Jesus Escapes Death

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Two Books by Deedat:

Who Moved the Stone?
What was the Sign of Jonah?

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WHAT WAS THE SIGN OF JONAH?

by Ahmed Deedat


"CHRIST" NOT A NAME

Over a thousand million Christians today blindly accept that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. They produce "a thousand and one" prophecies from the Jewish Bible (the Old Testament) to prove their claim that Jesus was the Messiah promised to the Jews. Let us hold the thousand" prophecies in abeyance for a moment and examine the only unequivocal claim made by Jesus in the Gospels and examine whether he fulfilled his promise to the Jews.

We must admit that the word CHRIST is not a name. It is a title. It is a translation of the Hebrew word Messiah, meaning "anointed." The Greek word for "anointed" is Christos from which we get the word Christ.

Priests and kings were "anointed" when being consecrated to their office. The Holy Bible confers this title even on a heathen king CYRUS (Isaiah 45:1).

We are reminded in the Gospel of St.Luke that "WHEN EIGHT DAYS WERE ACCOMPLISHED FOR THE CIRCUMCISING OF THE CHILD, HIS NAME WAS CALLED JESUS, WHICH WAS SO NAMED OF THE ANGEL BEFORE HE WAS CONCEIVED IN THE WOMB." (Luke 2:21).

The name that was given to Mary for her yet unborn son was JESUS and NOT Christ. It was only after his baptism at the hands of John the Baptist that he, Jesus, claimed to be the Christ. The Jews were not the ones to accept his claim on its face value. They wanted proof!

MIRACLE AS PROOF

Matthew records that the learned men among the Jews - the Scribes and Pharisees - came to Jesus and asked, "MASTER, WE WOULD SEE A SIGN FROM THEE". (Matthew 12:38).

What they really wanted was some "magic trick," some "sleight of hand" like producing a rabbit out of a hat or walking on the water or flying in the air or trodding on burning coal. This is the type of "sign" or MIRACLE they were looking for. The Jews mistook him for a sorcerer, a wizard, a charlatan.

NO "SIGN" BUT ONE

With righteous indignation Jesus replies:

"AN EVIL AND ADULTEROUS GENERATION SEEKETH AFTER A SIGN; AND THERE SHALL NO SIGN (no miracle) BE GIVEN TO IT, BUT THE SIGN (miracle) OF THE PROPHET JONAS: 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." Matthew 12:39-40).

Jesus says, "NO SIGN." He does not refer the Jews to blind Bartimeus whose sight he had restored. He does not speak about the "woman with issues" who was healed by merely touching him; or about the 2000 pigs he had destroyed to heal "a man possessed;" or the 5000 and the 3000 people he had fed and satiated with a few pieces of fish and a few pieces of bread. "No sign," says Jesus, BUT ONE! - "THE SIGN OF THE PROPHET JONAS!" He is putting all his "eggs" in one basket. His claim to being the Messiah (Christ) stands or falls the ONLY "sign" he was prepared to give.

Did Jesus fulfill the only sign he gave? Christendom answers with a unanimous Y-E-S! without heeding the Biblical advice - 'not to take things for granted.' - but "PROVE ALL THINGS!" (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

JONAH FLEES HIS CALL

What was the "sign" (miracle) of Jonah? We have to go to the "Book of Jonah" in the Old Testament to find out. God commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh and warn the Ninevites to repent from their "evil ways, and from the violence that is in their hands." (Jonah 3:8) But Jonah was loath to go as a warner unto the Ninevites, so he goes to Joppa instead of Ninevah, and takes a boat to run away from the Lord's command.

While at sea, there was a terrible tempest. According to the superstition of the mariners, a person fleeing from his Master's command creates such a turmoil at sea. They began to enquire among themselves and said,

"COME, AND LET US CAST LOTS, (like the tossing of a coin, "head" or "tail") THAT WE MAY KNOW FOR WHOSE CAUSE THIS EVIL IS UPON US. SO THEY CAST LOTS, AND THE LOT FELL UPON JONAH." (Jonah 1:7).

