False Accusers Testify Against Jesus: His Trials

Killing Jesus Required False Witnesses

by Mike Robinson

During the time of Christ, there were three chief categories of testimony according to the Mishnah: irrelevant or useless testimony, a standing testimony, and a satisfactory testimony. The irrelevant testimony was rejected. The standing testimony was accepted if and when it was confirmed. The satisfactory testimony was based on the agreed testimony of two or three witnesses. The testimony collected in the trials of Jesus was inadmissible since it was irrelevant testimony (Mark 14:56).

Jesus had two primary trials (Jewish ecclesiastical and Roman criminal) and numerous legal proceedings within each. The ecclesiastical trial yielded a conviction of blasphemy. The Roman trial never produced a guilty verdict but ended with the death sentence for Christ. Pilate declared that Jesus was innocent (John 18:29-30). Jesus was initially brought to Pilate without formal charges since Rome would not accept a Jewish blasphemy charge for indictment. The elders and Pilate came together together, trying to come up with a charge that would stick—one that was within the jurisdiction of Roman law. They tried various accusations; finally they charged Christ with treason against Caesar and Rome. They misrepresented Christ’s view on taxes and kingship: “We have found this man subverting the nation… He opposes taxes to Caesar … and claims to be a king” (Luke 23:2). Jesus was a target of religious persecution and Roman injustice, but was completely innocent. (see book here). Pilate sentenced Christ to die by crucifixion (John 19:16), even though he declared Him guiltless (Luke 23:14-22).

Christ was executed without a Roman verdict of guilt; nonetheless He was crucified for religious reasons. The Jewish leaders insisted: “We have a law, and according to that law He must die, because He claimed to be the Son of God” (John 19:5-7). Jesus was killed because Temple authorities asserted that He was guilty of blasphemy.  Additional charges were raised because the Jewish leaders knew that Pilate would never approve an execution on a point of religious law. Other charges that fell short of indictment were: Jesus’ threat to destroy the Temple (a misunderstanding of His body metaphor); subverting Caesar; prohibiting the payment of taxes to Rome; inciting rebellion; and claiming to be a king. Perhaps Pilate allowed the unjust sentence to be carried out in fearful deference to Caesar, but, criminally, the chief reason for the crucifixion was not for tax prohibition (Bill O’Reilly) or revolutionary ideas (Reza Aslan). Christ was crucified for blasphemy (John 19:5-7).

Moreover, atonement for sins was the supreme reason for the execution of Jesus Christ (Isaiah 53; John 3:15-19; Romans 3:20-26, 4:5; Titus 3:4-7). Jesus died to atone for the sins of men and to set them free.

He who was delivered up because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification (Romans 4:25).

Jesus is the vicarious substitution since He died for our sins on our behalf.  Christ was offered in place of us. Jesus accomplished that which we could simply not.  He vicariously stood in our place and bore our sins on the cross as He made propitiation for our sins.

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10).

Whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed (Romans 3:25).

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To see fresh insights into the arrest, trial, and killing of Jesus Christ see my new book Killing Christ HERE. It looks at the death of Christ using ancient Jewish and Roman sources. In it, the reader discovers how the story of the killing of Jesus is at once transcendent, historical, and religious, yet true truth.

Bill O’ Reilly, Reza Aslan, Bart Erhman, and Killing Jesus

Bill O’ Reilly, Skeptics, and Killing Jesus

Bill O’ Reilly, author of Killing Lincoln and Killing Kennedy, declared that Jesus merely started “a philosophy”¹ and much of the biblical narratives are allegorical and symbolic—not in fact real history. He also suggested that Christians do not worship Jesus Christ but they worship the “spirit of Jesus.”² He’s convinced that Christ’s main undertaking was to teach men how to live properly. I have no doubt that Christ’s moral teaching is as important as it is profound, yet His primary mission was to die to set men free. Many other skeptics and liberals have mounted quests for the historical Jesus and have landed not so far from where O’ Reilly takes his readers. In the end, the Bible holds, as the skeptics have found nothing. But skeptics will continue to publish books about their new theories on the life and death of Christ even though we have an infallible account of Him in the New Testament.

