The Gospel of Matthew
It is perhaps appropriate for us to examine the Words of Jesus from an objective standpoint and through that glean an idea of the real reason for His Coming. It is reasonable to assume that by examining His Words ourselves we will be able to arrive at a reasonable conclusion as to the true nature of His Mission. As mentioned earlier, Jesus went into the wilderness at a particular point in His Life to gain more clarification as to the nature of His Mission and also as to the nature of His origin. After gaining clarification, He went among the people to fulfil His Mission. It is however this Mission and its nature that most people have not understood. The true Mission of Jesus many have asserted was just to come to earth, die and carry the sins of mankind on Himself without further ado. In fact, this is the prevailing conception and no one has thought for thousands of years to challenge this notion. It has been accepted as the norm in spite of all the evidence to the contrary. It is better if we take nothing for granted but make the effort to examine Jesus’ Word to see if perhaps His sole intention was to die and carry humanity’s sin on His shoulders. This calls for a sentence by sentence examination of the Word of Jesus something akin to a commentary.
Gospel of MatthewThe Beginning of Jesus’ MissionFrom Matthew 4:17 we read “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” From the first words that He uttered, He set the tone that was to characterize His mission. It was to be a mission to teach people, to admonish and adjure them to change for the better. Here He was telling the people of Israel and for that matter anyone who cared to listen to change for the better. To become better human beings because the Kingdom of God, which is akin to a Judgement was at hand, was near. This was like a warning to the people to make haste before a terrible Judgement overtakes them. Nowhere here do you hear anything even close to the taking of anyone’s sins. We were to repent and change for the better if we wanted to see the new Kingdom of God. Matthew 4:23-25, “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people….” This paragraph speaks for itself; Jesus taught in synagogues and was preaching the good news of the Kingdom. He complemented these teachings with the healing of the sick. Here we must realise that the miracles that Jesus performed were an adjunct and in fact a necessary adjunct to His Teaching. It was meant to instil belief and faith in the power of God still further in the people. Seeing the miracles, the people were meant to ponder over these events and come to a conclusion that only He who worked in Divine Power could accomplish such deeds. So He walked among the people taught them and healed the ailing. He announced to them that the new Kingdom of God was to be established on earth, but that in order for them to see this Kingdom, they would have to change for the better. They would have to be pure at heart. They would have to make the efforts themselves if they were to make it. The miracles that He performed and the Power in His words attracted people from diverse areas from the north of the country which is Galilee to the east comprising the Decapolis which is a region of ten Hellenistic cities; to the south as far as Jerusalem and also to other countries as far as Syria. top The BeatitudesMatthew 5: 3-12
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
Kingdom of Heaven. The Beatitudes show the overriding Message of Jesus. They are words of encouragement for those who are already on the right path. A word of encouragement for the poor in spirit, those perhaps who are about to give up the spiritual struggle. A word for those who are spiritually alive enough to feel the suffering of others and also who possess enough love within them to actually feel the loss of a loved one. He also offered a word of encouragement for the meek, those who have retained the simplicity of their spirits. These are actually the ones who will remain when all the arrogant and proud have passed away. If you show mercy, mercy will also be shown to you. This is reminiscent of the Lord’s Prayer “Lord forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”. This is a prerequisite. We must show mercy to others if we are expected to receive any merciful dispensations from God. This is actually a Law that we must learn to obey. He who fulfils this Law is on the right path. Those who seek after righteousness are those who seek to know the Laws of God and adjust their lives to those Laws. To be righteous has nothing to do with arrogance or vaingloriously looking down on your neighbour, thinking that you are better than him. It is the condition of consciously making the spiritual effort to be a better human being through the knowledge of the Laws of God. It is the conscious decision to adhere to the Laws of God through the deed. Those who are too indolent to seek after righteousness will never come to know these Laws of God and as a result will never come to know how to adjust themselves in this Creation. Through the beatitudes Jesus gave us directions as to how to live from then on in order to be pleasing to God. We have to be simple (meek); we have to be merciful and we must hunger and thirst after righteousness. We must seek knowledge but not the hitherto intellectual knowledge that mankind has enslaved itself to but a different kind of knowledge. We must seek spiritual knowledge. It is this knowledge that is wholly lacking in mankind of today and has led to the disaster that we see before us. top The pure in heart are those people who have made the effort to keep their intuitions pure. Those who have refused to engage in evil thoughts, words or deeds. To be pure in heart as we also know is to be pure within, to be pure in spirit. This has nothing to do with physical chastity. What good will it do if we keep the physical body chaste by avoiding sexual intercourse but engage in evil thoughts, words or actions. We will obviously never be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven in such a state. This therefore is another commandment from Jesus adjuring us to keep our hearts, our spirits pure by making the effort to be good, to avoid evil in our thoughts words or deeds. He said that blessed be those who are pure in heart and as such this blessing is the reward for those who obey this commandment. This is similar to what Jesus later told the disciples about the fact that what defilleth a man is not what he consumes but what comes out of him in the form of his thoughts, words or deeds. We get defiled because our thoughts, words and deeds are realities which shape themselves according to the nature of the thought or deed. If evil they are ugly and dark and are attached to our spirits thereby burdening the spirit and dragging it down. If good, the are light and they beautify the garment of the spirit. Because God is Purity, such pure persons are admitted to His vicinity and will be permitted to witness things which will forever be closed to those not so pure. It is obvious then from this that if our goal is to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, we must make the effort to be pure in heart. No other route leads to the proximity of God. The impure are confined to the lower regions corresponding to their natures and will never be able to participate in the purity that animates Paradise. Given the situation prevalent in the world today it is inconceivable that war or conflict is the solution to anything. The blessings of God can only flourish in a peaceful environment and those who work to promote this peace shall be adopted as children of God. In fact the ultimate goal of the human spirit is this adoption. Working so that peace reigns for all mankind in small and in great things is one of the most important duties that we can be engaged in; because by so doing we promote and provide a suitable soil for the gradual establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. The blessings of God will not be anchored on a soil riddled with terror and ravaged by conflict. We must see to it that peace reigns. It is our duty. Again the importance of seeking after righteousness, that seeking to improve oneself spiritually is pointed out by Jesus. Not only that but we must not allow ourselves to be diverted from the chosen path. Even when persecuted because of our beliefs and because of our efforts to be different from others in our willingness to adhere ourselves to the Laws of God. There will be detractors and there will be persecutors but we are adjured to persevere and bear it all. It is nothing new. It is always the case that those who cannot bring themselves to make the effort to adhere to the Laws of God will scoff and will try to hurt in ways often unexpected. It is our duty not to let ourselves weaken as a result of their attacks. The reward is great, what is a short time on earth compared to the eternal life, which adherence to the Laws of God bestows. top Warning to believersHe went further Matthew 5:13-16 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men….” Those who adhere to the Laws of God are the best of mankind. Because of their closeness to spiritual heights they will be given abilities which only they can have. These abilities sets them apart and allows them to accomplish great things among men. People are meant to take notice of such men who are meant to be examples for all mankind. God accomplishes great deeds through them and men are to learn to recognise God through their actions. Through their activities, these gifted ones are to bring men to God. Men will come to see the greatness of God through them. Such people should also proclaim God boldly. They should never hide their talents. They should be conscious of it and use it for the benefit of mankind while at the same time recognising that all blessings come from God. There is also a note of warning to these blessed ones. They must exert themselves to maintain their positions. The slightest deviation from a continued adherence to the Laws of God will lead to a downfall whereby they lose all that they were privy to. They lose all their privileges and they no longer stand before mankind as examples. In fact they become useless with no more role to play in the further upliftment of mankind. Such people will be cast out. top Fulfilment of the Laws of GodMatthew 5: 17-20 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly, I say to you, till Heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” Many people have misinterpreted the first two lines as meaning that here Jesus was saying that He had come to fulfil the prediction concerning His death when He said that he had not come to overthrow but to fulfil the laws. This however, is not the case. The laws that Jesus was referring to was the Laws of God as they manifest in this Creation. He who enters Creation be it even a Son of God has to place himself voluntarily under these Laws. Nothing can go beyond the ambit of the Laws of God. Jesus by incarnating on earth voluntarily submitted to the Laws of God as they manifest here. He was part of these Laws and it would not even have occurred to Him to think of going beyond or against them. The question of the prediction of His death is an entirely different matter to which we shall come presently. He who takes on a physical body is subject to all the Laws to which this body is subject. It will hunger, thirst, tire and feel pain. It will also not be able to descend from the cross without physical assistance. If we have wrong expectations as to the operability of the Laws of God then the blame must lie with us for we have never really concerned ourselves with knowing them. The Laws of God will not adjust themselves to our ignorance. The Laws of God as they operate in the Universe will not be contravened by Jesus as He was