AMAZING FACT: DEVOTION

An Amazing Fact: On Monday, January 10, 2010, a minivan struck and killed a man crossing a Brooklyn street. This was especially tragic because this was no ordinary man. Joe Rollino would have been 105 on March 19, and according to friends he looked younger than 80 and was the model of health. A World War II veteran with three Purple Hearts, Rollino got his start in the 1920s at the Coney Island carnival, where he was billed as the “Strongest Man in the World.”


At the height of his career, he stood about 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighed about 150 pounds. Pound for pound, Joe
Rollino was one of the strongest men in modern times. He lifted 475 pounds with his teeth and moved 3,200 pounds with his back. But he was most proud of his finger strength—he once lifted 635 pounds with a single finger. At Rollino’s 103rd birthday party, a friend gave him a quarter, and Rollino bent it between his fingers—then apologized because he used to be able to do it with a dime!

Rollino was an avid exerciser. He walked 5 miles every morning, rain or shine. He swam in the freezing Atlantic every day for eight years, even during a stormy six-degree day in January 1974. Rollino was also a boxer. In a 2008 interview, 103-year-old Rollino said that he was simply born strong: “Fighters would hit me in the jaw, and I’d just look at them. You couldn’t knock me out,” he said.

Did I mention that Joe Rollino didn’t drink or smoke and was a lifelong vegetarian? If it weren’t for the car accident, this strong man might have become one of the oldest men in modern times as well. The Bible also makes a connection between a strong man and a unique diet: Samson followed the Nazirite custom of abstaining from alcohol and unclean foods. Would you like to live to be a healthy 100 years old? Anything is possible when we follow God’s health principles.

KEY BIBLE TEXTS
Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. Judges 13:4-5

Simon Bolivar



An Amazing Fact: Simon Bolivar was South America’s greatest general. He is known as “the great liberator” because his victories against Spain won independence for Venezuela, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and a country that bears his name, Bolivia.


In 1824, after Bolivar helped Peru win its freedom from Spain, the great general called for a convention to draft a constitution for the new country. After the convention, a delegation approached Simon Bolivar and asked him to become their first president. He gracefully declined, saying that he felt someone else deserved the honor more than he. But the people still wanted to do something special for Bolivar to show their appreciation for all he had done to free them from the oppression of Spain. So they offered him a gift of a million pesos, a fabulous fortune in those days.

Bolivar thoughtfully accepted the gift and then asked how many slaves there were in Peru. He was told that there were about 3,000. “And how much does a slave sell for?” he wanted to know. “About 350 pesos for an able-bodied man,” was the answer. “Then,” said Bolivar, “I will add whatever is necessary to this million pesos you have given me, and I will buy all the slaves in Peru and set them free.” He added, “It makes no sense to free a nation unless all its citizens enjoy freedom as well.”

The Bible teaches that Jesus came into the world to set captives free. Near the beginning of His earthly ministry, Jesus attended the synagogue in Nazareth on the Sabbath day and read from Isaiah’s prophecy about Himself: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18, 19).

On another occasion, when the Jewish leaders claimed that they were in bondage to no one, Jesus explained that “whoever commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). But He assured the people, “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” (verse 36). There is true freedom in Christ alone.

Are you truly free?

KEY BIBLE TEXTS
Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. Romans 6:18

Where Was God … Again?

Where was God … again?

This is the question many were asking across Texas and the United States as news of a tragic, avoidable accident flashed across their TV screens. A bus carrying senior citizens back from a church retreat was hit head on by a pickup truck crossing over the center divide. The crash killed all but one of the fourteen people on the bus.

The cause of the accident appears to be because the truck driver was texting on his phone instead of focusing on driving. Many of the passengers appear to have been dedicated Christians who had lived their lives for God.

Where was the Lord in this tragedy? What kind of God wouldn’t intervene even for those most faithful to Him?

Questions about pain and suffering are endless in a sin-filled world. The Bible doesn’t shy away from reporting on faithful men and women suffering hardship. David spent ten years as a fugitive. Joseph spent years in jail. John the Baptist was cruelly murdered. Other stories remind us that God’s people throughout the ages have faced unanswered tragedy. Jesus implied in Luke 13:4 that people often die in accidents through no fault of their own.

So where is God? The Bible tells us that He is right beside us. (Read Psalm 23:4–6.) He simply asks us to trust that even in the darkest valleys, He is still leading His people to a place of safety and eternal peace.

What about you? Do you believe that because God allowed these Christian men and women to die in an accident, it was His will for them?

Elijah was a faithful follower of God. Even though he followed God’s directions, he still found himself in trouble. The Lord had sent him to hide by the Brook Cherith, but the brook dried up. Elijah had to wait for God’s directions again as he faced imminent death from dehydration. This waiting time, this time when we don’t always understand God’s purposes, allows us to trust in His grace.

https://www.amazingfacts.org/media-library/book/e/62/t/the-brook-dried-up