100 Sermon Illustrations on Crucifixion

Swoon theory of Jesus' resurrection.

1) (Modern theory) Jesus did not really die.

2) Requires greater miracle - survival of crucifixion.

Suppose he survived in tomb 3 days without food or water.

Suppose he freed himself from the grave clothes,

without in any way disturbing them,

and then went to the huge stone which sealed the tomb.

He would have had to move it with hands that had been pierced

by spikes.

He would then have to overcome the armed Roman guards and walk

14 miles to the town of Emmaus and back.

This was to loosen up his feet after the spikes had pierced

them, to get in shaped for his walk all the way to Galilee,

where he climbed a mountain.

Such a belief is more fantastic than the simple fact of the

Resurrection itself.

*1155

Sermon on 1 Cor 1:18-25, God's wisdom.

1. The glory of human wisdom.

a. What we can learn. (space, etc.)

b. Is God needed? (fish in aquarium, illustration)

2. The foolishness of the Christian message.

a. The world wants signs and wisdom.

b. Christians present Christ crucified.

3. God's rationale: destroy human wisdom, show his great love.

a. The cross is still a scandal.

b. Also scandalous who gets saved.

1> God works through the weak to show his glory.

2> God seeks out the weak and outcast.

4. Do we have to be stupid to be a Christian?

a. God has wisdom, but it must be revealed by his spirit.

Series on Minor Prophets. Zechariah and prophecies of Christ's Passion.

1. Background of Zechariah.

2. His prophecies of Christ's passion.

a. Messiah comes gently, on a donkey. (not a war-horse) 9:9

b. God's shepherd will be rejected. (30 pieces of silver) 11:8-9

c. Shepherd struck, sheep scattered. 13:7

d. Pierced Messiah. 12:10-11

3. Accuracy of prophetic fulfillment.

a. Jews expected two Messiahs.

b. Jesus - one Messiah comes twice.

4. The Second Coming in glory. 14:1ff

a. Jews in exile.

b. Battle in Mideast.

c. Messiah sets foot on Mount of Olives.

5. What will you do with Jesus?

a. The people of his day rejected him.

b. We must mourn over the one we pierced.

1> Our sins pierced Jesus, and continue to. [1456]

*

In 1997 the news services reported 15 people, including a woman, gave themselves up for crucifixion in the Philippines. One Filipino, Arnel Sanggalang, two years ago surprised many of his friends by vowing to undergo the crucifixion rite for the next 25 years. He said it was his way of thanking God after his mother recovered from an illness. Another man named Bob Velez has become famous for being crucified 11 times.

I knew someone in the military who said he actually witnessed a crucifixion over there. What shocked him was not the person getting nailed to a cross, but the fact people were selling hotdogs and T-shirts to the crowd. A few years ago, the Philippines Department of Tourism was an official sponsor of the re-enactments.

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SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga- Five penitents who were nailed on crosses during the Good Friday crucifixion rites in Barangay San Pedro Cutud here were hospitalized when their wounds failed to stop bleeding. It was the first time in the decades-old reenactment of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ that penitents nailed on the cross here were actually injured.

The mishap was blamed on a neophyte nailer. Sun.Star: Clark gathered from San Pedro Cutud barangay councilor Jun David that he rushed Arnel to the Jose B. Lingad Memorial Hospital when bleeding from the wounds in his palms after the crucifixion at high noon on Good Friday did not stop. David said Arnel's examination showed that a bone in one of his hands has been damaged while a blood vessel was ruptured.

Despite his injury, the younger Sangalang, a penitent for the past six years, is reportedly still willing to undergo the gory Lenten ritual in this town which the Catholic Church frowns upon. He said it was an act of sacrifice to relieve his parents and his child of sickness. According to David, the rest of the injured penitents, all veterans of the ritual, also complained of continuous bleeding, unlike in past years' crucifixions when the bleeding on their wounds stopped almost instantly after the rites.

David said that a certain Dolfo Caireon was tasked with nailing the penitents. It was his first year in the job and inherited it from his dead brother. However, the penitents claimed that they expected Cardo Carreon, Dolfo's niece, to perform the ritual. Former Mayor PatGuevarra, a resident of Barangay San Pedro Cutud, provided medicines and food to Arnel and the rest of the severely injured penitents. Arner's elder brother Chito was surprised upon learning that Dolfo would crucify them, David revealed.

David, a 13-year veteran of the ritual, described the injuries suffered by his fellow penitents as simply accidental. He blamed the huge crowd at the crucifixion site as the reason why the nailer failed to properly drive the nails into their palms. He predicted that the large number of penitents who made their sacrifices is an offering to the Lord in order to save Barangay San Pedro Cutud from further lahar destruction.

Victor Caparas, another injured penitent, was reportedly resting in Arayat town. His left foot was also damaged. He reportedly fell ill hours after the crucifixion. ........"A neophyte nailer??"

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Why Ugandans shun Christ's lubengo

By Robert Mugagga

The Sunday Monitor (newspaper) March 30, 1997

Take an example of Good Friday, the day on which the son of man was "hanged" at the hill of Golgotha. Here in Uganda as usual the day was celebrated with the "way of the cross" marching throughout the land. Nothing more was witnessed in this land considered to have one of the biggest number of Christian martyrs and proclaimed saints in Africa and the whole world. Brave deeds experienced elsewhere like believers giving themselves up to be crucified in memory of Christ are however, still unheard of here. Some attribute this to our peoples' genuine and mature understanding of scriptures which says that God no longer requires human sacrifices and even that man has no control over his body because it belongs to God (Cor13:3).

Besides, by sacrificing themselves for crucification, in most cases such people aim at glorifying themselves yet when all glory, we are told should belong to God. A friend though gives a different explanation: To him Ugandans are not only lacking in faith but are cowards who can't be compared to the types that carry out suicide bombings and volunteer to be 'crucified'. In the Philippines, for instance, it is a common practice on Good Friday for a number of Christians to give themselves up for crucifixion while others undergo other bizarre rituals like walking on bent knees in churches.

This year Reuters reported 15 penitents including a woman who gave themselves up for crucifixion in the Philippines, a country where 85 percent of it 68 million people are Catholics. Other Filippinos like Bob Velez who has undergone the crucifixion ritual 11 times have become famous. Another Filippino, Arnel Sanggalang two years ago surprised many by declaring and vowing to undergo the crucifixion rite for the next 25 years as a sign of thanks to the Almighty for having recovered his mother.

Whereas such rites are permitted in the Philippines, elsewhere they are condemned and severely dealt with by both the church and the law. In the 1980s, just across the border in Kenya a crucifixion circus was observed around this period of the year. One David Mugo organised his own crucifixion near his home in Mombasa but his second attempt was thwarted by police who quickly moved in to uncrucify him. He reportedly protested as policemen struggled to remove him from a giant wooden cross and even refused to be interrogated by the arresting officers, vowing to talk only to bishops. He argued that even Jesus refused to talk to the police (The Romans). Mugo was later accused of trying to commit suicide though he insisted that he owed this to God - having been among the only two survivors in an accident which claimed over 20 lives ten years before.

WEIRDNUZ.481 (News of the Weird, April 25, 1997) by Chuck Shepherd *

Carrying on a 40-year tradition, Filipinos in the village of San Pedro Cutud recently conducted their Easter audience-participation crucifixion ceremonies, with 12 volunteers nailed to crosses with sterilized 4-inch spikes in a show of absolution. As News of the Weird reported in 1990, for several years the Philippines Department of Tourism was an official sponsor of the event.

================

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/29/filipino-devotees-reenact_0_n_2978190.html?utm_hp_ref=world&ir=World

Filipino Crucifixion Reenactment On Good Friday Draws Penitents And Onlookers, by Aaron Favila, 3/29/13, AP

Devotees in villages in the northern Philippines took part in a bloody annual ritual to mark Good Friday, a celebration that mixes Roman Catholic devotion and Filipino folk beliefs and sees some reenact the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

The crucified devotees spent several minutes nailed to crosses in Pampanga province while thousands of tourists watched and took photos of the spectacle, which the church discourages. Earlier in the day, hooded male penitents trudged through the province’s villages under the blazing sun while flagellating their bleeding backs with makeshift whips. Others carried wooden crosses to dramatize Christ’s sacrifice.

