How The Three Wise Men Changed My Life

Christmas used to be my favorite time of year. I loved hearing the story of how Jesus was born and how the shepherds and the wise men came to see him in the manger; and how the three wise men brought their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

I also loved to learn new christmas songs and poems. It always seemed like an evening of magic when we got together in church and sang our songs and recited all our poems. (perhaps the treat we got afterwards had something to do with it as well?)

Looking back I cannot remember any of the poems I ever learned except for one; and even that one, I can only remember the first line of it, and it went like this "Die Drei Weisen", or in english "The Three Wise Men".

I must have been about 7 or 8, because it was my first christmas that I attended church. I find it totally amazing that God would allow me to remember that first line of a christmas poem which I learned during the first christmas season in a church.

About 4 years ago I discovered that the three wise men do not exist in the Bible. I searched my Bible, but could not find them anywhere! All I could find was that there were wise men who came to see Jesus and that they brought three gifts. I could not find any evidence anywhere in the Bible that there might have been three.

It was at this time that I so clearly remembered my first christmas poem that I had to recite within the church. It was entitled "The Three Wise Men". So I went online to see if anyone knew why we were being taught that there were three, when in fact we really don't know.

I was very surprised to discover that the reason we are taught about the three wise men is because of an old legend. This legend lists the names of the wise men as Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar.

When I discovered this, I felt betrayed. I felt as if I had been slapped in the face, left and right; and someone out there was having a good laugh at me because I fell for this lie.

I wanted to just brush it off; I mean, who really cares how many wise men there were who came to see Jesus? It had nothing to do with doctrine, and so really, would God send me to hell because I believed there were three wise men? I hardly didn't think so.

But as I was trying to get over the fact that I had been lied to, something else came to my mind; "What other lies have you fallen for?" It was so clear, and it was so strong that I could not ignore it.

"Well what other lies could there possibly be?" I asked myself. Immediately the questions arose..."Why do we worship on Sunday when God clearly designated the Sabbath, which is Saturday?", "Is it Biblical to donate blood, or your organs?", and the one I was personally struggling with, "How can the pastor say 'You're Saved' when clearly I was still living in sin?"

There were so many things regarding the Bible that I just did not understand, and up until this time I always took the pastor's word for it, but now, I felt like I had to understand and find the truth for myself in order to believe.

I was in the middle of trying to find a good church at this time, but this discovery opened my eyes to realize that I had to find the truth about the Bible first, and then find a church that would teach those truths.

So I made a promise to myself, and to God, that I would not set foot into another church to become a member or to worship, until I knew the truth about the Bible. I could no longer sit and listen to a sermon without having my Bible in front of me.

After four years of intense Bible study, I find that most of the things I have been taught as a child are not what the Bible teaches. The story of the three wise men is just the tip of the iceberg.