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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO146i0vMLY

A few years back, after seeing a BBC documentary on the TURN SHROUD:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs_kvVsoz80 followed by an awful one typical of the low standards of  too TV documentaries (the various truths about Michael Jackson, Kevin Spacey and others) the thought came to me that I should get a replica of the Turin Shroud.

My second, which followed it like a heartbeat, was, “That is ridiculous.”

I had the choice of a knock off for a few dollars or an authorized replica for a few thousand.

That’s how I met and won the friendship of Barrie Schwortz.

I’m not going to talk about his work with the Turin Shroud other than to say that Barrie was right to ignore the pleas from people who do not understand what it is we are called to to become a Christian.

Had he done that Barrie would have lost that which most gave him credibility, with Moslems as well as Christians and others.

Avinoam Danin, whose book THE BOTANY OF THE SHROUD, I have and  studying, said on his first seeing The Shroud in Turin that while he had expected to be moved by it to become aChristian he had not been, was told when he said that to, I believe a Cardinal of the Church, “Good. Perhaps people will believe you.”

Danin had no skin in the game.

Neither did Barrie.

When people i am a Christian I say, “No.”

When they ask, “Do I believe in Jesus?” I say, “No.”

Why “No.”

Because in a Court of Law belief is not enough.

If I am asked, “Do you know,” and I reply, “I believe,” the Judge will say, “Sorry, I can’t accept that. Belief is not enough. You can only state what you know. You cannot state in a court what you believe to be true. You must state only what you KNOW to be true.”

That said I will now state that I know Jesus to be the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

How and why I know that is not for here.

However because I know this I know that neither I nor Barrie nor Avinoam Danin nor anyone else is called to become a Christian.

The term the New Testament tells me was first used at Antioch as an insult.

The failure of so many who believe in Jesus to live the life he calls us to has made its use to be an insult to the being so many say they have in their heart when, clearly, they do not.

Consciously or unconsciously it was clear to me from the first moment I spoke with him that Barrie Schwortz had and has Jesus in his heart.

We had another bond.

That other bond was/is our shared love of cats.

I had hoped to one day have Barrie come to Toronto to speak in the flesh about his work with the Shroud.

I had hoped to have a beer or three with him.

Purely by chance when I emailed him a few days back I learned Barrie left this world on June 21, 2024.

The first words he heard on the departure of his spirit from the flesh came from the Father of us all.

Those words were, “Welcome, my son.”

Barrie was/is a Son of God.

His time with us was well spent.

The fruit of his investment is bearing much fruit for the future.

There is no beer in Heaven Cú Chulainn told me Friday, August 9th, 2024 when, in a flash of blue lightning, he made his presence known.

After he had cleaned out the room he said, “Do you have a beer? Haven’t had one in way too long. There is no beer in Heaven.”

“No beer in Heaven? That must be Hell. I will get you one,” I said.

“Thank you,” he replied.

To KNOW JESUS is to KNOW GOD is to KNOW THE HOLY SPIRIT is to KNOW ALL.

I know that right now Barrie is smiling his wonderful smile.

He is in the best company.

Meanwhile here in Toronto on Sundays at 2pm you can drop by and witness my SHROUD replica.

You can see Barrie on the BIG screen.

Jesus told us to welcome the stranger to our home.

How many are doing that?

Welcome, stranger, to my home.

Do you know that in The City of Toronto it is illegal to have a church in our home?

The first churches were illegally held in private homes.

I am following in a long and heroic line.

I am walking the path Jesus and the Apostles walked.

–Reg Hartt

https://www.catholicregister.org/item/23681-shroud-of-turin-replica-caught-in-bylaw-battle           

 

 

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