The Resurrection 2

Sophia, the Holy Spirit

The Spirit of Christ never Dies
but neither does the spirit of man when he learns the truth

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The Rest of the Story

Mark is reported to have made these remarks about Jesus' death. 'The Romans knew about the initiation, but not how it was done or what was involved'. They did not know the secrets. 'When Jesus supposedly died after only three hours on the cross, they were amazed'. It was supposed to take 2 to 3 days to die because this science of ( crucifixion ) they had prefected to an art. The full description of crucifixion was gruesome and extremly painfull. If the person didn't die by the third day , his legs were broken.

"If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse. You must not desecrate the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance."
- Deuteronomy 21:22-23

In addition, "the Temple Scroll (IIQ Temple) records a command to bury the body of one who has been crucified on the same day, and applies it to both dead and live crucifixions."
- Ryan Renn, "The Burial of Jesus - With Focus on the Views of the Jesus Seminar"

"The Jews are so careful about funeral rites that even malefactors who have been sentenced to crucifixion are taken down and buried before sunset."
- Flavius Josephus, Jewish War 4. 317

"The unspoken hope and the unspoken presupposition behind the Cross Gospel is that Jesus would have been buried, out of piety, by the Jews who had crucified him. It never actually describes that burial, but it presumes that those who executed Jesus are totally in control of death, burial, and tomb."
- John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus, The Life of a Mediterranean Peasant (1991)

In the synoptic gospel accounts, the Romans, not the Jews were in control of the deposition of Jesus' body. Most of the tens of thousands of Jews crucified by the Romans during the first century were left up on the crosses to serve as carrion for bird and dogs. Pontius Pilot was known for his brutality. Both he and Caiphus, the chief priest, were relieved from their duties by Rome for the harshness and insensitivity they displayed in suppressing a peaceful Sumerian demonstration a few years later. If Pilot had acquiesced to Jewish sensibilities and made an exception only for the depostion of Jesus' body, it would have been very much out of character for him. The two lestai or bandits crucified with Jesus would have received the same treatment unless there were unusual intervening circumstances involving the deposition of Jesus' body.

"...The gospels simply fail to account for the disposal of the corpses of those who were crucified with Jesus. This was not a problem that concerned either the evangelists or their audiences who were preoccupied by with the fate of Jesus' body alone. But it is a problem that any historical reconstruction of what happened to Jesus' corpse needs to take seriously. For if Jesus' body alone was allowed burial (which is all the gospels report), then one CANNOT consistently claim that potential desecration of the Passover or Sabbath was the reason for a Jewish aristocrat requesting and Pilate granting Jesus' burial. And without that general condition, the claim that Jesus was buried after his crucifixion is completely historically incredible."
- Mahlon H. Smith (Crosstalk)

Such a precedent, however, is described by Philo.
"I have known instances before now of men who had been crucified when this festival and holiday was at hand, being taken down and given up to their relations, in order to receive the honours of sepulture, and to enjoy such observances as are due to the dead. For it used to be considered, that even the dead ought to derive some enjoyment from the natal festival of a good emperor, and also that the sacred character of the festival ought to be regarded."
- Philo, In Flaccum (83)

In addition, there is archaeological evidence from the remains of the crucified victim, Jehohanan. "The family of Yehohanan ben Hagkol had evidently wielded some influence in order to retrieve his body for a decent burial, a similarity to the story of Jesus which is quite remarkable."
- Richard Andrews and Paul Schellenberger, The Tomb of God (1996) p. 367

"Jesus would have to be buried in someone else's tomb, since as a Galilean his family's tomb (IF they had any) was at least 3 days journey to the north. But local dissidents could be buried on family property."
- Mahlon H. Smith (Crosstalk)

You will recall, that after the crucifixion, Jesus' tomb was found empty and only the loin cloth remained. The Lord was Gone,.. But not gone. John 2: 19,20 Jesus said, "Destroy this sanctuary (the Body of the man Jesus ) and in three days I WILL RISE UP." ( I will Live ) Saturday evening until Monday morning is almost 3 days. verse 22,.. after it APPEARED that he 'came back to life again', the disciples remembered his saying and realized that what he quoted from the scriptures really did refer to him and had all come true." ...but what they didn't know was that the whole thing was planned and executed exactly on schedule.

According to the gospels, a wealthy benefactor came foreward to provide Jesus with a tomb in Jerusalem.

"Now there stood there Joseph, the friend of Pilate and of the Lord, and knowing that they were about to crucify him he came to Pilate and begged the body of the Lord for burial. And Pilate sent to Herod and begged his body. And Herod said, 'Brother Pilate, even if no one had begged him, we should bury him, since the Sabbath is drawing on. For it stands written in the law: the sun should not set on one that has been put to death."
- Gospel of Peter 2:1-5a

But in the Nag Hammidi scrolls, the gospel of Philip #29 says, " Yeshúa took them all by surprise. For he did not reveal himself as he [really] was, but rather he reveals himself as [they will] be able to perceive him. He revealed himself to [them all--he revealed himself] to the great as great, he revealed himself to the small as small, he [revealed himself] to the angels as an angel and to humans as a human. Thus his Logos concealed him from everyone. Some indeed saw him while they thought they were seeing themselves. But when he revealed himself to his Disciples in glory upon the mountain he was not made small. He became great, but he made the Disciples great so that they would be capable of beholding him made great." (Mt 17:1-8)
This means Christ made himself and the disciples into spiritual beings, (angels) so they could see him in that same form.

