Who Do You Say That I Am? Proof of the Shroud in the Bible! Answer to Critics Lost Gospel Experience Gethsamene The Seven Hymns of Faith A Physician's Look Why the Shroud?
	Resurrection Flash Presentation	No Greater Love	My Testimony	Music Of Kristin Taylor	My Dad Houdini's Successor

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Answer to Critics

The Controversy of the Shroud Parallels The Controversy of Jesus of Nazareth!

Plus... Important Questions Concerning the Personna on the Shroud.

And...Putting Critics in Their Place!

The Shroud of Turin has been attacked, insulted, pursued, ignored, defied, humiliated, persecuted, investigated, and tried throughout its public lifetime. Sound familiar? We either believe in it...or we don't. Yet, even tried by fire on several occasions...the Shroud has survived and continued to mystify and mesmerize millions for centuries. First, we must remember that, even though the Shroud is in the possession of the Vatican...it is NOT exclusively for those of the Catholic faith. It belongs, as was intended, to ALL Christians. That is of extreme importance...just as the Old Testament must also be a part of Christian teaching and belief. The burial cloth of Jesus IS a part of our Scriptures...and played a role in the most awesome historical event in history...the Resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. I, personally, am non-denominational...and follow only ONE Truth...ONE Church...God's Word. The evidence and proof of the Shroud's authenticity is out there...if one takes the time to read the books of authority, written by researchers after many years of study and scientific investigation. At least one researcher, an agnostic, was converted to Christianity as a result of his findings...which could not be disputed.

As with the Holy Bible, and the Gospels...it takes effort, time, and common sense to come to the obvious conclusions and Truths. Unfortunately, as with the Bible, we have those who work diligently to "prove" that Jesus "never existed"...or that he was simply "resuscitated" after the Crucifixion (and limped out of the tomb!)...which is such nonsense that even the Roman soldiers would laugh them to shame! Satan's workers try everything possible to discredit Christianity...they are THAT threatened. The fact is: "Christianity is not a religion...it is REALITY" as our Bible teacher reminds his flock. If the Shroud of our Lord PROVES that reality to "doubting Thomas's"...then so be it. Do you think our Lord Jesus didn't know there would be doubters? Of course He did! His own disciples doubted as He stood in front of them in His tangible Spiritual body...yet showing the wounds of His Crucifixion! But, they then believed enough to go on and lay down their very lives for the Truth of His Resurrection! They also protected, and hid the evidence from swift and absolute destruction! That is why we don't find further definitive mention of the burial cloth in the canonical Scriptures (except for veiled suggestions)...as also many important individuals are no more accounted for...such as Joseph of Arimathea, Mary Magdalene, and Mary, mother of Jesus (last mentioned in Acts). Does that make them not authentic? Some critics try to argue that, if the Shroud was authentic, it would have had continued mention in the Gospels. Not so! Its protection was priority...and God had a planned, future purpose for the burial cloth of Jesus. I believe WE are that purpose and generation! Please see Proof of the Shroud in the Bible on this site. It will answer many of your questions with truly astonishing revelations in the Scriptures themselves...concerning the Shroud of Turin...and it's authenticity. What better proof than the Holy Bible?

The Shroud exactly parallels the frustrations that Jesus must have felt in His earthly life. Science has already proven that the image on the Shroud is not a painting...and as such, would have been impossible for any human hand to accomplish. It has 3 dimentional qualities that paintings cannot and do not have. In fact, the image itself has all qualities that defy explanation by man and science. Of course, God IS science! How simple...and in keeping with God's teachings. God's ways and thoughts are NOT ours...which is biblical. Jesus came as a Light into this world...and He left the world...in Light! How simple! Wasn't that a clue from Jesus? Often times, "biblical scholars" get so immersed in their "intellectual terminology"...they forget the simplicity by which Jesus taught! Every detail of the Passion of our Lord is imprinted...encoded on the Shroud as if it were written! It has been referred to as "The Fifth Gospel". It tells the whole story of His suffering...right down to individual thorn wounds. It tells us even more than the Scriptures do as to His bleeding knees from falls He took...accounting for the help He needed from Simon of Cyrene in carrying the cross. Yes, even Jesus needed help physically...as He had been so horrifically scourged... which alone could have brought death! The Romans were brutal, experienced, and effective in their executions. The Shroud tells us that Jesus was nailed through the wrists rather than the hands...which is anatomically correct...and the only possibility as to holding the weight of a body. The Roman soldiers knew that...but we didn't... until the 20th century. The Greek word "manus" means "hands"...and includes the forearm. The Shroud also shows us how His thumbs reflexed inward toward His palms as a result of the nailing at the median nerves in the wrists...again...forensically correct...and another thing we did not know until the Shroud told us. The Shroud shows us only the four fingers on each hand...no thumbs! Strangely, "medieval artists" incorrectly depicted the nails in Christ's palms...which is when this alleged and yet unnamed "forger" (painter), according to Carbon 14 dating, would have "painted" his Shroud "masterpiece"! The scientific, historical, biological, forensic and technological information the doubters and skeptics expected this imaginary medieval forger to know is almost more astonishing than the Shroud itself...albeit...laughable!

