(upbeat music)
- An Easter weekend unlike any other.
Thanks for joining us for this special
Good Friday edition of "Faith Nation,"
I'm John Jessup.
Well this year's Easter celebrations look
and feel very differentas churches stay closed
due to the coronavirus pandemic.
As Charlene Aaron reportsmany are marking Holy Week
in unique and innovative ways.
- According to LifeWay Research,
half of the nation's churches have known
for weeks they would not be holding
traditional Easter services.
That's why pastors arepreparing to share the gospel
like never before.
From online services tovirtual Easter plays.
In the age of COVID-19,
Easter just won't be the same.
In Fayetteville, North Carolina,
Snyder Memorial Baptist Church
is taking a drive thru approach,
featuring the stations of the cross,
depicting the day of Jesus' crucifixion.
- It will definitely besomething they will never forget.
- [Charlene] Susie Reeder says
people will receive a map of the exhibits,
as well as communion elements,
all while practicing social distancing
by staying inside their vehicles.
- The only time they willhave to put their window down
is to get the guide and the map.
So we're gonna take themthrough the far parking lot,
and you would see Jesus walking
with the cross on his back,
and so carrying the cross.
And then that would end at the end
of that parking lot,
where we have a big cross already.
And that's where we're gonna suggest
they stop a second andhave communion there
in front of the cross.
- [Charlene] Tate Springs Baptist Church
in Arlington, Texas,is putting on a virtual
Easter egg hunt using the3D Minecraft video game.
- A lot of kids play that,
and it's a game my kids played
when they were younger,
so I was familiar with it.
And I thought man we canget kids together in there
and do all kinds of things,
including an Easter egg hunt.
- [Charlene] Church staffhopes it will keep kids engaged
while out of school.
- [Curtis] Kids aregonna be able to come in.
They're gonna be able to grab Easter eggs
and fill their entire Minecraft inventory
with Easter eggs.
But there's also games for them to play.
- [Charlene] Churchesare also using Holy Week
as a time to serve their communities.
Some 100 churches are taking part
in a nationwide effort to deliver Bibles
via their church parking lots.
Each Bible will be markedwith the Easter story.
Tom Schultz, president of Group Publishing
says the inspiration for the idea
came from seeing peopleseek spiritual guidance
during this uncertain time.
He encourages people to stay safe,
and meet the risen Christ in scripture,
without even leaving your car.
In the end, church leaders say
while methods may have changed
the message remains the same.
- What Easter means isthat we all have hope.
That there is hope for our lives.
That Christ gives us salvation.
And through his resurrectionwe have the most
wonderful thing we could ever celebrate,
and that is life everlasting with him.
- [Charlene] Charlene Aaron, CBN News.
- With the far reachingeffects of the COVID outbreak
spanning across the globe,
it's not just churcheshere in the United States
that are adjusting.
As Chris Mitchell reports from Jerusalem,
celebrations there in thecity where it all began
also look a little different this year.
- [Chris] This is what GoodFriday usually looks like
on the Via Dolorosa,
Latin for the way of suffering,
where Christian pilgrimsfrom all over the world
come to retrace the steps of Jesus
on his way to hiscrucifixion on the cross.
This year on Good Friday
the Via Dolorosa here in the heart
of Jerusalem will be empty
since all outdoor processionshave been canceled
by the government because of COVID-19.
- Usually in such seasons
the city is overloaded with people.
Now the roads are empty.
We won't have practicallyany outdoor activity.
All prayers will be held
with very, very minimal participation.
- The same holds truehere in The Garden Tomb,
just outside the wallsof Jerusalem's old city,
where many people believe Jesuswas laid in this empty tomb
and then rose from the dead.
♪ Thy be the glory ♪
- The Garden Tomb association
has held Easter sunriseservices for years,
many of them broadcast by CBN.
- Normally there are thousandshere on Easter morning,
but this year we could only
allow four people on camera at a time.
Well the Easter servicewe have planned now
are gonna be a mix of readings from some
of the community who are still here,
prayers praying for those victims,
and those who aresuffering with the virus.
- [Chris] Abunassar saysdespite the circumstances
there's cause for hope.
