"Now while Peter doubted" - Why and Who Created the Shroud of Turin

The Tokyo Station

Why and Who Created the Shroud of Turin

If the Shroud of Turin was not a genuine one or the one used for burial of Christ Jesus, why was it created by someone's hands?

It had been long hidden till the Shroud was openly, though not supported by the Vatican, displayed in a village of France around 1353 by a member of a house whose ancestors could be traced back to a French nobleman who joined the Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) that destroyed Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.

If somebody had created the Shroud in France, he should have tried hard to sell it to the Vatican at a big price.  Or the owner of the Shroud should have advertised it more vigorously as he must have spent a great amount of money to have an artist create such a great piece of work.  Looking at the situation where the Shroud surfaced in the 14th century, it is naturally thought that the Shroud was not created in France for money, fame, or a religious purpose.

But let's review how the Shroud could be traced back from France.

"The 'Missing Years' of the Shroud," by Alessandro Piana. An important piece of historical research which shows how after the sack of Constantinople in 1204, the Shroud might have come into the possession of a French Crusader knight Otho de la Roche (1180-1324, who became the Duke of Athens and was an ancestor of Jeanne de Vergy, the wife of Geoffroi I de Charny (c.1300-1356), the first documented owner of the Shroud (see `tagline' quotes, Piana, 2007).

http://theshroudofturin.blogspot.jp/2008/03/shroud-news-january-2008.html 

Geoffroi de Charny (c. 1300 – 19 September 1356) was a French knight and author of at least three works on chivalry. He was born around 1300. His father, Jean de Charny was the Lord of Lirey in Burgundy and his mother was Margaret de Joinville. His grandfather on his mother's side, Jean de Joinville, was a close friend of King Louis IX and author of his biography. 

Geoffroi de Charny and his wife Jeanne de Vergy are the first reliably recorded owners of the Turin Shroud.[9][10] The first public exhibition of the Shroud is memorialized in The Pilgrimage Medal shown here and dating from that time. The medal shows the image of the Shroud[11] with very precise indications in spite of its small dimensions. On this medal one can see a frontal and dorsal view of the body, the linen herring patterns, four marks of burns as well as the coats of arms of the Charny and Vergy families. This pilgrimage medal is exhibited at the Cluny museum in Paris (France).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffroi_de_Charny#Shroud_of_Turin

Pilgrimage of Lirey representing the Shroud of Turin (Croquis d'Arthur Forgeais, 1865)    

(Refer, also, to http://eereporter.blogspot.jp/2013/12/except-he-first-bind-strong-man.html)

So, it is very credible that the Shroud of Turin was taken from Constantinople by a French nobleman who joined the Fourth Crusade.

But, in Constantinople, it was not so openly displayed.  Again, if somebody had created the Shroud in Constantinople or the Eastern Empire, he should have tried hard to sell it to the Empire at a big price.  Some record of such transaction must have been left.  Or the owner of the Shroud, namely the Emperor in Constantinople, should have advertised it more vigorously as he must have spent a great amount of money to have an artist create such a great piece of work, for fame or a religious purpose.  But the Shroud seems to have been only set up in the palace of Constantinople without much advertising its existence to the whole Christian world.

Accordingly, it is very doubtful that any genius created the Shroud of Turin or the image of Christ Jesus on it, since such a genius must have been rewarded greatly or such undertaking must have been praised greatly so that some record about the creator or the episode must have been left.  But, in a great disproportionate manner to the significance of the work of art, the Shroud of Turin, no authentic information about how it was created, obtained, or discovered by the imperial court in Constantinople is available.

All these facts suggest that the origin of the Shroud was very extraordinary.  And, some researchers link the Shroud to Edessa, an old city north of Syria, since there is some legend about the linkage between a king of Edessa and a disciple of Christ Jesus or Christ Jesus Himself.

