Examining the heresies of the Chosen and the latest kerfuffle between Voddie Baucham and Dallas Jenkins.

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Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. - Matthew 12:30 (ESV)

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The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) dominionist agenda is quite clear in these end times. Because these folks worship this world, all of their attention is upon it instead of God. The rationales are convincing for those who have a difficult time discerning, but the bible always provides sunlight for the darkness. Dominionists believe in the unbelievably false theology of conquering seven cultural mountains, with the primary focus being entertainment and government. On the entertainment side we have seen an explosion in Christian adjacent productions and the apostate church is so giddy that the world is glancing their way that they do not do any deep dive to see if they should be behaving like the shy teenage girl they behave like. Recently for example the whole of churchianity was praising the movie, The Sound of Freedom, calling it a Christian imperative. Never mind that the producers are one radical Catholic and a Mormon studio. So every time I see Christians bragging about the impressive box office haul they never consider that the bulk of the 172 million dollars goes into the coffers of people serving the Catholic agenda and the Mormon agenda, neither of which are God's agenda. Previously the apostate church loved the heretical book, The Shack as well as the completely carnal bible miniseries with the Sassoon Jesus and the ninja angels at Sodom and Gomorrah. More recently however has been The Chosen, which butchers the life of Jesus Christ to promote unbiblical agendas and narratives. By the way, the same Mormon studio that gave us The Sound of Freedom brings us The Chosen. Recently pastor Voddie Baucham weighed in on The Chosen and cited the second commandment regarding idolatry to explain why he does not watch it. Now Baucham has always been generally decent theologically but more recently has been more dominionist leaning. For example, he gave this opinion while on the Glen Beck show. Beck is an openly rabid Mormon as well, so I am unsure how Baucham squares that circle. Putting that aside, let's reason once more through the above linked Charisma News article providing cover for The Chosen by providing the response from Dallas Jenkins, the creator co-writer, and director of the Chosen.

"Pastor and author Voddie Baucham isn't among those watching the hit TV series "The Chosen," with the renowned Christian thinker revealing his reasons are rooted in the Ten Commandments. During an Aug. 2 conversation on "The Babylon Bee Podcast," Baucham, 54, said "The Chosen" is "a line" he draws. When asked by hosts why he doesn't watch the monumentally popular show about Jesus and His followers, he specifically cited the Second Commandment. "2CV, man"Second Commandment violation," he said. "2CV" is an acronym for Second Commandment violation, with Baucham affirming his position.' - Charisma News

First let's deal with Voddie, who is not exactly accurate here. Perhaps he is making a deeper nuanced theological point, which he is known to do. Technically the TV show is not "idolatrous" as I doubt that people lift it up to a level of worship. The larger point however is that since The Chosen presents a different Christ, a false Christ, that in an of itself is an idol. If that was his point, he never actually got around to making it. The real problem with The Chosen is that people are using the concept of creative license to change the bible, which last time I checked God says is anathema. The typical doctrinal objections so far are:

1. Jesus encourages Nicodemus to essentially follow his heart and that soon it will be all about the heart. This may seem minor but it is not. The bible assures us the human heart is wickedly deceitful about all else. The world says follow your heart, not Jesus.

2. It portrays the gospel writers as recorders of history based on secondhand information instead of being divinely inspired. Again, the humanification of the word of God.

3. John the Baptist goes from the biblical forerunner of Jesus to an arrogant man whose interchange with Christ implies Jesus considered the law of God just to be about "breaking rules." This is another worldly lie that Jesus is all love and no condemnation.

4. Reinforcing Catholic tradition by lifting the role of Mary is found in the Chosen.

5. One writer is on record as saying the bible is good literature but not infallible, gulp.

6. Jenkins joked about adding stories to the biblical account because people who just want to read the bible won't be watching anyway.

7. Many biblical figures portrayed as drunks. Peter mocks John the Baptist as "creepy John."

8. To humanize Jesus, who is God, the script has him needing to rehearse scriptures and when Mary says she is proud he for some reason replies that she should wait to see "in case I mess up in front of such a big crowd." This is not creative license. It creates an absurd caricature of God. This is however exactly the way the world and the apostate church likes their god, weak, human and fallible.

