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Descent into Hell/Essens

I'm not sure the header is accurate but . . . .
On August 21, 1996, Dale Cannon wrote, in part: "[I]t very well could have
been that Jashua the Nazarene (Jesus) was brought off the tree of
cruicifixion while still alive and brought back to health in prison
(collusion between Pharisees like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimithea and the
Roman authorities) and there preached."

This is the thesis (or very close to the thesis) of a book by Holger Kersten
& Elmar Gruber entitle "The Jesus Conspiracy."   The book contains passages
such as the following:

"Jesus was close to the sect of the Essenes, indeed it is likely that he
belonged to a branch of the sect.  The Essenes formed a kind of monastic
community of strict observance, but they also had members who lived  'in the
world', like a third order.  Their ideal was inner self-perfection.  Essene
communities existed in the Diaspora before the destruction of Jerusalem, and
as late as the seventh century were still exerting an influence on the newly
developing Islam through the Jewish-Christian Ebionites.

"The roots of the Essenes go back to Zadok, the first high priest at the time
of the foundation of the Temple of Solomon.  The members of the priesthood
were allowed to call themselves the 'sons of Zakok'.  In the course of time a
section of the sons of Zakok broke away because they considered the
priesthood corrupt and compromising.  The dissidents were called bene sadok.
 In modern terminology they are called Zakokites or, as the Greeks called
them, the Essenes.  This term derives from the Aramaic assaya, which means
doctor or healer.  Many of the monastic followers, who deveoted themselves to
their ascetic practices of prayer and penance with great zeal, developed
astonishing abilities.  These gifted monks, called therapeuts, seem to have
attracted special attention with their public healings."

In summary, the book goes on to posit that the Essenes healed Jesus with a
medicinal oil that left the stain on the shroud of Turin.  The shroud has
supposedly be intentionally discredited by the Catholic church because to do
otherwise would force the conclusion that he was not dead when buried.  This
stuff is fantastic?

Thanks to everyone who help provide information on the Dead Sea level.  I'm
still gathering the cited source material.  It's not easy to find even with
two university libraries in town.  

Trading slaves and land?  Well, then, it is obvious that the graves
containing women and children were really to place where the slaves were
buried.  Right?  

Mark Dunn
Dunnlaw@aol.com