Page 3603 - 1970S

From asharned anonymity to
open acknowledgernent, frorn
hiding behind closed doors to
standing on platforms before thou–
sands of Jews, frorn talking in whis–
pers to boldly proclaiming the
gospe1 with great power and con–
viction, frorn trying desperately to
Part killed the Pr ince of life, whom God
hath raised from the dead; whereof
we are witnesses , (Acts 3: 14-15).
Did They Change Their Minds
Wt4s THE Under Pressure?
Were all these fervent speeches just
an emotional rnanifestation of hav–
ing seen a series of lose themselves in
crowds to openly
jeopardizing their
very lives- such is
the unbelievable RESURRECTION hallucination s?
Would that fervor
stand up to the in–
sistent pressure of a
transforrnation of a
small cadre of men destined to alter
the course of history.
"We Are All Witnesses"
These men were eyewitnesses to one
of .the greatest events in all of
human history- the resurrection of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth. They saw
Hirn ; they talked with Him; they ate
wi th Him; they touched Him-they
did all these things after they knew
He had been dead and buried for
three days and three nights.
No wonder they powerfully
preached and proclaimed the resur–
rection over and over again. Peter,
in his very first sermon on the day of
Pentecost, boldly said to the thou–
sands gathered at Jerusalem: "Ye
men of Israel, hear these words;
Jesus of Nazareth, a roan approved
of God among you by miracles and
wonders and signs, which God did
by him in the midst of you, as ye
yourselves also know: Him, being
delivered by the determínate coun–
sel and foreknowledge of God, ye
have taken, and by wicked hands
have crucified and slain: whom God
hath raised up, having loosed· the
pains of death: because it was not
possible that he should be holden of
it" (Acts 2:22-24).
A little later in the sermon, Pe ter
restated it to his hearers: "This Jesus
hath God raised up, whereof we a/1
are witnesses" (verse 32). All the
apostles were eyewitnesses to the
fact that Jesus had been resurrected
frorn the dead. Just days later, Peter
reiterated the same message to an–
other crowd who had gathered be–
cause of the rniraculous healing of a
rnan lame frorn infancy. With great
courage, he boldly told the gather–
ing: " But ye denied the Holy One
and the Just, and desired a mur–
derer to be granted unto you; and
12
A "little" pain and a
few threats to life and lirnb? Or were
these rnen so solid in their convic-
tions that even threats, beatings and
HOAX imprisonrnent would fail to shake
them?
Critics eager to disclairn biblical
authority allege the disciples con–
spired in a plot to fake Jesus' resur- ? rection. Stories of every stripe,
including the very firs t one deliber–
ately contrived and duly paid for by
religionists of the first century, are •
by Garner Ted Armstrong
The Bible is very hard on its
heroes. 1t exposes the sins,
the f/aws, the faults, the appe–
tites, the compulsions, the in–
adequacies, the lack of faith
and the doubts of its most
vaunted heroes. lt disc/oses
the fact that every last one of
Jesus' disciples fled the
scene in abject fear when
their /eader and champíon
was about to be crucified. Yet
barely fífty days later they
were wíl/ing-to a man-to be
lashed to the bone, impris–
oned and even put to death for
the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth. Here were men
who, only weeks before, had
escaped for their lives in fear
and craven cowardice. Now
they were suddenly willing to
endure excruciating pain and
even death on the rack. Why?
What caused these men to so
complete/y change their ap–
proach? What great event in
history fllled their minds and
hearts with such incredible
courage?
freely circulated.
Sorne say the Rornans stole His
body away. Sorne clairn the Jewish
religious leaders did the sarne thing.
Others say Jesus wasn't really dead,
but was just in a deep trance or
coma- faking death and then ap–
pearing later in the same body.
A popular concept alleges a plot
and a hoax. What marvelous dedi–
cation to deliberate conspiracy it
would have required- all of the
apostles conspiring together to ere–
ate a false religion around a person
in whom they did not believe, and
whorn they knew to be a fraud!
T hink about it.
If the Romans had taken the
body, they surely would have dis–
pJayed it openJy to bring to a halt
the religious furor that raged in an
area the Caesar wanted quiet ,
peaceful and profitable. 1f the Jew–
ish leaders .had spirited the body
away, they rnost surely would have
paraded it through the st reets, for
they of all parties were the most
keenly interested in proving Jesus
dead and stopping the surge of reli–
gious zeal surrounding His resurrec–
tion that threatened their own
status.
Did the apostles steal Jesus'
body? Sorne of them were married;
whole families, hundreds of people,
would have been directly involved.
The PLAIN TRUTH July 1977