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Spiritual understanding is as dynamic as the life it touches. Here are Chapter Updates for LOVE THE COMMON DENOMINATOR MY JOURNEY TO THE TRUTH.
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UPDATES FOR VOLUME I
GENISIS VERSUS EVOLUTION

As stated, I had struggled with Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History Of Time for months before God told me to just store the information and think of Him as antimatter. More than 11 years later, both Craig and I consider Professor Hawking one of the greatest theoretical and philosophical minds of the 20th and possibly the 21st centuries.

Revisiting professor Hawking’s book, I found a diagram that concerned the possibility of imaginary time. It is described in our third book, The True Philosophers’ Stone:

The diagram consisted of two spheres side by side. One was the earth; the other was labeled the universe. On the sphere called the earth as expected there was the North and South Pole with the equator between them. However, on the sphere representing the universe, in the position of the North Pole, Hawking had placed an asterisk representing the Big Bang and at the point of the South Pole, he had placed an asterisk signifying the Big Crunch or the end of the universe. At the equator was the midpoint, which he hypothesizes would be where the universe has expanded to its maximum size.

Professor Hawking tells us that “In imaginary time” there are no black holes like there are in real-time. Concerning this hypothesis, Hawking writes, “This might suggest that the so-called imaginary time is really the real time, and what we call real time is just a figment of our imaginations…a scientific theory is just a mathematical model we make to describe our observation: it exists only in our minds….”As I gazed at the diagram of the two spheres, I realized that if the two spheres were malleable like play-dough and if you could theoretically place your thumb and forefinger on the points of the beginning and end of the universe and squeeze, then you could end up with a doughnut-shaped model with the hole between the beginning and the end.

Interestingly enough, in a recent program dealing with what is referred to as The Hawking Paradox, Professor Hawking hypothesizes that a black hole is the entrance to other dimensions.

Concerning black holes, cosmologists, astrophysicists and physicists posit the theory that at the heart of many galaxies there is a black hole. Astronomers state that the universe is expanding at an ever-increasing rate. This reminded me of the Days and Nights of Brahma. To recap a Day of Brahma, where the analogy was that Brahma was exhaling, was believed to represent the life or time of existence of the Earth, whereas the dissolution of the Earth could be described as Brahma inhaling. An Age of Brahma represented the life or time of the visible universe. Another name for this phenomenon is the “Great Manvantara.” We wrote in our third book:

To appreciate how science and ancient wisdom can come together, God showed Suzzan evolution of the universe as a doughnut; only the holes were not equal on both sides. On the “top” was a tiny pinprick; whereas the “bottom” or flipside had a huge hole. In the April issue of Discover magazine, she found two curious commentaries. First, in the R&D section, an article by Kathy A Svitil, entitled Let There Be Light  stated “A recent analysis of a Hubble space telescope image hinted that the massive stars were born en mass in a giant conflagration a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. Astrophysicist Michael Norman of the University of California at San Diego and his colleagues created a supercomputer simulation to peer even deeper in time. Their model indicates stars started forming 100 million years after the Big Bang, much earlier than previous estimates. Those pioneer stars, 100 times more massive than our Sun, condensed from hydrogen and helium gas, ‘pristine stuff from the Big Bang,’ Norman says. Such huge stars would have lived a few million years before exploding as supernovas.  But during that brief time, they synthesized the first heavy elements -- the carbon, nitrogen, calcium, and other materials that eventually found their way into planets and life.”

A second article in the same issue of Discover magazine made a curious comment which gave Suzzan a plausible explanation as to why astronomers, using valid scientific theory could assert that the universe is expanding, while the ancient teachings stated that everything would eventually be reabsorbed into the Creator. The author Jennifer Khan informs us that, “Astronomers have only recently determined that a mysterious ‘dark energy’ is forcing the universe apart, overwhelming the equally mysterious ‘dark matter.’ that seemed to be holding it together.”

Craig and I understand it as a matter of perspective. Consider that the solar system is on an arm of the Milky Way, among literally billions of other galaxies; that said then maybe it is possible to understand what the astronomers are seeing. If other galaxies were on the sides of the doughnut God showed me then the universe would appear to be moving apart at an ever-increasing rate. If the galaxies were racing towards some mysterious vast empty void, this would agree with the ancient teaching.
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UPDATE TO CONFUSED LIP AND THE SEED OF ADAM

The Discovery Channel aired a documentary called “The Real Eve” that concerned the “Mitochondrial Eve” that geneticists state all of humanity has descended from. As I said mitochondria are passed from mother to daughter and although boys inherit mitochondria from their mothers, they do not pass it on.

The title of the show was deceptive, because the narrator, Danny Glover, was quick to point out that this is not the Biblical Eve, but a woman among a small group of individuals 150,000 years ago in Africa. One and a half millennia ago, the world was in the grip of an ice age. Evidently, our ancestors existed on one of the small pockets of fertile green islands that still existed on earth at that time. We wrote about this in The True Philosophers’ Stone:

Craig and Suzzan were amazed to learn that it only took 7000 generations, for humanity, or the species Homo sapien sapiens to leave Africa and penetrate every part of the world. Through genetic tracking the scientists have been able to trace how and when the different parts of the world were populated. The scene opens as stated with our “Eve” among a small tribe of hunter-gatherers. The narrator states that she wasn’t necessarily the most fertile. Nevertheless, her mitochondria are the only ones to have survived. Mitochondrial DNA is different from the DNA that determines how tall a person is. The African contains the oldest, i.e., the most mutations. The mutations happen at a constant rate creating markers. Through these markers the geneticists have concluded that everyone in the world descends from an African woman.

Interestingly, this would appear to agree with the anthropologists that support the position that modern humanity populated the world from Africa.  These anthropologists, dubbed the “out of Africa” group also believe that modern humans left Africa through the Fertile Crescent to populate the world. However, 110,000 years ago, according to the scientific investigators, the “Fertile Crescent” was experiencing a severe drought. Although conceding that many small groups of humans tried, the geneticists say they did not survive, succumbing to the harsh elements at the time.

One such group succeeded in making it to what is known today as Nazareth. The discovery of the remains in a cave seemed to support the theory that modern humans had indeed populated the world through the Fertile Crescent route. All the same, that is not what genetic tracking shows. Instead, by following the genetic markers of Mitochondrial DNA, the scientists learned that modern humanity left Africa by crossing the Red Sea at a narrow point into Yemen. Apparently, 80,000 years ago the descendants of Mitochondrial Eve experiencing another ice age had become beachcombers and fishermen. Another science supports this theory, as a geologist found stone tools embedded in a cliff, which were later determined to date from 125,000 B.C.E.

After the first group through necessity braved the Red Sea, others followed. It is important to realize that the sea level during the ice ages was 150 feet lower than it is today. From Yemen they followed the coastline up the coast of Arabia and into India. This information made perfect sense to me, as in our studies I had learned that Sanskrit is one of the oldest languages in the world. Geneticists believe the group would have numbered approximately 250 and that from Yemen modern humans moved to populate the world.

Our question was how did just one genetic line become the progenitor of the human race?

Geneticists explain that this occurs through what they call genetic drift. They explain that the original group would have been isolated and therefore over time only one mitochondria line would exist among them. The narrator asks us to consider a small isolated Welsh village, where the predominant last name has become Jones. This occurs because of families intermarrying. As Mitochondrial DNA are only passed from mother to daughter, geneticists affirm it would only take 1000 years for this to happen. This is because not all women are fertile; some women only have boys; many daughters do not survive to adulthood.

Following the genetic markers, the geneticists find that Europeans, Australians, South East Asians, New Guineans, Indians, Chinese and Native Americans all originate from the same small mitochondrial line group. It was this small genetic group that eventually migrated north through the Fertile Crescent and is responsible for the population of the major civilizations of modern humanity.

Nonetheless, some of our ancestors took a different route, migrating East into Malaysia. It took this group 6000 years to reach their destination. In the remote Malay jungle, geneticists have found an isolated tribe. Incredibly, the tribe looks like they belong on the African Savannah. Unlike the known facial characteristics of the region, many of the tribe barely possess any Asian features at all. Through genetic tracking, geneticists discovered the tribes DNA or the mitochondrial DNA indicates that they are from the original “daughters of Eve.” In other words their DNA shows they were from the original group that left Africa through Yemen. Another science may also support the evidence that this tribe’s ancestors might be the original group that left Africa, archeologists digging near the site of the great eruption of the volcano, Mount Tobei in Sumatra have discovered stone tools covered by ash. The ash covering the tools has been dated to 74,000 years B.C.E., which corresponds to the date of the eruption.

So why does everyone in the world look so different? Apparently there are anthropologists that believe humanity evolved not only in Africa but also worldwide, which they say explains the difference between the races. They are referred to as the “multi-regional” proponents. The discovery of “Mungo Man,” in Australia seemed to support the multi-regionalists. This was because when the mitochondrial DNA was extracted from the skull it was found to be incompatible with any member of the human race, despite the earth surrounding the skeleton being dated to 62,000 B.C.E. However, geneticists point out that they are not saying that other lines did not exist, but that all of humanity “today” has descended from one line.

Amazingly, the human race differs genetically less than a small group of chimpanzees. How can that be? Environmental adaptation, diet and sexual selection, answer the geneticists. Apparently, the colder the environment, the shorter and stockier a person becomes to keep warm, whereas, in warmer climates, being tall and thin is more advantageous.

While being in the beauty business, Suzzan had learned that melanin in the skin determined how dark or light a person is. The healthy “tan” that many Caucasians seek, is merely melanin rising to the surface to protect human beings against UV rays from the sun. However, human beings also need the sun to produce vitamin D. When they are deficient in vitamin D, they are susceptible to the fatal disease of Ricketts.

The Real Eve documentary reported that a scientist investigating folic acid had made an important discovery. Folic acid is crucial to the development of the fetus, but too much UV destroys folic acid. However, as stated if human beings don’t have enough vitamin D, then they can contract Ricketts, hence humanity’s need to regulate skin color. Astoundingly, scientists now believe that it only takes 20,000 years for people to turn from Negroid to Caucasian.

So what of today, when the Human Race is protected from the environment? Obviously, sexual attraction will determine which genes are passed on and which aren’t. Yet, the West has become the melting pot of the world. Does this mean genetically speaking the Human Race could gradually become similar?
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UPDATE TO RUMORS OF GODS

The update to this chapter concerns The 12th Planet by Zechariah Sitchin. As I said the book interprets the ancient Sumerian Nineveh tablets as recording humankind’s involvement with extraterrestrials.

To recap, Sitchin relates that the Sumerian tablets speak of the comet or twelfth planet gathering satellites from Saturn, then smashing into the Earth, which was then much larger and known as Tiamat.

Informing us “Biblical scholars now recognize that the Hebrew Tehom (‘watery deep’) stems from Tiamat,” Sitchin theorizes that Genesis is relating the formation of earth after the collision. The “nephilim” or giants, spoken of in Genesis, Sitchin believes are the demigods from the planet Marduk, which had settled into a 3600-year elliptical orbit around the Sun. Sitchin also posits the theory that the later inhabitants of Marduk genetically altered one of the native species of earth, grafting their DNA onto it.

