A World Without Jesus. . .?

POINTS OF TRUTH CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES

Crusade Church of God

www.pointsoftruth.com

“He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village where He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.”

“He never had a family or owned a home. He never set foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never wrote a book, or held an office. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness.”

“While He was still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. His friends deserted Him. He was turned over to His enemies, and went through the mockery of a trial.”

“He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While He was dying, His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had,- His coat. When He died, He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave.”

“Nineteen centuries have come and gone, and today He is the central figure for much of the human race. All the armies that have ever marched, and all the navies that have ever sailed, and all the Parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings who ever reigned,- put together, . . .have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as this ONE SOLITARY LIFE!” (Author Unknown)

The life of Jesus has affected the world in ways that are far too numerous to even fully comprehend.

HIS LIFE CHANGED THE WORLD

“Regardless of what anyone may personally think or believe about Him, Jesus of Nazareth has been the dominate figure in the history of Western Culture for almost twenty centuries.”

“If it were possible, with some sort of super-magnet, to pull up out of that history every scrap of metal bearing at least a trace of His name, how much would be left?”

“It is from His birth that most of the human race dates its calendars, it is by His Name that millions curse and in His Name that millions (billions now) pray.” (Jesus, Through the Centuries, by Jaroslav Pelikan)

“Into this world of craving for salvation the preaching of Christianity made its way. Long before it had achieved its final triumph by dint of an impressive philosophy of religion, its success was already assured by the fact that it promised and offered SALVATION,- a feature in which it surpassed all other religions.” (Mission and Expansion, Harnack)

RENAISSANCE

The development of character in the individual person was a major theme of the Renaissance period and came to Europe through the teachings of Jesus Christ.

“The very concept and name Renaissance (rinascimento) whatever the ultimate origins of the idea may have been, had come into the vocabulary of European civilization principally through the teachings of Jesus.” (Jaroslav Pelikan, Sterling Professor of History at Yale)

THE WORLD BEFORE JESUS

❖ The World’s religions consisted of Judaism and Paganism. The Concept of Judaism was that Israel alone was God’s chosen people. Although there was proselyting by Jewish Rabbis to gain a following for themselves, they generally did not recruit non-Israelites. God never told the Israelites to “go forth and make disciples of all nations” as Jesus told His Apostles to do. (Matt. 28)

❖ Paganism was polytheistic in nature with its devotees worshiping a wide variety of gods, and for varying reasons. Some gods were worshiped in a spirit of appeasement because of fear. Countless millions of children have been sacrificed to appease the anger of ancient pagan gods.

❖ At times, in the Greek world, up to 75% of the people were slaves to the 25%, and were treated as such,- nothing more than property.

Notice how the Apostle Paul taught the principles of Christianity to a slave-owner named Philemon,- “For perhaps he (slave) was for this reason parted from you for a while, that you should have him back forever, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother.” (Philemon vs 15-16)

Even during the debate over the slavery issue in the United States prior to the Civil War, the measuring rod used was whether the teachings of Jesus permitted slavery or not.

“It is for FREEDOM that Christ has SET US FREE. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)

By His loving sacrifice Jesus has indeed set us free from slavery to sin and death, which is the greatest yoke one could ever bear, or be freed from.

❖ Until Jesus, women had virtually no rights.

His disciples were amazed when they found Jesus talking to a woman at a well in Samaria. Not only was she a hated Samaritan, but also a lowly woman.