Updated January 9, 2005 (first published April 14, 2000) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

The music of several Contemporary Christian Music groups are featured in the new four-hour CBS miniseries entitled “Jesus.” These include Steven Curtis Chapman, Yolanda Adams, dc Talk, BeBe Winans, Jaci Velasquez, and Avalon. The 13-song CD Music From and Inspired by Jesus: The Epic Miniseries is being released on Sparrow Records, which is a “Christian” label. This CD features not only “Christian” artists but secular as well, including Hootie & the Blowfish, Lonestar, and 98 Degrees.

The star of the movie, the man who plays Jesus, is Jeremy Sisto, who has also acted in the movies Clueless, Grand Canyon, and Moonlight and Valentino. Clueless is rated PG for violence, profanity, vulgarity, and drug use. A secular reviewer warns that this film’s “cavalier suggestions that casual sex is perfectly acceptable for 15-year-olds and that smoking marijuana is fine as long as it’s at a party are extremely irresponsible.” Grand Canyon is rated R for “violence, gore, profanity, and nudity.” The movie Moonlight and Valentino is rated R for profanity, vulgarity, nudity, and sex.

Sisto makes no claim to be a Christian; in fact, he “has Buddhist leanings” (“The Greatest Story Retold,” TV Guide, May 6, 2000, p. 19).

The mother of Jesus is played by “world-famous sex symbol” Jacqueline Bisset. She has flaunted biblical morality throughout her acting career. Though she has never been married, Bissett has spoken publicly of “five long-term romantic involvements.”

The “Jesus” presented in this miniseries is a false christ. The film’s producer, Lorenzo Minoli, describes the Jesus of this film as “a new Christ for the new millennium.” The Jesus of the miniseries dances in the streets “with wild abandon” and “teases Andrew for his disdain of wine and dancing.” He demands angrily that God raise Joseph from the dead, claims that a Canaanite woman “taught him that salvation isn’t only for the Jews, but for the whole world,” and “receives guidance from his mother on his role as Messiah.” He is “haunted by visions of atrocities still to come,” such as the Crusades.

The creators of the miniseries “wanted to depict a REAL Jesus, a human Jesus,” but any Jesus who is not at the same time the sinless Almighty God incarnate is a false christ. There was never even a hint of sin or error in Jesus Christ, not in thought nor in deed. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says he “knew no sin.” 1 John 3:5 says “in him is no sin.” God the Son did not get angry at God the father. God the Son was not angrily confused by the death of Joseph or by any other event of His earthly life. He was not guided into knowledge of His Messiahship by Mary. Just the opposite, Mary was instructed by Jesus (Luke 2:49).

Scotty Smith, the pastor of Christ Community Church near Nashville, is the spiritual advisor of Michael W. Smith, Steven Curtis Chapman, and other CCM musicians. He recommends the Jesus miniseries and claims it is “the most accurate and creative film presentation of Scripture I’ve ever seen--even the creative licenses” (Contemporary Christian Music Magazine, April 2000).

Toby McKeehan of the christian rock group dc Talk, says the Jesus miniseries will “make the gospel available for people who aren’t going to read about Jesus in the [Bible],” but it is spiritually destructive to follow a false christ. The Bible warns about false christs (Matt. 24:4,13; 2 Cor. 11:1-4), and the world today is literally filled with them. There are the false christs of the cults, such as the brother-of-Lucifer christ of Mormonism, the false sacramental christ of Rome, the false christ of the New Age, the false christ of modernism, etc.

Many other vile Hollywood movies have presented a false christ to the world. These include The Last Temptation of Christ, which appeared in 1988 and presented Christ as an adulterous-minded, deluded individual. The new CBS miniseries on Jesus is not as bad as The Last Temptation, but it is probably more dangerous because it is a little closer to the truth.