The world’s myths and legends are full of reports of humanity’s dealings with gods or rather demigods. Is Sitchin’s hypothesis that “the fall” is the ancients’ way of relating that our genes were mixed with extraterrestrial genes so outrageous. A good friend told me that the Hebrew nation was very enamored with the planet Saturn, even going so far as to make their Sabbath day the same day as the planet’s “Saturday” or “Saturn-Day.” Could Sitchin’s hypothesis explain the inexplicable advancement humankind made 40,000 years ago? In The Good News - An Alternate Theory we wrote:

Ever since Roswell, people have speculated over whether or not there is intelligent life elsewhere in the galaxy. With the numerous reports of alien sightings, we had concluded that all the witnesses couldn’t be delusional; therefore there was something to the phenomena. Throughout the sixties, seventies and eighties, news reports centered on people being abducted by “aliens.” Recently, many authors related contact with extraterrestrials through meditation and channeling. The first thing we wondered was why an obviously advanced species would be interested in the Human Race? If the sightings and contacts are anything to go by, the alien vehicles are way beyond our current technology. So if they have nothing to learn from human beings, why the interest?

The answer as to why the aliens are interested in humanity comes with understanding the power of human emotions. In reading the numerous channeled books purporting that some outside force was going to save humanity, one aspect kept repeating itself. What these “benevolent” beings want from humanity is their emotions. It is through humanity’s emotions that the real Divine power is discovered. Only the Life Principle within our Solar system contains the Divine sparks of God and until they developed intellect through the Human Race, the Divine power was unavailable. The power became accessible through human emotions.
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UPDATE TO EXODUS--MIRACLE OR HISTORY

In investigating whether Exodus is reporting an actual historical catastrophe or not, as I said I first looked into the biblical great flood, where supposedly all life, save those aboard the ark perished. Turning to the secular sources, I discovered that there have been at least five mass extinctions in the history of life on Earth. Scientists say that four mass extinctions have occurred in the last 3.5 billion years in which many species have disappeared in a relatively short period of geological time.

The “Big Five” mass extinctions most scientists accept are the end of Ordovician, 488 million years ago; Late Devonian, 360 million years ago; End of the Permian, 251 million years ago; End of the Triassic 200 million years ago and end of the Cretaceous, 65 million years ago. To be honest, I had only heard of the last two, so what happened? There appear to be several theories as to the causes of these mass extinctions. I found them listed on line at Wikipedia Encylopedia, they are:

1 - Massive and sustained volcanism. The formation of large ignneous provinces (flood basalt events), could have: produced dust and particulate aerosols which inhibited photosynthesis and thus caused food chains to collapse both on land and at sea. Volcanism emitted sulfur oxides which were precipitated as acid rain and poisoned many organisms — contributing further to the collapse of food chains. They also emitted carbon dioxide and causing sustained global warming. Various scientists have suggested that massive volcanism caused or contributed to the End of the Cretaceous, Permian, Triassic and Jurrassic eras.

2 - Sea-level falls, which could reduce the continental shelf area (the most productive part of the oceans) sufficiently to cause a marine mass extinction, and could disrupt weather patterns enough to cause extinctions on land. But sea-level falls are very probably the result of other events, such as sustained global cooling or the sinking of the mid-ocean ridges. Sea-level falls are associated with most of the mass extinctions, including all of the "Big Five"

3 – Impact event. The impact of a sufficiently large asteroid or comet could have caused food chains to collapse both on land and at sea by producing dust and particulate aerosols and thus inhibiting photosynthesis. If it hit sulfur-rich rocks, it could also have emitted sulfur oxides which were precipitated as acid rain and poisoned many organisms — contributing further to the collapse of food chains. Some scientists have suggested that impacts could also have caused megatsunamis and / or global forest fires, but these ideas are now regarded as exaggerations. Only the end of the Cretaceous period is associated with strong evidence of such an impact.

4-Sustained global cooling. This could: kill many polar and temperate species and force others to migrate towards the equator; reduce the area available for tropical species; often make the Earth's climate more arid on average, mainly by locking up more of the planet's water in ice and snow. The glaciation cycles of the current ice age are believed to have had only a very mild impact on biodiversity, so the mere existence of a significant cooling is not sufficient on its own to explain a mass extinction.It has been suggested that global cooling caused or contributed to the end of the Ordovician, Permian, Triassic and Late Devonian extinctions, and possibly others. Note: this item is labelled "sustained global cooling" to distinguish it from the temporary climatic effects of flood basalt events or impacts.

5-Sustained global warming. This would have the opposite effects: expand the area available for tropical species; kill temperate species or force them to migrate towards the Poles (or perish); possibly cause severe extinctions of polar species; often make the Earth's climate wetter on average, mainly by melting ice and snow and thus increasing the volume of the water cycle. It might also cause anoxic events in the oceans (see below).The most dramatic example of sustained warming is the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, which was associated with one of the smaller mass extinctions.

6-Anoxic events. The causes of anoxic events are complex and controversial, but all known instances are associated with severe and sustained global warming, mostly caused by by massive sustained volcanism. Prolonged high temperatures directly reduce water's capacity for dissolved oxygen, which could cause a marine mass extinction. Kump, Pavlov and Arthur (2005) have proposed that the warming also upset the oceanic balance between photosynthesising plankton and deep-water sulfate-reducing bacteria, causing massive emissions of hydrogen sulfide which poisoned life on both land and sea and severely weakened the ozone layer, exposing much of the life that still remained to fatal levels of UV radiation.

7-A nearby nova, supernova or gamma ray burst. A nearby gamma ray burst (less than 6000 light years distance) could sufficiently irradiate the surface of the Earth to kill organisms living there and destroy the ozone layer in the process. From statistical arguments, approximately 1 gamma ray burst would be expected to occur in close proximity to Earth in the last 540 million years. However, a recent study by Stanek et al (2006) says that GRBs are not possible in metal rich galaxies like our own. A proposal that a supernova or gamma ray burst had caused a mass extinction would also have to be backed up by astronomical evidence of such an explosion at the right place and time. It has been suggested that a supernova or gamma ray burst caused the Ordovician extinction.

8-Continental drift. Movement of the continents into some configurations can cause or contribute to extinctions in several ways: by initiating or ending ice ages; by changing ocean and wind currents and thus altering climate; by opening seaways or land bridges which expose previously isolated species to competition for which they are poorly-adapted (for example the extinction of most American [marsupial]s after the creation of a land bridge between North and South America). Occasionally continental drift creates a super-continent which includes the vast majority of Earth’s land area, which in addition to the effects listed above is likely to reduce the total area of continental shelf (the most species-rich part of the ocean) and produce a vast, arid continental interior which may have extreme seasonal variations. It is widely thought that the creation of the super-continent Pangea contributed to the Permian mass extinction.

9-Plate tectonics.This is the mechanism which drives many of the possible causes of mass extinctions, especially volcanism, continental drift. So it is implicated in many extinctions, but in each case it is necessary to specify which manifestations of plate tectonics were involved. Many other hypotheses have been proposed, such as the spread of a new disease or simple out-competition following an especially successful biological innovation. But all have been rejected, usually for one of the following reasons: they require events or processes for which there is no evidence; they assume mechanisms which are contrary to the available evidence; they are based on other theories which have been rejected or superseded.

According to the scientists, we are experiencing a mass extinction today. They call it The Holocene extinction event. Wikipedia reports that a survey by the American Museum of Natural History found that 70% of biologists view the present era as part of a mass extinction event, possibly one of the fastest ever. Some, such as E. O. Wilson of Harvard University, predict that man's destruction of the biosphere could cause the extinction of one-half of all species in the next 100 years. Research and conservation efforts, such as the IUCN’s annual “Red List” of threatened species, all point to an ongoing period of enhanced extinction, though some offer much lower rates and hence longer time scales before the onset of catastrophic damage. The extinction of many megafauna near the end of the most recent ice age is also sometimes considered a part of the Holocene extinction event.This is very thought provoking and I think in light of what has occurred in the past should be taken seriously. To return to the historiocity of Exodus, today there is bonified scientific evidence that the events recorded in the Bible could be relating real historical events.

Simcha Jacobovici, an award winning documentary director and producer whose work deals primarily with controversies in Jewish history has put forward the hypothesis that the tenth plague or the death of the first-born was the result of an emission of CO2 by an erupting volcano on the island of Santorini. He believes the reason only the Egyptians were affected was because CO2 is heavier than air and only people close to the ground would be affected. The children or firstborn of the Egyptians would have been in bed, which meant they were lying down; i.e; closer to the ground, whereas, the Israelites were awake taking part in the passover meal, which meant they were sitting up. In 1986 the world saw how this scenario could have possibly have played out. Wipedika reports it thus:

On August 21st 1986, a limnic eruption occurred at Lake Nyos in Northwest Cameroon, which triggered the sudden release of about 1.6 million tonnes of CO2. … suffocating up to 1,800 people within 20 km of the lake…

It is believed that up to a cubic kilometre of gas was released. Because CO2 is denser than air, the gas flowed off the mountainous flank in which Lake Nyos rests and down two adjoining valleys in a layer tens of metres deep, displacing the air and suffocating all the people and animals before it could dissipate. The normally blue waters of the lake turned a deep red after the outgassing, due to iron-rich water from the deep rising to the surface and being oxidised by the air.
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UPDATE TO VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS

Originally I did not include Lao Tse as a Christ-like teacher, because God had not guided me to investigate Taoism. Now I understand that I first had to comprehend what I wrote in the third volume, before I could delve into Taoist thought. But first, what of the historical teacher? Evidently, Lao Tse is generally known today as Laozi, but according to Wikipedia, it can also be transliterated as Lao Tzŭ and Laotze. As stated Lao Tse/Laozi is traditionally the founder of Taoism. According to Chinese tradition, Laozi lived around 500 B.C.E. however, many historians contend that Laozi actually lived in the 4  century B.C.E.

Whether Laozi even existed is the issue of strong debate, because authorship of the Tao Te Ching (Dàodéjīng) is attributed to him. Laozi became an important cultural hero to subsequent generations of Chinese people.

So much for debate over his existence, what of his teachings. Wikipedia says that ostensibly, Lao Tzu’s wise counsel attracted followers, but he refused to set his ideas down in writing, worrying that written words might solidify into formal dogma. Lao Tzu laid down no rigid code of behavior. He believed a person’s conduct should be governed by instinct and conscience. He believed “simplicity” to be the key to truth and freedom. Lao Tzu encouraged his followers to observe, and seek to understand the laws of nature; to develop intuition and build up personal power; and to wield power with love, not force.

Apparently there is a legend that Confucius, hearing of Lao Tzu's wisdom, travelled to meet him. According to this story, Confucius and Laozi discussed ritual and propriety (cornerstones of Confuciianism) over the following months. Laozi strongly opposed what he felt to be hollow practices. Taoist legend claims that these discussions proved more educational for Confucius than did the contents of the libraries. Lao Tzu perceived that the kingdom's affairs were disintegrating, so it was time to leave. He was travelling West on a buffalo when he came to the Han Gu Pass, which was guarded. The keeper of the pass realized Lao Tzu was leaving permanently, so he requested that Lao Tzu write out some of his wisdom so that it could be preserved once he was gone, Lao Tzu climbed down from his buffalo and immediately wrote the Tao Te Ching. He then left and was never heard of again.

According to the Taoist fables, Laozi lived for over 900 years, which explained how he was both the senior and the contemporary of Confucius. These fables held that Laozi had been a court advisor in all of his previous twelve incarnations…No historical text supports these beliefs.

