Dallas Jenkins
Dallas Jenkins is the creator, co-founder, principal writer and director of the TV series The Chosen. The Chosen is a historical drama based on the life of Jesus and those who knew him. The series is claimed by Jenkins to present the “authentic” Jesus portraying his life and ministry through the eyes of those around him.
The Chosen has been a global hit and is up to its fourth season. The influence of the series world-wide should not be underestimated. The goal of its producers is for The Chosen to be seen by over one billion people and broadcast in every country in the world (as of January 2024, the series had 200 million viewers and 770 million episode views and the series has been dubbed in nearly 50 languages with a goal of 100 languages and subtitling in 600 languages). The show was and continues to be crowd-funded – to make the first season it received $10 million setting a record for a media project at that time, and has now reportedly received over $100 million in total.
Dallas Jenkins has a Baptist background, and was a member of The Harvest Bible Chapel. He is the son of Jerry Jenkins, who is well known as the co-author of the Left Behind books and movies.
When just a teenager, Dallas Jenkins was inspired by watching the movie “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” to pursue a career in film making:
“It wasn’t until high school when I saw the movie “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” which is a Jack Nicholson movie from the 70s. And there was a great scene in that movie that really inspired me and got me excited and I was like emotionally moved. And I thought all right I want to do that. Whatever that is I want to inspire people and viewers the kind of emotion personal reaction that I’m having to this.”
(“The Chosen creator tells all – Interview with Dallas Jenkins”, Isaiah Salvidar, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS_gZktPVCg)
With the financial assistance of his father he produced some faith-based movies and had an early measure of success. However, his biggest work (funded by a Hollywood entity) was eventually to fail at the box office. At first thinking this was the end of his chosen career, he became convinced through his wife’s prophetic encouragement and a timely and seemingly confirmatory email, that God wanted him to continue his career, giving what little he could and that God would amply multiply it:
“God just laid it very, very explicitly and powerfully on my wife’s heart. The story of the feeding of the five thousand. And then there was this phrase that she felt God was sharing with her, the phrase was, “I do impossible math.””
(https://www.lemonadestand.org/dallas-jenkins-creator-director-and-co-writer-of-the-chosen/ )
A short film he produced for his church in 2017 called The Shepherd caught the attention of Mormon businessmen Neal and Jeff Harmon, who were founders of VidAngel (now Angel Studios), a Utah-based production and video streaming company. (The Shepherd was a low-budget film that told the story of the birth of Christ through the perspective of the shepherds. The film went viral on social media with 15 million views worldwide.) Jenkins was introduced to Derral Eves, a viral marketing strategist and also a Mormon, who partnered with Jenkins to become co-producers of The Chosen.
Jenkins has had a close collaboration with Mormons over the course of the production of the series – Brad Pelo, a high-ranking Mormon, is now also an executive producer and president of The Chosen – but he denies that they have influenced his script in any way. As will be discussed below, however, Jenkins portrayal of Jesus accords well with Mormon theology, and Jenkins acknowledges that the Mormons associated with him in the production of The Chosen “absolutely love the same Jesus that I do”.
The Nature of Christ
Jenkins principal objective in producing The Chosen, as he repeatedly claims, is to present the “authentic” Jesus. For Jenkins, this means that he wants to expressly emphasise the humanity of Jesus, in contrast to his divinity. In this regard, The Economist magazine writes:
“Most depictions of the life of Jesus dwell on his divinity, but “The Chosen” focuses on his ordinariness. “We have put Jesus on stained-glass windows,” says Dallas Jenkins, the show’s creator and director, yet “what makes the story of the Gospels so powerful is, in fact, his humanity.” ”
(https://www.economist.com/culture/2023/02/08/a-television-show-about-jesus-christ-has-become-an-unlikely-hit)
The nature of Christ as the unique God-man is pivotal to the whole message of the Bible. Any teacher who ventures to explain the truth of his nature, is beholden to juxtapose Christ as God, with Christ as man, in a very careful and precise manner, as much as the scripture detail affords. Any deviation from this truth leads directly into dangerous apostasy – all the cults are readily recognised for their unbiblical beliefs concerning the nature of Jesus.
