You have been taught by `Christian' churches that you who have been created by
`God' must
`worship and please God' by keeping his Laws.
But this is not truth. `Worshipping `god' is a pagan ritual. When people
`worship `god' they set
`god' apart and above them - `unreachable and to be feared - for who knows what
evil he might
send on earth if people did not act according to his will'.
But that was not the message I brought to earth. I spoke of the `Father' which
supplied all
needs, which answered when called, which healed when requested to do so, which
was both
transcendant to people and also `within them', meaning that the Creator was
universal.
The Jewish religion taught that only the Chief Priests could approach the `Holy
of Holies' and
make supplication for the people. The populace could approach Jehovah only
through the priests
by bringing birds and animals to be offered as burnt sacrifices to appease
Jehovah for the
people's `sins'. By these means, the Jews obtained `forgiveness of sins'.
I repeatedly taught the people that they would receive the `Father's'
forgiveness of sins
according to people's willingness to forgive others - for it would be done to
them according to
their own `sowing'. I also taught the people to approach the `Father' directly
and pray in simple
terms, asking for what they needed in life, and assured them that they would be
heard and their
prayers answered, providing they prayed with total faith - with no doubt in
their minds. You must
understand that everything I taught the Jews was in direct conflict and
opposition to what their
Religious Elders taught them, which was why the Priests hated - and crucified
me, since I was
robbing them of their exalted positions as `personal henchmen' of the
`Almighty'.
Because, for fear of reprisals after my death, the disciples did not break
entirely free from the
Old Testament, much of the Old Testament thought was carried forward into the
`Christian'
religion.
Instead of animals, the body and blood of `Jesus' were substituted to be the
sacrifice offered by
priests upon the altar. After many years and the entry of Rome as protector of
the `Christian'
religion, like the Jewish priests before them, the `Roman' priests dressed
themselves in costly
vestments and used silver and gold appurtanences for religious ceremonies.
In the time of Paul, this would have been unthinkable. His was a simple message
of `salvation by
my death on the cross' which was not the message I brought to my countrymen in
Palestine. He
was perpetuating a Jewish tradition of `sacrificing another to pay for one's own
sinning'. What
shameful cowardice! Yet, Paul also performed a great service to humanity, since
he set in
motion a movement which would be the means of blessing all races equally. He
outlined a mode
of thought and daily conduct which would bring harmony into the lives of those
who tried to live
according to his teachings.
In all probability, some Jewish traditionalists will vociferously reject my
words again, the second
time of coming, they will resent my constant allusion to the ancient Jewish
practice of sacrificing
animals and birds in the Temple to please God and obtain forgiveness of sins,
but no matter what
their objections may be, the historical fact remains that the Temple was a place
for offering burnt
sacrifices and the smell thereof hung over Jerusalem. And all the while I knew
that the whole
edifice of the Temple was dedicated to a myth, a figment of man's imagination, a
rationalisation
of what men's minds could not comprehend spiritually.
I was there! I felt the hot stones under my sandalled feet and the sun on my
head. I argued
with the Pharisees, bore their mockery and sneers with some amusement and
watched them as
they dogmatically taught a burdensome way of life of continual obedience to a
worthless tradition
concerning eating and drinking which was entirely unnecessary!
I was there! At times, my amusement ignited a spark of mischief in my mind and I
handed out
to the Pharisees the same kind of analytical mockery of their personal habits,
their ostentatious
clothing and their laws, as they applied to me and my teachings.
`He is a fool!', they said, and loudly ridiculed my statement `The Kingdom of
God is within you'.
`Tell us - how could `God' be within a person?' they shouted derisively.
Using a barrage of contemptuous arguments, they called on the prophets and
compared their
concepts of the Almighty Jehovah with my descriptions of the simple `Father'
`who even had
thought for the birds'. How could this be, they demanded, when birds were
regularly sacrificed
in the Temple for payment of men's sinning? Would Moses have instituted such a
holy practice
of burnt sacrifices if birds and beasts were of any consequence in the eyes of
the Almighty?
I remained unmoved as they launched their verbal attacks at me. They only had
the conviction of
Jewish tradition to support their statements - whilst my mind had been imbued
with the true
knowledge of existence itself during my illumined experiences in the desert. I
had been given
understanding of the universality and creative GOODWILL of the `Father' which
enabled me to
perceive and do things which no Chief Priest or Pharisee or Sadduccee or scribe
could ever do.
Because I understood the nature of our SOURCE of BEING, I could, with
confidence, put my
hands upon a crippled man and raise him up to wholeness again. Who could measure
this
knowledge against the ridiculous traditional laws of the Priests? The Priests
and Pharisees and all
the rest of the religious hocus-pocus knew that none of them could do such
things - and for this
reason, they hated me for challenging their authority, they loathed me for my
strength in the face
of their opposition, and they reviled me for drawing crowds of people when a
healing was done
which no one could deny.
There it was, done in the open, for all to see - an act of love which the
Priests averred only God
could do and therefore I must be a child of Satan! Furthermore, they did not see
the healing as an
act of love but rather as an inexplicable blasphemous usurpation of the role of
`God' - they
accused me of `showing off' my magical powers but could not tell me how I came
by such
magical powers, therefore they decided I must be a son of Beelzelbub.
Now that I have explained the situation, it should now be as clear to you who
read these words -
as it was so very clear to me at that time in Palestine - that the whole
hierarchy of Judaism was
composed of self-centred, self-important, mixed up men who lived only by rules
and laws. When
challenged to use their minds, their brains, they could not cope but fell into
highly emotional
spasms of vitriolic outrage. Was it any wonder that, when brought before their
council, I held my
peace and refused to communicate with such obtuse minds?
Yes, I was truly there in Palestine, 2000 years ago. I lived amongst the
ordinary men and women
who had been taught to fear Jehovah in a very real way, who were obsessed with
paying for burnt
sacrifices to ward off punishment for their sins. I was raised, indoctrinated in
the fear of Jehovah
- but I had been born to bring the Jews out of their long slumber of myth and
fallacies - to set
them free of a burdensome history of wars and bloodshed, brawling and arguments,
of
demanding a head for the loss of an eye, of hidden and secret sinning which
counted for nothing
if a man was not found out. If he was, then the whole weight of the Mosaic Law
descended on his
head without compassion or mercy or even a hesitant thought as to the true
circumstances
surrounding the transgression.
Because I had been born with a mission to open up the minds and hearts of the
Jews to the
Reality which had given them life and being, even from an early age I rejected
the Jewish
teachings. Some secret depth of spiritual instinct rebelled against the age-old
Jewish intention to
let some other living thing carry responsibility and `pay the price' for their
own waywardness
and sinning. Even more than this, I could not accept that a `God' who was
supposed to have
created such a wonderful world would rejoice in burnt sacrifices of his own
creation for which he
had provided abundantly.
No comments:
Post a Comment