Identity

When I was eight years old, I knew exactly who I was going to marry. What’s more, she told her parents a year earlier at age seven that she was going to marry me. Unfortunately, I was in the dark about that fact so I just went about my third-grade life without ever professing my adoration for her. And believe me, it was adoration.

Have you ever met anyone who excelled in absolutely everything? She did. Nothing existed that she couldn’t master and become the best at. She was a fantastic artist and churned out amazing drawings and paintings before third-grade that were better than the vast majority of adults will ever produce. As she made her way through junior high and high school, she excelled in every sport she entered and became a leader in the student body, taking the titles of class president and “Ms. ” of her high school. Most importantly, she had become a real Christian in our church long before I and others did, with the rest of us in the youth group only professing faith, but not having a true born again experience like she did. If ever there was a smart, talented, and wise girl I knew from my youth, it was her.

I’d lost touch with her after my sophomore year in high school, and it was many years later that I learned through the grapevine that she had gotten married to some guy and had started a family. I could only imagine what other things she’d added to her impressive list of accomplishments since high school. I hoped he knew what a gift he received.

Jarring isn’t a word strong enough to describe the next set of news I got about her. She has left her husband because she was being physically abused. What’s worse, it had evidently been going on for a long time. Perhaps the most incredible fact I learned was that he was physically beating her prior to them getting married. When confronted by loved ones and asked why she had committed herself in marriage to someone who had previously abused her, she confessed the same hope that so many other women like her have before: “I thought he’d change.”

What Something Is

The world of logic is built on four foundational laws:

1. The law of non-contradiction – something cannot be A and non-A at the same time and in the same sense.
2. The law of excluded middle – something must be either A or non-A.
3. The law of rational inference – for example, all men are mortal, and I am a man, therefore I am mortal.
4. The law of identity – A is A.

The last law is particularly important – the law of identity. Attributed to Aristotle’s teaching, but not really becoming widely known in the theology camps until Thomas Aquinas came long, the law of identity makes rational communication among human beings possible. For example, if I tell you that I’m going to the gym, the law of identity is what keeps you from thinking that I’m going to the movies. In addition, the law of identity acts as a wonderful protective mechanism in that it keeps us from, for example, drinking a bottle labeled “rat poison” as we don’t mistake the container to be a bottle of lemonade.

But the law of identity can only do so much. It only protects us insofar as we choose to believe the reality of what something is. The stone cold fact is that something is what something is, no matter how much we think it is something else or how badly we want to believe that it is something else or for that matter, that it could one day be something else. Yes, things can change shapes and forms, but rarely does a thing change its actual essence or identity. Atypical radical breaks do exist, such as when a sperm and egg unite to become an entirely new thing (a zygote), but more often than not, change is more like a block of ice becoming liquid or gas – it still continues to be H2O.

I can’t stress how important it is in this life to comprehend the true identity of what something is. But as important as the law of identity is in our everyday life, it is absolutely crucial in the spiritual realm. If you approach most any non-Christian person and ask, "Who is God?", there is a near perfect chance of their response beginning with, "I like to think of God as ..." It's as if they can somehow realistically swap the true identity of the Creator with one that fits what they want/believe/hope God to be. Needless to say, this can't be done. God is Who He is. His identity is unchanging and does not conform to what we think Him to be or what we want to reduce Him to. This act of God alteration is nothing new and is something Christ dealt with when He faced off against the religious leaders of His day.

I AM Who I Am

Jesus had just finished rescuing the adulterous woman from the Pharisees in John 8, when He stopped to communicate a critical truth to the disbelieving religious leaders that hammers home the importance of the law of identity. “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” (John 8:24). Jesus is telling them that, quite literally, if they didn’t believe that He was who He was, they would suffer eternal consequences.

Jesus’ words are as valid today as when He first spoke them. Understanding, believing in, and accepting the real Christ – comprehending His true identity and acting upon that truth – is what causes the actual salvation experience to occur in the life of the believer. Any other belief, no matter how sincere it is, falls short and places a person in spiritual jeopardy. This being the case, is it any wonder that the primary thing all the cults and false religions sell is a fake Jesus? The enemy knows that a counterfeit Christ doesn’t save anyone from God’s wrath and so he works hard at obscuring the real identity of Jesus. The Christ of Islam who didn’t die on the cross and come back from the dead, the Jesus of the cults who is not God in the flesh, and the Messiah of the New Age movement who is nothing more than one of the many incarnations of the Christ through history all miss the mark where a real saving faith is concerned.

Amidst all the invalid responses that come back from the various other religions on who Jesus is, His question put to the disciples still stands as the single most important question everyone who has ever lived must answer: “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15). Your answer and the law of identity function together to produce either a true saving faith or else a false safety net that will one day prove to be of no use to you when you stand before Christ at the Bema seat. Make no mistake, it takes wisdom to spot a fake. As A.W. Tozer said, "So skilled is error at imitating truth, that the two are constantly being mistaken for each another. It takes a sharp eye these days to know which brother is Cain and which Abel." (How to Avoid Serious Error in That Incredible Christian).

Changing Identities

She knew full well what he was, but hoped he would actually turn out to be something else. Sadly, this didn’t happen. A lot of grief, sorrow, and burdens could have been avoided if she had just understood his actual identity. She learned the hard way that just hoping something is different doesn’t make it so. Recognizing a bad but real identity and making a break is tough for sure, but sometimes it’s best to pull the band-aid off quick and early. Scottish preacher Alistair Begg said in a sermon once, “Missy, you can cry now because you lost him, or you can cry a whole lot more later because you got him.”

Can identities ever be changed? Yes they can, although real identity change requires the supernatural intervention of the Creator Himself to make it happen. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Sometimes it happens near-instantaneously in a Saul-to-Paul styled conversion, and other times, the Spirit of God works gradually upon the heart and soul of an individual until Christ is eventually seen in their actions and attitudes.

But such transformation – whether immediate or slow – can’t happen without the true identity of Christ being acknowledged, believed in, and accepted.

He really is who He said He was. Do you believe it?

"To believe on Christ savingly means to believe the right things about Christ. There is no escaping this."

A.W. Tozer, How Important is Creed in That Incredible Christian.

The Consequences of a Wrong Worldview

For whatever reason, I’ve never been one to get easily shocked at something nor have I ever had prolonged difficulty at being able to shake an unpleasant thought from my mind. But I still vividly remember my initial exposure to a belief system that’s an offshoot of the Hindu religion, called Jainism. That first, brief education I received in Jainism left me wide-eyed and still causes a heaviness in my heart when I think about those who hold to its principles and beliefs. More than any other religion I’ve studied, Jainism stands out to me as the most important example of why a correct worldview matters and the consequences one reaps in this life, not to mention the next, when a wrong worldview is carried out to its necessary conclusions.

