One need only surf all 300+ cable channels to experience exactly how wacky the worldview of major media has become. Giorgio Tsuckalos, the host of the History Channel's popular series Ancient Aliens, promotes one asinine theory after another which with only cursory fact checking wouldn't get page 17 in the National Enquirer. However; while I lambasting the man, I must admit that I tune in often to pelt him and his incestuous little club of pseudo scientists with obscenities. This is what I do for fun, it's sad I know.
Then we have the "News", have you ever noticed how much better the news is when you mute the volume and ignore the video? Back in my hometown Chicago, the last 12 minutes of a 30 minute news was reserved for murders. While I am certain that homicide is noteworthy, it shouldn't be such a major portion of an informed citizens diet. What can we do with this information? Resurrection is out of the question, so that leaves us with being alarmed, freaked out, and becoming less trusting of our fellow man?
Jesus lived in times such as these too. There was nothing but bad news for Judea. A Jews life was considered very cheap to their Roman overlords. People were being told that God lived in the Temple and was nearly the private property of the priests. Many wacky messiahs and cult orders were preaching unsound doctrines as Roman and Greek influences collided in the emotionally charged real estate known as Jerusalem. Many say Jesus was just another one of these.
"He was a good teacher," they will say, "but not the Son of God."
Really? He said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Light. None goes to the Father but through me."
So, exactly how good a teacher is He if He lied about such an important matter? I'm a nobody, if told you my mom was Joanne of Arc and that I can turn my poop into gold, ultimately it wouldn't matter. However; if Jesus is a liar then the ethical system upon which Western civilization rests is a lie as well.
Why swear on a Bible in court? It's all BS, right?
Before you reach for the revolver to put yourself out of your misery, let me reassure you that Jesus Christ is exactly whom He said He was. Flip open your Bible to Psalm 22, it's the one right before the most well known Psalm number 23.
It begins, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me." Does that sound familiar? It's what Jesus cried out while hanging on the cross.
Okay, so He was quoting Scripture, no big deal, right?
Now, read on. It describes in detail the scene of the Crucifixion. When you get to the line, "...they have pierced my hands and my feet." Stop.
This was a Psalm written about 500 years before the ritual death sentence of crucifixion was known to the Jewish people. They had always stoned people to death. This Psalm, like many others, is prophecy. It was fulfilled by only one man, and He is Jesus Christ. Prophecy is God's way of telling us that He is trustworthy. That He is God, and there is no other. While we may marvel at the day time talk show psychic that hits one out of thirty predictions right, our media would rather keep you focused on aliens, Edgar Case Nostradamus, and Atlantis the real story goes unmentioned.
Pay no attention to the man who tore the curtain...
From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” (which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”)
When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”
Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”
And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
-Matt 27:46-51
It wasn't just an act of vandalism, the curtain tearing has deep spiritual significance, but that is material for another post.
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