More on Eternal Progression

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link to this after main eternal progression article.

Your former picture is not so much correct; to picture the earth as the center between good and evil, heaven and hell; the water between earth and air if you will. This can possibly bring about an incorrect image of eternity (as it has in my case).

It is more correct to view things as follows. Good and evil, the light and darkness exist on all planes, even in Etherea or the celestial most rarified planes (as you would call it). But the farther in the rarified direction you move, the smaller the “distance” or contrast between the opposing forces, until at some point in the “upward” direction of density you arrive at a total oneness of existence. This is THE ONE TRUE GOD, completely outside of space and time and is entirely within the realm of faith. Conversely as you move toward grosser matter, the opposites become more largely polarized. Thus in earth there is stronger polarization than in the spirit world or terrestrial or celestial spheres.

As an individual or the earth ascends, he/it must leave behind the unrefined dross, or grosser fleshy matter if he is to ascend. Thus the righteous/ying is in ascension and the wicked/yang is in dissension. The righteous of the earth will ascend to the millennium which will be a less dense earth composed merely of the “ying” or “good” or “light” of the previous earth man left upon death. (The bad is left behind). However, during the millennium the good ying will further be divided and polarized starting the whole sorting process over. Does that make sense?

This is why you envisioned the earth without large polarization in its infancy and then the good and evil sides of the spirit world growing out from it through time. When the righteous people and earth ascend (are rarified together) they will be more homogenous and “one” than they were on earth. It could be said that they were not polarized (even though they were somewhat). But with time that subset will become just as polarized as they were with the wicked back on the previous earth in the previously cycle. Its like a group of nations that forget their differences because they have to unite when they are attacked by an “evil” super-power, but when that evil empire is conquered, they start squabbling with each-other, lose their unity and soon a subset of them becomes the next evil super power to repeat the cycle again.

I suppose the earth could be viewed as a battlefield standing between a good and evil spirit worlds since there are yet grosser “corporeal” world beneath earth (I think?) just as there are less dense “atmospherean” world above, and these dualities both have their influences on earth. But one should not picture the earth as standing between the hells and heavens of where departed spirits go. For ALL spirits upon death move to an atmospherean world which is less dense than (and therefore above) this earth. However, the righteous subset only (along with the earth itself eventually) ascend, while the wicked stagnate or descend. So you see, just as the righteous have to “wait” in heaven for their loved ones to die so they can be together eternally (in heaven), so also do all men “wait” in heaven for the earth itself to “die” so it’s “spirit” can raise to the SAME density as the righteous and they can live together for another cycle during the millennium wherein there will be birth and death (as desired) as well as materialization and translation. The wicked also will be reunited with their evil portion of the earth as it is “resurrected” into both the same and a lower density and becomes their abode whith both birth????

-So is the earth really only 4000ish years old since the flood, or is there truth to the big numbers and
-is ante-diluvium and millennial scriptural accounts the same world?

(so the God of this world is over both good and evil. You might say the father is god over both the Son/Christ and Satan. They are both his servants. And both of them can be subdivided into two as well. Christ into The Son & Holy Ghost, etc. etc. And Satan into the devil and the anti-christ. So your view that the demiurge dwells in a region of light is not quite true… HOW can he be in heaven? He visits there to recieve instruction from the father and he is a light/dark couple.. this is more complex than that. the devil is two in one, who are HIGHLY polarized. He is a schizofrenic. while before god’s throne he is an obedient servant doing what he thinks is right, self-righteously trying by fire. But while on earth he is a debaucherous devil. So it is with all the evil. they are bipolar. But the righteous are not so bipolar, not so polarized… they are moving upward toward unity.

Eternal Progression

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This article is under construction… come back when its done.

-Need to explain the rotating ying yang upward cone illustration. There are two spiritual kingdoms (spirit world heaven & hell levels which are in a way the resurrected kingdoms/D&C 76 kingdoms of the previous cycle). The lower half / kingdom (hell) descends to a lower plane in the next cycle/final judgment (they do not even get a “resurrection”, they are sons of perdition in D&C 76 as well as the “third part” who followed Satan in the beginning of this cycle and never got bodies). Spirit paradise (which are often divided into two or three separate “spirit kingdoms” themselves or sometimes even six but are really only one in a sense, since the higher part descends into hell and helps everyone end up meeting in the middle) along with as many as will come ascend/progress to the upward cone plane/resurrection; but once they ascend, they themselves immediately are polarized into the new ying & yang or heaven & hell. It is this immediate polarization which is the three degrees of resurrected glory spoken of in D&C 76. So hopefully you see the complexity created by the cyclical nature of the progression of things. The immortal “spirit” world which existed at the time of Adam and Eve was actually the three degrees of glory/resurrection for the previous cycle. Then the fall occurred and created a temporal earth as well as a “hell”.

People think the millennium is the resurrection spoken of in D&C 76, but it isnt at all? The resurrections in D&C 76 are “physical” resurrections into immortal worlds…. this is where the confusion comes about. I could say they are “spiritual resurrections” since they are into the/a “spirit” world but that causes misunderstanding, because all spirit is also “matter” or “physical”. Thus the better verbiage to differentiate things with is eternal world or temporal world. Meaning, is the resurrection into a temporal world with death where opposites mix, or is it in an eternal world where there is no birth or death and like attracts like. So the D&C 76 kingdoms are final resurrections into an immortal or eternal state. And the spirit world of the cycle started out as the resurrection kingdoms of the last cycle.

People, including the early apostles, were under the impression that Christ’s (second) coming would be shortly after his death because in a way it was. The fact is that as soon as Christ ascended to his father and his God (who dwelt in the highest realms of the spirit body/world (and perhaps even a separate etherean world/kolob) he immediately began to descend through the spirit planes with his saints. In essence, the spirit body/world/planes began contracting/collapsing in on themselves as he began descending to successively lower planes and organizing all the inhabitants of those planes to continue on descending with him. Thus for the highest spirit planes, Christ’s advent was shortly after his death and resurrection. However, for earth and the lower realms of the Spirit World it has not yet occurred. For the middle realm of the Saints, however, it occurred when the Millerites said it did, in 1844.

And thus it continues forever, the separation of the wheat and the tares.

Also, add the illustration of how the highest two spirit kingdoms switch places on earth. The highest most righteous spirit planes come to earth as the middle son, in the middle land, in the middle time. They descend and become “second/last” to help bring everyone up. The father becomes the son. The downside to this is that the middle kingdom of the spirit world then on earth thinks they are the bomb, and boasts in their pride and damns themselves to become last. the middle symbol below should be the twisted snake symbol.

1 \ / 2
2 / \ 1
3 ———- 3

Questions:
-so how does the etherean worlds/kolob fit into this?
-is the telestial kingdom the hell/prison of the next cycle? It says in 76:84 of the telestial, “These are they who are thrust down to hell. ” but I think it is saying it is mostly those in hell/spirit prison of this cycle which will inherit the telestial (lowest level of paradise) in the next cycle/resurrection. (since it also says in 76:89 that even the Telestial defies all understanding) And this same group is mostly likely to fall right back from their low paradise into the next cycle’s hell as soon as the stratification starts occurring.
-So how does the millennium fit into this? It would seem that during the millennium heaven and earth combine into one. That is the paradise planes of the spirit world combine with earth, and hell is bound in its own place. Perhaps this is the nature of an “atmospherean” stage of a planet. It is “in the process of expanding or contracting”. So during the antediluvian age earth was contracting “into” corpor; and during the millennium earth with be expanding from corpor to etherea… So if you’ll remember, the spirit world start collapsing in on themselves at christ, and continue until heaven & hell reach each other… (and since earth lies directly between the two) when they reach each other the spirit world and earth will essentially become one… All veils will have been dropped/destroyed. Then something crazy happens… all hell breaks loose on earth. But why? How does this collapsing relate to the destructions that will come, and why satan and all those still in prison be bound from influencing the earth? The answer: because heaven and earth (corpor & atmosherea) are expanding toward etherea or dimension shifting up… so all those on heaven and earth who cannot abide that glory will not be able to rise with it!
-Effectually atmospherea (heaven) collapses onto the corporeal earth, and when this is accomplished the entire creation density shifts up, so that corpor now occupies the density which the first level of the spirit world (lower atmospherea) now occupies. When that occurs, all that cannot ascend with it (those in hell who will not rise) are left behind in a lower density not able to influence or take any part in the corporeal/temporal/mortal earth until it once again descends (as it did in the antediluvian period) and falls once again into its reach)

Would it surprise you to know that the view of eternity revealed and held by all religions is a bit incomplete? The Catholics may think they have the whole picture, and yet it differs from the Protestants and Evangelicals who both think their ideas of heaven, hell and the resurrection are superior. Then there’s the Latter-day Saints whose addition of multiple degrees of resurrected glory adds another dimension to the picture rivaled perhaps only by Hindu and Buddhist philosophies.

I believe that when Christ comes to reign he will show us how each of these beliefs fits into the big picture. How Christian “resurrection” and eastern “reincarnation” are two different aspects of the future reality of the human soul (link). This millennial atonement or “bringing together” of all revealed truth in all dispensations has already begun with the restoration of the fullness/wholeness of the gospel. Lets start our journey here with a simplistic diagram of

Put the three degrees of glory as taught by missionaries and then bring in the further light from oaspe and g.o.h.t. and gone west, etc…

write this starting with simple christian/bom view

-give John Ward diagram… (divides heaven into 3)

-compare buddhist & Kabalah versions.

add three degrees of glory

-give jewish temple symbolism and then lds temple..

-give Swedenborg, a sixteenth century seer, version

-give Oahspe diagram of es, astmoshephera, corpor…

-explain the real thing…

The Anti-Christs (Demiurge)

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There are three divine beings. The true Gods (the I AM’s), the false gods/idols (the demiurge/anti-Christs), and the dark lords (Satans). The Satans live in the realm of darkness (hells), the true gods and false gods both live in the realm of light, but the false gods become the Devils of the next cycle.

The true Gods are what they are. They do not crave or like worship. They are simply the beings of the higher levels who do their best to serve and help those of the lower levels progress (because that the type of people they are).

The false gods (demiurge/anti-christs) are created by the people in the same way that Israel disobediently created Saul and David to be their kings. The blind masses want a celebrity to worship. They want a king to rule them. They want a golden calf to dance around and they create these in their own minds… then an egocentric individual steps into the mold created by the masses. If he does not live up to the mold, he is overthrown from office and a new sycophant is inaugurated. They pretend to rule the masses, but in reality, the masses rule them. They are puppets.. the puppet rulers of the true Gods. The true Gods oversee and have power over all mortal and immortal existence. But they wish for people to rule themselves and always do their aiding and managing in a laissez-faire manner. But when the people want a king or god… they give the people what the want. They let them select some poor puppet and allow the people to carve them into what the masses crave, all the while knowing that the fate of all idols is the axe and the fire.

So then what is the difference between a true God and a false God (demiurge)? Simply put, one wants to be God and is thus directed from below (the masses), and the other has no real desire to be God and thus is humbly directed from above. One is slave to his subjects and the other is subject to his father only. Look at the difference in attitude between Jesus and Lucifer…

1 And I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses, saying: That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying—Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor.
2 But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me—Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.
3 Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down;
4 And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice.

The Church of the Devil (Satans) is the whore of all the earth. But the anti-christ/demiurge is a whore too. It is one who offers sexual union with only the flesh. One who masquerades at-one-ment with only one aspect of their being. The flesh is not the soul. It is only one aspect of the soul… a covering that hides spirit. Both man and God have many layers and to “know” God or another individual is to know and love all their layers. Because of the law of one, it is often true that a person with a beautiful body has an opposite and equal ugliness to some aspect of their spirit being. True union in the marriage chamber entails accepting and embracing the whole individual both beautiful and ugly. A whore offers only the flesh in a union that is far from oneness. It is a selfish union where energy transfer is not equal. It drains and distorts.

So it is with the demiurge. He offers one aspect of the ONE TRUE GOD and says I am GOD, know me and gain eternal life. And yet he does not reveal his whole self nor does he give it. He selfishly takes and leaves his “subjects” drained and violated. His does not offer true at-one-ment for he has not yet truly at-oned himself. He does not reveal both his “good” and his “bad” nor does he lift his brethren up with him. He does not tell man that he was once like them and that they are one step behind being his equal. He does not unclothe his first and his last, his beauty and his uncomelyness nor his wrath with his patience.

It’s no mistake that the same Hebrew & Greek words that Christ uses in John 17 saying that life eternal is to “Know” God, is also used to describe procreation in the Bible. Knowing God is like “knowing” a man or a woman. It is a very sacred and deep parallel. Man is hidden beneath clothing because his glory is too much for the innocent. But both Man and God were initially clothed with the intention of being revealed. Those who are afraid of reading another’s religious texts or scripture are like those who are afraid of seeing another uncovered. To unclothe God is to play with fire and one must take care not to get burned. But if we seek truth to be our bride then we must get past the covering which has been placed on her to truly know her. We will not change the truth by uncovering it. The fear of “false doctrine” is like the fear of falsely judging a bride to be. A fool-hearty youth may be allured to marry fine clothing only to find that it covers hideous tattoos and blemishes. She may marry a handsome body only to find it covers a hideous soul. But in the end, one must learn that clothing, body and soul are all aspects of that individual, and to love the individual one must know and accept all of its aspects. So it is with God and his truth. A fool-hearty youth may be led to many false judgments about God by judging the appearance of one of his coverings. But in the end, to “know” God is to know and see ALL of his coverings and to learn all aspects of his being. It is to see the meaning and beauty of how the “good” and the “bad” (by our skewed judgments) work together to form his I AM. He IS. BEING HE IS BEING. And to know him one must play with fire… for the ALL CONSUMING FIRE is his name.

There are ample types of the three divine ones in the scriptures. The first born, the last born and the middle. Whether it be Cain/Abel/Seth or Japeth/Shem/Ham or Esau/Isaac/More or Reuben/Judah/Joseph or Laman/Lemual/Nephi/Sam/Jacob, in nearly every instance the firstborn who believes he has earned the right to the birth-right is rejected and the middle-born receives it. The first becomes last and the last becomes first. Scripture suggest that this type plays true for even Lucifer and Christ. The Son of the Morning being the “first born” believed it was his right to rule this world, so when the Father rejected him and his rule declaring Christ to be the firstborn before him, he revolted and took a third of the host of heaven with him.

The secret is that those that make themselves first always are rejected causing a fall to become last. While those who make themselves last are made first by the law of justice… and if they then sacrifice that first estate on the cross, they fall to the middle and become exalted in the center of it. They become the first AND THE last, the alpha AND omega. The true Gods who have at-one-ed the opposites.

So can you solve the mystery? Who is the demiurge? Who is the anti-Christ or the demiurge that will reveal themselves in the last days? The one who is to become the “Master Mahan” of the next cycle?

These are the deep mysteries intended for the inner circle. For the rest of us, we shouldn’t dwell too much on them. Just live a good life and press forward in faith.

LDS Eternal Marriage & its Relation to Sexuality

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As commonly occurs when I pray or ponder about a question for a time, the other morning I woke up with a very clear picture of the following concepts.  I hope I can pass the principles on as well as they were given to me. It had to do with the simpleness of the concept of the LDS doctrine of eternal marriage”. I was shown how teachings from several different sources all fit together in one simple and common-sense picture of what eternal marriage is all about, and how the current LDS view of it approximates the truth, but with misunderstanding.

As with all revelation, the principles given to Joseph Smith and recorded in the LDS Doctrine in Covenants regarding the “New and Everlasting Covenant of Marriage” or “Eternal Marriage” as it has been dubbed, have to do with profound teachings on the nature of exaltation (or being raised to higher levels of heaven and consciousness ) which have been revealed to many mystics over the years, but were a bit distorted or colored by the early Saint’s culture, backgrounds and sexual proclivities.

As a summary this is basically it.

-as Oashpe teaches, admittance into the 3rd heaven or “Etherean realms” or what LDS doctrine calls the Celestial Kingdom, you must learn to work together as a perfectly harmonious group.  Most Mormon’s believe from D&C 131:2 that a person must be married to one or more women in order to obtain the highest level in the Celestial Kingdom.  This is a misunderstanding of the principle, because the “new and everlasting covenant of marriage” is not marriage as we know it on earth.  It is not simply two “worthy people” being married in the temple in a certain ordinance by some certain authority. This is all symbolism pointing disciples to the truth which is more profound, and concerns groups being bound in “marriage relationships” of perfect harmony.

-When the necessary harmony is achieved, Oahspe details the manner in which the group is “translated to Jehovah” as “brides and bridegrooms of Jehovah” in a process symbolized by the “marriage supper of the Lord”.

-These groups are formed in this Telestial World, and harmonized in the terrestrial glory (2nd heaven or 2nd resurrection or 4rth density). As the ‘Law of One’ specifies, individuals in that environment can see each others thoughts and intentions and through increasing levels of psychic and spiritual connection they reach the necessary level of harmony (as specified in D&C 10?:?).

-This process if further explained in the gnostic pearl where it is symbolically called ‘the bridal chamber’.

-The eternal consequences of Non traditional sexual arrangements such as polygamy and homosexuality are best understood in the framework of the group exaltation system.  Those who are carnally minded and only comprehend the biological and pleasure seeking aspects of sex are not ready for this type of arrangement.  A good, long lasting marriage on earth is one of the quickest ways to come to understand the nature of terrestrial sexual arrangements.  Sex in these systems need not even have a physical dimension as the harmonization brought about by the melding of mind and soul is the key component.

-In the lowly telestial world the primary purpose of sex is procreation or reproduction, but as an individual raises their consciousness and spirituality closer to terrestrial levels sex becomes more an act of psychic connection, energy exchange and spiritual harmonization. Terrestrial Sex after death and even after resurrection is different in many ways. J.S. Ward explains how it is different. the law of one also explains how in the spirit world energy transfers occur without the necessity of ‘sex’ as we know it.

-The ‘Law of One’ details that the 4th Density (Terrestrial Resurrection or Millennial Era of Mormonism) is a time where spirits worthy to “come forth in the First Resurrection” will be incarnated on earth through sexual reproduction the same way they are now. However, this 4th density earth is not the earth we know now (“There will be a new heaven and a new earth which is like unto the old, save the old has passed away”). Thus contrary to some LDS beliefs, those of the terrestrial resurrection will have sex and have babies. (This is not the case for 3 kingdoms of the Spirit World, since procreation does not exist there and sex is quite different—see degrees of Glory article for a lengthy description detailing the prevalent misunderstandings of how D&C 76 describes the Spirit World vs resurrected states) Those in the “resurrected terrestrial earth realm” will be able to communicate telepathically and have many abilities we do not now have. The purpose of that incarnation (where translation often ends the incarnation instead of death) is to harmonize groups into harvestable units.  And as Christ teaches in Matthew 22, marriage as we know it will be very different.

