A recently released trailer from season 3 of The Chosen reveals that the show has gone full Mormon. In the clip published on the show’s Facebook page, Jonathan Roumie, the actor who portrays Jesus in the series, makes the statement, “I am the law of Moses.” Contrary to this misquotation, Jesus never claimed to be the law of Moses, but rather claimed to “fulfill the law” in Matthew 5:17.
The quotation “I am the Law of Moses” is actually derived from Nephi 15:9 in the book of Mormon:
I am the law, and the light. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live
Though disappointing to Christian fans of The Chosen, this development in the series should not surprise viewers, as director Dallas Jenkins previously defended his Mormon friends, saying, “LDS are Christians” in a series of videos that defended Mormonism. The first video in the series began with the claim that God answered the prayers of director Dallas Jenkins, through the LDS church, allowing Jenkins to film season two of The Chosen in its Jerusalem set in Goshen, Utah. Apparently, Jenkins’ use of LDS resources and his friendship with Mormons have opened the door to heresy and compromise in the production of the series. As the series has gained popularity, its producers and actors have embraced ecumenism, with Jonathan Roumie and Dallas Jenkins visiting the Vatican to promote the series by meeting Pope Francis. The Pontiff asked Jenkins if he played Judas, which isn’t a stretch, considering his recent betrayal of the words of Christ.
‘The Chosen’ director Dallas Jenkins had had enough of being hounded and having to constantly respond to ‘The LDS issue’- his claim in multiple interviews that Mormons are Christians- that he released a 16-minute ‘definitive’ and ‘final’ video on his 1.64 million-member ‘The Chosen’ Youtube channel, demonstrating in another unclear and embarrassing manner why this issue will continue to plague and haunt him.
For a brief overview of the Mormon views on Jesus and other things, they believe that Jesus was once a regular sinful man who became exalted and turned into a God after doing many good deeds. ‘God the Father’ himself was also once a man on another planet, but because he likewise was such a good Mormon, he was granted the right to become a God over this earth. They believe that they too can become capital ‘G’ Gods of their own planet one day, and in fact, hold that there are millions of Gods. For them, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all and individual separate Gods, and they all have human bodies of flesh- they are not Spirits.
Mormons categorically deny the idea of salvation by grace alone and believe Jesus and Lucifer are ‘spirit brothers.’ They believe the scriptures we have are all corrupted and that’s why they have the new revelation of Joseph Smith.
Far from offering any clarity or legitimate explanation, the professing evangelical Jenkins continues to obfuscate and show himself unqualified, seeking to refute the claims that he said “Mormons and evangelicals love the same Jesus” or “LDS are Christians.” He protests:
Is it true that I said that? And the answer is no, I did not. (Yes he did) Now, did it appear like I said that? Could it be easily interpreted as me saying that? I think that’s true. And I think we can agree that words matter, nuance matters. And I probably could have given more context and clarity.”
He says he should have more clear because he wasn’t referring to ALL Mormons loving Jesus, but just some.
“I’m referring to some of the friends that I have who identify as LDS who I’ve gotten to know very deeply over the last few years, in particular, and have had hundreds of hours of conversations with. And I stand by the statement that those friends of mine that I’m referring to absolutely love the same Jesus that I do.”
Even if he wasn’t explicitly referring to the LDS community, unless his Mormon friends repudiate basically everything they believe about Jesus, then he is still wrong that his Mormon friends and partners believe in the same Jesus. Even if we were to grant his contention he’s not talking about ‘all Mormons,’ it doesn’t make it any better that he still believes that these specific Mormons love the same Jesus.
His ignorance is made manifest as he continues down his path:
We oftentimes will label the entire group as having a particular belief or a particular personality. It would be just as dumb for me to say that ‘all LDS are Christians’, as it would be to say that ‘all evangelicals are Christians’, or that ‘all Catholics are Christians’ or any other faith tradition, and it would also be dumb of me to say that none are.”
Jenkins makes an enormous category error, not understanding that the reason a professing evangelical might not be a Christian is that they DON’T believe what the bible and their faith teaches.
The reason Mormons are not Christians is that they DO believe what their false bibles and faith teach.
