Jim Caviezel: The Obstacles Behind Releasing Sound of Freedom | FULL INTERVIEW | TBN

I gave my career to Jesus. You picked my roles for me, you know, and so in this time period where we're seeing films that are just, I mean, it has to be intentional where Christianity is completely sidelined and we continue to take it. We get on our knees with our mask on rather than standing on our feet. We're going to unpack a tough subject, but guess what? We're going to unpack it. We're going to sit here until it's unpacked. So where does this start with you and what we're talking about today, the feature film Sound of Freedom? So I had spent 12 years as a special agent, undercover operator, working all sorts of child crimes, but the vast majority had to do with end user, meaning the pedophile possessing. And it broke your heart because you'd see the images and think, where are the kids? Where are the kids? And that started to change when the laws started to open up and allowed us to start going overseas. A lot of the kids at that time were being, the child exploitation material was being made overseas. So in 2006, the laws changed and we could go in search of any American who was hurting kids overseas and we could hold them accountable as if they had committed that crime here in the U.S. So that was really exciting. And I got put on the first kind of jump team, they called it, the child sex tourism jump team. Strange team to be on, I suppose. So we started deploying overseas. I speak Spanish, so I was south of the border and then my eyes really opened up. Not that it's not happening in the U.S., but it's more hidden here and the U.S. has done a great job of uncovering what we didn't know was there and how to find that. But overseas, it was like in your face. Just go to this street corner, go to this beach, go here, go there. And we would go and just like, whoa, it's just right here. And that's why I started committing to cases, but I probably, the cases I would get involved in, probably maybe 10% of them I got to do something about. Jurisdictional limitation, budget limitation, bureaucracy. And I'd be told, come home, come home. And I said, well, what am I doing here? Because I'm finding the kids, but you want me to find a U.S. kid or a U.S. pedophile? And then it got to a point in 2013, two cases I was working, one in Columbia, that's depicted in the film, another one in Haiti, where a little boy had been kidnapped out of the church where his father was the pastor. Crazy story. And U.S. citizen of Haitian descent. And I was working both those cases, and I really got emotionally in it. And they said, come home. Now the film focuses on just what happened in Columbia, but it's actually two. And finally, I got, you know, eventually you got to be unafraid. And that was my moment, am I going to be afraid or not? And ultimately, I was afraid, and my wife wasn't. Well, she ended it, you know, I said, I'm coming home. She's like, no, you're not. Go do it afraid. She said, I will not let you jeopardize my salvation, she told me, by not doing this. Don't come home. I don't care if you quit. I don't care. And that's a real scene you see in the trailer. Go save them. Yeah. So that's kind of the setup to where the movie begins and what happened. Jim Caviezel, you're sitting here. Yes. So, kind of start the story wherever you want to start it, but there's a good one to unpack just how and why you're here, and obviously you're in the film, but it starts way back in a movie theater with you. Came to me in a movie theater, and I felt like I was the most only child that he had, and he loved me that much. And the next step was this piece that I never felt. And then he said, I'd like you to be an actor. I don't know anything about that stuff back then, but I guess if he says so, then I give it a shot. Okay. Wait a second. You're sitting in a movie theater and the Lord speaks to you, tells you to be an actor. That happened, Jim? Yeah. Seriously? Yeah. It was a presence. You had a basketball with you, too. I remember you told me. Yeah. Right on the left side, my ankles were taped. I was playing in college, and it was a presence that landed outside the theater, landed on the ground 1,000 yards away. I don't know why I know that, but my soul knew it. So, then it came closer and it came in the room, and I was surrounded by this love that I'd never had from heaven, and I could feel how much he loved me. I guess that was the big thing was, man, if you can love me like that, I'm in. Wow. Because I was asking him for my purpose. What was your knowledge about him when that happened? Were you already a believer? Were you already- You raised in church. You know, good Catholic boy? Yeah. No, I went to a Catholic church and everything, and what happens is as a Christian, you start kind of doing what you're not supposed to do and still be a Christian, and eventually you're mixing the waters and mud and so is your soul and different things. You got to be careful what you ask for because I really wanted to know what my purpose was in this life. Wow. I was at a point where I wasn't something that I wanted to go forward, and I would never have made it down here anyway without him because there's just too many things that are going to draw your attention in the wrong direction. I don't think I would have ever been a good husband or a father. I definitely would have been rich for a time and then probably lost everything, including my soul. It definitely did something