What do Jesus, Georgia, The Walking Dead, and Government shut down have in common?

What do Jesus, Georgia, The Walking Dead, and Government shut down have in common?

Did you know The Walking Dead was filmed in Georgia? The Walking Dead is the most watched television series in basic cable history, based on the graphic novels by the same name, and has been filmed exclusively in Georgia. It put locations in Atlanta, Senoia, and beyond the maps for fans of the show.

But, where did the idea come from for the movie and T.V. series? Could it have been the death of Jesus, (in what we think was 33 A.D.)? What happened immediately following His death is right out of the T.V. series!  But, it's not only what happened after His death, it also happened a few times while he was alive! Say what?

Ironically, the death of Jesus, was also the most watched (and recorded) event in world history. What is it about death, and then people walking around after their death, that creates such amazing interest?

But, the similarities and the interest don't end there. Let's take a closer look at what happened to find out if the death of Jesus triggered the most successful T.V. show in history.

Sounds goofy doesn't it? But let me tell you, it's one thing to watch The Walking Dead on T.V., and it's yet another to see The Walking Dead in real life.  It’s even more amazing to experience The Walking Dead in real life! 2000 years after the first one! Yes, you can experience The Walking Dead today! 

Apparently, what comes out of the T.V. series, not only happened once, it happened three times. Once when He was alive, and then TWO times immediately following.

This is not only recorded in what we call the New Testament, it's recorded in actual history from well-respected historians, so before you throw this out and get excited about the T.V. show, at least take a closer look at the first time it occurred.

Did you realize we actually have The Walking Dead T.V. series recorded in history, and in the New Testament?

SIDEBAR: Here is a great question before we take a look at the occurrences. Why in the world would you record The Walking Dead in the New Testament? Isn't it hard enough to believe that Jesus (himself), actually raised from the dead, let alone a bunch of other people apparently not related?

Why do historians say the same thing? Really? Did this actually happen? Do we have any real evidence that it did happen? And, if it did would this not make fans of the T.V. show even more passionate?

Could the church be entitled to overrides?

Let's check it out. Remember, what you are about to read is not only recorded in what we call the New Testament, it's recorded in actual history. The N.T. did not even exist until 300 years AFTER the fact, so don’t worry about the N.T. or what we call the Bible, we are not talking about that here. But, when it happened, the writers of the New Testament, and historians alike, wrote it down so we could analyze the evidence.

First Occurrence:

Just one guy, a man named Lazarus. One of the few people who is referred to as a friend of Jesus. Ironically, the word friend comes from the Greek word Philadelphia. This is yet another reason to write this article today, just one day after the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Minnesota Vikings to advance to the Super Bowl.  Do you see how religious views and football go hand in hand J

Sorry about the detour, back to our story.

Apparently, this guy Lazarus caught the 2018 version of the Flu, because he was one sick puppy. Lazarus was the brother of two women, Mary and Martha, but not the Mary who was the mother of Jesus.

Women did not have much influence at this time in history, as a matter of fact, they were viewed as a bit less than sub-human. So, both Mary and Martha decide to team up, gather courage, and go tell Jesus (who happens to a friend of Lazarus, their brother), that he was really sick, and could they get a little help from Jesus.

The rumors were already out in spite of the fact that ABC, CBS, and CNN had yet to exist. FOX was there, but they did have a place to nest. Apparently, from the news reports, this guy Jesus was a good physician. The one sister Mary, had used some expensive perfume on Jesus, so she probably felt she had a little bit of a favor owed to her, so both Mary and her sister Martha, would go and tell Jesus about their brother, Lazarus.

When Mary and Martha tracked down Jesus, they pulled him aside to explain how sick their brother was, and that he was not doing well.  Jesus tells them not to worry about it, Lazarus is not really that sick, he is not going to die so just chill out.

Wow! That seems a little cold doesn't it? Pardon the pun.

As a matter of fact, the historical record seems to indicate that Jesus purposely spent two more days at his current location, to purposely delay helping his friends!

What kind of guy was Jesus? Really?

I mean, these two nice ladies ask a simple favor, and Jesus blows them off by telling them it's no big deal! Then Jesus decides to stay two days longer, so they can worry even more?

Imagine their conversation on the way back.

