Ep 1176 | ‘The King of Kings': The Biblical & the Questionable
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00:46That's fellowship homelones.com slash alley, term supply, see site for details, fellowship home loans,mortgage lending by the book, nationwide mortgage bankers, DBA Fellowship Home Loans,equal housing lender, NMLS, number 819382.King of Kings, the new animated movie about the life of Jesus.Should you see it?Should you allow your kids to see it?Bree and I have a full analysis, theological, creative analysis about that movie today.Also, American Idol honored Jesus over the weekend, and we will play you some highlights from that.
01:22It was so special.All of this and more on today's episode of Relatable.Hey guys, welcome to Relatable.Happy Tuesday. Hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far. We are getting into the King of Kings today. We were going to discuss it last week in case you and your family were going to see it over Easter weekend. You were trying to decide what to do, but I just wasn't ready yet. Now we are ready. So Brie and I have slightly different takes and interpretations about this. And so you'll get to hear what we think as well as what some other critics and viewers out there think. But Bree, since I didn't get to talk to you yesterday on the show, I just want to hear.how your Easter weekend was. Was it good? Yeah, it was. I was pretty low-key. Went to church,had Easter lunch. I made lemon bars. Ooh. Is there cream cheese in these lemon bars?No, is there supposed to be? No, not necessarily, but I have had cream cheese bars or maybelemon bars with cream cheese, and it's just a great combination. That sounds amazing. No, mine were just
02:32kind of the classic ones. And I made sourdough pretzel rolls.So I was baking a lot.Wow.Fun.And you went to your parents' house?Yes.And now I have a little, I'm like the youngest in my family.And up until recently, we haven't had a lot of babies.
02:50But we did have my cousin's baby there.And so got baby time.Yeah.Yeah.Yay.So fun.We had a pretty low-key Easter, too.We just went to church and then went over to my parents' house and had some good lunch.
03:04We had some good ranchers chicken.and steak and lots of other good stuff, some fruit pies. Wait, do I remember correctly that youdon't like fruit pie? Did I just make that up? You do not remember correctly. Oh, I don't know.I don't know. I don't know where that came from. I don't know. No, I love a good fruit pie. And we hadblueberry pie and we had cherry pie. And we were both really good. Love it. Yep. And that's aboutall we did. And then I finished watching King of Kings. And so now we were going to talk about it.Okay, before I give my impression and we give our takes on it, let's just talk about what King of Kings is.Maybe you've heard it talked about.
03:44There's been some discussion, some disagreement about its theological soundness, whether you should allow your kids to see it.This is an animated movie of the life of Jesus.And I'll play you the trailer and you'll kind of get a sense for what it is, Sot 1.Our story begins 2,000 years ago when baby Jesus came in.the world.Wait, wait, stop.If it's not about a king, then I'm not interested.This story is about the king of kings.
04:16If you're with me, then I know that.It has angels and wicked kings and miracles.Okay, so that's part of the trailer.You can see right there really sweet, and you're probably wondering, like, why is therelike 1800s people also interacting with people during Jesus's time. So this is an animated filmthat looks at Jesus' life from the Nativity to the resurrection, but it is through a narrativewhere the writer of the Christmas story, Charles Dickens, is telling this story of Jesus to hisson, Walter, who imagines himself witnessing the events and kind of being a part of these events. And the
05:10film is loosely based on something that Charles Dickens actually wrote only for his children.It wasn't ever meant to be published. And it was called The Life of Our Lord, which was basicallya simplified retelling of the Gospels for his children that emphasized Jesus' life and teachings.But I think this would be a good time to talk about the background, Bree, of Charles Dickens just alittle bit, because Charles Dickens was actually a Unitarian Universalist. And so he did not believethat Jesus was who he said he was.John 146, Jesus says,I am the way, the truth, the life.
05:45No one comes to the father except through me.And that salvation is through him.He is God.We read that in John 1.And as a Unitarian Universalist, Charles Dickens didn't actually believe that.Now, I didn't know that until I started digging into it.I actually thought that using Charles Dickens and using kind of like in the beginning,he's performing the play of the Christmas story and then his son is disrupting and it turns into
06:13this whole thing of his son not going to bed because he wants to hear his father tell anotherstory of a real king and that king is Jesus. And so I actually thought that was interesting,but I do kind of wonder why they chose Charles Dickens and what he wrote when Charles Dickensdidn't actually believe a lot of what is in this movie, that Jesus is the king of kings,that he is Lord of Lords and that he actually died.on the cross for our sins. Charles Dickens just believed that he was a good moral teacher thatI guess he just wanted his kids to know about. So there's some incongruency there, but you couldjust say maybe that's creative liberties. They thought that was an interesting way to get into the
06:49story. Yeah. I don't know exactly what they're thinking was of why they used this as sourcematerial. But yeah, he had written something called The Life of Our Lord, which was just a documentthat explained Jesus' life and miracles to his kids.And it was never intended to be published or to be public.He made it explicitly clear.It was only for his family until after they died, then people published it.But that's what this is based on and why, I guess, they chose him as the central character.But yeah, like you said, he was nominally Anglican, but a Unitarian and didn't believe in, you know,
07:28atonement or the Trinity or original sin.He just thought Jesus was a good moral teacher and had good stories.So yeah.And all of those things are, as far as I know, absent from the life of our lord, which is what they used to make this.So not absent from the film, but from what they used from it.Which is okay.You could ask, okay, why did they choose that they could have chosen a different entry point or a different way to get into the life of Jesus?But obviously they, as many movies do, took creative liberties.
