It Is Written

The Mouth of Truth

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: IIW

Program Code: IIW018170A


01:30 ♪[Theme music]♪
01:40 ♪[Theme music]♪
01:50 >>John Bradshaw: This is It Is Written.
01:52 I'm John Bradshaw.
01:53 Thanks for joining me.
01:55 On January the 13th, 2012, at 9:45 p.m.,
02:00 just two-and-a-half hours into a cruise
02:03 that would see her stop at ports in Italy, France, and Spain,
02:07 the Costa Concordia, with 4,000 people on board,
02:11 collided with rocks, just off an Italian island.
02:15 An enormous hole was torn in her hull.
02:19 It was a disaster.
02:21 Thirty-two people would die.
02:24 The ship's captain was later jailed for 16 years on charges
02:28 of multiple culpable homicide and shipwreck.
02:33 But of course, that means 3,970 people survived.
02:38 They were all rescued.
02:40 And they had stories to tell of their rescue.
02:43 But one of the survivors was a man who probably wishes
02:47 his story wasn't told.
02:50 Father Massimo Donghi was a parish priest
02:54 in a small town near Milan in the north of Italy.
02:58 He told his parishioners that he was going to attend
03:00 a spiritual retreat, a time of prayer and meditation.
03:05 But Father Donghi didn't go on a spiritual retreat.
03:08 Instead, he took a cruise on the Costa Concordia,
03:13 and he was one of the many people who was rescued
03:16 from the sinking ship.
03:18 When asked about it later, Father Donghi said,
03:21 “The judgment of others is not important to me.”
03:26 But one might think that the judgment of God
03:29 would be important to Father Donghi.
03:32 After all, it was God who said,
03:34 “Thou shalt not bear false witness.”
03:37 Or in other words, “Don't lie!”
03:41 There've been some very famous lies told over the years.
03:46 “I didn't take performance-enhancing drugs.”
03:49 Lance Armstrong, Marion Jones, who knows who else.
03:53 “I am not a crook.”
03:55 “I did not have...” Well, you know.
03:58 Pete Rose insisted for twenty or more years
04:00 that he never bet on baseball,
04:02 and then later admitted that he had.
04:04 An actor claimed to have been on the 55th floor
04:08 of the World Trade Center when a plane flew into it,
04:11 but he wasn't.
04:12 News reporters have made up news stories.
04:14 People lie about their age or their ethnicity.
04:18 Here in Rome, there's an interesting sculpture,
04:22 a 2,800-pound marble mask with a prominent mouth.
04:28 It's called "La Bocca della Verita."
04:31 "The Mouth of Truth."
04:33 It's located at St. Mary's Church next to the Tiber River
04:37 and just up the street from the Circus Maximus.
04:40 The legend is that if you put your hand
04:43 into La Bocca della Verita, and you've told a lie,
04:47 your hand will be cut off.
04:53 So, how important is truth?
04:56 Well, to God, it's extremely important,
04:59 important enough to be mentioned, or emphasized,
05:03 in the Ten Commandments.
05:04 The eighth commandment consists of only nine words,
05:08 but those nine words outlaw lying.
05:11 It's inconsistent with the character of God,
05:15 and it causes all kinds of issues.
05:17 Both Revelation chapter 21 and 22 say
05:21 liars will not go to heaven.
05:25 Now, you would think that one place truth would be
05:27 especially valued would be the church.
05:31 But that's not always the case.
05:33 Now, being as we're here in Rome,
05:34 we're going to take a look at certain claims
05:36 that have been made right out in the open,
05:39 where people have said, "These things are true,"
05:42 even though it would appear those claims don't hold water.
05:47 Now, to begin with, we're going to take a look
05:49 at one of the most incredible miracles that never happened.
05:53 Let's go there now.
05:56 Rome isn't an especially large city,
05:59 which is one of the things that makes it a great place to visit.
06:03 If you wanted to,
06:03 you could walk just about anywhere,
06:05 from pretty well anywhere.
06:07 It's compact.
06:09 The Forum, the heart of ancient Rome,
06:12 which once teemed with temples and monuments,
06:16 it's a stone's throw from the Mamertine Prison,
06:18 where the Apostle Paul was kept
06:20 when he was a prisoner in Rome.
