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Christian Mysticism for Bible Study - Our Belief Organizes Our Thoughts & Actions. |
Religious Beliefs can be quantitative or qualitative. The quantitative beliefs are for those who choose or need to believe in what is physically tangible; an icon or a ceremony to confirm or give form to their belief. The qualitative believer finds it hard to replace God with an icon and so looks within; away from the physical world to find their peace and to actively commune with God.
Mysticism is nothing more than an organized process whereby a human being can become whole again, to be reborn in the image of God that they were spiritually and originally created in. That is the meaning of the word "religion." It means to re-connect with God. Anything less than this and it's fundamental purpose is lessened.
Belief is not the same as rebirth; many believe but, few are reborn! A "born again Christian" may have reaffirmed or renewed their Christian faith in Jesus Christ but, spiritually, except for knowledge of Christ, they are no more reborn in spirit than anyone else of any other religion.
Mysticism is nothing more than an inner process that leads to what in the Christian world calls rebirth and in other cultures might be called enlightenment. The process is the same in all cultures but, it is not and cannot be called "evil" as is often implied in the West (North America). Christian Mysticism is simply the qualitative part of Christian religion and belief. If you strip away all ceremony, all pomp, all church politics, and all dogma from Christianity you are left with just yourself and God; a God who for the first time deliberately manifested Himself physically out of Love for human beings.
Enjoy the Christian Mysteries as they are presented by various Mystics and Prophets - They provide details into Christian Mysticism; the laws that govern existence, and their relation and surprising conformity to the Bible, religious and scholarly dogmas aside. Jakob Lorber is an excellent starting point.
Christian Mysticism, Prophets, Religions and Scholars
The Words of God Cannot Threaten Themselves in Any Incarnation - If a genuine prophet writes, he will have a readership.
The sole reason why spiritual script exists is for the benefit of human beings. God doesn't need them; He already knows His own laws. The Bible is one of several valid spiritual texts from other cultures that exist on Earth. The Bible differentiates itself from other writings in that it has a New Testament. All other ancient traditional sacred texts were written before the New Testament. All religions that preceded the New Testament are Old Testament religions. They depict God in much the same way as in the Old Testament.
The New Testament represents a new covenant between God and human beings because until the physical manifestation of God in the person of Jesus Christ; God remained a distant, indescribable Deity. In Christ, God has shown Himself to the world and through His teachings His Love was made manifest. That Love, assumed all previous trespasses and through the crucifixion forgave and removed them. Before that moment every human being everywhere in existence could not address God directly and personally but, needed an intercessor. After, the Resurrection, anyone who wishes to address God through the person of the Father or, Jesus Christ can do so entirely on their own without judgment. These are the points that differentiate Christianity from all other religions. To comprehend the enormity, scope and ramifications of this would require a mystical understanding of it.
It would also seem that a God with this much concern, love and caring would want to be in constant communication with His loved ones - US! Why then does it seem so absurd that He should awaken prophets to be his scribes for the benefit of all especially after the resurrection and leading towards the critical times of revelation? After all, even with the words of God in their possession, human beings have a nasty habit of getting themselves "lost" spiritually. If this happened often in the Old Testament, are we, in the times since truthfully say that we are immune to it?
1) No one should dispute that the Bible is the word of God. But, in the same way that the word "gay" now has an entirely different connotation from what it had only 50 years ago and conversely the phrase, "Git 'R' Done" would be completely baffling to anyone of only 50 years ago; is it too much of a stretch to accept that after several thousand years many parts of the Bible, especially the Old Testament are difficult for the average person to understand for the exact same reason? Or, that many parts of the Bible are written from an entirely spiritual point of view and remain incomprehensible even to the brightest minds. Example: Genesis has little or nothing to do with physical creation.
The Bible is Divine but, does it explain absolutely everything? Is it always to be interpreted literally? Are we sure that it is as complete today as the day all of its individual texts were written? In the past prophets have tended to fill in the gaps without scrapping the old religion and starting a whole new religion of their own. In the Biblical sense, prophets who start their own religion are never real prophets - at least not prophets from God.
In scientific methodology, a person or a team will research a topic without prejudice irrespective of source materials to arrive at a useful and useable understanding. Bible study is seldom seen as a purely spiritual study. Unfortunately, the same scientific cold bloodedness and tenacity is often put aside and replaced with a dogmatic boundary that will often exclude a possible information source because it is deemed uncertain, or unfit out of nothing more than blind prejudice.
