(Revised 11-11-2009)

Christians are sharply divided, because while most are or at least try to be good, humble, gentle, peaceful Christians, some are Christians in name only. They falsely masquerade as Christians and even claim and boast that they are the true Christians, but they are terribly misguided and opposed to good Christians.

Judaism and Islam are divided for the same reasons, because it’s the same in many cultures. While the good people are humble, gentle, peaceful, loving, generous, charitable, tolerant and forgiving, the misguided people are proud, self-important, self-righteous, bigoted, hypocritical, militant, greedy, aggressive, power-hungry, and even offensive.

Of course, it’s no surprise that during the passing age misguided people have ruled with their wealth and power, and it’s no surprise that "nice guys finish last" and the meek have been exploited and taken advantage of. However, the end of that age is drawing ever nearer, and that will change in due time. The meek shall inherit the earth.

We should now understand how and why the conflict and division in Christianity really began shortly after the death of Jesus, as I will explain below. However, it is of utmost importance that we understand that today one of the main causes of conflict today has been the aggressive tactics and imposing political action incited by the leaders of the so-called "Christian Right" in America, which rose to power in 1979 supporting Republican Ronald Reagan for president. With a lot of flag waving, bible thumping and sword rattling they and their flocks have steadily gained political power since then, in local school boards, state legislatures, the U.S. Congress, and again in the White House from 2000 to 2008.

This is an important issue, because for the last 28 years the highly partisan, far right-wing leaders of the Christian Right have ignored the clear intent of the founding fathers of the United States of America!

The founding fathers wanted to establish religious freedom and freedom from religious bigotry and imposition, with "a wall of separation between church and state," as Thomas Jefferson put it. (See the pages on Little Known American History, and Religious Pluralism vs Theocracy, which clearly reveal the views and intent of the founding fathers.)

I should provide qualification by saying that not everyone who identifies with the Christian Right is arrogantly proud, sanctimonious, imposing, aggressive, militant and wrong, but I must say that most of its leaders certainly are.

As I see it, they are false prophets and false shepherds who divide and alienate their blind flocks and lead them astray, into malicious conflict, and even violent confrontation and "holy war." Like other misguided groups of religious zealots, they unwittingly foster a group superiority complex, and they simply do not understand why the prophet Jesus said that "the meek shall inherit the earth." They just don’t get it, and yet they are convinced they are "right" even though they actually perpetuate the same false dogma and doctrines that have justified and driven offensive "Christian" military imperialists for the last sixteen centuries.

They have continued to wield political power due to the political actions of the "Christian Neo-Conservative" crusaders in their spiritually blind flocks, who not only became members of local school boards, members of state legislatures and members of the U.S. Congress, but also members of the Bush Regime. And they became so politically powerful that being a Christian became a litmus test for becoming president during the 2008 presidential campaign.

After all, John McCain found it politically expedient to identify with the bigoted Republican "Christian Right" leaders like John Hagee, Pat Robertson, James Dobson and Franklin Graham, and McCain went so far as to claim this a "Christian nation." But he should know that is absolutely contrary of the intent of the founding fathers, and it is contrary to the declaration of the U.S. Senate in 1797, when it made it more clear that: "The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion."

Democrats were just as guilty of pandering to the Christian Right. Barack Obama found is necessary to prove he was not a Muslim, and even had to resort to talking about the role his Christian faith played in his community work to "fulfill God’s will," and do "the Lord’s work."

That sort of pandering was one of many ominous indicators of the eroding tradition of the separation of church and state in American politics. It ignores the U.S. Constitution, and it ignores and betrays the intent of the founding fathers.

For many decades false "Christians" have been aggressively trying to recruit converts in both the private and public sectors. Today, with complicity by the Pentagon, much of the US. Military has been and even now is being taken over by proud, militant right-wing Christian Evangelicals. The Air Force Academy is practically run by them. The military chaplain corps in all branches of the service is being taken over by them for the purpose of proselytizing, in spite of the fact that chaplains should respect and serve members of all religions.

There is even a "Super-Christian" group in America whose members call themselves "The Family." They regard themselves as an "invisible" association, although the leadership of its membership has always consisted mostly of powerful public men. In fact, among its membership there are a significant number of Republican U.S. Senators and members of the House of Representatives. Many members also belong to the right-wing Federalist Society, and many members are also involved with or identify with the right-wing Project for a New American Century (PNAC).

The "Family" organization has been around for quite awhile, and has always regarded themselves as the real, true Christians. However, today there are many branches (or cliques) of younger members in the U.S. Military who simply call themselves "Believers" because they think the term Christian has become too broad and watered down. In their minds they are the true "Army of God."

The organization has operated under many front organizations to keep "The Family" invisible so it won’t be under scrutiny and perhaps "misunderstood." Among those front organizations have been many different committees, councils, fellowships, foundations, forums and societies, and each of them raises financial funds independently. The Family's only publicized gathering is the annual National Prayer Breakfast, which it established with congressional sponsorship, and its real purpose is to recruit the powerful attendees into smaller, more frequent prayer meetings, where they more seriously proselytize and "assist people in establishing a personal relationships with Jesus."

The Family has fostered and financially supported relationships between the U.S. government and some of the most cruel dictatorial leaders in Africa, Brazil, other Latin American countries like El Salvador and Honduras, and Indonesia, especially during the Reagan Administration and the Bush Administrations.

To younger members of The Family today, Jesus is an idol to be worshiped as God, and an ever-present Over-Lord for whom you must fight and even kill or die for in order to serve him properly as a soldier in the "Army of God." They shamelessly and proudly proclaim that their mission is to rule the world by force of arms if necessary, and they think the advice Jesus gave about not judging means that they can perform terrible acts and not judge each other, as long as they can rationalize that its for the glory of Jesus and greater Christendom. Unfortunately, they do not realize they actually serve what Jesus called Mammon, NOT God, and they ignore that Jesus said "God is greater than I."

