Logion 12: “His disciples said to Jesus: We know you will leave us. Who will be our leader then?”


The Paraclete Shri Mataji (Mar 21, 1923 - Feb 23, 2011)
Mar 21, 1923 — Feb 23, 2011
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi was
Christian by birth, Hindu by
marriage, and Paraclete by duty.
"The Paraclete represents direct,
intimate divine intervention,
supporting and teaching
believers and challenging the
world, as Jesus did.” (D. Stevick
Jesus and His Own, 2011, 290)
“Jesus' Christ childhood has not been described anywhere. Like we have descriptions of Shri Krishna's childhood; Shri Rama's childhood. This is really sad.”

THE MOTHER: Messiah-Paraclete-Ruh-Devi
Christmas Puja, Ganapatipule, India — December 25, 1993


“There are just too many questions and missing pieces — the Church's narration just do not stand up to scrutiny. In fact they neither have the answers nor the evidence to back them. And contemporary evidence is mounting that centuries ago the Church had already edited and removed much critical evidence of Shri Jesus' preaching out of the Bible, for it was the only way to consolidate their powers.”

The Paraclete Shri Mataji


A Commentary on the Gospel of Thomas: From Interpretations to the Interpreted
(1) The disciples said to Jesus: “We know that you will depart from us.
Who (then) will rule us? Who (then) will rule over us??”
Jesus said to them:
“Wherever you have come from,
you should go to James the Just,
for whose sake heaven and earth
came into being.”


James is Jesus' brother. According to Gal 2:9, 12; and Acts 21:18, he was the leader of the Christian community in Jerusalem, and according to the Gospel of Hebrews was the first to be addressed by Jesus when he shared a table with his disciples after his resurrection. From the second century, James was called "the Just," because of his martyrdom.

Wherever you have came from: The obvious meaning is that the place of origin of the followers of Jesus, or of the hearers or readers of this saying is not important.

The concluding praise of James (for whose sake heaven and earth came into being) shows the links between the Gospel of Thomas and the group of James's disciples. If we read it together with the previous sayings according to which the heaven would pass away, the significance of James acquires a cosmic dimension.

A dispute about priority among Jesus'disciples is mentioned in Mark 9:34ff. parr., in which Jesus forbids discussion of the matter. Both in Mark and the Gospel of Thomas the question is provoked by the imminence of Jesus’ death. In the Gospel of Thomas, the passion of Jesus is not mentioned, but it is presupposed here and in sayings 38, 55, 58, 68, and 69.52 The praise of James in the Gospel of Thomas may express the solidarity of the groups of James and Thomas when they were criticized by the mainstream church, which looked to the apostle Peter as its heraldic figure (Matt 16:16f.) In the declaration from 1 Cor 15:3b–5 (its supporters are enumerated in 1 Cor 15:5–8), the leading role of Peter is justified by the priority of his encounter with the risen Lord even if the model of collegial leadership (Gr. ekklesia) is still attested in Matt 18:16–17. Here, in the combination of sayings 12 and 13, we observe an attempt to create another group, whose teaching was supposed to be the tradition of Jesus as it was expressed in the Gospel of Thomas (see Introduction: Theology). The Thomas group also acknowledged the authority of James and evidently accepted his disciples in its communities. Later Jewish Christianity coexisted with Gnosticism.

These were problems that arose at the end of the first century, when Christians experienced the absence of the apostolic generation as a problem of personal leadership. They compensated for the absence of the apostles, the eyewitnesses of Jesus, by reading and commenting on their books. As we have mentioned in the introduction, almost all of the texts that circulated under the name of the apostles are pseudepigrapha, texts that are linked with the name of an apostle on a secondary basis.

A Commentary on the Gospel of Thomas
Petr Pokorny, T&T Clark; Reprint edition (December 22, 2011) p. 50-1


Richard Valantasis, The Gospel of Jesus
LOGION 12

12. His disciples said to Jesus: We know you will leave us. Who will be our leader then? Jesus responded: Wherever you are, turn to Jacob [James] the Just, for whose sake the sky and the earth came into being.


James is Jesus' brother. Mark lists four brothers by name—James, Joses, Judas, Simon—and tells us that Jesus had sisters as well (Mark 6:3). After Jesus' death his brother became leader of the movement he founded, for Paul refers to"James, brother of the Lord"exercising authority even over Peter (Galatians 2:11-12). James became famous in the Christian movement for his righteousness, and the nickname"The Just"Was applied to him. The present saying presumes that Jesus will be gone and need replacement as leader of the movement. Accordingly, Thomas advocates allegiance not to"The risen Lord"but to a human successor, James, who is commended for his own righteousness and not just because Jesus chose him.

Stevan Davies, Gospel of Thomas Translated and Annotated
Shambhala Library, Dec 2004, pp. 11


And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; And his disciples follow him.
And when the sabbath day was come, He began to teach in the synagogue:
And many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things?
And what wisdom is this which is given unto him that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?
Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon?
And are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.

Mark 6:1-3


“The role of James, the brother of Jesus, has always been seen as a threat by the Roman Catholic Church, and from its earliest times the Church has controlled history by removing information about this highly important figure. As recently as 1996 Pope John Paul II issued a statement declaring that Jesus was Mary's only child and that therefore James was not his brother after all. The Pontiff made this strange and completely unsubstantiated statement despite biblical evidence and much scholarly opinion to the contrary.”

The Times (London), 30 August 1996
(Quoted by Christopher Knight & Robert Lomas, The Second Messiah, Century Books Ltd., 1997 p. 2-3.)


The Gnostic Gospels
“Other texts discovered at Nag Hammadi demonstrate one striking difference between these"heretical"sources and orthodox ones: gnostic sources continually use sexual symbolism to describe God. One might expect that these texts show the influence of archaic pagan traditions of The Mother Goddess, but for the most part, their language is specifically Christian, unmistakably related to a Jewish heritage. Yet instead of describing a monistic and masculine God, many of these texts speak of God as a dyad who embraces both masculine and feminine elements...

One group of gnostics sources claims to have received a secret tradition from Jesus through James and through Mary Magdalene. Members of this group prayed to both the divine Father and Mother: "From Thee, Father, and through Thee, Mother, the two immortal names, Parents of the divine being, and thou, dweller in heaven, humanity of the mighty name ...”5 Other texts indicate that their authors had wondered to whom a single, masculine God proposed," Let us make man [adam] in our image and likeness, after our likeness" (Genesis 1:26). Since the Genesis account goes on to say that humanity was created"male and female" (1:27), some concluded that the God in whose image we are made must also be both masculine and feminine — both Father and Mother.” 5. Hippolytus, REF 5.6.

Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels
Random House, New York, 1989, p. 49-50.


Apocalypse: The Coming Judgment of the Nations
“We are witnessing the greatest accumulation of wealth in human history side by side with devastating famine and widespread depression. James warned: 'Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and you will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days' (James 5: 3.) While the rich get richer the poor are getting poorer, just as the Bible prophesied. Today 1 percent of the American population have accumulated over 40 percent of the nation's wealth. These obscene accumulation of riches in the last decade is a sign that we are living in the last days.”

Grant R. Jeffry, Apocalypse: The Coming Judgement of the Nations
Bantam Books, 1994 p. 155.



“The gnostics movement was a religious movement in the Christian tradition. Jonas comments that the gnostic insistence on the 'reception of truth either through sacred or secret lore or through inner illumination replaces rational theory and argument.'126:35 Its major writers were Justin Martyr, who died in 165, Hepesippus died 180, Clement of Alexandria died 215, Iraneus died 202, Tertullian died 230, Hippolytus died 236, Origen died 202, and Epiphanius died 403, together with the writers of The Gnostic Gospels discovered in 1945 at Nag Hammadi. These later are a series of books about the life of Jesus, whose origins seem to be not dissimilar to those of the gospels now contained in the Bible. There are fifty-two texts in the find, including the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Philip: the Gospel of Truth and the Gospel to the Egyptians: the Secret Book of James, the Apocalypse of Paul, the Letter of Peter to Philip, and the Second Treatise of the Great Seth. The texts actually found are dated AD 350-400, but the originals were thought to be in Greek and about 120-150 at source. The most fascinating point that Elaine Pagels makes in her study of The Gnostic Gospels is that 'we now begin to see that what we call Christianity — and what we identify as the Christian tradition — actually represents only a small selection of specific sources, chosen from among dozens of others.' 182:31...

It is the self-consciousness, the existentialism of many modern writers, but with the doctrine of redemption through knowledge — inner knowledge — at the heart. In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus is quoted as saying, 'I manifested myself to men in the flesh. I found them drunk, I found them blind, and none athirst among them. When they have slept off their wine they will repent.' This doctrine of mankind being asleep is found in many modern writers...

Real knowledge springs from the immediate perception of a transformed aware consciousness. With awareness comes the knowledge that 'all power is a source of alienation ... all institutions, laws, religions, churches and powers are nothing but a sham and trap, the perpetuation of an age-old deception.'148:28 Gnosticism has been a perpetual threat to orthodox Christianity because it is deeply radical and anarchic.”

(126:35 H. Jonas, The Gnostic Religion, Beacon Press, 1958.) (182:31 Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels, Penguin Books, 1982.) (148:28 Jacques Lacarriere, The Gnostics, Peter Owen, 1977.)

Jean Hardy, A Psychology with a Soul
Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., 1987, p. 126.





“... Paul is, in effect, the first 'Christian' heretic, and that his teachings — which become the foundation of later Christianity — are a flagrant deviation from the 'original' or 'pure' form extolled by the leadership. Whether James, 'the Lord's brother', was literally Jesus' blood kin or not (and everything suggest that he was), it is clear that he knew Jesus, or the figure subsequently remembered as Jesus, personally. So did most of the other members of the community or 'early Church', in Jerusalem — including of course Peter. When they spoke, they did so with first-hand authority. Paul had never had such personal acquaintance with the figure he'd begun to regard as his 'Saviour'. He had only his quasi-mystical experience in the desert and the sound of a disembodied voice. For him to arrogate authority to himself on this basis is, to say the least, presumptuous. It also leads him to distort Jesus' teachings beyond recognition — to formulate, in fact, his own highly individual and idiosyncratic theology, and then to legitimise it by spuriously ascribing it to Jesus. For Jesus, adhering rigorously to Judaic Law, it would have been the most extreme blasphemy to advocate worship of any mortal figure, including himself. He makes this clear in the Gospels, urging his disciples, followers and listeners to acknowledge only God.... Paul, in effect, shunts God aside and establishes, for the first time, worship of Jesus ...

As things transpired, however, the mainstream of the new movement gradually coalesced, during the next three centuries, around Paul and his teachings. Thus, to the undoubted posthumous horror of James and his associates, an entirely new religion was indeed born — a religion that came to have less and less to do with its supposed founder....

According to the 'Habakkuk Commentary,' the 'Liar' did not listen to the word received by the Teacher of Righteousness from the mouth of God.22 Instead, he appealed to 'the unfaithful of the New Covenant in that they have not believed in the Covenant of God and have profaned His holy name.'23 The text states explicitly that 'the Liar ... flouted the Law in the midst of the whole congregation.24 He 'led many astray' and raised ' congregation on deceit.'25 He himself is said to be 'pregnant with [works] of deceit.'26 These, of course, are precisely the transgressions of which Paul is accused in Acts — transgressions which led, at the end of Acts, to the attempt on his life.”
[22. The Habakkuk Commentary, II, 2 (Vermes, p. 284.) 23. Ibid., II, 3-4 (Vermes, p. 284.) 24. Ibid., V, 11-12 (Vermes, p. 285.) 25. Ibid.,X, 9-12 (Vermes, p. 288.) 26. Ibid., X, 11-12 (Vermes, p. 288.]

Michael Baignent and Richard Leigh, The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception
Jonathan Cape, London, 1992, p. 181-95.

Book Description
Publication Date: April 12, 1993
The oldest Biblical manuscripts in existence, the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in caves near Jerusalem in 1947, only to be kept a tightly held secret for nearly fifty more years, until the Huntington Library unleashed a storm of controversy in 1991 by releasing copies of the Scrolls. In this gripping investigation authors Baigent and Leigh set out to discover how a small coterie of orthodox biblical scholars gained control over the Scrolls, allowing access to no outsiders and issuing a strict "consensus" interpretation. The authors' questions begin in Israel, then lead them to the corridors of the Vatican and into the offices of the Inquisition. With the help of independent scholars, historical research, and careful analysis of available texts, the authors reveal what was at stake for these orthodox guardians: The Scrolls present startling insights into early Christianity—insights that challenge the Church's version of the "facts.” More than just a dramatic expose of the intrigues surrounding these priceless documents, The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception presents nothing less than a new, highly significant perspective on Christianity.


“John 14.26 is in fact a significant passage for discerning how the evangelist understands divine instruction. Here, the Paraclete and Holy Spirit are clearly identified. The future tense of the verbs in 14.26 is notable; the Spirit's activity is said to be (from Jesus' perspective) in the future. As Schnackenburg suggest, 14.26 is directly connected with 14.25. Jesus speaks to the disciples while abiding with them (14.25), but cannot clarify everything in his limited discourse. Therefore, he promises them the future teaching of the Holy Spirit/Paraclete (14.26). In light of the many clear parallels between the Paraclete and Jesus in the Fourth Gospel, this suggests that the Holy Spirit continues the didactic role of Jesus. If my argument in this chapter is correct (i.e., that Jesus' teaching is understood by the evangelist as direct divine instruction) then the teaching of the Paraclete, as the continuation of Jesus' teaching, must also be understood as the fulfillment of the promise of eschatological divine instruction.’ (Witmer 2008, 106)

“In his (Jesus) life time which was so very short, whatever he has said, every word is great but as I told you that this Paul tried to completely change, re-edit the bible and he's put lots of things in there, whatever weaknesses he has, he has put them nicely.

