Time Changer
Tags: christian film

Plot synopsis:
Bible professor Russell Carlisle (D. David Morin) confronts and lectures a boy who has stolen marbles from his neighbors, calling his action unjust. The year is 1890 and Carlisle has written a new manuscript entitled The Changing Times, which promotes good morals without discussing Christ. The book is on track to receive a unanimous endorsement from the board of the Grace Bible Seminary. That is, until colleague Dr. Norris Anderson (Gavin MacLeod) objects. Without unanimous endorsement, his book might not do so well. Carlisle and another professor seek a unanimity rule change, but the dean insists that Carlisle discuss the disagreement with Anderson privately.
Dr. Anderson fears that Carlisle's book could harm coming generations, arguing that teaching good moral values without mentioning Christ is wrong. Using a secret time machine, Anderson sends Carlisle over 100 years into the future, offering him a glimpse of where his beliefs will lead.
Arriving in the early 21st century, Carlisle is shocked to find that half of all marriages end in divorce (instead of 5% in 1890), teenagers talk openly about deceiving their parents, movies contain blasphemous language and people who go to church are so bored by the sermons that they need extra activities. He tries to convince a laundromat worker, Eddie Martinez (Paul Rodriguez), to go to church and read the Bible. Two churchgoing men grow suspicious of Carlisle, who acts as if he's seeing everything for the first time. They confront him as he is about to be transported back to the past. As the sky grows thunderous, Carlisle seems delirious as he talks about how the second coming of Christ is drawing near. Carlisle vanishes. The men look at where he vanished and one of the men says with dread, "I think we just missed the Rapture."
Carlisle rematerializes in 1890 and excitedly tells Anderson he will revise his book. He gives the thieving boy his own set of marbles and explains that it is Jesus Christ who demands honesty. Anderson tries to learn when the world will come to an end, by trying to send a Bible to the future. The machine won't operate with a target date of 2100, so he tries with progressively earlier decades 2090, 2080 and 2070, which fail. As the film ends, he makes at least two more failed attempts, aiming earlier and earlier, suggesting that either humanity cannot know when the End comes, or that the End will come before the mid-21st century.

Review: Accordingly, I would suspect that TIME CHANGER will be strongly embraced by the Christian community and fans of movies such as "LEFT BEHIND" and "THE OMEGA CODE."  The film is well made and especially well acted with a fine cast.
Not only that, but the film focuses on obedience to the Jesus of the Bible, which includes total allegiance to HIM and not to any sort of morals that have replaced Him. This in essence IS the movie, and because of that, it is quite profound.
Saying that Jesus Christ is the only source of truth is like saying Buddha or Mohammed can only show correct morals; in this modern era, that kind of attitude belongs in 1890.This is a Christian movie for diehard Christians.
I've just seen this film, and being a non-Christian, in fact, non-religious, some things almost made me laugh.According to the main character, all scientific teachings are false if they contradict the Bible.Are we REALLY meant to expect that the Bible is the Truth, no matter what?
If so, when should we start stoning people for committing adultery?Times have moved on - they have changed - without certain points, this film would have been a lot better, but it's almost humorous the way that it's blaming the state of society on films, that the Bible is 100% correct on everything.And is America REALLY the state of the whole world?
When I was 12, I remember watching scary Christian films in the 70's about the last days, the rapture and who gets left behind.I'm 38 now and I felt that this movie delivered a better message.
They have no shame.This movie is a wake up call to the world.It's not about how good it was to live in the 19th century - it's about how bad it is to live today without spiritual guidance from a Christian point of view.
I have seen many "Christian" movies over the years and often I am left a bit disappointed with the production and acting quality.
Time Changer gives this message.This movie puts several well known faces on the screen with performances that are rather unconventional and refreshing.
If you need to watch something which is basically preaching at you that you need to worship a god the way we do or your all dammed then this is the flick for you and your bible study group to watch.If your a free thinking person who is not in the mood to be preached at, but want a entertainment film move to the next box on the shelf.Even in movies who have a religious message or theme, there is usually a battle between good and evil, such as the End of Days or The Word that a viewer can get into and follow for the simple sake of a good story.
The movie ends on a note that we are all doomed with the attempts to send a bible forward into the late 21st century and it will not transmit, suggesting that there is no future because people of earth have forgotten Christ.Gee, the poor poor souls of the world who are not reborn and fundamentalist Christians, your all going into the fires.
I can see where people of other faiths can be offended by this movie.I am not reborn even though at one time I was Pentacostal and dunked, raised as a Congregational Protestant with a Catholic father, I enjoy the religious themed movies such as the 10 Commandments, Barabras, even Ben Hur. They tell a good story with out preaching and damming people for not following the path of the movie maker.If you want to watch a movie move on if you want to go to church and hear a sermon rent or buy it..
Even a Christian audience knows the difference between good film-making and bad film-making, although they may be reluctant, from fear of God, to admit that Joe Esterhas has more talent in his pinky toenail than Rich Christiano has in his entire body (and eternal soul, apparently.) Religiousity aside, this film is bad.
