THE SPIRITUAL REALITY THAT MAKES
OUR CHURCHES LEGITIMATE,
IS REJECTED BY THESE SAME CHURCHES,
CAUSING THE CHURCHES THEMSELVES TO
DEEM THEMSELVES SPIRITUALLY ILLEGITIMATE
THE WATCHER : PART IV
The Bible was not intended to be an
historical narrative which chronicled the life and times of Jesus when he walked
upon the earth -- and neither is it a declaration to man as to what he is
required to (unquestionably) believe. The purpose of the written word (written
equals Old Covenant) of the scriptures is to prepare you to become the "good
ground" (Mt 13:23;Mk 4:20; Lk 8:15) within which the Word of God is
implanted -- good ground that will enable you to embrace the teachings of the
New Covenant which is spiritual, and learn directly from the True Prophet. While
our present-day Bibles are sufficient for the people of the simple faith who are
not willing to pick up their crosses and take upon themselves the yoke of the
Christ -- which in effect would alienate them from the quasi-religious
institutions and culture of this world -- the sincere disciple who desires to
walk in The Way of Truth and Life will need scriptures of a higher spiritual
substance than what is used in our churches today. While the original Hebrew
Gospel of Matthew which was used among the Ebionites is not available to us at
the present time, there does exist many transitory gospels which will assist in
preparing the truly sincere believer and disciple to come into the Presence of
the Light and be taught the Mysteries of God directly from the Source of all
Truth.
In 1870 an important writing known as
The Gospel of the Holy Twelve was published from an ancient manuscript
that had been hidden away in an eastern monastery in order to stop it from
falling into the hands of the (church) corrupters. It is my understanding that
another copy of this gospel has also been found at the Mt. Carmel Monastery, and
that many other fragmentary copies exist which were in like manner hidden away
for safekeeping. In 1997 a newer translation of this gospel was published under
the name of The Gospel of the Nazirenes, by Alan Wauters and Rick VanWyhe.
This Gospel was not that which was used by the Ebionites -- but rather, was
fundamentally used to instruct those Jews who were converting from the simple
(Jewish) faith, to that of True Spiritual Israel. It therefore focuses on
conversion from a very Jewish perspective -- i.e., the flawed ritual practice of
temple sacrifice, the polluting effect of eating animal flesh, the uselessness
of physical circumcision -- and the Gospel further clarified such spiritual
concepts as the pre-existence of the soul, the deeper spiritual meaning of the
written word of the scriptures, the reality of the Royal Law of the Most High
God, the Masculine and Feminine aspects of God as perceived in the Singleness of
the All-Parent, and the universal nature of the indwelling Word to all peoples
of the earth. What set this Gospel apart from the scriptures of the Old
Testament traditions, was the fact that this Gospel could be read literally --
from a strictly carnal perception of the written word -- and the reader would be
able to study a very clear and concise portrayal of the Royal Law of the Most
High.
Is this gospel genuine? While the modern church which remains drunk on the old wine of Rome will vehemently reject many of the tenets of this gospel, an astute reader will immediately see that many missing elements which were removed from our present New Testament copies are still represented and contained in this less than perfect writing. At Matthew 23:34-35 Jesus says to the false religious leaders in that day: "Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar" (Mt 23:35;Lk 11:51 NIV). Upon reading this we should ask who Zechariah was who was murdered between the temple and the alter?
If we pose a number of important simple questions: Who Zechariah was? Why were the secular Jews held accountable for his blood? And what does this account mean to us in our present time? Our severely edited Bibles which we rely upon today, cannot even begin to provide us with the answers to these and many other important questions. To demonstrate our inability to even remotely comprehend what Jesus is talking about while using our present-day copies of the New Testament -- Bible translations which were made from severely altered manuscripts which were rewritten by the Church of Rome -- on this verse Barnes’ Notes writes: "It is not certainly known who this was. Some have thought that it was the Zecharias whose death is recorded in 2 Chr. 24:20-21. He is there called the son of Jehoiada; but it is known that it was common among the Jews to have two names, as Matthew is called Levi; Lebbeus, Thaddeus; and Simon, Cephas. Others have thought that Jesus referred to Zecharias the prophet, who might have been massacred by the Jews, though no account of his death is recorded. It might have been known by tradition."
We don’t know of whom Jesus speaks, because the whole account of Zacharias the prophet and the father of John the Baptist was removed from the texts our Bibles were made from. In the Nazirene Gospel 3:5-6 we read: "His father, Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit , and prophesied, Be blessed, Oh God of Israel , for you have visited and redeemed your people; and have raised up a symbol of power and strength for us, in the house of your servant David; as you spoke by the mouth of your holy prophets , who have been since the world began. You have spoken through the prophets so that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all those who hate us; You have spoken through the prophets in order to perform the mercy promised to our ancestors, and to remember Your holy covenant. The covenant! The oath which you swore to our father Abraham, that we, being granted deliverance from the hand of our enemies, might serve you without fear, in holiness and righteousness before you, all the days of our life. This child [John] will be called the prophet of the Most High; for He will stand before your face, Oh God, to prepare your ways; to give knowledge of salvation to your people by the remission of their sins. Through the tender mercy of you, Oh God, the day spring from on high has visited us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. And the child grew, and his spirit intensified. His mission was hidden until the day of his presentation to Israel"
Spiritual holy men such as Zacharias, along with all other examples of Jews who were part of the Holy Nation of Israel, had to be removed from the text of the scriptures in order for the Gentile-Roman Church to rewrite history to make it appear that the Jews rejected Jesus, and the Gentiles became the new chosen people. Thus, in the same way that the above reference to Zacharias was removed, so also was that found in the Nazirene Gospel 5:13-19: "When they had departed, behold the angel of God appeared to Joseph in a dream , saying, Arise, and take the young child and His mother, and flee into Egypt. Remain there until I bring you word, for Herod will seek to destroy Him. And when Joseph arose, he took the young child and His mother by night, and went to Egypt, and was there for about seven years until the death of Herod The prophet, had spoken the word of God saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son. Elisabeth too, when she heard it, took her infant son and went up into a mountain and hid him. Herod sent his officers to Zacharias in the temple and said to him, Where is your child? Zacharias answered, I am a minister of God and am continually in the temple. I don't know where he is. And Herod demanded again, Truly, tell me where your son is? Don't you know that your life is in my hand? And Zacharias answered, The Lord is witness if you shed my blood. God will receive my spirit; for you will shed the blood of the innocent. And they slew Zacharias in the temple between the holy place and the altar; and the people knew it, for a voice was heard, Zacharias is slain, and his blood will not be washed out until the avenger comes. After a time the priests cast lots. The lot fell upon Simeon, and he filled Zacharias' place. Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was furious, and ordered to have all the children age two years and under, living in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, slain. He set the age of the children to be slain, according to the information asked of the wise men. Then were fulfilled the words spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel, weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not"
Once we see the sections which were removed from our own Bibles that are still contained in the Nazirene Gospel, we can easily begin to understand what Jesus was making reference to with respect to the allegation that the secular Jews were guilty of the blood of Zacharias. What is clear is the fact that this revelation pertaining to Zacharias was once contained in our Bibles, but was purposely removed by the Gentile Chruch.