So, maybe a follower of Christ called Addai might bring the shroud those women had found in the tomb to Edessa. In addition, Addai might have been the young man sitting in the tomb when the women entered it. Anyway, a long story started up to Turin, today.

http://eereporter.blogspot.jp/2013/12/mt.html 

And the Shroud was brought to Constantinople as the Eastern Empire extended its power to the region around Edessa. It was not openly announced globally, but its influence could be seen in pictures of scenes in the Bible or Christ Himself that were created in  Constantinople or the Eastern Empire but not in Western Europe or around Rome.

The Shroud of Turin is an old piece of linen about 14’ 3” long and 3’ 7” wide. Believed by many to be the actual sindon used to wrap Jesus in the tomb, its authenticity suffered from having no historical documentation before the mid-14th cen. Researcher Ian Wilson’s historical reconstruction has the Shroud folded, prior to the 6th century, so only the face was visible. It was hidden by its guardians’ in Edessa (modern Urfa, Turkey) so that its true nature leaked out only slowly.  Wilson postulates that sometime after its transfer to Constantinople in the 10th century the Byzantines quietly accepted it as the NT shroud, and this was reflected in new art motifs beginning in the 11th century.  An almost nude Christ laid on a long cloth with hands folded over his loins and missing thumbs were some of the unusual features in this art, features not depicted this way before the arrival of the Edessa Image. 

Occasionally some of this artwork displays a zigzag pattern resembling the Shroud’s herringbone weave. Additionally, the white arrow above points to three holes with an fourth offset hole in an “L” shaped pattern that is repeated in one 12th century picture, and helping to convince many observers that the SOT must have been the model for this new post-10th century art. If true, then the Shroud does date at least two hundred years before the 1988 C14 results of 1260-1390. Wikimedia Commons

 

11th century ivory - within a hundred years of the arrival of the Edessa Icon Byzantine art suddenly produces Lamentation art forms showing Jesus laid out on a large shroud in a manner resembling the Turin Shroud. Why? Gertrud Schiller, Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. 2 (Passion), lower  panel of no. 595

http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2013/03/28/The-Shroud-of-Turins-Earlier-History-Part-Three-The-Shroud-of-Constantinople.aspx

Moreover, if somebody had acquired such a great technique of painting or image creation, he should have applied it to other works.  But, there were no works of art created with a similar skill.

Put simply, the Shroud of Turin was created as the only one of such type of works based on such a technique without any records about its creator or backgrounds, while it was not so spectacularly advertised by owners of the Shroud through its long history though a great effort to create it must have been paid off by flashy recognition of the work in grand display.

In the case that it was produced by a monk in a monastery or the similar secretly, all the more some sort of evidence must have been left in the Christian world, since such an act was so grave negatively or ironically positively to the Church.

It means that every owner of the Shroud in each period, namely in France, Athens, Constantinople, Edessa, etc., must have been uncertain about its origin.  And, the only reasonably possible origin is the tomb around Jerusalem where Christ Jesus was buried and some women found his dead body had been gone with only a shroud and so on left there.

So, we have to reconsider the meaning of the Carbon-14 dating test on the Shroud that was conducted in 1988 (leading to estimation of the date to be 1260-1390), since the Shroud cannot be made up in France around 1353 as I have discussed here.







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Act 10:17 Now while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made enquiry for Simon's house, and stood before the gate,
Act 10:18 And called, and asked whether Simon, which was surnamed Peter, were lodged there.
Act 10:19 While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee.
Act 10:20 Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them.

"sheep in the midst of wolves" - Neutrons from Jesus' Body Hit the Shroud

Around Tokyo

Neutrons from Jesus' Body Hit the Shroud

There is a new theory about the Shroud of Turin.

It is specifically related to how the carbon dating test conducted decades ago presented a result that the Shroud was created in the Middle Ages.

Could ancient earthquake explain Shroud of Turin?

LiveScienceBy Megan GannonPublished February 12, 2014

The new theory hinges on neutrons released by a devastating earthquake that hit Old Jerusalem around the same time that Jesus is believed to have died. [Who Was Jesus, the Man?] 

All living things have the same ratio of stable carbon to radioactive carbon-14, but after death, the radioactive carbon decays in a predictable pattern over time. That's why scientists can look at the carbon-14 concentration in organic archaeological materials like fabrics, bones and wood to estimate age. Carbon-14 is typically created when neutrons from cosmic rays collide with nitrogen atoms in the atmosphere (though it can be unleashed by manmade nuclear reactions, too). 

