A Series of Mary Apparitions Ongoing in Ireland

Disclaimer: For newer readers, please refer to this article on my research concerning apparitions so you don't get the wrong impression of what I'm saying: Link

A reader alerted me that there is some mischief going on in Ireland. Apparently, there is currently a series of alleged Marian apparitions that is attracting local press and is attracting thousands of religious pilgrims to a religious site. Here is picture from the first of the many apparitions so far.


Joe Coleman, a man who claims to be a “visionary”, has brought tens of thousands of people each month to a place called the Knock Shrine to see what pilgrims claim is the Virgin Mary. The Knock Shrine was already famous before this event for being the site of a previous Marian apparition in 1879. People who have visited the shrine with Coleman claim they’ve seen the sun dance around in the sky while others claim that they’ve seen a golden ball of light move around an old church where this shrine is located.[1]

• The details witnesses describe remind me of the “Miracle of the Sun” which took place at Fatima. If you have not read my post about the “Miracle of the Sun”, I theorized that the Miracle of the Sun may possibly have been generated by a UFO.

• Unfortunately, a few people who starred at the sun have lost their eyesight because they’ve starred at the sun too long.

As I wrote in my post about the source of Marian apparitions, the being that appears to people is never the real Virgin Mary, but an Ascended Master (a spiritual being spoken of in Ephesians 6:12 as the “spiritual wickedness in high places”) who poses as the Virgin Mary. The true nature of the spiritual being appearing at these apparitions can usually be detected in the messages the being gives to the people who witness these apparitions.

• I want to clarify that I am not a making statement about Mary herself. I am a making statement about a spiritual phenomenon in hopes that people are not deceived by spiritual beings who are stealing Mary's identity.

A few weeks ago Coleman shared a statement he claims was given by the Virgin Mary which confirms to me that he’s being visited by an Ascended Master. The message is a call to break down the barriers of faith across the globe:

“I pray and I ask for unification of the faith across the globe. I pray that this message has been listened to. That it has been given around the globe in different ways to all my faithful”.[2]

The call to unite the faith across the globe is a message that benefits the spiritual forces of evil if the message is followed because they are trying to fuse the world’s religions together into one-world religion.


In addition, a statement made by Coleman in October 2009 further indicates to me that this series of alleged apparitions is inspired by the spiritual forces of evil. In late October 2009 more than 10,000 people came to see the "Virgin Mary" appear. Most attendees were disappointed because they did not see the spiritual being appear. Coleman told the press that he urged people beforehand to open up their heart or they would be unable to see the Virgin Mary appear.[3]

• The call to open one’s heart is exactly what the spiritual forces of evil want people to do since people become prone to being influenced by them once they open up their heart. This can be seen by what Coleman said since he said that people who did not open their hearts would not be able to see the Ascended Master who poses as the Virgin Mary.

The leaders of the local Catholic Church were quick to warn people not to go to the shrine. However, thousands of people have ignored the warning and still go to the shrine each month.


Coleman claims that the Virgin Mary will return again on May 11, 2010 to deliver her most urgent message yet. He claims that the messages will concern the second coming of Jesus. I’ll keep a watch on this story to see if the Ascended Master who is stealing Mary's identity reveals anything about what the spiritual forces of evil are planning in the future.


References

---

[1] Clancy, Patty. “Knock in Shambles”. 6 Nov. 2009. Last Accessed 5 Apr. 2010. http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Knock-in-shambles-after-apparition-69403287.html?page=2
[2] Ibid.
[3]Kelly, Antoinette. “10,000 Faithful Disappointed as Virgin Mary Fails to Show at Knock”. 2 Nov. 2009. Last Accessed 5 Apr. 2010. http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Faithful-disappointed-as-Virgin-Mary-fails-to-show-at-Knock-68005417.html

Who is Abaddon/Apollyon? Part 1

A reader suggested that I share my thoughts on a figure mentioned in the Book of Revelation 9 named Abaddon. Over the couple of posts I’ll try my best to show you who I think is Abaddon. In Part 1 I will try to clear a misconception about the locusts that will torment those on Earth.

The 5th Trumpet
Revelation Chapter 9’s description of the 5th trumpet begins with a “star” falling to Earth with a key to the abyss. With the key, the “star” will open the abyss; giving locusts from the abyss access to Earth.