Jenkins misdirects on the message of the gospels by emphasising the “power” of their message is found in the “humanity” of Jesus. The power of their message is that Jesus is God who is veiled in flesh – it is his divinity which sets him apart. And the gospel accounts labour to prove that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the very image of God. Therefore, as the Economist correctly notes, historically “Most depictions of the life of Jesus dwell on his divinity…”. And why has this been so? It is rightly so because this is in fact what the gospel accounts actually do; it is the primary objective of the gospel authors to reveal Jesus as the Son of God.
Importantly, it is “the god of this age” who would mar this image of Jesus and pull him down from this his status as God. Jenkins has therefore placed himself in the midst of the spiritual battle for the very gospel and the hearts of men and women, because he has set himself the task of defining this image in his portrayal of Jesus Christ that he posits in The Chosen:
“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.“
2 Corinthians 4:4
The Holy Spirit communicated through the gospel writers information concerning Christ to reveal him as the unique Son of God born of a virgin – the Eternal Son clothed in flesh – fulfilling the many Old Testament prophecies. Though this truth is amply demonstrated through the gospels, there is clearly a very concise and narrow window through which we see him. The early life of Christ prior to his baptism by John is very, very sparse. Even his ministry years are carefully recounted in a restricted fashion, such as to produce a parallel amongst the gospel authors – which corroborates their accounts and gives authenticity and veracity to their gospels. Indeed, the apostle John wrote:
“Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”
John 21:25
But these hypothetical “books” were never written and there is every reason to believe, therefore, that the Holy Spirit inspired the gospel writers to communicate exactly the information that was essential and necessary to come to a right and proper understanding of the nature of Jesus Christ (of course, juxtaposed with the Old Testament history and prophecies, and the explanatory power of the Apostles’ letters in the New Testament). Again, from John’s gospel:
“Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
John 20:30-31
The gospels are written with the express and primary objective of revealing Jesus of Nazareth to be the promised Messiah – the Christ, the Son of God and Saviour of the world.
Against this background, consider the ‘Jesus’ Jenkins seeks to portray:
“…the overwhelming majority of our viewers keep telling people look this is not the Bible. I’m not watching this for my scripture. [I’m] watching this because I’m seeing Jesus and the disciples removed from stained glass windows and given a humanity that I haven’t always seen or understood…”
(“The Chosen creator tells all – Interview with Dallas Jenkins”, Isaiah Salvidar, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS_gZktPVCg)
“We want to introduce the authentic Jesus to a billion people. I believe the show is kind of an unvarnished look at the authentic Jesus…
(Little Light Studios https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QUPDc-D0nY)
Dan Haseltine gives this revealing summary of The Chosen’s objective in explaining the nature of Christ:
“I think when they see this version of Jesus portrayed he has his own flaws in a human way like he’s very relatable and gracious and I think people need to see that that side of Jesus because we’ve a lot of us have been force-fed. You know a version of Jesus that only cares about our behaviours. Every episode this story pushes back on that.”
Christian Post interview with Dan Haseltine and Matthew S. Nelson, music composers for The Chosen
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YNCT-7X8Tg)
And Jenkins admits:
“I’m making a show about Jesus where 95% of the content isn’t from the Bible…”
(“A Candid Conversation with Dallas Jenkins, Director of The Chosen”, Melissa Dougherty, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__-Yyq1FPQI)
“…we’re doing 56 episodes of this show and most of the content of this show is not directly from scripture. I know that sounds horrible but it’s true. If you watched episode 1 of season one almost none of that is from scripture. If you watch episode 2 of season two none of it is from scripture. Episode 3 none of it from scripture. Episode 4 most of it not from scripture.”*
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0qibNAV3lc&t=523s)
(*Some subsequent episodes did present more from the Bible, however, Jenkins subtracted from and added to the Bible, in order to portray the ‘Jesus’ that he envisages.)
Jenkins expressly sets out to depict the person of Jesus beyond what is communicated in the Bible – “Most of the content of this show is not directly from scripture” – in order to emphasise his “humanity”. Jenkins has created a ‘Jesus’ “given a humanity that I haven’t always seen or understood” because it is a humanity that “is not [in] the Bible“! As Haseltine acknowledges, it means creating a ‘Jesus’ with “his own flaws”.
