What Happened on Easter? Part 2

The Great Climax

If  you want to talk about a climax (in the theatrical way ---or in any way) the climax to Easter was the resurrection, when Jesus came bursting like a flash of light out of his earthly body, scorching his grave-cloth and breaking every cord that held Him captive! And, by cords, I mean Satan's spiritual bondage.

Jesus Christ our Savior overcame sickness, disease, hunger, death, fear, oppression, doubt, and every wile of the devil! That's what the Bible says. And, in case you're wondering, "But, but, but, ...we still suffer, get sick, fear, have doubts and die, don't we?"

Yes we do. And, why is that? In three words, "lack of faith" is why. (I'm not pointing fingers because my faith isn't 100% either.) But, I believe that if we had enough faith, we would not suffer any disease, accident, lack, fear, or even pain. I believe that we can claim the Word of God to absolutely hold true, according to our faith in it.

That means the dead CAN be raised, the sick CAN be healed, God's will CAN be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Because the Bible says so! Because of EASTER --the Great Climax, the Resurrection. Amen? Do you believe it?

Because, if one person can receive healing, anyone can. God is not a respecter of persons. If one person can be raised from the dead, anyone can. (I know a couple of people who died and came back to life. There are books on the subject and testimonies galore.) If one person can be saved, anyone can. Then righteousness would cover the earth as the waters cover the seas! Hallelujah! Are you saved? Are you born again?

The Joy of Easter

You don't need colored eggs or chocolate bunnies to experience the true joy of Easter. In fact, the joy of Easter is a year-long, eternity-long joy that nobody can ever take away from you. And, when we share the joy, it multiplies.

You might think that everyone knows about Jesus's death on the cross and resurrection. But, the knowledge of the Most High God has to reach the heart of humankind. It's not just a piece of knowledge, "Yeah, I've heard all about Jesus. He was this guy who walked around in a long robe and held up His two fingers to bless people..."

But, to really know Jesus Christ as your own private, personal, intimate Savior takes being born again in your spirit. You are saved by grace through no effort of your own. All you have to do is receive and this act of receiving is called "believing". It's by faith because you cannot see God.

What God is asking you to believe is that Jesus Christ, His Son, rose from the dead. That may seem like a lot to ask, but if you struggle to believe that, you can also ask God for faith to believe it. There was one man in the Bible who said, "I believe, Lord help my unbelief." because he knew that his faith wasn't 100%. But, his lack of faith didn't prevent God from doing the miracle.

Just the simple act of opening your mouth and telling God, "I believe that Jesus rose from the dead" is the key to eternal life and perfect joy! And, believing that in your heart means you are saved.

Here's the proof right out of God's Word: Romans 10:9, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

That's right, folks, that's all it takes. Only believe. I hear more buts. "But, but, but, what about baptism? and communion? and church attendance? and Bible study?" Yes, these are all good things but none of these things of and by themselves will save you. You are saved by faith and faith alone. And even that faith comes from God. And, yes, your faith can grow after you have been saved. That's the plan. You don't want to stay a newborn babe in Christ for the rest of your life. You want to grow up and mature.

So that's the true joy, God's joy that comes through believing the story of Easter.

What's the Story?

Maybe you don't have a Bible nearby or maybe you've never been able to read and understand the Bible. (I've had people tell me that they can't read the Bible because it's too difficult to understand. I've even had people tell me that it puts them to sleep when they try to read it. So, I told one person, "If it puts you to sleep, that's a sweet sleep. Just continue reading when you wake up.")

So, here's the story of Easter ---my version. It's the story of a man who was taken by his enemies and tortured in the worst way. Any onlooker would have seen a human being crushed, ripped apart with a whip that was a torture device of 9 strands of leather embedded with glass and sharp stones. After this beating, there was so little flesh left on the body of our Lord that He could see His own bones!

But, His enemies weren't through with Him yet. He was forced to carry His own cross all the way up the hill to Golgotha. (He fell under the weight and someone else had to help Him carry it.) And there, He was crucified. His body hung on a cross up high so everyone could see His mutilated body. But, Jesus shared his concern for His earthly mother with John, asking him to take care of her for Him. Then, the sky went dark in the middle of the afternoon.

