What Are Real and True Spiritual Values?

(Revised 5-9-2009)

Honoring and abiding by real and true spiritual values will ultimately enable the "meek," who are the humble, gentle, peaceful and faithful majority of people in the world, to inherit the earth.

The question is how. For as humble and wise people know, real and true spiritual values have to do with universal love, peace, freedom, justice, fairness, good will, mutual respect, understanding, tolerance, forgiveness, charity, and pacifism.

Therefore, humble, wise and meek people generally do not confront those who fight for, win and abuse power. Instead, they "render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s," as the Christ and Prophet Jesus of Nazareth put it, and as the Buddha, the Avatars, the Siddhis, the Sages, and all the other great spiritual teachers have advised.

That is why Thomas Jefferson wrote in the American Declaration of Independence that: "governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes. Therefore, the people have been more willing to suffer, while abuses and offenses seem bearable, than to free themselves by abolishing the government to which they are accustomed."

However, Jefferson continued, "when a long series of abuses of power and offenses are perpetrated by our government, we, the people, have the right and duty to alter and reform it." That is why I suggest on the pages titled An Updated Declaration of Independence, and How the Meek Shall Inherit the Earth, that we need a reformation of government along with a reformation of religion.

The thing is, even though we have the right and duty to take power into our own hands when called for, and even though the peoples of many nations have done so by violent revolution to get rid of inept or self-serving or tyrannical, oppressive regimes, the way I suggest is non-violent. For the "weapons" of the Lord are not carnal or lethal, but they are mighty through God and the Spirit of truth for pulling down even the most powerful military stronghold. They are written words of truth, inspired by God and the Spirit of truth.

Now granted, America and the world will be far better off with Barack Obama as president. The trouble is, his changes could be only temporary. If we perpetuate this partisan political-economic system, the political pendulum would swing back to the far right again. History would repeat itself, as it has so many times before. Yet another proud, militant, "religious" demagogue would rise to power waving the flag, thumping his bible, and rattling his sword, appealing to the egocentric worst in us while claiming to serve God and Country. That is why a reformation of government and religion is necessary, because it will establish lasting change and great improvement for all.

Of course, most religious people understand the concept and ideal of universal love, tolerance, forgiveness and pacifism, regardless of which religion they belong to, and most religious people are good, even though some have been misguided and indoctrinated with some false beliefs. But, as we all know, there are misguided, zealous religious bigots and hypocrites who are not good and do not mean well.

In fact, there are certain "religious" leaders, claiming to be Christians or Muslims or Jews, who are self-important, self-righteous, intolerant, aggressive, and even militant to the point of inciting violence and war. They claim to serve God, and even think they do, when they actually "work iniquity in the name of the Lord," just as many prophets, including Jesus, said they would!

Therefore, good, humble, peaceful people cannot really inherit the earth as long as arrogantly proud and militant people seek and fight and even kill to rule the world.

Prophecy cannot be fulfilled as long as the false "shepherds" (religious leaders) and false prophets have the influence and power to cause so much conflict, division, trouble, violence, death and destruction in the world. And they will have that influence and power as long as their spiritually blind flocks continue to support them, do their bidding, and give them power.

Indeed, we now have "the blind leading the blind," as Jesus put it, because many people are divided by partisan political leaders vying for power over each other, and many people are divided by proud, militant right-wing "conservative" religious leaders who divide, alienate and lead their flocks far astray and against others.

Some of these hypocrites claim that they are God's "chosen" people, favored by God over all other human beings. Some claim that they have been "saved" by God and that everyone else is misguided and lost. Some, who are even more self-righteous and aggressive, claim that you are doomed unless you accept their beliefs as true and fall into lock step with them in their "holy crusade." Others even claim that they will earn a reward in heaven if they kill whoever their leaders hate and judge as "godless" and "evil." And the most militant and malicious of these hypocritical religious zealots go to the extreme and claim that committing indiscriminate mass murder is justified when waging a "holy war" or "jihad."