An Unbearable Road

Jainism got its start from a guy whose life story parallels that of Hinduism’s Buddha. Just like Gautama (Buddha), Mahavira was of noble descent but grew disenchanted with his life of splendor. He cast everything aside to find enlightenment and did a complete 180-degree turn from the life he was used to living. Harsh conditions and the abandonment of all physical pleasures became the norm. In addition, an extreme belief in not harming any living thing led him to only eat food (meat or vegetable) that had been thrown out as garbage. Going even further, Mahavira wore a veil over his mouth so that he might not accidentally inhale a bug and kill it – something a number of Jains still do today.

Mahavira believed that harming living beings loads up a soul with karma, a doctrine he borrowed from Hinduism. Karma, Jains and Hindus believe, is the accumulation of imperfect acts performed in a life that spiritually weighs down a soul from reaching nirvana, which is perfect bliss. The amount of karma one collects during a life determines the position of that soul in the next rebirth.

Before all else in Jainism, the belief in not harming any living thing causes the Jains to lead a physically crippling life. The ultimate spiritual journey a Jain can embark on is to leave everything, forgo all food (because eating is killing a living thing) and starve themselves to death while meditating under a tree.

Warnings from Paul

Paul was never one to wait when it came to warning those he loved about spiritual deception, and in the book of Colossians, he admonishes the Church to be on guard against worldviews that differ from the teachings that Jesus communicated. He writes, “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.” (Colossians 2:6-7).

The word philosophy is created by combining two Greek words – phileō , which means “to love” and sophia, which means “wisdom”. The city of Colossae prided itself on having great wisdom, but sadly, it wasn’t the type that squared with what Christ taught. While Jainism holds that karma and physical violations weigh a person down from reaching spiritual excellence, many in Colossae clung to a form of dualism that viewed the physical as evil and the spirit as good, and in keeping with this philosophy they practiced what is termed asceticism, which is a life of very rigorous self-denial. They thought that the path to wisdom and ultimate spiritual freedom was one that consisted of a total defeat of all that was physical.

While spiritual discipline and appropriate denial are certainly things that every believer in Christ needs to practice, they need to be carried out with maturity and spiritual wisdom to be of ultimate benefit. There are a number of times in the Bible where fasting before God is applauded (Matthew 6:17) as well as the denial of intimate relations between a man and a wife for the purpose of prayer (1 Corinthians 7:5), but these are accommodations that are only temporary. Of course, other denials such as immoral practices and such (Galatians 5) are always blacklisted from the Christian’s lifestyle.

Later in the same chapter of Colossians, Paul states, “If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.” (Colossians 2:20-23).

There are aspects of man-made religion that seem to be virtuous, but we must always remember that God’s ways aren’t our ways. It is interesting to note that one silver line running through all false belief systems is the practice of works that make one acceptable to one or many gods, or causes one to be worthy enough to progress to the next step toward ultimate spiritual liberation.

Jainism is works oriented salvation taken to the extreme. No savior, no grace. The full burden rests on your shoulders to purge the karma that is keeping you from reaching enlightenment, with only a painful existence and self-imposed burdensome end awaiting you in this life. Tack onto that no guarantee of release from your physical prison caused by karma, and it’s no wonder that misery stands as the primary doctrine and companion of Jains.

A Better Way

The right worldview matters – actually it matters a lot. A bad worldview can have an isolated and negative effect on a solitary individual, or it can have a wide, dramatic, and devastating impact when a person like Hitler or Stalin uses their power to work out an ungodly worldview on entire cultures. God speaks to this well when He says in Hosea 4:6, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”

In Mark 4:24, Jesus said simply, “Take care what you listen to.” An uncomplicated phrase, but one that shouts from the rooftops regarding the fact that accepting and practicing a wrong worldview like Jainism has both temporal and eternal consequences. Those adhering to such a religion are robbed of a satisfying existence here and suffer the consequences of entering the next life without being clothed in the righteousness of Christ. It is truly heartbreaking to see.

There is a better way. Christ has done all the work for us; all we have to do is believe and accept the free grace He offers. Once that is done, He provides the inward power through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to create the spiritual discipline that leads to a righteous life.

Any other path leads to pain, burdens, and an existence devoid of real joy. But thanks be to God that He provides us the truth that leads to real living. Jesus (naturally) said it best: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10).

The Difficulty of Sustained Gratefulness

A while back, my wife and I were made aware of a woman who was going through a particularly tough time. She had four children, and she and her husband had just separated due to his drug dependency and extra-marital affairs. To make matters worse, she didn’t have any personal means or education to take care of herself or her children. Then, as fate would have it, her van broke down in a major way. I had just gotten a bonus through work and was planning on using the money to buy myself some new wheels (that I had been wanting for years) for my older BMW, which in my mind, would transform the car from being grandpa-looking transportation into a sleek and hip driving machine.

Of course, given the need God had made us aware of, I used all the money to fix the woman’s van instead. We made the appointment for her and called her when it was ready. Her response was “Great”. She picked it up and we never heard anything else from her.

A few short months later, Christmas came and my wife and I wondered if she would be able to make the holidays nice for her children who were quite young. We discovered through a friend that she had nothing for them, and so we got a list from her that outlined the children’s wishes and we got everything on the list. We also got her a new coat and a few other things. She came over to our place, picked up everything, thanked us lightly, and left. Again, we never heard a word back from her as to whether the gifts hit the mark, or anything else.

Now make no mistake – when we as Christians help someone, we should do so in a spirit of obedience to Christ’s command to love our neighbor as ourselves and expect nothing in return when we give to others. Jesus tells us in Luke 6:34-35 that we’re to behave in such a way because God Himself is kind to ungrateful men. Admittedly, this isn’t easy to do. My wife and I were initially bothered that the recipient of our grace hadn’t expressed any appreciation. But the more I thought about it, I realized I had some specs to take out of my own eye concerning this issue. Let me quickly let you in on my favorite New Testament story about grace and ingratitude and then I’ll tell you what I mean.

A Thankless Transformation

Most modern nations have no concept of leprosy and the absolute havoc it can wreak on a person’s life. If you’re curious about it and want to read a good discussion of the disease, with the added benefit of learning why pain can be a good thing in your life, then I’d recommend you read Philip Yancey’s Where is God When it Hurts? However, when the gospels were penned, leprosy was commonly recognized and experienced by far too many.