Though here was a temporary lapse on the part of Jonah in fulfilling his mission, he manfully and most outrageously volunteers:

"AND HE SAID UNTO THEM TAKE ME UP, AND CAST ME FORTH INTO THE SEA; SO SHALL THE SEA BE CALM UNTO YOU: FOR I KNOW THAT FOR MY SAKE THIS GREAT TEMPEST IS UPON YOU." (Jonah 1:12)

DEAD OR ALIVE?

Since Jonah was selflessly offering himself as a "vicarious" sacrifice there was no need for strangling him before throwing him into the sea, no need to spear him or break his arm or limb. In his own words: "TAKE ME UP AND CAST ME FORTH." The question now arises, that when the shipmaster and the crew threw him overboard, was Jonah dead or alive? Any Christian child who has attended Sunday School will give an immediate reply: "ALIVE!" The storm subsides. Was this perhaps a coincidence? A fish swallows Jonah. Was he dead or alive when swallowed? The answer again is "ALIVE" Was he dead or alive when "JONAH PRAYED UNTO THE LORD HIS GOD OUT OF THE FISH'S BELLY?" (Jonah 2:1)

Surely dead men don't cry and don't pray! The answer again is "ALIVE" For three days and three nights the fish takes him around the ocean: dead or alive? "ALIVE!" is the answer. On the third day it vomits him on the seashore: dead or alive? A-L-I-V-E, of course! What had Jesus prophesied about himself? He said: "AS JONAH WAS ..... SO SHALL THE SON OF MAN BE" LIKE JONAH. And how was Jonah? Was he dead or alive for three days and three nights? Alive! ALIVE! ALIVE! is the unanimous answer from the Jew, the Christian and the Muslim!

UNLIKE JONAH

If Jonah was alive for three days and three nights, then Jesus also ought to have been alive in the tomb as he himself had foretold! But Christianity hangs on the flimsy thread of the death" of Jesus for its salvation. So it has to answer that Jesus was DEAD for three days and three nights. The contradiction between his utterance and its fulfilment is obvious. Jonah ALIVE, Jesus DEAD! Very UNLIKE Jonah! Jesus had said "LIKE Jonah" not UNLIKE Jonah. If this is true then according to his own test Jesus is not the TRUE Messiah of the Jews. If the Gospel record is genuine then how can we blame the Jews for rejecting "CHRIST".

THREE AND THREE = 72 HOURS?

The Doctor of Divinity and the Professor of Theology replies that in Matthew 12:40 under discussion, the emphasis is on the TIME factor - "as Jonas was THREE days and THREE nights in the belly of the whale, so shall the son of man be THREE days and THREE nights in the heart of the earth." "Please note," says the learned theologian, "that the word "THREE" is repeated F-O-U-R times in this verse to prove that Jesus was going to fulfil the prophecy as regards the length of time he was going to remain in the tomb, and NOT 'As Jonas was' in relation to his being alive or dead. If it is the time factor that Jesus was stressing then let us ask whether he fulfilled that aspect of his promise to the Jews as well. The Christian dogmatist answers: "OF COURSE!"

PUBLIC HOLIDAY

The question arises: when was Christ crucified? The whole Christian world answers: "FRIDAY!" Is this the reason we celebrate "Good Friday" - as a Public Holiday in every Christian nation from America to Zambia, from Abyssinia to Zaire at Easter? What makes Good Friday" so good? "it is the death of Christ on the Cross on this day to wash off our sins," says the Christians. So he was killed on the cross on a Friday, 19xx years ago? "YES!" says the Christians. From the Gospel records we gather that the Jews were in a hurry to eliminate Jesus. Hence the midnight trial, and then dispatching him off to Pilate in the morning; from Pilate to Herod and then back again to Pilate. The vested interests were afraid of the general public. Jesus was their hero. He had been their benefactor. His enemies had to do away with him quickly, and succeeded in doing so. However, as much as they were in a hurry to hang him on the cross, they were in equal hurry to bring him down from the cross before sunset on Friday because of the Sabbath. The Sabbath starts at about 6 p.m. on Friday and the Jews were warned in Deuteronomy 21:23 that the victim of crucifixion was an "accursed of God" and was not to be permitted to remain hanging on the Sabbath day, "that thy land be not defiled which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance."

