Inner Quest

Inner Quest Selections

2009-03-16T00:46:00.001-07:00

Selections on this site

Aquarian Conspiracy
Spirits’ Response to Vatican on New Age
The Spirit Self and the Tree of Good and Evil
Different Orders of Spirits
False and superseded teachings embedded in the Bible
Resurrection is Reincarnation misunderstood
Jesus died as a sacrifice for our sins?
Progressive revelations
You will be perfect
Our life, our choice
God speaks to the Hindus
Buddhism in the Christian Context
Muslims and Christians are True Brothers
Jihad, Crusade and the True Believer
Atheism and religious fanaticism
Religions -- Unity in diversity
The Holy Spirits will guide you
Bishop Spong's 12 Theses
Proofs of the Afterlife
Truth in the movies and on TV
A new beginning
Higher learning

Free Study Courses

Test yourself on Jesus
The Message made plain
The Secrets of the Kingdom

Other Selections at Main Website

Ascending levels of truth
Different orders of spirits
Akashic records
Faith healing
Hindu beliefs
Reality or illusion
Psi in our time
Psychic phenomena proves life after death
Psychic phenomena in the gospels
Speaking in tongues
Understanding psychic phenomena
Science and the esoteric teachings
Reincarnation is a biblical teaching
How should we regard the Ancient Teachings
Sex and spirituality
Fortunate are the homosexuals
A new Jerusalem
Father and sons
The Parable of the Sower
Why we suffer
Christian bible studies
To a Catholic layman
Pastor rejects New Age teachings

IQ Projects

Forex investment and training

Yahoo! Answers

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Higher learning

2008-01-13T14:28:00.000-08:00

In 'At the feet of the Master', we are forewarned: "There are in the world many untrue thoughts, many foolish superstitions and no one who is enslaved by them can make progress. Therefore, you must not hold a thought just because many other people hold it, not because it has been believed for centuries nor because it is written in some book which men think sacred; you must think of the matter for yourself, and judge for yourself whether it is reasonable. He who walks the Path must learn to think for himself, for superstition is one of the greatest evils in the world, one of the fetters from which you must utterly free yourself."

No one being perfect, it follows that no single source or school can ever completely cover every aspect of the divine teachings. No source of information in our world is ever completely true and accurate, either. There are many falsehoods and half-truths mixed in along with the true. Nevertheless, some sources are more reliable than others. It is for each of us to discern for ourselves.

In the search for Truth, we are to analyze, test and question everything. The basic rule is to accept only those propositions that we find to be reasonable and test true in light of our own personal experiences and to reject all that do not.

INNER QUEST is just one link in the chain that is the New Age Movement. We continue the work of the Masters and the Spirits of Truth, while attempting to unite as one all that have come before. There is only One God and one Truth, after all. It is merely a matter of being able to access the entire Big Picture.

Here below are a selected few of the more important and representative studies and groups that take up various other aspects of the New Divine Teachings. Whatever your sentiments and preferences, you should be able to find what you are looking for in the list below. It is our hope that they can assist you in your own quest for deeper understanding and knowledge of the Truth.

Basic principles - Recommended studies

A High Lama reveals the ancient secrets of the Buddhas
http://www.lobsangrampa.org/research.html

Lobsang Rampa book offerings and free e-book downloads
http://www.lobsangrampa.net/lobsang_rampa.html

'The Divine Plan' by Geoffrey Barborka

Basic textbook on Theosophy No available e-book link

Elementary Theosophy - An introduction

http://www.theosophy-nw.org/theosnw/ktmanual/kt-theos.htm#ch1

Theosophy Downunder Library

http://www.theosophydownunder.org/library/

Basic Theosophy by Alvin Kuhn - Free e-book
http://members.tripod.com/%7Epc93/tsphyraw.htm

Theosophy's root-races
http://armanen.blogspot.com/2007/12/root-races.html

Edgar Cayce - His life and works
http://www.crystalinks.com/edgar_cayce.html

Edgar Cayce on the incarnations of Jesus
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/origen049.html

Rosicrucian Home Study Lessons with listing of courses and the subjects covered
http://www.rosicrucian.org/about/mastery/mastery06home.html

Irrefutable objective evidence for the Afterlife by Victor Zammit
http://www.victorzammit.com/book/4thedition/index.html

Guided meditation techniques
http://www.meditationguru.com/meditation.php?acode=na

Minnesota State University on World Religions
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/religion/

Authorship of the Bible
http://www.childpastlives.org/library_articles/earlybible.htm

The circumstances surrounding the formulation and adoption of the Nicene Creed
http://www.childpastlives.org/library_articles/dogma.htm

Critics and contrarians

Vatican primer on New Age
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/interelg/documents/rc_pc_interelg_doc_20030203_new-age_en.html

Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines on New Age
http://www.cbcponline.net/documents/2000s/html/2003-newage.html

CARM on the New Age Movement
http://www.carm.org/newage.htm

A Christian group's interpretation of New Age
http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Cults/newage.htm

Discussion groups

Spiritists in the Philippines Discussion Forum
http://uecfi.net/dforum/index.php

Conscious Living Foundation Forum
http://consciouslivingfoundation.org/friends/forum/index.php?sid=89a5bd0dfb02e6fecad33ffa0d0ba980

Theosophy Forum
http://theosophy-forum.com/index.php

Mystic Board - Discussions in New Age and other Occult subjects
http://www.mysticboard.com/index.php?sid=b040890841f030d5a7b3250eec296649

CARM.ORG - Christian discussion forum on New Age
http://www.christiandiscussionforums.org/v/forumdisplay.php?f=103

2007-10-13T18:40:00.000-07:00

Truth in the movies and on TV

We are now well into the beginning of the New Age. And today, New Age ideas pervade the movies and television.

1. Kingdom of Heaven - The evils of ignorance and superstition. The folly of Crusades and Jihads. The true meaning of religion.

2. The Devil's Advocate - Reincarnation. Knowing our self and recognizing our faults and weaknesses. Removing our imperfections one at a time.

3. Groundhog Day - Reincarnation. Continuous opportunities until we finally get it right in the end.

4. Chances Are - Reincarnation. Some relationships in a past life continue into the next. Unfinished business must all be concluded.

5. Crash - Group Karma - Causes and effects that enable us to learn through our interaction with others. God makes everything to work for good.

6. Noel - Group Karma - Our every action affects and influences everyone that we meet. Our inter-connectedness with everyone else.

7. Ghost - Love transcends all barriers, even death.

8. Hearts and Souls - Everyone is given a mission to accomplish. Completing unfinished lessons.

9. The Sixth Sense - The reality of the World of Spirit. Communication with the dead is real.

10. Stir of Echoes - There is no escaping God's justice. Nothing can be hidden. The Truth will always come out.

11. The Exorcism of Emily Rose - A warning to all. There will be hell to pay for those who commit wrongs or live a life of errors.

12. One Step Beyond - If you can remember. One of the early TV hit series on clairvoyance and premonition.

13. Crossing Over with John Edwards - Helping those left behind with comforting messages from Beyond.

14. Medium - A psychic assists in criminal investigations. Based on true to life experiences.

15. Ghost Whisperer - Helping the earthbound to transition to the Spirit World, our True Home.

16. Psychic Detectives - A documentary series. The true stories of psychics who have helped police solve crimes.

17. Superman - The original and consummate ET. The super-hero who uses his powers for good. A fine example to emulate. The "impossibility" of someone being an alien from space has been laid aside.

18. Star Trek, Alien, Predator, War of the Worlds and Star Wars - ETs and Federations of Worlds. Our lessons remain essentially the same. Some approach the subject with a positive bias while others prefer to focus on the negative. But good or bad, the great opportunities to grow and learn are made possible through our interaction with one another.

19. Men in Black - Different life forms, friendly and not so friendly all living together in the World of Tomorrow. These types of stories are now commonplace and familiar. No one bats an eye.

20. Stargate 1994 and Troy - All myths have their basis in truth. Atlantis and Lemuria are legends based on true stories from the past. The Greek, Roman and Egyptian gods basing from some occult sources were aliens from other planets. In like manner that advanced civilizations on earth colonized less civilized natives elsewhere, so have the "gods" from outer space come here to colonize, some say exploit, and help us.

21. The Matrix - The illusion that is our world so say the mystics. A hidden but clear message to those spiritually aware.

22. X-Men and Heroes - Different forms of higher powers are now made available to most everyone to some limited degree. They are previews of things to come. The next higher stage in our development commences.

23. Six Feet Under - There is the veiled suggestion that life continues and that the departed still exert an influence upon those living. Now, everyone talks to the dead.

24. The X-Files - Although fiction, the series deals with supernatural subjects, even if the questions remain unanswered.

What other movies or TV programs that deal with New Age principles have you watched? What was its special message to you?

2007-09-06T07:22:00.001-07:00

The Holy Spirits will guide you

Jesus said: "I have used proverbs to tell you these things, but the time is coming when the truth shall not be so veiled and I will speak to you plainly about the Father." (JN 16)

"If you adhere to my teaching, you will really be my disciples; and you shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free." (JN 8)

"Oh, there is so much more I want to tell you, but you cannot understand it now. When the Spirit of Holiness and Truth comes, he will guide you into all truth." (JN 16)

"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." (JN 14)

Speaking plainly, therefore, we should better first clear up the mystery of the Holy Spirit. It is simple, really, but veiled from the eyes of the profane since long ago. The Holy Spirit is a spirit entity that is already holy.

Holy Spirits - Pure Spirits
From: The Spirits' Book

Spirits of this order have passed through every degree of the scale of progress and have freed themselves from all the impurities of materiality. Having attained the sum of perfection of which created beings are susceptible, they no longer have to undergo either trials or expiations. Being no longer subject to reincarnation in perishable bodies, they enter on the life of eternity in the immediate presence of God. They are in the enjoyment of a beatitude which is unalterable, because they are no longer subject to the wants and vicissitudes of material life; but this beatitude is not the monotonous idleness of perpetual contemplation. They are the messengers and ministers of God, the executors of His orders in the maintenance of universal harmony. They exercise a sovereign command over all spirits inferior to themselves, aid them in accomplishing the work of their purification, and assign to each of them a mission proportioned to the progress already made by them. To assist men in their distresses, to excite them to the love of good or to the expiation of the faults which keep them back on the road to the supreme felicity, are for them congenial occupations. They are sometimes spoken of as angels, archangels or seraphim. They can, when they choose to do so, enter into communication with men.

To all those who seek to know the Truth, the guidance is available. But we must first meet certain minimum requirements to merit instruction by the Holy Spirits.

Qualifications of Students

The applicant must be genuinely motivated for the right reasons

Many enter into these studies merely to satisfy their curiosity. They’ve heard something about the teachings but don’t really know what they are about. Some come for healing. The doctors have given up on them, or else, were not able to heal them. Others are just too poor; they cannot afford to go to a doctor. After hearing of miraculous healings taking place, they become attracted to the healers. Others come for the powers and increased perceptions that can be obtained. In the beginning, we all come for some selfish reasons. However, if we really want to progress in these studies, our goals must ascend to a higher order. We must be genuinely motivated to do some good, not just for ourselves, but for others, as well.

The applicant must have an earnest desire to learn and develop spiritually

Desire fuels our efforts. Unless we want something badly enough, we won’t exert the necessary efforts and we can never attain. We also need to have a clear objective. And it must be the right objective. The purpose of these studies is not to be the pursuit of worldly goals. Worldly matters are of no great concern to the Spirits of Truth. Instead, they are primarily and exclusively focused on spiritual objectives and spiritual development. These are the things that are far more important to God. We must also realize that all things can be learned provided we apply ourselves to our studies.

The applicant must be serious, determined and willing to persevere

These studies require great sacrifices, much time and patient efforts. No one can continue unless he is deeply committed. Each lesson carries a high price in terms of sweat and tears, pain and suffering. All things of value are worth paying their price.

These three are the most important qualifications. The rest come later. It doesn’t matter that you are a sinner. We all are, anyway. And no matter how grave your sin, provided you meet these three requirements, you can be accepted as a student.

Impediments to Learning

Further, before any accepted student may progress in these studies, there will be many obstacles he must also overcome:

Pride

We should have confidence in ourselves and take pride in our accomplishments. However, we should not delude ourselves. No matter what our present status in life, how powerful we may be, how successful or how rich, we still have much to learn. Even though we may have attended the best schools and are teachers in our own right, still, we don’t know enough. "The knowledge of the world is foolishness to God." We should always be open to instruction from all quarters. Those who are behind us can remind us of the lessons we have already learned. Those who are ahead can provide valuable insights to guide us. There is Light in the greatest and in the least.

Impatience

Truth must be built from the ground up. It takes time to build solid foundations. All knowledge based on false premises cannot endure. Every proposition must be thoroughly scrutinized and understood before they are accepted. Many want the truth now, not tomorrow, not next week, but today, now. But this is like asking a doctor of medicine who completed his education only after many years of study to impart all he knows to a student in just a couple of days or weeks and expect that student to be able to heal outright. This cannot be, nor is this reasonable. Learning necessarily requires much time and patient efforts.

Close-mindedness

We need to be open to new concepts and teachings. Otherwise, we won’t be able to progress. It is understandable for us to be attached to our present beliefs. However, if life does not conform to these beliefs, then our understanding must be wrong. We should seek out new answers where our own are proven inadequate. It is especially difficult to let go of long-held beliefs and false notions, but this must be done before we can move forward. Life is a continuous breaking down and building anew, but each time, better than before.

Inability to be true to self

Let us not pretend to be good when we are not. We must be honest enough to admit our faults and weaknesses. We should see ourselves as we really are without the frills and the trimmings. We can effect necessary improvements only after we recognize our character deficiencies. God is righteous and we need to be like Him before we can really know Him and live with Him in His kingdom.

Worldly involvements

Certain Earthly preoccupations are still necessary and, in fact, should take precedence over our spiritual pursuits. However, we should not overemphasize their importance. Instead, we should keep our spiritual goals always in sight and give them the priority they deserve.

Lust for the things of the world

For as long as we are thirsty, we need to drink. Similarly, we need to satisfy our worldly cravings. However, Earthly things are not to be desired. We should gradually turn from them and prefer, instead, the things of the spirit. The more we remain fascinated by worldly pleasures, the longer it will take us to attain to the real treasures in Heaven.

Wrong attitudes

Some are far too demanding. They think God owes them an explanation. They never think to mend their ways, instead. But God only answers those who wait patiently with an open and repentant heart. Others want every benefit without working for them. They argue that Jesus already paid for their sins and that God is like a genie, just waiting at their pleasure to grant their every wish. But this is not what God has decreed. Instead, we should never expect something for nothing. More, we must be willing to give before we can receive.

Reference links:

Introduction to the Holy Spirits

http://www.innerquest.org.ph/secretsofthekingdom/iq3241holyspirit1.htm

How the Holy Spirits administer their guidance

http://secrets-of-the-kingdom.blogspot.com/2006/11/teachings-of-holy-spirit-2.html

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Religions -- Unity in Diversity

2007-09-02T18:21:00.000-07:00

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Truth is greater than any religion

The differences in the teachings of the various religions are due largely to the inevitable spread and adoption over time of degraded and corrupted versions of the teachings in place of the original. Subsequent followers and students not being of the same high order as their Prophets, their understanding was less than perfect. Consequently, as they passed on to the succeeding students their flawed interpretations, the original and true divine teachings were effectively replaced or obscured. Further, aggravated by differences in language and culture caused by a lack of communication between the various peoples of the world, sad but true, misinformation and confusion is now pervasive and widespread.

However, with increased communication and racial integration, and as everyone of us continues to push forward in our development, all these differences will eventually be resolved and the real teachings will reemerge and come together, united in the One Truth.

