Soul-Evolution And The Original Gospel Teachings 

It can easily be demonstrated that the Original Gospel Teaching revealed that each Soul Evolves over the Course of many lives -- see The Pre-Nicene Position Of The Church On Reincarnation https://brotherofyeshua.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-pre-nicene-position-of-church-on.html   

The teaching of Reincarnation can be categorized as a Secret Doctrine, because those who can be rightly portrayed as spiritually immature, could not recall their own Soul's previous lives -- see The Christian Secret Doctrine http://SecretDoctrine.Nazirene.org    And this is one of the  important teachings that could not be revealed to the multitudes, and caused Jesus to reveal Higher Spiritual Truths in Parables -- i.e., “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).   In explanation of the above words of Jesus, the Wycliffe Commentary writes that: “…the initiate was instructed in the esoteric teaching..., which was not revealed to outsiders… The mystery of the kingdom in its ultimate development is the full-orbed message of the Gospel (Rom 16:25-26). The purpose of parables was to instruct the initiates without revealing the items of instruction to the ones who were without. This is in keeping with the Biblical principle that spiritual understanding is restricted to those who have become spiritual...” 

In his Epistle to the Trallaus the first century elder Ignatius speaks of the Mysteries of the Gospel and the Kingdom, and writes: “Might I not write to you things more full of mystery?  But I fear to do so, lest I should inflict injury on you who are babes.  Pardon me in this respect, lest, as not being able to receive their weighty import, ye should be strangled by them”.  

Jesus taught a Spiritually Holistic Lifestyle that enabled the seeker to understand and begin to evolve to the degree where past Soul-Lives could b recalled -- see The Spiritual Holistic Lifestyle  http://TheLawOfTheGospels.com#TheSpiritualHolisticLifestyle  

Was Jesus God?   Of course the Gentiles declared the man Jesus to be god-incarnate -- simply because their mindset and lifestyle inhibited them from understanding the spiritual meaning of the Gospel teachings -- and how each person fulfills these teachings, and arises to the level where the Anointing/Christing could be received. Jesus promised that his followers would do all the miracles that he did -- i.e., "Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever believes in Me will also do the works that I am doing. He will do even greater things than these" (John 14:12) -- which means that each believer/follower would do and know all that Jesus did and knew (see Genuine Believers Fulfill the Works and Miracles of Jesus https://brotherofyeshua.blogspot.com/2019/12/genuine-belivers-fulfill-works-and.html   ).

So what happened? Once the Gospel accounts were separated and drawn from the Essene Ebionite lifestyle, it became virtually impossible to be a believer and follower of Jesus. And this is easily proven. How? When a modern believer is presented with the original teachings by those who walked and talked with Jesus in his daily teachings and travels, they reject the original teachings as heresy -- see The Witness Of Those Who Jesus Personally Taught http://TheLawOfTheGospels.com#PersonallyTaught   . And while the congregation of believers have been largely kept in the dark, the biblical scholars understood this fact – and this is demonstrated in the words of A. Powell Davies who stated: “Biblical scholars were not disturbed by what they found in the Dead Sea Scrolls because they had known all along that the origin of Christianity was not what was commonly supposed to have been” (quoted by Millar Burrows in More Light on the Dead Sea Scrolls). What does it mean that the scholars acknowledge that the origin of Christianity is not what believers have been told by the Church? Worse yet, Edmund Wilson, an expert who worked on the Dead Sea Scrolls further raised the question as to what difference it makes if “Jesus... had been trained in the discipline and imbued with the thought of a certain Jewish sect, and that he had learned from it the role that he afterwards lived...” (The Scrolls From The Dead Sea).  Why? Because it was the spiritually holistic mindset and lifestyle of the Essenes, that is the foundation of achieving the Anointing/Christing that the man Jesus received. And the fact is that every Essene lived their daily lives in the process of achieving the goal of becoming Anointed/Christing by fulfilling the Spiritual Law that enabled the man Jesus to achieve At-Oneness with the Logos/Word/Son of God which the Essenes portrayed as the True Prophet (see The One Teacher http://BrotherOfJesus.org#TheOneTeacher   ). And this all-important reality is also stated by the Church Father Hippolytus who wrote of the position of the Essene/Eionites that Jesus "...was justified by fulfilling the Law. He was the Christ of God, since not one of the rest of mankind had observed the Law completely. Had any one else fulfilled the commandments of the Law, he would have been the Christ, for they assert that our Lord Himself was a man in like sense with all humanity" (see Hippolytus, Refut. Omn. Haer. vii. 34). If all the Essenes were striving to become Anointed/Christed, and Jesus was the first among the Essenes to succeed, then it is the mindset and the lifestyle of the follower/seeker that enables each individual to become the Anointed/Christ as Jesus taught. Hence, the early Church author Hippolytus states pertaining to the Gospel teachings of the original followers of of Jesus that "...when Ebionites [or any other person] thus fulfills the law, they are able to become Christs, for they assert that our Lord Himself was a man in like sense with all humanity" (Hippolytus, Refut. Omn. Haer. vii. 34). The witness of the original followers of Jesus is noted by the historian when it is stated that Jesus was in “...supernatural union of a man and God... In their eyes, Jesus of Nazareth was a mere mortal, the legitimate son of Joseph and Mary: but he was the best and wisest of the human race, selected as the worthy instrument to restore upon earth the worship of the true and supreme Deity. When he was baptized in the Jordan, the Christ, the first of the aeons, the Son of God himself, descended on Jesus in the form of a dove, to inhabit his mind, and direct his actions during the allotted period of his ministry” (Gibbon; The Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire, V.4, P.366).