to me, and I told people about it and told them, and they thought I was nuts, of course, but why not? I mean, it happened to David, and I had no idea, though, that it was going to eventually lead me to getting on a cross, and my initials were JC, and I was 33 years old. But it was a lightning strike. I got hit by lightning. I ended up having two heart surgeries, including open heart. Hypothermia for five and a half months will do that to you, and I got pneumonia. I had my left shoulder dislocated, and it took everything I had, but it was something that I was interested in early on where I wanted to make movies that had a redeemable quality to it. That's where it kind of started, but once I made that turn in the passion, they never offered me another studio picture from that point on. I was removed from that list, and I remember calling my agent, and she said, they're taking a wait-and-see approach with you. Okay. Well, movie comes out. It's a huge success, and it took me a couple years just to find my feet again after that movie. Obviously, 2009 was my first surgery. My next major one was 14, so it did a lot of damage to my body, and when you look at that movie, and you see me blue there, there's no physical- That's not fake. That's real. Let me jump in, and for somebody that just tuned in, the thought that you're sitting in a movie theater, and the Lord's presence envelops you, and you feel love. Yeah. Years later, called now to be an actor, you're playing the ultimate act of love in the history of mankind. Yes. Christ laying down His life for us, and that took a lot out of you. But look at what it did for everything else, you see? And I think that's what we're talking about here and now today, and the guys have come down here into Orange County, and we're talking about The Sound of Freedom, and it was the body of Christ that bought tickets, went to the passion of Christ. That really changed the box office industry in a lot of ways. I mean, there is a before the passion, and there is after the passion. And what ultimately I think is super unique is then you need to pick up the story, because you've made a big splash with a story down in Columbia. It hits the newspapers, and people come to you and want to tell your story. Yeah. Right? When was that exactly? That was in 2014. Okay. And who came, what was that like, what was going on, and what did you say to them about Him? Yeah, so I didn't understand. I know nothing about that industry. I only know one thing, and this operation that we ended up going into, it was actually much bigger than what the film was able to depict. Right. 54 kids on that island. It was actually over 130 in total. There's going to be a documentary coming out telling the whole story. Got it. But it was massive. In fact, we haven't repeated as big an operation in one hour's time since that very first one, but that's how God designed it, because we needed to get, I see now, we needed to get known so we could continue. So yeah, it's CBS News, Scott Pelley, all this stuff, and we get these calls from big studios, three or four, and we sat down with them, and I was scared to death of that. My wife had, I said, you choose. You choose yes or no. And it was no, no, no. I remember one time walking up the Sony lot thinking, how many people just said no? Like, okay, but I trust her. I don't trust me. On those things. I don't even know her, and I trust her. So, I don't know, six, seven months later, we get a phone call from Eduardo Verastegui, who's a producer and actor, and he says, just be my guest and come watch this new film called Little Boy. So, my wife and I go watch it. Oh, we're just in tears. I just feel the spirit there, and then she says to me, if they brought us here because they want to ask if they want to make our film, the answer is yes. So, that night, we went to dinner, and sure enough, we want to make this movie about this Columbia operation or whatever else you got going on, and I said, well, you're pre-approved, so let's go. So, then the director met me, and they took me up to a cabin up in, I believe, Park City, strapped me up to a recording device, and I cried for three days like a baby. I remember saying several times, you're not going to want to make a movie about a wimp, and that's how I'm coming off, because I am just sobbing. I'm remembering things I had forgotten. My goodness. It's like a therapy session, really, because it's dark. It's dark stuff. They sent me home, and then I come back a day later or two, and I see a thousand or more little Post-it notes with this huge story arch, and I said, wow. I go home and Google, do some research. I find out that there's a 3% chance that Post-it notes on a wall end up on a big screen. Wow. So, I'm like, they're never going to call me again. That's never going to happen. A year, year and a half later, here's the script, and we're filming this summer, and pick an actor. You don't get to pick, but you can't have an idea. Suggest. You can suggest. I said, Jim Caviezel. I didn't even need to, and they said, well, how about someone that looks a little bit like you? Jim's an amazing actor, but we're thinking maybe, because you'll see at the end of the movie, they show real footage, and that's what they said. We have this concept of real footage, and that's going to look weird. You've got this tall, dark, and handsome guy, and this little stout gringo, and it's not going to play well at the end. I think you did a good job. You did a fine