Dallas Jenkins, son of “Left Behind” author Jerry Jenkins, and Director of the smash-hit TV show The Chosen continued to double down on controversial comments he made last year about Mormons (Latter Day Saints, ie LDS) and Jesus loving the same Jesus, appearing on Ruslan KD’s channel and against insisting that some of his Mormon friends indeed have and love the same Jesus as he does, while engaging in a bit of revisionist history over what he actually did say.
For a brief overview of the Mormon views on Jesus and other things, they believe that Jesus was once a regular sinful man who became exalted and turned into a God after doing many good deeds. ‘God the Father’ himself was also once a man on another planet, but because he likewise was such a good Mormon, he was granted the right to become a God over this earth. They believe that they too can become capital ‘G’ Gods of their own planet one day, and in fact, hold that there are millions of Gods. For them, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all and individual separate Gods, and they all have human bodies of flesh- they are not Spirits.
Mormons categorically deny the idea of salvation by grace alone and believe Jesus and Lucifer are ‘spirit brothers.’ They believe the scriptures we have are all corrupted and that’s why they have the new revelation of Joseph Smith.
Jenkins tells Ruslan (who really should do better prep when he has controversial figures on. We offer our archives as a great resource so he doesn’t keep on getting lied to by his guests)
And one of the things that I have said in the past that caused the most controversy was I was referring to a few LDS folks that I’m partnered with, that I know, and I said, “we love the same Jesus”. And a lot of people have taken that out of context and quoted me as saying, ‘Dallas Jenkins says that all Mormons are Christians’ or ‘[All Mormons] believe the same Jesus’. I’ve made it clear… I don’t speak for any group of people. I was speaking for a few friends that I have, a couple of my partners, I stand by the statement, and I don’t speak for an entire LDS or Catholic Church, just like I wouldn’t speak for the entire evangelical church.”
He goes on to say that there are two reasons why he doesn’t discuss publicly what Mormons believe or comment on the truth and accuracy of the Mormon gospel, suggesting that in the same way that evangelical Christians believe some of the wrong things within their faith, so do Mormons or Jehovah Witnesses, as if a different view on infant baptism or women preaching is comparable to the notion that God the father once being a sinful human who became a God and then had sex billions of times with his celestial wife in order to populate the earth with spirit babies.
“…I believe that my job as the creator of The Chosen, in this context, publicly, is to point people to the authentic Jesus, point people to Scripture and to the real thing as much as humanly possible. And so that if you spot a quote, unquote, counterfeit gospel, or counterfeit Jesus, that you will know it immediately.
And that brings me to my second point, which is that I don’t believe that LDS or Catholic or Greek Orthodox or Jehovah’s Witness, have a monopoly on people as part of their faith traditions, who believe in the wrong thing. I believe in the evangelical faith, I believe… in my own churches I have sat next to people who believe some of the wrong things.
I have, and probably currently do have a few things that I’m getting wrong. And so my job in my in with the show, and also, I think, even in my personal relationships, is as much as possible to to evangelise to everybody. So…there’s no win for me in taking time to go through each of the different faith traditions, and try to point out all the different things that I disagree with….’ll let the Holy Spirit and I’ll let the discipleship of the local church do the job of nuancing all of those kind of large scale or even small scale disagreements.”
Here’s the thing. Even if he wasn’t explicitly referring to the LDS community, which he was, unless his Mormon friends repudiate basically everything they believe about Jesus, then he is still wrong that his Mormon friends and partners believe in the same Jesus. Even if we were to grant his contention he’s not talking about ‘all Mormons,’ it doesn’t make it any better that he still believe that these specific Mormons love the same Jesus.
But the comments he is referring to that got him in such hot water are from a May 29, 2020 upload on the Mormon Show Saints Unscripted, where he originally said:
One of the most interesting things about this whole project has been my relationship with different denominational or faith traditions that I didn’t have before. I’ve learned so much more about the LDS community than I thought I knew.
…And what’s funny about the LDS folks as you guys seem to be, even though you’re the most controversial, you seem to be the least confrontational. It’s just like, ‘hey, we all love Jesus. I just want to let you know, we love the show’. And when people start going, ‘Hey, you’re a Mormon, you’re going to hell’. You just like, ‘hey, whatever.” It’s like it just kind of seems to roll off your back. Maybe it’s because you’re used to being on the outside sometimes.
