There is a lie which most people believe: that the burden of proof lies with Christians concerning their faith.

That just is not true.

The burden lies with those who do not believe.

They must fight the overwhelming evidence that Jesus is Lord, and He is raised from the dead.

Yes—I said evidence.

Take the resurrection.

Take that Shroud rolled up in a box in Turin, Italy.

Most people think it is controversial. Maybe real. Maybe not.

Sorry. The argument is over. Some 200 scientific tests point to authenticity. New X-ray testing places it at the time of Jesus.

And if it is real, Jesus is risen. If the Shroud is the real thing, Jesus is who Christians claim Him to be.

And are you aware that Jesus continues to appear to people—in NDEs—in other kinds of experiences?

Think about that.

Heidi Barr was a Jewish teen from a staunchly atheistic family. She was thrown from a horse, hit her head, and “died” for a short time.

Who did she see? Who was there to greet and love her?

Yes, Jesus.

Jesus is all over the place in religious experiences.

And when people see Him, He is always that person of power and authority—the one we call Lord.

You can believe what you want. But I want the truth.

And the truth is Jesus, crucified and risen.

Are you in for some pure fun? Come to our concert this Saturday, April 26.

A Night on Broadway.

The offering is for Eastside Ministries. Show at 6:00. Supper at 7:00.

Let our great singers lift your heart with songs you love.

(NOTE: I do not mention Holy Thursday here because this comes out in the paper on Friday.)

Good Friday service is tonight (for those getting this on Friday) at 6:30 PM. (Light supper before it at 6:00.) This is the hardest service I do each year. The effort is to let the scriptural story of the trial and death of Jesus come to life for people.

I have the help of our great choir, directed by Mr. Blake Glass. This year, we also have a guest cellist. (Yes, I love me some good cello!)

Truth is, I think the big attendance should be at Good Friday as well as Easter.

As our choir will sing, “Without His Cross, There Is No Crown.”

Good Friday is the heart of Easter. Easter is the answer to the suffering of Good Friday.

And that suffering is all for us. Yet most Christians pay no attention to Good Friday and simply jump over it to Easter.

(Our Easter service is at 11:00 AM.)

But those willing to relive Good Friday can better feel the power of Easter.

We see through scripture the degradation of Jesus—the mockery, the beating, the crowning with thorns.

John shows us that Pilate was playing politics. He was afraid of the crowd on one side and Rome on the other.

He thought he could get off the hook by hauling the brutalized Jesus out for the religious leaders to see.

There He was, covered in blood from head to toe.

“Crucify him! Crucify him!” they shouted.

Hope was gone.

We know the feeling.

It’s over. It’s over.

And then—suddenly—it’s not.

It’s Easter.

It’s joy.

And life goes on.

Always—and forever.

And I’m inviting you to two great services: Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

Make sure I meet you.

I don’t want to offend anyone. People of all faiths have a chance at heaven.

There is truth in all the great religions. We all belong to God, and God loves all of us equally.

But evidence suggests that the essentials of Christianity are true.

However hard some may fight it, it looks like the Shroud of Turin is the real thing. A new cutting-edge X-ray dating technique sets the Shroud at the time of Christ.

The argument may be over. For the image on the Shroud tells the complete story of the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus.

It is like a snapshot of the body of Jesus at the very moment of the body’s transformation.

The Shroud tells us that the body de-materialized. As the Shroud fell through the body, it recorded the bones in the hands and the bony sockets of the teeth. These are visible on the Shroud image.

The image is over the blood, which means the blood went on first. And we know it is human blood.

Someone died and was raised 2,000 years ago. The only candidate is Jesus.

If I were not a believer, I would hate to face all the evidence that Jesus is, in fact, Lord. Just His appearance to people of many faiths in religious experiences and NDEs would shake my unbelief.

I want to live reality.

I want the truth and nothing but the truth.

And all the evidence I am aware of points to the truth of the primary claims of Christianity.

The primary claims. Not the nonsense claim that people of other faiths go to hell.

Sunday is Palm Sunday.

Choose reality in your life.