DeeGeesLifeBlog ~ Life as Art ~ Or is it Heart?

There’s an old stone church in Howfen Town

The timeless proclamation from Hebrews 13:8 rings down through the ages as affirmation of the man, Jesus Christ, come to earth through a virgin’s birth, on a divine mission of salvation, and the healing of the nations and redemption back unto God from the wrath and perdition of one rebel of rebels, Satan. To inject just one particle of politics into this revelatory exposition of the Triune Divinity of Jesus Christ, it is to this same Satan (under his nom de plume, Lucifer) that Saul Alinsky dedicated his “Rules for Radicals” as a warring call-to-arms of the most vicious of the progressive-left-leaning-liberal Democrat Marxist-Socialists bringing ruin and destruction upon the United States and other continents around the world. No wonder We The People are in the fight of our lives – “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” ~ II Corinthians 11:14

The majority of Atheists notwithstanding, I am about to give you the comments, opinions, and outright expositions of the authority and deity of Jesus Christ through the writings of scholars down the ages, that will, more likely than not, astound you. In addition to strengthening your own faith and belief, my prayer is that this piece might settle comfortably within your archive of gems, to be read often and studiously, so that when the enemy confronts you in the form of “angels of light” you will be more than equipped to place him quietly back on his steady tread to Hades.

One time on their stroll to a gathering, Jesus asked his disciples a challenging question: “And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am? And they answered, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets. And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ.” ~ Mark 8:27-29

What an exquisite artist God is …

So, let us journey back through the centuries and consider what others have said about Jesus. Skeptics often claim that the Scriptures from the Bible are not believable, yet testimonies about Jesus’ life and resurrection come from historians, philosophers, scientists, churchmen, and yes, even atheists. Evidence is substantiated in scrolls of antiquity, quill-stained parchments, and modern communications.

Centuries of history document testimony concerning Jesus. As early as the first century, a Jewish historian by the name of Flavius Josephus, whose personal acceptance of Jesus as Messiah is debatable, confirmed the impact Jesus Christ made on his followers:

About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man .. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Messiah. When Pilate .. had condemned him to be crucified, those who had in the first place come to love him did not give up their affection for him. On the third day he appeared to them restored to life, for the prophets of God had prophesied these and countless other marvelous things about him. And the tribe of the Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared.

Justin Martyr and Tertullian, second-century historians and philosophers, refer to the existence of an official document in Rome from Pontius Pilate that speaks of Jesus’ crucifixion: “Tiberius .. having himself received intelligence from Palestine of events which had clearly shown the truth of Christ’s divinity, brought the matter before the senate, with his own decision in favor of Christ.”

In fact, the acts of Pontius Pilate related to Jesus’ trial, crucifixion, and resurrection are documented by quite a few early sources, most notably Justin, Tertullian, and Eusebius, who reported on their examination of letters from Pilate to Tiberius Caesar regarding the trial and execution of Jesus. While many call into question the authenticity of such resources, it is not so inconceivable to believe that the most dramatic event in Israel would not be properly documented by the ruling procurator of Judea, who would be expected to give full account to the emperor of Rome.

He is everything …

The fourth-century Roman emperor named Julian the Apostate opposed Christians and wrote of them disparagingly, yet even his insults bear witness: “Jesus .. has now been celebrated about three hundred years having done nothing in his lifetime worthy of fame, unless anyone thinks it is a very great work to heal lame and blind people and exorcise demoniacs .. These impious Galileans not only feed their own poor, but ours also; welcoming them into their agapae (love).

The Athenian philosopher Socrates lived four centuries before Jesus and was engaged in the pursuit of truth. His most famous quote is “I know that I know nothing.” Though this famous Greek left no written work behind him, we know about him because his followers, particularly Plato, “wrote their recollections of what he had said and done.” One writer has noted that “Socrates taught for 40 years, Plato for 50, Aristotle for 40, and Jesus for only 3. Yet the influence of Christ’s 3-year ministry infinitely transcends the impact left by the combined 130 years of teaching from these men who were among the greatest philosophers of all antiquity. This opinion echoes that of Augustine in the fourth century: “I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are very wise and very beautiful; but I never read in either of them – Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden.”

In the beginning, God created …

Many centuries later in the 1700s, the influential Swiss-French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote admiringly of Jesus: “If the life and death of Socrates are those of a sage, the life and death of Jesus are those of a God. Shall we suppose the evangelic history a mere fiction? .. it bears not the marks of fiction. On the contrary, the history of Socrates, which nobody presumes to doubt, is not so well attested as that of Jesus Christ.

And since the truth of Christ is absolute, his life and death confirms the fulfillment of his resurrection.

Johan Sebastian Bach’s masterpieces of the eighteenth century were centered on Christ’s death and resurrection. When Bach died in 1750, it was said that he “yielded up his blessed soul to his savior.”

To be continued next week with attributions from Napoleon; Vincent Van Gogh; Lord Byron; H.G.Wells; Charles Dickens; Daniel Webster; and others …

Sole Deo Gloria …

A rose by any other name is still a rose..

Sourced from “The Reason for my Hope” by Billy Graham