• Rev 9:1 And the fifth angel trumpeted. And I saw a star out of the heaven falling onto the earth. And the key to the pit of the abyss was given to it.
• Rev 9:2 And he opened the pit of the abyss. And smoke went up out of the pit, like smoke of a great furnace. And the sun was darkened, and the air, by the smoke of the pit.
• Rev 9:3 And out of the smoke locusts came forth to the earth. And authority was given to them, as the scorpions of the earth have authority.

The “star” is unlikely a real star because a real star descending to Earth would destroy it. Some speculate that the star is Jesus Christ because He has the keys to places like the abyss.

• Rev 1:17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet, as dead. And He put His right hand on me, saying to me, Do not fear. I am the First and the Last,
• Rev 1:18 and the Living One; and I became dead; and, behold, I am living forever and ever. Amen. And I have the keys to hell, and of death.

However, the star is unlikely Jesus because the star is handed the keys to the abyss. Christ already possesses the keys so it makes little sense for Christ to hand the keys to Himself since He already possesses the keys.

The “star” mostly likely is an angel because stars symbolize angels a few times in the Book of Revelation (see Revelation 1:20 and Revelation 12:4).

The locusts from the abyss will be given instructions about what they can do and what they cannot do. The locusts will be permitted to torment any human who does not have the “seal of God on their foreheads”. However, the locusts will not be permitted to kill anyone they torment. Nevertheless, the torture will be so bad that many people will prefer to die than to receive more torture.

• Rev 9:4 And it was said to them that they should not harm the grass of the earth, nor every green thing, nor every tree, except only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
• Rev 9:5 And it was given to them that they should not kill them, but that they be tormented five months. And their torment is as the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man.
• Rev 9:6 And in those days men will seek death, and they will not find it. And they will long to die, yet death will flee from them.

Revelation 9:7-10 describes what the locusts will look like:

• Rev 9:7 And the likenesses of the locusts were like horses having been prepared for war; and on their heads as crowns, like gold; and their faces like the faces of men.
• Rev 9:8 And they had hairs like the hairs of women; and their teeth were like those of lions.
• Rev 9:9 And they had breastplates like iron breastplates; and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running to war.
• Rev 9:10 And they have tails like scorpions, and their stings were in their tails; and their authority is to harm men five months.

Some people speculate about whether or not these locusts are supernatural entities. I believe these locusts are supernatural entities because they originate from the abyss, which is a spiritual place where evil souls are temporary held before judgment (see Revelation 17:8).[1]

Some argue that these locusts are demonic because they will come out of the abyss. However, nowhere in Revelation 9 does it directly say that these locusts are demonic. In fact, I argue that these locusts are doing a good thing by torturing people on Earth who are not divinely-protected. In addition, it is inconceivable to me that the survivors of the 5th trumpet and the 6th trumpet would still be loyal to Antichrist and various other evil entities as described in Revelation 9:20 if they are being tortured by entities connected to the evil things they are worshiping.

• Rev 9:20 And the rest of men, those not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they will not worship demons, and "golden idols, and silver, and bronze, and stone, and wooden idols, which neither are able to see, nor to hear," nor to walk.

The locusts’ work is part of the work of the Wrath of God, so they are a tool used by God to punish people.

Revelation 9:11 tells us that the locusts’ activities are overseen by a leader. The leader of the locusts is a mysterious figure whose is referred to as “Abaddon” in Hebrew and “Apollyon” in Greek.

• Rev 9:11 And they have a king over them, the angel of the abyss. In Hebrew his name was Abaddon, and in Greek he has the name Apollyon.

In Part 2, I’ll give you the identity of who I believe is Abaddon/Apollyon.

On an unrelated note, I am currently doing some research for an upcoming post on the Shroud of Turin. What I’ve found so far in my research about the Shroud was far far beyond what I expected to find. I think there is a good chance that the upcoming post on the Shroud is going to be interesting to say the least.


Note

---

[1] Another reason why these locusts are likely supernatural beings is that Proverbs 30:27 says that natural locusts have no king over them. The locusts in Revelation 9 have a king so it’s probable that these are not natural locusts.

Another Preview of Topics to Come

Here is a preview of some of the topics I likely will touch on in the coming days

• Who is Abaddon, King of the Locusts in Revelation 9 (2 Parts)
• My opinion on the images of Jesus
• The Shroud of Turin
• My opinion on people who call themselves “prophets”

Beyond that I’m still researching other topics I’ve been asked to write about recently. One of topics I definitely want to write about is how long I feel the “tribulation” is going to last because there is so much confusion about this topic.