Jesus called out, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani!" This means, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"

Now, it just so happens that in the book of Psalms, chapter 22, King David said the same words. With His final words, Jesus fulfilled prophecy. His entire life was a fulfillment of prophecy one after the other. In fact, the entire chapter 22 is a prophecy of Jesus's death as well as a prophecy of the future when,

"All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee." (Psalm 22:27)

Can you imagine what it was like in Jerusalem that day? Night had fallen for three full hours right in the middle of the day. Imagine the feeling in the atmosphere. People must have been wondering, possibly fearful or amazed. Anyone in the temple would have heard a loud rip as the veil of the holy place was ripped in half.

Then there was an earthquake! Thunderous noise of explosions filled the air as many rocks broke up! And just like a sci-fi horror movie, all the graves of the saints opened up! Moreover, bodies of the saints came out of those graves. (Remember, it's dark and there's an earthquake shaking things up at the same time.)

When all this started happening, even the Roman guards believed Jesus was the Son of God.

The body of Jesus was laid out on a flat shelf inside of a tomb in a rock and a huge rock was rolled in front of the entrance. But, when Mary came a few days later to put balm on His body, she found that not only was the stone moved but the body of Jesus was gone missing. Of course, this was upsetting. "Who on earth would want to steal this mangled body?" She saw a man nearby and went to ask him about this puzzling situation.

A New Body of Bone and Flesh

As it turns out, this man was Jesus. No more blood. His body was made out of some kind of flesh and bone. And, He could walk through walls no problem. He could appear and disappear at will. Still, He told Mary not to touch Him. (Imagine the shock it would have sent through her if she had.) And, He gave her instructions to tell the disciples that He was risen.

Of course, the disciples didn't believe her. After all, she was just a woman grieving for her Lord. But, it turned out, they should have believed her story. Because Jesus showed up unexpectedly while they were eating dinner. He had a physical body. He even ate fish with them. He even taught many followers for 40 days! What a crash course that must have been! If only we'd been there!

Nevertheless, Jesus told Thomas, "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."

That's us, folks!

What Happened on Easter?

Easter, like Christmas, has been shrouded in  traditions. We've got the Easter bunny --of all things, colored eggs, the Easter bonnet, and --more recently, Easter trees. Orthodox and Catholic churches make a big deal out of "Lent" and fasting and showing everyone how pious they are. (Or are they simply pusillanimous?) Anything to distract us from the real meaning of Easter.

Okay, so what is Easter? The word "Easter" comes from a pagan tradition. (Ah, tradition. How we love our traditions. Why is that? Traditions are just so human. And, in most cases, ungodly.)

The month of the crucifixion was called Eosturmonath after a pagan goddess named Eostre. Catholics therefore referred to the resurrection as Eostre. Go figure. It had to be the Catholic church that designated this name for the most important day of human existence. And, there we have it.

So, what about the Easter bunny? He was just another symbol of fertility. Yet, apparently he also brought pretty colored eggs to children who were good --- much like Santa Claus. And, although I sound very critical of these imposters, traditions and distractions, at least there is one good thing you could say about it all --- it helps people all over the world to remember this day called Easter. --So that, if they dig deeply enough, they may even discover the real meaning behind the celebration.

Humanity's Most Important Day

Without the slightest bit of exaggeration, we can say that Easter (The Resurrection) is the most important day of all of human history. You might say, "What about the day of the creation of human beings?" But, the resurrection is what saved humanity after the fall, so, without it, there would be no creation.

Think about this: God was going to wipe out His entire creation with the flood. The Bible says that God "repented" at having even created us! But, thankfully, Noah stood between God and the destruction of the entire earth. One man, Noah was used by God to save us all, just as one man, Jesus was used by God (and was and is God) to save our souls from destruction.

It's Intense

Yes, it's intense. It's intense because most of us don't realize just how bad our lives and deaths would be without Jesus. In a way, it's like being born into a world of electricity and trying to imagine what life would be without it. You get to experience life without electricity when it temporarily gets cut off, but that's only a taste of electricity-less living, isn't it? The point is, we just don't realize.

