The Last Supper was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci, a noted Italian artist;
and the time engaged for its completion was seven years. The figures
representing the twelve Apostles and Christ himself were painted from
living persons.

The life-model for the painting of the figure of Jesus was chosen first.
When it was decided that Da Vinci would paint this great picture,
hundreds and hundreds of young men were carefully viewed in an endeavor
to  find a  face and personality exhibiting innocence and  beauty, free
from  the scars  and signs of dissipation caused by sin.  Finally, after
weeks of laborious searching, a  young man nineteen  years of  age was
selected as a model for the portrayal  of Christ. For six  months,
DaVinci worked on the production of this  leading character of his
famous  painting.

During the next six years, Da Vinci continued  his labors on this
sublime   work of art. One by one fitting persons were  chosen to
represent  each of  the  eleven Apostles; space being left for the
painting of the figure  representing Judas Iscariot as the final task  of
this  masterpiece. This  was   the Apostle, you remember, who betrayed
his   Lord for thirty   pieces of silver, worth in our present day,
currency of  $16.96.  For weeks, Da Vinci searched for a man with a  hard
callous face,  with a  countenance marked by scars of avarice,  deceit,
hypocrisy, and  crime; a  face   that would delineate a character who
would  betray his best  friend.

After many discouraging experiences in  searching for the type of  person
 required to represent Judas, word came to  DaVinci that a man  whose
appearance  fully met his requirements had been found in a  dungeon in
Rome,  sentenced   to  die for a life of crime and murder. DaVinci made
the trip to Rome at once, and this man was brought out from his
imprisonment in the dungeon and led out into the light of the sun.  There
DaVinci saw before him a dark, swarthy man; his long, shaggy and unkempt
hair sprawled over his face, which betrayed a character of viciousness
and complete ruin. At last, the famous painter had found the person he
wanted to represent the character of Judas in his painting.

By special permission from the king, this prisoner was carried to Milan
where the picture was being painted; and for months he sat before DaVinci
at appointed hours each day as the gifted artist diligently continued his
task of transmitting to his painting this base character in the picture
representing the traitor and betrayer of our savior. As he finished his
last stroke, he turned to the guards and said, "I have finished. You may
take the prisoner away."

As the guards were leading their prisoner away, he suddenly broke loose
from their control and rushed up to Da Vinci, crying as he did so, "O,
DaVinci, look at me!  Do you not know who I am?" Da Vinci, with the
trained eyes of a great character student, carefully scrutinized the man
upon whose face he had constantly gazed for six months and replied, "No,
I have never seen you in my life until you were brought before me out of
the dungeon in Rome." Then, lifting his eyes toward heaven, the prisoner
said, "Oh, God, have I fallen so low?"  Then turning his face to the
painter he cried, "Leonardo DaVinci!  Look at me again for I am the same
man you painted just seven years ago as the figure of Christ."

This is the true story of the painting of The Last Supper that teaches so
strongly the lesson of the effects of right or wrong thinking on the life
of an individual. Here was a young man whose character was so pure,
unspoiled by the sins of the world that he presented a countenance of
innocence and beauty fit to be used for the painting of a representation
of Christ. But within seven years, following the thoughts of sin and a
life of crime, he was changed into a perfect picture of the most
traitorous character ever known in the history of the world.

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the
world's getting worse and worse.
Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible
says.
Funny how everyone wants to go to heaven provided they do not have to
believe, think, say, or do anything the Bible says.
Funny how someone can say "I believe in God" but still follow Satan (who
also "believes" in God).
Funny how you can send a thousand 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread
like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord,
people think twice about sharing.
Funny how the lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene pass freely through
cyberspace, but the public discussion of Jesus is suppressed in the
school and workplace.
FUNNY, ISN'T IT? Are you thinking? Spread the Word