Of course, this is all subject to change depending on what events happen in the coming days. This week the U.S. Treasury is going to attempt to sell $82 billion in debt to investors. If you read my blog post about U.S. Government debt last week you know I’ll be watching this event closely.

The Benjamin Creme interview I wrote about a couple of weeks ago is now available to watch on a website called ustream.

• Creme mentions that Maitreya has appeared 8 times on American television at 7 minutes and 20 seconds into the interview.
• Creme says that Maitreya wants people to know that everything is going perfectly to “the plan” at 54 minutes and 20 seconds into the interview.

The interview is in English, but there is a French translator to translate everything that Creme says.

I’m still looking for some feedback for the questions I posed in the previous post. If you have something to say feel free to comment. I want thank those who’ve commented so far and I hope to see more feedback from those who haven’t yet commented.

Looking For More Feedback

Once again I’m looking for some feedback. This time there are a couple of things I’d like to know from you.

 

First, I’d like to know if people are having a difficult time reading what’s on this blog due to the “artistic” format of the blog. In other words, is everything legible? I wonder because some people have different levels of eyesight. I have no problem reading what’s on this blog because I have 20/20 vision, but just because I can read what’s on here doesn't mean that someone else can.

 

Also, I’d like to know why people come to read blogs like this. Some blogs are geared towards reporting the news of the day while others use their blogs to tell people their opinion. At this moment, I think this blog has a little bit of everything. I’m not sure whether I should gear the blog more towards more news reporting, more towards opinion-based pieces, more towards reporting research findings, more towards answering people’s questions, keep things as is, or do something else.

 

I appreciate your feedback. Your feedback helps me to know what I should work on to make things better for you. You can leave your feedback in the comments section. In the comments section you have the option of leaving your feedback anonymously if you're uncomfortable with identifying who you are.

Alternative Proof of Christ’s Death and Resurrection

Pre-Article Disclaimer for Newer Readers: If you are reading this blog for the first time or are not totally familiar with my work, I am a 100% Christian writer who analyzes things from a Christian point of view. I sometimes research into what the spiritual forces of evil are up to in hopes of gleaning information to help us Christians figure out what is going on or to figure out what Satan has planned. You can read more about why I dare consider these unbiblical sources at the following link Now on to the article...

If you’re reading this blog entry you most likely believe that Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross and was later resurrected from the dead and you most likely only need the Bible to convince you of this. However, just in case anyone needs additional assurance that Christ was crucified on the cross and resurrected from the dead, I’m going to give you "proof" that this happened using a source you probably least expect: the forces of evil.


Satan prefers that people not believe that Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead. However, at some point Satan realized that he was not going to get many Christians to deny that these events took place as believing in these events is central to the Christian faith. Consequently, Satan sought to devise an approach that he and his minions can use to exploit Christians’ beliefs in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ during the end times. I believe Satan has already come up with an approach which is to acknowledge that Jesus was crucified on the cross and rose from the dead but lie about its significance, lie about how it was achieved, and revise the history surrounding this period of time. This approach can be seen in the statements of the highest-level New Age sources.


The highest-level New Age sources admit that Jesus was crucified on the cross! However, there is a big caveat to their acknowledgement of Christ’s crucifixion. While Christians believe Christ died on the cross for our sins so that mankind could be redeemed from death, the highest-level New Age sources portray Christ’s crucifixion as simply Him passing through an initiatory process to achieve the fourth level of New Age initiation (Maitreya, the leader of a group of beings known as Ascended Masters or the “spiritual wickedness in high places” in Ephesians 6:12, is at the seventh level in this convoluted initiatory system). For instance, Benjamin Creme, the official spokesmen of Maitreya, claims the following about Jesus’s crucifixion:

“He did have to take the Fourth Initiation, which is called in the West the "Crucifixion". In the East it is known as "The Great Renunciation", and He went through it in full, physical fact... He underwent this Initiation physically, being crucified in the flesh, to dramatise for us this Great Renunciation…”[1]

The highest-level New Age sources also admit that Jesus’s resurrection actually happened! However, there are a couple of caveats in the way that they acknowledge the event. For instance, Benjamin Creme claims that Maitreya (the New Age Christ) was the power that enabled Jesus to rise from the dead instead of the Holy Spirit.[2]

The Christ resurrected the body of the Disciple Jesus. When the body was laid in the tomb, the Christ, Maitreya, entered on the third morning. His consciousness once again entered into the body of the Disciple Jesus and brought it back to life—as He had done before with Lazarus—only that wasn’t resurrection. Lazarus was simply brought back to life. This happens—I don’t say frequently—but it has happened quite often since, and before. But Resurrection is a very special thing technically. It is a great occult happening.[3]

