Podcast appearances and mentions of addie mae collins

Abi opens with describing Addie Mae Collins until 3:13.She wraps up on her ideas from last episode. 3:13-6:30.She and Daniela catch up before the episode's topic is introduced at 8:57.TW: student death, suic*de, disturbing imagery, listener discretion advised On December 22, 1998 a mysterious foul odor drew the attention of students at the Jinghai Middle School located in rural Tianjin, China.The discovery of seven dead students and following investigation would lead authorities to a disturbing truth.Update is given on a case at 33:44. Morgan Geyser's release from Wisconsin's Winnebago Mental Health Institute.Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna187136

This episode is an interview with Sarah Collins Rudolph. Sarah Collins Rudolph, often referred to as the "Fifth Little Girl," is a survivor of the 1963 Birmingham church bombing. Born on January 26, 1951, in Birmingham, Alabama, Rudolph lost her sister, Addie Mae Collins, and three other girls in the bombing. She herself sustained severe injuries. Her story represents resilience and a powerful witness to history.

Demetra Kaye reports on the story of two Black boys Johnny Robinson and Virgil Ware who's lives were taken by the 1963 bombing of an Alabama church being forgotten as Four Black girls Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, Addie Mae Collins, and Carol Denise McNair were remembered. Connect with Demetra:  @demetrakaye ​ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/africandiasporanews/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/africandiasporanews/support

Joy Reid leads this episode of The ReidOut with breaking news involving the DC criminal case against Donald Trump. Late on Friday, special counsel Jack Smith asked a judge for a narrow gag order against Trump in the election interference case claiming that Trump's inflammatory remarks have led to threats against witnesses and could prejudice the jury pool. Also, Sarah Collins Rudolph, survivor of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Alabama and sister of bombing victim Addie Mae Collins, joins Joy Reid as we remember this tragic event 60 years later. All this and more in this edition of The ReidOut on MSNBC.

In a historic move, UAW workers at the 3 largest US auto companies have gone on strike. Union workers are seeking better wages, benefits, and conditions, which they say are modest proposals given the companies' high profits and executive pay— approximately 300 times the average worker. Ford Motors has laid off 600 workers, and General Motors is closing a factory in Kansas at which 2000 people work. Department of Justice special council Jack Smith wants a gag order on Donald Trump in order to prevent possible intimidation. Though standard in criminal cases, an order would be complicated by Trump's election campaign. Today marks 60 years since the KKK bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham Alabama, killing 4 young girls, Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins, and injuring 22 others.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

September 15, 2023 marks 60 years since the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, in which four little girls, Addie Mae Collins (age 14), Denise McNair (age 11), Carole Robertson (age 14), and Cynthia Wesley (age 14), were killed. Addie Mae's sister, Sarah, survived the bombing, and she told her story on Make It Plain, September 19, 2013.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In a historic move, UAW workers at the 3 largest US auto companies have gone on strike. Union workers are seeking better wages, benefits, and conditions, which they say are modest proposals given the companies' high profits and executive pay— approximately 300 times the average worker. Ford Motors has laid off 600 workers, and General Motors is closing a factory in Kansas at which 2000 people work. Department of Justice special council Jack Smith wants a gag order on Donald Trump in order to prevent possible intimidation. Though standard in criminal cases, an order would be complicated by Trump's election campaign. Today marks 60 years since the KKK bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham Alabama, killing 4 young girls, Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins, and injuring 22 others.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

Today marks 60 years since September 15, 1963, when 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, was targeted in a heinous act of racial violence. On that day, four Black girls, Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, and Denise McNair, lost their lives in a devastating bombing.  The girls were attending Sunday school in the church's basement when the bomb exploded. Fourteen others were also injured in the blast.  Originally, no one was arrested for the crime. However, after the investigation was reopened in 2000, Thomas Blanton and Bobby Frank Cherry surrendered, were indicted, and sentenced to life in prison. They both died behind bars.  While no one was arrested for the crime immediately, the investigation was reopened in 2000. Members of the Ku Klux Klan, Thomas Blanton and Bobby Frank Cherry, surrendered, were indicted, and sentenced to life in prison. They both died behind bars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

EMMY Award winning News Anchor Sherri Jackson brings audiences the news that matters weeknights at 4,5,6, and 10 PM on CBS 42 in Birmingham. Sherri is the PM Managing Editor and a member of CBS 42's Your Voice Your Station Investigative Team. Sherri is a trusted journalist whose goal is to always provide accurate reporting on the conditions, people and places that we call home in Central Alabama. Sherri's motto, is “we are all connected”. Sherri's exemplary work as a journalist includes the CBS 42 teams award winning coverage of the pollution in North Birmingham and its effect on generations of families. The EPA declared the area a SuperFund Site shortly after the broadcast of CBS 42's “Deadly Deception”. Sherri followed artist Elizabeth MacQueen to chronicle the making of the Four Spirits Statue in Birmingham's historic Kelly Ingram Park. It led to the EMMY Award winning documentary “Hope and Honor” which tells the story of Birmingham's effort to erect a fitting memorial to the victims of the 1963 Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombing. In telling the story of that seminal year in U.S. Civil Rights History, Sherri travelled to Washington, D.C. for coverage of the posthumously awarded Congressional Gold Medal to Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Denise McNair. As Sherri and Photographer Toby Carter boarded the plane to return to Birmingham that evening they were applauded by passengers on the plane who were also headed back to Birmingham. They said they were proud a local television station cared enough to travel to D.C. to tell this very important story. The medal is housed at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, where Sherri has moderated, hosted , or covered events that focus on our humanity. In 2022 BCRI named Sherri as a Courageous Communicator during the Institute's 30year anniversary at Fred L. Shuttlesworth Humanitarian Awards dinner. Sherri's journalism often focuses on health and families including the “Local War on Breast Cancer” spotlighting local research at UAB's O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center. The series included a podcast. Her Emmy award winning “Dangerous Connections” focused on protecting children on digital devices whether from bullying or predators. Sherri is the recipient of numerous professional journalism awards: https://www.sherrijackson.tv She's been named “Best News Anchor” several times by the Alabama Broadcasters Association. In 2019 Sherri was selected for the inaugural class of Top Women in Alabama Media. In 2022, colleagues re-elected Sherri to serve as the Region 9 Director representing Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas on the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA)Board of Directors. She currently serves on the board of the Foundry Ministries and has previously served on the boards of the Children's Aid Society, Childcare Resources, UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center and American Red Cross Blood Services Alabama. Prior to making her home in Birmingham in 1998, she worked for WGXA-TV in Macon, GA, WSAV-TV in Savannah GA, and WSAZ-TV in Charleston and Huntington West Virginia. Sherri is native of St. Louis, MO and graduate of Morehead State University in Morehead, KY. She is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, Radio Television Digital News Association, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.

Join me for a one on one discussion with former U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL).

