Cover

“STOP, MATTHIAS! PLEASE!
YOU MUST NOT DEFILE THE GRAVE!”

“How can one defile a grave in which there are no bodies?” I roared between pulls. “Listen to me, please. Earlier you said that I was the investigator and you were my guide, did you not?”

He nodded sadly.

“And you brought me here, after I made that dumb wish on the Carson program, so I could discover the truth for myself, whatever that may be, correct?”

He nodded again and without turning, he pointed back over his shoulder toward the tomb of Lazarus. “And you expect to find the truth in there?”

“I don’t know.”

“All you will find in there, Matthias, are three empty shelves and a few worms. What are you looking for, my son?”

“I’m looking for the remains of a body.”

“A body? Whose body?”

“The body of Jesus.”

Other Books by This Author

Bantam Books by Og Mandino

A BETTER WAY TO LIVE

THE CHOICE

THE CHRIST COMMISSION

THE GIFT OF ACABAR (with Buddy Kaye)

THE GREATEST MIRACLE IN THE WORLD

THE GREATEST SALESMAN IN THE WORLD

THE GREATEST SALESMAN IN THE WORLD,

PART II: The End of the Story

THE GREATEST SECRET IN THE WORLD

THE GREATEST SUCCESS IN THE WORLD

MISSION: SUCCESS!

OG MANDINO’S UNIVERSITY OF SUCCESS

THE RETURN OF THE RAGPICKER

Title Page

Copyright

This edition contains the complete text
of the original hardcover edition.
NOT ONE WORD HAS BEEN OMITTED.

THE CHRIST COMMISSION
A Bantam Book

PUBLISHING HISTORY
Lippincott edition published April 1980
Bantam paperback edition / May 1981

All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1980 by Og Mandino.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
For information address: Bantam Books.

eISBN: 978-0-307-78089-8

Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Random House, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words “Bantam Books” and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Bantam Books, 1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036.

v3.1_r1

Dedication

For two men named Silvio,
my father and my brother.

Epigraph

If a man will begin with certainties,
he shall end in doubts;
but if he will be content to begin with doubts,
he shall end in certainties.
Francis Bacon

one

I SETTLED BACK into the crushed ebony velour of the Cadillac limousine’s spacious rear seat and checked my Omega. The ride to NBC’s Burbank Studios, according to the public relations people handling my tour, would take at least fifty minutes in the late-afternoon traffic.