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Nina and Michelle, are best friends with a passion for the Lord. They bring uplifting conversations, encouragement, and shared personal stories of overcoming and victory straight to your screen.
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Divine Calling to Create Oracles of God 0:02 We wanna honor God because He sees everything.0:10 You were born with a plan and a purpose. He's the god of all things possible. He's the god of all0:22 miracles.0:52 Welcome to Grace Grace with Naina Michelle. This is Michelle Humphreys, and0:58 I am Naina Keegan. Welcome to our broadcast today. We are so excited. You are joining us today because this is a real treat. We have an amazing guest. We love her. She's been on the program with us before. Super1:09 fun, brilliant, talented, amazing. Michelle, you wanna do1:13 the honors? We recently just hit the theaters to go see, a a an absolutely just amazing film called Oracles of God, New1:25 Testament. She also did Oracles of God, the Old Testament along with many other films. Please welcome Erin Zimmerman, a brilliant, brilliant mind and director. And we're so proud of you, Erin.1:37 Welcome to the program.1:39 Hey. Thanks for having me. It's always good to be1:41 with the girls, and I'll pay you for all that1:43 that publicity liquor.1:46 When when we great description.1:48 Well, we love you. You know, when we have spent time with you, just hanging out and talking, we just have so much fun. You are just so creative and so funny. And when we've seen this movie,2:00 as well as many of your other movies, the 6 Day War and, you know, Made in Israel and all of these things, You know, to see your name at the end and showing that you wrote it, you directed it, I mean,2:12 just fabulous. The cinematography, the the amazing set design, like, that is you in and out. I mean, the creative genius, you know, that I I don't even know how you do it.2:24 It's amazing. So where do these ideas come from? And, I mean, because I know you have so many in the in the tank and so many in the pipeline coming coming soon too. So so where do you get these2:36 inspirations?2:37 Well, listen, normally my Israel films I read a lot and I go off on rabbit trails when I'm reading and I think, oh, that would be a good story, that's a good story, that's a good story. This did not happen that way. This2:47 1 came straight from the Lord be and I know it did because it's something I didn't wanna do. Oh, wow. Back when I was living in Israel, I I had a set number of films that I had to work on while I still live there.2:59 And I just had this idle thought 1 day. I can I can see myself sitting in the apartment on the sofa, and I was just thinking, I wonder what comes after all these? And I mean like lightning it went through my head, the3:09 creation of the Bible. My immediate reaction was no. No no no. A lot of people have done that. I love to do things nobody's doing, and I said I was having this3:21 conversation with the Lord. You know you read the book of Jonah and you think well who would ever argue with God? Right here.3:30 So I argued, I said, you know,3:31 God, there's a lot of that. I've seen it here and there. There's a lot of it. Everything's been done before. And I really felt him saying it was as if he said, okay, go watch them. So, I went to all of these3:42 documentaries I'd heard about, Googled them, watched them and I thought oh my goodness I understand now why you're asking me to do this because almost everyone started from the viewpoint that the Bible is corrupted, the3:54 text is corrupted, it's been translated so much, it can't possibly be what we were supposed to have. Or, you know, those ones that, oh, there were secret books left out of the bible and, you know, the patriarchy did4:06 it and they stifle this and they stifle that and all kinds of nonsense. I couldn't find 1 that was theologically or even historically correct. So I I after that, I said, okay, god. I I get why you want it done. So4:18 this is why we did it. It's a I was stupid enough about the topic to think I could do it in all 1 movie, And then I started researching and went, no. So now it's 5 movies.4:28 Wow. Has been a complete labor of love because you not only did it and started with COVID, but also there was a war. So tell us a little bit about that4:39 journey.Filming Through Trials: COVID and War 4:41 Yeah. That was I I kinda thought I'd have this wrapped up by 20 19. But then I I sort of came home from Israel, and my boss said, well, we have another movie going on right now. You can do yours next year.4:53 So next year was 20 20. We all know how that went. Yeah. And then I went over to Israel in 20 21. I had to get all kinds of special permissions