a part of these Laws. He went further in what can be seen as a warning to mankind in that the Laws of God do not allow of any omissions. We will account for everything and every evil that we have put into the machinery of Creation. We will receive every retribution no matter how small. Every careless word, thought or deed will have to be accounted for by the individuals responsible for committing these deeds. There can be no exception. What then is this theory of a propitiatory sacrifice that without further ado simply washes away mankind’s sins. It is time to wake up. There is no such thing. Jesus Himself testifies to the impossibility of such a happening. He went further to threaten that any one who breaks the Commandments and teaches men to do the same shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven. Shall suffer the consequences but whoever adheres to the Commandments shall have their reward. These are clear words. Why have we never bothered to read them? They do not even require any interpretations. top He went further to say that unless the effort that we make as regards our salvation exceeds those of the Pharisees and scribes we will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. No clearer words could be uttered as to the importance of making personal efforts, constant, unwavering efforts, otherwise we will never make it into the Kingdom of Heaven. No stricter rule could have been laid. Here it is not just a question of the external observance of the Laws of God which actually is of no consequence, it is the inward spiritual absorption of the Word of God into our hearts and the resolution to adhere and adjust our lives accordingly. The scribes and Pharisees paid more attention to externals and observances which in reality had nothing to do with the ascent of the spirit. Jesus called it “the weightier matters of the law”. These weightier matters were ignored by these scholars and instead rigorous external practices were introduced which bore no relation to what will advance the people spiritually. The simplicity in the laws of Moses had been replaced by oral interpretative laws, which no one but themselves could understand. Through this, the cheerfulness and the mobility of spirit of the people had been debased. The laws consisted of a set of rigid dos and don’ts which no one could adhere to. More is demanded of the human spirit by the Laws of Creation than adhering to a set of rules. We are to live vitally in this Creation, seeking to understand our God. There is no room for blind adherence. We must do more. This is why Jesus said that we will never be able to get by through such blind rules and regulations. Such observances never touches the core of man which is the spirit. The latter never participates in such rigid observances. The spirit demands constant movement. We can only serve God and as such enter the Kingdom of Heaven through the activity of our spirits. This means through exercising good thoughts, words and deeds. Working vitally in Creation and always seeking to bring harmony to our environments through our deeds. A series of dos and don’ts will not suffice. top The New LawMatthew 5: 21-26 “you have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgments.’ But I say unto you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment;… So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift….” Here it was just not a question of paying attention to the great sins but we are advised also to pay attention to the small things. The little things that we do that inconvenience our neighbours but have never really paid attention to. We must learn tolerance and get into the habit of forgiving those who offend us. These are all words that point to the absolute importance of righteousness, a constant working on ourselves to become better human beings. These are Commandments that we have been told to follow. If we fail to pay attention to the little things we run the risk of perdition. The little things can accumulate and weigh our spirits down especially when there are so many of them. Only the observance of all these guarantee entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. There is no mention of His carrying our sins on His shoulders, giving us a letter of safe conduct without our working on ourselves. No such imbalance and imperfections exist in the Laws that proceed from the Godhead. top Matthew 5: 27-30 “You have heard that it was said, ‘you shall not commit adultery’. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.” Every single thought or feeling that we generate takes on a form that corresponds to the nature of the thought. Lust being a feeling is no exception. It takes on a form and moves towards the object in this case the woman. This thought is capable of tainting the spiritual surroundings of the woman. Nothing physical may have been done but a desire has already been sent in the direction of the woman. Such thought forms, depending on how powerful they are, are capable of attracting similar forms. These thoughts are impure and in the final analysis soil the ethereal garment of the person concerned and can even confuse the intuitive perceptions of those who have become the object of their attentions. In this Creation, the spiritual always precedes the physical in their manifestations. It is therefore the case that a sexual intercourse with a woman first of takes place through the generated thoughts and feelings even before the physical act itself. Any physical action, no matter how trivial is always preceded by either a spiritual volition or a thought process and has already become a deed spiritually or ethereally. The physical manifestations are nothing but a consequence of the preceding thought process. If I intend to do evil, I would have initially thought about it or felt it within before I carry out the action. I may indeed decide not to proceed with the action but the generated thought is there, has been brought into being and continues to be active. The action has already become deed in the ethereal, even though the effects are not yet manifest on earth. They may never manifest but more often than not they do. These thought forms seek to attach themselves to other people who generate similar thoughts and they can attach to the brains of these people and goad them to act in ways desired by these thought forms. We all at one time or the other have felt waves of thoughts approaching our brains whether lust or something else and have often wondered where these thoughts come from. So if I lust after a woman and desire to have a physical relation with her, then I have indeed already had that relation with her ethereally. If I make further efforts I may indeed work towards bringing it about physically. I have thought about it, I have imagined it and the deed has been done. Whether it manifests physically or not is immaterial. The principle that every single earthly action is always first preceded by a creative thought process is applicable in all cases even in the so called impulse actions. Something stronger is even at play here; whereby the force of some intuitive volition seizes the individual and entirely bypasses the conscious intellectual brain. Some forms of impulse actions can also seize the brain and then consequently recruit muscle groups for some action of the other. No matter in which category, the action has been preceded by some form of thought action or spiritual volition. The other sentences of Jesus about severing members of the body if they cause us to sin emphasizes the temporal nature of our earthly existence and forces us to begin to acknowledge what is important in our earthly life for spiritual ascent and what only serves earthly purposes. Jesus here is not asking us to literally remove our physical eyes and cut off our hands. What He was saying was that nothing, no matter what it is should be deemed so important that it stands in the way of our spiritual progress. No earthly matter, family, friends, loved ones, wealth, no matter what it is should ever be placed on the same pedestal as the pure worship of God and the desire to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. In this Jesus was saying that we must obey the First Commandment utterly, which in any case He declared to be the greatest of the Commandments “I am the Lord thy God, thou shall have no other gods but Me”. If loved ones or whatever else, no matter how important they are to us stand in the way of the true worship of God and the desire to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, then these things must be done away with. No matter how important we deem these things to be whether family, spouses or friends, the gods of love of money and so on; if they prevent us from obeying the First Commandment to the fullest extent then we must cut them off. Earthly relationships are only temporary, very rarely do they last into the Beyond, but here it is a question of the eternal existence of the spirit. Therefore, Jesus with these few words tried to bring us to the realisation of what is truly important for a human being while he is here on this earth. There are things on earth that only serve to facilitate life on earth. We can never take these things with us into the Beyond. There are other things however that can be taken with us into the Beyond. It is the latter that we must pay more attention to. We only have to think a little to realise what these things are and be able to easily differentiate. He emphasised that it was better to cut off these things now even if they cause us enormous pain than to have to face the pain of eternal torment in hell. The pain that we will feel on earth when we do away with our propensities will only be felt for a short period of time compared the much greater pain caused by running the risk of spiritual death which is eternal. These words are not to be taken lightly. top Matthew 5:31-32 “It has been said, 'Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce '. But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.” It is obvious here that unless there are genuine reasons, it would be difficult to justify a separation from a spouse. Separation however, can be inevitable if for some reason or the other genuine love no longer exists between the two. In such a case it would even be immoral to continue such a relationship. Such relationships more often than not are kept going only for the sake of appearances. Here Jesus was referring to situations where one or the other person uses one excuse or the other to do away with other person without adequate spiritual grounds. It was to prevent a situation which existed during His time and which still exists today in some cultures where husbands would simply declare that they no longer wanted to be married to their wives and that was it. On a whim the husband could declare that he wanted a divorce and there was really nothing that the woman could do about it. There are obviously no adequate spiritual grounds for the separation and such a man forces the woman out alone on her own and leaves her with no choice but to look for another partner in often very unhealthy circumstances. This is the situation where he forces the woman to become an adulteress. This applies to both sexes however, because unless there are real spiritual grounds for a demand for a divorce or separation either by a man or woman then it is difficult to justify it. top Matthew 5:33-37 “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord’…Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’, and your ‘No,’ be ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” It is inconceivable that in spite of these clear words, states which purport to be Christian still require that we swear oaths, whether it be in a court of law or in allegiance to some head of state or to the state itself. The conclusion can be drawn that as