Beyond Bill O’ Reilly, few disbelieving sleuths believe that Jesus Christ died for the ungodly (Romans 4:5) and rose from the grave in victory (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). I do. And not only that, I know with full certainty. Some contend Christ was a good teacher who died because of a tragic set of accidents. Still a few others say that Christ never existed, thus He never died.

Of course, theories abound in cases of history where evidence is scarce. But, there exists not only deep layers of historical data for the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, there are also potent logical reasons why such must be the case.[see book that defends the Biblical view of Christ's death HERE]

The theories suggested by skeptics (O’ Reilly, Aslan, Ehrman, etc.) not only have several faults, but what they pen, especially when it is inconsistent with the scriptural accounts of Christ, cannot possibly be true. I maintain:  

1. God is.

2. His word has been revealed.

3. Scripture reveals the truth about Christ’s arrest, trial, crucifixion, death, and resurrection; the contrary is plainly impossible.

Indeed, Jesus Christ died. He was crucified. Nevertheless, His illegal execution was merely the beginning of a comprehensive transformation in history. Since Jesus’ death and resurrection, it often appears that the kingdom of man and the kingdom of God have traded places. Christ's outlook, however, was a bold and challenging assurance. The kingdom Jesus launched is the one we still see expanding today.

Purchase Killing Christ: Contesting Trendy Critics Regarding the Death & Resurrection of Jesus HERE 

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NOTES

1.        http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2012/12/05/bill-oreilly-christianity-is-not-a-religion-but-a-philosophy/

http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2012/12/05/bill-oreilly-christianity-is-not-a-religion-but-a-philosophy/

http://www.cafemom.com/answers/1302178/Did_you_see_Bill_OReilly_making_the_claim_to_David_Silverman_that_Christianity_is_a_philosophy_not_a

2.        http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3004813/posts

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Killing Christ: Contesting Trendy Critics Regarding The Death and Resurrection of Jesus 

An extraordinary conspiracy of injustice, cruelty, as well as religious and political interests sentenced an innocent man to the cruelest method of execution ever developed. Yet, the target was no mere victim, He was the Redeemer. Jesus as God and man came to die in the place of humanity. The

Bible, Talmud, Mishnah, and Roman historians reveal that the Son of God was illegally arrested, tried, and executed. How did such a thing come to be? Who were the spectators, the authorities, frauds, and scoundrels? Why was Christ’s arrest illegal under Hebrew law? What was it like at Gethsemane during the arrest, or in the chambers of the chief priest as the interrogations of Christ took place? What can an apologetics approach, using Hebraic sources, tell us about the meaning of the last words Jesus uttered on the cross? With the massive amount of evidence for the resurrection of Christ, why can we go beyond probability to full certainty that Christ is risen? This captivating work will answer those questions in a way that will keep the pages turning.

In Killing Jesus Christ, Robinson invites you to experience the most stunning injustice in the history of civil law, conjoined to the supreme triumph of the power of God, and the redemption provided by the death of Christ. The author provides a chronological examination that includes a detailed look at everything from rabbinical law to Roman justice to Christ's courtroom declarations of His divinity. This new volume furnishes a readable examination and analysis of the indictments, preliminary proceedings, trials, and execution of Jesus—great for apologetics and the defense of the faith.

With all the skeptical assaults on the meaning of the death, life, and resurrection of Christ, this innovative volume is a must for every Christian, minister, and apologist—it will be a book that you will give away many times to friends. This is so because it is serious (it contains informed analysis of relevant biblical truths), rational (it is well-argued), potent (it holds the reader's attention through gripping illustrations), and spiritual (it will set you ablaze for God).

The death of Jesus stands at the very center of Christianity. Still, many are confused about the reasons for the killing of Jesus, for many deviant views are saturating the media.

Killing Jesus Christ reveals the truth about:

• The Arrest of Jesus Christ

• The Various Trials of Christ: An Apologetic Approach

• The Errors of the Trendy Critics (Bill O’Reilly, Reza Aslan, Bart Ehrman, etc.)

• The First Good Friday and Its Redemptive Provision

• The Ancient Rabbinic, Roman, and Non-biblical Historical Accounts

• The Proof of the Resurrection of Christ: The Facts within an Assured Rational Framework

• Who Really Killed Jesus?

