May 22, 2025 · 49:11

“The American Miracle” is unique in all of human history. Tim Mahoney and Ralf Augstroze step into “The Corner” to discuss it.

Culture & Media

Show notes

0:00 - 15:00. Joshua 4:1-7. HIStory is anchors generations. Accurate preservation is punctuation. 15:00 - 31:00. “The American Miracle” is unique in all of human history. Tim Mahoney and Ralf Augstroze step into “The Corner” to discuss it. 31:00 - 48:00. “The American Miracle” hits theaters June 9th-11th. You can only see it there. Don’t miss it. | 1-800-326-4543 ext. 345 To donate call : 877-616-2396

References & links

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1-800-326-4543 ext. 345
877-616-2396

Full transcript Auto-generated · 8,757 words

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0:01Darkness is not an affirmative force.
0:03It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light.
0:07This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
0:11It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite.
0:16Delivery people out of the bondage of mainstream media.
0:19And the philosophies of this world.
0:21God has called you and me to be his ambassador.
0:24Even in this dark moment.
0:27Let's not miss our moment.
0:29and the Hamilton Corner.
0:34Good evening, everyone.
0:36Welcome to the Hamilton Corner, live from North Carolina
0:41at the NCHE Thrive Conference.
0:46Today I had a workshop where the title of my session
0:51was, and we shall love the Lord with our minds.
0:55What an exciting time there.
0:58had someone who mistake one of our team for Mr. Rosa.
1:05But it was a great time.
1:06We have a full schedule tomorrow.
1:09And Saturday, we're speaking as well.
1:16What an amazing time we're in Winston, Salem, North Carolina.
1:19And looking forward to being able to converse with you all
1:23at the end of the day, where it works out,
1:25that as the conference is going on,
1:27I'm going to be able to wrap up the day on the program with you will broadcast live again
1:32from here tomorrow evening.
1:35But thank you so much for tuning into the program at this very moment.
1:38Many of you, if not most of you, are making your transition from your part-time jobs where
1:42you generate an income to your full-time jobs where you cultivate an outcome.
1:46And as you do so, I want to remind you to do so with intentionality, understanding the
1:52the primacy that God places on family,
1:55allowing His view to inform your view
1:59as you navigate the context where He's placed you
2:02and understanding that there are lots of things
2:06that we can do, but there's one thing we've been instructed
2:09to do and that is make disciples.
2:12I said this today with the group I was with,
2:15that there are a lot of circumstances,
2:19but if you're in a station of life where I am
2:21with young children in the home,
2:23we don't get to redo certain ages.
2:25We don't get to, there's no mulligans in real life.
2:29I try that on the golf course,
2:30but there's no mulligans in real life.
2:32And so my hope and prayer for this audience
2:35is for those of us who are in this particular life stage
2:39that we take full advantage of it.
2:41For those of you who are not in this life stage,
2:44I pray that you are edified and encouraged
2:47by what you hear from this program
2:50and you share it with those around you.
2:52And as many of you have heard me say numerous times
2:55and if you've been following me for any length of time,
2:58you know we need every member of the body to produce.
3:04The way the scripture says it is that we need every joint
3:07to supply.
3:08If your parents, we are first line, top line.
3:12If you are a grandparent, you have a specified role to play.
3:15I've been praying for grandparents,
3:17particularly in this area to one understand the significance of the role that they play in the body of Christ and in the Kingdom of God and also for the body of Christ to recognize that we need our grandparents to be all hands on deck.
3:34There is no such thing as Christ following that should be viewed as a spectator sport.
3:38Every person, every member of the Lord's bride is indispensable.
3:43And we need all hands on deck for the glory of our King.
3:48And so as you're making your transition, most of you from your part-time jobs right now,
3:52where you generate an income to your full-time jobs where you cultivate an outcome,
3:56I want to remind you to do so with intentionality.
4:00There's no such thing as accidental fruit bearing.
4:04There's no such thing as accidental disciple making.
4:07You know, and the other thing that I want to encourage is that it's reciprocally beneficial.
4:13You know, when you involve yourself and you commit yourself in a discipleship relationship,
4:17it's not only beneficial for the person you're walking with, it's beneficial for us.
4:22And so we continuously are strengthened as we engage in this way.
4:28So again, as you're making your way to your full-time jobs, man, do so with intentionality.
4:35You know, understand that we must work while it is day.
4:38We must work while it is day,
4:42and take full advantage of the time
4:44that God has given us.
4:44To the word of God, we go, we'll start.
4:47And Joshua chapter four, and I, of course,
4:50have to mention we have the full corner contingent
4:53participating, we have Mr. Bobby,
4:55r r r r r r r r r r r westa.
4:58Man in the controls at home base and right here he's out on camera but he's
5:02sitting right here in helping us to bring the show to you from North Carolina
5:07producer extraordinaire often imitate and never duplicated the real Jai Mac.