Science is often fearless so, why shouldn't sincere spiritual pursuits be? God will always remain God no matter what anyone does. No one can or is about to put a dent in Him. So why should a person be afraid to explore what God Himself had created for our own benefit. Did creation come into being that we should be completely ignorant of it? No! The sciences have made great strides in physically understanding and then implementing that understanding and using what is physically present. Are we as spiritual beings, finding ourselves confined and living in a physical realm, often having non-physical experiences within our own being, not willing or able to explain or understand them, their source or, their purpose? Yet, we have been created this way. There must be logical, explanations for all things, otherwise they would not be and we would not be able to observe them at all. They are there to make us yearn for something more. Furthermore and more importantly, if we are to aspire to being children of God, spiritually speaking, then we ought to be capable of understanding the simplest physical phenomenon which is far below matters of the spirit. All humans have and are capable of non-physical experiences. Non-physical experiences are all hidden from physical view and are therefore "occult." There is nothing negative in this labeling. Thoughts, feelings, prayer are all neutral yet, occult activities.
The entire spiritual endeavour of reading or studying the Bible is that it might reveal more to the reader of what God is or who we are and what we are in relation to God. The warm enlightening feeling that accompanies an inner Biblical revelation is elevating, edifying and reaffirming. When that type of revelation happens it is, in the truest sense of the word, an actual occult experience; not because it is evil, as some dictionary challenged Christians would believe but, because it is an experience that is hidden from everyone's view. This is elementary mysticism in action.
Can't you just see a minister somewhere cringing at the thought?
If a Student of the Bible believes the Bible to have been inspired from a Divine source; it would make sense that that Divine Being remains active presently and eternally. And, as the Biblical message of Love comes from that Divine Source, it would also make sense that, in keeping with the nature of love, that that Divine Source perpetually seeks to make itself known to its creations. Therefore, in addition to the Bible there has to have been additional Divinely inspired writings to complement the Bible not only in the sacred script in all other cultures during the time of the Old Testament but also since the time after the Christ's ascension. There were prophets in the Old Testament, how could there be none after the New Testament?
Understanding that Biblical study is a study of the Bible itself it often ignores everything else often because of a set of scholarly rules that can be as binding and blinding as they are useful. A person studies the Bible either for their own enlightenment or for scholastic endeavour. The former by its very nature is an inner search; the latter is often an elaborate external exercise seeking to prove a hypothesis by using and often quoting what others may have already stated in order for their treatise to have credibility among other scholars. It is odd that credibility in matters spiritual has to pass through a gauntlet of Earthly wisdom to find validation.
The spirit is generally defined as the impetus or source for all things that exist in any conceivable dimension and as having absolutely no limits; the Bible, as a spiritual text is sometimes regarded as the only "real" spiritual text that exists and that counts, to the exclusion of all other beliefs and sacred writings - Christian or otherwise. For millennia the Bible was presented by the Christian world to be and to contain "everything" to the exclusion of all other writings. It would not be an indictment against the Bible itself nor would its wisdom be diminished or superceded if it were to be complemented by other prophetic or inspired script? Only the institutions that rely on the Bible for their existence get insecure about the Bible and whether it is going to be believed and lose its worth and purpose as a Spiritual stimulant and guide book for the sake of their own institutions only.
The words of God are not and cannot be intimidated by anything! Therefore, the Bible as the word of God can never lose its worth. Surely there have been attacks on the Bible, and their have been many false prophets, especially in recent history, but, the question remains have there really been genuine prophets since the writing of the New Testament? If there have who is to say whether their work is genuine? No authority can determine this for certain; everyone should investigate for themselves. The word of God is not afraid of itself - it is not in any danger of canceling itself out. Any sober person who genuinely recognizes the Divinity in the words of the Bible will also recognize Divine words everywhere else they might be written. They need not be a scholar or theologian to recognize them either.
God calls to the heart of His children and they hear Him. Those who do not recognize God's words anywhere but within familiar, prescribed confines lack the daring to actively ask, seek and knock. God will never penalize anyone who is looking for Him or, seeking a deeper understanding of themselves or Him; this being one and the same pursuit.
Christian Mysticism
The Christianity within Christian Mysticism is a very misunderstood subject
that relatively few people ever endeavor to explore deeply. One possible reason is that Christian
Mysticism is made into an elite philosophy at the hands of religion, religious
sects, theologians and
scholars. For all their attempts at trying to explain what they essentially do
not possess nor understand, they study Christian Mysticism as a history not as a
living or real subject in itself, confusing the history with the subject. They see the
fruit, are fascinated by its skin, and write volumes about it because it is all
they can perceive and quantify, while ignoring the seed, which is the subject,
because they can neither see it nor conceive of it. They ignore it and ultimately throw it away never
realizing that they have never touched the heart of the matter. It can also be
compared to someone writing a book on carpentry without ever having seen wood.
Very few of the historical mystics were in fact
Mystics. Most were church saints canonized for propaganda purposes by their church
or they very likely may have paid for their title of sainthood; a very common practice. Some were philosophers which means
very little as far as mysticism is concerned.
