Two thousand years ago, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) His twelve disciples saw that Man, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, crucified to death on a cruel Roman cross but then saw Him, resurrected, three days later. Others saw Him also, and twelve became many. Since that first century A.D., countless disciples have died for their faith, with others faithfully living for Him. Also, Biblical prophecies point to the soon return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our Heavenly Father has been revealing gospel truths to the world in modern times. One of these invitations to believe is that of the Shroud of Turin, a 14’ x 3’ cloth which bears the image of a crucified Jewish man, front and back, believed to be Jesus Christ. In fact, the Shroud Conference 2025, with over 40 speakers, was held in St. Louis, Missouri, from July 30 through August 3. The CBN interview about the conference mentioned that several of the speakers were atheists, brought to faith through their study of the Shroud.
Until recently, some thought the Shroud was a hoax. Since then, the carbon dating that had been done in 1988, indicating a medieval date of origin, has been debated, with critics having issues with the testing process and possible contamination of the sample area. In fact, newer techniques, like wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS), have been used to analyze the Shroud’s linen fibers and have suggested a much older age (around 2000 years old).
Michael Knowles on his YouTube talk show interviewed a Shroud of Turin expert, Dr. Jeremiah Johnston. Dr. Johnston reported, “Scholars of 102 academic disciplines have spent 500,000 hours of scientific studies and have published in peer review journals their findings. It’s not a medieval fake or forgery.” He also declared, “In one archaeological artifact, we have the death, burial, and resurrection. It brings all three together.”
He shared that C.S. Lewis had a copy of the photo of the Shroud, taken in 1931 by Guiseppe Enrie, hanging above the mantel in his bedroom, as he wanted to see it daily to remind himself that “Our God had a face.” That photo and the one taken by Secondo Pia in 1898, revealed that the image on the Shroud was a negative, which, when printed, produced a positive image. The cloth contains many blood stains, found to be Type AB blood, and the image is three- dimensional. It has been proven not to be any type of painting, and modern science has not succeeded in discovering any way to replicate the image.
Both human and plant DNA have even been found on the linen cloth. The human could not be identified, of course, but the plant DNA is one of the clinchers to the argument that the Shroud is the real burial cloth of the crucified Christ. The plant fibers found on the cloth are from that area around Jerusalem, with at least one of the plants not being found anywhere else.
Dr. Johnston shared that the image, according to his friend Paul Dazo, at Anil Labs in Rome, “was formed by 34,000 trillion watts of energy in 1/4th of a billionth of a second.” Johnston ventured to say, “We have God, if you will, in Jesus, taking the first Selfie, and it’s the moment of Resurrection!”
People get ready, Jesus is coming soon!
You may contact me at lagnesrussell@gmail.com or 601-635-3282.
