Well, the first day of the movie, “Son of God” is over, and the reviews are in. Some are saying that the movie presents another Jesus that faintly resembles the biblical Jesus. Other ones are saying that people were saved after watching the movie. I certainly hope they were genuinely saved. If they were, then one day when (if) they learn about the true Jesus, they will have questions. They will wonder which Jesus is the one that they should follow. Someone has to explain that to them. While they are at it, they may have to explain why a false Jesus convicted them when they were not convicted by the true Jesus. An experience that I had might help to shed some light on this conundrum of having more than one Jesus.

An evangelist once came to our area that had a sordid reputation. There was no doubt to his guilt in matters of breaking the secular law and of his sinfulness. In fact, while an evangelist he had been sent to prison for arson. We also had a woman in the church who’s stepfather worked with that evangelist. She shared some information about the shenanigans that they had pulled. Additionally, I watched a video of his meeting, and it was very disturbing to say the least. However, hundreds attend nightly including a close friend. The evangelist prophesied over my friend and informed him that his leg was going to be healed. My friend gave a good amount of money in the offering. He asked me what I thought, and I told him that God was not going to heal his wooden leg, and certainly not by that evangelist. He was a bit offended and did not talk to me until after the tent meetings were over. Of course, God could have given him a new leg, but that didn’t happen either.

One family in our church also began attending the meetings. I was asked what I thought about the evangelist, and I told the truth. He was a convicted swindler and a man with few Christian qualities. I was not prepared for the backlash from my remarks. The family left our church and never came back. It seems that this evangelist had convinced the mother’s alcoholic husband to quit drinking. The husband stopped getting drunk and attended the evangelist’s tent meetings every time he came into the area. However, he never grew as a Christian, was never faithful to a church, and to my knowledge never expressed any Christian virtues. However, his wife was convinced that he was saved because he had stopped drinking alcohol. She had been supporting the evangelist for years and never missed his tent meetings when he was in the area. The evangelist had delivered her husband when no local pastor could do so. Thus, in her mind he was the real messenger of God and I was like the rest of those pastors that had failed.

I cannot provide statistics of how well people have fared after being converted under the preaching or teaching of hypocritical or wicked people. I do not know the present status of individuals saved in Christian music concerts (Death Metal, Punk, Rock, and etc.) or from watching religious movies. I do remember yeas ago in an Assemblies of God camp-meeting, Evangelist Don Brankal asked for a show of hands from everyone who had been saved in a church meeting, and nearly every hand went up. Apparently, at that time most people were saved in church meetings and they tended to remain faithful. It is true that God can use various means and methods to bring people to Him. However, I believe that we should be careful that we do not abandon the means He has provided in His word. We must not be so quick to marginalize preaching, teaching, and personal soul-winning in favor of a movie fraught with error and produced by New Age pseudo-Christians for their stated purpose of global ecumenism.

There are a number of questions that need to be answered. If preaching the true Jesus is not powerful enough to bring them to salvation, why is it that a false Jesus appeals to them so powerfully that they will become Christians? In my opinion, the Jesus presented at Christian Death Metal concerts is not the true Jesus either. I wonder how many false conversions have occurred because of a false Jesus presented with lower standards or  emotional candy to entice people to convert. If nothing is said about sin, repentance, and the atonement, in the movie “Son of God”, why did those people want to be saved? Were they reacting to the emotion as a result of the imagery they had just ingested? Is salvation now not a matter of presenting God’s anointed word with conviction by the Holy Spirit? Do we now need smoke and sensational music, sentimental movies, and other assistance? What type of conversions are actually occurring by these unbiblical means? Does it matter where we get spirituality and by whom or what means? Are they really being saved or are they simply saying the “sinner’s prayer” without a complete commitment of the heart? Those are questions that every Christian should ask and expect answers to.

