his incident began in the year 1985, when a rare wine bottle dated 1787, Lafite, and inscribed with the letters Th.J was being auctioned off by Christie’s of London. The auction house indicated that there was evidence that suggested that this bottle came from a collection of old French wine which belonged to Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States. You can imagine the excitement this stirred up! Bidding was intense, with the final bid going to the Forbes family, for the grand total of $157,000. It was the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold at auction.
Soon, other Jefferson bottles came onto the market for sale. Wine collectors, eager to buy them, shelled out large sums of money for these trophies. Bill Koch, an avid collector, purchased four bottles for a half-million dollars in the late 1980s.
Then, in 2005, when the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston was preparing to exhibit Mr. Koch’s collection, they contacted the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello to make certain of the provenance (or history) of the wines. The Museum of Fine Arts did what these collectors should have done before purchasing these supposedly valuable wines! None of the workers at Monticello thought that the provenance of the Jefferson wine was true, for a number of reasons.
They explained that Thomas Jefferson was an expert on the first and best wines produced in France, even writing out detailed instructions for American merchants. He was also responsible for ordering wine for George Washington and kept detailed records of every transaction. When he returned from France, he had the wines carefully packed and shipped to the U.S. According to his records, every bottle was accounted for and arrived intact. Not only that, he typically signed his letters with Th:J and not Th.J.
But in the veritable mountain of records that he kept, over 60,000 documents to be exact, not one mentioned purchasing vintages of the 1787 Jefferson bottles that had been sold. It was obvious that the chances of them belonging to Thomas Jefferson were highly unlikely.
Certainty
Knowing the provenance of wine should be critical before parting with such large sums of money. It gives proof as to the truth of the wine’s vintage and history. The same is much more true as to what we believe about what comes after death. We need to know with absolute certainty where we are going after we die. If we are right, all is peace, joy and happiness. If we are wrong, all is torment, suffering and hopelessness.
God’s Word, the Bible, is the only book that tells us the truth as to salvation and what comes after death. It tells us that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:2323For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23)). The result is: “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)). It tells us that Jesus Himself said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:66Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)).
Wanting to get to the bottom of the matter, Mr. Koch hired a team of wine experts, headed up by a former FBI agent, to find out who was responsible for this near-certain hoax. They traced the seller of the Jefferson bottles to Hardy Rodenstock, a man from Germany, who was popular for hosting lavish wine tasting parties, inviting celebrities, dignitaries and wine critics.
Apparently, Hardy said that he had found the bottles in a bricked-up cellar in Paris. Beyond that, he would give no more details — not where the cellar was, and certainly not how many bottles he had found! Now they were positive that the bottles were fake, but how to prove it?
The lead investigator, Jim Elroy, ran tests that revealed that there was NO cesium 137 in it. This showed that they had a very old bottle of wine, but how could they really prove it wasn’t from the eighteenth century? Clearly, further digging was necessary!
The truth of knowing that God is real, that we need to repent before Him and receive the forgiveness of sins, and that Jesus has died on the cross for our sins and is the one and only way to heaven is of inestimable eternal value. It’s worth every bit of effort that we make to search it out. It’s of far more value than expending great effort, time and millions of dollars as Bill Koch did to search out whether bottles of wine were fake or not! The Bible tells us, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:3232And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32)).
The End Result
Investigators eventually tracked down the people in Germany that had engraved the bottles with Th.J, using a modern dentist’s drilling tool. Thus, it was proved that the source of the bottles was Hardy Rodenstock and not Jefferson.
These deceptions were easy enough to pull off. Fraudsters know that collectors like to keep these rare wines to show off as trophies, and if they do open them, it’s usually years later. Besides, how is someone to know exactly what the wine should taste like? Taste is highly subjective!
People are deceived the same way in spiritual matters. Their perceptions are bombarded with “Just do the best you can and you’ll be all right,” “There are many ways to heaven!” and “Just trust the religion/belief that you were born into.” These are just a few of Satan’s lies, the first and biggest fraudster of all! All of these lies and many more are continuing to deceive men and women right into hell today.
Both of the fraudsters in this issue were tripped up by small details that they overlooked. Yet they deceived many people because of how they presented their wine and themselves. They were able to gain the confidence and trust of those around them. Many people are deceived about God in a similar way — they put their faith and confidence in those that are able to present themselves well, but are actually selling a false gospel that will land them in hell. Only God’s Word, the Bible, tells us where we came from, why we are here and where we will go after death.
Kurniawan’s lawyer tried to make excuses for his client by saying, “Nobody died. Nobody lost their savings. Nobody lost their job.” But the prosecutor responded by saying, “Fraud is fraud.” And so it will be when we stand before a holy and righteous God. Sin is sin and will condemn us. Either you will hear God say, “I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:2323And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7:23)), or you will hear your Lord and Savior say, “Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord” (Matthew 25:2121His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. (Matthew 25:21)). Are your sins forgiven? Are you living to love, serve and please the One who died for you?