At Mark 10:46 our Bible reads: "And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging". Upon reading this, any person who sincerely desires to understand the word of God would ask: So what happened in Jericho? An interesting notation is seen in the Wycliffe Commentary which reads: "The [Jericho] of Jesus' day was located about five miles west of Jordan and fifteen miles northeast of Jerusalem. The site of the Canaanite city of Joshua's day lay one mile to the north. There is a difficulty in harmonization here. Matthew and Mark say that the miracle occurred as Jesus went out of Jericho; Luke places it as he was come nigh unto Jericho (18:35). Perhaps the most plausible solution is that the healing occurred as Jesus left the site of old Jericho and entered the new city of Jericho. The difficulty with this explanation is that there is no evidence that the old Jericho was inhabited in Jesus' time. This problem arises, no doubt, from our lack of complete historical and geographical information. We may be assured that no discrepancy would exist if all the facts were known. Meanwhile, the divergence is a testimony to the independent character of the two accounts."
If we look into chapter 41 of the Nazirene Gospel we can immediately see why the whole reference to what transpired in Jericho had to be removed by the Gentile-Roman Church:
1.And as Jesus was going to Jericho He met a man with a cage full of birds, including some very young doves, which he had caught. And He saw how they were in misery having lost their liberty, and moreover being tormented with hunger and thirst.
2.And He said to the man, What are you doing with these? And the man answered, I go to make my living by selling these birds which I have taken.
3.And Jesus said, What would you think, if another, stronger than you or with greater craft, were to catch you and bind you, or your wife, or your children, and cast you into a prison, in order to sell you into captivity for his own profit, and to make a living?
4.Are not these your fellow creatures only weaker than you? And doesn't the same God our Father-Mother care for them as for you? Let these your little brothers and sisters have their freedom, and see that you don't do this thing any more, but provide honestly for your living."
5.And the man marveled at these words and at His authority, and he let the birds go free. So when the birds came forth they flew to Jesus and stood on his shoulder and sang to Him.
6.And the man inquired further of His doctrine, and he went his way, and learnt the craft of making baskets, and by this craft he earned his bread; and afterwards he broke his cages and his traps and became a disciple of Jesus.
7.And Jesus beheld a man working on the Sabbath, and He said to him, man, if you know what you are doing, you are blessed, for you are not breaking the law in the spirit; but if you don't know, you are accursed and a transgressor of the law.
8.And again Jesus said to His disciples, what shall be done to these servants who, knowing their Lord's will, don't prepare themselves for His coming, neither do according to His Will?
9.They that know their master's will, and don't do it, will be beaten with many stripes. But they who don't know their master's will, and don't do it, will be beaten with but few stripes. To whomsoever much is given, of them is much required; and to whom little is given, from them is but little required.
10.And there was a certain man who was blind from his birth. And he denied that there were such things as sun, moon, and stars, or that color existed. And they tried in vain to persuade him that other people saw them; and they led him to Jesus, and He anointed his eyes and made him see.
11.And he greatly rejoiced with wonder and fear, and confessed that before he was blind. And now, after this, he said, I see all, I know everything, I am a god.
12.And Jesus again said to him, How can you know all? You can't see through the walls of your house, nor read the thoughts of your fellow-men, nor understand the language of birds, or of beasts. You can not even recall the events of your former life, conception, or birth.
13.Remember with humility how much remains unknown to you, yes, unseen, and doing so, you may see more clearly.
In the original teachings of The Way, the followers of Jesus were required to do no harm to any living creature -- whether animal or man. Jesus was called the Prince of Peace -- he preached a Gospel where peace was the essence of the disciple’s life and manner of thinking. In the Nazirene Gospel it is expressed in numerous places that God expected man inflict no harm to any living creature -- and for food, man was to eat only the vegetation and fruit of the earth, as seen in the words: "And God said, See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food; and it was so. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day" (Gen 1:29-31 NKJ).
Unlike the carnal Jewish sects of the Sadducees and Pharisees, Spiritual Israelites (Essenes-Ebionites-Nazirenes) who were the true people of the New Covenant, were always vegetarians. If the objective of the teachings of The Way is to return the prodigal son to the Kingdom from which he originally emerged, then he must live in the manner of God's original vision, and do no harm to any living creature. With respect to the above verses in the Book of Genesis, the Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament writes: "From this it follows, that, according to the creative will of God, men were not to slaughter animals for food, nor were animals to prey upon one another; consequently, that the fact which now prevails universally in nature and the order of the world, the violent and often painful destruction of life, is not a primary law of nature, nor a divine institution founded in the creation itself, but entered the world along with death at the fall of man, and became a necessity of nature through the curse of sin. It was not till after the flood, that men received authority from God to employ the flesh of animals as well as the green herb as food (Gen 9:3); and the fact that, according to the biblical view, no carnivorous animals existed at the first, may be inferred from the prophetic announcements in Isa. 11:6-8; 65:25, where the cessation of sin and the complete transformation of the world into the kingdom of God are described as being accompanied by the cessation of slaughter and the eating of flesh, even in the case of the animal kingdom."
What the Keil & Delitzsch Commentary clarifies is the fact that if man is to return to the Kingdom, then he must inflict no harm upon any living creature. This is one of the main tenets of what is referred to as the Royal Law of the Most High. With respect to the above verses sited at Isaiah 11:6-7, Keil & Delitzsch Commentary writes: "There now reign among irrational creatures, from the greatest to the least -- even among such as are invisible -- fierce conflicts and bloodthirstiness of the most savage kind. But when the Son of David enters upon the full possession of His royal inheritance, the peace of paradise will be renewed, and all that is true in the popular legends of the golden age be realized and confirmed. This is what the prophet depicts in such lovely colours. The wolf and lamb, those two hereditary foes, will be perfectly reconciled then. The leopard will let the teazing kid lie down beside it. The lion, between the calf and stalled ox, neither seizes upon its weaker neighbour, nor longs for the fatter one."
Unlike the Old Testament, in the New Testament there is the very clear and open declaration that the Kingdom of God will never come upon the earth as carnal man expects, because it already exists within us (Luke 17:20-21). The objective, then, of the teachings of The Way, was to prepare carnal man for the next stage of birth that will enable him to gain access into the inner Kingdom. In order to accomplish this, he must live his life in the manner of God's original vision, and inflict no harm to any living creature. This requirement which was very clearly presented in the scriptures in their original form, was altered and removed from our Bibles by the Gentiles and Pagan Church of the Roman Empire.
