"Jesus and the disciples were on one of their many trips on the sea of Galilee when they were hit by an unexpected and violent crisis" "The disciples were struggling for their lives" "But they were about to receive help in a way they could never have imagined" "Suddenly, Jesus stands up and rebukes the wind and sea" "The disciples were stunned, how on earth was this man able to control the elements" "it's a question which still fascinates us today" "Christian illusionist Brock Gill has always found Jesus' miracles intriguing" "When I read the gospels I find that Jesus did spectacular things" "Now, Brock is going to put the miracles to the test" "Can a magician in the twenty first century re-create Jesus' wonders of two thousand years ago I want to know was it through the art of illusion or was it something else, I want to know how he did it" "The stilling of the storm is one of Jesus' most famous miracles" "But for Brock it provokes one simple question..." "Was it a coincidence, was it magic or was something else at play?" "From the dawn of time, man has looked and hoped for signs from god, for miracles" "Moments when the unthinkable could happen" "And two thousand years ago, One man in particular had a reputation for being able to perform miraculous deeds" "Jesus" "He was believed to be able to walk on water," "Heal the sick" "And even raise people from the dead" "The miracles of Jesus are incredible acts that seem to defy the very laws of science" "But for illusionist Brock Gill they provide an exciting challenge" "Since I am a professional illusionist" "And I know how things work I think that there is a way to do it through the art of illusion I think I could find it" "Brock is going to try to turn water into wine, exorcise demons and even still a storm" "Many people today might be skeptical of Jesus' power to work miracles I believe Jesus could cast out demons because of the faith people had in him" "And we don't need to appeal directly to supernatural powers to understand that" "But in the first century there was a unanimous belief among Jesus' enemies as well as his supporters that he was a wonder worker" "The evidence that Jesus performed Miracles is overwhelming" "Large crowds followed Jesus and why did they?" "It was because they were sick and if Jesus didn't heal?" "They wouldn't have followed him" "But although there was agreement that Jesus could do miracles there was controversy over exactly how he did them" "Many thought it was through the power of god" "But there were darker rumours, suggestions that he was using magic" "According to one Jewish Source, Jesus was a sorcerer" "For Jesus to have been labeled a magician was tantamount to choosing someone of a capital crime" "And some even accused him of harnessing the power of Satan" "Jesus would have felt he was taken over by a supernatural force, I don't think he necessarily knew whether it was a demon or whether it was the spirit of god" "Anyone who was practising black magic or using the power of the devil to do something should be executed" "Just how Jesus did his miracles, is a question which has obsessed lllusionist Brock Gill I do illusions I make people disappear I do card tricks I do that type of thing, things that are unexpected" "So it makes me interested in what Jesus was doing and the miracles that he did and.." "and how he did them" "Brock is also a committed Christian I met Jesus Christ and he changed my life" "But for this series he's putting his faith to the test" "He's going to use his skills as an illusionist to see if he can crack how Jesus' miracles were done" "He's also going to investigate Whether the sciences of meteorology psychology and medicine, can help explain the miracles" "And he's going to travel back in time to probe the minds of the people of the first century" "How did they think Jesus performed such feats?" "And the first challenge for Brock is to tackle one of the most spectacular miracles Jesus is said to have performed" "The stilling of the storm" "On first glance it would seem completely impossible for anyone to control the elements" "So it seemed a good test for Brock" "We asked him to recreate this major defying miracle" "It certainly appears that Brock has silenced the storm but he knows that it hasn't got anything to do with his skill as a magician" "The only way I was able to still the storm is through TV" "Through the power of technology, special effects, big crew if I tried to do this in front of an audience they would see how it worked" "And if we replay the miracle, we can see just how Brock did it" "He's actually in a giant outdoor film set" "We recorded the twelve hours leading up to Brock's remarkable stunt" "And what we saw was nearly fifty technicians preparing the machinery necessary for his act" "Six wave machines, two tip tanks," "one lightening striker, various power generators and four rain machines were all carefully put in place " "to create the perfect illusion" "Through that camera you can only see a portion of what is going on and that's the only way it's convincing at all, as an illusionist I know that Jesus could not have, in any way performed an illusion that made it look like