Coming Age where gifts poured forth will be the Age of the Holy Spirit.

[Guest guest]

shriadishakti , " jagbir singh "

<adishakti_org> wrote:

>

> " semirafields " <semirafields>

> Fri Dec 24, 2004 7:47 am

> Re; The Truth behind Sahaja Yoga[Resp to Simon]

>

>> Simon wrote about raising the Kundalini;'Well, frauds like Mataji,

>> Muktananda and dozens of other fake gurus can do it.'

>> It is not quite so cut and dried.

>> More important even than what kind of person the guru is, or what

>> they have or haven't done, is the criteria that the followers

>> believe that the energy exists within themselves. The existance of

>> Divine energy and the Divine message is not dependant on the

>> actions or character of people.

>> Messengers are usually considered to be frauds. Jesus Christ is

>> considered to be a fraud by many. Among other miracles He walked

>> on water, healed the sick, raised Lazarus from the dead, and

>> Himself rose from the dead. He claimed to be the Son of God, and

>> was rejected and crucified. People can either believe these

>> things or call it all a huge fraud. Let us not forget that Jesus

>> was betrayed by one of his closest disciples, who had even been

>> present at the time of many miracles, and who therefore knew the

>> Truth.

>> The prophet Mohammed had Divine revelations. He also had several

>> wives, the youngest being about thirteen. He is still one of God's

>> chosen Prophets, and revealed many important truths.

>>

>> What is the value of special experiences in religions?

>> The value of having a special spiritual experience is that you

>> become assured of a meaning to your life, you are assured that

>> death need not be feared and that the soul continues after death,

>> you have a way of overcoming personal problems and you can find

>> security and happiness in your life.

>> Without spiritual experience, what is the point of life? Can one

>> really find satisfaction in material things and pleasures

>> alone?...

>>

>> Regards, Semira

>>

>>

shriadishakti , " jagbir singh "

<adishakti_org> wrote:

>

> i could not agree more. Thank you Semira for this great post that

> has give me another way to overcome those who want to destroy the

> Divine Message to humanity. On this really cold morning in

> Montreal, Canada and temperatures dropping to -17 Celsius with the

> wind chill factored in, your post has made this Christmas so warm

> and comforting for me.

>

> i wish today that the world be blessed with more souls like you. i

> know many are still waiting to take birth on Earth and help spread

> the Divine Message to all humanity, to awaken us to the Savior's

> promise of the eternal Afterlife for all His children. Despite

> obstacles from those opposed to God Almighty's Divine Plan for all

> (it) will eventually reach all nations and peoples of many

> tongues. This Millennium of the Mother is just four years-old! The

> first rays of Light are just faintly visible as they struggle to

> break though the darkest hours of the Dawn of this Divine

> Millennium.

>

> Semira, you are one of the first to catch them while the Adi

> Shakti still walks on Earth and enlightens all to the greatness of

> Christ, the universal Savior. Thousands are celebrating Christmas

> with Her today at Ganapatipule, India - Hindus, Buddhists, Jews,

> Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Jains - in true brotherhood and love.

> Semira, She indeed is the Mother of the Millennium that has

> followed the millennium:

>

 

 

 

The Holy Spirit: The Feminine Aspect Of the Godhead

 

Abstract: There is currently much talk of " feminine issues, "

particularly in social and political contexts. This growing

awareness of gender-related matters was not something ignored by the

early Church and the writers of ancient religious texts. As we see

in this article by Dr. Hurtak, the notion of femininity played an

extremely important and significant role in the thinking and belief

system of the intertestamental authors. Far from being the

overbearing patriarchal advocates as they are often portrayed, more

recent findings reveal an innate sensitivity and appreciation for

the feminine aspect of Divinity than has been previously suspected.

For this reason, this particular article becomes a meaningful and

insightful contribution to the current discussion of the role of the

female in modern times. Once more we find a rich and profound

history reshaping the future even as it unfolds before our eyes.

 

A new response to the " image " of the Holy Spirit is taking shape

quietly in scholarly circles throughout the world, as the result of

new findings in the Dead Sea Scriptures, the Coptic Nag Hammadi and

intertestamental texts of Jewish mystics found side-by-side the

writings of the early Christian church. Scholars are recognizing the

Holy Spirit as the " female vehicle " for the outpouring of higher

teaching and spiritual rebirth. The Holy Spirit plays varied roles

in Judeo-Christian traditions: acting in Creation, imparting wisdom,

and inspiring Old Testament prophets. In the New Testament She is

the presence of God in the world and a power in the birth and life

of Jesus.