Now recently I've got a book which was hidden in a jar in Egypt for about, till fifty years they discovered it, and this book is called as the Library of Hammadi. The place was called Hammadi were it was discovered, and what Christ has said, what Thomas has written, when Thomas was coming to India he put all these things there, is very interesting.”

THE MOTHER: Messiah-Paraclete-Ruh Christmas Puja, Ganapatipule, India—December 25, 1992


“Paul never even met Christ, and just made up lies. And we know what he saw was supra-conscious. Actually, he was a bureaucrat who killed one of Christ's disciples, Stephen, and saw Christianity as a good platform to jump on for his forum. He fought with everyone. Thomas disappeared and his treatises were found 50 years ago in Egypt. It's all sahaja.”

THE MOTHER: Messiah-Paraclete-Ruh
Talk with Spanish Sahaja Yogis—October 12, 1994


“This living process is very clearly described in Indian scriptures since ancient times. There are 108 Upanishadas in the Sanskrit language which have exposed the knowledge about Kundalini awakening and the spiritual ascent. Also it is indicated in other scriptures of other countries. In the Bible it is called the Tree of Life and it is quoted that, 'I will appear before you like tongues of flames'. When the Kundalini rises, She passes through various centres which look like tongues of flames when enlightened.

The Cool Breeze of the Holy Ghost of Pentecost is this power that you can feel in Sahaja Yoga (spontaneous salvation). In the Gospel of St. Thomas, very clearly describes the Sahaja experience as the ultimate of our religious life. Also it says we must look after our centres. This Kundalini has to ascend and pierce through six subtle centres which are placed in the spinal cord and in the brain. The last breakthrough is the actualisation of the baptism as one feels the Cool Breeze of the Holy Ghost emitting out of one's fontanel bone area.”

THE MOTHER: Messiah-Paraclete-Ruh-Devi First English Book

“What Jesus cannot tell the disciples because of their limitations, the Paraclete will tell them by "guiding you into all the truth.” The earthly Jesus told the world what he had heard from the one who sent him (8:26).A little further in 8:40 he calls himself a human Person "who has told you the truth that I heard from God.” But it is only the Paraclete who can tell the full truth and he does so without deviating from the truth of the Father and the Son.” Elsbernd and Bieringer (2002) 61


“Now I would like to tell the secret knowledge of our inner being which was known in India thousands of years back. For our evolution and spiritual ascent there is a residual power within us which is located in the triangular bone at the base of our spine. This residual power is known as Kundalini. Though the knowledge of this power was available thousands of years back in India, the awakening of the Kundalini was done, traditionally, on an individual basis only. One guru would give awakening to one disciple.

As a result of that awakening, what happens is that you achieve your Self-realization (baptism), your Self-hood. Secondly, when this power is awakened, it rises and passes through six subtle energy centres in your body, nourishing them and integrating them. Ultimately, this power breaks through the fontanel bone area called as the talu or the brahmarandra and connects you to the all-pervading power of Divine Love, which is described in the Bible; also as the 'Cool Breeze of the Holy Ghost'; also in the Koran as 'Ruh', and also in the Indian scriptures as 'Prana'. Patanjali has called it as 'Ritambhara Pragya'.

Whatever the name, this is a power which is all-pervading, which does all the subtle works of living process, of evolutionary process. The existence of this all-pervading energy is not felt before realization but after Self-realization (baptism) you can feel it on your finger tips or at the centre of your palm or above the fontanel bone area.”

The Paraclete Shri Mataji

Extracted from address by Dr Nirmala Srivastava (Shri Mataji) to the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, China—September 13, 1995
“At the end of our investigation, we need to consider one last question: How does the Paraclete achieve all the things we talked about above? The Paraclete is not incarnate in one historically limited human being, but takes on flesh in the believers and in the community. The Paraclete is in the believers and works through them. When the farewell discourse says that the Paraclete does certain things, we may not overlook the fact that disciples do these things and the Paraclete does them through the disciples. This is evident in 15:26-27 where giving testimony is said of the Paraclete and of the disciples.[46] In 2:22 and 16:4 (cf. 12:16) we see that the disciples remember the words of Jesus and in 14:26 the Paraclete reminds them of Jesus’ words. The teaching, the guiding in the truth, the announcing of the things to come, the witnessing as well as the proving wrong are all activities which the Paraclete does in and through human beings who believe in Jesus.” Elsbernd and Bieringer (2002) 62


Note: Today the Paraclete remains within the disciples for all times—again, as promised by Jesus—guiding and comforting them on a most difficult spiritual journey.

Please take a few days to truly comprehend The Genesis Factor of Shri Mataji's Advent and Message. If you do not, then you are the poverty that is Christianity (Judaism/Islam) and the poverty that is Sahaja Yoga (SYSSR). Those who truly follow the teachings of the Paraclete/Devi will be comforted by Her liberating call that aroused us from our deep slumber and awakened us to true gnosis and spiritual enlightenment, one that She promised will continue forever from within. Please enjoy!

The Genesis Factor

"SOME YEARS AGO, Elaine H. Pagels, the noted religious historian, had the importance of the Book of Genesis brought to her attention in a most unusual manner. She was in Khartoum, in the African Sudan, holding a discussion with the then foreign minister of that country, who had written a book on the myths of his people. A prominent member of the Dinka tribe, her host told her how the creation myth of his people relates to the whole social, political, and religious culture in that part of the Sudan.

Shortly after this conversation, Pagels was reading a Time magazine in which several letters to the editor took issue with a particular article on changing social mores in America. To her surprise, four of the six letters mentioned the story of Adam and Eve — how God created the first human pair "in the beginning," and what kind of behavior was therefore right or wrong for men and women today. Stimulated by her conversation in Africa, she quickly recognized that many people, even those who do not literally believe it, still return to the archaic story of creation as a frame of reference when faced with challenges to their traditional values.

Pagels realized that, like creation stories of other cultures, the Genesis story addresses profound and basic questions. Americans and Dinka tribesmen are not so different after all; both look to their creation stories when attempting to answer such questions as, what is the purpose of human beings on earth? How do we differ from each other and from animals? Why do we suffer? Why do we die?

Recent events on the intellectual scene have served to affirm these insights. Autumn of 1996 brought a considerable revival of interest in Genesis. Foreshadowed by a series of semi-informal conversations at Manhattan's Jewish Theological Seminary, led by Rabbi Burton Visotzky, the major event of this revival became a much publicized television series entitled "A Living Conversation," devoted entirely to the Book of Genesis. Hosted by Bill Moyers, himself an ordained Southern Baptist minister who had later shifted his allegiance to the more liberal United Church of Christ, the series raised high expectations in many quarters. A number of recent books have also dealt with the Genesis story.

Robert Alter, one of the most recent translators of Genesis, said: "Moyers has hit upon an idea whose time has come. At this moment of post-cold war confusion about where we're going as a civilization, with all kinds of murky religious ferment, it makes sense to do some stocktaking. Let's go back to the book that started the whole shebang.”

Moyers's panelists included Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, a Hindu, a Buddhist, and several agnostics. Not included, however, were persons who could represent Gnostic Christianity, one of the most ancient and at the same time most timely and creative approaches to the interpretation of the Bible. Nor was there any appreciable mention of Gnostic views in the cover story of Time magazine (October 28, 1996), which followed upon the television series, or in several books published in the ensuing months.

Had the recent revival of interest in Genesis occurred fifty or sixty years ago, this omission might have been understandable. Sources offering alternative interpretations of the Book of Genesis then were few and far between. All this changed, however, after 1945, when a veritable treasure trove of Gnostic scriptures was discovered in the Nag Hammadi valley in upper Egypt. This discovery would transform the character of biblical studies forever. The Nag Hammadi scriptures contain numerous creative variants of biblical teachings.

A Different View of Adam and Eve

William Blake, the Gnostic poet of the early nineteenth century, wrote of the differences between his view and the mainstream view of holy writ: "Both read the Bible day and night; but you read black where I read white.” The same words could have been uttered by Gnostic Christians and their orthodox opponents in the first three or four centuries A.D.

The orthodox view then regarded most of the Bible, particularly Genesis, as history with a moral. Adam and Eve were considered to be historical figures, the literal ancestors of our species. From the story of their transgression, orthodox teachers deduced specific moral consequences, chiefly the "fall" of the human race due to original sin. Another consequence was the lowly and morally ambivalent status of women, who were regarded as Eve's co-conspirators in the fateful deed of disobedience in paradise. Tertullian, a sworn enemy of the Gnostics, wrote to the female members of the Christian community thusly:

... you are the devil's gateway... you are she who persuaded him whom the devil did not dare attack.... Do you not know that you are each an Eve? The sentence of God on your sex lives on in this age; the guilt, necessarily, lives on too.

The Gnostic Christians who authored the Nag Hammadi scriptures did not read Genesis as history with a moral, but as a myth with a meaning. To them, Adam and Eve were not actual historical figures, but representatives of two intrapsychic principles within every human being. Adam was the dramatic embodiment of psyche, or soul, while Eve stood for the pneuma, or spirit. Soul, to the Gnostics, meant the embodiment of the emotional and thinking functions of the personality, while spirit represented the human capacity for spiritual consciousness. The former was the lesser self (the ego of depth psychology), the latter the transcendental function, or the "higher self," as it is sometimes known. Obviously, Eve, then, is by nature superior to Adam, rather than his inferior as implied by orthodoxy.

Nowhere is Eve's superiority and numinous power more evident than in her role as Adam's awakener. Adam is in a deep sleep, from which Eve's liberating call arouses him. While the orthodox version has Eve physically emerge from Adam's body, the Gnostic rendering has the spiritual principle known as Eve emerging from the unconscious depths of the somnolent Adam. Before she thus emerges into liberating consciousness, Eve calls forth to the sleeping Adam in the following manner, as stated by the Gnostic Apocryphon of John:

I entered into the midst of the dungeon which is the prison of the body. And I spoke thus: "He who hears, let him arise from the deep sleep.” And then he (Adam) wept and shed tears. After he wiped away his bitter tears he spoke, asking: "Who is it that calls my name, and whence has this hope come unto me, while I am in the chains of this prison?” And I spoke thus: "I am the Pronoia of the pure light; I am the thought of the undefiled spirit.... Arise and remember ... and follow your root, which is I ... and beware of the deep sleep.”

In another scripture from the same collection, entitled On the Origin of the World, we find further amplification of this theme. Here Eve whose mystical name is Zoe, meaning life, is shown as the daughter and messenger of the Divine Sophia, the feminine hypostasis of the supreme Godhead:

Sophia sent Zoe, her daughter, who is called "Eve," as an instructor in order that she might raise up Adam, in whom there is no spiritual soul so that those whom he could beget might also become vessels of light. When Eve saw her companion, who was so much like her, in his cast down condition she pitied him, and she exclaimed: "Adam, live! Rise up upon the earth!" Immediately her words produced a result for when Adam rose up, right away he opened his eyes. When he saw her, he said: "You will be called 'mother of the living', because you are the one who gave me life.”

In the same scripture, the creator and his companions whisper to each other while Adam sleeps: "Let us teach him in his sleep as though she (Eve) came to be from his rib so that the woman will serve and he will be lord over her.” The demeaning tale of Adam's rib is thus revealed as a propagandistic device intended to advance an attitude of male superiority. It goes without saying that such an attitude would have been more difficult among the Gnostics, who held that man was indebted to woman for bringing him to life and to consciousness.

The Western theologian Paul Tillich interpreted this scripture as the Gnostics did, declaring that "the Fall" was a symbol for the human situation, not a story of an event that happened "once upon a time.” Tillich said that the Fall represented "a fall from the state of dreaming innocence" in psychological terms, an awakening from potentiality to actuality. Tillich's view was that this "fall" was necessary to the development of humankind.

The Serpent of Wisdom

The sin of Eve, so the orthodox tell us, was that she listened to the serpent, who persuaded her that the fruit of the tree would make her and Adam wise, without any deleterious side-effects. It was Eve who then seduced the righteously reluctant Adam to join her in this act of disobedience, and thus together they brought about the fall of humanity.

A Gnostic treatise, The Testimony of Truth, tells a different story. While repeating the words of the orthodox version of Genesis, the Gnostic source states that "The serpent was wiser than all the animals that were in Paradise.” After extolling the wisdom of the serpent, the treatise casts serious aspersions on the creator: "What sort is he then, this God?” Then come some of the answers to the rhetorical question. The motive of the creator in punishing Adam was envy, for the creator envied Adam, who by eating the fruit would acquire knowledge (gnosis). Neither did the creator seem quite omniscient when he asked of Adam: "Where are you?” The creator has shown himself repeatedly to be "an envious slanderer," a jealous God, who inflicts cruel punishments on those who transgress his capricious orders and commandments. The treatise comments: "But these are the things he said (and did) to those who believe in him and serve him.” The implication clearly presents itself that with a God like this, one needs no enemies.

Another treatise, The Hypostasis of the Archons, informs us that not only was Eve the emissary of the divine Sophia, but the serpent was similarly inspired by the same supernal wisdom. Sophia mystically entered the serpent, who thereby acquired the title of instructor. The instructor then taught Adam and Eve about their source, informing them that they were of high and holy origin and not mere slaves of the creator deity.

What, one may ask, motivated the Gnostic interpreters of Genesis to make these unusual statements? Were they purely motivated by bitter criticism directed against the God of Israel, as the Church Fathers would have us believe? Many contemporary scholars do not think so. These contemporary scholars suggest that the unfavorable image of the creator contrasted with the favorable one of Adam, Eve, and even of the serpent alludes to an important issue not frequently recognized.

