Myth # 2 of the Cross Christ Bore

MYTH-- The Cross that Christ bore was made of 2 pieces

TRUTH-- It was a single piece of wood like the bottom portion of a tree.

The Greek word translated "cross," is stauros, which means an upright pale or stake. Here is what Vines says:

Topic: Cross, Crucify

<A-1,Noun,4716,stauros>
denotes, primarily, "an upright pale or stake." On such malefactors were nailed for execution. Both the noun and the verb stauroo, "to fasten to a stake or pale," are originally to be distinguished from the ecclesiastical form of a two beamed "cross." The shape of the latter had its origin in ancient Chaldea, and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the initial of his name) in that country and in adjacent lands, including Egypt. By the middle of the 3rd cent. A.D. the churches had either departed from, or had travestied, certain doctrines of the Christian faith. In order to increase the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system pagans were received into the churches apart from regeneration by faith, and were permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols. Hence the Tau or T, in its most frequent form, with the cross-piece lowered, was adopted to stand for the "cross" of Christ.

As for the Chi, or X, which Constantine declared he had seen in a vision leading him to champion the Christian faith, that letter was the initial of the word "Christ" and had nothing to do with "the Cross" (for xulon, "a timber beam, a tree," as used for the stauros, see under TREE). See 1 Peter 2:24.

As you can clearly see, the symbol that Christians use to represent "the Cross" did not become associated with the crucifixion until 200 some years after the eventand is in reality a pagan symbol of another god. In other words, in their/your attempt to identify yourself /themselves as Christians you, they and them are ignorantly glorifying the Chaldean god, Tammuz.

Sometimes I wonder why I even bother writing things of this nature since no one if anyone at all will be changed by what I write. The reason I continue to do it is to expose the error that is being believed and practiced by religious Christians and expose unbelievers to the real truth of what the Bible says about itself.

Furthermore, since Christ was not crucified on 2 cross-membered pieces of wood, his hands were over his head. It only took 2 nails to do the job. If anyone comes up with the 3 nails that were used you will know it is not true.

Do the the things I write about here in this blog make any difference to you?

MYTH #1 of THE CROSS CHRIST BORE FOR US

MYTH-- He carried a physical piece of wood

TRUTH-- He carried a spiritual Cross

     Much like my last post where we saw that 4 were crucified with Christ instead of 2, we will soon learn that Jesus was too abused to carry an 8-12' timber on his shoulder, so the Roman soldiers made someone else do it.
     Matt 27:31-32 tells us:
And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him. And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross. KJV

     Mark 15:20-21 tells the same story:
And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him. And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.

     And Luke 23:26 says the same thing:
And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.

     Here we have three very clear accounts of who carried Jesus' cross, where he came from, who his sons were and the fact that he followed Jesus on the way to Golgotha. Whenever there are a majority of clear verse on a given subject, the seemingly ambiguous verse or verses must fit with the majority of clear ones, not vice versa. 

     John 19:16-18 gives us the seemingly contradictory verse:

 Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.

 And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.

     Most of the Commentaries say that they believe that Jesus initially carried his own cross but then they made Simon carry it for some unknown reason. Keep in mind that Jesus had just been through roughly 40 hours of torture and beatings and initially took him in the night. He probably had not had any sleep in over 2 days. It is my belief, because of the lack of any other evidence to the contrary, that he never carried his own cross. What he did carry was the figurative cross of our sins that were laid upon him

1 Peter 2:24

   Who his own self bare (carried) our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

Heb 9:28

 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Furthermore, the morning after they had taken him he was bound and led away to be delivered to Pontius Pilate: Matt 27:1-2

When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor. The common way to bind someone believed to be a criminal is to tie up their hands or feet or both. Here they led him away so we must assume he was walking and probably being pulled along with a rope.

     All 4 gospel accounts show Jesus being led away just as livestock would be led to water:

Luke 13:15

 The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? These words in the Greek, apago, is the same 

word used in all the above passages. Jesus' hands were bound and he was being led about, keeping him from being able to carry anything upon his shoulders.

Regardless of any suppositions on my part, the 3 three clear verses above on the same exact event should be enough to convince anyone that the cross Christ bore was not a physical one.

What does the Bible really say about those crucified with Jesus?

