In our current world, Christianity is under attack. Christianity and Judeo-Christian morals and ethics were long the underpinnings of not only American culture but that of the entire Western World. Today, it seems like “nothing is sacred” any longer and every cultural norm is under attack by Leftist/secular governments and their allies. Some question whether Jesus even lived and detractors assert that Jesus’ miracles never really happened. However, evidence is available that Jesus not only lived but also performed the miracles the Bible attributes to him.
That evidence exists, surprisingly, in non-Christian, historical sources from Jesus’ time. However, one rarely hears about this available evidence, and I wonder how many churches, seminaries and pastors even realize this evidence exists. If this knowledge was available to and disseminated widely among Christians, the faith of Christians would experience a significant boost. It is with that intent in mind that I am re-posting a post I wrote in 2015 on this very topic.
The post cites evidence from the secular records of Imperial Rome and the writings of Josephus. Classical Roman writers recorded a great deal of information about the events and personalities of the Roman Imperial Period, but those records may not be generally taught at schools and colleges any longer. Several Roman historians mentioned Jesus Christ and aspects of his life in their secular Roman histories. It is vital to realize that these Roman historians were not only non-Christian but were also hostile to Christianity, which was a new religion in the 1st century AD and was seen as a threat to Roman rule. Jesus Christ and events about his life were mentioned parenthetically in their records, and they had no idea their writings would matter or be read almost two millennia after they died. As you will see in the reproduced post, Roman writers confirmed Jesus Christ lived when and where the Bible said he did and that he was executed by Pontius Pilate, that he lived contemporaneously with the Roman rulers mentioned in the Bible and that he did miracles (which the ancient writers referred to as “magic”). The writings of Josephus, a Jewish historian of the 1st century AD, also wrote about facts of Jesus’ life that confirm the eye-witness narratives penned by New Testament Gospel writers. Why Josephus, a non-Christian Jew, would write an account of Jesus that affirmed the Apostolic accounts is a mystery to many. My post offers my viewpoint on why he did so.
The post cites two of my books that go into great detail about the affirmations of ancient writers that Jesus did live and performed miracles. My books also examine in detail how Jesus’ life was affected by the political relationships between the Roman and Parthian Empires as well as why Pontius Pilate was very reluctant to execute Jesus and made several attempts to save him from crucifixion. [I’ll give a hint: The Bible states that Jesus was a direct descendant of King David (Matthew 1, Luke 3) and that King David’s descendants would always serve as royalty in the nations and kingdoms that were descended from the exiled ten tribes of Israel (Jeremiah 33:17-22). The kings and emperors of the Parthian Empire (the most powerful adversary of Rome at that time) were direct descendants of King David–making Jesus a relative of the emperor of Parthia. Pilate feared provoking a war with Parthia if he executed Jesus so he tried to avoid having to do so.]
All of the above information is discussed and documented in detail in my aforementioned books, which have extensive Chapter End Notes and Bibliographies, are available at my website, www.stevenmcollins.com. The book, The “Lost Ten Tribes of Israel…Found!, is available as an E-book, and the book, Parthia,The Forgotten Ancient Superpower, is the third book in a printed 4-book set about the entire history of the Ten Tribes of Israel.
If you are a Christian, I believe your faith will be stronger after reading my re-posted article below.