A survivor of a bombing that killed four children at the 16th Street Baptist church in Birmingham, Ala., nearly 60 years ago spoke at Poplar Hill Missionary Baptist Church in Buford this weekend. Sarah J. Collins-Rudolph was a young girl who was at 16th Street Baptist with her sister, Addie Mae Collins, on September15, 1963 when a bomb placed at the African-American church by the Ku Klux Klan exploded. Collins-Rudolph shared her story on Sunday as part of Black History Month observations at the church. The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing is one of the most notorious incidents in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's. Collins-Rudolph survived the blast although she lost her right eye as a result of her injuries. Her sister, however, was one of four girls who were killed by the explosion. The FBI considered the bombing to be “a most heinous offense” and gathered evidence with as many as 36 agents working on the case at one point. The first 100 customers at Japanese cream puff restaurant chain Beard Papa's newest location in Duluth will receive a free gift when the pastry shop opens later this week. Beard Papa's is set to open its new location at 3350 Steve Reynolds Blvd, Suite 103 in unincorporated Duluth at 10 a.m. on February 25 It will be the pastry chain's third location in Georgia, and its second in Gwinnett County. Its first location in the state opened in Peachtree Corners' Town Center district a few years ago. There is an additional location in Sandy Springs. The first 100 people who show up at Beards Papa's Duluth on the 25th will receive a special gift. Popular local foodie influencers and neighboring business owners are scheduled to make appearances on the opening day. There will also be grand opening day offers. Beard Papa's lets customers choose from one of eight different types of puff shells, and then chose a cream filling that is inserted in the shell in front of them. The chain also has cheesecake, chocolate fondant, other types of pastries, and exclusive blended drinks on its menu. This year's Georgia baseball team has a chance to be special, and you can sense that from each player who speaks confidently about the upcoming 2023 season.  North Gwinnett grad Corey Collins, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound junior catcher for the Bulldogs this season, knows it too.  In his first two seasons, Collins has blasted a combined 19 home runs with 20 doubles and 74 RBIs in 110 games. In 2022, he posted a .994 fielding percentage with 160 putouts and 17 assists in 57 games. A criminal justice major, Collins has made the SEC Academic Honor Roll, too. Now as an upperclassman, he's ready to take the field in a new role. Along with seeing time at catcher and designated hitter, Collins will play in the outfield this season for the first time in his Bulldog career. Collins is one of two Bulldogs on this year's team to be named among Baseball America's top 200 Major League Baseball Draft prospects in the country.  Stricklin, who had eight players sign professional contracts last year, is excited to see Collins and others possibly get that chance as well. Collins said he already gets the opportunity to live out a dream playing for the Bulldogs, who he grew up watching and loving. The life-affirming song “I Hope You Dance” accompanied the traditional academic procession and recession of the Class of 2024 during their White Coat Ceremony, dubbed “the most unique White Coat Ceremony in the history of PCOM” by class chair Andrew Wilson. Having started pharmacy school at the beginning of the pandemic when most of the world was shutting down, the 79 class members decided to delay a virtual ceremony in 2020 to an in-person ceremony two and a half years later on Feb. 10. This decision mirrors the decisions class members will make as pharmacists. Shawn Spencer, PhD, RPh, dean and chief academic officer of the PCOM School of Pharmacy, extolled the students. He said, “You are not only becoming a pharmacist, but also a leader, mentor and a role model.” He added, “As healthcare professionals, you will be called upon to make difficult and complex decisions, and you will be relied upon to act with compassion, integrity and dedication to your patients who need you.” He called the ceremony “a rite of passage that symbolizes our commitment to the advancement of human health and the betterment of our most vulnerable communities.” The students were called to the stage where they were coated by faculty members five at a time. Wearing their white coats and a new PCOM School of Pharmacy pin, the Class of 2024 recited their class  mission statement led by Dr. Spencer. The class concluded the ceremony, attended by a multitude of family and friends, by reciting a Pledge of Professionalism led by John Tovar, PharmD, associate professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacy Practice.  Georgia disability advocates are calling for the creation of a special commission devoted to the problems Georgians with intellectual and developmental disabilities face. State Senator Sally Harrell, a Democrat from Atlanta, introduced legislation this week that would create an “Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Innovation Commission” akin to the highly successful behavioral health commission formed in 2019. Harrell's proposal has drawn bipartisan support, including from Republican Senate co-sponsors John Albers of Roswell, Mike Dugan of Carrollton, Chuck Hufstetler of Rome, and Ben Watson of Savannah. The 22-member commission would include members appointed by the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the speaker of the House of Representatives. Appointees would include, among others, people with intellectual or developmental disabilities and their family members and caregivers. The commission would be required to focus on proposed changes to state laws and regulations around providing services to people with disabilities. The Senate Health and Human Services Committee will need to approve Harrell's bill before it can move to the Senate floor for a vote. Providence Christian's boys were represented well on the All-Region 8-AA Basketball Team, including Region Player of the Year honors to Samuel Thacker. Thacker and the Storm won the Region 8-AA Tournament over the weekend, earning a Number 1 seed for the state playoffs. Providence head coach Joey Thacker was the 8-AA Coach of the Year, while the all-region team featured four other Storm players — Thomas Malcolm, Devin Long, Kamron Carryl, Chandler Dunn. Providence will start off the playoffs tonight hosting Rockmart High School at the Storm Center. For more information be sure to visit www.bgpodcastnetwork.com   https://www.lawrencevillega.org/  https://www.foxtheatre.org/  https://guideinc.org/  https://www.psponline.com/  https://www.kiamallofga.com/  https://www.milb.com/gwinnett  https://www.fernbankmuseum.org/  www.atlantagladiators.com            See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lisa McNair has witnessed how tragedy and grief affect a family and a community growing up in Birmingham, AL. Lisa's new memoir, Dear Denise: Letters to the Sister I Never Knew, tells the story of growing up after the death of sister Denise. Denise was murdered, along with Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins, in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in 1963. Lisa's life was one of learning who she was in her own family and the world around her. She tells her story to Denise through letter throughout her life. Join us for the conversation about love, grief and living in the midst of change. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/faithandgrief/support

Day 20 The Address: 16th Street Baptist Church The Story: Their names were Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins. They were on their way to a basement assembly hall for closing prayers on a Sunday morning. The explosion occurred around 10:20 a.m. It destroyed the rear end of the building. It injured 20 people, and it killed the four little girls. The attack was meant to disrupt Black community activists who had been demonstrating for weeks for an end to segregation in the city. The public funeral for three of the girls attracted over eight thousand people, but not one city or state official attended. The Birmingham Post-Herald reported a month later that in the aftermath of the bombing, no one had been arrested for the incident itself, but 23 Black people had been arrested for charges ranging from disorderly conduct to "being drunk and loitering," mostly in the vicinity of the church. One black youth was gunned down by police after he threw rocks at passing cars with white passengers. The four men responsible for the murders were not charged until 45 years later. But as Dr. King said during the eulogy, "They did not die in vain." They did not die in vain. The hate that took their lives did not triumph. Today we tell the story of 16th Street Baptist Church and the faithfulness of the Birmingham community.

