Evidence for the Resurrection

For some people, supporting evidence for what we believe does not seem to be very important. There’s a song that my daughter and I like called “All This Time” by Britt Nicole. She sings in one part, “I hear these people asking me, ‘How do I know what I believe?’ Well, I’m not the same me. And I saw the proof I need. I felt love; I felt Your grace.”

While I like that song very much, and I’m not discounting the importance of feelings, having objective evidence has always been very important for me. I’ve been a Christian for 41 years now, and early in my Christian walk, thanks in large part to Charles Colson, I began to learn about various kinds of evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ that have strengthened my faith immeasurably.

  1. Where is the body? This is probably the most obvious evidence for the resurrection. It would have been easy to disprove Jesus’ resurrection if someone had found His body. In fact, this is what the Jewish chief priests and elders told the Roman guards to say in Matthew 28:13: “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.'” Sadly, in verse 15, we are told, “And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.” It’s very easy to say, of course, that someone “stole” Jesus’ body, but of course, it was never found.
  2. Notice the burial cloth. This is a detail that absolutely fascinated me the first time I came across it. In John 20:6-7, we are told, “He [Peter] saw the strips of linen lying there [in the tomb], as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen.” Why is this detail significant? If someone had stolen Jesus’ body, would they have taken the time to fold up the burial cloth? Really?! Highly unlikely, as they would have been in a hurry to escape with the body.
  3. More than 500 people saw Jesus post-resurrection. If you read John 20:10-18, you will see that Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene. Continuing in John 20 and then John 21, plus Acts 1, you will see that four separate times, Jesus appeared to His disciples. In Luke 24:13-32, one of my favorite passages in all of Scripture, Jesus walks and talks with two of the disciples. In verse 27, we are told, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself.” How I would love to have been one of them! Finally, we are told in I Corinthians 15:6 this amazing nugget: “After that, He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.” Now, is it possible that these 500 people experienced a mass hallucination, as has been suggested? If you know anything about psychology, the suggestion is laughable. Or is it possible that they all lied? That brings me to the fourth piece of evidence.
  4. Torture and death of martyrs. I think the best way to express this is an extended quote from Charles Colson: “I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead; then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Every one was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren’t true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world–and they couldn’t keep a lie for three weeks. You’re telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.” Let me add a couple of things to Colson’s incredible observation: all 12 of the apostles (including Matthias, who took the place of the traitor Judas Iscariot) except John were martyred, and even John died in exile. In my most recent post, I wrote about persecuted Christians and how we should pray for them. Suffice it to say here that in the 20th century, it is estimated that more people died for their faith than in the previous 19 centuries combined–and that martyrdom continues in this century. These believers, now in heaven, continue to give evidence of Jesus’ resurrection.

In I Corinthians 15:13-14, we read, “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” Then in verse 20 we read, “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

As we approach what in some Christian traditions is known as Holy Week, culminating in that most glorious of days, Easter, the resurrection has taken on added significance for me; two of my sisters have preceded me to heaven within the past six months, but I know that I will be with them again, and that eventually, we will receive new bodies, imperishable ones that will live with the Lord forever.

The resurrection of Jesus was, and is, very real; the Bible tells us so, and there is a plethora of evidence that gives us assurance. Have a very blessed Easter!

How Should We Pray for Persecuted Christians?

“The 20th century has produced double the number of Christian martyrs [than] all the previous 19 centuries put together.” So concluded the Commission for the New Martyrs of the Great Jubilee around the turn of the millennium. Martyrdom continues in the 21st century, particularly in predominantly Muslim countries, as well as countries like China. In addition to those who make that ultimate sacrifice for Christ, there are plenty of God’s children who continue to live without rights that many others enjoy, to put it mildly.

In February 2018, over 100 girls were abducted from their school in Nigeria by Boko Haram, a group of Islamic militants. All of them were released within a month except for Leah Sharibu, who refused to deny her faith in Jesus Christ. At last report, she was still in captivity. At the time I first heard about her, I prayed that the Lord would keep her strong in her faith, and I have continued to do so since. I wondered, though, if that was how I should pray. If I were in captivity and were offered my freedom in return for renouncing my faith, how would I pray for myself, and how would I want others to pray for me?

2 Timothy 3:12 says, “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” This is a promise that understandably makes North American Christians very uncomfortable, but for those Christians who live in countries where persecution is the norm, this is not hard to understand. There’s another related verse, Acts 5:41, that astounded me the first time I read it in my early Christian walk. The context is that the apostles have just been flogged for teaching about Jesus in Jerusalem, but this verse says, “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.” I had to, and still have to, ask myself: Do I rejoice, for example, when I am mocked very personally and directly for my faith?

