WWUTT 2385 Q&A Jesus Movies, The King of Kings Review, Is This a Good Thing

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Is the film The King of Kings worth watching? What did they get right and what did they change about the story of Jesus?

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And what should we think about all these Jesus movies that are coming out right now? The answers to these questions and others when we understand the text.

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Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is committed to teaching sound doctrine and rebuking those who contradict it.

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Visit our website at www .wutt .com. Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

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Thank you, Becky, who is not in studio with me this week. She is out sick. I myself am having trouble holding on to my voice, so we'll see how far we get here.

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I had a series of questions that I had set aside for the two of us to answer because these questions address both of us.

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But I'm going to have to wait until, well, next week, God willing, she'll be back in studio with me. I've got some other comments

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I'm going to respond to in the meantime. But first, let's start with the scriptures. I'm in Proverbs 10, reading here verses 7, 8, and 9.

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The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.

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The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.

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Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.

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We see this kind of contrast throughout Proverbs between the righteous and the wicked or the wise and the fool.

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Now, in verse 7, even though both the righteous and the wicked will die, they'll both die, but there's still a vast difference between them.

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The memory of the righteous is a blessing. He encourages people in his life to live in the righteous way, specifically that way that God says is right.

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And even after he is gone, the legacy that he leaves behind continues to inspire people to do what is right.

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Whereas the name of the wicked, everything he stood for and what people knew him for, it will rot.

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It was a rot to people who knew him in his lifetime. It will continue to lead people astray even after he is gone.

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But ultimately, that name will come to nothing. Verse 8, the wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.

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The wise is a person who will receive instruction. He'll do as he's told, but a babbling fool, he's just talking and listening to no one.

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It's as James said, be quick to hear and slow to speak. And finally, verse 9, whoever walks in integrity walks securely.

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Reminds me also of Psalm 1, to walk in the way of the righteous, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.

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For all of his shuffling, his way will eventually be known. So may we walk in the right way.

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We pursue the wisdom of Christ and we walk in his righteousness, which he gives to us when we believe in him by faith.

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This is the end of the week edition of when we understand the text, when we like to take questions from the listeners and you can send those questions to when we understand the text at gmail .com

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or you can send us a voicemail, go to www .tt .com, click on that voicemail tab and record us a message either through your laptop or through your phone.

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I think it gives you 90 seconds and we would love to hear from you. I had the chance to see the film, the king of kings.

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This is the computer animated film about the life of Jesus. This story though is told from the perspective of Charles Dickens.

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It's based on a book that Charles Dickens wrote for his kids or the way that he would tell the story of Jesus to his kids.

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This book was actually not published until after he had died. I think even the last of his children had died by the time this book finally made it to publication.

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Now Charles Dickens theology was not exactly solid. He was Anglican for most of his life, but then he became

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Unitarian Unitarians in case you're not aware, deny the doctrine of the Trinity especially, and they place an emphasis on works righteousness.

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So the Christian faith is about just doing the right thing. It's not even in recognizing that Jesus Christ is

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God, that he died on the cross for our sins and only by faith in him are we forgiven our sins and have everlasting life with God.

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That is not at the heart of what the Unitarians believe. So I watched this movie and judging nothing based on Charles Dickens theology,

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I just simply watched the film as it was and critiqued it according to, well, what

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I saw. And here is the short video that I put together as a brief review of the film, and then

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I'm going to come back in here and respond to some comments that I received on that review.

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So here we go. In an Easter season with three

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Jesus movies in theaters at the same time, the one made for kids is called King of Kings.

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This computer animated film released by Angel Studios, owned by Mormons, features an all -star cast, including

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Moon Knight as Jesus, James Bond as Pilot, Luke Skywalker as Herod, and Gandhi as Caiaphas.

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Also a very annoying cat. This time the story is told from the perspective of Charles Dickens. Yes, that Charles Dickens, based on a book he wrote for his children called

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The Life of Our Lord. In the movie, Dickens tells his son William about Jesus, beginning with the

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Christmas story, then a young Jesus teaching in the temple, then he goes through Jesus' ministry including many miracles, culminating with his death on the cross, and briefly shows his resurrection from the grave.

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While the film does get some things right, there's a lot that it doesn't. Jesus is often misquoted in subtle ways.

