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SPEAKING WITH CLOSED MOUTH?
The hot-gospellers are getting hoarse in the throat, singing and shouting, that Jesus was led
"to the slaughter like a lamb, like a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth" - (Isaiah 53:7).
Poor deluded souls, they hymn songs:
"Hy het sy monde nie oop gemaak nie! Hy het sy monde nie oop gemaak nie!" (And he opened not his mouth).
Now, an Attorney-at-Law, claiming to be "re-born" has joined the chorus of Bible-thumpers with the same senseless repetition. Let me quote, word for word from his Book, to enable you to diagnose this new sickness of cultism to which even people having undergone a dicipline of Law are not immune. He says;
"Isaiah predicts about Jesus Christ:- "
1. He would not defend himself at his trial (Jesus did not): "He opened not his mouth"
When you meet these cultists in the flesh, please ask them, "Did Jesus speak with his mouth closed?" How did the following utterances which are attributed to Jesus, escape his lips without him opening his mouth -
(a). Before Pontius Pilate: "My kingdom is not of this world" � (John 18:36).
(b). Before the Sanhedrin: "If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil, but if well, why smitest thou me?" � (John 18:23).
(c). Before God in the Garden: "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass away . . ." (Matthew 26:39).
We Muslims believe in the many, many miracles of Jesus, but we would be reluctant to believe that he dabbled in ventriloquism. 1 Again and again, whenever the need arose, during his trials and tribulations, Jesus opened his mouth with telling effect, "according to the Scriptures". But for those who refuse to see or hear, we can only seek solace in the words of the Master:
". . . they seeing, see not; and hearing, they hear not, neither do they understand" (HOLY BIBLE) Matthew 13:13
1. Ventriloquism: The art of speaking, or uttering sounds in such a manner that the voice appears to come from some other source than the speaker, like Charlie McCarthy and his doll.
THE BLACKMAIL
In the case under discussion, Pilate finds Jesus � NOT GUILTY! His implacable enemies, blackmail Pilate, saying:
". . . If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend; whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh agaist Caesar" (HOLY BIBLE) John 19:12
While the trial was under way, Pilate's wife sends him a message: "Have thou nothing to do with that just man (Jesus); for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him." � (HOLY BIBLE) Matthew 27:19.
As reluctant as Pilate was to condemn an innocent and harmless subject, and despite the pleadings of his dear wife based on supernatural visions, he could not prevail against Jewish pressure. He was forced to give in to the Jewish clamour of "Crucify him, crucify him!". "Pilate took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this righteous man." � (Matthew 27:24). You are culpable for this unjust crime. And he handed Jesus over to be crucified.
CHAPTER 7
METHODS OF CRUCIFIXION
ORIGINS OF CRUCIFIXION
Crucifixion was the common mode of eliminating political prisoners, murderers and insurgents. Long before the birth of Jesus, the Phoenecians had experimented with various methods to get rid of their anti-social characters. They had tried hanging, impaling, stoning, drowning, etc. But all these were too quick in their effects; the culprits expired too soon for their liking. So they invented the crucifixion, a system which produced a slow L-I-N-G-E-R-I-N-G death.
TWO METHODS OF CRUCIFIXION
The Romans borrowed and perfected the system. They developed a crucifixion for fast death and disposal, and another for a slow death and disposal.
The Christian Masters1 are confused in their paintings of the gruesome scene. They portray the two robbers2 who were simultaneously crucified with Jesus, his "crossmates", one on his right hand and the other on his left hand, as undergoing the FAST method, whereas Jesus himself is painted as undergoing a S-L-O-W process.
The Romans never combined these two different methods. They were never confused, as the Christian artists were, with the fast and the slow methods. The Old Masters have painted hybrid crosses (mixture) of the "fast" and "slow" methods in their drawings of Jesus' bodily supports on the cross � i.e. with Sadile or without sadile 3 either nails or leather thongs to bind the arms to the crossbar; and, either platforms to support the feet, or spikes.
1. Meaning great artists like Michaelangelo, Rembrandt, Leonardo Da Vinci, etc.
2. Mark 15:27 - "lestes" in the original. Alternatively translated as "thieves" or "brigandas" is actually a derogatory term for "Zealot." These "crossmates" of Jesus were not common thieves or crooks. They were the terrorists of their day, heroes of their nation.
3. Sadile: Obviously a SADDLE, or "horn" which was fitted in the middle of the upright piece of the cross, so that it projected between victim's legs at the crotch to support his body-weight, but for aesthetic reasons the Christian fathers have eliminated the "horn" from the cross. See illustrations further down.