After these added two days, Jesus calls his posse in, and tells them He is ready to go back to Judea. Of course, these Jesus followers thought this was a terrible idea. They must have been filled with compassion as well. They reminded Jesus, (something they felt they had to do quite often), that the Jewish leaders were trying to stone him, and they were not talking about legalizing pot, they were reminding Jesus, that he would be killed if he went back, so obviously, this is not a good idea to go back.

Jesus gives them some type of weird answer, or explanation, using a flashlight as an illustration, and they did not even know what a flashlight was! Plus, the flashlight Jesus was talking about, used the human heart as a battery, so they were totally lost. But, that's not uncommon.

Jesus further explains that his friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, so He must go wake him up. Of course, His followers don’t understand, and tell Jesus, that if Lazarus is sleeping, he does not need Jesus as a human alarm clock.  Plus, if you go, we have to go, and we have more important things to do than wake up people. As you can see, they were a sharp group of companions, NOT! 

Jesus probably gave them a forearm shiver, and said dude, “I am not talking about real sleep, I am telling you he died”! Of course, one of Jesus's followers, then gets sarcastic, and suggests that's even a better reason not to go. After all, if Lazarus is dead, then it's really too late!

But, he then adds, since all of us have agreed to follow you, we will go and die with you. Nice. In other words, Jesus, since you refuse to take our suggestions, we are stuck. So, this follower by the name of Thomas, rallies the troops by letting everyone get ready to die! What a wonderful plan to overthrow Rome. 

This same Thomas, would later demand physical evidence after Jesus pulled the same stunt on Himself. Thomas would be forever branded with the nickname, Doubting Thomas! Even after watching what's about to take place. All of Jesus followers thought they were going on a suicide mission, but that actual mission will not take place until later.

Jesus skips over their suicidal tendencies and gets back to the main point of the story. Jesus tells them that he was actually glad he did not go back with Mary and Martha, and was glad Lazarus died!

Nice compassion huh? This must have totally confused these boys.

Jesus even explained why he spent two extra days in the hotel at their current location, to make sure Lazarus was good and dead! Holy smokes, are you sure this is the same Jesus?

As you can see, Jesus drove his followers crazy.

By the time Jesus arrives, Lazarus has already been in the tomb for 4 days! Worse yet, the Jewish leaders had assembled at the house for the funeral party. Apparently, Lazarus was well respected. Maybe the political and religious leaders wanted to do a press conference on how Jesus was so rude, while pretending they cared about Lazarus. 

You know, a little early version of fake news.

Mary and Martha probably told the leaders (innocently), that they had asked Jesus to help, but Jesus had told them that Lazarus was not really that sick. Not sick? He just died, boy is Jesus an idiot.

Talk about a huge mistake, this was the ideal time for all the political leaders to gather for a press conference and show how heartless Jesus really was. If not heartless, at least totally inadequate, or best case a fool.

It does not take much to imagine all of this taking place, just look at our current state of government divisiveness, and shut-down of today.

If you think we are divisive now, you ain't seen nothing until Jesus arrived. Plus, these same leaders would actually frame Jesus for the death penalty, and it worked!

But, not for long!

Back to our first occurrence of The Walking Dead!

As soon as Mary and Martha hear that Jesus has finally decided to help, only 4 days too late, Martha decides to go out and meet Jesus, but Mary is bent out of shape. Mary decides to show her frustration by staying home.

Sure enough, the first thing out of Martha's mouth when she went out to meet Jesus was the following...

“Hello Jesus, as you might have heard my brother died, of course if you would have been here, he would not have died, but no worries, you probably had better things to do, than help us out”. 

The text may not quite record this exact thought, but it’s clear that behind the description, we clearly see that Martha was blaming Jesus for her brother’s death.

But then, Martha said something that Jesus really liked, (which did not happen often, from any person).

Martha says the following...

But, even though he has died, I know that whatever you decide to do, you can do it. She was almost giving a little room for a miracle. Jesus caught on to this response from Martha, and responds to her in the following way…

You are right Martha; your brother will rise again.

But, Martha showing a bit of unbelief at the same time of showing some belief, (you know, like most of us), responds to Jesus in the following way…

Yes, I know that my brother will rise again at the resurrection of the last day.

