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Speaker 1: Here he is from New York. That Kevin mcclellaugh.

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Speaker 2: Him Kevin McCullough Today, no news. We're not talking about

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Speaker 2: the headlines of the newspaper or what's going on. We're

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Speaker 2: going to an older text, a text called the Bible

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Speaker 2: to hear a story that is as ubiquitous as the

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Speaker 2: character It features, the thief on the Cross. This is

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Speaker 2: called Heaven How I Got Here, and it stars actor

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Speaker 2: Stephen Baldwin in a text by pastor Colin S. Smith.

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Speaker 3: I can't begin to tell you what it's like up here.

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Speaker 3: I've heard it said that there's only a small distance

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Speaker 3: between agony and ecstasy. That I can tell you from

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Speaker 3: my experience, there an unfathomable gulf. I endured the agony

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Speaker 3: of crucifixion, but the ordeal passed, and now I'm savoring

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Speaker 3: the perfect joys of heaven. How I got here is

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Speaker 3: still amazing to me. But I'm telling my story so

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Speaker 3: that you can share the joys I have found. Looking

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Speaker 3: back on what happened that day, I now see so

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Speaker 3: much more than I was able to grasp with the time,

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Speaker 3: and the more I discover, the more staggering and wonderful

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Speaker 3: the whole story becomes not Many men open their eyes

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Speaker 3: in the morning knowing it's their last day on earth.

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Speaker 3: This is it, This is the day I die. Looking

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Speaker 3: back the entire day and how it ended still blows

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Speaker 3: my mind. I awoke in the cell where they were

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Speaker 3: holding me, impending execution, or, to be more accurate, torture, humiliation,

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Speaker 3: and a long, slow descent into death on a cross.

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Speaker 3: Only the Romans could have perpetuated such barbarity, and I

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Speaker 3: hated them with every fiber of my being. My story

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Speaker 3: began in an ordinary home and is largely without surprise.

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Speaker 3: My father made a modest living as a builder, while

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Speaker 3: my mother, who set the pace for our family, gave

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Speaker 3: herself to setting her children on the right path. Because

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Speaker 3: we were Jewish, the synagogue was a regular part of

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Speaker 3: our family life, as was the annual trip to the

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Speaker 3: temple in Jerusalem. My mother, a woman of ridiculous faith,

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Speaker 3: made sure that I was well schooled in the teachings

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Speaker 3: of our fathers. God is watching you, she would say,

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Speaker 3: He sees everything, and he never forgets. He remembers the

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Speaker 3: good and he remembers the evil. You always read what

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Speaker 3: you sew. Her favorite book in the Scriptures was the

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Speaker 3: Book of Proverbs. I can still hear her voice telling

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Speaker 3: me that the fear of the Lord is the beginning

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Speaker 3: of wisdom, and then she would ask me, do you

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Speaker 3: fear God? It never occurred to me that there was

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Speaker 3: any other option. Like most children, I pretty much just

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Speaker 3: accepted what my mother taught me about God until my

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Speaker 3: early teens, when I began to have questions about God

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Speaker 3: and about authority in general. A major turning point occurred

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Speaker 3: for me at the age of thirteen, when I saw

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Speaker 3: up close the injustice that was woven into the fabric

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Speaker 3: of our national life. My father works so hard to

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Speaker 3: make ends meet for our family, but the taxes imposed

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Speaker 3: on us by the occupying Roman army made even our

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Speaker 3: modest lifestyle hard to sustain. That particular day, the tax

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Speaker 3: collector knocked on the door with his latest, unfounded demand.

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Speaker 3: I remember the pain of the powerless look on my

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Speaker 3: father's face. He was as if they hadn't broken his

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Speaker 3: back and crushed his spirit. Everyone knew that the system

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Speaker 3: was riddled with corruption, but what can you do when

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Speaker 3: the power of a brutal army stands behind the slimy

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Speaker 3: little tax man. Seeing my father look that way made

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Speaker 3: me furious. What right did these impostors have to march

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Speaker 3: into our land and demand our money? Since when did

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Speaker 3: we owe them? The whole thing was an injustice, and

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Speaker 3: even as a young man, it made me mad. It

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Speaker 3: simply wasn't fair. Our annual visit to the Temple in

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Speaker 3: Jerusalem had always been a highlight of our family life.

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Speaker 3: I think of a vacation with your extended family and

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Speaker 3: you'll get the idea. My first impression of the Temple

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Speaker 3: was of awe and wonder. The size of the building,

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Speaker 3: the depth of the walls, the noise of the crowds,

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Speaker 3: and the relentless activity in the temple courts took my

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Speaker 3: breath away. But as the years passed, my questions began

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Speaker 3: to grow. Over time, the hatred I felt to a

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Speaker 3: drone showed up in a growing resentment toward the Temple,

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Speaker 3: its rules, and it's God. I watched how people poured

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Speaker 3: money into the temple treasury and thought about how that

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Speaker 3: money could be used to fund the small bands of

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Speaker 3: freedom fighters who were ready to risk their lives in

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Speaker 3: standing up to the Roman occupation. But that didn't happen. Instead,

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Speaker 3: the money rolled into the temple coffers to be sunk

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Speaker 3: into the endless maintenance of buildings and priests, who, as

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Speaker 3: far as I could see, had little to offer rules, morality.

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Speaker 3: Where was this getting us? What could it all accomplish?

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Speaker 3: Somewhere in these anxious and angry thoughts, a rebellion was

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Speaker 3: born in my heart. So you won't be surprised when

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Speaker 3: I tell you that the temple was the scene of

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Speaker 3: my first theft. At age fifteen. I had been watching

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Speaker 3: as people put their money into the treasury and had

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Speaker 3: been surprised by the low level of security. It would

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Speaker 3: be as easy, I figured, for me to take money

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Speaker 3: out of the treasury as it was for them to

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Speaker 3: put money in. If the priests weren't going to put

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Speaker 3: the money to good use, maybe I could. As the

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Speaker 3: thought settled decision emerged, my palms began to sweat as

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Speaker 3: I watched and waited for the right moment. Then, with

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Speaker 3: money in hand, I stepped forward to the basin where

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Speaker 3: the gifts were gathered, famed the dropping of my coins,

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Speaker 3: and in the same movement gathered a fistful of cash.

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Speaker 3: Walking away, I felt sure that a large hand would

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Speaker 3: be laid on my shoulder and that I would be confronted,

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Speaker 3: but it never happened. I had committed the perfect crime,

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Speaker 3: and as much as I hated to admit it, it

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Speaker 3: felt good. My theft at the treasury planted the seed

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Speaker 3: of a grander scheme for a nobler purpose. Somebody needed

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Speaker 3: to do something bold, and that became my life's ambition.

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Speaker 3: Each time I stole, it got easier for me. I

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Speaker 3: had far bigger hauls and far less fear of consequences.

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Speaker 3: Over time, I became arrogant in my crimes and lazy

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Speaker 3: in my efforts to hide them. After years of stealing, lying,

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Speaker 3: and taking advantage of others, the consequences of my lifestyle

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Speaker 3: finally caught up with me. That large hand of the

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Speaker 3: law I had eluded for so long landed on my

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Speaker 3: shoulder and led me to the cell where I began

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Speaker 3: the last day of my life. A loud thud verberately

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Speaker 3: on the cell door as a heartless guard stepped in

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Speaker 3: with a mug and plate in his hand. Breakfast, he said,

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Speaker 3: as he spat in my food. Enjoy your last meal.

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Speaker 3: The door closed and I sat alone, powerless, staring at

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Speaker 3: the walls of my miserable cell. This was the end

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Speaker 3: of the line for me, and it felt as if

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Speaker 3: the devil was on my shoulder. In front of me

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Speaker 3: was a day of excruciating pain, and who knew what

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Speaker 3: would lie beyond that. Rage against Rome had energized my life,

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Speaker 3: and now I was in the hands of the people

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Speaker 3: I hated. I had dared to resist their power, and

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Speaker 3: I knew that they would show me no mercy. They

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Speaker 3: would make an example of me and use my pain

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Speaker 3: to stop any brave souls whom I consider following my

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Speaker 3: example in their tracks. As I considered the day that

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Speaker 3: stretched in front of me, I determined to show no weakness.

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Speaker 3: The Romans could break my body, but they could never

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Speaker 3: break my spirit. I resolved to die in defiance.

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Speaker 2: You're listening to Heaven how I got here, the story

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Speaker 2: of the Thief on the Cross. I'm Kevin McCullough will

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Speaker 2: be right back.

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Speaker 4: Here.

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Speaker 1: He is from New York, That Kevin mcoma.

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Speaker 2: It's hard for me to believe that it's been the

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Speaker 2: number of years that it has since we originally produced

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Speaker 2: what we're listening to on this Holy weekend. This story

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Speaker 2: the Thief on the Cross was a sermon. Well, it

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Speaker 2: was from scripture, but it was a sermon written by

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Speaker 2: Colin S. Smith from the Orchard Church in Chicago, and

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Speaker 2: they had reached out and asked my business partner and

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Speaker 2: co host on Saturday nights across the country, Stephen Baldwin

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Speaker 2: at the time, if he could be the embodiment of

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Speaker 2: the Thief on the Cross in a couple of different ways.

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Speaker 2: And on radio tonight, we're just listening to the audio

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Speaker 2: drum presentation that we produced. I directed this and did

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Speaker 2: every ounce of the recording with Stephen into the late

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Speaker 2: nights as he was embodying the Thief and kind of

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Speaker 2: going through the different stages of what the Thief experiences

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Speaker 2: in his dramatic transformation that took place that day on

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Speaker 2: the cross next to Jesus. But this is a very

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Speaker 2: moving presentation and I feel very, very humbled and grateful

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Speaker 2: to open the Bible dot Org. Open the Bible dot

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Speaker 2: org if you want to know more about where this

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Speaker 2: book came from, where the story came from. If you'd

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Speaker 2: like to get a copy of this presentation itself, they

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Speaker 2: have them there for download, and I think you can

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Speaker 2: also still get it on good old fashioned CD. I

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Speaker 2: don't know if that's of interest to anybody, but open

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Speaker 2: the Bible dot Org is where you go for that

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Speaker 2: information open the Bible dot org. We now continue with

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Speaker 2: the next chapter of the life of the Thief on

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Speaker 2: the Cross, on the day when he had breakfast in

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Speaker 2: prison but had supper with his savior as he described

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Speaker 2: in chapter one. Again, this is the actor Stephen Baldwin

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Speaker 2: in the book by Colin S.

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Speaker 3: Smith, Chapter two, Hatred nine Am. Two others shared my

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Speaker 3: ordeal of the day I was crucified one after the other.

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Speaker 3: They nailed us to cross as I was not able

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Speaker 3: to see the guards do their work on the first victim,

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Speaker 3: but I watched closely as the second was pushed forward.

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Speaker 3: A large beam of wood was placed on the ground,

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Speaker 3: and a moment later the victim, who had been poleaxed

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Speaker 3: by the guard, was lying on it. One of the

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Speaker 3: soldiers stomped on the man's right forearm, pinning him to

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Speaker 3: a second beam. Then they produced the nails organized screaming

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Speaker 3: put through the morning air. As the victim's hand was

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Speaker 3: pierced by a blunt spike four times. I heard that

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Speaker 3: awful shriek. This is what happens to thieves, shouted one

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Speaker 3: of the guards. His words seemed to be for the

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Speaker 3: crowd rather than the victim, to whom he gave no regard.

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Speaker 3: Then it happened to me. There are no words to

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Speaker 3: describe the pain of crucifixion. All I can tell you

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Speaker 3: is that hatred sustained me determine to show no weakness.

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Speaker 3: I fixed my eyes on the guard but the hammer,

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Speaker 3: and loathed him. He looked at me for a brief moment,

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Speaker 3: but seeing the intensity in my eye, as he turned away.