Perhaps the most clear explanation was given by Jesus in the thirty-third chapter of the Nazirene Gospel where he taught: "Jesus was teaching His disciples in the outer court of the temple and one of them said to Him, Master, it is said by the priests that without shedding of blood there is no remission. Can then the blood offerings of the laws take away sin? And Jesus answered, No blood offering, of beast or bird, or man, can take away sin. For how can the conscience be purged from sin by the shedding of innocent blood? Nay, it will increase the condemnation. The priests indeed receive such offerings as a reconciliation of the worshippers for the trespasses against the Law of Moses; but for sins against the Law of God there can be no remission, save by repentance and amendment. Is it not written in the prophets, Put your blood sacrifices to your burnt offerings, and away with them, and cease from the eating flesh. I did not speak to your fathers nor commanded them, concerning these things, when I brought them out of Egypt. But this thing I commanded saying, Obey my voice and walk in the ways that I have commanded you, and you will be my people, and it shall be well with you. But they did not listen, nor inclined their ear. And what doth the eternal command you, but to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God? Is it not written that in the beginning God ordained the fruits of the trees and the seeds and the herbs to be food for all flesh? But they have made the house of prayer a den of thieves, and for the oblation with incense, they have polluted my altars with blood, and eaten of the flesh of the slain. But I say to you, shed no innocent blood nor eat flesh. Walk upright, love mercy, and do justly, and your days shall be long in the land".
What Jesus is teachings is that if we
wish to dwell in the Paradise of our Creator God, and inherit the promise of
eternal life, then we must live in the manner that God intended when mankind
dwelled in Eden. We must do no harm to any creature -- we must cease to do evil
-- and we must "do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our
God". And if you say that such a thing is impossible -- that you cannot
live your life in this manner -- then your soul has eternity to aimlessly wander
this world of suffering, death and pain, until which time you desire to enter
into the Paradise that awaits you.
Natural man often has great problems when he attempts to embrace such a manner of life. He reasons: The animals were put here for me to eat. The problem is that because he is ruled over by the beasts of his animal nature -- i.e., carnivores -- he craves the blood and fat of slain beasts. In scripture, the good animals are always portrayed as vegetarians that inflict no harm upon any other creature -- i.e., the lamb -- and if we are to make any progress in following in The Way, we must convert the lower nature within us from a beast, to a subdued companion that supports our quest of higher consciousness. We cannot even begin to accomplish this transformation while our physical bodies are the tombs of dead animals. Why is this truth not more clear in our Bibles today: It is near impossible for carnal, sensually driven men not to eat the flesh of slain beasts. In like manner, the teachings of The Way were unacceptable to the Gentile-heathen world, so they simply eliminated what was objectionable in the scriptures they inherited from the holy men of Spiritual Israel.
Even
among the biblical manuscripts and texts we use, there still remains references to Jesus
condemning the eating of flesh -- but we choose not to place these condemnations
in our English translations:
The oldest known complete copy of
our Gospels is called the Evangelion Da - Mepharresh and in it we find
Jesus saying at Luke 21:34: "See
that you do not make your minds heavy, to do this, never eat meat or drink
wine." In my own experiences, on my very first journey into
the Kingdom when I was brought into the Presence of the Light, I was told to
cease from eating any flesh for food.
Modern Christians often point to the biblical verse where the Pharisees ask Jesus: "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!" (Matt 15:2 NIV) -- and the answer of Jesus to affirm that Christians were not required to observe the dietary restrictions in the Old Testament: "What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean,’ but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean… Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean’" (Matt 15:11-20 NIV).
Regardless of the fact that what is being presented here is true -- the question remains, is it the whole truth? What should make us question the completeness of what is being presented, and give us an immediate clue that these verses have been doctored, is the fact that we know the author of this scripture -- i.e., the Apostle Matthew -- was himself a vegetarian, as seen in the words of Clement of Alexandria: "Accordingly, the apostle Matthew partook of seeds, and nuts, and vegetables, without flesh" (Clement; The Instructor). In the Clementine Homolies, the Apostle Peter is quoted as saying: "I live on Olives and Bread to which I rarely only add Vegetables." If we add to this the witness of Eusebius, who quotes Hegesippus and writes of James, the brother of Jesus, and first leader of the New Covenant Church: "He drank no wine or strong drink, nor did he eat meat", and it is well documented that all the Messianic followers of Jesus did not eat the flesh of animals, we should question why a religious society of vegetarians would promote the eating of animal flesh? They did not!
Even among the Gentile converts, the earliest of Christians abstained from the eating of flesh. The Church Father Irenaeus recounts how, when the followers of Jesus were accused of cannibalism with respect to the eating of the Lord's body and drinking his blood, the martyr Blandina replied: "How should those persons endure such accusation, who, for the sake of the practice of piety, did not avail themselves even of the flesh that was permitted them to eat?" In like manner St. Jerome wrote: "The eating of Flesh Meat was unknown up to the big flood, but since the flood they have the strings and stinking juices of Animal Meat into our mouths, just as they threw in front of the grumbling sensual people in the desert (Essenes). Jesus Christ, who appeared when the time had been fulfilled, has again joined the end with the beginning, so that it is no longer allowed for us to eat the Flesh of Animal Meat." In total agreement St. Basil wrote: "The steam of Meat meals darkens the Spirit. One can hardly have virtue if one enjoys Meat meals and feasts. In the Earthly Paradise, no one Sacrificed Animals, and no one ate the Flesh of Animal Meat." Clement of Alexandria in like manner explained: "Sacrifices were invented by men to be a pretext for Eating the Flesh of Animals."
That the New Testament in like manner condemned the eating of flesh is seen in the Gospel of the Nazirenes, where we can see what the original message that Jesus taught conveyed to the reader: "And Jesus said, ‘Well has Moses commanded you to be clean, and to keep your bodies clean, and your vessels clean, but you have added things which ofttimes cannot be observed by everyone at all times and in all places. Hear me therefore, not only unclean things entering into the body of man defile the man, but much more do evil thoughts and unclean things which pour from the heart of man, defile the inner man and others also. Therefore take heed to your thoughts and cleanse your hearts and let your food be pure. These things ought you to do, and not to leave the others undone. Whosoever breaks The Law of Purification of necessity, are blameless, for they do it not of their own will, neither despising The Law which is just and good. For cleanliness in all things is great gain. Be not therefore followers of evil fashions of the world, even in appearance; for many are led into transgression by the outward seeming, and the likeness of evil" (NG 43:13-16). Thus, the original words of Jesus paint an entirely different picture than the corrupted texts of our modern biblical translations.
