When his pastor leaves the faith, Elijah Stephens embarks on a journey to find proof for miracles. Along the way, he meets atheists and skeptics, medical researchers and academics, and those claiming to have experienced miraculous healing.
In “Send Proof,” a pastor embarks on a journey to prove that miracles happen, which is no easy task even for Christians. The problem with miracles is if you have proof, you are not using faith. As Jesus so aptly said, “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” While I understand the pastor, Elijah Stephens, hopes proof will help people believe in God, it’s just not realistic.
The Pharisees saw miracles and still did not believe. Accepting Christ should be on a spiritual level, not logical. Trying to bring science and miracles together may not even plant a seed for skeptics ready to punch holes even in proof. With that being said, I applaud his bold attempt to validate, and he may help to bring those on the brink of salvation into the pool.
What makes this film special is Pastor Stephens does not speak and highlight just believers but even self-admitted atheists in the documentary in a remarkable attempt at open-mindedness. Even more remarkable, he did not attempt to convince them otherwise, allowing the miracles to do the work instead. Christians need to plant seeds, not shove trees down people’s throats, and that’s exactly what this film accomplishes. The film is not a feel-good flick ready to make Christians feel righteous but a culmination of multiple viewpoints seeking the truth.
His confidence in God allows Pastor Stephens even to have a former pastor who turned atheist on the film. The former pastor lost his faith after years of praying and no evidence of any of said prayers being answered by God. This alone could turn a strong Christian away, yet Stephens turns it into a path to discovery on an arduous road.
Let’s go back for a minute, Stephens himself has wrestled with miracles in the past as he grew up in an abusive Christian home, questioning if God would allow such things to happen if he was all-loving. To take it even further, his mother spent years getting conned by so-called faith healers who promised miracles for money, causing Stephens with ambiguous feelings about faith and miracles. He displays this at the beginning of the film in a cunning manner by showing fake healers upfront, indicating this is not like other faith-based documentaries but one with eyes open to the different levels of faith and fraud.
You will be introduced to doctors, miracle receivers, atheists, skeptics, and more throughout the film. It might just change your opinion of miracles, too, with quotes like, “When God performs a miracle, He doesn’t violate the order of nature, he simply overrides it.” Forget about those perfect Christians who never falter in their walk with God; Elijah Stephens is a real person with a troubled path to faith and eternity in this honest documentary, determined to share the truth with all its dirty little corners, no matter the outcome.
Now available on DVD and Digital