Now, you may recall that in the late 1980s some progressive people began to speak up against the religious bigotry and hypocrisy of the Christian Right. But, its leaders immediately began to fend off and stifle criticism by falsely claiming that they were "being persecuted, as Jesus Christ prophesied." However, that is not true. It’s a false, deceptive claim, because the Christ Jesus foretold the persecution of the early Christians that occurred during the first few centuries after his death, and that persecution stopped in the fourth century when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Unfortunately, today’s Christian Right in America just doesn’t understand the Christ Jesus’ real message, nor do they understand the righteous backlash against their hypocrisy, bigotry and aggressive, power-hungry theocratic imposition.

Unfortunately, in the 1980s and ‘90s, and even into this decade, the Christian Right got away with it because good, liberal, progressive Christians remained silent. Like all truly faithful people of all religions, they understand why it will be the loving, humble, gentle, peaceful, meek and faithful people who shall inherit the earth. But they have only begun to realize that they must now stand up firmly for truth, justice, fairness, for true righteousness sake, with compassion, good will, and understanding of the proud and militant who have been so badly misled by hypocrites.

Now it’s time to understand that Christianity has been divided into different sects since the death of the prophet Jesus, because after his death even the original disciples of Jesus did not agree how he should be honored and represented, and subsequent followers disagreed even more. In fact, the disagreements continued for many generations, and while some Christians were more or less on the right track, others were not at all.

The early Christian Church was centered in Jerusalem, and one of the leaders was James, a brother of Jesus. James and others who had been close to Jesus held faithfully to the Jewish Torah and accepted Gentile converts. They were Jewish Christians, and were originally the central group of Jews who accepted Jesus as a Messiah or Mashiach, one anointed by the Holy Spirit. Then, between five and six decades later they were denounced as "Judaizers," and they became a separate community from the Paulist Christians. The Paulists were led by Paul of Tarsus, a fervent zealot who had never met Jesus or heard him speak, but developed his concept of Christianity from other like-minded zealots who interpreted and construed the stories of Jesus in the same way. Paul and the zealots were rejected by many peope, so he spread his concepts in letters to cities throughout the Greek world, to Alexandria and Antioch, and also to Rome and beyond. And Paul was driven by the his erroneous idea that the "end" was imminent, and that he had to prepare people for it.

There were, of course, other factions, each vying for influence to assert their idea of Christianity. However, the groups led by James and Paul were the two major players for a good while. But eventually the Jewish Christian community that James had established was rejected by both Gentile Paulist Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism. Most scholars conclude that it was not a matter of force, but by the fourth century the Romans had accepted the Paulist brand of Christianity, which was distinctly antagonistic to Rabbinic Judaism. Consequently, the practice of Jewish Christianity was overshadowed by those two distinctly different religious groups. That’s one of the reasons why Christianity and Judaism have been at odds ever since.

As I mentioned, in the fourth century after the death of Jesus, there was a concerted effort spearheaded by the Roman Emperor Constantine, who accepted Paulist Christianity and wanted to consolidate "Christian" power and authority under one official church with one monarchial head, or pope.

Neither Constantine or his successor Theodosius succeeded entirely, because not all Christians fell under the new order. But Emperors Constantine and Theodosius did establish a very powerful and dominant Roman church which called itself Christian and Catholic (which means universal or worldwide). Thus, Christianity was significantly changed when it was established as the official religion of the Roman Emperor’s military empire. It had its own official canon and doctrines, which were expressed in the Nicene Creed and in the approved texts chosen to be the official canon and scriptures of the church.

However, all this happened gradually, in three steps. The first was the First Council of Nicea in 325 A.D., which came up with the Nicene Creed, which I will discuss below, and it settled a raging conflict about whether Jesus was "God incarnate" or not (and of course the Nicene Creed claims he was). The second step was the Council of Laodicea in 364 A.D., during which members decided which of the many Christian gospels (or which copied and translated versions of them) were to be accepted as official church canon and scriptures to be included in the Bible, and which were not.

After the Council of Laodicea, Emperor Theodocius decreed that all "pagan" temples were to be destroyed, and that possession of any literature that was not "approved by the Church" was a criminal offense. Consequently, book burning started, and in 391 A.D. at the Great Library of Alexandria about 400,000 scrolls went up in flames (which is why the Judeo-Christian Essenes hid their scrolls in large jar in caves near the Dead Sea.) Then later in 787 A.D. the Second Council of Nicea restored the honoring of church icons which had been suppressed by the Byzantine Empire some years earlier.

At any rate, the upshot, or the product of all these deliberations of church "fathers," is what most Christians now know as the Holy Bible and the Nicene Creed, which most Christians have honored ever since.

By the way, for those who don’t know, all Protestant versions of the Bible include the same 27 books in the New Testament, as the Roman Catholic Bible does. However, all Protestant versions have only 39 books in the Tanach or Old Testament, while Catholic Bible has 46. The seven books included in Catholic Bibles but excluded from Protestant versions are Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach, and Baruch.

Fortunately, all versions of the Christian Bible do contain much of the divinely inspired truth that was originally communicated by Jesus of Nazareth. But, unfortunately, as you will see, the Nicene Creed and the Christian gospels in the Bible as we know it also contain errors and misleading concepts and claims, designed to create a doctrine of preeminence and superiority. And, as I will show you, that doctrine is erroneous. In fact, it is among the "doctrines of men" that Jesus warned us about.

We don’t really know if the errors and misleading concepts were created by the original authors who wrote their gospels from three to nine decades after Jesus died, or by copiers or translators during the second and third centuries, or by those who compiled the official canon and scriptures in the fourth century. However, whenever it was, the evidence is pretty clear that the Bible as we know it is not free of error.