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For example, when a young 12 -year -old Jesus is teaching in the temple, Luke 2 .49 says that he told his parents,

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In the movie, he says, When Jesus is baptized by John the

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Baptist, John insists he should be baptized by Jesus. In Matthew 3 .15, Jesus replied,

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But in the movie, Jesus says, This is what my father wants. In Mark 10 .45, Jesus said,

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They make this Jesus sound like a guy from Human Resources, rather than the King of Kings. The film tells us that our sin makes

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God sad, but there's no mention of hell or the judgment of God, which Jesus talked a lot about.

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All have broken God's law and are under his wrath. But Jesus took the wrath of God upon himself when he died on the cross as an atoning sacrifice for sin.

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All who believe in him will not perish, but we are forgiven our sin and reconciled to God that we may have everlasting life with him in heaven.

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The message of the true King of Kings is found only here in the Bible, when we understand the text.

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Now a correction to something that I said in that review. I said that Charles Dickens tells his son,

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William, about the story of Jesus. In the movie, his name is actually Walter, so I got that incorrect.

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But I was right in that the cat in the film is actually very annoying. The first 10 minutes of the movie are difficult.

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I don't think it was well written in the first 10 minutes at all. It picks up a lot more after that.

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In the first portion of the film, I really was sitting there going, oh my goodness, this is going to be awful.

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And I had three of my children with me, and they did not laugh. A lot of the comedy was just kind of forced, and it really didn't register with the kids.

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I think that they were entertained, and we talked about the movie after it was over, but the humor definitely didn't land.

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Now it is an extremely well -made film, and as you heard there in the review, it features an all -star cast.

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But I do not think that cast brings anything significant to the table. Having to pay these men all that money, and they really did not add anything to this story.

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They're not passionate about this. They're just making a paycheck. And for all

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Angel Studios' intention to try to do things that are different than what Hollywood is churning out, why are you using so many

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Hollywood actors to do this? It really feels more like they're trying to appeal to a particular demographic.

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And like I said there at the start of the review, during this Easter season, there have been three

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Jesus stories in theaters at the same time. You've had season five of The Chosen, this film

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The King of Kings, and there's another one called The Last Supper. And that one is not as well -known. They haven't put as much money behind advertising, so you probably haven't heard of it.

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Our local theater was actually playing it, and it's also not getting good reviews. So it's kind of a throwaway film in all the

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Jesus movies that are coming out this year, by the way. There are three other films that are coming out this year, if memory serves.

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It's going to be like six Jesus films. I know the next one comes out in September, and it's another animated film that is from the perspective of John, the

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Apostle John, when he was a disciple and he was the youngest disciple. It's one of the things that I've noticed that in a lot of these movies and shows that show

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Jesus and his disciples, John is very rarely the youngest. But it is pretty well -established, even in Scripture, that he was the youngest apostle.

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It looks like in this movie, though, that's coming out in September, he's too young. They make him like a little kid.

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But anyway, that's going to be the next one coming out in September. I know there's another Christmas movie, another one about the nativity that's coming out this

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December. It's like every December we're getting a new nativity film. Two Christmases ago, it was

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Journey to Bethlehem, the musical. And then this past Christmas, it was Mary, which I think was only on Netflix.

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That one may not have hit theaters, but nonetheless, it was a big film produced by Joel Osteen. And then you've got this next one coming up toward the end of the year,

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I think is another Angel Studios production. But this is the chosen effect, right?

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The Chosen is the biggest show in the world right now, especially streaming. It is the most successful fan -supported project ever made.

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And since it's been so huge and so successful, and the stars from that show have even been on late -night talk shows and all of this, well, this is the chosen effect.

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Now everybody else is making Jesus films. And so it's not really, we're not really seeing this explosion of Christian content.

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You're just seeing the same story made over and over and over again in different ways because it's safe.

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And for the people who are making it, it is to them a guaranteed moneymaker. I mean, this stuff has to make money or else they're not going to be able to make any more of it.

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But they're not really practicing a storytelling art here so much in that they're not coming up with new stories.

