Saturday, January 19, 2013

What does the Bible Say about the New Age? Really? You Going There?


On the Winter Solstice on December 21st I noticed how the shortest day of the year and the corresponding longest night created a perfect opening for what is happening now.  We have been so focused on the end of the 4th World that we might not be entirely ready for what the New Year is bringing.

We are indeed stepping through a profound opening, ready or not.  It has come to me that this period of time corresponds with what some Bible scholars call the “Reign of Christ” mentioned fleetingly in the New Testament book of Revelation, Chapter 20, 4-6.  Many of my soul family are calling in a time that is ruled by a Christ Consciousness, but many traditional Christians will miss this because of their attempt to hang literalism on a highly symbolic document.  I remember my teacher saying, “Literalism is idolatry.”  He meant that it is idol worship to focus on the form instead of on the truth the form is pointing toward.

Remember that the Hebrews largely rejected the idea that Jesus was their messiah because he did not literally appear to them as they imagined he would.  They misread and misunderstood the scriptures just as the literalists do today.  It follows that the True Believer is more easily blinded to revelation because his understanding is clouded by presupposition and limiting beliefs. 

Now is the time for all of us to let go of limitation and confining thought and belief systems so we may receive illumination when it is offered.  Being en-light-en-ed is about being in-formed and lit up from within; feeding and encouraging our inner-flame of truth. 

What happens if we look at the Christian Bible with new eyes?  In the book of Revelation, the bible writer is describing a momentous shift that is already begun and will play itself out in the immediate millennium or two of time.  He is ushering in a New Age.  It is notable to me that he recognizes an event that repeats itself in a varied form; another pattern that re-cycles. 

So we are once again facing the onset of a New Age, a New Earth and another opportunity for a "thousand-year" reign of Christ Consciousness.  Many have read this to mean Jesus would literally return to sit on a physical throne and administer the events of the day.  In the bible writer’s time, that shift was literally administered by the disciples of Jesus and their subordinates.  And honestly, they made a mess of it.  We got the worst of our nature:  murder, persecution and subjugation in the name of Christ.  

Most believers did not realize the promised "return" of the Christ had already occurred in the book of Acts when his followers where anointed with the presence of the Holy Spirit.  Since then, Christ has returned to the faithful over and over again.  There is no need to wait, and looking into the sky is futile.  He is reborn from within.  Jesus was always all about the “mysteries”.  It was never going to happen in the way you imagined it would.  Why else would he repeatedly say the truth would only be understood by those who had eyes to see and ears to hear?  Moving into the paradigm of the New Earth requires each of us to develop new ways of seeing and to grow new ears.

This time, the cycle is to be administered not by the True Believers, but by the conscious ones who recognize the Oneness of all creation and are committed to the work of up-leveling the awareness of our collective humanity.  We are on the planet at this time for a most sacred purpose.  The weight of this calling falls to this generation and the next.  Listen for the call.  It will not be a blaring trumpet; this time it will be a “still small voice”.

Tied in with the Bible prophecy about the Thousand Year Reign is the occurrence of The Great Tribulation which many see as preceding the actual Reign of Christ.  Historically, the tribulation referred to in the book of Revelation refers to the time before and after the Crucifixion when the Hebrews suffered greatly under the fierce brutality of Roman rule.
 
Today, in this new time, it refers to all the man-made folly that has led up to this profound opening.  The tribulation is the constructed result of the failure to recognize the sacredness of all life and the necessity of humanity to harmonize itself with the natural rhythms of the planet. 

This period of tribulation has certainly begun and is reaching a tipping point.  It is evidenced by the many natural catastrophes; by the unconscionable wars and mindless brutality with which we are daily bombarded; by the insane machinations of politicians and governments; and by the erosion of common sense, simple kindness, and good will.  The bible-writer frames this hard time as a battle between good and evil; and I do see a struggle between what is good for all and what is good for the few.

Now we may rightfully discern the truth and the goodness of any policy or plan by whether or not it increases the unity of humanity or whether it stands to further separate us one from another.  So here it is:  more unity and connection = good; more separation and division = bad; remembering that “goodness” is another way of saying “God-ness”.

Keep in mind that the author of the Revelation was not so much foretelling the future as he was shining a light on a new and momentous movement.  So it is now.  We are not looking forward; we are in the thick of it, and “the time is at hand”.

More about John's work on his website:  Earth School for Souls

2 comments:

  1. John,

    I love how you write and what is expressed! I am currently in my first semester of ministerial school, and you have very profoundly summarized what I believe about this Christ journey. Thanks for sharing with your gift of writing!

    Shawn Berry Wegner
    Shamanic Breathwork Minister & Facilitator

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    Replies
    1. Looks like we share a middle name. For me it was my mother's, from whom I was passed darkness and light.

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