THE SPIRIT LETTERS

Message 5 - Book 2 - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

[Continued from Message 4 - Book Two]

“The Divine Plan having been communicated by the Holy Ghost to the mind of Jesus, it was necessary that He should have the power to carry it into effect. Having received His Divine Commission, it was necessary for it to be authenticated to all who would receive it. The plan was Divine, but such was the ignorance and blindness of mankind that it was not at all probable that the world would have received, accepted and embraced it as Divine had it not been authenticated by the miracles He was able to perform. Mankind, particularly in those times, has demanded more than truth, but also evidence of the certainty that it really is truth. If it is not embraced with sufficient confidence it could do man no good.

“Jesus returned from His forty days’ seclusion possessed of supernatural wisdom, which guarded Him from mistakes and enabled Him under all circumstances to say and do that which His condition required. He came with the knowledge and the manner, for instance, of what were to be the circumstance of His death; the success of His New Covenant, and the spiritual power to which He was to be exalted. He came with supernatural control over the order of nature, such as is most striking to the spiritually unsophisticated understanding of mankind, to persuade them of the connection to 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 to life. But what was quite as striking to those with whom He associated, was that He could read men’s most secret thoughts; even reveal to them the transactions of their past lives, and foresee what they were thereafter to do! [Cf. Mt. 20:20-23; Jn. 1:45-51; Jn. 21:18,21-22.]

“But the system, though a subject in itself, existed nowhere but in His own mind! How was it to be introduced and conveyed to others? The human mind is not a blank page upon which may be written the institutions and principles of Christ’s New Covenant. Minds were already preoccupied with their many thoughts and ideas, and that which was already in place could not simply be effaced. It was unimaginable how Christ’s new Gospel could be made to supercede the old law of Moses and all of the many other religious beliefs that had been installed by mankind on the earth during many past ages. GOD the Father had transferred all power in heaven and the earth from HIMSELF to HIS Son (Mt. 28:18), but that process engendered radical changes that were all but impossible to bring about instantaneously. They could only be installed by degrees, by engrafting the new upon the old wherever it was practical; as Apostle Paul explained to the Romans (Rom. 11:11). This process was to be augmented by infusing into the current language of that time a set of new powerful spiritual principles able to effectively color the whole mass of former beliefs, blotting out what had for so long been thought to be the whole truth, and superceding it with Christ the Son of GOD’s Eternal Heavenly Priesthood outlined in the Book of Hebrews Chapters Five to Nine.

“The Jewish religion, already long in existence, became the stock upon which Christ engrafted His own. He Himself had been expected and anticipated, but in another character from that which He could assume. The whole phraseology was in use which designated what He should 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 standing on the lot? Does he begin by by giving it to the torch or by casting it aside? Not at all. He wisely selects from it whatever is sound and incorporates it into the new building.

“That is precisely what Jesus Christ the Son of GOD did with the religion of the Jews! The expectations and phraseology were already in existence relating to the new Messiah and new dispensation. To reject them would have made the task of introducing His New Covenant much more difficult. The written works of the writer to the Hebrews aptly recalls what had gone before, and cast into a new understanding the spiritual metamorphosis that had taken place. Looking back, the most effective course wisdom could have directed was to adopt the existing phraseology and give it a new sense that would correspond with Christ’s real character and sacred office.

“Jews were already accustomed to calling the Messiah ‘the Son of Man,’ from the visions of Prophet Daniel (Dan. Chapter Seven), in which he saw ‘one like the Son of Man’ invested with great power and dignity. He was likewise called ‘the Son of GOD’ in Ps. 2:6-12. These appellations Jesus assumed, and, by assuming them, claimed all that belonged to the Messiah: who was expected to be a king, and His new dispensation a kingdom.

“This was not literally a fact; His kingdom was not an earthly material one, but it was spiritually true in the sense that it transcended even the most exalted conceptions of the most egoistic and ambitious Gentile or Jew. What Christ the Son did after GOD granted Him all power over heaven and the earth (Mt. 28:18), was to fulfill what which had been promised through Prophet Malachi (Malachi Chapter Three). Afterward, when Apostle Paul wrote of what had taken place when Christ was empowered, he emphasized that there was no longer Jew nor Gentile (1 Cor. 12:13)

“In hindsight, no language could have been used to provide a clearer conception of Christianity as it was actually to manifest. The phraseology of a kingdom to come was as near as any that Christ the Son of GOD as Jesus could have adopted. What it was actually to become, time and events only could develop. Now, long afterward, we perceive the distinctive propriety of Jesus’ use of the Messianic language as it then existed, understanding it to express the highest spiritual truth.”

