I was viewing a fascinating drama of two reporters tracking the lives of a famous heiress living with her daughter in a dilapidated home. Their lives were a parody of their once glamorous lives of fame and wealth. While they still dressed in glittering gowns, the accolades and admiring crowds had vanished and all that was left were faded photographs, newspaper clippings, and fragile memories.
It was an engaging story…and it was complete fiction. It was a mockumentary. In this era of fake news, a mockumentary is a special related category. It is a deliberate attempt to present fictional events in a realistic documentary format. Adding to the realism are interviews and participation with real celebrities, commenting upon the fictionalized subjects and stories as if it were real. These satires of established documentaries are quite entertaining with many mockumentaries garnering numerous awards in cinema and television. Some have become so popular that phrases and scenes from respective mockumentaries have found their way into popular culture and press. “This is Spinal Tap” is a one such cult classic mockumentary about a fictional rock band which features incidents now referred to as a “Spinal Tap moment” as well as numerous phrases that have become part of the genre of rock guitar players.
What happens when the lines between fiction and reality are blurred? If there is no vetting, one could be misled into accepting a falsehood as truth. Isn’t this what Satan does in every moment of our lives?
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Genesis 3:1-5 (ESV)
Subtle shifts in meaning, adding and subtracting to God’s Words-the permutations are endless and Satan knows how to exploit all of them to his advantage. Adam and Eve sinned by not taking their doubts and questions to God but, instead, relied upon the reasoning of Satan, the serpent. The result is the loss of Paradise and the world we now live in, a world that is torn apart by sin and evil.
I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
Revelation 22:18-19 (ESV)
The Bible accurately prophesies that there will be deceivers and charlatans who will attempt to add or take away from God’s sacred text. God’s Word is complete and inerrant. Unlike the mockumentaries which are created to entertain, the Bible portends a horrible fate for anyone who dismisses this dire warning.
Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.
The Bereans Blog 