5:14grateful you joined us today when I go back to the book of Joshua Josh well
5:20chapter four verse 7 and I want to communicate something to you from there
5:27Or should I say reiterate something to us from there?
5:30And there are other portions of scripture that do the same, but I want to revisit this
5:36text to begin today's show.
5:40And I'm looking forward to the remainder of the show.
5:42You don't want to miss this because another resource is being made available for us.
5:48Joshua chapter 4 verses 1 through 7.
5:52Joshua chapter four, verses one through seven.
5:55And this is what the Lord's word says.
5:58Now when all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan,
6:03the Lord spoke to Joshua saying,
6:06take for yourselves 12 men from the people,
6:08one man from each tribe and command them saying,
6:11take up for yourselves 12 stones from here,
6:14out of the middle of the Jordan,
6:16from the place where the priests feet are standing firm
6:20and carry them over with you
6:21and lay them down in the lodging place where you were lodged tonight.
6:26So Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the sons of Israel, one man
6:31from each tribe, and Joshua said to them, cross again to the ark of the Lord your God, into
6:36the middle of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to
6:40the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel.
6:43Let this be a sign among you, so that when your children ask later, saying, what do these
6:49stones mean to you, then you shall say to them, because the waters of the Jordan were cut off
6:53before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the
6:58Jordan were cut off. So the stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever, forever.
7:10I have pointed out before, and I want to point it out again here. Well, let me explain the
7:18circumstances then I'll point out what I want to point out. Many of you recognize
7:21that this is recorded as the second-generation wilderness Israelites are
7:26preparing to into the Promised Land. Joshua is leading them into the
7:31Promised Land. What I want to point out is whose idea was it for them to secure
7:38stones for the memorial? This is not a trick question. You don't have to guess.
7:43Verse 1 tells us very plainly. Now when all the nation had finished crossing the
7:48Jordan, the Lord spoke to Joshua saying, take for yourselves 12 men from the people, one
7:54man from each tribe and command them to take up for yourselves 12 stones from the middle
7:58of the Jordan. This was God's idea. This was not Joshua's idea. This was not the Elders
8:05of Israel's idea. This was Yahweh's idea. God is the one who directed Joshua's attention
8:15to identify where he was in the moment and in that moment to set the course to provide
8:21for generational recognition of that moment.
8:25This is one of the instances where God is revealing one of the things that is vitally important
8:31for his people to understand is that he is a God of accurate historical preservation.
8:41It is not merely just an accumulation of facts for a generalized purpose of recording history
8:46accurately, it is because history is his story of interacting with mankind.
8:56Specifically, God's action as recorded here is meant to convey the reality that the proper
9:05inaccurate recording of history will drive the student toward him.
9:12An accurate recording of history drives the student to the God of the history.
9:20Alright?
9:22It's one of the things in the session I just taught here at the North Carolina Home Educators
9:27Conference.
9:28I brought out statistics from the National Association of Educational Progress.
9:32I'm sorry the National Assessment of Educational Progress that shows among the things we know that
9:39Unfortunately because of government education that the children aren't literate generally in many instances obviously not everybody
9:46But we have large swaths of people that are being educated in the government schools that are not literate
9:51all right in
9:53Addition to that we have large swaths of children being educated in the government schools who don't understand American history
9:59history, who do not understand civics, how can we be a nation of the people, by the people,
10:05for the people, if the people don't understand our nation and how we've gotten there. And
10:09before you take a turn to say, oh, this is just about patriotism. First of all, I ain't
10:15in the wrong way, I am wholeheartedly, enthusiastically an American patriot. But an accurate understanding
10:23and recording and preservation of history comes from the mind of God. As I mentioned to you,
10:30Whose idea was it to create this memorial?
10:35It wasn't Joshua's idea.
10:37It was God's idea.
10:38God is the one that says, all right, Joshua?
10:41Now that all of the donation has crossed, you get 12 men,
10:43a man from each tribe and gather stones from the midst
10:46of the Jordan where the Ark of the Covenant stood.
10:50Then he explained why.
10:53Verse six, let this be assigned among you
10:56so that when your children ask later, guys, it's not a surprise
11:02when children are born, they're at their most inquisitive. God is illustrating for us here
11:08that he expects current generation, especially of adults, to anticipate the inquisitive nature
11:14of children. And in that anticipation, to navigate his story, the historical record in
11:21such a way where the children are pointed to the face of God. The scripture bears it out,
11:28let this be a sign among you so that when your children as a leader, saying what do these
11:32stones mean, then you shall say to them because the waters of the Jordan were cut
11:36off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan the
11:40waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be a memorial to the
11:45sons of Israel forever. One of the most amazing things in a negative way that is
11:51not a positive amazement. It is it is a negative astounding amazement is the
11:57the violent, passionate, disdain for our nation that many people have, including many people
12:03in the church.
12:05A part of the reason for that is that there has been this wrenching away from our history,
12:11God's involvement in establishing this nation.