In Luke’s gospel, we read an account of Jesus encountering ten leprous men who pleaded with Him for cleansing. God, who became flesh, tells them to go and show themselves to the priests, who were the ones that formerly declared a person clean or leprous. On their way – BOOM – they’re miraculously healed! Can you imagine living with hands that are nothing but stumps or have ears that are partially missing and suddenly look down and see an unblemished hand or clearly hear birds chirping all around you for the first time in years? That’s what happened to these ten men. Tears of joy, excitement, and an overwhelming sense of relief must have washed over them.

But only one experienced a sense of gratitude. Luke 17:15-19 tells us, “Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they? “Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.”

Eight guys continue barreling toward the priests so they can be counted worthy to re-enter public life, but only one stops and rightly decides to first thank the One who made his return to normal life possible. Amazing.

What About You (and Me)?

As I said, it’s easy to feel jaded when you experience an ungrateful spirit from someone you’ve gone out of your way to help. But remember that Jesus said in Matthew 7:2, “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.” When God looks at you, does He see an ungrateful person? I know He does with me, because I’m really good at forgetting a major way in which God is kind toward me – in literally every second of my day.

In Colossians, we find evidence for what is called the Vertical Cosmological Argument for God. The basic idea behind the Cosmological argument for God speaks to the fact that the universe is not eternal and therefore the following premises follow:

• Everything that had a beginning had a cause.
• The universe had a beginning.
• Therefore, the universe had a cause.

Going back to the universe’s beginning is referred to as the Horizontal Cosmological Argument for God – you go back to the originating cause and find the Creator Himself. But the universe is a dependent being, meaning that something is keeping it going this very minute, and therefore it requires a necessary being to sustain it. This is oftentimes referred to as the principle of contingency.

And in Colossians 1:16-17, we find that our very existence is moment-by-moment dependent upon Jesus Christ, the one who created everything, and continues to sustain it all: “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” Did you catch that? Christ holds all things together, which means He sustains everything. Hebrews 1:3 puts it like this: “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.” Jesus Christ not only caused this world to come into existence, but He is the Source that is causing it to continue as we know it this very second. Everything in the universe depends on something else, with it all being ultimately dependent upon Him.

I don’t know about you, but I rarely thank Jesus for continuing to sustain my life, the lives of those I love, and this planet we live on. But there He is and there He will be throughout the ages, continuing to hold everything together by His power. What an awesome God He is.

It’s my hope that I get less irritated at those who don’t appear to appreciate the kindness I provide them, and that I get more in the habit of stopping each day and thanking Christ for His grace of always providing the air I breathe and, of course, for the perpetual and unchanging promise of being able to experience His kindness for all eternity.

"Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude." Colossians 2:6-7.

The Funny Thing About People

One of the most insightful theological comments I’ve ever heard came from the movie “Men in Black”. The premise of the movie is that there is a secret government organization that controls the influx of aliens into planet earth as well as polices their activities once they are here. In short, it’s pretty much a guy movie, and I have to admit it’s one of the few movies that I genuinely enjoy watching over and over again.

In one part of the movie, Tommy Lee Jones (who plays the main hero) is talking to Will Smith (the second hero) about the need to keep the fact that aliens live on Earth a secret. Will Smith says that sooner or later people will find out and accept it because “people are smart.” Tommy Lee Jones corrects him and says, “A person can be smart; people are dumb, panicky, and dangerous, and you know that.”

As unflattering as that statement is, I have to agree with it in many ways. So many times, a seemingly smart person can become a very dumb individual and make poor choices when they form a group with other people. Let me give you just a couple examples from Scripture that stand out to me.

The Fickle at Lystra

Paul and Barnabas had been working their way through a number of towns preaching about Christ, when they came to the town of Lystra. Acts 14:8 tells us that there was a man who had been lame from birth that was listening to Paul preach. Paul sees that the man has faith and calls out for him to stand up – and he does! For the first time in his life, the man can walk – a genuine miracle takes place. Well, this is something that absolutely affects the folks at Lystra in a major way. In fact, they’re so in awe of Paul and Barnabas that they say, “The gods have become like men and have come down to us.” But it gets better. The people start the process of offering sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas – something the missionary pair promptly put a stop to, with the Bible saying “And even saying these things, they with difficulty restrained the crowds from offering sacrifice to them (Acts 14:18). Obviously, Paul and Barnabas had won the people of Lystra over in a forever type of way, right?

But wait – the very next verse in Acts says this: “But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having won over the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.” Incredible, isn’t it? The same city that couldn’t wait to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas are won over by a crew of wicked men and stand in agreement as their hero is stoned and dragged away. Amazing.

But wait – I can trump this example with one that’s even better.

The Unbelievers at Bethany

The resurrection of Lazarus from the grave is a familiar episode chronicled in John, and one witnessed by many people. It doesn’t get more miraculous that a guy who’s been in the grave for four days being raised from the dead. And it does have an effect – John 11:45 says the event caused a number of those there to believe in Jesus.

But not everyone experiences a change in heart. The religious leaders get word of what happened and have an amazing reaction. Never is a word recorded about them not believing in what occurred – that a genuine miracle from God had indeed taken place. But what is recorded is the following: “So from that day on they planned together to kill Him (John 11:53).

But it gets better. A celebratory dinner is held in Bethany, and many attend the event. The celebrity attendee besides Jesus is, of course, Lazarus. Everyone wants to see and talk to him (wouldn’t you?) But the reaction of the religious leaders is beyond amazing, and is recorded in John 12:10-11: “But the chief priests took counsel that they might put Lazarus to death also; because on account of him many of the Jews were going away, and were believing in Jesus.”

So let me get this straight – the religious crowd not only wants to do away with Jesus, but they’re planning to kill another innocent man because his being alive is causing people to believe in Christ? Stop for a moment and let this sink in. Rather than acknowledging the accrediting miracle of Jesus and putting their faith in Him, they’re all in agreement to kill Him instead and, while they’re at it, kill Lazarus too. Astounding.

But wait – I can trump this example with one that’s even better.

The Forgetful at Jerusalem

Down the mountain rode the Son of Man toward Jerusalem, fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 about the King coming to His people mounted on a gentle donkey. For the first time ever in His ministry, Jesus allowed Himself to be publicly proclaimed the Messiah as He entered Jerusalem. And honor Him they did! Matthew 21 records that the people cheered, laid palm branches in the road, and shouted deliverance scriptures (“Hosanna” literally means “save, we pray” and is taken from Psalm 118) to herald His arrival into the city. How many of these people Jesus personally touched with His ministry, how many He had healed and ministered to, we aren’t told, but they certainly know who He is, what He has done, and are honoring Him in a spectacular way. Luke 19:48 tells us that the chief priests could not do anything to Him because “the people were hanging upon His words.”

