The other day was this news item: “Archaeologists have made a groundbreaking discovery at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, unearthing remnants of an ancient garden at the site where Jesus Christ is believed to have been buried.”
Let that sink in: Scientists found the place where Our Lord was crucified–for our transgressions–was a garden.
Which brings it full circle:
For it was a garden, after all–called Eden–where mankind first sinned and from which we, as progeny, succumbing to our own temptations, had to be redeemed.
Another item, also in the realm of science, from a professor at the University of Chicago (excuse the technical jargon):
“The Gospels all agree that Jesus died on a Friday, a few hours before the Jewish Sabbath was to begin (Matthew 27:62, Mark 15:42, Luke 23:54, John 19:14, 31), that he shared a Last Supper with His disciples, and was crucified—and that these events occurred in the reign of Tiberius (AD 14–37), when Pontius Pilate was prefect of Judaea (AD 26–36); Caiaphas, high priest in Jerusalem (circa AD 18–36); and Herod Antipas tetrarch of Galilee (circa 4 BC–AD 39).
“As Andrew E. Steinmann of the Tyndale Bulletin has demonstrated, there is no evidence (historical, numismatical, or inscriptional) that Tiberius ever did rule as co-regent; rather, he succeeded Augustus as emperor in AD 14, as all the ancient sources attest . The baptism of Jesus fifteen years later would have been in AD 29—again, too late for him to have been crucified the following year.
“Jesus therefore died on Friday, April 3, AD 33 at about 3 p.m., a few hours before the beginning of Passover day and the Sabbath. This is the date in the Julian calendar, which had been introduced in 45 BC, and follows the convention that historical dates adhere to the calendar in use at the time. If, instead, the current Gregorian calendar were retroactively extended to a date prior to its introduction in 1582 (or 1752, when it was adopted by the United States and United Kingdom), such a proleptic date (a date retroactively calculated using a later calendar) would be different.”
Pinned down: April 3!
Now let’s take this a step further, concerning the month of April. Have you not heard the expression, “April is the cruelest month?” And: might it be thought that because it was the month of Crucifixion?
The phrase actually comes from the opening line of T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Waste Land,” which reads: “April is the cruelest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing / Memory and desire, stirring / Dull roots with spring rain.” The line is often interpreted as highlighting the irony and contrast between the rebirth and regeneration traditionally associated with spring and the painful memories or emotional turmoil that can also resurface during this time.
Eliot’s work, written in the aftermath of World War I and during a time of personal difficulty for him, frequently explored themes of disillusionment and despair, making the revival associated with April seem harsh to those who are still grieving or suffering.
But is there a spiritual undercurrent? Might April–leading to the glorious Marian month of May–not be a month, like September and October, of especially intense spiritual warfare (never mind a tax deadline)?
Who knows, but it does end, does April, with one of the highest feast days for witches and satanists.
Here we speak of Walpurgis Night (Walpurgisnacht)–the date, April 30. by the way, that Hitler committed suicide in his bunker in Berlin as the Allies closed in on the city during the final days of World War Two.
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[resources: spiritual warfare books]
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