Yesterday my wife, a first grade teacher in our church’s Classical Academy, showed me a new kid’s video that tells the story of the Bible. The particular video was “The Meaning of Easter with Phil Vischer.”Phil is the creator of Veggie Tales, and the series is a Veggie Tales-like animation of Bible. The video is entertaining and even educational.  But, as my wife warned me, I was squirming just a minute into the video clip. The Easter video is the only one I can comment on, but the theology underneath the story-line is bad from the git-go!The Common Kingdom ErrorFirst, it is the great Kingdom error.  Phil tells about Palm Sunday, recognizing that the crowd understood Jesus to be the King.  “Buck Denver” chimes in, “It sounds like the crowd knows Jesus is the Messiah, but it also sounds like they think He is going to be a King just like King David.”  He goes on to say, “I’m not sure they understand about this new kind of Kingdom.”  With a serious tone, Mr. Vischer responds, “No, they don’t.” And I shout, “Yes, they do!”  In fact, it is Buck and Phil that don’t understand. If the Palm Sunday crowd expected Jesus to be a King like King David, where would they have come up with such a concept? Perhaps they had heard about the announcement from Gabriel, “and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father Davd” (Luke 1:32). If not from this message, perhaps from Isaiah 9:7, which speaks of the coming Messiah who will have a government with no end, and the seat of this government would be “on the throne of David and over his kingdom.”  I could go on and on about the Hebrew prophecies that are so perfectly clear that it would take a cartoon character to miss the clear reality that they expected a King “just like King David” because that is exactlywhat the Scripture prophesied. Before you go and dream up a spiritual Kingdom, as the creators of the “What’s In the Bible” series do, ask yourself why all the prophecies of the Messiah are physical in fulfillment except this one? Rather than make up stuff about how all these people were wrong, why not just show Biblically that they were right, but that, because of the rejection of the Messiah as the promised Davidic King, the Kingdom was not established, but rather postponed until a future date?  If you make stuff up, you’ll end up with some real bad theological byproducts, as you’ll see in a moment.The Common Passover ErrorBut the video then goes on to give another of the most prevalent errors in Christian teaching today.  Phil says, “So Jesus and His disciples gather for the Passover meal…”  Did they?  If so, why did Jesus have bread at the dinner? (Even the video shows leavened bread, not unleavened bread.) Bread, of course, would be strictly unlawful at Passover, but not at all unlawful the day before Passover.  If you’re not yet convinced, consider this—The Apostle John makes clear that the Passover was the next day, after the Last Supper, and the activities of the day of the Last Supper had been in preparation for the coming Passover.  Leaven would not be prohibited until Passover begins.  Take note of these Scriptures--“Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him,” (John 13:1–2, NASB95)  (Notice that it was "before the Feast" and "during supper"...this supper was the Last supper).“Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the Praetorium, and it was early; and they themselves did not enter into the Praetorium so that they would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover.” (John 18:28, NASB95)  (Thus, at the crucifixion the Jews still had not had the Passover meal, meaning that the Last Supper was before the Passover).“But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover; do you wish then that I release for you the King of the Jews?”(John 18:39, NASB95)  (If Passover was the previous day, the release would have taken place the previous day)“Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, ‘Behold, your King!’” (John 19:14, NASB95)  (The day of preparation is the day leading up to the Passover-that is, before Sundown, when Passover would begin)“I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.’” (John 13:18, NASB95)  (Both the Hebrew quote from Psalm 41:9 and the Greek of John 13:18 use the respective word for leavened bread, not unleavened)“And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 22:15–16, KJV 1900)  (Notice his desire was to eat the Passover, but He said He would not be eating it)There is a clear word in Greek for "Unleavened Bread" (azumos), as well as regular bread (artos).  There is also a clear word in Hebrew for "unleavened bread" (matzot--or "matzah bread" of today's Passover) and regular bread (lehem, as in Bethlehem-House of Bread).  