job. And I said, but here's what I said to them. I said, I don't care what he looks like. I said, I don't trust that industry. I mean, I'm in business largely because of Hollywood. I mean, the demand is sex addiction, and so I said, I don't care. This guy loves Jesus. We all know that. He's the only guy in the industry that I probably definitively know loves Jesus, and that is paramount to me, and they said, okay, we'll call him, and they did. Okay, so you end up over at Jim's home, and this thing is starting to go, and the idea that we're sitting here today now with the film is stretching a bit of reality because this film, much like Passion, Jim, there was a time, if you read newspapers, the Passion wasn't going to come out. Studios were going to boycott it, and this film has been treated somewhat the same way. So, you shot it almost five years ago, right? It's been done for almost three years, and by the way, the film comes out July 4th, and we're going to talk to you about getting tickets because that's the only language that the theatrical marketplace speaks, is ticket buying and a demand for an audience to know about it. So, what happened to have us sit here today and talk about a film coming out in a couple of weeks? I'm going to answer the first part of that, and then you can talk about the studio because you understand that. I'm going to say something I think we keep forgetting to say. Just remember this. You remember this, Jim. The day they chose we're going to start filming, so let's go back to when they're filming in Columbia. I was there twice. It's just to show up and just see what this is like. It's a strange process to watch a movie being made, but I showed up in that first day, and the producer came in and says, the funding fell through. Oh, come on. I mean, what are you talking about? I'm sitting with Jim Caviezel in a hotel in Bogota, Columbia, about to film, and they said, we don't know if we're going to film on Monday. It was like Saturday, and we're sitting there. Remember, we're talking in the potty like, is this how the industry works? The funding fell through? I don't know what that means. Eduardo Verastegui, hero, heroic act. The little money he did have that didn't fall through, it would have got him only ... I mean, once you start production, he's liable. If he can't finish the film, he's going to get sued by the investors who think that everything's in. He said, you remember this. He said, go. I trust that God will give us the rest at the right time. He's like, we have enough money to fund, I don't know, three weeks of production or something like that. I'm just watching this as a layperson, like, is this how movies are made? Had you ever experienced anything like that before? Well, on the other side, a little bit. But this one was, he came down, we were in the car together, and I said, bro, we got lightning in a bottle here. What we've shot so far is beyond ... I'll just give you an idea. Count of Monte Cristo, lightning in a bottle. Passion, lightning in a bottle. That's what we have here. I kind of felt like there's got to be a reason for all this. We were, I think we dropped like five million bucks that we were out. Fox just got bought out by Disney. Long story short, at that point, we were just trying to get the money back in the film. I don't know how they did it. I'm on set there, and my wife is, you know, are the Navy SEAL, do you have your special forces guys there? Because, you know, Tim, they promised they'd be there, and they weren't around. So I was like, yeah, they're all over the place. But they were ... His wife didn't want him to come film, because we promised security. And so we promised security. We were in some pretty dangerous areas there. I'm telling you, when you see them pulling the cocoa leaves, they're really good at that. You understand where we're at. It was an operation just to get this movie. They were doing an operation, literally an operation, while we were down there. All this is going on. And all I could do is just stay on the next play, just stay on the next play. But I told him, I said, you know, if it's ... He was asking me about your history in film. And I said, if it's a good film, it'll come out. But if it's phenomenal, you're going to have problems. Oh, dear. And so we were having problems. So, hey, obviously we have one for the ages. We've got a shot, but we've got to stay on top of it. Do you realize, Tim, how important it was for your choice to get Jim in the film? Because a lead actor in a major motion picture, hearing the funding is gone, is probably going to walk. Right. Oh, absolutely. And because this is not something that you're doing for a living, this is something you're doing because it's a calling. Think of what we're really talking about. You're sitting in a movie theater as a young man. Yes. The love of Jesus envelops you, calls you into film. You make enough movies to get to the point where you're now playing Jesus and the passion, the ultimate choice of love. Sure. And then you see the passion. He's your choice for this film. And here we sit today. And because it's a great movie, it has a lot of problems. Yeah. And can I just add one piece that just came to mind is, and one reason why I needed it to be him. You'll see in the film, you know, going into dark places is scary. There's a reason I don't watch this movie. I can't watch it just because it's so personal. It's like I cry, I sweat. I just, it's just, I mean, they're filming