QNBVS. If it's weed, then all that stuff I was saying earlier about not feeling guilty about smoking pot, well, I'd have to take it all back. And that's contrary to what God said. So to try and interpret it that way, well, would be as crazy as saying big bang theories support legal pot... (o.k. I'll stop now.)

Like I said, there's a false image in your world view. The Bible is nothing but confusion and contradiction to you. It's never gonna make sense until you personally believe. And confidence and trust in a preacher or a church or any other man won't cut it. They'll fail you, cause we're all guilty of the same things.

Seriously, even myself now writing probably brews a bitterness and hostility in you. I can't save you. I can't make the Word make sense. You gotta make it make sense for you. It's spiritual. And I don't know why I even care whether or not you even reconsider- It's your ass gonna burn in hell not mine!!! I don't know why I do this!

You and Jesus. Jesus and you. Personally, try Him test Him. If there's a million voices in your head, there's only one that's gonna minister to you. Emmanuel. God With Us. Everybody knows that voice. Answer Him, He loves you.

I did a word study on Sweet Calumus. I posted part of it on the C4C site. I don't buy it. But I'm becoming more open minded about where exactly pot fits in Hebrew culture.

You know why you believe what you believe. I imagine it's one of your character strengths.

"Seriously, even myself now writing probably brews a bitterness and hostility in you. I can't save you. I can't make the Word make sense. You gotta make it make sense for you. It's spiritual. And I don't know why I even care whether or not you even reconsider- It's your ass gonna burn in hell not mine!!! I don't know why I do this!"

So you think God created man to worship God? Don't you think that is egotistical and selfish? And those who dont believe he is going to make suffer in hellfire? So I suppose the after death body has all the same senses and feelings as our eathly one right? Otherwise how would we experience all that pain? It's all just so much hogwash.

And the Cruci-fiction is the cherry on the Sunday....


From Sex, Drugs, Violence and the Bible

THE RESURRECTION

The historical fact is that there were numerous claimants to the title of Messiah, both before and after the time of Jesus, some of whom were far more popular during their lifetimes than Jesus was during his. But somehow, over the first few centuries of the common era, Jesus rose above them all in both the hearts and minds of the people. A fact that likely has to do with Jesus and his followers novel approach of tying in Jesus' historical actions with Biblical prophecies, thus uniting him with the God of History in the minds of the people.

Also contributing to his popularity was Jesus' adoption of the death-and-resurrected hero mythology, which was so popular amongst many of the fertility religions that predate Christianity, and which are treated at length in Kersey Graves’ THE WORLD'S SIXTEEN CRUCIFIED SAVIORS; CHRISTIANITY BEFORE CHRIST, (1875) and Sir James Frazer's classic anthropological study, THE GOLDEN BOUGH (1922). Cults like that of the Near Eastern Baal-Tammuz, which were discussed in Volume 1, as well as Osiris in Egypt, Adonis , Mithras, Attis and others, had already been long established in their mythologies as gods said to have died and then risen, centuries before the Christians borrowed this symbolism. But, as the early orthodox Christian Fathers explained, Jesus sat above them all, as none of these had actual witnesses, as did Jesus through the Apostolic traditions provided in the Gospels. Jesus and then later Christianity, took the myth into the realm of history.

Of the different resurrected Gods, likely the figure of Tammuz, the Son of Ea, whose religious hymns are paralleled by Solomon's Songs, and who Ezekiel foresaw the women in the Temple weeping for, had the greatest influence on the Christian mythos of the Death and Resurrection. "The very ancient myth of the suffering, death, and resurrection of Tammuz has replicas and imitations throughout the Paleo-Oriental world, and traces of its scenario were preserved down to post-Christian gnosticism."(Eliade 1954) "Like many other such deities Tammuz... had been born of a virgin, died with a wound in his side and, after three days, rose from his tomb, leaving it vacant with the rock at the entrance rolled aside."- (Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln, The Messianic Legacy, 1987, Date??? )

Dr. Schonfield feels that the Davidic messianic expectations may have been flavored by the Tammuz cult from their earliest beginnings. The eminent religious historian noted that there was a connection between the name of David, and that of Dad, (also Adad), the counterpart of Tammuz in Palestine. David, was also portrayed as a shepherd, like Tammuz, "and there is a strong probability that in Palestine the messianic expectations embodied elements of the local Fertility cult. Tammuz in the liturgies was 'shepherd, pure food, sweet milk,' and of the Messiah it is said 'And I will set up one shepherd over them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.' There was a shrine of Adonis-Tammuz in David's city of Bethlehem (the place of Bread)" (Schonfield 1966). As Barbara Walker has noted "the most likely source of primary Christian mythology was the Tammuz cult in Jerusalem":

Like Tammuz, Jesus was the Bridegroom of the daughter of Zion (John 12:15). Therefore his bride was Anath, "Virgin Wisdom Dwelling in Zion," who was also the Mother of God. Her dove descended on him at his baptism signifying (in the old religion) that she chose him for the love-death. Anath broke her bridegroom's reed scepter, scourged him and pierced him for fructifying blood. She pronounced his death curse, Maranatha (1 Corinthians 16:22). As the Gospel said of Jesus, Anath's bridegroom was "forsaken" by El, his heavenly father. Jesus' cry to El, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" seems to have been a line written for the second act of the sacred drama, the pathos or Passion (Mark 15:34). (Walker 1983)

Referring to the celebrations surrounding the death and resurrection of Tammuz, respected ancient Near East scholar Helmer Ringgren commented on their profound similarities to the later Near Eastern rites and mythos carried on into the first few centuries A.D. by certain sects: "These ceremonies are similar to the rites of mourning that we know the Sabians in the early Christian period performed.(Ringgren 1973). Tammuz, proceeded Jesus with such Christ-like titles as "the child", "the shepherd" , "the heroic Lord", and "the healer", giving further indication that it is not at all "improbable that the myth of Dumuzi's [Tammuz's] death and resurrection left its mark on the Christ story, in spite of the spiritual gulf between them"(Kramer 1969)

Several motifs in the Christ story may go back to Sumerian prototypes.... Dumuzi, not unlike Christ played the role of vicarious substitute for mankind; had he not taken the place if Innana, the goddess of love, procreation, and fertility, in the Nether World, all life on earth would have come to an end. Admittedly the differences between the two were more marked and significant than the resemblances--Dummuzi was no Messiah preaching the kingdom of God on earth. But the Christ story certainly did not originate and evolve in a vacuum; it must have had its forerunners and prototypes, and one of the most venerable and influential of these was no doubt the mournful tale of the shepherd-god Dumuzi and his melancholy fate, a myth that had been current throughout the ancient Near East for over two millennia. (Kramer 1969)

Such a view is strengthened by the Mary Magdalene's anointing of Jesus prior to his crucifixion, an act that Jesus himself said was done in preparation for his burial, and had been, since even more ancient pagan times, the time-honored method of Christening the sacred king as representative of Tammuz. "In the epic of Gilgamesh, victims were told 'the harlot who anointed you with fragrant oil laments for you now'"(Walker 1983). "The anointing for burial was the enactment of a key part of the cult ritual of the dying/rising Sun and the fertility gods of the whole region washed by the Mediterranean Sea.... For millennia this same action had been part of an actual rite performed by a daughter of the royal house, and the marriage rite itself conferred kingship on her consort"(Satarbird 1993).

