Mila Kunis and Rachel Weisz were great together in the 2013 movie, “Oz the Great and Powerful”. The colorful attempt to paint the backstory for “The Wizard of Oz” tells the story of how a small time carnival magician became the Wizard of Oz. James Franco plays the part of the magician carried to the magical land by a tornado where he meets Theodora, a “good” witch, played by Mila. Thinking him the fulfillment of prophecy she promises him great wealth. Greed overwhelms his good sense so he goes with her to the Emerald City where he meets her sister Dorinda, played by Rachel.

As the story unfolds he discovers that Dorinda is an evil witch in disguise, who tricks her sister into turning all her hurt and anger at the wizard into visceral hatred which transforms her into an ugly green evil witch. Exposed by the wizard, and the truly good witch Glenda, the two evil sisters flee the city only to pop up again thirty years later in the original movie, “The Wizard of Oz”.

The only real question is which of the two, Mila or Rachel, would best portray the evil Athaliah if a movie was made about her eight year reign in Jerusalem recorded in 2 Kings 11:1-16. The most likely answer is Dorinda who disguised her evil nature to gain control over and corrupt her good sister. Think about it. Athaliah’s parents were Ahab and Jezebel, the very personification of evil. Which means she was raised in a toxic feminist environment of lies and treachery to gain power. Just look at her husband Jehoram’s actions when his father, the good king Jehoshaphat, died and left him as king. As soon as he was in control he killed all his brothers (2 Chronicles 21:4), no doubt at the instigation of his evil wife, Athaliah. No doubt all her childhood innocence was turned to cruel hatred by her mom, Jezebel.

And when her son, Ahaziah, was killed by Jehu her true wicked nature was exposed as she killed her own grandchildren to seize the throne of Judah (2 Kings 11:1; 2 Chronicles 22:10). Any attempt to hide her true self was tossed aside for the whole world to see her evil soul. So, I'm thinking she was more like Dorinda.

By the way, which character describes you and me? We all want to see ourselves as Glenda, but are we being realistic? It’s unlikely any of us are as evil as Dorinda or Theodora – or Athaliah. No we’re probably more like the wizard, subject to being led away by temptation. Recognizing the dangers of temptation (James 1:14-15) let us be honest about ourselves and submit to Jesus in humble repentance.