08:02with the history and biography of Charles Dickens.And they just kind of use that as the starting point.And so agree or disagree with that.There's not some big theological or moral issue with that necessarily.It might just be, hmm, why?A curious choice.Okay, there were some stars that played in this, which I also didn't realize.Uma Thurman as Catherine Dickens.
08:26Okay, Charles Dickens' wife.Uma Thurman.Pierce Brosnan.Yeah.As Pontius Pilot.Mark Hamill as King Herod,Forrest Whitaker as Peter.Interesting.
08:36Oscar Isaac is Jesus.I'm sorry.I don't know who that is.Oh.He was in Star Wars movies.He's pretty big.That's why.Got it.
08:47And maybe these other people are also people I should know.The film grows $19.05 million during its opening weekend,setting a record for the largest debut of an animated biblical filmsurpassing the Princess.of Egypt. Wow. And the Prince of Egypt is truly a masterpiece of work of art. It was made by South Koreanproduction house Mofak animation was directed also by South Korean Sjong Ho-Jing with Jamie Thomason. I don't know who that is,serving as the co-director. And okay, I guess I'll just say my overall take and then we can kindof get into a back and forth brie. My overall take.
09:31Just watching as I was trying to actually be more of a critical viewer because I wanted to point out potential pitfalls.I wanted to look at the theological vulnerabilities before I could recommend it to you or tell you that you need to see it.But honestly, overall, I felt like it was a really good representation of Jesus in his sacrifice and the gospel.There were few creative liberties taken, but honestly, not that.that many. I thought that it captured the spirit of Jesus's life and purpose and representedhis probable temperament really well. I thought there were some really beautiful moments where I wasbrought to tears. I thought the crucifixion was done really well. I thought it was interesting.A lot of the symbolism that was used. Jesus's baptism is meant to look a lot like when he
10:28rose from the dead also when we see Peter, he's walking on water, he looks at the wave, turns awayfrom Jesus, he doubts, he falls into the water, these aren't spoilers. If you know the Gospels,you know that these things really happened. And we also see Jesus, kind of, or Peter, in thatsimilar position of kind of like being baptized and being raised up by Jesus. Another symbolism.I thought that it was really sweet when the little son, Walter, he finishes hearing the stories,he runs to his siblings. And he says,wake up, wake up. He wants to tell them the story. Well, that's what we're doing when we're sharingthe gospel with people. We're saying, wake up, wake up. Like, you're sleeping and I have to wake you up
11:08with the best news ever. And you are asleep, dead in your sin. And Christ wants to make you aliveby grace through faith. And yes, I'm kind of like adding to the movie there, but I thought that that'swhat they were trying to represent and the message they were trying to convey. I thought theydid a really good job, especially in that scene with Peter, doubting and falling through the waterof showing you can do nothing to save yourself, that when you doubt and when you need salvation,it is Jesus that has to reach down and help you. You can't work your way to him. You can'tmake yourself good enough for him. You can't clean yourself off. He is going to have to reach downand help you. I thought that it was really, really good. And the tension between
11:55the Pharisees and Sadducees and Jesus, the Roman Empire in Jesus. All of that was good without beingtoo scary. So that's my overall take. I don't know if I can necessarily recommend it to you.Obviously, there are some serious thematic elements. You could say that it's scary. It's intense.The story of Jesus is scary and intense in some way. So it depends upon the maturity of your child,the conversations that you've already had with them. But overall, I don't have a lot of big,glaring theological problems with this story. I can tell you it was probably moretheologically accurate and compelling than veggie tales. Okay. And maybe you could sayveggie tales is the reason that millennials have the problems they do. But I thought that this is,
12:43this one did a better job. Okay, I'll get into it with Bree. And Bree will give her thoughts injust a second. But let me pause. Let me tell you about share the arrows before we get into therest of this. If you have not signed up for Share the Arrows, yet this is our Christian Women'sConference, y'all. It is going to be amazing just this morning. I was listening to some of thesongs that I'm hoping Francesca Badistelli will be singing at the conference. The worship was one ofthe most powerful parts last year. If you have never heard 4,000 women singing,this is my father's world, a cappella in unison. Like that was just a foretaste of heaven. It was sopowerful and I cannot wait for that moment again. It is going to be by the grace of God, a beautiful
13:27event where you are coming together with thousands of like-minded women. You can come by yourself.I promise you it won't be weird or awkward. You will make friends. You will have people to sit with.You will have people to pray with and worship with and go to lunch with. And you will be able tohear from incredible teachers like Elisa Childers, like Katie Fowles. I almost announced the personthat I'm not, I can't announce yet, but I will be announcing soon. We've got to be. We'vegot Taylor Dukes. We've got Shauna Holman. We'll be having a new health panel within this year.We've got Ginger Dugger Voelo. She'll be there giving us encouragement. I will also be speaking.And then we've got two women who will be on a motherhood parenting panel. It's just going to be
14:05amazing, y'all. I promise you, you don't want FOMO. You don't want FOMO after this event.Okay, so don't wait until 2026. Now is the year. Go to share the arrows.com. Get your tickets whilethey're available. Bring all of your friends. Bring your small group. It's only for women.Can't bring your husband. Can't bring the related bros, but bring all the women in your life.Go to share the arrows.com. Okay, Bree, tell me your thoughts on this. We'll get into the artistic stuffbecause we have some artistic questions just about the content of it. But what was your thoughtoverall about this? So I'll preface this by saying, I know people have been protective of this movie.so I don't want to make anyone upset.
