There's Nothing Like It – Anywhere!

The resurrection of Jesus, that is. The resurrection is an amazing event that changed history forever. It was an event that caused people to worship a nobody from a dusty Roman outpost called Nazareth. It was an event that caused people to be willing to die rather than deny what they claimed to have seen.

As today with atheists, there were those back then who were deeply offended that human beings could be so gullible as to believe that someone had come back to life. A man known now as the apostle Paul, especially took exception to the claim of several dozen people, that Jesus of Nazareth, who had been crucified and buried, had then risen from the dead. So offended was Paul that he tortured and killed followers of the risen Christ in order to make them stop talking foolishness.

And then it happened.

Jesus, the risen Jesus, stopped Paul in his tracks. Paul encountered the risen Jesus, and Paul was forever changed. A man who already had a world-view and a powerful religion changed them both, completely, because he met and was changed by Jesus the Christ who was raised from the dead.

To The Persecuted Church

I remember reading about the 100th anniversary of Christian Missionaries in the Congo. One of the speakers said he was about 12 years old, almost a man, when the missionaries first came. And he said that for years and years and years, in an attempt to drive the missionaries from their country, they poisoned the missionaries and their families. The children were especially susceptible to the poison, he said, and that is what led so many people from the Congo to Jesus. "We did not accept Jesus into our lives by watching how you lived, but by watching how you suffered and died. You always had hope. You never gave up on Jesus and you never gave up on showing His love to us."

"People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly, in hard times, tough times, bad times, when we're beaten up, jailed, and mobbed; working hard, working late, working without eating; with pure heart, clear head, steady hand; in gentleness, holiness, and honest love; when we're telling the truth, and when God's showing His power; when we're doing our best setting things right; when we're praised, and when we're blamed; slandered, and honoured, true to our word, though distrusted; ignored by the world, but recognized by God; terrifically alive, though rumoured to be dead; beaten within an inch of our lives, but refusing to die; immersed in tears, yet always filled with deep joy; living on handouts, yet enriching many; having nothing, yet having it all. Dear followers of Jesus, I can't tell you how much I long for you to enter the wide-open spacious life. We didn't fence you in. Any smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren't small, but you're living them in a small way. I'm speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!”

From Paul's letter to the believers in Corinth, 6:10-13

To those of you who are experiencing extreme and ultimate persecution, please, for the love of Jesus, at all cost avoid violence, revenge and retribution under the guise of self-protection. It's God who protects. It's God who will bring you safely home when your work on earth is done. 

Here’s Why Christianity Is Not Real

The apostle Paul takes the most important part of Christianity and says, if this is not real, if this didn’t happen then all of Christianity is false.
You know why Paul didn’t mind making that claim? Because he knew, beyond a shadow of doubt that the resurrection did happen. And then he lists over 500 OTHER people who, with their own eyes saw Jesus alive after He was crucified and buried and he says, “If you don’t believe me, go and ask them. Most of them are still alive.”

The resurrection took place right there in Jerusalem, the site of Jesus’ murder.

. The tomb was empty.
. The disciples came out of 40+ days of hiding and boldly proclaimed what they saw.
. The sceptic and brother of Jesus, as did Jesus whole family became followers and worshippers of Jesus as Lord and Messiah.
. The sceptic and Christian killer, Paul became a follower of Jesus.
. The Christian Church was born.

All of this because of the factual reality of the resurrection.

These people, including Jesus’ brothers and sisters and mother, His closest followers plus several hundred others were so certain that they saw Jesus, listened to Jesus, hugged Jesus and ate with Jesus, that they went to their deaths, refusing to recant their claim that Jesus the Christ was risen indeed.

Atheists would like you to believe that all religions are basically the same. This is simply not true and Christianity is the reason why.

Using historical / forensic science we can KNOW that Christianity is true. Christianity is completely unlike other religions because unlike other religions Christianity is anchored in history.