2004-1-1 05:34:00
Glenys writes:
"You say that, 'The true spirit or the true teacher will acknowledge that the Christ appeared in the flesh and blood body of Jesus 2000 years ago. He will also acknowledge that he still works through a body of flesh in the present as well as teaching that there is a 'Christ in us.' In addition to this he will teach that Christ will yet come again in the flesh and walk among us as he did back on the shores of Galilee....'
"The difficulty is that some teachers do acknowledge the three components of this truth; i.e. Christ came, He's still here furthering God's Plan out of sight, and He will come again and 'every eye shall see Him', yet they are still false teachers. Two that spring to mind are Benjamin Creme and Joshua Stone.
"Is there a way 'round this conundrum?"
JJ:
Thanks for pointing this out. This is a point I should have covered.
There is a principle at play here. That is the false spirits and teachers do not have the soul contact to come up with teachings and principles of their own to teach. All they have has been stolen from the Brothers of Light.
They will thus take the teachings of truth and make the following uses of them:
Note that right after a true revelation is given out the first line of attack is to destroy it so it will never be accepted by humanity.
If they find that cannot destroy or extinguish the Light, their second line of approach is to pretend to embrace it and then alter and distort it from within so the light corresponds to the tomb of matter. Just as the atom has a central light hidden by the darkness of surrounding negative electrons, even so do past revelations still have a brilliant central core hidden by the negative veil of thought forms placed there by false teachers.
For instance, many false teachers today embrace the Bible and endlessly teach from it and claim to hold it in the highest possible esteem. This has had the effect of deceiving many through their distorted interpretations, but also in turning off many seekers (who see through these deceivers) from believing the Bible at all. An all important lesson for seekers is to realize that the light in the teacher and the work he quotes from is rarely one and the same.
It is true then that the false teachers can take any teaching and parrot it as their own. This means that if we place a statement or precepts in black-and-white that a true teacher will do "XYZ," then all the false teacher has to do is teach that he supports "XYZ," and some will be deceived into accepting. In fact, the false teachers and their disciples will often study the writings of Light with as much diligence as the true disciples just to make sure they have their bases covered.
What happened with the Bible is also taking place with the writings of DK [Djwhal Khul]. We have reached a time that many conscious and unconscious deceivers have studied the writings and present them with subtle changes, or certain teachings left out, to mold their students in the direction of the lower self.
That said, what are we to make of Glenys's point -- that there are false teachers who seem to teach the principle taught by John?
Yes, it is true that no matter how a teacher of Light may seek to give a precept to identify a true spirit that all the false teacher need do is quote the precept and say, "Yes, I agree with this. This describes me."
Let us examine the evolution of the effect of the teaching that "Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God."
There was a short period after the first coming of Christ that this was literally true of the past tense. To acknowledge that Christ had come as Jesus could have brought the death penalty at the time that John wrote this and thus only the true teachers were brave enough to confess their master.
But then, after the days of Constantine, when it became not only safe, but popular to acknowledge that Christ came in the flesh things were reversed. Some were put to death for not properly acknowledging that Christ manifest in the flesh.
Even though the followers of the Beast seemed to be obeying the scripture, we find that if the full principle is examined that the followers of deception will only seek to follow the letter of the scripture and not the principle.
After Constantine the power of unjust authority, or the Beast, had control of the church and the teachers representing the Beast did not acknowledge the "Christ in us" who are in the flesh.
They thus set the stage for the appearance of being in harmony with the scripture, but in truth were out of harmony with the principle.
So what about Benjamin Creme and Joshua Stone? Are they in harmony with this teaching from John?
I am not that familiar with the teachings of Joshua Stone except to note that he has incorporated so many different popular teachings in his curriculum that he seems to have all his bases covered. If you say you are a student of DK he can agree with you on him. If you like "A Course in Miracles," you can see it represented. The same with the Keys of Enoch.
Obviously both Creme and Stone will go along with the idea that Christ was, is, and will be manifesting in the flesh, because this is taught by DK, and both claim to believe in his teachings.
But do they believe in the whole principle?
To find out let us examine the whole principle which is further elaborated in these additional verses:
"Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. "We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." (1 John 4:4-8)
There are three concepts here that are not incorporated by false teachers and provide the final key to discovering true spirits:
In other words, even a true teacher will acknowledge that the voice of God which is in the disciple is to be trusted even more than any teacher in the world including himself. The teacher, even if he speaks the truth may be misunderstood, but he who is within us will be reliable and is to be trusted more than any outside authority.
The false teacher will attempt, often by subtle means, to give more authority to his own words than to the inspiration of direct contact with the Christ Principle.
Does this mean that the false teacher will teach hate rather than love?
No. In fact he often speaks of love more than the true teacher. Sometimes he speaks of it so much that it is almost nauseating. But proclaiming love and demonstrating love are two different things. Those who are in the soul will sense as well as see in action, word and deed love from the true teacher, even if he rarely speaks of it. But even though the false teacher may speak of love in every other sentence the feeling that touches the soul and sets an example of selfless service just doesn't seem to be there. The astral people may be touched, but not those with true soul contact.
Old timers here will note that a number of wannabe teachers have shown up here in the past preaching love to us in every other sentence while at the same time being rude and obnoxious, seeming to be far removed from the ability to stimulate the love of the soul in students.
Thus we see that the false teachers can cut and paste and have the appearance of following the true teachings, but when closely examined we see that the full principle is never followed by them.
Another thing to keep in mind is that in addition to inspired teachers and false teachers there is a myriad of sincere teachers who are doing their best to teach the truth, but their best is a mixture of truth and error. In addition to this even the best of teachers have some error.
Thus it is always all important to use good judgment and soul contact. But since not all sincere students have consistent or reliable soul contact it is important to study principles such as this one we are discussing so the seeker can be fairly sure his feet are on the right hand path until his spiritual contact and perception is secure.
The key is to always maintain pure intention, or to be pure of heart. As long as this is the case, error will eventually be replaced with truth, astral feeling with the pure love of Christ, and the lower will with the Will and Purpose of God.
"If your realized prayer produces in you a definite feeling or state of consciousness, then, inversely, that particular feeling or state of consciousness must produce your realized prayer."
-- Neville
Copyright © 2004 by J.J. Dewey, All Rights Reserved