A falsehood can run around the world before truth can even get its shoes on. Some people perpetuate prevarication just for the joy of saying something sensational. Others strategically plan to deceive. Untruth need not even be new as long as it is scandalous and misleads gullible people who will mindlessly repeat the error.
Rumors, half-truths, and calculated lies are often used by those who wish to attack the church. Such tactics, however, are not new. Satan, the father of lies, has used deception from the very beginning of his challenge to God's kingdom. Notice the sequence of events immediately following Jesus' resurrection as recorded in Matthew 28:11-15 (NLT).
Some of the men who had been guarding the tomb went to the leading priests and told them what had happened.
These guards knew the facts. They were clearly aware of what had happened and of the factual truth of Jesus' resurrection. There was no mistaking their first testimony—they accurately told the priests what had happened.
A meeting of all the religious leaders was called, and they decided to bribe the soldiers.
The reported facts, however, did not fit the story which the priests wanted to disseminate. Realizing that their prestige, reputation, and economic prosperity were at stake, they proposed a cover up and purposed to bribe the soldiers. So they concocted a tale they wanted the soldiers to repeat.
They told the soldiers, "You must say, 'Jesus' disciples came during the night while we were sleeping, and they stole his body.'"
How preposterous. The soldiers were being asked to declare themselves military incompetents. Falling asleep on guard duty has always been a very serious offense and these men were being asked to incriminate themselves by admitting to such misconduct. The very expressions on their faces must have spoken the soldiers' unwillingness to cooperate.
"If the governor hears about it, we'll stand up for you and everything will be all right."
But assurances were given. The bribe was increased. The priests had already shown their power over the weak governor, Pilate. Now they led the military to believe that any trouble could be smoothed over with the politicians and that they would protect those who did their bidding.
So the guards accepted the bribe and said what they were told to say. Their story spread widely among the Jews, and they still tell it today.
This perfidy's most tragic result is that years later when writing this Gospel account, Matthew could report that the story was still being repeated as if it were fact despite many eyewitness accounts of Jesus' resurrection.
Old lies resurfacing
In recent months some old lies have resurfaced. One of the most ludicrous is that Adventist leaders conspired to commission a special medallion which was presented to the pope in an attempt to unify Protestant Adventists and Roman Catholics into one organization. Despite the fact that such a meeting never occurred, variations of this story have been repeated for over twenty years.
Like many falsehoods, this story has a grain of factual information. In this case, a medallion—actually a commemorative coin—does exist. In fact, I keep one in the drawer where I store my socks. Back in the early 1970s a coin minting company marketed a series of extra-large coins which featured various denominations—Baptist, Catholic, Presbyterian, Adventist, Lutheran, Methodist, etc.
These commemorative coins, produced for collectors and sold as a commercial venture, were designed from information solicited from various denominations. The "Adventist coin" depicts the fourth commandment high lighted on the tables of the Decalogue and, on the reverse, it features the return of Jesus (i.e., Seventh-day Adventists).
Naturally the mint hoped to attract customers to buy the entire series, and a parishioner purchased one and presented it to me as a gift. On some subsequent occasion, the attendees at an interfaith meeting each received one of these commemorative coins as a souvenir of the occasion and as an accurate depiction of major Adventist teachings. Whether one of these coins ended up in the possession of the pope is irrelevant since it was not commissioned for him as has been purported. But if he did receive one, I hope he has studied it carefully, for great truth is presented in the clarity of its artwork.
The question more germane to the issue is why we are so fascinated by rumors and eager to believe the worst about any situation.
Perhaps we need to spend less time with gossip and more time with God's Word. Jesus said, "You shall know the truth and it will set you free!"
