President Trump Participates in Easter Blessing for Americans from Oval Office on Good Friday

Joel Kontinen


In an Oval Office address Friday, President Donald Trump called on Americans to pray for God to “heal our nation,” before asking a clergy member to offer an Easter blessing.

“On this Good Friday, Christians from all around the world remember the suffering and death upon the cross of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,” Trump began his remarks.

“At Easter Sunday, we will celebrate his glorious resurrection,” he continued.

“At this holy time, our nation is engaged in a battle like never before with the invisible enemy,” the president said in reference to the coronavirus outbreak.

Trump then said he had high regard for the doctors, nurses and first responders who had taken issue against COVID-19. He also thanked the Vice President MIKE and his wife Karen and said he was feeling their support in prayer.

"He next invited Bishop Harry Jackson from Hope Christian Fellowship in Beltsville, Maryland, near Washington, D.C., to offer an Easter blessing.

The clergyman referenced the Passover story in the Bible’s book of Exodus, when a plague went through the land of Egypt, but did not come into the Jewish homes marked with lamb’s blood on their doorposts and lintels.

“Lord, let the death angel pass over,” Jackson prayed.

“Let there be a mitigation of this plague, this disease. Let medical science come forth. Lord, let us come out with a thriving economy.”

Trump's Easter sermon is quite unlike Joe Biden's messy Declaration of independence think that is a clear antithesis to Trump's speech.

Source:

DeSoto, Randy. 2020. President Trump Participates in Easter Blessing for Americans from Oval Office on Good Friday Western Journal 10 April.

Ancient Writers Were Unable to Deny the Historicity of Jesus

Jesus’ tomb is still empty. Image courtesy of Phillip Benshmuel, CC BY-SA 4.0.





Joel Kontinen

There is strong evidence for the historicity of Jesus. Of non-biblical 1st and 2nd century writers, Josephus (37–100), Tacitus (55–117), Suestonius (69–140), Plinius the Younger (ca. 61–113), Lukianos (125–190), Celsus and Mara bar Serapion either mention Him by name or refer to His crucifixion.

Even those who were antagonistic towards Christianity were unable to deny that He was a real historical person though they might have doubted His divinity.

Writing in Biblical Archaeology Review, Associate Professor Lawrence Mykytiuk discusses 1st and 2nd century non-biblical authors who wrote about or referred to Jesus or His followers. “As far as we know, no ancient person ever seriously argued that Jesus did not exist,” he concludes.

Quoting New Testament Professor Robert Van Voorst, he says,”No pagans and Jews who opposed Christianity denied Jesus’ historicity or even questioned it.”

Professor Van Voorst went on to say, “If anyone in the ancient world had a reason to dislike the Christian faith, it was the rabbis. To argue successfully that Jesus never existed but was a creation of early Christians would have been the most effective polemic against Christianity … [Yet] all Jewish sources treated Jesus as a fully historical person … The rabbis … used the real events of Jesus’ life against him.”

So, if someone comes up with a conspiracy theory that denies the historicity of Jesus or the resurrection, we know it is a fable.

The real Jesus lived on Earth for a little while, suffered for our sins, and rose from the dead.

The empty tomb reminds us that the Gospels recount real history.

Source:

Mykytiuk, Lawrence. 2015. Did Jesus Exist? Searching for Evidence Beyond the Bible. Biblical Archaeology Review 41 (1), 44–51, 76.

Easter: The Resurrected Christ Lives in Spite of Conspiracy Theories and Fake News

Image: El Greco (1580): Jesus Carrying the Cross, Public domain.




Joel Kontinen

Easter seems to be a difficult time for unbelievers. While Christians celebrate the passion of Jesus Christ that brings salvation for all who believe in Him, atheists and other sceptics try to explain why they are unwilling to accept the testimony of hundreds of reliable witnesses who saw the Lord Jesus alive after the resurrection.

They have invented several conspiracy theories as an excuse for not believing a historical fact.

The Apostle Paul says that Jesus is the Last Adam.

The first Adam brought death into the world by eating from a tree.

The Last Adam overcame death by dying on a tree.

Just in time for Easter, Graham Lawton asks whether atheism is a religion. While he would not agree with my conclusion, atheism requires faith. It relies on a speculative and ever-changing narrative of how we got here.

In contrast, the Bible is based on true history. Jesus’ empty tomb confirms that He is truly risen.

Have a blessed Easter time!

Source:

Lawton, Graham. 2017. Faith of the faithless: Is atheism just another religion? New Scientist (11 April).

Jesus: Real History, Real Resurrection and Tall Conspiracy Theories

The empty tomb testifies of Jesus’ resurrection. Image courtesy of Wikipedia (GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2).



Joel Kontinen


When Jesus’ tomb was empty and the early disciples went to tell others of the unexpected news,

some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, saying, “Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure.” So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. (Matthew 28: 11–15, NKJV.)

A soldier caught sleeping while he was supposed to do guard duty would have been executed, so the conspiracy theory was by no means credible.

It was a desperate attempt to explain away the obvious, i.e., that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead.

Moreover, if He had truly risen, He had to be God.

Throughout the centuries, sceptics have invented many excuses for not taking the eyewitness accounts in the gospels as real history.

But these attempts (for instance, Mistaken Identity, Swoon Theory, Body Moved, Visions, Annihilation) fail to account for the consequences of the resurrection.

Before the resurrection, the disciples were hiding behind locked doors. Visions or make-belief could not transform them into bold witnesses who “turned the world upside down”. Even sceptics like Paul and Jesus’ brother James joined their ranks.

Rejecting Jesus’ resurrection amounts to denying history.

Source:


Chaffey, Tim. 2014. Resurrection—No Doubt About It . Answers 9 (2). Answers in Genesis (March 11).

There's No Evidence for God, Sceptic Claims – But Stumbles with Facts

El Greco: Christ carrying His cross (1580). Image courtesy of Wikipedia.




Joel Kontinen



Easter is a time that sceptics don’t like. It reminds them of one of the greatest miracles of all time. The Last Adam, God who had become a man, died for the sins of the first Adam and entire humankind.

Several centuries before His incarnation, the Old Testament prophets had predicted many fine details of His life, for instance, His mother’s virginity, His birthplace (Bethlehem), the manner of His death (crucifixion) and even burial (in a rich man’s tomb), accurately.

However, in a fact-free article, John Prytz ignores this evidence, claiming:

“There's no evidence for the existence of God, yet there is massive amounts of evidence for the reality of the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and especially Santa Claus. But we know that the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and especially Santa Claus are fictitious or mythological and have no basis in reality.”

Mr. Prytz assumes that this proves that God does not exist. In effect, he seems to believe that the universe made itself from nothing for no reason. Denying history, he chooses to take an outdated Darwinian approach to religion (i.e., monotheism evolved from polytheism).

Fortunately, disbelief in God does not make Him non-existent. Easter reminds us that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and He lives.

Source

Prytz, John. 2014. In Santa Claus, The Tooth Fairy And The Easter Bunny We Trust. Ezine Articles (April 4).

The road that led to the cross

Joel Kontinen

”Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). Here they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.” (John 19: 17-18)

The Gospel Road is a film featuring Johnny Cash and the Carter Family. It describes the journey that Jesus took – the road that changed history:



Have a blessed Easter time!