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Speaker 3: I stared at him and stealed myself as he indulged

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Speaker 3: his macabre act. But worse was yet to come. After

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Speaker 3: fixing my body to this instrument of torture, they lifted

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Speaker 3: me up and dropped the beam into the roughly cut

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Speaker 3: hole in the ground. The weight of my entire body

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Speaker 3: sent searing pain through the wounds in my hands. My

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Speaker 3: only relief was to press down with my legs, transferring

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Speaker 3: the most intense pain to my feet. I found that

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Speaker 3: I could breathe when the weight was on my feet,

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Speaker 3: so I developed a kind of rhythm in which I

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Speaker 3: moved between hanging from my hands and pressing on my feet.

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Speaker 3: Either way, the agony was unrelenting. The first victim was

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Speaker 3: clearly the object of unusual attention. His cross had been

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Speaker 3: placed at the center, with the second VICTI him and

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Speaker 3: myself just a few feet away on either side. I

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Speaker 3: was completely absorbed with my own pain and had taken

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Speaker 3: no notice of him until I heard him speak, Father,

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Speaker 3: forgive them, he said, forgive them? Who is this man?

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Speaker 3: Some kind of saint? My entire life I found it

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Speaker 3: hard to even think about forgiving people who wronged me.

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Speaker 3: I held grudges for years over small things people said

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Speaker 3: or did to me. The idea of forgiving these executioners,

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Speaker 3: for mutilating our bodies and seemingly enjoying it, You've got

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Speaker 3: to be kidding. I hated them. Anyone who would forgive

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Speaker 3: them was no friend of mine. As I turned toward him,

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Speaker 3: I saw the writing above his head. This is Jesus,

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Speaker 3: the King of the Jews. Jesus. I had heard about him,

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Speaker 3: the miracle worker from Nazareth who claimed to be the Messiah. Well,

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Speaker 3: I thought, if he is able to perform miracles, this

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Speaker 3: is surely the day to produce one. But it's always

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Speaker 3: the same thing with these religious types. Great claims, nice thoughts,

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Speaker 3: but no muscle to confront the harsh realities of this world.

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Speaker 3: Seeing him, writhe in agony, seemed only to prove my point.

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Speaker 3: Praying for forgiveness might sound impressive to some, but it

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Speaker 3: could never match the raw power of nails and a hammer.

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Speaker 3: I watched him, and already I despised him. I was

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Speaker 3: not alone. Crucifixions always drew a crowd, but this crowd

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Speaker 3: was larger and more hostile than usual. People walked back

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Speaker 3: and forward in front of his cross, looking up and

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Speaker 3: addressing the helpless victim above them. Someone shouted, if you

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Speaker 3: are the son of God, come down from the cross.

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Speaker 3: The crowd responded by chanting in a wave of agreement,

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Speaker 3: come down, Come down, Come down. Then someone else from

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Speaker 3: the crowd stepped away and, pointing at Jesus, shouted, you

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Speaker 3: said you would destroy the temple and rebuild it in

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Speaker 3: three days. Save yourself. As the taunts wore on, I

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Speaker 3: wondered how this Jesus had ignited so much hostility. After all,

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Speaker 3: someone who wanted to destroy the temple couldn't be all

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Speaker 3: that bad. As far as I was concerned, what it

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Speaker 3: would mean to be the son of God was vague

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Speaker 3: to me then, though it is wonderfully clear to me

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Speaker 3: now that I'm in heaven. Names described characters in our culture.

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Speaker 3: If you were a miserable person, you might be described

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Speaker 3: as the son of misery. If you regularly encouraged others,

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Speaker 3: you could be described as a son of encouragement. So

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Speaker 3: the son of God would describe a person who embodied

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Speaker 3: all that God is in the flesh. The absurdity of

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Speaker 3: this might seem obvious to you, but according to the crowd,

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Speaker 3: Jesus had claimed to be the son of God, so

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Speaker 3: it was hardly surprising to hear them give him this challenge.

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Speaker 3: If you are the Son of God, come down from

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Speaker 3: the cross.

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Speaker 2: Kevin McCullough. We continue with Heaven, How I got here

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Speaker 2: the story of the Thief on the Cross in just moment,

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Speaker 2: and I want you to stay with me for just

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Speaker 2: another minute or so. It's Kevin McCollough. Because this year,

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Speaker 2: if you've been listening to this show, you know that

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Speaker 2: our desire has been to get this story to as

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Speaker 2: many people as humanly possible. There is a video slash

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Speaker 2: film slash one man play version of this same presentation

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Speaker 2: that if you go to that Kevinshow dot com slash Heaven,

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Speaker 2: that Kevinshow dot com slash Heaven, you will be able

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Speaker 2: to see for yourself. The story that can be ordered.

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Speaker 2: We can send you a trailer, but also send you

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Speaker 2: the link to the film itself. And the reason that

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Speaker 2: we're doing this is very strategic. Friends. We want you

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Speaker 2: to view this story, watch the film, but then we

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Speaker 2: would like you to watch it with someone who does

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Speaker 2: not know Jesus. We would like you to watch it

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Speaker 2: with someone who needs the hope that the thief ultimately finds,

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Speaker 2: because this story does go to a very dark place,

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Speaker 2: but it returns to a very big message of hope

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Speaker 2: that no matter how far gone you think you are,

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Speaker 2: you're not. And we want to make it available to

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Speaker 2: you free of charge. Go to that kevinshow dot com

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Speaker 2: backslash Heaven and get your copy of the trailer, the film,

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Speaker 2: and some study questions that may be helpful for you

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Speaker 2: to have a conversation with someone about this following that.

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Speaker 2: It's absolutely free and it's available right now at that

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Speaker 2: Kevinshow dot com backslash Heaven, that Kevinshow dot com backslash

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Speaker 2: Heaven very special presentation of That Kevin Show today. Thank

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Speaker 2: you for being with us. It is our honor to

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Speaker 2: bring this to you and we hope that it touches

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Speaker 2: a lot of lives and maybe asks some big questions

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Speaker 2: for people. You know, what did Jesus do and why

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Speaker 2: did the thief on the cross become so enamored with it?

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Speaker 2: We're coming right back at this most holy of all seasons.

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Speaker 2: Our thoughts are not only on those who are suffering

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Speaker 2: in our country today, but with the eternal message of

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Speaker 2: forgiveness and hope found in the story of Scripture. We

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Speaker 2: returned to heaven. How I got here?

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Speaker 3: Pain seared through my body as I pressed down on

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Speaker 3: my feet take another gulp of air. It was hard

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Speaker 3: to tell how much time had elapsed since my crucifixion,

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Speaker 3: which had been set for nine am. Since then, the

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Speaker 3: minutes had seemed like ours, but from the position of

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Speaker 3: the sun at that point I guessed it was around

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Speaker 3: ten am. One hour had seemed like an eternity already.

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Speaker 3: It was clear to me that as time passed, I

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Speaker 3: would be less able to lift my weight, and with that,

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Speaker 3: less able to breathe. I was inching toward death on

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Speaker 3: a one way street. Looking at Jesus, I noticed the

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Speaker 3: many wounds up and down his severely beaten body. There

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Speaker 3: were countless deep and open lacerations, around his entire torso,

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Speaker 3: and up and down his legs. Long thorns had been

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Speaker 3: pressed into his brow, as if to crown this bloodied king.

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Speaker 3: If God had a son, it was hard to imagine

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Speaker 3: how he could ever look like this. He saved others,

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Speaker 3: the crowd chanted, but he can't save himself. Who had

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Speaker 3: he saved? What did he save them from? As a child,

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Speaker 3: I had been taught that God is the one who saves.

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Speaker 3: If Jesus was the son of God, saving was clearly

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Speaker 3: something he would do. And yet when the crowd called

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Speaker 3: on him to save himself, he made no response. That's

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Speaker 3: religion for you, I thought. He says he will destroy

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Speaker 3: the temple, but doesn't remove a stone. He claims to

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Speaker 3: be the promised Savior, but can't even save himself. My

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Speaker 3: anger intensified as these thoughts raced through my mind. My

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Speaker 3: mother used to say God is gracious and compassionate, slow

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Speaker 3: to anger, and abounding in love. As far as I

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Speaker 3: was concerned, he was way too slow to anger with

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Speaker 3: the Romans, and not nearly compassionate enough to us. The

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Speaker 3: searing pain shooting through my body seemed to reinforce the

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Speaker 3: point it takes energy to speak when you are in

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Speaker 3: excruciating pain, and up to this point I had not

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Speaker 3: spoken a single word. But somehow these thoughts caused all

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Speaker 3: hell to break loose inside of me, and I poured

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Speaker 3: out the foulest stream of hatred and abuse toward Jesus

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Speaker 3: pure venom. The second victim, whose cross had been planted

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Speaker 3: on the other side of Jesus, joined in, and that

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Speaker 3: got the crowd going again. I wondered if there had

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Speaker 3: ever been a time when so much hatred had been

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Speaker 3: poured out on one man. Looking down, there were a

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Speaker 3: few weeping women and one man who seemed to care

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Speaker 3: about him, but to everyone else he was an object

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Speaker 3: of ridicule. Although I knew little about him, I was

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Speaker 3: glad to join them. I couldn't keep it up, though

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Speaker 3: my body soon sagged exhausted, and as my voice fell silent,

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Speaker 3: I began to wonder why had I aimed my tirade

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Speaker 3: at Jesus. I hated Rome, so why didn't I spend

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Speaker 3: that energy cursing Caesar or Pilot or the Centurion who

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Speaker 3: was standing just a few feet away. A thought came

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Speaker 3: to me, like a shaft of light I had never

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Speaker 3: seen before. Behind every hatred lies a deeper hatred of God.

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Speaker 3: I had never thought of myself as a God hater before,

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Speaker 3: but somehow this thought made sense to me. Long ago,

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Speaker 3: I had come to the sad conclusion that God and

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Speaker 3: his laws were irrelevant to my life, and that the

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Speaker 3: religious establishment was largely useless to the great causes of

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Speaker 3: justice and peace. I had thought of myself as a

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Speaker 3: God skeptic. But in that moment I saw something deeper

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Speaker 3: and darker in my soul. Behind my hatred of Rome

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Speaker 3: lay my hatred of God, the same God who had

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Speaker 3: allowed Rome to stomp all over his people, who had

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Speaker 3: permitted the tax collectors to extort our family, who had

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Speaker 3: made a world in which people die excruciating deaths on

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Speaker 3: wooden beams, being fueled the hatred that filled my soul

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Speaker 3: in this awful ordeal. I hated Rome, I hated myself.

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Speaker 3: I hated God. I hated his son. I was on

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Speaker 3: the brink of hell. I could taste it already.

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Speaker 2: What happens to the thief? From here? Is he, in

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Speaker 2: his own words, is on the brink of hell. We

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Speaker 2: continue with the production of heaven. How I got here

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Speaker 2: on this special Holy Week presentation, I'm Kevin McCullough so

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Speaker 2: honored to have you. We continue with Heaven How I

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Speaker 2: Got Here, featuring actor Stephen Baldwin. But before we do,

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Speaker 2: I just wanted to remind you that there is a

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Speaker 2: film version of this story that you're listening to, and

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Speaker 2: it is being provided to you free of charge from

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Speaker 2: an organization called Open the Bible. Their only desire is

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Speaker 2: to get you to be interested in what is in scripture.

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Speaker 2: That's the whole purpose of their organization, just to create

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Speaker 2: a curiosity in you about what scripture has to say.

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Speaker 2: And this story that we're listening to, the story of

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Speaker 2: the thief on the Cross may be the best, most

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Speaker 2: excellent example of what it means to be a believer

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Speaker 2: in Jesus Christ. We'll see more of that as the

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Speaker 2: story continues. But if you'd like a copy of this

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Speaker 2: story for yourself, go to that Kevin Show, slash Heaven,

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Speaker 2: that Kevinshow dot com, slash Heaven, put your email in

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00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:34,639
Speaker 2: and you'll be able to receive a copy of the

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Speaker 2: film and some study questions that may be helpful for

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Speaker 2: you to think these things through. That Kevinshow dot com

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Speaker 2: backslash Heaven, that Kevinshow dot Com backslash Heaven. We continue

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Speaker 2: with the ubiquitous story of Heaven How I got here,

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Speaker 2: the story of the Thief on the Cross with actor

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Speaker 2: Stephen Baldwin from Colin S. Smith. When we continue and

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Speaker 2: welcome back to this special presentation, I'm Cavia McCullough. It

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Speaker 2: tells the story of the Thief on the Cross, who,

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Speaker 2: when you think about it, is one of the most

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Speaker 2: miraculous stories that Scripture ever unfolded. How could he find faith?

