High time for another Jesus Revolution?

Evangelism “of the Middle East, south Asia and parts of Africa” (see ABOUT US) remains the main work of this ministry and hence, forms the basis of most of what we share here. Still, we do occasionally post stories from other parts of the world, and on at least one occasion (partly because so many of our visitors and subscribers are American), we shared  an exciting story of an American doing exceptional evangelistic work in her own country (She once ran with drug addicts and prostitutes; now she ministers to them!).
Neither Jesus nor the work of sharing the most excellent news about Him can, could or should be contained! So when the story is big enough—like the recent release of the movie Jesus Revolution—well, we can’t stay silent and neither should you.
The movie, set in California in the tumultuous 1960s, tells a story of universal longing that will spread until that longing is satisfied. Let us all ‘do the work of evangelism’, which may include the simple act of inviting a friend to see a movie with you.
 

NO HIGH LIKE THE MOST HIGH!

No one can credibly doubt that the first ‘Jesus Revolution’ happened around 2,000 years ago with the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, and in the decades following as believers in this man’s ‘way’ became known as Christians.

Close to 2,000 years after that first Jesus upheaval swept the Middle East, movie director Jon Erwin found an old 1971 TIME magazine on eBay with the cover story ‘The Jesus Revolution’.  As he read the 10-page article, he says he marvelled at “how God swept this country [the US} at a time of despair and division.” 

Yet only five years earlier, TIME had come out with their iconic ‘Is God Dead?’ issue, which Erwin was of course aware of. Increasingly curious about the time span between the covers, and after seven intense years of dreaming and study, he and co-director Brent McCorkle finally had their Jesus Revolution movie ready for the big screen.

They base much of their film on the book of the same name, co-authored by Greg Laurie, whose growth and development forms much of the story’s backbone. Laurie (played by Joel Courtney) along with hippie and former druggie Lonnie Frisbee (played by Jonathan Roumie), and pastor Chuck Smith (brought to life by Kelsey Grammer) all help lead the mushrooming Jesus movement in California during the late 1960s.

And what tumultuous times they were. Dissent roared wildly over issues such as racial and economic equalities, traditional modes of authority, women’s rights and the Vietnam War. With the world in seeming upheaval, millions of young people wanted little to do with the strictures and faith of their parents and society around them, and began looking elsewhere for answers.

Sex, drugs and rock-and-roll

‘Turn on, tune in, drop out’ became the counterculture mantra of the age, popularized by Timothy Leary in 1966. A year later—also a year after TIME’s ‘Is God Dead?’ issue—San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood hosted its ‘Summer of Love’. About 100,000 young hippies gathered from across the continent to drop acid, indulge in so-called ‘free love’ and escape the confining strictures of their middle-class upbringings.

Yet many found emptiness in their quests and eventually—burned out, disillusioned by bad trips and with a haunting sense of the emptiness of their pursuit of hedonism—looked deeper and higher.  Untold thousands, like those in the new movie Jesus Revolution, made the miraculous discovery that there is no high like the Most High.

And thus began the Jesus Revolution covered by TIME in 1971, Laurie’s book in 2018, and now, by this movie. The actors along with some archival film footage help portray the story as it really unfolded.

A WANTED poster produced by an alternative newspaper in the 1960s

As co-director Erwin told a university audience early this year: “Let's tell the story about the last great awakening in America in hopes that God does it again."

This being a documentary, you’ll experience no clichéd ‘satisfying click’ movie ending, but you will witness thousands upon thousands of new beginnings.
_____________
Have you seen the movie? Let us know your thoughts by posting a comment below!