Devotees undergo the hardships in the belief that such extreme sacrifices are a way to atone for their sins, attain miracle cures for illnesses or give thanks to God.

Alex Laranang, a 58-year-old vendor who was the first to be nailed to a cross Friday, said he was doing it “for good luck and for my family to be healthy.”

It was the 27th crucifixion for sign painter Ruben Enaje, 52, one of the most popular penitents from San Pedro Cutud village. He began his yearly rite after surviving a fall from a building.

Enaje screamed in pain as men dressed as Roman soldiers hammered stainless steel nails into his palms and feet. A wireless microphone carried his voice to loudspeakers for everyone watching to hear.

His cross was raised and he was hanged there for several minutes under the searing afternoon sun before the nails were pulled out and he was taken on a stretcher to a first aid station.

“It’s intriguing and fascinating what makes people do something like this, how you can believe so much that you make yourself suffer to that extent,” said Dita Tittesass, a tourist from Denmark.

Remigio de la Cruz, the chief of San Pedro Cutud village, explained that the practice began in his village in the 1950s.

Archbishop Jose Palma, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, told the church-run Radio Veritas that the practice is “not the desire of Jesus Christ.”

“We are aware that this has been practiced long before ... but we still hope that this will not be done any more,” he said. “We should all concentrate on prayers.”

Why did Jesus have to die? Was there no other way?

Why couldn't God just forgive everyone with one sweeping judicial pardon?

He was God , wasn't He?

1. A tale of two kings.

2. A King's request denied. Luke 22:42, Matt 7:9-11

3. The execution scene at Camelot.

4. Another Execution Scene. Phil 2:6-8

(excerpt from Windows of the Soul, 1996, Zondervan)

*

Shocking Reality

A business man selling full-scale replicas of Florida's

infamous electric chair is feeling the jolt of controversy.

John Pawley of North Carolina charges $995 for his models

of "Old Sparky", the 75-year-old death chair that's one of

just a few still used in the United States. For a few

dollars more, customers get a T-shirt that says, "Only

sissies do the injection."

Though Pawley won't give numbers, he says his Internet

and radio ads have yielded sales to bar owners, a sheriff

and even a judge. He admits he's a bit "warped" but insists

the venture's all in good fun.

Critics are genuinely shocked. A lawyer representing

Florida death row inmates says the replicas will desensitize

people even more to the fate of prisoners who've already

been written off by most of society.

But fascination with the electric chair is nothing new.

In the late 1890s, King Menelek of Ethiopia heard about the

introduction of electrocution in the U.S. Intrigued, he

ordered three electric chairs from the States, forgetting

they wouldn't work in a country that didn't yet have hydro.

To salvage his investment, Menelek used one of the chairs as

his throne.

In an infinitely more profound way, another instrument of

death now represents a King's position and authority. But

the cross is anything but a powerless symbol. It embodies

the stunning way in which God takes away our sins because of

what Jesus did there "This includes you, who were once so

far away from God... separated from Him by your evil

thoughts and actions, yet now He has brought you back as His

friends. He has done this through Christ's death on the

cross." (Col. 1:21,22).

That cross, with its message of hope and healing, is

still active today, giving life, not taking it away. But if

we're not careful, we can cheapen it horribly by offering

those around us what amounts to a facsimile of the real

thing: one that looks genuine and serves as a great

conversation piece, but has no power.

A morbid replica is all we have if we substitute our own

will and wisdom for God's and "empty the cross of its power"

(1 Cor. 1:7, 2:1-5). Like me, maybe you can find yourself

in the list of those who devalue the cross by "having a form

of godliness but denying its power": lovers of themselves

and money, the boastful, abusive, ungrateful and

unforgiving; those without love or self-control, the rash,

the conceited and lovers of pleasure not lovers of God (2

Tim. 3:1-5). Few of us can look down our noses at John

Pawley.

Even if we exhibit it daily, a cross without the

transforming power of Jesus and His Spirit demeans the

sacrifice of Calvary and makes it easy for people to care

little about a death that has no real connection with their

lives. That shouldn't come as a shock to any of us.

by Rick Gamble, published in Cross Current, Brantford,

Ontario, Canada. Publish at will.

The cross of Christ is the most revolutionary thing ever to appear among men.

The cross of the Roman times knew no compromise; it never made concessions. It won all its arguments by killing its opponent and silencing him for good. It spared not Christ, by slew Him the same as the rest. He was alive when they hung Him on that cross and completely dead when they took him down six hours later.

That was the cross the first time it appeared in Christian history.

After Christ was risen from the dead the apostles went out to preach His message, and what they preached was the cross. And wherever they went into the wide world they carried the cross, and the same revolutionary power went with them. The radical message of the cross transformed Saul of Tarsus and changed him from a persecutor of Christians to a tender believer and an apostle of the faith. Its power changed bad men into good ones. It shook off the long bondage of paganism and altered completely the whole moral and mental outlook of the Western world.

All this it did and continued to do as long as it was permitted to remain what it had been originally, a cross. Its power departed when it was changed from a thing of death to a thing of beauty. When men made of it a symbol, hung it around their necks as an ornament or made its outline before their faces as a magic sign to ward off evil, then it became at best a weak emblem, at worst a positive fetish. As such it is revered today by millions who know absolutely nothing about its power.

The cross effects its ends by destroying one established pattern, the victim’s, and creating another pattern, its own. Thus it always has its way. It wins by defeating its opponent and imposing its will upon him. It always dominates. It never compromises, never dickers nor confers, never surrenders a point for the sake of peace. It cares not for peace; it cares only to end its opposition as fast as possible.

With perfect knowledge of all this Christ said:

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his

cross daily and follow me.” -- Luke 9:23 (NIV)

So the cross not only brings Christ’s life to an end, it ends also the first life, the old life, of every one of His true followers. It destroys the old pattern, the Adam pattern, in the believer’s life, and brings it to an end. Then the God who raised Christ from the dead raises the believer and a new life begins.

This, and nothing less, is true Christianity, though we cannot but recognize the sharp divergence of this conception from that held by the rank and file of evangelicals today. But we dare not qualify our position. The cross stands high above the opinions of men and to that cross all opinions must come at last for judgment.

A shallow and worldly leadership would modify the cross to please the entertainment-mad saintlings who will have their fun even within the very sanctuary; but to do so is to court spiritual disaster and risk the anger of the Lamb turned Lion.

We must do something about the cross, and one of two things only we can do -- flee it or die upon it. And if we should be so foolhardy as to flee we shall by that act put away the faith of our fathers and make of Christianity something other than it is. Then we shall have left only the empty language of salvation; the power will depart with our departure from the true cross.

If we are wise we will do what Jesus did: endure the cross and despise its shame for the joy that is set before us. To do this is to submit the whole pattern of our lives to be destroyed and built again in the power of an endless life. And we shall find that it is more than poetry, more than sweet hymnody and elevated feeling. The cross will cut into where it hurts worst, sparing neither us nor our carefully cultivated reputations. It will defeat us and bring our selfish lives to an end. Only then can we rise in fullness of life to establish a pattern of living wholly new and free and full of good works.

The changed attitude toward the cross that we see in modern orthodoxy proves not that God has changed, nor that Christ has eased up on His demand that we carry the cross; it means rather that current Christianity has moved away from the standards of the New Testament. So far have we moved indeed that it may take nothing short of a new reformation to restore the cross to its right place in the theology and life of the Church.

*

[Original illustration at this number was moved to HolwickID #34143]

I once heard a story about a cottage in a little country village. In the cottage a family of four: father, mother, and two small children. One evening the cottage caught on fire. In a few seconds the thatched roof and the wooden timbers were ablaze. There was no fire engine in this remote spot and the villagers stood around helpless. Suddenly a young man, who had just arrived upon the scene cried out, “What, can nothing be done to save them?” When no one responded he jumped through the flames and darted into the house. A moment later he emerged bearing a little child under each arm. He had carefully protected them from the flames by hiding them under his coat but he himself was badly burned.

