First the bad news…which is not news, but ancient: Christ has historically been misrepresented[1] the Gospel distorted, the Church divided [2] and filled with error. The Good News? It was all foretold by Jesus[3] and God had always planned to not only restore the Gospel of Jesus in its original clarity at the dawning of a New Age: but usher in the Everlasting Gospel foretold in Revelation 14:6 confirming the Gospel of Jesus was temporal.
Christian theologians have a track record of ignoring the most significant foundational verses in the Bible, since they don’t support their less than pure motives to corral the people into their religion. Too many pastors looking for self-worth by obtaining a following, which often leads to dominating others rather than serving others and teaching the unadulterated truth that we all so desperately need to hear. Furthermore, Jesus was not sent here to start a religion, let alone one with endless divisions and denominations, nor did he call his followers Christians.
In Luke 17:21 Behold, the kingdom of God is within you: Jesus is teaching us Universal Truth which applies to all men. The word kingdom defined as the rule and authority of the King within us. This powerful verse is speaking of internal authority as opposed to external authority or the law which is designed by God as the default if we ignore the internal authority of His kingdom within us. In other words, if we do not allow the kingdom within to rule us, we subject ourselves to the judgment of both the laws of God and the laws of man. What the Bible calls justice the Far East calls karma.
Along with Luke 17:21 like two great foundational pillars: John 1:9 tells us the Eternal Logos lights EVERY man that comes into the world. This is the spiritual Logic and Light that gives us the ability to see and understand Universal Truth as well as the light of conscience which tells us what not to do. Do not do things to others you would not want them to do to you. _____ Confucius
This explains why spiritual teachers throughout world history from Confucius, La Tzu and Gautama Buddha in the Far East to the Greek philosophers such as Plato and Socrates of Athens, along with the famous philosopher Emperor Marcus Aurelius have been able to gift humanity with the wisdom that was given to them by God, not to mention thought leaders of the Enlightenment such as Voltaire and our modern day philosophers such as behavioral psychologist Jordan Peterson who displays this ability to unpack and understand biblical truth better than many pastors and teachers. I realize of course that most Christian pastors simply teach what they were taught in seminary by their so-called authorities and know if they stray too much from their own so-called sound doctrine, they will be booted out of their denomination, since these authorities care more about power than Truth.
The next historical fact I wanted to point out, is when God stepped into human history and became a man called Jesus of Nazareth, the Jewish religious leaders (which Christian theologians and teachers would claim, were the leaders of the only true religion at that time) had no idea their own Messiah had just arrived on the scene, but a few other religious leaders did: Namely the Magi which title (as scholars of world history know) was given to the priests of ancient Zoroastrianism founded in the 6th century BC in Persia. Historians tell us this religion mirrored Biblical teaching in many respects. So, we can know these men were led by the Spirit of God[4] who used a star to direct them to the Christ child.
Now this is really going to be a shocker for most people, except for a few of the more advanced Bible scholars: In Acts 17:16-31 where Paul is speaking to the philosophers at Athens on Mars hill, he quotes the two famous non-Jewish Poets (Poet is synonymous with Prophet) Epimenides from the 6th century BC and Aratus (315-240 BC) in verse 28: “In him we live and move and have our being”. Here is the shocker: These poets were writing to Zeus! We can therefore conclude Zeus is simply the Greek name for the alpha male God. Here is the more complete version written in the 6th century BC:
They fashioned a tomb for you, holy and high one,
Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies[5].
But you are not dead: you live and abide forever,
For in you we live and move and have our being. _____ Epimenides
For we are also his offspring _____ Aratus
The other point I wanted to make was to highlight the way Paul addressed these philosophers: Unlike Christians who too often hold themselves in such high esteem, thinking they alone are God’s children[6] and assume everyone else is lost…Paul, along with the Poets he quotes, uses the words “we” and “our” numerous times and in so doing identifies himself with them as being a part of the same family of God. Christians who naively judge others, actually risk being judged more harshly by God[7].
Is it not true these poets along with the spiritual teachers and philosophers I mentioned earlier were also shining lights? Who lived long before Christ arrived as the great light[8]. So, if we are to be just in our judgment…what options did these men have? If anything, do they not deserve more grace? More honor and respect for gaining such wisdom directly from God and sharing it with the world?
Beyond all this, much of mainstream Christian Theology is founded on certain verses pulled out of context, misinterpreted and misunderstood and then used to somehow cancel out other verses. This of course makes no sense, yet pastors do this consistently, seemingly without even realizing what they are doing, and with the next breath claim every word of the Bible is the infallible word of God.
My first example is a verse abused by Christians every day to separate themselves from the rest of humanity. I am speaking of John 14:6 where Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me”. I am going to expound on this in two different ways.
First, let’s place this in context. Jesus is speaking to his disciples at the Last Supper, and in the verses preceding verse 6 he says “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know. YET THOMAS CONTRADICTS JESUS IN VS 5!!!
Thomas says, Lord, WE KNOW NOT where you are going; and how can we know the way?
It is here we must learn how to interpret scripture in the light of other scripture: which in this case is John 1:9 and Luke 17:21 I quoted above: Jesus is telling Thomas we have it within ourselves to know the way back to God. This same Logos which became incarnate as Jesus, is a profound spiritual reality within us: The light we were given to show us the way. When Jesus came as light of the world, he was continually revealing what had been hidden, so he was shining light upon this Universal Truth.
Since Jesus was also foretold as being a Seed, we can understand this Logos as being dormant within our subconscious, waiting for some warmth and the water of the Spirit, so it can break out of its dormancy and we can grow in our consciousness of God, which is life eternal. John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
With this same logic, notice in these next verses how Jesus is again teaching Universal Truth, when he defines “receiving Christ” in a way that we can all understand applies to all men throughout world history, regardless of whether they ever heard what most Christian theologians call the Gospel.
John 13:20 He that receives whoever I send receives me; and he that receives me receives him that sent me. Matthew 18:5 Whoever receives one such little child in my name receives me. Matthew 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Matthew 25:31-45 is a classic example of just one of the critical passages commonly ignored by many Christians, including their pastors and theologians, and I can only assume they think it is somehow cancelled out, along with many others[9] by their exaltation and misunderstanding of Ephesians 2:8 …By grace are you saved.
In fact, I had one church leader confirm this for me just a few years ago in a way I had never heard before. He said the words of Jesus in the Gospels were given to the Jews under the law, and how Jesus prior to his resurrection was still ministering under the dispensation of the law. I am aware Jesus said “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt 15:24) but I had never heard anyone suggest the words of Jesus were therefore rendered obsolete in the new age of NT grace.
[1] Matthew 24:5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
[2] See Revelation 17 regarding Mystery Babylon. BABYLON means CONFUSION.
[3] Luke 13:20-21 Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
[4] Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
[5] This line is quoted by Paul in Titus 1:12
[6] Matthew 25:31-45 Tells us God identifies his children by their love, not their religious labels or lack therof.
[7] Luke 12:47-48 And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
[8] Isaiah 9:2 and Matthew 4:16 The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.
[9] Matthew 5:20 Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 7: 21-29 Not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.18:3 Except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