These “flaws” Jenkins imposes upon his characterisation of Jesus are fictitious and false. They are a very great deception. They change Jesus into someone else – he is no longer the Christ, the God-man revealed in the Bible. Jenkins is portraying Jesus in a very different way than that of the Bible. He has crossed a very dangerous line going beyond the gospel records to do more than just elucidate the scriptures, he has purposefully injected extraneous information into them and in so doing he has subverted its truth and corrupted the very nature of Jesus.
For example, Jenkins has ‘Jesus’ in Episode 5 of Season 1 referring to himself as being a “clumsy teenager”. People laugh at what The Chosen ‘Jesus’ says, but never in the scriptures does it say people laughed at what Jesus said, because he was jesting or poking fun at himself. Jesus never referred to himself as a “clumsy teenager”, nor could he. Jesus would never delegitimize his personhood or his mission or his message.
A true teacher elucidates the truth but a false teacher obfuscates the truth. Jenkins is clearly in the latter category. He has pulled down the nature of Jesus as the God-man, and reinvented him to be more a man than God.
Another example is a scene in which ‘Jesus’ is rehearsing his lines for The Sermon on the Mount and he asks one of his disciples, Matthew, for his help. Again, nowhere in the Bible is there even a hint of Jesus soliciting advice from men. To the contrary, he knew what was in the heart of men and only spoke what was given to him by his Father (John 8:28-29). This scene of Jenkins delegitimizes the extraordinary relationship Jesus shared with his Father – God the Son and God the Father acting in unity as they always do. And it once again lowers the stature of Jesus, making him a creature that is unsure of himself.
Other examples could of course be given, because Jenkins is expressly fabricating stories of the “humanity” of Jesus, to reveal “his own flaws”, that are not recorded in the Bible (viz. ‘Jesus’ needing a pep-talk from his mother, John the Baptist chiding ‘Jesus’ because ‘Jesus’ expresses uncertainty as to how he should proceed with his ministry etc.). Most disconcerting though Jenkins claims divine guidance in the writing and production of The Chosen and, therefore, this “authentic” ‘Jesus’ he reveals is by the very direction and inspiration of God himself.
Divine Inspiration
In his interview with Melissa Doherty, Jenkins recounts:
“… I was in Israel a few years ago when I was doing research for the show. This is before we had even written a script and I was in Magdala, Mary Magdalene’s birthplace, and I was at this synagogue …
I was standing there in that synagogue and I had what’s probably happened to me three or four times in my life maybe five where I really felt God speaking to me like laying something very strong on my heart.
And for us old school Baptists … we don’t normally hear God’s voice – we leave that to the Charismatics. So we typically like don’t hear from the Lord very explicitly but this was one of those moments where I felt really like God … was laying on my heart that in several years The Chosen was going to be what people thought of when they pictured the disciples.
Like when they pictured Jesus’s people, the people who were around Jesus because up till that point there’s been movies and minis-series about Jesus but like you don’t have anything in your mind specifically about Simon Peter or Mary Magdalene like there’s no visual in your mind.
And I felt like God was saying like this is going to be the definitive portrayal of my people and this is what people are going to think of around the world when they think of my people and I’m not going to let you screw it up and that was like both the most scary and also the most relieving moment of this whole process yeah was feeling like this is in God’s hands and of course this is before the show was even written yet…”
(“A Candid Conversation with Dallas Jenkins, Director of The Chosen”, Melissa Dougherty, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__-Yyq1FPQI)
In a discussion with Jonathon Roumie who plays the lead role of Jesus in The Chosen, Jenkins reiterates:
“…here’s the good news … something that God pressed on my heart very strongly … I felt this very very strong feeling of I’m not going to let you screw this up …yes you’ve been chosen to do this and yes I want you to be faithful and I want you to listen and I want you to obey and … I’m not going to let you screw this up if this is too important.”
Visual Idolatry, T.A. McMahon
(https://www.thebereancall.org/content/visual-idolatry-0?sapurl=Lys5MjZkL2xiL2xpLyt3dm44dWs4P2JyYW5kaW5nPXRydWUmZW1iZWQ9dHJ1ZSZyZWNlbnRSb3V0ZT1hcHAud2ViLWFwcC5saWJyYXJ5Lmxpc3QmcmVjZW50Um91dGVTbHVnPSUyQnd2bjh1azg=)
The stories portrayed in The Chosen episodes are not a true and strict presentation of Biblical accounts but rather depictions based upon Biblical concepts created by Jenkins who claims that God himself is directing him – “I [God] want you [Jenkins] to listen and I want you to obey“. The Chosen is “in God’s hands” that God won’t allow him to “screw this up” and that it is a God-inspired “definitive portrayal”.
