¤ ¤ 00:00:01.36\00:00:24.85 On the 15th of April 1919 it rained fire here. German 00:00:24.89\00:00:30.66 artillery fire near the French village of Rietz du Vinage where 00:00:30.69\00:00:35.30 a desperate action took place. These were the darkest hours of 00:00:35.33\00:00:39.50 World War I. The Germans had just deployed massive amounts 00:00:39.53\00:00:49.34 of troops to the western front during the spring offensive. 00:00:49.38\00:00:53.42 And the English lines looked like they were about to break. 00:00:53.45\00:00:57.12 But after launching a barrage of artillery fire the British 00:00:57.15\00:01:02.19 soldiers launched a furious counter attack. As the Germans 00:01:02.22\00:01:06.56 had returned fire a young 19- year-old Irish second lieutenant 00:01:06.59\00:01:11.13 crept forward with his company through the night. 00:01:11.17\00:01:14.70 A shell exploded. No one knows 00:01:14.74\00:01:18.01 whether it was German or British instantly killing his 00:01:18.04\00:01:22.24 friends and peppering the Irishman with shrapnel. Certain 00:01:22.28\00:01:25.25 that he would die and with shrapnel in his chest, legs 00:01:25.28\00:01:29.05 and arms he crawled away from the carnage till he was picked 00:01:29.08\00:01:33.09 up by a stretcher bearer. He was weary, broken, burnt out and 00:01:33.12\00:01:39.09 without hope. Yet just over 20 years later we find that same 00:01:39.13\00:01:45.23 man on the radio in London during the terror of the Nazi 00:01:45.27\00:01:49.07 blitz in World War II and he's bringing hope to millions, hope 00:01:49.10\00:01:54.54 to his nation. What information what message would bring hope 00:01:54.58\00:02:00.18 to a nation in its darkest hour and what does it take to turn a 00:02:00.22\00:02:06.52 person so completely around from having experienced the worst of 00:02:06.55\00:02:12.46 humanity and being without hope to becoming a hope bringer and a 00:02:12.49\00:02:17.07 beacon of light for millions? Well stay with us to find out as 00:02:17.10\00:02:23.00 we journey in the footsteps of C.S. Lewis, the hope bringer. 00:02:23.04\00:02:27.18 His story will inspire you and his message just may bring you 00:02:27.21\00:02:32.41 an extra boost of hope and peace too. 00:02:32.45\00:02:35.88 ¤ ¤ 00:02:35.92\00:02:53.84 C. S. Lewis was one of the intellectual giants of the 20th 00:02:53.87\00:02:57.57 century and one of the most influential writers of his day. 00:02:57.61\00:03:01.64 Although he was an important academic lecturing at both 00:03:01.68\00:03:04.81 Oxford and Cambridge universities, most people know 00:03:04.85\00:03:08.52 him through the more than 30 books that he wrote including 00:03:08.55\00:03:12.25 classics like The Chronicles of Narnia which have sold over 100 00:03:12.29\00:03:17.26 million copies and have been turned into three major movies. 00:03:17.29\00:03:24.10 Clive Staples Lewis was born here to a Protestant family in 00:03:24.13\00:03:27.70 East Belfast, Ireland in 1898. His books have brought hope and 00:03:27.74\00:03:33.01 joy to generations. Most people know C.S. Lewis today as the 00:03:33.04\00:03:37.91 author of The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of books for 00:03:37.95\00:03:42.32 children that feature talking animals. Now that's no 00:03:42.35\00:03:45.55 coincidence. C.S. Lewis' love for animals showed itself early 00:03:45.59\00:03:50.69 in his life. When Jack was seven his family moved into this house 00:03:50.73\00:03:56.46 called Little Lia in East Belfast Lewis' family just loved 00:03:56.50\00:04:03.00 books. Lewis later wrote: 00:04:03.04\00:04:04.67 When his mother died from cancer just months before Lewis' 10th 00:04:19.69\00:04:24.59 birthday he became even more withdrawn. He was deeply hurt 00:04:24.63\00:04:29.70 by her