Bible scholar and liberal theologian Malcolm Lancaster reported this week that new archeological findings have revealed that Demas, described in scripture as a worldly apostate, wasn’t such a bad guy after all. “We’ve felt all along that Demas got a bum rap from the Apostle Paul, and the latest excavation has proven our case,” says Lancaster, a member of the Jesus Seminar.
According to Lancaster, fragments from an ancient ruin buried in Greece contain evidence which seem to indicate that Demas never left the ministry, but merely left Paul’s staff to start a seeker-sensitive megachurch in a suburb of Thessalonica. Demas’ church was called “My Big Fat Greek Church,” and was known for its radical lyre band and Greek chorus, plush coliseum seating, and ample chariot parking. In addition, Demas appears to have written a best-selling scroll titled “Your Best Goat Now,” and coined his ministry’s catchphrase, “Discover the Zeus in You.”
Among the artifacts uncovered at the site was a wall mosaic which experts believe depicts Demas hanging out with Bonocus, a hip musician of the day, at an ecumenical event to encourage dialogue between Christians and Isis worshippers for the sake of world peace.
“Demas had a real knack for engaging the Hellenistic culture for Jesus and drawing thousands of people to his services,” Lancaster stated. “If you want to call that ‘loving the present world,’ then fine. But if you ask me, Paul was just jealous of Demas’ successful ministry. That’s why you can’t take everything Paul wrote as gospel… so to speak.”
Lancaster and his colleagues are anxious to discover more evidence that challenges Paul’s inflammatory claim that Demas was focused on earthly things that soon pass away. Proving that Demas’ ministry wasn’t transitory, however, could take several years because, as Lancaster explains, “The artifacts from Demas’ church are crumbled into little pieces and buried under centuries of dirt.”
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