Continued from Part II:
You might be wondering by now to what, or where, all this is leading. Well, in order to move forward, we first need to take a look back at what Jesus said about faith: "...If you have faith as a mustard seed...nothing shall be impossible to you" (Matthew 17:20). So, let's see what faith can do in exponentially multiplying the significance of a 17 second, three- or four-blink scene of a young Greg Laurie turning in his school transfer application to Harbor High's principal. If you watched the earlier clip in Part I, then you know there's not much to work with. It's even possible you may have blinked at the wrong time and completely missed what was hiding in plain sight. Without keeping you in suspense any further, let's now take a look at what's in the scene that can be seen on film and discover why the rest of what's hidden from the camera and from the audience is so important.
Without counting the individual film frames dedicated to showing Greg's school transfer application, we certainly know the number is limited. The director purposefully shortened the scene by restricting the camera to focus mainly on the top half of the form, with not an extra frame to spare. Our attention, though, needs to focus on what's partially hidden on the bottom half of the form: a signature that doesn't seem important enough to have been included in the scene. But the script itself remarkably says otherwise!
Here is the script once again, but this time I have a red arrow pointing to the underlined "forged signature." While you can't miss it this time around, the director chose to scratch it from the movie, leaving the moviegoer clueless to the fraudulent implications of its existence. The audience was unaware that Greg, as part of the original script, had forged his mother's signature on his transfer application to gain admittance to Harbor High. While its absence from the movie didn't leave a noticeable void, its importance is central to the plot of God's real-life script, revealing His divine intention and prophetic purpose behind the scene.
It's paramount to first acknowledge that forging another person's genuine signature without their authority and with an intent to deceive can potentially be classified as a felony criminal act. I've included two examples to drive the point home of how serious it can be, even though the first account is a humorous tale of a bungling burglar as he attempts to forge a check.
The following newspaper account is from the June 28, 1957, Philadelphia Bulletin, and the Harry J. Haas identified in the article is my paternal grandfather. I've included a picture that shows him seated at his office desk with pen in hand, reviewing a document. The accompanying photo of his home was the scene of the crime. What's important to consider and especially remember from these stories is the material difference between an authentic signature and one that's not.
In this next example, John Tesh is recognized for his accomplished and extensive lifelong resume, including award-winning pianist and music composer, radio host, television sportscaster, news anchor, and co-host of Entertainment Tonight. But to top it all off is something he readily admits to being the stupidest thing he has ever done—forging his professor's name.
When John was a twenty-year-old senior at NC State University, he wanted to change his major to pursue his passion for communications. That required drop-add forms signed by his professors. His statistics professor refused, and when John forged his name, he was caught! Expelled for breaking the school's honor code, his father kicked him out of the house for dishonoring the family. In this Instagram video, he explains what happened.
In the first account with the young burglar, the newspaper clipping is unfortunately the extent of the story, so we're left wondering what happened to Joseph Hardcastle. Most likely the eighteen-year-old aspiring check forger learned a hard lesson by serving time on multiple criminal charges. We can only speculate as to the outcome. John Tesh, on the other hand, in a short 36 months, went from being homeless to anchoring the newscast as a correspondent for CBS in New York City. Amazing! In his autobiography, Relentless - Unleashing a Life of Purpose, Grit, and Faith, he credits turning to God in prayer for turning his life around. With these two forgery stories, in addition to my on-screen character in the Jesus Revolution movie receiving a document with a forged signature, the stage is set for what comes next.
I've arranged these next two pictures in what is called a storyboard. The dictionary defines it as "a sequence of drawings, typically with some directions and dialogue, representing the shots planned for a movie or television production." In this case, the symbols themselves are the script, and what they represent is the dialogue. The overall plot of the story, as I've already said, is the gospel. However, that alone raises a serious theological question. Why would God author a script of the gospel, such as this, when He's already fully revealed it in His Word, the Bible? He wouldn't, unless... He intended to introduce a plot twist.
A plot twist is "a literary technique that introduces a radical change in the direction or expected outcome of the plot in a work of fiction. When it happens near the end of a story, it is known as a twist or surprise ending." But there are times, such as this, when truth itself is stranger than fiction. And the real-life plot twist I'm about to reveal launches the Gospel and the Jesus Revolution beyond the horizon.
While taking another look at the symbols, I want you to experience seeing them through God's eyes—not individually, but collectively. Though I've yet to fully explain all of them, you've seen enough to finally see the big picture. What first began with the miraculous fulfillment of a modern-day wedding prophecy, as described in the two Mission Impossible posts, subsequently led to the unfolding of the gospel as each piece of the prophetic puzzle was put together. So what do the symbols reveal as the twist? What's the surprise ending? Well, remarkably, when the wedding was followed by the gospel invitation to accept Christ as Lord and Savior, the symbols reveal themselves to be a wedding invitation!
