AD THE SERIES...THE BIBLE CONTINUES MAKING INROADS (A REVIEW)

    WATCH EPISODES OF AD THE SERIES ON NBC HERE

Two years after their successful run with the BIBLE series on the History Cable Channel, that stunned the secular world, Mark Burnett and Roma Downey have done something spectacular which no ministry or Christian leader can ever do. They have managed to get the Pure and Mighty Name of Jesus, the Magnificent Son of God ON PRIME TIME! Not just that, but AD The Series is on the National Broadcasting Corporation, NBC. Whether this is a great marketing move for NBC, (which it is), the main thing is this - Jesus Christ and the Gospel is going around the world, over the air - unfiltered!

To be sure, there are obvious errors in moving the text (the Bible) to modern American TV or Movie production. There will always be poetic licence, liberty and outright alteration of the Word of God whenever man tries to bring such powerful truths to the TV and silver screens of the world. With a mostly successful run on NBC with their series, Burnett and Downey may be hard-pressed to match the success of both "The Bible" and "AD The Series...the Bible Continues".

As a student of the Bible, author and observer of the culture, there are certain pros and cons to this particular body of work, which are worth noting, to anyone who may consider watching the series from a website or Netflix. 

PROS: 
As aforementioned, the message of Jesus Christ as the unmistakeable Son of God, Savior and Lord, Who rose from the dead, is still stunning to me - on prime time, on mainstream network TV. That alone is priceless!

The second positive development is this time, Burnett and Downey stayed closer to Scripture and the facts than some of their creative “paraphrasing” in their “Bible Series” from two years ago. That History Channel Series which launched AD was roundly criticized by conservative and Reformed scholars, of which I am actually one. However because I saw the value of The Bible Series, I was called a heretic and unsaved pagan, almost, by a well-known “discernment blogger” (whose name shall not grace my page here) because I supported the showing of The Bible Series! This man, who is like most critics and discernment bloggers have almost no love for the lost and hurting in this world, was proven wrong the very next day. I told him that even if there were textual errors in all those hours of telling the Bible from Genesis to the Resurrection, we can use that show to create conversation at the work place, school or anywhere and correct the record ourselves. Sure enough, that occurred to me more than once! I was able to discuss the coming of Cyrus in the Book of Daniel with a person was not that familiar with Scripture. After seeing the portrayal of Cyrus in original Bible Series, it triggered occasion for discussion of what really happened and who Cyrus the first was! AD the Series is still causing conversation with the person who is also bringing others along. So to those self-righteous hyper-Calvinists out there, go get right with God and repent!

Jesus appears to Saul on Road to Damascus in AD The Series

Which brings us to the third positive aspect of the showing of AD the Series. It gave a glimpse of how tough the early church really had it. With Christians by the millions being displaced, chased out of the 2000 year old homes; murdered; beheaded and worse, it is confirmation that nothing has really changed for those who will inherit eternal life. The brutality of the Romans and the Jewish religious authorities against the followers of the Way, was phenomenal. The viciousness especially of the Romans continued for over 300 years until Constantine ended in, upon his alleged conversion. 

Apart from the positives of the Gospel of Jesus, Jesus Himself and the Early Church being the topics of high profile portrayals, there is one consequence of AD the Series. It does not matter if It was intended or not, but AD The Series should do away with this anti-semitic notion that it was the Jews alone who killed Jesus. Anyone who have seen historical documentaries or read books about the Roman Empire could testify to extreme nature of their viciousness, which extrapolated itself into a 300 year reign of terror in Rome, against our brothers and sisters in Christ. It was only the supposed conversion of Emperor Constantine which ended that persecution. The Jewish religious authorities did convince the Roman Pontius Pilate to execute the Jewish Messiah Jesus, and then persecuted and killed some of his early Jewish followers. But in reality, it was the Sin of All Mankind, for all time, which led the Son of God to the die on the Cross. So AD went a long way here. It inadvertently did a service in the cause against Antisemitism!

