THE SPIRIT LETTERS

Message Eighteen - Book One - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

The Son of GOD’s ethereal transition from His first incarnation as Adam through His succession of flesh manifestations in the earth plane that led to His anointment at GOD His Father’s right hand, and his empowerment over the heavens and the earth (Mt. 28:18), was GOD’s test of HIS Son. HE had long before anointed Archangel Satan as covering angel over the earth at a time when the devil “was perfect in his ways” before iniquity was found in him, (Ezek. 28:14-15). Satan had enjoyed free will, but he had misused it to rebel against GOD, apparently with the idea of establishing his own kingdom on the earth. Seeing that situation, GOD sent HIS son into the earth plane, accompanied by Eve – who was the Son’s binary soul mate – along with others loyal to GOD, for the purpose of destroying the devil’s works (1 Jn. 3:8).

Having disobeyed a command GOD had given Him, Adam fell from GOD’s grace and was “grounded” in the earth plane, unable to return to the heavenly dimension from which He had descended. Seven generations later He reincarnated as Enoch son of Jared, and obediently walked all of that life with GOD. He then returned as Joseph son of Jacob, then Melchizedek, eternal Priest of the Most High GOD, without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of GOD, a priest continually (Heb. 7:3). Among a number of His other reincarnations, the Son manifested as Joshua son of Nun, and then as Joshua son of Josedech, before his remarkable manifestation as Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

His earth experiences from the time He entered as Adam until He incarnated as Jesus Christ were stepping stones that marked his pathway toward His ultimate anointment by GOD His Father at HIS right hand in the highest of heavenly dimensions: at which time GOD empowered Him over all the heavens and the earth (Mt. 28:18).

This had actually been foretold when the Son – incarnated as Joshua Son of Josedech, high priest – had received GOD’s promise that if He would “walk in GOD’s ways and keep HIS charge, He would judge HIS house and keep HIS courts (Zech. 3:7). A primary question then became: what would the Son do with His unique empowerment? GOD the Father had directed and overseen all that had taken place on the earth before HE granted HIS Son virtually full power, reserving only HIS own specific power over “the times or the seasons” (Acts 1:7). From the human perspective, the earthly father and son relationship was reflected by the inheritance of power by the Son of GOD from His Father, “even His GOD” (Heb. 1:9). His Father having granted Him power, He was free to do with it as He saw fit.

Hundreds of religious views and religious denominations sprang up all over the earth with millions of people striving for recognition. In principle; among thousands of different religions, only one could possibly be completely true and accurate, so a great religious controversy arose around the world. The chosen people of Israel – despite having been afflicted on all sides and having survived major exiles which had scattered them – had struggled through the ages to preserve their nation and their religion. Other religious believers of all kinds, having been lumped under the heading “Gentiles,” worked out their vested belief patterns to their own satisfaction; but many died in terrible wars. It would be written in the Book of Ecclesiastes: “Lo, this only have I found, that GOD has made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions” (Eccles. 7:29).

What Christ the Son would do after He was granted full control over heaven and the earth was not immediately clarified nor determined, and was not intended to be until He would at some undetermined future time return in the Cloud to take hands-on dominion over the earth (Lk. 21:27). But through the ages GOD had made promises through HIS prophets foretelling certain predestined changes that were to come to pass.

Through HIS Prophet Malachi, HE had declared that if HIS chosen people would return to HIM, HE would return to them, even though they had not obeyed HIM in the past. Those whom HE addressed at that time, who feared HIM and who paid heed to HIM, were to be HIS in the day when HE “made up HIS Jewels.” He promised that these would return – reincarnate – to discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that served GOD and that served HIM not.” (Mal. 3:16-18).

One of the major changes made by the Son of GOD after He took power at GOD’s right hand was that He joined together all believers in divers religions who would accept it. As Apostle Paul afterward declared:

“There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Rom. 10:12-13; 1 Cor. 12:13; Eph. 2:1-5,18-22).

The effect of this was that no matter what a man’s religious belief or affiliation had been in times past, after Christ the Son took power all mankind came under His rule. He had indeed been king of the Jews, and GOD had made Him king over the heavens and the earth. This radical change became a stumbling block for Jews, as well as for the adherents of many of earth’s powerful organized religions, they having consecrated themselves into an island of their own beliefs, unaware that their freedom to do so is a gift from GOD, who has never compromised or abrogated the right to convey HIS power over heaven and the earth to HIS dear Son. Many, however, have been reluctant to depart from long-established beliefs and abandom them to follow the Way Christ the Son has made passable into eternal life in GOD’s Light. It still remains difficult, even impossible, for some soul’s incarnated on earth today to understand and accept that the Son of GOD has received power from GOD: including the Deliverance of human souls from their entrapment in the earth dimension, into heaven. This is a hurdle in the path of those who believe they can take their cause directly to GOD without the intercession of Christ: “Who is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto GOD by Him, seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25; Heb. 9:15,24; 1 Tim. 2:1-6)

But there is hope: for as it is written: To whom He was not spoken of, they shall see, and they that have not heard shall understand” (Rom. 15:21)

.Series to be Continued in Message 19 of Book One in SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF.

Message Seventeen - Book One - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

The forty-year exile of the chosen people was subsequently followed by a second exile in Babylon that lasted seventy years, after which, during the first year of Cyrus as king of Persia, issued a proclamation declaring that GOD had given him all the kingdoms of the earth, and had charged him to build HIM a house in Jerusalem. The Spirit then moved certain ones to go up to Jerusalem to commence construction of the edifice. They brought with them religious vessels which had been taken by Nebuchadnezzar during the seventy-year occupation (Ezra 1:1-11).

Among those who went up out of captivity were Zerubbabel, Jeshua son of Josedech. What took place is briefly described in Ezra 5:12-17; including that the exile had taken place because the fathers of Israel had provoked GOD until he “gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried the people away into Babylon” (Ezra 5:12). This second exile of GOD’s people, like the first forty-year exile, was caused by their recalcitrant lack of faith and trust in GOD, as briefly outlined by the writer to the Hebrews, who mentions those who had heard GOD’s voice, but even so, provoked HIM:

“But with whom was HE grieved forty years? was it not with them that sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom swore HE that they should not enter into HIS rest, but them that believed not? And so we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief” (Heb. 3:17-19).

Lack of faith is a vexatious problem that has continually afflicted mankind, and when GOD established HIS Son at HIS right hand in the highest of heavenly dimensions – empowered as the risen Christ over the heavens and the earth (Mt. 28:18) – faith in Him was made an indispensable condition for salvation of the soul. The writer to the Hebrews declared:

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by he Word of GOD, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death, and was not found, because GOD had translated him, for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased GOD. But without faith it is impossible to please HIM, for he that comes to GOD must believe that HE is, and that he rewards them those who diligently seek him. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should afterward receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and he want out not knowing whither he went. For he looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is GOD.” (Heb. 11:1, 3, 5-6, 8, 10.)

Lack of faith in GOD, with a corresponding failure to obey and follow His guidance and direction, brought about the scattering by the Roman armies of the chosen people in what amounted to a third exile. Apostle Paul summed it up::

“To us there is but one GOD and Father of All, of whom are all things, and we in HIM; and one Lord Jesus the Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him.” (1 Cor. 8:6)

When the Son of GOD entered into the earth plane as Jesus Christ of Nazareth, He fulfilled that which GOD had foreordained through HIS Prophet Malachi:

“I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Even from the days of your fathers have you gone away from my ordinances, and have not kept them Return unto me and I will return unto you, saith the Lord GOD.” (Mal. 3:6-7).

GOD had not changed, HE forgave HIS chosen people, Israel for their failures; and to those who feared HIM and spoke often to one another about HIS promises to them, a book of remembrance was written, and their names entered in it (Mal. 3:16), so that they would not be forgotten:

“And they shall be mine, saith the Lord GOD, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them as a man spares his own son that serves him. THEN SHALL YOU RETURN, AND DISCERN BETWEEN THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED, BETWEEN HIM THAT SERVES GOD AND HIM THAT SERVES HIM NOT.” (Mal. 3:17-18).

As the New Testament discloses, these souls did return, not having been consumed by GOD’s wrath. They manifested in flesh as Jesus Christ and His Apostles and Disciples, called out as He discovered them and proceeded with His ministry. In that way was brought to pass that which GOD had foreordained through HIS Prophet Malachi. Those souls that from the days of their fathers had gone away from GOD’s ordinances, not having kept them (Mal. 3:6-7), had been spared and had returned to HIM to receive the promises HE had extended – as noted in Mal. 3:10-12. But it was not all as it appeared to be on its surface.

Once empowered at GOD’s right hand, the Son took over the reins of power (Mt. 28:18), and brought in His New Covenant Gospel, which superseded the law of Moses with Christ’s law of belief, faith, love and truth. Apostle Paul spelled this out to the Galatians, declaring that no man is justified in the sight of GOD by the Law of Moses, for the just shall live by faith, and the man that remains under the law must live under it (Gal. 3:11-12). He explained:

“Before faith came we were under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” (Gal. 3:23-24).

Christ the Son of GOD had experienced and witnessed spiritual developments on the earth from the time He lived as Adam, Enoch, Melchizedek, and in other penultimate earth experiences as GOD’s Son. “By Him were all things created that are in heaven and in earth are visible and invisible…all things were created by Him and for Him. Even the Mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints: to whom GOD would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col. 1:15-16, 26-27).

All these spiritual matters boil down into one principal all-important truth veiled in the writings of the prophets and even in the New Testament. It is that GOD and Christ have seen fit to merge all people of the earth into one unified congregation. As Apostle Paul spelled it out:

“There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Rom. 10:12-13; cf. 1 Cor. 12:13; Ephes. 2:1-5, 18-22).

Series to be Continued in Message 18 of Book One, SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF.

Message Sixteen - Book One - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

Since the beginning of man’s incarnations on the earth, obedience to GOD has been his most important obligation:

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear GOD and keep HIS commandments: for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

The Bible teaches that GOD is a Spirit (Jn. 4:24): the highest known form of Energy, existent “above all, through all, and in us all” (Eph. 4:6). GOD is the invisible Energy to which everything owes its existence. In all times and in all situations, therefore, obedience to GOD is, and has been, man’s paramount obligation, because GOD’s mind far exceeds any other. Having created mankind, HE knows what is best for HIS children, and HE therefore insists that we obey HIM, lest we inadvertently stray off into a wilderness of spiritual darkness and become lost.

The Holy Bible reflects the crucial importance of obedience to GOD. For example, when King Saul disobeyed GOD’s command to utterly destroy the Amalekites; including the best of their animals, which Saul preserved for purposes of sacrifice; Prophet Samuel declared:

“Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, HE hath also rejected thee from being king.” (1 Sam. 15:22-23).

GOD knew that the fine-appearing animals saved out by King Saul for sacrificial purposes may well have absorbed the negative spirit of their owners, which rendered them harmful because their spirit energy could spread into the chosen people GOD was protecting. Still today this is not understood, even though an example of the affliction of a negative spirit appears in the New Testament. Luke relates that an “unclean spirit” had caught a man and driven him into the wilderness, bound in chains and in fetters (Lk. 8:27-31), into whom many devils had also entered (Lk. 8:27-30). Jesus cast them out of the afflicted man and sent them into a herd of swine feeding nearby, which then “ran violently down a steep place into a lake and were drowned” (Lk. 8:31-34). Jesus was in command of these spirits, illustrating His power over them – the formerly bedeviled man sat at His feet (Lk. 8:35).

The imperative need of mankind to obey GOD is graphically illustrated by a comment made by Apostle Peter:

“We ought to obey GOD rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)

This rule has not been easy for man to accept and abide from the beginning of his earth manifestations in flesh. Adam and Eve both disobeyed GOD and fell from HIS grace, having let themselves be victimized by the lies and deceits of Satan, who they had trusted because GOD had anointed him covering angel over the earth (Ezek. 28:14-16), so they did not think he would lead them astray. Whenever man’s faith in GOD has weakened, he has failed in his endeavors. Conversely, his belief in GOD brings him through even the most perilous situations, preserving him and enabling him to fulfill his destiny on the earth. The generations of Jacob – he was renamed Israel – flowed through time, carrying GOD’s promise of a grand future. The chosen people struggled mightily to overcome the negative spirit energies of Satan and his legions. When they embarked from Egypt under the command of GOD’s servant, Moses, it was only after a protracted exertion against powerful negative forces that they were able to depart from Egypt after being resisted by the Pharaoh in power at that time. And once their Exodus was under way, the people, having overcome the forces aligned against them, came up against the wild tribes of Canaan, a land GOD had earmarked for them.

But when Moses sent spies into that land they returned with the negative report that the dwellers in that land were a powerful people who were invincible: that the Israelites were as grasshoppers alongside them (Num. 13:33). Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb pressed the leaders to attack and take possession of the land, but they lacked faith in GOD’s power to see them through safely, for which reason HE sent all those who were twenty years of age or older into a forty-year exile: to wander in the wilderness one year for each of the forty days they had searched and spied in the land (Num. 14:29). Joshua and Caleb were the only two of the children of Israel who were spared when that exile ended (Num. 14:22-24; 30).

GOD had admonished his chosen people that they were to take the land and occupy it, but they lacked sufficient faith in HIM to attempt it, with the result that they were left to wander in the wilderness, exiled for forty years, until all but two had died and a new crop of children had been raised up, after which they set out again to attempt to fulfill their destiny. But they continued to be beset with a lack of sufficient faith or belief, which led them into another test GOD had prepared for them: yet another devastating exile This one, in Babylon, lasted seventy-years. During a time when Jerusalem was under threat from the Chaldeans, Jeremiah spoke to the people:

“Thus saith the Lord, He that remains in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine and by the pestilence; but he that goes forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life as a prey, and shall live. Thus saith the Lord, This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which shall take it” (Jer. 38:2-3). It took place as Jeremih had foretold.

