Thursday, January 31, 2008

A Cowboy Goes To A Big City Church

From my brother:

Cowboy in Church
One Sunday morning an old cowboy entered a church just before services were to begin. Although the old man and his clothes were spotlessly clean, he wore jeans, a denim shirt and boots that were very worn and ragged. In his hand he carried a worn out old hat and an equally worn out Bible.
The church he entered was in a very upscale and exclusive part of the city. It was the largest and most beautiful church the old cowboy had ever seen. The people of the congregation were all dressed with
expensive clothes and accessories.
As the cowboy took a seat, the others moved away from him. No one greeted, spoke to, or welcomed him. They were all appalled at his appearance and did not attempt to hide it.
As the old cowboy was leaving the church, the preacher approached him and asked the cowboy to do him a favor. "Before you come back in here again, have a talk with God and ask him what he thinks would be
appropriate attire for worship."
The old cowboy assured the preacher he would.
The next Sunday, he showed back up for the services wearing the same ragged jeans, shirt, boots, and hat. Once again he was completely shunned and ignored.
The preacher approached the man and said, "I thought I asked you to speak to God before you came back to our church."
"I did," replied the old cowboy.
"If you spoke to God, what did He tell you the proper attire should be for worshiping in here?" asked the preacher.
"Well, sir, God told me that He didn't have a clue what I should wear. He said He'd never been in this church."

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

On John Edwards pull out and the desecration of Jerusalem by the end of '08!

The way we Americans do these primaries is patentaly unfair! Every election by the time we in Caifornia get to caste our votes Edwards, Rudy and God only knows who else is already out of the race! And we're voting earlier this year!!

This is NOT democracy!
This is political pandering and payola.

Anyway...

It is with regret but not surprise that we bid a fond adu to the John Edwards campaign. I don't think he would have made a good leader, but he wasn't Hillary or Obama and that says a lot.

IF, God forbid, the Democrats manage to win the White House this election they will make history.

It is truly a sad thing that the first serious female contender for the White House is a globalist demon, the Butcher of Waco.

It is truly an unsettling thing that the first serious African American contender for the White House is a potential Muslim Brotherhood plant (http://www.allfaith.com/Religions/Islam/brotherhood.html).

There are MANY qualified women and African Americans in this country, why in the name of all that holy would the Democratic leadership choose two such utterly unqualified, untrustworthy candidates?

In a word: treason.

The clear Globalist/NWO agenda is to destroy the US and replace it with the North American Union. For this, Hillary would be preferable (especially since she and Bill orchastrated NAFTA!) but Obama... who knows where his loyalties lie? the Democratic/NWO leadership may, I do not.

It is truly an unsettling thing that for the first time in my life I'll be voting and rooting for the Republicans to win.

Democrats, PLEASE Vote For Obama in the Primaries and then for whoever the Republicans run in the general.

Job One: Stop Hillary.


On a related note (because Hillary fully supports the desecration of Jerusalem, with Obama... who knows but its likely):

NWO Terrorist Leader GW Bush Vows To Divide Jerusalem By End of '08!

Bush's desecration of Jerusalem moves one step closer to reality!

From the Christian group, "Jerusalem Prayer Team":

President Bush, in his State of the Union address on Monday night, announced his plan to have a PLO State by the end '08. This new state would take Judea and Samaria from Israel and proclaim East Jerusalem as its new capital, the home to all Christian holy sites.

There have been over 20,000 attempted terrorist attacks by the PLO. The State Department is already in Jerusalem pushing forward the Road Map to Peace plan. U.S. Lt.-Gen. William Fraser, the new Road Map implementation monitor, arrived Sunday for an intensive round of meetings with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders. His goal is to push Israel further into implementation this peace plan.

This is a battle between lightness and darkness, between politics and prophecy. 128,000 votes have already been cast. Our present goal is 200,000 on our way to a million. We are asking everyone to pray and get one friend to sign the petition. If you do so, we can reach 200,000.

To read the Jerusalem World News, click here: www.myjwn.com


Tuesday, January 29, 2008

NWO Terrorist Leader GW Bush Vows To Divide Jerusalem By End of '08!

