Think Not*

Jesus said: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill..." (Mt. 5:17-18). The word "Think" used in this verse is the Greek word nomizo, meaning "to hold by custom or usage". How many customary practices within the Church are not based on the truth of scripture, but are based upon errant teachings handed down over generations? Various teachers and writers in church history basically introduced the idea that the God of the Old Testament was different than the God of the New Testament, wrongly setting a division between the Old Testament as Law, and the New Testament as grace.. Other heresies like this, in addition to anti-Semitic doctrines, were part of Church history, and have been carried down to today. The prophet Hosea brought a correction from the LORD for His people. The LORD said that there was "no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land." (Hos. 4:1). Because of this lack of knowledge, and rejection of knowledge, His people are destroyed. Since the priests had rejected knowledge, He would reject them, adding: "...seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame." (v. 6-7). The law of God was never meant to be forgotten, but incorporated into the hearts of His people. In fact, the apostles taught about Jesus Christ, His death, and resurrection, through the law and the prophets in the early foundational years of the Church. The apostle Paul, who eventually wrote much of the New Testament, is recorded as doing this many times. As Paul traveled to Corinth, he reasoned with both the Jews and the Greeks in the synagogue every sabbath, and being pressed in spirit, testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ (Acts 18:4-5). When his teaching was rejected in the synagogue, he told the Jews there that their blood was on their own heads, and he brought the Gospel to the Gentiles on the other side of the city. The house in which he was staying was right next to another synagogue: "And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized." (v. 6-8). A vision from the Lord one night assured Paul: "Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city." (v. 9-10). For 1 1/2 years, Paul taught the word of God, which at that time did not include the New Testament, which was not yet written, but the "Old" Testament only. He was falsely accused by some Jews of teaching "contrary to the law", but the deputy of Achaia, Gallio, rejected their complaints, saying that he was no judge over such matters (v. 12-17). Another teacher of the Gospel at that time, Apollos, who was preaching Jesus based upon the baptism of John, was taken aside and shown by those who had been with Paul the more perfect way to present the Gospel. He then began teaching from the Torah scriptures: "...he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ." (v. 25-28). On another occasion, Paul appeared before the apostle James and the elders of the church in Jerusalem, where he declared before them "the things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry" (Acts 21:17-19). They glorified God, and testified that there were many thousands of Jews who were believers in Christ, and continued to also be zealous for the law. The elders informed Paul that there were rumors that Paul was teaching the Jews who were living among the Gentiles to forsake the commandments of the law of Moses. Because of this, the apostles in Jerusalem advised him to practice a cleansing in the temple with four other men, so that "all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law." (v. 20-24). James and the elders had no doubt that Paul did indeed observe and teach by the law of Moses, and his act of purification in the temple would assure the other Jews of the same (v. 26). However, the accusations from the Jews came against him again, not based upon fact, but upon a lie, and a false assumption: "Crying out, Men of Israel, help: This is the man, that teacheth all men every where against the people, and the law, and this place: and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place." (Acts 21:27-29). Paul began to speak to his accusers in their language, Hebrew, because he was accused of being an Egyptian (v. 38, 40). To this crowd, Paul identified himself as he spoke still in the Hebrew language: "I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus...yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous towards God, as ye all are this day." Acts 22:1-3). Paul told the crowd how he had been one who persecuted, even