It's amazing to me how God can turn anything into a witnessing opportunity. During the production of my book, Before God's Wrath: the Bible's Answer to the Timing of the Rapture, the printer inadvertently overlooked my request to add a barcode on the back cover. Rather than cause a stink, however, I suggested that they simply print a roll of barcode labels that I could affix to the back of each book myself.

During the back and forth necessary to produce the labels, the production manager faxed me a copy of the barcode and asked that I take it to a local store to make sure that it worked. I agreed, and drove down to my local Christian bookstore. To my relief, the barcode worked just fine. What didn't work, in my opinion, was the promotional poster of the “Jesus” movie hanging in the bookstore's window.

If you have not seen the “Jesus” movie, this comment may seem odd to you. If you have, perhaps you will understand. This remake of the life and ministry of Christ did not portray Jesus as God in the flesh, fully human and yet fully God, come to pay the ransom for our sins. He seemed more like the reluctant hero of Monty Python's “The Life of Brian,” who was mistaken for the Messiah. Poor Brian was flustered and embarrassed by the attention and couldn't understand why people were following him around. The Jesus of this movie, too, appeared to be a reluctant Messiah. He saw himself more as an example of human goodness and faithfulness to which all mankind should aspire, not the perfect Lamb of God. The heretical portrayal of the person of Christ, along with the accompanying number of other scriptural errors, was so great that it was not long before I could no longer bear to watch.

There has been some discussion about this movie in the Christian community, whether it should be condemned or embraced as a bridge between the secular world and the Church. Some have suggested that, while not biblically accurate, the movie may encourage some to more deeply investigate the claims of Christ. After all, they say, didn't Jesus admonish His followers not to stop those who did miracles in His name, saying, “For he who is not against us is on our side” (Mark 9:40)? This may be so, but not at the expense of the true person and mission of Christ. Jesus made this clear when He said, “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad” (Matt. 12:30). The distinction is subtle, but important.

After Christ's death, resurrection, and ascension, the Apostle Paul, inspired by God, strongly condemned false teaching, especially that which denied the divinity of Christ, and urged the church leaders to purge such teachings from their congregations. He went so far as to say that anyone who preached “another gospel” — that is, not the Jesus, God incarnate, who died on the cross for our sins — should be accursed (Gal. 1:9). Thus, when I saw a Christian bookstore promoting a movie that undermines the person of Jesus as the Son of God, it greatly disturbed me. I had a gentle conversation with the lady behind the counter, who promised to share my concern with the book buyer whose decision it had been to put the movie out for sale.

A Flight of Fancy

When I got home, I called the production manager to tell him the good news that the barcode on the labels worked just fine. He answered the phone, as he always did, saying, “How are you doing?” On a whim, I saw an opportunity to testify for the Lord.

I replied, in a joking tone, “Well, the barcode is great. But I took it to a Christian bookstore, where I got into a discussion about whether a Christian bookstore should be selling the movie `Jesus.' See what happens when you send me out on errands? I get distracted! Thanks a lot!”

Needless to say, the suggestion that a Christian bookstore should perhaps not be selling the movie “Jesus” piqued the production manager's curiosity. After all, the book he was printing for me was clearly a very Christian book. He asked why I would say such a thing.

“It's the funniest thing,” I said. “The Jesus of the Bible is the Son of God, God incarnate, who died to save humanity from its sins, but the Jesus of this movie is just a good guy, someone whom God has given supernatural powers to get people's attention, but he's not divine. In this movie, Jesus — who is really God, right? — is asking his father for advice about whether to go into ministry! Can you imagine?”

“Um, well...”

“It's just incredible,” I continued. “The real Jesus is from everlasting to everlasting. He created the earth and the heavens and the whole universe, even space and time. He knew from before the foundation of the world that, one day, He would come in human flesh to sacrifice Himself on the cross to pay the debt for our sins. And yet, in this movie, He's saying, “Hey, dad, think I should quit my job as a carpenter and follow this voice in my head that's telling me to be an itinerant preacher? I couldn't believe it.”

Excuse to Follow Up

I didn't expect any kind of response, of course. Nor did I get one. My joking tone was meant to convey the point without putting him on the defense. Nor did I put him on the spot by asking what he thought, or what he believed. I just left it at that. If anything, maybe this young man took from the conversation (monologue, really) that you can't believe everything you see about Jesus on TV.

After I hung up, I made up an excuse to follow up with an email. Maybe it was overkill, but I wanted to clarify my statement that the Bible said that Jesus was the Son of God. I was concerned that I had given the wrong impression, that the claims of Christ came simply from other men. I wanted to clarify that these claims weren't the opinion of the men and women of the first century. Jesus Himself said these things.

“It wasn't just a doctor or a tax collector from the first century who claimed that Jesus was God incarnate, but Jesus Himself,” I wrote. “This is a statement from history, recorded by both secular and Christian sources alike. So when a movie portrays Jesus as a good guy, a prophet, not God incarnate on a mission to ransom the world, it isn't going against what some tax collector in the first century wrote. It is going against the teachings of the very man whose life the movie is supposed to be about! How ironic!”

What will come of this interaction? I may never know. But I do know one thing: a seed has been planted. This man has been told that Jesus Himself taught that He was God in the flesh, that He came on a mission to die for the sins of the world, and that His statements are a matter of historical record. Those are important seeds that, one day, I believe God will send someone to water.

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