06:22 It's basically across the street from Trajan's Column,
06:25 which is almost 2,000 years old,
06:28 and tells the story of the exploits of the emperor Trajan.
06:31 And it's close to the Circus Maximus,
06:34 where 150,000 people would come to watch
06:37 chariot races in ancient times,
06:39 and it's a short walk to the Colosseum.
06:42 A kilometer past the Colosseum, two-thirds of a mile,
06:45 is an interesting building.
06:47 Inside this little building is what's known
06:50 as the “Scala Sancta,” the “Holy Staircase.”
06:55 It's believed that this staircase
06:58 is the actual staircase on which Jesus walked
07:02 when He appeared before Pontius Pilate.
07:04 It's made of marble,
07:06 although the steps have been covered with wood,
07:08 one would think to protect them from constant use.
07:12 Pilgrims come here from all over the world
07:14 to ascend the steps on their knees.
07:17 You'll see them praying as they go.
07:19 The steps are so special, that in 1817,
07:23 Pope Pius VII declared
07:27 that anyone who ascended the staircase
07:30 would receive an indulgence of nine years for every step.
07:35 There are 28 steps.
07:38 Do the math, and what you figure out is that
07:40 a pope declared that anyone who prays their way up these stairs
07:45 will get 252 years off their punishment in purgatory.
07:51 When he was a priest,
07:53 Martin Luther climbed these stairs on his knees,
07:56 praying the Lord's Prayer on every step
07:58 because he'd been told that, by doing so,
08:01 he would redeem a soul from purgatory.
08:04 He got to the top, filled with doubt, and said,
08:08 “Who knows whether this is true?”
08:11 So, let's walk through this together.
08:14 The staircase here is said to be the very staircase
08:16 on which Jesus walked
08:18 when He appeared before Pontius Pilate.
08:22 If you were to make your way up the stairs,
08:23 you would notice there are gaps in the wooden covering,
08:26 allowing you to see through and see drops of Jesus' blood.
08:32 The story goes that St. Helena,
08:35 the mother of the emperor Constantine,
08:37 visited Jerusalem about 300 years after the death of Jesus
08:41 and located the staircase and had it brought to Rome,
08:44 and now, here it is.
08:47 Now, that assertion has been challenged over the years,
08:50 to the extent that the sign inside the building
08:53 is not really definitive as to the origins of the staircase.
08:58 So the church is gently backing away from its claim
09:03 that this is the actual staircase
09:06 on which Jesus actually walked
09:09 when He actually appeared before Pontius Pilate.
09:13 And well it might, because it's what you might call...
09:18 an actual misrepresentation of the facts.
09:22 So, why make a claim like that,
09:24 that Jesus walked on this very staircase?
09:26 Well, it really does make the church look quite privileged
09:30 to have such inside information,
09:33 to have access to such wonderful treasures.
09:36 But think about the story that's being told here,
09:40 that somehow St. Helena managed to find the actual staircase
09:44 Jesus walked on when He appeared before Pilate,
09:47 even though the Bible says nothing at all about Jesus
09:51 standing on any staircase when He appeared before Pilate,
09:55 even though St. Helena purportedly found the stairs
09:59 250 years after the event,
10:03 even though Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD.
10:08 So, you can get 250 years off your time in purgatory
10:13 for praying on each of the 28 steps
10:15 that make up Pilate's staircase.
10:18 It sure managed to give the church
10:20 an enormous amount of prestige,
10:22 back in a time when people would simply believe the church,
10:26 no matter what the church said,
10:28 no matter how unlikely what the church said was true,
10:33 even if the church said,
10:35 “We have the very staircase Jesus Himself walked on.”
10:41 But it said more.
10:43 Upstairs in a chapel,
10:45 there's a painting that is said to have been started by St. Luke
10:49 and finished by an angel.
10:51 It also said that when St. Helena went to Jerusalem,
10:54 she managed to find the crosses
10:56 on which the two thieves died next to Jesus.
10:59 She also found the inscription that said,
11:02 “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.”
