Epaggelia

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”  ~ John 11:25-26

In this world, no one likes to pay a ransom to free victims, because we are afraid the kidnappers will get what they want, while killing the victim. But God paid the ransom price because the resurrection guarantees the kidnapper (Satan) will not get the victim or the price! Satan does kidnap people and victims do not want the ransom paid when they fall victim to their kidnapper Satan. In this world Patty Hearst, Natascha Kampusch & the original four Kreditbanken Hostages in Stockholm (1973) fell victim to what is described by doctors as “the Stockholm Syndrome”. Spiritually, there are many different reasons humans fall prey to the lies in our sinful world which trap us to sympathize with Satan and/or sinners that actually become our demise. This takes place today physically in the form of human smuggling. There are hundreds of victims that the police never find, which die and are forever lost. God will not force the ransom money to be paid if the lost kidnapped person does not want it. If we fall in love with Satan’s ways, loving this world instead of God, we assign ourselves to the kidnappers’ evil trap & destiny of destruction. We must convince people that we need to accept the ransom price as paid and apply it to our soul, obeying from the heart this good news of the crucified Christ resurrected. This releases us from the slave-ship of Satan.

THE RESURRECTION IS REAL: Christ’s proof that the redemptive price paid is powerful, Romans 6:16-22

1. The Change in 12 disciples becoming apostles & the change in Saul to Paul, 1st Corinthians 15:1-17 & 2nd Corinthians 11:22-28
2. The Empty Tomb, guarded by Temple Soldiers that had Roman authority from Pilate, Matthew 27:58-66, and also publically known by Joseph of Arimethea on the Sanhedrin.
3. Fulfilled claims of Jesus & prophecies in the Old Testament, John 2:13-22
4. Hundreds of Eye-witness accounts of His resurrection, 1st Corinthians 15:3-9. Paul the apostle had many critics accusing him of being a liar and false-apostle. All his critics needed was for just one single eye-witness to deny the resurrection, and then Paul could be proved a liar, but it never happened because it’s true!