The dressing of Jesus in a scarlet, or purple robe in preparation for the crucifixion , was done in further imitation of the pagan sacred king's moon-blood robe, worn by Babylonian kings: "it was the same sacred blood color that covered the altars in Canaan and Israel (Numbers 4), and dyed the 'red carpet' trod by triumphal religious procession"(Walker 1983). The adoption of aspects of the fertility god's cosmology continued long after the crucifixion. For, as with the earlier prototypes whose body and blood given in sacrifice enriched the earth and caused wondrous plants to grow: "Countless popular legends and songs tell of flowers and medicinal herbs that grow under the Cross or on Jesus' tomb" (Eliade 1982). As the Dead and resurrected Savior, Jesus is clearly the embodiment, and marks the continuations of such earlier gods as Baal, Tammuz, and Attis.

That Jesus could have been influenced by Canaanite and other Near Eastern cultic practices is obviously quite evident from the material we have already discussed. Further, even the New Testament, records that like the heretic king before him, his supposed distant ancestor, Solomon, Jesus to was referred to as a "high priest after the order of Melchisedek" , the typically Canaanite King, whose offering of bread and wine to Abraham, later served as the prototypes of the orthodox Christian placebo-sacraments. Clearly, the religion of Jesus resembled that which took place throughout most of the monarchy, much more than it did post-excilic Judaism, which had changed the cosmology dramatically from the earlier faith through the edicts of the Book of the Law, and the later Priestly additions and subtractions. Truly Jesus was practicing and re-instituting, the Old Time Religion.

That cultic synchronism has taken place in Christianity, has widely been accepted and is historically documented by the fourth century adoption of the Dec.25th date for Christ's birthday, a calendar holiday formerly attributed to the birth of the Persian god Mithras. As it is so close to the solstice it was attributed to related deities throughout the ancient world and refers to the annual death and rebirth of the ancient Sun-king . Generally, such synchronism has been attributed to Jesus' later followers. But as the death and resurrection myth is pivotal to the story of Jesus, and appears in all four synoptic gospels as well as in numerous Gnostic tractates, Jesus' adoption of features of Tammuz's mythology, clearly show that he was capable of such synchronism himself. Further, this shows that Jesus attempted to magically bring the Tammuz-Baal mythos of death and resurrection that was so popular throughout the monarchic period, into the realm of reality...

LIFE & DEATH... & LIFE?

Besides the often overlooked anomaly of Christ somehow being dead for three days and three nights between Friday night and Sunday morning, the details of the Crucifixion & Resurrection have always been something of a controversy, especially in the early days of Christianity, when it became the crux and symbol of the newly formed Roman Catholic Church. Denial of the crucifixion and resurrection was considered to be of the worst kind of heresy and this resulted in the elimination of many early Christian groups .

By having witnesses who fully believed that he had in fact died and arisen, Jesus harnessed an age old mythos that had been popular with the masses from Near Eastern cultures since their early beginnings. Numerous researchers have suggested that Jesus' crucifixion, the very crux of the Christian faith , could conceivably have been a hoax . Like Jesus' other miracles, a reasonable hypothesis for how the crucifixion could have been staged can be given, and one that is startlingly backed up by certain Gospel passages that shall be discussed. But then this brings into question the earlier case of the resurrection of Lazarus, which apparently also had many witnesses, for it was after word spread of Jesus resurrecting Lazarus, that many of the Jews began to follow him, and he became an established threat to the authorities.


"LAZARUS, COME OUT!"

The story of Lazarus's resurrection appears only in John 11-12, (although a similar but less described resurrection takes place in Luke 7:12-15, and an earlier version of the tale could conceivably have been edited from the oldest gospel Mark ). Even though of a later historical date than the other synoptic gospels, John gives the most interesting of the accounts of the resurrection, and the author "appears to know a tradition concerning Jesus that must be primitive and authentic"(Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln 1982). The text of John, itself records that "the disciple whom Jesus loved... which... leaned on his breast at supper", and who may or may not have been Jesus' male lover, "is the disciple which testifieth these things, and wrote these things.” (John 21:20-24). Many scholars have suggested that in the case of the fourth Gospel, the writing of a Gnostic heretic somehow found a place as a Christian witness in the New Testament. In John, we find the most revealing telling of key events before and after the resurrection, and when one reads the text with these ideas in mind, an almost distinct impression is given that the ancient author is cryptically trying to tell us more than has generally been acknowledged.

Unlike the apostles, who Jesus apparently knew only for a part of the short time of his life that is depicted in the New Testament narrative, Jesus was more than familiar with Lazarus and his two sisters: "Jesus loved Martha and her sister [Mary] and Lazarus."(John 11:5) Thus it seems quite strange when the sisters request for the savior to come to the aid of their ill brother, ("Lord the one you love is sick"(John 11:3)footnote this ???), and he fails to make motions to go to his "beloved" friend's aid. The narrative of John has it that Jesus decides to wait two full days before going, explaining to his questioning new friends, the apostles: "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's son may be glorified through it"(John 11:4). When Christ finally decides to go to his friend Lazarus' aid, he plainly informs the apostles "Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe"(John 11:14-15).

This last statement is interesting when it is noted that throughout the Gospels, many of the apostles themselves are depicted as being unsure of who this charismatic master is that they have only been following for a short time , continually questioning "Who then is this?"(Mark 4:41). Despite Jesus giving them subtle hints as to his divine nature, and constant prodding "Do you not yet understand"(Mark 8:21) , it takes a number of miracles before they draw the conclusion that Jesus is the Messiah.. In John, Jesus states quite unequivocally, that Lazarus' death (and therefore resurrection), happened so that the Apostles themselves "may believe", and as an added bonus, it was after Lazarus' resurrection that many of the Jews "had seen what Jesus did and put their faith in him"(John 11:45). By showing power over death, Jesus defined himself as the cosmic Messiah.

Throughout the New Testament, if one pays close attention "stories show Jesus making secret arrangements in advance with people whom obviously he trusted implicitly, plans which were so vital that he had not disclosed them even to his closest disciples"(Schonfield 1966). In Jesus conversation with Martha, it is made quite apparent that the two are very familiar and that she had an acquaintance with Jesus long before that of the apostles. She refers to Jesus with the Greek title Didaskalos, which means variously; instructor, doctor, master or teacher, indicating a knowledge of his more secret doctrine. The words exchanged in front of witnesses by Martha and Jesus clearly show that the miracle of Lazarus' resurrection was done to establish Jesus as the Messiah:

"Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask".
Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
"Yes Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."(John 11:21-27)

This brings us back to the question; could Lazarus' resurrection have been staged in order to gain the faith of the Jewish people (and even some of the apostles themselves), in a new Messiah? Like the secret alliances with Martha, Lazarus, and Mary insinuated above, as will be discussed, John also refers to other secret servants , so it is potentially possible that the trio had aided Jesus in duping both the "witnesses" that he selected as apostles, and the Jewish populace of the area as well, by helping to stage Lazarus' resurrection and bring about the desired results of the act. For only by gaining fervent support could Jesus hope to obtain the political uprising of the masses that was needed for an all out revolution. If such political intrigue was also at the route of the biblical crucifixion story, then conceivably some of the apostles could have been unknowing dupes who were taken along for the ride in order to be enthusiastic and believing "witnesses" to Jesus’ so-called miracles, and most of all, the piece de la resistance: the crucifixion and resurrection. As Jesus himself proclaimed in John "If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid"(John 5:31) Words that show clearly Jesus recognized that he needed others to proclaim him as the messiah.