Christ Himself did teach the mysteries to the
Disciples to better show them His kingdom.
(In the New Revelation in the Great Gospel of John
these teachings are clearly described.)
What was left of those
teachings lived on in some of the Gnostic sects until they too were persecuted
into oblivion by the Church. This subject matter which was
part of the original Christian mysticism became disassociated with Christianity
altogether because of the persecutions of the Church. As tragic as all this sounds; this was not all bad since
this type of knowledge in the hands of the immature can cause unwanted mischief.
All references to do with Hermetics or hermetic knowledge,
Christian Kabbalah
Evocation Alchemy, have been systematically marginalized, given heretic status, blotted out and
presently labeled occult knowledge to be shunned by "good" Christians
altogether.
Mysticism is the knowledge implemented towards
the conscious awakening of an inner life. Even though the principles of mysticism are precise, they cannot be taught like mathematics
or carpentry because the maturing process occurs entirely from within - invisible to the outer
physical world. There is an incredible amount of scholarly jargon borrowed from
an endless line of writers used to describe this process - some scholarly, some very "puffed up" and, thankfully, some
genuine.
The scholarly work is not entirely without
merit. It primarily gives a historical perspective and is generally very
speculative and detached from the subject matter itself although often referring to it. To know the
scholastic jargon does not bring one any closer to the actual
experience and few of the writings and authors depicted were themselves "mystic."
Therefore the scholars write about something they themselves have likely not experienced.
Biblical apologetics also fall into this
category. The many works and authors of biblical or Christian apologetics
written mainly by scholars remain largely unknown and are destined to fall into complete obscurity for good reason - they contain
very little substance and often miss the intended meaning of the scriptures often laboring over such things as history rather than the Christian message or its mysticism.
Proof of this is that there is little that can be applied from these works
towards a spiritual rebirth which is the main purpose of Biblical script. They talk about it but, do not tell you how it is
done, or what it means to be reborn.
In order to credibly teach about rebirth, one would have to have been reborn themselves.
The list of authors presenting in this web site have been carefully collected over decades of consideration. Based entirely on their writings one could conclude that some if not all may be actual prophets who's works span centuries. Who is and is not a prophet is not for
churches to decide because historically they have looked after their own interests and their own perpetuation. The prophets and
the works of prophets usually reveal the misguided deeds of people in general
and the churches and are always persecuted for revealing this.
Paracelsus,
Jakob
Lorber,
Franz
Bardon and the others are prime examples in more recent times but, in the old testament there were several;
Daniel being very note worthy. The works of Franz Bardon and Jakob Lorber
are relatively modern books that offer an actual instruction into the Christian mysteries
with a logical and sequential clarity. They are good for bible study and are at least
worth a fair investigation. Even these superlative works for the modern day
seeker, like those that preceded them are useless unless they are embodied from
within. Jakob Lorber in particular gives a day to day account of the life of Christ often explaining Biblical text, explaining why Christ acted as he did in a given situation. If the Bible is your thing, an elaboration is always useful. God chooses His own prophets and does not need a scholars to explain Himself. The rest is left up to our own belief.
The Benefit of Church Teachings
Christian
Mysticism is not to be confused with present or past Christian Church Teachings.
Church teachings are not necessarily bad in themselves but, they offer only a very
rudimentary guidance. Offering only very basic information that can
serve as a foundation to plant a
small but important kernel of belief. This belief remains in its infancy with
church teachings alone.
Acting on a belief can lead to
knowledge. This is true in any endeavor. If you believe that something
reasonable is possible it will in time manifest. In Biblical teachings it states
that "the kingdom of God needs to be taken by force." This force is
created by a disciplined will acting in belief that compels towards searching for this Kingdom.
Christ clearly stated that the "Kingdom of God is at hand." If this kingdom is supposed to be "at hand" and yet there is little if any evidence of it being present on Earth then, it must not be on Earth but, perhaps within ourselves while being one Earth. This, in itself, is an example of a mystery the pursuit of which is mysticism. If this kingdom
is within as Christian Mysticism teaches, then the kingdom is already within us
waiting to be awakened through spiritual rebirth. Once awakened there is no more "death." because the
Spirit within us does not die and therefore lives in eternity. Eternity is not a physical
concept. To live in eternity is not based on or measured in time. Eternity is a
conscious life in the Spiritual world only possible with an awakened spirit, a
reborn spirit, and enlightened spirit, all of which are the same - where there
is activity but by definition no death. Unknown to most Christians, this is the goal of
Christian belief - to achieve
this state.
From this very good inception we start to teach ourselves by
seeking out for ourselves within this fundamental framework. To discover
Christian Mysticism, a mature person will not be satisfied with church teachings alone.
