Famous escape artist, Harry Houdini, died on October 31, 1926. About nine years prior to his death, on November 29, 1917, a pact he made with his wife was published in a newspaper that he would seek to escape death, and, if he was able to do so, he would contact her using the name “Rosabelle” and code words that spelled out believe. Houdini’s wife, Bess, held séances for ten years before giving up in 1936. In a well publicized effort in 1987, on October 31, 61 years after Houdini died, another séance was held in an effort to contact him, but Harry was a no-show! Obviously, Harry Houdini couldn’t do what he said he would do, so we can believe he died and couldn’t escape. Jesus also predicted he would rise from the dead three days after he was crucified, but we have the testimony of many that he did escape from the grave, including an unbeliever named Saul, later to be known as Paul.
I don’t know of anyone, who claims to be Christian, that would deny the resurrection of Jesus. Nevertheless, although both Jesus and his disciples claimed Jesus would return in the first century AD, before the passing away of the generation who persecuted and crucified him, many modern Christians reject his prophecy, saying he never returned during the first century. Instead, they claim his prediction was for thousands of years into the future. Many wannabe prophets predicted his return throughout the 1900 years or so after that first generation passed away, but, like Harry Houdini, before them, they all failed to produce. Not one spoke for the Lord. Blue moons came and went, generations after the birth of modern day Israel (1948) came and went, but not one wannabe prophet was accurate in predicting the coming of Christ. Not one wannabe prophet was accurate in predicting the coming of the Man of Sin, or the Great Tribulation, or the Rapture, or the end of the space / time continuum.
Do you know what else didn’t occur? Not one wannabe prophet had the intestinal fortitude of Jesus who said:
“If I do not perform the deeds of my Father, do not believe me. But if I do them, even if you do not believe me, believe the deeds, so that you may come to know and understand that I am in the Father and the Father is in me” (John 10:37-38)
No one admitted error, no one said I blew it, so don’t believe me, because I am a false prophet. Most never said anything after the dates came and went, but those who did respond tried to make out like they didn’t really **say** Jesus would return on a particular date or by a specific decade (although they never tried to correct those who believed they did), rather, their claim was: if the calculations were correct, it seemed like Jesus would return on that date or during the mentioned decade.
On the other hand, Jesus came right out and said he would rise from the dead three days after he was crucified, and he fulfilled his word. He also claimed he would come into his Kingdom and return in the glory of the Father, with his mighty angels to reward men (both good and evil), and that some of the folks who heard his words that day would live to see it all occur (Matthew 16:27-28). Later, he predicted judgment upon those who rejected him and his Gospel, saying judgment would occur before that evil Christ-rejecting generation passed away (Matthew 23:31-36; 24:30-34). Many who call themselves Christian try to tell us that, like Houdini, Jesus was a no-show during the first century AD. He predicted his return during that period, and his disciples preached he would return during the expected lifetimes of those to whom they preached. There really is no question about the clarity of their remarks. Equally without question Jerusalem and the Temple were judged, just as Christ said (Matthew 23:37-38), but the wannabe prophets try to tell us: no, Jesus was a no-show during the first century. If he is going to return at all, it must be yet future—2000 years and counting. Really? Even Houdini’s admirers had better sense than that.
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