Why the Name, “Link2Eternity?”

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It happens all the time, and while the name of this ministry, “link2eternity,” may just sound “neat” to some of my readers, others may wonder exactly what I had in mind when I created it. It isn’t rocket science, so I’ll take a stab at an explanation.

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While biblical studies was my “major,” in my formal educational pursuits, apologetics, it seems, has long been my passion. That, however, is not a bad thing, because the two disciplines actually walk hand in hand with one’s apologetic being only as strong as one’s theology. Of course, one’s theology is only as strong as one’s ability to rightly divide the word, hence, biblical studies.

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I was introduced to apologetics as a discipline by an undergrad professor, Dr. Walter Alan Yoho, at what was then called Piedmont Bible College, and it was he who first lit the fire and fanned the flame of apologetics as a discipline and necessity. It was his influence that gave me confidence enough to stand in the gap, at least at the working class level, and witness for Christ without fearing the objections so oft paraded as something “intellectual” by those held captive by the secularism of our day. It was under his tutelage that I became most confident of the Gospel’s validity and ability as the “power of God unto salvation” that Paul declared it to be.

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Now to the reason for the name of this ministry. Of all the issues I’ve faced in my apologetic endeavors, there is one toward which I expedite every discussion possible. It is the one reality that lays the weight of response, both logically and necessarily, upon the mind and heart of each unbeliever. It is the historical event toward which I lead men as quickly as possible, because it is there that the Christian truth claims, the gospel included, find verification. Basically, I bring people to Jesus, the Resurrection particularly, because it is that one historical event that confirms the Gospel like no other. It is the one event upon which the Christian Faith message stands or falls. Hence, the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:12-19, “12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: 14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.”

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Notice the importance of the resurrection of Jesus! The weight of the entire Gospel rests upon it! If Christ is not risen, our preaching is futile, our faith is useless, we are liars preaching a false message, we are still in our sins, our deceased loved ones “in Christ” have simply perished, and our hope is as temporal and meaningless as the next man’s. Need I say more?

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The Resurrection, then, is the “key stone” of the Christian Faith, and if it falls, every contingent Christian doctrine falls with it. It is the one reality that gives historical and logical credence to all biblical claims, particularly about Jesus and his work on man’s behalf. It is indispensable hub of the Christian Gospel, both for its defense and declaration, standing as the scoffers shame, the skeptics Achilles heel, but the believers secure platform for confident declaration.

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Essentially, the resurrection is humanity’s physical link to the eternal. It is our direct line to the throne of God tethered to the unchangeable historical record. Hence, “link2eternity.”

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Tony