THE POSSUM CONNECTION

I was in the fifth, or sixth grade when I found them; Two baby Opossums. Back then everybody I knew just called them Possums, without the O in front. Their mother had been killed while trying to cross the highway, most likely under cover of darkness. I saw her when I was wandering around outside early one morning before school. I went down to the road to see what it was. The closer I got, the better I could see, and I soon realized it was a possum. A car passed by just as I reached the end of the driveway. Just then I heard a strange noise; a kind of hissing sound. At first, I thought she might still be alive, but then I saw something moving on her back. Just then another car zoomed past, and I heard the noise again. It was a baby possum. I waited for the traffic to clear, then I ran into the road to rescue the baby. As I reached down to pick it up, I saw another one. I grabbed them both and quickly ran back to safety.

I ran back up the hill, and into the house to show my grandmother what I had found. Since they no longer had their mother to take care of them, we got to keep them. I grabbed a shoebox and an old broom. I cut the broom handle into short pieces the width of the box. I spaced them out evenly and nailed them to the open top of the box. Then I turned it up on its side, and they had a cage with bars so they could see out. We fed them some milk, then went to school.

Guess what we did as soon as we got home. We ran to see our baby possums. I hadn't put the bars close enough together, so one of the babies had gotten out. We quickly began searching for it and found it in just a few minutes. We had to get a bigger box to keep them in, but they were always trying to escape. Another time one of them got out of the big box and disappeared. We searched the whole house. We searched for hours. Hours turned into days. Then three days later he came out from behind the refrigerator. He was tired and hungry, but he was okay. We were so glad to see him.

We loved our baby possums, and they grew pretty fast. With them getting bigger, and constantly getting out, and making a mess, our grandmother made a decision. We had to get rid of them. We were so sad, but we knew a woman who wanted them. She came to our house, and took them home with her, and raised them like cats. I’m glad they had someone to take good care of them. Someone to love them as much as we did.

When I was sixteen, I went to live with my dad for a while. He had found a grown possum, and was keeping it in a cage outside. One day he got another one and put it in the same cage just before he left to go somewhere. It wasn’t long until I heard a commotion outside. When I went to see what was going on, I found the two possums fighting. The new resident was losing the fight, so I opened the door to get him out, so he wouldn’t get hurt any worse. When I reached for him, he turned around and attacked me. His sharp teeth ripped a hole in both sides of my index finger. I still have those scars on my hand today to remind me not to mess with wild animals when they’re fighting.

A few years later, a guy brought a possum to work to see if anyone wanted it. I remembered having those two as pets when I was younger, so I took this one home with me and put it in a cage. I soon realize it was too old to tame, and I thought about setting it free, but I was glad I didn’t when I saw a few babies crawling around on her back. Soon I saw more and more. I secured her where she couldn’t bite me, so I could count the babies. I took them all out of the cage and found that there were eleven of them.

I started taking a few out each day to play with them. I wanted them to get used to me so I could keep them as pets. As they got older, I saw it wasn’t working. When I would go out to see them, the mother would always hiss at me. Soon all the babies were hissing at me, too. They would go crazy when I would pick them up. I think I would have had to take them completely away from the mother to tame them. I knew it was too late for this bunch, so I decided to let them go back into the wild. I lived in an area with lots of woods and lots of other wild animals. There was a river and several springs where they could get water. So, I opened the cage door one night after dark. When I went out to check on them the next morning they were all gone. I felt good knowing they were free.

My last attempt at keeping a possum for a pet was just a few years ago. My mother-in-law had found a young albino possum in her dog food bag. I went over to her house as quickly as I could and brought it home. My youngest son and I spent half the day building a cage for it. Although it was young, it was still afraid of us, and it kept trying to run away. I kept it for a week, or so before I decided to release it back into the wild. It wasn’t warming up to us at all, plus it was just too messy. We took him to a big wooded area, by a big waterway, so it would be able to survive. We let it go and watched it quickly disappear into the safety of the woods.

When God created animals, he meant for them to live peacefully with each other, and with mankind. He brought them all to Adam for him to give them all names (Gen. 2:19-20). There was harmony between man and animals until sin entered the world. After God destroyed the earth with a worldwide flood, he gave man permission to eat animals. He told Noah that the animals would now fear man (Gen 9:1-5). Today, we have domesticated animals, and we have “tamed” many wild animals, but that fear is still there, and it manifests itself in many forms and degrees in different kinds of creatures. It makes us feel good when we “tame” a wild animal. It gives us a sense of accomplishment, and we like to have pets that others don’t have, or at least ones that are not that common. Some animals are dangerous and unpredictable though. It’s probably best to leave wild animals alone entirely.

I also think we all sometimes try to recapture or recreate some things that brought us joy when we were children, but many times it’s not exactly like we remember; Like a certain food, we loved as a child, or a TV show, or movie, or even special pets. I think maybe, sometimes it was more the circumstances, and maybe the people we were with at the time that made those things so special, and no matter how hard we try, we will never be able to get that back. So we just need to cherish those fond memories, while we make new ones with the people we love.

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ON WHAT DAY WAS JESUS CRUCIFIED?

This is a subject that has been debated for many years, and today the church is still divided on this doctrine. The majority of Christians today believe Jesus was crucified on Friday. That’s why many celebrate Good Friday, every Easter weekend. Still, there are many who believe he died on Wednesday, while a few think it was Thursday. Which was it? Does it even matter?