Regardless however, the different religions represent the many faces of God and His divine teachings. To different people, God reveals Himself in different ways.To the Hindus, God lays stress on the knowledge of self in its various aspects. To the Shintoists and the Taoists, He teaches selflessness and simplicity. To the followers of Confucius, He stresses goodness and social service. To the Buddhists, He espouses a "Middle Way" of life. In addition, the realities of the spiritual worlds beyond Earth have largely been confirmed through the mystic experiences of the more advanced adepts belonging to both the Hindu and Buddhist faiths.

To the Jews, He is Yahweh, the One God with human attributes. And over the centuries, in line with the spiritual development of man, He became transformed, through the teachings of Jesus Christ, from the jealous and vengeful God of the Old Testament prophets, to the God of love and justice, truth and beauty of the present generation.

To the Muslims, He teaches the principles of mutual help, the furtherance of good and the repression of evil. Further, Allah enjoins that in their trials and hardships in life, the Muslims should predispose themselves to submit to His divine will. It is inferred here, of course, that Allah is all-powerful and just: that He loves us all; and like a good father to his children, He sends us only the very best. Therefore, we really should welcome or, at least, be resigned even to hardships and sorrows because although we may not understand now, they have a divine purpose under heaven, a counterpart spiritual benefit all according to His divine will.

And to the Christians and Spiritualists, God teaches His divine ways of love, righteousness and service. Also, to the Spiritualists and Spiritists, He clarifies and confirms the old eternal truths and spiritual realities, which until now have not been readily available to the greater masses of people.

In all of these religions, emphasis is on love, righteous living and the development of character. This is the essence of all religious teachings. This is what is important. And with righteousness, truth unfolds.

But in the pursuit of truth, no one and no religion has a monopoly, because there is truth in all. And in order to attain to the whole, we must draw from each of the parts. For all men are God’s children. We are, all of us, part and parcel of the One God. And nothing and no one exists outside God. We are one.

2007-08-06T06:47:00.000-07:00

A New Beginning

Confusion is the beginning of learning. First, there was darkness before there was light. All should come to the realization of the need to search for truth. Life is a perpetual search for perfection. Everyone should strive and continue to strive. No one should ever be content, because there is no end to learning. Everyday, each one is being provided with the lessons he needs. We should be more alert to the opportunities provided for each of us.

No one is without lessons to learn. For there is none perfect but God. There is always room for improvement, for advancement. The Master, the student, they are one. Those who are ahead have to go back to help those who are behind so that they, too, may proceed forward. All who have learned should share with others that which they have learned. Each person has something to give. What one lacks, another should provide. Each one can gain from every other. There is light in the greatest and in the least.

These are times calling for great changes. This should now be clear to all. New teachings are being made available. This is our beginning. It is for all of us to learn and impart all that we can learn. We should listen more in order to learn more. The Spirits of Truth are always guiding us. But we have to open up our hearts and minds before we can receive. We should strive more than before to overcome all the forces that prevent our further enlightenment. We should heed the messages given to each because they are also for the benefit of all.

There is a promise in the Holy Bible - those who seek shall find.

Bishop Spong's 12 Theses

2007-08-02T18:38:00.000-07:00

From: http://www.adherents.com/largecom/epis_12theses.html

A critical response to Spong’s 12 Theses: http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/spong.html

My thoughts on John Spong's (Bishop of Newark) 12 Theses. But what are your views on this subject?

1 The concept of God is too far removed from material existence, such that we really have no way of comprehending His true nature. But we will know more when we get to where He is.

2 We might as well stop studying if, as is proposed, these things cannot be known, anyway. But no, the more we study, the more we learn. Still, we will come to understand more only after we complete our studies, not before or even during.

3 The Biblical story of creation is the Truth couched in parable. There is some truth in it, but not everything written there is true. One veiled truth is that for us to learn what is good and evil, we will need to be born here on earth to learn our lessons and at the end of a lifetime, we will die.

4 Whether the virgin birth is true or not is irrelevant and has no bearing on Christ's divinity. This is a Pagan influenced belief. But Christ is divine because his Father is. And so are we, because God is our Father, too, and Christ is our brother, except that Jesus is far more evolved than we are.

5 There are no miracles as the word implies. Everything is in accordance with some universal or natural law. It is just that the level of our scientific knowledge has not yet reached the degree where we can understand its workings. Jesus did so-called miracles. But he also said, "All that I have done, you, too, can do." It follows that we will eventually be able to understand, as well.

6 The view of the cross as the sacrifice for the sins of the world is a barbarian idea based on primitive concepts of God and must be dismissed. Rightly so. Instead, as we mature in the Spirit, we will learn to take responsibility for our own thoughts and deeds. No one can save us except ourselves.

7 After our earthly lessons are over, we are to return home to "Heaven" which is our true home. When we were born, we clothed ourselves in flesh bodies. When we die, we simply discard the physical body and having freed ourselves from its cloying influence, we can then ascend to the Higher Planes.

8 Obviously, since the Nicene Creed and all the main supporting church teachings were formulated "when the world was flat" prior to the “Age of Science and Reason,” therefore, the old teachings need to be reformulated to keep abreast of the new developments. However, despite Vatican II and the New Catechism, much of the objections and false teachings have not been addressed or resolved.

This situation sets the stage for the introduction of the New Divine Teachings for the men of the New Millennium. New explanations and teachings combining science, philosophy and the religious teachings, more rational and logical, and couched in plain and simple language are now being made available for everyone to judge based on their merits.

9 Like day follows day, we will know what tomorrow brings when tomorrow comes, not before. When we have completed prerequisite studies and are ready for even higher studies, then we will be introduced to those higher principles.

10 We can always pray to God asking Him favors. However, God dispenses favors irregardless of our requests. He always provides, not so much our physical needs and desires but according to the needs of our Spirit self.

11 There is no question that we already have been granted eternal life. How we spend the rest of it is our dilemma. Do we want to remain here on earth, and continue to suffer and die or do we want to be with God, forever, in happiness and peace and love? Only those who approach the perfect nature and righteousness of God, our Father, can earn the right to be with Him in Heaven.

12 God is Spirit. And so are we spirits, of the same essence, but not the same quality. Considerations of race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation pertain only to the physical body and in no way reflect our true spiritual state of evolvement.

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You will be perfect!

2007-08-02T18:05:00.000-07:00

Spirit Progression

Just like people on earth, spirits also go to spirit school to study. Earth is just one classroom in the university that is the Cosmos. One lifetime is just as one day in class. We are all of us at different grades and levels. Those still here on earth are, in fact, at the elementary stages of learning.

The “Wisdom Teachings” of Theosophy propose that All Creation co-exist in the same space vibrating at different ranges of vibration. They divide into ascending planes and dimensions of being. These are the “many mansions” in the kingdom of God. Globes, Rounds and Root-Races correspond to the varying levels of educational attainment – from grade school on to preparatory, collegiate, masteral and doctoral. As we hurdle each level, we entitle ourselves entry into the higher planes of being – heavens and nirvanas.

In the Earth Chain, development is ongoing in the 4th Globe, 4th Round and 5th Root-Race. The Atlantean Civilization was the immediate past root-race. The Astral Plane is the next higher dimension. We are currently in the overlapping transition period where the 5th root-race will begin to die out and the 6th will begin to replace it. Hence, the confusion over the proliferation of psychic phenomena and the introduction of deeper explanations relating to the sixth sense, in addition to the previous five.

To afford everyone a truer perspective, one root-race is said to endure in our world for 8 to 11 million years. We have only just began in our spiritual development. Those among you who are interested in learning God’s Divine Plan of Evolution should take up the study of Theosophy under the guidance of the Masters belonging to the Great White Brotherhood, our elder brothers, the senior students in our school system.

But Jesus affirms, "We must be perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect." And so we shall, all of us. Eventually in time, everyone will graduate from the lessons of earth.

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Resurrection is Reincarnation misunderstood

2007-04-03T21:33:00.001-07:00

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Reincarnation verses in the Bible

If you will train your Bible Search to "resurrection", you will find 15 references in the Gospels and 25 in the Epistles. What is resurrection "of the body" if not reincarnation, the modern term in use today in place of this very important but not properly understood teaching? And how many references are there in the Bible telling us that Jesus after his crucifixion and death returned in the flesh?

But there are other more elucidating passages in the very words of Jesus, himself:

Matthew

11:13
For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.

11:14

And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.

Matthew

17:10
And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?

17:11
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.

17:12
But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.

17:13
Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.

Matthew

16:13
When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?

16:14
And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.

John

9:1
And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.

9:2
And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

9:3
Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

These are the actual passages where Jesus teaches the Doctrine of Reincarnation:

In Matthew 11 and 17, Jesus tells his disciples very clearly that Elias reincarnated as John the Baptist.

In Matthew 16, if reincarnation is not true, do you think that Jesus would remain silent and allow the disciples to believe in it? Don't you think that he would have rebuked them for believing a false doctrine?

In Matthew 9, Jesus is conspicuously silent after the disciples referred to reincarnation (the past life and sins) of the man born blind? Isn't this, at least, a very suspicious circumstance that merits your further thought?

And when they questioned John the Baptist:

John 1

1:19
And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?

1:20
And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ.

1:21
And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No.

Why would the priests and Levites ask John if he is Elias or that prophet come again, unless reincarnation was an accepted truth at the time?

Aren't these enough proofs for you? How do you view these information? How do you understand the passages, above? Everyone should realize just how the Nicene Creed, which is the basis of present-day Christian teachings and beliefs, has actually and in fact, replaced the True Teachings with elaborate falsehoods. Of course, everyone is entitled to his own beliefs. But everyone must learn to analyze and think for himself.

Additional information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_and_reincarnation#Matthew_5:%2025.E2.80.9326

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Jesus died as a sacrifice for our sins?

2007-04-03T21:33:00.000-07:00

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Animal and human sacrifices

Some reasons why humans are sacrificed according to Wikipedia:

Sacrifice by Indian adherents of Tantrism who believe that human sacrifices to the gods can change their fortune.

Sacrifice to accompany the dedication of a new building like a temple or bridge. Chinese legends hold that thousands of people were entombed in the Great Wall of China which may be a metaphorical statement, considering the labor and investment of the construction.

Sacrifice in Aztec and Mayan cultures to the god of fertility to assure good corn harvest.

Sacrifice of his daughter by a victorious Biblical general Jephthah, and Abraham's near-sacrifice of his son to prove his loyalty to God.

Sacrifice upon the death of a king, high priest or great leader; the sacrifices were to serve or accompany the deceased leader in the next life. Mongols, Scythians, sometimes Egyptians and various Mesoamerican chiefs could take most of their household, including servants and concubines, with them to the next world. This is sometimes called a "retainer sacrifice," as the leader's retainers would be sacrificed along with their master.

Sacrifice by ritual combat. Aztecs killed prisoners in ritual combats.

Sacrifice for divination; a priest would try to predict the future from the body parts of a slain prisoner or slave. According to Strabo, Celts stabbed a victim with a sword and divined the future from his death spasms.

Sacrifice in times of natural disaster. Droughts, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, etc. were seen as a sign of anger or displeasure of gods and sacrifices were made to appease the divine ire. Cretans tried to stop the destruction of their island this way.

In the Bible, the Hebrews (modern Jews) beginning from their Father Abraham and other ancient tribes sacrificed animals and humans for their religious purposes. In the time of Moses, the blood of the lamb ensured that the Angel of Death would Passover the Jewish homes and spare their first-born. Much later because of the prevailing beliefs, Jesus came to be regarded as one such human sacrifice, in deference to the pagan practices of the reigning Romans during those periods.

Does your God delight in someone else suffering and paying for your sins? Would He even be approving of such a repulsive idea? Would this be just and fair to everyone involved? Didn't He decree that everyone shall be held personally responsible and liable for his own thoughts and actions? Did He not through Christ and all the prophets make known His commandments and rules of conduct that we should follow or face the consequences? Doesn't the Law of Sowing and Reaping apply in this situation? Is it okay for a transgressor to simply confess his sins, admit his fault saying he is sorry and then pray a few Hail Marys, and he will be forgiven?

We all should think again.

Yet today, although this abhorrent practice is much condemned, still, Christians everywhere believe and insist that Christ suffered and died to pay for their sins, releasing them from their accountability.

Where did Jesus teach this in his own words? Or is this simply another misconception and false teaching of mere followers and misguided Biblical writers and editors? What are your thoughts regarding this dogma of the churches?

In fact, Jesus himself was very emphatic when he taught us something else, altogether:

"Seek out the meaning of this particular verse of Scripture, ‘It isn’t your sacrifices and gifts that matter; instead, you must be merciful and kind.’” (MT 9)

"Not everyone who calls me ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only those who do what my Father in heaven wants them to do." (MT 7)

"Settle disputes with your adversary, amicably, before it is too late; otherwise, he might drag you into court and the court would hand you over to the authorities to be thrown in jail. I tell you, you won’t be released from there until you have paid the last penny." (MT 5)

"‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you fed me; I was thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; naked and you clothed me; sick and in prison and you visited me.’

"Then, the righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you anything to drink? Or a stranger and help you? Or naked and clothe you? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

"And the King will tell them, ‘When you did this for the least of my brothers, you were doing it for me!’" (MT 25)

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Progressive revelations

2007-04-03T21:00:00.000-07:00

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Christ is coming!

People everywhere have grown to be disbelieving and critical of all religions. They argue that the old dogmatic teachings just don't make sense and instead of being a good influence, they have even become a force for evil because of the fanaticism and religious wars that they propagate. Nevertheless, before we swing over to the other extreme that is reverse fanaticism, perhaps we should rather first be open to new concepts and teachings, more rational and lucid explanations.

Going back to those early Scriptural times, we will find that the people were so much more ignorant compared to the people of today. To bring them forward, the wise men of old formulated only the simplest possible explanations and teachings. They were all that the people could comprehend, then. Lacking the ability to reason, they were told to accept God's divine instructions given through prophets and priests without question. More, they were compelled to blindly follow the teachings of the church under the threat of excommunication or eternal hell.

However, the situation today is so very much different. Today, the old simplistic explanations no longer satisfy. So today, for those who are ready, New Teachings are made available. As in our earthly schools, don't we begin our education by taking on the basics first. That learned, then only can we begin to take up more advanced studies -- ABCs before complete sentences, simple arithmetic before higher math. So too in regard to the Divine Teachings -- parables and Scripture stories of before, but now, the Divine Principles are clarified and made plain.

Hinduism and Buddhism

Hinduism, the oldest surviving major religion, provides us with the foundational bases of our beliefs. We owe to Hinduism much of our knowledge of the True Self and the True Spiritual Reality.

Buddhism taught us how we could more efficiently attain to Nirvana and freedom from the rounds of rebirth, disease, old age and death. Gautama Buddha enjoins us to follow the Middle Way of life between the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification through our recognition of the Four Noble Truths and our commitment to the Noble Eightfold Path.

In this New Age, the study of Theosophy was introduced. God's Plan of Evolution for all His creatures was revealed and made available for serious study by advanced students or "chelas" of the Masters. Lobsang Rampa recounted his own personal experiences so that we may better learn and understand even the more complex concepts and teachings once regarded as Occult. And further on in continuation of our spiritual education, another Buddha, Maitreya, will be coming in God's appointed time.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam

Abraham broke away from Brahmanism, the forerunner of Hinduism to re-emphasize the concept of the One God. Through Moses, the first laws were made known to early man. Jesus later refuted most all of the objectionable teachings and man-made laws of the Hebrews and upgraded our divine instruction. He revealed and clarified the Truth. He taught that love and service to our fellowmen was the only Way to God, and showed us how by his example. Through his illustrations and descriptions relating to the Kingdom of the Father, he enabled us to deepen our knowledge concerning the Real Life to Come.

The crass materialism prevalent in the 1850s reversed and turned to a fascination with the Occult on the growing popularity of psychic occurrences. The survival of the spirit was strongly suggested in the phenomena of Spiritualism, while for the more rational freethinkers, the New Teachings of the New Age were introduced through the study of Spiritism. This was in fulfillment of Christ's promise, "I will send you the Holy Spirits to guide you to all truth."

