Jesus and the Essenes

This book is extremely hard to give a hard rating to (how many stars out of 5 to give it.) On the plus side the book is fascinating reading. On the negative side, though, it's based on two things that are extremely controversial: reincarnation and regression hypnosis.

There is no scientific proof that reincarnation is actually real or that regression hypnosis leads to actual truth. The author has hypnotized a woman in to seeing various of her past lives and ends up seeing her life as a teacher at Qumran.

She is able to see her life (as a man) during various times in his lifetime and learns about the community there and information about Jesus. This could be real and it could also be the woman putting together things in her mind based on perhaps something she's read or seen online or on television, picking up clues from the hypnotist's questions. There's also the possibility that the woman is incorporating things she's learned from the Bible and church.

So, some of the basics:

She was a teacher in Qumran and was named Suddi.

She taught Jesus and John the Baptist when they were young there.

She gives a physical description of the community which seems to fit with what little is actually known about that place.

There's a fair amount of discussion on his part about what seems to be ancient technology that they have a little of and a reference to flying things like planes (or UFOs?) that used their weapons in some kind of war.

He talks about Noah and how the flood was not caused by God. (Scientists thinks it could have been caused by the impact of one or more meteors in the Atlantic Oean that would have led to a massive tsunami.)

Humans have destroyed their civilization on various occasions.

Atlantis was real and was destroyed as the legend goes.

There were 12, not 10, Commandments.

There were originally 4 wise men but one didn't make it in time.

Jesus was born in a cave (which might have doubled as a manger.)

Mary was around 16.

There is no hell.

There is no Devil.

Jesus had 6 brothers and 3 sisters.

Mary was not a virgin.

Christ will return to the Earth at some time in the future.

There was a boat which Mary and a bunch of others were forced into and put to sea without an oar.

Then there's a lot about Suddi's travels, his physical problems, his knowledge of what happened to Jesus and what Suddi saw after his own death.

There were also some things that Suddi was not allowed to talk about.

As you can see all of this is very interesting. If it's true then it would add some very valuable information on past human civilizations, Atlantis and what kind of schooling Jesus had.

Then again, there's the IF word. In either case it's an interesting book.

There's also a bibliography.