On this Thursday episode of THE POLITICRAT daily podcast: Omar Moore talks about the actor Sheryl Lee Ralph, the Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle and, on this somber commemoration exactly 59 years ago, the four little Black girls (Addie Mae Collins, Carol Robertson, Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley) executed in a racist and terrorist attack at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama on September 15, 1963. Plus: Ways to make the world a better place. Also: Vote!! The November 8 midterms in the U.S. are just around the corner. September 15, 2022. The AUTONOMY t-shirt series—buy yours here: https://bit.ly/3yD89AL Planned Parenthood: https://plannedparenthood.org Register to vote NOW: https://vote.org The ENOUGH/END GUN VIOLENCE t-shirts on sale here: https://bit.ly/3zsVDFU Donate to the Man Up Organization: https://manupinc.org FREE: SUBSCRIBE NOW TO THE BRAND NEW POLITICRAT DAILY PODCAST NEWSLETTER!! Extra content, audio, analysis, exclusive essays for subscribers only, plus special offers and discounts on merchandise at The Politicrat Daily Podcast online store. Something new and informative EVERY DAY!! Subscribe FREE at https://politicrat.substack.com Buy podcast merchandise (all designed by Omar Moore) and lots more at The Politicrat Daily Podcast Store: https://the-politicrat.myshopify.com The Politicrat YouTube page: bit.ly/3bfWk6V The Politicrat Facebook page: bit.ly/3bU1O7c The Politicrat blog: https://politicrat.politics.blog Join Omar on Fanbase NOW! Download the Fanbase social media app today. PLEASE SUBSCRIBE to this to this podcast! Follow/tweet Omar at: https://twitter.com/thepopcornreel.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - Letter From Birmingham Jail - Episode 3 - The Radiant Stars Of Love And Brotherhood   I'm Christy Shriver and we're here to discuss books that have changed the world and have changed us.    And I am Garry Shriver, and this is the How to Love Lit Podcast.  This is our third episode in this series discussing Dr. King's leadership in the Civil Rights Movement most specifically in his iconic and historically important Letter From Birmingham Jail.  Next episode, we will extend our discussion of King to the origins of his story.  In Dr. King's speech to American from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial he said this,    In a sense we have come to our Nation's Capital to cash a check. When the architects of our great republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.  This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  This promissory note was again revisited during the days of Abraham Lincoln with the Emancipation Proclamation and then the Gettysburg address in 1863.  Next week, we will discuss this great address which Dr. King recalls occurred 100 years before his days in that Birmingham jail.       As we look back through the lens of history, we can see that lot happened very quickly after those 8 days in the Birmingham jail until Dr. King would make those very remarks on the steps of the Lincoln memorial.  It was in August of that summer that he would stand, “in the symbolic shadow” to use his words, of president Lincoln and open the eyes of the millions watching the address that he had a dream- a dream that would become the dream of the millions to hear or read his words. This same year would also propel him in December to be recognized most significantly across the Atlantic in Oslo, Norway.  On Dec. 4, 1964, Dr. King stood in front of the largest crowds to ever jam into the festival Hall of Oslo University.  Hundreds of students who could not get into the hall waited outside shouting “Freedom Now!” And “We Shall Overcome” as they watched him arrived with his wife Coretta to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.  As he began his acceptance speech, something you can still watch today if you go to the Nobel Prize website, he can be heard audibly choking up as he uttered the words “the tortuous road which has led from Montgomery, Alabama to Oslo.       It WAS tortuous- it led through, among other places- Atlanta, Georgia; Selma and Birmingham, Alabama.  Today we will finish reading paragraphs 27-50, or the second half of the letter, but before we do, we need to tell the story of the amazing events that were to happen after Dr. King gets out of jail.  Remember, after 8 days both Rev. Abernathy and Dr. King wee bailed out.  Immediately after being released, Dr. King assembled his team and made the extremely controversial decision to enlist even more teenagers and children- up to this point they had included students, but now they were going to recruit even more.  Of course, this caused protests from every corner of the political spectrum.  To some it seemed cruel and unnecessary.  Many, both white as well as African-American accused King of “using” children.  In his book, Why We can't Wait, King  recalls one incident of a child, eight years old, who marched alongside his mother.  A policeman looked down at the child and asked him, mockingly, “What do you want?” to which the child unable to even pronounce the letter r responded, “F-ee-dom”.  If this moment wasn't for the future- for the children, from Dr. King's perspective- then what was even the point.  The day would be called D-Day, of course borrowing the language used by the fathers of the movement from their days in World War 2 not even twenty years before.    Except, instead of descending on the banks of Normandy, D-Day in this case meant “ditch” day- as in Ditch School day.  The date would be May 2.  The numbers vary from source to source, but around 4000 children did just that.  They ditched school, demonstrated and over a fourth of them, or around 1000, ended up in jail.     Yes, and they next day more joined their ranks.  It wasn't long before 2500 children were jailed.  These students would demonstrate in schools.  They walked defiantly into  libraries they were not legally allowed to enter and sat in them.  They marched without a permit, and they also got arrested.   Per Connor's direct orders, they were hosed down with massive fire hoses.  It got ridiculous in scope.  Students were singing “Freedom” as the force of the water knocked them to the ground.  The police literally rented school buses to haul the children to jail.  But undeterred, the non-violent campaign continued until it worked. On May 4, there were newspapers all over the country and even across the world with pictures of men and children laying on the ground and policemen bending over them with clubs.       Oh, and it was going to get worse. Bull Connor very famously ordered out police dogs along with the fire hoses to attack the marchers.  Bull Connor pressed and pressed until even his own police force could not stand to enforce his vicious policies sometimes refusing to turn the waterhoses onto the crowds of marchers.      Bull Connor, along with the world all the way to the Soviet Union could feel the reality that the days of the segregated world were over.  By May 8, a moratorium had been issued in Birmingham. Birmingham would begin the process of de-segregation.  The more the leadership of Birmingham submitted to the “tension”- to use the word King uses in his letter, and were willing to negotiate, the more dangerous things got for Dr. King and the other leaders.  A bomb was planted near the Gaston Motel  the day after the integration plan was announced.  This motel had been the center of operations for Project C as well as where Dr. King was staying.  His brother's home the Rev. A.D. King was bombed, but the determination of the African American community in Birmingham only increased.  Segregation was dying; everyone knew this.  The question was, what kind of damage would be caused on its way out the door.      Well, we know the answer to that question.  On September 15, 1963, five young girls were in the basement of the church before Sunday morning services excitedly talking about Youth Day because they were going to be a part of the services.  A bomb went off.  Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley were killed.  Addie's sister, Sarah survived but lost her right eye.  Dr. King would send a telegram to Governor Wallace stating and I quote, “The blood of our little children is on your hands.”  It would not be until 2002 that the last of the four bombers would be convicted for his part in this brutal murder.    By the time of the September bombings, Dr. King's letter had circulated across the country.  The march on Washington had already occurred on August 28 and astounded the world with the sheer volume of people who showed up to hear Dr. King speak.  Dr. King looked out across that crowd, and as he recalls, knew the world was changing because he was not looking at only African-American faces.  There were faces of every color God has created.  He was looking at American faces.  With Abraham Lincoln behind him,  Dr. King spoke to the world of a dream where he envisioned a world where he famously said, and I quote “my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”    It was a vision most of America was willing and ready  to embrace, but those who were to oppose would do so violently to the end.  As we think about the lengths those that opposed him were willing to go, it is more amazing than ever that he insisted on a path of loving his enemies.  It's also amazing that HE is the one who was considered an extremist.  Let's jump back into the letter where we left off last episode.   Let's begin reading paragraphs 27-30.    Read paragraphs 27-30    Remember, he is addressing clergymen who directly accused him of being too extreme.  In these paragraphs he cautions his accusers against calling him extreme.  His path is the middle way and his way is rejected, blood would definitely run in the street.      True, so on the one hand, he will say, I'm definitely the one on moderate path here.  But on the flip side he does want to reiterate, that even if he really were an extremist, that wouldn't really be a bad thing.  Extremism, at times is not only very American, but also Christian.  To support this claim he cites the names of all kinds of American and Christian heroes who had been exactly that in their day-extreme.  Christy, read that famous paragraph 31 full of allusion after allusion to the heroes of Christian and American history.  We will skip paragraphs 32-35 for time's sake, but in those paragraphs, he extends the list of heroes beyond just the past, but into the present moment, citing name after name and honoring the white activist after white activist who not only supported the movement in the South, but had been jailed for it.       These men and women, not the ministers writing him, were on the spiritual and moral high ground.  He then, takes off his hat as historian, and puts back on his hat as a preacher.  With the authority of a doctor in theology who knows his Bible but who is also a doer of the word not just a speaker of it,  he chastises the white minister for their lack of political involvement.   Again this is an area of where many Christians simply do not agree.  Where is the role of the church when it comes to politics.  Many ministers agree that church and state should be totally separate. Dr. King completely disagrees with this view.  Let's read his view on the topic of if a Christian minister should engage in politics.    Paragraphs 37-42    And although Dr. King's perspective is entirely understandable; it's also understandable why many and perhaps the majority of Christian ministers today are extremely hesitant to get involved in politics and in fact take a firm stand that it is not their role to do so- for many reasons, and many reasons that are historical.  What is the role that religion should play in politics?  The American position has always been that church and state are separate.  That God does not have a political party and the church should never tell a person how to vote or engage politically.  In other words, the traditional American position is that an American should be able to be a Christian democrat or a Christian Republican or a Christian socialist or a Christian libertarian.   You can be a Christian and engage in any number of ways politically.    So true, but having said that, and the point Dr. King is harping on is that one's faith should absolutely inform one's politics.  Perhaps the church should not tell you exactly what candidate you should vote for, but for a practicing Christian and a practicing, faith defines morality.   It provides definitions for what is right and wrong, and what is good and evil.  Of course, there is There is always room for disagreement- and there is no end to the different denominations and sects of the respective faiths- but there are also commonalities that ground all Jewish and Christian faiths- and it is to these shared common values that Dr. King points.  On some things, there is no room for disagreement.  Dr. King  reminds these ministers that they share with him the value of human life as given by a Holy God, the nobility of the human soul, and the God-given gift of free choice.  These things are not debated between the African-American and white Christian churches.  The heritage of America itself is grounded on the idea that it is the will of God that all men live in freedom and equality- for King these values are embedded in the Christian gospel.  Let's read his religious argument in direct reference to the church and its posture in the face of politics.  That would be paragraphs 42-44.    Paragraphs 42-44    His hope IS the church- that is clear- it's not in the state- I love that he finishes- the grand finale- so to speak- outraged by the outlandish idea that in the face of so much unsolicited police violence, the clergyman actually commended Bull Connor's police force.  Let's read paragraphs 45-46    Paragraphs 45-46    I find it interesting here that he absolutely contradicts the moral relativism of many political leaders and the natural order of politicians as exposed to the world by Nicolo Machiavelli in the 15th century.  Machiavelli suggested that in politics morality is relative; that the ends justifies the means.  Every student of political science studies this in their first political science class.    Heck, most high level high school students will study the same thing either in history or English class.      And yet, Dr. King takes Machiavelli to task.  He says to use moral means for immoral ends is wrong.   He also quotes TS Eliot by saying to do the right deed for the wrong reason is treason.  Which by the way, people are always using that quote of Eliot's, where does it come from.    It comes from Murder in the Cathedral which is a play about the assassination of Archbishop Thomas Becket ironically.      The final paragraphs of his letter look to the future.  He speaks of James Meredith.  Garry, before we read these final paragraphs, tell us who is that is?    In the fall of 1962, the year before the Birmingham marches, James Meredith tried to enroll in the University of Mississippi.  Around here we call it “ole Miss”.  It's just an hour south of Memphis.  James Meredith was not a teenager.  He had served honorably in the air force in Japan.  He was married.  Because of his admission, riots broke out.  Hundreds were wounded, two died.  Eventually 31,000 national guardsmen were called out to enforce the order that Meredith be admitted into the university.   The armed forces would occupy university town of Oxford for ten months.  The end of the story for Meredith is good.  He eventually graduated from Columbia University with a law degree and enjoyed an important law career.  But at the time of this letter, again, that future was not certain.  Dr. King was a visionary, and we see that at the end of this letter, and we will see it again in the Dream speech.  He could see an integrated world, and through the power of his voice, his will and his rhetoric, so can the rest of us.  Christy, let's read to the end.    Paragraphs 47-50    Dr. King's righteous indignation surfaces here at the end.  We can see his disappointment, but we can also see that he does not despair.  And what is more miraculous, he still believes in forgiveness.  The final sentence of this letter speaks of the radiant stars of love and brotherhood.      The Civil Rights Act of 1964 would be one year away.  It was the nation's premier civil rights legislation. The Act outlawed discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.  It required equal access to public places and employment, and enforced desegregation of schools and guaranteed the right to vote.    Of course,  it did not end discrimination.  Dr. King knew that only love and forgiveness could do that, but it did open the door to further progress.      And may his words continue to speak…words of love, brotherhood, and forgiveness…as we pointed out that he said from the beginning of his career at age 26 and those early bitter days in Montgomery.  In that regard his message never changed…brotherhood and healing starts with anger but ends with love.  Wow.      Thank you for listening.  We do have one more episode in this journey through American political discourse.  Next week we will visit the battlefield of Gettysburg with President Lincoln and the context of the Gettysburg address.  After that we will change directions completely and explore the mysteries of Agatha Christie- she is always a lot of fun.  As always, please feel welcome to connect with us however you communicate: email, Instagram, fb, twitter or Linked in.  If you enjoyed this episode, give us a five star rating on your podcast app, and most importantly, share an episode with a friend.  It is through word of mouth that we grow.  Thank you for your support.    Peace out 