Further
confirmation that the original people of the New Covenant ate no flesh foods is
seen in the Clementine Homily 7,
chap 4, where it reads: “Wherefore, as then ye were deceived by the
forerunner Simon, and so became dead in your souls to God, and were smitten in
your bodies; so now, if you repent, as I said, and submit to those things which
are
The teachings of Jesus are spiritual, and embody the reality that the disciple will learn from the One Teacher who he will find in the Temple and Kingdom within. It is also taught by Jesus that the people who live in accordance with the teachings and customs of this world, will be severely influenced by demons and discarnate spirits -- as seen in the teaching of Peter in the Clementine Homilies: "But the reason why the demons delight in entering into men's bodies is that, being disembodied spirits and having perverted desires after meat and sex, but not being able to partake of these due to being spirits, and wanting organs fitted for their enjoyment, they enter the bodies of men in order to gain organs with which to satisfy their lusts, both meat and sex." Peter further taught that we open the door to these demons and discarnate spirits when we eat dead flesh at the table of demons: "But you are still ignorant of this law, that everyone who worships demons or their idols, or sacrifices to them, or partakes with them of their table, shall become subject to them and receive all punishment from them, as being under wicked lords. And you who, on account of ignorance of this law, have been corrupted beside their altars, and have been satiated with food offered to them, have come under their power, and do not know you have been in every way injured in respect of your bodies. But you ought to know that the demons have no power over any one, unless first he be their table-companion; since not even their chief can do anything contrary to the law imposed upon them by God wherein the demons have no power over any one who does not worship them by being their table-companions in the eating of flesh.... But you, being ignorant of the foreordained law, are under the power of the chief of demons through evil deeds, wherefore you are polluted in body and soul, and in the present life you are tyrannized over by sufferings and demons.... If therefore, ye wish to be the vesture of the Divine Spirit,.... neither believe in idols, nor partake with them of the impure table...."
What Peter is stating is that the very presence of dead animals in the body opens the door for the vibration of death -- i.e., demons and discarnate spirits -- to bring the person under their demonic control. It was for this reason in the Gospel of the Nazirenes that Jesus stated that those believers of the simple faith could not be admitted into the inner core of the New Covenant while still eating the flesh of slain beasts: "And again that one asked, If anyone comes to us who eats flesh and drinks strong drink, how shall we receive them? And Yeshua said to him, Let such a person abide in the outer court until they cleanse themselves from these grosser evils; for till they perceive, and repent of these, they are not fit to receive the higher mysteries." What this is further teaching is the reality that those who eat meat cannot enter the Kingdom within, and cannot learn directly from the One Teacher.
While these teachings of Jesus might sound alien to us today, there are countless first century writings that demonstrate their genuineness. In another writing known as The Essene Gospel of Piece which was found by a priest who was working in the Vatican Library, these same teachings are very clearly presented when Jesus tells the carnal Jews why they are blind to man's indwelling spiritual reality: "Jesus said: You do not understand the words of Life, because you are in Death. Darkness darkens your eyes and your ears are stopped with deafness. For I tell you, it Profits you not at all that you pore over Dead Scriptures if by your deeds you deny him who has given you the Scriptures. I tell you truly, God and his Laws are not in that which you do. They are not in Gluttony and Wine-Bibbing, Flesh Eating, neither in Riotous Living, nor in Lustfulness, nor in seeking after Riches, nor yet in Hatred of your Enemies. For all these things are far from the True God and his Angels. But all these things come from the Kingdom of Darkness and the Lord of all Evils. And all these things do you carry in yourselves; and so the Word and the Power of God enter not into you, because all manner of Evil and all manner of Abominations have their dwelling in your body and in your Spirit. If you will, that the living God’s Word and his Power may enter you, Defile not your Body and your Spirit; for the Body is the Temple of the Spirit, and the Spirit is the Temple of God. Purify, therefore, the Temple, that the Lord of the Temple may dwell therein and occupy a place that is worthy of GOD."
In our search for truth, we are presented with a uniform all-pervading doctrine which emerges from the first century people of the New Covenant -- a doctrine which portrays the absolute need to live in harmony with the Royal Law of the Most High. Moreover, these same words are relevant to the people who portray themselves as the followers and believers in Jesus today. The body is the Temple of God -- and those who defile the temple are wasting their time when they philosophically call upon the name of the Lord. Those who purify the Temple, are those who truly believe in the Son of God, live in strict accord with his teachings, and permit the indwelling Light to fill every aspect of the True Christian's Life.
Returning back to the above passages of the Nazirene Gospel, in verses 1-6 we further see the discourse between Jesus and the man who caught and caged birds for a living. It is also important to note that God, which in the newer translation is interpreted as the Most High, is herein referred to as Father-Mother -- which is true of all the earliest of New Covenant and Essene writings.
At verse 7 we see the phrase: "And Jesus beheld a man working on the Sabbath, and He said to him, man, if you know what you are doing, you are blessed, for you are not breaking the law in the spirit; but if you don't know, you are accursed and a transgressor of the law". This same exact phrase is found in both Codex Baeza, as well as in the Gospel of Thomas. What it means is that if one "…knows what they are doing", then they have overcome this world, and everyday becomes a Sabbath. If one is still in a divided state with respect to their soul and spiritual natures, then working on the Sabbath is in violation of the Commandment of God which causes them to be "…accursed and a transgressor of the law". Because the Pagan-Christians worshiped the sun-god on the day of the sun, this reference to Sabbath observance had to be removed from our Bibles.
At verse 8-9 we see the very important teaching which applies to modern Christians in the words: "And again Jesus said to His disciples, what shall be done to these servants who, knowing their Lord's will, don't prepare themselves for His coming, neither do according to His Will? They that know their master's will, and don't do it, will be beaten with many stripes. But they who don't know their master's will, and don't do it, will be beaten with but few stripes. To whomsoever much is given, of them is much required; and to whom little is given, from them is but little required". What this means is that Christians, who know the will of the Lord, and yet continue to sin and remain spiritually stagnant, will be dealt with more severely than the non-Christian who knows not the will of the Lord.
Lastly we have the healing of the blind man, which reads: "And there was a certain man who was blind from his birth. And he denied that there were such things as sun, moon, and stars, or that color existed. And they tried in vain to persuade him that other people saw them; and they led him to Jesus, and He anointed his eyes and made him see. And he greatly rejoiced with wonder and fear, and confessed that before he was blind. And now, after this, he said, I see all, I know everything, I am a god. And Jesus again said to him, How can you know all? You can't see through the walls of your house, nor read the thoughts of your fellow-men, nor understand the language of birds, or of beasts. You can not even recall the events of your former life, conception, or birth. Remember with humility how much remains unknown to you, yes, unseen, and doing so, you may see more clearly".
When Jesus restored his physical sight, the blind man was under the same misconception as all men and women who are born with physical vision -- i.e., that he could see all there was. To this Jesus replied: "How can you know all? You can't see through the walls of your house, nor read the thoughts of your fellow-men, nor understand the language of birds, or of beasts". Since there is no mention of the man being in a house, the astute reader should recognize that Jesus is telling him that he can’t see beyond the three-dimensional realm within which he resides. The "thoughts of your fellow-men" represent the laws which dictate the manner in which they think, and the "language of the birds or of beasts" represents the laws which control the movement of lower nature and the elemental things of this world.
Of the utmost importance to the modern Christian is the words of Jesus where he states to the man who was formerly blind: "You can not even recall the events of your former life, conception, or birth. Remember with humility how much remains unknown to you, yes, unseen, and doing so, you may see more clearly". Herein we can see one of the many references to the pre-existence of the soul that at one time existed in our Bibles. How can a person know anything, when he cannot "…recall the events of their former life" prior to entering into this present lifetime? How can they know anything when they are unable to perceive the laws or circumstances of their "conception or birth" into this present life? Thus, in the manner of the story of the death of Zacharias, we can immediately see why everything that transpired in Jericho had to be removed by the Gentile-Roman Church -- i.e., it is easier to alter the text of the scriptures, than to repent from their heathen and Pagan ways.
