Jesus Taught Why Most Christians Can't Recall Their Soul's Previous Lives

 

Quoting from The Christian Secret Doctrine http://SecretDoctrine.Nazirene.org : In the approximate year of 178 of our Common Era, Celsus, the Epicurean Philosopher and opponent of Christianity, published a rather embarrassing work in opposition to Christianity known as The True Word or Discourse, which portrayed the Church as a "secret system" which taught the elect the doctrine of the soul that evolves to perfection over the course of many lifetimes, while teaching the unenlightened entry-level Christians the doctrine of Heaven and Hell. It is said that this work was so widely published and used by the Pagan world as an attack on the Church. Seventy years after its publication The True Word was still so widely circulated, that the Church Father Origen was commissioned by St. Ambrosius to refute this attack by Celsus. Who was Origen that he was asked to present the official position of the Church? Origen is called “…the most prominent of all the church fathers” (Encyclopedia. Britannica), and was considered by Jerome to be “the greatest teacher of the Church after the Apostles.” St. Gregory of Nyssa called him “the prince of Christian learning in the Third Century.”

 

Among the mysteries that were concealed from the faith-based believers who were too carnal to receive the deeper truths of Christianity, was the doctrine of the pre-existence of the soul that evolves to Wholeness and Perfection over the course of many lives -- i.e., the transmigration (reincarnation) of the Soul. And if you can't recall your Soul's previous lives, then Jesus openly stated that your have yet to achieve the necessary spiritual transformation the is necessary to begin to recall your Soul's previous lives.  And once again, in his writing known as The True Word, Celsus accused the Christian Church of teaching the masses the spurious doctrine of heaven and hell in an after death state, while teaching the elect the doctrine of reincarnation. 

 

Though this may astonish the modern believer, Origen does not refute Celsus, but rather explains that: “But on these subjects much and that of a mystical kind, might be said; in keeping with which is the following: It is good to keep close the secret of a king, (Tobit xii, 7), in order that the doctrine of the entrance of souls into bodies, not, however, that of the transmigration from one body into another, may not be thrown before the common understanding, nor what is holy given to the dogs, nor pearls be cast before swine. For such a procedure would be impious, being equivalent to a betrayal of the mysterious declaration of God's Wisdom”. In other words, Origen openly acknowledges that the pre-existence of the soul, as well as the doctrine of transmigration (reincarnation) are openly revealed to Christians who have been purified and matured sufficiently to comprehend the mysteries of God, while the knowledge of why the soul even came into this world is kept secret, and is not openly revealed to carnal minds.  The transmigration of the soul and the Mysteries of the Kingdom could not be taught or revealed to the majority of Christians, because they believed instead of following Jesus -- i.e., "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23).  Further stating: "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me" (Matt 10:38).  And the Gospel of Mark quotes Jesus as stating: "Then Jesus called the crowd to Him along with His disciples, and He told them, If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me" (Mark 8:34).   Jesus did not say that you must believe that he was crucified.  And this is further clarified where Jesus states that you must carry your own cross: "And whoever does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:27).  What this means is that you must transform your earthly-self -- becoming a Consecrated Temple whereby you are able to enter into the "holy of holies or narrow gate" within you, and achieve the necessary Wholeness to connect with the Divine Mind at the Core of your Mind and Being -- i.e. "They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Mark 2:17).  What Jesus was stating was that those people who he portrayed as "righteous", did not need him as a physician who came to heal the sick, because they had on their own taken advantage of the Original Opportunity to bringing about Wholeness, Perfection and Completion.  In explanation, Origen quotes scripture and writes “It is good to keep close the secret of a king”, and affirms that certain mysteries only belong to the spiritually mature in the Word, and that one should not permit “what is holy given to the dogs, nor pearls be cast before swine”.