human beings we can choose to ignore the Words of Jesus when these do not suit us and selectively apply the ones that we find agreeable. No human being should be required to swear an oath whether that of an allegiance or in any court of law. His words stating that he will perform his duties to the best of his abilities or that he will speak the truth in a court of law should be sufficient. If it is then found out that he had uttered a lie then he could be made responsible for this. We should hallow God’s Name in such a way that prevents us from ever dragging It down into earthly insignificant affairs. The reference to “Let your ‘Yea’ be sufficient” is an adjuration to keep our speech simple. We should not indulge in loquaciousness. He who works with his intuition will never be able to make many words. Loquaciousness is an indication that the individual is a slave of the intellect and that that individual has a distorted intellect which has choked up the spirit and prevents it from truly functioning as it should. Lucifer uses the intellect as his tool and as such all those who submit unconditionally to the intellect in the making of all their decisions are only using what to Lucifer is the keenest weapon. Since everything that goes beyond the simple in speech comes from the intellect and the intellect is Lucifer’s tool, it stands to reason that such speech merely proceeds in reality from him. We should therefore guide against loquaciousness as the words never proceeds from our spirits. They come from the intellect and all that is earthly. They shape forms which do not uplift. They weigh us down. Besides loquaciousness does not allow enough reflection which is an activity of the intuition. We thereby never really receive anything from our spirits. We are never quiet enough within ourselves to listen to the voice of the spirit. We rule out spiritual activity for ourselves. Lucifer has chained us down through inducing us to overdevelop the intellect at the expense of the spirit. In this way, he has ruled out spiritual activity for this mankind. The way to God therefore has been cut off. The way to God requires that we use our spirits since we can never understand God through intellectual activity. God lies beyond the capacity of the intellect and as such attempting to use the intellect to discover God is bound to fail for this simple reason. The intellect is an earthly instrument suitable for all earthly activity. Whatever goes beyond the earthly requires that we use a similar, homogenous instrument to investigate it. It is exactly in this that mankind has consistently failed. Attempting to investigate the spiritual world with intellectual studies will not get us very far. Therefore we have been earthbound through the intellect. It is in this that we must change first if we want to understand God. top Matthew 5:38-42 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’. But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also;….” This is a reaffirmation of the Commandment in the Old Testament which states that “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay”. The Laws of God are responsible for meting out reward and punishment for any action. By not taking revenge we may even help in changing the other person for the better. Not taking revenge is not a sign of weakness; it is a demonstration of the confidence in the Laws of God. The desire for revenge forms a thread which binds the two persons to each other. It is impossible to proceed spiritually until this thread has been severed. We retard our spiritual development and we actually go to where the other person had been drawn to in the Beyond. If the other person is an evil person and has been drawn to an evil place in the Beyond as a result of his nature, our desire for revenge will drag us with him to his nether region, which otherwise we would have avoided. And we could run the risk of perdition as a result of this. This Commandment from Jesus is therefore given out of love as a protection against such happenings. In addition, in taking revenge we perform an evil deed, which we will have to account for in any case. The Laws of God do not see the action as an act of revenge or justice. It is simply another evil act which must be fully redeemed. The “eye for an eye” in the Old Testament does not refer to human to human interaction at all as some might believe. It applies only to the activity of one of the Laws of God called the Law of Reciprocal Action. This Law returns to every individual the results and the fruits of all their activities. Therefore this law returns an eye for an eye. After all we can not sow rice and receive rye. It returns the same fruit as the seed. It does not direct that we should take revenge on our fellow human beings. It simply states that it will return to same kind of fruit as the seed to each individual. But as always we human beings have distorted the concept and have as a result burdened ourselves with enormous guilt by always trying to seek revenge thinking that we are doing the Will of God as a result. top Matthew 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,… You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” More is demanded from those who want to follow the Laws of God. Perfection of spirit is demanded of them, perfection of being. They must have absolutely no fault of character and no weaknesses. These are all clear from Jesus’ words. The prerequisite to entrance into the Kingdom of God is this perfection of being and the effort required to achieve this. It is just this effort that the religious representatives of today fight against. It is clear from Jesus’ words that we have to make constant and considerable efforts to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. These efforts are geared towards perfecting our spirits. All His words point in this direction and it is difficult to imagine where the current teaching of a letter of safe conduct whereby God without further ado forgives everything and Jesus carries all the sins of mankind on His shoulders. He clearly states that not only must we be prepared to forgive all who trespass against us, we must go further in such a way to see if we could influence the other person to change for the better. We must go the extra mile in caring for the well-being of the soul of our neighbours even if in our judgment they are bad. He went on to say that of what use is it to do the minimum, what reward have we if we greet those who are friendly to us; even sinners and thieves do that. We are meant to be different. We are meant to be examples for humanity. This requires the efforts to perfect our spirits. Here we are not talking about intellectual perfection because there is nothing of the sort; we are talking about not having any spiritual faults or weaknesses. top Avoiding conceit, hypocrisy and spiritual arroganceMatthew 6:1-4 “Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven….” This speaks for itself. All good actions are to be done for their sakes and not with any ulterior motives. Helping people should be done without the thought any reward. All reward comes from God through His Laws. Deliberately doing good with the expectation of gain is nothing but the result of intellectual activity. The spirit takes no part in such actions. It is all earthly and the reward can only be earthly. These deeds are not sufficient to raise the spirit higher to the level in the Beyond to which it should belong if the deeds had resulted from the activity of the spirit. All deeds as mentioned above take on form. If a deed has arisen through the calculation of the intellect and the spirit had not vibrated in the coming into being of such deeds, though the deed may have been a good one, the returning radiation will not be able to attach to the spirit of the doer. It will find no suitable anchor within him as his spirit did not participate in the coming into being of the deed because it had not furnished any spiritual threads as starting points for the deed. Of course men may praise the individual for all his deeds and he may indeed receive a lot of benefits of an earthly nature because of the deeds. He may become very popular and famous. Those are the only rewards that he will receive. For those whose goal is not spiritual and who have no intention of entering the Kingdom of Heaven, these earthly benefits and rewards may be sufficient. In fact it is what they crave. For those however, whose goal is of a spiritual nature and whose ultimate desire is to attain to the Kingdom of Heaven, then they should take heed to let their spirits vibrate in their good actions. They should never need to broadcast their good deeds. The vibrations of their spirits and the joy that they feel as they accomplish these deeds should be reward enough. On passing into the Beyond, it would be easy for such people to take flight into the Luminous Heights because through their activities, their ethereal bodies have been made light and they will journey to those heights that is rightly their due. The returning radiation of their goods deeds will beautify their spiritual environment, making it brighter and lighter and carrying them on high. The results of such good deeds are eternal and go far beyond this earth. The decision to do good should be anchored deep in the spirit and those who feel this way never have a desire to broadcast their actions. Those who feel the need to let others know of their good deeds are using once again that tool which has led to the downfall of mankind. It is only the intellect in its scheming nature that makes such things possible. Those who submit to it unconditionally will act in this matter and will as a result mark themselves out as Lucifer’s slaves. They are intellectuals and they are unable to understand anything that goes beyond the boundary of this earth. They understand only matter. They understand only the material and are thus branded materialists. They do not understand the spiritual and as such can not be expected to act in any other manner. He who is spiritual will act in a spiritual way and in the same way those who are out and out intellectuals will act only in the way their intellects dictate. Hence the division of mankind into two camps. The intellect is Lucifer’s tool and it is the only way that he can reach us. Those who unconditionally use their intellects for all their decisions run the risk of being in contact only with Lucifer. They will only hear Lucifer’s voice and unconditionally follow his directions. In following Lucifer’s direction, they follow the anti-spiritual path which leads downwards. If these do not wake up in time and change the basic distortion within themselves, it would be too late and they will have to face the consequences which is the lot of those who oppose the spirit. top The proper way to pray and the Lord’s PrayerMatthew 6:5-15 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. "And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our debts, As we also have forgiven our debtors; And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” The craving for recognition is a particular characteristic of the distorted intellect. Along the same lines as the previous passage, Jesus warned us to guard against this temptation that always wants us to crave for earthly recognition. In the same way these men have their full reward in the satisfaction they get from being admired by men. But that is all they get. They crave admiration but this will never bring them one step closer to the Luminous Heights which should be the goal of every human being. Here and in so many other passages Jesus warned against the evil of vanity which is one of the excrescences of the intellect. The full meaning of the Lord’s Prayer has been discussed by Abd-ru-shin in his book “The Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer”, it suffices to say here