-So this is important, because if you understand that the ‘harmonious union’ of a group that has to occur to be exalted to the celestial kingdom is a kind of marriage relationship between a large group where all members share a group consciousness, see each other’s thoughts, and learn to act so harmoniously that they could be described as ‘one’ and also understand how their minds and spirit meld in a union which is symbolized as most like ‘sex’ in this life then you can see how gender attraction will become somewhat meaningless. As explained above, sex here is primarily to make babies and raise families and that is why it is important to maintain marriage & family relationships which work best for that here. Its also something that is not going to change in the terrestrial resurrected world. BUT, same gender attraction and even same gender sex (in the psychological sense) will be a non-issue in the next life because true celestial marriage requires ALL in the group to be ‘married’ and to be united in a unified group of love, harmony and psychological union.

So is homosexuality in this life OK? well, turning this into a black and white issue is harmful and misleading. Wisdom, understanding and harmony will never come from approaching it from a polarized view. There is a large continuum of human sexual attraction and proclivities. Contrary to some naive popular belief there is no magic ‘gene’ which makes you either straight or gay; but your inherited genes play a large role in determining where you fit on the various continuums.  The environments you are raised in, and programming incurred in your first sexual experiences also play a role. All humans are born with differing hormone balances which largely determine sexual traits and attractions. Some are born hormonally polarized and some are hormonally neutral. Some are even born with both male and female sexual organs (see androgyny/ intersex). When guiding culture and spiritual progression, politician and spiritual leaders must try to set guidelines which promote the greatest good to the greatest number of people, so it should not be hard to see why traditional sexual arrangements which bare offspring should be encouraged and non-traditional arrangements perhaps slightly discouraged (depending on the population & social conditions). Spiritually there are also other very subtle and complicated advantages and disadvantages to sexual orientation, so each earthly religion is prompted different levels spiritual inspiration to make rules to achieve certain purposes according to their unique goals and perspectives. Some religious orders promote celibacy, androgyny or monastic life for this reason. But sexuality is a very personal matter, and personal inspiration is definitely the most important factor in achieving personal balance and happiness. One should follow this common sense direction from God concerning following personal inspiration and revelation over second-hand or indirect inspiration as a general rule for happiness.

34/9.1. Man I created with capacity to distinguish My direct from My indirect inspirations, says Jehovah.
34/9.2. And My angels gave him rules, by which he could make manifest the difference between the two.
34/9.3. Man has said: Behold, any man may say: Thus says Jehovah! || One kills his neighbor, saying: I was thus inspired by Jehovah. Another practices all goodness, and his words are wisdom and comprehension, and he says: I was inspired by Jehovah!
34/9.4. I say to you, O man: In this I also gave you liberty; therefore, judge for yourself as to which came from Me, and which from his surroundings.
34/9.5. You shall be your own judge in all things.
34/9.6. Behold, I sent My God to judge you; but you shall also judge the judgments of your God; and afterward, you shall judge yourself in the same way.
34/9.7. I created you a perpetual judge, not only to judge yourself and all the world besides, but you shall judge Me, your Creator.
34/9.8. I have given you many sacred books, and I said to you:
34/9.9. Unless you judge them, you shall be caught in a snare; I charge you, you shall accept nothing from men, angels, or Gods.
34/9.10. But you shall rely on your own inspiration from your Creator.
34/9.11. Such is My word which I speak to your own soul.
34/9.12. What comes to you from a man is indirect inspiration; what comes from an angel is indirect; and what comes from the Gods is indirect.
34/9.13. No direct inspiration by Me can come to you from a book, or a sermon, or from anything in all My creations, but only from Me, your Creator.
34/9.14. Though one man receives direct inspiration from Me, and he writes it in a book, yet, when it comes to you, it is indirect inspiration, and is not binding upon you, except only so far as My direct inspiration upon you moves you to receive it.
34/9.15. Yet, I did not create all men with the same clearness to perceive Me, and to frame My wisdom in words.
34/9.16. Only a few will turn away from the inspiration of the world, and come to Me.
34/9.17. Many profess Me in words, but they do not fulfill My inspiration in practice.
34/9.18. My words come easily to the pure in heart; and My wisdom shows itself in the frame of their speech.

–

ADD ILLUSTRATIONS OF DIFFERING CONTINUUMS.  (everyone is on different parts of a large continuum, the issue of sexuality & sexual desire is not black or white/ gay or straight)

sexual attracted to                                                                                               sexually attr to
opposite gender                       little or no sexual attraction                          same gender

–|—————————————|———————————————|—

–

-hormones during development and puberty determine physical sexual attributes

male attributes                               neutral/both                                                   female attributes

–|—————————————|———————————————|—

 

 

 

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Teachings on Eternal Marriage from a variety of witnesses

We should all be acquainted with the New Testament quote that many use to try and prove that eternal marriage is unscriptural…

From the New Testament (Gospel of the Holy Twelve Version)..

7. Then came to Him certain of the Sadducces, who deny that there is a resurrection, and they asked him saying, Master, Moses wrote unto us, if any man’s brother die having a wife and leaving no children, that his brother should take his wife and raise up seed to his brother.
8. Now there were six brethren, and the first took a wife and he died childless: And the second took her to wife and he died childless: And the third, even unto the sixth, and they died also leaving no children Last of all the woman died also.
9. Now in the resurrection, whose of them is she, for the six had her to wife.
10 And Jesus answered them saying, whether a woman with six husbands, or a man with six wives, the case is the same. For the children of this world marry and are given in marriage.
11. But they, which being worthy, attain to the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage, neither can they die any more, for they are equal to the angels and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.

 

The Life beyond the grave experiences of British Medium J.S.M. Ward witness to a similar situation in heaven of singleness for non-progressed spirits and increasing oneness and “eternal marriage” for more progressed and exalted souls.

“Yes, there are plenty of women here [in the Spirit World], but the sexes do not mix much in these realms. At first they are separated almost completely. It is desirable, as far as possible, to eliminate the old ideas of sex, ideas right and necessary on earth, but no longer needed here, otherwise spiritual progress would be rendered almost impossible by the old carnal feelings. Thus it is, of course, true that here there is ‘no marrying and giving in marriage’; but, on the other hand, as the last grains of earthly passion are eliminated, the male and female spirits begin to draw together again, for each is the complement of the other spiritually, just as they are on earth physically. The further we progress, the nearer together the two sexes draw, so that we understand ultimately there comes about a mystic union in spirit between one man and woman. This is the real spiritual union of which marriage on earth is a true symbol or sacrament. This consummation, this blending of two spirit entities, so that each becomes part of the other and yet retains its own individuality, cannot be fully understood even by us, much less by you. The earth marriage at its highest and best does give you some faint idea of what we really mean.

“This spiritual marriage, if so I can call it, takes place at a stage far above us—it may be in the fifth plane, or even higher. At least this is certain—it does not take place on our plane. Nevertheless, as we progress, we mingle more and more, first, with members of our own sex, and then with members of the other sex. It does not necessarily follow that we always marry spiritually the same woman as we did on earth, but we do marry someone who is our complement.”

from “Gone West” http://www.angelfire.com/ne/newviews/gonewest1d.html

Another witness is given in the gnostic writings of the Pearl…

7…We gained form when we were born to our Divine Parents, They Who Have Life In Themselves and increase that Life through producing spirit children. They give form to the Light so that the great wealth that is hidden in it can be revealed. Because they are Love, they produce the fruits of Love, which are their spirit children.

8. “These spirits have form, but it is still not of the same nature as the form of their Parents. Without their Parents’ intervention, they could never become like them. So the Parents descend. They fall. They become anthropos, mortal in their nature, so that they can produce physical bodies for their children to inherit. This is their second act of Divine Love. Through these two acts of Love, we have come from formlessness to form, so that we can assist in the sacrificial act of Divine Love, converting darkness into Light and increasing the power of Truth. Whoever is able to understand the nature of the Infinite will understand what I am saying. (Saga of Sophia & Christ 5:7-8)

“5. The Divine Ones have infinitely more progeny than mortals. Mortals produce a finite number of children and die, but the immortal Eloheim produce progeny forever because they never die; they are Eternally Begetting and Always Begotten. Parents produce children, but children cannot produce children. Children acquire siblings, but Parents acquire children. This is according to the Law of Relative Relationships. (Principles of the New Covenant 7:5)”

“I stood in their presence, trembling at their majesty, but one of them spoke to me. “Approach us, Enoch,” he instructed, “and hear our holy word.” Then I was lifted up, and approached their seat of power, but I hardly dared look at them. One of them spoke to me again. “Look at us, Enoch,” she said, “for we are the Eloheim, male and female, even as we have begotten mankind in our own likeness. But this is the great secret, Enoch. We are not different from each other, but different manifestations of the same reality. The Eloheim are Eloheim; they may appear to you to be male or female, but if they were either, they would be halves, not whole, and wholeness is the attribute of Deity. The Eloheim are not male or female, but Eloheim. The sanctified are not male or female, but sanctified. All of mankind are incomplete, as long as they view themselves as male or female, for half of their reality is veiled from them. You must see beyond the illusion of separateness to the essential oneness of Being, in order to perceive Truth. Until then, you cannot relate, in a proper manner, with the rest of creation. Look at us, Enoch, and perceive Truth.” Then they opened up to me a great mystery, and I saw the meaning of what I had heard. (book of Enoch 6:7)

gospel of the holy twelve …..the descending and ascending into matter, etc…

 

 

Oahspe teaches of the group nature of exaltation to the 3rd heavens (5th density or celestial glory)

05/13.8. Hear me, then, O my beloved: From this day forward you are denied individual ministration with individuals, but you are now a unit with many, and your labor, love and wisdom must be in concerted action with these.
05/13.9. From now on you must no longer say: What can I do for this man or that man, or this woman or that woman, or this child or that child? || For this is individual labor; and on the earth such ministration belongs to the ashars; and in atmospherea, it belongs to the asaphs. But you shall minister to organic communities who are composed of individuals…

05/14.2. Now is the beginning of the second resurrection. Even as the corporean puts off the corporeal body, and is born a spirit, becoming the first resurrection, so are you, in putting away individual self and becoming an organic community, the beginning of the second resurrection.
18/6.23. I commanded My etherean hosts, saying: Go to the lower heaven and teach them there is no such thing as individual resurrection. And they came proclaiming My word, showing all people that any number of individuals were as nothing unless united, which is the salvation I provided to all My worlds.
18/6.24. For I created progress to be in compact [an organic group]; nor did I give to any person individual salvation or resurrection. So that men could learn the advantage of compact, I caused mortals to have corporeal languages, and to live in cities. So that you in atmospherea could learn the All Perfection of being one with one another, I gave you the second resurrection; teaching you, through My Gods and Lords, to abnegate self aspiration, for self aspiration is at the expense of others; but commanding you to learn to assimilate with one another.
18/6.25. And I gave rites and ceremonies, among which was the oath of service to Me and My kingdoms, and to none other, in which many bound themselves, which was, and is, the beginning of liberty. Touching this matter, I created types (of rites and ceremonies) on earth and in the lower heavens, so that even the unlearned might understand Me and My works.
18/6.26. For to him who begets children I gave bondage, to them and to him conjointly. But this is a bondage that does not circumvent liberty in time to come, for they can ascend to heaven, and progress conjointly, better than alone

 

04/7.16. At the termination of the dominion of My God and his Lords, they shall in these, My bound heavens, gather together all those angels who have been prepared in wisdom and strength for resurrection to My etherean kingdoms. And these angels shall be called Brides and Bridegrooms to Jehovah, for they are Mine and in My service.
04/7.17. And in the time of dan I will send down ships from etherea to God, his Lords and the Brides and Bridegrooms; by My etherean Gods and Goddesses, these ships shall descend to these heavens to receive God, his Lords and the Brides and Bridegrooms, and carry them up to the exalted regions I have prepared for them.
04/7.18. All those who ascend shall be called a Harvest to Me, through My God and Lords. And the time of My Harvests shall be according to each dan, which is two hundred years, four hundred years, six hundred years, and five hundred years; and these shall be called My lesser cycles, because they are the times of the tables of prophecy which I give to My servants.
04/7.19. But at no other times, nor in any other way, shall My Harvests ascend to My emancipated worlds in etherea.

 

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In my opinion, D&C 132 is given after the saints rejected the true “new and everlasting covenant” or “higher law” much as the children of Egypt did in the wilderness.  As a result, they were given up to be ruled by the lower law or a “schoolmaster” of lower gods (oahspe details how this seems to happen in most dispensations).  Much like the “God” of the old testament, we see in D&C 132 God threatening obedience or destruction over and over. In fact D&C 132 contains nearly half of the entire Doctrine & Covenants references to “destruction”.

41 And as ye have asked concerning adultery, verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man receiveth a wife in the new and everlasting covenant, and if she be with another man, and I have not appointed unto her by the holy anointing, she hath committed adultery and shall be destroyed.

52 And let mine handmaid, Emma Smith, receive all those that have been given unto my servant Joseph, and who are virtuous and pure before me; and those who are not pure, and have said they were pure, shall be destroyed, saith the Lord God.

54 And I command mine handmaid, Emma Smith, to abide and cleave unto my servant Joseph, and to none else. But if she will not abide this commandment she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord; for I am the Lord thy God, and will destroy her if she abide not in my law.

63 But if one or either of the ten virgins, after she is espoused, shall be with another man, she has committed adultery, and shall be destroyed;

This next verse, which I think is the best example of the nature of the God or spirit influencing D&C 132, somewhat unintelligibly says that if one of the Brethren explain to their wives that they or God wants them to take additional virgins as polygamous wives and the first wife says no, God will destroy her.

64 And again, verily, verily, I say unto you, if any man have a wife, who holds the keys of this power, and he teaches unto her the law of my priesthood, as pertaining to these things, then shall she believe and administer unto him, or she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord your God; for I will destroy her; for I will magnify my name upon all those who receive and abide in my law

This smiting God not only threatens the women, but according to Hyrum and several other testimonials, threatened Joseph and many other early church brethren that they needed to take additional virgins or God would “slay” them.

Joseph was commanded to take more wives and he waited until an angel with a drawn sword stood before him and declared that if he longer delayed fulfilling that command he would slay him.”  (Hyrum Smith, Elder Benjamin F. Johnson’s Letter to George S. Gibbs, 1903— There are many corroborating testimonies of this smiting angel coming to both Joseph Smith and others to force polygamy)

It kind of reminds me of the Back to the Future scene where Darth Vader comes to Marty Mcfly and tells him if he doesn’t take Lorain to the dance, he’d melt his brain. Given these aspects of the revelation, it is fairly easy to see that we are dealing with the lower priesthood here, and the doctrine of celestial marriage explained here is one of the lower heavens, administered by very strict “schoolmaster” Gods. Even so, the revelation is true within its own sphere, and points to the profound principle (explained best in Oahspe) that only groups progress to “godhood” (usually 6 generation family groups).

 

D&C 132:16–18
116 Therefore, when they are out of the world they neither marry nor are given in marriage; but are appointed angels in heaven, which angels are ministering servants, to minister for those who are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory.
17 For these angels did not abide my law; therefore, they cannot be enlarged, but remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity; and from henceforth are not gods, but are angels of God forever and ever.
18 And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife, and make a covenant with her for time and for all eternity, if that covenant is not by me or by my word, which is my law, and is not sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, through him whom I have anointed and appointed unto this power, then it is not valid neither of force when they are out of the world, because they are not joined by me, saith the Lord, neither by my word; when they are out of the world it cannot be received there, because the angels and the gods are appointed there, by whom they cannot pass; they cannot, therefore, inherit my glory; for my house is a house of order, saith the Lord God.

 

Oahspe 37/7.21-23
137/7.21. The Father has given this sign: That in marriage, man and woman become the first testimony before mortals, that self can be abnegated without ‘the loss of self’ experiencing a loss in fact. And this is the smallest possible number that can unite on earth or in heaven. Let the single man or the single woman stand, therefore, as a type of the lowest of the heavens (first resurrection or telestial glory); and let marriage stand as an type of the second resurrection (terrestrial glory); for those of the first es grade are as individuals, but those of the second es grade are as the beginning of association, and the committing of one’s self to the combination of many.
37/7.22. Es said: Jehovah has given to men a sign of the third resurrection (celestial glory) by which they shall be known, which is: that self shall not be manifest except in the union of many. For, as the first resurrection may have marriage between two persons who in time become as one (second resurrection), so too, families of the second resurrection who unite themselves together as community (third es grade), become in time as one (third resurrection), and so, similarly, those of the third resurrection become Brides and Bridegrooms of Jehovah, being fitted for ascension into etherea at the [times of] dan harvest (after having redeemed their heirs, if any, to the sixth generation). So that those practicing the third es grade manifest in families of tens, or twenties, or hundreds, or thousands, who, in time, are also as one. Nor do they have any other king, chief ruler, God, Lord, or Christ (that is, they have grown beyond any bondage to [sectarianism or the schoolmaster idol-gods of the telestial kingdom]).
37/7.23. For these reasons then, if a man says: I have no faith in these things, because they are impractical, you may know he belongs to (has bound himself to) the beast [or idol-god of the telestial or terrestrial glories], and so does not belong to the third.

Desire & Anti-Desire

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On earth we are attracted to the qualities and things we find desirable and repulsed by the things we find undesirable.

But both desire and un-desirableness are two sides of the same fruit. It is the ‘very desirable’ fruit which Eve partook of which brought death into the world. Thus to overcome the death of this new world we must overcome the good and evil which is the fruit of desires of this new world. Both desire and anti-desire. In short you must overcome and outgrow it. A young man or woman may desire a certain new pair of in-style shoes with all their wanting. Later when they outgrow them and they fall out of style and pinch their growing feet they may loath them with all their loathing. But when they grow old they will likely look back and simply not care. They no longer desire nor despise them. They have simply outgrown that childish thing.

So it is with this new world and the things within it. We may desire or despise our bodies or the bodies of others or the beauties or eyesores of the earth or the wealth and poverty and things of this realm. But eventually we must outgrow and overcome them. Likewise when we are growing up we may hate a person only later to fall in love and desire them. But when we take it to the next level and become a sibling in a family with them we may feel changing feelings of love and hate for them as we grow up together through fights and reconciliations. However in the end we arrive to a point where we neither desire nor despise them, but just ‘love’ them because we realize they are a part of us, and to lose them would be like losing a part of ourselves.

We have gotten past the desire and despising of childhood and are just ready to move on with those we have become a part of.

Christ matured to this level. He overcame the flesh and all the desires and temptations of Satan. As a reward he was brought back into the garden of delights… the garden of Eden. He had become innocent like a little child neither desiring nor despising. But he had bound himself to a consort, a holy bride who had wed herself to him at the marriage feast of the father. A holy vessel of Jehovah destined to bare the souls of creation across the sea of _____ . This vessel was Mary, the temple of Hagia Sophia, holy wisdom. In the garden she saw that it was not just to have been begotten through the fruit of the tree of knowledge and not now in turn beget. Sophia allowed her fleshy counterpart to be deceived into partaking of the same fruit which she had worked so hard to overcome the effects of. She partook of desire and in so doing was cast out.

More on the Resurrection

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God gives to all men according to their understanding. He teaches Japeth through philosophy without religion because that is what they want. He teaches Ham through polarizing opposites because they cant yet walk a straight line. He gives Shem the greater light through both religion and philosophy because they have found the more balanced middle path. But the greatest of all is those who have not only found the middle (straight and narrow) path, but have actually entered the straight gate which is Christ. To these he gives opportunity of escaping the earthly cycles of death and rebirth into death. To these comes the opportunities of Eternal Life. (Do you understand the deep meaning of these cliche’s?)