…So even if I had significant disagreements with the LDS community, which I’ve learned, I have fewer than I thought I did. But even with that, I was okay, I was comfortable with that, because as long as they’re treating the show properly, that’s all that matters. So I can honestly say it’s been one of the top three most fascinating and beautiful things about this project has been my growing brother and sisterhood with people of the LDS community that I never would have known otherwise.
I’m learning so much about your faith tradition, and realizing, gosh, for all the stuff that maybe we don’t see eye to eye on, that all happened, that’s all based on stuff that happened after Jesus was here.
The stories of Jesus, we do agree on and we love the same Jesus. That’s not something that you often hear. Sometimes it’s like, ‘oh, they believe in a different Jesus that we do.’
Host: “that’s a controversial statement. ”
Yeah. No, it’s the same. I mean, I’ll sink or swim on that statement, and it’s controversial, and I don’t mind getting criticized at all for the show, and I don’t mind being called a blasphemer. I don’t like it when my (LDS) friends are.
And I made it very clear that if I go down, I’m going down swinging, protecting my friends, and my brothers and sisters. And so I don’t deny we have a lot of theological differences, but we love the same Jesus.”
On the Mormon podcast 'Saints Unscripted' Dallas Jenkins laments that Latter Day Saints have a poor reputation with evangelicals, and gets real explicit about how much he and Mormons love the same Jesus. https://t.co/7vUsh5iStPpic.twitter.com/uFLw8ED7Jg
Clearly, he’s not talking about just a few people. Lastly, here is a transcript from a previous post we did, where he routinely fails to make the delineation that he was only speaking of his specific friends and partners, but rather all Mormons.
Morgan Jones 1 “I have been told that you are a fierce defender of the Latter-day Saint belief in Jesus Christ, and that is something that honestly, on behalf of all of us, I just want to say thank you for that. But why is it that you are a defender of our belief in Jesus Christ?
Dallas Jenkins ; Great, so you’re starting off right out of the gate with that one. Well, it’s a tough question. I am happy to answer that and I just say that because I recently have gotten a little bit in trouble in certain circles because I was on another LDS podcast, and I said that LDS and evangelicals love the same Jesus. I got some heat from people who suddenly didn’t want to watch the show anymore because of that. Apparently it’s a controversial statement, which I guess I would have known that a few years ago, but now that I’ve been working with my LDS brothers and sisters over the last couple of years and gotten to know them so well, I’ve learned quite a bit. I come from a strong evangelical background, and I want to say this, and I’ve said this in a few conversations with LDS people, that there are reasons why I’m an evangelical and not LDS. I do have things theologically that I disagree with or things that even just in kind of practice that aren’t quite my speed in the LDS faith. However, one thing that is unabashedly true and unarguably true is that in getting to know some of my LDS friends here on this, especially through “The Chosen,” you’re passionate about Jesus Christ, and it’s Jesus of Nazareth. When I hear people say, “it’s a different Jesus”—and I’ve heard that, by the way, from both… I don’t know what term, I know you guys don’t use the term Mormon anymore, but it’s too long for me to try to say…
and
So even if you are listening to this right now as an evangelical and are horrified to hear me say some of these things, consider that even if you disagree, even if you think that, “No, it’s two different Jesus’s, and they worship two different Saviors, and what you’re saying is wrong.” Fine, believe what you will. I’m not gonna have these arguments with you…I don’t like it when my friends get attacked. So that’s why I tend to be pretty defensive of my friends, even if not always defensive of the theology on which we sometimes disagree...I don’t really care because I can’t be cancelled unless I cancel myself. So I’m totally fine with it. But I’m happy to say, “Yeah, we disagree on some things, but I’m going to die on the hill of, we love the same Jesus, and we want the same Jesus known to the world.”
Dallas Jenkins, son of “Left Behind” author Jerry Jenkins, and Director of the smash-hit TV show The Chosen has his feet put to the fire by apologist Melissa Dougherty, grilling him on his continued insistence that Mormons are believers who love the same Jesus as he does.