The Gospel of Mark 16:10-20, "She went and told those who had been with him who were morning and weeping. When they heard that Jesus was ALIVE and that she had seen him, they did not believe it"....

Here's the 'something else' that's been kept a secret for many years. Jesus the Man did not die on the cross. John 19:28, "Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the scripture would be fulfilled", Jesus said, "I am Thirsty"
Recall John 19:29, the drink from a sponge with wine vinegar on it. According to Essene and Gnostic legend, the sponge had a pain reliever and opium in it. The morphine would lead to a state of stupor, it inhibits breathing and lowers the heart rate and makes the body completely limp. The drug put Jesus to sleep so he could feel no pain when the Roman guard pierced his side with a lance. The completion Jesus spoke of was the 'appearance' of his suffering. He did not want to embarrase his family.

The 'completion' is before he takes the drink. The Treatise of Seth from the Nag Hammidi library says, that the Christ was not in the body of Jesus at this time, "that he did not drink the vinegar". The vinegar was intended to keep the Body of Jesus from being defiled further as the Holy Spirit had already left it. Read it for yourself..
The Treatise of the Great Seth

From the new book The Jesus Papers by Michael Baigent; At Rennes-le-Château there are paintings on the wall. They are called 'stations of the cross'. They number from 1 to 14. The final painting commissioned by Sauniere reveals this; The moon is shown as having risen, night has fallen, the Passover has begun. No one of the Jewish faith would be handling a dead body at this time. This image is depicting Jesus, still living, being carried out of his tomb rather than into it. We discuss this further and the overwhelming evidence we had 4 years before this book came out on this page.
This simply means the 'Jesus Papers' Baigent has seen with his own eyes are not fake and someone has translated them. Even if they didn't, the gospels actually reveal the truth.

More clues to the truth

"...A leader of the nation opposed to the spokesman for God's people (Darius of Persia; Joseph of Arimathea), yet one who in his heart reveres that spokesman (Daniel; Jesus), though greatly distressed, feels obliged to place the spokesman into a pit in the ground and cover it with a stone (the lion's den; the tomb), an act that clearly means the spokesman's permanent end. In both stories the death of the spokesman is required by law (the law of the Medes and Persians; the law of Rome), and in both, the executor of that law is reluctant to enforce it (Darius 'exerted himself until evening' to save Daniel; Pilate attempted to convince an angry mob that Jesus should be released). But despite reluctance and delay, late in the afternoon both heroes are placed into the pit. In both stories a stone is put over the opening, and in both the placer of the stone has hope in the providence of God (Darius says, 'Your own God... will save you', Joseph 'looked forward to the kingdom of God'). Early on a subsequent morning in both stories ('At dawn, as soon as it was light' - Dan. 6:19, 'just after sunrise - Mark 16:2), the pit is approached by those who cared deeply for the hero (Darius; the three women). Next comes joyful news (Daniel lives; 'He has been raised again'). In both stories, the stone is removed, death is miraculously overcome, and deliverance is assisted by an angel ('My God sent his angel,' to shut the lions' mouths, says Daniel; 'a young man... dressed in a white robe' has removed the stone, says Mark)."
- Randal Helms, Gospel Fictions (1988) pp. 135-136

As the story goes, Joseph of Arimathea (Jesus' uncle ) had purchased a tomb site near a garden in the close proximity of the crucifixion. He had told the authorities the tomb was for his family, but Joseph did not live in the area. He lived on the border of Sumaria. John 19:39, Nicodemus brought a mixture of Myrrh and Aloes, about 75 pounds. The guards assumed it was for embalming and did not interfear. This does not follow Jewish burial rites. Myrrh is used in Egypt. Aloe vera, was a plant native to Arabia and used to heal wounds and burns, but myrrh also has healing qualities . Washing the body of a dead person was important in Jewish burial and this was not done, because Jesus was not dead.

If the aloe and myrrh were in dried or powdered formed, a whole row of sacks would probably be necessary to make up this weight, and Nicodemus must have had assistance to be able to transport the load. The transport would have been even more difficult if the substances were dissolved in wine, vinegar or oil. The theologian Paul Billerbeck makes the event appear as if an embalming was to take place with the aromatic substances added to oil. But the Rabbinical texts refer only to an oiling of the bodies of the departed. The addition of spices is nowhere mentioned, let alone in these quantities, and was never part of Jewish custom; nor was embalming.

