My Mom and I have been watching Space 1999 here and there for a while now. Kind of micro binging; watching a couple episodes once a week or so. In this show the moon has been shot off into space after an explosion leaving the crew at a base on it stuck traveling with it and not knowing what shape Earth is in. We recently watched the season two episode: “New Adam New Eve.”
The Alphans come across a new entity who claims to be God. Saying he has brought them to a new planet to start fresh. He only allows a group of four to come with him to check out this planet; but as they continue this adventure they realize he is rather controlling and has every plan to let the moon go on without them. As they talk to him he comes to this admission:
“I have gone by many names. I was Simon Magus, who offered to buy the Nazarene’s powers from his apostles. I was Merlin, Nostradomus. I was the magician in ancient Egypt who contended in magic with Moses.”
In the episode he does portray many powers, but they also come to realize he only comes to them during sunlight and goes away at night. When he shows them his face through a portal and exhibits powers at night he seems to get weaker. They realize he is powered by the sun and not a god of any kind but has some sort of solar battery inside. He uses physics but he did not create any planets or physics or civilizations. They find out from other beings on the planet that he has been after the secret of creation for some time.
The questions about God often come up in science fiction. There are episodes of Star Trek and Stargate that deal with questions of how we can recognize God when we see him but of course, they come from an atheistic view.
Jesus claimed to be God. He did exhibit powers in miracles such as healing the blind and the sick. Casting spirits out of people. Even bringing his friend Lazurus back from the dead. This wasn’t just a question of ability, but of fruit. What was the outcome? He taught us about forgiveness, servanthood, and trusting in Him as our savior. He set an example of servanthood when washing his disciple’s feet and then told them to go and do likewise. By them, I mean us. He also taught us truth and held us to deeper understanding of the prior covenants.
This fellow in that episode of Space 1999 who called himself Magus was seeking power but using it for his own ends. He was not God, but he wanted to be God. The fruit of his labor was more about control and his own development than healing or hope for others.
Right now, a lot of people want you to believe in their idea of Jesus but not in Jesus as scripture really teaches him. Theologian John Stott said this in his book The Radical Disciple:
The truth is that there are many Jesuses on offer in the world’s religious supermarkets, and many of them are false Christs, distorted Christs, caricatures of the authentic Jesus….In our day, for example, we find Jesus the capitalist and Jesus the socialist in competition with each other. Then there is Jesus the ascetic versus Jesus the glutton. And of course there have been the famous musicals Jesus the clown of Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar. There have been many more. But they have all been defective, and not one of them deserves our worship and our service. Each is what Paul called “another Jesus,” a Jesus different from the Jesus the apostles proclaimed.
So many people want you to find their idea of Jesus. I encourage you to read both the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament to get a clear picture of Jesus the Nazarene, God Incarnate who chose to be our substitutionary atonement on the cross and has forgiveness and transformation for all who trust in Him.