Jesus

This is from a short talk I gave to a group of ministers last week and thought I'd share it here as well.

"At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom."

-- Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. --

Five of them were foolish and five were wise.

The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

-- In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus came to his disciples and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “So, could you not stay awake with me one hour?” --

"At midnight the cry rang out: 'Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!'
"Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.'

-- a smoldering wick he will not snuff out --

" 'No,' they replied, 'there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.' "

-- Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." --

But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived.

MARY OF MAGDALA
AS SEEN THROUGH THE ANCIENT TEXTS

THE BIBLE
Quotes taken from Lamsa’s translation from the Aramaic of the Peshitta

Gospel of Matthew – written by an unknown Jewish Christian in Antioch, Syria around 90 C.E. (A.D.).
Gospel of Mark – Early church tradition attributes the authorship to Mark, a companion of the Apostle Paul in Rome around 70 C.E. (A.D.).
Gospel of Luke – Early church tradition attributes the authorship to Luke, a companion of the Apostle Paul most likely in southern Greece around 80-90 C.E. (A.D.).
Gospel of John – This gospel is very different from the synoptic gospels. The author of this gospel remains a mystery and is simply attributed to “the beloved disciple.” With the newly proclaimed evidence of Mary of Magdala’s role in the ministry of Jesus and her intimate relationship with him, she could easily be “the beloved disciple” who wrote the Gospel of John. An excellent article on this subject may be found at the following URL.
http://www.pathwaytoascension.com/magdala4.html

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Mary of Magdala played a major role in the ministry of Jesus. She was accepted as the leader of a group of wealthy women who followed and served Jesus. Her name is listed first in every listing of the women who accompanied Jesus. These lists read as follows:

ASCENSION

I submit my website home page lesson in order to reveal one way for progressive Christians to view the present Earth Shifts, Jesus as a Wayshower, and where humanity fits into the Whole of the cosmic events now taking place.
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For eons, the spiritual journey of humanity has involved alternating spans of time between life in a physical body and life on the plane of spirit. Living within a physical body entails limitations that do not exist during the intervening periods on the spiritual plane.

When we enter a physical body, we leave behind most memories of prior lifetimes on Earth. By age 4 or 5, most of us have forgotten our experiences on the plane of spirit. The reasons for our soul’s choice to enter another physical body are buried within our subconscious minds. We begin to view the present incarnation as the only time we have, or will, experience life on Earth. Sadly, our societal institutions allow us—even encourage us—to remain in this amnesic state of consciousness. The inevitable result is that we feel separated from God and cut off from the root of our being. Not knowing where our roots extend, we view every part of creation as separate from ourselves. We stand alone on an empty island.

CHAPTER #2 - “WHO SINNED? … THIS MAN OR HIS PARENTS? John 9:2

Endnotes may be found on my website under the title of “Reincarnation in the Bible.”
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"What does the Bible have to say about reincarnation?" Nothing, if we expect to find the word reincarnation.

A lot, if we read the Bible through the lens of belief in reincarnation. In Chapter 1, I discuss the early Church Fathers’ efforts to establish a worldwide church subscribing to one and the same doctrine. A very serious repercussion has been heresy trials resulting in excommunication, burning of books, even death for expounding a different doctrine.

A second devastating consequence has been the forced reading of and interpretation of the Bible according to the established church creeds. Any portion of the Scriptures that is contrary to the established creed (or, for those churches not subscribing to a creed, the traditional facets of the Christian doctrines) are ignored. Much within the gospel of John, which many scholars believe to be based in Gnosticism, is an excellent example. Another illustration is Jesus’ statement, found twice in the gospel of Matthew, that John the Baptist is Elijah.

CHAPTER #1 - HAVE WE LIVED BEFORE?
In response to a question about resources relating to reincarnation, I include excerpts from my book, A New Christian: My Spiritual Journey. These two chapters are posted on my website under the title of “Reincarnation In the Bible.” There you can see the Endnotes.
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"Why does our Western culture choose to ignore the valuable contributions the concept of reincarnation can make in our understanding of life?"

"Why is the Church so hesitant to give credence to a belief in reincarnation?"

One reason is that Christian historians have failed to give reincarnation its rightful place in Church history. Western Christian historians have simply not reported the role of reincarnation. With the dawn of the New Age of Aquarius, ancient books are being translated into English. The layperson can now catch glimpses into what really happened.

