TOP STORIES OF 2020: Denzel Washington Shares ‘Supernatural’ Moment He Had with the Holy Spirit

TOP STORIES OF 2020:

Denzel Washington Shares ‘Supernatural’ Moment He Had with the Holy Spirit

By Allyson Vannatta, Senior Writer

Editor’s note: As 2020 draws to a close, Movieguide® wants to take a moment to remember the stories that shaped faith and entertainment news throughout the year. While mainstream media reported on the negative, Movieguide® chose to focus on what is good, pure, true, and lovely. Despite the discouraging headlines around the world, we still saw God move mightily – even in the entertainment industry. The following is one of our top stories for 2020, as selected by you, our readers. Thank you for supporting movieguide.org this year. We pray we will continue to see God’s presence and goodness manifest even more in 2021. This article originally appeared on June 30, 2020.

Popular actor Denzel Washington joined a pastor on Instagram live and shared an experience he had with the Holy Spirit when he gave his life to Christ.

“I was filled with the Holy Ghost and it scared me. I said, ‘Wait a minute, I didn’t want to go this deep, I want to party,’” Washington told the pastor with a laugh.

Washington experienced the moment at West Angeles Church of God in Los Angeles in the early 1980s.

This was one of three times that the Christian gave his life to Jesus.

“I went to church with Robert Townsend and when it came time to come down to the altar I said, ‘You know this time, I’m just going to go down there and give it up and see what happens.’ I went in the prayer room and gave it up and let go and experienced something I’ve never experienced in my life. I remember calling my mother afterwards and asking her, I said, ‘Well, you know it felt like I was going up in the air, and my cheeks were filled’ and she said, ‘Oh no, that’s the devil you’re purging.’

“It was a supernatural, once in this lifetime experience that I couldn’t completely understand at the time,” he added.

He explained that along with not being able to understand it at the time, he also wasn’t ready to live out his commitment.

Washington said during the interview that, “It kept me grounded in spite of myself; I mean, I accepted it, I definitely experienced it, but I wasn’t ready to live it. I don’t know how old I was then but I wasn’t ready to live it then. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s gone through that kind of experience.”

As the 65-year-old actor has gotten older, he’s been very vocal about his Christian faith.

Washington added that just because a person has an incredible moment with the Holy Spirit, it doesn’t mean life won’t have its challenges.

“You have that moment … But it doesn’t mean that the rest of your life is going to go the way it should. It’s not like ‘Oh, I had this moment, I’m filled with the Holy Spirit and now everything’s going to be pretty, not going to be perfect.”

The REMEMBER THE TITANS actor ended the live video saying, “After all is said and done, I want to be in that number! I just want to be in that number when the saints go marching in. I want more than anything else in my life to be in that number.”

Watch the full conversation below!