Phill News Entertainment – Phill News
MANILA, Philippines—For those who know the Bible and the Bible-based series The Chosen One, one of the most memorable scenes is the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus multiplied five loaves of bread and two pieces of fish. Both fed 5,000 people.
Jonathan Roomie, who plays Jesus in “The Chosen One,” has personally experienced God’s miracle of multiplication.
Before landing the lead role in the world’s most successful crowdfunded series, Jonathan was unemployed and “heavily in debt,” despite working hard as an actor and juggling up to seven part-time jobs.
“I struggled for years in Los Angeles. I moved from New York to New York and made acting my full-time job for eight years. “That was the case for a while. I’d been on TV shows occasionally and had some success, but I hadn’t accomplished anything to the point of being in multiple TV shows or movies or anything like that,” Roomy told reporters, including Philstar.com, during a roundtable interview last week at Shangri-La at the Fort in Taguig City.
“So I took a bunch of different part-time jobs. None of them could pay my bills. So all of a sudden, I was jumping around six or seven different part-time jobs at a time, none of which were working. To me, it all felt unreal and strange. It didn’t seem normal to me. I was working three different jobs. I painted houses. I was … driving for people, and then all of a sudden it all stopped.”
Jonathan was unemployed, hungry, and penniless, and all he could do was pray. “I wondered what was going on. It got to the point where my checking account was in the red. I was in so much debt. I had enough food for one day, but I didn’t know how I was going to have enough food for the next day. My credit cards were frozen. So I didn’t know what to do. The only thing left for me was to put everything in my hands because I had no other choice. If I didn’t practice the faith I profess, I would have to rely on God, and I could no longer rely on myself, or on my idea of what it means to be in control of my career and to be in charge. I was taking it in my hands. God gave me no choice but to surrender, and so I did.
The moment he gave his life to Christ, he saw his life change.
“And every day I received unexpected cash checks in the form of four different paychecks from what were called residuals, from a group of benefactors for the work I had done over the years. I thought, ‘Why haven’t they paid me for years?’ I thought, ‘Oh, I forgot to pay you. It was $800.’ And it ended up being $1,100. ‘Before that, I was minus $80,'” he recalled.
He was so amazed at how God had changed his life that he recorded the “miracle” he had experienced.
“To truly immortalize this miracle, I recorded everything on a check for posterity. Because for me it was a financial miracle and on a spiritual level it was proof that the moment I dedicated my life and career to Him, God opened the floodgates for me. And three months later I was booked to appear on The Chosen. Since then, I never had to worry about how to feed myself again.
Jonathan surrenders everything to God in whatever he does.
“Even if I have the courage, I think it’s the Lord’s grace,” he asserted. “It’s His work. I think at first it was something I felt uncomfortable with or didn’t want to do. When God asked me to speak at the March for Life, I thought, I don’t want to do it. I thought it was too controversial and it was going to hurt my career. And I always get these words from the Holy Spirit: Everything’s going to be fine. Don’t worry. The moment I let it go, the moment I surrendered again, I felt the Holy Spirit come. The sleep that I had been tweaking for weeks and barely making progress on disappeared on its own within about 25 minutes.”
He says that even while he was filming “The Chosen,” he wasn’t sure if the series would continue. But since that revelation, which came at the lowest point in his life, he knew God would take care of the rest.
“Even six months after I booked The Chosen, nothing was certain. There was no guarantee it would last seven seasons. But I wasn’t worried. “I had the same spirit I had before. I knew God would take care of me, just as he did,” he said.
“And I knew I had to continue to rely on God for my faith, my faith as a gift, my faith strengthening, my grace and strength and courage, and when I do that, I’m never alone. “Even though sometimes I feel so alone, I know I’m never alone.”
Roomie announced that the fifth season of “The Chosen” has been completed after just four episodes.
If your prayers are still not being answered, Gary Valenciano shares some ways to overcome this problem through faith, including a scene from “The Chosen One.”
“There was a scene where little James holds a stick and asks Jesus, ‘Why am I not healed yet, even though we’re talking about healing and we’re going around healing people?’ Having had diabetes for years, I pray almost every day, ‘Lord, is today the day?’ But, you know, the Lord has a different plan for me, but this scene spoke to me and moved me. And that’s just a scene! There are so many, and each one of them will speak to you in different and wonderful ways,” he said during an interview on the teal carpet of the “Holy Night” premiere at SM Megamall last Friday, where Roomie appeared as a special guest.
“I believe that ‘The Chosen One’ can become a part of our hearts as social media has become a part of our hearts and I’m excited to see how this continues to move people not only in the Philippines but in Asia and around the world over the years.”
He believes that, like Little James, God will send him “in time” to be healed.
“In time! For all of you here who are suffering from health issues that God has not yet healed, what a testimony it is that you can go out and tell people that God is good. He is faithful in all that He does!
