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March 6th, 2002
Received by H.
Cuenca, Ecuador.
My dear brother,
In my last message, I told you how we left the village of Naym,
and how Jesus guided us towards Mount Tabor.
We did not stay at the foot of that mountain, but instead we ascended.
And from above we could appreciate a spectacular view, embracing
the plains of Galilee, down to the freshwater sea.
It was an appropriate place for meditating. It is easy to understand
why the ancient ones built their sanctuaries on the summits of mountains.
And we had a lot of luck with the weather, enjoying a sunny day
with perfect visibility.
When we had arrived at the peak of the mountain, Jesus began to
pray in silence, and we tried to follow his example.
Then we sat down, and Jesus spoke to us again of prayer. He explained
that it was, of course, an inner attitude, the intent of conversing
with the Father, exposing to Him our problems, desires, yearnings
and concerns, but that it was always very important to look for
an appropriate atmosphere. At least once per week, we should look
for a solitary place, where nature itself would inspire us and facilitate
a close communication with our Creator. By the way, H___,
this is advice that is still valid. It is not necessary to climb
up a mountain or to hide in a forest to do so. It is sufficient
to find a quiet corner, a pleasant atmosphere which may be in your
house, it may be with some background music, each one will know
how to arrange this for themselves. It means to retire periodically
from "this world" and to enter "another world,"
where you will be able to be much nearer to God.
And it happened that Taddi, who heard all this
for the first time, asked Jesus:
"Master, I don't want to appear stupid, but
in fact, I don't know how to pray."
We kept silent. We had never asked this question, and to tell you
the truth, none of us knew how to pray. Nobody had been taught it.
It was something different to participating in the rites of the
Temple, and to fulfill the norms of conduct as the Torah demands
them, and with that to feel well, rather than to pray or to converse
with somebody who we could not see. How can one speak to somebody
who is invisible? How could we know if He was listening to us or
not? So Taddi had formulated our question with courage and frankness.
Jesus smiled. He explained to us that eventually we would always
feel the presence of God ever stronger. The eyes and the ears of
our souls would open up and we would know that the Father was always
with us, listening to us unfailingly and watching over us.
“And when praying,” he said, “do not use needless
repetitions as the heathen do, for they expect to be listened to
because of their multitude of words. Do not, however, imitate them,
for your Father knows what things you need before you ask Him.
Well, the Father definitely does not want words. He wants your
longings, your true desire to be in communion with Him. Although
the Father knows all that worries you or makes you happy, He needs
you to express his desires to demonstrate your will to accept His
guidance and His gifts, because He respects you, and even more,
He loves you, and therefore, He will never impose His Will upon
you.
The Father in Heaven is like a magnificent King who grants an audience
to all His people at all times. He likes to hear people telling
Him of their happiness and He listens to their problems. And to
all people who approach Him, He gives exactly what they may need.
He is not like the imprudent ruler who, riding on his horse, parades
through the streets of his city, throwing his gold among the people.
This is prayer: The audience with our true King, informing him
of our desires and problems, our happiness and sadness. When we
open up our hearts, He opens up His, and when we need, He gives
with wisdom."
And then he gave us his prayer. I don't need to describe it, you
already know it.
H.R.: And was it exactly as Mr. Padgett received
it?
No, not exactly so, this you should know already,
but more or less so.
H.R.: Actually, I am referring to a special part of
it. Jesus explained to Dr. Samuels the following:
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I am here, again, to write you on the truths
of the Father, and I wish to comment on The
Prayer given to Mr. Padgett many years ago - the only
one necessary to obtain the Father's Love; and the Doctor
is very much to be commended for his perspicacity in perceiving
all the implications of the Prayer. It should be also understood
that when I wrote, "through the death and sacrifice of
any one of Thy creatures," I was referring to the Hebrew
custom of pardon through the sacrifice of lambs and bullocks,
which were considered to take away sin. I did not at that
time refer to myself as being one considered the equal of
the godhead, for this prayer was originally given before any
idea had entered the mind of man that I could be such a being;
and it was not taught by me but simply inserted when given
to Mr. Padgett in my capacity as the risen Christ, and in
order to point out a false interpretation developed over the
years. So it is understood that in the original teaching of
the Prayer, these later words rejecting my person as being
one with the "godhead" did not appear. (Revelation
24: Jesus explains passages from The Prayer and corrects more
passages in the Gospel of John)
Because the phrase 'It should be also understood
that when I wrote, "through the death and sacrifice of
any one of Thy creatures," I was referring to the Hebrew
custom of pardon through the sacrifice of lambs and bullocks,
which were considered to take away sin' entails serious implications,
abolishment of Temple sacrifices would have cost the Jewish
priesthood dearly.
On the other hand, there is another
contradictory message received by Dr. Samuels:
When I came to Palestine to teach, I was very
much aware of the evils found among the Hebrew priesthood
and I also was convinced through my studies of the old prophets
and the teachings of the Father that the priesthood was not
essential to a religion calling for a direct communication
between the human soul and the Heavenly Father through Love.
But it was not my intention to harm or destroy the prevailing
system which had been built up through the centuries to perpetuate
the priesthood as an integral part of the organization of
the Hebrew nation, whether Israel, Judah, or both, for the
nation had been established as one consecrated to God with
the priesthood as the intermediaries between God and the people,
and the conception was to have the priesthood perform the
religious functions of a special or national nature and be
the religious leaders of a people designated to be a light
to the gentiles - a people who would eventually lead the pagan
peoples into the path of true belief and worship of the eternal
God.
And the sacrifices of the animals seemed perfectly
consistent with this plan, because these sacrifices enabled
the priesthood to live, and in earlier times this priesthood
had difficulties in making ends meet because the people were
not generous in their contributions towards them. And for
that reason the priesthood, as a class, organized for special
duties within a society that had developed with those special
duties in mind, were not to be attacked in my plan for the
redemption of the Jewish people. (New
Testament Revelations: The functions of the Hebrew priesthood)
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All of this does not fit together. The above mentioned
phrase from the prayer would have caused an enormous scandal and
an uproar. Or did you keep it a secret?
No, not at all. How could we have kept it a secret being such an
important part of the teachings?
Actually, as Jesus said, the prayer given to Mr. Padgett is the
original prayer “in substance”, but not literally. This
prayer in itself implies that God forgives and grants, because we
ask Him to do so, and not because we kill animals.
Remember what Jack Kilmon wrote on the
first line of the prayer. The Aramaic original expresses perhaps
a thousand things more than modern translations.
But in order to continue with the story, at that moment, when Jesus
taught us how to pray, it was so majestic that even up to now its
recollection fills me with much emotion and happiness.
Finally, in the afternoon we went down and camped at the foot of
the mountain. On the following day we would return to Kpar Nahum.
It has been a great pleasure to relate this history. You should
not forget the circumstances. We were still under the strong impression
of the events at Naym, and now, the Master's words were so powerful
in the most beautiful of scenarios.
Tomorrow, if God allows it and if you grant me
the opportunity, we will continue.
Until then, God bless you,
Judas
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