To satisfy the religious scruples of the Scribes and Pharisees the "secret disciples" of Jesus took down the body from the cross. They gave the body the Jewish burial-bath, plastered it with "one hundred pounds weight of aaloes and myrrh" (John 19:39), then placed the shrouded body into the sepulcher before night-fall.

WHY "SUPPOSED"?

There are numerous differences between the various sects and denominations of Christianity, but on the above they are unanimous. Jesus is SUPPOSED to be in the tomb on the night of Friday. He is still SUPPOSED to be in the tomb on the day of Saturday. He is still SUPPOSED to be in the tomb on the night of Saturday. Christians agree whole-heartedly with this. It will be noted that I have repeated the word 'SUPPOSED' three times. The reason is that the Gospels are silent as to when exactly Jesus came out of the tomb. He could have been taken away on Friday night by his "secret disciples" to a more congenial and restful place, but I have no right to assume about what the Gospel writers are silent. I have, therefore, repeated the word 'SUPPOSED' three times.

In the final analysis, let us see whether Jesus was THREE days and THREE nights in the tomb:-

IN THE SEPULCHER
EASTER WEEK
FRIDAY - placed in tomb just before sunset
SATURDAY - supposed to be in tomb
SUNDAY - missing before sunrise
TOTAL One Day Two Nights

You will no doubt note that the GRAND TOTAL is ONE day and TWO nights, and NOT three days and three nights. According to the Christian Scriptures Jesus had failed a SECOND time. FIRST he was unlike Jonah, who was ALIVE in the belly of the fish, which is the exact opposite of what the Christians claim had happened to their master Jesus, who was DEAD for the same period of time as Jonah was - ALIVE.

SECONDLY, we discover that he also failed to fulfill the TIME FACTOR as well. The greatest mathematician in Christendom will fail to obtain the desired result - THREE days and THREE nights. We must not forget that the Gospels are explicit in telling us that it was "before sunrise" on Sunday morning (the FIRST day of the week), that Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of Jesus and found it empty.

"GOOD" WEDNESDAY

The Armstrong family has debunked the whole Christian world. They seem to know their arithmetic! Mr Robert Fahey of the "Plain Truth" magazine, delivered a lecture recently at the "Holiday Inn,' Durban, where I was present. Mr Fahey attempted to prove to his Christian audience that Jesus Christ was crucified on a Wednesday and not on Friday, as is supposed by Orthodox Christianity for the past two thousand years. According to him if one counts backwards from Sunday morning deducting 3 DAYS and 3 NIGHTS, one ought to get WEDNESDAY as the answer.

I congratulated Mr Fahey for his ingenuity. I asked him, how was it possible for the past two thousand years the whole Christian world celebrated GOOD FRIDAY instead of GOOD WEDNESDAY. Thus the 1,200,000,000 Christians of the world today are ignorant of the correct day of the so called crucifixion! It means that even the Roman Catholic Church – which claims an unbroken chain of Popes from Peter to this day - according to Mr Fahey are mislead.

GOD OR THE DEVIL?

The question arises, who deceived the millions of Christians for the past TWO THOUSAND years. GOD or the DEVIL? Mr Fahey categorically answered: "THE DEVIL!" "If the devil," I said, "can succeed in confusing the Christians in the most elementary things of their Faith, whether to celebrate a Good Friday or a Good Wednesday, then how much easier for him to mislead Christians in other things concerning God?" Mr Fahey blushed and walked away.

If this is the belief of the trend-setters of the Christian Faith in the world today, may we not then ask: is this not the mightiest hoax in history?

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WHO MOVED THE STONE?

By Ahmed Deedat


"WHO MOVED THE STONE?" or "who ROLLED away the stone?" (Mark 16:3) is a question which has worried theologians for the past two thousand years.