11:04 And the nails they used to nail Jesus to the cross.
11:07 And the robe Jesus wore just before His crucifixion.
11:12 Quite the archaeologist.
11:13 And perhaps the grandest of them all:
11:17 St. Helena is said to have found something truly amazing.
11:22 And we'll see it in just a moment.
11:25 ♪[Music]♪
11:34 >>John: Deceptions in the modern church.
11:36 More common than you think.
11:38 And you don't want to be led away from faith in the Bible.
11:41 "Deceptions in the Modern Church,"
11:43 a revealing book exposing common teachings
11:45 undermining Christianity.
11:47 Get your free copy
11:48 of "Deceptions in the Modern Church."
11:50 Call 800-253-3000.
11:53 800-253-3000.
11:55 You can write to the address on your screen,
11:57 or visit iiwoffer.com
11:59 Get "Deceptions in the Modern Church."
12:02 800-253-3000.
12:05 >>John: Thanks for joining me today on It Is Written.
12:07 In Rome, Italy, it seems as though everywhere you turn,
12:11 there are museums and historical artifacts and ruins.
12:15 And for many years, one of the stops on the itinerary
12:19 of many of the faithful who come here to Rome
12:21 has been the Scala Sancta,
12:23 said to be the staircase on which Jesus walked
12:27 when He appeared before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate.
12:31 Of course, there's absolutely no proof
12:33 that Jesus was ever anywhere near these stairs,
12:36 or that the drops of blood on the stairs are Jesus' blood,
12:39 or for that matter, anybody else's blood.
12:42 And along with a lack of evidence,
12:45 claims that Jesus was ever on these stairs
12:48 actually defy sound reasoning.
12:51 But the word is St. Helena,
12:54 the mother of Constantine the emperor,
12:56 brought the stairs back from Jerusalem.
12:59 Now, these days you'll read things that say something like,
13:02 “It is believed that...”
13:03 or "Tradition states that...”
13:05 or "However they got here," thus and so...
13:09 Which is just another way of saying that,
13:11 hundreds of years ago, we told people
13:14 whatever we wanted to tell them.
13:15 And they just believed it because that's how things were
13:18 hundreds of years ago, but today...
13:20 not quite so easy to get a story like that past people.
13:26 Now, if you thought it was incredible that St. Helena
13:29 brought to Rome the very staircase on which Jesus stood,
13:33 well, in the words of the great philosopher,
13:37 “You ain't seen nothing yet.”
13:39 Because we're about to see something
13:40 that makes Pilate's staircase look pedestrian.
13:45 She's said to have found the nails
13:47 that held Jesus to the cross,
13:49 the inscription that was attached to the cross,
13:52 the crosses on which the thieves were crucified.
13:56 And the claim is made that St. Helena found
13:59 the cross on which Jesus died.
14:02 The actual cross.
14:05 Now, how you do that 300 or so years
14:08 after the crucifixion of Jesus,
14:10 260 years after the destruction of Jerusalem,
14:14 nobody knows.
14:15 But the story goes like this:
14:17 In order to discover which cross was the actual cross of Jesus,
14:23 parts of three crosses were brought to the presence
14:27 of a very sick woman.
14:29 When the first cross, or part thereof, was brought to her,
14:32 she remained sick and was not helped.
14:35 In fact, one account says that when they brought that cross
14:38 to her, she screamed fearfully,
14:41 the inference being that was part of the cross
14:43 on which one of the thieves was crucified.
14:46 Same thing happened with the piece of the second cross.
14:50 But when they brought the wood of the third cross to her,
14:54 she was miraculously healed,
14:57 got up from her sick-bed right away,
15:00 full of life and happiness.
15:03 This is the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem,
15:07 half a mile from the Scala Sancta, the Holy Staircase.
15:11 Like many churches in this city, it's really quite beautiful.
15:15 And in here are housed a number of so-called relics,
15:19 such as the inscription Pilate had placed on Jesus' cross,
15:25 one of the nails that was used in the crucifixion of Jesus,
15:30 two of the thorns from the crown of thorns
15:33 placed on the head of Jesus.
15:35 And the big one:
15:38 a fragment of the cross on which Jesus was crucified.
