I recently subscribed to Consumer Lab again. Their new review of pitcher-style water filters may be useful to some of y’all. Here’s a very brief overview.
Cost to use: Kirkland and Brita (less than one cent per cup). More expensive ones include PUR, LifeStraw, and Aquagear (1.5 – 1.8 cents per cup); Aquasana and ZeroWater 40 gal (2.5 – 2.8 cents per cup); Travel Berkey (4 cents per cup), ZeroWater 20 gal (5.2 cents per cup).
Heavy metals: All of the tested brands removed lead, mercury, and cadmium; removal of arsenic varied by brand.
Performed as claimed by manufacturer: Brita Soho; Kirkland (Costco) Signature Water Filter; Aquagear Water Filter Pitcher; Aquasana The Clean Water Machine; PUR (top pick for arsenic and chlorine removal); Berkey Travel Water Filter (removed all the arsenic, but only 10% of chlorine); LifeStraw Home 7-cup BPA free (removed 98.8% chlorine, 5% fluoride; claimed to remove all microplastics, but actually removed less than one third).
Not Approved: ZeroWater. Claims to remove microplastics, but actually increasedthe amount by 1200%.
N.b., regardless of brand, they recommend you wash a new pitcher thoroughly, then filter and discard at least 3 pitchers of water and only begin drinking with the fourth pitcher.
CHICAGO: Dumbocrats replaced the execrable Lori Lightfoot with someone who is even worse. CLICK https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1648871137160355840 [:33] to hear him write off mob violence as silly middle school behavior that we all need to understand.
DEMOCRATS: All hail the Patriarchy! On Thursday, the House passed legislation aimed at preventing biological males from competing in girls’ and women’s sports at schools across the country. The vote was 219-203 and strictly along party lines. All the “yes” votes came from Republicans; all the “no” votes came from Democrats. FAUXTUS is expected to veto it.
EV: On Tuesday, a parking garage in New York City collapsed, killing at least one person. [:47] – A recent study raised concerns about older parking garages that were not built to bear the weight of electric vehicles. The five-level garage in the video was licensed to accommodate 276 gas-powered vehicles, but EVs weigh about 1,000 lbs more than their gas-powered counterparts. Thus, this structure may have failed simply because too many of those 276 vehicles were EVs.
FAUXTUS: After a trannie murdered three 9-year-olds and three adults at Nashville Covenant School, the “Tennessee Three” led a protest to celebrate the murderer.
Two of them were booted out of the Tennessee General Assembly (TGA), while the third kept her seat by a single vote, apparently for having been slightly less obnoxiously in violation of the rules than the other two.
The three were welcomed on Good Morning America and received a Nashville visit from VFAUXTUS (who did not visit the victims’ families). Justin Jones, the biggest mouth of the three, came back to the TGA later with a child-sized coffin as a gun-control prop. CLICK https://twitter.com/robbystarbuck/status/1648366688222560269.
Now, the “Tennessee Three” been invited to the White House to schmooze with Joe “Mr. Compassionate” Biden … who has yet to express any concern for the innocent victims of a vicious shooting. At his first public appearance after the shooting, he joked about ice cream.
And, while his office did issue a proclamation ordering flags to half-mast “As a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence perpetrated on March 27, 2023, in Nashville, Tennessee,” one has to wonder at the wording. According to the Wrongs, there were not six victims, but seven, and the only one they care about is the trannie who stormed the school intending to kill and die.
Jill Biden did attend a memorial service in Nashville for the victims, but she did not make any remarks and I could find no mention of her visiting the victims’ families.
OMG: [2:00] – More fraudulent donations made to ActBlue. The following are quotations from ActBlue’s website: “ActBlue: $11,919,433,125 raised online since 2004. … Democratic donors have saved their payment information with us via an ActBlue Express account. … At ActBlue, we build tech and infrastructure for Democratic campaigns, progressive-aligned causes, and people working to create a better future. We put power in the hands of small-dollar donors.”