The orthodox interpreters, both Jewish and Christian, tend to emphasize the distinction between the infinite creator and his finite creatures. Humans and animals are on earth, while God is in heaven, and never the two will meet. The orthodox have held, with Martin Buber, that the human's relationship to God is always "I and Thou.” In the Gnostic position one can discern a keynote that is reminiscent of the attitude of certain other religions, notably Hinduism, which rather declares: "I am Thou.”

The Gnostics share with the Hindus and with certain Christian mystics the notion that the divine essence is present deep within human nature in addition to being present outside of it. At one time humans were part of the divine, although later, in their manifest condition, they more and more tended to project divinity onto beings external to themselves. Alienation from God brings an increase in the worship of deities wholly external to the human. The Gospel of Philip, another scripture from Nag Hammadi, expresses it well:

In the beginning God created humans. Now, however, humans are creating God. Such is the way of this world-humans invent gods and worship their creations. It would be better for such gods to worship humans.

True God, False God

When discussing the story of Noah and the flood, author Karen Armstrong (A History of God, 1993), as a panelist on Moyers's program, asserted that God is "not some nice, cozy daddy in the sky," but rather a being who decidedly behaves frequently "in an evil way.” With his actions in connection with the flood, Armstrong said, God originated the idea of justifiable genocide. Hitler and Stalin, one might deduce, acted on the instruction of such stories as that of the flood and of Sodom and Gomorrah when instituting the holocaust and the camps of the Gulag. Had the panelists called on Gnostic scriptures, they could have quoted many precedents for Armstrong's criticism of the vengeful God of the Old Testament.

The Gnostic Hypostasis of the Archons, for example, states that the cause of the flood was not the turning of humans to wickedness, causing God to repent of his creation, as the "official" version of Genesis declared. Quite the contrary, people were becoming wiser and better, so an envious and spiteful creator decided to wipe them out in the flood. Noah was told by the creator to build an ark and place it atop Mount Seir-a name that does not occur in Genesis, but in one of the psalms referring to the flood. Noah's wife, unnamed in Genesis but called Norea by the Gnostics, is a special person, possessing more wisdom than her husband. Norea is the daughter of Eve and a knower of hidden things. She tries to dissuade her husband from collaborating with the schemes of the creator, and ends up burning down the ark which Noah had built.

The creator and his dark angels then surround Norea and intend to punish Norea by raping her. Norea defends herself by refuting various false claims they make. Ultimately she cries out for help to the true God, who sends the golden Angel Eleleth (Sagacity), who not only saves her from the attack of the creator's dark servants, but also teaches her regarding her origins and promises her that her descendants will continue to possess the true gnosis.

There are other scriptures of the Nag Hammadi collection that repeat or refer to the story of Norea, including the Apocryphon of John and The Thought of Norea. The former does not mention her by name, but states that Noah's descendants were wise ones who were hidden in a luminous cloud, adding significantly," [This was not] as Moses said, 'They were hidden in the ark.”' In the latter it is not only one angel but "three holy helpers" who intercede on her behalf.

It is quite apparent that the creator god who visits humanity with the disaster of the flood is not identical with the "true God" to whom Norea calls out for help. Viewing the character of the deity of Genesis with a sober, critical eye, the Gnostics concluded that this God was neither good nor wise. He was envious, genocidal, unjust, and, moreover, had created a world full of bizarre and unpleasant things and conditions. In their visionary explorations of secret mysteries, the Gnostics felt that they had discovered that this deity was not the only God, as had been claimed, and that certainly there was a God above him.

This true God above was the real father of humanity, and, moreover, there was a true mother as well, Sophia, the emanation of the true God. Somewhere in the course of the lengthy process of pre-creational manifestation, Sophia mistakenly gave life to a spiritual being, whose wisdom was greatly exceeded by his size and power. This being, whose true names are Yaldabaoth (child of the chaos), Samael (blind god), and also Saclas (foolish one), then proceeded to create a world, and eventually also a human being called Adam. Neither the world nor the man thus created was very serviceable as created, so Sophia and other high spiritual agencies contributed their light and power to them. The creator thus came to deserve the name "demiurge" (half maker), a Greek term employed in a slightly different sense by philosophers, including Plato.

To what extent various Gnostics took these mythologies literally is difficult to discern. What is certain is that behind the myths there are important metaphysical postulates which have not lost their relevance. The personal creator who appears in Genesis does not possess the characteristics of the ultimate, transcendental "ground of being" of which mystics of many religions speak. If the God of Genesis has any reality at all, it must be a severely limited reality, one characterized by at least some measure of foolishness and blindness. While the concept of two Gods is horrifying to the monotheistically conditioned mind, it is not illogical or improbable. Modem theologians, particularly Paul Tillich, have boldly referred to "the God above God.” Tillich introduced the term "ground of being" as alternative language to express the divine. The ideas of the old Gnostics seem not so outdated after all.

The Mysteries of Seth

Almost anyone today could declare that Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. The third son is more difficult to name; he is Seth. The third son was provided by God as a replacement for the slain Abel, according to Genesis. He was sired rather late in life by Adam, for Adam is said to have been 130 years old at the time. The historian Josephus wrote that Seth was a very great man and that his descendants were the discoverers of many mysterious arts, including astrology. The descendants of Seth then inscribed the records of their occult discoveries, according to Josephus, on two pillars, one brick, the other stone, so that they might be preserved in times of future disasters.

In the treatise The Apocalypse of Adam, the Gnostics presented us with a scripture that tells not only of Seth (and his father) but of the future of the esoteric tradition of gnosis in ages to come. It begins:

The disclosure given by Adam to his son Seth in his seven hundredth year. And he said: "Listen to my words, my son Seth. When God created me out of the earth, along with Eve your mother, I went along with her in a glory which she had seen in the aeon from which she came forth. She taught me the word of Gnosis of the eternal God. And we resembled the great eternal angels, for we were higher than the God who created us.”

After thus informing us once again of the spiritually superior status of Eve, the scripture goes on to recount how the creator turned against Adam and Eve, robbing them of their glory and their knowledge. Humans now served the creator "In fear and in slavery," so Adam stated. While previously immortal, Adam now knew that his days were numbered. Therefore, he said he now wanted to pass on what he knew to Seth and his descendants.

In the prediction it becomes apparent that "Seth and his seed" would continue to experience gnosis, but that they would be subject to many grave tribulations. The first of these would be the flood, during which angels would rescue the Gnostic race of Seth and hide them in a secret place. Noah, on the other hand, would advise his sons to serve the creator God "in fear and slavery all the days of your life.” After the return of the illumined people of Seth's kind, the creator would once again wrathfully turn against them and try to destroy them by raining fire, sulfur, and asphalt down on them-an allusion, perhaps, to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Once again many of the Gnostics would be saved by being taken by great angels to a place above the domain of the evil powers.

Much later there would be a new era with the coming of the man of light ("Phoster"), who would teach gnosis to all. The Apocalypse of Adam concludes with this passage:

This is the hidden knowledge of Adam which he gave to Seth, which is the holy baptism of those who know the imperishable Gnosis through those who are born of the Logos, through the imperishable Illuminator, who himself came from the holy seed (of Seth) Jesseus, Mazareus, Jessedekeus.

These names, which are obviously versions of the name of Jesus (they are found in other scriptures also), identify the culmination of the Gnostic tradition in the figure of Jesus. The "Race of Seth" is thus a biblical metaphor for those following this tradition. In the Gnostic book Pistis Sophia, Jesus identifies himself as coming from the "Great Race of Seth.”


Old Answers to New Controversies

The current interest in Genesis raises many serious questions. Not a few of these have been illuminated by the neglected light shed by the scriptures quoted earlier. Not unlike the old Gnostics, today's questioning scholars and laypersons are provoked by Genesis to critiques and even to inventions of new variations on the ancient theme. Consider how deeply the social conditions of many countries have been influenced by the picture the orthodox version of Genesis presents concerning Eve and, by implication, women in general. Any of the several scriptures of the Nag Hammadi collection would shed an entirely different and more benign light on these issues.

Secondly, consider the political implications of the story of Genesis. Elaine Pagels, in her fascinating book Adam, Eve, and the Serpent (1988), pointed out that the long-held attitude of the Christian church of submitting to greatly flawed systems of secular government was usually justified by the "fallen condition" of humanity as first described in Genesis. Following largely the interpretations of Saint Augustine, most Christians felt that even bad governments were to be preferred to liberty because humans are so corrupted by Adam and Eve's original sin that they are incapable of governing themselves. The libertarian fervor of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that gave rise to the American and French revolutions was clearly not motivated by the spirit of Genesis. The statement that "all men are created equal" does not occur in that scripture, but sprang from the inspiration of the American revolutionaries, who drew from Hermetic, Gnostic, and similar non-mainstream sources.

Thirdly, there remains the terrifying problem of the character of the God of Genesis. Agreeing with Karen Armstrong, we find Jack Miles, in his provocative book God: A Biography writing: "Much that the Bible says about him is rarely preached from the pulpit because, examined too closely, it becomes a scandal.” Perhaps we may need to take a second look at the Gnostic proposition that the creator mentioned in Genesis is not the true and ultimate God. The unfavorable potential present in the Book of Genesis did not go unnoticed throughout history. Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai, a religious teacher prominent in the years after A.D. 70, warned that the Genesis story of creation should not be taught before even as many as two people. Saint Jerome, who translated the Bible into Latin, wrote that many of the narratives in the Old Testament were "rude and repellent.” He certainly included those in Genesis.

The Dinka tribesmen of the Sudan have a point. The creation myth of any culture has a profound effect on the attitudes, social mores, and political systems that prevail. So long as the Book of Genesis remains a basic text for Jews, Christians, and Muslims we can expect the societies within which these religions flourish to be influenced by this book. Still, there is some hope on the horizon. Although the Gnostic alternatives to the content of Genesis are still usually neglected, as indeed they were on television and in the press last year, some prominent figures of our culture are beginning to take notice. To mention but one such figure, Harold Bloom has become one of the most prominent voices calling attention to the creative character of the Gnostic alternative to mainstream religion. His books American Religion (1992) and Omens of Millennium (1996) have made a powerful case for the timeliness and perennial value of the positions taken by Christian Gnostics, Jewish Kabbalists, and Sufi mystics, all of whom are inspired by a common gnosis. It may be useful to conclude with an incisive and in our view definitive statement from the pen of this scholar:

If you can accept a God who coexists with death camps, schizophrenia, and AIDS, yet remains all-powerful and somehow benign, then you have faith, and you have accepted the covenant with Yahweh.... If you know yourself as having an affinity with the alien or stranger God, cut off from this world, then you are a Gnostic, and perhaps the best and strongest moments still come to what is best and oldest in you, to a breath or spark that long precedes this Creation.”

Stephan A. Hoeller, The Genesis Factor (Quest, September 1997)


The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception
“... Paul is, in effect, the first 'Christian' heretic, and that his teachings — which become the foundation of later Christianity — are a flagrant deviation from the 'original' or 'pure' form extolled by the leadership. Whether James, 'the Lord's brother', was literally Jesus' blood kin or not (and everything suggest that he was), it is clear that he knew Jesus, or the figure subsequently remembered as Jesus, personally. So did most of the other members of the community or 'early Church', in Jerusalem — including of course Peter. When they spoke, they did so with first-hand authority. Paul had never had such personal acquaintance with the figure he'd begun to regard as his 'Saviour'. He had only his quasi-mystical experience in the desert and the sound of a disembodied voice. For him to arrogate authority to himself on this basis is, to say the least, presumptuous. It also leads him to distort Jesus' teachings beyond recognition — to formulate, in fact, his own highly individual and idiosyncratic theology, and then to legitimise it by spuriously ascribing it to Jesus. For Jesus, adhering rigorously to Judaic Law, it would have been the most extreme blasphemy to advocate worship of any mortal figure, including himself. He makes this clear in the Gospels, urging his disciples, followers and listeners to acknowledge only God.... Paul, in effect, shunts God aside and establishes, for the first time, worship of Jesus ...

As things transpired, however, the mainstream of the new movement gradually coalesced, during the next three centuries, around Paul and his teachings. Thus, to the undoubted posthumous horror of James and his associates, an entirely new religion was indeed born — a religion that came to have less and less to do with its supposed founder...

According to the 'Habakkuk Commentary,' the 'Liar' did not listen to the word received by the Teacher of Righteousness from the mouth of God.22 Instead, he appealed to 'the unfaithful of the New Covenant in that they have not believed in the Covenant of God and have profaned His holy name.23 The text states explicitly that 'the Liar ... flouted the Law in the midst of the whole congregation.24 He 'led many astray' and raised 'a congregation on deceit.'25 He himself is said to be 'pregnant with [works] of deceit.'26 These, of course, are precisely the transgressions of which Paul is accused in Acts — transgressions which led, at the end of Acts, to the attempt on his life.”

[22. The Habakkuk Commentary, II, 2 (Vermes, p. 284.) 23. Ibid., II, 3-4 (Vermes, p. 284.) 24. Ibid., V, 11-12 (Vermes, p. 285.) 25. Ibid.,X, 9-12 (Vermes, p. 288.) 26. Ibid., X, 11-12 (Vermes, p. 288.]

Michael Baignent and Richard Leigh, The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception
Jonathan Cape, London, 1992, p. 181-95.


