Deliverance from the Cross — Page 81
In cases of death by suffocation, whatever the cause, heart activity does not necessarily end when breathing stops which is the moment when the ghost is given up. It is true that the supply of oxygen to the blood ends, and that is bad for the heart. But, as has often been observed, the heart is capable of greatly reducing its volume of activity, and, in many similar serious cases of suffocation, heart activity is known to have continued after breathing had come to an end. Hence the attempts at revival in everyday cases of suffocation which, once breathing has stopped, make sense and have a prospect of success only if the heart is still active. The evident result of research into these events can be summed up as follows. Jesus did not die when he gave up the ghost. His heart continued to beat. Nothing occurred that brought his beating heart to a standstill; this can be proved by means of the Shroud of Jesus. The Shroud also testifies to the fact that the heart of Jesus was still active after his removal from the cross. In a legal sense the execution was not completed. To execute a man means putting his body to death. In the case of Jesus this did not happen. In the Greek version the following expressions are to be found in the relevant passages: 1. Apeheken to pneuma, which means: He gave up his ghost. 2. Exepneumen, meaning: He breathed out his last. 81