Also in The Voice in the Wilderness, I said there were no Christ-like teachers in Europe before Jesus’ time. However, Maurice Cotterell’s book JESUS, KING ARTHUR AND THE JOURNEY OF THE GRAIL  provided information that if true may contradict that assumption. Mr. Cotterell points to the silver Gundestrup Cauldron, discovered in1891, “…in a peat bog at Raevemose, Gundestrup, North Jutland, Denmark” as evidence of a Celtic Christ-like character existing 100 B.C.E., the accepted date of the manufacture of the cauldron. Inside the cauldron, on one five platelets is depicted, the Celtic god of hunting Cernnunos. Linking Cernnunos with Jesus, Cotterell relates, “On his forehead Cernunnos wears the horns of a stag associating the wearer with the Sun, light, God, and healing… the stag is also associated with Jesus.”

In addition, he links Cernunnos with Venus as the morning and evening star. Cotterell concludes, “Cernunnos is hence explicitly portrayed as Jesus on the Gundestrup Cauldron, as he is in the Bible, which surely means that the Gundestrup Cauldron tells, at least in part, the story of Jesus.” Being pragmatic, Cotterell says that if 100 B.C.E is the correct dating of the cauldron, then as “Jesus had not yet appeared on Earth…the appearance of the Celtic Cernunnos” can only point “to a future coming of Christ.”Cotterell believes his hypothesis is further backed up by “…the appearance of another character nearby Cernunnos, a small child riding on the back of a dolphin.” Cotterell says that this scene represents a myth of the sun god Apollo. He explains, “The Greek and Roman sun god was carried on the back of a dolphin from…the island of Delos, to Mount Parnassus...” He reminds us that Apollo and his twin sister Artemis were the children of the creator god Zeus. Then he relates, “Chi Zeus (son of Zeus) was the name given to Christ in the Bible…” According to Cotterell, Cernnunos was also known as the son of Zeus. Apollo was known as the archer (hunter) and Artemis was the goddess of hunting.

Cotterell not only connects the Gundestrup cauldron and Cernnunos with Apollo and Jesus, he also connects him with the sun god Mithra, only he calls him Mithras. He makes this connection because of what he calls, “…a remarkable scene of what has been described as ‘a dying bull pursued by a hunter a two dogs.’” He relates a legend that connects Mithras to Cernnunos. The “Legend says that the Sun god sent his messenger the raven to command Mithras to sacrifice a great bull. Mithras reluctantly obeyed and when the bull died a great miracle occurred-the world began. The cloak of Mithras was turned into a celestial globe on which the planets and stars were shining.”

Like D. Jason Cooper and Gerald Massey, Cotterell sees parallels between Mithras and Jesus, from the legend of Mithras “…seeing the afflictions suffered by mankind… came down to Earth, where his birth was witnessed on December 25 by shepherds.”

In 2000, Craig and I traveled to Peru and Bolivia, the land of the Christ-like teacher, Viracocha. The first sacred site to Viracocha we visited was the Sun Temple in Ollantaytambo, below the city of Cusco in Peru. At the top of stone steps to the Sun Temple, I found myself in what appeared to have been a small room. All around me were large blocks of stone in disarray. Still it was obvious to me, that this had been a very special place. A little way from the “room” there was a wall of six massive blocks of stone freestanding in a sort of open area. Mark Amaru Pinkham in his book The Return of the Serpents of Wisdom links the ruins to a “network of spiritual adepts known as the solar all great white brotherhood.”

Pinkham says of the ruins that, “In the construction of this glorious temple of light, the function of which appears to have been that of an initiation temple for the opening of the heart chakra,” extraterrestrial beings, such as Venusians “...left their signature at the site as a stair step motif of five ‘steps’, which can still be seen, engraved upon the only surviving wall of the ancient temple.”  He explains that the “wall” is compiled of six adjoining “megalithic stone panels.”  Interestingly, Pinkham reminds us that the number six is also the number of points in a “six-pointed star, the symbol of polarity union.”  He continues, “The six panels points to the temple’s function as an initiation temple which was designed for both polarity union and the awakening of the androgynous consciousness existing within the human heart chakra.” Next, visiting Tiahuanaco in Bolivia, I was amazed to learn when we got back that Tiahuanaco was known as “the city of the Lords of Light.” I learned this from being guided to read the channeled book, The Book of Knowledge: The Keys of Enoch. Remembering the pillar concerning channeled information, I discovered that apart from informing us the ancient name for the city, the author, J. J Hurtak says that Tiahuanaco was initially “built at sea level during a previous cycle and heaved up to its present altitude of 13,000 feet.” He explains that the original city “contains the gate threshold” which recounts that Melchizedek would come again “at the end of this cycle of time and open the Treasury of Tiahuanaco.”

This was interesting because although the above information came from a metaphysical source, the mystery of Tiahuanaco has caused many heated debates between different members of the accredited archaeological community. To recap, Graham Hancock questioned the conventional dating of Tiahuanaco of 500 C.E., by pointing out the “irrefutable evidence that -- the city of Tiahuanaco was once a port, complete with extensive docks, positioned right on the shore of Lake Titicaca… ”
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VOLUME II
UPDATE TO 333 B.C.E. TO 1 A.D.

At first this was the only chapter in the book I had not updated, but then Craig and I read Robert Feather’s THE SECRET INITIATION OF JESUS AT QUMRAN – The Essene Mysteries of John the Baptist. Earlier, I reported his controversial theory that connects Akhenaten to the Copper Scroll. As the title of the book mentioned above indicates, his new book hypothesizes that both Jesus and John the Baptist were connected to the Essenes at Qumran. Nonetheless, I am not concerned with that for now. Here, I want to address his identification of Onias IV as the Essenes Teacher of Righteousness.

I had often come across references to the Essenes mysterious figure, The Teacher of Righteousness. Moreover, I had read of the parallels scholars had found in the Dead Sea Scrolls between his teachings and the teachings of Jesus. Robert Feather presents a very good argument for identifying Onias IV with the Teacher of Righteousness,  but first I needed to investigate this Jewish High Priest. According to Wikipedia:

Onias IV is the designation given to the son of Onias III and the lawful heir of the legitimate high priests. He had reason to hope that the victory of the national party under Judas Maccabeus would place him in the office of his fathers; but being disappointed in his expectations by the election of Alcimus, he went to Egypt to seek aid against the tyranny of the Seleucids at the court of the Ptolemies, their political enemies. About 154, with the permission of Ptolemy VI (Philometor), he built at Leontopolis a temple which, though comparatively small, was modeled on that of Jerusalem, and was called by the name of its founder. Onias doubtless expected that after the desecration of the Temple at Jerusalem by the Syrians the Egyptian temple would be regarded as the only legitimate one; but the traditional teachings of Judaism, as contained in the Mishnah, concede only quasi-legitimate status to the temple of Onias; in fact, even for the Egyptian Jews the latter did not possess the same importance as did the Temple of Jerusalem.

Onias IV, who enjoyed the favor of the Egyptian court, succeeded in elevating Egyptian Judaism to a position of dignity and importance. A large number of able-bodied Judeans had accompanied Onias to Egypt, and these strangers, who were there called Κάτοικοι (“inhabitants”), received, on condition of performing military service and preserving the internal peace of the country, tracts of land of their own, on which they lived with their families. The district inhabited by them lay between Memphis and Pelusium, and was long called the “land of Onias”.

The Damascus Document reports: “He God left a remnant to Israel and did not deliver it up to be destroyed. And in the age of wrath, three hundred and ninety years after he had given them into the hand King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, He visited them and He caused a plant root to spring from Israel and Aaron to inherit His land…yet for twenty years they were like blind men groping the way.”

Robert Feather identifies the “plant root” as the Teacher of Righteousness, who as I said he identifies as Onias IV. First Mr. Feather asks us to consider that Onias IV was appointed as High Priest in 176 B.C.E. He observes that 176 B.C.E. is exactly 390 years from the destruction of the first temple in Jerusalem. Providing even more evidence, Mr. Feather relates that Onias IV was the last Zadokite line of High Priests.” The Zadokite line traces its ancestry directly from Aaron and the tribe of Levites.

As for the reference to the “twenty years” of groping “..like blind men…” Mr. Feather says, “…The Greek successors of Alexander the Great began their rule of Judaea in 197 B.C.E. The ‘plant root’ is in dissaray as to how to deal with the new threat, and twenty years of groping like blind men pass until the Teacher of Righteousness takes command. It is now 177 B.C.E.”

The Teacher of Righteousness’ nemesis is “The Wicked Priest.” Mr. Feather identifies this figure with Menelaus, who succeeds Onias IV as High Priest. It is this event that causes Onias IV to flee to Egypt to appeal to Pharaoh Ptolemy VI for assistance and where he builds the temple of Onias.
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UPDATE TO CHAPTER VIII BETHLEHEM TO NAZARETH

The Good News - An Alternate Theory, presents a hypothesis of Jesus growing up in Alexandria with no idea that he was destined to be the prophesied Jewish messiah. It provides Craig’s and my discoveries over the twelve years of guided study. I feel it is a crucial piece to my journey; consequently, it is reproduced throughout the updates as I feel it is appropriate.

A key element of the infancy narratives was to incorporate the fulfillment of the prophecy in Hosea 11:1, which said the father’s son, would be called out of Egypt. Let’s suppose for the sake of argument that the prophecy is relating to the messiah. If we accept this, is the Gospel of Matthew narrative correct? We would have to say NO, because our studies have revealed that the infancy stories were concocted in order to link Jesus to Moses.

Many scholars have hypothesized that Jesus was initiated into the Egyptian mystery schools. What if he had been born in Egypt rather than Nazareth or Bethlehem? It would certainly explain some of the mysterious events in the gospels. History records that many Jews settled in Alexandria, Egypt, after they returned from exile. In Alexandria were several mystery schools, such as Isis, Dionysus and Hermes. Isn’t it possible that some of those Jews could have been exposed to these mystery or esoteric schools?

Several writings point to Jesus and John the Baptist as being members of an ascetic Essene sect. We had been surprised to discover that the sect of Essenes wasn’t restricted to only an ascetic enclave whose remnants have been found in Qumran, near the Dead Sea. Apparently the Essenes also had a following within the general Jewish population and counted entire families as members.

There has been much speculation as to where Jesus was before his baptism by John, with some proposing that he was in India, while others favor his originating from Egypt. If we dismiss the infancy narratives (found in Matthew and Luke) along with the story of Jesus in the temple at the age of twelve, then two of the Gospels (Mark and John) have Jesus suddenly appearing at the river Jordan around the age of thirty. However, if we take into consideration the other writings, then maybe we can offer another explanation of the contradictions within the gospels. So with this premise in mind, we would like to present a different hypothesis for your consideration.

The hypothesis is that as an adolescent he entered the mystery school of Isis and was eventually initiated by the high priestess and trained in the arts of alchemy and magic. I feel his training explains some of the more mysterious events, such as recorded in John 8:59 where, when the Pharisees tried to stone him, he escaped by becoming invisible to them.

At the same time as Jesus was being trained in Egypt, his cousin John had entered an ascetic Essene community. While he was there, John received a vision informing him that he was to prepare the way for the messiah. At the time he did not know that the messiah was his cousin Jesus. More than likely he told his teachers about the vision, but because the Essene leaders were waiting for Elijah to return and John didn’t fit the expected profile, his revelations were not received well. He was told to forget the vision and continue his studies.
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UPDATE TO CHAPTER IX GNOSIS VERSUS ORTHODOXY

In investigating the Gnostics, I discovered there were multiple sects and like today’s Christianity they all held wildly differing views on Jesus’ mission. As I said, God had guided me to the Valentinians as holding the piece of the Gnostic puzzle, but I have to admit to finding their explanation of the beginning of everything as confusing. That is the main reason for writing The Good News. I should state categorically, all the explanations are what God either led us to or showed us in visions. The Good News is available free, to download from the web. Or you can order a copy from Amazon.com or AuthorHouse.com.

