I Just Saw Jesus
By Paul Eshleman and Carolyn E. Phillips
()
About this ebook
This miraculous story reveals how JESUS began as one man’s vision and became a record-breaking film shown more than 9 billion times and convincing millions to follow Christ.
Volunteer film teams, missionaries, and pastors risk their lives daily, showing the film in remote tribes and villages, among religions that strictly prohibit Christianity, and even to the world’s most elite and powerful leaders. They have overcome threats, witches’ curses, and deadly diseases. The teams carry compact generators and portable projectors, often traveling by foot or horseback, bush plane or canoe. Their pure, unbridled joy comes from sharing JESUS with those who have not yet seen and heard the gospel.
Brian Deacon, the actor who portrays Jesus, speaks only words taken directly from the Gospel of Luke. As biblically accurate as possible, the JESUS film is taking Jesus to the world’s men, women, and children in their own heart language. Translated into more than 1,400 languages, with more planned, this film is changing the world. JESUS is being seen and heard, and His words are proving as powerful today as they were 2,000 years ago.
The story behind the film that:
* Has been seen more than 9 billion times.
* Is in the Guinness World Records for most translated film ever.
* Results in thirty to fifty thousand indicating a desire to follow Jesus every day.
Paul Eshleman
Paul Eshleman founded The JESUS Film Project© and served as its director for twenty-five years. He currently serves as a vice president for Campus Crusade for Christ. He provides leadership to numerous coalitions and ministry networks, including the Issachar Initiative and the Finishing The Task network.
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I Just Saw Jesus - Paul Eshleman
We thank God for the many people whose lives have been transformed as a result of seeing the JESUS film as it has been shown around the world over the past 25 years.
Billy Graham
Evangelist
. . . the most-viewed, full-length feature film in history . . .
Susan Lee
Forbes Magazine
I must congratulate you on your scriptural accuracy.
Chuck Smith
Pastor, Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, CA
The success of the JESUS film is really the success of the global church in coming together to use an effective media tool.
Rick Wood
Editor, Mission Frontiers
The JESUS film to me is one of the most effective and cost-effective ways to get the gospel in an era when so many of us are influenced by pictures, to get the gospel to people in a powerful and dramatic way.
Chuck Colson
Prison Fellowship
The Jesus Film Project is unquestionably the most successful of the many global mega plans to evangelize the world that have surfaced in the 20th century. The Project has worked out an exact and comprehensive way to actually contact everybody in the world with the gospel . . .
David B. Barrett
Global Evangelization Movement
The JESUS film continues to cause powerful repercussions around the globe. Hundreds of thousands of people are coming to Christ as a result of the many teams who take this film into unreached areas; but also, the film is shaking up the rest of us on the home front who are emblazoned and emboldened to proclaim Christ to our own communities.
Joni Eareckson Tada
President, JAF Ministries
No single evangelistic campaign in human history has touched as many lives as the showing of this film worldwide.
U.S. Center For World Missions, Pasadena, California
The interest in the [JESUS] film is great … At one of the last villages to see it, a fight almost broke out as so many wanted to see it; but because of the rain, we had to show it inside the local church! At one village off the beaten path, over 500 came, and at the end after the gospel presentation, there was complete silence and later great applause.
Brent and Sandi Wiebe, SIL, Papua New Guinea
Referring to the Bola JESUS film
In Tulear over the last two weeks since the Tandroy [JESUS] film arrived there … traffic jams are caused by the informal congregating of people at the little street video places where they are showing a copy – the police are having a hard time regulating the traffic in places.
Leoni Bouwer
Luke Partnership Team, Madagascar
Often, non-print media is the first encounter people have with the gospel due to low literacy rates in minority languages. It serves as an appetizer to know more of the story. For people who are literate, exposure to non-print media creates a desire to know more through written accounts. They will want to read and learn about God in more detail in a format that is easy to handle and refer to.
Marie Crandall, SIL
Based on her experiences in Eurasia
The JESUS film and follow-up materials have had a tremendous impact in our area. We have had 6,000 people come to know the Lord; but more importantly, sort of, is that they are being discipled also, which is the great commission. We had 5,800 people in discipleship classes last year. We started a number of churches also.
Richard Gardner, SIL
The Izere Project, Nigeria
The greatest event. . . since Gutenberg printed the Bible. You have produced a masterpiece.
