The Most Amazing Gift Ever!

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How good do you have to be to get to heaven?

The Bible teaches that God is holy and perfect, and as such He requires perfect obedience (Matt 5:48). But, as we all know, "no one is perfect." How then can we ever have a relationship with God or get to heaven?

Well, the Bible tells the story of who God is and what He did to bring people into relationship with Him. Here's how the story unfolds:

I. Creation: The Bible tells us that God created the universe, and He created human beings to be in a loving relationship with Him forever. But, something went terribly wrong:

II. Death: The Bible then tells us how man disobeyed God and decided to make up his own rules for living apart from God. This is basically the meaning of "sin." As a result of sin, death came into the world: "For the wages of sin is death..." (Rom 6:23) This death is seen in two ways:

         - Physical Death: there's a saying that "life is short." The Bible agrees and says, "You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." (James 4:14). Life is indeed short. We are all going to physically die one day, and none of us knows for sure when that will happen. 

        - Spiritual Death: the Bible says that we are "dead in our trespasses and sins…" (Eph 2:1). This means that we are separated from the life of God and relationship with Him.

So, the problem for us is that because of sin, both physical and spiritual death has entered into our existence, and no amount of good works can change this situation. We are all guilty before God, and one day we're all going to be judged for our sins.

If that were the end of the story, we would have no hope! But that's not the end of the story! We now see what God did to bring us into relationship with Himself!

III. New Life: The greatest "good news" that has ever been given to mankind is that Jesus Christ did everything that was needed to bring us into relationship with God!

Jesus was fully God and fully man. He came as our substitute: He took our place. He obeyed God's law perfectly, died on the cross to pay the full penalty for our sins, and then He rose bodily from the grave so that everyone who trusts in Him alone would have a relationship with God that would last forever!

So, getting to heaven and having a relationship with God isn't based on what you do or how good you are. It's based entirely on God's grace and what Jesus Christ alone has done for you! It's a gift! God's Word says: "…the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus" (Rom 6:23).

How then do you receive this amazing gift? Through saving faith and repentance. Jesus said, "…repent and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1:15) In other words, turn from your way of living to God's way of living (repentance), and place all of your trust in Jesus Christ alone to save you (saving faith). The Bible says, "For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works…" (Eph 2:8,9)

Would you like to receive the most amazing gift ever; God's free gift of eternal life? You can do that right now! Here is a suggested prayer:

"Dear God, I believe that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man, and that he died for my sins and rose bodily from the grave. I now place my life in your hands, Jesus. I trust in you alone to save me! I turn from my sins and commit my life to you. Thank you for forgiving me of all of my sins. Amen."

If you prayed that prayer, please let me know! I would love to rejoice with you, and direct you to some helpful resources.

My email address is johnandursula@yahoo.com

Sermon: The Crucifixion of Christ

The following are excerpts from a sermon I preached at The Voice of the Gospel Mission in Middletown, NY, March 28, 2010:

Text: Matthew 27:31-52

...The life changing reality of our text today is that because Jesus was crucified, we now have access to God by faith alone, and we are called to carry our cross. And we will look at three things today: 1) The Brutality of the Cross, 2) the Humiliation of the Cross, and 3) the Necessity of the Cross. So lets look at our first point today:

I. The Brutality of the Cross

A. Flogging: was so brutal that very often people would in fact die from it. One commentary states: “Scourging was a cruel and barbaric punishment…The whip or scourge itself was an inhumane instrument consisting of a handle with several leather thongs attached, which were weighted on the ends with jagged pieces of bone, metal, and rock. Frequently, the agony of the scourging resulted in death. Victims lost eyes and teeth, were occasionally disemboweled and were almost always horribly disfigured."

B. Crucifixion: the victim was stripped naked and then laid on the cross. Large 7-inch spikes were driven through the hands (in the wrist area) and heels of feet. And the way a person died on the cross was through asphyxiation. Cicero, a Roman historian, described the horror of crucifixion as: “the most cruel and hideous of tortures.” and "the very mention of the cross (should) be far removed not only from a Roman citizen’s body, but from his mind, his eyes, his ears."

