|
|
 |
|
 |
 DEAD MEN WALKING |
|
THE MOMENT OF TRUTH AND VICTORY |
|
|
|
|
|
|
DEAD MEN WALKING |
|
THE MOMENT OF TRUTH AND VICTORY |
| CHRIST'S VICTORY |
|
|
| THE HOLY TRUTH | ||
| THE RAPTURE | ||
| TRIBULATION | ||
| KING JAMES | ||
| SECOND COMING | ||
| YOUR DESTINY | ||
| THE SIGNS | ||
| VIDEOS | ||
| ABOUT US |
|
|
†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††
†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††
This is a very important, sometimes difficult, question for many Christians to answer. To define that single most important moment in His life here on Earth. For me, it's an easy question to answer, and I'll explain. Before I go further, I want everyone reading this page to fully understand and comprehend that there is more historical evidence proving the Resurrection of Jesus than there is proof that Julius Caesar ever lived Think about that for a moment. Everyone believes that Julius Caesar lived, yet not everyone believes in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Wake up people and believe in the Blessed Hope of Salvation!
But first, I want to make a plug about a book that puts His life into true perspective, and it's called "The Case For Christ", written by Lee Strobel. If you have doubts about whether or not Christ lived, performed the miracles he performed, achieved the prophecies, and is divine, then you must give this book a read. It's also available on DVD, but the book is more in depth in my personal opinion. A must read for anyone ready to experience the liberation of Jesus...
Jesus did a lot of things that were very important to us, humankind as a whole. There's an entire book written about Him, over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament, and the New Testament is dedicated to Him, about his lifetime on this earth. In case you're wondering, Jesus fulfilled all of the Old Testament prophecies about His coming that could be fulfilled in that time frame. There are a lot of prophecies, over 300 of them, but some were meant to be in the future toward, at, and after His second coming. A feat that is against odds that are too astronomical to accurately number. In fact, the odds of someone coming centuries after predicted and fulfilling just 8 of those prophecies is 10 to the 17th power! Truly astronomical odds, hundreds of times more difficult than winning the lottery, and absolutely astonishing when you think about the entire scope of it. You can check it out on the "Second Coming" page.
But what was the most defining moment in the history of Jesus? Some say it was his perfectly sinless life. Others say it is all about the miracles. And most say it has to do with the cross, and what that moment meant to mankind. Of the three, I would say that the cross was the most defining moment, because he freely gave his life to allow us the opportunity to be saved from sin and enjoy everlasting life with Him in Heaven, and here on earth. What could possibly be more significant than that? It's obviously the single most important event that he came here for, to perform for God his father, on our behalf. Yes, it is very significant to all Christianity. But I believe that there was a moment that holds more hope for all Christians than the cross, especially in these days of darkness where the United States is falling victim to an internal implosion at the hands of our own government. The Christian God is being completely removed from our civilized society whose founding documents were created under Judeo-Christian principles.
But the moment that Christianity began, was not during his lifetime, and may not have happened at all had this other defining moment not taken place. The 3rd day after he was crucified on the cross, he rose from the dead to defeat death, providing the ultimate proof of his divinity. Up until that moment, there could have (and were) constant doubts about his Godhood. As a matter of fact, even his most faithful followers, the disciples, had huge doubts as they saw him die on the cross. Even they didn't understand the full complexity of what he had just done. Even though he told them that he was going to be betrayed, that he would be gone and they wouldn't find him, then he would return again, they still didn't understand. So I'll take a moment to describe what I feel would have happened to the Bible and Christianity had he not defeated death and rose from the dead. This is just what I think, but I believe that there is true merit here given the evil nature that is inside all human beings. In fact, most of humanity already tries to label the Bible as a myth, a storybook, a conspiracy, a bunch of lies, etc etc etc. There are many unbelievers who will deny Christ until the day they are faced with the righteous Judgment that will come from Jesus Christ himself. It is my opinion that had he not risen, the Bible wouldn't be here for us to read today, and Christianity wouldn't have survived, maybe not even began. Let me explain my theory...