The prophets of Japeth were commissioned by the Eloheim through the ministering of the Terrestrial to give their people the truth they would have. So too with Shem and Ham. The teachings of Brahma and Buddha were the highest an unenlightened people could receive… but although subject to the law of one/agency (link), “true” for them, and ever pointing to the two final gates. Eternal Darkness and Annihilation through the gates of the dark lords, or Eternal Life and Exaltation through the Gate of the Lord(s) of Light… and the rebirth/continuation of cycles for all who haven’t yet laid hold of the rod, which is the Word.

In the parable of the wheat and the tares we learn all we need to know of the resurrection and the true state of those that do and dont make it…

“37 …He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;
38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.” (Matt 13)

Do you have ears to hear? Have you searched out the deeper meaning? The God of the whole earth planted a field. Year after year, season after season, cycle after cycle, world after world he plants the same field. At the end of the yearly season he harvests. Some of the harvest goes to feed the Masters and His servents and some of the wheat goes to replant the next years crop, but all of the tares, stuble and weeds go to the fire to be returned to their mother earth. They go into the pain of earthly regeneration to suffer and then try again to grow next season. As the Lord said

“5. Jesus answered, Verily I say unto you except a man be born again of flesh and of spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and ye hear the sound thereof, but cannot tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth.
6. The light shineth from the East even unto the West; out of the darkness, the Sun ariseth and goeth down into darkness again; so is it with man, from the ages unto the ages.
7. When it cometh from the darkness, it is that he hath lived before, and when it goeth down again into darkness, it is that he may rest for a little, and thereafter again exist.
8. So through many changes must ye be made perfect, as it is written in the book of Job, I am a wanderer, changing place after place and house after house, until I come unto the City and Mansion which is eternal.”

But not so with those who enter the gate of Christ, overcoming the flesh and being born of the Spirit. Those who overcome the flesh have no need to be born into it again. To them the resurrection is not the regeneration of mortality, To them the resurrection is the rising into the Spirit. They will receive their bodies again, but they will not be the bodies of flesh & blood in a cycle of death, but a body of flesh and spirit in a cycle of life. Reincarnation is not taught to the saints because it is not true to the Saints. The Saints will come forth triumphant, flying through the air with Christ at his coming to inherit a new heaven and earth wherein death has been conquered. But the tares… the whore of the earth, they shall be thrown into the fire of regeneration. They inherit death because they would not accept life.

Do you see the importance in helping to gather? In saving souls from death and the purifying fire. How much better to willingly put ourselves under the purifying fire of the Spirit, than to have to unwillingly be thrust back into the purifying fire of the regeneration of death. No one wants thier memories and souls to be purged. How much better it is to purge yourself during life, than to be forcefully purged by death. How important it is to help others see that this life is not life but death! Those who have not been born again are not yet alive! Until you are truly born by the water and the spirit (not just in flesh but in spirit) you are still dead. This life is an illusion, but by a spiritual rebirth one can be awakened from the illusory dream that is this death to the reality of true life where our food and drink are Christ and the false shadows of this world’s materialism are replaced for the true riches of heaven of which the shadows are types.

Are you the wheat of the Lord? The pure oblation offered at Shavuot to commemorate the end of the Harvest cycle? Are you the first fruits of the vine, a holy sacrifice unto the Lord? If we are to be harvested we must be acceptable. Would you like to eat rotten fruit or rancid wheat? By partaking of the flesh (bread) and blood (wine), or emblems of the Body of Christ we become One with him… for truly we are what we eat. His heavenly body and blood replace ours as we partake of him so that eventually our fleshy bodies of death are replaced or regenerated by the Spirit of life. But at-one-ment works both ways. If we are the fruit of the vine then we are in Christ and he is in us. As we partake of him, he also partakes of us. Saved souls are food to the angels and future seed for the earth. We cannot be saved without our dead because they need us just as much as we need them, and only when we are One can ascend to the all-highest. Stagnation breads death, eternal movement brings life. The Body of Christ or the communal consciousness of raised man who have made themselves equal with Christ and of whom he is the head, neads to the grow and expand or it will begin to die. This is why we work together in unselfishness like individual cells in a body or plant seeking for the best of souls with which to bring to the marriage feast of the Lord so that the father and mother may beget a son who may one day become the father himself. That the Spirit of Life may flow through our sacred hearts and transfer the energy of God from head to heart to hands and feet and then back again in a cirle of life spiraling upward.

He who hath ears to hear…

But the questions remain. How do we know that we have truly overcome death? Is there any way judge ourselves and others to know if we have really made it yet? What percentage of “good”, believing, law keeping, loving and faithful individuals are ready to accend? All of them, or do many of us need more refining? What are the laws which govern readiness? I know we judge ourselves at the final bar, but what illusions hold us back?

To Go No More Out. Reconciling Reincarnation & Resurrection

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resurrection

Five times in the Book of Mormon, and once in the New Testament we are introduced to the phrase “to go no more out”, which I suggest may be telling us much more than we might initially guess. In fact, the restorationist texts, The Gospel of the Holy Twelve suggest that the phrase (as well as a few other cryptic references to a type of reincarnation) might be a remnant of one of the many “plain and precious truths” that the Book of Mormon tells us were eradicated from the Jewish canon & theology by pre-exilic Jewish reformers. This misunderstanding and bias against the concept of reincarnation was then carried on by early western Christianity. In this article I’d like to through these phrases and use a few restorationism texts to speculate as to how they might help to reconcile the doctrines of reincarnation and resurrection.

Alma 7:25 reads:

25 And may the Lord bless you, and keep your garments spotless, that ye may at last be brought to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the holy prophets who have been ever since the world began, having your garments spotless even as their garments are spotless, in the kingdom of heaven to go no more out.

This principle seems simple enough. The righteous gain rest in the kingdom of heaven, where they “go no more out”. But lets look a little closer and then think of the implications. Alma exhorts his people here to not only be righteous enough to be permitted to attain the kingdom of heaven, but it is his prayer that they might have garments spotless enough that they can enter the kingdom of heaven, and like Abraham, Issac and Jacob, go no more out. This implies that all but the most righteous, who enter the kingdom of heaven, stand the chance of entering and in some way going back out.

Lets look at the phrase again as it is given in the book of Revelation:

12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. (Rev. 3:12)

It’s not hard to see there is some deep symbolism portrayed in these verses. We see that ‘going no more out’ has to do with ‘overcoming’ the world. It has to do with getting a new name or identity which is the name of God. It has to do with obtaining a heavenly city; the new Jerusalem. There are three other references to “going no more out” of the kingdom of heaven in the Book of Mormon, but before looking at more LDS scripture, lets first take a look at the insights the restorationist book The Gospel of the Holy Twelve (which supports my points but isn’t necessarily required to get there). Like a few other modern channeled revisions of the New Testament, the book claims to be a “restored” version of the New Testament Gospels which were channeled to a Reverend Ouseley from angelic beings who claimed to have found and translated the text from a early Christian manuscript found in Tibet. It’s a spurious text, but insightful none the less.

1. As Jesus sat by the west of the Temple with his disciples, behold there passed some carrying one that was dead to burial, and a certain one said unto him, Master, if a man die, shall he live again?
2. And he answered and said, I am the resurrection and the life, I am the Good, the Beautiful, the True, if a man believe in me he shall not die, but live eternally. As in Adam all die, so in the Christ shall all be made alive. Blessed are the dead who die in me, and are made perfect in my image and likeness, for they rest from their labours and their works do follow them. They have overcome evil, and are made Pillars in the Temple of my God, and they go out no more, for they rest in the Eternal.
3. For them that have done evil there is no rest, but they go out and in, and suffer correction for ages, till they are made perfect. But for them that have done good and attained unto perfection, there is endless rest and they go into life everlasting. They rest in the Eternal.
4. Over them the repeated death and birth have no power, for them the wheel of the Eternal revolves no more, for they have attained unto the Centre, where is eternal rest, and the centre of all things is God.” (HT 69:1-4)

Regardless of whether this text is true, it weaves together some pretty interesting symbolic wording.  Here the term “to go no more out” is used to uniquely merge the hindu/buddhist idea of Saṃsāra, and the wheel of Dharma with the Christian concept of resurrection and eternal salvation. As I’ll attempt to show in the rest of this article, there are several interesting phrases and concepts in Christian scripture and Mormon theology that could be used to reconcile the idea of reincarnation with the concepts of resurrection. Its a concept that’s not only ubiquitous in near-death experiences and modern channeled texts, but also prevalent in Jewish Kabbalah texts such the Zohar.

As long as a person is unsuccessful in his purpose in this world, the Holy One, blessed be He, uproots him and replants him over and over again. (Zohar I 186b)

All souls are subject to reincarnation; and people do not know the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He! They do not know that they are brought before the tribunal both before they enter into this world and after they leave it; they are ignorant of the many reincarnations and secret works which they have to undergo, and of the number of naked souls, and how many naked spirits roam about in the other world without being able to enter within the veil of the King’s Palace. Men do not know how the souls revolve like a stone that is thrown from a sling. But the time is at hand when these mysteries will be disclosed. (Zohar II 99b. See this article for many other references)

The LDS Premortal life and Reincarnation

The idea that there might be some truth to the doctrine of reincarnation, should be easier for Mormons to consider than most Christians. In fact, the mainstream Mormon doctrine of premortal life actually teaches a loose form of reincarnation that most LDS members don’t see. Although Mormon doctrine concerning the matter generally tries to shy away from specifics, it distinctly teaches that each human being “lived before they were born as spirit offspring of a heavenly father [and heavenly mother]” (see gospel topics). So from a certain perspective, that makes earth-life a re-embodied or second cycle of progression–in fact in Abraham 3:20–26 mortal life is referred to as a “second estate”. This scripture also suggest that mankind’s previous cycle of life included a type of agency that allowed certain souls to progress faster than others.  From one perspective, it might almost seem that the Mormon doctrine of pre-existence might be a way of slowly bridging the theological gap between eastern religious views of reincarnation and western Christian views which strongly oppose the idea of any previous life before birth.  Some LDS leaders such as Brigham Young have even specifically taught that this former spiritual birth in the “premortal existence” was accomplished by sexual reproduction.

“[God] created man, as we create our children; for there is no other process of creation in heaven, on the earth, in the earth, or under the earth, or in all the eternities, that is, that were, or that ever will be.”  (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 11:122. see here for more references)

Although many traditional Christians deride Mormonism for these teachings, it seems possible that LDS doctrine is simply seeking to bridge a theological gap to reincarnation by using veiled terms to suggest that people, (1) lived a conscious life previous to their current earth life and (2) were physically/spiritually born to a different set of parents in that life. Both of these principles are entirely shared by the doctrine of Reincarnation. Years after Joseph Smith, Brigham Young expanded the LDS premortality doctrine to suggest that couples who are exalted to God status are responsible for creating the ‘spirtis of men’.  But from one perspective one could speculate that LDS church leaders were inspired to introduce aspects of this teaching in veiled and ambiguous language simply because of the strong bias western Christianity has developed (possibly reaching all the way back to disagreements between Jewish sects such as the Sadducees and Pharisees) against even considering reincarnation as a possibility in the scheme of eternal progression. It also might be important because the doctrine tends to promote wild speculation and certain types of excuses for bad behavior.

Within the LDS concept of premortal existence, we might further speculate that the “gods/parents” of whom we are spiritually begotten, might actually have been exalted mortals such as Abraham, who D&C 132 says gained the right of the “continuation of the lives” (D&C 132:22) and “continuation of the seeds for ever and ever” (D&C 132:19).

In fact, by translating the scriptural word αἰῶνος or aiōnos as “age” instead of “world” (as many modern translations do), scriptures used to support random predestination or foreordination, such as Ephesians 1:4 which speak of premortal election “before the world was”, might actually be metaphorically referring to events occurring “before the current age”. (This will be more important as we look at scriptures concerning future resurrections. see Matt 13:39,49; 24:3; 28:20, Heb 9:26, 1 Ne 14:22, Moses 6:7). Even scriptural events which seem to clearly allude to a separate premortal realm or planet, such as Abraham 3:22, might actually be interpreted to support some type of reincarnation of life in a previous cycle of ‘this world’ when one considers scriptures supporting the ancient belief that our current earth has gone through repeated cycles of destruction and re-creation such as the following.

The end [shall] come when the earth shall pass away. And there shall be a new heaven and a new earth; and they shall be like unto the old save the old have passed away, and all things have become new. (Ether 13:8–9)
And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof even so shall another come; and there is no end to my works, neither to my words.” (Moses 1:38)
Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. (2 Peter 3:6–7)

26 Wherefore, [earth] shall be sanctified; yea, notwithstanding [the earth] shall die, it shall be quickened again, and shall abide the power [energy level] by which it is quickened, and the righteous shall inherit it. [after the telestial earth ‘dies’ and terrestrial dimension emerges on the higher plane for terrestrial spirits to be born into]  27 For notwithstanding they die, they also shall rise again, a spiritual[ized or higher dimensional] body. 28 They who are of a celestial spirit shall receive the same body which was a natural body; even ye shall receive your [physical] bodies, and your glory shall be that glory by which your [physical] bodies are quickened.
32 And they who remain shall also be quickened [or resurrected]; nevertheless, they shall return again to their own place [on earth], to enjoy that which they are willing to receive… (D&C 88:2–32)

It seems possible, that all this cryptic symbolic language might simply be using an ambiguous “premortal life” to teach the concept that the eternal progression of souls is a lot more lengthy and complex than many suppose. There are a few verses in the New Testament which could be used to suggest that at least a portion of the Jewish people held to some form of this idea of cyclical rebirth of prominent individuals across certain “ages” or master cycles. Look at Matt 11:13–15 for instance which says, “For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive it, he [John the Baptist] is Elias, which was for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Another example is found in Matt 17:10–12, “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things, But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not… [speaking] of John the Baptist.” Even if we suppose that Elias/Elijah is just a title/function that John the Baptist assumed, its hard to not see a Jewish belief in reincarnation in scriptures like John 9:2 which says “And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” It certainly seems possible that Judeo-Christian scriptures supports the idea that some of the most noble souls (among those who haven’t exited the Saṃsāra wheel yet) are reincarnated as key figures or even as the father of nations and cultures–becoming the head of entire people’s who reincarnate at given times and seasons or intervals of human history.

The Urantia Book, another spurious channeled text generally against the idea of reincarnation, suggests that it does occur, but never within a single dispensation.

 “A mortal never returns to his native planet during the dispensation of his temporal existence, and if he should return during a subsequent dispensation, he would be escorted by a transport seraphim of the universe headquarters group.” (The Urantia Book, 39:4.15)

In fact the LDS first resurrection itself could possibly be construed as supporting a type of Millennial reincarnation of the righteous depending on your interpretation of the scriptures. In D&C 101 a detailed description of the Millennium is given where we are told there will be infants (birth) but no death,

28 And in that day Satan shall not have power to tempt any man.
29 And there shall be no sorrow because there is no death.
30 In that day an infant shall not die until he is old; and his life shall be as the age of a tree;
31 And when he dies he shall not sleep, that is to say in the earth, but shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye, and shall be caught up, and his rest shall be glorious. (D&C 101:28–31. see also D&C 45:58)

Bruce R. Mckonkie clarified that these infants will be born through natural birth as mortals—and are not to be resurrected until they reach the “age of a tree” and are “changed in the twinkling of an eye” (Mormon Doctrine, p.496-497). Now why would there be mortals and birth in the immortal, paradisiacal millennium? And is there any scriptural indication that these blessed millennial mortals never lived a previous mortal birth? I submit that there is not. For all we know, many who “come forth in the morning of the first resurrection” will come forth by mortal birth just as others “fly through the air with Jesus” (D&C 76:102; 88:96-98; 109:75; 1 Thes 4:17). In fact some significant modern channeled texts seem to suggest that the eschatological nature of the resurrection at Christ’s coming is laced with metaphor. And that the transition of the earth to a millennial terrestrial glory will occur as a natural evolutionary and cosmic process.

63.27 Questioner: I will make this statement, and you correct me. What we have is, that as our planet [is] spiraled by the action of the entire major galaxy… the [terrestrial] vibrations become more and more pronounced. These atomic core vibrations begin to create more and more completely the [appropriate] core vibrations [of the] the [terrestrial] sphere and the [terrestrial bodies] for inhabitation of that sphere. Is this correct?
Response. This is partially correct. To be corrected is the concept of the creation of [terrestrial bodies]. This creation will be gradual and will take place beginning with your [telestial] type of physical vehicle and, through the means of bisexual reproduction, become by evolutionary processes, the [terrestrial] body complexes. (Law of One 63:27)

What’s more, some text suggest that most of the supernatural references to flying through the air to meet Jesus are descriptions of events occurring primarily to spirits in the earth’s heavens (or higher dimensions) as the veils which divide the heavens temporarily drop and spirits who are ready to ascend to the higher, more physically real levels of heaven are permitted to do so. (see Oahspe, book of resurrections) In the next section I will show how the Christian word and concept of resurrection might actually be a dualistic term which symbolically references both mortal re-incarnation as well as the traditional belief of heavenly ‘physical’ incarnation.

LDS Eternal Progression

The Second Death and Telestial Resurrection as a reference to Reincarnation

31 And also they who are quickened by a portion of the telestial glory shall then receive of the same, even a fulness.  32 And they who remain shall also be quickened; nevertheless, they shall return again to their own place, to enjoy that which they are willing to receive, because they were not willing to enjoy that which they might have received. (D&C 88:31–32)

The word biblical word resurrection comes from the Hebrew יְקוּמ֑וּן / yekumun or Greek ἀνάστασις, εως, ἡ / anastasis, which literally mean to stand up, awake or rise again. As such it stands as the antithesis or reversal of the biblical concept of the fall from immortality or spiritual death.

The Bible, LDS Pearl of Great Price and endowment actually presents a narrative similar to the Eastern concept of a souls descent into Māyā (duality or illusion). The drama symbolically points to the idea that an eternal aspect of Mankind (symbolized by Adam), existed with God before his earthly or mortal body was created (cycle 0). Later, his eternal spirit was veiled in flesh or placed in a body God created for him in a paradisiacal immortal earth (cycle 1). It was also then separated into two aspects (man and woman). Because of sin, this divided mankind then falls from this immortal (or spiritual) eternal abode in God’s partial presence and becomes a mortal living in a fallen earthly hell subject to death, sin and the temptations or illusions of the devil (cycle 2). In this mortal cycle mankind goes through many different stages of priesthood and changing laws to awake or rise again back through the various layers of redemption, resurrection and unification. To reverse the effects of the three cycle fall, Christ came to help show us how to rise from the death and sin of this temporal earth and return to live immortally and eternally with God once again— and eventually to attain complete moksha or unity with him (John 17:11–22).

Another verse in the Gospel of the Holy Twelve follows this same line of thinking to suggest that the word resurrection might actually be have dual metaphorical meaning in Christian scripture. One which corresponds to Eastern religious traditions.