passing. Lewis not only lost a mother but his father 00:04:29.73\00:04:34.37 never fully recovered from her death. Lewis and his brother 00:04:34.40\00:04:39.04 felt estranged from him and their life at home was never the 00:04:39.07\00:04:44.21 same again. Lewis' mother had given him a Bible, but her death 00:04:44.25\00:04:49.65 convinced him that the God of the Bible was at best just a 00:04:49.68\00:04:55.42 vague idea or at worst was simply cruel. At 15 years of age 00:04:55.46\00:05:00.70 Lewis completely rejected Christianity and became a 00:05:00.73\00:05:06.13 staunch atheist. His key interest became the world of 00:05:06.17\00:05:10.34 mythology. All of his life Lewis experienced an inner longing for 00:05:10.37\00:05:16.48 something which he later called joy. It was the idea that 00:05:16.51\00:05:20.88 something existed which was so much greater and more wonderful 00:05:20.92\00:05:25.75 than anything we experience as part of our normal lives. As a 00:05:25.79\00:05:32.39 teenager Lewis was fascinated by the ancient songs and legends 00:05:32.43\00:05:37.00 of Scandinavia and these intensified this longing deep 00:05:37.03\00:05:41.94 within him. In 1916 Lewis was awarded a scholarship at 00:05:41.97\00:05:49.54 University College, Oxford. It was a big culture shock for 00:05:49.58\00:05:54.68 Lewis coming from Ireland to England but it was an 00:05:54.72\00:05:59.09 opportunity that was too good to refuse. However, within months 00:05:59.12\00:06:02.96 of entering Oxford the British army shipped him off to France 00:06:02.99\00:06:06.76 to fight on the western front in World War I. It was a 00:06:06.80\00:06:10.93 terrible war. The most brutal and destructive conflict the 00:06:10.97\00:06:15.87 world had ever seen. On average roughly 6000 men were killed 00:06:15.90\00:06:21.04 every day in the war. Before it was over nearly 10 million 00:06:21.08\00:06:26.01 soldiers lay dead. Millions more were seriously wounded. About 00:06:26.05\00:06:31.79 half the British soldiers fighting in France became a 00:06:31.82\00:06:35.22 casualty of some sort. C.S. Lewis was one of them. That day 00:06:35.26\00:06:41.33 here among the trenches of northern France it was precisely 00:06:41.36\00:06:46.10 on his 19th birthday that Lewis was wounded by an exploding 00:06:46.13\00:06:50.87 shell. Two of his close friends were killed instantly. He later 00:06:50.91\00:06:56.01 wrote about his experiences in the war as someone trying to 00:06:56.04\00:07:00.42 forget: 00:07:00.45\00:07:01.78 But it wasn't his horrific experiences at the front that 00:07:22.14\00:07:26.98 turned his life around and pointed him to Christianity. 00:07:27.01\00:07:30.15 Instead they merely hardened him in his atheism. During the long 00:07:30.18\00:07:36.22 period of his convalescence from his injuries Lewis suffered from 00:07:36.25\00:07:40.32 depression and homesickness. Still he later wrote that his 00:07:40.36\00:07:45.83 ideal picture of happiness was: 00:07:45.86\00:07:48.23 In December 1918 Lewis was discharged from the army and he 00:08:00.64\00:08:07.78 quickly returned and finished his studies at Oxford. After 00:08:07.82\00:08:13.05 graduation he became a university tutor at University 00:08:13.09\00:08:16.66 College at Oxford and in 1925 he was elected a fellow in 00:08:16.69\00:08:21.46 tutoring English literature here at Magdalen College where he 00:08:21.50\00:08:26.37 worked for 29 years. The reality that C.S. Lewis loved Oxford and 00:08:26.40\00:08:32.74 the friends he had here and in a sense he never really left 00:08:32.77\00:08:37.05 Oxford again. During all this time Lewis was a very committed 00:08:37.08\00:08:42.82 and at times aggressive atheist. He rejected the idea of God. He 00:08:42.85\00:08:48.12 thought Christianity