Ash Wednesday, Lent, & Easter -- Give honor & praise to the Lord for the anniversary of the death, burial, & resurrection of Jesus Christ! Easter is coming!

Easter, determined in the western Christian church according to ancient formulas adapted by the early church from the Jewish calculation of Passover, comes at different times -- & in 2008 it comes earlier than most people have ever or will ever experience in their lifetimes. Are you ready to remember the great sacrifice our Savior gave for us?

Since Easter celebrates the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, non-Christians do not celebrate it as a religious holiday. Easter, the Holy Week preceeding it starting with Palm Sunday, & Lent, the 40 days (not counting Sundays) before Easter, have been used for more than 2000 years for Christians to collectively contemplate, pray, & thank God for Christ's atoning death on our behalf. Since the rise of the Protestant churches after the Reformation, some Christians have refrained from observing this period in the church calendar out of a mistaken belief that paganism has been mixed with Christian truth & sullied the truth of the gospel. Nevertheless, for the majority of faithful Christians throughout church history, the observance of Easter & the holy days leading up to it is an important part of strengthening our faith & honoring Christ.

Gretchen Passantino's Ash Wednesday, Lent, & Easter article will give you the historical, biblical, & theological background that will enable you to refute those Christians who decry the celebration of Easter. More importantly, however, this insightful, well-documented article will prepare your heart for a spiritual energized Easter where Christ & His sacrifice are the center of your worship & praise.

Join Gretchen Passantino Coburn & her husband Pat Coburn for a unique experience of fellowship, worship, & spiritual heritage at our annual Last Supper Passover Seder Re-enactment this Thursday (Maundy Thursday, March 20) in Costa Mesa, California. We will be re-enacting the Passover Seder with its traditional Jewish understanding of participating spiritually in the original Exodus of God's people from physical bondage in Egypt. The Jewish Passover celebration was meant to look forward to & exemplify the miraculous Exodus of all humanity from the spiritual bondage of sin into the freedom of the Kingdom of God through the sacrificial atonement of God's Coming Messiah. We will see how the elements of the Passover prefigured the coming of Jesus as the Messiah. We will encounter the Passover as Jesus did with his disciples in AD 30 -- including the meaningful service of foot-washing, & concluding with the mystery of the Lord's Supper, Communion. If you are in Southern California, consider joining us for fellowship, spiritual heritage, good food, & the communion of the Body of Christ. You must make your reservation by Tuesday, March 18. Full contact information & location are on our Calendar.

Mars Hill Club is enjoying a sort of re-birth in Lakewood, California. Long-time Answers In Action volunteer & Mars Hill Club moderator Don Stoner has begun hosting a discussion group in the spirit & heritage of the late Bob Passantino's unique Mars Hill Club.

Although this is not an official Answers In Action event, Don Stoner's new Mars Hill Club is an exciting opportunity for the philosophically committed to discuss deep issues of faith, philosophy, theology, & science in a cordial but intellectually demanding atmosphere of intellectual stimulation.

For full information, check our Calendar & get the upcoming topics, dates, & address for the meetings.

The Book of Romans: A Community Bible Study & Worship Event held weekly in Costa Mesa, CA led by Answers In Action director & co-founder Gretchen Passantino & her husband, Pat Coburn.

Using the stimulating & faith-nurturing insights of pastor & New Testament scholar Dr. N. T. (Tom) Wright, the Bible study follows Wright's Paul for Everyone (Romans). Also included is material from Wright's fascinating lecture series Romans in a Week, Gretchen & Pat encourage a community of Christian believers bound together by the Holy Spirit in fellowship & study of God's Word as given by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans.

In addition to the stimulating Bible study, our community of believers enjoys traditional, confessional worship as we join together in prayer, hymn singing, & the confession of our faith. This is not merely an academic exercise, nor even a simple fellowship time, but by joining yourself to others who are committed Christians living in fellowship with other Christians, you will experience worship, siritual growth, & biblical insight.

