Excavating Jesus

Recently the news was splattered by a story that there was to be an archaelogical documentary on television presented by the "The Discovery Channel " on March 4th, which was to prove they had found the bones of Jesus. As anyone knows this would be impossible to prove and scientifically alone it stands as pure cow manure that anyone could tell whether any bones were from Jesus. First, you would have to subscribe to the Da Vinci Code myth and lies, to find a surviving member from his lineage and this would require the impossibility of tracing, Mary the Mother of Jesus forward to a surviving genetic inheritance that was alive today or worse you would have to find a relative of the direct lineage of Jesus from him and a marriage to some woman. It amazes me how "Jews" like James Cameron could even produce such garbage. I always thought him to be somewhat intelligent yet he proved to me he is ignorant beyond belief to even want to put his name behind this production of mythology.

Second - This is the second time "The Discovery Channel" has been involved in a disputed claim about an ancient tomb, CBS News Correspondent Mark Phillips reports. The man at the center of the previous case is now facing trial for forgery.

I do want to mention an excellent book on archaeology and the times of Jesus. This book is called, "Excavating Jesus". The teachings and times of Yeshua ( Jesus) revealed through the most important discoveries of biblical research and archaeological research. This book is authored by John Dominic Crossan and Jonathan L.Reed. John is professor emeritus of Religious Studies at DePaul University, Chicago, John L. Reed is a a professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at the University of La Verne, in California.

I absolutely love how they show what the real Kingdom of God meant for early believers and what it''s nature was. It is a far cry from the Kingdom of this world, and they explain both archaelogocally and biblically how, that even in arguing the miracles and all the things we know to be true, back in the times right after Jesus resurrection would had little affect upon the hearers of these proclamations, though true, the hearers of that time, had plenty of their gods doing fantastic things as well, Jupiter rising up from the dead, and creating the Sons of Jupiter, the Caesars of Rome were also often claimed to be seen rising up from the ashes and ascending to the heavenlies, etc. These things are not explained to take from Jesus and Christians but to explain that when Paul and Peter and others debated with the pagans, and the Jews, these things unlike today, were not the grounds from which they won converts.
Though intellectual exercise was a part ot the debate, the thing that set Paul and Peter and all the Apostles apart, was their community of love, and understanding, their love of peace and love expressed to all men in Christ. This alone set the world upside down for Jesus in their times. It also goes to show how scripturally Jesus avoided leaving a place, a home, or a residence that could be exclaimed as the place of the Kingdom of God, and how Constantine thwarted Jesus purposes through the building of the Holy Sepulchre and his insistence on building Temples and buildings for worship in the style of the Romans and the Greeks for their gods for the new state-religion subjects to worship in.

In the chapter entitled "How to Bury A King", I quote,

"We do not ask whether Constantine constructed the Holy Sepulcher on the right spot. Yes, probably. We ask whether his construction was appropriate to Jesus Kingdom of God, to that Jewish ideal of a covental Kingdom on earth as in heaven. No, probably. Above all, we ask and question not so much how Constantine celebrated the sepulcher of Jesus, but how Christianity celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. "
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The truth to be told, Jesus never wanted any place on earth to be called, a holy place, what Jesus sought was to present a holy place, that had no geographical boundaries, no buildings, but a people that would promulgate through their living, their community with one another, outside of buildings, and geographical boundaries the love of God for men and women alike.

Jesus as it is written in the New Testament, went out from Peter's home or his mother in laws home, he did not bid the people "come to me where I am", he went to where they were, the byways, the alleys, the streets, the woods, the gardens, their homes, and told his Disciples the same, GO FORTH, never did he say "come to my house", but he went and made His house "where ever two or more are gathered in his name" without the elaborate ornate buildings that were later created by Constantine, without the authoritarian attitude these buildings contributed to. He went out and was a Servant not a Master. The Apostles did the same. They could have remained at home, went to the Temple and said come here if you want to hear about Jesus. No, we find even Paul seeking a place of prayer alongside a river stream, where there might be others as well seeking the solitude of nature for meditation on the Lord and to be in prayer, and Lydia, was found there. God had already set her heart apart for salvation, and Paul explained the communal - Kingdom of God to her, and not long afterward, we don't find Lydia going to the Temple, but rather prayer beginning in her household at home, and others were reached for Jesus as well. She went forth I imagine just as Paul and Peter and all of the Apostles did, not finding a welcome in the Temples often that men had built, they sought people whereever they were, at work, at play, at debate, at roadside or river side. They found people, whose hearts God had been prepared for the lesson of the Kingdom of God. I imagine she returned many times on the Sabbath day to the river and shared the Good News and then would bring them to her house to explain Our Savior, his love, his sacrifice, his resurrection by lifestyle and community of love one for another. They each came to understand, that God did not dwell in some building, not even Lydias house, but in her heart and the hearts of others like her.

