In his books "The Yoga of Jesus" and "The Second Coming of Christ", the Indian sage Yogananda wrote about the meaning and significance of Jesus' teachings 2000 years ago. Jesus, Yogananda wrote, was only one of the most recent of Avatars--divine Emissaries sent to Earth to speak with the voice and authority of God for the guidance of men. In these incarnations of God, the Universal Christ Consciousness takes on the individuality of an enlightened soul appropriate to the times and purpose of the incarnation. 

Yogananda wrote, "Jesus came to demonstrate the forgiveness  and compassion of God, whose Love is a shelter even from exacting Law." (From Paramahansa Yogananda's book "The Yoga of Jesus). However, as he also points out, the Christ is not the exclusive "property" of Christians. It is the level of Love energy within the so-called Trinity and is the essence of religious theology throughout the Universe. Love is the Law; Love under Will. Any person, within any religion, can and might live the Law of Christ and be well here on this Earth. In fact, as Jesus taught in the Gospel of Peace of the Essenes, living the laws of Christ prepares one for higher roles in the "Kingdom of God."

Of course, Jesus incarnated 2000 years ago, and except for highly religious groups, churches and cults these days, people in this time and age are increasing drifting away from the teachings passed down in the King James Bible and its scriptures for many reasons, among them that the teachings seem dated and antiquated. This has resulted in increasing cynacism, preoccupation with issues of security and materialism, and impatience with the professional priesthoods, who today as in previous ages, used religion as a way of controlling their populations. As a result of their cynacism, many people here in America have turned to New Age forms of spirituality and gotten caught up in pursuing ancient and fringe spiritualities in the hope that some real connection can be discovered with the Divine in this Age.

One of the more interesting emerging form of communication between mankind and the angelic hierarchy and the god realms has been the emergence of mediumship which channels communication through willing channels. This is not a new phenomenon--the channels--for they appeared in earlier cultures and times as well as "voices" of the gods, oracles, and prophets. And while many are the discrepancies among these sources of "information", there may well be some whose messages seem authentic and trustworthy.

One of those more recent examples of such transmisions has been the teachings coming through New York medium Paul Selig, who has channeled many messages from a group of Masters of the Light, teaching from the level of the Christ. From some of those messages, a book has emerged (Paul Selig, I am the Word) with a modern message that now is the time for man to take a great evolutionary step upward in consciousness through a process known as "ascension."

In the biblical description of Jesus' ascension after his crucifixion, he is depicted as floating physically upward into the air until he reaches heaven. Whether or not this description is metaphorical or to be literally believed, the ascension which these Emissaries of the Word are teaching is an ascension in the body and not a leaving of life in the physical: literally, the new ascension is an event characterized by a rising frequency of the energy field and physical body of a person and by a heightened state of consciousness such that the understanding of the individual becomes illuminated. This new state produces a total revolutionary change in the character of mankind, such that he is transformed into "New Man"--the incarnated Christ. This is not saying that every such man is another Jesus with the powers that Jesus possessed. It is saying that Humanity as a whole IS the Christhood, and that each human being will be a part of that consciousness.

One key aspect that is brought out in Selig's book by these Emissaries of the Word is that it is the time for the fulfillment of prophesies of the second coming of Christ. But there is a caveat. This time, they say, there is no new Avatar or savior coming to teach new things. There will be no new teachings.  Instead, it is time for mankind to remember Jesus' message, written in the Gospel of John, that each man and woman hold within themselves the Christ energies and in this Age the Christ will incarnate within each of us. Each of us will become a Christ in effect, bringing the Love of God into our lives and expressing the essence of Christhood in the world. This will be the Second Coming of Christ. And it is our duty to bring about Heaven on Earth--to spiritualize the material world.

One message of the Emissaries of the Word is that the "Law of Christ" is still relevant and should be a concern to all who would learn this Way of Living here on the Earth. Most people in this modern age would find it difficult to imagine what this "Law of Christ" might be, but it was a series of Laws for Living that Jesus taught his disciples. These were not "new laws" but "old", as he described them. They had been taught long before his coming but had not been made public because the people to whom they were brought were not ready to live by them.

Much knowledge about Jesus the Christ has been lost. For example, it is generally believed that "Jesus of Nazareth" was from a town called "Nazareth". Historical records reveal however that there was no such town. In fact, The Nazarenes were a community of believers known as Essenes who followed a complex set of teachings derived from a variety of pre-Christian sources. To find out more about these teachings, we've had to go to translations of the Dead Sea Scrolls of the Essene religious cult or community. These scrolls were found by a diligent researcher named Edmund Bordeaux Szekely in the secret vaults of the Vatican and have been translated into English for a mass readership. They are translated into plain English or common speech and can be understood by virtually anyone.