Before we start, it may be beneficial to relate what God told us about the Divine realm “It is impossible for the human brain to comprehend how spiritual forces operate.” We can only identify with spiritual operation by relating to concepts we do comprehend. In point of fact, it wasn’t until the recent discovery of quantum physics that we began to understand energy, atoms and chemical forces. When the Gnostic teacher Valentinus wrote The Gospel of Truth, about nineteen hundred years ago, humanity didn’t even understand electricity, let alone atomic and sub-atomic particles. Consequently, the Gnostics tried to use terms that their contemporaries could understand. These analogies in no way meant that they saw the Divine realm in the same way as the mythical demigods whom the Greeks thought resided on Mount Olympus. Additionally we need to state that although we refer to God in “masculine” terms, this does not mean that we think of the Supreme Being as masculine. With this said, let us share what we came to understand about Gnostic emanations.

We are grateful to Professor Elaine Pagels for her translation of the teachings of the Gnostic Valentinians into a cohesive understanding.

Apparently the followers of Valentinus, who according to one report nearly became pope before his separation from orthodoxy told a mythical story to explain the beginning of everything. The myth said that the First Father or Supreme Being desired to be known, and so projected Himself into His consort, Silence, which brought forth two emanations, Mind (masculine) and Truth (feminine). This pair in turn brought forth the Logos (masculine) and Life (feminine), who brought forth the pair Humanity (masculine) and Church (feminine). (It is important to keep in mind these are ancient terms that have been translated into English and should not be confused with the definitions of the words church and humanity used today.) These six emanations, together with Silence and the Supreme Being, made up what the Valentinians referred to as the Ogdoad (8). The pair Humanity and Church also brought forth a pair who subsequently emanated another pair. Eventually, apart from the Ogdoad there were eleven more pairs, (22) which completed the thirty members of the Divine realm, which the Gnostics called the Pleroma. Each pair consisted of both masculine and feminine aspects working together in unison.

As we have said, the human mind can only conceptualize Divine powers in the most vague terms. This is why Jesus taught in parables and analogies; our vocabulary is wholly inadequate. Consequently, to attempt to put the pairs of emanations into our frame of reference is extremely difficult. Even so, God explained to us that rather than seeing these pairs in terms of couples, we should regard them as pairs of opposites, such as active and passive or positive and negative. Unfortunately the word “negative” has become connected to anything evil, but negative here needs to be seen as analogous to, relatively speaking, the negative prong of an electrical appliance’s plug working in conjunction with the positive prong. Both the positive and negative prongs are needed for the appliance to operate. Another example of how Divine potencies work together is the flower (passive) being pollinated by the bee (active); both depend upon each other.

Humanity has retained the memory of the union between these emanations through the myths and legends of creator gods and goddesses. These deities are known by different names throughout the world, such as; Shakti and Shiva, El and Astarte or Ashteroth, Baal and Baalti, and Zeus and Hera. Gradually the populations divided these pairs into sun/sky-gods and earth-goddesses. Civilizations that used brute force to rule and conquer their neighbors, gravitated toward the veneration of “sun/sky-gods,” which they saw demonstrated their power through manifestations of visible eclipses and thunderbolts. Tribal communities that relied on their survival by cooperation with “Mother Nature” came to venerate the feminine side of deity through the goddess. Regardless of later civilizations having given predominance to the male gods, the creative forces were always seen as dual. The concept of rulers as king and queen and emperor and empress, also reflected the union of the members of the Pleroma.

Valentinus tells us the problem began as Sophia; the feminine side of the last pair to be emanated went in search of her origin without her partner, who was referred to as (What-has-been-willed). We wondered if “he” could be seen as the Divine Will?

Because Sophia acted without her male partner, What-has-been-willed, she went against the natural order. In seeking the Supreme Being, she turned back and, in the words of Valentinus, “Was in danger of being absorbed into the Father’s sweetness.” We understand this to mean that when she beheld the magnificence of God, she became mesmerized and moved to rejoin Him. This is akin to a moth flying too close to the flame. Like a moth gets destroyed or absorbed by the fire, Sophia was in danger of being annihilated. However, unlike the exposed flame, the Supreme Being is surrounded by a power, or in the modern vernacular, a force field, that is referred to as the Limit. The difference between this force field and others was the Gnostic Limit had consciousness, and had the capability of supporting and restoring Sophia to her rightful place within the Pleroma.

Unfortunately, the emotions Sophia experienced (fear, grief, confusion and ignorance) could not be absorbed into the Pleroma and were expelled from the Divine plane. This meant that she became separated from parts of herself. To use an analogy, this would be similar to a person’s gangrenous arm or leg being amputated. Because Sophia was a member of the Pleroma, she was entirely infused with Divine power. To avoid the rest of the Pleroma becoming contaminated, for want of a better description, a Veil was temporarily placed between the Divine realm and that portion of Sophia, which was expelled. Also to prevent it’s happening again, the Supreme Being emanated the Christ, along with His partner the Holy Spirit, to teach the members of the Pleroma of their progenitor.

All of the above is very difficult to understand in scientific terms. However, God communicated to us if instead of names such as Mind, Life, Humanity and Limit, we think in terms of frequencies as in light, sound, vibration, and molecular bonds, then it becomes closer to today’s scientific view.

Desiring to rescue or recover her lost aspects, Sophia united with the Christ. Ptolemy, a successor to Valentinus taught that Sophia and the Christ transformed her fear into water, her grief into air, her confusion into earth and her ignorance into fire. These four elements were then used to create everything in the universe.

Earlier we discussed how the Human Race had retained the knowledge of the masculine and feminine powers by the worshipping of male and female “gods and goddesses.” You may have noticed that in the list of deities we didn’t include Osiris and Isis that is because they were actual historical figures. Also Isis represented Sophia and Osiris signified the Christ. There was a legend that Isis with her consort; Osiris corrected the watchers mistake with humanity. [In the ancient Book of Enoch, translated by Richard Laurence, the author relates that these “watchers” reveal the mysteries to mankind, which results in the multiplying of evil.]

Even though we have been speaking of Sophia in feminine terms “she” shouldn’t be seen as a goddess. God had said that humanity is destined to unite the opposites: darkness and light, male and female and spirit and matter. So to think of the Gnostic emanations in terms of male and female gods and goddesses could be an error. Rather, it would be more appropriate to think of them as androgynous. We had found it interesting to learn that the Greek term for spirit is pneuma, which is neuter, neither masculine nor feminine, but both.

The elements of the universe made from Sophia’s Divine residue (emotions) became immersed in the Life Principle and lay dormant waiting to be awakened. So the seemingly interminable cycles of evolution began to transmute the elements (emotions) back into Spirit.

Due to the elements containing Sophia’s essence, they were of a dual nature, spiritual and material. They also contained both intelligence from Nous or Mind and the energy of life from Life. And so to redeem her residue, the Demiurge, was brought forth by Sophia and the Christ. The Demiurge, which the Gnostics called Ialdaboath, was the Creator and God of the Old Testament and has been worshiped throughout the world under various names. Because the Creator/Demiurge was beneath the Veil a new realm was created known as the Soul realm, which encompassed multiple layers including the astral plane. Every being beneath the Veil became ensouled.

The Gnostics believed that the Creator remained ignorant of his true origins, which they think is evinced with his statement in the Old Testament, “I am a jealous God etc,” whereas Jesus taught us that the Heavenly Father was Love. One of the first directives received was that our mission involved “vindicating Jehovah.” We learned this meant removing violent acts from his responsibility: more on this later.

The Demiurge/Creator’s role was as the Architect of the universe to administer evolution. He was unaware of the Divine sparks laying dormant in the elements, and so with the statement “Let there be Light” he unwittingly began the awakening of the sparks. Obviously the “Light” referred to in Genesis is not daylight or sunlight as this statement is made before the creation of the sun and moon or stars. We think the “Light” in Genesis should be seen in terms of Electricity. When we switch on the light in a darkened room we reveal the contents. In other words through the senses we become aware of the contents of the room. Even a blind person uses his or her senses of touch, smell and hearing to determine their surroundings. Consequently, if we connect Light with the enlivening of the Life Principle encased within the elements, then the Big Bang can also be associated with this event. This instant can also be considered as the beginning of the objective plane and linear time.

It may also help to think of the Divine sparks, dormant within the elements in terms of the sparks that fly off from a bonfire. They have no volition of their own and are completely at the “mercy” of the wind. The bonfire would represent the Supreme Being, however, the sparks that fly off into the night become separated from it. Many New Age philosophers teach that each human being is Divine and therefore does not need any Divine help. In a way they are correct. Every member of the Human Race is born with the potential of awakening the Divine spark within him or her. But, and this is a big but, until they give up thinking of themselves as separate individuals with complete autonomy, they are like the single spark that flies off into the night, they will eventually cease to shine.

Because the sparks immersed in the elements came from above the Veil, they had the capacity to co-create. All they waited for was the development of the intellect, which occurred with the development of Homo Sapien Sapiens, which enabled the Life Principle to access Mind/Nous to make this a reality.Previously, we said that we were to vindicate Jehovah and Saint Paul’s reference to not avenging an injustice with an injustice, but returning a wrong with a right, which “heap coals of fire” on the antagonist’s head provides the perfect example. Although St Paul wrote this in his letter to the Romans, what we did not realize was that he was referring to the Old Testament. (Leviticus 19:18 Deuteronomy 32:35) Although the latter scripture in Deuteronomy concerns how “Yahweh” will “avenge” Moses, the former in Leviticus is an injunction for constraint. “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge…” This sounded a great deal more just than vengeful and more indicative of a Divine being. Unfortunately, humanity wanted injustice eradicated and until they developed mercy could not conceive of the concept that kindness and compassion could “heap fiery coals”  (Proverbs 25:22) on their antagonist’s head.
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UPDATE TO CHAPTER X PERSECUTION AND THE EARLY CHURCH

At the start of the chapter, I said that Saint Paul was attacked under the name of Simon Magus. What I was surprised to learn was that Simon’s companion; Helen was linked to Mary Magdalene. We wrote in The Good News:

After St Paul’s’ conversion Acts says that the disciples of Jerusalem were afraid of him and it wasn’t until Barnabas took him to the Apostles and reported Paul’s preaching that he was accepted. (Acts 9: 26-27) If we recall, Jesus appeared to his disciples in such a way that they did not recognize him. Saul/St Paul arriving in Jerusalem repeating Jesus’ words must have given them pause for thought. Could the disciples have wondered if Saul was Jesus returned?

As stated, Professor Elaine Pagels said that St Paul used Gnostic terms in his letters, (see 1Corinthinians 3:1). If St Paul did travel with Mary Magdalene it would explain why the Church attacked them under the names of Simon and Helen:

Many Gnostics claim that they take their teachings from Paul. In fact, Valentinus claimed to have been taught by Theudas a disciple of St Paul and as Pistis Sophia reports Jesus taught about Sophia after his resurrection, passing the baton, so to speak to Mary Magdalene. Could this be how St. Paul also learned about these controversial teachings? The whole premise of the Gnostics was one of self-responsibility. Gnosticism held that Jesus showed us the way. Salvation is in our hands. At the time of St Paul, the Jerusalem Church was gaining both converts and wealth. If Gnosticism had prevailed there would have been no need for a hierarchical Church.