12:15There has been a wrenching away, a ripping at the seams in effort to sever the American
12:24founding away from God's divine providence, away from God's divine direction, away from
12:29God's sovereignty. There's been an effort to try to paint America's founders in a twisted
12:36light. And I've told you this before, there's also some in a responsive reaction in an effort
12:43to try to, you know, stave off that result. There's some who will try to ignore some of
12:49the the the the negative components of our history and this is what I often say when
12:55you nip and tuck in edit history you're either a revisionist or you could be an
13:01idol maker but if you stand back and peer at what God has done in founding our
13:06nation what you'll recognize is something I say often that our God is a master at
13:11using crooked sticks to paint straight lines when you have a proper understanding
13:17of our nation's history and our nation's founding.
13:19You know what it actually provokes?
13:22It provokes reverence for God.
13:25It provokes all for Him.
13:27It provokes a sober appreciation for being an inheritor
13:33of this experiment of individual liberty,
13:36in this experiment in self-governance.
13:39This nation has the longest existing
13:42constitution of republic in the history of the world.
13:46Guys, that's just a fact.
13:47That's just a fact.
13:48There's no need to deify fallen men.
13:52There's no need to lie about our history.
13:54And we would be prudent to reject the revisionist efforts
13:59to present our nation as if it's something else.
14:02Because those are, there are ditches on both sides,
14:04but when we have an accurate understanding
14:07of what we inherit, it provokes a reverence
14:10in an offer God that causes us to say,
14:12man, look at what God has done.
14:14then we'll rightly be able to find our place in that,
14:18because by God's divine sovereignty,
14:20you could have been born in any nation of the world.
14:21I could very easily be a Nigerian or Sudanese
14:24or Chinese or Iranian, but God by his divine providence,
14:27according to Acts 17, has saw fit for me to be an American.
14:31And for that, I am exceedingly grateful.
14:34And the best expression of my gratitude
14:37is to surrender my life to him,
14:39so that I'm not merely talking about worship,
14:41but I live the lifestyle of worship.
14:43And as we have a proper understanding of history, as Joshua Forle's out, a proper recording,
14:48preservation and conveyance of history draws and drives the student to the face of the maker
14:54of his story.
14:55One Million Moms has received complaints about an Arm and Hammer laundry commercial where Meg
15:07and trainer deliberately insinuates profanity.
15:11Instead of a wholesome commercial, Arm and Hammer deliberately chose to produce something
15:14controversial.
15:15One million moms finds this highly inappropriate.
15:18Armin Hammer should have the corporate responsibility not to offend families.
15:22Armin Hammer needs to know that parents disapprove.
15:25Take action at onemillionmoms.com.
15:28That's onemillionmoms.com.
15:42Welcome back to The Hamilton Corner and I am delighted to have on the program with me
15:48two guests who are returning to the corner. Many of you will remember both of these brothers
15:54who have been a blessing to me from a distance and up close over the years. First I will introduce
16:00is Tim Mahoney, who is the director of six feature films, the patterns of evidence films.
16:07I've recommended these to you before. I remember interviewing Tim at NRB about these. He's
16:14He's also executive producer for the Journey Home, the Seven Churches of Revelation, Times
16:18of Fire, and the Seven Churches of Revelation, Times of Deception.
16:22He is a founder of Herroic Pictures, a feature film production company focusing on dramatic
16:30storytelling where he also was executive producer and director of the American Miracle Motion
16:35Picture, which we're going to talk about extensively here right now.
16:40We have Ralph Augstroves who is the Chief Communications Officer and Executive Producer at Herode Pictures.
16:47The Motion Picture Studio producing, inspiring, dramatic, theatrical feature films.
16:52Ralph is also Executive Producer of the American Miracle, which I will tell you now.
16:57It will be in theaters June 9th through the 11th.
17:01I have the right fellas June 9th through the 11th and you, I'm just going to tell you plainly.
17:06You need to get your tickets now.
17:08You do not want to miss this film. I've had the privilege of seeing it twice now in screeners, and I'm telling you you do not want to miss it.
17:15Gentlemen, thank you for joining me here on the Hamilton Corner. It's a pleasure to have you both back here.
17:22Thank you, Abe. Great to be with you. As always. Oh, man, the pleasure is certainly, certainly mine. I want to just start off right off the bat with you, Tim, after seeing your work.
17:34Now, you've heard me talk about patterns of evidence
17:37and the things that are going on, what moved you
17:40to make the American miracle?
17:46Well, I have been working showing evidence of God
17:49acting in history for 25 years now
17:52and searching for patterns of evidence.
17:54And Michael Medved contacted me and he had been in my first film
17:58on the Exodus and he was very familiar with me.
18:02And he asked me if I would help him tell the story
18:05have a book that he wrote called The American Miracle. And I had to think about it because
18:10it was a big undertaking. And it was a telling the story of God's providence. And providence
18:18is a word that you could say the presence of God in certain events. And so God's providence
18:25in his presence was being observed by a number of people throughout history because unusual
18:33things happen. And that is the story we're telling in the American miracle. Our nation
18:37is no accident. It's the miraculous survival of George Washington is part of this. And
18:45there's many stories that we're going to be showing bringing to this into the theater.
