A man continues to teach about his Leader even as his opponents throw stones at him; his last words before his death were, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!"
A writer pens words of praise to his Leader even as he sits in a dismal, lonely prison cell and among his words are: "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain."
After this Leader returned to be with His own Father in Heaven, many of his followers continue to meet, worship Him and teach about Him knowing that they were risking prison and even execution.
During the time period of Caesar and the Roman Empire, the followers of this Leader willingly chose being thrown alive in flames rather than deny their faith in Him.
A child is badly beaten by her mom and grandmother for believing in this Leader; despite this she and her dad remain committed to their Leader.
A teen treasures attending church meetings but her family, hostile to this Leader and angry because their daughter won't go to their services, prevent her from attending her church meetings.
A wife and mom of six children is sentenced to prison and death because she defended her faith in her Leader; she has been in prison for five years as of this writing.
A wife and mom of two is placed in prison, along with her children, because she will not deny her faith and she also faces death in two years. (As of this writing, she was released and now both she and her husband are re-arrested as they were trying to flee their country).
Even in the affluent West, many people devote much time, money and energy to serving this Leader for no obvious earthy reason.
You get the idea. Some of these people lived in more ancient times and some are living today. Their common denominator? Their unwavering commitment to and persevering faith in their Leader. Who is this Leader Who inspires such extreme devotion in so many of His followers? If you have not guessed that by now, it is Jesus Christ. What is so special about Him that He inspires such devotion that is willing to give up everything, even life itself?
Unless you are a hard-core atheist, you follow, worship and serve a leader. Some may follow Buddha. Some may follow Joseph Smith. An increasing number are following Muhammad. Many follow other leaders and pledge loyalty to them. But I wonder if any of these leaders and gods inspire their followers to be willing to lose their freedoms and even their lives for them. From what I understand, it seems some of these gods inspire their followers to kill themselves or others. Unless I'm missing something, I know of few followers of these leaders who have suffered imprisonment and horrible deaths (NOT suicides) for their leaders.
What is so special about Jesus, anyway?
If you have access to a Bible and take time to search the Gospels, you can read about Jesus. You can read about the marvelous things He did and the wise things He said and taught. You can read about His humble origins, His perfect life, His outrageously unjust arrest and trial and His horrible death. You can read about His amazing return to life and His return to His Father. What is so special about this? This was all God's idea. He hated our sin (rebellion against His laws) but He loved us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to Earth to become one of us. Jesus loved us so much that He willingly agreed and willingly gave up all so we can be forgiven and go to Heaven. Now, I ask you to consider this, has any other leader or god done this for us?
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