Just who is this Jesus that is so wildly popular? Who is this Jesus who “gets us”? Who is this Jesus that wants to make us happy and never calls us to repent from sin or turn from the world? Who is this Jesus that gives us our desires and would never pour down His wrath on the earth? He is certainly not the Jesus of the Bible. If we are a Christian, oh, how deeply this should concern us! Today, we are going to focus specifically on The Chosen and the false Jesus they are presenting.
A few years ago, my oldest daughter, Jess (find her on Facebook and Instagram at Anchor for the Soul), wrote about this series that had taken the Christian world by storm. A month or two ago she mentioned that she thought it might be time for an updated post. Today she posted this update. She has kindly given me permission to share what she wrote with you here on the blog. (I like to do this because all of you aren’t on Facebook or Instagram and also because sometimes, even if you are on social media, someone you’d like to share this information with isn’t.)
I hope this post is a blessing as we seek to discern if The Chosen series is something we Christians should be watching. Here is what Jess found as she researched this series a little more closely than most of us have taken the time to do–
The Chosen has been viewed over four million times and has gained an almost cult-like following since its premier in 2017. Its popularity alone should be a red flag. The Bible is pretty clear that Jesus Christ and true Christianity will be largely hated and rejected by the world. So when something about Jesus is accepted and applauded, it’s good for us to pause and ask why. Does this show glorify God? Does it accurately portray Jesus Christ and His Word? Is it something we should watch?
I’d have to conclude that the answer to those questions is a resounding no. Here are eight reasons why:
1. Dallas Jenkins – I’ve talked about this before, so I’m only going to touch on it. Jenkins is the producer and creative mind behind the show. He has made it clear that he believes Mormons, Catholics, and Christians “love the same Jesus” and have only a few minor theological differences. He put together a group of spiritual advisors to make sure “he gets Christ right” and that panel consists of a Mormon, a Catholic priest, and a Jewish Rabbi. Is it possible for any of those men to get Christ right? So how can we trust this show to accurately portray Jesus Christ? But God told Dallas Jenkins that this show was going to be a “definitive portrayal of my people” and that “He wouldn’t let him screw it up.” Spoiler alert: that wasn’t God speaking to him.
2. Jonathan Roumie – Roumie is a devout Roman Catholic who plays the part of Jesus. He has a massive fan base and his influence is heavily promoted by The Chosen on social media. From his partnership with the Catholic, new age meditation app called Hallow (where you can pray the rosary with him or follow along with his guided meditations) to his deep love for the Pope to his weird practices (like laying on the grave of Lonnie Frisbee and praying to him for a sign before playing him in the Jesus Revolution movie), he’s really bad news and leading many people astray.
3. Adding to the Bible – The writers will tell you that they’re simply using their imagination to fill in the gaps of the Biblical narrative. But is that okay? Proverbs 30:6 and Revelation 22:18-19 warn us not to add or take away from the Word of God. “Oh, but this show isn’t pretending to be Scripture or trying to replace the Bible!” And yet they are adding to the very words of Christ. Sit back and think about that for a minute. Sinful, probably even unsaved, men are adding to the very words of Christ. It’s a big deal, whether you think so or not. They’re adding man’s ideas to what God alone has communicated and therefore are distorting His Word. God told us exactly what He wanted us to know, no more and no less.
4. Straying from the Bible – Dallas Jenkins claims to be portraying the “authentic Jesus” and insists that he stays true to what IS in Scripture while simply “filling in the gaps” with what isn’t. You would expect, then, that the show would portray any event or conversation specifically recorded in the Bible exactly the way the Bible describes it. But it doesn’t.
Here’s just a few of the many, many examples throughout the first 3 seasons:
The show portrays the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus that we find in John 3:1-21. But the conversation is nothing like the passage. They added some things, omitted some things, (verses 19-21, conveniently) and ultimately distorted the entire dialogue. On top of that, Jesus asks him, “What does your heart tell you?” and when Nicodemus kneels before him, Jesus stops him. (Two things we know the true Jesus never would have said or done)
For the scenes from the Sermon on the Mount, they obviously couldn’t include the entire discourse. But their jesus didn’t even preach the sermon in the same order as it appears in Scripture. He jumped all around. I’ll give you one guess as to what portions they chose and what portions they left out. (Hint: loving your neighbor, don’t judge lest you be judged, and the golden rule made the cut while the parts about sin, judgement, and the narrow way did not)
In Matthew 11, John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask Jesus “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” and Jesus’ response is recorded. The Chosen, once again, changes what is clearly written in Scripture. “Even he [John the Baptist] has questions!” is added twice, among other things. Verses 21-30 are left out entirely.
