The Gospel of "Jesus Revolution" Examined

Testing All Things Against Scripture

I'd like to spend a few minutes talking about the film, The Jesus Revolution, and have you ever wondered why it is that Christians see things so differently? So we're going to talk about this film, but isn't that true?

You know, Christians can look at the same thing and have totally different takes. I mean, if we're all going off of the same book, and if we all have the same Holy Spirit within us, how is it that we can come to such radically different conclusions sometimes?

But as for this film, The Jesus Revolution, it is in theaters now. Someone I know wanted to see it, so I went, and I did see the movie. I remember a couple years ago I had made comments on the radio about the book, The Shack, and someone called me up, and they were kind of upset, and they said, I bet you never even read the book.

And I said, well, actually I did, and just, I want you to know, I'm not going to comment on something I don't know anything about. I mean, I think that would be irresponsible. So I've seen the film, but this film, Jesus Revolution, it is about Calvary Chapel and the Jesus People movement of the late 1960s, early 1970s.

Most of the people I've heard talking about the film, most of what I've heard has been positive, and in fairness, some people I'm sure have talked about it on this radio station, and at least for some people, their comments were made before they even saw the movie, so I just want you to hear me on this.

Please do not take this as criticism. But other people have seen the film. Some love it. Others are taking issue. So Christians do disagree on things, right? And obviously, it's one thing to disagree on some small, minor issue that doesn't matter.

The things that we can disagree on, but matters concerning the gospel. I mean, this is very important. When it comes to the gospel, we need to get this right. So I think this is worth talking about. So if somebody says something that's great, and it's faithful to the gospel, or they say about this film, it is faithful to the gospel, and another group is saying, no, this film is not faithful to scripture or the gospel, I think we should be mature enough to not just get upset because somebody disagrees with me.

We should be able to do what the scripture says. Paul to the Thessalonians, 1st Thessalonians 521. This is really a command for Christians to test all things, hold fast what is good. And then 1st John chapter 4 verse 1 says, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Lonnie Frisbee, Prophecy, and the Need to Test Claims

Now, when it comes to this movie, the man who got the Jesus revolution started was a man named Lonnie Frisbee, and he did claim to be a prophet of God. So if someone is regarded as a prophet, even my charismatic friends who hold to the guidelines laid out in scripture, if somebody claims to be a prophet, or if they're regarded as a prophet, you have to test what they say.

You need to take what they say and their manner of life, and it must be tested. So test all things. That's what we're going to do right now with this movie, the Jesus revolution. Some people just accept anything and everybody, and it's just great.

Other people are more skeptical. What's the biblical approach? Hey, we want to be hopeful. I don't just dismiss things out of hand, but I don't just blindly accept things either. So test all things. Okay, so with all that in mind, let me read from this article again.

Most of what I heard is very positive, but this article kind of presents the other side. It's from the dissenter website, and it's titled Greg Laurie's Jesus revolution presents false gospel that foregoes real repentance.

So that's the title. I did not write this article, but I'm going to read it. Here it goes. You've probably heard of the recently released Jesus revolution movie that's based on Greg Laurie's book by the same name.

The movie is being promoted by several high profile evangelicals, including former Southern Baptist President James Merritt and former US Vice President Mike Pence. The movie is based on the life of Harvest Christian Fellowship Pastor Greg Laurie and features several well-known actors, including Kelsey Grammer, who plays Chuck Smith, Jonathan Rumi, who plays the part of Christian hippie Lonnie Frisbee, and Joel Courtney, who plays Greg Laurie himself, as they take part in California Jesus movement of the 1960s.

But as with anything that claims to be Christian, it must be looked at with deep scrutiny to see if it actually is Christian, and I think this is the part that some people don't like. Some people just hear this article as criticism, but remember, we need to test all things.

We need to test the movie, and we should also be testing this article, right? So test all things. Greg Laurie, back to the article, it says, Greg Laurie has been a prominent figure in Christendom for quite some time.

Many have touted him as being the next Billy Graham. In the likeness of Billy Graham's crusades, Laurie has invested endless efforts in his Harvest Crusade since the early 1990s, reaching audiences and hundreds of thousands at every event.

Laurie's popular style of watered-down preaching and making the adulterated Word of God more palatable to the world has helped his empire grow tremendously and transform Laurie into a celebrity. So you can see there's a little editorial in the article.

As with nearly all celebrity Christian luminaries, there comes a time when the message they deliver has become so devoid of any convicting biblical substance that nearly anyone, whether they profess Christ or not, will be lured in by their seductive charisma.

Their following essentially becomes a cult of personality, and their notoriety gains them indiscriminate immunity from nearly all criticism. So as you can see, the man who wrote this article is pretty critical about Greg Laurie, his ministry, and the film.

But there are some valid points. When someone is so famous and they can hold an event and attract hundreds of thousands of people, I mean, usually it is a cult of personality type of thing. Are they really coming for a biblical message?

Because if a no-name preacher who is a great Bible preacher was doing a crusade, would 100 ,000 people show up? Probably not. So I think there are some valid points, and clearly the author of the article is critical.

Back to the article. I'll try to stop commenting. Statistics from Greg Laurie's crusades show that among the thousands of people who touted their decision to follow Jesus at these gatherings, only about 3 -6 of them show any fruit of salvation one year later.

Why could this be? Phil Johnson, from Grace to You, says that Greg Laurie's current associations are representative of his theological drift, and that his doctrinal boundaries are so hazy that there is hardly any variety of popular religion or spiritual chicanery that he won't align himself with, as long as it calls itself Christian and gains a large following.

During Jesus' ministry on earth, he never wavered on the message of repentance. His first words during his ministry were, repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. And Jesus echoes his call to repentance all throughout, including twice in Luke 13, 3 -5.