15:43 Now, I realize that this can mean a lot to people.
15:46 Seeing these items can be a, a life-altering,
15:50 a faith-restoring experience.
15:53 But don't you have to ask, faith in what?
15:57 Now, the reason we believe the Bible
15:59 is that there's so much in the Bible that checks out;
16:01 it adds up; it makes sense.
16:03 So that when we read
16:05 that people walked around the city of Jericho,
16:08 and then shouted,
16:10 and those great big walls came tumbling down, we believe that.
16:13 When we read that Jesus opened the eyes of the blind,
16:16 we say, “Why, sure,"
16:18 because there's so much else in the Word of God
16:20 that's obviously trustworthy and clearly verifiable.
16:25 So therefore we say, "We can believe the miracles.
16:28 We can believe those things that seem a little extraordinary."
16:33 But this?
16:36 I met a lady while I was visiting this church,
16:39 San Pietro in Vincoli, St. Peter in Chains.
16:43 We bumped into each other, we chatted about this and that,
16:45 and then she said,
16:47 “If I met someone who was ever doubting their faith,
16:52 I would tell them to come here. That would fix them.”
16:56 Well, sure.
16:57 Impressive churches, incredibly grand, magnificent structures.
17:04 Should you visit them, look up.
17:07 The paintings on the ceilings are almost always breathtaking.
17:12 They certainly are in St. Peter in Chains.
17:15 But what impressed the lady I spoke to
17:17 was that inside this church are the actual chains
17:21 that bound Peter when he was in Rome.
17:25 And then if you'll allow yourself to believe,
17:27 even for a moment, that these really are the chains
17:29 that bound St. Peter, then you'll be convinced.
17:33 If you'll allow yourself to believe that the church
17:35 actually managed to get the very staircase,
17:37 on which Jesus walked, into their possession,
17:40 again, no mention of a staircase in the Bible,
17:43 then, sure, you'll be a believer.
17:46 And that's the point of these relics.
17:49 A church that wants people to believe it is the true church
17:53 makes all kinds of claims about so-called historical artifacts.
17:58 And if you want to believe that that's the true church,
18:01 then, what option do you have,
18:03 when it comes to these relics, but to trust?
18:06 But what is it that's supposed to grow our faith?
18:10 The Word of God.
18:12 Miracles? Sure.
18:14 Answered prayer? Absolutely.
18:16 But the authority is the Bible, the book that speaks of Jesus,
18:21 that tells you that there is a God of love
18:23 and gives you reason after reason to believe.
18:26 A church doesn't need miracles or relics
18:29 to convince people that it's a valid church.
18:33 Now, think about how all of this worked together.
18:37 If you can convince the people
18:39 that these things are legitimate,
18:41 then you can better convince them to open up their wallets.
18:45 Keep in mind, the church of Rome was the ruling church
18:48 in the world for hundreds and hundreds of years.
18:52 It monetized salvation.
18:55 There was a time that indulgences were sold.
18:59 It's one of the reasons the Reformation began.
19:02 It was a horribly abusive practice.
19:05 Now, keep in mind, purgatory doesn't exist.
19:09 But if you'll believe that there's a place that,
19:11 if you're not good enough to go to heaven,
19:12 not bad enough to go to hell,
19:15 that you'll go to be purged of your sins,
19:17 and that the church decides,
19:19 or can tell you who went there and who did not...
19:22 that's an abomination.
19:24 Even today,
19:25 pray your way up Pilate's staircase, a fraud,
19:30 and you'll get a reduction in the time
19:32 that you spend in purgatory. Another fraud.
19:36 So, for a variety of reasons, the church here in Rome
19:39 is portraying things one way when there's a very,
19:44 very high probability that things are actually another way.
19:49 Now, what could be more impressive than somebody
19:52 coming back from heaven with a message for the faithful?
19:56 It's made believers out of a lot of people.
19:59 In just a moment, we'll go to a place
20:02 where it is said messages have been brought from heaven.
20:05 ♪[Music]♪
20:15 >>Announcer: It has followed God's people
20:17 since the dawn of time.
