The Elvis-Jesus Mystery

The Elvis-Jesus Mystery

Author: Cinda Godfrey

Published in hardback by Revelation Publishing

ISBN 0-9667437-8-4

Cinda Godfrey, the author of "The Elvis-Jesus Mystery" does not expect her book to be well received. Hardly surprising, really, given the premise of the book, that Elvis is Jesus reincarnate (and, in passing, that Jesus was Adam reincarnate). She further proposes that Elvis came from the Orion constellation, which is where Heaven is situated, and that all this information, along with predictions of Elvis's coming, is hidden in the Bible, the works of Nostradamus, astrology, numerology, Elvis's songs, and several other sources. In addition, the book proposes that Elvis is not dead and will soon return, the new Messiah.

This is actually my third attempt to write a review of "The Elvis-Jesus Mystery". The preceding attempts each ended with a confusion of arguments about the validity of any form of prophecy and the problems involved with interpretation of such prophesies or their sources. Basically, the reviews became too involved and got away from their subject, which is the book itself.

Suffice to say here, then, that I am convinced that Cinda Godfrey believes what she writes. Unfortunately, because of her total faith, she tends to over-push her theories as facts and sometimes contradicts herself in her enthusiasm. As an example, in one part of her book, Cinda points out that Jesus's name was not Jesus Christ, the "Christ" part being a form of title, so he should really be referred to as "Jesus the Christ". Later, however, during her discussion of numerological pointers, she equates the name Elvis Presley with the name Jesus Christ. I am also always suspicious when aliases are used to identify players, and Cinda does exactly this to refer to a person who, she says, was visited by an angel in the fifties and told to write and hide a letter pertaining to Elvis's true identity. The letter is supposed to be rediscovered very shortly and I really don't see what the problem would be in identifying the person involved.

Parts of the book, I have to admit, stretch even my own open-mindedness. Star-drawings showing Elvis kissing his mother, Adam embracing Eve and Jesus being crucified; faces in finger-prints; the undeniability of astrology; the theory that Elvis comes from the Orion constellation; such things I personally cannot accept. I have always considered Jesus to have been one of the first recorded socialists, so Cinda's diatribe against the dangers of socialism in the United States, and the resulting threat to the right to carry guns is puzzling, worrying and out of place in this book.

I also have considerable problems with the author's attempts to point to songs that Elvis recorded as being indicative of her theory that Elvis is the new Christ. Any artist who records more than seven hundred titles is going to end up with a number of titles which can be taken to have some deeper meaning. Elvis was not the only artist to record song such as "It's Over", "The Impossible Dream", or many of the other tracks Cinda refers to.

It is, however, remarkable how many Biblical texts Cinda has been able to find which can be interpreted to point, however tenuously, to Elvis. Of course, the application of interpretation with hindsight is an activity fraught with pitfalls and dangers, as has been amply demonstrated with previous attempts to link the quatrains of Nostradamus with historical events. But now I risk becoming entwined in the complex arguments that distracted me in my previous attempts at this review, so I shall quickly conclude!

"The Elvis-Jesus Mystery" is probably not a book for most Elvis fans. And, although the author is seemingly a dedicated fundamentalist Christian, I doubt whether her fellow fundamentalist Christians will take kindly to the book either. I enjoyed it quite simply because I enjoy this sort of book, whether it concerns Elvis or not; I enjoy examining theories and trying to decide how much is possible and how much is pure speculation.

David Neale

Copyright September 1999

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