Having a religious influence

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, January 2nd.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Notable deaths in 2024.

We know everyone is notable in the eyes of God. Perhaps you’ve lost someone this year who was dear to you. Today, we mark those who died who were notable in a broader sense —who were widely known or who exerted great influence—whether for good or maybe no-so-good.

BROWN: Today, people who were known in the realm of religion. Here’s WORLD reporter Anna Johansen Brown.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN: For Benedict Fitzgerald, it all starts out with a call from Mel Gibson.

FITZGERALD: He just called me up out of the blue, basically and said, “Why don't you come and see me, something I want to talk to you about.”

Fitzgerald is a screenwriter. His father was a former poet laureate of the United States. Flannery O’Connor was his childhood babysitter.

He’s written a few successful scripts, but none have made much money. So when Gibson calls, Fitzgerald listens.

FITZGERALD: We just talked as two fellows talk, and he just said, why don't you just go and try and write a first draft.

It’s the first draft of The Passion of the Christ.

Fitzgerald steeps himself in the Gospels. As he writes, he says the Catholic faith he learned as a child slowly returns and transforms his life.

CLIP: [Eloi, lama sabachthani]

The Passion becomes the single most successful independent film of all time. But it also draws controversy. The Anti-Defamation League denounces it as antisemitic.

Fitzgerald never makes it big as a screenwriter, though he continues to write smaller projects.

He died in January at age 74.

Next, a soldier turned theologian.

MOLTMANN: When I was 16 I was drafted into the German army.

It’s 1943 and Jurgen Moltmann is stationed in his home town of Hamburg, Germany. He’s manning an anti-aircraft gun, as the British Royal Air Force bombs the city into devastation.

MOLTMANN: And I was in the midst of it. And I cried out to God for the first time.

In 1945, Moltmann surrenders to the first Allied soldier he meets on the front lines. He spends the rest of the war as a POW, where he reads the Bible for the first time.

After returning home, Moltmann studies theology. He teaches at multiple universities and writes more than 40 books.

He comes to believe that God doesn’t just have compassion on human suffering—he actively experiences that pain along with us.

Much of Moltmann’s theology emphasizes hope and the kingdom of God.

MOLTMANN: …Hope in the coming Kingdom of God, the new creation, can influence our behavior here, how we deal with social questions, political questions.

Moltmann is heavily influenced by Marxist thought—classes of oppressor and oppressed.

Many Evangelicals question his theological method. Moltmann calls Scripture a “stimulus” to his own theological thinking, not “an authoritative blueprint and confining boundary.” He often uses personal experience as a litmus test for theological truths.

Nevertheless, Moltmann becomes highly influential in the 60s and 70s, shaping the theology of a generation.

He died in June at the age of 98.

LESSON: Well, before we close today…

Next, Taiwan’s godmother of English education.

LESSON: Did you learn any new words today, Sally? Yes! I learned the word contest. Contest [Translation]

Doris Brougham died in August at age 98. She spent over seven decades in Taiwan, teaching English and sharing the gospel.

Brougham is 12 years old when she first feels God calling her to Asia.

She turns down a full scholarship to study music and instead goes to Bible college to prepare for missionary work. In 1951, she arrives in Taiwan.

BROUGHAM: I thought, how can we reach these people? Because every day, people dying, and moaning and crying and going to the temple, and I said, we’re not reaching them fast enough. So I said, why don’t we use radio?

Taiwan is a Buddhist country. Christians make up one tenth of one percent of the population.

Brougham starts the first Christian radio station in Taiwan. The program includes sermons, choral music, skits, and Brougham’s trumpet playing.

AUDIO: [Brougham playing trumpet]

The show is an instant hit. Brougham later starts Studio Classroom, a TV and radio program specifically for teaching English.

Her approach impresses some of Taiwan’s top leaders. The island’s president even sends members of his cabinet to learn English from Brougham. She becomes a beloved household name across the country.

Brougham never retires, working in the studio until the age of 97.

Next, an apocalyptic prophet.

LINDSEY: This generation will not pass away until all these things are fulfilled. We are that generation!

It’s the 1960s. The Cold War, the new state of Israel, communism in China, cultural revolution—Hal Lindsey sees all of those recent events as sure signs that Jesus is coming back—soon. By 1988, in fact.

LINDSEY: We are that generation, and I believe we are moving rapidly toward the coming of Christ.

Lindsey has been leading Bible studies with Campus Crusade for Christ, focusing on the end times. In 1970, he publishes a book: The Late Great Planet Earth. It introduces wide audiences to concepts like the Rapture, the Antichrist, and the mark of the beast.

It becomes the non-fiction bestseller of the decade.

Lindsey soon launches a TV program, making specific interpretations of Biblical prophecy.

LINDSEY: So that's how the war goes. The first sequence is an all-out invasion of the Russian Muslim confederacy. They’re counter attacked by the west led by the revived Roman Empire.

But Lindsey’s work begins to draw criticism. 1988 comes and goes and the world doesn’t end. Theologians point out inconsistencies in Lindsey’s interpretations. Lindsey begins to shift and qualify his statements.

But even denounced by many, he continues connecting biblical prophecy to current events for decades—right up until a few months before his death.

Lindsey died in November at the age of 95.

Finally, we remember George Sweeting—evangelist, chalk artist, and former President of Moody Bible Institute.

Sweeting was 15 years old when he gave his life to Christ, in a summer tent meeting. It was August of 1940, and the guest speaker was preaching on James 1:22.

SWEETING: Be doers of the word and not hearers only. And that night I said, Lord, with your help and by your grace, I will be a doer of the word of God and not just a hearer.

Sweeting later goes to college at Moody Bible Institute and also gets a degree in art.

At the age of 20, he’s ordained as a pastor. Sweeting begins traveling as an artist-evangelist, drawing illustrated sermons with his portable easel. In 1971, he becomes president of Moody.

Under his leadership, Moody’s campus grows from covering just two city blocks to ten. After his time at Moody, Sweeting returned to pastoral ministry. He continued writing and drawing until he died in September at age 99.

For WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

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