"Dr Peter Jones stands in the honorable tradition that runs from the great early Christian theologian-apologist Irenaeus of Lyons. Here is a New Testament scholar who understands what lies behind books like The Da Vinci Code, and who can clearly distinguish fact from fiction, truth from invention. Stolen Identity convincingly exposes false claims about early Christianity and clearly explains the significance of the Jesus of the four Gospels. It will be a sobering eye opener for anyone likely to be taken in by sensational page-turners, and, at the same time, an invaluable help to many Christians. We owe Peter Jones a considerable debt for having the courage to speak in a way that is deeply prophetic to the times in which we live." X X X John MacArthur, pastor of Grace Community Church, Sun City, CA, and Bible Teacher of the radio
program, Grace to You. He writes: X X X
X X X
X X X
X X X Review of Peter Jones, Stolen Identity: The Conspiracy to Reinvent Jesus, Colorado: Victor, 2006. Peter Jones has written a simple book on a rather complicated subject. He begins by saying that the true Jesus is either Dan Brown's Vitruvian Man or the one in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. That might have been better phrased, but Dr Jones means that Jesus is either the historical Jesus of the biblical Gospels or the esoteric being of the Nag Hammadi library. Ultimately, the apparent dualism of the Gnostic writings dissolves into a kind of pantheistic monism. That sounds terminal - and it is - but this is a work that takes the reader step by step through the process of understanding what the Gnostic authors, Carl Jung, the Jesus Seminar, Shirley MacLaine, and Dan Brown have in common. In the Gnostic Gospel of Philip one is 'no longer a Christian: one is Christ'. In the Gospel of Mary, Peter asks Jesus: 'What is the sin of the world?' And Jesus replies: 'There is no sin.' In a strange and at first sight contradictory way, the physical world is repudiated, yet absorbed in some way. Hence the sexual act is seen as evil and yet deeply infused with powerful spirituality - which is the distorted and degraded message of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. The resurrection has already happened (cf. 2 Tim.2:18) because it is spiritual, not physical. One becomes one's own saviour, and, for that matter, one's own lover. V. Gene Robinson, the homosexual Episcopalian bishop of New Hampshire could thus tell a prayer breakfast for Planned Parenthood in 2005: 'What an unimaginative God it would be if God only put one meaning in any one verse of Scripture.' The trouble is that the God who is everything is, in the end, nothing; and the God who communicates everything communicates, in the end, nothing. Dr Jones deals with topics such the God of Jesus, the message of Jesus, the humanity of Jesus,
spirituality, sexuality, morality, and the death and resurrection of Jesus, and finishes with powerful chapters
on 'Your Choice' and 'My Choice'. We can be grateful that this book was written; it is a clear light shining in
murky days.
|