Headlines around the world are announcing the publication of an ancient document known as the "Gospel of Judas".

The National Geographic announced the publication at a major event on April 6, 2006 which seems strategic that it would come out just before the Easter celebration.

This document purports to be the copy of the writing of Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, telling the story of how he and Jesus conspired together to have Jesus betrayed to the Romans, and thereby manipulated the events to assure Jesus' crucifixion.

There are major problems with what this document claims the public needs to know:

1.The University of Arizona, who did the radiocarbon dating on the papyrus of the so-called Gospel of Judas found near el Minya, Egypt in the 1970's, dates it between 220 AD to 340 AD. The 26-page codex was written in the ancient Coptic language and found in the Egyptian desert decayed into thousands of tiny fragments.

The greatest problem is that the four Gospels in the English Bible, Matthew, Mark, Luke & John, which were eyewitness accounts of actual historical events of the life of Jesus and his disciples, were all completed prior to 70 AD and each state the Judas committed suicide possibly before the crucifixion (Matthew 27:3-5).

Hence, it is impossible for Judas to have written something approximately 200 years after he killed himself!

In fact, Simon Gathercole, a professor at Aberdeen University states that the Gospel of Judas, "?.contains themes which are alien to the first-century world of Jesus and Judas, but which became popular later".

2. The Book of Acts, which was completed around 62 AD confirms the fact that Judas had to be replaced as a disciple after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Acts 1:15-26), another historical, truthful account of the early Church which is in harmony with the four Gospels.

3. The Gospel of Judas differs drastically from the other four true Gospels in the Bible by the language and terminology used. For example Jesus is supposed to have said to Judas, "?Look, I have explained to you the mysteries of the kingdom and I have taught you about the error of the stars; and ?sent it?on the twelve aeons."

Or in another area Judas is identified as the "thirteenth spirit" who was appointed by God to be the agent of releasing Jesus from the physical body in which He was trapped when He came to earth. The language is mystical, the question is why?

Conclusion

The reality is that the Gospel of Judas has strong "Gnostic" character. The word "Gnostic" is a Greek word which means "to know". During the 1st Century "Gnosticism" was just beginning to impact the early Church. In fact this is why the letter of Colossians was written by Paul to the church at Colosse. He wrote it to warn the new believers there not to be deceived by this false teaching which was contrary to what they already received. The Gnostics believed one did not have to put faith in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of sins, rather like many today, they believed they could earn eternal life by being a part of a group of people that were "in the know" (in other words, people that prized their secret knowledge).

In summary the Gnostics believed:

a. God is far away and untouchable;

b. All matter is evil, so that means that Jesus Christ did not have a physical body and hence did not die on the cross for our sins. As a result the Gospel of Judas states that Judas was the one that freed Jesus from his physical body to release his spirit;

c. In order to attain "real" spiritual levels of maturity, you have to pursue high degrees of secret knowledge which was only available to a few in order to be part of those "in the know"; (hence the Gospel of Judas uses mystical terminology such as "aeons" , "eternal realm", and "thirteenth spirit", etc).

The teaching of the Gnostics existed in the early church and the present church should not be surprised by it today. It is no surprise that the fact that Jesus died for sin and rose again is completely missing from the Gospel of Judas. In fact, early church leaders after Jesus' time rejected the Gospel of Judas as we recently know it, as heretical. Although an ancient document, its origin is from within a heretical sect in the third century. It must be understood that in regard to its theological significance, the Gospel of Judas is unwarranted, ridiculous, and driven by those who themselves call for a reformulation of Biblical Christianity. In fact, there are other Gnostic ancient texts as well, but when you compare them with the truth of the Bible, you can clearly see the contradictions.

Christians today can have complete confidence in the authenticity of the New Testament, including the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as we have over 3,500 complete ancient manuscripts of the New Testament. Keep in mind that old Gnosticisms are continually repackaged and "rediscovered" even as new forms of Gnostic thought appear in our present day.

Today we have The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown, now being made into a movie that claims that Jesus was married, had children, etc. etc. Keep in mind that The DaVinci Code although part of the New York Times Best-Seller list, is categorised under "fiction", simply because it is fiction.

We also have The Jesus Papers being promoted by CNN and other networks who claim that Jesus did not die and the resurrection was made up! However, the book has no historical authenticity. It is no different from Charles Darwin's work, the Origin of the Species that was a hypothesis or speculation of evolution that the secular world embraced, which claimed to say that people evolved, as a result, there is no God. The bottom line is that people want to live how they want without any accountability for their actions. Many, just like in Jesus' time, do not want to submit to God's way of love and grace through Jesus who died for their sins, they want to eradicate the concept of sin due to a proud heart that says: "I don't need God or Jesus", so there are many attacks to try and prove Jesus as false.

Christians should not at all be surprised, nor should they lose heart. The Bible states: "First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised?..." (1 Peter 3:3-4a)

"Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from what we believe; they will follow lying spirits and teachings that come from demons. These teachers are hypocrites and liars. They pretend to be religious, but their consciences are dead." (1Timothy 4:1, 2)

Keep in mind though that everyone must give an account to God. To prepare for the next life, each must accept Jesus Christ as personal Saviour for He died for sin, shed his blood, and rose again bodily from the grave and then ascended into heaven, that if anyone would believe in His life and work on the cross would have eternal life. "For 'Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'" (Romans 10:13). God the Father loves you and desires to have a relationship with you so much that he sent His only Son, Jesus who lived a perfect life, died and rose again for you so that you can have eternal life if you accept Him. This relationship is given as a free gift, not by your good works or secret Gnostic knowledge, but by simply believing in Jesus (John 3:16).