Whether they call themselves Christians or Jews or Muslims, they are terribly misguided. Most of their values have little or nothing to do with God. In fact, they are actually driven by the self-serving desire to rule the world in the name of "divine right."

They may actually believe they are doing the right thing, but the truth is that instead of serving God, they really serve what Jesus of Nazareth called "Mammon." They crave worldly power, wealth and domain, and they fight and kill for it in the name of what they erroneously call "the true religion" and "God's Will."

There are many reasons why this is so, but the main reason is that they simply have the wrong idea about the purpose of their religion. They ignore the truth and have instead convinced themselves and their blind flocks that they are abiding by God's will; that worldly wealth, power and domain are a "reward from God," and that God wants them to prevail over those they judge as godless enemies.

Part of the problem is that organized religions and most religious sects have traditionally been made up of patriarchal organizations invested with power for the sake of men in power. But, with the fulfillment of prophecy, this will finally change. A new reformation will ensure that all the false beliefs and all the false man-made doctrines will be rooted out of all religions, and the misguided and false ideas and notions of patriarchal, theocratic, egocentric, ethnocentric, and spiritually blind groups and individuals will be purged and abolished. The essential principles and core values of religion that are based on universal and eternal truths will be restored and emphasized.

The new reformation is necessary because right now many Christians are just as misguided as other religious bigots and hypocrites who claim to be Jews or Muslims.

Misguided Christians ignore or do not understand why Jesus said that they should judge not, and, if they are tempted to judge, they should love even their enemies, resist not evil but love good, and overcome evil with good.

They ignore or do not understand why Jesus said that you cannot serve both God and Mammon; and that it is easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.

They do not understand that a true servant of God gives money to the poor and the least of our brethren, and promotes the general welfare of all the people.

They don't know they have fallen into temptation, because the love of money is the root of all evil. They unwittingly suffer from self-delusion. They don't know it is best to love one another, care for one another, share with one another, be charitable, and have faith, love, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, pacifism and meekness. And they don’t know that this is in accordance with the core teachings of all religions.

Some misguided religious zealots believe and preach that God is outside of you and that you need to ask God to come inside, into your heart. But the Christ Jesus said that we should seek what is already within, not what is without, and that is consistent with what the Avatar and Buddha and all other true spiritual teachers have taught.

That is why Jesus advised us to: "not do as the hypocrites do, who love to pray standing in synagogues (and churches and mosques) and on street corners, that they may be seen of men." Instead, Jesus said we should "pray in secret to our God who sees in secret." (Matthew 6:56) Furthermore, he explained why we should not pray as the hypocrites do, saying: "they honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching the commandments of men for doctrines." (Matthew 15:8-9 and Mark 7:6-7)

In other words, these hypocrites ignore the universal, eternal truths, and they know not God.

They do not understand that real and true spiritual values are based on the very same core universal, eternal truths upon which all religious values are based: Since we reap what we sow, we should do unto others as we would have them do unto us. More specifically, we should treat others as we would want others to treat us if we were them. That is the golden rule and the universal divine imperative, and it is common to all genuine and divinely inspired religions.

All the other great spiritual teachers have said basically the same thing. Thus Jews are supposed to be taught that we should not do to others what is hurtful to our self. The Muslims are supposed to be taught that no one is a true believer in Allah until he loves for all others what he loves for himself. Buddhists are taught that we should treat others as we treat our self. Hindus are taught that we should not do unto others anything that, which if it were done to us, would cause us pain. The Taoists are taught that we should regard our neighbor's gain as our own gain, and our neighbor's loss as our own loss. And, like Jesus, the founders of all true religions have also said that the search for the Divine and Holy should be not in the world, but within.

These teachings and values are at the very core of all genuine religions. They are compatible and consistent with all the other core universal spiritual values that Jesus of Nazareth and all other enlightened ones taught, about unconditional love, peace, freedom, honesty, humility, tolerance, forgiveness, compassion, charity, and pacifism.