Fulton John Sheen
Titular Archbishop of Newport
The gospel according to Saint Luke comes to life in this exceedingly moving film. Those among us who regard our Lord as a disembodied Spirit should see JESUS and come face to face with Him.
Jaime L. Sin
Cardinal, Archbishop Emeritus of Manila
The Jesus Film Project is one of the greatest cutting-edge evangelistic efforts the world has ever known. Agencies like us in OM count it a privilege to be involved in this endeavor that has the stamp of God upon it.
George Verwer
International Director, Operation Mobilization
Artistic integrity, yet complete authenticity.
Pat Robertson
CBN Founder
The film is artistically most acceptable and scripturally accurate and doctrinally sound. I am confident that it can be an effective instrument for evangelization for adults and young people.
Francis D. Kelly
Executive Director, Department of Religious Education
I think the JESUS film is one of the great tools for evangelism . . . This single project has been probably one of the most effective in getting the ear and the hearts of a lost world.
Franklin Graham
President, Samaritan’s Purse
. . . JESUS is calculated to appeal to the most ardent biblical purists.
Time Magazine
Whether in closed countries, illiterate cultures, or in places of open harvest, this graphic portrayal of the gospel contained in the Jesus film has radically accelerated the potential for fulfilling the Great Commission.
Jerry Rankin
President, Southern Baptist International Mission Board
Bible translation and the JESUS film is a partnership that brings the gospel of Jesus to all people, of all ages, literate and pre-literate. It is one of the great privileges of Wycliffe Bible Translators to support The Jesus Film Project.
Roy Peterson
Executive Director, Wycliffe USA
Having the JESUS film and recorded Scriptures (as well as oral Bible storying) is a significant strategy for seeing the Scriptures impact a larger group of people in a shorter amount of time.
Gilles Gravelle
Project Development Coordinator, The Seed Company
I Just Saw
Jesus
The JESUS Film
From Vision, to Reality, to the Unimaginable
Copyright 2016
Paul Eshleman
with Carolyn E. Phillips
It is with deep love and appreciation that this book is dedicated to Caroline and Bunker Hunt, John Heyman, and the thousands of staff and film team members who risk their lives daily to take JESUS to the ends of the earth.
CONTENTS
Foreword
Preface
Introduction
Ch. 1: Maasailand
Ch. 2: Warrior Spears
Ch. 3: An Incredible Tool
Ch. 4: Struggle To Faith
Ch. 5: Serious Show Biz
Ch. 6: Is Jesus A Christian?
Ch. 7: Two Thousand Opening Nights
Ch. 8: The Move Overseas
Ch. 9: Uganda
Ch. 10: Beirut Barrage
Ch. 11: That’s Incredible
Ch. 12: But Do They Last?
Ch. 13: A Time To Reap
Ch. 14: Some Difficult Places
Ch. 15: Breaking All The Barriers
Ch. 16: They Pay A Price
Ch. 17: Summer Safari
Ch. 18: One Last Chance
Ch. 19: To The Ends Of The Earth
Epilogue: Plans, Hopes, And Dreams
Meet The Author
Photo Section
Watch the JESUS Film at www.jesusfilm.org
Watch the Impact of the JESUS Film at www.jesusfilm.org
FOREWORD
By Billy Graham, 1985
One of the most powerful tools God has given us to proclaim the gospel today is the medium of film. We live in an age dominated by the media, and since the early days of my ministry, I have seen the way God has used films to reach people for Christ in every kind of culture.
In the pages of this book, Paul Eshleman tells the fascinating story of the film called JESUS, which is a vivid portrayal of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus using the exact words of the Bible. He recounts the way the film was produced and distributed, in spite of seemingly insurmountable odds. He also tells of lives that have been touched by the Lord through the JESUS film. This story needs to be told, and no one is better qualified to tell it than Paul Eshleman because of his personal experience with the film.
In Matthew 24 Jesus declared that prior to His second coming to Earth, the gospel of the kingdom would be preached to the whole world. Perhaps God is using this film, JESUS, as one of the means to hasten the day when every knee shall bow
before our great King.