That is why Thomas Jefferson, the great American founding father, author of the Declaration of Independence and the third U.S. President, said: "Among the sayings and discourses imputed to Jesus by his biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence; and others again of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism, and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same being."

Jefferson was quite right about that, and he, like many other men of faith during the last sixteen centuries, agreed about the errors and exaggerated claims made in the Christian gospels. For example, in 1823 Jefferson wrote: "The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."

In more recent times, many Christian scholars have come to the same conclusion as Jefferson did, including members of the prestigious Jesus Seminar. Another influential Christian, John Shelby Spong, retired Episcopal Bishop of Newark, NJ, wrote: "In time, the virgin birth account will join Adam and Eve and the story of the cosmic ascension as clearly recognized mythological elements in our faith tradition, whose purpose was not to describe a literal event but to capture the transcendent dimensions of God in the earthbound words and concepts of first-century human beings."

But, it should be understood that Jefferson loved the actual teachings of Jesus. In fact, Jefferson wrote that: "Of all the systems of morality, ancient or modern, which have come under my observation, none appear to me so pure as that of Jesus." Jefferson was only against the "corruptions" of Christianity, and against the religious bigotry and hypocrisy of arrogantly proud, self-important and self-righteous people who claimed to be Christian authorities.

Jefferson even compiled a corrected version of the gospels to rescue the philosophy of Jesus and the "pure principles which he taught," from the "corruptions and artificial vestments" which were established as "instruments of riches and power" for church patriarchs. Like me, Jefferson concluded that Jesus never claimed to be God, and he regarded much of the New Testament as corrupted with "palpable interpolations and falsifications." He separated the ethical and true teachings from the theocratic doctrine and dogma and supernatural elements that were intermixed in the gospels between the mid-first century and the fourth century when the Christian Bible was compiled and edited. Jefferson called his book "The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth Extracted Textually from the Gospels." He didn’t publish it, because he regarded religious beliefs as a private matter. But now people know it as The Jefferson Bible.

Many Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars have agreed, and that’s because some of what is in the Christian gospels as we know them did not come from Jesus, but from his early and/or later theocratic followers who either did not understand, or deliberately tried to embellish and exaggerate the story and status of Jesus.

They no doubt meant well and thought it would be good to establish the "one and only" religion founded by "the only begotten Son of God," and even "God Incarnate," and establish a firm threat of hell and eternal damnation for disobedience to the church and a reward of eternal heaven for obedience.

Obviously they also thought it was good plan --- to claim that Jesus will come again, next time as an Almighty God King to rule the world, and that it could happen at any time. And, they established a little insurance plan by claiming that anyone who thinks Jesus "delays his second coming" has little faith. They claimed that you simply need to have faith that "Jesus Christ is the Lord and your personal Savior," and has already came to "save" you and "free the world of sin." Even though that’s obviously not true, they thought their "New Testament" in their Bible (as we know it) has it all covered and thought it was a great plan. And admittedly it was pretty effective, because Christianity is now by far the largest religion in the world.

But, what they did was establish and preach erroneous patriarchal doctrines of men, which were perpetuated and are now still pushed by many Christians, and especially by the "Christian Right," as Jesus knew they would. That is why he said the day would come when they are rebuked, and they will cry out, saying: "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? Have we not cast out devils in your name? And in your name have we not done many wonderful works?"

But, the truth is that unlike true Christians they serve themselves, not the Lord God, nor do they know or serve the Christ. For as Jesus said then, and as the Christ or Ancient One now says through this current son of man, the fact is that they are hypocrites who "work iniquity" (do wrong). (See the pages titled Sheep vs Goats, My Enemies vs My Friends, Prophecies Re: The "One To Come," and The Messiah/Mashiach/Son of Man.)

Jesus said: "When you pray, you should not do as the hypocrites do, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues [and churches and mosques] and on street corners, so they may be seen and heard by men. But I say to you that when you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut the door, pray to our God which is in secret." (Matthew 6:5-6)

Even though there are many errors in the book of Matthew, that’s not one of them. That was what Jesus surely said, because our relationship with our God (the God of Jesus, Abraham and David – the God known as Jehovah or Yahweh and also known as Brahman, The Absolute Tao, The Great Spirit, Wakan-Tanka, Ahura Mazda, Allah, the Creator, and many other names) is a private matter, between each person and God, just as Thomas Jefferson said, and as all truly humble, wise and faithful people know.

You see, like all other Master Spiritual Teachers, Avatars, Siddhas and Buddhas, the Christ Jesus said that these are the greatest commandments: "that you love one another; that you love your neighbor as yourself; that you do to others what you would have them do to you; that you pray to our God in heaven; that you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind; that you hear and know that the Lord OUR God is One Lord." (Mark 12:28-31; Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31; Matthew 6:9-10; Matthew 22:36-40; John 13:34)

Now, those words are just a few of the examples of how and why Jesus loved, honored, and obeyed "the Lord OUR God," and why Jesus said God is "greater than I." For the Lord our God is the Holy ONE, not three in one, not a triune god. And God has many names, as I mentioned, also including The Supreme Consciousness and The Cosmic Consciousness, because God is the unseen, eternal, omnipresent Divine Light-Energy-Source of our existence, the very Essence of all life and form.

The fact is that God is not a man, nor a son of man, as Moses wrote. And as Isaiah wrote, only God is the Holy One and Savior, and besides God there is no Savior. A Mashiach or Messiah is not the Savior, but a son of man and servant of God the Savior.

Jesus knew that better than any one, which is why he advised us to pray in secret to our God which sees and hears in secret. And Jesus also knew what God is, which is why he said "no one has ever seen the shape of God." He knew why it is written that God is not a man, nor a son of man, because God was not made in our image. We are made in God’s image, as Children of Light.