REALITY: CLICK https://twitter.com/CensoredMen/status/1648555262075191296 [:50] to see what happened when a self-identified “man of God” refused to dance with a trans man. Most of the comments were in favor of him doing what he felt was right. My favorite: “That is a REAL man! We need more of them.”
SOMEBODY’S GOTTA DO IT: [13:11] – Another really fun episode. 🙂
WOMEN’S SPORTS: Egard Watch Company said it is a firm that “believes in truth” and produced the above advertisement as a “response to woke corporate America.” The company has also made ads supporting police and celebrating masculine men (links below). In addition, they are currently selling necklaces that say “Womanhood is a birthright” with 10% of all profits going to women’s rights charities (see womens link below).
I AM: Immanuel Kant posited that everything which happens has a cause. Thus, everything which has happened has had a cause. Therefore, before anything happened, there had to be an Uncaused Cause. It’s like what inevitably happens when a curious tot asks “Why?” over and over and over, until the parent finally says, “Because!” The Uncaused Cause was the Be Cause. The I Am Who Am.
BIG BROTHER: NYC’s mayor, Eric Adams, has announced a plan to track household food consumption, particularly meat and dairy products, which allegedly generate more CO2 than plant foods. The mayor’s Office of Climate & Environmental Justice has cut a deal with credit card companies to facilitate this intrusion, which is yet another reason to not live in the Rotten Apple.
CHI SPIES: Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein employed a Chinese spy as a driver for years. Democrat Senator Eric Swalwell had an affair with a Chinese spy. And now two Chinese Communist spies have been arrested for operating the illegal police station and destroying evidence when raided by the FBI … and at least one of them – Lu Jianwang – has been hanging out at Dem fundraisers in New York with Dem heavy hitter and Senate Minority Leader, Senator Chuck Schumer, as well as Dem. Rep. Grace Meng (NY-6) and New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Oops.
CINO GOVS: So far this month, two allegedly Catholic state governors – Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs – vetoed bills that would have protected babies who survived abortion.
FETTERMAN: [2:15] – IMO, this stroke survivor got “elected” in the same way that Joe Biden did. On January 3, 2023, he took his seat in the Senate; on February 10, he was hospitalized for lightheadedness. Two days after his release, he was hospitalized again, this time for a severe case of major depression; he was released on March 31 and went home for the two-week recess. On April 17, he returned to the Senate.
HIDE THE PRIDE: “Hide the Pride” is a parent-led movement for Catholics to reclaim their libraries. Click the pdf link below to learn what you can do to participate. The second link tells about a group that went a step further and signed up to have their own display placed in the library window. The window display (photo above) was assembled during Holy Week, 2023, and will remain in place for all of April.
NEW HAMPSHIRE: CLICK https://twitter.com/ChoooCole/status/1648674547241975813 [2:13] to hear Katie Lennon testify in favor of a proposed parental rights bill in New Hampshire. “I thought that in the end I could become a man but all I became was a mutilated and abused version of myself.”
The New Hampshire Senate passed the bill, but it is not clear if it will make it through the House. If it does and the governor signs it, it will require schools to give parents access to school curricula, disclose changes a student’s gender identity if a parent asks, and opt children out of specific instruction and some vaccinations.The bill would also give parents the right to sue an educator who they believe has lied to them.
REALITY: “If you take a man and they dress up as a woman and you tell me I have to accept that they’re a woman, then you’re asking me to be complicit in a lie. I refuse to do that.” – Gov. Ron DeSantis
Elon Musk has quietly removed a 2018 era Twitter policy defining deadnaming (using a trans person’s birth name) and misgendering (using someone’s CORRECT gender pronouns) of transgender people as hate speech.
SOMEBODY’S GOTTA DO IT: On this episode, Mike Rowe visits the Mütter Museum, a medical museum in Philadelphia. This episode is NOT for the faint of heart. I’m posting it here, largely because the museum’s curator is marvelous. And also because it’s the first time I heard that Mike Rowe has a new gig, for which I’m glad, because I loved Dirty Jobs.
