The Dead Saints Chronicles: A Zen Journey Through the Christian Afterlife

by David Solomon

  …I was told to BE PATIENT. ‘Heal yourself through forgiveness, love, prayer & meditation.’ Then I was sent back to my body on the operating table. I was born and raised in a conservative Jewish Family, the Great Grandson of the Chief Rabbi of Moscow. I went to Catholic High School, and studied Chinese Buddhism. My name “Shalom,” which means Peace.21

  John’s encounter with Jesus got my attention. It described Jesus looking like the image on the Shroud of Turin:

  I AM THE ALPHA AND OMEGA THE BEGINNING AND END.” At that moment then, I saw a Light come from the right side of me, and it was at a far distance, it got closer and closer until it immersed me in Light, and all I could see was Light and feel warmth… ‘Then at that moment the Light took the shape of what appeared to me to be an outline of Jesus, similar to what the Shroud of Turin would look like.22

  When John mentioned the appearance of Jesus looking similar to the Shroud of Turin, I decided to dig deeper into the latest research. I discovered that the Carbon-14 dating didn’t settle the issue at all. Nobel laureate Willard Frank Libby who invented and perfected the C-14 archeological dating process, stated he was against the tests, due to the likely contamination of the holy Cloth. A January 20, 2005 paper in the professional journal ThermoChimica Acta by Dr. Ray Rogers has shown conclusively that the sample cut from the Shroud in 1988 was taken from an area of the cloth that was re-woven during the Middle Ages thus, “the radiocarbon date was not valid for determining the true age of the shroud.” 23

  J. Michael Fischer, in an article adapted from John C. Iannone, writes about new chemical evidence discovered in 2014, dating the Shroud to the 1st Century A.D. In The Shroud of Turin, Evidence it is authentic? Fischer writes about three new tests applied to the fibers of the Shroud: two chemical and one mechanical. “The chemical tests were done with Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy, examining the relationship between age and a spectral property of ancient flax textiles. The mechanical test measured several micro-mechanical characteristics of flax fibers, such as tensile strength. The results were compared to similar tests on samples of cloth from between 3250 BC and 2000 AD whose dates are accurately known.”24

  Fischer explains, “The tests on fibers from the Shroud of Turin produced the following dates: FTIR = 300 BC +/- 400 years; Raman spectroscopy = 200 BC +/- 500 years; and multi-parametric mechanical = 400 AD +/- 400 years. All the dates have a 95% certainty. The average of all three dates is 33 B.C.+/-250 years. The collective uncertainty is less than the individual test uncertainties).”25

  Iannone and Fischer’s reporting of the 2014 fiber tests on the Shroud came from years of groundbreaking research from Italian scientist and renowned Shroud researcher Giulio Fanti, an Associate Professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Padua in Italy. In June 2015, Fianti and co-author Pierandrea Malfi released The Shroud of Turin: First Century after Christ!26 which reveals details of the fiber tests as well as numismatic analysis performed on Byzantine gold coins showing clearly the facial image of the Shroud of Turin—600 years before the faulty 1988 Carbon-14 tests dated the Shroud fibers to a range of 1260-1390 A.D. It is clear the 1988 testing was off by more than 12 centuries!

  The new chemical and mechanical tests use an infrared light beam and the red laser of the Raman spectroscope to “excite the various energy levels of the molecules” in the fiber of the Cloth, resulting in reflections that make it possible “to evaluate the concentration of particular substances contained in the cellulose of the linen fibers.” According to Fianti, because cellulose degrades over time, “it is therefore possible to determine a correlation with the age of the fabric.” 27

  So we are likely looking at a much older cloth, dating back to the time of Christ, but is it the true burial shroud of Jesus of Nazareth? According to exhaustive research, the image on the Shroud appears to be of a crucified man, but is he crucified man Jesus Christ? 28 In 1979, chemist Piero Ugolotti was examining the negative photo images of the Shroud and noticed marks near the face of the Shroud he later identified to be Greek and Latin letters. He brought his work to Aldo Masteroni, professor of ancient literature at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan, who immediately identified the Latin and Greek letters, and more—Hebraic writing.29

