Ascended Master Jesus through Kim Michaels.
Where shall we begin our journey out of the jungle of graven images and into the clear light of Christ Truth? We shall begin by discussing a topic that few modern people give serious consideration, namely why the Living Christ comes to Earth. The reason why few consider this question with an open mind is that most Christians believe they already know the answer and most non-christians think the answer is not relevant for them. Yet let us consider the real answer—an answer that has implications for all people on Earth.
Christians from most denominations have been brought up to believe that I came to Earth in order to save people. They have also been brought up to see this as a passive measure on their part. I am the Savior, so I am the one who saves, and they only need to live up to certain requirements, such as being baptized, verbally confessing me as their Lord and Savior, believing in me, believing in the blood of Christ or other such measures. Despite some individual nuances, the basic image of salvation is the same for most churches:
- Jesus is the only one who can save you. You cannot save yourself.
- Jesus is the external savior; I am portrayed as being somewhere up in heaven, meaning far away from you.
- Although I am the savior, you still need an outer church in order to receive my salvation. The church is the mediator between you and me.
In this course I will explain fully how and why the Living Christ is the key to salvation. Yet this requires me to give you some profound and subtle teachings, and I will do this after we set a better foundation. For now, I want to contrast the popular Christian image of a passive, external salvation with some of my direct words. First of all, we have one of my most pivotal sayings, a saying I have quoted before and will return to again and again—for it is indeed the missing link in Christianity:
20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. (Luke, Chapter 17)
What I point to here is not an external salvation, but an internal process. This is precisely why the leaders of the religious establishment of the time decided to kill me. If I had been successful in awakening the people to the reality of the internal salvation, the religious leaders would have lost their power. Thus, any perceptive person should be able to see the irony in the fact that most modern Christian churches preach an external salvation and portray me as the external savior. I gave my life to bring forth the truth that salvation is an internal process, yet the very church that claims to represent me on Earth has done everything in its power to nullify my sacrifice.
Salvation clearly means that you enter the kingdom of God. You will not be saved until you are in the kingdom of God—this is something all Christians should be able to agree upon, although I am well aware that many will question my statement. As I clearly express in the above quote, entering the kingdom of God is not an outer, or external, process. It will not happen because you observe the rules and rituals of an outer religion. You will enter the kingdom of God only by finding the kingdom inside yourself. You simply will not find the kingdom as long as you are looking for it outside yourself—and this includes looking for an external savior or a religion on Earth to save you.
I am not hereby saying that you can save yourself without Christ. What I am saying is that you will not find Christ outside yourself, not even in a Christian church. You will find me only inside yourself. In fact, you will never find Christ as long as you look for him outside yourself. You will find me only when you start looking for me inside yourself!
Yet what does it truly mean that the kingdom of God is within you? Some people believe the kingdom of God is a physical kingdom that will descend to Earth and transform the planet, while others believe the Earth will be raised up into the kingdom of God. I am not denying that a planetary transformation can take place, but I am obviously not talking about a world-wide, physical kingdom when I say that the kingdom of God is within you—for how can the material world fit inside of you? So what exactly did I mean?
Once again, let me remind you that when I walked the Earth, I was limited by people’s understanding, their world view. That is why I spoke in parables and why I made many statements that contain a veiled truth. The purpose was to separate those who took everything literally – looking only at the letter of the word and not the Spirit of the word – from those who were willing to go beyond appearances. Modern people take so much knowledge for granted, knowledge that simply wasn’t available 2,000 years ago. Thus, many modern people find it difficult to understand – or have simply never considered – how difficult it was for me to give deeper explanations of my teachings. For example, most modern people find it natural to think about the psyche, yet this concept was virtually unknown to the people in ancient Israel. They had no understanding of the fact that you have a mind that can be independent of the physical body.
Yet when you have the concept of the psyche, it becomes easy to see that when I said that the kingdom of God is within you, I was not talking about a physical kingdom. What is inside of you is obviously the psyche, and thus I used the “kingdom of God” as a symbol for a psychological condition, a state of mind, a state of consciousness. Being in the kingdom of God means attaining a state of consciousness that is above and beyond the state of consciousness that most people have and that is considered “normal.”
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Let me ask you to consider a few logical questions:
- Do you think that I am come to save you by doing all the work for you, or do you think you have to do your part?
