P.O. Box 53055    
Los Angeles, CA 90053   

WHO WAS THAT MASKED MAN?

Have you ever looked across the fence at some strange group — maybe a closet racist organization, maybe a religious cult, maybe just a mysterious club where they have the secret handshake and the Order of the Five-Leaf Clover — and you say to yourself: "What in the world? I cannot COMPREHEND how and why they are into what they're into"? When you're not in it, the beliefs and convictions of others are sometimes the most incomprehensible things in the world.

Back in March of 2002, the Los Angeles Times had a front-page article about a man named Claude Vorilhon, who was the spiritual leader of an admittedly cultic group boasting 50,000 members. After 29 years of preaching, that's how many people he had persuaded that "scientists from another planet created all life on earth." He met said scientists back in 1973, you see, in France while out on a hike in the woods; a UFO landed and aliens explained all of this to him.

But it gets a little stranger than this. Over the years Mr. Vorilhon has persuaded the most beautiful women in his organization to volunteer themselves as the "Order of the Angels." And these women have stepped forward to be egg donors for what he claims will be the first cloned human child. As the story by Aaron Zitner appeared in the Times, the United States Congress was actually worried that Vorilhon, or the "Prophet Rael," as the white jump-suited leader calls himself, and his pretty angels might become a human embryo cloning case for the courts. Dr. Lee Silver, professor of molecular biology and public affairs at Princeton University, told reporters:

"For anyone to be successful, it will take a lot of eggs, a lot of wombs, and a lot of guts now. The Raelians seem to have a hold on all three."

Vorilhon has actually testified before Congress, plainly telling them that:

"People one day would clone themselves and then download their personalities into the clones, achieving a kind of eternal life."

They have a laboratory in West Virginia, a headquarters building called UFOland in Quebec, and members in 84 countries who are convinced that this mysterious man has the utopian answers to mankind's search for immortality.

Well, we take the dreams of our jumpsuited friend with a grain of salt, I guess. But the reality is that many, many people look into the churches and cathedrals of the Christian faith, and scan across their radio dials and hear a preacher like me going on and on . . . and they think the same thing. What in the world is that? Who was this Jesus Christ, beyond being a wild-eyed, long-haired, white-clad — speaking of jumpsuits — kook in the year 31 A.D.? Even Paul admits the Man is a mystery! And of course, every would-be messiah through the ages has claimed that all preceding generations "just have not understood until I came along!" That's essentially what you have right here in verse five. The NIV Bible, going back to Romans 16, where the Greek word must rion is used as well, makes this point:

"The so-called mystery religions of Paul's day used the Greek word (must rion) in the sense of something that was to be revealed only to the initiated. Paul himself, however, used it to refer to something formerly hidden or obscure but now revealed by God for ALL to know and understand."

Even Paul confesses that the Christian faith is a mystery to the secular onlooker. The concept of grace is a mystery. The miracle of forgiveness. Our belief in the Resurrection of Jesus — preaching that our Messiah is alive and well and with God in heaven right now, today . . . that's a mystery. The idea that a person could be, not just a lowly, despised criminal, but a criminal executed ON A CROSS, the ultimate instrument of shame, and now be the head of a world religion — unbelievable! That's a mystery beyond comprehending! That idea was absolutely "a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles," by Paul's own admission, over in First Corinthians 1.

So friend, for 2000 years now, this has been the task of the apostle and the disciple and the preacher and the man-in-the-pew Christian: to help persuade the world that Jesus Christ is not just another UFO delusionary crackpot, but what He always claimed to be: God's own Son. That's the task.

Well, there's much evidence that could be provided, and the New Testament is essentially a courtroom transcript presenting of that evidence. But right here in Ephesians 3, Paul goes on to tell us what He feels the main line of proof is. Is Jesus Christ for real? Is He more than a stargazer, the original Baghwan Rajneesh from Bethlehem? Here's verse six:

"This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs TOGETHER with Israel, members TOGETHER of one body, and sharers TOGETHER in the promise of Christ Jesus."

In other words, friend, if you want to examine the "Messiah" credentials of Jesus, here is perhaps the biggest Exhibit A mountain of evidence: it is a worldwide, global movement, men and women, young people and old, of all races, of all backgrounds, of all ethnicities, of all cultures . . . coming together as one thing: the body of Christ. "Heirs together, members together, and sharers together." In the wonderful Message paraphrase, Ephesians 3:6 reads this way. Listen:

"The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of Him all their lives (what I've been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board."

I suppose — going back to that French UFO-watcher, Claude Vorilhon — that the most effective disciple for the "Order of the Angels" would be a man or woman whose own life was personally affected. A Michel Beluet, currently serving as director of UFOland, has been in the thing since 1976. "You can say we're crazy," he admits, "and on an acid trip, but some people vibrate to it, and they join." Like I said, 55,000 of them so far.

And here in the New Testament Paul himself is proof positive that Jesus Christ is a Messiah who brings healing out of pain and unity out of conflict and division. The Tyndale commentary for Ephesians picks up that point immediately:

"[Paul] himself had been a proud Pharisee," author Francis Foulkes writes, "and shared the general Jewish disparagement of the Gentiles. His conversion meant a complete transformation in his thinking. He was turned to see Jesus, whom he had persecuted, as the Christ, the Son of God, and the only Savior. His whole attitude to the Gentiles was also revolutionized in this same crisis of his experience. By revelation he came to see that Jews and Gentiles can now stand together in the people of God."

Remember, this man had been going around KILLING Christians! His whole mission in life was to persecute them, toss them in prison, exterminate them if he could . . . almost to the point of helping poke the hungry lions with a stick before throwing the Christians into the Colosseum. Now he not only IS a Christian, but he's preaching that Jews and Gentiles alike can be as one — brothers and sisters in the faith — when they come together at Calvary.

Friend, here in this confused 21st century after Calvary, I admit that I'm a devotee, a Bible-thumping, born-again, evangelical Christian believer. I've been in the water and I've been baptized. I pray to this living Christ — at least I believe He's alive. I routinely take the bread and the wine and I think of His body and blood. And I actually have some things in common with that UFO-loving man from Quebec. I believe my Savior is coming in the clouds one day. I believe He has the power to grant eternal life. I believe that a divine force from outside our solar system designed life here on Planet Earth in six days. I believe in a Man who is often pictured wearing white clothes.

But the main way I and my fellow Christians can persuade you that we're on the right track, and following the right Savior, isn't by sheer numbers or our websites or by looking through telescopes. It's by showing unity to a watching world. When I love my neighbors and am willing to consider Baptists and Pentecostals and Catholics as my brothers and sisters in Christ — I make the Christian religion believable. When I hold grudges against co-workers, when I harbor hatred or an attitude of pride against someone in my church, when I begin to think that only my denomination is the "chosen people," then I make Christianity UNbelievable, and I realize to my shame that — just as readers of the L.A. Times tossed aside the March 5, 2002 issue with a snort — I've maybe caused people to do that over the Christian faith too.

My own denomination's Adventist commentary says it like this:

"To bring together in one body those who for centuries have been separated by fears and animosities is the avowed purpose of God through Jesus Christ. All historical differences of race, nation, and social status are to be obliterated, not by political unification, but by the overwhelming power of love and a common allegiance to the person of Christ."

That's what we're into. I hope you're interested.