But how quickly people forget. Flash forward just a few days and the same citizens of the city now have a different perspective on Jesus during His trial. Pilate, trying every possible way to release Jesus, drives the crowd to make a seemingly easy choice between releasing the Man they had worshipped only days earlier and a murdering insurrectionist. But Pilate’s grand-canyon distinction fails to hit the mark. Why? Matthew 27:20 gives us the reason: “But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitudes to ask for Barabbas, and to put Jesus to death.” Pilate tries to reason with them, but it’s no use. “They all said, ‘Let Him be crucified!”, Matthew 27:22.

But wait – I can trump this example with one that’s even better.

The Liars of the Empty Tomb

They had passed out from fear at the sight of the angels who came to roll the stone away from the tomb where Jesus had been laid. When they came to, the guards knew full well that what they had seen was a miraculous event, and they scrambled back to the chief priests who had employed them to relay the whole story. Two incredible testimonies to the fallen human nature occur then.

First, the Pharisees maintain the same hardness of heart that kept them from believing in Christ when He raised Lazarus from the dead. Think of it – they knew He said He’d come back from the dead in three days and it happens! If anything would cause someone to believe this has to be it. But instead, they deny what their plain senses are telling them, pay off the guards, and concoct a story that’s logically ridiculous about how the disciples came and stole the body out from under the guard’s noses.

But perhaps even more incredibly, the guards go along with it. Can you believe it? They saw what happened. Never mind the illogical fabrication of maintaining the disciples stole the body while they were asleep (how could they know that if they were asleep?); they knew the story was false. In the days that followed, they had to have heard the rumblings about Jesus being seen alive. But Matthew 28:15 says, “And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews, as is to this day.” As a group, they stuck to the crazy story even though each one of them individually knew the truth – a truth that could save their souls if they stopped and thought about it.

Conclusion

Do you know why these events took place? Why a crowd can worship men one minute and let them be stoned the next? Why a gathering of men can fail to acknowledge a verified miracle, and instead plot to kill the Man (along with the object of His miracle) who performed it? Why a city can exalt a Man as their coming King with one breath, and with the same vocal cords cry for His death in a matter of just days? And why a group of men can lie through their teeth and deny that they had personally witnessed the single greatest event in human history?

Because a person can be smart, but people – sad to say – are dumb, panicky, and dangerous. And you know that.

Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man. (John 2:23-25)

Respect Nothing

It is becoming increasingly clear that mankind’s standard to live by is ‘respect nothing’. Another shining example of this mantra is the University of Oregon’s recent blasphemous cartoon depictions that appear in their Insurgent newspaper, which show Christ naked, engaged in sexual relations with a man on the cross, with another displaying him aroused on the cross. It’s beyond indecent to display any of these images untouched, but you get the idea.

The university president, Dave Fronmayer (email: pres@oregon.uoregon.edu) has expressed little remorse over the Insurgent’s defacement of Jesus. Of course, the only statements being made by the University revolve around the freedom of speech. Forgive me if this sounds harsh, but I’m personally exhausted by those who wrap freedom of speech around them as if it’s some honorable cloak that transforms their actions into something that’s moral and acceptable. Needless to say, were the cartoons portraying Martin Luther King in this light, Mr. Fronmayer would no doubt lose his job and the students expelled. Were it Mohammad they defaced, they would likely be seeking new identities and be on the run for their life.

Today’s “Respect Nothing” attitude is so odd considering the whole “tolerance” stance we’re supposed to adhere to, which really is (not surprisingly) nothing more than lip-service. This is the classic ethical match up between “Is” vs. “Ought” and “Do” vs. “Should”. Yes, this is America, and in America you can act like an empty-headed, dark-hearted individual if you want. Congratulations – you’re a fool! Exactly what goal have you achieved?

We’re commanded in the Bible to be angry, yet not sin (Ephesians 4:26), so while we’re to love our enemies and mimic Christ who prayed for those who killed Him, it’s certainly OK to be both furious and saddened over what the University of Oregon has done. Righteous indignation is what drove Christ to cleanse the temple (Matthew 21:12), and His words of those who are blessed because of their starving for righteousness (Matthew 5:6) indicates that God Himself expects His elect to intensely desire what is right.

We should also understand that mockers of the sacred have always been and will always be with us. They were there at the very foot of the cross taunting a dying man to come down from the beams of wood that held him above the earth. They were there in 2002 at Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity using the Bible as toilet paper. They who respect nothing will always exist. Jude speaks of evil men who “revile the things which they do not understand” (Jude 7). But perhaps Jeremiah said it best when he described those who are so debased that they have forgotten how to blush (Jeremiah 6:15).

We’re told that one day Christ will judge all mankind, and that it will be a terrible time for many who have rejected Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Make no mistake, this day of reckoning is something I don't wish on anyone. John MacArthur has well said that if you can't preach judgment with a sorrowful heart, you should not preach it at all. But imagine the following scene: you’re the Insurgent’s artist who was responsible for the blasphemous images we’ve just discussed. You’re before the Lord of the Universe. He reaches back for a piece of paper, unfurls your cartoons of Him before everyone’s eyes, looks intently at you, and asks, “Is that supposed to be Me?”

Da Vinci Code Conclusion – Why the Truth Matters

If I asked you what is the most frightening verse in the Bible, what would you say? For me, it has to be a verse in Matthew that Jesus spoke after He had been in one of His many arguments with the Pharisees. Commenting on them in Matthew 15:14, Jesus says:

“Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

Why does this passage frighten me more than any other verse in Scripture? Consider:

• First, it acknowledges that teachers exist who do not accurately convey God’s truth. Sadly, this is the way it has been and will always be until Christ returns to remove spiritual error from His creation. And more upsetting is the fact that spiritual error is of the "eternally-deadly" kind.
  
• False teachers who are obviously deceived themselves are actively engaged in the process of either intentionally or unintentionally deceiving others with their error-ridden doctrine. It's bad enough they exist, but worse that they're spreading their poison.
• While the deceiver pays the price for their error, so does their convert! Both fall into the pit, which is what scares me the most about the verse. The one who has been deceived reaps the same penalty as the one who led them down the false path.
• It acknowledges the fact that Hell is real. Lest you think the “pit” referred to in this verse is not Hell, reference Matthew 23:15, which hammers home the point in more graphic detail: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”
• These words are absolute truth as they were spoken by God Himself. Jesus, who is God, confirmed that an eternity separated from God is what awaits those who do not recognize and follow the truth of Christ’s message.