So, the prophet Jesus was a son of man and servant of God. That’s why he also said, "The servant is not above or greater than his Lord; neither is he that is sent greater than he that sent him." (Matthew 10:24-25 and John 13:16)

See, even as the Christian gospels are, they still contain much truth, and make it clear that Jesus said the Lord our God is One, the true God. (Mark 12:29; 1 Timothy 2:5; John 5:44, 7:28, 8:26, 17:3, etc.) Where they went wrong was in using language that has created myths, such as that Jesus was "God incarnate," or "God Himself," or "born of a virgin as the only begotten son of God." Those are fabrications designed to create a doctrine of preeminence and superiority. The truth is that our Lord God is the eternal Holy One, the Great Spirit, our spiritual Parent, and we are all children of God.

Jesus was indeed an "anointed" one, but he was not what many Jews expected. He rejected and abdicated the worldly throne, for one thing, because he knew that eventually we all would be equal joint heirs to the throne. He also identified with and spoke as and for the Oversoul, the Ancient One, who was "before Abraham." But, the thing is, the Ancient One is not God, but is with God in heaven.

Unfortunately, certain misguided, right-wing Christians do not understand that or simply ignore it. In fact, they ignore most of the crucial and true teachings of Jesus --- that we should treat others as we want to be treated, love our neighbor and even our enemy, resist not evil but love good, overcome hate with love, overcome evil with good, and be the blessed meek who shall inherit the earth. Instead they focus on the misleading and erroneous doctrines of men to justify their aggression, claiming it is their "evangelical mandate to convert all the pagans and heathen in the world to Christianity, to give them salvation and save their souls."

That’s very convenient for those who desire control and rulership. That is why the Christian Bible and the Nicene Creed established in the fourth century perfectly suited militaristic, imperialistic patriarchs and monarchs. Consequently, what followed was about eleven centuries of theocratic tyranny, oppression and persecution, now called the "Dark Ages."

The misguided and erroneous doctrine of preeminence and superiority caused the "Holy Inquisition," which was cruel, heartless and totally Un-Christian, and it caused the horribly bloody and murderous "Holy Crusades" against Islam (see the page on The Crusades for Jerusalem). And, in the fifteenth century it eventually led to an inevitable attempt by its victims and subjects to achieve liberation through the Protestant Reformation.

Unfortunately, even though many Protestant Christians today believe that the Protestant Reformation cured and totally reformed Christianity, and that the Protestant version of the Christian Bible was true to the original teachings of the prophet Jesus, that belief is not justified, and that is not the case.

Granted, it did stop some of the theocratic religious tyranny, oppression and superstition that the early Roman Catholic Church had spread, and it did put an end to the Dark Ages. Most countries in Europe formed their own kind of "Protestant" Christian denominations, and they were generally an improvement over the medieval Roman Church.

Even the Roman Catholic Church was considerably reformed, because the works of liberal and progressive Roman Catholics like St. Francis and St. Thomas Aquinas helped to finally bring back some of the real Christianity into their church, and get rid of some of the misguided, oppressive, exploitive practices.

In this freer, less inhibited and far less oppressive religious climate, the work of good Catholics and Protestants helped bring about the "Renaissance" (rebirth) of Greek literature, philosophy, architecture, art, and ideals that had been labeled as pagan by the Roman Church when it was first established. In fact, the Renaissance created a tremendous surge of freedom and creativity wherein beautiful new art, music, literature and architecture flourished all over Europe during what are called the Romantic, Classical and Baroque periods. Western academic historians even call that era "The Enlightenment," because it created so much positive change and improvement in the lives of all those living under Christendom.

However, the crucial part of this history, which unfortunately is not generally known, is that in spite of the Protestant Reformation and the Renaissance, many of the false doctrines about Jesus and the purpose of Christianity lived on in most of the Christian denominations and sects. And those theocratic, false doctrines still exist today. That is why, with very few exceptions, organized Christianity has been "off track" ever since about the third decade after Jesus died, and particularly since the fourth century. That is why there has been so much conflict and division ever since, and it’s why it has increased in the last three decades with the rise of the so-called "Christian Right" in America, which seeks theocratic rule of the world in the name of religion.

However, that does not mean that all Christians have been wrong for the last sixteen centuries, because many Christians have understood that the true fundamentals of Christianity have to do with universal love, peace, freedom, compassion, charity, inclusiveness, forgiveness, tolerance, and pacifism. They understand and honor the most important and truly fundamental teachings of the prophet and son of man named Jesus, which are based on the universal divine imperative.

The trouble is that many Christians have not understood that, and many still do not understand. As I said, they mistakenly think that the fundamentals of Christianity have to do with aggressively trying to "convert all the people of the world to Christianity" believing or claiming they are "saving souls from hell." They don’t realize the folly and the arrogance of that strategy. They want a new Inquisition and Crusade. They don’t realize that they push an erroneous, man-made, theocratic concept of Christianity, and they ignore all the trouble that has caused in the world since the fourth century.

Today, especially in America, the most arrogant, aggressive and self-righteous fundamentalist and evangelical Christians approach people they do not know and claim that "you must accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior," and if you reject that idea they then threaten you and claim that you cannot receive salvation and are doomed to suffer in hell for eternity. They revive and perpetuate the theocratic, imperialistic doctrine that plunged Europe into the Dark Ages sixteen centuries ago.

What many Christians do not realize is that because they believe in the erroneous doctrines of men, they unwittingly worship an idol, and they do not know what God really is. They ignore the fact that Moses wrote that God is not a man, nor a son of man, and they ignore that Isaiah wrote that God’s servants fulfill prophecy, and that besides God there is no Savior. They don’t realize how thoroughly they’ve been indoctrinated by the misguided doctrines of men that Jesus warned us about.