and paperwork because over there, the COVID restrictions were just5:04 draconian. Mhmm. And so we filmed at the end of their pandemic, you know, masks and everything. I actually passed out at the Dead Sea. It was 104 degrees, and they still made masks5:16 outside. And I went down like a ton of bricks. You know, the Israelis are all but but, so we did we did that. And the great thing about that though for us, not for the country but for us, was that there were5:28 no tourists there. So you know how you've all been on Israel tours. Yes. You know how there are millions of buses and millions of people, and if we tried to shoot during a normal time, you know, you're gonna hit 10005:40 fanny packs and selfie sticks. That's true.5:44 And the flag's in the air.5:46 Yes. No flags. Follow follow the flag. Yes. There was none of that. I had never gone into the Holy Sepulchre Church, and it was empty except for the priest. I5:58 went right into the tomb of Jesus, and I sat there by myself for 30 minutes, and no 1 disturbed me. It was amazing. Fabulous.6:04 What a moment in time.6:06 But you know, it really was because they said not since the black plague in the middle ages has tourism stopped like that and have everything been closed down. So it really was sort of historic, but6:18 little did we know the next 2 years later on the next film, we'd have the exact same circumstances. But do you think6:24 well, obviously, God's perfect timing and everything. And so by the time that this movie was able to be made and released and think about where we are now. Think about even just with the movement6:36 with Charlie Kirk and the way that people are turning to God. I feel like there's revival going on. The Bible sales are up, like, 35 percent and all you know, so6:48 think about how God's perfect timing for these Christian movies because they're doing amazing at the box office, you know, unlike, you know, the mainstream movies that are7:00 kinda tanking. And so, you know, what the devil has meant for harm, God used for abundant good because, you know, this movie has been amazing and and the feedback. So, you know, if you wanna talk a little bit about7:11 that with, you know, how well it's been received. Because it just was released, what, a couple weeks ago?7:17 Yeah. Beginning of, November second, I think, was the first the first date. Yeah. And now it's on it immediately went to DVD and streaming right after the theater, and that's been selling very well. But this is a lesson7:28 for everybody. You know, if God tells you to do something and it doesn't happen right away, keep going. And it may be a slog and it may get discouraging and you may think, is this ever gonna be done? Or, you know, why7:40 did you tell me my my question was, God, why did you tell me to do this? And then put all these horrible world events in my path, you know? Exactly. Really, COVID, Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, you name7:52 it. He really had a purpose in every single bit of that. Like you said, right now they're called Wall Street Journal of all people. The Wall Street Journal is calling this the golden age of Bible publishing.8:04 Now when did you think that you would hear that? You know for books in general maybe it's up about 1 percent and book publishers are worrying they're saying oh you know books are over you know and the Bible8:16 like you said the Bible is up 33 percent so it is out pacing all books as usual. So this was the right time. But also, you know, I did ask God because when we came back after COVID 2 years later, we came back to do the8:28 New Testament, and we were supposed to start filming on October ninth 20 23. Had everything ready. Last day last day of preproduction was October sixth. We all said8:40 goodbye. Happy holidays. It was the last day of their Sukkot holiday. And then the next morning, you know, everything broke loose. You know? Hamas invaded the country and that it was a complete change in Israel. It was8:51 just There8:52 was a complete change. And and we're gonna come right back in just a moment. We'll talk more about that, Aaron.8:58 I'm excited to announce that we're having our biggest 3 in 1 sale ever with a limited edition product, a back in stock special, and a closeout deal you won't find anywhere else. So go to my pillow dot com9:10 or call the number on your screen. Use your promo code to get our My Pillow bed sheets, only 29 88. Any color, any style, any size, even Kings. Regular, 1 199:22 98, only 29 88. Once they're gone, they're gone for good. How How about our my towels? They're finally back in stock, but not for long. Get a 6 piece my towel set, regular9:34 69 98 and only 39 98. And for the first time and the only time ever, get our limited edition