Free High Stakes by Erin McCarthy Page A

beforehand what was to come.
    As he began his public life, he knew he would be addressing people who were largely illiterate, just as most of his disciples were. He therefore addressed people using a lot of parables that still hold great meaning and truths to this day. His parables were mainly ways to explain to the masses how to care for their fellow man and how to live life as a good person. He was much more interested in the society of the times than the politics. Even when asked about taxes he simply said, “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and render unto God that which is God’s” (Matthew 22:21; Mark 12:17; Luke 20:25). If you look a little beneath this statement, as well as many others he made in his sermons, you will see a general theme that he preached all his life. It is simply—quit being concerned about all the daily bustle of money and the worry over property and what you have here; it is truly transient and your real reward is in heaven.
    It is also interesting to note that some of Christ’s miracles are recorded in the Qur’an (Koran), the holy book of Islam. The Qur’an mentions Christ healing a leper (mentioned also in Matthew, Mark and Luke), the healing of Bartimaus, a man born blind (also mentioned in John), and the raising of Lazarus from the dead (mentioned by John). It also mentions a miracle performed in Christ’s childhood—the bringing to life of pigeons made of clay (mentioned in the noncanonical books—the Infancy Gospel of Thomas and the Infancy Narrative of James). Both of these noncanonical books explain some of the childhood of Jesus but are not accepted by the Church as canon, or as genuine. If you ever get a chance to read them, you will understand why the Church did not accept them. For example, they say that Christ as a boy killed two boys and struck the parents of one boy blind in fits of anger (Francine says he did none of those actions).
    The second miracle performed by Christ, according to all of the four canonical gospels, is when Jesus cured a servant of a centurion in Capharnaum (Matthew 8:5–13; Luke 7:1–10; John 4:46–54). Both Matthew and Luke write that the person afflicted is a servant of a centurion, while John writes that the person is the son of a ruler (another inconsistency). John’s is the only gospel where it is written that this was the second miracle of Jesus. It may be incorrect, as Matthew has written, that Jesus cured a leper before this incident, and Luke has written that Jesus had healed a man with a withered hand in a synagogue on the Sabbath before the above incident (more inconsistencies). We are going to find many inconsistencies in the four gospels, which cause suspicions that the gospels are not factual. They are also very tiresome, because they present different versions of the same story.
    This miracle of the servant (or son?) does give us our first insight into the power that Christ commanded, however, for this healing was done from afar and Jesus was never in the presence of the person afflicted. This is also the first case of a person being healed by their faith in Jesus…as the centurion (ruler?) expressed his faith in Jesus and Jesus in turn healed his servant (son?).
    Jesus performed many miracles while in Israel, and I will touch on most of the major ones that are chronicled in one or more of the four gospels. There are only a few that are mentioned in all four books: feeding the five thousand; converting bread and wine into his body and blood (not accepted literally by all Christians); and the resurrection from his tomb (not accepted by most Jewish Christians and Gnostics).
    I’ll start with the miraculous catch of fishes (Luke 5:1–11; John 21: 6). This is the miracle in which Jesus tells Simon Peter to cast his nets in a certain place and they bring up a huge cache of fish. There is a big inconsistency here, in that Luke has this miracle occurring just before he