Why racism is a direct insult to God

I was listening to the great baseball player Reggie Jackson on the Howard Stern show speaking about the racism he dealt with early in his baseball career. Reggie Jackson, an African American, is also a retired former Major League Baseball player who's nicknamed "Mr. October" for his outstanding powerful home run hitting he seemed to muster up in his October playoffs and world series appearances throughout major league seasons. In his interview with Howard Stern, he told stories of how as a young baseball player he would be banned from staying in certain hotels and eating in certain restaurants due to his skin color, and he also said how his teammates and manager would move to another hotel and restaurant as a TEAM when they encountered racism. 

Racism flies in the face of what God, I think, intended when he created humans in our diverse multicultural existence. It's like God had a plan to teach us tolerance, love, and appreciation for our differences, and racists never learned the lesson. Racists are threatened by the "differences" we all have, and Satan uses that fear to promote power, hate, and territorialism. It's the same "fear" that can exist when it comes to homophobia, and hardened intolerance of immigrants. IF we are all created in the image of God then aren't we expected to at least TRY and respect and accept others despite our differences? 

I was thinking recently about the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela. What would have happened if Martin Luther King Jr. hadn't made it his life's purpose to CHANGE the ugly sin of racism in American culture? It cost him his life but make no mistake if we are INDEED created in the image of God then Martin Luther King Jr.'s actions reflect Martin Luther King Jr. as an agent for God's love. It's why people like Martin Luther King Jr. should be remembered for their bravery and promotion of GOD'S wishes for acceptance and equality.  Nelson Mandela was also an agent for God having sacrificed twenty-seven years of his life to fight apartheid in South Africa and pave the way for African Americans to vote and enjoy other God given rights as equal human beings in a racist country like South Africa. Although racism can NEVER be eradicated it CAN be weakened paving the way for tolerance and acceptance.

I like to look at what lessons lie underneath the human problems we have and IF God is God and (and I believe he is) he's overseeing this grand play called LIFE and giving us lessons to learn to either promote growth in love or fail for hate and stagnation. In the case of ANY kind of bias I think (within) reason TOLERANCE is the takeaway. There's a big difference between ACCEPTANCE and TOLERANCE. I can TOLERATE something and NOT necessarily accept it. In the case of ethnic differences between people obviously intolerance would be what lies behind segregation, slavery, etc., and even more subtle expressions like not supporting interracial dating, unfair judgment of different ethnic humans as "dumber" or "lower class" connects to the same problem of racial bias. It's the myopic condition of one's supposed superiority because of skin color. 

The whole "racist" mentality is directly connected to Satan because it's ANTI-GOD, and flies in the face of what Christ promoted during his ministry on earth.  Satan is that energy behind ANY expression, thought, whatever festers inside a person in bias against another person, group. "Sin" is THAT condition in ALL OF US that's the "seed" of what racism embodies. It's impossible for true Christian to be racist if one claims to be a believer in Christ but acts upon his racist thoughts and truly lives as a racist person. 

So, next time you encounter racism, a racist, or a have a racist thought remember it's part of our spiritual DNA as sinners so we'll never be without sin, but what do WE DO with it? 

Jesus' tomb was empty. Or was it?

One of the frustrating parts of being a Christian for me is when I debate skeptics who'll throw anything they can to dispel the truth of the gospel. You would think something as simple as the necessity of faith or lack of in how a person believes or doesn't believe in the gospel would've set in by now, and that I would know that having such conversations is a waste of time in that I am not going to change anyone's mind, but for me it isn't. a waste.  It's why I do "My Christian Walk "in this blog format as well as in a podcast format. Because the gospel of Jesus Christ is TRUE it's important that the "evidence" be shared, then it's up to God to do what he wants to do with those seeds that are planted via debates with unbelievers.

My post has to do with the evidence of Jesus' empty tomb. In my previous post I wrote about some of the biblical and historical evidence for Jesus' crucifixion, but even more importantly is what "proof" is there for the tomb he was laid in after he was crucified, and how the stone would later be moved, and his body gone. He was either removed by man or he was raised from the dead and exited the tomb himself. The empty tomb must be dealt with as to how it became empty because Jesus' resurrection is paramount to the gospel message, and if he was resurrected as I believe evidence proves and my faith suggests then what Jesus said and did as the son of God who sits at the right hand of the father MUST be taken literally, period. 

The Gospel of Matthew reads that Jesus died on the cross and his body wrapped and placed in the tomb by Joseph of Arimathea. 

"Joseph took the body. wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and placed it in his own new tomb that he cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away."

Matt 27:60-61

One of the interesting facts according to archeologists is that tombs in Jesus' time had a distinctive style which was used only in the period from 37 B.C. through AD 70. This fact aligns with what biblical scholars believe is recorded in the bible about the how tombs were constructed and used. Later in time as many as 1000 of these tombs from the first century were found in Israel. 