14:55Oh, I haven't seen that.Like, people are defensive about it.Yeah, they're really defensive about it.I will just say I'm a particularly harsh critic of Christian media because I believe that Christian should have high standards and should have a standard of excellence when it comes to media.And I just haven't seen us do that very well.And so when I watch an example that you can think of like not good Christian media.Oh, I'm going to make people mad if I see.say it, but I think the God's Not Dead movies are really terrible.
15:27Cheesy?It's not just cheesy.I think that there, I think some of the messaging in them is, is a little bit dangerous topeople who are not Christians.Gosh, I don't remember, actually.Yeah, often their depiction of like atheists is pretty, like, offensive to atheists to thepoint where I don't know that it would really encourage them to think well of Christianity atall.
15:49And so there's lots I could say about God's not dead.But yes, that's an example of something that I don't think is done super well.And I just think our media could be a lot more compelling.So I went into this, like wanting to be a critic of it like you did, wanting to find the parts that could have been improved.And I will say I've softened a lot to it over the past like week since I've seen it.Most of my issues are artistic with it and like the story I thought could have been.better, not the story of Jesus, but how they told the story. But I thought so many parts of it werereally beautiful. I thought some of the animation was like beautiful. The lighting and the animation.
16:33There's this part where there's like a visual representation of like substitutionary atonement.And I thought that was beautiful when he's like sinking into the water and then Jesus takes hishand and switch places with him. And then Jesus is sinking down and he's floating up. I just thought that was likesuch a good visual representation for kids, especially of what was happening. So there were somemoments like that that I were like, oh, that I was like, oh, this isn't really a thing in other kids'media. And so I appreciated that a lot. Yeah. And I appreciated they at least tried to get thefull gospel in there. I don't know that I think some parts of it were more confusing than theyneeded to be. Like which parts? Like when they tried to explain original sin, he like pulls out a
17:22book and explains Adam and Eve. And I just thought that could have been a little bit more clear.I don't remember the exact wording. But things like that, I'm like, maybe would have tweaked,but. But I appreciate, I always appreciate when in the question of sin, someone goes back tothe beginning and someone goes back to Adam and Eve. I think that's really important and tells me,okay, even if we would have conveyed it differently, that indicates to me, I'm like, okay, you get it.You get where it comes from.That because of Adam, we have all died and Jesus is the second Adam.And I think just like with any art, they can't tell you everything.
18:05There's so much that we have to see and draw from it.And I kind of want to watch it again because I think there's probably a lot of things that I missed that I didn't really see before.and I really do commend them for that.Any criticism that says it wasn't the full gospel, I just,you didn't say that, but anyone out there,like I just don't know if I would agree with that.I think that they did the best they could to get the full gospel in there.But if anyone out there disagrees, I would love,
18:35there could be something I'm missing.I'm not thinking about if any commenter was like,no, you know, if they said this wrong or did this wrong,I'd be interested to hear that.Yeah.I thought that they also, I know some people had issues with some creative liberties that Jesus said.Oh yeah.With what Jesus said, right?
18:52Like they added some things to his quotes or they changed words slightly.Yeah, there's a couple examples.Like when Jesus is in the temple, when he is younger and Luke, he says, did you not know that I must be in my father's house?And movie Jesus says, I felt like I needed to be here.So it's like much more modernized language. There's another example. I do remember that. I remember kind of wincing a little bit at the I felt. Yeah. But then I second guessed my own thoughts and was like, well, is there really anything wrong with that? He did feel it. Yeah. But I mean, his feelings are always truth. So maybe that's not bad. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's why some people had issues with it.he is multiplying the loaves and fish he says the son of man came not to be served but to serve and to givehis life as a ransom for many that's what the bible says and then movie jesus says he came togive his life for the benefit of the multitudes so plugged in notes in their review of it that
19:58um removing the word ransom from that describes the the true purpose of jesus death so that'sSome people are having issues with that with modernization of those phrases.Yeah.I would be interested to know why they chose benefit if they just thought that that was a more modern way to say ransom,because ransom has to be explained.But if we're going to change it, I probably would have said salvation or I would have said,I would have said to save many,to save those who believe I probably would have said something like that instead of benefit,
20:42because benefit is just as vague as ransom.Also, the multitudes.I feel like if you're replacing words,I don't know that I would have chosen that either.Yeah, there were a couple things like that.It's funny because we just talked with Sean McDowell last week about John 9,and that was one of the scenes.that was depicted when the disciples are looking at the blind man and they're like,
21:09who sent?Did he sin or his parents send?And Jesus kind, they kind of changed what Jesus said about the power of God being displayedin him.But again, like, the spirit was there.The spirit was there.And they didn't show the whole scene of like the guy's parents and all of that.But I thought that that was, I thought that that was fine.
