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B.
DYBWAD BROCHMANN THE ART OF READING
THE BIBLE Chapter
19 The History of Mankind in A Nutshell It’s no
secret, and nothing mystical either, in the life teachings that the human
society consists of individuals, who after a while have grown together in
many invisible ways into a fellowship of life and destiny. Therefore, every
human society resembles a living organism, that by some invisible way, with
the help of a very comprehensive and for the people distinctive
differentiation, has grown together along similar biological principles,
which can be seen in the rest of nature, although maybe the best way is to
study the human body itself. A lot of different cells and special organs,
which have a lot of different functions, come together make up a living
automatic whole. When the time comes that human society is completely clear about this, then “the state”, “the Church”, and “marriage”, and all
other external institutions and
organizations, will fall away in a similar way, or after similar principles
like every other external “egg shell” falls away by itself, when “it is
time”, that the chick is mature enough to stand on its own legs. The
eggshell was only a temporary arrangement in the creative workshop, because
the loose substance (yolk and egg white) couldn’t stay together without an
eggshell. It will not be the same when the cell building is finished and the organism is capable of living, so
it can stand and “go on its own legs”. Biological
research has given us the knowledge about life and taught us to see and
understand the living organisms. When we have become completely conscious
about the biology of the human society, then mankind will look back with
great surprise on its own development. Especially
with the so-called “Oxford Christians”, I have often come across the
recognition that “since society consists of solitary individuals, so it must
be obvious that every improvement of the society must begin with the solitary
individual”. This way
of thinking is of course relatively correct. The strange thing is that not even
these Oxford Christians mean anything more with this teaching than that they
also, in the next moment, are running away with their thoughts and
expectations for international peace conferences, and ask God to create world
peace for the whole earth before there is peace within the soul of every
individual, and before people have been
able to establish peace in an ever so little society of people. If
society consists of individuals, by the same token, the world society
consists of nations with their respective national distinctions. Therefore the Oxford Christians, if they were
serious about their teaching that it was always correct to begin with the
individual, and grow from the individual to the compound, would definitely be against any kind of internationalism until at least
one or two of the smaller nations had created peace internally in their own
little society of people. However, no one can demand a vigorous consequence
from religious dreamers. The English Foreign Minister Bevin, even wants to have the nationalistic, the distinctive,
removed as much as possible so that the world society would resemble a dish
of rice porridge, more than a living and highly developed organism. Bevin
probably thinks that the highly developed human organism consists of homogeneous
organs, which are all on the same level according to the social democratic
ideals of equality. We on our side aren’t thinking about the possibility of
being able to create world peace before every individual nation has become
conscious about themselves and their distinctive characteristics, and having
become so would also understand their crystal clear right to freely unfold
their lives, so that every American, English, German, or Russian dream about
a world state and a world emperor are up in the attic or out on the scrap
heap, where all of the playthings from mankind’s childhood naturally belong. It will
be shown that it is just as difficult to create a living world society after
the false social democratic ideals of equality and a differentially
antagonistic picture of life, as it, for example, has been impossible to
create world trading if the whole world hasn’t been strongly differentiated
as far as climate, soil, natural resources, need, etc. If all people
everywhere year round had the same access, the same climate, the same habits
and the same needs for living, there would not have been any world trading
and no living cooperation. Everyone would have satisfied his or her own
needs. If all
the cells and organs in our body had been as similar as a grain of rice, or
some idiotic proletarian, or like machine-formed buttons, that highly
developed organism, that we call our body, would never have been possible. Everything
has to do with differentiation. Hitler’s
way of wanting to force people to believe in only one way was a good example
of pure social democracy – it was differentially antagonistic. All of
that current discussion about the Cost of Living Index and the famous “Lex
Thagård” here at home in our
little sleeping dreamland, (Wilhelm
“Lex” Thagård -1890—1970- was Norway’s National Director for Price Regulation
for 2 ½ decades. He was also active in the resistance movement during the
Second World War). clearly
shows that we, as society’s teachers and society’s thinkers, haven’t come any
further in our childish helplessness, than that we think that there must be a
center in our body from which orders are given to all of our tens of
thousands of cells and to our many different special organs, so they can know
what they are supposed to do at any given time with all of their different
kinds of functions? Does Mr. Price Director, or his like-minded, for example
cut his thumb, so he thinks that possibly there is a cell central, maybe in
the brain (or maybe in the stomach?) that gives orders to the tens of
thousands of white blood cells, that they immediately must “take the first
train” to the thumb in order to repair things? That kind of center does not
exist in any kind of organism. There is no “state” heathen who knows the dynamic (automatic) principles in all
living things. That is why they look undesirably and unwillingly at all
instincts as being “egoism”, and therefore they are in principle against “the
private initiative”. That is why they want the U.S.A. to ration and rule the
whole world, and all of Norway! And that’s why they all fall into “the
temptation on the temple mount”, and can say: “I, little director or
president, will accept ‘ruling the whole world’ or ‘rule and direct the
people’s work life and business life’”. In other words, I don’t see how
childishly helpless and laughable I really am! Can they possibly think that I
could replace thousands and tens of thousands of far more industrious and
well-informed “private persons”, or that I should have the almighty God’s
all-knowing and omnipresent ability? As far as
I’m concerned, I have never been to a public office or seen a department boss
in the eyes without seeing this little puffed up, conceited, dreaming and
stuck up daydreamer’s more or less clear physiognomy. He dreams that he can
rule! Therefore
we will probably have to have both Thagård and the eggshell, and Mr. Bevin and Hitler and Stalin and
Mr. Atlee and Truman as long as there are no more impersonal “cells” or
individuals, that don’t dare or can’t stand on their own two legs and,
because of that, they scream for organization. As long as there is a need for
and sensual pleasure in organizations, as for example those in the Norwegian
Business Community who think that regulation and directing from the outside
is necessary, then the Norwegian public
society is not mature enough to come out of the eggshell. So-called
Conservative and Liberal party people are in this case maybe even more
involved in organizations than the declared proletarians? The most personally
developed “cells” and individuals in our little society are the fishermen,
who are used to rowing their own boat far away from land without babysitters,
and the farmers in small circumstances whose hard struggle for existence have
always been left to themselves. It’s from these people that the new
revolution comes with the cry: “Down with the tyrants! The fat, lazy and
glossy people, who give speeches for each other, and who have zero chance of
“seeing the kingdom of God”, i.e. the holy living automatic highly
differentiated human society. It is surely for that reason, that the Savior
points out that people who seek their own flattery and honor can impossibly
believe in the kingdom that He is proclaiming. (John 5:43 – 44). It is not
foolishness and vanity that drive and move the cells in a living organism. There
is hardly a struggle for prestige? Instead, it would probably be egoism or
instinct. That’s why it says that you shall love everyone else for the same
reason that you can and should love yourself and those who are close to you. Have you
ever thought about how a highly developed organism is built, how it comes to
be, lives, breathes, grows and works? If you have, then you will always be
free from a need and desire to control others, or to let others control you. You
will want to serve the others for your own happiness and advantage, and at
the same time you will no longer want to earn money at the expense of others.