"Myrrh was used as an ingredient for embalming by the Egyptians, but not for the burial rites of the Jews. Instead the Jewish custom prescribed that the body of the departed be washed and oiled, the hair cut and tidied, the corpse dressed again and the face covered with a cloth. The washing of the body was of such crucial importance that it had to be carried out even if it was the Sabbath. Yet there is no mention of any of this, not even the oiling. Instead it is said that on Easter Sunday the women came to the tomb to oil the body."
- Holger Kersten & Elmar R. Gruber, The Jesus Conspiracy - The Turin Shroud & The Truth About the Resurrection (1992)

"In his Autobiography, Josephus relates that after the capture of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. he was engaged on an errand for the Roman commander Titus when he came across three crosses on which three of his acquaintances had been crucified. Greatly upset, he went to Titus and begged for their lives. His petition was granted. The men were taken down, their wounds dressed and every effort was made by the doctors to save them. Two of the men succumbed, but one was healed and survived, which showed that recovery from crucifixion was possible, especially if the victim had not suffered for many hours."
- Hugh J. Schonfield, After the Cross

As for Jesus' death on the Cross, it is perfectly plain this was spiritual death, not physical death, as determined by the three-day rule that everybody in the first century reading this would have understood. In civil and legal terms, Jesus was already dead when he was placed on the Cross. He was denounced, scourged, prepared for death by decree. Today, we call this "excommunication". For three days Jesus would have been nominally sick, with absolute death coming on the fourth day. On that day he would be entombed, buried alive; but during the first three days he could be raised or resurrected. In fact, he predicted that he would. Raisings and resurrections (apart from the fact that Jesus once flouted the rule, and that was a miracle!) could only be performed by the High Priest or by the Father of the Community.

The High Priest at that time was Joseph Caiaphas, the very man who condemned Jesus; therefore the raising had to be performed by the patriarchal Father. There are Gospel accounts of Jesus talking to the Father from the Cross, culminating in "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit", and at that time we know from the listings that the appointed Father was the Magian apostle Simon Zelotes. We have been taught that Jesus' physical death was proved by the blood and water that flowed when he was pierced by the spear, but this has been very badly translated. The original word does not translate to "pierced"; it translates to "pricked" or to "scratched". This in turn was mistranslated into the Latin verb "to open", and into the English word "pierced".

They were not primitive times. They were times when there were doctors, medical men; there were even forms of hospital. And we can see that, just like today, the test for reflex action was scratching, prodding or pricking the skin with a sharp instrument. I have in my possession a letter from a surgeon of the British Medical Council. It says: "Medically, the outflow of water is impossible to explain. Blood flowing from a stab wound is evidence of life, not death. It would take a large, gaping laceration for any drop of blood to flow from a dead body because there is no vascular action." So let's look further; let's look at what the Gospels actually said. Joseph of Arimathea took down Jesus' body from the Cross. In fact, the word that was translated to the English word "body" was the Greek word soma, meaning "live body". The alternative word denoting "dead body" or "corpse" would have been ptoma.

"...Two substances that will produce a simulacrum of death: haoma and tetrodotoxin. The first was available regularly from the Zoroastrians who used it as part of their worship. The second was in the livers of the blowfish extant from at least the time of the VIth Dynasty both in the Nile Delta and in the Red Sea. The Japanese continue its hazardous use today as do the Haitians."
- Tom Simms (CrossTalk)

"The juice of aloes, as modern pharmacopoeias explain, is a strong and fast-acting purgative - precisely what would have been needed by Simon to expel the poisonous 'gall' from Jesus' body."
- Laurence Gardner, Bloodline of the Holy Grail, p. 92

"Both substances, aloe [a healing gel] and myrrh [a disinfectant], were commonly used for the treatment of large injured areas, because they could easily be made into ointments and tinctures. Some researchers claim that the Jews often mixed myrrh with labdanum, the resin of the cistus rockrose. This was used especially for plasters and bandages. Clearly one has to see such mixtures as the most specific means for the rapid and effective healing of wounds, combined with the greatest possible efficacy against danger of infection, at the time of Jesus. There can therefore be no doubt that Nicodemus procured an astonishing quantity of highly specific medicinal herbs with the sole purpose of treating the wounds on the body of Jesus. These spices could have served no other purpose."
- Holger Kersten & Elmar R. Gruber, The Jesus Conspiracy - The Turin Shroud & The Truth About the Resurrection (1992)

"The success of such a rescue operation would depend on speedy medical help. Therefore, Jesus had to be brought out of the tomb at the earliest possible moment after the termination of the Sabbath. And because such a rescue was a serious criminal act designed to defeat the ends of justice, this removal had to take place after dark. The open tomb, the removed and folded linen bandages, and the disappearance of the body before dawn on Sunday would all have a natural explanation if it was intended to restore Jesus to health and activity by taking him where he would receive care and teatment."
- Hugh J. Schonfield, After the Cross

"To teat Jesus the therapeuts evidently used a sweat-promoting packing formed with the help of an excessive quantity of herbs, similar in a way to the cooking method. One has to see John's edesan othoniois ('and wound it in linen clothes') against this background, to get to the true meaning. What was meant was not binding round in the sense of wrapping up, but the way a heavy plaster covered or went round the whole body. Dioscorides, the Cilician doctor of the first century, also used both the verbs deo and eneileo to denote wrapping in linen cloths."
- Holger Kersten & Elmar R. Gruber, The Jesus Conspiracy - The Turin Shroud & The Truth About the Resurrection (1992)

"Naturally we also hear nothing of the washing of the corpse which was so important in Jewish burials. Joseph did not wash Jesus, because he was not dead... .The act of washing would only have caused the many wounds covered in clotted blood to start bleeding again."
- Holger Kersten & Elmar R. Gruber, The Jesus Conspiracy - The Turin Shroud & The Truth About the Resurrection (1992)

Ancient medical treatises "describe an ointment as marham Isa which means the 'ointment of Jesus'. Materia Medica in Greek stated that this ointment was first prepared for the injuries received by Jesus Christ. The reference to this ointment is found in over a thousand books on medicine including the famous book Qanun by Bu Ali Sena (Avicenna). The ointment is particularly suited to stop the flow of blood from external injuries.