Jesus then gives another one of His weird replies. He says…

I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in Me shall live, even if he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in Me, shall never die.

 Do you believe this Martha?

Martha did not quite answer the question fully, but said the following…

Yes Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God. As soon as she said this, she ran off to go get Mary.

Jesus stayed there, he did not continue walking to meet Mary, he made Mary come out and meet Him.

All of the Jewish and political leaders who were with Mary at the house, saw Martha come in and whisper in Mary’s ear. Mary then gets up, and hastily leaves with her sister. 

All of the religious leaders and political leaders, who were with Mary at the house, thought she was going to the grave to give her respects. Plus, they were curious as to what Martha said. So, they immediately grabbed everything, and in quick pursuit, ran out behind Mary to find out what was going on.

Mary probably felt terrible for staying at home, but she was still angry. With everyone in hot pursuit, and the two sisters racing to meet Jesus, Mary let’s Jesus have it when she arrives, but she does so in a way that women had to do, otherwise face death.   

Mary ran to Jesus, fell at His feet, and let out all of her anger and frustrations. She told him, “Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died”. She then broke out in tears, sobbing at his feet while blaming Jesus at the same time. 

When Jesus saw her weeping, His Spirit was moved, and He asked the following…Where did you bury your brother?

When they led Jesus to the tomb, He wept. I think He wept because he saw how death effected people. Jesus knew death was temporary, but nobody understood this at the time, they had never experienced The Walking Dead. 

The Jewish leaders had not seen this emotion from Jesus very often, if at all, and were whispering to one another that Jesus must have really cared for Lazarus.

But some of them were not mincing their true intentions. They began to circulate a rumor, suggesting that if Jesus could make blind people have vision, and help lame people walk, then He could have saved this man had he not stayed two extra days for no reason! 

The blame game was starting, sound familiar?

Tombs in those days were just like the one Jesus was buried in, not long from this day. Tombs were like caves out of Tomb Raiders, they were large caves with a giant stone covering the entrance.

Jesus said…Remove the stone!

Martha said, that’s not a good idea, it’s been 4 days, and by now the stench is great, maybe we should leave the stone where it is.

Jesus replies…Did I not tell you about your brother? Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the Glory of God?

You did not argue with Jesus twice, so they removed the stone.

Jesus goes into a short prayer and then calls Lazarus out of the tomb!

We have our first occurrence of The Walking Dead!

Lazarus comes out looking and acting like a walking Mummy!

His hands, feet, and face were still wrapped in bandages!

He comes out kicking! Can you imagine seeing this? 

Well, that’s nothing compared to the next chapter.

The Walking Dead…Part 2

Soon after this event, Jesus is framed and set up for crucifixion. I think we often forget what happened right after Jesus died. But, when the Roman soldiers witnessed these events, (which are recorded in historical accounts outside of the N.T.), many of them ran, and were scared for their lives. Many of them believed they had made a mistake and had actually had a part in crucifying an innocent man.

Let me write the description from an IRS agent’s point of view

Matthew 27:50 – Jesus cried with a loud voice and gave up His spirit. The veil of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.  There was a great earthquake and large rocks were split in two. Darkness came upon the area in the middle of the afternoon.

Many tombs were opened up and people who had died came out of the graves, and made their way to Jerusalem and appeared before many eyewitnesses.

Wow! This is totally out of the movie.  A bunch of people, probably in bandages, it was dark and creepy, and they are all walking towards Jerusalem! 

Do you think this really happened?

Why would this be a part of the story if it lends itself to NOT being believed? Would it be better to leave this out? But, if it were true, why would you leave this out, even if people laughed?

Well, 2000 years later we make a movie and T.V. series about similar events, and everyone loves it. 

But, the final chapter has not quite taken place.

THIRD OCCURRENCE OF THE WALKING DEAD!

Jesus himself decides to come out of the grave, but not as a walking mummy, as someone who could be mistaken for an actual person. 

Here is what we like to say…

If the above is true it’s Game On

If the above is false it’s Game Over!

The entire validity, and very existence of Christianity, rises and falls on one fact, the resurrection of Jesus. Something we will celebrate in 68 days. 

The resurrection and the real-life experience of The Walking Dead.

If you are a fan of the show, why not become a fan of the real-life experience.

Thank you for reading.