The parents of the two children died in the fire. There was much sympathy for the two children in the town and several people wanted to adopt them. When the judge arrived to decide who would adopt the children there were two who petitioned the court. The first was the squire of the village. He had money, position, and a fine house to offer the children. The second petitioner was the man who had rescued the children from the flames. When the judge asked him what right he had to ask the court for the children he did not answer with words. Instead he held up his hands that had been badly burned and scarred in their recuse and let them do his arguing for him.

Friends, when the devil accuses us before God and asks what right we poor sinners have to be adopted into God's family, I imagine the Lord Jesus Christ doesn't answer with words but rather holds up his nail scarred hands and points to his scarred side.

- Unknown

=========================

Another version:

Leslie B. Flynn told a story that illustrates a great truth. An orphaned boy was living with his grandmother when their house caught fire. The grandmother, trying to get upstairs to rescue the boy, perished in the flames. The boy’s cries for help were finally answered by a man who climbed an iron drain pipe and came back down with the boy hanging tightly to his neck. Several weeks later, a public hearing was held to determine who would receive custody of the child. A farmer, a teacher, and the town’s wealthiest citizen all gave the reasons they felt they should be chosen to give the boy a home. But as they talked, the lad’s eyes remained focused on the floor.

Then a stranger walked to the front and slowly took his hand from his pockets, revealing severe scars on them. As the crowd gasped, the boy cried out in recognition. This was the man who had saved his life. His hands had been burned when he climbed the hot pipe. With a leap the boy threw his arms around the man’s neck and held on for dear life. The other men silently walked away, leaving the boy and his rescuer alone. Those marred hands had settled the issue. And so it is with Jesus. His nail-pierced hands remind us that he has rescued us from sin and its deadly consequences.

=========================

Another version:

I read a story by Leslie Flynn who told of a small boy being raised in a frontier city by his grandmother. One night the house catches on fire. The grandmother, trying to rescue the boy who was asleep in the bedroom upstairs, is overcome by the smoke and dies in the fire. This frontier city doesn't have much of a fire department. A crowd gathers around the house and they hear a small boy crying out for help. The lower floor is a wall of flames and no one seems to know what to do. Suddenly, a man pushes through the crowd and begins climbing an iron drainage pipe which runs to the roof. The pipe is hot from the fire, but he makes it to a second floor window. The man crawls through the window and locates the boy. With the crowd cheering encouragement, the man climbs back down the hot iron pipe with the boy on his back and his arms around his neck.

A few weeks later, a public meeting was held to determine in whose custody the boy would be placed. Each person wanting the child would be allowed to make a brief statement. The first man said, "I have a farm and would give the boy a good home. He would grow up on the farm and learn a trade."

The second person to speak was the local school teacher. She said, "I am a school teacher and I would see to it that he received a good education." Finally, the banker said, "Mrs. Morton and I would be able to give the boy a fine home and a fine education. We would like him to come and live with us." The presiding officer looked around and asked, "Is there anyone else who would like to say anything?" From the back row, a man rose and said, "These other people may be able to offer some things I can't. All I can offer is my love." Then, he slowly removed his hands from his coat pockets. A gasp went up from the crowd because his hands were scarred terribly from climbing up and down the hot pipe. The boy recognized the man as the one who had saved his life and ran into his waiting arms.

The farmer, teacher and the banker simply sat down. Everyone knew what the decision would be. The scarred hands proved that this man had given more than all the others.

_____________________

Robert L. Allen, His Finest Days: Ten Sermons for Holy Week and the Easter Season, CSS Publishing Company, 1993.

*

[see also HolwickID #27239]

Most of us are sufficiently wise and cautious to stay far enough

from crucifixions till they are over and then generously and

graciously vote the victims a place among the honored dead. -

{Billy Graham}

- Charles Wallis, {The Minister's Manual for 1974} (New York:

Harper & Row Publishers, 1973) 33

When Lincoln's body was being carried through the streets of Albany, New York, a Negro mother said to her little boy, “Take a long look, Honey; that is the man who died for you.” I would point you to the Cross and say, “Take a long look -- there is the Savior who died for you.”

(“Choice Illus.” W.W. Clay pg.29)

The March 21, 1986, issue of the {Journal of the American

Medical Association} gave a clinical analysis of Jesus' death on the

cross. Replete with diagrams and technical language, it painted a

chilling picture of human cruelty. The report mentions seven-inch

spikes; the work of insects and birds on the victims's eyes, ears and

nose; continued blood loss and infection at the scourge wounds; and

painful mutilation of the "sensorimotor median nerve."

The doctors wrote that the cause of death by crucifixion had many

factors and varied with each case. The two most prominent causes

likely were hypovolemic shock and exhaustion asphyxia. Other factors

could have included dehydration, stress-induced arrhythmias, and

congestive heart failure with the accumulation of pericardial and

pleural efusion.

The article's language is professional, but the message is clear.

Crucifixion had a catastrophic effect on breathing, the heart, and the

body in general. It was a horrible death.

- Convention Uniform Sunday School Teacher

A young man went to an old preacher and asked, "How can I get

victory over pride and criticism?"

The preacher said to him, "Go to the grave of Brother Jones who

recently passed away and as you stand by the grave say all the nice

things you can about him. Flatter him greatly."

He did as the old preacher advised, When he returned the old

preacher asked, "What did he say?"

The answer, "Nothing. He is dead."

The old preacher then told the young fellow to go out to the grave

and criticize Brother Jones. "Say many mean things to him."

When he came back the old preacher asked, "What did he say?"

The young preacher said, "Nothing, He's dead!"

Reckoning ourselves dead with Christ, we will be unmoved by

flattery or criticism.

Galatians sermon series Galatians 2:15 - 3:9

DID CHRIST DIE FOR NOTHING?

===========================

I. Justification. 2:15

A. A universal human need.

II. Rationalization? 2:17

A. Paul's enemies said "faith alone" leads to sinful living.

B. Justification leads to a fundamental change.

III. Mortification.

A. Jesus had to die.

B. We have to die.

IV. Vivification.

A. Justification is not a legal fiction.

B. Elements of the new life in Christ...

V. Faith is the key.

A. Supported by personal experience. 3:2-5

B. Supported by examples in the Bible. 3:6-9

C. Do you have this faith?

JESUS (CRUCIFIXION OF)

C. Truman Davis, M.D., in The Expositor's Bible Commentary writes:

What is crucifixion? A medical doctor provides a physical description: The cross is placed on the ground and the exhausted man is quickly thrown backwards with his shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly he moves to the other side and repeats the action, being careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flex and movement. The cross is then lifted into place.

The left foot is pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees flexed. The victim is now crucified. As he slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciating, fiery pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain-the nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves. As he pushes himself upward to avoid stretching torment, he places the full weight on the nail through his feet. Again he feels the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the bones of the feet.

As the arms fatigue, cramps sweep through the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push himself upward to breathe. Air can be drawn into the lungs but not exhaled. He fights to raise himself in order to get even one small breath. Finally carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream, and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically he is able to push himself upward to exhale and bring in life-giving oxygen.

Hours of this limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from his lacerated back as he moves up and down against the rough timber. Then another agony begins: a deep, crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart.

It is now almost over-the loss of tissue fluids reached a critical level-the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues-the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air.

He can feel the chill of death creeping through his tissues.... Finally, he can allow his body to die.

All this the Bible records with the simple words, "And they crucified him" (Mark 15:24).

What wondrous love is this?

Illustrations For Preaching & Teaching

Editor Craig Brian Larson, Baker Books, p. 50-51.

What's Good About It?

Read: Matthew 27:41-54

We were reconciled to God through the death of His Son. --Romans 5:10

When faced with an ugly, unrelenting problem, we often cry, "I need a miracle!" A miracle may come, but if it doesn't, does that mean God's goodness isn't at work?