Alternative Realities
“In Bible stories where prophets do utter predictions, there are many instances in which these foretellings turn out to be wrong. In the eight century B.C., Isaiah predicted that Jerusalem would shortly be destroyed (Isaiah 3:1.) A few years later, the Assyrians invaded, but did not wreck the city. The prophetess Hulda informed King Josiah that he would die a peaceful death (II Kings 22:19-20), but he was killed in battle against the Egyptians. The great prophet Ezekiel predicted that the city of Tyre and the land of Egypt would fall to the armies of Nebuchadrezzar ...

Biblical prophecies took a variety of forms. Both visions and voices were frequently reported ...

Other prophetic instances happened while the expedient was in some sort of altered state. Ezekiel repeatedly mentioned that "the hand of the Lord" was upon him during his experiences, and the famous encounter of Saul with Christ on the road to Damascus apparently began while he was awake. The reported nature of Saul's experience (he fell to the earth with eyes closed, and trembled), and its aftermath (inability to eat, drink or see for three days) have suggested to some researchers that the voice of Christ was a hallucination associated with an episode of EPILEPSY.”

Leornard George, Ph.D., Alternative Realities
Facts on File, Inc., 1995 p. 38-9.


“This day I heard Saul of Tarsus preaching the Christ unto the Jews of the city. He calls himself Paul now, the apostle to the gentiles. I knew him in my youth, and in those days he persecuted the friends of the Nazarene. Well do I remember his satisfaction when his fellows stoned the radiant youth called Stephen. This Paul is indeed a strange man. His soul is not the soul of a free man. At times he seems like an animal in the forest, hunted and wounded, seeking a cave wherein he would hide his pain from the world. He speaks not of Jesus, nor does he repeat His words. He preaches the Messiah whom the prophets of old had foretold. And though he himself is a learned Jew, he addresses his fellow Jews in Greek; and his Greek is halting, and he ill chooses his words. But he is man of hidden powers and his presence is affirmed by those who gather around him. And at times he assures them of what he himself is not assured. We who knew Jesus and heard His discourses say that. He taught man how to break the chains of his bondage that he might be free from his yesterdays. But Paul is forging chains for the man of tomorrow. He would strike with his own hammer upon the anvil in the name of one whom he does not know. The Nazarene would have us live the hour in passion and ecstasy. The man of Tarsus would have us be mindful of laws recorded in the ancient books. Jesus gave His breath to the breathless dead. And in my lone nights I believe and understand. When He sat at the board, He told stories that gave happiness to the feasters, and spiced with His joy the meat and the wine. But Paul would prescribe our loaf and our cup. Suffer me now to turn my eyes the other way.”

Khalil Gibran, Jesus the Son of Man


The Scond Messiah
“Some three years after the death of Jesus, Paul, a Diaspora Jew from the southern Turkey city of Tarsus, arrived in Israel. Due to the false 'history' given out today, many people believe that this man was called 'Saul' when he persecuted the Christians and changed it to 'Paul' when he suddenly became a Christian after being struck blind on the road to Damascus.

The reality is quite different... The man who gave rise to this new religion had changed his name from the Hebrew 'Saul' to the Roman 'Paul' when he became a Roman citizen as a young man, as he wanted a name that sounded similar to his original one.

We are told that Paul had a zeal for the Jewish Law and this led him to persecute the Jerusalem Church, holding it to be a Jewish sect that was untrue to the Law, and therefore should be destroyed. He is even said to have been involved in the stoning of St Stephen, the first Christian martyr...

At some point Paul became fascinated by the idea of the sacrificial nature of Jesus' death and he opposed James for not accepting that his brother was a god. In his Galatian Epistle he is at great pains to point out that, during the period of his conversion, he was completely independent of the Jerusalem Church or any other human agency and he puts his colourful ideas down to the direct intervention of God. Paul says: It was the good pleasure of God ... to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach it to the gentiles.4

The ideas that Paul generated, and that subsequent gospel writers built upon, came largely out of his imagination. Christian scholar S G F Brandon wrote:

The phrase 'to reveal his Son in me' is admittedly a curious one, but it clearly has a high significance for our understanding of Paul's own interpretation of God's purpose for him ... When carefully considered as a statement of fact, the words really constitute a tremendous, indeed preposterous, claim for any man to make, and more especially a man of Paul's antecedents. They mean literally that in the person of Paul God had revealed his Son, so that Paul might 'evangelise' him among the Gentiles ... What Paul's statement implied, was a new unveiling of His Son, so that there was afforded an apprehension of Jesus which was hitherto unknown in the Church ... The position which we reach then is that Paul is the exponent of an interpretation of the Christian faith which he himself regards as differing essentially from the interpretation which may be best described as the traditional historical one. 5

If the account given by Paul and his followers is a distortion of the true beliefs of the Jerusalem Church, the question remains: what were its original ideas?”



Christopher Knight & Robert Lomas, The Second Messiah
Century Books Ltd., 1997, p. 3-4.
4. Galatians 1:15,16 5. G.F. Brandon: The Fall of Jerusalem and the Christian Church.


A History of Religious Ideas 2
“Rudolf Bultmann spoke of the "intolerable platitudinousness" of the biographies of Jesus. And in fact the testimonies are few and uncertain. The earliest — Paul's Epistles — almost entirely neglect the life of Jesus. The Synoptic Gospels, composed between 70 and 90, collect the traditions transmitted orally by the earliest Christian communities ...

Despite the fifteen chapters (out of twenty-eight) that Acts devotes to him, despite the fourteen Epistles that are attributed to him, our knowledge of the life, apostolate, and thought of Saint Paul remains fragmentary. His profound and personal interpretation of the Gospel was expounded orally — and probably differently to believers and unbelievers. The Epistles do not constitute consecutive chapters of a systematic treatise. They continue, clarify, and define certain questions of doctrine or practice — questions that are carefully discussed in his teachings but that were not correctly understood by the community or questions whose typically Pauline solutions were criticized or sometimes even rejected by other missionaries ...

Paul interprets his experiences as analogous to the Crucifixion (Gal. 2:19): he now possesses 'the mind of Christ' (1 Cor. 2:16) or 'the Spirit of God' (7:40.) He does not hesitate to proclaim: 'It is Christ speaking in me' (2 Cor. 13:3; Rom. 15:18.) He refers to being mystically caught up 'into the third heaven' and to 'revelations' that he has received from the Lord (2 Cor. 12:1-4, 7.) These 'signs and wonders' were granted him by the Spirit of God 'to win the allegiance of the pagans' (Rom. 15:18.)”

Mircea Eliade, A History of Religious Ideas 2
The University of Chicago Press, 1985, p. 337-47.


Bible Enlightened
The Peter And Paul Of Dan Costian's Bible Enlightened

“In order to establish, approximately, the date when the oral content of the gospels was given a written form, scholars considered the year 70 (that corresponded to the fall of Jerusalem) to be a historical guide. Most of them agreed that the first gospel to have been compiled was by Mark around the year 67 (more probably between 50 and 75) and the last one, to have been the gospel according to John, a little before 100. Between these limits, the other two synoptically gospels were placed during the years 80-90 (after others, the last gospel would be that of Matthew, between 85 and 110.)

As one may conclude from Acts and the Epistles, the first decades of the rise in Christianity were tormented by disputes even among those who preached about Jesus' teachings. In those years, some of them brought themselves forward as leaders and played an important part in changing the content of the gospels both directly and through their followers. Thus, the present-day content of the New Testament was established by the Council of Laodicea (363) and its final form was given during the Council of Carthage no earlier than the year 419. At around the year 177, Celsus, later quoted by Origens, made the following remark: "Some of you have rewritten the evangelical texts three, four, or even more times" (apud G. Ory, p.67.)

From among those leaders, Peter and Paul were the most notable, and they were called, not without reason, the pillars of the Christian Church (see Galatians 2:9; 2:7) because the Church was known to owe them a lot.

The cornerstone of the doctrine of the Church originated in the sentence attributed to Jesus: "Thou art Peter and on this rock I will build My Church" (Matthew 16:18.) At least, that was what the text said in many of the Bible translations, although, there existed honest translations where the correct (uninterpreted) equivalent of the original Greek word "ecclesia", i.e.”assembly" (of believers) was used instead of the word "church.” The same thing frequently appeared in revelation (1:11 etc.) where the seven ecclesias (assemblies) of Ephesus, Smyrna etc. were interpreted as "churches" by the same misleaders. As for the term designating the building (basilica), it was introduced by Constantin (270/288-337.)

"When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites; for they love to pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets so that they should appear to men. But thou, when thou prayed, enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door, pray to thy Father who is in secret" (Matthew 6:5-6.)

Jesus, like many other messengers of God (see chapt. X), did not wish His teachings to be converted into a religion and, much less so into an institutionalised Church. Who could imagine, that Jesus, the One who rose against the dogmatic religion (represented by the Pharisees and scholars of His time, that correspond to the priests and theologists of our days) — as it is shown in various parts in the New Testament (Matthew chapters 15, 16, 23; Mark chapters 7, 8; Luke chapters 11, 12, 16, 20) — might have desired the situation to be respected? Jesus, otherwise, warned against them: "In vain do they worship Me, teaching (as) teaching commandments of men" (Matthew 15:9.)

The words of Paul himself did not demonstrate the necessity of the church but just the contrary. "The God who has made the world and all things which are in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands" (Acts 17:24.) "Do ye not know that ye are (the) temple of God, and (that) the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16; see also 6:19.) "Ye also are built together for a habitation of God in [the] Spirit" (Ephesians 2:22.) He also wrote about "Christ, as Son over His house, whose house are we" (Hebrews 3:6), idea that appears also in the first epistle of Peter (2:5.)

"The historians of theology have repeatedly noticed that there were no definitions of the Church in the primary tradition of the Holy Fathers", wrote Alexander Schmemann, a great Christian exegist who later added: "The Church is not an organisation but the new people of God.” Likewise, the ecclesiastic Alfred Loissy had exclaimed with disappointment: "We were expecting the Kingdom, but finally we received the Church!" (Pavel Evdokimov, L'amour fou de Dieu, Ed. du Seuil, Paris 1973) ...

Many Bible experts have raised the question whether Jesus actually appointed Peter as the leader of the disciples.

The quotation mentioned in the first lines of the subchapter (Matthew 16:18) was not confirmed, but was contradicted. In his first epistle, Peter himself mentioned the "corner-stone, elect, precious" (Peter 2:6) making no connection with his own person, which he perfectly corroborated Paul in his epistle to the Ephesians: "Jesus Christ Himself being the corner-stone" (Ephesions 2:20.) Thus, the stone was not Peter! And nor was the Church!

Besides the quotation from Matthew (16:18) there was still another quotation, in which the Jesus said to Peter: "Feed My lambs (sheep)" three times in reply to His repeated question whether he loves Him more than any other disciple does (John 21:15-17.)

Peter himself confessed to Christ from the very beginning: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord" (Luke 5:8.)

Jesus disapproved of the dullness of Peter who had been far from understanding a parable: "Are ye also still without intelligence?” (Matthew 15:16) which denoted that it had happened before.

Just as Jesus had forseen, Peter denied Him three times out of cowardice (Matthew 26:69-75; Mark 14:67-72; Luke 22:56-61; John 18:17, 25-27.) But the same thing happened again afterwards. Thus, even after receiving the grace of the Holy Spirit, Peter denied Jesus again by failing to see Him as the Son of God, since he called Him "Jesus the Nazarene, a man borne witness to by God" (Acts 2:22.)

Jesus blamed Peter for his lack in faith saying to him: "O thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt?” (Matthew 14:29-31.)

Peter's unrestrained intolerance and strictness were well known, like the episode of Ananias and his wife Sapphira who, both died because of severe reprimand. "And great fear came upon all the assembly, and upon all who heard these things" (Acts 5:1-11.) Peter had a quick temper that came out, for instance when Jesus was arrested.” Simon Peter therefore, having a sword, drew it, and smote the bondman of the high priest and cut off his right ear" (John 18:10.) This incident was told about in the other three gospels without mentioning the name of the doer (Matthew 26:51; Mark 14:47; Luke 22:50.) Jesus reproofed Peter and healed the ear there and then. Christ disapproved of His disciples' violence which also manifested at other times, one of which was the day when they asked Him to call fire down from the heaven to kill the inhabitants of a village (Luke 9:52-55.) Unable to understand the message of forgiveness, Peter asked: "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? until seven times?” Jesus says to him: "I say not to thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven" (Matthew 18:21-22.) "And if he should sin against thee seven times in the day thou shalt forgive him" (Luke 17:4.)

At last, Jesus shouted to Peter's face: "Get away behind Me, Satan; thou art an offence to Me, for thy mind is not on the things that are God" (Matthew 16:23; Mark 8:33.) So he actually was "an offence" and not at all "a rock" to build the assembly (or Church, as it was misinterpreted) on it. Luke omitted the passage that was found in the other synoptic gospels but mentioned in exchange the followings: "The Lord said: Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded to have you, to sift (you) as wheat" (22:31.)

Under these circumstances, how could it have been possible to chose Peter as the highest rank over the rest of the disciples?

There are reasons to believe that Jesus did not appoint any leader whatever. "There was also a strife among them, which of them should be hold to be (the) greatest" (Luke 22:24; see also 9:46; Mark 9:34.) Jesus did not give any particular name but said: "Let the greater among you be as the younger, and the leader as he that serves" (Luke 22:26; Mark 9:35.) Seneca also used to say: "Behave to the one who is lower than you just as you would like your senior to behave to you" (Epistulae 47:11.) Both Peter and Paul could not at all be called humble but only strongly ego-centred.