was shallow and for him God didn't exist 00:08:48.16\00:08:53.33 because if he did he must be cruel and heartless. His road 00:08:53.36\00:08:58.03 back to faith was a slow one over many years. It was filled 00:08:58.07\00:09:02.80 with road blocks that Lewis thought would be impossible for 00:09:02.84\00:09:07.41 him to overcome. He had to deal with hurtful emotional baggage 00:09:07.44\00:09:12.11 and also many intellectual obstacles. However, it was 00:09:12.15\00:09:17.25 precisely because of his commitment to rational, logical 00:09:17.29\00:09:22.82 thought that Lewis not only returned to Christianity but 00:09:22.86\00:09:26.56 became one of the greatest defenders. His road to faith was 00:09:26.59\00:09:31.13 influenced not only by his own reading but also by his 00:09:31.17\00:09:37.41 Christian friends and prominent among them was his colleague 00:09:37.44\00:09:40.01 J.R. Tolkien with whom he'd have long walks and debates. Of 00:09:40.04\00:09:43.88 course Tolkien is famous today for his works The Hobbit and The 00:09:43.91\00:09:48.92 Lord of the Rings. Lewis really resisted coming back to 00:09:48.95\00:09:53.79 Christianity, but in 1929 he accepted that there was, in fact 00:09:53.82\00:10:00.10 a God. But Lewis wasn't a Christian yet. He didn't accept 00:10:00.13\00:10:05.00 the Christian God until after a late night walk with Tolkien. He 00:10:05.03\00:10:09.80 wrote that he then became the most reluctant convert to 00:10:09.84\00:10:15.41 Christianity in all of England. Today we live in a largely 00:10:15.44\00:10:21.28 unbelieving age where people have turned away from God. There 00:10:21.32\00:10:26.82 were several key factors in Lewis' conversion that are 00:10:26.86\00:10:30.59 important and relevant. The first factor is the importance 00:10:30.63\00:10:34.73 of reason. For C.S. Lewis, Christianity had to make sense 00:10:34.76\00:10:41.77 first of all. It had to be logical and reasonable. One of 00:10:41.80\00:10:45.57 the most important issues for him was the problem of pain and 00:10:45.61\00:10:50.88 suffering. He came to see that while it's easy to blame God for 00:10:50.91\00:10:54.28 suffering atheism has no answer for it at all and that 00:10:54.32\00:10:59.82 Christianity actually did. It made more sense, was more 00:10:59.85\00:11:03.43 logical and certainly provided more hope. Next he became 00:11:03.46\00:11:09.73 convinced that the evidence for Jesus in the Bible in the 00:11:09.76\00:11:13.70 gospels is actually very strong. In the end he couldn't argue 00:11:13.74\00:11:18.87 against it. In the gospel story of Jesus he saw the evidence of 00:11:18.91\00:11:24.88 God's grace. Here in the life and teachings of Jesus he found 00:11:24.91\00:11:29.28 the only true comfort. Finally Christianity filled his deepest 00:11:29.32\00:11:35.59 needs and desires. For Lewis this went beyond just 00:11:35.62\00:11:41.16 intellectual arguments. Lewis came to experience the joy of 00:11:41.20\00:11:45.67 a faith that satisfied and filled the longings of his heart 00:11:45.70\00:11:49.77 In Jesus he found peace, hope and joy. Jesus filled the 00:11:49.80\00:11:58.71 God-shaped hole in his life. Lewis was no coward when it came 00:11:58.75\00:12:03.49 to doing his duty for his country but his greatest service 00:12:03.52\00:12:07.16 to his nation in those dark hours wasn't done in uniform. 