For two thousand years John the Baptist has been seen as the one who first predicted the coming of the Messiah and then recognized Jesus as "the Lamb of God" at his baptism in the Jordan River. John the Baptist, however, was not merely the herald of Jesus. He was Jesus. He became a Christos, an anointed one, after his process of God-realization, symbolized by his baptism in the Jordan.He became the very Messiah for whom the Jews had waited so long. But this Redeemer was expected to fulfill a long list of prophesies that had been penned down by ancient prophets. John the Baptist did not correspond to these prophesies. The evangelists, therefore, gave him posthumously a new name and a new identity, one that referred to a character from the Old Testament: Joshua son of Nun, which translated liberally, means Son of God. This book shows how this volatile concept is covertly woven into the fabric of the gospel stories -- for "those who have ears and want to hear." And when we unravel this grand secret, we also find solutions to many other inexplicable Biblical mysteries. The reader will discover the true identity of the enigmatic Manna, which God caused to come from heaven to sustain the Israelites on their forty year trek through the wilderness. The rather unbelievable story of Jonah, who emerged alive and well after three days in the belly of a great fish, will be clarified. And we'll learn why the disciples of Jesus were told to cast their fishing net on the right side of their boats. And much more!Through the ages there has always been a small group of initiated who guarded the secret that John the Baptist was Jesus. This book contains many paintings of old masters such as Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and Correggio, in which this knowledge is secretly expressed.

The search for the real historical person known as John the Baptist and the traditions that began with him • Explores why John the Baptist is so crucially important to the Freemasons, who were originally known as “St. John’s Men” • Reveals how John and Jesus were equal partners and shared a common spiritual vision to rebuild Israel and overcome corruption in the Temple of Jerusalem • Explains the connections between John as lord of the summer solstice, his mysterious severed head, fertility rites, and ancient Jewish harvest festivals Few Freemasons today understand why the most significant date in the Masonic calendar is June 24th--the Feast of the Birth of St. John the Baptist and the traditional date for appointing Grand Masters. Nor do many of them know that Masons used to be known as “St. John’s Men” or that John the Baptist was fundamental to the original Masonic philosophy of personal transformation. Starting with the mystery of John in Freemasonry, Tobias Churton searches out the historical Baptist through the gospels and ancient histories, unearthing the real story behind the figure lauded by Jesus’s words “no greater man was ever born of woman.” He investigates John’s links with the Essenes and the Gnostics, links that flourish to this day. Exposing how the apostle Paul challenged John’s following, twisting his message and creating the image of John as “merely” a herald of Jesus, the author shows how Paul may have been behind the executions of both John and Jesus and reveals a precise date for the crucifixion and the astonishing meaning of the phrase “the third day.” He examines the significance of John’s severed head to holy knights, such as the Knights Templar, and of Leonardo’s famous painting of John. Churton also explains connections between John, the summer solstice, fertility rites, and ancient Jewish harvest festivals. Revealing John as a courageous, revolutionary figure as vital to the origins of Christianity as his cousin Jesus himself, Churton shows how John and Jesus, as equal partners, launched a covert spiritual operation to overcome corruption in the Temple of Jerusalem, re-initiate Israel, and resurrect Creation.

Is it possible to reconcile Jesus, the Prince of Peace, with religious violence? From the Inquisition to the burning of women healers to modern pedophilia scandals, spiritual leaders and followers are deeply divided about how to reconcile the teachings of Jesus with the atrocities of church history. How did his message get misinterpreted, and what relevance does that message have in the 21st century? Here, critically acclaimed author and social historian Rex Weyler explores the mystery surrounding the historical Jesus, whose voice and words have been distorted by centuries of revision. By examining the research of international Bible scholars and some 200 ancient sources, including the recently discovered Gospels of Thomas and Mary, Weyler recreates the life of Jesus and his legacy, from the Roman Empire to the present day. Combining popular history with modern scholarship, The Jesus Sayings is a revelatory and highly readable work that entertains, inspires, and enlightens.

An analysis that challenges the conventional Christian hierarchy of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth While the Christian tradition has subordinated John the Baptist to Jesus of Nazareth, John himself would likely have disagreed with that ranking. In this eye-opening new book, John the Baptist in History and Theology, Joel Marcus makes a powerful case that John saw himself, not Jesus, as the proclaimer and initiator of the kingdom of God and his own ministry as the center of God's saving action in history. Although the Fourth Gospel has the Baptist saying, "He must increase, but I must decrease," Marcus contends that this and other biblical and extrabiblical evidence reveal a continuing competition between the two men that early Christians sought to muffle. Like Jesus, John was an apocalyptic prophet who looked forward to the imminent end of the world and the establishment of God's rule on earth. Originally a member of the Dead Sea Sect, an apocalyptic community within Judaism, John broke with the group over his growing conviction that he himself was Elijah, the end-time prophet who would inaugurate God's kingdom on earth. Through his ministry of baptism, he ushered all who came to him—Jews and non-Jews alike—into this dawning new age. Jesus began his career as a follower of the Baptist, but, like other successor figures in religious history, he parted ways from his predecessor as he became convinced of his own centrality in God's purposes. Meanwhile John's mass following and apocalyptic message became political threats to Herod Antipas, who had John executed to abort any revolutionary movement. Based on close critical-historical readings of early texts—including the accounts of John in the Gospels and in Josephus's Antiquities—as well as parallels from later religious movements, John the Baptist in History and Theology situates the Baptist within Second Temple Judaism and compares him to other apocalyptic thinkers from ancient and modern times. It concludes with thoughtful reflections on how its revisionist interpretations might be incorporated into the Christian faith.

The Antiquities of the Jews is a 20-volume historiographical work composed by Flavius Josephus in the 13th year of the reign of Roman emperor Flavius Domitian. The book contains an account of history of the Jewish people, written in Greek for Josephus' gentile patrons. In the first ten volumes, Josephus follows the events of the historical books of the Hebrew Bible beginning with the creation of Adam and Eve. The second ten volumes continue the history of the Jewish people beyond the biblical text and up to the Jewish War. This work provides valuable background material to historians wishing to understand 1st-century AD Judaism and the early Christian period._x000D_ _x000D_ Titus Flavius Josephus was a first-century Romano-Jewish scholar, historian and hagiographer, who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly descent and a mother who claimed royal ancestry. He initially fought against the Romans during the First Jewish–Roman War as head of Jewish forces in Galilee, until surrendering in 67 CE to Roman forces led by Vespasian after the six-week siege of Jotapata. After Vespasian became Emperor in 69 CE, he granted Josephus his freedom, at which time Josephus assumed the emperor's family name of Flavius. He fully defected to the Roman side and was granted Roman citizenship. Josephus recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the first century CE and the First Jewish–Roman War, including the Siege of Masada. His most important works were The Jewish War (c. 75) and Antiquities of the Jews (c. 94)._x000D_

The publication of the King James version of the Bible, translated between 1603 and 1611, coincided with an extraordinary flowering of English literature and is universally acknowledged as the greatest influence on English-language literature in history. Now, world-class literary writers introduce the book of the King James Bible in a series of beautifully designed, small-format volumes. The introducers' passionate, provocative, and personal engagements with the spirituality and the language of the text make the Bible come alive as a stunning work of literature and remind us of its overwhelming contemporary relevance.

The NIV is the world's best-selling modern translation, with over 150 million copies in print since its first full publication in 1978. This highly accurate and smooth-reading version of the Bible in modern English has the largest library of printed and electronic support material of any modern translation.