The Book of John will become like a bible for you, and your desire to fool
yourself and others, like in politics, will completely disappear. If you
believe in the living life, in its power, motivating power, order and system,
then you can never again be tricked by your “church” and “state” and fall
into temptation. What I
was now explaining, I have earlier in both my book The Living Society
and in other writings explained more or less thoroughly. This is a theme that
can never be explained clearly enough, if you want to understand the effort of Christ for the life of the
holy society and His mental warfare against Judaism, heathenism, and
Gnosticism. I have begun this section about “the history of mankind in a nutshell” in this way, because there
are quite a few important stories in the Gospel; some examples are “The
Prodigal Son” and “The Prostitute Magdalene”. These and other stories to begin with have been understood,
interpreted, and practiced as something that had to do with both the individuals and the morals of the
individual (cell building in the organism). However, each of these and other stories really represent and symbolize all of
mankind, the whole organism, or the living totality, just as much as
those that appear to only have to do with the individual, and their goal is
to teach the individuals “morals” and the art of living. When I
subsequently bring forth examples of the history of mankind in a nutshell, it
is to show what the word of God gives us in this story, that it is showing
that also God’s word begins with the
simple and individual, and builds further to the complex, “collective”, and
complicated. It also happens to help everyone who has thought that the
word of God was a religious and private matter, to discover that God’s word
gives us the truth about the collective life – about the holy living society,
and that a bigger misunderstanding,
or call it a falsehood of life, can
hardly be obtained than the statement that our attitude to the word of God is
a religious and private matter, “that finally may not mix together with
politics”. The truth
is that unless we understand the word
of God to us about the totality, about the creation of society, and about
“the word of the eternal life”, regarding human society and its prosperity
and hygiene, we will go with or against our will to hell with all of our
society. Hell is the collective condition we go to because of our false
assumptions and conceptions. Hell is the condition where “all the devils are
loose”, and all kinds of big and ingenious advances, and the human spirit’s
great creation is used for its own
caricature, as pain and torment for us all. When
heathenism’s false and hypocritical “liberalism” had totally removed the idea
of hell from all of the good people, that was when hell was able to be
thoroughly and vigorously established, without the masses discovering that
Satan himself had outwitted them. The Prodigal Son as “the history of mankind
in a nutshell”. We have
discovered nothing new here, when we treat human society as a totality. In
the word of God, for example, we find Christ’s parishioners described as a
bride who was unfaithful to her bridegroom. We could name a long line of
examples of the same thing. When Christ, as the great “artist” He really was
in His analogies and all of the performing arts, tells the parable of The
Prodigal Son, it is not easy to say with certainty, what He thought about
most here on earth - about the individuals or about mankind as the spirit’s
offspring, or as the “child” or the son of God, who left home because he
wanted to. Since the
parable tells about a father who had two sons, it is very easy to think in
the beginning of two kinds of individuals, each with their own mentality, but
it is also possible to think about two kinds of ways to live your life. The one stays quietly at home, but
doesn’t seem to have developed as well as the one who left home, took the
risk, paid the “price” it cost, and always will and must cost, when you
manage to lose your source (father), your origin (home and feeling of home),
and to dedicate yourself to dreams and adventure. It costs
to be a man. It’s risky to want to stand on your own two feet before you have
self-control and maturity enough for it. The story is written in Luke 15: 11
– 32. If you can now think that you will, for the first time in your life,
read the whole story of mankind condensed into a rather little story, so I
hope that you will read with joy and with awareness and reflection: 11 ”And he said, A certain man had two
sons: 12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give
me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.
13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together,
and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with
riotous living. 14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty
famine in that land; and he began to be in want. 15 And he went
and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his
fields to feed swine. 16 And he would fain have filled his belly
with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. 17
And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's
have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I
will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned
against heaven, and before thee, 19 And am no more worthy to be
called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. 20 And he
arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his
father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed
him. 21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against
heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. 22
But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on
him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: 23 And
bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: 24
For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And
they began to be merry. 25 Now his elder son was in the field: and
as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26
And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. 27
And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the
fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. 28 And
he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and
entreated him. 29 And he answering said to his father, Lo, these
many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy
commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with
my friends: 30 But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath
devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. 31
And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is
thine. 32 It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for
this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found”. (Copied
from the Bible.com Website). Notice
from the beginning that there are two different kinds of mental types
described here. The one is easy-going, adventuresome – he who is
“open-minded”, “radical”, and liberal” or whatever you would call it. The
other is conservative, maybe more careful – “conventional in all respects”. This is especially
important when we, at the end of the story, hear how this conventional type envies the other one who risked
everything and who lived like a swine”, but who in the end was given a big
party! (Compare
in this connection Matthew 21:31, and don’t forget that human life is a great
creation, and not a statistical place of rest. Luke 12:49, for example. The
conventional person’s mentality today is quite similar to what is mentioned
in Luke15: 28 and 29). Verse 13
is a good “adventurous” description of the world today, which has left
reality and gone out on its own. The fantasy in the world has created its own
remoteness from life. Verse 14.
A great starvation is quickly developing all over the world. Verse 15.
The Norwegian national community keeps close to the “conservative” U.S.A.
Watch closely and you will see that Norway is appointed to watch the swine
for the foreigners. (In the 1940’s, we sent 4000 Norwegian soldiers to
Germany, after orders from the “conservative” England). This is only the
beginning. Verse 16.