the storm had been stilled" "He didn't have television.." "So he couldn't have done it through the power of illusion" "In this case, Jesus' miracle clearly wasn't a stage trick" "So Brock will have to widen his search to find out just how" "Jesus was able to calm the waves." "And the clues he needs lie in the other miracles" "What Brock is about to find out is more shocking than he could ever have imagined" "I want you to think of any one of these cards..." "The illusionist Brock Gill has travelled to Israel" "Say it out loud." "What is it?" "A seven of spades" "He's on his way to the modern town of Cana in Galilee four miles north of Nazareth where Jesus grew up" "Cana is the place traditionally associated with the first miracle" "Jesus is said to have performed turning water into wine" "I want to try to figure out whether Jesus did real miracles, or were they magic tricks?" "So what I want to do is to try to recreate as many of his miracles as I can" "And I am going to start today by going to Cana and trying to turn water into wine I have a pretty good idea that I think I can do it" "Okay where in the world is Cana?" "John's gospel describes a wedding to which Jesus and the disciples were invited" "Just like today, first century Jewish weddings were a cause for celebration and the whole village was included in the feasting" "Craig Evans is an expert in biblical customs" "Jewish weddings in the time of Jesus were a festive occasion" "There were feasts there were parties," "And its not at all surprising that Jesus himself was there he had a reputation for frequenting such parties as those" "It would have been quite an occasion to cater for, so perhaps not unexpectedly the hosts wine is said to have run out" "But rather than send someone to the local inn for more supplies," "Jesus told one of the servants to fill six large empty jars with water" "And as the party continued something incredible is said to have taken place" "The water became wine." "The gospel records that as a result the disciples believed in him" "Of course, cynics would call this a simple trick any inexperienced magician could do" "So..." "Can Brock crack it?" "Look this bottle of water right here, okay look it still hasn't been broken yet, still hasn't been broken... listen..." "Look at it..." "Still hasn't been broken okay..." "It's still... lt's a bottle of water okay this is what I want you to do... lf you could just open up..." "Open up the bottle open up the bottle and then just hand it to me... I want you to just grip my wrist grip my wrist, okay..." "Now... no hold it just like this now look watch this..." "There's nothing in my hand okay now I want you to grip my wrists..." "Grip my wrist." "Grip my wrist, now give me the water" "Oh." "Yes... oh... ah..." "Taste it taste it... taste it." " ls it..." "How does it taste - lt's real ls it real?" "For me to just stand there and turn water into wine actually comes pretty easy" "But it was hard because I wasn't able to fool everyone" "Good wine?" "Somebody else" "Brock's secret is out lt may look like wine but it certainly doesn't taste that way" "How does it taste, browner darker?" "And this isn't the only reason for thinking that Jesus didn't do his miracle by the power of illusion" "There is a telling detail in the gospel account, which suggests he wasn't just a magician" "Magicians and hucksters do tricks to draw attention to themselves and to make money and to become famous" "That's not what Jesus has done, in fact most of the people there at this wedding feast didn't know that a miracle occurred at all" "Only the disciples had seen what was going on" "Jesus' actions were hardly those of a performer" "In the next stage of Brock's journey he'll be investigating the most popular of Jesus' miracles, his healing" "They provoked some of the hottest controversy of all... and Brock's task will be to find out just how Jesus did them" "Was it the power of faith that cured people or were there other forces at work?" "You take one" "Magic is Brock Gill's stock in trade king of hearts" "What?" "He's also a Christian who set out to find if he can replicate the miracles" "Jesus performed two thousand years ago" "He's already tackled turning water into wine, but he's now facing a much more difficult challenge," "Jesus' healings" "First century Israel was a place in which magicians and holy men were plentiful but in a world where people with elements and disease had limited access to medical resources, there was one type of miracle worker in particular that drew large crowds," "the healer" "And the gospels are clear," "Jesus had a significant reputation as someone who was able to cure the sick" "Thousands of people if you believe the reports seem to have either so surrounded by people who could barely eat and all of this attention and all this popularity was due to people's faith that he was an effective healer" "And this raises a new question for Brock" "Just how was Jesus able to perform such healings?" "He's come to the town where Jesus based his Galilean ministry and where the gospels say he did over half of his healing miracles" "But this type of miracle in particular poses a difficult