Jenkins has been flagged multiple times by the discerment community on account of claiming that mormons are saved that that he would “die on that hill” while making it clear that the production is a ministry, with wife Jennifer on record explaining that the phrase ‘Bible preach;’ is the heart of the show, and that their goal is to use the show “to reach one billion people with the authentic Jesus.” Claiming to be ‘obsessed with clarity’ he remarks:
‘I’m a fundamentalist. But I’m not angry about it….I am a strong evangelical Christian. I would say if you want to use the word conservative, that’s true. In terms of my my spiritual approach, my theology, I was a, I mean, I was a Bible major in college, I went to Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minnesota, which is pretty hardcore, conservative Bible college…”
Pressed about his continued statements that he and his LDS friends love the same Jesus:
..”Yeah, we love the same Jesus. Yeah…I believe that about at least the friends that I’ve gotten to know, those who I have gotten to know well. And what I mean by that is we don’t share the same religion. I mean, I’m not- I don’t consider myself religious. I don’t like that word. I have a relationship with Christ, not a religion. And so I believe we have a different ‘quote unquote’ religion.
…I have asked every conceivable question of my LDS friends about Jesus based on everything that I’ve heard read, things that you’ve said things that, I mean, I have, I’ve done a deep dive into all into all of this. And I would say that, number one, there are things that I have read or heard from ex-LDS, or from articles or videos or whatever, that simply don’t reflect the beliefs of at least the LDS folks that I know or at least most of them.
She asks him what the Mormon gospel is, and he defers the question. He claims he has a high degree of exposure and study on Mormonism, but is either unable to or unwilling to answer a foundation question of their belief.
Well, I’m going to, I’m going here, here’s why I’m going to defer that question and maybe hope to maybe get a little bit more specific, because I’m not trying to shirk the question, its.. I am going to say, I don’t know. I don’t know enough to, to intelligently say, to answer a question like, What is their gospel?
So I’m not going to claim that I know enough to know. I know quite a bit, I think, because I’ve done a lot of study. And I’ve spoken to a lot of LDS folks over the last three years, including some of the highest ranking members of the church. And I’ve asked a lot of questions. But I’m still not comfortable in a public forum saying ‘this is their gospel.’ Because that’s such a huge question. So I’m not going to, for both their sake, and for mine, and for yours, and for the shows, claim that I know enough to say ‘this is their gospel’
That is pathetic.
She points out that all the Mormon missionaries are out there trying to convert people because they clearly believe they either don’t have the gospel, or have one different than theirs. She gives him commonly agreed to, basic Mormon beliefs, explaining in simple terms the LDS gospel of ‘progression’, how they believe everyone can become a god of their own world, and that God the Father was once a man who became God, based on his work and merit, and asks him if he’s famlar with that, and his answer is a trainwreck, trying to turn it back on her and make excuses.
“Well, here’s where I’m gonna continue to be obsessed with clarity, which is I don’t, I’m not comfortable speaking out more. So, because I all I know, is it because here’s, here’s a question that I think is relevant to do you believe that the LDS missionary who comes to your door and shares certain things? Do you believe that every single LDS person believes the exact same thing?”
She presses him that these things are Mormonism 101, similar to Christians saying that Jesus was born of a virgin and that he died and rose again. She asks if the notion of celestial marriages, becoming a god of their own planet, works-based salvation, the existence of millions of gods, new information to him:
No, this isn’t new information. And when I say I’m not comfortable speaking for them, it’s just solely because- it’s not because I haven’t heard any of this stuff or haven’t talked in depth about this stuff- I would say that on the list of things you just mentioned, I would say probably 40% of them are things that when I’ve asked specifically about that particular belief, they’ve said, ‘no, no, it’s not that, it’s this’ or ‘that’s nuanced, And here’s why’ or whatever it is. So, because it’s that specific, that’s why I’m like ‘I’m not LDS I’m not going to speak for LDS…”
…I’ll just, again, I’m going to be very, very careful about which specific (part?) of LDS faith that that that are being discussed. There’s multiple reasons for that one, I’m not going to speak for the LDS church, I’m not going to speak for my friends..”
Jenkins is completely and thoroughly comprised. If you say you understand the gospel, but then defend Mormons as saved Christians who love Jesus, you don’t understand the gospel, and we ought not to presume that he is a believer.