2Timothy 3:16 declares “All Scripture is God-breathed…” and 2 Peter 1:21 says “For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried
along by the Holy Spirit.” Are these not apt descriptions of what Jenkins is describing regarding God’s hand in the authorship of The Chosen episodes?
Dallas counter-claims that The Chosen is not inspired like the scriptures and that there is deference to the scriptures at the beginning of every episode (see box). But this is only to deflect. Dallas is declaring himself
to be the instrument of a “definitive portrayal” of the person of Christ and the people who were around him during his time upon the earth. It is an audacious claim that demands inspection and verification – 1John 4:3 warns us:
“…do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist…”
The Apostle John pinpoints the importance of the correct understanding of the nature of Jesus Christ as an identifier of the hand of the Spirit of God. Conversely, an incorrect view identifies a demonic spirit – “the spirit of antichrist” – a spirit in direct opposition to the true Christ who seeks to draw people away from him, by providing a substitute ‘Christ’ i.e. a false ‘Christ’.
Jenkins is under a strong delusion that while he thinks he isn’t adding to scripture, this is exactly what he is doing. He is altering the message of the Bible. By his own admission he is presenting a particular version of ‘Jesus Christ’, beyond the Bible’s record. This is the realm of false teaching, apostasy and the cults. He is erecting another ‘Christ’, a false ‘Christ’.
Jenkins is effectively asserting that the Bible, and in particular the person of Jesus, will now be better understood because of the series. How is it that for generations of Christians in times past that they never needed the episodes of The Chosen to comprehend the “authentic” person of Jesus? What Jenkins is doing is just what every cult does in adding extraneous writings in order to interpret the scripture. For, example the Mormons believe in “fresh revelation” and that the Book of Mormon supersedes the Bible i.e. the Bible is to be understood through the Book of Mormon. Jenkins is doing exactly the same thing.
A Broad Ecumenism and Another Gospel
The ‘Jesus’ defined by Jenkins in The Chosen fits right in with Mormon theology. They falsely believe that ‘Jesus’ was born a man and became a god. Mormons absolutely repudiate that Jesus is the eternal Son of God and the only begotten son of man – fully God and fully man from the moment the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary, and supernaturally formed Jesus in her womb. They believe that ‘God’, the ‘Father of Jesus’, was just one amongst many gods, who had actual physical sexual relations with Mary to produce ‘Jesus’ (and that Satan is a similar pre-existent spirit being to ‘Jesus’ and therefore Satan is a spirit brother of ‘Jesus’!). Mormonism teaches that Mormon men can all become gods, and have their own harem of wives populating their very own planet! Mormonism has a bizarre and twisted theology, with no basis in the Bible. Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon through the occultic method of receiving information from the spirit realm via a seer stone. It is purely a doctrine of demons.
(See Summary of Mormon and Jehovah Witness Beliefs )
Jenkins says that the Mormons he has worked with closely on The Chosen love “the same Jesus that I do”:
“When I’ve talked about my brothers and sisters in Christ, and when I talked about those LDS* folks that I know who love the same Jesus I do, I’m referring to some of the friends that I have who identify as LDS who I’ve gotten to know very deeply over the last few years, in particular. And I’ve had hundreds of hours of conversations with [them], and I stand by the statement that those friends of mine that I’m referring to absolutely love the same Jesus that I do…”
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZrZ4meAoOk)
*LDS is an acronym for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which is also (better) known as the Mormon Church
Who is this ‘Jesus’ that Jenkins and his Mormon friends absolutely love? It is not the true Christ but a false Christ. By emphasising the ‘humanity’ of Jesus, Jenkins has played right into the erroneous and blasphemous story-line of the Book of Mormon. Mormons, of course, rejoice in the acknowledgement that Jesus was just a man.