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Speaker 2: That's what this chapter's about.

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Speaker 3: Chapter three of Faith eleven fourteen. AM. I don't really

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Speaker 3: know how to explain what happened next. All I can

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Speaker 3: tell you is that a strange stillness came over my soul,

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Speaker 3: and for the first time I began to consider what

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Speaker 3: lay ahead. My life was slipping away, Earth was receding,

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Speaker 3: and eternity was looming large on the horizon. I had

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Speaker 3: not planned on this, and I had not prepared for

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Speaker 3: it either. My mind went back to my childhood and

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Speaker 3: I heard my mother's voice quoting the scriptures. The fear

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Speaker 3: of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. I had

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Speaker 3: always believed in God, of course, now that came with

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Speaker 3: my Jewish blood. But there is a big difference between

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Speaker 3: believing in God and fearing him. People who say they

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Speaker 3: believe in God often give a little or no place

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Speaker 3: to Him in their lives, But fearing God means you

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Speaker 3: give weight to Him and your decisions and your priorities.

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Speaker 3: Pleasing Him becomes your first consideration and your greatest joy.

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Speaker 3: I thought back to my first theft at the temple

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Speaker 3: and realized that the fear of God had been largely

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Speaker 3: absent from my life. Since that time. I had chosen

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Speaker 3: my own path and pursued my own way. I had

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Speaker 3: lived at a distance from God, and now I was

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Speaker 3: dying far from him too. What would lie beyond I

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Speaker 3: didn't know, and over the years I he hadn't cared.

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Speaker 3: But as life was slipping away from me, nothing mattered more.

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Speaker 3: The second victim launched into a tirade of cursing and blasphemy.

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Speaker 3: A short time before, I had joined in with him,

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Speaker 3: curling abuse at Jesus. But now his antagonism toward God

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Speaker 3: seemed to me like the height of folly. I pushed

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Speaker 3: myself up and called out to rebuke him. Don't you

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Speaker 3: fear God? The second victim became quiet, and so I continued,

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Speaker 3: We are punished justly before we are getting what our

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Speaker 3: deeds deserve, I said, but this man has done nothing wrong.

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Speaker 3: My words came as a surprise to me, as they

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Speaker 3: must have to him too. Throughout my life, I always

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Speaker 3: had a defense for everything I did. When I rejected

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Speaker 3: the Temple, it was because the Temple had failed me.

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Speaker 3: When I stole from Rome, it was because Rome had

432
00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:20,320
Speaker 3: stolen from me. As I saw it, right was on

433
00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:24,120
Speaker 3: my side. Some one else was always in the wrong.

434
00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:29,240
Speaker 3: But in the strange calm that came over my soul

435
00:31:29,360 --> 00:31:34,680
Speaker 3: in those moments, things looked very different. I began to

436
00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:38,480
Speaker 3: see that my greatest theft lay not in stealing from Rome,

437
00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:42,520
Speaker 3: but in robbing God. I had thought about this life

438
00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:46,320
Speaker 3: as mine rather than his, and had given him no

439
00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:49,239
Speaker 3: place in it. I had measured my life by what

440
00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:53,880
Speaker 3: satisfied me, and on the basis had considered that my

441
00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:58,240
Speaker 3: good outweighed my bad. But as my life was slowly

442
00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:01,880
Speaker 3: bleaning out to a miserable end, and I knew that

443
00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:06,640
Speaker 3: I was far from good and far from God, I

444
00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:11,760
Speaker 3: looked again toward Jesus, who, despite the relentless taunting, had

445
00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:16,640
Speaker 3: remained silent. The crowd was outraged because he claimed to

446
00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:20,120
Speaker 3: be the Christ. What if he was. They hated him

447
00:32:20,120 --> 00:32:23,560
Speaker 3: because he said he was the son of God. If

448
00:32:23,560 --> 00:32:26,920
Speaker 3: that were true, there would be some evidence, and apparently

449
00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:32,000
Speaker 3: there was. The crowd had said he saved others. I

450
00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:36,560
Speaker 3: thought about that, if he saved others, was there any

451
00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:40,520
Speaker 3: chance he could save me? The sign above his head,

452
00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:44,120
Speaker 3: just a few feet away from me read, this is Jesus,

453
00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:48,400
Speaker 3: the King of the Jews. If he was a king,

454
00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:53,600
Speaker 3: he must have a kingdom. But as I watched him

455
00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:57,280
Speaker 3: moving toward his death, I realized that his kingdom did

456
00:32:57,320 --> 00:33:01,600
Speaker 3: not belong to this world. It was but they say

457
00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:04,719
Speaker 3: that as you get closer to death on the cross,

458
00:33:04,800 --> 00:33:09,200
Speaker 3: your brain struggles for oxygen. You would think that my

459
00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:12,240
Speaker 3: brain would have been slowing down, and yet he was

460
00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:16,720
Speaker 3: the exact opposite. My growing fear of God kept driving

461
00:33:16,800 --> 00:33:21,760
Speaker 3: my thoughts, and the thoughts were becoming clearer and clearer.

462
00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:25,840
Speaker 3: If Jesus was God in the flesh, he would indeed

463
00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:30,680
Speaker 3: be the Christ. If he was the Christ, he would

464
00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:34,240
Speaker 3: be in the business of saving people. And if he

465
00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:38,600
Speaker 3: saved people, he could bring them into his kingdom. Within

466
00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:41,760
Speaker 3: a few hours, Jesus would be leaving this world, and

467
00:33:42,080 --> 00:33:45,240
Speaker 3: so would I. His kingdom would be on the other

468
00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:51,800
Speaker 3: side of death. Perhaps he could do something to help me. Jesus,

469
00:33:52,440 --> 00:34:01,200
Speaker 3: I said, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

470
00:34:01,440 --> 00:34:05,640
Speaker 3: There might be some hope for me. But what would

471
00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:08,880
Speaker 3: be in it for him? I couldn't think of anything.

472
00:34:10,280 --> 00:34:12,640
Speaker 3: If he took an interest in me, it would not

473
00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:15,400
Speaker 3: be because of anything I had done or anything I

474
00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:20,600
Speaker 3: could offer. If he remembered me at all, it would

475
00:34:20,600 --> 00:34:27,000
Speaker 3: be an act of undeserved mercy and kindness. But that

476
00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:30,400
Speaker 3: was exactly what he offered to the soldiers who crucified him.

477
00:34:31,160 --> 00:34:36,080
Speaker 3: He showed them mercy and kindness. Would he do the

478
00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:40,640
Speaker 3: same for me? Asking him to remember me was deceptively simple.

479
00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:46,600
Speaker 3: I began to fear God. I recognized my sinful condition.

480
00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:51,440
Speaker 3: I believed that Jesus was who he said he was,

481
00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:57,880
Speaker 3: the Christ, the Messiah, and I asked him to save me.

482
00:34:59,480 --> 00:35:03,120
Speaker 3: That is something thing you can do too. In doing this,

483
00:35:03,200 --> 00:35:05,480
Speaker 3: I gave up all the hostility in my heart, and

484
00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:08,320
Speaker 3: I abandoned my illusion of having a life that would

485
00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:13,480
Speaker 3: somehow be impressive to God. I placed my life as

486
00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:16,200
Speaker 3: it was, with all I had done, into the hands

487
00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:21,200
Speaker 3: of Jesus, my hands outstretched to his hands outstretched I

488
00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:24,760
Speaker 3: believed in him as the Christ, the Son of God,

489
00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:30,440
Speaker 3: the Savior, and the King, and left the rest up

490
00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:34,560
Speaker 3: to him. Clinging to life by a slender thread. I

491
00:35:34,680 --> 00:35:40,560
Speaker 3: gasped for breath, then waited for him to respond.

492
00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:46,839
Speaker 2: Friends, the good news is that he will respond. I'm

493
00:35:46,880 --> 00:35:48,960
Speaker 2: Cavin mccallaugh. This is heaven. How I got here a

494
00:35:49,000 --> 00:36:02,680
Speaker 2: special dramatic presentation. We continue in a moment and welcome

495
00:36:02,719 --> 00:36:05,359
Speaker 2: back to the final installment, this hour of Heaven. How

496
00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:06,000
Speaker 2: I got here?

497
00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:17,400
Speaker 5: I'm Kevin Mcalla, Chapter four of Hope, eleven fifteen AM.

498
00:36:17,760 --> 00:36:24,080
Speaker 3: My request had been simple, Jesus, remember me when you

499
00:36:24,160 --> 00:36:31,040
Speaker 3: come into your kingdom. His answer was simpler still, Amen,

500
00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:39,160
Speaker 3: There was no mistaking his enthusiasm. Joy filled his eyes

501
00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:42,239
Speaker 3: as he looked at me. It was as if he

502
00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:45,360
Speaker 3: had been waiting for me to ask, as if his

503
00:36:45,480 --> 00:36:48,600
Speaker 3: answer to my request was bound up with why he

504
00:36:48,719 --> 00:36:54,200
Speaker 3: was there. It fell to me as if his arms,

505
00:36:54,239 --> 00:36:57,400
Speaker 3: which were pinned to the cross, were reaching out to

506
00:36:57,400 --> 00:37:00,560
Speaker 3: me with the same love and forgiveness that he had

507
00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:09,600
Speaker 3: offered to the guards. Amen. Yes, I'm with you. Your

508
00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:30,239
Speaker 3: prayer is mine. It will be done. Death does not

509
00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:34,400
Speaker 3: lead to a long period of unconsciousness, nor does it

510
00:37:34,520 --> 00:37:37,880
Speaker 3: lead to a long process of being prepared for the

511
00:37:37,960 --> 00:37:42,400
Speaker 3: friends of Jesus. Death is an immediate translation into the

512
00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:47,400
Speaker 3: joys of life at the right hand of God. My

513
00:37:47,520 --> 00:37:52,400
Speaker 3: story is unusual, to say the least, but it teaches

514
00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:57,920
Speaker 3: something that everyone needs to know. Entrance into heaven does

515
00:37:57,960 --> 00:38:02,640
Speaker 3: not depend on your performance in the Christ. Think about

516
00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:06,719
Speaker 3: what happened to me. I trusted Christ and went to

517
00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:13,560
Speaker 3: heaven on the same day. How could that possibly be true?

518
00:38:13,880 --> 00:38:17,799
Speaker 3: I went to heaven without ever living the Christian life.

519
00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:21,200
Speaker 3: I didn't have the opportunity. With my hands fix on

520
00:38:21,320 --> 00:38:25,880
Speaker 3: the cross, I was in no position to do good works.

521
00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:29,719
Speaker 3: With my feet nailed to a wooden beam, I could

522
00:38:29,719 --> 00:38:34,400
Speaker 3: hardly walk in paths of righteousness. And with death only

523
00:38:34,520 --> 00:38:37,879
Speaker 3: hours away, there was no time for me to turn

524
00:38:37,920 --> 00:38:42,279
Speaker 3: over a new leaf and live a better life. You

525
00:38:42,360 --> 00:38:46,880
Speaker 3: too need to know this. The good news is that

526
00:38:47,280 --> 00:38:51,719
Speaker 3: salvation does not depend on your work for Christ, but

527
00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:56,160
Speaker 3: on Christ's work for you. Your work for Him is

528
00:38:56,280 --> 00:39:00,640
Speaker 3: never done that you can take it from me that

529
00:39:00,719 --> 00:39:03,480
Speaker 3: has worked for you is already complete.

530
00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:05,600
Speaker 1: If you can.

