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The Christian hymn "He Lives," written by Alfred Henry Ackley, was inspired by two events on a single Easter weekend in 1932: a challenging question from a Jewish student and a faithless sermon from a radio preacher. The conversation with a Jewish student While he was a pastor in California, Ackley was conducting an evangelistic meeting. During the event, a young Jewish student asked him a direct and challenging question: "Why should I worship a dead Jew?". The question stuck in Ackley's mind. He later said that his impassioned reply to the student was the essence of the song's message: "He lives! I tell you, he is not dead but lives here and now! Jesus Christ is more alive today than ever before". The liberal preacher's sermon On Easter Sunday morning, as Ackley was preparing to preach, he heard a famous radio preacher give a liberal sermon that downplayed the significance of the resurrection. The preacher said something like, "It really doesn't make any difference to me if Christ be risen or not... The main thing is, His truth goes marching on!". This infuriated Ackley, who reportedly shouted, "It's a lie!" and threw the radio across the room. The writing of the hymn After preaching a passionate Easter sermon later that day, Ackley still felt that he had not fully expressed the conviction in his heart. His wife suggested that he do what he did best: write a song about the resurrection. That evening, Ackley revisited the resurrection account in the Gospel of Mark. The words came to him quickly, and he soon had both the lyrics and the music for "He Lives". The refrain was his triumphant answer to both the student and the liberal preacher: "He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today! He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way. He lives, He lives, salvation to impart! You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart." The hymn was published the following year, in 1933, and has been a staple of Christian worship ever since.