 

The Holy Spirit became well-established as part of a

circumincession, a partner in the Trinity with the Father and Son

after doctrinal controversies of the late 4th century AD solidified

the position of the Western Church. Although all Christian Churches

accept the union of three persons in one Godhead, the Eastern

Church, particularly the communities of the Greek, Ethiopian,

Armenian, and Russian, do not solidify a strong union of

personalities, but see the figures uniquely differentiated, but

still in union. Moreover, the Eastern Church places the Holy Spirit

as the Second Person of the Trinity with Christ as the Third,

whereas the Western Church places the Son before the Holy Spirit.

In the Old Testament and the Dead Sea Scrolls the Holy Spirit was

known as the Ruach or Ruach Ha Kodesh (Psalm 51:11). In the New

Testament as Pneuma (Romans 8:9). The Holy Spirit was not rendered

as " Holy Ghost " until the appearance of the 1611 Protestant King

James Version of the Bible. For the most part, Ruach or Pneuma have

been considered the spiritual force or presence of God. The power of

this force can be seen in the Christian church as the " gifts of the

Spirit " (especially in today's tongues- speaking Pentecostals). The

Holy Spirit was also a source for Divine guidance and as the

indwelling Comforter.

 

Likewise in Hebrew thought, Ruach Ha Kodesh was considered a voice

sent from on high to speak to the Prophet. Thus, in the Old

Testament language of the prophets, She is the Divine Spirit of

indwelling sanctification and creativity and is considered as having

a feminine power. " He " as a reference to Spirit has been used in

theology to match the pronoun for God, yet the Hebrew word ruach is

a noun of feminine gender. Thus, referring to the Holy Spirit

as " she " has some linguistic justification. Denoting Spirit as a

feminine principle, the creative principle of life, makes sense when

considering the Trinity aspect where Father plus Spirit leads to the

Divine Extension of Divine Sonship.

 

The Spirit is not called " it " despite the fact that pneuma in Greek

is a neuter noun. Church doctrine regards the Holy Spirit as a

person, not a force like magnetism. The writings of the Catholic

fathers, in fact, preserve the vision of the Spirit encapsulating

the " peoplehood of Christ " as the Bride or as the " Mother Church. "

Both are feminine aspects of the Divine. In the Eastern Church,

Spirit was always considered to have a feminine nature. She was the

life-bearer of the faith. Clement of Alexandria states that " she " is

an indwelling Bride. Amongst the Eastern Church communities there is

none more clear about the feminine aspect of the Holy Spirit as the

corpus of the Coptic-Gnostics. One such document records that Jesus

says, " Even so did my mother, the Holy Spirit, take me by one of my

hairs and carry me away to the great mountain Tabor [in Galilee]. "

 

The 3rd century scroll of mystical Coptic Christianity, The Acts of

Thomas, gives a graphic account of the Apostle Thomas' travels to

India, and contains prayers invoking the Holy Spirit as " the Mother

of all creation " and " compassionate mother, " among other titles.

The most profound Coptic Christian writings definitely link

the " spirit of Spirit " manifested by Christ to all believers as

the " Spirit of the Divine Mother. " Most significant are the new

manuscript discoveries of recent decades which have demonstrated

that more early Christians than previously thought regarded the Holy

Spirit as the Mother of Jesus.

 

One text is the Gospel of Thomas which is part of the newly

discovered Nag Hammadi texts (discovered 1945-1947). Most are

composed about the same time as the Biblical gospels in the 1st and

2nd century AD. In this gospel, Jesus declares that his disciples

must hate their earthly parents (as in Luke 14:26) but love the

Father and Mother as he does, " for my mother (gave me falsehood),

but (my) true Mother gave me life. " In another Nag Hammadi

discovery, The Secret Book of James, Jesus refers to himself as " the

son of the Holy Spirit. " These two sayings do not identify the Holy

Spirit as the mothering vehicle of Jesus, but more than one scholar

has interpreted them to mean that the maternal Holy Spirit is

intended.