NWO Terrorist Leader GW Bush Vows To Divide Jerusalem By End of '08!

Bush's desecration of Jerusalem moves one step closer!

From the Christian group, "Jerusalem Prayer Team":

President Bush, in his State of the Union address on Monday night, announced his plan to have a PLO State by the end '08. This new state would take Judea and Samaria from Israel and proclaim East Jerusalem as its new capital, the home to all Christian holy sites.

There have been over 20,000 attempted terrorist attacks by the PLO. The State Department is already in Jerusalem pushing forward the Road Map to Peace plan. U.S. Lt.-Gen. William Fraser, the new Road Map implementation monitor, arrived Sunday for an intensive round of meetings with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders. His goal is to push Israel further into implementation this peace plan.

This is a battle between lightness and darkness, between politics and prophecy. 128,000 votes have already been cast. Our present goal is 200,000 on our way to a million. We are asking everyone to pray and get one friend to sign the petition. If you do so, we can reach 200,000.

To read the Jerusalem World News, click here: www.myjwn.com

http://www.allfaith.com/graphics/neveragain.jpg>


Hell? Hell No!

My blog friend Jim made the following comment in my previous entry:

"...when it comes to Christianity, or any other religion, I know the least. What I don't understand is, If god so loved his children, how could he send us to the fiery pit of hell?..."

The following re-print is for him and others who ponder this same question:


The Earth belongs to HaShem
"The Earth belongs to HaShem and the Fullness Thereof."

By John of AllFaith © 2007

Hell Fire and Damnation!
What the Bible Actually Teaches



My good friend NY Guy asked:

... As for the existence of hell as per the bible, wouldn't the "lake of fire" where those cast out on judgment day qualify as hell? Just a thought.

My reply:

    The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (II Pet 3:9)

As you know, there are a LOT of opinions on this one. There are scriptures that appear to teach several different views. Based on my research, here is what and why I believe as I do as per what the Bible actually teaches here:

As the Roman Catholic Church was establishing the official doctrines of the Church (for more on this click here) they included the teaching of Hell as a place of eternal, fiery torment (which is not to say it is true or false, only that it began there. Much of the imagery of Hell is identical with the Pagan underworld known as Hades. That such a place of eternal torment exists is today a most common belief among Christians still. Muslims also accept this belief. Some Hindus have a similar view except that Hell is of temporary duration.

The Christian belief is that God does not torture people in Hell and does not want anyone to go that dreadful place. Hell was created for the fallen angels (Gen. 6:1-6).

Humans go to Hell, it is taught, because they fail to make the decision necessary to achieve salvation, that being they refuse to accept the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus as taught by the Church. This is the standard answer. Hell is not something God "does to us," it is something we do to ourselves.

But, what does the Bible actually teach about this?

The Greek word "Hades" itself is in our biblical text 11 times. 10 of those times it is translated as "hell" and once as "grave" in the King James Version.

Here is what Strong's Concordance tells us about this word:

name: Hades or Pluto, the god of the lower regions Orcus, the nether world, the realm of the dead later use of this word: the grave, death, hell

This doesn't sound very Christian does it?

Another word is Tartaroo (tar-tar-o'-o) II Pet 2:4:

Word Origin: Greek, Verb from Tartaros (the deepest abyss of Hell) the name of the subterranean region, doleful and dark, regarded by the ancient Greeks as the abode of the wicked dead, where they suffer punishment for their evil deeds; it answers to Gehenna of the Jews to thrust down to Tartarus, to hold captive in Tartarus."

By far the most common Greek word translated as "hell" is Gehenna.

What is Gehenna? Verses like Joshua 18:16 tell us:

    "And the border came down to the end of the mountain that lieth before the valley of the son of Hinnom [i.e. Gehenna], and which is in the valley of the giants on the north, and descended to the valley of Hinnom, to the side of Jebusi on the south, and descended to Enrogel..."

The valley was frequently used by Pagan people for their religious rites:

II Chron. 28:1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: but he did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD, like David his father:
2 For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim.
3 Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.
4 He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree [which suggests goddess worship, Ashteroth etc.].