  In 1994-95, Marcel Alonso and Èric de Bazelaire, two members of the Centre International d’ Études sur le Linceul de Turin in Paris, went to a team of experts in signal analysis, Andre Marion and his colleague Anne-Laurie Courage at the Institute d’Optique.30 They identified at least five separate words from the jumbled, faint images, including the Greek words (T)iber(iou)—referencing Tiberius, the Roman emperor at the time of Christ’s crucifixion, and (I)esou(s) Nnazarennos, or Jesus Christ.31 The text also mentions the man who was wrapped in the shroud had been condemned to death—in effect a “burial certificate” for Jesus Christ.

  What caused these words to be imprinted on the Shroud?

  In November 2009, Barbara Frale expanded Alonso and Bazelaire’s original research of the faint Hebrew, Greek and Latin letters found in sequence on the facial image on the Shroud. She says the date of the “death certificate” was in accord with the Gospel records:

  In the year 16 of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius Jesus the Nazarene, taken down in the early evening after having been condemned to death by a Roman judge because he was found guilty by a Hebrew authority, is hereby sent for burial with the obligation of being consigned to his family only after one full year....

  Barbara Frale continues: “The ‘extractor mortis,’ the centurion charged with ensuring the execution of the condemned, had drawn strips of glue onto the cloth and wrote the name of the deceased with a red liquid. When the resurrection occurred, the faint writing was indelibly imprinted on the Shroud. Since Tiberius became emperor after the death of Octavian Augustus in 14 A.D., the 16th year of his reign would be within the span of the years A.D. 30 to 31.32

  Another discovery added to the excitement surrounding the image captions. In 1991, M. Moroni in a white paper writes of the work of J. Jackson and G. Tamburelli who expanded the work of an original discovery of a coin symbol found on the Shroud made in 1980 by Father Filas, of Loyola University in Chicago and Michael Marx, a coin specialist. The two researchers found images of “two roundish bodies in relief” in the eye-socket area of the Shroud. It gave them a premise for considering that “coins were placed over the eyes” of the crucified man after death.

  “The coins, (Leptons of Pontius Pilate. In Greek meaning “mite”—Mark 12:42-44), we have found out, had an irregular diameter with a maximum axis of 16mm. In addition to the imprint of a ‘staff’ in the shape of ‘a question mark’ reversed. Applying radiographic experiments carried out on a skull, and by using coins of that period, we also confirm that only a certain kind of small coin laid on the eyes can reach the medialis hollow of the [crucified man’s] skull.

  Also, the discovery of two skulls, both with two small coins, of Christ’s time at Jericho, lead us to the irrefutable conclusion that on the Shroud cloth, a decal of a coin really was imprinted which portrayed a ‘staff’ or LITUUS—the symbol existing uniquely on very rare coins minted by Pontius Pilate in 29-30 A.D.” 33

  Of course, it is interesting to note scholars traditionally assign 29, 30, or 31 A.D. as one of the years Jesus Christ was crucified.

  How were Images of a Crucified Man Imprinted on the Cloth?

  The theory is the transformation of Christ’s physical body left an indelible “positive” image on the Shroud, an image of a crucified man that has captivated the faithful for centuries. The images are scorch-like, yet not created by heat, and are a purely surface phenomenon limited to the crowns of the top fibers of the Cloth. The Shroud is clearly not a painting; no evidence of pigments or media has been found. Researchers know the blood was on the Cloth before the image was created.

  So how was this image (not made by human ha
nds) imprinted on the Cloth? Dr. Thomas Phillips (nuclear physicist at Duke University and formerly with the High Energy Labs at Harvard) says, “A potential milliburst of radiation (a neutron flux) could be consistent with the moment of resurrection. Such a milliburst might cause the purely surface phenomenon of the scorch-like (scorch-by-light) images, and possibly add Carbon-14 to the Cloth.”34

  As Dr. Phillips points out: “We never had a resurrection to study.”

