To The Cross I Go

Photo and poem copyright 2011, Shelley L. Snyder

In the first part of the Easter story, Good Friday, we recognize the fact that Jesus was wrongly accused, He was mocked, He was brutally tortured (the cross was a Roman means of torture), and He died. Everyone who walked this earth from the beginning of time; everyone who is currently walking the earth, and those yet to be born, has put Jesus on the cross. Typically, Jesus' people are the ones blamed. They say, "The Jews put Jeus on the cross." But really we all did - because of our sins. We nailed Jesus to the cross.

Jesus suffered and died for us. Good Friday is when we remember Jesus voluntarily going to the cross for us. Three days later, the tomb (grave) was found empty. His body wasn't stolen. God raised Jesus from the dead, and He is now alive in Heaven on the right hand of God. This is what Easter is all about.

Jesus did this for you; and He did this for me. If you want to spend eternity in Heaven with Jesus, then all you need to do is ask Jesus into your heart, ask Him to forgive your sins, believe Jesus is God's Son who died on the cross and was raised three days later, and is now alive in heaven - then, when you die, you will go to heaven and spend eternity with Him.

If you don't believe this, if you don't ask Him into your heart and ask for forgiveness of your sins...then you will go to Hell. You will be separated from God. Forever.

The choice is yours to make.

In the Field

Irises in a Field

The grass withers, the flower fades,

But the word of our God stands forever.

         Isaiah 40:8

Just Accept It - That's All You Need To Do

I remember when I visited Egypt. I spent the month of February, 2008, with three friends and we toured several places. I loved my time there, and it was such a surreal feeling to be standing in front of the pyramids, to visit the temples and tombs, and sail down the Nile.

One thing that is quite common over there, is the abundance of people (usually men) trying to sell you souvenirs, etc. The country is quite poor, so you can't fault them for trying to make a living. But, everywhere we went, someone was always shouting out for us to come and buy something from them. In several places, like at the pyramids, you would find men (and lots of times children as well), carrying around several items trying to sell them to make a pound (their currency is the Egyptian pound, but they also use and accept the American dollar).

While at the pyramids, one man approached us with cute little glass images (set of 3) of the pyramids - think paperweights. He approached T and said to her, "Here, it's a gift for you." She took it, thinking that is was really nice of him to offer her a gift for no reason. She started to walk on after thanking him, but he followed right along and tugged her arm. "It's a gift for you. Now you give me a gift. Maybe _____." (fill in the blank with a dollar amount). So, as it turns out, it really wasn't a gift. He was using that method to get the person to accept the item he wanted to sell, then once they had it in their possession, he would request to be paid for the item.

Thankfully, God is not like that. In Romans 6:23 we read, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (bold and italics are my addition).

Salvation is not earned. God has freely given it to us in the form of His Son - Jesus Christ. We don't have to pay (in actuality, we CAN'T do this) to be saved. All we need to do is believe and profess that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died for our sins (he sacrificed His life so we could live), and rose the third day.

God gives us His gift; He doesn't demand to be paid for it - not prior to giving it, not after giving it. All we need to do is accept His gift. He's not going to follow after us, tug at our arms and demand us to give him a "gift" in exchange for eternal life. The truth of the matter is, the price has already been paid in full - with Jesus' death and resurrection. Jesus paid the price for our sins on the cross.

All you need to do, is just accept God's gift to you. That's it.

Past Posts

I installed a new feature on my blogs today. It is the LinkWithin widget (which I saw on someone else's blog) and at the end of every post, it gives a list of about three other posts the reader may be interested in.

I didn't recognize some of the titles (and pictures in some cases) that were being posted, so I checked them out to refresh my memory. Some of them I can't believe I wrote. To me they were really good, thought provoking or inspirational type posts. It's been a long while since I've been able to come up with some really good posts - for any of my blogs.

At any rate, I thought I would share a link to some of those posts I came across today:

1. Being Fed

2. In Other Words

3. Faces - sorry that the pictures that had accompanied this post are no longer there

4. I Will Not Forget You

5. Associating With Sinners and Such

Hope you enjoy reading these previous posts. I've not read them in a long time, so I liked reading them all again - and still can't believe I created half-decent posts! Let me know what you think in the comments here, rather than on the posts themselves.

They're At It Again...

Yeah...sounds to me like "they" are at it again. I was just checking my email, and it is on a news site - Canada.com. Anyway, in one of the news blurbs I saw this. Go read it. Briefly, a Canadian archaeologist (I think he's the guy who has the show on Vision TV called Naked Archaeologist; no he isn't actually naked - haven't figured out the title yet) who claims to have "rediscovered" the tomb that holds the family of Jesus - including his wife Mary Magdelene, His mother, possibly her brother, and Jesus' and Mary M's son, Judah!

Yeah...riding on the coattails of Da Vinci Code maybe? I'm just waiting for them to drag that FICTICIOUS story into this as proof that Mr. Brown's book really is true. No. It's not true. Neither is this claim.

I want someone to prove to me, with scripture, that Jesus and Mary Magdelene got married. I want them to prove to me, with scripture, that they had a son (or any children for that matter). I'll wait. Go on....prove it. What's that? You can't prove it? Well, I could have told you that - in fact I did (read back a few paragraphs). It can't be proven, because IT DID NOT HAPPEN!

Jesus did not get married. Yes, Jesus died - crucified on a cross - and yes, He was buried. Here's the thing. There would be no ossuary (a bone box). See, in those days the people would put the body in a tomb and cover it will lots of spices - about 75 pounds worth. Then, after a year, the family would go back to the tomb and collect the bones that were left and put them in an ossuary.

Here's the thing - Jesus was placed in a tomb with the spices, but when the women went back to finish preparing His body, it wasn't there. Jesus had risen from the dead! There would be absolutely no ossuary needed - ever. Jesus is alive in Heaven, and He has promised to come back again. Be ready. We don't know when He'll return, but He will.

Sure, those bone boxes are real. In fact, they could have held bones belonging to Mary, Mary Magdelen, and even other family members. But there's no way there is an ossuary that contained the bones of Jesus Christ - ever! I don't care what any archaeologist says.

People have been trying to disprove the Christian faith since it began. They can't do it. No matter how hard they try, they can not prove that Jesus' bones remained in the tomb, they can not prove that Jesus was married to Mary Magdelene (I'd like to know how that rumour got started...), or anyone for that matter, they can not prove that Christianity is based on a myth. They can try all they want to create an illusion that Christianity is not true, but they'll be wrong. The truth will be revealed, and as the scriptures say, "one day every knee will bow and one day every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord."
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