• The Evidence of The Historicity of Christ’s Life, Death, and Resurrection

The publication of Killing Jesus Christ is indeed an event. What is intended here is an account of the arrest, trials, death, and resurrection of Christ which does justice to the full sweep of biblical testimony and the ancient historical sources (the Talmud, Mishnah, Targums, Dead Sea Scrolls, and Roman archives). What is accomplished is something on the order of a vigorous defense of Christian truth—an appropriation of the data, evidence, and facts within a synthesis of the foundational necessity of Christian theism.

Killing Jesus Christ is a valuable resource for students of the gospels, and a highly stimulating volume for all interested in Christian truth. The section on the harmony of the Gospel accounts, regarding the trials and crucifixion, alone makes this a valuable tool for apologetics. It will be hard to come away from this book without a feeling of having been enriched and challenged. This is a book that will be formative for average Christians and scholars as well as students and pastors—the author is clear, accessible and passionate.

On Sale Limited Time $0.99 The new fascinating book Killing Jesus Christ is available HERE

Minister and Apologist Reviews "Killing Christ: Contesting Trendy Critics Regarding the Death and Resurrection of Jesus"

The Most Important Thing

By J. Steed "Tome Gnome"

This review is from: Killing Christ: Contesting Trendy Critics Regarding The Death and Resurrection of Jesus (Kindle Edition)

This is a review of Mike Robinson's book entitled, "Killing Christ: Contesting Trendy Critics Regarding The Death and Resurrection of Jesus" Mr. Robinson's whole premise in this book is the importance of getting down to 'The Main Thing' regarding the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Too often, writers give damning slight praise to the facts and the ascribed meaning of the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, but praise disproportionately His so-called philosophy or example. This is akin to gushing over the dishware on a Food Channel presentation while ignoring the expert dishes prepared by equally expert Chefs. CS Lewis said it best, perhaps, "A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg--or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us." [Mere Christianity by CS Lewis].
 All disciplines must of necessity use philosophy at some level, and they must at some point exercise or acknowledge ethics, but neither makes them a Philosopher nor an Ethicist. Why would skeptics, reviewers and deniers exercise such effort to bypass the obvious import of Jesus' words and actions in order to make Him symbolic or a mere example? How would such critics feel if when checking out with their purchases at a Market, they were told what wonderful symbols of Capitalism they were, and then instructed them to return their purchases to their respective shelves so that 'real people' might engage in the real commerce that they so ably exemplified? Presuppositions and agendas are at play.

Even the most hostile critics of Christianity admit the historicity of Jesus Christ, and must contend with the large historical footprint that He personally has made and that those who have had their lives unalterably changed by his Life, Teaching, Death, Resurrection, Ascension, and Promised Return. Critics would place their readers in middle of a sort of Chernobyl without the benefit of a Radioactive sensing Geiger Counter, assuring them that their reality is such-and-so, all the while their condition deteriorates until it is too late to recover. Such is the unkindest cut of all. Jesus was nothing if not deliberate; His Apostles and the New Testament Writers have absorbed this same characteristic. Jesus was no accidental savior. His resurrection was no beneficial after thought. The New Testament in telling the truth discloses all the facts, not just the ones that helped make their case. As an example, no one wanting to make their case for a new religion in the Middle East of the time would have women as the first witnesses of Christ's resurrection. Their testimonies weren't often even accepted in courts. The New Testament doesn't play at this modern invention of pretended neutrality; it has the Truth and powerfully presents it to those who can't live without it.

We will perhaps have to often endure Pop treatments of this weightiest of all historical and spiritual matters, just as we are regularly bombarded with advertisements, elections and verbose, self-made experts on every subject under the sun, but the Truth is ever out there, and Mike Robinson lets it stand unvarnished for the interested Reader. The Court and what the Verdict will be in this matter will inevitably be in the heart of the people who open themselves up to these matters in the privacy of their homes or in the bustle of the marketplace. In the final analysis, although the evidence is ample and satisfying in this case, "only those who have ears, will hear." 

For those readers with a sincere heart who wish to know this most important of subjects, this is an outstanding place to come and analyse the issues. For those who wish material for messages and sermons, this is the resource you are looking for. For those looking for an outstanding addition to their library or a gift to a special someone, you have found it. And I'm sure the author would be most pleased if his work found its way to that person to whom it served as the gateway for the happiest of eternities.

read Mr. Steed's review and purchase Killing Christ HERE