2. As all creatures come forth from the unseen into this world, so they return to the unseen, and so will they come again till they be purified. Let the bodies of them that depart be committed to the elements, and the Father, who reneweth all things, shall give the angels charge over them, and let the presbyter pray that their bodies may rest in peace, and their souls awake to a joyful resurrection.
3. There is a resurrection from the body, and there is a resurrection in the body. There is a raising out of the life of the flesh, and there is a falling into the life of the flesh. Let prayer be made For those who are gone before, and For those that are alive, and For those that are yet to come, for all are One family in God. In God they live and move and have their being. (GHT 94:2-3)

Here we see a dual use of the word resurrection; using it to refer to both reincarnation in addition to a somewhat traditional meaning. “Resurrection from the body” or “raising [it] out of the life of flesh” being a type of resurrection referred to in the traditional Christian interpretaion as well as Alma 40:15–18 and ubiquitously used in the channeled text Oahspe. (see my article Cosmology for more details on heavenly ascension/resurrection). And “resurrection in the body” or “falling into the life of the flesh” which seems to be referring to reincarnation.

What I would like to suggest by using LDS scripture, is that part of the “resurrection of damnation” (see John 5:29) is being forced to cycle between spiritual and earthly hell (telestial glory) through reincarnation. Whereas spirits worthy of the “resurrection of life” (John 5:29, Mos 16:11, 3 Ne 26:5, D&C 19:6–12) escape the second death and are freed from the cycle of rebirth “to go no more out”.

The Book of Revelation teaches that those who are redeemed to “go no more out”, also escape the “Second Death”. Following the scriptural phrase “second death” through its multiple uses seems to suggest it might also be a dualistic term which actually refers to to both spiritual hell (at death) and mortal reincarnation (at the time of resurrection). so in one case it may refer to those telestial glory souls who at the time of resurrection return to the telestial earth by rebirth (D&C 76:84 defines a telestial resurrection as hell. ). Rebirth on earth separates souls spiritually from God, just as death reunites the righteous to Him (Alma 12:16). When the righteous die, they pass to paradise, being “taken home to that God who gave them life” (Alma 40:10). However, the wicked who do not overcome the desires of the flesh and sin, take part in the resurrection of damnation where instead of rising to higher more blissful levels of heaven they are “cast out” and resurrected or reborn to earth to pay the karma for their acts and desires.

 24 And now, my son, this is the restoration of which has been spoken by the mouths of the prophets—
3 …it is requisite with the justice of God that men should be judged according to their works; and if their works were good in this life, and the desires of their hearts were good, that they should also, at the last day, be restored unto that which is good.
5 The one raised to happiness according to his desires of happiness, or good according to his desires of good; and the other to evil according to his desires of evil; for as he has desired to do evil all the day long even so shall he have his reward of evil when the night cometh.
15 For that which ye do send out shall return unto you again, and be restored; therefore, the word restoration more fully condemneth the sinner, and justifieth him not at all. (Alma 40:24, 41:3-15)

Read these verses from the Book of Revelation concerning the resurrection. I submit that the “lake of fire” is the telestial glory (both fallen earth life, and the telestial glory/hell of the spiritual realm). Those not in the Book of Life (a symbol of those who have attained a terrestrial or celestial glory and are escaping the rebirth cycle of Saṃsāra), are cast into “the lake of fire” to experience the “second death”.

13 And the sea [group 1] gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell [group 2] delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And [those still found in] death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire [samsara].

Revelation 21:8 explains the type of individuals who experience the “second death” in a bit more detail,

8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Rev 21:8)

Compare this to D&C 76’s words on those of the telestial resurrection, where it speaks of telestial souls who “suffer the wrath of God on earth” (v. 104; the rebirth cycle of Saṃsāra), as well as those who “suffer the vengeance of eternal fire”, those same souls who end up in prison/hell between incarnations.

103 These are they who are liars, and sorcerers, and adulterers, and whoremongers, and whosoever loves and makes a lie.
104 These are they who suffer the wrath of God on earth [reincarnation].
105 These are they who suffer the vengeance of eternal fire [damnation at death]. (D&C 76:103–105)

So those who attain a Celestial Glory, go no more out, or in other words they remain in heaven nearly indefinitely to reign with God in a state of nearly nirvanan peace. However, terrestial souls reincarnate, but far less often than telestial souls, and have part in the first resurrection, (once again, resurrection being a dualistic term veiled with its own cryptic symbolism referring to those worthy to be raised to heaven OR reincarnated during the latter-day Golden Age of the cycle when earth attains a terrestrial glory) . Hell-bound or telestial souls, on the other hand, will come forth after this symbolic millennium, in the resurrection of the unjust to continue their cycles of mortal experience after the Golden Age has collapsed and war comes back to give them the miserable conditions needed to learn their needed lessons. Only the “sons of perdition” or those who refuse to learn the lessons of telestial justice and willingly choose to follow Satan (selfishness) after all possible cycles of progression have passed will not be redeemed from the wheel of “second death” (see D&C 76:37).

A few more references from the Gospel of the Holy Twelve

The scriptures seem to be symbolically veiled and cryptic when referring to the time frame between resurrections as well as the exact nature of those resurrections. But Christian, Islamic, Hindu and Buddhist scriptures seem to make clear that their prophetic authors saw the history of the world divided into cycles, times, seasons and ages. (D&C 43:18)  To some resurrection and rebirth is an individual thing occurring over and over in the same age. To others it is more broad, occurring only into different worlds. In Mormonism, I hope I have shown that there seems to be scriptures supporting both ideas. Concerning the latter, we are taught in Ether, “the end [shall] come when the earth shall pass away. And there shall be a new heaven and a new earth; and they shall be like unto the old save the old have passed away, and all things have become new. (Ether 13:8–9) And as God tells Moses, “And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof even so shall another come; and there is no end to my works, neither to my words.” (Moses 1:38) The goal of all Christ’s followers however, is not to be born again of the earth (telestial reincarnation) or even simply born of the water (terrestrial resurrection in a future cycle of the present or some other temporal world), but to be born again of the Spirit to live “eternally in the heavens (or a celestialized earth which has become like unto the heavens) with God.

In chapter 59 of the Gospel of the Holy Twelve we find another of many clarifying verses which shows the dispensational or cyclical nature of restoration:

11. For they who know the Godhead, and have found in the way of Life the mysteries of light and then have fallen into sin, shall be punished with greater chastisements than they who have not known the way of Life.
12. Such shall return when their cycle is completed and to them will be given space to consider, and amend their lives, and learning the mysteries, enter into the kingdom of light. (59:11-12)

Here are the rest of the scriptures given in the Gospel of the Holy Twelve teaching this new view of the resurrection

1. JESUS sat in the porch of the Temple, and some came to learn his doctrine, and one said unto him, Master, what teachest thou concerning life?
2. And he said unto them, Blessed are they who suffer many experiences, for they shall be made perfect through suffering: they shall be as the angels of God in Heaven and shall die no more, neither shall they be born any more, for death and birth have no more dominion over them.
3. They who have suffered and overcome shall be made Pillars in the Temple of my God, and they shall go out no more. Verily I say unto you, except ye be born again of water and of fire, ye cannot see the kingdom of God.
4. And a certain Rabbi (Nicodemus) came unto him by night for fear of the Jews, and said unto him. How can a man be born again when he is old? can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born again ?
5. Jesus answered, Verily I say unto you except a man be born again of flesh and of spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and ye hear the sound thereof, but cannot tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth.
6. The light shineth from the East even unto the West; out of the darkness, the Sun ariseth and goeth down into darkness again; so is it with man, from the ages unto the ages.
7. When it cometh from the darkness, it is that he hath lived before, and when it goeth down again into darkness, it is that he may rest for a little, and thereafter again exist.
8. So through many changes must ye be made perfect, as it is written in the book of Job, I am a wanderer, changing place after place and house after house, until I come unto the City and Mansion which is eternal.

4. Nevertheless if any be sick among you, let them send for the presbyters of the church that they may anoint them with oil of olive in the Name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith, and the going out of power, with the voice of thanksgiving, shall raise them up, if they are not detained by sin, of this or a former life. (92:4)

… I say, unto you there is no death to those who believe in the life to come. Death, as ye deemed it, is the door to life, and the grave is the gate to resurrection, for those who believe and obey. Mourn ye not, nor weep for them that have left you, but rather rejoice for their entrance into life.
2. As all creatures come forth from the unseen into this world, so they return to the unseen, and so will they come again till they be purified. Let the bodies of them that depart be committed to the elements, and the Father, who reneweth all things, shall give the angels charge over them, and let the presbyter pray that their bodies may rest in peace, and their souls awake to a joyful resurrection.
3. There is a resurrection from the body, and there is a resurrection in the body. There is a raising out of the life of the flesh, and there is a falling into the life of the flesh. Let prayer be made For those who are gone before, and For those that are alive, and For those that are yet to come, for all are One family in God. In God they live and move and have their being.
4. The body that ye lay in the grave, or that is consumed by fire, is not the body that shall be, but they who come shall receive other bodies, yet their own, and as they have sown in one life, so shall they reap in another. Blessed are they who have worked righteousness in this life, for they shall receive the crown of life. (94:1-4)

23. As in the inner so in the outer: as in the great so in the small. As above, so below: as in heaven so in earth. We believe in the Purification of the soul: through many births and experiences. The Resurrection from the dead: and the Life everlasting of the just. The Ages of Ages: and Rest in God forever.— [Amen]. (96:23)

19. And this by ascent of the soul into the spirit and the descent of the spirit into the soul. Who cometh from heaven, and is incarnate of the Virgin ever blessed, in Jesu-Maria and every Christ of God: and is born and teacheth the way of life and suffereth under the world rulers, and is crucified, and is buried and descendeth into Hell. Who riseth again and ascendeth into glory; from thence giving light and life to all. (96:19)

8. Put ye not off from day to day, and from cycle to cycle and eon to eon, in the belief, that when ye return to this world ye will succeed in gaining the mysteries, and entering into the Kingdom of Light. (65:8)

Joseph Smith’s views on reincarnation were a bit ambiguous, but he specifically clarified that he did not believe in the idea of being reborn from animal to human, and that many who profess to be reincarnated famous religious figures are likely being led captive by evil spirits. I agree with those statements, but have a funny feeling that Christian scripture is helping us take baby steps in reconciling all the religious ideas of the world’s great religion into the true view of reality.

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The Unity Perspective

Another channeled work gives an idea which I believe is remarkably helpful in reconciling eastern and western views of reincarnation and resurrection. This work expands upon the concept of group consciousness and an underlying unity among human consciousness. A concept which is touched on repeatedly in LDS and Biblical Scripture (refs.) but generally only explained in detail in Christian mysticism and esotericism.  The idea is that we as human beings often see ourselves as completely separate from one another, but that Higher beings looking down on us, see us as different aspects of the same being. As an example, if an individual cell within us had conscious thought, it might see itself as completely separate from its fellow biological cells. However, from the brain’s perspective, those cells are all simply different aspects of One being controlled within bounds by the brain through the nervous system. One cell might die away and another take its place, but the purpose and memory of that cell is stored in the brain—not just the cell. As the organism grows and the cells divide and multiply they grow further and further apart in location and function and these semi-conscious cells might come up with all sorts of crazy explanations to explain where they came from and where they go after death. But the truth is that their lack of knowledge of the unity that binds them prohibits them from even coming close to understanding the full picture.

In the Law of One and many other esoteric texts, mankind IS ONE organism, symbolized by the biblical Man Adam or the Hindu Manu/Atman. As he divides himself, veils and partitions are created between his progeny to give himself more evolutionary choices to experience himself. The “ego” of new age authors is a concept of separation of self from the whole, for the purpose of creating conflict and drama. But to follow our analogy to the body, the brain (highest beings) do not see these imaginary divisions… their higher perspective sees the unity of the whole organism.

Firstly, you must understand that the distinction between yourself and others is not visible to us. We do not consider that a separation exists between the consciousness-raising efforts of the distortion which you project as a personality and the distortion which you project as an other personality. Thus, to learn is the same as to teach… (LoO 1.10)

Opposing views

The channeled Urantia Book while partially disagreeing with the the idea of reincarnation tells of the damage this teaching did to Vedic peoples…

…of all the contaminating beliefs… none was so stultifying as this belief in transmigration—the doctrine of the reincarnation of souls—which came from the Dravidian Deccan. This belief in the weary and monotonous round of repeated transmigrations robbed struggling mortals of their long-cherished hope of finding that deliverance and spiritual advancement in death which had been a part of the earlier Vedic faith. This philosophically debilitating teaching was soon followed by the invention of the doctrine of the eternal escape from self by submergence in the universal rest and peace of absolute union with Brahman, the oversoul of all creation. Mortal desire and human ambition were effectually ravished and virtually destroyed. (94:2.3)

Although many, if not most, modern channeled works speak of reincarnation there are many religions and modern channelled texts such as Oahspe which are adamant about the falsity of the idea of individuated consciousness re-entering the womb, except for instances of demon obsession.  To illustrate here are a few quotes, which echo the views held by many religions.

As I have quickened the seed of the first born, so will I quicken all seed to the end of the earth. And each and every man-child and woman-child born into life will I quicken with a new spirit, which shall proceed out of Me at the time of conception. Neither will I give to any spirit of the higher or lower heaven power to enter a womb, or a fetus of a womb, and be born again.  (Jehovah 6:21)

Suffice it, these spirits lost all sight of any higher heavens than to dwell on the earth; they knew no other. And they watched about when children were born, and obsessed them, driving hence the natural spirit, and growing up in the new body of the newborn, calling themselves re-incarnated; and these drujas professed that when they previously lived on earth they were great kings, or queens, or philosophers.  And they taught as their master, Osiris, the false, did: That there was no higher heaven than here on the earth, and that man must be re-incarnated over and over until the flesh became immortal. Not all of these spirits drove hence the natural spirit; but many merely engrafted themselves on the same body; and whilst such persons lived, these spirits lived with them and dwelt with them day and night; not knowing more than their mortal companion. And when such person died, behold, the druja went and engrafted itself on another child, and lived and dwelt with it in the same way; and thus continuing, generation after generation. (Wars 51:11-12)

O man, beware of angels who say: In heaven there is no organization, nor God, nor Holy Council, nor discipline, nor order, nor teaching, nor self-denial, or,  Who say: There is no God, no Jehovih, no government in heaven, or, Who say: There is no bondage after death; no place or condition of suffering, or, Who say: When thou diest thy spirit shall enter paradise and dwell in perpetual ease and glory.  Who say: Heaven is an endless summer land, with silvery rivers and golden boats for all, or, Who say: Eat, drink and enjoy thyself for the gratification of thine earthly passions, for when thou art dead thy path shall be straight to glory.  Who say: Heap up riches, for there is no punishment after death, or, Who say: Turn not thy thoughts into thine own soul to discover thy ungodliness, for when thou art dead thy spirit shall revel in bliss, or, Who say: The angel world is a place of progression without self-abnegation and good works, or, Who saith: Behold me, I am from the highest, most exalted sphere, or from a far-off star, or, Who saith: I have visited the planets, or, Who saith: Resurrection cometh by reincarnation–first a stone, then lead, then silver, then gold, then a tree, then a worm, then an animal and then man, or that a spirit re-entereth the womb, and is born again in mortality, or, Who saith: Blessed art thou; for a host of ancient spirits attend thee–thou hast a great mission.  For all of these are the utterances of the angels of the first resurrection. And though they may inspire great oratory and learned discourses, yet they are flatterers, and will surely lead thee into grief.  (Discipline 3:19-32)

Joseph Smith also seemed to echo similar views that those professing reincarnation are often possessed of demons; speaking of a traveling minister Robert Matthews he said,

“He said that he possessed the spirit of his fathers, that he was a literal descendant of Matthias, the Apostle, who was chosen in the place of Judas that fell; that his spirit was resurrected in him; and that this was the way or scheme of eternal life—this transmigration of soul or spirit from father to son.
I told him that his doctrine was of the devil, that he was in reality in possession of a wicked and depraved spirit, although he professed to be the Spirit of truth itself; and he said also that he possessed the soul of Christ. (Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 Vols. 2:307)”

It certainly seems reasonable that this is often the case. That many channeled works are in fact deceptive spirits of the lower heavens feeding people’s egos with fabricated stories and bologna. However, there seems to be credible sources and valid global religions which hold this view and are not so easily discounted. I’v spent a lot of time trying to reconcile these very different predominate views and it occurs to me that, like most things, it is a difference in perspective.

In my opinion it all boils down to misconceptions in personality and ego.  As many biblical and religious texts allude to, and the law of one makes clear, those in the higher realms make little to no distinction between an individual and his close associates, or more especially one family.  Those in a family unit are seen as one individual or one individuated consciousness.  So although we see a huge distinction between ourselves, our parents, and our children, those in the higher densities do not.   Take these words in the Law of One material for example…

Firstly, you must understand that the distinction between yourself and others is not visible to us. We do not consider that a separation exists between the consciousness-raising efforts of the distortion which you project as a personality and the distortion which you project as an other personality. Thus, to learn is the same as to teach…

So in their perspective, one could say that we are reincarnated through our posterity or progeny.  As these groups raise to higher densities and are redeemed in unity, they form a collective consciousness where the thoughts and experiences of all are shared, and thus you could consider them reincarnated versions of each other.  So much as Mufasa and Rafiki said to Simba in the Lion King, our parents live in us and vise-versa.  The bible echo’s this idea of unity with the statement in Acts 17:28, speaking of God and ourselves it says, “In him we live and move and have our being”.  Thus we could say that all mankind is a reincarnation of Adam, the first man.  Or that we are all fragments of God, who has multiplied himself in an effort to know himself, which is essentially what parenthood is all about. I believe there is a great amount of both biblical and Mormon literature that symbolically seeks to teach this important principle.  The “sealing” or binding together in Mormon temples is essentially symbolically teaching the principle explained in detail in Oahspe, that in order to ascend or be redeemed, a group must redeem their progeny to at leas the 6th generation. This is because this is the only way to at-one or atone the division caused by the fall of man.  Mankind falls when they are divided, and is only saved when they are again re-united.  There are important psychological implications to this as well, in the ways that the experiences and characteristics which we demonize, desire or fear are perpetuated in our progeny. One who hates or fears homosexuals, or apostates, or whatever other thing will by design have a child, grand child or one of their future posterity with that trait or characteristic, and neither will be able to ascend to the higher heavens until they are reconciled.  Like Buddha and Jesus taught, we must overcome desire and fear in order to overcome. Through shared consciousness the “hater” ancestor will vicariously experience the thoughts and life of his progeny until he is purified and learns love, harmony and balance.

So it seems possible that with this line of thinking we can reconcile both the reincarnative and non-reincarnative doctrines.

Bringing it Together

-Show how if you understand a unity perspective, then someone who believes themselves to be the “reincarnated whoever” Its true even if it’s not true.  If you can reach through space and time and connect with dead people’s consciousness and break down the divisions between you where you can see each others thoughts, then who is who is only a matter of perspective.

-I believe the christian concept of “spiritual possession” is trying to teach this concept… quote js. and oahspe..