Na manhã do dia 15 de setembro de 1963, a organização racista e de ultra-direita Ku Klux Klan explode uma bomba durante um culto na Igreja Batista da rua 16, em Birmingham, Alabama, matando quatro jovens meninas. Com sua grande congregação afro-americana, o local era ponto de encontro de líderes dos direitos civis, como o reverendo Martin Luther King, Jr., que certa vez chamou Birmingham de “símbolo do núcleo de resistência à integração”.O governador do Alabama, George Wallace, fez da manutenção da segregação racial um dos objetivos centrais de sua administração. O atentado à igreja era o terceiro em Birmingham após apenas  11 dias do mandado federal que exigia a integração do sistema escolar do estado. Quinze bananas de dinamite foram plantadas no piso da igreja, debaixo de onde estava o banheiro das moças. As bombas detonaram por volta das 10h19, matando Denise McNair, de 11 anos, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson e Addie Mae Collins, todas com 14 anos. Imediatamente após as explosões, membros da igreja, aturdidos e ensanguentados, cobertos de pó e de estilhaços de vidro, vagaram às tontas antes de começar a cavoucar os escombros em busca de sobreviventes. Mais de vinte membros da congregação ficaram feridos.Quando milhares de indignados e irados manifestantes negros postaram-se diante do cenário do crime, Wallace enviou centenas de policiais e corpos armados para reprimir a multidão. Dois jovens negros foram assassinados naquela noite, um pela polícia e outro por um grupo racista. Enquanto isso, a reação popular ao atentado continuava a crescer, chamando a atenção do mundo para Birmingham. Luther King enviou para os funerais de três das moças mais de oito mil acompanhantes.Um membro da Ku Klux Klan bastante conhecido, Robert Chambliss, foi acusado de assassinato e da compra de 122 bananas de dinamite. Em outubro de 1963, Chambliss foi absolvido da acusação de assassinato, tendo recebido condenação de 6 meses de prisão e multa de 100 dólares apenas pela compra da dinamite. Embora uma investigação posterior do FBI tenha identificado três outros cúmplices de Chambliss – Bobby Frank Cherry, Herman Cash e Thomas E. Blanton, Jr. –, foi revelado mais tarde que, em 1968, o diretor geral do FBI, Edgar Hoover, obstruiu a investigação, engavetando-a sem que fosse concluída. Depois do procurador-geral do Alabama ter reaberto o caso em 1977, Chambliss foi julgado culpado e sentenciado à prisão perpétua.Esforços para processar os outros três homens que participaram do atentado continuaram por décadas. Embora Cash tenha morrido em 1994, Cherry e Blanton foram presos, processados e condenados em 2000 pelo assassinato. Blanton foi sentenciado à prisão perpétua. O processo de Cherry foi diferido depois que os juízes o julgaram mentalmente incapaz de ser submetido a juízo. Esta decisão foi mais tarde revertida. Em 22 de maio de 2002, Cherry foi considerado culpado e sentenciado à prisão perpétua, trazendo às famílias e amigos das quatro jovens vítimas, após tanto tempo, algum conforto.★ Support this podcast ★

Dale Long grew up in racially turbulent and thoroughly segregated Birmingham, Alabama. He was in the 16th Street Baptist Church the day it was bombed by Ku Klux Klan members, killing Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair.Dale recalls his memories from the moment the bomb went off and the events that followed, along with other notable memories from his childhood. Long discusses the legacy of racism and how it persists today, the epiphany he had while looking into Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s eyes, his calling to be a mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters, and so much more.Dale’s Email: dale1906@verizon.net

This week June tells us about the tragic deaths of Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Carol Denise McNair when three, possibly four, men bombed the church they attended in 1963.Sources for this episode:Sources coming soonSupport the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/CWMCpod)