John the Baptist is portrayed as disrespectful and headstrong. He responds to Jesus in frustration, “You appear not to be ready to get into specifics about a lot of things!” Then he marches to tell Herod off against Jesus’ advice with a spiteful “My followers will love it!” But John said he was unworthy even to untie the strap of Jesus’ sandal (John 1:27) and that “He [Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30) John the Baptist would never have disrespected Jesus Christ nor made a contest of his followers vs the followers of Jesus. It’s all so absurd.
The writers changed the order and manner in which the disciples were called. Mary Magdalene is called as the first disciple. Jesus sets up an interview with Judas Iscariot. Again, it’s something so clearly recorded in Scripture, so why deviate from it?
In the show, Jesus was arrested and let go prior to his arrest at the Mount of Olives. But we know this couldn’t be true. Jesus escaped arrest every time because “His hour had not yet come” and was only arrested once, right before his crucifixion.
I could give you many more examples of this. Even if you rationalize filling in the gaps of the Biblical narrative to create a story, there is no literally no excuse for taking creative license and changing what is made abundantly clear in Scripture.
5. Undermining the divinity of Christ – For the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus asks for “help” from Matthew on what he should say. Jesus nervously rehearses well-known passages. One article says that the show reveals to us that “Jesus’ moments of powerful teaching were not, as we assume, simply an overflow of his own divine genius, but were rather the fruit of the collaboration of his entire team of disciples.” That’s heresy right there. In one scene, Mary tells Jesus that she’s proud of him, and he says “maybe wait to say that until after I’m done, in case I mess up in front of such a big crowd.” Jesus confessed to being nervous about performing miracles. This is a really big deal, you guys. They are very purposefully undermining the divinity of Jesus Christ as God. He never would have messed up. He never would have needed help coming up with what to say. He never would have needed to rehearse anything.
6. Undermining the inspiration of Scripture – Throughout the series, disciples like John and Matthew interview people and run around jotting everything down in their notepads. These notes will later become their supposed Biblical books. And so the Bible is portrayed as a common book comprised of hearsay. But we know that “Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the holy ghost”. We know that they were eyewitness accounts according to John 1:1-3 and 2 Peter 1:16. The show even attributes John 21:25 to Mary Magdalene and not John himself. She says the line to him and he says “that’s good, I’m going to use that.” It’s a subtle deconstruction of inspiration that turns the Bible into hearsay and fable rather than inspired truth.
7. Downplaying repentance – You would think that the call to repentance would take center stage since Jesus Himself said He came to call sinners to repentance. In the first three seasons, you might hear the word repentance three or four times and even then without conviction or elaboration. When their jesus quotes Luke 4:32, he says “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners…”, conveniently leaving out “to repentance.” The disciples sinful lifestyles – addictions, drinking, fighting, gambling, bad attitudes – are overdone. It’s not that the disciples would never have sinned, but I think they would have repented and been seeking to please God. The magnitude of sin and the need to repent and turn from that sin is diminished and largely ignored.
8. The ecumenical agenda – At the end of the day, this show is just being used to set the stage for the antichrist. The world will think that the antichrist IS Jesus Christ. All religions will unite around him. Catholics, Mormons, “Christians”, and everyone in between. This jesus will look a whole lot like this jesus of The Chosen. Accepting and loving. He won’t call people to repentance but to unity. And he sure won’t care about “minor theological differences” or the infallibility of Scripture. Everything this show is doing is very purposeful. Tearing down walls between religions? Check. Undermining the divinity of Jesus Christ so He’s more human than God (just like the Mormon jesus)? Check. Making Scripture appear fallible and uninspired? Check. If you can subtly convince people of those three things, you’ve destroyed Christianity. And that’s what this show is doing.
Do some people watch the show and then read their Bible and come to Salvation? Maybe. But that doesn’t make the show itself a good thing. God can use anything. Can mature Christians watch it, eating the meat and spitting out the bones? No. Unless you have every word of the Gospels memorized, you will never be able to determine where Scripture ends and their imagination begins.
I’m not condemning those of you who have watched it or are watching it. They are very subtle and include just enough Biblical truth to make it hard to see what they’re actually doing. But I am calling you away from it. I promise that you will walk away with a completely contorted view of the Gospels and of Jesus Christ. It will affect the way you read and understand the Bible, and not for the better.
This show does not glorify God, does not honor or stay true to His Word, and is preparing the world for the uniting of all religions under the antichrist. They are portraying a false christ and we should have absolutely nothing to do with it.
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I’m ABSOLUTLY not interested in watching the Chosen, I never did! I heard long before that it’s not following the Bible/ the King James Bible that I believe.