-but what if someone claims to be the reincarnated moses or buddha but obviously is not in a accord with anything jesus stood for.  Delusion is when someone thinks they are breaking through divisions and veils in order to head toward unity when in fact they are building additional ones and increasing separation.  It’s easy for the brain to spot delusion… an often difficult for individual cells–try not to judge unlovingly or you will likely be doing the same thing.  Lower man’s job is to divide. Lower religions job is to divide–growth spurs division.

-show that the christian concept of resurrection may be through birth or apparition. (people will have children in millennial new jerusalem, live to age of tree, etc..). Either way, resurrected states are more “unified” states of being so they break back through the divisions

-show that there are two resurrections.. “a resurrection in the body and a resurrection from the body”  I believe “from the body” is a type of apparition or translation in spirit to higher dimensions (like the general christian view), but “in the body” is reincarnation into the next grand cycle of the earth when it raises to a terrestrial glory.

-I believe that the LDS doctrine of family sealing and eternal progeny (D&C 132:19–32) is teaching a type of eternal reincarnation.  That families are sealed so that they can gain the “faith” or subconscious knowledge which governs our eternal progression which will allow them to be reincarnated into the same family structures in the next age (terrestrial/millennial age of earth.)        Through sealing, our loved ones will not be far in the next life if it is still what we really want.

-I believe the idea of celestial marriage where you will be “gods” who have “continuation of the seeds” or eternal progeny in the next life is teaching the idea that— just like in this life there are certain individuals like Abraham or Genghis Kong or the European Hasberg Line who literally have millions of descendants and maintain prominent ruling classes for thousands of years— that those who are most “righteous” (not by Mormon standards but by the collective consciousness of humanity or god’s standards) will be chosen to be those key historical figures in the next cycle.

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Talk about Oahspe and how it has another possible interpretation of this. If the kingdom of God is a high heaven, Oahspe talks about how individuals in these heavens are constantly ‘falling’ back toward earth and seeking selfish earth things… but those who graduate to “etherean” or celestial worlds escape the earths gravity completely and have little threat of falling.

5 other accounts of “to go no more out”…. “who did sin that this man was born blind”, born again symbolism… wicked will inherit death… “mortal realms are only place death is inherited!…so of course they will be born again… people here in this mortal realm for different reasons as taught in creation drama, some are deceived, and some fall because they don’t want to leave their brides, and some fall simply to help…

etc..

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Note that D&C 76 says of those in the Telestial Realm”,

106 These are they who are cast down to hell and suffer the wrath of Almighty God, until the fulness of times, when Christ shall have subdued all enemies under his feet, and shall have perfected his work;

Note that the D&C defines the “dispensation of the Fulness of Times” as starting with Joseph Smith and ending with the Coming of Christ. Thus those of the telestial ream are resurrected (reincarnated to earth?) at Christ’s coming. (see D&C 88:95–102)

Also D&C 43:18

18 For the day cometh that the Lord shall utter his voice out of heaven; the heavens shall shake and the earth shall tremble, and the trump of God shall sound both long and loud, and shall say to the sleeping nations: Ye saints arise and live; ye sinners stay and sleep until I shall call again. (D&C 43:18)

D&C 43:18 sure seems to suggest this. Look at its wording as it suggests that entire nations play a part in cyclical resurrection,

18 For the day cometh that the Lord shall utter his voice out of heaven; the heavens shall shake and the earth shall tremble, and the trump of God shall sound both long and loud, and shall say to the sleeping nations: Ye saints arise and live; ye sinners stay and sleep until I shall call again. (D&C 43:18)

This verse bares striking resemblance to the Eastern idea of cyclical rebirth of nations across certain “ages” or master cycles. Think of how much better sense certain aspects of the doctrine of resurrection make when we interpret the resurrection or “rising again” of cultures as a systematic cycle of rebirth during certain eras.

100 And again, another trump shall sound, which is the third trump; and then come the spirits of men who are to be judged, and are found under condemnation;
101 And these are the rest of the dead; and they live not again until the thousand years are ended, neither again, until the end of the earth [end of the age in many biblical translations]. (D&C 88:100–101)

Although the Kolbrin Book likely has the most profound statement on reincarnation, telling plainly that a big reason why it is not taught is because it’s not so simple as we might suppose.  The spirit doesn’t just leave the body and then reinter — its far more complicated.

LUC:9:11 Now, you ask whether the unclean soulspirit, degraded in darkness and humiliated by remaining in the substance, with which it has an affinity, ever resumes life in worldly form. It may indeed extend out into the brutish body of a man, or into one more graceful though heavily fettered by destiny. To say that any soulspirit is completely reborn in a new body is not strictly true, though it may manifest again on Earth. Rebirth is accepted by those who worship the great goddesses and by some others, but it is a much more complex matter than they believe. Their assertions are clouded by ignorance of the true nature of the Higher Sphere and the laws governing birth. There is, however, some truth in the doctrine, which is much deeper than they suspect.
LUC:9:12 Nature models the earthly containers, into which the soulspirit descends. She moulds them according to a prescribed pattern and adheres to the Spiritplan drawn by destiny. She likewise moulds the bodies of animals and birds; though here, the pattern is general and not differentiated by destiny, as it is with man. (Kolbrin – Book of Lucius)

We know that we don’t bring with us our memories of our former lives in any straight foreward way, so then the quesiton remains– if we are reborn then where are our memories of our former lives retained and when and how do we get them back?  Once again the Kolbrin talks a bit about this, helping us to understand that the process of rebirth and exaltation is actually quite complicated–which is why we are taught by metaphore.

SCL:6:10 Blessed is the Kohar who safeguards all memories, storing them as men store corn; who retains these for the use of the Reborn Ones; who can recall all that men forget and can draw forth a memory as men draw water from a well. The Kohar is the eternal recorder; Pilgrims become Risen Ones and enter their Kohars as a soul enters a body, and in unity, they become Glorious Ones.

As mankind ‘falls’ our individuated consciousness is bifurcated into progenic consciousness’s. Just as a parent continues on and lives through their children so do our seed contain a part of our own consciousness, and indeed often those who have lived before.  But exaltation is the reversal of this process. It is the reunification of consciousness. Each individual eventually reunites or reunifies or becomes a collective consciousness with its ‘Father’.  Just as Jesus said, “that they father may be one in me, as I am one in thee” (John 17).  As we came from the sea of soul, so we return to the sea of soul–both retaining an aspect of individuation and gaining an aspect of reunification.

LUC:1:2 There is one Supreme Spirit, which men call God, because God means Allgood. But because men seek a closer relationship with The Supreme Spirit of Good, they refer to it as Father and as Him, and there is no wrong in this.
LUC:1:3 The Supreme Spirit contains the essences of all the perfections, and these flow out from Him in a form of vitality, which is called The Holy Spirit. The Sphere of The Holy Spirit surrounds the Sphere of The Supreme Spirit, and around this again, and below it, is the Sphere of Matter and Mortality.
LUC:1:4 In the sphere of Matter and Mortality, the Holy Spirit manifests imperfectly, for here it becomes mingled with the inert composition of this Sphere. Also, the penetrated offers resistance to the penetrator, and this, combined with the effects of intermingling, causes obscurity, illusion and ignorance. These are visualised in the form of a mist called ‘agnosia.’
LUC:1:12 Every single thought and act on Earth has its effect on the soulspirit projected into the Sphere of Matter and Mortality. Man himself is a threefold being comprising soul, spirit and matter, each having an affinity with one of the Spheres of Existence. Here on Earth the soulspirit is made ready for its life in the Higher Spheres, or it is neglected and ignored. (Kolbrin)

The law of one explains this in a slightly different way, detailing the manner that consciousness is projected in a holograph or fractal/microcosm type way as it explains how the Spirits of those who die in the core of nuclear explosions must be repaired and reintegrated by skilled higher beings in order to preserver their individuality and memory consciousnesses.

Those who were destroyed, not by radiation, but by the trauma of the energy release, found not only the body/mind/spirit complex made unviable, but also a disarrangement of that unique vibratory complex you have called the spirit complex… to be completely disarranged without possibility of re-integration. This would be the loss to the Creator of part of the Creator and thus we were given permission, not to stop the events, but to ensure the survival of the, shall we say, disembodied mind/body/spirit complex. This we did in those events which you mention, losing no spirit or portion or holograph or microcosm of the macrocosmic Infinite One. (Law of One 26:23)

The Doctrine of the Priesthood

/in /by

priesthood-ordination

DOCTRINE OF THE PRIESTHOOD

A. Definition.
1. A priest is a member of the human race who represents some
portion of the human race before God. He was always a male until this
dispensation, never an angel or female.
2. A priest must partake of the nature of the persons for whom he
acts or represents. Heb 7:4–5, 14, 28, 10:5, 10-14 all state that a
priest must be a member of the human race. Heb 5:1–6, “For every high
priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things
pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for
sins; he is able to moderate his feelings with regard to the ignorant
and misguided, since he himself also is subject to weakness, and
because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins as a
substitute for the people, and so also for himself. And no one takes
the honor for himself, but receives it when he is appointed by God,
even as Aaron was. So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become a
high priest, but He who said to Him, [Ps 2:7 `You are My Son, today I
have begotten You’; just as He also says in another Scripture [Ps
110:4], `You are a priest forever according to the order of
Melchizedek.'”
a. We do not offer gifts and sacrifices for sins because our
High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ offered himself as the one sacrifice
for sins.
b. A priest had to be a human being. This is how we know
that our Lord Jesus Christ prior to His first Advent was not
Melchizedek.
3. There were three categories of priesthood in the Old Testament
and one category in the New Testament. All four priesthoods are
mentioned in the book of Hebrews.
a. The patriarchal or family priesthood in which the
patriarch of the family functioned as the priest for the family. This
operated from Adam to Moses. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are examples of
this priesthood. They built altars, offered sacrifices, purified and
consecrated themselves and their households, Gen 12:7; 13:18; 26:25;
23:30; 35:1-2.
b. The Old Testament king-priest is represented by
Melchizedek.
(1) The historical pattern is found in Melchizedek, a
king who was the head of his family and a priest, Heb 7:1–3. He was
the king of Salem, which later became the city of Jerusalem. He was
both a king and a priest with no emphasis on his genealogy. He was a
priest as the head of his family, not by birth. He was a Gentile
believer-priest living in the time of Abraham. The relationship
between Melchizedek and Christ are what we would classify as type and
antitype, a New Testament reality prefigured in the Old Testament.
Each was a human being, a king, and a priest. Both in their humanity
were superior to Abraham as the father of the Jewish race and are
without priestly genealogies related to Israel. Heb 7:3, “Without
father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of
days nor end of life, but having resembled the Son of God he remains a
priest perpetually.”
(a) This verse means a priesthood not based on
physical birth, a priesthood without recorded genealogy related to the
priesthood of Israel. Melchizedek also offered bread and wine, another
tie in to the Lord Jesus Christ. Melchizedek was a priest perpetually
because he was a believer with eternal life.
(b) Heb 7:12–16 interprets this, “For when the
priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change in the
Law also. For the One [the Lord Jesus Christ] concerning whom these
things are spoken belongs to another tribe from which no one has
officiated at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord has descended
from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing
concerning priests, and this is clearer still, if another priest arises
similar to Melchizedek, and there has, Who has become a priest not on
the basis of physical requirement but on the basis of indestructible
life.”
(c) Heb 7:17 quotes Ps 110:4, “For this reason it
is witnessed, `You are a priest forever similar to the order of
Melchizedek.'” This the Father’s appointment of the humanity of Christ
to the royal status as king-priest.
(d) Gen 14:18–19, “And Melchizedek king of Salem
brought out bread and wine; furthermore he was a priest of God the Most
High.” “God the Most High” is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Then he [Melchizedek] blessed him [Abram] and said, `Blessed be Abram
by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth.'”
(2) The superiority of this priesthood is noted by the
fact that Abraham was ministered to by Melchizedek with bread and wine
and Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek, Heb 7:9–11. Melchizedek had
the right to bless Abraham because he was both a priest and a king.
Abraham was only a priest, but not a king. This means that your
priesthood is far greater than the Levitical priesthood.
(3) The cross is symbolized through bread and wine as
the only ritual of the royal priesthood.
(4) The Levitical priesthood was based on natural
generation while the royal priesthood is based on regeneration. A
priesthood based on physical birth is inferior to and can never be as
effective as a priesthood based on regeneration. A priesthood based on
physical birth has no effective function related to the postsalvation
spiritual life.
(5) Rev 1:6, “He made us a kingdom of priests to God,
even His Father; to Him be glory and ruling power forever and ever.”
c. The Levitical priesthood of Israel. The concept of their
ministry in spiritual things is found in Num 16:5. “Tomorrow the Lord
will show you who is His priest and who is holy, and will bring him
near to Himself…” Aaron was chosen along with the tribe of Levi.
(1) This priesthood is limited to the Jewish Age and
the Millennium.
(2) This priesthood was perpetuated through natural
generation.
(3) This priesthood was supported by thirteen Levitical
cities, Josh 21:13–19. Plus there was a special annual tithe to the
Levites as well as the redemption money of the firstborn, Num 18:6.
(4) The spiritual function of this priesthood was
related to ritual and to the teaching the Word of God, Heb 10:1–4.
d. The one priesthood of the New Testament is the universal
priesthood of all believers after the pattern of Melchizedek. Jesus
Christ is the high priest of the royal priesthood. All the priesthoods
in the Old Testament were specialized priesthoods. In the New
Testament, there is no priesthood of a few people, that is, a
specialized priesthood like the Roman Catholic Church. A spiritual
life is no better than its priesthood. Heb 5:9–10, “And having been
made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal
salvation, being appointed by God high priest according to the order of
Melchizedek.”
(1) Having been born a king in Israel as a Jew from the
tribe of Judah, He was not even qualified for the Levitical priesthood.
(2) Both Melchizedek and our Lord were not appointed on
the basis of genealogy. Melchizedek was appointed on the basis of
regeneration. Our Lord was appointed a royal high priest by divine
decree in eternity past and at His resurrection, ascension, and
session. Therefore, Christ is a king-priest after the order of
Melchizedek.
(3) The Unique Characteristics of Jesus Christ as our
High Priest.
(a) Jesus Christ is the first and only high priest
in all of human history to be filled with the Holy Spirit. He was
filled with the Holy Spirit from birth. No one before the hypostatic
union was ever filled with the Spirit.
(b) Jesus Christ is the first high priest and the
only priest that has been resurrected. He functions as a high priest
in resurrection body, seated at the right hand of God, not standing in
the Holy of Holies as the Levitical priests. The next resurrection in
history will be the resurrection of the royal priesthood. You precede
the greatest of Old Testament believers because you have the greatest
spiritual life that has ever existed in history.
(c) Jesus Christ is the only high priest who
offered Himself as a sacrifice for sin. All other high priests offered
animal sacrifices, but never offered themselves. True spiritual life
is almost a total absence of ritual. The only ritual we have is the
remembrance of the sacrifice of our High Priest for sin.
(d) Jesus Christ is the only priest who can
provide eternal life for the human race.
(e) Jesus Christ is the only priest who is not
only perfect humanity but eternal God in one person forever.
(f) Jesus Christ is the only priest who has tested
and proved the prototype spiritual life for the Church Age. This
spiritual life is an infinitely greater spiritual life because every
believer in this dispensation is a priest.
(g) Jesus Christ as our high priest is the One who
originated this unique spiritual life in all of history. There will
never be another spiritual life like it, not even in the millennium.
There is nothing comparable to your spiritual life.
(4) As our high priest, He is the minister of spiritual
things, Heb 5:1.
(5) Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice for sin, Heb
9:26-27, 10:10-14. The priestly sacrifice of Christ includes
redemption, propitiation, and reconciliation.
(6) He makes intercession as a high priest for each one
of us, Heb 7:25.
(7) He has an eternal and non-transferable priesthood,
Heb 7:20–21, 24.
(8) Christ fulfilled the necessary requirements of the
priesthood.
(a) He was qualified for the office, Heb 1.
(b) He was appointed by God, Heb 5:1–10. Heb 5:5-
6, “So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high
priest, but He [God the Father] who had spoken face-to-face with Him
[Ps 2:7], `You are My Son. Today I have begotten You.’ Just as He
said in another Scripture [Ps 110:4], `You are a priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedek.”
(c) His priesthood was a higher order than the
Levitical priesthood, Heb 5:6–10, 7:1-8:6.
(d) All functions of the priesthood were performed
by Christ, Heb 7, 9, 10.
(e) His priesthood is eternal and superior, Heb
7:25, “He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through
Him, since He always lives to make intercession as a substitute for
them.”
(f) With the ascension and session, Christ had a
new royal title, but no royal family and no priestly order. Both were
combined on the Day of Pentecost.
(g) You are in union with Christ. Therefore, you
are royalty and priests forever. We represent ourselves before God as
royal priests.
(h) Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was a priestly
sacrifice, but His high priesthood came after the resurrection.
(i) You are not designed to lean on others or to
be counseled by others, but to lean on your own priesthood, your own
spiritual self-esteem, and the Bible doctrine in your own soul.
(j) You are a royal priest and royal family of God
because of union with Christ.

B. Rebound is the basic function of the royal priest, 1 Jn 1:9.
1. Rebound is not a part of your spiritual life, but is a
function of the privacy of your priesthood.
2. You cite or name your sin to God, who forgives you and
cleanses you from all sin. At the same time you are removed from the
cosmic system. You don’t have to tell your sins to anyone else, as the
believers in the Old Testament did to the priests.

C. The Priesthood and Operation Z. Your major function as a priest is
to learn doctrine as a part of operation Z. Your positive faith
perception allows God the Holy Spirit to metabolize the doctrine taught
by the pastor. This is the basis of momentum in the function of your
royal priesthood.

D. The priesthood demands the function of prayer and intercession.

E. The Sacrifices of the Priesthood, Heb 13.
1. Separation, v.13.
2. Praise, v.15.
3. Production from momentum, v.16.
4. Enforced and genuine humility, v.17.
5. Developing spiritual self-esteem, v.18-19.