Dallas describes his viewer base of LDS, Catholic, Jewish and evangelical, as being united in their acceptance of the message communicated in The Chosen:
“I can’t think of a project like this that has united, at least in its fandom, LDS, Catholic, Jewish, Evangelical viewers. They get together and then they start arguing about theology and all the things that happened after Jesus was there. But I think it’s because of the emotional resonance. I think that when you’re seeing Jesus through the eyes of those who actually met him and were changed by him, and you – and you identify with and connect with, and we take the time to portray their struggles, both personally and in the history and culture of that time.
Then when the impact happened. When the miracle happens when Jesus steps in, it’s not just spiritually resonant, it’s not just intellectually resonant, but it’s emotionally resonant. And it’s our hearts that typically compel us to action.”
(https://www.lemonadestand.org/dallas-jenkins-creator-director-and-co-writer-of-the-chosen/)
In other words, Jenkins is saying that his perception of ‘Jesus’, which he claims as the authentic Jesus, unites people of all faiths and that theological disputes and differences are folly and man-made with no basis in the record of his life and ministry!: “They get together and then they start arguing about theology and all the things that happened after Jesus was there.”
Again, this is an audacious claim, a deflection and a pernicious falsehood. He must rely on, by his own admission, a unity which is based upon an “emotional resonance” and not because of the truth of who Jesus is. But this “emotional resonance” is a direct consequence only because of Jenkins’s fabricated characters and back-ground stories in The Chosen, and not found in scripture!
Jenkins specifically crafted a script designed to solicit an emotional response – that has always been his primary goal and what he has wanted to achieve since he was a teenager. The very reason the Bible is written is to communicate objective truth, which may or may not solicit an emotional response. It is the truth that compels us to respond rightly to the message of the gospel and not mere emotion.
To be swayed and motivated by a subjective emotional response to a dramatic scene, and not to be convinced of your will and intellect by objective truth, leads down a very dangerous deceptive path – namely, a false conversion experience, beguiling you to believe you have come into an experience with God, when you haven’t.
An emotional connection does not require genuine repentance and the real exercise of faith, essential for an authentic conversion. Jenkins is in fact redefining the gospel. His gospel is to get the viewer to identify with the actor(s) he has created who responds to ‘Jesus’ in a life-changing way. And have them emotionally connect and so respond to ‘Jesus’ in the very same way, and so be changed (i.e. converted):
Discussion between Dallas Jenkins and Mormons Derral Eves, Neal Harmon and Jeff Harmon
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0qibNAV3lc&t=523s at 23:28)
No mention of repentance from sin, nor of faith in the atoning sacrifice of Christ. Just “connect” emotionally and your life will be changed. By his own admission, he is the one who manipulating viewers to respond emotionally, and he must go beyond the truth communicated in the Bible to achieve this result; and in so doing he has reimagined and redefined the very gospel of Jesus Christ.
Moreover, the unity he points to between people of different faiths is, therefore, a false unity based upon human emotion and his own man-made false ‘Christ’, the characters and story lines he creates around ‘Jesus’ and his false gospel (i.e. emotionally connect to ‘Jesus’ and he will solve all your problems and grant you satisfaction, peace and joy).
It is because of the truth about the true Jesus that Biblical Christians stand utterly opposed to LDS, Catholic and Jewish theology, because these all place extraneous material over and above the Bible (the Book of Mormon, Traditions/the Papacy and the Talmud), and thereby misconstrue the person of Christ.
To the Mormon ‘Jesus’ is a man who became a god, the Catholic ‘Jesus’ appears continually in the Eucharist being perpetually sacrificed (and also the Pope is regarded as the supreme authority upon the earth being ‘Christ’ himself veiled in flesh), and the Jewish ‘Messiah’ is still yet to appear – the Talmud’s depiction of the current state of Jesus Christ, who was and remains to the Jews a false Messiah, will not even be stated here, it is too ugly, vile and grossly blasphemous. To this very day, Jews categorically deny that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and maintain that the New Testament is a fictitious document.
The genuine gospel of Jesus Christ is squarely founded upon the true nature of Jesus. Mormons, Catholics and Jews fail to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ by which they might be saved and be reconciled to God, because they reject the true Jesus. By their own doctrines they expressly reject the gospel of Jesus Christ and thereby remain estranged from God, and if they persist in their stubborn rebellion will be punished for eternity:
“He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord…”
2 Thessalonians 1:8-9
Simply put, they must repent of their false beliefs (specifically recant and renounce their false ‘Jesus’) and receive, trust in and believe upon the true Jesus. The Chosen ‘Jesus’ will bind them to their false systems and lead them to “everlasting destruction”.