In the above-described tomb Jesus' body would've been placed on a stone slab then after the body decayed (usually after a year), his bones would've been placed in a bone box (small ossuary) and stored so other bodies could be placed inside, decay and put also in a bone box and the pattern would repeat. 

Although this information is interesting for understanding how bodies were laid in tombs, decayed, remains preserved, etc., it still doesn't serve as proof for hardcore skeptics that Jesus resurrected because skeptics don't accept scriptural documentation. If Jesus was resurrected, spent time with his apostles and was seen and recorded as coming back from the dead, what else other than New Testament accounts of such can further prove that he was resurrected. 

It's recorded that as late as A.D. 136 Christians identified the place where Jesus was buried in Jerusalem. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built over that location. The residents of Jerusalem recognized this place as Golgotha (The place of the skull as recorded in the gospel of Matthew) Also in A.D. 136 the Roman Emperor Hadian put down a rebellion in Jerusalem (the "Bar Kokhba Revolt) and making this location a Roman city (Aelia Capitolina). Roman emperor Hadrian destroyed many religious sites as well as building a temple to the pagan god Venus atop the spot of Golgotha, likely an effort to stop Christians from gathering to worship at this location. 

Archeologist Shimon Gibson states on this evidence

"We may surmise that the exact situation of Golgotha was passed down from generation to generation among Jesus' supporters, even when the place itself came to be hidden beneath the pavement of the Forum and Temple of Venus in Aelia Capitolina, which was built after 135 CE to replace the ruins of Jerusalem. The is clear from Eusebius, an erudite and learned scholar writing in the late third century, who noted that the "Place of the Skull" was still pointed out in Aelia on the northern side of Mount Zion, indicating the knowledge of the whereabouts of Golgotha had been maintained from 70 CE and until this day" 

What this shows is that Jesus' crucifixion and tomb location (Golgotha) was known from the time of Jesus and up until the time of Eusebius. Why?  Why would Jesus be memorialized THIS WAY if he never existed, never was crucified, and never was resurrected? Later, Constatine and the leaders of the Roman Empire built a church building on that EXACT spot. 

Within the church building a location was marked where it was believed Jesus' tomb was located, however legitimate questions do exist about this. How did they know it was Jesus' tomb? After three centuries the 'said" tomb could not be investigated because it had been sealed over and over for many centuries, but in 2016 an excavation was completed, and National Geographic filmed and documented the whole excavation process demonstrating that the sealed location was indeed what was said to have been as the site of Jesus' tomb, then later the Church of the Holy Selpuchre, then later the location of the pagan temple built by Roman emperor Hadrian to prevent early Christians from gathering, worshipping at the spot of Jesus' tomb location, then finally the exact location of the church built by Constatine and written about by the historian Eusebius in the early 300s. 

Archeologist Martin Biddle summarized the excavated findings this way 

"Obviously this date is spot on for whatever Constatine did" he said. "That's very remarkable" 

See videos below 

https://youtu.be/nkmx_k9wVs0

https://youtu.be/EXbBomxS-JA

A few additional concluding points need to be made regarding the truth of Jesus' resurrection and the "empty tomb" It would have been very difficult to proclaim that Jesus rose from the dead if Jesus was STILL in the tomb. Enemies of Jesus (and there were plenty) would have easily produced his body to reject his resurrection. Thousands were becoming Christians within the fifty days of Jesus' crucifixion. Another interesting fact is that early critics (Justin Martyr, Trypho, Tertullian, De Spectaculis) NEVER said Jesus' body was still in the tomb but instead claimed his apostles had stolen the body, so the only countering claim to Jesus' resurrection is "the Apostles must've stolen the body". 

The last interesting point about the truth of Jesus' resurrection is in the testimony of women in the ancient world at the time of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. Women in the first century AD were not held to be reliable witnesses. They were certainly NOT accepted as witnesses in Israel at the time of Jesus' time on earth, but the Gospels tell us that women were the first witnesses of the resurrection. If the writers of the Gospel were making it up, why would they use the testimony of women as reliable testimony UNLESS it ACTUALLY HAPPENED? 

What facts do we know about Jesus' crucifixion?

I was recently listening to Lee Strobel's testimony about his conversion to evangelical Christianity. Lee Strobel is a former atheist and editor for the Chicago Tribune who converted to born again Christian after he found after a year and a half, he couldn't disprove the gospel. Lee Strobel's wife at the time had converted to born again Christian and Lee believed he could convince her that "it" was false. He couldn't and consequently he has been a born-again Christian ever since. 