18:49And also the story of the Continental Army and the American Revolution, miraculous events
18:55that save the army from destruction. And that's this wonderful story that we've got coming
19:01out June 9th, 10th and 11th.
19:03Ralph, I want to ask you a similar question,
19:05but slightly different.
19:06I mean, you were involved in the multi-award
19:09winning documentary motion picture against the tie
19:11that featured the renowned Oxford University professor,
19:14scientist, and apologist, Dr. John Lennox,
19:16who famously, in my view, laid the Smackdown
19:20at his debate concerning the God delusion.
19:24What moved you to want to make this film in particular,
19:28and in addition to this particular film for you and both Tim to participate in
19:33founding the heroic pictures company.
19:38You know, actually I was introduced to Tim by Kevin and Sam Sorbo during the time that I was
19:44producing against the tide.
19:46And Kevin and Sam had worked with Tim in the past and we became fast friends and really shared our
19:56journeys through the motion picture world and the circuitous journey that sometimes the Lord
20:00leads us on to bring us to the point that we're at. And we shared our hearts about wanting to do
20:07and make movies that make a difference. Movies with a strong message, especially movies about heroes,
20:14perhaps not the heroes that today's culture would want us to think are heroes, but actual real heroes
20:19who were largely motivated by their faith to accomplish things far larger than what they thought
20:25they could do themselves. And as we were talking about this, Tim shared with me that he had started
20:31this motion picture studio, Heroic Pictures, and asked if I would be interested in coming along and
20:36helping to shape and develop that with the Lord's guidance. And I was thrilled to join Tim. And we
20:42also asked Doug Maddox to join us. And so the three of us had been working on the American miracle,
20:48because again, it's a heroic story of real heroes who accomplished real things motivated by their
20:55faith and accomplish things so far beyond what they imagined they could do that history
21:02to this day recalls these as miraculous unlikely events that were doomed to disaster but turned
21:11out to be the huge success that we know today as the United States.
21:15Now I'm going to ask a follow up now to you Ralph and I'm going to come to you with another
21:19question Tim in a second.
21:21There have been numerous films, numerous efforts to really strip away divine providence from
21:27America's founding to try to present our founders as something other than what they are.
21:32And in the opening segment, I warned against revisionist history in that direction as well
21:39as efforts to deify men instead of being able to get an accurate picture of God's involvement
21:45in our founding.
21:46Where do you see the American miracle, especially when we're about what?
21:50a year away from, 250 years from the Declaration of Independence,
21:54where do you see the American miracle filling in a gap
21:58to some who might think, well, another movie
22:00about America's founding?
22:01Where do you see American miracle?
22:04What do you see the American miracle doing
22:06in terms of avoiding those ditches on both sides, if you will?
22:11Well, I think that as we approach that 250th anniversary,
22:15we know that there will be a lot of naysayers
22:18who will be professing that misconstrued
22:21and misguided history, perhaps to advance their own
22:26personal agendas.
22:28I get asked the question, have you produced a Christian movie
22:32about the American founding?
22:34And my answer is, this is not a Christian movie.
22:37This is a truthful movie.
22:39We tell the truthful history of exactly what happened
22:42during that period, during the early days of the French
22:45and Indian War, all the way up to the 50th anniversary
22:48of the United States in 1826.
22:50The difference is we don't sweep the theistic
22:53or Christian story under the rug.
22:56Those elements that are there,
22:59that attest to the founders' belief
23:01in the divine hand of providence,
23:04in their various activities
23:07and in the accomplishments of the United States
23:09during the revolution and leading up
23:10and through the constitutional convention,
23:13we don't hide those, we tell those accurately and truthfully,
23:16and we don't spin them in any way.
23:18We tell them exactly the way that they happened.
23:21And that's what sets us apart
23:23from so many of those other movies.
23:26Tim, I wanna ask you the question
23:28because both of you guys should have said this as well,
23:30are passionate Christ followers.
23:32You are a filmmaker, you've made amazing films.
23:36I mean, I literally mean that.
23:37I don't mean that hyperbolicly at all.
23:41What do you see as a necessary void
23:44in having frankly God haters dominating
23:49the filmmaking industry.
23:52Well what's important to know for all of us is that God created us for story.
23:58That's why Jesus spoke in parables.
24:00And what we have in the Bible are testimonies.
24:03That's why they call it a testament.
24:05But they are testimonies and these testimonies are very important.
24:09And what has happened is that there was a period of time in our culture where stories
24:13were based upon a moral center of good because it were based on biblical understanding.
24:20of the way the world is.
24:22And in the last 50 to 60 years,
24:24they've turned the moral center of the good upside down
24:27and started adding all sorts of,
24:29I would say, elements that are not virtuous or good
24:34or evil and the results of those stories are actually,
24:38and I'm gonna say it this way, I think they're cancerous.