21:31Okay.Here's one thing.I was looking away during this part and I was watching a screener so I couldn't rewind.When he raised Lazarus from the dead, did he weep beforehand?Do you remember?I don't think he did.Because I don't think he did either.And I remember thinking, well, that's strange because that's such like a important verse, it seems like, showing the humanity of Jesus is the shortest verse in the Bible.
21:58Most people who are Christians know that verse and know it's when he heard that Lazarus died.So I thought that that was an interesting choice too.That's an interesting note.Unless I'm forgetting.No, I don't.I watched it in a theater.I feel like maybe I would have remembered.I don't think he did.
22:14I also remember this Jesus in the movie is pretty stoic most of the time.Yes.And I don't.But that's how I read Jesus.That's how I read Jesus in the Gospels.Yeah.And I think it's fair to interpret him character wise as that I didn't particularly thinkOscar Isaac.
22:33was that compelling as the character like the other actors were but um but yeah all that to say i don't knowthat there were a lot of like emotional moments from like jesus's perspective one thing that i didhave an issue with actually was the resurrection the depiction of the resurrection because ilegitimately thought that they cut a scene out of it it like jesus is is dead and then it fades toblack and then they're like oh but he also just rose from the dead and the endIt was like so fast at the end.That's true.There wasn't really an explanation of like what that means now and why that's significant.
23:11And I don't expect them to do a sermon, but it did feel very jarring.I was like, well, this is like an important thing to explain.And it wasn't.And I think that was a big issue for me as well.You know, they could have brought it full circle with the Christmas story because when you think about the Christmas story.Christmas Carol?Yes.I think I must have said the Christmas story.
23:32earlier too. It's not the Christmas story. The Christmas Carol. Okay, the Christmas Carol. They could have brought it fullcircle because when you think about the Christmas Carol, it's not a gospel movie or story. It is kind of a universalist,moralistic story if you just need to be a good person and you need to be generous. But if they were going torewrite kind of the life of Charles Dickens, they could have rewritten the Christmas story as if he wasthe Christian they depicted him as and showed a new end of the Christmas Carol of Ebenezer Scroogelike actually bowing down before the cross and like accepting Jesus and them showing like,no, that's really what the end of the Christmas Carol should be as realizing that Christmas isabout Christ. That could have brought it full circle. But then they kind of left that off. Yes. Yeah,
24:23I know I thought there were quite a few moments for emotional beats that had so much potential that they missed out on.One of those is actually when Peter has denied Jesus and he's kind of just sitting there on his own.That for me was one of the most emotional parts of the whole movie.But then the little kid character comes over and kind of interrupts the scene.And I thought that that was like so jarring.Yeah.Because I was like, I just want to watch what's happening with Peter now, not this cat.at and this kid that's here. And then also the interaction between the little kid character
25:00and what's happening in Jesus' time, I see what they're going for. They were going for,here is how a kid could make this personal. Here's how they could see themselves in Jesus' story.I think that's what they're going for. But I thought that at times it was really confusing.There are times when Charles Dickens' character turns into Jesus. That did confuse me. I thoughtthat I saw it wrong.No, he morphs into Jesus, or maybe it's vice versa.Jesus morphs into him.I thought that was super confusing.
25:31Jesus has some interaction with the cat.I don't know if we explained.The little boy character has a pet cat.I must be emotional because I thought Jesus holding the cat was really sweet.Well, I did too.And I almost cried.But I thought that there was a lot of potential for like, because Jesus interacts with him and the little boy a coupletimes throughout.
25:52Yeah.Yeah. It would be so much more impactful, I thought, if there was one moment where this little boy is watching this all unfold and there's one moment maybe right before the cross or something where Jesus makes eye contact with the little boy and all of a sudden it's like, oh, this is personal. Like he's connecting with me.That would have been sweet. Or if there was one moment where Jesus, you know, shows his love for little creatures and touches the cat somehow or whatever.But I don't think that that was really like emphasized very much.The kid was just kind of there and interacting in the scene sometimes.And I don't think it meant as much as it could have.Yeah.Okay.
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27:25It's built on Judeo-Christian values.Freedom Project Academy is dedicated to mastery of subject matter where students readfull books, write in cursive, study the full scope of history, graduate with knowledgeyears above their public school peers.Go to freedomfor school.com, save 15% off all courses when you use code Alley 15.that's Allie 15 for 15% off at Freedom for School.com.Okay, about the child.I thought that the child's questions and interactions with the story were pretty accurate as a representation of how a child asks questions about Jesus and about the Bible.