that the first two lines of the Lord’s Prayer already exposes the fact that this mankind will only pay lip service to the fact that they are Christians and followers of Christ when in reality we worship ourselves and are followers of our own vanity. The line “Hallowed Be Thy Name” means that the Name of God should be hallowed in such a way that it does not become the everyday sound that It has become with mankind of today. We should not swear oaths with it nor should we utter the Name in a careless manner. But we are guilty of this every single minute. Every court of law requires that we take an oath in the Name of God and the use of the Name of God is an everyday occurrence in today’s language. “Thy Kingdom come” is our asking that God establish His Kingdom on earth and that we are ready to create the conditions for the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. It is our duty to create these conditions. The terror and conflict and suffering which predominate today are all man-made and these are not the conditions that will lead to the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. We hold back any true blossoming for this Creation through our wrong activities. God’s Kingdom can only be established on soil free from war, death and conflict. We have failed so far to create these conditions and as such have held back the establishment of this Kingdom on earth. The Will of God are His Laws which He has woven into this Creation as the guardians of the order. They proceed from Him and are perfect. The perfect spiritual beings in Paradise consciously obey this Will. They know that It is good for them, It is perfect and just. It is our duty to learn to know this Will while here on earth and seek to adjust ourselves to It. We must adjust ourselves to this Will just like the spiritual beings in Paradise adjust to the same Will in their Realm. There is only one Will that permeates the entire Creation. It is impossible for us to be happy and to belong fully to this Creation without adjusting ourselves. It is like living in a country without knowing the laws that operate therein. Sooner or later we will come into conflict with the law. We cannot live in peace in this Creation unless we know of the Laws and adjust ourselves. When we say this Prayer, we are promising that we will learn of the Laws of Creation and adjust ourselves voluntarily to them just like the perfect human spirits do in Paradise. After we have fulfilled the condition of upholding the Will of God, then we can ask for His Blessings on our activities but not before. We deserve to be given nothing if we do not learn to know the Laws and adhere ourselves to them. We become directly harmful and obstructive in this Creation and we deserve to be cast out. The precondition for the forgiveness of our sins is that we have previously forgiven our neighbours. God does not lead any one into temptation but here Jesus was saying that God should deliver us from evil by whatever means necessary. Even at the cost of some pain to us. He should forcibly restrain us from falling into temptation and evil. It should read “Let us not fall into temptation”. top Matthew 6:16-18 “And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward….” Whatever trials one is going through should be borne with the assurance and knowledge that it is for the best. One should never demand sympathy. One should face all difficulties, trials with a cheerful disposition. Otherwise one becomes unjust to one’s surroundings. If also we voluntarily decide to undertake a spiritual task, it should be taken up with joy, not calling attention to one-self and demanding that one be recognised for it. These are spiritual decisions and tasks and it is only between the individual and his Creator. top The Spiritual comes firstMatthew 6:19-24 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.” As mentioned earlier, each spiritual volition takes on a form that corresponds to the nature of the form. If good, the form is beautiful and if evil, it is ugly. This is an adjuration to turn away for materialism, from the materialist orientation which makes us forget the spiritual and the real purpose of our existence on earth. Obviously, if we ignore the spiritual, that is if we do not do spiritual works, then there will be nothing spiritual whatsoever awaiting us when we pass on into the Beyond. We arrive there as paupers. We may have the greatest wealth on earth but it is no longer of any use to us once we pass on. Good spiritual works lead to spiritual wealth and this is reality. The more spiritual works we do the richer we are spiritually. The same law applies as they do on earth. If we however ignore the spiritual and pay all attention solely to the accumulation of earthly wealth, then it is obvious that we must arrive in the Beyond with absolutely nothing to show for our earthly existence. This is not to say that we must ignore the earthly, no but in tending to the earthly, we must not forget what is far more important, which is the spiritual and that the earthly only lasts for a short while. The existence of human beings moves mainly in the spiritual and ethereal realms. The service to God encompasses everything and we will also not be allowed to want for anything in the earthly sense if we obey His Laws. So we gain both ways. Not only will we be rich in the earthly sense, we will also be rich in the spiritual sense. The spirit is the lamp of the body. The core of man is spirit. That is what he is. The physical body is nothing but a covering that he needs on this earth in order for him to live here. When his time here is done, he drops it and continues with his journeys in the Beyond. If the human being is corrupted, then the ethereal covering around his spirit becomes darkened and then all that proceeds from him will be evil. All the thoughts, intuitive perceptions and so on will be evil. How great then is that darkness! If the spirit (eye) is good, then it is brighter and lighter and shines forth. People around even notice this. If the human being is evil, his ethereal garment is dark and heavy. Those who are slaves to the intellect and are such materialists are in reality as mentioned earlier Lucifer’s servants and must obey Lucifer’s promptings and will be used as tools in the warfare that he wages against the Will of God. Such people without knowing it have become enemies of God. They have enthroned another master in their hearts through their decision to become out and out materialists. They will never be able to serve God without first dethroning Lucifer, changing their materialistic outlook and embracing the spirit. It is simply one or the other. It is either or. Nothing in between. top Matthew 6:25-26 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” Here Jesus advises us to do first things first. The spiritual comes first. We should make the effort to seek to understand the Laws of God. Seek first of all to adhere to these Laws. That is the most important Commandment of “Thou shall have no other gods but Me”. Our goals should primarily be spiritual, then other things which are material will be given to us by God Himself without too much toil on our part. He gave the example of the lilies that are very beautiful and cared for through the grace of God and these plants do not even gather or sow. Why do we spend so much time on matters that do not really count. The Almighty is the custodian of all blessings in this Creation. As long as we adhere to His Laws, He will let us have what we need for our lives on earth. What each individual needs will come on his path automatically. Many of us in our attempts to become materially comfortable not only retard our spiritual development but spending too much time on such matters, but we also harm others in the process. If we only have the spiritual as our goal, then it would be impossible for these aberrations to occur. Then there can be no question of being burdened with guilt. We will attain to the height that we are meant to be spiritually and we will also be cared for materially without having to harm anyone. We have everything to gain and absolutely nothing to lose. It is a shame that the whole of mankind to a man has ignored this Commandment. The result of this we see before us. We have held back any true blossoming. It is the material first for mankind of today. We have no time for spiritual things. We have done exactly the opposite of what Jesus commanded. And yet many of us are Christians. As in all things, it is that intellect which stands in the way, always asking the question “Are you sure?” Just like we transposed the order within ourselves by overdeveloping the intellectual brain at the expense of the spiritual one, we have managed to contravene every single commandment of Jesus. We did and still do exactly the opposite of what He desires. Is there a pattern in this? Of course there is. There is an inherent distortion in the human being brought about by the condition mentioned above. As a result he must simply follow the order as dictated by his inner condition. If his inner condition is of a particular order, then he must simply follow that order. He is simply acting according to how he has become through his own fault. Man has become wholly intellectual. He is intellectual man, not spiritual man. Is it then surprising that we find a pattern in his behaviour? He takes a purely spiritual Commandment from God and adapts this Commandment to his nature. He transposes it. He does exactly the opposite. He is simply obeying the distortion that lies within him. We have therefore reached the core of the problem. Why has mankind always done the opposite of what he is asked to do for his own good? Why has he always failed to listen to the voice of the spirit? Until he changes himself, that is until he recognises the distortion that he carries within, it will be impossible for him to find his way back to Paradise, his origin. He must be destroyed as he cannot be used for any up building in his present distorted state. He must be cast out so as to prevent him from disturbing those newly born who will now carry the mantle for the further advancement of mankind. top The importance of self examination before criticizing othersMatthew 7:1-5 “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.” It is easy to judge. The level of intolerance that we have for others and the strictness by which we measure and judge other people will be used as criteria for us by the Laws of God. If we are lenient towards our neighbours and if we easily forgive them their trespasses against us then the Laws of God will be lenient towards us and we will get all measure of help from these Laws. When we notice the mote that is in the other person’s eye and rave and criticise this blemish in his personality, we often fail to see the same fault which is present to a far greater degree in ourselves. This is the beam that we fail to notice. It is convenient to criticise one insignificant fault or the other in our neighbours but we will notice that if we examine ourselves keenly enough, we possess these same faults to a far greater degree within ourselves. We should first of all make the effort to be rid of the faults that we have before we can dare to point out the faults in other people. If we notice the faults that we have then it would be very difficult indeed to criticise others since the keen awareness of the fact that we carry similar faults within will prevent us from doing so. Leniency towards our neighbours will then come of its own accord. Advice upon advice is what we will find in Christ’s words. Exaltations, adjurations to become better, to change our old ways of living and to let peace reign characterise His words. It is a pity that we have made something else out of this most important Mission. top Matthew 7:6 “Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you.” The