531
00:39:05,560 --> 00:39:14,040
Speaker 3: Rest your life, death, and eternity on Him with complete confidence.

532
00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:18,319
Speaker 3: That's what I did, and I can tell you I

533
00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:19,719
Speaker 3: was not disappointed.

534
00:39:22,520 --> 00:39:24,640
Speaker 2: Not to give too much away, but I think the

535
00:39:24,719 --> 00:39:27,640
Speaker 2: Thief's message is that you won't be disappointed either. If

536
00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:30,120
Speaker 2: you have questions and would like answers, please go to

537
00:39:30,280 --> 00:39:34,960
Speaker 2: Unlockingthbible dot org to have those questions answered. I'm Kevin

538
00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:38,560
Speaker 2: McCollough was my honor to direct this presentation some five

539
00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:41,640
Speaker 2: years ago, and I hope it ministers and means something

540
00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:45,600
Speaker 2: to you this holiday season. And just a quick reminder

541
00:39:45,760 --> 00:39:48,120
Speaker 2: that if you would like to use this story in

542
00:39:48,160 --> 00:39:51,319
Speaker 2: your own observance of this holy weekend, you can do

543
00:39:51,440 --> 00:39:54,880
Speaker 2: so by just going to that kevinshow dot com backslash Heaven,

544
00:39:55,440 --> 00:39:59,240
Speaker 2: that kevinshow dot com backslash Heaven and request a copy

545
00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:02,239
Speaker 2: of the film. There will be also a trailer that

546
00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:04,919
Speaker 2: comes with it and some discussion questions. But what better

547
00:40:04,960 --> 00:40:08,239
Speaker 2: way to share the hope of the true joy that's

548
00:40:08,239 --> 00:40:11,160
Speaker 2: found in the Gospel of Jesus than to share this

549
00:40:11,280 --> 00:40:13,840
Speaker 2: story with someone who maybe you've been burdened for for

550
00:40:13,920 --> 00:40:18,759
Speaker 2: quite a while. That kevinshow dot com backslash Heaven. Just

551
00:40:18,800 --> 00:40:21,440
Speaker 2: put your email in and we'll send you the complete

552
00:40:21,440 --> 00:40:24,720
Speaker 2: film and also the study questions that will help shape

553
00:40:24,719 --> 00:40:28,680
Speaker 2: your discussion with your friends. After that, watch it yourself

554
00:40:28,719 --> 00:40:31,239
Speaker 2: for sure, and then share it with friends. That kevinshow

555
00:40:31,280 --> 00:40:35,680
Speaker 2: dot com backslash Heaven. That kevinshow dot com backslash Heaven.

556
00:40:35,880 --> 00:40:38,200
Speaker 2: And when we come back or the next time you

557
00:40:38,280 --> 00:40:41,040
Speaker 2: join us, it will be the second half of Heaven.

558
00:40:41,080 --> 00:40:44,719
Speaker 2: How I Got Here? The story the ubiquitous story of

559
00:40:44,760 --> 00:40:54,480
Speaker 2: the Thief on the Cross. Don't go anywhere, hi, Kela McCollough.

560
00:40:54,960 --> 00:40:58,000
Speaker 2: This is the second part of Heaven, How I Got Here?

561
00:40:58,160 --> 00:41:01,440
Speaker 2: The presentation of the story the Thief Across, an ubiquitous

562
00:41:01,520 --> 00:41:07,000
Speaker 2: character from scripture whose name and very circumstance draws into

563
00:41:07,040 --> 00:41:11,319
Speaker 2: relevance the claims of Christ and the Christian faith. If

564
00:41:11,320 --> 00:41:14,120
Speaker 2: someone liked the Thief on the Cross can find heaven,

565
00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:17,759
Speaker 2: who can't. He never went to a Bible study, he

566
00:41:17,840 --> 00:41:21,920
Speaker 2: never understood the sacraments of the Church, and yet Jesus

567
00:41:21,920 --> 00:41:25,440
Speaker 2: promised he would join him in Paradise. We pick up

568
00:41:25,560 --> 00:41:29,080
Speaker 2: the story from where we left off. This is chapter five,

569
00:41:29,560 --> 00:41:30,640
Speaker 2: called Love.

570
00:41:31,719 --> 00:41:35,640
Speaker 3: The bright sun dazzled my eyes. So I looked down

571
00:41:35,719 --> 00:41:38,720
Speaker 3: to the small group of friends standing in front of Jesus.

572
00:41:39,520 --> 00:41:42,680
Speaker 3: One of them was called Mary, and it became clear

573
00:41:42,719 --> 00:41:51,360
Speaker 3: to me that she was Jesus' mother. There was a

574
00:41:51,480 --> 00:41:56,480
Speaker 3: radiant beauty about Mary. She wept and watched and waited.

575
00:41:57,960 --> 00:42:04,319
Speaker 3: Surrounded by hatred, she exuded love. It seemed to me

576
00:42:04,440 --> 00:42:08,680
Speaker 3: that Jesus Christ was more hated and more loved than

577
00:42:08,760 --> 00:42:12,680
Speaker 3: any other person I had known. I thought about my

578
00:42:12,760 --> 00:42:16,080
Speaker 3: own mother and was glad that she was not there.

579
00:42:17,560 --> 00:42:20,080
Speaker 3: I had already broken her heart with the choices of

580
00:42:20,160 --> 00:42:24,080
Speaker 3: my life, the choices that led to years of estrangement.

581
00:42:25,160 --> 00:42:27,880
Speaker 3: On top of all of that, if she had to

582
00:42:28,040 --> 00:42:31,320
Speaker 3: endure seeing me on a cross, I think the pain

583
00:42:31,360 --> 00:42:36,640
Speaker 3: would have been unbearable for her. But Mary, the mother

584
00:42:36,719 --> 00:42:44,160
Speaker 3: of Jesus, was there. I tried to imagine what it

585
00:42:44,200 --> 00:42:48,120
Speaker 3: was like for her to watch her son suffer. I

586
00:42:48,160 --> 00:42:51,239
Speaker 3: had come to trust him in the last hour, but

587
00:42:51,360 --> 00:42:53,720
Speaker 3: she had loved him from the day of his birth.

588
00:42:56,640 --> 00:42:59,520
Speaker 3: Now the brow she had kissed as she put him

589
00:42:59,560 --> 00:43:04,400
Speaker 3: to bed was crowned with thorns, and the hands she

590
00:43:04,440 --> 00:43:07,200
Speaker 3: had held as she taught him to walk were pierced

591
00:43:07,239 --> 00:43:13,759
Speaker 3: with nails. I looked at her and felt compassion. It

592
00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:16,399
Speaker 3: was a strange sensation for a heart that was more

593
00:43:16,440 --> 00:43:21,520
Speaker 3: familiar with hate than would love over the years, I

594
00:43:21,560 --> 00:43:28,000
Speaker 3: had hardened myself. My lifestyle demanded it. Grit and steel

595
00:43:28,360 --> 00:43:33,680
Speaker 3: were my familiar friends. Compassion was far from me, but

596
00:43:33,840 --> 00:43:40,880
Speaker 3: now enveloped in pain, I felt compassion for a woman

597
00:43:41,160 --> 00:43:47,160
Speaker 3: I did not even know. Something good was happening in

598
00:43:47,239 --> 00:43:51,720
Speaker 3: my heart, and I knew that it was happening because

599
00:43:51,760 --> 00:44:01,440
Speaker 3: of Jesus. Love had been a stranger to me. My

600
00:44:01,560 --> 00:44:04,799
Speaker 3: mother had loved me in her own disciplined way, but

601
00:44:04,920 --> 00:44:09,840
Speaker 3: I had long since broken away from family. From the crowd,

602
00:44:09,880 --> 00:44:14,120
Speaker 3: I ran with loyalty on the basis of self interest

603
00:44:14,520 --> 00:44:18,319
Speaker 3: was the standard substitute for love. Think about the love

604
00:44:18,440 --> 00:44:22,240
Speaker 3: that you have experienced. Love usually comes with a reason.

605
00:44:23,320 --> 00:44:27,000
Speaker 3: Your mother loves you because you're her child. Your spouse

606
00:44:27,080 --> 00:44:30,040
Speaker 3: loves you because he or she is drawn to something

607
00:44:30,080 --> 00:44:34,400
Speaker 3: in you. Your friends love you because they enjoy your company.

608
00:44:35,600 --> 00:44:39,000
Speaker 3: But Christ loved me without a reason. He cared for

609
00:44:39,120 --> 00:44:45,800
Speaker 3: me without cause. His love is its own explanation. Christ

610
00:44:45,920 --> 00:44:50,280
Speaker 3: loves you for no other reason than that he loves

611
00:44:50,320 --> 00:44:56,359
Speaker 3: you for thirty three years. Jesus had been Mary's son,

612
00:44:57,680 --> 00:45:02,080
Speaker 3: but he was and is the so of God. He

613
00:45:02,160 --> 00:45:05,279
Speaker 3: took on human flesh from his mother so that he

614
00:45:05,320 --> 00:45:09,760
Speaker 3: could become our savior. But as he hung on the cross,

615
00:45:10,080 --> 00:45:13,200
Speaker 3: with the blood draining from his body and the life

616
00:45:13,239 --> 00:45:17,480
Speaker 3: of his flesh ebbing away, the relationship between Jesus and

617
00:45:17,560 --> 00:45:22,400
Speaker 3: Mary was changing. Mary stood at the foot of the cross,

618
00:45:22,440 --> 00:45:30,680
Speaker 3: crying out, my son, my son, my son. But Jesus

619
00:45:30,760 --> 00:45:33,719
Speaker 3: was saying, you must no longer think of me as

620
00:45:33,760 --> 00:45:37,759
Speaker 3: your son. From now on, John is to take that

621
00:45:37,880 --> 00:45:43,520
Speaker 3: place in your life. Regard him as your son. So

622
00:45:43,640 --> 00:45:47,280
Speaker 3: how then was Mary to regard Jesus as her savior

623
00:45:47,880 --> 00:45:51,720
Speaker 3: and as her lord. When the angel told Mary about

624
00:45:51,719 --> 00:45:56,759
Speaker 3: the son she would bear, Mary said, my spirit rejoices

625
00:45:56,840 --> 00:46:01,600
Speaker 3: in God, my savior, looked to God as her savior,

626
00:46:02,040 --> 00:46:06,439
Speaker 3: and this is how God saved her. Jesus, God's son,

627
00:46:07,520 --> 00:46:09,799
Speaker 3: went to the cross and laid down the life he

628
00:46:09,880 --> 00:46:14,440
Speaker 3: had drawn from Mary. His body was broken, his blood

629
00:46:14,520 --> 00:46:19,799
Speaker 3: was shed. Mary's son died, and in his death he

630
00:46:19,960 --> 00:46:26,440
Speaker 3: became her savior. Mary lost an irreplaceable son, and she

631
00:46:26,560 --> 00:46:35,040
Speaker 3: gained an incomparable savior. Her gain was far greater than

632
00:46:35,080 --> 00:46:39,120
Speaker 3: her loss. You already know about the hate that was

633
00:46:39,160 --> 00:46:43,160
Speaker 3: in my heart, the blasphemy I spoke against Jesus, and

634
00:46:43,200 --> 00:46:47,160
Speaker 3: the crimes I committed against my fellow man I was

635
00:46:47,239 --> 00:46:51,880
Speaker 3: the bottom of the pile, the worst of sinners. But

636
00:46:52,040 --> 00:46:56,920
Speaker 3: Christ became my savior, and because of him I am

637
00:46:56,960 --> 00:47:01,680
Speaker 3: in heaven today. Mary was at the other end of

638
00:47:01,719 --> 00:47:07,440
Speaker 3: the moral spectrum. I can't imagine a more godly woman

639
00:47:07,480 --> 00:47:14,040
Speaker 3: than Mary. She was patient, kind, good and true, a

640
00:47:14,080 --> 00:47:19,080
Speaker 3: woman of virtue, blessed by God and a blessing to others.

