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I am here, Jesus:
Yes, I am here again to write you on the truths of the New Testament, and this time a few thoughts on the Gospel of Luke, dealing with the supposed virginity of my mother. As a matter of fact, the entire conception of the virgin birth was not new in the New Testament days, and as I have pointed out previously to you, the Greeks conceived of gods born in supernatural ways and without benefit of mortal fathers, and this idea goes back to the Buddhist religion. In their writings dealing with Buddha, it is described how Buddha's mother was transported to a mythical heaven and there impregnated in a mysterious way with the child Buddha, without the aid of a husband. The writer of the Gospel which is called the Gospel of Luke was very much affected by this story, and wishing to give me the status of God, ascribed to me events analogous to what he found in the writings on Buddha.
He was also inspired by these Buddha stories to relate the fable of my being tempted by the Devil, and this was also taken from the account of the Buddha withstanding the temptations of the powers of the "Prince of Evil," whose attacks against the person of Buddha, who was absorbed in holy contemplation, were frustrated by the holiness of Buddha. As a matter of fact, I never stayed in the desert for forty days, nor was I tempted by any devil, because there is no such being or entity in all the realm of God except as he exists in the soul of the mortal or spirit creating him in the likeness of his own desires and lusts.
And neither did I fast for forty days because I never did believe in fasting as a cure against sin, and the only fasting I believed in was the fasting of the soul's desires to act in a way contrary to the laws of God. The New Testament is substantially accurate in stating that I came eating and drinking, for the Divine Love of God is obtained through the soul longing and prayer, and not through the abstinance of legitimate material needs and wants. *
So you see that the stories of my supernatural birth and the fasting and temptation in the desert are not in accordance with the truths of my life and teachings, and should be eliminated from the New Testament and the falsehoods exposed.
I should also like to state that when my disciples and I came to celebrate the Passover at Jerusalem, I remained near Bethany while my parents went into Jerusalem to arrange for the preparation of the Upper Room. Since my coming was fraught with danger, it was arranged for Peter and John to make known our readiness to come to the Upper Room by meeting a young man with a pitcher near the Kedron stream, and he would take us to my father's place for the occasion. And while it was not mentioned in the Gospels and many have conjectured as to the identity of this person with the pitcher, I should like to inform you that he was the writer of a Gospel and his name was John Mark.
I should like to also clarify a few statements found in the Gospel of John that have not been understood, and that is in John, Chapter 13, Verse 8. I said to Peter, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part of me." And this was just before the beginning of the last Passover meal and Peter's objection to this ablution. Now, my purpose in this was to use the word and ceremony of washing not as a natural cleansing of the body, nor even a symbol of the spiritual cleansing with baptism. But I meant to use the word "washing" as a washing from sin, and I had to do this in order to make my teachings concrete and something my disciples could see and understand. I meant, "If I show ye not how to be cleansed of sin so that ye be clean in heart through the washings of the Divine Love, thou hast no part of me." This washing was not symbolic of a purification of the soul leading to the perfect natural man, but transformation of the soul through the effects of the Divine Love and its cleansing action.
Peter as well as all the other disciples of mine needed the Divine Love in their souls to have this common bond of Love and Essence of God between us, providing in this way for a relationship of soul between us. But Peter understood this in a material way and thought I referred also to baptism. So you see that I used water to implement my teachings of the Divine Love in a way my disciples would understand, and I used many other illustrations in addition to water, such as bread, the door, the good shepherd, and the vineyard.
When I said, "He that is washed need not, save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit," I meant that he who has the Divine Love in his soul is clean and he has but to eliminate the defilements of the world from his soul and his soul would be clean in every aspect, but not completely so, for the process of cleansing, and by this I mean transformation of the soul, continues throughout all eternity. I did not say, "All of you are not clean," referring to Judas, for I did not suspect him of any treachery.
I think I have written you a fairly long letter, and so with my love to you and the Doctor,** and with the information that we are all trying to help you in your financial and domestic affairs, I shall sign myself
Your elder brother and friend,
Jesus of the Bible
and
Master of the Celestial Heavens
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* Jesus also refers to fasting in Sermon 75 of his 76 Sermons on the Old Testament of the Bible.
** Dr. Leslie R. Stone.
