"We'll celebrate the triumph of life over death, the Resurrection of Jesus."-Ronald Reagan

American Minute

"As morning spreads around the planet, we'll celebrate the triumph of life over death, the Resurrection of Jesus."-Ronald Reagan

G e orge Washington's tomb is engraved with the Script ure, John 11:25, where Jesus told Martha:

"I am the Resurrection and the Life; sayeth the Lord. He that believeth in Me, though he were dead yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die."

Martin Luther (1483-1546) remarked:

"Our Lord has written the promise of the Resurrection not in books alone, but in every leaf in the springtime."

Elias Boudinot (1740-1821) was the President of the Continental Congress, 1782-83. He was a U.S. Representative from New Jersey, 1789-95, and helped frame the Bill of Rights. He was the Director of the U.S. Mint, 1795-97, under Presidents Washington and John Adams.

Becoming a Christian during the Great Awakening, baptized by Rev. George Whitfield, Boudinot helped found the American Bible Society in 1816. Elias Boudinot stated in New Jersey, July 4, 1783:

"No sooner had the great Creator of the heavens and the earth finished His almighty work, and pronounced all very good, but He set apart ... one day in seven for the commemoration of His inimitable power in producing all things out of nothing ...

The deliverance of the children of Israel from a state of bondage to an unreasonable tyrant was perpetuated by the Paschal lamb, and enjoining it on their posterity as an annual festival forever ...

The resurrection of the Savior of mankind is commemorated by keeping the first day of the week ...

Let us then, my friends and fellow citizens, unite all our endeavors this day to remember, with reverential gratitude to our Supreme Benefactor, all the wonderful things He has done for us, in our miraculous deliverance from a second Egypt-another house of bondage."

America's God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) wrote in his sermon "The Leafless Tree," delivered March 8, 1857 at New Park Street Chapel:

"If we read the Scripture's aright the Jews have a great deal to do with this world's history. They shall be gathered in; Messiah shall come, the Messiah they are looking for, the same Messiah who came once shall come again, shall come as they expected him to come the first time.

They then thought he would come a prince to reign over them, and so he will when he comes again.

He will come to be king of the Jews, and to reign over his people most gloriously; for when he comes Jew and Gentile shall have equal privileges, though there shall yet be some distinction afforded to that royal family from whose loins Jesus came; for he shall sit upon the throne of his father David, and unto him shall be gathered all nations."

In his Easter Address, April 2, 1983, President Ronald Reagan stated:

"This week Jewish families and friends have been celebrating Passover ... Its observance reminds all of us that the struggle for freedom and the battle against oppression waged by the Jews since ancient times is one shared by people everywhere.

And Christians have been commemorating the last momentous days leading to the crucifixion of Jesus 1,950 years ago. Tomorrow, as morning spreads around the planet, we'll celebrate the triumph of life over death, the Resurrection of Jesus."

Reagan continued:

"Both observances tell of sacrifice and pain but also of hope and triumph ... Men and women around the world who love God and freedom - bear a message of world hope and brotherhood like the rites of Passover and Easter that we celebrate this weekend ...

We want peace ... And then they ask, 'Do you think that we can have these things one day?' Well, I do. I really do.

Nearly 2,000 years after the coming of the Prince of Peace, such simple wishes may still seem far from fulfillment. But we can achieve them. We must never stop trying."

Well-known British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge wrote in his 1975 work titled "Jesus":

"As Man alone, Jesus could not have saved us; as God alone, he would not; Incarnate, he could and did."

Sir Lionel Alfred Luckhoo (1914-1997) was knighted twice by the Queen of England. He was the only person to have been an ambassador for two sovereign nations simultaneously, Barbados and Guyana.

He served as Lord Mayor of Georgetown, Guyana, and presided as Judge of the Supreme Court of Guyana. Sir Lionel Luckhoo was acknowledged in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's most successful criminal attorney.

At the age of 64, after studying world religions, Sir Lionel Luckhoo accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior on November 7, 1978.