New Age author Alice Bailey (under the direction of an Ascended Master named Djwhal Khul) apparently also acknowledged Jesus’s resurrection. However, Bailey greatly diminished the importance of Jesus’s resurrection as simply the achievement of the fifth level of New Age initiation, which she claimed had been done by many others before Him.[4] Similarly, Creme claims that Jesus’s resurrection symbolized His achieving of the fifth level of New Age initiation:

“Then follows, and this is the core of the Christian Gospel Story, the fifth Initiation, the Resurrection, symbolised by the resurrection of the body of Jesus after the Crucifixion. Each Initiation attracts to the bodies of the Initiate matter of sub-atomic particles - literally light”.[5]

Finally, to illustrate how little regard New Age theology has for Jesus, high-level New Age sources like Alice Bailey wrote that Jesus was the only one who ever was demoted back to the fourth level of New Age initiation after His resurrection.[6]


If you were looking for additional assurance that Christ was crucified on the cross and later rose from the dead you can find confirmation from the forces of evil albeit with several caveats. While the highest-level New Age sources try to alter the meaning of events and revise history, they nevertheless acknowledge that Jesus was crucified on the cross and was resurrected from the dead. This is particularly important because the forces of evil, who work to get people to not believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, are acknowledging in these explanations in a subtle way that they have been misleading people for centuries when they’ve tried to convince people that Christ’s crucifixion and/or resurrection never took place.


References

---

[1] Creme, Benjamin. “FAQ-Initiation”. 15 Oct. 2005. Last Accessed 1 Apr. 2010. http://www.share-international.org/archives/agelesswisdom/faq_initiation.htm
[2] Creme also (blasphemously) claims that Maitreya utilized Jesus’s body during His ministry through an occult process called “overshadowing”.
[3] Creme. Benjamin. The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom Los Angeles: Tara Press, 1980. Pg. 95
[4] The New Age Religion: Brought to us by the Ascended Masters”. 24 Sept. 2005. Last Accessed: 1 Apr. 2010. http://www.redmoonrising.com/maitreya.htm
[5] Creme, Benjamin. “The Gospel Story and the Path of Initiation”. 15 Oct. 2005. Last Accessed 1 Apr. 2010. http://www.share-international.org/archives/agelesswisdom/aw_bcgospel.htm
[6] “The New Age Religion: Brought to us by the Ascended Masters”. 24 Sept. 2005. Last Accessed: 1 Apr. 2010. http://www.redmoonrising.com/maitreya.htm

The Death Panel Controversy Returns

I wanted to post something that is garnering headlines on some websites and blogs because I feel this is not getting enough attention from the mainstream media (probably because they rather pretend this never happened).

New York Times columnist and self-proclaimed liberal economist Paul Krugman vehemently denied on several occasions, including on March 21 (the day the health care reform legislation was passed) that the health care reform would include death panels. After the passage of the health care reform legislation Krugman appears (at least to the ears of several people) to have reversed his tune by stating how these advisory panels, which he apparently referred to as “death panels” earlier in this interview, would be a major cost savings. Here is the video of Krugman’s comments:

I’m not sure whether Krugman misspoke, is misinformed, or is telling the truth. It’s possible that he misspoke, but the host should have jumped in there to make sure Krugman clarified his position. Media Matters, a left-wing blog covering the media, vehemently denies that Krugman was confirming that death panels (that he was just speaking about them tongue-in-cheek).

I’ve heard a lot about death panels in the past so I decided to check out the health care legislation to see for myself whether such things are called for in the health care bill.

The actual health care legislation that was turned into law does not appear to call for “death panels”. HR 3590 Section 3403 (which is now law) describes what the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) (formerly known as the Independent Medicare Advisory Board and “death panel” by critics) can and cannot do. The IPAB’s purpose is the following:

‘(b) Purpose- It is the purpose of this section to, in accordance with the following provisions of this section, reduce the per capita rate of growth in Medicare spending

The clause says that the IPAB’s objective is to reduce the amount of Medicare spending for the average person. How can this be achieved? A clause a little bit later in Section 3403 outlines what the IPAB can and cannot do to achieve cost savings:

‘(ii) The proposal shall not include any recommendation to ration health care, raise revenues or Medicare beneficiary premiums under section 1818, 1818A, or 1839, increase Medicare beneficiary cost-sharing (including deductibles, coinsurance, and copayments), or otherwise restrict benefits or modify eligibility criteria.