We're so shaped by the society we're born into that we do tend to take a lot for granted. If your parents were Catholic and sent you to a Catholic church, you became aware at an early age that you are a sinner. The Catholic church wants you to think that they have everything to do with your eternal salvation and that without them, you are going to hell. (We won't get into slamming the Catholic church at this point. They do have a few grains of truth and lots of sincere, dedicated people. Albeit, most of them are deceived.)

But, if you weren't Catholic, you weren't quite as painfully aware of your sins. And, since human beings are for the most part, self-righteous, you may have figured that "whatever will be will be" concerning death and the afterlife. If you believed in the afterlife at all. As a child, you may have never concerned yourself with eternity, concentrating mostly on getting ahead at school or making lots of friends or whatever.

Until, one day, maybe after a particularly dark nightmare or a really bad movie, the thought awakened in your mind that you didn't really know for sure what was going to happen to you when you died. That fear of death is a gift of Satan, by the way. But, on the bright side, it does cause us to call out to our Creator.

Death and Hell was Nailed to the Cross

What the Catholic church doesn't seem to know is that the fear of hell and death was nailed to the cross on Good Friday. That means we don't need a church (any church at all really) or a priest, or pope, or confession, or even mass. Nobody controls our eternal salvation except for Jesus Christ. Nobody makes the decision of whether you go to heaven or hell except for God. Not Mary, not your local priest or pastor or the entire "Holy" Roman Vatican.

If you could do it by going to church faithfully, confessing your sins to a man of the cloth, taking mass or communion, praying, worshiping, obeying, giving to the poor, or whatever else you can imagine, then Jesus didn't need to die on the cross.

If there was anything at all that you could possibly do to save  yourself from going to hell, the death of our perfect, pure, unspotted Lamb was a waste of time. If that's true, Jesus died in vain. It meant nothing. It served no purpose. --Because you could have saved yourself! So, no need for all that suffering, all that blood and pain and misery.

And, just as you know in your heart that you could never have saved yourself or been good enough for God, you also know that there is no way to keep yourself saved. The entire thing is by grace through faith. Grace and faith alone. Those are two powerful words. We don't even understand them.

We Underestimate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

God knew that pigs can't fly. He created them. He didn't enable pigs to fly. So, they can't. And, He knew what humans were and what we aren't. He didn't expect the miraculous from us. He knew our weaknesses, our humanity, our frailties, our finite minds, our ridiculous approach to life. He also knew that, without a touch of God, we would come to destruction. And that very fast.

God knew that there was only one solution to this entire mess down here. He was the Only One Who could fix it. That's probably where that saying came from, "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself." Because, in all seriousness, God is the Only One Who can do it right.

Imagine This!

Okay, now here's something that will blow your mind. It's just not even possible to comprehend this in our tiny, human brains. But, here's the thing --God came down to earth inside of a human body (it was the perfect disguise) so human-like that it even fooled his biological half-brothers, then he lived on the earth (eating, drinking, defecating, sleeping, working, walking, talking) just like a human being, then He went around doing good to show everyone a sample of godliness and godly living. But, that wasn't enough.

He gave Himself (his flesh) to the smiters, people who hated Him so that they could kill Him in the most painful way imaginable. Just so that whoever believes in Him can be saved!

We're Saved From Ourselves

Some people may ask, "What do we need to be saved from?" But, if we're honest, we know deep down that we need to be saved. We are not strong. We are not smart. We are not God. That's right. You are not strong, you are not smart, and you are not God.

You may be clever but you're not smart in the true sense of the word. You're certainly not smart like God. He is omniscient. That means He knows everything. And, that word, "everything"  means everything now, everything in the past, and everything in the future. Everything.

The first step in getting really smart is to finally come to the realization that you don't know anything except what God shows you. If you know something that's true and right, it came from God. God taught us how to speak, how to wash, how to cook, how to procreate, everything. Then, it was passed on.

How insane is it to think that anyone on this earth is smart? Everything we learn is taught to us. Everything we know is second-hand information. Either humans taught us, or God. Or, in some cases, Satan. But, really Satan is not omniscient. He's weak, dumb and he's definitely not God. Satan is the great imitator. He's a liar and the father of lies.