premium My Pillows. They're made with giza cotton and designer gusset.9:45 Queen, 17 98. King's only 19 98. So go to my pillow dot com or call the number on your screen. Use your promo code to get the best offers ever. Quantities are extremely limited, so9:57 order now.9:59 Welcome back to Grace Grace with Naina and Michelle and our amazing guest, Erin Zimmerman from CBN. And we are talking about the oracles of God and what happened on the movie when all of a10:10 sudden everything broke loose with the war and all, so tell us about that. And I wanna know if you were afraid because you just go into Israel with all of this going on, so, tell us about10:22 that.10:24 Well, you know what? I wasn't I wasn't really afraid. We it this was so far from anybody's minds. We were celebrating the end of a holiday, and I remember on that Saturday morning on the seventh, I'd gotten up really10:35 early to run. I like to run at 6 or 6 30 before it gets too hot because I I'm not about the heat. So I was up and I had noise cancelling headphones on and it was really weird because I usually ran10:47 in the old city because I love it so much. It's so pretty and picturesque and the Lord told me not to go there that day because because I usually do run through the Muslim quarter. Wow. And he told me not to go there10:56 that morning, and I thought, that's weird. So I went just in the new city, and I was kind of bored by that because I like the ancient stuff better, but I was obedient. And I ran, and and let me tell you, this is an ad11:07 for noise cancelling headphones. I was running and I thought I was listening to Darlene Cecc, you know, Good Hillsong.11:16 Mhmm.11:16 And I thought I just had this thought like, oh, she seems flat check is never flat. So I took my headphones off to maybe reset them, and then I heard these air raid sirens, and I11:28 went, oh, that was not Darlene. Wow. Goodness. Standing in the middle of this completely empty street because it's Shabbat, and you will only ever see a few people going out to synagogue, but for the most part on on a11:39 Shabbat morning and on a holiday morning, it's gonna be empty in Jerusalem. So I just stood there and I kinda started shooting it with my phone, and my first thought was, well, that's weird. The only time I've ever heard11:49 sirens before is when there have been tests, when they're testing them, and they'll tell you in advance. And I thought that's weird that they would test them on Shabbat. And then I heard this giant boom in the distance11:59 and I thought, oh, that was not a test. So that day, Jerusalem didn't get any anything in the city, but in the areas around the city, which is why we had the sirens. So I just I12:11 don't know. I stupidly kept walking. I wanted to get my steps in.12:15 Oh my goodness, Erin.12:16 No. But I thought Jerusalem never gets anything, and it it doesn't. So then my producer called me from Tel Aviv. In Tel Aviv, they were getting it 5 times as bad as Jerusalem. Mhmm. My producer said12:28 to me, where are you? I said, I went for a walk. And she said, but where? And I said, well, not the Cords Bridge.12:32 She said, that's 2 miles from your house. I said, I know.12:35 She said, get back to your house right now. I said, it's fine. It's in the distance. And right as I said that, there was, like, an earth shattering boom. She said, get home now. So we did. And we just thought, you know,12:46 every 2 years, Hamas launches rockets at Israel. They launch rockets for a few days, Israel clobbers them, then there's peace for another 2 years. And we thought that's what it was. So we said, okay. We can put12:57 everything, you know, move everything a week or so, whatever we have to. Then we got home and I started reading the text, and the the news reports started coming in about down south, you know, the NOVA Festival and these13:08 invasions at all the kibbutzim. And it was so sickening. You know, I've been through the Lebanon war. You can you can handle I can handle rockets. It's no big deal. But when you hear about those men coming in13:20 on sliders and coming and what they did to those people, to the women, to the girls, to the children, it was absolutely sickening. And I remember talking to my producer later and saying,13:31 we we we cannot go on with this. I'm happy to stay, but I don't think Israel was not in a place that just so traumatized the whole nation. There's no way anybody's gonna be worrying about my movie13:43 about the New Testament.13:45 So Good call.13:47 Well, yeah. We decided let's let's put it away for another day. I was there for another 3 weeks because you just couldn't get a flight out. Everybody was clamoring for flights. They were sending ships for people. Oh,13:58 goodness. And my mother was calling