The group of scientists, led by Alberto Carpinteri of the Politecnico di Torino in Italy, suspect high-frequency pressure waves generated in the Earth's crust during this earthquake could have produced significant neutron emissions. (They simulated this by crushing very brittle rock specimens under a press machine.) 

These neutron emissions could have interacted directly with nitrogen atoms in the linen fibers, inducing chemical reactions that created the distinctive face image on the shroud, the scientists say. The reactions also could have led to "a wrong radiocarbon dating," which would explain the results of the 1989 experiments, Carpinteri said in a statement.

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/02/11/shroud-turin-could-ancient-earthquake-explain-face-jesus/

First of all, Christ Jesus, as a human being, was a man of miracles.  He could work various miracles on men, physical entities consisting of many carbon and nitrogen atoms.

Then His body must have such a miracle power that could work on the Shroud fibers consisting of a spate of carbon and nitrogen particles.  So, after his tentative death due to the Crucifixion, this miracle power was preserved in his body.  While His body was wrapped in the Shroud, his miracle energy was leaking His body to permeate through the fibers of the Shroud, affecting nitrogen atoms and turning them into Carbon-14.

Neutron + Nitrogen-14 => Proton + Carbon-14

Consequently, the Shroud of Jesus came to have a higher proportion of Carbon-14 than other clothes used by other ordinary people.  Its amount must have been enough to make the fibers of the Shroud look like alive for 1300 years or so after the date of His resurrection.

The shroud is undoubtedly old. Its history is known from the year 1357, when it surfaced in the tiny village of Lirey, France. Until recent reports that most of the scientific world accepted the findings of carbon dating carried out in 1988. The results said the shroud dated back to 1260-1390, and this is much to new to be Jesus' burial linen.
http://mysteriesundefined.blogspot.jp/2009/02/holy-shroud-of-turin.html

It does not need a specific earthquake as a source of neutrons.  The very source of neutrons that increased a ration of Carbon-14 in the Shroud was the body of Christ Jesus Himself who could work various wonders on the human body, such as making the blind see, bringing the dead into life, curing a leaper, etc.  These miracles must have been possible as Christ Jesus could emit radiation, neutrons, etc that could work on diseased parts of a sick or dead person.

(In fact, radiation doses are used to kill cancer cells in today's medical practices.)

What we should to proof this theory is to pick up an old cloth, about 2000 years old or so, and deliver and direct neutrons to it.   And when we measure the ratio of Carbon-14 included in it, we may find that this dating method tells that it looks like 700 years old or so.

Anyway, the key must be neutrons that hit the Shroud while the tentative dead body of Christ Jesus was being wrapped in it.



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Mat 10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

"the Father knoweth me" - Oswald Had No Money On His Arrest

Around Tokyo

Oswald Had No Money On His Arrest

There is one interesting theory about the JFK Assassination that happened and shocked the world on Nov. 22, 1963.

Lee Harvey Oswald did not think that he would be suspected as an assassin of President Kennedy.  He must have thought that he had an alibi, since he encountered a policeman who rushed into the Texas school book depository building within a minute or so after the shooting sounds reverberated in the Dealay Plaza.

That is why Oswald was not prepared for his urgent flight with necessary items such as money, a flight ticket, clothes for disguise, etc.  But it is said that Oswald brought a rifle with a telescopic sight into his workplace in the sixth floor of the building.  Indeed, if he had intended to shoot JFK and run away quickly and smartly, he should have prepared enough money.  The fact that Oswald had no big money, though he had a handgun, when he was arrested in the Texas Theater meant that he had no intention to go on the run.

Oswald was a smart guy who had been assigned to U2 spy plane operation in a US military base in Japan, who could master Russian to the extent that he could travel to Moscow and work in Minsk in a year or so and marry an attractive Russian girl, and who could be trusted by CIA and FBI to be assigned to anti-Castro secret operation in New Orleans with a disguise of pro-Castro overt activities.  How could he, such a smart guy, forget need for money for his escape from Dallas after the JFK assassination attempt, if he had committed it?