Church teachings serve to establish and nurture belief which is invaluable. As
children our parents raise us to be honest, good, trustworthy, not to lie and to
have many other positive traits - if you have good parents. But when we leave
home we should build on this base. We soon realize that although what they
taught was good - the world proves not to be as pure as we may have been taught. We must then make use of the solid
foundation they provided to affront the less than straight forward business of
life.
Church teachings are similar to
this. But if we do nothing but attend church without searching for a spiritual
purpose it would be like being well taught by our parents and never leaving
home. At home there can only be a limited, or at best a stifled growth because we
cannot discover who we are as people as long as we are told what to do by our
parents.
Spiritual growth requires some basic searching.
Do not be afraid of the
effort involved in seeking for yourself. A detached "cold blooded" questioning
of teachings requires that one look deeper, past the teaching. The Biblical
words contain enough truth in them to lead towards a very complete Mysticism but
they need to germinate from within.
If you are
already Christian this process should strengthen your belief in the Divinity of
God as
you will create within yourself a clearer understanding of why
you believe what you believe. Mysticism takes you to a closer participation with
God and the mechanism of creation by laying out the Laws of existence and
rendering them tangible, understandable and useable. Through diligence this
leads to Eternal Life, which is nothing more than the ability to knowingly
differentiate while working simultaneously in the Physical, Astral, and
Spiritual levels of existence for the Glory of God and the benefit of your fellow
human beings. As was promised by the Lord Jesus Christ at this level of maturity
and having acquired these abilities one has acquired Christian Mysticism - death
will no longer exists. This exalted journey begins with a disciplined, informed and
humble belief. All church dogmas have always been a dead end road.
Hermetics as part of Christian Mysticism
Event though Hermetics is part of Christian
Mysticism and the Christian
Mysteries it is understandable that because of the distortions made to
modern day Christianity through time one might not recognize this as such. It should be
remembered that there is only One leader of Christianity and that is Christ.
All others are imposters and do everything in their power to keep Christianity
from the world. This statement need not be believed. One simply needs to
look at history and observe the behavior of those who have called
themselves or made themselves the leaders of Christianity.
Paracelsus
says it best! -"do not be surprised, that those who
proclaim that they are Christian, are against Christianity."
Belief in Christ,
to live by the Commandments, to sincerely love God and ones fellow man are the only prerequisite to being
Christian. This is not and was never expected to be a blind belief. Only the
institutions of Christianity expect and have enforced a blind belief. Having
been endowed with Free Will we are allowed and are compelled by an inner
need to search deeper for the Truth
ourselves.
Some credit to the Roman Catholic Church
The Roman Catholic church
has been much maligned throughout history and especially recently but it does deserve some
credit for faithfully having taught the New Testament accurately and
faithfully according the actual words of the New Testament to all.
Most of the concepts in the Catholic Catechism are also in keeping with
Christian Mysticism but some are not. What the Catholic Church may have done
in it's
upper echelons, in politics, power brokering and money making is
another matter which God will judge in due time.
The Catholic Church
taught a strict belief, obedience to that belief, and discipline.
The Catholic Church
taught the New Testament to often completely illiterate people. By the
efforts of the parish priests, and all of the stained glass, oils on
canvas, and fresco art murals depicting New Testament allegory they
managed to accurately instill these images and their meaning to a large populace.
With over 1 billion members, some active some not, no other Christian denomination can lay claim to this deed to the same
extent as the Catholic Church.
The schisms from the
Catholic Church were a direct result of the hypocrisy, heavy
handedness, all manner of corruption, political influence and power
brokering, the very open avarice of the
Church and the monopolization of spiritual thought, rather than its strictly Biblically based teachings.
In addition, it is a
little known fact that within the Catholic Church tradition there were
mystical undercurrents. Many priests practiced the mystical arts. It
was passed down from teacher to student on a one on one basis to
whomever was inclined and willing to undertake the very rigorous
disciplined training. Some of the more humble priests who acted for
the benefit of the needy through their acquired abilities often said,
"never trust a priest, you do not know what they might be capable
of." This of course was to mean that if they had knowledge of the
mystical arts, while the humble priest would serve their flock in
honour of God, the unscrupulous would serve themselves through the
malicious implementation of the same arts. These
hermetic
practices by the Catholic priesthood were well known among the rural
people of Europe and should not be confused with the superstition of
the ignorant. For the sake of clarification the latter, those who act
in maliciousness are actually sorcerers. Sorcery being the deliberate
act of using the mystical arts for an evil purpose. As the mystical
arts can be used for evil, the can also be used for good. Anyone who
is too zealous to realize this will also have a hard time recognizing
the good that the Roman Catholic Church has done for the Christian
world.