To the uninformed and unknowing modern believer, it makes all the difference in the world what the Bible Experts found in the writings of the Dead Sea Scrolls! And when Prof. John Allegro was quoted as saying that what has been revealed in the discovery of the Scrolls is a great amount of overwhelming evidence that “...may upset a great many basic teachings of the Christian Church. This in turn would greatly upset many Christian Theologians and believers. The heart of the matter is, in fact, the source and originality of Christian doctrine” (August 1966 issue of Harpers Magazine). What all the many recent archaeological discoveries have confirmed and demonstrated is that Prof. Allegro was correct in his assertion that our modern-day understanding of “the source and originality of Christian doctrine” is defective. Why? Because neither the original teachings or the corrupted scriptures, supports the tenets and structure of an organized dogmatic church as we have today. In the words of Prof. Elaine Pagles, in her book, The Gnostic Gospels: “It is the winners who write history - their way. No wonder, then, that the viewpoint of the successful majority has dominated all traditional accounts of the origin of Christianity… It suggests that these religious debates - questions of the nature of God, or of Christ - simultaneously bear social and political implications that are crucial to the development of Christianity as an institutional religion. In simplest terms, ideas which bear implications contrary to that development come to be labeled as heresy; ideas which implicitly support it become orthodox”.

The Spirit moved, and with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, it was proven that the man Jesus emerged out of the Essenes, who were often portrayed as the earliest of Christians. As a purely Spiritual Community, the Essenes understood the spiritual meaning of the scriptures, and they rejected all animal sacrifice. As strict vegetarians, they lived the necessary Spiritually Holistic Lifestyle that purified their physical body and permitted spiritual advancement. As stated in the article in the Encyclopedia Britannica under the heading, The History of Christian Mysticism, where it reads: “Although the essence of mysticism is the sense of contact with the transcendent, mysticism in the history of Christianity should not be understood merely in terms of special ecstatic experiences but as part of a religious process lived out within the context of the Christian community. From this perspective mysticism played a vital part in the early church. Early Christianity was a religion of the spirit that expressed itself in the heightening and enlargement of human consciousness”. One of the primary objectives and purposes of the Gospels was to bring about the necessary deepening and expansion of mind that enabled the seeker/disciple through the process of Anamnesis, to begin to tap into this Inner Source of Divine Knowledge and learn directly from the Indwelling Logos of God that was portrayed as The True Prophet" -- i.e., quoting with respect to this ONE TEACHER that the followers of Jesus were commanded to seek out exclusively, Peter taught that he is "...within the mind of every one of us, but in those who have no desire of the knowledge of God and His righteousness, He is inoperative; but He works in those who seek after that which is profitable to their souls, and kindles in them the light of knowledge. Wherefore seek Him first of all; and if you do not find Him, expect not that you shall learn anything from any other". And what this means is that the scriptures are not themselves the Word of God -- but rather, the means by which the seeker/disciple can attain the necessary Spiritual Maturity to gain entrance into the Inner Kingdom and receive the Divine Manna directly from the Indwelling Logos. But this is possible only when the scriptures are used for their intended purpose. And this is allegorically portrayed in the Torah in the teaching that Moses (the Law) could not lead the Children of Israel across the Jordan and into the Promised Land -- which could only be accomplished by Joshua (a.k.a. Yeshua or Jesus). Allegorically, neither Joshua in the Torah or Yeshua/Jesus in the Gospels portrayed an actual historical person -- but rather, a condition of mind that enabled the seeker/disciple to receive the Spiritual Anointing and the most Pure Spiritual Nourishment or Knowledge/Manna which is allegorically portrayed as the Body and Blood of Messiah/Christ. In the parable of TheCall to the Wedding Feast (see http://TheCall.Nazirene.org   ), those who come to TheCall must have put on the Wedding Garment of Purity, in order to sit at the Table of the Lord and receive the Bread of the Kingdom. Without the Wedding Garment of Purity, no Soul Advancement or Evolution can be brought about -- see The Restoration Of The Gospel Teachings http://TheLawOfTheGospels.com#GospelRestoration 

 

See Also

Who Am I http://BrotherOfJesus.org#WhoAmI

Book - James The Brother Of Jesus http://BrotherOfJesus.org#James