Why Believe in the Second Coming

God brought me to Christ through the study of eschatology, or the study of "last" or "end" things. And today, it's still one of my favorite subject areas of theology. And I like to think that God smiles upon those who eagerly await His Son and delve into the study of Bible prophecy as this section of Paul's second letter to Timothy says, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing."(2 Timothy 4:7-8)

Of course, other religions have their take on what the future holds, but one of the reasons I believe what Scripture says is because of its track record. God's prophets never missed having a prophecy fulfilled that He gave them. Ever. Their batting average was 1000%, and in fact, this mark of perfection was a sign God used to distinguish His prophets from the fakes. And the penalty for making a prediction - a "Thus saith the Lord" - when it turned our wrong? Death. How many prognosticators of future events that live today would still be around if such a standard was enforced?

I just finished teaching a quick lesson on Christ's second coming that hits all the high points with respect to what will unfold in the future, and the message also supplies evidence as to why you should trust the Bible in regard to what it predicts. Hopefully, you'll find the presentation helpful.

View more presentations from Robin Schumacher.

Good Friday Thoughts - Why Jesus Died

To people who believe that there is more than one way to God, I always ask the same question: If that's true, please explain to me why Jesus had to die on the cross. If you can bring yourself to God through self-actualization, inner enlightenment, and removal of desire (Hinduism, Buddhism), if you get to God via a system of works (Islam, various cults), then why did Jesus have to go, give His life, and die in the manner that He did?

It's interesting to note that Jesus actually asked the question to His Father about this very thing. In the Garden of Gethsemane, on the day before He would go to the cross, we find this recorded in Matthew's Gospel: "And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.""(Matthew 26:39)

If a person could simply earn their way to Heaven through works or other means, I have a hard time believing God would not have taken this 'cup' from His Son. But He didn't. Jesus went to the cross via a brutal path, with those that He had done miracles for asked that a murderer be given to them instead of the Son of God (side note: the name 'Barabbas' means 'Son of the father' - it appears the crowd asked for the wrong Son of the father...)

On this Good Friday, remember that there is no other way God has designed for lost and fallen people to become right again in His sight than the cross of Christ. No matter what this pluralistically-minded world says, the cross of Christ still stands unique among all the world's religions. Even Gandhi once noted, "Of all the dispositions and teachings of thinkers and ethicists, the one doctrine that I have no sufficient counter for is Jesus on that Cross." He knew that no other religion has any other founder demonstrating the love for you and me than Christ does: "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends."(John 15:13).

Below are two presentations I recently taught through - the first covers the sin that has separated us from God and the second covers all the glorious things that Christ's death has accomplished for undeserving people like you and me.

They'll show you what Good Friday is all about.

View more presentations from Robin Schumacher.

View more presentations from Robin Schumacher.

Why Believe in the Resurrection?

There's no question that getting/earning a Ph.D. is difficult. You have first attain the educational level to qualify, then you need to actually be accepted into a program, then you need to have a research proposal be accepted - only then do you become a Ph.D. candidate. At that point you have at least three 'promoters' who analyze your arguments and OK your dissertation - usually a 200-page scholarly book that makes an original contribution to your chosen field - that, once finished, goes on to external 'readers' who critque the work and indicate its acceptablility. Then, you sometimes have an oral defense of your disseration before a scholarly board who provides yet another examination and critique. Should you make it past all of that, you are then awarded a Ph.D.

Why am I going into all this detail? Some time back, Robert Cavin, a professor at the University of California, went through the above process, with his dissertation focusing on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And what conclusion did Cavin reach in his research? Simply this:

Jesus must have had an unknown, identical twin brother who was separated from him at birth, and who showed up in Jerusalem at the time of the crucifixion, stole Jesus’ body, and then showed himself to the disciples, leading them to mistakenly infer that Jesus rose from the dead.

I'm not kidding. Cavin's argument was accepted or at least deemed worthy by all his promoters, readers, and oral defense board. Such an episode reminds me of the quote from Irving Kristol: “When we lack the will to see things as they really are, there is nothing so mysterious as the obvious.”

The resurrection of Christ stands as the most important event in all of human history, and, what's more, it is also the most easily defended historical fact and most acceptable conclusion one comes to when all the evidence is examined. With Easter approaching, I hope you'll take this opportunity to look through the presentation below and think about what the resurrection of Christ means to you. For me, when it comes to matters of life and death, salvation and being lost, I'm going to choose to listen to the guy with the empty grave over all the other religious figures whose tombs remain intact to this day.

View more presentations from Robin Schumacher.