Between 5:30 & 7:30 PM, the community Bible study provides for faith building application as well as solid, contextual teaching from this pivotal New Testament book. This is not dry, academically obtuse lecture. This is not vacuous, subjective pseudo-piety. It is a deep immersion in the world of the early church, under the vision of the "apostle to the Gentiles." The New Testament comes alive as we bridge the centuries, cultures, and experiences between the first century Jewish-Gentile Christians of the Roman Empire & the 21st century Evangelical Christians of the United States.

Gretchen Passantino has been teaching the Word of God for more than 35 years. She first taught the Book of Romans with her late husband & co-founder of Answers In Action, Bob Passantino, in 1974 & has hardly stopped teaching it since. An adjunct professor with Faith Evangelical Lutheran Seminary, Passantino taught Romans for the seminary several years ago, enjoying the life-transforming power of that book with her students in a rigorous academic study. Those who have studied with her over the years, whether in a formal, challenging academic setting, or in the intimacy of a small group Bible study fellowship, agree that she brings vivid realism, sound doctrine, historical insight, contextual sense, & spiritual application to every class. Pat Coburn, a Faith Seminary student, is an experienced professional painter by trade, a long-time Christian by the grace of God. He does not consider himself an expert in biblical study, but he knows that he loves God, he loves God's people, & he loves God's Word. Together he and Gretchen focus the study of Romans on God's power to transform a collection of individuals into a fellowship community of brothers & sisters in Christ who support, encourage, & love each other.

If you are looking for both a deep study of God's Word that goes beyond the mental exercise to spiritual transformation, & a spiritual exerience of worship & fellowship, please join us. If you are tired of "church-hopping" & want a community of Christians who are committed to each other, you will find a family here. Whether you have been a Christian for years or are still standing on the sidelines, this experience will bring you closer to God. Whether you have an enormous amount of knowlege of the Bible or aren't even sure how to find the book of Romans, you will gain a depth of insight that will change you forever.

The Book of Romans: A Community Bible Study & Worship Event meets every Sunday evening from 5:30 - 7:30 PM in Costa Mesa, CA. Check our Calendar for the location & other information.

The Secret Exposed! A Christian Response to the Motivational Phenomenon Promoted by Oprah Winfrey & others!

Rhonda Byrne's The Secret Isn't the Answer to Life is Gretchen Passantino's review & critique of the book, DVD, CD, & motivational program that is sweeping the country. This is not just a media hype or Hollywood fad, it is even invading the Christian church -- being adapted & promoted through Sunday morning messages, Bible studies, & fellowship groups. What is the Secret? How does it masquerade as the gospel? How can you answer its claims?

This new Answers In Action article will equip you to respond to this challenge to Christianity. You can depend on Answers In Action to provide reliable reporting, cogent analysis, & biblical fidelity.

WEEKLY PRAYER MEETING with Answers In Action Director Gretchen Passantino and her husband, Pat Coburn, Wednesdays in Costa Mesa, CA.

"Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective" (James 5:16).

Prayer is not the useless time waster that you do when there's nothing else to do. Prayer is empowered by God to establish and extend His kingdom "on earth, as it is in heaven." Prayer benefits the one who prays, because it brings us into the presence of God in humility and service. Prayer benefits the one for whom we pray, because God touches that person's life with His Spirit. Prayer exalts God because it is commanded and it is worship.

If you are in Southern California and would like to join Gretchen and Pat for a brief time of prayer and supplication, we would love to have you. We meet every Wednesday night from 6 - 7 PM PDT in Costa Mesa, California. Check our Calendar for location.

Christian Response to Controversial Discovery Channel Special Purporting to Find the Tomb of Jesus & His Family

The Discovery Channel special that first aired Sunday, March 4, 2007, The Lost Tomb of Jesus, produced by award-winner James Cameron & Canadian archaeology documentarian Simcha Jacobovici, claims there is good probability that an obscure first century Jewish tomb & tomb boxes (ossuaries) found near Jerusalem in 1980 may belong to Jesus & his family. Such a supposition would mean that Jesus did not rise from the dead, fulfilled his life with a wife & at least one son instead of dying on the cross for our sins, & that his original apostles & disciples pulled off a tremendous lie without any successful opposition in the first century.