The evangelicals who have accepted The Chosen ‘Jesus’ as indeed the true and authentic Jesus, have thereby been united with Mormons, Catholics and Jews, and are being led into an abyss of deceit, away from the narrow road and ushered onto the broad road that leads to destruction.
Moreover, it was not “after Jesus” that theological differences arose, as claimed by Jenkins. It was for the very reason of the theology of the Jewish rulers of the day that caused the Jews to misunderstand him and eventually murder him. The people were divided about who Jesus was because of the prevailing theology on how the Christ would be recognised. Despite being able to personally observe and encounter him – obviously the reality of what Jenkins claims to “plausibly” represent in The Chosen – the Apostle John records that the people were divided over him, not united:
“Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, “He is a good man.”
Others replied, “No, he deceives the people.”….
On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”
Others said, “He is the Christ.”
Still others asked, “How can the Christ come from Galilee? Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David’s family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?”
Thus the people were divided because of Jesus.”
John 7:12, 40-44
And the Jewish leaders regarded him as an agent of Satan:
“And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebub ! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”
Mark 3:22
It is stating the obvious (though not apparently to Jenkins) that the true Jesus was a contentious figure from the moment he was acknowledged by John the Baptist as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”. Jesus never was, nor ever will be, a unifying figure (cf. Matthew 10:34-36: “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law — a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ “)
There was only ever a small remnant of Israelites at that time that believed Jesus was indeed the Christ, the Son of God, and totalled only 120 when he ascended into heaven.
It is therefore disingenuous for Jenkins to imply there is unity and agreement on the person of Jesus if we solely look to the gospel accounts of his life and ministry. There has never been, nor will there ever be, general agreement about the person of Jesus Christ. There may be a perceived unity amongst the cohort of his fans that identify as evangelical, Catholic, LDS, Jewish etc, but The Chosen ‘Jesus’ is not the true Jesus.
Jesus is “A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message…” (1 Peter 2:8) The true Jesus is a stumbling block to LDS, Catholics and Jews. The Chosen ‘Jesus’ is therefore a figure conjured by Satan himself; a false ‘Christ’ erected to deceive and beguile a multitude of people leading them away from the true Jesus and eternal life, and casting them into eternal destruction.
Christ’s warning is valid for Jenkins’ ‘Jesus’:
“At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect — if that were possible. So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.”
Mark 13:21-23
The Message of Christ
A good Bible teacher will bring historical background – customs, social constructs, governing/legal systems, geographical features etc – into their discussion to elucidate the Bible’s stories, and so explain its message to a particular audience. But they are very careful never to fabricate and embellish the Bible’s information to distort its meaning. To do otherwise is exactly what false teachers do.
And this is the very thing that Jenkins does. He is fabricating stories using Bible characters, places and themes to push back, as Haseltine describes, “a version of Jesus that only cares about behaviours”. He continually claims it is to present the “authentic” Jesus, but his ‘Jesus’ doesn’t require people to repent of their “behaviours”.
The clear message the Bible describes that Jesus persistently preached was “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand”. The Chosen effectively eliminates repentance. It portrays, for instance, Mary Magdalene falling back into sin. But there is absolutely no basis in the scripture to believe that she did. And in doing so it destroys the very message of Christ.
The true Jesus required of the woman caught in adultery to “Go and sin no more”. The “sinners and tax collectors” came to Jesus because he was the only one to offer them hope that they could be set free from their life of sin and be accepted by God! (When you draw near to Jesus you purposefully move away from sin – you either love God and hate sin, or you love sin and hate God.) Zacchaeus emphatically repented of his theft “behaviour” when he drew near to Jesus. The rich young ruler was not accepted by Jesus ‘just for who he was’ but confronted by Jesus for his idolatry, his love of money ahead of his love for God. This young man knew he was estranged by God, and left Jesus knowing that he would continue in this state, because he had not obeyed the command of Jesus. He was unwilling to change his “behaviour” and so he distanced himself from Jesus and refused to follow him.