VAXXX: For the first time ever, the U.S. government has compensated people who were injured by COVID-19 jabs. The amounts were insulting – $2,019 for a severe allergic shock, $1,582 and $1,032 for myocarditis. Those amounts wouldn’t cover a single visit to the ER. Plus, you know, they took We The People’s tax money to buy the damn poison in the first place and now they’re taking more of our money to pay these pathetic compensations … all while continuing to insist that almost everyone should keep getting the shots!
With all the exorcism movies coming out this year, it is natural for faithful Christians to wonder if films of this genre are ever safe, appropriate, or beneficial.
Zachary King posted his thoughts on his Facebook page: “I often get questions about horror movies and if it’s ok for Catholics to watch them. I found this article that I think explains it very well so I’ll put that below. But I have a few thoughts to add and highlight.
“First, you need to be careful with getting overly fixated on all things gore, horror and darkness. This is where you need a healthy dose of discernment. If you’re getting a bit addicted, attached or obsessed with such things, you need to reevaluate and back away. Don’t become enmeshed. If it causes you temptation, get rid of it. If this sounds like you, make sure to bring this to confession.
“Second, stay away from things like the movie Saw where it *very clearly* glorifies torture and evil. The images are brutal and disturbing. We are what we consume and that includes what we choose to watch and listen to. If the movies have scenes of witchcraft and Satanism where spells are said out loud, I would be safe and avoid it. Or at least fast forward those scenes.
“Third, if the movie blasphemes God, ditch it. It’s one thing for a movie or show to be dark in nature but, if it mocks God, stay away from that crap. God deserves better and so do we.
“I could probably come up with other pieces of advice here but this is what comes to mind for now. Check out the article to get a well-rounded understanding of the topic. It’ll be helpful.”
ATHEISM: According to Hitchens’ alleged logic, the fact that there are an infinite number of wrong answers for 2 + 2 = x means there are no right answers. The fact is that there is one and only one correct answer.
BABYLON BEE: In honor of the release of the exorcism movie, Nefarious, the Babylon Bee compiled this helpful list of signs you might be possessed.
You’re multilingual, as of yesterday: You woke up with the ability to speak Spanish, Chinese, and the Black Speech of Mordor. Concerning!
You are currently crawling on the ceiling: If, as you’re reading this, you’re crawling on the ceiling or levitating in any way, please seek help from the clergy.
You order pineapple on your pizza: Unspeakable acts like this are a clear sign supernatural darkness has taken hold of someone.
Your preferred pronouns are They/Them: For you are many.
You don’t return your shopping cart to the corral: Only vicious, godless creatures do this.
You have an insatiable urge to teach gender theory to kindergartners: What other explanation could there be?
You think it’s a good idea to surgically mutilate your genitals: Non-possessed people often prefer to keep sharp objects away from their privates.
You’ve been elected to the U.S. Congress: Not a guarantee of demon possession…but at least a 50/50 chance!
BRAGG: On April 17, a Democratic New York City Councilman testified before the House Judiciary Committee about the shocking rise in crime since Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg took office.
“On his first day in office, Bragg issued a memo that decriminalized a broad range of offenses and reduced charges for violent crime. This was a signal for every criminal that it was open season on law-abiding citizens in New York County.”
MINOR ATTRACTED PERSONS: CLICK https://www.facebook.com/reel/1948357875520989/ to hear something I’ve been expecting for some time now. The report, titled “The 8 March Principles for a Human Rights-Based Approach to Criminal Law Proscribing Conduct Associated with Sex, Reproduction, Drug Use, HIV, Homelessness and Poverty” has this little gem is buried inside:
“Sexual conduct involving persons below the domestically prescribed minimum age of consent to sex may be consensual in fact, if not in law.“
IOW, children can give meaningful consent to sex. Except, no, they can’t.
OHIO: On Saturday, Jane’s Revenge vandalized another pro-life pregnancy center. HerChoice in Bowling Green provides free pregnancy and STI testing, ultrasounds, parenting classes, as well as supplies for infants and toddlers.
S&G: After 25 years of teaching music at Western Michigan University (WMU), Professor Daniel Mattson’s contract was not renewed. He is suing the university for violations against freedom of speech and religion, as well as equal protection, alleging the university’s management became openly hostile toward him after discovering he had returned to his Catholic faith and rejected the gay lifestyle.