28:12Like I saw a lot of what my children say and think and ask in that child.I thought that that was really sweet. And I also thought that he was a representation of havingfaith like a child because he just understood so well. It seemed like that it was sad that Jesus wasdying, that it was wrong for the people to choose him to die over Barabbas. He didn't wantJesus to die. He saw how amazing and loving Jesus was. And I just, I see so much of what Jesus meantwhen he says you have to have faith like a child in order to enter the kingdom of heaven.One beautiful benefit of motherhood is that you relearn the Bible and the gospel through yourchildren and they just understand it so clearly.
29:00Like you understand sin.You understand that all this brokenness, the plagues, everything that happened over herehappened because of the bite of the apple.And you just so desperately want to be saved from that.And you learn a lot.So I thought that that was a really sweet picture of what it meant to have faith like a child.Now, what we never see is actually an understanding of the child's own sin.Now, maybe you think like this is too intense, but you and I were talking before this,
29:32that like it starts with this child.Now, I don't know how old the child is, maybe five, six.Yeah.But very much disobeying and disrespecting his parents, not like accidentally being,mischievous as like a normal rambunctious five-year-old, some of that.But some of it was just like flagrant disobedience when his dad is working on something reallyhard trying to perform the Christmas Carol in front of people.And he doesn't get punished.
30:00He gets yelled at and yelling is not disciplined.But his dad gets frustrated and is like, you know, you need to stop doing this.I'm going to take the sword away or whatever.And his mom does not discipline him at all.No, the mom chides the dad for getting frustrated.So the dad is made weak right away.Then when the dad gets home from the play, the son, Walter, gets to stay up late while the otherchildren who did obey get to have to go to bed.
30:25Okay.And so the child gets rewarded for this disobedience by getting to stay up.And the mom is basically like telling the dad, the mom's supposed to be sweet.But the mom is like, to make up for you getting frustrated with him, you have to tell him this story.Now, obviously, it is a great benefit for the dad to tell.the story of the gospel. And we want that. We should all be doing that for our kids. But again,I think another missed opportunity, or maybe you think this was there, was maybe the childseen, oh, like, in my own way. Like, I contributed to Jesus's death on the cross. That is my sin.
31:03And, like, he tells me to honor my father and mother. And, like, I also need salvation. I alsoneed forgiveness and there could have been some like contriteness there to show. But that is one reasonwhy I don't know that I would allow my kids to see it. Not because of the necessarily the like otherparts of it, the story of Jesus, but because you see bad, you see bad behavior completelyundisciplined by the parents and like very weak parents who don't take that behavior seriouslyat all. Yeah. No, I totally agree. That's a great point. And this is a little.little bit less severe of a point, but something that also bothered me that you touched on isis the mom character and how she's the one who was like motivating all of this. It's like
31:51Charles Dickens wrote this for his kids. So he obviously was already motivated to share thisstory with his kids, we're presuming. But in this story, it's like the mom is forcing him to do it.the mom when he is trying to explain Adam and Eve, an original sin, he can't find the Bible orwhatever that he needs to explain it. She has to find it for him. So I just thought that that waskind of silly that like she was kind of the motivator for everything. Maybe they just narrativelyneeded her to do something. But I thought it was kind of a trope that is in a lot of movies.Oh yeah. The bumbling dad and the wise mom that has to come in and like bring order to the chaos.And maybe you could say, well, no, he's just an artist and he needed a more type A person to like keep him on track.
32:40But we were also talking about how it's strange that, okay, if Charles Dickens, the fictional Charles Dickens really believed in the gospel and like cared about this so much that he had been writing this for his children, well, as Walter, the son is listening to it, he's never heard this stuff before.It's like he's never heard of Jesus.and he has to go tell his siblings about Jesus,why have they never heard of Jesus before?My mom, I went to see it with my mom in theaters,and she leaned over to me and was like,have they never been to church before?Yeah.
33:13Why does he know none of this?So, yeah, that was kind of a weird choice in my opinion.Now, maybe you could say that this fictional Charles Dickenswas becoming a Christian during this time,and it was new,writing all of this is he was learning it and believing it and he was presented it for the firsttime. Yeah. So you could say that and like from the completion of it, that's when he was like,okay, I understand this and I want to present it to my kids. I'm completely adding on to the movie and
33:43giving it a very charitable reading. But maybe someone could say. Yeah. Now, no kid, by the way,if you're going to allow your kids to watch that, which is totally up to you and maybe you can have aconversation with them about the behavioral stuff in the beginning. But no kid is going to catch on tothat. I don't think that they're going to like a five-year-old is going to have an issue with that.Okay. So there are some critics out there. Gabriel Hughes on X said, he said, while the filmdoes get some things right, there's a lot. It doesn't. Jesus is often as quoted in subtle ways.He points out, we already talked about this. Luke 249 when Jesus says, did you not know I must be in myfather's house? Movie Jesus says, I felt like I needed to be here. Loaves and fish. That's
34:28scene, the Bible says Mark 1045, the son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give hislife as a ransom for many movie, Jesus says, to give his life for the benefit of the multitudes.Gabriel also says that they make Jesus sound like a guy from HR rather than the King of Kings.I personally don't agree with that assessment in general.The film tells us our sin makes God sad, but there's no mention of hell of the judgment of God,which Jesus talked about. Okay, that could be true. That could be true. What do you think about that?That they don't mention hell. Yeah. Yeah, I had that thought briefly. I also, though, was just kind ofwondering how, I mean, I don't make children's media, but I do wonder, like, what the best way to
35:15communicate that to a child is. And I don't know. I would prefer that they didn't leave that out,but I also, I don't know, I guess I don't have suggestions for them as to how they would havepresented that to a kid. That's tough.Yeah. I don't know.Yeah. Maybe they're thinking, you know, that that's up to the parents. I don't know.Do veggie tales to pick tell? I don't remember. I don't think so. Probably not. That would have beenlike really scary seeing Bob burn. Veggies in hell, I know. Yeah. Chard tomato.So I don't know. Maybe it's just you could argue that it's not. But they do.