(It is said that Oswald could not drive a car.  But he was reportedly learning how to drive with help from Ruth Pain, a woman who took care of his wife.  And Oswald had visited a car dealer before November 22 and told them that he would soon get some money to buy a car.  So, it should have been no wonder if Oswald had prepared a car to leave Dallas in haste, if his driving skill was still poor.)

Therefore, it is reasonable that Oswald did not think that he would be suspected and wanted as an assassin of JFK.  Nonetheless, Oswald had reportedly brought a Mauser rifle to a gun dealer to ask them to mount a telescopic sight on the rifle.  And, it was reasonably suspected that Oswald took the rifle into the Texas school book depository.  Oswald must have been told by somebody to help a real sniper in setting up condition for shooting JFK, assuring that Oswald could not be suspected.  Accordingly, Oswald did not prepare himself for defection.

Probably Oswald was told by that somebody to go back to his rooming house and fetch a handgun after an expected shooting event.  And, it must have been planned that Oswald would meet that somebody or his friend somewhere in Dallas.

If that somebody was a Mafia member like Jack Ruby, a Mafia/CIA-associated man like David Ferry, or a CIA/FBI-associated man like Guy Banister, Oswald could have been shot like Dallas police officer J. D. Tippit.

Anyway, you must explain why Oswald did not have money when he was arrested in the film theater in Dallas an hour and 20 minutes later after the JFK Assassination.

It was not reported that Oswald prepared money for his running away specifically.

    

Historic billfold: At top left is the wallet Oswald was carrying when he was arrested containing photos, ID cards and a Fair Play for Cuba Committee card. Some of the items were stained by chemicals used for fingerprinting

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2307792/Inside-assassins-wallet-Never-seen-pictures-Lee-Harvey-Oswalds-personal-items-display.html



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Joh 10:15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

"Suffer the little children to come unto me" - Who Financed and Helped the Building of Israel

After a Typhoon around Tokyo

Who Financed and Helped the Building of Israel

From a view of the history of mankind, the most significant incident in the 20th century was the nation-building of Israel after WWII.

But why could it be possible?  Who financed the undertaking?  And long after the Roman Empire that expelled Judaists from Jerusalem and Palestine collapsed, how could they justify their operation to achieve the goal of establishing Israel by military means.

Although Jews have, over the eighteen centuries since the Roman Exile, maintained a constant presence (albeit small) in the Land of Israel, the modern concept of Zionism - which led to the formation of the State of Israel - has its roots in nineteenth century Europe. There, Jews experienced the political and scientific renaissance known as the Emancipation, which gave Jews the chance to break their general isolation from the day-to-day affairs of the countries in which they resided. Many Jews adopted the ethno-nationalist political ideology that was developing in Europe at the time and set up moshavim - communities which were financed largely by Baron Edmund de Rothschild of Paris - and socialist communes (called kibbutzim) in Israel, their ancient homeland. The first wave of Jews who were so inclined arrived in Israel (then known as Palestine) in 1882, in what is known as the First Aliyah ("going up:" the way Jews describe their immigration to the Holy Land).

http://www.stateofisrael.com/arab-israel/1stevents/


The Rothschilds and the creation of Israel

In1836 Rabbi Kalisher approached the Rothschild family to fund the establishment of Israel. They were not interested. The French built the Suez Canal but the Egyptian Pasha was in need of money so they wanted to sell their shares of the Suez Canal. The French wanted to buy all the shares but the Egyptian didn’t want a monopoly. The French wanted to split the British Empire in half by controlling the Canal. British PM Disraeli, a converted Christian from the Jewish faith, was friends with Rothschild and got a loan to buy up the Egyptian shares. He was mindful of what a French controlled Suez could mean to the British Empire.

In 1859 the first oil well was drilled in Titusville, Pennsylvania and construction of the Suez Canal began. In 1869 the Suez Canal was completed. In 1870 John D. Rockefeller formed Standard Oil. In 1873 the Baku oil region was opened for development and the Nobels entered the Russian oil business. In 1882 Edmond de Rothschild (an oil expert) visit Israel.