SRA: There is an in-depth article about Satanic Ritual Abuse in the Mormon church at the link. I skimmed it and now feel dizzy and disoriented. The one point I am grateful for is that these people are fighting against the stigma of “Satanic Panic.” IMO, satanists themselves inspired that ‘80s phenom specifically to discredit survivors.
miRNA: A recent study published in Int. J. Mol. Sci. discloses how the mRNA in the jab disrupts microRNA (miRNA) – small pieces of natural RNA that regulate gene expression. They say this disruption “is responsible for several human pathologies,” including cancer.
“Those who have taken multiple mRNA shots are in a brave new world of molecular biology and challenges to their personal health. To the extent these risks are cumulative—no more injections should be taken. The best opportunity to ameliorate complications is to be vigilant and seek care at the first sign of something going wrong.” – Dr. Peter McCullough
MYOCARDITIS: Another MUST WATCH video from the incomparable Dr. John Campbell. [18:30] – Our favorite ‘rona science explainer delves into a study published last month called “Circulating Spike Protein Detected in Post-COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine Myocarditis.” Sixteen adolescent patients hospitalized in Boston between January 2021 through February 2022 for post-jab myocarditis were studied intensively and the results compared to 45 asymptomatic, age- and gender-matched, and also jabbed individuals. The sick kids had whole spike proteins circulating, while the healthy kids did not.
Comment on the video: “It’s heartening to see how Dr. Campbell has altered his position as new data have emerged. That is the sign of an authentic scientist. Even though I disagreed with his original position on the shots, it’s clear he’s always come from a place of honesty and integrity. That flexibility, open-mindedness and integrity are what instills trust in a medical professional.”
POLITICS: Early in 2022, a Calgary, Alberta, nurse was accused of “unprofessional conduct for publicly sharing her experiences administering COVID-19 vaccinations and witnessing high rates of COVID-19 vaccination injuries.” Her lawyer recently announced that she has been cleared of any wrongdoing and will be allowed to continue practicing in her field of expertise.
“Canadian nurses deserve better than to be threatened with discipline for telling the truth to the public. Professional regulators must stop this nation-wide inquisition against doctors and nurses who simply choose to uphold their ethical obligations to obtain meaningful informed consent.”
MORE POLITICS: In 2020, Dr. Paul Marik cofounded the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC) and subsequently published one of the most comprehensive and effective protocols for treating COVID-19, called MATH+. While COVID mortality in Marik’s ICU was half that of his peers, the hospital banned the protocol from being used.
“I was using safe FDA [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] approved drugs which have been shown to be effective for COVID, and the hospital I worked at, the Sentara Healthcare system, publicly made a statement that the pharmacy would no longer dispense the medications I had used …
“Basically, all I was left with was remdesivir. As we know, the use of remdesivir was halted for Ebola because it was shown to be a toxic drug that killed people. … They committed out-and-out scientific fraud. We know, according to publicly available World Health Organization [WHO] data, that remdesivir increases the risk of a patient developing renal failure 20-fold. We know it increases your risk of dying.
“You can understand the situation that I was in. I was the director of the ICU [intensive care unit]. I had run the ICU for 15 years, and now I was told I can’t use safe and effective drugs to treat my patients. Rather, I must use a toxic drug for which the hospital gets an additional bonus.”
Marik sued to get MATH+ reinstated, at which point he was put through a sham peer review. The hospital levied fabricated charges against him, suspended his hospital privileges, and effectively ended his clinical career.
“That was a big awakening for me and it speaks to the depth—the breadth of corruption. Basically, the health care system is not patient-geared, or health care-geared, or geared to enlighten patients, improve their health, improve their lifespan, make them happy, improve their general health.
“The system is designed to make money. Simple as that. Make money for Big Pharma. Make money for the hospitals and the system and therefore empower the NIH. That’s a brief overview of this journey that I’ve traveled. They have persecuted me professionally and personally. Their goal was to take me down and destroy my career.”
Marik is now researching and developing health protocols using lifestyle modification, diet, and repurposed drugs.
