A pearl of great price where the words of Jesus in John 14:26 read:

[Guest guest]

, " jagbir singh "

<adishakti_org wrote:

>

> >

> > vii) The Comforter -whom the Father will send in Jesus' name, and

> > teach all things and remind humanity of everything Jesus has said-

> > will be the Holy Spirit (John 14:26). Thus the personality

> > enlightening humanity of Jesus' teachings will be both the

> > Comforter and Holy Spirit sent by God Almighty in Jesus' name.

> >

>

> Without question Jesus' sending of the Comforter is a futuristic

> eschatological event. Without question the Comforter has to be

> human in order to teach all things and remind humanity of

> everything Jesus has said. Without question the Comforter has to

> incarnate on Earth, where humans live, in order to enlighten them.

> Without question the Comforter has to be the Holy Spirit too, if

> Jesus is to be believed. Without question these exacting biblical

> eschatological expectations, events and signs have already

> manifested on Earth.

>

> Since the Comforter and Holy Spirit are one and the same, then the

> following eschatological events have been accomplished by Shri

> Mataji:

>

> i) The Holy Spirit has already abided with the believers forever

> (John 14:16). This is only possible if the Holy Spirit remains

> within each and every human taking part in the Last Judgment abd

> Resurrection for the rest of the natural lives, and beyond i.e.,

> for all eternity;

>

> ii) The Holy Spirit has already testified on the behalf of Jesus

> (John 15:26). This is only possible if the Holy Spirit is human too

> i.e., meeting, speaking, explaining in detail, as well as answering

> questions, in languages humans can understand;

>

> iii) The Holy Spirit has already brought all aspects of Jesus

> teachings to remembrance (John 14:26). Obviously they must concern

> unlocking the deep secrets of Jesus' parables, of which the Kingdom

> of God within tops the list;

>

> iv) The Holy Spirit has already reproved the world of sin, and of

> righteousness, and of judgment i.e., issue warnings of impending

> judgment to a world full of sin and ungodliness (John 16:8);

>

> v) The Holy Spirit has already at all times guided and spoken the

> truth of events that are coming (John 16:13) i.e., that the Last

> Judgment and Resurrection has begun and all are welcome to enter

> the Kingdom of God and eternal life prior to the death and

> destruction of the Second Coming and End. Obviously the truth,

> directed exclusively at a world of sin, decadence and ungodliness,

> has to be unprecedented, radical and explosive, .................

> and it is;

>

> vi) The Holy Spirit has already glorified Jesus and declared all

> that the later wants delivered to humanity (John 16:14). This task

> of informing humans in detail of a wide range of spiritual and

> religious issues on a global scale obviously requires many, many

> years to accomplish, all the more since such knowledge is revealed

> for the very first time ever;

>

> Thus any arrogant or ignorant human who blasphemes the Holy Spirit

> Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi-sent by Jesus Christ and God Almighty to

> both enlighten and warn humanity-will never ever be forgiven.

>

> And what does " eschatological " mean, and what has it got to do with

> the events taking place on Earth? The Merriam-Webster's Online

> Dictionary is quoted below:

>

> " Main Entry: es·cha·to·log·i·cal

> 1 : of or relating to eschatology or an eschatology

> 2 : of or relating to the end of the world or the events associated

> with it in eschatology

>

> Main Entry: es·cha·tol·o·gy

> 1 : a branch of theology concerned with the final events in the

> history of the world or of humankind

> 2 : a belief concerning death, the end of the world, or the ultimate

> destiny of humankind; specifically : any of various Christian

> doctrines concerning the Second Coming, the resurrection of the

> dead, or the Last Judgment "

>

> So be clearly forewarned! This explicit warning is not only for

> Christians to heed but the rest of humanity as well. It is far

> better they remain silent as there is absolutely no forgivness for

> those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit, an unpardonable crime against

> God Almighty for causing injury to His Spirit by false accusations.

> Again, be amply forewarned!

>

> jagbir

>

>

 

 

The Feminine Gender of the Holy Spirit

On the Orthodox Revision of the Gender of the Holy Spirit

 

Jaroslav Siefert, one of the Nobel Prize winning poets, has said that

if you want to know truth look to the heretics. Jesus Christ said

that his words are truth. Jesus, himself, by most at the time was

considered the worst of heretics and even today in secrets of some

hearts he is considered the same and worthy of his humiliating death.

Paul, in his time, was, and to this day, is considered by many as a

chief heretic. He, too, was personally silenced by execution.

Marcion, a labeled second century heretic whose actions insured that

the Pauline letters would be preserved, was also silenced in a

differing and more enduring way.

