John Bunyan spends his days in prison, separated from his wife and children. Living in the cold, stone cell is the price he pays for going against the established state religion. If only he would agree to stop preaching, John could walk out a free man! Why does he choose to stay in jail, and how will he serve his Lord in this wretched place? Find out in this episode of The Torchlighters.
Alternate formats: Digital Video - $2.99
2008 International Christian Visual Media Awards
2008 International Christian Visual Media Awards
John Bunyan spends his days in prison, separated from his wife and children. Living in the cold, stone cell is the price he pays for going against the established state religion. If only he would agree to stop preaching, John could walk out a free man! Why does he choose to stay in jail, and how will he serve his Lord in this wretched place? Find out in this episode of The Torchlighters. Fullscreen.
Torchlighters is a series of animated programs for youth ages 8-12, presenting the lives of true-life heroes from Christian history. When Kids see what God can do through a "Torchlighter" who is devoted to carrying out His will and purposes, they too may want to carry a torch of faith by serving Him. For more information on the series, visit www.torchlighters.org.
Special DVD Features:
- Languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, Hindi, Gujarati
- Subtitles: English, Spanish
- Fascinating documentary with additional information on Bunyan's life, filmed at the Bunyan Museum in England
- Comprehensive leader's guide with four complete lesson plans, background information, and more (also available at www.torchlighters.org)
- Reproducible student handouts, including comprehension and discussion questions, puzzles, activities, coloring, and more (also available at www.torchlighters.org)
- The Pilgrim's Progress board game (in PDF), based on John Bunyan's best-selling book
- Interactive children's quizzes online at www.torchlighters.org
The Torchlighters video series is a series of animated DVD's dedicated to "Highlighting the honor, integrity and life-changing experiences of those well-known and little-known Christian men, women and children who in response to God’s call, dedicated their lives to a life of whole-hearted commitment and passionate service to Jesus." It is a production of Christian History Institute along with International Films and Voice of the Martyrs. The first in this series was The Jim Elliot Story and this was followed by The William Tyndale Story. The third installment of the series is The John Bunyan Story and it traces the life of this great servant of the Lord who is best known, of course, for writing the Pilgrim's Progress. "John Bunyan's life was filled with challenges and victories. No matter what his circumstances, this 'torchlighter' followed God to the fullest. Like the main character in his book, Bunyan used all his gifts and resources to press on through thick and thin. His message still rings true today." The film focuses on Bunyan's youth, presenting him as a naughty, sinful child, and then fast forwards to his arrest and imprisonment during which he wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress. The series is targeted primarily at children between the ages of eight and twelve. While this film has a few scary moments, it is somewhat less intense than the previous two films where the main characters were actually killed. There is nothing too graphic in this episode beyond an encounter between Apollyon and Christian in a brief animated excerpt from Bunyan's greatest book. My children, having seen the first two installments in the series, were convinced that Bunyan would die and were grateful that he lived to a good age and died a natural death. Included with the film is a study guide suitable for children that includes a leader's guide and reproducible student worksheets. There is also a 40-minute documentary on Bunyan's life that is suitable for both children or adults (though it is intended primarily for adults). A John Bunyan board game is available for free at the Torchlighters web site. These add significant value to what is already a strong presentation. They will encourage your children to become Torchlighters: "One who commits to serving God and passing on the light of the Gospel, even when the going gets tough…" We watched this film as a family and enjoyed it together. It is well worth watching and discussing together. We are looking forward to the fourth episode, due next year, which will focus on one of my heroes, Eric Liddell. To learn more about the series, visit the Torchlighters site. You can view trailers for the series or the individual films.
