I was sitting in church during a Wednesday evening service when the pastor got up behind the pulpit and read an e-mail that he had received from a concerned member of our church. The letter was regarding a series of books that was gaining popularity at the time. You may have heard of the series – Harry Potter. Some of you may have even heard about or read the e-mail in question.
The e-mail was originated by a pastor named Roger Lynn who has been identified variously as a pastor of either an Assemblies of God church or a
I was absolutely amazed. Even in a society as permissive as ours is, I could not believe that these books could have progressed to the third in a series, making these claims and not resulted in a public outcry. I also could not believe that someone who had become so high profile and was trying to appeal to children and parents alike would even dare to make the statements that this e-mail claimed.
I was so unbelieving that I did some research.
I asked the pastor to forward the e-mail to me. I entered the first sentence into google and conducted a search. One of the first hits was an urban legend web site.
I had heard of Harry Potter before this, but didn’t really know about the uproar. After the e-mail came out, I became aware of the uproar. The sad thing is that many respected Christians used the e-mail as a reference for condemning the books. The problem is that the books make none of the claims that the e-mail says it does. All of the quotes in the e-mail are fabricated. In fact the article that the e-mail quotes is from a web site called Onion.com. This web site is for humor and entertainment only. The articles are all satire, spoofs… jokes. So either Roger Lynn is a fictional character created by a non-Christian to show just how dumb some Christians are perceived to be, or Roger Lynn is the name of a real Christian who demonstrates just how dumb some Christians are.
Study to Show Thyself Approved.
Now I am a Christian and I don’t know everything, but as is usually the case, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, he tells Timothy to “study to show thyself approved unto God” (2 Timothy 2:15). Now the application here is to God’s word, but I truly feel that part of studying God’s word is studying claims about God’s word for or against. The problem is that most people don’t do this.
I have noticed as I sit in church, that most people don’t take notes. They might pass notes or balance their check book if they write at all, but very few people take actual notes. In the book of the Acts of the Apostles, Paul commends the Church at Berea and goes so far as to call them noble, because they didn’t just sit and listen, they went home and searched the scriptures to see if what Paul was telling them was true (Acts 17:11).
You can’t study what you have heard at church if you don’t take notes.
Cunningly Devised Fables
In the Apostle Peter’s second general letter we read that “we have not followed cunningly devised fables” in believing in Christ and Christianity. Why then are there so many people out there who use fables, urban legends and just plain misinformation to either prove a certain brand of Christianity or aspect of Christianity such as the existence of God or the veracity of the Bible?
The answer is laziness. We live in a fast food, sit-com society where people believe that all problems can be solved in half an hour to and hour depending on which prime-time show is your favorite. People want fast answers. When a person gets the answer from a source that they consider reputable, they will perpetuate that answer even if the answer is wrong. When we give these answers to people who know the right answer, we lose credibility.
The challenge, then, is to be a Berean.
Popular Christian Urban Legends
Here are some of the more popular legends:
- NASA computers have proven Joshua’s long day.
- Some of the first space missions failed because the earth rotated back 10 degrees during Hezekiah’s reign.
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When researching the Harry Potter e-mail I found several sites that were dedicated to Christian Urban Legends. What follows are just two of the sites I found.
http://christiananswers.net/menu-ag1.html#hoaxes this list only contains four examples and their explanations, but www.christiananswers.net should be in every Christian’s favorite list.
http://www.new-life.net/myths.htm This is a pretty extensive list and fairly well explains them all with links to other web sites that go into more detail.
The fact that Christians seem so open to the idea has allowed cultists and scam artists to prey on Christians.
How many people do you know that still believe that Alberto Rivera of Jack Chick comic book fame was a real Jesuit priest? Alberto Rivera has been exposed by many real former priests, not only for these fraudulent claims, but for his extensive RAP sheet and history of conning people as well. Another fraudulent Jack Chick author is Bill Schnoebelen who claims that he was a witch, a Catholic Priest, a Mormon elder, and a member of the Masons at various times in his life.
Sadly these men are still published by Jack Chick and he has actually written books defending them.
Then there are men like Benny Hinn and Kenneth Copeland who prey not only on the gullibility of many people, but also on their greed by telling them that God wants them to be rich. They put on a good show and they pretend to heal people. But very little of what they do is scriptural.
Don’t Hang Your Brain At The Door
I have a great deal of respect for men in the ministry, but that doesn’t mean that everything they say is correct. God does not divinely inspire preaching. He guides preaching and even the worst message can still be a blessing.
The bottom line is – When we go to church, we should listen to what the pastor says, but we should listen critically and research any claims that are made. When the pastor, preacher or teacher makes a mistake, we should humbly approach that person and inform them of their error. Make sure you have all your ducks in a row. Most pastors are open to constructive criticism. Those that are not, should not be in the ministry in the first place and it may be time to consider a move for you or your pastor.