MYTH-- There were 2 Crucified with Jesus

TRUTH-- There were 4 Crucified with Jesus

     Legend has it, as well as every movie ever produced, shows two other people crucified with Jesus, when in fact there were four. 

Luke 23:32 says,  And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death.
Luke 23:32
 And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death. KJV

     The word malefactors here is the word is kakourgos, or evil doers. These 2 individuals accompanied Jesus to Golgatha. As we know from verse 33 one was put on Jesus' right and the other on his left.
Luke 23:33
 And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. KJV

In verse 39, we see that one of the kakourgos, spoke blasphemously to Jesus. In vs. 40 the other malefactor rebuked, admonished, the one who reviled Jesus. Here in Luke we have two unspecified evil doers, one of which who rebuked the other for reviling Jesus.

In Mt. 27:35 Jesus was crucified 
Matt 27:35
 And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. KJV
John 19:23-24 has this to say about it:
Then (the time word) the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. 24 They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did. KJV

Then, they sat down and watched him a while, Matt 27:36, And sitting down they watched him there;

In vs. 37 they got up and set the accusation over his head: Matt 27:37,  And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Matt 27:38, Then (after all this time) were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.

2, duo, thieves, liestes, were crucifed with him. Liestes means plunderers, which is a specific type of malefactor They were also placed 1 on Jesus' left and the other on his right. In vs. 39, spectators reviled Jesus; in vs. 41 the chief priests, scribes and elders reviled him; in vs. 44 Both of the thieves also “cast the same in his teeth.”

Matt 27:44, The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. KJV This fact alone should be enough to remove any doubt you have that there were more than 2 crucified with Jesus. Here we have 2 who reviled Jesus while in Luke only 1 did. How can you possibly reconcile this distinct difference in these 2 sets of 2 without coming up with 4? These 4 cannot be just 2.

Furthermore, let us look at the two following translations:

John 19:18
 where they crucified him, and with him two others, on this side, and on that side, and Jesus in the midst.

YLT

John 19:18

where they crucified him, and with him two others, [one] on this side, and [one] on that, and Jesus in the middle.

Darby

The word "one" is not in any Greek texts and was added by the translators as the above translations indicate. Here we also have 3 peculiar words “enteuthen kai enteuthen” which means on both sides, or on each side. It literally means “on this side and on that side!” enteuthen (ent-yoo'-then); (literally or figuratively); (repeated) on both sides: (Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)

If this is not enough to convince you of another myth that has permeated itself into the fabric of Christianity, consider this:

John 19:32-33 “Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first (one of the thieves), and of the other which was crucified with him. "Was crucified with," is the Greek word sustaurooo which means
to crucify along with; This is one of the malefactors that was led "with" and crucified at the same time "with" Jesus.
Now, verse 33: But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:

 But when they came to Jesus----If there were only 2 crucifed with Jesus, the soldiers would have come to him second, right? So, here is what we have:

• 2  kakourgos were led w/him and 
• 2  Liestes came later;
• 3 reviled him and 1 didn't; 
• the 2 who got their legs broken were on one side of him.
•  It looked like this: | | | | | with Jesus in the “midst!” 

Are you convinced now?

Pentecost Myth #2 What really happened on Pentecost?

Myth #2

      As we all know, punctuation, capitalization, chapter and verse separations are entirely up to the translators of the Bible. Translators did what they felt best. Sometimes they even added words and sometimes left words out. Without a PC Bible program or a Teacher of the Word such as myself, it is nearly impossible to know what the original God-breathed Word said.

     Here are a couple of different translations of Acts 2:4:

 And they were all filled with the Holy (hagion) Ghost (pneuma), and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit (Pneuma )gave them utterance. KJV

 And they were all filled with [the] Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave to them to speak forth. Darby

     In the Greek there is no article "the" before Holy Ghost (Spirit), but there is one before Spirit. The presence or absence of this article determines whether or not capitalization should be used. Darby's translation indicates that there is no article "the," because it is put in [brackets], yet failed to make the following words lower case, as they should be.

      What the believers were filled with that day was the gift of holy spirit from the giver the Holy Spirit, who is God. It should read, "And they were all filled with holy spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." KJV God, Yahweh, is both holy and spirit. He gave that which he is. He didn't give Himself and he didn't give an entity separate from Himself.