The revelations continued in the life readings of Edgar Cayce and the spirit messages given through many other channelers, mediums and ordinary psychics. The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ by Levi declares that: "At first of every age, Christ comes to light the way." Many expect his imminent return in our time, according to his promise.

The prophet Muhammad under the guidance of the Archangel Gabriel taught that in the face of their trials, the Arabs should submit to the will of Allah. Believers were primarily entasked with the furtherance of good and the repression of all evil. He advocated that all Muslims should help one another. Emphasis was placed on equality and brotherhood of all, including those belonging to other faiths. The more mystical aspects of the Islamic teachings were entrusted to the Sufis.

In 1852, a Persian nobleman imprisoned in a dungeon in Tehran received an enlightenment from God. Over the next 40 years, Bahaulla who is claimed to be the latest divine messenger from God in the continuing tradition of the old prophets including Rama, Krishna, Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad came to found a new religion. Bahaulla teaches a more liberal and universal doctrine that emphasizes the unity of all religions and reinterprets the age-old truths for the modern man. Its adherents now numbering some 6 million faithful, Bahai would appear to be the much-awaited and much-needed reform movement that will upgrade the teachings of the religion of Islam. But only time will tell.

Everywhere, great changes are inevitable. Everyone will be called to embrace the New Teachings and strive to upgrade to a higher degree of enlightenment. Decide wisely. Prepare the way for the coming of the Lord!

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Atheism and religious fanaticism

2007-04-03T20:59:00.000-07:00

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Religion without science is blind

Atheism boasts an impressive list of very influential advocates from Lincoln, Einstein, Hemingway and Benjamin Franklin to Charles Darwin, http://www.wonderfulatheistsofcfl.org/Quotes.htm. They include humanists and agnostics. The best of them espouse high ideals and actively contribute to the public good. Freethinkers all, seeking for answers and meaning to life.

And God, if there is One, is believed to have decreed that everyone have free will, the freedom to believe what he wants to believe and to live accordingly. We can believe in God or in religion or not and it will not be counted against us. Even Jesus, the Divine Master admits but clarifies, "Whoever rejects me and does not accept my teachings will, nevertheless, be judged according to the truths I have spoken." (JN12:48)

Regardless of their unbelief and criticisms regarding irrational church dogma, some atheists, nevertheless, apparently believes in Jesus and his teachings. Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, "There was only one true Christian, and he died on the cross." And realizing the importance of ethical behavior towards our fellowmen, Einstein is quoted as having written that: "Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind." Further, even as he is acknowledged by many as the greatest scientific mind of his generation, he was fully aware that he did not have all the answers. Therefore he advises us all to remain open saying, "The important thing is not to stop questioning."

There are many wise, conscientious and productive atheists just as there are many enlightened and true believers. There are quite a few religious fanatics and fundamentalists and atheism has its own misinformed and wayward elements. But let us not be deceived and neither should we allow a few rotten apples to spoil all the remaining basketful.

THIRD ORDER — IMPERFECT SPIRITS
From: The Spirits' Book

Sixth Class — Noisy and Boisterous Spirits

Spirits of this kind do not, strictly speaking, form a distinct class in virtue of their personal qualities; they may belong to all the classes of the third order. They often manifest their presence by the production of phenomena perceptible by the senses, such as raps, the movement and abnormal displacing of solid bodies, the agitation of the air, etc. They appear to be, more than any other class of spirits, attached to matter; they seem to be the principal agents in determining the vicissitudes of the elements of the globe, and to act upon the air, water, fire and the various bodies in the entrails of the earth. Whenever these phenomena present a character of intention and intelligence, it is impossible to attribute them to a mere fortuitous and physical cause. All spirits are able to produce physical phenomena; but spirits of elevated degree usually leave them to those of a lower order, more apt for action upon matter than for the things of intelligence, and when they judge it to be useful to produce physical manifestations, employ spirits of subaltern degree as their auxiliaries.

Seventh Class — Neutral Spirits

They are not sufficiently advanced to take an active part in doing good, nor are they bad enough to be active in doing wrong. They incline sometimes to the one, sometimes to the other; and do not rise above the ordinary level of humanity, either in point of morality or of intelligence. They are strongly attached to the things of this world, whose gross satisfactions they regret.

Eight Class — Spirits Who Pretend to More Science than They Possess

Their knowledge is often considerable, but they imagine themselves to know a good deal more than they know in reality. Having made a certain amount of progress from various points of view, their language has an air of gravity that may easily give a false impression as to their capacities and enlightenment; but their ideas are generally nothing more than the reflection of the prejudices and false reasoning of the terrestrial life. Their statements contain a mixture of truths and absurdities, in the midst of which, traces of presumption, pride, jealousy and obstinacy, from which they have not yet freed themselves, are abundantly perceptible.

Ninth Class — Frivolous Spirits

They are ignorant, mischievous, unreasonable and addicted to mockery. They meddle with everything and reply to every question without paying any attention to truth. They delight in causing petty annoyances, in raising false hopes of petty joys, in misleading people by mystifications and trickery. The spirits vulgarly called hobgoblins, will-o'-the-wisps, gnomes, etc. belong to this class. They are under the orders of spirits of a higher category, who make use of them as we do of servants.

Tenth Class — Impure Spirits

They are inclined to evil, and make it an object of all their thoughts and activities. As spirits, they give to men perfidious counsels, stir up discord and distrust, and assume every sort of mask in order the more effectually to deceive. They beset those whose character is weak enough to lead them to yield to their suggestions, and whom they thus draw aside from the path of progress, rejoicing when they are to retard their advancement by causing them to succumb under the appointed trials of the corporeal life. Spirits of this class may be recognized by their language, for the employment of coarse or trivial expressions by spirits, as by men, is always an indication of moral, if not of intellectual, inferiority. Their communications show the baseness of their inclinations; and though they may try to impose upon us by speaking with an appearance of reason and propriety, they are unable to keep up that false appearance, and end by betraying their real quality. Certain nations have made of them infernal deities; others designate them by the name of demons, evil genii or evil spirits.

The human beings in whom they are incarnated are addicted to all the vices engendered by vile and degrading passions — sensuality, cruelty, roguery, hypocrisy, cupidity, avarice. They do evil for its own sake, without any definite motive; and, from hatred to all that is good, they generally choose their victims from among honest and worthy people. They are the pests of humanity, to whatever rank of society they belong; and the varnish of a civilized education is ineffectual to cure or to hide their degrading defects.

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False and superseded teachings embedded in the Bible

2007-04-03T20:54:00.000-07:00

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Jesus upgrades the Old Testament teachings

In most all cases when asked as to their specific objections to religion, critics and non-believers cite false, obsolete and superseded teachings found in the Holy Scriptures of all the religions. They fail to realize that all instruction, specially divine instruction, is progressive -- beginning from the simple basic and graduating to the more complex and advanced.

So did Jesus refute most all of the objectionable Old Testament teachings. Just to mention a few to give everyone a clearer idea, but there are many:

1. In place of the tribal god Jehovah, the angry and jealous god of the Hebrews, Jesus revealed the One God of love, justice and mercy Who loves all His children, assuring us that there is a valid spiritual reason for everything that happens to everyone.

2. Instead of separation, isolation and the elimination of all enemies, inferior races and rival tribes, he taught that all men are brothers. We should all learn to love one another and live in harmony.

2. An eye for an eye was replaced by Forgive, Turn your other cheek and Love your enemies. This while assuring everyone that God's exacting divine justice will be meted out to everyone.

3. Animal and human sacrifices are discouraged in favor of the living practice of love, mercy, kindness and service to our fellowmen. Even though this is still widely believed and taught by his misguided followers, Jesus should not be regarded as a human sacrifice who died as a ransom for our sins. Instead, everyone of us will have to live as he lived, following his example as best we can.

4. He simplified the 10 Commandments and converted them into just 2 -- Love God and love your neighbor as yourself, affording us more leeway in recognition of our higher stage of development from that of the ancient Hebrews.

5. Many of the over 600 Mosaic Laws were revealed as worthless and useless traditions that even ran contrary to the true laws of God. The prohibitions against eating non-kosher foods and the detailed procedures for washing pots, pans, and other worldly rules and practices, etc. -- all man-made laws. God's laws relate to Spirit and are not so much concerned with material and physical considerations.

6. He clarified the many integral parts of love. Do not judge or criticize. Forgive. We should mind our own business -- the board in our own eye -- and not interfere with someone else's. Practice tolerance and non-violence. Serve rather than seek to be served -- the greatest of all is the servant of all. Do unto others as you would want others to do unto you.

7. He also provided us with clearer insights regarding the things of heaven and the goings on there. He enjoins us to study and prepare for the True Life that comes after earth life. Our fate depends on us, entirely -- what we think and do. And our enjoyment of everything in life is based on merit.

8. Before he left us, he told us that God would send the Holy Spirits in his name to guide us to "all truth." He promised that he will return to teach us more, those that he wasn't able to tell us before, even the mysteries kept hidden since the foundation of the world. He will speak no longer in parables, but he will teach us plainly. And to those who have kept faith with him, his promises are being fulfilled even now.

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Proofs of the Afterlife

2007-04-03T19:45:00.000-07:00

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For those of you who are looking for scientific studies and physical proofs to confirm the Afterlife, here is one excellent source that summarizes what are currently available. I myself was surprised at the sheer volume and variety of the evidence presented. But of course, you should decide for yourselves.

From: http://www.victorzammit.com/book/4thedition/index.html

A Lawyer Presents the Case for the Afterlife Irrefutable Objective Evidence
Victor Zammit, Copyright 2006

CHAPTERS: ( 4th Updated Edition 2006)

1. Opening statement
2. Respected scientists who investigated
3. My sensational materialization experiences
4. Voices on Tape (EVP)
5. Instrumental Transcommunication (ITC)
6. Near Death Experiences (NDEs)
7. Out of Body Experiences
8. Scole Experiment proves the afterlife
9. Einstein’s E=mc2 and materialization
10. Materialization Mediumship
11. Helen Duncan
12. Psychic laboratory experiments
13. Scientific observation of mediums
14. The most investigated medium ever
15. Direct voice mediums
16. The Cross Correspondences
17. Proxy sittings refute the allegation of mind reading
18. Remote Viewing
19. Apparitions and after death contacts
20. Deathbed visions
21. The Ouija Board
22. Xenoglossy
23. Poltergeists
24. Reincarnation
25. Quantum Physics and the Afterlife
26. Lawyers who were convinced by the evidence
27. Answering the closed-minded skeptics
28. Closing statement: summing up the objective evidence
29. What happens when we die?
Bibliography

You might also want to check out The Lives of Jesus

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God speaks to the Hindus

2006-11-13T17:27:00.000-08:00

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Christians, particularly, are dead set on evangelizing Hindus, Buddhists and everyone else. But before we can be effective, perhaps we should first prepare and study how best to accomplish this. Failure is more likely when we go to battle ill-prepared. The best weapon is information. So let us first find out what these "pagans" are all about, shall we.

The Buddhists have a saying: "A thousand monks, a thousand religions." This is true also for all other faiths, as well. Still, the Teachings of Hinduism presented below are, as far as it is known to this writer, according to the thoughts expressed by the principal proponents or founders inasmuch as, in many instances, the original concepts may have been changed according the varied interpretations of their less enlightened followers. In any case, the objectionable features in the teachings and in the practices which have resulted because of such changes should not be allowed to depreciate the value of the original concepts and teachings.

Hinduism

In India, when the world was young some 4,500 years ago, the Vedas, the Indian Holy Scriptures, were prepared. Embodying the complicated combination of religious beliefs and social customs of the Indians, they later became the chief source of the teachings known in an earlier form as Brahminism and later on as Hinduism. The Hindus believe in personal gods. The most important among them are Brahma, the Father of All, Vishnu, the Preserver, and Siva, the Destroyer. They believe in the transmigration of souls, which teaches that at death, the soul transfers into some other creature, be it human or animal, as a direct consequence of one’s karma or the effects of one’s thoughts and deeds. This process continues until such time that the soul is able to attain to the state of Nirvana, and free itself from the rounds of rebirth, old age, disease and death.

Four Castes

As far as the human form of life is concerned, the Hindus believe in four progressive castes. These are the Brahmans or the priests, the Kshatriyas or the temporal rulers and soldiers, the Vaishyas or the merchants, artists and farmers and the Sudras or laborers. All who fall outside these four main groups are considered as outcastes or untouchables, the lowest of the low.

Four Goals

Hinduism lays stress on the need for self-realization and the awareness of deeper realities that overshadow our material and physical existence. Consequently, therefore, advocates of Hinduism believe that man has four basic goals in life.

The first and foremost goal is to attain to the union of Atman, the individual soul, with Brahman, the supersoul or God, which alone can bring eternal happiness.

Another important goal is the fulfillment of all normal human desires, including the enjoyment of a life of pleasure, even sexual pleasure. So, to the Hindus, there is no truth to the teaching that sex is evil. And to the Hindus, it is acceptable for a person to enjoy life’s pleasures. Many people feel, mistakenly, that sex and other worldly pleasures are bad for the soul. To the Hindus, however, these worldly pleasures are perfectly natural and should be experienced first before we can actually outgrow our desire for them and advance to the more spiritual goals in life.

A third goal is participation in economic activity and contribution to public welfare. Finally, these goals are to be pursued while one undertakes to live the right kind of moral or ethical life.

Four Stages of Life

In the pursuit of these goals, man enters into four stages of life. He first becomes a student who initiates studies mainly in preparation for the material aspects of life.

Then, he becomes a householder, at which stage, he is able to pursue three of the four goals, namely, a life of pleasure, participation in economic activity and right living.

Subsequently, as he advances in age, he might decide to retire and live the life of a hermit. Here, he withdraws from his business or professional activities. Likewise, he relinquishes direct family responsibilities and duties and enters a hermitage for further study of the more spiritual realities or otherwise engages in deeper reflections into the meaning of life. This is not a cop-out as some may think, but the hermit is withdrawing from his worldly involvements in order that he may be able to prepare himself for much greater service.

Finally, given the opportunity and the inclination, one could become a spiritual pilgrim, which is characterized by one’s complete renunciation of self and of all personal attachments, even family ties. After which, the pilgrim turns to a life of service to others. The pilgrim goes where God directs and helps whomever is worthy, all the while, trusting to divine providence by receiving needed material aid from those who are the recipients of his spiritual services. In every instance, however, such material aid comes to him never as a favor, but as a matter of right. In his travels, he promotes love and understanding. He provides guidance to all who ask and who are willing to listen by sharing the wisdom he has attained to over the years.

The Hindu Way to Salvation

Spiritual guidance is provided to the unenlightened through the Avatars or highly advanced beings under a system of discipleship whereby these Avatars, gurus or spiritual masters teach disciples or students the way towards their own salvation. According to these gurus, eventual salvation comes by way of:

Devotional service,

The accumulation of knowledge, or

The rendering of service to fellowmen or the accumulation of good karma.

For most people, however, who may not have the time or the desire to pursue their spiritual goals owing to their involvement in the primary material objectives such as earning a living, help and guidance are more conveniently sought through minor gods and goddesses, thus, the preponderance of personal gods to whom one can ask for special favors.

While this practice does not enable one to reach his eventual goal, he, at least, moves a step nearer to it. This suffices many, until the time comes, in their subsequent incarnations, that they are able to pursue the more spiritual goals directly to attain to their own salvation.

Reconciling Hindu and Christian teachings

Older than Christianity by 3000 years, Pantheism is actually the selfsame principle that Christ teaches us in his parable of the vine and the branches and his oneness with the Father and with us. St. Paul likewise elaborates on this important principle in his "one body of Christ" in Corinthians. Brahma, Siva and Vishnu correspond to the Holy Trinity, although not in the same exact sense. The worship of Krishna and other minor gods is equivalent to the Christian worship of Christ and the veneration of the saints. Transmigration and reincarnation was lumped into resurrection by the early Christians. The Hindu practice of devotion and meditation equate to Christian piety, contemplation and prayers.