Mr Frank Morison, a prominent Bible scholar, tried to nail down this ghost(s) in a book bearing the same title as this tract. Between 1930 and 1975 his book has gone through ELEVEN editions. Through all his 192 pages of conjectures he failed to answer ,"WHO MOVED THE STONE?" (Faber and Faber, London).

On page 89 of his book, he writes, "We are left, therefore, with the problem of the vacant tomb unsolved" and proceeds to advance SIX hypotheses, very nearly knocking the proverbial nail on the head with his FIRST supposition, i.e. "THAT JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA SECRETLY REMOVED THE BODY TO A MORE SUITABLE RESTING PLACE".

After confessing that this Joseph "might himself have removed it for private reasons to another place, is one which seems to carry considerable weight" (italics mine), he hurriedly disposes this hypothesis on the flimsiest ground. As you read on, dear reader, I trust that you as well as Mr Morison will have a satisfactory answer to this problem. Let us begin at the beginning of this problem.

It was Sunday morning, according to the Bible, the first day of the week, when Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of Jesus (John 20:1). The first question that bedevils the mind is:-

Q1: WHY DID SHE GO TO THE TOMB?

Ans: The Gospel writers say that she went to "anoint" him. The Hebrew word for anoint is "masaha", which means - 'to rub', 'to massage', 'to anoint'.

The word and its meaning are the same in the Arabic language also. From this root word "masaha" we get the Arabic word "MASEEH" and the Hebrew "MESSIAH" both meaning the same thing - "the anointed one" which is translated into Greek as "Christos" from which we derive the word Christ.

Q2: DO JEWS MASSAGE DEAD BODIES AFTER THREE DAYS?

Ans: "No!"

Q3: DO MUSLIMS MASSAGE DEAD BODIES AFTER THREE DAYS?

Ans: "No!"

Q4: DO CHRISTIANS MASSAGE DEAD BODIES AFTER THREE DAYS?

Ans: "No!"

It is common knowledge that within three hours after death, rigor mortis sets in - the breaking up of the body cells - the hardening of the body. In three days the corpse starts rotting from within. If we massage such a rotting body, it will fall to pieces.

Q5: DOES IT MAKE SENSE THAT MARY MAGDALENE WANTS TO MASSAGE A ROTTING DEAD BODY AFTER THREE DAYS?

Ans: It makes no sense, unless we confess that she was looking for a L-I•V•E Jesus, not a dead one. You will recognise this fact for yourself on analysing her reactions towards Jesus when she eventually saw through his disguise. You see, she had seen signs of life in that limp body when it was taken down from the cross. She was about the only woman beside Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus who had given the final (?) rites to the body of Jesus. This man NICODEMUS, somehow, has been deliberately blotted out by the synoptists. The Gospel writers of Matthew, Mark and Luke are totally ignorant of this devoted and self-sacrificing disciple of Jesus. His name is NOT even mentioned in the first three Gospels in ANY context. "it is difficult to avoid concluding that the omission in the synoptic tradition of the mysterious disciple was intentional", says Dr Hugh J Schonfield, one of the world's leading Biblical scholars.

When Mary of Magdala reached the tomb, she found that the stone had already been rolled away, and the winding sheets bundled on the ledge within the sepulcher. The question now arises:

Q6: WHY WAS THE STONE REMOVED, AND WHY WERE THE WINDING SHEETS FOUND UNWOUND?

Ans: Because it would be impossible for any tangible material body to come out with the stone blocking the opening, and the same physical body could not walk out with the winding sheets encasing the body. For a resurrected body, it would have been unnecessary to remove the stone or to unwind the winding sheets. Probably having the resurrected, immortalized body, or the spirit of man in mind, a poet said: "STONE WALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE, NOR IRON BARS A CAGE".