to death, those who believed in Christ (v. 4). However, Paul saqid, he then had an encounter with a glorious Jesus while on his way to arrest believers in another city. Jesus spoke to Paul from heaven, and that moment changed his life, as well as having been temporarily blinded by the light of Christ's glory. A devout Jewish believer who walked according to the law, healed Paul of the blindness and told him: "The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. For thou shalt be his witness unto all men...be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." (v. 6-16). Later, Paul was brought before the Sanhedrin council, the same religious council that had condemned Jesus a few years before, and began speaking to them quoting the law of Moses (Acts 23:1-5). He was then brought before Festus and King Agrippa to be questioned, based on accusations made by the Jews regarding their law. Paul again had an opportunity before these political leaders to open the law and the prophets, and the revelation from them of Jesus as the Messiah. He explained how he lived as a Pharisee, in the strictest sect of the Jewish religion: "And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers: unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come...Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead? "(Acts 26:1-8). As Paul said, the promise of resurrection from the dead had always been part of the promise made to the fathers, and it was always part of the service of the twelves tribes of Israel before God. Paul said that Jesus Christ and His resurrection was what the prophets and Moses did say would come (v. 22). He wasn't preaching against the law and the prophets, but from the law and the prophets. Festus told Paul that he must be mad from all of his study and learning. Paul assured Festus that he was not, and that he knew that Festus was already aware of these things that had been going on before his face. It was not hidden from him (v. 24-25). To King Agrippa, Paul said: "King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest. Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." Paul said that he wished that all who heard him that day would be as he was in faith in Christ, except for the chains with which he was bound (v. 27-29). Even as Paul continued to be held under house arrest for two years in Rome, "...he expounded and testified to the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning to evening." (Acts 28:23). Some who came to hear him believed, and some didn't, which, Paul said, also fulfilled the prophets (v. 25-27). Paul explained the rejection by some of the Gospel taught through the law and prophets this way: "...their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away." (2 Cor. 3:14-16). Paul said that it is the Holy Spirit that frees man to see: "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (v. 17-18). When we see the connection, by the Holy Spirit, of Christ, the law and the prophets, a blindness is lifted from us, and we not only see His glory, but we are changed in degrees of glory as well. Those who are lost are blinded by the spirit of this world, in order to prevent them from being able to see the light of the Gospel of glory, which is the image of Christ, and by that light be changed. "For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Ccor. 4:3-6). As Paul spoke to the Corinthians about seeing the face of Jesus Christ, he must have been speaking to a people who had seen that face. There is historical evidence that the Shroud of Turin, with the image of the crucified Christ supernaturally imposed upon it, was seen throughout the large area throughout which Paul preached. As we understand what Paul preached from the law and the prophets, we know that he was not preaching legalism, but the fulfillment of both by Christ, as Jesus also taught. If we have asked Jesus into our hearts, then the law and the prophets must also reside in our hearts, as God always intended for His people. *Based on Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson's 1/15/23 message to the church. To contact us, submit a prayer request, give a praise report, or to support this ministry: P.O. Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705 OR Everlastingcovenant@ymail.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, theshroudofturin.org, and END TIME SCHOOL, also on Facebook. You can also get a free ebook titled "The Shroud of Turin- A Perfect Summary" at www.The ShroudofTurin.org/freebook.