24:41They're cancerous to your mind, to your soul,
24:43to your vision of the way the world should be,
24:45and people are sick in the way they see the world.
24:49And what ends up happening is that I think God wants us to tell
24:54of stories of truth and stories of virtue and heroic characters.
25:00And because we will then model ourselves
25:03after those types of people.
25:05And we need more heroic characters and heroic stories
25:08that are of truth and virtue.
25:10And that's what this film is about.
25:12And I think that's the reason why we were called to make this
25:15is because people needed to remember who our heroes really are.
25:19And these founders have had their faith cut out,
25:24or taken away, or diminished,
25:26and there's been no voice to respond to it.
25:29But as I got involved with this,
25:31I could start to see that these men were men
25:33of great intelligence and great skills,
25:38but they also had great faith.
25:40Now they all had different,
25:41comes from different somewhere,
25:42Methodists, some were Quaker,
25:43some were different groups,
25:45but they were all believed in God.
25:48uh... and uh... and so i mean for the most part i won't say all because i haven't
25:51studied every one of the founders but i would say
25:54there was an understanding that's why they use the word providence
25:58that providence would be with us they they understood the presence of god
26:03and that's why this film is going to show
26:06the presence of god in the founding of our nation at a time when we need to
26:10remember them
26:11so well said you said something to them that want to follow up on
26:14you said that you were called by god to make this film which you
26:17Just share a little bit how you were able to discern God's calling you to make this film.
26:23Well, I think that I pray and ask the Lord, do I have, I'll just say it this way, the permission
26:31and authority to work in a particular subject.
26:35Because I know if I do it on my own, in my own endeavor, that it's going to be just up
26:41to me.
26:42But I couldn't manage or tackle something so big.
26:45And so the Lord allowed me then to identify Ralph and Doug and all sorts of people.
26:52And there's a principle that I've learned.
26:54If it's of the Lord, people will join you in the calling because they're not joining me.
27:00They sense the presence of God and they are joining that.
27:04And throughout the making of this film, we felt the providence and the presence of God as we
27:10we were going from location to location, and we filmed in very the exact, many times the
27:18exact location where the events happened 250 years earlier. And we had, even in the battle
27:25of Manangahala, that was our first day of filming, the native Americans that came to
27:31film were the descendants of the native Americans in the battle. How's that for authenticity?
27:37Oh man, that is profound.
27:40Brother Ralph, how can people get tickets?
27:42And you know in this era of streaming on demand,
27:46is the film only available in theaters June 9th through the 11th?
27:50And how can people get tickets to make sure they come out
27:52and see this profound film?
27:56Well, I would encourage everyone to first see this movie
28:00in the theater.
28:01You know, it's a big movie.
28:02It's a cast of almost 100 with 300,000 people.
28:08and a very large crew and battle scenes and cannons and musket fire and ships and storms and the crossing of the Delaware.
28:19I mean, it's a really big expansive movie and it will take on a whole new meeting when an audience sees it on a movie screen in a big movie theater on a big movie screen with surround sound.
28:31sound, it will make a lasting impression. And later on, in sort of its downstream life,
28:39there will be other availabilities of the film on discs, on streaming, on video on demand.
28:45But in terms of the theatrical release, June 9th and 11th, the way to get tickets and to
28:50find out which theater near your listeners, people will be able to watch it, is to go to
28:55AmericanMiracleMovie.com. AmericanMiracleMovie.com. And it will have resources there. There
29:03are memes and other digital resources that people can post on their social network. And
29:10also a link to go to the ticket site that will show people where the theater is closest to
29:17them after they put in their zip code, where they can see it. And if you don't see a theater
29:22that's very close to you, call your local theater and ask them to get the film playing
29:28in their theater.
29:29I want to underscore that the American Miracle movie dot com you need to.
29:34Yes, there's no the it's American.
29:36I'm sorry.
29:37Thank you.
29:38American Miracle movie dot com.
29:41We're going to have a link to it.
29:42Yes, sir.
29:43In the show notes guys there are all kinds of smart that fill our theaters.
29:47If we want to have positive films, great films, faith-filled films, we need to support films
29:53like this, please go to AmericanMiracleMovie.com to purchase your tickets to see this film in
30:00the theaters.
30:01And if you don't have it there to know you, call them to say you need to get this theater.
30:05Sorry, get this film in the theater because we want to buy tickets to come and see it
30:09right in our hometown.
30:10I'm telling you you are going to be blown away by this American miracle movie.com is where
30:18you need to go.
30:19Now there are people in it and we'll have a few minutes before the first break and then
30:22when we come back and talk about this and more on the other side of the break.
30:25I want to ask you Tim because they're about some of the characters and the cast in the
30:30film for example Cameron Arnett.
30:33Many of you saw the movie recently The Forge and Cameron Arnett was in The Forge.
30:36Well Cameron Arnett is in this film playing Peter Salem.
30:40Would you just speak a little bit about the cast and about the characters that have depicted?