Perhaps one of the most pertinent statements that could be conferred on the modern Christian is Jesus' words: "...Remember with humility how much remains unknown to you, yes, unseen, and doing so, you may see more clearly". That we have begun our journey with Christ, and began to be nourished by the "milk" of the gospel, does not equate to our comprehending the Mysteries of God which the Apostle Paul warned would be looked upon as "foolishness" by man in his natural organic state of being. Thus, with humility we must beseech the Lord to give to us the "solid food" that enlightens our understanding of the Sacred Secrets of the Most High God.
When approached with true humility and a hunger to learn, the original teachings of The Way revealed a manner of thinking and an associated lifestyle that prepared the believer to receive the Truth directly from the Son of God. With regard to our search for the Truth, what the believer must come to terms with is the fact that they can argue over doctrine and dogma till they take their last breath, and the only way they will ever know for sure is to prove it within their own lives! Belief and faith in the Lord are necessary attributes -- but Jesus also said to adhere to his Commandments, pick up your crosses, take his yoke upon you, and follow in his footsteps. When you do this, the early Christians professed that your faith and belief will be turned into sure spiritual knowledge -- Gnostic knowledge that is gained by virtue of your own first-hand spiritual experiences -- and this knowledge will be taught to you directly by the First Cause of Creation -- i.e., the Son of God. This is the True and Genuine message of the Bible!
A fundamental key in comprehending the process by which all truth is revealed as we walk the road of spiritual perfection, is to understand the mindset of the first century follower of Jesus -- which mindset represents the necessary state of mind within which the Word and Mysteries of God must be implanted. An important difference between the modern Christian and the first century Jew was their ideas pertaining to their place of origin, as demonstrated in the words of Gibbon: "...the Jews were persuaded of the pre-existence, transmigration, and immortality of souls; and providence was justified by a supposition, that they were confined in their earthly prisons to expiate the stains which they had contracted in a former state" (Gibbon; Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire, V.4, P.364).
What is the implications? They are so far reaching, that the average Christian is simply incapable of comprehending the impact of these words upon their lives! Just this one difference in the believer’s ideas pertaining to life can so dramatically alter one’s understanding of both life and the Gospel, that it’s absence is responsible for an entirely erroneous perception of both Jesus, and the source and purpose of New Covenant teachings. The average person whose thinking is bounded by a quasi-Darwinist three-dimensional model of life, is simply unable to comprehend how Jesus came to be the Messiah, and the manner in which the revelation of spiritual truth is revealed. Moreover, in the above words of Gibbon we can see the biblical understanding of the relationship between the "…pre-existence and transmigration… of souls", and the very well defined biblical doctrine of "providence" -- i.e., Divine Providence, that is brought about in the life of the individual based upon one’s own past deeds.
In examination of the words of Gibbon, unless the believer understands the "pre-existence, transmigration, and immortality of souls" -- i.e., limitations imposed upon the physical body of man which acts in the manner of "earthly prisons" -- and the limitations that are placed upon the individual as a result of the "stains which they had contracted in a former state" -- the believer will be incapable of perceiving the spiritual essence, purpose and revelation of the Gospel message.
The concept that when a child is born into this life it is not a new creation -- but rather, the cyclic return of a soul who has existed since the very dawn of time as we understand it, is simply beyond our comprehension. In our manner of thinking, when we pose the question: What is a child? We would say that it is a new soul that was created by God -- but is it? The Bible itself states to us in Eccl 1:9-11 that "there is no new thing under the sun" -- and then asks the question: "Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See this is new". Let us refute the wisdom of the Bible, and use the example of a new-born baby as something that is new. Surely this baby is new -- i.e., it has never had an existence prior to being born.
Yet, the scripture confutes us, and teaches that: "It hath been already of old time, which was before us". So that we might be sure that the scriptures are speaking about a new born baby, it then goes on to clarify the statement by adding: "There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after". Based upon these words is can be said that, from a biblical perspective, even though a baby (or person) will not remember its past: "It hath been already of old time".
You say you don’t believe that your soul has pre-existed your birth in this life because you don’t remember. On the surface this is a reasonable assumption. Yet, according to the first Christians, you are not supposed to remember your more distant past -- that is, unless the Lord opens the minds of a person in order for them to remember the previous lives that their soul has lived. This fact that we don’t remember was very clearly acknowledged by Jesus when he made the above statement to the blind man he had healed: "You can not even recall the events of your former life, conception, or birth. Remember with humility how much remains unknown to you, yes, unseen, and doing so, you may see more clearly". That the majority of people do not remember the previous lives which their pre-existent soul has lived prior to their coming into being in their present life, is basically caused by the fact that by living sense-bound lives and embracing the culture of this world, they have made themselves alien to their true self.
Moreover, there is another element to the equation that is not understood by the modern Christian. In the words of St. Jerome (340-420): “The doctrine of transmigration (reincarnation) has been secretly taught from ancient times to small numbers of people, as a traditional truth which was not to be divulged” (Hyeronym., Epistola ad Demetriadem; Quoted in Reincarnation an east-west anthology by Joseph Head and S.L. Cranston). Why? Why was this teaching only revealed to a small number of (Gentile) Christians as a traditional truth, and not to everyone? In the first instance, our whole understanding of the belief in reincarnation is fatally flawed. It is our essence -- our soul -- that has existed since the dawn of time that reincarnates -- while the person we are in this world is limited to what we accomplish and make of ourselves in our present life. What this ultimately means is that the Fundamentalist Christian is not necessarily wrong in his rejection of the belief in reincarnation -- i.e., the person you are at present has for the most part never lived before, and will to a great degree cease to exist some time after your physical death.
One of the most important aspects of man's higher reality is conveyed to us in the 84th parable of the recently acquired Gospel According to Thomas that is contained in the Nag Hammadi Library of Christian scriptures, where the text reads: “Jesus said: when you see your likeness, you rejoice. But when you see your images which came into existence before you, which neither die nor are manifested, how much will you bear!”.
What does this
mean? What is your likeness -- your
images -- what is their relationship to you in your present life -- and what is
the difference between the two? Your likeness that you
rejoice when you see, is your soul which has existed since the beginning of
time. The images which came
into existence before you, are the previous lives your soul has lived prior to
the incarnation which you are at present.
These images which represent lifetimes in the manner that we are
presently living, took paths in life that made them alien to their soul, and can
be compared to miscarriages with respect to the next level of birth which is the
paramount theme of the Bible. In
becoming part of the culture of the time in which they lived, and not living in
accordance with the scriptures and the Royal Law of God, they possessed no valid
spiritual substance, and therefore remain failed attempts of the soul to
manifest itself in the Kingdom.
In the pattern and symbology of this world,
these previous images can be compared to the eggs of a woman that possess the
potential to be a person -- but having never developed into a mature fetus, were
never physically born into this world.