Today is the 72nd birthday of the domestic terrorism victim Addie Mae Collins. An innocent little girl killed because adult men were afraid of things they didn't know or understand. Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. The world is a better place because she was in it and still feels the loss that she has left. This episode is also available as a blog post. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/waldina/message

Omar Moore remembers four little girls in Birmingham, Alabama whose lives were violently cut short 57 years ago today on Sunday, September 15, 1963 at the 16th Street Baptist Church. Addie Mae Collins, 14 Denise McNair, 11 Carole Robertson, 14 Cynthia Wesley, 14 Four little girls. September 15, 2020. FORTY-NINE DAYS OF VOTING LEFT in election season. The key to winning the election is MASSIVE EARLY VOTING TURNOUT. Vote EARLY. NEW: Omar's voting guide for ALL 50 states and DC, the Secretary of State websites and their voting deadlines of all the states and early voting dates and much more. Updated daily. Please vote on DAY ONE of early voting! bit.ly/3gTm5vB Trump's economic record is one big con: wapo.st/3mhwipE NEW: Omar's latest YouTube video on early voting: youtu.be/CROs1Tbfwjo Omar's voter education videos: Facebook: http://bit.ly/3aovXvD Instagram: http://bit.ly/3am65Ay YouTube: http://bit.ly/3alt4vN Omar's film review of “Da 5 Bloods” (bit.ly/37nliju). MOORE THOUGHTS: moore.substack.com. Moore On Medium: medium.com/@omooresf The Politicrat YouTube page: bit.ly/3bfWk6V The Politicrat Facebook page: bit.ly/3bU1O7c The Politicrat blog: politicrat.politics.blog PLEASE SUBSCRIBE to this to this podcast! Follow/tweet Omar at: http://twitter.com/thepopcornreel

MEDICAL APARTHEID IS STILL HAPPENING ,TODAY.

From pandemic to protest. 2020 has been a difficult year. We seek spiritual leadership. During this time, Tony and I look to the healing words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This eulogy was given in 1963 following a bombing at 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. "They were discussing the eternal meaning of love", he says, reflecting on the girls last moments within the walls of the church. A timeline of the events leading up the event was summarized in a 2019 in a CNN article: September 15, 1963 - A bomb blast at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, kills four African-American girls during church services. At least 14 others are injured in the explosion, including Sarah Collins, the 12-year-old sister of victim Addie Mae Collins, who loses an eye.Three former Ku Klux Klan members are eventually convicted of murder for the bombing. Victims:Addie Mae Collins, 14Denise McNair, 11Carole Robertson, 14Cynthia Wesley, 14 September 15, 1963 - - Riots break out, and two African-American boys, Virgil Ware, 13, and Johnny Robinson, 16, are also killed. In all, at least 20 people are injured from the initial bombing and the ensuing riots.- Alabama Governor George Wallace sends 500 National Guardsmen and 300 state troopers to the city. The next day, they are joined by 500 police officers and 150 sheriffs' deputies. September 16, 1963 - President John F. Kennedy responds by saying, "If these cruel and tragic events can only awaken that city and state - if they can only awaken this entire nation to a realization of the folly of racial injustice and hatred and violence, then it is not too late for all concerned to unite in steps toward peaceful progress before more lives are lost." -- The hope embodied in this eulogy must remain in our national aspirations. We pray that we are striving to become a more just and equitable society - a core part of King's dream. It pains us that George Floyd's death is not an outlier, but only another death of people of color at the hands of the police. A BBC article lists a timeline of deaths since Eric Garner's death by choke hold in 2014. Say their names in your thoughts and prayers, but more importantly, proactively work on behalf of those most oppressed who live in a nation desperately needing healing.

February 22nd, 2020 The Parrish hosted a special performance of 4 Little Girls: Moving Portraits of the American Civil Rights Movement, by the Edge School of the Arts (ESOTA), co-presented with the Hamptons United Methodist Church and with support from the Jerome Foundation for Jerome Artist Fellow, Kerri Edge. Followed by a conversation with artistic director Kerri Edge, the performers and special guest tap dancer Omar Edwards, moderated by Parrish Director Terrie Sultan.  4 Little Girls: Moving Portraits of the American Civil Rights Movement is an experimental narrative film by Kerri Edge that infuses historical authenticity, contemporary dance movements (tap, modern dance, hip hop, and ballet) choreographed to spoken word and 60's protest songs to recant the horrific story of Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley, the four young black girls who were violently murdered by the Ku Klux Klan when a bomb exploded in the basement of the Black 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, on September 15, 1963. The story unfolds through the imaginative interpretations of present-day performing arts students whose teacher challenges them to go back in time and recreate the moments leading up to what Martin Luther King Jr. described as, “one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity.”

Este audio es una petición de nuestro donante vía transferencia bancaria Francisco Javier Cuenca Osuna. El 15 de septiembre de 1963 tuvo lugar en Birmingham, Alabama, uno de los episodios más sangrientos e infames en la larga lucha por los derechos civiles. Ese día, en la Iglesia Baptista de la Calle 16, una bomba colocada por miembros del KKK mataba a cuatro niñas afroamericanas que se hallaban en su interior. Sus nombres eran Denise McNair (de 11 años), Addie Mae Collins (14), Cynthia Wesley (14) y Carole Robertson (14). Además otras veinte personas resultaron heridas. Temas: • Walk On By Faith - Lannie McBride • We shall overcome - Pete Seeger Narración, edición y montaje: Asier Menéndez Marín Diseño logo Podcast: albacanodesigns (Alba Cano) Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

