VIDEO REVIEW of THE POWER OF A PRAYING WIFE by Stormie Omartian
“Putting the responsibility for changing an abusive or destructive marriage on the wife’s prayers isn’t okay, and it’s important to look at this book through that lens,” says Sheila Gregoire
In the book, her husband “jokes” about their marriage, saying, “It’s been forty wonderful years for me and forty miserable years for her.” He’s laughing, but it’s no laughing matter. It sounds as though he’s bragging that he made her miserable and she still stayed with him. (Kindle, page 10)
Foreword to the book Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian. Kindle, page 10
Stormie told God, “I can’t live in the same house with him.”
Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian, page 16, Kindle version
The problem is that ABUSE IS WORSE FOR KIDS THAN DIVORCE
When the marriage is good, divorce is bad for children.
When the marriage is bad, divorce is good for children.
Will The Power of a Praying Wife Be Made Into a Movie? What role does Angel Studios Play?
A movie industry insider, screenwriter Lori Twichell, reached out to me to help explain how the system works. She said:
“Despite the marketing hype, Angel Studios is not the company making this movie. It is being made by a small, independent production company called Broken Things Productions, which appears to have been founded only for this film. The website for that studio is https://brokenthings.com/.”
So what is Angel Studios and why are they talking about “Out of Darkness” (based on Stormie Omartian’s book)?
“There is a system set up by Angel Studios that allows for everyone who is a member of the Angel Guild (something you subscribe and pay to be a part of) to decide what movies they want their money to go to. This is a meticulously designed business plan that you have to follow to the letter in order to abide by SEC rules because it’s crowd-funded. Broken Things Productions are trying to raise money through Angel’s system that is already in place. If they don’t reach their goals, they won’t get funded by the Angel Guild. It’s possible a different group might come in and want to make this movie but if that happens, they will take a different approach than this.”
Key Points
We need to educate people about the harmful messages in this book. This is an educational battle rather than a ‘take it down’ battle.
“A lot of people don’t understand or know the perspectives on abuse in marriage or how this book could possibly be used as a weapon in marriages. They don’t know how the book’s message has affected your marriage. This is our chance to educate people on the ‘why’ and bring more awareness to our messages of saving people out of abuse rather than blatantly just destroying marriages. In other words, we as Christians aren’t looking to open the floodgates to frivolous divorce, but we do believe there are necessary divorces, life-saving divorces to save yourself and your children from abuse and betrayal.”
Where to post my own story?
—Tell your story on your own social media account. And include hashtags at the bottom. (See ideas and examples below.)
—Tell your story on the Out of Darkness Movie Facebook page. That is the name of the new movie based on the book The Power of a Praying Wife: https://www.facebook.com/OutOfDarknessTheMovie
For Bloggers, Podcasters, and Concerned Individuals: please use comments or posts like:
If you read this book and it caused harm (or know someone who read it and it caused harm), I recommend you start your comment or post with something like:
- —”A company wants to make a movie about this book/story. It’s not in production yet, but they are gauging interest, so now is the time to let them know that it’s not the right approach or the right time and here’s why:
- —A company is looking at turning Stormie Omartian’s life into a movie. Her book, The Power of a Praying Wife, hurt me and kept me in abuse and here’s why:
- —We have stood against this book because it harms women and we will stand against this film being made and here’s why…
- —I can’t support this movie because…
FOUR GOOD LINKS TO SHARE
When you share on your own social media account, always link to critiques of The Power of A Praying Wife, NOT to Stormie’s page, Broken Things’s page, or Angel Studio’s page. Here are some good links to share.
- —Bare Marriage video interview with Sheila Gregoire, Sarah McDugal and Gretchen Baskerville. https://youtu.be/irKyriR7VMo?si=ubjCdPHKBDLm7sbG
- —FREE Fact-sheet and synopsis of all the problems in Power of a Praying Wife–with an optional download. If you want to tell your church or Bible study about “The Power of a Praying Wife,” get the FREE download, a printable two-page face sheet on the major problems with the book.about the problematic messages in Stormie Omartian’s book, The Power of a Praying Wife. https://baremarriage.com/2023/06/the-problems-with-power-of-a-praying-wife/
- —Gretchen Baskerville’s Facebook post that gives an overview of some problems in Stormie Omartian’s book, The Power of a Praying Wife. https://www.facebook.com/LifeSavingDivorce/posts/pfbid037K3FbzBZisTxyJnw9W4ZXYx6opRPXGV1aBRZubUV1nb3vhfPeoayPSZ6fd1UdfDpl
- —Life-Saving Divorce article that gives an overview: https://lifesavingdivorce.com/stormiemovie/
There is a reason that people screenshot rather than share posts from those they disagree with. It’s to not raise the level of their popularity or bring attention to them within the SEO and algorithm.
The Goal
“The goal here is to let people know why there is a pushback on this film being produced. You do not want to draw attention to their fundraising efforts so don’t share links to Angel Studios, or the investment pages or websites. (Share the 4 links above.) Think about it this way: if you say something that offends someone somewhere, you’ve handed them an instant link to the other side’s fundraising efforts. With one click someone who disagrees with you or who has been angered by you can donate to the other side.
We want to encourage each organization or group sharing their own hashtags and stories and giving the reasons behind their concerns.”
Calls to Action
- —Write comments on the movie page and posts. Let them know why the movie is one that you don’t want made and the dangers of it. Be logical. Concise. Calm. If you have a story, tell it.
- —Place negative reviews on the official movie page. Reviews or comments that get removed by the page still stay in the back end algorithm and can cause Facebook and SEO sites (for websites) like Google, etc to watch them more carefully and patrol them for ‘violations’ and that makes it harder for them to get recommended to people and get in front of audiences.
—Create your own post and tell your own story. Or leave comments at Out of Darkness Movie (the name of the new movie based on The Power of a Praying Wife): https://www.facebook.com/OutOfDarknessTheMovie
How to Use Hashtags to Increase Your Reach
- —Use a group of 5-7 hashtags. Be sure to use the hashtags of influencers who are concerned about this movie (see below). Then add a few hashtags about the movie itself.
Example: #stopabuse #domesticviolence #IntentionalToday #LifesavingDivorce #SarahMcDugal #BareMarriage #OutofDarknessMovie #StormieOmartian
That puts your messages in the search results but it isn’t a cloud of posts jumping on the movie bandwagon with one hashtag for your group. Rather it flips that script and though it still shows up in the search engines and algorithm, people see more of your messages first.
Should I be Angry if My Comment Gets Removed?
When a comment on a post gets removed, it may not be for the reason you suspect. It’s not because they don’t care. Often, people comment on the first thing they see, so if Angel Studios has a post about a different movie they did make or that is theirs and it’s going into theaters right now, they will usually remove other comments because they don’t apply to that project. Someone on the other side is managing those things and it does likely create conversations asking about it on the back end. Don’t make assumptions that they are trying to silence anyone. They may just be trying to manage the messages on their pages.
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