The Hindu goal of accumulating knowledge or seeking enlightenment is a match to Christian spiritual education and mystic experiences. However, the church's insistence on the unquestioned acceptance of their dogmas is its own imposition, alone. Karma yoga is the same righteousness that Christ teaches us. While both publicly espouse the principles of personal responsibility and accountability for all thoughts and deeds, the Christian churches have by large measure nullified the strict application of this principle by demanding the blind obedience of their faithful to God according to the interpretations of their Catholic Magisterium and church edicts, and God's arbitrary granting of His divine mercy while Hindus can ask and may be granted special favors by their gods.

So therefore with only some slight modifications, Hinduism and Christianity are in effect saying the same things using different words and contexts.

So where is the evil in Hinduism?

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Buddhism in the Christian Context

2006-11-13T17:23:00.000-08:00

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At about 600BC in India, the people were disillusioned with their religion. The religious authorities were degenerate and self-seeking and thought only of their own personal gain. And so, the people were turning away from their old beliefs. Since some people felt that animals were better than humans, they turned again to worshipping animals as gods.

The Story of Gautama

Into this world was born a prince, Siddharta Gautama, son of a warrior king, a high Hindu raja. Because of a prophecy that the son would be a prophet of great renown, the king, who desired so much that his son succeed him and inherit his kingdom, determined to do all things possible in order that the prophecy should not come true.

He decreed that Gautama be prevented from knowing of the evils and sorrows beyond the palace confines. All his travels were to be supervised and he was to meet only his caste-equals. But Gautama would not be so restrained. Sensing that he was being so protected, he determined to obtain freedom from such restrictions.

One day, in defiance of his father’s orders, he slipped out of the palace grounds to learn what he could on his own. Outside, he saw an old, old man, trembling with age and illness, toothless, blind with cataract and senile. For the first time in his life, Gautama came to realize that old age comes to everyone, and with its coming, the body of man ceases to retain the activeness, strength and beauty that his own body then presently enjoyed.

Next, he saw an emaciated man, miserable and moaning while he picked yellow scabs from his disease-ridden body. Gautama was shocked and his mind began to question why these things happen.

But then further on, at the side of the road, he came upon a scene that would leave a very deep and lasting impression on him. Here was death staring him in the face, a naked corpse, discolored and odorous, covered by a dense cloud of flies opened to his gaze.

While he was meditating on all that he saw and was greatly troubled, he chanced upon a well-clad, serene monk, calm and tranquil, untroubled by the misery and suffering all around him. And thinking that old age, disease and death awaited all of mankind and that by being a religious, one could attain peace and contentment, he resolved that he would become as that monk. So, presently, he left the palace and he became a seeker after truth, searching for the answers to the mysteries of life.

For six long and hard years, he sought out all the leading teachers of his time, asking, learning all he could from each of them, until all the teachers could teach him no more. But still, he did not have the answers. Until, finally, he resolved that he would not stop meditating until he did find the answers. A few days later, he experienced an illumination, and he had his answers. And, at that moment, he became the Buddha, the "Enlightened One." Afterwards, he formulated the way of life that became known as Buddhism.

Influence of Hinduism

It must be remembered that Buddhism is based on the principles of Hinduism and espouses certain of its fundamental beliefs. Included among them are Transmigration or the return of the soul into other forms of life; Karma or the consequences of one’s actions and Nirvana, which is the state of being a pure spirit, pure, so far as lack of lust for physical things are concerned.

The Middle Way, the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path

Gautama, the Buddha, therefore enjoins man to follow the "Middle Way" of life between the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification through man’s recognition of the Four Noble Truths which are:

Human life holds the possibility of suffering.

Human suffering is caused by desire or craving for the things that are of the world.

When one ceases to crave for a thing, then one ceases to have suffering connected with that thing; suffering ceases with the complete cessation of cravings.

Man can free himself of these cravings by following the Noble Eightfold Path.

The Noble Eightfold Path is as follows:

Right viewpoint — We should be aware of our real self, the Spirit Self, thereby obtaining an understanding of spiritual realities untrammeled by the illusions in the world.

Right aspirations — We should direct our strivings toward our spiritual objectives.

Right speech — We should always speak with love and consideration for others as our guide.

Right behavior — We should return love for hate and good for evil.

Right mode of livelihood — We should engage in an occupation that is beneficial and never harmful.

Right efforts — We should act purposefully with due regard to our own individual capacity and personal preferences.

Right mindfulness — We should discipline our thoughts and emotions.

Right contemplation — We should listen intuitively to correctly determine our true needs.

In so following the Noble Eightfold Path, man shall be able to attain to the state of Nirvana, which is not a state of nothingness, but, rather, that Nirvana which is equivalent to the higher Christian heavens and the spiritual perfection that they signify.

Branches of Buddhism

One branch or form of Buddhism is Lamaism, which flourished in Tibet before the Communist takeover of that country. This form of Buddhism developed as a consequence of Tibetan customs and traditions and was very advanced in the metaphysical sciences as expounded by Lobsang Rampa.

Another branch of Buddhism is Zen Buddhism, which teaches that one must first experience before he can know the truth. According to this school, truth cannot be known by just listening to the spoken word, or by reading the printed page. While all are enjoined to read and study Scriptures and to listen attentively to the learned lectures of wise men, all these serve only to guide us. All such studies must be accompanied by actual related experiences before we may more fully understand. One picture is worth a thousand words, but one experience is worth a thousand pictures.

Muslims and Christians are True Brothers

2006-11-13T17:15:00.000-08:00

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Archangel Gabriel Visits Muhammad

Despite the growth of Judaism and Christianity in some Arabian communities in the 600s, much of Arabia lay steeped in ignorance, superstition and idol-worship. The tribes being constantly at war with one another, any real peace and unity could only be achieved if everyone could come to agree on a common ideal, a faith perhaps especially formulated and adapted to the Arab psyche, according to their then level of evolvement.

At this time, Gabriel, the Archangel, visited a Godly man named Muhammad, who is believed by many to be a descendant of Abraham and Ishmael, and told him that God had chosen him to preach and spread Islam, which means, submission to the will of Allah.

The Archangel being highly regarded by both Christians and Jews alike, Muhammad could not but be tolerant and accepting also of these earlier faiths, in fact recognizing his kinship with them. It is recounted that before tackling the last phase of his mission, he was taken up to heaven by the Archangel to meet with Jesus and the Old Testament prophets and God, Himself, to receive his final instructions.

The messages from God delivered by Archangel Gabriel to Muhammad were later written down by Muhammad’s followers and subsequently incorporated into the Qur'an, the Holy Scriptures of Islam.

The Spread of the Faith

The first convert of this new faith was Muhammad’s wife, Khadija, and with her encouragement, Muhammad began to win other followers. He preached against idols in favor of the One God. And this preaching brought him many enemies from among those who worshipped such idols.

Eventually, Muhammad and his followers were so persecuted that they were forced to flee to Medina. However, this flight, called "Hegira," became the turning point of his career. After having pacified all the warring tribes there, he was acclaimed the new ruler and military commander of the city. And, encouraged by this success, he moved on Mecca and conquered it, as well. He then proceeded to destroy the idols and built the ancient Kaaba shrine, the Sanctuary of Allah.

In victory, Muhammad was generous and merciful, offering friendship to all including Christians and Jews regarding them as his brothers. However, just as the Jews rejected Christ, the Christians and the Jews in general rejected Muhammad as God's latest messenger and prophet. Muhammad realizing the futility of winning them to Islam concentrated his efforts rather more on his own people and their needs. And from then on, tribe after tribe voluntarily submitted to his leadership, until at Muhammad’s death, all of Arabia stood united under Islam.

The Five Pillars

The doctrine of Islam is based on the Qur'an and the Sunna or traditions. The Sunna recounts the sayings and deeds of Muhammad. The Five Duties of a believer or the Five Pillars of Islam are:

Recital of the Creed. In its shortest form, the creed is: "I testify that there is no God but Allah, and that Muhammad is His prophet." Acceptance of the creed implies belief in God, the angels, the inspired books, the prophets, the Day of Judgment, and God’s predestination of good and evil. The latter is the basis of the fatalistic attitude of the Muslim. Even in the face of life’s many hardships and tragedies, he willingly submits to the wisdom of God, and in faith, he declares: "It is the will of Allah."

Prayer. The Muslim worships five times a day facing Mecca, the birthplace of Muhammad. Phrases of his prayers and the postures of his body are all prescribed. Worship is preceded by ceremonial bathing. And on Friday, the Muslim holy day, prayers and a short sermon are held in the mosque under the leadership of the Imam.

Fasting. All throughout the month of Ramadhan when the Qur'an was revealed, the faithful fast. They do not eat or drink between dawn and sunset.

Almsgiving. All believers are expected to give alms to assist needy fellow-Muslims.

The Pilgrimage to Mecca. All Muslims who are physically and financially able are expected to make a pilgrimage to the Holy City at least once in their lifetime.

Basic Beliefs

A believer is bound in the principle of mutual help and entrusted with the furtherance of good and the repression of evil. Emphasis is placed on equality and brotherhood. Muslims believe that man stands alone in direct relationship with his God, surrendering himself to His mercy. Hence, there are no organized churches, no priests and no sacraments. Impelled by circumstances as a result of the wars, the Arabs were encouraged to take in the widows of comrades killed in battle as their wives to help them and provide for their needs. Polygamy then came to be widely practiced and was adopted into the faith. However, Muhammad limited the number of wives to four or less, depending on the capacity of the men to provide for their needs. Women were granted rights to possess or inherit property and could even divorce their husbands under certain conditions. Slavery was condemned. Eating pork was forbidden and drinking wine, prohibited.

The concept of Jihad against infidels was from the very beginning limited to the self-preservation of the faith and never was intended to include aggression against non-combatants, women and children. As soon as the threatened annihilation of Islam was neutralized and the cause of justice was served, Muhammad forgave his enemies and worked to win the peace. Then he clarified the concept. Jihad in the greater spiritual sense is the struggle against the Muslim's evil or worldly desires and the overcoming of his human limitations. The terrorists' view of Jihad is contrary to the true teachings of Islam.

Christians, Jews and Muslims are true brothers inspite of the present religious conflicts.

Major Sects

There are two major sects of Islam; The Sunnites, who believe in the Sunna and who form the majority; and the Shiites, who reject the Sunna simply because certain other caliphs participated in the formation of the Sunna. These latter are followers of Ali, Muhammad’s blood relative, who hold that Ali, alone, is the rightful successor to Muhammad.

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The Spirit self and the Tree of Good and Evil

2006-10-08T19:45:00.000-07:00

A tree does not come fully grown. Its seed is planted in the soil and in the fullness of time, it grows to become a mighty adult tree, very much like the tree that produced the seed in the first place. So were we created perfect seeds.

God, being Spirit, created us spirits, in His image and likeness. However, we were, in the beginning, innocent and ignorant, but endowed with every potentiality to attain to perfection through our own efforts. And we are destined to attain perfection, in the end, after we undergo life after life after life (reincarnation), learning from our own personal experiences. Jesus knowing this affirmed, "You must be perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect."

We were taught early on, even in the Bible, that we are body and soul but we are not. Spirit is distinct and separate from any body. The body is only a tool, a machine, a robot, a protective covering or armor, a vehicle that we use in this world to avail of its special lessons. We are not our physical body made from earth. The body dies. We do not. The flesh body is just something expendable and disposable that we put on everytime we are born and we take off when we transition to the Real World after a hard day's study.

Humanity is just one stage in early spirit evolution. To spirits, progression is infinite. And once we learn the lessons of the physical worlds (earth is just one of them), then we can pursue further development in the Higher Worlds. "In the Kingdom of God, there are many mansions."

We can read all these between the lines in Genesis. Do you really believe that God wants us to remain innocent and ignorant forever, never to grow up and become mature and responsible adult spirits? Is this what you really think?

Why then would He plant that Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil right smack where Adam and Eve would find it and eat its fruit? What? Do you think that God was born yesterday? And who do you think sent the serpent? The knowledge is made available to everyone, but at a price. We will need to leave Paradise (the Spirit World), be born and study on earth or on a similar physical plane, experience pain and suffering in pursuit of our lessons and die there (here). But at the end of our schooling, it is our destiny to become perfect like the Father, attaining to His perfect knowledge and holy nature, as is His true desire, in the first place. Only after we graduate from the lessons of earth can we become true heirs to His kingdom, and inherit all the riches and glory He meant for us to enjoy for the rest of our eternal lives.

This is the Biblical parable that describes our real nature and clarifies the true meaning and purpose of life here on earth. This is who we really are and why we are here. Once we can come to realize this Truth, then even the mysteries will unravel. We can begin to understand.

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Orders of Spirits

2006-10-08T19:13:00.000-07:00

Before we can progress in our studies, it is of utmost importance that we realize who and where we are presently situated in the order of spirit evolution. Only then can we determine where we want to be and what we must do to get there.

Different Orders of Spirits

(From the ‘Spirits' Book’)

FIRST ORDER — PURE SPIRITS

First Class — Pure Spirits

General Characteristics — The influence of matter, null; a superiority, both intellectual and moral, so absolute as to constitute what, in comparison with the spirits of all the other orders, may be termed perfection.

Spirits of this order have passed through every degree of the scale of progress and have freed themselves from all the impurities of materiality. Having attained the sum of perfection of which created beings are susceptible, they no longer have to undergo either trials or expiations. Being no longer subject to reincarnation in perishable bodies, they enter on the life of eternity in the immediate presence of God. They are in the enjoyment of a beatitude which is unalterable, because they are no longer subject to the wants and vicissitudes of material life; but this beatitude is not the monotonous idleness of perpetual contemplation. They are the messengers and ministers of God, the executors of His orders in the maintenance of universal harmony. They exercise a sovereign command over all spirits inferior to themselves, aid them in accomplishing the work of their purification, and assign to each of them a mission proportioned to the progress already made by them. To assist men in their distresses, to excite them to the love of good or to the expiation of the faults which keep them back on the road to the supreme felicity, are for them congenial occupations. They are sometimes spoken of as angels, archangels or seraphim. They can, when they choose to do so, enter into communication with men.

SECOND ORDER — GOOD SPIRITS

Second Class — High Spirits

These unite, in a very high degree, scientific knowledge, wisdom and goodness. Their language, inspired only by the purest benevolence, is always noble and elevated, often sublime. Their superiority renders them more apt than any others to impart to us just and true ideas in relation to the incorporeal world, within the limits of the knowledge permitted to mankind. They willingly enter into communication with those who seek for truth in simplicity and sincerity, and who are sufficiently freed from the bonds of materiality to be capable of understanding it; but they turn from those whose inquiries are prompted only by curiosity, or who are drawn away from the path of rectitude by the attractions of materiality.

When, under exceptional circumstances, they incarnate themselves in this earth, it is always for the accomplishment of a mission of progress; and they thus show us the highest type of perfection to which we can aspire in the present world.

Third Class — Wise Spirits

The most elevated moral qualities form their distinctive characteristics. Without having arrived at the possession of unlimited knowledge, they have reached a development of intellectual capacity that enables them to judge correctly of men and of things.

Fourth Class — Learned Spirits

They are specially distinguished by the extent of their knowledge. They are less interested in moral questions than in scientific investigation, for which they have a greater aptitude; but their scientific studies are always prosecuted with a view to practical utility, and they are entirely free from the base passions common to spirits of the lower degrees of advancement.

Fifth Class — Benevolent Spirits

Their dominant quality is kindness. They take pleasure in rendering service to men and in protecting them, but their knowledge is somewhat narrow. They have progressed in morality rather than in intelligence.

