The actor portraying Zebedee in the hit television series ‘The Chosen’ broke down in tears of joy recounting how faith returned to him while being surrounded by passionate believers working on the transformative show. Nick Shakoour, whose character is the father of two of Jesus Christ’s twelve disciples, James and John, also credits being awarded the role – after what he considered a “botched” audition – with his fervently renewed belief in God.
The comments, and tears, came as the actor sat down with Christian Broadcasting Network upon the conclusion of filming for the popular show’s fourth season in July of 2023 to discuss the life-changing experiences on set. Shakoour discussed his adult-life reticence to accept Christ as his savior and his initial hesitation to join other believers on set in group prayer, up to the eventual conversion, as it were, and to being a seed planted by God to both accept Him and spread His word.
At one particularly powerful moment in the interview, Shakoour vividly recalled how an evening of group prayer ended with a group of people praying over him and inviting him into God’s family. “It amalgamated into nine people placing their hands on me, kind of ganging up on me, and, uh, they’re one of their elders coming up with anointing oil, like the irony, wow, anointing my forehead, my palms. Next thing I know, he was praying over me in tongues and from from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head,” he said.
From there, the actor remembered the incredible moment he felt the presence of God. “It was like fire was passing through it and burning everything that I had in me away to where I was going to ask them to call 911, it was like, whoa, I’m getting dizzy. What’s going on? And it was frightening. It wasn’t like, oh, it felt good. And it was, No, it was, I felt God’s. Presence, and it was frightening. So I understood what it meant, all the fear of the Lord, it was like, yeah, he could kill me at any second, like this, if he wanted to, he could just evaporate me.”
Shakoour’s fear in the what he described as the presence of God transitioned into intense heat all over his body, which was taken away as quickly as it had come with a baptismal experience. “And it got to a point where I felt like I was being microwaved and vibrated at the same time, and then eventually, just dipped into water. Before my body could handle any couldn’t handle any more burning.”
I felt like my skin was gonna explode off my body, and then I was submerged in an ocean, and then all the prayers went very muffled, and then all of a sudden, I was just pulled up. It felt and then everything was just still, and it felt so weird, because I didn’t feel like myself anymore,” he added.
Shakoour would later recount how the construction crew who built the homes on the set of Zebedee’s community told the actor that they had written Bible verses on the inside walls of all the homes, and that they did so because they felt commanded by God. And as previously mentioned, one of the workers related to Shakoour he felt directed by God to begin with scripture on the character Zebedee’s house.
“[i]t started in your home, and then the Scripture spread to the other characters homes,” the actor recalled. “And he said, you know, we got together as a crew when we broke ground to build those homes that we prayed for, one of the actors to receive the Holy Spirit and would become the seed to spread the Gospel. And he points at me with tears in his eyes, this big, burly, bearded guy, and he goes, and you’re gonna be that seed…” Shakoour said before stopping and putting his hands over his face, being too overcome by tears to continue.
Watch the incredibly moving interview below:
Featured image: Screen shot from embedded video