641
00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:23,880
Speaker 3: And Mary is in heaven today not because Jesus was

642
00:47:23,920 --> 00:47:29,759
Speaker 3: her son, but because he is her savior. If she

643
00:47:29,800 --> 00:47:33,600
Speaker 3: looked to Christ to save her, every person who has

644
00:47:33,640 --> 00:47:36,280
Speaker 3: sought to live a good life must do the same.

645
00:47:37,680 --> 00:47:40,640
Speaker 3: Here's the amazing thing that I still can't get over.

646
00:47:42,040 --> 00:47:44,160
Speaker 3: I had lived a life that was as bad as

647
00:47:44,200 --> 00:47:48,000
Speaker 3: they come. Mary lived a life that was as good

648
00:47:48,040 --> 00:47:52,080
Speaker 3: as they come. Yet both of us entered into Heaven

649
00:47:52,200 --> 00:47:58,759
Speaker 3: precisely the same way, through faith in Jesus. In the

650
00:47:58,800 --> 00:48:03,080
Speaker 3: words he spoke to me, me and then to marry. Jesus

651
00:48:03,080 --> 00:48:07,960
Speaker 3: embraced the worst and the best of humanity and reconciled

652
00:48:08,040 --> 00:48:13,880
Speaker 3: us both to his Father. So wherever you are on

653
00:48:13,920 --> 00:48:18,640
Speaker 3: the moral spectrum, Jesus Christ is the savior for you.

654
00:48:20,040 --> 00:48:23,360
Speaker 3: Two misconceptions keep many people out of heaven. One is

655
00:48:23,360 --> 00:48:26,600
Speaker 3: that they are too bad to come to Christ, and

656
00:48:26,640 --> 00:48:29,280
Speaker 3: the other is that they are too good to need him.

657
00:48:30,160 --> 00:48:33,960
Speaker 3: You may be as wretched as me, as righteous as Mary,

658
00:48:34,920 --> 00:48:39,440
Speaker 3: or somewhere in between. Wherever you are, don't let the

659
00:48:39,480 --> 00:48:42,920
Speaker 3: bad or the good you've done keep you from embracing

660
00:48:43,040 --> 00:48:46,880
Speaker 3: Christ as your savior. In these last hours on the cross.

661
00:48:47,320 --> 00:48:50,279
Speaker 3: The steely eyed hatred that filled my heart when the

662
00:48:50,360 --> 00:48:54,319
Speaker 3: day began melted like snow on a warm afternoon. Knew

663
00:48:54,640 --> 00:48:58,360
Speaker 3: something had changed inside of me. I knew that Jesus

664
00:48:58,400 --> 00:49:02,000
Speaker 3: had made me different person. The heart that had been

665
00:49:02,080 --> 00:49:07,040
Speaker 3: filled with bitterness now felt compassion. The mind that had

666
00:49:07,080 --> 00:49:11,359
Speaker 3: been hostile to Jesus and out trusted and believed in him.

667
00:49:12,400 --> 00:49:14,880
Speaker 3: The will that had been hell bent on pursuing my

668
00:49:14,960 --> 00:49:19,560
Speaker 3: own way now desired more than anything to honor Christ.

669
00:49:21,840 --> 00:49:27,240
Speaker 3: I never experienced anything like this before, that of religion

670
00:49:27,280 --> 00:49:30,080
Speaker 3: I was brought up with attempted to change me from

671
00:49:30,120 --> 00:49:34,560
Speaker 3: the outside. INN, Do these things, and you will be

672
00:49:34,640 --> 00:49:40,919
Speaker 3: a good person. It never worked. All I can say

673
00:49:41,040 --> 00:49:47,160
Speaker 3: is that when Christ's word went into me, my heart changed,

674
00:49:48,239 --> 00:49:53,600
Speaker 3: and I believed. I now understand why Jesus spoke of

675
00:49:53,640 --> 00:49:59,560
Speaker 3: this interchange as being born again. I was changed from

676
00:49:59,560 --> 00:50:07,520
Speaker 3: the side out. So here we were a scoundrel on

677
00:50:07,600 --> 00:50:12,000
Speaker 3: the cross and a saintly woman standing below, and both

678
00:50:12,000 --> 00:50:15,640
Speaker 3: of our lives changed forever by Jesus Christ.

679
00:50:19,080 --> 00:50:21,960
Speaker 2: A sinner and a saint, but both in need of

680
00:50:22,000 --> 00:50:25,319
Speaker 2: a savior. And that's what the thief found. Friends, if

681
00:50:25,360 --> 00:50:28,640
Speaker 2: you have questions about what the thief believed, what got

682
00:50:28,680 --> 00:50:31,600
Speaker 2: him to heaven, the friends at Unlocking the Bible that

683
00:50:31,680 --> 00:50:35,319
Speaker 2: produced this and gave me the tremendous, humbling honor to

684
00:50:35,400 --> 00:50:38,680
Speaker 2: direct it five years ago are ready to answer your questions.

685
00:50:39,040 --> 00:50:43,200
Speaker 2: Just go to Unlocking the Bible dot Com. That's Unlocking

686
00:50:43,239 --> 00:50:46,800
Speaker 2: the Bible dot Com. Stay with us the most traumatic

687
00:50:46,880 --> 00:50:48,160
Speaker 2: moments of that day.

688
00:50:48,560 --> 00:51:06,440
Speaker 3: When we continue.

689
00:51:00,960 --> 00:51:06,720
Speaker 1: Here he is from New York, that Kevin McCollough.

690
00:51:11,640 --> 00:51:12,680
Speaker 2: We are so glad that.

691
00:51:12,840 --> 00:51:13,720
Speaker 1: This is early weekend.

692
00:51:14,160 --> 00:51:16,640
Speaker 2: We have the distinct honor of having you with us.

693
00:51:16,880 --> 00:51:17,520
Speaker 1: I held.

694
00:51:19,000 --> 00:51:20,040
Speaker 2: In a number of places.

695
00:51:20,080 --> 00:51:24,680
Speaker 6: You could be things, you could be maybe big celebrations

696
00:51:25,120 --> 00:51:30,200
Speaker 6: even for Sunday underway. But tonight, as we hear the

697
00:51:30,239 --> 00:51:34,000
Speaker 6: story of the thief of our cause, it is it

698
00:51:34,080 --> 00:51:37,000
Speaker 6: is an important moment that we have come to because

699
00:51:37,120 --> 00:51:41,399
Speaker 6: in this next in this next chapter, what we see

700
00:51:41,800 --> 00:51:49,239
Speaker 6: is the genuine experience of everything that he has thought

701
00:51:49,280 --> 00:51:52,879
Speaker 6: about that day thus far coming to Fruition, and so

702
00:51:52,920 --> 00:51:56,480
Speaker 6: we are glad to welcome you back. You may notice

703
00:51:56,520 --> 00:51:59,799
Speaker 6: this isn't the normal That Kevin Show. That's fine, we

704
00:51:59,840 --> 00:52:03,040
Speaker 6: do take this weekend to do this special presentation. I

705
00:52:03,080 --> 00:52:07,120
Speaker 6: was very humbled and honored and very grateful to be

706
00:52:07,200 --> 00:52:11,080
Speaker 6: given the chance to direct this radio drama. Stephen Baldwin,

707
00:52:11,280 --> 00:52:18,319
Speaker 6: the cast, the entire cast of the script, not only

708
00:52:18,320 --> 00:52:20,799
Speaker 6: did this, but he also did a stage play which

709
00:52:20,840 --> 00:52:23,960
Speaker 6: tonight on That Kevin Show on the TV side, we

710
00:52:24,040 --> 00:52:26,400
Speaker 6: are debuting that for the first time, so if you

711
00:52:26,440 --> 00:52:29,800
Speaker 6: want to see the one man stage play that interprets

712
00:52:29,840 --> 00:52:33,400
Speaker 6: this story as well, and it's a different presentation, different music,

713
00:52:33,560 --> 00:52:37,160
Speaker 6: different tone, but equally equally Moving anyway back to the

714
00:52:37,280 --> 00:52:41,080
Speaker 6: radio version, here is Stephen Baldwin and The Thief on

715
00:52:41,120 --> 00:52:45,160
Speaker 6: the Cross.

716
00:52:42,600 --> 00:52:47,640
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Heaven. How I got here? The story

717
00:52:47,640 --> 00:52:50,480
Speaker 2: of the Thief on the Cross. I'm Kevin McCullough. You're

718
00:52:50,560 --> 00:52:53,719
Speaker 2: used to hearing something slightly different right now, but it's

719
00:52:53,760 --> 00:52:56,120
Speaker 2: my pleasure to present to you this presentation which we

720
00:52:56,200 --> 00:52:58,120
Speaker 2: produced and I was honored enough to be able to

721
00:52:58,120 --> 00:53:00,920
Speaker 2: direct it. Five years ago. It seems impossible that it's

722
00:53:01,239 --> 00:53:05,200
Speaker 2: been that long. It's a story of humanity. It's a

723
00:53:05,239 --> 00:53:07,640
Speaker 2: story of someone who thought they were never good enough

724
00:53:07,680 --> 00:53:11,000
Speaker 2: for God, but God loved them just the same.

725
00:53:17,480 --> 00:53:31,080
Speaker 3: Chapter six Darkness Noon. What in the world just happened?

726
00:53:31,640 --> 00:53:32,560
Speaker 3: Did I black out?

727
00:53:35,920 --> 00:53:36,120
Speaker 2: No?

728
00:53:37,680 --> 00:53:39,920
Speaker 3: One minute the sun glared down on us, and the

729
00:53:39,960 --> 00:53:45,040
Speaker 3: next we were plunged into complete darkness. Not slowly like

730
00:53:45,080 --> 00:53:50,839
Speaker 3: on a stormy day, but instantly complete darkness. We went

731
00:53:50,880 --> 00:53:56,000
Speaker 3: from midday to midnight in a moment. It was the

732
00:53:56,040 --> 00:54:02,440
Speaker 3: scariest thing I've ever experienced. First thought was God's judgment

733
00:54:02,560 --> 00:54:05,080
Speaker 3: must be falling on the soldiers who had struck and

734
00:54:05,200 --> 00:54:09,000
Speaker 3: nailed Jesus, or maybe on the people who had mocked him,

735
00:54:09,680 --> 00:54:13,040
Speaker 3: or on the leaders who had condemned him. But that

736
00:54:13,080 --> 00:54:16,520
Speaker 3: didn't happen. All of them slept in their beds that

737
00:54:16,680 --> 00:54:20,279
Speaker 3: night and woke to continue their lives the following day.

738
00:54:22,600 --> 00:54:25,960
Speaker 3: The judgment of God was falling on someone else that day,

739
00:54:27,360 --> 00:54:32,319
Speaker 3: and now I know who it was, Jesus, the son

740
00:54:32,400 --> 00:54:38,680
Speaker 3: of God, who was about to die. Jesus himself was

741
00:54:38,760 --> 00:54:47,359
Speaker 3: coming under the judgment of God. The crowd had been

742
00:54:47,440 --> 00:54:51,160
Speaker 3: quite sure that they were on God's side, and that

743
00:54:51,280 --> 00:54:55,680
Speaker 3: he would affirm their condemnation of Jesus as they were right.

744
00:54:55,880 --> 00:54:58,920
Speaker 3: Trusting Jesus would turn out to be the greatest mistake

745
00:54:59,000 --> 00:55:04,840
Speaker 3: of my life. My head spun with questions about what

746
00:55:05,080 --> 00:55:07,720
Speaker 3: just a few hours earlier I had come to believe.

747
00:55:09,120 --> 00:55:15,120
Speaker 3: Then Jesus' agonizing cry broke right through all of my questions.

748
00:55:16,760 --> 00:55:31,680
Speaker 3: My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? I

749
00:55:31,719 --> 00:55:35,359
Speaker 3: felt a gut wrenching anguish as these words echoed through

750
00:55:35,360 --> 00:55:43,360
Speaker 3: the ear a darkness. Had God abandoned Jesus? This terrified me.

