It Is Finished, The last words Jesus spoke on Good Friday as he died on the cross to save Humanity.

Greetings all my friends and today I am doing something a little bit different on the Podcasting Your Global Career Podcast

I wanted to present a project that I worked on more than 5 years ago on Music Row in Nashville.

The band is called “Mercy” and the project was the “I AM VICTORIOUS” Album.

Its ultimate purpose is to become a theatrical musical experience, similar to West Side Story, or

The Rocky Horror Picture Show, in that it’s design is to include the audience as part of the presentation.

However, at the time of putting the music together, we had no idea this was part of the plan.

My writing partner Archbishop and Captain Chaplain Christine Mercy Johnson and I wrote and

Produced this album with Kim Copeland as Music Producer on Music Row in the late Spring and

Summer of 2016. 

I wanted to share 4 of the tracks with you today to give you a glimpse of the story and how important

It is for us to remember what actually happened during those last days of the Lord that set up our

Eternal spiritual possibilities for all time moving forward, I hope you will listen, and enjoy the story,

And realize its importance on your life!

AMEN

The Lord wanted us to write a song entitled “Amen” that is all we got, just “Amen” I walked around

In circles in my small humble studio in this tiny cottage I was renting  at the time, it had a loft and fireplace

 it was perfect actually, I really lived in a small recording studio, on an 80 acre estate surrounded by nature. After being exasperated

At the lack of direction, I turned on my DX7, plugged in a couple of guitars, and set up the metronome, and 

Just started tracking, the rest just came out, pretty much the same as you hear on the recording. The one

Icing on the cake was that Christine had told me the Lord wanted her to do a voice over on top of the 

Recording, and it turns out The Lords Prayer fit into the space perfectly, we had not planned on this

And I had no idea that was going to be part of the song, but it fit like a glove.

The intro of this song starts with Christine reciting scripture from Revelations 22, its a moving and stirring

Message, filled with dire warnings, but also with the promise of beautiful, revealing, and everlasting

Light for us all, if only we dare to have the courage to claim it. As the scripture concludes, it moves

Quietly into the song.

The intro is real birds that I captured at the cottage, I woke up pre dawn one morning and put two hi quality

Microphones out of my windows to capture the early morning song birds, then later that day I went for

A hike in one of my favorite forests and brought with me a tiny hi quality recorder, my trusty Boss Digital

Micro BR recorder. (I still use it today, its smaller than a peanut butter sandwich) I set it on a rock in the

Middle of a stream to capture the real water sounds for the recording, and added them into the mix.

I always thought of the piece as more of a prayer than a song, it is designed for you to put on in your Car, on the way to a stressful meeting, or

 uncomfortable situation, and is meant to help you find Peace through the prayer that you are communicating to the Father, Lord Jesus, and the 

Holy Spirit.

Amen~

Bless You

This was a beautiful story about Jesus imparting to his disciples how to conduct themselves out in the

World and how they can make an impact on society and care for their impoverished brothers and sisters. He spoke in parables not to be overly

 mysterious, however, he would always try to trigger our creative minds using storytelling, and touching our imaginations in ways that would inspire

 thinking in new and prosperous way towards the good of humanity.

This showcases what faith and hope really are when these men just left their previous life in a Moments notice. They intuitively knew that they were

 witnessing something so unusual and so Brilliant, and must have thought “how could we miss this”?

I think the rolling piano riff in this song really glued the arrangement together. That is Nashvilles own Buddy Hyatt, 

with brother Jim Hyatt on Bass guitar.  Shawn Fichter (from Tim McGraw’s band) is on drums and percussion, 

James Mitchell on electric guitars, 

Glen Duncan on Acoustic Guitars and violin. 

Kim Copeland did a fabulous job producing along with Kelly Schoenfeld handling all Of the highly skilled and challenging engineering, as this was no

 easy feat to incorporate spoken

Scripture with music.

I’M AFRAID

I’m afraid records the last night that the Lord Jesus has of earthy freedom before the soldiers come

To take him away. How torture with the whipping was just brutal, they beat him and scourged him

For hours on end before forcing him to carry his own heavy wooden cross up to Calvary where he

Was to be crucified. 

The main beam of the cross was stretched across his shoulders and weighed 80-100 Lbs, he had

To carry this more than 600 yards uphill, he was beaten so badly and lost so much blood and bodily fluids, it has been said he barely looked human. I

 think it was astonishing that he even 

survived the brutal beatings to get to the crucifixion.

As Jesus was in the Garden of gethsemane praying to his father, he had asked his disciples to stay

Awake and keep watch while he prayed to his Father. These last hours were so terrifying for him that he began sweating blood as he could see the

 horrible and brutal torture he would be suffering over the next 24 hours. He returned to them several times to find them all asleep, which must have 

been even more exasperating for him. 

He was so terrified that he asked his Father, “If it be possible please take this cup from my Hand, but I serve your command, although I’m Afraid”

Everyone played so well on this track and the featured violin playing by Glen Duncan was really

Sweet and special. Shawn also added so many elements of drama with the swelling symbol 

Effects as well.

IT IS FINISHED

Captures the last moments of Jesus speaking to his Father as he is about to die a brutal

Painful physical human death. The hours that led up to this had Jesus in court with Pontious

Pilate, the Roman Governor of the province of Judea. Pilate knew this was a very highly 

Charged political situation and even his wife was trying to influence him not to punish Jesus

As she had dreams that he was indeed the messiah.

The Jews hated the fact that Jesus was being called the Son of God, and wanted know part

Of it, they were screaming “Crucify him” in the town square where Pilate was presenting them

A choice to free one prisoner as is customary before passover, he asked “do you want me to

Free Barabas, or Jesus”? 

We were having a bit of trouble with this one, as Christine suddenly said after tracking that it

Was not sad enough, James Mitchell suggested to me to change up to a minor 6th and that

Was exactly what it needed to give it that sad temperament in all the right places. 

I remember writing this on my Strat and using a capo up around fret 4 or 5, just really

Tore into it without any though whatsoever.

Its amazing how all the musicians picked up on the dynamics of the song just from that

One very sparse and simple demo. Its another song completely run by the Holy Spirit, 

All we needed to do was hang on and enjoy the ride!

After the vocal on this, I could not even come into the control room for a minute or two,

It was almost an out of body experience.

Be blessed, and Happy Good Friday,

James~