An Experience That I Did Not Expect
(by Bill Stevenson)
Before the controversial movie “Passion” showed in public theatres, I had read a number of articles about it and had concluded that I did not need to go to it. I also felt that I should not recommend it to others, because I believed what others wrote about it having too much of what the Roman Catholics believe in it and too much violence. I did decide to daily pray for those going to see the movie, that some would accept the Gospel and become true Christians and that Christians would get more committed in becoming more Christ-like in compassion. An elderly friend of mine came to the same conclusions as I just stated as my responses to what others had written.
Another reason why I thought I would not need to see the movie was because of my experiences with that part of Jesus Christ’s life:
1. I saw many of the Jesus movies on TV, but they didn’t show much about the physical suffering of Christ in the trials and the crucifixion process. The most memorable one was the one when Jesus was the cross, Nicodemus was reciting Isaiah 53.
2. Sometime during the 1976-77 school year, probably just before Palm Sunday, I read to my fourth grade class from Josh McDowell’s book Evidence Demands a Verdict about what the pre-crucifixion torture involved. It shocked all of us!!
3. In August of 1977, I had a hard day, as many others who had not had schooling for many years, at the first day of Accelerated Christian Education teacher training. We had to listen to Dr: Howard using headphones and tape system, fill-in-the-blanks of a workbook, take quizzes and self tests. Most of us didn’t even do one workbook for the first day. That night, the Holy Spirit had me think about that time of Jesus’ life, especially His walk with the cross. Then some of the related famous hymns came to my mind. This special time revived me because it reminded me what I was having to endure in the ACE training was very minor compared to the struggle that Christ went through even before being hung on the cross. I told this to many the next morning and all of us did very well that day and the rest of the week in the training!!
4. Sometime in the late 1990s, I saw a wonderful passion play and it had a very realistic (I thought then) scene of one of the torture times of Jesus Christ.
But I didn’t think about the details of the above 4 experiences until after seeing the “Passion” movie.
God does change His children’s minds sometimes, just as human parents have sometimes changed the minds of their children. On April 20, 2004, after going to a park with wild animals, my wife wanted to go to one of the movie theatres. It was her last week of vacation until December. There were ten screens and we decided to go to the “Passion”. She didn’t try to convince me either; the Holy Spirit just politely urged me. I thought, “well, Dolo wouldn’t have to translate hardly anything, but in a romantic comedy she would.” We had two small pizza’s and coke before going in for the movie. Mine had vegetables on it only and they upset my stomach at the beginning of the movie. I had to pray a lot, asking God to help me not have to leave until after the movie and to be able to wait to get home before feeling better after a visit to a small room in our apartment. God helped me that way before and He did such again. As I read in the first review I read, I was likewise gripped by the movie within five minutes. The Holy Spirit helped me understand some of the German subtitles. When the trials and tortures started, I just kept thinking, “no greater love”!! The character casting was excellent. Dolo said that all of the dialog was just Scripture. The suppositions or not-in-the-Bible additions, like mother Mary following her special Son through the trials and even being nearby for the Roman soldier torturing and the walk toward Calvary, seemed very possible. The just mentioned really touched Dolo. Even her wiping up some of her Son’s blood where the Roman soldiers did the whipping touched me. Also, more about the man who helped Jesus to carry the cross was also possible too. The movie was all well done from what I saw!! Now I do recommend it for anyone to go and see.
But what did I learn. I learned that Jesus Christ did have to suffer much much more than I had previously thought in the past. He didn’t have too, but He loved us so much! I learned again that I shouldn’t so easily accept what others write or say. I almost missed a wonderful reviving experience. I also learned more about why my current ministry is so important. So why hasn’t the revival in the USA happened as some had proclaimed? For such a happening, I believe that God wants all of the glory. If great revival had happened, many of the proclaimed prophets and involved churches using the movie for evangelism would have taken glory. I felt in my spirit that instead there would be a small number of individuals in the world who get truly “born again”, a small number of individuals who truly would repent from bad situations and habits, a small number of individuals who will get completely involved in the Great Commission, and a small number of consecrated Christians who would be very revived as I have been. “No greater love!!” “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for other Christians.” Jesus Christ was wrongly tried and tortured, and then gave up His human life for human beings so that we could become children of God too. And so many of us have wasted so much time doing non-God pleasing things, especially spiritual arguments and spiritual judging against others. We should be spending the time that God allows us to do more compassion ministry for others instead!! Help me Holy Spirit to do so. Ephesians 2:10 follows Ephesians 2:8-9. And there are two parts of the Great Commission, the second part is being done so much less than the first part. And many have decided to quit going to church because of that. Use me more, Abba Father. I hope that you will want the same as I indicated in this essay.
Note: If you have any comments or responses, please e-mail me at
[email protected] . Also check,
http://bibleteach.interlinkz.com/index.htm and
http://starfish.ur-online.biz/ .