What this means is that we all have the potential to be born into the
Kingdom -- and the Christian who has received the testimony of the Word can be
likened to those eggs of a woman that has been fertilized -- but whether we are
actually born into the Kingdom will depend upon our ability to embrace the Word
in its absolute fullness.
The modern believer will of course
oppose such a reality, saying that Jesus came to save those who are lost. While this is true, Jesus cannot save you if you refuse to
follow in his footsteps. It was the Lord himself who warned: “But as
touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken
unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the
God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Matt
22:31-32 KJV). In Jesus' own words
we can see that those who are worthy of the resurrection are those who follow in the footsteps of the
Lord along The Way. What this
means is that, in the same manner that the fetus has the potential to be born
into this physical world, we have the potential to be born into what Jesus
called the Kingdom. What is portrayed as "images"
in the Gospel of Thomas -- which images Jesus states “neither die nor are
manifested” -- are previous attempts of the soul which having failed to develop and mature, never attained the second
birth spoken about in the third chapter of John that Christians widely quote
today.
Admittedly, these biblical and historical facts can only begin to make sense when we perceive and comprehend the reality of our pre-existent soul in conjunction with the foundation of New Covenant teachings with regard to the Kingdom coming within the mind and being of the disciple. In two important recent Christian archeological discoveries known as the Oxyrhynchus Papyri and the Gospel of Thomas, we can see an essential teaching that Constantine removed from the Bible which Jesus conveyed to those who asked him about the coming of the Kingdom: “When the Lord was asked by a certain man, when should his kingdom come, he said unto him, when two shall be one and the without as the within, and the male with the female, neither male nor female”. That this is an authentic saying of the Lord which was at one time in our scriptures is affirmed by St. Clement, the disciple of Peter, in his The Second Epistle of Clement where he writes: “Let us expect, therefore, hour by hour, the kingdom of God in love and righteousness, since we know not the day of the appearing of God. For the Lord Himself, being asked by one when His kingdom would come, replied, 'When two shall be one, that which is without as that which is within, and the male with the female, neither male nor female’”. What these important teachings convey is the reality of an inner Armageddon, and the spiritual birth of the disciple in the Kingdom within.
The
teaching of the inner Kingdom is portrayed in a similar manner in the Nazirene
Gospel where Jesus teaches: "This is the Mystery of the trinity in
humanity, and moreover in every individual child of man must be accomplished the mystery of God, ever
witnessing to the light, suffering for the truth, ascending into heaven, and sending forth the spirit of truth. And this is the path of
salvation. For the kingdom of God is within. And
one said to Him, Master, when shall the kingdom come? And he answered and said,
When that which is without shall be as that which
is within, and that which is within shall be as that which is without,
Where Christians think of the Trinity as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the very DNA of this Trinity exists at every level of consciousness. It is for this reason that Jesus speaks of "...the Mystery of the trinity in humanity". By merging together the various trinities that exist within us, we overcome our divided state, and gain entrance to the next higher level of consciousness -- which from our perspective, is our indwelling soul.
Within
this web site you will find reference to this drawing of what is portrayed
throughout the scriptures as the Tree of Life. Notice that the lower
yellow and orange spheres are comprised of male and female (yellow) outer
polarities, and a single (orange) sphere which is both the balance and product
of the two. In like manner, the same can be said of the next level above
(green), and when we exclude the white, the next level above that.
If we project the white sphere outwardly, we can then see the pattern where the
nine elements that makeup the trinities express themselves not only through the white sphere, but this
white sphere as well as the other nine becomes both the balance and product of
the upper and lower most spheres -- which spheres can only be brought together
through the harmony of the ten spheres that reside between the two.
When we begin to comprehend what is being portrayed in this pattern of the Tree
of Life, we can begin to comprehend Jesus' response with respect to when the
Kingdom will come -- i.e., "'When two shall be one, that which is without as that which
is within, and the male with the female, neither male nor female’”.
While the nine spheres which represent a pattern of our mind are comprised of three trinities which must be brought together in harmony, the key to opening the door to the Kingdom is found in the white sphere which can best be described as Intellect -- and is representative of the outer physical body itself. Why intellect? Because it is harmonized and brought to completion by merging the understanding, wisdom and knowledge of the mind, to manifest the Royal Law of the Most High in the endeavor to bring the upper and lower spheres together within and without our lives.
In Genesis it is written: "And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground -- trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters" (Gen 2:9-10 NIV). These four rivers represent the energy flow of vital life-force through the four trinities of the Tree of Life which is a pattern of our mind.
That when we overcome our own division of mind is represented in the words: "And the LORD God said, 'The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever'" (Gen 3:22 NIV). Thus, we must endeavor to eat the fruit of the Tree of Life.
We can then bring Genesis and the Book of the Revelation together when we understand the words: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God" (Rev 2:7 NIV) -- "Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations" (Rev 22:1-2 NIV) -- "Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city" (Rev 22:14 NKJ).
In order to harmonize the mind and bring together the above and the below, the left and the right, and the male and the female, one must manifest the Knowledge of the Spirit into the life that one lives in the endeavor to walk in The Way. Those who accomplish this in their lives, are the faithful disciples of the Lord, and it is these genuine believers of whom the Lord said: "...they may have the right to the Tree of Life, and may enter through the gates into the city." That in overcoming, they will gain entrance into the Kingdom, while the people of this world remain imprisoned in this "outer darkness", is seen in the words: "But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie" (Rev 22:15 NKJ).
Returning
to the above diagram of the Tree of Life, all of Creation dwells within the
Masculine and Feminine Creative Forces of the Most High God. Thus,
everything throughout all of Creation possess these same male and female powers,
and must be harmonized and merged into One -- i.e., "The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper fit for him.
So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh;
and the rib which the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.
Then the man said, 'This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of
Man.' Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh.
And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed" (Gen 2:20-25
RSV).
What we have portrayed in these words is much more that Divine Pattern of Mind, than anything representing an historical account. Throughout this web site you will encounter many references to this Genesis account -- that Adam and Eve were at one time a single unit prior to the separation, and the absolute need to once again make all the male/female spheres of mind within you "one flesh". Thus, male and female is not only paradoxical and opposite, but can only be merged together by the third force of Creation -- and this must be accomplished with all the spheres of mind within the Tree of Life in order to enter the Kingdom that Jesus declared. Once this is comprehended, you will then begin to understand that greater gains can often be realized through the manifestation of a truly Spiritual Marriage between a man and a woman who together make themselves Disciples of the Light, than all the religious schools and wisdom from all the religious teachers and masters that the world has to offer.
What this means is that when you are required to account for the present life you have lived, there will be no excuses. You already possess all the resources necessary in order to find and become Truth and Light. Take what you have -- i.e., your wife or husband, your children, the scriptures -- and begin to live your life in accordance with your highest ideal. What does the scriptures say: "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8 NIV). The Law is this: Those who live in the Light, will inherit the Light!