What is “swine food” in the world of the spirit? Is it the ideology of
foreigners or the religious “pig food”? It seems like today the whole world
feels the need to fill their stomach with spiritual swine food. People aren’t
reacting correctly to themselves yet. It’s written that people are happy to
be fed with that kind of food! Verse 17
portrays the moment when a nation or an individual reacts correctly to
itself. Possibly we could also experience that soon? Verses 18
and 19 portray how the longing to return to the real and original finally
breaks through to a vigorous consciousness. It is a big question if our
occupied world will soon become tired of the spiritual “pig house” (the daily
press included), that the world is still living in. I wonder if the Norwegian
people won’t soon be approaching, with quickened steps, the day when we will
be tired of being hired servants for foreign nations? Also in Norway, the
desire to be the tenant farmer for foreign citizens instead of being an owner
in charge of his own house and farm will, soon be over. Verse 20.
The great Father, or origin to mankind, is always waiting for us. It is not
always correct to say that we shall and must wait for God. God has been missing His lost son a long
time. All we have to do is to indicate that we want to go home again, so
life will come to us. Norwegians still prefer to be tenant farmers for
foreigners – “great” nations, who are bluffing us. Verse 21.
Self-knowledge: “Not worthy to be
called children of God or Son of God”, isn’t this the same diabolical
slandering by “the Church” of the “evil desire and evil will”, or the
teachings of science about “egoists” and the “two-legged animals”? It wasn’t “egoism” to act like the
Prodigal Son, it was delusion. People who “are still glad to be fed from the
food that the pigs get” still don’t seem to understand this. (Verse 16).
First of all, what belongs to that “swine food” is the falsified guidance of
“the Church” and science regarding the “children of God” and the “son of
God”, who is the Son of Man! Self-knowledge and self-awakening are the exact
opposites of the Pharisaic slandering of human nature. (Compare Corinthians
3:16). Verses 22
– 23. Clothing, or “wedding
clothing”, are symbolical in the word of God for the Spirit of God being wed with the substance, when the human being
is born into the world. It is water and spirit that are united because a
human being is born into the world. The ring, the fatted calf, and the party
are the same type of symbolism. Comment: The story about the wedding in Canaan is a typical example of the history of mankind
in a nutshell. To deepen in everything that man in our days has acquired as
far as knowledge about life, we begin to glimpse the creation of mankind as a
“wedding between substance and sand”.
Notice especially the reflections of the guests over this distinctive
wedding. In every other wedding the good wine is served first. If there is
too little of the good wine, then one of lesser quality is served. This was a
remarkable wedding. Why hasn’t the good wine (the teachings of Christ) been
served earlier? Why did the world fantasy get to run around for a long time
before the bridegroom came with the good wine? This is really an interesting
problem of life, which shows that the wedding in Canaan has to do with and
portrays the spiritual conditions of life for all of mankind. Verse 24.
The “lost” (prodigal) son wasn’t completely lost. He was only on the wrong road. He was off the track! Now he’s
back on the correct road again. In this
parable Christ has omitted who and what it was that lured him onto the wrong
road, and whom it was who brought the lost one back to father and home. It’s
clear that Christ, in this picture of mankind and the human society, allows
the process from first to last be
played out as a dynamic process inside of mankind itself. From Verse 12
to 21 the entire development takes place inside of the person without
interference from the outside. Verse 25.
Music and dancing can be heard in the father’s house. People were happy. It
was not the way that the conventionally adjusted people had thought. And
lastly, the self- good and satisfied wanted a party to celebrate that the
lost son had come home, because they wanted to get their part of the
inheritance. Verse 26
– 32 portray the remarkable relationship between the “no mistake”, “the law
abiding”, and the “satisfied”, who understand existence as a valley of tears,
and who are busy with “savings banks” and prohibition politics, and
everything that belongs to this empty and lax world on its side, and the God
of life on the other side. It is these “food deniers” (who don’t want people
to enjoy an abundance), who are against joy, celebration and excess! It is
often the servants of Mammon, who don’t dare believe that what the Lord of
life and the Father of mankind says to them is true: “You are always with me
– everything that is mine is yours”. Christ
says this in other clear terms another place: “It pleases your heavenly
Father to give you the kingdom”, or “Inherit the kingdom that has been
prepared for you since the beginning of time”. There
will surely be joy and much surprise and celebration on earth when the lost
son awakes in the world, and sees how serious it is and was that our origin’s
thought and plan and highest joy was to give us everything. It was just that
we had to be mature first! We had to first believe it. pages 277
– 286 Can we
convince the religious infidels and those who have lost their spirit with
this story from the developmental history of mankind? Can we gather all the
doubters and all of the lost souls “who care for pigs” into this faith? If we
are successful, will we also experience that our conventional and “law
abiding” brothers will be angry with us, who have lived life outside of the
rules, when they hear that the God of life will have a big family party just
for us? When the
Norwegian national community sooner or later comes back to itself, and has
grown away from German, Russian, French, English, and American ideology and
delusion (pig food), will those of us who were quietly settled down at home,
be able to tolerate that there are celebrations for all of those who
“deserted their country and the military” who surrendered their country,
their daughters and sons to the Germans, the Russians, and the Englishmen? Maybe we will never come back to ourselves
again? Is social
democracy in Norway going to be cooking us all into “rice porridge”, so that
we lose all of our individuality and all of our national distinction? In that
case, we will not be any special prominent “organ” in the great, holy living
world’s society when the time comes. Henrik Ibsen’s Per Gynt was “a lost son”, who left home and
allowed himself to be duped by others, and by himself. Maybe we
remember the answer from the button maker? “Your
birth wasn’t in vain, lie down
and become dung”. ----------------------------------- In truck
gardens and out in the vast nature, there are a lot of plants that are “lost”
or “lose” a chance for life in the same way, but at least they did become
dung. Nothing and no one is a complete waste. So everything depends on the
individual person’s distinctive character, the individual nation’s
