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Dear
Gramps, My question is: Do you have any information on the validity of the
Savior traveling the world with Joseph of Arimethia and his tin trade… and
the Savior showing up in India and Britain before his ministry started?
And was his family wealthy? Thank
you. Rick, from Arizona |
Dear
Rick,
There
is a legendary account that Joseph of Arimethia was a distant relative of the
family of Jesus; that he derived his wealth from tin mines in Cornwall, which he
visited from time to time; and that Jesus as a teen-ager accompanied Joseph on
one such visit. Based on that legendary account, William Blake (1757-1827) wrote
the following poem:
And
did those feet in ancient time walk upon England’s mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God on
England’s pleasant pastures seen?
And did the countenance divine shine
forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here among
those dark satanic mills?
Bring
me my bow of burning gold! Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O
clouds, unfold! Bring me my
chariot of fire!
I will not cease from mental fight, nor
shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem in
England’s green and pleasant land.
It
was Joseph of Arimethia who was reputed to be wealthy, rather than the family of
Jesus; although legend has it that Joseph was a distant cousin of Jesus.
In
terms of the Savior visiting India, that story may have come from a belief of, I
believe, the Hindu religion, that a person by the name of Apollonius was the
reincarnate of Jesus. Jesus is reputed to have lived from 24 BC to 9 AD, and
Apollonius of Tyana from 16 to about 97 AD. He was born and died in India.
Gramps