Bruce Marchiano
“All the facts seemed to fit; except one: Jesus didn’t return.”
Actor rejects the testimony of Jesus, his “holy apostles,” Scripture and the historical record; implies the apostles’ predictions were “empty speculation” and promotes all this as the “Plain Truth!”
Bruce Marchiano plays the part of Jesus in the popular video series The Gospel According to Matthew. The role appears to have been the springboard to a speaking ministry. As we approached the year 2000, and many were making wild Y2K predictions, Marchiano was involved in the production of a Plain Truth Ministries video entitled Millennial Madness. It was, apparently, intended to calm us all down with a more balanced approach to prophecy.
In the following, Marchiano concedes the return of Christ was supposed to occur within the first century. He further admits conditions in the first century degenerated exactly as Jesus said they would before his return. Then, he contradicts Jesus, the apostles and Scripture, and denies the historical evidence by declaring that Christ’s return failed to take place:
Early Christians were profoundly convinced that the last days were at hand. They looked for Jesus’ second coming in their lifetime. With civil war in Rome following the death of Emperor Nero in a.d. 68 the Roman Empire appeared to be on a fast track to destruction. Christians felt that the time of Jesus’ return had at last arrived. Wars, famines, moral decay, economic crisis, political turmoil, social upheaval, lawlessness, natural disasters, religious persecution; all the signs of the end seemed to be there. After all, had not Jesus said, “This generation would not pass away until all these things were fulfilled?” The executions of the apostles Peter and Paul in a.d. 68 seemed especially significant. The persecution of Christians was reaching its peak. Surely, Jesus would come soon. Then, in the spring of a.d. 69, the Roman general Titus swept into Judea with his legions. Were these the armies surrounding Jerusalem foretold by Jesus in his Olivet prophecy? The following year, Titus destroyed Jerusalem, burning the temple and laying waste to the city. With the temple’s destruction and the cessation of its rituals and sacrifices, had not the end of the age arrived? As events swirled around them, Christians watched with breathless expectation rehearsing among themselves the prophecies related to Jesus’ second coming. All the facts seemed to fit; except one: Jesus didn’t return. [emphasis mine, maf]
Marchiano freely admits the early Christians all expected the second coming to occur in their day, he says they got this impression from Jesus, he admits all the events predicted to precede the coming of Christ were being fulfilled right before their eyes (documented history of the Roman Empire), and then, he says the second coming didn’t happen. But in light of all the evidence, how could it not have happened? It’s impossible it didn’t happen!
The apostles taught a first-century second coming because that’s what Jesus taught. But here we have a high-profile, supposedly credible Christian telling us that even though we have the additional weight of the historical record confirming “the signs of the end” had already occurred in the first century as predicted, we must conclude it was all a false alarm, and all the first-century authors of Scripture were wrong. Apparently, Marchiano regards their predictions as nothing more than “empty speculation” (see the quotation below).
Why does a person presume to teach the Bible when he doesn’t believe it himself? As an actor, Marchiano makes a pretty good Jesus, but apparently, when it comes to really believing Jesus — or the apostles — or the Bible — or history, Bruce is just acting. At the end of his two-hour narration he offers this conclusion:
Bible prophecy guides the people of God to faithful living, to entrusting ourselves to his loving care in all circumstances, not to empty speculation. We don’t need to know when Jesus will return, we just need to know that he will return. [emphasis his]
This may sound reassuring to some, especially since it’s coming from our famous and friendly narrator, Bruce Marchiano; however, for thinking Christians, the question will be If we can’t trust Jesus, the apostles, the Bible or documented history, why should we trust Bruce Marchiano?
Listen to Bruce Marchiano (2 minutes 15 seconds)
If you disagree with Marchiano’s interpretation, why not let him know? You can send him an e-mail message using the link below. Please mention that you read his remarks at the following link:
http://www.preterism.info/marchiano.htm.
To send Bruce a message, click here.
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