DOT Main Page DOT Message Board The Two
Olivetrees The
Prophetic Timeline
The
Twelve Thrones of Israel The
Word of the Lord to America The
Sons of God
Scott Hofstee Words Brett Hofstee Words John Maguire Words
Cameron
Michaud Words Paul Wyrick Words
A Prophetic Word Regarding
Barack Obama The Three and One-half Days
To contact us or join our Prophetic Email Group
Secular Accounts of
Jesus and His Disciples
“Only the most ignorant or
prejudiced skeptic would question the historicity of Jesus. The reason? The
evidence from unbiased sources”
1: Roman sources: While speaking
in less than honorable terms, they give a clear testimony as to Christ and His
followers status in the Roman society of their day.
A: Tacitus:
112 A.D.
A Roman historian, writing
about the reign of Nero, refers to Jesus Christ and the existence of Christians
in Rome (Annals, XV, 44), Tacitus elsewhere in his
Histories, refers to Christianity when alluding to the burning of the temple of
Jerusalem in A.D.70 This citation has been preserved by Sulpicius
Severus (Chronicles 30:6).
B: Pliny the Younger: 112
A.D.
A Citation in his letter to
the emperor Trajan. In his Epistles X. 96.
C: Seutonius:
120 A.D.
A court official for the
Emperor Hadrian. Citations found in Life of Claudius 25.4 and in Lives of the
Caesars 26.2
D: Lucian of Samosata: Second century A.D.
He lived during the second
century. He was a satirist who was scornful of Christians.
2: Jewish sources: While
speaking in slanderous terms, they don’t deny His historicity.
A: Flavious
Josephus: 37-100 A.D.
A Jewish general turned
Roman historian makes reference to Jesus, John the Baptist, and James the
brother of Jesus in his Antiquities of the Jews.
B: The Talmud: 100 - 500
A.D.
These volumes consist of two
separate books dealing with Jewish law, written during the period from 100 A.D.
to 500 A.D. They speak frequently of Jesus of
C: Mara Bar Serapion 73 A.D.
Wrote a letter that now
resides in the
D: Thallus:
52 A.D.
A Samaritan historian who
tried to explain away the darkness at the crucifixion.
The Annals
Publius
Cornelius Tacitus
Written 109 A.D.
Concerning the years A.D.
62-65
“But all human efforts, all
the lavish gifts of the emperor, and the propitiations of the gods, did not
banish the sinister belief that the conflagration was the result of an order.
Consequently, to get rid of
the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures
on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace.
Christus, from whom the name had its
origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands
of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a
most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not
only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things
hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become
popular.
Accordingly, an arrest was
first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense
multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of
hatred against mankind.
Mockery of every sort was
added to his or her deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by
dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and
burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired. Nero
offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus,
while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood aloft on
a chariot.
Hence, even for criminals
who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose a feeling of
compassion; for it was not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one
man's cruelty, that they were being destroyed.” (The Annals Book
The Lives of the Caesars Suetonius
Book written in 110 A.D.:
“Since the Jews constantly
made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus* he
(Emperor Claudius) expelled them from
“Punishment by Nero was
inflicted on the Christians, a class of men given to a new and mischievous
superstition.” (Lives of the Caesars 26.2)
[Another form of Christus; see Tert. Apol. 3 (at the end also Tacitus,
Ann. Book 15.44 where he uses the correct form, Christus,
and states that he was executed in the reign of Tiberius]
The Letters of Pliny
Pliny The Younger
Written 112 A.D.
Pliny to the Emperor Trajan:
“It is my practice, my lord,
to refer to you all matters concerning which I am in doubt. For who can better give
guidance to my hesitation or inform my ignorance? I have never participated in
trials of Christians. I therefore do not know what offenses it is the practice
to punish or investigate, and to what extent. And I have been not a little
hesitant as to whether there should be any distinction on account of age or no
difference between the very young and the more mature; whether pardon is to be
granted for repentance, or, if a man has once been a Christian, it does him no
good to have ceased to be one; whether the name itself, even without offenses,
or only the offenses associated with the name are to be punished.
Meanwhile, in the case of
those who were denounced to me as Christians, I have observed the following
procedure: I interrogated these as to whether they were Christians; those who
confessed I interrogated a second and a third time, threatening them with
punishment; those who persisted I ordered executed. For I had no doubt that,
whatever the nature of their creed, stubbornness and inflexible obstinacy
surely deserve to be punished. There were others possessed of the same folly;
but because they were Roman citizens, I signed an order for them to be
transferred to
Soon accusations spread, as
usually happens, because of the proceedings going on, and several incidents
occurred. An anonymous document was published containing the names of many
persons. Those who denied that they were or had been Christians, when they
invoked the gods in words dictated by me, offered prayer with incense and wine
to your image, which I had ordered to be brought for this purpose together with
statues of the gods, and moreover cursed Christ--none of which those who are
really Christians, it is said, can be forced to do--these I thought should be
discharged. Others named by the informer declared that they were Christians,
but then denied it, asserting that they had been but had ceased to be, some
three years before, others many years, some as much as twenty-five years.