JESUS has been translated into many languages. Millions have seen it—people in the most sophisticated cities of Europe and America and in isolated jungles of Africa. It continues to speak to the hearts of people and point them to Jesus Christ, the only hope of our world. As you read this account of the worldwide impact of JESUS, your vision will be stretched and your burden increased for those who do not know of Christ. This film also will challenge you to live and witness for Christ where He has placed you.
PREFACE
By Erick Schenkel, 2013
God used I Just Saw JESUS to turn my life upside down. I had led a team of fellow Harvard graduates in planting a church in suburban New England and was enjoying the fruits of serving the maturing congregation—a delightful group of friends, a generous salary, meaningful service in a number of settings, and enough time to earn my doctorate at my alma mater. I showed the JESUS film as part of a class I was teaching to young people and was looking for resources to show them that Jesus is alive today. So I picked up I Just Saw JESUS and read it with them chapter by chapter—one story after another of the amazing things Jesus Himself does through the JESUS film. All I could think was, I’d give anything to be a part of this.
Within two years my wife and I uprooted our family of seven from our nice suburban home, resigned all our responsibilities, and headed for Central Asia to plant churches alongside JESUS film teams. There we witnessed the power of God working through the JESUS film firsthand. The region in which we served, Turkic and Persian by heritage, was just emerging from seventy years as part of the Soviet Union. The people were very resistant to Jesus because they understood Him as the Russian God.
However, when they saw Jesus speaking to them in their own heart languages—Kazakh, Uzbek, Tajik, Kyrgyz, Karakalpak, Tartar, Uyghur, and many more—they received Him by the hundreds and by the thousands.
This book was an invitation for me and my family into the wonderful worldwide work of sharing the story of Jesus with those who do not yet know Him. I hope it will be the same thing for you. Whether you become a more active sharer at home, whether you travel across the globe, or whether you give financially to enable others to go, may you be inspired by what you read here to give everyone in the world a chance to see JESUS.
INTRODUCTION
By Bill Bright, 1985
Settle in for an exciting reading treat. A special warning: You may not be able to put this book down once you start reading. That was my experience. I thoroughly enjoyed this remarkable collection of stories of the miracles accompanying the development and worldwide showing of JESUS, the world’s most translated film.
Thirty-eight years ago God gave me a vision to produce a film on the life of Christ. Since a majority of the world’s population cannot read, a film seemed the best way to present Christ to the multitudes. On many occasions through the years, the board of directors of Campus Crusade for Christ (now Cru) discussed the need for such a film. For me, the completion of this film, and its use by many mission organizations worldwide, is the fulfillment of that dream.
The response to JESUS has proved that it is one of the greatest evangelistic tools in history. As I write, each night somewhere in the world, many teams of workers are showing JESUS to several hundred thousand people in villages, rural areas, and urban communities, and to high school and university students. Between thirty thousand and fifty thousand are indicating their desire to receive our Lord Jesus Christ each day.
When God gave me the vision of the film on the life of Jesus, I did not have the money to produce it nor did Cecil B. DeMille, whom I approached with my dream. Yet years later, in God’s perfect timing, He sent along John Heyman, a well-known Jewish movie producer with a burden to put the Bible on film and to tell the story of his Messiah. Dear friends of our ministry, Bunker and Caroline Hunt, also had caught the vision for worldwide evangelism, and they offered to underwrite the entire cost of production. In the meantime the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ had expanded into 150 countries where we were helping train millions of Christians from thousands of churches of all denominations to share Christ. On campuses, thousands of committed young men and women were trained to carry the film into some of the world’s most inaccessible places.
The coming together of these factors made the development and the incredibly rapid worldwide deployment of the JESUS film possible.
Maybe you have an unfulfilled dream or vision to do something significant for the Lord. You may have become discouraged and are about to abandon the vision God placed in your heart. If so, please do not give up. You can be sure that what God tells you to do, He will, in His appointed time, enable you to do. You simply need to trust God and obey His command (Philippians 2:13).
We have seen this happen with the JESUS film. More than thirty years passed after God gave the burden for a film on the life of His Son before all the various factors were right. Then in His sovereignty and wisdom, He provided the finances through Bunker and Caroline Hunt, the technical expertise for producing the film through John Heyman, and the leadership though Paul Eshleman who orchestrated the development and distribution, along with tens of thousands of staff members and volunteers around the world.
I became acquainted with the writer of this book when he and his wife, Kathy, were directing a dynamic Campus Crusade for