The Clone: Heralding the Coming of Jesus

by Craig H. Swain

This book is written according to a standard format for screenplays. The reader will see one acceptable manner of writing a screenplay. This can be a play to the reader who may have wondered how to write his or her own screenplay. This work, however, does not have the detailed directions normally required; thus, it does not greatly tax the reading of the storyline. The Clone is about the cloning of Jesus from bloodstained threads from the Shroud of Turin in Italy. The shroud is believed by many millions to be the burial cloth of Jesus. Many more do not believe, but the mounting evidence is becoming overwhelming, if you can keep up with it. The shroud has been hanging off and on display for seven hundred years, but "the face" only came alive in 1898 when a photograph was taken. The negative plate became a positive of the negative image on the shroud. The timeline of The Clone follows the life pattern of Jesus as Joshua is cloned on December 25, 1993 and dies in 2027. The storyline covers details like the meeting of the doctors of the law at age twelve and a type of baptism at age thirty. We see the succession of the popes, including the last pope, according to the prophecies of Malachi, a monk of the Middle Ages. As the story unfolds, the obvious fact that any clone is not the original becomes crystal clear as the Antichrist emerges. This then heralds the end of this age and the second coming of the original and the beginning of His millenial reign for one thousand years. Swain prays that this book will be one which can be judged by its cover and hopes the reader will enjoy it as much as the author did writing it.

117 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 15, 2018

Reviews

[Dan]

As Goodreads' foremost authority on Jesus-clone fiction, I believe this is the only example in the teeming genre that's in the form of a screenplay. Mel Gibson, call your agent!

Full review forthcoming, don't you worry.

UPDATE: It's not Swain, it's me. I've read so many Jesus-clone stories that nothing surprises me anymore, although I'm still quite capable of being baffled (see below).

Plot: A monk attached to the cathedral in Turin obtains genetic material from Jesus in an attempt to clone him. The kid is eventually born, given the name Joshua, creates and breathes life into clay pigeon figurines (© Infancy Gospel of Thomas) and impresses theologians with his knowledge at age 13. When he hits 30, things really start happening.

Villain: That would be telling. But if you want a big fat clue, read the Christ Clone Trilogy by James BeauSeigneur (q.v.). There are a lot of, let's say, points of correspondence between the two works, as well as with Dan Brown and, for the specific trick used to obtain pieces of the Shroud, one of the other books on this shelf, I forget which. I blame the frankly limited number of things a religiously minded author can do with a Jesus clone.

Deaths: One. But he gets better.

Romantic subplot? For certain twisted definitions of romance, sure.

Similarities to "1984": There's an appendix, although instead of discussing the principles of Newspeak, it sets out a "Statement of Beliefs: Yahweh's Children of Obedience." Unlike Orwell's afterword in that I found it mostly incomprehensible.

Best quote: CLAY ADAMS: The birth was last night, just as you said it would be ..... everything went fine. She's beautiful.
BROTHER JUDE: What? She?
CLAY ADAMS: Hey, come on, I'm only kidding.

Second-best quote: JOSHUA: I had Maggie check the total world population today -- as you suspected -- 6.66 billion -- and not changing.
UNCLE BILLY: That's it -- this means we are all here.