 

So far in Western traditional theology, the voices advocating a

feminine Holy Spirit are scattered and subtle. But for them, it is a

view theologically defensible and accompanied by psychological,

sociological, and scientific benefits of recognizing " the new

supernature " developing within vast consciousness changes happening

in the human evolution.

 

The German theologian Jürgen Moltmann, a well-known thinker in

mainline Protestantism, says " monotheism is monarchism. " He says a

traditional idea of God's absolute power " generally provides the

justification for earthly domination " - - -from the emperors and

despots of history to 20th century dictators. Moltmann argues for a

new appreciation of the " persons " of the Trinity and the community

or family model it presents for human relations.

 

According to Professor Neil Q. Hamilton at Drew University School of

Theology, the Gospel of John shows us how " the Holy Spirit begins to

perform a mothering role for us that is unconditional acceptance,

love and caring. " God then begins to parent us in father and mother

modes.

 

A Catholic scholar, Franz Mayr, a philosophy professor at the

University of Portland, also favors the recognition of the Holy

Spirit as feminine. He contends that the traditional unity of God

would not have to be watered down in order for scholars to accept

the feminine side of God. Mayr, who studied under the renown German

theologian Karl Rahner, said he came to his view during his study of

the writings of St. Augustine (AD 354-430) who saw that a

significant number of early Christians must have accepted a feminine

aspect of the Holy Spirit such that the influential church father of

North Africa castigated this view. St. Augustine claimed that the

acceptance of the Holy Spirit as the " mother of the Son of God and

wife-consort of the Father " was merely a pagan outlook. But Mayr

contends that Augustine " skipped over the social and maternal aspect

of God, " which Mayr thinks is best seen in the Holy Spirit, the

Divine Ruach Ha Kodesh. St. Jerome, a contemporary of Augustine's,

and two church fathers of an earlier period, Clement of Alexandria

and Origen, quoted from the pseudopigraphic Gospel of the Hebrews,

which depicted the Holy Spirit as a " mother figure. "

 

A 14th Century fresco in a small Catholic Church southeast of

Munich, Germany depicts a female Spirit as part of the Holy Trinity,

according to Leonard Swidler of Temple University. The woman and two

bearded figures flanking her appear to be wrapped in a single cloak

and joined in their lower halves showing a union of old and new

bodies of birth and rebirth.

 

In conclusion, we are living at a time of profound and revelatory

discoveries of archaeology and ancient spiritual texts that point

the way to the future. Christ, himself, was said to have female

disciples as disclosed in Gnostic literature and recent

archeological findings of early Christian tombs in Italy. A

beginning has been made to reclaim " the Spirit " of the Ruach found

in the mountain of newly discovered pre-Christian texts and Coptic-

Egyptian texts of the early Church. It is becoming clear in re-

examining the first 100 years of Christianity that an earlier

Christianity was closer to the " Feminine Spirit " of the Old

Testament, the Ruach or the beloved Shekinah. The Shekinah,

distinct from the Ruach , was seen as the indwelling Divine Presence

that activated the " birth of miracles " or the anointed self.

Accordingly, the growth of traditional Christianity made alternative

adjustments of the original position of the " birth of gifts " as

Christendom compromised for the privilege of becoming an

establishment.

 

The new directions of spiritual and scientific studies are showing

that it is now possible that the Holy Spirit, Ruach Ha Kodesh, can

be portrayed as feminine as the indwelling presence of God, the

Shekinah, nurturing and bringing to birth souls for the kingdom.

Spiritual insights recorded in the Book of Knowledge: Keys of Enoch

carefully remind us that we are being prepared to understand that

just as the Old Testament was the Age of the Father, the New

Testament the Age of the Son, so this coming Age where gifts are

poured forth will be the Age of the Holy Spirit. However, the Keys

also tell us that the Divine Trinity is beyond the anthropo-morphic

forms of male and female. Here our own masculine or feminine

natures are only symbols of the Divine and our Life's manifestation

in the Universe. And herein we understand who we really are, as we

both male and female make our own preparation for the rebirth of

our " Christed Overself, " unified as the peoplehood of Light,

the " Bride, " for the coming of the " Bridegroom " - - the Christ.

 

The Holy Spirit: The Feminine Aspect Of the Godhead