THIRD ORDER — IMPERFECT SPIRITS

Sixth Class — Noisy and Boisterous Spirits

Spirits of this kind do not, strictly speaking, form a distinct class in virtue of their personal qualities; they may belong to all the classes of the third order. They often manifest their presence by the production of phenomena perceptible by the senses, such as raps, the movement and abnormal displacing of solid bodies, the agitation of the air, etc. They appear to be, more than any other class of spirits, attached to matter; they seem to be the principal agents in determining the vicissitudes of the elements of the globe, and to act upon the air, water, fire and the various bodies in the entrails of the earth. Whenever these phenomena present a character of intention and intelligence, it is impossible to attribute them to a mere fortuitous and physical cause. All spirits are able to produce physical phenomena; but spirits of elevated degree usually leave them to those of a lower order, more apt for action upon matter than for the things of intelligence, and when they judge it to be useful to produce physical manifestations, employ spirits of subaltern degree as their auxiliaries.

Seventh Class — Neutral Spirits

They are not sufficiently advanced to take an active part in doing good, nor are they bad enough to be active in doing wrong. They incline sometimes to the one, sometimes to the other; and do not rise above the ordinary level of humanity, either in point of morality or of intelligence. They are strongly attached to the things of this world, whose gross satisfactions they regret.

Eight Class — Spirits Who Pretend to More Science than They Possess

Their knowledge is often considerable, but they imagine themselves to know a good deal more than they know in reality. Having made a certain amount of progress from various points of view, their language has an air of gravity that may easily give a false impression as to their capacities and enlightenment; but their ideas are generally nothing more than the reflection of the prejudices and false reasoning of the terrestrial life. Their statements contain a mixture of truths and absurdities, in the midst of which, traces of presumption, pride, jealousy and obstinacy, from which they have not yet freed themselves, are abundantly perceptible.

Ninth Class — Frivolous Spirits

They are ignorant, mischievous, unreasonable and addicted to mockery. They meddle with everything and reply to every question without paying any attention to truth. They delight in causing petty annoyances, in raising false hopes of petty joys, in misleading people by mystifications and trickery. The spirits vulgarly called hobgoblins, will-o'-the-wisps, gnomes, etc. belong to this class. They are under the orders of spirits of a higher category, who make use of them as we do of servants.

Tenth Class — Impure Spirits

They are inclined to evil, and make it an object of all their thoughts and activities. As spirits, they give to men perfidious counsels, stir up discord and distrust, and assume every sort of mask in order the more effectually to deceive. They beset those whose character is weak enough to lead them to yield to their suggestions, and whom they thus draw aside from the path of progress, rejoicing when they are to retard their advancement by causing them to succumb under the appointed trials of the corporeal life. Spirits of this class may be recognized by their language, for the employment of coarse or trivial expressions by spirits, as by men, is always an indication of moral, if not of intellectual, inferiority. Their communications show the baseness of their inclinations; and though they may try to impose upon us by speaking with an appearance of reason and propriety, they are unable to keep up that false appearance, and end by betraying their real quality. Certain nations have made of them infernal deities; others designate them by the name of demons, evil genii or evil spirits.

The human beings in whom they are incarnated are addicted to all the vices engendered by vile and degrading passions — sensuality, cruelty, roguery, hypocrisy, cupidity, avarice. They do evil for its own sake, without any definite motive; and, from hatred to all that is good, they generally choose their victims from among honest and worthy people. They are the pests of humanity, to whatever rank of society they belong; and the varnish of a civilized education is ineffectual to cure or to hide their degrading defects.

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Our life, our choice

2006-10-08T18:54:00.000-07:00

Far too many Spiritists look with envy at other religions and schools. They see progress in terms of greater prosperity, higher education, superior organization, orderliness, magnificent churches and other facilities, social acceptance and abundant material comforts of their members. Okay, I agree with you. We should have all of that, too. But are these temporal considerations the true gauge of spiritual success and advancement?

Does it not seem natural to make choice of such trials as are least painful?

From the Spirits' Book page 167, No. 260

“From your point of view, it would seem to be so, but not from that of the spirit; when he is freed from materiality, his illusions cease, and he thinks differently.

"Man, while upon the earth, and subjected to the influence of carnal ideas, sees only the painful aspect of the trials he is called upon to undergo; and it therefore appears to him to be natural to choose the trials that are allied to material enjoyments. But when he has returned to spirit-life, he compares those gross and fugitive enjoyments with the unchangeable felicity of which he obtains occasional glimpses, and judges that such felicity will be cheaply purchased by a little temporary suffering. A spirit may therefore, make choice of the hardest trial, and consequently of the most painful existence, in the hope of thereby attaining more rapidly to a happier state, just as a sick man often chooses the most unpalatable medicine in the hope of obtaining a more rapid cure. He who aspires to immortalise his name by the discovery of an unknown country does not seek a flowery road. He takes the road which will bring him most surely to the aim he has in view, and he is not deterred from following it even by the dangers it may offer. On the contrary, he braves those dangers for the sake of the glory he will win if he succeeds.

"The doctrine of our freedom in the choice of our successive existences and of the trials which we have to undergo ceases to appear strange when we consider that spirits, being freed from matter, judge of things differently from men. They perceive the ends which these trials are intended to work out – ends far more important for them than the fugitive enjoyments of earth. After each existence, they see the steps they have already accomplished, and comprehend what they still lack for the attainment of the purity which alone enable them to reach the goal; and they willingly submit to the vicissitudes of corporeal life, demanding of their own accord to be allowed to undergo those which will aid them to advance most rapidly. There is, therefore, nothing surprising in a spirit making choice of a hard or painful life. He knows that he cannot, in his present state of imperfection enjoy the perfect happiness to which he aspires; but he obtains glimpses of that happiness, and he seeks to effect his own improvement, as the sole means to its attainment.

"Do we not, every day, witness examples of a similar choice? What is the action of the man who labours, without cessation or repose, to amass the property which will enable him eventually to live in comfort, but the discharge of a task which he has voluntarily assumed as the means of insuring for himself a more prosperous future? The soldier who offers himself for the accomplishment of a perilous mission, the traveller who braves dangers no less formidable in the interest of science or of his own fortune, are examples of the voluntary incurring of hardships for the sake of the honour or profit that will result from their successful endurance. What will not men undergo for gain or for glory? Is not every sort of competitive examination a trial to which men voluntarily submit in the hope of obtaining advancement in the career they have chosen? He who would gain a high position in science, art, industry, is obliged to pass through all the lower degrees which lead up to it, and which constitute so many trials. Human life is thus seen to be modelled on spirit-life, presenting the same vicissitudes on a smaller scale. And as in the earthly life, we often make choice of the hardest conditions as means to the attainment of the highest ends, why should not a disincarnate spirit, who sees farther than he saw when incarnated in an earthly body, and for whom the bodily life is only a fugitive incident, make choice of a laborious or painful existence, if it may lead him on towards an eternal felicity? Those who say that, since spirits have the power choosing their existences, they will demand to be princes and millionaires, are like the purblind, who only see what they touch, or like greedy children, who, when asked what occupation they would prefer to follow, reply that they would like to be pastry-cooks of confectioners.

"It is with a spirit as with a traveller, who, in the depths of a valley obscured by fog, sees neither the length nor the extremities of his road. When he has reached the top of the hill, and the fog has cleared away, his view takes in both the road along which he has come and that by which he has still to go. He sees the point which he has to reach, and the obstacles he has to overcome in reaching it, and he is thus able to take his measures for successfully accomplishing his journey. A spirit, while incarnated, is like the traveller at the foot of the hill; when freed from terrestrial trammels, he is like the traveller who has reached the top of the hill. The aim of the traveller is to obtain rest after fatigue; the aim of the spirit is to attain to perfect happiness after tribulations and trials.

"Spirits say that, in the state of erraticity, they seek, study, observe, in order to make their choice wisely. Have we not examples of analogous action in corporeal life? Do we not often spend years in deciding on the career upon which, at length, we freely fix our choice, because we consider it to be the one in which we are most likely to succeed? If, after all, we fall in the one we have chosen, we seek out another; and each career thus embraced by us constitutes a phase, a period, of our life. Is not each day employed by us in deciding what we shall do on the morrow? And what, for a spirit, are his different corporeal existences, but so many phases, periods, days, in comparison with his spirit life, which, as we know is his normal life, the corporeal life being only a transitional passage?"

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Spirits' Response to Vatican on New Age

2006-09-26T19:52:00.000-07:00

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This Response was first posted to a Catholic Forum but was subsequently censored and withdrawn by the Moderator. It is reproduced here for your consideration and possible discussion. Let it not be said that we did not exert efforts to share our information with everyone.

Your Vatican has graciously issued an open invitation to dialogue on New Age issues. Please refer to Items No. 1 and 6.2. We at Inner Quest are pleased to accept. We only hope that our acceptance and sharing of information will be viewed by those of you here in the same spirit of brotherhood and cooperation in which they are given. Although everyone of us may believe and interpret the divine teachings differently, nevertheless, we all know in our hearts that there is only One God, One Truth and One Brotherhood.

Because of the length and detail of the Vatican document, our response is likewise necessarily detailed and involved for clarity and completeness, as possible within the space provided. This response although very long is posted here in its entirety so as not to break the trend of thought of the Vatican presentation.

However, the thoughts and ideas that are in the Vatican document and those that we have included in our response are all open to subsequent discussion. All views and opinions for or against are welcome.

Vatican on New Age
An invitation to dialogue

Foreword - The study is a provisional report. It is the fruit of the common reflection of the Working Group on New Religious Movements, composed of staff members of different dicasteries of the Holy See: the Pontifical Councils for Culture and for Interreligious Dialogue (which are the principal redactors for this project), the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

These reflections are offered primarily to those engaged in pastoral work so that they might be able to explain how the New Age movement differs from the Christian faith.

Teachings of the Spirits of Truth

The following explanations are here offered in the hope that they can contribute towards everyone obtaining to a better understanding of the New Age Movement and the New Divine Teachings.

While they may appear at first to digress and conflict with traditional Christian teachings in the view of some, they are nevertheless the introductory phases in the unfolding of that body of knowledge that Christ alludes to when he told us, “There is so much more I want to tell you.”

The age-old conceptions are now in the process of upgrading in recognition of our increased capacity to understand the Higher Truths. These are the Teachings of the Holy Spirit(s).

1 It (This document) is an invitation to understand the New Age and to engage in a genuine dialogue with those who are influenced by New Age thought. The document guides those involved in pastoral work in their understanding and response to New Age spirituality, both illustrating the points where this spirituality contrasts with the Catholic faith and refuting the positions espoused by New Age thinkers in opposition to Christian faith. What is indeed required of Christians is, first and foremost, a solid grounding in their faith.

Everyone should remain open-minded and be encouraged to try and understand new teachings. No one being perfect, therefore everyone has much to learn, still. To learning, there is no end.

Knowledge and Truth are not to be feared. All new information are to be embraced or rejected only after we have conducted a diligent study and evaluation, not opposed or refuted beforehand. Everyone should continue to seek in order to learn and comprehend the deeper Truths.

And where necessary, everyone should stand ready to let go of their mistaken beliefs, break down their old belief patterns and build anew.

1.3 When one examines many New Age traditions, it soon becomes clear that there is, in fact, little in the New Age that is new. The name seems to have gained currency through Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry, at the time of the French and American Revolutions, but the reality it denotes is a contemporary variant of Western esotericism. This dates back to Gnostic groups which grew up in the early days of Christianity, and gained momentum at the time of the Reformation in Europe. It has grown in parallel with scientific world-views, and acquired a rational justification through the eighteenth and ninetenth centuries.

Spiritual instruction is progressive but necessary builds and expands on what were taught before.

Gnostic teachings and all old conceptions are today clarified and upgraded. Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism having been established centuries earlier are technically not part of the New Age Movement.

Only the more recent developments during the last 200 years should be considered as parts of the NAM, but only to introduce it and prepare the world for its imminent arrival in force. In fact, they provide the incontrovertible and scientific proofs that will validate the New Teachings. They are the initiatives taken by God’s Holy Spirits and the Great White Brotherhood working together to prepare for the coming of the New Age and the return of Christ.

It has involved a progressive rejection of a personal God and a focus on other entities which would often figure as intermediaries between God and humanity in traditional Christianity, with more and more original adaptations of these or additional ones.

God is too far divorced from earthly conditions. His true nature cannot be fully appreciated until we can become more like Him, perfect as Jesus intimated. Instead, He sends His Holy Spirits, our ascended brothers, to whom He has delegated the work of guiding us so we too may become holy like them.

Due recognition is given to other advanced entities that are tasked by God to guide us in our development. They act much like bishops, priests and pastors. They are our Divine Guides and Teachers, only that they are far more highly evolved and competent in the performance of this work.

A powerful trend in modern Western culture which has given space to New Age ideas is the general acceptance of Darwinist evolutionary theory; this, alongside a focus on hidden spiritual powers or forces in nature, has been the backbone of much of what is now recognised as New Age theory.

Spirit evolution and physical evolution are separate and different things and processes.

God, being Spirit, created us spirits, in His image and likeness. However, we were in the beginning, innocent and ignorant, but endowed with every potentiality to attain to perfection through our own efforts. And we are destined to attain perfection, in the end, after we undergo life after life after life (reincarnation), learning from our own personal experiences. Jesus knowing this affirmed, "You must be perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect."

Spiritual faculties or psychic powers are inherent but latent properties of every spirit entity. However, these powers are now fully explained and they can be developed by everyone, if we should so choose.

Darwin’s theories should properly be understood to refer only to physical things or bodies (forms) and not to the spirit self. Moreover, Theosophy in fact proposes a different theory, altogether. Here, the introduction of new improvements and faculties attaching to physical bodies or vehicles are designed by Higher Intelligences. Succeeding spirit-students can then avail of these new “life-forms” when they manifest in the physical worlds.

1.5 There is also a call in all of this to come closer to Jesus Christ and to be ready to follow Him, since He is the real way to happiness, the truth about God and the fulness of life for every man and woman who is prepared to respond to his love.

Similarly, the Spirits of Truth enjoin everyone to live according to Christ’s ethical teachings. God’s heaven is reserved only for the righteous who actually do His will in their everyday life.

Basic Teachings

2 Christians in many Western societies, and increasingly also in other parts of the world, frequently come into contact with different aspects of the phenomenon known as New Age. Many of them feel the need to understand how they can best approach something which is at once so alluring, complex, elusive and, at times, disturbing. These reflections are an attempt to help Christians do two things:

– to identify elements of the developing New Age tradition;

– to indicate those elements which are inconsistent with the Christian revelation.

Nevertheless, given the underlying vision of New Age religiosity, it is on the whole difficult to reconcile it with Christian doctrine and spirituality.

Through the guidance of the Spirits of Truth, the old truths are made plain and the New Teachings are advanced for our consideration. The most important principles are the following:

1 The existence of God

God may be defined as Infinite Intelligence. Imperfect as we are and still greatly influenced by matter, we are unable to completely understand the true exact nature of God. Finite minds cannot comprehend the infinite. In addition, our vocabulary is so poor that we are unable to more satisfactorily define God. While we may attribute to God certain very desirable and positive characteristics, we should never feel that God is confined to such attributes. To do so would be to limit God, Who is unlimited. However, we will be able to know and comprehend God more fully just as soon as we become totally freed from earthly influences and approach the righteousness that is God according to His ethical teachings.

2 The existence of the Spirit

God created us spirit beings in His image. However, at our creation, we were created perfect seeds, innocent and ignorant, but endowed with every potentiality to grow and develop to full maturity or perfection through our own exertions.

3 The reality of the Spirit World

There are other dimensions of being, other worlds apart from the physical worlds and the earth in which we live at the moment. There are “many mansions” in the Kingdom of God. We leave these more spiritual worlds temporarily when we are born to earth, and we return to them at physical death. And there, we will live for all eternity as soon as we prove ourselves worthy.

4 Oneness and brotherhood of all creation

At this earthly stage of our development, most humans are just beginning to curb their selfishness and selfish interests in favor of the common good. We are only now considering our planet as a single spaceship or boat in the vast sea of space. We are only now learning not to rock the boat lest we sink the ship and drown all of us, together. But, eventually, gradually, we will come to learn that all are one.