The Church did not succeed in vilifying Saint Paul, but Christendom has come to vilify Judas Iscariot, saying that the New Testament gives them grounds, but does it?. In the Gospel of Mark the earliest accredited gospel, the disciples complain to Jesus about the use of Spikenard to anoint him, but by the last written gospel, John, the writer has Judas Iscariot complaining of the waste of the Spikenard, rather than the disciples. In The Good News we wrote:

The name Judas has come to be the synonym for traitor. Nonetheless, many scholars point out that the gospel account seems to have Jesus instigating the “betrayal.” The gospels report that Jesus knew he was to die, and that after three days he would appear alive to the disciples. After Peter declared Jesus the Christ, almost immediately Jesus castigated him for denying the prophecy of his master’s death, even going so far as to call him Satan, which meant adversary.

A recent documentary on the “betrayal” and arrest of Jesus directs us to the fact that Jesus had the opportunity to escape from the Garden of Gethsemane. In fact as stated earlier he had escaped violence several times previously by “hiding” himself (John 8: 59). Jesus knew that in order to fulfill his mission, he had to be arrested. He even stopped Peter from defending him, telling the disciples if it weren’t meant to happen, he would have twelve legions (144,000) of angels to assist him. (Matthew 26:53)

In The Good News, we propose a different scenario:
What if Jesus approached Judas Iscariot to help him, telling him that in order for him to declare himself the messiah, he needed to be brought before the Jewish authorities? What if he told Judas that no one was to know, including the other disciples? This was because in order to fulfill prophecy, he needed to appear to be betrayed, as per (Psalms 41:9; 55:12-14.) Many times the foreknowledge of future events can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy. Jesus, as a trained Essene master would have been aware of the prophecy in Psalms. Could this have been why he approached Judas Iscariot? Judas was a zealot and saw the culmination of Jesus’ ministry as an earthly king. He had witnessed Jesus’ ability to elude his captors and probably thought Jesus was going to reveal who he was by supernatural means. What if, after Jesus was arrested, Judas followed him expecting Jesus to save himself? It must have been devastating for Judas to realize that Jesus was going to be crucified.

For anyone to identify himself or herself as the messiah without proof was considered blasphemy. However, the gospels say that Jesus had proven that he was the messiah several times. Anyone who had traveled with Jesus and witnessed the miracles could have reasonably expected their master to reveal his power. After Jesus was scourged, and it became clear what was going to happen, could Judas have asked, “Why didn’t he show the Sanhedrin his powers? Why didn’t he prove that he was the messiah?”

Something that has puzzled us is why the Jewish authorities didn’t recognize Jesus as the messiah and wanted him dead. The New Testament records “miracle” after “miracle”, but were they? Other writings state there were many healers in the Holy Lands during the first century of the Common Era. For instance, Apollonius of Tyana, a contemporary of St Paul was known as a healer.

Today, the healing of someone, without medical assistance is seen as a miracle. Yet as we learn that the body is so much more than mere physical flesh and blood, people are achieving remarkable results with holistic medicine. Reiki is a technique often used to assist in healing. Both the practitioner and the patient are involved. Isn’t this like Jesus saying to the person he heals, “Your faith has made you whole,” and so we ask if healing wasn’t proof of messiahship, then why did the Jewish authorities fear Jesus so much? The answer is in Jesus’ forgiving sins. The people of Israel and Judea at that time did not have compassion for those members of society that were less fortunate. The poor, the sick and the infirm were seen as deserving of their afflictions because of past “sins.” Like the fear of “eternal damnation” today, people of Biblical times believed in the law of karma in that you reaped what you sowed. That is why the disciples asked Jesus “who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2) when they encountered a man who was born blind. By Jesus forgiving “sins” he was demonstrating compassion and clearly abolishing the Jewish Law of an eye for an eye and replacing it with mercy and forgiveness. That is why Jesus said your sins are forgiven, whenever he healed someone.

Despite the disparaging comments the gospel writers make against Judas Iscariot, the fact that he had “the bag” (purse) speaks volumes to us. You don’t give control of your funds to someone you don’t trust. Tradition says that after Jesus was crucified, Judas hung himself. As the disciples were unaware of the conspiracy, they saw Judas as betraying their master and would have nothing to do with him. Their condemnation after the crucifixion, as much as anything, probably added to the misconception. Is it possible that after the disciples shunned him, Judas left the area and traveled to Damascus?

Regardless of the story of Judas Iscariot’s suicide, by the gospels, the book of Acts may offer another result and also show the workings of Divine intervention. In chapter 9 and starting with verse 11, after Saul (St Paul) lost his sight outside Damascus, a disciple named Ananias received a vision of Jesus. In the vision Jesus instructed Ananias, “Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus.” We would ask, what better way for the compassionate Christ to use this opportunity to teach that even enemies are redeemable? Many times Jesus had said to love your enemies. This scenario had Jesus sending his blinded messenger Saul to the house of Judas, a suspected traitor zealot and then sending the frightened disciple Ananias to the same house, to heal Saul the Pharisee and possibly bring Judas back into the fold. If the reaction of Ananias to instruction by Jesus is anything to go by, Saul’s reputation for ruthlessly and relentlessly persecuting the followers of Jesus Christ was very widespread. (Acts 9:13-14) By gathering these chosen vessels of Christ at the house of Judas, Jesus was teaching a very valuable lesson of forgiveness to all. God told us that the reincarnation of Judas has returned in order to correct a terrible wrong. Could the wrong be history’s condemnation of Judas Iscariot?

As I said the above extract is taken from The Good News, which was written between 2003 and 2004. Imagine my surprise to learn of the existence of a Gospel of Judas. I learned of this from watching a documentary on The National Geographic Channel on April 9, 2006.

Apparently, in 1978 a shepherd found a codex of The Gospel of Judas in a burial cave near Nag Hammadi in Egypt. Tracing the codex’s journey between 1980 and 1999 is problematic at best. Nonetheless, the best guess is that it was sold in Cairo in 1980 and stolen shortly after. Its whereabouts was unknown until around 1983 it was offered for sale on the black market for sale and viewed by several experts. Unfortunately, as none of the experts were able to meet the asking price, it was pulled from the market and languished in a Hicksville, New York bank vault for the next 16 years until it came to the notice of Swiss antiquities dealer Frieda Nussberger-Tchacos, who purchased the document in September 2000.

The codex consists of 13 pages recounting Judas colluding with Jesus to hand him over to the Jewish authorities. Unfortunately the pages have deteriorated to fragments and have had to be painstakingly put together. In April 2006, a complete translation of the text, with extensive footnotes, was released by the The National Geographic Society, which played a large part in the restoration and conservation of the codex.

The codex has been radio-carbon dated to around 280 C.E. and the documentary related the content of the codex is found in writings of Saint Irenaeus, the bishop of Lyon, who wrote scathingly of the gospel, denouncing it as heretical in 180 C.E. This means that copies of the gospel were circulating at least a century earlier than the codex. Professor Pagels says that it is an “Authentic, ancient text that is impossible to date.” She believes it is “meant to be advanced level teaching.”
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UPDATE TO CHAPTER XI CONSTANTINE, AUGUSTINE, AND PLOTINUS

We cannot think of the Emperor Constantine, without connecting it with the council of Nicea and the struggle to define the strange connection between God, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In the Valentinians description of the Gnostic Pleroma, I was struck by the reference to Christ and the Holy Spirit being emanated by The First Father last. It is explained in The Good News thus:

Writing of the “birth” of Divine powers puts the process in some kind of sequential order. We live in a linear universe; however, this is only experienced beneath the Veil. There is no past, present or future above the Veil. There is only NOW. Consequently, the Supreme Being’s emanating the Christ and the Holy Spirit would have happened simultaneously with the other emanations.

Because the Supreme Being emanated the Christ and the Holy Spirit they were superior, so to speak, to the other members of the Pleroma. In fact, this is where the concept of the Trinity makes entry; the Father (Supreme Being), the Son (the Christ) and the daughter (the Holy Spirit.) The term “only-begotten” is only applied to the Christ and has caused more confusion over the person of Jesus than any other designation. It has been interpreted as not born from God, but a part of God. God had told us the key to the mysteries is hidden in our language (English). This key can be applied to help us understand the difference between the Christ and Holy Spirit and the other members of the Pleroma. The members of the Ogdoad had resulted through the First Father/Supreme Being’s “projecting” Himself into His Consort, Silence. If we remember that a projector is used to “project” images onto a screen, we can see the difference. The word “emanates” means to bring forth from the source. In other words, the Christ and Holy Spirit, rather than being a projection or “image” of the Supreme Being, were of His substance. Despite the Church making the Holy Spirit masculine, as the partner of the Christ, she was feminine. Hence the Holy Spirit could be thought of as the “only begotten” daughter of the Supreme Being.

The description of “the third member of the Trinity” has caused a great deal of confusion. We have spent many hours attempting to ascertain the difference between the Holy Spirit and Holy Ghost. The answer, when it came was so simple; it is all to do with the difference between the words spirit and ghost. Most people understand that the “unseen” spirits of departed loved ones are with them, watching over them. Whereas, the haunting of a ghost is described often as a filmy/shadowy specter or ghost that is “seen” by the living. Acts describes Pentecost as flames settling on the disciples’ heads, in other words something that could be seen. This was the Holy Ghost, that tangible force that empowered them to heal and speak to the populace of all lands. The Holy Spirit is the Divine energy that was poured out on all humanity at Pentecost. The Holy Ghost could be seen as the designation for the Holy Spirit in physical form or when “she” is infused in a person, as occurred with Jesus and Saul/Paul and the disciples at Pentecost. However, we need to remember that after Jesus’ baptism the Holy Spirit reunited with the Christ, consequently, both Jesus and Saul/Paul became infused with the Divine partnership.
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UPDATE TO CHAPTER XII BYZANTINUM, MARIOLARTY, AND THE RISE OF ISLAM

            With respect to the cause of the Dark Ages, I said that there had been speculation to climate change. Since writing this chapter, I have seen a documentary on the examination of tree rings from the period, which point to a mini Ice Age in the sixth century. The tree ring analysis is described in an article from Wikipedia:

The inner portion of a growth ring is formed early in the growing season, when growth is comparatively rapid (hence the wood is less dense) and is known as "early wood" or "spring wood" or "late-spring wood". The outer portion is the "late wood" (and has sometimes been termed "summer wood", often being produced in the summer, though sometimes in the autumn) and is more dense.

Growth rings (or “tree rings” or “annular rings”) can be seen in a horizontal cross section cut through the trunk of a tree. Visible rings result from the change in growth speed through the seasons of the year, thus one ring usually marks the passage of one year in the life of the tree. The rings are more visible in temperate zones, where the seasons differ more markedly.

Another article explains what occurred climatically during the sixth century and the results:

Climate changes of 535-536 refer to several remarkable aberrations in world climate that took place in the years 535-536 CE. The Byzantine historian Procopius recorded of 536, “during this year a most dread portent took place. For the sun gave forth its light without brightness… and it seemed exceedingly like the sun in eclipse, for the beams it shed were not clear.”

Tree ring analysis by dendrochronologist Mike Baille, of the Queen’s University of Belfast, shows abnormally little growth in Irish oak in 536 and another sharp drop in 542, after a partial recovery. Similar patterns are recorded in tree rings from Sweden and Finland, in California’s Sierra Nevada and in rings from Chilean Fitzroya trees.

Further phenomena reported by a number of independent contemporary sources:

It has been conjectured that these changes were due to ashes or dust thrown into the air after the impact of a comet or meteorite, or after the eruption of a volcano (a phenomenon known as “volcanic winter”).