Thank you, Leslie! 🌸
You’re a treasure to us, your readers, and a soldier in the Lord’s Army as well! ⚔️
May the Living Lord bless you all and your extended family, from the smallest to the eldest! 🙏🌸🙏
Thank you, Cristina ❤️
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If you actually watched an episode you’d think differently.
Jonathan Roumie is playing the part of Jesus…he’s not pretending to be Jesus. He’s not trying to guide us. Here’s my suggestions for you and your family.
1. Never let your children be in any plays or musicals, and don’t attend any. Everyone in them is pretending to be someone they are not and they say things that person never said.
2. If your family is so fundamental, why is your daughter on social media? Social media is no place for a Christian to be amongst the wolves of this world, right?
3. Jesus was really popular when He was here on earth. By your thinking, everyone should have rejected Him simply because He drew a crowd.
Who hated Him for his popularity? The Pharisees.
That puts you in line with them.
You might just watch season 1 episode 1 and see Mary get redeemed by Jesus and rethink your position.
1. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. (Revelation 22:18-19)
You would seem to be implying that the Bible is no different than any other book or story. If that is your belief, we have nothing to discuss.
2. This literally makes no sense and doesn’t even deserve a response. There is nothing in the post that would warrant a statement such as this.
3. Jesus was actually NOT popular on earth. Have you even read the Gospels? Do you know the Jesus of the Bible? Because I think if you actually took some time to read and study the Bible, you would “rethink your position”.
I just want to add that in John 14:6, Jesus states that He is THE way, THE truth, THE life. The Chosen Jesus changes that article “THE” to “A”. If that doesn’t stand out to you as a giant red flag as to the danger and purpose of this show, then I don’t know what will.
I only watched a couple of episodes and felt the spirit telling me to stop. I didn’t question why I just stopped. However, many in my church love this series and have suggested a Bible study based on this series. I now find myself needing to explain why I cannot participate. Would you be able to tell me the season and episode where “The” was changed to “A”?
I need to check that with my daughter, as she was the one who saw it. Let me see what I can find out.
Thank you for having the courage and the Godly wisdom to share this article. I too see this series as an introduction to the entrance of the Antichrist and his deceiving ways.
Hello. I appreciate your thoughtfulness and compassion in this writing. I can feel that you have a love for the Savior and want to help others by encouraging them to be careful & use discernment regarding what they read/watch or perhaps listen to. I understand that the devil can try to use others to twist scripture. He is a liar, deceiver & he is the author of confusion.
I do want to ask if you know of the Sight & Sound Theater productions in Pennsylvania & Missouri? My family loves them! We just went to see Daniel and it was phenomenal. The Bible truly comes to life.❤️✝️🙏. I know they have to take liberties to fill in some gaps, develop the Biblical individual’s “personality” etc. But, in the end 2,000 people’s lives in that auditorium are touched & changed daily by Christ due to these works! With all the trash and despicable things on tv or in the movies, i personality feel thankful there are things that point me to Christ and encourage thoughtful study of Him. Many people who may not have studied the Bible themselves, pray & attend church regularly & are perhsps still unsaved may come to know Christ as their Savior because of the Sight & Sound Theater or The Chosen. God can use lots of things to draw us to Him & His life changing grace & love.
The Chosen clearly states that there is NO SUBSTITUTE to reading the scriptures for yourself & they encourage you do that so you know the Absolute truth.
Jesus is the perfect, faultless Son of God. He is the Savior. I appreciate that the Chosen depicts that while Jesus was fully God, he also came to earth and experienced life as a man. He was without sin but He still experienced the struggles & challenges we do. He was tired, hungry, tempted in the wilderness by Satan but DID NOT sin! He cried when Lazerus died then brought him back to life. He was angry in the temple. Jesus was anxious and asked the Lord God his Father to take this cup of death from Him but if it be The Father’s will, He will go to the cross.
Let’s not assume we know What God Almighty feels. Let’s do our best in our space to help & serve others, stay close to God, follow His teachings and live at peace with others so that by our example we can encourage another who doesn’t yet know who Jesus is.
I appreciate what you wrote. I know you are doing it to help others. I just think we should avoid attacking the things that could be used by God to change & touch a heart. My husband & I are currently watching The Chosen and we both get emotional seeing Jesus portrayed and His genuine love for people, his sense of humor, his correction of the disciples when needed etc. I told my husband, I know living in biblical times was hard but I wish so much that I could see Jesus & be embraced by Him & hear Him speak words to me audibly & be there in that moment. I know one day those of us who trust & believe & have confession along with true repentance will be face to face with Him! God bless you & yours!!🌹✝️🙏💕
Let me ask you this question, if I may: If someone impersonated you and deceived people into believing you were someone you were not, when there was ample proof that it’s just not the truth, would you be upset? I think you would. Can you even possibly imagine what God must think of the Chosen’s warped and twisted view of His Son and the disciples?!? To think that it’s okay because it might reach people is just plain old pragmatism. Pragmatism is never taught in scripture. We do what’s right and true based upon God’s Holy Word and never on what works.