This Second Exile lasted for seventy long years, and involved the captivity of the people of Israel, during which they were under the influence of Babylonian culture. The choice proffered to them served as a test of their faith and belief in GOD. If they voluntarily accepted exile, they would survive, according to GOD’s promise given through Jeremiah. On the other hand, those who chose to remain in what appeared to be the safety of Jerusalem, were destined to die.Their earth senses told them to remain in the city; but their spiritual senses told them otherwise. It was a huge test for them. Some chose to remain in the city, but others, loyal to GOD, elected to enter into exile and “take their medicine – to endure the rigors of the harsh life of enslavement, trusting that GOD would see to their salvation. Biblical writings show that HE did, but when they emerged from their seventy-year exile they were in disarray. This exile was a marker along the way that would eventually lead to the introduction of the New Covenant in the earth plane.

Series to be Continued in Message 17 of Book One - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF.

Message Fifteen - Book One - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

At the time Daniel prophesied he was obviously under the impression that it was Archangel Michael who was to “stand up” to be recognized as man’s savior, at the time of Deliverance (Dan. 12:1-3). But it should be kept in mind that in Daniel’s time the name Jesus Christ was unknown because He had not yet appeared on earth bearing that name. Long afterward, Apostle Paul declared that the Lord would return “with the voice of the Archangel” (1 Thess. 4:15-16), but Paul knew that Jesus Christ — not Archangel Michael — was the only name by which a man must be saved. (Acts 4:10-12). Many years had intervened from Daniel’s time until the Son reappeared as Jesus of Nazareth, man’s Savior, no longer with the name Michael. As the Lord disclosed through Prophet Malachi, (Mal. 3:16-18), GOD had merged the spirits of the chosen people of the Old Testament into the New Covenant and many had returned. Among those reincarnated were Jesus and His Apostles and Disciples, whom called and chose as he located them.

By the time the Son of GOD reappeared as Joshua the son of Josedech, Prophet Zechariah was prophesying for the chosen people of Israel. It was a crucial time that marked an extraordinary earth experience for the Son of GOD. Prophet Zechariah was shown a vision in which Joshua was standing before the Angel of the Lord, with Satan at his right hand to resist him. The Bible describes what took place:

“And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at Joshua’s right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan, even the Lord that has chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. And he answered and spoke unto those that stood before him, saying Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto Joshua he said, Behold I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord stood by.” (Zech. 3:1-5).

At this point, Joshua had been spiritually cleansed by the Spirit Energy of GOD the Father of All, and the Angel who spoke for GOD declared to Joshua:

“Thus saith the Lord of hosts; If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by.” (Zech. 3:6-7). Joshua was at that time a flesh life of the Son of GOD.

The above verses revealed that Joshua had been selected from among all the chosen people of Israel, and intimated that his next flesh manifestation on earth would be with great power and authority. But if it was to come to pass, it was necessary for him to “walk in GOD’s ways and keep the charge GOD had given him.” Joshua was destined to become GOD’s servant, THE BRANCH of the Divine spiritual tree HE was building:

“Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men to be wondered at: for behold, I will bring forth my servant THE BRANCH.” (Zech. 3:8).

As the Lord had foretold through Prophet Malachi, the Old Testament, the Old Covenant, had given way to the New (Hebrews 8:6-13).

The promise that power to conduct spirit-cleansing – held by GOD the Father – was to be granted also to HIS Son, was made when, during His earth experience as Joshua the son of Josedech, He was given “a change of clothing, from his “filthy” earthly flesh to new ethereal raiment:

“Take away the filthy garments from him, and unto him he said, Behold I have caused thine iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with change of raiment.” (Zech. 3:4).

After the Son of GOD had passed from that earth life and reincarnated as Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the effect of his “change of raiment”while he had been Joshua was graphically illustrated when He took His Three chosen Apostles, Peter, John and James, to the Mount of Transfiguration. There He was transfigured in their presence, and His raiment was white as the Light (Mt. 17:1-2; Mk. 9:1-4; Lk. 9:29-31).

The Son of GOD’s change of raiment when He was Joshua was a preparation for His next earth manifestation as Jesus of Nazareth, illustrating the crucially important principle the Son later revealed when He reincarnated as Jesus:

“All things gained or loosed on earth are gained or loosed in heaven.” (Mt. 18:18)

After His fall as Adam, the Son of GOD passed through a number of spiritually-ascending earth incarnations, each one moving Him ever closer to the perfected spiritual state in which – as High Priest Joshua son of Josedech – He began to be prepared to fulfill His pre-eminent mission

Outlined in the Bible is the spiritualization process by which incarnated human souls may be quickened by the Spirit Energy of GOD – which Christ the Son receives from HIM without limitation (Jn. 3:34). Earthbound souls incarnated in flesh are required to pass through the same process as had the Son of GOD, during each experience making spiritual gains, or incurring losses, until a sufficient state of perfection is attained. One difference is that before GOD brought in HIS New Covenant, HE was mans sole direct source of salvation, whereas afterward the Son also became man’s savior, all power having been given to Him in heaven and the earth (Mt. 28:18). This had been foreshadowed by the Lord through Prophet Zechariah:

“Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them on the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest; and speak to him, saying, Behold the man whose name is THE BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord: Even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne:” Joshua did in fact “grow up out of his place” as Zechariah had foretold, when, as Jesus of Nazareth He was raised up to GODs right hand in heaven; and has since “ruled upon His Throne” (Mt. 28:18).

Series to be Continued in Message 16 of Book One, SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF.

Message Fourteen - Book One - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

As Adam, the Son of GOD had incarnated with Eve, His binary soul mate, but, being tempted, they had fallen from GOD’s grace. They then both commenced a series of reincarnations to make their way back into GOD’s grace, and fulfill the purpose for which Adam, and presumably also Eve, had entered into the earth plane intending to “destroy the works of the devil” (1 Jn. 2:6:8).

They had intended to accomplish this by establishing a Divinely Guided lineage on the earth, able to prevail over Satan’s lies and deceits.

The Son of GOD seven generations later reincarnated as Enoch to walk obediently with GOD during that lifetime. It was a marker for all mankind to observe: fallen souls might from that time return in subsequent flesh experiences, until they learn to be obedient to GOD’ s Will. HIS Holy Spirit Energy is the ethereal matrix – the Spirit Creative Light Energy – that is the life-giver to all that is, ever has been, or ever will be. The Son of GOD has that Spirit without limit (Jn. 3:34).

During the Son of GOD’s earth experience as Enoch He kept in step with GOD, walking with HIM respectfully and deferentially, ever regardful of HIM and HIS prevailing Will (Gen. 5:21-23). The pattern of all souls incarnating in flesh in the earth plane was in that way illustrated:. Every soul that falls has a way out its earth entrapment through continuous earth experiences provided by reincarnation, which process provides a way for souls to continue perfecting themselves by returning to the earth plane after each “life”in a new body, and at a different time. As man has over time made gains, he has built up an increasingly favorable karmic spiritual disposition, resulting in his elevation into higher positions in the heavenly hierarchy. That pattern is seen illustrated by the Son of GOD’s series of successive earth experiences starting with Adam and ending as Jesus of Nazareth. But, until man accepts the inevitable principle that he must obey GOD his Father, and the Son of GOD his Maker (1 Cor. 8:6; Heb. 5:9), his spiritual development remains incomplete and he remains in a precarious spiritual condition, caught up in the cycles of reincarnation. Each new birth on earth brings new opportunities to ascend GOD’s Spirit Mountain.

The Holy Bible affords us a graphic step-by-step record of the Son of GOD’s spiritual escalation from temporal flesh as Adam, to His exalted position at GOD’ the Father’s right hand in the highest of all heavenly dimensions. He had initially entered the earth plane as Adam for the purpose of “destroying the works of the devil” (1 Jn.3:8; cf. Heb. 2:14-15), but because He was deceived by Satan’s lies and deceits He suffered flesh death without having completed his earth mission. He was confined to the earth plane until such time as He would be able to regain GOD’s grace. But seven generations after the Son’s Adamic experience He reincarnated on planet earth, born as Enoch the son of Jared. He “walked with GOD” throughout that appearance, and at some point “was not” because, having demonstrated His complete obedience, GOD removed Him from the earth (Gen. 5:23-24).

The Father then gradually elevated HIS Son through the reincarnation process, doing so in successive stages, gradually elevating Him into increasingly higher positions until at length He became known as Michael, one of the Chief Archangels (Dan. 10:13) The Bible reveals that by Moses’ time the Son was still not empowered above the devil, whom the Lord Himself had appointed “covering angel over the earth” (Ezek. 28:14). As biblically disclosed, “… Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke thee.’” (Jude 9). At that time the Lord the Son of GOD, known by the name Michael, chief of the Archangels, was still not positioned to directly overrule Satan, but He instead called upon GOD to rebuke him.

Still later, in Prophet Daniel’s time, it was foretold (Dan. 12:1) that it would be “Michael the great prince which stands for thy people,” who would one day “stand up” at the time of deliverance of His people. This actually referred to Jesus Christ the Son of GOD when He would later appear at His Second Coming; but in Daniel’s time the Lord the Son was known as Michael the Archangel, and His flesh manifestation as Jesus Christ lay yet far in the future..

The above-quoted biblical writings indicate that it had in some way come to be believed on the earth that Michael was in fact a powerful Archangel, when in fact He was all along the Son of GOD. The writer to the Hebrews clarified this misunderstanding when he wrote of the Son: “When He had by Himself purged our sins, [He] sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high: being made so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name then they. For unto which of the angels said HE at any time? Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee” (Heb. 1:3-4; cf. Ps. 2:6-12). HE had not uttered it to any of them. The fact that the Son of GOD had become known under the name Michael the Archangel was explained by Apostle John in his Revelation, in which he disclosed that Christ “had a name written that no man knew but He Himself” (Rev. 19:12).

It is apparent that Daniel would not likely have known that the spiritual entity at that time known as Michael the Archangel was actually the Son of GOD, destined to subsequently manifest as Jesus Christ of Nazareth. It would only have been known to him if Gabriel had disclosed it to him. There is no credible evidence that Gabriel had done so.

The sacrificial blood of lambs had never been able to bring about salvation, “But Christ has come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building: neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” (Heb. 9:11-12) The writer to the Hebrews added, “Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself to appear in the presence of GOD for us” (Heb. 9:24). “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto GOD by Him, seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25). He holds the eternal Priesthood of GOD, granted to Him by GOD the Father when He had incarnated as Melchizedek – king of Salem, or Jerusalem – and brought forth bread and wine with which to bless Abraham It became a sacred ritual He long afterward, as Jesus Christ, established as the Holy Sacrament, the Eucharist.

Series to be Continued in Message 15 of Book One - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF.

Message Thirteen - Book One - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

When GOD spoke through HIS Prophet Malachi, HE carefully constructed a foundation on which to reveal that HE planned to merge HIS chosen people, Israel, with the Gentiles, under the Leadership of he Son of GOD:

“Behold, I will send my messenger; and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord whom ye shall seek, shall suddenly come into His temple), even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appears? for He is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap; And He shall sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.” (Mal. 3:1-4)

Then, after having promised that the offering of Judah and Jerusalem was to once again be pleasant, as in times past, GOD declared:

“I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob ARE NOT CONSUMED. Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, but ye said, Wherein shall we return?” (Mal. 3:6-7)

GOD responded by rhetorically asking, “Will a man rob GOD? But ye have robbed me. But ye ask, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings,” HE replied. (Mal. 3:8). GOD’s chosen people had apparently been failing to fulfill the the requirement that certain tithes were to be paid to adequately support the Levitical Priesthood and temple rituals. Thus the Lord chastised them, saying, “Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring me the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, the Lord replied, if I will not open to you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing,, that there shall not be room enough to hold it.” (Mal. 3:8-9).

God then disclosed what HE would do in return for HIS people if they would be obedient to HIM: “I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightful land. Your words have been strong against me, yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee? (Mal. 3:11-13).

GOD’S reply was swift and to the point: “Ye have said that it is vain to serve GOD: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts? And that now we call the proud happy; yea , they that tempt GOD are even delivered!” (Mal. 14-15). GOD had been patiently enduring HIS chosen peoples’ spiritual misconduct for centuries. He had repeatedly warned them twice sent them into harsh exiles, but the time had come for an even moe radical change on the earth. It was being announced to a particular gathering of the Lord’s chosen people addressed by Prophet Malachi. It is evident from what the Lord declared through HIS Prophet that this gathering was composed of souls that had previously incarnated and reincarnated through the centuries from the time of the fall of Adam and Eve.

It is biblically reported that among those present during this momentous prophesy by Prophet Malachi were some “who feared the Lord, and spoke often to one another: that the Lord paid attention to them, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon HIS name” (Mal. 3:16). But that was not the conclusion of the matter: the Lord then uttered a declaration that forever removed any doubt about the fact that there has been a pattern of reincarnation at work among mankind’s generations from the time of Adam and Eve.

Referring to those who feared GOD and thought upon HIS name, the Lord, speaking through Malachi, then continued: “And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son that serves him. THEN SHALL YE RETURN and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serves GOD and him that serves HIM not.” (Mal. 3:17-18).

At least certain ones of those addressed by Prophet Malachi did return in accordance with GOD’s promises, resulting in the merger of those souls that had incarnated and reincarnated as Israelites through the centuries. They were those who had “feared the Lord and thought upon His name”; about whom that book of remembrance had been written” (Mal. 3:16-17). The New Covenant, promised by GOD through Prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 31:31-34) had been fulfilled, and with it came the end of the Hebraic Age with the merger of Jews and Gentiles. It was accordingly thereafter written:

“There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek; for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For WHOSOEVER shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Rom. 10:11-12)

In accordance with this change, Apostle Peter, speaking of Jesus Christ, declared: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we are able to be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

Series to be Continued in Message 14 of Book One, SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF.

Message Twelve - Book One - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

Speaking through HIS Prophet Malachi, GOD castigated certain of HIS chosen children declaring that HE had loved HIS people, yet they had asked, How had HE loved them? HE explained that Esau was Jacob’s brother, but that HE loved Jacob, whereas HE hated Esau so much that HE had laid his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. In the face of that, HE explained, Esau’s impoverished people had obstinately declared that they would return and rebuild their desolated places But the Lord declared that even as swiftly as they would rebuild it, HE would throw down again: that HE would have indignation against them, even while GOD Himself would be magnified. (Mal. 1:1-5)

HE accused the Levitical priests of despising HIS name, and yet, HE, declared, they had asked, how had they despised HIS name? He responded by explaining that they had offered polluted bread upon HIS altar, while at the same time asserting that the table of the Lord is contemptible. The Lord asked, “If ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is that not evil? – and HE added, “if you were to offer it to your governor, would he be pleased, or would he accept you?” (Mal. 6-8).