BIDEN CRIME FAMILY: [4:18] – More of the same ol’, same ol’ … the Bidens are corruptocrats and the Slime Media doesn’t care.
CLIMATE: During his recent visit to Ireland, FAUXTUS said, “The SINGLE existential threat to the world is climate change!” Not nuclear war or another deadly plague. Climate change … but it’s okay for him to fly to Ireland for the week-end. You thought gas stoves was a bridge too far? And check out what their next target is.
“Rice is to blame for around 10 percent of global emissions of methane, a gas that over two decades, traps about 80 times as much heat as carbon dioxide. Scientists say that if the world wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, rice cannot be ignored.” – AFP News Agency
Of course, banning rice would result in the painful starvation deaths of tens of millions of innocent people. But that’s part of their plan. And it always has been. Revelation 6:3-8.
MINNESOTA: On April 6, 2023, a 20-year-old sophomore was arrested after a custodian informed authorities about finding empty packages for high-capacity magazines in a garbage can outside the young man’s dorm room. A search of the room uncovered a tactical vest, empty boxes for ammunition and magazines, a tactical knife, a folding knife, firearm earmuffs, six propane canisters, fireworks, lighter fluid, a battery with wires a lock pick set, and notebooks containing a highly detailed plan. He has been charged with conspiracy to commit second-degree assault and conspiracy to commit threats of violence, making terroristic threats and planning a theft.
PINOCCHIO: KJP piles it higher and deeper. What a clown show. [1:14] – CLICK https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1Zf2dy9rjR8 to hear another lying liar say, in all seriousness, that “guns take more lives than abortions do.” Yeah, no. NOT. EVEN. CLOSE. In 2020, there were approximately 620,327 abortions in the U.S. In that same year, there were 19,384 homicide deaths involving guns.
VAXXX:THIS IS A MUST WATCH VIDEO [17:32] – Dr. Campbell reports on pathologists who are taking a closer look at those weird white strings that morticians have been finding in their cadavers since the jab. They apparently develop post-mortem; blood taken from a living, vaxxx-injured patient developed something similar, but in a blob form. It looks like what may be some kind of protein takes on the shape of the “container” (blood vessel, test tube) in which the blood cools. Nobody ever saw such a thing before the jab.
YALE: As part of its deep commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Yale University hosts a program known as ‘Belonging at Yale.’ The most recent speaker was Houria Bouteldja, who was invited to speak on the second night of Passover. Some of her past statements:
“Killing an Israeli is killing two birds with one stone, eliminating in one go oppressor and oppressed.”
Jews deserved their near-extermination by the Nazis, because they allegedly “tolerated Nazism before it was inflicted on them. … They absolved it, shut their eyes to it, [and] legitimized it, because until then, it had been applied only to non-European peoples. … They have cultivated that Nazism … [and hence] are responsible for it.”
A White person is one “who subjugates, pillages, steals, rapes, commits genocide. … I hate the white good conscience. I curse it. Every white person … must take and steal … like a gangster, a brute, or a thug.”
She also brushes aside the victims of 9/11, July 7 London subway bombings, and the Charlie Hebdo Paris murders. “Bombs explode in the subway. Towers … collapse like a house of cards. The journalists of a famous magazine are decimated. … [But] they are all white.”
Her book, Whites, Jews, and Us, calls for an insurrection to dismantle white privilege.
YOGA: [1:05:34] – Rae Darabont talks about how she got involved with Yoga, what it is, the different forms of Yoga, how it is an integral part of Hinduism, and how she eventually came to realize it was ‘not what it seemed’, but instead was led to the truth through an encounter with Jesus Christ. This is very long. I’m just offering it to you here, because Darabont is articulate, the topic is timely, and some of y’all may be interested.
CALIFORNIA: CLICK https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1646645171508088832 [3:01] to hear a mother’s distressing story about her 11-year-old daughter. She’s suing the district for secretly encouraging the little girl to identify as a boy without her parents knowing about it.
