Lost Books of the Bible, PT. 3

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James Bean santmat

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spiritualawakening

 

THE LOST BOOKS OF THE BIBLE, PART THREE

 

By James Bean

 

Copywrite March 1997

 

THE TEACHINGS OF THE RESURRECTED CHRIST

 

After studying the four Gospels

of the New Testament I became

very curious and puzzled about

how each of them concluded. Each

of them only devotes a short

chapter or two to the teachings

and activities of Christ after

the resurrection. Logically,

wouldn't you think that if

someone rises from the dead,

that this would immediately

become the central, electrifying

event that becomes the main

focus, if not the obsession of

the writers to record these

events with extreme detail???

Wouldn't you think that the

words and deeds of the

resurrected Christ would deserve

to be the focus of many

chapters, if not entire books??

And yet, the New Testament

simply (and cryptically) says

that " there were many other

things that Jesus did, " and that

" he continued to appear to the

disciples and instruct them

about the Kingdom of God. "

 

Apparently the post-resurrection

teachings of Christ were

regarded by the early church as

secret or advanced, meant only

for those followers who were

ready for a deeper commitment to

contemplation and the spiritual

journey. Clement of Alexandria said

that there were introductory gospels

for new Christians and more advanced

teachings for contemplatives or Gnostics.

 

Though they are more

difficult to find, there are

other documents that do contain

alleged post-resurrection teachings

including: The Book of the

Resurrection of Jesus Christ,

The Gospel of Mary,

Dialogue of the Savior,

Apocryphon of James, The Books of Jeu,

The Letter of Peter to Philip and

The Book of Pistis Sophia

(Faith-Wisdom). These are some of the

holy books once used by the Syrian and

Egyptian Christians of the Middle east,

during the early days of the Faith.

 

THE BOOK OF PISTIS SOPHIA (FAITH-WISDOM)

 

The largest Gospel ever

discovered, Pistis Sophia, was

brought to London from Egypt and

purchased in 1772 by A. Askew, a

London doctor and collector of

old Coptic manuscripts. The book was

published and one of its most

famous readers was the great

poet-mystic William Blake, who

was greatly influenced by it.

 

This text does document that

there was a time when some

Christians did believe in the

concept of reincarnation and the

preexistence of the soul. Like

St. Paul's " Damascus Road "

experience recorded in the New

Testament, Christ is said to

have appeared to His followers

as an incredibly

brilliant Light and many Rays of

Light. Many interesting

dialogues between Christ and His

initiates are recorded in this

document -- about eleven

years-worth!

 

Pistis Sophia also contains many

beautiful hymns and prayers.

Though reincarnation is

mentioned as a reality, the goal

of salvation was to liberate

souls from material captivity,

reincarnation, the wheel of fate,

and go back to God again.

Ignorance was overcome and souls were

given the ability to mystically travel

from Earth to heaven via the Holy

Stream of Light. Jesus said, " Seek, all of

you, after the Light, so that

the power of your soul that is

in you may live. Do not cease

seeking day or night until you

find the mysteries of the

Kingdom of Light, which will

purify you, make you into pure

light and lead you into the

Kingdom of the Light. "

This inner vision of God's Light

took place during periods of solitude:

contemplation (meditation).

 

THE NAG HAMMADI LIBRARY DISCOVERY IN EGYPT!

 

A number of ancient Christian, Sethian

(Jewish Gnostics), and Hermetic

books were discovered near the

city of Nag Hammadi in Upper

Egypt. This almost 2,000 year

old " time capsule " (a large

sealed storage jar containing

parchments written in the Coptic

language buried by monks during

the fourth century) now known as

the Nag Hammadi Library, has set

in motion a spiritual revolution.

Buried under the sands of Egypt

for centuries, these censored

and forgotten scriptures from

the early years of Gnostic

Christianity may impart to

spiritual seekers of today,

knowledge of several mystical

traditions that once existed in

the West. This ancient library

contains spiritual discourses

from Christian, Gnostic, Jewish,

Pythagorean, Hermetic and other

spiritual movements. What has

been returned to us are the

teachings of various mystics:

Gnostics who initiated their

students into the " Mysteries of

the Kingdom of Light, " and wrote

down descriptions of their

otherworldly journeys into inner

space. One of the most talked

about books of the Nag Hammadi

Library is the Gospel of Thomas,

a collection of the wisdom

sayings of Jesus on gaining

enlightenment/salvation. Thomas is a

book in the Jewish tradition of wisdom literature.

 

SAYINGS OF JESUS ABOUT THE LIGHT AND SOUND

 

The Gospel of Thomas is a

" sayings Gospel, " a collection

of the proverbs and parables of

Christ about discovering the

Kingdom of God. The theme of

these sutras of wisdom is that

the Supreme Being is Light, our

soul is made of Light, and that

by contemplating the Living

Light we can reenter paradise --

find the present tense Kingdom of God.

In the Book of Thomas it is

recorded that Jesus was a Master

who taught His disciples that:

" we have come from the Light,

from the place where the Light

came into being by

itself...., " " there is Light within a

person of Light, and it shines

on the whole world, " and, " if one

is whole, one will be filled

with Light. " Also, " He who will

drink from my mouth will become

like Me; I myself shall become

that person, and the hidden

things will be revealed to that

person. " The image of drinking

from the mouth of Christ is

describing the process of listening

to the Sound, Word or Voice of

God which transforms the

listeners, transporting them to

the higher or hidden realities of God.

The quotes are from, " The Gospel

of Thomas -- The Hidden Sayings of Jesus, "

Marvin Meyer, published by Harper Collins.

