MEN ALIVE: Jim Cunningham & Paul Estabrooks' Podcast
Programs to help men become transformed to the image (character) of Jesus Christ.
MEN ALIVE: Jim Cunningham & Paul Estabrooks' Podcast
MEN ALIVE 224 - The Greatest Day in History
Have you ever stood in awe of a historical narrative, only to find a monumental piece missing? That's exactly what happened to me at Jerusalem's Tower of David sound and light show, where Jesus Christ's staggering impact on history was conspicuously absent. As I, Dr. Jim Cunningham, delve into the life and legacy of a figure who not only shaped billions of lives but also the very fabric of our calendar. My journey from curiosity to conviction mirrors the world's demarcation from BC to AD, marking an undeniable transformation both personally and historically.
Welcome to Men Alive, a biblical journey to help us conform to the image of Jesus Christ. I'm your host, Paul Estabrooks, our teacher, as my longtime friend, Dr Jim Penningham, consultant in adult education, director of Go Teach Global and author of the book Men Alive, Pablo here's a story from my journal, written while Rita and I were visiting in Israel in September 2017.
Speaker 2:At the YMCA's Three Arches Hotel in Jerusalem. On Thursday night, september the 7th, we walked over to the old city and attended an amazing high-tech sound and light show projected on the walls of the Tower of David in the Old City of Jerusalem. For 45 minutes, creative Israeli technicians flashed incredible color and three-dimensional images across the ancient walls. Each sequence highlighted one of the 20 significant eras in Jerusalem's history. It began with King David playing his harp some 3,000 years ago, after he had conquered Jerusalem and made it his capital. Next, they showed the Queen of Sheba visiting King Solomon's Palace in Jerusalem. Then the destruction of the first temple by the Babylonians and the exile of the Jews to Babylon. Then the return of the Jews to Jerusalem, with the rebuilding of the temple during the time of the prophets Ezra and Nehemiah.
Speaker 2:All was going well. It was a beautiful panorama and I was thoroughly enjoying the history lesson as they moved into the Hellenistic period, with Jerusalem in its splendor 332 BCE right up to the conquest of Jerusalem by the Romans in 63 BCE. Now, to understand this story, you have to understand that I'm an old man. I am so old. I remember as a boy in school we used to refer to the year I was born as 1943 AD, meaning 1,943 years after something big happened in history. Do you remember what that was, pavel?
Speaker 1:Jim, I was born in 1942. I also went through this reprogramming a few years ago to rename our birth dating system from BC to BCE and AD to 1942 CE, meaning current era. That world-shaping event you mentioned was the birth of Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior to over two and a half billion people worldwide who call themselves Christ followers, or more generally known as Christians.
Speaker 2:Roman emperors standardized the Julian and Gregorian calendars and basically said AD means Anodomony. The term Anodomony is medieval Latin meaning in the year of the Lord, translated as in the year of our Lord. All was well until some secular power brokers decided mentioning the name of Christ offended non-Christians. So a decision was made to rewrite the calendars as BCE before current era and CE as current era. The question begged to be asked when did the current era begin? Answer with the birth of Jesus Christ. Having lived in Israel for a year, we knew that most Jewish people have little regard or interest in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2:Yes they might admit, christ was Jewish. He did have disciples who were Jewish and he was crucified in Jerusalem. He formed the largest faith system on earth, with over 32% of the earth's population believing that. He came to earth as God in the flesh, lived a perfectly sinless life, was crucified as our Passover lamb, was buried, rose from the dead and is alive forevermore as king of kings and lord of lords. But they insisted on removing his name from the history of Jerusalem since he was rejected as the Jewish Messiah. So as we watch the screens, it suddenly jumped from 63 BCE to 312 CE and the Byzantine era.
Speaker 1:Wait a minute.
Speaker 2:They blew through 400 years of history and changed the calendar. And the event that changed the calendar happened right in Israel. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, he taught 12 Jewish disciples for 3 years, was put to death by Pilate in Jerusalem for calling himself the Son of God and the King of the Jews. He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Some major event caused the world's dating system to change from before the event to after the event, and this amazing event was the birth of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:I can hear someone saying the sound and light production only shows what happened to the city of Jerusalem, but not to individuals like Jesus or other religious leaders.
Speaker 2:That's a fair comment, pablo, except the light show moved next to 638, in the current era, the early Muslim period. They titled that Islam and Muhammad's Night Journey. This unwitnessed event by Muhammad flashed across the Tower of David, but not one word about Jesus Christ's resurrection, witnessed and recorded by over 500 people, or his promise to return to the Mount of Olives. They missed the big event, the greatest day in the history of the world, the event that changed calendars from BC to AD. It just disappeared from the history of Jerusalem. They suggested it never happened. We once visited a museum of Jewish history that identified the most famous Jewish people, men and women who influenced Jewish history and world history. I expected to see the ones the sound and light show highlighted, like King David and King Solomon and Jesus Christ, but to my surprise the man identified as the Jewish man who influenced more people than any other Jewish person was are you ready, carl Marx?