Addressing audiences worldwide, including Presidents, Kings, Parliaments, Cabinets, Bar Associations, and the United Nations, Sir Lionel Luckhoo stated:

"The bones of Muhammad are in Medina, the bones of Confucius are in Shantung, the cremated bones of Buddha are in Nepal. Thousands pay pilgrimages to worship at their tombs which contain their bones. But in Jerusalem there is a cave cut into the rock.

This is the tomb of Jesus. IT IS EMPTY! YES, EMPTY! BECAUSE HE IS RISEN! He died, physically and historically. He arose from the dead, and now sits at the right hand of God."

In his Easter Message, April 2015, British Prime Minister David Cameron stated:

"The values of the Bible, the values of Christianity are the values that we need - values of compassion, of respect, of responsibility, of tolerance.

Now ... you don't have to be a Christian ... to have strong values, to believe in strong values or to pass those values on to your children, but the point I always make is that it helps.

We're always trying to tell our children not to be selfish, but is there a better way of putting it than 'love thy neighbor'?"

America's God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations

David Cameron continued:

"We're always telling our children to be tolerant ... but is there a better way of explaining tolerance than saying, 'do to others as you would be done by'?

It's the simplest encapsulation of an absolutely vital value and the Christian church and the teaching of the Bible has put it so clearly.

We're always telling our children that they must make the most of what they have; they must not waste what they have been given, and is there a better way of putting that than 'don't hide your light under a bushel, make the most of your talents.'"

In an Easter address in St. Peter's Square, April 1, 1956, Pope Pius XII stated:

"This year's celebration of Easter should be primarily a recall to faith in Christ, addressed to people who, through no fault of their own, are still unaware of the saving work of the Redeemer;

to those who, on the contrary, would wish to have His name wiped out of the minds and hearts of nations;

and finally, in a special manner, to those souls of little faith who, seduced by deceptive enticements, are on the point of exchanging the priceless Christian values for those of a false earthly progress."

John Milton Hay (1838-1905) was private secretary to President Lincoln and ambassador to Great Britain under President McKinley.

As Secretary of State, 1898-1905, John Milton Hay negotiated over 50 treaties, including the Open-Door policy with China; the Panama Canal; the Alaskan boundary; the Philippine policy.

John Milton Hay wrote a poem, published in the New York Tribune:

SINAI AND CALVARY
But Calvary stands to ransom
The earth from utter loss;
In shade than light more glorious
The shadow of the Cross.

To heal a sick world's trouble,
To soothe its woe and pain,
On Calvary's sacred summit
The Pascal Lamb was slain.

Almighty God! direct us
To keep Thy perfect Law!
O blessed Savior, help us
Nearer to Thee to draw!

Let Sinai's thunder aid us
To guard our feet from sin,
And Calvary's light inspire us
The love of God to win.

Philanthropist George Hay Stuart (1816-1890) served as the president of the United States Christian Commission, which was formed out of the YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association) in New York, November 14, 1861.

During the Civil War, the United States Christian Commission raised millions of dollars in private donations to provide supplies, hospital stores and clothing to the army and navy.

George Hay Stuart helped distribute over 30 million gospel tracts and New Testaments to the soldiers. One of the workers was D.L. Moody, who later became a world renowned minister.

George Hay Stuart stated:

"I have prayed for this union; and I have labored for it, simply because I believed that it would bring glory to my blessed Lord and Master, Jesus Christ ...

I have labored and prayed for it, because it would bring brethren together, now unhappily divided, to see eye to eye, that the nations that have so long bowed down to idols might learn of Jesus and Him crucified ...

Since these twenty-four hours have passed away eighty-six thousand four hundred immortal souls have gone to the judgment seat of Christ...

I never hear the funeral bell toll without asking myself the question, 'What have I done to point that departed soul to the Lamb of God that died to save a perishing world?'

Brethren, buckle on your armor for a great conflict; buckle it on for giving the glorious Gospel of the Son of God to the millions of the earth who are perishing for lack of knowledge."