me saying, get on 1 of those ships. I said, no, mom. I'm good. I'm I'll get a plane. Not gonna wait on the dock all day for a ship.14:07 But weren't they closing down the airspace? And wasn't there that? And, like, for me, I know that I would have been, paranoid that to get on a plane and to even be in that airspace at that time. And so, you14:19 know, how was that to even, you know, get out of there and leave? I I mean, just14:24 Yeah. Amazing times. El Al was the only 1 flying, and I figured if I got on an Israeli flight, they'd know what they're doing and they'd know when to go and when not to go because we that was your only choice to get out.14:36 But I stayed for 3 weeks, and I went to, our news bureau because I lived about a 5 minute walk from the CBN news bureau. And I just went there and helped them. I said, they were very, very, overworked and very14:47 stressed. And I said, here, let me do some stories, Because I didn't wanna sit in my apartment and listen to sirens all day. Right. Right. Better better to go work and and, you know, we had the pleasure of14:59 meeting this young girl whose sister had been 1 of the hostages. And thank heaven she was released later, but we so we you you never know who's gonna walk through that door during a time like that. And we got to meet a15:10 man who was former Hezbollah, who had met the Lord in a vision in jail and was now a believer. Mhmm. We got to meet hostage families. So it was a good thing, but I will say that I did ask God,15:22 okay, why did you send me here to get all this preproduction done only to have to stick it in a warehouse? You know, if you knew this was happening this year, why did you have me here? And And that was another answer I15:33 got. It was really important to my crew that I was there with them during that. For me, yeah, I don't wouldn't attach importance to that, but it's it's a bonding thing. Like, okay. We're all running from these things15:44 together. We're all in it together. And so15:48 what was going to a bomb shelter like? Like, did you have to go to a bomb shelter?15:54 Well, the times that I have gone, you don't have to. Ours was kind of in a yucky garage 3 floors down. So I I kind of have the, ugh, we have to go in the shelter.16:07 And actually, when it happened later on in production, I slept completely through the sirens, and they came banging my cruise. Trust the Lord. Oh. I do. Listen. I'm not gonna say that16:19 I I wasn't because there was 1 thing that did give me a little fear and it's you guys will remember 9 11 and on that morning, you know, we didn't know what was happening. Is this true? Is that true? What's happening16:30 next? It was kind of like that and we were told in Jerusalem by the army, you know, Jerusalem is 40 percent Arab. We were told the day before in the Friday service that the Imam had encouraged them to do16:41 what had been done in the south and go through the city of Jerusalem and start slaughtering people. And I lived right on the scene between the old city and the new city. So for when we heard that, I did have pause16:53 and I did have a moment looking around my rental apartment going, if I had to hide, could I? I decided, no. There's no place in here to hide.17:01 Wow.17:01 So god god's gotta handle this. And, you know, at the end of the day, your time is your time. God has your day's number, you know. If it's something for me to do, nobody can take me out. And if it's my time to go,17:13 nobody can save me. So Our time17:16 are in his hands. That's what the Bible says. Aaron, we're gonna take a quick break. We are coming right back with Aaron Zimmerman. You are watching Grace Grace with Naina and Michelle. Stay right there.17:26 I'm excited to announce that we're having our biggest 3 in 1 sale ever with a limited edition product, a back in stock special, and a closeout deal you won't find anywhere else. So go to my pillow dot com or17:38 call the number on your screen. Use your promo code to get our My Pillow bed sheets, only 29 88. Any color, any style, any size, even Kings. Regular, 1 1917:49 98, only 29 88. Once they're gone, they're gone for good. How about our my towels? They're finally back in stock, but not for long. Get a 6 piece my towel set, regular18:01 69 98. They're only 39 98. And for the first time and the only time ever, get our limited edition premium My Pillows. They're made with giza cotton and designer gusset.18:13 Queen, 17 98. King's only 19 98. So go to my pillow dot com or call the number on your screen. Use your promo code to get the best offers ever. Quantities are extremely limited, so18:25 order now.Impact of Jesus' Stories and Future Visions 18:26 Welcome back to Grace Grace with Naina Michelle. We're here with the beautiful Erin