distinctive character, and the various civilizations chances and
possibilities. All of mankind has a chance as the legitimate child of the
spirit of God. That is why the story of the lost (prodigal) son, is the
history of all of mankind in a nutshell. All of
the big, complex, and complicated things consist of small and simple parts,
which either answer to their purpose and to their life’s calling, or they are
brought down. How things are with you and me is also how it is with our
citizens and our country. Dare I
add the following – it was my life’s biggest hope that Norway should be
something much bigger and more than well behaved tenant farmers under
foreigners! We
should, as people of northern Europe, become the great lighthouse. --------------------------------------------------------- A little information about Jesus Christ, the
artist and the poet. A whole
book could have been written about Jesus Christ as a classic poet, thinker,
and author. In The
Catholic Bible you can find, among other things, a list over 46 parables or allegories that are spoken
by the Savior. Each of these, in a
special way, gives the core of human life in a nutshell. The
following is the list in the Norwegian edition of The Catholic Bible: The List of the Parables of Christ: 1. Good
and bad master builders – Matthew 7:24 – 29. 2. The
wedding people and the bridegroom – Matthew 8:15. 3. A new
cloth and an old garment – Matthew 9:16. 4. The
new wine and the old bottles – Matthew 9:17. 5. The
unclean spirit – Matthew 12:43-45. 6. The
man who sowed seeds – Matthew 13:3 – 8, 18 – 23, Luke 8: 5 – 15. 7. The
tares among the wheat – Matthew 13:24 – 30, 36 – 43. 8. The
mustard seed – Matthew 13: 31,32, Luke 13:19. 9. The
leaven – Matthew 13: 33. 10. The
treasure in the field – Matthew 13: 44. 11. The
expensive pearls – Matthew 13: 45, 46. 12. The
fishnet – Matthew 13: 47 – 50. 13. What
makes people unclean – Matthew 15: 10 – 20. 14. The
debt ridden servant – Matthew 18: 23 – 35. 15. The
workers in the vineyard – Matthew 20: 1 –16. 16. The
two sons – Matthew21: 28-32. 17. The
ungodly men of the vineyard – Matthew 22: 33-45. 18. The
wedding of the son of the king – Matthew 22: 1-4. 19. The
fig tree – Matthew 24: 32 – 34. 20. The
faithful and the evil servant – Matthew 24: 45 – 51. 21. The
wise and the foolish virgins – Matthew 25: 14-30. 22. The
confidential sum of money – Matthew 25: 14-30. 23. A
kingdom and a house divided against itself – Mark 3: 23 – 26. 24. The
strong and the stronger – Mark 3:27, Luke 11:21,22. 25. The
seed that grew without anyone knowing it– Mark 4: 26-29. 26. The
light on the candlestick – Mark 4: 21, Luke 11: 33,36. 27. The
man who traveled abroad – Mark 13: 34-37. 28. The
plank and the speck – Luke 6: 41,42. 29. The
borrowed money and the debtor – Luke 7: 41 –47. 30. The
compassionate Samaritan – Luke 10: 30 – 37. 31. The
importunate friend – Luke 11: 5-9. 32. The
rich farmer – Luke 12: 16-21. 33. The
fig tree – Luke 13: 6-9. 34. The
invited guests – Luke 14: 7-14. 35. The
great supper – Luke 14: 16-24. 36. The
lost sheep – Luke 15: 3-7. 37. The
lost piece of silver – Luke 15: 8-10. 38. The
prodigal son – Luke 15: 11-32. 39. The
unfaithful steward – Luke 16: 1-8. 40. The
rich man - Luke 16: 19-31. 41. The
judge and the widow – Luke 18: 1-8. 42. The
Pharisee and the publican – Luke 18: 9-14. 43. The
ten pounds – Luke 19: 12-27. 44. The
door into the sheepfold – John 10: 1-10. 45. The
good shepherd – John 10: 11-18. 46. The
vine and the branches – John 15: 1-5. However,
this well-meant list says very little about Christ as an artist. For example,
the three temptations aren’t included, which before all else are an
artistically condensed report of both the personal, “private” and collective,
and great “public” risks and dangers of life. The three temptations, that we
have discussed other places, tell in a very dramatic way about the entire
human life’s risk of consciousness, on the one side and the big chances and
possibilities of victory on the other side. The “temptations” make up in
their three pronged presentation the entire “price” that mankind must pay –
i.e. everything that we naturally necessarily expose ourselves and each other
to, before we become strong as the
offspring of the spirit. It can’t be cheaper, if you awaken the consciousness
in the matter. You expose your own children for such a big risk, when you
call them up from the latent matter, where their possibilities are
slumbering. Before
the consciousness in us becomes powerful, “we are taken by the devil out into
the desert to be tempted”. No dramatist in the world, no classic thinker or
philosopher on the whole surface of the earth, has ever before seen through
all of the possibilities and chances, dangers and temptations for mankind
more concretely, and with 100% consciousness, than Jesus, when He talks about
the three temptations. This says a lot. When the world finally discovers this, with
the help of mental research (especially public psychology’s) help, so will
people see one of the best proofs that Christ necessarily must have known about everything ahead of time,
otherwise He would have been like all of the other authors in the past and
present in their relative truths, or in their access to truths, that we see
in all religions and in all great classic works of poetry. All of them have
their limitations, but Jesus seems
to know about everything ahead of time.
Comment:
Compare for example John 2: 25, that describes Christ in this way, and with
John 4:22, that talks about the truth about our limitations. Or read John
8:58, about what Jesus says, without reservation, about His own ego
consciousness, and compare these words with 8:23, where once and for all the
correct and true side of the so-called developmental teaching or “Darwinism”.
How people think or try to think that the Son of Man from Nazareth was and is
from eternity, this is another thing by itself. There will be more on this in
another section. If the
evangelists had written it in this way: “and He told them the following
parables: Once there was a person, who was taken out into the desert by the
devil to be tempted”, etc., then the three temptations had been on the list
in The Catholic Bible. But then the theologians would have said: “What a horrible sinful person that must
have been, since the devil could get him to come with him out into temptation”.
And then many would have thanked God because they weren’t like other people,
who were tempted to interpret life in minerals and have themselves and others
to believe that “stones could be bread” or that people could live off of
money! But now the whole world believes that it lives by “money”, or at least
that rich people and statesmen live by money and “contributions from the
state”. Now everybody thinks that “contributions from the state” are income,
like they think the “stones give bread”. That is
why the Gospel doesn’t say that Jesus told this as a parable. But of course
it is Jesus Christ’s own entire
artistic story, about the Son of Man’s distinction, and about the three kinds
of temptations that the Son of Man has to go through victoriously before He
is able to realize Himself as the Son of God. That is why the three
temptations are the entire human and society’s history of life in a nutshell.