The 536 event and ensuing famine has been suggested as an explanation for the fact that Scandinavian elites sacrificed large amounts of gold at the end of the Migration Period, possibly to appease the angry gods and get the sunlight back.

Wikipedia also relates that as recent as 1816, the World experienced a dramatic climate change. Only as this wasn’t as great an “aberration” its consequences were shortlived. The article reports:

A similar, lesser episode of climatic aberration was also observed in 1816, popularly known as the “Year Without a Summer”, which has been connected to the explosion of the volcano Tambora in Sumbawa, Indonesia.

In our third book, The True Philosophers’ Stone, I related how I had struggled with the apparent chasm between what Craig and I knew to be the truth and modern Islam. With words like “jihad,” which the fanatics translate into “holy war”, an oxymoron if ever there was one, the fanatical Moslem’s idea of God was unrecognizable to me. And yet, everything I had read on the Prophet Mohammed, the founder of the religion, indicated that he was a man of great principle and integrity, who earnestly searched for the truth. How could I reconcile the prophet and the religion? It had seemed that I would never find the answer. That is until Craig and I read the section on the Islamic faith in Manly P. Hall’s An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic & Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy – Being an Interpretation of The Secret Teachings Concealed Within the Rituals, Allegories and Mysteries of All Ages.

We reported in The True Philosophers’ Stone how Hall’s book had opened our eyes to see a deeper meaning:

Manly P. Hall quoting another investigator, Jennings, writes “This famous ‘stone of Caaba,’ Kaaba, Cabir, or Kebir, at Mecca, which is... kissed by the faithful, is a talisman.” Apparently there was a figure of Venus with a crescent engraved onto it. Hall continues, “This very Caaba was at first an idolatrous temple, where the Arabians worshiped Al-Ussa (God & Issa), that is Venus.”
This theory could be borne out by the fact that Mohammed destroyed 360 idols that surrounded the Caaba. An accompanying text to a black and white drawing  of the Caaba in Hall’s encyclopedia also interested us. Linking the Caaba with Stonehenge, the caption relates, “Opening onto the courtyard there are 19 gates” , the exact number of inner stones at Stonehenge. According to Hall this number also ties both sites to the Metonic cycle. I was unfamiliar with the term so I looked it up in the dictionary, where I discovered that the Metonic cycle is connected to the Moon. Evidently, the term was named after an astronomer called not surprisingly Meton from Athens. He had discovered that every 19 years the phases of the Moon returns to the exact same date. That is how the date Easter falls on each year is determined.

It seems that contrary to the teachings of fundamental Islam, Mohammed believed in the equality of men and women. That was hard for Suzzan to believe having lived under the male dominated culture of Saudi Arabia for more than nine years. However, Hall pointed out that, “The feminine symbolism is repeatedly emphasized in Islamic symbolism... Friday, which is sacred to Venus is the Moslem’s holy day; green is the color of the prophet and being symbolic of verdure is inevitably associated with the World Mother; and both the Islamic Crescent and the scimitar (the Arabian sword) may be interpreted to signify the crescent shape of either the Moon or Venus.”  Like the early Church’s making the pagan rituals, more Christian, it seems that Hall also saw evidence of the Moslems adopting ancient pagan rituals into the religion with the circling of the Caaba by pilgrims during the hajj. Evidently the pilgrims circle the central Caaba seven times. He asked if this was not representative of the movement of the seven ancient planets?

A remark Mohammed made concerning philosophy showed Craig and Suzzan that apart from being a highly enlightened individual, Mohammed was also extremely wise. According to Hall, Mohammed is reputed to have felt, “The ink of philosophers even more precious than the blood of martyrs.” Craig and Suzzan wondered what the prophet would have thought of the Islamic conquerors burning down the Alexandrian Library, not to mention all the atrocities carried out in his and God’s name.

This helped, but it was reading the inspired book, No god but God – The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam  by Reza Aslan that really lifted the veil, so to speak. Craig and I cannot recommend this book too much. In fact we think it should be required reading by ALL parties engaged in any dealings with the Islamic community.

First Aslan explains that in pre-Islamic Arabia, Allah was originally an “ancient rain/sky deity” which had evolved into “..the role of the supreme god…” Aslan explains that because of Allah’s “eminent status” the general popoulation could only appeal to him “…in times of great peril..” Instead people prayed to his three daughters, one of which was al-Uzza, or “(the mighty).” The other two according to Aslan were, “Allat ( the goddess”) and Manat (the goddess of fate,)” Apart from being worshiped in the Ka’ba, Aslan says “they had their own individual shrines throughout the Arabian Pennisula. Allat in the city of Ta’if; al-Uzza in Nakhlah; and Manat in Qudayd.”

At the time of Mohammed’s “spiritual awakening,” Christianity had already made Jesus God and was beginning to use force to suppress anyone who dissented from this doctrine. Manly P. Hall related that Mohammed had spent time with the Christian sect of the Nestorians, which was founded by Nestorius, the. Archbishop of Constantinople from 428 C.E. to 451 C.E.

Wikipedia reports that there is evidence from within the hadith (traditions relating to the words and deeds of Muhammad) that Muhammad had contact with Nestorian Christians. They this evinced by the similarities between Muslim raka’ah (ritual prayer) and and the genuflections performed by Nestorians during Lent.

According to Wikipedia Nestorius was most famous for being the originator of the Christological heresy, which became known as Nestorianism. In brief, Nestorianism was the opposition to the title Theotokos, which means Mother of God for Mary, the mother of Jesus. He was opposed to the title because he felt it denied Jesus’ humanity, instead he wanted to refer to Mary as Mother of Christ. Nestorius also argued that God could not suffer on the cross, as he is omnipotent. Therefore, the human part of Christ died on the cross, but not the divine. His opponents accused him of dividing Christ into two persons: they claimed that proposing that God the Word did not suffer and die on the cross, while Jesus the man did, or that God the Word was omniscient while Jesus the man had limited knowledge, implied two separate persons with separate experiences.

His main antoganist was Cyril of Alexandria, the Pope/Patriarch of Alexandria. Nestorius was eventually declared a heretic at the Council of Ephesus in 431 C.E., when Cyril argued that Nestorius was actually denying the reality of the Incarnation by making Jesus Christ into two different persons, (one human, one divine), sharing one body.

In his book, No god but God Reza Aslan describes in great detail the calling of Muhammad. He writes that after Muhammad’s status changed from marrying “a remarkable forty-year-old widow named Khadija,” who was a prominent member of Mecca, “Muhammad felt deeply conflicted.” Aslan explains that Muhammad was “renowned for his generosity…” and his fair business practices, yet he was plagued by the inequality and injustice of Meccan society. To deal with the conflict Muhhammad would  go on “solitary retreats of self-justification…in the mountains and glens surrounding the Meccan Valley.”Although I have already covered Muhhammad’s calling, Aslan’s account elaborates a deeper spiritual understanding for me. He relates that while Muhammad is “meditating alone in a cave on Mt. Hira….an invisible presence crushed him in its embrace.” Although Muhammad tried to free himself, the more he resisted the tighter the hold, “until he could no longer breathe.” Surrendering to his fate, Muhammad stopped resisting. It was then that a “light and a terrifying voice washed over him ‘like the break of dawn.’ “Recite!” the voice commanded.

“What shall I recite?” Muhammad gasped.

The invisible presence tightened its embrace. “Recite!”

“What shall I recite?” Muhammad asked again, his chest caving in.

Again Muhammad felt the bands around his chest tighten and “…once more the voice repeated its command.” When Muhammad could stand no more, Aslan reports, “…the pressure in his chest stopped, and in the silence that engulfed the cave, Muhammad felt these words stamped on his heart…”

The words were from Sur 96 1-5 in the Koran, but Aslan states that the word (iqra) that is translated “recite,” should be translated “read. ”However, Aslan recounts that some chroniclers claim that God’s first command (iqra) to Muhammad was neither “recite” nor “read,” but rather “arise and warn.”

What really interested Craig and I was Aslan’s account of what happened next. Surprisingly, he relates that “…like all the prophets before him, (Muhammad) wanted nothing to do with God’s calling.” Evidently Muhammad was so unhappy about it that “…his first thought was to kill himself.” Apparently, Muhammad believed that only the despised “kahin,” which Muhammad labeled as “reprehensible charlatans could receive Divine messages,.” According to Aslan, Muhammad said that rather than “the Quraysh” say he had become a kahin, he would climb a mountain and “…throw myself down…” As if this was not amazing enough, Aslan’s account of how Muhammad’s wife dealt with her husband’s experience absolutely floored us. He relates, “It is safe to say if it were not for Khadija, Muhammad might have gone through with his plan to end it all…” Aslan recounts that Muhammad anxious and shaken by “…the experience in the cave,” returned home to Khadija. Crawling to her, he cried, “Wrap me up! Wrap me up!”

According to Aslan, Khadija instantly responded by wrapping Muhammad in a cloak and holding him “tightly in her arms until the trembling and convulsions stopped.” When he was calm he began to weep, then through his tears he tried to relate his amazing experience.

“Khadija,” he said, “I think that I have gone mad.” “This cannot be, my dear,” Khadija replied, stroking his hair. “God would not treat you thus since He knows your truthfulness, your great trustworthiness, your fine character, and your kindness.”

Unable to convince her husband of the holiness of the encounter, Khadija decided to ask for help from as Aslan recounts, “…the only person she knew who would understand what had happened to her husband: her Christian cousin, Waraqa…” Waraqa was familiar enough with the Scriptures to recognize Muhammad’s experience for what it was. On hearing Khadija’s story, Waraqa tells Khadija, “He is a prophet of this people… “
We discovered from Wikipedia that a Waraqah was a Nestorian monk and Mecca’s priest or preacher according to some sources, and is said to have died a Christian even though he believed in the prophethood of Mohammed. He is reputed to have translated the Bible from Hebrew into Arabic. As the spelling of the name differs by only one letter, an “h” at the end, I presume that the Nestorian monk Waraqah is the same Waraqa who was Khadija’s Christion cousin.

Evidently, like many messengers before him, Muhammad had great difficulty accepting his mission. Nonetheless, the choice had been made and there was no going back. Aslan recounts how it was when Muhammad had hit rock bottom that he received Divine help. Like before it came in, “…same painfully violent manner as the first…” Muhammad was told according to Aslan “…whether he liked it or not, he was now the Messenger of God.” Fatalistically, Aslan states that “Now Muhammad no longer had any choice but to “arise and warn.”So when was the Quran compiled? According to the inspired and enlightened Reza Aslan, “…when Muhammad died…, the Quran had neither been written down nor collected, let alone canonized.” After Muhammad’s death, the first order of the day was to choose his successor and determine what muslims believed. This was a problem because as I said the followers strongly disagreed who should lead the Ummah, community; with some believing Ali, Muhammad’s cousin, son-in-law and companion should lead the Ummah. However, many felt that Abu Bakr, Muhammad’s companion and father-in-law should succeed Muhammad. Abu Bakr’s supporters won. Next the Ummah needed to determine an Islamic creed, but as Aslan said, Muhammad hadn’t compiled a cannon of his teachings. So, like the Christian Church arguing over his teachings after Jesus left them, the Ummah squabbled amongst themselves.This resulted as Aslan reports in the formation of  “…a new class of scholars called the Ulama, or ‘learned ones,’ who would take upon themselves the responsibility of guiding the Ummah on the straight path.”

