Focus on the Family’s documentary Truth Rising encourages Christians to stand up for Western values by standing up for the truths found in their faith. Parents should note that a few scenes contain topics that they may find too mature for younger children, including discussions about child mutilation and transgenderism, real-world atrocities and death.
Truth Rising from Focus on the Family (of which Plugged In is a part) invites prominent voices in the evangelical world to reflect upon and respond to a core problem in Western civilization: the culture’s shift away from truth. Theologian Os Guinness identifies the root of the issue: People don’t hold to truth because they fail to hold to the Truth—that is, Jesus Christ, from whom all truth flows.
And Guinness warns that this shift is unsustainable: Western civilization was founded atop Christian truth. If we kick that foundational building block aside, we cause the whole structure to collapse.
Guinness travels the world to meet and speak with others who’ve likewise become concerned about that cultural shift. And later, Guinness passes the narrative baton to Colson Center President John Stonestreet to conduct interviews with many of those who’ve stood up against that cultural movement away from truth, have been persecuted for it, but have still come out on top.
We hear from people such as Jack Phillips, a Denver baker who has faced legal challenges due to his refusal to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. Chloe Cole tells an emotional story about realizing that her attempt to transition from a biological female to male was a tragic mistake. Katy Faust, the founder and president of the child-advocacy group Them Before Us talks about the moment she was targeted by ideological opponents and how she decided to stand up against them. Former Muslim Ayaan Hirsi Ali recounts her flight from Somalia and fundamentalist Islam, and how she eventually became a Christian and an outspoken advocate for women.
In each story, viewers are offered a portrait of what it looks like to stand on the truth in the face of fierce opposition, sometimes personal, sometimes political. And we’re challenged by John Stonestreet to focus on four critical elements of our lives in response: hope, truth, identity and calling.
Truth Rising builds its case on one important premise: Western civilization prospers because of its foundational connection to Christianity. Truth Rising warns us then, that complacency today will eventually result in the crumbling of Western civilization tomorrow. In doing so, it encourages viewers to actively embrace the country’s religious roots.
The documentary likewise encourages everyone to stand up against evil through embracing Christian values that point to everyone’s inherent value as persons made in the image of God.
We see multiple examples of people who went against the shifting culture and held true to their convictions that the culture was engaging in evil. We hear their stories of hardship, perseverance and victory, encouraging us that the fight for goodness is not a hopeless one—and that we should not allow the culture to bully us into denying the truth.
Likewise, we hear of a couple cases in which interviewees were harmed as a result of the culture’s shifting values and have since worked hard to prevent others from being hurt by them, too.
Truth Rising posits that a central building block to Western civilization is that everyone has inherent value because everyone is made in the image of God. Guiness and others observe that in America, especially, Christian values knitted communities together. Therefore, if we reject these values, we pull the foundation from under Western civilization and cause it to collapse.
Guiness attributes his life to God, stating that the only reason he is alive today is because of the Lord’s providence. We hear a gripping story of his early years in China, which coincided with Mao’s bloody Cultural Revolution there.
Chloe Cole recounts her emotional journey through the trans movement, one that eventually led her to Christ. At a low point along the way, she says she believed that if God exists, He must hate her; but her life changed when she was led to faith in Christ by other Christians. We hear a couple of Christian testimonies as well, including Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s dramatic story about leaving Islam and eventually finding Christ. There’s an understanding that the trials God leads us through are ultimately used for His glory. We’re encouraged to love God and follow Christ.
Truth Rising is occasionally critical of “woke” contemporary ideology, which at times potentially blurs the distinction a bit between biblical and political worldviews. The documentary doesn’t give a concise definition of that word. But Guiness does unpack how Western culture has gradually exchanged its Judeo-Christian heritage for a worldview that is focused inwardly and narcissistically on the self.
We see a variety of Bible verses throughout the documentary: Psalm 127:3, John 8:32, Romans 9, 1 Thessalonians 5:24 and 2 Timothy 1:7 among them.
There’s a mention of Angkor Wat, which we hear was built to mimic the universe according to Hindu understanding. We also see the pyramids, which are described as depictions of the Pharaohs’ “near-god-like power.” We also hear about other religions or near-religions, such as the Islam and the “cult of wokeism.”
An establishing shot contains a classical statue of a topless woman in Rome. Katy Faust makes passing reference to how contemporary fertility treatments such as pregnancy surrogacy put adult desires ahead of the welfare of children.
A video clip of the Chinese revolution depicts dead bodies, likely the biggest visual content concern for children in the documentary. Guiness recounts the brutal history of Mao’s ascension during that revolution, and he describes atrocities such as the Nanjing Massacre. Other discussions in the documentary reference death, cannibalism, child death, slavery and executions.
We see some flashes of a variety of violent moments, including the JFK assassination, 9/11, a school shooting and a nuclear explosion. These are in the context of a visual montage describing civilization conflicts and questions about Western civilization in particular potentially hovering on the brink of collapse itself.
We hear references to child mutilation and the rape of women and girls.
None.
A woman recounts her struggle with alcoholism.
Chloe Cole describes how her gender confusion as a young girl was reinforced and propelled by doctors and culture. That discussion includes her talking about having a double mastectomy as a teen and her deep regret regarding that choice when she re-embraced her identity as female a few years later.
Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon talks about how his publication was banned from Twitter for a controversial post involving a trans government official—a decision that, the film suggests, was a key incentive motivating Elon Musk to purchase Twitter.
Truth Rising aims to motivate Christians to stand up for truth in a culture that has increasingly shifted away from it in favor of subjective, postmodern beliefs. It concludes with a charge from John Stonestreet to embrace hope, to stand on truth, to understand our identity in Christ and then to decide what our unique mission and calling is in response to those foundational building blocks.
Because Plugged In is a part of Focus on the Family, it should come as no surprise that we agree with the views showcased within the documentary. However, we also recognize that Truth Rising feels tailored more towards encouraging those who adhere to those views to speak up rather than strictly convincing those who disagree to change their minds.
By and large, most content issues come in the form of talks on difficult topics—such as transgenderism, for instance. These mature topics, which include a very frank discussion about a teen girl’s decision to have a double mastectomy while transitioning, may be too mature for children. Likewise, scenes depicting the Nanjing Massacre which include black-and-white moments containing dead bodies and blood could be difficult scenes for some viewers.
Still, for older viewers, the documentary is steadfast in its desire to showcase Christ as the cure for a lost and broken culture. And in a world that increasingly encourages passivity, Truth Rising may effectively serve as the wakeup call Christians need to become active believers who live out their faith in grace and truth.
Produced by Focus on the Family and the Colson Center, the documentary is free to view at truthrising.com.
Plugged In by Focus on the Family reviews the world of popular entertainment and gives families the essential tools they need to understand, navigate, and impact the culture. We equip families with Christian reviews of movies, TV shows, music, games, books, and YouTube channels. You’ll find award-winning articles and video discussions that spark intellectual thought, spiritual growth, and a desire to follow the command of Colossians 2:8: “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”