30:44Some of them may not be as some of our audience here, may not be as aware of some of them as
30:50they need to be and they will be shown forthrightly in the film.
30:55Correct, yes.
30:56So Cameron did an amazing job as he always does playing Peter Salem.
31:01And Peter Salem was a hero early on.
31:04He was at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
31:07And a lot of people don't understand because there's so much revisionism going on here,
31:11that a number of African-American people were involved fighting for freedom.
31:18And I believe at the time he had become a free man and he was fighting at the Battle
31:27of Bunker Hill.
31:28And he actually shot an officer, and he was the officer I think who was at Lexington and
31:34conquered and that particular officer it turned the
31:37words Peter was part of that that pushing back and
31:41creating quite a cost for the British that they never
31:45wanted to go through again the battle of Bunker Hill and
31:47he was a hero and Washington at that moment then said we
31:51need to allow African American people to fight with us
31:55alongside us and Joe Ellis tells us that there was a
32:00a large number of African Americans fought
32:03for independence for America.
32:05Wow.
32:06And Nicole, Nicole C. Mullins is another.
32:08Let me break in,
32:09because we'll get to her on the other side of the break.
32:11The site is americanmiraclemovie.com.
32:13I have more questions for my guests, Ralph Augstroze,
32:17Tim Mahoney, June 9th through the 11th,
32:20only in theaters.
32:21Make sure you get your tickets,
32:22get it in your theaters,
32:23in your neighborhood, in your hometowns,
32:25and let's blow this film up.
32:32As Christians, how can we even begin to impact others
32:35when we live in a culture where truth is relative?
32:38It all starts with God's word.
32:40Join us for activate summit 2025
32:42at Cadence Bank Conference Center in Tupelo, Mississippi,
32:45June 12th through the 14th, 2025.
32:48The theme is biblical bedrock, building on the authority
32:51of scripture and it's designed to help you acknowledge
32:53the Bible's authority and submit to the clear teaching
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33:00not what ought to behave, right?
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33:37Hamilton Quarter podcast and one-minute common terrors are available at aFR.net
33:42back to the Hamilton Choir on American Family Radio. Welcome back to the
33:48Hamilton Corner, Abraham Hamilton the third here. My guests are Tim Mahoney and Ralph
33:52Augstroze, executive producer and director for the American Miracle film. The title
34:00of the film is the American Miracle. As you can see if you're watching the show
34:03with the poster on behind Tim Mahoney on his right, you're left on the screen.
34:09And also in Ralph's camera shot, the website however is simply americanmiraclemovie.com.
34:16That's simply the URL for the website address for the film where you can get all of your
34:23information concerning the film.
34:26And before we went to the break, I was asking Tim a question about the cast and the characters
34:30in the film, he was describing Peter Salem who is played by Cameron Arnett, who is a pretty
34:36well-known actor who's in the Forge most recently, then he was about to before the
34:41disrespectful music came on to talk about Nicole Mullins performance in the film.
34:46Nicole C. Mullins, the known gospel artist, is in the film as well. She plays a character
34:52that some may not be very familiar with in history, and Tim you were about to tell us
34:58about Nicosy Mullins character in the film?
35:02Yes, it was an important storyline to talk about because Nicole plays the character of
35:07mum, Bette, mum, M-U-M-B-E-T, I think it is, or B-E-T-T.
35:13And she hears about the reading of the Declaration of Independence that all men are created in
35:21the image of God.
35:22And tragically she is struck by her master, Miss Ashley, and we tell that story in the film
35:29with a hot shovel and it injures her arm and she ends up feeling as if she wants to be one
35:38of those free people.
35:39She hears multiple times that this declaration of independence and she says, am I one of
35:45those people?
35:46And she hires an attorney and they go to court in Massachusetts.
35:50And what it's amazing is that she wins her freedom.
35:55And this is during the American Revolution.
35:57This is during the time when all this is happening.
36:00There is a battle going on against slavery.
36:03A lot of people don't realize that.
36:05There was this battle going on.
36:07And many states did not want to have slavery.
36:11And so we unfold that whole story.
36:13you're wondering about it, we are telling this forgotten story about the battle in the revolution
36:19and the battle against slavery during the revolution.
36:22In it directly contradicts the lie speed by Niko Hannah Jones and the 1619 project and all
36:28of that, uh, tripe with accurate true history. And I, and as Ralph said earlier, the purpose
36:34of this is to tell the truth and in telling the truth, it is inescapable that you convey
36:39the truth about God's providence and involvement in America's founding and providing a clear,
36:46concise, accurate rendering of his story is greatly, desperately needed to be rediscovered
36:54back in America.
36:55Now, Ralph, I want to ask you this question because I know you guys worked feverishly,
37:00indiligently to have a cast of scholars to evaluate the script, to evaluate historical
37:06facts presented in the film because you wanted to make it unassailable
37:10by antagonist and as you said earlier that this is not a skewed revisionist present
37:14presentation of anything
37:15this is an accurate depiction
37:18conveyance of the truth
37:19would you speak a little bit about that the depths you guys went to secure
37:22scholars
37:23to evaluate the quality in the historicity of the film
37:27well first of all just to add to what ten was saying uh... the movie also stars
37:31pat boon
37:33uh... and kevin sorbo they've got the young and old thomas jefferson
37:37Yes.