I will begin with those who were most dedicated to Him, those who knew him best, and believed in Him with all their hearts, the 11 disciples that were taught by him for 3 years (the 12th being a murderous traitor and not worthy to be counted as a true disciple of Jesus Christ). (Everyone should also understand that Jesus knew from the moment he chose Judas Iscariot as one of His disciples, that he would be the one to betray Him. He knew when it would happen, and that it was His destiny, commanded from His Father God.) Unfortunately the hearts of the disciples were faulty human hearts, that are subject to and sometimes guided by, emotion. So while Jesus lived, and they walked, supped with, and were taught by Him, they witnessed miracle after miracle, things no man had ever been able to do before Him, nor after (aside from themselves and I'll get to that later in this article). No man without God inside him could have restored sight to the blind, removed leprosy, made invalids able to walk, raised the dead, and so on and so on, and let's not forget walking on water (an experience shared by the disciple Peter). But most importantly, Jesus Christ defeated sin by not committing one sin over His entire lifetime on earth. NO MAN CAN MAKE THAT CLAIM. All of these things Jesus did, and more. And these twelve disciples witnessed all of these glorious events. Three of them (Peter, James, and John) actually witnessed the transfiguration, which you can read about in a few of the gospels (Mark 9:2-9, Matthew 17:1-3 and Luke 9:28-36), so they all knew in their hearts that He, Jesus, was indeed the one and only Son of God, The Messiah, The Prophesied One, The Anointed One, The Savior, The Son Of Man, The Way, The Truth, And The Life, and many more names that only one individual could claim to be. Jesus Christ was the one, and they knew it.
Yet they were human. And like the Pharisees and Sadducees, they also expected a Conquering King. You see, the Bible prophesied The Messiah as both a suffering servant and a conquering king. Throughout the centuries that message got distorted to the point the leaders of the religious sects, primarily the Pharisees, thought there were two separate messiahs being spoken about. They concluded that the Joseph who had led the Israelites through the wilderness for 40 years had been the "suffering messiah". Now they were waiting for and expecting the conquering king, the one who would lead Israel to world dominance and/or prominence. And since they were at that time a conquered nation under the thumb of Rome, they wanted that conquering king to take them out from under their bondage. To the Pharisees and Sadducees, nothing less was going to suffice. Well, we now know that Jesus Christ was both the suffering servant who died on the cross over 2,000 years ago, and the conquering king who will return at the Second Coming and cast judgment on all who have denied Him since he died on the cross.
So, when considering that even the disciples expected a conquering king, we can understand how they were distraught, and scattered like scared children as Jesus was led away in chains. He was then beaten, convicted of blasphemy, spit on and humiliated in every way, then painfully crucified on the cross. They were morally beaten, lost, and spiritually confused. How could The Messiah die? Who could possibly kill God's one and only son? The Messiah wasn't supposed to die, he was supposed to deliver us. You can imagine their thoughts can't you? Were we wrong? Are we fools? Are we going to be killed too as His followers? What about all that Jesus said about the Kingdom being here now? Question after question, doubt after doubt, and no answers. We can only imagine...
So put yourself in that position for a moment. If you're a Christian and you love God, the Bible, and Jesus, (and you're like me), you only wish that you'd been alive to witness Jesus for yourself. I would have followed Him to the ends of the earth, as I do now. But if I'd followed Him for 3 years, believing in my heart of hearts that He was the one and only Messiah that was going to save humanity, but was then put to death by mere mortals, I myself imagine what kind of doubts I'd have had. I would have felt just as lost, alone, and scared as they did. Just put yourself in that position for a moment. Just imagine it. Now ask yourself some questions, the same questions that people who deny Christ will ask you. If it's all a made up conspiracy, and the disciples conspired to make all of this up, would they have all (except John) died in defense of Jesus and the Christian faith? Could you do that for a lie that meant nothing? We're talking about horrible and extremely painful deaths. We know that criminals will lie to protect each other, but even then it's only to a point. There's always 1, 2, or 3 out of 11, that will turn their backs on their partners for a lighter sentence. They will spill the beans and tell the whole story, and sometimes more. Am I right? Absolutely right and everyone knows it. At least anyone who has even the slightest understanding of human nature.