Word of God may be offered only to those who are deserving of hearing about It. This has come out from the steps of the Throne of God and must not be offered to those who would play with It and perhaps scoff at It. It is pitiable that the Love of God has been misrepresented by well meaning preachers who teach that God is all forgiving and lenient to the extreme. This is nothing but weakness which has never been nor will ever be an attribute of God. The Word of God should only be offered to those who are deserving and it is very easy to differentiate between genuine seekers and those who are not so genuine. It is often better to allow someone to ask for It before offering It and even then one has to make sure that it is truly the genuine seeking for the Truth that prompts him to ask. Offering the Word of God to those who have not asked for It or to those who are perhaps hostile to It will do no good at all. On the contrary they may turn on you in anger and try to destroy you. top Matthew 7:7-12 “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” Jesus here did not refer to the relationship among human beings. He was referring to the relation between human beings and the Laws of God. If through the exercise of our intuitive perception, we pray in the right manner and we act in this Creation in a manner pleasing to God, then we receive all that we need for our earthly existence. If we seek the Creator in humble petition and if we ask God in humble petition, we will receive whatever is necessary for the continued development of our spirits. Jesus here was not one-sidedly referring to the granting of our earthly desires. He was speaking in an all embracing way. In a way that benefits the spirit even after we shall have left this earth. He also emphasised the great Goodness of God in saying that if we who are deemed evil know how to give good things to our children, how much more so God. All we have to do really is concentrate mainly on spiritual works. If we do the spiritual, then the material will follow as a matter of course. We should ask the Almighty for help, for strength in fulfilling our promise as human beings. Strength in overcoming our faults, strength in the love that we offer our neighbours, then we would never need to offer any special petitions for material needs. We will simply be given all these things through the workings of the Divine Laws. That is the kind of asking that Jesus was talking about. Asking for help in the development of our spiritual abilities. Then we will be happy. Nothing is more joyful than the ability to be able to put our talents to work in the upliftment of our environments. Then we would no longer have to ask for petty earthly things. top Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” The adherence to the Laws of God requires that we do not give in to temptations and this can often be very difficult. Letting oneself go, which is tantamount to giving in to temptations is the broad way that leads to destruction. Mankind over millennia have ignored the path that leads to salvation and as a result this path has become very thorny and difficult indeed. It was not always so. When mankind adhered to the Laws of God or at least when the majority did, the intuitive volitions surrounding the earth was of a light nature and it was very easy indeed for mankind to find their ways to the Light. As mankind turned to the darkness, good and light thought forms became a rarity and these days it is much easier to be influenced by evil than it is by good, making it especially hard for those who desire good to find any encouragement and strength for their activities. This is why those who wish to follow this road find it especially difficult. They are in the minority and would often be misunderstood by others and would often be deliberately hindered in their progress by those whose goals are different. These good people feel isolated and lonely. Surrounded as they are by evil thoughts forms and deeds and also by evil human beings who do not share the same goals, it would be more difficult indeed for this people to follow this path. They would have to be doubly careful and would have to always redouble their efforts to keep to the chosen path. The road to Salvation would have been broad if mankind had always walked on it. It has become narrow and thorny because very few walk on it. The same physical laws apply. If a road is not used, in time it becomes overgrown by thorns and bushes and becomes narrower, but on the contrary if used all the time, it is smooth wide and easier to walk on. What Jesus was describing was and is still is the condition of the abandoned road to salvation for mankind. It will remain narrow and difficult until more and more people walk on it, which in the final analysis will make it broader and easier to walk on again. top Matthew 7:15-20 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.” By their spiritual fruits, ye shall know them. Those who belong to God shall act in ways which are desired by Him. It cannot be otherwise. Those who belong to the devil, even if they appear in the most resplendent earthly garments cannot but act in ways desired by their master. Through their activities, which is their fruit, we will be able to recognise every single one of them. It is not by outward appearance but the nature of their being that they will be recognised. If the nature of an individual’s spirit is evil, then his thoughts, deeds and words will also be evil and at a point we will able to recognise these people even if they try to hide and pretend to be something else. A warning here that the evil at the time of harvest will be done away with. Anyone who at the time of reckoning is found not to belong to God will henceforth not be allowed to continue to enjoy the blessings of this Creation which only God bestows. They will be cast off and be forced to go to their master whom they have insisted on serving even after the unbelievable mercies and forbearance shown to them by God. It is a question of the continual opposition to the taking root of the Will of God on earth. These people through whatever influence or position that they hold on earth have always acted in ways which oppose the Will of God and also prevent those who would do this Will from doing so, usually through acts of force and violence. If they would only have this effect on themselves, it would not be so bad, but they are like poison which destroy all around them. This they will not be allowed to do in future. top The overwhelming importance of righteousnessMatthew 7:21-23 “Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.’” This is one of the most important indictments against those people who preach against the importance of personal effort in our attempts to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Here it is not just a question of saying that we declare our beliefs in Jesus and then that is it. No! It is not just a question of going to church and be seen to go to church. It is just not a question of uttering prayers by the hundred everyday. Here it is a question of actually knowing of the Will and doing this Will. We must learn to know the Laws of God and then adjust ourselves to them. That is what is demanded of us as human beings. There is no letter of safe conduct into Heaven. We must walk there. It is the present state of the human spirit that counts, not what he may have achieved in the past. For the human spirit, there is only the present. Not only that, he must be seen by the Light to really be living aright. His opinions of himself count for nothing. He may have cast out a thousand demons in the Name of Jesus, but if he lacks humility and genuine desire for the Kingdom of God and if he rests on his laurels and refuses to constantly exert himself, then he faces the risks of being disavowed by Jesus on the Day of Atonement. We cannot do the Laws of God unless we first learn It. We must seek to know these Laws. The explanation of these Laws are available to us. If we seek them we will find them. After knowing the Laws, the onus now rests on us to adjust our lives to them. No other way leads to the proximity of the Almighty. Easy and agreeable to most human spirits is the road that those who would like to increase the number of adherents to their churches paint. They lull us to sleep. We are meant to wake up before it is too late. There is no such thing as an easy blindly believing way to the proximity of God. The words of Christ point to the contrary. It is these words that must be used as a yardstick for how we organize our lives, not anyone else’s interpretations. top Matthew 7:24-27 “"Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock;….” Continuing in the same vein, He advised as to the benefits of doing, of acting. No other way leads to the Light. Those who tell us otherwise do not have our well-being at heart. They do not love us. All they want is to paint an agreeable, easy, sweet picture, thereby exploiting the spiritual indolence which still ails all mankind. They only want us to add to the numbers of Church goers with earthly expansion and wealth as their ultimate aim. These people are the false prophets who deliberately misinterpret the Word of God for their own purposes and ends. They are the ones who come to us in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. They do not have as their goal the salvation of their own souls and as a result do not care, would not care about what happens to ours. It must be said that they exploit what to mankind has been one of our greatest weaknesses; our spiritual indolence. Our unwillingness to work on ourselves for our own salvation. Oh how we wish that someone would come and offer us an easy way out! And they come, in droves in answer to these our inner wishes. How we would love someone else to do the work for us, think for us and even say our prayers for us and all we have to do is pay, attend the services, nothing more. Obviously, we are not building a good spiritual foundation with this attitude and when we are asked to reveal our hands in the Beyond we would discover that there is virtually nothing in them. We cannot blame the churches for misleading us as it is our desires for an easy way out that led to the proliferation of these churches. We created a milieu in which they could flourish. Once we all make a decision to examine the Word of the Lord ourselves and not always ask for interpretations, then these so-called mediators would disappear. It is after all in the final analysis, the personal interpretations of the Word of the Lord that matters. How we understand this Word is what determines the level to which we ascend to in the Beyond, nothing more. The more we understand the Word and the more we apply It to our lives, the more we are able to ascend. Third party interpretations count for nothing. We have now examined the great sermon on the mount. Nowhere here have we discovered it said that Jesus would carry anyone’s sins on His shoulders. What we found are exactly the opposite of what conventional interpreters would have us believe. We will however continue to explore the Words of Jesus and it is hoped that at the end of this examination we would have convinced ourselves of what Jesus really demands of us and what He wanted us to do if we are to attain to the Kingdom of Heaven. top Matthew 7:28-29 “And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.” It has already been mentioned that the scribes had through intellectual sophistry turned the simple Commandments that Moses received into a rigid form, so much so that no one knew what to do with it. More attention was placed on externals which had nothing to do with the real ascent of the human spirit. The people were downcast and there was no way out of their spiritual lethargy. Jesus’ words was like a breath of fresh air. He brought back the mobility of spirit