Terminally Ill and Eternally Full of Life

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Gods-Not-Dead-ALS

Russell Wolfe is a producer for the recent hit GOD’S NOT DEAD and many other Christian movies. Recently diagnosed with ALS, Russell took to Facebook to contribute to spreading awareness and raising money for scientific research of this incurable disease – ALS also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease,

Regarding the Ice Bucket Challenge, Russell told Movieguide®, “So few people even know of the disease or even know what it is. I think it’s done a great job at raising awareness for that, but I felt that it was particularly good to link it to the fact that God’s not dead, mainly because I have faith that I’m healed, and I’ll receive that manifestation of that healing. Maybe there are some people I can encourage along the way.”

Encourage people he did. Within a week, his Ice Bucket Challenge had been shared over 34,000 times and over 3,000 comments flooded in with encouragement, prayers and others with ALS stories.

Moved by the huge response to the video, Russell said, “One thing that speaks specifically to me is the outpouring of people and their prayers. I’m so grateful for that. I’m actually taken back by how much it was shared, and how many people have included me in their prayers.”

When the news of his terminal diagnosis was revealed to him, Russell said his doctor was more surprised than he was because of Russell’s demeanor.

“I was so calm in reaction to the news,” Russell explained. “I’ve been through a lot of storms in my life, and God has certainly delivered me from each one. When I’ve had things that have happened that are bad, at the time, they might have seemed disastrous, but God has turned each and every one of them around so that in retrospect, I can look back at those, and I’m thankful that they happened, and I don’t feel any different about this. So when he gave me the news, I just looked at it as an opportunity to stand in my faith, and now we’ll just see how God uses this for his Glory.”

Romans 8:28 is a special encouragement to Russell, because God’s work and plan for his life is already so apparent.

“A part of the movie [GOD’S NOT DEAD] is sort of ironic, not only that I play the doctor that was delivering terminal news, and then I received that [same news] thereafter, but the letter that was in the movie that Kevin Sorbo read.

When we had the script, I felt that there needed to be a bridge between him being a solid atheist, and then converting to a Christian on the screen. So, I felt that while he was sitting in his office, he could pull out a letter from his mother. So, I wrote that letter. The idea behind that was, what would I tell my kids if I knew I was going to die at a young age? That letter that’s in the movie, I wrote it in that perspective. Again, the irony of writing that letter, and then getting a terminal diagnosis expresses the way I felt at that time and feel now knowing that I have this diagnosis.”

With his health deteriorating, Russell is still full of encouragement, faith and hope.

As he says, his message “is that God didn’t give this [ALS] to us. God didn’t give me ALS. I believe we live in a fallen world, and as such, bad things happen to good people. . . . What I do believe is that God can take any of those bad things and turn them into good. My message is to keep your faith. God is good all the time. He will turn things that are bad to the good. So, look for the hope in that.”

Pray for Russell Wolfe, his family and the thousands of others that suffer from ALS. Pray for physical healing through miracles and scientific advances through medicine, but especially, pray for a spiritual healing for all those who don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

edited article  by Ben Kayser Managing Editor, Movie Guide

 

 

Nick brings hope to Uruguay

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Nick Vujicic
God is using Nick Vujicic to introduce people around the world to the transforming power of JESUS CHRIST. I already have two posts on Nick – Nick on Oprah Winfrey’s Show and Nick in Cambodia. If you didn’t see Nick on 60 Minutes take a look on YouTube. 

On 22 October Nick arrived in Montevideo, Uruguay, to talk about the freedom God has given him. Vujicic spoke boldly about the transforming power of God’s Word before politicians and journalists at Uruguay’s House of Parliament. Thousands of Uruguayans watched on television. Director of Operation Mobilization, Uruguay, Alejandro Las, was appointed as his official translator.

President Mujica also met with Vujicic and they joined in prayer as Alejandro translated.
“In the last few years it must have been the closest encounter he has had with the gospel in his life,” reflected Alejandro.
The front page of the Uruguayan newspaper the next morning proclaimed, “Vujicic Challenges Abortion Laws at Teleton”. His time at the centre for handicapped children brought a great deal of media attention, which he used to proclaim a biblical perspective on abortion.
In a press conference soon after, an OM journalist asked him about his views on separation of church and state.
Vujicic said, “When people see me, they say,“Wow Nick! We love your values; we love your attitude; we love your strength; we want your joy! But don’t tell us anything about your God. But for me you can’t separate the two. It’s only because of my faith that I have what I have.”

The streets in Montevideo were covered wall to wall with posters of Nick Vujicic. His testimony was aired on the three largest secular television channels in the country: Teledoce, Canal 4 and Canal 10.
At the Rambla, the recreational coastline of Montevideo, nearly 15,000 people stood for two hours in the chilly night air to hear what he had to say.
“If you want to know about the peace that has set me free, that will set you free, lift up your hand,” he shouted. As Alejandro fervently translated the message, a drug addict standing near the OM team raised his hand.
Another hand went up. Followed by another.
The dark sky over Montevideo’s shoreline witnessed hundreds of hands go up as individuals indicated a desire to know the transforming power of Jesus Christ.