  Dr. John Jackson, Director of the Turin Shroud Center of Colorado in Colorado Springs, proposed a new theory about how the image of Christ was imprinted on the Shroud:

  “First, the intensity of the images correlated directly to the distance between the body and the enveloping cloth. Second, gravity was a significant factor in producing the image. It appears the physical body of Jesus converted into Light, becoming transparent to its physical surroundings and causing the cloth to collapse and fall vertically onto the table. These findings support the idea the image on the Shroud was made by a sudden blast of high-energy radiation. They also refute the possibility of forgery, since lasers were obviously not available in medieval times.”35

  Dead Saint Sees the Marks of a Crucified Jesus

  The Dead Saints have found several instances of seeing the marks of crucifixion on the glorified body of Jesus during their NDE. The following example depicts this.

  Micki died and saw herself floating over her dead body. She was pulled through a tunnel, with the Light at the end getting brighter and brighter:

  After a while, I was suddenly standing in front of this beautiful wrought iron Victorian gate, covered with the largest and most brilliant colored flowers I had ever seen, but just before I entered, a voice in my mind spoke to me, I turned to look to my left and there stood Jesus Christ, I could see His nail prints in His hands and feet but they were not in His hands, they were more in His wrist area and angles out as though they were torn from His weight.36

  Micki noted in her NDE the nail prints were in the wrist area, not the palms, as depicted by the Shroud of Turin.

  Dead Saint Witnesses the Crucifixion

  A few Saints transcend time and space, witnessing the crucifixion and death of Jesus on the cross during their NDE, including Vinni who appears to be the Centurion stabbing Jesus with His spear:

  One thing I will never forget is that love I saw in His [Jesus’] eyes, I felt accepted, like I couldn’t do anything that would stop His love for me. I began to question Him about some things. He transferred me to a time during the Crucifixion. I remember being in the crowd yelling for Him to be crucified. I could smell the blood and I could smell death. I remember as He hung on the cross. I remember stabbing Him with my spear, but He was already dead! I didn’t cry.

  I didn’t regret my sins. I just remember stabbing Him. I don’t know if this was a vision He was showing me, but I remember telling Him we “killed” you. You died. I saw you die. He looked at me and said, ‘Yes, but I arose on the third day remember?’

  I said, ‘Yeah, you did.’ It was at this time I knew they were sending me back, and I asked Him, ‘Do I have to go back?’

  He smiled and said, ‘Yes.’

  He didn’t say anything about me having a job to do or anything like that… just you’re going back.37

  Jesus Appears Outdoors Under Moonlight Conditions

  Kenneth Vincent has uncovered a multitude of Jesus appearances; visits with Christians, non-Christians, atheists and agnostics, and published his findings in The Journal of Near-Death Experiences. In this encounter, a woman and her husband-to-be shared a vision of Jesus while they were walking in the moonlight:

  Then the figure emerged, a most brilliant sight. We were both speechless, but not afraid, it was so beautiful. The figure, Jesus Christ, glided onto the center of the road while we were on rough pavement. We still remember every detail, but our views on religion have deepened; although, still, we are not too religious.38

  Jesus visited hundreds of people after his death and resurrection two thousand years ago. It is clear, His appearances continue unabated to this day.

  Planetary Headmaster

  Regardless of our faith, from the Dead Saint evidence I have collected, it appears Jesus is Headmaster of our school, Earth University. He is responsible for our spiritual evolution. It is His job. He was a historical figure. He is not a myth. He left indelible evidence of his spiritual resurrection on the Shroud of Turin, and I believe, as the prophet declared in Isaiah 52:13-14, will be proven authentic:

  Even as many were amazed at Him, so marred was His look beyond that of man, and His appearance like that of mortals—so that He will startle many nations. Because of Him, kings shall stand speechless; for those who have not been told shall see, those who have not heard shall ponder it.

  He wants us to know, “He is real.”39 It is the reason why the after-death appearances of Jesus in the Gospels resemble the modern ones. It is because He is still walking here among us, talking to Dead Saints in the Afterlife, and visiting many in broad daylight comforting those in need.

