1 John 2:19 ~ "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us."
Normally I reserved this space to take a slightly different approach in discussing the condition of the church. My more Bible study oriented material can be found at The Dunamis Word 2. With that said however, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to do a little teaching on the Resurrection of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, because it and the complete Biblical record are under more scrutiny and flat out attacks today than seemingly ever before.
The resurrection of Jesus is arguably the most debated and discussed topic in history. In fact, the resurrection is the centerpiece of Christianity. Without it, Jesus becomes nothing more than a man and in fact the most deceitful man that ever lived on the face of the Earth. Paul too understood this and said to the Corinthian church in about AD55:
I Cor. 15:17-19 ~ "And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable."
For those who don’t already know, there is a new round of form and textual criticism has been levied against the church through books and publications from individuals and educators such as Microbiologist Richard Dawkins
who in his book 'The God Delusion' claims supremacy of manking and materialism over God because, in his world, God does not exist. Therefore, according to Dawkins, the Bible is little more than a collection of pious fictions and is irrelevent to the plight of mankind. Dawkins is at odds with all religion but especially the Christian religion and dogma.
Richard Carrier who in his book ‘The Empty Tomb’ argues that "the earliest Christians probably believed Jesus had received a new body in the resurrection, and that stories of his old body disappearing from its tomb were developed later." He also argues it is less likely but still possible the original body of Jesus was misplaced or stolen. There are others such as reported atheist Robert Price who is the Chair Of Theological Studies at Johnnie Coleman Theological Seminary, and Fellow of the Jesus Seminar. Has also, in books, such as ‘The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man’, ‘Deconstructing Jesus’ and ‘Beyond Born Again: On Putting Away Childish Things,’ has consistently challenged Biblical literalism and has argued for a more skeptical and humanistic approach to Christianity. He has
also helped popularize the Gnostic tradition and has questioned the idea of a historical Jesus. Among atheists and agnostics his books and publications are very popular.There continues to be a growing list of other atheists, agnostics, skeptics, and so called free-thinkers, promoting a continued rise in ant-Christ and anti-Biblical sentiments.
Even some "supposedly" Christian scholars such as fundamentalist Bart D. Ehrman 
who is currently a confirmed and "happy agnostic" and the author of 'Misquoting Jesus' (Click Here For A Summary Critique) and 'Orthodox Corruption Of Scripture' , have gone off the deep end into fantasy and sensationalism. Ehrman is also the Religious Studies Professor at UNC Chapel Hill. Professor Ehrman has concentrated on various aspects of Walter Bauer's thesis that Christianity was always diversified or at odds with itself. Ehrman is often considered a pioneer in connecting the history of the early church to textual variants within biblical manuscripts and in coining such terms as "Proto-orthodox Christianity." Professor Ehrman recently received much press and accolades from atheists with claims that the bible is unreliable and full of as many as 200,000 material errors called variants. What he fails to admit is that his number represents less than 5% of the Biblical text and most of the variants that he claims are a result of spelling and translation errors. Beyond that the rest of the supposed variants primarily deal with changes that had to be made to clarify meaning of the text, such as changing pronouns like "he and they" to proper nouns like "Jesus and The Disciples". In short when all things are considered there is no change in any essential doctrine that the Bible sets forth and certainly no change in any mainline Christian beliefs.
Then finally there are the near religiously insane such as Fr. John Dominic Crossan
Co- founder of the Jesus Seminar who maintains the Gospels were never intended to be taken literally by their authors and the Body of Jesus was probably eaten by dogs ('Search For Jesus' ABC June 26th 2000) and possibly even drug through the streets.
who is currently a confirmed and "happy agnostic" and the author of 'Misquoting Jesus' (Click Here For A Summary Critique) and 'Orthodox Corruption Of Scripture' , have gone off the deep end into fantasy and sensationalism. Ehrman is also the Religious Studies Professor at UNC Chapel Hill. Professor Ehrman has concentrated on various aspects of Walter Bauer's thesis that Christianity was always diversified or at odds with itself. Ehrman is often considered a pioneer in connecting the history of the early church to textual variants within biblical manuscripts and in coining such terms as "Proto-orthodox Christianity." Professor Ehrman recently received much press and accolades from atheists with claims that the bible is unreliable and full of as many as 200,000 material errors called variants. What he fails to admit is that his number represents less than 5% of the Biblical text and most of the variants that he claims are a result of spelling and translation errors. Beyond that the rest of the supposed variants primarily deal with changes that had to be made to clarify meaning of the text, such as changing pronouns like "he and they" to proper nouns like "Jesus and The Disciples". In short when all things are considered there is no change in any essential doctrine that the Bible sets forth and certainly no change in any mainline Christian beliefs.Then finally there are the near religiously insane such as Fr. John Dominic Crossan
Co- founder of the Jesus Seminar who maintains the Gospels were never intended to be taken literally by their authors and the Body of Jesus was probably eaten by dogs ('Search For Jesus' ABC June 26th 2000) and possibly even drug through the streets.
These men and others have rejected the faith, claiming that Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, and that the scriptures are erroneous and contradictory, and because of their weakness, continue to postulate ridiculous fantasies with no basis in actual events, facts, or history.
The aim of the enemy through them is to create doubt against the clear and overwhelming evidence for the historicity of the Jesus of the Bible and the resurrection account which confirms that only Jesus has power over life, death and sin.
II Timothy 4:4 ~ "And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables"
It is interesting to note that these men have done this because of the foolishness of their hearts. It is crucial that the Christian is able to know not only what he or she believes, but also why he or she believes it.
Romans 1:21~ "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened"
Because of the danger of abundant error, ignorance can not be an excuse for the serious follower of Jesus. I have written The Historical Fact Of The Resurrected Jesus In this article I will set forth some of the primary reasons why we as Christians can rest assured that our savior lives and that he rose on the third day as he said he would some 2000 years ago.
The anti-Christ advocate looses EVERY battle and looses the war. I read the end of the book.
Heb. 10:35 ~ "Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward."
Blessed! Read more!
