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April 25th, 2002
Received by H.R.
Cuenca, Ecuador.
My dear brother:
I know that you have a special question on the" Antichrist",
but I do not wish to speak now on this topic. I want to return with
you to the year 26.
One day, Jesus indicated us that we should leave towards the other
side of the Sea of Galilee, thus entering the area of Decapolis.
We were pretty surprised. Although even in Galilee there lived a
large number of pagans — and they may have even constituted
the majority — in Decapolis we would have to deal with a population
where the Jews definitely formed a tiny minority. What had the Messiah
of the Jews to do with them?
The New Testament mentions this excursion in the three synoptic
gospels. Mark puts the story in the context of the narration where
Jesus appeased the storm that threatened to capsize the boat, in
which we were dying of fear, while Jesus was sleeping. One day,
I will explain this event in more detail, although it has already
been dealt with in a message to Mr.
Padgett.
Then, the Biblical story in Mark continues thus:
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So they arrived on the other side of the lake in the country
of the Gerasenes.
As Jesus was getting out of the boat, a man in the grip of
an evil spirit rushed out to meet him from among the tombs
where he was living.
It was no longer possible for any human being to restrain
him even with a chain.
Indeed he had frequently been secured with fetters and lengths
of chain, but he had simply snapped the chains and broken
the fetters in pieces. No one could do anything with him.
All through the night as well as in the daytime he screamed
among the tombs and on the hillside, and cut himself with
stones.
Now, as soon as he saw Jesus in the distance, he ran and
knelt before him, yelling at the top of his voice, "What
have you got to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?
For God’s sake, don’t torture me!"
For Jesus had already said, "Come out of this man, you
evil spirit!"
Then he asked him, "What is your name?" "My
name is legion," he replied, "for there are many
of us."
Then he begged and prayed him not to send "them"
out of the country.
A large herd of pigs was grazing there on the hillside, and
the, evil spirits implored him, "Send us over to the
pigs and we’ll get into them!"
So Jesus allowed them to do this, and they came out of the
man, and made off and were into the pigs. The whole herd of
about two thousand stampeded down the cliff into the lake
and was drowned.
The swineherds took to their heels and spread their story
in the city and all over the countryside.
Then the people came to see what had happened. As they approached
Jesus, they saw the man who had been devil-possessed sitting
there properly clothed and perfectly sane—the same man
who had been possessed by "legion"—and they
were really frightened.
Those who had seen the incident told them what had happened
to the devil-possessed man and about the disaster to the pigs.
Then they began to implore Jesus to leave their district.
As he was embarking on the small boat, the man who had been
possessed begged that he might go with him.
But Jesus would not allow this. "Go home to your own
people," he told him, "and tell them what the Lord
has done for you, and how kind he has been to you!"
So the man went off and began to spread throughout the Ten
Towns the story of what Jesus had done for him. And they were
all simply amazed.
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In Matthew, we find the same story, but the author of the story
speaks of two possessed people.
The story contained in Luke resembles much more the narration in
Mark.
In the old manuscripts there is much confusion about the location
of the episode. Some claim that it happened in the country of the
Gadarenes, others that took place in the land of the Gergesenes,
others speak of the Gerasenes.
In one story, the number of pigs is two thousand; in another story,
we only hear that there were many.
Some time ago you read comments on these passages in the Bible
that caught your attention. I want you to insert them here.
[Judas is referring to the some interpretations of
the Bible, where the following is put forth:
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"Since the fall of the city a few months
earlier [in 70 C.E.], Jerusalem had been occupied by the Roman
Tenth Legion [X Fretensis], whose emblem was a pig. Mark's
reference to about two thousand pigs, the size of the occupying
Legion, combined with his blatant designation of the evil
beings as Legion, left no doubt in Jewish minds that the pigs
in the fable represented the army of occupation. Mark's fable
in effect promised that the messiah, when he returned, would
drive the Romans into the sea as he had earlier driven their
four-legged surrogates."
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- William Harwood, Mythologies Last Gods: Yahweh and
Jesus
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"While the eagle was common to all legions,
each unit had several of its own symbols. These were often associated
with the birthday of the unit or its founder or of a commander
under whom it earned particular distinction, and took the form
of the signs of the Zodiac. Thus the bull signifies the period
17th April to 18th May, which was sacred to Venus the goddess
mother of the Julian family..." |
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- Graham Webster, The Roman
Imperial Army (1979), p.137
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XX Valeria
"X Fretensis, like XX Valeria, has, in addition
to the bull and trireme, the boar as one of its emblems."