CONS
There are some serious issues with this beautiful production. Just like the first The Bible Series (2013), the producers took severe liberties with the Text. While this may be okay with books written by mere mortal men,  errors of omission and commission of the Inerrant Word of God are serious matters. Some of the errors in the program are historical and seem to explain the producers obsession with the Roman administration in Judea/Jerusalem. More than two thirds in the way into the twelve part series, inaccurate Roman shenanigans still take up almost half of the story which is supposed to be about the early church.

The corrupt and perverted immature Roman Caligula was not even in Jerusalem in real life at this time. It does appear that the conniving and sleazy lifestyle of these pagans make better television, which would be fine if totally accurate. Burnett and Downey are almost similar to Bill O'Reilly, whose "Killing Jesus" spent such an inordinate amount of time on the sick sex lives of Roman leadership that it almost turned me off from reading the rest of the Book. As well meaning as these folks were, it was hard to take the multi-media out of them to focus on what the earliest days of the Christian church were really.

While it is impossible to get everything that happened in the Book of Acts Chapters 1-11, on which this current series were based, there is a frustrating lack of context and in a couple instances - serious flaws. The Disciples who were in-dwelled by the Holy Spirit on Pentecost in Acts 2, were not cowards after this life-changing event. Yet, too many times, they appear to be cowering and sad men who were the opposite of the Actual 12 men who changed the world! They were also not troubled souls but bold men who willingly gave their lives for the Master.

The introduction of the Apostle Paul, as the Christian-hating Saul was accurate except for the tall actor they chose to play Saul/Paul. Again, the well-meaning producers sought aggressively to have a diverse cast, but in spite of the selected actors' great job with their lines etc.

One can go on nitpicking at this detail or that, but there is a better road to travel here. The best way for the Christian or those interested in what the Bible is about, is to take this body of work as a whole and view it as such. 
Next, this should be viewed and then taken back to the Word of God to read what the Books of Acts said about the main characters: Peter, Stephen, Philip and Saul/Paul, Barnabas. 
Third, a good commentary, preferably by Warren Wiersbe will help in understanding both the real historical background AND the application of what you and I just read about the Book of Acts. 
Finally - tell somebody else about it. Tell someone who does not know Christ as Lord and Savior or doesn't even know that a person must have a real authentic relationship with the Son of God, in order to get into Heaven!

KILLING JESUS - AN HISTORIC, INSPIRING & DELIGHTFUL READ

REVIEW BY AN O'REILLY SKEPTIC

Anytime a mainstream-type celebrity writes a book or makes a movie about Jesus Christ, the Bible or another biblical hero, the natural tendency of true believers is 100% skepticism. Those of  us who have been transformed from the realm of darkness and hell, into being sons and daughters of the Most High immediately get our backs up when we hear folks "diss" both Christianity, Creation and the Christ. We get our backs up when a member of the elite or the chattering class or even so-called Christians call us "dummies" or "ignoramuses" for not believing in random evolution and allegory as they do.

So it was with this frame of reference that I changed my mind and ended up purchasing Fox News Channel top-ranked TV personality Bill O'Reilly's new book- Killing Jesus! I had resisted purchasing O'Reilly's other "Killing" books or any other merchandise but this book tugged on my spirit.  Personally, I cannot forget O'Reilly's insults to those of us who believe the Bible is the 100% Literal, Holy Spirit -inspired Word of God. He does stand up for cultural Christianity - one of the few to do so in public life. So that is one in his plus column. But after a couple weeks of self-debate, I sensed what the official East Coast media about "there being no smoking gun" about who or what "killed Jesus" could not be right. Bill had his ace researcher Martin Dugard do extensive research in places most mainstream investigative journalists would never venture. Both O'Reilly and Dugard come from a traditional religious background left then open to wherever the research led...which was all the way from Judea to Rome. (They are both Roman Catholics).

What I soon discovered was that the most impressive part of this best-selling book, is a captivating narrative founded on historical truth, gifted wrapped to the world as an amazing "page-turner" of a package. To say "Killing Jesus" is very well written is an understatement. What will grab the reader, should he or she stay with the "reading plan" is a brief set-up on the person of Jesus Christ, why Herod was hunting him and the relational history of the crucial Roman Empire (crucial because it was the Romans who brought Christianity to the West after the 4th century).