Alas, as the centuries passed, like Christianity lost its purity and innocence, so did Islam. Aslan laments that “…the Muslim scriptural and legal scholars…” dismissed the idea that both followers of Judaism and Christianity “were part of the Ummah…” Rather the scholars labeled them both “…as unbelievers.” What was worse was that like later Christians, these Islamic scholars “…reinterpreted the Revelation to declare that the Quaran had supseded, rather than supplanted, the Torah and the Gospels, and called on Muslims to distinguish themselves from the People of the Book.”

God told me that Spiritual Revelation is like a rose bud. At first we only sense the beauty inside, but gradually as the sun’s rays warm the petals it slowly opens each precious petal, revealing the glory and wonder of the flower. It is then that the rose attracts the butterfly or bee to pollinate it and transform the rose into a new bush. For Islam this is exemplified in the development of Sufism. Aslan relates that the “Patriarch of Sufism” is Ibn Junayd; full name Junayd ibn Muhammad Abu al-Qasim al-Khazzaz al-Baghdadi (830-910).

Apparently, according to Wikipedia: In the trial of al-Hallaj, who was Junayd’s former disciple, the Caliph at the time al-Muqtadir demanded a “fatwa” (a legal pronouncement) in Islam made by a “mufti”, a scholar capable of issuing judgments on Sharia (Islamic law). The fatwa, Junayd issued was, “From the outward appearance he is to die and we judge according to the outward appearance and God knows better.” As the books I read on Sufism began in the ninth century, I naturally assumed that Sufism was a fairly late development in Islam. However, I was surprised to learn that Islamic mysticism, of which Sufism derives dates back to Muhammad. Wikipedia relates that four people are known as the first mystics. Although they only provide information on two of them Uwais al-Qarni and Hasan Ul-Basri. There are no details on the other two, Harrm Bin Hian and Sayid Ibn Ul Mussib:

Dealing with Uwais al-Qarni first, who died in 657 C.E. Uwais embraced Islam during Muhammad’s lifetime but he could not present himself before Muhammad because he looked after his elderly, blind mother and thus remained deprived of the honour of companionship. In honour of Muhammad, who at the Battle of Uhud in 625 C.E.had lost two of his teeth, Uwais al-Qarni drew out his own teeth. Muhammad called him the best of the Tabieen (successors) and he advised his companions to, “Get him to pray for your forgiveness.”

At times Muhammad would say of him. “I feel the breath of the Merciful, coming to me from Yemen.” Shortly before Muhammad died, he directed Umar ibn al-Khattab (second Caliph) and Ali ibn Abi Talib (the first Imam of the Shi’a) to take his cloak for Uwais.

Following the death of Muhammad in 632, Umar and Ali set out on a quest to find Uwais, who was residing alone in the desert. When they found Uwais, he was engaged in prayer, and they waited until he finished his devotions. They then asked for his blessings, gave him Muhammad's greeting and enjoined him to pray for the Muslim ummah (community).

In so doing, Muhammad confirmed the method of heart to heart communication through which Oveys had received the essence of Islam. The method of the passing of the Cloak represents two significant elements in the teachings of Muhammad which constitute the method of instruction of the School of Islamic Sufism--cognition must take place inwardly, and cognition must be confirmed…

The other mystic Wikipedia covers is Hasan Ul-Basri: His full name was Abu Sa'id al-Hasan ibn Abi-al-Hasan Yasar al-Basri, and he was born in Medina in 642 C.E. Hasan was a well-known Arab theologian and scholar of Islam. His father was a freedman of Zayd ibn Thabit, one of the Ansar (Helpers of the Prophet), his mother a client of Umm Salama, a wife of the Prophet Muhammad. Tradition says that Umm Salama often nursed Hasan in his infancy. He was thus one of the Tabi’een (i.e. of the generation that succeeded the Sahabah (companions of Muhammad). He became a teacher in Basra, Iraq and founded a madrasa (school) there.

Hasan was a great supporter of orthodoxy and the most important representative of asceticism in the time of its first development. According to him, fear is the basis of morality, and sadness the characteristic of his religion. Life is only a pilgrimage, and comfort must be denied to subdue the passions. Ul-Basri is also held in high regard by the Sufis, for his asceticism and subtle directions relating to the science of practical religion (ilm-i mu'amalat).

Many writers testify to the purity of his life and to his excelling in the virtues of Muhammad’s own companions. He was “as if he were in the other world.” In politics, too, he adhered to the earliest principles of Islam, being strictly opposed to the inherited caliphate of the Umayyads (r.661-750) and a believer in the election of the caliph. However, despite his critical position concerning the Umayyads, he did not approve of rebellion against tyrannical rule.

As I said, I could find no information on Harrm Bin Hian and Sayid Ibn Ul Mussib. However, Wikipedia does provide information on the Islamic mystical/Sufi orders.
The traditional Sufi orders emphasize the role of Sufism within Islam. Therefore the Sharia (traditional Islamic law) and the Sunnah (customs of the Prophet) are seen as crucial for any Sufi aspirant. Among the oldest and most well known of the Sufi orders are the Qadiri, Chisti, Oveyssi, Shadhili, Jerrahi, Naqshbandi, Nimatullahi, Mevlevi and the Ashrafi. One proof traditional orders assert is that almost all the famous Sufi masters of the Islamic Caliphate times were also experts in Sharia and were renowned as people with great Iman (faith) and excellent practice. Many were also Qadis (Sharia law judges) in courts. They held that Sufism was never distinct from Islam and to fully comprehend and live correct with Sufism one must be a practicing Muslim obeying the Sharia.

As for the more mystical teachings, Wikipedia relates: Schools were developed, concerning themselves with the topics of mystical experience, education of the heart to rid itself of baser instincts, the love of God, and approaching God through progressive stages (maqaam) and states (haal). The schools were formed by reformers who felt their core values and manners had disappeared in a society marked by material prosperity that they saw as eroding the spiritual life.

Wikipedia says that Rabia (The female Sufi I mentioned earlier.) was known for her love and passion for God. Junayad was among the first theorist of Sufism; he concerned himself with “fana” (literallly extintion) and “baqaa” (permancy) as the state of annihilating the self in the presence of the divine, accompanied by clarity concerning wordly phenomena.

It would seem that in the ninth century, Islam was poised to fully embrace the mystical teachings, so what happened? In a word, the Crusades.
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UPDATE TO CHAPTER XIII CRUSADES TO WORLD WAR I

With the recent success of The Davinci Code, the Holy Grail and the Knights Templar have become household names. However, two years before the release of The Davinci Code, we wrote in The True Philosophers’ Stone that in Graham Hancock’s The Sign and the Seal, we found:

Graham Hancock believes that the ark/grail “had contained ‘the root of all knowledge’.  In addition...the golden lid of the sacred relic had been surmounted by two figures of cherubim.  Could it therefore have been pure coincidence that, in Judaic lore, ‘the distinctive gift of the cherubim was (knowledge)’”?

Hancock asks if the “quest for the ark might also have been a quest for wisdom?”  He found it “equally significant” that when the Templars “were persecuted, tortured and put on trial in the early fourteenth century many of them confessed to worshipping a mysterious bearded head, the name of which was given as Baphomet.”  Giving an interesting explanation, he relates that “Dr Hugh Schonfield, an expert on early Christianity... deciphered a secret code used in a number of the famous ‘Dead Sea Scrolls’-- a code that the Templars might easily have learned during their long residence in the Holy Land.”  Evidently with some clever manipulation Dr. Schonfield demonstrated that the secret code “showed…the name Baphomet” could mean “…the Greek word Sophia.  And the Greek word Sophia, in its turn meant nothing more nor less than ‘ wisdom’.”

She was surprised to learn later that the Knights Templar oversaw the building of the Gothic cathedrals of Europe, of which Notre Dame in Paris is a perfect example. Mystery upon mystery surrounds this order of religious knights.  The designation Knights Templar first appears when nine Knights spent nine years in Jerusalem, living over the site of the temple of Solomon.  Apparently, they were associated with Saint Bernard de Clairvaux, the founder of the Cistercian order.

Their official function in Jerusalem was to protect pilgrims to the Holy Lands.  Only, legends abound that their real purpose was to locate The Ark of the Covenant.  Elizabeth van Buren points out in Refuge to the Apocalypse: Doorway into Other Dimensions, Rennes-le-Château the Key that it was Saint Bernard who “invented the name Notre Dame.” Hence it was his order, the Knights Templar who oversaw the construction of the Gothic cathedrals, which were dedicated to Notre Dame, “Our Lady.”  Interestingly, the majority of the cathedrals were built during four hundred years between the tenth and the thirteenth centuries.

Montsegur is a very powerful place. According to historians, in the thirteenth century Pope Innocent III had raised a “crusade” against the “heretics” of the Languedoc region.  Henry Lincoln in his book Key To the Sacred Pattern: The Untold Story of Rennes-le-Château relates the legend that the Cathars walked down from the castle hand in hand singing.  However, as at the bottom they were greeted with the sight of a huge pyre.

According to Lucien Bely’s Discovering The Cathars ,the philosopher Simone Weil viewed Catharism as a form of pythagorism or a type of Christianized Neoplatonism.  However, earlier the author Lucien Bely told us that the Cathars were very secretive, keeping the deeper mysteries from the average devotees and only giving the higher truths to the leaders of the sect, which were referred to as Perfects.  Because of this, the little that is known of them originates from utterances obtained under brutal torture or the literature of the Orthodox Inquisition’s representatives whose goal was to either convert or convict.The Cathars or Albigensians were Gnostics and historians have labeled them Manicheans.  This sect of Christianity was mentioned earlier.  Although Craig and Suzzan had learned of the Gnostics shortly after arriving in America, they had been surprised to discover that despite there being many different sects in the second and third centuries, only one had survived into the Middle Ages.

Although the castle had been designated as a Cathar stronghold, there is reason to believe the original building could be a lot older.  First, it is built in the shape of a pentagon.  True, the pentagon was a sacred geometrical symbol to the Cathars, but it was also a sacred symbol to the Celts and Druids.  Second, there is a legend according to Elizabeth van Buren’s Refuge of the Apocalypse: which, “speak of the giants who set up the mountain of Montsegur....”

Finally there is the astrological connection.  According to the official guide, there is a “resemblance” linking Montsegur with Machu Picchu.  The guide points out that this resemblance is not by chance, because the Catharists were also sun worshipers. Apparently, there was also a connection between the Cathars, the inhabitants of Tibet and the Knights Templar, although the guide does not divulge what that connection was.  In addition the guide cites the reason they (the Cathars) selected the site was due to the almost unbelievable terrestrial and cosmically generated “power”, which is put forth at Montsegur of which can be confirmed by a “measuring apparatus.”  Although appearing to be solid, according to the official guide, there are those who maintain that it is “HOLLOW.”  Besides, which the guide informs us that the original building was a great deal larger.  Originally it was a temple to the sun and on the summer solstice (June 21) the “angles” of sunlight filtering through the “arrow-slits” aligns with the twelve signs of the zodiac.