37:37Which is very interesting.
37:39And they actually pull it off very skillfully.
37:41And some people won't know or remember who Pat Boone was,
37:45but I think the three of us probably
37:46have a pretty good idea.
37:47As far as the scholars are continuing,
37:50originally this was going to be a purely dramatic motion
37:53picture.
37:53This was going to be a narrative film.
37:55And in discussing this with Michael Medved,
37:58we all agreed that when folks, especially again,
38:03those naysayers would see this film,
38:04they would come back and say, well, you know what?
38:06you created, you turned all these dead old white guys, the founders of America, into evangelical
38:13Christians. And that was the farthest from our intention. As a matter of fact, Michael Medved is
38:18an Orthodox Jew. So he really didn't want to turn anybody into a necessarily evangelical
38:25Christian. So the idea was that we would bring in world-class scholars, Pulitzer Prize winners
38:32in history, National Book Award winners, people who the United States and the world recognized
38:39as authorities on American history, people like Joseph Ellis who is a two-time Pulitzer Prize
38:45winner, two-time National Book Award winner in history, people like Mary Thompson who was
38:52the research historian at the George Washington Presidential Library, people like Akil Rita
38:58Mr. Lamar, a Sterling Professor of Law at Yale University,
39:02the most cited constitutional scholar
39:05by the United States Supreme Court in their decisions.
39:08This type of scholar, Janna Novak, who with her father,
39:13Michael, wrote that wonderful book about George Washington's
39:15religion, we decided that we would add just enough
39:20of their testimony in the movie to lend credence
39:23to the events that we recreated on screen
39:27so that the historicity and accuracy of the film
39:31would be unassailable.
39:33And to add to that, we shot at original locations.
39:36We shot at Mount Vernon.
39:37We were the very first theatrical feature film
39:40to shoot inside the mansion at Mount Vernon,
39:44in George Washington's study,
39:46which no feature film has ever shot
39:48inside George Washington's study at Mount Vernon.
39:51We shot Daniel Webster's eulogy of Thomas Jefferson
39:54and John Adams in 1826.
39:57In Fannie O'Hall pretty much on the spot
40:00the Daniel Webster stood on
40:01and delivered that U of G 200 years earlier.
40:04So we had a historian on set every day
40:07so that we would make sure
40:08that we were telling an accurate story.
40:10And on occasion, we would have to stop shooting
40:12in order for the historian to say,
40:14well wait a second guys,
40:15I'm not sure that we quite got that right.
40:17Let me check some sources
40:18and we put everything on hold
40:20while Jim Gallagher, our historian,
40:22would go and call certain people
40:24and check on certain sources
40:25to make sure that we were telling an accurate story.
40:27So that gives you an idea.
40:32Tim, when people see this film,
40:33and I mentioned earlier that we needed to blow this film up,
40:36I mean, this is one that really needs to be seen far and wide.
40:41What do you think the true impact could be in our nation
40:46if people see this film in the quantity that they shoot?
40:52When I mean by quantity, I mean quantity of people
40:54go to see the movie in theaters in front of frankly.
40:57What do you think the impact could be in our nation?
41:01I think that the film points to the fact that God has been a part of our nation.
41:08And I believe that people when they see this film, they are going to understand that throughout
41:13our history, especially in the first part of it, that's what they're going to see in this
41:17movie, is that the founders knew that our nation was a nation under God.
41:23And I believe that George Woodfield before in the Great Awakening had a prayer, one nation
41:29under God.
41:30And we have, I think, at times been intimidated by the rest of the culture to try to withdraw
41:37from our, from being civic and from having involvement.
41:42I believe, and for myself, it meant I needed to be a citizen of this nation.
41:47And this nation can really only operate well if it understands that God is where our freedom
41:53come from. And the founders, you'll see this, Robert George from Princeton will tell you that the
41:59founders look back to the book of Genesis and they were able to see that men, they were made in the image
42:05of God, there was a divinity, but there is also their fallen in nature, there was a depravity. And I think
42:11John Adams and others said that this nation was only going to survive if it had a understanding of God
42:19and of the morality that they had to live by.
42:23And so that's what this is a reminder of.
42:25You know, I've made films about the Exodus
42:28and the Exodus is about, they said Moses warned,
42:32do not forget what God did by bringing you up out of Egypt.
42:36And I could say the same thing to this nation,
42:38I think after working on this.
42:40Do not forget what God did by bringing you together
42:43as a nation.
42:44You know, and I think that's what this film is about.
42:47And some people might not like it, but the founders understood it.
42:53And there was a common understanding that the presence of God
42:56was what brought this nation together.
42:58And if God allows us to make the rest of the films,
43:01you're going to see more of the presence of God that
43:03has held this nation together.