challenge" "As an illusionist, there is no way that I can heal someone I mean it's impossible lf someone is really sick" "as far as illusions are concerned there is nothing I can do to heal that person" "So Brock is faced with a problem." "Just how did Jesus do it?" "Well, there's a clue in what the people of Jesus' time believed about disease" "Unlike today, those in the first century, thought that poor health couldn't just be explained in scientific terms" "They were convinced that there were other reasons for falling ill" "Stevan Davies has studied disease in Antiquity and found that for Jesus' contemporaries the distinctions between science and religion were blurred ln the first century disease was a category of religion and medicine was a category of religion." "They believed most diseases were caused by demons" "Who had taken over parts of your body or given you a fever or given you blindness" "In such a context it's easy to think that a person's faith in a healer to cure them might well influence their recovery rate" "And Stevan Davies is convinced this was the case with Jesus" "Jesus was able to heal because people thought he was able to heal lf you have faith that a person can heal you the placebo effect which is a very real and powerful and useful effect kicks in so that your natural immune system, your optimism," "your feeling of confidence all increases and essentially your body heals itself" "But the placebo effect only works as a condition being addressed as a psychological basis" "According to psychologist Archie Hart" "Fifty per cent of the people cured by Jesus were suffering from illnesses that could have been caused by mental trauma" "And blindness in particular is one of them" "Very definitely, blindness can be brought on by severe psychological conflict," "Where you are being forced to do something and you don't want to do it" "The brain is designed to convert that conflict into a physical symptom where the symptom in some form or other helps you to get out of the mess you're in" "There is certainly a strong case to be made that Jesus was successful as a healer, because of the placebo effect" "But one detail in John's gospel suggests that not all Jesus' healing miracles can be explained this way" "He is said to have cured a man who was blind from birth" "And medical experts know that this is a condition that can't be healed by faith alone" "Doctor David Yorston is one of Europe's leading eye surgeons I don't think there's any scientific explanation for how Jesus could have healed a man born blind from birth, it just can't be done lf somebody is blind from birth," "then any cure has to be effected within the first couple of years of life otherwise the visual system doesn't develop" "If somebody were to come to me, as an adult having been born blind even today, with all my twenty first century knowledge and equipment and drugs and lasers and everything else I would not be able to restore normal sight" "I can not be done" "So, whilst modern science can provide an explanation for some of Jesus' Healing." "Even today, others remain a mystery" "But for the inhabitants of the first century the far more disturbing rumour circulated about Jesus could perform his miracles" "The gospels claim that Jesus' enemy accused him of only being able to do these incredible wonders by the power of evil" "There was no real debate about whether or not Jesus was a healer, an exorcist" "The question was whether or not it was the power of god or it was the power of the devil" "And for Brock Gill, this doesn't come as a surprise" "As an illusionist, he's had his share of accusations from sceptics" "There's a few people" "Who think that maybe what I do is super natural or maybe I kind of dabble into the black magic or something like that but completely inaccurate." "Everything I do is just tricks, it's just illusions." "It's all something that can be taught" "So could Jesus really have been possessed by a force or evil?" "Well the gospels revealed that it wasn't just Jesus' opponents who were wary about a power" "There are clear indications that Jesus himself had periods of doubt where he was tormented by thoughts of evil" "One of the most powerful moments in Jesus' life comes right at the start of his ministry" "His baptism in the river Jordan" "The gospels say a man named John was baptising people for the forgiveness of sins" "And Jesus travelled to see him to be baptised himself" "The accounts say that as the water fell something incredible took place" "He is said to have seen the heavens torn open and the spirit descend on him in the form of a dove" "We think of this as the moment when Jesus' ministry began" "But what the gospels say happened next, suggest that Jesus may not have been entirely at ease with what was happening to him" "They claim Jesus was driven into the wilderness to be alone for forty days and forty nights" "And its here, that he's said to have been confronted by a terrifying force" "Satan" "Anthropologists believe this experience provides us with a rare glimpse into Jesus' state of mind" "We're used to thinking of this encounter in the desert as one between Jesus representing good and Satan