As for your question about Sight and Sound…funny you should ask. I have to admit that over the course of the past few years I have grown increasingly uncomfortable with their loose portrayals of God’s Holy Word and choose personally to not go to the productions anymore. So, yes, I agree with you and I do want to be consistent in what I am saying. I don’t believe Sight and Sound warps the scriptures quite like the Chosen (which is purposely misrepresenting our Savior) but it is my opinion that they take way too many artistic licenses.
Funny, I had so many of the people in the church recommending this series, raving about it, but I always had a “check in the spirit” and have never watched it. Thank you for having the courage to stand up for Jesus. John 6.66 tells us that everyone left except for the disciples because they found the teaching of Jesus too difficult.
I think of that verse often, actually, as I watch what is taking place around us. The Jesus presented in The Chosen is nothing like the real Jesus. It’s hard to understand that people can’t see this…especially those that call themselves Christians. It’s so puzzling.
First let me say that as a Catholic, I agree we should not watch the Chosen. And as soon as I read that you, or your daughter, believe that the Catholic Church is new age, I decided not to go on reading. If you spend some time learning what the Church actually teaches, instead of what you think it does, you’d be better for it, and maybe we could unite in the way Jesus desires.
Lastly, I want to defend the Body of Christ, which is the Church, by saying that while J.R. may be Catholic, he does represent the Catholic Church. And if his lying on a grave for a “sign” is true, that is not the way the Church teaches discernment. Not at all. God bless you.
I am not sure specifically what you were referring to regarding your new age comment but Catholicism definitely does teach mysticism. Catholicism and the New Age definitely have this in common.
As for your other recommendation… studying it for myself? I did do that very thing… learning what the Catholic Church teaches, according to their own documentation and then compared it to God’s Holy Word. Here’s the link that shows what I found—
https://growing4life.net/who-is-jesus-according-to-catholicism/
Hi Leslie.
Thanks a lot for this much insight. God bless your heart.
Normally, while I watch something, anything and I feel conviction to quit. I stop immediately
And sometimes my conviction is in the inquisitive form. I ask myself, should you be watching this as a Christian? And any show or article or song that provokes this question, I leave immediately. Because if it were okay, then it wouldn’t have provoked that question right?
I say this because right before I read this article, I read one on the same question, « Should I watch The Chosen as a Christian? »
And the writer really affirmed watching it. He said absolutely. Watch it, after all most depictions of Jesus in many other films are all imaginative.
Now normally I’ll take an answer and leave. But I wasn’t content. Something was missing, I didn’t feel at peace in my heart, and so I scrolled on and I am so glad I did. Because I found this article. And I remember the very first episode, in the disclaimer a part that says “ Backstories and some characters or dialogue have been added ” and right there and then I figured I wouldn’t watch another episode.
Thank you so much. God bless you
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Did you find out which episode it was?
I did not. I’m so sorry. I did ask but she couldn’t remember.
Dear Leslie,
This was very well written.
There are hundreds of reasons not to watch the chosen.
Satan deceived Eve with Truth, Half Truth Half Lie, and Lies.
This is the technique Jenkins and his team are using.
People admit they have watched the series 50 times. How many times have they read God’s word?
Jesus Christ is God, and will bring about His wrath upon those who have and are leading the world astray. Jesus Christ is King of King and Lord of Lords!
If you think that God is not angry that even young children are receiving a false version of Him and His word, then you are wrong. How much time are parents reading the Word of God to their children verses sitting them in front of a television set or taking them to a theatre to see a false Jesus?
I know Christians who love the show for their own enjoyment. How are babies in Christ supposed to discern? They are still drinking milk. I find it very selfish when a Christian tells me how much they love the Chosen for themselves, and not be concerned about the lost in the world, or the babes in Christ.
Dallas Jenkins doesn’t care about Jesus. Dallas Jenkins does not love Jesus. If he did, he would not treat Him this way. “He who is not for Me is against Me.”
Dallas Jenkins does not care or love my brothers and sisters in Christ who are in heaven=People Jesus loved and died for in the Bible=who aren’t here to even speak up for themselves. This is hatred, and carelessness, and a tearing down of the saved of God.
Dallas Jenkins doesn’t care about the world. He doesn’t.
He is stealing their money, laughing in their faces, while a LBGBTQ flag is flying in the background.
Stand up Stand up for Jesus you Soldiers of the Cross!
I unfortunately actually helped pay into season 2, thought I was supposed to but must have mistook the Spirit’s prodding not to. Anyway, keep up the work as the church becomes more liberal.