True Christianity has always aligned its message with that of Jesus – the true Jesus, not the Jenkins’ “authentic” ‘Jesus’ – that is communicated in the gospels (and enunciated, defined and clarified by the apostles in their letters to the churches, especially Romans). Repentance is the bedrock of true Christianity. Not only repentance from sin and a lifestyle contrary to God’s design, but repentance from false belief systems i.e. religion.
The true Jesus calls LDS, Catholics and Jews to repent of their false beliefs that stand utterly opposed to His Word. Dallas Jenkins rejoices that LDS, Catholics and Mormons love his authentic ‘Jesus’. The very fact that LDS, Catholics and Jews are comfortable with the message of The Chosen ‘Jesus’ alone proves that it is a false testimony of the genuine person and message of Jesus Christ.
Finally, Jenkins misdirects on the message of Jesus by putting words into his mouth which are contrary to the message of Christ. For example, he has ‘Jesus’ say in Season 2 Episode 1:
“I’m here to preach the good news of the kingdom of heaven. A kingdom that is not of this world. A kingdom is coming soon … I make a way for people to access that kingdom.”
Jesus never said these words. It is suggestive that there are other ways into the kingdom, not through him alone. Jesus emphatically declared:
“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6-7
His claim is to be exclusive to all others who might claim a way to God.
Another example is when Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night (Season 1, Episode7). The actual dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus recorded in John’s gospel is of paramount importance. In it Jesus defines the necessity to be born again in order to enter the kingdom of God. And his essential mission is summarized here in perhaps the most well known verse in the whole of the Bible – John 3:16. However, Jenkins misdirects on the message of Jesus, with an exchange between ‘Jesus’ and Nicodemus right at the end of the dialogue that is completely absent from the Bible:
NICODEMUS: … Is the kingdom of God really coming?
JESUS: What does your heart tell you?
NICODEMUS: My heart is swollen with fear and… and wonder. And it can tell me nothing except that I am standing on holy ground…
JESUS: I do hope you come with us, Nicodemus. (And as Nicodemus begins to bow Jesus says.) You don’t have to do that.
Jesus would never advise someone “What does your heart tell you?” in order to discover truth about the kingdom of God! Truth is never found in the heart of unregenerate man (Jeremiah 17:9). (This line embodies the New Age concept borrowed from Eastern thought, that there is both good and bad in the heart. It is totally foreign to the Bible.)
Jesus is explaining to Nicodemus the absolute necessity of receiving a new heart (i.e. to be “born again“), and the Jenkins’ ‘Jesus’ says “What does your heart tell you?” It totally subverts the meaning of what the true Jesus was communicating. Being The Truth, Jesus explained to Nicodemus what was essential to know in order to see and to enter the kingdom of God. Jesus even rebuked Nicodemus for being unaware of his need to be “born of the Spirit” – Nicodemus had absolutely no idea, his heart was devoid of understanding.
This also misconstrues the status of Jesus as the Lord and King of the kingdom of God. Jesus had defined the kingdom to be already amongst the people, because he was the King of that kingdom and he was exercising his rule and authority for all to see (Matthew 12:28, Luke 17: 20-21). Therefore, the question Jenkins puts in Nicodemus’ mouth – “Is the kingdom of God really coming?” – is a misdirection that deflects from the person, message and authority of Jesus. It was right there, and Nicodemus was standing before its King.
Moreover, Jesus never forbade anyone from bowing to him, as Jenkins has his ‘Jesus’ decline. Jesus always accepted worship from people, as the Son of God legitimately receives. Thus, Jenkins modifies and effectively makes impotent Jesus’ message and his person … yet again.
Jenkins must be called to account for adding to and subtracting from scripture, thereby altering its meaning. However, it would appear, much of the church has fallen under the sway of The Chosen, and he is largely lauded and revered for his work. There are only a few voices calling him out for the false teacher that he is:
But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them — bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
2 Peter 2:1-3
Conclusion
Save yourself and stay away from The Chosen. Do not fall for the Jenkins’ ‘Jesus’ and follow him. Jenkins is deceived and a deceiver. He has come under the influence of a lying spirit, not the Holy Spirit, and is delivering a multitude into the arms of antichrist.
See also Jonathan Roumie