20:19 Under the pharaohs of Egypt,
20:21 ♪[Music]♪
20:24 the decree against the Jews in the time of Esther,
20:29 Herod's decree against baby boys in the time of Jesus.
20:33 And Jesus said many of His followers would be persecuted.
20:38 The Roman emperor Diocletian took persecution
20:41 to a whole new level.
20:44 Houses of worship were destroyed.
20:47 And Christians who refused to sacrifice to the gods
20:50 were put to death.
20:53 History has a habit of repeating.
20:56 And the Bible makes clear that when it comes to persecution,
20:59 history is going to repeat.
21:01 ♪[Music]♪
21:05 Don't miss "History Repeats" on
21:07 itiswritten.tv
21:10 ♪[Music]♪
21:15 >>John: Thank you for remembering
21:16 that It Is Written exists
21:18 because of the kindness of people just like you.
21:20 To support this international life-changing ministry,
21:24 please call us now at 800-253-3000.
21:28 You can send your tax-deductible gift
21:30 to the address on your screen,
21:31 or you can visit us online at itiswritten.com.
21:35 Thank you for your prayers and for your financial support.
21:38 Our number again is 800-253-3000.
21:42 Or you can visit us online at itiswritten.com.
21:46 >>John: Thanks for joining me today on It Is Written.
21:49 The Mouth of Truth is a marble sculpture in Rome
21:52 that has become famous over the years
21:55 because of the legend that says if a person has told a lie,
21:58 and puts their hand into the Mouth of Truth,
22:02 their hand would be cut off.
22:05 The sculpture became famous after it featured
22:07 in an Audrey Hepburn movie in the 1950s,
22:10 and since then it's been on the tourist circuit.
22:12 Just a legend, a story.
22:15 But it underlines an important, even a biblical idea.
22:19 Truth matters.
22:21 Truth is important.
22:23 Important enough to God that He dedicated
22:26 one of the Ten Commandments to the subject.
22:29 And so you'd want to believe that the prominent voices
22:31 of faith are telling the truth.
22:34 Except that's not what always happens.
22:37 Healing crusades where nobody at all is healed.
22:40 Kid says he took a trip to heaven, writes a book about it.
22:43 Then it turns out that none of what he says happened
22:47 actually happened.
22:48 It seems to me that part of the problem is
22:51 that Christian believers can be a little bit gullible.
22:56 That is, we are conditioned already
22:59 to believe the supernatural.
23:01 We already believed that a man walked on water.
23:04 We already believe that water came out of a rock.
23:07 So when somebody tells you something that might just push
23:10 the boundaries a little bit,
23:11 you're predisposed to believing it,
23:14 especially if you want it to be true,
23:17 especially if you're told to believe.
23:21 In the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
23:24 just 10 miles from the border with Croatia,
23:27 is the small town of Medjugorje.
23:31 In 1981, six children in this town claimed
23:35 that Mary the mother of Jesus appeared to them.
23:38 They were mainly 15 and 16 years of age.
23:40 One was a little younger.
23:42 Four girls, two boys.
23:44 They said that one of them received
23:47 nine special “secrets” from Mary
23:50 that she would be asked to reveal to the world
23:53 at the appropriate time.
23:56 The Catholic Church has not confirmed whether or not
23:58 the apparitions are of supernatural origin.
24:02 Yet thousands of people come here every day.
24:06 One of those children, obviously much older now,
24:09 says that Mary still appears to her on a daily basis.
24:14 And so here we have the problem.
24:17 Mary is dead.
24:20 Now there are some people who don't believe that;
24:22 they believe instead that she was taken bodily to heaven
24:25 without seeing death.
24:27 But where does that idea come from?
24:29 It comes from tradition and not the Word of God.
24:32 You see, when you let tradition usurp
24:34 the authority of the Bible,
24:37 there's no end to what you can teach
24:39 and what you can believe.
24:41 Well, tradition says it,
24:42 and the Bible doesn't say it didn't happen, and so...
24:47 And so you've got confusion.
24:50 That's the inevitable result of allowing the Bible
24:53 to be second to tradition.
24:57 The Bible makes clear
24:58 that the dead do not come back and visit the living.
25:02 This is Job, chapter 7, verses 9 and 10.