CATHOLIC: While my Baptist cousin was visiting for Easter, I was talking about some aspect of Catholic culture and blurted out, “I just LOVE being Catholic!” Just now, I was listening to a young woman talking about her faith journey and she said, “I just LOVE being Catholic!” It got me wondering. I can’t recall any of my many Protestant friends telling me they LOVE being whatever denomination they are, so I googled “I love being ___”, counted only the first page of hits, and ignored any hits that did not actually say “I love being ___.” (E.g., “Top ten reasons to be ____” and “Ten things I love about ___” and “Why you should be ____” didn’t get counted.)
Below are my entirely unscientific and relatively meaningless results, listed in order of enthusiasm.
OMG: [6:10) – James O’Keefe just published video of female prisoners in Washington state who are being forced to share their tiny cells with biological males who freely assault them. Full disclosure: I couldn’t listen to this video.
SCOTUS: Incredibly, the Supremes voted 9-0 on something! According to the article (link below), the April 14 decision was “a defeat for the Biden administration” as “the Supreme Court took steps to rein in the so-called administrative state and reaffirm the separation of powers doctrine that prevents any specific branch of the government from exercising the core functions of another.”
The new ruling encompasses two cases: Axon Enterprise Inc. v. FTC, court file 21-86, and SEC v. Cochran, court file 21-1239. The court ruled unanimously against both government agencies.
TRANS-INSANITY: [4:59] – CLICK https://www.youtube.com/shorts/RCPAt3MhD9g for a quick reality check. ALSO this: “You ask me, why do I even care? What’s the purpose of knowing anyone’s biological sex?
“Well for starters, because we have civil rights specifically for women in the United States. We have special bathrooms for women, we have special sports leagues for women, we have all sorts of special places, and rights, and privileges that are for women that are not for men.
“So now if some men, people who at the very least appear to be men, are claiming a right to be able to go into those women’s bathrooms then we either have to abolish all of the special rights and privileges that have existed for women for all of human history and are enshrined in our law, or they need to explain to me how those men are actually women.
“And they can’t do the latter and I’m not willing to do the former and I don’t think women across the country are willing to do the former even if a few people have been so ideologically blinded that they would give in to this kind of absurdity.” – Michael Knowles
VAXXX: [12:26] – Switzerland’s Federal Office of Public Health is recommending no COVID-19 vaccinations for anyone. People who are considered to be high-risk may receive the jab after consulting with their doctors, but the vaccine is “not currently recommended” even for them. Meanwhile, the CDC is still recommending the jab for children as young as 6 months.
GRAMMY NOTES: One of the first times we made up the bed together, my new hubby and I were putting a set of wedding gift sheets on that had a beautiful pattern of flowers on it. Problem was … the flowers were all growing one way and Dearest put the sheet on with the blooms facing our feet. The look he gave me when I insisted I wouldn’t be able to sleep if we didn’t make the flowers grow towards our heads …
DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY: I want to remind y’all that we are currently in a Jubilee Year (5783 HY). God commanded that, during each Jubilee year, all debts were to be wiped out, all Jews were to return to the land of their ancestors, and all slaves were set free. What a beautiful description of the Second Coming!
DIVINE MERCY: Jesus appeared to St. Faustina Kowalska many times, entrusting her with many messages which she dutifully recorded in her now-famous diary, Divine Mercy in My Soul. It is well worth reading (link below). Here are some of the messages:
“The prayer of a humble and loving soul disarms the anger of My Father and draws down an ocean of blessings.” (Diary, 320)
“Pure love gives the soul strength at the very moment of dying. When I was dying on the cross, I was not thinking about Myself, but about poor sinners, and I prayed for them to My Father.” (Diary, 324)
“When the priest acts in My place, he does not act of himself, but I act through him. His wishes are Mine.” (Jesus speaking of the Sacrament of Confession. Diary, 331)
“Although My greatness is beyond understanding, I commune only with those who are little. I demand of you a childlike spirit.” (Diary, 332)
“If your trust is great, then my generosity will be without limit.” (Diary, 548)
“I give great graces to souls who meditate devoutly on My Passion.” (Diary, 737)
GRAMMY NOTES: I was just reading the National Catholic Register article (link below) about the miracle that led to the beatification of Sr. Maria Faustina Kowalska. At the end, it says Maureen and Bob live in Lee, Massachusetts, which is Dearest’s home town! Mama Buzz was baptized at St. Mary’s (photo)! I checked St. Mary’s web site and, sure enough, Bob is Deacon Emeritus at St. Mary’s Church.
