From the Pastor at Trinity!

"Some years ago the government of Poland ordered crucifixes removed from classroom walls, just as they had been banned in factories, hospitals, and other public institutions. Catholic bishops attacked the ban that had stirred waves of anger and resentment all across Poland. Ultimately the government relented, insisting that the law remain on the books, but agreeing not to press for removal of the crucifixes, particularly in the schoolrooms. But one zealous Communist school administrator decided that the law was the law. So one evening he had seven large crucifixes removed from lecture halls where they had hung since the school's founding in the twenties. Days later, a group of parents entered the school and hung more crosses. The administrator promptly had these taken down as well.

The next day two-thirds of the school's six hundred students staged a sit-in. When heavily armed riot police arrived, the students were forced into the streets. Then they marched, crosses held high, to a nearby church where they were joined by twenty-five hundred other students from nearby schools for a morning of prayer in support of the protest. Soldiers surrounded the church, but the pictures from inside of students holding crosses high above their heads flashed around the world. So did the words of the priest who delivered the message to the weeping congregation that morning. 'There is no Poland without a cross.'" (This is an excerpt from Chuck Colson's book, Kingdoms in Conflict, pp. 202-3.)

Dear brothers and sisters, the same is true for you and me, as individuals and a church. Without the cross there is no Christian or Christianity. Because everything we believe as Christians is centered on what took place on the cross at Calvary! Therefore, after 2000 years, you'd think that the truth of God's Word would register in people's mind and so grip their hearts that never again would they question its validity. Wrong! In fact, just this morning I was watching one of the major networks on television and heard that there is another book on the market that seeks to discount the fact that Jesus died on the cross. How ludicrous!

I don't know about you, but I get offended when anyone tries to make an argument against what we Christians believe to be the foundation of our faith, such as the author of this new book entitled, The Jesus Papers, whose argument is that Jesus conspired with Pontius Pilate to fake His death on the cross.

Excuse me for saying so, but if Jesus didn't really die on the cross and rise again on the third day, then, as the apostle Paul stated, "All our preaching is useless, our trust in God is useless, our faith is useless and we are still under condemnation for our sins. In that case, all who died believing in Christ have perished. And if we have hope in Christ only for this life, we are the most miserable people in the world." (By the way, Paul testifies that Jesus was seen by himself and 500 others after He died, was buried and then resurrected. Check it out in I Corinthians 15:3-19 NLT)

In case you haven't noticed, I'm very passionate about my faith in Christ and what He has done for me on the cross. But the truth of the matter is, I have been radically changed from the inside out and while the critics try to convince you otherwise is a concern, nevertheless, it doesn't change what I know to be a fact, not fiction, within my heart! For I know in whom I believe and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him!

With Love, From Jesus,

Pastor David