Millions of professing Christians will be taking their families to the movies to see The Prince of Egypt during the coming months. This animated movie retells the story of Moses. It's already being described as the "most politically correct film of all time," the reason being that the movie's makers consulted 450 theologians from the Vatican to the Religious Right with a number of rabbis in between while making the film. Hopefully, the movie will be worth it, but Hollywood's track record is not good when it comes to Biblical themes.

Rather fewer people will be going to see the movie Elizabeth, which my wife and I saw over Thanksgiving weekend. The irony though is that if it weren't for Elizabeth it's doubtful that the Prince of Egypt or any other movies would ever have been made. I cannot think of any woman in history who changed the world more. If not for Elizabeth I and God working through her, we may never have gained the religious freedoms we have today.

Elizabeth is the story of England's last queen (the country became Great Britain after her death when she was succeeded by the Scottish King James of KJV fame). She reigned from 1558-1603. The movie focuses on the nine years between 1554 and 1563, years during which she secured the throne. When the story opens, Elizabeth's half sister, Mary, is queen (1553-58), having succeeded their half brother Edward VI who died at the age of 16 after six years as king. All three children were the offspring of Henry VIII and his various wives.

Henry, you will remember, in wanting a divorce from his first wife (Mary's mother), broke from the Roman Church because the pope refused to grant his wish. He then married Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth's mother. When he tired of her he had her beheaded, leaving a very vulnerable young princess, Elizabeth, behind. She was only two years of age at the time of her mother's execution.

Mary and Elizabeth had very little in common. Mary's loyalty to her mother made her a devout Catholic, while Elizabeth was much influenced by the new Protestant movement. Mary looked to the church, while Elizabeth looked to the Bible, which had only fairly recently become available through the invention of the printing press. Her tutors were followers of the new religion and influenced her greatly.

Seeing an opportunity to reverse their misfortune in England, the Catholic church persuaded Mary to cleanse the country of "heretics" (Protestants). Over 300 were burned at the stake under Mary's authority, earning her the name "Bloody Mary," a term passed down to this day. The church persuaded her to marry King Philip II of Spain, who vowed to bring England back under the domain of mother church. The church also tried to persuade Mary to have Elizabeth put to death, fearing Protestant domination if she succeeded to the throne. Mary had Elizabeth arrested and placed in the infamous Tower of London to await execution. Elizabeth was found to be above reproach-nothing against her could be proved and she was spared. Mary constantly put her sister down, referring to her as her "bastard" sister, the daughter of a "whore."

We should all be thankful that Elizabeth survived to become queen. We should be even more thankful to Elizabeth for her role in reversing the power of the church and laying the foundation for religious freedom in the English speaking world. Arguably, nobody in history contributed more to the cause of religious freedom (Elizabeth, incidentally, was the first known monarch in world history not to censor any literary work).

She did this by standing up to the continental European powers and the Vatican. At a time when women were generally considered the weaker sex, she stood her ground against the most powerful men in the world-the leaders of Catholic Spain, France and the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the pope himself. The Bishop of Rome had ordered her death-saying that killing her would be doing God a service. He had also told the leaders of Europe that invading England would have his blessing. Anything to get back control. The Vatican was losing its control of the European continent after over 1,200 years of keeping the people in darkness. It was essential that England be crushed and that necessitated Elizabeth's death.

Attempts were made on her life. She survived. All those who threatened her were arrested, tried and in most cases executed for treason. She paid a great personal price, never trusting any man to get close enough to marry her. She was the famed Virgin Queen.

After consolidating her power, she was then able to turn the country into one of the most progressive and prosperous nations of all time and lay the foundation for England's future greatness.

After defeating the Spanish Armada her navy became the most powerful in the world. Her subjects laid the foundation for the future multitude of nations that would be the free world's first line of defense for 400 years. By settling the colony of Virginia (named for her), they laid a foundation of religious freedom in North America. Indeed, it has been noted by historians that nobody in history contributed more to America being what it is today than Elizabeth I-without her the United States would not exist as American territory (it would have been Spanish), English would not be spoken in this part of the world, and religious freedom would be an alien concept.

Cecil B. DeMille dedicated his version of The Ten Commandments to those struggling for freedom, the same struggle the Israelites went through in coming out of Egypt. It would be a shame if Christians failed to realize that God not only used Moses to deliver His people out of slavery, but undoubtedly used Queen Elizabeth to further the cause of religious freedom, thus making possible the work of God's church. WNP