Jesus was beautifully unique not only because he was a peaceful and loving pacifist, but mainly because he spoke with divine authority. But we need to understand how, and why.

In speaking as the Holy One and as the Ancient One, he did so for God the Holy One, and for the Ancient One. For the Ancient One is the Spirit of truth, who was before Abraham and Moses and is the Alpha and the Omega, who was, is, and shall always be. For the Ancient One is the Oversoul, and is the Spirit of the Christ-Avatar-Buddha-Mahdi-Saoshyant-Sage who is in heaven with God. And the Ancient One is the "Word" which was in the beginning, who was with God and was and still is one with God, and is the human aspect of the Supreme Consciousness.

That, by the way, is why Jesus said: "Before Abraham was, I am." He was speaking as the Ancient One, for the Ancient One who is the Oversoul of all human beings, who is within and above us all.

In that respect, in serving in the role of a Christ-Avatar, Jesus was similar to other Avatars and Siddhas.

For example, It was in that role that the great Indian Guru and Siddhi, Meher Baba, said: "I am the Ancient One. I am the One so many seek and so few find. For no amount of intellect can fathom me. No amount of austerity can attain me. Only when one loves me and loses one’s self in me, am I found."

That is such a profound truth. Those words communicated by Meher Baba, like some of the words attributed to Jesus, are what the Holy One would say if the Holy One were a person. And they are words that the Holy One did say and does say through a Christ or an Avatar or Siddha or other genuine servant-representative of God, being one who is fully enlightened and has been blessed with divine self-realization and knowledge that they are one with God and one with humanity.

As I said on the home page, that is why Jesus said, "I and my Father are one." That’s why he said the next son of man would say, "As you do unto the least of our brethren, so you do unto me." And that is also why Jesus said, "When the Spirit of truth comes to you, you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you." You will know that we are all in fact One in the omnipresent eternal Spirit of God.

Some Christian will argue that Jesus' statement in John 10:30, "I and my Father are one," demonstrates that Jesus considered himself God. However, Jesus told his disciples they may be one with God too, and he asked them to be of one unified purpose and of "one mind" and spirit. (See the page titled Highest State of Consciousness for a clearer explanation of "oneness with God.")

Of course, as a spiritually anointed son of man, Jesus righteously exposed and rebuked greedy money changers, greedy rich people, religious hypocrites, and self-important power-seekers, especially those who live by the sword to gain power, wealth and domain. But, Jesus said it falls upon a son of man to render judgment, and, at the same time, he advised that all normal human beings should not judge others, lest you be judged in turn.

Of course, as I said, there have been and still are some Christian sects that have recognized the core universal teachings of Jesus, and "separated the wheat from the chaff." They understand how and why the meek shall inherit the earth by abiding by the golden rule and universal divine imperative, treating others as they would want to be treated, loving their neighbor, and even loving their enemy. But many Christians do not understand that, and therein lies the conflict.

Arrogantly proud and militant Christians "righteously" think they are "godly" and more wise than humble and meek Christians. But it’s the latter who are the true Christians, because they recognize the core universal teachings of Jesus that still shine through in the scriptures, despite the erroneous, contradictory, misleading, self-serving doctrines of men that Jesus warned us about.

This is an important distinction, because for the last 28 years in America, the aggressive and imposing political activism of the "Christian Right" enabled it to pretty much have its way in the political arena.

Since they became a successful political force in the 1980s supporting Ronald Reagan, they were instrumental in establishing Republican control of Congress in the 1990s, and again early in this decade. They were the main reason George W. Bush received as many votes as he did in 2004 to maintain the power he had assumed and stolen in 2000, and they were very influential in establishing and supporting the extremely divisive, highly partisan, nationalistic, un-Christian right-wing policies and actions of the Bush Regime.

In early 2006, however, as it was reported in the Washington Post, some progressive liberal Christians finally began to say they have had enough, and they began to come together to refute the claims made by right-wing partisan extremists on the "Christian Right."

Liberal progressive Christians, who better understand the intent of the prophet Jesus, finally began to point out the fallacies in the claims of the Christian Right. They began to mobilize, and they were so successful that by November 2006 they were able to be very instrumental in getting Democrats elected so they could gain control of the U.S. Congress and force George W. Bush to at least begin paying lip service to "bi-partisanship" again. But, unfortunately, that didn't last for long, because militant right-wing ideologues like Bush are utterly convinced they are right and correct, even though they are terribly misguided and wrong.

The conflicting difference between the beliefs of liberal progressive Christians and right-wing conservative Christians is basically about the difference between the actual core teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, as distinguished from the dogma and doctrines of men who later established Christianity as an organized religion with its own official, canonized scriptures.

That is, it's the difference between true and universal divine intent, as opposed to the intent of "Christian" patriarchs who have sought and still seek worldly rulership in the name of religion, and live by the "sword" (gun and bomb) to gain or maintain worldly power, wealth, and domain.

Universal divine intent is expressed in the central core teachings of all the greatest spiritual teachers, including Jesus, and especially in the "golden rule" and universal divine imperative that he and all other true spiritual teachers have taught: that we should do unto others as we would have others do unto us, which is to say we should treat others as we would want to be treated if we were them.

Jesus said it is the overarching commandment, and it is in fact the universal divine imperative common to all religions. It is not only at the very core of the Christ's teachings, it is related to the core universal principles that Jesus and all other true spiritual teachers have taught regarding universal love, peace, freedom, compassion, sharing, caring, charity, humility, inclusiveness, forgiveness, tolerance, and pacifism.

On the other hand, "Christian" canon, dogma and doctrines of men are those which are more or less summarized in the Nicene Creed, which, as I said, was established in the fourth century after the death of Jesus.