Jesus explicitly told them that they were all equal: "For one is your instructor, and all ye are brethren" (Matthew 23:8), which totally contradicted the message that He was said to have given to Peter: "I will give to thee the keys of the Kingdom of the heavens" (16:19.) The text goes on and seems to indicate Peter only: "And whatsoever thou mayest bind upon the earth shall be bound in the heavens, and whatsoever thou mayest loose on earth shall be loosed in heavens.” All this is very doubtful if we consider a little further (18:18) the same sentences, this time addressed by Jesus to all His disciples: "Whatever ye shall bind on the earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Thus, Matthew 16:19 is obviously a fake. Paul, who had never met Jesus, arbitrarily divided the supremacy among Peter and himself.”The glad tidings of the uncircumcision were confided to me, even as to Peter that of the circumcision" (Galatians 2:7.) We may well ask: by whom was it confided?

According to others, there were indications to show that Jesus had chosen His brother, James the Righteous, to be the leader. Here is what Thomas reported in his Gospel: "The disciples said to Jesus: 'We know that you will depart from us. Who is to be our leader?' "Jesus said to them: 'Wherever you are, you are to go to James the righteous, for whose sake heaven and earth came into being.' (12.) Thus, it seems that James was appointed only as an adviser, not as a leader. Josephus Flavius and Eusebius showed that Jesus' brother, James the righteous, had been the leader of the Christian community in Jerusalem for eighteen years, then he was stoned on the orders of the high priest Annas the second in the year 62. But James was not the man to oppose Peter's egocentric impulses, and history described him as "a pious, wise, inspired man who was more meditative than active" (Gerald Messadie, L'homme qui devient Dieu. Les Sources, Robert Laffont, Paris 1989.)

Acts contains traces about James' authority that was, at least temporarily acknowledged. Thus, Peter, having escaped from prison, said: "Report these things to James and to the brethren" (12:17.) Paul wrote about his voyage to Jerusalem where, three years after his conversion, he went to meet Peter, but he "saw none other of the apostles, but James the brother of the Lord" (Galatians 1:18-19.) During the assembly of the Christian community in Jerusalem, the one who spoke up to answer Barnabas and Paul was James (Acts 15:13.) Paul, on the other hand, mentioned "James, and Cephas, and John, who were conspicuous as being pillars" (Galatians 2:9) in which sequence, James was placed first, even before Peter.

The apocryphal manuscripts discovered in Nag Hammadi, whose authenticity and antiquity could not be doubted, offered many reports of Peter's misogynic behaviour.

The Gospel of Mary (BG 8502, I) wrote that, upon the request of the disciples, Mary Magdalene repeated the words heard from Christ after His resurrection (pp. 10-17) to which Peter retorted: "Did He really speak with a woman without our knowledge [and] not openly? ... Did He prefer her to us?” (p. 17.) "Levi answered and said to Peter: "Peter, you have always been hot-tempered. Now I see you contending against the women like the adversaries. But if the Saviour make her worthy, who are you to reject her? Surely the Saviour knows her very well. That is why He loved her more than us" (p. 18.)

In Pistis Sophia (Schmidt Ed., Leiden, 1978) Peter addressed himself to Jesus with the following words about Mary Magdalene: "Lord, I cannot bear this woman to take our place and to cut our speech by her talk" (36.) In her turn she confesses to Christ: "Peter makes me hesitate, he scares me, since he detests the female race" (71.)

The Gospel of Thomas is closed with the words: "Simon Peter said to them: "Let Mary leave us, for women are not worth of life.” Jesus said "I Myself shall lead her in order to make her male; so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the Kingdom of heaven" (114.) It was clearly a metaphor for actually saying that she would receive the Self (or Spirit) Realization that is the reflection of the Father (masculine Principle) inside us. That happened with the disciples but the Bible remained silent about Mary Magdalene, the reason for which is now clear.

The misogynic temperament of the man who arbitrarily took over the leadership was to influence the other disciples who, otherwise, were not very far from it themselves. Their reaction, at the woman putting a precious ointment on the head of the Saviour was revealing. "The disciples seeing it became indignant, saying: "To what end [was] this waste?” (Matthew 26:8.) Later, when "the disciples multiplying in number, there rose a murmuring of the Hellenists against the Hebrews because their widows were overlooked in the daily ministration" (Acts 6:1.)

It is beyond any doubt that Peter was the head of the Church but its true theorist was Paul.

There were few men in the history of spirituality who took up their position as usurpingly as Saul of Tarsus. Actually he was man who had never met Jesus, who had prosecuted the Christian community and who, as a result of an event only witnessed by himself, became the reference point of the Church.

Paul very rapidly rose to a dominant position at the beginnings of Christianity. His epistles were written and spread even before the gospels had been written! They took up approximately one third of the New Testament and, if we also consider that parts of Acts which refers to him, then up to a half of the whole text of the New Testament is devoted to Paul.

The Bible School in Jerusalem has scientifically analysed the constitution of the gospels, starting from several sources. They repeatedly revealed Paul's influence during many phases of this process, and especially the document that stood at the basis of the gospel according to Mark. It was found that the last editor who compiled this document could be considered to be the same person who also wrote the final versions of Matthew's and Luke's gospels. The gospel according to John was also "elaborated upon" in order to reflect what was in these other gospels.

Acts show that Mark was Barnabas' close relative and he was Paul's traveling companion, whereas another evangelist was created by Paul "Luke, the beloved physician" (Colossians 4:14.) Irenaeus and John Chrysostom called the gospel of Mark: "Paul's gospel.”

All this material turned Paul into the first doctrinaire of the Church. Nevertheless, his doctrine had nothing to do with the message of Jesus. The church historian Wilhelm Nestle wrote: "Christianity was the religion founded by Paul; he replaced the gospel of Christ with the gospel about Christ" (Krises des Christentum, 1947, p.89.)

Evidences found in the writings of the first Fathers of the Church brought to light Peter's influence upon the gospels. It is worth noticing that Peter himself was talking about "Marcus, my son". In his first epistle (1 Peter 5.13.) Papias, the bishop of Hierapolis (middle of the second century) claimed that the gospel according to Mark had been the result of the collaboration with Peter. Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215) stated that upon the request of the Christians in Rome, Mark had written down Peter's word. After Eusebius, the bishop of Caesarea (263-340), Mark, a speaker of Greek and Latin, had been the interpreter of Peter who could speak only his native language (apud Kosidowski.)

The Dead Sea Scrolls, two thousand years old, are known to have been discovered between 1947-1952. The team of Catholic and Jewish scholars appointed in 1952 to study them, thoroughly concealed the documents from the public. They published only some fragments, claiming that the rest from the early days of Christianity were devoid of interest. This monopoly was broken in 1991 by the Huntington Library in California that released photographs of the original scrolls.

In 1991, the book entitled The Dead Sea Scroll Deception written by Michael Baignent and Richard Leigh (Corgi Books) was published and, in the autumn of 1991, Robert Eisenman and Michael Wise's volume The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered (Element Books) appeared. Both of these books revealed details of an exceptional intrigue.

From I.D. Amusin's Manuscrisele de la Marea Moarta/Dead Sea Scrolls (Ed. stiintifica, Bucharest 1963) we found that Teacher identified Jesus Christ to be the "Teacher of Righteousness (Faith)" and Paul to be the "Wicked Priest", also called the "Liar.” The manuscript called the Damascus Document says that since the last day of the only teacher, until the destruction of all the people of the war who went with the Liar, there were about forty years (20.13-15.) Jesus was known to have been crucified around the year 30 A.D. and Paul is known to have been beheaded in 67 A.D. Another manuscript including the Habbakkuk Commentary (1Q Hab. 9.9-12) mentioned the Wicked Priest whom — due to his sin against the Teacher of Righteousness and the people of His assembly — God handed over to his enemies so that they should inflict him torments and bitterness of the soul, because he had been mean to His Chosen One.

Both from Acts and Epistles Paul was known to have had frequent conflicts with the others, particularly Peter, James, Barnabas and John Mark. He confessed: "When Peter came to Antioch, I withstood him to [the] face, because he was to be condemned" (Galatians 2:11; also see 2:14.) He was contested by the first Christians (Galatians chapt. 1 and 2; 2 Corinthians chapt. 10-12.) "Having arrived at Jerusalem he essayed himself to join the disciples, and all were afraid of him, not believing he was a disciple" (Act 9:26.) The reason of the doubts manifested by others resulted from his own confession: "I will not spare. Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking to me" (2 Corinthians 13:2-3.) During the assembly of the Christians in Jerusalem "a commotion therefore having taken place; and no small discussion on the part of Paul and Barnabas against them" (Acts 15:2.) That his views were shared only by some of the disciples was evident from the epistle to the Galatians (1:1-2) that begins so: "Paul ... and all the brethren with me.” Peter wrote about Paul: "In all [his] epistles, speaking of them in these things; among which some things are hard to be understood" and could lead "to their own destruction" (2 Peter 3:16.) Sometimes Paul went to blasphemy: "Christ has redeemed us out of the course of Law, having become a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed [is] every one hanged upon a tree" " (Galatians 3:13.) the others reacted quickly.

Eisenman and Wise commented on the fragment 4Q 266 at the end of the Damascus Document, that seemed to contain Paul's excommunication from the Christian community summoned at the time of Pentecost "to curse those who depart to the right or [to the left from the] Torah.” Paul was known to have repeatedly supported the faith and rejected the Law. "For as many as are on the principle of works of Law are under curse.” (Galatians 3:10.) "The Law is not on the principles of faith.” (3:12.) "For by Law [is] knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20.) This was exactly the opposite of Jesus' teaching which said: "Think not that I am come to make void the Law or the Prophets.” (Matthew 5:17 etc.). This is then, where the epithet "wicked Priest" given within the Qumran scrolls to Paul came from. These authors believed that "the priest commanding Many" and who delivers this excommunication judgement was James, the brother of Jesus and bishop of Jerusalem. Eisenman and Wise showed that "Acts picture of Pentecost can be seen as the mirror reversal of the Pentecost being pictured here" (in the Dead Sea scrolls.) Rather than taking his contributions to Jerusalem, Paul was actually about to face excommunication from the community he sought to control. The two authors concluded: "One thing is sure: one has in these texts a better exposition of what was really going on" in the wilderness" in those days, so pivotal for Western civilisation than in any parallel account.”

Based on the research unveiled in the Qumran scrolls, Baignent and Leigh came to the conclusion that "Paul is, in effect, the first "Christian" heretic, and ... his teaching — which become the foundation of later Christianity — are a flagrant deviation from the "original" or "pure" form extolled by the leadership" (of James) ... It also leads him to distort Jesus' teachings beyond all recognition — to formulate, in fact, his own highly individual and idiosyncratic theology, and then to legitimize it by spuriously ascribing it to Jesus.” (pp. 266-267.)

Turning now to the analysis of character, let us start with this lack of sincerity. That was disclosed when he reported on the most important moment of his life: the so-called conversion to Christianity, a story that was repeatedly retold under various forms. the highlights in the following text belongs to us.

"Suddenly there shone round about him a light out of heaven, and falling on the earth he heard a voice ... But the men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but beholding no one.” (Acts 9:3,4,7.) Maybe they did not see the light either.

"There suddenly shone out of heaven a great light, round about me. And I fell to the ground, and heard a voice ... But they that were with me behold the light [and were filled with fear], but heard not the voice.” (22:6,7,9.)i

"I saw ... a light above the brightness of the sun shining from heaven round about me and those who were journeying with me. And, when we were all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice.” (26:13,14.)

Here are the versions of the so-called dialogue: I) "Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute Me?” And he said: "Who art Thou, Lord?” And He said to me: "I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom thou persecutest.” And I said: "What shall I do, Lord?” And the Lord said to me: "Rise up, and enter into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do" " (9:4-6.)

"Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” And I answered: "Who art Thou, Lord?” And He said to me: "I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom thou persecutest.” And I said: "What shall I do, Lord?” And the Lord said to me: "Rise up, and go to Damascus, and there it shall be told thee all things which it is appointed thee to do" (22:7-8,10.)

"Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? [It is] hard for thee to kick against goads.” And I said: "Who art Thou, Lord?” And the Lord said: "I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest; but rise up and stand on thy feet, for this purpose I have appeared to thee, to appoint thee to be a servant and a witness both of what thou hast seen, and of what I shall appear to thee in, taking thee out of from among the people, and the nations, in whom I send thee, to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light, and from power of the Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in Me.” (26:15-18.)

Paul reached the apex of incoherence when he said that he "heard unspeakable things said which it did not allow to man to utter.” (2 Corinthians 12:4.)

Under these circumstances how can it be possible to accept Paul's conversion?

From Paul's psychic profile drawn by E. Gillabert (Paul ou le colosse aux pieds d'argile, Ed. Metanoia, 1974, p.100) we learn that "his suppressed impulses strongly came out betraying evident sado-masochist tendencies.”

The masochist side was easy to notice since he declares: "I take pleasure in weakness, in insults, in necessities, in persecutions, in straits.” (2 Corinthians 12:10.).”I rejoice in sufferings for you, and I fill up that which is in my flesh, for His body.” (Colossians 1:24.) This was also obvious in the pleasure he felt when describing his sufferings: "From the Jews five times I received forty (stripes), save one. Thrice have I been scrounged, once I have been stoned.” (2 Corinthians 11:24-25) etc. Paul's sadism became evident during the persecutions he inflicted on the Christians: "Saul ravaged the assembly entering into the houses one after another, and dragging off both men and women delivered off both men and women to prison.” (Acts 8:3.).”Saul still breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord.” (9:1.) As far as Stephen's assassination was concerned: "Saul was consenting to his being killed.” (8:1.) He admitted himself to "have persecuted this way unto death, binding and delivering up to prisons both men and women.” (22:4) "And myself shut up in prison many of the saints ... and when they were put to death I gave my vote.” (26:10.)