Maybe there are some scriptural answers and explanations to these questions. But maybe we are in the last days filled with all satanic power, lying signs and wonders, and all decieveableness of unrighteousness. And just maybe the people who are rushing to the altars of the “angels of light” are the very ones that have not been paying attention. They could be the ones that have ignored the encroaching darkness, the deception by degrees, and apostasy by increments. If so, then when the False Prophet begins his dazzling signs and wonders show, they will be drawn right in like moths to a flame. Such individuals would see nothing wrong with submitting to the hypnotic effects of a clever Hollywood production. They are not alarmed that it was produced by a New Age necromancer that believes she is a Divine Being, and her heretical husband. To them it is a minor issue compared to the pleasure of watching a movie and getting their fix of religious emotion. It could very well be that they are the ones who will one day find themselves without a reserve of oil when they need it the most. After all, if they have no compunction about feeding at a trough filled with cleverly disguised Hollywood heresy/truth mixture, how could they be successful collectors of oil?

HERE IT IS SO PLEASE READ VERY CAREFULLY: I am the senior pastor of our church but my wife and I also minister to the youth of our church on Tuesday nights. I’ve been teaching them how they need to know the real Jesus for themselves and the only way to do that is by reading the bible and having a close relationship with the Holy Spirit. We’ve been warning them of the dangers of being deceived and that they really need to know Jesus. Several of them told us they were going to go to see the movie “Son of God”. I was not ecstatic when they told us because of my concerns with that movie and the people that are behind making it. They wanted us to go with them and I wasn’t exactly thrilled about that idea. So I told them that I would go but that we were going to talk about this movie in youth group as to whether or not it was true to the bible. With pen and notebook in hand I went with them ready to critique the movie. Having been to law school I have been trained to look at both sides of a case in order to be adequately prepared for a presentation of a case and a trial.
So here goes: The Son of God has been done in a visually appealing way. The visuals are eye catching and very awesome too watch. The movie is slick and not done in a shoddy way. It is very professional. The acting is quite good and generally speaking keeps your attention. There are gaps in the storyline which could have been woven together to make the movie flow a little smoother. The music is interesting and adds and highlights the scenes in a typical movie like fashion. The music adds and does not distract. To the average movie goer I suppose The Son of God would overall be viewed as a fairly decent and respectable and emotionally moving movie. The ladies cried when Jesus was being scourged with the Roman whip and there were those who applauded at the movies ending. Many Christians will probably like this movie as well as non-Christians.

NOW TO THE POINT OF WHY I WENT IN THE FIRST PLACE. All of the above is true. But is the story about THE Son of God found in our Holy Bible? The answer is absolutely NOT! There are many changes to the story which I suppose they would call artistic license. If these type of changes are to help the movie flow smoother and do not change what is in the bible and its message then I suppose I can accept that. That is not the case in this movie and one needs to ask the question WHY? For instance: Why was Satan really taken out of this movie? Why do we never see Jesus casting any demons out as one of His miracles? Why is there NEVER any mention of hell? Could it be to push the current teaching that there is no hell, no devil, no demons? In the story of Mary Magdalene….. Oh wait. The movie never tells her story at all. Her character is in the movie because she is called Mary and we can figure out that that is who she is. Those who know the biblical story that is. But we are never told her story. Never told what a sinner she was and how Jesus made such a difference in her life as to completely change her life. Which brings us to another issue. The word repent is never ever used in this movie. Jesus does tell the woman caught in adultery to go and sin no more. However, the whole idea of repenting and departing from this world system is absent from this movie. As is any mention that we as followers of Jesus are to take up our own crosses and follow Him. Why is that? Why no mention of repenting and coming out of the world and bearing our own cross? I guess we have no responsibility for this. It’s all on Jesus. Hmmm… Isn’t this universalism? Jesus did it all and w e can sit back and relax and enjoy the benefits that His suffering and death and resurrection have brought us free from any personal responsibility. In the Last Supper scene we hear Jesus mention that the cup and bread are His blood and body. But we never hear Him say what they represent. Again I ask why? Peter asks Jesus what are we going to do? Jesus responds we are going to change the world! Really? Jesus never said that in the bible. Nor did He try to do that Himself through His ministry. He knew the world was corrupt and dying. The worlds systems and institutions were not His concern. People’s hearts and lives were His concern. He came to save people and transform their lives. However, kingdom now people believe we can bring the kingdom about ourselves. Again hmmmm…. Only Jesus can establish the kingdom on earth at His second coming. For now it is within us. At least that’s how my bible reads. Oh yeah, and Mary Magdalene. Why is she the ONLY woman to be seen traveling with Jesus ALL the time and a bunch of His male disciples? What is that implication all about? There are other issues as to why do we see Jesus going into the tomb where Lazarus is lying dead and Jesus places His hands upon Lazarus’ head and kisses him on the head? Really? Why? There are other smaller things but I think I have made my point.