Look at Acts 1:5. There is no article the before Holy Ghost, and should read, "... but ye shall be baptized with holy spirit." Acts 11:16 confirms this as well as many other places. The gift that day as well as today is holy spirit; the manifestation, the proof, that they had received the gift was speaking in tongues. Tongues was not the gift and never will be.

Take a look here for further study: http://www.amazon.com/The-Giver-Gifts-E-W-Bullinger-ebook/dp/B00365F5FQ

JUDAS MYTH #2

WHEN DID JUDAS DIE?

MYTH: Shortly after the 30 pieces of silver were returned.

TRUTH: 40 days after God raised Jesus from the dead.

Now that you know how Judas died, it is equally important to understand when he died. It is believed by many that he did so immediately after this event:

Matt 27:3-5 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he (Jesus) was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. KJV

The major key to understanding when this occurred is knowing where he was from. He was from Kerioth, a city in the land of Judea. See Matthew 10:4

[Judas Iscariot] Probably from the Hebrew °iysh Q­riyowt , a man of Kerioth, which was a city in the tribe of Judah, Josh 15:25, where it is likely this man was born. (from Adam Clarke's Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1996, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

In the following record it is approximately 40 days after Jesus' being raised from the dead.

 John 21:20-22  And Peter having turned about saw the disciple whom loved Jesus, following, (who also reclined in the supper on his breast, and said, 'Sir, who is he who is delivering thee up?')  Accordingly, Peter having seen (past tense) that one (that one who? That one who delivered him up), saith to Jesus, 'Lord, and what about that one?'  Jesus saith to him, 'If  I will him to remain till I come, what — to thee? be thou following me.' AT

Here we have at least 4 people walking along with Jesus. The question Peter asked of Jesus would not have been about the one whom loved Jesus but about the one who delivered him up to the authorities. What we see next is how rumors get started: 

John 21:23 Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: KJV

Why were they thinking that someone should die? Because of what Judas had done. Jesus had already forgiven Judas for what he had done. We know that Judas was still alive here.

As we had to go to the Book of Acts to see how Judas died we have to go again to see when he died.

Acts 1:2-3  Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the holy spirit had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: to whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: KJV

We know that Judas was one of the 12 that Jesus chose, so it stands to reason that Judas was still alive on the day Jesus ascended to heaven.  Acts 1:10-11

 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. KJV

Sometime between Acts 1:2 and 2:1(ten days passed) Judas left the group. We know this because the 2 angels in verse 11 addressed the group as "ye men of Galilee." Judas was not from Galilee, but Judea. Sometime during the next 10 days a replacement was picked for Judas.

Jesus was okay with Judas sticking around until the day of Pentecost had fully come and even until he returned, which he believed would be within 7 years. (John 21:22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. KJV)

We know assuredly that Judas stuck it out for 40 days after Jesus' being raised from the dead. Sometime before the 2 angels spoke to the men of Galilee, he departed with so much guilt and remorse that he could not keep on living. The Father and the Son had forgiven him but he could not forgive himself.  

Ps 103:12

 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. KJV

Judas Myth #1

HOW DID JUDAS DIE?

Myth: He hung himself from a tree.

Truth: He fell onto a sword.

Matt 27:5 says:
   And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. KJV

It seems pretty clear from this verse that the myth is correct. Even upon looking up the word "hanged" in the Greek, apagchomai, to choke, strangle or throttle, it seems clear cut. Unfortunately this is the only gospel that says anything about it.

The answer lies in Acts 1:16-18:

Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus. For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry. Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. KJV

This does not happen from being hung by the neck! Let's see how some other versions handle this verse.
Acts 1:18-19 (Now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out. NASU

Acts 1:18  "As you know, he took the evil bribe money and bought a small farm. There he came to a bad end, rupturing his belly and spilling his guts. (from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)

Acts 1:18-19  (Judas had bought a field with the money he received for his treachery. Falling headfirst there, his body split open, spilling out all his intestines. Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

In all these different translations/versions it doesn't specifically say how this came about, but this is exactly how King Saul killed himself.

1 Sam 31:4-5  Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it (headlong). And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him.

KJV

Sometimes the answers we are looking for are not always right in front of us. Sometimes they have to be searched for. Sometimes we have to spend "some time" finding them.