HE then gave a clue that HE had in mind bringing the Gentiles into the fold with HIS already chosen children of Israel: “For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles: and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen,” saith the Lord of Hosts. But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, ‘The table of the Lord is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even HIS meat, is contemptible.’.”But cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a male, and vows and sacrifices it unto the Lord a corrupt thing.” (Mal. 1:11-14). In that way, GOD suggested that HE planned to send HIS Son into the earth plane as Adam, who would latter incarnate as Jesus of Nazareth, GOD’s perfected “sacrificial lamb,” after He had been perfected in the temptations of the earth plane. The Son was predestined to replace GOD’s former establishment of the negative Archangel Satan – whom HE had, at some previous time designated covering angel over the earth. GOD had done this at a time when Satan was perfect in his ways (Ezek. 28:13-16), but after disobedient negativity was found in him, GOD had decided to remove him from any empowerment whatever (Ezek. 28:16-19). The Son of GOD entered into the earth dimension as Adam – along with his binary soul mate, Eve — destined to replace Satan.

After having spoken through Malachi against Esau and Edom, and derided the attitude of HIS chosen people, GOD then directed HIS remarks toward the Levitical priests, saying, “This commandment is for you. If you will not hear, and if you will not take it to heart to give glory unto my name, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will corrupt your seed…and you shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi. My covenant was with him of life and peace: and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared, and he was afraid before my name. The law of truth was in his mouth and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and turned many away from iniquity.” (Mal. 2:1-6).

“The priests’ lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But you have departed out of the way: you have caused many to stumble at the law: you have corrupted the covenant of Levi. Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.” (Mal. 2:7-9).

Then the one who had spoken these words asked a hugely important rhetoricalquestion: “Have we not all one Father? Has not one GOD created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother by profaning the covenant of our fathers? (Mal. 2:10).

Prophet Malachi, having noted GOD’s dissatisfaction with Esau and the Levitical Priesthood, also pointed out that even Judah – upon whose Tribe and success the New Covenant depended – “hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved, and has married the daughter of a strange god.” (Mal. 2:11).

This of course referred to events described in Genesis Chapter Twenty Eight, relating that Judah had undertaken an affair with Shuah – a Canaanite who was not under the mantle of Jacob’s spirituality – and had fathered three sons by her, none off whom were satisfactory to the Lord, who was preparing a Divine Lineage through the tribe of Judah. The introduction into that hallowed lineage of children, not spiritually quickened and guided by GOD, was unacceptable to HIM, and marked a temporary setback in the development of the Divine Lineage that HE contemplated.. HE declared that HE would “cut off any man who made this error of judgment, even the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offered an offering unto the Lord of Hosts. “And” HE declared, “this have ye done again, covering the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that HE regards not your offering any more, nor receives it with good will at your hand.” (Mal. 2:12-13).

Then the question was asked, “Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the Lord has been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet she IS thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant! And did HE not make one [of this couple?] Yet had HE the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That HE might seek a godly seed? Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.” This sage advice is particularly important in this current period of casual sex and random physical relationships between unmarried couples. who knowingly and intentionally risk pregnancies in which spiritual considerations are set aside in favor of satisfying carnal flesh desires; which has negative effects upon children in current and future generations.

Observing the effects of these degrading influences on HIS Children, GOD lamented through HIS Prophet Malachi, “Ye have wearied me with your words, Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied HIM? When ye say that everyone that does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and that HE delights in them: or, aske: Where is the GOD of judgment?”.

By Prophet Malachi’s time countless numbers of souls had incarnated and reincarnated, spending the days of their lives on the earth in flesh bodies, then dying in the flesh, their souls passing into another dimension, either having completed their states of spiritual perfection in the world, or passing into what has been called “the inter-between” to await further incarnations, or some other appropriate disposition.

Series to be Continued in Message 13 of Book One - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF.

Message Eleven - Book One - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

The importance of an extremely strong spiritual relationship bonding husband and wife is twice emphasized in the book of Genesis. When Isaac charged his son Jacob, admonishing him, “Thou shalt not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan (Gen. 28:1, 6), he signaled a warning to Jacob that he should be careful in selecting his wife. And, when Isaac blessed Jacob he sought to insure that Jacob would not take a spiritually-negative wife from Canaan, so he sent him away to Pandaram to take a wife from the family of Laban, brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau. Even despite being aware of this, Esau refused to follow that advice and instead proceeded to the house of Ishmael, taking along with him the two wives he had already married; which was not a harbinger of good spiritual things to come.

Jacob departed from Bathsheba and journeyed toward Haran, and at sunset he selected a few stones and made himself a makeshift pillow. That night he dreamed a remarkable dream that revealed to him the workings of the cyclical process of reincarnation:

“And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of GOD ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the LORD GOD of Abraham thy father, and the GOD of Isaac: the land whereupon thou lie, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed.” (Gen. 28:12-13).

It is understood that angels are souls – spirit-entities – that incarnate in the earthly flesh bodies of human beings, which enables them to undergo a series of testing experiences, which, if they pass, have the potential of their being permanently raised up into heaven: as the New Testament discloses:

“The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: neither can they die any more, for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of GOD, being the children of the resurrection.” (Lk. 20:34-36).

“Tracing the biblical disclosure of the existence of a pattern of reincarnation at work in man’s generations from its initial divulgence in Genesis 28:12-13, to Jesus’ revelation that those who are resurrected, after impliedly having passed earth testing, cannot die any more for they are equal to the angels; it is noteworthy that the cyclical process of reincarnation is confirmed in a number of other crucially-important biblical verses.

One of the most apparent and important of these was inscribed in the Book of Malachi at the time when GOD announced HIS intention of merging HIS chosen people, Israel, and the Gentiles. The Israelites had twice been sent them into Exile for disobeying GOD; the first time for twenty years and the second time for seventy years. Both of those experiences were costly to them. What GOD had in mind for them in Malachi’s time was, in effect another form of exile, involving the combining of the two mass congregations of people into one; which duly took place, causing Apostle Paul to later declare:

“There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Rom. 10:12-13)

To the Corinthians Paul declared:

“By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body [the Spirit body of Christ], whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free: and have been all made to drink into one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:11).

Paul explained how he was able to comprehend these abstract spiritual matters:

“But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which GOD has prepared for them that love HIM. But GOD has revealed them unto us by HIS spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of GOD. For what man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of GOD knows no man, but the Spirit of GOD. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of GOD; the we might know the things that are freely given to us of GOD. Things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” (1 Cor. 2:9-14).

Apostle Paul understood these deeper and more abstract spiritual truths because he had undergone spiritual rebirth on the Damascus Road, during which he had been quickened by the Spirit of GOD so he was able to communicate directly with the risen Christ; as described in detail in Acts Chapters Nine, Twenty-Two, and Twenty-Six; and had learned many of the deeper more abstract spiritual truths..

Series to be Continued in Message 12, Book One, SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF.

Message Ten - Book One - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

The extraordinary importance of the close spiritual relationship desired between husband and wife is twice exemplified and emphasized in the book of Genesis once when Isaac charged his son Jacob, admonishing him: “Thou shalt not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan (Gen. 28:1, 6) and again when Isaac blessed Jacob and sought to insure that Jacob would not select a spiritually-negative wife from Canaan. Isaac sent him away to Pandaram to marry a wife from the home of Laban; brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau. But, even though he was aware of this clear warning, Esau refused to acquiesce in it, and instead errantly proceeded to the house of Ishmael, taking along with him the two wives he had already married; which was not a good spiritual development. But Jacob knew whereof he spoke: being highly spiritualized, he was being guided, protected and directed by GOD’s Holy Spirit.

Jacob departed from Bathsheba and journeyed toward Haran, and at sunset he selected a few handy stones and made himself a makeshift pillow. That night he dreamed a remarkable dream, which is now understood to have revealed to him the workings of the cyclical process of reincarnation:

“And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of GOD ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the LORD GOD of Abraham thy father, and the GOD of Isaac: the land whereupon thou lie, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed.” (Gen. 28:12-13).

It is understood that angels are spirit-entities – souls consigned to incarnate in the earthly flesh bodies of human beings to enable them to undergo a crucially-important series of testing experiences: which, if they pass, have the potential of their being raised up permanently into GOD’s eternal heavenly Light. The New Testament discloses this connection between men’s souls and angels:

“The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of GOD, being the children of the resurrection.” (Lk. 20:34-36).

Tracing the biblical disclosure of the existence of a pattern of reincarnation at work in man’s generations from its initial divulgence in Genesis 28:12-13, to Jesus’ revelation that those who are resurrected – after impliedly having successfully passed through earth testing – cannot die any more for they are equal to the angels; it is noteworthy that the cyclical process of reincarnation is confirmed in a number of other crucially-important biblical verses.

One of the most apparent and important of these was inscribed in the Book of Malachi at the time when GOD announced HIS intention of merging HIS chosen people, Israel, with the Gentiles. The Israelites had twice been sent into Exile for disobeying GOD; the first time for twenty years and the second time for seventy years. Both of those experiences were costly to them. What GOD had in mind for them in Malachi’s time was, in effect another form of exile, involving the combining of the two congregations of people into one; which duly took place, causing the spiritually-illuminated Apostle Paul to later declare:

“There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Rom. 10:12-13)

To the Corinthians, Paul specifically declared:

“For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body [the Spirit body of Christ], whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free: and have been all made to drink into one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:11).

Paul explained how he was able to comprehend these mystical abstract spiritual matters:

“But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which GOD has prepared for them that love HIM. But GOD has revealed them unto us by HIS spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of GOD. For what man knows? the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him. Even so the things of GOD knows no man, but the Spirit of GOD. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of GOD; the we might know the things that are freely given to us of GOD. Things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” (1 Cor. 2:9-14).

Apostle Paul understood these spiritual truths because he had undergone a profound and quickening spiritual rebirth on the Damascus Road, during which he had communicated directly with the risen Christ, as described in detail in Acts Chapters Nine, Twenty-Two, and Twenty-Six, and had learned many of the deeper spiritual truths that were unknown on the earth at that time. These he revealed to the Corinthians, Galations, Ephesians and many others on the earth who had remained “natural men,” not yet having been quickened by the Christ Spirit, nor received the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth, the “Other Comforter” (Jn. 14:16-26): of whom Jesus spoke, saying:

“If you love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father, and HE shall give you another Comforter; that he may abide with you forever; Even the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither knows him: but you know him; for he dwells with you, and shall be in you These things have I spoken to you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said to you.” ((Jn. 14:16-18, 26). “It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart I will send him unto you. He will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me for he shall receive of min, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father has are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you. (Jn. 16:7, 12-16).

Series to be Continued in Message 11 of Book One, SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

Message Nine - Book One -SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

After Apostle Paul had been converted by the risen Christ’s powerful Holy Spirit Energy, during his bizarre and dramatic spiritual rebirth experience on the Damascus Road, he was filled with the Spirit of the Holy Ghost, and possessed knowledge and understanding known to few people, if any at all, on he earth. Paul then wrote letters to many in far places, and traveled widely to spread word of what he had learned through the Spirit. For example, he revealed to the Corinthians that GOD gives us a body of whatever kind that pleases HIM; and that it may be of a terrestrial temporal flesh kind or of an eternal heavenly kind (1 Cor. 1538,40). He also declared that there is a natural body and there is a spiritual body (1 Cor. 15:44); and he then touched upon a principal that had not been understood, or even considered at all, by adherents to the Darwinian Theory of Evolution, who in their time knew nothing of these abstract spiritual truths. Paul disclosed:

“And so it was written, The first man, Adam, was made a living spirit; the last Adam WAS MADE a quickening spirit. Howbeit, that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual” (1 Cor. 15:45-46). This comment embraced an idea only partially accepted on the earth at that time: that there is a pattern of reincarnation at work in the earth plane among man’s generations, which in Paul’s time was a subject of disagreement and heated debate.

Paul went on to explain that the first man, Adam, was “of the earth” – a “natural man,” not having at that early time been fully spiritualized; as was a;sp the case with His wife, Eve, but He was destined to return, as Paul described Him, “the second Adam,” Jesus of Nazareth, a fully spiritualized Being. As Paul explained to the Romans in Rom. 5:14, “Adam was the FIGURE of Him who was to come.” His soul subsequently manifested in flesh as Jesus of Nazareth – after having lived through a number of spiritualizing earth experiences; for example, as Enoch, Melchizedek, Joseph son of Jacob, etc. – after which He was spiritually quickened sufficiently to be taken up into a cloud in which He disappeared from the view of about five hundred of His Apostles and Disciples, and was seated in heaven at GOD’s right hand – as the Bible confirms in Heb. 12:3.

A miraculous metamorphic change of an ethereal kind had taken place – as described in 1 Cor. 15:45 – transforming the body of Jesus into a new and eternal indestructible form – unifying His flesh with the spirit-energy of His soul, combining them into an eternal composition able to be raised up into heaven in the Presence of GOD. This is better understood in light of the knowledge of science, which has learned that matter is not what it was once presumed to be: a solid substance composed of atoms. Actually it dissolves into particle streams of diverse frequencies and wavelengths; which is another subject entirely.

Once a spirit-soul is incarnated into a human body, it takes on the form of that body. For example, the aura often observed around human beings is the spirit-soul within that body – the eternal generally-invisible part of it which lives on after the flesh body expires and is unable to support life in the dense earth plane. This spirit energy is essential to human life: as Apostle James disclosed, the body without the spirit is dead (Jas. 2:26.

Humans tend to believe that they are wholly composed of matter: that there is nothing more to them; which misunderstanding led to the misapprehensions of Darwinists, who are utterly convinced that they have entirely explained the origins of homo sapiens. In fact, it is known that an invisible spirit-body is incarnated within man’s three-dimensional flesh body – his “inner being” that enters into him at about the time of birth, and departs when his flesh body in no longer able to support life, so the soul within it must vacate and go elsewhere. As the writer to the Hebrews revealed, at the time of flesh death, this soul body is compelled to undergo a contemporary judgment (Heb. 9:27), ostensibly to assess its spiritual condition as of that time, that it may be determined where it will be guided from there. This constitutes a preliminary way-station along the Way Made Passable by Christ the Son of GOD, from the entrapment of souls in the earth dimension, that they may be “raised up” to where He is, to be “received unto Him,” that they may ever be with Him where He is (Jn. 14:1-4).