The brutal (and often R-rated) history of the Roman Emperors from Julius Caesar to Tiberius is stunning to read as Dugard's research into two thousand-plus year old documents revealed. A substantial amount of  the first third of the book is dedicated to this particular period before the Birth of the Son of God on the earth.....thereby setting the stage and the atmosphere/environment into which Jesus was born. To this end, this book is NOT recommended for kids. There is too much about brutality and the weird sex lives of ancient historical figures.

The main advantage of this historical setting is the background  O'Reilly used to show the troublesome and oppressive corrupt state of Judea, into which this humble carpenter from Nazareth launched His brief, world-changing ministry. While he kept saying on his top-rated FNC show - "The O'Reilly Factor" - that this was a "history" and not a "religious" book, after reading it with a keen eye for Biblical accuracy, I have to affirm that I find no fault with that statement! In fact, I am now ecstatic that it is a quote "history" book because it portrays not just the character and life of Jesus, but the accurate events of His Miracles and teachings as the confirmed FACTS they are! The committed Christian, who is skeptical as I originally was about reading this, should take heart. Apart from the historical records of Rome and the Middle East (including what is left in Jerusalem) both Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard used the text of the NIV Study Bible as back up!

There were times in the early going of reading "Killing Jesus" where I got really frustrated with all the exhaustive Roman historical background. It was then the Lord spoke to me through His Spirit, Who lives within me. So when He said that "many will be reached with this book", I was immediately encouraged and set at ease! That was it! There was no smoke from heaven or lightning....just the Lord setting me straight. The book has sold over 500,000 hardcover books . But what I know the Lord will be happy about is the children's version which will take this thing over the million mark (similar to Killing Lincoln etc)! In the Spring of 2013, tens of millions of Americans and many more than that watched Mark Burnett and Roma Downey's version of the Bible, which did contain a few glaring errors. I did not read Killing Jesus with an eye to scrutinize every interpretation, but I do know enough of the Bible to recognize Biblical error when I see it.

ERRORS IN "KILLING JESUS"
He had Jesus at 36 years old when He died. Jesus was 33. There were several disturbing glaring omissions by the authors as to the Final Words of Jesus. They left out Jesus' quotes from the Cross "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do". They left out the conversation about the thieves on the Cross. They left out Jesus telling His disciple John to take care of Mary (which is a Jewish custom). 

O'Reilly had the wrong dates for the Prophet Isaiah's time (off by 100 years). He incorrectly had the Philistines defeating the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 BC when that could be easily cross checked with secular Jewish history (along with the Old Testament) that it was the Assyrians and not the Philistines.  There are some others which have to do with a misunderstanding of the Harmony of the Gospels. Any serious Bible student will not these. 

The thing to note here is these men are not born-again bible believing Christians and never claim to be. Their claim is to be authors of a "history book". In his CBS 60 Minutes interview with Norah O'Donnell, Bill O'Reilly made it clear that KILLING JESUS does not make the claim that Jesus is Messiah. That is a personal declaration to which he is accountable. To those of us who read and even enjoyed this book, regardless of these errors - JESUS CHRIST IS THE MESSIAH - HE IS MY MESSIAH - HE WILL ALWAYS BE AND I WILL SCREAM IT FROM THE MOUNTAINTOP - JUST LIKE RIGHT HERE, period!

RECOMMENDED?
In these troubled times, this historical account of the Last Days of Jesus and the culture in which He lived,  will encourage any seeker of Truth, wavering Christian or even a mature believer, who ever doubted this historicity of both the Bible and its account of the Greatest Man Who ever lived! Share this book with a friend who is not a Christian or even an atheist. The history alone, therein, will interest just about any curious human being.

You know, it really does takes MORE faith to be an atheist than it does to believe the simple Truth of the Gospel of Christ. This book will both inform, interest and inspire anyone who approaches it with an open mind. There is only good that can come out of reading this with one eye on history and the other eye on His Story!