, and so she taught herself to draw by holding the brush or pencil with her teeth.  And she has a loving and devoted husband.

Not only am I really happy that Tony is doing really well in life, but also, I am encouraged: if he can be successful, so can I!

After all, God is the one who is providing him with his success.

You can find The Gift of Hope in the Video on Demand section, under Sky Angel Music.

Beyond the Gates of Splendor is a documentary which fills in the details left out of the movie End of the Spear.  It is based on the book Through Gates of Splendor, by Elisabeth Elliot.

This is the story of the efforts of a group of missionaries to Ecuador to reach the Auca people in the Amazon basin.  The Auca people were a very violent people and had resisted all efforts to reach them with the Gospel.  Jim Elliot and others came up with a method of breaking the ice — they would fly over in an airplane, lowering gifts to the Aucas in a bucket on a rope.  They finally landed their plane and met the Aucas face to face.  However, after some time, the Aucas decided to kill the missionaries.

One by one, the widows of the missionaries decided to go live with the tribe.  Through the efforts of the women, and the men before them, the Aucas committed their lives to Christ!  Strong evidence of their conversion is that the Aucas, who formerly continually killed each other with spears, renounced violence!

If you saw the movie End of the Spear, you will definitely want to watch Beyond the Gates of Splendor.  If you haven’t yet seen End of the Spear, I would recommend that you first watch it, and then Beyond the Gates of Splendor.  Both movies are available on Sky Angel Video on Demand.

This just under an hour cartoon was a surprisingly excellent film. The cartoon is low budget but the Christianized story of Victor Hugos classic is much better than the original!

This cartoon has some fun well done songs and good humor. The bad guys are the Sheriff, his lackey, and some greedy gypsies. The hereos are Pierre the uninspired poet, Esmeralda the beautiful Gypsy, The Archdeacon of Notre Dame and his faithful monk, and of course Quasimodo the hunchback!

Greed and deceit is rebuked in this film. Love, sacrifice, and compassion is praised. The beauty of the film is that Quasimodo while ugly on the outside is beautiful on the inside. This is part of the big surprise in the movie that really caught me unaware! Especially as they tie it to scripture. It is a stretch for the scriture used but it was appropriate for the film.

Now don’t get me wrong, this is not a theological film but a film of the heart. I think kids and parents will enjoy it. I found the singing, comedy, and storyline to be better than Disney’s version if not as graphically polished. I highly reccommednthe Hunchback for all families! God bless and Enjoy!

View Trailer Here –> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_VbnrHoeWQ

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