  He wants us to know all mistakes are redeemable. All can be forgiven. That salvation—being saved—is about letting go of fear, hate, anger and pain; that he can help us release our burdens, our fears of Judgment and our fears of death.

  Salvation & Grace

  In closing this chapter, it is important I share with you one of the major driving forces behind the early development and writing of the Chronicles.

  When I was 13, I listened while our pastor, Tracey Floyd, preach at the United Church of Christ. His Sermon was about salvation and grace. After he spoke, I remember wondering, “What will happen to all the other souls who do not receive the gift of salvation? I had difficulty in believing only the saved are redeemed from death and will go to Heaven, leaving 4.8 billion people lost in eternal darkness or damned to a place called Hell. Those same people are born just as human as Christians. It is not their fault they were born in families of other faiths who do not know the Lord!

  So I wrote Billy Graham and asked how this could be? I received a form letter back which basically said, “You cannot be saved by good works alone but only by the blood of Jesus Christ,” referencing Ephesians 2:8–9: “Before being saved our works are done in the flesh and cannot please God; our most righteous deeds fall far short of God’s glory. (Romans 3:20 and Isaiah 64:6). We can be saved only because God is gracious and merciful and has designed a way for us to be declared righteous when we are not.” (Psalm 86:5; Ephesians 2:4)

  Other religions have different approaches to dealing with immortality, Heaven and death. Christianity is unique in presenting Jesus Christ as Savior. His Grace is the only means of lifting the Judgment of Original Sin against us—a precise formula of salvation, eternal life and immortality. These cannot be received through “good works alone.” Evangelical Christians who hang on to the “believe or perish” scenario point to John 3:13-17 as further evidence:

  And no man hath ascended up to Heaven, but He that came down from Heaven, even the Son of man which is in Heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.

  According to John 3:13-17, no one has ascended to Heaven except Jesus Christ, and the only way we can inherit Eternal Life and enter Heaven is to believe in Him. Conversely, why would Jesus Christ threaten destruction if we didn’t believe in Him?

  For me, it was important to understand the true meaning of Christ’s words. Researching further, I found whenever the Bible used the word perish in the New Testament, the original Greek word is apollumi. It means to be destroyed. This definition has created f
ear in the church for a long time, which I believe, is manipulative at worst and misguided at best.

  There is another definition of apollumi with Biblical precedent. It also means to lose, or to be lost. Apollumi is the same word Jesus uses when He said in Matthew 15:24, “I was sent only to the lost (apollumi) sheep of Israel,” and in Luke 15:4-7, “Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost (apollumi) sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on His shoulders and goes home. Then He calls His friends and neighbors together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost (apollumi) sheep.”

  The Dead Saints agree. If a soul has gone astray and becomes lost, as Rob was told in his NDE, they will be found: All is forgiven. All spirit is eternal. All can be redeemed.40

  Still, the theological “good works” dilemma facing 4.8 billion non-Christians haunted me. For 42 years, the question was a constant prayer of my heart. Finally, an answer came. On August 14, 2015, I woke up with an astonishing dream:

  ~I saw a giant cubed, seven level mansion covering the whole Earth with Christ as its overseer. It was called Salvation Mansion and Jesus’ blood ran through its walls providing its power. All souls past, present and future lived in this Mansion (shaped like a cube). All had been invited to its grand ballroom to dance. They entered the ballroom through one of 12 doors, three on each side. They came up to the first floor to the ballroom, dressed up to the hilt, and danced and danced and danced. The ballroom was packed with everyone, dressed in fancy gowns and regalia of every color, smiling, laughing, and having fun.

  They were all good people who had done good works. I knew they were already saved because salvation was available to everyone who lived in the Mansion, even those who were not invited to the ball. Whoever plugged into the power in the walls of the Salvation Mansion were automatically forgiven. At the back of the ballroom, was an elevator that would take the ballroom dancers to higher levels of “eternal life,” but very few chose to go up. ~Chronicle 424