D. Here's the picture: Jesus, the spotless, perfect, lamb of God, is brutally whipped and has the flesh torn off of His body. Christ was so disfigured from the beating that He took, that the prophet Isaiah, foreseeing what would happen to Christ, says that the Messiah would be "so disfigured he seemed hardly human, and from His appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man." And then He is paraded through the streets of Jerusalem, and taken outside of the city gates, and laid down on a piece of wood, where spikes driven through His hands and feet, and where He would spend the next 7 hours or so in incredible agony and torment.

Why did God choose this method to redeem His people? I think we can see at least three reasons as to why God might have chosen this method over others.

You see, when we look at the cross, we see something of:

1. God's holiness: when we look at the horror of the crucifixion, we get as sense of just what God thinks about sin. God hates sin so much that He would have it crucified.

2. The Love of God: when we look at the cross, we see the depth of the love of God and the extent He was willing to go in order to save us. God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son! So, when we consider the cross, we see both God's holiness and His love.

3. The cross also shows us the horror of sin itself! ...Man was created in the image of God, but when sin entered the equation, that image became marred. Man as he is today in his fallen condition is so disfigured from his original state, that he is barely recognizable in terms of what He was really created to be. And that is part of what our redemption in Christ is all about. In Christ we are renewed, and in a real sense we have our true humanity restored to us, as we are being conformed more and more to the image of Christ, the one who showed us what a human being was supposed to look like.

II. The Humiliation of the Cross

A. Crucifixion was a powerful symbol of humiliation and shame that was reserved for the worst and lowest. Jews viewed it as a sign of being accursed by God.

B. Mockery: The mocking of Jesus actually begins when Jesus is arrested and is taunted and mocked by both the Jewish and Romans authorities. Our text presents us with the constant mockery of Christ:

In v. 34 - wine to drink, mixed with gall. This drink was not meant to comfort Jesus. The fact that the wine was mixed with gall, which is a bitter herb, meant that the wine would have been undrinkable.

v. 36 THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS – Jesus was unjustly charged by the Romans with the false charge of insurrection. And this sign that is placed above Jesus' head on the cross, is meant to mock both Jesus and the Jews. It's as if the Romans were saying to the Jews: there's your king. Of course this king was doing precisely what He had come to do: He had come not to begin an insurrection against the oppressive tyranny of the human government that the Jews found themselves under; but to overthrow the oppressive spiritual forces and rulers and cosmic powers over this present darkness, and to deliver us from the tyranny and slavery of sin and death.

vv. 38 - 45 - everyone, those who passed by, religious leaders, and even the robbers who were crucified with Jesus, mocked Jesus.

...Jesus' humiliation didn't begin here. We need to understand what theologians refer to as the two estates of Christ. By this they mean that there two patterns that marked Jesus' life and ministry that are seen in Scripture. The first characteristic is what we refer to simply as humiliation, which begins with His incarnation and spans His entire earhtly life. The second is what we refer to as exaltation, which begins with Jesus' resurrection.

The apostle Paul describes Jesus' state of humiliation this way in Phil 3:5-7: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

Think of it: The eternal Son of God, who dwelled in a state of perfect blessedness with the Father and the Spirit from all eternity, and who created all things, voluntary stoops down out of the glory of Heaven into this sin ravaged and fallen world. And He takes on all of the limitations of human flesh, and enters into the fullness of human experience, all without sin:

He who gives food to the sparrow, knows what it's like to experience hunger.

He who created the springs of water that quenches our thirst, knows what it's like to thirst.

He who owns the cattle on a thousand hills, knows what it's like to own nothing except the clothes on His back.

He who dwelled in the splendor of Heaven, knows what it's like to dwell in poverty and not have a place to lay His head.

He who lays down His life for His friends, knows what it's like to be abandoned by all of His friends.

He who is Faithful, knows what it's like to be betrayed with a kiss.

He who is the Truth, knows what it's like to have someone bear false testimony against Him.

He who is our Advocate, knows what it's like to have people shout "crucify Him, crucify Him!"

He who is all-powerful, knows what it's like to be weak. He who is life, knows what it's like to suffer death.