- St. Paul says everything is working
for the sake of those who love God.
I believe that God in his divine wisdom
might require us to reflect
and to pray more.
And I do believe thatthis is an opportunity
for the families,especially nuclear families
to pray more, to reflect more.
- It will look verydifferent to previous years.
Obviously 'cause there are nopeople allowed to attend it.
But we still believe that is still an act
of worship to God, 'cause the ministry
at the Garden Tomb is about a place
of worship and witness and prayer.
And that will continueeven through this virus.
- [Chris] Regardless ofthe government restrictions
because of the coronavirus,
Abunassar and Holland say
the message of Easter remains the same.
- That we believe in resurrected Lord,
and death, even despite all difficulties,
Easter reflects that life will prevail.
- The message of thegospel stays the same,
and that message that the Garden Tomb's
proclaimed for 126 years that Jesus died,
that Jesus was buried,
and that Jesus rose again for everyone
who's listening to this messagetoday and the whole world.
- [Chris] Chris Mitchell, CBN News,
The Garden Tomb and ViaDolorosa, Jerusalem.
- [John] Coming up, pastorand author Max Lucado
offers a fresh perspective
on how to process these challenging times
dealing with the COVID outbreak.
That and more when we come back.
- [Male Narrator] Come home to the sounds
of Souther Gospel from CBN Radio.
You'll enjoy a rich Southern blend
of blue grass, classic gospeland southern gospel favorites
like The Gaithers, The Crabb Family,
and blue grass sounds like Mountain Faith.
So make yourself at home with the all new
CBN Southern Gospel, nowavailable at cbnradio.com.
(upbeat music)
- Meet the pastors whoare preaching the gospel
in a fresh, fearless way.
(upbeat music)
I'm Roberto Torres-Cedillo.
Join me each week for Next Gen Voices.
(upbeat music)
And watch God transform a generation.
(upbeat music)
- [Male Narrator] Prophecy thousands
of years old.
- [Woman] We were calledto be a light to the world.
- [Male Narrator] Being fulfilled today.
(baby crying)
Discover how, get To Life.
Call 1-800-700-7000.
- [Man] We consider it our duty
to reach out and helpothers around the world.
- [Male Narrator] Fora gift of $10 or more,
you can own the acclaimedCBN documentary To Life.
Just call 1-800-700-7000
or log on to cbn.com.
- To treat a human no matter what he is,
which religion he has, which color he is,
this is what I'm doing.
- [Male Narrator] See how the people
of Israel are fulfilling prophecy.
- History is being written,
and I wanna a part of it.
- [Male Narrator] Bysharing their knowledge.
- In Africa, in Asia, in South America,
in East Europe.
- [Male Narrator] And their love.
- This is how we work.
This is us.
- [Male Narrator] Get To Life.
Call 1-800-700-7000
or log on to cbn.com.
- Welcome back.
Well it's certainly notthe April Americans wanted.
Pastor Max Lucado says it's okay,
and even healthy totake the time to grieve
all those things we're missing right now.
He spoke with our SeniorWashington correspondent,
Jennifer Wishon.
- Pastor Lucado, thank youso much for joining me.
- It's my honor.
I wish it was under better circumstances,
but even so it's great to be with you.
- A lot of people are grieving.
This feels a lot like grief,
what you experiencewhen you lose something
or lose someone.
Is that how it feels for you?
- That is so perceptive on your part.
I've been thinking about that quite a bit
because as I've,
I've been posting quitea few online messages
inviting people to posttheir prayer requests.
As I read over those prayer requests
it sounds like grief,
it feels like grief.
When I look in my ownheart it feels like grief.
Now I've been using the word anxiety
to describe our predominant emotion,
and I do think it is still,
but I do think griefis a part of all this.
You know at its core griefis an unmet expectation.
It's an unmet expectation.
We expected to have moretime with our loved one.
We expected to grow old with our wife.
We expected to be healthy.
And so when people are grieving,
some expectation of life has gone unmet.
And that's really whatwe're dealing with here.
We expect it.
We expect it to enter into another year
protected and safe becausewe've come to expect that.
