Jesus Freaks, a Movie Starring the Holy Spirit?
Myra Kahn Adams, who grew up Jewish, writes a religious column that appears in Town Hall. Occasionally, she gets Bible doctrine correct, but more often than not, she misunderstands the Scriptures. In her July 27th column, she praises to the rooftop (and beyond) a new movie titled, Jesus Freaks. It was written and directed by Nina May, who also wrote her biography with the same title. The promo of the movie is informative: “A woman’s story of love and redemption during the Christian youth revolution that swept across America in the 1970’s.” Adams said she was drawn to the movie after she learned it was about “the Holy Spirit, which I believe is the least understood part of the Trinity.” She then (although unintentionally) proves it.
The Holy Spirit is clearly part of the Godhead (Matt. 28:18-20); He played a major role in the church in the first century; Jesus sent Him to help the apostles, and He guided them into all truth (John 14:25-26; 16:12-13). He gave spiritual gifts while the church was in its infancy, but these were designed to be done away after a brief period of time (1 Cor. 13:8-10). Our knowledge of the work of the Holy Spirit comes from inside the pages of the Holy Scriptures—not outside of them. What follows is an interview between Myra Khan Adams (MKA) and the author—filmmaker, Nina May (NM).
A key question MKA asks is: “Can you explain what you felt or saw when the Holy Spirit came upon you?” One cannot find an answer to this question in the Bible because the New Testament never discusses it. The Scriptures do not say, “Here’s what Peter felt when he was baptized by the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.” Why not? The answer is that it is the message, the gospel, that is important—not how Peter felt. But Jesus Freaks is all about personal, subjective experiences—rather than truth. Nina’s answer was: “Where they all laid their hands on me, I could feel darkness, pain, conflict, despair, being drawn out of me as though all these emotions had defined and bound me into a state of two-dimensional emptiness.” She adds that she felt “a supernatural infilling of God’s presence and pure love.” Sounds great doesn’t it? Notice that she cannot cite one Scripture to validate this experience.
Nina shares her favorite verses, such as Galatians 2:20 and 5:22-23, which teach excellent principles, but they do not relate to her previous description. MKA asks: “How does the Holy Spirit manifest itself today?” NM responds: “There is a whole new, amazing, miraculous, spiritually animated world that people are missing.” She could not contain her enthusiasm for “the Rapture,” commenting that many “verses in the Bible describe exactly what will happen….” This is just one more error she holds in addition to what the Holy Spirit does and how one becomes a Christian. Her book and her movie may motivate some to desire to become Christians, but they will not be taught the truth of how to be saved.