“Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” (1st Corinthians 15:50-54; New King James Bible Version (NKJV). “There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. (1st Corinthians 15: 44, 46, 47, 49; (NKJV). “…henceforth know we no man after the
flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now
henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all
things are become new.” (2nd Corinthians 5:15-17 (NKJV) From years of studying the Bible, I’ve found that one of the important teachers from the Bible was St. Paul, the Apostle. I say this because his letters (found in the New Testament) spoke on both physical matters of the world during his time, as well as upon spiritually metaphysical teachings that have reached into our own time. He did more than merely address humanity’s practical, finite, day by day existence, which pertains to our material way of life; he also revealed that we each have a hidden spiritual existence that stretches into eternity, despite the seeming destruction of material death. Much of St. Paul’s more metaphysical teachings concerning Christ Jesus’s ministry were in the form of letter-sermons, sent to the various churches that existed, at that time. The quotations at the top of this article are from St. Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, and they are extremely relevant to followers of Christ-Jesus today. They sort out the confusion of the material identity, called ‘Jesus’ from the spiritual identity called, ‘the Christ,’ making a clear distinction between the two. One thing it sorts out is that his name was not ‘Jesus Christ’ (like a first and last name). Rather, in early times, he was called, ‘Jesus, the Christ’ illustrating that ‘Jesus’ was his temporary, physical identity, while ‘the Christ’ was a title, which symbolized the universal, everlasting, spiritual identity of every child of God, including all humanity. So, ‘the Christ’ also symbolizes our own spiritual identities as opposed to our earthly names (Tom, the Christ; Sally, the Christ, etc.) Many Christians around the globe still do not ‘get the message’ that St. Paul was broadcasting to humanity concerning what ‘the Christ’ is, and what it isn’t. When we do not realize spiritual realities, we will not express them or bring them forward into our daily lives. We only manifest (bring into our material experience) what we believe to be true, be it good, or bad. Yet, in spiritual truth, (and right this very moment) we are actually immortal, spiritual beings, rather than material beings. We are not earthlings, except in a temporary way; for underneath the temporary physical forms that we believe to be our identities, our spiritual, everlasting spiritual identities lie, asleep in the dream of finite materiality. We do not exist as the fleshly form; rather, our invisible, spiritual essence is what animates the material body forms we occupy in this human experience. When our spirit (true body, soul and mind) leaves our physical body form in a physical death process, the form disintegrates into the nothingness from whence it came. Now, the substance of our spiritual identities is invisible to the five, material senses of perception. Our true substance of body, soul and mind is spiritual, not material; it lives within our undying, spiritually-immortal, divine (Christ) Self. We always ‘live, move and have our being’ in the infinite Spirit, called God, which includes all of creation within its domain, for there is no other place to go. (See Acts 17:21; New King James Bible Version (NKJV) Since we are really the spiritual children of God, divine Spirit, the only truth about us is that we are ever-lastingly immortal, spiritual beings…not mortals (who were born to die). Whatever is made of divine Spirit doesn’t die. Although most of humanity still doesn’t realize this spiritual truth, this fact explains why Jesus could raise (bring back to consciousness) his own physical body, as well as Lazarus and a few others from physical death in matter. Why? Because Spirit, and all of Its off-spring, are never trapped in finite body forms, or anything else. That’s another reason why belief is so important. We unwittingly accept the negative things and often talk ourselves out of the good things. Yet, our physical body forms do not act on their own; our physical body form always obeys the thought that went before the action. What we generally believe about our own health is what we then, unknowingly, manifest (mentally attach to ourselves). For instance, if we believe some so-called genetic ‘law’ that declares we must inherit some disease from a family member, this claim will play on our mind until we often do start to show symptoms of the disease. The remedy is to reject the claim of such a thing as fast as we can, before any symptoms begin to materialize. But, even if symptoms do materialize, we can change our mind and realize the spiritual truth that we are God’s spiritual children, untouched by the universal, material beliefs of this false sense of reality. As the fear leaves us, in full expectation of God’s ever-lasting protection, the body form will change back to normalcy. But, take heed: you can’t fool your inner-self. When we feel fear, it means that we’re still being double-minded on the disease—we’re still believing in a power opposed to God, and whatever we mentally give power in our own belief system, we will manifest into physical form. So, if we can’t get over the fear, it’s best to take the world’s temporary fixes like medical treatment, holistic practice, or wherever you feel the most safe and comfortable—because that brings out the best result for you. For, in this human, material experience, whatever we deep-down believe is what we will manifest into form, be it health or ill-health. The same is true of our mental health. What disturbs us won’t leave us until we face it and resolve the issue, either spiritually or materially. We’ll tend to materialize, in some way, what we believe and are taught to believe. In my own case, I’ve found that healing our thoughts of anger and fear does wonders. So, get rid of these stresses as soon as you can. For myself, I’ve learned that if I still feel fear or anger, in any degree, I’m not in the right state-of-mind to spiritually heal either the body or my mental state. (I’m sure, this is why Christ Jesus told the people that came to him for healing to ‘fear not’, or asked them if they believed in his ability to heal. He knew that fear had to be abolished before any spiritual healing could take place.) So, what am I saying, here? I’m saying that we are meant to be the masters of our own fate and captains of our own ships. If we’ve been coaxed into believing that we should have some disease due to some law of physical or mental heredity, we have a way out; we can realize that God never made such a law of sickness or damage unto Its own children. When we reject the material evidence we see and feel, without fear, and realize that God’s love is greater than any material belief, the symptoms can leave as fast as they appeared, depending upon how much we believe they can. In the four gospels of the New Testament, it shows that Christ Jesus often asked those who came to him for healing, if they believed he could heal them. But here’s