In 1885 Royal Dutch discovers oil in Sumatra in the East Indies(modern Indonesia) and the Rothschilds enter the Russian oil business. In 1886 the Rothschilds start their own oil company BNITO. In 1888 the Rothschilds establish oil importing/distribution company.

The "Shell" Transport and Trading Company (the quotation marks were part of the legal name) was a British company, founded in 1897 by Marcus Samuel and his brother Samuel Samuel.[3] Initially the Company commissioned eight oil tankers for the purposes of transporting oil.[6]

The origin of the brand name Shell is linked to the origins of The Shell Transport and Trading Company.[10] In 1833, the founder's father, also Marcus Samuel, founded an import business to sell seashells to London collectors. When collecting seashell specimens in the Caspian Sea area in 1892, the younger Samuel realized there was potential in exporting lamp oil from the region and commissioned the world's first purpose-built oil tanker, the Murex (Latin for a type of snail shell), to enter this market; by 1907 the company had a fleet. Although for several decades the company had a refinery at Shell Haven on the Thames, there is no evidence of this having provided the name.

With their banking connections the Rothschilds would transport their Russian oil to the Far East and British India. The Rothschilds were major investors in Shell Oil Company. The Suez Canal was crucial to Shell for exporting kerosene oil to Asia e.g. British India.

In 1891 Rothschilds/Samuel oil contract began. In 1892 Samuel’s Shell Oil Murex sails through the Suez Canal. A year later Shell Oil add 10 more tankers to the fleet. In 1893 Alphonse de Rothschild meets with Standard Oil to discuss cartel.

In 1896 Captain Alfred Dreyfus is falsely accused of espionage in France. Theodore Hertzel begins the Zionist campaign to create Israel.

Rothschild also wanted to protect their oil interests but they needed a political and military watchdog over the Suez Canal and the State of Israel was created. They wanted a militant and battle hardened Israel and no pushovers.

URL: http://able2know.org/topic/127802-1


Who helped the Jews to buy Israel?

lees_sword answered 8 years ago

I'll try to answer this even though I figure this is a Hasbara set-up for Jewish propaganda. Most of what little was purchased in 1946-48 was financed out of mostly Great Britian Jewry and the United States Jews.

The rest of Israel (the vast bulk of it) was a result of rebellion against the Government of Palestine and the British Mandate Authority established by the League of Nations by illegal Jew male migrants from Europe who were sneaked in on ZIM transports and then formed the Stern Gangs--who machined-gunned the Christians and Muslims living in what was the nation and land of Palestine, even to the point of murdering entire families asleep in their beds in their ancestrial homes.

Most of today's Isreal is not a result of purchase but of bloodshed, murder and mayhem by Zionists.

As I stated at the outset, I'm probably wasting my time answering a Hasbara propadanda piece that has been posted by a (Jewish) "Princess" and that the answer will be supplied by her partner Jew who has a scripted answer already in hand to upload. I surmise that because your "question" is loaded--it assumes purchase when in fact little purchase was involved.

Do what you will--the truth is outing all over the world. Israel stand condemned as a crime against humanity--a 50-year-old one.

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=A0SO80s3PT1UtE8AHxFXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEyZnJyZG9jBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMTMEY29sbwNncTEEdnRpZANVSUMxXzE-?qid=20060727025456AABTVfe

Declaration of Establishment of State of Israel
14 May 1948

...On the 29th November, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish State in Eretz-Israel; the General Assembly required the inhabitants of Eretz-Israel to take such steps as were necessary on their part for the implementation of that resolution. This recognition by the United Nations of the right of the Jewish people to establish their State is irrevocable.

This right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State.

