Showing posts with label Forsaken. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Forsaken. Show all posts

3/29/2013

Can GOD FORSAKE His Own ?

Drawing by Anon Artist
Precious SAVIOR!
Crucified!
No death is so thorough. No shame is so complete.
First, there was the scourging.
The scourging post was two feet high. An iron ring, placed close to the top, projected from both sides.

Clothing was ripped away... 
from a prisoner so that he stood naked. Roman lictors were
professionals. They confined their labours to the fine, 

brutal art of scourging, and they could beat a victim until 
only the barest spark of life remained in the prisoner.
Wrists were firmly shackled to the iron rings. Then the victim was stretched, face down, with his feet pointing away from the post.

The Roman scourge was a flagra, a short-handled whip consisting of several thin iron chains which ended in small weights.

Scourging was called the "little death". It preceded the 
"big death": Crucifixion.
Even the tension of awaiting the first blow is cruel. The body is rigid. The muscles knot in tormenting cramps. Colour drains from the cheeks. Lips are drawn tight against the teeth.

As the whip descends, the chains fan out across the back, and each link cuts through the skin and deep into the flesh. The weights crash with bruising force into the ribs and curl tortuously around the chest.

When a man is scourged... 
there is pain beyond the memory of pain. 
Sweat bursts from the brow and stings the eyes. 
At each stroke of the flagra, 
a victim's body twitches 

like a beheaded chicken. 

The second stroke 
patterns the back and half of the chest 
with a V-shaped network of small cuts. 
Only the Son+ of God 
could hold back the high-pitched wail 
of unbearable agony.

The very juice of life is torn away with every lash. There is only the blinding, burning pain as cruel whips whistle again and again through the air and across the back and shoulders. The flagra can flay a man alive.

Under Hebrew law, the strokes were limited to 39. 

Roman punishment was not so limited. 
There was only one rule for the lictor who scourged a man about to be crucified: he must not die. A spark of life must be sustained for the agony on the cross.

Men have bitten their tongues in two under such beatings.
Only blessed unconsciousness could bring relief.

The limp body of a victim... 
was cut away from the post. His wounds were washed but 
not otherwise medicated. The next step was the parade to 
the execution ground.
Roman politicians always liked to make examples of condemned men. The long, slow parade along public streets was designed to serve as a warning to others that Rome dealt quickly and mercilessly.

A centurion usually served as the executioner or carnifex servorum.

While four soldiers held the prisoner, 
he placed the sharp five-inch iron spike in the center of the palm of the hand. A skillful, experienced blow would send it through to the wood. Four to five more strokes would hammer the spike deep into the rough plank, and a final blow turned it up so that the hand could not slip free.
A small projection, resembling a rhinoceros horn and known as the "sedile" is fitted solidly through the crotch. This was fitted in order to take most of the weight off the condemned man's hands. Then a nail was driven through each foot.

It was a death reserved for slaves, thieves and traitors.
The wounds in the hands send fire down through the arms.
Fainting only relieves temporarily.
It is darkness and pain; then pain and darkness.
The pain in the back, arms, hands, feet and crotch is a dull, throbbing, horrible, endless pain. The pain builds up. It multiplies. 

It is cumulative.  

There is not one moment of respite.

The cross is planted so that the greatest amount of sunlight will pierce the prisoner's eyes.

Below, the curious crowd wait, fascinated by the torture. The macabre scene is played out slowly. Dying should be a private thing, not a public spectacle. There is something obscene about having a mob of people standing around, waiting for you to die.

Then the thirst begins.
The lips are dry. The mouth is parched. The blood is hot. The skin is fevered. The greatest of all needs at this moment is a drop of cool water.
Water is denied.
At the foot of the cross the death-squad drinks in the presence of the dying man, to add to his mental torment. The sun shines directly into the eyes of the crucified. Even when the eyelids are closed a red glare penetrates. The tongue thickens. What was once saliva is now like unloomed wool. Swelling begins in the hands and the feet. The sedile digs deeply into the genitals. It is impossible to turn, or to change one's position. Muscles begin to twitch.

The real horror is only beginning.
What has happened up until now is child's play.
One by one the muscles of the back gather in tight, knotty cramps. There is no escaping them, no pulling out of them, no gentle massaging hands to ease them away. They move across the shoulders and the thorax. They move down into the abdomen.

After two hours on a cross, every muscle in the body is locked in solid knots and the agony is beyond endurance. Men shriek themselves into insanity.

The pain and symptoms are identical to tetanus (lockjaw or the state of a muscle when undergoing continued contraction).

Man, with all his genius, has never devised a more cruel or more agonising death than that of tetanus - the slow, steady contraction of every muscle. 

Death by crucifixion makes the agony last as 
long as possible.
Each hour is an eternity.

At times the cramps make the neck rigid and the head is held flush against the vertical beam. A man longs for death. It is his only desire.

There are flies, insects, and the yelps of dogs with the smell of blood in their nostrils. Birds of prey, scavengers of the skies, circle lower and lower.

Prayers seem to mock a man, but you either pray or curse.
As the hours pass, the tiny blood vessels which feed the nerves will be squeezed flat, and with the lack of blood circulation comes a numbing paralysis.