Indeed, such acts were so common that they entered the language as figures of speech:

    Matt. 5:29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into [Gehena].

Again,

Luke 12:5 But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into [Gehena]; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

Some will argue that this doesn't prove Jesus wasn't speaking literally. Perhaps, but contrast this counsel:

    Luke 17:2 It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he CAST INTO the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

Who believes Hell is watery? No, Jesus was the Master of Parables:

    Matthew 13:34 All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:

Why? Because these were simple people and he wanted to make his teachings clearly relevant to their daily lives so they could understand. The city people often carried their trash to the dump. The flames and the stench was powerful. If one was thrown into those flames there would be no hope of survival! City people could understand the serious consequences and hence understood his analogy.

Likewise, if a heavy millstone stone were tied about one's neck and he/she was cast into the sea, there would be no hope. Fisher people understood this.

Besides, the idea of eternal damnation and torture by the God of Israel was unheard of! HaShem, the God of Israel, is just and merciful. An eternity of torment for even 80 years of so of sin is neither. So where did this teaching come from? Like so much of Christian dogma, the belief comes from Roman Paganism (compare http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hades).

So what did Jesus teach?

    Matt. 22:23 The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him,
    24 Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die...[and his wife remarries even seven times...]
    28 ...Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.
    29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.
    30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.

Master Y'shua believed in the resurrection, as taught by the Pharisees and rejected by the Sadducees' doctrine.

So, what do the rabbis (the Pharisees) teach? They teach the resurrection, just like Jesus did.

The other word translated as hell is that found in the Tanakh (the "Old Testament"). This word is sheol.

In the KJV, sheol is translated grave 31 times, hell 31 times and pit 3 times. While some Jews do believe in a place similar to purgatory -- for a time that never exceeds one year -- the word literally means grave. When a person dies they go to hell, to the grave. The Sadducees thought life ended there. Jesus, like the Pharisees, knew the soul is never destroyed.

Like the Pharisees, Jesus would have believed in the resurrection of the dead to the earthly Kingdom once it is established and in reincarnation in at least some cases. These were the beliefs of most Jews of the day (other than the Sadducees who were considered odd for not believing this). This doubtless is what Jesus believed and taught.

Belief in the eventual resurrection of the dead is a fundamental belief of traditional Rabbinic (and Karaite) Judaism. It was a belief that distinguished the Pharisees (intellectual ancestors of Rabbinical Judaism) from the Sadducees (that and that the rabbis embraced the Oral Torah which both the Sadducees and Jesus rejected). The Sadducees rejected the concept, because it is not explicitly mentioned in the Torah (although it is in my opinion strongly implied -- Ezekiel 37 for instance). The Pharisees found the concept implied in certain verses and taught directly in the Oral Torah such as the Babylonian Talmud.

Belief in the resurrection of the dead is one of Rambam's 13 Principles of Faith. The second blessing of the Shemoneh Esrei prayer, which is recited three times daily, contains several references to resurrection. (Note: the Reform movement, which apparently rejects this belief, has rewritten the second blessing accordingly).

The resurrection of the dead will occur in the messianic age, a time referred to in Hebrew as the Olam Ha-Ba, the World to Come, but that term is also used to refer to the spiritual afterlife. When the messiah comes to initiate the perfect world of peace and prosperity, the righteous dead will be brought back to life and given the opportunity to experience the perfected world that their righteousness helped to create. The wicked dead will not be resurrected according to Jewish authorities. this is one of many areas where I agree with Master Y'shua's reform movement.

There are some mystical schools of thought that believe resurrection is not a one-time event, but is an ongoing process. The souls of the righteous are reborn in order to continue the ongoing process of tikkun olam, mending of the world. Some sources indicate that this reincarnation is a routine process, while others indicate that it only occurs in unusual circumstances, where the soul left unfinished business behind. Belief in reincarnation is also one way to explain the traditional Jewish belief that every Jewish soul in history was present at Sinai and agreed to the covenant with G-d. (Another explanation: that the soul exists before the body, and these unborn souls were present in some form at Sinai). Belief in reincarnation is commonly held by many Chasidic sects, as well as many other mystically-inclined Jews. See, for example Reincarnation Stories from Chasidic Tradition ( http://www.jewfaq.org/olamhaba.htm).