ACCORDINGLY WE, MEMBERS OF THE PEOPLE'S COUNCIL, REPRESENTATIVES OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF ERETZ-ISRAEL AND OF THE ZIONIST MOVEMENT, ARE HERE ASSEMBLED ON THE DAY OF THE TERMINATION OF THE BRITISH MANDATE OVER ERETZ-ISRAEL AND, BY VIRTUE OF OUR NATURAL AND HISTORIC RIGHT AND ON THE STRENGTH OF THE RESOLUTION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, HEREBY DECLARE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A JEWISH STATE IN ERETZ-ISRAEL, TO BE KNOWN AS THE STATE OF ISRAEL.

WE DECLARE that, with effect from the moment of the termination of the Mandate being tonight, the eve of Sabbath, the 6th Iyar, 5708 (15th May, 1948), until the establishment of the elected, regular authorities of the State in accordance with the Constitution which shall be adopted by the Elected Constituent Assembly not later than the 1st October 1948, the People's Council shall act as a Provisional Council of State, and its executive organ, the People's Administration, shall be the Provisional Government of the Jewish State, to be called "Israel"....

http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/peace/guide/pages/declaration%20of%20establishment%20of%20state%20of%20israel.aspx

Conversely, if the Rothschilds and other rich Jewry in the UK and the US should decide to abolish the nation Israel, all the Judaist Israelis must be obliged to leave Jerusalem and Palestine and move to the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, or South Africa.

And then all the Islamic nations in the Arab world might be united to become one federation.

How peaceful the world will be then!




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Mar 10:14 But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.

"he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep" - Gangsters Here and There

Around Tokyo

Gangsters Here and There

We, peace loving and law abiding people, should sometimes check how many criminals are surrounding us, even if they are not crazy, brain-washed terrorists.

Gangs in the United States include several types of groups, including national street gangs, local street gangs, prison gangs, motorcycle gangs, and ethnic and organized crime gangs.[4] Approximately 1.4 million people were part of gangs as of 2011, and more than 33,000 gangs were active in the United States. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangs_in_the_United_States

We also heard news about interference by gangsters in a Hong Kong street under occupation by democratic protesters.

The name most associated with organised crime within Hong Kong is Wai Yu Kwan and He family.  

Although one of the most famous criminal organizations in the region, the Triads are not the only source of organized crime in Hong Kong. 

Without high levels of street crime and no great numbers of Mafia-style organized crime syndicates, it has been suggested that the people of Hong Kong, believe that their society is, in law and order terms, healthy and clean, although this may not be the case.

Triads
One of the world's largest triads, Sun Yee On, was founded in Hong Kong in 1919, and has 55,000 members worldwide.[1] Sun Yee On's rival organization, 14K Triad, was formed in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China in 1945, and relocated to Hong Kong in 1949. 

Arrests
In August 2013, the Hong Kong Police Force arrested 1,800 people in a crackdown against triads, in an undercover operation entitled Thunderbolt 13. They were charged with various offences, including illegal gambling and money laundering.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organised_crime_in_Hong_Kong  

In Pakistan, terrorist networks and origanozed crimes seem to be interwoven so dangerously.  We should hope that Malala is very safe from them.

Organized crime in Pakistan refers to the activities of groups of organized crime in Pakistan, The Pakistani Mafia is spread in many countries and are also politically supported and politicized. Pakistani Mafia groups are mostly ethnically-based and have influence over government. The Pakistani Mafia is involved in drug trafficking, assassination, land grabbing, arms smuggling and various other illegal activities.[citation needed] The world's third most wanted fugitive and Indian underworld don, Dawood Ibrahim, is hiding in Karachi, according to Forbes.

"Dawood Ibrahim: The most wanted man in India has for years led a 5,000-member criminal syndicate known as D-Company. The organized crime group has engaged in everything from narcotics to contract killing, working mostly in Pakistan, India and the United Arab Emirates. Ibrahim shares smuggling routes with al Qaeda, the U.S. government says, and has collaborated with both al Qaeda and its South Asian affiliate, Lashkar-e-Taiba, which pulled off the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, possibly with Ibrahim's help. Ibrahim is suspected of having organized the 1993 Bombay bombings that killed 257 people and wounded 713. Though the Pakistani government denies it, Ibrahim is probably in Pakistan, where he has important ties to the powerful intelligence service."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organised_crime_in_Pakistan

In addition, the UK underground world might be tightly connected with those bad guys in the US, Honk Kong, Pakisitan, etc.