Truth vs. The Da Vinci Code

The reason I’ve taken the time to chronicle the lies of Dan Brown’s book in previous blog posts and showcase the truth found in Scripture and church history is that spiritual truth matters more than anything else in this life. You can be right about a lot of things and be wrong about Christ and miss eternity with God, but you can be right about Christ and in error about trivial things and find out in the end that knowing Jesus is what mattered most.

This is why Brown’s book is so dangerous. In reality, it is nothing new. Just old-fashioned heresy and error repackaged in a slick, well-written story that conveys inaccurate historical and theological information and boilerplates it with supposed authority. The whispers of the book are just enough to keep skeptics skeptics and shake the confidence of Christians who haven’t taken the time to educate themselves on the Bible or church history. For the latter, we cannot blame Dan Brown.

Isn’t it interesting that every major cult or heretical sect has the same silver thread running through them – they all deny the divinity of Christ. Coincidence? I don’t think so. The enemy of mankind knows that a fake Jesus leads to a fake salvation, which ultimately leads to a very real Hell. Mission accomplished in the enemy’s playbook.

This is no doubt why, when asked about the end times, Jesus began His dialogue with the words, “See to it that no one misleads you" (Matthew 24:4). It is my hope that you know the truth about the real Christ and aren’t following some fictitious counterfeit invented by a blind guide.

Da Vinci Code Facts - Women not Important?

After proving that Jesus did not wed Mary Magdalene (part 1) and that Jesus was not elevated to Son of God status by Constantine or any human council (part 2), we now move on to the other main errors that Dan Brown makes in his book “The Da Vinci Code”:

• The church expunged other “gospels” so that only ones that furthered their own interests were included in the canon of Scripture.
• Women were trampled under foot by the New Testament writers, with gospels that were excluded from Scripture holding a much higher view of women.

Eighty Gospels?

“More than eighty gospels were considered for the New Testament, and yet only a relatively few were chosen for inclusion” (page 231 in The Da Vinci Code).

First, the number is an exaggerated claim by Brown – eighty did not exist. There indeed were Gnostic texts written long after Christ was killed and raised from the dead, but the four gospels in the Bible trump them for many reasons. Large volumes have been written defending the accuracy of the four gospels, and I don’t have the space to list all the reasons why the biblical gospels are superior to the Gnostic writings, but some of the ones that stick out to me include:

• They were written during the lifetime of the eyewitnesses.
• The writers had nothing to gain and their lives to lose by lying.
• Early historians such as Josephus, Tacitus, and others verify accounts in the gospels.
• Evidence from archaeology corroborates the events recorded in Scripture.
• There is no case in history where myth/legend found its way into accounts where two generations had not passed.
• First century commentaries exist, so the documents had to have already been written, been accepted, and been widely circulated.

A simply analogy can help here. Suppose you were the director of a library dedicated to the memory of JFK. Now what would you do if someone brought in a book that proposed JFK recovered from his head wound/being shot in Dallas and went on to become a two-term president? Would you include the book in your library? Of course not. If you were old enough, you might well remember that day in November 1963 when JFK was killed. And you have other accurate eyewitness accounts that contradict the claim that JFK lived through the ordeal. It is one thing to have a different viewpoint of the life and times of a person, but quite another to distribute complete error. The early church fathers did their job of protecting the truth that God handed down by examining the evidence and disregarding heretical, pagan teachings that clearly were outside the truth of the real gospels.

Women Honored or Dishonored in the New Testament Gospels?

The charge that the New Testament dishonors women, while the Gnostic gospels elevates them to a higher status is ridiculous. In Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you find Jesus treating women with nothing but respect and kindness, with many of them shown to be supporting His ministry and providing him lodging when He needed it.

Also, if the nasty disciples, apostles, and early church fathers meant to degrade women in the gospels, they did a terrible job. First, you have Mary Magdalene reported as the first eyewitness to the resurrection. Imagine that! In those days, a woman was not worthy enough to testify in court, and yet the gospel writers record her and other women as the first to behold the risen Christ. Now you would think if men were writing the story, they would have the hearty disciples at the tomb first and not needing to be told by women to get down there to see that He had been raised from the dead.

Further, look at how the disciples are portrayed. Peter is shown denying Christ three times. The other disciples are chronicled as fleeing and hiding, fearful of the authorities. Yet we’re to believe that men concocted a story that shows the big, brave women at the cross and the tomb, while the men are sitting around with their knees knocking together in hiding? Sorry, but that makes no logical sense.

Finally, indeed some of the Gnostic literature does speak of women in high terms, but this is to be expected as Gnostic writings come from the Greeks who worshipped goddesses, and oftentimes included the reversal of sexual roles, which are found in virtually all ancient religions including the mother-god legends of Babylonian and Persian mythology. Gnosticism’s stance of always seeing the female role as supreme is evident in their portrayal of Eve who they believe to have been a spirit-endowed woman who actually saved Adam from the bungling male deity called God. In addition, salvation for all of mankind is supposed to be brought through female power.

Still, one the most beloved text of the Gnostics, the gospel of Thomas, is not so kind in its view of women as shown in its last two sentences, which read:

114. Simon Peter said to them, "Make Mary leave us, for females don't deserve life." Jesus said, "Look, I will guide her to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every female who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of Heaven."

So the only way a woman can go to Heaven is by becoming male? Hardly measures up the claim of “elevating” women in my opinion.

Conclusion

Again, we see that Dan Brown’s claims just don’t stand up to evidence or logic. In our next and final installment, we’ll wrap up and talk about why it is so important to have the right view of Jesus and belief in the Bible.

Da Vinci Code Facts - Jesus not God?

We learned in Part 1 that Jesus was not married to Mary Magdalene, and that no matter what Dan Brown says, the historical facts and evidence stands against his Da Vinci Code claims. But the Jesus/Mary Magdalene fantasy pales in comparison to the worst and most important lies to expose in Brown’s work, which are:

• Jesus was a mere mortal man.
• The church and Augustine are the ones responsible for creating the God-man story about Jesus.
  
• At the Council of Nicea, the church just barely voted in the concept of Christ’s divinity.
  
• Jesus never claimed that He was divine.
  

Let’s examine each of these claims and see where the evidence leads us.

Made to be the Son of God by Man?

“My dear,” Teabing declared, “until that moment in history, Jesus was viewed by His followers as a mortal prophet . . . a great and powerful man, but a man, nonetheless. A mortal.” (page 233 in Brown’s book, emphasis in original)

Brown claims that there was a point in history where Jesus was elevated to divinity status by those in power within the church, and that this appointment was a controversial one at that, with only a bare majority getting the position pushed through. True history and theology begs to differ with Mr. Brown on these points.

