“Food for thought: Fact or fabrication?”

 “Food for thought: Fact or fabrication?”

If you haven’t heard or seen the news, anchor Brian Williams of NBC evening news has been suspended without pay for six months. He was caught fabricating a story that involved himself, his team and the military in Iraq. He told the fabricated story more than once. I saw video of his appearance on David Letterman. In that video, he fabricated the story of taking rounds of fire while on a helicopter. It did not happen that way. He got found out the other night and now there is doubt about other stories that he covered. I heard one commentator claim that either Brian was delusional or he trumped up his stories to make them interesting. This commentator mentioned that entertainers often do that, but Brian had a responsibility as a journalist to keep the facts straight. Maybe his professionalism and his “stardom” became blurred and it affected his ability to tell the truth. The point I want to make has to do with the message of the Gospel. The witness of the Apostles and those who were with Jesus was that He healed, drove out evil spirits, performed miracles and rose from the dead! We have the “story” handed down to us in the New Testament. Is the story true or is their fabrication? Were the disciples delusional or were they simply trying to make Jesus out to be someone different than what He really was? Or maybe, the story is historically reliable as it stands and it is up to us to be open minded to the reality of Christ’s person and work? If I need a little encouragement from the text of Scripture, I find an astounding amount of transparency in how the disciples portray themselves. They make it very clear that they did not get it until after the resurrection. They portray themselves as fearful, doubting, and ignorant of what Jesus was really up to. Their change came after the resurrection. It was a divine revelation that inspired them to preach Jesus. Consequently, they endured hardship and some of them were killed for their “story”. No one caved! No one came clean and said it was fabricated! Why? Because it was true! Jesus had risen! The healings, exorcisms and miracles were all signs of the Kingdom of God in their midst. When I observe preachers in the media that profit from the word of God, I do see why some would doubt. The reality is that in this world that we live in, more “preachers” and followers of Christ are suffering for the “story” than those making a profit. It is their testimony and the testimony of the New Testament that grabs my heart and says, “Jesus is risen!”.

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