On 21 February 2007, the BBC reported on an unpublished Metropolitan Police report on London's gang culture, identifying 169 separate groups (see Ghetto Boys, Tottenham Mandem and Peckham Boys), with more than a quarter said to have been involved in murders.

The report, using a methodology developed by American gang experts and practitioners, estimated that 6% of young people aged 10–19 were classified as belonging to a delinquent youth group, although based on the most stringent criteria this was 4%.

In April 2009, eleven members of the Gooch Gang were found guilty of a number of charges ranging from murder to drugs offenses. The Gooch Gang had a long-standing rivalry with the equally well known Doddington gang. The Gooch gang operated with a tiered structure. On the top were the gang's leaders, Colin Joyce and Lee Amos, and below them were members controlling the supply and distribution of drugs to the street dealers at the bottom. The gang was earning an estimated £2,000 a day, with street dealers allowed to keep £100 a day for themselves. 

A number of the criminal gangs in the United Kingdom specialize in the importation, production and sale of illicit drugs. Of the 2,800 gangs identified within the United Kingdom it is estimated that 60% are involved in drugs. 

In other reports it has been suggested that Turkey replaced Asia as the most important transit point for heroin, and it is estimated that 80% of heroin intercepted by British authorities belongs to Turkish gangs.[72] A recent spate of murders in London in 2009 have been linked to a heroin drugs war involving rival Turkish and Turkish-Kurdish gangs in north London.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangs_in_the_United_Kingdom#Organised_crime_groups

But, what is more alarming seems to be condition in Israel in terms of gangster activities.

Organised crime has increased dramatically in Israel since the 1990s and is described by the BBC and the Israeli Police as a "booming industry". The Israeli organised crime groups have extended their activities in foreign countries like the United States, South Africa, and the Netherlands.[1] According to a report by the Israel Police, drug trafficking, trafficking of women for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation, illicit gambling, pirate filling stations and real estate are the major forms of crime in the country.

In 2002, the Israel Police documented 464,854 criminal files and non-prosecution cases while the number was 484,688 in 2003. This was an increase of 4.5% over 2002.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Israel#Organized_crime

Wealth produces these criminals and gangsters in addition to legally living wealthy people.

Indeed, even Judas Iscariot might have been a member of an organized crime in ancient days, since he was entrusted with disciples' money put in a bag.



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Joh 10:13 The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.

"Arise, O LORD" - Illiterate Christians from the Beginning

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Illiterate Christians from the Beginning

Around the first century, not many people could read even in Rome and Jerusalem.

And it is said that it was truly rare that any person had ability to write in those days around the Mediterranean.  Some might be able to read, but only few could write.  Then, who in fact wrote the Gospels?

From the beginning, they who followed Christ Jesus were all Judaists at the time.  They had already their own holy books or the Jewish Bibles.

The process by which scriptures became canons and Bibles was a long one, and its complexities account for the many different Old Testaments which exist today. Timothy H. Lim, a professor of Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Judaism at the University of Edinburgh, states that, "The Old Testament (OT) or Tanak was written in Hebrew and Aramaic. This collection of books was not written by one man, nor did it drop down from heaven as assumed by fundamentalists. It is not a magical book, but a collection of authoritative texts of apparently divine origin that went through a human process of writing and editing.”[18] By about the 5th century BC Jews saw the five books of the Torah (the Old Testament Pentateuch) as having authoritative status; by the 2nd century BC the Prophets had a similar status, although without quite the same level of respect as the Torah; beyond that, the Jewish scriptures were fluid, with different groups seeing authority in different books. 

Greek Bible 

The scriptures were first translated into Greek in Alexandria between about 280–130 BC.[20] These early Greek translations – supposedly commissioned by Ptolemy Philadelphus – were called the Septuagint (Latin: "Seventy") from the supposed number of translators involved (hence its abbreviation "LXX"). This Septuagint remains the basis of the Old Testament in the Eastern Orthodox Church. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Testament#From_scripture_to_canon:_formation_of_the_Old_Testament
  

Probably it was beyond the imagination of those original followers of living Christ Jesus to write a new version of the holy book of Judaism to present Christ Jesus as the Son of God.  They were all Judaists.  And, they were most probably illiterate.