representing evil" "But actually, the reality may have been very different" "Stevan Davies believes we can't assume that Jesus knew which side he was on" "Jesus went to the desert because he was forced to go lt says in the gospel that he was driven into the desert by the spirit that had taken him over," "I think it was not clear to him at all, what spirit that was at first, he had the experience, he knew that he had been transformed but it was not clear to him whether it was a good spirit or an evil spirit" "The gospels claim that at the end of his time in the wilderness" "Jesus had resisted the temptations of the devil but for how long?" "Significantly Luke's gospel adds that Satan had only left him until an opportune time" "Clearly suggesting that Jesus' contact with the devil wasn't over" "Perhaps his opponents were right, perhaps he was under the spell of an evil force" "And there is one type of miracle in particular that raised the suspicion of Jesus' enemies even further" "His exorcisms" "Brock's journey has now led him to the shores of the sea of Galilee in Israel" "He is here to try to get to the bottom of how Jesus might have done one of his more controversial types of miracle" "The exorcisms lt was these in particular that led Jesus' enemies to question the very source of Jesus' power" "This is Corsue, although there is nothing dating here from the first century what does still stand are the ruins of a fifth century church, believed to have been built on the spot where Jesus performed a violent and dramatic miracle" "The exorcism of a man possessed by many demons" "You know I am excited that I am here, I am finally here" "This is the place of one of the most intriguing miracles of all to me the exorcism of Legion" "A lot of people don't believe in demons but back then in the first century, a lot of people believed in demons and there were a lot of demon possessions and, man, this is where it happened" "In Jesus' time this place was known as Gurgassor and it was a none Jewish town which devout Jews were forbidden to visit" "The gospels say that living on the outskirts of Gurgassor was a man named Legion" "A man so tormented by evil spirits he was driven to acts of self-mutilation" "And he was so dangerous that the people in his own village had been unable to restrain him" "The possessed were social outcasts, forbidden to marry and forced to live outside the boundaries of towns and villages" "In Judaism to come into contact with such people was believed to make you impure" "When Jesus came to this side of the Sea of Galilee it was an audacious and scandalous move" "Here, people kept pigs, and ate the flesh of swine" "They worshiped idols and did not keep the law of Moses" "By visiting in Gurgassor and associating with Legion" "Jesus was surrounded geographically and spiritually by influences and unclean as you could get" "He was in a dangerous position and yet surprisingly, he chose to approach the man... he even chose to exorcise him" "And the way he did it would have shocked those watching" "Jesus differed from other exorcists because he did not use elaborate spells" "He shouted directly at the demon "shut up!" "And get out!"" "The violence of his approach was so great, that some people, even those who were sympathetic with him thought that he himself was deranged" "And the gospels say that so effective were Jesus' exorcisms his enemies believed that it was a sign that he was in collusion with Satan" "For Brock it's a claim that is difficult to believe lt bothers me to think that someone thought that possibly Jesus did his miracles through the power of the devil" "It just doesn't even add up because the devil is not trying to help people and that's what Jesus did - he was always helping people" "So could there be another explanation as to how Jesus restored Legion to sanity?" "It's a question Brock thinks he may be able to answer" "He's engaged the help of hypnotist Rick Minter" "Sit up straight in your chair, put your feet flat on the floor, separate your hands and put them palms up on your lap" "Rick believes that by the power of hypnosis he can teach Brock to cure someone who looks as though they are possessed by demons" "Brock, hypnotism is really effective lt's used on so many medical procedures today, with anaesthesia pain control, cancer, migraine headaches, weight control" "Each time I do hypnosis I am even more surprised at the wonderful power of the mind and how we utilise it" "So, under Rick's deletion can Brock really cure someone using hypnosis?" "Hey, you are feeling good?" "You okay?" "Yeah I'm fine" "What's wrong, are you okay?" "Sleep" "You feel ok ?" "Yes" "Let me take your hands" "Did that bother you earlier?" "I feel good lt certainly appears that he has the power to alleviate this woman's distress" "So did Jesus' power over Legion's demons had only been those of a hypnotist" "Well, in order to appear to have authority over someone's emotions he had to do an awful lot behind the scenes first" "We filmed him in the hours leading up to his miracle lt feels so good to relax" "First of all, hypnotist Rick had to select a suitable candidate for hypnosis" "Not everyone can be