Monday, May 9, 2011

Shroud of Turin

Photo sources

The Lord has put it on my heart to address from his Holy Word the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin. I suppose I will even lose friends over it, since that is what happened when I addressed the idea of Niburu – the newest fad among my brothers and sisters in Christ. Have I become your enemy because I tell you the truth? I guess so.

Before I start there is some truth from God’s Word that we must be in absolute agreement on.

First – That you, as a reader of this blog, are interested in what IS the TRUTH, and are willing to put away any false doctrines that you may hold in order to have the truth. If you just want to keep your pet doctrines, than nothing I am going to say here will change your mind. Have a good life.

Second – That the Word of God is true and has been supernaturally protected by God to come to us in order that we may know the mind of Christ, and may be able to use the Word to determine what is God’s Truth, and to discern truth from error.

Now I know that the word can be twisted to mean just about anything. So there isn’t going to be any fishy twisting of God’s Word here today, just presenting His Word the way it is written and let it speak for itself.

Third – That God is sovereign and CHANGES NOT. The sins of the past are the sins of today unless otherwise specified. (For example – God made all animals now clean to be eaten and confirmed with His vision to Peter.) Many sins from the law are established as still sins in the New Testament – specifically IDOLATRY, or MAKING IMAGES AND IDOLS, is still forbidden in the New Testament.

So here is what God said specifically about the making of images in the Old Testament:
Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:

Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,

The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:

And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. Deut 4:15-19

Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee. Deut 4:23
The New Testament has this to say:

Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. I Cor 10:14

You are welcome to look up idols and idolatry for yourself at www.blueletterbible.org.

The bible never has had a description of what Jesus Christ looked like. The only thing it says about Jesus, is that he was not beautiful, that someone should desire him (based on his beauty.) It doesn’t say he had a beard, it doesn’t say he had long hair, it doesn’t say he had a flaming heart with thorns around it. It does, however, say that he was beat up so bad that “his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men” Isa 52:14. Other than that Jesus’ looks are never mentioned.

So I would like to posit right now that based on the fact that the Lord was adamantly opposed to the making of images and/or idols of ANY kind, that He would not break His own Word to supernaturally superimpose His own image onto a piece of linen. I can tell you absolutely He would not. But maybe that in and of itself is not proof enough for you.

So here is a picture of the whole shroud. It appears that the bottom of the shroud would have been placed on his feet and then the shroud would have been laid flat over the rest of his body to his head and then would go over the top of the head of the man in order to get the whole backside onto the shroud. Never mind that even artistically it is bad perspective, but the Word says this:

Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,

And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. John 20:6-7

It was the custom to wrap the head of the deceased with a separate napkin and God’s Word clearly states that the napkin that wrapped Christ’s head was SEPARATE from the rest of the linen clothes that he was buried in. It says the same about Lazurus: “And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.” John 11:43-44.

See. No funny business, no twisting of God’s Word. Just the simplicity of the fact that the napkin that was wrapped around the head of Jesus was separate from the rest of the grave clothes proves that the Shroud of Turin is a fake.

Blessings in Christ
Linda

10 comments:

Michael Kane said...

Every time I read the passage about the napkin wrapped around the head I would immediately think that the shroud was not of God. Not hard to figure that out.

Anonymous said...

Every time I read the passage about the napkin wrapped around the head I would immediately think that the shroud was not of God. Not hard to figure that out.

wendyworn said...

That is why it is so important for us as Christians to KNOW what the Word of God says. That way, we won't be deceived by the things in the world.

Thanks for commenting.
Linda

Kim said...

I believe there is a verse which indicates he had a beard and that it was to be ripped from his face, but I don't have time to look for it anymore today, Linda. Thank you for this teaching; it is very appropriate since there is a theory going around that blood from the shroud will be used to clone the antichrist. It may be done, but if the shroud is not of Christ the antichrist will not only not be the Christ, but will be a clone of some other individual. I don't think it matters what Jesus looked like. I envision Him as He is described in Revelation: fire in his eyes, white, shining hair, feet of bronze and a white, white robe. I hope it doesn't sound sacriligious to say...like my grandpa but holy, sin-free and righteous and yet loving, kind and gentle. He IS all and in all.

Kim

wendyworn said...

Thank you for commenting, Kim. I am looking forward to that day when we will see Jesus as He is.

Linda

Tanya said...

The verse about his beard is Isaiah 50:6.
I don't pay attention to shrouds or crop circles or whatever new fad is out there. It seems to me the world is always looking for an answer. Ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of truth. (2 Tim. 3:7)Because their interest is in the wrong things.
Lord, help them.

wendyworn said...

Yes, Tanya
Thank you for that verse and for the comment.
We really need to pray for people who follow these fads. That their eyes will be opened to the truth

Linda

Anonymous said...

Amen Linda thanks for posting this! I once was leaning toward the belief that the shroud was real but when you begin to weigh the evidence (scripturally first of course as you have pointed out) and the literal evidence like the fact that that disgusting Pope has jurisdiction over it, you can see that it just doesn't add up. Blessings!

wendyworn said...

Hi Ernie! Thanks for commenting.

Yes, I am very leary about anything that the Catholic Church supports. Also, it is just bad art! If you really wrapped a body up with that, the front of the head mark and the back of the head mark would not look like that! It is really annoying!

ha!
Linda

Peter Kwiatkowski said...

No one could create a faint image which has an underlying image that is only visible in the negative. We don't know what happened in John 20: at what point He had a head scarf, at what point it was removed,whether it was over or under the shroud etc.