“Who has the right to govern our conscience?” Film Review: The Essential Church
By Elizabeth Prata
Wow.
This documentary packed a punch. And I’ve seen a lot of documentaries.
The film began with a recounting of a crucial moment in church history with the ever growing tension between King and Church. It was 1657 and Britain’s King Charles I had been encroaching on the sphere of the church with mandates of what to pray and from what book to pray. He had been insisting on using Episcopal rites and now, insistence on using the Book of Common Prayer added to the tension.
The final showdown occurred when the minister in St Giles’ Cathedral began reading from the Book of Common Prayer at a service in which Jenny Geddes was sitting. Outraged, Jenny, a lowly market women, threw her stool at the minister’s head, and is claimed to have yelled, “Devil cause you colic in your stomach, false thief: dare you say the Mass in my ear?”
A fracas ensued as others began picking up the beat.
Her act is reputed to have sparked the riot that led to the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, which included the English Civil War.
Many such moments have appeared in Church history, where the pushme-pullyou tension between government and church comes to a head. It doesn’t often begin with a splashy bigness. The Lord often uses the weak and insignificant as the spark. Individuals who retain a supernatural conviction in the midst of a storm, stalwart and unmoved by the pressure of the government coming against them.
The film continues with the struggle of the Scottish Covenanters movement that formed after Jenny threw her stool, to John Bunyan, the Great Ejection, and the Puritans from past history. Weaving into these pivotal moments in church history the film recounts a similar recent battle between the Canadian government and pastors James Coates & Tim Stephens, and John MacArthur and California’s intrusion into worship.
The Covid-19 so-called “pandemic” era struggle of three churches is highlighted as part of this long history of opposing the government when it dares to enter into church matters: California’s Grace Community Church led by Pastor John MacArthur and its elders, James Coates of GraceLife Church of Edmonton Canada, and Tim Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church of Calgary Canada.
The documentary interviews elders and the pastors concerned with the line between obeying government as the Bible says we must do, and defying government when it intrudes on matters only Jesus administers, also as the Bible says we must do. The thought process and final decision processes were described by all of the church players in this drama. [The government players refused to be interviewed].
The Canadian pastors were actually jailed in maximum security prison for continuing to hold in-person services during the time when government said no such gatherings were allowed. Pastor-teacher John MacArthur was threatened with jail.
The film then recounts the legal battle of Grace Community Church, the arrest and imprisonment of Coates and Stephens, and the effect on their families. The film did well illustrating the conviction of courageously certain believers of the past, unmoved and refusing to sign/agree/kowtow to governmental authorities who would press them to violate their conscience- even to the point of threatened death and martyrdom for some.
It sensitively portrayed the spiritual heartache of the currently embattles pastors who looked out upon empty pews, aching to deliver the precious word to their sheep. Their angst was palpable, their anguish real. So was the heartache of elders prevented from visiting their shut-ins and their hospitalized congregants. Men who labor for Jesus and His truth are knit to Him strongly and feel the weight of their calling to bring truth, song, fellowship and succor to their people. The empty pews, the scattered sheep, were a grief to them and makes the point how church is essential.
Rev. Ian Hamilton serves as minister of Cambridge Presbyterian Church and was interviewed several times. Hamilton asked what I believe was the crucial question of the movie. The film wasn’t about expose covid lies, although those were exposed. It wasn’t solely about a recounting of church history, though it was recounted. Nor was it to highlight the courage of Christian convictions in the face of terrible pressure and even death, though certainly that was present in the film. No. It was this:
“Who has the right to govern my conscience?”
The Essential Church is extremely well done, extremely. It ends with a warning and a hope. One of the final statements was by Phil Johnson of Grace Community Church. Even though the church was successful in court, the battle is not over. And then John MacArthur gave the Gospel.
MY REACTION
My opinion is that it is a pivotal film and one that everyone who believes in Jesus should see. We increasingly in these days are viewing a Romans 1 judgment tightening the noose around the false church and revealing the true. At some point, soon perhaps, each and every one of us will have to sift through the Bible’s precepts, apply them to our individual consciences, and make a stand.
It was noted strongly in the film that government is not neutral. Yes, it was established by God to restrain sin, and to a large extent it does that, but it is also corrupt and hates both of the other spheres God has established- Family and Church. Church history shows that given even half an inch, government will tyrannically try to overpower both to become the dominant force in every human’s life.
In the end of the end, government will succeed (for a time).
I was glad I watched at home. I cried and cried and cried. I first cried in joy at the Lord’s provision of strong pastors. He raises up good men in each era to lead by conviction with a true heart for the people and His word. The Lord is good to keep our church leaders strong. I was glad to learn about Coates and Stephens. The Lord has many others all over the world at this moment who are unknown to us but laboring with lion-heart convictions. This is a blessing and an encouragement.
Then I cried in frustration and rage at recalling what the evil the government did to us during 2020-2022 – the frail and old dying alone in nursing homes, fomenting false fear based on lying science, BLM/rise of Marxism, and worst of all, Tim Stephens’ little boy sobbing as they arrested Tim, saying “bye daddy!” and his little hand reaching for dad as the police drove Tim away. Then cried at the end when JMac gave the Gospel, in crushing humility that the All Powerful One who saves, and saved me.
He is worthy.
The film is available for streaming for a fee at https://watch.salemnow.com/pages/home/d/salemnow
or preorder on Blu-Ray or DVD here https://essentialchurchmovie.com/
Further resources
Documentary Through the Eyes of Spurgeon (free)
Documentary (fee): Logic on Fire: Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Essay: The cost of loving Christ: The Two Margarets
Podcast (free): 5 Minutes in Church History with Stephen Nichols
Documentary series (fee): Puritan: All Life to the Glory of God