Working backward, the Council of Nicea met to vote on a number of things, but one of them wasn’t on whether Jesus was the Son of God. Back in the early centuries after Christ’s death, some in the church had begun to teach that Jesus was the first creation of God the Father (a position that Jehovah Witnesses hold to) and that he eventually attained the status as the Son of God. The vote was whether or not Jesus had always been co-eternal with the Father, not whether Jesus was the Son of God or not. And history shows that the vote was not a relatively close one as Brown maintains, but that only two dissenters out of around 300 voted “no” as to whether Jesus had always been co-eternal with God. So contrary to what Brown tries to pass off as fact, Augustine is not the one who made Jesus out to be more than He was.

Chronicled Long Before as Mere Mortal?

“Because Constantine upgraded Jesus’ status almost four centuries after Jesus’ death, thousands of documents already existed chronicling His life as a mortal man.” (page 234 in Brown’s book, emphasis in original)

Really? Thousands of documents existed that said Jesus was just a man? A question: where are these documents and manuscripts? Where are they held and what do they actually say? We aren’t told in Brown’s fictional work. We aren’t told because thousands do not exist. What does exist are a couple dozen Gnostic sets of documents that do talk about Jesus humanity, but also portray Him in the same vein as New Age adherents do today – as a divine master teacher who had the spark of divinity we all have within us- one that only needs to be awakened.

The fact is that earliest writings about Christ portray Him as God in the flesh. Further, His very actions made the exact same declaration. Let’s look at a little of the evidence.

The Dating of the Gospels

Even liberal scholars agree that the gospels were written during the lifetime of the eyewitnesses and apostles, with most giving the following timeframes:

• Matthew: 40-60 AD
• Mark: 45-50 AD
• Luke: 57-60 AD
• John: 40-65 AD

Not only are they the earliest writings available, but there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,700 manuscript copies making the New Testament the most historically supported text of the ancient world.

Jesus Said He was God

The early writings of the gospels clearly tell the story of a man who thought He was God. No mere man and God-fearing Jew would have made the parallels between Himself and the God of the Old Testament as Jesus did. Look at how Christ made reference to Himself and God in the Old Testament:

• Jesus said He was the I AM in John 8:58 and John 8:18, but only God Himself uses those terms in Exodus 3:14-15, Isaiah 48:12, and Deuteronomy 32:39.
• Jesus said He was the good shepherd in John 10:11, but God calls Himself the shepherd in Psalm 23:1.
• Jesus said He was the light of the world, but God is called the light of believers in Psalm 27:1.
• Jesus says He possesses all authority and rule in Matthew 28:18, but Isaiah 9:6 says God alone has all government and rule resting on His shoulders.
• Jesus said He was the first and the last in Revelation 1:17-18, but God Himself uses this label in Isaiah 48:12.
• Jesus compares Himself to a bridegroom in Matthew 25:1, but God is called the bridegroom in Isaiah 62:5 and Hosea 2:16.
• Jesus says all judgment has been given to Him in John 5:12, but God says He alone will sit and judge the nations in Joel 3:12.
• During his illegally held trial chronicled in Mark 14, Jesus claimed the Son of Man reference from Daniel 7, which was known by all to be a Son of God/Messianic title.

Jesus Acted like God

Not only did Jesus make verbal statements about His deity, He acted in ways that no God-fearing Jew would otherwise act. For example, Jesus accepted worship some nine times in the New Testament. Never once did He stop those who worshipped him, which is in stark contrast to other episodes in the Bible where both men and angels put quick ends to attempts made to worship them.

Jesus also forgave sins. Christ said “Your sins are forgiven” to both the paralytic in Mark 2 as well as the woman in Luke 7. The Pharisees, for once, made a good observation when they discussed among themselves that only God could forgive sins. Jesus, however, openly made such statements, which further demonstrates He believed He was God.

Christ also said to pray in His name. In John 16:23-24 Jesus says, “In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.”

Christ also spoke with authority as no man ever had. Unlike the prophets who preceded Him, Jesus never once prefaced his teachings or commands with a “Thus saith the Lord”. He always said “I say to you . . .”, because God need not reference anyone but Himself when dispensing truth.

Finally, Jesus said that converts to Christianity be baptized in His name. In Matthew 28:19 Jesus says, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” It is interesting to note that this verse not only affirms the deity of Christ and the Father, but also the Holy Spirit. The word “name” is singular, yet three distinct Persons follow prefaced by “the” indicating one God that consists of three Persons – the Trinity.

Early Writings say Jesus is God

The charge that Constantine was the first to raise Jesus to divine status is proved false by many early church father and even pagan/non-Christian writings. Consider:

• Pliny the Younger, a pagan historian, reported in A.D. 112 from what is present-day Turkey to the Emperor Trajan that during worship, Christians "chant antiphonally a hymn to Christ as to a god."
• Ignatius of Antioch, martyred about A.D. 107, described Jesus with phrases including "Jesus Christ our God," "God in the flesh" and "God himself was manifested in human form."
• Manuscripts that Polycarp wrote, about A.D. 115, talk about "our Lord and God Jesus Christ."
• The second epistle of Clement, which is the earliest surviving Christian sermon from that era, preached that believers should "think of Jesus Christ as of God, as the judge of the living and the dead."
• Justin Martyr, who was executed for his faith about A.D. 165, said Jesus is "God and man" and "deserving to be worshipped as God."
• Melito of Sardis preached about A.D. 170 that Jesus is "by nature God and man" and that "the almighty God has made his dwelling through Christ."
• Athenagoras of Athens wrote in A.D. 178 that Christians "speak of God the Father, and of God the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" and "declare both their power in union and their distinction in order."
• Irenaeus of Lyons wrote around A.D. 180 that everyone believed Jesus "was very man and that he was very God," and that his title Emmanuel signifies "his essence, that he is God." Irenaeus continued, "God, then, was made man, and the Lord himself did save us."

Conclusion

Jesus certainly did not seem to think He was a mere mortal as Dan Brown proclaims and neither did those who lived much earlier than Constantine. C.S. Lewis was right – either Jesus was a lunatic (mentally ill), a bad intentional deceiver, or … He was/is who He proclaimed to be.

What is your verdict?

Da Vinci Code Facts - was Jesus Married?

With the movie “The Da Vinci Code” about to hit theaters, I thought I’d write about a few of the major fallacies that Dan Brown is trying to pass off as fact in his book. One of the biggest lies is that the disciples/apostles and the early church covered up the intimate relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Some of Brown’s (and other conspiracy theory proponents) basic premises are:

• Jesus married Mary (put forth as fact on page 244 of Brown’s book), they had a daughter named Sarah, and Mary along with Christ’s child fled to France after the crucifixion.
• This supposed marriage is supported by the Gnostic gospel of Philip (246 in Brown’s book). The supposed expert character in the book, Teabing, tells his listeners that there are so many ancient references to the marriage between Christ and Mary that they literally can’t be counted (page 247).
• Leonardo Da Vinci was aware of this cover-up by the early church and painted Mary Magdalene into his famous painting of the last supper.