751
00:55:44,640 --> 00:55:47,279
Speaker 3: I had put my trust in Jesus, and he had

752
00:55:47,320 --> 00:55:50,719
Speaker 3: promised paradise to me. But if God had forsaken him,

753
00:55:51,000 --> 00:55:53,680
Speaker 3: what hope was there for me? My new faith was

754
00:55:53,680 --> 00:55:58,480
Speaker 3: being stretched to the limit. When doubts crowd in and

755
00:55:58,560 --> 00:56:02,160
Speaker 3: you find yourself in darkness, go back to what you

756
00:56:02,239 --> 00:56:06,960
Speaker 3: know about Jesus. That's what I did, and it got

757
00:56:07,000 --> 00:56:11,319
Speaker 3: me through. I didn't know much about Jesus, but it

758
00:56:11,360 --> 00:56:13,799
Speaker 3: was clear to me that his suffering was a travesty

759
00:56:13,840 --> 00:56:17,160
Speaker 3: of justice. That was why I said to the other thief,

760
00:56:18,120 --> 00:56:21,799
Speaker 3: we are receiving our due reward, but Jesus has done

761
00:56:21,800 --> 00:56:27,600
Speaker 3: nothing wrong. I rehearsed this truth to myself. This man

762
00:56:27,840 --> 00:56:31,560
Speaker 3: has done nothing wrong. Why would a man who had

763
00:56:31,560 --> 00:56:34,759
Speaker 3: done nothing wrong find himself under the judgment of God?

764
00:56:35,760 --> 00:56:38,040
Speaker 3: Why would a man who had done nothing wrong be

765
00:56:38,120 --> 00:56:42,840
Speaker 3: crucified on a cross the most hideous method of death

766
00:56:43,040 --> 00:56:48,799
Speaker 3: ever devised. I now know the answer, and the more

767
00:56:48,840 --> 00:56:52,440
Speaker 3: I think about it, the more astonishing I find it

768
00:56:52,440 --> 00:56:57,080
Speaker 3: to be. Jesus suffered the judgment that was due to me.

769
00:56:58,560 --> 00:57:01,720
Speaker 3: The crowd was sure that Jesus was under God's curse,

770
00:57:02,080 --> 00:57:05,759
Speaker 3: and in a sense they were right. He was under

771
00:57:05,800 --> 00:57:09,359
Speaker 3: God's curse, but the curse did not fall on him

772
00:57:09,520 --> 00:57:13,600
Speaker 3: for his own sins he had none. He came under

773
00:57:13,640 --> 00:57:17,760
Speaker 3: the curse for the sins of others. He endured my

774
00:57:17,960 --> 00:57:23,439
Speaker 3: judgment so that I could enter into his reward. Even

775
00:57:23,480 --> 00:57:27,160
Speaker 3: here in Heaven, I still can't get over this. My

776
00:57:27,360 --> 00:57:31,720
Speaker 3: sin was laid on Jesus. The guilt of my theft,

777
00:57:32,320 --> 00:57:37,960
Speaker 3: my blasphemy, and my godless, selfish life was lifted from

778
00:57:38,000 --> 00:57:43,000
Speaker 3: my shoulders and transferred onto him. He bore my sins

779
00:57:44,160 --> 00:57:48,520
Speaker 3: they were laid on him. More than that, he took

780
00:57:49,080 --> 00:57:53,480
Speaker 3: all the sins of every person who would trust in him.

781
00:57:53,920 --> 00:57:58,320
Speaker 3: He carried their guilt and judgment in full. The cumulative

782
00:57:58,400 --> 00:58:03,120
Speaker 3: weight of this is unimagined. But to me, only Christ

783
00:58:03,160 --> 00:58:06,640
Speaker 3: could have borne it, and this was the reason why

784
00:58:06,680 --> 00:58:10,440
Speaker 3: he was pierced and crushed. It was for sinners like

785
00:58:10,520 --> 00:58:15,000
Speaker 3: you and me. Without Jesus, I would have carried my

786
00:58:15,160 --> 00:58:18,120
Speaker 3: sins into my death and emerged on the other side

787
00:58:18,200 --> 00:58:22,400
Speaker 3: to face the Almighty. All that I had endured at

788
00:58:22,440 --> 00:58:26,520
Speaker 3: the hands of men would only have been a prelude

789
00:58:27,320 --> 00:58:29,560
Speaker 3: to what I would have suffered at the hand of God.

790
00:58:31,640 --> 00:58:36,520
Speaker 3: But Jesus carried my sins into his death so that

791
00:58:36,680 --> 00:58:40,960
Speaker 3: I should not carry them into mine. I suffered the

792
00:58:41,040 --> 00:58:45,240
Speaker 3: judgment of men, but through Christ and all that he

793
00:58:45,480 --> 00:58:49,320
Speaker 3: endured in the darkness, I was saved from the judgment

794
00:58:49,360 --> 00:58:54,439
Speaker 3: of God. That's why I'm in heaven today. Some say

795
00:58:54,480 --> 00:58:58,400
Speaker 3: I trusted Christ at the last moment, But the way

796
00:58:58,440 --> 00:59:01,720
Speaker 3: I look at it, I trusted Christ at my first opportunity,

797
00:59:02,000 --> 00:59:05,560
Speaker 3: and that's what you should do. Trust him.

798
00:59:05,600 --> 00:59:12,479
Speaker 2: Now, perhaps you have questions about how that is done.

799
00:59:13,360 --> 00:59:17,080
Speaker 2: The friends who put this together at Openthebible dot org

800
00:59:17,720 --> 00:59:20,400
Speaker 2: and open the Bible Ministry with Colin S. Smith, the

801
00:59:20,480 --> 00:59:23,760
Speaker 2: author of the book that this is entirely based upon,

802
00:59:24,680 --> 00:59:28,720
Speaker 2: are ready to answer your questions. Just go today Openthbible

803
00:59:29,160 --> 00:59:33,360
Speaker 2: dot org. Open the Bible dot org. All right, Kevin McCullough,

804
00:59:33,440 --> 00:59:36,200
Speaker 2: glad to have you with us. And if you are

805
00:59:37,360 --> 00:59:39,800
Speaker 2: in a different situation, a situation in which you would

806
00:59:39,840 --> 00:59:43,560
Speaker 2: like to share this story with someone who may need

807
00:59:43,600 --> 00:59:47,960
Speaker 2: to make this decision. This is available via a film

808
00:59:48,000 --> 00:59:52,280
Speaker 2: presentation of a one man play. It was produced by

809
00:59:52,400 --> 00:59:56,120
Speaker 2: Open the Bible. As this radio special was a number

810
00:59:56,160 --> 00:59:59,840
Speaker 2: of years ago, but it has literally been translated into

811
01:00:00,520 --> 01:00:04,280
Speaker 2: I think thirty different languages, and over the course of

812
01:00:04,320 --> 01:00:07,720
Speaker 2: this weekend, we hope to see more than one million

813
01:00:07,840 --> 01:00:11,680
Speaker 2: people hear the story of the Thief on the Cross

814
01:00:12,440 --> 01:00:16,720
Speaker 2: and perhaps have their hearts opened, perhaps have their eyes opened,

815
01:00:17,320 --> 01:00:22,720
Speaker 2: and their lives changed, because they discover, similarly to the thief,

816
01:00:23,840 --> 01:00:27,240
Speaker 2: that no one is beyond God's reach. So, friend, if

817
01:00:27,280 --> 01:00:30,520
Speaker 2: you would like a copy of the film for yourself,

818
01:00:31,600 --> 01:00:37,000
Speaker 2: go to that kevinshow dot com backslash Heaven, put in

819
01:00:37,040 --> 01:00:40,080
Speaker 2: your email address and we will send you the trailer.

820
01:00:40,480 --> 01:00:42,479
Speaker 2: We will send you the full length film a link

821
01:00:42,520 --> 01:00:45,680
Speaker 2: to it, and we will send you the study questions

822
01:00:45,680 --> 01:00:48,840
Speaker 2: that you can use. We're not asking you to be

823
01:00:48,880 --> 01:00:51,720
Speaker 2: a theologian or a Bible expert in any way. But

824
01:00:51,880 --> 01:00:55,120
Speaker 2: if you can guide a few questions and answer a

825
01:00:55,120 --> 01:00:57,880
Speaker 2: few of them, we are more than happy to supply

826
01:00:58,000 --> 01:01:00,360
Speaker 2: the tools that you need to make this a part

827
01:01:00,400 --> 01:01:03,880
Speaker 2: of your Holy Week celebration this year. And who knows,

828
01:01:04,520 --> 01:01:08,480
Speaker 2: maybe someone you have been praying for for years, maybe

829
01:01:08,480 --> 01:01:12,000
Speaker 2: someone that you had, like many people in the thief's life,

830
01:01:12,080 --> 01:01:15,120
Speaker 2: probably did just given up on whether or not he

831
01:01:15,120 --> 01:01:19,680
Speaker 2: would ever come to be of anything of spiritual value.

832
01:01:19,760 --> 01:01:24,880
Speaker 2: And what he is discovering through the real life interaction

833
01:01:25,080 --> 01:01:29,680
Speaker 2: with Jesus himself is that Jesus grace and love are

834
01:01:29,760 --> 01:01:32,360
Speaker 2: never too far away, no matter what you've done, no

835
01:01:32,440 --> 01:01:34,880
Speaker 2: matter where you've been. There was nothing good that that

836
01:01:34,960 --> 01:01:37,920
Speaker 2: thief could do, and yet Jesus brought him to heaven

837
01:01:38,000 --> 01:01:41,040
Speaker 2: with him, assuring him that he would be with him

838
01:01:41,080 --> 01:01:44,080
Speaker 2: that day in Paradise. We have more of the thief

839
01:01:44,120 --> 01:01:47,000
Speaker 2: on the cross yet to go. Stay with us. Hi,

840
01:01:47,080 --> 01:01:49,720
Speaker 2: Kevin McCollough, Welcome back. In this day and age, we

841
01:01:49,840 --> 01:01:53,280
Speaker 2: don't seriously question whether or not people suffer from time

842
01:01:53,280 --> 01:01:57,800
Speaker 2: to time. We've seen pandemics wreck the world over, but

843
01:01:57,960 --> 01:02:02,280
Speaker 2: have we seen or sensed or experienced agony? True heart

844
01:02:02,320 --> 01:02:05,840
Speaker 2: wrenching agony, of the separation of a child from a parent,

845
01:02:06,440 --> 01:02:10,520
Speaker 2: of taking pain that the world has all onto one person.

846
01:02:11,160 --> 01:02:14,120
Speaker 2: That's the story of this chapter from Heaven. How I

847
01:02:14,200 --> 01:02:14,880
Speaker 2: got here.

848
01:02:15,800 --> 01:02:23,800
Speaker 3: Chapter seven, Agony, two fifty nine PM. Pain shot through

849
01:02:23,800 --> 01:02:27,200
Speaker 3: the nerves of my body as much after I trusted

850
01:02:27,280 --> 01:02:32,720
Speaker 3: in Jesus as it did before. With every hour that passed,

851
01:02:32,800 --> 01:02:36,520
Speaker 3: my pain increased, as the wounds from the nails and

852
01:02:36,600 --> 01:02:39,720
Speaker 3: my hands and my feet widened under the weight of

853
01:02:39,760 --> 01:02:47,080
Speaker 3: my body. Fever raged dehydration followed. My whole body was

854
01:02:47,360 --> 01:02:51,440
Speaker 3: burning up. It was the same for Jesus, and that

855
01:02:51,560 --> 01:03:03,280
Speaker 3: is why he cried out I thirst. Despite their barbarity,

856
01:03:04,040 --> 01:03:08,040
Speaker 3: the Roman soldiers sometimes offered a mild sedative to their

857
01:03:08,120 --> 01:03:12,600
Speaker 3: victims before crucifixion. Earlier in the morning. They had done

858
01:03:12,600 --> 01:03:18,000
Speaker 3: this for Jesus, offering him wine mixed with gall Jesus

859
01:03:18,000 --> 01:03:22,480
Speaker 3: refused the sedative. Any compassionate person would say to him,

860
01:03:22,880 --> 01:03:26,600
Speaker 3: drink take the sedative, doll your senses to the horrors

861
01:03:26,720 --> 01:03:30,920
Speaker 3: you're about to endure. But he did not take it.