He who is the Blessed one, knows what it's like to be cursed.

So we see that His entire life and ministry here on earth was marked by humiliation, which finds its climax here at the cross, where the One who clothes the lilies of the field, is Himself stripped naked, and is nailed to a tree that He created, by creatures that He had made in His image. The ones who are putting Him to death, are in fact the ones that He is dying for.

In summing up the humiliation of Christ, the Scriptures use one simple word that captures the full scope of what Christ did, and that word is "suffering." And the reason this is so important for us to understand is because our lives are to follow the same basic pattern as that of our Lord. As the Master had His two estates of humiliation and exaltation, so shall we.

But what does this mean for us? Listen again to what the apostle Paul said in Phil 3:5-9: "let this mind be in you which was also in Christ…" You see, we are so quick to get to the part of that passage that talks about what Jesus did that we completely overlook how that passage begins: it begins with a command to us, that this is what is supposed to shape our thinking and our lives. And what did Jesus do? He made himself nothing! He humbled Himself. He took the form of a servant. He died the most humiliating of deaths.

So we see that are called to the same pattern of life which culminates in the death of the cross...Our lives are to be stamped by everything that is represented by the cross: humiliation, self-denial, and death, and that death is where we are dying daily to our ourselves. Dying to our selfishness and pride, dying to our anger, and dying to always have to assert our rights. Dying to retaliation.

But you see, the modern church today, especially in America, simply doesn't understand this. Why does the church lack spiritual power? Because it is unwilling to die. It is unwilling to suffer. It is unwilling to bear the cross. The idea that many American Christians have is that once you get saved, the Christian life is about you experiencing what amounts to the American dream; it's about you experiencing, "your best life now," and that best life now is never described in terms of suffering and cross-bearing, but always in terms of the same exact things that the world runs after: health, wealth, comfort, power, prestige, and popularity.

So what we have then is that much of the church today looks to the same things as the world does to define itself and to measure whether or not it is walking in the power Spirit. In other words, it looks to the exact opposite things that the Lord God has called it to, and then has the audacity to call it "spiritual" and to call it "Spirit filled!"

...But the point is that we see the pattern: when we are brought to saving faith in Christ, we are said to be raised with Christ. And the same power by which Jesus was raised from the dead is now at work in us. But, that power is at work in us to bring us to the cross. It brings us to the pattern of humiliation, where we deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow the Master. It brings us down to the place of humility and weakness, and poverty of spirit, because it there where the power of God is made manifest...

III. The Necessity of the Crucifixion:

A. Look at v. 46: "My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me:" Why does Jesus say these words? Well, what we discover is that Jesus is directly quoting Ps. 22:1, and when we read through that Psalm, which was written about 900 years before Christ was even born, we see many descriptions of what would happen at the cross...

All of this teaches us that the crucifixion of Christ was not a divine afterthought! The crucifixion of the second person of the Trinity was something that was conceived of in the mind of God before time even began. Jesus is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and as the apostle Peter says Jesus was "…delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God."

And so now we see Jesus, enduring that which was ordained from the foundation of the world, quoting the words that were written with Him in mind 900 years before He was born, as He cries out: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!" And with these words we see the ultimate point of despair for Jesus. Jesus, the eternal Son of God became a man so that He could be our substitute and bear our sins. And what is it that our sins deserved? It is the full wrath of God. It is being cut off from the blessedness of His presence to experience the fullness of His wrath for sin...

...And it's not that the Father turned His back while Jesus on the cross. It was that the Father turned to Jesus in the fullness of His wrath against sin, when He took our sin upon Himself, so that what Jesus experienced on the cross was in essence, Hell. He is literally cut off by God. He is actually forsaken, cursed and forced to endure outer darkness, which as we note in our text that darkness had actually fallen over the land even though it was the middle of the day! This is the true horror of the cross! It is the curse. It being forsaken by God. This is agony that Jesus didn't want to experience for even one second, but which those who do not turn to Christ will be forced to endure for eternity.

...So, it was necessary for Jesus to die on the cross in order to bear the curse of God for our sins. But, we also discover that it was necessary in order of us to have access to God.