So now you simply have to ask yourself, what must have happened in between the time he died, and the time their faith became stronger than it had ever been? Something certainly happened, something powerful, something convincing. Something strong enough to cement their faith in Jesus as it had never been before that time. And guess what? Their faith stayed that strong until the day they themselves were martyred in His name! Now, knowing human nature as we do, and the will to live being stronger than the will to die for a lie, what must have happened to strengthen their faith to such a determined state? Unbelievers will think of million reasons why this happened, but they're all wrong, and even they know it. Everyone knows when they're lying. And everyone is born with the knowledge of God in their hearts because He made us that way. We all feel Him, but too many of us deny Him. We're out to live for ourselves and "live our own lives". No point in continuing in that vein as we all know human nature...
So the clear and obvious answer to this burning question is that Jesus did in fact rise from the dead just as he told the Pharisees he would do when he told them if they "tore down this temple He would rebuild it again in 3 days". He was talking about the temple of His body, not the holy temple in Jerusalem like they thought. So now the disciples had the most concrete proof that can ever be given by witnessing Jesus defeating death. The one thing no man or woman has ever escaped, death. Only God could do this miracle of all miracles. They'd witnessed Him raise the dead, as in Lazarus who had been dead 4 days when he raised him. But this time he raised Himself! How great is that?! They'd witnessed some major MAJOR miracles as they followed Jesus which had them all convinced in who He was. The doubt was only cast when he died. But this was the clincher of clinchers. The miracle of miracles. The deciding factor. The one thing that convinced all of them He was worth dying for. He was truly the one and only Son Of God, God in the flesh, The Messiah. And He brought Himself back from the dead so that they would believe and spread the good news. He filled them with the Holy Spirit with a breath, and allowed them to remember everything he'd ever taught them, and everything they'd ever witnessed. They were even given the ability to forgive sin and heal people.
When I take a look at Jesus, I know in my heart that he was, and will come again. When I think about all the events documented in the Bible, and other historical documentation that backs up the Bible and Jesus' existence, I know that he is the one and only true God. But had he not risen from the dead and shown himself to his disciples, I don't believe that they would have had the faith to die for Him, and in so doing, create the foundation of Christianity as we know it. That's what I believe to be the single greatest victory Jesus did to win the world, and the souls of all who will simply believe in Him. He will come again, he will be victorious, and anyone who wants to be saved, can be. Isn't that awesome?
What in this world is worth holding onto? This is temporal, He is eternal.
A deal no one in their right mind could refuse...
†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††
Outlaw - Man From Nazareth (video 5:25)
Direct link for larger video file: http://www.tangle.com/view_video?viewkey=5140d09df3164008cd69
This is an awesome video, good rock music switching between the band and clips from the movie "The Gospel Of John". I personally have no idea who the band is or if they're signed by a record label or anything. I've searched hi and low, including trying to contact the person who posted it on Tangle.com, yet I've never gotten any idea through any avenue I've tried to find out who they are. I want to pay for it and download it to my iPod 'cuz the song is just too cool. And if you've seen the movie "The Gospel Of John", you'll appreciate the video even more. If you haven't seen the movie, I strongly recommend it. As the name implies, it's a movie about the Gospel of John and it is totally awesome! I'm certain that I've watched it 50+ times to date, and will watch it many more. Trust me on this, if you love Christ, you'll enjoy the movie. If you don't know Christ, it's probably the best movie to watch in order to gain an appreciation for our savior. If this is your song played by your band, please don't be offended by my posting it here. I tried so hard to find it and will pull it if you ask. I meant no copyright infringement I assure you...
†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††
