Jesus Christ warned us that in these last days, Satan’s attempts to deceive mankind will reach unparalleled proportions. Christ told us that many would believe Satan’s delusions, lies, great signs and lying wonders (Matthew 24:11; Revelation 13:13; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11), and He even said that we must take heed that no one deceives us (Matthew 24:4), and that even we, the elect, must be careful not to be deceived (Matthew 24:24).
One of those demonic deceptions, especially for professing nominal Christians, is the Shroud of Turin. It is claimed that it is the burial cloth of Jesus Christ, and that it is imprinted with the image of the body and face of Jesus. We have published numerous articles proving that this Shroud does NOT depict Jesus Christ.
For instance, we wrote in “Is the Shroud of Turin Authentic?” https://www.eternalgod.org/is-the-shroud-of-turin-authentic/: “John 19:40 shows that Christ was [bound] in linen CLOTHES and that John 11:44 describes the custom of Jewish burials in using several CLOTHES and binding them about the dead body, in addition to the dead person’s face being wrapped with or in a cloth (a head swath)…” We have also pointed out that “the results of carbon-14 tests in 1988 suggested the shroud was no older than the 13th century [and] that the ‘calendar age range assigned to the shroud cloth, with a 95% confidence level, is from 1260 to 1390 A.D.’”
Recently, articles have been stating that “Italian researchers used specialist x-ray technology to examine the linen sheet and determine its age [suggesting] the cloth was made around 2,000 years ago” and that the “carbon dating was unreliable” (The Sun, dated August 20). More importantly, the study claims that the “Shroud contains evidence of a real person with real blood and other bodily effluents” (Newsmax, dated September 5).
There are at least two irrefutable biblical proofs establishing that the Shroud of Turin—whatever it might be—could not possibly be a genuine depiction of Jesus Christ, but that it is a sophisticated Satanic fabrication to uphold long-standing errors taught by orthodox Christianity.
The Daily Express got Midjourney AI to provide a glimpse of a face that could be in the Shroud. The image shows a man with a long beard and long hair, similar to how Jesus is usually depicted. The only problem is, Jesus did not wear long hair. This AI depiction is a Satanic attempt to present a false Jesus to the world. Previously, Israeli and British forensic anthropologists and computer programmers created Christ’s face featured in “Popular Mechanics,” a 1.2 million-circulation magazine. They did not mean to imply that Christ actually looked the way the magazine cover portrayed Him, as they used the skull of a Jew from the first century — not, of course, the actual skull of Jesus. They nevertheless determined that Christ did not wear long hair. Other experts agree with that conclusion.
Jesus looked like an ordinary Jew; Judas had to identify Him to the soldiers. He was a Nazarene (having grown up in the city of Nazareth; Matthew 2:23), but He was not a “Nazarite.” It is true that “Nazirites” did not cut their hair, but they were also prohibited from drinking any wine or touching a dead body (Numbers 6:4–6). Christ, however, did drink wine (Luke 22:14–18; Matthew 11:19), and He did touch dead bodies (Luke 8:51–55). If He had been a Nazarite, He would have sinned against the Law of God. But He said that He had kept His Father’s commandments (John 15:10), including all ritual laws still in force and effect at His time.
In addition, Paul told us in 1 Corinthians 11:2–16 that a man is not to wear “long hair,” and that even nature teaches us that wearing long hair is a “dishonor” to or “shameful” for a man. Christ would have most certainly not behaved in a way which would have dishonored His Father (compare John 8:49). So, the Shroud of Turin does NOT depict Jesus Christ, even for this reason alone.
More proof in this regard is given in our free booklet, “Do You Know the Jesus of the Bible?”
But there is another biblical reason totally debunking the idea that the Shroud of Turin could be a genuine depiction of Jesus.
Newsmax wrote on September 5 that according to the new study, there are “‘[b]loodstained marks all over the body image which are consistent with pre-crucifixion flagellation, bloodstained marks on the head that are consistent with a ‘crown’ of thorns, blood marks on the hand and feet that are consistent with crucifixion and the bloodstain on the chest that evidences a post-mortem wound that corresponds with the post-mortem spear wound that Christ received as is described in the Bible.”
The problem is, the Jesus of the Bible did NOT receive a “post-mortem spear wound.”
We pointed out in our Q&A, “How, exactly, did Jesus Christ die? Why did a soldier pierce Him with a spear when He was already dead?”:
“When we read Matthew’s account, in the New King James Bible, we will not find exactly how Christ died. The reason is that this translation omits a crucial verse, at the end of Matthew 27:49. Several translations, as well as many old manuscripts, have retained this missing verse. For instance, verses 49 and 50 read in the Moffat translation: ‘But the others said, “Stop, let us see if Elijah does come to save him!” (Seizing a lance, another pricked [better, pierced] his side, and out came water and blood.) Jesus again uttered a loud scream, and gave up his spirit.’…
“We need to take note of an additional passage in John’s account. We read in John 19:32–34: ‘Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.’
“This Scripture, the way it is rendered, seems to say that the soldier pierced Christ’s side after He had already died. However, the word ‘pierced’ is in the aorist tense in the original Greek, designating a kind of action, not the time of action. It describes an action done at a single moment, and not continuously, but it does not tell us when the action takes place. Only the context can make this clear. Therefore, in John 19:34, the passage could also be correctly translated as, ‘But one of the soldiers HAD PIERCED His side with a spear.’ From the missing verse in Matthew 27:49, we know that John 19:34 has to be translated, in fact, in the past tense.”
Much more evidence is given in our free booklet, “Jesus Christ–A Great Mystery“, proving that Jesus died at the moment when a soldier pierced His side. He did NOT receive a post-mortem wound.
The Shroud of Turin is a demonic fake, designed to deceive professing Christians and the entire world. Appearing to “confirm” the biblical account, it in reality distorts and falsifies it. It is also important to realize that virtually all depictions of Christ do not accurately reflect His appearance as a human being on earth. He did not wear long flowing hair, and He did not look like a woman. He was a carpenter, a builder, and He was also the leader of former fishermen. Even His hair color was probably not blond—as depicted in most paintings—but black, as the Hebrew people at the time of Christ were recognized as having predominantly black hair.
But most importantly, we should not have pictures of Christ to begin with. Christ was God in the flesh, and Deuteronomy 4:15-16 tells us:
“Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female…’
Paul tells us that we are not to “know” Christ “according to the flesh.” We read in 2 Corinthians 5:16 (Phillips translation): “… even though we knew Christ as a man, we do not know him like that any longer.”
We do not know how Christ really looked as a Man, but we DO know that He did NOT look like the figure on the Shroud of Turin. It is dangerous to focus on images and pictures of Christ and think that in some way those portrayals may accurately represent how Christ might have looked. We are to focus on Christ as He is now—a powerful Spirit being! To get a correct portrayal of Christ’s present appearance, please read Revelation 1:14–16. Christ has white hair, as white as wool or snow, and His eyes are like flames of fire, while His face shines like the sun in full strength! THAT is the Jesus Christ of the Bible—God the Son—who is worthy of worship!
And NO picture or image could portray Him in THAT way!
