Out Our Way:

Mark 15:29-32

Out our way, lots of folks make predictions about the weather, the crops, the rainfall and such. One doesn’t have to be a full scale Jeanne Dixon to predict calves will be born at night during a blizzard in February. Other predictions come just as easy and are as likely to be accurate. Other predictions are just about as sure-fre as well.

Every year around Christmas and Easter, Goliath predicts some TV program or book will pop up with “startling new” revelations to demonstrate Christ was a fake and the Gospels a myth. Why, one can even predict the source of these “new revelations” will be the same old long-discredited source — namely the writings of an ancient Egyptian cult called the Gnostics.

Some 300 years after Christ, this group arose in Egypt with a different version of the Gospel — and creating myths about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Peter, Thomas and even Mother Mary. Loosely based on the Christian Gospel, they created their own and had some success in convincing unwary people in the area that the Christian Gospel was a fake and their new and improved model was the real deal.

Nearly 100 years ago, an ancient library from the cult was discovered with many of the pseudo-Gospels — The Gospel of Thomas being the most popular — and since that time there have been folks trying to pick up where the Gnostics left off, pushing these manuscripts as “the Lost Books of the Bible” etc. Enough people have bought into the scam to make it profitable, and those who have a grudge against the Christian faith for whatever reason seem happy to perpetuate the myth.

Perhaps it is only for the sake of ratings that some TV producers regularly come up with programs featuring “professors” from unknown colleges and universities, who claim their “discoveries” prove the Bible is a lie. They can declare with seeming authority that they can “prove” the Virgin Birth never took place, there was no Star of Bethlehem, Jesus didn’t die on the cross, or even that He never existed at all.

Interestingly, no known or accredited Biblical scholars from major seminaries or universities are ever interviewed to counter the arguments of these professors of “religion” the networks tend to feature. This is also predictable, for the purpose of the programs is not to investigate the Christian faith, but to attack it. Hence, the one-sided presentation by questionable sources using long-since debunked sources for their radical challenges to the Gospel.

Now, I grant most Americans are biblically illiterate and a glib talker can persuade some nominal Christians that there are “hidden” and “secret” revelation about Christ and the Gospel that the Church has hidden from them for centuries. But enough people can read the Bible for themselves, do a little digging on the internet, or simply ask their pastor to help them investigate the validity of some of the challenges raised. I predict they will soon see through the attempt to mislead them.

Jesus told us there would be wolves among the sheep, people claiming to be fellow believers, pastors and professors, who would try to lead the sheep astray. And just as sure as calves will be born in the middle of the night in February, especially if an Alberta Clipper is raging along the Hi-Line, so you can bank on the likelihood that around Christmas and Easter those wolves will put on their sheep skins and come on TV or the internet, or have their book released to challenge the Gospel message. You don’t need a crystal ball to make those predictions!

Oh, and by the way — as Ole and Sven reminded me — “Christ is risen! You got that right, you betcha!”

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John Bruington, Goliath, and all the other Servants of Christ here on the Hi-Line wish you and yours a glorious Resurrection Day Celebration!