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They're not coming up with something original. This is not a real world scenario like you or I might live through with our

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Christian faith playing a role. This is instead another Jesus story. So many great stories in the

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Bible, but no, we have to keep coming back to this one because of the success of the

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Chosen. Now there's going to be every decade another popular

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Jesus story that comes out. The previous decade, it was the Bible miniseries on the

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History Channel that included the film Son of God. The decade before that, it was the Passion of the Christ. So eventually the

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Chosen will run its course and then next decade we'll get something else. But because of the popularity of the

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Chosen, we're getting all of these different Jesus films. And as has been the case with every single one of them

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I have watched, they have all changed the words of Christ and have done so so unnecessarily.

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Like the example that I made there in the review where I said that instead of Jesus saying the

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Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many, they change it in the movie to he came to give his life as a benefit for the multitudes, which has a completely different meaning.

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You've changed the theology of it entirely. And there are all kinds of lines like that throughout the film.

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Now, I pointed out just three or four examples in that review, but it was enough to make people mad, as you can probably expect.

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Here are some of the responses that I got, the comments that I received under that video.

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This one is from Skip Peterson. He says, while the review is correct, however, this is an animated movie.

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You might not want to get too heavy into theology. It is a young, a very young children's movie and perhaps was not designed to cover certain biblical themes that are very difficult for children to comprehend.

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I believe it was designed to give a very good nudge toward the true gospel. I also do see a lot of very solid biblical lessons being applied in this movie as well.

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Let's keep this in mind. One thing I believe that we can agree on is this, that the Lord God of heaven and earth will use this movie as a way to draw children and adults to his glory and story.

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He will. But that's pragmatism. If you say the movie is justified because God's going to use this to draw people to himself.

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So it's OK if we change the words of Jesus, because in the end, it's a net positive or something to that effect.

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If that's the reason, that's the reasoning you're going with. That's pragmatism where the ends justify the means.

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Doesn't matter. The means we get them there just as long as we get them there. But in the meantime, we've been unfaithful to the true word that Jesus Christ actually said in John 6, 63,

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Jesus said, my words are spirit and life. If you change those words.

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Do you still get spirit in life? Previously in John 5, 24, he said, truly, truly,

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I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.

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He does not come into judgment, but is passed from death to life. So whoever hears my word and believes in God, but how do you know the way of God unless you're getting the right word?

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And the one who believes does not come into judgment, but is passed from death to life. So we're talking about words here that have the power to save a soul and to do so eternally.

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This is not stuff that we should be messing around with. And when writers change the words of Jesus in just such a way, it's as though they're saying we know a better thing for him to say.

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We didn't like that line so much. Let's go with this one. When Jesus gives his life as a ransom for many, there's deep truth in that.

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Jesus giving his life as a benefit for the multitudes. I mean, it was certainly a benefit, and there will definitely be a great multitude that comes to faith in him, but it doesn't mean the same thing.

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It's not a statement of him giving his life as a payment for our sin so that we might be forgiven and redeemed unto

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God. You can't make the excuse here. Well, they're making a kids movie, so we're going to make it easier for them to understand.

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I don't see how benefit of the multitudes is easier to understand. You would still have to explain to a child how

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Jesus is going to be a benefit to the multitudes. So if you're going to have to explain it to them anyway, stick with the right words.

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And plus, this movie has commentary all the way through it. It's not just filming

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Jesus saying things and then just leaving those words there. The character of Charles Dickens in the movie is explaining the words of Jesus as they go.

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So quote Jesus for what he said and then explain it accurately. But that's really not what the film is out to do.

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I mean, when you've got all of these A -list actors behind it, many of whom are God haters,

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Oscar Isaac and Mark Hamill being two of them, they actively hate

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Christianity and have spoken in favor of the LGBTQ movement and gay rights and things like that.

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And these are the actors that you have playing in your Jesus film. Oscar Isaac, in particular, actually playing the character of Jesus.

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Here's another comment. This is from somebody in Arkansas. He says, I guess the reviewer didn't see at the end of the film.

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They put up John 14 six. I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father but by me. Yes, I did see that.

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I saw that on the screen. It wasn't in the movie, but they had it on the screen as the credits were rolling.

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So it really was not a focus. It was not an emphasis at all. And by the way, Oprah has quoted

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John 14 six. Of course, Oprah quoted it and gave her commentary to it, what she thought it really meant.

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But but just because you put it in the movie doesn't mean it's properly framed in such a way as to communicate what

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Jesus was saying when he said that. So this person goes on.

