Christianity has a whole new witness opportunity

By John Pearring

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060521.cfm
Tobit 12:1, 5-15, 20
Mark 12:38-44

“The works of God are to be declared and made known.” (Tobit 12:11)

If you haven’t had a chance to watch “The Chosen,” you might not know the surprising news behind this rare witness of Jesus, an incredible explosion of Christ into the consciousness of the digital world. 

At the last reckoning of accounts, the television series has been funded by only 235,000 people, exclusively through the Go Fund Me online fundraising tool. I say, “Only,” because that represents less than one-tenth of one percent of the population in the US. This handful of people grows by about 100,000 investors a year. The number of folks making this series possible might seem large, but these are paltry numbers for a worldwide audience opportunity. Paltry, yet likely to change evangelism forever.

The series is on track to be seen by a billion people worldwide before its eighth season. That makes the investors of $14 to $1,000 each the most successful in human memory. The Chosen is already the largest crowdfunding experience in history. This is not a marketing machine success, though. Commercials don’t flood the airwaves promoting this series. It’s almost exclusively spread by word of mouth.

The amounts raised are modest by TV series comparisons (about $1.3 million per episode), but funding heads steadily and comfortably into the future. There’s no question they’ll hit their eight-year goals. It’s rather remarkable.

Season Two has been playing for a couple of months. Season Three has already been funded through the fourth episode. You can check out the funding system here: https://watch.angelstudios.com/thechosen/pif. The total budget per year is $10-15 million, and $100 million overall. Money is not a problem. 

Your first reaction may be to credit the efficacy and effort of the creators and production team. They are certainly exhibiting exceptional skills. Yet, many folks quickly grasp the workings of God behind everything these folks do. They’re endearing and hard-working, but it’s the content of scripture that grabs the viewer.

The series is loaded with scriptural references and offers minimal poetic license, generous humor, and emotionally gripping scenes. Jesus’ life, miracles, and blunt messages come across delicately but with force. They move each episode close and closer to a total confirmation that Jesus is God. The hubris is shocking simply because this narrative rarely sees the light of day. It’s mind-blowing that we’re watching this on our streaming devices. Free. You can find it with one Google search.

We’re just weeks away from attacks by non-Christians and Christians looking for mistakes and weirdly condemning the effort. I do get that. Skepticism holds most of us back from watching it in the first place. Only for a while, though. The skeptics will eventually have to admit The Chosen’s potent achievement. 

Expect significant contributors to the production to get exorcized for their past and present sins. It’s inevitable. Know that virulent anti-Christ moles and trolls will batter both those who support the series and those who watch it. The condemnation won’t be just lies and twists of the truth. There will be truth behind the attacks, too. We cannot be naive to think The Chosen will be left unscathed.

The airplay of this series, though, marks the beginning of a new era in Christianity. It skips over governments, politics, wealth, power, religion’s speed bumps, and most of all, The Chosen conquers the mind control and canceling of the ruling class media. While conspiracies and fake news bottle up the world’s attention funnels, this series skips the path of persuasion’s funnels altogether. 

God cannot be silenced. On the wings of the Holy Spirit, the Mystical Body of Christ speaks with God’s voice and allows the audience to hear and decide for themselves. 

This is a wonderful affirmation of the coming of the Kingdom.

“The works of God are to be declared and made known.”