For my recurring dream of my previous life as a Jew living in Bulgaria click here.

As for those who are utterly wicked:

"Gan Eden and Gehinnom

The place of spiritual reward for the righteous is often referred to in Hebrew as Gan Eden (GAHN ehy-DEHN) (the Garden of Eden). This is not the same place where Adam and Eve were; it is a place of spiritual perfection. Specific descriptions of it vary widely from one source to another. One source says that the peace that one feels when one experiences Shabbat properly is merely one-sixtieth of the pleasure of the afterlife. Other sources compare the bliss of the afterlife to the joy of sex or the warmth of a sunny day. Ultimately, though, the living can no more understand the nature of this place than the blind can understand color.

Only the very righteous go directly to Gan Eden. The average person descends to a place of punishment and/or purification, generally referred to as Gehinnom (guh-hee-NOHM) (in Yiddish, Gehenna), but sometimes as She'ol or by other names. Again, we can see how thoroughly this imagery has impacted Hebrew society. By using the term Master Y'shua was drawing upon a long established tradition.


According to one mystical Jewish view, every sin we commit creates an angel of destruction (a demon), and after we die we are punished by the very demons that we created. Some views see Gehinnom as one of severe punishment, a bit like the Christian Hell of fire and brimstone only of temporary duration. Other sources merely see it as a time of reflection wherein we consider the actions of our lives objectively, contemplate the harm that we have done and the opportunities we missed, and experience remorse for our actions. This view is similar to the Hall of Akashic Records that many mystics reference. The period of time in Gehinnom does not exceed 12 months, and then the soul ascends to take his place in Olam Ha-Ba.

Only the utterly wicked do not ascend at the end of this period; their souls are punished for the entire 12 months. Sources differ on what happens at the end of those 12 months: some say that the wicked soul is utterly destroyed and ceases to exist while others say that the soul continues to exist in a state of consciousness of remorse, others say the wicked are sent back to earth and reincarnated so as to understand their errors.

This 12-month limit is repeated in many places in the Talmud, and it is connected to the mourning cycles and the recitation of Kaddish" ( http://www.jewfaq.org/olamhaba.htm)

Hell, as an eternal place of torment, does not exist in my opinion. The Master of Parables merely used the well known at the time metaphor to illustrate the importance of submitting oneself fully to Hashem. Like so much of modern Christianity, the doctrine of hellfire and damnation rose from a Pagan source.

As this imagery continued we find references to the Lake of Fire in Revelation and so on. All such references are figures of speech.

In simple terms, Hell is the absence of God's presence.
Hope this helps,

Maranatha,
~John of AllFaith




In the comment section the following question was asked but I didn't have room for a thorough reply, so here it is:

Political Junkie Commented:
Hi John,
As usual an interesting entry. I enjoyed reading it.
I tend to believe more in the concept of being completely cut off from the presence of God, like being inside a black hole.
Although, as you know, I do not subscribe to any kind of anthropomorphised personal diety.
If you've seen the movie, "What Dreams May Come", which is loosely based on Dante's inferno, I feel like Hell is more a state of mind, or state of the soul. As depicted in the film, this is not a punishment from some angry god, but a failure of the individual. If ever there was a film which spoke to the understanding of my heart, this would be the one!

Hi Political Junkie,
Yes! I love that film too.

There are many ways of illustrating a point. Master Y'shua chose two that his hearers could relate with, the town garbage dump and the sea. Were he speaking today he might reference the absence of God in one's life to be like being thrown into a trash compactor, being sentenced to life at Gitmo or indeed like falling into a Black Hole as you say.

There is a moment in Steven King's The Stand (I love Steven King!) when Nick (a deaf mute hero in the story) confesses that he doesn't believe in God. Mother Abigail (an elderly black woman who plays the role of Messiah following the outbreak of a disease that wipes out almost all life on the planet), looks at him for a moment astonished, then begins to laugh! "It don't matter Nick!" she tells him. "God believes in you!"