But that
isn’t enough. Jesus’ entire life and
the art of living contain this same total picture inside. All of His
life’s work is symbolical and historical at the same time. When
naïve people, for example, discuss if Jesus and Barrabas were historical
people, or if this was only legend and myth, then these naïve people aren’t
really thinking about what they’re discussing. The reality, the historical
and exact, real reality is that as long as mankind crucifies the truth about
themselves and instead organizes,
legalizes, and authorizes robberies, murder, swindling and lies, then you
are “slipping Barrabas loose”. Barrabas is the classic name or “symbol” for
the fact that mankind in their thoughtlessness wishes to continue to live in
the immediate sensual experience, that people are “evil and egotistical”, and
therefore will insist on crucifying the truth about themselves and about the
unconscious and uncontrolled, and therefore will continually “slip Barrabas
loose”, i.e. legalize public robbery, organized thievery and murder. Comment:
When Paul says in Romans 13:1: “Every soul should be obedient to the superior
officers. They are superior because of God, those who are here, they are
placed there by God”, then Paul is speaking a relative truth, since the
superiors always must answer to the “God” or the “idol” that currently is
ruling in the society. If you worship, for example, the devil as God, i. e. a
bloodthirsty deity, then you also have a corresponding superior with the
death sentence and other “good” things. (John 8:43-45). The superiors answer
to the soul of the masses or the public soul. Jesus
uses a similar language in Gethsemane, when He says: “Not as I will, but as
You will, the blood thirsty god in the still primitive, religious human mind
will”. The
bloodthirsty gods and the authorized and privileged “Barrabases” will
disappear by themselves, when mankind gradually discovers that the unconscious was its own cause of
misfortune. It is your heavenly Father’s pleasure to give you His
kingdom, on the other side of Barrabas and the blood dripping gods. John 12:
31 and 14: 30 say the exact opposite of Paul in Romans 13 and by the priests
of “the state church”. Also in Luke 22: 25 Christ says the exact opposite of
Bevin’s teachings about the world’s center, the world’s police, and the
world’s emperor. ---------------------------------------
If we
read the portrayal on the Mountain of Transfiguration, we really are reading
a parable. However, here the parable is experienced as a happening that is in
a nutshell, that “explains” everything. Christ
had gone behind the misty shroud, and the disciples, who experienced this
remarkable drama, became so sleepy that they slept through everything. However,
they did experience hearing the voices of all the religions: “This is my
beloved Son with whom I am well pleased – listen to Him”. Here in a nutshell
is told everything about the history of Christianity. No matter how much
stuff and nonsense and spiritually misty shrouds there have been around the
salvation work of Jesus for over 2000 years, there has at least been a voice
of truth from the fog the whole time: “This
is my Son, the Son of God, my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased –
listen to Him”! The heavy
sleep on the mountain of Transfiguration is seen again in the garden of
Gethsemane and in 2000 years of “church” history. It is the heavy sleep of
deterioration. People need a long time to sleep and to be finished with the
dream state. ---------------------------------------- We don’t
know how Christ was able to arrange this highly dramatic little performance
on the “heights of Transfiguration”.
It wouldn’t have been difficult for Him, considering the great artist He was.
An important characteristic for Christ’s congregation here on earth, is that
they call it the transfiguration mountain, because it gives an explanation of
all of our history, and about the whole shrouding by the Savior, yet people
won’t admit that this is the explanation! Have we
now found the explanation of ourselves, of the Savior, and for all of the
religious dream life? Have people been with the Savior on the heights of
transfiguration, or can’t people follow Him? Have you heard the voice from
all of the sects and religions, or haven’t you? Do you see the religiously
dreaming eyes with the different spiritually deep sleepers? Do you see the
involuntary need for more blood, and do you notice the religious blood thirst
with all of the primeval forest’s sons and daughters? Can you think of
anything more satisfying than to crucify the truth about yourself, and to be
allowed to earn money and organize devilishness as long as you want to and
need to? Can you
hear His voice callout: “If thou be willing, remove this cup from me:
nevertheless not my will, but as you blood thirsty fearsome human nature
will! I will wait until you wake up. Here is my body and my blood at your
disposal until you don’t need any more blood, because then you have come over
the fear and anxiety for the spirit of God, who only wishes you well. As
long as you live with the fear of death, life, and existence, the feeling of guilt (that really is
correct since you are lying to yourself), then I will take all of the fear,
anxiety and guilt on me. I will take over all of the guilt feelings so that you can be free. I will assume all the
responsibility before God as far as your sin goes, if only you will open up your own heart for the truth about yourself,
about your neighbor, about your holy community life, and the spirit of God,
the almighty, inside of you, and understand the simple fact that whatever
your thoughts and values and life’s understandings are, this is how you
create your own destiny – o ye of little faith”. And the voice from Gethsemane says further: “ Don’t kill
anymore children and animals, when fear and anxiety bother you. But take this
glass of wine, verily I say to you, this is my blood that is poured out for
forgiveness of all of your sins”. And then God placed an organized robber and murderer to
rule you and you employed your priests, directly against my warnings, to lead
you astray and to crucify the truth about yourself. And the pastor in “the
state Church” poured richly into the blood cup that you religiously drunken
offspring from the primeval requested him to do. (Revelation 18:6). ---------------------------------------------------- It is endless to try to go into detail about everything
that is involved in our origin and creation. It is worst for everybody who
won’t hear and understand the teachings of Jesus, about the slow growth from
below, and from the “baby lizards” and on up to humans. Whoever will not hear this and will not look at our lives with
the perspective of Christ, won’t either
understand the mental salvation work of Jesus either. But we who believe in Him, we see that wherever we look in
the Gospels, we find symbolism used, not only in the poetic allegories, but
also especially in the allegorical actions and demonstrations. By themselves,
or together, we meet with 100% assurance from the Savior, in words, and
responses, in parables, actions, in behavior and demonstrations. The Savior
always knows ahead of time, has the
same definite knowledge, and we are always confident with His 100% assurance
of accuracy. It was, when I discovered this a long time ago, that I
became a follower of Christ, and it was then that I took up the struggle with
everybody who wanted to reduce the Savior to a founder of a religion. Comment: What is said here about the symbolism in Jesus’
words and deeds seems to be an especially conscious part of what John wrote. Why this is true, I can’t explain.