35:55did talk about sin. They did talk about Satan.Yeah. Some movies wouldn't even talk about Satan at all. But yeah, you could argue that theydon't really say what Jesus is saving us from and what we deserve. But again, you do seesome depictions of that. Jesus taking our place that we deserve to be on the cross. Yeah.So, yeah, there's an argument to be made. There's one official reviewer from the outlet,the aisle seat. They found that the Charles Dickens storyline washed out the biblical narrative. That'show they felt, he said, when you have the story of Jesus, which is literally the greatest storyever told, why do you need a precocious kid and a mischievous cat? They aren't interesting.
36:34Charles Dickens was an interesting man, but his career doesn't factor in. He's used as a framingdevice. So there's no insight into his works or creative process. That is true. And yet anexcess amount of time is spent showing him bantering back and forth with his son, a subplot withzero dramatic tension or relevant to Christ's life, for that matter. I agree the beginning. The beginningbantering. So now we can get into our creative differences, which we've kind of already done.Yeah. The beginning part, in addition to the just like the like precocious kids and all thatstuff, I just thought it was stressful and it went on too long. And yeah, it's true. There's really,that's not part of the plot, especially if they never bring it back to the child seeking forgiveness
37:16and seeing his own sin. Like yeah, it's just stressful. Yeah, it's stressful. I just think,I've already said this. I just think the involvement of specifically Charles Dickens is so random.It is. And so if it was just some guy in the 1800s with a kid, I think it would make more sense because then you're just like, okay, it's a kid. It's a guy telling a story to his kid. This is like, there needs to be a reason for it to be Charles Dickens. And I don't think there was other than he wrote this random document for his kids that people don't even know about. So it doesn't really like matter that much. Yeah. So I.completely agree that's one of my biggest issues is that it's confusing because I don't know why it'sCharles Dickens I don't know he's there I saw one reviewer actually the title of his review wasfinally a movie about Jesus that centers on Charles Dickens I thought that was funny because that's howI felt too I was like why so I don't know yeah I thought that it was going to be an interestingthrough line and it wasn't yeah because I like the Christmas Carol and so
38:22I was like, they're going to make this gospel.Yeah.And they didn't.So I don't know if it's a South Korea thing.I don't know.I don't know.I don't know.Okay, so Angel Studios is run by, I think, Mormon creators, a Mormon family.
38:38And yet I would not say that this was Mormon theologically at all.I didn't see any LDS influence on it.And what I mean by that is that Mormon theology does not believe that Jesus is God.They believe that he is a son of God, that he was literally conceived between Mary and God, that Satan is a brother of Jesus.And we don't see anything like that here.And I do think that we see Jesus as God.I mean, we hear Jesus' words.Who do you say that I am to his disciples?
39:12And Peter, I believe, says, you are the Christ.And Jesus says, well said.You know, he said, the son of man has been given the power to do these.things. And so I do believe that we see Jesus as God, not just a son of God, as LDS theology teaches.And so if that's a concern that any Christian has out there, I didn't see anything like that in thisstory. And to clarify, sorry to interrupt, just to clarify, Angel Studios also only distributedthis. They didn't contribute to actually the production of it. So I don't know if that's justadditional context, I guess. But really, they're just like putting the movie out. They didn't make it.
39:54Yeah. So overall, I think I think it's good. Obviously, our creative disagreements with it,that's like just our opinion. You may love all of that. You may see a lot of purpose in CharlesDickens' story and contribution to this. And I think, you know, that's totally fine.The more moral and theological stuff, you can decide how important that is. I think with anythingthat you are allowing your kids to watch,you should watch it first and you should think about it.And if appropriate, you should have a conversation about it.But I wouldn't say is better than Prince of Egypt, though.
40:32Would you say it was better than Prince of Egypt?Did you like Prince of Egypt?Yeah, yeah.But it's hard to compare because that's like a classic in probably in both of our minds.But no, no, I wouldn't say it's better.Prince of Egypt is way scarier.Yeah.Way scarier than this.