Whether those who disbelieve are aware of it or not, they are surrounded by God's Presence and Love at every moment of their existence. The absence of God means the absence of love, compassion, mercy, light, kindness, goodness, purity... the absence of everything that makes life worth living... technically of course the true absence of God would be the absence of all life, of existence itself... but God is merciful. As Master Y'shu said:

Matt 5:45 ... your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

God, the Ek Devata, is Absolute Love. Whether we believe or not.

If we fail to believe in love... then it would indeed be just as well for us to be strapped naked to a rocket and fired into a Black Hole. Without love we have nothing and God is Love.

Personally I believe in transmigration. I believe we enter into the material multiverse for diverse reasons but once here we become entrapped by our own greed, actions etc (ie by our karma, dharma and marga -- Click here).

I further believe that the idea that God punishes us for sins is in-congruent with a Being such as we Believers accept God to be. The idea that a Being who is omni everything would be concerned that puny little little me stole some gum when I was twelve or whatever makes no sense to me.

If however, as I believe, the nature of this Being is Pure Love and Mercy, then I have no problem believing that we are all given free will with personal responsibly.

In other words, it wasn't the gum that was the problem, it was what lays behind the act of stealing. For me to advance as a being of love and light I must purify myself from greed, deceit, lack of respect for others, placing my needs and wants before others, etc. etc.

Therefore it would be in the nature of this Being we call God to gently lead us and allow us to learn from our mistakes. Having received the effects (karma) for this action (karma) of theft that violated divine principles (dharma) I grow as an individual. This process (marga) is very important for we jivas (eternal living entities). I belief this was the teaching of Master Y'shua. God is out Father who is patiently leading us ever onward.

II Pet 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

This entry was in reference to George's comment questioning my statement (at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-wK0SX_k7dK5WgkkX01QOYwuwFxzFNQ--?cq=1&p=3314) that: "They [the Jehovah's Witnesses} are also correct that nowhere does the Bible teach the existence of hell. "

It should be noted however that they do indeed believe God punishes us. Those who refuse to become Jehovah's Witnesses of even worse who have been and then leave, are utterly destroyed. This would be a terrible price to pay and is no more loving than Hell Fire and Damnation would be.

The God I worship loves us and would never do such things.

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Monday, January 28, 2008

"It is time fo an awakening"

As I do from time to time, I'd like to share a question I received at AllExperts along with my response. Your thoughts are requested:


I have been studing the bible and many other authors such as Marcus J Borg, Greg Bradon, Bart D. Ehrman,Phillip Gulley with James Mulholland, I have read the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Nag Hammadi Scrolls, the Bible and many other books on the subjet. My son is born again christian and believes 100% in the bible. It contradicts itself over and over again, for every answer he sends me I find 3 against his, from the same book. He is stunned now because he has nothing left to come back on. I have beat him at his own game, much to his chargrin. I believe man has made God in his image not the othe way around. You can find something in that book to satisfy every belief system that is christian. Due to this book, wrote by man, the scrolls were passed and copied by scribes until the printing press in the 17th century was invented, there has been endless war and fighting over religon, wonderful. Every religon believe they hold the keys to heaven and if you arn't of that belief you go to hell, wonderful. The bible would have us convinced man is evil and sinfull but this same man kept the writings intact for centuries, having different scribes write word for word and not changing one word to satisfy their docterine, that would be a total contradiction.
If we would all have a heart like Jesus and not so much Jesus in our heart, we would have peace and love.Politics and religon have been in bed together for centuries, at first if you did't believe what the church said you would be round up, tortured,amd burnt,crucified, stoned to death or some other act of brutality. Religon forgets the comandment though shall not judge,though shall not kill, every religon judges, and the chatholics of course have murdered more Jews then Hittler ever thought of, in the name of God, or Jesus, who is about peace and love. Religons will have to pay for there evil doings in this world, they create havic all over the world every Sunday with there fight between good and evil, God and the devil. If you have devil in your congregation, mind and heart you are not 100% into God, you actually worship that lesser hierarchy. It is time religon gets its justice that it's due, due to the violence that follows them. I see hungry, homeless people and religon turns there back on them and continue to get rich.
I meet more hippocrits from religon, I am right you are wrong, if you don't see things my way you will go to hell, who made them judge? Religous Christians should actually reread the comandments and get off their high horse. Follow Jesus' words. Mark was wrote 30 to 50 years after the fact the rest were wrote up to 150 years after the fact, and religon would have you think this is absolut truth, they don't even know who these people were, but they believe word for word. If you put them side by side they contradict each other.
It is time fo an awakening.
My Reply:

Hi Caroline,

I don't see a question here.