Let me ask another question: Why is Good Friday, the day Jesus hung on a cross, called "good"? If ever a miracle seemed appropriate, it was then. Even the mockers demanded, "If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him" (Mt. 27:42). But Jesus didn't come down. Author Philip Yancey describes it as "a time of No Miracle."

Jesus certainly wasn't deserving of crucifixion. But God, in keeping with His loving purposes, used the evil that Jesus had to endure to accomplish the good that we so desperately needed--to be "reconciled to God through the death of His Son" (Rom. 5:10). That's why that awful day can be called "good."

Are you feeling that a miracle is your only hope of seeing God's goodness at work? Consider what Christ accomplished--not in spite of His sufferings but because of them. Also ponder Good Friday, Christ's day of "No Miracle." One day you'll be able to look back on the dark times in your life and honestly call them "good." --JEY

While Jesus hung on Calvary's cross,

The devil and his demons smiled;

Disciples grieved and mourned the loss,

But God and man were reconciled. --Sper

God uses life's reverses to move us forward.

Human power, from the least to the greatest, is transient. It waxes and it wanes, it foments and it fades, but ultimately it all passes. In the face of formidable human power this truth can be hard to recall. Present power, whether it be economic or political or even physical, often demands we forget its transience. It demands we be deceived and believe in its permanence. We must guard against this deception.

A fascinating illustration of the transience of human power comes through the story of Francisco de Goya's painting "Allegory of Madrid." As a court painter, Goya painted for whomever was in power. So in 1810, he began a portrait of King Joseph Bonaparte. Napoleon had conquered Spain and installed his brother Joseph as king. In 1812, Spain was liberated and Goya altered the portrait, putting the new Spanish Constitution where former King Joseph's head had been. Joseph's head reappeared, though, in 1813 when the French retook Madrid. The city fell again, and in 1814 Joseph's head was replaced with that of Ferdinand VII's, the new Spanish monarch.[1] Comically the head illustrates a profound truth: human power is anything but immutable.

My colleague Stuart McAllister tells a striking story with a similar conclusion. In 1982 he was detained for attempting to smuggle Christian literature into Soviet bloc Eastern Europe. East German soldiers fiercely interrogated him for twelve hours. They flaunted their power threatening Stuart with jail and even death. By God's grace Stuart was released unharmed. A decade later Stuart returned to that same spot where he had been detained and interrogated. The building was in disrepair. In the very room he had been interrogated the windows had been smashed. Where once he feared for his life he now walked freely. The power of his former captors had been decimated with the fall of the Iron Curtain. For his captors, the power, as it always does, had gone out.

As a Christian I believe there is only one power that will not go out. Amazingly this power has already demonstrated itself on this earthly plain. The great English journalist Malcolm Muggeridge spoke to this, “I see the Crucifixion in the first place as a sublime mockery of all earthly authority and power.”[2] The crucifixion mocks all human power, for it demonstrates ultimate power in ultimate weakness. And the resurrection demonstrates Christ's supremacy over all earthly powers, for by it Christ defeated death.

God is the ultimate power in this universe, and through Christ we see that He is a loving and just God. Through faith in Christ we access His power. A power that will not go out.

____________

1. Paul Johnson, The Birth of the Modern (New York, Harper Collins, 1991),

p. 69.

2. Malcom Muggeridge, Jesus Rediscovered (Wheaton, IL, Tyndale House

Publishers, 1971), p. 96.

____________

Copyright © 2002 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #18298]

Forensic evidence: How many times has it helped solve a medical mystery -- determining how someone really died?

Well, Lee Strobel covered many trials during his journalism career where a jury's decision hung on the medical evidence. So, was it possible, he wondered, to examine 2,000-year-old medical evidence and determine if Jesus really died on the cross?

If so, science could deliver a knockout blow to one of the most persistent claims against Christianity: that the resurrection of Christ, which we celebrated yesterday, was really just a hoax.

For expert opinion, Strobel went to Dr. Alexander Metherell, a research scientist. Metherell had studied the medical data concerning Christ's death, and he's convinced there's no way anyone could have survived what the Romans put him through.

First, there was the flogging. Soldiers used whips of braided leather thongs. The metal balls woven into the lash caused deep bruises, which broke open during the torture. Often the victim's back, in such a beating, was so shredded that his spine was exposed.

Those who didn't die from the flogging went into hypovolemic shock, brought on by blood loss. There would be a loss of blood pressure, leading to faintness and collapse. And the loss of fluids would result in tremendous thirst.

The gospels indicate that Jesus was in shock as he carried his cross to Calvary: He collapsed in the road, and Simon of Cyrene had to carry the cross for him. Later, Jesus said, "I thirst."

And then there was the agony of the crucifixion itself. The Romans drove spikes through the wrists and feet of Jesus -- spikes that traveled through the median nerves. This caused such enormous pain that a new word was invented to describe it: "excruciating." The word literally means "out of the cross."

Metherell believes that Jesus, like other crucifixion victims, eventually died of asphyxiation. The stresses on the muscles and diaphragm put the chest in the inhaled position; in order to exhale, the victim had to push up on his feet to ease the tension in the muscles for just a moment. It would be enormously painful, and exhaustion would eventually set in.

As his breathing slowed, the victim would go into respiratory acidosis, leading to an irregular heartbeat and eventual cardiac arrest. Then, in the case of Jesus, to ensure that he was dead, a Roman soldier thrust a spear into his side.

The flogging, the massive blood loss, the shock, the crucifixion, the stabbing: Could Jesus have suffered all this and survived?

Not a chance, Metherell told Strobel. Besides, Roman soldiers had good reason to make certain Jesus was dead: Had he survived, they, themselves, would have been executed.

In the weeks before and after Easter, we often see the usual spate of articles by so-called experts claiming that Jesus didn't really die on the cross -- and, thus, is not the Son of God.

If your friends mention these articles, explain that forensic science goes a long way in disproving these ideas. And give them a copy of Strobel's book, The Case for Christ. The better the science the greater the support for what Christians have long believed in faith: that love drove Jesus to willingly endure an excruciating death -- so that you and I might live.

_____________________

For further reference:

Strobel, Lee. The Case for Christ. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1998.

_____________________

Copyright (c) 1999 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

*

Medical Account of Crucifixion

by Dr. C. Truman Davis

Brought to you by:

The Youth Ministry Newsletter Exchange

http://www.cm-online.net/ym

A Physician Testifies About the Crucifixion

About a decade ago, reading Jim Bishop's “The Day Christ Died”, I realized that I had for years taken the Crucifixion more or less for granted -- that I had grown callous to its horror by a too easy familiarity with the grim details and a too distant friendship with our Lord. It finally occurred to me that, though a physician, I didn't even know the actual immediate cause of death. The Gospel writers don't help us much on this point, because crucifixion and scourging were so common during their lifetime that they apparently considered a detailed description unnecessary. So we have only the concise words of the Evangelists: “Pilate, having scourged Jesus, delivered Him to them to be crucified -- and they crucified Him.”

I have no competence to discuss the infinite psychic and spiritual suffering of the Incarnate God atoning for the sins of fallen man. But it seemed to me that as a physician I might pursue the physiological and anatomical aspects of our Lord's passionate some detail. What did the body of Jesus of Nazareth actually endure during those hours of torture?

This led me first to a study of the practice of crucifixion itself; that is, torture and execution by fixation to a cross. I am indebted to many who have studied this subject in the past, and especially to a contemporary colleague, Dr. Pierre Barbet, a French surgeon who has done exhaustive historical and experimental research and has written extensively on the subject.

Apparently, the first known practice of crucifixion was by the Persians. Alexander and his generals brought it back to the Mediterranean world -- to Egypt and to Carthage. The Romans apparently learned the practice from the Carthaginians and (as with almost everything the Romans did) rapidly developed a very high degree of efficiency and skill at it. A number of Roman authors (Livy, Cicer, Tacitus) comment on crucifixion, and several innovations, modifications, and variations are described in the ancient literature.

