Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman takes a look at faith as host of the National Geographic Channel series “The Story of God.” The show now is in its second season, and the episode “Heaven and Hell” includes interviews with an Assyrian Christian family living in Modesto and the bishop of the local diocese of the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East. Nationalgeographicchannel.com

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By Deke Farrow, January 27, 2017

How can you find a piece of heaven when you’re living in a hell on earth?

That’s one of the questions Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman asks in the latest episode of the National Geographic Channel series he hosts, “The Story of God.”

Among those he interviews in the “Heaven and Hell” episode are Modesto resident Mervat Shlimoun and her 17-year-old son, Matios Anioel, who fled religious persecution in Iraq and Syria, and Mar Awa Royel, bishop of the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East, Diocese of California. Shlimoun, her husband and son are members of the diocese’s Mar Addai Parish in Turlock.

In the hourlong program, Freeman says Jesus told his followers they would inherit the kingdom of God. But the actor said he’s always struggled to understand what Jesus meant by that: a heaven in the sky, or here on earth?

"They’ve lived through hell on earth, chased out of two countries because of their faith."

Morgan Freeman, in a clip from “Heaven and Hell” episode “The Story of God”

“There’s one group of Christians that might know the answer to that question,” he says. “The Assyrian Christian church dates its foundation to just a few years after Jesus’ death. It claims its theology is what Jesus himself believed. For them, heaven means being close to God, hell is being far from God.”

Sitting down with his mother to talk with Freeman in a Phoenix restaurant in October, Anioel told him he can compare hell and heaven to his own life. Assyrian Christians have lived in Iraq more than 2,000 years, Anioel said, and before the Iraq War, relations between Muslims and Christians were peaceful. Then “everything went downhill.” During the war, Muslim militants believed the Christians were working with American soldiers, he told Freeman.

The boy was 6 when his family fled Baghdad for Syria, where it met more oppression from the Islamic State. The family eventually was granted refugee status from the United Nations and was accepted to enter the United States. He and his parents arrived Jan. 25, 2011, said Anioel, a student at Enochs High School.

Friends at school know his story, the youth said, and he sometimes shares in classes when topics such as Islam, Christianity and religious persecution are being discussed. He’s had more questions from people since the episode first aired Monday. The Assyrian story “is very important to tell people to understand the experience in the Middle East,” Anioel said, “because not a lot know what’s going on and understand what the people have been through.”

"With the power of prayer, I feel peaceful and light. Hell, it’s a really complicated (concept). It’s like a test from God – you go through hell to get to heaven."

Matios Anioel of Modesto, on what his Assyrian Christian faith has taught him about heaven and hell

The “Story of God” producers found the Turlock church through the website for its Assyrian Festival and originally wanted to come to the festival in 2016, but that didn’t work out, said Adrenna Alkhas, parish member and communications director for the Stanislaus County Fair.

In addition to being interviewed – over a period of six hours – by Freeman in Phoenix, the family also was filmed during prayer at its Turlock church, Anioel said. He wasn’t nervous about meeting Freeman, but when the cameras rolled, “it was really scary when we first started.” He soon relaxed, found the experience fun and was glad to be able to talk about his faith and his experiences.

After all the filming – including two more hours at his church – just a few minutes of footage is of the family and church, he said. But he understands, because Freeman covers a lot of other ground in the episode, including descending into the ancient Native American underworld, investigating the phenomena of exorcisms and the gift of tongues, and meeting a woman who believes she has seen heaven.

"The persecution of the Assyrian Christians in the Middle East is practically unknown in the U.S. and other Western countries, and I believe this episode with Mr. Freeman will open the eyes and minds of many to what our people are suffering in the Mideast."

Bishop Mar Awa Royel

Bishop Royel said that with him, Freeman wanted to explore two areas: What heaven and hell are dogmatically, and what the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East believes about heaven and hell – how it interprets the Scriptures.

On what it means to have been featured in the episode, which is set to air again Sunday at 5 p.m. Pacific time, Royel said, “The Assyrians are the indigenous people of Iraq – that’s been proven and demonstrated. To be able to share our story on a very large scale puts us on the map and gives the exposure our people need to educate our fellow Americans and people around the world.”

The full episode can be watched at http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/the-story-of-god-with-morgan-freeman/videos/heaven-and-hell by people who have a TV service provider and password.

In a promotional image for “The Story of God” series on the National Geographic Channel, host Morgan Freeman meets Modesto resident Mervat Shlimoun and her son, Matios Anioel, for an interview for an episode titled “Heaven and Hell.” Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East, Mar Addai Parish of Turlock

Traditional dancing is performed during the Assyrian Festival at the Stanislaus County Fairground in Turlock on Aug. 27. John Westberg Modesto Bee file

Bishop Mar Awa Royel, left, and Deacon John Piro welcome everyone to the Assyrian Festival at the Stanislaus County Fairground in Turlock on Aug. 27. John Westberg Modesto Bee file