"In common with other Muslims, the Ahmadiyya Community believes that Jesus was a righteous prophet raised by God among the Israelites. The Ahmadiyya version of the crucifixion is that Jesus did not die on the cross. When he was taken down from the cross he was still alive but only in a state of swoon or unconsciousness. He was removed to the sepulcher by his close friends and followers. Healing ointments and herbs were administered to his wounds and he was restored to health. He then travelled to the East in search of the lost ten tribes of Israel in fulfillment of his Divine mission, lived to a ripe old age, died and buried in Kashmir."
- M. M. Ahmad, "The Lost Tribes of Israel", The Muslim Sunrise, Summer 1991

"...and We gave Jesus and his mother refuge in a lofty place which was secure and watered with springs." - Quran, ch. 23: v. 51

At the end of the Apocryphon of James, Jesus ascends in a chariot of wind to the accompaniment of angelic hymns and praises (suggestive of the visionary Sabbath Songs). The belief that Jesus remained on earth for years after his crucifixion imparting a secret teaching, the "hidden years", persisted among early Christian gnostic commununities.
"It came to pass, when Jesus had risen from the dead, that he passed eleven years discoursing with his disciples, and instructing them..." - Pistis Sophia (3rd century Gnostic gospel)

"According to the Sethian-Ophites, an ancient Christian sect, Jesus remained on earth for eighteen months after the resurrection, imparting great 'mysteries' to his disciples, then was taken up into heaven."
- The Christian Conspiracy: The Orthodox Suppression of Original Christianity

The notion that Jesus was not killed on the cross can be traced back to Basilides in the second century. To Basilides, Christ was the Pleroma - the light from the Father - and therefore a man in appearance only. Accordingly, Simon of Cyrene, who reputedly carried the cross for Jesus, was crucified in his place while Jesus watched from a hiding place, laughing. This is the account that is repeated in the Qur'an. Jesus' death on the cross is not disputed by ancient historians. Cornelius Tacitus, Lucian of Samosata, and Josephus (although in a contested passage) all report that Jesus was executed. (For details, see the section on Jesus Outside the New Testament.) In addition, Paul admits that such a shameful death (to Roman supporters and collaborators) was an impediment, not a help, in spreading the message of Christianity.

"Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." - 1 Corinthians 1:22-24

Jesus very apparently survived, and this is explicitly maintained in other books. Even the Koran says that Jesus survived the Crucifixion. During that Friday afternoon when Jesus was on the Cross, there was a three-hour-forward time change. Time was recorded then by sundials and by priests who marked the hours by a sequence of measured prayer sessions. In essence, there were daytime hours and there were night-time hours. Today we have a twenty-four-hour day. In John, Jesus said: "Are there not twelve hours in a day?" Yes, there were twelve hours in a day and there were twelve hours in the night, and daytime started at sunrise. From time to time the beginning of daytime changed; thus the beginning of night-time changed.

In March, the beginning of daytime would have been somewhere round about six o'clock in the morning, as we know it. We know that Joseph of Arimathea negotiated with Pontius Pilate to have Jesus removed from the Cross after a few hours of hanging. The Gospels don't actually agree on the sequence of events here: some use the time before the time change; some use the time after the time change. But three hours disappeared from the day, to be replaced with three night-time hours. Daylight hours were substituted by hours of darkness. The land fell into darkness for three hours, we are told in the Gospels.

Today we would simply, in a split second, add three night-time hours to the day. But these three hours were the crux of every single event that followed, because the Hebrew lunarists made their change during the daytime. The solarists, of which the Essenes and the Magi were factions, did not make their change until midnight-which actually means that according to the Gospel that relates to Hebrew time, Jesus was crucified at the third hour; but in the other, solar time he was crucified at the sixth hour.

On that evening the Hebrews began their Sabbath at the old nine o'clock, but the Essenes and Magians still had three hours to go before the Sabbath. It was those three hours that enabled them to work with, on and for Jesus, during a period of time in which nobody else was allowed to undertake any physical work whatsoever. see Jesus' Marriage and Crucfixion

When the spear pierces his side, blood came out. This doesn't happen if the person is dead. Myrrh is used to stop bleeding. Neither drug is known to be used in embalming dead bodies. Mark 16:1 and Luke 23:56 touch obliquely on this issue as well, adding to their story of the tomb that the women - Mary Magdalene and Mary, mother of James - brought spices and ointments with them when they came to the tomb after the sabbath had ended.