B. Look at v. 51 Read verse 51: (Heb 9): Here we are told that the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The curtain marked the entrance into the Most Holy Place. The Most Holy Place symbolized the fact that no one could approach God. And only the High Priest could enter the Most Holy Place once a year, and only with blood, in order to make atonement for sins. But you see, this all foreshadowed what Christ do. The earthly was only a copy of the heavenly, which Christ Himself, after having made atonement for ours, entered, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

And at that moment, the curtain to the earthly temple is torn, which speaks to the fact that now we have direct access into the Most Holy Place—into the very throne room of Grace, because of the blood of Christ, which was shed once and for all.

Conclusion:

We have seen the brutality of the cross, the humiliation of the cross, and the necessity of the cross. And we have discovered that because of His work on the cross, we have access now to God by faith, and our lives are to be patterned after the pattern of Christ's.

We are called to the suffering of Cross bearing, which looks a denial ourselves, and putting sin to death. It looks like forgiveness, and love. The problem though is that frankly, we are too infatuated by the comforts of the world, and far too often we chase the things that the world chases after.

People in the church today want Rolls Royce faith, when they should be asking for cross-bearing faith. People want a faith that gets them want they want, when they should be asking for a faith that sacrifices for the cause of the Gospel.

Let us today look fully and squarely at the cross of Christ. Let us not lose sight of the horror of it, and all that Christ endured to set us free from the power of sin and death. And let us not forget that the cross is not the end of the story. Jesus is risen! And He has been highly exalted, and at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess.

Let us endeavor this day to live a cross-stamped life, recognizing that the power that raised Christ from the dead is at work in us, not to enable us to run after what the world does, but to enable to die to ourselves, so that the life of Christ might be manifested in us.

Amen.

A Brief Gospel Presentation With Texts

By John Orlando

The Bible teaches that the Triune God of the Bible (Matt 28:19) created man in His image (Gen 1:27), and held out to man the promise of everlasting communion with God upon the condition of personal, perpetual, and perfect obedience to His Law (Gen 2:9, 17; Rom 10:5).

Our first parents, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God (Gen 3:6,7), and as a result sin and death entered the world and everyone that has been born after Adam and Eve has inherited both the guilt of that first sin (Rom 5:12, 19), as well as a corrupt sin nature (Gen 6:5; Rom 3:10-19; Eph 2:1-3). Man is thus a sinner both by nature (Psalm 51:5) and by his own personal sins that he commits in thought, word, and deed (Matt 15:19, James 1:14-15).

All people are thus separated and alienated from God (Gen 3:8, Col 1:21) and stand condemned before God because of their sin (Rom 5:18). The Scriptures proclaim, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23), and “the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23).

God though in His mercy (Rom 9:15-16) sent His Son, Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully man (John 1:1, 14), to save sinners by being their substitute (Gal 3:13). Jesus obeyed God’s Law perfectly where we never could (Rom 8:7; Gal 2:16; Gal 4:4), died on the cross to pay the full penalty for sins (1 Pet 2:24), and rose bodily from the grave to secure a place in Heaven as an absolutely free gift for all who turn from their sins and trust and rest in Christ alone by His grace alone (Rom 4:25; Rom 6:23; Acts 20:21; Eph 2:8-9).

When a person, by God's grace and Spirit alone (Rom 2:29; Titus 3:5-7), trusts in Jesus Christ alone for their salvation, God pardons that person of all of their sins, past, present, and future (Col 1:13-14; Psalm 103:12; John 6:47), and He declares them as righteous forever because of the the perfect righteousness and full satisfaction of Christ which is imputed to them (Rom. 4:6-8; 5:17-19).

A person then who turns from their sins and trusts in Jesus Christ alone for salvation can know for certain that they will go to Heaven when they die (1 John 5:13) because of the perfect life and death of the risen and ascended Christ, who ever lives to make intercession for His people (Heb 7:25).

Calvinism and Arminianism: An "in-house" debate?

In 2006, Drs. James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries and Tom Ascol of The Founders were all set to debate Drs. Ergun and Emir Caner on the issue of Calvinism. But for various reasons, the debate never took place. You can read what I wrote about the situation here: http://www.geocities.com/johnandursula/nodebate.

