ARLINGTON, Texas – In a story of life transformation filled with twists and turns only God could orchestrate, Michael Ray Lewis, a former atheist and horror filmmaker, gave his life to Christ and has become a Christian apologist.
“Growing up, my family said that they believed in God and we had a Bible under the bed, but we never really talked about God and we never talked about Jesus,” Lewis said. “We definitely never read the Bible. So, the only real interactions I had with Christians were the ones that were on the street corners yelling at me that I’m going to hell and holding up the signs and had a very aggressive approach at it. So, over time, I don’t know if it was the perception I had of Christians that turned me away or just that I didn’t think it was true. Gradually, over time, I started watching documentaries opposing Christianity and just didn’t see any good reason to believe in Christianity.”
As his own personal search for answers and meaning led him to find Christ, Lewis began his faith journey at City on a Hill in Arlington, Texas, where he is now a member, with the encouragement of his wife.
With his new documentary “Universe Designed,” Lewis examines the universe as a masterpiece of intentional design and challenges skeptics to look at the compelling evidence for the existence of God.
The film launches Saturday (Dec. 13) across all major digital platforms and features interviews with some of today’s leading apologists, such as Frank Turek, Sean McDowell, Stephen Meyer, Hugh Ross and Allen Parr. Lewis spent four years working on the film, which combines a unique blend of cinematic storytelling with scientific and historical evidence for Christianity, offering skeptics an invitation to investigate Christianity for themselves while also giving believers a fresh tool for evangelism.
Before Lewis became a believer, he ridiculed Christians, dismissed the Bible as nonsense and devoured documentaries that tore down belief in God. However, all that changed when his wife unexpectedly felt called back to Christ and wanted to start attending church. That’s when Lewis began a quest to prove her wrong.
“I was never given any real interactions with Christians growing up,” Lewis said. “I started watching documentaries by Bill Maher. I didn’t really have a good reason to believe so I adopted an atheist mindset. Then, my wife said, ‘I feel Jesus is calling me back to church.’
Listening to my wife asking questions, it wasn’t the guys on the street corners yelling, and she started talking about how the evidence for the existence of God lines up with Scripture. It was a three-year journey that piqued my curiosity, and I started researching books and listening to podcasts.
She had me talk with a friend of her family that was a theologian. I put together five pages of questions, and he answered every question with Scripture. I was overwhelmed with evidence. On the drive home, I didn’t want it to be true.
“The evidence was sound that God existed, and that Jesus really was who He claimed to be,” Lewis told Baptist Press. “The reason I didn’t give my life to Him was because I didn’t want it to be true. I think inwardly I didn’t want it to be true because it if it’s true then you’re held accountable to someone. When I realized that, that’s when my thinking shifted, and I realized that wasn’t a good reason to not believe it and said, ‘Alright, Jesus, what’s next?’ That’s when I surrendered my life to Christ.”
Lewis was surprised that he found himself confronted by something he couldn’t ignore: the compelling evidence of the existence of God. In conversations with atheists and skeptics, he has found that most have similar stories to his and don’t understand the gravity of the Gospel.
“Whenever you engage into conversations with an atheist or skeptic, the problem with evil is it can’t reconcile a loving God with suffering,” Lewis said. “So, they can’t believe that a loving God would send people to hell. They don’t understand the Gospel and that Jesus is standing there waiting for them to repent and come to Him at any moment and to receive them. The gravity of brokenness is how big God is. That was what did it for me when I finally opened my eyes to that and the truth of Christianity.”
He said the biggest spiritual influence throughout his faith journey has been his wife, but he also spends a great amount of time reading books from apologists like Hugh Ross, William Lane Craig, Tim Keller, Sean McDowell and Frank Turek.
“I remember the first book I bought when I was researching Christianity was Timothy Keller’s ‘Reasons for God,’” Lewis said. “I ended up going through that book. I’m like, OK, it’s a little something.’ But I still kind of dismissed it.”
A turning point came when Lewis stumbled on a YouTube video by atheist-turned-apologist Hugh Ross that made him think, “Maybe there is something to this.”
Lewis spent four years working on “Universe Designed” and feels the time was well spent as he hopes it helps to reveal the truth of Christianity to non-believers.
“It has been a long journey, and we’ve had to overcome many obstacles,” Lewis said. “It’s been culture-shifting, asking big questions. For non-believers, my prayer is that this documentary is shared with them and for someone to hear the evidence, for it to change their heart and pique their curiosity with the truth of the Gospel and allow it to change their life for eternity.”
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