 

The position of the Church was that only the believer who sincerely and fully embraced the teachings of Jesus -- becoming the "good ground" in the parable of the Sower and the Seed (see http://SowerAndTheSeed.Ebionite.com ), could fulfill the purpose and objective of the Gospel teachings. Preparedness to understand man's higher Soul-Reality, is why Jesus spoke only in parables to the masses of people who lacked the necessary spiritual maturity to comprehend the spiritual meaning of the core Gospel teachings -- i.e., "And with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. But without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples" (Mark 4:33-34). Only those who had achieved degrees of spiritual maturity, could the mysteries of the Kingdom be revealed to -- i.e., Jesus explained: “Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand” (Mark 4:11-12). Which is why St. Jerome wrote: “The doctrine of transmigration (reincarnation) has been secretly taught from ancient times to small numbers of people, as a traditional truth which was not to be divulged.” Why in the pre-Nicene Church were the more spiritually mature taught differently than those who failed to advance? Origen responded to the allegation of Celsus by explaining that: “For there are in the divinity of the Word some helps towards the cure of those who are sick”, meaning the sinners. And this is true, as Origen explained, that the doctrine of the (physical) resurrection of the body, says Origen, is misunderstood by the spiritually unaware, and writes that it was “preached in the Churches… for the simpleminded and for the ears of the common crowd who are led on to live better lives by their belief”. 

Why would Origen in his official response by the pre-Nicene Church, portray one group of faith-based Christians as being "...simpleminded", and incapable of comprehending the spiritual meaning of the Gospel teachings? To answer this question, it is important to understand why Jesus is portrayed as not being able to speak plainly to the people when he was teaching them about the Kingdom when he explained to his disciples: “Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand” (Mark 4:11-12). Why could Jesus convey the mysteries of the kingdom to his disciples, but not to the multitudes who came to hear him teach? When the reason is rightly understood, the answer is the same as to way Paul could not speak plainly to the baptized Christians who are portrayed as having received the "testimony about Christ [which] was confirmed in" the people (1 Cor 1:4-) -- and yet Paul warned them: "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal" (1 Cor 3:1-3). Why was Paul unable to convey the spiritual concepts and meaning of the Gospel to the baptized and committed Christians who had received the "testimony of Christ [which was] confirmed in them"? He explained that as organic humans, they could not receive and comprehend the spiritual meaning of the Gospels and the higher Spiritual Kingdom -- i.e., “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor 2:14). Why would the mind of organic man reject the higher spiritual wisdom as "foolishness"? When the promise of eternal life was made in the Gospels, it was not made to the complacent believer who failed to fully embrace the teachings and spiritually advance. Jesus taught a Spiritual Holistic Lifestyle that is necessary to advance spiritually -- see http://TheLawOfTheGospels.com#TheSpiritualHolisticLifestyle  

 

In his famed work De Principiis, Origin explains who can be a recipient of the Mysteries of the Kingdom and the Gospel of God: “Whoever has clean hands, and therefore lifts up holy hands to God… let him come to us… Whoever is pure, not only from all defilement, but from what are regarded as lesser transgressions, let him be boldly initiated into the mysteries of Jesus, which properly are made known only to the holy and the pure… To those who have been purified in heart, he whose soul has for a long time, been conscious of no evil, especially since he yielded himself to the healing of the Word, let such a one hear the doctrines which were spoken in private by Jesus to his genuine disciples”. Paul made reference to the inability of entry-level Christians who he, himself, had taught, to understand the spiritual meaning of the Gospel teachings when he said: "...I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal". It is therefore imperative that modern believers understand Paul's words when he stated to those who he had personally taught: “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor 2:14). Thus, it is not a "secret system" when it is recognized that teachings such as the pre-existent Soul that evolves to perfection over the course of many lives, cannot be understood by the Christians who fail to advance to an intellectual level where they are able to comprehend man's higher Soul-Reality. As a sincere seeker makes spiritual advancement, they begin to naturally recall their Soul's previous lives. Within the official reply to Celsus by the Church is this teaching on the pre-existent Soul that evolves to Wholeness and Perfection over the course of many lives: "Is it not rational that souls should be introduced into bodies, in accordance with their merits and previous deeds, and that those who have used their bodies in doing the utmost possible good should have the right to bodies endowed with qualities superior to the bodies of others?... The soul, which is immaterial and invisible in its nature, exists in no material place without having a body suited to the nature of that place; accordingly, it at one time puts off one body, which was necessary before, but which is no longer adequate in its changed state, and it exchanges it for a second". And in his famed work De Principiis the Church Father Origen explains: "The soul has neither beginning nor end... Every soul... comes into this world strengthened by the victories or weakened by the defeats of its previous life. Its place in this world as a vessel appointed to honor or dishonor is determined by its previous merits or demerits. Its work in this world determines its place in the world which is to follow this..."