I was reminded of this because I recently saw Ergun Caner being interviewed on a Christian television station. During the interview, one question that was put to him was something along the lines of whether or not the devil existed, or how it is that we know that the devil is real. In giving his answer, Dr. Caner began to speak about "forced love," and the fact that forced love is not real love. In other words, the reason there is a devil is because in order for love to be real, it cannot be forced. Thus, Lucifer became the devil because God could not force Lucifer to love him.

I found this kind of argumentation interesting (not to mentioned flawed for various reasons). The reason I found it interesting is because this is the same kind of "logic" that Caner employs when he objects to Calvinism. He thinks that when God raises spiritually dead sinners and graciously gives them ability to freely love Christ, that this is "forced love."

Never mind that Calvinism is careful to clearly maintain the will of man is never forced or coerced by God, and that when God converts a sinner, He does so by freeing him from his natural bondage under sin; and, by his grace alone, enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good (see the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 9, which, ironically enough, is entitled "Of Free Will").

Anyway, I was reminded of the debate that never took place 3 years ago, and just how important the issues that were to be under debate really are. In the article I wrote before the debate was cancelled: http://www.geocities.com/johnandursula/baptistscalvinism, I commented on the importance of the issues. I wanted to provide this quote of mine from that article because I just think it really helps put the issues in perspective:

"The matters being discussed are central to Biblical Christianity. Some people refer to this as an in house debate, but I prefer to call it an "in community" debate. We are in the same community, in that we are united in Christ, believing that salvation is by faith alone in the finished work of Christ. But if we’re honest, these are two completely different houses built upon two totally different foundations. One house is built on the sure foundation of an omnipotent and absolutely sovereign, Triune and perfect God who brings about all of His perfect will without fail, and the blood of a perfect Savior who never fails to save those given to Him by the Father, and the mighty regenerating power and grace of the Holy Spirit of God, who never fails to bring those chosen from before the foundation of the world to saving faith by first removing their stony hearts and giving them hearts of flesh. The other house is built on the sand of human autonomy and vain human philosophy that ultimately places man as the captain of his own ship, and God as the innocent bystander who nervously paces the halls of heaven in hopes that someone…anyone, might “select” Him. One house can rightly say that salvation is by grace alone, because it is a grace that is truly amazing in that it secures, and bestows, all that is necessary for salvation, to include the ability to savingly believe the Gospel and repent from sin. The other house can only say that salvation is by grace, but that grace doesn’t secure or bestow anything except an “opportunity” for the person, in the power of his own flesh, to muster up the moral ability to comply with the command to repent and believe the Gospel."

Soli Deo Gloria,

John

What is the Gospel?

As Christians, the word "Gospel" is used so frequently that sometimes we actually aren't quite sure what is meant by it. As a matter of fact, what I have discovered is that very often many of us really aren’t quite sure just what the Gospel is, and just why it is such good news.

I'm sure that if you were to ask Christians today to define the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the sad fact is that many of us would really have no idea of what to say. This should greatly concern us for many reasons, especially because as we read through the pages of Scripture, we discover that the all-consuming focus and passion of the God-breathed Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation is the glory of God as most significantly revealed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is with this in mind that I would like to direct readers to a brief article entitled What is the Gospel? It is written by Pastor Steve Steve Froehlich of New Life Presbyterian Church in Ithaca, NY. This article contains one of the most clear, concise, and edifying statements of the Gospel and its benefits that I have seen.

If you are a believer, I trust you will find the article to be very edifying, and possibly even educational. If you are not a believer and are considering Christianity, I think that the article will serve to really give you a great idea of what Christians mean when they say "Gospel," and why it is so important for you to consider.

Happy reading,

John

Christian Music

The "worship wars" have seemed to settle down a bit, as I have not heard much static about contemporary music, lyrical shallowness, etc. So, since there seems to be relative peace on the matter, I thought I'd stir the pot! (just kidding).

Actually, as one who has led worship, been on "worship teams," and loves music, I thought that I would highlight three ministries that I think are "must haves" either for personal edification, or, in some cases, for use in the worship services of those that have a contemporary worship style.

