The Life and Times of James the Just
Brother of Yahshua

Also Read: Nicknames, Surnames, Code Names and Aliases: Exactly Who Were Yahshua’ Disciples?
Unearthing the Family of Yahshua of Nazareth:
The martyrdom of James, who was called the brother of the Lord.
The Shocking True Story Behind the “Yahshua Family Tomb”

Psalm 22:1-18 (UMH 752)  James 4   Matthew 24:4-22

 

Yahshua in Egypt: Discovering the Secrets of Christ's Childhood Years By Paul Perry / Random House, Inc The Bible contains but a few verses about the years the Holy Family spent in Egypt--their flight from Herod's death sentence, the weary journey, their return to Israel. But what exactly happened to Yahshua and his parents in this ancient land of magic and myth? How did the sojourn in Egypt change Yahshua' life and influence his teachings? By pouring over the narratives of the apocrypha and the traditions of the Coptic Orthodox church, Paul Perry was able to follow the Holy Family's route through Egypt--from their entrance across the burning sands of the Sinai Desert to their zigzagging path down the Nile. Part travel-adventure, part spiritual journey, part historical detective story, Yahshua in Egypt recounts a modern-day pilgrimage into an ancient and often baffling land. In the basements of Coptic churches and the teeming back streets of Cairo, in shrines thronged by worshipers and desert wastes haunted by saints, Perry turns up shards of the past, tales passed down through countless generations, and reveals a very different side of Yahshua than we get in the Bible.

Latest on the James Ossuary

 

The latest - 2007 - is at this link. 

“Forgery Bombshell”  May 16, 2006

The ossuary inscribed "James, son of Joseph, brother of Yahshua" has recently been studied by Professor Wolfgang E. Krumbein, a world-renowned authority. He has reached startling conclusions that will change the debate over this highly controversial artifact. Printed below is a summary of Professor Krumbein's report

As this is being written, Israeli antiquities collector Oded Golan is being tried in criminal court for forging the now-famous James ossuary inscription ("James, son of Joseph, brother of Yahshua"). A new report by a leading German scientist, however, may blow the case out of the water.

According to Professor Wolfgang E. Krumbein, of Oldenburg University, Germany, a well-known expert in geology, geochemistry and microbiology, "We can state with certainty that a period of 50-100 years, at least, was necessary for the formation of the specific composition of patina whose traces were identified inside the ossuary inscription."

Krumbein also examined the patina on the ossuary far from the inscription. His conclusion:

"Patina sampled from the surface of the ossuary, far away from the inscription, was found to be identical to the microscopic traces of patina, which I found inside the ossuary inscription and sites sloping from the surface into the inscription grooves (and no indication of any kind was found of any adhesive on this patina). Therefore, we must conclude that the patina formed over the entire ossuary and the remains of patina in the inscription area were formed over the same period of time."

What about the examination and reports by Tel Aviv University Professor Yuval Goren and his colleague Avner Ayalon of the Geological Survey of Israel on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), concluding without doubt that the inscription is a modern forgery?

Professor Krumbein directly addresses their reports:

"The conclusions noted in the reports by Goren, Ayalon and their colleagues, originate from a series of errors, biases, mistaken premises, use of inappropriate methodology, mistaken geochemistry, defective error control, reliance on unconfirmed data, disregard of information (such as the cleaning and preservation actions performed [on the ossuary], and the use of a comparative isotope methodology despite the fact that the [James ossuary] inscription fail[s] to meet the cumulative prerequisite conditions for such tests and comparisons." Each charge is documented in detail in Krumbein's report.

Professor Krumbein is considered one of the world's leading experts on stone chemistry and biology. He has been a visiting professor at numerous universities, including Harvard, and has conducted post-doctorate research at Hebrew University. He is the recipient of two honorary doctorates. He has edited 15 scientific books and has published over 400 articles in scholarly journals. He was recommended to undertake this study by Professor Steven Weiner, the director of the Kimmel Center for Archaeological Science at the Weizmann Institute in Israel, who was asked for a recommendation by Golan's attorney, Lior Bringer.

