New Doc- Drama that Explains "Why the Nativity?" with David Jeremiah

1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,000
Read more stories on spirit-led living when you subscribe to Charisma Magazine.

2
00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:13,000
Go to mycharismashop.com and enter in the promo code CPN to receive 10% off the price

3
00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:16,000
of the subscription.

4
00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:22,840
Well, Dr. David Jeremiah, it's great to have you on the Charisma News Podcast.

5
00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:27,840
Thank you so much for being here to talk about really why, why the Nativity.

6
00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:32,400
I mean, this is an amazing film that you guys have created to really explain the depths

7
00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:35,240
behind the true meaning of the Nativity story.

8
00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:37,280
Well, we've had so much fun doing it.

9
00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:42,880
It's been a three-year journey for us and having it now being seen by everybody and

10
00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:46,560
even in Spanish, we are so excited about it.

11
00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:47,560
That's awesome.

12
00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:52,040
So just before our interview here, I decided to look on YouTube and I saw that people have

13
00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:57,760
viewed this docudrama, Why the Nativity, over 12 million times.

14
00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:00,040
It's reached far and wide.

15
00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:05,720
So how did you hear that God wanted you to invest your time and money and resources to

16
00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:07,920
explain this amazing docudrama?

17
00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:15,640
Well, I wrote a book back in 2006 called Why the Nativity for a publisher who had asked

18
00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:21,400
me to write the answers to some 25 questions people have about Christmas.

19
00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:28,440
And that book was released and it was read by a lot of folks back then and then Paul

20
00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:35,360
Joyner, who is the head of creative department here and kind of part of the core of Turning

21
00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:39,920
Point, he took that book and began to realize that it had the possibilities to become a

22
00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:41,000
movie script.

23
00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:49,120
So he actually took the book himself and wrote the script and he actually had storyboarded

24
00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:53,400
the whole film before I even knew we were going to do this.

25
00:01:53,400 --> 00:02:01,360
And then when I saw the vision they had and began to learn some of the ideas that everybody

26
00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:07,040
had like building Bethlehem on a farm not too far from our headquarters here, I think

27
00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:12,080
all of us just it was kind of like a groundswell that happened in our hearts and we began to

28
00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:17,200
realize this could be an amazing thing if we can do this right.

29
00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:20,480
And we didn't want it to be compared to other Christian films.

30
00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:26,400
We wanted to do a Hollywood film on the Virgin Birth of Christ and do it at that level if

31
00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:27,600
I can say that.

32
00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:29,120
And that was our vision.

33
00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:30,760
That's what we set out to do.

34
00:02:30,760 --> 00:02:36,840
And this Why the Nativity film, if I can call it that, I mean you guys promote it as a docudrama,

35
00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:38,280
but it's really a film.

36
00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:42,200
It feels like you're at the movies watching it or at least it deserves to be on the big

37
00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:44,000
screen in my opinion.

38
00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:46,840
And you mentioned the set of Bethlehem.

39
00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:51,880
On your website, whythenativity.org for everyone that wants to find out more information about

40
00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:56,160
that, you put some behind the scenes videos and I was so impressed.

41
00:02:56,160 --> 00:03:00,560
I thought this set already existed somewhere and you guys just use it because of your proximity

42
00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:02,960
to Hollywood or other things out in California.

43
00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:05,200
But you guys built this yourselves.

44
00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:06,200
That's amazing.

45
00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:07,760
Well, it was truly an amazing thing.

46
00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:11,200
I heard we were going to do that and I have to honestly tell you, I didn't even know how

47
00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:15,680
you go about doing that and with the set and all of that.

48
00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:21,120
And then I found out you build it around a set of scaffolding and that's, I went out

49
00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:24,600
there when they started to do it and I thought, oh my goodness, I can't believe we're doing

50
00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:25,720
this.

51
00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:31,160
When it was done and we had the Hollywood design on the scaffolding, it really looked

52
00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:34,040
like and felt like you were in Bethlehem.

53
00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:37,120
I've been to Bethlehem four or five times.

54
00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:40,840
So it was pretty realistic.

55
00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:41,840
Yeah.

56
00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:47,560
So one of the things that has inspired me and I love your interpretation or your understanding

57
00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:54,080
really about the Magi coming from afar and how that's portrayed in this film.

58
00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:59,000
And if we were looking for a little litigating scene underneath the Christmas tree, you probably

59
00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:03,680
have just three of them and there's nobody else, but you're talking about, there's like

60
00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:07,480
caravans and families of people.

61
00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:09,520
How did you come to understand that?

62
00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:13,560
And I'm always interested in the Magi and the mystery of these people will.

63
00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:17,680
Well, you know, we have sort of bought into the idea that since there were three gifts,

64
00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:20,200
there could only have been three wise men.

