In most movies that contain elements of a spiritual nature, the only Christians depicted are Catholic. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love Catholics as much as I love anyone else on this planet. However, it is my belief that they are not, in fact, Christian. I know this is a matter for some debate and that’s not the point of this post. Just suffice to say that these movies usually don’t show Baptists or any Pentecostal denomination.

I’ve also noticed that in most movies like this, the demons are far more powerful than the so-called Christians. Crucifixes melt. Priests beg for their lives. It’s a pathetic sight, really. And, sadly, in the end, it’s the rebel – the one who rejects God (or is simply ambivalent about Him) – who ends up saving the day. Ultimately, these movies are typically NOT Christian in nature, but portray Christians as weak and/or ignorant and unable to protect themselves.

So when I had finally had enough of this, the Lord spoke to me and asked why I – being a writer – didn’t write a script to fix those misconceptions. I obviously thought it was a great idea and went to work immediately.

Once I had the script to the point that I believed it was finished (more on that in a bit), I started looking for a production company to make it. Now THAT was difficult. The only companies I could find were the same ones making the films I was objecting to. Or, they were more “family-oriented” and not into sci-fi type movies.

Finally, the Lord suggested I make the movie myself. Now, while I loved the idea, I just didn’t see it being possible. I refuse to go low-budget on the effects because I want people to see the reality, not some “made-for-TV” version of the reality. I want people to see spiritual warfare as the Bible describes it. I want them to see angels – real angels, not Hollywood’s version – fighting demons (again, not Hollywood’s version). I want them to see the throne room of Heaven.

Now, I understand that it is impossible to show that. I truly do. Yet, the Lord continued to press on me to do just that.

So, finally, I gave in. Having no idea how it’s going to happen, I dropped a line on my Facebook status saying that I was looking for help with a Christian movie. I got a couple of people to say “that’s a neat idea” and the like, but no real takers.

Then…finally…someone offered to help. Oddly enough, this person didn’t think she could actually DO anything to help, but offered it just the same. And even more oddly, her name jumped right off the screen at me. I had written a part for a character with her name! The Lord showed me how easily she could fit into that role. So, I responded and told her I had a part for her.

She was ecstatic, as you might imagine. I sent her a little bit of the script, where her character and another interacted, and within a day, she had an idea for the other character. I asked and he accepted.

The Lord again showed me someone for another part. I asked, and she accepted as well.

So now here we are. I still don’t know how it’s going to happen, but I believe it CAN happen now. Oh, and regarding the movie itself, it’s now going to be a trilogy. Yeah, as if making ONE film wasn’t going to be tough enough.

But listen. I believe the Lord is capable of impossible things. He made this world out of NOTHING and a film with special effects certainly shouldn’t be a challenge to Him.

So I said all that to say this. The Lord showed me how to fund the film. He told me to make a trailer (that is, a short preview) for the film and distribute it to get people interested. In the process, perhaps they will felt led to support the film. I believe they will.

But to do that, we have to first complete the trailer. And that, in itself, is going to cost a bit of money. So I’ve set up a PayPal account for the film fund and would now ask you to help us make this happen. There’s no certain amount you have to give – you don’t have to give anything at all, actually. But if you can, please do. And if you know someone who might be interested in a film like this, send them our way. We need all the help we can get.

Just use the button below to donate to the film fund. Thanks!

Most of the “official” numbers (yes, I will continue to put the word in quotations) go by what is called self-identification – that is, those who call themselves Christian. What’s wrong with that?

Well, there are many different denominations and sects who claim to be Christian who may, in fact, not be. I mean, think about the following scenario…

An atheist man is relaxing at home one evening when his otherwise peaceful day is interrupted by a knock at the door. He reluctantly answers it.

Man at door: Excuse me, sir, I’m taking a survey and wondered if I could ask you a question.

Atheist: Sure, whatever.

Man at door: Thank you, sir. I was just wondering if you consider yourself a Christian.

Now, the atheist just wants to get rid of this person and go back to his nice, quiet evening. In his mind, though, he’s thinking that the person at his door is a Christian trying to convert him. So he decides the best way to handle is…

Atheist: Yes. Yes, I am.

