Apostle Paul taught New Age Christianity. Of course 2000 years ago it wasn’t called New Age, but many of the concepts are the same, especially in regards to the concept of cosmic consciousness. I know mainstream Christianity would vehemently disagree, but this is only because they have failed to understand the symbols and language of the Bible.
Personally, I think the future of mainstream Christianity is in trouble—what was once a mystery is now being shouted in books, websites, and blogs across the world: Christ is in us!
The Bible has contained this truth all along. As Paul said:
“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” (Colossians 1:27).
But what exactly does this mean? How can Christ be in us? It means exactly what it says. Christ is not just outside of you. He’s inside as well, as a part of everyone, including the Jew, Christian, Taoist, Hindu, Buddhist, Islamist, Pantheist, and yes, even the atheist. Notice how 1 Cor. 1:27 proclaims this concept as a mystery unto the Gentiles, the outsiders! But for over a thousand of years mainstream Christian dogma has made salvation exclusive to those who follow a certain doctrine.
Part of the reason for this exclusivity has been religious authorities who misunderstand the term “Jew” and “gentile.”
Paul’s use of the term “Jew” is the one who goes “within” to find the Christ. The “gentiles” were those who didn’t have access to this kind esoteric knowledge and therefore could not know the Christ. But Paul’s mission was to change that.
I know that I am already treading the water of heresy, but since I’m already on the subject, I think I’ll dive all the way in!J Not only did Paul proclaim that Christ was within everyone, but he also hints at the fact that Christ is within everything!
“…[Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature…For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible…” (1 Corinthians 1:15-16).
Let that sink in. Paul is effectively saying that Christ is within all of creation!
Maybe now the scripture I quote below can finally be made sense of:
“…be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven…” (1 Corinthians 1:23).
Surely the Gospel of mainstream Christianity never reached South America, the Arctic Circle, Northeastern Asia, Japan, and Australia, the thousands of islands in the Pacific, and many other places of this earth, at least not in Paul’s day, right? So what in the heck was Paul referring to? Some say Paul was referring to the known world at the time. Please! The ancient Egyptians, before the time of Paul, had extensive enough knowledge of every continent to build the Great Pyramid near the center of all land area of the world.
Paul is speaking esoterically here. The Gospel was preached to every creature under heaven because every aspect of creation is teaming with Christ. Life itself was created through Christ because Christ is that life itself. In the truest understanding, the LOGOS, as Christ is often called, is the essence of consciousness and energy (spirit) taking on the form of matter. And that’s us.
“In him was life; and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4).
The truth is that mainstream Christianity has terribly limited both Christ and the Gospel. The original intent of the Gospels—especially John—was taught by groups such as the Gnostics. They made plain what Paul waxed philosophical in 1 Corinthians.
“When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living father.”
—Gospel of Thomas
The Greek, gnothi sauton, or, “know yourself,” was a famous saying at the temple dedicated to Apollo at Delphi, Greece. To those in the ancient world with esoteric knowledge, knowing the depths of one’s self was the pinnacle of knowledge. In the East it is the same:
“We are all part of the One Spirit. When you experience the true meaning of religion, which is to know God, you will realize that He is your Self, and that He exists equally and impartially in all beings.”
—Paramahansa Yogananda
And yet Orthodox Christianity still fails to see this same thought evident in its own scriptures:
“…know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you… (2 Corinthians 13:15).
This type of “knowing” that Paul refers to is not head knowledge, but the kind that matters beyond death: experiential knowledge of the cosmic kind. This kind of knowledge survives physical death, even that death where the dissolution of the personality and ego must also eventually take place in the more subtle realms.
But does mainstream Christianity really teach us to know ourselves? Even after becoming “saved” by putting faith in Jesus and his death on the cross? Are we then taught to know ourselves, the type of knowing which seeks to purge our lower nature so that we can manifest the higher nature? Probably not. It’s usually more church, salvation programs, preaching, another building fund, and some singing. Where’s the power that’s going to affect the soul after the death in that? Sure, it can bring joy and contentment to the soul, but after such practices has the mind really been renewed? Transformed?
One of the meanings of “transformed” is to be altered in nature. Don’t you think Paul was going for something a little more serious than a simple belief in Jesus as the way to salvation? How about something like an expanded consciousness? Now that would be a transformed mind!
Cosmic consciousness is not a New Age concept, by the way. It is a very old age concept, one of the original great truths of spirituality existing thousands of years ago. This cosmic union is what manifesting the Christ is about. And it is Biblical!
Fortunately, this cosmic union is explained in the crucifixion of Christ on the cross and the renting of the veil between the holy place and the holy of holies. In the last post I stated we were going to discuss exactly how the renting of this veil correlates with the expansion of consciousness (Christ consciousness), but I felt what is written above needed to be stated first. That information is still coming in our next post. Specifically, we will be dealing with more information on meditation, the pineal and pituitary glands, and the third ventricle of the brain. All this information will tie in with our last post of the human mind being symbolized in the tabernacle of Moses in scripture. I believe it will be some great information to help us all understand the Bible a lot better!
Blessings.
Great post, Joshua! I am enjoying your blog, as many of your ideas resonate with me. I couldn’t agree more with mainstream Christianity missing the very essence of Paul’s message. BTW, I just added you to the blogroll of my new blog at http://shiningstranger.wordpress.com/. Come on over and check it out. Peace!
Kent, thanks for the encouragement, and I would love to check out your blog. Heading there now. Blessings.
Great post! it been a while sense I last shecked in with you I see you are still bringing that knowlege that is much needed my friend!.However I would like to see a post on the essence of tithing the tenth.Some tithe out of superficality and fear of “robbing God”.I my self have always belive that this was more spiritual and mental than physical,leaving one who practice this with the feeling that there is always enough. Can you alberate in later post? Thanx.
Thanks, Jim. Good to see you back.
About the tithe, if you look in my categories page you’ll find an article I did on tithing that should address some of your concerns. If it doesn’t answer your questions, e-mail me with anything specific and I can try to address it, although I think I have promised about 10 posts on various topics to people so far, none of which I have quite gotten to yet.
Blessings.
Hi Joshua,
your words “Personally, I think the future of mainstream Christianity is in trouble” are so true, almost prophetic. You do know about the Pope resigning, and the jury trial in Canada re: the native American children in Christian schools and the finding that the Pope and the Queen are guilty, and both things happening on the same day, Feb 28th?
I think a lot will happen the rest of this year, a lot of truths will be exposed, and many will be looking for the true, spiritual meanings of the Bible. Keep up the great work!
I think so many more people are looking for something deeper, more tangible, than religion can offer. It will be an interesting next few years!
Hi Joshua,
As always this is a very interesting post which in principle I agree with, but we should not take it too absolute.
You write: ‘But does mainstream Christianity really teach us to know ourselves? Even after becoming “saved” by putting faith in Jesus and his death on the cross? Are we then taught to know ourselves, the type of knowing which seeks to purge our lower nature so that we can manifest the higher nature? Probably not. It’s usually more church, salvation programs, preaching, another building fund, and some singing. Where’s the power that’s going to affect the soul after the death in that? Sure, it can bring joy and contentment to the soul, but after such practices has the mind really been renewed? Transformed?’
I think, in fact I know, there is another way of transformation too, another entry as it were. Here in Europe for instance we have the stories of people who, during World War II, actually grew above themselves because of the way they acted in order to save fellow human beings. They took the teachings of Jesus very literally (many of them were christians) and actually followed in his footsteps which often made them end up in prisons, concentration camps or in front of firing squads. They never questioned doctrines but did most certainly crucify their ego’s. I have heard amazing stories about the kind of people they turned into in those circumstances and even a story about a priest who must have had a kundalini experience as people actually saw a halo around him after he had died. Even those who did not get caught but had taken that risk, as my grandmother had, turned into extraordinary beings. She lived into her nineties as a grand, wise, loving woman with a very open mind. She never left the doctrines of the church but interpreted them in the most loving way possible. And there were Jewish and non religious people too who behaved in this way. I think all of them must have come in alignment with the divine energy, regardless of what they believed.
Anny,
I have to agree with you on this one. While I agree with Joshua that the Bible does teach a message of deeper understanding of the self and how to join in union with God, it also has lower levels of teaching (possibly to bring man to the higher teachings and possibly to allow all men to experience God in a way that can be understood). I can account to this personally by saying that there was a transformation in my personality, attitude, and mental state when I accepted Jesus Christ as a personal Lord and Savior. The stress to perform simply melted away creating room for spiritual growth and exploration without the condemnation that I felt when trying to walk the spiritual path alone. Ultimately, the goal of level of teaching is the same: Become one with the Spirit of God and walk the path of Righteousness and Love.
Live Blessed;
Justin
I am really enjoying this blog. I don’t think people realize how cryptic most of the scriptures are. I have gone through different periods of seeking out enlightenment, searching through esoteric writings, being extremely open minded and adventurous in my spirituality. Through all of this, I’ve also gone through “freak out” moments where I become afraid that I’m “messing” with things that I shouldn’t be, where things seem “occult” and “forbidden.” Recently, I’ve started to read scripture and see that it isn’t just a “fundamentalist” book of strict laws, but a tricky reference book with deep, deep meaning. Nothing in it is easy or necessarily “dumbed down,” contrary to what anti-religious people seem to preach (like atheists who are just as dogmatic as the fundamentalists). I’m glad that exploring scripture has become a part of my already deep and “out of the ordinary” spiritual journey.
Dan,
So right about how cryptic the scriptures are! If they weren’t this way, what value would they really be? Many literalist feel they are getting the best out of life by interpreting them literally, but then they are always looking for a heavenly experience other than what they have now. In other words, everybody wants to escape. But an esoteric interpretation of the scripture makes us face reality right here and now. How more real can you get?
As far as “freaking out over messing with things,” this is normal. Mind conditioning over many years of believing in literal interpretations causes this to be a pattern of belief in the subconscious. It’s like a habit. It will pass over time.
Blessings.
Thanks!
Will you say Christ is what connects us at a sub-atomic level?
From a practical stand point, we must crucify our egos to see Christ Consciousness within our kingdom! It’s the Cosmic power that opens the 7 seals of our inner being. This inner being is Christ Consciousness or “Greater is He(Christ Consciousness) thats in us, than he(ego) who’s in the world”…. We must root in the new man making Christ Consciousness our home (Psalms 90:1-2). It is here we were made clean. Christ consciousness is the righteous we’re clothed with. Salvation is becoming Christ consciousness; crucifying the ego seeing the Salvation of Christ consciousness (Psalms 27:1). To add icing on the cake, since we called Christ LORD… Then what is being said is Cosmic Law is Christ consciousness… Here’s the key scripture… Me and the Father are One (John 10:30). Amen!
I can do All things thru Christ Jesus… Christ Consciousness is our Savior. All of basic needs are met. Unifying the Male Female Principle bringing forth the Divine Immaculate Conception: The Son of God ie the New Man flowing in unlimited anointing having peace with self and thy neighbor. Let us walk unto perfection… Amen.
Sometimes the Bible is literal as in “the last sin to be conquered is death”. So it could be said that dying is a sin. Most somehow think it’s natural, but it’s not.
Jesus himself had to become a follower/adherent/obedient to Christ/Divine Love awareness experientially.
Though he was the son he had to learn obedience to regain his inheritance which was given up when he became human/flesh the same as the children(us).
Our soul and spirit are not native to the earth. Our soul and spirit was lost to us when we entered matter (flesh). To regain our soul and spirit we have to follow in Jesus’s foot steps and re-unite with Divine Love/Christ.
Now, Jesus and Christ is the same, One, yet distinct, the same as you have one mind but different parts to one mind. Conscious mind, Sub Conscious mind and Super Conscious mind, three parts or regions to One mind.
He had to mold his Conscious mind to be obedient to his Super Conscious mind or the part of him that is Christ/Divine Love, which allowed him to come into possession or awareness of his Soul.
Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Gentleness, Kindness, Faithfulness and Self Control are all attributes of Divine Love/Christ, the Super Conscious. These are the Fruit of the Spirit. Of which Divine Love/Christ is the first Fruit of the Spirit, literally.
The first step is to be cleansed (Conscious mind and Sub Conscious mind) by the waters of the Spirit, higher Super Conscious thoughts are the waters (the same process as in Genesis of the Bible, waters below the firmament/expanse, are Conscious mind thoughts, above waters are Super Conscious thoughts). Drink and bathed in the Fruit of the Spirit.
The second step is to be refined like precious metals (Conscious mind and Sub Conscious mind), Silver and Gold by the fires of the Spirit, higher Super Conscious heat. Super Conscious force, burns away impurities of (Conscious mind and Sub Conscious mind), to become a co-inheritor with Jesus to the part of you that is Christ/Divine Love.