Series to be Continued in Message 6 - Book 2 - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF.

Message .4 - Book Two

[Continued From Message 3, Book Two]

“But after all this knowledge of the nature of the kingdom, or Christianity, which was possessed by John the Baptist, and after baptizing Jesus with his own hands, and receiving the Divine testimony of which he had been forewarned; so possessed was he with residual Jewish prejudices, of the temporal splendor and power of the Messiah, that he sent two of his disciples to Jesus to inquire if He actually was the Messiah. Jesus sent them back, bidding them to tell all that they had seen and heard, thereby leaving him to form his own judgment; adding what throws light on the reasons for John’s doubts: ‘Blessed is he whomever is not offended by me; who does not consider the lowliness of my utterance incompatible with the loftiness of my pretensions.’

“John was a good and holy man, who lived just long enough to see the rising twilight of the new dispensation for which he was sent to prepare The Way. He fell victim to the intrigues and revenge of a wicked woman. Herodias, the wife of one of the sons of Herod the Great, accompanying her husband to Rome, 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 him, in open defiance of the Laws of GOD and man.

“The Baptist, intrepid prophet of the righteousness, reprove such flagrant iniquity in high places, and said to the royal transgressor, ‘It is not lawful for you to have her!’ For this bold testimony on behalf of righteousness, he was sent to the castle of Malchaerus, on the confines of Palestine and Arabia. But the sleepless revenge of Herodias followed him there, and he died, as well known, a martyr of 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.

“There is no subject which literature approaches with such diffidence as the personal character and history of Jesus. There is no theme on which language is found so inadequate and imperfect. A person in human form, with every attribute of humanity, except sin; exhibiting perfect goodness combined with infallible wisdom; clothed with extensive power over physical nature, and a knowledge of futurity at once extensive and circumstantial; the declared end and object of a train of miraculous interpositions extending back to the 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, mould their characters, shape their expectations, reign in their minds, and judge their actions, as well as to purify their consciences, cleanse them from sin, and prepare them for His own society and the presence of GOD in their spiritual lives.

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

“We read of Jesus, that, immediately after His baptism by John the Baptist and directed by Divine impulse, He then retired into solitude in a wilderness place, where He passed forty days in preparation, doubtless, for the immense work in which He was about to engage. [It is noted that the New Testament describes this as Jesus’ spiritual rebirth experience, during which He was converted and led up of the Spirit, the Holy Ghost, to be tempted of Satan the Devil (Mt. 4:1; Lk. 4:1-2). Before His spiritual rebirth He spoke nothing of His earth mission, but after He emerged from the wilderness He knew the requirements of His grand mission, and even that His fate was to be killed and ‘taken up’ into heaven on the third day. After His Crucifixion After His Crucifixion and His Ascension, He spoke through Apostle John in The Revelation to foretell that such an ‘hour of temptation’ was predestined to come upon all the world, to try them; and that those who remained with Him, overcoming whatever temptations confronted them would need ‘go no more out’ (Rev. 3:10-12).

"When Saul son of Kish, later renamed Paul, was converted on the Damascus Road, he also underwent a shocking spiritual rebirth experience that jarred him loose from his earth senses and blinded him for three days, leaving him in a dazed condition. After that he continued to suffer during his ministry, as the risen Christ Himself had ordained for him (Acts 9:16). Paul explained that Christ had forgiven him for having persecuted His Disciples because he had done so out of ignorance and unbelief (1 Tim. 1:12-14). This illustrated the principle that those whom the Lord loves and receives He chastens and scourges (Heb. 12:5-10).]

“From Jesus’ solitary sojourn in the wilderness He came back to the world with a pattern of religion entirely new. It differed from everything that had gone before in being both spiritual and universal. Its plan was perfect at the start. It need not grow up and to take such a form as circumstances might dictate in the future: it had what might be described as a plastic power: like the Divine Mind of GOD, it was to transform and mold all things according to its unalterable purpose and design.

