Big John is Coming!

A bartender was hired to work in one of the toughest towns in the old west. The saloon owner gave him only one piece of advice: “If you ever hear that Big John is coming to town, drop everything you’re doing and run for cover.”

One day, a cowhand rushed into the bar and yelled, “Big John is coming!” Immediately the saloon emptied with people jumping out of doors and windows. In the rush of the crowd, the bartender was knocked down. When he got up, he saw a giant man with a black, bushy beard ride up on a buffalo, using a rattlesnake for a whip.

The man tore both doors off the hinges and walked into the saloon. With a single blow of his massive fist, he split the bar in half. He grabbed the bartender by the neck and demanded, “Give me a drink.”

The bartender nervously pushed a bottle to the man. He broke the neck off with his teeth, downed it in one gulp, and smashed the bottle into the mirror. As the gigantic intruder turned to leave, the bartender asked, “Another drink, mister?” The stranger said, “No, I’ve got to get out of here. Big John is coming!”

We’ve all been through situations where we thought Big John had shown up, but Big John was still coming. Big John might be unemployment, a serious health problem, a financial problem, or a strained relationship. Fear always makes the problem bigger than it really is.

 

It doesn’t matter how big your problem may be, God is BIGGER, more powerful, and able to solve it. He says, “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you” (Isa. 41:10).

 

Don’t let your fears cause you to run from your problems. Put your trust in Almighty God to whom every knee will bow. Instead of saying, “Big John is coming!” say, “My God is bigger than Big John, He is with me, and I’ll get through this.”

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 You might not recognize the name Arthur Schiff, but you may have heard his voice. Arthur was a TV pitchman who sold about everything you can think of on late night infomercials. After he described the product’s amazing features, he would use a phrase that he coined himself, “But wait! There’s more!” Then he would give you a bonus product to sweeten the deal, “Act now and you’ll also receive…” Nearly everything sold for “Just $19.95”

When Arthur was assigned to sell a steak knife, he rebranded it with a Japanese-sounding name, “Ginsu.” He described it by saying, “In Japan, the hand can be used like a knife, but this method doesn’t work with a tomato…”

Most of us aren’t very good at advertising the gospel to a lost world, but God calls us to “do the work of an evangelist” (2 Tim. 4:5). Dr. David Jeremiah said, “If we understand what lies ahead for those who don’t know Christ, we will have a sense of urgency in our witness.” We need to have more excitement when we tell others about Jesus.

Maybe we should adopt Arthur Schiff’s exciting pitch when we describe salvation. We must tell others they can have a relationship with God; that Jesus died for their sins and rose from the dead. Call on Him and He will save you, so don’t put it off! Act now and you’ll receive the free gift of salvation!.

But wait! There’s more! Not only will you receive the forgiveness of sins, but you’ll also receive the Holy Spirit who will empower you and help you make right decisions. Your name will be written in the book of life (Rev. 21:27). You’ll live forever in heaven! You will no longer be afraid of dying! (Heb. 2:14-15). You’ll be rescued from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of light (Col. 1:13).

But wait! There’s even more! When you become a child of God, He will reward you in heaven for every good thing you do (Eph. 6:8). You don’t know how long you’ll live, so you must act now because “Today is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2). www.makinglifecount.net 

Is The Shroud of Turin Jesus' Burial Cloth?

The Shroud of Turin is a burial cloth containing an image of a scourged and crucified man, which many believe could be the burial cloth of Jesus. No one can explain how the image got onto the cloth, but some have speculated that when Jesus was resurrected, the burse of power transferred the image from His body to the cloth.

In 1988, carbon-14 dating of the Shroud of Turin by three separate laboratories indicated the relic should only be about 700 years old, meaning it couldn’t be the burial cloth of Christ. However, some scholars suggested textiles can easily become contaminated by bacteria and carbon-containing minerals, which would skew the results and show a younger date.

In 2022, a new scientific method known as “Wide-Angle X-ray Scattering,” or WAXS, was used to examine the relic. WAXS is said to be more accurate than C-14 because it measures the actual aging of flax cellulose and converts it to time since manufacture. The new method dated the Shroud at approximately 2,000 years old.

The Italian scientist Dr. Liberato de Caro of Italy’s Institute of Crystallography compared the Shroud with other historical fabrics and it closely matched with a fabric from the siege of Masada in Israel, in 55-74 AD. The findings suggest the shroud originated around the time of Christ, which means it could possibly be the burial cloth of Jesus.

Computer enhanced images reveal that coins were placed over the man’s eyes and the coins were struck by Pontius Pilate in AD 29-31! For a detailed report CLICK HERE. It was a Jewish custom to close the eyes of their deceased and the placement of coins over their eyelids was a practical way of keeping them shut. These coins prove the Shroud could not be a forgery created by someone centuries later.

Our faith is based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ and not the Shroud of Turin. But wouldn’t it be interesting if God decided to leave ANOTHER piece of evidence that Jesus rose from the dead? Click Here to watch PROOF THE SHROUD OF TURIN IS REAL

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