By pointing to the costume of a simple linen cloth over the naked body of the unnamed rich youth in Mark, (who is associated with John's Lazarus), Professor Morton Smith, has indicated, in JESUS THE MAGICIAN, that this dress "was standard for participants in magical rites" and that likewise the death and resurrection of Lazarus could well have been an ancient description alluding to the standard mystery school initiation, which is referred to in the Biblical text as "the mystery of the kingdom of God"(Smith 1978). As was discussed earlier, such Mystery Cults, like that of Mithras, were popular both before and after the time of Christ. "Like Christianity, which appeared several centuries later, these cults held out a promise that every worshipper could repeat gods' miraculous feat [of death and resurrection]. Unlike Christianity, however, they offered a kind of 'proof' of this assertion- That is, an experience that apparently convinced the worshipper that he had been dead and returned to life"(Wilson 1971).

Earlier, we discussed some of these cults and their use of certain powerful hallucinogenic drugs. Some of these substances, such as belladonna and mandrake, are so powerful that they can put their ingesters into a deathlike coma that could conceivably have made other ancient onlookers think that they had actually died. As well, in extremely high doses, and through powerful extracts, (such as that which we suggested was used in the miracle of Cana), cannabis has been reported to also put its imbibers into a state similar to animal "hibernation" which is combined with a rigormortis like physical condition of catalepsy. Robert Anton Wilson referred to tests sponsored by the US army in the 1950's, where" THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) ... put dogs into 'hibernation' or deep sleep for eight days, after which they were awakened and showed no ill effects"-(Wilson 1973) .

Apparently the U.S. army was by no means the first to find out about this little known quality of marijuana, as the following had appeared some years earlier before the American tests, in Emily Murphy's 1920 piece of Canadian anti-marijuana propaganda, THE BLACK CANDLE: "Eminent medical doctors in India, principally Calcutta, have made experiments with Cannabis Indica and have discovered that it induces symptoms of catalepsy or even trance. It is also claimed that the fakeers of India who suffer themselves to be buried, and who are later disinterred, do so through the agency of this drug. Some years earlier a Dr. James Braid of Edinburgh wrote a monograph on this subject entitled TRANCE AND HUMAN HIBERNATIONS ."(Murphy 1920)

Some excerpts of Braid's research which discussed hashish and the human hibernation state, appear in the 1855 classic PLANT INTOXICANTS, by Baron Ernst Von Bibra in a chapter on hashish . Braid discussed a number of eye-witness accounts of Indian Fakirs who had allowed themselves to be buried alive, amongst which are the words of one Sir Claude Wade, who was present at the court of Runjeet Singh, when one such Fakir was buried in a specially prepared room that was "completely sealed off from the access of atmospheric air" and then disinterred six weeks later! Wade described the end of the allotted time period when he joined Runjeet Singh and the Fakir’s servant and broke the seal of the specially prepared room:

Provided with light, we descended about three feet below the floor of the room, into a sort of cell. This cell too, was locked and sealed, and it contained a wooden box, about four feet long by three feet broad, with a sloping cover, place upright.

Opening the box we saw a figure enclosed in a white bag. The Fakeer's servant took this figure out of the box and placed it upright against the door. When he took off the bag, the legs and arms of the body were shriveled and stiff, and the head reclined, corpse-like, on the shoulders. No pulse in the heart, the temples, or the arms could be discovered.

The servant then sprinkled warm water on the body, while we forcefully rubbed its arms and legs. During this time the servant placed a hot wheat cake on the head, a process which he twice or thrice renewed. He then pulled out of the nostrils and ears the cotton and wax contained in them; and after great exertion opened the Fakeer's mouth by inserting the point of a knife between his teeth and drew his tongue forward, which, however, flew back several times to its former position. He then rubbed the Fakeer's eyelid with ghee, or clarified butter, for some seconds, until he succeeded in opening them, when the eyes appeared quite motionless and glazed. After he applied the cake for a third time to the head, the body was violently convulsed, the nostrils became inflated, and the limbs became pliable and began to assume a natural fullness. The servant then put some of the ghee on the Fakeer's tongue and made him swallow it. A few minutes later, the pupils became dilated and the eyes recovered their natural appearance, and the Fakeer said, in a low, sepulchral tone, scarcely audible, "Do you believe me now?" From the opening of the box to the recovery of the Fakeer's voice, not more than half an hour could have elapsed, and in another half hour the Fakeer talked with us, although with a feeble voice.(Sir Claude Wade)

Other such cases were reported by reliable eyewitnesses and like Wade's description, when the Fakir’s bodies were disinterred they "were found stiff and rigid like a corpse, but on application of the aforesaid treatment they were restored to life.... It is possible that some of the fakirs possess a hemp preparation that enables them to undergo the described experiments . This is especially supported by the catalepsy that sets in after hemp resin has been taken"(Von Bibra 1855). In reference to "catalepsy", Von Bibra is referring to the research on the effects of hashish that had been conducted in India during the first half of the 19th century by a Dr. W.B. O'Shaughnessy, who reported the following account of a patient that had been given "one grain of the resin of hemp... administered in a solution". Worried by the effects the drug was apparently having on the patient some hours after it had been administered, a nurse summoned Dr. O'Shaughnessy to the hospital, where he was alarmed to find the patient "lying on his cot quite insensible";

'...I chanced to lift up the patients arm. The professional reader will judge of my astonishment, when I found that it remained in the posture in which I placed it. It required but a very brief examination of the limbs to find that the patient had, by the influence of this narcotic, been thrown into that strange and most extraordinary of all nervous conditions, into that state what so few have seen and the existence of which so many still discredit-the genuine catalepsy of the nosologist.... We raised [the patient]... to a sitting position, and placed his arms and limbs in every imaginable attitude. A waxen figure could not be more pliant, or more stationery in each position, now matter how contrary to the natural influence of gravity on the part.(O'Shaughnessy 1839)

Although it doesn't happen often, there have been accounts of people being presumed dead, while in such cataleptic states, which is misconceived for the after-death state rigormortis, as has been noted by Robert Wilkins, in THE FIRESIDE BOOK OF DEATH; "Catalepsy is a mysterious condition, characterized by immobility of the muscles which can sometimes be mistaken for death. The limbs have a 'waxy flexibility' and can be molded into bizarre positions where they remain indefinitely"(Wilkins 19????).

In relation with the Biblical resurrections, as was mentioned earlier, Professor Morton Smith has suggested that Lazarus, (as well as the unnamed youth from the excised passages in Mark who is associated with him), did not suffer death, but went through an intense initiation into the "mystery of the kingdom of God"(Mark 4:11). As our research indicates that a potent cannabis extract, as well as ointments and concoctions of other psycho-active plants, were used in such initiatory rituals; and as cited above, potent preparations of cannabis could induce a catatonic state of hibernation that could conceivably have been mistaken for death, it is interesting to note that hemp was likely used for these combined purposes in later medieval times by a strongly Gnostic influenced Islamic group .

