High Stakes Read online

  I myself, not just through research, but in dealing with probably millions of people in fifty-three years of being a psychic and doing lectures and twenty readings a day, have found that you can’t help but start forming a true statistical analysis over time. Even in more than half a century I’ve seen that there are still the same concerns and problems and worries that have always been and will be until the end of time.

  At the age of twenty-five or twenty-six years old, Jesus left India and traveled to Egypt. While there, he studied the ancient Egyptian and Persian mysteries and more Gnostic teachings. After about a year, he then traveled to Qumran and lived and studied with the Essenes for a while. It was also at this time that he resumed his relationship with Mary Magdalene, whom he had kept in touch with by letters. While with the Essenes, he adopted a great deal of their philosophy, and although he didn’t subscribe to the very conservative and ascetic facets, he did relate to members of the Essene sect who were a bit more liberal, and they considered him one of them. The Essenes are thought to have lived solely in the area of Qumran, but recent archaeological discoveries have also indicated that they had a complex on Mount Sion in Jerusalem and in several other areas. The Essenes were very private and didn’t allow many outsiders into their communities. We will see later how Christ moved freely within these Essene communities, and that was because he was accepted as an Essene.

  Perhaps one of the greatest testaments that you could give to Christ was the fact that even though he knew his destiny, he never wavered from it. In The Passover Plot, Schonfield states: “What ever Jesus learned, however, and in what ever way he obtained his knowledge, including elements of the healing art cultivated and practiced by the communities of ‘the Saints’ [a group attached to the Essenes], there was always before him the destiny for which he prepared. In the last resort, he alone, earnestly soliciting the help of the Heavenly Father, must penetrate to the inner recesses of the sacred writings and marshal in order the intimations of the Divine Oracles. The novel achievement of Jesus was to mark out clearly the path the Messiah would have to tread. Thus it was written.”

  This really helps substantiate what Francine said more than thirty years ago: Jesus not only was a gatherer of knowledge, but also put it into reasonable terms and language understandable to an illiterate group of people. Instead of preaching Judaic law and theology like the priests in the Temple, he would talk to the people in parables and stories that they could understand and use in everyday life.

  Many scholars and laypeople ask the inevitable questions: Who was Jesus really? What was he really about? Was he the son of God or the son of man? I feel that the confusion lies in what is referred to as “Christology.” Most Christians believe that Jesus is simultaneously the Son of God and also God made flesh.

  Most other religions also venerate Jesus in varying degrees. Eastern religions like Hinduism and Buddhism recognize him as a prophet, and as stated earlier, Islam considers him to be one of God’s most beloved and important prophets. Muslims do not accept the divinity of Christ or the crucifixion—saying either it didn’t happen or that Jesus did not die on the cross.

  Francine says Jesus was a special entity who had a Chart as a messenger to bring mankind to a true picture of our Divinity as an all-loving God. She doesn’t discredit Buddha or Muhammad, but just states he was a direct report or creation from God. She has always stated that we all are sons and daughters of God, but Jesus was created for a special purpose.

  There has never been as much controversy over a figure such as our Lord, and probably never will be. You don’t see theologians in any other culture fighting and obsessing and researching any of the other messengers as they do with Jesus. This is because the Christian Church from the beginning was so flawed. So many Christian factions with their own interpretations did so much infighting that it caused schisms that have not been repaired to this day. The New Testament and the Bible were not put together until almost three hundred years after Christ’s supposed death and crucifixion, and experts say that at least twenty-seven, and in some cases some claim over forty, books were not included that should have been. Who did the picking and choosing of what should be in the Bible and what should not? The early Christian Church.

  Before we can understand the works, life and individual known as Jesus Christ, we first have to understand the sources from which the information comes about him. If someone tells you a story about something or someone, do you not want to know if the story is true? Do you not want to verify the truth and consistency of the information given in the story? Science certainly does. It’s called proof. If you don’t ask for proof, you are basically accepting hearsay and trusting that the teller of the story is in actuality telling the truth. It is here that we run into a big problem, for man and his penchant for embellishment and fabrication and downright lies comes into play. Let me try to explain this logically and objectively.

  Try to picture yourself in the time of the early Christian Church. We have this fledgling religion that is essentially being put forth by word of mouth by twelve apostles and a few others. They travel to areas of Judaea and different lands and countries and preach the words of Jesus Christ. As converts to the new religion take place, its members quickly become a mixture of different races, ethnic groups and cultures with various backgrounds of other religions in existence at the time. The early Church soon finds itself divided into several main factions…the “Pauline Christians,” who follow the teachings of Paul, the self-proclaimed apostle who never met or was eyewitness to any part of Christ’s life; the “Jewish Christians,” who follow the teachings and leadership of Christ’s brother James; the “Gnostic Christians,” who combine Christianity with the theories of gnosis (mainly from Egypt and Persia); and lastly, other Christians who follow the basic teachings of Peter and some other disciples, and who are quickly assimilated into the faction of Pauline Christians after the death of Peter.