While the poor, dejected Mary was investigating the sepulcher, Jesus was watching her from the vicinity. Not from heaven, but from terra firma, from mother earth. We must remember that this tomb was a privately owned property belonging to his "secret disciple" Joseph of Arimathea - who was a very rich, influential Jew, and one who could afford to have carved a big roomy chamber, out of a rock which according to Jim Bishop (a Christian scholar of note) was 5 feet wide by 7 feet high by 15 feet deep with a ledge or ledges inside. Around this tomb was this "secret disciple's" own vegetable garden. It is hardly expected of any Jew or Gentile to grow vegetables 5 miles out of town for other peoples' sheep and goats to graze upon! Surely, this husbandman must have provided his labourers with the gardeners' quarters to protect his own interests, and perhaps he also had his 'country home' around the place where he could relax with his family during the weekends.

Jesus was watching his lady disciple out of whom he had cast out seven devils. He comes up to her. He finds her crying. He questions her, "Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou?" (John 20:15).

Q7: DOESN'T HE KNOW? WHY DOES HE ASK SUCH A SEEMINGLY SILLY QUESTION?

Ans: He knew why she was crying, and he knew who she was looking for and he was not asking any silly questions. Actually, he was pulling her leg, figuratively of course! He knew that she was looking for him in the tomb, and not finding him there, was crying in her disappointment. He also knew that she would not be able to see through his disguise. Though he had been through an ordeal, he still had that sense of humour to ask her, "Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou?

"SHE SUPPOSING HIM TO BE THE GARDENER, SAITH UNTO HIM" (John 20:15).

08: WHY DID SHE THINK THAT HE (JESUS) WAS A GARDENER? DO RESURRECTED BODIES LOOK LIKE GARDENERS?

Ans: Can you imagine the scene on the RESURRECTION DAY, that you, dear reader, will be made to look like a "gardener" and your father-in-law will also be transformed into a "gardener" and your son-in-law will also be made to look like a "gardener" and your beloved wife will be left in confusion to find her husband! Does this make sense? No! The resurrected body will be you, yourself! Everyone will readily recognize you. It will be the REAL you and not your camouflage. Never mind at what age or under what condition one dies, everyone will know one another. Then why did Mary think that Jesus was a "gardener"?

Ans: Because Jesus was DISGUISED as a gardener.

Q9: WHY WAS HE DISGUISED AS A GARDENER?

Ans: Because he was AFRAID of the Jews.

Q10: WHY WAS HE AFRAID OF THE JEWS?

Ans: Because he had not DIED and was not RESURRECTED. If he had DIED and if he was RESURRECTED he would not have any reason to be AFRAID. Why? Because the resurrected body can't DIE twice. Who says so? The Bible says so: ".... it is ordained unto all men ONCE to die, and after that the judgment." (Hebrew 9:27). The idea that the resurrected person cannot die TWICE is further supported by what Jesus Christ had most authoritatively pronounced regarding the resurrection.

The learned men of the Jews came to Jesus with a poser, a riddle. They said that there was a woman who had seven husbands in turn. "in the resurrection therefore whose wife shall she be of the seven? For they all had her." (Matthew 22:28). Jesus could have brushed off the Jews with some curt retort because here was another of their tricks to catch him out. Instead, he has enshrined for us the dearest statement in the Bible regarding the resurrected soul. He said, "Neither shall they die any more, for they are equal unto the angels, and the children of God, for such are the children of the resurrection" (Luke 20:36).

"NEITHER SHALL THEY DIE ANYMORE" - that they will be immortalised. They will not be subjected to death a SECOND time. No more hunger and thirst. No more fatigue or physical dangers. Because the resurrected body will be 'angelised' - spiritualised - they will become like spirit creatures, they will become SPIRITS.

Mary Magdalene was not looking for a spirit. She, taking the disguised Jesus to be a gardener, says, "Sir, if you have taken HIM hence, tell me where have you LAID him..." (John 20:15). Note, she is searching for HIM and not IT - a dead body. Further, she wants to know as to where they had LAID him, not as to where they had BURIED him? So that, "I might take HIM away." (John 20:15).

Q11: WHAT DOES SHE WANT TO DO WITH A DECOMPOSING CORPSE?

Ans: She wants to put it under her bed? Absurd! She wants to embalm him? Nonsense! She wants to bury him? If so, who dug the grave? No! No! 'she wants to take him away'.

