Get the Word out!

It seems that Hollywood has found the missing years of Jesus and will be bringing them to light for the rest of us come 2009.

“The Aquarian Gospel” is scripted to open in 2009 and expected to cost about $20 million dollars to make. It is the brainchild of producers John F. Sullivan and William Sees Keenan. The movie is based on the book by Levi Dowling and Nicholas Notovitch’s “The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ”. The producers say that their effort will shed light on the “lost years” of Jesus’ teachings that supposedly predate the canonized gospels.

The movie will show Jesus as a wandering mystic who travels all throughout the Indian subcontinent as well as to Egypt, Greece, Tibet, and Persia. Drew Heriot, the director of the movie, says, ”The Bible only devotes seven words to the most formative years of Jesus’ life” and that “the movie will show how Jesus encounters other traditions and discovers the bedrock beliefs common to all world religions”.

The book that the movie gets its title from also makes other claims about Jesus:

• Jesus was distinct from Christ, or “The Christ.” By making himself, through effort and prayer, a fit vessel, Jesus enabled The Christ to dwell within him.

• Jesus was conceived by a human father.
• Jesus came to earth to show the way back to God via his lifestyle and teachings. He is the example we must model our own lives after, if we seek salvation.
• Reincarnation exists, and is the explanation for various seeming injustices. Reincarnation allows people to settle debts they have incurred in past lives.
• Humanity has forgotten God and is currently working its way back to fully remembering God.
• Time is separated into ages. These ages last approximately 2,000 years. We are now nearing the start of the Aquarian Age.
• All souls will eventually mature and become perfect, like Jesus, thus ending the cycle of reincarnation.
• No soul is ever abandoned by God.

First, I just have to ask, isn’t there something better we could spend $20 million on?

This movie is just one in a long line of movies that claim to have the truth and don’t have any clue about what they are talking about. The director says that there are only seven words devoted to Jesus’ “formative years”. This is one indication of how little real research was done. In Luke 2, the Bible gives 12 verses of information on what happened in Jesus’ youth. Not only do we find out that He grew in wisdom and stature, but we find that during the Passover of His twelfth birthday, He was left in Jerusalem for a whole day while His parents traveled back to Nazareth. When they found that He wasn’t with them, they went back to get Him. A total of three days were spent looking for Him and they found Him in the temple listening and asking questions.

This is what scripture says about the youth of Jesus. There is nothing more that we know about it. Anything else is just fiction. Unfortunately, instead of taking the Bible as the foundation of their lives and beliefs, most people want to take it as a story and add to it or take away from it to suit their own beliefs and feelings. There is nothing in scripture that says that Jesus traveled to India, Persia, or Tibet when He was young. There is a mention of Him traveling in Egypt when He was extremely young, but nothing else.

There is no logical reason to make a movie based on false gospels. Many who support this movie will probably say that it’s just a story or that it isn’t meant to be historical. But I have to ask in response, “Why do it then?”

You are dealing with the most influential person of all time. How do I know? Well, His book is the number one best seller of all time and has been translated into more languages than any other book. His name is the most divisive name in history. Those who bear His name love it and those who don’t bear His name act in opposition to it and try to have it removed from every place that it is found. His followers are the most persecuted, most hated people in the world. They are being killed faster and more often than any other religious people and all because they believe in Him. His name is the only one used as a cuss word by others. No one says, “Oh, Mohammed!” It has been almost 2000 years since He came, taught, lived, and died, and people are still talking about Him more than anyone else. It is only when talking about Him, what He taught, and who He is that you can see people break down and cry or get mad and threaten to hurt you.

Instead of “unraveling the mystery” of Jesus’ unknown years, why not focus on the ones that we do know about? You know, the ones where He said things like:

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the father but by Me.” (John 14:6)

 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17) 

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.” (Matt. 7:21-23) 

“Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? “Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. “But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.” (Luke 6:46-49) 

If the director and producers would spend more time in the Bible than chasing their own God, they would know that the claims made by “The Aquarian Gospel” (AG) are false. For instance: 

AG: Jesus was distinct from Christ, or “The Christ.” By making himself, through effort and prayer, a fit vessel, Jesus enabled The Christ to dwell within him.

 The Bible: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among men.” (John 1:1,14) 

AG: Jesus was conceived by a human father.

 The Bible: The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.  (Luke 1:35) 

AG: Jesus came to earth to show the way back to God via his lifestyle and teachings. He is the example we must model our own lives after, if we seek salvation.