Under the heading "Disregard of Relevant Information," Krumbein noted that Yuval Goren and Avner Ayalon ignored the fact that some members of the IAA team also observed original patina in the inscription, patina that Krumbein himself observed. As stated in his report, "I found traces of natural patina inside the ossuary inscription in at least three different sites of the inscription (in the first and last sections of the inscription)." He pointedly added (an apparent reference to observations of other members of the IAA team), "Traces of ancient patina were found inside the area of the inscription... not only by us."

Professor Krumbein had available to him the photographs taken of the ossuary at the time the inscription was initially published in BAR, the photographs taken at the Royal Ontario Museum after the ossuary had broken into five pieces during transit from Israel, photographs taken by the IAA after the ossuary was confiscated, and photographs he himself took when he examined the ossuary in 2005. From a comparison of these photographs, Professor Krumbein found that "the ossuary inscription recently was altered and contaminated by the IAA and/or police." Professor Krumbein notes that "Traces of such [original] patina are evident in photographs of several letters taken in 2002."

Krumbein compared pictures taken in 2002 (published in BAR) with photographs subsequently used in presentations by Goren. In the 2002 photographs there is hardly any filling inside the letters, filling that Goren called the "inscription coating" and more sarcastically (implying a forgery) as the James Bond. This, according to Goren was the paste or adhesive (the bond) used by the forgers to cover the evidence of a modern forged engraving. Krumbein reported that later photographs, taken in 2003 by the IAA, do "show the presence of a 'granular' coating [the inscription coating or James Bond]." On Krumbein's examination in 2005, however, he "saw no traces of such granular coating inside these letters, because these had been recently removed by the IAA/police." Krumbein then observes, "This could be taken as a documentation of deliberate manipulation of the inscription patina by the IAA and/or police during the custody period."

The Krumbein report goes on: While the ossuary was in the custody of he IAA "The inscription and surrounding areas was contaminated using silicon-like red material, preventing more comprehensive tests to confirm or disprove previous test results." The red material was apparently used to make a cast of the inscription. The remains of this material are visible in many of the photographs Krumbein took in 2005.

The Krumbein report also accuses the IAA of ignoring exculpatory evidence. In his report for the IAA, Professor Goren states: "The inscription has been engraved or cleaned over its entire length in the modern age." In their scientific publication Goren and his colleagues acknowledge that the inscription was "freshly cleaned." The Krumbein report charges that "The IAA completely ignored these statements and specifically ignored the ramifications of the cleaning," which would account for the presence of the inscription coating.

Goren and Ayalon conducted oxygen isotope tests on the inscription coating (or James Bond), which in their report is the basis for concluding that the inscription is a forgery. The Krumbein report states that "the isotopic tests conducted on the ossuary inscription patina are irrelevant and can provide no indication of the dating of the inscription production, because the item fails to meet the prerequisite conditions, which are necessary if such tests should bear any scientific meaning." The Krumbein report explains at great length why this is so.

Professor Goren also condemned the ossuary inscription because he found microfossils of nanoplankton (coccoliths) in the inscription coating that, in Professor Goren's words, "are abundant in marine-derived sedimentary rocks (such as chalk), but are nonexistent in terrain-derived sediments. This phenomenon is unique to the inscription coating and was never observed in the other patina samples."

Krumbein directly contradicts Professor Goren:

"Contrary to Professor Goren's opinion, marine microfossils, unobservable to the naked eye, are commonly found in the patina on stone artifacts from the Jerusalem region and were found by us on the ossuary also at places far away from the inscription. Not only do they not indicate a forgery, their presence in the patina reinforces the arguments supporting the authenticity of such items...Over 150 years of literature it was established that all kinds of microfossil remains are permanently blown by wind and storm into the atmosphere and deposited on exposed surfaces and even penetrate into caves."

Professor Krumbein concludes:

"The patina covering several of the inscription letters is no less authentic than the patina covering the other parts of the ossuary, which, according to the IAA team, is authentic."

Professor Krumbein also analyzes the Yehoash (or Jehoash) inscription and the ornamentation on a stone oil lamp, both of which have been charged to be forgeries. In these cases, too, Professor Krumbein finds evidence supporting the authenticity of the inscription and the ornamentation.

