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INTRODUCTION
I
AM. Strange title for a book. I am who or what? Well
the title of this book does not refer to the author.
Rather it is all about the greatest Person in the history
of the world and, largely, what He has to say about
Himself.
Many
in the foremost so-called ‘Christian’ nations of the
world, such as the USA and UK, are trying, and in an
increasing number of cases succeeding, to remove all
traces of this Man from sight.
You’ve
no doubt seen and heard the reports of town councils
and schools banning nativity plays and taking Christ
out of Christmas----renaming the season Winter Holidays;
also hospitals banning the freely donated Gideon Bibles
and taking crosses out of hospital chapels. In many
academic circles and now filtering down to everyone
else we find this amazing individual, this Christ, taken
from His long-held position in our system of dating
history. No longer BC (Before Christ), or AD (Anno Domini—The
Year of our Lord). For some time now we have had BCE
(Before our Common Era) and CE (Common Era). There are
many other examples of atheistically-led universities,
pagan societies and other antichristian elements in
schools and local and national governmental bodies attempting
to erase THE CHRIST from our history, from our consciousness,
from our nations, from our world even. What they do
not understand is that, as I hope we shall see in the
pages of this book, the Man they are so eager to wipe
from our history, our consciousness, our nations, our
world, is the maker of HIStory, the giver of our consciousness,
the blesser and protector of our nations and the creator
and owner of our world. They are playing a very dangerous
game.
Anyway,
I AM who? What’s in a name? What does my own name, Colin
Hudson, say about me? Does it tell anyone anything about
me? The answer is not much at all. If my title was Dr.
Colin Hudson then you could say I was a professional
man of some sort, obviously well educated and someone
who is at least in the third decade of his life with
a good standard of living----all possibly correct deductions,
but not necessarily so. By not knowing anything else
about me, you could not really pin me down just by my
name or title. My name does not even lead you to my
nationality. It may narrow the field a little; it being
unlikely I would be of Asian or Far-Eastern stock. More
likely from one of the mainly Anglo-Saxon nations. One
of my ancestors was named Hud. Was he a Norseman, Dane
or Viking? Obviously, certain names and titles do allow
some information about their owners. Captain Samuel
Levi, for instance, is possibly an officer in the Israeli
armed forces. He could also be an American airline pilot
or in command of a ship of the Royal Navy. All that
could be deduced with any real chance of certainty is
that Captain Levi is of Jewish extraction.
Let
us now attempt a name/title which should narrow the
owner of it down quite a bit. How about President Bill
Clinton (now ex-President)? His title says more about
him than his name. It reveals that he must be a strong-willed,
politically-motivated, hard-working individual; probably
very ambitious and coming from a relatively wealthy
background. But, are we given any insight into his true
character, his real motives and ambitions. Anything
about the actual man behind the title, his personality,
his past and his future remains hidden.
In
this book I attempt to present to you a Man whose name
and many titles speak volumes about His personality
and His character, about His actions throughout ages
past, His present situation and His destiny; names and
titles which lay open to our gaze His very heart, His
mind, and His power. The Man is Jesus, and this book
presents the claims He made about Himself and the claims
which the Bible makes concerning Him---all of which
He endorsed throughout His short ministry on this earth
by word and deed.
A
large part of the world’s populace show some kind of
interest in this Man. Not that many really want to hear
the truth about Him; the truth is hard to take, it will
challenge and change us. In fact, if you want to write
a best-seller, write a book which makes preposterous
claims about Jesus, a book about a Jesus who is not
found in the Bible or anywhere else. A false Jesus gives
false security, security in one’s own ideas of what
is good and right; a false Jesus leads men to accept
deceptions and delusions, vanities and doctrines of
demons; a false Jesus is easier to get on with---we
will not find the truth about ourselves, and so this
kind of Jesus is easier to face; a false Jesus leads
people along the broad road to destruction; a false
Jesus saves no-one!
When
all is said and done, it is not a false Jesus we will
have to give an account to. Make no mistake---there
is a real Jesus. He speaks to us from the pages of the
Holy Bible, both the Old and New Testaments. In the
following pages you will read about the Jesus I have
come to know, a Person , who, over 20 years ago, changed
my life forever; in the following pages you will read
about the Jesus of the Bible.
In
His name, I ask for God’s help in this venture.
And
in what better words can I ask than those from Charles
Wesley’s great hymn,
‘O
for a thousand tongues’:
My
gracious Master and my God,
Assist
me to proclaim,
To
spread through all the earth abroad,
The
honours of Thy name.
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