Tests of faith: Illusionist examines biblical miracles

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Nashville illusionist Brock Gill never figured Jesus for a master magician.

As an evangelical Christian, Gill always accepted the biblical accounts of Jesus' miracles as just that -- miracles.

But when the BBC asked him to travel to the Holy Land to investigate whether Jesus could have used magic, hypnotism or some other trick to create the illusion of miracles, Gill couldn't refuse.

"I've always been fascinated by miracles, ever since I was a kid reading the Bible stories," says Gill, host of the three-hour special, "Miracles of Jesus," which will be shown on the Discovery Channel on Christmas Eve.

At the outset, the show makes clear he's a Christian. But Gill says he had to set aside his personal beliefs and approach such stories as the raising of the dead and walking on water with an open mind.

"Before I got into really doing the investigation, I did research on some of the skeptics' views and there were some quite convincing ideas. It rattled me a little bit," says Gill, a 30-year-old with a religion degree from East Texas Baptist University. "I thought, 'I really want to find the truth here.'"

Producer Jean-Claude Bragard says Gill, who could be mistaken for a surfer with his soul patch beard and long blond hair, was a natural choice for host. Gill's act includes levitation, escaping from a sealed coffin filled with water and making coins multiply.

"We realized we didn't need an academic to lead the program, but we needed somebody who was interested and knowledgeable about Scripture and particularly interested in the miracles," Bragard says.

The show uses interviews with scholars and dramatizations of Bible stories to examine seven miracles, including the multiplication of bread and fish, the conversion of water into wine, the raising of the dead and walking on water.

One segment questions whether Jesus could have hypnotized a large crowd to convince them he had multiplied bread and fish to feed everyone. In another, Gill sloshes across sandbars in the Sea of Galilee to see if Jesus could have appeared to walk on water by staying in the shallows.

In each case, the conclusion is that Jesus probably couldn't have tricked people into believing they had witnessed a miracle.

"Is it possible? Yes, it's possible that there was some type of trick because I was able to do it," says Gill, who turned water into wine during the show. "But most of those things used technology that he wouldn't have had. We re-created walking on water, but it took three 18-wheelers full of equipment to pull it off."

Bragard says the subject of miracles has "embarrassed" modern scholars of Jesus, adding: "The fact is, he was famous because of his miracles. The people then believed he was a miracle-worker, even his enemies."

For Gill, who mostly performs for churches and other religious groups, delving into Jesus' miracles only strengthened his faith.

"Before this year my beliefs were based just on the Bible and what my parents and pastors had told me," he says. "Now, I'm really convinced that what I'm believing is the truth."