As you may know, the Nicene Creed declares that Jesus is (to paraphrase): "the only-begotten Son of God, God of God, being of one substance with the Father; who, for our salvation, came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified for us, and on the third day rose again and ascended into heaven, and shall come again."

Almost none of that is true. The fact is that all human beings are of one substance with God. But the rest of it is false, man-made doctrine. But, even so, I concede that there would probably not have been much of a problem with that if everyone who believed in the Nicene Creed also believed in and followed the core universal teachings of Jesus. However, history shows very clearly that has not been the case, and it is not the case now.

You see, even though the missionary evangelist Paul was wrong about a lot of things, he got some things right, such as when he said that evil loves to masquerade as good, because the world is the way it is largely because of greedy, corrupt men who have claimed to be Christians. Ever since the fourth century they’ve been waving their flag, thumping their bible, and rattling their sword, and they’re still doing it today.

Now it is important to realize that the imposing and aggressive political activism of the Christian Right was in large part enabled by the silence of true Christians and all other truly faithful people who are humble, compassionate, forgiving and tolerant. After all, when good people keep silent, it enables self-centered, greedy, corrupt, self-important, self-righteous people to gain and abuse power.

I tell you that true Christians, like true Jews, true Muslims, true Hindus, true Buddhists, and all other people of real faith, understand that it will be the humble peacemakers and the meek who will ultimately inherit the earth. And, whether or not they believe in the Nicene Creed, true Christians understand that it is more important to follow the actual core teachings of Jesus which are universal and common to all religions.

True Christians understand that we should do unto others as we would have others do unto us, because we reap what we sow. They understand that we should judge not, resist not evil (if we are tempted to judge), overcome hate with love, overcome evil with good, turn the other cheek, forgive and love even our enemy, and care especially for the poor, the disabled, and the least of our brethren. Those teachings are universal and common to every religion.

Unfortunately, proud, militant, right-wing militant zealots who boastfully claim to be Christians tend to merely pay lip service to the golden rule and the fundamental, core, universal teachings of Jesus. They instead believe that the core principles of Christianity are in the Nicene Creed, and, while that wouldn't be so bad in itself if they abided by the real core teachings of the Christ, they instead focus on their own ideas and carry it to self-righteous, aggressive, imposing extremes.

That is why the emphasis of the leaders of the Christian Right is in recruiting and converting people to their brand of Christianity. They believe they must convince you that you must be "saved," claiming that unless you profess that "Jesus is The Lord God and Savior" (and believe as they do) you will be condemned to hell for eternity. It’s the same old false story that hasn’t changed for sixteen hundred years.

That's the problem. And now it is time for everyone to recognize that is erroneous doctrine, which was especially designed to ensure ongoing obedience to theocratic "Christian" patriarchal authority, by promising eternal reward in heaven for obedience to the church, and threatening eternal damnation and punishment for disobedience. That's what the Nicene Creed was really designed to establish, albeit indirectly.

Now, admittedly, it is based on certain words in the Christian New Testament of the Bible that would seem to justify it. But those particular words are misguided and erroneous, because they simply ignore many facts and truths in the Judaic "Old Testament," and they also ignore and even deny crucial truths about the Prophet Jesus and his actual core teachings.

The false man-made doctrine of preeminence and superiority has been used to justify all the imperialism, colonialism and even genocide, along with many other impositions, incursions and offenses that were perpetrated in the name of "spreading Christianity" and converting the "godless heathen."

I have to tell you that it was, and still is, the blatant, presumptuous arrogance of men, who found a way to justify their military imperialism. And George W. Bush was the latest in a long line of "Christian" monarchial heads of state who have carried on that tradition.

Of course, throughout history to the present day, men have perpetrated countless atrocities in the name of God, whatever their religion and whatever their name for God might be. But, the fact is that many Christians during the last sixteen centuries weren't much better. Many offenses and crimes were committed against many native indigenous peoples all over the world, especially in Africa, Asia, South-East Asia, the Mid-East, and North America, Central America, and South America.

A true and accurate historical account will show very clearly that the European and American "Christians" responsible for all those offenses certainly did not do unto others as they would have had others do unto them. They simply ignored the Golden Rule. And the fact is that the full impact and legacy of "Christian" European and American imperialism and colonialism is still causing problems in the world.

The problem is the imperialists pick and choose which verses from the Bible to focus on, and those they focus on are inaccurate or erroneous. That's why their favorite Bible verses tend to have to do with preeminence, superiority, domination, threats of hell and damnation, militancy, force, aggression, control, etc. They think they are the true "Christian Fundamentalists" and "Evangelists." But the truth is that they are really fundamentally wrong, and for the most part they ignore the true fundamentals of Christianity.

I tell you that a true evangelist should now be just a teacher who helps those who ask for information and want to learn, and a true servant of God does not resort to imposition or coercion, nor do they wear their religion on their sleeve. True servants of God are meek, which is to say they are humble, loving, gentle, tolerant, peaceful, and faithful. They serve as examples of how to behave, rather than arrogantly try to impose their beliefs on others.

All fair, caring, understanding, considerate people realize that in social situations and at the work place it is not polite to assume that everyone else holds your political and religious beliefs, or to assume that they should.

I am duty bound to tell you that the arrogant leaders of the "Christian" Right DO assume and believe that. In fact, in their preaching, they insist that their efforts to impose their political and religious beliefs are "God's Will" and justified by "God's Word." Thumping their bible, waving their flag and rattling their sword, they believe that they should rule by "Divine Right" as the "True Christians," and that living by the sword (gun and bomb) is necessary to deal with "godless unbelievers" and establish their brand of Christianity as the dominant, controlling force in the world. They don’t realize that they are no better than misguided Muslim extremists who try to do the same thing.