According to many specialists, Paul was suffering from epilepsy, one of the first signs being his falling to the ground on the way to Damascus (9:4; 22:7.) Then, there were his own confessions to the disciples, about his convulsions (our underlining): "I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.” (1 Corinthians 2:3.).”I will not boast, unless in my weakness ... there was given to me a thorn for the flesh, a messenger of Satan that he might buffet me, that I might not be exalted. For this I thrice besought the Lord that it might depart from me.” (2 Corinthians 12:5, 7-8.) The slapping was a usual practice to make the epileptics regain consciousness. Yogis, on the other hand, know that epilepsy is caused by possession. His prayers to God for the evil spirit (Satan's messenger) might depart from him were not successful. The others resisted the temptation of showing their natural repulsion to epileptic manifestations..”My temptation, which [was] in my flesh ye did not slight nor reject with contempt.” (Galatians 4:13-14.)

Here is the range of the epileptic symptoms (after M. Anty): "Very often, there is an agitated state of confusion and delirium, interrupted by outbreaks of impulsive rage. The mental confusion starts abruptly and lasts 3 or 4 days: meanwhile the patient is very dangerous ... Some other times, there are sub-acute confused-delirious states centred around mystical subjects and guiltiness ... But what prevails during all forms of epilepsy is the instability of the subject's character. His mood is very unsteady, with a tendency towards impulsive or explosive manifestations. He changes from exaggerated joy to depression.” All these coincide with Paul's state of mind. His blindness lasted three days since the crises started (with the falling, the confused-delirious state, hearing voices that were incoherently reported.) This could also be explained through the fact that sometimes, epilepsy causes hemianopsy (partial lost of sight.) Paul described himself as "a man of Christ, fourteen years ago, whether in [the] body I know not, or out of body I know not, such [a one] caught up to [the] third heaven ... and heard unspeakable things said which it is not allowed to man to utter. Of such [a one] I will boast.” (2 Corinthians 12:2, 4-5.) This state was repeated after his return to Jerusalem (Acts 22:17.) The same happened with his visions (16:9; 18:9; 22:18; 23:11) and hearing invisible voices (9:4-6; 18:9-10; 22:18; 23:11.)

La Grande Encyclopedie offered a concise characterisation: "Paul belonged to the dangerous class of passionate and fanatic people.” (vol. 21 p.115.) The theologist Deissmann called him a.”classic of intolerance.” His impulsiveness and violence were well known and recurrent. "I have declared beforehand, and I say beforehand as present the second time, to those that have sinned before, and to all the rest, that if I come again I will not spare.” (1:23.) He said also in Corinthias: "Such [are] false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And [it is] not wonderful, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.” (11:13-14.) Was this a way to admit his own possession? Was this not the awareness that the light he had seen was not Christ but just the opposite? Did he not admit thereby that he was a false apostle and an usurper? His anti-Christ attitude fully justified the above hypothesis.

Paul made the following statement: "God has set certain in the assembly: first, apostles; secondly, prophets; thirdly, teachers; then miraculous powers; then gifts of healing; helps; governments; kinds of tongue.” (1 Corinthians 12:28.) Nowhere in the Bible was such a classification to be found coming from God (or others.) It was just one of Paul's false assertions since it was he who invented that sequence and who attributed it to God in order to make it credible. He went even further, saying: "[Are] all prophets? [are] all teachers? [are] all [in possession of] miraculous powers? have all gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?” (12:29-30.) By dissociating the gifts, he actually attempted at minimizing their importance.

Why did Paul adopt that attitude? There is only one answer: he did not have the gifts granted by the Holy Ghost as the other apostles did. It is, thus, easy to understand why, whereas Paul had been exposed to incidents in Lystra (Acts 14:9), Beroea (17:13-14) and Corinth (18:12), the other disciples accompanying him enjoyed divine protection. In his arbitrarily made hierarchy (see also 1 Corinthians 12.8-10), Paul disapproved of (by leaving them at the end) the healings and other miracles, and especially the speaking of tongues. "Tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe, but to unbelievers.” (14:22; also 14:9, 19.) Therefore, the fact that the 12 TRUE APOSTLES started to talk in other tongues after the Holy Ghost descended upon them (Acts 2:4) would have meant that they were unbelievers! And who was saying that? No one else than Paul, the false apostle, who had not even met Jesus!

Paul wholly rejected the gifts granted by the Holy Spirit, and recommended: "Desire earnestly the greatest gifts.” (1 Corinthians 12:31.) And he even pretended to be the guide: "Shew I unto you a way of more surpassing excellence.” (12:31.) What did Paul want to put in the place of the Holy Ghost manifestations? Love! He, the very merciless one! (see 2 Corinthians 1:23, 13:2.)

His dishonest and cowardly personality was exposed when, in order to escape persecution, Paul did not hesitate to state that he was a Jew (Acts 21:19) and, shortly after, to claim that he was a Roman citizen, even by birth (22:25, 27-29) which was not true. Some other times, in his boundless arrogance, he imagined himself as being compared to the Saviour: "Ye received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 4:14.)

Paul directly accepted his psychic disorders: "I have become a fool.” (2 Corinthians 12:11; also 11:21.) But sometimes he was close to blasphemy: "We are fool for Christ.” (Corinthians 4:10.) "The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him.” (2:14.)

Paul's contempt towards the gifts granted by the Holy Spirit was only equaled by his scorn for women..”I do not suffer a woman to teach nor to exercise authority over man, but to be in quietness.” (1 Timothy 2:12.).”Let [the] women be silent in the assembly, for it is not permitted for them to speak, but to be in subjection, as the Law also says.” (1 Corinthians 14:34.) Law, that he had always struggled against, was here resorted to for the sake of the argument. "It is a shame for a woman to speak in assembly.” (14:35.) "And the Word of God goes out from you?” Asked Paul, addressing to women. Here Paul was overlooking that Jesus was the Word and He had been born by the Virgin Mary, "submitting yourselves to one another in [the] fear of Christ. Wives, [submit yourselves] to your own husbands.” (Ephesians 5:12,22; see also Colossians 3:18; Titus 2:5.) But he did not mention a single word about the reciprocity ("to one another")! "The women in decent deportment and dress adorn themselves with modesty and discretion, not with plaited [hair] and gold or pearls, or costly clothing, but what becomes women making profession of fear of God, by good works.” (1 Timothy 2:9-10.) "If a women be not covered, let her hair also be cut off. But if [it be] shameful for a women to have her hair cut off or to be shaved, let her be covered. For man indeed ought not to have his head covered being God's image and glory.” (1 Corinthians 11:6-7.) In other words, the woman was accepted by Paul only when she no longer resembled a woman anymore!

In his writings, Paul remained silent about his mother, which gives us a reason to believe that he had been deprived of motherly affection. In his analysis, Gillabert found "the huge void represented by the absence of Christ's Mother, Virgin Mary, in the work of Paul.” He also noticed that Nature, that is the expression of the collective psyche were only presented by Paul under their hostile aspect: the night was identified to darkness and the sea associated to shipwreck. "There is a striking contrast between Jesus walking on water and Paul talking about the sea only in connection with the shipwreck.” (quoted work, pp. 46, 47.

Quite abnormal was also Paul's attitude towards marriage and sex. Again his ego was fully exposed, since he proposed himself as a model for the rest of the people. "[It is] good for a man not to touch a woman.” (1 Corinthians 7:1.) "I wish all men to be even as myself ... I say to the unmarried and to the widows: it is good for them that they remain even as I.” (7:7-8.) "Art thou free from a wife? Do not seek a wife.” (7:27.) "He that marries himself does well; and he that does not marry does better.” (7:38.) About the woman who was left a widow Paul said that "she is happier if she so remain.” (7:39-40), and the same for the divorced woman (7:11.) "They who have wives, be as not having [any].” (7:29.) Even when he made concessions ("If they have not control over themselves, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn"— 7:9; obviously referring to the fire of hell), Paul gave the following warning: "If thou shouldest also marry, thou hast not sinned; and if the virgin marry, they have not sinned; but such shall have tribulation in the flesh; but I spare you.” (7:28.)

We could find a possible explanation of his attitude against women in his homosexual tendencies, that one might suspect in Paul's unnatural attraction towards Onesimus (fugitive slave and thief) who is described in the epistle to Philemon (16) as"A beloved brother, especially to me, and how much rather to thee, both in [the] flesh and in [the] Lord.”

How blind the people must have been not to see, that this man who was at the very least sexually repressed or a great psychopath, how could such a man develop the teachings of Christ? Jesus had never been against marriage. The proof was His taking part in the Cana wedding when His Power became manifested through His first miracle. “A man shall leave father and mother, and shall be united with his wife, and the two shall be one flesh.” (Matthew 19:5; Mark 10:7-8.) The same attitude resulted in the well-known theme of God increasing the number of descendants of the chosen people, which spans over the Old testament.

It was from Paul's concepts, which were wholly against nature, that marriage was prohibited for Catholic priests and the establishment of monasteries for men and convents for women originated. Both are supported by the false idea of the incompatibility between spirituality and a normal sex life. Many ascetic writings spoke about the difficulty of chastity. Augustine used to pray: "Give me chastity and continence, only not yet.” (Confessions book VIII, cp. VII.) Except for Clement of Alexandria, the Fathers of the Church coming after Paul, all proved to have an insane perseverance to this misogynic attitude. Thus, Paul VI declared in 1977 that women cannot become priests "since our Lord was a man.” We shall also quote the example of Tertullian, referring to the women within the Gnostic collectivity: "As for their women, they are such prostitutes! because they are daring enough to teach others. to take part in debates, to exorcize, to think themselves apt to heal and maybe also to baptize.”

Nothing is, however, more transitory than the glory built on lies, so that many scholars investigating the present spiritual evolution have estimated that, after this age that has lasted two millenniums, there will follow a new epoch (Aquarius) considered to be Johanian, in contrast to the previous Paulinic age (apud B. Wurtz.) Mankind will thus restore the original significance of the gospels.”

Dan Costian, Bible Enlightened
Computex Graphics, 1995, p. 286-308.


“Many Things About Jesus ... Do Not Figure In The Gospels.”

“Christ's Whole Life is Mystery. Many things about Jesus of interest to human curiosity do not figure in the Gospels. Almost nothing is said about his hidden life at Nazareth, and even a greater part of his public life is not recounted.” (1. Cf. Jn 20:30.)

Catechism of the Catholic Church, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1992, p. 117.


“All we know of Jesus from the time of the Holy Family's return to Nazareth, perhaps when the child was two, to his baptism by John, which marked the beginning of his public ministry at about the age of 30, is contained in Luke 2:41-52 ... Jesus' family upbringing and education, his likely apprenticeship to Joseph, his growth to physical maturity — these important details of his early years are unrecorded in the Gospels. Not surprisingly, poets, writers, and artists ... have not hesitated to speculate about events that occurred out of the sight of history.”

The Story of Jesus, The Reader's Digest Association, Inc., 1993, p. 95


“... close historical analysis of the Gospels exposes most of them as inauthentic; that, by inference, most Christian's picture of Christ may be radically misguided. That their Jesus, in fact, is an imaginative theological construct, into which has been woven traces of that enigmatic sage from Nazareth — traces that cry out for recognition and liberation from the firm grip of those whose faith overpowered their memories.'" The issue of the so-called historical Jesus is not exactly new; it roiled the consciences of European academics for 150 years and contributed to American Protestant schisms in the 1920's. But until recently, much of the current generation of Churchgoers remained blissfully unaware of its tangles. No longer. In the past decade, iconoclastic and liberal biblical scholars have actively sought to publicize their views, breaking them out of the rarefied academic atmosphere where they have incubated. "There are, after all, four Gospels, whose actual writing, most scholars have come to acknowledge, was done not by the Apostles but by their anonymous followers (or by their followers' followers.) Each presented a somewhat different picture of Jesus' life. The earliest appeared to have been written some 40 years after his Crucifixion. Which was most accurate? ... Might faith have caused the writers of all the four Gospels to embellish on actual fact? Did the politics of the early church cause them to edit or add to Jesus' story? Which parts of the New Testament were likely to be straight reportage rather than pious mythmaking?”

Even if the standards for authenticity were agreement between the Gospels, there is less of that than one might imagine: the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan are just two of several parables that appear in only one version. By 1926, Rudolf Bultmann of Germany's University of Marburg, the foremost Protestant scholar in the field, threw up his hands: he called for a halt to inquiries regarding the Jesus' of history. So unreliable were the Gospel accounts that 'we can now know almost nothing concerning the life and personality of Jesus.' He advised good Christian scholars to concentrate on the Jesus of faith. But, as it turns out, they didn't.”

TIME April 6, 1996


The Gospel Truth?

“Unlike the literature of various other religions, the Bible has always been subject to some measure of scholarly criticism and correction. This criticism undoubtedly developed because Jews and Christians conceive of religion as historical, as the product of definite historical events. Even though the great majority of the Old and New Testament writings are, in fact, anonymous, they have always been ascribed to particular human authors. It has therefore been considered legitimate for other human beings to evaluate them. They have never been regarded simply as a literature transmitted directly from heaven or as so remote from the contemporary human condition as to render them immune to critical study. This is in distinct contrast, for example, to the Islamic and Hindu scriptures.”

Microsoft Encarta 96 Encyclopedia, Microsoft Corporation, 1993-1995.


Farewell To God alt=
“It may come as something of a surprise to the reader to learn that we know remarkable little about Jesus of Nazareth. He died a young man in his early thirties, and the only records of his life that have survived are in the pages of the New testament. But even these are second — or third-hand, and were written long after his death by men who never saw or heard him...

