Success and Failure Blog

Easter is coming.

For the next 60 seconds, set aside whatever you’re doing and take this opportunity to consider the following:

THE (SCIENTIFIC) DEATH OF JESUS

At the age of 33, Jesus was condemned to the death penalty.

At the time, crucifixion was the “worst” death.  Only the worst criminals condemned to be crucified.  Yet it was even  more dreadful for Jesus, unlike other criminals condemned to death by crucifixion Jesus was to be nailed to the cross by His hands and feet.  Each nail was 6 to 8 inches long.

The nails were driven into His wrist..  Not into His palms as is commonly portrayed. There’s a tendon in the wrist that extends to the shoulder.  The Roman guards knew that when the nails were being hammered into the  wrist that tendon would tear and break, forcing Jesus to use His back muscles to support himself so that He could breath.

Both of His feet were nailed together.  Thus He was forced to support Himself on the single nail that impaled His feet to the cross.  Jesus could not support himself with His legs because of the pain so He was forced to  alternate between arching His back then using his legs just to continue to breath.  Imagine the struggle, the pain, the suffering, the courage.  Jesus endured this reality for over 3 hours. Yes, over 3 hours! Can you imagine this kind of suffering?  A few minutes before He died, Jesus stopped bleeding. He was simply pouring water from his wounds.

From common images we see wounds to His hands and feet and even the spear wound to His side.  But do we realize His wounds were actually made in his body.  A hammer driving large nails through the wrist, the feet overlapped
and an even large nail hammered through the arches, then a Roman guard piercing His side with a spear.

But before the nails and the spear Jesus was whipped and beaten.  The whipping was so severe that it tore the flesh from His body.  The beating so horrific that His face was torn and his beard ripped from His face.  The crown of thorns cut deeply into His scalp.  Most men would not have survived this torture.

He had no more blood to bleed out, only water poured from His wounds.   The human adult body contains about 3.5 liters (just less than a gallon) of blood.  Jesus poured all 3.5 liters of his blood;

He had three nails hammered into His members; a crown of  thorns on His head and, beyond that, a Roman soldier who stabbed a spear into His chest.

All these without mentioning the humiliation He passed after carrying His own  cross for almost 2 kilometers, while the crowd spat in his face and threw stones (the cross was almost 30 kg of weight, only for its higher part, where His hands were nailed).

Jesus had to endure this experience, so that you can have free access to God.  So that your sins could be “washed” away.   All of them, with no exception!  Don’t ignore this situation.

JESUS CHRIST DIED FOR YOU!

For you, who now read this.   Do not believe that He only died for others (those who go to church or for pastors, bishops, etc).  He died for you!

It is easy to pass jokes or foolish photos  by e-mail or a link but when it comes to God, sometimes you feel ashamed to forward to others because you are worried of what they may think about you.  Accept  the reality, the truth that

JESUS IS THE ONLY SALVATION FOR THE WORLD.

God  has plans for you.  Share with your friends this link and what Jesus experienced  to save us.

It was a very windy day in 2001 and I was going paragliding… being 60 years old at the time I was excited about the prospects of flying again.  Six months earlier I had gone to a paragliding school and learned how to take off and land.  It was exciting!  However; this was one of those days that I should have spent some early morning quiet time with the Lord…

I’m sure the Holy Spirit was trying to get my attention that blistery morning with gusts of wind that were very threatening.   My “mind” unfortunately was doing just the opposite!   After a wild takeoff, I pushed back into the ‘cruising’ position and enjoyed quite a ride.  On my way to the target landing things look normal, I could envision where I was to land and I had plenty of time before that point was arriving.  Things were going really good!  As a normal precaution I looked up to check the position of the sail and when I looked down – I hit the GROUND!  OMG! When I recovered a bit the first thing that came out of my mouth was “I AM HEALED BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS – I AM HEALED!”  I WAS REALLY SCARED.

I thank God that Pastor Arland Steen taught me for twenty years that divine healing is one of our rights in Christ.  We learned to claim our healing first and THEN call 911.  The scripture 1^st Peter 2:24 says that I was healed by the stripes of my Lord!  I kept screaming it out as I realized that I could feel my toes move.  I knew that I had survived a very serious crash!  The damage to my spine was considerable.  The prognosis was not good…

During my recovery and still bed ridden a friend called on me and seeing my distress and my depression said “Hank, where is your faith?” I could only answer “I don’t know where my faith is, I only know what my confession” is – that I AM HEALED BY THE STRIPES OF MY LORD JESUS!”  The medication and pain easily confused my mind so I did not have much control of the thoughts coming and going through that brain matter.  I could however; control what came out of my mouth and thereby could control and override what went through that mind of mine!

This constant confession reinforced my faith position of being healed even though I would not see the manifestation for years.  Since my salvation in 1985 I have always believed that my salvation and my healing were both received by me BY FAITH because of God’s Word.  The words that come out of our mouths demonstrate our faith position.

I have always said “tape yourself for 24 hours and then play it back – you will then know what you will receive!”  I may not know many scriptures – but the one I do know I believe without doubt!  My precious ones are; Rom 10:9,10, 1 John 1:9, Gal 6:7, 1 Peter 2:24, Phil 4:19. Even today years after experiencing the manifestation of my healing when I am asked “Hank how are you?” – My answer is ALWAYS “I’m well!”  In Jesus Name.