HOW WOULD THE Church react if Easter Resurrection Sunday was removed, by State Law, from our international holidays? Already we see a sweeping change in the minds of many who wish to replace the historical fact of Christ’s triumph over death and the grave with a heathenish celebration, just as with Christmas (now widely recognised as the Holiday Season) that is utilised as another excuse to gratify one’s sensuality (the senses).

For Christians who stand upon what this occasion truly stands for is commendable, especially within a culture that is anti-Christ. To be anti-Christ is not what the majority of people are inclined to think. Oswald Chambers rightly pointed out that, “For a thing to be satanic does not mean that it is abominable and immoral; the satanically-man-aged man is absolutely self-governed and has no need of God.” That is the essence of the anti-Christ spirit. It is not overtly ‘evil’ as many naively believe; it is ‘innocent’ in its approach and gains the applause of a ‘well-structured’ society that has built its empire while having turned its back on God; it is the ‘dethroning’ of God from all cognitive thinking.

The world attempts to make the Christian feel out of touch with reality; that he or she is behind the times and cocooned by a fantasy philosophy that once had its uses in an era of ignorance. So, the world, in its ‘advanced’ learning and ‘wisdom’ renovates and refurbishes what is historical fact for its own use and purposes. We have but to look at the world all over today and see that all its so-called affluent education has only left it to repeat history’s mistakes. That is the world’s wisdom for you. For scientists to say that we, as a human species, have evolved and progressed is absolutely preposterous; reality, as in the chaotic state of our world, shows that humanity has actually devolved. The world has enough intelligence to advance in technology and just as much foolishness to destroy itself.

What a Christian is made of will be tested in a world he or she lives in; such a profession will either prove to be authentic or counterfeit; will either grow through opposition or be choked by the pressure, persecution and cares of this life; will either prove to be more than conquerors or cowards. Only the imperishable seed of God within the heart will enable a soldier of Christ to withstand the world’s opposition.

Religious sentiments will never uphold the one who only professes a belief in Christ. There are many hidden ‘believers’ that show themselves pious on Resurrection Sunday only to live in denial of that Reality the remainder of the year. A sentimental Christianity brings unnecessary harm and ridicule to the Church; it mars its validity and testimony before a world that demands its authenticity and where no such thing exists we cannot blame the world for pointing out its hypocrisy.

A one-day sentimental commitment to Resurrection Sunday tells of its powerlessness – the lack of a persuasive testimony – throughout the rest of the year. If the death and resurrection of Christ is not the ‘air’ that we breathe 365 days a year, then for God’s sake and the Church’s, let’s stop pretending and playing the game.

The Apostle Paul’s abiding passion was to preach Christ crucified and risen again. The whole New Testament Church proclaimed Christ in such a way – not just the one day of the year. Much of today’s Church activity on Easter Sunday is nothing but a quick ‘fizz’ celebration and in all honesty, where genuineness is missing there is nothing exhilarating about it but everything irritating; it is an insult to the God of heaven who delivered up His Son to agonisingly endure our punishment of unreserved wrath.

We can say and shout all we want, “He is risen!!” – And hallelujah! He has, but Christ arose over two-thousand years ago. Has He arose in our hearts and quickened us from our spiritual death to eternal life in Him?  Are we being transformed from one degree of glory to another; do we bear His image in us more than we did last Easter?

It is not sentimentality about Christ’s resurrection that speaks of true celebration, but a life changed by the power of His resurrection that brings true rejoicing.