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asswnes it is discovering a "new" thing,
when in fact it is latching onto the same
fictitious Christ of the Establishment.
All in the Mind's Eye
Look at it this way. Suppose all your
life your dad had been telling you about
a great old long-haired buddy, "old Joe
Stapzinski." Joe was a World War II
veteran, your dad told you. He was
weak with a pinched face. Stapzinski
was a bent-over, sallow-complected
little weasel of a man - real timid. All
your life as a young person you heard
about "good old Joe Stapzinski."
You grew to know the man as if you
saw him daily : Little weasel-like ferret–
face, close-sct eyes, gray, ashen, sallow–
complccted, lung-cancer ridden, one–
legged, hobbling along with a twinklc
in his eye and a quarter for thc kids.
One day your dad announced, "Hey,
you know what? Old Joe is finally
going to come over here for a visit. He's
made it clear across the country, and J
haven't scen him in over 20 years."
You're 17, and all your life you'vc
heard about little old, weasel, pinched–
face, stooped, bent-over, one-legged Joc
with his long hair. And you sure want
to meet this character becausc you'vc
heard dozens of stories about him.
So thc doorbell rings and you go to
answer it, and at the door is a six-foot–
four giant. He's healthy, broad-shoul–
dered, with a booming voice. He's not
particularly handsome, just an average
farmer-looking type. He's thc picture of
health. He reaches out with a strong,
calloused hand and grips your hand and
says with a deep voice, "How ya' doing,
buddy?"
You say, "Oh, excuse me, J was
expecting Joe Stapzinski." You look
bchind this big guy for little old weasel–
faced, pinchcd-over, stooped, bent, one–
legged, long-haired Joe.
He says, "Well I am Joe Stapzinski."
You say, "No, no, you couldn't be.
You see, l've heard dozens of stories
about Joe. I just feellike 1 know him. I
mean, l'd recognize him anywhere. 1
could pick him out of a crowd. I mean,
after all, somebody with a wooden leg,
you know, with that long, wispy, gray
hair and that kind of a half-sick
expression, looking l ike he's near death
The PLAIN TRUTII
with lung cancer - yo11 couldn't be Joe
Stapzinski !" you would argue.
What l'm illustrating is this.
The world thinks Christ had long
hair. He didn't. The Establishment
claims Christ was born December 25th.
He wasn't. Religious lcaders say Cbrist
carne to do away with the Ten Com–
mandments. He carne to makc them eve,.
more binding. The religious encyclo–
pedias write that Christ said people go
to heaven. Christ says the saints will
rule the earth. "Hell-fire" preachers say
their Christ condemned the wicked to
buen forever. He said no such thing.
You can prove all these opposites, if
you care to. l t's all in the Book. Read
the historical biographies of the histori–
cal Jesus - the books Matthew, Mark,
Luke or John. The contents may shock
you.
Job and You
Let's illustrate the point about the
"other Jesus" a little further with a man
whose name was Job, mentioned in the
Bible.
Job thought he knew a lot about
God. He'd heard, and he could argue!
In the book of Job you can read sorne
of the most eloquent arguments about
all the qualities and the attributes of
God's character from the 1ips of Job.
Witb his three friends sitting there,
arguing and telling Job why he was
having such a rugged time of it and
why he'd lost everything, and his family
dead, and he was sitting there in that
pile of ashes with all those horrible
boi ls all over his body and aching with
pain. Did they ever philosophize' They
went on and on and on. They really had
a rap session.
They were talking about all the
attributes of this person of whom they
spoke, and the name they used was
"God ." And the word "God" conjured
up something in their minds . The saroe
thing is true of you, isn't it? You ask a
person, "What do you think of when
you tlúnk of God ?" And they say,
"Well, l think of a father-figure. 1
think of my grandfather, I think of an
ancient creature or a Being, probably in
a long robe with long, absolutely snow–
white hair, almost a Santa-Claus-type of
image."
And so it was when Job and his three
March 1971
friends were talking about God. Every
time they said the word "God," what
got into their minds was their otm atti–
tudes, their own ideas about the quali–
ti es, the personality, the programs, the
character, the requirements for obe–
dience of this God. Th is was thcir
concepl of God.
Finally, after a long series of inci–
dents, Job really broke clown and carne
to see what his problem had bcen.
Job said something whjch is really a
point to make right now to all you
young hipsters who tbiok Jesus had
long hair, or for aJJ of you middle-of–
the-road, church-going, professing Chris–
tian people who have concepts of a
"Christ" in your mind.
Take a look at the lesson Job learned.
Job said, "1 know that thou canst
do every thing, and that no thought can
be withholden from thee." He said,
" \'<fho is he that hideth counsel without
knowledge? Therefore" verse three,
"bave J uttered that 1 rmdersJood uot;
things too wonderful for me, which J
knew not" (Job 42:2, 3) .
Now Job Understood
He said, "1 have heard of thee by the
hearing of the ear, but now mine eye
SEETH thee." He saw for tbe first time
the true picture of that awesome Person–
ality - thc Creator God of whom he
had been speaking. This had never
before even reached his mind. His con–
scious mind had not reall y seen this
God of whom he spoke, even though he
could argue long and eloquently about
"God."
He said, "l have heard of you by the
hearing of the ear- but nou• 1 get it,
now I 1•ea/ly see, now I rmderstmul,
now my eye sees you, now I com–
prehend - Wherefore," he said in
verse six, "1 abhor myself, and repent in
dust and ashes."
Now he got the true perspective. He
saw how g reat and how good was God,
and how wretched and miserable and
utterly blind he had been. And he made
that most difficult of all human stcps -
he admitted he had been utterly wrong;
not partly wrong, lotally wrong. He
said he abhorred himself !
Jt was just as alarming to Job to see
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