True Knowledge and Spiritual Substance is at our finger tips: From a soul perspective, what this means is that as we rid ourselves of what is false because of our attachment to the culture and mindset of this world, our awareness and knowledge of our soul's past will be made available to us. Since very few of us are even cognizant that we are an image of our pre-existent soul, and have little in common with the being we truly are within us, it is easily understood why we fail to remember our past -- which past is not ours because the person we are is a product of our culture, rather than what is genuine and real.
Speaking of Rebecca, the mother of Jacob and Esau, the Apostle Paul wrote that "For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil… it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated" (Rom 9:11-13). Thus, the Lord said: "Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee" (Jer 1:5). And again it is written: "Thou turnest man to destruction, and sayest, Return, ye children of men". In these words we have been presented with one of the key elements in the verses pertaining to the teachings about the children which was removed from the gospels -- the idea that we are each known prior to being formed in the womb -- and are again made children in direct accordance with what we have previously accomplished.
Since Christianity is in fact an outgrowth of Judaism, it is reasonable to conclude that it would be of benefit to us in our quest to comprehend these mysteries if we understood whether the belief in the pre-existence of the soul was a part of our Jewish heritage? The following quotation is taken from The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, under the heading of Souls, Transmigration of: "The doctrine of transmigration of souls, which was especially accepted by the Karaites… is generally attacked by Jewish philosophers, but is defended by Isaac Abravanel and Manasseh ben Israel. It appears often in Cabala; it is found in organized form in the Zohar, it is further developed in the teachings of Isaac Luria (1534-1572), and in Hasidism it becomes a universal belief. According to these teachings, all human souls have a common origin in the spiritual unity of the primordial man, sparks of which form the individual souls... The sin of Adam brought higher and lower souls into confusion; as a result, every soul has to pass through a series of incarnations... The soul itself has no sex, which is determined by the body and may vary from incarnation to incarnation".
In the Zohar, a doctrine of Jewish Mysticism, it is written that: "All souls are subject to the trials of transmigration; and men do not know the designs of the Most High with regard to them… The souls must re-enter the absolute substance whence they have emerged. But to accomplish this end they must develop all the perfections, the germ of which is planted in them; and if they have not fulfilled this condition during one life, they must commence another, a third, and so forth, until they have acquired the condition which fits them for reunion with God". This reunion with God is the rebirth that was spoken of by Jesus to the Pharisee Nicodemus, "a ruler of the Jews".
In the reading of the scriptures, it is often important for us to grasp the essence of totality of thought that is expressed. In the discourse in the Gospel of John, an observant reader will see that Jesus expected a "ruler of the Jews" (Jn 3:1) to understand the objective and the purpose of the sacred writings. When Jesus said: "Verily I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God… Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit"; he was speaking of a sacred truth that a ruler of the Jews should know. After examining the Dead Sea Scrolls we must conclude that the Essenes perceived and understood the need to be born again -- and the fact that Nicodemus was a Pharisee leader of the Jews meant that, in order to be a genuine leader, that he should have known of this great truth which Jesus spoke of.
Finally, Jesus said to Nicodemus: "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again"! Why? Because the rebirth is well documented throughout the writings of the Spiritual Jews that "All souls… must re-enter the absolute substance whence they have emerged. But to accomplish this end they must develop all the perfections, the germ of which is planted in them... until they have acquired the condition which fits them for reunion with God."
What does it mean where the Zohar states that "All souls… must re-enter the absolute substance whence they have emerged"? Upon examination we must ask the question: Isn't the primary essence of what is being said in this writing of Jewish Mysticism the same exact vision of man's plight that is portrayed in the parable of the prodigal son? The "absolute substance" would be another way of saying the son went forth from his place of origination with his Father, and entered into this world -- wherein, the sons of the Father "must re-enter the absolute substance whence they have emerged".
How, then, do we develop the necessary perfection to return to God? Again the Zohar gives us the same exact requirement as did Jesus when he commanded us at Matthew 5:48 to be as perfect as our Heavenly Father: "All souls are subject to the trials of transmigration; and men do not know the designs of the Most High with regard to them… to accomplish this end they must develop all the perfections… if they have not fulfilled this condition during one life, they must commence another, a third, and so forth, until they have acquired the condition which fits them for reunion with God" -- which is seen in the return of the prodigal son to his Father's Kingdom.
What is important is that we begin to see the connection and uniformity of thought between the mindset of the Spiritual Jew -- the original teachings of The Way -- and the Spiritual Christian as revealed in the writings of Origen and the other Church Fathers who lived prior to the fourth century. Moreover, it is important that we understand that what we perceive as two religions, are truly only separated by cultural and political differences. The essence of both are one and the same.
In his book Nishmath Hayem, Rabbi Manasseh ben Israel (1604-1657) wrote: "The belief or the doctrine of the transmigration of souls is a firm and infallible teaching accepted by the whole assemblage of our people with one accord, so that there is none to be found who would dare to deny it… Indeed, there are a great number of sages in Israel who hold firm to this doctrine so that they made it a teaching, a fundamental point of our religion. We are therefore in duty bound to obey and to accept this teaching with acclamation… as the truth of it has been incontestably demonstrated by the Zohar, and all books of the Kabalists."
Interestingly enough, in Hasidism, in which the pre-existence of the soul "becomes a universal belief" (The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia), there is no salvation apart from the belief in and advent of the Messiah in the life of the individual. In view of the fact that our present-day ideas pertaining to the Messiah have been formed and strongly influenced by the Church of the Roman Empire, we must pose the question: What if the more enlightened Hasidic Jews have a more pure perception of the Son of God than does the majority of Christians?
When the Zohar states that "men do not know the designs of the Most High with regard to them…", we must recognize that this is the same exact message that is prevalent throughout the New Testament scriptures? In fact, isn't it because (carnal) men do not know what God requires, and (carnal) man can do nothing on his own, that prompts the Apostle Paul to write that (carnal) man is saved by faith alone.
The Apostle is correct in his assertion that the ritual observance practiced by the secular Jewish sects of the Sadducees and Pharisees cannot absolve a person of sin, and save them in the hereafter -- but it is important to recognize that he would say the exact same thing of the ritual observances of the fourth century Church of Rome. In view of what is presented to us in the Nazirene Gospel with respect to the open condemnation of both temple sacrifice and the eating of flesh foods, the idea promoted by the later Gentile Church that the Messianic followers of Jesus required people to observe the Mosaic Law, must be merely seen as just one more lie that was published by the Church of Constantine. That there is a Royal Law of God that all genuine people of faith must adhere to -- and that there is a spiritual meaning that is of the utmost importance to those who attempt to follow in The Way, represent Divine Truths that remain as valid today as when Jesus taught these New Covenant concepts at the beginning of our Common Era.
Based upon the words of Jesus it can also be concluded that faith and belief without actively following in the Lord's footsteps will not save even those who call themselves Christian -- i.e., "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46 KJV). What we must understand is that Paul possessed a much higher vision of life than did the majority of Christians who followed after him -- and Paul's faith was based upon the knowledge and embodiment of a system of Laws that controlled the destiny of mankind.