Long-time Answers In Action supporter & volunteer Chris Rosebrough has written a throughtful, well-argued analysis of some of the documentary's most important claims. His analysis, Archaeological Identity Theft: The Lost Tomb of Jesus Fails to Make the Grade, will equip you to help answer some of the challenges to Christian faith raised by this program.

In addition, respected scholar Dr. Paul L. Maier, professor of ancient history at Western Michigan University, has prepared a cogent 12 point rebuttal, Jesus' Bones Rediscovered?, that covers other inadequacies of the theory.

Be sure to pass this information on to others!

Two other important reponses are from world-respected scholar on the resurreciton Dr. Gary Habermas (The Lost Tomb of Jesus: A Rebuttal) and archaeologist Eric A. Powell (Titanic Find or Sinking Feeling).

Answers In Action's Director Endorses Orthodoxy of Controversial Christian Group -- Christian Research Institute's Hank Hanegraaff Concurs

"After 3 years of careful dialog, study, & evaluation, we have affirmed the orthodoxy of the core theology represented in the teachings of Watchman Nee & Witness Lee, published by Living Stream Ministry, & embraced by Christians in churches commonly known as the local churches," announced Gretchen Passantino, co-founder & director of Answers In Action. "It has been more than 20 years since we had examined these teachings, & we are grateful for the opportunity to reconsider our conclusions by a much lengthier, more comprehensive, & better informed lengthy study process. Direct interaction with leadership was an important aspect of the process."

Nee & Lee's teachings in China formed the basis for a distinctive move of Chinese Christians that began with Nee's ministry in 1922 & came to the United States with Lee in 1960. Although the American movement was largely unknown by Americans for the first decade it was in the United States, by the 1970s the local churches were attracting attention from many American Christians who became alarmed at some of the teachings & practices attributed to the group. This controversy resulted in numerous critical evaluations of the teachings & practices, including 2 small booklets by Bob & Gretchen Passantino & an appendix in the late Walter Martin's The New Cults. Those controversies continue among some today, although the local churches have gained a hearing and/or re-hearing among some Christian bodies, such as Fuller Theological Seminary, who have affirmed their essential orthodoxy.

For an introductory summary of Passantino & Hanegraaff's reconsideration & new affirmation of the local churches' orthodoxy, see Answers In Action's Apologetics Conclusions Reconsidered . . . . A Case in Point: The Local Churches & Living Stream Ministry. This article contains links to the Fuller Seminary statement, the statement of faith of the local churches, & other materials on the subject. Further articles on aspects of AIA's reconsideration are forthcoming & will be posted here. Christian Research Institute will also be publishing a theological review in a forthcoming Christian Research Journal.

"Although some of our colleagues will initially question the basis for our re-evaluation, & others will continue to disagree with us, I am proud for Answers In Action to stand with Hank Hanegraaff & Christian Research Institute in acknowledging as true brothers & sisters in Christ those involved with the local churches & Living Stream Ministry," Passantino announced. She concluded, "Hank & I both affirm that they are not a cult, their core theology is well within essential orthodox theology, & our fellowship with them in the wider Body of Christ is not hampered by secondary issues with which we or other Christians may disagree."

In essentials unity. In non-essentials liberty. In all things charity. -- St. Augustine

If Christianity should happen to be true -- that is to say, if its God is the real God of the universe -- then defending it may mean talking about anything and everything. Things can be irrelevant to the proposition that Christianity is false, but nothing can be irrelevant to the proposition that Christianity is true. All things not only may have something to do with the Christian God, but must have something to do with Him if He lives and reigns.

G. K. Chesterton (thanks to the Wilberforce Forum)
I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.

-- C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Answers In Action is a dynamic non-profit religious organization training Christians to adopt and promote a Christian world view in every area of their lives. Answers In Action was founded by award winning authors Bob and Gretchen Passantino. Our hope and prayer is that you find this web site useful and edifying. Answers In Action is supported entirely by private donations.