862
01:03:32,200 --> 01:03:37,920
Speaker 3: Why At the time I despised him for this and

863
01:03:38,120 --> 01:03:41,440
Speaker 3: counted him a fool. But when I asked him to

864
01:03:41,520 --> 01:03:45,240
Speaker 3: remember me. I was so glad that his senses were

865
01:03:45,280 --> 01:03:52,040
Speaker 3: not dulled, drugged, or drowsy. Christ was fully conscious, and

866
01:03:52,120 --> 01:03:54,880
Speaker 3: that meant he was ready and able to save me,

867
01:03:55,920 --> 01:03:59,080
Speaker 3: to pray for his enemies, and reach out in love

868
01:03:59,200 --> 01:04:04,120
Speaker 3: to his mother. Becoming a man meant that Jesus's body

869
01:04:04,720 --> 01:04:07,720
Speaker 3: had a central nervous system, just like yours and mine.

870
01:04:08,320 --> 01:04:12,120
Speaker 3: So the physical agony of crucifixion was the same for

871
01:04:12,280 --> 01:04:15,919
Speaker 3: Jesus as it was for me. But there was more

872
01:04:16,040 --> 01:04:21,840
Speaker 3: to his pain. The physical agony what Jesus endured went

873
01:04:22,080 --> 01:04:27,720
Speaker 3: far beyond what I experienced that day. From the deepest darkness,

874
01:04:28,680 --> 01:04:36,120
Speaker 3: Jesus cried out in a loud voice, My God, My God,

875
01:04:37,400 --> 01:04:42,600
Speaker 3: why have you forsaken me? Nothing that I had endured

876
01:04:42,680 --> 01:04:44,720
Speaker 3: came close to what it meant for him to be

877
01:04:44,800 --> 01:04:52,360
Speaker 3: forsaken by his father. And there's more. Jesus experienced Hell

878
01:04:52,840 --> 01:04:57,400
Speaker 3: on the cross. Some people think that hell is a myth,

879
01:04:58,320 --> 01:05:01,120
Speaker 3: but I tell you that Hell is as realistic cross,

880
01:05:02,160 --> 01:05:05,120
Speaker 3: and it's more than just a way of describing something

881
01:05:05,200 --> 01:05:12,200
Speaker 3: really bad. Much more. Hell has six dimensions, and Jesus

882
01:05:12,240 --> 01:05:17,880
Speaker 3: experienced all of them on the cross. He was in

883
01:05:18,160 --> 01:05:26,760
Speaker 3: conscious suffering, he was in blackest darkness. He was surrounded

884
01:05:27,440 --> 01:05:33,800
Speaker 3: by demonic powers. He was bearing sin, he was under judgment,

885
01:05:34,960 --> 01:05:38,160
Speaker 3: He was separated from the knowledge of the love of

886
01:05:38,200 --> 01:05:47,520
Speaker 3: God that is hell. I endured the pains of crucifixion,

887
01:05:49,760 --> 01:05:56,200
Speaker 3: but I did not experience the agonies of hell. Jesus

888
01:05:56,280 --> 01:05:56,960
Speaker 3: endured them.

889
01:05:57,120 --> 01:05:57,440
Speaker 4: For me.

890
01:06:00,280 --> 01:06:05,280
Speaker 3: Never have to know what they are like. The more

891
01:06:05,360 --> 01:06:27,640
Speaker 3: I think about this, the more staggering it gets. Seeing

892
01:06:27,680 --> 01:06:31,360
Speaker 3: what Jesus suffered and hearing him cry out in agony

893
01:06:31,800 --> 01:06:36,800
Speaker 3: had a profound effect on me. From childhood, I had

894
01:06:36,800 --> 01:06:39,440
Speaker 3: been told that God's law was given to show us

895
01:06:39,480 --> 01:06:43,600
Speaker 3: our sins. That's true, But I have to tell you

896
01:06:44,320 --> 01:06:47,640
Speaker 3: that the clearest view I ever got of the ugliness

897
01:06:47,840 --> 01:06:51,600
Speaker 3: of my sin was not in reading the Ten Commandments,

898
01:06:52,560 --> 01:06:56,320
Speaker 3: but in being near to Jesus in that awful darkness

899
01:06:56,360 --> 01:07:01,080
Speaker 3: on the cross. I began to see that if my

900
01:07:01,280 --> 01:07:06,520
Speaker 3: sins caused him so much suffering, they must be very great. Indeed,

901
01:07:07,600 --> 01:07:10,600
Speaker 3: I learned to hate my sins of the cross. My

902
01:07:10,720 --> 01:07:14,240
Speaker 3: greatest desire was to be done with any and every

903
01:07:14,400 --> 01:07:17,480
Speaker 3: sin that had ever gained a foothold in my life.

904
01:07:18,760 --> 01:07:22,400
Speaker 3: I found myself longing to be holy, to be filled

905
01:07:22,400 --> 01:07:25,080
Speaker 3: with the love that I had seen in Jesus' eyes

906
01:07:26,120 --> 01:07:30,680
Speaker 3: and to live a life that would please him. I

907
01:07:30,760 --> 01:07:36,040
Speaker 3: only had a few hours left for that. I hope

908
01:07:36,080 --> 01:07:37,400
Speaker 3: you have much longer.

909
01:07:39,600 --> 01:07:42,000
Speaker 2: And if you have questions, the people at Unlocking the

910
01:07:42,080 --> 01:07:45,400
Speaker 2: Bible dot Com are standing by to answer, to be

911
01:07:45,440 --> 01:07:47,560
Speaker 2: candid with you. Friend. It's one of the most important

912
01:07:47,600 --> 01:07:51,919
Speaker 2: reasons why we put this radio special on this time

913
01:07:51,960 --> 01:07:55,200
Speaker 2: of year. People are leaning in a little bit to

914
01:07:55,240 --> 01:07:59,840
Speaker 2: the biblical narrative. What happened in these days? What was

915
01:07:59,880 --> 01:08:03,760
Speaker 2: it all about? Why was there a trial? Why did

916
01:08:04,000 --> 01:08:07,200
Speaker 2: a pilot make the decision he made? Why did Jesus

917
01:08:07,920 --> 01:08:11,960
Speaker 2: be convicted if he did nothing wrong? What you find

918
01:08:12,200 --> 01:08:16,360
Speaker 2: in digging through the deeper layers of this story is

919
01:08:16,400 --> 01:08:20,439
Speaker 2: that despite all the injustice and all the agony and

920
01:08:20,479 --> 01:08:24,519
Speaker 2: all the pain, that the very heart and core of

921
01:08:24,560 --> 01:08:28,280
Speaker 2: what this is is about allowing you a chance to

922
01:08:28,320 --> 01:08:31,639
Speaker 2: know the God who made you in the most intimate

923
01:08:31,880 --> 01:08:36,720
Speaker 2: and personal of relationships, that he sent his son to

924
01:08:36,720 --> 01:08:40,760
Speaker 2: pay the price that you owe so that you could

925
01:08:40,840 --> 01:08:45,400
Speaker 2: know him. We'll be right back with more Heaven. How

926
01:08:45,439 --> 01:08:50,040
Speaker 2: I Got Here? Hi, Kevin mccallaugh. Welcome back to Heaven.

927
01:08:50,040 --> 01:08:52,840
Speaker 2: How I Got Here? Authored by Colin s. Smith and

928
01:08:52,880 --> 01:08:55,520
Speaker 2: presented by Stephen Baldwin as Actor.

929
01:08:57,040 --> 01:09:09,880
Speaker 3: Chapter eight, Triumph, three PM. His voice pierced the silence

930
01:09:10,120 --> 01:09:16,559
Speaker 3: like the blast of a trumpet. It is finished, Father,

931
01:09:16,680 --> 01:09:22,400
Speaker 3: Into your hands, I commit my spirit. No one ever

932
01:09:22,479 --> 01:09:27,920
Speaker 3: died like this. Have you ever heard of someone whose

933
01:09:28,160 --> 01:09:34,320
Speaker 3: last words were spoken with a loud voice. When a

934
01:09:34,360 --> 01:09:40,760
Speaker 3: man dies, his voice becomes weaker than weaker, until it

935
01:09:40,840 --> 01:09:45,599
Speaker 3: is no more than a whisper, and then he is gone.

936
01:09:46,479 --> 01:09:50,360
Speaker 3: Nobody shouts at the moment of his own death, But

937
01:09:50,680 --> 01:09:56,519
Speaker 3: Jesus did. Christ entered into death not in defeat, but

938
01:09:56,640 --> 01:10:02,600
Speaker 3: in triumph. He was in complete control. He accomplished everything

939
01:10:02,960 --> 01:10:07,000
Speaker 3: he had come to do, and gave himself into death.

940
01:10:09,640 --> 01:10:14,559
Speaker 3: And then all hell brokeness. The earth beneath me shook,

941
01:10:15,240 --> 01:10:19,240
Speaker 3: causing the beam on which I was suspended to lurch violently.

942
01:10:20,400 --> 01:10:26,479
Speaker 3: The shock was agonizing. The crowd, whose jeering had been

943
01:10:26,600 --> 01:10:31,040
Speaker 3: quieted by the darkness, now erupted in panic and confusion.

944
01:10:32,080 --> 01:10:35,799
Speaker 3: People screamed as the tremors ripped through the city. Cracks

945
01:10:35,840 --> 01:10:40,080
Speaker 3: began to open in the ground. Was this the end?

946
01:10:42,479 --> 01:10:45,519
Speaker 3: I knew my time had almost run out, but had

947
01:10:45,640 --> 01:10:52,760
Speaker 3: humanity's time run out too? We had just crucified God's son,

948
01:10:54,240 --> 01:10:59,760
Speaker 3: God's justice had to fall. I closed my eyes and

949
01:10:59,800 --> 01:11:04,439
Speaker 3: I held my breath, bracing myself against whatever came next.

950
01:11:06,200 --> 01:11:10,679
Speaker 3: The commander, who was responsible for overseeing our executions, looked

951
01:11:10,720 --> 01:11:14,600
Speaker 3: up at Jesus's lifeless body and said, surely this was

952
01:11:14,680 --> 01:11:18,519
Speaker 3: the son of God. The soldiers, who a few hours

953
01:11:18,520 --> 01:11:22,360
Speaker 3: before had cast lots for Jesus's robe, now looked at

954
01:11:22,360 --> 01:11:27,520
Speaker 3: each other in fear and terror. What have we done

955
01:11:27,880 --> 01:11:32,160
Speaker 3: for me? There was a strange comfort. The man who

956
01:11:32,160 --> 01:11:36,880
Speaker 3: had carried out my execution now shared my faith. In

957
01:11:36,920 --> 01:11:40,960
Speaker 3: those surreal moments after the quake, the crowd dispersed into

958
01:11:40,960 --> 01:11:46,000
Speaker 3: the shadows. They were frightened, They were confused what had

959
01:11:46,080 --> 01:11:51,280
Speaker 3: just happened? Then, as suddenly as the darkness had descended

960
01:11:51,760 --> 01:12:03,439
Speaker 3: on us hours before, it lifted, the lifeless body of

961
01:12:03,520 --> 01:12:06,960
Speaker 3: Jesus hung in silence a few feet away from me,

962
01:12:08,240 --> 01:12:19,880
Speaker 3: and having staked everything on him, I now felt completely alone.

