The Young “Messiah”: Christians Delight In Really Bad Fanfiction

From Berean Examiner:

Get ready for another collection of unbiblical dialog and drama that NEVER HAPPENED. The Young Messiah is the movie that will be releasing March 11 in theaters across the nation (Just in time for Resurrection Sunday!), but the world premiere happened in January at the Billion Soul Network’s NAR-based Synergize 2016 conference.”

“Young Messiah is the “greatest story never told,” says film exec Chris Columbus, (Home Alone, two Harry Potter films, and Mrs. Doubtfire). He recently told Kathie Lee and Hoda that The Young Messiah is based on the novel Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt by on-again-off-again Catholic Anne Rice, which imagines Jesus at around age 7. He said it was biblical, because he had a team of theologians looking over his shoulder, and they all agreed that this was an accurate film.

Who are these theologians? Only one is named:

Dr. Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film, & Television Commission, which publishes MOPVIEGUIDE®, served as a theological and film making consultant for THE YOUNG MESSIAH, and has declared the film to be “orthodox:”

“There have been many movies about Jesus since the 1890s,” he noted. “Only one has been word for word. All the others create story elements not found in the Bible. So, THE JESUS FILM, which has been seen by a billion people, is 70 percent the Gospel of Luke. The rest was added to make the movie dramatic. . . . I had long conversations with the filmmaker, John Heyman, about how to dramatize the Gospel while keeping the orthodox, biblical theology of the New testament. Even if a movie is word for word, like THE GOSPEL OF JOHN, the casting, the set direction, the locations, etc., are all products of the filmmaker’s imagination.” Source

Dr. Baehr, how can a film based entirely on the idea of Jesus at age 7 and an Ann Rice novel be “Orthodox?” Besides Baehr, a long list of partners who got a sneak peek in order to offer a positive review of the film include Word of Faith Hillsong pastorix Christine Caine, Bishop Doug Beacham of the trinity-denying International Pentecostal Holiness Church, and several Catholic organizations and churches.

So we’ve got Word of Faithers, Modalists and Catholics all agreeing that this is an orthodox film true to a story that was never told? Ah well, Sean Bean is in it, so never mind all that biblical accuracy stuff…

View article →

Related:

MOVIEGUIDE Props Up Profane Preacher By Marsha West