40:51Like, so if you haven't watched Prince of Egypt with your kids, I know from experience that five and three are too young.So I would wait.I would have waited a little bit.We did not finish Prince of Egypt because when they show the babies being thrown into the river and eaten by the alligators, I was like, okay, yeah, this is tough.It's tough.So important to talk about all of that stuff and for kids to understand and it could be different.for your own children.But I think especially when something is making a theological case and depicting Jesus,
41:25we want to make sure it's as accurate as possible.I think that I would probably give King of Kings.Theologically, I'd probably give it an A-a-minus.Overall, as a movie, I'd probably give it a B-B-plus.What would you say, Brie?I'd movie B-minus.Theology.Probably B-plus.
41:48Yeah.I thought there were some really, really sweet moments.And overall, I think it's a net positive.I really do.I'm not a hater of this movie.I think if you choose to see it with your family, then you're probably going to be blessedby it.And I think I saw a video of someone posted of their kids in the theater watching the scene
42:05where Jesus was dying.They were like older kids, probably 8 and 10.And just the tears streaming down their faces.They saw Jesus being crucified and taking our place.So I think it could actually help your children see the,truth of the crucifixion and the meaning behind it. All right, we've got some more to talk about.Maybe we'll just get right into American Idol. That could be fun. You could just end on a positivenote, but I got to pause and tell you about our next sponsor. And that is good ranchers. So as I
42:34already said, this weekend, CR grilled for our family and he grilled some chicken, some non-pre-marinatedchicken breast on the grill. And then he also made some steaks. And it was so good. Everyone was araving fanned. Tasted amazing. I love having a freezer full of all American meat from Good Ranchers.We get a box of meat to our front door every month, so we just never have to think about it.It comes on dry ice. I know it's from All American Farms and Ranches. And it just makes my life a loteasier. I have my custom Allie Beth Stucky box at Good Ranchers, which is filled with all the stuffthat we use the most. The ground beef, the better than organic chicken, the cuts of steak that we like.We love all of that.
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43:34So go to Good Ranchers.com and use Code Alley for that discount.That's Good Ranchers.com, Code Alley.Okay.I guess we have a little time so we could play a few of the videos that.we have. We could go through the Easter egg roll and the egg hunt that happened over the weekendwith Trump. I played this on my Instagram, but I just thought it was really cute. Trump sitting at atable with a bunch of kids and he's just coloring with them. And he says at one point, I colored the duckblue because I've never seen a blue duck before. And that's just very Trump. Here's a three.
44:21I will.Why, you're looking at you.You've been a good guy.Amen.I'll be it.I'll sign all of them, okay?And then he also had an address, which, of course, was a bit contentious.Some people liked it.
44:38Some people didn't like it.He emphasized honoring Jesus and, quote, bringing religion back to America.He also issued an executive order to lower flags half mass in order of Pope Francis.The Pope, he died.yesterday, yesterday morning.Here's up for.Speaking of special, Easter is special, and it's one of our favorite days.It's one of our favorite periods of time.
45:01We're honoring Jesus Christ, and we're going to honor Jesus Christ very powerfully throughoutour lives, all throughout our lives, not just now, all throughout our lives.We're bringing religion back in America.We're bringing a lot of things back, but religion is coming back to America.That's why you see the kind of numbers that you see.seeing the spirit and the kind of numbers that you seek.Okay, I would love for him to honor Jesus Christ throughout his life.I would love that for all of us.
45:31Absolutely.100 percent.We all need that.Bringing religion back to America, I don't know.I don't know.I don't know exactly what that means.How his administration is bringing religion back to America.Religious liberty, yes, I would say that is within his purview.
45:49I don't just want religion, though.there's a lot of religions. Certainly Islam is multiplying. That's a religion. Buddhism is a religion. I don't wantjust any religion. And maybe Trump met just Christianity, but I want the gospel of Jesus Christ to do what onlythe gospel of Jesus Christ can do, which is turn hearts of stone into hearts of flesh. And I wantChristians to go out and make disciples of Christ, specifically. That is the only religiousawakening I want. And that's what I'm praying for. And no government.government can do that. Of course, policy matters. Politics matter because policy matters becausepeople matter. Politics affects policy. Policy affects people. People matter. And it can affect,
46:30like I said, religious liberty and free speech and all of these things. So, so important.But the government and the Constitution cannot enable nor hinder the gospel because the gospelhas spread under all kinds of tyrants in all kinds of countries and all kinds of periods ofhistory and the gates of hell will not prevail against God's church. And so I'm not really sure thatTrump or any person has the power to bring that back. Now, am I thankful for the spirit of what he'ssaying that we have a president who will say those words that has put in place, a lot of Christiansin positions of power who does believe in religious liberty? Yes, I'm very thankful for that.Trump also joked about the 2002 White House Easter egg role during which a person dressed in a bunny
47:18soon was seen approaching Biden as he spoke to members of the media about Afghanistan andPakistan. I saw this the other day. It was really sad. And you can say, oh, this is mean to pointthis out. He shouldn't appoint this. Okay, this was our president. This was our commander in chief.This was the leader of the free world that we were lied about to for years, told that he's totallycompetent, that he's totally fine. He's in charge of the nuclear codes. He knows what's going on.we entrusted him with the safety and security of our country, and yet this is who we were beingled by. This is top five. I mean, that's just so sad. It was the middle of his presidency. That wasn'teven towards the end. And that was like the height of the media telling us it was a right wing
48:17conspiracy theory that Biden had dementia or Biden was confused at all. He is so confused.He has to be pushed away by the Easter bunny and he still doesn't know where to go.So Trump, even when I don't, you know, like his choice of words, even if I don't, you know, like his choice of words,even if I don't agree with him in a lot of ways, you know, morally,theologically, different policy issues like IVF, like, is he a huge step up from Joe Biden?Yes, I can acknowledge that.And I'm very thankful for that, that we have a president who I think is coherent and who iscompetent.