James Logan (1674-1751), who was Chief Justice of Pennsylvania's Supreme Court, 1731-39, and Secretary for William Penn, stated:

"Remember thou art by profession a Christian; that is, one who art called after the immaculate Lamb of God, who, by offering Himself a sacrifice for thee, atoned for thy sins ...

Rouse with the more simple servants of nature, and borrowing one hour from the sleep of sluggards, spend it in thy chamber in dressing thy soul with prayer and meditation, reading the Scriptures ...

Remember that the same enemy that caused thy first parents to forfeit their blessed condition, notwithstanding the gate is now open for restoration, is perpetually using his whole endeavors to prevent thee from attaining this, and frustrate to thee the passion of thy Redeemer."

John Robinson (1576-1625), pastor of the Pilgrims, stated in his Leiden letter:

"Thus this holy army of saints is marshaled here on earth by these
officers, under the conduct of their glorious Emperor, Christ.

Thus it marches in this most heavenly order and gracious array, against all enemies, both bodily and ghostly: peaceable in itself, as Jerusalem, terrible to the enemy as an army with banners, triumphing over their tyranny with patience, their cruelty with meekness, and over death itself with dying.

Thus, through the Blood of that spotless Lamb, and that Word of their testimony, they are more than conquerors, bruising the head of the Serpent; yea, through the power of His Word, they have power to cast down Satan like lightning; to tread upon serpents and scorpions; to cast down strongholds, and everything that exalteth itself against God.

The gates of hell, and all the principalities and powers on earth shall not prevail against it."

Robert Morris Page (1903-1992) known as the "father of U.S. Radar," was the physicist who invented pulsation radar used for the detection of aircraft.

The holder of 37 patents, Robert Morris Pages served with the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C.; received the U.S. Navy Distinguished Civilian Service Award; the Presidential Certificate of Merit; the IRE Fellowship Harry Diamond Memorial Award; as well as the Stuart Ballantyne Medal of the Franklin Institute.

The son of a Methodist minister, Robert Morris Page wrote:

"The authenticity of the writings of the prophets, though the men themselves are human, is established by such things as the prediction of highly significant events far in the future that could be accomplished only through a knowledge obtained from a realm which is not subject to the laws of time as we know them.

One of the great evidences is the long series of prophecies concerning Jesus the Messiah.

These prophecies extend hundreds of years prior to the birth of Christ. They include a vast amount of detail concerning Christ himself, His nature and the things He would do when He came-things which to the natural world, or the scientific world, remain to this day completely inexplicable."

The Democrat Party's candidate for President in 1896, 1900 and 1908 was William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925).

Memorialized with a statue in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall, William Jennings Bryan gave over 600 public speeches during his Presidential campaigns, the most famous being "The Prince of Peace," printed in the New York Times, September 7, 1913, in which he stated:

"The world had known love before ... but Jesus gave a new definition of love. His love was as wide as the sea; its limits were so far-flung that even an enemy could not travel beyond its bounds.

Other teachers sought to regulate the lives of their followers by rule and formula, but Christ's plan was to purify the heart and then to leave love to direct the footsteps.

What conclusion is to be drawn from the life, the teachings and the death of this historic figure? Reared in a carpenter shop; with no knowledge of literature, save Bible literature; with no acquaintance with philosophers living or with the writings of sages dead, when only about thirty years old He gathered disciples about Him, promulgated a higher code of morals than the world had ever known before, and proclaimed Himself the Messiah.

He taught and performed miracles for a few brief months and then was crucified; His disciples were scattered and many of them put to death; His claims were disputed, His resurrection denied and His followers persecuted; and yet from this beginning His religion spread until hundreds of millions have taken His name with reverence upon their lips and millions have been willing to die rather than surrender the faith which He put into their hearts.

How shall we account for Him? Here is the greatest fact of history; here is One who has with increasing power, for nineteen hundred years, molded the hearts, the thoughts and the lives of men, and He exerts more influence to-day than ever before.

'What think ye of Christ?' It is easier to believe Him divine than to explain in any other way what he said and did and was. And I have greater faith, even than before."