Bear Grylls Reveals His Most Life-Changing Story Yet

HOW IT ALL BEGAN 

Born Edward Michael Grylls in Northern Ireland, “Bear” was given his famous nickname by his sister when he was a week old.  And that was that.  After college, Bear began his career as a soldier with 21 SAS of the British Special Forces, learning many of the survival skills he demonstrated and taught on TV later.  A 1976 freefall parachuting accident in Africa, where the chute ripped upon opening and sent him spiraling down, left Bear with a broken back in three places.  He endured many months in and out of military rehabilitation, and 18 months later, became one the youngest people to scale Mt. Everest. He wrote a book about the experience, which caught the attention of The Discovery Channel.  They offered him a show where they would drop him in difficult places.  Bear says he lacked the confidence to be a “TV guy,” and said no three times.  Newly married and in need of work, he finally changed his mind and started the first of seven Man Vs Wild seasons on the Discovery Channel. 

A DIFFERENT SORT OF BOOK   

Considered by many as the most recognizable face of adventure on the planet, Bear is best known for his many adventure and survival shows.  He’s also a bestselling author of 100 books and manuals, teaching skills and inspiring young and old to do their best in life.  When this book came out on the life of Jesus, it begged the question, “Why?”  Bear has not kept his faith a secret by any means; it simply wasn’t the focus of his prior work.  “I didn’t have to write the book … but I couldn’t have not written it,” he explains with characteristic enthusiasm.  “Wild horses couldn’t have stopped me. I literally woke up one morning and knew I was going to write this thing, with utter conviction,” he says.  “Nobody’s ever told the story of Jesus, the straight linear story, dramatizing, citing, short, punchy, accurate – but only using words of Jesus’ dialogue, not changing any of that.”  He says that if someone told him it would ruin his entire career, he would still have done it.  

UNIQUE AND AUTHENTIC

Bear chose to tell the story of Jesus’ life in the first-person as eye-witness account from five people who knew him best.  It all begins with Mary, Jesus’ mother, whom Bear describes as young, nervous, and excited by the wondrous message of the Angel Gabriel.  Then comes Thomas, the doubtful, skeptical disciple.  Next is Peter, who is “all in” with his whole heart.  The fourth eye-witness is John, the beloved disciple and close friend of Jesus, and lastly, Mary Magdalene, who is really broken by life, he says.  He chose each one for his /her closeness with Jesus, but different needs and responses to Him.  “It’s all our stories,” Bear says.  “Jesus interacted with everyone from the elite to the lowest, most broken, and the prostitute.  Everyone He interacted with was changed, so whoever you are, I think you’ll relate to it.“

Consulting with many theologians, including some who work with the hugely popular TV series, The Chosen, Bear went to great pains to make the book accurate.  He says they kept tightening, refining, and protecting nuances.  “I wanted to be absolutely faithful, so there are no scenes which are imagined.  There’s no dialogue from Jesus that’s made up.  Not a single word.  I haven’t changed even a comma from the New Testament,” he explains.  To be most authentic, Bear used Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic names for people and places to reflect the social context of the day.  
    
HIS OWN FAITH   

“Faith was there early on,” Bear recalls, as he was mesmerized by nature as a little boy.  “I knew there was something out there beyond me.  I could feel it.”  Later, his boarding school was very “churchy and religious,” he says, turning him away from faith for years.  “I came back to it as a teenager when my godfather died out of the blue,” Bear explains.  “I was 15, up a tree, distraught.  I cried, and I just remember saying a prayer: ‘I wish, God, you were real.  I wish you were like I knew you when I was a boy.  Are you there?  It was just a heart cry.  It was a prayer of salvation.”  

Bear freely admits failings and doubts along the way, but says his faith in Jesus today is sure.  “He has paid the price.  He took our place on the Cross.  He died to set us free,” he believes.  “I have discovered that we lose our power when we try to live on our own strength alone.  My longing for this life within me is stronger than the fear of what others may think.  I am not too proud to admit that I need my Saviour beside me, within me.”    

BEST WORK

Though he’s written some 100 books, Bear says this one “trumps them all – not by a small margin, but a long way.  It’s the proudest thing in my work I’ve ever done.  I would give up everything – every summit, every Emmy – they pale into insignificance compared to this, because it’s history, it’s His-story, it’s the story of Christ, written in a way that is accessible.  If I could only be remembered for one thing, this would be it,” he says emphatically.  

His hope for those who read it?  “I did it because I really want people to experience this story.  Because the story changes us.  It gets in people’s hearts and doesn’t let them go.”  Bear asks for prayer for all who will read it.  “Please join us in praying that this book will bring many millions to know the truth that sets us free.”    

To find out more about Bear Grylls click the LINK!  or to purchase his latest book The Greatest Story Ever Told click the LINK!

CREDITS

Author, The Greatest Story Ever Told (Hodder & Stoughton, 2025) / Sold more than 20 million copies of his 100 books worldwide / Extreme adventurer, explorer, survivalist / Host of numerous TV shows, including Running Wild with Bear Grylls, in its ninth season on National Geographic Channel, and Man vs. Wild on The Discovery Channel, 2006-2011, and Netflix shows You Vs Wild and Bear Hunt / Double Emmy and BAFTA winner / Chief Ambassador to 55 million Scouts worldwide / Former 21 SAS (British Special Forces) soldier, three years / One of youngest ever climbers of Mt. Everest / Married to Shara, three sons: Jesse, Marmaduke, and Huckleberry