“It was with reference to this fullness of knowledge by which He was exalted, not only above all the prophets who went before Him – He being the greatest of them – but all those whom He used as instruments in propagating and establishing His religion, Christianity, so that it was said of Him, ‘GOD gives not the Spirit by measure unto Him,’ and, ‘The law was given by Moses, butforgiveness, gace, mercy and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Series to be Continued in Message 4 - Book 2 - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF.

Message 3 - Book 2 - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

As a Prologue to this Book Two of SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF, here is a brief except from an unusual manuscript written about 1884 by a Rev. W. D. Mahan. The entire work is entitled: Historical Records Concerning Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the origins of which are known only to the author. Rev. Mahan reports that he in was able to obtain the material for his work from the Vatican Library and from the Library in Constantinople. The interesting comparatively brief excerpt that follows is a small part of his entire manuscript, which appears in its entirety as an Book Four in this series, which has been sent online in a series of messages..

“John the Baptist taught the essential general truths of Christianity. The object of the Gospels being to record the teaching of Jesus, that of the Baptist is passed over in a cursory manner. But that he taught often and much, as well as prophesied the coming of the Messiah, we have reason to believe. His Disciples, however, mingled some of the old forms with their new doctrines, for they fasted often, an observance which Jesus declared ‘agreed no better with the new religion he taught than a piece of new cloth with an old garment; or new wine with old bottles.’

“The mind of John the Baptist furnishes a remarkable example, which we often meet with, of partial divine illumination – the clearest knowledge on some points, and absolute ignorance on others. By the light of inspiration he foreshadowed in a few words the nature of the kingdom of heaven, whose approach he foretold, and showed it to be something entirely different from the expectations of Jews; which had been handed down from remote ages. Yet of its details, his ideas seem to have been vague, and he appears to have had no certain knowledge that Jesus was the Messiah, even though he baptized Him, and received the heavenly sign of which they had been forewarned.

“One truth which he announced bears evident marks of supernatural origin – since it contradicted the conceptions and prejudices of the age – that the Messiah and His kingdom were not to be national; not to belong of right and exclusion to the posterity of Abraham alone. There is a maxim, as common as the letters of the alphabet, in the writings of the rabbis,

that ‘There is a part for all Israel in the world to come’ – that is, in the kingdom of the Messiah, merely by virtue of their descent from Abraham. That it is to be a kingdom selected from Israel and other nations, a new community by no means co-extensive with the seed of Abraham, they had not the slightest idea. [Note: Apostle Paul explained that those who are Christ’s are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise (Gal. 3:29), and detailing the relationship between Jews and Gentiles after Jesus’ time on earth, in Gal. 3:6-29.]

“That it was to be a moral and spiritual kingdom was far from their conceptions. As Apostle John understood the situation and taught: ‘Repent, for the kingdom of GOD is at hand. Bring forth, therefore, fruits worthy of repentance. And say not that you belong to the kingdom of GOD merely because you are descended from Abraham. GOD is able to raise up children to Abraham from a source as improbable to you as the stones beneath your feet – even among the 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 degree 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 unquenchable fire’ (Mt. 3:1-12).

“This carries the same idea expressed in strong language, the meaning of which is this: The Messiah’s kingdom is not, as you Jews expect: to comprehend the good and the bad merely because you are the descendants of Abraham; but it is to embrace the good only, who are to be gathered into a separate community, while the evil are to be abandoned to the destruction which their own wicked course will eventually bring them. Only GOD knows what lies ahead for 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 baptism which He instituted was no idle, unmeaning form; nor did it signify simply a profession to repentance – it began and founded a new community. Those who received it professed not only to repentance as necessary to prepare them for the kingdom of the Messiah, now shortly expected to appear, but a readiness to believe in and obey Him whenever He should evidently make Himself known.