"THE GOSPEL UNTRUTH"
Contrary to common belief, Jesus was not nailed to the cross, but bound, if at all, like the other two. In the light of the knowledge available, we must regard the "Doubting Thomas" episode as a flagrant "gospel fabrication", similar to the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery. See below for a reproduction of the Bible page and note that John chapter 8, begins with verse 12. Can you imagine any chapter in any religious Book beginning with verse 12 as the first verse? Verses 1 to 11 are expunged as a fabrication by the 32 Christian Scholars of the highest eminence, backed by 50 co-operating denominations in their "Most up-to-date Version of the Bible"� the R.S.V. 1
1. R.S.V. stands for Revised Standard Version, first published in 1952. The translators claimed to have had access to the "Most Ancient Manuscripts" from which they learnt that the story about the adulteress was a fabrication. See "Is the Bible God's Word?" for further information on the R.S.V.
THIS IS A FOOTNOTE, REPRODUCED AS IS FROM THE BIBLE.
THEIR HURRY A BLESSING IN DISGUISE
The Jews were in extreme haste to have Jesus done away with. Remember the midnight trial? Early in the morning, they dragged him to Pilate. From Pilate to Herod. From Herod back to Pilate. According to a boisterous American (another "born-again") there were "SIX" trials within twelve hours. At the busiest time in Jerusalem, around the Feast of the Passover, it appears from the Gospel narratives that people of worth had nothing else to do but twiddle their thumbs in great expectation of interviewing Jesus. Exactly as things happen on the "set", for the shooting of films. Hurry! hurry! hurry!
According to the Gospel writers, the Jews and the Romans managed to have Jesus on the cross by the 6th hour, that is by 12 noon; and by the 9th hour1, that is, by 3 o'clock he had given up the ghost � he had died (?). Strange people, these Jews! As much as they were in a hurry to mount Jesus on the cross, no sooner had they succeeded, they were once more agitated to bring him down. Can you imagine why? Their religious scruples -the Sabbath! They were warned in the "fifth Book of Moses":
"His body (any crucified person) shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shah in any wise bury him that day, (for he that is hanged is accursed of God), that thy land be not defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance." (HOLY BIBLE) Deuteronomy 21:23
To appease the religious scruples of the Jews (or for any other reason) if it became necessary to expedite death on the cross, the executioners resorted to the "cruri-fragium", a club like horror with which the legs were broken. The victim expired by suffocation within the hour. This was the fast method.
1. Matthew 27:46. 32
This drawing is an attempt at a more accurate representation of the "execution" of Jesus. To check his ideas the artist Charles Pickard, actually manoeuvred himself into this position.
CHAPTER 8
GOD'S WAYS ARE NOT OUR WAYS
Was the prayer of Jesus (pbuh) being answered? He had cried (o the loving father in heaven for help, with strong crying and tears:
"And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground" (HOLY BIBLE) Luke 22:44
What can be expected from such heart-felt prayer and importuning? One of the four brothers1 of Jesus reminds us that:
"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." (HOLY BIBLE) James 5:16
Such heartfelt prayers! Such blood-curdling cries! Such sorrow and sobs! A cynic remarked that it would even bring God down from His Throne.2
1. The Christians give brothers and sisters to Jesus, through a union of Mary with Joseph the Carpenter. (Matthew 13:55-56).
2. God Almighty does not go up or down He is Omnipresent. All-Prevading. Present everywhere!
GOD ACCEPTED JESUS' PRAYERS
Paul confirms that his supplications did not fall on deaf ears:
"Who, in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was HEARD in that he feared."
(HOLY BIBLE) Hebrews 5:7
What does it mean "God heard" his prayers! It means that God accepted his prayers. God Almighty is not deaf at any time. He is the All-Hearing God. He heard (accepted) the supplication of Jesus in the same way that He had heard (accepted) the prayer of father Abraham. Abraham, in his old-age had prayed for a son, and Ishmael was born. The words of Abraham had become flesh. Ishmael literally means "GOD HEARD", in Hebrew. Zakariah also in his old-age prayed for a son, and God heard (accepted) his prayers, and John the Baptist was born. Now Jesus cried for help, and God heard (accepted) his prayers:
"And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him." (HOLY BIBLE) Luke 22:43
Strengthening him in the faith, in the hope that God will save him. This is actually what he was beseeching God to do for him. When and how rests alone in the Hands of God. His ways are not our ways. Count the blessings so far:
(a) An assurance from Heaven.
(b) Pilate finds him, not guilty!
