A few weeks ago Allison Verost, Director of Publicity
at Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group contacted me to ask if I would review Bill O’Reilly’s soon
to be released book “The Last Days of Jesus: His Life and Times”. This is an adaptation of O’Reilly’s “Killing
Jesus” book and is written for children 10 years and up. I agreed to read and review the book.
I
should mention here that I have never
read any books by Mr. O’Reilly and don’t watch his Fox News programs (though I did many years ago so I am familiar with who he is), so I had
no idea what to expect.
**According to O’Reilly’s
Bibliography he used the Protestant NIV Bible, so I will quote that
Bible in this review**
*********WARNING SPOILERS*********
I am no theologian but I am pretty well studied in the Scriptures
and because of that fact found I had several "issues" with the book. Some people will probably disagree with me, but here is my take on the book...
First up, the book tells a completely fictional story of Jesus as
a young boy who along with Mary and Joseph run for their lives from Roman
soldiers who are slaughtering Jews in the market place. I don’t know where exactly O’Reilly got this
story from, but its not in any Bible I can find.
Some people might like a fictional Jesus
story, I don’t so right of the bat I was offended.
Next up an example of one of many times O’Reilly CHANGES Sacred
Scripture to tell a different story (he does this often in the book and if you
don’t know the scriptures you will not know it is altered).
In this example O’Reilly says that the disciples John and James were
“jockeying for position” in Jesus’ “new regime” and requested that they each
get to sit to Jesus’ left and right in positions of power.
The Bible tells the story a bit differently…the
NIV titles the passage “A Mother’s Request” yet O’Reilly makes no mention of a
mother at all.
Matthew
20 [NIV Bible]- A Mother’s Request 20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with
her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.21 “What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these
two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your
kingdom.”22 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can
you drink the cup I am going to drink?”“We can,” they answered.23 Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but
to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those
for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”
[source: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2020&version=NIV]
No big deal?
OK, lets move
on.
Catholics
(like me) might take exception to O’Reilly’s version of Simon Peter and
Jesus. The Bible shows in Matthew 16 that Jesus gives Peter the keys to the
Church (authority) and tells the disciples he (Jesus) was creating a real
Church on earth – O’Reilly ignores most of this in his own chapter circling these events without mentioning the focal points to talk about other things.
The NIV Bible: Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah
13 When Jesus came to the region of
Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do
people say the Son of Man is?”14 They replied,
“Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or
one of the prophets.”15 “But what about
you?” he asked. “Who do you say
I am?”16 Simon Peter
answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to
you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are
Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not
overcome it. 19 I
will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth
will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in
heaven.” 20 Then
he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
Now O’Reilly’s
version:
No keys, no
Church, no authority, no papacy…its been gutted. If you are going to write a
chapter about this exchange between Jesus and Peter then why leave out the most
important parts? O’Reilly rips out the
18th and 19th verses which his own faith (I believe he
claims to be Catholic) highlights as the foundation of Jesus Christ building
His Church on earth. Hardly a trivial
matter to Christianity.
Next he guts
the Last Supper – no Eucharist. The
focus of this chapter for O’Reilly is that Jesus washed someone’s feet. For O’Reilly this is the most important part
of the Last Supper, yet in the Scriptures the foot washing is not mentioned in
Matthew, Mark or Luke, only in the Gospel of John and the reason it is
mentioned is to show that Jesus knew Judas was going to betray him (verse 11). Judas was the "unclean" one among the disciples. The significance of the Last Supper- the
Eucharist being instituted is simply not shown in this book at all.
Here is O’Reilly’s
version…
Now here is
what the Sacred Scriptures says about the foot washing…
Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet 13 It
was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him
to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the
world, he loved them to the end.2 The evening meal
was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon
Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things
under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God;
4 so he got up from the
meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.
5 After that, he poured
water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the
towel that was wrapped around him.6 He came to Simon
Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will
understand.”8 “No,” said Peter,
“you shall never wash my feet.”Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you,
you have no part with me.”9 “Then, Lord,” Simon
Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”10 Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole
body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was going
to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.12 When he had
finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?”
he asked them. 13 “You
call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am.
14 Now that I, your Lord
and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.
15 I have set you an
example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no
servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who
sent him. 17 Now
that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. –end-
And here is
what Scripture says about the Last Supper…
Luke 22 (NIV Bible) - Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus 1 Now
the Festival of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, 2 and the chief priests and
the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they
were afraid of the people. 3 Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of
the Twelve. 4 And
Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and
discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. 5 They were delighted and
agreed to give him money. 6 He consented, and watched for an opportunity to
hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.The Last Supper7 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on
which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8 Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”9 “Where do you want
us to prepare for it?” they asked.10 He replied, “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you.
