Show notes
367 It is Finished, Good Friday
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 Dharmic Evolution 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 Revalations 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 alway 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~
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