The Book, The Jesus Papers add; It is also curious that Jesus just happens to have been crucified next to a garden and a tomb, the latter at least owned by Joseph of Arimathea. This is all rather convenient to say the least. Could it be that the crucifixion itself was private? Perhaps in order to control witnesses to what was occurring? Luke (23:49) informs us that the crowds watching were standing at a distance. Perhaps they were kept at a distance? In fact, the description of the events of Golgotha sug­gests that the site of the crucifixion was actually in the Kidron valley, where there are many rock-cut tombs to this day and where is also located the Garden of Gethsemane, which may well have been the private garden involved and one with which Jesus was familiar.

But there is yet another oddity that we need to note: in the Gospel of Mark, Joseph of Arimathea is described as visiting Pilate and requesting the body of Jesus. Pilate asks if Jesus is dead and is surprised when told that he is indeed, for his demise seems very rapid to Pilate. But since Jesus is dead, Pilate allows Joseph to take the body down. If we look at the original Greek text, we see an important point being made: when Joseph asks Pilate for Jesus’s body, the word used for ~body” is soma. In Greek this denotes a living body. When Pilate agrees that Joseph can take the body down from the cross, the word he uses for ~body” is ptoma (Mark 15:43- 45). This means a fallen body, a corpse or carcass. In other words, the Greek text of Mark’s Gospel is making it clear that while Joseph is asking for the living body of Jesus, Pilate grants him what he believes to be the corpse. Jesus’s survival is revealed right there in the actual Gospel account.

If the writer of this Gospel had wished to hide that fact, it would have been very easy for him simply to use one word for both statements ---to have both Joseph and Pilate speaking of the ptoma, the corpse. But the writer chose not to be consistent. Could this be because it was too well known a fact for him to get away with any manipulation of it? This had to wait for the translation of the new testament from Greek into Latin: in the Latin bible - the Vulgate - the word corpus is used by both Pilate and Joseph simply means ‘body” as well as “corpse. The hiding of the secret of the crucifixion was completed.

Again it takes only a slight shift of perspective from the theological dogma. to see the crucifixion in a new way. That is, to see how Jesus could very well have survived.
The Jesus Papers - Michael Baigent

All this was done with haste because Jesus could not be still on the cross on the sabbath by Jewish law. Jesus only spent 3 hours on the cross. Because Passover was the next morning, Joseph was able to 'buy' the body from Pilate and get it released quicker than usual. The nonbiblical ( left out ) Gospel of Peter says, "But he kept silent, as if he felt no pain".
In Mark 15:34, Jesus says, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The Gospel of Peter #5., clearly states that Jesus said, " My Power, my power, thou has forsaken me." And when he said it, he was taken up. And in that hour the veil of the temple of Jerusalem was rent in twain"...
but the body was not taken up, only the holy spirit of the Christ and the 'image' as described on Light

Gnostic and Essene legend says this is when the spirit of Christ left the body of Jesus, but he was unconscious, not dead. When he let out the mysterious loud cry, which has puzzled doctors, this indicated unconsciousness. The custom was to break the legs of a criminal if he did not die within a certain amount of time, John 19:33 indicated the Roman soldiers thought he was dead so they did not break his legs.

Ancient myth transformed into the ascension of Jesus...but for a reason.

The Ascension of Jesus from Miracles

According to the author of Luke-Acts, Jesus ended his stay on earth by ascending physically into the sky. In the gospel, this is said to have occured on the same day as the resurrection. According to Acts, however, Jesus ascended physically into heaven fifty days after the resurrection. No other book of the New Testament refers to either the ascension or to Jesus' fifty-day sojourn after the resurrection. At any rate, according to Acts, written approximately 90CE, Jesus gives a final address to the disciples before ascending:

"And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father. . . When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. . . And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight" (1:4-9). ( The 'cloud' is a metaphore and "Father' was the title of the high Priest)

Compare this familiar account with an earlier Pagan account, dated around 10CE, related by the Roman historian Livy. The subject of the ascension in this case is Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome. Like Jesus, we may here note, Romulus was called the "son of a god," was said to have been born of a Virgin, Rhea Sivius, and was also said to have been fathered by a god, Mars.

"One day while [Romulus] was reviewing his troops on the Campus Martius near the marsh of Capra, a storm burst, with violent thunder. A cloud enveloped him, so thick that it hid him from the eyes of everyone present; and from that moment he was never seen again upon earth. The troops. . . saw that the throne was empty, and, ready though they were to believe the senators, who had been standing at the king's side and now declared that he had been carried up on high by a whirlwind, they none the less felt like children bereft of a father and for a long time stood in sorrowful silence. Then a few voices began to proclaim Romulus's divinity; the cry was taken up, and at last every man present hailed him as a god and son of a god, and prayed to him to be for ever gracious and to protect his children" ("The Early History of Rome" by Livy (Penguin Classics Edition, pp 50-51).

