Stephen's Test of Faith
Stephen's Test of Faith is an American short film directed by Stephen Yake in 1998 .
action
Billy's great-grandfather rode the Wild West with the Dalton brothers . As proof of the criminal machinations of his great-grandfather, the roughly twelve-year-old Billy holds up a wanted poster. A bounty had been placed on the great-grandfather. The classmates are enthusiastic about Billy's presentation, but the teacher isn't. Skeptically, she asks Billy how the great-grandfather's story ended. The caught Billy clears his throat and admits that the great-grandfather died in "jail". After this lecture it is Stephen's turn. His grandfather served in World War II . The grandfather survived these difficult times not least through faith and reading the Bible . On Stephen's last birthday, grandfather gave Stephen the Bible, which had accompanied him during the Second World War and had released survival powers in him. Stephen holds the Bible up for everyone to see. But only the class teacher seems enthusiastic. Billy, Derek and Scott scoff loudly and ridicule him. After school they lie in wait for the Bible boy, as Stephen calls them, they beat him up and tell him that Billy's great-grandfather was "cool" and that the Bibles are not "cool". Stephen confirms this, betraying the faith and throwing the grandfather's Bible into the dirty lawn, which is covered by autumn leaves. Once home, Stephen's father learns of the humiliation at school. As a consolation, the father tells him about Christians who, because of their faith, were persecuted in the past and also of Christians who are persecuted to this day because of their faith. Stephen falls asleep exhausted and begins to dream.
Stephen is now in the year 37 AD in front of the city of Jerusalem . A crowd is just stoning Stephen . His classmates Billy, Derek and Scott are also present. Suddenly they start throwing stones at him. Stephen ducks and suddenly finds himself in heaven . There the martyr Stephen approaches him. Stephen explains to him that he will take him on a dangerous journey through time .
The journey leads Stephen back to the year 33. Jesus sits with his disciples for an evening meal and speaks to the group about treason and persecution towards him and his followers. Suddenly Jesus turns to Stephen and asks him directly in the face if he will betray him. Stephen backs away, startled.
Another leap in time sets in and Stephen is in the Colosseum in Rome in the year 65 AD. Here he can talk to Stephen again. Stephen tells Stephen that the Roman Emperor Nero blames the Christians for a fire that destroyed large parts of the city of Rome. Stephen and Stephen watch a Christian family being thrown up to the lions. Even the boy of the Christian family goes to his death without doubt in faith and without revocation.
The journey through time continues. Stephen finds himself suddenly in a cozy study of the Protestant theologian William Tyndale . It is the year 1535 that Stephen is now. Tyndale translated large parts of the Bible into English. Now he wants to transfer the missing parts of the Old Testament . But his work is less valued by the higher clergy of the Church. The higher clergy believe that translating the Latin Bible into a vernacular is a heresy that should be condemned. In addition, uneducated people are controllable, in contrast to educated biblical people. Henry Phillips stops by during a conversation Stephen is having with Tyndale. He picks up Tyndale and passes him on to his enemies. Betrayed, Tyndale is sentenced to strangulation and burned at the stake. Tyndale's last words shortly before the execution in 1536 are: "Lord open the king's eyes to the truth of your word". Stephen, who watched the execution, lets Stephen tell the rest of the story. A man by the name of Coverdale had completed Tyndale's Bible and, after Tyndale's death, the English king refrained from further banning the English Bible.
Stephen travels in two more times. On the one hand to communist Russia of 1970, where Christians are persecuted by the KGB , and on the other to Pakistan, where Christians are persecuted up to the present day. Stephen's journey through time ends. But once again he meets Stephen, who finally explains to him that Christians to this day stand by Christ or deny him and that despite the possible danger to life in heaven, the reward is to be received.
The next morning Stephen wakes up with faith strengthened. He goes to school sadly. The class is opened by the English teacher with a question - on the last day he found a Bible near the school, whether anyone knows who it belongs to. Stephen says yes, gets up, says it's his and takes it confidently. Stephen has thus passed the test or the test of his faith.
production
The low budget film was produced by Stephen Yake Productions . The film premiered in 1998 in the United States . Vision Video was responsible for worldwide distribution and released the film on video around the year 2000. The released DVD contains the English language version, a Spanish , a Portuguese and an Arabic dubbing as well as an English subtitle . There is no German version.
media
- DVD : Stephen's Test of Faith - Vision Video
- VHS : Stephen's Test of Faith - Vision Video
Web links
- Stephen's Test of Faith in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Stephen's Test of Faith on YouTube
- Companion Guide To The Video Stephen's Test of Faith (PDF file; 38 kB)
References and comments
- ↑ Cf. Mt 5:11 LUT ; Mt 26.20 LUT ff. And Joh 13.21 LUT ff.
- ↑ See title of the film
- ↑ At the end of the credits it is pointed out that there is something to be learned about persecuted Christians at www.persecution.com (presumably an interest group ).
- ↑ Internet Movie Database - Companies involved in Stephen's Test of Faith (1998)
- ↑ Internet Movie Database - Start Dates for Stephen's Test of Faith
- ↑ The film probably won no film prizes ( awards ).
- ↑ Internet Movie Database - Companies involved in Stephen's Test of Faith (1998)
- ↑ The DVD also contains some information about the main characters in the film.