True spiritual teachers like the Christ, the Avatar, the Buddha, the Sage and many others have taught all those core universal spiritual values and virtues. That's why they have taught that we should forgive and love one another, even our enemy. They taught that we should especially love the poor and the least of our brethren, for as we do unto them we do unto the eternal and omnipresent Holy One who is within, above and around us all.

All these teachings and these real and true spiritual values are simply ignored by the leaders of the so-called "Religious Right" who falsely claim to be Christians or Muslims or Jews. That’s because religious bigots and hypocrites allow themselves to be ruled by their ego rather than follow their heart. Even though they may believe they are true to God and their religion, they actually betray God and their religion, and they make divisive, bigoted claims of religious superiority and authority. They are egocentric, and spiritually blind.

Typically, religious bigots and hypocrites tend to be arrogant, and they presumptuously assume that you do not know God. Some of them think they need to preach to you, and some of them think that they need to convince everyone that their idea of religion is the only correct one. But they ignore the golden rule and the divine imperative. After all, they would not want others to assume they do not know God, and they certainly would not want others to preach to them or tell them their idea of religion is wrong. That is, in fact, presumptuous and even rude and hypocritical, because we should do unto others as we want others to do unto us.

They also ignore the reason why Jesus said we should not do as hypocrites do, who pray for the ears of men and make an egocentric and vain show of being "holy" and "reverent." For we should humbly and unpretentiously go within and pray in secret to our God who hears in secret, just as Jesus and all other true spiritual teachers have taught.

Zealous religious bigots and hypocrites also tend to prefer "values" that are self-serving and exclusive, and most of them therefore tend to be not only arrogantly proud and presumptuous, but also militant, controlling, manipulative, intolerant and disingenuous. And the worst of them tend to be dishonest, vengeful, selfish and greedy, while claiming and pretending to be (and perhaps even believing they are) good and faithful servants of God/Allah.

Worldly wealth, power and domain are most important to many of them, because they fight and even kill for it, all in the name of God. They are ignorant of the universal spiritual teachings that are at the core of their religion, so they judge and condemn others as evil, and they strive to destroy evil by living by the sword (gun and bomb). And they tend to do it aggressively and offensively, not defensively or as a last resort. They tend to do it not to serve and protect, but to rule and control.

That is true of leaders such as George W. Bush, just as surely as it is of leaders such as Osama bin Laden. They cloak themselves in their religion, but they betray their religion, and they betray God/Allah. That's why the Spirit of truth must now expose and rebuke them.

It is important for Americans to understand that George W. Bush aligned himself with the bigoted and hypocritical leaders of the "Christian" Right, like Pat Robertson, the late Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, Tony Perkins, Robert Simonds, Tim LaHaye, Jerry Jenkins, Hal Lindsay, Rick Joyner, and many others who push the same misguided dogma. They all believe that they have been "saved" by God, and that all the rest of us are doomed to hell unless we accept their beliefs as the truth.

It is my duty to say that even though Pat Robertson has perhaps been the most influential of them, he is perhaps the most wrong. He acts as if he is a holy "seer" with direct communication with God, even though he has been proven to be wrong about that. After all, in 1980 Robertson claimed God spoke to him and said the end of the world would come in 1987. Still, Robertson acts as if he knows God, and, while he tries to feign piety and humility, he is actually an arrogantly proud, sanctimonious, deluded, self-important, misguided, divisive, bigoted theocrat. He preaches the "end times" doctrine to threaten and scare people into joining his blind flock, and he has become a multi-millionaire by doing so. As Jesus said, he is an abomination in the sight of God. And that language is not too strong. It is very appropriate.

In fact, Pat Robertson falsely claims that the founding fathers of America intended to create "The Land of Jesus," and he claims that they did not want to establish separation of church and state. But nothing could be further from the truth.

Thomas Jefferson, perhaps the greatest and most influential founding father, wrote:

"I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and State."

Jefferson also wrote: "Religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God; that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship; that the legislative powers of the government reach actions only, and not opinions."