As far as the death and resurrection of Jesus, who was apparently crucified and put to death on the cross in front of other witnesses, it is interesting to note that on the night of his arrest, he was accompanied by a similarly scantily clad youth as the one described in the excised passages of Mark, giving us indications that he was about to perform another death and resurrection ceremony into the "kingdom of heaven", and would have had such a preparation on hand. Further, the Gospel of John, as well as the Gnostic text, The Second Treatise of the Great Seth, and the research of scholars going back more than a century, all give indications that such a substance was ingested by Jesus as he hung nailed to the cross....


THE CRUCI-FICTION

The narrative now brings us to the last days of our Jesus of Sex, Drugs and Violence. Clearly, his rebellious attitude was taken note of by the oppressed Jewish masses, many of whom, especially the down trodden and rejected, had come to see Jesus as a kind of counter-culture hero. Just as in today's world, where any personality is able stand up against the "Authorities" with a certain amount of charisma and appeal is well-loved by the disenchanted members of society, the masses cheered as Jesus exposed the hypocrisies of Church and State, and openly broke their harsh and archaic moral codes in defiance and protest. That Jesus ended up nailed to a cross isn't surprising at all. With the political power held by the Sanhedrin and the hostility that existed amongst all the factions within Judaism at the time, one can only conclude that Jesus was intentionally trying to bring things to a final point of confrontation. And he was very good at it.

Knowing that the messianic expectations of the time was running at fever pitch, Jesus intentionally tapped into this mythos. That the people were fervently waiting for the Messiah is clearly indicated at the beginning of Luke's gospel. When John the Baptist is beginning his ministry the "people were waiting expectantly and all wondering in their hearts if John might not possibly be the Christ." (Luke 3:15) Prior to this reference mention is made of one Simeon, a man who was "waiting for the consolation of Israel." (Luke 2:25) Simeon had had a revelation that "he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ." (Luke 2:26) Then Anna, a prophetess who dwelt in the temple "spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem." (Luke 2:38)

By calling for a Davidic Messiah, it is apparent that the Jerusalem that the people were waiting to be redeemed, was the Jerusalem as it was during the glorious monarchic period, which as has been documented, was rife with Pagan worship. As has also been shown, it is apparent that Jesus also attempted to reinstate many facets of the popular Hebrew religion as it was during most of the Monarchic period. This revealing of what had been hidden so long, likely contributed tremendously to Jesus' crucifixion, and not only through orthodox post excilic Judaism. Those who had revealed these secrets to Jesus, may have come to see their prize pupil as the desecrator of their holy secrets, by revealing openly to the unworthy that which had been "hidden since the creation of the world. (Matthew 13:35).

In this respect, like Krishnamurti in our own age, Jesus rejected the spiritual elitism of his former Gnostic tutors, and decided to take their doctrine to the common people who needed it most. As an unclean mamzer, Jesus may have felt compassion for, and identified with, other spurned members of the Jewish populace from which he came, and attempted to help them to liberate themselves, or at least their minds, from the ignorance and control of the Law.

As we can see from texts already discussed, Gnostic religious techniques, even by today's standards, were very advanced. In this sense, we can see Jesus in a similar light to other "enlightened holy men" who have reached a high level of understanding of the human plight in the cosmic drama. Recognizing the plight of his people who were burdened with archaic laws and doctrines, and being of a higher mind, Jesus identified the problems of his age and tried to remedy them by taking part in the divine drama, as have countless religious sages both before and after him. The Acts of John clearly records that Jesus "carried out everything symbolically for the conversion and salvation of men", and records the following curious account of a ritual circle dance performed by Jesus and the Apostles, just prior to his arrest, which further identifies his motivation :

Now before he was taken by the lawless Jews, who had their law from the lawless serpent , he gathered all of us together and said: "Before I give myself up to them, let us praise the Father in a hymn of praise, and so go forth to meet what is to come." Then he bade us make a circle, holding each other's hands, and he was in the middle. And he said: "Answer me with Amen." After which he began to sing a hymn of praise:
Christ: "Glory be to thee, Father!"
Assistants: (Dancing around in a ring) "Amen."
C: "Glory to thee, Word! Glory to thee, Grace!"
A: "Amen"
C: "Glory be to thee, Divine Spirit! Glory be to thee, Holy One! Glory be to thee, Transfiguration"
A: "Amen"
C: "We praise thee, Father! We give thanks to thee, O Light, Wherein there is no darkness!"
A: "Amen"
C:"I will be freed, and I will free!"
A: "Amen"
C:"I will be wounded, and I will wound!"
A: "Amen"
C:"I will be begotten, and I will beget!"
A: "Amen"
C:"I will be consumed, and I will consume!"
A: "Amen"
C:"I will hear, and I will be heard!"
A: "Amen"
C:"I will be known, who am all spirit!"
A: "Amen"
C:"I will be washed, and I will wash!"
A: "Amen"
C: "Grace [i.e. Sophia] dances round. I will blow the pipe. Dance the round all!"
A: "Amen"
C:"I will mourn: mourn all"
A: "Amen"
C: "The Pantheon of Eight [the Ogdoad] sings praise with us!"
A: "Amen"
C: "The Number Twelve paces the round aloft!"
A: "Amen"
C: "To each and all it is given a share in the dance!"
A: "Amen"
C: “He who joins not in the dance mistakes the event!"
A: "Amen"
C: "I will flee and I will stay"
A: "Amen"
C:"I will adorn and I will be adorned"
A: "Amen"
C: “I will be understood and I will understand."
A: "Amen"
C:"A mansion I have not, and mansions I have"
A: "Amen"
C:"A torch am I to you who perceive me."
A: "Amen"
C: "A mirror am I to you who discern me."
A: "Amen"
C:"A door am I to you who knock at me."
A: "Amen"
C: "A way am I to you who pass."

C: "So as you respond to my dancing, behold yourself in me, the speaker. And when you see what I do, keep silent concerning my mysteries. You that dance, ponder what I do, for yours is this passion of humanity that I am about to suffer. For you could not at all have understood your suffering, had I not been sent to you as the word of the Father. When you saw my suffering, you saw me as the sufferer; and seeing it, you stood not fast, but were all shaken. In your drive toward wisdom, you have me for a bed: rest upon me. You will know what I am when I depart. What now I am seen to be, that I am not. You shall see when you arrive.--Had you known how to suffer, you would have been able to suffer. See through suffering, and you will have non-suffering. What you know not, I myself will teach you. I am your God not the betrayer's God. I will bring the souls of the saints into harmony with myself. In me know the Word of Wisdom.... And if you understand what I am, know this: all that I have said I have uttered playfully, and I was by no means ashamed thereby. I danced; but as for you, consider the whole, and having considered it say: 'Glory be to thee, Father!--Amen!'"(The Acts of John)

Seeing the undying faith of the people in a coming Messiah, Jesus consciously decided to utilize the myth of the Dead and Resurrected Sun King in the hopes of unifying the people and bringing about their liberation. This is not to say that Jesus was an impostor; he was obviously an initiate of extensive learning and charismatic gifts. Jesus, in this view, was a mortal man who through yogic like Gnostic initiation, had experienced that collective essence which animates us all. Perhaps after getting down to that infinite point, Jesus perceived the myth taking place around him and stepped into the role that needed to be filled, a decision whether good or bad at the time, was rife with consequences for the rest of recorded history. Critics of the decision might comment that Jesus suffered from an early form of the "messiah-complex".