So. Do we see Jesus upon the cross as some have said? Yes we do. But we have no clear idea as to why or what we are to do. Some have said this is great for witnessing. Really? As flawed as it is? What about us? I thought WE were to be His witnesses. We were given the Holy Spirit for just that purpose. If we can’t do a better job of being witnesses than this movie then maybe we would be better off selling real estate. Or maybe we just don’t want the personal responsibility that God Himself gave to us. Either way something is definitely wrong. Let me make this clear–I am not in any way promoting or endorsing this movie. Yes, I paid the money to see it but ONLY so I can now go and teach our youth how they really need to know the Jesus of the bible. Also, so when others say “Well, how do you know?” I can tell them how I know. I wouldn’t recommend any unbeliever to go and see this film. It will NOT give them any sense at all of what the truth of the bible is. You might say that God can use this movie. Yeah well God can use anything He wants to. What He really wants is to use you and me and not some Hollywood bozos who don’t know truth from fantasy. After all it is OUR God given responsibility. And we have been letting Him down and continue to let Him down every time we take people to this sort of mess. Again these youth were going regardless. I told them how I felt and they saw my Facebook posts. They knew I was going to point out the flaws so they can be better equipped. I wouldn’t recommend Christians to go either. Don’t waste your time and money supporting ANOTHER Jesus. Pastors and other leaders may want to go ONLY so you can authoritatively and with knowledge speak as to this movies fatal errors. But that I will leave up to you. It’s between you and the Lord now as it ought to be.

Hopefully I haven’t offended any of my friends who have taken a stand against this movie. I still stand in opposition to it alongside you. Nor am I trying to be hypocritical or talk out of both sides of my mouth. I hope you see and understand my reasons for going. If I have offended others who are in favor of this movie — GOOD. You really should not favor it nor recommend it to anyone for any purpose. I highly doubt the apostle Paul would have used any such badly flawed tool. We would say we ought to stone a prophet who gives a false message. Well this movie is as false as they come. You do the work of an evangelist and fulfill the responsibility the Lord gave to you.

I truly submit this to you in love and my prayer is you will see God’s truth. Ask Him and I’m sure He will show you much better than I can. After all He is God!

Jeff Rouff

The supporters of Roma Downey and Mark Burnett’s movie, “Son of God”, are either puzzled about or indignant toward individuals that oppose the movie. They do not understand people like me that refuse to compromise. I cannot speak for anyone else, but I can explain why I adopt unyielding positions when defending true Christianity from encroachment by heretics and heresy.

Nearly thirty seven years ago, I was a hopeless drug addict and alcoholic. Immersed deeply in the seedy underworld of the music business, I reveled in sin as a normal way of life. I was extremely vulgar, violent, and filled with hatred because of my childhood. I once put a .38 caliber pistol to my temple, cocked the hammer, and began to squeeze the trigger. Something stopped me that night. Later on I intentionally rolled my car down a mountain in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The police officers and my friends that saw the car remarked that they did not know how I got out alive. Suicide was an inevitable end for me. I was extremely miserable and nothing I did abated the mental and emotional torture.