9. Mary Magdalene claims she met Jesus in a bar, and he apparently flirted with her. She then recommends that John leave that part out of his book. Ridiculous.

10. In one interview they claimed The Chosen was creating a "multi-lane highway for relationships with Jesus." This relationship theology is straight up apostate church and NAR. There is only one way beloved. There is no multi-lane highway.

11. The actor portraying Jesus, Jonathan Roumie has a "rosary live" broadcast, so again, what are we leading people to?

This is just a partial list. We must remember that this is all part of the end times deception. As the key verse today reminds us, there are only two choices. You are either gathering people to Christ or scattering them away from Him. The Chosen pretends they are doing the former when they are definitely doing the latter.

"Not surprisingly, Baucham's comments about "The Chosen" violating the Second Commandment caught the attention of show creator Dallas Jenkins, who posted a fairly substantial reaction to Facebook. "I love Voddie Baucham, but I think this take is misapplied," Jenkins wrote. "The 2nd commandment is clearly referring to objects of worship, and most likely, specifically objects of worship that compete with God." The TV and movie director then shared Exodus 20:4-6, adding additional context to the text that precludes people making carved images. Verse five implores people not to "bow down" or serve these images"a factor Jenkins believes differentiates "The Chosen" from what's described in Scripture." - Charisma News

Gotta love when Dallas Jenkins thinks he needs to correct Voddie Baucham. While Baucham may not have clarified his objection, Jenkins' interpretation is silly. God is not merely referring to carved images but rather what they represent and if they are "worshipped" before the one true God. So yes, in the ancient world they bowed down to a carved image but that usually represented a false deity who represented something they were putting ahead of God. Some ancient gods represented love or wealth and prosperity, for example. In modern times we may have done away with the carved image, but we routinely place things like money or love before God in our lives. Perhaps that was even Voddie's point because the fake jesus in The Chosen is literally chosen instead of the real God. Why? Because the real God requires surrender and obedience, not just this sloppy agape jesus in the TV show. Jenkins has in fact bowed down to this false god he has created because he does not want the real God, for whom it is not all about the heart.

'"Pastor Baucham's logic is that because a movie or show portraying Christ is showing someone who comes from heaven, then it's idolatrous," Jenkins wrote. "Or because it's the portrayal of God, an image of God, it's idolatrous." He continued, "But it's not the portrayal or image itself that's the issue (if it was, then as the verse says, 'anything' on earth or even water would be wrong to portray). It's clearly the worship of it." Jenkins then added what's seen in the Scriptures above"that "God is a jealous God" and wants His followers to choose Him over any idol. The director made clear he sees no contradiction in his show and the Lord's teaching in Scripture.

"No one is worshiping the TV screen; we're not claiming the show is the Bible or Jonathan [Roumie] is actually Jesus," Jenkins wrote. "And no one believes the portrayal is an object of worship or anything other than another way to illustrate and point people to truth."' - Charisma News

I am not sure that was Baucham's point, and I would be surprised if he meant that. The problem is not that the actor is an image of Jesus but that he is a wildly inaccurate image of Jesus that leads people away from the real Jesus. THAT is the problem with The Chosen. Jenkins feigning ignorance here is pretty comical. The Chosen is not "another way to point people to the truth" but rather the exact opposite. The answer of the director (Jenkins) is irrelevant. What do you expect him to say? Dallas Jenkins clearly does not know, comprehend or care about scripture. Idolatry is not an episode of the Brady Bunch when a small carved idol causes Greg to wipe out on his surfboard. It is when we put anything before God. When we do that, we are bowing our lives before that idol, that is the point. The Chosen represents a false Christ for the sake of entertainment. It serves Mormon and Catholic imperatives, not Christian. Voddie may not be perfect here, but I trust his concern over the heretical dismissal of Jenkins. Either way, Baucham is right. Mark and avoid.

Reverend Anthony Wade - August 16, 2023

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.