which was like a memory of a bygone era. He freed them and liberated them from the rigid and impossible observances set up by the scholars and interpreters of the law. He spoke like one who knew what He was talking about and not the ramblings of those who thought that they knew the Laws of God. The people suddenly realised that all that they had to do to enter the Kingdom of God was to act naturally, to love their neighbours and to just be simple natural human beings. That God demanded nothing more from them than to be simple normal human beings. No spiritual contortions was necessary. No rigorous fasting and the so many demands placed on the common people. It was revolutionary. No one had ever taught them like that. Not only the assurance with which Jesus uttered these words, but the power that emanated from Him and the words themselves. Suddenly the simplicity of the law of Moses had been revealed in an entirely new light and much more. top Matthew 8:1-4 “When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him; and behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And he stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to any one; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to the people.”” This passage shows that Jesus, quite aside from the fact that He had no intention of overthrowing the Laws of God also wished to follow the earthly laws. He did not wish to set Himself against the authorities and wished to observe the ancient religious customs of the Jewish people. His aim was to address His teaching to man himself, to the individual and then allow the individual to voluntarily make a decision as to the truth of His Teaching. It was meant to be a gradual transformation of man into a better being through first hearing His Teaching, weighing them up within himself, seeing that they are true and then finally making a decision to follow them. His aim was the spiritual change in man. It was this that was His priority and in fact was the most important. If man could be healed spiritually, then all else will follow, since the earthly conditions that we have before us are but consequences of our spiritual lives. He would therefore never concern Himself with the overthrow of earthly order or authority. The change in the earthly order will come of itself when mankind had done the first things which is spiritual. He therefore ordered the leper that He had just healed to go to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded. top Matthew 8:5-13 “As he entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, beseeching him and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress. And he said to him, ‘I will come and heal him.’ But the centurion answered him, ‘Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.’….. ‘Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.’ And to the centurion Jesus said, ‘Go; be it done for you as you have believed.’ And the servant was healed at that very moment.” Israelites were regarded as a stiff-necked people, arrogant, vain and very stubborn. It is this that Jesus referred to when He said that those to whom He had been sent have rejected Him and it will be outsiders who will inherit the glory of this people. The centurion is a classic example of this. A Roman who perhaps still worshipped his pagan gods had become so advanced spiritually as to recognise Jesus whereas those who considered themselves so great and spiritually advanced failed to recognise Him, even though they had been prepared for centuries for His coming. This was a bitter blow and an indictment of this people who dared to reject the Son of God and the Messiah Who had been promised and instead dared to demand a Messiah that corresponded to their wishes and expectations. They who came first would now be last. This is actually the fate of the conceited and the vain. They always asserted that they had Abraham as their father and as such their entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven was guaranteed. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is no such thing as an inherited right to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. With this paragraph, He already passed a judgement on that generation and the fate that awaits them in their rejection of the Word of God. This rejection will never go unpunished and to make matters worse, the atonement for the crime of the crucifixion. top Power over the forces of NatureMatthew 8:23-27 “And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. (24) And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep…..” The natural environment is maintained by beings which have been variously referred to as nature beings, fairies and so on and so forth. These are beings of which every culture on earth have stories about. Many have seen them and are convinced that they exist. Of course they remain hidden to these deceitful eyes of men of the intellect. They will never be able to see them because they do not deserve such honour. There are nature beings that maintain the wind known commonly as sylphs; those that are involved with fire known as salamanders; those involved with the earth called gnomes and those involved with the water element known as water-sprites. Storms and the like are brought into being through the activity of such beings. They carry out such activity in accordance only with the Will of God as these beings are unable to do otherwise. Obviously such a One as Jesus being directly descended from the Father could see these beings, could understand their activity and more importantly could command them. Therefore when He ordered that the sea be calm, these beings had to obey their Master. There is nothing arbitrary in this. It is the most natural phenomenon. All creatures in this Creation come under the influence of the Power of God and they must obey the Divine Command. The same happened in the case of Lazarus and the youth of Nain when Jesus commanded their souls to re-enter their physical bodies. This event should have induced reflection in those who observed it. It probably fortified the faiths of some of them as it should be the case in all good willing people. top Power over evil spiritsMatthew 8:28-34 “And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demoniacs met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. (29) And behold, they cried out, "What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?.....” Under the pressure of the Light that Jesus carried with Him, even unclean souls were compelled to acknowledge His presence and His Nature. When they saw Him fear seized them as they knew that their time had come to leave the body that they had occupied. In the same way these had to obey the Divine call. Earthbound, evil human spirits could from time to time or even permanently occupy the bodies of earthmen and use it including the brain. There are many in the lunatic asylums with really nothing wrong with them but this. They crowd out the rightful owner of the physical body. top The Divine Power to forgive sinsMatthew 9:1-8 “And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city. (2) And behold, they brought to him a paralytic, lying on his bed; and when Jesus saw their faith he said to the paralytic, ‘Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven…..’” As mentioned earlier, the healings of Jesus apart from being acts of mercy were meant also to help fortify the faiths of those who had these miracles performed on them and also those who witnessed these miracles. It was also meant to bring people to Him because in following up these stories of miracles, they would come upon the saving Word. It is inconceivable that anyone or any ordinary person could have performed these miracles and the people knew it. Such works had never been done before. The raising of the dead, the healing of paralytics and so on and He was now forgiving sins. This was unheard of. The forgiving of sins by Jesus has been taken over by the church as proof that they could also do the same since they considered themselves to be envoys of God or of Jesus. They however err as they are neither envoys of Jesus or of God. Envoys of God are those with the same inner Nature as God. This from the outset rules out any human beings. The fact that they claim to be envoys does not in reality make them so. All we have are their claims. If Jesus can forgive sins, the questions we should ask is how. It is not however difficult if one realises that Jesus was the Son of God and as such had the power to see into the souls of the petitioner and to determine the exact state of that soul in relation to its threads of fate. He was able to judge whether indeed this soul had become so good and so penitent that he had indeed reached a point where he had redeemed all his guilt. Jesus was able to see this and as such He could say that their sins were forgiven. Remember, He did not say this to every Tom, Dick and Harry. He said this to certain people. Some churches however took this as a letter of safe conduct and went about forgiving sins. They could not even see into the souls of these people thus having not the foggiest idea what they were doing. They could not tell whether the individual was truly penitent or whether the person had reached a stage in his maturity that he had truly redeemed his guilt. Jesus did not act arbitrarily. He did not forgive sins that had not already been forgiven through the actions of the inflexible Laws of God. He had seen ethereally that the threads of fate attached to these individuals had already been caught off or were about to be cut off by the elemental beings. He was using those words as an earthly anchor to inform those concerned that they could now start a new life and that their former trespasses had fallen off. He was only conveying what He saw ethereally to those concerned. All this the church knew nothing about. They simply went about forgiving sins and leading the masses to believe that their sins indeed had been forgiven. These masses were forgiven nothing. It was all an utter deception and delusion which has led many millions to waste valuable time. Instead of working on themselves so that their sins are truly forgiven through the inflexible Laws, they simply went to sleep and even added more in the assurance that all they had to do was to pay some money and that prayer for the forgiveness of sins will be said on their behalf and that the church father in any case had the power to forgive sins since he was an envoy of God. It is time to wake up. top Matthew 9:10-13 “And as he sat at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. (11) And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" (12) But when he heard it, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. (13) Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” The exclusive nature of the religion of Israel was brought into sharp focus here. Those who thought themselves better than the others felt that it was in God’s Law not to mix with these. Those whom society had regarded as sinners were not to be mixed with. They were to be ostracized, ignored and looked down upon. They were even to be pitied. How was anything healthy blossom in such circumstances. It was scandalous. These were people who claimed that they knew the Laws of God. They claimed that they knew about the Love of God yet they never practiced it. They appointed themselves guardians of the Laws of Moses yet they showed by their actions that they had not the faintest idea of his message. The cold calculating intellect with which these people worked exposed them the more to the searching gaze. They were not called ones; they could not be called ones as they did not possess that quality of spirit which is a characteristic of those who had been chosen by God: love. These were self appointed teachers, who basked in their own glory and the respect paid to