To respond to every point you make would require more from me than you are probably interested in reading.

In a nutshell, you make statements that are mere opinion, "man has made God in his image not the the way around" (did you ever read the long poem entitled Second Genesis? Very cool!) and others that are debatable in scholarly circles or that you don't seem to fully understand, such as when and why the various books of the New Testament were written. Lets start with there.

The four biblical Gospels -- circa 50, 68, 60 and 85-90 CE respectively -- (and most of the others that were rejected by Irenaeus and his contemporaries) were among the latest New Testament books produced. Paul's letters are typically accepted the earliest, written around 30 years after Jesus' passing. Matthew would have been written about 20 years after his death, Mark around 35, Luke around 30 and John around 50 years after the Master's death which occurred in or around 33 CE according to traditional sources, or 26 CE by other more modern estimations.

The early followers of Jesus (Master Y'shua) were not "Christians." They were Jews and Jewish converts (hence the debates in the Book of Acts about how Gentile conversions to Judaism should take place considering that the Sanhedrin had ruled they should not be accepted unless they disavowed Master Y'shua as their Rebbe). Master Y'shua was a devout Jewish teacher and his early followers were all or all became Jews. His teachings were most similar to what today is known as Karaite Judaism (http://www.karaite-korner.org). This is to say, he rejected the divine origins of Oral Torah (the Talmud etc) which Pharisaical (ie Rabbinic) Judaism was/is based on. He further taught that the Written Torah (and the entire Tanach -- ie the "Old Testament") needed to be understood "by the spirit rather than by the letter of law" because, he taught, "the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath."

Master Y'shua's followers did not worship him as a god nor were they familiar with the notion of the "Holy Trinity." They honored the Sabbath, unlike later Christians who embraced the holy day of the Roman Sun God Sol Invictus. They worshiped the God of Israel and accepted the principles espoused by Master Y'shua in much the same way that Rabbinic Jews today accept the interpretations of Maimonides.

These followers therefore didn't "need" a New Testament per se because they had the same Torah (and Tanach) as their spiritual predecessors. However as the first followers began to age, die or be martyred, as various unfounded legions and stories began to circulate, as claims that Prophet Y'shua had actually been the Moshiach and that he had not really died but merely gone into hiding and would soon emerge and establish the Kingdom of God on Earth (the central role and function of the Messiah) and especially after the Jews (including those who followed the teachings of Master Y'shua) were expelled from Eretz Israel (in 70 CE), it became needful to chronicle Master Y'shua's teachings and, later, his basic life story (ie the Gospels). This resulted, as you know from the Nag Hammadi Library, in many contradictory works and teachings.

The early followers of the Way were as diverse in their views as the Hindus of the Sanatana Dharma. Each branch claiming to hold the true teachings of the Master.

As the followers of the Nazarene Way of Master Y'shua went out into the Roman world and beyond some merged the Master's teachings with diverse Gnostic realizations, others with various forms of Roman Paganism, others maintained their Nazarene beliefs well after Rome created the New Universal Religion (see below) and many such Arians died at the hands of the official Church in, as you say, direct violation of Scripture. This needs to be understood though.

One of the proclamations made by the Roman Pontiff (and one of the central issues that later gave rise to Christian Protestantism od the Reformation) was that the Bible was not enough, that those who would receive God's grace must also accept the authority of the Roman hierarchy and that ecclesiastical authority sanctioned the elimination of so-called heretics (such as those who remained true to the Master's teachings).

Faced with these persecutions a huge percentage of the Jewish followers returned to Rabbinical Judaism as did many of the Noahide (Gentile) converts.