Granted, there are many well-meaning Christians who believe in the false doctrines but aren’t quite so aggressive and pushy about it. They focus on words attributed to Jesus like, "Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many go there. But strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." (Matthew 7:13-14)

Many good Christians take that for what it truly means. But, to be very frank, I think most right-wing "conservative" Christians like that because it justifies their prudishness and self-righteousness, and it gives them license to preach in self-serving ways. And they focus on words attributed to Jesus like this: "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father, but by me." Right-wing preachers essentially use that to give the impression that you cannot understand God unless you believe them.

Self-righteous, self-important preachers like that because, as I’ve said, they’ve been led to think they’ve been "saved by professing that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior." But they do not realize the true role of the Christ Jesus, nor do they realize what the Christ-Avatar-Siddha function is. As I explained above, it is to serve as the Ancient One, for the Ancient One who is with God the Holy One in heaven.

Many Christians also believe in the doctrine that proclaims that God gave this world to Satan, while giving heaven to the Christ. The idea is that this world is therefore a "testing" place, a realm of temptations and trials and tribulations which a Christian must overcome in order to earn a place in heaven for eternity. But, while that’s not a bad way of looking at it, in my view it is based on ignorance of many universal truths, an erroneous idea of what Satan is, and an erroneous idea of what the Christ is. "Satan" is the reflection of egocentric delusion, self-importance, self-righteousness, hate and greed, while the Christ is the reflection of love, empathy, equality, compassion, forgiveness, and charity.

The erroneous ideas of religious bigots are part of the overall doctrine of preeminence and superiority that misguided Christians buy into, but it’s a false doctrine that can appeal to the ego, and justify aggression, imposition, presumptuousness, and even militancy.

For example, the arrogantly proud and militant leaders of the Christian Right love to cite Matthew 10:34 where it states that Jesus said he came "not to bring peace, but a sword."

That is very telling, because it conveniently ignores that the earlier book of Luke (12:51) records Jesus as saying he came "not to bring peace, but division."

That is very different, and more literally accurate, because Jesus ushered in the passing age which is symbolized by the two fish that seem to be swimming in opposite directions, and Jesus said that knowing it would tend to be an age of division. He knew that erroneous doctrines of men would cause much conflict and division. That's why he foretold that a big change would come at "the end of the age" (aeon). And, by the way, that word, aeon, which means age, was replaced by misguided Christians who wrote it as "the end of the world."

The Christian Right misunderstands the prophecies of Jesus, and they misunderstand the symbolic comment about the "sword," because they ignore clarifying statements that still remain in the Christian gospels. For example, it is written that we should "take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God," and "the weapons of the Lord are not carnal (or lethal) but are mighty through God for pulling down strongholds," and "I will fight them with the sword of my mouth," and "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."

Furthermore, the Hebrew Psalm 45 states that God's "tongue is the pen of a ready writer." That is confirmed also in Psalm 103:20, Daniel 10:6, Daniel 10:9, and other scriptures that refer to the true, divinely inspired written word being the "voice of God's word" and "the sword of my mouth."

That is also confirmed in Daniel 2:35 where the great prophet foretells that the "stone" of truth shall "shatter the image of the King of Babylon and become as a great mountain that shall fill the earth."

That's because the stone is an esoteric symbol for divine truth expressed in the divinely inspired written word. And, by the way, the symbolic term "King of Babylon" is explained more fully in Chapter 6 of Memoirs of a Prodigal Son of Man and previous books, and also on other pages on this web site, because even though the term does not describe a specific man, it is epitomized by leaders such as Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, who have served as the champions of the Christian Right and the wealthiest few.

The Christian Right also focuses on misguided beliefs about "Armageddon," and about "the wrath of God" being "poured out" upon the earth. They do not realize they simply misunderstand and misinterpret symbolic prophecies in order to justify their hate and their desire for dominance and military victory over their enemies. They ignore the fact that Jesus said we should love even our enemies, because our enemies are usually a reflection of our selves. So, in that respect, the leaders of the Christian Right are much like the religious bigots and hypocrites who call themselves the true Jews or Muslims. They are all wrong.

They believe they are absolutely right, of course. And they believe the "Word of God" in the Torah or Bible or Qur'an justifies them. They do not realize that even though many words in scriptures are indeed divinely inspired, some are not, and many are misinterpreted and misunderstood.

For example, George W. Bush’s "religious" advisors convinced him that his war in Iraq was "God's Will" and would fulfill the prophecy of the warring "sixth angel" who "poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates..." (Revelation 16:12) That’s one of the reason’s Bush claimed he was "doing God’ will," and that has recently been confirmed. In early 2003, in a top-secret phone call to the president of France, Bush asked for French troops to join American soldiers in attacking Iraq as a "mission from God." Bush stated that Iraq must be invaded to thwart "Gog and Magog," the symbolic evil forces also mentioned in the book of Revelation.

While the book of Revelation is mostly symbolic prophecy, the phrase referring to the Euphrates River may have meant some killing in Iraq was foreseen and foretold. However, that does not mean that Bush’s war must continue, and it certainly does not mean that God caused it or would sanction it. John's symbolism in the Book of Revelation was mainly designed to portray that those who "blaspheme" against God suffer in many ways. But God does not cause the suffering. God loves us all and does not want anyone to be killed. Those who judge, hate and curse their enemy actually curse God, because they do not realize what God really is. In hating and cursing their enemies they unwittingly hate and curse God and themselves, and they are at war with God and their own spirit-soul. That's why Jesus said we should not judge, and if we are tempted to judge we should resist not evil but love good, overcome evil with good, and love even our enemy, because our enemy is usually just a reflection of our self.

Another example is when the leaders of the Christian Right thump their bible and claim it justifies their worshiping and idolizing Jesus as "God Himself." They love to cite Isaiah 9:6, which says: ".. a son is given" ... "and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father..." That's one of their favorite verses in the Old Testament, and they claim it was fulfilled when Jesus said: "My father and I are One."

The trouble is, they do not understand that we are all one with God, and they do not consider the book of Isaiah in context. They ignore all the other passages in the book of Isaiah, particularly those in chapters 42, 43, 53 and other chapters where Isaiah provided clarification by explaining how it is the son of man and "the stricken and afflicted witness and servant of God" who is first rejected who fulfills prophecy.

As I've explained on the home page and other pages on this site, as well as in the books, they ignore that Jesus said: "Don't call me good, for there is only one who is good and that is God," who is "greater than I." They ignore that Jesus said he was a servant of God and that a servant of God is not God. And they ignore that in the Old Testament, Moses and David said: "God is not a man, nor a son of man," and "Do not rely on princes nor in the son of man, for he holds no salvation."

They ignore or deny that the reference to Isaiah 7:14 in the Christian gospels which state that "a virgin shall conceive and bear a son called Immanuel," is actually misrepresented and is not about Jesus, as is explained in the books and on the issue page on this web site about The Virgin Birth Story.

As I said on the home page, they ignore that Isaiah wrote, speaking in the "voice of God’ word, of "my servant whom I have chosen, so you may know and believe me, and understand that I am the Holy One. Before me there was no God formed, and neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the Lord God, and beside me there is no Savior." (Isaiah 43:10-11)

The truth is that only God is God, and only God is the Savior and Holy One.

That is specifically stated throughout the Bible, particularly in Isaiah 43:10-11, Isaiah 45:15 and 21, Isaiah 49:26, Hosea 13:4, Luke 1:47, and 1 Timothy 2:3-5. It is made very clear, but it is ignored by those who insist that Jesus is God the Savior. They simply do not understand that Jesus was a son of man and the sacrificial lamb of God, and they don't even understand the reason for his sacrifice. (See they page on the real reason for Jesus' Martyrdom.)

Unfortunately, even though Paul was right about some things, he was wrong about much. So now we should understand that Paul or Saul of Tarsus was a Roman citizen and a Hellenistic Jew, and was, together with Peter, the most notable of early Christian missionaries. He felt his mission was to convert gentiles and to define the Torah as if it were superseded by the Christ Jesus, even though he had never met Jesus in person, had never heard him speak, did not actually understand the real meaning of the message of Jesus, or the meaning of the Torah. Paul apparently dictated all his epistles (letters) through a secretary, who paraphrased what Paul said. These epistles were circulated within the Christian community, where they were read aloud in church along with other works. Paul's epistles were accepted early as scripture and later established as biblical Canon by the Roman church because they supported and further authorized the purported "Christian" doctrine of preeminence and superiority over all other religions.

Paul's influence on Christian thinking has probably been more significant than any other New Testament author, and Christianity is based as much on Paul’s letters as on any other earlier Christian writings. In fact, Paul set the tone for Christianity, including emphasis on the doctrine of preeminence and superiority, celibacy and theory of divine grace and salvation, and using the term "The Gospel." He declared that faith in the Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior made the Torah unnecessary, and depicted the world outside the Church as under judgment.

Now there must be a New Reformation of Christianity, to separate the "wheat from the chaff," and to remove the "corruptions" of Christianity, as Thomas Jefferson put it, and as the prophet Jesus wanted. That’s why he said the Spirit of truth would come to issue judgment, guide you to the real truth and show you things to come. For the current son of man is the witness and faithful servant of God and the Spirit of truth according to real Judeo-Christian prophecies. And, because the message from the Spirit of truth is universal in its truth, it serves to fulfill the prophecies of all religions.

Those who have divided and led so many different people astray can thank God that the Spirit of truth is sent not to condemn, but to educate; not to punish, but to correct; and not to destroy, but to save.

The day will come when real prophecy is fulfilled, when Christianity will be reformed and all the different denominations and sects will be reconciled. And they will also be reconciled with Jews and Muslims, as well as with Buddhists, Hindus and members of all other major religions, and with all humanity.

I tell you the truth, that we are all One with God, One in Spirit, and One with all humanity. And we all just need to start acting like it. What we need is mutual respect, empathy, compassion, charity, and love – and organized religions and their doctrines are not as important as that. In fact, we need to face the reality that organized religion really has not produced societies that are better behaved than societies in which people freely choose atheism or agnosticism.

For example, many if not most of the Danes and the Swedes do not tend to go to church and do not believe in heaven or hell. But, by most accounts, they're nice to one another. They have a famously expansive welfare and health care service. They have a strong commitment to social equality. And, even without the promise of heaven or the threat of hell, the rates of child abuse are far lower than in America, and the rates of murder and rape are lower than in America. And Denmark and Sweden aren't exceptions. Other studies of the 18 largest democracies in the world found that less influence by organized religion tends to mean lower child abuse rates, relatively lower murder and suicide rates, and relatively low incidence of abortion and teen pregnancy.

The truth is that the rigid leaders of the so-called "religious right," whether they claim to be Christians or Muslims or Jews, are simply misguided, self-important and self-righteous, and do not know the very real God. They have given religion a bad name and turned many people off to it altogether, while producing a superiority complex in their blind flocks. That is why there must be a reformation of the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), so that they become what they are supposed to be.

New research by Harvard University confirms that. It shows that young Americans are dramatically less likely to participate in any form of organized religion than their parents and grandparents. The percentage who said they had no religious affiliation now ranges between 30 percent and 40 percent, whereas it used to range between 5 percent and 10 percent. That is a very strong indicator of how counterproductive the aggressive, theocratic imposition and religious bigotry of the Christian Right has been during the last three decades.

Now it’s time to acknowledge the truth about Jesus