Throughout the text of the New Testament Gospels, attention is constantly being brought to a comparison between Jesus' actions and Old Testament passages interpreted as Messianic prophecies. Although much of this is likely later editions meant to further identify Jesus as the messiah, the tradition is so prevalent that it is hard not to see that there is some basis of historical fact, and Jesus purposefully planned out events in order to fulfill these expectations.

Being from Galilee, an area that was well know for Jewish uprisings, it is not surprising that Jesus had a number of allies who aided him in his quest for liberation. Throughout the text, Jesus is depicted as having connections with members of the populace, besides those who numbered amongst the apostles. Martha, Mary and Lazarus, possibly even Judas Iscariot and others, are shown to be in league with Jesus. In order to perform the Sacred Marriage of a King to his people, and fulfill the messianic prophecies of Zechariah (9:9-10), Jesus needed to procure a donkey. His apostles obtain one merely by telling the owner of a donkey that "The Lord needs it", as Jesus had instructed them. The owner lets the animal go freely, indicating that he was aware of who Jesus was, and likely also that the donkey was needed for the political act of Jesus' sacred marriage to the people of Jerusalem as their King and Messiah. The expensive donation of the "costly ointment" had to come from equally loyal beneficiaries who knew that it was necessary for Mary to anoint Jesus before his entrance as the Messiah into Jerusalem .

Obviously there had to have been an underground network of some force, for when Jesus made his triumphant entry into Jerusalem on the donkey, an informed large crowd was already gathered and prepared to ritually proclaim him as the Davidic King. This act of political protest and rebellion was watched with horror by the existing authorities, who apparently reacted just as Jesus had predicted they would. Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem on the donkey and welcome from the cheering crowd who proclaimed "Blessed is the king of Israel" was a religious-political act that could not go undealt with by the existing authorities.

According to the Biblical text, after all the preparations Jesus may have shown something of his human side and lost his heart for the events which he had so carefully planned, as the situation becomes dire when the eve of the betrayal arrives. Jesus is consumed with anguish with the knowledge that the authorities will soon be coming to arrest him. Although, possibly the following request to his disciples to stay with him may have had more to do with his need for "witnesses" to his fulfillment of messianic prophecies, rather than for personal comfort:

He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me." Going a little farther he fell with his face to the ground and prayed....Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. (Matthew 26:37-40)

Jesus is very upset and disappointed in his disciples lack of stamina and he rebukes them for their weakness: "'Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?' he asked Peter. 'Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing but the body is weak.'" (Matthew 26:40-41) And if its not bad enough that they should let him down once, it happens again: "When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy." (Matthew 26:44) This time Jesus doesn't even bother to rouse his sleepy disciples.

He finally wakes them up just as the authorities arrive to arrest him: "Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer!"(Matthew 26:46). After being greeted with a kiss by Judas, who proclaims "'Greetings Rabbi!'... Jesus replied, "Friend, do what you came for'"(John 26:49-50). Further indicating that Judas may have been working in accordance with Jesus' plans . When one of Jesus' apostolic witnesses is brave enough to pull his sword, and cut the ear of a high priest, Jesus commands him to put away his sword, with the comments;

"Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?"

At that time Jesus said to the crowd, "Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me. But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled. "(Matthew 26:52-56).

After earlier pledging their allegiance to the point of death, (Mark 14:31), the disciples show their true colors when Jesus is arrested: "Then all the disciples deserted him and fled." (Matthew 26:56 ;Mark 14:50) When the final crackdown hits Mark includes a humorous touch to the grim situation: "A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him he fled naked leaving his garment behind." (Mark 14:51-52) And so the followers desert and disappear, a final bare bum flashing in the night.

The final bare bottom that Jesus saw disappearing into the night has been suggested as that of his scantily clad male lover. More likely the dress of a simple linen garment indicates an initiatory costume, as was discussed in the excised passages from Mark which refer to a similarly clad youth whom Jesus initiated into the "mystery of the kingdom of God". Right up until the night of his arrest, Jesus is depicted initiating with standard Mystery school practices. Indicating a pagan-like reverence for nature, the revealing of the Eucharist at the Last Supper takes place in a garden or grove, a place of worship that was forbidden since earlier Judaic reforms, and one that Jesus is depicted as having often retreated to with his followers, and where Judas knew to lead the authorities to find Jesus on the night of his arrest.

Unable to cope with the populace being swayed over to such pagan-like activities, and due to Jesus' direct challenge to their authority by his proclamation as the Messianic king, the Jewish priestly caste took action. Lead by Judas to Jesus' hide-out where his more gullible apostles lay waiting with him as witnesses to his fate, the Temple guards laid hold of the inciter of political unrest and would-be-messiah that had been causing them so much grief, and in doing so they unknowingly gave birth to a religion that would far surpass their own in both power and popularity.

DEATH ON THE CROSS?

“Take thou this vial...
And this distilled liquor drink thou off;
When presently through all thy veins shall run
A cold and drowsy humour, for no pulse
Shall keep his native progress, but surcease:
No warmth, no breath, shall testify thou livest;
The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade
To paly ashes, thy eyes' windows fall,
Like death, when he shuts up the day of life;
Each part, deprived of supple government,
Shall, stiff and stark and cold, appear like death:
And in this borrow'd likeness of shrunk death
Thou shalt continue two and forty hours,
And then awake as from a pleasant sleep.”
(Romeo and Juliet: Act 4 Scene 1)

More than thirty years before this present volume, Dr. Hugh Schonfield shocked the theological world with his sensational book THE PASSOVER PLOT, which suggested that Jesus may have feigned death on the cross through a soporific potion--a hypothesis which if suggested only a few centuries earlier, would have seen the author burned at the stake, or worse. Suggesting that Jesus’ cry from the cross, "I am thirsty," could have been a signal to receive a specially prepared potion, Schonfield speculated that the "plan may... have been suggested to Jesus by the prophetic words, 'They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink'". With precision scholarship, Dr. Schonfield noted that if what Jesus "received had been the normal wine diluted with water the effect would have been stimulating. In this case it was exactly the opposite. Jesus lapsed quickly into complete unconsciousness. His body sagged. His head lolled on his breast, and to all intents and purposes he was a dead man.... Directly it was seen that the drug had worked..."(Schonfield 1965). Deeply influenced by Schonfield's research, the authors of the international best-seller, THE HOLY BLOOD AND THE HOLY GRAIL, expanded more fully on this theme in the early 1980's.

"In the Fourth Gospel Jesus, hanging on the cross, declares that he thirsts. In reply to this complaint he is proffered a sponge allegedly soaked in vinegar - an incident that also occurs in the other Gospels. This sponge is generally interpreted as another act of sadistic derision. But was it really? Vinegar - or soured wine - is a temporary stimulant, with effects not unlike smelling salts. It was often used at the time to resuscitate flagging slaves on galleys. For a wounded and exhausted man, a sniff or taste of vinegar would induce a restorative effect, a momentary surge of energy. And yet in Jesus' case the effect is just the contrary. No sooner does he inhale or taste the sponge then he pronounces his final words and 'gives up the ghost'. Such a reaction to vinegar is physiologically inexplicable. On the other hand such a reaction would be perfectly compatible with a sponge soaked not in vinegar, but in some type of soporific drug - a compound of opium and or belladonna, for instance, commonly employed in the Middle East at the time. But why proffer a soporific drug? Unless the act of doing so, along with all the other components of the Crucifixion, were elements of a complex and ingenious stratagem - a stratagem designed to produce a semblance of death when the victim, in fact, was still alive. Such a stratagem would not only have saved Jesus' life, but also have realized the Old Testament prophecies of a Messiah.(Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, 1982)

Besides opium and belladonna, a preperation of mandrake, which as we have discussed was used durring this time period, may have helped to induce the deathlike stupor needed to fool the Roman soldiers and Jewish populace. Thomas Cisteriensis wrote of the mandrake "The mandragora is a plant which effects such a deep sleep that one can cut a person and he feels not the pain. For the mandragora symbolizes striving in contemplation. Its reverie allows a person to fall into a sleep of such delicious sweetness that he no longer feels any of the cutting which his earthly enemies inflict upon him, and he no longer cares about any earthly thing. For his soul has now closed off its senses from all that is external--it lies in the benevolent sleep of the eternal".