Instead, the film takes itself too seriously and fails to portray an adventure in any sense of the words "fun" and stimulating.The plot is predictable and the main characters are stereotypical Christian fundamentalists in the worst sense of that expression.
The movie assumes that every one in the 1890s was a moral, Bible-believing Christian, and everyone in 2003 is living in sin.
On the positive side (for Christian viewers), the movie expressed that morals taught apart from the authority of Jesus Christ cannot reform society.
But, the DVD cover plainly talks about what this movie is about and no one should wonder if it is about God and Jesus Christ and his message to all of us.
This movie offended me.It pretends to be a Science Fiction movie, but is really a Christian proselytizing film claiming the only way anything good can exist is if it comes from their god.The movie itself is a piece of junk.
His son inherits it and a couple of bible scholars use it to come to the future and complain about the lack of religion in everyday life.They bash the ideas of freedom, freedom from religion, and pretty much everything about modern society.The time machine is a joke, the script lame, but the acting is simply boring and tedious.I regret watching this thing and hope to save you from the same..
Though this is a Christian one and not the kind of movie for those willing to watch some action or fun, it is still a good one for those willing to think about another insight of the society.
Otherwise if u are not a Christian and wanna skip that heaven part, it still pops up a question for those wanting to know and intelligently study and research where did many of the good values that mark the modern man, like solidarity,...
We were at points laughing hysterically, criticizing the movie for any number of mistakes, (bad acting, bad writing, bad pretty much everything) and really asking ourselves, what the hell were those rotating squares in Norris' time machine room?But, nevertheless, the movie did not garner two fans that day, partially for it's horrible quality, and partially for the message that being a good person has nothing to do with living your life well.
OK, let me preface this by saying that I am a spirit-filled born again believer, so this is not an anti-Christian thing at all.This is easily one of the worst movies I have ever scene in my life (and I have seen a few real bad ones).
I would just like to be able to say nice things about a christian movie but it doesn't look like that will happen any time soon.
More and more often movies seem family safe on the outside and then you take your kids and are shocked by the content (Shrek 2, Spongebob).I am shocked to read the comments others left who say they are Christians but that the message of this film is outdated!!!!
This is certainly not the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church to which I belong and it is not the teaching of many mainstream Protestant denominations who are not among the evangelicals or fundamentalist categories.The only remotely valid argument that appears in this film is that churches often become more social organizations than places of worship.This film has acting, bad science, and bad Christianity throughout.I just want people reading these commentaries to understand that not all Christians believe this way so do not condemn us for our ridiculous views because there are Christians out here who do have common sense.
Basically, if you are a Bush loving, good Christian you will like this movie cause you are probably obsessed over the moral decline in society and are convinced only Jesus can stop this.
The men sit around the table thrilled at the idea, hopeful that it should be able to collectively improve the lives of people who would like to lead moral lives but are not inclined toward believing in Jesus or God. The younger audience are particularly targeted by this idea.There are six or seven or so of these men, all excited to publish the book as soon as possible, but one of them shows up late, vehemently denouncing the novel and fighting against its publication.
He eventually does, and comes face to face with normal modern society, and finds himself appalled at what has become of the church.Personally, I don't believe that someone living a moral life but without the fear of God is doing a thing in the world wrong.
The acting is absolutely awful across the board, and the idea of a time machine invented in the 1890s (even if only because the idea of time travel, more than a century later, is so astronomical that it is not even attempted by serious modern scientists) is childish, at best.I'm willing to accept the premise of a time machine being invented and used in the 1890s in order to travel into the future and see what kind of world a book like the one presented would help to create, but only from a pure entertainment standpoint.
I would love to see a movie about Einstein inventing a time machine and traveling to the future and seeing what he thinks of space travel and the Back to the Future movies and whatnot, but Time Changer is trying to take itself and be taken more seriously than it deserves.I will grant credit to the fact that society at large may hold religious beliefs that are certain to be horrifying to the religious community of 110 years ago, but I am not willing to admit that someone who lives a moral life but does not connect their morals with Jesus is living in sin or, even more ludicrous, has any chance of spending an eternity in Hell.
I know far too many people who live happily, have wonderful families, and are good and civil to their fellow man to have the ability to believe or ever be convinced that they will spend eternity burning in a lake of fire because they do not attend church regularly or make Jesus or God a significant portion of their lives, and I do not feel obliged to believe in a God who is so self righteous that He would damn people like that.
Not being familiar with US television stations, when I flicked onto this on my in-laws' cable, first I thought it was just a low-budget sci-fi film, then after a couple of minutes I started thinking it might be a clever satire on the worst excesses of Christian fundamentalist, and then it dawned on me - good grief, these people are serious!