Therefore it seems to me that just as Christ made no mistakes, He had (100%
accuracy) in His words and deeds, and He proves
that He knew ahead of time about
everything, John shows the same kind of purity. John must be more directly
inspired from the Savior than the other evangelists, because he includes so
much more “higher consciousness” than the other evangelists, that contain
more access to consciousness than real consciousness. I have tried to explain
to theologians, who say that John is not “pure”, but theologians are impure,
themselves, and therefore don’t understand what is pure. All theologians have
a similar quality in that they like the old and bad wine better than the new
wine. Now that I have helped my readers to recognize that the
way I became a follower of Christ was that I saw that the words and teachings
of Christ prove themselves (are
dynamically convincing), because everything proves its own correctness. I
would also like the reader to look at the teachings of Jesus on the
conception of sin. When the Savior constantly uses the word “Hamartia” as an
expression for the conception of sin, so He runs into the essential belief,
that all other teachings of life always contain relative truth, or the
beginnings of the truth, never 100% accuracy. Etymologically speaking, “Hamartia” means, just this, not absolutely accurate, but to miss the mark, i.e. “the bull’s
eye”. If we can visualize that a spiritual “shooting
competition” was held between all of the thinkers, authors, founders of
religion, dramatists, etc. The middle of the target was 100% truth in life
for all of the steps in development, for all of the eras, from eternity to
eternity. Jesus Christ would be separate from all of the others because He
alone could hit the bulls’ eye 100% of the time. All of the others would more
or less land beside Him. “Beside Him” means sin in the mouth of Jesus! Even such an
inconsiderate apostle of truth as Henrik Ibsen, hints at something about
truth seldom being more than 25 years old. Our conceptions can be so fluid
because we are like growing children, or like material being developed.
Considering the imagery and the allegorical actions, Christ appears in such a
way that He could simply be blamed because He hadn’t done something a long
time ago, something else than “saving worlds”. He appears so without mistake,
sure and well trained, in comparison to all the rest of us in the past and
present. In this connection, read some examples of the ways Jesus
expresses Himself, for example in John 8:19, 8:55, 10:14,15, and 17:17,25, so
you will easily discover that it has to do with degrees of consciousness, or
call it a greater inner confidentiality with Himself and with God, the
almighty inside of Him. ------------------------------------------ First when you have really noticed the accuracy of Jesus,
it begins to dawn on you what it is Jesus is aiming at when He uses the word
“Hamartia”. It hits the bull’s eye much better than when the pastor in the
“state Church” wants to aim at the sin and sinner, because then the pastor
usually shoots himself instead of the sin. I must add one other thing. When I use the expression “proves itself” to describe the words
and teachings of Jesus, I am referring to not only postulates or empty
statements, but words that in themselves are strong enough to defy all kinds
of developments and changes. They will not be worn out by the ravages of
time, as human works of poetry usually are, we closely notice that there is a
certain relationship between the “self-proving” words of Jesus on the one
side and the automatic power and the automatic legality of life on the other
side. In human life, and especially in the history of the life
of society, we see that the laws of
life are automatic, i.e. they become known independently from us, and
independent of whether or not we recognize these laws. The laws work anyway,
just like the laws of gravity always work, fairly independently of Newton. The laws of life take care of being
respected. No police is needed to have the laws be respected. Sin must
stay away, but you will not avoid “punishment”! This is exactly the
same living and dynamic “quality” and “character”,which we find again in the
parables, allegorical presentations, demonstrations and actions of Jesus.
Go ahead and lie and misunderstand, deny and misinterpret the teachings and
life of Jesus as much as you want and need to do, you liar! The automatic
creative and continual 100% accuracy is in place and working, anyway, independent of you and your level of
development. The teachings of Jesus don’t need to be “approved” or
“thrown out”. The teachings show how correct they are. The wilder the world
becomes and the greedier the pastors’ lies become, the stronger and more
violently everything will be overtaken by the teaching of truth and the human
distinction. Jesus also knew this ahead of time and said so in a powerful
little nutshell: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not
pass away”. A lot has to happen before you and I can say that! Mr. Bevin can’t say that; neither can Hambro. Their heaven and earth perish
continuously together with their own words and dreams. The more this repeats
itself, the stronger become the words of Jesus, that this is the way it is
and not any other way. The more spiritual pig food the world sloshes into its
mouths, the quicker the world will react, and begin to be homesick for its
origin. -------------------------------------------- Mary Magdalene As we have said before, there is an endless number of pictures or allegorical presentations, if you want to pick them out of the holy writings, which show us the whole history of mankind from various sides. We will only give one example here. You mustn’t think that I want to ask you the following by chance: Can you think that you have been a whore? Or can you think that the whole Christian congregation, that The Bible calls “the bride of Christ” (because Christ is compared to a bridegroom), in reality is, and has been the spiritual drunken whore, that the revelation portrays? Be aware that just like the “Transfiguration heights” in a tense artistic way warns us ahead of time about what will happen, when the Savior will be gone behind the clouds, or “raised above the earth” as Christ calls it, that we have something at the end of The Bible called “Revelations”. Here we see the development of the whole world in great powerful poetic visions. We receive the development of the whole world in a nutshell. “Explanation” and “Revelation” mean almost the same thing. ----------------------------------- Now we go back to you and me and the whoring. Don’t act disinterested about learning anything new. If you’re having a strong reaction to this question, don’t answer yes or no to my questions, until you have closely read and thought over the story about Magdalene! This is also the story about you and me, and about the entire Christian congregation in a nutshell. First we will read the following story in John 8: 1-11: “1 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. 2 And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. 3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, 4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? 6 This they said, tempting him that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. 7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? 11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more”. (Copied from the Bible.com Website). After that, we will read in Luke 7: 36-50 about how things have continued to develop inside of this woman, when she, after a shorter or longer time, experiences that she no longer feels guilty, and has been moved to the other side of sin, anxiety, and shame. “36 And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's house, and sat down to meat. 37 And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, 38 And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. 39 Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner. 40 And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. 41 There was a certain creditor that had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. 42 And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? 43 Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. 44 And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. 45 Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. 48 And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. 49 And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? 50 And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace”. (Copied from the Bible.com Website). Before I start explaining the allegorical meaning of this story, I want to say that I believe it will be easier for harlots and sinners, “tyskerjenter”(young Norwegian women who were together with German soldiers during the war, and who were severely punished in many ways, for many decades after the war) and “national deserters” to understand what I am pointing out, than for others. Those who are just, without fail, conventional and remarkably good people, who have never sinned really seriously against the best in themselves, and never been subject to sexual desire and uncontrolled fantasy to any extent, will maybe have a more difficult time following along here? John’s portrayal of the woman on the street, who was sinning, is a completely ordinary portrayal of the fact that platonic people and erotic people don’t understand each other. Up to now, it has to do with the individual who is unhappy, who has been an offer for a civilized society, where God’s law is made into nothing for the sake of the well-meaning conventional regulations. Adultery is committed because humans still misunderstand themselves, and are suspicious about their own instincts and most of all because the relationship between man and woman has been turned into a question of buying and selling. The price can vary unbelievably much, all he way from 25 cents or a simple little caress, and way up to fortunes, big positions, mansions with many rooms and a large number of servants, etc. “You can have all of this, little child, boy or girl, if you will fall down and worship me”, says Satan, who uses all kinds of things to entice people. Later on we will see that all of this also has to do with large and small nations, or to begin with organizations, sects, and whole institutions of the church. The conventional pressure, or temptation on the high mountain, has to do with everything and everybody within human life. Animals and plants are so lucky that they don’t know these kinds of temptations. “Aren’t you much better than they are”? (Matthew 6:26). Who of you can say that he has not held the godforsaken “cultural life” up, that creates prostitution in coarser or “finer” forms, he throws the first stone! These words affect everybody! It strikes with 100% accuracy and everyone goes his own way. They forgot to stone the harlot before they went. Unconsciously they all sold their sons and daughters on the market like any other Christmas tree, with or without national support for the Roman, German, English or American soldiers, or for the “highest bidders” as far as the marriage offer was concerned. If you want to change anything with this buying and selling of both men and women, you will immediately experience that the conventional ones will react strongly. They have a very correct feeling that if you want to change anything having to do with marriage, you will have an affect on the cornerstone of society. If it won’t be allowed to protect yourself, from all of the young men’s and women’s strong dynamic need for each other to keep the life of the organization going, that’s true that the whole convention will fall down. Eroticism and the instinct for self- preservation make up the motivation in all trading, politics, fashion stores, newspapers, as well as art, morals and religion, as “taxable income” for people. The entire “state budget” would also fall down, if people didn’t get married, and create taxable income with the help of prostitution on a large and small scale. We understand all the indignation and protest of the conventional heathens toward every attack on marriage and prostitution. When the Pharisees (that we in our time call the unconscious dreamers) forget to stone the streetwalker in Jerusalem before they go, it is not in the least because they would rather see prostitutes than see their “system” collapse. The accuracy of Jesus is phenomenal! To be able to talk about the big change that takes place in the soul of a woman, we first of all have to understand that a harlot is usually deeply unhappy with herself. She is unhappy in every way, but keeps her spirits up by repressing her self-reproach. Maybe she is always grasping for a stimulant to be able to forget her uneasiness, anxiety, and guilty feelings, which at the same time helps to repress all of the fear of life that further drives her into wretchedness. Those of us who have suffered a long time in their youth from similar guilty feelings and dissatisfaction with the self, and who maybe also have known many streetwalkers and gained their confidence and seen into the life of their soul, know a little about what is written here. The superficial, and those who can love without soul, or who judge according to the flesh, because they have little or no instincts of the soul, cannot totally understand what Magdalene experiences at and especially after her meeting with the Savior. In the beginning, maybe she wonders about the unexpected help from the Prophet on the street? After a while, it begins to dawn in her soul what He meant by saying: “Go away and sin no more”. If it took 8 days, or a shorter or longer time, I have no idea. What we do know is that she has experienced something remarkable and powerful, as seen by her later behavior. We know that women are very particular about what people think about them. The last thing a public streetwalker would be involved in was to go uninvited to a party being held by one of the very respectable citizens. Therefore, something has to have happened with her inner being, which makes her suddenly blind and deaf for what others mean and say and think about her. What has happened can’t be described with words, but only experienced, namely the transition, when a person with the help of Jesus Christ, moves over to the other side of the “state”, “church”, and to the other side of sin, fear of life, guilt feelings, fear of death and a consuming self-reproach, and suddenly finds himself in another condition where he no longer is sinning and not committing adultery and not trading anymore, neither with himself or with others. You have come to the other side of good and evil, where the Mental Savior of the World wants us to be, where we can love each other because it is true that we love each other. This is secretly true because we no longer think and believe evil about each other, but forgive and understand each other because we have seen both the human son and the human daughter in all their glory behind the religious shroud. From now on Magdalene is saved from the desire and burdens of this world, from the desire to tell lies about people and about love life, and from all of the burdens that the desire of these lies gives birth to in our soul and transfers to our flesh. Magdalene had experienced something like a chick, when it for the first time meets the sun, fresh air and high blue sky outside of the eggshell. There is one difference, which is that Magdalene in a rather different way than the chick is aware of her experience. I could be tempted to say that Magdalene has experienced seeing the heavens open behind the clouds, as Stephen saw it, and “the Son of Man who ascends and descends”. You can hardly describe this better than by using the clear words from the writings. When heaven has first opened for your inner eye, when you have received the new picture of your life and of the holy living society, where you are already are living, but not understanding it, because the religious cloud cover hid it from you, then you will become as happy and liberated as Magdalene. Then you have always, like that prodigal son, lost the desire for spiritual pig food! Then you break through all “opportunistic” and customary considerations to find a way to express your thankfulness and for your need to show love, to get and receive love. You have become so rich that you will not change the treasure you have found for all the gold and glitter in the world. You have discovered the value in people, which is the treasure in the field of the world. You have grown away from “the Prince of the world” and from this world’s childhood teachings (please see Galatians 4:7-9), and later on you can’t think or speak about anything without mentioning Jesus who gave you freedom! This is how things were with Magdalene. That was why she washed Jesus’ feet with her tears of joy! That is why she dried them with her hair. There was nothing more in her or with her that was not His. This is where Magdalene builds the allegorical model for the history of mankind. This is the way it must be, even if all the powers in hell with Judaism, “state” heathenism and mystery wisdom as the leading and tone-setting, stand against mankind. For the kingdom of God is the kingdom of love. It is