Follow him to the house that he enters, 11 and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher
asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’
12 He will show you a
large room upstairs, all furnished. Make preparations there.”13 They left and
found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.14 When the hour
came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. 15 And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
16 For I tell you, I will
not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”17 After taking the
cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it
among you. 18 For
I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom
of God comes.”19 And he took bread,
gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This
is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”20 In the same way,
after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is
the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. 21 But the hand of him who is
going to betray me is with mine on the table. 22 The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed.
But woe to that man who betrays him!” 23 They began to question among themselves which of
them it might be who would do this.-end-
Other issues
I had… in chapter one, O’Reilly claims Joseph only had a bad dream that
terrified him so much he woke up Mary and Jesus and bolted out of
Bethlehem. No mention of the “angel of
the Lord” telling Joseph to take his family and leave (Matthew 2:13).
In chapter
two, O’Reilly talks about Jesus sleeping on roof tops and how rare red meat and
fish are to Jesus’ diet as a child.
Could he have slept on roof tops and rarely eaten red meat or fish,
sure, but that’s not in the Bible. According to Isaiah 7, Jesus ate curds and honey as a child.
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a
sign:
The virgin
will conceive and give birth to a son,
and will
call him Immanuel.
15 He will
be eating curds
and honey
when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, 16 for before
the boy knows
enough to reject the wrong and choose the right,
the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.
In chapter
five, O’Reilly portrays Mary and Joseph as “shocked” by Jesus’ knowledge of God
because never before has Jesus nor anything else in their life given
them the impression that their son was anyone special. Yet the Bible clearly shows both Mary and Joseph were well informed by God that this was no ordinary son. Luke 1:31-35
31 You
will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.
32 He
will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.
The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,
33 and he
will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom
will never end.”
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a
virgin?”35 The
angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you,
and the power of the Most High
will overshadow you. So the holy one
to be born will be called the Son
of God."
In chapter
seven, O’Reilly has John the Baptist proclaim he [John the Baptist alone] “saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on
him” before Jesus even got to the water to be baptized. According to the Bible, Jesus was baptized THEN
Heaven opened up and dove came down… (Matthew 3:16).
O’Reilly goes
on to write that “John the Baptist says “I have seen and I testify that this is
God’s Chosen One” in chapter seven, but later in chapter thirty O’Reilly claims that John the Baptist “is beginning to doubt his initial faith in Jesus as the
Messiah”.
In chapter
twenty-eight (the Crucifixion scene) O’Reilly doesn’t mention the Disciple John being with Mary at the cross or Jesus giving Mary
to John to care for (John 19:25-27) now that Jesus is going to die on the cross and soon ascend into Heaven (after he comes out of the tomb and walks the earth for 40 days).
Also left out of this chapter is Christ's words: “Into your hands Father I commend my Spirit” (Luke 23:46),
the earthquake when Christ dies on the cross (Matthew 27:51), the temple curtain torn at the moment of Christ's death on the cross (Matthew 27:51) and the
people raised from the dead (Matthew 27:52-53).
No mention of any of those major events.
Most chapters (in my opinion) show Mary, Joseph, the disciples and others as completely clueless about who Jesus is and what he is doing most of the time. I didn't care for O'Reilly's view or depiction of these Saints.
And the final
BIG issue for me… the very last sentence in the last chapter of the book… "To this day,
the body of Jesus of Nazareth has never been found.” No mention that Jesus was seen after the Crucifixion for 40 days (Acts 1:3) or that people watched him ascend into Heaven (Acts 1:9).
The book ends
with an “Afterword” that includes assorted religion’s varying views of Jesus
(Muslims, Jews, Pagans, Hindus etc).
This also includes what some writings and history say happened to the
Apostles and other biblical characters (Pontius Pilate, Mary Magadalene etc).
Because I
found too many alterations of Sacred Scripture and missing key Scriptural
points I could not recommend this book to ANY parent to give to their child. Better they learn about Jesus from a child's Bible than this fictional portrayal of Jesus.
I am sure
this is not the review Bill O’Reilly or his publisher were hoping for, but I
have to be honest. I am sorry to say I simply did not like this book and cannot recommend it.
In Christ,
Julie @ Connecticut Catholic Corner