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This movie was illustrated through Charles Dickens telling his son about the life of Jesus. It was not the Jesus movie that went almost word for word through the book of Luke.

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I'm an ordained minister with a seminary degree. Got to love it when they drop that in there. I've studied scripture for over 45 years.

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I thought the movie was excellent, better than I expected in that it presented the Jesus of the Bible to children. I think that every family should see it.

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Did it present the Jesus of the Bible to children? I'm not convinced that it did. I think it presented a version of Jesus to children, but not the

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Christ of the Bible. When you're changing his words that much, especially when you're changing the saving message that's in the words.

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Then you're creating a different Jesus. And like I said in the review, he did not sound like the king of kings in this film.

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That is not the Christ that I read in the Gospels. That was a different Jesus. That was

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PR Jesus or HR Jesus. PR would be public relations.

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I guess he could be that as well. But this was HR Jesus, human resources. Several of these other comments make the point that it's a children's movie.

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This one, David Freitas, make a Christian movie for children, trying to simplify a few things to make it more understandable for the kids.

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And you will be judged harshly by a stuck -up, hypocritical Christian reflecting the self -righteous behavior of the

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Pharisees during Jesus' time. Boy, that's a kind comment. Here's another one that goes right along with that one.

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Sounds like you need to lighten up. You sound like Pharisees, concerned about the letter of the law instead of the heart of it.

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It's one thing if the movie completely went against the truth of Scripture, but it didn't. Did you ever think to ask why they hired celebrities?

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You went too far on this one. Just lost a subscriber. Oh, so sad. It's funny how on YouTube, especially, or anywhere on social media, they'll hold that over your head.

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You better say what I like, or else you're going to lose a subscriber. But this person making the statement about, you sound like the

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Pharisees, concerned about the letter of the law instead of the heart of it, the Pharisees were not concerned about the letter of the law.

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They changed the law. They added things to it, just like the dialogue of this film was changed and added to.

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Now, with all the different Jesus movies that are coming out, I had asked this question on social media.

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What are your thoughts on this ongoing run of Jesus entertainment, all these different Jesus shows coming out?

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And if you leave me your thoughts, I'll read them on the broadcast. This first one comes from my friend Justin Peters of Justin Peters Ministries.

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He said the following. I have a fundamental problem with all movies of this genre. There is simply no

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God honoring way to portray deity on film, putting aside wherever you land on this being a second commandment violation.

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All of these films put an image of deity, whether the father or the son in your mind, that is not accurate.

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There is no possible way that it could be. Now, Justin and I had talked about that before. I was a guest on his program, and we talked about this very thing.

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I think it was about a year ago. And I had said that when I review The Chosen, I'm not a very visually oriented person anyway, and that I cannot easily picture things in my head.

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Like when my wife tells me, here's how I want to decorate the room, I can't see it. You're going to have to literally be able to show it to me.

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So it was easier for me when I stopped watching The Chosen to walk away and not picture

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Jonathan Rumi in my mind. But the more I watched it, that did actually become the case.

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I would start seeing Jonathan Rumi's face whenever I would read of Jesus in my

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Bible study. And for people that affects even more than it affects me,

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I cannot imagine how difficult that is. You watch these Jesus films and these shows, especially something like The Chosen, which is on its fifth season now.

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You've watched episode after episode after episode, and that's the image that comes to your mind. And even the portrayal of Jesus that comes to your mind when you're reading the scriptures.

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So Justin goes on, even the best actor with the best of intentions cannot possibly portray

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Christ accurately. If a producer came to me and said, Justin, I'm making a movie on the life and ministry of Jesus, and I want you to play the starring role.

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My reply would be, you want me to play whom? Have you lost your ever loving mind?

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Ignoring for the moment the absurdity of a Jesus having cerebral palsy because Justin has cerebral palsy, the very notion of even entertaining the thought of portraying

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God, the son on film would be utterly horrifying to me because there is exactly a 0 % chance that I would get it right.

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And I'm not about to put an image in people's minds of Christ that is not accurate.

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I am not going to do that, nor would I ever be so arrogant as to think that I could do the alpha and omega justice.

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I have far too much fear of God to even try it. The notion that any human could do justice to portraying the son of God on film is the height of arrogance and hubris.

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If God had wanted us to have Jesus on film, he would have been incarnated in the last 100 years, not 2000 years ago.