While listening to one of his many public testimonies about his conversion I thought it'd be interesting to do a series of posts about the gospel, resurrection, crucifixion, and other related facts about Christianity. The first fact I want to look at is Jesus' crucifixion and what has been recorded about it both within and outside the four gospels of the New Testament.  

Other than the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), Paul the apostle and former persecutor of Christians writes after his conversion to Christianity in 1 Corinthians 15 3-8 the following

"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried. that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also."

I have had numerous conversations with skeptics who flatly reject ANY scriptural support for Jesus' crucifixion, let alone his resurrection or even existence, so one must look outside the New Testament for objective, additional evidence of Jesus' life, death and resurrection. 

Crucifixion was not uncommon for Jews. Just thirty years prior to Jesus' crucifixion the governor of Syria crucified two thousand Jews. Additionally, the ancient writer Cicero said death by crucifixion was "the most cruel and hideous of tortures" Crucifixion was so awful the Romans usually exempted Roman citizens from it and only reserved it for slaves or rebels. 

In connecting the dots of crucifixion as an extremely cruel form of punishment for Jews and dated to the time of Jesus' place in history it's still NOT a given that Jesus WAS crucified but given the accounts within the gospels along with Paul's writings in the New Testament and his first-hand account of meeting Jesus it certainly follows that Jesus MAY HAVE been killed by the Romans as documented in the New Testament, but let's get some more facts about Jesus' death on the cross. 

In 1968 construction workers found remnants of an ankle bone with a nail piercing it from within an ancient tomb. The nail was in knotted wood and the discovery had been dated to the first century. Clearly crucifixion was not uncommon and was very "real" and used around the time of Jesus' ministry. 

There are also additional outside sources corroborating the crucifixion of Jesus including 

1. The Jewish Talmud 

2. Josephus 

3. Tacitus 

4. Lucian 

5. Mara-Bar-Serapion 

NOTE:  Each of the above-mentioned sources can be researched for exactness. I have listed the sources but have not provided the actual documentation of Jesus' crucifixion. 

So, in a nutshell the fact that Jesus is reported in great detail to have been crucified within the four gospels as early as AD 70, despite the many skeptics who try to denounce the validity and reliability of Jesus' crucifixion, it's really not within the acceptance of New Testament Scholars that Jesus was NOT crucified. 

What this proves is that Jesus throughout his ministry foretold his death and the purpose of his death in bringing about a fulfillment of his canceling out human sin, and both scripturally and historically he WAS crucified by the Romans at the request of the Jews because on the outside he was a threat to the Jewish order, but more importantly he was prophesized to be the perfect vehicle for God's plan to redeem the sin of mankind forever. 

Jesus did exist. 

Jesus was crucified. 

The Apostle's Creed

The Apostles’ Creed, though not written by the apostles, is the oldest creed of the Christian church and is the basis for others that followed. Its most used form is:

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell; The third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; The Holy catholic Church, the Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body, And the Life everlasting. Amen.

In its oldest form, the Apostles’ Creed goes back to at least 140 A.D. Many of the early church leaders summed up their beliefs as they had an opportunity to stand for their faith—see, for example, 1 Timothy 6:12. These statements developed into a more standard form to express one’s confession of faith at the time of baptism. It is not Scripture, but it is a simple list of the great doctrines of the faith.

The word “catholic” means “relating to the church universal” and was the word used in the original version of the Creed. It does not mean the Roman Catholic Church, but the church, the body of Christ, as a universal fellowship. The phrase, “He descended into hell,” was not part of the creed in its earliest form.

Why Billy Graham was a great, special man of God

 I included a whole category on my blog of recorded sermons on You Tube from the great preacher, Billy Graham. There is something about Billy Graham that spoke to me, and even though I never attended one of his massive revivals, I have always been blessed and moved in my spirit by his powerful preaching style. 

There's something special a man of God who gives his life to the Lord at such a young age as Billy Graham did. I suppose I am envious of him because he TRULY walked the path to Heaven here on earth and never wavered from his sincere faith, and if he did, it wasn't scandalous or public. How many times have men in Christian leadership who are successful erred in the public eye and fell to some evil transgression? This has happened to the likes of Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Baker and many others, but not with Billy Graham. 

Maybe what I love the most about Billy Graham's style is that it's powerful and unapologetic. Billy Graham was revered and looked to by numerous presidents for spiritual counsel as well. He was the real deal. To watch him call those thousands in attendance to come up and be "saved" at the end of every revival was awe inspiring.  Billy Graham was doing God's work and he must certainly be in Heaven right now for eternity. 

I marvel at men like Billy Graham who heard God's voice and listened and followed. I know Billy Graham represents a specific kind of service to God and there's others with different gifts, but when I hear Billy Graham, I get inspired, and my faith gets strengthened. 

Enjoy his sermons on this blog.