Movie review: ‘Monumental’

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” (Psalm 33:12a)

After drawing back the waters of the Jordan River to allow the Israelites to walk across on dry land, God instructed Joshua to have 12 men, one from each tribe of Israel, each gather a stone from the bottom of the river and build a monument so future generations would remember what the Lord had done.

Like the Israelites, early Americans put God at the center of their lives and recognized the importance of seeking the Lord’s wisdom and applying those principles to every area of life, including government. In the movie Monumental, Kirk Cameron, a Christian television and film producer and actor, asserts that deviation from the Bible-based plan that the forefathers established for America is the primary reason for the turmoil that has plagued the United States in recent years.

“There is something seriously sick in the soul of our country,” states Cameron in the opening scenes of the film.

Cameron sets out to uncover what he calls “America’s national treasure” and discovers a monument which he believes to contain the recipe for restoring the nation’s greatness.

The National Monument to the Forefathers is an 81-foot-tall, 180-ton, solid granite statue that sits on a hill in the middle of a residential neighborhood in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Few Americans know it exists, but this monument arguably carries more meaning than any other monument in the country. Just as the Israelites built a monument to remind future generations of God’s faithfulness, the early leaders of the United States erected a monument to share the foundational wisdom on which the forefathers built America.

Dedicated in 1889 after 70 years of planning, the National Monument to the Forefathers was funded by Congress, the Massachusetts Legislature, and Massachusetts Governor Oliver Ames. The government recognized how “monumental” the forefathers’ formula had been in establishing a strong, independent nation and wanted to share that wisdom with future generations.

At the top of the monument is a statue of a woman named “Faith,” who is pointing her finger towards heaven and holding an open Bible. She has a star on her forehead that symbolizes wisdom received from God. Seated below “Faith” are four additional figures, “Morality,” “Law,” “Education,” and “Liberty.” The message is that faith in God comes first and is most important and that morality, law, and education should be based on Biblical principles. The result of following the method outlined in the National Monument to the Forefathers, also called the Matrix of Liberty, is true liberty.

“… In the history of the world, the one strategy that has brought more liberty, more prosperity, and more joy than any other is this strategy,” says Marshall Foster, founder of the World History Institute and co-producer of Monumental. “Why would you go anywhere else?”

In addition to visiting Marshall Foster and the National Monument to the Forefathers, Cameron consults other experts.

He travels to Babworth, England, to retrace the escape route of the Pilgrims with historian Sue Allan. Members of a Puritan sect known as the Separatists, the Pilgrims advocated for the “purification” of the oppressive Church of England, which they believed was failing to follow Biblical commands. The Pilgrims committed an act that was considered treason by leaving the Church of England and risked their lives to flee the country and start a colony in the New World.

In the more than 12 years that it took to free themselves from the tyrannical English monarchy, the Pilgrims endured imprisonment and near-starvation, but they were determined to follow the path they believed God had set before them.

“These were the real people that founded America,” says Foster. “They carried on and persevered.”

Before settling in New England, the Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact, a document that stated the primary reason for their journey: “the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith.”

Cameron continues his journey with a trip to Texas, where he meets David Barton, owner of the largest private library of early American books and documents. Barton is also the founder of WallBuilders, an organization that seeks to educate Americans about the Biblical foundation of their country and encourages Christians to become more involved in government.

Barton has in his possession a copy of the first English Bible printed in the United States. These Bibles were funded by Congress and intended for use in American schools, debunking the myth that the Founding Fathers did not intend for the Bible to be part of government or education. Contrary to modern popular belief, the majority of the Founding Fathers were not atheists, agnostics, or deists. In fact, according to Barton, more than half of the signers of the Declaration held seminary degrees.

Before the film comes to a close, Cameron visits the Johnston Gate entrance to Harvard Yard on the Harvard University campus. Constitutional scholar Herb Titus shows him the plaque on the gate, which clearly states that a Biblical, moral foundation is necessary in order to create a society that has sound laws that carry out justice. The founders of Harvard University recognized the importance of seeking God’s wisdom.

“A nation that attempts to build a foundation on something other than God’s Law ultimately will self-destruct because you can’t live according to the law as man invents it to be,” Titus tells Cameron.

On his journey, Cameron discovers that the “separation of church and state” does not mean that the church and civil government should be completely separate. While the forefathers of America did not want a church-run government, they recognized that the only way to create a nation that is truly free is to follow Biblical principles.

The underlying message of the film is that humans live in God’s world, so the only way to achieve liberty, justice, and virtue is to do things God’s way.

Cameron closes with this message:

“For 400 years, we have had this strategy. We’ve got the game plan, and it has produced a nation that is healthy and strong and free. And every time we have strayed from it, we have suffered the consequences. The seed that grew this nation was faith in God. That faith produces character, a character that produces great courage–courage to self-govern, courage to guide and educate our children in the right worldview, and the courage to elect today’s ‘liberty men and women’ who will take the torch from our forefathers.”