43:05And I think that that's what we're faced with right now,
43:08is this is, I believe, meant to be at this time.
43:12We need to remember, just like the Israelites,
43:14do not forget what God did.
43:17You know, for the Israelites,
43:18it was by bringing them out of Egypt,
43:20but for us, it's do not forget what God did
43:22by bringing us to become this great nation.
43:24Ralph, I wanna ask you.
43:25You know, and Abe, I just had to,
43:27to what Tim was saying,
43:28if you notice our tagline,
43:30our nation is no accident.
43:32If our nation is no accident,
43:33then that implies that there is purpose and agency
43:37behind the way that our nation developed.
43:40And if there's purpose and agency there,
43:42that places a responsibility on each of us as American citizens to perpetuate and
43:47advance that plan and that agency. So that's sort of the feeling that we would
43:53like people to come away from having seen this film. Yeah, I was gonna invite you.
43:57Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. I just gonna say one thing is that Robert
44:02George has a great service in this. He says, you know, there are times when the
44:06nation has failed many times. It hasn't lived up to the principles of the
44:11Constitution and the Declaration.
44:14But that doesn't mean that those principles are wrong.
44:16It means that the people weren't doing the right things.
44:21And so we've sinned, as he would say.
44:24And I think this film gives you a very important foundation
44:28to understand how the nation came together
44:30and what it's founded on.
44:33And I think it's meant to inspire.
44:35And for each one of us to be heroic in our life
44:39how we love out, you know, being a citizen of this country.
44:42I was going to follow up with you, Ralph, because you said the tagline, our nation is no accident.
44:48If that is in fact true, and I know you're not asking that it's an open question, it's
44:52meant to be presented as a pondered affirmative notion, would you just speak to a moment as
44:59to what that agency would require of us?
45:02Because we all, as citizens of this great nation, stand as inheritors and benefactors of divine
45:08and providence acting in the formation of our nation.
45:10And I would argue the sustaining of our nation,
45:13would you just speak a bit to that agency
45:16that would be inevitably downstream
45:20from the recognition of the non-accidental founding
45:23of our country.
45:25You know, I think that the primary purpose,
45:28at least from my perspective, is that every viewer
45:32of the movie, every citizen of this country
45:36should, as Michael Ahmedbed says towards the end of the film,
45:40to listen for God's footsteps in American history
45:44and to recognize that those footsteps were there
45:47and that that divine hand of Providence,
45:50as George Washington said, was involved
45:53in setting these wheels in motion
45:55and in guiding the trajectory and history of this nation,
45:58look at the immense amount of good
46:01that we have done in the world.
46:02Look at the wars, the World War I and World War II,
46:05in which we had such impact, look at the places like Ellis Island and being a refuge for people
46:13who are persecuted in different parts of the world. The catalyst for good that America has
46:21been on a worldwide scale. This is something that every citizen should recognize and that
46:27the stories we tell, the historic stories in this movie should remind us of, to realize
46:33that to perpetuate that, to spread the knowledge of that and to be vigilant of that as we continue
46:40each on our God-given journey. And maybe there are heroes among us who will be the next George
46:46Washington or Benjamin Franklin or maybe on a smaller scale. But simply being aware of God's
46:54footsteps and hearing them should motivate us to pay attention to that and to be catalysts of the
47:01continuing position that our country plays in the world.
47:06Tim, you mentioned earlier about the films that you've done on the Exodus, the work you've
47:11done with Moses.
47:12I've told you personally how your film's depiction of Joseph's burial and how that has
47:21been just so impactful for my personal family.
47:24You also mentioned the sense that you felt following the creation of this movie.
47:30Did you come away from this film with a sense similar to what you came away with from the
47:34work you've done on The Exodus and on Joseph and the other films that you did concerning
47:40historical affirmations of God's involvement in mankind's history unfolding?
47:47Well I'm so fortunate to be able to tell these stories and Abe there's a time when I have
47:54a project like this and I realize there's almost a holy activity involved with it because
48:00you're going to want to get it right like Ralph has talked about. We were historically
48:03correct. You're wanting to tell the truth and when people hear the truth, what does it
48:08say? You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free. And this film is about telling
48:14the truth again. Those other films in the biblical film series that I made were also about telling
48:21the truth. I would show a pattern of evidence that allowed the audience to see, well, this
48:25is how it could have happened. I'm not going to tell you it happened this way, but here
48:28are some possibilities. The same thing is true here because we would heard a lot of
48:32alternative information about our founding but this film is true. It's
48:40historically accurate that's why we have these other scholars here saying yes this
48:44is what happened and when you see what happened it's different than what people
48:47thought and that's why whether whatever race you are or whatever economic you
48:52You have people are saying this film is important and I never knew any of this.
48:58This is the forgotten story of America's founding, the forgotten story and you have to
49:03see it.
49:04The American Miracle June 9th through 11th American Miracle movie dot com get your tickets now
49:09and tell your friends and family.

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