"Neptune the emblem of legion IX, and a
trireme as an additional emblem to the bull on the standard
of X Fretensis implies that these legions took part in the
war against Sextus Pompeius..."
The explanation of the boar is unknown.
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- H. M. D. Parker, The Roman
Legions (1928), p. 262-263
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"While the boar is not a symbol from the
Zodiac panoply, there is some evidence that it was used as a
symbol in this legion. This includes tile antefixes from Holt
bearing a boar above the inscription 'LEG XX', and a bronze
decoration in the French National library..." |
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- Daniel Peterson, The Roman
Legions Recreated in Colour Photographs (1992), p. 54
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X Fretensis later assaulted and took the cliff
top fortress of Masada, where the Sicarii, the most extreme
of the Zealots, had taken refuge. (It is interesting to note
that six decades after the war following the Bar Kochba revolt.,
the emblem of the garrison legion - a boar - decorated Jerusalem's
gateways.) |
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Parallels between Josephus and Barnabas
The normal operating strength of a legion was
5,000 not 2,000 men. While the initial reference to the wild
man in Mark 5 may refer to a notable event in or around Gerasa,
a gentile city in the Decapolis, the part about the legion
was likely a later addition. Gerasa was not near the sea of
Galilee (the lake into which the pigs supposedly rushed and
drowned) but lay a distant 30 miles away. In addition, Gerasa
was one of the few Hellenic cities which did not fall upon
and destroy its Jewish inhabitants after the uprising began.
Those who wanted to leave were actually conducted to safety
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(Flavius Josephus, War of the Jews, Bk II,
Ch XIII, Sn 5).
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"The placing of this episode in Gerasa...led
to several 'corrections' in the manuscript tradition. The story
is one of Mark's longest and provides a good example of his
rambling descriptive style. (Matthew and Luke retell the story
just as effectively with many fewer words)." |
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- The Complete Gospels, Robert
J. Miller (Ed.), p.23
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"The story is strange on all counts. It
is by far the most dramatic exorcism attributed to Jesus,
and it combines exorcism with 'nature'- the swine. One of
its details renders it unlikely. Gerasa is about thirty miles
south-east of the Sea of Galilee, and there is no other large
body of water around. Matthew shifts the scene to Gadara,
six miles from the sea, perhaps thinking that this reduces
the problem - though a six mile leap is just as impossible
as one of thirty miles. I am at a loss to explain the story
in the sense of finding a historical kernel."
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- E.P. Sanders, The Historical
Figure of Jesus (1993) p. 155
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Unlike Gerasa, Gadara was the scene of a a great
massacre of Jewish rebels by the Roman troops in 69 C.E. Like
the pigs, the fleeing rebels were driven into the water. |
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"Vespasian sent Placidus with 500 horse and
3000 foot to pursue those who had fled from Gadara..."
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(Sn 4)
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"Placidus, relying on his cavalry and emboldened
by his previous success, pursued the Gadarenes, killing all
whom he overtook, as far as the Jordan. Having driven the whole
multitude up to the river, where they were blocked by the stream,
which being swollen by the rain was unfordable, he drew up his
troops in line opposite them. Necessity goaded them to battle,
flight being impossible... Fifteen thousand perished by the
enemy’s hands, while the number of those who were driven
to fling themselves into the Jordan was incalculable; about
two thousand two hundred were captured..." |
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(Sn 5)
- Flavius Josephus, War of
the Jews, Bk IV, Ch 7
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Josephus reports that as a result of the battle
"the Jordan was choked with dead", and "even
the [Dead Sea] was filled with bodies." |
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(War of the Jews, Bk IV, Ch 7 Sn 6)
The story of the demons and the pigs also appears in
the pseudo Gospel of Barnabas. The gospel, which may also have been
written in the 1st century, does not use material from the New Testament.
Here the location of the story is Capernaum and the number of the
demons is given as "six thousand six hundred and sixty-six".
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"Jesus went up to Capernaum, and as he drew
near to the city behold there came out of the tombs one that
was possessed of a devil, and in such wise that no chain could
hold him, and he did great harm to the man. The demons cried
out through his mouth, saying: 'O holy one of God, why are
you come before the time to trouble us?' And they prayed him
that he would not cast them forth.