things that happen. They're filming on site exactly where it happened, like with the little boy that we pull out of the van. Same lane in the port of entry. The island scene is like two miles from the actual island. And so one thing that there's a scripture that I always tell myself that gives me the courage to go when I'm in that moment. And it's the one time in the scripture, maybe the only time that Jesus gets mafioso in his word. And I'm not talking about flipping tables over on the temple. I'm talking about mafioso, it's Jesus, it's righteous. But he tells you what's going to happen to you if you hurt children. And he says, better than a millstone being wrapped about your neck and you cast to the bottom of the sea. And that's better for you than what's going to happen if you do this. And so that gives me courage because I say, well, I know where he stands. And that means if he stands that way and I'm going to find kids, he's right here. And his angels are everywhere. So Jim, in the film, I'm getting goose bumps. In the film, at a pivotal moment, that's a really accurate depiction in the coffee shop when I'm talking as a pedophile undercover as myself. Do you remember that? It's a true story. And he gives me this little pedophile book and all that creepy, they reenacted it. The one thing I didn't say in that scene, and it wasn't even in the script, Jim ad-libbed it while they're filming. He looks across the table at the guy in this kind of ironic, weird, but really brilliant, brilliant moment. And he says, right before he told him he's under arrest, he said, it's better than a millstone. We cast about your neck. And the pedophile's kind of like, well, what does that mean? And it's a brilliant scene. And I just, I cried when I watched that because it wasn't even in the script. And I said, that is why I chose him. The film comes out July 4th. You can go online now to the information that's on the screen and you can book out tickets. You can book out a theater. Lori was doing that earlier today. And we got tickets for somewhere, some theater in Dallas. That is the, that is what we need to do for this film. And this film is a very heroic, very satisfying win. You know, you guys didn't just drag us through the dark streets of evil and just forced our heads into it. You show us what it is. You show us that there can be victory. But Jim Caviezel, you need to talk to this group of people that don't want to see it at all. And help us understand that there is a purpose for this film. And there is much that can be done when we have a hit movie. You lived it more than anybody I've ever known. When the passion of the Christ is, you know, what does what it did. One of the highest grossing pictures of all time. You know what that does. It creates a platform. And we need a platform for this issue. So there's a means to an end. We're not just sitting here saying, TBN family, go buy tickets. We just need you to put your shoulder to one more wheel and a whole bunch of different things that are just tragic in this world. This creates a platform. And talk to those that need some help with this. I heard this in my heart when I was filming it. I mean, these are the deepest, the deepest prayers I ever have done have always made me the greatest of the man that I couldn't be without Jesus. And he said, can you love my children more than you fear evil? Can you love, just as can you love Jesus more than you fear the cross? And there is a go to time and a power that is extraordinary where I'm not afraid of anything. And my heart was so on fire that it was the best I ever was. And this film undoubtedly is the best film I've done since The Passion of the Christ. And it was enormous challenge. It took two years just to come off this movie. But it has great qualities in it. It's a full on adventure film. It is the film taken with a huge heart. But these are the things that when the film is over, you don't leave your seat. Your heart's on fire. And you want to do something. And that's why I was called into this business. And I gave my career to Jesus. You pick my roles for me. You know, and so in this time period where we're seeing films that are just, I mean, it has to be intentional where Christianity is completely sidelined. And we continue to take it. We get on our knees with our mask on rather than standing on our feet. And so you and I were talking about Reagan earlier. We were talking about the documentary In the Face of Evil. And I love what he had said. And one of the things where Reagan said, and I kind of made a few amendments, Give up your dreams of freedom now because in order to save our own skins, we're just too willing to make a deal with your slave masters. And Alexander Hamilton said that any nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master and deserves one. And back at what you said, yes, evil is powerless if the good are unafraid. This is in the Gospels. You read it. You've got, you know, John the Baptist. No, I don't want to be him. Why not? I mean, what about St. Paul? I don't want to read him. He got his head chopped off, too. You know, we're all playing a character in Scripture right now. It's not just a history book. It's actually something when you read it, you feel it burning in your heart. That fire comes on. It's just never the best, the greatest. That was, you know, what I believe this was all intended. And I embrace this guy because he had a childlike quality to him. You know, the belief that, you know, it