F. Old Testament Versus New Testament Priesthoods.
1. There never has been a priesthood in the history of the world
that required the priest to be a believer. Every priesthood prior to
the Church Age was based on physical birth not spiritual regeneration.
2. The priesthood of the Church is the only priesthood based on
being born again. Old Testament priesthoods were based on the head of
every family before Israel and then the Levitical priesthood based on
the sons of Aaron.
3. No high priest in Israel ever functioned in resurrection body
as does our High Priest–the Lord Jesus Christ. No one in history ever
had a high priest who functioned in a resurrection body. Only the
royal family of God has a High Priest in resurrection body.
4. Jesus Christ was never a high priest to Israel. He is only a
high priest to the Church. Therefore, your spiritual life is unique.
Our Lord was not even qualified to be a high priest in Israel because
He was from the tribe of Judah.
5. Our priesthood is composed of every member of the Church. You
are a member of the highest priesthood that will ever exist, including
the millennial reign of Christ. Only in the Church Age could a woman
ever be a priest.
6. The faith-rest drill gave reality to the Old Testament
believers related to their extensive ritual. The doctrines were real
because they saw them being portrayed in the ritual.
7. The humanity of Jesus Christ, as the better hope, executed the
better spiritual life of the Church Age. The better hope of Heb 7:15
in the dispensation of the hypostatic union became precedence for the
unique spiritual life of the Church Age. The better spiritual life was
tested and proved in prototype. The better hope begins when the Church
Age believer enters the door of hope on God’s agenda. We have the
unique heritage of all human history. We have a better hope, a better
priesthood, and a better spiritual life.
8. Heb 7:11–16, “If therefore, on the one hand fulfillment had
come through the Levitical priesthood but it did not (for on the basis
of it the people received the Law), what further need for another
priest to arise similar to the order of Melchizedek, and not be
designated according to the order of Aaron? For when the priesthood is
changed, of necessity there takes place a change in the Law also. For
the One concerning whom these things are spoken belongs to another
tribe [Judah], from which no one has officiated at the altar. For it
is evident that our Lord has descended from Judah, a tribe with
reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests. And this is
clearer still, if another priest arises similar to the likeness of
Melchizedek, Who has become a priest not on the basis of physical
requirement but on the basis of indestructible life.”
a. Indestructible life is God deciding the time, place, and
manner of your death. You are going to be on this earth with your
spiritual life until your High Priest takes you out of this life. Your
indestructible life has already started now. You are guarded by the
power of God.
b. The indestructible life then goes into the eternal state
where you are absent from the body and face-to-face with the Lord in an
interim body, but still you have no resurrection body.
9. Lev 21:17–20 teaches that no man of the tribe of Levi could
function as a priest if they had physical defects. Men were also
disqualified for immorality, Lev 21:3–4, 7, 9. No one was disqualified
for being an unbeliever. Mt 27:12,41; Mk 14:1, 55; Lk 22:2; Jn 19:15
shows that the Chief Priest at the time of our Lord was trying to kill
Jesus, therefore, probably an unbeliever. No Church Age believer is
disqualified for having a physical defect.
a. The divine mandate to Israel authorized a priesthood
related to physical birth, not regeneration.
b. The divine mandate which authorizes the Levitical
priesthood carries a disqualification clause based on birth defects or
subsequent physical defects. The reason for this was that there must
be nothing that distracted the Jews when they were watching the ritual,
and physical defects are distracting.
c. There was no disqualification clause about being an
unbeliever. Therefore there were three categories of Levitical priests
who could officiate at the altar: the believer-priest, the unbeliever-
priest, and the carnal believer-priest.
10. The Levitical priesthood was authorized under the Mosaic Law,
Ex 6:18, 20; 28:1. The universal priesthood of the believer is based
on believing in Jesus Christ. For us to function under our High Priest
we must have perfect righteousness, because our priesthood can never be
nullified or rescinded.
11. The Church has one High Priest–the resurrected humanity of
Jesus Christ at the right hand of God the Father. The royal priesthood
of the Church Age with one High Priest forever is better than the
Levitical priesthood based on many high priests and physical birth.
Our High Priest is in the real Holy of Holies on our behalf. He is the
only high priest who has indestructible life and serves in resurrection
body. Our Lord will function as the only High Priest on earth during
His millennial reign after His second Advent.
12. Why all of this?
a. Ritual without reality is meaningless.
b. In the case of Israel, the unbeliever priest or
unbelievers in the congregation of Israel who witness the ritual could
not possibly profit from it doctrinally. The Jews could never profit
from the rituals representing codex two of the Mosaic Law unless they
could relate the ritual to the doctrines. Many Jews considered the
rituals as “good luck” charms. For believers negative to doctrine the
ritual was also meaningless.
c. Codex two of the Mosaic Law was fantastic for positive
believers; for they associated ritual with reality in their spiritual
life of the faith-rest drill and they developed doctrinal rationales
they could apply.
13. Heb 7:18–19, “For, on the one hand, there is a rescinding of
the former commandment [the Mosaic Law that authorized the Levitical
priesthood] because of its weakness and uselessness (for the Law
brought nothing to completion), but on the other hand, there is the
bringing in of a better hope [the second door of hope for the Church
Age believer–a personal sense of destiny–by which we enter the adult
spiritual life] through which we draw near to God.”
a. The former commandment authorized the Levitical
priesthood in client nation Israel.
b. The weakness of the Levitical priesthood is that it did
not require regeneration for its modus operandi.
c. The uselessness of the Levitical priesthood was the
perpetuation through genealogy and physical birth rather than
regeneration. The Law brought nothing to completion because it takes
one High Priest who is permanently a High Priest to bring everything in
human history to completion.
d. The better hope refers to the new covenant to the Church
administered by our Lord Jesus Christ as our High Priest.
e. Our spiritual life of the Church Age is personalized.
The spiritual life of Israel under the Mosaic Law is ritualized. The
new covenant to Israel given by our Lord to Israel at the second Advent
will change that. When the new covenant to Israel is fulfilled at the
second Advent it will not be based on physical descent or physical
birth but on regeneration. The new covenant to Israel in the
millennium is different from the new covenant to the Church. The new
covenant to the Church is the greatest thing that God has ever done in
history because it relates to the angelic conflict.
f. The Law brought nothing to completion because it was only
the shadow of coming good things (Heb 10:1), but not the real image of
the universal priesthood of believers. It was not the image of the
indwelling of the Trinity.
g. Principles.
(1) The new priesthood of the Church means a new
spiritual life for believers that never existed before in history. A
new priesthood means a new modus operandi. We have a greater spiritual
life, a unique spiritual life.
(2) A priesthood based on physical birth has no
effective function related to a postsalvation spiritual life.
(3) The unique spiritual life of the Church Age is
based on the prototype spiritual life of the humanity of Jesus Christ
in hypostatic union.
(4) The Church has one High Priest, the resurrected
humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ at the right hand of the Father with
indestructible life. No high priest is going to die on us as with
Israel.
(5) The royal priesthood of the Church Age believer
with one High Priest is better than the Levitical priesthood, which was
based on many high priests and physical birth.
14. A better hope demands a better covenant, Heb 7:20–21, “And
inasmuch as it was not without an oath (therefore on the one hand they
have become priests without an oath, but He [God the Son] on the other
hand with an oath through the One [God the Father] who said to Him,
`The Lord [God the Father] has sworn and will not change His mind, “You
are a priest forever.”‘).”
a. This is an oath from God the Father, which is part of the
two immutable things in the last few verses of Heb 6:18–20. The first
immutable thing is a sacred oath from God, Ps 110:4. God swears by
Himself, since there is nothing and no one greater by whom He can swear
an oath. The second immutable thing is God Himself. Our priesthood
was given under two immutable things: the oath of God and God himself.
b. There was no divine oath attached to the Levitical
priesthood because it was based on physical birth and genealogy, but
there is a divine oath with regard to the royal priesthood. Our
priesthood is the only priesthood with a sacred oath attached to it,
the only priesthood with a High Priest in resurrection body, the only
universal priesthood, and the only priesthood based on faith in Christ.
c. The royal priesthood of the Church Age serves under one
High Priest as a forever priesthood. Therefore, every royal priest of
the Church Age has forever life through regeneration. The spiritual
life must match the priesthood. The spiritual life is only as good as
its priesthood, and we have the greatest priesthood in history. Only
the royal priesthood is not stopped by death. Our death does not stop
our priesthood. We continue to be priests forever in our resurrection
body under our High Priest.
15. Heb 7:22, “to a greater degree Jesus has become the guarantee
of a better covenant.”
a. “Jesus” is the title of our Lord’s humanity. He serves
as a High Priest in His humanity.
b. The new covenant to the Church is better than the Mosaic
Law and the Levitical priesthood. Therefore, we have a better hope. A
better hope demands a better covenant. A better covenant demands a
better spiritual life. Our spiritual life is better than any spiritual
life that has ever existed or will ever exist.
16. Heb 7:23–25, “On the one hand therefore, the former priests
existed in greater numbers, because they were prevented by death from
continuing, but on the other hand, because He abides forever, He holds
His priesthood permanently. Therefore, also, He is able to save
forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives
to make intercession for them.”
a. We have and always will have only one high priest, and He
is perfect forever. His priesthood goes on forever because of
resurrection body. The only operational priesthood for all eternity is
the one given to you. You will still be a priest in eternity no matter
how you fail or succeed in time.
b. Many of the high priests in the Old Testament were bad
and it reflected in the spiritual life of the country. You have a
greater hope, a greater priesthood, and a greater spiritual life.
c. You draw near to God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
You must believe in Christ to qualify for this priesthood, in order to
possess the necessary eternal life for the perpetuation of the
priesthood into the eternal state.
d. Heb 7:16–17 compared with Heb 7:25 gives an amazing
conclusion–we have an indestructible priesthood. Only one priesthood
survives beyond the grave to become operational in the eternal state.
Heb 7:16 says our Lord has “indestructible life.” Heb 7:17 says that
our Lord is “a priest forever.” Heb 7:25 says that He always lives to
make intercession for us.
17. Heb 7:26–28, “For it is fitting that we should have such a
high priest, impeccable integrity, the One who cannot do evil,
undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; Who
does not need daily, like those priests, to offer up sacrifices, first
for their own sins, and then for the sins of the people, because this
He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the Law appoints
men as high priests who are weak, but the word of His [God the
Father’s] oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, who has
become perfect forever.”
a. Our High Priest gave us a spiritual life which is
infinitely greater than anything found in the Old Testament. Our High
Priest is unique. Jesus Christ is the only high priest who is perfect
humanity and eternal God in one person forever. He is the only high
priest who was ever sinless. He is the first high priest ever filled
with the Spirit. He is the pioneer and perfecter of our spiritual
life, Heb 12:2. He is the only high priest who offered Himself as a
unique and efficacious sacrifice. He is the only high priest who
offers eternal salvation.
(1) Our High Priest was born perfect, but was brought
to completion (the verb TELEIOO) through the function of the same
unique spiritual life given to you.
(2) In the prototype spiritual life Heb 4:15 says that
our Lord, “was tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”
There never has been a temptation in the human race that was not faced
by our Lord and overcome by the same spiritual life you have. In
addition to that, He was tempted far beyond anything we would ever
face.
(3) TELEIOO is used in seven passages in Hebrews and
is translated to bring to completion. The translation “to be made
perfect” cannot apply to our Lord since He was created perfect as Adam
was created perfect.
(a) Heb 2:10, “For it became Him, for whom are all
things, and through whom are all things, in having led many sons to
glory, to bring to completion the author of their salvation through
sufferings.” Our Lord was brought to completion by the sufferings for
blessing in the advance to spiritual maturity and by the sufferings on
the Cross.
(b) Heb 5:8–9, “Although being a Son, He learned
obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been brought
to completion, He became to all those who obey Him the source of
eternal salvation.” As God there is no need for Jesus Christ to be
brought to completion, but as perfect humanity He had to learn doctrine
under the filling of the Spirit just as we must do.
(c) Heb 7:18–19, “For on the one hand there is a
rescinding of the former commandment because of its weakness and
uselessness (for the Law brought nothing to completion), but on the
other hand a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near
to God.” “The Law brought nothing to completion” means that observing
the Mosaic Law cannot save. You are saved by faith and not by the
works of the Law. The Law cannot provide the spiritual life after
salvation, Gal 3:2–3,5. The spiritual life of the Old Testament was
the faith-rest drill, not keeping the Law. You can never complete the
spiritual life without the four mechanics of the spiritual life (the
filling of the Spirit, metabolized doctrine in your soul, the ten
problem solving devices, and the execution of the protocol plan of God.
Drawing near to God is believing in the Lord Jesus Christ for personal
salvation.
(d) Heb 7:28, “For the Law appoints men as high
priests who are weak, but the word of His sacred oath, which came after
the Law, [appointed] the Son, Who has been brought to completion
forever.” The high priests of the Mosaic Law were weak because some
were carnal believers or unbelievers. Our Lord was brought to
completion by His perfect execution of the prototype spiritual life, by
offering Himself once for all on the Cross, and by His resurrection.
The result was His ascension and session at the right hand of the
Father. Jesus Christ as our high priest offers completion to us in
three stages.
i. Stage one completion is salvation through
faith alone in Christ alone.
ii. Stage two completion is the execution of
the unique spiritual life of the Church Age resulting in maturity.
iii. Stage three completion is resurrection.
(e) Heb 10:1, “For the Law, having a shadow of
coming good things but not the real image of those events, can never by
the same sacrifices, which they kept on offering year by year, bring to
completion those who draw near.” The “coming good things” is the
fantastic spiritual life given to us. Jesus Christ brought to
completion the greatest spiritual life in human history during the
dispensation of the hypostatic union, and this spiritual life has been
given to you. The Law could not bring personal salvation to completion
through the animal sacrifices, nor could it bring the spiritual life to
completion through its ritual.
(f) Heb 10:14, “For by one offering He brought to
completion for all time those who are being sanctified.” The offering
of Jesus Christ on the Cross relates to the new covenant to the Church,
1 Cor 11:24–25, not to the new covenant to Israel.
i. We, the Church, are the ones being
sanctified. We are taken by God the Holy Spirit and entered into union
with Christ forever. This is positional sanctification. We share the
life, righteousness, heirship, destiny, election, and priesthood of
Christ. Experiential sanctification is the postsalvation experience of
advancing from the point of spiritual birth to maximum glorification of
God. Ultimate sanctification is the resurrection of the Church.
ii. The application of sanctification is found
in Heb 10:35–36, “Do not throw away as worthless your confidence, which
keeps on having rich distribution of blessing; for you keep on having
need of perseverance, so that when you have accomplished the will of
God, you may receive the promise [escrow blessings].”
iii. Compare 1 Pet 1:2, “According to the
foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit,
for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by Him blood.” Believers
who fulfilling the unique spiritual life are being sanctified
experientially.
iv. Rom 15:16, “to be a minister of Christ
Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, that
my offering of the Gentiles might become acceptable, sanctified by the
Holy Spirit.”
(g) Heb 11:39–40, “And all of these, having become
witnesses through faith, did not receive the promise [resurrection],
because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us
they should not be brought to completion.”
b. A better priesthood is based on virtue and values of
perfect integrity. We have a better priesthood because we have a
better spiritual life. Our spiritual life is the highest form of
virtue and values that has ever existed or will exist in human history.
Therefore, our spiritual life is absolutely different under the
ministry of God the Holy Spirit and Bible doctrine circulating in the
stream of consciousness.
c. Our priesthood has greater escrow blessings for time and
eternity.
d. Our impact as priests is better because it is invisible
heroship.
18. Heb 10:1–10, “For the Law, having a shadow of coming good
things, but not the real image of those events, was never able with
those sacrifices which they kept on offering year by year to bring to
completion those who continued to approach the altar. Otherwise, they
would not have ceased being offered. Why? Because the worshipers,
having once been purified, would no longer be having a consciousness of
sins. But in those same sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by
year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take
away sins. Therefore, when He came into the world, He says, `You have
not willed sacrifice and offering [as a solution to the problem of
sin], but a body You have prepared for Me; You have not been
propitiated by whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin.’ At that
time [the virgin birth], I said, `Behold, I have arrived (in an Old
Testament scroll of a book it stands written concerning Me) to
accomplish Your will, O God.’ After saying the above, `Sacrifices and
offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have not
willed as a solution, nor been propitiated by them’ (that which is
being offered according to the Law), then He said, `Behold, I have
arrived to do Your will.’ He has rescinded the first that He might
establish the second [the new covenant to the Church]. Through the
agency of which will we have been sanctified through the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
a. The shadow offerings included the burnt offering–
propitiation with emphasis on the salvation ministry of our Lord, the
food offering–propitiation with emphasis on the perfect humanity of
Christ in hypostatic union, the peace offering–reconciliation, the sin
offering–rebound with emphasis on the unknown sins, the trespass
offering–rebound with emphasis on known sins.
b. These offering were offered for 1511 years from B.C. 1441
until 70 A.D.
c. God the Father prepared a human body for our Lord Jesus
Christ so that our Lord would be able to carry our sins in His own body
on the Cross. That was the end of the Levitical priesthood, but they
would not quit offering sacrifices.
d. Jesus Christ had to have a human body to be true humanity
in order to become the efficacious sacrifice for sin.
e. There are two whole burnt offering, Lev 1. The first is
a picture of the salvation work of Christ from the standpoint of
propitiation. The second is the sin offering, a picture of rebound.
f. There is a new covenant to the Church which was never
known to the Old Testament believers. You have a new covenant that was
never known before, that never existed before. This new covenant
includes a new priesthood, a new spiritual life, the filling of the
Spirit, a completed canon of Scripture with mystery doctrine now
revealed.
(1) The new covenant of the blood of Christ was
announced by our Lord at the last supper and is a part of the mystery
doctrine of the Church Age. We do not have a new will and testament,
but a living covenant. Our new covenant could not even be mentioned
during the age of Israel. The new covenant to the Church is the best
covenant because it gives the best spiritual life of all human history
to the Church.
(2) In Jer 31:31–34 the new covenant to Israel was
given. It was revealed in the Old Testament and is not a part of the
mystery doctrine of the Church. During the millennium the Jews will
offer animal sacrifices as their memorial of the Cross. The Levitical
offerings of the old covenant to Israel will be integrated into the new
covenant to Israel, which is going to be fulfilled in the millennial
reign of Christ. The new covenant to Israel takes the filling of the
Holy Spirit from the new covenant to the Church because we have a
better covenant. We take nothing from the new covenant to Israel
because we have a better covenant. The filling of the Holy Spirit in
the millennial for the new covenant to Israel is different than the
filling of the Holy Spirit during the Church Age. The filling of the
Holy Spirit during the millennium is designed to appreciate the
presence of Jesus Christ on earth.
(3) Jesus Christ became true humanity to function as a
royal high priest for the Church Age believers as a universal
priesthood, 1 Pet 2:5,9 “You also as living stones are being built up
as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” “But you are a
chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own
possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you
out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Rev 1:5–6, “And from Jesus
Christ, the faithful witness, the first born from the dead, furthermore
the ruler of the kings of the earth, to Him who keeps on loving us and
released us from our sins by His blood. And He made us a kingdom of
priests to God and His father. To Him be the glory and the power
forever and ever.” He is also the mediator between God and mankind,
Job 9:2, 32–33. He is the mediator of the old covenant and of two new
covenants.
g. Sanctification has integrated you into a new covenant
with God as a priest. You are confirmed as a priest by positional
sanctification at the moment of salvation by the baptism of the Holy
Spirit. Postsalvation experiential sanctification occurs by the unique
spiritual life of human history. Ultimate sanctification is the
extension of our universal, royal priesthood into the eternal state.
There are three agents of this sanctification: God the Holy Spirit, 1
Cor 6:11; 2 Thes 2:13; 1 Pet 1:2; God the Son, Heb 10:10; 1 Cor 1:2,30;
Bible doctrine, Jn 17:17.