So what are the facts?

No Evidence for Christ’s Supposed Marriage

First, there is absolutely no historic evidence that supports the claim that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married. Further, even liberal scholars deny that such a union ever occurred, and when folks that defend the historic side of Christianity side with others who make up groups like the liberal Jesus seminar, that says something!

Further, anyone wishing to back up their claims using Gnostic literature should understand that the Gnostic (for those wanting more insight into Gnosticism, see my blog post on the gospel of Judas) gospel of Philip does not say anything about Jesus and Mary being husband and wife. Mary is called the “companion” of Jesus in the supposed gospel of Philip, which Brown says means “spouse” or “wife” in Aramaic. Only one problem though: the gospel of Philip was written in Greek not Aramaic, so Brown’s feeble attempt to hitch together Jesus and Mary falls apart rather quickly. The fact is, there are not countless references to the supposed marriage between Jesus and Mary – only two very vague references to Mary being a companion of Jesus in a Gnostic gospel written centuries after Christ’s death, and one that has never been accepted into biblical canon.

In addition, by looking at the New Testament we can easily conclude that Jesus had no wife. While on the cross, Jesus asked John to look after His mother as John’s own (John 19:25-27). Were Jesus married and had children, He would have no doubt sought provision for them as well and yet no such instructions are found anywhere in the gospels.

Paul also provides evidence to the contrary of Jesus being married. In 1 Corinthians 9:5, Paul asks “Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?” Now if Jesus had been married, certainly Paul would have appealed to Christ instead of the disciples with something like, “Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as our Master and Lord Jesus Christ had?

The Last Supper – Can We All Count to Twelve?

Brown talks about the fact that Leonardo Da Vinci knew about the union between Christ and Mary, and therefore included her into the painting of the Last Supper. The figure to Christ’s immediate left is supposed to be Mary. True?

Hardly. John says in his gospel that he was the one sitting near Jesus (John 13:21-25). Being young, John is often portrayed as rather feminine looking in paintings and other artwork, and it is this feminine look that Brown and others latch onto to back their charge that it is Mary sitting next to Christ.

However, it is very easy to exclude Mary from Leonardo’s Last Supper. The painting portrays the moment when Christ announced to his disciples that someone would betray Him. They all begin to discuss among themselves who it is (John 13), with Judas himself asking Christ if it was him. Now, it is very simple to count the number of human beings in the painting – excluding Jesus, there are twelve, which happens to correspond to the number of disciples Jesus had. If Mary had been there and Leonardo wished to expose the cover up, he would have painted thirteen persons with Christ instead of the actual number of disciples, which was twelve.

Conclusion

Contrary to what Dan Brown wants to pass off, there are no facts to back the claim that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene or that Leonardo knew about a mighty church conspiracy to bury the supposed union.

But conspiracy theories and heresy do sell well. Brown reportedly earned 76 million dollars last year alone. However, you might remember as I do something Jesus said about a man who gains the whole world, and yet forfeits his soul.

Judas' Latest Kiss

The girl on the elliptical trainer next to me in the gym was fixated on the TV in front of her just as I was. Good Morning America was doing a preview of the then upcoming National Geographic special that was to be aired on the “discovery” of the supposed lost gospel of Judas. Smart marketing was no doubt responsible for the broadcast being timed to coincide with Easter and the release of the “The Da Vinci Code” movie. “Hmmmm…..”, she said loudly as she ended her workout. As she walked away, I struggled with whether or not to yell after her and tell her the truth of what this latest Gnostic gospel is really all about. My not knowing her coupled with my natural hesitations stopped me. I regret not filling her in on what I know about the supposed gospel of Judas because it represents one more link in a long chain of heretical teachings that have sought to undermine the truth found in God’s Word. When subjected to close scrutiny, this Gnostic work quickly collapses under the overwhelming weight of historical evidence found in the Bible, which stands in sharp contrast to what the gospel of Judas presents.

What is a “Gnostic”?

The first critical thing to note about the gospel of Judas is that it is referred to as “Gnostic”. This is important because when one understands the foundation of Gnosticism, it becomes very easy to see why the gospel of Judas contains the information that it does. The word Gnostic simply means “to know”. What could be wrong with knowledge, you ask? Nothing at all as long as it is true knowledge and not something that is false in nature. Paul warns in 1 Timothy 6:20-21 to avoid being taken in by opposing arguments that appear to contain knowledge, but instead are nothing more than false doctrine that lead people astray. Gnosticism certainly qualifies as false teaching under Paul’s definition as it resembles nothing of what either the Old or New Testaments teach about God and Christ, and it should never be confused with orthodox Christianity.

Gnosticism was a Greek philosophical belief system that prided itself in having unique and superior knowledge about all spiritual matters, and was not an offshoot from Christianity as some have been led to believe. In all genuine Gnostic literature, the physical universe is said to have been birthed from the act of an arrogant and powerful subordinate god named “demiurge” who made a huge mistake by mixing the spiritual and physical realms together in the act of creation. Man was created with a spark of divinity, which, when fully awakened, is supposed to make him completely divine once he sheds his outer “shell”. Gnostics held that all spirit is good, all physical matter is evil, and therefore God could never take on the form of a human being.

Anyone familiar with Scripture will recognize the false teaching about the Gnostic hierarchy of gods and creation story, and see that it in no way dovetails with what the Bible teaches. Moreover, it should be noted that the disciple John battled against Gnostic thoughts when he wrote in one of his letters that any person who does not confess that Jesus came in the flesh was of the antichrist (1 John 4:2-3). Those familiar with cult/occult teachings will see Gnosticism in full swing today through the teachings of the New Age movement that proclaims man is really divine, but just ignorant of his high position. This, of course, is the oldest lie in the Book, with Satan still whispering today to all who will listen that they can become just like God.

This Gnostic background and history is oftentimes omitted by gospel of Judas proponents who try and blend all Gnostic gospels with actual Scripture. But clearly, Gnosticism and New Testament Christianity differ greatly in all major core doctrines, which becomes more evident as one closely examines the text in the gospel of Judas.

Not New, Not True, and Not Good News

The clever spin used by the gospel of Judas marketers makes it sound as if this gospel is a lost and authentic Bible manuscript that was just recently discovered. In reality, the book is not new, but was unearthed over 30 years ago, and is another in a line of Gnostic writings (e.g. the gospel of Thomas) that have tried to undermine true historic Christianity. The only thing authentic about the manuscript is that it has indeed been dated to the third century, between A.D. 220 and 340, which makes it a true historical document. However, given the dating, it is certainly reasonable to conclude that it was not penned by Judas Iscariot.