I am so thankful to the folks at the Christian History Institute for their quality animated DVDs that promote knowing the heroes of our Christian faith. Our children need good role models. They need to know their Christian "ancestors." They need quality movies to watch. Our children will receive all three of these things by watching these DVDs. Actually, I (aged forty-something!) watched these movies with my 85 your old mother and we were both moved by these stories. Scripture is quoted in each of them and important Biblical concepts are enhanced. When you see what God can do through a torchlighter, who is completely devoted to the Lord, your children (and you) will be inspired to serve Him more fully. Not only are the movies great, but the Web site, www.torchlighters.com, has teacher's guides, student handouts, maps, games, crafts, activities, discussion questions, and more that can be downloaded and used with the DVDs if you wish to make this more than just good movie watching. If you're looking for quality resources that will teach your children to be committed to God and His truth, you’ll definitely want to check out The Torchlighters DVD series! Reviewed by: Betsy Lawrence
The church marquee tells passers-by, "God isn't looking for the able, He wants the available," "God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called," and "What God orders, He pays for." As trite as these may sound, the annals of history are chock full of stories of mere men being faithful in the small things and seeing God do the big things through them. Introducing your children to these heroes has just gotten easier. Vision Video has made available on DVD the Torchlighter series, featuring animated retellings of The Jim Elliot Story, The William Tyndale Story, The Eric Liddell Story and The John Bunyan Story. All of these heroes of the faith were sent by God to be faithful in the small things: reaching out to a remote tribe of hostile natives, translating the Scriptures into the common language of the people, remaining true to the faith in the face of wide acclaim and going against popular opinion, and suffering in prison while writing the second-bestseller of all time. But, far from Saturday morning fluff, these well-told stories are accompanied by extra features that help you and your family learn even more about God's work in the lives of these men. - Jim Bob Howard
The Torchlighters video series is a series of animated DVD’s dedicated to “Highlighting the honor, integrity and life-changing experiences of those well-known and little-known Christian men, women and children who in response to God’s call, dedicated their lives to a life of whole-hearted commitment and passionate service to Jesus.” It is a production of Christian History Institute along with International Films and Voice of the Martyrs. The first in this series was The Jim Elliot Story (my review) and this was followed by The William Tyndale Story (my review).
The third installment of the series is The John Bunyan Story and it traces the life of this great servant of the Lord who is best know, of course, for writing The Pilgrim’s Progress. “John Bunyan’s life was filled with challenges and victories. No matter what his circumstances, this ‘torchlighter’ followed God to the fullest. Like the main character in his book, Bunyan used all his gifts and resources to press on through thick and thin. His message still rings true today.” The film focuses on Bunyan’s youth, presenting him as a naughty, sinful child, and then fast forwards to his arrest and imprisonment during which he wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress.
The series is targeted primarily at children between the ages of eight and twelve. While this film has a few scary moments, it is somewhat less intense than the previous two films where the main characters were actually killed. There is nothing too graphic in this episode beyond an encounter between Apollyon and Christian in a brief animated excerpt from Bunyan’s greatest book. My children, having seen the first two installments in the series, were convinced that Bunyan would die and were grateful that he lived to a good age and died a natural death.
Included with the film is a study guide suitable for children that includes a leader’s guide and reproducible student worksheets. There is also a 40-minute documentary on Bunyan’s life that is suitable for both children or adults (though it is intended primarily for adults). A John Bunyan board game is available for free at the Torchlighters web site. These add significant value to what is already a strong presentation. They will encourage your children to become Torchlighters: “One who commits to serving God and passing on the light of the Gospel, even when the going gets tough…”
We watched this film as a family and enjoyed it together. It is well worth watching and discussing together. We are looking forward to the fourth episode, due next year, which will focus on one of my heroes, Eric Liddell. http://www.challies.com/music-movies/dvd-review-the-john-bunyan-story
We like all the Torchlighter movies, and John Bunyan is an important person to teach our children about. I hope they make more ...
We really appreciate the Torchlighter series, we use them in our Sunday School department which is 5th and 6th graders and the kids love them. We eagerly anticipate the new one coming on Gladys Aylward!
Torchlighters DVDs and study guides are top notch. I can't wait to start showing and teaching them. When we are finished, I am considering putting together a special program in front of the church with the kids about the Torchlighter series. I am not sure what that will be yet, but one thing I know is that because of the wonderful teaching guides you have provided, I have time to do things like this. Torchlighters is going to be the springboard for many exciting things our children will get to experience and share and I want to thank you again for creating such an amazing program of such quality. Everything is so well thought out and the artwork is beautiful. I know the parents will immediately see that we have chosen an exceptional program and the kids will be thrilled to see the posters start going up around the church.
Just a quick note to say thank you so much for producing these DVD's!! Our 3 children (aged 6, 4 and 2) watch them constantly and it cheers our hearts to hear them play Amy Carmichael rescuing Preena instead of Cinderella and Snow White! (in fact our 2 year old son goes around the house yelling, "let me go, let me go!" which he learned from that movie!). We wanted something in our home that would enrich our children's lives and give them missionary hearts, and these movies do that perfectly. We have recommended them to all the families we know who have children. We are already looking forward to John Wesley!
Our family has watched your DVD's for years and we have been SO blessed by your materials!! We are so grateful that you've provided a Christian look at history, showed us stories of brave Christians, and built our faith — one episode at a time. And we thank you for stepping up to do this and providing <b>excellent</b> children's DVD's — a very rare thing indeed!