From jobless, ‘deep in debt’: Jonathan Roumie shares ‘miracle’ before playing Jesus in ‘The Chosen’ 

MANILA, Philippines — For those who know The Bible and the Bible-based series “The Chosen,” among the most memorable scenes in both was “The Sermon on the Mount,” when Jesus multiplied five loaves and two pieces of fish to feed a multitude of 5,000.

Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus in “The Chosen,” personally experienced God’s multiplying miracle in his life.

Prior to leading the cast of the world’s most successful crowdfunded series, Jonathan was jobless and “deep in debt” despite working hard as an actor, with up to seven other jobs on the side.

“I was struggling for many years in Los Angeles. I moved there from New York, and spent eight years trying to make acting my full-time (job). It was once a while. I had periodical, periodic engagements with the TV shows and with successes and so on, and I hadn’t hit anything that led to multiple stints in TV shows or film or something else,” Roumie told the press, including Philstar.com, at last week’s roundtable interview in Shangri-La The Fort, Taguig City.

“So, I was working on different side jobs. None of them would really pay the bills. So, I went from six or seven different side jobs all at once that I was bouncing literally, to having no work in any of them. So for me, it just felt surreal and felt off. It just didn’t seem normal. I was like working for three different gigs. I was painting houses. I was driving… for people, and all of the sudden, it all stopped.”

Jobless, hungry and penniless, Jonathan had nothing else to do – but to pray.

“I wondered what was going on. I came to the point where I was in negative in my balance in my checking account. I was deeply in debt. I had enough food to last a day and how am I going to have enough food to last for the next day, I don’t know. My credit cards had been frozen. So, I didn’t know what I was going to do. The only thing that I could do, that I was left to do, which was to leave it all in God’s hands. Because I have no choice, If I wasn’t practicing the faith that I confess to believe that I had to rely on God and I couldn’t no longer rely on myself and my concept on what it is to be in control of my career and you know, the one to handle and calling the shots. God gave me no choice but to surrender. So I did.”

The moment he surrendered his life to Christ, he saw how his life changed.

“And every day, I received a windfall in the form of four different paychecks from these groups of sources from jobs I’ve done over the years, from what they call was their residual payments. I was like, ‘How come they haven’t paid me in years?’ It was like, ‘Oh, we forgot to pay this money, it was $800.’ And at the end of that, I have $1,100! Before that, I had negative $80,” he recalled.

He was so amazed at how God turned his life around that he documented the “miracle” he received.

“I recorded the whole thing in checks for posterity to really memorialize this miracle. Because for me, it was a financial miracle and in the spiritual level, a proof that the minute I gave my life, my career, to God, that’s when He opened the floodgates for me. And three months later, I was booked for ‘The Chosen.’ And from then on, I never had to worry about how to feed myself.”

In anything he does, Jonathan leaves everything to God.

“I think that if I too have courage, it is the grace of the Lord,” he affirmed. “It’s His work. I think, in the things that I have initially felt uncomfortable with or not wanting to do, you know, when God asks me to speak in March for Life, I thought, I really didn’t want to do it. I thought, this was going to be too controversial, this is going to hurt me, you know, career-wise. And I just keep on getting something from the Holy Spirit like, ‘This is going to be okay. It’s going to be fine. Don’t worry about it.’ So, okay. That very minute, I let go of that, the minute I surrendered again, to where I felt the Spirit was coming. The sleeps that I had labored over for weeks where I barely moved a paragraph, literally threw itself in about 25 minutes.”

According to him, even when shooting for “The Chosen,” he was not guaranteed if the series would continue. But since that epiphany that happened at the lowest point in his life, he knew that God will take care of the rest.

“Even six months after booking in ‘The Chosen,’ nothing was guaranteed. We didn’t have seven seasons guaranteed. But I didn’t worry. I had the same psyche that I used to have. I knew that He’s going to take care of me as He has,” he said.

“And I thought, okay, I have to continue to rely on God for my faith, for my faith as gift, for increasing faith, for grace, for strength and for courage. And whenever I do that, I’m never left alone. When I sometimes feel very solitary, but I know that I am never alone.”

From originally only four episodes, “The Chosen” now has five seasons finished, Roumie announced.

If your prayers have not been answered yet, Gary Valenciano shared some ways on how to handle it with faith, also taking off from a scene in “The Chosen.”

“There was one scene where Little James has his cane and he begins to ask Jesus, ‘Why, I’m speaking about healing and we’re going around, we’re healing people, but I am not healed yet?’ And you know, I’ve been with Diabetes now for 46 years, praying almost every day, ‘Lord, is this the day?.’ But you know, the Lord has other plans for me, but that scene really, really spoke to me and really got to me, right here. And that’s just one! There are many that will speak to all of you in so many ways, in great ways,” he said in an interview at the teal carpet of last Friday’s “Holy Night” premiere in SM Megamall, where Roumie was a special guest.

“I believe that with social media being so much a part of our minds, ‘The Chosen’ can be a part of our hearts. And I’m really excited at how this is going to continue to move people not just in the Philippines, but all around Asia and all around the world as the years go by.”

He believes that God will heal him, just like Little James, “in time.”

“In time! What a great testimony for everyone here who are dealing with health issues and God has not healed you yet, and yet you could go out and tell people that God is good! He is faithful in all that He does!”

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