The Martyrdom of James the Just

  On October 21^st I just happened to be watching CNN in an Indiana hotel room when a familiar face came on to make an announcement.  It was Herschel Shanks, the editor of Biblical Archaeology Review, and he said that the ossuary (bone box) of James the brother of Yahshua had been discovered among the possessions of a collector in Jerusalem.  He had owned this precious artifact for thirty years without even knowing what it was!  On the side of the limestone bone box is the inscription, “James son of Joseph brother of Yahshua,” as translated from Aramaic.  Shanks told the press that this was the first direct evidence that James and Yahshua existed.  There is no evidence of forgery, Shanks said, so the relic seems to be the genuine article.

   I was simply amazed to hear this on TV news.  It was like a revelation, especially since, while I was watching, I was also reading the book, James the Brother of Yahshua by Robert Eisenman, a historian and expert in ancient Christian history.  Additionally, October 23^rd is James’ traditional day of remembrance.  Seems like more than a coincidence to me!

  There have been so many incredible discoveries in the last fifty years in Bible archaeology; and now we have a verified inscription from the martyrdom of James the Just, the brother of Yahshua and his successor in leading the Messianic movement in Jerusalem.  “What’s next?” I wonder.  Will they find bone powder inside this box and clone James?  Who knows what may happen next in the countdown to His coming?

   As I mentioned, James the Just (as he was known) was Yahshua’ successor in Jerusalem.  This is attested to in the Bible: Acts 15, Galatians 1 and others.  Paul, who wrote at least seven of the New Testament letters, knew James personally and writes about him.  They didn’t get along at all.  Paul wanted to annul the Law of Moses making it easier to bring in non-Jewish believers but James strictly forbid him permission.  That the New Testament retains argumentative dialog between two of its main characters is a sign of authenticity; it’s really surprising that Bible copyists down through the centuries just didn’t write out the confrontations between James and Paul.  Actually, their dispute between law and grace is still being played out in today’s forms of Christianity.

   The New Testament doesn’t say much about James but historians know far more about him than about Yahshua.  James became a famous man, written up in early histories.  We learn that James was known as “Yahcov ha Zaddik” because he was a priest of the Melchi-zedek order.  Zaddik (zedek) is translated as “just” or “righteous,” so we know him as “James the Just.”  (Remember that Hebrews 5:5-6 tells us that Yahshua too was a “priest after the order of Melchizedek.”)  Like Samson, James was a Nazarite dedicated to Yahweh from the womb.  He took vows of chastity and poverty.  He took daily cold baths to help him maintain his composure and focus.  He never cut his hair nor drank wine.  He only wore the coarse white linen of the priests.  James was born and raised a temple priest during a time when foreigners in the government appointed priests.  So James the Just led a movement in competition with government-sponsored religion.  While godless government authorities appointed equally godless priests, James was born into the priesthood of Melchizedek.  His temple ministry was not supported by the government, but by the offerings of the people.  Therefore, he was among those known as “the poor priests” or Essenes.  Have you heard of the Essenes? 

   James the Just, an Essene priest of the Melchizedek order was reported to have entered the Holy of Holies on at least one occasion to speak the sacred name Yahweh and make atonement for all of Israel.  The penalty for such an act on his part was death – it was a chance he had to take because it was his duty in Yahweh to make expiation for Israel.  He was able to get away with this because the Essene order, unlike the Jews, observed the solar calendar, so his group’s Day of Atonement was different than that of regular Jews.  You can see that there would be fierce competition between government-sponsored Judaism and that practiced by the Messianic Essenes, like James.  You might also see how James and Paul might not see eye-to-eye, since James was a Nazarite Temple priest and Paul an apostate Pharisee.

   But James was revered and emulated by the holy people of his day.   He is described as having knees as thick as a camel’s due to frequent prayer for the sins of Israel.  Besides being called “the Just” he had the title “Oblias,” the “pillar.”  The people thought that the only reason that Jerusalem had survived Yahweh’s vengeance against its sins was because James was still alive.  Remember Abraham’s dickering with Yahweh over Sodom and Gomorrah?  Abraham asks, “If there is but one just man in Sodom, will you spare the city?”  Many fervently believed that James was the only just man in Jerusalem and that if he died, Yahweh would destroy the whole city.  That’s why they called him “the Just” and “the Pillar.” As a matter of fact, one ancient historian tells that Rome destroyed Jerusalem specifically because of a riot that ensued when James died.  So maybe for a fact, James’ life was the only thing keeping Yahshua’ prophecy in Matthew 24 about the destruction of Jerusalem from coming to pass!

