World Net Daily reported on December 24, 2010 the following:
World Net Daily - “The world will have an extraordinary opportunity to look upon what may be an undistorted, never-before-seen, moving 3-D portrait of a man who many think may be the crucified Jesus Christ. In just one week, graphic experts will bring to life an imprint on the holy relic known as the Shroud of Turin, believed by millions to be the burial shroud of Christ.
The Shroud of Turin bears the full-body, back-and-front image of a crucified man that is said to closely resemble the New Testament description of the passion and death of Christ. The 14-foot cloth long has posed mysteries because of its age and its negative image of a bloodstained and battered man who had been crucified. Believers claim it to be the miraculous image of Jesus, formed as he rose from the dead.
The History Channel will air "The Real Face of Jesus?," a special two-hour event that premieres March 30 at 9 p.m. EST. It aims to bring the world as close as it has ever come to seeing what Jesus may have actually looked like.”
One of the strangest of religious mysteries is the 14 foot cloth shroud that is hermetically sealed in Europe and in today’s information technology has been recreated in 3-D and encoded in 2-D the image of an executed man that was submitted to a year-long investigation by computer graphic artist Ray Downing of Studio Macbeth. The crucified Messiah that Christian's worship as Jewish Messiah, the Prince of David, called Yahshua HaMashiah (Jesus the Messiah).
As Mr. Downing proclaimed:
Ray Downing – “It's so unusual to find this kind of information – in ancient cloths, photographs, paintings, drawings and etchings – it's so unusual that some think it's a miracle and some doubt it's even there," he said. "The people who say it's not there haven't examined it for themselves. Disbelievers disbelieve it. Believers think it's a miracle.
Ray Downing of Macbeth Studios and scientist John Jackson analyze image of the Shroud of Turin (photo courtesy of the History Channel)
"There comes a time in the show where there's a climax where we actually reveal the face of Jesus. What you'll see is a very, very close shot of Jesus in the tomb, and then he comes to life."
"There is the story of the shroud which, artistically and scientifically, is the story of a transition from two dimensional to three dimensional. But there is as well the story of the man in the shroud, and a record of His transformation from death to life. The two stories are intertwined; they seem to be one and the same."
According to a scientific team, led by John Jackson, physics lecturer at the University of Colorado at the Turin Shroud Center of Colorado at Colorado City, Colorado, they studied the Shroud in 1978 in a once in a lifetime investigation permitted by the Roman Catholic Church and today they continue to pore over the information extracted at that time. As Jackson spoke:
John Jackson – “People are so fascinated by this because there's a real possibility that this might be the historic burial cloth of Jesus. If it's the burial cloth of Jesus, then it would also be the resurrection cloth. Suddenly, you have a physical object – here we are 2,000 years later – that conceivably could just bring us right into the Easter tomb."
Peering down upon the Roman Encampment outside the Hilltop Herodian Fortress at Masada – Photo by Robert Mock
The scientific information collected and conclusion documented included the following:
1. The bloodstains on the shroud have proven to be real human blood.
2. The blood, as initially feared, had not been degraded by fire, temperature and heat.
3. According to the historians say the stains are consistent with a Roman crucifixion and include puncture wounds from a crown of thorns and scourge marks Roman whips.
4. A puncture wound in the man's side is consistent with a pierced would by a Roman spear.
5. His hands demonstrated the nail holes through the wrists and heels that would have been consistent with a Roman crucifixion.
6. According to textile restorer, Mechthild Flury-Lemberg, in 2002, it was affirmed that the stitching on the shroud was only duplicated once in archeological history; the ruins at Masada, an orthodox resistant movement Jewish settlement that was destroyed by the Romans in the year of 74 CE. As noted, the herringbone weave was common in the First Century but rare in Middle Ages.
The shroud today is under the custody of the Vatican, and stored in a protective sealed chamber filled with inert gases at the Turin’s Cathedral of St. John. It was first exhibited in the year of 1360 in France by a French knight, Geoffrey de Charney, who was the owner of the shroud in that day.
There will be this year a unique and rare showing of the Shroud of Turin. It was only shown four times in the 20th century, 1931, 1933, 1978 and 1998 and again at the turn of the 21st century in the year of 2000. It was expected not to be seen again until 2025, but a new exposition has been scheduled between the dates of April 10 through May 23, 2010 and will become the fifth exposition since 1898. This exposition will be climaxed by the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI on May 2, 2010.
To Be Continued to Part Two