We're Saved from Satan

Don't you know Satan hates the fact that we are saved by grace. He's constantly lying to us to try to deceive us into thinking that we have to work for our salvation, pay some exorbitant fees to the church, fast or punish ourselves for our sins. How ridiculous. The price of salvation was too high for any of us to afford. All the tea in China can't buy your salvation.

The most valuable thing you own is your salvation. That means you have Jesus living inside of you. The smartest thing you can know on this earth is that you are saved. And the most powerful name in human history is: Jesus Christ/ Yeshua Hamashiach.

To be continued . . .

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Universal Reconciliation

In these days of widespread earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, forest fires, car crashes, wars, and murders, it's difficult to even imagine that this world we live in could ever be reconciled to what it was intended to be. There seems to be no end to man's/woman's inhumanity to man/woman. And, there definitely seems to be no explanation for all of this horror.

Rose Colored Glasses

So, what do we do in the face of reality? Do we put on our rose-colored glasses, try to stay positive, and look on the bright side? (First you have to find the bright side.) Where the HECK is the bright side anyway? Even for those of us living in relative "peace", there's the never-ending bills, bills, bills. And those awful people we have to work with every day. And, sickness, pain, pollution and, finally ---death. Where's the bright side?

Many of us try to avoid the News because, no news is good news. Who's killing who today? Who's blowing up what? Where was the mega-quake today? And, on and on it goes. We figure it's only a matter of  time before our worst nightmare shows up on our doorstep. We worry for our children, our finances, our spouses, and ourselves, ...

Coffee! More coffee! God help me to get through one more day. Help me to focus on surviving this one day. Help me put the endless bill payments, low salary, long hours, and failing economy out of my head.

As born-again believers, we have more hope than those who are not believers. Let's face it. We know who we are, Who our God is, and where we're going when we die. (Or, we should know!) Our hope is in Jesus, in His resurrection, eternal life, God's mercy, and --eventually, ALL THE ANSWERS. Right? So, it's encouraging when the Lord gives you a word that cracks everything wide open --in a good way that is.

On February 20, 2018, I received this prophecy.

See Through God's Eyes

"The bigger your vacuum, the more Spirit I can pour into your heart. The more you desire Me, the closer I come to you. We become one. You become a part of God and see the universe through God's eyes ---the good, the potential, the reason for everything, My design, My desires, and the plans I have for it all.

My creation has a plan. Nothing will go to waste and there's a reason for everything ---every word spoken or written, every thought, every breath, every idea, every pain, every move made on this planet. 

Everything can be rectified, sanctified, reclaimed, reborn, re-purposed, refurbished, reunited with its maker. Every piece of coal can become a diamond. Every disaster can be swallowed up in love and recreated into something good, something wonderful. 

Love is creative, empowering, enriching, fulfilling, uniting, building, blessing, thrilling, enlightening, forgiving, cleansing, bonding, calming, soothing, healing, mending, blending, refreshing, uplifting, inspiring, recreating, understanding, sympathizing, enduring, communicating, possible, prophetic, penetrating, visionary.  It sees the possibilities in every circumstance. 

God is in Control

Although our senses may tell us that the world is on fire in the basement and we're all going to hell in a hand-basket, we just need to remind ourselves that GOD IS ON CONTROL.

What? How can you say God is in control? Children are starving, people are poverty stricken, diseases are out of control, the earth is rocking and reeling! We're on the verge!

I can say that God is in control of MY LIFE and God is in control of every life that He holds in His hands. God and His angels are the Super Powers on this earth today. Not Satan.

Yes, God gave Satan this world to live in and try to control as much as people would allow him to. And, it sure seems that many human beings have let him step in, step up and take over. But, we haven't! You and I, fellow believers in the Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord, we have NOT surrendered!

So, no matter how bad it looks and sounds, no matter how terrible things get or seem to get, the true believers and followers of Jesus Christ will HOLD. There is a red ribbon of the Blood of Jesus tied securely around our souls, pulling us out of harm's way and guiding us closer to Him until one of these days it will raise us up out of these mortal earthbound bodies to rise into the sky at the last trump! Then EVERYTHING but EVERYTHING will be healed, mended, cleansed and purified. Every tear will be wiped away. And a smile will be on every face --of all those who believed!