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From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham

Dear Rev. Graham: Over the Christmas holiday, I watched a DVD that was given to me titled God’s Not Dead. It was an interesting answer to the famous question on the cover of Time magazine more than 50 years ago: “Is God Dead?” Christians know that God is not dead because we have the privilege of talking to Him all the time, but what else can be said? — N.D.

Dear N.D.: God is not dead. Those who accept Christ as personal Savior know beyond a shadow of doubt that Christ is alive. We give our lives not to a dead Christ, but a living Christ. He gives us reason for existence because He died on the cross for the sins of the world, yet rose to life to give eternal life to all who will believe and follow Him. Death could not hold Him. His tomb is empty.
Centuries of history document testimony concerning Jesus. As early as the first century, a Jewish historian named Flavius Josephus, whose personal acceptance of Jesus as Messiah is debatable, confirmed the impact Jesus Christ made in the hearts of His followers, writing:
“[Jesus] won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Messiah. When Pilate… had condemned him to be crucified, those who had in the first place come to love him did not give up their affection for him. On the third day he appeared to them restored to life, for the prophets of God had prophesied these and countless other marvelous things about him. And the tribe of the Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared.”
But greater than any statement made by man is that Christ proclaimed, “I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore” (Revelation 1:18).
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(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)