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considered as emissaries of the Catholic Church, was it because the Scrolls are contrary to the
Bible in respect to the origin of Christianity, or was it, as some maintain, because of the power it
gave them; or, as Randall Price maintains (in his book Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls), is all of
this talk just an effort to prevent serious consideration of the Scrolls as verification and
corroboration of the Bible.
Price quotes Professor Tov who said: “I would completely brush aside any accusations of
suppressed material. There is no evidence whatsoever for this having been done by any Catholic
source.” He also quotes Joseph A. Fitzmyer, a Catholic scholar, and member of the Scroll team
who said: “The whole idea of a Vatican conspiracy to suppress the Scrolls that it (the book The
Dead Sea Scrolls Deception by Baigent and Leigh) portrays is ludicrous nonsense.” Randall
Price then proceeds to completely unravel the whole conspiratorial argument behind the delays
as being because of the “condition of the texts … accessibility of the materials … the political
situation … the nature of the text assignments … scholastic responsibilities … financial
problems … (and) human problems.” His argument is just as convincing.
My concern is that, where there is smoke, there may also be fire. Any kind of association
with the Rockefeller name brings with it the influence of the ecumenical movement; and any
kind of connection to Catholicism brings with it the baggage of their pagan origins (see my online
book Controlled by the Calendar). Many eminent scholars have tried to make a connection
between the Scrolls and the Essenes, even when the evidence for this is circumstantial at best. As
I will discuss in the next chapter, those who have tried to prove that Jesus faked his crucifixion
have also tried to link him with the Essenes. Even though the Scrolls themselves indicate that the
inhabitants of Qumran engaged in the study of astrology and mysticism, this group has been
identified as the starting point for the philosophy which became Christianity. So, if we are to
believe some of the interpretations of the Scrolls, that the teachings of Jesus were based on the
philosophy of the Essenes; this seriously damages His image as being the father of a Religion
that bears His name. Not only that, but it further diminishes His divinity, which has increasingly
come under attack.
When the last remnants of the Scrolls are published, those discovered so far, and those yet to
be discovered, some scholars have expressed a wish for new versions of the Bible to reflect the
‘new’ information gleaned from the Scrolls. If this happens, will the new material be used to
buttress the scriptures as being Holy Spirit inspired- or will they take on the spin of a pre-Christ
Christianity, and further contribute to the taking of Christ out of the Christianity of main-line
churches, so that the role of Jesus is reduced to that of just a teacher or a political visionary.
Since I believe that Jesus taught only what was given unto Him through the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit, what legitimacy should be given to the Dead Sea Scrolls, if any.
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, they are legitimate documents, and not the result of an
incredible forgery, as far as being done shortly before their discovery. Therefore, we have to look
in another direction. Now that other scholars have access to them, I would think that any
incorrect translations would be revised; which brings us to the reconstruction of the actual
fragments themselves. We have been forced to rely on the accuracy of de Vaux’s team, and their
ability to fit the quagmire of pieces together into some sort of coherency. It would seem that gaps
in the assembled fragments of text (especially in the case of the Essene documents) would make
it difficult to actually grasp its full meaning, especially since missing words may have a bearing
on how other words are translated. The complex techniques utilized in this process have brought
very little criticism in regard to its accuracy.
Another point of contention is the procedure used to date the Scrolls. Carbon-14 dating has