- What are some emotional tools
that Americans can callupon to get through this?
- The Bible is a story
of how God gets people through things.
My goodness, where do you notfind God delivering people?
It's a story of deliverance.
You know Joseph and the famine,
the Hebrews in Egyptian captivity,
the Hebrews again in Babylonian captivity.
Of course the great storyis the story of Easter.
God Friday the darkest day in humanity
becomes the greatest Sunday of celebration
because God got humanitythrough the crisis,
the greatest coronavirus of the soul,
and that is sin.
So we're gonna get through it.
Weeping may come in the night,
but joy comes in the morning.
So first of all let's just say
okay somehow God is gonnaget us through this.
Number two, allow yourself time to grieve.
If this indeed is grief,
I don't know any pastor,
I don't know any counselor
who says dismiss and deny yourself grief.
Nobody does that.
Every, that stiff upperlip stuff doesn't work.
It's certainly not a part of the Bible.
When King David learned of the death
of Saul and Jonathan,
he called the nation to mourn.
He commanded that they mourn.
Mourning is just a part
of getting through stuff.
I've said it so many times,
forgive me if you'vealready heard me say this,
but give yourself a good meltdown.
And sometimes we need two or three a day.
Just let it go.
Let it go.
Air your complaint before God.
Talk to him honestly.
Get on your knees.
Get on your belly.
You know this is, this is,
we need to call in all of our forces.
- I wonder, in a few dayswe're gonna celebrate
our risen savior,
and is it refreshing to you
that we are going to celebratethis ultimate renewal
in the midst of theseincredibly bleak days?
- It's huge.
It's huge.
It's huge.
Everything about it.
This is a time for thechurch to be the church.
It's a defining moment inthe history of the church.
It's a time for us to give encouragement,
a time for us to share the gospel.
The time for us to tellpeople that God is in control.
To remind people that yeahthis is a wake up call
for the whole planet.
We've all been remindedof the brevity of life,
the fragility of health.
We need a God,
and thank God he's there.
So this is our message.
This is our opportunity to share it.
And I'm so thankful thatpeople are gonna be tuning in
and watching the Easter message.
And this'll be,
what appears to be evil
God is gonna use for good.
- Pastor Max Lucado, thank youso much for sharing with us.
And I pray that you andyour family stay safe.
- Thank you.
It's always a treat to talk to you.
- [John] Coming up, historicalproof of the resurrection.
Three experts make their case
for the risen Christ when"Faith Nation" returns.
(upbeat music)
- [Female Narrator] Too often
we carry baggage from our past.
You know what it's like,
it effects everything
and everyone in our lives.
It's always there weighing us down
and keeping us fromachieving true happiness.
But do you know God never meant
for us to be trapped in the past?
You can be free of your baggage.
Learn how God's forgivenessleads to changed lives
and new beginnings.
Call the 700 club.
- [Efrem] I'm Efrem Graham,
and this is "Studio 5."
Cruise with me as Idiscover the good things
happening in the world of music,
sports, television and movies.
- The fact that Ryan Coogler
was gonna be directing the film,
I knew that somethingspecial was gonna happen.
- [Efrem] We'll chat withartists at the forefront
of entertainment andexplore the connection
between popular culture and faith.
- I asked my pastor,I said "does that mean
"I'm supposed to be a preacher?"
He said "well no, youalready have a pulpit."
- [Male Narrator] Watch "Studio 5"
Wednesday night at 9:30.
- [Male Narrator] (Speakingin foreign language).
- [Woman] This is our nature as a country.
- [Male Narrator] To makethe country a better place.
- Literally we felt the Earth shaking.
- [Male Narrator] TheChristian Broadcasting Network
presents To Life How Israeli Volunteers
Are Changing the World.
- This film needs to be seen by everyone.
- I was in tears.
- [Male Narrator] Now you canown the inspiring documentary,
To Life on DVD.
- There is blood on our hands
if we know and we walk away.
- I'm so grateful that this film was made.
- [Male Narrator] To Life can be yours
for a gift of $10 or more.
Call 1-800-700-7000.
Or log on to cbn.com.
- [Man] We know that everyminute counts to save lives.