As demonstrated by Howard Storm, during a remarkable near death experience: when a flesh body dies – and at the time it took place, Howard’s body no long exhibited any signs of physical life – it does undergo a contemporary judgment! Howard found that he was unable to “enter into the heavenly gate” until he was able to indicate sufficiently in some way that he had faith and belief in Jesus Christ. He was held in abeyance until he recalled that during that current earth experience he had come to understand some things from the Bible that indicated his belief in Jesus Christ. At that point he was still not allowed to pass through the heavenly gate, but was permitted to return to his flesh body. He forthwith change his entire life, and was ordained as a minister of Jesus Christ’s! He had finally seen that, as biblically inscribed, the risen Christ is THE DOOR into heaven (Jn. 10:9).

During each earth flesh experience, the soul incarnated within it either makes spiritual gains, or suffers spiritual losses, which have an independent effect upon its karmic condition. For example, by patiently helping others while remaining kind, thoughtful, meek and humble – above all obedient to GOD and HIS Son – the more a soul is “quickened” by Holy Spirit Energy. When it reaches the level of spirituality where it is acceptable for eternal life in heavenly dimensions, then it is “made like the angels” (Mt. 22-30; Mk. 12:25; Lk. 20:36)

It is thus understood that souls reside on earth infused in flesh bodies for as long as they are able to remain physically alive and active. They are actually dual-natured creatures: remaining unspiritualized for as long as they remain “natural men,” unable to “receive the good things of the Spirit of GOD, which seem like foolishness to them. They cannot receive them because such matters are only spiritually discerned (1 Cor. 2:14). It was only after Saul of Tarsus underwent spiritual baptism by the Christ Spirit, and received the Holy Ghost, that his name was changed to Paul, and he understood the dramatic spiritual truths which he was given. He then communicated these enlightening truths to everyone he could contact who would receive them.

Series to be Continued in Message 10 of Book One, SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

Message Eight - Book One - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

The Bible relates what took place on the earth when men began to increase their numbers by mating randomly with un-spiritualized women, taking wives who were fair and to whom they were attracted physically and sexually, much more so than for their spirituality (Gen. 6:2). The Scripture discloses that this practice was not what GOD had in mind when HE created man. Un-spiritualized, sexually-driven couples would inevitably reproduce generations of carnally- oriented children like themselves, thereby increasingly corrupting man’s generations with individuals moving ever farther away from their spiritual foundations, rather than closer to GOD. If this were to continue, it would ultimately result in disaster because man’s destiny is to move away from his temporal carnal earthly condition as “natural men,” and toward a spiritual state; as Apostle Paul observed after his spiritual rebirth experience on the Damascus Road. Man’s earth mission was to prepare himself that he might be “raised up” into one of GOD’s many heavenly “mansions” Jn. 14:1-4 – in particular into the heavenly place where Christ the Son of GOD is to receive those who believe in Him and have Faith in Him as their Savior. Aware of what was transpiring on the earth, GOD reportedly declared:

“My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he ALSO is flesh” (Gen. 6:3)

It is clear from that all-important verse that man’s flesh body is the less-important “also” part of him: the implication being that his spirit-soul is far and away the most important part of his being. It was biblically inscribed in Noah’s time the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that HE had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And HE said, “I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth; both man and beast, and the creeping thing and the fowls of the air; for it repents me that I have made them.” (Gen. 6:5-7). Apostle Paul, after his spiritual illumination on the Damascus Road, explained to the Corinthians: “For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in the earth (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but one GOD, the Father, of whom ARE all things, and we IN HIM; and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom ARE all things” (1 Cor. 8:5-6).

Man had, from the time of Adam, been ignorant of the fact that his soul was composed of the Spirit of GOD, and had let himself be driven by his sexual desires, rather than to seek Divine Guidance to find and marry a spiritualized soul mate – if possible the “wife of his youth” (Prov. 5:18) – the spiritualized “binary soul” with whom he had incarnated from the time of their first earth incarnations. These two, appropriately mated, have prospects of bringing into world extremely spiritualized children. Thus, if man’s generations were to continue to predominantly emphasize sexual pleasures at the expense of the spiritual foundations upon which he had been formed by GOD – who IS a Spirit (John 4:24) – he had no better future prospects than the animals around him on the earth. It was a hard lesson to learn, and the impasse that had resulted threatened to expunge man’s generations at a very early stage of his manifestations on the earth. Until man learns that he cannot predominantly give bent to his sexual desires, he will remain under threat of extinction. GOD has made HIS position clear in respect to the sanctity of marriage; for example He reportedly criticized Judah son of Jacob, saying:

“Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved, and has married the daughter of a strange god.. The Lord will cut off the man that does this…yet ye say, wherefore? Because the Lord has been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously; yet she is thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. And did HE not make one? Yet had HE the residue of the Spirit. And wherefore one? That HE might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.” (Mal. 2:11-16).

Noah was incarnated on earth at the very time when GOD had about made up HIS Mind to terminate man’s generations because he was paying heed to his carnal desires but not focusing upon propagating spiritualized children. The Bible reveals that Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations, and that he walked with GOD as noted in Gen. 6:9. But, aware of man’s un-spiritual ways, GOD declared to Noah, “All flesh is come before ME, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth” (Gen. 6:13). At that point, man’s fate hung in the balance as GOD decided to test Noah’s faith and belief in HIM. HE described in meticulous detail how Noah was to build a huge ark spacious enough to house multitudes of creatures. On faith, Noah did as he was commanded, with the result that Noah and members of his family were saved when a disastrous Flood was brought upon the earth.

It was subsequently inscribed by the Hebrews writer: “By faith, Noah, being warned of GOD of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” (Heb. 11:7)

Apostle Peter revealed that eight souls were saved in the Ark from the waters of the Flood (1 Pet. 4:20), and that “GOD spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the EIGHTH person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.” (2 Pet. 2:5).

Peter declared that GOD had saved Noah, whom he asserted was “the eighth person” in the Divine Lineage. And when Peter – with the Holy Ghost in him – disclosed that Noah was the eighth man in the lineage leading from Adam to Jesus of Nazareth, he subtly divulged an important spiritual truth. The Bible reveals that there are actually NINE individuals in the Divine Lineage leading from Adam to Noah – as biblically revealed in Gen. 5:5-29. Peter obviously knew that two of those nine individuals could not – in the spiritual sense – be considered merely “persons,” within the meaning of Acts 10:34; which discloses that “GOD is no respecter of persons.” By definition a “person” is an un-spiritualized “natural man”like those described by Apostle Paul in 1 Cor. 2:9-14. Therefore, Peter’s mathematics were not in error: in fact, he was obviously aware that two of those named in the Divine Lineage from Adam to Noah, ranked vastly higher than the others. Both Adam and Enoch were flesh manifestations – in different times – of the Son of GOD. The Holy Bible thus subtly reveals that among the nine individuals enumerated in the Book of Genesis from Adam to Noah, two are remarkable earth incarnations of the Son of GOD!

Series to be Continued in Message 9, Book One, SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

Message Seven - Book One - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

It is understood that at some point – many years after Saul son of Kish, first king of Israel, had passed away – his soul reincarnated on earth as Saul of Tarsus, and he underwent a profound spiritual rebirth experience on the Damascus Road. This is understood by those of whom Saul wrote after his spiritual rebirth on the Damascus Road – those who are no longer “natural men,” but have been spiritualized by the Christ Spirit and have received the Holy Ghost – so they are able to “receive the good things of GOD” (1 Cor. 2:14). Saul – later renamed Paul because of his conversion – was shocked and confused by a visitation from the Spirit of the risen Christ; as related in the Book of Acts, Chapters 9, 22, and 26. It was an example of how Jesus Christ’s powerful Holy Spirit – which the Bible discloses He receives from GOD His Father without any limitation (Jn. 3:34) – was predestined to profoundly influence His Disciples after He had been taken up into the highest of heavenly dimensions to His heavenly Father’s right hand and empowered. It is there that souls – when they are sufficiently perfected and quickened – are to be taken up where He is – as Apostle John disclosed, recorded in Jn. 14:1-4. The infusion of the Christ Spirit Energy into Saul – later named Paul – spiritually quickened and illuminated him, enabling him to communicate with Christ directly, through and by the Holy Ghost.

At this point, our focus is upon the biblical disclosure that Apostle Paul became the last Apostle – last of the reincarnated “fourteen preeminent sons of Jacob” – to be called and chosen by the risen Christ after His empowerment over heaven and the earth:

“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” (Mt. 28:18).

Eleven of Jesus’ chosen Twelve, His closest Apostles, had been called by Him while He was among them on earth in the flesh. But, although Paul was then incarnated as Saul of Tarsus, he had not been called by the risen Christ because he had remained a “natural man” (1 Cor. 2:1-14). not having accepted Christ as his Lord, and in fact had worked against Him, persecuting His followers. The risen Christ had appeared to His other Apostles, but Paul was the last:

“And last of all He was seen by me also, as one born out of time. For I am the least of the Apostles, not meet to be called an Apostle because I persecuted the church of GOD.” (1 Cor. 15:8-9).

Paul was not called sooner because He had rejected Christ and His New Covenant. But the Christ Spirit nevertheless subsequently descended upon Paul on the Damascus Road, so that he received startling revelational information through the Spirit from the Son of GOD by the Holy Ghost (Gal. 1:11-12). Among many other enlightening spiritual truths, Paul was shown, and taught others, that there is one Lord [Christ the Son of GOD], one faith, and one baptism, and one GOD and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all (Ephesians 4:5-6).

The one baptism distinguished above all others by Paul is that of the Holy Ghost, as had been promised by GOD through Jesus Christ at the time He was taken up into heaven and received in a cloud (Acts 1:9). At that time Christ had declared::

“John [the Baptist] truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” (Acts 1:5).

Baptism by water conducted by a human being – presumably someone of a high spiritual nature – represents a sincere attempt by a carnal human being to receive GOD’s Holy Spirit Energy, thus to be converted into the Spirit-mode – to be no longer a “natural man,” but to be spiritualized by GOD’s Holy Spirit, flowing from HIM through Christ His Son into those able to receive it. Baptism by a highly spiritualized human being using water – in the manner of John the Baptist – was superseded by the direct soul-quickening infusion of the Holy Ghost. The difference between these two forms of baptism is immense: as was illustrated by the biblical description of what took place in the life of Saul of Tarsus at a time when he was persecuting Jesus’ followers. Saul was negative, but the Lord knew him, and knew that his intentions were good: that he had unwittingly turned against Christ because he had not been updated about Christ’s New Covenant. He was acting in a state of spiritual ignorance and unbelief (1 Tim. 1:12-14) The Lord abruptly converted Saul, changing his name to Paul, calling him and choosing him as an Apostle, and converted him one day on the Damascus Road.

This became the pattern of conversion for Jews and Gentiles alike as they spent their days incarnated on the earth. Many would remain unknowing about what had transpired when Christ was raised up to GOD’s right hand and empowered over heaven and the earth. But those who were spiritually quickened could hope to receive, and be illuminated by, the Holy Spirit of the risen Christ and by the Holy Ghost – as had Saul of Tarsus who, from above, was renamed Paul of Tarsus, and designated the last Apostle called by Jesus Christ: There were Twelve Apostles designated, but many more Disciples who have since received the Holy Ghost:

“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you.” (Jn. 14:26).

Unlike the residual fossil remains of human beings buried in the earth – by which may be traced the physical evolution of man’s past flesh manifestations – the soul within man is not visibly traceable. It cannot be held in the hands, or yet studied in a laboratory, being composed of ethereal Energy existent in vibrational ranges beyond man’s ability to as yet discern.

“By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city which had foundations, whose builder and maker is GOD.” (Heb. 11:8-10).

Series to be Continued in Message 8 of Book One of SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

Message Six - Book One - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

It is readily apparent that any successful developmental program implies a reason for its existence, and as well suggests that some kind of mind was able to conceive of it, and to oversee and conduct it as it passes through its incremental developmental stages, enabling it to overcome entropy as it progresses toward fulfillment of its intended goals. The word “entropy” is here used to describe resistant forces that retard the advancement of any systematic progression by intervening into it to block or divert its advancement. In mankind’s spiritual development, satanic influences retard mank’s advancement from his carnal “natural state” toward his spiritually perfected state – as Apostle Paul described to the Corinthians after his own spiritual rebirth by the Christ Spirit and the Holy Ghost (1 Cor. 2:9-14).

It is accordingly evident that, to the extent any systematic progression demonstrates improvement, there is implicit within it a predisposition to some effective forethought, guidance and protection by which entropy is being effectively overcome; in order that the process may proceed toward ultimate perfection of its purpose. Without some goal marking completion, no program has a basis for its existence. Yet none of these factors afford any part of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution: which simply observes and compares residual fossil remains marking the developmental physical pathway followed by man from early times. These tangible fossil remnants have lasted through the centuries, clearly showing changes that have taken place in man’s physical development. Unquestionably, the eminent Dr. Charles Darwin has traced this progression in precise terms, affording us valuable information about how man’s physical body has changed through the centuries. But there is much more to the matter that he altogether failed to consider.

It needs to be kept in mind that multitudes of other individuals interested in man’s creation have, through the ages, been observing and investigating other invisible and immaterial aspects of man, which – although unseen by the human eye – point to the presence in man’s physical body of another crucially important invisible part of him. This is understood to be a super-powerful energy form existent at the level of creation, known in spiritual circles as Spirit Energy; or Light Energy, for want of a more accurate descriptive term.

Scientific has been investigating energy forms for a long while, but much remains to be learned. Tiny particles and waves have been identified that are so abstract as to be impossible to observe effectively, much less examine them or test their characteristics. Suffice it to say that very little is known about the roles played in man’s overall development by such virtually invisible and hard to examine energies.