doesn't matter how bad this is. Kind of like David walking down and having these guys just hearing Goliath just rip, the Philistines ripping on his God. That's all he couldn't take. And someone like this guy walks over to these leaders and he says, after I take his head off, you're going to go around the backside. And that's what men follow. They follow courage. And that to me is what I want to be as a Christian. And I don't, I'm not always that. And, you know, God doesn't always choose the best, but he chose me. So what am I going to do about it? God has chosen the foolish to confound the wise. And we're all sitting here. We can all qualify as the least qualified to do what God's called us to do. But, you know, there's a scene in the film. You've picked out a little moment in the film that you've liked and you're kind of zeroing in on some. But, you know, the writers chose to put kind of the word of the Lord in a former drug lord kingpin that assists you when he basically almost shamed you into doing what your mission was. And so the former bad guy now turned good guy that helps you with this mission is almost the pivotal little thing. God will use anyone at any time he chooses. Bill Kemp. Bill Kemp. What a brilliant actor. Brilliant, brilliant actor. It was a great scene. And it's a real scene. I mean, that's what Angel Studios requires you to get qualified. They have this guild program. The guild has to decide. And we had to pick the best five minutes. And I've gone to the action scenes. Someone said no. It's the five minutes when Bill Kemp does that. And I think, I mean, these guys deserve Academy Awards for that scene right there. A couple things happened in that scene. It's a true story, by the way. So for the audience, just tell them a little. Don't give away a ton, but just what does he say to you? And take us back to that real moment. So this is a former drug cartel runner. He ran money for them. Vampiro. Got Vampiro is his name in the film. I gave him the name Batman. He was my informant. I called him that, but DC Comics wouldn't release the name. So they wanted the vampire. That's what they chose for him. Nice. I like that. I couldn't get Bambi either. So I called him Batman because he's great. He works in the dark and the night. And I kind of helped him. I was like, hey, there's a better way to do this. Bring law enforcement in. So we're working on this case together, and then I get shut down. And this is a man who, you know, I won't give it away, but what he says about... It's a pivotal moment in the whole movie, in my opinion. And he tells a story about he realizes he's the darkness. And he puts a gun to his head and says, if there's a God, now's the time to ask. And Jim just does this. Jim does something with his eyes in this scene. I've mentioned it many times. Because he tells him, he says, here I am. I didn't kill myself. And he says, when God tells you what to do, you cannot hesitate. Just the reason why you see that reaction is because it took me right back into that movie theater. Come on now. And I was like, you're talking to me from above. And he can talk. God can speak to anybody. And you should buy tickets just to watch his reaction. He doesn't say a thing. He says a million things just through his eyes. And I remember after I saw the film, I said, Jim, how did you do that? And do you remember what you said to me? You just said two words. You said, Holy Ghost. My goodness. And I said, yeah. Because it's the most incredible interchange in that part. You know, to those that understand some of these terms, the inciting incident, usually the inciting incident is earlier in the film. But then all of a sudden, this moment that was portrayed there was really the key to who you are and what you became, really. Absolutely. And man, to think that the Holy Spirit would drag you back to the original moment there in that movie theater when God called you to be an actor. Jim, I've never heard anyone say that that directly before. Yeah. That I felt the presence and the love of Jesus, and he asked me to be an actor. I've never heard anyone say that before. I've had a lot of people pursuing dreams and visions, and I've never heard anyone really go that hardcore with it before. Well, that's what happened. And I remember when the Passion was coming out, it was out, and we were CNN running. They were running hit pieces on us all the time. And I remember walking into this bar in my hometown, Mount Vernon, and a group of guys there. And I remember I did kind of open my mouth about how God told me that, and they were making jokes of it. I said, hey, remember that idiot that talked about God coming to him? And he said, you guys were right, though. What? But one day I'm going to be an actor. And this is playing while they're showing. Because nobody's ever going to admit they're wrong. So you're not wrong. I'm wrong. But one day I will be an actor. You'll see. So I use that in a lot of the stuff I do. Because a lot of this stuff isn't fun. I mean, it's either the weather. It's miserable at times, especially when you're in the jungle like that and the heat conditions. It's so hot. It's like your brain's at 120 degrees. You can't even think. And so sometimes every now and then you think about, oh, those guys. He ain't going to do it. I love what Charles Stanley says. He says, obey God and leave all the consequences to him. That's nice. Right? Yes. And I remember a promise made to us when we moved to Hollywood to start