Why is Jesus so little understood, so frequently misunderstood?

The principal reasons are the difficulties encountered when one sets out to learn about him. There was little, if anything, written about him during his lifetime, and there are only brief references to him by the secular historians of the time.”

Charles Templeton, Farewell to God, McClelland & Steward Inc. 1996, p. 85-100.


The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception
Michael Baignent & Richard Leigh's The Dead Sea Scrolls, And Others

Another relevant book by Michael Baignent and Richard Leigh, The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered, begins thus:

“Over the last two years a controversy has erupted in the world's press over the Dead Sea Scrolls that were found in caves 20 miles east of Jerusalem between 1947 and 1956. Professor Geza Vermes of Oxford calls it "the academic scandal par excellence of the twentieth century.” Professor Morton Smith of Columbia University protests that "there is no justification" for the cover-up, and Professor Robert Eisenman of California says "we're tired of being treated contemptuously.”

Working closely with Eisenman — one of the foremost experts in biblical archaeology and scholarship — Michael Baignent and Richard Leigh have succeeded in uncovering the story of how and why up to 75 per cent of the eight hundred ancient Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts, hidden for some nineteen centuries, still remain concealed from the world today. But their book is more than an expose of a bitter struggle between scholars that have begun passing round bootlegged photographs of scrolls yet to be released. Through interviews, historical analysis and a close study of both published and unpublished scroll material, the authors are able to reveal the true cause of all the trouble, for these documents disclose nothing less than a new account of the origins of Christianity and an alternative and highly significant version of much of the New Testament.”

Michael Baignent and Richard Leigh, The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception, Jonathan Cape, London.


“This book offers excerpts from long suppressed segments of these historic documents, placed in caves almost 2,000 years ago and not discovered between 1947 and 1952. In 1952 a team of doctors was appointed to piece together this wealth of material. But, instead of disseminating it to the world, these men withheld it, publishing only skeleton portions.

In autumn of 1991 the Huntington's Library broke this monopoly in California which announced that it would release photographs of the scrolls, secured from authorities at the time of the 1967 Six Day War. They argued that at such an unstable time the scrolls could be in jeopardy of destruction and that photographic copies should be held in America for safekeeping.

The series of scholars, Catholic and Jewish, who previously had held exclusive control over the scrolls, long maintained that there was nothing of interest in the unreleased materials. They said that no light would be shed on the early days of Christianity. They were wrong and had good reason to lie. One quote should be sufficient to throw light for this scholastic deception which traces (and cunningly continues) its heritage from ancient history. If Church policy, even in this modern age, is still directed towards subduing Truth then what really happened during its dark origins?

Father Skehan, of course, made no real pretence to "dispassionate scholarship.” In fact, he regarded it as positively dangerous — considering that "studies carried out from a perspective that puts literary and historico-critical considerations in the foreground can, usually in the hands of popularizes, result in oversimplification, exaggeration, or neglect of more profound matters.”18 Ultimately, the biblical scholar's work should be guided and determined by Church doctrine and "be subject always to the sovereign right of Holy Mother Church to witness definitely what is in fact concordant with the teaching she has received from Christ.”19

The implications of all these are staggering. All enquiry and investigation, regardless of what it might turn up or reveal, must be subordinated and accommodated to the existing corpus of official Catholic teaching. In other words, it must be edited or adjusted or distorted until it conforms to the requisite criteria. And what if something comes to light which can't be made thus to conform? From Father Skehan's statements, the answer to that question would seem clear. Anything that can't be subordinated or accommodated to existing doctrine must, of necessity, be suppressed.” (18. Murphy, Lagrange and Biblical Renewal, p. 62. 19. Ibid., p. 64.)

Michael Baignent and Richard Leigh, The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception, Jonathan Cape, London, 1992, p. 114.


“Cardinal Ratzinger states: The freedom of the act of faith cannot justify a right to dissent. This freedom does not indicate freedom with regard to truth, but signifies the free determination of the person in conformity with his moral obligations to accept the truth.

In other words, one is perfectly free to accept the teachings of the Church, but not to question or reject them. Freedom cannot be manifested or expressed except through submission. It is a curious definition of freedom.

Such restrictions are monstrous enough when imposed on Catholics alone — monstrous in the psychological and emotional damage they will cause, the guilt, intolerance and bigotry they will foster, the horizons of knowledge and understanding they will curtail. When confined to a creed, however, they apply only to those who voluntarily submit to them, and the non-Catholic population of the world is free to ignore them. The Dead Sea Scrolls, however, are not articles of faith, but documents of historical and archaeological importance which belong properly not to the Catholic Church, but to humanity as a whole. It is a sobering and profoundly disturbing thought that, if Cardinal Ratzinger has his way, everything we ever learn about the Qumran texts will be subject to the censorship machinery of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — will be, in effect, filtered and edited for us by the Inquisition.”

Michael Baignent and Richard Leigh, The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception, Jonathan Cape, London, 1992, p. 125.


“In our Indian Shastras He is called as Mahavishnu, the Son of Radha Ji... . But if you say this to Christians they would not like to listen to you because for them Bible is the last word. How can it be because Christ's life is depicted there only for four years? And He must have reference in other books also and we have to open our eyes to those books and see for ourselves what is the Truth.”

THE MOTHER: Messiah-Paraclete-Ruh
Agnya Chakra, Delhi, India — February 3, 1983


“Now Christ actually is described in Indian scriptures but Christians won't go beyond Bible — they cannot. They're so bound. They will not go beyond Bible to see. To them Bible is the last and the first and everything... . Now in the Indian scriptures, in the Devi Bhagavatam, where they have described the Goddess, they have very clearly described Christ — absolutely all, and His life. But He is called as Mahavishnu.”

THE MOTHER: Messiah-Paraclete-Ruh
USA — September 16, 1983


“There are lots of things which look difficult but which are not. There are some who say that Christ never resurrected Himself. Actually He died later on in Kashmir. There is proof of it. But still people don't believe it because they know that if they are in the majority, they can do anything. But this time the majority is not going to help.”

THE MOTHER: Messiah-Paraclete-Ruh-Devi
Children, Money And Responsibility, Christmas Puja, Ganapatipule, India — December 25, 1993


“It is said that He came to India in Kashmir and He met there the King Shalivahan. It is all in Sanskrit. I have read that a conversation took place between Christ and King Shahlivahna, who was a great devotee of The Mother. And He asked Him, "What is your name?”— in Sanskrit it is all written. So He said that, "I come from a country where people believe in filth and I think that this is My own country.” So Shalivahan said that, "You are such a great person who has come to this Earth. So you should go back to those countries to save them and to tell them about the pure principles of life.” In Sanskrit it is written — Nirmala Tattwam. And Christ went back and after three and a half years only He was crucified.”

THE MOTHER: Messiah-Paraclete-Ruh-Devi
Christ: Conditioning And Ego, Christmas Puja, Ganapatipule, India — December 24, 1995


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THE APOCALYPSE OF THE SPIRIT-PARACLETE
The fulfillment of the promised divine eschatological instruction
“The original meaning of the word ‘apocalypse’, derived from the Greek apokalypsis, is in fact not the cataclysmic end of the world, but an ‘unveiling’, or ‘revelation’, a means whereby one gains insight into the present.” (Kovacs, 2013, 2) An apocalypse (Greek: apokalypsis meaning “an uncovering”) is in religious contexts knowledge or revelation, a disclosure of something hidden, “a vision of heavenly secrets that can make sense of earthly realities.” (Ehrman 2014, 59)
Shri Mataji
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi (1923-2011) was Christian by birth, Hindu by marriage, and Paraclete by duty.
“The Paraclete will come (15:26; 16:7, 8, 13) as Jesus has come into the world (5:43; 16:28; 18:37)... The Paraclete will take the things of Christ (the things that are mine, ek tou emou) and declare them (16:14-15). Bishop Fison describes the humility of the Spirit, 'The true Holy Spirit of God does not advertise Herself: She effaces Herself and advertises Jesus.' ...
It is by the outgoing activity of the Spirit that the divine life communicates itself in and to the creation. The Spirit is God-in-relations. The Paraclete is the divine self-expression which will be and abide with you, and be in you (14:16-17). The Spirit's work is described in terms of utterance: teach you, didasko (14:26), remind you, hypomimnesko (14:26), testify, martyro (15:26), prove wrong, elencho (16:8), guide into truth, hodego (16:13), speak, laleo (16:13, twice), declare, anangello (16:13, 14, 15). The johannine terms describe verbal actions which intend a response in others who will receive (lambano), see (theoreo), or know (ginosko) the Spirit. Such speech-terms link the Spirit with the divine Word. The Spirit's initiatives imply God's personal engagement with humanity. The Spirit comes to be with others; the teaching Spirit implies a community of learners; forgetful persons need a prompter to remind them; one testifies expecting heed to be paid; one speaks and declares in order to be heard. The articulate Spirit is the correlative of the listening, Spirit-informed community.
The final Paraclete passage closes with a threefold repetition of the verb she will declare (anangello), 16:13-15. The Spirit will declare the things that are to come (v.13), and she will declare what is Christ's (vv. 14, 15). The things of Christ are a message that must be heralded...
The intention of the Spirit of truth is the restoration of an alienated, deceived humanity... The teaching role of the Paraclete tends to be remembered as a major emphasis of the Farewell Discourses, yet only 14:26 says She will teach you all things. (Teaching is, however, implied when 16:13-15 says that the Spirit will guide you into all truth, and will speak and declare.) Franz Mussner remarks that the word used in 14:26, didaskein, "means literally 'teach, instruct,' but in John it nearly always means to reveal.” (Stevick 2011, 292-7)
Stephen E. Witmer, Divine instruction in Early Christianity   
F. B. Meyer, Love to the Utmost Robert Kysar, John, the Maverick Gospel 
Danny Mahar, Aramaic Made EZ Lucy Reid, She Changes Everything
David Fleer, Preaching John's Gospel: The World It Imagines Berard L. Marthaler, The Creed: The Apostolic Faith in Contemporary Theology
George Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament In Spirit and Truth, Benny Thettayil
Jesus and His Own: A Commentary on John 13-17 Marianne Meye Thompson, The God of the Gospel of John
Eric Eve, The Jewish Context of Jesus' Miracles D. R. Sadananda, The Johannine Exegesis of God: an exploration into the Johannine understanding of God
Michael Welker, God the Spirit Georg Strecker, Theology of the New Testament
Tricia Gates Brown, Spirit in the writings of John Michael Welker, The work of the Spirit: pneumatology and Pentecostalism
Robert Kysar, Voyages with John: Charting the Fourth Gospel John F. Moloney, The Gospel of John
Harvey Cox, The Future of Faith Robert Kysar, John
Robert E. Picirilli, The Randall House Bible Commentary George Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament 
“The teaching of the Paraclete, as the continuation of Jesus' teaching, must also be understood as the fulfillment of the promise of eschatological divine instruction.”
Stephen E. Witmer, Divine instruction in Early Christianity

“Jesus therefore predicts that God will later send a human being to Earth to take up the role defined by John .i.e. to be a prophet who hears God's words and repeats his message to man.”
M. Bucaille, The Bible, the Qur'n, and Science

“And when Jesus foreannounced another Comforter, He must have intended a Person as distinct and helpful as He had been.”
F. B. Meyer, Love to the Utmost

“The Paraclete has a twofold function: to communicate Christ to believers and, to put the world on trial.”
Robert Kysar, John The Meverick Gospel

“But She—the Spirit, the Paraclete...—will teach you everything.”
Danny Mahar, Aramaic Made EZ)

“Grammatical nonsense but evidence of the theological desire to defeminize the Divine.”
Lucy Reid, She Changes Everything

“The functions of the Paraclete spelled out in verses 13-15... are all acts of open and bold speaking in the highest degree.”
David Fleer, Preaching John's Gospel

“The reaction of the world to the Paraclete will be much the same as the world's reaction was to Jesus.”
Berard L. Marthaler, The Creed: The Apostolic Faith in Contemporary Theology

Bultmann calls the “coming of the Redeemer an 'eschatological event,' 'the turning-point of the ages.”
G. Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament

“The Paraclete equated with the Holy Spirit, is the only mediator of the word of the exalted Christ.”
Benny Thettayil, In Spirit and Truth

“The divine Paraclete, and no lessor agency, must show the world how wrong it was about him who was in the right.”
Daniel B. Stevick , Jesus and His Own: A Commentary on John 13-17

Stephen Smalley asserts that “The Spirit-Paraclete ... in John's Gospel is understood as personal, indeed, as a person.”
Marianne Thompson, The God of the Gospel of John

“The Messiah will come and the great age of salvation will dawn (for the pious).”
Eric Eve, The Jewish context of Jesus' Miracles

“The remembrance is to relive and re-enact the Christ event, to bring about new eschatological decision in time and space.”
Daniel Rathnakara Sadananda, The Johannine Exegesis of God

“The Spirit acts in such an international situation as the revealer of 'judgment' on the powers that rule the world.”
Michael Welker, God the Spirit

The Paraclete's “Appearance means that sin, righteousness, and judgment will be revealed.”
Georg Strecker, Theology of the New Testament

“While the Spirit-Paraclete is the true broker, the brokers they rely on are impostors.”
T. G. Brown, Spirit in the writings of John

“The pneumatological activity ... of the Paraclete ... may most helpfully be considered in terms of the salvific working of the hidden Spirit.”
Michael Welker, The work of the Spirit

“The pneuma is the peculiar power by which the word becomes the words of eternal life.”
Robert Kysar, Voyages with John

“The gift of peace, therefore, is intimately associated with the gift of the Spirit-Paraclete.”
Francis J. Moloney, The Gospel of John

“This utopian hope, even when modestly expressed, links Jesus and the prophets to a much wider history of human longing.”
Harvey Cox, The Future of Faith

“Because of the presence of the Paraclete in the life of the believer, the blessings of the end-times—the eschaton—are already present.”
Robert Kysar, John

“They are going, by the Holy Spirit's power, to be part of the greatest miracle of all, bringing men to salvation.”
R. Picirilli, The Randall House Bible Commentary

“The Kingdom of God stands as a comprehensive term for all that the messianic salvation included... is something to be sought here and now (Mt. 6:33) and to be received as children receive a gift (Mk. 10:15 = Lk. 18:16-17).”
G. Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament


“But today is the day I declare that I am the one who has to save the humanity. I declare I am the one who is Adishakti, who is the Mother of all the Mothers, who is the Primordial Mother, the Shakti, the desire of God, who has incarnated on this Earth to give its meaning to itself; to this creation, to human beings and I am sure through My Love and patience and My powers I am going to achieve it.