Well, some say it doesn’t matter because it’s not an issue of salvation. It bothers me when people say something in God’s word is not important. Everything in the Bible is important or God would not have inspired holy men to write it down.

Bible doctrine is like a chain. Each subject is a link to another. If we have a wrong understanding of one subject, then the chain is broken, because that link doesn’t fit. Then other connected doctrines are harder to reconcile or understand properly when some information is missing or misunderstood. That’s one reason we have so many denominations today. As you know, I believe the Bible is the inspired word of God, and it can be trusted.

2 Timothy 3:16 says, "ALL scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness:"

If you doubt that the Bible is God’s word, go read the article entitled “Is The Bible Really God’s Word?” Now, let’s see if the Bible is specific about which day Jesus was crucified.

The Bible says Jesus died about the ninth hour which would have been between three and four in the afternoon (Luke 23:44-46) and he was buried just before sundown the same day (Mark 15:42-47). The Bible says he rose early on the first day of the week (Mark 16:9). The first day of the week is Sunday. 

If he had died and was buried on Wednesday, three days would have ended just before sunset on Saturday, not Sunday morning as the Bible says. He would have been in the tomb longer than seventy-two hours. If he was buried just before sundown on Thursday, three days would have ended just before sundown on Sunday, not on Sunday morning as the Bible says. Still more than three whole days. 

If he was buried Friday evening, Sunday morning would not have been three whole days. So, no matter which day we believe Jesus was crucified, there’s no way to calculate it to where he was in the tomb for exactly seventy-two hours. So, let’s all drop that argument and look at what we can actually prove from God’s word.

In Mark 15:42 we see that Jesus was crucified on the PREPARATION DAY. That same verse also says it was the day BEFORE the SABBATH. Then, a few verses later, in Mark 16:1-2 we see the NEXT DAY after the Sabbath was the FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK. That’s three consecutive days in a row from his death to his resurrection. The PREPARATION DAY, the SABBATH DAY, and the FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK. We’ll see this same evidence in the next few passages. Again, it’s not a full seventy-two hours, but the rest of the study will explain that.

Look at Luke 23:52-56 continuing on into chapter 24:1-3.

Luke 23:52-Luke 24:3
52 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 
53 And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was cut in stone, where no one had been buried before.  
54 And that day was the PREPARATION DAY, and the SABBATH drew near. 
55 And the women also, who came with him from Galilee, followed after, and saw the tomb, and how his body was laid. 
56 And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments, and rested the SABBATH DAY according to the COMMANDMENT.

Luke 24-1-3
1 Now on the FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK, very early in the morning, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. 
2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 
3 And they went in but did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

In Luke 23, we see again that Jesus was crucified on the PREPARATION DAY. That was the day before the SABBATH. It’s clear this was the weekly Sabbath because the Bible plainly says, they “Rested the Sabbath Day According To The Commandment” (the 4th of the 10 Commandments).

In Mark 15:42-16:2, and in Luke 23:52-24:3 we can see the timeline very clearly, from the death of Jesus to his resurrection. It spans only three days. Again, they are the PREPARATION DAY, the SABBATH DAY, and the FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK which is Sunday. Most Bible believers agree he rose from the grave on Sunday morning. That’s why many Christians celebrate Easter Sunday. We also celebrate GOOD FRIDAY two days before Easter Sunday. Clearly, these are the 6th day, the 7th day, and the 1st day, or Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Jesus was crucified on Friday (the Preparation Day), rested in the grave on Saturday (the Sabbath), and rose on Sunday (the First Day of the week). If that’s not clear enough, we’ll look at a few more scriptures to cement the argument.

Before his death, Jesus had said he would rise again ON the third day after his death.

Matthew 16:21
21 From that time forth Jesus began to show his disciples, that he must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders, and leading priests, and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

Matthew 17:23 
23 And they will kill him, and the third day he will be raised again.

Matthew 20:19
19 And they will deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to beat, and to crucify, and the third day he will rise again.

Mark 10:34
34 And they will mock him, and beat him, and spit on him, and kill him, and the third day he will rise again.

Luke 9:22
22 Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and leading priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.

Acts 10:40
40 God raised him up the third day, and showed him openly;

1 Corinthians 15:4
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

Again, Jesus said he would rise from the dead ON the third day and he did.

Another thing of interest is recorded in Luke 24:13-21. It happened late that Sunday afternoon, the same day Jesus was resurrected. Cleopas and another disciple were on the road to Emmaus when Jesus joined them. They didn’t recognize him, so they brought him into the conversation they had been having about the death of the Messiah. Notice carefully what they said.

Luke 24:21
21 But we trusted that it had been he who would have redeemed Israel, and besides all this, TODAY IS the THIRD DAY since these things were done.

There it is, plainly. Sunday was the THIRD DAY since he was crucified, and he rose from the grave ON the third day. Saturday would have been the SECOND DAY since his death, so clearly, Jesus was crucified on Friday.

We can even be more specific than that. In Daniel chapter 9 we have the prophecy of four hundred and ninety years. This time period stretched from the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, all the way down to the time of the Messiah. It foretold that he would die for others, and he did. This prophecy tells the exact year of the death of the Messiah. Jesus fulfilled this prophecy in every detail over five hundred years after it was written down. 

By using this prophecy, and the gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, along with the dates of the Jewish feast days, we can pinpoint the exact year, month, day, and hour that Jesus died. He died in the hour between 3:00 and 4:00 pm on Friday, April 3rd, AD 33.

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https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
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© 2015 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

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