Two men saw Jesus’ tomb the morning He rose from the dead — and their testimony destroys the Shroud of Turin. Catholic promoters claim this linen cloth wrapped the Lord’s body and even bears His image. But John and Simon Peter tell a different story.

John records in The Gospel of John 20 that he and Peter examined the sepulchre themselves after the women reported His body missing. What did they find? The customary linen wrappings — plus the separate napkin that had covered His head. That inner cloth would have completely blocked any facial image from appearing on an outer shroud.

Relic merchants have pushed this medieval invention for centuries. They claim Christ was wrapped in one large shroud, imprinted with His face and blood. But that directly contradicts the double-wrapping described by John and Peter.

Even the strange “shadowy rectangle” on the Shroud — believed to be a modesty cloth covering the genitals — betrays the truth. An inner cloth that covers details of the body would obscure any imprint. Since Jesus’ head was wrapped separately, the face would also be hidden. Whoever was buried in the Shroud of Turin, it was not Jesus.

History also confirms it. Around 1370, French philosopher Nicole Oresme accused churchmen of faking the shroud to collect donations. Two decades later, Bishop Pierre d’Arcis wrote to the pope, exposing it as an artistic fraud and even claiming to know the forger. The Shroud was branded a counterfeit in its own century.

Modern testing only confirms the truth. Radiocarbon analysis in 1988 dated the fabric to 1260–1390, while textile experts confirmed the weave could not exist in the first century. Instead, the fabric is the type which would have come directly out of medieval Europe. Scripture, eyewitness accounts, history, and science all agree: the Shroud of Turin is a fraud.

The Church’s relic trade thrives on deception. As the Boston Catechism notes, relics are graded like merchandise:

• First class: bodies or body parts of saints
• Second class: clothing or belongings of saints
• Third class: objects touched by first- or second-class relics

Astoundingly, the Shroud that supposedly covered Jesus Christ Himself wouldn’t even qualify as a top relic. It would only be “second class.” Merchants exploit the faithful for profit while pretending it is sacred.

Once again, the eyewitnesses God gave us in His Word come out ahead of the superstitions and schemes of men. The apostle John and Simon Peter saw the real graveclothes. The Shroud of Turin is a fraud. The Bible stands true.