hypnotised" "One two three" "Of all the volunteers this woman, Joanna, seemed the most receptive" "She can be that one..." "So Rick then hypnotised her in two stages, first to display dysfunctional behaviour" "You will go back to the most unbelievable scary situation you have ever seen..." "And then to stop behaving that way on Brock's command" "Until Brock says sleep and instantly, you feel wonderful and fantastic here we go... one two three" "So when Brock arrived later on it was easy for him to look as though he had the power to control Joanna's emotions" "Sleep... I feel good" "It's clear that if Jesus had exorcised Legion using hypnosis he'd have to have spent a lot of time in preparation ln my fifteen years for somebody to pull that off the hypnosis would be short of miraculous" "To go in undetected to pull off that type of a feat it would be almost impossible" "And there's an even more compelling reason to suggest that Jesus didn't use hypnosis" "Psychologist Doctor Archie Hart believes the gospels description of Legions violent behaviour suggests he was suffering from a very specific kind of illness, one that hypnosis would be unable to cure" "The description of what is going on there most clearly fits that of schizophrenia" "I have literally seen schizophrenics do exactly what Legion was doing" "And that's a severe biological disorder" "And hypnosis can't touch that" "So if Jesus wasn't using hypnosis could his enemies have been right?" "Was it by the power of evil that he was able to expel the demons?" "Well when Brock looked closely at the gospel account of the exorcism there were interesting details that far from being in league with the devil" "Jesus actually believed he was engaged in a bitter battle against him" "The gospels claim that when Legion came face to face with Jesus he recognised him" "But not as someone possessed with the power of evil" "The demon within him cries out that Jesus is the son of the most high god" "And he expresses a deep fear that Jesus has come to this place, in order to torment him and bring him to the point of none existence" "The great fear of the demons is that Jesus is not merely going to expel them but destroy them" "And what the story says happened next, suggests that the demons terror was entirely justified" "Jesus' exorcisms caused his enemies to accuse him of being in league with the Beelzebub" "But the fate of the demons cast out of Legion implies they were wrong" "Rather than just being expelled they are said to have been forced into the bodies of a herd of swine grazing nearby." "The shocked animals then rushed into the sea." "To be engulfed by the water and drown" "Jesus it seems, rather than being in league with the demons had fulfilled their worst fears" "And for the disciples watching the destruction of the demon was a sign that Jesus had taken on the forces of evil and won" "But by what power did they believe he had done it?" "Brock finds a clue in one of the most enigmatic miracles in the gospels" "The healing of the paralysed man" "He's about to discover that what Jesus was claiming about his authority to do miracles," "Would have not only shocked the disciples but placed his own life at risk" "As Jesus' mission continued, his incredible reputation for healing and exorcism meant that wherever he went, crowds flocked" "To hear him teach, but also to ask for his help in the hope that he might be able to heal their loved ones" "On one such occasion the gospels say that" "Jesus was preaching to a packed crowd inside a house, unaware that a group outside was desperately trying to get a paralysed man to him for healing" "It's a story that has fascinated Craig Evans, an expert on a symbolism of Jesus' miracles not the least because of its ring of truth" "The story of Jesus healing the paralysed man is very authentic to everything we know about life in Palestine at this time and the way homes were built." "The houses were small" "The room's very simple, mud, sticks, and some thatch" "Removing part of that roof and lowering the man into the room where Jesus was would not have been difficult" "Whether the paralysis was psychometric or real it was another extraordinary spectacle from Jesus" "And what's hard to appreciate two thousand years on is that the healing itself was not the most amazing part of this miracle" "Jesus did something else that would have astonished first century people even more" "It happened just before he told the man to stand up and go" "Jesus tells the paralysed man that his sins are forgiven and that's astounding..." "Why?" "Because it is god that forgives sins" "What do you say in essence is that he possesses divine authority and now he can forgive sins just as god can" "The disciples could have been forgiven for feeling alarmed" "Was Jesus claiming he had the power of god?" "They would have been only too aware that to claim to be god was nothing less than blasphemy in the Jewish faith" "A sin punishable by death lf the religious authorities in Jerusalem found out," "Jesus was risking his life, by making such a statement" "But actions speak louder than words and Brock Gill is hoping that if Jesus really did believe he was god