November 22,
1963. I approached the check-out counter of a Ma and Pa grocery store. The cashier
looked stunned and frightened. I could hear a voice in the background. When I
looked around I was relieved to see that we were the only people in the store.
In a trembling voice he said, “The radio. President Kennedy has just been
shot.”
Five years
later a different voice on the radio was singing this about Kennedy:
“Anybody here seen my old friend John?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed lotta people but it seems the good they die young
I just looked around and he's gone”
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed lotta people but it seems the good they die young
I just looked around and he's gone”
The song,
“Abraham, Martin and John,” became a folk-pop standard worldwide. It was so
significant that, forty years after it was written, historian Ace Collins included
it in his book, Songs Sung Red, White, and Blue: The Stories Behind
America’s Best-Loved Patriotic Songs.
Check out the book here. |
What were
people saying about Jesus five years after he was crucified?
Critical
scholars consider ancient documents as historical if they have a historical
setting and the author is named. Based on those two criteria at least six of
the Apostle Paul’s letters are considered authentic by skeptical, liberal, and
conservative scholars. When you trace the timeline of events in these letters,
you discover that four to six years after Jesus died, people were reciting this
creedal statement about him:
“Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures
He was buried
He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures
He appeared to Peter …”
The creed was
so significant that twenty years later, Paul included it in his letter to the
Corinthians, a letter skeptics consider as authentic.
Jonathan
Morrow lays out the timeline of events in his book, Questioning the Bible: 11 Major Challenges to the Bible’s Authority.
Check out the book here. |
Five years
after the assassination the song said JFK was gone. Five years after the
crucifixion the creed said Jesus is alive.
Happy Easter! He
is risen! He is risen indeed! From the album “Main Street” this video is
scrolling playback of the song.
Kathy
Click here to for “3 Startling Truths about the Early Church from the Pre-New Testament Texts.”
You can get print (PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML™) sheet music for The Gospel Creed.
Click here for print sheet music (lead sheet format). |
Click here for digital sheet music.
Check the help files in your music notation app for
directions on importing MusicXML™ files.)(MusicXML™ is the standard open format for sharing digital sheet music. |
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