Filmmaker Tim Mahoney has long been on a mission to help viewers see the Bible through new and innovative storytelling methods, exploring proof for the Exodus, among other topics.
His latest, two-part project, “Seven Churches of Revelation,” is an undertaking he believes will be “really important for Christians today.”
“Many people are wondering — they’re feeling uneasy about the future, and they’re wondering, ‘Are we living in the last days?’” he said.
Mahoney argues that this inquisitive feeling is similar to what some experienced millennia ago when the Book of Revelation was being written. Thus, this question has persisted throughout human history.
“Every century throughout history, there’s been questions,” he said. “Is Christ going to be returning? And the letter that John wrote — or the Revelation … he was visited and he was given this amazing look into the future, but a lot of people don’t know, ‘How do I contextualize that right now? What does it mean?’”
“Seven Churches of Revelation,” Mahoney said, is a two-film project that hit theaters earlier this year (the first part is “Times of Fire” and the second is “Times of Deception”). Both films are now available for home entertainment.
It’s a project the movie-maker hopes will help Christians explore how best to live in light of prophecy and Scripture. The films explore the seven churches mentioned in Revelation; they look at their locations as well as the archeology surrounding them.
“You’re going to learn some things that you can apply to your life in such a powerful way,” Mahoney said. “And that’s what I felt about it. It wasn’t divisive. This is informative. But it’s also amazing to see these locations and to see what those early churches were dealing with.”
While there’s much debate about Revelation and its prophetic elements — mainly how much of the book has already been fulfilled versus what has not yet unfolded — Mahoney believes each church mentioned in Revelation carries a lesson for us all.
“There are Christians right now that are going through persecution … because they’re being faithful to the Gospel of Christ,” he said. “And we need to pray for those churches. There are other churches that are [facing] deception. … It’s easy to be deceived that these things don’t matter and we should just compromise.”
Ultimately, Mahoney said his own faith was impacted while working on the films. Exploring the issues the churches in Revelation experienced forced him to recognize how easy it is to be compromised or fooled.
“There’s a warning in these churches,” he said. “The warning is: are you going to be in the kingdom? … And my concern for myself and for anyone else is: are we really doing the things we’re supposed to be doing right now?”
He said this is a particularly pertinent question amid a culture in which the “temperature” is continuously being changed.
“We’re changing the narratives, so that good is evil and evil is good,” Mahoney said. “And we have to be so cautious, and I think that’s the thing that I saw about these churches. The ones that were faithful … out of seven churches, only two were given a good report card. And I think you could see that even in our own culture today.”
Find out more about the two-part “Seven Churches of Revelation.”