(c) His wife shown a dream in which she is told that no harm should come to Jesus.
(d) Legs not broken!
(e) In a hurry to bring him down from the cross.
WHAT USE � "THE BONES" . . .
The fourth above: "and they brake not his legs", we are told was in fulfilment of a prophecy:
"He keepeth all his bones, not one of them is broken." (HOLY BIBLE) Psalm 34:20
If the bones of a victim were to be protected from harm, then they could only be of benefit if the person was ALIVE! For a person, already dead, intact bones mean nothing. Whether they are sawed into pieces, or smashed into smithereens, it will not make any difference to the resurrected body, the spirit or the ghost. But for living persons on the cross (like the "crossmates" of Jesus), the breaking of the legs made all the difference between life and death. The pagan Romans were not hell-bound to fulfil any prophecy. Their reason was that they "SAW that he was dead already, they brake not his legs". � (HOLY BIBLE) John 19:33
"SAW" is a very simple word. We may yet ask, what did they see? Could it be the fulfilment of the words of Christ: "seeing, ye shall see and shall not preceive" � (Matthew 13:14). When John says that the soldiers "saw", he means that they surmised. For no modern-day stethoscope was used to verify death; nor did anyone touch his body or feel his pulse before concluding that "he was dead already". I see in the word "saw" another step in God's plan of rescue.
CHAPTER 9
"RESURRECTIONS" DAILY!
STRANGER THAN FICTION
With all the advancements in the Medical field since Christ; with all the modern, scientific instruments at our disposal; hundreds of people are being certified "dead", every day all over the world. Whilst busy writing this, my attention is being drawn to the near murder of a Mr. Barnabas who was being carried to the mortuary after being "declared clinically dead". Not by inexperienced ancient Roman soldiers, but by highly-qualified Medical men. The news item is reproduced on the side, as is, as a New Year '84 shock!1 This with another shocker from Ripley's: "BELIEVE IT OR NOT!" is also reproduced at the end of this book, with a suggestion that some young journalist keep his eyes open for people who have come back from the "dead", and write an anthology, which might well-nigh become a best-seller. Here is a list for a start: � What would you say?
RESURRECTED OR RESUSCITATED?
1. LITTLE GIRL WHO "DIED" TELLS HOW SHE CAME BACK TO LIFE (After 4 Days) � ("Daily News" 15/11/55).
2. MAN DIED FOR TWO HOURS: STILL LIVES � "Miracle" amazes doctors � ("Sunday Tribune" 27/3/60).
3. HE DIED FOR 4 MINUTES � Man's heart stops but he lives on � ("Sunday Express" 23/7/61).
4. HE DOES NOT KNOW THAT HE DIED FOR 90 SECONDS � ("Cape Argus" 16/3/61).
5. DR. HITGE RETURNED FROM THE DEAD � ("Cape Argus" 4/5/61).
6. THE COFFIN MOVED � Young man narrowly escaped being buried alive � ("Sunday Tribune" 13/5/62).
7. BACK FROM THE DEAD � After being thought dead for 2 days � ("Post" 25/7/65).
8. "CORPSE" WINKS AT UNDERTAKER � Doctor wrote out a death certificate � ("Daily News" 25/3/75).
9. "CLINICALLY DEAD" � Toddler alive after hour-long revival battle �("Natal Mercury" 5/12/82).
10. WAS HE DEAD OR ALIVE? � The dilemma facing transplant Doctors � ("Sunday Tribune" 17/7/83).
11. SHAKEN AND STIRRED � Declared clinically dead "from too much Christmas liquor" � ("Daily News" 3/1/84).
This sombre list would be incomplete without the picture of an exclusive club, the only qualification of whose membership is � TO HAVE DIED AND LIVED AGAIN! If everything happened to Jesus "according to the Scriptures", then, he could easily become its doyen (Senior member of a body).
CHAPTER 10
SYMPATHY FOR JESUS
God works in a mysterious way. He inspires the soldiers to think that the victim is "dead already" so as not to break his legs, but at the same time inspires another to lance him on the side1 with a spear, and . . .
". . . FORTHWITH came there out blood and watery." (HOLY BIBLE) John 19:34
It is a Blessing of God that when the human body cannot endure further pain or agony, unconsciousness supervenes. But immobility, fatigue and the un-natural stance on the cross2 must have slowed down the blood-circulation. The lancing came to the rescue. By "blood-letting", the circulation could regain its rhythm. We are assured in the Encyclopedia Biblica, under article "cross," column 960, that "Jesus was alive when the spear was thrust". This also confirms the statement of John that the flow of "water and blood" was instantaneous. In his own words he says: "FORTHWITH" � stralght-away, immediately, which was a sure sign that Jesus was ALIVE!