What is surprising to many scientific minds is that certain known and understood qualities and characteristics of energy fit very well into biblical writings; as well as principles derived from them. The Bible discloses that GOD is a Spirit (Jn. 4:24), which implies that HE is composed of Spirit-Energy. And it further intimates that HE is above all, through all, and in us all (Eph. 4:6); which affords the understanding that GOD exists in dimensions much higher and more ethereal, than our human flesh bodies; yet that HIS Spirit-Energy is composed of the same or similar immaterial “stuff” of which human spirit-souls are made. This makes sense, because GOD is certainly invisible to man, at least in his present carnal state and comparatively un-spiritualized condition. However, it should not be overlooked that highly-spiritualized individuals on the order of Moses, Jesus of Nazareth and GOD’s Prophets have in the past reported communicating directly with HIM.

It is clear that divers energy forms exist of which man is only now beginning to learn about. Just how much he may be able to learn is itself unknown, but according to the Bible, there is a limit.. It was long ago written:

“GOD has made every thing beautiful in HIS time: also HE has set the world in their heart so that no man can find out the work that GOD makes from the beginning to the end.” (Eccles. 3:11)

It may well be that GOD Himself, being the Mind and Spirit Energy of creation, has made it impossible, by HIS design, for flesh human beings, in their present form and carnal condition, to comprehend details of their own creation beyond a certain point. But Apostle Paul, who underwent a profound illuminating spiritual rebirth experience on the Damascus Road, during which many spiritual mysteries were disclosed to him, wrote:

“For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” (1 Cor. 13:12).

This comment suggests further life and experiences after death of the flesh body. It is understood that the spiritual aspect of man is a part of his invisible spirit-soul, so that we are obliged to accept spiritual truths in faith and belief. The writer to the Hebrews asserted that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” and that it is “through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of GOD – the Son of GOD – so that things which were seen were not made of things which do appear.” (Heb. 11:1,3).

The Bible reports that “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found because GOD had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased GOD. But without faith it is impossible to please HIM: for HE that comes to GOD must believe that HE is, and that HE is a rewarder of them that diligently seek HIM.” (Heb. 11:5-6).

Series to be Continued in Message 7, Book One, SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

Message Five - Book One - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

The principal difference between Darwin’s Theory and the many biblical writings addressing man’s manifestation in flesh on the earth can be resolved when it is understood that the two approaches to the subject address it from entirely different viewpoints. Darwin focused on the development of man’s flesh body, whereas biblical writings delve into his spiritual aspect. Apostle James intimated that the soul is of predominant importance over the flesh:

“The body without the spirit is dead” (James 2:26)

Conversely, a spirit without a flesh body to enfold, move and direct has life of a spiritual kind, but it has no vehicle to permit it to function effectively in the earth dimension. A spirit entity attempting to move a material object would simply pass through it, unable to move, guide or direct it. Man, composed of flesh, is directed by his thinking apparatus: his mind, which is innately connected to his body. But if he was relegated to rely solely upon his carnal mind to direct him in all matters, he would indeed be no more than an animal. A man who acts solely on his carnal flesh-induced impulses can easily become as no more than an animalistic and as barbaric as a serial killer. It is his conscience that keeps him from barbarism, and his conscience is an integral part of his spirit. This explains why GOD – the Bible tells us HE is a Spirit (Jn. 4:24) – spoke through HIS Prophet Jeremiah to advise HIS people of Israel and Judah that He would make a new covenant with them. It was not to be like the former written laws, but was to be infused into them as a matter of Spirit-Energy, “written into their inward parts and in their hearts” (Jer. 31:31-34) This Spirit of the Son of GOD was designed to replace the written laws of Moses with salvation by the quickening of the soul as the result of Faith and belief in Jesus Christ, who was sent by GOD for that very purpose. The Book of Hebrews explains the applicable basic principles of this transitional change.

Biblical writings leave no doubt that man has a spirit-soul incarnated within him, and that his conscience is a crucially important part of it. Those who are spiritualized with GOD’S Holy Spirit Energy – made available through and by the Son of GOD, who manifested on earth as Jesus of Nazareth – are instinctively able to discern the difference between right and wrong. But the spirit and the flesh are at odds with one another, which caused Christ to caution:

“Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mt. 26:41)

It is the spirit-soul in man that distinguishes him from all other earthly animal creatures populating the earth. It is very likely that they have souls which are not the same as human souls. According to the Bible, the human soul is composed of a portion of GOD’s Holy Spirit, and of HIS Son, his Maker as explained by Apostle Paul to the Corinthians, after his illumination by the Christ Spirit and the infusion of the Holy Ghost in himk:

“But to us there is but one GOD, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in HIM; and one Lord Jesus the Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him.” (1 Cor. 8:6).

These above spiritual considerations were, of course, not addressed in the Darwinian Theory, but there is an accommodation by which the two disparate views may be brought in resonant harmony. It devolves upon the developmental principle that any system of goal-oriented progress, by its very existence, intrinsically implies a form of guidance toward some ideal intended fruitful conclusion. On the other hand, any unguided, unprotected system, left to the ebbs and flows of random chance, will in time inevitably deteriorate and succumb due to the continual interjection into it of unfit units not in harmony with its ideal preconceived goals.

For example, every farmer knows that a garden planted and then left uncultivated will soon become choked and overcome by weeds. Maine humorist C. L. Dinsmore once wrote that his son planted an experimental garden and let it grow up entirely on its own to see if the vegetable plants could outgrow the weeds. However, when he ventured out a few weeks later to check the results he was unable to locate his garden! His goal had been to grow vegetables, but without effective cultivation to keep the project on track it fell victim to distracting intervening forces.

The question is thus by implication posed: how is it possible that mankind came into existence on the earth and has been able to advance though the centuries to the point that he has become aware that there is an eternal part of him, his soul, that does not die when his flesh body ages to the point it is no longer able to support life? If that invisible eternal spiritual part of man is not able to subsequently reincarnate in the flesh body of a newborn infant somewhere down the road of time, it obviously has no way to continue its spiritual self-development. That being the case, how can it hope to fulfill its earth mission of overcoming earth’s temptations so it may attain to eternal life in GOD’s Light? And if a man does not understand that there is a GOD, what hope does he have of attaining to eternal life after his earthly days of testing and travail are finished? Under Jesus Christ’s New Covenant, belief and faith are principal requirements:

“By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found because GOD had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, the he pleased GOD. But without faith it is impossible to please HIM: for he that comes to GOD must believe that HE is, and that HE a rewards them that diligently seek HIM.” (Heb. 11:5-6)

The Darwinian Theory does not address man’s spirituality at all, he having intellectually focused entirely upon the origins of man’s physical body. Apostle Paul, after his spiritual illumination on the Damascus Road, addressed the Ephesians, saying of Christ: “For through Him we both [Jews and Gentiles] have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now, therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of GOD; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone. In whom all the building fitly framed together grows unto an holy temple of the Lord: in whom you also are built together for an habitation of GOD through the Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:18-22)

Series to be Continued in Message 6 in Book One, SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

Message Four - Book One - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

Incontrovertible masses of evidence supported Darwin’s Theory of man’s manifestation on the earth from the time it was published, asserting that the evolution of man had proceeded under the umbrella of physical laws. But those familiar with biblical writings understood that it applies only insofar as the development of his flesh body is concerned. It says nothing of the spirit in man. The Theory simply hypothesizes that man somehow sprang up from some carnal animal ancestry so long ago that it is barely discernable now, long after the evolutionary chain that eventually led to his appearance had started running its course. Man’s physical development, however, appears to be satisfactorily explained by the Darwin Theory, as far as it goes. The problem is that it doesn’t go far enough: it does not include consideration of man’s all-important spiritual aspect.

Other thinkers than Darwinists have not held the view that man’s flesh being constitutes the main part of his being. Centuries ago the story of a man named Job was recorded, in which it was written:

“There is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty gives them understanding.” (Job 32:8).

This brief message was inscribed in comparatively primitive times: long before Charles Darwin was born and before science had made the study of fossils feasible, But it considers man more than simply a physical being: it intimates that within his flesh body there resides an invisible part that in some way connects him to a to a vastly higher being than himself: a being from which he can receive knowledge, understanding, and even eternal life. This idea became a part of the New Testament when it was written of Jesus Christ:

“Then opened He their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures” (Lk. 24:45).

The above-quoted passage was inscribed a long while before the Darwinian Theory was conceived and published. It intimated that man’s physical flesh body was not the sole aspect of him: that there was an invisible Spirit-portion incarnated in his flesh body which was not visible to the human eye, but which was the prospectively eternal part of him. It was prospective, because in its carnal form, human flesh was temporal: it needed to be spiritualized by the powerful Spirit of GOD, by means of a direct linkage from HIM that extended into the material earth dimension. In way of a parallel explanation: until an electric light wire is plugged into the electric socket, there is no power to the bulb, and physical man remain in darkness. But in this analogy, the source of all-powerful Spirit-Energy is GOD, from Whom it flows into Christ HIS Son, and from Him into those fortunate carnal souls who are “quickened” to receive the Christ Spirit Energy – as did Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus Road – as biblically documented in Acts Chapters 9, 22, and 26. They are converted from “natural men” to spiritualized men ( 1 Cor. 2:9-14), enabled to “receive the good things of God.”

These and myriads of other such writings have been recorded through the centuries, but modern-day scientists and theorists who have accepted the Darwinian Theory as a correct and full as explanation of man’s origins in the earth plane, have turned a blind eye to them. Able to see residual vestiges of the development of man’s flesh body through the ages, they fail to understand the much more abstract fact that the body is a material temporal housing that enfolds man’s all-important spirit-soul. This delineation is not easily perceived, but it is extremely important because the flesh body dies at the end of each earth flesh experience and undergoes a contemporary judgment to determine it course from that point (Heb. 9:27). The spirit-soul, at the time of death of its flesh container, is understood to depart from the body and enter into a dimension known to some as the inter-between – a holding point where it remains until it is decided in higher dimensions what the next step is to be in its spiritual development. When it has reached a state of perfection acceptable for it to attain to eternal life in GOD’s Light, it is no longer required to “go out” from heavenly Light dimensions into the earth plane. There are “many mansions,”as Apostle John disclosed, recorded in Jn. 14:1-4.

These matters lie quite beyond the ken of scientists who routinely study causes and effects. They are as yet unable to scientifically investigate the Spirit-Energy of which souls are understood to be composed, because it is Creative Light Energy, as yet existent beyond man’s ability to isolate and study it under laboratory conditions. He is learning more about the various components of energy all the while, but there is still much more remaining unknown. This suggests that biblical writings have a probability of being true and correct in the sense that they expound the idea that “GOD is a Spirit” (Jn. 4:24); a sublime Energy existent “Above all, through all and in us all” (Eph. 4:6). Granted, these matters cannot be observed by the naked eyes – as can the fossilized remains of people who lived long ago — they are abstract and invisible. But there is a substantial spiritual basis for their consideration.

If we simply accept man’s flesh body as being the whole of him, leaving aside prospects that become apparent when the above biblically-recorded principles are considered, then we are compelled to accept the idea that homo sapiens is no more than the result of a materialistic evolutionary progression occurring randomly without any other purpose than to sustain man’s generations on the earth. In that case he has no more to look forward to than to routinely pass through his earth experiences without any more hopeful expectations.

But there is an accommodation affording an linkage between the Darwinian Theory and biblically-recorded spiritual principles that makes it possible to bring these disparate views into harmony.

Series to be continued in Message 5 of Book One, SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

Message Three - Book One: “SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF”

At the time when the eminent Charles Darwin presented his Evolutionary Theory, it found a ready reception in the scientific community and many quickly hearkened to the clarion call of what was, on its face, patently convincing evidence. These eager and curious researchers took up the trail he had opened, and with painstaking care traced evidential leads back to some infinitesimal seemingly ambiguous cells that had somehow sparked into life countless millennia ago. These patient investigators meticulously assembled residual pieces of archaeological and biological bits and pieces of vestigial linkages, until at length an evolutionary pattern of development ostensibly leading to the manifestation of flesh-man, stood as much as proved: even to many of a religious nature ,who had remained staunch doubters. But in the minds of theological scholars, that which had not been proved, outweighed what appeared to be so convincingly and conclusively demonstrated to the scientifically-minded, who sought some clear-cut material kind of explanation to explain, beyond the shadow of a doubt, the reason and purpose for man’s manifestation on the earth.

What had been advanced in the Darwinian Theory left much to be desired by many, who perceived that it proposed an inglorious past and future for man; portraying him as the fortuitous product – or even the mere byproduct – of an incredible evolutionary process which, seemingly, had randomly proceeded through the ages according to certain mystical laws of nature, not responding to any understood or known forces of energy, yet inexorably advancing without any apparent fixed ideals or goals, which established it as an earthly anomaly.

By such a reckoning, man has simply evolved in an apparently random way, advancing from simple creatures low on the evolutionary scale, into increasingly more complex ones; doing so in some inexplicable and indefinable way Each generation, it was theorized, had in some abstract improbable way been “naturally selected,” the sole standard of development being the ability of each individual to survive better than its competitors in earth’s conditions. The theory proposes no higher cause for the development of man than his out-survive his earthly competitors.. According to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, as science presents it, man has been in some way programmed to reside on the earth for a while until physical death in some way overtakes and dispatches him, seemingly without a care or extension of preferential treatment distinguishing him from even the simplest and most carnal of life forms. Spiritually-inclined people unanimously reacted against that which Dawwinists considered to be a fact of life.

Such an elementary sequential process suggests that each human being spends a comparatively brief experience on the earth, his physical aspect the most-important part of him; in denial of that written long ago by Job, that “There is a spirit in man” (Job 32:8), and innumerable biblical passages. According to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, a sense of consciousness pervades him as if from out of nowhere when he is born, and upon physical death he is destined to return to the same sense of nonexistence as had presumably been his condition before birth. If this be the case, each child born on the earth cannot look backward in time to any past experiences, whatever their karmic value, nor can there be any future in the earth plane or elsewhere. If such is the case, near death experiences [NDE’s], however valuable they appear, have no efficacy or usefulness to mankind.

Such an evolutionary process would insure man’s mortality beyond the shadow of a doubt, thereby rendering all human life useless and futile. Having come from nowhere, and having no place to go after death, or reason to go there, the extremely important portent of Apostle John’s disclosures in Jn. 14:1-4, would be incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial to mankind.

