Barbara Clark (20 Feb 2009)
"Paul and Abigail / Peter the Roman and Shroud"


 
Paul, did you want to know if the present Pope will be renamed Peter the Roman?  If you Google "St. Malachy", I believe his prophecy says that Peter the Roman will replace the present Pope.  He might not be a Pope, but some type of caretaker of the Vatican in the last days.  There are other prophecies, that seem to point to the destruction of the Vatican perhaps by terrorists.  I don't know if these are true or not.  The new movie coming out "Angels and Demons", MIGHT tell a "similar" story, but just like "The Da Vinci Code"  I expect it to be twisted and anti-Christian.  Does anyone know the plot of the "Angels and Demons"?
 
Responding to Abigail and her questions about the Shroud of Turin and the Knights of Templar.  As I said before, after studying the latest on the Shroud and going to the recent conference in Columbus, OH, I am thoroughly convinced that no human hands made the Shroud.  It is too awesome.
 
As for the Knights of Templar, I am not an expert, but I do have some theories about them.  Do you remember about two or three years ago when the Discovery Channel had a program about someone finding "bone boxes" (Hebrew coffins) in a cave in Israel.  The cave had some masonic markings above its entrance.  This was made into a big deal because the boxes had names of Jesus' family and possibly even His name.  A lot of scientific people thought that this was proof that Jesus did not rise from the dead.  I discussed this with many of them on the Discovery blogs and disagreed with their conclusions.
 
Here is my theory for what it is worth:  During the time of the Crusaders, their Muslim enemies came up with a ruse to destroy the zeal and faith of the Christian soldiers.  It was easy to set up...just fill a cave with some ossuaries (bone boxes) and carve the names of the Christ's family and even his name.  (I think recently they proved that the names are questionably spelled).  Then show this to some of the Crusader's and convince them that Christ did not rise from the dead as the church taught.  This deception became their "secret" and probably why freemasons invented their own religion that even included Egyptian gods.  
 
Comparing the Shroud to the cave:
 
                                                                                                                       The Shroud is truly a complex image that we still do not understand fully.  It's complexity could not be detected until the invention of the camera, a space age Image analyzer, and other modern equipment.  Some now believe that even holographic information is encoded in the image.  Some of the pollen and faint plant images point to it being from the Mid East.  The most numerous pollen particles are believed to come from a THORN plant that grows near Jerusalem.  This is only a few of the many fascinating facts that have been well studied.
 
On the other hand, the cave and the ossuaries could have been easily counterfeited by those fighting the Crusaders.  The deception could have been the beginning of some of the secret societies like the Knight of Templar.  They mistakenly thought that they possessed knowledge superior to those who spread the Gospel of the crucified and risen Christ.  It also gives them a motive to discredit the Shroud.