- It'll bless Israel.
It'll also bless allthe friends of Israel.
- [Male Narrator]Discover the untold story
of how Israeli volunteers
are making the world a better place.
Call 1-800-700-7000 or log on to cbn.com
to get your copy today.
- Well of course a core Christian tenant
is that the son of God became human,
died for our sins
and then rose from the graveto give us eternal life.
If Jesus didn't, it undoes his claim
that he is God's eternal son,our savior and the messiah.
As Paul Strand reports,
Christianity all hangson the resurrection,
and he's reporting on theevidence to back it up.
(mysterious music)
- [Paul] To believe the eventsaround that first Easter,
you pretty much have to believe
that Jesus did indeed exist,
and that the New Testament can be trusted.
Biblical scholar Jonathan Morrow.
- The fact is we have far more sources
for Jesus of Nazareth than we do
for many historical figuresin the first century as well.
We have at least 18.
12 of those are non-Christian sources.
- [Paul] As for the New Testament.
- These books are the best attested
pieces of ancient literature we possess.
- [Paul] Dallas Theological Seminary's
Darrell Bock says the Bible has far more
ancient pages surviving thanany other book from antiquity.
- It's exceptional.
You're talking about over5800 Greek manuscripts,
over 8000 Latin manuscripts.
Most books that we workwith in the ancient world
have maybe at best a dozen manuscripts.
- For some the biggest barriers to faith
is believe that Jesus Christ
could really have risen from the dead.
But Morrow says everything hangs on that.
- Paul made the argumentin First Corinthians 15.
He's like look, you can test this.
If the resurrection didn'thappen Christianity's false.
Whether you believe it or not,
whether you're sincere about it,
if the resurrection didn't happen
Christianity's false,go to the next religion.
- But Christian experts say
that to dismiss the resurrection
any theory you come up with
to explain the historical happenings
has to explain three historical facts.
That there was an empty tomb three days
after Jesus' body had been placed in it.
He appeared to hundreds ofpeople in numerous places
for almost seven weeksafter his crucifixion.
And something huge happened to turn
all that cowering cowardly disciplines
into bold believers,proclaiming a risen messiah
they were willing to betortured and die for.
Some suggested the apostles all lied,
a vast conspiracy theory
to turn the deficit of his death
into the positive of a risen Lord.
But apologists likeDarrell Bock here in Dallas
point out that when you lookat it all the way through
it's actually easier tobelieve in the resurrection
than its alternatives.
Some suggest the female disciples
who first found the empty tomb
might have just had the wrong tomb.
But surely the Jewish leaders
who had Roman guards placedby Jesus' burial place,
and Joseph of Arimathea,
who owned the tomb where Jesus was
would have quickly corrected that mistake.
- If you're going around preaching
Jesus was physically raised from the dead,
and people knew where he was buried
and knew where they could find his bones,
that message wouldn'teven get off the ground.
- [Paul] A leading biblical apologist,
Josh McDowell, says thesedisciples knew this.
- In the resurrection,where was the hardest place
in the world to convinceanyone it was true
if it was false?
Jerusalem, where a15-minute walk by anyone
could confirm the emptiness of the tomb.
And then they said youwere there, you saw it.
- [Paul] Matthew 28 points out
the Jewish leaders bribed the tombs guards
to say that they'd fallen asleep
and the disciples then stole Jesus' body.
But if they were asleep,
how would they know it was the disciples?
And if the disciples weremaking up Jesus' resurrection,
would they have lived and died for him
in a fiction they themselves made up?
- And if they knew it,
they you'd have to say here were these men
who not only died for a lie,
but they knew it was a lie.
I challenge you to find othersin history that was true of.
It's not.
- You don't diet knowingly for something
that you know you made up.
You would back off.
And that didn't happen either.
- [Paul] These and otherexperts say that in truth
it takes something as radical
as Jesus' resurrection toso completely transform
cowardly Peter, who wasso scared just before
the crucifixion he sworehe didn't even known Jesus.
- And then you see Peter
with this radical transformation,
going from coward tothis courageous champion
who's saying look, here I stand,
this is what I'm saying,this is what's true.