Considering – under Darwin’s Theory – that man is of no permanent value to himself or to others: why would a being as complex as man evolve though many periods of time, in some mysterious way systematically improving himself without reason or purpose? Of what value is his physical development if he has but one lifetime opportunity during which to express himself? And what could he possess of sufficient importance to merit expression?

If man’s advancement to his current level of knowledge and understanding has come about as the result of some ineffable conglomeration of purposeless forces – or unknown forces directed toward goals not involving potential eternal benefits to him – then his outlook is indeed bleak. In that case, he has reached a point in his development beyond which lies a hopeless void. If there is no higher dimension than the earth to which man may in some way attain in an eternal form and condition that he may enjoy life permanently, then he has reached the terminal point of a chain of development presenting no way for him to evolve further. That being the case, what does mankind have to look forward to?

On its face the evolutionary theory appears to accurately portray how flesh man came into existence, but there are other human aspects that simply cannot be fit into the Theory. There are wide variations between individuals, often so contrastingly clear cut that in extreme cases one human individual so far exceeds another as to be inexplicable. Comparison between an Albert Einstein, for example, and a member of the primitive rat tribe of Australia, is so inordinate as to render any attempt to equitably explain such an imbalance all but impossible: unless one accepts the deflating presumption that homo sapiens has been the un-exalted result of an aimless undirected evolutionary process moving haphazardly nowhere – that man is no more than an insignificant byproduct cast off from some little-known mammalian ancestry, purely as the result of randomness.

In that case – if man has no spirit-soul within him which is capable of being “quickened” by powerful Spirit-Energy forces existent in higher dimensions than the dense earth plane – he is condemned to remain lifeless after his flesh body succumbs. In which case, his earth trials, tribulations and sufferings would have been of absolutely no use to him.

Series to be continued Message 4, Book One, SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

Message Two - Book One- SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

“Entitled: Fourteen Preeminent Sons” [ A. D. H, Copyright 1985 - Revised 1988, 1990, 2007]

A comparative handful of ancient sages and prophets experienced a different kind of spiritual birth after they had resided on earth for a while. It was not the same as a physical birth, but rather spiritual in its nature often described as a “rebirth,” during which un-spiritualized “natural men” passed from a non-spiritualized state into a spiritualized form; some of which came to be known as near death experiences, or NDA’s. Jesus Christ the Son of God passed through such an experience, during which He was tempted by Satan, who tried to lure Him off the Way GOD had made passable for Him, that He might save into eternity in higher dimensions than earth the souls of men that had become trapped in the earth plane, without a way to escape. The negative archangel, Satan – whom GOD Himself had long before made “covering angel over the earth” (Ezek. 28:14-16) – had disobeyed HIM, and then blocked the return of GOD’s children to the heavenly dimensions from which they had initially departed to incarnate in the earth.

The Son of God’s experience, during His incarnation as Jesus of Nazareth, is detailed in Luke 4:1-12, which explains that Jesus was not fooled by Satan’s ploys, and went on to commence and fulfill His spirit-saving earth mission. After He was Crucified and taken up to GOD’s right hand in heaven and empowered over heaven and the earth – as biblically-noted in Mt. 38:18 – The Son then in turn quickened and empowered other beleaguered incarnated souls by spiritualizing them with His powerful Holy Spirit Energy – which was the Spirit of GOD His Father, who had created Him; as spelled-out in Psalm 2:6-12. A prime example of this spiritual cleansing process, and the startling quickening of souls going astray, is seen in the experience of Saul of Tarsus; as noted in Message One in this series. Saul, who had been persecuting Jesus’ Disciples, was stricken on the Damascus Road by the Christ Spirit, during which experience the Holy Ghost entered into Saul, radically changing him from a “natural man,” un-spiritualized, into one who, “quickened of spirit,” set about teaching the fundamental principles of Jesus’ New Covenant Gospel (1 Cor. 2:9-14). This would have before been unheard of by Saul.

Such radical mystical experiences as these generally resulted in a profound scrambling of the senses of the individual undergoing spiritual rebirth. It generally left them unbalanced, distraught and confused for a while as they accommodated their thoughts and feelings to a new and different way of viewing life. Some claimed to have experienced personal contact with beings in other realms. When the so-called age of science dawned on the earth, a man named Charles Darwin emerged from his studies to present to the world a curious and novel idea. He declared that mankind had grown up from some now uncertain transient forbears having roots extending back into the dim past. He presented substantiating evidence to back his claim that man had evolved from an unknown animal ancestry. His hypothesis was presented in a reasonable way and backed with fossil and other forms of evidence that it attracted some of the foremost minds of his time, especially from among those who sought some definitive and reasonable explanation for man’s having manifested on the earth. Spiritual rebirth experiences, and near death experiences, tended to back up such novel ideas of man’s primeval origins.

Darwin’s theory was sound as far as it went, but it failed to explain that there are many divers forces at work in the universe, and that many of them are as yet above the range of man’s perceptions, knowledge and understanding. It is understood and accepted by some, for example, that GOD is a Spirit, as biblically noted in Jn. 4:24; and that HIS Spirit-Energy is “Above all, through all, and in us all,” as Apostle Paul was shown after His illumination by the Christ Spirit on the Damascus Road (Acts Chapters 9, 22 and 26), and he thereafter taught to the Ephesians, in Eph. 4:6. What Darwin’s Theory fell short in explaining is that he was unable to distinguish any effective cause for the results he presumed he had described. The Theory laid bare a history based on fossil-evidence that supported his claims to the extent that certain primitive human-like creatures had appeared on the earth, and had over time physically evolved into different shapes and forms. Nothing was presented that indicated that there is a spirit-soul in man that dramatically distinguishes him from his forbears.

The soul is invisible, creating to some the supposition that it does not exist at all. But that presumption is an empty shell, because thoughts, ideas, electricity, and many abstract and intangible things exist without being observable to the human eye. What the brilliant Charles Darwin failed to consider is the existence – perceived by some – of a super-intelligent Spirit-Energy by which creation has taken place, and which guides, protects moves and directs those who – by belief and faith in GOD and Jesus Christ – have that Spirit imbued in them.

The Darwinian Theory was, of course, unacceptable to those who professed a belief and faith in the Intelligent Energy Force known as GOD, understood to be “above all, through all and in us all,” as before noted. These faithful believers continued in their understanding that GOD had before then brought mankind into existence – perhaps not as many eons ago as scientists had come to believe – and had even before that created untold numbers of mammals, plants and other life forms.

Of course the various church congregations were aware of the spiritual aspect of man, and that it superseded his flesh being, as clearly disclosed in the Bible:

“And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he is also flesh.” Gen. 6:3.

It is that “also” part that has given mankind so much trouble during his earth experiences! The eternal portion of man is not his flesh: it is his spirit, his soul, which – if it is quickened by GOD’s Holy Spirit Energy flowing into him from Jesus Christ the Son of GOD – converts him and “eternalizes” him from being a “natural man” into a spiritualized man, with the Holy Spirit in him; enabling him to “Receive the things of the Spirit of GOD, for they no longer seem like foolishness to him, and he can then know them, because only by the Spirit can they be discerned.” (1 Cor. 2:14).

Series to be continued in Message 3, SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

Message One - Book One- SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

“Entitled: Fourteen Preeminent Sons” [ A. D. H, Copyright 1985 - Revised 1988, 1990, 2007]

[The following Messages consist of portions of an as-yet unpublished book written in the wake of a spiritual rebirth experience, at the outset of which the author was told by a Spirit Being: "I will teach you reality and you are to write it in a series of books: we are going to a new place and we are looking for all the good ones we can find." These terse comments marked the beginning of a series of dramatic – often bizarre – occurrences of a kind that have been experienced during the conversion of many "natural men" (Cf. 1 Cor. 2:9-14) into spiritualized Christians, since GOD’s empowerment of Jesus Christ His Son over heaven and the earth (Mt. 28:18). Apostle Paul’s startling conversion by the Christ Spirit Energy on the Damascus Road during his earth experience as Saul of Tarsus, came suddenly and without warning at a time when Saul was antagonistically persecuting followers of Jesus Christ: – which, experience Paul later described:

"And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has enabled me, for that He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry: who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and in unbelief." (1 Tim. 1:12-13)

GOD subjected His own Son, incarnated in flesh on the earth as Jesus of Nazareth, through just such an experience, during which He was tempted by Satan: who at that time was still "covering angel over the earth," having been "set so" by GOD the Father Himself: "Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth, and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of GOD; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned; therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of GOD, and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire." (Ezek. 28:14-16)

These above-described events transpired long before the Spirit of the Son of GOD descended from His heavenly holy place, incarnated in the flesh body of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, to become the Savior of all souls incarnated in flesh, trapped in the dense earth plane. If these events seem improbable, they are no more so than many of the other remarkable events recorded in the Holy Scripture of truth: "The things which are impossible with men are possible with GOD." Lk. 18:27; and cf. Lk. 1:37: "For with GOD, nothing shall be impossible."

CHAPTER ONE

"Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise." (1 Cor. 3:18)

Whenever we afford the time to reflect upon what manner of individuals we are, and how we came to manifest as an intelligent life form upon this far-flung planet, we are inclined to puzzle at the fact of our isolation away off here in space, sole intelligent inhabitants of the area insofar

as we are aware. Indeed, the thought occurs; why did we ever come to exist at all?

We possess a personal identity uniquely and peculiarly our own, and produce thoughts from a mind functioning in a brain inseparably planted within our cranium, somehow established there as if floating in some ethereal substance; able to produce thoughts and ideas. Our brain is a kind of living radio unit, able to form thoughts and to receive and transmit them.

Birthed as fractious helpless infants, demanding dependent upon others for or very existence, we blithely wend our way through life, all the while subtly aware that some curious unfathomable fate stealthily and irrepressibly stalks us, each day pervasively impressing upon us an indiscernible bit of age until at last we rather precipitously sink into an inevitable decline leading to the unceremonious death of the flesh body. It is understood that when a flesh body dies, the soul does not die: it passes into another dimension – known as the "inter-between" – where it undergoes a contemporary form of judgment, as biblically noted::

"And as it is appointed unto men once to die" – [that is, for each flesh human to die but once, "but after this the judgment" (Heb. 9:27)], then to await disposition by angelic beings of the Lord’s in much higher dimensions than the earth, who oversee what takes place next as the soul continues along The Way made passable into heaven. Perhaps it may be returned to the earth to reincarnate in the flesh body of an infant to continue its experiences; and, when it is perfected enough, to be brought into the scope of Beloved John’s forecast:

“Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in GOD, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And whither I go you know, and The Way you know. (Jn. 14:1-4)

Some exceptional minds have considered the matter of death and reached different conclusions. The brilliant H. L. Mencken once wrote that he was utterly convinced that upon drawing his last breath he would simply cease to exist. However he took care to take mention that in case he was mistaken he would appreciate the opportunity to stand before the heavenly gate to express his heartfelt regrets and say he was sorry.

A long while before Mr. Mencken’ time, Omar Khayam dolefully noted that nobody had demonstrated to his satisfaction their return from the dead, so he accepted it as final – the end of the road, so to speak. He declared that life on earth in the flesh has at least some certainty to it, whereas what may follow was, to his mind highly speculative. He declared that insofar as he was concerned, it is best to take the cash and let the credit go – enjoy life while here and not be concerned about what comes afterward.

Series to be continued in Message 2, Book One, SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

Message Sixty - Book Four - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF [COMPLETING Rev. W. D. Mahan’s enlightening book, drawn from ancient records, entitled HISTORICAL RECORDS CONCERNING JESUS THE CHRIST MESSIAH] Chapter Eleven

Completion of The Hillel Letters Regarding God’s Providence To The Jews and Others, Written by Historian Hillel the Third.

COMPLETING HILLEL’S SEVENTH LETTER

Our most credulous and accepted historians were subjected to the same common laws which govern the operations of the human mind. For example, we have three different versions of Apostle Paul’s vision and his conversion by the Christ Spirit on the Damascus Road. We have two of these recorded from his public speeches, and one from the letter from Luke; probably from the lips of Luke, given in private conversation. All three accounts vary from one another in words and circumstances. The four Evangelists all provide the inscription on the Cross of Jesus, yet they disagree in the precise form of the wording.

Matthew notes that the accusation we: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews,” but Mark recites the superscription as, “The King of the Jews.” Luke claims that it was: “Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews.” Here, then, is a distinct variation in the recorded testimony. It is impossible that more than one of these inscriptions is precisely verbally accurate. But that fact creates no feeling of distrust: possibly not one in a hundred Christian Churches are aware of the discrepancy, or, if they are aware of it, give it a single questioning thought.

It is an immaterial variation, and incompetent discrepancy often found in human testimony, and nothing could be more unreasonable and or absurd than to allow the least shade of doubt to pass over the mind as to the reality of the inscriptions because of this immaterial difference.

The first three Evangelists have given us Jesus’ Prayer in His agony at the Garden of Gesthamene, but each of them couched in different words. Yet no man in his sober senses would think of doubting the actual occurrences of that thrilling but poignant scene, on that account. In fact, if anything in all of mankind’s history of the past can be said to bear the spiritual impress of truth, it is in this whole transition related in the Holy Scripture of Truth.

Series Concluded, of Rev. W. D. Mahan’s HISTORICAL RECORDS

[The entire set of these messages are available in the Blog website:

http://thespiritletters.com .

Message Fifty-Nine - Book Four - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF[ Continuing Rev. W. D. Mahan’s enlightening book, drawn from ancient records, entitled HISTORICAL RECORDS CONCERNING JESUS THE CHRIST MESSIAH] Chapter Eleven

The Hillel Letters Regarding God’s Providence To The Jews and Others, Written by Historian Hillel the Third.

CONTINUING HILLEL’S SEVENTH LETTER

The relationship which the Apostles understood themselves to have and sustain with Jesus as witnesses is illustrated in Peter’s speech to Cornelius and his friends: “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power so that He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with Him. And we are witnesses of what He did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem – Him who they hanged on a tree. But God raised Him up on the third day and revealed Him openly; not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before God – even to us who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead.”

When Jesus bowed His head upon the Cross, and declared, “It is finished,” the Gospel was complete. He had discharged His office as a teacher. Nothing of substance could be added to it, and nothing could be removed from it – it was palpable truth to all who were sufficiently quickened of Spirit to receive it and to comprehend its spiritual value. The system was perfect, and the duty of Jesus’ followers became to promulgate it to the world at that time, and for all who were to come afterward: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, which the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you.” They were occasionally instructed as to what to do, but never that we read of, to preach any new doctrine which had not already been taught by Jesus Himself.

