Customer Reviews

The Secret Life of Jesus the Essene (Essene-Jesus-Apollonius Series Vol. 2)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Aren't the complete stories of the life of Jesus important to Christians and the Church? So, with that thought in mind, I have embarked on a search for material on the life of Jesus between the ages of 11 and his preaching years, that the Bible does not contain. If you are on the same search, then this book can definitely be added to your collection. But, like all other books on the lost years of Jesus, it is full of contradictory, curious and controversial stories that many Christians and Catholics will find outrageous. And like all the other amazing stories out there about Jesus' missing years, it will be up to you to sort through the stories yourself.

The writer cites several sources and shares many stories about Jesus and his family as members of the Essene Jewish sect, stories of his life in and around the incident of the crucifixion, and some hearsay stories of his travelling to India and Japan. He also shares some material that says Jesus is a real man whose life is controlled and whose story is developed by the Essenes, and whose crucifixion was further developed by the Holy Roman Empire (during the times when the Pope was also the Emperor). His short data on this implies that Holy Roman Empire developed and used the Christian religion as a political tool to control the masses.

The primary thing that made this book hard to read was the fact that his sources were so ambiguous and that they said different things about Jesus. You yourself will need to go over the material presented and put the pieces together yourself. The writer's findings are based on three questionable scrolls (Alexandrian, Safed and Arko). He also cites letters written by men of up to recent history(19th and 20th) and some purportedly ancient letters of Essene men. The points given about Jesus in this book are so different and unexpected to anyone coming from a Christian background that all the sources for this info absolutely cries out for further verification. As i read this book, i kept on wondering how i could get my hands on those sources so that I could get a firsthand, clearer read. I read this book about 2 years ago and because of this book, I have started collecting books on apocrypha but as of yet have not found any that contain the above three scrolls.

The way Barnard cites several other writers and scholars and their letters and works makes for a bumpy, tedious read.

When you find that at the back of the book there is a curious chart of the mystical Rosicrucian group, you may also come to feel that this book seems to be a personal attempt of Dr. Bernard to reconcile himself to the Christian faith.

And for your information, getting this book is exactly like getting someone's thesis. You will find that it is reproduced in the format that it was probably submitted because it came in a printed format that looks typewritten complete with handwritten corrections. I couldn't help but get the feeling that I was reading someone's term paper that was put together by typing in all the notecards thrown together none too hastily.

For more interesting, relevant and easier reads you will need to keep on searching.

This book was written in an easily understood manner. Reading for the first time an eye witness account of events surrounding the crucifixion was very interesting. These scrolls are a fascinating mystery, and a delight to unfold these unknown things revolving around the life of Jesus. This book would confirm that Jesus was an Essene at Qumran, giving us an open door of hope.So Jesus was Yeshai Beth Halachmee, and His life was mixed with the Hindu prophet Christna and thus giving the wrong account of his birth. This is terrible. The book "Jesus the Man", Barbara Thiering, will give clarity to this one. Also, the belief Jesus taught was Gnostic, so were the writings of Paul "The Gnostic Paul", Elaine Pagels. It is heartbreaking to the churchs to find Jesus to have been married twice and fathered many children. They would refuse the entire facts before admitting they are wrong. Barbara's book does not give an account of what happened to Jesus, only that he lived up into his 70's. The Pesher technique is the most difficult to very quickly learn, but it would help to understand how things were so confused. I enjoy knowing Jesus had a full name, and enjoy Dr Bernard's book.