Alternatively, as we haver shown the substance could also have been a preparation of cannabis hemp . More than a century ago, R.R, McMeens wrote that "Some high Biblical commentators maintain that the gall and vinegar, or myrrhed wine, offered to our savior immediately before his crucifixion, was in all probability a preparation of hemp, and even speak of its earlier use"(R.R. McMeens, M.D., 1860)

As Jesus' crucifixion is said to have taken place during the Passover, it is interesting to note that hemp may have been widely available at this time, for according to the comments of Immanuel Low in his German ethno-botanical text, DIE FLORA DER JUDEN the Passover incense contained cannabis resins,(Low 1926\1967) . A connection that is made even more curious by a Talmudic reference that states: "The one on his way to execution was given a piece of incense in a cup of wine, to help him fall asleep",(Sanh. 43a) . Closer to our own time and independently, the German researcher Holger Kersten has also suggested that cannabis may have been amongst the ingredients in the drink which put Jesus into a deathlike stupor,(Kertsen 1986).

How did Jesus come (apparently) to die immediately after he had taken the bitter drink? Was it really vinegar that he was given?.... Perhaps the supposed drink of vinegar instead contained the active ingredients of the sacred drink of the Indians and Persians, Soma and Haoma (respectively)....

Soma, the sacred drink of India, enabled an adept to enter a deathlike state for several days, and to awaken afterwards in an elated state that lasted a few days more. In this state of ecstasy, a 'higher consciousness' spoke through the adept and he had visionary powers. In addition to Asclepias acida, the Soma might also have contained Indian hemp (Cannabis indica)--tradition has it that it featured in the drink of Zarathustra."(Kersten 1986) .

If Christ arranged to receive such a cannabis extract on the day of the Crucifixion, the resulting cataleptic state of hibernation induced by cannabis taken in its most condensed and powerful form could easily have been mistaken for death by the Romans who stood guard over him, and the Jewish crowd who had come out to watch another "Messiah" meet a typical fate. As the powerful preparation took effect, the limbs would begin stiffening, the heartbeat slowing down to an occasional thud, the breath dropping off to a faint whisper, the blood coagulating on a still body that more and more resembled a corpse....... John 19 tells of the night of the crucifiction in detail that fits in completely with this hypothesis:

Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scriptures would be fulfilled, Jesus said "I am thirsty." A Jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Now... the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man that was crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs..' (John19:33).

Death, in the case of a crucifixion, came through suffocation; as the arms and legs gave out from exhaustion and stress, the lung cavity contracted, and in some cases this took days . By lessening these supports considerably, the breaking of the legs hastened this process. John has it that because Jesus was already dead, the soldiers do not break his legs, but instead pierce Christ's side with a spear. There is even a witness to this, one unnamed bystander: 'The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. (John 19:35). The man doth protest too much. Professor Morton Smith has suggested that the story of the spear thrust into Jesus' side "may have been introduced to historicise certain Old Testament testimonies"(Schonfield 1965) . At this point in the narrative, to all outsiders, including Jesus' own apostles, all seems to be over for the charismatic leader that they had believed was going to lead them into a new age of glory.

It is the moment before sundown in Jerusalem. On the hill of Golgotha three bodies are suspended on crosses. Two--the thieves--are dead. The third appears so. This is the drugged body of Jesus of Nazareth, the man who planned his own crucifixion, who contrived to be given a soporific potion to put him into a deathlike trance. Now Joseph of Arimathea, bearing clean linen and spices, approaches and recovers the still form of Jesus. All seems to be proceeding according to plan.(Schonfield 1965).

The aloes and spices brought by Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea to Jesus’s tomb to supposeldey embalm their now dead leader pose a particularly curious question, as embalming was not a practice of the Jews of the time. Perhaps these lotions served some other purpose? The account in John regarding Jesus removal from the cross, and the role of Joseph of Arimathea and also Nicodemus, bears an uncanny resemblance to the tale which was discussed earlier of the Fakir and the assistant who helped to revive him after his deathlike entombment. "[I]n reality there were efforts behind the scenes to 'bring Jesus back to life' in the privacy of the tomb cavern, under the direction of Joseph and Nicodemus"(Kersten 1986)..

Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who had earlier visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy- five pounds. Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it , with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with the Jewish burial customs . At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no-one had ever been laid..(John 19:38-41)

It does not take an overly active imagination to picture Joseph and Nicodemus rubbing the stiffened joints of Jesus' bodies with large quantifies of healing herbs and spices which they had brought in preparation, and slowly waking their master from his death-like cataleptic state which had been induced by the substance delivered to him on the cross. A scenario that is reminiscent of the role played by the fakir’s helper in the account discussed earlier. Such a scenario, although sounding somewhat fanciful, is far more believable than that of the alternative, held to be true by literally millions of Christians-- That a man died, decomposed for three days and three nights, then arose from the Dead!

Besides the four Gospel accounts of the crucifixion, THE NAG HAMMADI LIBRARY's The Second Treatise of the Great Seth, contains an account of the crucifixion that may be in accord with the above outlined hypothesis. The Second Treatise of the Great Seth, like the Gospel testimonies, claims to be a first person account of the crucifixion-- but here, allegedly the words of Jesus delivered in front of an audience of "perfect and incorruptible" Gnostic initiates!

And I was in the mouth of lions. And the plan which they devised about me to release their Error and their senselessness--I did not succumb to them as they had planned. But I was not afflicted at all. Those who were there punished me. And I did not die in reality but in appearance, lest I be put to shame by them because these are my kinsfolk. I removed the shame from me and I did not become fainthearted in the face of what happened to me at their hands. I was about to succumb to fear, and I <suffered> according to their sight and thought, in order that they may never find any word to speak about them. For my death which they think happened, (happened) to them in their error and blindness, since they nailed their man unto their death. For their Ennoias did not see me, for they were deaf and blind. But in doing these things, they condemn themselves. Yes, they saw me: they punished me. It was another, their father, who drank the gall and the vinegar; it was not I. They struck me with reed; it was another, Simon, who bore the cross on his shoulder. It was another upon whom they placed the crown of thorns. But I was rejoicing in their height over all the wealth of the archons and the offsprings of their error, of their empty glory. And I was laughing at their ignorance.
-The Second Treatise of the Great Seth

Due to the way the narration continually slips in and out of the first-person, this curious tractate has generally been interpreted as Jesus telling the story of having the apostle Simon replace him to die on the cross, and then laughing at the crowds ignorance of this replacement. A callous act that would seem rather sociopathic considering the plight of his former apostle, turned sacrificial replacement. Alternatively, with the added light of the cannabis elixir and espionage, which has been discussed, these words from The Second Treatise of the Great Seth, can be interpreted in a wholly new way.

