Category: Suffering

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The Executioner’s Dream

A Story of the Executioner at Golgotha by Harry L. Whitt

After their scourging, we herded the three men through the jeering streets to Golgotha. The citizens of Jerusalem hate us only a bit less than we hate them. Being assigned to the occupation force of Judea is a good point for a possible promotion but today the city is set on edge. One of the three is a popular prophet to the common people but hated by the elites of their counsel.

Finally, we are out of the bustle of the city streets and bring the three miserable souls to the top of the hill, the place of the skull. The rock outcropping resembles a skull, and today it is the place of execution for all to see.

The schemer who devised the crucifixion is to be congratulated. Nothing puts the fear and dread in occupied people as the crucifixion. It is an agonizing death to endure and to witness. I have killed countless men in warfare with sword and spear, but this is the most gruesome of all.

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How to Make Sense of Nonsense?

The short answer to my title question is, “You can’t!” We all have spent time racking our brains about something so absurd and coming to no conclusion to our question of “Why?”

A stranger with whom you have no quarrel keys your car with a long scratch. You watch the news where a young child was playing in their room when a stray bullet sends the child to Heaven and the perpetrator to jail and perhaps to Hell. The horrors of war fill our screens and you and I collectively scream, “WHY??”

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Persecution from a Christian Perspective

On a typical Sunday morning in the United States, as we ease into our comfortable pews if someone were to ask us, “Are you comfortable?”  Our response may be about the pew or the temperature level in the church.  While in other places of the world “comfortable” is not a consideration in their Christianity.  They may have looked over their shoulder as they turned down the street leading to the gathering of the saints.  The cramped quarters or the temperature level is the least of their concerns. Continue reading “Persecution from a Christian Perspective”

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Be Comfortable, Being Uncomfortable

I remember climbing into my mosquito-net-covered-bed while in Haiti and lying down to sleep just sweltering in the 85 degree heat even at 10:00 pm.  It was June, we had no electricity, and my only relief from the heat was a little battery operated six inch fan positioned to blow a little relief over my torso and face.  In that moment, I remembered a phrase I had heard or read but no longer remembered the source; it was something like, “Be comfortable, being uncomfortable”.   So in my mind, I surrendered to the state of contentment; being comfortable with my uncomfortable situation and went to sleep in my sweat.

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