sermon transcript Introduction: Gateway to a New World I can't wait to preach this message. I am so excited. Psalm 16 is a gateway to eternal joy for us. It's been a gateway in my life, and I look forward to proclaiming that today. Amen? In C.S. Lewis' fantasy novel, the classic The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, set in World War II, during the time of the Blitz in London, four children are removed from that danger and they're out in a countryside manor where they are immediately bored because there's nothing to do. So they start to play hide and seek. And one of them, a little girl finds a great hiding place in a wardrobe, what that is is a stand-alone closet that has all kinds of old clothes in it, and so she hides in there and decides to improve the hiding place by moving further and further back in the wardrobe until strangely, she feels some branches brushing across her face and she feels the chill of winter air and the smell of a forest in winter. She doesn't know this, but she has passed through a gateway into a world called Narnia, and that's the foundation of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. This theme is a major one in literature, the idea of passing through a gateway, a portal into a whole different world. In Lewis Carroll's classic, Alice in Wonderland, in the first version, she follows a rabbit down into a rabbit hole and tumbles a long, long time into another world, and in the sequel, she goes through a looking glass into a looking glass world, Alice in Wonderland. Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote a book, The Secret Garden, in which a young girl named Mary Lennox discovers a key and then finds the door that it unlocks and it's a vine-covered door, it doesn't look like it's been opened in decades, and she goes through into a secret garden, and the whole story is based on her passageway into that secret garden. You've heard perhaps of the Arabian Nights, 1,001 nights, one story after another, and one of the stories was entitled “The Man Who Never Laughed Again.” I remember hearing this story when I was a child, and it made such an impression on me, and it wasn't until about two weeks ago that I rediscovered where it was. And in this story, there's a young man who takes care of 11 other men who spend their whole day weeping all day long, but he's not allowed to ask why. Finally, one by one all of them die off, and as the last one lays on his deathbed, this man wants to know “Why are you weeping all the time?” And he's told that in the courtyard where they sat all the time, there was a hidden doorway in the corner behind some vines, and if you would just move the vines and go through that doorway, he would find out, but the man who was dying begged him not to do it because he loved him as a father loved his son. Well, he goes through, of course, he's gonna go through the door. There wouldn't be a story otherwise. He goes through the door, a three-day journey leads him to a mysterious beach, an eagle plucks him off the beach, carries him between heaven and earth to a distant island where he's dropped there. He ends up meeting a beautiful woman who is a princess, she wants him to be her husband. They marry. He's the king of a whole fantastic realm, and he lives in bliss there, but he's told there's a door in a certain place he should never go through. And it just weighs in his mind all the time. He's tempted and finally, he says, “You know, last time I went through a door, look what happened. The next door, it might get even better.” So he goes through the door, next thing he knows, he's back on a beach, the eagle takes him back where he started, he sits there waiting for three months, and the eagle doesn't come back and he crawls back up the tunnel and he's back at the original garden where he started. He spends the rest of his life weeping like the other 11 men did. And I'm thinking, “Oh my goodness, what a dreary story.” But the common theme of all of these is the portal or a gateway into another world. A world where things are different. Let me tell you something, none of these mysterious gateways is as spectacular and exciting as the gateway that is Jesus's empty tomb. Amen? It is a gateway into a real world of eternal joy and bliss in the presence of God. You see, Christ died on a cross, his body was wrapped up in linens, he was laid in a new tomb in which no one had ever laid. And a stone was rolled in front of that tomb, but on the third day, Jesus arose, came out of those grave clothes, passed in some mysterious way through the wall of the tomb, and began a journey that changed the history of the world. A journey of convincing people, skeptics, unbelievers, that he was God in the flesh, and that he holds in his hand the keys of life and death, and that through faith in his name, eternal life is yours. That journey has been going on now for 2,000 years. And I'm convinced that Jesus has physically been raised from the dead, and that empty tomb has become for me a gateway into eternal joy. Today, Christ is beckoning all of us to follow him. To begin the journey there at the empty tomb and to follow him through the door into a life that will never be the same again, and unlike Lucy in the wardrobe, it's not an invisible fantasy world called Narnia. Unlike Alice, we're not heading to Wonderland. Unlike Mary Lennox, it's not some earthly garden, which she fixes up through her knowledge of gardening. And unlike the man who never laughed again, we're going to a place where joy will never end, and while we cannot lose the paradise we gain, it's not a paradise of earthly sensual delights as in the 1,001 Nights, no, it's a place of eternal joy at the right hand of a holy God, that's where we're traveling. Gateway Predicted Predictive Prophecy: Supernatural Evidence for Christ Now, this gateway that I'm referring to - although the word gateway isn't found in Psalm 16, but that's what it is - it's a doorway really into the presence of God. It is a doorway or a gateway that was predicted a thousand years before Christ was born. Look at verse 11 in Psalm 16. The prophet who wrote Psalm 16 is King David, one of the greatest prophets, the greatest kings of Israel. He was the greatest king of Israel, and he was also a prophet, and he wrote Psalm 16 a thousand years before Christ. And in verse 11, it says there, “You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” Now, predictive prophecy is supernatural evidence to the truth of the gospel, is supernatural evidence to the truth of Jesus' claim that He is God in the flesh. What do I mean by that? Well, none of us knows the future, we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, we sure don't know what's gonna happen in a thousand years, but God has all of history in his mind and he enabled prophets to write about things long before they took place. And so this ancient Hebrew writing carries within it a prediction of the resurrection of the Christ. Look at the beginning of verse 7 and following, it says there, “I praise the Lord who counsels me. Even at night, my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices, my body also rests secure because you will not abandon me to the grave,” listen, “Nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” Psalm 16: The Key Concept Is “This Could Not Have Been David” Now, the key concept of this predictive prophecy in Psalm 16 is that this statement in verse 10 could not have been David. Even though David wrote it, it could not have been referring to him. Now, much of Psalm 16, perhaps, could refer to David's life and his struggles, and God's faithfulness to him, but there is this one statement in verse 10, where he says, “You will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.” A very interesting statement, very specific. Now, on the day of Pentecost, 40 days after Christ had been risen, the Apostle Peter stood up and preached to a huge crowd in Jerusalem that was gathered for that Jewish feast. And after quoting this Psalm, Psalm 16, he said this. He said, “Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day, but he was a prophet, and he knew that God had promised on oath that He would place one of his descendants on the throne. Seeing what was ahead” - that's predictive prophecy - “seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are witnesses of the fact.” Let me tell you, his sermon is one of the greatest sermons in history, because 3,000 people were converted that day and added to the church. Several years later, the Apostle Paul preached a similar sermon in a synagogue in Pisidian Antioch, would be in modern day Turkey, and he made the exact same point based on Psalm 16. He said there, “The fact that God raised him from the dead, never to decay, is stated in these words: ‘You will not let your Holy One see decay.’ For when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed. But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay.” That's in Acts 13. So both the Apostle Peter and the Apostle Paul make the same point right from the Psalm we're looking at this morning. That it is predictive prophecy that could not have referred to David. It referred to Christ. Christ: Protected from Corruption, Raised in Power Now, God specially protected the body of Christ from corruption, He protected it from decay. Now, we live in a world filled with corruption. I don't just mean the corruption you see in politics with graft and all that, I mean literal biological corruption and decay. It's built into the food cycles that we just are aware of and surround us all the time. The leaves that I blew off my yard or raked off my yard last fall, I wish I could sell them and get some money for them. Every year I raise a harvest of leaves. I don't get much for them, and so we just move them off to the woods that surround my yard, and we just let them sit there. And the rain and the weather and all that, they just decay. They just break down and they return to the soil where they came from. Paul said that the whole physical world around us is in bondage to decay. In Romans 8:21, it says, “Yearning to be liberated from its bondage to decay,” the whole world surrounding us. Now, this is especially poignant and powerful when it comes to the issue of the human body after death. It says in Psalm 49:14, it says, “Like sheep, they are destined for the grave, and death will feed on them. Their forms will decay in the grave, far from their princely mansions.” Well, that is our physical future. I know it's not pleasant to think about, but that is the truth. The body is reduced to corruption and it begins to stink with a bad odor. With forensic science, the medical examiners are able to set the time of death based at least in part on the process of decay, because we have microorganisms within us, and as soon as we stop living, they begin to feed on our internal organs, not long before corruption comes. Now, this has happened to every dead person in history, except one, and that is Jesus Christ. And the fact that God would not permit it to happen to Jesus' body was predicted a thousand years beforehand, so this is a gateway that has been predicted. Gateway Purchased The Most Expensive Gateway in History