them by the people. They regarded others as unclean and would never suffer themselves to sit with them much less talk to them. How then were they meant to guide the people to the right path? They wanted Jesus to use the same yardstick, to apply the rule of exclusion. They decided who was and who was not a sinner. Jesus rebuffed them by saying that He had not come for the self righteous. He had not come to save those who already thought themselves to be saved. Those who thought that they had a right to demand an entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. He had come among the people of Israel to save those who wanted to be saved, those who knew that they were sinners, those who were humble enough to know that they were sinners and were prepared to make the efforts to change themselves. top Matthew 9:14-17 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” (15) And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast…” For the first time Jesus alluded to the fact that He might not be around on earth for much longer. This is one of the verses that people quote to back their assertions that Jesus came to die and that the real purpose of His Mission was this death. Foreknowledge that He was going to die is not proof that He came primarily to die. In fact Isaiah 53 is devoted to this. His death was definitely predicted, but this is not to say that it was in the Will of God or that Jesus was happy with it. There are verses that we shall come to presently which point to the fact that Jesus did not come for the sole purpose of dying and carrying our sins on His shoulders. All that He had said so far points to the contrary. He knew the controversy that His Teaching brought with the religious authority, it was only a question of time before they would think of ways of getting rid of Him and that also it would only be a question of time before they would be able to convince someone to betray Him. It was all a question of a race for time whereby Jesus would complete as much of His Mission as possible before the people who had presented themselves as Lucifer’s servants would use the earthly authority that they had against Him to thwart His Mission. The prevailing evil almost made this outcome inevitable. The fact that it was predicted had nothing to do with it. A prophecy is always to be regarded as a warning of impending events. They are given so that those concerned may take heed and change their ways. If the prophecy is an unfavourable one like in the case of Jesus, then those concerned were meant to take this to heart and change their ways. Isaiah saw what could happen to the Son of God if the prevailing evil still reigned in Israel by the time He had to come. It was seen that if mankind did not change their ways then their hatred for anything from the Light would prompt them to offer themselves to Lucifer as executioners of the Divine Word. It was given as a warning to the people of Israel that they would be murderers of the Word of God if they continued in their evil ways. The prophecy would come to be fulfilled if they did not change their ways. The people of Israel should have taken a harder look at this prophecy and should have examined themselves. If they had changed for the better then definitely this prophecy would never have been fulfilled. No prophecy is inevitably fulfilled. They depend entirely on the conditions of the souls of those involved. If the souls change then the fulfilment of the prophecy also changes as a matter of course. There can be no subterfuge. These people did not heed the warnings sent to them centuries before and still in spite of these warnings allowed themselves to be used by the hate-filled darkness. To even assert that in was in God’s Will that He had to die makes us guilty of a double murder, of an indolence which prevents us from thinking matters through for ourselves. The consequences will be terrible. top The raising of Jairus’ daughterMatthew 9:18-26 While he was thus speaking to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” (19) And Jesus rose and followed him, with his disciples….” Man is not just the physical body. His core is spirit and surrounding this core are the various layers representing each realm of Creation. Without the physical body then, what we have is the spirit as core and the various coverings around this core taken from the various layers of Creation through which this spirit has passed. Right from the Spiritual realm, which is the highest part of Creation, we have in descending order: the realm of the Animistic where the animal souls and the nature beings have their origin; then the Ethereal realm, which is part of the material world but lighter and of a different consistency than the lower lying World of Gross Matter to which the earth and the other planets that we can observe with our physical eyes and the with the help of earthly aids belong. The World of Gross Matter, like the Ethereal world is divided into three main subsections: the World of Fine Gross Matter, which is the finest part of the World of Gross Matter; the World of Medium Gross Matter, which lies between the former and the World of Heavy Gross Matter to which the earth belongs. We as human beings on earth bear each and every one of these layers within us as we have had to pass through them on our journey to the earth for an incarnation. When we leave the earth on our physical death, the region in which we find ourselves in the Beyond will correspond to the nature of our inner being. If we have been good, then we will find ourselves in a region corresponding to the weight of our bodies. Our nature determines how heavy our ethereal bodies will be. If we are evil, then we are heavy because the nature of evil is dark and heavy as a natural phenomenon. If we are good, then we are bright and lighter and as a result we rise to a corresponding lighter region in the Beyond. Our ethereal bodies are made lighter as a consequence of our good volition. The physical body therefore is nothing but a temporary vessel which we need on this earth for the purposes of experiencing this place. It is soon discarded at our physical death whereby we are set free to journey to those areas to which we are drawn through our natures as a natural consequence. Therefore on earth, we bear the ethereal body coming from the Ethereal world; the body of Fine Gross Matter, which we took on when we passed through that world; the body of Medium Gross Matter and then finally the physical body. If one could imagine an onion, then we come a little bit closer in our imagination and in our understanding of the nature of man on earth. The closest body therefore to the physical one on earth is that of medium gross matter which some people have already given the name of Astral body. This body is connected to the physical one through a silver cord attached to the solar plexus. At death, there is loosening and detachment of this cord from the physical body and after some time this cord completely degenerates. When Jesus commanded that this young girl should rise, it was simply a question of this young girl’s soul being drawn back into the physical body through the elastic silver cord. Since the animator of the physical body is the soul, then it is not surprising that all the girl’s organs will start to function as before. The physical body is lifeless without the animating influence of the spirit. Without this animating influence, it would be lifeless. The animation of the body is not due to the brain. The brain itself takes instructions from the spirit. The brain too is lifeless without this animating influence. When the soul re-enters the physical body, all the organs, including the brain as mentioned earlier will start functioning again. Every movement of the body is indeed first spiritually willed. The impulse is then passed through the solar plexus to the cerebellum and then from there to the frontal and other parts of the brain responsible for carrying out these instructions. It is now that scientists have noticed that there is an initiating factor that precedes the frontal and motor areas of the brain for the initiation of movements. Before it was thought that everything resulted through the will of the frontal brain. The scientists are already in the right direction but they will have to look beyond the physical for them to be able to fully elucidate this initiating factor. It was the same with Lazarus and the youth of Nain. It was all a question of the drawing back of the soul into the physical body or in some cases the reattachment of the silver cord to the physical body. top Matthew 9:27-31 And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.” (28) When he entered the house, the blind men came to him; and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.”……” Humility, faith and a deep conviction in the Power of God allows this Power to stream through us and work miracles. Without simple belief and conviction it is impossible for us to receive any help from God. This condition of faith has the quality of opening our souls and allowing the ever present help from God to reach us. We are the ones who have over the millennia closed ourselves to this help. The Power has always been there and the help always available but because we thought that we knew everything better we could never really develop the humility necessary for the receipt of this Power. If these blind men had not had the trusting faith in the Power of God, it would have been impossible for Jesus to help them. His Power would not have been able to penetrate into their souls and consequently into their bodies because they would have been undeserving of this help. The Power of God does not reach those undeserving of it. It will only work on soil which is open to It never on soil hostile to It. Mankind receives exactly according to the level of conviction in the Power of God, no more. The sending out of the TwelveMatthew 10:5-10 These twelve Jesus sent out, charging them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, (6) but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel….” Jesus was sent primarily to the people of Israel because these people through their advanced spiritual development possessed the ability to fully understand Him. Later the people of Israel were to take the Message of Jesus and spread It among the Gentiles. This is the reason why Jesus would not be diverted from His insistence that the lost sheep of Israel were to hear His Message first. He directed His disciples to go to the lost sheep of Israel and to avoid going to the other peoples. This should not be taken to mean that the Word of God was not for these other people but that at that moment the focus of attention should be on the people who had for centuries been spiritually prepared to receive and to understand much more readily the Message of God. When the Israelites failed in general, the Message of course went elsewhere but we must note that the Message in any case still primarily spread through the works and efforts of Jews like Paul and the other Apostles. Jesus incarnated in the midst of the people who were the most spiritually advanced at that time as could not otherwise be the case, as One like Him who was the Son of God needed to incarnate in the midst of people whose degree of understanding of the Laws of God would make it easier to work among them. He instructed His disciples to say that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. Meaning that the time for the establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth was at hand. The establishment of the Kingdom of God ushers in a time when only those human beings who voluntarily adjust to the Will of God will be allowed to live on this earth. Before the establishment of this Kingdom however, the Judgement must take place. This Judgement removes all those human beings who have been evil