The Jesus Incident (1979) is the second science fiction novel set in the Destination: Void universe by the American author Frank Herbert and poet Bill Ransom.

The action of the book is divided between two settings, the internal spaces of Ship which is orbiting Pandora and the settlements on the planet.

Ship awakens the Chaplain/Psychiatrist Raja Flattery (part of the original Destination: Void crew) from hibernation, and reveals to him the true nature of this test.

The land is overrun by a number of deadly predators that are efficient killers, requiring people on the planet surface to adapt to a highly stressful lifestyle living within a fortress.

Morgan Oakes is the head administrator of both the crew and the colonists and the central provocateur whose actions drive the conflict.

As the book progresses, the reader discovers that the kelp, the hylighters, and other creatures of the planet appear to be linked into a large entity with a shared consciousness, Avata.

There is a clear social distinction between clones and naturally born human beings, a distinction that in the end leads to the outbreak of a series of battles and confrontations (slave rebellions) between natural humans and clones as conflict over food supplies and assignment of risk escalates.

The kelp is viewed by the leadership of the Oakes administration as the major impediment to the exploitation of the seas as a source of food.