00:12:07.19\00:12:11.09 It was through the medium of radio. After reading Lewis' book 00:12:11.13\00:12:16.87 The Problem of Pain one of the directors of the BBC asked Lewis 00:12:16.90\00:12:21.00 to start giving talks on radio. So from 1941-1943 while London 00:12:21.04\00:12:27.94 was under the terror of the German bombs of the blitz, Lewis 00:12:27.98\00:12:32.11 spoke hope to a nation that desperately needed it. These 00:12:32.15\00:12:40.69 broadcasts came from Lewis' deep Christian convictions and they 00:12:40.72\00:12:45.79 were appreciated by civilians and those in the armed forces 00:12:45.83\00:12:51.07 alike. As an example Air Chief Marshal Sir Donald Hardman wrote 00:12:51.10\00:12:54.97 These wartime broadcasts by Lewis were later written down in 00:13:07.95\00:13:14.52 his book Mere Christianity. And to show you the impact of this 00:13:14.56\00:13:18.69 book down to our day, Mere Christianity was voted the best 00:13:18.73\00:13:23.97 book of the 20th century by Christianity Today Magazine. 00:13:24.00\00:13:29.97 In 1930, the year before he converted to Christianity, Lewis 00:13:30.01\00:13:35.18 had moved into this house in a village near Oxford. It was 00:13:35.21\00:13:41.35 called The Kilns because it had been built on the site of a 00:13:41.38\00:13:43.08 former brick works. This was the house in which Lewis was to live 00:13:43.12\00:13:47.36 for the rest of his life. It was here that Lewis did his writing. 00:13:47.39\00:13:53.96 His books have reached a vast audience and they continue to 00:13:54.00\00:13:58.33 attract new readers every year. Lewis, as with Tolkien, wanted 00:13:58.37\00:14:04.01 to use his writing talents to share his Christian faith that 00:14:04.04\00:14:08.14 was so important to him. So he wrote a significant number of 00:14:08.18\00:14:11.98 books dealing with Christianity such as The Great Divorce, The 00:14:12.01\00:14:16.58 Screwtape Letters, and Surprised by Joy. Lewis believed that the 00:14:16.62\00:14:22.79 definition of love was what most sharply differentiated the 00:14:22.82\00:14:27.46 Christian world view from the secular world view. So he wrote 00:14:27.50\00:14:32.57 a book called The Four Loves which compared the Divine 00:14:32.60\00:14:36.57 unconditional love inherent in Christianity to the affection 00:14:36.60\00:14:41.34 for family and friends and sexual love. Lewis said that the 00:14:41.38\00:14:46.25 difference was that Divine love enables a person to love without 00:14:46.28\00:14:52.42 any direct personal benefit while most other forms of love 00:14:52.45\00:14:56.19 are at some level motivated by self-interest. This unique form 00:14:56.22\00:15:01.73 of love, unconditional love, doesn't simply evolve from 00:15:01.76\00:15:05.93 human experience, but rather was implanted in every human being 00:15:05.97\00:15:11.07 by God through what Lewis termed the moral law. It was also here 00:15:11.11\00:15:17.05 in the tranquility of The Kilns that Lewis wrote the universally 00:15:17.08\00:15:22.15 acclaimed children's classic, The Chronicles of Narnia, which 00:15:22.18\00:15:25.62 contained many strong Christian messages, ideas and concepts 00:15:25.65\00:15:29.52 that Lewis wanted to make easily accessible to young readers. 00:15:29.56\00:15:34.10 Lewis believed that stories could best convey the wonder, 00:15:34.13\00:15:40.57 the joy, the grand concepts of Christianity, to the minds of 00:15:40.60\00:15:44.21 children and capture their imagination. So The Narnia 00:15:44.24\00:15:51.05 Chronicles uses symbolism to tell the story of a great war 00:15:51.08\00:15:54.08 with all the world looking on. A battle between the forces of 00:15:54.12\00:15:59.55 light and darkness. And he uses Aslan, the noble lion of Narnia, 00:15:59.59\00:16:04.13 as a literary Christ figure who plays a pivotal role in the 00:16:04.16\00:16:08.60 story of Narnia, just as Jesus is central to the Christian 00:16:08.63\00:16:13.37 faith. He uses the story of Aslan as a retelling of the 00:16:13.40\00:16:18.01 central events in Christ's life, His birth, death and 00:16:18.04\00:16:23.81 resurrection. The Narnia books have sold over 100 million 00:16:23.85\00:16:28.05 copies and