A new agony develops ... for those who linger 
on the cross. 
It is the agony of the mucous membrane.
During crucifixion, the mucous membrane 
- that thin, slippery tissue 
which lines and lubricates much of the human body - 
dries to the consistency of fine gravel 
and scrapes the tender tissues of the anus 
(the posterior opening of the alimentary canal).

The dried membranes 
tear at the tortured throat. 
They lie like stones in the sinuses. 
Layers of tissue are ripped from the eyes 
every time 
they are moved or blinked.
On the cross there is no end of suffering. It is only the manner of suffering that changes, and the degree of pain that changes.

As the hours passed, soldiers were inclined to hasten death. They began breaking bones. Standing on a ladder, a practised legionnaire would swing a mallet in a short arc and shatter the right femur (the thigh-bone) instantly. A second, sharp blow would shatter the left thigh. These were new pains.

Could there ever be more intense suffering this side of hell?

Most condemned men died naked.

JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED. HE+ died the most brutal death ever devised by man.
HE+ took my place. It was my sin that sent Him+ there.
JESUS died the most thorough death ever devised. It was designed to allow the slow death-erosion of cell, muscle, emotion, bone, tissue, mind, spirit, blood and heart-beat. 
CHRIST was crucified, states the Scripture. HE+ did it all for you and me...

Thus the victory 
of the Resurrection 
is the most complete victory 
ever recorded.

Up from the grave 
HE+ arose,
With a mighty triumph 
o'er His+ foes;

HE+ arose a VICTOR+ 
from the dark domain,

And HE+ lives forever 
with His+ saints to reign.


HE+ arose! 


HE+ arose!


Hallelujah! 

CHRIST arose!

No further sacrifice for my sins is needed.
JESUS paid it ALL.
1 CORINTHIANS 1:17-24
by C. M. Ward (Sydney)
www.cai.org

2/23/2013

BEHOLD, the LAMB+ ... # 7 ... .... Preparing the CHURCH for SUFFERING

Photo by www.flickr.com  



ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SHABAQTANI

My+ GOD, My+ GOD, 
Why hast THOU forsaken ME+ ? 

Why art THOU so far
from helping me,
and from the words
of my groaning ? 

Three times I had this dream, three times in one long night. Big dormitories, with beds on cement foundations, had glaring lights beating down upon the sleeping inmates. Linoleum floors and unmovable beds with shallow mattresses and dark coverlets ... and unmerciful lady sergeants with shrill commands screamed their orders during  midnight inspection. 

+  +  + 

In sickness I awoke, grieving and hurting for the Church: How to prepare the church to suffer ?

How do I help prepare this church age of impotent activities that ALL is NOT WELL, in the eyes of HIM+ with Whom+ we have to do? 

How do I shake the Church loose from the distracting illusion that THIS society ... indeed, this civilization...  will continue on, as ever before ?

How do I convince the Church that men and women will eat, drink, marry, and be given in marriage as ever before... until The LORD rises up and says, 

"ENOUGH !"

and that THAT "enough" is right at the door ?

How do I convince the Church to prepare for suffering ? 

+  +  + 

To prepare for suffering, we look at Our Master+ Who+ suffered for us. What did HE+ do? What did HE+ NOT do

HE+ did NOT concern Himself+ with the affairs of this life: clothing Himself+ in the latest styles, eating fancy, well-prepared food, or involving Himself+ with any activities but those works of His+ Heavenly FATHER.

HE+ DID concern Himself+ with going to mountains and gardens alone to pray. 

HE+ spent much time alone with His+ Heavenly FATHER, when HE+ was much spent during ministry or after attacks by the enemies of GOD. 

HE+ did not have a continual diet of "interaction" with His+ fellow man. Instead, HE+ treasured interaction with His+ Heavenly FATHER, especially as His+ hour of sacrifice drew near. 

Being The Word+ HE+ knew The Word, in Spirit and in Truth, and prayed  The Word often. 

  +  +  +
Do not think to escape the hour of testing I+ have ordained for the Church: you WILL be tested. 

Now is the time to determine to STAND for ME+ as I+ have been tested for you. Now is the time of the preparation. 

You will not be able to hold on to your houses and lands nor those you love. But prepare ALL to stand for ME+ even in the face of suffering. 

QUIET DOWN; remove yourself from fruitless activities and frivolous interaction. LEARN to interact with ME+ first and above all. 

TEACH your children to trust ME+ with all of their hearts. TEACH your children to pray and to plant the Word into their hearts; they will need it to endure. TEACH them along with yourself to be still and seek MY+ FACE. 

Take on the sole identity of "Christian"  and live by The BOOK+. 

I+ will sustain you, even in a prison camp, away from loved ones. Prepare ALL for Heaven. I+ am coming soon . 

Let not your hearts be troubled; 
neither let them be afraid.

Trust ME+; 
I+ will wipe away all tears.

+  +  +    

10/13/2008

MEDITATIONS on The WORD of GOD ~~~ Our Refuge




MEDITATIONS from the WORD of GOD

PSALM 9: 9-10

The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed,

a refuge in times of trouble.

And they that know thy name

will put their trust in thee:

for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken

them that seek thee.


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