Zimmerman. And, Erin, tell us about this wonderful oracles of God,18:38 New Testament. Tell us tell us, all about it.18:43 Okay. So in the fall of 20 24, we finally got to do our filming, and there was still you know, the Hamas war was pretty much over. Hezbollah was still hitting us. We were up in the Sea of Galilee because, you know, if18:53 you're she's you're filming Jesus and the apostles, you gotta go to the Galilee. So we had an early morning wake up call, 4 AM. It it was delightful. Yeah. And a few more later. But what was19:05 really cool about this is this was a 100 percent Jewish Israeli cast and crew, and they got to really love the stories of Jesus. I would have to tell them some19:17 backstory sometimes, you know. Jesus and Peter were rehearsing together with me and we were doing that scene at the Sea of Galilee where Jesus is saying to Peter, kind of hinting, you know, you're gonna be martyred too19:28 someday. And instead of Peter having a normal reaction to that, he turns around and looks at John and says, what about him, Lord? I love that response. And the actor says to me,19:40 what's the deal with Peter and John? Do they have some kind of beef? What's going on with them? So I was telling I was telling them back stories about Jesus, about the apostles, and at the end of it, they looked at each19:51 other and said, why haven't we heard these? These are great stories. Why haven't we heard these? And it was really amazing. Our Jesus actor, Imre, he just got the character. Whenever I called20:01 that great Jesus.20:02 It was. Wow.20:03 He just something he went from 0 to Jesus like that, and it was amazing. And it really affected some of our crew. I had our head makeup artist is an amazing20:15 lady and, October seventh sort of took the pep out of her, you know, it kinda made her depressed a little bit and she I remember her crying and saying, I don't know if I can come back and do this movie. And we said,20:26 okay. Go take a rest but, you know, we want you to come back. And she said she said to me, I don't know why, but this production has given me my joy back. I don't know what it is, but I have my joy back after20:38 October seventh. And I remember we were filming a scene when Jesus was healing well, raising from the dead the daughter of Jairus, and so we had our Jesus actor with his sweetheart. So powerful. And he's, you20:50 know, we're doing take after take, and this makeup had makeup artist had to leave the room. She was crying her eyes out. And I said, Renat, what's wrong? And she said, I don't know. Something about this scene is making21:02 me cry, and I can't stop. So she was seeing the love of Jesus. And and these all of these cast and crew, none of them see Jesus as the Messiah or the son of God. But21:13 he, through that actor, was affecting them. The stories about him and the things that he said and the Last Supper and the Sermon on the Mount, they were affecting this crew in a way that they had no idea21:25 why. Couple of weeks ago, my gorgeous cinematographer, I mean, didn't he do an amazing job?21:31 Yes.21:32 He is a young 30 year old guy who just was new to this production and and he even got me on WhatsApp and he said, you know, I think about this production all the time. I don't know why, but there's something special21:44 about it and I wanna go back into that space. So I figure my job as a Christian over there is to be a good person, to be friends, to be21:55 loving, to put on a good production, to take care of everybody, and then when the Holy Spirit does his work with the Jewish people on mass, which I believe is coming and hasn't yet, they have that seed planted. They22:07 have a good experience with Christianity. They know the stories of Jesus. They're ready, whatever the Holy Spirit is gonna do.22:14 You plant the seeds and God does the heavy lifting. It truly is amazing. And, you know, you know, I I I'm curious, like, when, you know, when you're doing these scenes and, like, the tables are set and the22:25 food is all there and all of these things, like, is there just, like, huge teams behind the scenes? Do you have warehouses? Like, where is this all being done? Because it's it's so beautiful and22:37 it looks so I mean, well, I know you. It's accurate in in the depictions. And so, you know, how does that all work? Like, is there just somebody who's doing all of that set design and22:49 and, you know, and do you have, like, beef how long okay. So there's a lot of time involved in that just for, like, a quick scene, and then what happens?22:59 Yeah. We we spent 3 months scouting all over Israel. Number 1, my props team was about to kill me for all those meals because he had 3 different meals because he cooked every bit of it in his house. Wow. He cooked