have been transformed into three major motion pictures 00:16:28.08\00:16:31.49 They have enduring appeal, unforgettable characters, places 00:16:31.52\00:16:37.89 and prose that stir the imagination and the heart. Many 00:16:37.93\00:16:43.00 people are also surprised to learn that Lewis also wrote the 00:16:43.03\00:16:47.30 science fiction trilogy through which he represents Christian 00:16:47.34\00:16:51.01 ideas. But what most people don't know at all is that C.S. 00:16:51.04\00:16:57.35 Lewis was actually a very important academic in his chosen 00:16:57.38\00:17:01.25 field which was late medieval literature with a special focus 00:17:01.28\00:17:06.09 on the use of allegory. So it's no surprise that we can see 00:17:06.12\00:17:11.06 allegorical elements throughout many of Lewis' books. Lewis was 00:17:11.09\00:17:16.63 a prolific writer and he surrounded himself with other 00:17:16.67\00:17:20.50 writers. In fact, in 1929 he formed an informal discussion 00:17:20.54\00:17:25.47 group among his fellow writers which he called The Inklings. 00:17:25.51\00:17:30.85 They used to meet here at the Eagle and Child Pub every 00:17:30.88\00:17:34.08 Tuesday morning where they discussed literature, philosophy 00:17:34.12\00:17:37.79 and religion. The reality is that C.S. Lewis was your typical 00:17:37.82\00:17:43.46 absent minded professor. His trousers were usually all 00:17:43.49\00:17:47.63 creased and wrinkled. His jackets were usually old and 00:17:47.66\00:17:51.13 stained and his shoes were scuffed and worn. In 1954, he 00:17:51.17\00:17:57.57 described himself like this to a young admirer: 00:17:57.61\00:17:59.84 In his way, Lewis is the perfect example of how God can use any 00:18:11.89\00:18:16.56 Lewis was never able to find lasting fulfilment in his 00:18:23.97\00:18:26.63 relationship with women. They seemed to be cut short by 00:18:26.67\00:18:32.01 tragedy. Remember how his mother had died of cancer? Well in 1957 00:18:32.04\00:18:37.15 Lewis married Joy Davidman. After reading Lewis' book she 00:18:37.18\00:18:43.15 had converted from Judaism to Christianity. They lived 00:18:43.18\00:18:48.06 together for three years in The Kilns until Joy died of bone 00:18:48.09\00:18:51.89 cancer three year later. They were the happiest years of 00:18:51.93\00:18:57.50 Lewis' life. He continued to raise Joy's two sons after her 00:18:57.53\00:19:02.00 death. Lewis was a very famous man when he died. However, news 00:19:02.04\00:19:09.28 of his death was overshadowed by the dramatic death of another 00:19:09.31\00:19:12.61 even more famous man, U.S. President John F. Kennedy who 00:19:12.65\00:19:17.99 had actually been assassinated on the same day less than an 00:19:18.02\00:19:22.56 hour earlier. C.S. Lewis was buried here at the Holy Trinity 00:19:22.59\00:19:27.43 Church in Oxford. Even today it's common to find flowers left 00:19:27.46\00:19:31.27 here on top of his tombstone. But the people of the United 00:19:31.30\00:19:36.57 Kingdom did more than this for Lewis. On the 50th anniversary 00:19:36.60\00:19:40.54 of his death in 2013 Lewis was commemorated together with 00:19:40.58\00:19:45.41 England's greatest writers at Poets' Corner in Westminster 00:19:45.45\00:19:50.25 Abbey. There's a floor stone dedicated to the memory of C.S. 00:19:50.29\00:19:53.59 Lewis at Poets' Corner. It's inscribed with words from an 00:19:53.62\00:19:57.26 address that he once gave: 00:19:57.29\00:19:59.16 Within Christian circles Lewis' books are loved in a way that 00:20:09.80\00:20:16.85 transcends denominational boundaries. Through his writings 00:20:16.88\00:20:22.18 Lewis has helped countless thousands of people to find 00:20:22.22\00:20:26.25 faith in God and to keep it in an age that hasn't been at all 00:20:26.29\00:20:30.13 