doing films. And God spoke to us, and he said, take my name where it's dim and unheard and make it famous. And this is all. This is so good. Entrance into the hearts of the ungodly without them knowing it. We're in your corner so much, you can't even believe it. God's used a lot of our life to be in the same industry for a while. And we've sat in this chair many times and asked our audience to be a part of something. We're doing that again right now, July 4th. They're wonderful because this family, this TBN family, knows how to do stuff like this, and they know how to do it well. They know how to bombard the theaters, and they know how to fight. You're usually here, and this is a tough subject. She wondered if you wanted to be here. But you do need to speak from a female perspective of what to expect. This movie is tough. It's a subject, but we need this win in the box office on this subject. We need this win. Absolutely. But what did you experience? Well, it's heavy. It's a heavy movie to watch. It's our children. Do you know what a heavy movie to watch is? It's A Wonderful Life. Yeah, right. No, when you're in the bar scene, and Stuart is sitting there saying, God, if you're out there, please help me. And he's weeping. And one of his men talked about how many missions he flew over Nazi Germany and how many guys didn't make it back. And he says, one thing that people don't realize is that when we have our comms on going in, we have to be quiet. When a plane is shot down, you hear all the screaming of the boys going down, and it haunts you. And that was in that scene. But that film resurrects me. There is a cross. But there is no resurrection without the cross. But in the film, you're going to laugh. There are great moments in it. There are great moments just like in life. But I wanted to take us to something much deeper than the industry can take us to. Because, look, you can't say we want a film that has many truths in it. There's one truth. That's it. And so we had an opportunity to put that in. And every day I get up, and I'm like, I'm not the, you know, I can't do this without him. But I want, I remember the part in one of the gospels, I think it was Matthew, It takes a yes from us, and then let God do the rest. Let him reach out, and he'll pull you right in, just like he did with me. And so I'd go into it with pure abandon, and that's where I really linked into this guy's heart through Jesus like that. And so if I was the devil, I would never want this film to be seen. But, you know, time ran out for him. It's got to be seen. I guess it did. Your thoughts? Well, I think from a woman's perspective, I mean, I love men that stand for strong values and know how to get a job done. So I'm in good company right now. I think as a woman, it's like, well, how can I help? What can I do? How can I see? Chris Kane is one of my dearest friends. She's got 821. Can you see me? And so I walk a lot. We do with 821 and just the territories that they're helping with all over the world. And it's how can we do our part? You're from Homeland Security. What do we look for? I mean, we've got mothers out here. You're hitting triggers of our children, of being a, you know, all kinds of stuff. Call the theaters. We need a thousand more screens. Yeah. We're filling up and we've got to get this word out. Go ahead. So because I knew that would be an important question, I executive produced a documentary called It's Happening Right Here. It answers that question. We're waiting. After Senator Freedom releases, we're going to drop it. And it goes through all the ways that bad guys are trying to access our children. It focuses on the United States. And because we are the number one demand. People don't realize this. People think, oh, this is far, far away in Columbia and wherever else. Nope. We're the number one demand for child exploitation material. We consume more here. A hundred and fifty billion dollars. Yeah, 162. Industry. If there wasn't a demand, we wouldn't be, you know, basically dealing with this situation the way it is. And July 4th is almost upon us. And we need this to be a huge win. And like Passion of the Christ. Thank you for that. By the way, Jim is just, you know, it's it. Trinity Broadcasting channel basically gave the Passion of the Christ. It's broadcast television premiere. So we are behind you. We've always been behind that and we're behind this. And but if there was no demand for this content and this material and these kind of nefarious things, the answer to that is Jesus. And Tim, you're you're a tough guy. You get a gun and you go down into parts of the world that are weird and you arrest people and you drag people out of this and you bring them to justice. But, you know, the answer and the motivation for all of us sitting here now is Jesus. And there could be somebody in our audience right now. Look at them and ask them to to accept Jesus. That's what we do around here. It's the answer to a lot of things. What I love about Christian television is that it can get behind things like this. And everybody needs to buy tickets. I saw tickets today as I was scrolling through. Some of them are five dollars that day. Five dollars and forty one cents for a seat at a theater. You can buy them, give them away to people. We can do that. The thing about Christian television is that you're talking to anybody right now. You're talking to half the prisons, the one in the prison cell right now. Yeah. And Jesus's blood makes the