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Christian Rite Called Mass
I am here, Jesus:
I am here tonight to tell you about that Christian rite called the mass, or transsubstantiation, and to give you further proof and additional reasons why this ceremony is neither God-given, as the church claims, nor was it ever, or could be, instituted by me.
In my last sermon I have told you that the basic principle on which this rite is founded, the sacredness of the blood, or shall I say, that the life of the living being is in the blood, was never revealed to man by God, nor is it true to the degree that blood is the component of man to which all other components are inferior and on which the Father has made the life principle dependent. First, because there are living organisms that do not contain a system of circulating blood, and because, in the animal kingdom, life is dependent, in the last analysis, upon the health of all the individual organs and their interrelationship to form an integrated whole functioning as a unit. And furthermore, life would be impossible without those physical conditions upon which life on earth is contingent. Rather than to say that any particular part of the being is sacred, it is the being himself that is sacred.
Now the church that developed in the several centuries following my appearance on earth with the mission from the Father that the time of salvation had arrived through prayer to Him for His Divine Love, this church, let me repeat, brought into existence the rite of the mass taken from the pagan ceremonies which revolved about the sacrifice of a god and his resurrection and the aspiration of achieving communion with that god through partaking of his flesh and blood. This was done through participating in those pagan festivals featuring the eating of the flesh and blood of that animal sacred to, or identified with, that god. And thus much of the ancient world paid tribute to the sacred bull through Siva, through Dionysus, and through Mithra.
In Palestine the Canaanite cult of the bull extended temporarily to the Hebrews and was found in the baalim, or gods. Since the early Christians came to regard me as part of the godhead, and sacrificial in character, they came to identify me with the sacrificial lamb of the Hebrews. But as they could not partake of the flesh and blood of the sacrificial lamb because of the Passover feast, they found a substitute in the bread and wine instead; bread and wine because such a meal took away from the Christian rite any superficial similarity with the current pagan practices of feasting on animal flesh and blood, and because such a practice seemed related, at least to the church leaders of those days, to the bread and wine which the king of Salem, Melchizedek, is supposed to have given Abraham, in the story in Genesis. This gave these churchmen the occasion to claim that, since this Melchizedek was a priest-king, my appearance, also, was in the role of priest-king.
I wish to state here very emphatically that I never have been a priest, either on earth or in the spirit world these many centuries, and that I never practice rites of a religious nature and that my only act of reverence to the Father is intense prayer to Him for His Divine Love, which I did while on earth and ever since I entered into spirit life, and to seek to carry out with all my power and influence to do the Father's will and help to turn mankind to Him and His Great Redeeming Love.
Never was I a king, as was Melchisedek, nor did I ever seek to become one, and the New Testament is correct in stating that I avoided the attempt of some of my unenlightened followers to make me king in Palestine, and the only reason for being Master of the Celestial Heavens is the state of my soul, which is filled to a certain degree with the Father's Essence, His Love, and which I shall continue to fill with His Love throughout all of everlasting eternity. In no way was I ever connected with Melchizedek, either as king or priest, nor did Melchizedek serve bread and wine with any other purpose than to be host to Abraham; and bread and wine was the repast because it was these foods which were most available in Palestine, and this may be seen from the name of my own birthplace, Bethlehem, meaning, House of Bread, and the grapes decorating the veil of the Temple in Jerusalem, and the many parables of the grapevines l used in my teachings.
Now one of the reasons why the episode of Melchizedek has such importance to the Christians, as evidenced by the epistle to the Hebrews, is that Psalm 110 reads, in part, "Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek." This psalm is supposed to have been composed by David the King, so that the wording is presumed to mean that the Father made David's Lord (taken by some churchman to mean me) a priest like Melchizedek. Actually this psalm was never composed by David, but by a member of his court and designed for David himself, so that the meaning was that David was not only king by God's grace, but that such loyalty also made him high priest. The occasion for this mention of David in connection with ecclesiastical duties came when he was instrumental in bringing the Ark to Jerusalem, when he danced before the Lord with all his might, and was girded with a linen ephod, and when he also offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings and blessed the people in the name of God. Centuries later, this psalm was reworked by a poet for Simon the Hasmonean, when he combined the royal and priestly duties after the manner of Melchisedek, and the final edition of the Psalm dates from this later time.
In the same way the first lines of Psalm 110, stating, "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand," does not mean then, as has been interpreted, that God said unto David's Lord, meaning me, but that God said unto the writer's Lord, meaning David. If you will read this psalm carefully, you will see that the references to God's wrath reveal that the song is not a revelation of God, as some believe, but merely the embodiment of David the King, or the later ruler, as a servant of God, who will vent His wrath upon the heathen nations.
Jesus of the Bible
and
Master of the Celestial Heavens