65
00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:25,600
We believe there were many more than that, that people came from the East to find the

66
00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:29,680
answer to this star that God created to lead them.

67
00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:36,920
And I think one of the exciting things for me was the guy who wrote the musical score

68
00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:46,440
for this in that particular part of the movie has music from about five or six different

69
00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:50,160
nations that are woven into the score.

70
00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:55,400
And it is just amazing to see these people coming to worship the Lord.

71
00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:56,400
Yeah.

72
00:04:56,400 --> 00:05:02,060
And it really does demonstrate because you have, it's not just one type of nationality.

73
00:05:02,060 --> 00:05:07,360
You have different nationalities represented there as well with those wise men.

74
00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:12,040
And it really does demonstrate that Jesus came for the whole world.

75
00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:18,920
Yes, he came to the Jewish people and you know that that's where he came from, but his

76
00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:23,760
death and on the cross and his sacrifice and his resurrection was for all mankind, not

77
00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:25,680
just for one people.

78
00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:30,760
Our guys on set here call that the John 3 16 moment of the movie.

79
00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:32,520
And that's kind of what it was.

80
00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:33,520
Yeah.

81
00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:34,520
Yeah, I love that.

82
00:05:34,520 --> 00:05:35,520
That is so beautiful.

83
00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:40,840
Dr. Jeremiah, you have been studying the word of God and preaching the word of God for

84
00:05:40,840 --> 00:05:46,960
so many years and it has impacted my life that listening to your radio teachings from

85
00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:49,360
my parents were listening to that.

86
00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:52,640
So I grew up listening to that in the car from a young age.

87
00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:56,040
Your teaching has really impacted my life.

88
00:05:56,040 --> 00:06:01,040
I want to hear from you, what has impacted you the most as you have studied about the

89
00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:09,240
nativity that you didn't know necessarily before you wrote the original book in 2006?

90
00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:17,680
You know, I think one of the things that really I hope comes through in this movie is the

91
00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:22,480
supernatural thing that happened in a very natural setting.

92
00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:26,600
Jesus didn't show up in any other way.

93
00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:31,040
I like to tell people God sent his son to us and delivered him through the birth canal

94
00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:32,040
of a woman.

95
00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:35,560
He didn't show up as an adult ready to redeem the world.

96
00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:38,320
He showed up as a helpless baby.

97
00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:45,320
And he showed up in that way to demonstrate to us that we're helpless without God, that

98
00:06:45,320 --> 00:06:51,040
we don't have any way to show up before God with any meaning.

99
00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:54,800
God has to come to us just as you come to a little baby.

100
00:06:54,800 --> 00:07:00,640
And the story as it's played out and as I went to the set every day, this is overwhelming

101
00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:01,880
more and more.

102
00:07:01,880 --> 00:07:03,520
This was a real story.

103
00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:04,520
These were real people.

104
00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:10,160
As you mentioned, real animals, real angst in the setting.

105
00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:15,060
One of my favorite moments, for instance, is that moment when Joseph discovers that

106
00:07:15,060 --> 00:07:21,000
Mary is pregnant and that he knows that it's not his baby because they haven't been together.

107
00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:29,360
And I think for the first time when I saw this, when we were finished with it, I realized

108
00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:31,720
what it must have been like for Joseph.

109
00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:32,760
He loved this woman.

110
00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:34,920
He believed she was a pure woman.

111
00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:38,160
And now she's pregnant and he doesn't understand it.

112
00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:40,600
He hasn't heard from the angel yet.

113
00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:47,360
And I think the movie portrays the suffering he went through, actually cries on the set.

114
00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:52,880
And his contemporaries reject him and they ridicule him because he's been so foolish

115
00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:55,040
to believe in this woman.

116
00:07:55,040 --> 00:07:56,320
That's the way it was.

117
00:07:56,320 --> 00:07:57,480
That's what was happening.

118
00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:04,600
I think the reality of that in the way that we see stories was perhaps the most important.

119
00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:05,800
Yeah.

120
00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:08,880
And that's really important for us to be able to understand the human element of a

121
00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:09,880
nativity story.

122
00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:13,040
I mean, Jesus came for all of us.

123
00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:20,320
You have Joseph and Mary looking from the outside like an unwed couple that is expecting

124
00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:21,320
a baby.

125
00:08:21,320 --> 00:08:23,240
That had to be very difficult.

126
00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:26,720
And those are things that we can relate to even now.

127
00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:32,200
You know, it's not hard to think about how many people ask Joseph or Mary about this

128
00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:38,480
and the difficulty that they would have had trying to explain what we now know from Revelation.

129
00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:43,920
But this particular thing that happened to them had never before happened in the history

130
00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:45,100
of the world.

131
00:08:45,100 --> 00:08:52,320
It was the first time God ever allowed a human to be a part of this world in that particular

132
00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:53,320
way.