"Jesus asked them how many they were. They
answered: 'Six thousand six hundred and sixty-six.' When the
disciples heard this they were affrighted, and prayed Jesus
that he would depart. Then Jesus said: 'Where is your faith?
It is necessary that the demon should depart, and not I.'
The demons therefore cried: 'We will come out, but permit
us to enter into those swine.' There were feeding there, near
to the sea, about ten thousand swine belonging to the Canaanites.
"Thereupon Jesus said: 'Depart, and enter
into the swine.' With a roar the demons entered into the swine,
and cast them headlong into the sea. Then fled into the city
they that fed the swine, and recounted all that had been brought
to pass by Jesus. Accordingly the men of the city came forth
and found Jesus and the man that was healed. The men were
filled with fear and prayed Jesus that he would depart out
of their borders. Jesus accordingly departed from them and
went up into the parts of Tyre and Sidon."
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- Barnabas 21:1-3
Cliff Carrington, "The Flavian Testament",
has identified some interesting similarities between the story in
the Gospel of Barnabas and an account in Josephus' Jewish War (below).
In 69 C.E. the Roman general Vespasian and his son Titus recovered
much of the territory lost to Jewish rebels a year earlier. During
the campaign, Titus' forces assaulted the fortified city of Taricheae
on the shores of Lake Gennesareth in Galilee. Josephus (Jewish War,
Bk III, Ch X Sn 8) states that this area locally was known as Capharnaum.
As the Roman soldiers poured into the city, many of the rebels,
who were led by Jesus, son of Shaphat, attempted to escape.
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"...Some of those that were about Jesus fled
over the country, while others of them ran down to the lake,
and met the enemy in the teeth, and some were slain as they
were getting up into the ships, but others of them as they attempted
to overtake those that were already gone aboard." (Sn 5)
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- Flavius Josephus, Jewish
War, Bk III, Ch X
Titus' forces sailed after the rebels who had managed
to flee by boat and decisively defeated them in a pitched naval
battle.
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" And for such as were drowning in the sea,
if they lifted their heads up above the water, they were either
killed by darts, or caught by the vessels; but if, in the desperate
case they were in, they attempted to swim to their enemies,
the Romans cut off either their heads or their hands; and indeed
they were destroyed after various manners every where, till
the rest being put to flight, were forced to get upon the land,
while the vessels encompassed them about [on the sea]: but as
many of these were repulsed when they were getting ashore, they
were killed by the darts upon the lake; and the Romans leaped
out of their vessels, and destroyed a great many more upon the
land: one might then see the lake all bloody, and full of dead
bodies, for not one of them escaped. And a terrible stink, and
a very sad sight there was on the following days over that country;
for as for the shores, they were full of shipwrecks, and of
dead bodies all swelled; and as the dead bodies were inflamed
by the sun, and putrefied, they corrupted the air, insomuch
that the misery was not only the object of commiseration to
the Jews, but to those that hated them, and had been the authors
of that misery. This was the upshot of the sea-fight. The number
of the slain, including those that were killed in the city before,
was six thousand and five hundred.” |
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(Sn 9)
- Flavius Josephus, Jewish
War, Bk III, Ch X
A Proof of Conversion?
George M. Lamsa advances a different explanation based
on the Aramaic origins of the story.
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"The demons begged Jesus, 'If you drive
us out, send us into the herd of pigs.'
He said to them, 'Go!' So they came out and went
into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank
into the lake and died in the water."
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- Matthew:8:31-32
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"The Aramaic al means 'enter into,' 'attack,'
'chase'; but it has been exclusively translated 'enter into,'
so as to imply...that the demons entered into the swine. According
to the context and the style of Aramaic speech, the word al
here means that, not the demons but the lunatics attacked the
swine. These lunatics were Syrians or Gadarenes, whose people
kept swine, which were an abomination to the Jews....As a mark
of appreciation of what Jesus was doing for them and as a proof
of their conversion, these lunatics were willing to destroy
the herd of swine which belonged to their people. This was doubtless
one reason why the owners of the swine got into a panic and
urged Jesus to leave their land, lest their business be completely
destroyed by more conversions to the Jewish faith. On the other
hand, the demons did not need the permission of Jesus to enter
into the swine any more than they needed any permission to enter
into the lunatics." |
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- George M. Lamsa (translator),
The Four Gospels : According to the Eastern Version (1933) p. xiv]
Very well, my friend. Now you have given us a long list of different
explanations. It is not always so easy to interpret the Biblical
stories. The exposition is interesting, although some of the references
to Josephus' books are wrong.
First, I would like to tell what really happened.
In Peter's message to Mr. Padgett,
we can read already that this supposed miracle with the lunatics
and the pigs never happened. I wanted to add that there really were
healings through Jesus, also of lunatics, and that Jesus traveled
with us through all the regions mentioned in the diverse comments
presented above.
However, in his preaching, Jesus failed. He was not able to win
new disciples, and he faced firm rejection. The time had not yet
come for being able to impress the pagans, and in some cases, they
asked Jesus straightforwardly to abandon their towns and go away.
They feared for business in their temples, something very similar
to what decades later would happen to Paul of Tarsus.
What Jesus wanted to demonstrate to us was that his mission was
not limited to the Jews, but rather that it bore a universal character.
We did not understand this then. And the question of the mission
to the heathens would constitute a great problem in the future of
the infant church.
Jesus was convinced that his teachings were compatible with many
religions, even with pagan polytheism, in a great vision that some
development would be possible, as we can observe today in India,
where intellectual Hindus no longer speak of thousands or millions
of gods, but consider them rather as different aspects of one supreme
being, with their accompanying mythology. And in some way, that
is what would happen during the conversion of the heathens. The
Master's teachings would mix with many aspects of paganism, which
today are considered highly Christian, but which are not. I may
mention, for example, the celebration of Christmas, Eucharist, Trinity,
and there are many more examples, which we will deal with in due
course.
Nevermore, during the year 26, would Jesus venture into the pagan
countries, but he would rather focus on his work in Galilee, with
a few excursions into Judea, in the context of the obligations for
the believing Jews, attending the Hebrew feasts in their capital
Jerusalem.
In the Biblical story that we have dealt with, vague memories of
the Master's activity mix with exaggerations of a mythological character,
and certainly, with some resentment against the Romans, which nobody
dared to express openly.
Now, my dear brother, I want to direct some more personal words
to you.
I am very pleased to say that you are right in
your appreciation of the following:
True faith can only be born of spiritual experience. It is not
only so that the inflowing of Divine Love brings us that faith,
that is, it expands our spiritual horizon, but also that the conscious
experience anchors this faith as "certainty" in our reasoning
mind. It is absolutely useless to discuss religious themes with
arguments. The only possibility for "convincing" others,
is showing them the way to their personal and unique spiritual experience.
As with all mystics of all religions, the transcendental experience
transforms that, which in most cases was conceived merely a hope
or a doctrine, into part of our reality we are living in. This personal
experience can be repeated time and again, gaining ever more depth.
This is the marvelous point in Jesus' teachings:
You can put them to the test right now. His teachings are not a
matter of believing but of experiencing. You had suspected this
already. Congratulations!
It is a sign that you have progressed one more step in your development.
Your horizon has really been enlarged.
It is always good to take a look back at the past. Then you can
see that something has really moved. What seems, at first glance,
like stagnation, in fact is a great progress along the way towards
true understanding.
Look back, and recognize the long road that you have already traveled.
Recognize how your life and your attitude have changed to the positive.
And then you can await the future full of happiness — not await,
but prepare the future actively and come closer to it.
If you allow me to formulate it thus, in your world, time runs
and drags men along with it, no matter if they have developed or
not. In my world, we drag time along with us, that is to say, if
we are immobile, time does not move, and if we advance, we drag
time along with us. Do you understand that? You do not grasp it
all, I know.
I just want to say that it is an error to wait for the future and
what it might bring, because the future is our creation. Therefore,
so many people are like a living anachronism on two feet, dragged
along by time, without having contributed to its formation, lumps
of the past in the torrent of time.
You have to learn to be the torrent and not that which is dragged
along by the torrent. Anyway, in the spirit world you will learn
this.
I know that you do not understand me, but write it down and leave
it so for the time being.
The Padgett messages were written eighty years ago. However, what
does this mean? For some, they constitute the living present, for
others, such as yourself, part of them are the past, because you
have progressed further on in some aspects, for even others, they
are still the future, because they do not yet know them. Remember,
when you discovered them, you felt as if a window had opened up,
allowing you to glimpse a brilliant future.
It is time to say good-bye. See you soon, and I would appreciate
it if you could dedicate to me a little more of your time.
God bless you,
Judas
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