In a motel room in Lubbock, Texas, I began reading a Bible. I started reading the last book first (because I wanted to know how it ended before I read such a large book). When I read the final verse in Revelation 3, I understood that God wanted to come inside. To make a long story short, I gave my life to Him that night. He delivered me from all bondage instantly; I had no effects of withdrawal. I went to my Mom’s house in Oklahoma and had read the entire Bible before I started looking for a church. When God called me to preach, I began preaching in the State Prison in McAlester, Oklahoma.

I promised that I would follow and obey Him no matter what the cost. In over 36 years of ministry, I have preached over 150 revivals and pastored 8 churches, pioneering 4 of them. I know what it is like to feel God’s strong hand upon me, to operate under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and have experienced and witnessed many times the supernatural working of God. I have seen demons cast out, people that were near death healed, countless people that were hardened and wicked saved, by the power of God. In my deepest and darkest trials, I learned how to trust God for deliverance, to hear His voice, and to obey His directives. Several times, He has delivered me from death, healed me, and answered prayers for help in very critical situations. I know the true Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior, King of kings and Son of God. I know His voice.

In the past 3 ½ decades, I’ve witnessed the gradual decline of fidelity in professing Christians. It seemed that after a certain level of declension had been reached, another major heresy would arrive. A significant faction of Christians would hop on board without giving it a second thought. Each time they fired verbal darts at me for not accepting their new fad. In each case the argument was the same. They accused me of dogmatism, of clinging to an unreasonable position, of attacking people who only want to serve God, and of refusing to accept God’s “new thing”. I found and still find it incredible that people will reject what is true and pure while they rush to accept something diabolical that has only a modicum of truth. They defend their decision by asking, “Don’t you believe God can work through it?” Certainly, but God can make a jackass talk (2 Peter 2:16). That does not mean that we should have a new standard of putting jackasses in pulpits. The only time one needs to go to plan B is when plan A fails. Plan A is true Christianity according to God’s Word and it will never fail. Plan B is of Satan and his minions are constantly trying to supplant true Christianity with it.

The ones that abandoned true Christianity incrementally grew in number while the amount of true Christians decreased. Many of them died and other ones are old and debilitated. That brings me to the current state of Christianity. Presently, true Christianity is under a widespread insidious attack from New Age mystics and other heretics. It is considered by many in the younger generations as a strange religion, and bizarre in its requirements. Some people even believe that it needs to be discarded and replaced. The replacement Christianity suffers from an identity crisis and is susceptible to every wolf in sheep’s clothing, no matter how scantily clad. The professing masses race to buildings where sensationalism has replaced the Holy Spirit anointing and hirelings fleece them of money and autonomy. They ignore the ones that God has called to shepherd them. Their leaders apply pejorative terms to true Christians. They call us heresy hunters, judgmental and critical spirits, legalistic, dogmatic, and etcetera. We stand in the way of inclusive New Christianity that accepts all religions. It is Seeker Friendly, Emergent, and swims in New Age contemplative spirituality. This all inclusive Christianity is possible because decades of incremental heresy has degraded it and denuded it of identity and exclusiveness. Along the path of declension there were people warning the travelers not to go in that direction. They were labeled alarmists and pilloried for their efforts.

Now we have reached the place to where New Age heretics posing falsely as Christians can make a movie that would have been considered offensive three decades ago. Now it is considered a benefit to God’s kingdom and nearly every leading professing Christian is supporting it. Further, they attack anyone that opposes it. There is a passage in Isaiah where God is speaking that rends my heart.

“For I looked, and there was no man;
I looked among them, but there was no counselor,
Who, when I asked of them, could answer a word.
Indeed they are all worthless;
Their works are nothing;
Their molded images are wind and confusion.” (Isaiah 41:28-29)

Someone must stand up for God on this earth. Someone must defend Him against satanic heresy. Someone must defy all attempts to pervert the Gospel and tarnish the image of Christ Jesus. Someone must keep a strong beacon in the lighthouse of faith. I intend to be one that will do those things no matter what the cost. Some call it dogmatism, but I call it passionate love. No matter what they call it, as long as I have breath, may God never again have to say, “For I looked, and there was no man.”