For instance, the upright portion of the cross (or stipes) could have the cross-arm (or patibulum) attached two or three feet below its topiin what we commonly think of as the Latin cross. The most common form used in our Lord's day, however, was the Tau cross, shaped like our T. In this cross the patibulum was placed in a notch at the top of the stipes. There is archeological evidence that it was on this type of cross that Jesus was crucified.

Without any historical or biblical proof, Medieval and Renaissance painters have given us our picture of Christ carrying the entire cross. But the upright post, or stipes, was generally fixed permanently in the ground at the site of execution and the condemned man was forced to carry the patibulum, weighing about 110 pounds, from the prison to the place of execution.

Many of the painters and most of the sculptors of crucifixion, also show the nails through the palms. Historical Roman accounts and experimental work have established that the nails were driven between the small bones of the wrists (radial and ulna) and not through the palms. Nails driven through the palms will strip out between the fingers when made to support the weight of the human body. The misconception may have come about through a misunderstanding of Jesus' words to Thomas, “Observe my hands.” Anatomists, both modern and ancient, have always considered the wrist as part of the hand.

A titulus, or small sign, stating the victim's crime was usually placed on a staff, carried at the front of the procession from the prison, and later nailed to the cross so that it extended above the head. This sign with its staff nailed to the top of the cross would have given it somewhat the characteristic form of the Latin cross.

But, of course, the physical passion of the Christ began in Gethsemane. Of the many aspects of this initial suffering, the one of greatest physiological interest is the bloody sweat. It is interesting that St. Luke, the physician, is the only one to mention this. He says, “And being in Agony, He prayed the longer. And His sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground.” Every ruse (trick) imaginable has been used by modern scholars to explain away this description, apparently under the mistaken impression that this just doesn't happen. A great deal of effort could have been saved had the doubters consulted the medical literature. Though very rare, the phenomenon of Hematidrosis, or bloody sweat, is well documented. Under great emotional stress of the kind our Lord suffered, tiny capillaries in the sweat glands can break, thus mixing blood with sweat. This process might well have produced marked weakness and possible shock.

After the arrest in the middle of the night, Jesus was next brought before the Sanhedrin and Caiphus, the High Priest; it is here that the first physical trauma was inflicted. A soldier struck Jesus across the face for remaining silent when questioned by Caiphus. The palace guards then blind-folded Him and mockingly taunted Him to identify them as they each passed by, spat upon Him, and struck Him in the face.

In the early morning, battered and bruised, dehydrated, and exhausted from a sleepless night, Jesus is taken across the Praetorium of the Fortress Antonia, the seat of government of the Procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate. You are, of course, familiar with Pilate's action in attempting to pass responsibility to Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of Judea. Jesus apparently suffered no physical mistreatment at the hands of Herod and was returned to Pilate. It was then, in response to thecries of the mob, that Pilate ordered Bar-Abbas released and condemned Jesus to scourging and crucifixion.

There is much disagreement among authorities about the unusual scourging as a prelude to crucifixion. Most Roman writers from this period do not associate the two. Many scholars believe that Pilate originally ordered Jesus scourged as his full punishment and that the death sentence by crucifixion came only in response to the taunt by the mob that the Procurator was not properly defending Caesar against this pretender who allegedly claimed to be the King of the Jews.

Preparations for the scourging were carried out when the Prisoner was stripped of His clothing and His hands tied to a post above His head. It is doubtful the Romans would have made any attempt to follow the Jewish law in this matter, but the Jews had an ancient law prohibiting more than forty lashes.

The Roman legionnaire steps forward with the flagrum (or flagellum) in his hand. This is a short whip consisting of several heavy, leather thongs with two small balls of lead attached near the ends of each. The heavy whip is brought down with full force again and again across Jesus' shoulders, back, and legs. At first the thongs cut through the skin only. Then, as the blows continue, they cut deeper into the subcutaneous tissues, producing first an oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins of the skin, and finally spurting arterial bleeding from vessels in the underlying muscles.

The small balls of lead first produce large, deep bruises which are broken open by subsequent blows. Finally the skin of the back is hanging in long ribbons and the entire area is an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue. When it is determined by the centurion in charge that the prisoner is near death, the beating is finally stopped.

The half-fainting Jesus is then untied and allowed to slump to the stone pavement, wet with His own blood. The Roman soldiers see a great joke in this provincial Jew claiming to be king. They throw a robe across His shoulders and place a stick in His hand for a scepter. They still need a crown to make their travesty complete. Flexible branch covered with long thorns (commonly used in bundles for firewood) are plaited into the shape of a crown and this is pressed into His scalp. Again there is copious bleeding, the scalp being one of the most vascular areas of the body.

After mocking Him and striking Him across the face, the soldiers take the stick from His hand and strike Him across the head, driving the thorns deeper into His scalp. Finally, they tire of their sadistic sport and the robe is torn from His back. Already having adhered to the clots of blood and serum in the wounds, its removal causes excruciating pain just as in the careless removal of a surgical bandage, and almost as though He were again being whipped the wounds once more begin to bleed.

In deference to Jewish custom, the Romans return His garments. The heavy patibulum of the cross is tied across His shoulders, and the procession of the condemned Christ, two thieves, and the execution detail of Roman soldiers headed by a centurion begins its slow journey along the Via Dolorosa. In spite of His efforts to walk erect, the weight of the heavy wooden beam, together with the shock produced by copious blood loss, is too much. He stumbles and falls. The rough wood of the beam gouges into the lacerated skin and muscles of the shoulders. He tries to rise, but human muscles have been pushed beyond their endurance.

The centurion, anxious to get on with the crucifixion, selects a stalwart North African onlooker, Simon of Cyrene, to carry the cross. Jesus follows, still bleeding and sweating the cold, clammy sweat of shock, until the 650 yard journey from the fortress Antonia to Golgotha is finally completed.

Jesus is offered wine mixed with myrrh, a mild analgesic mixture. He refuses to drink. Simon is ordered to place the patibulum on the ground and Jesus quickly thrown backward with His shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square, wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly, he moves to the other side and repeats the action being careful not to pull the arms to tightly, but to allow some flexion and movement.

The patibulum is then lifted in place at the top of the stipes and the titulus reading “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” is nailed in place. The left foot is now pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees moderately flexed. The Victim is now crucified. As He slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists excruciating pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain -- the nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves. As He pushes Himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, He places His full weight on the nail through His feet. Again there is the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of the feet.

At this point, as the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push Himself upward. Hanging by his arms, the pectoral muscles are paralyzed and the intercostal muscles are unable to act. Air can be drawn into the lungs, but cannot be exhaled. Jesus fights to raise Himself in order to get even one short breath. Finally, carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically, he is able to push Himself upward to exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen. It was undoubtedly during these periods that He uttered the seven short sentences recorded:

The first, looking down at the Roman soldiers throwing dice for His seamless garment, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” The second, to the penitent thief, “Today thou shalt be with me in Paradise.” The third, looking down at the terrified, grief-stricken adolescent John - the beloved Apostle - he said, “Behold thy mother.” Then, looking to His mother Mary, “Woman behold thy son.”

The fourth cry is from the beginning of the 22nd Psalm, “My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?”

Hours of limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain where tissue is torn from His lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber. Then another agony begins. A terrible crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart.

One remembers again the 22nd Psalm, the 14th verse: “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.”

It is now almost over. The loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level; the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissue; the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. The markedly dehydrated tissues send their flood of stimuli to the brain.

Jesus gasps His fifth cry, “I thirst.”

One remembers another verse from the prophetic 22nd Psalm: “My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou has brought me into the dust of death.”

A sponge soaked in posca, the cheap, sour wine which is the staple drink of the Roman legionaries, is lifted to His lips. He apparently doesn't take any of the liquid. The body of Jesus is now in extremes, and He can feel the chill of death creeping through His tissues. This realization brings out His sixth words, possibly little more than a tortured whisper, “It is finished.”