 The Bible: For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Eph. 2:8-9) 

For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. (Rom. 3:28)

AG: Reincarnation exists, and is the explanation for various seeming injustices.

 The Bible: And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment (Heb. 9:27) 

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—(Rom. 5:12)

AG: Reincarnation allows people to settle debts they have incurred in past lives.

 The Bible: And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. (Heb. 9:22) but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)

AG: Humanity has forgotten God and is currently working its way back to fully remembering God.

 The Bible: as it is written, “there is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one. Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving, the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their paths, and the path of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Rom. 3:10-18)  

AG: Time is separated into ages. These ages last approximately 2,000 years. We are now nearing the start of the Aquarian Age.

The Bible: The bible speaks only of two ages, this age and the age that is to come (Matt. 12:32, Eph. 1:21). The event that separates the ages is the return of Jesus Christ and the judgment of the world in righteousness. There is nothing in scripture that supports the idea of there being ages that are about 2000 years long.

AG: All souls will eventually mature and become perfect, like Jesus, thus ending the cycle of reincarnation.

 The Bible: “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matt. 10:28) 

“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS. (Matt. 16:26-7)

All souls will not “eventually mature and become perfect like Jesus”. Those who deny Jesus as the Lord and Savior of their lives and refuse the gift of salvation found in Him will find themselves in hell. The Bible says that there is none that seek after righteousness. Since that’s true, there is no way that any one of us, on our own, could “mature and become perfect”. Think about your own life for a minute. How many times have you been given the opportunity to do right and not done it? If left to your own devices, you will end up in hell because of your sins. Period. And you won’t have another chance to make it right…

AG: No soul is ever abandoned by God.

 The Bible: This seems to be a misquote of Acts 2:27, which is a direct quote from Psalm 16:10. This is a Messianic Psalm that is talking about Jesus. While in one sense this is true, it’s not true in the way it’s being used.  

God knew, before He even created the world, that all that is going on right now would happen. Before He even spoke light into existence, Jesus had already promised to be sacrificed for the sins of the world. By doing this, God made a way for us to be saved from His wrath and from the eternal torment of hell. And every day that you’re alive, He is trying to get your attention and direct you to His Son Jesus and the free gift of salvation that was given on the rugged cross of Calvary. In that sense, God has not abandoned any soul, because it’s His will that all “should not perish but come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

However, God has also given each one of us the free will to choose Him or to reject Him. It is not God who chooses whether we go to hell or not, it is us. God has done everything that He possibly can to keep us out of hell. If we find ourselves in hell on the Day of Judgment, it will be because of our stubbornness, pride, self-righteousness, and arrogance. We will have rejected Jesus Christ and our sins will drag us down into eternal flames.  

Now, you may be thinking that this is a little much. Actually, that’s not even the half of it, but sadly, it’s a message that the modern church has gotten away from. So, how do you know that you’ve sinned? Well, God has a standard. His standard is the Ten Commandments. This is how all of us will be judged. If you’ve broken any one of them, you have sinned. Let’s look at a few… 

Have you ever lied? You’re a liar. That’s a sin. (Commandment #9) 

Have you ever stolen something (no matter how small, how long ago it was, or how little it cost)? You’re a thief. That’s a sin. (Commandment #8)

Have you ever taken God’s Name in vain and used it like a cuss word? That’s blasphemy. That’s a sin. (Commandment #3) 

Have you ever hated anyone? The Bible compares that to murder (1 John 3:15). That’s a sin. (Commandment #6) 

Have you ever looked at someone with lust? Jesus said that that’s the same as adultery (Matt. 5:28). That’s a sin. (Commandment #7)

We’ve looked at just five of the Ten Commandments and I would say without a doubt that all us are guilty. Because we are guilty, we deserve hell and judgment. It doesn’t matter if you’re sorry, that won’t take away the punishment that’s been rightly earned for the sins you’ve already committed. The only way to be free from sin and the judgment is to repent of your sins (stop doing what you know is wrong and turn away from those things) and trust in Jesus. Trusting in Jesus is not just saying that you believe in Him and living how you want. It’s putting your whole life into His hands and obeying what He says to do. It’s like a parachute. You don’t trust a parachute just because you acknowledge what it is or what it can do. You trust a parachute when you put it on and jump out of a plane at 30,000 feet. Unless Jesus comes back first, we’ll all make the jump called death. Where will you land?