So, how should we pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters? I think one good way to answer this question is to ask them. There’s a church in China with about 22,000 members; they have four services every Sunday, with about 2000/service, and the church leadership asks that people attend only once every three weeks to make sure everyone has a chance to come. There are ~100 smaller groups meeting together as well. Here’s what the pastor said: “Persecution has caused us to grow.  Don’t pray that the persecution will stop; that makes us stronger.  That has built our faith.  I also pray for the church in America.  I’m praying that persecution will come to the church in America so that their faith will become strong.” If you live in the U.S., you probably don’t like that last sentence! However, this pastor understands that, at least in the Chinese context, persecution has made the church stronger. In 1949, when Mao Zedong and the Communist Party took over in China, it’s estimated that the number of Christians there was less than 1%. Now, after seven decades of persecution, the estimated percentage is somewhere between 5 and 10%; let’s call it 7.5%, which amazingly is the same current estimated percentage of Christians in the United States, but more than four times as many people!

The January 2021 issue of the Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) magazine reported that Mina, a believer in Indonesia, prayed for herself: “I just prayed in my heart that if it is time for me to die, I’m ready.”  The context is that Mina had been confronted by an angry man outside a mosque; she had been sharing the Gospel with a woman there. Now, would it have been wrong for her to pray that she not be harmed or killed? No, I don’t think so, but her focus was on the Lord, and if she had to die at that moment, so be it.

Here’s another story, this one from the March 2021 issue of VOM: Daniel is a pastor in Nigeria, which is divided into a Muslim-majority north and Christian-majority south. A concerned Christian from the U.K. once offered to help Daniel’s family get asylum after hearing that they witnessed to Muslims in Nigeria. Here is Daniel’s response: “You think God made a mistake keeping me in Nigeria? If you want to pray for me, pray that the Lord will give us safety there so that I can preach the gospel of Christ. This is where we live; the same with my wife, and thank God we are of the same mind.” Notice first of all that Daniel and his wife don’t want “asylum” in another country. Second, notice the reason he gives when asking for safety: so that he can preach the gospel of Christ.

Many years ago, when other Christian teachers and I were getting ready to leave for a summer of teaching in a Third World country, we heard a young man who spoke about the persecution he and his family had endured in that country. His little brother had been beaten to death in front of his family, yet he had died singing praises to the Lord. His mother had been thrown in prison, which she regarded as a mission field: she told many other prisoners, and even guards, about the Lord. As this young man spoke, I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room–certainly not mine. I also noticed a glow on his face. Since I was a very young believer at the time, afterwards I asked another teacher who I had been getting to know and who was much more mature in the faith about the glow; she had seen it, too. In fact, she said, “I heard his mother speaking yesterday morning at a church service; she had it, too!”

Is it wrong for us to pray for safety when we or others are being persecuted? I don’t believe so, but these examples will hopefully inspire us to focus on remaining strong in the faith, regardless of what may come. Speaking of: Cancel Culture will continue to restrict our religious freedoms here, so we should be aware and ready. If you don’t think so, perhaps you’ve heard of the so-called Equality Act, which prohibits discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity; the language of “gatherings” and “public accommodations and facilities” is vague enough to include churches.

A final note: I strongly recommend Safely Home by Randy Alcorn; it’s a novel, but it’s also very true-to-life in its account of persecution of Christians in China. In addition to being an incredible story, it has great spiritual truth throughout.

Planting, Watering, Harvesting

In 1984, when I was young in the faith, I had a roommate who was attending a Bible college. For one of his classes, he was required to do some door-to-door evangelism. One night when he came back to our apartment, he was excited because not only had someone invited him and his partner in to talk, but he had also accepted Christ! While I felt happy, I also felt a little uneasy, but I didn’t know why. Was it because I felt envious? Did I think that I should also be knocking on doors? Or was there something else?

Several months later, while I was attending a university in another city, someone knocked on my door. I invited him in and noticed he had a Four Spiritual Laws tract. He quickly started to explain the first spiritual law, but I interrupted him and told him I was already a Christian. Undeterred, my visitor continued his spiel, unwilling to listen whenever I tried to interrupt him. When he reached the “end,” I reminded him again that I was already a Christian, but he still said something about asking Jesus into my heart.

Thinking back on my roommate’s excitement a few months earlier, I understood my feeling of uneasiness. Had my roommate and his partner also behaved in this way when they talked to the man about Jesus? I sure hoped not! Don’t get me wrong; even though I would never do door-to-door evangelism, I know that people come to saving faith in the Lord in a wide variety of ways, including in that way. My guess, though, is that someone is not very likely to trust Jesus as Savior and Lord when someone is trying so hard to explain the Gospel that they have little or no regard for the person they’re explaining it to.