His mission of atonement has completed. Finally He can allow his body to die. With one last surge of strength, he once again presses His torn feet against the nail, straightens His legs, takes a deeper breath, and utters His seventh and last cry, “Father! Into thy hands I commit my spirit.”

The rest you know. In order that the Sabbath not be profaned, the Jews asked that the condemned men be dispatched and removed from the crosses. The common method of ending a crucifixion was by crurifracture, the breaking of the bones of the legs. This prevented the victim from pushing himself upward; thus the tension could not be relieved from the muscles of the chest and rapid suffocation occurred. The legs of the two thieves were broken, but when the soldiers came to Jesus they saw that this was unnecessary.

Apparently to make doubly sure of death, the legionnaire drove his lance through the fifth interspace between the ribs, upward through the pericardium and into the heart. The 34th verse of the 19th chapter of the Gospel according to St. John reports: “And immediately there came out blood and water.” That is, there was an escape of water fluid from the sac surrounding the heart, giving postmortem evidence that Our Lord died not the usual crucifixion death by suffocation, but of heart failure (a broken heart) due to shock and constriction of the heart by fluid in the pericardium.

Thus we have had our glimpse - including the medical evidence - of that epitome of evil which man has exhibited toward Man and toward God. It has been a terrible sight, and more than enough to leave us despondent and depressed. How grateful we can be that we have the great sequel in the infinite mercy of God toward man - at once the miracle of the atonement and the expectation of the triumphant Easter morning.

________

Dr. C. Truman Davis is a nationally respected Ophthalmologist, vice president of the American Association of Ophthalmology, and an active figure in the Christian schools movement. He is founder and president of the excellent Trinity Christian School in Mesa Arizona, and a trustee of Grove City College.

================================================

Similar material from SermonCentral.com, 3/27/06:

The author Lee Strobel has written a book titled GOD’S OUTRAGEOUS CLAIMS. In it he writes these words:

Jesus was tied to a post and beaten at least thirty-nine times – and probably more – with a whip that had jagged bones and balls of lead woven into it. Again and again the whip was brought down with full force on his bare shoulders, back, and legs ...At first the heavy thongs cut through skin only. Then, as the blows continued, they cut deeper into the subcutaneous tissues, producing first and oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins of the skin, and finally spurting arterial bleeding from vessels in the underlying muscles. The small balls of lead first produce large, deep bruises which are broken open by subsequent blows. Finally, the skin of the back is hanging in long ribbons, and the entire area is an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue. One witness to a Roman flogging gave this description: “The sufferer’s veins were laid bare, and the very muscles and tendons and bowels of the victim were open to exposure.”

________

Contributed by David Haun

Religions are chocked full of incredible things. Possibly the strangest and maybe the most obscene is the Christian belief in the crucifixion of God. In my estimation, the only serious competitor with the Crucifixion for the title of world's most bizarre religious idea is the Christian belief that God came into the world as a little baby. Think about it: God is the one who wove the fabric of space and time from a loom of nothingness, flung the stars in place as one flings a hand full of sand, set the planets in their orbits with care, formed mankind from dirt and then gave us life with the breathe of His nostrils. This is His calling card, right? - not swaddling clothes or a dirty manger. If you find the stench of a stable unbearable (and believe me it must have smelled), try the stench of Golgatha. Tertullian asked, “What does Jerusalem have to do with Athens?” I ask, “What do nail pierced hands have to do with the fingers that fashioned the atom?”

As a Christian, let me answer that: everything. The hands that bore the nails had to create the atom, or what would it matter that they bore the nails? The Romans crucified countless thousands, but only one of those crucifixions shook the foundations of reality.

There's the Christian answer, but please don't believe it as if it were just a matter of course. If you do, you might have missed it entirely. This stuff is incredible, and belief in it is no regular affair. I believe that my car will start when I turn the key –that is a matter of course. I believe that Jesus is the incarnate Son of God, who was crucified and resurrected to pay my sin debt to God –this is no ordinary affair.

I don't say this to discourage belief. I say it to encourage true faith. True faith has the object of its belief clearly illumined, and as a Christian this object is incredible.

Yes, I can give you cogent and forceful arguments that the Christian faith is rational. But this should not for one second diminish the novelty, incredibleness, and wonder-filled-ness, of the belief that Jesus died and rose again, and that these two thousand year old events have essential import to your soul today.

Please seriously consider if you believe such things. They are of utmost importance for your life, your soul, and your destiny. Belief in them, heart-throbbing and sincere belief, is the key to your resurrection, today and in eternity.

____________

Copyright © 2002 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

*

In September of 1999, a pastor named Tuy Seng traveled to Khampon Tom Province in northern Cambodia. Pastor Seng had wanted to bring the gospel to the remote villages there for years, but they had been under the control of an isolated pocket of Khmer Rouge radicals until early 1999.

Now, as far as anyone knew, he was the first person to speak of Jesus in that isolated area. Most villagers cast their lot with Buddhism or spiritism. Christianity was unheard of.

But when Seng arrived at one small, rural village, the people welcomed him eagerly. They could not hear enough about the Gospel. Most made decisions to commit their lives to Christ. Smiling, Pastor Seng asked the people why it seemed as if they had been waiting for him to come.

An old woman shuffled to the front of the group, bowed, and grasped Pastor Seng’s hands. “We have been waiting,” she said. “We have been waiting for you for twenty years.” And then she explained.

After the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia, they made their way through the countryside, destroying just about anything created with purpose or design — bridges, highways, hospitals, human beings. It took a while, but after they had dealt with Phnom Penh and other city centers, they focused on the villages.

So it was that the soldiers came to this hamlet in 1979. Their technique [in that village] was the same as it had been for countless communities, but for the people who lived there the terror was new. The communists emerged from the jungle and strode from hut to hut, ordering the villagers out. Those who resisted were killed at once; many died in front of their homes.

The rest were marched to a clearing behind the village. Their own farm tools were thrust in their hands. “Now dig!” the soldiers shouted.

Hours passed as the people sweated and wept and dug — until finally the hole was deep enough [for them all]. The people laid down their spades and shovels. The soldiers shouted for them to turn and face the pit.

They braced themselves, waiting for the killing blows, knowing that the soldiers would bludgeon them to death rather than shoot them — why waste precious bullets on ordinary peasants?

The heavy, humid air lay still as the villagers [standing there] began to cry out — the wail before death, when the heart’s longing to live becomes a desperate plea for help. Some screamed to Buddha, to ancestors, or to demon spirits. A few cried for their mothers.

Then one woman began to cry, intuitively, to one of her earliest memories — the faint echo of a story told her by her mother about the God who hung on the cross. She called out to that God. Surely the One who had suffered Himself might have compassion on those about to die. Time stopped. The humid jungle air lay still.

Suddenly the screams around her became one great wail, as the entire village called out as one, crying for their lives to the God who hung on the cross.

There was only silence.

They sobbed into the darkness of the pit before them.

Silence. A flicker of hope.

And then, the people turned, one by one.

The jungle was empty. The soldiers were gone.

And ever since that astounding day in 1979, the people of that village had been waiting...waiting for someone to come and tell them more...more about the God who hung on the cross.

__________

Dois I. Rosser, Jr., and Ellen Vaughn, The God Who Hung on the Cross (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003), 35-37.

======================

Another version from Http://advance.foursquare.org/rtf/3714.rtf

In various parts of the world the miraculous power of God is almost a common occurrence. This is especially true in the nation of Cambodia that has experienced the genocide of one-third of the population in the last 25 years. Forty years ago they were closed to the Gospel. Cambodians were proud and prosperous and according to FMI Missionary Ted Olbrich, “they did not need Christ but today are desperate for the Good News.” The following is a small glimpse of the signs and wonders happening through the Foursquare Church in Cambodia.

“Next time you come, if you don't bring rice we'll kill you!”

Ted understood that the man who stood before them wanted rice. However, still learning the Cambodian language, he did not fully discern the threat. Yet Ted noticed that the facial expression of the Foursquare pastor with him had changed for the worse. When he asked his friend what else the man said, the pastor simply and wisely said, “I'll tell you later.”