It may seem strange to those who are accustomed to dispute about words and phrases, that Jesus should have left nothing written; nothing of which we an identify as the very words He spoke. The stickler for creeds and formulas may lament that all the disputes in after ages were not anticipated and prevented by a written declaration of the Savior, which might have been so plain that no dullness could have misconstrued it, nor ingenuity perverted it.

We are fully justified, I believe, in asserting that no precaution would have proved effectual. Human language is essentially ambiguous, every word having a variety of significations, that any one meaning of which becomes probable only because it better suits the connection, purpose, or the sentiments of the reader who considers it. Language is always presumed to be addressed to reasonable beings in a way that they will comprehend it. That is the case with Jesus’ plainest instructions. We are always obliged to use our reason in order to decide in what sense his words are to be understood.

When He tells us, “If any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother, and wife and children, and brethren an sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple, ” are we then to interpret this literally, and say that no man can be Christian without hating father and mother, sisters and brothers? Of course not! Why? Because it is not reasonable to believe that Jesus intended His followers to prove false the most important relationships we sustain in this earth life. We conclude, therefore, that He did not use the word “hate” in a literal way, but in a figurative sense of loving them less than Himself and His cause – which conclusion we draw from that which is biblically inscribed at 2 Cor. 3:3-6.

Similarly, we interpret the precept which commands us to cut off our hands and pluck out our eyes; not as a literal command, because reason dictates that Jesus did not intent it to be literally undertaken. So, whatever Jesus might have left written, there would have perpetually remained the same difficulty of interpretation. We should still be obliged to rest on probability, just as we do now – but relying on the Holy Ghost the Spirit of truth to convey the truth to us through the Spirit. The only way to be as certain as we can be that we understand a sentence of scriptural writing in its true sense, rests upon the level of spiritual knowledge and understanding to which we have attained: comprehension of it depends upon our own state of inspiration. And there is no way to be certain we are inspired, without the power of miracles; or unless some miracle is wrought in our own life for our sake.

Even had Jesus left His Gospel written in His own hand, we still would have been relegated to rely upon human testimony, assured that the records of it had been accurately preserved. The matter, then, is better left as it stands. As it is, we understand from recorded human testimony what Jesus did, taught, and suffered. What more competent witnessing could we possibly have than those who were with Him on close terms during His entire ministry?! In what better form could we have this testimony than the Gospel of Matthew, written by one who was with Him from the beginning, and who was present at His Crucifixion; who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead, and who devoted his life to propagating Christ’s religion?!

What more unobjectionable testimony could we have than that of Beloved John, who was one of the disciples of John the Baptist – who saw the transfiguration on the Mount, and leaned on Jesus’ bosom, and shared his most intimate friendship? As collateral proof, what more authentic than the memoirs of Luke and Mark, who were the constant companions of the Apostles, and heard them repeatedly rehearse the wonderful story and teachings and miracles of Jesus?

Considered in the light of human testimony, those who thoroughly understand the principles of evidence, remind us that such testimony is the more weighty and compelling because of the slight variations from each other. Those who are familiar with proceedings in the courts of justice, tell us that it is utterly out of the question to expect absolute consistency in the statements of a number of witnesses – no matter how honest and competent they may be. Agreement in the main facts is all that can be reasonably expected, and nothing will cause suspicion of collusion between two witnessed than for them to make, word-or-word, the same statement. It is not human nature for people to tell the same story twice in the same words and in the same order.

Series to be Continued and Concluded in Message 60 of Rev. Mahan’s HISTORICAL RECORDS.

Message Fifty-Eight - Book Four - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF[ Continuing Rev. W. D. Mahan’s enlightening book, drawn from ancient records, entitled HISTORICAL RECORDS CONCERNING JESUS THE CHRIST MESSIAH] Chapter Eleven

The Hillel Letters Regarding God’s Providence To The Jews and Others, Written by Historian Hillel the Third.

CONTINUING HILLEL’S SEVENTH LETTER

The new religion which Jesus was sent to teach was not only to be preached by Himself in that generation, but was to perpetuated through all time. He had been shown that His own ministry was to be brief and to have a tragical end. I could only be perpetuated by choosing Disciples while He lived, and training them to take up the work where He would lay it down. They were to receive His New Covenant Gospel from His lips, as Jeremiah had prophesied in Jer. 31:31-34, and proclaim it to the world, after which their days would be numbered. They would in turn commit it to others, who should be prepared to commit it to still others who came after them, and thus it was destined to be handed down to instruct new generations in future times. Had there been no organization of this kind – had Jesus chosen no Apostles and Disciples – Christianity would have perished on the very threshold of its existence.

Accordingly, not long after the commencement of His mission – after a night of prayer to God, doubtless seeking Divine guidance and direction – He chose “His Twelve” from among His immediate followers, and ordained them as His assistants and successors in the propagation of the new faith. To these He explained more fully the principles of His new religion – which to the as yet un-spiritualized multitudes, for fear of violence, He veiled under the dress of parable and allegory. He sent them out during His ministry as heralds of what was to come, in order to prepare the minds the people by their instructions, to enable them to receive and His more perfect teaching.

The twelve Apostles Jesus chose were men of but slender literary and intellectual cultivation, without wealth or influential connections. At first consideration it may seem utterly on any principle of human policy that He should have made such an unusual selection; and quite as unaccountable that He, Himself, should have chosen to pass through His ministry under an exterior so exceedingly humble. That He should have – in the language of His Apostles, have made Himself of no great reputation, but to have taken virtually the form of a slave. But, upon reflection, we find that His behavior was dictated by the highest wisdom, for His external humility emphasized His moral and spiritual glory. He really was so great – the Son of God in flesh – that nothing external could have added to the grandeur of His character.

Strikingly, without availing Himself of a single external advantage, Jesus Christ established a religion which disappointed the hopes of His own nation and even perhaps some of His prospective followers: He told them from the first that they were to reap no worldly advantage from their connection with Him. They were utterly without those material rewards by which a cause is usually carried forward: things which actually would have obscured the reality of Jesus’ mission from God His Father. Instead, He radiated the moral power which truth always carrieswith it, and those remarkable attestations which are the strongest evidence to the unsophisticated mind of man on a mission from the Most High.

It may at first seem strange that – when He might have gone up to Jerusalem and chosen His followers from among the most learned, gifted, and accomplished of the rabbinical schools which at that time were flourishing there, that He should have made the choice that He did. Over them He would have manifested the same immeasurable superiority, and might have wielded them to accomplish His purpose as easily as those humbler individuals He actually chose as His companions. Between Him and the intellectual and cultivated there would seem to have been a closer sympathy than with those uneducated Galileans, who – as far as we are at this late time able to see – were mere children in His Presence.

But this arrangement, like every other, was founded on the highest wisdom. The function for which they were appointed to fill did not call for either particular talents nor extensive learning. They were not to originate anything nor add to what He taught. Their office was simply that of witnesses of what He had said, done and suffered: “And you shall also bear witness,” said He to His disciples, “because you have been with me from the beginning.”

After His Resurrection, He said to them: “Thus it is written, and thus it behooved the Messiah to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and omission of sins should be preached in His name among gll nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. You shall receive power, and after that the Holy Ghost is to come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.”

This being the office of Jesus’ Disciples, intellectual cultivation a necessary prerequisite. The qualities most necessary for a witness are simplicity, integrity, and courage. Through them the world had received Christ’s New Covenant Gospel. And the more transparent the medium through which it is conveyed, the less coloring it takes from the mind through which it was – and is – transmitted.

Consequently we have the most simple and childlike narrative that the world has ever read. We do not see the historians at all. All we see is Jesus Christ, His doctrine, His character, His life and His miracles. There is no attempt to introduce the philosophy or opinions of the times – with the exception of the beginning of the Gospel of John: and it is unnecessary to note that those lines have created more controversy in the Christian Church than all the rest of the letters.

What Jesus wanted of His followers was principally to be His witnesses to the world and to the faith of the successive millions of the Christian Church has depended. The Gospels or less than their testimony. Jesus Himself left nothing written. All that we know about either Him or His doctrines, we have received through them. Without their testimony, we would not know what He taught and how He lived. It was on the strength of what they had seen and heard that they claimed to be the religious teachers of the world in their time.

Series to be Continued in Message 59 of Rev. W. D. Mahan’s HISTORICAL RECORDS.

Message Fifty-Seven - Book Four - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF [Continuing Rev. W. D. Mahan’s enlightening book, drawn from ancient records, entitled HISTORICAL RECORDS CONCERNING JESUS THE CHRIST MESSIAH] Chapter Eleven

The Hillel Letters Regarding God’s Providence To The Jews and Others, Written by Historian Hillel the Third.

CONTINUING HILLEL’S SEVENTH LETTER

Soon after the conversation above-reported in Message 56, Jesus returned to Galilee, and, passing through Samaria, engaged in that remarkable discourse with the woman of Samaria at the well of Jacob.

On His arrival at Nazareth, His previous residence, He attempted to preach in the synagogue where He had been accustomed to worship. The people listened to the first part of his discourse with pleasure and admiration; although, according to the strong propensity of human nature, they were disposed to look down on Him as the son of a carpenter. At the first hint, however, of the doctrine that the new dispensation was not restricted to the national religion, but was to be extended to the Gentiles as well as Jews, they became violently enraged. They might have been led to suspect that He was not altogether enlightened in the national faith of a Messiah who was to destroy the heathen, from His manner of quoting that striking passage of Isaiah’s: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to preach glad tidings to the poor; He has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind; to set at liberty those who are bound, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord….” At this crucial point He stopped short and did not finish the rest of Isaiah’s prophecy: “And the day of vengeance of our God.”

Had Jesus quoted the last part of that sentence without an explanation that it applied to Himself, they might have understood Him to be sanctioning their expectation that He was to destroy, and not save, the other nations of the earth. They might even have cried out, “Hosanna to the son of David!” But not only did Jesus pass over this most important part of their Messianic traditions, so comforting to them under their political oppression at that time, but He went on to intimate that the heathen were only to be spared, but not to be admitted into the Kingdom of the Messiah: “I tell of you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the day of Elias, but unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sion, unto a woman who was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the das of Eliseius the prophet, and none of them were cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”

This was too much! A Messiah who would tolerate, or even look favorably, upon the heathen, was not to be endured. “And they all sat in the synagogue when they heard these things, and were filled with wrath, and rose up, ran Him out of the city and led Him to the brow of a hill whereon the city was built, intending to cast Him down headlong. But He passed through them, went on His way down into Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and taught there on the Sabbath day.”

The fame of His miracles and doctrines went on to increase, until the synagogues became too small to contain the crowds which flocked to hear Him. He began, therefore, to teach them in the open air. On one occasion He preached to them from a ship, while they stood on the shore; and once He spoke from a rising ground, that His voice might be better heard by so vast a multitude. His discourse on this occasion was of the same character as the one He delivered in His Sermon on the Mount. Let us examine its contents to mark the wonderful wisdom it displayed: eternal truths couched in language precisely adapted to current-day circumstance as well as at that early time. It helped to cure a Jew from errors into which he might have fallen, and Christians felt as if it had been addressed directly to them.

In the vast multitude that had assembled from all parts of Judea, there were doubtless men of different sentiments cherished by the Jewish people at that time. They were united in but one common sentiment: that the Messiah should be a temporal deliverer who would cleanse Jerusalem and the holy land of the Roman standards which were perched on every tower, and redeem the people of God from the degrading tribute they were yearly compelled to pay. They were heated up to the point they were ready to take up arms in the holy cause of patriotism and religion. They awaited but the signal of Jesus’ hand to take up their line and march to the City of David, where they were convinced that He would stand highest in a new monarchy over which He would install.

Thus they collected around Him with hearts bursting with national pride and ambition. What must have been their astonishment and disappointment when the first sentence fell from His lips: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of God which you have for so long expected is not an empire of war and conquest, nor is it that of the Jews, to be exercised over foreign nations. It does not come as a cure for outward misfortunes, or for political evils, or for the relief of proud hearts rankling under oppression; but speaks comfort to those who are bowed down under the sorrows of life: ‘Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.’ You expect the Messiah to vindicate the weak against the strong, to repel injury, and to revenge insult; that He will set up His empire with the sword and defend it by the sword. But I say unto you, blessed are the meek, for the shall inherit the earth. The gentle are those who are to flourish in the days of the Messiah. They shall delight themselves to the abundance of peace. You come to me expecting a sign from heaven; to be fed with manna from the skies, as your fathers were in the desert. I can promise you nothing of the kind! The blessings of my kingdom belong to those only who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. You expect, under the Messiah, a reign of bitterness and vengeance – that He will rule like a rod of iron, and dash his enemies into pieces like a potter’s vessel, but I come to pronounce blessings on the merciful, for I assure them that they shall find mercy from their eternal judge.

[Note: the smashing like potter’s vessel was not due for fulfillment at that time. It is due to come later when the Lord brings the Tribulation upon the earth.] Those of you who observe the laws of Moses, submit to innumerable ceremonial ablutions, and thus imagine yourselves pure and prepared for the kingdom of God. I assure you that no such purification will be of any avail in that kingdom; but blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. The remedies which you propose for mortal ills are essentially defective. You imagine that they can be cured by evil, instead of evil being overcome with good. But I say unto you, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. They shall share the blessings of the new dispensation; not those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness!”

Series to be Continued in Message 58 of Rev. W. D. Mahan’s HISTORICAL RECORDS.

Message Fifty-Six - Book Four - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF[ Continuing Rev. W. D. Mahan’s enlightening book, drawn from ancient records, entitled HISTORICAL RECORDS CONCERNING JESUS THE CHRIST MESSIAH] Chapter Eleven

The Hillel Letters Regarding God’s Providence To The Jews and Others, Written by Historian Hillel the Third.

CONTINUING HILLEL’S SEVENTH LETTER

That which was already in place – the Old Testament – could not simply be effaced. A major question became: how could the old dispensation, so long accepted, be superceded by the New one? Certainly it could not be accomplished immediately – it could only be done by degrees; by engrafting the new upon the old wherever it was practical – as the spiritually-illuminated Apostle Paul inscribed in his letter to the Romans, in Romans 11:11-36 – by infusing into the current language and thought new principles which might influence the whole mass, thus superceding rather than destroying what was already in existence. The new dispensation needed to be grafted on to the old, as new branches are grafted onto old trees.