It's much like an invitation that you'd receive in the mail that would require an RSVP response. For those who have already responded to the gospel invitation, it's part of what the Bible calls our Blessed Hope! It's looking forward with hope of a future victory over sin and death as we are resurrected to a new life at the "...glorious appearance of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13), the bridegroom, when He returns for His bride, the Church.
The Gospel as a wedding invitation, as revealed by the symbols, is The Parable of the Wedding Feast (Matthew 22:1-14) brought to life. When Jesus began his parable, he said, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king, who gave a wedding feast for his son." In preparation for the festivities, the king issued royal invitations, and based on the initial poor response, he eventually invited all that could be found. While there is much more of the story to be revealed in a later post, our main focus here is the invitation at hand and to the biblical requirement to "...test the spirits to see whether they are from God..." (1 John 4:1) and to "...test all things. Hold fast to what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
How then can it be proven that an end-times wedding invitation of this magnitude is legitimate and authentic? How can we ever believe it to be true—that we're really that close to the wedding date of the King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus? We certainly don't want to accept a wedding invitation and act upon it if it's anything like the movie's fraudulently signed school transfer application. The same goes for my grandfather's stolen personal checks with his signature forged by a burglar, or a professor's signature signed by a student. No matter what the circumstances, a forgery is unacceptable! What is absolutely essential, then, is for this invitation to have God's authentic signature, much like England's King Charles III signing his coronation oath as seen in these next two pictures.
Though we don't expect for God Himself to take up a pen and sign with ink, we can look for His unmistakable signature to match what He's previously signed. Grant R. Jeffrey, in his book The Signature of God, states that in His Scriptures, the "unmistakable 'signature of God' would consist of evidence, prophetic knowledge, and phenomena found in the text that no unaided human could possibly have written. In other words, the genuine Scriptures would contain supernatural evidence within its text that no one, apart from divine intelligence, could possibly create."
Having finally arrived at the signature line that awaits God's complete and authentic signature, I want you to take another look at my September 11, 2020 post, The Return. If you do, you'll actually see and recognize the first part of His signature take form. Make sure to focus on the significance of what today's date, September 23, 2023, represents on the Jewish calendar. Today is Shabbat Shuvah or Shabbat T'shuvah ("Sabbath [of] Return" שבת שובה or "Sabbath [of] Repentance" שבת תשובה). It was on the Sabbath day of return and repentance that God specifically arranged by prophetic divine appointment that my wedding take place. It's the first part of His wedding invitation!
"For the vision awaits an appointed time; it testifies of the end and does not lie. Though it lingers, wait for it, since it will surely come and will not delay" (Habakkuk 2:3).
When the Jesus Revolution spiritual revival occurred in the 1960s and early '70s, there was an end-times theme permeating the culture, a prophetic thread woven into the times. Though this was not portrayed in the movie, believing the end was near was certainly believable. The Cold War and the threat of nuclear annihilation had the whole world fearing a doomsday extermination. Wars and rumors of wars, along with an increase in natural disasters, made it real and palpable. Prophecy scholars pointed to the prophetic super-sign, the miraculous rebirth of Israel as a nation, as leading to the end, and many believed the rapture of the Church was imminent. Jesus would be returning soon! Both young and old turned to the Scriptures and to God for answers.
They also turned to books on prophecy, with some authors joining the Bible at the top of bestseller lists. Even Pastor Chuck Smith joined the writers' club, as you can see in the bold title of his book, End Times. When you read the front and back cover of his book, you'll see what I mean about the times being apocalyptic. I've also included Hal Lindsey's book, The Late Great Planet Earth, the #1 bestseller of the decade.
We're now more than fifty years past the original Jesus Revolution revival. Though in this day and age, we still share much with the past. Russia has recently made threats of going nuclear over the war in Ukraine. In addition, the early 1970s "Earth Day," with its concern for environmental pollution and the threat to human health, has now become a 24/7, 365-day-a-year "global warming" phenomenon of hysterical doom and gloom, where "climate cultists" fear the survival of our planet teeters on the edge of extinction. And if we don't do something about it—fast, our days are numbered, or so they say.
In Genesis 8:21-22, we can replace this fear with faith by holding fast to a promise the Lord made to Himself after destroying the entire world by flood: "I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."
While the fear of believing the end is near has its peaks and valleys, it hasn't changed much. However, what has changed in the interim is how we have blatantly turned away from God, turned away from believing the Bible is the Word of God, and turned away from the truth! What we desperately need is another Jesus Revolution—a turning back to God in faith and repentance! Let's pray that we do!
I'll leave you with Pastor Chuck Smith's closing line from the Jesus Revolution movie and a final thought as we look forward to the future: "Let's see what God has in mind." Does what God have in mind include a heavenly wedding invitation authentically signed with an irrefutable miracle that only He can do? I believe it does, but time will tell! Then we'll truly know for sure the end is near!
I've also included this video with the real-life Greg Laurie from Jesus Revolution answering the question, "What Is The Gospel?"
"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel (Mark 1:15). - Jesus
The next post titled Right Around The Corner begins at:
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