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Christian's will of course say: Paul preached that man must have faith in Christ -- and this is true, but we must understand that Paul had no difficulty in connecting the historical Jesus and the transcendental Spiritual Christ -- and Paul also knew that everything in Creation is subject to, and controlled by a series of Laws that either restricts or opens, dependent upon the manner in which man approaches and invokes them. We know from the writings of the historians at the time that all Essene initiates had to take an oath not to reveal the names of the angels -- what we fail to realize is that in the scriptures and sacred writings of these New Covenant people, the portrayal of angels were allegorical symbols that revealed the characteristics of the Laws that must be overcome in order to open the inner door to higher consciousness.
What this means is that the angels and powers depicted in the Book of Enoch, Daniel, and the Revelation of John, all convey to us a knowledge of the obstacles -- or Laws -- that we must overcome, in order to embrace our soul and spiritual natures. When Jacob wrestled with the Angel which was portrayed as a man, what was being conveyed was the manner in which Jacob overcame his carnal nature in his endeavor to become Israel.
The Essenes knew the secrets of these Laws -- Jesus taught the secrets of these Laws to his faithful disciples -- and Paul knew that if man lives and thinks in a manner that invokes the Laws that control all aspects of life, then the door to higher consciousness will open to the disciple of the Light. Moreover, it was Paul’s knowledge of the workings of the Laws that was foundational to his doctrine that Christ paid the price of our salvation -- and all we need to do is begin to live our lives in the manner of a Genuine follower and believer in order to inherit the promise of the Good News. In order to begin to comprehend the religion that Paul ordained, we must understand Paul's essential mindset that was embodied in the words that each man "will be rewarded according to his own labor" (1 Cor 3:8 NIV) -- which knowledge of the Laws are the essential foundational principle upon which the concept of reincarnation of the pre-existent soul is based.
If there is any question as to the true religion of Paul, whereby he expected the followers of Christ to cease from sin and live a consecrated and holy life, the sixth chapter of his Epistle to the Romans clarifies this error: "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? … Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey-- whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom 6:1-23 NIV).
Perhaps the most important concept which Paul sets before the reader is seen in the words: "…you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted". Paul knew that if you "wholeheartedly" obey the teachings of The Way in sincerity and truth of purpose, that you will invoke the Royal Law of God, and you will gain entrance into the Kingdom of the Light. Paul, therefore, professed a total faith in the Law -- not the law of the carnal Jews who in their ignorance observed the tenets of the Law in the form of dead rituals, meaningless sacrifices, and the sinful shedding of innocent blood -- but rather, the Law of the Spirit and Truth that was observed by the Spiritual Nation of Israel.
The essence of New Covenant thought is based upon the journey as embodied in the parable of the prodigal son. The fall of man as depicted in the Genesis Creation account, conveys to the seeker the universal knowledge of the journey of the soul to know its Source of Being through the knowledge of itself as the offspring of the One Eternal God. Again we can observe this same truth expressed in a different manner by the Apostle Paul when he wrote: "For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time" (Rom 8:20-22 NIV).
The symbolism of Adam and Eve has far less to do with men and women as we perceive the sexes to be, than it indicates the division of the soul which has caused the female -- or reflected nature -- to wander in this world of reflected reality in search of itself. When this reflected nature is active, it is portrayed as male. When it is passive, it is portrayed as female. When the reflective nature is seduced by the god of this world -- in the manner of the prodigal son who fell under the power of the citizen of the far country -- it is portrayed in scripture as either an unfaithful wife, or a whore. In view of the fact that each polarity of a paradox contains its opposite in a passive or constrained manner, the manner in which it is portrayed has more to do with the circumstances of what truth the scriptures are attempting to convey to us at that point.
The Church Father Origen conveys this great truth to us in the words: "It is sufficient however, to represent in the style of a historic narrative what is intended to convey a secret meaning in the garb of history, that those who have the capacity may work out for themselves all that relates to the subject." And with regard to what would otherwise be historical symbols and events that would appear to us as the knowledge of superficial episodes of the past, Origen writes: "I believe that every man must hold these things for images, under which the hidden sense lies concealed" (Origen - Huet., Prigeniana, 167 Franck, p. 142).
This same truth with respect to the symbols and forms used in the textual body of the scriptures is further conveyed to us on the Jewish side of the fence in the Zohar: "The narratives of the doctrine are its cloak. The simple look only on the garment, that is upon the narrative of the doctrine; more they know not. The instructed, however, see not merely the cloak, but what the cloak covers". And again in the words of the great Jewish theologian Moses Maimonedes: "Every time that you find in our books a tale the reality of which seems impossible, a story which is repugnant to both reason and common sense, then be sure that the tale contains a profound allegory veiling a deeply mysterious truth; and the greater the absurdity of the letter, the deeper the wisdom of the spirit". These same truths with respect to the nature and spiritual language of the Bible is again conveyed to us in the words of the Church Historian Eusebius: "Many were led astray by reading the allegorical contents of the scriptures literally in the method of the Pharisees and Sadducees".
If this was not true with respect to the threefold nature and spiritual language with which the scriptures are composed, Jesus would not have said: "This is why I speak to them in parables: Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them. But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it" (Matt 13:13-17 NIV). Carnal man remains ever seeing without perceiving, and ever hearing without understanding, because his natural organic state of being has made him blind and deaf to the soul and spiritual meaning of the Word.
What the Apostle states in the above quotation is that it was the Creator God that subjected mankind to the frustration of what we perceive as the fall of man, in order that "the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage" through the process of the spiritual rebirth into the Kingdom -- i.e., "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time".
As I have previously demonstrated, all things are brought about by Law. In the same way that a child is conceived by the merging of the opposites at conception, the child of the Light is born within us as a matter of Law. Paul, who was of an elevated mindset, knew these Laws -- that the path of return had not only been envisioned since the very dawn of time itself, but was in fact perfected by Jesus, the forerunner, who through his own suffering and efforts had cleared The Way for all to follow.
Paul was therefore correct in his doctrine that it was faith in Jesus that would save us -- which faith extended to the all-encompassing reality of the Laws of God -- and not the observance of what he called ritual dead works. But we must also understand that Paul was a Gnostic among Gnostics -- i.e., someone who possessed a higher knowledge of the Laws, and knew that if the prodigal sons of the Father actively followed in The Way, that the end results would be guaranteed. The key word here is active -- i.e., active faith which fostered a lifestyle that was a moving force which embraced the higher Laws of Creation, that freed us from being servants to the god of this world. And what is the meaning of active faith? Perhaps this is best defined by Paul himself when he wrote that Genuine Christians are those who "…wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted".
The revelation that I am setting before you is written from this same perspective -- i.e., that if you manifest a certain lifestyle -- open your thinking to a certain mindset -- incorporate certain elements in your life -- seek to understand the manner in which the Hand of God moves in the lives of men -- endeavourer to learn the Mysteries of God through the higher revelation of the Word -- recognize and overcome your own divided nature -- and, in the wisdom of the ancients: "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8 NIV).
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