If you take the clause at face value it does not appear the government will permit this panel to decide who is going to live and who is going to die (whether the panel actually stays faithful to the law in practice is a big IF). The panel is going to look for ways to achieve cost savings by improving efficiency (whether they can actually achieve that is a big IF since the government is not exactly the model of efficiency).

I am an opponent of the health care legislation, but I do not see why people are still claiming there are death panels after I reviewed the legislation. Perhaps there is something in the health care legislation that I’m missed, so if you have any idea where death panels or something like them are being hinted at let me know or post a comment. Nevertheless, until Krugman clarifies what he said in this interview people are going to be wondering whether there will actually be death panels, including me.

Dating the Crucifixion: Wednesday or Friday

A few months ago I was challenged by a reader to examine a long-held assumption by many Christians that Jesus Christ’s crucifixion occurred on a Friday. The individual cited several passages in the Bible they believed proved that Wednesday was the true date of the crucifixion. I examined the issue fairly as I could and now present the results of my study in this blog post.

Before I begin I want to make it clear that I was neutral about whether the crucifixion date took place on a Wednesday or on a Friday when I conducted the study. I previously wrote in a report about the 70 Weeks of Daniel that the crucifixion took place on a Friday. However, I was willing to revise the report if I found that the date was actually Wednesday because finding out which day is correct is what matters.

Christ’s crucifixion took place sometime during the time Pontus Pilate served as governor of Judea province for the Roman Empire between 26AD to 36AD. Jesus’s crucifixion took place on the Eve of Passover, which is on the 14th day of Nisan of the Jewish calendar (Passover is on Nisan 15). Virtually every Christian scholar believes that the crucifixion took place on either a Wednesday or a Friday between the Year 30AD and 33AD.[1] This criterion leaves two possible dates as the true date of the crucifixion:

• Wednesday April 3, 30AD
• Friday April 1, 33AD

Buying and Preparing the Spices
A heavily debated item between those who support a Wednesday crucifixion and those who support a Friday crucifixion is the timing of when Mary and others bought and prepared spices before they went to anoint Christ’s body. Here are the two verses driving this debate.

• Luk 23:54 And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on.
• Luk 23:55 And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid.
• Luk 23:56 And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.

• Mar 16:1 And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.
• Mar 16:2 And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.

I feel that people who argue for a Wednesday Crucifixion and people who argue for a Friday Crucifixion both can put up acceptable explanations for what happened. Here is what each side can argue:

• Wednesday Proponents: The women prepared some spices and ointments before the high Sabbath (Passover). After Passover the women bought and prepared more spices before they rested on the weekly Sabbath.
• Friday Proponents: Some spices and ointments were prepared just before the weekly Sabbath and the Passover high Sabbath (both fell on the same day) and more spices were bought and prepared Saturday evening following passage of the two Sabbaths.

Three Days and Three Nights
The key detail driving the Wednesday vs. Friday crucifixion date debate is Matthew 12:40. In this verse Christ told the Pharisees that he would spend “three days and three nights in the heart of the earth”:

• Mat 12:40: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Many supporting the Wednesday crucifixion states that the term “three days and three nights” translates to mean a literal 72 hour period. I can see why people would instinctively do that, but there are some people who argue that “three days and three nights” does not mean a literal 72 hour period. There are dozens of articles debating whether “three days and three nights” translate to a literal 72 hours or not. In addition, another complicating factor is that every other verse concerning the timing of Christ’s resurrection says He rose on the Third Day.

The one article that stood out to me was written by a man named Mark Clarke who was a staunch defender of the Wednesday crucifixion for most of his life until he began to interpret the crucifixion timeline from the perspective of someone that lived during the time of Christ and learned about some of the Jewish idioms used back in Christ’s era.

Apparently, talking about the passage of time in Christ’s era was completely different than the way we talk about time today (perhaps due to the fact people back then did not use the number 0 in their daily lives). For instance, Clarke uses scripture to show that talking about “three days” from now back then would be the equivalent of us talking the “day after tomorrow” because partial days were counted as a whole day back then. Here is one of many scriptural examples Clarke used to illustrate this:

The exact meaning of the phrase “the third day” in its Biblical usage is defined in Luke 13:32. “And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.” Counting of days began with today as the first day, and tomorrow as the second day. The day after tomorrow was the third day, even though we would say only two days have elapsed, because we don't count today as day one.