"And I was in the mouth of lions. And the plan which they devised about me to release their Error and their senselessness." This sentence can now be seen to allude to the political intrigue of the time and the plan of uniting the Jewish people against their oppressors by fulfilling Old Testament prophecies about the Davidic Messiah.

"And I did not die in reality but in appearance, lest I be put to shame by them because these are my kinsfolk... I was about to succumb to fear, and I <suffered> according to their sight and thought... my death which they think happened (happened) to them in their error and blindness, since they nailed their man unto their death". Here we can conceivably see Jesus referring to the fact that although the ordeal was great, and he did indeed suffer, he did not die. The death was that of their own Messiah, for in crucifying him, an act which lead to his resurrection, they had placed the crown of Messiah on Jesus by enabling him to act out the Old Testament Prophecies of the coming Anointed One.

Jesus continues in the passage; "Yes they saw me: they punished me. It was another, their father, who drank the gall and vinegar; it was not I. They struck me with the reed; it was another, Simon, who bore the cross on his shoulder." Here, we can again see a first person reference to Jesus humiliation and physical suffering at the hands of his Jews. Turning to the second person Jesus states "it was another, their father, who drank the gall and vinegar", now Jesus may be referring to the act of crucifixion making him symbolically "their father", i.e.-their own promised king, the Messiah. The further reference to "another, Simon, who bore the cross on his shoulder", may in actuality be using the name "Simon" in its literal form, as referring to "one of Jacob's sons", a blanket term that could virtually be claimed by any descendant of the Jacob and Leah's second son, and a name that appears in the forged gospel genealogy for the Messiah in Luke 3:30 Thus "another Simon", is the mythical figure of "their father", which the Jewish Priestly caste in fact created by having Jesus crucified, just as he and his secret cohorts had planned, and in their treachery they unknowingly gave birth to the symbolic Messiah upon which the hopes of the common people lay, (as they do ironically today in a similar wait for Jesus' Second Coming, or, actually third) .

Instead of drinking the "gall and vinegar" as "their father" seemed to have, Jesus, returning again to the first-person states that in actuality he was "struck... with the reed". This passage could conceivably make an esoteric reference to the potion offered to Jesus on the cross. The name "reed", in the New Testament Greek, is kalamos, a name of uncertain affinity, and one that was erroneously used to replace the Hebrew word for cannabis , q'aneh, when it was translated into the Greek. In fact, every single Old Testament Hebrew reference to reed appears as q'aneh. Unfortunately, at this time the Coptic Greek for "reed" that the Gnostic tractate we are referring to is written in, is unavailable, but on the basis of the New Testament use of the spurious "kalamos" and Old Testament references to "reed" as "q'aneh", we can easily see the term used as a reference to Jesus being given the hemp potion, instead of the "gall and vinegar" that they witnessed "their father" drink before his death. The passage closes with Jesus' reference to the symbolic messiah they had given birth to through the crucifixion, as well as the powerful out-of-body experience that could be expected when a trained initiate like himself consumed such a potent cannabis elixir. "It was another upon whom they placed the crown of thorns. But I was rejoicing in their height over all the wealth of the archons and the offsprings of their error, of their empty glory". Thus Jesus’ comment about "laughing at their ignorance" can be seen with new meaning, not necessarily making mockery of his former apostles sacrifice as his own replacement .

Slightly later in The Second Treatise of the Great Seth, Jesus disclaims the doctrine of the literal resurrection as it stands to this day with modern Christianity: Referring to those who "think that they are advancing the name of Christ", Jesus states that they are instead "unknowingly empty, not knowing who they are, like dumb animals. They persecuted those who have been liberated by me, since they hate them". He describes their theology as "ludicrous.... an imitation... a doctrine of a dead man". A theme that Jesus clearly returns to in other Gnostic tractates;

They will cleave to the name of a dead man, thinking that they will become pure. But they will become greatly defiled and they will fall into the name of error and into the hand of an evil, cunning man and a manifold dogma......there shall be others of those who are outside our number who name themselves bishop and also deacons, as if they have received their authority from God. They bend themselves under the judgment of the leaders. These people are dry canals.
--The Gnostic Jesus speaking in 'The Apocalypse of Peter'

Jesus' reference to "bishop and also deacons", who didn't come into existence until some time later, shows that the Gnostic tractate was the work of an eager, later writer, who like the New Testament editors and compilers, was given to adding to existing traditions and putting new words into the mouths of long dead figures. But clearly amongst the Gnostics, since earliest Christian times, there was a long tradition in which could be found a repudiation of the physical resurrection of the dead Jesus, which they termed the "faith of the fools".

Truly, the crucifixion is the pillar of Christianity. From the moment that Jesus was said to have supposedly risen from the dead, the cross had become a symbol of immense religious and political power. Ironically, this same form of execution, in the eyes of the Jews, made Jesus doubly unclean as did his illegitimate birth, for anyone who is hung on a tree overnight "is under God's curse"(Deuteronomy 21:22-23) As Jesus himself was said to have played only a minimal role after his supposed death on the cross, the power became invested in the person who was the first to have seen him raised .

What linked the group gathered around Jesus with the world-wide organization that developed within 170 years of his death into a three-rank hierarchy of bishops, priests and deacons? Christians in later generations maintained that it was the claim that Jesus himself had come back to life! The German Scholar Hans von Campenhausen says that because "Peter was the first to whom Jesus appeared after his resurrection," Peter became the first leader of the Christian community. One can dispute Campenhausen's claim on the basis of New Testament evidence: the gospels of Mark and John both name Mary Magdalene, not Peter, as the first to witness his resurrection. But orthodox churches that trace their origin to Peter developed the tradition - sustained to this day among Catholic and some Protestant Churches - that Peter had been "the first witness of the resurrection," and hence rightful leader of the church. As early as the second century, Christians realized the potential political consequences of having "seen the risen Lord": in Jerusalem, where James, Jesus' brother, successfully rivaled Peter's authority, one tradition maintained that James, not Peter (and certainly not Mary Magdalene) was the "first witness of the resurrection". -- (Pagels 1979).

The fact that John mentions Mary as the first to witness Jesus, would seem to be in line with the text being composed by a Gnostic author, as she plays a comparable role in Gnosticism to that of Peter in the Catholic tradition. The controversy of who saw Jesus first, likely gives indication of the divisions which took place soon after Jesus ascended for a second time and disappeared from the area. For he clearly vanished after making sure the disciples were good believing witnesses to his resurrection, by appearing to rebuke them one last time; "Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen" (Mark 16:14 ) Further New Testament references to Jesus hanging out with the Apostles for forty days after the cross, and "eating with them" , show clearly that it was a physical resurrection which was being referred to in the Gospel account, not a spiritual-body as has been proposed by some commentators. As Luke records, when Jesus appears and scares the apostles: "They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost";

He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 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."

When he said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat? They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.(Luke 24:37-42).

Despite seeing Jesus crucified on the cross, and then later walking around quite alive in a physical body, "some doubted" , possibly giving a suggestion that even in this ancient and more primitive time, the healthy spirit of skepticism was alive and well. But, if Jesus, as has been suggested, actually physically survived the resurrection, then the question remains as to what happened to this remarkable

continued...

then the question remains as to what happened to this remarkable man after he pulled off what could conceivably have been the Greatest Hoax in History? If he remained in Jerusalem, we can be sure that he would be crucified again, only this time the authorities would make good and sure that he died, as earlier they had "plans to kill Lazarus" , after his similar miraculous resurrection.