Contemporary Christian music is sometimes lacking in real “depth” for lack of a better word. But, that problem is being addressed head-on by a number of really great ministries. What I offer below is a rather eclectic mix. No doubt there will be some that will love the list, and others who will find something critical to say about both the content and the form of the music (evidently, only those forms that were created by White European males in the 16-18th centuries really have the divine stamp of approval!):

1. Lampmode: http://www.lampmode.com/. This ministry produces Christian hip-hop music. Christian hip-hop, like other forms of contemporary Christian music, has sometimes suffered from lyrical weakness and repetitiveness. However, Lampmode is far different. The lyrics are saturated with the Gospel and a variety of theological concepts (as a matter of fact, they refer to it as “lyrical theology”). One of the founders of the ministry used to work with me when I worked in Philadelphia. His name is Shai Linne (his blog is here: http://lyricaltheology.blogspot.com/). Shai's stuff is amazing, and he is such a humble servant for the Lord. He has three cd’s out. I have the first 2: Solus Christus, and Atonement (http://www.merchline.com/lampmode/) . Well worth every penny if you decide to check it out.

2. Indelible Grace: http://www.igracemusic.com/. They have basically gone back to the rich classic hymns (particularly those found in the Trinity Hymnal: http://www.opc.org/hymnal.html), and have reworked them to contemporary music. All of the cd’s they offer are good, though some are better than others (Matthew Smith is a must though).

3. Sovereign Grace Ministries: This is their main site: http://sovereigngraceministries.org/
And this is the site that deals solely with their music: http://sovereigngracemusic.org/. They are writing new music that is lyrically substantive. Their stuff tends to be quite upbeat.

Anyway, for you music lovers out there, I thought you might find these very edifying for you personally. And, if you are leading worship, these might present some options for you that will really get the Gospel into almost every song.

By His Grace; For His Glory,

John

Senator Obama's Speech...and History

By

John Orlando

Disclaimer: As I have indicated in other posts, for various reasons I am not a Barack Obama supporter. However, I certainly try to offer analysis of candidates as fairly as possible, and that is my goal here.

The spectacle itself was amazing. The speech was held at Denver's Invesco Field, and the last I heard there were over 80,000 people in attendance! 80,000! To hear a politician give a speech! Of course, Barack Obama is not the usual politician giving the usual speech. This is a politician like no other in our history in that he is the first Black man in our country to receive the nomination for President of the United States of his Party (the Democratic Party).

The event, and the speech, were not like any other political event or speech in our country's history for precisely those reasons. We who abhor racism, and especially those that may be intimately familiar with the plight of African Americans in this country since this country's inception (and even prior to that), can with one unified voice stand up and proudly say: FINALLY!!!

Much has been said about the 18 million cracks that were put into the glass ceiling of discrimination against women. To be sure, women have had a difficult path in this country, and even today they still have to fight to get equal pay for equal work which is a complete travesty of justice. There is indeed at times a palpable hostility toward women of power (especially Black women!), and as evidenced in both Hillary Clinton's and Sarah Palin's cases, there is a real sexism that exists, especially among those, ironically enough, in the liberal media. All of the probing, the line and tone of questioning, and just the sheer hostility and little digs, barbs, and wisecracks were and are both shocking and disgraceful. There is a clear double-standard between a male candidate and a female candidate which the campaigns of Hillary and Sarah have clearly demonstrated, and I for one am praying that the glass ceiling is indeed finally smashed to smithereens, not only for women running for political office, but in other secular career paths.

As high and as hard that glass ceiling is though, I personally believe that the highest and hardest glass ceiling of all is not discrimination against women; it has been and is the racism that exists against all minorities, but especially African Americans. No other group in this country has endured more discrimination, both overt and covert, and no other group of people has suffered more or overcome more obstacles than the African American. Period. I have said to friends and family on more than one occasion that it is truly miraculous to see how far African Americans have come in the short span of 140 years since slavery, and in the even shorter span of the mere 44 years since the signing of the Civil Rights Bill.