5 Reincarnation

In order to further develop spiritually, we spirit beings repeatedly come to earth and other physical worlds by motivating physical bodies which will enable us to undergo all the necessary experiences that afford learning until such time that we are able to arrive at a certain prescribed standard of spiritual perfection.

6 The Law of Karma

This is the Law of Harmony that provides for the restoration of balance to all things. This is also the law of cause and effect and sowing and reaping. Relative to ethical matters, the law was not intended to punish offenders as much as to teach us right from wrong and good and evil.

7 Infinite progression of the Spirit entity

No one will be committed to suffer forever in hell. All who are not yet fully developed or perfected will continue to be given every opportunity to improve himself in the Lower Worlds. This process continues until we are able to attain to the perfection that God intended. We are destined to come live with Him in His Kingdom after we have completed our earthly studies.

8 Personal responsibility and salvation through individual effort

Having been given free will, we alone have the right to decide regarding personal matters. “We are the captain of our soul, the master of our fate.” We only need to learn the divine laws and their consequences and abide by them in order to ensure for ourselves the kind of life we desire. It follows that God won’t and Jesus cannot save us because this is in direct contravention of His divine will. Instead, Jesus having shown us the Way, we now need to save ourselves through our own personal efforts.

9 Mediumship as a means of communication with the Spirit World

By developing our higher faculties, we are able to break through the barriers between this world and the Higher Worlds thereby obtaining undeniable proofs and further divine instruction.

10 Love and service as the Way

Emphasis is given to righteousness, which is love in action, and active service to our fellowmen as the Way to obtain release from the necessity of further incarnations and the attainment of eternal life in the Spirit World, the World of Reality.

All other attendant and more worldly concepts and teachings are only corollary or supportive of these main spiritual teachings, of which there are infinite levels and aspects. Each corresponds to a specific stage in the order of evolution. Everything in its rightful place.

Emergence of Spiritism and Theosophy

2.1 The Age of Aquarius has such a high profile in the New Age movement largely because of the influence of theosophy, spiritualism and anthroposophy, and their esoteric antecedents.

At about 1850, to call our attention to the more spiritual aspects of our being and commence the necessary preparations for the coming new age, two important major movements drawing extensively from supernatural sources were initiated, one by the Great White Brotherhood, the other by the Spirits of Truth. Eastern and Western, they constitute two seemingly different approaches, but each complements the other and both are working for the same goals. There is only One God and one Truth.

By 1875, the great libraries had all been razed to the ground or ravaged by war and almost all of the old sacred books and records were destroyed. To reintroduce the Wisdom Teachings of the ancients, the Great White Brotherhood commissioned the services of their "chela," Madame Helena P. Blavatsky. With the use of her spiritual faculties highly developed from past incarnations, she clairvoyantly accessed the lost information from the Akashic Records and compiled them all in ‘The Secret Doctrine.’ She also founded the Theosophical Society to oversee the dissemination of these ancient teachings and prepare candidates for "chelahood," a state where candidates have qualified for acceptance as a student of the Masters, henceforth meriting direct and personalized guidance and instruction. Theosophical studies cover the origin and development of the cosmos and human development in all the planes of being from its beginning to its end.

Following in this tradition a century later, the Tibetan lama, Lobsang Rampa, was tasked to further simplify, clarify and upgrade the Eastern teachings. Adept at soul traveling, highly clairvoyant and telepathic, he recounts his experiences and provides us with startling revelations relating to the Unseen World. Highly evolved himself, he understands the divine teachings more completely and he teaches and explains them in his books which became bestsellers.

As early as 1850, the Spirits of Truth with the spirit guides and guardian angels had already initiated their own work in the Christian context. Their primary objective then was to provide proofs of the survival of the spirit. Countless Spiritualist mediums in Europe and America now began to manifest all sorts of magical and highly entertaining phenomena. Tables rapped messages, so did ouija boards convey information from beyond. Ghosts and apparitions regaled and frightened. Objects flying all over the place appeared and disappeared from view. Much of these manifestations were subsequently proven to be false, but enough of the genuine articles convinced those with open minds that there is a greater reality, another world beyond ours.

After the more thoughtful among the people got over their fascination and wonder, they began to question why all the fuss, what does it all mean. This time, the Spirits chose a Frenchman, Leon-Denizarth-Hippolyte Rivail, a member of several learned societies and a scientist-researcher well known in scientific circles to disseminate their explanations and teachings. Through various mediums and countless seances, a special team of Spirit teachers, among them the Apostle John and St. Augustine, communicated to Rivail the beginning basis of the promised revelations, the All Truth referred to by Jesus, the many things kept hidden since the foundation of the world, which in Jesus’ time, the people would not have been able to understand.

Rivail included all these revelations in his books, ‘The Spirits’ Book’ and others under the penname of Allan Kardec, according to the instructions of the Guides. They later formed the underlying teachings of Spiritism, which term simply means guidance by the Holy Spirit. In the Philippines and in Brazil in the mid-1900s, psychic surgeons belonging to this school performed their barehanded and painless operations and attracted large followings.

In the United States today, Channeling has taken over from Spiritualism. Each addition to the series brings in new insights and reveals deeper aspects of the same eternal Truths.

Other implied truths

Some of the traditions which flow into New Age are: ancient Egyptian occult practices, Cabbalism, early Christian gnosticism, Sufism, the lore of the Druids, Celtic Christianity, mediaeval alchemy, Renaissance hermeticism, Zen Buddhism, Yoga and so on.

There is some truth in all schools and religions. All of the Truth was not given to any one person or group, alone, but to everyone in part, in proportion to his development. To know the Whole, we must draw from each of them those parts that were entrusted to them. However, all the old conceptions should be reviewed in light of every new information.

Much of the old teachings have already been rendered obsolete by more recent findings and revelations. There is always progress in all things.

Here is what is “new” about New Age. It is a “syncretism of esoteric and secular elements”.(16) They link into a widely-held perception that the time is ripe for a fundamental change in individuals, in society and in the world. There are various expressions of the need for a shift:

– from Newtonian mechanistic physics to quantum physics;

– from modernity's exaltation of reason to an appreciation of feeling, emotion and experience (often described as a switch from 'left brain' rational thinking to 'right brain' intuitive thinking):

– from a dominance of masculinity and patriarchy to a celebration of femininity, in individuals and in society.

As explained earlier, New Age concepts and teachings relate both to the things in the world and the things of the spirit and of heaven.

Newton’s physics and our physical brain functioning are worldly concerns.

Rational thinking is part of spirit development and at our present stage, we are just beginning the early phase of abstract thinking. Though largely unremembered, intuitive thinking relates to the knowledge gained from our past life experiences. Masculinity and femininity are just two different aspects of our being. In our many incarnations, we will at times be male, female, gay or lesbian until we are able to attain to a more complete and balanced development. Until such time that we are already “perfect”, every seeming abnormality or aberrant behavior is for us really a normal condition and learning experience in the spirit sense, they being within the realm of human possibility.

Perhaps the clearest example of this, in terms of the relationship between New Age and Christianity, is the total recasting of the life and significance of Jesus Christ. It is impossible to reconcile these two visions.

The “vision” of the Church in regard to Jesus is its own conception and not at all according to how Jesus introduces himself and his God in his own words. The Holy Trinity is also another of these purely Catholic conceptions. Jesus never did teach these. All thoughts and teachings by others including those of the Church that contradict his direct teachings should be rejected, outright.

We should listen instead to Jesus – To the Master who knows, not his students who don’t. His words are clear in the Gospels. Truth just needs to be more clearly understood.

2.21 One of the most common elements in New Age “spirituality” is a fascination with extraordinary manifestations, and in particular with paranormal entities. People recognised as “mediums” claim that their personality is taken over by another entity during trances in a New Age phenomenon known as “channeling”, during which the medium may lose control over his or her body and faculties.

To convince skeptics initially, the medium or psychic performs only during deep trance, receiving and delivering messages given to him word for word, in a voice not his own, secretly and privately, under cover of darkness. Upon returning to consciousness, he remembers nothing of what transpired. Usually, the communications go far beyond the extent of his personal knowledge and experience.

As acceptance grows, further proofs become unnecessary and the medium is allowed to receive and relay information consciously, interpreting pictures and thoughts during daytime and in public. He can also recall everything that happened. Finally in the advanced forms of mediumship, the medium’s eyes can be open and his body will exhibit no extra physical exertions or rigidity. Telepathy most closely approximates normal, unimpeded communication here on Earth.

As language improves and ideas are more effectively concretized, the messages become more meaningful, rational and better suited to the target audience, according to the audience’s capacity to comprehend. At this advanced stage, the rules that apply in our evaluating information coming from any and all sources, whether from an authorized source or unauthorized, confirmed or unconfirmed, should at all times be observed fully.

Other friends and counsellors from the spirit world are angels (which have become the centre of a new industry of books and paintings). Those who refer to angels in the New Age do so in an unsystematic way; in fact, distinctions in this area are sometimes described as unhelpful if they are too precise, since “there are many levels of guides, entities, energies, and beings in every octave of the universe... They are all there to pick and choose from in relation to your own attraction/repulsion mechanisms”.(22) These spiritual entities are often invoked 'non-religiously' to help in relaxation aimed at better decision-making and control of one's life and career. Fusion with some spirits who teach through particular people is another New Age experience claimed by people who refer to themselves as 'mystics'.

We communicate with those spirits that can offer us the information or help that we need and want. It is up to us whom we want to communicate with and what kind. Spirits are of all classes just like people on earth.

If we seek spiritual guidance, then we should invoke the guidance of the Holy Spirits. If we should need worldly advice or just want to be entertained, then we call on Familiar Spirits.

But everyone should take heed lest they be deceived. Only those who are serious and sincere merit the attention of high minded spirits. If we are frivolous and trivial, we will attract only those of our same kind.

In all of these activities, we should be open to new ideas. We should listen. But we should reserve our judgment until we are able to more thoroughly study the matter and arrive at our own conclusions. Only after should we decide on a course of action, whether to accept or reject the advice. But regardless, no harm can come to us unless we ourselves allow it.

2.22 Phenomena as diverse as the Findhorn garden and Feng Shui (23) represent a variety of ways which illustrate the importance of being in tune with nature or the cosmos. In New Age there is no distinction between good and evil. Human actions are the fruit of either illumination or ignorance. Hence we cannot condemn anyone, and nobody needs forgiveness. Believing in the existence of evil can create only negativity and fear. The answer to negativity is love. But it is not the sort which has to be translated into deeds; it is more a question of attitudes of mind. Love is energy, a high-frequency vibration, and the secret to happiness and health and success is being able to tune in, to find one's place in the great chain of being.

New Age teachers and therapies claim to offer the key to finding the correspondences between all the elements of the universe, so that people may modulate the tone of their lives and be in absolute harmony with each other and with everything around them, although there are different theoretical backgrounds.(24)

The first rule in seeking for Truth is to first analyze, test and question everything. We are to accept only those propositions that test true in the light of our personal experience and reject all that do not.

No source in our world is 100% complete, true or accurate. Feng Shui is an art, not a science, and while some may base their recommendations on certain valid known or little known natural principles, much is superstition, nevertheless, depending on the practitioner.

Of course, there is good and evil by comparison to one another. But no one should be condemned because all of us are prone to error, we being still in the process of learning. We are still on the main innocent and ignorant spirits – many are even devilish and mischievous. Jesus said of us, “They don’t know what they are doing.” But Jesus also said, “You must be perfect as the Father is perfect.” And so we all shall in His time.

But even as we forgive, we should nonetheless exert all efforts to prevent the recurrence of harm to our self and others.

Love must be lived. Those who don’t do not know love. It is not enough to think or believe only. The proof of knowing is in the doing.

Regardless what New Age and other teachers say, we should “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all things shall be added unto us.”

2.23 Formal (allopathic) medicine today tends to limit itself to curing particular, isolated ailments, and fails to look at the broader picture of a person's health: this has given rise to a fair amount of understandable dissatisfaction. Alternative therapies have gained enormously in popularity because they claim to look at the whole person and are about healing rather than curing. Holistic health, as it is known, concentrates on the important role that the mind plays in physical healing. The connection between the spiritual and the physical aspects of the person is said to be in the immune system or the Indian chakra system. In a New Age perspective, illness and suffering come from working against nature; when one is in tune with nature, one can expect a much healthier life, and even material prosperity; for some New Age healers, there should actually be no need for us to die.

This is just saying that our faults and character weaknesses are the root causes of all physical diseases and for that matter all unwanted situations and circumstances that come to be part of our life.

Make ourselves right with God according to His ethical teachings and all will be well.

The influence of our character deficiencies and misdeeds committed in our past lives on our present life situations and conditions are revealed and more clearly illustrated in the life readings given by Edgar Cayce under the supervision of the Spirits of Truth.

But of course, if we are born into the world, then we must die. How else can we go back home to heaven.

Originally, reincarnation was a part of Hindu cyclical thought, based on the atman or divine kernel of personality (later the concept of jiva), which moved from body to body in a cycle of suffering (samsara), determined by the law of karma, linked to behaviour in past lives. Hope lies in the possibility of being born into a better state, or ultimately in liberation from the need to be reborn. What is different in most Buddhist traditions is that what wanders from body to body is not a soul, but a continuum of consciousness. Present life is embedded in a potentially endless cosmic process which includes even the gods. In the West, since the time of Lessing, reincarnation has been understood far more optimistically as a process of learning and progressive individual fulfilment. Spiritualism, theosophy, anthroposophy and New Age all see reincarnation as participation in cosmic evolution. This post-Christian approach to eschatology is said to answer the unresolved questions of theodicy and dispenses with the notion of hell. When the soul is separated from the body individuals can look back on their whole life up to that point, and when the soul is united to its new body there is a preview of its coming phase of life. People have access to their former lives through dreams and meditation techniques.(26)

Soul is consciousness in a physical body. But we don’t wander aimlessly. We enter into pre-planned experiences that will help us in learning what we came to earth to learn in the first place and build and refine our character.

This is similar to coming to an earthly classroom to learn our lessons. Here on earth, we are learning all about good and evil, right and wrong by undergoing the precise experiences that afford learning.

Birth is coming to class and death is returning home. After a hard day’s study, we then look back at the plan we agreed on with our guides before coming to earth to review the lessons that we learned and determine whether we accomplished our objectives. Afterwards, we can then plan for our next incarnation.

Through intuition, dreams and meditation, we may be able to obtain insights relating to our past lives and likewise receive messages and inspirations from above. But this is allowed only when such a remembrance and message will be helpful to us in our present life situations.

2.32 The essential matrix of New Age thinking is to be found in the esoteric-theosophical tradition which was fairly widely accepted in European intellectual circles in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was particularly strong in freemasonry, spiritualism, occultism and theosophy, which shared a kind of esoteric culture. In this world-view, the visible and invisible universes are linked by a series of correspondences, analogies and influences between microcosm and macrocosm, between metals and planets, between planets and the various parts of the human body, between the visible cosmos and the invisible realms of reality. Nature is a living being, shot through with networks of sympathy and antipathy, animated by a light and a secret fire which human beings seek to control. People can contact the upper or lower worlds by means of their imagination (an organ of the soul or spirit), or by using mediators (angels, spirits, devils) or rituals.

While man still on earth does not have the faculties or the sufficient experience to fully appreciate higher concepts and realities, nevertheless to some limited extent, we can relate them to everyday happenings and things here.

We could think of the cosmos as a school system for developing spirits. The earth then would be simply as a classroom.

Theosophical studies cover the origin and development of the cosmos (school premises and everything in it) and human development in all the planes of being from its beginning to its end. They include the physical facilities, teaching methodologies and all other support systems in place in the school. All that have happened in the course of our studies are likewise covered in large part, along with some previews of things yet to come.