then it should be apparent in his other miracles." "Its time for him to return to one of Jesus' most incredible feats" "The stilling of the storm" "This one miracle in particular was very clearly signaled where Jesus believed the source of his power came from" "the stilling of the storm" "The gospels say that Jesus and the disciples were hit by a sudden catastrophe" "Whilst his terrified companions feared for their lives," "Jesus is said to act in an astounding way" "On his command the wind and the sea were stilled" "The illusionist Brock Gill had already shown that he, like Jesus can control the elements" "But he's also revealed that he can only do it by using the magic of television and 21st Century special effects" "Technology that Jesus never had" "The only way Jesus could have made stilling the storm, as an illusion is if he'd have had a big studio a big set a big crew and lots of special effects" "So if Jesus' control over the fiercest forces of nature wasn't an illusion" "Brock wants to know whether there could be any other explanation" "To investigate he's come to the very spot that Jesus performed his miracle the Sea of Galilee and he's engaged the help of Robert Olinsky a meteorologist who spent the last thirty five years studying the weather here and knows its moods intimately" "Robert's experience tells him the detail of the gospel story ring true ln the gospels it talks about a storm that comes up very quickly how accurate is that to the climate here, to this area" "During our rainy system this part of Israel definitely experiences some sun and storms and these local storms can be very intense" "They can devolve very quickly and they can also pass very quickly" "Fishermen can lose their net and start worrying about his life and not his fish" "Really" "So, could Jesus' success at stilling the storm just have been down to lucky timing" "Some people have explained the stilling of the storm as a natural occurrence" "As not a miracle at all but rather as an amazing coincidence that just as the time that Jesus purported to still the storm, in fact, a natural stilling took place" "For good timing alone, isn't a very plausible explanation I'm a meteorologist and I have a lot more information than he had then and it's a hard forecast for me" "For him to succeed I would say a billion to one odds" "Perhaps we'll never know whether Jesus' miracle was due to luck or not" "But it's clear from the description of the disciples' reaction to it" "That for them, it had a huge Significance" "They are said to be awe struck but just as in the healing of a paralysed man, what amazed them wasn't what Jesus did, it was what it revealed about how he did it." "The source of his power" "They would have known the ancient Jewish prophecies, which said very clearly there was only one person who had the power to control the stormy seas" "God." "One passage from The book of Psalms revealed an occasion where god had shown his power to save his people from distress" "But not just in any way ln exactly the same as Jesus had on the Sea of Galilee" "By stilling a storm" "The resonance's wouldn't have been lost on the disciples" "Once again, Jesus seemed to be implying that he had the power of god himself" "And when Brock re-examined the gospel accounts of Jesus' other miracles he uncovered something unexpected," "the stilling of the storm and the healing of the paralysed man weren't isolated incidents" "Although at first glance some of Jesus' miracles looked like those of other charismatic holy men from Jewish history like Moses..." "Elijah or Joshua" "There was one striking difference, these prophets had all performed their miracles by praying to god for his intervention" "To heal the sick" "To part the Red Sea" "Feed multitudes and conquer cities" "But when Jesus exorcised demons and healed the blind he didn't appeal to anyone for help at all" "You know when the prophets did miracles they always prayed to god, and god did the miracle" "Jesus on his own authority just made it happen" "Shocking though it sounds," "Jesus was suggesting something unprecedented in Jewish history" "He was claiming to be god" "As Jesus set his sights on Jerusalem the disciples must have been overwhelmed" "here was a revolutionary idea" "The Jewish scriptures had prophesised that god himself would come to the holy land" "And save the Jews from foreign oppression and the disciples had been living in hope lf this man had the power of god" "Their prayers for a saviour would be answered but what was about to happen in the life of Jesus was hardly what was expected of a god" "The glory and adulation were short lived and instead a very different fate awaited him." "Suffering and death" "Torture the Jews would never have predicted their god would have to endure" "And for Brock this leads him to a new stage in his journey" "So the question is, and this is the part that never made sense to me growing up as a kid hearing this is if he was god like why, why did he let himself die?" "Jesus' crucifixion does seem an unlikely end for someone who made such extraordinary claims" "Unless of course, what the gospels say happened next is true" "That death wasn't the end"