There were four major books of these teachings plus a number of fragments of other teachings drawn from damaged scrolls. The four books included the Essene Gospel of Peace (Book 1), the Unknown Books of the Essenes (Book 2),  the Lost Scrolls of the Essene Brotherhood (Book 3), and The Teachings of the Elect (Book 4). In these books, Jesus' actual teachings to his fellow Essenes and his disciples have been preserved and written down in detail.

The Law of Christ was actually, so the books of the Essenes report, passed from God to Moses on the Mountain when he was given what we think of as "The Ten Commandments". Actually, the initial set of Laws brought to the people of Israel in the desert during their 40 years of wandering, were a set of 12 Laws carved in stone tablets by Moses himself (rather than God). But upon coming down the mountain, or so the story goes, Moses found his People worshipping a Golden Calf. In fury, he threw down the tablets, breaking them into pieces. His people, seeing that he was still alive after his long ascent up the Mountain, begged him to go back to God and beg for the forgiveness of his people. And finally, he did go back up the moutain to beg for his people. God heard Moses out but decided that the people of Israel were not ready for the generous set of laws he had initially given Moses, so he told Moses not to write the first set of laws down, but instead give the people a second set of laws which would prove much harsher. The ten laws which were given the people and written down were the Ten Commandments we know today in our Old Testiment. The 12 Laws initially given were, so Jesus taught in the Books of the Essenes, "the Invisible Laws", which were taught orally to those who would keep them secret and silently follow them.

The message of the Emissaries of the Word channeled through the medium Paul Selig is that these Invisible Laws are still relevant and can be followed to manifest the Christ energies within ones self to become transformed into an Emissary of Love.

What then are the Laws of Christ? The Bible is unclear on this issue, although interpretations seem to abound. We know however that Jesus was the Teacher of Righteousness of his Essene Community. So if one accepts the teachings of the Dead Sea Scrolls from their Teacher of Righteousness, there are 12 such "laws." Here on this web site, we intend to explore and discuss these 12 Laws an Essene Master gave to his own disciples: the Invisible Laws received earlier by Moses. In brief, those 12 Laws were:

1. Ye shall not take away the life of any creature for your pleasure, nor for your profit. nor yet torment it.

2. Ye shall not steal the goods of any, nor gather lands and riches to yourselves, beyond your need or use.

3. Ye shall not eat the flesh, nor drink the blood of any slaughtered creature, nor yet any thing which bringeth disorder to your health or senses.

4. Ye shall not make impure marriages, where love and health are not, nor yet corrupt yourselves, or any creature made pure by the Holy.

5. Ye shall not bear false witness against any, nor wilfully deceive any by a lie to hurt them.

6. Ye shall not do unto others, as ye would not that others should do unto you.

7. Ye shall worship One Eternal, the Father-Mother in Heaven, of Whom are all things, and reverence the holy Name.

8. Ye shall revere your fathers and your mothers on earth, whose care is for you, and all the Teachers of Righteousness.

9. Ye shall cherish and protect the weak, and those who are oppressed, and all creatures that suffer wrong.

10.Ye shall work with your hands the things that are good and seemly; so shalt ye eat the fruits Of the earth, and live long in the land.

11. Ye shall purify yourselves daily and rest the Seventh Day from labour, keeping holy the Sabbaths and the Festival of your God.

12. Ye shall do unto others as ye would that others should do unto you.

In his final hours before his crucifixion, Jesus urged his disciples to follow the law of "Love One Another" as well. 

This would appear to be a good set of "principles to live by" no matter what tradition one comes from, but the question remains "are these sufficient". In mathematical proofs, there is the concept of "necessary and sufficient." And so, we must ask if these "Laws" or principles are sufficient, even if they are necesssary? Perhaps. Perhaps not. And that is a question you must ask yourself.