“The law and the prophets, said Jesus, “were until John the Baptist. Since then, the kingdom of GOD is preached, and every man presses into it” The baptism of John, and that of Jesus, were essentially the same; one into a profession of belief in the Messiah yet to come; the other into a profession of belief in the Messiah already come. [The baptism by John with water expressed an individual’s repentance and desire for eternal life accomplished while in a natural flesh state; whereas Jesus’ baptism by the Spirit of the Holy Ghost brought an entirely new dimension into that sacred ritual, quickening the soul into a new spiritualized symbiotic state with Christ the Son of GOD, and thus with GOD the Father Himself. This is the One Baptism referred-to by Apostle Paul in Ephesians 4:5; which could only occur after Jesus Christ had been translated to GOD’s right hand and empowered over heaven and the earth (Mt. 28:18), after which He sent the Holy Ghost the Spirit of truth (Jn. 14:13-17,26; Jn. 15:26; Jn. 16:7,12-14)]

“Thus John the Baptist’s baptism began to do what his words had begun to predict: to separate the righteous from the wicked; to prepare the righteous for eternal life, and leave those who do evil to the consequences of their sins. He began to establish the kingdom of GOD, the initiatory rite 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. While men were saying, ‘Lo here’ and ‘Lo there,’ the kingdom of GOD was right in the midst of them. This had been the predictive basis for Moses’ advancement of the same principle, as noted long before in Deut. 30:11-12.

Series to be Continued in Message 3 of Book 2 - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF.

Message2 - Book 2 - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF

Introductory Note:

After Enoch the son of Jared – an earth incarnation of the Son of GOD at a time after his manifestation in the earth dimension as Adam – had faithfully fulfilled his days in flesh, his soul was transported into high heavenly planes where he was taught many extraordinary mystical secrets. He then returned briefly to advise his children what he had learned, in order that they might know how to conduct themselves during their search for eternal life. Among other things, he advised:

“And now, my children, mark well all the words of your father that I tell you, lest you regret, saying, ‘Why did our father not tell us?’

“In patience and meekness spend the number of your days, that you may inherit endless life.

“Endure for the sake of the Lord every wound, every injury, every evil work and attack.

“Blessed is the man who, in his patience brings his gifts with faith before the Lord’s face, because He will receive forgiveness of sins.

“But if he takes back his words before the time, there is no repentance for him; and if the time pass and he does not of his own will that which he has promised, there is no repentance after death (cf. Heb. 6:4-8; Heb. 11:6).

“Deceive not yourselves, for there has been previously prepared a place for every soul of man.When all creation, visible and invisible as the Lord created it, shall end, then every soul of man goes to the great judgment – as set forth in 2 Cor. 5:10 – and then shall all time perish, and the years, and henceforth there will be neither months nor days nor hours, they will all be stuck together and will not be counted. There will be one aeon, and all the righteous who shall escape the Lord’s great judgment shall be collected and the great aeon shall begin, and they will live eternally. Then, too, there will be among them neither labor, not sickness, nor humiliation, nor anxiety, nor need, nor violence, nor night nor darkness, but great light. And they shall have an indestructible wall, and a paradise bright and incorruptible, for all corruptible things pass away, and there will be eternal life.” (2 Enoch 50:3,7; 2 Enoch 51:5; and 2 Enoch 62:1-2; 2 Enoch 65:7)

Edgar Cayce reading #349-4: Questions asked of him during his deep trance state:

“Please give the important reincarnations of Adam in the world’s history:”

“In the beginning as Amilius, as Adam, as Melchizedek, Zend, Ur, or Enoch, and others: then as that coming into the world in the second coming: for He will come again and receive His own (Jn. 14:3), who have prepared themselves through that belief in Him and acting in that manner; for the Spirit is abroad, and the time draws near, and there will be a reckoning of those even as in the first so in the last, and the last shall be first, for there is that Spirit abroad – He stands near. He that hath eyes to see, let him see, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear that music of the coming of the Lord of this vineyard. Are you ready to give account of what you have done with this opportunity in the earth as the sons of GOD, as the heirs and joint heirs of glory with the Son?

“Then make thine paths straight, for there must come an answering for what you have done with your Lord! He will not tarry, for having overcome He shall appear even as the Lord and Master. Not as one born, but as one that returns to His own, for He will walk and talk with men of every clime, and those that are faithful and just in their reckoning shall be caught up with Him to rule and do judgment for a thousand years!”

Extract from Reading #3011-3; given 9/29/43):

“Question: We have been told that the Second Coming of the Master in flesh would not take place until 1985. Is this approximately correct? Can’t we expect to see Him sooner?”

Response:

“How does He interpret, as to the day or the hour? No man knows save the Father. “Live ye then, each soul, as though ye expected Him today. Then ye shall see Him as He is, when ye live such a life.”

“The time no one knows, Even as He gave, not even the Son Himself, only the Father. Not until His enemies and the earth are wholly in subjection to His will, His powers.”

