This past Sunday March 4th a hoaxumentary was aired on Discovery called “The Lost Tomb of Jesus” designed to rock the foundation of the Christian Church and discredit our Lord and Savior as a charlatan and a mere man. Movie director James Cameron, and Canadian film maker Simcha Jacobovici, are claiming that they have discovered the family tomb of Jesus of Nazareth. In that claim they purport that Mary Magdalene (Jesus’ wife) and their son, as well as Jesus’ mother and brothers were all buried there. It is important for me to address this sinful and wicked plot of Satan to attack the fundamental truth of the gospel. For several years now, during Lenten season especially, there has been an attack on the gospel and the person of Jesus Christ seeking to disprove and discredit the real existence of our Lord. From the movie the Last Temptation of Christ to this recent stunt, we must be on our guard against the attacks of the enemy. The bible says we “Are not ignorant of the schemes of the devil” (2 Cor 2:11.) Satan has always tried to discredit and malign God to keep people from believing in him and obeying him. In the garden that was the very nature of the attack: “Did God really say?”(Gen 3:1)
A few things should be known about the false claim that this new documentary is making. Alan Cooperman from the Washington Post quotes several scholars in his Feb 28th article: ‘Lost Tomb of Jesus’ Claim Called a Stunt.’ In his article, Cooperman demonstrates from leading authorities in antiquity and biblical archaeology, the enormous rejection of the claims. Here is what William G. Dever, who has been excavating ancient sites in Israel for 50 years and is widely considered the dean of biblical archaeology among U.S. scholars has to say: “I’m not a Christian; I’m not a believer; I don’t have a dog in this fight.” “I just think it’s a shame the way this story is being hyped and manipulated.” “I’ve known about these ossuaries for many years, and so have many other archaeologists and none of us thought it was much of a story, because these are rather common Jewish names from that period,” he said. “It’s a publicity stunt, and it will make these guys very rich, and it will upset millions of innocent people because they don’t know enough to separate fact from fiction.”
Similar assessments came yesterday from two Israeli scholars, Amos Kloner, who originally excavated the tomb, and Joe Zias, former curator of archaeology at the Israeli Antiquities Authority. Kloner told the Jerusalem Post that the documentary is “nonsense.” Zias described it in an e-mail to The Washington Post as a “hyped up film which is intellectually and scientifically dishonest.” Dr. Zias has assembled a viewer’s guide for ‘The Lost Tomb of Jesus’ he calls “Deconstructing the Second and Hopefully Last Coming of Simcha and the BAR Crowd.” He published his work on his personal website; at http://www.joezias.com/tomb.html
It must be known that the credibility of Simcha Jacobovici is seriously questionable as well. In 2002, the Discovery Channel aired a documentary by Jacobovici who claimed to have discovered the ossuary of James the brother of Jesus. Well, what happened? Fifteen experts in Israel looked at this and they said it was a monumental fraud. Scholars from both Tel Aviv University and from Harvard concluded that it’s a forgery and are prosecuting the owner with criminal charges. Yet Jacobovici maintains it is real (Dec 2005). In fact he uses the James Ossuary as a key piece of evidence in establishing his theory on the Jesus tomb. He is not an archaeologist nor does he have any creditability within the profession.
The documentary tries to make you believe that the tomb they discovered was just found after 2000 years, when in reality it was already discovered 27 years ago and researched with no supporting evidence to this cockamamie theory. The whole statistical and DNA arguments are a farce as well. The names found in the tomb were the most common names in Palestine at that time, and the statistical claims were convoluted by many variables not included, and DNA evidence is absolutely useless without a control sample to work with.We must remember what scripture says concerning these things: Rom 1:21-22 “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools” and 2 Pet 3:3 “knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.”
The real motivation behind all of this is the “DaVinci Code Heresy” that is becoming more and more popular. The DaVinci Code, a fiction novel written by Dan Brown which was recently made into a motion picture, is basically a false gospel with all the hype of modern day sensationalism.It is a modern form of Gnosticism (a heretical sect of Christians in the early church), which rests on the false gospels that were recently discovered (1945-46) in a tomb-cave of the Nag Hammadi area in Northern Egypt. These false gospels: The Gospel of Thomas, and the Gospel of Judas, are the basis of the Jesus and Mary of Magdalene marriage theory. However these gospels are dated no earlier than the fifth century AD. Even though earlier forms could’ve existed, they were rejected by the church as heresy and debunked. When the martyrs died in Rome, it was not those who believed in the Gospels of Thomas and Judas who died, but rather it was those who believed in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. This Jesus of the ‘DaVinci Code’ is the very Jesus that James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici are trying to say was buried in this tomb and the Jesus they are trying to sell to the world. Remember what the Apostle Paul warns: “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed” (Gal 1:8).
Their motive is not to make a scientific discovery, but to promote a false Jesus and a false gospel. This is purely a matter of spiritual warfare. It is also good money. Surely just like other conspiracy/mystery theories, this will bring a lot of attention. From UFO’s and crop circles, to Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster, people are intrigued by the possibility of a major cover up and mystery. The main priority of ‘The DaVinci Code Heresy’ is to treat the gospel of our Lord as a cover up and conspiracy theory exposed. Those who fall prey to such trickery will be the same who believe in UFO’s and Bigfoot. This is all influenced and being brought about by satanic activity. The Bible tells us that in the last days Satan will even use supernatural activity to deceive the public: “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness”(2 Thess. 2: 9-12). False Gospels will come and go. People have been denying the resurrection and the reality of the risen Christ for ages. Thus their opinions fall into the oblivion of history as a lost memory. But the true gospel remains. Jesus is still preached and the gospel is still saving souls and changing lives. This is the greatest evidence of the risen Christ: Him living in the hearts of believers and manifesting himself to them in a real and powerful way. We must remember that there will always be attacks on our Lord and we must be prepared to defend the faith. Encourage those who may be weak in their faith, because there will be little ones who wills stumble because of this. God Bless.
For further information: Go to Pulpit Magazines Blog:
http://www.sfpulpit.com/2007/02/26/the-lost-tomb-of-jesus/
