- I look within myself.
- And I see...
- The kingdom of Heaven!
What is happening in the world today is but a poor reflection of what is transpiring within humanity as a whole! A Master of the One once said, As above so below!
I say, Even so!
It is now coming to be, even as Prophet Daniel foretold that,
- ... many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
But with this knowledge comes responsibility and choice!
What will we do with this rising sense of our innate inner divinity? In a world where we can call into being that which never before has been...What will we do? How will we use our burgeoning powers?
- Psalm 82:1 God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.
2 How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked?
3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
4 Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
5 They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.
7 But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.Will we arise? Will we Stand? Will we judge among the gods with righteous judgments and dare to imagine the implementation of the Kingdom of the One?
Or will we feint? Will we for false security bend our knees and expose our necks to the Goats in our midsts even now? Will we bow before the Rex Mundi and accept his Mark?
Hear the word of the Prophet!
- For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
Stand!
The Sheep must choose! If the Sheep do not choose the Goats will! As they intend to choose March 01, 2008 with the implementation of the pre-mark system known as REAL ID! The Sheep are being called as active ambassadors, as soldiers, as participants in the establishment of the coming outward manifestation of the Kingdom of God! The Sheep are they who receive the Seed of the Spirit and nurture it in their lives and then, when the timing is correct, they act as they are led by the Spirit!
But perhaps some will say, "The Sheep must be this or that!" Wish such people Godspeed and be about the business of the Kingdom for truly did the Master say:
- John 10:16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
The Nazarene Master revealed deep spiritual truths for all who were ready to receive them, but he was also an old time prophet of the Hebrews who spoke in detail of the future of his people and of the literal establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth as promised them through Abraham and his spiritual descendants. Both realities are true! Both are intertwined! Both are One!
In order for spiritual Israel to rise, physical Israel must stand! In order for physical Israel stand, spiritual Israel must rise! The Sheep MUST Stand with Israel! The Sheep have the power! Only then will Moshiach will come!
- Matt 18:18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.Master Y'shua spoke of the literal fulfillment of the biblical prophecies concerning Israel but he also revealed the necessity of spiritual preparedness and of our involvement in these unfoldings. To understand his mystical teachings without including his literal meanings is not enough. Our view must be deeper, more inclusive than that!
Understand too that even as the Sheep have been furthering the Kingdom of Light, so too the Goats have been hard at work establishing the Kingdom of Lucifer, the Novus Ordo Mundi or New World Order! This is nothing new, but it is now coming to a climax!
The time is fast approaching and now even is when this contest will be resolved one way or another! And the outcome is not set in stone! Else, why would the forces of Lucifer be working so feverishly? They have reason to believe they can win and history appears to be on their side!
But they will not win! The Sheep forbid it!
Whether this conflict will be decided more on the celestial or the terrestrial plane is up to the participants! But the war is now, as it has always been, being fought on both planes of existence. Workers are needed on both planes.
- Matthew 9:36 But when he [Master Y'shua] saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;
38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.So, what did the Master mean when he said, The Kingdom of God is within you? Consider the context:
- Luke 17:20 And when he [Master Y'shua] 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.Here then is the verse. The Kingdom of One will not rise as previous kingdoms did, as the result of military might or the signing of diverse treaties. People will not be able to travel to the Kingdom of the One by plane as one might travel to some earthly country and there seek liberation. So when they say go here or go there don't go... Rather the Kingdom of the One will arise within the heart of a prepared humanity, when the Sheep stand firm of Will and manifest the Kingdom outwardly from that place. Then shall Moshiach come! The will the Will of the One be done on earth as it is in the heavens!
But make no mistake, there is another kingdom, a Goat kingdom, a dark kingdom, a kingdom that would enslave humanity given the chance!
According to the Prophets, that Kingdom will arise by military might and the signing of treaties!
Understand too that before the Kingdom of the One is established, the Kingdom of Lucifer will first appear!
- John 5:42 But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.
43 I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.There are:
Two kingdoms.
One Light.
One Dark.
Two possible futures.
The camps:
- The Sheep and the Goats.
- And I see...
Who Are "The Sheep And The Goats?" (By John of AllFaith © August 15, 2007) As of late the term "Sheeple" has been somewhat widely employed on the Internet to reference those who are blindly following and accepting the status quo. These people appear to be almost asleep, they are lukewarm, being neither hot nor cold. These are not the sheep I am referring to here!
Rather, I am thinking specifically of Master Y'shua's prophetic parable of the Sheep and the Goats. By understanding the identity of and distinctions between these two classes of people we can unlock a great mystery and discover our place within the rich blanket of prophecy!
Are you feeling disempowered by world events? Then take a stand! There's a lot you can do to make things better! You have the power. You only need to unlock it! It is yours for the taking! In this and the following studies I'll be showing practical ways anyone can empower themselves to Stand for the Kingdom.
So let's begin with the prophecy:
Matthew 25:31 "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.
32 "All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.
33 "And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 "Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.Who are these people?