The man at the door thanks him again and leaves. And the “official” numbers for Christianity just went up one person.

And that is the problem with self-identification and why we can’t trust the “official” numbers.

So what’s the alternative? Well, the alternative is to actually ask specific questions to ascertain whether that person is truly a Christian or not. Oh, but there’s a problem here too. There are many different definitions to that word – Christian. At least, there are many different belief systems which claim to be Christian.

So how do we know who’s right? Do we have some objective definition? Not really. The Bible is pretty scant on the subject. But there is one thing it says and it’s something we should consider.

“Those, indeed, therefore, having been scattered abroad, from the tribulation that came after Stephen, went through unto Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to none except to Jews only; and there were certain of them men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who having entered into Antioch, were speaking unto the Hellenists, proclaiming good news — the Lord Jesus, and the hand of the Lord was with them, a great number also, having believed, did turn unto the Lord. And the account was heard in the ears of the assembly that [is] in Jerusalem concerning them, and they sent forth Barnabas to go through unto Antioch, who, having come, and having seen the grace of God, was glad, and was exhorting all with purpose of heart to cleave to the Lord, because he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit, and of faith, and a great multitude was added to the Lord. And Barnabas went forth to Tarsus, to seek for Saul, and having found him, he brought him to Antioch, and it came to pass that they a whole year did assemble together in the assembly, and taught a great multitude, the disciples also were divinely called first in Antioch Christians.” – Acts 11:19-26 (YLT)

Notice here that most of the first-century Christian “system” did not preach the gospel to anyone but Jews. Why? Because they were God’s chosen people and, according to their own tradition, the only ones who were capable of being saved.

But then we see certain ones going to Antioch and preaching to Hellenists. What is a Hellenist? That’s a good question.  Traditionally, I’ve been taught that Hellenists were Greeks who converted to Judaism. However, there are two problems with that. One, Jews didn’t convert non-Jews at that time. You were either a Jew or you weren’t. Two, my own personal research into the matter (little as it is) shows that Hellenists were simply Greeks of a particular period. Were Romans of the 1st century A.D. Italian? Yes, in a sense. But they considered themselves Roman. So, too, were the Hellenists simply Greeks of a particular period in Greece’s history.

So now let’s get back to the subject at hand. These followers of Jesus’ teaching are teaching to Hellenists in Antioch. They had started to expand beyond the borders of Judaism and include Gentiles in their teaching. And when word of this gets back to Jerusalem, to the main assembly there, they send Barnabas out. Now, the Bible doesn’t really tell us why except to say that Barnabas was a man of a good reputation among the assembly at Jerusalem.

So what I infer from this – and I could be wrong, I know – is that the Jerusalem assembly sent Barnabas to see why these followers were teaching to Gentiles. I’m sure many of them believed that Barnabas could reason with them and convince them that this was not the right thing to do.

But Barnabas didn’t do that. In fact, he goes and gets Saul – a man who had previously been persecuting the church – and brings him to Antioch. The two of them stay there a year, teaching about…about what?

Well, to put myself in Barnabas’ shoes, I would probably use Saul as an example of grace – the very reason Christ came, died for our sins, and rose from the dead. Redemption was the catchphrase of the gospel. Man can be reconciled with God again! That’s not just good news – it’s great!

Barnabas, I believe, epitomized the teachings of Jesus in this new world of cultural diversity. He didn’t water down Jesus to fit their beliefs, but he showed them that Jesus was not an elitist and that salvation wasn’t just for Jews. And he used Saul as an example of how Jesus brought this redemption to us. While we can figuratively consider ourselves enemies of Christ prior to salvation, Saul was literally an enemy of Christ, having sentenced many followers to death before his conversion.

This concept was something the Hellenists hadn’t heard before. Prior to this teaching, they had seen Jesus’ followers come and preach to the Jews living there. But no on had told them they could be saved. And, apparently, this teaching of salvation and grace and redemption had come from a man they called Christ.

And that’s why they called them Christians then and not before, when they came to preach to the Jews only.

So what is a real Christian? According to the people who first coined the term, it means someone who preaches the good news of redemption to people outside their little circle. Christians aren’t elitists. They don’t preach that salvation is only for people of a certain bloodline, race, or gender. But they also didn’t say that anyone could be saved by simply claiming to be a follower of Jesus.