For example, there has been a traditional perception in Western Christianity and Judaism that "God" is a masculine concept; this has come through historical interpretation by patriarchical theological authorities and by early Christian villification of the feminine aspect as it manifested in the Great Mother religions which preceeded Christianity and Judaism. As a result, our Christian, Islamic and Judaic religious rules have been tilted to allow men a certain status in religious affairs  denied women, such as serving as priests or leaders. Also, in Judaism and perhaps Islam, the emphasis upon the masculine aspect of God among some practitioners has resulted in a rigid emphasis upon Law over the feminine aspect of the Creator, which is "compassion", tolerance, Love, or mercy.* In Catholicism, the Mother of Jesus, Mother Mary, has assumed this role as Divine Intemediary for many. In both Christianity and Judaism, the feminine aspect has been called "Shekinah or Sophia (Wisdom): pure compassion, the Holy Spirit who lives among the people and intervenes with the masculine aspect on behalf of Her people". While the term "Sophia" appears in Proverbs and the gospels, the word "Shekinah" does not appear in the King James Version of the Western Bible at all.

New Age spirituality tends to easily recognize the Divine Source or Creatorship as both masculine and feminine. Many now address the Creator in their prayers as "Father-Mother God." Taking this issue into account raises the question of which of these aspects...masculine or feminine...Law, including the "Law of Christ" represents? And the answer is that "the Law" has traditionally been seen as the masculine aspect of God. The feminine aspect of God is less tangible. The Feminine is the Unknown and Creative aspect...and in Western religious history, the softer loving and forgiving aspect which saves us even from our inability to live by God's Laws...and coincidentally the aspect of God said to be embodied in Nature and in all of Life. 

Nature is the domain of the Goddess, Gaia, or the Earth Mother, who is typically recognized as a feminine expression of the Holy Spirit. Jesus, speaking to his disciples about his coming death, told them that he would leave "the Comforter" to tend to them; in other words, the Holy Spirit or Shekinah, would support Man as a compassionate spiritual presence. In this view, the Holy Spirit is the third level of the Trinity and it too has its masculine and feminine aspects. Using this definition, the Laws of Nature thus fall into the masculine expression of the Holy Spirit and those are, as stated in the Dead Sea Scrolls by Jesus are also the WORD, or Law, of God as written in Matter. Gaia then..or Shekinah if one prefers...is the compassionate aspect of the Holy Spirit who intervenes to compassionately tend to all Life on Earth in her purview as the Great Mother of her Children, which include mineral life, plant life, animal life, and mankind.

When one prays, who then is one praying to? Is prayer directed to Law? Or is it directed to the One Who Listens, the Compassionate Mother God, the One Who Gives Love with Mercy?

It is extremely interesting that Jesus presented himself as an intemediary to God, saying "No man goes to the Father except through me." Was he presenting himself in the role of the Shekinah? Was he an expression of the feminine, forgiving, compassionate aspect of God's Will missing in the theological understanding of his time? Or was he both...a teacher of the Law tempered by compassion and mercy?

We must also recognize that, to a great extent, we are playing with semantics here. There is, it is generally recognized in religious history, only One Beingness. Everything and Nothing as well are God. Numenon and Phenomenon are both God. It is man who uses language to divide things up. The Taoists and Buddists call the physical expression of the Tao "the Ten Thousand Things." Scientists categorize and divide all creation so God and his Laws can be studied. Or else one cannot conceptualize or describe "this World" at all. Language creates our Worlds. So can we divide God up? Can we say "this part of God is masculine and that part is feminine?" Are we dividing up what cannot be separated? Perhaps not. Historically and theologically, that is exactly what Mankind has done. A good subject for debate, perhaps.

As I've discovered other spiritual resources than the traditional "King James Bible", I've found myself developing a different understanding of what spirituality is all about. Spirituality, instead of being a way off the Earth and out of Life, is a way of living that respects this Earth and her other children, that takes responsibility for living a loving and totally well life...psychologically, physically, emotionally, sexually, and environmentally. Among the resources I find myself looking to these days are the Lamsa Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls of the Essenes (which include the Essene Gospel of Peace, the Unknown Books of the Essenes, Scrolls of the Essene Brotherhood, and Teachings of the Elect), the Nag Hammadi discoveries, a Course in Miracles, Emmanuel, Paul Selig's channeled text "I am the Word", the Ra Materials, the Seth Materials, the work and books of David Hawkins, and various channels who are bringing in guidance of other "heavenly" teachers to meet today's challenges of living on this Earth at the dawning of the Age of Aquarius.

I am creating this Meetup group to present materials from these alternative sources on the Law of Christ and other consistent teachings so that members can consider whether these updated materials contribute to our spiritual understandings.

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* Suggested sources on the feminine aspect of God: 

http://www.thenazareneway.com/feminine_god.htm

http://www.pistissophia.org/The_Holy_Spirit/the_holy_spirit.html