In the new faith-based drama “Disciples in the Moonlight,” releasing July 17 from Pinnacle Peak through Fathom Events, a serious question is examined—“What if the Holy Bible was outlawed in the United States?” The film, written by Josh Strychalski and directed by and starring Brett Varvel, takes place in the not-too-distant future where a new, more culturally sensitive Bible is introduced, and copies of the original Holy Bible are outlawed. A small group of Christians band together to smuggle the Bible into churches in the Midwest.

The Movie Asks, “What If.”

“I believe this movie could be the start of a movement in our culture—to awaken people to treasure the Word of God and boldly proclaim the name of Jesus no matter the cost,” Varvel said. “The time has now come to share this powerful story delivered by the most incredible cast and crew.”

Strychalski first approached Varvel with the concept back in 2013. Varvel was intrigued, imagining a world where the Bible was outlawed. The more he thought about it, he considered believers in countries where the Bible is currently banned and what their zeal for God was like.

“It took me into this exploration of how serious I hold my faith and how, how much do I treasure the word of God?” he said. “It caused me to then examine and contrast my faith and the way that I express my faith versus the faith of people in the persecuted church all over the world, in different parts of the world. When I look at their faith, I see this vibrancy, I see this, this passion and zeal for God’s word.”

It Should Serve As A Cautionary Tale

Ahead of its release, the film screened at the International Christian Film Festival in Orlando, the Cannes Film Festival in France, and a hometown red carpet in Indianapolis, with former Vice President Mike Pence in attendance. Pence was inspired by the film, commenting, “’Disciples in the Moonlight’ is an action-packed thriller set in a future of Christian persecution in America. At a time of more and more assaults on religious liberty, this compelling motion picture should serve as a cautionary tale and inspire people of faith to do even more to protect religious freedom in America.”

Varvel said that through the film’s long journey to release, the topic of religious freedom and the concepts explored have become even more relevant.

People Can Insert Themselves Into The Story

“Over the course of the many years that we’ve spent trying to make this movie, the culture has started to change and shift very rapidly,” he said. “And I think such an appropriate time for a movie like this, because now people can really insert themselves into the story and get engaged in it because of things that are happening even here in the United States.”

Religious freedom is a topic Varvel hopes that audiences discuss after seeing the film, especially considering “the whole effort to redefine what is true relativism is sweeping our society.” He believes that now more than ever, audiences will need to examine what they believe and why and “have a firm stance” on what truth is.

“This is why I call this my love letter to the church of Jesus Christ,” he said. “I desire to see the church wake up, and go into action, and not be ashamed of what they believe in a society when most of most of our culture is wanting us to be ashamed of what we believe in. I believe that the Bible is the key to life. And so our desire is that people would fall in love with God’s word after seeing this movie.”

Fathom Events, which has had success with recent faith-based releases such as “The Blind” and “The Chosen,” will run an extended release of the film for at least seven days, which could be expanded with impressive ticket sales.

“We’re very excited to bring this film to theaters for an extended run,” said Ray Nutt, CEO of Fathom. “It’s the perfect blend of faith, suspense, and inspiration that will guarantee a great theater experience for a broad range of audiences.”

Tickets for “Disciples in the Moonlight” are now on sale and can be purchased at Fathom or at participating theater box offices.