G. The New Covenant to The Church.
1. There are two new covenants, one which is operational right
now–the new covenant to the Church, and one which is eschatological
and will not be operational until the millennial reign of our Lord. A
priesthood demands a covenant. We have a new covenant to go with our
priesthood. Our new covenant is based on the Eucharist.
a. A covenant is defined as God’s gracious promises and
provisions for the Church. A covenant is a contract with a favorable
disposition. The favorable disposition is our salvation, our unique
spiritual life, and our resurrection.
b. There are two parties in this covenant to the Church and
one mediator. God the Father is one party. All Church believers are
the other party. Jesus Christ is the mediator of the new covenant to
the Church. 1 Tim 2:5–6, “For there is one God, and one mediator also
between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a
ransom substitute for all, the statement brought out in testimony of
its own time.” Heb 9:15, “And for this reason He is the mediator of a
new covenant, in order that since a death has taken place resulting in
the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first
covenant, those who are being called may receive the promise of an
eternal inheritance [a priesthood in a resurrection body in the eternal
state].” Our Lord is an intermediary between two parties to effect
reconciliation and to provide special benefits [your portfolio of
invisible assets] to the ones being reconciled. A mediator is an
intermediary between two parties to effect reconciliation. Jesus
Christ has reconciled us to God the Father by removing the barrier
between God and man.
c. Your spiritual life is based on what God the Father
provided through the mediator, God the Son, and the power of the Holy
Spirit. You are insulting all three members of the Trinity when you do
not execute this spiritual life.
2. The new covenant to Israel is used as an eschatological
illustration to challenge us to our spiritual life in the new covenant
to the Church. This is an illustration for application to the Church.
a. Heb 10:15–17 quotes Heb 8:8–12 and Jer 31:33–34, part of
the new covenant to Israel. “And the Holy Spirit bearing witness to
us; for after He said [Heb 8:8–12], `This is the covenant that I will
make with them [Israel in the millennium] after those days
[Tribulation],’ says the Lord. `I will put My laws upon their hearts
and upon their minds I will write them [Operation Z], Both their sins
and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.'”
b. Heb 10:18, “Now where there is forgiveness of these
things, there is no longer an offering for sin.” Jesus Christ was the
offering for sin, and we are forgiven all past sins the moment we
believe in Christ. There is a offering for sin in the millennium, Ezek
43:19, but not in our spiritual life under the royal priesthood of the
new covenant to the Church. There is no sin offering during the Church
Age.
c. Heb 10:19–23, “Since therefore, brethren, we have
confidence to enter the Holy of Holies by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way [the unique spiritual life of the Church Age] which He
opened for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a
great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart
in full assurance of doctrine, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience and our body washed with pure water [rebound]. Let us hold
fast the acknowledgement of our hope without wavering, for He is
faithful who promised.”
(1) Only the Levitical high priest could enter the Holy
of Holies during the old covenant on the day of Atonement. But now
that Jesus Christ has fulfilled the Law we can enter the Holy of
Holies.
(2) We, as priests, can now enter the Holy of Holies by
a new and living way. The “new and living way” is the new covenant to
the Church. There must be metabolized doctrine circulating in the
stream of consciousness and consistent use of rebound as the new and
living way. The quote from Jeremiah is used to illustrate this.
(3) Our Lord opened the veil for us into the Holy of
Holies. Mt 27:51; Mk 15:38 says that the veil was opened at the moment
of His physical death. After the destruction of Solomon’s temple by
Nebuchanezzer the Holy of Holies was empty. There was no ark of the
covenant and no mercy seat. Jesus Christ opened the veil to let people
into the empty room. The high priest kept going into an empty room and
sprinkling blood from the time of Zerubbabel’s temple. The veil was at
least thirty feet high (Josephus says it was ninety feet high; the
Midrash says it was sixty feet high; others said it was thirty feet
high) and eighteen inches thick. Why was it empty? Because the Holy
of Holies was no longer the Holy of Holies. It was empty to represent
the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ to the true Holy of Holies in
heaven. It was empty because our High Priest is in heaven and there is
a new covenant to the Church. When the Jews came back to Jerusalem
under Zerubbabel they had to operate on Bible doctrine in the soul.
The empty room meant they did not need the furniture any longer; they
had a soul full of metabolized doctrine, an anchor in the soul.
(4) We have an absolute confidence based on the empty
room, a reminder of the importance of metabolized doctrine in the soul,
Heb 6:18–20, “in order that by two immutable things [the sacred oath of
God and God Himself], by which it is impossible for God to lie, we who
have taken refuge might have strong motivation to seize the hope
[absolute confidence in the word of God] that is set before us, which
[hope] we have as an anchor of the soul both secure and reliable, and
one which enters [the Holy of Holies] behind the veil, where Jesus, our
advanced guard, has entered for us, having become a high priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedek.” We take refuge in the doctrine
in our stream of consciousness. The Bible doctrine that fills your
soul gives you a full room in the soul. The empty room behind the veil
is filled by you. The anchor inside the veil is our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our High Priest does not dwell between the cherubs but is seated at the
right hand of the Father in the true Holy of Holies. The empty room is
a reminder that we will enter the true Holy of Holies in heaven at the
resurrection.
(5) The “house of God” is the true Holy of Holies at
the right hand of God in heaven.
(6) Our hope is brought to completion by eternal
security related to salvation, by the unique spiritual life of history,
and by that day when our place in heaven will be fulfilled in our
resurrection body, which is represented on this earth by an empty room.
Tit 2:13; Rom 5:5; Rom 15:4, “…that through perseverance and the
encouragement of the Scripture we might have hope.” Our absolute
confidence is that we as priests are operating out of the true Holy of
Holies.
(7) Your body is now the veil and the anchor in the
soul is the indwelling of the person of Jesus Christ. Compare Col
1:27. The anchor represents a problem solving device for the storms of
life. The anchor prevents the ship from drifting off course and
stabilizes the ship in storms.
3. Lk 22:20, “And in the same way He took the cup after they had
eaten, saying, `This cup which is poured out as a substitute for you is
the new covenant with My blood.'”
a. This is the announcement of the new covenant to the
Church, not to Israel. We provide blessing for the new covenant to
Israel. The new covenant to Israel provides nothing for us.
b. The new covenant to the Church supercedes the old
covenant to Israel.
c. The Lord’s table or Eucharist was performed after the
last passover meal and was separate from it.
d. The new covenant to the Church is signed with the Lord’s
once and for all sacrifice on the Cross.
4. The priesthood of the new covenant is explained in Heb 8.
a. Heb 8:1–2, “But in addition to what is being said the
main point is this: we keep on having such a high priest, who sat down
at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a priest
of the Holy of Holies even the true tabernacle, which the Lord has
irrevocably established, not mankind.”
(1) The session of our Lord is the transfer of the Holy
of Holies on earth to the throne room of God in heaven. This is why
the veil of the Temple was split from top to bottom to reveal an empty
room. The Holy of Holies will never be moved again or be destroyed.
The true Holy of Holies is irrevocably established in the third heaven
forever. We have the only High Priest who has ever sat down in the
presence of God the Father, compare Heb 12:2, 9:12, 7:26, 10:12. Jesus
is sitting down in the true Holy of Holies because He has done
everything He can for you until the Rapture of the Church.
(2) The new covenant to the Church is different than
the new covenant to Israel because our High Priest is seated in
resurrection body in heaven. The only priesthood that will exist in
the eternal state is the priesthood of all Church Age believers.
(3) We have a high priest who is the only savior. He
is resurrected and making intercession for us. Jesus Christ is the
high priest of the new covenant to the Church. He is never a priest in
Israel. The descendants of Zadok are the priests of the new covenant
to Israel. Zadok was the high priest in the time of David. Jesus
Christ can never be a high priest to the old covenant. Ezek 43:19,
“`And you shall give to the Levitical priests who are from the
descendants of Zadok, who draw near to Me to minister to Me a young
bull for a sin offering,’ declares the Lord God.”
(4) The new covenant to Israel fulfilled in the
millennium is an extension of the Levitical priesthood of the old
covenant. The new covenant to Israel, which is not even operational
yet, can never rescind or supercede the old covenant to Israel, Heb
7:18. The new covenant to the Church supercedes the old covenant to
Israel.
b. Heb 8:3, “For every high priest is authorized to offer
both gifts [food offerings] and [animal] sacrifices; hence it is
necessary that this One also have something that He may offer.”
(1) Our Lord cannot offer anything in the Levitical
priesthood since He is not in the tribe of Levi. He will not be a
priest functioning in Israel in the millennium. He has His own
priesthood in the millennium–you in a resurrection body. The only
thing He has to offer is Himself as a sacrifice for sin. He offers to
those who believe in Him salvation, resurrection, eternal life, a
unique spiritual life, and a unique, eternal, royal, high priesthood.
(2) There were five Levitical offerings.
(a) The salvation offerings.
i. The burnt offering, which taught salvation
with emphasis on propitiation, Lev 1.
ii. The food offering, which taught salvation
with emphasis on the unique person of Jesus Christ in hypostatic union,
Lev 2.
iii. The peace offering, which taught salvation
with emphasis on reconciliation, Lev 3.
(b) The rebound offerings.
i. The sin offering, which taught rebound
with emphasis on the unknown or forgotten sins of the believer, Lev
4:13, 22, 27.
ii. The trespass offering, which taught
rebound with emphasis on the known sins, Lev 5.
c. Heb 8:4, “If on the one hand therefore He were on earth,
He would not even be a priest, for there are those who continue to
offer gifts in conformity with the Law.”
(1) This verse shows that this epistle was written
prior to the destruction of the Jewish temple in 70 A.D. Our High
Priest was not on earth, but already ascended and in heaven. Yet from
30-70 A.D. the Levitical priesthood kept on offering animal sacrifices
according to the Mosaic Law, which had been rescinded by its
fulfillment by our Lord on the Cross.
(2) Jesus Christ will never be a priest to Israel in
the millennium. He is not from the tribe of Levi and the Levitical
priesthood will be revived during the millennium, Ezek 48:9. The
priesthood of Christ is for the Church Age and eternal state only.
(3) At the time of writing of Hebrews, Herod’s temple
was still operational with its perpetual offerings. Under the old
covenant to Israel, the Mosaic Law, Jesus Christ was and always will be
the royal high priest but never a Levitical priest. The descendants of
Zadok, son of Aaron, was the operational priesthood under the old
covenant to Israel in the past and the descendants will function as the
Levitical priesthood during the millennium. Because the humanity of
Christ was not descended from the tribe of Levi, He will never be
qualified to serve as a priest in the millennial Temple. When Jesus
Christ was appointed royal high priest forever in the divine decrees
(Ps 110:14), His royal high priesthood belongs exclusively to the
Church.
d. Heb 8:5, “who have been and still are serving as a
shadow-copy of heavenly things, just as Moses was warned when he was
about to erect the tabernacle; for, `See to it,’ he says, `that you
make all things according to the pattern which was made known to you in
the mountain.'”
(1) The temple and all of its functions were a shadow
copy of our Lord seated in the Holy of Holies. Compare Heb 10:1, “For
the Law having a shadow of coming good things but not the real image of
these events.”
(2) The reality of the shadow copy is our Lord’s work
of salvation on the Cross and His session in the third heaven as the
High Priest of the royal priesthood.
e. Heb 8:6, “But as the case now stands He has gained a more
excellent high priestly office by so much as He is also the mediator of
a better covenant, which has been legally enacted on the basis of
better promises.”
(1) Jesus Christ can only perform His high priestly
office outside of and separated from Israel. Therefore, the high
priestly function of Jesus Christ is for the Church Age only.
(2) The superiority of the royal priesthood of Jesus
Christ explains why there must be a new covenant to the Church.
(3) He had to be a priest to offer an efficacious
substitutionary sacrifice on the Cross and He had to be a mediator for
reconciliation of mankind to God.
(4) The superiority of the high priesthood of our Lord
explains the necessity for a new covenant to the Church. Jesus Christ
is the only mediator between God and mankind, therefore, He is the only
savior of mankind. It was as mediator and royal high priest that Jesus
Christ provided the efficacious, once-and-for-all sacrifice, Heb 7:26-
28, 9:13-14, 10:12-14. This sacrifice had to be offered by a priest-
mediator.
(5) Why is the new covenant to Israel quoted twice (Heb
8:8-12, 10:15-16) in the book of Hebrews, which deals with the new
covenant to the Church?
(a) It is quoted to demonstrate the doctrine that
the royal high priesthood of Christ under the new covenant to the
Church provides a better spiritual life for the Jews living in the
millennium under the new covenant to Israel, which is a better
spiritual life than the Jews had in the Old Testament. The Jews in the
millennium have a better spiritual life because of the new covenant to
the Church. It is the new covenant to the Church that provides the
spiritual life for the new covenant to Israel.
(b) The unique spiritual life of history belongs
to the new covenant to the Church under the sponsorship of the
priesthood of Jesus Christ, Heb 8:6.
(c) It was the prototype spiritual life of the
humanity of Jesus Christ as a royal high priest and mediator of the new
covenant to the Church which provided the efficacious sacrifice for
sin.
(d) This same prototype spiritual life was given
to every Church Age believer as the operational type spiritual life of
the royal priesthood of the dispensation of the Church.
(e) Furthermore it was the new covenant to the
Church with its unique spiritual life which rescinded and superceded
the old covenant to Israel. The reality replaced the shadows.
(f) In rescinding the old covenant to Israel by
the new covenant to the Church we now have history in contrast to
prophecy. When the new covenant to Israel is fulfilled in the
millennium, the two power options of that new covenant to the Church
(the filling of the Holy Spirit and Bible doctrine in the soul) will be
given to every born again Jew as a restored client nation.
(g) The blessing of the new covenant to the Church
overflows to the new covenant to Israel in the millennium, Ezek 39:29;
Joel 2:28–9; Zech 4:6; 12:10. We are living the spiritual life that
will be given to the Jewish believers in the millennium.
(6) Why is Jesus Christ unique as a high priest?
(a) He is the only high priest who was appointed
in eternity past, Ps 110:4. This appointment did not become
operational until the virgin birth.
(b) Jesus Christ is the only high priest in
history to be born as Adam was created–perfect in His true humanity.
This was necessary for mediatorship.
(c) Jesus Christ is the only high priest in
history to be filled with the Holy Spirit from birth.
(d) Jesus Christ is the only high priest in
history to offer one efficacious sacrifice for sin, and He did it under
three principles.
i. As a priest, His substitutionary atonement
on the Cross resulted in propitiation, which is directed toward God.
ii. As a mediator, His substitutionary
atonement on the Cross resulted in reconciliation, which is directed
toward mankind.
iii. As impeccable humanity His substitutionary
atonement on the Cross resulted in redemption, which is directed toward
sin.
(e) Jesus Christ is the only high priest in
history to be both a priest and a mediator, 1 Tim 2:5–6; Heb 8:6, 9:15,
12:24. Our Lord made the decision to be a mediator. He was appointed
as a high priest by God the Father. Priesthood emphasizes the work of
salvation. Mediatorship emphasizes the way of salvation.
(f) Jesus Christ is the greatest hendiadys of all
human history, our priest-mediator. A hendiadys is a historical
representation in which a complex idea is expressed by two words
connected by a copulative, for example, “pastor-teacher.” Another
hendiadys in this context is “shadow-copy.” Another hendiadys is Jesus
Christ as the “God-man.”
(g) Jesus Christ is the only priest-mediator who
is both perfect humanity and undiminished deity in one person forever.
The reason for His humanity was to be a priest, to be a mediator, to be
a savior, to be a son of David.
(h) Jesus Christ is the only high priest in all of
human history to have a resurrection body and to be living in the true
Holy of Holies.
5. The new covenant to the Church rescinds and supercedes the old
covenant to Israel.
a. Heb 8:7, “For if that first [covenant] were faultless but
it was not, there would have been no place sought for a second [the new
covenant to the Church].”
(1) The new covenant to the Church supercedes and
rescinds the old covenant to Israel, Heb 7:17–28. Our spiritual life
is the greatest reality in relationship to God that has ever existed.
(2) The first covenant was not faultless because it was
based on physical birth. The old covenant to Israel is rescinded and
superceded by the new covenant to the Church, Heb 7:18–19.
(3) The Mosaic Law could not bring anyone to salvation.
The Mosaic Law does not produce the filling of the Spirit, Gal 3:2,3,5.
The Mosaic Law could not bring anyone to completion spiritually. The
baptism of the Holy Spirit and indwelling of the Trinity bring us to
completion in the execution of our spiritual life in the Church Age.
b. Heb 8:8–12, “For finding fault with them, He says
`Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will bring a new
covenant to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. Not like
the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day that I took
them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they did
not persevere in My covenant, and I neglected them, says the Lord. For
this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after
those days, says the Lord; I will be giving My laws for the purpose of
their thinking, and I will write them on their hearts. And I will be
their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall not teach every
one his fellow-citizen, and every one his brother, saying, “Know the
Lord,” because everyone will know Me from the least to the greatest of
them, because I will be merciful with reference to their wrongdoings
and I will remember their sins no more.'”
(1) This is a quotation from the Septuagint of Jer
3:31-34.
(2) The spiritual life in every dispensation is always
a system of thinking. The spiritual life is given for the purpose of
thinking. You cannot think without prior cognition. If you cannot
think because of no prior cognition, you have no spiritual life. The
filling of the Holy Spirit is the based for the spiritual life during
the dispensation of the hypostatic union, the Church Age, and the
Millennium. All three dispensations have the two power options–the
filling of the Spirit and metabolized doctrine in the soul.
(3) Nothing of the past will ever be held against
Israel. They get a fresh start in the millennium with a new spiritual
life.
c. Heb 8:13, “With reference to what is said, `New,’ He
declares the first [covenant] obsolete. Then becoming obsolete and
growing old, it is near to the vanishing point.”
(1) The fact that the old covenant was near to
vanishing at the point of time of the writing of Hebrews indicates that
the new covenant to the Church superceded it.
(2) The basis for rescinding the old covenant to Israel
is the fact that the royal High Priest is infinitely and eternally
superior to any other high priest in history. The royal high
priesthood of the new covenant to the Church has provided a unique
spiritual life superceding any spiritual life before.
(3) We have a better High Priest, Heb 8:1–6.
(a) Jesus Christ as priest-mediator is perfect and
impeccable humanity in hypostatic union.
(b) As our High Priest, He offered Himself as the
only efficacious sacrifice, the basis for eternal salvation.
(c) As mediator between God and mankind in
conflict, He reconciled every human being in history who believes in
Him.
(d) Jesus Christ was the first High Priest in
history to be filling with the Holy Spirit.
(e) As our royal High Priest, Jesus Christ is the
first person in history to be resurrected.
(f) Only in the Church Age does our High Priest-
Mediator indwell the body of every believer, Col 1:27.
(4) We have a better covenant, Heb 8:6, 13.
(5) We have a better temple, Heb 8:6–16; 1 Cor 6:19.
(6) We have a better sacrifice, Heb 10:12, 14, “But He,
having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the
right had of God,…For by one offering He has brought to completion
for all time those who are being sanctified.”
d. The second quotation of the new covenant to Israel is
found in Heb 10:14–17, “For by one offering He has brought to
completion for all time those who are being sanctified. And the Holy
Spirit also bears witness to us for our advantage; for after saying,
`This is the covenant that I will make face-to-face with them after
those days,’ says the Lord. `I will put My laws upon their heart, and
upon their mind I will write them. Both their sins and their lawless
deeds I will remember no more.'”
(1) Jesus Christ is the only one qualified to offer a
sacrifice for sin. He is qualified because He was born perfect and by
the modus vivendi of His human life, living the prototype spiritual
life with temptations beyond anything we will ever face and remaining
perfect. He was qualified by the divine decrees, being appointed as a
high priest in eternity past. He was qualified by making the decision
to become a mediator. God the Father was satisfied with only one
sacrifice for sin. He was satisfied because He imputed all of our sins
to Christ for judgment. Only God the Father had to be propitiated, no
one else.
(2) Even though the believers of the millennium have
the filling of the Spirit, they do not have a sanctification in the
spiritual life such as we have. The spiritual life of the royal family
of God in the Church Age is unique. The spiritual life of millennial
believers has similarities, but our spiritual life is unique.
Millennial believers will have a similar spiritual to that of Church
Age believers, but the spiritual life of the Church Age is absolutely
unique.
(3) All believers will be brought to completion
spiritually by resurrection, whether winner or loser believer. This
quotation is given about the Jewish spiritual life in the future to
indicate that we have a present spiritual life under the filling of the
Spirit, indwelling of the Spirit, and faith-rest drill. Every believer
is sanctified (set apart unto God for the special purpose of glorifying
Him) at the moment of salvation.
(4) All past failures of Israel are blotted out forever
and they get a complete new start in the millennium. Salvation and
rebound are common to all believers in all dispensations. Everyone is
saved by faith alone in Christ alone, and everyone is restored to
fellowship by the rebound technique of 1 Jn 1:9. There is no spiritual
life apart from the power of the Holy Spirit.
e. Heb 2:8b-10, “But now we do not yet see all things having
been subjected to Him. But we see Jesus, who for a little while was
made lower than the angels, having been crowned with glory and honor
because of the suffering of [spiritual] death, that by the grace of God
He might taste death as a substitute for all. For it was fitting for
Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in
bringing many sons to glory, to bring to completion the leader of their
salvation through sufferings.”
(1) The ultimate of the spiritual life is occupation
with Christ, but first you must learn and use the power options, the
spiritual skills and the problem solving devices.
(2) Christ tasting death was His substitutionary
spiritual death on the Cross.
(3) Our Lord is the leader and originator of our
spiritual life and he brings us to completion in our spiritual life
just as He was brought to completion in His spiritual life. Being
brought to completion begins at salvation, continues in our spiritual
life, and ends in our resurrection. Compare Heb 12:2 (see below).
6. Heb 9:11–15, “But when Christ arrived on the scene a high
priest of the good things that have come, He entered through the
greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to
say, not of this creation; but not through the blood of goats and young
bulls, but through His own blood, He entered the Holy of Holies once
for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats
and bulls and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling those who have been
defiled, sanctify for the purpose of the purity of the flesh [and they
did], how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the agency of
the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this
reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, in order that since a
death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that
were (committed) under the first covenant, those who have been called
may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”
a. Jesus Christ is the anchor inside the veil. He has been
brought to completion by His spiritual life, by His efficacious
sacrifice for sin, and by His resurrection. He is the only human high
priest seated at the right hand of God in the true Holy of Holies in
resurrection body. The greater and more perfect tabernacle not made
with hands is the true Holy of Holies in heaven.
b. The high priest entered the Holy of Holies with the blood
of a young bull once for himself, Lev 16:11, and he entered a second
time with the blood of a goat for the sins of the people. These
sacrifices were a picture of substitutionary atonement of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Our Lord offered Himself as a willing sacrifice.
Reality replaced the Old Testament ritual.
c. The dispensation of the hypostatic union is a wall
between the Old Testament spiritual life and the royal priesthood of
the Church with its unique spiritual life. The shadow offerings are
replaced by the efficacious offering of our High Priest. The blood of
animals could not save. They could only teach the reality of the
future offering of Christ Himself as the salvation offering for sin.
d. Heb 9:1–5, “Now even the first covenant had regulations
of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary. For a tabernacle, the
first room was prepared, in which the lampstand, the table of
shewbread; this was classified the holy place. And behind the second
veil, there was a sacred room. This was classified the Holy of Holies,
having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on
all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holing the manna,
Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant. And above it
were the cherubs of glory overshadowing the mercy seat; but of these
things we cannot now speak in detail.”
e. The lid on the ark of the covenant is called the mercy
seat because of Rom 3:22–25, “even the righteousness of God through
faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe, (for there is no
distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God)
being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is
in Christ Jesus; whom God has publicly displayed a mercy seat through
faith in His blood, a demonstration of His righteousness, because of
the passing over of the sins previously committed.” (The phrase “by
the forbearance of God” belongs to verse 26.) All personal sins of
human history are passed over by God until all sins could be poured out
on Christ on the Cross for judgment.
f. The efficacious substitutionary sacrifice of our Lord
Jesus Christ on the Cross is greater than the shadow offerings of the
animal sacrifices of the Old Testament. Therefore it follows with
stronger reason that the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ has
an infinitely greater doctrinal significance. The high priesthood of
Jesus Christ has the greatest offering from the greatest power of the
greatest spiritual life that has ever existed. If God accomplished the
greater at the Cross, it follows a fortiori, that the lesser can be
accomplished in the postsalvation spiritual life of every royal priest
through the same spiritual mechanics that Christ used to endure the
Cross. If God accomplished the greater at the Cross, it follows a
fortiori, that He can provide the lesser in the unique spiritual life
of all human history.
g. Heb 12:2, “Be concentrating on Jesus, the leader-
originator of our doctrine, who because of His exhibited happiness He
endured the Cross, disregarding the shame, then He sat down at the
right hand of the throne of God.” The result is a unique and universal
royal priesthood of the Church Age. In 1 Pet 2:5 we are called a holy
priesthood, set apart unto God. In 1 Pet 2:9 we are called a royal
priesthood. In Rev 1:6 we are called a kingdom of priests. This is
why there was an empty room in the Holy of Holies in the temple in
Jerusalem.
7. The Empty Room and the Sacred Temple of the Church Age. You
are the sacred temple of the Church Age. God the Holy Spirit indwells
your body and creates a temple for the indwelling of Christ. This is
the basis for a phenomenal spiritual life.
a. The indwelling of God the Holy Spirit provides a temple,
a sacred building for the indwelling of Christ as the Shekinah Glory.
This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit in indwelling.
(1) 1 Cor 3:16, “Do you not know that you are a temple
[sanctuary, sacred building] of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells
in you?”
(2) 1 Cor 6:19, “Or do you not know that your body is a
temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and
that you are not your own?” The only sacred room on earth is your body
after salvation. The only sacred room in heaven is at the right hand
of the Father.
b. The prophecy of the indwelling of Christ, Jn 14:20, “In
that day [Church Age] you shall come to know that I am with My Father
[session], and you are in Me [baptism of the Holy Spirit], and I in you
[indwelling of Christ in the body of every believer].”
(1) The Greek preposition EN plus the instrumental of
association indicates that a second party (in this case Jesus Christ)
furnishes the means by which our association with God the Father takes
place.
(2) Our Lord is not in the Father, He is with the
Father. Our high priest [the humanity of Christ] is at the right hand
of the Father in the Holy of Holies. The disciples would come to know
this because the Holy of Holies in Jerusalem remained an empty room.
(3) Jn 14:26 is the application, “But the Helper, the
Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you
all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”
c. The cognition test relates to the sacred building of the
Church Age, 2 Cor 13:5, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the
doctrine; examine yourselves! Or do you not know this about yourselves
[from metabolized doctrine], that Christ is in you–unless you fail the
test?”
(1) You are a priest, which means you have a
responsibility to God that can only be fulfilled by your responsibility
to yourself. You have a responsibility to yourself to test yourself to
see if you understand Bible doctrine. You have the right in privacy to
determine your own status spiritually. The spiritual life is a private
matter between you and God. You are free to live your spiritual life
in private before God. Taking responsibility means correcting yourself
when you are wrong.
(2) In the spiritual life you have to understand
yourself and know when you failing. You examine yourself in the mirror
of the word of God in your soul. But you do not have a mirror in your
soul unless you have Bible doctrine resident in the seven compartments
of your stream of consciousness.
(3) You have to know that Christ indwells your body as
He indwelt the sacred Temple. If you do not know that you are indwelt
by Christ and the purpose for it, then you have failed the test.
d. The believer can execute the divine mandate of 2 Cor 13:5
because he is a priest.
e. From the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit, our mentor
and our teacher, we learn about the indwelling of Jesus Christ, our
High Priest and Shekinah Glory, resulting in the transformation of our
lives. 2 Cor 3:17–18, “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the
Spirit of the Lord [is, there is] freedom. But we all, with unveiled
face looking into a mirror to produce a reflection–the glory of the
Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory [the
prototype spiritual life of our Lord] to glory [the operational
spiritual life of the Church Age], as it were by the agency of the
Lord, the Spirit.”
(1) The word “Lord” here is used for the deity of the
Holy Spirit.
(2) Where is the Holy Spirit located during the Church
Age? Indwelling your body to create a new Holy of Holies.
(3) You have freedom to live the spiritual life because
God the Holy Spirit indwells your body. You have a freedom as a
believer that no one can ever take from you though people may try
through gossip, legalism, and other things. Only you can destroy your
spiritual freedom.
(4) We are being transformed into the same spiritual
life which our Lord had during the Incarnation. Our spiritual life is
an image of His spiritual life.
(5) Our spiritual life is unveiled because there is no
fading glory in the spiritual life of the Church Age. If you live the
spiritual life, it is not a fading glory, but an increasing glory and
will reach its peak in the resurrection body of the eternal state.
f. There is only one sacred building or temple in the Church
Age–the believer’s body, Col 1:27, “to whom God willed to make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles,
which is Christ in you, the absolute confidence of glory.”
g. The motivation from the indwelling of Christ is related
to the indwelling of the Spirit, 1 Jn 3:23–24.
(a) Your soul can either be an empty room with no
doctrine or it can be filled with the greatest things that have existed
in the history of the human race. The soul of the believer is the
sacred room in the Church Age. The believer is the only sacred
building during the Church Age. Jesus Christ as God indwells the body
of every believer (“Christ in you, the confidence of glory”). Your
body becomes a sacred body because God the Holy Spirit indwells your
body to make it a temple of God.
(b) Jeremiah made a great prophecy about the new
covenant to Israel concerning the ark of the covenant not being
remembered during the millennium, Jer 3:16, “`And it shall be in those
days when you are multiplied and increased in the land,’ declares the
Lord, `that people shall no longer say, “The ark of the covenant of the
Lord.” It will never even enter their minds or be remembered. It will
not be missed nor will another one ever be made.'” In the millennium
there will be a temple and a priesthood, but there will be an empty
Holy of Holies because the reality is in the person of Christ. The ark
of the covenant has not existed since 586 B.C. and will never exist
again. The ark was created by the enduement of the Holy Spirit and
could never be duplicated once destroyed.
(c) The message of Jeremiah to Israel is that in the
future they will not need the ark of the covenant. They will know the
doctrine in their souls. The new covenant to Israel is that the law of
God will be in their minds and written in their hearts. The Holy of
Holies is empty because the Jews in the millennium have Bible doctrine
in their souls.
8. The Empty Room and the Sacred Temple of the Millennium.
a. There is a new temple constructed in the millennium, but
it is not a sacred building. It is described in Ezek 40-44. It has a
Holy Place, a veil, and an empty Holy of Holies.
b. It is an empty room because believers in the millennium
will have a similar but not the same as spiritual life of the Church
Age. The empty room represents the spiritual life of the millennium.
Ezek 39:29 and Joel 2:28 explain the spiritual life and resultant empty
room of the millennial Temple.
(1) Ezek 39:29, “`And I will not hide My face from them
any longer, for I shall pour out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’
declares the Lord God.”
(2) Joel 2:28, “And it will come about after this that
I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters
will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see
visions.”
c. The Lord first pours out His Spirit on all Israel, and
then on all mankind. He can do this because every person who comes out
of the Tribulation alive will be believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
d. The empty room in the millennial Temple indicates that
the spiritual life of Israel in the millennium is related to the new
covenant to Israel. The New Covenant to Israel is a prophecy that
describes the spiritual life of Israel in the millennium. We have a
unique spiritual life in the Church Age that is greater than the
spiritual life of the millennium, but we do have one thing in common–
the filling of the Holy Spirit. The empty room indicates that the two
spiritual lives a similar but not the same.
e. Heb 8:10 quotes Jer 31:33 concerning the New Covenant to
Israel, “For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after those days [Tribulation],’ says the Lord. `I will put My laws in
their minds; I will write them upon their hearts, then I will be their
God and they shall be My people.'” This explains the revival of the
Levitical priesthood and sacrifices during the millennium. This also
explains the total forgetfulness of the ark of the covenant during the
millennium, Jer 3:16. It will not be missed, nor will another ark ever
be made.
f. The true Holy of Holies of the millennial Temple is the
presence of the Lord Jesus Christ on earth as the God of Israel, as the
Shekinah Glory.

