“All who heard Him felt His power,” says the John the Apsotle player in Son of God the movie. What? Felt His power? You won’t hear this saying in the Bible but many postmodern relativists may use these types of phrases in their appeals to feeling the truth rather than knowing the truth and heart knowledge vs. head knowledge.

Hollywood’s goal is to make money and entertain, not to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. According to Christian Post Entertainment, the filmmakers of Son of God (2014) accomplished their goal as the film earned $26.5 million in a second place win at the box office this past weekend. Christian reviewers celebrated the success, calling it a “miracle.” I was not as impressed.

I haven’t been to a movie theater in years, but I did attend the movie last night for research purposes. Religious leaders including Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, TD Jakes, and Bill Hybels have urged churchgoers to view the film. In fact, Christian leaders, including megachurch pastor Rick Warren, rented every screen in numerous multiplex theaters across 10 cities for the premiere on Feb. 27. Rick Warren is also offering the Son of God: The Life of Jesus in You Bible Study from LifeWay. So, I had to see what the big deal was for myself. Considering such endorsements (and commentaries from evangelicals and Roman Catholics for the film), I expected the worst.

I anticipated that the producers would use their artistic license to add and subtract from the Gospel record and I also expected Roman Catholic overtones based upon the endorsements from the Catholic community (I will elaborate on the ecumenical agenda below). Most of the additional side stories about the religious Pharisees, governing Romans, and Mary Magdalene as a more prominent figure were just fine and to be expected in a Hollywood movie about the Son of God. But sadly, these additions became the focal point while the substance of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God was almost completely gutted from the film.

Audiences don’t want to hear the teachings of Jesus. They want to be entertained with emotion, violence and nudity. And Son of God the movie offers as much of that as it can for a PG-13 rating. There were several unneeded scenes of Roman violence and oppression of the Israelites. I also could have done without seeing Pilate’s half-naked wife from shoulders up and Pilate training with a Roman male soldier wearing nothing but a loin cloth.

I’m afraid that most people who are curious about the most impacting figure of world history will walk away from the film unimpressed by Hollywood’s Jesus and uneducated about the profound and radical teachings of Christ. Hopefully, it will perk their curiosity to actually read the Gospels for themselves because those documents are really the only truth we have for the historical Jesus.

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