the23:11 last supper. He cooked the dinner with Matthew in23:13 his house.23:14 Baby's house. Yes.23:16 This is the back story. I love it.23:18 I I did too.23:18 This is23:19 what I love because I'm curious.23:20 Never think of a propsman go being a cook also, but he cooked all the food and he was ready to kill me by the end23:27 of it. Well, what what I'm23:29 so curious about, Aaron, is that they're doing the Old Testament and the New Testament. Like the Bible says, God watches over his word to perform it, that not 1 tittle will ever pass23:41 away. Where do you land on? Is it the word of God, and has God watched over it?23:47 Absolutely. And we're doing 3 more movies. The next 1 is about the creation of the canon, what made it into the Bible, what didn't, and why. And then we have 1 about Jesus and the prophets. We're telling the story of23:59 Jesus from birth to resurrection but using only Old Testament scripture, showing how in the Jewish prophecies He fulfilled so many of them. And then the final 1 is the 1 that turned my brain into a24:11 pretzel. I just finished writing it. I had to get help from our divinity school. This is the 1 that brings it all home. You know, we look at the manuscripts of the Bible from 100 years after the apostles until24:22 now and we show continent continuity of wording and scripture. And basically, 1 of my experts summed it up this way. It's not that we don't have enough information. We have24:34 105 percent of the text, and we have more than 5700 Greek texts of the Old Testament. That's more than any other piece of ancient literature and you can see24:46 how the Holy Spirit supervised everything and the tiniest little departures of different spelling or quite different wording or anything, those are generally 99.5 of24:58 them are spelling, punctuation, or rephrasing of a sentence, things that don't really count. Not 1 change in the Bible affects any doctrine. I love it. So that's where we that's where we'll come25:09 out at the very end of the stories in the or the end of the series in the fifth movie.25:13 It's amazing. So where can they find everything? Everything Aaron and everything Aaron has done and made. They gotta go see all of these brilliant things. So show tell us. Where do we find25:25 you?25:25 Few few places, the New Testament film that that we're talking about now is just out. So they have a special page for that. It's at c b n dot com slash oracles. So that's where25:37 you can find the new movie. The Old Testament movie, which we did a couple of years ago, and all all my other movies, we can find on c b n family dot com, on our streaming site.25:49 Oh, that's easy. Well, good. Yeah.25:51 C b n family dot com, and then just type in the movie you wanna see, Oracles of God or whatever.25:56 And you can also download the CBN Family app, and that's always a good place to get anything. Yes. We love you, Erin. You are a a such an interesting26:08 guest always and wonderful friend, and thank you for joining us.26:12 Yes, Erin. God bless you. Too. And thanks for being on with us, and we hope to see you soon. God bless you, and thanks for watching. And we love you. God bless.26:22 Why do atheists care so much about Christians anyway? Well, they tell you this. Religion is bad. It's the cause of most wars. But again, evidence shows differently. It shows26:34 that out of 1763 documented wars, only 123 were due to religion. That's between 6 and 7 percent. When you take out Islam, that only leaves 326:46 percent of all wars that could be attributed to religion. Does science disprove God? Is there a war between science and26:57 faith? We don't need God to create a universe. There's no evidence for God, and it's irrational. Is there no evidence for God? Am I delusional for my beliefs? It is delusional and stupid.27:08 Am I brainwashed?27:09 Do I ignore reason? Logic. Critical thinking.27:12 Science.27:28 RDOF uses logic and reasoning.27:30 RDOF has empowered my sons to defend their faith with facts.27:34 If you wanna be equipped to defend against the biggest objections in the existence of God, RDOF27:44 is the place for you. Has science really ruled out God? Is faith at war with science? If you wanna be equipped to respond to these claims and more, check out r d o f dot org.28:03 The evidence he presents is so powerful and overwhelming. Incredibly compelling, yet easily understandable. The appearance of design in the universe28:14 is undeniable. To book a presentation or watch our free videos, go to r d o f dot org or find us on Facebook at RDOF events.In this video 0:00 Divine Calling to Create Oracles of God4:40 Filming Through Trials: COVID and War18:26 Impact of Jesus' Stories and Future Visions
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