The gospel of Judas document drips with Gnostic terminology not found anywhere in the Bible, with the terms “aeons”, “luminaries”, and other such phrases being found throughout. The major premise of the book is that Judas Iscariot did not actually turn Christ over to the Jewish and Roman authorities through betrayal, but rather he was asked by Christ to perform the deed. The text contains alleged secret conversations between Jesus and Judas where the plan was hatched, but betrays its Gnostic roots when Jesus supposedly praises Judas and says, “but you will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me.” Again, one must know Gnosticism’s history of believing that the physical world and mankind was a mistake to recognize the significance of this statement.

This and other heretical teachings were the reasons why the gospel of Judas was proclaimed long ago by Irenaeus (an early church father) as false doctrine:

“They declare that Judas the traitor was thoroughly acquainted with these things, and that he alone, knowing the truth as no others did, accomplished the mystery of the betrayal; by him all things, both earthly and heavenly, were thus thrown into confusion. They produce a fictitious history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas." (Irenaeus, Against Heresies)

Opposing the gospel of Judas are the four gospels contained within Scripture, which:

• Were written during the lifetime of those who were eyewitnesses of Christ, unlike the gospel of Judas which was written centuries after.
• Were penned as the actual events of Christ’s life and the acts of the apostles unfolded.
• Agree with Old Testament teachings on the nature of one God, as opposed to the multiple gods presented by Gnosticism.
• Present a savior that fulfills Old Testament prophecies regarding the Christ coming as a sacrifice for the world, as opposed to a Gnostic teacher who only wished to die so he could be released from a polluted physical body and be reunited with an unknown god in the kingdom of light.
• Portray Judas as the self-directed betrayer that Scripture foretold he would be (Psalm 41:9, 55:12-14, Zechariah 11:12, 13).

Even a cursory comparison of the accepted biblical gospels and the gospel of Judas shows which works fit between the covers of the inspired Bible and which are outside the true teaching of God’s Word and historic Christianity.

Conclusion

I wish I had taken the initiative and let the girl at the gym know about the false statements contained within the gospel of Judas along with the truth of the real gospels that have stood the test of time. It is every Christian’s duty to defend the true message of Christ’s message and refute all false doctrine when encountered, whether it is a recently revived ancient Gnostic heresy or some other form of false teaching. Next time, I think I’ll do what Philip did in Acts 8:35 when an opportunity presented itself to inform someone about Christ’s truth – he “opened his mouth”.

First Post - Some Background and History

Hello and welcome to my blog, which I've entitled Caleb's Path. My name is Robin Schumacher and I'll be using this blog to help feed my inborn need to write and create things. Let me give you a little background about myself and what you can expect from this blog.

Even though my name is 'Robin', I'm actually a guy! Yes, shocking outside of England I know. I can't tell you how much mail I get to "Ms." Robin Schumacher or the fun I've had growing up with the name.

From a professional standpoint, I'm in software, and am currently the director of product management for MySQL, which produces the best and most widely used open source database in the world. It's a great place to be and work, and I'm surrounded with folks far more brilliant than myself, which is very good indeed. I've been a database engineer since 1988, and have done a lot of work with most every popular database on the planet. I first made the leap into software by accepting the VP of product management spot at Embarcadero Technologies, where I worked for six years creating database tools software, and helped (a little) in taking the company public. We were the #1 IPO of 2000, which was nice to be a part of. I hope to help MySQL accomplish the same thing.

Personally, I'm married to the most wonderful woman on the planet (Laura) and have two gorgeous daughters that I have a bottlomless pit of love for.

Besides working a lot in my director job and being a full time husband/dad, I'm also a seminary student at Southern Evangelical Seminary. I absolutely love the teaching and education I'm getting at the school and while I have a long way to go before I get my Masters in Apologetics degree (only 4 classes done so far...) , I'm planning now for a transition in retirement from software (which I do enjoy BTW...) to full time God's Servant in ministry.

No, it's not easy doing all the above, but I don't need much sleep... Actually, I wouldn't change a thing right now and enjoy it all.

So you may be wondering about the title of this blog "Caleb's Path" - where does that come from? I have a number of heroes in the Bible (e.g. Daniel), but one in particular that stands out to me is Caleb in the Old Testament. You can read all about him in the books of Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua. But by far, my favorite passage about him is found in Joshua, chapter 14, beginning in verse 6:

"6Then the sons of Judah drew near to Joshua in Gilgal, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know the word which the LORD spoke to Moses the man of God concerning you and me in Kadesh-barnea. 7“I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought word back to him as it was in my heart. 8“Nevertheless my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt with fear; but I followed the LORD my God fully. 9“So Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land on which your foot has trodden will be an inheritance to you and to your children forever, because you have followed the LORD my God fully.’ 10“Now behold, the LORD has let me live, just as He spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that the LORD spoke this word to Moses, when Israel walked in the wilderness; and now behold, I am eighty-five years old today. 11“I am still as strong today as I was in the day Moses sent me; as my strength was then, so my strength is now, for war and for going out and coming in. 12“Now then, give me this hill country about which the LORD spoke on that day, for you heard on that day that Anakim were there, with great fortified cities; perhaps the LORD will be with me, and I will drive them out as the LORD has spoken.”

13So Joshua blessed him and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. 14Therefore, Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite until this day, because he followed the LORD God of Israel fully."

You can't read this passage and not stand in admiration for this man of God. Just a few things to note:

• He was 40 years old went he was sent to spy out the promised land for Moses and was one of only three who believed God could do what He said He would do. All others perished before entering the land, but not Caleb and the other faithful spies. Interestingly enough, it was in my early 40's when I felt the full-time call of God on my life.
• The man is now 85 years old and states he still has the strength he had in his 40's! May God grant me the ability to make the same statement at 85!
• Even though he's 85 years old, Caleb isn't retiring or cutting back. No, he wants a new challenge. And not just an easy one - he wants to take the hill country, make it his, and continue to do the Lord's will. Your mouth dropping open yet?
• He did it! Caleb did what he said he would do, with the last words recorded in this passage being a testimony of his faithfullness to God.
  

Make no mistake, I'm a disciple of Jesus Christ and it's Him that I follow. But I want to walk down that same faithful path as Caleb. I want the largest accomplishments of my life to be ahead and I want them to be 100% in God's hands.

So how about you and I both walk down the path of Caleb and make this day more exciting and challenging than yesterday. You with me?