   Here’s how James met his end.  So many in Jewry had come to believe in the return of the Son of Man in the thirty-odd years that James preached that, on Passover of 62 AD, the Temple big shots pressured James to make a public announcement before the gathered multitudes that his brother Yahshua wasn’t the Anointed One after all.  They ushered him upward, to a wing of the temple, called for the crowd’s attention, then tried to force James to make his speech at risk of being pushed off.  James stepped forward and in a loud voice, affirmed his belief in the return of the Son of Man rather than denying.  So those who took him up there promptly threw him down.  James was badly injured in the fall.  Lying there broken upon the temple steps in the midst of a stupefied mass, his brother Simon heard him whimpering a prayer for the people with his final breath.  Simon cried out to all, “Can’t you hear – even now the Just One is praying for you!”  At this, men took clubs used to process the priestly linen garments and pounded the life out of James. 

   The grief of his death on Passover caused a riot against all authority throughout the city.  Shortly thereafter the Romans came, besieged the city and leveled it.  We have no reason not to believe the historian’s incredible story.  He wasn’t a Christian and had every reason to tell the truth, especially since his patron was the Roman Emperor Titus who had actually done the besieging of Jerusalem!  As for the ossuary, James’ bones were buried in the foundation of the temple exactly where he fell -- until the bone box disappeared then resurfaced 1932 years later.  And here’s another miracle – only because the bone box has turned up have you and I discovered the incredible story of James the Just, brother of Yahshua, priest of Melchizedek.

 

The Bones of Peter

   Now that you’ve heard about James’ bones, I’m reminded of Peter’s.  Let’s make a mental leap of 1500 miles now from Jerusalem to Rome.  There, the story was told that altar at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome was built over a pauper’s cemetery that contained Peter’s grave.  In the 1960s, forty feet below the altar, Peter’s resting-place was discovered, identified by a crude graffiti inscription, petroV eni (“Peter within”).  What was left of him was found ‘within’ -- 134 bone fragments that were thoroughly tested and declared authentic by the church in 1968.  History tells us that, like James, Peter too lost his life for his faith.  The Roman soldiers of Nero crucified Peter.  I told you all about that in an earlier sermon, remember?  Peter was fleeing Rome when he met the Risen Yahshua who said to him, “I’m going back to be crucified again...”  Remember?

 

The Shroud of Yahshua   
(A New Theory Here)

  Anyway, now as I think of James and Peter, the image on the Shroud of Turin comes to mind – the sheet which is purported to be the burial cloth of Yahshua face, complete with blood, with an indelible negative death mask of Yahshua.  Certainly you’re familiar with this image.  No one can say for certain how such an image could be retained on cloth in such a way; the wounds portrayed on the Shroud are anatomically in accordance with Yahshua’ wounds recorded in the Bible, the stains are human blood and the pollen on the shroud is from plants that grew only in the Middle East in his time.  Because it caught fire in the Middle Ages, the shroud can’t be accurately carbon-dated.  But I believe that the Shroud of Turin is authentic and bears the likeness, wounds and blood of the real Yahshua.  Through the miracle of death and resurrection, we have what amounts to a photographic representation of our Savior.  If so, his suffering becomes far more real to us as we view the Shroud!

 

Why Must the Good Die Young?

   It seems that religious examples should never die under such circumstances.  James, Peter and Yahshua were good and fine men.  They should have been emulated and lauded, not murdered.  It doesn’t make any sense that they died martyrs nor that in our lifetimes these artifacts would come to light to remind us of what happened to them.  It makes us wonder what became of the rest the New Testament heroes we read about.  The Acts of the Apostles doesn’t say very much at all.  But other early writers have quite a bit to say.  Virtually all the others suffered the martyr’s death as well.