133
00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:55,000
So there was no precedent for it.

134
00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:58,040
It was just, it was God's miracle moment.

135
00:08:58,040 --> 00:09:03,760
That is something that you point out in so many of those miracle moments in Why the Nativity.

136
00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:07,200
Dr. Jeremiah, I know our time is running short.

137
00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:10,980
And I know that you've got other things that you've got to do to get ready for Christmas.

138
00:09:10,980 --> 00:09:12,360
It's a busy time.

139
00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:16,540
But I just want to give you the opportunity just to talk to our viewers and listeners

140
00:09:16,540 --> 00:09:20,320
here about why they need to watch Why the Nativity.

141
00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:23,840
Well, you know, we have a lot of stories about Christmas these days.

142
00:09:23,840 --> 00:09:24,840
They're everywhere.

143
00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:29,240
We have whole channels that do nothing but play Christmas movies and Christmas stories

144
00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:30,240
are everywhere.

145
00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:35,980
But what I'd like to suggest is that the real story is the best story, not only best because

146
00:09:35,980 --> 00:09:40,440
it's got the best message, best because it is the best story that there is.

147
00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:42,440
No one's ever written a story like this.

148
00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:48,120
This is obviously God's story of redemption.

149
00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:51,660
And the birth of Christ is phase one of our redemption.

150
00:09:51,660 --> 00:09:56,480
God becoming a man so that as the God man, he could represent us at Calvary.

151
00:09:56,480 --> 00:10:00,320
I don't think you can really understand Easter if you don't understand Christmas.

152
00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:05,560
If you don't understand how Christ came to be one of us, how God gave up his own

153
00:10:05,560 --> 00:10:12,200
son and sent him here to this little speck in the universe so that we could be could

154
00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:14,040
be with him.

155
00:10:14,040 --> 00:10:15,040
Someone has put it this way.

156
00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:19,800
God gave us his son so that we could be with him forever.

157
00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:21,120
God wants us to be with him.

158
00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:24,340
He wants our viewers and listeners to be with him.

159
00:10:24,340 --> 00:10:29,080
And the only way we can be with him is if we accept the plan that he's given us.

160
00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:34,280
Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the father except

161
00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:35,280
through me.

162
00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:39,120
So I would say watch this movie and let it draw you to Christ.

163
00:10:39,120 --> 00:10:43,960
Let it bring you to the realization that this is not just some fairy tale that somebody

164
00:10:43,960 --> 00:10:45,040
made up.

165
00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:47,560
This is the reality of history.

166
00:10:47,560 --> 00:10:50,640
God became a man and he did it for you.

167
00:10:50,640 --> 00:10:51,640
Amen.

168
00:10:51,640 --> 00:10:53,600
God became a man and he did it for you.

169
00:10:53,600 --> 00:10:59,960
And Dr. Jeremiah, you said in that in your last answer there that we need to accept the

170
00:10:59,960 --> 00:11:03,660
purpose and the plans that God has for us.

171
00:11:03,660 --> 00:11:08,600
And I just want to thank you for accepting the purpose and plans that God has had for

172
00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:11,880
you as you have taught for so many years.

173
00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:17,800
And your turning point has made this amazing film, Why the Nativity.

174
00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:18,800
Whythenativity.org.

175
00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:21,840
Everybody, go check it out.

176
00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:23,360
Watch that with your family.

177
00:11:23,360 --> 00:11:28,120
It is something that you will be entertained with, you will learn by, and you will feel

178
00:11:28,120 --> 00:11:29,660
closer to Jesus.

179
00:11:29,660 --> 00:11:33,160
The baby, the man, God who came to earth.

180
00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:35,520
God Emmanuel, God with us.

181
00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:41,360
Let me just end our interview with this that we just found out.

182
00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:46,520
The Catholic channel is running this movie on Christmas Day for us.

183
00:11:46,520 --> 00:11:51,680
And it is a good Catholic movie because it is about Jesus, it is about Mary, it is about

184
00:11:51,680 --> 00:11:52,680
the baby.

185
00:11:52,680 --> 00:11:57,420
And I just pray that our friends in the Catholic world will watch it and be blessed with it.

186
00:11:57,420 --> 00:12:00,120
That would be our hope and prayer more than anything else.

187
00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:01,120
Amen.

188
00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:02,880
Well, we will be praying for that too.

189
00:12:02,880 --> 00:12:03,880
Okay, thank you.

190
00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:07,120
Dr. Jeremiah, thank you so much for being here on the Charisma News Podcast.

191
00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:08,120
You're welcome.

192
00:12:08,120 --> 00:12:09,120
God bless you.

193
00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:10,120
God bless you.

194
00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:12,240
This has been John Matarazzo for the Charisma News Podcast.

195
00:12:12,240 --> 00:12:33,280
God bless you.