One of my favorite verses on the death/burial/resurrection of Jesus is Acts 26:26. Easy to remember that way–26:26. Paul is on trial yet again, this time before King Agrippa and Governor Festus. He gives his testimony, telling why he’s living the very life he once fought against, and then transitions into the message which he now preaches. Good strategy. Like a modern candidate who gets asked one question but quickly moves into the message he wants people to hear.

Paul says, “I started preaching this message to those at Damascus, then to Jerusalem and Judea, and then to anyone who would listen, even the Gentiles. I told them they should repent and turn to God. That’s been my message. So why am I on trial? Good question. I’m being tried for preaching nothing but the very things which Moses and the prophets predicted. And what was that? That the Messiah (Christ) would suffer and rise from the dead, and that He would be the first to proclaim light to Jews and Gentiles.”

At this point, Festus interrupted. “Paul, you are completely insane. You have overtaxed your brain with all that learning”–no one ever accused the Apostle Paul of being ignorant, although many of his later defenders qualify in that regard–“and you have completely lost it.”

Paul answered, “I am most definitely not out of my mind, most excellent Festus. I’m simply preaching the truth. King Agrippa knows. He has been observing these things all along. Nothing has escaped his notice. Because….”

And here it comes.

“Because this thing was not done in a corner.” Acts 26:26

For something to be “done in a corner” means it would have occurred unseen, would thus have been unexamined, could not have been verified, and therefore would be completely undependable.

There is a ripoff of the Christian message headquartered in Utah that bases its entire religion on something done in a corner. A prophet-wannabe of questionable character told some people he had seen an angel and some golden plates. The angel provided a special glass for him to look through in order to read the plates, from which he was able to translate what became The Book of ****** (see my comment below). Then the angel went away and took with him the plates and the special glass. (Oooh. We wanted to see them!)

To my complete astonishment, people are still purchasing that pig in a poke.

But Jesus Christ’s death, His burial, and His resurrection were not secret events observed only by a few people sworn to secrecy. He died before the world, He was buried by the very people who had crucified Him with His followers looking on, and His resurrection was attested by hundreds of people in a number of ways (See I Corinthians 15:1ff).

The logical mind loves these kinds of investigations. If you have such a mind, then I invite you to consider these “proofs of the resurrection” of Jesus.

1. The empty tomb. The body had disappeared. There was no “bone box of Jesus” in Jerusalem or anywhere else because He is still using His bones! Check out Luke 24:39.

2. The transformation of the followers of Jesus. Peter, for instance, went from cowardly denying Jesus to boldly proclaiming His resurrection in Acts 2.

3. The silence of the Jews and Romans. If they knew where the body was, they could have stopped the spread of this message in its tracks. They didn’t because they did not know.

4. The consistent testimony of Jesus’ followers that He had risen and appeared to them.

5. The eventual martyrdom of the disciples. One does not die for a hoax.

And those are just for starters. Many modern historians who take the time to study the record on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus have concluded that this is one of the most dependable events in all of history, that if we can believe anything from the past we can believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

This is the real thing. And there’s no secret about it. It was not done in a corner.

These days, Oprah and a million other gullible Americans are falling all over themselves to buy into a bit of hokum being marketed as “The Secret.” Rhonda Byrne has indeed found “the secret” to wealth and prosperity–write a book and produce a DVD that promises the inside dope on getting rich and staying healthy. Then appear on Oprah. The money keeps pouring in.

As I get it, the secret Ms. Byrne is marketing is “the law of attraction,” which says the universe is governed by the principle that “like attracts like” and that our thoughts are like magnets, the positive attracting positive and the negative attracting negative. Never mind that in the real world, positive ends of magnet attract negative and vice versa. Here’s a quote from her book:

“Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and Jesus were not only prosperity teachers, but also millionaires themselves, with more affluent lifestyles than many present-day millionaires could conceive of.”

She’s talking about the Savior who said, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

Enough of that. (I’m indebted to Jay Vance who writes the “Springs in the Desert Newsletter” for his synopsis. I read his entire newsletter to our pastors at Wednesday’s meeting.)

This Easter weekend, Christians, rejoice that you have a solid message of real substance on which to base your life for now and forever, a message to share and believe in, to love and to give away. This is not simply positive thinking and most definitely not wistful thinking.

Jesus Christ is alive. Indeed and forevermore.

It’s out in the open. No secrets around here.