They all worshipped your
image and the statues of the gods, and cursed Christ. They asserted, however,
that the sum and substance of their fault or error had been that they were
accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to
Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but not
to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to
return a trust when called upon to do so. When this was over, it was their
custom to depart and to assemble again to partake of food--but ordinary and innocent
food.
Even this, they affirmed,
they had ceased to do after my edict by which, in accordance with your
instructions, I had forbidden political associations. Accordingly, I judged it
all the more necessary to find out what the truth was by torturing two female
slaves who were called deaconesses. But I discovered nothing else but depraved,
excessive superstition. I therefore postponed the investigation and hastened to
consult you. For the matter seemed to me to warrant consulting you, especially
because of the number involved.
For many persons of every
age, every rank, and also of both sexes are and will be endangered. For the
contagion of this superstition has spread not only to the cities but also to
the villages and farms. But it seems possible to check and cure it. It is
certainly quite clear that the temples, which had been almost deserted, have
begun to be frequented, that the established religious rites, long neglected,
are being resumed, and that from everywhere sacrificial animals are coming, for
which until now very few purchasers could be found. Hence it is easy to imagine
what a multitude of people can be reformed if an opportunity for repentance is
afforded.”
Trajan to Pliny:
“You observed proper
procedure, my dear Pliny, in sifting the cases of those who had been denounced
to you as Christians. For it is not possible to lay down any general rule to
serve as a kind of fixed standard. They are not to be sought out; if they are
denounced and proved guilty, they are to be punished, with this reservation,
that whoever denies that he is a Christian and really proves it--that is, by
worshiping our gods--even though he was under suspicion in the past, shall
obtain pardon through repentance. But anonymously posted accusations ought to
have no place in any prosecution. For this is both a dangerous kind of
precedent and out of keeping with the spirit of our age.”
(Letters 10.96-97 )
The Passing Peregrinus
Lucian of Samosata
Second century A.D.
“The Christians. . . worship
a man to this day - the distinguished personage who introduced this new cult,
and was crucified on that account. . . . You see, these misguided creatures
start with the general conviction that they are immortal for all time, which
explains their contempt for death and self devotion . . . their lawgiver that
taught they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny
the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws.
All this they take on faith….” (The Passing Peregrinus
Second century A.D.)
Antiquities of the Jews
Flavious Josephus
A.D. 37-100
“Now, there was about this
time, Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer
of wonderful works--a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure.
He drew ever to him both many of the Jews, and many Gentiles. He was the
Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestions of the principal men amongst us,
had condemned him to be condemned and to the cross, those that loved him at the
first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day,
as the divine prophets had foretold these and the ten thousand other wonderful
things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not
extinct at this day.” (Antiquities, xviii.ch. 3, subtopic 3, Greek text) “Ananus assembled the Sanhedrin of the judges, and brought
before them the brother of Jesus who was called Christ, whose name was James,
and some others, and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers
of the law, he delivered them to be stoned” (Antiquities XX 9:1)
The Babylonian Talmud
Compiled by religious Jews
100 – 500 A.D.
“On the eve of Passover they
hanged Yeshu of Nazareth and before then a herald
went before him for forty days saying “Yeshu of
Nazareth is going to be stoned in that he hath practiced sorcery and beguiled
and led astray
Letter of Mara Bar Serapion
Written in 73 A.D.
“What advantage did the Jews
gain from executing their wise King? It was just after that that their kingdom
was abolished . . . But Socrates did not die for good; he lived on in the teaching
of Plato. Pythagoras did not die for good; he lived on in the statue of Hera. Nor did the wise King die for good; he lived on in
the teaching which he had given” (Bruce, op. cit., p.14).
Thallus: book of histories
Written in 52 A.D.
“Thallus,
in the third book of his histories, explains away this darkness at the time of
the crucifixion as an eclipse of the sun-unreasonably, as it seems to me. This
was unreasonable, of course, because a solar eclipse could not take place at
the time of the full moon, and it was the time of the paschal full moon when
Christ died.” (Quoted by Julius Africanus A.D. 221)
DOT Main Page
DOT Message Board The Two Olivetrees The Prophetic Timeline
The Twelve Thrones of Israel The Word of the Lord to America The Sons of God
Scott
Hofstee Words Brett
Hofstee Words John
Maguire Words
Cameron Michaud Words Paul
Wyrick Words
A
Prophetic Word Regarding Barack Obama The
Three and One-half Days
To contact us or join our Prophetic Email Group