If they did, there would have been no reason for them to stay a year, teaching them. What were they teaching? They were teaching how Jesus taught. And Jesus’ teachings tell us how to live.

So being a Christian means living your life according to Jesus’ teachings and spreading this teaching to others.

How many self-identified Christians really do this? If 1 out of 3 people in the world were truly a Christian, it wouldn’t take long at all for the whole world to be converted. (Remember, the gospel is good news! Who doesn’t like good news?)

No, I’m afraid I have to respectfully disagree with the “official” numbers. No, I don’t know how many Christians there are in the world. But I do know it’s not enough.

I got to thinking about that. It’s our only clear Biblical definition for faith, yet it seems vague, doesn’t it? But let’s look a little closer and see if we can’t figure it out.

The two things this verse clearly tells us about faith is that it is “substance” and “evidence.” Now, what really stood out to me about this is that it sort of contradicts the notion that faith is something abstract that we can’t understand.

“Substance” implies tangibility. Something real. Something you can hold in your hands. Not just some concept, but a real thing.

“Evidence” implies that it is true. There’s no doubt at all. And that’s where it started to break for me.

You see, for so many years we’ve been taught (and many still teach) that faith is simply a strong belief in something.

“I don’t know how I’m going to make it.” “Have faith!”

When someone tells us that, what they mean is, “Just believe really hard that somehow you’re going to make it, and then you will.”

But that sounds a lot like positive thinking to me. Not that there’s anything wrong with positive thinking, mind you. But faith ISN’T positive thinking. It’s much, MUCH more than that.

To press the case even further, let’s look at Romans 3:3-4.

“For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mayest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.”

You see here that Paul clearly tells us that faith is NOT belief and that even if BELIEF CONTRADICTS FAITH, we are the ones at fault!

But how can this be? How can our faith contradict our belief?

The short answer is, “It’s not our faith!”

Ephesians 2:8 says that we are saved by grace THROUGH FAITH. It then goes on to say that it is NOT OF OURSELVES! Therefore, faith is not from us, but from God!

So now we start to see the truth. Belief is our feeble attempt at mimicking the faith of God. But Paul said in Romans 3 that if that belief contradicts God’s faith, we are to abandon that belief in the light of the faith of God.

So what is faith, then? It is a tangible truth. The simplest example I can think of to give you for faith is the Word of God.

The Bible contains truth about God. The Bible comes from God. Therefore, the Bible is faith. Of course, sometimes, we don’t understand the Word of God. Sometimes we can’t believe it.

But faith defies belief. Faith says, “In spite of what I believe, I will obey His Word.”

So when we are sick and someone asks us if we believe we will be healed, we don’t have to lie. We can say, “No, I really don’t. But that doesn’t matter because God’s Word says I am healed and God’s Word overrides my own. Therefore, I am healed in spite of my belief.”

Now, I realize this goes against what a lot of preachers are saying today. But I provided scripture to support my claim. It’s in the Word. And His Word is truth; therefore, it supersedes anything man has to say on the subject.

I hope this has been helpful for you and that you have a glorious and faithful day!

Now that it’s all over, I am healing quickly. I’ve been told that it will take a couple of weeks for me to heal completely, but I believe it’s going to happen much faster than that. I am actually in LESS pain now than I was before the surgery. The only real issue I have right now is getting in and out of bed, twisting, etc. There’s no constant pain like there was before.

This lets me know that once all the recovery is over, I am going to be at 100%. I am already looking forward to getting back in the pulpit. I dreamed last night that I was preaching. It was a great message and I can’t wait to share it.

Today, I am mostly thinking about an upcoming surgery. This time tomorrow, I will most likely be unconscious as my gall bladder is being removed. I’ve been out of work for a while now due to severe abdominal pain and my wife and I hope that this will solve the problem.

Oddly enough, I’m not that concerned about being out of work. The Lord told me around July of ‘09 that we would be in full time ministry by July of 2010. I truly believe that this illness is at least one way – if not THE way – that God can make that happen. Please pray with us as we seek God’s will in this.