Van Saveth is a leader in his remote village located about 100 miles northeast of the capital city of Phnom Penh. Although a landowner, he struggled along with his fellow villagers to make a living and feed his family. He felt justified in making his death threat to Ted and the Foursquare pastor for rice. After all, what is more important than food? He would soon find out.

The greatest miracle of all soon happened to Van Saveth, a Foursquare evangelist told him about Jesus and he believed and was radically saved. The missionary he threatened, Ted Olbrich, sensing his leadership potential, sent one of his most trained leaders to live with Van Saveth for months of intense discipleship. The training paid off. Today Van Saveth is a Foursquare divisional superintendent with 15 churches under his care.

And according to Reverend Olbrich, “We never did take the rice.”

Though only in Cambodia two years, Ted Olbrich has seen a lot of pain, poverty and death. Scars of the past genocide inflicted by dictator Pol Pot are evident, as seen by the piles of victim's skulls or in the hollow eyes of the living. Despite circumstances, Ted knows something profound is happening in Cambodia. The Spirit of God is moving. According to Ted, “I believe Cambodia is much like Korea after the Korean War or Japan after WWII.” His optimism for the growth of the Gospel is based on increasing evidence.

Over one hundred Foursquare churches have been established in Cambodia with approximately 10,000 believers. Yet no church had been planted in the evil area of the Khampong Thom province, a Khmer Rouge stronghold until late 1998. To Ted, despite the threat, the Gospel must penetrate this difficult area. The strategy is simple in Foursquare Cambodia -- plant churches by sending out young, eager evangelists.

When Foursquare church planters invaded this province they found spiritually hungry people and that God had gone before them to prepare the way. One bold church planter, Daniel Em, entered a village that had never heard the Gospel. Like most villages the message was well received but this time even more than usual -- “almost like people were primed and expecting the truth.” They were. An older woman approached him after he spoke and shared how 20 years ago she and other town leaders were forced to dig their own mass grave by Khmer Rouge soldiers. As soldiers armed with guns prepared to fire, the villagers cried out for help to “any god that would help them.” Some cried out to Buddha, others to demon spirits but the older woman prayed to “the God who hung on the cross!” Each one saw a vision of a cross and heard a voice tell them to not be afraid; He would save them. When they opened their eyes their captors had vanished. From that time on this village had waited for someone like Pastor Em to tell them more about the “God who hung on the cross.”

More incredible miracles in the province followed, hundreds were getting saved. Churches needed to be built and pastors raised up. There are currently 30 churches planted in this province and another 20 home groups. Two new church orphanages are near completion with a third scheduled to begin construction.

Yet with amazing growth, the pain of growing up can occur. In the same province a new church was being built. Some of the pastors had been receiving kickbacks from the contractors and suppliers. Overseeing this project, Pastor Phalla called the pastors for an evening meeting. Some accusations were made and a loud argument ensued. Pastor Phalla called them to pray in the pitch-dark unfinished church building. With a group of more than 100 villagers gathered to witness the altercation, the Spirit of God came over Pastor Phalla and she cried out in a loud voice, “Repent!”

Olbrich tells the rest of the story. “As she said this, there was a loud explosive noise, some of the witnesses thought someone had thrown a hand grenade. All the pastors were knocked to their faces and a cone of light came down from heaven and illumined a circle of about 30 feet where the pastors lay. The witnesses said the light was not the regular yellow kind but multi-colored, like a rainbow and seemed to flow like water. It lasted about five minutes. All of the pastors heard the Lord speak to them. Some pastors prophesied while others laid there all night. Then they journeyed about 100 miles to Phnom Phen to ask forgiveness for their sins and publicly repent to my wife, Sou, and myself.”

It is a unique time in this part of the world. Cambodia continues to need the prayers of the Foursquare family to reach the multitudes still needing to hear the Gospel. Rev. Olbrich has said that timing is critical and reports, “I believe we have a five year window of opportunity to reach Cambodia for Christ. We must not waste this chance.”

[see also HolwickID #25235]

*

The crimson flow traveled down the tree

Dripping upon the earth for all the world to see.

Nail pierced hands did not cause this crimson flow.

Though the pain to bare alone was an awesome blow.

A spear pierced side allowed the water to pour

Mixing with the blood, the flow became more.

Upon the ground, the crimson red did soak.

Taking on from men a painful eternal yoke.

As the crimson spread from the replanted tree

The thunder roared loudly and hell’s locks exploded free.

Down from the hill the stream did rush,

Sickness and death this crimson stream did crush.

The crimson flow was power and Holy Fire

Setting the captives free, creating a Holy desire

So much flowing blood to come from just one man

To cover every soul and sweeping every land.

From Heaven this crimson flow did come,

It watered the earth, sprinkling all not some.

Flowing to hell by way of a grave,

Resurrected in three days all men to save.

Then ascending back up to heaven again,

Taking with it death and repented sin.

Jesus was God and then Jesus was man.

Salvation was for all when the crimson blood ran.

One of the most well-known aspects of a vampire is that it must feed upon the blood of the living; Dracula must drink to survive, (akin to people drinking the blood of Christ -the blood of divine life). However, I do not believe that this act of survival should be the basis by which the myth of Dracula is labelled as horrific and evil. The following are a few examples showing the parallels between Dracula myth and Christianity.

Christ dies for the sins of humanity and rises from his own death so that humanity may achieve life after death. Dracula dies for the sin of his bride’s (Elisabeta´s) suicide and rises from his own death so that their souls may again be linked in soul-love one day. In the Catholic mass, worshippers continually feast upon the blood and body of Christ in order to maintain their mortal link with the immortal life of the divine. Dracula feasts upon the blood and body of mortal life and incarnates immorality within himself; he becomes his own god.

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© a.r.e.a/Dr.Vicente Forés López © Carolina Romero Dolz Universitat de Valencia Press

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The controversy over Mel Gibson's “The Passion of The Christ” has renewed a debate that has been raging off and on for the last two millennia: Who is responsible for the death of Jesus Christ? Several answers have been offered, each one with a unique twist on the event.

Many believe that the Jews (or at least the Jewish leadership) are responsible for the death of Jesus. Jewish groups claim that the movie (and the Gospels) paints the crucifixion in these anti-Semitic colors. Our Jewish friends look back over a long history of persecution by numerous groups, movements and nations. Shamefully, the historical list of Jewish persecutors is not devoid of Christian representation. Many Jews fear that The Passion will ignite a new wave of anti-Semitism as moviegoers become convinced that the Jews were the “bad guys.”

Some are quick to argue that the Jews did not put Jesus on the cross, but the Romans did. Because Palestine was under Roman rule, the Jews had no authority to kill Jesus. They did, after all, take him before the Roman authorities, putting the ultimate decision on the shoulders of the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate.

Still others, especially many evangelicals, do not want to pin the death of Jesus on either the Jews or the Romans. Instead, they want to emphasize that because all of humanity is sinful, ultimately everyone is responsible for the death of Jesus. The New Testament teaches that Jesus' death was voluntary, with the purpose of atoning for the sins of the world.

There is merit to each of these arguments. In fact, ultimately all of these are at least partially responsible for the death of Jesus. The Jewish leadership brought Jesus to the attention of the Roman authorities. Pilate (somewhat reluctantly) ordered the actual execution, spurred on by the demand of the Jewish mob that Jesus be crucified. Jesus submitted to this entire humiliating experience voluntarily, so that he could pay the penalty for the sins of humanity.

In all of these arguments it seems that one key party is constantly left out of the equation: God. The New Testament teaches that the Jews and Romans, though personally responsible for their sinful actions, were actually fulfilling the predetermined plan of God. In his death, Jesus was submissive to the will of God. The biblical evidence seems clear on this:

“He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name” (Philippians 2:8-9, ESV). When He died, Jesus was being obedient to the will of God and, as a result, was “highly exalted” by God.

“This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men” (Acts 2:23 ESV). Those who killed Jesus were playing a part in God's ultimate plan for His Son.