The article says there is no shortage of the call to repentance in the New Testament, so it cannot be a doctrine that is easily dismissed or overlooked. Yet, the entire theme of the false gospel presented in Jesus' revolution is devoid of any real call to true repentance.

In fact, it is an inclusive gospel that presents the Bride of Christ as being filled with those who lack true repentance. For them, repentance is merely an emotion, a feeling, and the word itself a meaningless platitude and does not involve becoming a new creation.

Chuck Smith, Lonnie Frisbee, and the Charge of a False Gospel

Other prominent characters in the movie include Chuck Smith, who is played by Kelsey Grammer. Chuck Smith was a charismatic false prophet who preached at the funeral of Christian hippie Lonnie Frisbee, who is credited with starting the Jesus movement, saying that Frisbee was a Samson figure who was powerfully anointed by God, yet Lonnie Frisbee was a practicing homosexual who eventually died of AIDS after his lifestyle caught up with him, yet Smith in real life preached him right into heaven at his funeral.

I would only add to that that when he calls Chuck Smith a false prophet, that's probably because Chuck Smith predicted the rapture in 1981, so Chuck Smith made a false prediction of the rapture that didn't come true.

But again, I'm reading from this article, these opinions do not necessarily represent the ministry of WLPV or Morse Corner Church, throw that in there. The entire Jesus movement, Jesus Revolution, that Greg Laurie and this movie are promoting is a false gospel devoid of any actual repentance and faith, and it is a denial of the Holy Spirit's ability to change hearts and minds of those who come to faith in Christ.

The reality is that anyone who is truly born again should be able to see, according to scripture, that this movie is not Christian and should be avoided at all costs. So as you can see, that is very, very different from all the people who are saying that the movie is wonderful and it presents the gospel and it's all amazing.

Again, just to kind of boil this down, there's a lot of people saying the movie is great, Jesus Revolution is great, it presents the gospel, and at the end there was a gospel presentation. But one thing I did, when I watched the movie and I left the theaters, yeah, I did notice that the whole concept of repentance was lacking.

So this article is saying, well, it's not the true gospel because there's no mention of repentance. And I have to say, this was before I even read this article, there was kind of a come as you are and feel free to stay as you are sort of vibe.

At the end, Greg Laurie says, you know, you can come and have your own personal Jesus. It's not about religion. Well, religion, according to scripture, book of James, is defined as doing good works, helping widows and orphans in their time of need, and keeping oneself unspotted from the world.

That's true religion, according to the Bible. Greg Laurie said, no, it's not about religion, which I think explains some of Greg Laurie's worldly associations. And there's one video on YouTube that talks about Greg Laurie and his promotion of Alice Cooper, who, if you know anything about Alice Cooper, I mean, he is openly satanic.

He's a heavy metal rocker and his stage show is openly satanic and Greg Laurie touts him as a faithful Christian. And yeah, I mean, that's the problem, though. That's a that's a gospel that doesn't require you to change.

You can keep doing what you're doing. Say the sinner's prayer, you're saved, but you don't actually have to amend your life. But that's the divide here, that either there's the gospel that doesn't include repentance or the true gospel, which I believe does include repentance.

So I see where this article is coming from. I encourage you to test the movie against scripture. I would encourage you to test this article against scripture. Test what I'm saying against scripture. There was another point in the film and there was another channel on YouTube I saw that picked this up.

Also that there's a statement that when they said when Chuck Smith, Chuck Smith, when you let in the hippies, Jesus came in with them. And that seemed odd, like Jesus wasn't in the church before the hippies came in like that seemed strange.

And some are accusing the film of being really self-promotion, Greg Laurie making a film about Greg Laurie. And he really emerges as the hero of the film. So is this movie good? Well, it's a matter of an opinion.

If you liked it, hey, I'm not against you. Again, the whole purpose of reading this is to take what people are saying. Some people are saying the movie is great. Other people are warning against it. Let's compare it to scripture.

And I think no matter whether you like the movie or not, we should be able to look at the gospel presented in the film and ask, is repentance part of that message? And is repentance part of the true message?

I believe a person can place their faith in Jesus Christ and pray the sinner's prayer and as the Bible says, call upon the name of the Lord and you shall be saved. I believe a person can do that and be saved, but they need to repent.

They need to change their mind about their sin and about who Jesus is and turn from sin and turn to Christ. And that repentance is a change of mind that I don't want to sin anymore. I recognize it's wrong.

I want to get victory. But actually getting the sin out of your life, that's sanctification. Salvation is one thing and it can happen in a moment of time. The question is sanctification. So let's test all things, hold fast to that which is good.

Faith, Sanctification, and the Power of the Gospel

But yeah, how is it that Christians can look at the same thing and come to such radically different conclusions? I think it's because some people test everything against the scripture and others don't.

See, when you test something, you apply pressure. You expose it to scrutiny. And a lot of people have been raised to think that, oh no, Christians shouldn't do that. Some people have the idea that a real Christian is someone who's always nice and never says anything negative about anything or anyone.

Well, we should be for people. And yeah, there are people that they seem to want to just tear down everything and everybody. But the question is, are we testing all things against the scripture? So we need to have a balance there.

I believe the Lord could use this film. I believe the Lord could use that situation at Asbury University. I think God can use just about anything. But faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

The only thing that has the power to save people is the true gospel of Christ crucified and risen. But just remember, the first thing that Jesus ever preached was repentance. Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.

Peter, on the day of Pentecost, what did he preach? He preached repentance. My name is Michael Grant. You're listening to 97 .3 FM WLPV. Until next time, may the Lord be with you, and have a great day.