- [Paul] Morrow pointsout Jesus' brother James
was also instantly changed.
- James, the brother of Jesus,
didn't follow Jesus duringhis earthly ministry,
he thought he was crazy.
- James despised his brother,
thought he was embarrassingthe family, everything.
And then Jesus appeared to him
in James' own word,
and then he became the leaderof the church in Jerusalem.
- And then after the fact James becomes
an early leader in the church,
and was persecuted and eventuallykilled for that belief.
- [Paul]] And apologists sayit could only be a resurrected
Jesus showing up two or three years later
that could transform thechurch's worst persecutor
into his main missionary.
- Saul of Tarsus was anything
but a follower who believed in Jesus.
He went from city to city
casting his vote to havehim imprisoned and executed.
But in his own wordsChrist appeared to him.
- So the main thing is just explaining
how someone like a Saul
who becomes Paul even exists.
- He was holding the coat
when people were killingthe first Christians.
He was adamantly opposed to this movement,
and then he became a Christian.
What accounts for that?
- The greatest murders into one
of the greatest missionaries.
To a Christian hater to a Christian lover.
Something happened in Paul's life
that I've never foundany other explanation
that if even comes close tosatisfying me intellectually
expect that Jesus appeared to Paul
after the resurrection.
- [Paul] The First CenturyJews believed women
were second class citizens
so if the disciples were lying
about the resurrection
they made their storyall the harder to accept
by putting women at the forefront.
- Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,
they all recount Jesus'earliest women followers
finding the empty tomb.
Now that's never,
in the First Century,
where a woman's testimony would have been
about the level of just above a slave,
that would not be your best foot forward.
- You'd never make up a story that way.
This is what's called thecriteria of embarrassment
in historical Jesus studies,
that you'd never makeup the story this way.
So the reason the story is this way
is because it must begrounded in what happened.
- [Paul] Saying the discipleslied about Jesus' resurrection
doesn't explain hisappearance before 500 people.
The apostle Paul in First Corinthians 15
suggested doubters go talk to them.
- You've got living history.
You've got the people who were there
to cross check whatevermessage is being there.
So it's not as though these things
could have been invented
and no one would have challenged it.
You've got this ideathat there's witnesses,
go investigate them.
It has all the ring of truth,
and not the ring of that conspiracy theory
where they just made this thing up
to invent their own religion.
- A lot of people then say
well the appearance ofJesus were hallucinations,
500 people at one time.
- [Paul] McDowell studied theresearch on hallucinations,
which shows they're nottriggered by anything external,
so no two people ever havethe same hallucination.
- Because it's all internal, subjective.
Would have 500 people havethe same hallucination,
Paul would be 500 miraclesequal to the resurrection.
But Morrow does say toaccept the resurrection
you do have to believe in God.
- But if it's at leastpossible that God exists,
then miracles become possible.
And when you look at theresurrection evidence,
it's pretty remarkable how strong it is,
and that's why it's atthe core of Christianity.
But it's not a blind faith kind
of thing like believingin the Easter bunny
or a lucky rabbit's foot.
Christians don't believethat Jesus rose from the dead
because the Bible says so.
They believe he rose from the dead
because that's what the earliest
and best historical documents show.
And that's what's the bestexplanation of the data.
- [Paul] Paul Strand, CBN News.
- [John] Coming up, whyone Christian music artist
believes the pandemic could be the spark
to a creative revival.
We explain when "Faith Nation" returns.
(upbeat music)
- It's the new Superbook Bible app.
It's packed with games, activities,
and Superbook episodes thatyou can watch for free.
So go.
There's trivia, a fun daily devotional,
and answers to your Bible questions.
Plus, an easy to understand Bible
the whole family will enjoy.
You can even create yourown Superbook character.
Ta-da.
It's the new Superbook Bible app.
Free downloads on iTunes,Google Play and Amazon.
- [Male Narrator] From Washington D.C.,
uncompromising stories, interviews
and analysis from veteranjournalists, David Brody.
- Escalating fight.
- [Male Narrator] Jenna Browder.
- Chose his words carefully.
- [Male Narrator] Ben Kennedy.