“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things” (Romans 8:32 ESV). God Himself did not spare Jesus, but gave Him up for the sins of humanity.

There can be no doubt that God is ultimately responsible for the death of Jesus Christ. Many may ask why God would do such a thing. Fortunately, the New Testament answers this question as well:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 ESV). God was motivated by love for the world and a desire that all who repent receive eternal life.

“In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10 ESV). Because God loves us, he sent Jesus to be an atoning sacrifice for sins.

God sent Jesus into the world so that the world might be redeemed. All those who repent of their sins, believe in Jesus Christ and trust in His sacrificial death and miraculous resurrection are given eternal life. God killed Jesus because God loves sinful people.

The third stanza of the great hymn “How Great Thou Art” captures beautifully the reality of God's delivering up His only Son to be crucified for sinners:

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing

Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;

That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing

He bled and died, to take away my sin.

Then sings my soul, my savior God to Thee;

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

How great indeed.

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Nathan Finn is a student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

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Actor Mel Gibson's movie, "The Passion," has broken new ground for Hollywood - and triggered a firestorm of controversy. "The Passion” tells the story of the day of Jesus' death with an attempt at Biblical accuracy that is seemingly unprecedented in movie-making history. The dialog is even spoken in the languages spoken at that time. And the portrayal of the crucifixion of Christ is said to be intensely realistic, following as closely as possible the Bible's description of what happened that day on a place called Skull Hill. The controversy revolves around the portrayal of the role of the Jewish leaders on that day in conspiring to have Jesus crucified by the Romans and their statement inviting His blood to be “upon us and our children.” So, for centuries, Jews have been wrongly persecuted as “Christ-killers,” allegedly guilty of “deicide.” What a tragic mistake! The truth of why Jesus died so brutally on that cross is far more shocking.

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “The Shocking Truth About History's Ultimate Crime.”

If there's one thing you want to be straight on, it's understanding the death of Jesus Christ. Because God says what we do with what His Son did there will decide where we spend eternity.

Were the Jews responsible for His death? The Romans? No more than I am. No more than you are. Because the Bible says in 1 Peter 2:24, our word for today from the Word of God, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree ... for you were like sheep going astray.” What made it necessary for Jesus to go that cross was the sins of every one of us. Every selfish thing you've ever done, every angry thing you've ever done, every dirty thing, every dishonest thing, every hurting thing, every time you've ever done it your way instead of God's way. That's what He was taking on Himself that unthinkable day on Skull Hill. Or in the words of God's bottom line summary: “Christ died for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3). So when Jesus cried out from that cross, “Father, forgive them,” He was forgiving me. He was forgiving you.

But no one had the power to take the life of the Son of God. Jesus said of His life, “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of my own accord.” His reason? He said, “I lay down My life for the sheep” (John 10:18; 10:15). Jesus gave His life. He sacrificed His life for you to absorb the awful death penalty for you and me running our own lives. Our sins made His death necessary. His love made it happen - a love that does not want to lose you.

So the biggest mistake a person can possibly make is to miss, ignore or walk by Jesus and His cross. If you think there is any other hope of your sins being forgiven, of you going to heaven, look at the cross. If anything you can do could have paid the bill for your sin, God's Son would never be there, crying out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?” You know the answer? So He would never have to forsake you. Abandon all hope of your religion or your spirituality or your goodness ever removing the guilt of your sin and getting you into heaven. Only the horrific death of God's one and only Son can do that. And because He walked out of His grave three days later, He, and He alone, can give you life that lasts forever.

This can be your day to - in your heart - stand at the foot of Jesus' cross and say, “For me. What You're doing there, Jesus, is for me. And beginning right here and right now, I'm turning to You from a life of doing it my way. I am Yours.”

Don't walk away from that cross without taking for yourself what Jesus did there for you. He took your hell so you could have heaven. Don't miss Him.

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Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"

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The cover of the latest NEWSWEEK magazine asks the right question: “Who killed Jesus?” This has been a raging debate for a year, since Mel Gibson started his remarkable film project THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST. He immediately ran into a buzz saw of opposition from the liberal media and Jewish groups who were afraid the film would rekindle anti-Semitism.

Now, Jews have a legitimate concern about this. During the Middle Ages, Christians treated Jews terribly. In Russia there were pogroms against the Jews. And of course some of the maniacs around Hitler professed that they were killing Jews to purify the Christian race.

But is this sensitivity today well-founded? If we would look at history alone, we would have to say that Pontius Pilate certainly was guilty. Legend has it that years after the crucifixion he was frantically washing his hands trying to cleanse himself from the blood of Christ. And, of course, Caiphus the High Priest certainly bears his share of responsibility. So do the crowds who yelled, “Crucify him.” So was it the Romans or the Jews, the venality of Pontius Pilate or the passion of the mob?

It was both and neither. The Jews didn't cause the death of Jesus, nor did the Romans. They were merely instruments carrying out what God had decreed. He sent His only begotten Son to die on the cross so that the sins of mankind might be forgiven. And those who take Scripture seriously have always known who killed Jesus: You and I and all other sinful human beings did so.

Mel Gibson understands this. In his movie, THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST, the hand holding the spike being nailed through Christ's wrist is Gibson's. Who killed Jesus? Mel Gibson knows. And he made the very point with his own hand that he was responsible, not the Jews.

Similarly the Dutch painter, Rembrandt painted THE RAISING OF THE CROSS as a self-portrait. As Christ hangs on the cross while it is being lifted into place, the soldier pulling it up is Rembrandt. Who killed Jesus? Rembrandt knew. He did. And I did. And you did. We're the ones who sent Jesus to the cross loaded down with our sins.

So enough of this foolish controversy. My advice to Christians is that you make it abundantly clear to your friends and neighbors that we are the ones responsible and then take them to see the film. Let them experience the passion and explain to them why it was necessary for Jesus to go to the cross. And be ready with a biblical answer for your Jewish friends who hear all of this propaganda, most of it stirred up by professional activists.

Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, says that it is not who is to blame that really has everybody up in arms. The media elite know that if people see this film, the right answer to the haunting question “Who Killed Jesus?” will be clear. What strikes terror into the hearts of the media elite is that people might once again be convicted of sin, repent, and come to faith in Christ.

So, three cheers for Mel Gibson. And thanks to NEWSWEEK for asking the right question, even if it does not have the right answer. But now it is up to us Christians to do our job to educate our neighbors and flood the movie theaters.

FOR FURTHER READING AND INFORMATION:

• Jon Meacham, “Who Killed Jesus?“ Newsweek, 16 February 2004. (Warning: Graphic photos.)

• Albert Mohler, “Newsweek Takes on the New Testament,” Crosswalk.com, 10 February 2004.

• Rabbi Daniel Lapin, “Protesting Passion,” National Review Online, 26 September 2003.

• Visit the Premier International Fan Website for Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ (this site is available in eighteen different languages).

• Antonio Gaspari, “The Cardinal & the Passion,” National Review Online, 18 September 2003.

• Kathryn Jean Lopez, “Mel Gibson, Feminist,” National Review Online, 2 December 2003.

• Michael Novak, “Passion Play,” Weekly Standard, 25 August 2003. http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/014ziqma.asp

• BreakPoint Commentary No. 030715, “A Passion for Getting It Right.”

• BreakPoint Commentary No. 030908, “Believe It Or Not.”

• Kelley Reep, “The Last Temptation of Christ,” BreakPoint Online, 25 July 2003.

• Allan Dobras, “Mel Gibson: Passion and Prejudice,” BreakPoint Online, 23 October 2003.

• Mark Gauvreau Judge, “Christ in Majesty,” BreakPoint Online, 6 June 2003.

• Mark Gauvreau Judge, “Turning Around Battleship Hollywood,” BreakPoint Online, 15 January 2004.

• John Fischer, “The Last Temptation of Mel Gibson,” BreakPoint Online, 1 December 2003.

• View Rembrandt's The Raising of the Cross at http://www.abcgallery.com/R/rembrandt/rembrandt105.html.

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Copyright (c) 2004 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

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