  These factions are almost immediately at odds with each other. Pauline Christians hold firm to their pronounced beliefs that Jesus was divine and the son of God incarnate, that he died on the cross for our sins, and that forty days after his crucifixion he ascended into heaven. Jewish Christians, who included many of Christ’s relatives, were led by James, had their headquarters in Jerusalem and held firm in their beliefs that Jesus was not a divine son of God but a messenger or prophet from God, and that belief is because he survived the crucifixion and died a natural death later (who would know the truth about his death if not his relatives?). They also firmly still believed in Judaic laws and customs and integrated Christ’s teachings into their Judaic teachings. Gnostic Christians believed in the divinity of Jesus as a special messenger from God and that his teachings were divine. They also believed that he did not die on the cross, and they did not believe in the ascension. They did not subscribe to Judaic laws and teachings and instead utilized Christ’s teachings to augment those of gnosis and the ancient mysteries.

  The battle was on for control of the early Christian Church and would last for several centuries. The outcome was a foregone conclusion, however, for several reasons. Pauline Christianity had its seat of power in Rome and was greatly influenced by Roman domination of the world at the time. Jewish Christianity had its power in Jerusalem and was greatly influenced by Judaism and the occupation of Israel by Rome. Gnostic Christians had no real power base, were mainly in Egypt and Persia, and reached only to a limited number of people because their teachings appealed mainly to scholars and learned men.

  In the first few years of Christianity, the Christians in Rome (Pauline Christians) were persecuted severely, while the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem were allowed to build a church. Gnostic Christians basically kept to themselves or went underground. Over the next several hundred years, Pauline Christians, while still being persecuted, were starting to cooperate more with the ruling Romans. Jewish Christians, however, due to several Jewish rebellions, were almost completely wiped out by the Romans and had their church and Temple destro
yed. Gnostic Christians were making some headway, with Egyptian Coptic Churches being formed as their philosophy of gnosis spread, but were too few in number to have any impact otherwise.

  Finally, at the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D., the Roman emperor Constantine made Pauline Christianity the state religion of Rome and it became the Roman Catholic Church. This act was highly important and significant, because it paved the way for Christianity as we know it today and also the Bible as we know it today.

  Each faction of the early Christians had their favorite writings or what they considered to be canonical texts on the life of Jesus Christ. By winning the war, so to speak, the Pauline Christians were able to formulate and adopt their favorite writings and then put them together by editing, adding, deleting and omitting any texts that were favored by the other factions. The Bible is certainly without numerous texts that deserve to be in it. Early Pauline Christians edited it for their own purposes and agendas. Later on in history, the formation of the Anglican Church in En gland caused the Bible to be edited even more and the result was the “King James” version of the Bible.

  Almost every serious biblical scholar acknowledges the fact that the Bible has been edited, copied, deleted from and added to by early Christians. How can we then trust the New Testament of the Bible as a legitimate source of truth about Jesus Christ? The answer is that we really can’t trust it; but at this time it is one of our main sources of information about Christ because there are so few other sources available. Yes, we have some information from Gnostic texts that were discovered at Nag Hammadi in Egypt in 1945, the recent Gospel of Judas discovery, and some other texts like the Dead Sea Scrolls; but the information is limited and also is fighting for recognition against almost seventeen hundred years of traditional belief in the Bible.

  With that in mind, as we delve more into Christ’s life and works you will find me questioning certain aspects related about him in the Bible. I do this not to criticize the Bible so much as to point out discrepancies and possible errors in the four accepted gospels that don’t give an accurate picture of Christ or his life. My writer’s responsibility to give out truth far outweighs any consideration for “traditional beliefs” or historical untruths that have been perpetuated by religion for their own expedient reasons. For those who want to delve more into the history of how the Christian Bible was put together, I recommend the essay by Richard Carrier, “The Formation of the New Testament Canon.” You can find it on the fairly controversial Web site—www.infidels.org. I really am just trying to give as clear and precise a picture as I can about Jesus Christ, his works, his mission and his life to my readers. It is then the readers’ choice to do what they want to do with that information.

  CHAPTER 3

  His Baptism and Gathering of Disciples

  JESUS STUDIED WITH the Essenes for almost two years and related to them his travels and experiences in the Far East. He shared much of what he had learned in healing, meditation and Eastern philosophy. Being a secular sect, the Essenes did not travel extensively and much of the information and knowledge he gave them was new and exciting to most of them. The Essenes were Gnostic in many ways. They constantly debated new philosophies and ideas and were very adept at writing. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in caves just outside of Qumran in 1947 and have been attributed to the Essenes.

  Fifteen years of study was a lot of time to delve into how others believed and worshipped. This, I am sure, is also what gave him his caring and knowledge of the poor and downtrodden. Six months before his thirtieth birthday, Jesus made his way back to Nazareth. The time for his public life in Israel had come.

