{"id":37227,"date":"2013-04-01T18:15:36","date_gmt":"2013-04-01T22:15:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/forex-news\/?p=37227"},"modified":"2013-04-01T18:15:36","modified_gmt":"2013-04-01T22:15:36","slug":"he-is-risen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/2013\/04\/01\/he-is-risen\/","title":{"rendered":"He Is Risen!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Bill Bonner<\/strong><\/p>\n

We attended Easter Sunday mass at Our Lady of Pilar in Recoleta
\nyesterday. The small church was crowded. Most were dressed casually —
\nthe men in open shirts and slacks, the women in dresses. They were
\nmiddle-aged, for the most part, and middle-class<\/strong><\/a>, but it was hard to tell.<\/p>\n

However, they knew the plot.<\/p>\n

Let us bring you into the picture…<\/p>\n

The smart money, in the year of our Lord 33, was on the Romans and
\nthe Pharisees. They were the insiders. They controlled the courts. They
\nhad the military<\/strong><\/a> budget and the “boots on the ground” that could kick any butt they wanted.<\/p>\n

Then the skinny Jewish guy came into Jerusalem. The crowd loved him.
\nThey dropped palm leaves in this path. Here was an underdog; the “king
\nof the Jews,” they called him.<\/p>\n

Jesus knew something was up. He had a last supper with his friends, and he turned to Peter.<\/p>\n

“I know I can’t trust you,” he said… or words to that effect. “You’re going to betray me three times before the cock crows.”<\/p>\n

Peter flatly denied it. But it was true. Picked up later by the
\nequivalent of the Department of Homeland Security, Peter denied he had
\nanything to do with the troublemaker Jesus.<\/p>\n

So it didn’t look good for the maverick Jew. The odds against him rose even higher over the next few days.<\/p>\n

But when he was dragged before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate,
\nall of a sudden, his stock rose. Pilate saw no reason to prosecute him;
\nhe hadn’t done anything wrong. For a while, it looked as if he were
\ngoing to walk.<\/p>\n

But noooo. The local elite came in, guns blazing. They wanted Jesus
\ntaken away. He was an “insurgent”; they were sure of it. Did he not
\nclaim to be “king of the Jews”? Wasn’t that the same as treason? They
\nput him to the test; they would find out if he were really a law-abiding
\ncitizen.<\/p>\n

Render Unto Caesar…<\/h3>\n

“Shouldn’t we all pay our taxes?” they asked. They hoped to trap him,
\nlike Senators Graham and McCain trying to get Chuck Hagel to say that
\n“the surge” was a mistake or that the “Jewish lobby” has too much power.<\/p>\n

“Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s,” he told them, tossing a coin with Caesar’s picture on it in their direction.<\/p>\n

Pilate wasn’t sure what he meant by that. But he didn’t care, either.
\nHe just didn’t want trouble. So he gave the locals a chance.<\/p>\n

“OK, I’m going to nail someone to the cross,” he told them. “But I am
\nalso going to pardon someone, as it is Passover. You decide who goes
\nfree. The thief Barabas… or the pretender, Jesus.”<\/p>\n

“Give us Barabas,” said the mob.<\/p>\n

At that point, you could have bought all the Jesus stock you
\nwanted… for pennies. No one ever survived crucifixion. It wasn’t
\npossible. Unless this was a “new era,” Jesus was done for. He was
\nhistory.<\/p>\n

They drove spikes through his hands and feet and hauled up the cross;
\nhe wasn’t coming down until he was dead. Even Jesus himself figured he
\nwas finished. By the ninth hour on the cross, he had given up hope.<\/p>\n

“Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?<\/em>” he cried out.<\/p>\n

And now the skies darkened. Jesus hung his head and breathed his
\nlast. If he had been a listed company, trading in his stock would have
\nbeen suspended. At that point, he had gone “no bid.” He was out of
\nbusiness.<\/p>\n

Then they took him down from the cross. They pulled out the nails.
\nAnd they put the corpse into a hole, with a big stone in front of the
\nopening to prevent dogs from getting to it.<\/p>\n

The End of the Affair?<\/h3>\n

The entire affair, at that point, seemed to be over. No more
\n“miracles.” Nor more healing. No more talk of loving thy neighbor or
\neverlasting life.<\/p>\n

The disciples, who had given up their careers and families to follow
\nhim, were thinking of going back to school… maybe becoming lawyers. A
\nfew were going to try to qualify for disability<\/strong><\/a>. Others were hoping to return to fishing, farming… or just hanging out in town.<\/p>\n

The next day, Mary Magdalene and some other women went to the tomb.
\nThey expected to take out the body and wash it properly. But when they
\narrived, there was no body there. What had happened to it?<\/p>\n

An angel, dressed in bright white, appeared. He said, “He has risen!”
\nThe angel told them to report these facts to the disciples.<\/p>\n

It was about this time that speculation in Christ Inc. began. The
\ncompany had seemed broke… and finished. Now it was back in business.<\/p>\n

If this “resurrection” thing had any truth at all to it, the stock
\ncould go up as high as Apple or Google. It was one thing to give
\ncustomers a fancy telephone… or a search engine that helped them find
\nout what the Easter story was all about.<\/p>\n

Eternal life was something altogether different. Maybe it would work
\nout. Maybe it wouldn’t. But it was worth putting in a few shekels to
\nfind out. After all, it could be the biggest hit since… well… bread.<\/p>\n

The disciples ran to see if it were true. On their way to the tomb,
\nJesus — in his new, post-real-life form — met them. They didn’t know
\nwhat to make of him. He was there in flesh and blood… sort of, but not
\nquite.<\/p>\n

“Don’t be afraid,” he said to them. “I’ll meet you in Galilee.”<\/p>\n

Jesus did show up at Galilee, as promised. Speculation increased.
\nPeople could see that the promise of “everlasting life” was not just
\nmarketing hype. If Jesus could do it, they reasoned, anybody could.<\/p>\n

Jesus turned to the same Peter who had betrayed him. “You’ll be CEO
\nof my new company,” he said. “Peter” means “stone” in ancient Greek.
\nJesus used a little double entendre: “On this rock, I will found my
\nchurch,” he said.<\/p>\n

Shares in the new company rose, off and on, for the next 1,500 years
\n— peaking only when a breakaway unit, led by Martin Luther of Germany,
\nset up competing companies.<\/p>\n

Today, the church Peter set up still has 1.14 billion members and
\nshareholders and a capitalization (net worth) that is probably in the
\nbillions (we found no estimates that appeared authoritative). Not as big
\nas Facebook, but still not bad.<\/p>\n

No one could ever prove or disprove the claim that by joining Christ
\nInc., you would have eternal life. But most people decided to take the
\nroute suggested by the French philosopher Pascal.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know if it’s true or not,” he said, or words to that effect.
\n“But why take a chance? If you’re wrong, you don’t lose much — you
\njust give up a few years of naughty behavior. If it turns out to be
\ntrue, on the other hand, you gain a lot — an eternity of bliss. You do
\nthe math.”<\/p>\n

Regards,<\/p>\n

\"Bill<\/p>\n

Bill<\/p>\n

To learn more about Bill visit his Google+<\/a> page.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bill Bonner We attended Easter Sunday mass at Our Lady of Pilar in Recoleta yesterday. The small church was crowded. Most were dressed casually — the men in open shirts and slacks, the women in dresses. They were middle-aged, for the most part, and middle-class, but it was hard to tell. However, they knew … <\/p>\n

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