“The Chosen: Season 3” Dominates Over Wokeness

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“The Chosen: Season 3” Dominates Over Wokeness

By Mark Schwendau

 

The Angel Studios show, “The Chosen: Season 3,” focuses on the life and times of Jesus Christ (Jonathan Roumie), remaining pretty true to the Bible. It became a crowdfunding sensation in 2019. It has proven that people worldwide hunger to learn about Jesus Christ. The first two seasons have now been viewed more than 440 million times in theaters and on various streaming platforms. Even secular critics, who are routinely harsh toward faith-based storytelling, have been kind to this series. This month, “The Chosen” showed it can compete with the best, and brightest Hollywood has to offer in these days of wokeness.

The official plot description outline for “The Chosen: Season 3’s” theatrical debut offers:

“After Jesus completes a sermon that turns the world upside down, all 12 disciples (including newcomer Judas) are ready to follow him to the ends of the earth. But problems remain. Matthew wrestles with estrangement from his family. Andrew visits an imprisoned John the Baptist. Mary and the women must find a source of income. Simon and Eden face the costs of following Jesus.

Most importantly, the disciples face their biggest challenge when Jesus sends them out, two by two, to preach and perform miracles without him.”

“The Chosen: Season 3” Official Trailer

The first two episodes of the show’s third season were packaged for theatrical release and were set to earn $10 million in its opening weekend. But Angel Studios announced its final numbers for the debut weekend was $8.68 million.  Not too bad at all when you consider… “She Said,” a story recalling the journalists who helped expose Harvey Weinstein’s predatory crimes against women movie stars, earned roughly $2.25 million on its opening weekend. Each of these two films was seen on nearly 2,000 theater screens nationwide. Season 3 of “The Chosen” debuted in theaters on October 14. The movie “She Said” debuted in American theaters on November 18.

“The Chosen: Season 3” also beat out the thriller “The Menu” starring Ralph Fiennes as a fanatical chef.  That film was shown in 3,000 theaters rather than “The Chosen: Season 3,” which was only shown in 2,000. To make matters worse for Hollywood, “The Chosen: Season 3” quickly outpaced many of the season’s other Oscar-bait releases as well; “Armageddon Time,” “Till,” “Tar,” and “Call Jane.”

As the Christian Broadcasting Network reported thereafter:

“Faith-based film fans are proving once again that there is a growing movement to see more wholesome, family content on the big screens. This weekend, ‘The Chosen Season 3’ premiered in the third spot at the box office, beating out DC Comics, Universal, and Disney…

The American people desperately desire wholesome entertainment. The last thing they want out of a film or television series is to be lectured about how they aren’t ‘woke’ enough.”

Americans are fed up with the virtue-signaling godless fake people of our secular society today. They do not want to be tagged with new-age names of things they know they are not, such as racist, homophobic, xenophobic, sexist, fascist, and the list goes on almost to equal the length of all of the new pronoun categories given to us by them (the last count now was 100).

This is why many believe Americans are going to the theatres to see “The Chosen” in droves. It details the life and ministry of Jesus Christ and is packing theatres during its limited theatrical run. After that, it will be available on streaming services such as platforms including Peacock, Amazon Prime Video, and, as of last week, Netflix. Previous seasons can be viewed for FREE on some other outlets such as Roku, Tubi, iOS, and Firestick. Of course, “The Chosen” can still be viewed on the Angel Studios app where it was originally released.

“For the second year in a row, The Chosen is capturing the imagination of moviegoers around the country … we’re seeing that the same audiences who have helped us break streaming records can have a similar impact at the box office,” Neal Harmon, CEO of Angel Studios, said in a released statement.

It’s not the first time the series crossed over into Cineplex, either. Last year, “Christmas With The Chosen: The Messengers” earned $10 million in its first week, going on to generate $13.7 million thereafter. It earned more than $4 million of that $10 million in its debut weekend. “The Chosen: Season 3” is expected to double the box office revenue from last year’s opening weekend of The Chosen Christmas special.

In a letter to the Massachusetts Militia on October 11, 1798, John Adams wrote:

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Contrast that statement with that of former president Barack Hussein Obama who found our constitution “fundamentally flawed,” stating he thinks our founding fathers had certain “blind spots.”

Conclusion:

I was raised in a Christian church and in the Bible. That may make it sound like I have an edge over others of you who are non-believers or God/Jesus curious. That would not be true, though.  The other thing about me is I am a very visual learner. Show me how to do something, don’t simply lecture me and try to tell me. I stumbled upon “The Chosen” by accident on YouTube last year and I simply fell in love with this series. The production quality and talent of the actors and actresses simply blew me away.

I am not sure my idea of what it is to be a good Christian square with every other Christian, but I have always felt it was best for me not to act superior or beat people over the head with Jesus. Like Jesus, I felt it was best to plant a few seeds (of curiosity) and walk away and let nature take its course.

These are the oddest time we are living in.  Normally, when times of uncertainty arise in America, church attendance and related offering contributions soar up. But in recent years, there has been a decline of about ten percentage points between 2019 and 2021 for those under age 35 and those 65+, but only a four percentage point decline for those between.  Still, Christian baptisms are on the rise. What does this all mean?  I do not know.

I think “The Chosen” series is good for those of us who were both raised in faith as well as those who may, just now, be finding themselves Christ-curious. Christmas is a time for hope and love. Watching this series may kindle some faith as well.

In 1 Corinthians 13:13, He says, “Three things will last forever: faith, hope, and love-and the greatest of these is love.”

The greatest gift God ever gave mankind is our souls. That gift needs to be handled with care. And for those atheists and agnostics who would argue with me this Holiday Season, saying I am living in fantasyland, I would ask them the following, “When you dream, do you not have an out-of-body experience? Do you not see a possible connection between this world and yet another? How can you not appreciate how truly individual and special you are in the eyes of God and to the logical thinking people of the rest of us?”

If you do not feel the special and unique individual you truly are, I pray for you. When you die, there will never be another you.

Copyright © 2022 by Mark S. Schwendau

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Mark S. Schwendau is a retired technology professor who has always had a sideline in news-editorial writing where his byline has been, “Bringing little known news to people who simply want to know the truth.”  He classifies himself as a Christian conservative who God cast to be a realist.  Mark is an award-winning educator who has published seven books and numerous peer-reviewed trade journal articles, some of which can be found on the Internet.  His father was a fireman/paramedic, while his mother was a registered nurse.  He holds degrees in technology education, industrial management, OSHA Safety, and Driver’s Education.  His website is www.IDrawIWrite.Tech.


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Pattie
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Pattie
9 months ago

What i really liked about this series is that they show how important Mary the mother of Jesus was and should be honored. And they show how Jesus was indeed a human man while being the son of God.

Ronnie
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Ronnie
1 year ago

Christ was born into the family of man that we might be born (again) into the family of God. . . the simplicity of Christmas . .

fat boyz
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fat boyz
1 year ago

Do the Mormons have ‘any’ say in the scripting or financing? That would be a ‘yes’ or ‘no’.