48:52And despite all the noise and the craziness that we're constantly seeing from the mediaabout HECSeth, about all these people, like, I think that the Trump admin is doing a good job.and leading us in a good direction.Also, over the weekend, American Idol celebrated Easter,and they had several celebrities, artists, singing Christian songs,and we're going to play you a clip of Carrie Underwood singing how great thou are in just a second.It's really beautiful.But let me tell you about our last sponsor for the day, and that is Patriot Mobile.
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50:06without compromising on service. They have a 100% U.S.-based customer service team, and they'll makeswitching really easy. PatriotMobil's contract buyout program covered up to $500 per device.Keep your number, keep your phone if you want to, and you'll save a lot of money.Go to patriotmobile.com slash alley. You'll get a free month of service. That's patriotmobile.comslash All right. So I thought it was really sweet that American Idol did a three-hour specialthat were faith inspired. It was titled Songs of Faith, but they were specifically Christian.I guess it wasn't intended to be specifically Christian, but it pretty much was.Judges Lionel Richie, he performed Eternity. Luke Bryan performed Jesus Bout My Kids.
51:01What? What does it mean?Now I talk to Jesus about my kids.Oh.They couldn't include the.Okay, y'all didn't hear that because Stephanie is not in the microphone, but it's talking to Jesus about my kids.I used to talk to my kids about my kids.About my kids.Which is sweet.
51:24But I just feel like the other words could have been added to that to make it more clear.But, you know, I've had an issue with catfish dinner, that lyric for a very long time.very long time. No hate to Luke Bryan. He seems like a nice fun person. But then we got Carrie Underwood.She's performing How Great Thou Art. And I've been listening to her hymn album for years.If you don't have her hymn album on Spotify, it is one of the best. She is so good. And this was really beautiful.Here's Sout seven. So good. So amazing. She sang at the inauguration. Remember that where she had to sing Acapelle. What did she sing? Do you remember?America.Great as thy faithfulness.
52:51Oh, did she?No, wait.No, no, no, no, no.They played great as I faithfulness maybe instrumentally.Was it America?Okay, Bree's going to look it up.But that was also an amazing moment.The Sun reports that while ABC and American Idol producers made the final call in greenlighting the special,
53:07Carrie Underwood was a big advocate for the special, good for her.Also, Cece Wynens.She's saying, come, Jesus, come.She also sang the goodness of God on an American Idol.special not too long ago. That was amazing. I love Cecey Weinen. She's so talented. Here is last night,or a couple nights ago, their performance, her performance, Sadi.One day he'll come and we'll stand face to face. Come and lay it all down.Cause it might be today. The time is right. There's no need to wait.
54:08Oh, so good. I didn't want to just stop.I wanted it to keep going.I love her so much.She's so good.So good for American Idol.I love that.That was really beautiful.And God was honored.
54:20And the Word of God will not return void.And so anything that was sung there that was direct from Scripture, God can use that.He can use all of it.Like any conveying of biblical truths.Like God can use all of that.And you just have no idea how many seeds have been planted.And that could just be a touch point.in someone's testimony. And so I'm very grateful for that. And good for Carrie Underwood for using
54:44her influence to make sure the gospel is heard on a stage that reaches millions. And she's saying,which song was it? America the Beautiful. America the Beautiful. That was so good. All right.I hope that was an encouraging episode for everyone. I was super encouraged by so much of what I heardover Easter weekend that many of your churches were overflowing. So many people heard the gospel forthe first time. So many baptisms. Praise God.Let us continue to pray that the gospel will go out, that he would use us, that he would use our boldness, our prayers, our courage for such a time as this.And we serve a really good sovereign God who is powerful and is going to protect his church and is going to seek and save the lost.And that's really, really good news.
55:28All right.Before we get out of here, I just want to encourage you to subscribe today at blazedtv.com slash j6.We've got an incredible in-depth investigation that is only accessible to subscribers on blazedTV.com.It blows the narrative of what happened on January 6 wide open.It's got capital surveillance footage, conflicting timelines, serious questions about Officer Harry Dunn's story.It is streaming right now exclusively on Blaze TV.You are not going to find this kind of hard-hitting original reporting anywhere else.So go ahead and subscribe. You'll get access to all Blaze TV content at BlazTV.com slash
56:12J6. All right. That's all we've got time for today. We will be back here tomorrow.
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