963
01:12:20,240 --> 01:12:29,240
Speaker 3: Right before Jesus died, he said, it is finished. When

964
01:12:29,320 --> 01:12:33,479
Speaker 3: was I ever able to say that? My life was

965
01:12:33,520 --> 01:12:39,679
Speaker 3: a tangle of flue sands, nothing was complete. My mother

966
01:12:39,760 --> 01:12:43,880
Speaker 3: poured all her energy into the pursuit of a godly life,

967
01:12:44,280 --> 01:12:48,120
Speaker 3: but For all of her relentless effort, the feeling of

968
01:12:48,600 --> 01:12:53,400
Speaker 3: incompleteness haunted her. She found it hard to rest because

969
01:12:53,400 --> 01:12:56,400
Speaker 3: she always felt there was more to do, more that

970
01:12:56,520 --> 01:13:01,160
Speaker 3: was required. Nothing was ever enough. She was right in

971
01:13:01,240 --> 01:13:05,720
Speaker 3: saying that there is no rest for the wicked. I

972
01:13:05,800 --> 01:13:08,439
Speaker 3: knew that to be true. But as far as I

973
01:13:08,479 --> 01:13:12,320
Speaker 3: could see, there isn't much rest for people who try

974
01:13:12,360 --> 01:13:19,880
Speaker 3: to be righteous either. It is finished. Now, There's something

975
01:13:19,880 --> 01:13:23,160
Speaker 3: that neither I nor my mother could ever have said,

976
01:13:24,920 --> 01:13:30,639
Speaker 3: but Jesus said it with a shout of triumph. Time

977
01:13:30,800 --> 01:13:35,759
Speaker 3: seemed to stretch on forever. Then suddenly there was movement.

978
01:13:35,880 --> 01:13:38,839
Speaker 3: Some one had come out from the city. The soldiers

979
01:13:38,920 --> 01:13:44,080
Speaker 3: immediately stood at attention. New instructions were given. Killed the criminals,

980
01:13:44,240 --> 01:13:48,000
Speaker 3: bury the bodies, take down the crosses. So the soldiers

981
01:13:48,320 --> 01:13:53,719
Speaker 3: turned and walked purposefully toward me, armed with their clubs.

982
01:13:54,040 --> 01:13:56,040
Speaker 3: For one swing to the head with one of those

983
01:13:56,080 --> 01:13:59,120
Speaker 3: would kill a man. And if there was any interest

984
01:13:59,160 --> 01:14:01,920
Speaker 3: in believing my pain, they could have ended my life

985
01:14:01,960 --> 01:14:05,120
Speaker 3: in an instant. But that was not what they had

986
01:14:05,160 --> 01:14:11,559
Speaker 3: in mind. My legs were their target. I screamed out

987
01:14:11,680 --> 01:14:15,759
Speaker 3: as the first blow slammed into my knees. Then the second,

988
01:14:16,320 --> 01:14:21,320
Speaker 3: and then the third. My body sad suspended but no

989
01:14:21,360 --> 01:14:30,759
Speaker 3: longer supported. Unbearable pain seared through my aching hands. Without

990
01:14:30,800 --> 01:14:33,280
Speaker 3: the support of my legs, I no longer had the

991
01:14:33,280 --> 01:14:37,280
Speaker 3: strength to lift my body and to breathe on me.

992
01:14:37,400 --> 01:14:43,479
Speaker 3: A few minutes longer, they moved to the victim on

993
01:14:43,520 --> 01:14:46,960
Speaker 3: the other side of Jesus and broke his legs too.

994
01:14:47,400 --> 01:14:50,280
Speaker 3: Now this one, said one of the soldiers as they

995
01:14:50,320 --> 01:14:56,320
Speaker 3: came to Jesus, he's already dead. To make sure, we

996
01:14:56,400 --> 01:15:00,800
Speaker 3: don't want any doubt, the soldier pulled back with his

997
01:15:00,880 --> 01:15:04,679
Speaker 3: spear and with full force, brammed it into the side

998
01:15:04,680 --> 01:15:08,400
Speaker 3: of Jesus's body, ripping it open with a huge gash,

999
01:15:08,439 --> 01:15:13,639
Speaker 3: from which his blood spilled out onto the ground. That

1000
01:15:15,720 --> 01:15:27,800
Speaker 3: was the last thing I saw on Earth. I sometimes

1001
01:15:27,880 --> 01:15:31,519
Speaker 3: wondered what the journey of my soul leaving my body

1002
01:15:31,560 --> 01:15:36,479
Speaker 3: would be like. Being launched out like a shivering ghost,

1003
01:15:36,720 --> 01:15:41,800
Speaker 3: lost and alone in the unknown, vastness of space, I

1004
01:15:41,920 --> 01:15:48,000
Speaker 3: thought was terrifying me, But the reality was very different.

1005
01:15:49,520 --> 01:15:52,599
Speaker 3: It felt for me like moving through a tunnel at

1006
01:15:52,680 --> 01:15:59,280
Speaker 3: lightning speed. The release was sweet. After hours of pain.

1007
01:15:59,360 --> 01:16:06,040
Speaker 3: I closed my eyes and was set free. When the

1008
01:16:06,080 --> 01:16:11,800
Speaker 3: moment came, I knew I was not alone. I was accompanied,

1009
01:16:12,720 --> 01:16:16,200
Speaker 3: I was carried, I was taken up, and I was

1010
01:16:16,600 --> 01:16:25,400
Speaker 3: welcomed by Jesus himself. Death is a dark place that

1011
01:16:25,600 --> 01:16:28,599
Speaker 3: Jesus had already been through it, and he had made

1012
01:16:28,600 --> 01:16:34,479
Speaker 3: it a safe place for me, and watching now from

1013
01:16:34,479 --> 01:16:39,120
Speaker 3: the other side, I've seen millions of people come through

1014
01:16:39,240 --> 01:16:42,799
Speaker 3: safely because of him.

1015
01:16:43,040 --> 01:16:45,559
Speaker 2: The final thoughts from the Thief on the Cross when

1016
01:16:45,600 --> 01:16:48,280
Speaker 2: we conclude in a moment and welcome back to the

1017
01:16:48,320 --> 01:16:50,719
Speaker 2: final segment of Heaven. How I got here the story

1018
01:16:50,760 --> 01:16:53,400
Speaker 2: of the Thief on the Cross. I'm Cavin mcchella. If

1019
01:16:53,400 --> 01:16:56,000
Speaker 2: you have any question about what you've heard. Unlocking the

1020
01:16:56,080 --> 01:16:57,599
Speaker 2: Bible dot org.

1021
01:16:59,080 --> 01:17:06,280
Speaker 3: Nine Safety five thirty eight pm. The lifeless body of

1022
01:17:06,360 --> 01:17:10,599
Speaker 3: Jesus was still hanging on the cross beside me. Beyond him,

1023
01:17:10,680 --> 01:17:14,400
Speaker 3: the other victim had exhausted himself, and those still breathing

1024
01:17:14,960 --> 01:17:22,840
Speaker 3: had become largely silent. Where had Jesus gone. He told

1025
01:17:22,880 --> 01:17:29,719
Speaker 3: me today, you will be with me in Paradise. Today

1026
01:17:30,200 --> 01:17:35,320
Speaker 3: meant before sundown. And he said with me, so he

1027
01:17:35,439 --> 01:17:40,360
Speaker 3: would be there too. I believed him, so there was

1028
01:17:40,439 --> 01:17:43,120
Speaker 3: no doubt in my mind that Jesus was in heaven already,

1029
01:17:43,400 --> 01:17:46,320
Speaker 3: He had gone there ahead of me. When Jesus died,

1030
01:17:46,400 --> 01:17:50,719
Speaker 3: he said, Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit.

1031
01:17:50,960 --> 01:17:54,800
Speaker 3: He had no doubt about where he was going. His

1032
01:17:54,880 --> 01:17:57,559
Speaker 3: body remained on the cross until it was taken down

1033
01:17:57,560 --> 01:18:00,720
Speaker 3: and laid in the tomb, but his spirit went immediately

1034
01:18:01,040 --> 01:18:04,160
Speaker 3: into the presence of his father in heaven. At the

1035
01:18:04,240 --> 01:18:07,879
Speaker 3: moment of his death, Jesus was translated from the agony

1036
01:18:08,000 --> 01:18:12,400
Speaker 3: of suffering in the body to the conscious enjoyment of

1037
01:18:12,600 --> 01:18:16,640
Speaker 3: life in heaven, and he had promised the same to me.

1038
01:18:21,280 --> 01:18:23,880
Speaker 3: It felt as if that my sins would overwhelm me

1039
01:18:23,960 --> 01:18:28,040
Speaker 3: and damn me forever. All I could do was trust

1040
01:18:28,200 --> 01:18:34,840
Speaker 3: the promise of Jesus. Today you will be in paradise.

1041
01:18:35,600 --> 01:18:38,720
Speaker 3: He had given his word, and I found hope in

1042
01:18:38,800 --> 01:18:42,960
Speaker 3: believing that his commitment to bring me into Heaven would

1043
01:18:43,000 --> 01:18:47,639
Speaker 3: be stronger than everything that would conspire to keep me out.

1044
01:18:49,400 --> 01:18:53,760
Speaker 3: Trusting in Jesus begins with a decision, a commitment, and

1045
01:18:53,840 --> 01:18:58,920
Speaker 3: a prayer. But it's more than that, trusting Jesus as

1046
01:18:58,960 --> 01:19:02,240
Speaker 3: a way of life. Looking back, I see that I

1047
01:19:02,320 --> 01:19:06,439
Speaker 3: wasted my years on earth. I lived for myself. I

1048
01:19:06,560 --> 01:19:11,080
Speaker 3: failed to love God. But that changed when I met

1049
01:19:11,160 --> 01:19:17,599
Speaker 3: Jesus Christ, a king capture to my mind. His love

1050
01:19:17,800 --> 01:19:21,240
Speaker 3: and care for me laid hold of my heart. If

1051
01:19:21,240 --> 01:19:24,080
Speaker 3: I had been given a longer life on earth, I

1052
01:19:24,120 --> 01:19:29,160
Speaker 3: would have lived it for him. No question, that gift

1053
01:19:29,280 --> 01:19:32,840
Speaker 3: was not given to me, but right now it is

1054
01:19:32,880 --> 01:19:37,760
Speaker 3: being given to you. So please cherish every day you

1055
01:19:37,880 --> 01:19:41,120
Speaker 3: have and live in a way that honors your Lord

1056
01:19:41,200 --> 01:19:46,200
Speaker 3: and savior, Jesus Christ. And Jesus gives all of us

1057
01:19:46,320 --> 01:19:54,479
Speaker 3: who trust him a whole new purpose and desire. It's

1058
01:19:54,560 --> 01:19:58,599
Speaker 3: not so much that you are living for something. You

1059
01:19:58,640 --> 01:20:03,080
Speaker 3: are living for someone, the one who loved you and

1060
01:20:03,160 --> 01:20:06,719
Speaker 3: gave himself for you, the one that you are going

1061
01:20:06,800 --> 01:20:12,679
Speaker 3: to share the unending choice of heaven with, the one

1062
01:20:13,040 --> 01:20:18,920
Speaker 3: who one day who welcome you into heaven, Jesus Christ,

1063
01:20:19,520 --> 01:20:20,320
Speaker 3: the Son of God.

1064
01:20:23,160 --> 01:20:25,599
Speaker 2: This has been a production of Unlocking the Bible, and

1065
01:20:25,640 --> 01:20:29,280
Speaker 2: you can get questions answered at Unlockingthebible dot org. I'm

1066
01:20:29,320 --> 01:20:31,800
Speaker 2: Calvin McCullough. Thank you for spending this time with us,

1067
01:20:31,960 --> 01:20:35,280
Speaker 2: and we pray it's added something meaningful to your experience

1068
01:20:36,040 --> 01:20:37,120
Speaker 2: this Holy Week season.

1069
01:20:41,200 --> 01:20:50,320
Speaker 4: Jesus, Oh thou mine.

1070
01:20:54,439 --> 01:21:04,720
Speaker 1: For all of SENI resign.

1071
01:21:09,000 --> 01:21:29,639
Speaker 4: My gracious Street team my Savior. If eever loved my Jesus,

1072
01:21:31,479 --> 01:21:39,320
Speaker 4: tis now I love you because

1073
01:21:41,720 --> 01:21:45,680
Speaker 1: Have first loved me for diusness