If Jesus was truly an historical figure, a man who lived and died in a certain place and time, then we should be able to find important dates in His life on the calendar. And what more important date was there than the day He died? All four Gospels agree that Jesus was crucified and buried on a Friday, lay in His tomb on a Saturday, and rose on a Sunday morning. CLICK graphics to embiggen for easier viewing.
Clearly, any year that doesn’t match these week days is the wrong year. And, as you can see on this calendar, 33 AD is a perfect fit. Traditionally, the year of Jesus’ Passion has been set in 33 AD. And, as you can see on this calendar, the weekdays fit perfectly.
So why do so many sources (including The Chosen) cite years other than 33 AD? So far as I can tell, the debates hinge on two things. One is that, in the printed version, a key historical document says King Herod died in 4 BC. What a lot of people don’t realize is that, in the original copies, the date is 1 BC. This transcription error has proven to be a huge and unnecessary source of confusion, one which I’ve no doubt was inspired by Satan to instill doubt in the faithful.
Since we know Jesus was born before Herod died and that He was about 30 years old when He began his 3 year ministry, moving His birth backwards forces His Passion to occur during years when Friday, Saturday, and Sunday fall in the middle of Passover. But we know He died on a Preparation Day that fell on a Friday. Note in John 19:31, where he says that the Passover Sabbath was a “solemn” one. The first day of Passover and every Sabbath day were and are days of sacred assembly, when no work may be done. A “solemn” Sabbath is one in which the first day of Passover lands on a Sabbath day, so it’s like a double day of rest. This should give us pause, given that Jesus lay dead in His tomb on that day, something God knew would happen when He set up the calendar in the first place!
So far, so good. If we ignore the transcription error regarding Herod’s death, then we have no problem, right? Wrong. There is a second source for the “what year?” debates which comes from the Gospels themselves. Specifically, the Synoptic Gospels which describe the Last Supper as happening on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Except we know that Jesus was arrested after the Last Supper, then was crucified and died the following day, which we also know was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
So what gives? It’s not like these guys didn’t know what the real dates had been. Matthew was there and Mark was a Jew who certainly knew the holy days by heart. Luke may have been a Gentile, but he wrote at a time when many early Christians were Jews who had been in Jerusalem for that very Passover. So what were they talking about?!
I think we get a big clue in the Gospel of John which says in Chapter 13 that the Last Supper happened “before the feast of Passover.” The Gospel of John was written some time after the Synoptics had been in circulation, so I’m thinking maybe he did it to clear up confusion the first three had created among readers, particularly Gentiles, who didn’t understand the nuances of the Jewish calendar.
One of these nuances may have come from the fact that the many of the earliest Christians were members of the messianic sect known as the Essenes. They were responsible for the famous Dead Sea Scrolls, in which we learned that they had celebrated a lamb-less Seder meal after sundown on Nisan 13. Thus, at the Last Supper on Holy Thursday, when Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist, He Himself was the Lamb. Unlike the other major Jewish sects – Sadducees, Pharisees, and Zealots – the Essenes disappeared from history, no doubt because they had all accepted Jesus as the Messiah and thereafter identified as Christians.
A second thing the early Christians would have known that Gentiles wouldn’t is how Jews celebrate Bedikat Chametz. This is a ceremony whereby observant Jews search for, collect, and burn up every speck of leaven in the house. From the description I read, it sounds like households with children turn it into a fun game a little like our Easter egg hunts. In most years, Bedikat Chametz happens on Nisan 14. But in years like 33 AD, where Nisan 14 falls on a Friday and Nisan 15 on Sabbath, this “preparation day” Bedikat Chametz takes place on Thursday, Nisan 13 … the same day as the Last Supper.
polination.blog 