The Apostles knew that a debate over just the miracles of Jesus, or even the resurrection ( though the most important tenant of our belief) would not lead a person to Jesus, they had their own gods who as well, had risen from the grave, they had their miracles and the great heroes of old. The Apostles approached others rather with the community of life that was changed for them, from hater to lover, from killer to a man of peace. Paul was a changed man, and the Kingdom of God was real in his heart, and this heart, not the argument brought people into "the Way".
It was the very reality of Christ alive in his people, their changed lives, their deeds, the actions, their love for one another, that gave precedence and reality over the pagan gods and their stories of their resurrection.
It was life changing - it had to be true this Jesus who went about doing good was really resurrected, for the people could see it in the hearts and lives of the believers. They didn't find it in a building, and I imagine, the seekers by the river side like Lydia had come to some conclusion of that or why else would they not been in their perspective temples worshipping and praying to their gods. Especially Jews on a Sabbath.

We stand in our Sepulchres, and say "come", while Jesus said "Go"!
When will the institutional church so set by Constantine and his followers through the ages, awake to the fact that what they present is nothing more than the same kingdoms the Caesars and Greek gods, and all pagan beliefs present.
The same temples, the same gods, the same priestly grab and authoritarianism.

Jesus wanted us to pray, "Thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is heaven". In heaven there is no Temple for his people are his Temple, and his Son is the High Priest, and He is the Light, the Eternal Light that no man will ever see darkeness in. There is no need for sunlight there. He alone provides all the light needed. There is no need for sacrifice there for his compassion is provided instead. There is no need of tithe there, for He is the giver of all things and what could we ever return to Him that is already His in the first place. There are only His people, His priesthood of believers of all races, all nations, all that declare Jesus is Lord.
We live in a period of thought influenced by the Enlighment, these people lived in pre-enlightment times.
Their argument for Jesus was never a place to go, a person to see, or hear, but the very life of the resurrected Jesus within them, this is what brought sinners to grace, this is what saved the worse of pagans and gave them eternal life. This was the Kingdom of God come down to earth.

Not the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem that Constantine built, not any supposed home that Jesus lived in, and surely not found in a building on this earth made by the hands of men. Even Jesus had them all confused and upset when he clarified that the only building he was talking about tearing down was his body to be raised again in 3 days. The Pharisees were so carnal in thinking like the institutional church, they couldnt see beyond the place, the building that Herod built, as anything else being referred to as a temple.
Paul clarified this when he said, the body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Paul was not referring to a local, tax deductible, incorporated, entity of some people, under the State, meeting in a certain building anywhere. God has no other house, but His people and their heart, and the lie has stolen this for so long from His people, they have lost touch with "Christ in you, the hope of the glory".

Acts: 7:47-50 Stephen preaching to those then who still sought a place or a building as the place where God was to dwell. He states with all clarity that cannot be misunderstood. He quotes directly from scripture from the Prophets.
47- But it was Solomon who built a house for Him *(referring to the Creator Yahweh)
48- However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says:

HEAVEN IS MY THRONE, AND EARTH IS THE FOOTSTOOL OF MY FEET;
WHAT KIND OF HOUSE WILL YOU BUILD FOR ME? says the LORD:
Or what place is their now for my repose?
WAS IT NOT MY HANDS THAT MADE ALL THESE THINGS?

You men are stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just what your fathers did.

It was very short after this, that they stoned Stephen for speaking the truth of the Kingdom of God. These promulgators of Temple worship with their high priest lifted up rocks and just as they killed Jesus and the prophets and all those who came to bring Israels' heart to the Father, they murdered him. They gnashed at their teeth at him, as so often clergymen do that at me, when I tell them in love the truth of the Gospel and how far they have wondered away from this truth.

Constantine in my opinion did the same thing. He commited murder of the truth of what the definition of what the EKKLESIA OF GOD is, but just as Christ would not remain in the grave, the EKKLESIA has been coming out, greater in numbers these days since before the time of the early (KIRKE) church fathers begin to whittle away at the truth of the Gospel and the foundation of Christ and the Apostles. These promulgaters that God lives in a building, have done exactly what the Pharisees did, they replaced the Word of God with the traditions of men.
They gnash their teeth at me, they want me stoned for telling the truth, less they lose their place of power and money, and their very substanance for groceries, debt, fine cars, nice homes, and paid for trips. They would hate the most to lose their title, Pastor, Priest, Bishop, etc. for these things are holy and precious to them and without them, they become mere men, no longer holier or more learned then their subjects.

"The Kingdom of God is within you".
The residence of God is not in some building down the street with a sign outside that says church. God lives in the hearts of His people, and this is the excavating of Jesus, that will never reveal bones, but a living and vibrant resurrected Savour.

Let Easter (the pagan celebration be gone) and let the Resurrection Day of Jesus be alive- come this week as we remember and reflect what Jesus really was all about. Let us repent from our works of darkness we have lived in for too long, and turn to the life of Jesus and the Apostles, and instead of saying come here or there, let's get up and GO to the people as Jesus did. Only love conquers all.

If you want to read about real biblical archaelogical work on excavating Jesus, then I highly recommend reading the book I mentioned earlier.

Now let us excavate the "resurrected Lord and King in our hearts, in our families and in our everyday lives. For HE LIVES!
So Go forth, and take the Gospel unto all nations in Yeshua's name. Don't sit on a pew this week, share Jesus with someone by your life in word and deed, and let it be the resurrected Jesus "excavated from the dead of the building" made alive in your heart, that speaks and acts.

I serve a risen Savour, He is in the world today, you ask me how I know this, for He is in my HEART TO STAY!

Dr. J.