a societal life without organization and institution. It is a society, where love is strong enough by itself to keep us all together, and to create families and to hold these together. It is a “convention” of life where love is both the goal and the instrument, because it has enough value and power in itself. God has never organized “marriages”. He has created us in such a way that we are always composed of parts of each other. We are created as “half cells”, which are drawn together to units with eternal dynamic vitality, which become stronger and more resilient than all the other powers. They do not function together when it comes to the question of money. No one can worship God and Mammon. (Matthew 6:24). The world hates God with His demand for love, because the world runs after money. Love dies out among us because injustice is taking over. (Mathew 24:12). When God’s congregation, “the bride”, worships Mammon anyway, and at the same time weds the young to eternal love and fidelity, so divulges that same congregation that “she herself” has become an unfaithful bride toward her bridegroom, with whose name she decorates herself. (Revelations 18:7, especially the last part). That falsified Christianity decorates itself with the name of Christ, while at the same time carries on spiritual fornication with all kinds of heathenism and godlessness, is the way that John sees it, with much terror in his visions. (Revelations 17: 6-7). John is terrified! Clearly he recognizes the bride of Jesus. She still looks a little bit like she used to! But how much she has changed! Can this really be the bride of God? She is so drunk on the blood of the holy witnesses of truth! She is so powdered and made up! -------------------------------------------- Read carefully Chapters 17, 18, 19, and 20 in Revelation, and read it as the holy inspired work of poetry over the development of mankind, that it really is. If you do, you will soon see that the incident with Magdalene is “church” history in a nutshell. “The church”, in the spiritual sense of the word, became a harlot a long time ago. It has allowed itself to be made much of and be bought by the rulers of the world, which could use the church to “Christen” all kinds of negative experiences in the spiritual life. “Pornocracy”, or the power of the harlot in the world of the spirit, is discussed many places in the word of God, and is a well-known human phenomenon in “church” history. I want to have my readers understand that I am not the first person to interpret Revelation in the way that I do. Long lines of scholars and good Church Christians have acknowledged the same thing a long time ago. (Please see my father’s work: “The Revelation of John” with an explanation by diocese pastor I. H. H. Brochmann, Lutherstiftelsebokhandel, Kristiana, 1917, i.e. Luther Foundation Bookstore, Oslo, 1917). After the “state church” of Norway (the Norwegian Lutheran Church) has gone in such a negative direction, and given the poorest possible example as far as adapting and being compliant toward the political suitors, respectively criminal rapists, later on it became common practice for judges (1 Samuel 8:4) and government officials, politicians and businessmen and leaders of organizations within all branches to allow themselves to be made much of and to be “seduced” by the rulers. For everyone who judges according to the flesh, this is not understandable. You have to see the spiritual whoring in all of its grotesquely negative behavior and the wild, mental, erotic orgies in our public life, before you can really understand what is being portrayed here. But we still have the conversion and forgiveness of the true Christians! The bride is still carrying on with her gruesome “games of love”, both with rulers, the military, usury, “state” heathenism, tax extortion, and everything else that belongs to the burdened down lovers, all of the sacrifices to the falsehood of lies. The bride hasn’t heard the Savior yet, not heard His words of deliverance. “The church” hasn’t seen its own sin yet and experienced its own wretchedness, like Magdalene has. We have not come that long, but we are on the way. It is probably most fair to clearly differentiate between the true congregation of God (“the bride”) and “the church”. There is nothing I know of in the writings that says that “the church” can be saved! It is falling because it has fallen. (Revelation 18:2-3). The true bride of Christ goes away from the church, and for many has already left “the church” a long time ago. (Revelation 18:4). Therefore, no one should expect that our “state church” could be converted. Don’t wait for the church, so that you join it in falling into ruin. Try to see yourself as the word of God paints you in your blood thirsty and religious sexual desire. Mankind mostly is satisfied with spiritual pig food and it will probably be quite a while before mankind is converted and goes back to its Father, just as the lost and prodigal son did. When the day comes that God’s congregation with the help of God, with the help of the holy spirit of truth, can see its own wretchedness and can experience forgiveness for its religious burdens and faithlessness, so will God’s congregation also learn to love very much. It can’t do that now, because the will to love isn’t present. Spiritual potency and strength is demanded for this. It is only those who have been forgiven very much, who can love to the same degree. When I see God’s congregation on earth and all of the bad behavior that the so called Christianity has on its conscience, then it dawns in my consciousness something about what great love that can and will emanate from Christianity, when the bride awakens and sees her shameless faithlessness. Just think about all of the pious missionaries who “travel over land and sea” to convert the poor natives from their completely childish and completely naïve worship of idols, and then bring these relatively innocent natives into the enormous and much more terrible worship of idols in Europe. Think about when our pious missionaries will experience what Magdalene experienced, see the truth, for example when Christ says in Matthew 7:3 or in Matthew 23:15, what directly has to do with the dream state in the missionary system. ------------------------------------------ If Christianity is going to learn to love greatly, it depends if it will experience the fantastic deliverance and forgiveness that Magdalene experienced. Verily, there is no experience that is greater than that! You become so happy that sin can never have power over you again. You find a wealth of power in your own soul. There are no more limits on your extravagance, and for others love and extravagance for you. ----------------------------------- Remarkably, once in my life I was asked if I could find a good analogy that could illustrate how people could experience this, when you became a true Christian and had found salvation. When I had thought about it, I said: “Think if you had a very large debt and that your economic worries were killing you, and then suddenly you met a friend who paid all of your debt, and in addition gave you a large amount so you could get reestablished. I think you would experience something like this to have your feelings of guilt removed by the Savior, with the only difference being that there is no economic sorrow and no economic pressure that can measure itself in strength and intensity with the pressure that the soul exercises concerning guilt feelings, fear of life and fear of death”! It was only later that I realized that I had unconsciously used the same parable that Christ used for Simon, when He compared sinfulness with financial debt. Then I felt so glad that also the Savior had looked in the same way at the condition of the soul of the sinner compared with those who were in debt; that also He meant that there was a certain likeness. The story about Magdalene, according to my way of
thinking, is the most beautiful and deeply allegorical history from the work
of the spirit of truth, and it explains the depth of the soul, both in the
individual and in human society, just as it is. Two small episodes in John
and Luke, with just a few comments, and the whole tragic role of prostitution
in human life is stated and cleared up. It costs to be a human being, but the
rewards are colossal, even if “the price” or the risks are quite high. Who is forgiven
much, has loved much! The person who does not love very much should see
if the reason can be that he still hasn’t seen or experienced his sin, and
therefore not searched for forgiveness, nor received it.
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