A Sufi\Christian group in Western Afghanistan, the followers of Isa, son of Maryam -- Jesus the son of Mary, claim to have secret knowledge concerning the life of Christ after his crucifixion. In an account given in AMONG THE DERVISHES, by O.M.Burke, (1973), the author states that at first he assumed this group, estimated to contain about one thousand members, were converted to Christianity by early European missionaries, and then goes on to state; "But, from their own accounts and what I could observe, they seem to come from some much older source"

According to these People, Jesus escaped from the Cross, was hidden by friends, was helped to flee to India, where he had been before during his youth , and settled in Kashmir, where he is revered as an ancient teacher, Yuz Asaf. It is from this period of the supposed life of Jesus that these people claim to have got their message.(Burke 1973)

The author, Burke, tells us of this groups beliefs, "The 'Traditions of the Masih' (anointed ones) is the holy book of the community. They do not believe in the New Testament; or rather, they say that these traditions are the New Testament, and that the Gospels which we have are partly true but generally written by people who did not understand the teachings of the master"(Burke 1973).

One of the groups elders, Abba Yahiyya, referred to the various sects now known as Christians, as "heretics" and stated to Burke of them: "My son, these people are reading and repeating a part of the story. They have completely misunderstood the message. We have the story told us by the Master, and through him we will be saved and made whole. Some of the events in that document which you call the Bible are true, but a great deal is made up or imagined or put in for less than worthy reasons. Isa (Jesus) lived for over thirty years after the materials you have were completed, and he told us what was true"(Burke 1973).

Burke states of the groups material: "Briefly the doctrine is that Jesus was the son of God because he had attained that rank through his goodness and sacrifices. Thus He was equal to a divine person. He came after John the Baptist, who himself had reached the highest degree of development possible at that time"(Burke 1973).

While it is possible to consider these people as mere heretics, or else as followers of someone else who impersonated Jesus, yet I was singularly impressed by their piety, their feeling of certainty, their simplicity and lack of unpleasant forms of fervor which often one finds in minority cults. They were convinced too, that the day would come when the world would discover the truth about Jesus. When this took place, it would be the mission of the Followers to come out into the open and teach those who wanted to believe in Jesus the methods by which a man or woman could 'enter the Kingdom'.(Burke 1973)

Holger Kersten also referred to this curious and little known tradition of Jesus' life after the cross and points out the title that the Afghani followers placed on the figure they claim is the post-crucifixion Jesus, Yuz Asaf, goes back some centuries. It is referred to "in the Farang-i-Asafia, an ancient work recounting the history of Persia, which relates that Jesus (Hazrat Issa) healed some lepers, who were thereafter called Asaf--'the purified'--having been cured of their complaint. Yuz means 'leader,' so Yuz Asaf can be taken to mean 'leader of the healed,' a common epithet for Jesus."(Kersten 1986).

Kersten also reported other medieval evidence which connects the teacher Yuz Asaf, with the post crucifixion figure of Jesus, in the works of Mullah Nadiri in his HISTORY OF KASHMIR (Tarikh-i-Kashmir, 1413). Referring to an old Persian inscription at the entrance to the "Throne of Solomon", (which was already a thousand years old by the time of Jesus, and had been restored around the time Christ and was said to have been in the area), Nadiri recorded that amongst the inscriptions which named the architect and beneficiary who paid for the restoration, was also the following curious statement: "At this time, Yus Asaf announced his prophetic mission. In the year fifty and four. He is Jesus, prophet of the sons of Israel."(Nadiri 1413)


At the time of Gopadatta's reign [53 AD-107AD?], Yuz Asaf came from the Holy Land up into this valley, and announced that he was a prophet. He epitomized the peak of piety and of virtue, and proclaimed that he was himself his own message, that he lived in God day and night, and that he had made god accessible to the people of Kashmir. He called the people unto him, and the people of the valley believed in him....

I have also read in a Hindu book that this prophet is really Hazrat Issa , the Spirit of God... and he adopted the name Yuz Asaf. True knowledge is with God....(Mullah Nadiri 1413)

The tomb of Yuz Asaf it still in existence in the middle of Srinagar's old town Anzimar, and is surrounded by an outer building called Rauza Bal. The term Rauza denotes the tomb of a celebrated and loved personality, usually a saint or a wealthy benefactor, Bal may hearken back to its earlier Semitic connotations of the "Lord". "The sarcophagus containing the earthly remains of Yuz Asaf is aligned east-west, in accordance with Jewish custom! This is clear proof that Yuz Asaf could not have been an Islamic saint. And among the Hindus and Buddhists, only ascetic (sadhus) and saints are buried (corpses are normally cremated). So here lies a person who was revered as a saint even before the arrival of Islam, when Kashmir was Mahayana Buddhist and Tantric Hindu"(Kersten 1986).

Perhaps the Kashmiri tradition of Jesus as Yuz Asaf accounts for how the Sufis , Ismaili's, Assassins and through them later the Templars, who were all familiar with the Gnostic use of cannabis in initiation, were accused of mocking the cross . Regardless of that, the theory of a faked death on the cross, and a post resurrection Jesus escaping to Afghanistan to live out the rest of his life in peace, although far-fetched, seems far more likely than the belief fervently held by millions of faithful believers world wide.

The supposed "fact" that Jesus survived the cross is clearly the basis for modern Christianity, he died for the redemption of the Christian's sins: "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins"(1 Corinthians 15:17). Take this crutch away, and old man Christianity will certainly stumble and fall over the filth of his own collective sin.

As the Gnostic Jesus himself proclaimed of this theme, which contributed so much to the dualistic doctrine of the orthodox church: "...[T]hose who think that they are advancing the name of Christ, since they were unknowingly empty... proclaimed the doctrine of a dead man and lies so as to resemble the freedom and purity of the perfect assembly, (and), joining. themselves with their doctrine to fear and slavery... being small (and) ignorant... do not contain the nobility of the truth, for they hate what the one whom they are, and love the one whom they are not."(The Second treatise of the Great Seth).

When thou thyself art guilty, why should a victim die for thee? What folly it is to expect salvation from the death of another.
The poet Ovid (43 BC-15 AD), on Asclepius, one of
the many resurrected saviors
that pre-date Christianity

As Elaine Pagels so eloquently noted, the doctrine of the crucifixion "legitimized a hierarchy of persons through whose authority all others must approach God. Gnostic teaching,.. was potentially subversive of this order: it claimed to offer to every initiate direct access to God of which the priests and bishops themselves might be ignorant"-(Pagels 1979))

"...the doctrine of the resurrection...serves an essential political function: it legitimizes the authority of certain men who claim to exercise exclusive leadership over the churches as successors of the apostle Peter. From the second century, the doctrine has served to validate the apostolic succession of bishops, the basis of papal authority to this day. Gnostic Christians who interpret resurrection in other ways have a lesser claim to authority: when they claim priority over the orthodox, they are denounced as heretics."(Pagels 1979).

I think the story of Jesus is symbolic of my own life. I think everyone else is a character in my dream, or else they are acting!!

Chris are you aware that some researhcers say Solomon was 23 when he staretd to reign? And, did you read the essay on the sacred numner 23?