  There was a great homecoming celebration for Jesus. He had been gone for so many years and had become such a wise and caring man. His mother, Mary, was there, as were all his brothers and sisters, and the guests included Mary Magdalene as well as many cousins that included Martha and aunts that included Mary Cleophas and Mary Salome. The Bible speaks of these relatives having Christ over for dinner and having long talks together. They really formed a close-knit family and community of friends and relatives who were always around Jesus. Many scholars think that up to five of his apostles were related to him. Jesus would relate many stories about his travels and experiences to them and they were always a rapt audience.

  As an aside, I’m sure that many of the original books of the Bible contained much of this material. The reason we don’t find it is because it was edited out by the early Church. They wanted to control the minds of the people who read the Bible and wanted them to only read what they “deemed” was best for them. Anything that seemed to make Jesus more human or a seeker of knowledge must have made them feel he wasn’t completely infused by God. How ignorant for one not to know that everything from every sector is infused by God. The early Church didn’t want the populace to become scholars; they wanted followers who would blindly follow what they said. We never hear Christ say you have to follow any particular religion such as Judaism, Christianity or Hinduism. He was just a seeker of truth. His words of wisdom, “Seek and you shall find” and “Knock and it shall be opened to you,” are very strong indications that his words were always a product of his learning and Gnostic philosophy. If he didn’t want us to be free thinkers, he would have said so.

  After reuniting with his mother and Mary Magdalene, he commenced his public life. The wedding feast at Cana was actually his wedding to Magdalene. The wedding, when read in the Bible (John 2:1–11), just seems to stick out, with no explanation except that this was supposedly his first miracle. When his mother comes to him and says that the guests have no wine, he is reluctant to do anything. Mary, however, knowing Jewish custom, just orders the servants to do what ever Jesus tells them to do without saying another word to Jesus. He then evidently tells the servants to bring six large jars of water, which he then turns into wine, and instructs them to give it to the chief guest (best man) of the feast.

  We then read about the chief guest, after tasting the wine, calling the bridegroom aside and saying (John 2:10), “Every man at first brings the best wine; and when they have drunk, then that which is weak; but you have kept the best wine until now.” Now, what is so significant about this? Mary knew that the Jewish custom at weddings was that the bridegroom was responsible for supplying the wine. So who made the wine that was supplied to the guests? Christ did, and it was he whom the best man called forth! I cannot understand why others have not seen this, other than to ignore it because they didn’t want anyone to think that Jesus was married. That also explains why Mary was so even-tempered about the situation and didn’t bother to say anything more to Jesus other than to notify him that wine was needed. She knew that as the bridegroom, Jesus had to supply the wine! To further substantiate this, Jesus from that time onward was called Rabbi, which can mean “teacher” but was a title almost always conferred on a married man per Jewish custom.

  Timelines in the Bible can be confusing, because the four gospels don’t always agree to incidents happening at the same time (more inconsistency). For instance, right after Christ’s wedding at Cana, the Gospel of John has Jesus going to Jerusalem and driving money changers out of the Temple. This incident is also mentioned in the other three gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, but they put this incident forth as happening later on in Christ’s life. Francine says that the incident regarding the money changers did happen later on, so the Gospel of John is incorrect as to the time it occurred in Christ’s life. Now, this may seem fairly insignificant to many, but if you are going to use the Bible as a factual text for proof, then you have to live with the consequences when it is shown to be blatantly incorrect as well. This also again shows that the Bible contains errors and cannot always be relied on as an absolute text.

  The interesting thing about the Gospel of John is that it doesn’t always follow the lead of the other three gospels. Much of the Gospel of John relates incidents in Christ’s life that the other three gospels don’t mention, and conversely the Gospel of John doesn’t mention many of
the incidents in the other three gospels. Such seems to be the case in the next major incidents of Christ’s life—his baptism and temptation in the wilderness.

  The four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all mention that Christ was baptized by John the Baptist and that John proclaimed the coming of the Messiah. John was Christ’s cousin; however, it is only in the Gospel of Matthew that we even get a small clue to the fact that they knew each other. In Matthew 3:13–15 we read: Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. But John tried to stop him, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and yet have you come to me? But Jesus answered and said to him, Permit it now, for this is necessary for us so that all righteousness may be fulfilled; and then he permitted him. There definitely is an implication of intimacy here in the brief conversation between John and Jesus. The gospels of Mark and Luke just basically relate that John baptized Jesus. The Gospel of John does relate that John baptized Jesus, but also implies that John didn’t know Christ. We read in John 1:29–34 the following: The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and he said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one of whom I said, The man who comes after me is yet ahead of me, because he was before me. And I did not know him; but that he might be made known to Israel, I came to baptize with water. And John testified, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it rested upon him. And yet I did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, The one upon whom you see the Spirit descending and resting, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. And I saw and testified that this is the Son of God.