“Question: are we entering the period of preparation for His coming?”

“Response: Entering the test period, rather.”

Series to be Continued in Message 2 of Book 2 - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF.

Message 1 - Book 2

[This is BOOK TWO in the series entitled: SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF, Copyright 1985, Revised 1987, 1985, and 2007, by A.D.H.: it may be copied, acknowledging its copyrighted source]

SUBTITLE: THE CLOUD COVENANT, AND THE ROCK OF ISRAEL

After the great flood in Noah’s time, GOD made a covenant with Noah, promising never again to send a flood of water upon the earth. He did declare that HE would “set his bow” – the arm of HIS strength – in a cloud, as a token of the covenant (Gen. 9:12-16). That cloud is synonymous with the Son of GOD, who began to appear in a cloud, who is foretold to appear in the cloud when the Lord the Son returns to take gather up those who are His, when it is time, and to take them up with Him where He is, that they may ever be with Him (Jn. 14:1-4).

During the Exodus, after GOD had promised to send an Angel to accompany the chosen people of Israel, an Angel began to appear in a cloud over them, as biblically related. It was inscribed in Job’s time that GOD had “Made the cloud and thick darkness in a swaddling band for it; it being the Son of GOD’s decreed place on which HE had set bars and doors” (Job 38:9-10). It was to be a protective cloud in the day of rain (Ezek. 1:28). GOD Himself spoke our of a cloud over the Holy Mount, to Jesus, saying, “This is MY beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him” (Mt. 17:5). Apostle Paul added that the fathers of Israel had “passed under the cloud and passed through the sea, and were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat of that same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them [in the cloud]: and that Rock was Christ” (1 Cor. 10:1-4).

But as the people increasingly withdrew from honoring GOD’s Commandments, the Angel began to withdraw from them. During the last four hundred years of the Hebraic Age the prophets went silent, and the Lord the Son of GOD was not seen again until after the ministry of Jesus Christ was in its fullness. Then GOD appeared in a cloud over the Mount of Transfiguration, at which time Jesus was turned white before the eyes of three of His Apostles.. After Jesus’ extraordinarily excruciating sacrifice on the Cross – by which He made the Way passable into heaven for souls trapped in flesh bodies in the earth plane, the transfigured Christ translated into heaven, disappearing in a cloud (Rev. 11:12). It is biblically foretold that He will return in the cloud at the time of the great Resurrection (Rev. 14:14-15), to receive unto Himself those who are His, to take them back with Him to His eternal heavenly place (Jn. 14:13). It is the promise to all souls that have pledged themselves to Him, as they now await His return.

The Son of GOD was described by Moses:

“I will publish the name of the Lord: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is THE ROCK, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: A GOD of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He. (Deut. 32-2-3.)

We know these two remarkable verses refer to the Son of GOD because it is also written:

“When the Most High” – which is GOD the Father – “divided to the nations their inheritance, when HE separated the sons of Adam, HE set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. For the Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance.” (Deut. 32:8-9)

GOD the Father-Creator possesses everything – He is not limited to a portion of all that HE Created by Christ HIS Son (1 Cor. 8:6). When the Son incarnated as Jesus of Nazareth, He fulfilled His Saving mission on the Cross, after which GOD empowered Him over heaven and the earth (Mt. 28:18). As biblically noted, GOD alone had led im, and there was no strange god with Him!” (Deut. 32:12).

The Son of GOD was as an Angel sent by GOD the Father to go before the chosen people of Israel as they sought their earthly promised land – which land was a figure of the eternal heavenly place they longed-for:

“Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the Way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him. But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.” (Exod. 23:20-23)

“And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the Way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and by night He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.” (Exod. 13:21-22)

“Sing unto God, sing praises to His name: extol Him that rides on the heavens by His name, JAH, and rejoice before Him.” (Psalm 68:4)

The Rock of Israel was considered in former times to be an Angel, but in fact He was the Son of GOD:

“Being made so much better than the angels, He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For which of the Angels said [GOD] at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to me a Son?” (Heb. 1:4-5; and cf. Heb. 1:6-14). The Son of GOD was “angelic” in His nature, but was in fact The Son of GOD.

Series to be Continued in Message 2 of Book Two - SOMEWHERE BEYOND BELIEF.