vilest sinner clean. And we're all sinners. But there's enough love and there's enough blood and there's enough grace for every sinner and people that that are maybe stuck somewhere. We the message of Christ is hope. Hope that he can transform lives and that he can make all things new. And I love that about him. And there's no one that's discounted to Christ. Do you think as you were talking, I was thinking about I was thinking about dark places. I'm talking to whoever's out there who's in a dark place. And I've I've I've I've often been asked, how do you go to dark places? And I couldn't answer the question very well because I would look I would look crazy. Because the answer was, I feel the lightest in dark places. Wow. And it took me a while to understand what that was. And for me, what I realized was it's it's that the bad guy who's super dark, you know, if I get past him, that's where the kids are. They're next. And Jesus is all around them. My goodness. And that's what I'm feeling. That's why that's why I feel light. And you can feel the lightest, most amazing, beautiful, heavenly source. That's the best. That is the light of Christ and his purifying, atoning grace that that can be yours and the darkest place. So anyone who's a dark place, I invite you to recognize the light that is there with you. That's where Jesus goes to the darkest places. So accept him, accept and identify that light and then accept it. That is Jesus and accept him in your heart. It's really simple to you. All you say is something like, Lord, I need you. You know, my dad tells a story of one of his uncles accepting Jesus running from a bull in the in the in the bull in the in the yard, crying out to God because he's being chased by a bull. And Jesus saved me. Jesus helped me. It's it. Dark places are instantly illuminated by the perfection of who Jesus is. And just call out his name and he'll be there with you. Jim, just kind of pray for our audience just for a moment. Sinks this message into us in a way that we that we need to feel this in our motivation to drive this movie to success. I was just in Toledo, Ohio, and we were the pastor there asked me if I would do something in Aramaic. And the first thing that came to me was this song. And that's what you said. My commandment to you is this. You love one another as I have loved you. So you love one another. God doesn't always choose the best, but he chose you. What are you going to do about it? So good in that same spirit. That raised Jesus from the dead in dwells us. And I love all the times it says, fear not. The Bible says it over and over. Be of good courage. Fear not. Go where I tell you. And I'm going with you. And we have that same power, that Holy Spirit that helps us, that that this is worth dying for. It gives us that power, the power of God in our lives that this is worth dying for. And that is the message of hope and love in Jesus. And we want you to help in this story. What a sweet atmosphere. Think of what we're talking about. And light can penetrate darkness at any time, anywhere, any place. And we're talking about one of the worst subjects you can talk about. But there's a presence. God's with us here. I mean, it's real. It's a tangible feeling here. And I can tell you, I didn't expect to be here doing this interview on this subject with you guys. To feel like the Lord is touching people enough to understand that this is something that we all need to do. And July 4th is coming up. We're going to run this as much as we can prior to the movie. But this movie has been tried to be locked out. It was originally going to be put out by Fox. Fox was purchased by Disney. Disney shelved the project. And it took a while to buy it back. And now it's coming out. This has been something five years in the making. And it's been through the fire. Fire either burns stuff up or it refines it. And it feels like that we found that the refining fire has purified this in a way. It's just a beautiful way to encourage people to be a part of this. It's just the information's on the screen. July 4th is coming up. And do your part. Tim, your final thought. There are millions of children. There's about six million children currently in slavery. Add the adults to that and you have more people enslaved today than ever before in the history of the world. You could add up all the people in fact that were enslaved during that 350 year horrific period of the transatlantic slave trade. And not to do anything to lessen that. There's nothing worse. But you could add up all the people alive today in slavery. And that's more than all of those others combined. And six million children, it's labor, it's organ harvesting, believe it or not, and sex. And on the sex trafficking, this film is specifically about that. There's two million children in the commercial. And so we have a goal with Angel Studios to have two million people on the weekend of July 4th in theaters representing those two million children. And so that's our call to action that we, everybody who's listening to this program, buy a ticket. And you have the opportunity to buy tickets for others who can't afford it. At the same time you're buying your ticket. So we fill those theaters with two million people. Jim, your final thoughts? Just the audience. You won't be disappointed when you see this film. Again, it's the best thing I've done since The Passion. And there are a lot of great benefits to this film. And to give you that courage that you need.