Speaker 1:That's goteachglobalonewordcom. Jim, you and I would agree that the man who lived such an extraordinary life that Western civilization changed the entire calendar system to commemorate his birthday was not Karl Marx, but Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2:The Bible record documents specific things Jesus did. He raised people from the dead, healed any disease, made blind men see, walked on water and then rose from the dead. These things could only be done by the divine Son of God, jesus, emmanuel. God with us. One would think the city of Jerusalem would be boldly claiming to be the site of the beginning of the Christian church, but no, they skipped that entire date-changing event. Pablo, for you and me, that event changed our life.
Speaker 2:On October 24, 1964, I was a before Christian Enlightenment person, sort of a BCE. I then went to becoming a Christian evangelical after a decision I made to follow Jesus Christ. Our life, my life, your life, have never been the same since I resigned from teaching elementary school and invested three years at Tyndale Seminary with David Bell, don Leggett, kermit Ecclbager and Doc Foster, who inculcated a lifelong love in me for the Bible. It continues today through Go Teach Global Society. We have been blessed to train trainers, teach teachers and disciple-Christian-agile educators in some 50 countries where people continue to misunderstand the greatest event in human history, whether they are Jews, muslims, hindus, buddhists, adventists or Nuns. Nuns are endless.
Speaker 2:But wait, the most exceptional sound and light show ever seen by humans is coming soon. It's called the Day of Our Lord According to 1 Thessalonians 4, 8-12,. Jesus Christ is returning to catch up those who remain alive, to be with Him for all eternity. It could happen any moment. The world is not falling apart. The world is coming together, just as the Bible predicts. Scripture says not even Jesus or the angels know that day or the hour that Jesus is coming back to earth, only the Father. Since it has not happened yet, we have been given more time to tell others.
Speaker 1:Those who reject Jesus Christ as their Savior usually choose some other strong, charismatic leader or philosopher to be their Messiah. After they deny that Jesus Christ was God, they say things like Jesus was a prophet or a small G God, or even one of God's three sons, making Him a brother of Adam and Satan, or they write some new book that reinterprets some parts of the Bible they do not accept. Some even add a new attraction to their anti-Christian religion to make it appealing to male converts, such as you can have four wives or sex with all the infidels you want.
Speaker 2:But regardless of what anyone says or writes, the Bible is very clear. Jesus is coming back to Jerusalem. Like the flood of Noah's day or the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, there will be scoffers and doubters, but, friends, it is going to happen so fast, in the twinkling of an eye. And remember, a twinkle in the eye is even faster than a blink. Are you ready for the return of Jesus Christ? Paul, you and I have been Christians long enough to know that our duty as followers of Jesus Christ is to tell others about what is said in Romans 10, 9, and 10. If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved, for it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly Declaring your faith that you are saved.
Speaker 1:There are three major feasts in the Jewish calendar that required all the men to go up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, known as Passover, the Feast of Weeks, known as Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles, known as Feast of Booths.
Speaker 2:Some Christians believe Jesus, the perfect Passover lamb of God, was born during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, called Pesach or Passover in English. The lambs born in Bethlehem were taken to Jerusalem for sacrifice. The Passover lamb sacrificed in March or April had to be a one-year-old male, unblemished and without spot or broken bones. Christ was likely born in the springtime, just before Passover, when the shepherds were out in the fields with their sheep. December 25th would have been too wet and too cold for sheep to be out in the fields. Consider what this means if Jesus was born at Passover at the beginning of the Hebrew year and then died at Passover when the sacrificial lambs were sacrificed.
Speaker 2:After his death as the lamb of God came the Feast of Unleavened Bread Leavened, symbolizing Sin. Jesus lay in the tomb after living a life without sin. He resurrected on the Feast of the first fruits, when Israel offered the first fruits of the land to the Lord. He was the Lord's first fruit, the first of many to be resurrected, and then he sent the Holy Spirit to his disciples 50 days later, on Shavuot or Pentecost Pente meaning five, as in Pentagon. That's why many Christian pilgrims go to Israel during the Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot, believing this could be the time the Lord returns to earth to take us to our Eternal home, not made with hands like the booths in the wilderness.
Speaker 2:Whether Jesus was born on December 25 or Passover can be debated, but it did happen the greatest day in history.
Speaker 1:There you have it, men. Many people miss the first greatest day in history, jesus Christ's birth but you don't have to miss the second greatest day in history, his return. The most important question is are you ready To learn more about Jesus return? Contact us at men alive unto God at gmailcom. That's men alive unto God at gmailcom. Had to hear more episodes of men alive. Visit our website. Go teach global calm. That's go teach global calm. Until next time, I'm Paul as to Brooks, on behalf of Dr Jim Cunningham, encouraging you to be mental life Ready for the return of our Savior Jesus Christ.