Indeed there are no scenes in the Gospels where Christ Jesus took up the holy book of Judaisms or the Old Testament, read any sentences in it, and explain its meaning to or discuss it with His disciples.  On the contrary, Christ Jesus rebuked Scribes or those who could read the holy book on various occasions.  He taught illiterate people as if He Himself had been illiterate.  Christ Jesus did not use any brochures or tracts in His mission.

Even after the death or disappearance of Christ Jesus after the Crucifixion, surviving disciples tried to make His teaching reach only poor people around them, namely illiterate poor Israelites, except the bold mission to foreigners by St. Paul.  Those disciples could not, most probably, read and write.  And they were also Judaists.  They must have had no idea of writing any book about Christ Jesus, since nobody could read such a book even if they been able to write it. 

But as time went by, the situation changed.  One generation after the death or disappearance of Christ Jesus, those who listened to successors of the original disciples were not necessarily poor and pure Judaists.  With efforts of St. Paul and some other believers, well educated Israelites, foreigners, heretics, Greeks, Romans, etc. came to accept the teaching of Christ Jesus.  Some of them needed written material to teach or lean the religion being established on its own and separated from Judaism.  Yet, in the first and second centuries when the New Testament was written and complied, only a few people could read and write, maybe around 10% of all the population around the Mediterranean under the Roman rule.        

Literacy rate of ancient Rome compared to Europe's middle ages?

There is no way to calculate literacy rates for certain in either society, so we can only rely on sheer guesswork here. In both societies, the vast bulk of the population - like 80-90% at least - were illiterate farmers. Only the upper classes and urban middle classes, a small minority of the population, would have had a use for literacy. 

Still, the evidence (and the consensus among historians) pretty conclusively points to the Roman empire having much greater literacy than medieval Europe, at least until the last century or so of the Middle Ages. The Roman Empire had state-subsidized education, nothing like a modern public school system but still much more expansive than medieval church-based education. The empire was also much more urbanized than medieval Europe - maybe 10% of the population. The Middle Ages had probably less than 5% of its population in cities, though again the number rose in the later Middle Ages. 

The main evidence for more widespread Roman literacy is the KIND of writing you find in the Roman Empire. Practically all medieval texts (until you start getting merchants' contracts and records around 1100 onwards) were written by churchmen or tutored aristocrats, and are fairly formal in character. In the Roman Empire, you find a lot more casual writing - notes taken by soldiers stationed at Hadrian's Wall, graffiti from the brothels of Pompeii, etc. These kinds of things show that reading and writing was more a part of routine daily life and not just formal business. 

Just to pull numbers out of a hat, I would say that the Roman Empire might have had a literacy rate around 10%, maybe 20% tops, and medieval Europe probably under 5% in the early Middle Ages, rising gradually to around 10-20% by the end (15th century).

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=A0SO80D1mzpUZOgANTBXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTExdnAzNG4wBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDNQRjb2xvA2dxMQR2dGlkA1VJQzFfMQ--?qid=20120416014255AAI0hWo

Nonetheless, it was lucky for the early Christianity to be taught in the Roman Empire where the literacy rate was relatively higher than in other regions.  The Gospels should be used effectively in missions of early Christians in the Empire.

But a possibility that a man who knew and heard from direct successors of original disciples could also write must have been small.  That should be why we have today only four versions of Gospels.  (And all the four versions seem to be mostly rooted in one common document called the Q source or the like.  It means that only one literate early-Christian decided the fate of Christianity in later centuries up to date.)  Otherwise, more episodes, facts, deeds, acts, and teachings of Christ Jesus must have been left in a written format.

Conversely, most of early Christians in the era of the Roman Empire came to believe in Christ Jesus without reading the Gospels at all.  It is a miracle, isn't it?







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Psa 10:12 Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble.