During a Christmas season, I strive to rise in spirit beyond the din and glare of revelry, lest the serious import of the High Mission of the Lord Jesus to the earth fog before my gaze and the blessings pass me by. In many Christian souls, the Christmas Festival has lost the seriousness it deserves as a time to stop all hurly burly and bread and butter endeavours and bestir oneself inwardly, as though one were standing on a scale, to weigh how one stands before the Will of God which Jesus came to enlighten humanity about. From the High Origin from which He came, it was seen that the End-Time was nigh, that, if left to its own devices, there was little humanity could do to escape damnation in the darkness in which it had entangled itself, that, except One Higher in Origin and mightier than the Darkness bore Light to the earth once more, a majority of mankind would be unable to find its way out of the suffocating morass that the earth had become before the Last Judgment.
Jesus of Nazareth, then and even now, cannot arbitrarily save humanity from damnation, irrespective of the claim and belief of many Christians that His Blood, shed on the Cross, had washed their sins away.
Christians caught in this misconception either do not understand the words of their Lord aright, or, like the five foolish virgins who did not have oil in their lamps, do not trouble themselves for personal investigation of concepts handed over to them from several generations. For the foolish virgins are simply sleepy or slumbering souls, who are too weak to be inwardly at the alert. The Lord Jesus said severally that it did not matter if anyone called Him Lord from his cradle to his grave but did not fulfil the Will of His Father, such a person would not be admitted to Paradise. He also warned that sins against Him, Jesus, and God would be forgiven, but those against the Holy Spirit would not. For awise virgin this is an insight that the Holy Spirit is the Author of Judgement. Elsewhere, the Lord Jesus advised that “…He will reprieve the world of sin and proclaim the Judgement”. Jesus, therefore, only came as an act of emergency before that Judgement to show those who are willing to salvage themselves from perdition the way, in the Will of God, to follow. With regard to the expression in the Book of Revelations about “the Lamb of God Who beareth the sins of the world,” the traditional conception and understanding is that of a Jesus of Nazareth Who, resurrected from the grave, bore the sins of man away from this earth. Little or no understanding is shown by Christians who think like this for the LAMB, one of those four Animal-Beings at the foot of God’s Throne. These Animals-Beings, the LAMB, the LION, the EAGLE and the BULL, represent the four pillars of Creation, or transmission channels for God’s Power. The LAMB inclines powerfully to the human spiritual species of Creation, and bears THE WOUND OF THEIR FAILURE. In modern versions of the transmission of this Revelation, we now read of “who TAKES the sins of the world away” instead of the more meaningful original of “who BEARETH the sins of the world”. We may ask: where were the sins of the world taken to, if they were taken away? To Paradise which admits of no dirt? If we recognise that whatever is done in lower spheres of existence reflects in higher spheres, we may appreciate why the Lamb Who inclines in a special way to human spiritual species in creation, reflects or bears their sins against the Will of God.
The Fourth Wise Man
As suggested, a Christmas season should not be spent idling or in revelry but in deep spiritual (not religious) contemplation. Here, I have made a distinction between “spiritual” and “religious”. Spiritual belongs to the activity of the Spirit. Religious simply refers to acts of religion. The religious person is not necessarily a spiritual person. Everyone is a human spirit. Religion is what man has made of the various Messages which the Almighty Creator once Willed to be sent to different peoples at various stages of spiritual development, each message tailored to the needs of each people. Even before the bringers of these messages departed the flesh, powerful groups in their followership interpreted the teachings to suit their understanding of them or to strengthen their power and influence over the followership. Such has become the faith of Messages handed down from one generation to another and not meant to be questioned without the wrath of the leaders of religion. It was not different in the days of Jesus of Nazareth. He had come to show man the light, and mankind was expecting Him. But when He came and upturned some existing teachings, He was branded a troublemaker and told their Father Abraham did not teach them so. Jesus once replied that He existed before Abraham, kindling their fury. So, the man of today, should not swallow line, hook and sinker all the transmissions of the life and teachings of the Lord Jesus without first subjecting them to spiritual scrutiny. It is not enough to say the human channels who transmitted them were guided by the Holy Spirit. Who cannot be, or who is not, even today, Who opens his or her spirit for guidance? One of the concepts I wish to discuss in this regard is the Fourth Wise Man. We are taught about the THREE WISE MEN who came from the East and trailed the star of Bethlehem to the cradle of the Baby Jesus. Actually, there was a fourth wise man who failed to make the journey with the other three and probably did alone, according to some reports not included in the bible. The story of the three wise men and of the fourth wise man holds important lessons for everyone striving for spiritual salvation. Many Christians long to return home…Paradise. But they do not know where Paradise is, or of the worlds or the spheres of existence which lie between it and the earth. At best, they know paradise is in heaven. Which of the heavens they cannot tell. Yet Jesus always spoke of this earth and the heavens, not just heaven. He once said that “in my Father’s House there are many Mansions”. As I was writing this column, I asked Udeme James, a church goer, to describe for me a mansion. She said it was a mighty house with many rooms. I asked her how could there be many mansions in one house. She had no answer. I then taught her that, by HOUSE, Jesus meant Creation and that the “mansion” represented many spheres of existence or worlds or heavens within Creation. That statement now made more sense to her.
Earlier, I mentioned the four Animal-Beings at the foot of God’s Throne representing the FOUR PILLARS of CREATION. These Animal-Beings are equidistant from one another. If you project straight lines upwards from each of them until these lines meet at a common point, you have constructed a PYRAMID. Spiritually speaking, it conceptualises the common meeting point as the SOURCE, Life or God. God’s Power is channeled downwards to these Animal-Beings who transform and pass it to the worlds which lie below and are structured after these pillars. We learn of these four pillars again in the Acts of Apostles 11:5-6. In the city of Joppa, Simon Peter had a vision in which a large sheet was let down from Heaven by its “four corners”.
The forgoing shows that Creation (House) is not just the earth and one Heaven but Heavens (Mansions). Paradise is the summit or apex of Creation. The four Animal-Beings exist far above Paradise and far above the worlds of the ArchAngels and Angels. Jesus came from that unfathomable world far far above the worlds of ArchAngels and Angels. This unfathomable world is separated from the fathomable worlds by worlds made up of surging oceans of fire. As the Love of God, the mission of Jesus from this unfathomable world was to offer those human spirits on eatth who were struggling to return to Paradise the possibility of doing so in the knowledge of the Will of God which He would bring to them and which they must fulfil. The Book of Revelations would invite us later to “behold those who have washed themselves clean in the Blood of the Lamb”. Jesus would be prepared to shed His Blood as a seal of Truth for the Message of God’s Will which He brought to the earth.
As the tidings of a forthcoming Mission of Jesus spread throughout the worlds, there was rejoicing everywhere. Many human spirits sought to be permitted to support that mission in one way or another. These were prepared for their tasks on earth. John the Baptist, as His forerunner, was one of them. So were the 12 Disciples. So were the Four Wise Men, each representing a pillar of Creation. So were people like Pontius Pilate, who was to employ the high political office in which he would find himself to protect the person and Mission of the Lord Jesus. He was not to seek them out from the masses of men. At the appointed hour, they were to recognise Him in the Word He proclaimed, remember their vows and calling, consciously or otherwise, and follow Him, standing in their duty posts. Three of the four wise men recognised the Star of Bethlehem as a greeting from the Father, put their earthly pursuits aside and hastened to Bethlehem. The fourth needed more time to re-arrange himself. Even today, many of us are like him. Earthly considerations superceed our spiritual tasks; we are found not at our duty posts when it is critical we be. The three who were faithful to their calling visited the Baby Jesus and gave Him presents. But, in my understanding, they probably blunder afterwards. Their calling was to soothe the path of the Lord on earth with their wealth and influence. He was not to be in want. Being eminent and influential, the positions they took in matters connected with His Work were to protect Him and the Mission. But they fell before the Tempter whose ambition was to derail this Mission. For as soon as they left Baby Jesus, the Wise Men went to visit Herod, the Emperor, to inform him that someone who would be greater than him had been born. Lucifer, the Anti-Christ, the only possible fighter against the Mission of Jesus Christ, encouraged king Herod, His mission on earth, to wage war on the High Mission. Herod ordered the murder of babies the age of Baby Jesus. Under high guidance, Joseph and Mary, parents of Jesus, fled with Him to Egypt for three years. Meanwhile, the three wise men returned to their earthly pursuits, not to be heard of again, not even when Jesus was arrested and brought before Pontius Pilate, who could have employed his high office to protect the Son of God. Pilate wished to fulfil his vow. But he feared the emperor may depose him as Governor of Judea and execute him as an enemy of the emperor. To help Pontius Pilate overcome his impending failure, his wife was guided three times in her dreams to ask him to free Jesus. But each time, he merely symbolically washed his hands free of the Blood of the Innocent that, in the name of earthly office, he was going to order be shed.
Like the four wise men and Pontius Pilate, we all fail in our callings. The wise men were not sent to gossip to Herod. By overstepping their brief, they caused the death of many children. In addition, they forgot their vows and exposed Jesus to danger. We can learn from them.
There are more than 50 signals in the Bible that Jesus did not come to this earth simply to be murdered so His Father will forgive His Creatures their sins against Him, which the Lamb continually bears as testimony against them. Last Sunday afternoon, I listened to a radio programme of the God’s Kingdom Society (GKS). The GKS said “Jesus was killed by wicked Jews”. I am not a member of the GKS. But I agree that Jesus was murdered. The GKS said also that the Second Coming of Jesus had taken place and that God’s Kingdom on earth was already being set up. I believe that the second coming of Jesus would be “like a thief in the night”, and not gladiatoral. It would be a simple process to close the cycle of His Mission, begun in Bethlehem and usher in the Third Age or the Kingdom of the Holy Spirit. Spiritually speaking, the First Age was the age of the Father. The Second Age was that of the Son, Jesus. Without the return of Jesus, proceedings of the third age cannot begin. In my understanding of this event, this proceedings have begun. Trumpet of the World Judgement are the multiplicity, rapidity and quantum of devastating events. I parted ways with GKS over its belief that the Holy Spirit is not personal and is not the World Judge. Jesus told us that “when He the Spirit of Truth is come, He would reprieve the world of sin and proclaim the judgement”. The Book of Revelations 1:4-6 tells us: “Peace from Him Which was, Which Is and Which is to come…and Peace also from Jesus Christ the faithful witness”. This Revelation is about two Persons, the One who is coming and the one who bore witness of His coming.
Apologies for the digression. Jesus was murdered. For if Jesus came to die for man’s sin’s, as the leaders of religion in those days told the multitude when the latter recognised their blunder during the crucifixion, why would Pilate’s wife be told in dreams to ask her husband not to hand Him over for execution? Jesus explained His Mission in the Parable of the Vineyard. Why did the earth quake in anger in Golgotha? Why did the sun dim and the wind rush? Why was the covenant broken with the shredding of the curtain of the Holy of Holies by unseen hands? Why, prior to all these events, did Jesus admonish Judas that, from what he planned to do, that is the betrayal, it would have been better for him if he was not born, but, having been born, it would have been better for him, still, if a heavy weight was tied around his neck and he was thrown into a river, so he could die, so he could not involve himself in the betrayal? Why did Judas commit suicide afterwards? Why has the church not made Judas a saint if he helped to fulfil God’s Will? Why will no Christian family not name its child after Judas? Why is the earth filled with stigmatas today? Stigmatists are people who bear the wounds of Jesus on the Cross in the appropriate parts of their bodies during Easter. Some of them have been found in Owerri, Nigeria. The Church does not understand stigmata. Stigmatists suffer serious pains, especially when their wounds are medicated. Unseen people flog them. They hear voices and speak words spoken in Golgotha region during the time of Jesus Christ on earth. The church describes stigmatists as blessed and honoured by God to bear this experience. Thus, Christians go to Rome, on pilgrimage, to see and to touch these people and to pray to God through them. How ridiculous! In truth, these are among the people who reviled Jesus on the Cross and even demanded that His Blood be upon them and their children. In the mercy of God, such people are being given another opportunity now, probably the last, as the cycle of events which began with the birth of Jesus, draws to a close, to be succeeded by a new cycle in which the Final Judgement promised by Jesus would take effect. On the cross, Jesus said: “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”. If He came to die, He would have blessed His assailants for fulfilling the Wills of His Father. Above all, we know that God Almighty is perfect from eternity to eternity. Anything perfect never changes, otherwise it was not perfect. God never changes. In the beginning, He said: “Thou shall not kill”. As this commandment will never change because God never changes, He would not send His Son to be killed. Jesus Himself said: “I have come to fulfil the Law, not to oppose it”. The Law is the Will of His Father.
We should now see, if we are numbered among the five wise virgins, that the Sanhedrin, the highest religious order in those days in Jerusalem, sold to the multitude a dummy that Jesus had taken their sins away. The Sanhedrin got Jesus killed to protect its authority endangered by the Mission of Jesus. Religious order after religious order has continued to re-inforce the belief that Jesus came to die for the sins of man simply because there are more five foolish virgins than five wise virgins in Christiandom. Moslems surprise me in this. They recognise Jesus as “Spirit of God”. They believe Jesus was not the one who was killed on the cross, that, in the crucial moment, God replaced Him with another person, that God would not permit that His Prophet be slain. Thus, in my view, is a much higher recognition of the worth of the Son of God than that ascribed to Him by people who recognise Him as such but defile His Mission with a wrong definition.
