ONE HEARTBEAT AWAY
PART 70
(Mark Cahill's Book)
Since Jesus is this "One mediator"
what makes Him so special?
Why is He the only right answer?
Well there must be a right answer to comfort us when we walk out of here into eternity. There must be a right answer that will keep us from going to hell. And here it is ; you need to bring the right sacrifice. Sacrifice? Read on
What is so interesting as you read the Old Testament is that, from the beginning God used animal sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin. Later, the Jewish people would bring animal offferings to the Temple to atone for their sins.
When the innocent animal's blood was shed, it was understood to be a trade for their own blood. Because of their sin they deserved to die. But because of
the substitute animal's blood being shed on their behalf, their sin was taken away.
For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls.: for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul.
(Leviticus 17:11)
Each family of the enslaved children of Israel, took the blood of a lamb without blemish and put it on the doorposts of their dwellings so that the death angel
would "pass over" them.
A couple of years ago I got a call from
ESPN Classic, they were doing a special about Charles Barkley and were coming to Atlanta to interview people for it.
Somehow they found my name in a search engine, and located me. A young guy just out of college asked me the questions on camera.
After the interview, he and I got into a conversation. He told me he grew up half Lutheran and half Jewish as a kid.
I askef him if he still went to
Sinagogue. He said that he went on the High Holy Days.
The interview was two days before the Day of Atonement. (Yom Kippur, in Hebrew), so we talked about that holy day. It is the day that all Israel is supposed to confess their sins, sacrifice animals as substitutes for themselves and receive forgiveness.
As we talked about sin, I asked him what MJews did on that day to get rid of sin. He knew that they used to sacrifice animals for the sin offering, but they
didn't do that anymore because the sacrifice has to be made at the Temple in Jerusalem, which was destroyed in
70 A.D.
I mentioned that we can't just change the way God gets rid of sin. If He demands a blood sacrifice that is what it must be.
The young man was curious to know what that blood sacrifice would be now, since the Temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed for almost 2000 years. So I told him what I am about to tell you,
At the end of the conversation he said, "how do you know so much about what you believe?" He loved hearing the truth that you have read so far in this book, but what he was most interested in was the reason for the blood sacrifice - and why it is no longer possible or necessary to do it.
Two of Jesus' disciples said of Him:
The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, "Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
(John 1:29)
For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold, from your vain conversation, received from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
(1st Peter 1:18,19)
next post 22nd January
IS JESUS COMING BACK
(Copied from
Y-Jesus.com)
Where will Jesus Return?
The Bible speaks of the Lord returning to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Some may as; "Why not New York, London, Los Angeles or Tokyo?" but God chose Jerusalem as the place of His return. Although Jerusalem is tiny among such cities, it is of the utmost importance to God. A brief history explains why.
Jerusalem is the place (originally called Moriah) where God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac. But God stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac, instead providing him with a ram to offer. In fact, God had never intended Isaac to be sacrificed, He was testing Abraham's faith and giving us a symbolic picture of His Only Son being sacrificed 2000 years later in Jerusalem, near that very spot.
Solomon built the first Jewish temple over the same spot where Abraham sacrificed the ram in place of Isaac. It was there that the Holy of Holies was located, the sacred room where God said His presence dwelt.
Five hundred years before Christ, it was prophesied that the Jews would be the occupants of Jerusalem when the Messiah arrives in the end times. However, when Jerusalem was destroyed in
70 A.D. a million of its inhabitants were killed and the rest fled for their lives. Jerusalem's long history s the central place of Jewish worship ceased to exist. Jews could only dream of its future restoration.
However, the Jews dreams that Jerusalem would one day be restored were based on God's promise given through His prophet Ezekiel nearly 600 years before Christ. This prophecy speaks of the dispersion of the Jews to other nations due to their disobedience. It then tells that in the last days God will send them back to their land from other nations. God said, through His prophet " I will take you out of the nations, I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land."
For nearly 1900 years
following its destruction
by Roman armies there
was no nation of Israel,
and Jerusalem was a
"no-man's-land" under
foreign occupation. Then in the latter part of the 19th century, Jews began populating Palestine. After the Holocaust, imposed by Hitler's Nazis, Jews immigrated en masse to Israel.
On May 14th 1948, the Jews 2,000-year-old dream of the rebirth of Israel became a reality as a United Nations charter granted them partial control of Jerusalem. However, within hours, 5 Arab armies along its borders vowed to destroy it. Tensions between Israel and its neighbors became explosive.
