Jesus Film Newsletter

[Makarios]

I stopped believing several years ago, but I still receive literature from Christian organizations. Today I received a letter from the Jesus Film Project requesting a donation. The letter claims that manifestations of the supernatural accompany showings of the Jesus Film. In Western Zambia last September a man named Alex said the following happened:

"I saw it with my own eyes. The table on which we had placed the DVD player, projector and sound system lifted off the ground, about a foot, flipped over and crashed to the earth. The screen went black. The crowd knew it was witchcraft. Most panicked and scattered in all directions. All we could do was try and calm the remaining people. We announced we would hopefully be back the next day to show them JESUS."

The letter goes on to say that the team prayed and the following evening twice as many people came to the showing and most believed in Jesus.

My question for the forum is what do you think when you read something like this?

If you are a believer do you take what is being said at face value? If so, have you seen this sort of thing happen in your own experience? I've been going to evangelical churches for 25 years and have never seen anything like this. It seems whenever I hear of stories like this they are always in some remote location where it is impossible to verify.

If you don't believe what do you make of this? Is Alex lying, deluded, exaggerating, crazy?

My personal view is that this is not likely to be simply a flat-out lie. Something did probably happen to disrupt the showing of the film, but over time memories become less accurate and events are embellished in light of expectations. If you think there are demons and witches everywhere and something bad happens, well...the demons probably did it. It seems stories of witchcraft and demonic activity happen mostly in impoverished, illiterate, superstitious populations. They don't happen on university campuses where they could easily be documented with cameras.

[Raphael]

I haven't witnessed something like that myself, but people I personally know and trust, have encountered some pretty freaky stuff when dealing with things involving the sangomas in South Africa. On a par with what Alex describes. Those practicing witchcraft in Africa get into some pretty evil stuff.

And others I know personally and who I trust their testimony, have also encountered similar happening when praying for people who had been very involved in Hindu temple worship (also in South Africa). One incident included a petite Indian lady (+-50kg and not athletic in the slightest) throwing her +- 130kg husband across the room while she was being prayed for, shortly before that she was lying on the floor being prayed for and when the folk praying didn't have their hands on her she was been bashed against the floor (it was described to me as being like someone grabbing the front her shirt, pulling her up slightly and then slamming her back onto the floor...this would stop as soon as the people praying for her put their hands on her and carried on praying) and her brother, at the same time was levitating out of a chair when ever people stopped putting hands on him while for him.

Yes yes, I know anecdotal evidence. I'm not expecting certain persons here to believe me. but the people who it happened to are people whose testimony I trust