If I told you that my whole life had been changed by a run-in with an auto assembly line worker, you wouldn’t believe me. If I told you I’d known several people who had the same experience, you’d wonder what we’d been smoking. In our technologically advanced society, we tend to look down on such people.
Yet history and reality teaches us the exact opposite. Here are quotes from ‘respected’ people, all experts in their fields, who talk about a man who was only “visible” for 3 years, had no formal education and no support from leaders, shakers or movers in his day. Enjoy!
A Civil War general, lawyer, politician and atheist, Lew Wallace set out on a 6 year mission to destroy & disparage Christianity. He wrote a book as a result of his very biased research. You may have heard of it. It’s a little book. It’s called “Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ”. It became the best selling novel of the 19th century and is regarded as the most influential Christian book of that era (www.christianheritagefellowship.com/ben-hur-the-conversion-of-lew-wallace/).
He said, “After 6 years given to the impartial investigation of Christianity as to its truth or falsity, I have come to the deliberate conclusion that Jesus Christ was the Messiah of the Jews, the Savior of the world and my own personal Redeemer”. While writing the 2nd chapter of his book, he found himself on his knees, crying out, “My Lord and my God.” The evidence was overwhelming.
H.G. Wells, a science fiction writer & historian said, “I am an historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.”
Napoleon, French general, politician, Emperor and also not a believer, said “I know men and I tell you Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and myself founded empires; but what foundation did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded an empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him.” Napoleon also said that while he was alive, men would die for him. But he could not believe that men would die for him after he died. And yet that is exactly what believers in Jesus were doing….dying for Jesus several hundred years after He died.
Albert Einstein, the 20th century’s most respected scientist said “I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene. Jesus is too colossal for the pen of phrase-mongers, however artful…No one can read the gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life. Theseus and other heroes of his type lack the authentic vitality of Jesus.”
One man wrote, “Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was 30, and then for 3 years He was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never owned a home. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled 200 miles from the place where He was born. He never did any of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself. He had nothing to do with this world except the naked power of His Divine manhood. While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went thru the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between 2 thieves. His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth while He was dying, and that was His coat. When He was dead, He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Such was His human life. He rises from the dead. Twenty centuries have come and gone and today He is the Centerpiece of the human race and the Leader of the column of progress. I am within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that were ever built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that One Solitary Life.” James C. Hefley – Christian writer.
What have you done with this man? This same man, Jesus, said that He rose from the dead, conquered the grave and is coming back again to settle all scores. Do you believe Him?