Fake News Has Real Consequences-Pt. 2

The continuation of an article by Dr. Kenneth Stevenson (See previous post):



 

In my opinion there is a "fake news" account that has been recycled for nearly 2000 years which has eternal consequences. When Yeshua rose from the dead, there were numerous eye witnesses. According to the Apostle Paul, (originally the chief persecutor of the faith)more than 500 on one occasion. However a contingent of the guards assigned to the tomb were paid a "large" sum of money to spread "the lie" that the disciples stole the body. Like Matthew stated "to this day that story is still being told". In 1965, author Hugh Schonfeld published the same "fake news" yet again, and it was even made into a film in 1976.(Mt. 28:11-15; 1 Cor. 15:6)
The fact remains that the central truth of Christianity is the Resurrection. Again citing the Apostle Paul, in 1 Cor. 15:12-56 we find the a detailed defense of the resurrection from one trained in the "truth" of the Scriptures. In two separate additional passages Paul cites his faith and training as a Pharisee in connection with the resurrection of Yeshua. First in Acts 23:6-8, where he makes it plain that the "hope of the resurrection" was a central belief. Later writing to the Church at Philipi (Phil. 3:5-11) Paul first establishes his spiritual lineage as a Pharisee and then goes on to equate that to "dung" as compared with knowing Christ and the "power of His resurrection", so that he might "attain unto the resurrection of the dead".
So we see clearly from the author of 60% of the New Testament the centrality of the resurrection to Christianity. Which brings me to my own experiences in connection to the resurrection itself. In 1977, I was tasked with editing the papers of a number of scientists and prelates about the Shroud of Turin. Later that year along with a select group of the scientists we journeyed to Turin to present a platform of testing on the Shroud. Working heavily in our favor: using space technology we had produced scientific evidence that the image on the Shroud contained three-dimensional information from a 1933 photographic image ! That completely unique characteristic intrigued many around the globe about the unusual relic. One year later the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP) became the first scientific group to conduct hands on intensive testing in an effort to determine what caused the image on the Shroud. The nearly six twenty-four hour days of testing took three years of analysis, collation and peer-review in order to produce the following incredible statement: "We can conclude for now that the shroud image is that of a real human form of a scourged, crucified man. It is not the product of an artist. The bloodstains are composed of hemoglobin and also give a positive test for serum albumin. The image is an ongoing mystery and until further chemical studies are made, perhaps by this group of scientists or perhaps by some scientists in the future, the problem remains unsolved."
Enter the harbingers of "fake news". As the spokesman for STURP, I had been virtually accosted in Turin by an individual connected with the Carbon dating field, decrying the fact that a C-14 test was not being done. His take: it therefore MUST be a forgery. When the STURP report was released the hue and cry for C-14 testing reached a fever pitch. Finally, under the auspices of the British Museum the C-14 dating was done. Sadly the "fake news" cry heard round the world was that that Shroud was a "fake". Forgetting the unparalleled work and conclusions of STURP, the shroud was dismissed out of hand. The real world consequences of the C-14 report cannot be overstated. While the Shroud is not nor ever should be an article of faith, it does provide empirical evidence of the death, burial and even points to the resurrection of Yeshua. To say the Shroud was medieval was one thing. To overturn the multiple positive results of the most sophisticated testing ever developed based on one test alone was quite another. Most importantly to offer not one scintilla of evidence of how such an image which defies reproduction to this day might have been "created" was a bridge too far. Sadly, would be "shroud creators" with the C-14 data in hand proposed bogus theories for shroud formation: theories that were already ruled out by the STURP results !"Fake News!!!"
However, as details came out about the testing, the conclusions of the three labs came into serious question especially among STURP. First and perhaps most importantly, it was not a double blind study. The labs knew which was the Shroud sample and which was the control. They also knew that date range of the control sample. Moreover the C-14 protocols suggested by the STURP scientists and other C-14 experts were all violated. Finally, the very bold declaration that the Shroud was a forgery rather than simply not old enough to connect to Yeshua clearly displays the bias of the testers. In short, they were determined to label the Shroud a "fake" beforehand. Unfortunately the "fake news" ruled the day. My own attempt to clarify the issue was "The Shroud and the Controversy", published by Thomas Nelson. The first consequence of the C-14 "fake news" report was an excellent book which presented "both sides" of the issue fairly, but was "orphaned" by its publisher.
What is potentially the worst consequence is that some latter day "Doubting Thomas" will lose his or her chance to put their hands in the wounds and believe. Before STURP became an organization there were simply four faculty members at the United States Air Force Academy discussing GOD. Three of us were believers the fourth an agnostic. When asked why the agnostic said, "GOD gave me a "scientific" mind, why wouldn't HE reveal HIMSELF to me through science. The Shroud of Turin was brought up and he then said IF it were tested and showed evidence then perhaps he would believe. We four were at the very foundation of what would become STURP. The agnostic today is a believer! However, like the late Bishop John A.T. Robinson, former agnostic himself opined, "...perhaps like the Apostle John (we) have to count ourselves as among those who saw and believed..."* Since the resurrection of Yeshua is indeed the central "truth" of Christianity, the eternal consequences of unbelief are in a word staggering !!
But what is the "truth", the "whole truth" about the Shroud of Turin. First of all thanks to the initial research of Joe Marino and the late Sue Benford, it has been established that the section of the Shroud used in the dating process, was woven with cotton in a technique known as "invisible reweaving". Subsequent tests revealed that the date results were from cotton fibers, rather than the linen of the original Shroud. This was first confirmed by STURP's lead chemist, the late Dr. Ray Rogers thru a peer-reviewed report. His results were repeated by his fellow researcher Robert Villarreal again with appropriate peer review. Most recently thanks to the British equivalent of our own "Freedom of Information Act", French researcher Tristan Casabianca, using the raw data from the British Museum, again confirmed the medieval dates were from cotton fibers and NOT the linen fibers of the Shroud itself. "Fake News" disclosed !! So we are back to the results of Science, which indeed have an incredible story to tell.
STURP's incredibly well conducted and documented test results confirmed a number of significant facts about the Shroud image: First and foremost, the image on the Shroud is clearly that of a crucified man whose suffering and death are identical to that of Yeshua of Nazareth. Secondly there are at least seventeen specific characteristics of the image. Several are unique in and of themselves. Taken together however they make a virtually iron-clad case for authenticity:

1. Superficial (Image is found on only the top most curved surface of fibers)
2. Photographically Negative
3. Encoded with Three-dimensional data
4. Comprised of degraded/dehydrated cellulose fibers (similar to those found of a scorch)
5. Non-directional (not done by human application, which would leave stroke impressions)
6. Autopsy level detail
7. Thermally stable
8. Chemically stable
9. Water stable
10. Infrared positive (Image is negative, except in the infrared zone where it is positive)
11. Sepia toned
12. Bloodstains prevent image formation – bloodstains were there first
13. Blood is human
14. Color spectrum similar to a scorch
15. NEVER successfully duplicated
16. No pigment, powders or dyes found
17. Scripturally accurate

With these demonstrated factual characteristics, STURP scientists were able to test and REFUTE every image formation process offered by Shroud opponents. Nevertheless these "fake news" reports are consistently recycled and marched out in a vain attempt to suppress "the truth".
So let me close with a Scripture and a challenge:

First the Scripture. 2 Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that "ANY" should perish, but that "ALL" should come to repentance." (emphasis added)

I believe that GOD indeed left evidence for the "doubting Thomas" of our age. An age that for the very first time has the scientific tools necessary to properly analyze such an enigma. I challenge all who are open-minded, and especially those who don't believe to put aside any and all "fake news" reports on the Shroud, though they come from pundits, prelates and long-held traditions. Examine ALL the "facts" and determine "the truth" for yourself. If I am correct, your eternity hangs in the balance.

Http://bit.ly/Nazah (read the reviews)

Dr. Stevenson's Contact Information:

Dr. Kenneth Stevenson
P.O. Box 154221
Waco, TX  76705

https://twitter.com/everlastingcov8

http://endtimeschool.com/

To watch/hear Dr. Stevenson's complete message:

https://twitter.com/everlastingcov8

https://everlastingcovenant.sermon.net/main/main/21320220
 

Prayer of Salvation for all who desire to receive Jesus as their Savior: Lord Jesus, I desire to know You, and to know Your salvation. I believe that You died for me, and that You were resurrected for me. Forgive me of my sins. Come into my heart, change me, fill me with Your righteousness. Inscribe my name in the Lamb's book of life. Baptize me in Your Holy Spirit, so that I can learn the truth of Your Word and ways, and be strengthened in my walk all the days of my life. You are the hope of my life, and You are my eternal life. I place my trust in You, Lord, for myself, and my whole household. Use me to do the will of the heavenly Father, Who sent You, in Whose name You came. In Your name, and in thanks and praise I pray, Amen.

 

Dr. Stevenson's newest book is now available:
  

To order "NAZAH": https://twitter.com/everlastingcov8     http://endtimeschool.com/