Who could have wrought such a mystery? Man? Not a chance! My dad was a famous magician and escape artist (Houdini's successor...see "Family & About")...and I know that no ordinary man could have accomplished this ancient photograph. Satan? He certainly would never have wanted to revere Christ's crucifixion...let alone His Resurrection! And, having "left his habitation" to come to earth, he was never born of woman into a flesh and blood body...so it is not of him. The blood on the Shroud is real...and rare....human...and plentiful. So, if not man...and not Satan...then that leaves us One Candidate...Who was "not of this world"...meets the unique circumstances of the crucifixion of Jesus on the Shroud...and could do nothing but of His Father. The Man on the Shroud is, without doubt, Jewish. The "Sudarium Christi" (the "napkin that was about His head and rolled up in a place by itself") also bares out the Shroud's authenticity... and the identity of Who the Shroud wrapped in death. The Sudarium (or The Oviedo Cloth) was traced to the 1st century...and matches exactly the blood type (rare AB)...as well as many congruent blood markings...including holes in the back of the head area...made by thorns...and the many pollens of which match those on the Shroud. There is no image on the Sudarium, but a thumbprint, trying to stem blood flow from the nose can still be seen...and could be that of Joseph of Arimathea as he took Jesus down from the cross. The "blood and water" stains are also visible on the Shroud from the spear wound in the chest area...just as the beloved disciple, John, described. The loss of blood was horrific... on the Sudarium and the Shroud...and there was no survival of human life on that cross! It is quite certain now that both cloths touched the same Body in death.

The Oviedo Cloth..."Sudarium Christi" (click for larger view)

The beloved disciple, John, gave us another great clue when, upon entering the empty tomb, and beholding the linen cloths lying there...he "saw and believed"! It was the burial cloths that caused him to believe. Having been among the fearful other disciples, his first thought would have been, "My God, someone has taken our Lord's body"!...as Mary Magdalene first thought. But, if someone, after having moved the legally sealed tomb stone in the presence of guards, had hurriedly stolen the body...then why did they bother and take the time to remove the cloth...and roll up the other one? NOTE: There would have been other "strips" of linen ("othonia") in the tomb...used to tie the hands, feet, and the jaw...true to ancient Jewish burial laws....NOT "mummy-like wrappings" as some would have you think! Actually, the jaw cloth (chin band) can be seen on the Shroud...on both sides of the Face. Lazarus, likewise, would have needed to be "unbound", hands and feet, to walk back into the living. Jesus, according to Jewish law, and John, was buried, though hastily, "as the manner of the Jews is to bury." The Body would NOT have been washed after such a violent, bloody death...as is still the case today...and Law... in Israel... following terrorist attacks! The blood is to remain with the body. Jesus was given a rich man's tomb...because of His great uncle, and kinsman redeemer, Joseph of Arimathea, who held great power and wealth in Jerusalem...and with the Romans....and who "went in boldly unto Pilate" to claim the body of Jesus.