Secondly, it's a gateway that is purchased. A gateway that's been purchased. And I tell you it is the most expensive gateway that has ever been purchased in history. Now, I like to go to St. Louis, we've had some relatives that live there, and they have there the great arch. It's the symbol of St. Louis, and it was built in 1965 at the cost of $23 million. And at the base of the gateway, or at the base of the arch, is a plaque that says “St. Louis, Gateway to the West.” That's where Lewis and Clark's expedition went out. A lot of travelers went to St. Louis and got equipped for their journey west, and so it became, that city became the Gateway to the West. The arch, 630 feet high, 630 feet wide is called the Gateway Arch, and it cost $23 million. Perhaps the most famous monumental arch is the “Arc de Triomphe” in Paris. Napoleon built it or started to build it in 1806, after his triumph at Austerlitz. No one knows how much money they spent to build that. Especially when you think about the cost of the arch, you factor in all the lives that were squandered as Napoleon pursued his desire for a French empire in Europe, that was a very costly arch. And then in ancient Babylon, there was something called the Ishtar Gateway. It was the most spectacular of all of the gateways into the ancient fortress city of Babylon. It was covered with rubies and diamonds and all kinds of things, which are no longer there, but they have the actual arch and it's really spectacular. Let me tell you something. There is no gateway in world history, there's no gateway in the world today that's as expensive as the gateway that Jesus opened up for us into the presence of God. Well, what do I mean by that? Well, what we're talking about here is a gateway into eternal pleasure at God's right hand, a gateway into eternal life. Well, the cost of our eternal life is his infinite death, and I say infinite in that he was and is the Son of God, and when he shed his blood on the cross, that's an infinite payment, and he paid it for us. In Ephesians 1:7, it says, “In Christ, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.” The word redemption involves the recovery of slaves by the payment of a price, and Jesus paid the price to redeem us from our sins. Also says in 1 Peter 3:18, “Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit.” And so again, this gateway has been purchased. This is the costliest gateway ever built. Greatest Barrier: Our Sin and God’s Holiness Now, when we talk about an approach to God, coming into the presence of God, we have to think, what is the barrier that separates us from God? And the barrier is the combination of our sinfulness and God's holiness. It creates an impenetrable barrier that we could never find a way to open. We could never come into the presence of God as a result. God says in Isaiah 57:15, it says there, “This is what the high and lofty one says, he who lives forever, and whose name is holy: ‘I live in a high and holy place.’” How can we sinners live with him? God says in Habakkuk 1:13 that his eyes are too pure to look on evil. He cannot tolerate wrong. He can't even look at evil, how could he dwell with it forever? This is a barrier between us and a holy God. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they were cast out of that perfect place because they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and they were put under the death penalty. And it says that the way back into paradise, back into the garden, back into the place where the tree of life was, was guarded by an angel who had a flaming sword flashing back and forth, basically saying, You can never get in here, the penalty for getting in here is death. And so the only way an opening could be made into paradise, into the presence of God is by the payment of a death penalty. Old Covenant Barriers and Exclusions God established this barrier idea in the Old Covenant again and again. There are these barriers that separate the people of God from the presence of God. Walls and curtains and different things that basically are saying this message: “You are not welcome in the presence of a holy God.” A good example of this is right in the temple in Jerusalem right there. There was a central place where the ark of the covenant was, and that was the place where God met with the people symbolically, that's where he met. And there was a cubicle room called the Holy of Holies, and another room was there called the Holy Place, but this was the Most Holy Place, and the Holy Place was separated from the most holy place by a curtain in the temple. The courtyard was a place any Jew could go. We Gentiles, we wouldn't be permitted in there, on penalty of death. But any Jew could go in the courtyard, any priest could go in the Holy Place, but only the high priest could go in the Holy of Holies, the Most Holy Place, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in their ignorance. And God was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not been disclosed as long as that tabernacle was still standing, the book of Hebrews tells us. A “New and Living Way” Opened for Us Now, the moment that Jesus died on the cross, a miracle happened. That curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. It was a miracle of God. From top to bottom it ripped showing that the book of Hebrews says, “A new and living way had been opened up for us into the very presence of God.” That's what it says in Hebrews 10:19-20, it says, “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by a new and living way opened for us by the body of Christ, let us draw near to God.” That is the gateway I'm talking about today. It is a gateway that was purchased at the cost of the blood of the Son of God. Gateway Proven Christ’s Resurrection: A Matter of History First, Then Theology Second Now, the moment that Jesus purchased that gateway, when he said, “It is finished,” and he died, the gateway had been purchased, the way was open, but it had to be proven to the onlooking human race, it had to be proven to us, so that we could know that it was open. And so the third step is that the gateway had to be proven, and God did this in space and time, he did it in history by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Now, Christ's resurrection is a matter of history first and theology second. I say to you, if it didn't really happen, then there's no point in talking about it. I say to you, if there was no historical resurrection, then any theology about the resurrection is a waste of time. And so this is a matter of history first and theology second. Without the resurrection of Christ, friends, we have no Christianity. I'm up here for nothing. You're here celebrating nothing. And we are still in our sins, and we have no hope on Judgment Day if Christ has not been raised. H.P. Liddon put it this way, he said, “Faith in the resurrection is the very keystone of the arch of Christian faith, and when it is removed, all must inevitably crumble to ruin.” Philip Schaff, the great church historian, said this, “The resurrection of Christ is therefore emphatically a test question upon which depends the truth or falsehood of the Christian religion. It is either the greatest miracle or the greatest delusion which history records.” Those are the choices we have. It's either a great miracle or it's a great delusion, but history records it. It's a historical matter. Three Great Evidences And so therefore we have to ask the question, “What evidence is there that this gateway has been opened?” And I think God has given us at least three great evidences of the resurrection of Christ. The first is the empty tomb. The empty tomb is proof that the gateway has been opened. Now, on that first Easter morning, a series of eyewitnesses came to the place where Jesus's body had been laid. One after the other came and they looked at the evidence of the resurrection. John 20 records one of these accounts, these eyewitness accounts. They went to the tomb, the stone had been removed from the entrance, and Mary Magdalene, and then Peter and John went in and they looked, and you know what they saw inside? They saw the grave clothes of Jesus, I believe in the shape of his body, somewhat like a cocoon, and the body of Jesus had somehow come through those grave clothes. They also saw the head covering folded separately laying by itself. And the physical evidence just screamed, “Resurrection.” Now, Luke tells us, Peter saw and wondered. But John, John's gospel says that John saw and believed. And I think if you had the privilege this morning of standing on that first Easter morning and looked at that evidence, I don't think you'd have any trouble believing. There's no other explanation. The physical evidence of the empty tomb, it's there. Now, I say to you that an empty tomb alone doesn't prove a resurrection, does it? Mary Magdalene looked in and saw the empty tomb, and she wasn't convinced yet of a resurrection. We'll talk more about that in a minute. Peter wasn't sure yet. They just knew the body wasn't there, that's all. They weren't sure why. Lee Strobel in his book, A Case for Easter, which we've given out to our guests, if you're a guest, please grab hold of that book, that is a wonderful, short description of some of the evidence of the resurrection for Christ. But he tells an interesting story about a young girl who died tragically in 1963. He talks about an empty tomb in Birmingham, Alabama. This is what he wrote. “In 1963, the body of 14-year-old Addie Mae Collins, one of four African-American girls tragically murdered in an infamous church bombing by white racists was buried in Birmingham, Alabama. For years, family members kept returning to the grave to pray and leave flowers. In 1998, they made the decision to disinter the deceased for reburial at another cemetery. When the workers were sent to dig up the body, however, they made a shocking discovery. The grave was empty. Understandably, the family members were terribly distraught. Hampered by poorly kept records, cemetery officials scrambled to figure out what had happened. Several possibilities were raised, the primary one being that her tombstone had been erected in the wrong place. Yet in the midst of determining what had happened, one explanation was never proposed, and that is that young Addie Mae had been resurrected to walk the earth again. Why? Because in itself, an empty tomb does not a resurrection prove.” Well, he's right. You look at Mary Magdalene, she's standing there and looking in and what has she concluded? “They have taken him away, and I don't know where they've put him,” that's what she was thinking until something happened. And here's the second great evidence. She turns around and she has an encounter with the resurrected Christ personally. The account is in John 20, “She turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. ‘Woman,’ he said, ‘why are you crying? Who is it you're looking for?’ Thinking he was the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him and I will get him.’” To me, that's one of the funniest lines in the gospel of John, thinking he was the gardener. No, he's not the gardener. He's the resurrected Lord, the savior of your soul, but she didn't know it yet. Somehow he looked different. His appearance was somehow changed. But then Jesus spoke one word to her, he said, “Mary,"” he spoke her name in Aramaic, Miriam probably, and she turned and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” which means my teacher, my rabbi, and she grabs hold of him at that moment, and Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them I'm returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” And Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news, “I have seen the Lord!” and she told them that he had said these things to her. Mary Magdalene, however, was not the only eyewitness of the resurrected Christ. Jesus had a series of encounters with people one after the other. The New Testament records are full of these eye witness accounts. The Apostle Paul kind of organizes them all for us in 1 Corinthians 15. He said this, “For what I received, I passed on to you as a first importance, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day, according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the 12, and after that he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers at the same time,” 500, “most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. And then he appeared to James and then to all the apostles, and last of all, he appeared to me also as to one abnormally born.” Now, in a court trial, all you need, at least in Bible times, is two or three witnesses. On the testimony of two or three witnesses, every matter is established. Well, the Lord lavished on the human race well over 500 eyewitnesses of the resurrection of Christ. Josh McDowell points out that if all 500 eyewitnesses strained in the witness stand, each one gave six minutes of testimony, including cross-examination, you would have 50 hours of testimony. Do you think that would settle the matter in the court of law? I would think so. And so we have secondly, the eyewitness encounters with the resurrected Lord. But then thirdly, you have the extraordinary explosion of Christianity through the first three centuries after Christ. You know what they're gonna tell us these days, you see it on the news, you see it on 2020 and all that, that these stories are myths that were written 200, 300 years later, it is impossible. It is a fact that in the year 312 AD, the Emperor Constantine, the Roman emperor, declared himself to be a Christian. That shows the progress that Christianity had made in three centuries. That's extraordinary. Now, what was the basis of the explosion of Christianity? I tell you, it was the empty tomb of Jesus Christ and these eye witnesses who preach fearlessly and courageously that they had seen the risen Lord. You couldn't shut these people up. And how do we explain the transformation in these disciples? They were just like us. They were running and hiding. They were in a locked room for fear of the Jews. They wanted to go back to fishing. They were done with Jesus. Then all of a sudden, 40 days later, they're in downtown Jerusalem fearlessly preaching that they have seen the resurrected Christ? How do you explain that? Well, I know how I'd explain it. They saw the Lord, and they weren't afraid to die anymore. J.P. Moreland put it this way, “When Jesus was crucified, his followers were discouraged and depressed, and so they dispersed. The Jesus movement was all but stopped in its tracks. Then after a short period of time, we see them abandoning their occupations, re-gathering and committing themselves to spreading a very specific message that Jesus Christ was the Messiah of God, who died on the cross, returned to life and was seen alive by them, and they were willing to spend the rest of their lives proclaiming this without any payoff from any human point of view. They faced a life of hardship. They often went without food. They slept exposed to the elements. They were ridiculed, beaten, imprisoned, and finally, most of them were executed in torturous ways. And for what? Because they had good intentions? Hardly so. It's because they were convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that they had seen Jesus Christ the Lord risen from the dead.” The empty tomb, eyewitness accounts of having seen the risen Lord, and the explosion of Christianity through the first three centuries after Christ, all speak to me of a gateway that is proven opened. Jesus is risen. Gateway Proclaimed Proclaimed by Whom? And fourthly, this is a gateway that is proclaimed. It's proclaimed. Well, by whom? Well, first by the Apostle Peter and the other apostles, secondly by the Apostle Paul at Pisidian Antioch, as we mentioned, and since that time, by pastors and missionaries and witnesses for 20 centuries in every nation on earth. This is a gateway that's been proclaimed and believed all over the world for 20 centuries. A Proclaimed Gateway into What? Now, you may ask, a gateway into what? Look again at verse 11. It says there, “You have made known to me the path of life, you will fill me with joy in your presence with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” What are we stepping into when we believe in the resurrection of Christ? When we step through that gateway, into what are we stepping? Well, look what it says. First of all, it says, “Fullness of joy and eternal pleasure.” No one can deny we live in a pleasure-soaked age. People desperately seeking pleasure from all sources, hobbies like golfing or gardening or four-wheeling or horseback riding. Gadgets like a new massage chair from Sharper Image, costs you $889, get all those tough spots that are hard to get, or entertainment like DVDs and spectator sports. We're looking for all kinds of things to fill an emptiness inside that only God can fill. And you know what he's saying when he looks down from heaven? He says, “You don't know joy, and you don't know pleasure until you come to be in my presence.” That's where it is. So he's talking about the fullness of joy. The word “fullness” there literally means to be full to overflowing. Imagine a grain silo after a record harvest and they don't know where to put all the wheat. It's just pouring over. It's overflowing with wheat. That's what we're talking about here. It's the joy of full forgiveness of all of your sins, of knowing that we can stand before God on Judgment Day, blameless and unafraid because Jesus has paid the price, and his blood is enough for me and you. It's the joy of knowing that as we heard Melvin do earlier, if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. It's the joy of being in the family of God, adopted as a son or daughter of God by simple faith in Christ, and he will never leave you, he will never forsake you. It's the joy of living a new kind of lifestyle. Look at verse 11, “You have made known to me the path of life.” There is a path to be traveled. I don't know if you haven't noticed, but we're not in heaven yet. Have you noticed? I mean we tried to make it look pretty here. They worked hard, didn't they? I mean, it looks nice. But friends, this isn't heaven. Did you know that? It isn't. And that's okay, because we're not there yet. There's a journey to be traveled. There's a path of life. And Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” And we're gonna be walking a new life. Romans 6:4 says, “Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” And what awaits us at the end of this new life? It's a gateway through physical death, a gateway into the very presence of Almighty God, “eternal pleasures at your right hand.” Oh, isn't that sweet? Isn't that sweet? In a moment, Keith Pendergraft is gonna sing one of my favorite songs, “God and God Alone.” I love that song. And in the final verse, it says this, “God and God alone will be the joy of our eternal home. He will be our one desire. Our hearts will never tire of God and God alone.” The eternal pleasure of God. And we will have an expanded capability to take it in. We won't be bored, we won't be disinterested, we won't be in physical pain, we won't be distracted, we'll have nowhere we need to go, we will just be there soaking in the most fascinating, the most creative, the most powerful being in the universe, God, and he will be an infinite source of pleasure and joy for us. That's the gateway Jesus has opened up for us. I'm not afraid of death anymore. Are you? I'm looking forward to it. As long as my work is done here and he decides when I'm ready to go through that gateway into the very presence of God. And the pleasure of a new heaven and new earth, a new world, I can't even describe it to you, I don't know what it will look like. It'll be a world where the glory of God will shine all around us, where there'll be a perfect new creation, a regenerated world in which there'll be no more death or mourning, or crying or pain, no decay, no problems, a perfect world. And best of all, it will never end. Every year, around the fall, when I was living up in New England, I'd go up and look at the foliage in the middle of October, and just the colors are so spectacular that time of year. It was a long weekend, and we would go to the Kancamagus Highway up there in New Hampshire, and we'd sit up on a rocky hill and we would just look at the valleys all around and the beautiful foliage colors, and we'd sit there until the sun would go down, and it'll be Monday evening as the sun was going down. And once the sun dipped down below the horizon, we would just sigh. And it was not a sigh of contentment. It was a sigh of depression, because in a minute we were gonna get in our cars and we're gonna drive back home to school or work, or burdens that we had hoped to escape. We're hoping some little elves would take care of all of that while we were gone, but they didn't, and we know it. And so we're going back to struggle and to work. Friends, we're gonna go to a place where we won't ever have to leave, eternal pleasures at his right hand. Oh I'm looking forward to that. I wanna close now by just appealing to your faith. Faith is like the eyesight of the soul. I want to ask you to come with me into the empty tomb. I want you to see by eyes of faith, the grave clothes lying there, wholly undisturbed in the shape of Jesus body. I want you to see the head covering folded up by itself, that you can look through the door, through the door to the outside world, there is the stone removed and laying up on a hillside nearby, and you see the light coming in, it's enough light to see in there, but you're not gonna be there forever, because you're convinced Jesus has risen. Now, what I'm asking is, are you ready to walk through that doorway into a whole new life unlike you have ever lived before? And at the end of that life is another gateway called death, where we will be separated from these corruptible bodies, and we'll go into the very presence of God? Are you ready through faith in Christ to take that journey with me? If so, just put your trust in him right now, in your hearts, say, “Lord, I want you to be my savior. I wanna trust you for the forgiveness of my sins.” And just inside your heart, you pray, “Lord, I'm calling on you to be my Lord and my Savior, I trust in you. Lead me through that gateway into your presence.” Close with me in prayer.