I was the one who was born again and again. But now in my complete form and complete powers I have come on this Earth not only for salvation of human beings, not only for their emancipation, but for granting them the Kingdom of Heaven, the joy, the bliss that your Father wants to bestow upon you.”

THE MOTHER: Messiah-Paraclete-Ruh
London, UK—December 2, 1979


“I am the one about which Christ has talked... I am the Holy Spirit who has incarnated on this Earth for your realization.”

THE MOTHER: Messiah-Paraclete-Ruh
New York, USA—September 30, 1981


“Tell all the nations and tell all the people all over the Great Message that the Time of Resurrection is here. Now, at this time, and that you are capable of doing it.”

THE MOTHER: Messiah-Paraclete-Ruh
Cowley Manor Seminar, UK—July 31, 1982


Guest: “Hello Mother.”
Shri Mataji: “Yes.”
Guest: “I wanted to know, is the Cool Breeze (Pneuma) that you have spoken about, you feel on the hands the Cool Wind of the Holy Spirit, as spoken about in the Bible?”
Shri Mataji: “Yes. Yes, yes, same thing, same thing. You have done the good job now, I must say.”
Interviewer: “Is it the Holy Spirit?”
Shri Mataji: “Yes, of course, is the Holy Spirit.”
Guest: “Aha... I am feeling it now on my hand through the [not clear]”
Shri Mataji: “It’s good.”
Interviewer: “Did you want to say anything more than that?”
Guest: “No, I just... That’s all I wanted to know because I...”
Shri Mataji: “Because you are thoughtless now. Enjoy yourself.”
Guest: “Thank you.”

THE MOTHER: Messiah-Paraclete-Ruh-Devi
Talkback Radio 2UE, Sydney, Australia—March 31, 1981
(The guest experienced the Cool Breeze [Pneuma/Prana/Chi] of the Spirit through the baptism [second birth by Spirit/Kundalini awakening] given by the Comforter Shri Mataji over the radio. )


Second Guest: “I just want to ask Mother about a quotation from the Bible.”
Interviewer: “Yes, what’s that?”
Guest: “It says, ‘But the comfort of the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in My name would teach you all things.’ I would like to ask Her about that.”
Interviewer: “Could you just repeat the quotation again?”
Guest: “But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things.”
Interviewer: “And that’s from where?”
Guest: “John chapter 14, verse 26.”
Shri Mataji: “I think you should take your realization and then you will know the answer to it. Because, logically if it points out to one person, then you have to reach the conclusion, isn’t it? That’s a logical way of looking at things. But I am not going to say anything or claim anything. It is better you people find out yourself.”
Interviewer: “Does that answer your question?”
Guest: “Is the, is the Comforter on the Earth at the present time? Has the Comforter incarnated? Mataji should be able to tell us this because She said that through these vibrations on Her hands, She ...”
Shri Mataji: “Yes, She is very much here and She’s talking to you now. Can you believe that?”
Guest: “Well, I feel something cool [Pneuma/Prana/Chi] on my hand. Is that some indication of the ...?”
Shri Mataji: “Yes, very much so. So that’s the proof of the thing. You’ve already started feeling it in your hands.”
Guest: “Can I?”
Shri Mataji: “Ask the question, ‘Mother, are you the Comforter?’”
Guest: “Mother, are you the Comforter?”
Shri Mataji: “Ask it thrice.”
Guest: “Mother, are you the Comforter?”
Shri Mataji: “Again.”
Guest: “Mother, are you the Comforter?”
Shri Mataji: “Now, what do you get?”
Guest: “Oh, I feel this kind of cool tingling [Pneuma/Prana/Chi] passing all through my body.”
Shri Mataji: “That’s the answer now.”

THE MOTHER: Messiah-Paraclete-Ruh-Devi
Talkback Radio 2UE, Sydney, Australia—March 31, 1981
(Another guest also experienced the Cool Breeze [Pneuma/Prana/Chi] of the Spirit through the baptism [second birth by Spirit/Kundalini awakening] given by the Comforter Shri Mataji over the radio. )


Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi (1923-2011): Christian by birth, Hindu by marriage and Paraclete by duty.
The Paraclete and the disciples (vv. 25-26): The theme of departure (cf. vv. 1-6; vv. 18-24) returns. There are two "times" in the experience of the disciples: the now as Jesus speaks to them (v. 25) and the future time when the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, sent by the Father in the name of Jesus, will be with them (v. 26). The Paraclete will replace Jesus' physical presence, teaching them all things and recalling for them everything he has said (v. 26). As Jesus is the Sent One of the Father (cf. 4:34; 5:23; 24, 30, 37; 6:38-40; 7:16; 8:16, 18, 26; 12:44-49), so is the Paraclete sent by the Father. The mission and purpose of the former Paraclete, Jesus (cf. 14:13-14), who speaks and teaches "his own" will continue into the mission and purpose of the "other Paraclete" (cf. v. 16) who teaches and brings back the memory of all that Jesus has said. The time of Jesus is intimately linked with the time after Jesus, and the accepted meaning of a departure has been undermined. The inability of the disciples to understand the words and deeds of Jesus will be overcome as they "remember" what he had said (cf. 2:22) and what had been written of him and done to him (cf. 12:16). The "remembering" will be the fruit of the presence of the Paraclete with the disciples in the in-between-time. In v. 16 Jesus focused on the inability of the world to know the Paraclete, but in v. 26 the gift of the Paraclete to "his own" is developed. As Jesus was with the disciples (v. 25), so will the Paraclete be with the disciples in the midst of hostility and rejection (v. 16). As the story has insisted that Jesus' teaching has revealed God to his disciples, so will the Paraclete recall and continue Jesus' revelation of God to the disciples (v. 26).” (Harrington 1998, 412)

“This is the transformation that has worked, of which Christ has talked, Mohammed Sahib has talked, everybody has talked about this particular time when people will get transformed.”

THE MOTHER: Messiah-Paraclete-Ruh
Chistmas Puja, Ganapatipule, India—25 December 1997


“The Resurrection of Christ has to now be collective Resurrection. This is what is Mahayoga. Has to be the collective Resurrection.”

THE MOTHER: Messiah-Paraclete-Ruh
Easter Puja, London, UK—11 April 1982


“Today, Sahaja Yaga has reached the state of Mahayoga, which is en-masse evolution manifested through it. It is this day’s Yuga Dharma. It is the way the Last Judgment is taking place. Announce it to all the seekers of truth, to all the nations of the world, so that nobody misses the blessings of the divine to achieve their meaning, their absolute, their Spirit.”

THE MOTHER: Messiah-Paraclete-Ruh
MAHA AVATAR, ISSUE 1, JUL-SEP 1980


“The main thing that one has to understand is that the time has come for you to get all that is promised in the scriptures, not only in the Bible but all all the scriptures of the world. The time has come today that you have to become a Christian, a Brahmin, a Pir, through your Kundalini awakening only. There is no other way. And that your Last Judgment is also now.”

THE MOTHER: Messiah-Paraclete-Ruh


“You see, the Holy Ghost is the Mother. When they say about the Holy Ghost, She is the Mother... Now, the principle of Mother is in every, every scripture — has to be there. Now, the Mother's character is that She is the one who is the Womb, She is the one who is the Mother Earth, and She is the one who nourishes you. She nourishes us. You know that. And this Feminine thing in every human being resides as this Kundalini.”

THE MOTHER: Messiah-Paraclete-Ruh-Devi
Radio Interview, Santa Cruz, USA—1 October 1983


“But there is a Primordial Mother which was accepted by all the religions; even the Jews had it... In India, this is called as Adi Shakti. In every religion they had this Mother who was the Primordial Mother.”

THE MOTHER: Messiah-Paraclete-Ruh-Devi
TV Interview, Los Angeles, USA—11 October 1993


“But there is a Primordial Mother which was accepted by all the religions; even the Jews had it... In India, this is called as Adi Shakti. In every religion they had this Mother who was the Primordial Mother.”

THE MOTHER: Messiah-Paraclete-Ruh-Devi
TV Interview, Los Angeles, USA—11 October 1993


The Paraclete Shri Mataji (1923-2011)

Total number of Recorded Talks 3058, Public Programs 1178, Pujas 651 and Other (private conversations) 1249

“What are they awaiting but for the Hour to come upon them suddenly? Its Signs have already come. What good will their Reminder be to them when it does arrive?” (Qur'n, 47:18) “As the above verse indicates, God has revealed some of Doomsday's signs in the Qur'n. In Surat az-Zukhruf 43:61, God informs us that 'He [Jesus] is a Sign of the Hour. Have no doubt about it...' Thus we can say, based particularly on Islamic sources but also on the Old Testament and the New Testament, that we are living in the End Times.” Harun Yahya

Good News (An Naba) of Resurrection (Al-Qiyamah): Videos 3474, Audios 1945, Transcripts 3262 and Events 2413

“Concerning what are they disputing?
Concerning the Great News. [5889]
About which they cannot agree.
Verily, they shall soon (come to) know!
Verily, verily they shall soon (come to) know!”

surah 78:1-5 An Naba (The Great News)
5889. Great News: usually understood to mean the News or Message of the Resurrection.

Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy Qur'n
Amana Corporation, 1989


[Moderator]: “Any other questions?”
[Audience]: “Pardon me for asking this question, but, earlier you talked about the Resurrection and you mentioned about the scriptures, where like in the Hindus scriptures they talk about the Kalki Avatar who will come for the Resurrection, and for the Christians, I know they talk about the return of Christ and all the religions talk about this Resurrection and the belief in the coming of the Messiah. So I just want to know since you say you are going to give the resurrection to us, what is your station?”

Shri Mataji: “In Russia?”
[Audience]: “And are you the promised Messiah? Shri Mataji, are you?”
Shri Mataji: “I see now I am not going to tell you anything about myself, to be very frank. Because see Christ said He was the Son of God, and they crucified Him. I don't want to get crucified. You have to find out. When you become the Spirit you will know what I am. I don't want to say anything about myself.”

THE MOTHER: Messiah-Paraclete-Ruh
Toronto, Canada—October 5, 1993

“Jesus then goes on the offensive against the scribes and Pharisees, pronouncing seven woes against them (Matt. 23:1-36). The final woe identifiers them with all those in Israel's history who have murdered and opposed the prophets. From Abel to Zechariah, all the blood of the righteous will come on them as they typologically fulfill this pattern in the murder of Jesus (23:29-36). They are the wicked tenants who think to kill the son and take his inheritance (21:38). They are seed of the serpent, a brood of vipers (23:33). Their house (the temple?) is desolate, and they will not see Jesus again until they bless him as he comes in the name of the Lord (23:37-39). Somehow, through the judgments Jesus announces against them, salvation will apparently come even for the people of Israel. As Olmstead puts it, Matthew "dares to hope for the day when many of Israel's sons and daughters will embrace Israel's Messiah (23:39), and in that hope engages in a continued mission in her.”” Hamilton 2010, 377


“It is the Mother who can awaken the Kundalini, and that the Kundalini is your own Mother. She is the Holy Ghost within you, the Adi Shakti, and She Herself achieves your transformation. By any talk, by any rationality, by anything, it cannot be done.”

THE MOTHER: Messiah-Paraclete-Ruh-Devi


“She is your pure Mother. She is the Mother who is individually with you. Forget your concepts, and forget your identifications. Please try to understand She is your Mother, waiting for ages to give you your real birth. She is the Holy Ghost within you. She has to give you your realization, and She's just waiting and waiting to do it.”

THE MOTHER: Messiah-Paraclete-Ruh
Sydney, Australia—Mar 22 1981


“The Kundalini is your own mother; your individual mother. And She has tape-recorded all your past and your aspirations. Everything! And She rises because She wants to give you your second birth. But She is your individual mother. You don't share Her with anybody else. Yours is a different, somebody else's is different because the tape-recording is different. We say She is the reflection of the Adi Shakti who is called as Holy Ghost in the Bible.”

THE MOTHER: Messiah-Paraclete-Ruh-Devi
Press Conference July 08 1999—London, UK

The Great Goddess is both wholly transcendent and fully immanent: beyond space and time, she is yet embodied within all existent beings; without form as pure, infinite consciousness (cit) ... She is the universal, cosmic energy known as Sakti, and the psychophysical, guiding force designated as the Kundalini (Serpent Power) resident within each individual. She is eternal, without origin or birth, yet she is born in this world in age after age, to support those who seek her assistance. Precisely to provide comfort and guidance to her devotees, she presents herself in the Devi Gita to reveal the truths leading both to worldly happiness and to the supreme spiritual goals: dwelling in her Jeweled Island and mergence into her own perfect being.” (Brown, 1998, 2)





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