Born Again Christian Propaganda Disguised as SciFi. I guess this would be a great movie for a true believer in organized Christian Dogma, but for anyone with an open mind who believes in free will, rational thinking, the separation of Church & State and GOOD Science Fiction it is a terrible joke!There are some well known actors who were either badly in need of work or had a need to share their personal beliefs with the rest of us heathens.I WAS entertained by this movie in the same way I was entertained by "Reefer Madness." That movie attempted to teach drug education by scare tactics the same way this movie tries to teach "Christian" principles with the threat of hell and misery for otherwise good people who don't share their interpretations of our world.It had me howling with laughter and at the same time scared me to realize how many people actually believe that our society should revert to the good old days of the 19th century!.
This film looked really fun and interesting on Netflix.....next time I'll be more careful about reading the label.First, and I want to be emphatic about this, I have no issue with the overtly fundamentalist Christian message of this movie.
To a very large number of people who might view this movie, if you want to get the message across, it needs excellent acting to accomplish it...and while I didn't sympathize with the message, the blunt and amateurish way it was presented put me off completely.Can there be any material richer than the Bible.
To finally see a movie that had a good message, and doesn't have any gratuitous sex, violence, or bad language was refreshing.Unlike the other review of this film, many Christians do believe in the message presented by the film.
The Bible that Christians are supposed to believe in states that Jesus is "the way, the truth, and the life.
Although unlikely to appeal to non-believers, this movie is excellent entertainment for Christians.
(you can get the full story from the other reviews)My main point is that during one of his conversations with a female Christian librarian, she says that the cinema started off as being full of Jesus' message but goes on to say that Satan got his grubby little paws on it and made it secular and forced all these negative images on to the populous...I mean, come on here...she's obviously talking about the Jewish influence on the film industry!Shame on you!Into the bargain it just has Zealots written all over it..
It wasn't the best movie I've ever seen but the message of what a 19th century theologian professor would see if he travels to the future is very thought provoking.
"Time Changers" caught my attention and someone at our local video store had even placed a "Recommended Viewing" sticker on the box-cover.As I watched the film progress, I could not believe my eyes and ears.
Everything from the special effects to the acting, the costumes, the cinematography and even the sound were outstanding.It's true that if you have not done what the Bible tells you to do and accepted Jesus as your savior, and you do not believe in heaven and hell, you probably will not like this movie.
This film was produced to promote a malignant lie: that the 1890's, thanks to the far greater influence of Christian churches, were a more moral time in America than the present.
If you are looking for a Christian movie, I recommend this film.
A movie such as Star Wars and the Matrix use relgious themes but give the audience time to make up their mind on how their own morale beliefs are linked to religion - this movie doesn't do either.In the movie a Christian fundamentalist from the 1890's travels to the future and gets p***ed off at how the future earth is "evil" and how "sin rules the world".
That is because society & mankind needs *way* more movies like Time Changer if it is to have *any* hope of getting back on track.
This used to premise to try to persuade you to become more in touch with your day to day self and to include God in your life like they may have at the turn of the century ...while this is not a bad thing I just did not want it thrown at me in a movie disguised as entertainment  when it was really a revival meeting  such a billy Graham or ( pardon me) An Assy of God sunday worship service.
the whole movie was this seminary teacher going back in time telling who ever would listen that we need to have Christ in our lives ..He had a whole long speech as he was supposed to be telling people at a church ( which was a probably accurate depiction of today church life in some ways.
Watching after her, Carlisle realizes that his reprimand has held no meaning with her because she does not know or fear the Lord.This and other encounters with sinful situations drive Carlisle to the very conclusion Dr. Anderson insisted upon: The teaching of morals without the authority of Jesus Christ is dangerous in the way it convinces people that Good Works are enough for a happy existence and a positive afterlife.
Carlisle returns to his own time with his eyes opened.This is by far the best-looking Christian film I have seen.
I felt, at long last, like I was watching a real film that happened to be Christian.
If you're some sort of religious nut who likes to push your beliefs on normal people who quite frankly don't care then you'll probably love it.If like me, you're a normal member of the human race with capabilities of independent thought then i would recommend either not watching it, or watching it with the idea that, it's a ridiculous comedy with purposefully bad lines and acting, that way you'll really enjoy it.I can't believe for one second that the main character in real life would go for more than 5 minutes in modern day life without getting pistol whipped.
Only after watching this for a while I started suspecting this was Christian propaganda.I truly enjoyed this movie, it has a good plot line and it is very well acted, for a CP that is.
But it is not that important in this film.This is a movie about Christians and the Word of God. It is about how times have changed for the Christians from past to the future.
I get upset when people say all these negative and rude comments towards Christianity and such films as "Time Changer," but I forgive them and love them.
I love this movie, to me the message is clear and true, good morals without the ultimate authority of Jesus Christ are subjective and therefore do not hold,just look at our society today.
My husband and I have watched this together a few times and we also had the pleasure of meeting D.David Moran (Russell Carlisle) and Rich Christiano at a Christian Film Festival two years ago near where we live.