- Plan to join him.
- [Male Narrator] And Amber Strong.
- For impeachment growsa little bit louder.
- [Male Narrator] Bringing you
the political news that matters.
- We get out and tell the story
of the progress that we'remaking in this country.
- [Male Narrator] Watch "Faith Nation"
weeknights at six on the CBN News Channel.
- We will move the American embassy
to the eternal capitol ofthe Jewish people, Jerusalem.
- [Male Narrator] As the nations rage,
you can stand with Israel.
- History is being written,
and I wanna be a part of it.
- [Male Narrator] Call 1-800-700-7000
and get To Life.
- [Woman] This is our nature as a country.
- [Male Narrator]Discover the untold story
of how Israeli volunteersare changing the world.
- [Man] We consider itour duty to reach out
and help others around the world.
- [Male Narrator] Fora gift of $10 or more,
you can own the acclaimedCBN documentary To Life.
- To treat a human, no matter what he is,
which religion he has,
which color he is,
this is what I'm doing.
- [Male Narrator] SupportIsrael in their time of need.
Get To Life, now available on DVD.
Call 1-800-700-7000 or log on to cbn.com.
- [Woman] And I wish otherpeople throughout the world
could see this side of Israel.
(upbeat music)
- [Male Narrator] Youngpeople, millennials,
are flocking to church.
- [Female Narrator] It'snot an exaggeration to say
that we love to meet them,
and that we love to know their stories.
- And finally tonight, the coronavirus
clearly has changed the way we live,
causing fear, feelings of isolation
and maybe leaving somea little stir crazy,
one Christian music artist
recently told me now is the perfect time
to unleash godly creativity.
With wall to wall coverage
of the pandemic plastered on our screens,
it could become easy to get discouraged.
For singer/song writer Mark Mohr,
it's produced something else.
- As a creative, with the creator inside,
I started writing this song.
- [John] 24 hours later,
"Pandemic Quarantine Anthem" was born.
♪ We not fear ♪
♪ We not fear ♪
♪ We not fear ♪
♪ 'Cause Christ is the king ♪
- [John] It took 10 days forhis Christian reggae band,
Christafari, to complete the project
with several membersstranded in South America,
and the rest on quarantineafter a tour in Brazil.
♪ While they're searchingfor the anti-virus ♪
♪ Never forget that Christ is with us ♪
- [John] Mohr, whoseband has been featured
on "The 700 Club" says most
of the video was shot at hisSouthern California home,
including his daughter's birthday,
a scene marking the need to still
mark milestones in thisera of social distancing.
- Her birthday party gotpostponed, postponed,
so we had to have a virtual party.
So that wasn't us acting
with the little phones and doing FaceTime.
- [John] One word youdon't hear in the anthem,
the virus' common name.
- I don't say corona becauseI say Christ is the king,
and ultimately he's the king of all kings,
and he's the one who we wannabe focusing on right now.
- What's been the reactionthat you've gotten
from people who've had an opportunity
to listen to the anthem?
- It's encouraged peopleto put their trust in God.
There are 365, actually366 times in the Bible
where it says fear not,
and that is something,
that is a commandment.
One for every day of the year,
including leap year this year. (laughing)
- [John] He poses thischallenge to Christians.
- Are you gonna bloomwhere you're planted?
Are you just gonna wiltaway on the couch watching,
you know binging on Netflix?
You have the creator inside,
use that creativity for the good.
I wanna see a lot of books written.
I wanna see a lot ofmovie treatments written.
And in our case musicvideos filmed in our garage.
- [John] Even as millionsare confined to their homes,
Mohr says believers canstill share their faith.
- We're not supposed to hidethis light under a bushel.
And it's so hard to get it out,
but you can through social media.
You can through calling friends,
FaceTiming friends, toreaching out to those people.
So right now, right after you watch this,
just look through your phone
and just pray throughthat list of friends.
And say God, who shouldI reach out to right now?
- A practical and powerful example
of getting through this pandemic together.
Well we hope you enjoyedthis Good Friday edition
of "Faith Nation."
thanks for watching.
Have a great weekend,
and Happy Easter.