friendly to Christianity. Today secular readers of Lewis' 00:20:30.16\00:20:37.80 fiction works are often unaware of the Christian theme there 00:20:37.83\00:20:41.30 enjoined but they are engrossed by Lewis' vision of heroic 00:20:41.34\00:20:46.27 battles between good and evil, or right choices being made in 00:20:46.31\00:20:50.01 the most difficult circumstances and visions of another world, a 00:20:50.05\00:20:56.05 better world, a heavenly world that breaks into our own. 00:20:56.08\00:21:00.46 In this way, C.S. Lewis' vision reaches out and still continues 00:21:00.49\00:21:05.79 to bring hope to millions just as he did during the 00:21:05.83\00:21:10.10 London Blitz in World War II. 00:21:10.13\00:21:12.20 Today, many people in our society have chosen atheism 00:21:12.23\00:21:18.47 and rejected belief in God. C.S. Lewis knew what it was like 00:21:18.51\00:21:23.28 to be an atheist. Not just that, he was a highly 00:21:23.31\00:21:27.68 intelligent and militant atheist. But he was a man 00:21:27.72\00:21:31.35 no hope in life as an atheist and if you don't have hope, 00:21:31.39\00:21:36.22 then you haven't got anything. 00:21:36.26\00:21:37.86 The reality is that many people today don't even bother to 00:21:37.89\00:21:42.76 think about things like whether God is real or not. 00:21:42.80\00:21:45.93 But Lewis did and he realized that it was difficult for him to 00:21:45.97\00:21:51.07 remain committed to rational thought and not to believe in 00:21:51.11\00:21:55.68 God, he found the evidence for God to be overwhelming, 00:21:55.71\00:22:02.18 undeniable. But there was something else, throughout much 00:22:02.22\00:22:05.69 of his life, nothing he experienced could ultimately 00:22:05.72\00:22:09.96 satisfy him and together with that Lewis experienced a deep 00:22:09.99\00:22:14.23 longing for a better world and an indescribable joy 00:22:14.26\00:22:17.80 that every now and then would break into his mundane reality. 00:22:17.83\00:22:22.37 But where did it come from? Well, C.S. Lewis came to 00:22:22.40\00:22:27.81 recognize that that joy had to come only from God. 00:22:27.84\00:22:32.41 He came to realize that he could only find ultimate satisfaction 00:22:32.45\00:22:36.92 in Him. God is the answer to our heart's longings and 00:22:36.95\00:22:41.89 our deepest needs. Only He could fill the God-shed hole 00:22:41.92\00:22:46.19 in our lives. Now this realization is nothing new, 00:22:46.23\00:22:50.50 thousands of years ago the psalmist David wrote this 00:22:50.53\00:22:54.40 in Psalm 145:16. 00:22:54.44\00:22:58.37 And then in Philippians 3:8, the Apostle Paul wrote this: 00:23:07.58\00:23:12.79 What he meant is that ultimate satisfaction only comes 00:23:23.00\00:23:27.84 from knowing Jesus Christ. 00:23:27.87\00:23:29.60 And that's what C.S. Lewis discovered and when you discover 00:23:29.64\00:23:33.71 that, he also discovered an endless source of hope 00:23:33.74\00:23:37.51 and he went on to share that hope, true hope, 00:23:37.55\00:23:40.98 lasting hope, with millions. 00:23:41.02\00:23:43.72 We've all experienced moments of great joy in our lives. 00:23:43.75\00:23:47.46 Now what if those moments were just glimpses of a better world, 00:23:47.49\00:23:52.26 an eternal world where that joy was constant and 00:23:52.29\00:23:56.80 reigned supreme? What about you? 00:23:56.83\00:23:59.57 Have you ever felt like you were missing out? 00:23:59.60\00:24:02.20 Like there's more, much more to life 00:24:02.24\00:24:05.21 Have you ever wished that those moments of greatest joy could 00:24:05.24\00:24:10.05 last forever? Well, what if they can. 00:24:10.08\00:24:15.35 There is a better world coming. If you would like to experience 00:24:15.38\00:24:19.79 more hope and joy in your life, then I'd like to invite you 00:24:19.82\00:24:24.06 to join with me and ask for it as we pray. 00:24:24.09\00:24:27.90 Dear Heavenly Father, We thank you because You were 00:24:27.93\00:24:32.90 the one who satisfies all our desires. 