Clarke uses scripture and Jewish sources to argue that the phrase “‘three days and three nights’ was simply an idiomatic phrase to refer to a period of three days which included partial days at the beginning and end”.[2] Here is one of multiple scriptural examples from the article:

The argument is made that the above verses speak of numbers of days, rather than “days and nights” (except for the reference to Noah's Flood). But we saw from the flood record in Genesis that the phrase “forty days” is equivalent to the phrase “forty days and forty nights.” Nevertheless, there are also at least two other places where “days and nights” are referred to. Esther 4:16: “Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.” And then in 5:1: “Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king’s house, over against the king’s house…” In this case, “on the third day” is the end of the period of time described as “for three days, night or day.”

You can read Clarke’s complete explanation at the following link

I feel that Clarke’s argument that we should look at the description of the crucifixion timeline from the perspective of those who recorded it in Christ’s era is fairly reasonable. Back then the Number 0 was not used, which altered the way people calculated the passage of time. In addition, there were expressions used by people back then that we do not use today and vice versa. When you look at the crucifixion timeline from the perspective of those who described it back then the Wednesday crucifixion argument begins to crumble.


Palm Branches in Jerusalem
Using the way people calculated the passage of time in the 1st Century AD, Christ travelled from Bethany to Jerusalem to make His triumphal entry on Nisan 10. Before Christ entered Jerusalem His disciples acquired a colt for Him to ride on.

• Mar 11:4 And they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without in a place where two ways met; and they loose him.
• Mar 11:5 And certain of them that stood there said unto them, What do ye, loosing the colt?
• Mar 11:6 And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded: and they let them go.
• Mar 11:7 And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on him; and he sat upon him.

Three accounts of Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem on a colt tell us that the citizens of Jerusalem went to cut down palm branches to lie on the ground as He passed by (Matthew 21:8-10, Mark 11:8-9, and John 12:12-13). Here is Matthew’s account:

• Mat 21:8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.
• Mat 21:9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
• Mat 21:10 And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?

These details are where I feel Wednesday crucifixion proponents have a major problem if we view the passage of time how the people back in Christ’s era viewed the passage of time. Under a Wednesday crucifixion scenario, these events would have taken place on a Jewish Sabbath (Saturday, March 30 30AD). First, riding a donkey on the Sabbath would be a direct violation of the Sabbath as it says in Deuteronomy 5:14 that donkeys and other work animals are supposed to receive rest on the Sabbath.

• Deu 5:14 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.

In addition, Nehemiah mentioned that loading donkeys is a violation of the Sabbath.

• Neh 13:15 In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals.
• Neh 13:16 There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem.
• Neh 13:17 Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day?

Second, the act of cutting and placing palm branches on the ground likely would have also been a violation of the Sabbath. A man who gathered sticks on the Sabbath was found guilty of breaking the Sabbath in Numbers 15:32-36.

• Num 15:32 And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day.
• Num 15:33 And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation.
• Num 15:34 And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him.
• Num 15:35 And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp.
• Num 15:36 And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses.

Therefore, if the Wednesday crucifixion date was the actual date and if you view the passage of time from the perspective of someone recording these events in Christ’s era you would have an instance where Christ violated the Sabbath by riding a donkey and caused Jews to violate the Sabbath. In contrast, these events would take place on a non-Sabbath day under the Friday crucifixion date scenario. I cannot see Christ violating or causing people to violate the Sabbath so I feel that Friday is the best candidate to be the day of the crucifixion.

The reason I choose to post the results of my study now is that today is the “anniversary" of the day that Christ was crucified under the Friday crucifixion timeline on our calendar. Yet, in Western culture we consider April 1 to be the least serious day of the year (“April Fool’s Day). We treat April 1 like a joke even though it ought to be treated as one of the most serious days of the year. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think this irony is just a coincidence…

Regardless of whether you agree with my findings or agree with the findings of those who support the Wednesday crucifixion, it is important to recognize that Wednesday crucifixion proponents and Friday crucifixion proponents recognize that Christ was crucified since not every believes He was crucified. Coming soon will be a post about the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ from a perspective you’re probably not used to seeing.


Note and Reference

---

[1] Some argue that the Crucifixion should have taken place in 31 or 32AD. The problem with these years is that Nisan 14 took place on a Monday: Monday March 24, 31AD and Monday April 12, 32AD
[2] Clarke, Mark. “What Day Did Jesus Die?”. http://godskingdomfirst.org/What%20Day%20Did%20Jesus%20Die.doc