Spiritism or Guidance by the Spirits of Truth takes up the lesson proper. The studies are directly supervised by holy spirits and it is their task to help us become holy, ourselves.

In all of these studies, there is much truth, but at the same time, there is much more that are false. It is for every student to discern for himself which is which. "If you adhere to my teaching, you will really be my disciples; and you shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free."

People can be initiated into the mysteries of the cosmos, God and the self by means of a spiritual itinerary of transformation. The eventual goal is gnosis, the highest form of knowledge, the equivalent of salvation. It involves a search for the oldest and highest tradition in philosophy (what is inappropriately called philosophia perennis) and religion (primordial theology), a secret (esoteric) doctrine which is the key to all the “exoteric” traditions which are accessible to everyone. Esoteric teachings are handed down from master to disciple in a gradual program of initiation.

The eventual goal is spiritual (ethical) perfection. Knowledge is just the accompanying resulting component and is simply “added to us” automatically. Knowledge not applied is useless, just as “Faith without works is dead.”

Spiritual perfection entails our attainment of God’s divine qualities and character. And they are to be applied consistently in our daily life. Deeds are all-important.

The secret doctrine of Theosophy is God’s Divine Plan of Evolution that is now being made available to all those who desire to learn more about it.

It reached its clearest form in the ideas of Helena Blavatsky, a Russian medium who founded the Theosophical Society with Henry Olcott in New York in 1875. The Society aimed to fuse elements of Eastern and Western traditions in an evolutionary type of spiritualism. It had three main aims:

1. “To form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, without distinction of race, creed, caste or colour.

2. “To encourage the study of comparative religion, philosophy and science.

3. “To investigate unexplained laws of Nature and the powers latent in man.

In the study of Theosophy, every student is free to make up his own mind regarding any of the teachings. Everything is open to question. There are no hidden agendas. No dogmas. No recognized authority. Not even Helena Blavatsky. Everyone on earth is merely a student. No one is perfect. Everyone is prone to error.

Guidance is provided by the Masters or the senior students that include all the spiritual masters, gurus, adepts and other advanced beings that have ever lived and studied on earth.

2.341 New Age involves a fundamental belief in the perfectibility of the human person by means of a wide variety of techniques and therapies (as opposed to the Christian view of co-operation with divine grace).

There is no other Way to God but through Righteousness, Love and Service to our fellowmen. Christ by way of his own example symbolizes this Way. However, through the application of the twin principles of Reincarnation and Karma, exacting divine justice automatically eliminates the need and exercise of divine grace.

2.342 “All is one”. This unity is monistic, pantheistic or, more precisely, panentheistic. God is the “life-principle”, the “spirit or soul of the world”, the sum total of consciousness existing in the world. In a sense, everything is God.

This was first and better known as a Hindu teaching that predates Christianity by 3000 years.

This is also essentially the exact-same divine principle that Christ teaches in his Parable of the Vine and the Branches and our being One with the Father and with him in the Book of John. And so does St. Paul elaborate on this basic principle in I Cor., the One Body of Christ.

“Christ” is a title applied to someone who has arrived at a state of consciousness where he or she perceives him- or herself to be divine and can thus claim to be a “universal Master”. Jesus of Nazareth was not the Christ, but simply one among many historical figures in whom this “Christic” nature is revealed, as is the case with Buddha and others. Every historical realisation of the Christ shows clearly that all human beings are heavenly and divine, and leads them towards this realisation.

Contrary to what the Christian Churches teach, Jesus Christ himself affirms this truth in his own words.

"Who is my mother? And who are my brothers?" Then he pointed to his disciples and said, "Look! Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does what my Father in heaven wants him to do is my brother, my sister and my mother." (MT 12)

Jesus said, "But you are to become perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." (MT 5)

He also said, "All that I have done, you, too, can do." (JN14)

3.4 The heart of genuine Christian mysticism is not technique: it is always a gift of God; and the one who benefits from it knows himself to be unworthy”.

Except for God creating us and endowing us with eternal life and every potentiality to become like the Father, there are no free gifts. Our enjoyment of everything else is based on merit.

It is just that God and His Holy Spirits will do for us what we cannot as yet do for ourselves. But they will leave us to do for ourselves all that by virtue of our own development we are already competent and capable of doing.

Let the Light shine in

6.1 People who wonder if it is possible to believe in both Christ and Aquarius can only benefit from knowing that this is very much an “either-or” situation.

So was the Sanhedrin in Jesus’ time faced with this similar dilemma. But this hard-line position of the Church is misguided and regrettable and should not be adopted or followed.

For this Age of Aquarius is in fact the promised return of Christ. And these teachings are part of the “so much more” that he wanted to tell us but didn’t, because we would not have been able to understand them anyway, at the time.

And if it should ever come to a choice, we can all be certain that whoever positions himself against the Lord will not prevail.

All those who refuse to go forward will discover much to their regret that they will be falling behind. Their friends and classmates will advance to Higher Studies in the Higher Realms. They on the other hand will be joining the next batch of spirit-students and undertake another round of physical existence – suffering more pain and hardships - on similar material and earthly planes.

6.2 The Catholic Church has its own very effective networks, which could be better used. For example, there is a large number of pastoral centres, cultural centres and centres of spirituality. Ideally, these could also be used to address the confusion about New Age religiosity in a variety of creative ways, such as providing a forum for discussion and study. It must unfortunately be admitted that there are too many cases where Catholic centres of spirituality are actively involved in diffusing New Age religiosity in the Church. This would of course have to be corrected, not only to stop the spread of confusion and error, but also so that they might be effective in promoting true Christian spirituality. Catholic cultural centres, in particular, are not only teaching institutions but spaces for honest dialogue.

Whenever confronted by new concepts and ideas, especially those that would seem at first to disagree with our long-held beliefs, there is the normal tendency to refuse to listen, misunderstand or be confused in the beginning. But confusion is the beginning of learning.

To all those among you who are now ready, let the mysteries unfold!

For added information, click on CBCP on New Age

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Aquarian Conspiracy

2006-09-26T19:38:00.000-07:00

Understand world events. Political upheavals, social conflicts, environmental concerns, scientific discoveries, religious movements and the Internet are all part of the New Age Movement

According to the ‘Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ’ which was transcribed directly from the Akashic Records by Levi, just as our Earth revolves around the sun, the whole solar system itself revolves around a much larger and central star-sun which is millions of miles distant. This orbit takes about 26,000 Earth years and is divided into twelve signs of the Zodiac, each age (sign) lasting about 2,100 years.

The start of the Age of Aries coincided with the appearance of Abraham whose central message was the certain existence of the One God of all. The Age of Pisces brought Jesus, who clarified and upgraded the Mosaic and Jewish laws and provided us with true insights pertaining to Heaven from whence he came and to which he returned. And now in the Age of Aquarius, it is widely believed that Christ will come again to continue our spiritual education. Every new age brings with it its own progressive teachings.

Already, in preparation for the coming of the New Age, modern scientific discoveries in just the last two hundred years have very drastically changed the way we live. The electric light has turned night into day and electric gadgets and appliances have freed us from the routine drudgery of daily living affording us more time to engage in more important work and recreation. The radio, telegraph, telephone and satellite communications have made possible the instant exchange of information and technology with any receiver or terminal anywhere in the world. The development of the printing press has produced additional millions of volumes of books, newspapers and magazines for easy and efficient dissemination of all kinds of knowledge. Automobiles, ships and airplanes have speeded up travel and commerce. What before took months can now be accomplished in less than a day.

The invention of the camera led to the development of motion pictures. Today, the Book of Life is rendered obsolete. In its place, we can now appreciate the existence of the Akashic Records where pictures, sound and even our most intimate, secret thoughts and feelings can be captured in 3D and accessed.

Computers have made the most complicated series of operations performed in record speed almost automatically or activated by a well thought out computer program. Probes and androids are replacing humans in the workplace. Computers and telecommunications combining, the Internet has turned different races and peoples in far-flung countries into one inter-active global community.

Submarines and submersibles have explored the ocean bottoms. Our space probes have mapped the outer planets. Our astronauts have walked on the moon. And now, many claim to have ongoing encounters with extra-terrestrials. Evidently, we are not alone.

At the cost of many lives from Lincoln and the sex slaves from the Orient to Black workers from Africa, slavery has been abolished in most places. Through the successes of Sidney Poitier, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jackson, Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey and others in every field of endeavor, Blacks now are no longer regarded as inferior to Whites. With role models like Golda Meier, Margaret Thatcher, Cory Aquino, Mother Teresa and Princess Di, women are attaining equal status with men. Gay and lesbian rights are likewise being recognized. All these are simply meant to teach us on a grand scale that all men, regardless of their sex, color, creed or whatever difference, are brothers, equally loved by God. So also are we to love one another and love everyone as we love ourselves.

To provide an effective counterbalance to the puritanical and socially acceptable but repressive and often absurd teachings on sex, Hugh Hefner and Larry Flint publicly lived out their alternative lifestyles. The Hippie Movement from America, the Free Love Revolution from Europe and the epidemic addiction to drugs together awakened us to the harmful possibilities of too much freedom enjoyed too soon. Later, the high incidence of AIDS would accentuate the need for everyone to get back to sanity and moderation. The best is not in embracing the extremes but in opting for somewhere in between within reason.

Russia converted back to Christianity. To his credit, Mikhail Gorbachev pushed for reforms that resulted in the oppressive Communist regime relinquishing much of its power and territory and the end of the Cold War. The murders at Tiananmen Square awakened the Chinese conscience. Without the active support of the leader nations, Communism and the threat of Communist aggression have waned. Soon, even the War on Terrorism will be won. And world peace will be nearer our grasp.

Worldwide problems of the environment involving nuclear fallout and waste disposal, environmental pollution and global warming caused by hothouse gases depleting the ozone layer have made real to most countries their interdependence and the need for them to mount a concerted action to resolve the threats to Mother Earth.

The mass migrations, inter-racial marriages and the global expansion of multinational business concerns have provided great opportunities for cultural exchange and deeper understanding among the nations. Soon, we will come to a greater realization that all of us inhabit just one solitary spaceship, the Earth. All things that harm it also adversely impact every living being on the planet. We need to be more responsible and avoid doing harm, and we need to do it together.

Geologic changes are also predicted to occur. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are expected to continue. Some old and contemporary psychics and seers insist that the California coastline and many parts of Japan will be reclaimed by the sea, while other lands will rise. Whether true or not, we need to be better prepared for any and all such eventualities. What affects any part of the world affects the whole, as well.

The old Eastern teachings have resurfaced affording us another opportunity to understand them better. Yoga physical disciplines hone the body and make it more easily responsive to the will of the spirit. Yoga practices relating to doing the right thing and serving our brothers directly develop our spirituality. Meditation, like praying the rosary, clears and focuses the mind and opens it to divine inspiration. Reincarnation, the doctrine of successive lives, together with Karma, the law of cause and effect, sowing and reaping, are the twin principles the operation of which guarantees our continued evolution and spiritual perfection through individual merit.

Questions and objections regarding Papal infallibility, celibacy, veneration of images, saintly interventions, birth control, abortion, euthanasia and others are being disputed by Catholics and Protestants, even among their own ranks. Eventually, all that are false will be discarded and only those that are true will remain.

Miracles, supernatural healings and apparitions amaze everyone and new explanations are offered. At about 1850, to call our attention to the more spiritual aspects of our being and commence the necessary preparations for the coming new age, two important major movements drawing extensively from supernatural sources were initiated, one by the Great White Brotherhood, the other by the Spirits of Truth. Eastern and Western, these constitute two seemingly different approaches, but each complements the other and both are working for the same goals. There is only One God and one Truth.

By 1875, the great libraries had all been razed to the ground or ravaged by war and almost all of the old sacred books and records were destroyed. To reintroduce the Wisdom Teachings of the ancients, the Great White Brotherhood commissioned the services of their "chela," Madame Helena P. Blavatsky. With the use of her spiritual faculties highly developed from past incarnations, she clairvoyantly accessed the lost information from the Akashic Records and compiled them all in ‘The Secret Doctrine.’ She also founded the Theosophical Society to oversee the dissemination of these ancient teachings and prepare candidates for "chelahood," a state where candidates have qualified for acceptance as a student of the Masters, henceforth meriting direct and personalized guidance and instruction. Theosophical studies cover the origin and development of the cosmos and human development in all the planes of being from its beginning to its end.

Following in this tradition a century later, the Tibetan lama, Lobsang Rampa, was tasked to further simplify, clarify and upgrade the Eastern teachings. Adept at soul traveling, highly clairvoyant and telepathic, he recounts his experiences and provides us with startling revelations relating to the Unseen World. Highly evolved himself, he understands the divine teachings more completely and he teaches and explains them in his books which became bestsellers.

As early as 1850, the Spirits of Truth with the spirit guides and guardian angels had already initiated their own work in the Christian context. Their primary objective then was to provide proofs of the survival of the spirit. Countless Spiritualist mediums in Europe and America now began to manifest all sorts of magical and highly entertaining phenomena. Tables rapped messages, so did ouija boards convey information from beyond. Ghosts and apparitions regaled and frightened. Objects flying all over the place appeared and disappeared from view. Much of these manifestations were subsequently proven to be false, but enough of the genuine articles convinced those with open minds that there is a greater reality, another world beyond ours.

After the more thoughtful among the people got over their fascination and wonder, they began to question why all the fuss, what does it all mean. This time, the Spirits chose a Frenchman, Leon-Denizarth-Hippolyte Rivail, a member of several learned societies and a scientist-researcher well known in scientific circles to disseminate their explanations and teachings. Through various mediums and countless seances, a special team of Spirit teachers, among them the Apostle John and St. Augustine, communicated to Rivail the beginning basis of the promised revelations, the All Truth referred to by Jesus, the many things kept hidden since the foundation of the world, which in Jesus’ time, the people would not have been able to understand.

Rivail included all these revelations in his books, ‘The Spirits’ Book’ and others under the penname of Allan Kardec, according to the instructions of the Guides. They later formed the underlying teachings of Spiritism, which term simply means guidance by the Holy Spirit. In the Philippines and in Brazil in the mid-1900s, psychic surgeons belonging to this school performed their barehanded and painless operations and attracted large followings. In the United States today, Channeling has taken over from Spiritualism. Each addition to the series brings in new insights and reveals deeper aspects of the same eternal Truths.

To provide Scriptural support to the New Teachings, the Spirits of Truth allowed an American, Levi (Levi H. Dowling), to transcribe directly from the Akashic Records. The fifth gospel account, ‘The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ,’ provides us with a fuller account of the life and teachings of the Lord, which includes reincarnation and contains a complete record of the lost eighteen years so strangely silent in the New Testament.

In the early 1900s under the control of the same Spirits of Truth, one of America’s greatest prophets, the sleeping Edgar Cayce, revealed useful information during his sleep. Initially, the readings addressed physical complaints and ailments and detailed unorthodox and unknown cures which proved very effective. Soon after, the life readings which over time numbered some 2,500 turned to more important spiritual concerns with reincarnation as their central theme. From the details of past lives bearing on the present situations, invaluable guidance was provided and the increased understanding enabled many to resolve their most difficult and pressing problems.

The Catholic Church has its own important contributions to the coming New Age. At Lourdes, Fatima, Garabandal, Akita, Medjugorje, in Egypt and Africa, Mary asked for prayers and enjoined the people to live holy lives. Padre Pio and many lesser-known saints and healers effected miraculous healings. Cursillos, life in the spirit seminars, couples for Christ outreaches, youth mobilizations and mass prayer rallies continue to sustain the interest and devotion of the faithful. To revitalize and prepare the Church for the advent of the Third Millenium and reverse the trend of Protestant conversions, a New Catechism was just recently promulgated.

Revival has erupted everywhere. Protestant preachers and televangelists, the likes of Billy Graham, Benny Hinn and Pat Robertson, with his unique long distance healing by "word of knowledge" over the airwaves, are actively targeting all the nations of the world for evangelization. The lame walk, the deaf hear and the blind now see. And the old Gospel message is preached to all nations.