Matthew 25 is discussing the Kingdom of heaven, "...Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to..." such and such. What is the Kingdom of Heaven? Master Y'shua is here explaining. Without understanding the nature of the Kingdom how will we grasp our roles in it?
As I have often said, the Kingdom is on the verge of blooming forth (once we pass through certain negative experiences). By understanding our rightful positions as children of the Kingdom we will be empowered to act in harmony with the well being of the earth, its inhabitants and our immortal souls (jivatman). This blooming forth of the Kingdom is taking place on many planes of consciousness.
Lately I've been focusing largely on the material realms, on the establishment and security of Israel in particular. There are however deeper understandings to be discovered here as well and it is now time for me to delve more deeply into these, God willing.
Often those who can grasp the truth that life and "reality" exists simultaneously on many different planes of interconnected consciousness and time(lessness) come to believe that this understanding allows them to skip through or ignore the so-called "lower truths." In this we often err as would one who, having mastered higher mathematics might discount basic arithmetic for those who are only now coming up the educational ladder. Arithmetic is the foundation of all mathematics. Likewise the building and soon revelation of the Kingdom of the One must be established on a solid prophetic foundation and Israel is a vital key to what is happening today, both politically and prophetically. Those who reject Israel's prophetic importance seriously err.
Israel is now, as it has been for so much of known human history, the center-point of world events. The 1948 establishment of the nation of Israel and the 1967 re-incorporation of Jerusalem into it is of vital consequence. But for now, let's look beyond that.
According to Master Y'shua, there are two factions engaged in the establishment of the Kingdom. One positively, one negatively. This text hints at the identities of these factions. Of the Sheep the Master explains:
Matthew 25:35 'for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;
36 'I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.'Who is the "I" here? Who was hungry etc?
Here Master Y'shua is speaking in the prophetic voice of the Kingdom. "I" therefore is the Kingdom of heaven. The Sheep are those whose lives nurture the Kingdom, they are righteous among humans.
We continue:
37 "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?
38 'When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?
39 'Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'Note that in many if not most cases, the Sheep have performed their Kingdom duties without knowledge of the higher achievements: When did we... They felt an inner need and moved to satisfy it. Why? Because they were righteous.
What does it mean to be righteous?
The word used here is dikaios, a rather broad term. As Strong tells us however, "... in a narrower sense [the word references] rendering to each his due and that in a judicial sense, passing just judgment on others, whether expressed in words or shown by the manner of dealing with them." The point is that those who act from an inner sense of right and wrong, and who choose the good, are considered "righteous." The righteous Sheep are empowered by their faith to act. They are not therefore "sheep for the slaughter" but rather, fighting sheep, so to speak.
We usually think of the dear poor and abused sheep, of the downtrodden masses with their teeming hordes etc... But while such people may be sheep-like in certain ways, they are not the Sheep referenced by Master Y'shua at our base text. Again:
Matthew 25:31 "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.
32 "All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.
33 "And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 "Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.The Sheep in question are actively plugged in to what's going on in the world! They saw the "Lord" poor, hungry and naked and took action to provide for his needs! These righteous Sheep are proactive not reactive! One such example of a righteous Sheep is the so-called good Samaritan who found the man on the road and cared for him. Note that the "nations" will be (are being) brought before the judgment seat and divided right and left (more on this shortly). Nations are powerful, nations are active players. The Sheep then, in the context being discussed here, are not the downcast, but people of genuine faith who actively pursue good and oppose evil.
And these children of the Kingdom are given powers in the execution of their duties:
John 20: 21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit:
23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.All those who truly live within and for the Kingdom of Heaven are worthy and to some degree driven to help establish Kingdom Consciousness on earth. As is written: "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God."
"Christ" is the "anointing" that has historically been witnessed on the diverse children of the Kingdom since time immemorial. Christ (which is not limited to the one Moshiach) is the divine Power or Will by and through which they act for the furtherance of the Kingdom. This anointing is the same Holy Spirit bequeathed at I John 20:22 above. Those who walk in this anointing are the righteous Sheep. This holy anointing has nothing to do with religious affiliation, race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic identity, wealth, or any of the other myriad considerations that keep people separated. The Sheep are One, even when this may not appear to be the case. That is because God is more than "this."
For greater understanding on this point we continue with our Matthew 25 text:
40 "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'
Master Y'shua, speaking as the Kingdom, then turns to the Goats with a stern warning.
So then, from what inner power do the Sheep act? What is the source of their knowing, their anointing? What is the motivation of their righteousness? Why do they act when it would be easier to remain silent and safe? They act from a position of Spiritual/Aware Consciousness, even when they are unaware of it themselves. These spiritual Sheep, if asked, may reply that their actions stem from their faith in Jesus Christ, or Sri Krsna, or inner knowledge, or Guru Nanak and the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, or faith in some prophet or saint (such as perhaps the mystical Saint Padre Pio) ... but the true Source of their inspiration, however defined, is Ruach ha Kodesh, the Spirit of the Living One however that indefinable Spirit is conceived. This is confirmed in the Srimad Bhagavad Gita this way:
Gita 9:22: But those who worship Me with undeviated intent, who have no other object and who are are always yoked in devotion, upon them I confer happiness and carry them through.
9:23: Also those who are devotees of other gods, and who worship them, endowed with faith, they actually worship Me alone.God is One.
As the Sheep act for the good of the Kingdom they are inwardly led, at least for the duration of their service. Being led by the One they are plugged into the Kingdom Consciousness due to their good intentions. Through their actions they are building the Kingdom of God as though one brick at a time. How can these Sheep be described?
They were careful
as someone crossing an iced-over stream.
Alert as a warrior in enemy territory.
Courteous as a guest.
Fluid as melting ice.
Shapable as a block of wood.
Receptive as a valley.
Clear as a glass of water. (Tao Te Ching 15)When the Sheep are under the direct anointing of the One they act as they are led, they are open to the Spirit. What is the Source of their anointing? Whose voice are they heeding? There is a well known saying of Master Y'shua that, "The Kingdom of God is within you."
Awesome! God lives within the Sheep!
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
Do you hear the Master's voice? From time to time? The Sheep do.
People sometimes ask how I can claim to know for certain that God is real, as if the question is supposed to trip me up! This is how. I don't "believe," I know.
This knowing stems from the Source of the anointing. It simply is what It is. When we seek to define It we lose it. It is Tao. It is the point where all dualities converge into Sweet Oneness...
But... what is Oneness?
In India Master Sankara argued for Advaita, Absolute Oneness, demanding that only Nirguna Brahman (unqualified existence) is real. Saguna Brahman (qualified existence), he taught, is but illusion, a false dream. Hence all that is (or seems to be) is One due to its non-distinctiveness: Tat-Tvam-Asi: I/you/we am THAT.
Conversely, also in India, Master Madhva argued for Dvaita, absolute dualism, demanding that both Saguna Brahman (with qualities) and Nirguna Brahman (without qualities) are both real, but that the two are eternally distinct. Hence literal Oneness is not possible he explained.
But then came to India the gloriously enlightened Master Caitanya Mahaprabhu who expounded the understanding known as Acintya Bheda Abheda, which is to say, the wisdom of inconceivable, simultaneous oneness and diversity.
What does this mean? For our present considerations it reveals that those who hold to absolute oneness and those who hold to absolute diversity are both correct! Mazel tov! The Nature of the One, the Nature of the Spirit, is utterly inconceivable! Reality, existence, is inconceivably both simultaneously One and Diverse! Oy gevalt! Who knew?
This being true, and it is, then those who dwell within the Kingdom are boundless, beyond all limitation! They are free!
How can this be true? It is true because, "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." If the Sheep are bound by notions of oneness or diversity, if they believe themselves bound by the physics, by human laws, by education, by gender, by age.... then they are not truly free are they! And yet what does Y'shua say? The Sheep are free!
Are you one of the Sheep?
Can you understand this? Can you grasp this truth? All of the limitations we accept based on our material confinement within these bodies of saguna, these bodies of material form and duality, are lies! Controls! Chains! For those living within the Kingdom of God there is only freedom! Every single limitation we accept is false!
For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he -- Prov 23:7a
It is for precisely this reason that Master Y'shua promised those who embrace his teachings will do even greater things than he!
And they are!
Even today!
Based on this understanding that, "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you" some people believe the Kingdom of God is only a metaphor for an internal state of meditative awareness, that the Kingdom of the One is synonymous with the idea of Nirvana or the Turiya state of dhyana consciousness and nothing more.
But the Kingdom of the One is much more than a state of consciousness even as Brahman is more than the non-dualist Nirguna or the earthly Saguna planes of existence! Similarly the Kingdom is the soon coming physical (Saguna) manifestation of that inner (Nirguna) realm of consciousness revealed in Oneness wherein the lion will lie down with the lamb and there will be Peace (At-Onement). This Kingdom Consciousness is planted within the Mind of the Sheep for a reason!
Mark 4:30 And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it?
31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth:
32 But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.You see this? The Seed that had been placed within the consciousness of the Sheep must be cared for, nurtured and allowed to grow. Then it will be useful for their good purposes! It is not enough to horde one's spiritual insights, to keep the goodness of God to oneself, to lock oneself away in some cloistered monastery (well, OK there is room for that as well, but that's a different topic!)! The Sheep inwardly KNOW that there is a new and better world coming that cannot be compared with the smoke and mirror abomination now being created by the Novus Ordo Seclorum! And they usually have an inner knowing, at some level, that they are called to serve in its establishment!
"Oh no John! Not back to THAT again!"
YES! Because that counterfeit kingdom is an integral part of the blossoming Oneness! Without Yin and Yang there is no Tao!
Since before time and space were,
the Tao is.
It is beyond is and is not.
How do I know this is true?
I look inside myself and see (Tao Te Ching 21)
It is not a question of religion
It is a question of Will.
!Will the Good!
And Stand!
Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice;
And there shall be one fold, and one shepherd."
Here ends my study, The Sheep and the Goats.
ONE FLAME |
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