Scripture suggests another way to share the Gospel that I have found to be, dare I say, a better way because it takes more account of personhood. I Corinthians 3:5-7 says, “What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe–as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” In other words, sometimes you may plant the seed in a person’s life; they hear something of the Gospel for essentially the first time. Sometimes you may water the seed; a person already knows something of the Gospel, but they learn more of it from you. The Bible also often speaks of harvest as a metaphor for people who put their faith in Christ; sometimes you may even have the privilege of being there for that moment. Regardless, as Scripture says, it is God Who makes the seed grow.

In the 1980s and 1990s, my wife and I spent five years teaching in a foreign country; in the 2000s, when our kids were 10 and 13, I was able to get a short-term summer teaching contract in that same country, so we all went back there for a few weeks. One of my students, who I’ll call Mr. Intellectual, often dropped in to visit; several of his questions were spiritually related. Three years after that, at the urging of our kids (!), I again secured a short-term summer contract at the same university. I had e-mailed Mr. Intellectual prior to our departure from the U.S., but I hadn’t heard back. However, the Lord brought him across my wife’s path one day; we were amazed at the Lord’s arrangement of that on a very crowded campus.  Mr. Intellectual had many more spiritual questions during our remaining time there.  Before we left, we put him in touch with someone who would be able to meet with him and continue to answer his questions. 

On Christmas Day of that year, we received an e-mail from Mr. Intellectual:  “Today is Christmas Day.  It’s very meaningful for me since I have taken Jesus as my Savior.  Thank you so much for leading me to the world of Christian.”  With eyes a bit misty, we agreed that was our best Christmas present, perhaps ever!

Around that time, another former student, this one from the 1990s, contacted us to tell us that she and her husband were now living in the U.S. and wanted to visit us. While they were with us, she (I’ll call her Mrs. Seeker) had many spiritually-related questions, with a somewhat more life-application focus; she had already learned something about Christianity. A couple years later, we heard from her again; she said that she had become a Christian. She asked me, “Do you remember that evening when you and I were talking while you were washing the dishes?” I replied that I did except that I didn’t remember the exact things we had talked about. She said, “Well, that conversation was very important in my coming to faith in Jesus.” She said that there were other people who had answered further questions as well.

In the case of both Mr. Intellectual and Mrs. Seeker, the Lord gave us the privilege of watering; in the case of Mr. Intellectual, also planting. We were not there for the moment of harvest, when they put their faith in Christ, but that in no way lessened our joy! In addition, there have been other times when we have been there for the moment when someone we know and love has prayed to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord.

Imagine traveling through a Third World country with a colleague. He is a citizen of that country, but you are not. You need a place to spend the night, so you get two rooms at a small motel where both of you are allowed to stay. The motel is lacking in certain amenities, like towels, so you dry yourself off with an extra bed sheet. Your colleague comes to your room to talk. You have previously talked some with him about the Lord, and now he wants to ask some more questions. That very night, he asks Jesus into his heart.

I have been a little hesitant to write this post because I don’t want to come across as boastful. My intention is simply to say that as the Lord brings people into our lives, sometimes we have the opportunity to tell them something about Him. And as we are faithful, sometimes we have the joy of seeing people that we have loved come to faith in Jesus. I would encourage you to keep planting and watering even when you don’t see fruit right away!

Always Be Prepared to Give an Answer

The title of this post is taken from 1 Peter 3:15-16, which says, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.”

A lot of Christians think about these verses in terms of giving your testimony, that is, sharing with someone how you came to saving faith in Jesus and the changes in your life since then. Don’t get me wrong; that is a very important first step, if you will. However, there’s much more to sharing your faith than giving your testimony. Sometimes the Lord brings people across our path that we have a chance to engage with about issues and big questions.

A pastor that I know (not mine) had such an opportunity a couple of years ago. He told about how he had been in a barber shop, waiting to get a haircut, when he overheard two other men talking about an important issue. It became obvious that neither one was a Christian, so he had an opportunity to share a Christian perspective. As this pastor was telling the story, my heart sank because I guessed what was coming next: he failed to share that perspective. The good news is that he realized later–and even somewhat in the moment–that he had failed. He succumbed to the fear of “offending” these other two men. However, more good news: he said that he would not fail the next time the Lord presented him with such an opportunity.

I couldn’t help thinking at the time of another story, this one involving a teacher that I know. He was attending a conference for ESL teachers, and one of the sessions he attended was about teaching argumentation in writing.  The presenter, a teacher, shared how she had put students into groups to choose a topic from a list, discuss it, and then later write about it.  Several groups chose to write against same-sex marriage, using the Bible as their primary, or in some cases only, support.

