Australia’s Largest Christian News Site

He played Jesus in The Passion of the Christ. More recently, Jim Caviezel has been giving noteworthy speeches on faith, freedom and courage. Here is one speech you don’t want to miss.

A friend recently shared with me an 18-minute speech by Jim Caviezel, which he delivered to a Christian conference in America in October of this year. Caviezel played Jesus Christ in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ (2004). He followed this up by taking on the role of Luke in the 2018 film Paul, Apostle of Christ.

The speech had a profound impact on me. Caviezel is a remarkable orator. His speech pulled so many threads together, and its power was not just in what he said explicitly but also what he implied. Most praiseworthy was Caviezel’s call to action and his impartation of hope in these troubled times.

Caviezel begins by linking the issues of human trafficking and abortion. This was new to me. Both of these tragedies disrupt the Creator’s destiny for human life. Just think what could have been for anyone whose free will has been violated or whose life has been taken prematurely.

“When God tells us to do something, we should never hesitate.”

On listening to the speech, I was forced to ask myself whether I have rationalised God’s call. When God has asked a simple little thing of me, have I rushed past, justified myself and ignored whether it was God’s call at all? Caviezel shared that he has always sought to be quick to respond to God. His example encourages us to tune back in and stick unflinchingly to God’s call on our lives – not necessarily for our sake but for the sake of others.

Caviezel’s Role in The Passion of the Christ

Caviezel’s speech then focused on his being ‘played by God’ in The Passion of the Christ. During the film’s production, Caviezel experienced a shoulder dislocation, sustained two accidental lashes at the hands of the Roman guards, and was struck by lightning while hanging on the cross! Throughout this movie, Caviezel’s constant prayer was:

“That people would not see me but see the Son of Man, Jesus.”

Then began Caviezel’s call for action. It is natural to shy away from hard choices, he remarked. But he unequivocally called his audience to active political participation in our local communities. Caviezel explained that we can’t complain unless we make our voices heard by those who have the power to change things.

“We should tell our elected officials to set up policies based what we know in our hearts is morally right.”

The Challenge for Australians

This should prompt Australians to ask: how have we responded in our hearts to the violent crackdown on peaceful protests by some in our police forces – particularly in Victoria? How have we responded to the plight of those who have lost their job for not being vaccinated as they have sought to do what God has told them without hesitation?

How have we responded to the segregation in our society between the jabbed and the jabbed-nots? Have we told our elected officials that we believe these things are not morally right and need to be set straight?

“The greatest risk lies in appeasement. The devil knows that we are retreating under the pressure of the cold war. He will soon give us the final ultimatum of voluntary surrender to him.”

It seems to me that many Christians tell themselves that compliance and obedience is the right thing to do, even if we know it to be morally wrong since it reflects our humility and our call to be peacemakers. This isn’t to say we should go about breaking rules and regulations for the sake of it. Instead, even in our measured compliance and obedience, we can also let our elected officials know we are far from happy. Unless we do this, they will assume that we are part of the majority that approves of their actions.

Frogs in a Boiling Pot

I was shaken by Caviezel’s comparison of our present struggles with the policies and vision of the Nazis’ up to and into World War II. He honoured those who gave their lives for our freedom and called for their deaths not to have been in vain. Caviezel went on to say:

“My fellow Americans, we are at war now with the most dangerous enemy that has ever faced mankind. Freedom exists not to do what we like but to have the right to do what we ought. We weren’t made to fit in but to stand out!”

Many of us have been swimming around quite happily like frogs in a saucepan. We have been lulled into complacency by the lovely warm water and have not questioned why someone thought we needed a warm bath. But soon, it will become too late as the water gets hotter and hotter. Before we know it, we will be poached frogs, unable to jump any longer.

Each rise in the temperature has been subtle. We thought nothing of each increase, but it is now time to consider the bigger picture, to stand back and take in the whole forest, not just the individual trees. Like Jim Caviezel, I believe we have all been corralled into a global sheep-pen on the claim that it is ‘all for our safety.

Will you take a stand? You may not have been devastated personally by the COVID-19 measures, but I encourage you to stand with those who have. Stand for your children and their children’s children. Be a clear voice for the voiceless.

Jim concluded with this challenge and call to action:

“We have the Holy Spirit as our shield and Christ as our sword, sending Lucifer and his henchmen right back to hell where they belong!”

Or, in the words of Ronald Reagan, which he also quoted, “Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid.”

Image via Liberty University.