As for other pertinent questions one might ask, there are documented and biblical answers. Jesus DID have long hair...as did his brother James...who was "consecrated unto the LORD" by "the vow of the Nazarite". Likewise, all "sons of God"...as angels, were described in scripture as being "tall" young men. Contrary to what some would have us believe...as in evolution...the size (height) of people has not changed over the centuries. It is well accepted in archaeological studies of skeletal remains of 1st century Jewish men that five feet six inches was an "average" height. The Man on the Shroud has been determined to have been between five feet ten and six feet tall. Ian Wilson, renowned Shroud researcher and author, stated in his "The Blood and the Shroud": "...in a Jerusalem cemetery directly contemporary with the time of Jesus, of ten adult male skeletons examined, one was found to be six feet (181 cm), another between five feet seven and five feet ten (170-178cm)"....and that "while six feet would have been an impressive height for Jesus's time, just as it is in our own, it would in no way have been beyond the normal order." A more recent excavation in Meiron in the area of Galilee, more skeletal remains from the 1st through the 4th centuries, revealed an adult male height average of five feet nine inches. Among remains from an excavation at Giv'at ha-Mivtar', was found the ankle bone of one Jehohanan, a 1st century crucifixion victim....with a nail still through his foot bones...and a brutally broken tibia (leg) bone. The Man on the Shroud has not one bone that was broken...fulfilling ancient prophecy, according to John 19:36. Most crucifixion victims were left on the cross for prey...but Jesus was accorded a burial of the rich, which indicated a Person of special circumstances.

John saw something concerning the burial Shroud that made him believe in our Lord's Resurrection. Was it an image...a likeness...a photograph (as we know it) of Jesus? Was it a semblance of the Temple that Jesus said He would raise in three days? Was it the "sign" of Jonas (the only sign to be given..."three days and three nights in the whale's belly") that He had spoken of? It was something awesome to John...for he believed! John did not see the image in negative as we see it today... since it (a more detailed Face) miraculously appeared in 1898 when the first photograph was taken by Secundo Pia in Turin, Italy. That miracle, in itself, should tell us that this Man on the Shroud was anything but ordinary! Secundo Pia certainly...and emotionally, KNEW it was our Lord, Jesus. I believe that moment was our Lord's way of saying to the world, "Pay attention...the time is nigh." Out of the love and grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, we can still behold that same burial cloth...just as John did 2000 years ago. Why? Because we, too, are disciples...IF we believe in Him! Is it wrong to consider this burial cloth precious? Was it wrong for the first disciples to so carefully protect it...let alone touch it...as Jewish law prohibited? Could it be that Jesus actually gave instructions as to the Shroud's preservation...for a future generation...i.e... US? Is that why and how it still survives today...by Divine Providence? The Shroud obviously still has a purpose in God's overall plan.

The image on the left is the original on the Shroud. The right image miraculously appeared when Secundo Pia took the first photographs in 1898 in Turin, Italy.

A fire in 1997 in the Turin Cathedral chapel, which housed the Shroud, was deemed arson. The entire brigade of fire fighters risked their lives under a collapsing dome roof in finally smashing through the near unbreakable glass enclosure of the Shroud. As the fire fighters carried the Shroud in it's heavy silver casket to safety...to the cheers of many...one of the rescuers described a "strange silence"...and the feeling of carrying "a baby boy". Once again, since the 1500's, the Shroud was rescued from fire, but the newly renovated chapel in Turin was in complete ruin. There is an evil faction who would like nothing more than to see the Shroud...and all that represents Jesus...destroyed. The Shroud has since been moved to an even safer sanctuary, and action was taken, as during WWII, to remove it to a hidden place of protection immediately after the horrendous events of September 11, 2001. That indicates Divine Providence...and certainly not for some unknown crucified man whose image just happened to be left on a 1st century burial cloth depicting every unique detail of Jesus' crucifixion! God is in control...and has an ultimate Plan for the Shroud as these end times draw closer, as I think you will see in the "Proof of the Shroud in the Bible" section on this site. If you read little else...please read that! It will astonish you!

1997 fire at Cathedral in Turin, Italy

Those who say the Shroud of Turin is a "forgery"...or that it can be "duplicated" by man...that it is a "fake"... had better think again...and re-examine art and scriptural evidence far pre-dating any carbon-test results...which are quite often in error anyway...having dated mummy wrappings much younger than the bodies they wrapped! No science is infallible...but God IS! The next time you see a book, or a website proclaiming those wrongful things...go and seek the correct information from authorities and researchers who know...and your Holy Bible. Those in error need to do their homework before they pronounce their lazy judgments...rather than rely on misinformation or some "flimsy theory", usually from one who does not want you to believe anyway... that Jesus is, indeed, the Only Begotten Son of God...and One Who is perfectly capable of miracles. I have yet to see the Center or Personna of any other religion having left a supernatural image on a burial or any other cloth! "Christianity is not a religion...it is REALITY"!

Carole Bevan-Irby