 

LIGHT MYSTICISM OF THE GNOSTIC CONTEMPLATIVES,

THEN.........AND NOW

 

One of the central teachings of

Gnostic Saints was the

experience of the inner Light.

In fact, having visions of

divine Light is a universal

experience. People around the

world in all cultures have

recorded visions of heaven and

encounters with " the Light

within " . Many have eloquently

described in their sacred texts

encounters with Light coming

from beyond the darkness. Many

saints and mystics, including

those who wrote various Nag

Hammadi texts, describe God,

the Supreme Being as a GOD OF

ALL-ENCOMPASSING, PURE,

BRILLIANT LIGHT. They also

believe that we, as souls (our

true spiritual identity) are

" sparks of the Light, " that we

are, in reality, " Children of

the Light " .

 

The experience of Light

mysticism (seeing inner Light)

takes place during one's time of

contemplative prayer (meditation).

 

SAYINGS ABOUT LIGHT FROM DIFFERENT

SAINTS, SCRIPTURES, AND RELIGIONS!!!

 

" The rays of primordial Light that

illumine purified souls with spiritual

knowledge not only fills them

with benediction and luminosity;

they also, by means of

contemplation of the inner

essences of created things, lead

them up to the Noetic heavens.

For this reason Saint Neilos

says, 'The intellect's proper

state is a noetic height,

somewhat resembling the sky's

hue, which is filled with the

Light of the Holy Trinity during

the time of prayer.' (The

Philokalia, Volume IV, writings

of Greek Saints, Faber and Faber

Books)

 

" God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness. " And, " Blessed are the

pure in heart, for they will see God. " (The New Testament)

 

" Understand what the Great Light is. " (Jesus, Apocryphon of James)

 

" I AM the Light that is over all things. " (Jesus, Gospel of Thomas)

 

Saint John of the Cross: " The soul is always invested by the Light of

God; the Light dwells in it by nature. "

 

" The Light of God is within everyone. " (George Fox, Quaker mystic)

 

 

It says in the Koran: " God is Light, and He guides whomever He wants

to His Light. "

 

" Then we went up to the Sixth Heaven. And I gazed up on high and saw

a great Light shining down on the Sixth Heaven. " (The Apocalypse of Paul,

" The Nag Hammadi Library In English " )

 

It says in, " The Dead Sea Scrolls -- A New Translation, " Harper Collins:

" From the Fount of His Knowledge has my Light shot forth; upon His wonders

has my eye gazed. " Also from the Dead Sea Scrolls: " Your Holy Spirit

illuminates the dark places of the heart of your servant with Light like

the sun. "

 

Further to the East, the medieval Saint Kabir said: " The light of one

soul is equal to that of sixteen suns. "

 

Guru Nanak said: " The Light of God is in every heart. "

 

" The Supreme God shines like the sun. " (Hindu Upanishads)

 

The Mandaean Religion of Iraq

has many beautiful hymns and

prayers to the Light (God), and

visions of heaven that often

resemble NDEs (modern day near

death accounts): " His Light

illuminates and His radiance

irradiates all the worlds, and

the divine beings who stand

before Him and shine in their

radiance and in the radiance of

the Great Light which rests upon

them. "

 

Sant Rajinder Singh: " The Saints and

Mystics come to share the Light,

the peace, and happiness

they found with all humanity. They

come to show us the Light so we can

experience more happiness,

tranquility, and peace than we can

ever dream of. We do not have to wait

until death to experience the worlds

beyond. We do not even need a near-death

experience and all the physical trauma that

it brings to find the inner Light. It is

waiting within each of us this very moment.

Through meditation each one of us can find it. "

(Rajinder Singh, " Inner & Outer Peace Through

Meditation, " Element Books, 1997)

 

MORE GOOD BOOKS

 

" Pistis Sophia " is published by E.

J. Brill Books. Enoch, Odes of

Solomon and Thecla are found in

" The Lost Books of the Bible and

the Forgotten Books of Eden, "

Meridian, an imprint of Penguin

Books. The Books of Thomas,

Mary, James, and others are

found in " The Complete Gospels, "

Polebridge Press, also in,

" The Nag Hammadi Library in English, "

James M. Robinson, Harper Collins.

 

An excellent anthology of

apocryphal books, Gospel of Thomas,

Odes of Solomon, Dead Sea Scrolls,

Gnostic Gospels, Jewish mystical

texts, Mandaean and Manichaean scriptures

that I highly recommend is " The Other Bible, "

published by Harper Collins!

A good translation of the Catholic Bible is: " The

New Jerusalem Bible " (with the

Apocrypha), Doubleday.

 

SUMMARY

 

As you can see from this brief

sampling of apocryphal

scriptures, the books that were

left out of the fourth century

orthodox Bible tended to promote personal

spiritual experience of the Kingdom

of Heaven via contemplation. The

teachings of the early Christian Saints

of the Jewish church, Syrian and Egyptian

Christianity were never fully understood

and embraced in the West, and

that's the reason, in my view,

why these other books were left

behind. George Bernard Shaw was right:

Christianity has never failed -- it hasn't

been tried yet!

 

Long ago, a great poet-mystic

said, " The god of time (illusion)

has put a cover over the

teachings of Saints and thus

concealed them from humanity. "

 

Yet, in this age we are free to read, to

discover the teachings of the Saints, to understand

what the great Light is, and experience it for ourselves.

 

" Hearken to the word; understand knowledge; love life, and

no one will persecute you, nor will anyone oppress you,

other than you yourselves. " (Jesus, Apocryphon of James)

 

The Master said: " I will give you what no eye has seen,

what no ear has heard, what no hand has touched,

and what has never occurred to the human mind. "

(Jesus, Saying 17, Gospel of Thomas)

 

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