00:24:32.93\00:24:35.64 Thank you because you have prepared a better world for us. 00:24:35.67\00:24:39.24 Thank you for those glimpses of greater joy that waits for us 00:24:39.27\00:24:44.75 up ahead and we thank you for the hope that this gives us 00:24:44.78\00:24:48.92 in you and in your promises to us. Strengthen our faith 00:24:48.95\00:24:53.29 in you as we walk through this world and bring us finally 00:24:53.32\00:24:57.53 to our heavenly home, the place of complete joy and peace 00:24:57.56\00:25:01.76 in Jesus name we pray, Amen. 00:25:01.80\00:25:05.77 One of the issues that Lewis struggled with all his life 00:25:05.80\00:25:10.21 was the problem of pain. 00:25:10.24\00:25:12.34 It started with the death of his mother from cancer 00:25:12.37\00:25:16.08 when he was 9 years old and continued throughout his life. 00:25:16.11\00:25:19.95 His was the age old question, why did God allow that to 00:25:19.98\00:25:26.62 happen? If we are honest, we all have to admit that we 00:25:26.65\00:25:30.79 experienced pain and suffering. At first for Lewis, it became a 00:25:30.83\00:25:35.96 reason to reject God and turn away from Him, 00:25:36.00\00:25:38.63 but later he discovered that there was a way to deal with 00:25:38.67\00:25:43.00 suffering and pain when its apparently unbearable. 00:25:43.04\00:25:46.41 Lewis discovered that not only did Christianity have a 00:25:46.44\00:25:51.11 better answer to the problem of pain, but that the problem 00:25:51.15\00:25:54.65 of pain became a reason to draw closer to God. 00:25:54.68\00:25:59.15 Because this is an issue for all of us, I'd like to offer 00:25:59.19\00:26:03.46 you the FREE gift we have for all our viewers today. 00:26:03.49\00:26:07.16 It's a booklet called Finding Strength In the Midst of Pain. 00:26:07.20\00:26:12.23 This book is our gift to you and is absolutely Free, 00:26:12.27\00:26:17.07 there are no costs or obligations whatsoever. 00:26:17.11\00:26:21.01 This book brings hope and strength in the midst of 00:26:21.04\00:26:24.28 trouble and pain so don't miss this wonderful opportunity 00:26:24.31\00:26:28.88 to receive the gift we have for you today. 00:26:28.92\00:26:31.69 Here's the information you need. 00:26:31.72\00:26:36.16 Phone or text us at 0436333 555 in Australia 00:26:36.19\00:26:42.76 or 0204222042 in New Zealand, or visit our website www.tij.tv 00:26:42.80\00:26:54.84 to request today's free offer and we'll sent it to you 00:26:54.88\00:26:58.38 totally Free of charge and with no obligation. 00:26:58.41\00:27:01.72 Write to us at PO Box 5101 Dora Creek NSW 2264, Australia 00:27:01.75\00:27:11.56 or PO box 76673 Manukau, Auckland 2241 New Zealand. 00:27:11.59\00:27:21.70 Don't delay, call or text us now. 00:27:21.74\00:27:26.27 If you've enjoyed today's journey through the 00:27:26.31\00:27:29.88 experiences of C.S. Lewis and how he 00:27:29.91\00:27:32.91 turned from Atheism to being a bringer of true hope 00:27:32.95\00:27:36.38 to millions, be sure to join us again next week 00:27:36.42\00:27:39.82 when we will share another of life's journey's together. 00:27:39.85\00:27:43.26 Until then, remember the ultimate destination of life's 00:27:43.29\00:27:47.63 journey. 00:27:47.66\00:27:49.00 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth and God will wipe away 00:27:49.03\00:27:52.87 every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, 00:27:52.90\00:27:56.14 nor sorrow, nor crying, there shall be no more pain 00:27:56.17\00:27:59.77 for the former things have passed away. 00:27:59.81\00:28:03.28