In 1967, Egyptian, Jordanian and Syrian armies surrounded Jerusalem. Newspaper headlines read "Egypt vows to destroy Israel, " Israel's army seemed to be hopelessly outnumbered. But a surprise attack by Israel devastated the enemy in just six days. Many spoke of the Jew's overwhelming victory as a miracle. After Israel's lightning victory in the 1967 war, Jerusalem finally belonged to Israel and the peace they has hoped for seemed to be within reach. Yet the prophecy that Jerusalem would become a "burdensome stone" to the world has come true.
Israel's miraculous rebirth has set the stage for the
stage for the coming of the Messiah,which requires the Jews to dwell in Jerusalem. Nearly 6 million Jews now live in the land God promised to Abraham. In one century Israel has exploded from virtual non-existence into a nation that dominates the world's headlines.
next post 23rd January
APOLOGY
Dear Viewers,
today is the 17th January 2018 - I wish to apologize for the disappearance of this blog for more than a month, but due to circumstances beyond my control, such as tablet crashing, which prevented access to the internet on my Notebook, as well as my blog disappearing off my tablet and including illnesses, such as gout, a suspected cracked rib and Warfarin toxicity it became impossible to continue. I am now on the mend, access to the internet has now been restored and I hope to have the blog back on the tablet soon, fortunately it did not disappear off the notebook, so I can now continue.
Here is my next blog on "Is Jesus coming back?" which appears on Wednesdays.
ONE HEARTBEAT AWAY
PART 69
(Mark Cahill's Book)
The Good News
"Eureka! I have found it!"
Archimedes, 287- 212 B.C.
"Eureka" is what Archimedes, the great Greek engineer, was said to have shouted when he solved a very difficult problem involving the density of the King's crown; the King wanted to know whether the crown was pure gold or mixed with silver.
Archimedes sat down in his bathtub to ponder the problem, noticed that the water overflowed on the floor, and realized that the volume of water pushed out of tub was the same as his body's volume.
That is, when an object is submerged in water, the level of the water rises because the object has moved some of the water out of the way, to make room for itself, "Eureka!" He'd found a way to determine the volume of the crown: since he knew the weight of gold, he could now answer the king's question by calculating weight of that volume of gold.
Similarly, we all have a question of great importance that we find difficult to solve: How can we get on the good side of God and avoid hell? You may shout "Eureka!" When you read the answer in this chapter .
Just before actor, W. C. Fields died, a friend visited Field's hospital room and was surprised to find him thumbing through a Bible. Asked what he was doing with a Bible, Fields replied, "I am looking for loopholes."
Now that we know the
Bible to be true, - and
that there aren't any
loopholes -some
interesting things begin to happen.
God says : "Look unto Me, and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth for I am God, and
there is none else."
(Isaiah 45: 22)
God says that He is the only God out there .
There is no other. But how can I be right with Him? What is that pathway? God says:
"There is one Savior?"
"Neither is there salvation in any other, for
there is none other Name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
(Acts 4:12)
What is the One Name of the One Person
Who can save us all.
God says:
"For there is one God, and there is one
mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus.
(1 Timothy 2:5)
Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath
not the Father: (but) he that acknowledges
the Son, hath the father also
( 1st John 2:23)
And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in His son. He that hath the Son hath life
and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life. (1st John 5: 11-12)
He that believeth on Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the Name of the Only Begotten Son of God. (John 3:18)
...if ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins. (John 8:24)
Jesus saith unto him, "I am the way, the truth and the light, no man cometh to the Father , but by Me."
......and there are many other verses that say Jesus is the only way to make peace and find friendship with God.
next post 18th December
IS JESUS COMING BACK?
PART THREE
(copied from
Y-Jesus.com)
Has Jesus kept other promises ?
How do we answer scoffers such as Bertrand Russell, who accused Jesus
of breaking His promise to return ?
First, we might ask, how did Jesus know 2,000 years ago, that the gospel would indeed be preached throughout the world. How could He have known that unless He knew the future?
Second, we need to look at other promises Jesus made, to see if they were kept. Let us look at three other major things Jesus promised:
1. He is the fulfillment of Messianic
promises.
2. Jerusalem would be destroyed.
3. He would die and rise again
3 days later.
Did Jesus fulfill ancient prophecies ?