The parallels here are unmistakable. In both stories we have a "king" addressing his subjects, a cloud enveloping the "king", and the bodily ascension upwards into the heavens. Jesus and Romulus are simply two examples among many. As with the virgin-birth, such stories seem to have been part of the common mythological coinage, as it were, of the ancient world. Gerhard Lohfink observes:

"Similar stories were also told in antiquity about other famous men, for example, Heracles, Empedocles, Alexander the Great [son of Olympias and Jupiter Ammon], and Appollonius of Tyana. Characteristically the scene is set with spectators and witnesses, before whose eyes the person in question disappears. Often he is born aloft by a cloud or shrouded in darkness that takes him from the eyes of the people. Not infrequently the whole business takes place on a hill."

What can we conclude from all of these Pagan parallels to the New Testament? We can conclude that, for anyone willing to peruse the writings of ancient history, the miracles attributed to Jesus are not unique. At the least, this overview should encourage a reasonable scepticism regarding miracle claims as a whole. Stories of the miraculous were indeed a primary staple of ancient literature. Over the course of time, such stories came to be associated with nearly every God, sage, emperor, king, and teacher. We read of them in the writings of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, in the plays and biographies of the Greeks, and, most relevantly, within the Roman and Jewish histories of Livy, Plutarch, Tacitus, Suetonius, Josephus, and others. It is within precisely this historical and literary context which the New Testament was written.

What other pagan rituals and myths were 'copied' and used in the Jesus story? see Christ's Mission

So is the whole story a lie?...Hardley! The ascended spirit is the Christ. The 'raising' is a final 'initiation'. We explained this on.. Jesus and the Essenes
The physical body of Jesus did not ascend. He wasn't dead! Our proof is in the Nag Hammidi Collection and many other sources.

The Shroud of Turin is the image of Jaques DeMolay not Jesus.

Even if it was Jesus on the shroud, he wasn't dead.

If a new cloth had been purchased that is said to be the exact kind and size of the Turin shroud. If Jesus' body was covered with the healing herbs after being laid on the shroud. With the weight of the herbs, and the body heat, the impression was embedded into the cloth under him. If the rest of the shroud was then folded over him, during the night as Jesus laid unconscious, his body prespired but lie still.

Heat from the body would have rizen up and with the moisture, made the top impression. The even distribution of the image on the shroud indicates a functioning circulatory system. Professor W. Bonte, M.D., the director of the Institute for Court Medicine at the University of Dusseldorf, asserts that a living person who only appeared dead made the image. There is no evidence of rigor mortis. He details how the blood on the shroud first came from a erect position and then from the supine position, indicating the person was not dead.
In complete mockery, This was how Jesus' body was cared for but without the full covering of the Shroud..

The shroud indicates the body was in a relaxed V position because the hands were much further down on the legs than if the man had been lying flat. The person was also lying on a soft layer of something causing the image to be more complete around the back of the body. It also is made of a woven material not available in the 1st Century AD.

The man behind the image on the shroud of Turin not Jesus, but a tall, handsome Knight who was crucified in 1312 to mock the death of Jesus but not killed by it.
Edgar Cayce however, says Jesus was a perfect man, beautiful to look at. Either way the image on the so-called Shroud of Turin is Not Jesus.

The disciples were in hiding and did not know of the plan to fake Jesus' death and get him out of the tomb. The Gospel of Peter #7 ,"And I and my companions was grieved; and being wounded in mind we hid ourselves; For we were being sought for by them as malefactors, and as wishing to set fire to the temple. And upon all these things we fasted and sat mourning and weeping night and day until the sabbath".

When Jesus awoke, Joseph and Nicodemus then dressed him in the garments of a gardner and helped him stand up . His face would have been swollen and the aloe would have discolored the skin so Mary did not know him until he addressed her, speaking her name. The Gospel of Peter #10 says, "And as they declared what things they had seen, again they see three men come forth from the tomb, and two of them supporting one, and a cross followed them: and of the two the head reached unto the heaven, but the head of him who was lead by them over-passed the heavens. And they heard a voice from the heavens saying, "Thou hast preached to them that sleep". And a response was heard from the cross, "Yea".
Meaning, thou has preached to them who will not understand this at all. They refused to believe that the soul left the body. The body was unharmed except for the puncture wound and a few scratches on his head..

Peter #11, "They therefore considered one with another wheather to go away and slew these things with Pilate. And while they yet thought thereon, the heavens opened again and a certian man is seen to decend and enter the sepulchre. When the centurion and they that were with him saw these things, they hastened in the night to Pilate, leaving the tomb which they were watching, and declared all things which they had seen, being greately destressed and Saying, Truely he was the Son of God."

Evidently though, according to John, Jesus' followers did not share this expectation of a risen Christ. When Peter and the other disciples saw the empty wrappings of the burial shroud in the tomb: See John 20:6, "They saw Strips of Linen lying there as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, seperate from the linen". STRIPS used to tie around wounds that had been soaked or covered with healing herbs. There is no mention of a 'shroud' being found. Also see John 19:40, John 20:5., Luke 24:11. Nicodemus and Joseph use 'Strips of linen" to wrap the body in the healing 'spices'.

(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the 'dead'. This is explained on Jesus, page 2 and Jesus, page 1
We found overwhelming evidence that this was a ritual practiced for over 10,000 by the ancients. That makes the 'resurrection' ritualistic just like the Masonic third degree ceremony is today. Jesus didn't die because it never was true in the first place.)

