Michael Ferraresi
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 28, 2004 12:00 AM

PARADISE VALLEY - After roaming Egypt for months, researching the mystery of Christ's youth, best-selling author Paul Perry is set to return to the predominantly Muslim country to film a documentary based on his recent book.

The Paradise Valley author of Jesus in Egypt: Discovering the Secrets of Christ's Childhood Years will spend April with a crew of six filmmakers, following the trail of the young Messiah from the Egypt-Israel border to several villages near Cairo and south along the Nile.

"We're covering 900 miles and 33 sites in 30 days if we're lucky," Perry said.

"This will be the most exciting project of my life."

Perry's goals are to premiere the film in the northeast Valley later this year, sell it to a cable network such as the Discovery Channel and create a three-part series for Bible aficionados in the Christian market.

Like the book, Jesus in Egypt will play out like a travel narrative, following the holy family's path in chronological order.

Perry said he is seeking a "big name" to narrate the film.

Mel Gibson, director of The Passion of the Christ, has been mentioned as a possibility. Perry is an acquaintance of Gibson's.

"A Jesus documentary is something a lot of Hollywood people would want to get involved with," Perry said.

Jesus in Egypt attempts to bridge the gap between God's command to Joseph in the Gospel of Matthew to hide the baby Jesus in Egypt to Jesus' appearance as a boy before the temple elders.

According to Perry's book, there is little biblical explanation of what happens to the holy family after fleeing Bethlehem.

Many of the 33 sites the family supposedly visited while fleeing the wrath of King Herod, who sought the baby Messiah's assassination by ordering the death of all newborn males, will lend themselves to compelling visuals, Perry said.

Christ is said to have performed his earliest miracles in Egypt.

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Originally posted by neo*geo:
I've heard somewhere that the story about Jesus' family fleeing to Egypt to escape the Romans isn't true.

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Originally posted by Kem-Au:
I've read in many places that Jesus didn't even exist. Depends on your faith.

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Originally posted by neo*geo:
It's evident from several sources that he existed but there are a lot of questions about his youth.

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What sources? Outside of the Bible that is?

"One wonders if Jesus lived, suffered and died during the period of Roman rule in Palestine, why did his name not appear in the writings of three distinguished contemporary authors of that time - Philo Judaeus, Justus of Tiberias and Flavious Josephus?!"

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Originally posted by Kem-Au:
What sources? Outside of the Bible that is?

"One wonders if Jesus lived, suffered and died during the period of Roman rule in Palestine, why did his name not appear in the writings of three distinguished contemporary authors of that time - Philo Judaeus, Justus of Tiberias and Flavious Josephus?!"

Moustafa Gadalla, Historical Deception, ch. 27.

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I respect Gadalla but he is wrong here.

At this time there was a wise man who was called Jesus, and his conduct was good, and he was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. And those who had become his disciples did not abandon their loyalty to him. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion, and that he was alive. Accordingly they believed that he was the Messiah, concerning whom the Prophets have recounted wonders.

Flavius Josephus

He is also made reference to by other non-Christian Romans and there are passages about him in the Jewish Talmud.

neo:

"He is also made reference to by other non-Christian Romans and there are passages about him in the Jewish Talmud."

The Talmudic rabbis are said to have realted Jesus to the time of Pinhas who was a contemporary of Moses, not Herod, meaning that Jesus would've lived centuries earlier than the 1st century.

For the record, I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you. Just pointing out that there are other opinions out there.

I believe the formation of the Jesus character comes from ancient Egypt archetypes. Meaning he was really Heru or Ausar.

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Originally posted by Amwa:
Isn't "Amen" in the bible from Egyptian sources?...Phinehas means "nubian or brown
skin doesn't it?...God has brown skin and
wooly hair also in Ezekiel,Daniel,and Revelations..Are those of Egyptian influence?

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Amen is indeed an Ancient Egyptian word, which means "hidden, concealed, incomprehensible..."
It was used as a name for God and is also practically a universal name for God throughout Africa today - i.e., Amma in Dogon, Amen in Yoruba (with the same meaning as in Egyptian).

Phinehas is a variation of the Egyptian Pa Nahas (Fi Nahas)or "The barbarian." Pa is the article "the" and Nahas means "barbarian"; it means "Good for Nothing" in Wolof. Nahas also refers to a copper bearing region of Egypt/Sudan.

Since men create their gods in their own image, the color of God is relative.

[This message has been edited by Wally (edited 17 March 2004).]

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Originally posted by ausar:
Some speculation has arisen over the authenticity of the passage from Josephus. Some historicans believe the so-called historical Jesus[known as Yeshua Ben Yusef] was really an Essence or a Jewish zelot. Others contend Paulos made the story up.

I believe the formation of the Jesus character comes from ancient Egypt archetypes. Meaning he was really Heru or Ausar.

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