But why the "Water and the Blood"? Dr. W.B. Primrose, a Senior Anaesthetist of the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, gave his expert opinion: In the "Thinkers Digest", London, Winter 1949 issue, he said that "THE WATER WAS A RESULT OF THE NERVOUS UPSET OF THE BLOOD VESSELS LOCALLY DUE TO THE OVER-STIMULATING EFFECT OF THE SCOURGING BY STAVES". This may be an extreme case, but so was his sweating, like "great drops of blood, falling down to the ground", when Jesus was in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. Medical authorities also confirm the latter phenomenon.
1. The "side" of his body and not the front.
2. See at the end of this book for illustration reproduced from "A Campus Crusade" publication where a "born-again" cultist after 1000 hours study of the cruci-FICTlON is inspired to draw that caricature of Jesus.
EVANGELISTS DIFFER
The Gospel-writers are not unanimous regarding the time when Jesus was hoisted onto the cross. But John tells us that Jesus (pbuh) was still before Pilate in the praeto-rium at 12 noon: ". . . and about the sixth hour (Hebrew time), he saith unto the Jews, Behold, your King!" � (John 19:14). And after much wrangling he was handed over for crucifixion. Imagine the disorderly mob, the heavy cross which Jesus himself is supposed to have been loaded with. The long climb to Gol�gotha could never have been accomplished in minutes. And the saddling, the tying and the lifting must have taken some time. On TV shots, they can do it all in 30 seconds! But we know that in real life it does not happen that fast. The author of John's Gospel failed to record the time when "Jesus gave up the ghost" (John 19:30), but the synoptists seem to be agreed that it was around the "ninth hour", meaning 3 p.m.
Dean Farrar, in his "Life of Christ", says on page 421, that "JESUS WAS ON THE CROSS FOR ONLY THREE HOURS � WHEN TAKEN DOWN".
PONTIUS PILATE MARVELS
We are told in the Gospels, in varying terms, that between the "sixth" and the "ninth" hours, there was THUNDER, an ECLIPSE and an EARTHQUAKE! � Without purpose? No, to disperse the sadistic mob after their enjoyment of a Roman holiday. To enable the hands of mercy, his "secret" and faithful disciples, to come to his succour.
Joseph of Arimathe'a together with a sympathetic Roman centurion who had declared: "Truly this man was the Son of God" (Mark 15:39), went to Pilate to claim the body of Jesus, and:
"Pilate marvelled if he were already dead, and to him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead." (HOLY BIBLE) Mark 15:44
What was the reason for Pilate's amazement? Why did he marvel? He knew from experience that normally no man would die within 3 hours on the cross, unless the "crurifragium" was resorted to, which was not done in the case of Jesus; unlike in that of his "crossmates", who were given the treatment because they were still ALIVE!
REASON FOR MARVELLING
It stands to reason, that if a man faces a firing squad, and shots are fired into his body, and he dies, there would be nothing to "marvel" about. If a person is taken to the gallows and is hanged, and he dies, there is nothing to "marvel" about. But should they survive, after our common knowledge expects them to die, then there is much to MARVEL about. Conversely, Pilate expects that Jesus should be ALIVE on the cross, and not dead as he is being told, therefore his marvelling is only but natural. He had no special reason for verifying whether Jesus was dead or alive. If he was ALIVE � so what? Had he not found Jesus innocent of the charges levelled against him by the Jews? Did his wife not warn him against doing any harm to "that just man"? Was he not blackmailed into surrendering to Jewish clamour? So if Jesus was alive � Good Luck to him. Pilate grants permission for Joseph to have the body.
SO HE HAD "SECRET" DISCIPLES
The so-called disciples of Jesus, whom he called "my mother and brethren!" 1 (in preference to his own mother and his uterinal brothers and sisters), were nowhere in sight when he was most in need. His "secret" disciples, Joseph of Arimathe'a and Nicodemus, would never have been heard of had it not been for Jesus' ordeal. And they were the only persons to handle the body of Jesus, with Mary Magdalene and the other Mary(s) 2 as the only spectators.
To satisfy the religious scruples of the Jews � the burial bath, the anointing and the shrouding � would well-nigh have taken more than two hours. If there were any signs of life in the limp body, no one was foolish enough to shout to the retreating curiosity mongers: "He is ALIVE! He is ALIVE! They knew that the Jews would then make doubly sure that that life was snuffed out.
1. Matthew 12:49.
2. Mark 15:47.
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