   Acts tells us that the other James was beheaded on the authority of the King, and the devilish Pharisees stoned Stephen, the deacon.  Historians inform us that Nicanor the deacon and Matthias were also stoned by the Jews.  Besides Peter, -- Philip, Andrew, Simon Zealotes and Jude were also crucified by the Romans.  Simon, Jude and James were brothers of Yahshua.  They had more assassinations than the Kennedys.  Matthew and Thomas were speared by heathen gangs, the former in Ethiopia, the latter in India.  Barnabas and Bartholomew were beaten to death by heathen gangs.  Luke was hanged by pagans in Greece.  Mark was pulled to pieces beneath the idol Serapis in Egypt.  And Paul, so it’s written, was beheaded during the persecutions of Nero.

   Historians also tell us of women who endured the same fate, including famous women such as Faustina, Perpetua and Felicity.  Where the Bible leaves off, Fox’s Book of Martyrs takes up, where you may read about the lives and deaths of thousands of saintly people caught up in similar religious circumstances.  Doesn’t it seem horrendous that righteous men and women of good will die horribly?  It doesn’t make sense at all.  Still, it isn’t our intention to glorify martyrdom!  Though all these men and women were freedom fighters for a Kingdom, not one died with a weapon in hand; but all who could died with prayer on the lips! 

 

How About Today

   Of course, persecution is part and parcel of biblical Christianity.  We here in the United States are under the impression that the era of Christian persecution is long past or, if it still exists today, simply breaks out in isolated areas or in communist countries.  Christians are supposed to be prosperous now; the gospel of prosperity is being proclaimed to millions in this country from television stations and pulpits everywhere.  Be that as it may, you might be surprised to learn that more people were tortured for their Christian faith in the 20^th century than in all the previous nineteen centuries combined.  In fact, one hundred million Christians died for their faith in the 20^th century, more than died in all the 20^th century wars put together.  And 200 million believers out there someplace are facing severe trials right now as we enjoy our church service in air-conditioned comfort.

   Why so much persecution?  Because something incredible happened between 1980 and 1990.  In 1980, 70% of evangelical Christians lived in North America or Western Europe.  By 1990, everything flipped.  70% of all evangelicals lived outside the “west” – in countries where Christianity is not tolerated.  Twelve years later, the numbers of Christians in places like China, the Middle East and Indonesia are increasing at a staggering rate, as though Yahshua’ prophecy for the  end-time was indeed coming to pass in our time, that “this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).

“Many Christians around the world believe that they have been silent for too long.  Because they feel a new sense of support from fellow Christians [here], many are now publicly stating their belief in Yahshua in spite of the great risks” (IDOP Pastor Guide).

 

Pastor Kelabora

   You may recall that Yahshua’ last utterance from the cross was a prayer.  It was the same way with James when he fell to the steps of the Temple – he began to pray for his persecutors.  It’s not surprising that history books tell us many Christians used their very last breaths to pray for forgiveness or offer words of encouragement.

   Pastor Kelabora served the assembly of Yahweh for twenty-two years in Indonesia, the country with the highest population of Muslims in the world.  This was the location of that horrible terrorist bombing of last month that took the lives of hundreds of Americans.  The martyrdom of Christians is common in Indonesia today.

   Pastor Kelabora was a “circuit riding” preacher who made his way from charge to charge, island to island, by boat.  After preaching a service, he left by boat for his next service, on a nearby island.  During the journey, Muslim radicals began to fire at the pastor’s boat from the shore.  Encouraged by this open persecution, some devils jumped into a boat and came after the pastor with guns.  Pastor Kelabora was soon killed by a gunshot from the other boat.  Fortunately, the pastor’s family, who were also onboard, weren’t injured.  His wife Christina survived to pass on his last words.  Those words were, “Don’t stop praying.”  Don’t stop praying!

 

Worth Dying For

   Some say that no idea is worth dying for.  Maybe that’s true.  However, these martyrs didn’t die for an idea or a doctrine or even a church.  They died for the sake of a man – a Jewish pauper – whom they believed was alive.  A man who had told them, "My command is that you love one another as I have loved you.  There is no greater love than when a man lays down his life for his friends”  (John 15:12,13).   They also died for a kingdom – an unseen kingdom – a kingdom of love and light where there is to be no war and no persecution.  A kingdom in which Veterans Day is still celebrated and Veterans are remembered every day.  These “veterans” who died for him and his kingdom were already dead to the world.  But when they were dying for the world, like James the Just, like Pastor Kelabora, they were praying for you.  May Yahweh help us to do what ever we can for them.