April Fool?

Growing up I always loved April Fool's day. Of course, playing a trick on someone else was more fun than having one played on me, but even the latter was OK - it was fun! This year April Fool's day is just days apart from Easter, and that got me to thinking. There are so many who would like for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ to be some kind of a joke played by the early church on us and on themselves. As a believer who has not only been regenerated, but filled with the Holy Spirit, I have personal, experiential knowledge of the truth of Easter. But there are always those who say, "What if you are wrong? What if you are just deluding yourself?" Without agreeing that this is true, it is still a question that deserves an answer. What if I am deluding myself? First, I would ask, what if you are deluding yourself that the resurrection, the single most attested event in the ancient world, didn't happen? If I am willing to at least entertain the possibility that I am wrong are others who claim the resurrection didn't happen also willing to do so? Because if we will both do that, we will both have to admit this one truth: If I am wrong, I will never know it. If death is truly the cessation of existence, then when I die I will be no more and will not know that I was wrong to believe the overwhelming testimony of history that Jesus Christ did raise from the dead. But if you are wrong, you will know that you were - and the Bible says that will be too late. Now, putting one's faith in Jesus Christ ought not to be done strictly as an insurance policy. But the consequences are so enormous that it certainly is true that I should examine the evidence as closely and thoroughly as possible. I have done so, from every angle I can think of or imagine. I read books by atheists as well as believers, and every one in between. The stakes are too high to put it off. I am convinced that a fair hearing, entered into with a simultaneous request for God - if there is a God - to reveal Himself in Jesus Christ, will result in a growing faith. In the meantime, let me proclaim with all that I have, "The Lord is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!"

Pastor Ken