25:06 “As the cloud disappears and vanishes away,
25:08 so he who goes down to the grave does not come up.
25:12 He shall never return to his house,
25:15 nor shall his place know him anymore.”
25:18 A person who dies doesn't come back to the earth
25:21 this side of the Resurrection.
25:23 Of course, one day there'll be a resurrection,
25:25 when as Paul said,
25:26 “The dead in Christ shall rise.
25:29 Then we which are alive and remain
25:31 shall be caught up together with them in the clouds,
25:34 to meet the Lord in the air:
25:36 and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
25:39 That's 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and 17.
25:41 Now, believe what the Bible says about this,
25:45 and you no longer have prayer to saints or Marian apparitions.
25:50 It's a game-changer.
25:51 But that's what the Bible is.
25:52 The Bible is a game-changer.
25:55 And it's reliable, and it's trustworthy.
25:59 And it's interesting that that staircase is said
26:03 to have been Pilate's staircase.
26:05 When Jesus appeared before Pilate,
26:08 they had this exchange.
26:10 This is John 18:37 and 38.
26:14 “Pilate therefore said to Him, 'Are You a king, then?'
26:18 Jesus answered, 'You say rightly that I am a king.
26:23 For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come
26:26 into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth.
26:30 Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.'
26:35 Pilate said to Him, 'What is truth?'"
26:40 It seems he didn't wait for an answer.
26:43 "And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews,
26:46 and said to them, 'I find no fault in Him at all.'"
26:52 Truth matters; it's important.
26:54 It's inseparable from Jesus,
26:57 who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
27:01 Now, traditions are great,
27:02 if they're in harmony with the Bible.
27:04 The supernatural is wonderful,
27:06 as long as it's biblical in its orientation.
27:10 But if it isn't, well, it's likely an error.
27:14 Maybe a mistruth.
27:16 Maybe even...a lie.
27:19 The famous story is told of George Washington when,
27:22 as a boy, confessed to his father that he had cut down
27:26 the cherry tree with his little hatchet.
27:28 And he said to his dad, “I cannot tell a lie.”
27:33 The really interesting thing about that story
27:35 is that it's likely not even true.
27:38 But I'll tell you what is true.
27:40 The Word of God? That's true.
27:42 That's believable.
27:43 God? He is real. And you can trust Him.
27:48 And you can trust the Bible, every time.
27:52 >>John: Deceptions in the modern church.
27:54 More common than you think.
27:55 And you don't want to be led away from faith in the Bible.
27:59 “Deceptions in the Modern Church,”
28:00 a revealing book exposing common teachings
28:03 undermining Christianity.
28:05 Get your free copy
28:06 of “Deceptions in the Modern Church.”
28:08 Call 800-253-3000.
28:11 800-253-3000.
28:13 You can write to the address on your screen,
28:15 or visit iiwoffer.com
28:17 Get “Deceptions in the Modern Church.”
28:19 800-253-3000.
28:23 >>John: Let's pray together now.
28:25 Our Father in heaven, we thank You today for Jesus,
28:28 the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
28:31 We thank You for Your Word, which is true.
28:33 We thank You for every promise in Your Word
28:36 that is valid and reliable and trustworthy.
28:41 We thank You for the great truth that Jesus died for us,
28:43 that we can claim now the gift of salvation.
28:46 And friend, if you don't have that,
28:48 would you claim it now through Jesus?
28:50 Would you say in your heart?: “Lord, I want that gift.
28:53 I claim the gift of salvation now in Jesus Christ.”
28:59 We thank You for the great truth that Jesus is soon coming back.
29:04 And we thank You for the truth of heaven
29:06 and of an earth made new.
29:08 We look forward to that day when we are with You for eternity.
29:12 And we pray with grateful thanks in Jesus' name.
29:16 Amen.
29:18 Thank you so much for joining me today.
29:20 I'm looking forward to seeing you next time.
29:22 Until then, remember:
29:24 "It is written,
29:26 'Man shall not live by bread alone,
29:28 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"
29:33 ♪[Theme music]♪
29:43 ♪[Theme music]♪


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Revised 2018-08-30