I can still remember the exact moment when it happened. The scene stands alone forever in my mind, a freeze frame that I can recall to memory at will. The two of us were standing in a doorway that led down to the cellar stairs. The door was open, my stepfather leaning, slightly swaying against the jamb. We were engaged in a deep spiritual talk when suddenly the moment became encased in the special energy and electricity that is conducted only by truth.

I can’t recall what led up to this moment so significant in my life, nor do I remember what we talked about afterward, but in three words my soul was forever changed. My stepfather simply said: “Jesus is alive”.

It may not sound like much now. Many will even say, “What an obvious statement”. But, for me, in that moment the earth and wind stood still, the skies were torn apart, and my eyes and my ears were opened. It was as if God had said “Ephphatha”, like he did to the deaf man in Mark 7 and instantly I heard the sublime and ultimate truth.

Just three little words. And, for one man, the earth stopped turning on its axis, the heavens unfolded, bowed and opened.

Three little words, “Jesus is alive”, and a quest for truth was completed, gloriously ended.

Three little words and my life was severed from its former world of lonely darkness. I had come from the outer reaches of the cold asteroid of un-knowledge of a place like Pluto. Down to Earth. Three words and the Truth ruled. I heard the truth, saw the truth, knew the truth. Three words and my world could never be the same. I had played around with the occult, and in ignorance toyed with the pseudo-spiritual world. Some of the things I did for pleasure and had unwittingly opened myself to spiritual influences. Other things I actively sought after so I could gain power and control over my own destiny. Drinking was a big spiritual trip, and drugs even bigger. These trips into alcohol and drug abuse were not vacation trips either, they were daily excursions to a spiritual well, where I guzzled in the influence of any and all spirits that might come to me. In that moment I did not know or realize that these things brought me into contact with spirits. I only knew that I knew the naked truth.

I was ignorant of the true nature of the spiritual world and the activities of Satan’s demonic forces. I just thought booze gave me pleasure and drugs “expanded” my mind. Little did I know I had been letting spirits into my life, let them into my mind and most importantly into my heart, giving them room to influence my thoughts, beliefs, and my entire behavior. Through the “doorways” provided by alcohol and drugs these deceiving spirits had lured me into the fantastic world of occult lies. They had diverted me from real truth by various right sounding philosophies, feeding me with lies and promising me power and knowledge. The sky was the limit, the reality was the depths of lies and despair. The spirits of drugs easily manipulated me with their subtle lying sorceries of lust. I was lured into Tarot Cards, I dabbled in the notion of separate realities, had my astrological chart made up, looked into witchcraft and ancient religions. I sought after knowledge of any sort. I continued to investigate the love of my life – history – and looked for any confirmation of the power and reality of the world of the paranormal.

All the while I looked for TRUTH. Always I looked in the wrong places with hopelessly blind eyes. Where was it? What would I do when I found it?

In everything I explored there was some truth, some reality. That’s how spirits, demons, chimera, whatever you might call them, set the trap. But it was always partial truth; with some evil or lying twist to it. Angels of light flattering me with promises and tickling my fancy with promises of love, success and victories over every foe that might work against my happiness, though nothing could deliver the whole, pure, unadulterated, untainted, incorruptible truth. That is, not until Jesus revealed to me that He, a living person, is the Truth. From that time on, I understood that Easter was real.

Since that moment, often in my mind’s eye I have seen this picture. I see my stepfather’s face, brilliant, alive with color, eyes alert with the knowledge of God and me standing in black and white before him, backlit by nothing but the Truth, all half-truths out of the frame, everything else black and white like one of those graduation pictures of olden days. All vision of the world or any dimension outside the spirit cropped, colorings of man washed out, just light and dark. I see my step-father speaking those three dynamic words, his lips do not need to move, his eyes tell the story that will forever change my outlook of the universe and life itself – the words “Jesus is alive!” softly boom and resound in my heart.

This eternally resounding moment did not “save” me. It changed me. Salvation is a working, doing thing. It must be living just the way a heartbeat creates life by the perpetual motion of one beat at a time. Salvation is a living thing not something that once happens, living must follow, must perpetually be on this side of the veil and on the other, it is not a thing once done, it is a thing going on. Those three little words however, were exactly the same as what had happened to the women that had come to the tomb of Jesus on that first Easter morning. It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that ran to tell the world the good news that Jesus is alive, that He is risen. The basic revelation of all life hit upon the human heart when those women heard the glorious words “He is risen” spoken for the first time. These were three words of salvation, ‘he is risen’ (Jesus is alive!) spoken by a messenger from God, reverberated throughout the universe like a shock wave.  The most majestic and marvelous of the accounts of this moment of victory, this VU Day, Victory in the Universe Day; reserved for those who know Jesus for all eternity. 

“In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
   And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
   His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:
   And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.
   And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.
   He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
   And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.
   And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.” Matt. 28:1-8

The angel of the Lord had spoken three words, “He is risen”, and everything was changed. The world and the universe knew the truth. Jesus is alive! That is what Easter is, and always has been about. Because Christ lives I can get to know Him personally. I can now meet my Maker in this life and be saved from sin and death, healed of blindness to THE TRUTH, healed of deafness of his voice.

It was now my choice. I could either receive this living Jesus into my life or reject Him. But I knew He was there, alive and waiting to have a relationship with me. I did not receive Jesus, the living Truth, into my heart at that moment. I did not make Him the Lord, the King, the Master of my life and the controller of my destiny. I did not turn control over to Him that day. It would not be for some time before I would give up myself to THE Truth, enter into the celebration of an eternal Easter.

I was shocked to find out that THE Truth was actually a name for a person and that I had nothing to do with it. I guess it hurt my pride and offended my spirit that I had nothing to do with the TRUTH. It was not in me. It had nothing to do with me. I had to admit I was not part of it and that it did not need me to become whole or complete. It was outside me and I had to concede to it completely. I did not repent on the spot. I did not even repent, per se, the day I finally accepted Christ as my Savior, I only conceded to Him that he was God, THE Truth, The All Knowing. My full repentance took some doing. But I knew. Oh, I knew!!! I knew THE TRUTH and I was freed from my wanderings, and I could now submit to God’s omnipotent being when I so desired. There was no place else to look, nowhere to go, no more wondering. In that way, I was set free. It was up to me, what I was going to do with the TRUTH. Jesus said of Himself, “I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life: no man cometh to the Father but by me.” John 14:6

THE TRUTH is a person. THE TRUTH is God. THE TRUTH is Jesus. And I knew I could get to know the TRUTH personally because Jesus is alive. Jesus lives in heaven. He lives on earth by way of His being one with the Holy Ghost.  Thank God for “Easter” and those three words – “Jesus is risen!” I thank God for saying to me in a way I could understand, those three little words that changed my soul, my being, for­ever -“Jesus is alive!”