‘Miracle in East Texas’: A Conversation on American Values with Kevin and Sam Sorbo

Miracle In East Texas movie poster, 2023 | Sorbostudios.com

Kevin Sorbo and his wife, Sam, are the filmmakers behind the award-winning movie “Miracle in East Texas,” which tells the true story of forgiveness and redemption, two qualities they say America is slowly losing.

Opening in theaters Oct. 29-30, “Miracle in East Texas” centers around two con men who, during the Great Depression, convince lonely widows to invest in their oil wells with no real return on their investments. However, after their scheme is exposed, God divinely intervenes, giving them a second chance to redeem themselves.

Directed by Kevin Sorbo, the film also stars John Ratzenberger and Lou Gossett Jr.

“The quintessential story is [God] takes broken people and He doesn’t fix them, but He makes them better. He is a God of redemption. He’s a God of forgiveness, which is why the movie’s themes are forgiveness, redemption and hope,” Sam Sorbo told The Christian Post in a video interview.

“The true story is these men became saved; they became better people through this ordeal. But it goes even further than that because the movie ends, our story is over, but the story of the oil continues. This is actually the oil that allowed us to win World War II, and even Churchill credited East Texas oil with the win. It’s why our tanks didn’t run out of gas before the German tanks ran out of gas,” she said.

The film has received rave reviews, winning 10 different film festivals in categories including Best Romantic Comedy, Best Faith Film and Best Director, among others.

“The idea that it deals with forgiveness and redemption and the benefits of forgiveness and redemption and the fact that that is one of the tenets, it’s one of the traditional American values that we’re losing now because of the canceled culture, which is really the opposite,” Sam maintained. “It’s the anti-forgiveness culture, and we’re letting it seep in. And so, this is really our effort to kind of push back on that and say, ‘No, no, it’s better this way.”

Throughout the interview, Kevin Sorbo slammed the evil going on in the world.

“The anger and the hate out there, it’s toxic, and it’s expanding,” Sorbo lamented. “It’s really unbelievable. To sit there and watch people here in America take the side of Hamas and cheer and go up and down the streets and say we’re not supposed to retaliate in any way. Are people in this country beheading babies? I don’t think so. I mean, it’s sick, the world we’re living in.”

When asked by CP to share a time when they found themselves in a similar situation as the con artists in the film and God intervened, Sam Sorbo reflected that after her husband’s success on “Hercules,” he suffered three strokes which led him to surrender his life to Jesus.

“He almost died right before we got married, and he heard God warning him and it took him several years. It took him three years to fully recover. It took him over a year-and-a-half to believe that he would recover,” she added.

Kevin Sorbo later wrote a book about his experience, titled, True Strength: My Journey from Hercules to Mere Mortal and How Nearly Dying Saved My Life.

“I think what eventually happened for him … that voice that he heard was really simply the voice of presence, the presence of the Lord,” Sam Sorbo continued. “We are responsible for the decisions we make, for the choices that we make. The consequences are inevitable and the Lord provides; the Lord is there.”

“He never promised an easy life. You will have troubles; you will have roadblocks in life. How do you react to those roadblocks? They’re going to define the kind of person you are.”

Tickets for “Miracle In East Texas” can be purchased at Sorbostudios.com.