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I replied Uncle Jay's post on "what really happened on the Cross?" and I felt I should breathe it on here as well.

It's very interesting that some of us think that Jesus was just simply hanged and then, after a while, died. Nah, that was not the case.
I was speaking with one of my students the other day, and he was giving me a graphic description of how horrifying staying on the Cross was for Jesus. We all know about the lashes, the nailing, and the spitting on, but staying on the Cross was a whole different torture for Jesus.

The Struggle for Breath:
   Since His leg wasn't standing on anything, and His arms were wide apart, His chest couldn’t find ease for the breathing process. He could easily inhale, but exhaling was difficult because He was literally hanging on His shoulders. It's like doing a dead hang, but worse (many of us can't even do that for more than 60 seconds; Jesus stayed there for hours).

The Physical Cost:
  Because there was weight on His diaphragm and air couldn't come out easily, He had to drag His body up constantly, pulling on the nails in His legs and His wrists. This must have caused excruciating pain because the nails were close to His nerves. He went on with that until His muscles started giving way and cramping.

The Choice to Stay:
   He had to go through all of that just to stay on the Cross when He actually had what it takes to get out and be freed from the pain, but He didn't.
He stayed because  He saw a greater glory ahead of Him and knew that leaving at that point would lead to an abortion of the crowning of all the works He had been doing before that point. That last suffering was necessary for all the sufferings He had been going through to count and matter.

Our Own Seasons on the Cross:
  I believe the Cross was symbolic to typify how those of us who follow the Lord will have to stay on our cross at certain seasons of our lives.
We have heard "carry your cross" and "bear your cross"—that's one thing I know we'll have to do all our lives; we'll carry our cross until we die. But staying on our cross in the pain and the hurt, and allowing the timing of the Cross to fulfill its course without deciding to leave in the midst of it, will bring us breakthroughs.

> Just as Jesus had the power to leave that Cross, sometimes we have what it takes to not stay on our cross and God will not be angry! But staying will bring us breakthroughs in the spirit that a thousand days of fasting and prayer wouldn't bring us.>

My Daily Prayer:
So, my prayer every day is that the Lord will teach me wisdom on how to:
•
•   Stay on the Cross and bear the pain.
•   Learn the right heart posture to have while enduring the pain.
•  Bless in pain and not curse in pain, just like Jesus, who could still bless in that state and commit His life to God when His breath was giving way.
• I want to trust God enough to stay on the Cross even when it seems like my physical body is giving way.

Episode 3: The Diet of Babylon
The first victory of Babylon over a man is not in what he does.
It is in what he consumes.
Before identity is altered, appetite is trained. Before compromise becomes visible, it has already been digested in secret. This is why the dealings of God with men often begin, not with their actions, but with their intake.
The Strategy of the King’s Table
In the opening movements of the captivity, something very deliberate was arranged.
“They were appointed a daily provision of the king’s meat, and of the wine which he drank…”
This was not generosity. It was strategy.
Babylon understood something many believers ignore: if you control a man’s diet, you can shape his nature.
Food in this context was not merely physical. It was cultural, intellectual, spiritual. It was an impartation system.
The king’s table was a curriculum.
Diet as Formation
Scripture consistently ties consumption to transformation.
“As he thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
“Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.”
“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
These are not disconnected instructions. They reveal a law.
Man becomes what he consistently receives.
This is why the battle for your inputs is more serious than the battle for your outputs.
Outputs are fruits. Inputs are roots.
Daniel’s Refusal: A Spiritual Intelligence
“Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself…”
This is one of the most powerful quiet decisions in scripture.
He refused before he was pressured.
He discerned before he was taught.
He separated before he was shaped.
This was not legalism. It was sight.
He understood that there was something in that table beyond food. Something that carried the essence of Babylon. Something that, if received continually, would weaken the inward formation of God.
This is the kind of discernment that men like Watchman Nee labored to bring the church into, the ability to recognize spiritual content within natural things.
The Modern Table: Digital Consumption
Babylon today does not primarily feed you with food.
It feeds you with content.
Endless streams of:
 images
 ideas
 opinions
 cultures
 desires
This is the new king’s table.
And it is more aggressive than ever.
Because it is:
 portable
 personal
 continuous
You carry Babylon in your pocket.
Algorithms as Priests of Formation
What makes this generation unique is not just access, but automation.
Systems now study you, learn you, and serve you accordingly.
This is not neutral.
The more you consume, the more you are shaped. The more you are shaped, the more your desires are refined. The more your desires are refined, the more Babylon knows how to feed you.
This is a cycle of formation.
What used to be a table is now an intelligent system.
The Subtlety of Defilement
Defilement is rarely sudden.
It is gradual.
A weakening of conviction
 A dulling of sensitivity
 A normalization of what once troubled you
Until eventually, what once resisted Babylon now agrees with it.
This is why the instruction is not merely to avoid evil, but to guard the heart.
Because by the time evil is visible outwardly, it has already been welcomed inwardly.
The Alternative Diet
Daniel did not just reject. He replaced.
“Let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.”
This is deeply symbolic.
God does not call men to emptiness. He calls them to a different source.
“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
There is a diet that sustains divine life.
The Word
 Prayer
 Fellowship with the Spirit
 Truth meditated upon
These are not religious activities. They are sustenance.
Without them, a man will inevitably feed elsewhere.
Apostolic Insight: Formation is Organic
Paul labored with this burden:
“My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you…”
Formation is organic. It is slow. It is consistent. It is the result of what is continually received.
This is why you cannot claim to desire Christ and yet feed consistently on what contradicts Him.
The contradiction will resolve itself.
And it will not resolve in your favor.
The Discipline of Refusal
Spiritual growth requires refusal.
Not everything is permissible for a man who seeks formation.
This is where many fall.
They want depth without discipline.
Formation without restraint.
Christ without the cross.
But every true formation includes denial.
A saying no to what weakens
 A saying yes to what strengthens
Treasures in Darkness
There is something else.
When a man refuses Babylon, he often feels like he is missing out.
But scripture reveals another dimension:
“I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places…”
There are riches reserved for the consecrated.
Insights
 Depth
 Clarity
 Authority
Things Babylon cannot give.
Because they are not found in noise.
They are found in separation.
Conclusion: What Are You Feeding On?
This is the question that determines everything.
Not what you profess
 Not what you post
 Not what you appear to be
But what you consistently consume
Because that is what is forming you.
Babylon is feeding a generation.
God is also feeding a people.
One leads to mixture.
The other leads to manifestation.
Choose your table.