pastor's article 04-20-25

As I was preparing this week, I came across this article and wanted to share it with you.
“Back in the 1880s, Nietzsche declared that ‘God is dead,’ and before the turn of the Twentieth Century, Shaw and Wells chimed in saying the Twentieth Century would mark the end of the world's ‘religious phase.
Yet, today a church now meets in Russia's Museum of Religion and Atheism -the former center of atheism. Nearly half of the United States' population attends worship on a regular basis while revival is sweeping through Latin America and Christianity grows behind China's iron curtain. Nietzsche, Shaw and Wells have long since decayed in their graves, and God continues to live!”  (From Fresh Illustrations http://www.freshministry.org)
 That's the message of Easter. He is risen. He is risen, indeed!
Why do we believe? “Recently an African Muslim was converted to Christ. When someone asked him why he had become a Christian, he answered, "Well, it's like this. Suppose you were going down a road when suddenly it forked in two directions, and you didn't know which way to take. There at the fork in the road you could see two persons, one dead and one alive. Of which one would you inquire the way?" (Dr. John T. Seamands)
This is a supreme difference between Islam and the gospel. The Muslim regards both Muhammad and Christ as prophets of God. Whereas Muhammad lived and died and passed from the scene of history, Jesus lived, died, and arose!
Muhammad died, and was buried. His faithful followers take pilgrimages to visit his remains. The same is true of Buddha and other religious leaders. But it is not true of Jesus. You cannot visit His remains; you can visit only his empty grave because He isn't there. He Arose!
Pastor,
Rev. Wayne Marcus