Read more: How can a man who is not a descendant of Aaron hold the Aaronic Priesthood? (Numbers 16:40; Heb. 7:13,14). | Answerbag http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1276097#ixzz0qIxusYN1

by John…. from http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1276097

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/17077006/19-The-Universal-Priesthood-of-the-Believer

(Compiled from scripture. as summarized from “Civilization”, By Orestes Augustus Brownson, T. Nourse, 1884)

Two Types of People

/in /by

There are two types of people in this universe….

-there are chaotic polarizers and,
-there are harmonious unifiers…

Polarizers are selfish haters…
Unifiers are unselfish lovers…

Ask yourself which camp you are supporting.

All the matter in the universe is in motion, it is either moving outward, and expanding affected by repulsive forces moving further apart from the ONE TRUE CENTER pushing forward the lines of its individuality.

Or it is moving inward, contracting together affected by the unifying, attractive forces. Moving toward each other and toward ONENESS in the ONE TRUE CENTER.

Just as each sun is a portal between dimensions, pulling gross matter in one end as gravity and explosively giving the refined matter out the other as light, so also are the great intelligences as well as each of us. Those who give on one side of the transfiguration, take once they ascend to the next level.

But there is a harmonious set of opposites and a non harmonious polarity. Those who have reached the at-one-ment, have learned to lovingly and harmoniously give in love and receive in faith.

But the inharmonious opposites are more than just darkness, they are chaos. They are incomplete. They are the cacophony. They begrudgingly give and forcefully take. They consist of the same polar opposites of the righteous, but they have not yet harmonized them. They have not yet atoned them. This is true evil; evil is not the opposite of all that is “good”, it is the un-atoned, un-harmonized, incomplete, chaotic expanse.

The orthodox may say that Christ was the founder of their religion. The unorthodox or anti-religious would say Christ came to condemn the hypocrisy of established religion. Some might say he came to teach people to change what they are into something better. In reality, he came to harmonize. He was the great harmonizer. A master composer that came to teach each individual to play his own instrument in a manner that they can be part of a beautiful symphony. He did not come to make people change instruments, but to play in a manner that they could harmonize. This is righteousness, because this spawns unity. Of those the father gave him “none of them were lost”, but the one who refused to harmonize. Christ took each of the twelve apostles representing each of the twelve tribes, with all of their unique histories, sounds, colors, strengths and weaknesses and harmonized them into a rainbow of praise and psaltery. A love story of unification. He led them all into the prayer circle where they all displayed the signs of their differing paths of progression and harmonized them into ONE body, an eternal family united in love to each other and therefore ready to unite also to the Father.

This is righteousness. It is the atonement. It is the key to exaltation and eternal lives. It is a true family. So many on earth have cried “here I am”, “I am the gate”, “I have the keys”. “I have the true religion, and if you act and be like this you will be exalted”. The set of stone cold laws embedded in the world’s religions are not the representation of “perfection” that Christ came to declare. They are idols. And although idols serve important purposes in and of themselves they have no life and thus are damned to crumble into dust. The letter worketh death, but the Spirit breatheth life. Christ did not start an earthly church, for on earth all is death, thus his kingdom was “not of this world”. It was Holy Peter who was called to start the Holy Church just as it was ____ who was called to anti-church or anti-thesis.

Christ’s church was his body. It was not a temple carved with earthly hands. It was a living entity created by the father which could not be killed by man for it was not created by man. He perfected that body by bringing all of its members into harmony with the head. He at-oned his body and was therefore exalted with it. Body and soul, head, foot, hand and heart atoned into the living image of the Father. Can you foresee the day when Christ comes to atone the earthly body of Christ to an even higher degree? Will you be harmonized or atoned? Or do you hold enmity for the lesser members? How oft has the head said to the foot “I have no need of thee”. Likewise the hand to the heart, “I can do better on my own”. But an incomplete or imperfect body cannot be exalted.

The fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was division. It was the polarizing force of opposites. It is division which perpetuates the earthly drama of death, just as it is Satan who perpetuates the garden drama of the fall. Division ends in death. Unity ends in life. You must unite with the Blood, the Water and the Spirit to be born again into life. You came forth from earth, water and spirit separated from your mother into a fleshy illusion of individuality. The two came together and made a third, and out of one came two. And yet the two are in reality still only one. As the death of separateness we call life was created by immerging from the water and the blood and the spirit, so we must once again be immersed in the water, blood and spirit to be reborn into life. This rebirth occurs when we die to the world of the flesh; when we transcend the illusion of separateness perpetuated by the fruit of that tree. Its desirable taste brings a very undesirable aftertaste, to help all men see that everything has its opposite. But when you are ready to atone the opposites you can once again partake of the unifying tree of life. It is the sword of justice which guards that tree and keeps man from atoning. But Christ has overcome the demands of justice, so if you will but become one with his body the sword will have no power to keep you from the fruit of life. If you have had enough of the pain and pleasure of the tree of death, simply allow yourself to be absorbed into the body of Christ. As you partake of his body and blood, he will partake of yours. As you put away the prideful, enmity causing aspects of your of your ego and personality he will harmonize you into his more complete body. This is not done by brute effort or by flowery guilt, it is done by searching out the polarizing opposites. Once you have truly become conscious of them and realize how they perpetuate each-other, they will melt away like the ice from before the sun. You are not trying to destroy the opposites any more than the Father would seek to destroy his children. The Father loves his children and just wants them to play nice. So to, if you try to eradicate your “perceived” virtues and vices based on the perceived values you or the stone cold law have given them you will fail. It is not eradication, but atonement. How can eradication, war or destruction breed any fruit but death? You must be a unifier. You must acknowledge them as your children, and therefore holy children of the Father, and bring them into balance. Once you have balanced them, they will come together into the holy center of the circle, embrace each-other and atone.

Every virtue has a counter-virtue. Every gift comes with a curse. We have all partaken of the fruit of that tree, have we learned its lessons yet? Everything and everyone has its opposite. Are you still polarizing your opposites because you haven’t learned the atonement? Put down your pride and become a unifier, a harmonizer, a Christ. Bring them together and they will cease to be evil. Bring them from the darkness of their extremes, into the light of the center. From the dark corners of the square to the family relationship of the circle. The circle of love and light and truth.

You must love anyone you have ever hated, you must bring together any you have ever separated. It may seem an impossible task, but with Christ, all things are possible…

Do not twist these truths to fit your idol. Do not carve them into your favorite stone. Let them slowly distill upon your soul, until you transcend the veil between the Father and the Son in the middle of the circle.