Furthermore, Jefferson was certainly not alone. In fact, Jefferson, along with John Adams, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin and other founding fathers, spoke out against the religious bigotry of the "Christian" Right of their day, and they were adamant that government be free of sectarian religious influence.

Most of the founding fathers were very wary and disapproving of sectarian religious superstition, bigotry, hypocrisy, imposition, and persecution, and most of them were reasonable, independent free thinkers. Indeed, Deism was popular among educated men of faith at the time. Deism is belief in the existence of God on the evidence of reason and nature, with rejection of superstition. Many of the founding fathers and some of our greatest leaders since then were also Freemasons, or interested in and influenced by the principles of Freemasonry, which is based on mutual assistance for the common good, and brotherly love. And it is non-sectarian, pluralistic, and respectful of all religions. In fact, that is why the reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States (seen on the dollar bill) is Masonic in character and declares (in Latin) "A New Order of the Age begins."

Benjamin Franklin, one of the greatest founding fathers and a genius, became a Deist and a Freemason after educating himself and turning far away from his rigid and oppressive Calvinist Protestant Christian upbringing, and he wrote an essay on "Toleration" in which he stated: "If we look back into history for the character of the present sects in Christianity, we shall find few that have not in their turns been persecutors, and complainers of persecution. The primitive Christians thought persecution extremely wrong in the Pagans, but practiced it on one another. The first Protestants of the Church of England blamed persecution in the Romish church, but practiced it upon the Puritans. The Puritans found it wrong in the Bishops (of the Church of England), but fell into the same practice themselves in New England (in America)."

I think Franklin was speaking not only of Puritanism, but also of Calvinism and other "conservative" Protestant Christian sects that were much like some of those on the "Christian Right" today. They operate from a patriarchal, theocratic mind set. It is based on an erroneous, rigid, arrogant belief in a literal but very specific, particular interpretation of the Bible, and on selected passages in scriptures which seem to support their rigid doctrine and creed. It simply ignores scriptures that do not support it but instead contradict it. Still, it has enabled self-serving men to play god, while they really ignore and betray God.

In my view, it is much like the false form of Islam practiced by misguided, rigidly "conservative" Muslim sects. Its practices, attitudes, traditions and values are extremely prudish, strict, limiting, inhibiting, repressive, and even oppressive and persecutory. They are not based on real knowledge and love of God, but on the patriarchal dictates of men who want to play ruler, god and judge, and claim they are doing it in the name of God.

Thomas Jefferson's view was much the same. He wrote: "The returning good sense of our country threatens [the fundamentalist clergy] and they believe that any portion of power confided to me will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe rightly; for I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. But this is all they have to fear from me, and enough too in their opinion, and this is the cause of their printing lying pamphlets against me. . ."

Jefferson incurred the wrath of the "Christian Right" in his day because he did not hide his disdain for them. He dared to echo the feelings of many of his fellow educated men of faith, as when he wrote: "Whenever preachers, instead of a lesson in religion, put [their congregations] off with a discourse on the construction of government, or the characters or conduct of those administering it, it is a breach of contract."

Clearly, Jefferson felt that preachers should not use their pulpit as a partisan political soap box, especially when their personal beliefs were presented as divine fact. Jefferson stood up to their political grandstanding cloaked in religion, and he exposed their "tyrannical" aggression and imposition. And they hated him for it.

Unfortunately, the current American "Christian" Right has been far more successful politically. Indeed, during the last twenty-five years they have gained control of Congress twice and the White House twice. George W. Bush is one of them. That's why their religious bigotry, hypocrisy and error must be exposed.

I tell you truly that the leaders of the "Religious Right," whether they call themselves Christian or Jew or Muslim, are wrong. In fact, all religions must be reformed so that they return to the true, universal core values and principles they are supposed to teach and abide by. They should all teach that we should live by the paramount golden rule and the universal divine imperative, for only then will we have real equality, peace, harmony, cooperation, collaboration, and prosperity for all.