an interesting clue concerning that. Once, when a woman came to him for physical healing, and he asked if she believed he could do it, she said ‘yes’. Then he said an extraordinary thing: he said, “go thy way…thy faith has made thee whole.” (See Matthew 9:22; (KJV). And she was immediately healed. Notice that he didn’t say, “My faith has made you whole.” Rather, he was showing her that the power to be well was in her own, inner consciousness, although she hadn’t known it. This innate consciousness of spiritual truth is often referred to as the ‘Christ Consciousness’ because it dwells within the God-Mind. We have our very being within this divine connection. For the lady being healed, it only took her own faith to activate the power and knowledge of wellness that was within her own, innate Self. Now, Jesus often asked someone the same thing; (did they believe they could be healed?) For, he knew that if they believed, then he could help them…yet, here he had actually shown a woman that her own belief was the healing agent, not any special God-action that had been withheld from her before. Now, not everyone who came to the Master for a healing experienced one. Once, when his disciples asked Jesus why they had been unable to heal the people of a certain place, it was written: “But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house. And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” (Matthew 13:57 & 58; (KJV). Again, he was illustrating the importance of an individual’s belief in order for spiritually mental healing to quickly occur. So, why does belief work? It works because God’s spiritual children, which we are, cannot really be sick, damaged, or dead. Spirit doesn’t die, and we are God’s spiritual off-spring. Also, we are the only ones who can control our own temporary, physical body forms, here in this material experience. But it is our consciousness, awake or seemingly asleep, that connects us to the infinite Mind of God because our true bodies are spiritual in substance, rather than material. Knowing that ‘Jesus’ was the temporary, material name of his spiritual identity dwelling in a temporary, fleshly form is an important truth. But even more important than that, it then becomes clear that since his real identity was, and is, eternally whole and safe, forever dwelling in God’s spiritual creation (not the false, finite, physical sense of things) then our own individual identities are also ever-lasting spiritual identities, which are universally symbolized as ‘the Christ.’ We are always alive, whole, and healthy because our true body substance is spiritual and not material. We are God’s immortal off-spring and already whole for eternity, despite how much we believe we can ‘feel’ the physical body’s pain (even material scientists admit that it is the signals from the brain that create the physical sense of pain and/or pleasure, for matter can feel nothing.) So, asking God to heal our real selves is unnecessary. Our true body-substance being spiritual, we’re already and always whole. We have never been sick, damaged, or dead in our spiritual lives. We are each whole forevermore. That’s what Christ-Jesus knew. When you come to that realization, you can begin to demonstrate spiritual healing, because our spiritual health is always present in our true identity. Yes, yes, yes…I know; the deception of finite, physical being convinces us that we are NOT God’s own children, or off-spring. The five, material senses convince us that we are finite, fleshly creatures, born to die. But there is another, more powerful sixth-sense within us, which tells us that things are just not what they seem. And when we are tempted enough to try to comprehend the realities of divine Spirit, and get over the fact that we can’t see, hear, touch, smell or taste God with the five physical senses, we open a door to experience healings of all the ‘lacks’ the human, material experience tries to bring to us. It is then we learn that lack of health, lack of supply, lack of peace, lack of harmony, lack of violence, lack of anything good, can disappear when we realize that God, infinite Spirit, is our Source of all good things, be it life, health, supply and every needful thing. And our God-Source flows eternally through our very being. Then all things become new, when we realize that we are spiritual beings merely sleeping in the collective dream of material, finite being. For, that’s what the universal, Christ identity is all about. As the material-seeming man, he was Jesus. But he had to ‘die’ on the cross to show us that behind the finite, physical form, he was an ever-lasting spiritual being, just as we all are spiritual beings…only he knew it, and those of us still in this dream of materiality are just beginning to perceive it. The man, Jesus, was his fleshly identity so that people in this material sense of reality could perceive him. As the Christ, he represented the spiritual identity of all of us. That’s why we were to ‘follow him’. That’s what is so imperative. But, Instead, we tried to make him a God, when he was always an enlightened son of God, and our spiritual brother, trying to aquaint us with our real, immortal, spiritual Selves. So, to sum up: Christ-Jesus came into this collective material dream of thought in order to show us the way out. He was our spiritual brother, showing us our real Selves. The way out is to awaken from the Adam dream of materiality and discover our spiritual heritage as children of God, divine Spirit. When Jesus raised ordinary people who had died, he was demonstrating that nothing could really kill whomever God had created. And even his disciples were engaged in spiritual healing, proving that it could be done by anyone. Before he left this world, he had told his followers, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” (John 14:10 (KJV). This is why St. Paul went so deeply into explaining ‘the Christ’ to humanity. It was one of the most important things in the world to grasp; for, Christ Jesus was showing us the way home, back to the heavenly harmony of existence. For, beneath the façade of the finite, material scene and our false, fleshly sense of ourselves, our own spiritual identity—our own individual, Christ identity—is sleeping, deep within our own, innate consciousness, trying to awaken us to remember our real truth of being. And even though we seem to occupy a material realm of fleshly forms and a temporary false sense of ourselves, our own, real, identity (our Christ identity) still resides deep within our innate consciousness. This innate consciousness is the ‘mind that was in Christ Jesus,’ (See Philipians 1:5; (KJV). This deep, Christ-Consciousness is trying to awaken us to our real truth of being, and our eternal safety in God’s spiritual realm of infinite time and space. Our Creator is divine, infinite, immortal Spirit. Spirit’s children will always be spiritual beings, whether or not they are awake, or asleep, to the reality of their being. But the Christ-Consciousness is awakening more and more over the collective consciousness of this world, and the realization of life in Spirit, God, will eventually awaken every soul…until the last trump is blown, and the last sleeper awakes. |
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