As the presenter spoke, the other teachers who were present, including my friend, chimed in with questions and comments.  Some questioned whether the Bible was a legitimate source for students to use since:

  1. We supposedly don’t even know who wrote it;
  2. It supposedly says nothing against homosexuality;
  3. It supposedly condones slavery, stoning of children, and wife-beating.

In a matter-of-fact way, my friend refuted Number 2 by quoting Scripture (a self-proclaimed lesbian asked him to do so). Specifically, he quoted a portion of Romans 1:26-27, which she attentively listened to and didn’t argue with. He also refuted the last part of Number 3, noting that wife-beating comes from the Qur’an, not the Bible. (He didn’t have time to refute everything!) He also said that students should be allowed to use the Bible as a source, but that they should also have other sources; however, since same-sex marriage had been in existence for a mere five-six years at that time (and not in the U.S. yet), he said that it was a difficult topic to argue either for or against in terms of, for example, the effects it has on the children of homosexual couples. Given another three to four decades, it would be much easier to argue for or against it.

I tell this second story to give an example of what I Peter 3:15-16 tells us to do. If my friend had instead spoken about how he came to saving faith in Jesus, it would have been inappropriate; these people needed to hear the truth of God’s Word in response to their misconceptions about it. Note that in order to refute these misconceptions, my friend had to know the Bible. I hope that each of us who claims to be a Christian is regularly in the Word so that we can always be prepared to give an answer.

Spiritual Maturity and Response to Hardship

I’ve been thinking about two different responses to hardship that I’ve heard in the last couple of years. One was by someone who has been a brother for several years and had also been in church leadership for some time. The other was by someone who has been a sister for about three years. You might expect that the more mature response (in a spiritual sense) would be by the person who has been a Christian longer, but I’m sure most of us know very young-in-the-faith Christians who are more spiritually mature in some ways than people who have been Christians for many years.

The brother that I mentioned had an opportunity to talk with a non-Christian who told him something about her life experiences. When it became clear that he was a Christian, she became rather combative. Specifically, she told him about her mother, who had died within the past couple of years. Then she asked him if God was loving, why He had allowed her mother to die. The brother’s answer was, “I don’t know.” Period. When he told the story, I was expecting something like, “I don’t know, but…”

Sometimes in such a moment, we don’t know what to say, but then later, we realize how we could have responded differently. However, the brother seemed rather satisfied with his response; the main reason was that he hadn’t “offended” the woman in that moment. On the other hand, it also seemed as time went on that he didn’t really have the spiritual maturity to respond differently. Maybe that’s one of the reasons he is no longer in a position of church leadership.

When I heard the story, the first Scripture that came to mind was Luke 13:1-5. In verses 4-5, Jesus says, “Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them–do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” As this applies to the woman that my brother in Christ talked to: her mother was not “more guilty” than anyone else; after all, the entire human race is under the bondage of sin, but Jesus frees those who believe. This woman still had the chance to repent. Now, would I have quoted these verses to her in that moment? Probably not, but I would have said something like, “I don’t know about your mom, but I know that you still have the chance to trust Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord.” In fact, in another very similar situation, that’s what I did. I don’t say this to boast, but simply to respond to I Peter 3:15, which says, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” I believe this verse applies to people who are just being combative as well as to people who are sincerely seeking answers.

At the outset, I mentioned two people, one of them a sister who has been a believer about three years. She experienced two rather extreme hardships in a short period of time. First, her husband died; then she developed cancer. She also has two young children. That kind of combination would be devastating to anyone, but here are some things that she said in her testimony last year:

“God allows certain situations to happen in our lives for us to examine how we respond. All these situations are allowed by God.

Despite my doubts, God used the opportunity to strengthen my faith, understanding His grace and mercy. He will strengthen me in time of weakness.

The hardship we endure is actually a disguise for His wonderful blessing.”

Wow, and wow! Frankly, if my wife were to die and I were to develop cancer soon afterward, I doubt I would have the spiritual maturity that this young sister has. And I don’t have young kids anymore, either! This sister came to saving faith during her hardships because of the love she experienced from the church that she and her kids had started attending. A couple in the church even offered to take in her children and raise them as their own if she died. (She didn’t; the Lord used doctors to completely eradicate her cancer.)

Maybe you think that I’m comparing apples to oranges because the brother I wrote about was not responding to his own hardship, while the sister was. However, the key point is spiritual maturity, not how closely the situations match. May the Lord give all of us discernment and understanding in how we respond to hardship, whether in our own lives or the lives of others, and whether those people are believers or not.