Let us look at whether or not Jesus fulfilled Old Testament Messianic prophecies
The Bible is the only book that
contains a large body of specific prophecies relating to nations, Israel and the coming Messiah. Nearly
300 references were made in the Old Testament, about the coming Messiah. They told of His lineage, His birth
place, His betrayal and His death, and His resurrection. These references
were written 500 to 1000 years before Jesus was born and He fulfilled every one.
Evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls proves that the prophecies were written at least 100 years before Christ making it impossible for them to have been staged. The odds that one person could fulfill each of these prophecies without
error are statistically impossible.
Jesus' fulfillment of so many specific prophecies is compelling evidence that He truly was the promised Messiah.
Was Jesus Right about Jerusalem ?
Second, Let us examine Jesus' prophecy of Jerusalem's impending destruction, a prophecy that seemed impossible at the time, and shocked those who heard it. Jesus warned the Jews that their rejection of Him would result in a horrible ending for Jerusalem and for the destruction of its magnificent Temple.
Tragically Jesus' words came true. One million Jews were killed forty years later, as Titus and the Roman army destroyed Jerusalem. The Jewish historian, Josephus recorded these unusual signs during Jerusalem's fall in 70 AD.
1. "A meteor, resembling a sword , hung
over Jerusalem one whole year.
2. " A light equal to the brightness of the
day continued for half a hour."
3. "Chariots and armed men were seen
in the air."
Josephus writes of other unusual
things that occurred during the Roman siege as well. What did these signs mean ? Some scholars believe
Jesus return in the clouds was
fulfilled figuratively by these signs
in 70 AD . However, the actual
fulfillment of Jesus' literal return to Jerusalem has not yet occurred.
Was Jesus Right about His
Resurrection ?
The third significant prediction Jesus made was that He would rise from the dead after being crucified. Of that claim, Bible Scholar, Wilbur Smith argues:
"When He said that He Himself would rise again from the dead, the third day after He was crucified, He said something that only a fool would dare say, if He expected longer the
devotion of any disciples - unless He was sure He was going to rise. No founder of any world religion known to men ever dared to say a thing like that."
Jesus' prediction put everything else He said in jeopardy. If He didn't
rise from the dead as
promised, why would
anyone continue
believing in Him? Yet
His followers
enthusiastically did.
In a New York Times article, Peter Steinfel's
cites the startling events that occurred three days
after Jesus' death.
"Shortly after Jesus was executed, His followers were suddenly galvanized from a baffled, cowering group, into people whose message about a living Jesus and a coming kingdom,
preached at the risk of their lives, eventually changed an empire. Something happened..... But exactly what?
So, what did happen, that turned the
first century world on its heels? Is there evidence that Jesus did rise from the dead? Skeptic Frank Morrison originally began writing a book to disprove the
resurrection. After examining the evidence, he reversed himself and wrote a different book on why he believed it to be true.
Another skeptic, Dr. Simon Greenleaf, founder ofbHarvard Law School,
scoffed at Jesus' resurrection to
some law students. When challenged
to investigate, Greenleaf began
applying his famous rules of
evidence to the case.
After a detailed evaluation of the evidence, he became convinced
that the resurrection really happened, primarily because of the radical
change in the disciples.
(see "Did Jesus really rise from the dead?)
So, if Jesus fulfilled numerous messianic promises written hundreds
of years before His birth, predicted the fall of Jerusalem and kept His incredible promise to rise from the dead as the evidence suggests, would any reasonable person doubt His promise
to return?
next post 20th December
ONE HEARTBEAT AWAY
- PART 68
(Mark Cahill's Book)
A few hours later, Charles finished his part of the commercial shoot and was saying his good-byes. People were walking up to Tiger and Charles and getting autographs. So I walked up to Tiger, who was there giving autographs.
As I approached it was like God parted the Red sea; everyone walked away, and it was just Tiger and me standing there.
So I pulled my book out of my pocket and told him I had just written my first book and wanted to sign a copy for him. I asked where his assistant was so I could give it to that person.He pointed out who he would like me to give the book to, and we began to walk off the tee box.
Now I knew I had to do more than just give him my book. But I got nervous and clammed up. I asked myself, "Will I let the fear of man win out in this situation or my love for God?"
I had been praying for the past two months for a chance to tell Tiger Woods about God, and now God had provided this opportunity and I didn't want to wimp out.
As we began to talk off of the tee box, I felt the Lord saying, " This is what you have been praying for, just go for it."
So as we were walking I said, "Tiger, I have always wanted to ask you a question." He said, "go for it." The same answer God had just given me!