 

When we look for truth along the bloody trail of the heretics what

they said needs to be harmonized with the words about and from the

chief heretic, Jesus Christ. In of itself, being labeled a heretic

does not guarantee the truth of the entire message or even any part

of it. If the message of the heretic does harmonize with scripture

then we have truth. Martin Luther was considered a heretic by the

then established church because he proclaimed that justification came

by faith rather than works. It became evident from scripture that his

words on the subject, in the end, were true. It was fortunate that he

was given the time to develop his message and the means to make it

known to a large number of hearers; otherwise, he and his message, as

others were, could have been swept under the rug of personal

destruction so that we all could still be paying the church to

justify our dead family members.

 

When we look to the heretics we have two problems. First, we have the

tactics used to destroy what is considered heretical. The initial

response to a heretic is silence so that a response does not draw the

attention of others. If the apparent heresy persists the heretic is

punished by character assassination or public humiliation so that

others tremble at the thought of adopting the heresy. Finally, if

possible the means of the state are used to silence the heresy as it

was with the Arian controversy of the fourth century. The heretic's

words are adulterated to obscure the so-called heresy and to convict

him. Tertullian, who was an educated Roman attorney, used his skill

to convict someone by selectively using Marcion's words to counter

his so-called heresy. Like Tertullian's writings against Marcion,

many times what we have existent today of the heretics words were

written by those who detested them. It has been said that whether a

leader is determined to be good or bad is based on who writes the

history books. In the case of Marcion, since all of his own writings

and writings in support of him were destroyed, we have only had one

side of the story. The second problem we have is that in places the

words of the original scripture have been altered purposefully to

eliminate what the Orthodox Church considered as heresy and its

possible resurgence. This chapter concerns what I believe is one of

the most detrimental alterations of this kind from the texts.

 

To expose this alteration we ask from our understandings of the

nature of man what could have been the scenario that precipitated

this probable internment of truth. We search among the accumulated

historical debris of some considered church fathers for their silence

or fragmented relics of truth amongst their criticisms. We also

search the words of some who were people of conscience who left us a

record of the possible alternatives to what they were to record for

acceptance within the Orthodox Church. Next we look to the minute

detail of the text itself and then to the scope of all scripture to

synthesize our understandings of truth. Finally, we consider, that if

this is true, what are the implications for faith today.

 

For this study we have begun by focusing on the heretic, Marcion, who

was noted disparagingly as a facilitator of the so-called Gnostic

heresy. What gem or gems of truth can we sift from the historical

remnants of the Gnostics' beliefs through the detail of the texts and

the scope of scripture to find this pertinent heresy? According to

Elaine Pagels' enlightening book, The Gnostic Gospels, one of the

established church's primary fears of and primary accusations of the

Gnostics was that they were attracting large numbers of women and

having women minister in contrast to the Orthodox Church. Was there a

basis in ancient scripture for the fundamental belief in the value of

women in their churches or was this a " throw back " to the more

proximate pagan prophetesses and goddesses in Greek religion? From a

variety of sources in their writings it is apparent that they

believed that the Holy Spirit was the feminine spouse of God the

Father. As one moves on, I believe that one will see that they had

justification from a basis in scripture for this belief.

 

G. Zuntz, the noted higher critic, from his lifetime of examining the

oldest Greek texts and textual fragments from the third century

forward, writes that there was no attempt in the West to maintain the

integrity of the original texts until Jerome produced the Latin

Vulgate at the request of the papacy in the fourth century. Zuntz, by

using the standard practice of textual comparison, in his detailed

analysis of the oldest Pauline manuscript, notes, in his book, The

Text of the Epistles, numerous places where the text has been

altered. Jerome, himself, in letters to his colleagues, bewails the

fact that he has so many variant texts to select from for the

compilation of a standardized version. At one point before him he has

the old Hieronymian text and its revision. He says, " The differences

throughout are clear and striking. " In his writings he does leave us

a clue to the subject at hand. At one point he has before him the

Gospel to the Hebrews written in Aramaic used by the Syrian

Christians which, as some now say, was the forerunner to the gospel

of Matthew and predated the four canonical gospels. In it, Jerome

says that the Holy Spirit is expressed in the feminine gender and is

considered the mother in law of the soul. (Library 11, commentary in

Isaiah, chapter 11: Library 2, commentary. In Micah 7.6) So here is

some additional external evidence from an unrelated source that the

Holy Spirit was originally considered feminine.

 

Where then do we go for direct textual evidence that the Holy Spirit

was, in the origins of Christianity, considered feminine? We go to

the existing Greek minuscules copied in the early part of the last

millennium to find only circumstantial evidence. Likewise, as we go

to the earlier copied Greek uncials, the Byzantine copies, the

eastern Syriac Peshitta, and the Old Latin we find some peripheral

corroboration. Then when we go to the earlier copied Old Syriac that

predates the Peshitta we find a pearl of great price. In the most

ancient of the rare Old Syriac copies, the Siniatic Palimpsest, from

the 4th or 5th century, found in the Covenant of St. Catherine in the

Sinia by Mrs. Anes Lewis and transcribed by Syriac Professor R.L.