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God gave us a book, not a camcorder. Other than that, I have no real strong feelings on the matter one way or the other.

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So I appreciate your comments, Justin. This one from Elizabeth Prada. I have often wondered about the effect of playing

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Jesus Christ for over 50 years on and off for over 5500 performances and how that has affected

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Ted Neely. That's a great question. Ted Neely, by the way, in case you don't know, he played

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Jesus Christ in the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar, which is an incredibly blasphemous play.

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But he played Jesus for 5500 performances. What kind of an effect does that have on a guy?

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Our friend Michelle Leslie of Louisiana, she said, aside from whether or not it's biblical to portray Jesus in movies,

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I would just like to know of the dozens of Bible movies I've watched over the years, why do they always intentionally or not get details wrong that are clearly spelled out in scripture?

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And that would be just as easy to get right. I mean, God wrote the script and the stage notes for you.

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And there's been more commentary written and historical archaeological research done on the

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Bible than any other book in history. And you're still going to get it wrong. You're either very stupid or very arrogant.

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That's a great point, Michelle. It kind of goes back to something that I had said earlier about how they have this attitude of the words that Jesus said in scripture of saying, you know,

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I just don't like those. I think we can make it better. And then they write the words their way.

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And that's extremely arrogant to say, I think the line that he would be a benefit to the multitudes is just a little bit better than a ransom for many.

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Here's Will Spencer in Arizona, something a little more positive for you. I'm happy that Christianity is trendy, but if it doesn't produce repentance and heart transformation, then it's just a fad in storytelling.

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Let me be clear. I'll take it any day over more woke garbage. But as Christians, we must pray for better.

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And I agree with that. Will, that's a that's a great take this person who says he's the governor from Louisville, Texas, but he doesn't look like Greg Abbott.

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So not the governor of Texas. He says, if it's being promoted by Hollywood and other secular media and starring a bunch of unbelievers,

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I can't help but be skeptical. I think you're right about that. This person whose name

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I can't pronounce from Las Vegas. I don't want images from movies and TV shows in my mind when

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I'm thinking about God. I think that's a mature approach. Connor from Tennessee. I think it's a positive thing that the culture feels pandering to Christianity is a profitable business, but it's a double edged sword along with the pandering will come grifting.

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Overall, I'd say it's a net positive if the church at large submits itself to doing the work of an evangelist.

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You know, I remember when the Noah movie came out. This was over a decade ago. I had an exchange with somebody who worked in Jim Daley's office.

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Jim Daley is the president of Focus on the Family. Jim Daley celebrated the film and actually endorsed it.

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And this movie was made by an atheist and just slaughtered the story of Noah. It was a horrible film.

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And so I had confronted Jim Daley's office and said, why is Daley promoting this movie?

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And so there was a guy that responded from his office. It wasn't Daley himself, but had said that Jim Daley believes that these kinds of movies can be positive because it can help spur on the discussion that will that can help you guide a person to the truth of what the

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Bible actually says. But again, that's pragmatism. We're talking about pragmatism there. It's good because we we think the end result of it, not even what the end turns out to be, just what we think the end will be is justifiable.

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And so that means movies like this are okay. But we have to remember the words of James chapter three, verse one.

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Not many of you should aspire to become teachers, my brethren, because, you know, teachers will be judged with greater strictness.

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And like it or not, even though this movie is made for entertainment, it's teaching something and the people who made it are going to have to answer for what they said and even what they twisted.

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The apostle Peter said in second Peter three, 16, that the ignorant and unstable twist the word to their own destruction.

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So it's pretty important that we get it right. And if we're twisting the word and presenting a twisted word to something or to somebody else that could lead to their destruction.

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So let us have a high reverence of scripture as God's word that has the power to bring the dead back to life for those who hear and believe these kinds of movies and shows are so popular because people don't have a high reverence for God's word.

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And I get criticized when I point out the inaccuracies, because, again, even most of evangelicalism in America today does not highly revere

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God's word. That's going to be our program for this week. Appreciate you listening.

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Any other comments you want to share, send them to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com or go to www .utt

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.com and record me a voicemail. This is a production of Providence Reform Baptist Church in Casa Grande, Arizona.

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You can find more information about the church by going to providencecasagrande .com. God bless, and I look forward to talking to you guys again next week,