The human psyche is deeply scarred with the Church’s horrendous teaching of a physical place called hell, created by a God who intends to punish some individuals for eternity.

Having declared the teaching of reincarnation heretical in 553 C.E., the church was left with no explanation for how God’s justice could work itself out? After all, Galatians 6:7 reminds us: “Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow.” It is plain for all to see that not everyone who commits major crimes reap the results of that behavior in this life. Therefore, there has to be a hell where those criminals can be punished. Right?

(The Church declared “reincarnation” to be a heretical teaching during its 553 C.E. Fifth Ecumenical Council when it condemned Origen and his teachings. ---Page 119 of Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, Vol. I, ed. Norman P. Tanner, Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1990. Origen who taught both pre-existence of souls and reincarnation, was one of the most influential of Early Christian thinkers.)

For the past couple of months, I have frequently driven to a nearby location where I can view the sunset. Awe-inspiring ... breathtaking ... beautiful beyond words ... are feeble attempts at describing the loveliness displayed. Looking up, the sky becomes God’s cathedral enfolding our planet ... the indigo, white, rose pink, and gray clouds are transformed into heavenly stained glass windows, shimmering in the light of the Sun. Looking up, I am aware of our planet nestled within a universe of planets, stars, and Suns. Looking up, I pray the Lord’s Prayer for our planet.

On the other hand, I observe drivers speeding past a lovely sunset ... people walking along the roadside ... church members parking their cars nearby and going inside ... few, if any, look up long enough to behold the heavenly vision surrounding them. All are engrossed in the tasks at hand ... tasks that seem, to us, to be vital to our earth plane lives. Yet, these very tasks tend to separate us from the much more comprehensive drama of God’s unfolding plan for our planet. They cause us to look down ... to forget that our lives are taking place on a planet ... within a solar system ... within a galaxy ... within a cosmos.

CHALLENGE: I post this article, hoping it will create much discussion on Crossleft---pro or con! We need to air out all the cobwebs and assist Christians in learning to think for themselves ... to seek Truth on their own ... to discern Truth that feels intuitively right to them ... to know that my Truth may not be your Truth ... and that is okay!

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NOTE: For the purposes of this article, I use the term “Source of our being” to refer to the omnipresent energy of Divine Love in which we live and move and have our being—-the Ultimate Source of all creation.
I use the term “Awakened Christian” to mean the one who follows Jesus as A Wayshower on the pathway to individual ascension. Jesus, as a Wayshower, reveals the way; He cannot walk the path for us. The awakened Christian recognizes this fact and strives to tread his/her own pathway to ascension. See the article entitled “Ascension” and the 16 Lessons on the Book of Job on www.pathwaytoascension.com.

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Zion's Zealots

[Miami, Fl. November 6, 2007] The James L. Knight Center was packed to the rafters with John Hagee's tribe of Christian Zionists and south Florida's right wing Jewish community. Zion's Fire Banners, dancers, singers and a band whipped the crowd into a frenzy of spinning, jumping, clapping, twirling and moved the rotund Hagee to link arms with men in skull caps and dance the Hora-not to Hava Nagila, but to repeated choruses of:

Shout for joy and victory! Bat Yerushalyim

From one end of the stage to the other, the largest American and Israeli flags I have ever seen were draped side by side and by the end of the evening I imagined every star on the red-white-and blue had morphed into the Star of David.

Miami-Dade County Commissioner Joe Martinez pointed to the flags and exclaimed: "Isn't that beautiful up there together? I get goose bumps! All nations have been created by an act of man, except Israel was created by an act of God."

John Lennon would have turned 67 on October 9, 2007. Although he hasn't spoken in 27 years, he has not been silenced.

At the age of 12, in the summer of 1966, inspired by John Lennon’s honesty, I tuned out the Catholic Church.

Up until I was about six years old, every Sunday morning was spent in a glass-encased room at St. Bernard’s one holy Roman Catholic Church, in Levittown, Long Island. The glass-encased room was called, and literally was, the Cry Room. Growing up with television, it was natural for me to stand up close against the soundproof glass and watch the 'show' on the other side. Every so often, I’d hear the priest’s voice filter through the loudspeaker above my head. But it was all Latin to me: and back then, it really was!