"Then the disciples went back to their homes."
This so-called scripture was inserted and the true meaning of the 'risen spirit of the Christ' NOT JESUS, was completely misunderstood.
further proof; - John 20:9-10 "Jesus' disciples "were not aware of any biblical prophecy interpreted to mean that the Messiah would die and rise again. ( As we have already read, they would have contridicted this adamently.) Testimonies to this effect were adduced later." "The common belief, based on the scriptures, was that the Messiah would abide forever (John 12:34), which is conveyed by Isaiah (9:7), and as regards Jesus, was communicated to his mother Mary by the angel Gabriel (Luke 1:32-33)." - Hugh J. Schonfield, After the Cross

When he met Mary Magdalene in front of the tomb he told her, " Touch me Not", this was because the wounds were still painful. The Gospel of Peter reports that the guard saw three men emerge from the tomb with two men supporting the third. Luke 24:39 "Look at my hands and feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have."

The disciples obviously had not expected to see Jesus again. This indeed would have been miraculous, but interrupted completely incorrectly by those not knowing the secret. According to the 'Great Seth', The Christ Spirit went into another body, "was altering my shapes, changing from form to form. I assumed their likenesses". Jesus the man and Mary were then allowed to excape after he reappeared to the disciples.

The Apocalypse of Peter The Savior said to me, "He whom you saw on the tree, glad and laughing, this is the living Jesus. ( Christ the spirit who was in the body of Simeon the twin ) But this one into whose hands and feet they drive the nails is his fleshly part, which is the 'substitute' being put to shame, the one who came into being in his likeness. But look at him and me." ( Here they seem to have nailed Simeon to the tree, not Jesus. This is confirmed by the Treatise of the Great Seth above )
But I, when I had looked, said "Lord, no one is looking at you. Let us flee this place."
But he said to me, "I have told you, 'Leave the blind alone!'. And you, see how they do not know what they are saying. For the son of their glory ( Jesus ) instead of my servant (Simeon, they call a murderer), they have put to shame." Simeon was a Zealot, fighting for the freedom of his people, just like Jesus.

And I saw someone about to approach us resembling him, even him who was laughing on the tree. And he was [filled] with a Holy Spirit, and he is the Savior. And there was a great, ineffable light around them, and the multitude of ineffable and invisible angels blessing them. And when I looked at him, the one who gives praise was revealed. ( was it Jesus? )

And he said to me, "Be strong, for you are the one to whom these mysteries have been given, to know them through revelation, that he whom they crucified is the first-born, (Yaldabaoth) and the home of demons, and the stony vessel in which they dwell, of Elohim, ( The false God ) of the cross, which is under the Law. But he who stands near him is the living Savior, the first in him, whom they seized and released, who stands joyfully looking at those who did him violence, while they are divided among themselves.
( Speeking about Simeon, the murderer, Remember Jesus 'Barabbas' from Jesus, page 2)
Therefore he laughs at their lack of perception, knowing that they are born blind. So then the one susceptible to suffering shall come, since the body is the substitute. But what they released was my incorporeal ( Jesus ) body. But I am the intellectual Spirit filled with radiant light. He whom you saw coming to me is our intellectual Pleroma, which unites the perfect light with my Holy Spirit."

"These things, then, which you saw you shall present to those of another race who are not of this age. "For there will be no honor in any man who is not immortal, but only (in) those who were chosen from an immortal substance, which has shown that it is able to contain him who gives his abundance. Therefore I said, 'Every one who has, it will be given to him, and he will have plenty.' But he who does not have, that is, the man of this place, who is completely dead, who is removed from the planting of the creation of what is begotten, whom, if one of the immortal essence appears, they think that they possess him - it will be taken from him and be added to the one who is. You, therefore, be courageous and do not fear at all. For I shall be with you in order that none of your enemies may prevail unto you. Peace be to you, Be strong!"
When he (Jesus) had said these things, he (Peter) came to himself.

The Gospels report that Jesus continually tried to tell the disciples that he had survived the crucifixion and had recovered. He even showed doubting Thomas the wounds and reassured the disciples he was not a ghost. Holy Blood, Holy Grail gives evidence that Jesus did not die on the cross and he already had married Mary Madgelene. They had a child who began the Merovingian geneaology. The bloodline decendents became rulers of France and other European monarchs. The Gnosics also taught that since Christ did not die on the cross, this knowledge changed the Templar view on Jesus and it is speculated that the Templars used this secret knowledge for leverage with the Catholic Church to receive 'all the concessions afforded by the church'.

"Thus, the possibility of resurrection was not at first entertained as an explanation when it was discovered that the body of Jesus was gone from the tomb. It was held that human hands had removed the so-called corpse for some reason or other. As much as Jesus had been credited as the Savior by his devoted companions, it had to be admitted reluctantly that his death could only mean that he was not the Messiah after all."
- Hugh J. Schonfield, After the Cross

"...The conviction that Jesus had literally risen from the dead had already taken root by the time Paul was converted about 33 C.E. On the assumption that Jesus died about 30 C.E., the time for development was thus two or three years at most."
- Robert W. Funk, Roy W. Hoover, and the Jesus Seminar, The Acts of Jesus, p. 466

However other writings have Jesus, Thomas and their mother Mary in India at a much later date. Check out our 'Jesus' pages for more information.