Bensly of Cambridge University in 1892, the words of Jesus in John

14:26 read:

 

But She -the Spirit - the Paraclete whom He will send to you- my

Father - in my name - She will teach you every-thing; She will remind

you of that which I have told you.

 

(Translation courtesy of Danny Mahar, author of Aramaic Made EZ)

 

In both the Hebrew and Aramaic language the word spirit is in the

feminine gender but in the Greek language it is neuter. It is the

Greek neuter word, pnuema, that was employed by the ancient

Septuagint translators of the Hebrew Old Testament when they

translated the feminine ruach into Greek. The authors who wrote in

Greek were limited in expressing the Holy Spirit in the feminine by

the constraints of the language. In addition, signposts directing one

to the feminine nature of the Holy Spirit may have been removed or

altered. Bart Ehrman, writes in his book, The Orthodox Corruption of

Scripture, that from his comparative analysis, the Orthodox Church

altered the texts to counter various beliefs considered heresies,

especially during the time of Marcion, when they were compiling their

own canon of the four gospels. It was the early gospel of John that

was a favorite of the Gnostics and considered heretical by the

Orthodox Church according to textual critic Walter Bauer. What if to

sustain their developing male hierarchy and to contain the growth of

the Marcionite and Gnostic churches and their attractiveness to

women, the orthodox revisionists altered additional signposts to this

feminine aspect of the Holy Spirit and emphasized their modified

canon to counter Marcion's canon of Luke and the Pauline letters and

the Gnostics beliefs? When we add the evidence in the scope of

scripture and the historical evidence of conflict between the

Orthodox Church and the Gnostics, I believe one can consider this

likely.

 

(It is also interesting to note in the context of early church

history that the Gnostics' writings rarely refer to the orthodox

canon of the four gospels and over time refer less and less to it.

Could it have been that they were aware of the revisions concerning

the feminine gender of the Holy Spirit and had no desire to give

credence to the altered canon used by the Orthodox Church to stifle

them? This, I believe, eventually worked to their detriment, because

it seems that groups of Gnostics diverged widely from the scripture

as a whole. Could it be that they, in their portion of separation,

were eventually reversed and, in a different manner, twisted in

disarray?)

 

When we move forward and consider the witness of the stars where no

man's hand can make alterations, the feminine gender of the Holy

Spirit becomes more likely. Moses, in writing the book of Genesis,

proclaims that the luminous celestial bodies in the darkness of

night's heaven and the sun's brilliant light are for signs. Signs are

symbols that point to something beyond themselves. Half of the major

constellations are named with Semitic words that are feminine. In

fact, within and in proximity to many of these major constellations

are signs that point to a male-female interrelation. Joseph Seiss'

book The Gospel of the Stars, states that the two figures in Gemini,

according to the most ancient Zodiac of Dendra, are not identical

twins but those of a man and woman walking hand in hand. He goes on

to say, that the word Gemini in the original Hebrew, Arabic and

Syriac does not carry so much the idea of two brought forth at the

same birth as it does the idea of a long betrothal brought to its

consummation in perfect marriage. The old Coptic name of this sign

signifies " the completely joined. " The constellation of Virgo, which

represents the woman about to bring forth, has above it in the sky

the constellation Bootes that is named with a masculine noun. Peter,

in his second epistle, calls light in darkness and the dawning sun

a " more sure word of prophecy " than even the voice from heaven heard

on the Mount of Transfiguration. (II Peter 1:19)

 

Why could it be then that the second century theologians and

translators were blinded to the importance of the femininity of the

Holy Spirit? The power of Rome, in which Western culture is deeply

rooted, was built on the three disciplines of virtus, pietas, and

fides. Virtus conveys the idea of an individual's harmonious

integration. According to Pierre Grimal, a professor of Latin

literature at the Sorbonne, this harmonious integration may not be

what we first think. He writes, " When a Roman spoke of virtus he was

less likely to mean conformity to abstract values than spontaneous

assertion by action of the essential virile qualities of self

mastery – granting to the feminine weakness, with a certain contempt,

the characteristic of impotentia sui, an inability to control its

nature. " In the second century, in the West, the educated Roman male

who was trained in this discipline of male self-mastery became the

bishop or the theologian. Because of the prestige and power of Rome

these exerted pressure on the Eastern churches to conform to their

doctrines. In the third century the Roman bishop actually

excommunicated all the Eastern churches that would not change the

date of Easter from the Hebrew calendar's date that corresponded to a

day determined by each year's particular lunar cycles to a

consistently prescribed Sunday based on the Julian calendar. In time

even the power and influence of the Roman Emperor began to be used by

the West to settle doctrinal disputes with the Eastern churches.

 

The Feminine Gender of the Holy Spirit

On the Orthodox Revision of the Gender of the Holy Spirit

 

(Excerpted from the manuscript, A Journey Unto Revelation's End, by

Steve Santini)