Alas Christianity wasn’t the only victim of power hungry men, masquerading as pious religious reformers. Islam, which was evolving out of fear and judgment under the mystical sects, found itself catapulted back to a time of injustice and intolerance. We are still feeling and living the result of that influence today. I have already mentioned that I experienced a form of Islam in Saudi Arabia that colored my view of the religion. The Taliban of Afghanistan exemplify this form too. That form is of course the puritanical sect of Whabism, of which the inspired Reza Aslan says in his book, No god but God “…the ideology of those Wahhabists who wish to return Islam to some imaginary ideal of original purity must be once and for all abandoned.”This is because as Aslan explains the Quran records that Muhammad believed in “pluralism” (the tolerance of multiple religions and philosophies.) He believes this is “…summed up in one indisputable verse: ‘There can be no compulsion in religion’ (2:256).
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VOLUME III
UPDATE TO CHAPTER XIV WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS

In The Good News, we examined the statement “the Kingdom of God is within you. It led to a much deeper understanding of wheels within wheels:

Remember how earlier we said that to think of Gnostic teachings in scientific terms is very difficult? Well as this is the Fullness of Time, we have the opportunity to understand the Christs’ assertion that the kingdom of God is within us, from a scientific perspective. All the Christs have talked of the gate to be entered. In researching this we discovered that they were referring to the heart-gate, that is after we transform the heart, we enter through the heart-gate into the kingdom of God; in other words inner space, not outer space. Through the innovation of quantum physics, we now know that there are worlds within worlds. The sub-atomic particles of the quantum physicists are the same as the elementals of the mysteries. To understand how there is consciousness at the subatomic level we recommend you read Michael Talbot’s brilliant book The Holographic Universe.

Today, we understand that emotions have an affect on the physical body. Moreover, through the groundbreaking work of Masaru Emoto, we are afforded the opportunity to literally see the effect different thoughts and words had on similar water molecule crystalline shapes during identical freezing processes. Remembering that a human being is 70% water, this a sobering thought. (This is not mystical supposition, but a verifiable scientific fact.) In addition, the work of the Institute of HeartMath has shown that the human heart emits a magnetic field stronger than the human brain. Could this be why Jesus warned us to be careful of what came out of the heart?

Most religious minded individuals think of Heaven as being above us and they would be partly right. The astral plane, of which heaven is a part, vibrates at just a little higher rate than the Earth plane. Nonetheless, this should be seen as within rather than without. The astral plane is divided into three subjective levels, which the ancient esoteric teachers named Kama Loka, Avitchi and Devachan. These three levels, for ease of explanation, are often depicted one above another within this plane. All three levels are collectively called the astral plane. The Church taught that there was heaven, purgatory and hell. Devachan represented the highest level and would equate to the Greek concept of Elysian Fields or the Church’s Heaven. The reverse of Devachan is Avitchi, which would equate to the Greek concept of Hades or the Church’s Hell. Kama Loka could be conceived as equal to the concept of Purgatory. When a spiritual entity through free-will choice begins to slow down or lower their vibration, they sink lower in the astral plane. Eventually they slow their vibration to such an extent that they can no longer remain in the subjective astral plane and have to take on corporeal bodies in the objective Earth plane. However, it should be stated that as the levels within the astral plane are subjective, the experience in the astral plane is determined by an individual’s mental conception. The various levels should not be seen as locations for Divine reward or punishment. Your judgment of your life determines whether you reward or punish yourself.

In The True Philosophers’ Stone, we wrote that seven major cycles are ending and beginning in December 21 (or 23 depending on the source) 2012:

Gregg Braden in his book Awakening to Zero Point: The Collective Initiation writes about the ending of a two hundred thousand year cycle. He explains that this indicates the “shift” in vibration that will signal the start of humanity’s most important experience to date. With reference to the date 2012, according to the Maya, a Great Cycle consisting of 5,125 years ends on December 23 2012. The Mayans believe the fifth sun will end on this date. Interestingly, Kenneth Johnson in his Jaguar Wisdom: Mayan Calendar Magic relates that there is astrological evidence for the date of December 21, 2012, (just 2 days earlier than the Mayans believed the fifth sun will end). Citing an astrologer, Joan Jenkins, as his source, he informs us “December 21, 2012, is one of those rare days, occurring only once in thousands of years, when the sun stands at the actual (as opposed to apparent) conjunction of the Zodiac with the center of the Milky Way ‑‑ the celestial equivalent of the Mayan World Tree. Therefore, it is fair to say that the sun is at the very center of all things on the final day of this great cycle.”

There is another author, who relates of specific cycles, Kristina Gale‑Kumar in her book The Phoenix Returns: Aquarius Dawns – Liberation beginsreports the predictions of the “Pale Prophet,” as recorded by the Native American tribe of Hopi. According to Gale-Kumar, the Native Americans said that the “Pale Prophet” foretold of five cycles of 500 years duration. Quoting the prophecies, she relates “For five full cycles of the dawn Star (approximately 500 years), the rule of the warring strangers will go on to greater and greater orgies of destruction... Are these bearded ones who are still my children going down war’s trail to final destruction, and thus giving the last human victory in death to (War)?… Know that the end will come in five full cycles, for five, the difference between the earth’s number and that of the gleaming Dawn Star, is the number of these children of war-fare.”

In trying to understand when this particular cycle would end, Suzzan was reminded of the Roman Empire. Her research for the second book had shown her that the Roman Republic according to historians was founded in 509 B.C.E. If she added 2,500 years (the five full cycles of warring strangers) she arrived at the date 1991. However, she knew that the numeral five was relevant here. If she added 509 numerologically, 5+0+9=14, 1+4=5. The year 1991 adds up to two, 1+9+9+1 = 20, 2+0 = 2. Coincidentally, the nearest year that adds up to five is 1994, 1+9+9+4=23, 2+3=5. Suzzan thought that the “coincidence” was just that, until God reminded her that the “Pale Prophet” was a Christ-like figure of the Hopis. In addition, 2012 is also a year five, 2+0+1+2 = 5.

According to G. de Purucker in his Occult Glossary: A Compendium of Oriental and Theosophical Termsancient esoteric teaching said that a planetary Manvantara, (a cycle of activity) consisted of 4,320,000,000 years. Is it a coincidence that according to geologists our planet Earth is estimated to be four and a half billion years old?

Most people have heard that we are now in or shortly entering the Age of Aquarius. Three of the cycles that are ending and beginning are concerned with the precession of the equinoxes. To recap, this phenomena is caused by the Earth’s wobble, which on the two equinoxes makes the planet appear to be traveling backwards through the Zodiac. It takes 25, 920 years for the Human Race to complete the journey through all twelve signs and halfway takes 12,960 years. To traverse one sign takes 2,160 years. As the Earth is completing a full precessional cycle, naturally the planet is also completing the halfway point of 12,960 and the previous or present sign Pisces one as well.

In many ways the revelation that we are completing a precessional cycle fly’s in the face of conventional thinking. Astrology charts place the sign Aries at the start, not Aquarius, however, as usual, the Heavenly Father had backed up the information with other sources. During her research for the second book, Suzzan had read an interesting book called Stowe’s Bible Astrology: The Bible Founded on Astrologyby Lyman E. Stowe. The author cited the scriptures as pointing to the Age of Aquarius, which he thinks we have already entered into. Apparently, Mr. Stowe saw Jesus sending 2 fishermen to the man carrying a picture of water as symbolic of the astrological change of the Age of Pisces into the Age of Aquarius. However, he believed there was also another, deeper meaning contained within the scripture, referring to the end times. By instructing his disciples, (the fishermen) to tell the “water bearer” that the “last Passover” would be celebrated in “his house,” he was revealing that the “last Passover,” (the end-times) would occur in his age, the Age of Aquarius.

Also, as was said Graham Hancock in his Fingerprints of the Gods hypothesized that the Sphinx was once a lion to honor the constellation of Leo, in which the sun was rising. The Age of Leo occurred 10,970 B.C.E. to 8,910 B.C.E., which would coincide with the accepted dates for the meltdown of the last ice age.  Did the ancients know more than we do? Is it a coincidence that the opposite sign to Leo is Aquarius?

During the past 2000 years, prophets and seers from all religious backgrounds have warned people to “repent” because “the end is near.”  During their guided research, Craig and Suzzan learned that the word ”repent” originally meant to “change your mind” or change the way you think.

With the discovery of electromagnetism and how it is interwoven with all life on Earth, those words take on a much deeper and serious meaning.  Evidently, a layer of atmosphere that not only protects us from harmful rays from the Sun, but also acts as an electromagnetic oscillator surrounds our planet.  The name of this “envelop” is the Ionosphere.  A resonant cavity exists between the Earth’s crust and the edge of the Ionosphere.  Within this cavity, a kind of natural rhythm pulses in tune with our brainwaves.  However, that pulse has been quickening, which investigators link with a whole host of physical and mental conditions.

While researching the second book, Suzzan had found that paleontologists and anthropologists referred to a “giant leap” in our ancestors around 40,000 B.C.E.  The experts refer to this time as the emergence of truly modern man.  They have no explanation for the “leap.”  They state that 40,000 B.C.E. coincides with the advent of cave drawings depicting mysterious animal figures.  Even so, when it is understood that humanity’s mental evolution could be directly linked to the cavity between the Earth and the Ionosphere, then the “leap” may not be so mysterious.
The natural rhythm, designated as the Schumann Resonances, after their discoverer, was a constant 7.8 Hz, or pulses per second until 1987.  However, as this phenomenon has only been measurable since the early 1900’s, it is impossible to state with any certainty what the pulse started at.  What is interesting is that since 1987, the resonance pulse has been steadily rising and is now over 11 Hz.  If the pulse has not remained constant, but has steadily risen over the millennia, Craig and Suzzan postulate that the “leap” in consciousness that occurred 40,000 B.C.E was the result of the speeding up of the Schumann resonance.  Interestingly, according to Richard Alan and Iona Miller, in their article “Schumann’s Resonances and Human Psychobiology.”

“Schumann’s resonance forms a natural feedback loop with the human mind/body…” The authors state that the “pulse” performs as a “driver of our brains” and has the possibility of transmitting data too.  It seems that the natural development of the Human Race could be changed and “new patterns of behavior facilitated through the brain's web of inhibitory and excitatory feedback networks.”

Similar to “sound waves” the human brain has its “own set of vibrations,” which facilitate connection with the physical body.  The brainwaves can be measured by the EEG, which gauges the “speed with which neurons fire in cycles per second.” Additionally, at “their boundaries” the waves can extend beyond themselves to become integrated with each other…

“BETA waves (14 cycles per second and above) dominate our normal waking state of consciousness when attention is directed towards cognitive tasks and the outside world…

“ALPHA waves (7-13 cycles per second) are present during dreaming and light meditation…” As the majority of “neurons” adapt to the Alpha wavelength, alpha waves rotate over the entire brain.  The Miller’s believe that it is during the Alpha wavelength that people tap into their “creativity,” which resides immediately beneath the waking consciousness.  They state that the alpha wavelength is the “gateway” or “entry point” to “deeper states of consciousness.”  The authors also believe that this wavelength is “the home of the window frequency known as the Schumann Resonance…

“THETA waves (4-7 cycles per second) occur most often in sleep but are also dominant in the deepest state of mediation (body asleep/mind awake).  The optimum level for deep thought is this realm of Theta.  In Theta, the senses are withdrawn from the external world and focused on the mindscape, internally originating signals.  Theta waves are associated with mystery, an elusive and extraordinary realm a person can explore.  It is that twilight state which is normally only experienced fleetingly as an individual rises from the depths of delta upon waking, or drifting off to sleep.  In theta a person is in a waking dream, vivid imagery flashes before the mind’s eye and they are receptive to information beyond their normal conscious awareness.  Theta has also been identified as the gateway to learning and memory...and awakens intuition and other extrasensory perception skills.

“DELTA waves range between 0-4 Hz.”  Apparently this wavelength is related to “deep sleep”…It seems that “certain frequencies” in this wavelength activate the discharge of the “growth hormone” helpful for curative and restoration purposes.  The autho