Dallas Jenkins, son of “Left Behind” author Jerry Jenkins, and Director of the smash-hit TV show The Chosen appeared on a Mormon podcast LDS Living (Latter Day Saint Living) where he offered up why Mormons and are saved and why he considers the many Mormon folks to work on his show to be believers.
Morgan Jones 1 Well, I am so excited about this. I am honestly such a big fan of “The Chosen,” so this is a treat for me. And I’ll be honest with you, I introduced a good number of people to your show because I love it so much, and I asked several of those people for their thoughts on questions that would be good to ask you. So this is really like a group effort in coming up with these questions for you. But first of all, I just want to establish right off the bat, Dallas, you are not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which the majority of our audience are members of the Church. I have been told that you are a fierce defender of the Latter-day Saint belief in Jesus Christ, and that is something that honestly, on behalf of all of us, I just want to say thank you for that. But why is it that you are a defender of our belief in Jesus Christ?
Dallas Jenkins ; Great, so you’re starting off right out of the gate with that one. Well, it’s a tough question. I am happy to answer that and I just say that because I recently have gotten a little bit in trouble in certain circles because I was on another LDS podcast, and I said that LDS and evangelicals love the same Jesus. I got some heat from people who suddenly didn’t want to watch the show anymore because of that. Apparently it’s a controversial statement, which I guess I would have known that a few years ago, but now that I’ve been working with my LDS brothers and sisters over the last couple of years and gotten to know them so well, I’ve learned quite a bit. I come from a strong evangelical background, and I want to say this, and I’ve said this in a few conversations with LDS people, that there are reasons why I’m an evangelical and not LDS. I do have things theologically that I disagree with or things that even just in kind of practice that aren’t quite my speed in the LDS faith. However, one thing that is unabashedly true and unarguably true is that in getting to know some of my LDS friends here on this, especially through “The Chosen,” you’re passionate about Jesus Christ, and it’s Jesus of Nazareth. When I hear people say, “it’s a different Jesus”—and I’ve heard that, by the way, from both… I don’t know what term, I know you guys don’t use the term Mormon anymore, but it’s too long for me to try to say…
Jenkins goes on to explain how if a man describes a third party as being 6’3 tall and someone else says ‘no, he’s 5’10’ but otherwise the rest of their shared knowledge of that friend is agreed upon, then whether or not a few details are off, it’s still the same person that is being referenced and understood. He says in the same way, Mormons and Christians may have a few different ideas about the biblical Jesus, with some of the details being off, but it’s still the same Jesus, and therefore he considers them his brothers and sisters in the Lord and will die on that hill. He concludes:
So even if you are listening to this right now as an evangelical and are horrified to hear me say some of these things, consider that even if you disagree, even if you think that, “No, it’s two different Jesus’s, and they worship two different Saviors, and what you’re saying is wrong.” Fine, believe what you will. I’m not gonna have these arguments with you…I don’t like it when my friends get attacked. So that’s why I tend to be pretty defensive of my friends, even if not always defensive of the theology on which we sometimes disagree...I don’t really care because I can’t be cancelled unless I cancel myself. So I’m totally fine with it. But I’m happy to say, “Yeah, we disagree on some things, but I’m going to die on the hill of, we love the same Jesus, and we want the same Jesus known to the world.”
For a brief overview of the Mormon views on Jesus and other things, they believe that Jesus was once a man who became exalted and turned into a God after doing many good deeds. ‘God the Father’ himself was also once a man on another planet, but because he likewise was such a good Mormon, he was granted the right to become a God over this earth. They believe that they too can become capital ‘G’ Gods of their own planet one day, and in fact, hold that there are millions of Gods. For them, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all and individual separate Gods, and they all have human bodies of flesh- they are not Spirits.
Mormons categorically deny the idea of salvation by grace alone and believe Jesus and Lucifer are spirit brothers and there was nothing miraculous about Jesus’ birth. They believe the scriptures we have are all corrupted and that’s why they have the new revelation of Joseph Smith,. To read more about why Mormonism is a certified cult, and why Christians have more in common with Muslims than we do with Mormons, click here.