and who have no intention of adjusting their ways along with their works from this earth. These people are removed to where they properly belong which is the realm of darkness. They will be prevented from incarnating again on earth unless in the meantime while in the realm of darkness they had become better and have been able to rise through the results of their intentions to do better, to a level where they can again incarnate. Jesus was trying to warn the people of Israel and also others to make haste and change now before they are overtaken by a terrible Judgement. If we do not make use of the allotted time now, we would not be able to free ourselves in time and we will pass away in the flames of the Judgment and will not be allowed to witness the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. The evil that we do is dark, heavy and clings to our spirit bodies. This body is the body that we are left with when we depart this earth. It is the body of medium or fine gross matter. It is still a material body. This body becomes heavy and weighed down by this impurity and the concerned soul is dragged to the region in the Beyond of likewise weight. There comes a time in this Creation when every part of material Creation will have to go through its purification. When that time comes for the earth , its inhabitants and the surrounding ethereal regions of the earth and their inhabitants, we have to be so pure and light as to find ourselves in lighter regions that do not have to face this purification. Those who are left behind in these darker regions because they could not free themselves from matter will have their fine or medium gross material bodies destroyed with the destruction which naturally occurs when the cycles closes for the realm in which they find themselves. We should therefore work hard now so that when we pass into the Beyond, we do not find ourselves in places which are marked out for dissolution because we run the risk of also going through dissolution with the rest of these environments. When Jesus said that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, obviously He was not referring to it in earthly time concepts. In spiritual terms, a thousand years are as one day, which means that what takes a thousand years to accomplish on earth takes only one day to accomplish in the spiritual realm. But we must remember that that was two thousands years ago and that what He meant by “at hand” is being enacted at the present time. He gave His disciples the spiritual power to heal diseases and to perform all kinds of miracles so that in the same way as with Him, the people’s faith may be fortified. He now felt that He could let His disciples be on their own after they had been understudying Him for a while. He advised them not to take any gold or silver or food with them and that on their ways they would be cared for. They were not to preoccupy themselves about what they would wear or eat or drink. These needs as He had already mentioned with the lilies in the field will be taken care of. This is what He meant by “the workman is worthy of his food”. They have done what was spiritually required of them and that God seeing this will provide for them in ways that they could not even imagine. top Jesus’ moral strength and severityMatthew 10:11-16 “And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it, and stay with him until you depart. (12) As you enter the house, salute it. (13) And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. (14) And if any one will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. (15) Truly, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town. (16) Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” The pride with which followers of Jesus should act is revealed here. They should show confidence and assurance in God but they are not to cast pearls before swine. If any one refuses to accept them they are to depart in dignity and go elsewhere. They are never to go round begging people to listen to the Word of God. It is man’s responsibility to seek out his God and not the other way round. Some preachers, over the centuries have perverted this notion and have fostered the erroneous beliefs among human beings that God needs them and has to run after them. Nothing is further from the truth. God will calmly abandon to the darkness all those who would refuse to turn to Him and all those who expect Him to run after them instead of at last recognising that after all it is a question of their own personal salvation and they should see to it that they are not condemned. There is no such thing as an all forgiving weak God, forgiving everything and even allowing sinners to go unpunished. That must not be. We must wake up and realise that the picture hitherto painted of Jesus as weak and yielding are false and nothing but the desires of those who are weak in themselves and who would rather avoid making any efforts towards their own salvation to represent Him as such. He also advised His disciples to keep their eyes open, to be keenly observant. To be ready to defend themselves but never harm any one on that account. They must not act like fools or simpletons but to be always keenly on their guards. They will be attacked, there will be enemies who would be rid of them. They are on hostile ground and the darkness would always find those who are willing to be used as tools against the messengers of the Light. They must be strong also in the earthly sense so as not to make it easy for their detractors to attack them and even if they are attacked make it difficult for them to succeed. The difficult road for believersMatthew 10:17-20 “Beware of men; for they will deliver you up to councils, and flog you in their synagogues, (18) and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear testimony before them and the Gentiles. (19) When they deliver you up, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour; (20) for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” In the same vein, there are many people who are always willing to oppose the Light and the religious representatives are no exception. These are people who have devised earthly intellectual ordinances for people to follow and if someone comes to oppose what they have built up even if this person speaks the truth, they would use whatever means is at their disposal to be rid of such a one. In this way they act as tools of Lucifer whose goal and mission is to oppose the Will of God. These human beings willingly offer themselves up to be used by this fallen Archangel in his fight against our salvation in God’s Message. There are also other human beings who have from the outset made a spiritual decision never to be for the Light. They would have nothing to do with anything spiritual and would oppose bitterly those who have made a decision for the Light. The numbers of these people are quite considerable and they often occupy positions of power. So under such conditions it is inevitable that those who follow the Light would be persecuted, tortured and even killed. Jesus advised His disciples not to worry about what to say because the answer to the questions that these people will pose can only come from the Wisdom of God. The cunning of these people’s intellect would make it difficult for an ordinary human being to answer them in such a way as to escape from their traps. The disciples are advised to keep their spirits open to receive answers and solutions to every problem that may be posed. top Matthew 10:21-23 “Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; (22) and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. (23) When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel, before the Son of man comes.” The true Word of Jesus, contrary to popular belief will cause a deep division among mankind. It will divide mankind into two opposing camps. Family relationships have nothing to do with it. It is now a question of how one stands spiritually. There will be those who will be for Jesus and those who would be bitterly against His Word. It is meant to be so. People are meant to judge themselves through the Word of God. The Word of God is the Judge for mankind. Exactly as one reacts to this true Word either accepting or rejecting it, we judge ourselves. Just because of this very fact, those who are unable to adhere or accept this Word would have a boundless hatred for those who use this Word with vigour. They may be family members, friends and the like. What matters before God are human spirits nothing more. The boundless hatred they have can be taken so far as to want to kill those who have accepted the Word if they find no other way to help themselves in terms of discouraging them or attacks in some other form. Just because they see something in these people which they can never possess; their feeling of inferiority and their acute awareness of it turns into rage and anger. He further advised His disciples not to face the hatred head on. They were to preserve their lives and continue their appointed tasks elsewhere. They would not have completed their tasks before the Son of Man comes. They would not have finished spreading the Word of the Lord before the necessary extension of knowledge to be brought by the Son of Man commences. We will touch on the issue of the Son of Man presently but here what Jesus was saying was that the Word of Christ would not have taken root among all races by the end of time. Jesus was only trying to indicate that the time of the Son of Man is not too far off and in fact that His Coming is to be expected in the not too distant future. Meanwhile we are meant to work in the sense that He had given us. We must be firm in our faiths and be steadfast to the very end. top Reassurance for believersMatthew 10:24-25 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master; (25) it is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they malign those of his household.?” If they had already labelled Jesus as belonging to the Devil, then it must be obvious that His followers and disciples are not in for a better treatment. They will be branded and hated in the same way. The disciples must be made aware of this and be inwardly prepared for the hardships ahead. They will be ostracised, persecuted because people will believe that they had a right to. After all they belonged to the devil. Away with them! In the way of most human beings, it is much easier to attack and persecute and even kill once they have justified to themselves the sub-humanity of others. If their master was of the devil, they too who are his children must also be and in that case in their thinking they are justified in putting them in prison. This was a warning to His disciples to be aware of the very difficult road ahead and to not to let it take them too much by surprise. top Matthew 10:26-27 “So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. (27) What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim upon the housetops.” The effect of the Power of the Light is to expose human beings in such a way that their true colours becomes known. All that clings to an individual in the way of faults and weaknesses, even if the individual or others are not aware of it will come to light once exposed to the Power of God. These characteristics are strengthened and must manifest in an active form. An individual who harbours a murderous tendency within his soul and has so far not committed this crime because in one way or the other the earthy circumstances have favoured him will be placed in situations where indeed he will show his true colours. These faults had been hidden in the past but are now for all to see. This is the effect of this Power. This is the effect that the Word of Jesus has. Those who had hitherto considered themselves to be your friends and whom perhaps you trusted implicitly will because of your allegi |