These words are so consistently used that you would have to say John is being very incorrect in his terminology if he meant azumos but said artos.  To make this claim would seriously undermine Scripture.I believe that Passover is, and remains, an observance for the nation of Israel. It is not a Christian observance (though Christians can be deeply blessed by it). The Lord’s Supper is not a replacement for the Passover, or a “baptism” of the Passover. This concept is so prevalent, I believe, because replacement theology has been so prevalent through historic Christianity.Back to the video, Phil did get it right that Jesus is the Passover Lamb, providing safety from the ultimate angel of death. However, he quickly goes into teaching about the New Covenant, another error of interpretation that is taught as fact from today’s pulpits but needs some second thought (which I’ll have to give in another article on another day).  The video goes on to describe the charge against Jesus as blasphemy, which is what the Jews were upset with, but from the video you would think Pilate was a good man in a bad spot, washing his hands of the problem and moving on.  In actuality, Pilate’s insistence that the “King of the Jews” sign remain over the head of Jesus was because Pilate changed the charge from blasphemy (an internal issue with the Jews) to insurrection, a matter worthy of execution. Phil has Pilate saying, “This isn’t my fault.”  He looks guilty to me.Incidentally, the cartoon narrator of the show sure looks like Ronald Reagan to me!The Kingdom Error Bears FruitAbout five minutes into the video, one of the characters asks, “What else did Jesus do?” The answer, “He announced the Kingdom of God, and showed us what it would be like.”  And then the Kingdom of God is described as the Garden of Eden, and Phil says, “So Jesus shows up and says that the Kingdom of God is back!”  It is described as no hunger, no sickness, no death, nothing to fear. And, indeed, the Hebrew prophets do describe the Kingdom in such a way. In fact, all of Jesus’ miracles were evidence of the Kingdom offer, evidence that the Kingdom of God was near!  Sadly, however, Phil and his video miss the point that this Kingdom was not established, precisely the reason that today’s world doesn’t look very “Garden of Eden-ish” today!From the Hebrew text, the onlyconclusion that can be made is that when the Kingdom comes, the blind will see, the lame will walk, the captive will be set free.  If the Kingdom has been established, then its establishment was not very effective at all. This is why so many preachers apologize for what appears to be the weakness of the Kingdom by saying those on Palm Sunday misunderstood, and that the Kingdom isn’t at all like the Prophets say, but it really just a cool feeling deep-down inside your self-centered heart. My “Kingdom-now” friends will say, “Wait! The Kingdom has been established, but not fully consummated!” This is where story-teller Phil goes, when his cartoon characters announce, that we see all these things in reality, “when the Kingdom of God explodes in full bloom.”  And this bad theology is exactly what the dominionist, reconstructionist zeal of the evangelical movement is working to attain. The New Apostolic Reformation and other forms of the radical word-of-faith movement are at the forefront, but more conservative evangelical movements have the same mindset, seeking to preach the Gospel to the ends of the World so that the end will come.Phil tells us that Jesus, “Invites us to be a part of the New Kingdom.”  This is said as if the Kingdom is here and now, available for anyone and everyone, a concept so foreign to the Scriptures that it is shameful.   Phil’s conclusion is clearly that following Jesus, being a Christian, and “being part of the Kingdom of God” are one and the same.I haven’t seen the rest of the series, but if this Easter clip is any indication, I wouldn’t want the children in my church learning their theology from Phil and his cast of animated characters. The good of the video (there is some, and I haven’t talked about it in this article) is lost because of all the “undo” that I would have to do later.  My recommendation, skip the video and get your doctrine from the Bible. In the end, this video will produce kids who are disappointed in the Bible (“Where’s the Garden of Eden I was promised?”) or charismatic kids transforming the world into the Kingdom, starting with your church (“Let’s bind Satan from this place!”).PS: The base theology comes from George Eldon Ladd.  You’ll have to skip him too!