- Do you think the salvation I offer is automatic, or do you think you have to live up to certain conditions in order to be saved?
- Do you think those conditions are purely outer conditions – such as being baptized or verbally declaring me to be your Lord and Savior – or do you think they are inner conditions?
- Do you think salvation is an outer process – you fulfill outer requirements and are allowed into an external kingdom – or do you think it is an inner process, whereby you go through a transformation of consciousness?
If you have been brought up in a mainstream Christian church, you have been conditioned to believe in the external, passive salvation. Yet let me contrast that image with the reality of my own words. There is the story of the woman who anointed my feet and washed them with her tears. When a Pharisee – always a Pharisee – questioned me, I said:
Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. (Luke 7:47)
What I am truly saying here is that the forgiveness of her sins was not a matter of an outer act on her part. It was linked to an inner state, the state of her heart because she loved much. Consider this statement:
1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. (Matthew, Chapter 7)
Is it not clear that there is a direct link between what you do to other people and how you will be judged? And is not the tendency to judge others a psychological condition, an inner condition? Now consider the teaching I gave as part of the Our Father:
14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew, Chapter 6)
Again, there is a clear link between your willingness to forgive others and God’s willingness to forgive your sins. Yet forgiveness is not an outer act; it is an inner condition, for to truly forgive, one must have a pure heart. Thus, one must be willing to overcome hardness of heart, the desire for revenge and the anger that feeds it. And once again, these feelings are inner conditions. Hate is not something you can take off, as you shed an old coat. It is a psychological condition, and you can overcome it only by changing something inside your psyche. Going to church and saying the “Our Father” will not automatically change your heart, as millions of so-called “good” Christians prove every Sunday. Use your Bible software to search my words and see how often I talked about the importance of the heart. Here are just a few quotes:
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. (Matthew 5:8)
34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. (Matthew, Chapter 12)
This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. (Matthew 15:8)
18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
20 These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man. (Matthew, Chapter 15)
Is it not clear from this last quote that I am not primarily concerned with people’s outer actions but more concerned with their state of consciousness? Then why are most Christians focused on reforming outer actions, rather than looking for the beam in their own eyes and changing their state of consciousness? Now consider how the Pharisees challenged me to say what was the greatest commandment of the law. I answered:
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. (Matthew 22:37)
Do you think this is something that can be faked—do you think you can fool God by taking on an outer appearance and hiding from him the inner condition of your heart? Do you think one can pretend to love God with ALL one’s heart? For if you do, you are spiritually blind. Thus, those who have eyes to see will realize that salvation is not an external but an internal process. The essential requirement for salvation is not some outer measure or observance. The essential requirement for salvation is an inner condition, a purification of the heart, a transformation of one’s entire inner condition, one’s state of consciousness.
Contrary to what is believed by most people – Christian or not – this is no trivial or simple transformation. It cannot be accomplished simply by declaring me to be your Lord and Savior—potentially honoring me with your mouth while your heart is still far from me. You must be willing to take a look at your own psyche and remove the beam from your own eye. This is a fundamental shift in one’s consciousness, and here is how I described it to Nicodemus:
1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus, being a Pharisee, tended to take things literally, so he did not understand:
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
Therefore, I attempted to clear things up:
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John, Chapter 3)
Obviously, this left Nicodemus none the wiser, and I am aware that these words have confused many sincere Christians. Yet can you begin to see that what I was talking about here was – obviously – not a physical but a spiritual, a psychological, rebirth? It was a change so fundamental that it could only be described as a rebirth, as a fresh new start in life. There are deeper layers of meaning, which we will return to later, yet can you begin to see that my words were deliberately meant to confound Nicodemus’ literal mind? Can you see that I was actually saying that in order to be reborn, one has to be willing to go beyond the state of consciousness that is normal for human beings? One has to be willing to flow with the Spirit, and the Spirit does not follow human customs, prejudices and traditions:
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. (John, Chapter 3)
My point is that in order to receive the kind of salvation that the Living Christ offers, you have to be willing to change your state of consciousness, which means that you must be willing to let go of the old state of mind. In fact, you have to be willing to let your old sense of self, your old sense of identity, die.
NOTE: The rest of this dictation is available in the book: Master Keys to Personal Christhoood.
Copyright © 2008 Kim Michaels