A friend asked me to convert an audio tape to CD for them.  It is an old sermon recording from 1951 by George R. Brunk, the Mennonite evangelist who spoke to crowds of 15,000+ people under a massive tent back in the ’50s.   You can read more about him HERE and HERE.

Anyway, I looked online and this particular message doesn’t seem to be available anywhere else even from the famed sermonindex.net, so I figured I’d make it available for anyone to listen to right here.

Religion of the Easy Road MP3 | 24MB | 47:00

I had never heard this story before about a work of God among the Zulu people in the late 20th century.  The video is fairly long, but worth the time.

Related Links:
The Mission’s website
Article in Christian Action Magazine

Today I joined the crowd of 3 billion +  other fellow humans who have watched the Jesus film, the most watched film in history.  The film will turn 30 years old this October and I was amazed at how timeless it is as is the message it carries to viewers.

Anytime I watch a film, I look for a back story and this one did not disappoint.  Here it is from Wikipedia:

History

The film’s origins date back to 1945 when a young businessman named Bill Bright wanted to privately finance a film about the life of Jesus Christ^[1] that was entertaining, biblically accurate, and which could be translated into non-English languages. Rather than making a film at that time, Bright went on to found a Christian ministry to reach college students called Campus Crusade for Christ in 1951.

In 1976, with Campus Crusade’s influence spreading beyond college campuses to sports, the marketplace and other aspects of society, Bright turned his attention once again to filmmaking. Hollywood producer John Heyman approached Bright to fund a project to put the entire Bible on film. The project would eventually be scaled back to just one book of the Bible, the Gospel of Luke, and be financed primarily by Campus Crusade supporters Bunker and Caroline Hunt^[2] for a sum of $6 million.

A team of 500 scholars and leaders from secular and Christian organizations began to research historical elements for a film about Jesus. Filming took place over the course of several months throughout the Middle East.

Jesus was produced by John Heyman, a German-born Jew. British Shakespearean actor Brian Deacon was hired to play the critical role of Jesus himself. The part of MaryRivka Neumann, and the part of Joseph was played by Yosef Shiloach. Former Jesus Film Project director Paul Eshleman, who was on location during much of the principal photography and even had a small non-speaking role as a Roman soldier on horseback, revealed in the DVD’s audio commentary^[3] that Deacon (the son of a Catholic mother and a Protestant father), was so committed to the film and its message that he read several Bible translations a day in order to make certain that he properly presented Christ’s teachings. Because Deacon developed pneumonia during principal photography, doubles were used in certain scenes. Eshleman also claimed that Niko Nitai, who played Peter, became a believer during filming and that the man hired to play Jesus’ corpse later entered a seminary. was played by

Some locations mentioned in the Bible, such as the Jordan River and what is believed to have been the home of Simon the Tanner, were used in the film.

After each day’s filming was completed, the footage was sent to a panel of biblical scholars for review.

Instead of creating a parallel story for the film or embellishing the biblical account, as is the case with other religious films such as The Ten Commandments or The Greatest Story Ever Told, the filmmakers chose to adhere as closely as possible to the Gospel of Luke. Most of the film’s dialogue comes from Luke, which was chosen after John Heyman sought advice from clergy and scholars. Many responded that the screenplay should be based on just one Gospel, and that Luke should be used because of its completeness.

Scenes for The Story of Jesus for Children, which removed much of Jesus’ more violent scenes and added more appropriate ones for younger viewers, were filmed concurrently with those of Jesus.

Jesus was released by Warner Bros. in the United States. It was not a money-maker, losing approximately $2 million. While praising its “meticulous attention to authenticity”, critics panned Jesus for being “painfully monotonous.”^[4]

In 1981, Bill Bright created the Jesus Film Project organization with the goal of accurately translating Jesus into other languages and showing them around the world. The first translation was done for the Tagalog-speaking people of the Philippines. The organization works with thousands of missionaries around the world to show the film, sometimes to audiences who have never seen a motion picture. Distribution in the United States has included direct mail campaigns sponsored by churches to deliver a copy of the film to every address in select zip codes across the country. In 2004, the organization made the film available for viewing on its website in over 300 languages. Both Jesus and The Story of Jesus for Children are available in DVD and VHS formats. Audio dramatizations in a number of languages are also available.

Trouble in Amish Paradise is an amazing true story about Ephraim and Jesse Stoltzfus and and their respective families who go through the process of leaving the Amish community after reading and studying the Bible for themselves (something which is forbidden in many Amish circles).  The clarity of the gospel message and the theme of the powerful effect of these families’ faith in Jesus throughout this documentary is truly astonishing.  It is produced with the usual quality of any good BBC production, yet the message of salvation and hope in Jesus is as strong as if it had been produced by a Christian media group.

I have had the privilege of meeting several of the people featured in this work, people whose lives are being poured out for Christ’s Kingdom; and my prayer is that the usual “buzz” generated around a media production of this nature would bring glory to God and bring more people to know, understand and embrace the life and teachings of Jesus for themselves as a result of watching this story.

Broadcast exclusively in the UK on February 18th, it averaged 2.2 million viewers.  From what I hear, it is set to broadcast in the US sometime next month. Over 100 hours of footage was condensed into this one hour video chronicling the events of shunning, tent revival meetings, life-threatening illness in the family, and so much more.

For now, you can watch the first ten minutes of it from Youtube, below.

FURTHER READING:

From the BBC’s website:

An extraordinary insight into the secretive world of the Old Order Amish of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

When two radical Amish men, Ephraim and Jesse Stoltzfus, start to question some of the most fundamental aspects of their Amish culture, they face excommunication from their church and total rejection by their friends and family.

Broadcast on:  BBC Two, 9:00pm Wednesday 18th February 2009

Duration:   60 minutes

Update 3/14/2009: I was just made aware through a comment by Arlen Beiler about the new website www.troubleinamishparadise.com.  They have some slideshows featuring scenes similar to what is found in the documentary, Ephraim and Jesse Stoltzfus’ personal testimonies and links to Christian and Anabaptist resources as well as a preview of the new book being written by Ephraim.

I’d heard this before, but was recently reminded of it again when a friend emailed me the video.

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Here’s the story.