In order to lay a foundation for the resurrection of Jesus, the author of Acts has Peter quoting David, the first kingly Messiah:

"I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave [Hebrew 'Sheol'], nor will you let your Holy One [or 'your faithful one'] see decay. You have made [or 'will make'] known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence." - 28 Psalms 16:8-11
Peter, according to this then says that David was not referring to himself but the resurrection of the future Messiah (Christ), a son of the House of David. The word resurrection was misinterpreted, meaning the gospel actually meant Christ did not die. But it was Jesus who did not die.

..Luke has Peter quote, fairly loosely, as if from memory, the Septuagint Greek text of the Psalms (though the historical Peter spoke Aramaic and needed, Christian tradition tells us, a Greek interpreter); the point of Luke's interpretation depends on the Greek text of the verse, not on the Hebrew. The Hebrew text of Psalm 16: 10b has something like 'nor suffer thy faithful servant to see the pit,' which stands in simple parallelism to the first line of the distich, 'Thou wilt not abandon me to Sheol' that is, you will not allow me to die. The Greek text could, however, be taken to mean 'You will not let me remain in the grave, nor will you let me rot.' Peter's speech in this episode is an effective work of the dramatic ritual of 'raising', the culmination of a complex two-stage initiation process. But Mary was in charge of this as she alone had the authority to preform it. see Jesus Secret - The Lady of Christ "
parts taken from Randal Helms, Gospel Fictions (1988) p. 20

"Perhaps most surprising of all the differences [between the Gospels and Paul's writings] is Paul's failure to mention the empty tomb, which was, for the writer of the earliest Gospel (Mark), the only public, visible evidence for the myth of a literal resurrection. Though Paul vigorously attempts to convince the Christians at Corinth, some of whom apparently doubted, that Jesus indeed rose from the dead ('if Christ was not raised, your faith has nothing in it' - 15:17), he never mentions this most striking piece of evidence."
- Randall Helms, Gospel Fictions

"Paul knew nothing of a resurrected corpse of Jesus. For he does not exempt Jesus from his general theory of resurrection. Once buried, Jesus' crucified carcass was bound to disintegrate (by whatever means). For Paul, what is important is Jesus' spirit which was freed from its earthly shell and came to animate another 'body': the Christian ekklesia. It is only gospel writers who did not share Paul's mystical perspective who needed an empty tomb as evidence of a resurrection."
- Mahlon H. Smith (Crosstalk)

"This eliminates him [Paul] as a witness to any physical resurrection of Jesus, since only if Jesus had returned from a state of death to resumed physical life would the term resurrection be appropriate."
- Hugh J. Schonfield, After the Cross

"There are incredible parallels between the figure of the metamorphosed Enoch and early Christian descriptions of the resurrected Christ. The transfigured Enoch becomes the exact image of God (in fact he is called the lesser YHWH), is seated on the throne of glory, and is the sole gateway to and from the unseen Creator. The primordial sage and scribe becomes the source of all wisdom and judge over all powers in heaven and on earth. He is even identified as God's word. Here is an excerpt from my own translation of 3 Enoch 48c, which (I think) is one of the oldest sections of 3 Enoch."
- Mahlon H. Smith (Crosstalk)

YHWH himself describes Enoch:

"I made him high over all,
with (the knowledge of) secrets above and secrets below...
Upon him I placed (some) of my honor and (some) of my majesty
and (some) of my radiant glory
which is upon the Throne of Glory.
And I called him the lesser YHWH (YHWH ha qatan),
the Prince of the Presence and the Knower of Secrets.
And like a Father (Ab) I revealed all to him;
and every mystery I let him know with certainty.
I established his throne at the door of my palace
to prepare judgment over all the household of heaven.
And I set every prince [i.e., angel] opposite him
to receive from him authority to do his will.
I took 70 names from my names
and I called him by them to magnify his glory...
70 princes I put under (him) to teach them
the words I commanded in every language;
by his word, to humble the proud to the ground
and by the utterance of his mouth
to raise the humble to the heights;
to strike with his words to turn kings from their ways
and to establish rulers over their domains,
as it is said:
'he alters the times and seasons' (Dan 2:21a);
to give wisdom to all the wisemen of the world,
understanding and knowledge to those who understand KNOWLEDGE,
as it is said:
'and knowledge to those who know understanding' (Dan 2:21b);
to reveal to them the secrets of my Word (dabar)
and to teach them the decrees of my judge judgment
as it is said:
'So shall be my Word, which goes forth from my mouth:
HE shall not return to me empty but HE shall act' (Isa 55:11)."
- 3 Enoch 48c.

Are you ready for some more secret teachings? - see Hiram's Hidden Page

More references in the books; Holy Blood, Holy Grail and The Jesus Conspiracy: The Turin Shroud and the Truth about the Resurrection, by Holger Kersten and Elmar Gruber

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