USA (MNN) — It's amazing what God can do through a simple film. But when you consider the film is the story of Jesus, you can understand how it's become the most-watched film in the world.
According to JESUS film statistics, collectively the JESUS film has now been translated into 1,059 languages. 1,044 for the classic version, 21 languages for "Magdalena: Released From Shame," 132 languages for "The Story of Jesus for Children," and 417 for "The Story of Jesus" in audio.
What's even more shocking is that the film has been seen by more than 6,050,600,000 people. Obviously some have seen it more than once.
However, the impact the film has had on people's lives is far beyond what anyone could have imagined. According to JESUS film data, nearly 226-million people have indicated some kind of decision for Christ after watching the story of Christ on film.
Right now there are officially 2,864 JESUS Film Project teams working in 103 countries.
Here's just one example of how effective the JESUS film is today:
Villagers in a French-speaking West African nation watched the JESUS film scene depicting the healing of Bartimaeus from blindness. A man from the crowd yelled out, "It's false!" when he heard Bartimaeus cry, "I can see!" Bartimaeus exclaimed a second time, "I can see!" A second time, the man shouted, "It's not true!" The third time Bartimaeus testified to his healing, the man again loudly denounced it. Yet, when Bartimaeus said "I can see" a fourth and final time, the defiant viewer suddenly trembled in shocked silence.
In that particular culture, if an elder affirms something more than three times, it is considered undeniably true. If anyone challenges an elder more than three times, the villagers believe a deadly curse will come upon the challenger. At the film's conclusion, the man who publicly challenged Bartimaeus approached the film team in terror. He believed Bartimaeus had heard his retorts and replied four times in order to place a deadly curse upon him. The film team explained that the people on the screen were merely actors portraying true events, and he had not received a deadly curse. They also shared that Jesus came to free him from the curse of sin and death. Finally understanding the good news, the man surrendered his life to Jesus. He said, "Now I know that this is true, and I will never go back." His entire family joined him and committed their lives to Christ as well!
This man's transformation greatly affected the entire village. Reputed for his rebellious attitude and persistence in challenging others, he became a genuine follower of Jesus. The Holy Spirit transformed his life. Now he and his family worship faithfully in a local church where the pastor disciples him. Numerous other villagers, formerly enslaved in idol worship and demonic fetish rituals, surrendered their lives to Christ after watching the JESUS film and witnessing the man's transformation. Praise God for bringing salvation to this village, and opening the spiritually blind eyes of one man who dared to challenge "Blind Bartimaeus."