The Jewish religion was already in existence, as the stock upon which Jesus could engraft His own. He had been expected, but in another character from that which He could assume. The whole phraseology was in use which designated what He was to accomplish. What would the highest wisdom have dictated him to do? What does the man do who has a house to build, but has an old one already on the spot? Does he begin by giving it to the flames? or by throwing it all aside? No, he selects from whatever is sound, and incorporates it into his new structure.

This is precisely what Jesus Christ the Son of God did with regard to the religion of the Jews, using the expectations and phraseology which were already in existence as to the Messiah and the new dispensation. To have outrightly rejected them would have made the task of introducing the new religion much more difficult. The course directed by wisdom was to adopt the existing phraseology, giving it such good sense as would correspond with his real character and office.

The Jews were accustomed to call the Messiah “the Son of Man,” from the vision of Daniel, noted in Daniel Chapter Seven, in which he saw one “like the Son of Man” invested with great power and dignity. He was likewise call the Son of God, based on the Second Psalm. Jesus assumed these appellations, and, by assuming them, claimed all that was associated to the Messiah, who was expected to be a king, and His new dispensation a kingdom. While this was not true in the material flesh sense, it was nevertheless spiritually true in the loftiest sense of the proudest Jew. It is hard to imagine any language Jesus could have used that would have given a clearer concept of what Christianity was actually intended and designed become. The Jewish phraseology of the kingdom to come was as near as any Jesus could formulate. What it actually was develop to become, those who understood its underpinnings acquiesce in the propriety of Jesus’ use of the Messianic language as it then existed, giving it an interpretation that makes it the symbolic expression of the highest spiritual truth.

Some of His first discourses exemplify principles showing the miraculous knowledge of Jesus – the full understanding He had of the whole system from the beginning, and the manner in which He expressed the glorious and eternal truths of Christianity through the Messianic phraseology of that time.

Jesus’ Ministry began in Galilee, but at what particular time of year we are not informed. Of his first tour through that country – during which He attended the marriage-feast at Cana – we have only a general notion. Of His discourses nothing now remains but their commencing sentence: “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” Multitudes soon gathered around Him, and His fame quickly spread throughout all of Syria.

His first recorded discourse is that which He held with Nicodemus at Jerusalem, at the first Passover, which occurred after the commencement of His ministry – as related in John, Chapter Three. This conversation introduces us to one of the most interesting scenes in the New Testament. It illustrates practical proof of the miraculous wisdom with which Christ was endowed, which made Him equally at home with the learned and extremely experienced member of the Jewish Senate at Jerusalem, and the humble, simple peasants and fishermen at Galilee. Much was written of His declaration: “And it came to pass that when He was in Jerusalem, at the Passover on the feast-day, many believed on His name when they saw the miracles He performed. ”

“Marvel not that I said unto you that you must be born again. The wind blows where it will, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell when it will come or when or where it will go: so is everyone that is born of the Spirit. Spiritual birth – true religion – is not confined, as you Jews suppose, to one tribe or one family. It is as free as the air; and the kingdom of God, which you expect to be a national thing, will spread over the earth as does the air, without any regard to the boundaries of nations and kindreds! Its empire is the soul, everywhere free, everyone capable of receiving it – not more in those whose material flesh bodies have descended from Abraham than those who have never heard of his name. If you really desire to enter into the kingdom of God, to be my disciple, come here not by night – go openly and be baptized. Be a Christian, not outwardly only, but inwardly. Hear my doctrines, receive my Spirit, and trust no more your descent from Abraham.”

In the course of the conversation, Jesus mentions two other facts no less offensive to the Jewish prejudices of Nicodemus: the Crucifixion of the Messiah, and the extension of His kingdom to the Gentiles – as biblically disclosed in Isaiah 49:5-9, 20-23; Isa. 60:3-6 and Isa. 62:2. Jesus declared: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believes on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent His Son into the world, not to condemn the world as you Jews suppose, but that through Him the world might be saved” Such was the transcendent wisdom of the Savior, from the very commencement of His mission. Before the wisdom of this youthful teacher, the learning, age and experience of Nicodemus were overborne and subdued, and he must have retired convinced no less by Jesus’ discourses than by His miracles, that He was a teacher come from God.

Series to be Continued in Message 57 of Rev. W. D. Mahan’s HISTORICAL RECORDS.

Message Fifty-Five - Book Four - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF[ Continuing Rev. W. D. Mahan’s enlightening book, drawn from ancient records, entitled HISTORICAL RECORDS CONCERNING JESUS THE CHRIST MESSIAH] Chapter Eleven

The Hillel Letters Regarding God’s Providence To The Jews and Others, Written by Historian Hillel the Third.

CONTINUING HILLEL’S SEVENTH LETTER

There is no subject which literature approaches with such diffidence as the personal character and history of Jesus of Nazareth. There is no theme on which language is found so inadequate and imperfect. Here we have a person in human form, possessing every attribute of humanity, except sin, and exhibiting perfect goodness in combination with infallible wisdom; clothed with extensive power over physical nature, and a knowledge of futurity at once extensive and circumstantial; the declared object of a train of miraculous interpositions running back to the very foundation of the world. Himself the beginning and cause of a new order of things, embracing the whole world and all succeeding times; His doctrine destined to sway the minds of millions of the human race, to form their opinions, mold their characters, and shape their expectations – to reign in their minds and judge their actions as well as to purify their consciences, cleanse them from the stains of sin, and prepare them for His own society and the presence of God in the spiritual world.

Worthily to speak of such a Being is a task before which I confess my speech falters and my vocabulary seems meager and wholly inadequate. This difficulty remains, regardless of whatever view we adopt of His metaphysical rank in the universe. From the fierce controversy as to the nature of Jesus Christ – so early raised, and which more than any other cause has disturbed its harmony – I am happy to escape. That belongs to the history of opinions, and volumes upon volumes would not contain their endless diversity. What men have thought of the person of Jesus, and what He actually was, and did, and taught, and brought to pass, are two things entirely distinct. The former is a matter of mere speculation, and the latter embraces all that is necessary.

We read of Jesus, that, immediately after his baptism by John the Baptist and His transfiguration, directed by Divine impulse, He retired into solitude, where He spent forty days in preparation for the great work in which He was about to engage. [Note: the New Testament describes this experience as His spiritual rebirth, during which He met His adversary, Satan, and was not overcome by the devil’s lies, deceits and wiles. He was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Serpent himself – as noted in Mt. 4:1 and Lk.4:1-2. It amounted to a Spiritual conversion, on emerging from which He knew who He was, the requirements of His earth mission, and even that His ultimate fate was to be killed and "taken up" on the third day – events of which He had apparently spoken nothing previous to that occasion. After His Crucifixion, Ascension to God’ right hand and empowerment over heaven and the earth – noted in Mt. 28:18 – He spoke through Apostle John in the Revelation, to declare that just such an "hour of temptation" was to come upon all the world, to try everyone; and that those who would persevere to the end in faith and belief in Him, would be made pillars in heaven, needing to "go no more out" into the earth dimension. When this spiritual rebirth experience converted Saul of Tarsus by the Christ Spirit, he turned around, ceased persecuting Jesus’ Disciples, his name was changed to Paul to reflect his dramatic change, and he set about teaching and preaching Jesus Christ’s New Covenant doctrine – as related in Acts 22-1-10. Paul, the one Apostle called and chosen after Jesus’ Crucifixion and empowerment, testified that he had been forgiven his persecution of Jesus’ followers because he had done it while acting "ignorantly and in a state of unbelief" – 1 Tim. 1:13. His experience was patterned after that of Jesus, and became a model of what newly-converting Christians could thereafter expect to undergo. As biblically noted long before, "Those the Lord loves, He chastens and scourges every son He receives" – which is noted in the Book of Hebrews, 12:5-10, esp. verse 6; and note Acts 14:22.]

From Jesus’ solitary sojourn in the wilderness, he came back to the world with a system of religion entirely new. It followed the predictions of Prophet Jeremiah – found in Jer. 31:31-33 – differing from everything that had gone before, being spiritual and at the same time universal. Its plan was perfect from its inception: it needed not to “grow up” and take such a form as circumstances might dictate in the future. Like that of the Divine Mind itself, it was predestined to ultimately transform everything according to its unalterable purpose.

It was with reference to this fullness of knowledge by which He was exalted; not only above all the prophets who had preceded Him, but all those He used as instruments in propagating and establishing His religion. Thus it was said of Him, “God gives not the Spirit by measure unto Him,” and, “The law was given by Moses, but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ.”

The Divine Plan being thus communicated to the mind of Jesus Christ the Son of GOD, it was necessary that He should have the power to carry it into effect. Having receives this Divine Commission, it needed to be authenticated. Although the plan was Divine, such was the ignorance and spiritual blindness of mankind that it is unlikely that the world would have recognized and embraced it as Divine, had it not been authenticated by miracles. Mankind wants not only truth, but authority to substantiate it – a fixed and reliable certainty that it is truth. If it is not embraced with sufficient confidence it will not fulfill its purpose.

Jesus returned from His forty days’ seclusion, possessed of supernatural wisdom – the result of His unique spiritual rebirth – which protected him against mistakes, and enabled him in all circumstances to say and do specifically what His present condition required. He knew, for instance, the circumstances of his death, the success of His religion, and the spiritual power with which He was to be exalted, He came with supernatural control over the order of nature, such as is most striking to the unsophisticated understandings of mankind, to persuade them of the connection of its possessor with God. His touch healed the sick, His Will changed the elements, his command stilled the tempest, and His voice raised the dead. But what was striking to those with whom He associated, He could read men’s most secret thoughts, and even tell them of the transactions of their past lives, and foresee what they were thereafter to do – as noted in Mt. 20:20-23; Jn. 1:45-51; and Jn. 21::18, 21-22.

Series to be Continued in Message 56 of Rev. W. D. Mahan’s HISTORICAL RECORDS.

Message Fifty-Four - Book Four - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF [Continuing Rev. W. D. Mahan’s enlightening book, drawn from ancient records, entitled HISTORICAL RECORDS CONCERNING JESUS THE CHRIST MESSIAH] Chapter Eleven

The Hillel Letters Regarding God’s Providence To The Jews and Others, Written by Historian Hillel the Third.

CONTINUING HILLEL’S SEVENTH LETTER

John the Baptist cautioned Jews not to think that they belonged to the Kingdom of God solely because they were descended from Abraham. He told them that “God is able to raise up children to Abraham from a source that at that time seemed as improbable to them as the stones beneath their feet – even from among the Gentiles, which at that time was unthinkable. John declared, “A discrimination is about to take place; not between the children of Abraham and the people of other nations, but between the good and the evil – even among Jews themselves!”

“The axe lies at the root of ALL trees! Every tree, therefore, which brings not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water, but He that comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear, and He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. He shall raise those who obey Him to a higher level of spiritual knowledge, perfection and power; and punish those who disobey Him with the severest suffering. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge his grain, and gather the wheat in His garner; but He will burn up the chaff with an unquenchable fire – as was also later inscribed in Mt. 3:1-12. The meaning of this was that the Messiah’s Kingdom was to embrace the good only, who were to be gathered into a separate community, while the evil were to be abandoned to the destruction which their own wicked disobedient course would inevitably bring upon them.

Jesus not only preached the Kingdom of God as a separate society, distinct from the Jewish nation, but He actually began to set it up. The baptismal rite which He instituted was not an idle and meaningless form; nor did it simply signify anyone’s profession of repentance necessary to prepare them for the kingdom of the Messiah – which at that time was imminently expected to appear – but it represented a readiness to believe in Him and obey Him whenever He should make Himself known.

Thus John’s baptism actually began what his words began to predict; to separate the righteous from the wicked unrepentant; to prepare the righteous for eternal life, while leaving the wicked to the consequence of their sins. He began to establish the Kingdom of God, the initiatory right of which was baptism – just as circumcision was the initiatory rite of God’s ancient church. Thus the Kingdom of God came not with observation – as reported in Deuteronomy 30:11-20 – while men were saying, “Lo here,” and Lo there,” the Kingdom of God was actually right in the midst of them; precisely as Prophet Jeremiah had foretold in Jer. 31:31-34: God’s Word was written right in their hearts and in their consciences.

But despite all of John’s knowledge of the nature of the Kingdom, and of Christianity; and even after his having baptized Jesus of Nazareth with his own hands, and receiving the divine testimony of which he had been shown; so possessed was he with the Jewish beliefs and prejudices infused into him of the splendor and power of the Messiah, that he felt the need to confirm what appeared to be apparent to him, and sent two of his own disciples to Jesus to inquire if He was actually the Messiah who had for so long been expected.

Jesus sent them back, bidding them to tell all they had seen and heard, thereby leaving John and his disciples to form their own judgment. One of the apparent reasons for John’s lingering doubts is found in a comment attributed to Jesus: “Blessed is he whoever is not offended in me: who does not consider the lowliness of my appearance compatible with the loftiness of my pretensions.”

John the Baptist was a good and holy man, who lived just long enough to see the rising twilight of the new dispensation for which he had been sent to prepare the way. He fell victim and to the intrigues and revenge of a wicked woman – Herodias, the wife of one of the sons of Herod the Great. She had accompanied him, her husband, to Rome, and there became acquainted with Herod the Tetrarch of Perca. After her return to Judea, she abandoned her husband, and with her daughter, Salome, went to live with Herod, in open defiance of the laws of God and man.

John the Baptist, the intrepid prophet of righteousness, reproved such flagrant iniquity in high places, and said to the royal transgressor, “It is not for you to have her!” For this bold testimony on behalf of righteousness and against evil-doings, he was consigned to the Castle Machaerus, on the confines of Palestine and Arabia. But the sleepless revenge of Herodias followed him there, and he died as a well known martyr to the truth. Thus perished John the Baptist, the morning star of Christianity, and his dying eyes caught scarcely a glimpse of the glory that was revealed.

Series to be Continued in Message 55 of Rev. W. D. Mahan’s HISTORICAL RECORDS.