Q12: HOW CAN SHE ALONE CARRY A DEAD BODY?

Ans: She is not thinking of a dead, rotting corpse. She is looking for the L-I-V-E Jesus. She is not a "super-woman" of the American comics, who could with ease carry a corpse of at least a hundred and sixty pounds, wrapped with another 'hundred pounds weight of aloes and myrrh' (John 19:39) making a neat bundle of 260 pounds. This frail Jewess was not expected to carry this decaying parcel like a bundle of straws. Even if she could carry it, how was she to bury it ALONE? She might have had to dump it in some hole like a heap of rubbish. But dumping and burying are poles apart.

She was looking for a Jesus who was very much alive, a Jesus she could hold by the hand and take him home for rest, relaxation and recuperation, "so that, I might take him away".

The joke that Jesus was playing on this woman had gone too far. During the whole course of the dialogue between Mary and Jesus, she did not suspect in the least that she was actually talking to her Master. She had failed to see through the gardener's DISGUISE. Jesus must have been laughing under his breath. He could suppress it no longer. "M•A•R•Y!" he uttered. Only one word, but it was enough. This one word "Mary!" did, all that the exchange of words failed to do. It enabled Mary to recognise Jesus. Everyone has his own unique and peculiar way of calling his or her near one or dear one. It was not the mere sound of the name, but the way he must have deliberately intoned it that made Mary to respond - "Master!, Master!" She lunged forward to grab her spiritual master, to pay her respects and to give reverence.

The Muslims, when they meet their learned men, or respected elders or saintly people, hold such person's right hand in the palm of their own hands and fondly kiss the back of the respected one's hand. The Frenchman kisses the cheeks to show respect and the Arab kisses the neck. Mary the Jewess would have done what any Muslim might have done under similar circumstances.

When Mary makes the effort, Jesus shies back a step or two, saying, "TOUCH me not," (John 20:17).

Q13: I SAY - WHY NOT?

Is he a current of electricity or a dynamo, that if she touches him, she will get electrocuted?

Ans: No! Don't touch me, because it will hurt. Though he had given no indication of any physical pain or injury he might have suffered, it would be excruciatingly painful if he now allowed her to touch him with love and affection. Can another reason be advanced for this "Touch me not"?

Jesus continues, "For I am not yet ASCENDED unto my Father;" (John 20:17).

Q14: IS SHE BLIND?

Could she not see that the man she was talking to all the time was standing before her? Does it make any sense when he (Jesus) says that - 'HE IS NOT GONE UP', when he is DOWN right here.

Ans: What Jesus is telling Mary in so many different words is that 'HE IS NOT RESURRECTED FROM THE DEAD', for in the colloquial language and idiom of the Jew, the expression, "For I am not yet ASCENDED unto my Father" means - "I AM NOT DEAD YET'.

It is a sad fact of history that though the Christian Bible is an Eastern Book, full of eastern metaphors and similes, like - "Let the dead bury their dead" (Matthew 8:22) or "Seeing they see not and hearing they hear not" (Matthew 13:13), all the commentators of the Bible have come from the West. The Western World is made to see a Jewish Book, written by the Jews for a Jewish audience, through Greek and Western glasses. An Eastern book ought to be read as an Easterner would read and understand it. All the problems would then be solved.

The difficulty lies not only in apprehending the correct meaning of the Jewish expressions, but Christendom is so programmed that Christians of every race and language group are made to understand the passages differently or opposite to their literal connotations. I will give examples of this anomaly in Lesson No. 3 under the heading "RESURRECTION OR RESUSCITATION?" In that booklet, I will also endeavour to answer the problem as to why one woman - Mary Magdalene - was not AFRAID when she recognised the DISGUISED Jesus yet ten brave men (the Disciples of Jesus) were PETRIFIED on recognising their Master in that 'upper-room', after his alleged passion.

SIMPLE ANSWER

As to the original question of this pamphlet - "WHO MOVED THE STONE?" the answer is so simple and so natural that one is at a loss to understand how this problem has eluded Christian scholars of the highest eminence.

