Real Conspiracies Are Ultimately Revealed . . . as Is the Truth!

Good morning, Happy Souls!

Bill Keller wrote a wonderful devotional today
that I highly recommend to you.  He has given
me permission to copy his e-mails, and I'm sure
he would be happy if you would share this with
people you know as well.

Read on.

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL    FRIDAY DECEMBER 30, 2005
(1 Corinthians 15)

Why the exposure of Watergate's "deepthroat" is
important to a Christian. For political and history
buffs, the identity of the infamous "deepthroat,"
that mysterious high level anonymous source of
inside information about the early '70s scandal that
ultimately led to the resignation of President
Richard Nixon, has been one of the best kept secrets
ever.  Over the past 3 decades, there has been
tremendous speculation who "deepthroat" was, with
only a handful of people knowing the answer to that
great mystery.  Last June, Mark Felt, the former
number two man at the FBI during the early '70s
admitted to being "deepthroat."  As I watched the
news coverage unfold over the weeks, I couldn't help
but to think how this one isolated event in
American history strengthened the case for the
Christian faith.

Every person comes to faith in Christ in a different
way, for different reasons.  Once you are saved, as
you grow and mature in your faith there is usually
some point in that maturation process that you can
look back on and say, "that is the moment that I knew,
that I knew, that I knew it was all true.  Jesus is
who He says He is and God's Word is the Truth."  Again,
that happens in different ways, at different times for
each person.  For me, it actually happened as I was
going through my seminary education during a course on
the resurrection.  It hit me like a ton of bricks that
if the resurrection of Jesus Christ really happened,
it was all true.

The reason the resurrection of Jesus is the greatest
historical event is because it is the absolute key to
our faith.  Paul said in his first letter to the
church at Corinth in the 15th chapter, that if Christ
did not rise from the dead, then we are still dead in
our sin and most vain of all. However, if He did rise
from the dead, then we have the assurance that our
sins are forgiven and of everlasting life.  You see,
Jesus is either the biggest fraud in the history of
mankind or He is exactly who He claims to be...the
Son of God.  The resurrection is the key event.

The historical evidence of Christ's resurrection is
irrefutable.  The fact that He died on a Roman cross,
the claims of His followers seeing the risen Lord,
evidence of the empty tomb, the inability of the
Jewish leaders to disprove the resurrection claims
in the very city Jesus died and was buried, and the
radical transformation in the lives of His disciples
are all well documented.  You also have Jesus' own
predictions of His resurrection as well as the fact
that soon after was the birth of the Christian church
that started meeting on Sunday.  That is significant
since these were monotheistic Jews who were used to
worshipping on Saturday.

I want to use the story of Watergate's "deepthroat"
to zero in on one of the arguments people make to
try and prove the resurrection never really
happened. One explanation given by those who reject
the reality of Christ's resurrection is that His
disciples stole His body and disposed of it
somehow.  That sounds like a reasonable theory to
explain the FACT that Christ's body was no longer
in the tomb where He was buried.

Just out of curiosity, how many times have you ever
been to a cemetery and seen guards at someone's
gravesite?  The reason there were guards at the
tomb of Jesus was because the Jewish leaders were
afraid that His disciples or followers would steal
His body and then claim that He had been resurrected.
Don't forget, they knew that Christ had prophesied
His resurrection and they wanted to make sure nobody
would come to steal His body so His prophecy would
appear to come true.

For the sake of argument, let's say that those
sympathetic to Jesus did somehow manage to steal His
body.  This means there would have been a certain
number of people who knew that He did not rise from
the dead as He had said He would, and that for them
to claim He did was an outright lie. It would have
meant those who really knew the truth would have had
to keep their mouths shut and never tell anyone what
really happened.  My friend, conspiracies like this
never work.  At some point they unravel, the truth
always comes out.

There is no way those who would have been part of
this conspiracy, those who knew the truth would have
been able to keep this secret for very long,
especially due to the fact people were dying because
of their belief that Christ had indeed risen from
the dead.  PEOPLE WILL LIVE FOR A KNOWN LIE, BUT
PEOPLE ARE NOT GOING TO DIE FOR A KNOWN LIE!  These
very people who would have been part of this
conspiracy would be literally giving their very
life for what they knew to be a lie.  Again, people
will live for a known lie, but they aren't going to
die for a known lie!

Lastly, look at the lives of the men who followed
Jesus.  These men were transformed from meek followers
of our Lord who when it really counted, ran out of
fear for their lives, to some of the most bold and
powerful leaders of the faith the world has ever seen.
Each one of these men came to a place where they were
martyred for their faith in Christ.  These men who
abandoned the Lord in the Garden to save their own
life, would not have later died for His sake had the
resurrection simply been a great hoax.  I submit to
you today that these men could never have been so
transformed by a lie, but were transformed by the
truth and reality of the risen Savior.

I love you and care about you so very much.  My
friend, the Christian faith has never meant to be
a blind leap in the dark.  God never asked His
children to just believe without any evidence of
what we believe in.  He has given us plenty of
tangible historical evidence to help us know without
a doubt that what is in His inspired, inerrant Word
is the ABSOLUTE TRUTH. Absolute truth that you can
stake your very life on.

Of course, once we get to the point we accept the
resurrection as a fact, and we accept His Word as
TRUTH, it then demands that we totally and
unconditionally surrender our very life to Him.
That becomes the logical conclusion of this spiritual
journey.  Because you see, it is not our life any
longer, it belongs to Him.  Our purpose is to simply
serve and glorify Him with our lives.

I pray that today you will recommit your life to
Jesus.  We can all do better.  None of us have given
it ALL to Him...we can give Him more.  Make this day
the day that you realize that Jesus rose from the
dead, to insure that you will live for eternity with
Him if you have accepted Him into your heart and life
by faith.  May you be richly blessed as we stand
together to proclaim to this hurting and dying world
that Jesus Christ is the Lord of Lords and the King
of Kings. HE IS RISEN INDEED!

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller

***If I can help you in any way you can contact me
through my personal email at bkeller@liveprayer.com

***ARE YOU 100% CERTAIN WHERE YOU WILL SPEND
ETERNITY?  The fact is you will die one day.  At
that moment, you will either spend eternity with
the Lord or be cast into everlasting darkness
forever separated from God your creator.  To know
for certain you will be forever with Jesus, go to:
http://www.liveprayer.com/bdy_salvatn.html

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(C) Copyright 2005, Bill Keller Ministries.
All rights reserved

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May God bless you as you learn from this message!

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell