Jesus; the Lost Years

 And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. 

Luke 2:42

Other than this little snippet from the Gospel of Luke & 'The Slaughter of the Infants' we read about in Matthew's account, Scripture really offers no real glimpse into the life of Jesus before He was baptized by John at the age of 30. What follows, then, is purely a work of fiction, although it is based, in part, on a limited knowledge of what life was like in those days & expressly, in that ancient culture & corner of the world. I must apologize beforehand if I offend anyone's sensibilities, but the only recourse I can offer is, 'STOP HERE: go no further, if you are easily offended!'

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Jesus was born under some very difficult circumstances; not only was his legitimacy questionable at birth ( His mother was pregnant out of wedlock ), but the land of His birth, Palestine, was under Roman occupation! How Mary ended up in this messy situation was somewhat enigmatic, although she insisted that the Holy Spirit of God had impregnated her: her betrothed seemed to keep up the façade too. The case being what it was, Joseph chose to marry his betrothed anyway & even traveled quite some distance soon thereafter, when she was nearing the end of her pregnancy. There was talk going on around their little village that one of the Roman occupiers had taken a shine, so to speak, to this young woman, although there was no actual proof, other than Mary's pregnancy itself, so Joseph wasn't too anxious about leaving town for awhile; he had a good excuse, being required by law to present himself for census in a city some several days journey away.

By all accounts, Jesus' humble beginnings followed Him throughout most of His life! His adoptive father, Joseph, who was quite a bit older than Mary, was a stonemason. Not much more than a day-laborer, Joseph was used to breaking his back to put food on the table for his growing family. As his family grew, Joseph had to work harder & longer just to survive. Thus, it wasn't too long after Jesus became a full-fledged teenager, that He was bereft of His adoptive father. According to Jewish law, or Hebrew law, more correctly, Joseph's somewhat younger brother married Joseph's wife & fathered 

several more children. Although he was a bit younger than his brother, he died after some time, leaving Jesus with the responsibility, not only of fulfilling the duty of the eldest son, but of raising his younger brothers & sisters. Needless to say; Jesus, having learned masonry as a trade from his adoptive father, went to work in earnest!

In those days, the king of His small country, or region, really, was embroiled in many building projects. One of those just happened to be a fairly short distance from where Jesus lived with His relatively small family. Being a fairly experienced stonemason & even somewhat notable Himself, aside from Joseph's good reputation, Jesus found work fairly easily. In time, His stonework came to be highly prized & He, with His family, was able to breathe a small sigh of relief. As near as they were to the Sea of Galilee, Jesus' younger brothers were also making a name for themselves as fishermen; His sisters, along with their mother ( who wasn't young anymore, relatively speaking ) were augmenting their livelihood by their considerable effort in the growing textile industry.

At the ripe old age of 25, Jesus had a pretty decent list of accomplishments under His belt! A mason of note, as well as a sailor & accomplished fisherman, Jesus decided to take a break & see the world. Having, in His previous travels, explored the desert region south of Jerusalem & met with its intriguing inhabitants there, He decided to expand His horizons a bit more, taking several years in traversing both the Jordan & the mighty Euphrates Rivers ( several times ) in His search for Purpose. What He found in His travels was akin to Divinity; those Teachers with whom He communed in the Far East taught Him many of the principles He would employ in His own ministry, later in life!

During His sojourn there, Jesus learned much about Himself & His own Divinity, much of which He had known previously, but not really had time to explore to a great extent. These Teachings, while somewhat different than the traditions Jesus had been brought up in, were essentially not too far removed from these traditions. He might even have conjectured that these Teachings seemed to form the basis, more or less, for what He had been taught. The more He traveled in those distant lands, the more Jesus became convinced of His own Divinity & the stories that His mother & adoptive father had related finally made sense! He had always known that He had been born for a special Purpose; now He knew what that Purpose was & Jesus returned to the Land of His Nativity to fulfill that Purpose!

All in all, Jesus' Journey had consumed the better part of 5 years! It was as He was nearing the exalted age of 30 that Jesus once again set foot in the Land of His Nativity. His first stop, of course, was  in the region of the Galilee to check in on his family. Finding them as well as could be expected, Jesus moved on to renew acquaintance with His cousin John, but found that John, in his own Journey of Discovery, had left his home & family to take up residency in the wilderness south of Jerusalem. Although Jesus decided not to extend His search at that time; He & His cousin were soon to cross paths again, anyway!

In His absence, many of the building projects that Jesus Himself had worked on were nearing completion, while some had been finished while He was away & yet others had begun. The population had thus been growing as well, yet even though Jesus found Himself in the midst of a growing metropolis, the stigma that had followed Him all His life had not lessened one bit; if anything, it had grown right along with the population. Taking up the reins once more, Jesus took His mother, brothers & sisters, moving further toward the holy city, Jerusalem, not only to escape the wagging tongues, but to lessen the stress of the yearly journey.

The Return of Jesus had sparked some controversy, as was to be expected! Born of a questionable union ( although, if His detractors cared to remember, so had more than a few of their exalted ancestors been! ), He faced, not only that stigma, but also shouldered His newly-found Purpose. He knew what He had to do; He also knew that it was likely to go over like a ton of bricks, so to speak! With this Purpose in mind, after making sure His family was well cared for, Jesus set about His Father's purpose; He went looking for His cousin.

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This is a work of almost pure fiction. While the last three years of Jesus' life are chronicled, to some extent, in what we now call the New Testament, the point of the words above is to possibly give a bit of insight into how Jesus might have gotten to the point of His meeting with John the Baptizer at the Jordan River. In no way whatsoever is this meant to be a historical account, just an attempt to explain, with the aid of what we can glean from history itself, some of the events that transpired in the Life of Jesus as we know it. To this end, I now invite any constructive criticism or discussion engendered by this endeavor!

Charles Haddon Shank

Saving Faith; Our Faith, Our Salvation?

Jesus said to the woman, 'Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction'. As in at least one other place in our modern Bible, we have an instance here of 'who done it?'; did Jesus heal her, or did she, through faith in Him, heal herself? Well, obviously, the answer is 'YES'! This is plainly a 'both and' scenario: Jesus recognized that her faith had done the job, so to speak & then, just like His Father in the beginning, He pronounced it done ( one might say, 'He verified it' ). One could argue till they're 'blue in the face' ( been there done that ) that this famous passage in Paul's Letter to the Church at Ephesus ( Ephesians 2:8 & 9 ) 'For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast', clearly states that our faith itself comes from God, not from ourselves. In the greatest sense this is true, but, if I remember my grammar rules correctly, 'grace' being the subject ( not 'faith' ), 'that' would point to the subject, 'grace'. As well, the context seems to demand a first-century audience, the Jews & Gentiles who were being saved from the so-called 'Old Covenant' economy.

In this New Age ( Jesus called it 'the age to come'-Luke 18:30, Luke 20:34-36 ) we should note that, as Jesus said, we are like 'the angels'; in essence, that we have become aware of our Essence, our Oneness with Him ( 'God' ); therefore, we cannot die ( I realize that I'm traversing dangerous ground here, but bear with me! ). Orthodoxy tells us that it is only those who confess their sins ( I John 1:9 ) & turn to Him in repentance who receive the aforementioned 'grace', thus inheriting eternal life. This is not entirely wrong, but neither is it altogether correct! The context of the promises of Scripture demand a first-century fulfillment! From beginning to end, the promises were to Israel: those promises to Israel were fulfilled in Jesus, the Messiah of Israel. ( In Greek, this translates to 'the Christ' ) While many of the passages of Scripture hold universal truth, there are some that hold true for Israel alone & were fulfilled in Jesus. In the greatest sense, one might say that they are being fulfilled yet today, in & through us!

Jesus, as has been discussed recently in this blog, was the Messiah of Israel, the Son of Man who came to save His people from their sins ( Matthew 1:21 ) & thus was revealed as the very Son of God. ( I realize that I failed to mention 'only begotten' ) As such, Jesus did die a very painful death for those sins, a death which was pictured throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. The sins of Israel required a blood sacrifice, something which many people today, Christian & non-Christian alike, cringe at. One thing that most fail to realize, though, is the culture that these Scriptures came from. Thanks to traditional Christianity itself, the Scriptures have been widely interpreted from a Western viewpoint; thankfully, this is under review, almost as widely. The culture from which the Scriptures come was not only much different than our Western culture; it was also ancient! There is a joke that goes something like this; 'Jesus won't come back for fear He'd be mistaken for a terrorist'. But I digress: the point is that, the Ancient Near Eastern culture that we read about in the Bible was one of Death. Its pagan, idolatrous ( just read the Hebrew Scriptures! ) beginnings should tell us much about why their 'sins' called for a blood sacrifice.

The reason Jesus was called the Lamb of God was because He was the fulfillment of all those innocent lambs whose blood was shed under that first ( covenant ). ( I'm sure there could be other reasons.......... ) Things don't work quite the same way, here in the West, although I'm sure that if one cared to research our own pagan, idolatrous roots, some very interesting, maybe similar, results might be revealed! The ancient beginnings of Western culture were very bloody as well, as I understand it. Even until recently ( 500 years or so ), Western culture has been a bloody mess, with some less-bloody, even glorious, intervals. Without a better grasp of Ancient Western history ( prior to the Vikings even ) I hesitate to venture much further in a revelation of Ancient Western culture, but, correct me if I'm wrong, about the only similarity between the two ( ANE & AW ) was that both were very bloody!

Just like in the Ancient Near East, religion factored rather heavily in the Ancient West; the gods were just as numerous, maybe even moreso! Like in the West, too, the gods of the Ancient Near East were based, however loosely, upon human manifestations. As well, much of what the Hebrews witnessed, which they correctly ascribed to the One True God, seen through the lenses of modern science, are now ascribed to the Forces of Nature, rather than being a supernatural event ( both are true ). These two factors, by the way ( blood & religion ), are related, though maybe not in quite the way in which we prefer to think!

Lest we stray too far from our topic, as previously stated, Jesus was known as the Lamb of God because He fulfilled all the types from that first ( covenant ). He became the truest blood sacrifice for the sins of His people from of old. It could be argued, as it has been from time immemorial, that He was our Messiah as well, but ( keep your shirt on ) He was simply Israel's Messiah, the Christ who took away the sins of that 'world'! There are many today, most if not all, really, who say that as the Christ, Jesus shed His precious blood for the whole world, everyone who ever lived or will ever live. These truly are not far wrong; they're very nearly right! Jesus was the Christ to Israel, in that generation ( not to belabor the point ), but as He made perfectly clear in the Scriptures ( if one is open to the concept ), we are ( to be ) the Christ in our generation. Now, it can be argued, as it has been before, quite vociferously, that Jesus was not just a human being ( according to most accounts ); He was also ( the Son of ) God. Well, whether one wants to attach the capital letter or not, so are we! This is not to say that we all act worth of the appellation, but as spiritual beings having a human experience, we are essentially on the same level as Jesus was ( GASP )!

So, is the phrase, 'Saving Faith' valid today, particularly in our  ( modern ) Western culture? Depending upon where that faith is placed, 'Most certainly!' Many simply have faith in themselves, without truly understanding their own nature, thus setting themselves up for a fall: while they may persevere for a time, they will often succumb to outside forces that convince them they must look outside themselves for salvation. Sometimes with a simple faith in a 'God' somewhere out there, it is possible to lead a glorious, even heavenly life, but even there, most are simply spinning their wheels in a never-ending rut, looking for a final salvation that will never come!

In conclusion then, just as Jesus said to the woman with an issue ( of blood-?? ), it is our faith that saves us, though it is ultimately the God Within ( or the Christ Within, if you prefer ) that 'saves' us, whether it be from a horrible wreck in our vehicle, a life of depravity, or simply a bad diet! Our Western concept of 'salvation', like it or not, however loosely, is based on the Hebrew ( Greek ) Scriptures. That Salvation was fulfilled by the Messiah, or Christ, of Israel. That Salvation was ultimately from the so-called Old Covenant economy, or as it is called at least one in Scripture, 'the ministry of death' ( II Corinthians 3:7 ). While it might be noted that the world seems sometimes, to be under the thrall of a different 'ministry of death', it is not to the Messiah of Israel that we must look for its salvation; it is to the Christ Within that we must look for the salvation, first of our own ( little ) 'world': the rest of the ( larger ) world will, in time, follow!

Charles Haddon Shank

Universal Truth; 'In the World But Not of the World'

A favorite saying of some, used  ( or misused ) by most to say that though we must live on this earth, we must not live as many others on this earth do. From a Futurist ( Christian ) point of view, of course, they understand the concept expressed above, 'in the world but not of the world' ( based on passages like Jesus' prayer in John 17, the apostle Paul's letter to the Romans ( 12:2 ) & the apostle John's words in I John 2:15-17 ) as referring to their perception of Jesus' world. According to this view ( not entirely wrong ), rather than simply referring to the Jewish economy of Jesus' Day, 'the world' that He & the apostles warned against extends far into the future, going on 2,000 years now: again, this is not altogether wrong!

One might as well say that while we live in a conventional world, we do not have to live according to those conventions! I'm not advocating throwing the baby out with the bathwater ( IE, resisting convention for convention's sake-some conventions are not all bad ), just that some conventions need not be observed. Another way of putting it is that while we must live in the Person, we must not live from the Person: in essence, because we, at present, are in this biology, we really have no choice but to live as the person ( ? ), but, even there, we don't have to live according to the selfish wants & needs of this biology.

This may be an unfamiliar concept to some, but the notion that we are spirits ( energy? ) having a physical ( biological ) experience is by no means a modern one! In this world-view, there are basically two ways to live; one can live according to the conventions of this world, from the Person, so to speak, or one can live from the ( higher ) Self, letting things be what they are, focusing on the fact that we are all of the same Essence. The former way of life, especially in this world, is much easier in the short run on the Person, but the latter is much healthier, according to a growing number of people!

The heart of the issue, as some have realized & more are recognizing, is that much of this world's problems, if not all of them, stem from living from the Person. Wars are begun because one Person, or group of People, believe that they have the right to subjugate another Person or group of People. Babies are murdered by the dumpster-full every day because one Person decides that another just won't fit into their selfish plans. On the other hand, living from the Self would bring peace, in the long run, maybe not the short, because when one realizes that there truly is no Other, but that we are Essentially the Same & then accepts things as they are, without processing how they think things should be, then wars would cease; murder would become less & less of an option: despite personal differences, people would accept each other & Love would rule the day!

As Utopian as that statement sounds, it CAN happen; those who have chosen to manifest the Self rather than the Person ( Jesus, for example ) may not live long in this world, but they have definitely left their mark on it! When one chooses to live non-conventionally in a conventional world, one often ( usually ) faces tribulation, sometimes death; Gandhi, for instance, was deprived of his personal existence for this reason. Many others have been persecuted, even to death, for not following the conventions of the day; the story of Martin Luther King & the whole civil rights movement of the 50s & 60s has opened many a blind eye!

It has been proven that those, including the Jesus of the Bible, who have chosen to live from the Self, not from the Person, have made history, for the better! It truly cannot be argued that, even with the advance of the Gospel, such as it is, the world, especially Western Civilization, has declined to whatever decree because of the tendency to live from the Person. Reports are coming in, however, for those with ears to hear, from all over the world, that it is becoming a growing trend to live from the Self & though this usually means persecution, more & more people are finding it a healthier option, a better way of life!

Wars, whether on a national or local ( personal ) level are unavoidable; abortion is a sad fact, at least to those living from the Person: 'I' will not stand here silent, while that Other Person tramples all over 'MY' rights!' Isn't that just the opposite of what Jesus did? In fact, Jesus castigated His own disciples for trying to defend His physical Person! Jesus even prayed for those who persecuted & eventually sentenced Him to death because He was focused on the Self, the good of all men & women, not on His own Person!

Some conventions are useful: Time, for instance; when someone tells us they will be there in a certain amount of Time, if we have a timepiece of our own, we can know that given a certain amount of trust, they will be there when we expect. Others, not so much; though the marriage license ( as with any license ) can be useful, especially when it comes to living IN the Person ( if you would avoid persecution ), it is by no means necessary ( except for matters of legality ) to the union itself. In fact, the convention of a man & woman standing before a minister or J.P. is questionable as to its necessity!

It's probably clearer to some atheists than to some Christians that the 'world' to which Jesus & the apostles referred was the Jewish economy, which was about to pass away ( John 12:31, John 16:8 & 11, I Corinthians 7:31, Hebrews 9:26 ), but it should be noted that the statement made in the beginning of this blogpost stands as a universal truth. Just as we are spirits having a physical experience, so the earth itself, or the 'world', if you will, is a biological body. We, in the Self, are not of this earth, or this 'world'. In the Person, however we are of this world & as such we tend overmuch to focus on what we, in the Person, perceive as Reality; the Self, however, sees things as they are, not as the Person thinks or believes they are, or should be.

So, the 'world' of Jesus' Day passed away, just like ( when-thank God for Time ) He said it would, but we still, personally speaking, live in the world. Living as 'of the world' ( kinda like, 'I'm an American!' ) just causes trouble & not in a good way! Wars have been started for less! 'It's MY right; how dare you try to take it!': instead, we should be sharing this 'world' as a Gift from God ( the Source, Creator, etc. ). There ARE some things that we should NOT share, but that's a different subject for a different day ( or maybe I'll just leave it to my readers! ).

As a wise women once, said, 'Our lives are not our own; cradle to grave, we are bound to others, past and present. And by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.'      

Charles Haddon Shank

Universal Truth; 'You are Gods'!

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1

Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil.

Genesis 3:22

Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods”’?

John 10:34 ( Psalm 82:6 )

First things first; 'who/what is 'God?' According to the Hebrew ( 'elohiym ) & Greek ( theos) the word refers to 'mighty ones' or 'a deity'. Looking into the etymology of the Hebrew word, one might even find that it has reference to a certain 'El'. Although this was simply an ancient ( Proto-Semitic ) word, meaning 'god', or 'deity', it was also used by an assortment of gods, including a Canaanite deity. This may be where the Hebrew usage stemmed from ( very likely, in fact ), with names like Samuel, Daniel, even Israel. As the Hebrew Scriptures morphed with the Greek, we may note that the meaning remains essentially the same & interestingly enough, both instances ( Greek & Hebrew ) employ the same word in referring to both 'God' & 'man' ( on the Land )!

Speaking of 'man on the Land', this in itself should be noted as a reference to the genesis of the Hebrews as a special nation. The second quote above, from John 10:34 ( Psalm 82:6 ), then, in context, is speaking primarily of the religious leaders of the Hebrews ( broadly 'Jews' ), although it may be noted as being a universal truth, in essence, that even though it may have referred in the first case to certain Hebrews, it applies to people of all times & nations. The Scriptures, both Greek & Hebrew, because they were written to a people long ago & far away, were written primarily for their instruction, thus applying ONLY to them & their current situation ( audience relevance ), still hold certain universal truths that apply to all humanity.

One of these universal truths, as we've discussed before on this blog, is found in probably THE most-quoted verse in the Bible, John 3:16. 'For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.' In other words, one might say, the Creator God, the Source of all Life, took upon Himself, biblically speaking, humanity, not so much as one ancient theologian stated, 'that man might become God', but that man ( kind-humanity ) might realize they are, in essence, in their innermost BEing, God ( A 'god', if that makes it easier to digest )!

This is not to say that we ARE the Creator God, though we ARE creators ( on a much smaller scale )! We ARE, however, from the same Source ( Essence ) as Jesus! As Jesus was the Christ ( Anointed or Sent One ), so WE are the Christ to our 'world'. As we are creators, we also, to some extent, create our 'worlds', just as we are ( to be ) the Christ to them. Not only do we create our 'world' through the choices we make ( thus our God-hood ), but we ourselves, through what we call 'procreation' ( Seed ) in this sense cause the formation of human beings. All this, of course, is based solidly on the fact that there is one Supreme Being, one ( common? ) Source of all Life, the Energy that motivates us all!

It is common, among Christians especially, to refer to the Energy that motivates us as Spirit, in particular, the Holy Spirit. Biblically speaking, however, we differentiate between what some call 'covenant life' &merely biological life. These interpret the formation of man ( Adam ) in 'the Image of God' as indicative of 'covenant life', whereas others simply read this passage as a record of the creation of the human race. Maybe it's not 'either or', but 'both and'! Rather than being just a record of the Creator God's dealings with Israel ( as some have supposed  ), it is indicative of the genesis of humanity, as retold through Hebraic lenses!

The Spirit of a Man ( I Corinthians 2:11 ) is not only a biblical phrase, but one which is universally familiar. We often, almost haphazardly refer to this Spirit ( 'spirit', if that goes down easier ) as that which 'drives' a person; it is back of all ones decisions, though some choose to allow their biology to rule over their Spirit. A biblical example of this is Cain, who allowed his fleshly passions to override the Spirit Within & murdered his brother because of his own jealousy. Modern examples include, from relatively recent history, Charles Lindbergh's famous flight in 'The Spirit of St. Louis'. Although it was just a plane, to Lindbergh it embodied a certain Spirit; among others, no doubt, the Spirit of Freedom, It is the Spirit Within, our Godhood if you will, that motivates & so, it is by our choices that we show, or prove, that Godhood!

Terms like 'theosis' & 'deification' have long been a rather taboo subject among most Christians, although it is by no means a modern concept. In fact, it is a very biblical concept, if one reads certain Scriptures honestly & openly ( without bias )! The very fact that a mere Man could be God as well was outrageously shocking to many of the Hebrews ( Jews ); today is no different: most if not all Christians today will immediately, metaphorically or otherwise, employ the Sign of the Cross when faced with the absurd notion that mere humanity could be God. BEing God, however, simply means, according to the Scriptures, our ability to choose, to judge for ourselves. The choices we make however, determine, not our deification, but the manifestation, or revelation of our deification!

Charles Haddon Shank

Living Acoss Dimensions

'To break it down, dimensions are simply the different facets of what we perceive to be reality.'

From a purely biblical POV ( point of view ), probably the clearest example of another dimension, or other dimensions is found in  II Kings 6:14-17. In this passage, we read an instance of a man's eyes being opened to this other, what might be called, 'the heavenly dimension'. Although one might just as well, or easily explain it as that his perception was widened ( there might be a Hebrew idiom at work here, too ), there can be no doubt that these dimensions, if there be several unseen, exist right alongside the three or four that most of us can perceive & indeed, interact with them!

Scientifically speaking, these extra dimensions, even called 'parallel universes', exist only in theory; FOR NOW! Although these theories, for there are several differing ones, are getting more & more attention; scientists believe they are getting closer & closer all the Time to finding  ( 'Eureka!' ) 'The Theory of Everything'. In short, such a theory would explain everything that has ever happened or might ever happen, ever so far as the Genesis of Life itself! All, of course, without the necessity of an Intelligent Designer, especially the God of the Bible, althougb there are some scientists who have reached & acknowledged this inescapable conclusion.

Faith tells us that the God of the Bible is this Intelligent Designer, although it should be clear to anyone with eyes to see ( ? ) that the beauty that surrounds us, as perceived in the four readily observable dimensions, is obviously the work of such a Designer! As a Christian, I must aver that the God of the Bible is descriptive, in part at least, of the Creator & Unfolder ( 'Revealer'? ) of the Universe ( s? ). As One who tends to explore Beyond Christianity, though, it is apparent to me that this Intelligent Designer is infinitely more!

Not to wonder too far off track; the perception of this blogger is that the Bible we are used to reading is comprised ( primarily ) of the Hebrew Scriptures. As such, the Story of Scripture is the History of Israel, a peculiar people who lived long ago, in a place far away from our own, although maybe not so far removed, in the theory of quantum physics. The point is, the Scriptures, or our Bible, is simply the Hebraic perception of the Creator God. This, again, is not to say that it is necessarily false or untrue in our Day & Age, just that there is so much more that we can learn about the Source of All ( biological ) Life, than just from the Hebrew & Greek Scriptures.

'Living inter-dimensionally; what a concept!' One might wonder why we should even conceptualize such a thing; 'why complicate things like that? Just live in the Here & Now; stop worrying us with these far-fetched notions!' We should live in the Here & Now, yes, but it helps to realize that, though our perception determines 'our reality' ( to some extent ), Reality itself is not determined by our perception. Elisha's servant, going back to our Scriptural example, did not perceive that the city was surrounded by a heavenly host ( 'inter-dimensional beings', one might say ), but when the scales were lifted from his eyes, so to speak ( however momentarily ), his perception was altered & he realized that, though they were surrounded by their enemies, their enemies were themselves 'surrounded'!

The modern concept of inter-dimensional travel, for instance, has so far been limited  ( for the most part ) to traveling in Time, either backwards or forwards, or Space, as in, one 'place' to another. The whole notion, really, of manifold dimensions, to the perceptive mind of this blogger, anyway, is predicated itself on the notion that these 'dimensions' are not so much 'parallel universes' ( 'Marvel' at that, if you will ), as they are the Reality that IS & not the reality that we perceive, though our perceptions may comprise the Whole. The world-view that we glean from our reading of Scripture, therefore, in its manifold interpretations, is based simply on the Hebraic perception of that Reality. Again, this is not to say that their perception was NOT Reality, just that it was simply their perception & NOT the Whole of Reality!

The Truth of the Matter is that, whether we perceive it or not, we ARE living in a dimensional world, inter-dimensionally, one might say! A strong statement, perhaps, but the very fact that there are things beyond our current perception ( most call them 'supernatural' ) should tell us that our 'reality' isn't necessarily what IS; in other words, though our 'reality' isn't necessarily wrong, Reality itself is more than what we perceive; Reality itself is inter-dimensional! Not that Reality travels through Time, though that may be our perception, but that it transcends Time, across the spectrum, so to speak.

Our Faith, as Christians, directs us in how to live across dimensions: though we do not see the 'heavenly dimension' with our physical eyes, we may, with the eyes of faith ( some call it 'the third eye' ) see this other dimension, or the Reality That IS! While we have to do with what we perceive with our ( physical ) senses, we do not have to live according to what we perceive with those senses alone. With the aid of this 'third eye', our spiritual senses are awakened & our perception itself is altered: then, we begin to see Reality as it IS, not just as we have perceived it. This, of course, is predicated on our acceptance of Who We Are!

Charles Haddon Shank

The Metaphorical Jesus

Call it faith! In order to assert that Jesus the son of Mary ever walked the Earth, one must take it on faith that the few references to Jesus extant in ancient writings, such as the Greek & Aramaic Scriptures, Josephus, etc., are unbiased & verifiably true. One may also finds bits & pieces of archeological evidence that a certain Man named Jesus, or Yeshua ( Joshua ) once existed, but other than that, one must simply take their word for it, since we weren't there. The Christian faith, or religion, is based wholly upon the facts, as evidenced in the Hebrew, Greek & Aramaic Scriptures, that, not only did the Man Jesus exist, but that He was God Incarnate, more than just a Man!

The Scriptures, as theologians have known for centuries, are full of metaphor! In the Greek & Aramaic Scriptures, for instance, the Gospel accounts, interestingly enough, of just Matthew & Mark ( chapters 8 & 5, respectively ), tell a story of a herd of swine that, after a demon enters them, run headlong off a cliff & drown in the sea. Modern critical studies show that this wasn't necessarily a herd of pigs that drowned, but was actually more of a metaphor for unfaithful Israel who were swallowed up by the Sea, which itself is a well-known & accepted metaphor for the Gentiles. A metaphor is not always related as non-literally; for instance, the story of Sampson & the Lion, as related in Judges 14, is told as a factual event, but it also relates a deeper spiritual truth, that Israel according to the flesh was becoming a dead carcass herself & must die that the sweetness of the Spirit might be revealed!

Mysticism should be noted as having been practiced well before the time of Christ! Christian Mysticism, in its many different forms, of course, is based on the Revelation of Jesus the Christ: the notion that the Creator God Himself bore the Body of a Man ( Hebrews 10:5 ( Psalm 40:6 ) in order that Man might better understand his relationship to the Creator is one that is not foreign. In his famous 4th-century work, 'On the Incarnation of the Word', Athanasius made this amazing, almost heretical statement; '“God Became Man that Man Might Become God”'. In today's theological landscape, this might better be rendered as 'God became man, that man might be revealed as ( One with ) God'. Of course, such a statement would very likely land you in as much or more hot water as the previous one, but, as the case may be.......

The very notion that a Man could be God is one that ultimately got Jesus  killed! Yes, it had been prophesied throughout the Hebrew Scriptures that One would come, like Moses, that would bear the sins of His people, but it never said, in so many words, anyway, that He would be God Himself ( Isaiah 7:14 should have been a clue ). When Jesus made the claim that He was equal with the Creator God, being the Son of God, the unbelieving Jews were so enraged that they handed Him over to the Roman authorities, claiming He was a political insurrectionist. Well, things kinda went downhill from there ( you probably know the old, old story ): Jesus ended up being crucified, according to Plan, of course & was revealed as exactly who He claimed to be, the Very Son of God!

Jesus was/is the Son of God ( according to some, Jesus still inhabits His biological Body ); if one believes the Scriptures, there can be no doubt about that! As the Son of God, the unbelieving, as well as believing, Jews noted that Jesus was claiming equality with the Creator God. This was not necessarily the case, although the apostle John himself wrote, 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God' ( John 1:1 ). Jesus Himself never claimed to be the Creator God, though He DID claim to be the Son of God. Like most Christians today, though, the Jews of Jesus' day assumed that for a Man to make that assertion meant He claimed equality with the Creator God. But such was not the case with Jesus; He only said ( truly ) that He was the Son of God.

Metaphorically speaking, then, the historical ( Scriptural ) Jesus showed us that a Man could indeed be God! Jesus had the Holy Spirit, yes, like certain men of old ( Moses, Sampson, even Saul & then David): the prophets even had a direct connection with the Creator God. But some may insist that Jesus had more; 'He was the Second Person of the Trinity, or 'Godhead': eschatologically & Scripturally speaking, He WAS that, as far as that goes, but did He indeed ( have more )? Yes, as He said, recorded in John 8, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.', thus, in their eyes, anyway, affirming that He was indeed God in the flesh, for this was how the Creator God had introduced Himself to Moses ( Exodus 3:14 ). Jesus was 'God with us' ( Matthew 1:22 ( Isaiah 7:14 ), but He yet deferred to His Father; though He WAS the Creator God, or at least, One with Him from the Beginning, He acknowledged that He was not the Supreme Deity, but simply a Channel!

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

The above prayer, of course, is attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, who understood that it is by unselfishly serving others, by manifesting the Christ, that we find our salvation! Not salvation, maybe, in a strictly Scriptural sense, for that was accomplished in the 1st century A.D., but in the sense of the prayer above, that it is by metaphorically laying down our lives, that we take them up ( Matthew 10:39 ). As instruments, or channels of the Creator God, we may pray along with the Man from Assisi that we might be channels of His blessing, that we might sow Love instead of Fear, Peace instead of War. But more than that, we need to purpose in our own hearts to BE that Channel, those Instruments!

The Jews of Jesus' Day were called to have faith in Jesus, just as their forefathers had exercised faith in Him whom they could not see ( Hebrews 11 ( Luke 2:25-33 ). Today, whether or not one takes it on faith that Jesus was a historical figure, we understand, as Christians especially, that the teachings He laid down in the Scriptures can be our salvation as well, but only if we practice them from a pure heart. 

Charles Haddon Shank

The Ways of Life & Death

We have a problem here in America! Place the blame wherever you want, but wherever you place it, you're most likely missing the heart of the issue. Many like to lay their robes at the feet of the current president, whoever he may be, or point fingers at the federal, state, or local governments, even their next-door neighbor. The issue, however, should be clear; even if you're not a Christian, with proof-texts like James 4:1, 'Where do wars and fights [ come ] from among you? Do [ they ]  not [ come ]from your [ desires for ] pleasure that war in your members?', when anyone points fingers at someone else or even somewhere else, they should know that at least three are pointing back at them!

That fateful day in 1973, the very anniversary of the day of this writing, in fact, the Supreme Court, in its finite wisdom, handed down the fateful decision in the case of Roe V. Wade that, although it may have not legalized abortion, per se, is responsible for the deaths of over 53 million babies, to date, according to LifeNews, almost 65,000 this year so far, according to Romans322.com. But this is not the Supreme Court's fault! It is not the president's fault! We can't even lay the blame at the feet of the federal, state, or local government. If one wants to get to the heart of the issue & it's still only another symptom, one simply has to look in the mirror, so to speak! Oh sure, there's plenty of corruption in the federal to local governments, including the president & the Supreme Court, but that's the point; they're people: if some people hadn't been trying to legally murder their offspring, whether because they wanted to hide their indiscretions, or because of extenuating circumstances ( God knows; they DO exist ), then there would have been no call for the Supreme Court to make such a fateful decision!

Unfortunately, being only a symptom ( of the disease ) abortion is not the only determining factor in the current judgement: America's propensity for war, foreign war in particular, has made her a stench in the nostrils of, not only an Almighty God & Loving Father, but in the sight of the many nations we are currently occupying, are at war with, or have made war on in the past! This is not to say that America ( the powers that be ) should not defend herself, or that she should not occupy herself in rooting out evil wherever it exists, or rather, happens, just that by going above & beyond, by using the machine of war for her own selfish gain, she has become a blight to many & a pariah to others!

There may seem to be some wisdom to the notion of the 'preemptive strike', especially in this day & age. 'If we don't hit them first, they will likely hit us', or something similar, is one of the arguments you might hear. Such an argument, though, is based in fear; we fear what might happen if we don't do this or that, but we seem to forget what will most likely transpire if we DO this or that! Like war, abortion has many more results & consequences than the intended. The perpetrator may simply intend to gloss over a certain event or memory, or reduce the population of evil, but it NEVER stops there! In war, for instance, the killing of so-called 'terrorists' may seem like the only just & merciful thing to do, but in many, if not most cases, the family of the one ( or ones ) killed ( murdered ) probably won't look at it that way!

In the case of abortion ( ask just about anyone who's aborted their own flesh & blood ), there's very likely, somewhere down the road, if not immediately, going to be a host of emotional issues, maybe even, depending largely on  the skill of the performing physician ( there ARE other factors ) physical problems. One might even link our current issues with Social Security ( bankruptcy ) with abortion, due to the fact that there are now more people taking out than there are putting in. This probably can't totally be blamed on abortion, though a large part of it must rest there, but across the board, it should be obvious that many of our problems here in America, not to mention the rest of the world, stem from these two issues, both of which involve death, not life!

To bring America back around, we need a wide-spread example of what Almighty God promised Israel of old, in II Chronicles 7:14: 'If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.'  Even if one is not a Christian, one should be able to see the wisdom in turning from their wicked ways ( abortion & war barely begin to cover it )! If for no other reason than to 'Stop the Madness!', One shouldn't have to do much pondering to understand the concept of 'you reap what you sow'!

Our 'land' ( US ) CAN be healed; we CAN get back to where we should be, as a light to the nations! However, the 'right' president, congressmen ( or women ), senators or judges will NOT do the trick ( though they may help ): it's going to take a full-scale assault on the minds & hearts of Americans to even get the ball rolling! To really make a change, quoting Michael Jackson, we must start with 'The Man in the Mirror'. BE the change you want to see in America & the ball will start rolling. The progress may seem slow at first, in fact, the ball may seem to roll back on your own head, but sooner or later, the effects of your actions will spread!

Charles Haddon Shank

Commmunion With the Divine

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Genesis 3:8

I AM a Christian, personally speaking: I very likely will always be so! As such, I still communicate with our Heavenly Father, I still commune with what is called Scripturally, 'the Body of Christ' ( a title, not a name-more correctly, 'the Body of the Christ' ). Maybe unfamiliar to most, though I daresay this term will become more popular in the near future, 'omnism' is basically the idea, or fact that no religion has a handle on Truth, but that all religions contain Truth ( my interpretation ). The Christian religion, for instance, being the basis for the culture most of us were brought up in, seems to give the clearest image of the Creator God, but by no means is it the only one: there are more ancient religious text than even the Hebrew Scriptures that are available to show those with an open mind & heart a different, but similar image, or picture!

The question 'What IS communion with God?' is one that bears other questions; 'what is communion?': 'what/who is God?' To answer the latter question first, a little clarity might be in order! If by 'God' is meant the Christian God, or the Creator God of Scripture, then this description, while not wrong, barely begins to cover the Truth. If by 'God' is meant the Source of all, Divine Energy, even the Universe, One not definable by any religion, though all religions have tried, then we begin to understand that, though all these different religions, culturally speaking, have noted varying aspects, as they perceive them, of this Source, or Divine Energy. An ancient parable from the Far East ( as I remember it ) describes it almost perfectly; four blind Indians came upon an elephant & each one had his description: one grabbed the tail, thus describing the elephant as short but sinuous, while another latched onto the elephant's ear, saying that an elephant must be wide but narrow ( thin ): yet another wrapped his arms around one of the elephant's legs, claiming that an elephant must be very stout, while the last one found the elephant's trunk, declaring, like the first, that an elephant was a sinuous creature, but that they were very long instead. None of these descriptions were wrong, necessarily, they all were just different perceptions, different aspects. Religion is simply man's finite attempt to define the Infinite!

Communion, then, becomes a bigger question than most Christians might admit to, or even acknowledge! Is communion simply the practice, as we have traditional perceived it, of observing the ancient ( 2,000 year old? ) ritual of the bread & wine, as representing what Scripture terms 'the Body of Christ' ( Luke 22:14-19, et al ), or is it something more? It could be well said that communion is simply the interaction of the corporate Body of Christ, Scripturally speaking. While this is true enough, could it, should it not be said that we only scratch the surface?

Simply put, according to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, 'communion' is defined as 'an act or instance of sharing'. 'The Communion of the Body of Christ', then, according to Christian usage, is a sharing in the Life of Christ, or God. The bread & wine, true enough, signify the Body & Blood of Jesus, the New Covenant, but does this ritual alone define 'communion'? It should go without saying that it does not! 

Communion, most of us can agree, is much more than just the ancient ritual of the bread & wine, whether observed daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or bi-annually. Communion is something, whether we admit it or not, acknowledge it or not, that we all observe on a daily basis. This can mean anything from 'Communion with Nature' to 'Communion with God' ( ? ). Communion, in this sense, then, knows no bounds, especially the bounds of religion. In this respect, Communion is akin to the One Christians call 'God'!

The Source of all Life, then, we can all agree, cannot be defined by mere humanity! There is no book written, no script over produced that can either define or contain the great I AM. Like the iceberg, humanity has only ever scratched the surface, so to speak, when it comes to describing the One that Scripture calls 'the Almighty'. Like the Indian Parable above, all religions have sought to describe this Source & though all, in some semblance, have touched upon the Truth, none have a complete, or perfect definition, because the cultures from which these religions have been engendered have always varied when it comes to their experience of the Divine. 

Since the Christian God, though veritable enough, is only one aspect, our perception of the Divine Source of All Life, can we really & truly say that unless one acknowledges the Christian God as THE definition of Life, that one has no Life in them?! Scripturally speaking, this is exactly what we have taught & been taught for thousands of years! Indeed, covenantally speaking as well, this is what we have deduced from them. But as we have seen, 'God' cannot be defined by a book, much less the doctrines of men. Sure, one might say, 'the Holy Spirit, according to Scripture, told these men of old what to write'; true enough, there is much universal truth ( applicable to ALL humanity ) in Scripture, but even so, since they ( the Scriptures ) were written to an Ancient Near Eastern people, the original audience were the primary receptors of its promises. 

Having established, then, though not beyond all reasonable doubt, maybe, that the Christian God is not the one & only image of God, we press on to communion  with the Source of All Life, who has been described by humanity in a variety of different ways! Communion, as we have also established, is simply a sharing, a sharing of intimacy, spiritual or otherwise. So really, Communion with God cannot be defined by religion alone, be it Christianity or not. Communion, like its Creator, is so much more than any religion, as defined by humanity, or some 2,000 year old ritual involving bread & wine ( Body & Blood ), though, it could be argued, it IS just that, since we all, in our humanity, ARE made up of Body & Blood!

Charles Haddon Shank

The Essence of Love & Life

Even the most hardened criminal can love! Shocking, maybe, but it's true. It's hard to deny, admittedly, that there are some people out there who are seemingly beyond help, that even if you show them mercy, you will receive none in return; in fact, one might say that the only merciful thing to do is the world a favor & rid it of this evil, one person at a time. But, is anyone really beyond help or hope? Take a biblical example, for instance; the apostle Paul, on the road to Damascus. You may or may not believe the Story of Scripture, but if you do, you're probably familiar with the story recorded in Acts 9:1-30. the apostle, who was a Pharisee named Saul at the time, was on the road to Damascus where he planned to arrest, maybe even kill any who claimed to follow the teachings of Jesus the Christ. Luke records that, 'suddenly a light shone around him from heaven' & Saul almost immediately did a 180 ( complete turnaround )!

It is said that, in the beginning, 'the Lord God formed man [ of ] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being' ( Genesis 2:7 ): whether one reads this passage as speaking of the literal creation of the first human being on Planet Earth, or whether one acknowledges that a covenant creation is in view here, this should be seen as a Universal Truth, that the Creator God took of His own Spirit ( Essence ), thus animating the creature He had formed. A closer look at the Hebrew phraseology used here in the very first part of the Book of Beginnings will reveal that this Adam was not merely the first human on Planet Earth, but simply the Vehicle through whom the Creator God chose to reveal the Life of His Creation. As the Son of God, Adam & Eve were the proto-Christ, if you will, the beginning of the Revelation of the Christ, the Son of God!

'God is love' ( I John 4:8 ): this should be noted as one of the many universal truths of Scripture as well! Being that the Creator of all, as revealed, not only in the Hebrew Scriptures, but in other ancient texts from that part of the world, in particular, the Far East, is the very Essence of Love; are we really assuming too much when we say that we too, apart from our created humanity, being of the same Essence, are pure Love as well? We propose that it is not too much of a stretch to acknowledge that we are, ultimately of the same Essence as the Creator God & are thus, at heart, One with Him!

While many or most might immediately recoil at the statement just given, it is, when one clears their mind of those pesky religious cobwebs, that one cannot help but realize that it is true! We are human beings, yes, for so we were created, but we are so much more; Just as we saw earlier, in Genesis, the Creator God formed the man, then breathed into him the Spirit of Life. Now, admittedly, as we also testified to, the first parts of Genesis are not so much about the material creation, although they speak to that as well; they are primarily about a covenant creation, in particular, the priestly nation of Israel ( with which the current nation/state of Israel has NOTHING to do, Scripturally speaking! ).

Although Israel of old, which we read about in the Hebrew & Greek Scriptures, ultimately failed in their mission, as a majority anyway, to evangelize the world, or spread the good news of what some call the Marriage of Heaven & Earth, that good news has continued to spread, in one form or another, across the globe! It can be argued, though many have rejected the notion, even from Scripture, that Heaven, or the Creator God's realm & Earth, or the material realm, have been married, or put another way, have met & kissed. Humanity dwells, as places like II Kings 6:17 reveal, alongside this heavenly realm, or dimension & in reality, we dwell in both realms at once, though some have become deadened to this glorious fact!

That many, whether through religious indoctrination or whatever, have hardened their hearts & minds to the fact that we are dwelling in Realms of Glory does not change the fact! As Christians, we have been taught that unless one believes a certain way, that one has no hope of dwelling with the Creator God. In fact, many passages of Scripture have indicated this to orthodox Christians for centuries. As indicated earlier, however, the Hebrew Scriptures, as well as other ancient texts, reveal how the Creator God opened His Realm of Glory to humanity, not so that we could go there when our humanity perished, but so that we could, in Essence, dwell there now!

When we say that we are One with the Creator God & that we are of the same Essence, we do not assume that we are the Creator God, that we are the One who set the Universe ( multi-verse? ) in motion! We are simply of the same Essence & thus Creators ourselves, though on a much smaller scale. We are limited by our humanity & though this is often frustrating to us, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Many of our limitations are self-imposed, as well, for whatever reason. Much of the reason for our limitations is our own free will; we have the free-will to choose, humanly speaking, to do this or that, one thing or the other. Our choices then determine, to a great extent, whether we experience the joys of heaven or the terrors of hell on earth!

The Love that we are is not always the love that we show! When we choose not to just BE the Love that we are, but instead let our mind/ego work its spells on us, we often forget the example of Love that Jesus showed us in the Scriptures. While He did bring upon His covenant people their deservedly adverse judgement, according to their own Scriptures, He forgave them even for rejecting & crucifying Him as their Messiah. Jesus did not condemn those that sinned against Him, rather He forgave them & healed them!

Though the Hebrew Scriptures hold many universal truths, we must understand that they ARE the Hebrew Scriptures; they contain a revelation of the Creator God, but we must understand that they are not THE revelation of the Creator God! There are other, more ancient texts, from other cultures even, though maybe mainly in the East, that reveal the Divine as well. We must remember too, that we, in Essence, are a revelation of the Divine. We do not always show it to the best of our ability, through the choices that we make, but every time we show Love, however weakly, we give a glimpse of that Divinity!

Charles Haddon Shank

Myths, Lies & Half-Truths

In what may be termed one of the universal truths of Scripture, Jesus said, 'The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!' There has been a tendency, in times past & even in the present time, to view this amazing statement as speaking of this biology, as if what we place before our physical eyes dims our light, allowing the darkness to overtake, or overcome us. 'If we can just stay away temptation, maybe then our light will shine true!' There is some truth to this statement, but unfortunately, it is not the whole truth ( 'so help me God' )!

'As long as we abide in partial darkness, we will continue to be conquered.'

So long as there are those who refuse to shine the Light, there will be Darkness! Thomas Aquinas made the statement above at a time in history when, it may be argued, the darkness was more prevalent than in our day. Born into what some have called 'The Dark Age' of history, he seems to have understood that as long as we accept the darkness & allow it to exist alongside our Light, we will never truly overcome it, but rather, will be overcome by it. The notion that Jesus Himself, personally & biologically speaking, will someday ( in the future ) make His appearance to rescue us from the mess we have made of things is one aspect of this kind of thinking. Like the majority of Jews in Jesus' day, most Christians seem to have adopted a political Messiah, One who will lead us to true liberty, not realizing that true liberty is not political at all. True liberty is the spiritual understanding that we are, by our very nature, free & by nature, free to choose. However, when we choose to subjugate others in darkness, our liberty manifests as political rather than true!

Merely political liberty, such as many think to enjoy today, is a false liberty in which the elite enjoy a kind of freedom that denies freedom & liberty to others. Personal freedom, whether applied to a single or collective entity, unless it extends to the whole, is a false freedom, for it offers certain 'rights' to one group, while denying those same rights to another. The nature of those rights, like our own nature, is spiritual & granted by the Universal Laws of Nature & Nature's God! To deny those rights to some, while 'granting' them to others is to exercise political ( false ) liberty, one in which conquest will always be the name of the game. In order for us to enjoy true freedom, or liberty, the same rights must be extended to all, in accordance with Universal Law.

Universal Law is defined in part by statements such as quoted earlier, that universal truth of Scripture given by Jesus, who was Israel's Messiah. While not all abide in that Truth, those who do ( abide in Truth ) enjoy True Liberty, not the false liberty that comes from political coercion, the false liberty that extends only to those who embrace a certain political belief, or dogma. Therefore, politically speaking, we will always, as Thomas Aquinas prophesied, experience conquest: we will never be truly free, or experience True Liberty, until we all embrace the Light that we are, as well as following that Universal Law!

The notion that Jesus, as the Son of God, will one day return to restore Order is a political one! Most, if not all Christians will readily acknowledge that, spiritually speaking, the Creator of all is currently on the throne, while still looking for a physical manifestation of this glorious truth. It is true enough that any spiritual truth will find its manifestation in this physicality, but partial darkness hinders these from realizing that we ( collectively ) ARE that Manifestation! Humanity, as a whole, is the vehicle through which the Creator God has chosen to shine the Light of True Freedom. but we were also given the free will to choose for ourselves whether we would selfishly ( politically ) confine some to prison, while allowing others merely a shadow of true freedom, or whether we would so shine our Light that ALL might enjoy the True Freedom that comes only from Above!

In conclusion, then, we must understand that no contract, political or otherwise, will bring about True Freedom! The half-truths of politics, especially those practiced in this day & age, will never allow the Light to truly shine, because while some may enjoy a glimpse of the Light, a mere shadow, so to speak, others must remain in the darkness of ignorance. Because of this ignorance, willful or otherwise, the Darkness is made manifest, but when, through the Spirit, one realizes their true nature, then the Light becomes manifest & through the manifestation of that Light ( which IS ), the Darkness will become null & void; indeed, it will cease to exist!

Charles Haddon Shank

The Christ, the Light of the World

'As long as I am in the world; I am the light of the world.

John 9:5

From a purely Christian point of view, the Creator God sent His Holy Spirit to invest the virgin, Mary, with a Son, His Son, so that He might grow to become the Messiah, or Savior, not for Israel alone, but for the whole world ( John 3:16 ). On the other hand, though, there are those ( for lack of a better term, maybe, we'll call them 'Pagans' ) who choose, not necessarily to refute or refuse the principles of life laid out for us in Scripture, but to acknowledge the Divine Presence in other religions of the world, even in those places, or circumstances, where no particular religion is claimed, or followed. What are we, as Christians, to do with those who do not follow our religion; should we, as in times past ( still do today ) strive to 'evangelize' them, bringing them around to our way of thinking, as though Christianity is the only religion that has the Truth?

Jesus told His disciples they were the light of the world ( Matthew 5:14 ): this is a good example of one of the many universal statement in the Scriptures! Looking at both the historical & covenant context of such a bold statement, one may note that Jesus spoke these words to His followers in the first century, in opposition to the Jews of the day, who thought the nation of Israel, or the Jews, was the Light of the World. Others might go so far to state that Jesus' words apply only to those who follow the religion based on the Name most closely associated with Him, the name 'Christ'. But what if 'Christ' is NOT a name; what if it's a title, like, 'THE Pharaoh', THE Caesar?!

According to the Merriam-Webster ( online ) dictionary, the title simply means 'messiah'.it functions basically as the Greek version of the Hebrew term, though in actuality, it means so much more! The Greek 'Christos', in biblical usage, means 'anointed' & is closely related to the word 'chrism'. Semantically speaking then, it would be more correct to use the term, 'the Christ' in reference to Jesus, the Messiah of Israel. In the same Spirit then, so to speak; would it not be acceptable to refer to those who follow in the footsteps of Jesus by the same title? In actuality, we are! As Christians, we are 'little Christs'. Traditionally, this title was assigned to the followers of Jesus as a derogatory term, by His detractors. In this sense then, one might say that it's only those who follow Jesus that can truly bear this title with honor!

The truth of the matter is, only those who follow in the footsteps of Jesus can bear this Name, or Title with honor! What is it then to follow in the footsteps of Jesus? Is it only those who adhere to the religion named after His exalted Title that can be called 'the Christ', or 'little Christs'? It must be noted here, that we are 'little Christs', little Messiahs', if you will, for we are NOT the Creator God, we are simply of the same Essence, of the same Being. We all have one Father ( for lack of a better term? )! Being of One Essence ( though all do not realize, or acknowledge it ), we all have the potential to be 'little Christs', to awaken the 'Chrism', but sadly, some choose not to & these go their own way, selfishly acting according to only their own interests, while yet others look outside themselves for some future salvation!

To follow in the footsteps of Jesus, it might be argued, is to do what He did, which was to exercise judgement. His judgement came as a two-edged sword though; it fell, ultimately, on His covenant people, when in AD70, the Romans bore the sword in the destruction of Jerusalem & the Temple, for all intents & purposes, destroying the Jewish economy. Secondly, it served to separate the wheat from the chaff, biblically speaking, effectively revealing the Remnant, or those who had been Chosen, out of Israel of Old, to represent True Israel. This was the Purpose of His Parousia, in celebration of which we now observe what may be the most Holy of days, Christmas.

Christmas, however, is not just for Christians, although it might be noted here, that 'everybody is a 'Christian' on Christmas'! Pagans of all shapes & sizes celebrated the day, or season we call 'Christmas' long before we did! The Coming of the Light, AKA the Winter Solstice-the day when the light begins to linger longer, has been celebrated by Pagans from time immemorial! Constantine, if memory serves, simply renamed & restructured these old traditions when he Christianized the Roman Empire. 

As Christians, we believe that we ( alone ) have that True Light of the World, although some Christians, like the Jews & Muslims, are still waiting for that Light to be revealed from above! Almost every religion around the world, to whatever extent, believes theirs is the true religion, the True Light; are they wrong, while we're right? Or do WE have it all backwards & THEY'RE right, while WE are the ones who're wrong? Not saying that we ARE the ones who're wrong, but then again, we haven't got all our ducks in a row, either. It has been said there is truth in every religion; this is verifiable, not because all religions are ultimately the same ( they're not ), but because while some individual adherents to those religions choose to adhere to that religion, for religions sake, others choose to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, judging, as He did, by spreading Love rather than Hate, Freedom rather than Fear. They shine their Light in the midst of a dark & dreary world, because, though they may not realize or acknowledge it as such; they ARE the Light of the World!

Jesus, as the Messiah of Israel, was the Christ ( some would put the emphasis on 'THE', as in the only One )! However, as we are ( to be ) to the world as Jesus was to Israel ( He being our Great Example ), we, as Christians, should strive to shine our Light into every dark corner, as He did, bringing forth those treasures hidden ( struggling ) in the darkness, that they too, may realize their Purpose. It is not only as a Christian, religiously speaking, that one may be a follower of the Divine Principle that Jesus followed; Pagans too, though they may not acknowledge Him that we acknowledge as 'the Christian God, yet still follow that Divine Principle, shining their Light into dark places & bringing into the Light treasures previously hidden. We are not alone in this world & no man, or religion, is an Island!

In this Christmas season, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus as the Coming of the Light: Pagans celebrate the Winter Solstice as the coming of the light; either way, whether it's the Sun or the Son, it's simply a religious holyday, or holiday! From the original Purpose, we have come a long way ( or should that be, 'fallen a long way?' ) what with the commercialization ( business ) of the holyday. Some have  selfishly & greedily chosen 'the bottom line' as their messiah, while others have chosen to save themselves & the world be BEING the Light, by loving their neighbor as themselves, showing them that indeed, THEY are Light, if only they would choose to shine!

Charles Haddon Shank