I said, "When you die, what do you think is on the other side? What do you think is out there once you walk out of here?"
Tiger stopped dead in his tracks, looked up at me and said, "I don't know." I responded, "Whether it is Payne Stewart dying ( Payne was
a famous golfer who died a couple of years ago, and I knew that Tiger had gone to his funeral ) , or John Ritter, or Johnny Cash, we all think about these things. " He was just nodding his head.
I looked at him and said, " Did you hear what happened to Charles' brother? " He said "No," and I could tell he was intrigued.Charles' brother, Darryl, once had a heart attack, flat-lined and died. The doctors zapped him with those paddles and he came back to his body. He told me that when he flat-lined and died, his soul rose out of his body. He said that
he went to the waiting room and could tell you who was in the waiting room., what they were saying and what they were wearing, while he
was clinically dead.
There was no way this could just be
in his head since he has such clear evidence (from the waiting room) to show that he was outside of his body while his body was dead.
He told me that he then took off on a journey and that he could see trees on fire, ground smoldering around the trees, and a lake of fire in front of him.
I asked,"What did you see, Darryl?"
He said, "I saw hell."
And what he saw, he said, was much more real than the book you now hold in your hands.
Charles Spurgeon said;
" You are hanging over the mouth of hell by a single thread and that thread is breaking. Only a gasp for breath, only the stopping of the heart for a single moment and you will be in an
eternal world, - without God, without hope, without forgiveness - Can you face it?
Jesus was talking to a sick man and asked him a very interesting question, When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been a long time
in that case, He saith unto him "wilt thou be made whole?"
(John 5:6)
Sin is very expensive. I costs us a lot in this lifetime ..... and in the next one.
Question for you : "Wilt thou be made
whole? " Do you wish to get well? What's your answer?
It is amazing to realize everyone of us is guilty by the standard God has set. Even if I try to ignore my sin, it does not mean God will.
Six billion of us are guilty by that Standard. That means that six billion of us are going to hell when we die,
unless we embrace God's solution to this massive problem.
The path leading to eternal truth continues to narrow and the remedy for the Sin problem is just a page turn away.
next post 14 December
ONE HEARTBEAT AWAY
PART 67
(Mark Cahill's Book)
Well, if you know me, you know that I had to find someone to talk to. So I walked over and got into a talk with a guy, Richard, who turned out to be "Tiger Woods" body double.
I said, "what do you do, his stunts?" I
couldn't figure out why he would need a body double.
He told me that when there was a hand shot, or a shot from a long distance of Tiger in a commercial, it was actually him! Richard grew up in Mississippi and - because he'd been drifting away from what he'd been taught as a child - really needed a challenge to start standing up for his beliefs.
Then I got into a talk with Vince Coleman, who used to play major-league baseball. He was a tremendous player and played a lot of years with the New York Mets, and the St Louis Cardinals. I had actually met him
before at Charles' house in Phoenix.
As we talked he told me that he goes to
church every Sunday in Phoenix. Then I
showed him my first book. He looked at it and said twice, "I want your book right now." He told me that he was going to begin reading it in his hotel that night.
He had just gotten to
Orlando to do some
work with the Atlanta
Braves' instructural-
league players on their
base training.
I told him that I had thought I was coming there that day to witness to Tiger but maybe the whole reason I was there was to challenge him to boldly begin to stand up for Jesus with his friends.
Meanwhile, every ten or fifteen minutes during the shoot, the commercial's director would fire some hostile question at me, from fifteen feet away,
in front of everybody. He thought he would antagonize me with his questions. But it was Satan trying to mess with me while I was doing the Lord's work.
One time the director fired off the statement, "Jesus could not have been the Son of God because He would have been a vegetarian."
I began to smile. He said that Jesus ate fish, so He couldn't be the Son of God. I started to laugh. He looked at me twice and both times said, "don't laugh!" He told me that the Son of God would not have killed another creature. He'd mentioned some Indian beliefs earlier so
I was pretty sure this guy worshiped the
creation rather than the Creator.
I looked at him and said, " Jesus made the fish, He can eat one if He wants to!" Everyone, but the director, looked like they were trying to hide a smile. What was interesting was that this man obviously was trying to get under my skin in front of a lot of people. But I tried to hold my ground, in a very loving way, you could tell it was backfiring on him.
I saw this guy run roughshod over many of the workers and verbally cut them down. He could not have been a real fun guy to work for. So the people on the set appreciated me taking a stand.
next post 12th December
ONE HEARTBEAT AWAY