New Age schools are raising the consciousness of many. Thoughts are things and thought creates. We are what we think we are. It is possible if we think that it is possible. What we can visualize, we can materialize into being. Therefore, we should concentrate only on what is good and think positive.

Psychic development courses are well attended. These being our natural and inherent properties, we can if we so choose begin to develop our faculties of clairvoyance, psychometry, astral travel, telekinesis and healing. They will afford us true insights and personal, undeniable proofs of spiritual realities. In the Age of Aquarius, we are no longer to be limited to our five physical senses. Alternative healing classes teach vegetarianism and proper dieting, stress control, herbal medicine, pyramid and crystal powers, and magnetic and pranic healing.

For the scientific minded, more recent researches done by Dr. Raymond Moody on persons who suffered near death experiences tend to prove survival. Dr. Ian Stevenson’s 2,000 researched cases and the hypnotic regressions conducted by Dr. Helen Wambach support reincarnation.

But all these did not come easily. There were massive opposition every step of the way and they are not expected to dissipate anytime, soon. After all, we really need to ferret out mistakes and weed out false concepts before we can arrive at the correct conclusions. Hence, opposition to new ideas should be considered healthy and necessary, and to be expected.

In addition, the upgrading of previous instruction is ever continuing. To spirits, there is infinite progress and no end to learning. Therefore, any new knowledge is not to be feared, instead, this should be scrutinized, analyzed and tested with our minds open. How else can we go forward? So let us be more courageous. Let us venture out into uncharted territories and learn new things. Further down the road, our trust in God will ensure that the Truth will triumph in the end.

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Test yourself on Jesus

2006-09-26T18:50:00.000-07:00

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What did Jesus really teach?

By some estimates, better than 40 out of every 100 people in the world believe that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior. Yet, even in regard to fundamental issues relating to their faith, each of the believers holds opinions that differ with everyone else’s.

So who is right? How well do you know Jesus, yourself? And how deeply do you understand what he taught? Take the quick test below to find out.

But no cheating now. Just answer truthfully according to how you really feel. First, complete the test before you look up Jesus’ answers at the end. And prepare to be surprised.

Instructions:

On the left-most blank space, type in the letter “A” if you agree with the statement and “D” if you disagree. Then scroll down twice to find the Solutions.

__ 1 We are humans and mere mortals, we cannot be a god.

__ 2 Jesus is the only son of God.

__ 3 Being only human, we cannot be perfect.

__ 4 Only Jesus can ever do the things that he has done.

__ 5 Non-believers won't be allowed to enter heaven. They must convert to Christianity before they can be saved.

__ 6 Our Church elders are the best qualified to interpret the Divine Teachings because they base their conclusions on the revelations given to the Church and their age-old traditions.

__ 7 We should censor and block all offensive programs, films, pictures, thoughts and ideas from being shown or heard so they won't corrupt or harm our young and innocent.

__ 8 Our observance of prescribed rituals and ceremonies, and the offering of acceptable sacrifices to God will guarantee our entry into heaven.

__ 9 Power, fame and fortune are the true measures of success.

__ 10 Ignorance of the law will not save us from the consequences of our bad decisions.

__ 11 First, aspire for the riches of the world. Heaven can wait.

__ 12 God will not forgive you if you do not forgive others.

__ 13 God does not want us to become victims of injustice, or suffer from wars or natural calamities, or become sick or be poor or die.

__ 14 Jesus already paid for our sins. By his stripes, we are healed. We're sure to go to heaven if we will only believe him.

__ 15 Don't get mad. Get even.

__ 16 We should befriend only those wealthy and successful people who can help us and not bother with no good bums and freeloaders or those sick and disabled do-nothings who can't repay or help us, at all.

__ 17 The voice of the people is the voice of God.

__ 18 The great men of the world are regarded as great also in heaven.

__ 19 God only knows. We humans are not allowed to know everything.

__ 20 Many are called, but only a few will respond to his call.

Solutions

How the New Testament came to be written

Many believe because it is written in the Gospels. However, perhaps we should first better understand how the Gospels came to be written before we decide to place our total trust in them.

Jesus taught the people directly and he did reveal much more but only to his chosen disciples. In the early days, the gospel message could only be passed on to others by word of mouth. But in the retelling from one disciple to the next, understandably, so much was lost and the message splintered into many different versions that became corrupted, garbled and distorted. It was only a hundred years later that everything was put down in writing, not by those who heard it first-hand, but by monks to whom the message was entrusted by others before them. Contrary to popular belief, while Matthew and John were chosen Apostles, they themselves were not the authors of the Gospels written in their names, according to most Bible scholars.

Mark, Luke and Paul were not even included among the 12 Apostles and were not taught by Jesus, directly. Their appreciation of the stories and teachings relied heavily likewise on the testimonies of others. Further, while his true motivation and intent are beyond reproach, Paul's formulation of his own theology were to some extent influenced by his Roman upbringing and the high ideas taught him by his mentor, Gamaliel. These influences resulted in him departing in no small measure from the teachings of Jesus given to the Apostles. In fact, many modern scholars are of the opinion that the Christianity embraced by most people today is more Paul's than Christ's, since it was Paul who preached and spread the faith to the Gentiles.

The formulation of Church teachings

Centuries after, the whole of Christendom found itself in total chaos, confused as to what Jesus really taught. The ruling majority of early Church Fathers decided to hammer out a unified set of beliefs, later known as the Nicene Creed, that spelled out in explicit detail what in their considered opinion the teachings should be based on their chosen Scriptures and age-old traditions. And nearer our time, disagreements among the flock caused dissension in the ranks that resulted in the breaking away of multitudes of factions and minor sects based on their differing interpretations of the teachings. The confusion still persists, today.

But did Jesus really teach what his followers insist he did?

The Teachings of Jesus, in his own words

1 We are humans and mere mortals, we cannot be a god.

D "Isn’t it written in your Scriptures, ‘You are gods.’" (JN 10)

2 Jesus is the only son of God.

D "Who is my mother? And who are my brothers?" Then he pointed to his disciples and said, "Look! Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does what my Father in heaven wants him to do is my brother, my sister and my mother." (MT 12)

3 Being only human, we cannot be perfect.

D Jesus said, "But you are to become perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." (MT 5)

4 Only Jesus can ever do the things that he has done.

D He also said, "All that I have done, you, too, can do." (JN14)

5 Non-believers won't be allowed to enter heaven. They must convert to Christianity before they can be saved.

D Jesus said, "I have other sheep which are not of this (Judaeo-Christian) fold." (JN 10)

"Don’t stop him, because those who are not against us are working with us." (LK 9)

"Whoever rejects me and does not accept my teachings will, nevertheless, be judged according to the truths I have spoken." (JN12:48)

6 Our Church elders are the best qualified to interpret the Divine Teachings because they base their conclusions on the revelations given to the Church and their age-old traditions.

D "‘These people honor Me with their words, but they really have no love in their hearts for Me. Their worship is a farce because they teach people man-made laws as if they were God’s laws!’ You have set aside God’s commands just so that you may keep your own traditions." (MK 7)

Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples: "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees are the authorized interpreters of the law, just as Moses was before them. So you should obey and follow everything they tell you to do. It may be best for you to do what they say; only, don’t follow after their examples, because they don’t practice what they preach!" (MT23)

7 We should censor and block all offensive programs, films, pictures, thoughts and ideas from being shown or heard so they won't corrupt or harm our young and innocent.

D Christ also said, "It is not what enters our body (what we see, hear or is done to us) but what comes out of it (the things we do) that defiles us." (MT 15)

8 Our observance of prescribed rituals and ceremonies, and the offering of acceptable sacrifices to God will guarantee our entry into heaven.

D "Man must love God with all his heart, with all his mind and with all his strength; and he must love his neighbor as he loves himself. It is more important to obey these two commandments than to offer altar animals and other sacrifices to God." (MK 12)

"You hypocrites! For you tithe down to the last mint leaf in your garden but ignore the more important things — justice, mercy and faith. Yes, you should tithe, but you shouldn’t leave the more important things undone." (MT 23)

9 Power, fame and fortune are the true measures of success.

D "Don’t waste your time accumulating the fleeting treasures of this earth which can last only for a time and can be stolen, besides. But strive for the true treasures of heaven which cannot be destroyed and which cannot be stolen." (MT 6)

"For what good is it for a man to gain the whole world if, in exchange, he loses his eternal soul?" (MK 8)

"Yes, every man is a fool who is rich in the things of this world, but not in the things of heaven." (LK 12)

"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God!" (MT 19)

10 Ignorance of the law will not save us from the consequences of our bad decisions.

A "Whoever rejects me and does not accept my teachings will, nevertheless, be judged according to the truths I have spoken." (JN 12)

11 First, aspire for the riches of the world. Heaven can wait.

D "But first, seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be ours, as well." (MT 6)

12 God will not forgive you if you do not forgive others.

A "If your brother commits an offense against you, inform him of his mistake; and if he should be sorry, forgive him. And even if he wrongs you seven times in one day and, each time, comes to you asking your forgiveness, you should forgive him." (LK 17)

"The Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to update the accounts of his servants. In the process, one who owed him ten thousand gold coins was brought in. The servant did not have enough to pay his debt: so the king ordered that he be sold as a slave, together with his wife and children and all that he had in order to pay the debt. The servant fell on his knees before the king, ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will repay the full amount.’ The king felt sorry for him, so he forgave him the debt and let him go.

"Then the same man went out and met one of his fellow servants who owed him a few silver coins. He grabbed him and started choking him, demanding that he be paid. His fellow servant fell down before him and begged him, ‘Be patient with me and I will pay you back.’ But he refused; instead, he had him thrown in jail until he should pay the debt.

"When the other servants saw what had happened, they were very upset and went to the king and told him everything. So he called the servant and said to him, ‘You evil-hearted wretch! I forgave you the whole amount you owed me just because you asked me to. You should have been merciful to your fellow servant just as I had shown mercy to you.’ The king was very angry and he sent the servant to jail to be punished until he should pay back the whole amount.

"And Jesus concluded, "So shall my Father in heaven do the same to all those who refuse to forgive their brothers." (MT 18)

13 God does not want us to become victims of injustice, or suffer from wars or natural calamities, or become sick or be poor or die.

D "As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" (MT 7)

"Father," he prayed, "my Father! All things are possible to You. Take this cup of suffering away from me. Even so, not what I want but what You want." (MK 14)

"Wars must come. " (MT 24)

"You will always have the poor with you." (JN 12)

14 Jesus already paid for our sins. By his stripes, we are healed. We're sure to go to heaven if we will only believe him.

D "Not everyone who calls me ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only those who do what my Father in heaven wants them to do." (MT 7)

"Settle disputes with your adversary, amicably, before it is too late; otherwise, he might drag you into court and the court would hand you over to the authorities to be thrown in jail. I tell you, you won’t be released from there until you have paid the last penny." (MT 5)

"‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you fed me; I was thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; naked and you clothed me; sick and in prison and you visited me.’

"Then, the righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you anything to drink? Or a stranger and help you? Or naked and clothe you? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

"And the King will tell them, ‘When you did this for the least of my brothers, you were doing it for me!’" (MT 25)

15 Don't get mad. Get even.

D "You have heard it said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But now I tell you: Don’t resist evil. But when you are slapped on one cheek, offer the other also. And if someone takes you to court to demand your shirt, let him have your coat, as well. And if anyone compels you to go a mile, go with him two miles." (MT 5)

16 We should befriend only those wealthy and successful people who can help us and not bother with no good bums and freeloaders or those sick and disabled do-nothings who can't repay or help us, at all.

D "Instead, when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind; and you will be blessed, because they won’t be able to pay you back. And you shall be rewarded when the righteous are brought back to life." (LK 14)

17 The voice of the people is the voice of God.

D Jesus turned on Peter and said, "Get away from me, Satan. You are an abomination in my sight because you look at things only from the worldly point of view and not from God’s." (MT 16)

18 The great men of the world are regarded as great also in heaven.

D "As you know, the kings and great men of the earth lord it over the people. But in your case, it is different. Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant. And whoever wants to be the greatest of all must be the servant of all." (MK 10)

19 God only knows. We humans are not allowed to know everything.

D "I have used proverbs to tell you these things, but the time is coming when the truth shall not be so veiled and I will speak to you plainly about the Father." (JN 16)

"If you adhere to my teaching, you will really be my disciples; and you shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free." (JN 8)

"Oh, there is so much more I want to tell you, but you cannot understand it now. When the Spirit of Holiness and Truth comes, he will guide you into all truth." (JN 16)

"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." (JN 14)

20 Many are called, but only a few will respond to his call.

A "Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near.

"I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. Be as wary as serpents and harmless as doves. But be careful of men. For you will be arrested and tried and whipped in the synagogues. And you must stand trial before governors and kings for my sake. This will give you the opportunity to tell them about me. But when they arrest you, don’t worry about what you are to do or say for you will be given the right words at the proper time. For the words you will speak will not be your own; they will come from the Spirit of your Father Who will be speaking through you.

"If anyone publicly acknowledges me, I will openly acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But if anyone publicly rejects me, so will I reject him. Don’t think that I have come to bring peace to the world. I have not come to bring peace but a sword. I came to set sons against their fathers, daughters against their mothers, daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law; a man’s worst enemies shall be the members of his own household.

"Whoever loves his father or mother, son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up his cross and follow in my footsteps is not fit to be my disciple. If you cling to life, you will lose it; but if you give it up for my sake, you will save it.

"Those who welcome you are welcoming me. And when they welcome me, they are welcoming God Who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet because he is a man of God will share in his reward. And whoever welcomes good and godly men because of their godliness will share in their reward. And you can be sure that whoever gives even a drink of water to the least of my followers, because he is my follower, will certainly receive a reward." (MT 10)

Do next

1 These are Christ's thoughts, his teachings in his own words. We should listen. If however, you should favor the teachings of your Church more than these words of Jesus, then forward this email-test to your Priest or Pastor to let him know. And perhaps, you might want to stop claiming that you are Jesus' follower, because you really are not. Don't you see this, yet?

2 If you believe in Jesus more, then you should do as he asks. Openly acknowledge him to others. Pass this email on to your friends to help them resolve their own confusion.

3 If you want to take up more advanced studies, click the link below to avail of our free study courses.

The Message Made Plain
A freely downloadable study course on the Teachings of Jesus
http://www.innerquest.org.ph/iq3distanceedu.htm

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Jihad, Crusade and the True Believer

2006-09-25T19:07:00.000-07:00

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Because of the recent hate campaign against Muslim terrorists and the raging controversy relating to the anti-Muslim comments of the Pope that according to recent warnings could easily escalate into a much greater religious war, we should better remind ourselves of the old positive values to clear the air, so to speak. After all, There is only One God and One Truth. All men are brothers.

God intended religion, all of them, to work for the betterment of its adherents. Their teachings are pure and good. It is the students, not knowing any better, who misunderstand and commit countless atrocities in its name. And more, they teach other students to do the same. Let us judge the religions based on the teachings of their Prophets and not be misled based on the limited understanding and misguided conduct of their students.

In fact, there are no Muslim terrorists. There are no Christian fanatics. There are only terrorists and fanatics at all levels in the religious hierarchy who hide under the guise of religion to justify their pillaging, rape and murder. Intolerance and self-righteousness never were regarded as virtues, much less taught by the Prophets.

In a time of great confusion and senseless violence that was the Crusades, a rebel monk actively opposed to the Pope's and the Crusaders' advocacy of a holy war met the Sultan in the field of conflict but they did not do battle. Both true believers and doers, they came to win each other's friendship and respect and demonstrated to Muslims and Christians everywhere in all times the highest ideals of the One True Faith.

More on Saint Francis

The Unity of all Religious Teachings

"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. And where there is sadness, joy.

"O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console: to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned. And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life."

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