The answer to the question, "WHO ROLLED THE STONE INTO PLACE?" is the answer to the title of this tract. "....and HE (Joseph of Arimathea) rolled a stone against the door of the tomb" (Mark 15:46). St. Mark is here supported word by word by St. Matthew who in Chapter 27 and verses 60 states that "....HE (Joseph of Arimathea) rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and departed". If this ONE man alone could move the stone into place as witnessed by Matthew and Mark, then let me be more generous in adding the name of the other faithful 'secret disciple' - NICODEMUS. It was JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA and NICODEMUS, the two stalwarts who did not leave the Master in the lurch when he was most in need. These two had given to Jesus a Jewish burial (?) bath, and wound the sheets with the "aloes and myrrh", and temporarily moved the stone into place, if at all; they were the same two real friends who REMOVED THE STONE, and took their shocked Master soon after dark, that same Friday night to a more congenial place in the immediate vicinity for treatment. Reasoning even on the Biblical narration, Jesus was A-L-I-V-E! He had escaped death by the skin of his teeth, as he himself had fortold. Write for your FREE copy of "WHAT WAS THE SIGN OF JONAH?", as well as for a detailed account of the alleged "crucifixon", under the heading, "CRUCIFIXION or CRUCI-FICTION?"

Those of you who have already mastered Lesson No. 1 from the booklet "WHAT WAS THE SIGN OF JONAH?" will now do well to memorise the following verses for your Lesson No. 2.

"Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him. Sir, if thou hast taken him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.

"Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him. Rabboni, which is to say, Master.

"Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my father."

John 20:15-17

APPENDIX

The Muslim reader of this and other allied tracts may be tempted to ask, "Do we Muslims need to use the Bible to get at the Truth of God?"

The answer is an emphatic NO!

The Muslim position is very clear:

1) Sin is not inherited.
2) The "Trinity" is a fabrication.
3) Jesus is not God.
4) God does not beget sons or daughters.
5) Christ was neither killed nor crucified.

These doctrines are expounded in the most unambiguous terms in the Holy Qur'an. Why, then, must the Muslim adduce the Christian Scriptures to prove his point of view? This is because we are dealing with a mind which has been programmed from childhood to accept dogmas without reasoning. Today, the Christian is groping for the Truth. He is asking questions which he did not dare to ask a few centuries ago.
Questions like:-

a) IS JESUS GOD?
b) WHAT WAS THE SIGN OF JONAH?
c) IS THE BIBLE GOD'S WORD?
d) WHO MOVED THE STONE?
e) WAS JESUS CHRIST AN IMPOSTER? (A Christian Magazine "Plain Truth" - April '77), etc., etc.

It is the duty of the Muslim to help his Christian brethren, "The Ahle-Kitab", i.e. "THE PEOPLE OF THE BOOK" - as they are respectfully addressed in the pages of the Holy Quran, in freeing them from the shackles that bind their thinking for the past two thousand years. It instructs us:

“Ye are the best
Of Peoples, evolved
For mankind,
Enjoining what is right,
Forbidding what is wrong,
And believing in God,
If only the People of the Book
Had faith, it were best
For them: among them
Are some who have faith,
But most of them
Are perverted transgressors.”

[Holy Quran 3: 110-


In this treatise and others, we have used the Christians' own book of authority, the BIBLE, and his own logic, to refute his claims. This is the system which Allah Almighty uses when reasoning with His creatures.

The Holy Quran commands the Muslim to demand from the Jews and the Christians their authority for their fanciful claims that "SALVATION" is exclusively their right.

It says: "Produce your proof if ye are truthful."

Holy Quran 2:111

The Christian has already reproduced the Bible in over a thousand languages and broadcasts it to the four corners of the globe, terrifying the nations of the world to accept the "BLOOD OF THE LAMB", that Christ died for the sins of mankind, that he (Jesus) is the only saviour. All this is against the clear evidence of his own Holy Book.

We must free him (the Christian) from his illusions, and there is no better way than to use his own evidence, his own logic, to refute his claims.

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