BBC TWO - Wonderland "The End of the World Bus Tour"
The Real Story

Marco Crivellari from the BBC contacted us in the February of 2007 and asked if he could discuss a documentary he was working on.  Marco wrote, “I am developing a 40-minute documentary for BBC television on conceptions of the end of the world - from religious-based beliefs to environmental and scientific concepts of how and when the world will end. We are anxious to include Christian beliefs centred on the Book of Revelations - and, having researched this area a little, I have found out a little about the tours to Israel organised by Koinonia House through TMI.  This struck me as potentially a very interesting forum in which to explore beliefs about Armageddon - in a context that actually visits the sites mentioned in the prophecies in Revelations, and where the prophecies are also explained.

After exchanging a few emails we met together near the BBC offices at the White City in West London.  As we sipped our Starbucks, Marco explained that the BBC wanted to create a series of 40 minute films on “ordinary people doing extraordinary things.”  He said they would be “nonjudgmental type programmes without the normal producer commentary” that would focus on interesting people and their interesting ideas or outlook on life.  He had noticed our tour to Israel advertised on the internet and found it “very exciting and interesting”.  He told us that he was especially drawn to the “quality and unique insight” of the tour leader Dr Chuck Missler.

Marco went on to say how impressed he was with the credentials of Dr Missler and how he saw Chuck as unique because he was “not your average charismatic evangelical Christian.”  “the is something very real about him,” exclaimed Marco.  During our discussion we presented the facts of Missler’s education, professional and ministry experience. 

Marco responded by telling us that he was “drawn to Chuck because he sounded so intelligent and credible.”  A reasonable conclusion considering the fact that Chuck Missler was a Honour Graduate of the US Navel Academy, has a Master’s Degree in Engineering from UCLA, a PhD from LBU, supplemental graduate studies in Applied maths, Advanced Statistics & Information Sciences. He has served on over a dozen Boards of Directors of top US companies, and was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of six of them which included the American electronics giant Western Digital.  Chuck is also consider by many Christians as a leading Bible expositor and has published many books and articles pertaining to the Bible.

Marco revealed that he wanted to “understand why and how intelligent people could believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible and it’s predictions concerning the end of the world.”  I assured him that there would be many intelligent people on the tour that could give a reasonable answer for his honest questions.  Marco also informed us that the programme “must have a main character which sounds British.”  He told us that the BBC were not interested in making another film about American Christians so we felt fairly comfortable that they would be steering the programme away from the undertow of anti-Americanism which seems to be a popular among some segments of society.  “No,” he said, “This is going to about what the British people in this tour think.”

Armed with Marco’s assurance of journalistic fairness we made the necessary arrangements to allow the BBC crew to become part of the Koinonia Institute’s Issachar Tour to Israel.  In the months prior to the actual tour Marco informed us that a producer by the name of David Clews would be joining the BBC crew. 

We met with David Clews on a sunny afternoon in the garden of a scenic Hampshire pub where David expressed his excitement about the opportunity this film gave him.  He admitted that he knew very little about then Bible let alone the whole concept of end-times prophecies from the Bible.  Again we stressed the importance of identifying the objective of the programme before engaging in the detailed filming.  David admitted, “I’ve got a lot of reading to do.”  He certainly did.  Many of the people on this tour have spent their lifetime studying the Bible and its relationship within modern society.

Like Marco, David assured us that he had no alternative motive to produce anything that would be unfaithful to the general idea we had discussed with Marco at the beginning.  This was going to be something unique in that it would follow a story line that would not belittle or berate the beliefs of evangelical Christians or, more specifically, this group traveling with Koinonia Institute.  David concluded our meeting with a request to contact a few of the people in the States to “add a little bit of interest.”

As the European representatives of Koinonia Institute, we made the necessary phone calls and cleared the way for David to make a quick trip to the States to visit Chuck and Nancy Missler along with a number of other Americans from the tour.  The next time we saw David, Marco and the rest of the BBC film crew was as at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv in Israel.

As the BBC crew filmed various people on the tour it was obvious that they were doing their job very well as they were readily accepted and treated as “one of us.”  Conversations were friendly yet frank.  The people were told of the Marco’s objective of “journalistic fairness” and we all started off on a wonderful holiday in the Holy Land.

Within two day, however, some of the people on the tour began to complain of what they saw as entrapment during the questioning.  They kept saying that “David seems to want to move the conversation into a political direction” which had nothing to do with “our beliefs” concerning the objective of this specific tour.  David came armed with a barrage of questions that seemed to focus of the “Palestinian Issue” and not on our understanding of the Biblical issues surrounding the end times.

It also became obvious that the producer David Clews was singling out individuals who were not necessarily the most knowledgeable or mature concerning the stated objective of the tour.  In essence, he was targeting the few “weaker sheep” in our little flock.  In typical straw-man debating techniques he seemed to single out those who would help him tell “his story.” For someone who said he wanted to “understand the reason why these people have such and extreme view of the end times,” David seemed to intentionally avoid the stronger or more articulate ones in the group who could have given him excellent answers in favour of the ones he could wind up and catch out.  Perhaps speaking to the “stronger ones” would have made David’s straw-man a little more resilient to the bombardment of David’s prejudicial ponderings.

In spite of all of the confusing questioning by David (and co) the group as a whole showed great love and compassion for each member of the BBC crew.  We often slowed the tour down to allow the BBC crew to finish their filming.  This often meant that some of the planned activities had to be shortened or eliminated all together.  

As people felt more and more comfortable with David and Marco they began to feel a loving concern for them.  This led to many people “sharing the Lord” with them.  We could see that they (David and Marco) were completely ignorant of the whole idea of a real, infinite, personal God, impending judgment, the salvation of man and the rest of basic Christian doctrine. 

The people on this tour are united in the belief that there is one single God of everything and that He reveals Himself both by His creation and in His Word (The Bible).  Therefore, it is only a natural response of loving people to try and “fill up” someone who is “empty” of understanding.