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March 12th, 2002
Received by H.R.
Cuenca, Ecuador.
[H.R.: Dear Judas, I would like to ask a question on
what you informed me of yesterday. It is about Mary Magdalene. The
Bible tells that Jesus cast out devils from her.
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Mark 16:9 Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of
the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom
he had cast seven devils.
Luke 8:2 And certain women, which had been healed of evil
spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom
went seven devils...
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Am I right in assuming that this is a picturesque formulation,
that Jesus had succeeded in cutting the rapport between her and
dark spirits, who surrounded her?]
Yes, you are right. This is exactly what it is about. There is
a message received by Mr. Padgett right on this subject. I want
you to reproduce the pertinent part here.
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“I know that the Bible in many places speaks of my casting
devils out of men, and of men being possessed of devils, and
of the apostles casting out devils, and of their not being
able to cast out some of these devils, but I tell you now
that the Bible is all wrong in this regard, and the writers
and translators of the Bible never understood what the word
devil, as used in these various instances, meant or was intended
to mean. As I have told you, there was never any devil or
devils in the sense mentioned and taught by the churches,
and consequently, they never could have possessed mortals
nor have been cast out of them. It is true, that by the workings
of the law of attraction, and the susceptibility of mortals
to the influence of spirit powers, mortals may become obsessed
by the spirits of evil - that is evil spirits of men who once
lived on earth - and this obsession may become so complete
and powerful that the living mortal may lose all power to
resist this influence of the evil spirits, and may be compelled
to do things that the mortal will not desire to do, and to
show all the evidence of a distorted mind, and present appearances
of a lost will power, as well as of the ability to exercise
the ordinary powers given him by his natural creation. And
in these instances referred to of casting out devils, wherever
they occurred, and they did occur in some of the instances
mentioned, the only devils that existed were the evil spirits
who had possessed these mortals.
And this obsession obtains to-day just as it did then, for
the same laws are in operation now as were in existence then,
and many a man is in a condition of evil life and disturbed
mind from the obsession of these evil spirits; and if there
were any men of today in that condition of soul development
and belief that my disciples were in, they could cast out
these so called devils just as the disciples cast them out
in the Bible days. (There
are no devils and no Satan considered as real persons and
fallen angels, Vol. I)”
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I want to reiterate that all revelations are the products of a
given time and of people’s mentality that live in that time.
Some people take the Torah, the Law, that is to say, the five Books
of Moses, as God’s selfsame word. And then they make every
effort in their intellectual acrobatics to explain why God gave
regulations on the treatment of slaves. Doesn't this mean that He
approves of slavery? And in a similar way, there are many more atrocities
in the Bible, all of them the products of HUMAN conception of justice.
However, we should not waste our time repeating these things that
are already common knowledge.
The story of the Magdalene has much deeper implications. We should
review the group of disciples, as it was in those days. Andrew and
Simon Kefa, two fishermen, people of the lower social class. John,
James, Philip and Simon the Zealot, ardent fanatics. Jesus never
asked them if they had murdered people, because that is what the
zealots used to do. Matthew, the scum of society, a corrupt leech,
who fixed taxes and who did not care to take away the last goat
from a poor peasant if he could not pay what Matthew had fixed for
him. I, Judas, a dreaming youth without life experience. Nathanael,
a rich and honest man. James and Judas, the Master’s brothers,
respected artisans. Thaddaeus, another respectable person in society’s
eyes. It was an odd mixture, from despicable to socially acceptable
people. And now, Mary, a harlot, joined us. And Jesus, did he care
what people had done in their past? No! What he saw in all of them
was their quality as humans, as souls. What he cared about was the
present, what they did now, what they represented now, their will
for changing their ways, for improving.
Did Jesus judge? Sometimes he did, for example in those last days
in the Temple of Jerusalem, where he exposed the corruption and
hypocrisy of the ruling class. But he never judged people according
to their past. He always saw them as they were at that moment, he
always saw their potential for improving. And that attitude would
create problems for him.
"Holy men" traditionally did not mingle with people of
dubious background. Half of his disciples were not “clean”
people in the social sense. But he did not care. He had understood
one thing quite clearly: The Law of Compensation treats us according
to what we are, and not according to what we once were.
But returning to our story, we have almost come to the end of the
Master’s first teaching journey. It was a very successful trip,
of course, where he had won several disciples, who would continue
with him permanently, and he had firm foundations for his reputation
as a great sage and healer.
We continued north to Kpar Nahum, where our group separated. Some,
as Thaddaeus and Jesus' brothers, returned to their respective homes,
with the promise of returning within two weeks, and the others,
we stayed, continuing in our work as usual, and trying to follow
the teachings that Jesus gave us continually.
Next time, I would like to talk about some very important events
in that year 26.
See you soon
Your Celestial brother,
Judas
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