The “ORIGAMI” Cross

The “ORIGAMI” Cross

Published 20190528 -:- Revised 20250825

I heard this story some 40 or 50 years ago. I have no idea whether it is based on fact! And yes I have embellished it with some descriptive work in order to make it an entertaining story. But the ‘Origami’ or paper cross really needs no frills added, for it alone can amazingly tells the story of the Cross of Calvary!

The STORY
There was a missionary minister in China and during one of the rebellions his parish was in the path of the on coming rebel forces. The couriers had rushed through the land with the message, “ALL un-wanted foreigners will be butchered!” The Europeans in that village, like the French Doctor and others, hastily organised an aircraft to evacuate them all to safety. But the minister simply smiled at them and said, “A shepherd does not leave his flock, the Lord will watch over me, I am staying”. So he prayed for their safety and bid them fare well as the plane took off. Then he went back to the village square and waited to great the rebel commander.

Very soon the village was crammed with the minister and his ‘flock’. They were petrified but hoping and trusting in the calm confidence displayed by their minister. They were all very quickly rounded up and bound, and presented to the self-proclaimed, ‘General Chunk Kov Muck’, who immediately approached the minister. With lightning precision he drew his sword and brought it swiftly to the ministers’ neck and stopped with his blade on the white collar. Then with a quick flick he cut the collar and it dropped to the ground, with out drawing a drop of blood. The General pointed to the collar and one of his men instantly picked it up, and kneeling before the General, precented it. The General inspected the hand made paper collar. The ministers’ original collars had seen better days so he had resorted to making them himself out of paper. Then the General, through his interpreter, yelled, “Religion is the opiate of the people! - Your preach Jesus! - He foolish man! - He die on cross!” The General was still intrigued with collar made from rolled and flattened paper. Then again through his interpreter, said, “If you can make a cross with one straight cut, then I might believe your Jesus is not foolish man!” So they threw the minister into a bamboo cage in the river.

Through the night, neck deep in the river, the minister prayed. “Lord you say. ‘Do good to those who persecute you’- ‘If your enemy is thirsty give him a drink’. Please help me reach this man! In the same way you helped Daniel reach Nebuchadnezzar.” Before dawn the next morning, that still small voice said to him, “can you make a paper plane?” Suddenly the image was in his mind and he was egger to show the General. Then the voice said again, “Show him how the other pieces of paper tell him about Calvary. Then show him the discission he MUST make for salvation!”

In the morning the General was grandly seated in a large armchair set in the square. He had all the villagers’ parade in the square. His purpose being, that they would see the minister as a crying wreck of a man. And by beheading him show that his religion was false! The minister was dragged before him and handed a piece of paper. With which he calmly started to fold the paper as the Lord had shown him that night. Holding the folded paper on the bench in front of the General, he said, “Honourable Sir, you cut along this line”. Instantly in one stroke, the General drew his sword and cut the paper. Taking a deep breath the minister checked to see that he still had all his fingers. Then he opened out the paper and presented ‘the Cross’. The General paused with his mouth open, took a breath, then asked in English, “Your Jesus show you this?” The minister smiled and said,  “Yes Sir, but He also said I must show you the very important message the other pieces of paper tell you.

The minister then placed the Cross on the table so that it was facing the General. He then told the story of Calvary. “Yes Jesus willingly died nailed to the Cross at Calvary, but he was without sin, so his Cross is represented as one piece. But there were also two other men who were nailed to crosses each side of him. They were criminals, so their crosses are represented as broken crosses. So he formed the two crosses with four ‘L’ shaped pieces of paper. He said the Romans placed a sign on the Cross, above Jesus, which read in three languages, “The King of The Jews”. So he placed a small rectangular piece of paper at the top of the Cross. He then said the Roman guards through dice at the foot of Jesus Cross, to see who would win Jesus cloak. So he placed two small square pieces of paper at the foot of the Cross. He had one piece of paper left. A rectangular piece with one corner folded. So he placed it at the side of the Cross and said. Jesus died quicker that expected, so the Romans drove a spear into his side to check that he was dead. And all of this was prophesied in the bible in Psalms 22 and Isaiah 53 hundreds of years before it happened.

The General slowly shaking his head asked, “Why would he do this?” So the minister left the Cross, and rearrange the rest of the pieces of paper. Then pointing to the Cross he said, “Sir, the bible says, ‘we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God’. So God sent His son Jesus to die and go to hell. By doing that Jesus has paid the death penalty we all deserve. But because Jesus was with out sin God raised Jesus from the grave three days later. Now Jesus sits beside God and waits for us to acknowledge He died for us. Then Jesus pleads before God to accept you into heaven to live forever with God.

Then with the other pieces of paper he could spell out the word HELL. Then pointing to the word ‘HELL’, he said, “But if you choose to reject Jesus and say, ‘he was just a foolish man’, then you will go to hell and be separated from God and Jesus, where it is said, ‘there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’. Sir this is the very important message that my Jesus said I must show you.” Then on his knees the minister bowed low before the General.

How To MAKE The CROSS

Did you like that? Well here is a set of photos to show you, firstly how to make the Cross, then secondly how to tell the story. I have drawn a black edge on the paper so that you can understand how to fold it, then I have marked the side in fifths to show the last fold and cut line.

It is quite simple; most of us have made a toy paper aeroplane, or you have watched mum, dad or a friend make one. I have used a piece of plain photocopy paper, A4 size. Even the old ‘foolscap’ will do.  You can use a larger size for say a public showing, so long as the paper is in the same proportion. For example, A3, A2 etc.

1) Start with a piece of plain paper. Note the ‘black’ edge on the top and two sides. This makes the photos clearer to se the folds.

2) The two middle photos show that you fold and open, both left and right, to establish two fold lines.

3) The photo to the right shows the next step using the fold lines.

Below

4) Left photo.        Fold the paper as show, the black edges can be either inside or out side, makes no difference.

5) Centre photo.   Mark the side in fifths. This will show you on which line to make the last fold, which is at the 6cm dash.

6) Right photo.     Fold along the 6cm dash. Then on the 4cm dash, mark the dotted line for the cut.

Dividing into fifths will also ensure that after the cut, all the pieces of paper are about the same width.

                  

The End Product!

  

      

I hope you liked that little story.
Here are some other topics I have published, some quite controversial, but I do hope you find them interesting. 

British Israel - 1.01 [For Beginners]
The Lies In The Bible
A Thief In The Night - English
The-Book-Of-Revelation-Started-2000-Years-Ago

GBY (God Bless Ya)

Yours Adrian