When one considers just how high and hard that glass ceiling was and is for African Americans, it absolutely defies logic that African Americans would be as successful as they are in this day and age. Though "free," the government (local, state, and federal), the system, and the populace was for the most part stacked against them, and militantly so in many cases. Yet, we can look at the many successes of African Americans going all the way back to the days of slavery—great Americans who refused to quit and refused to be broken; great Americans who stood up and fought for a country that despised them and denied them their humanity, dignity, and rights—great Americans who made a way out of no way and forged ahead to make a better life for themselves with a bedrock faith in the sovereign God of the universe, knowing that just as His eye is indeed on the sparrow, so His eye is on them despite the circumstances.

With apologies to other Black politicians who have run for President such as Jesse Jackson, Alan Keyes, and Al Sharpton, though no one would say it when they ran, the reality was that none of those candidates, ideology aside, didn't have a snowballs chance in the Mojave desert of winning, and the real reason—the sole reason—was because they were Black. Not only was America not ready for a Black President, it couldn't even conceive of one. The only possible exception may have been Colin Powell had he chosen to run. Obama and Powell are cut out of a similar mold in that they have the ability to transcend race.

Again though, I do not believe the country could even conceive of a Black President. It could though perfectly conceive of a White woman becoming President. After all, the world's stage has seen other women who ascended to the highest offices in their country, such as Margaret Thatcher in England, and in our own country, Geraldine Ferraro, who made history in her own right and was selected as the Vice Presidential candidate to run with Walter Mondale in 1984. Also, let's not forget this election cycle with Hillary candidacy. The candidacy itself was really no surprise, and going all the back the her days as First Lady, we could all conceive and knew that she would one day run for President. There's no doubt in my mind that she would have been the nominee had it not been for the meteoric (and historic) rise of Barack Obama.

Here are some more things to consider in terms of just how historic, unlikely, and amazing Barack Obama's candidacy is. Here is a man who, if he had been born a mere 146 years earlier would have been born into slavery (despite having a White parent). Here is a man who would have been forced to sit at the back of the bus and would not have been permitted to drink at "White Only" water fountains or use "White Only" restrooms a mere 50 years or so ago, and here is a man who would almost certainly never even be in the position he is in were it not for the landmark Civil Rights Bill of 1964 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964 (a mere 44 years ago).

The fact of the matter is that Barack Obama's candidacy, whether you agree or disagree with his politics and policies, was and is much needed in our country. While it in no way signals the end to racism, whether personal or systemic, it nevertheless says that our country, despite the naysayers, has made tremendous progress on the issue of race.

So there Barack Obama was, standing before a throng of 80,000 exuberant and enthusiastic supporters—Black, White, Red, Brown, Yellow; male and female, young and old—there he was making history and delivering the speech of his life. The speech though was not only the speech of his life, where all of his hopes and dreams could either be realized or dashed depending on how it went. Though there have been many successes, both individual and corporate as people, Barack Obama rightly or wrongly has become the clearest symbol and incarnation of the success of the Civil Rights era. Every African American, whether they agree with Mr. Obama's politics or not, had a stake in his speech, because in a real sense he was representing all African Americans because for really the first time in our history African Americans could really believe that they could become anything they wanted to…even President of the United States of America. The words, "We Shall Overcome!" could be replaced, in a significant way at least, with the words, "We HAVE Overcome!" Make no mistake though; Barack Obama's candidacy has not and will not erase the pain of the past. There will always be scars. But his candidacy has been a welcome and soothing ointment that has helped bringing significant healing to the scar.

As for the speech itself, it was typical Obama in that while I disagreed with much of what he said, I was impressed with his delivery, charm, and eloquence. I felt that the speech fell a little more flat than usual (this may be because it was purposely devoid of the poetic flare that marks most of his speeches), but objectively speaking, he accomplished precisely what he wanted to accomplish with the speech (which was to outline more policy), and I for one am proud as an American that he had the chance to give it. After all, it was history in the making—for the first time in our nation's history, a Black man accepted the nomination for President of the United States of a major political Party. I won't be voting for Senator Obama for various reasons (you can read elsewhere in the blog), but I want to congratulate the Senator from Illinois, and thank him and his family for having the courage to run for the highest office in the land.