Then came Constantine, Irenaeus, the counsel of Nicea and so on. This is too long a topic to address here in depth, but I do so elsewhere if you are interested: http://www.allfaith.com/Religions/Noahide/way4.html.

Again in brief, Constantine's mother was a convert to the teachings of Master Y'shua in some form unknown to us today and Constantine, seeking to unite his empire in all ways, chose these teachings to underlay the foundation of the Universal Church of Rome (ie "the Roman Catholic Church").

Part of this unification process required the establishment of official dogmas, beliefs and hierarchies. Constantine was for his entire life a devout worshiper of Sol Invictus (he converted to Christianity on his death bed) and so many of Sol's aspects were overlaid onto the newly developed personality to be known as "Jesus" (hence I distinguish between Master Y'shua and Lord Jesus). For instance as the Sun King is born on the night of the Winter Solstice Jesus was born on that day and we got Christmas. As Goddess Eostar and her fertile bunnies brought fertility to the earth, Christians embraced Easter on her feast day. etc. etc.

As Nicea determined official Church dogma, as Irenaeus determined which writings to include in the official biblical Christian (Catholic) Cannon (and more importantly which to ban from circulation), and as the various Roman customs and traditions were blended, the result was what we today know as Christianity in its myriad forms.

You mentioned the Doctrine of Original Sin, we got this interpretation and dogma from the Roman Catholic Saint Augustine.

Now, this history of the Church, debated of course by most Christians but solid according to known history, does NOT negate that religions worth or authenticity in any way. The Christian Church, as you say, is responsible for a LOT of evil and harm to the world, especially to Jews (and Pagans). However it has also benefited the world in countless ways as well.

We must carefully distinguish between "organized religion" and church hierarchies and the faith of individual believers. From out of the structures of the organized religions have emerged countless individuals, like Gandhi, like Dr. Martin Luther king Jr., like Saint Francis, like Julian of Norwich, like Caitanya Mahaprabhu, like Padre Pio, like Mother Theresa of Avila and Mother Theresa of Calcutta, and on and on and on who have been real blessings and inspirations to their peoples and to humanity at large.

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

This is the purpose of true religion. Or as Micah puts it in the Tanach:

Michah 5:6 'Wherewith shall I come before HaShem, and bow myself before G-d on high? Shall I come before Him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old?
7 Will HaShem be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?'
8 It hath been told thee, O man, what is good, and what HaShem doth require of thee: only to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy G-d.

Again, this is the goal of true religion. The obvious fact that some people abuse religion and religious truth is a shame that saddens the heart of all who love God and seek His Will, but it changes nothing. Of such abusers of religion and humanity Master Y'shua says through the hand of John the Beloved:

Rev. 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Such abuses do not reflect the goals and potentials of religion and religious faith. In the Gospels Master Y'shua refers to such people as whited sepulchres:
which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness! Rather such abusers are called to repentance!

The answer to all such religious questions is found in this wisdom recorded in the Srimad Bhagavad Gita:

18:66: Abandoning all types of religious and moral duties take refuge in Me alone. I will liberate you from all inauspiciousness; do not grieve. (translation mine: http://www.allfaith.com/Religions/Hinduism/gita18.html)

There is nothing more important in life than one's relationship with God and one's spirituality. However simply believing what others teach merely because it is tradition is not enough. As the Buddha exhorts us:

"Believe nothing, o monks,
merely because you have been told it ...
or because it is traditional,
or because you yourselves have imagined it.

Do not believe what your teacher tells you
merely out of respect for the teacher.

But whatsoever, after due examination and analysis,
you find to be conducive to the good,
the benefit, the welfare of all beings -
that doctrine believe and cling to,
and take it as your guide."

And as Master Y'shua taught us:

Luke 11:9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

Its about personal spirituality not "religion." So what if some 2000-4000 year old texts sometimes contradict themselves? I'd be shocked if they didn't! That doesn't matter. Even from a traditional Christian perspective, the Bible has never "saved" anyone! Jesus does. The Bible merely points the way to salvation and spiritual development.

But by setting out to destroy a weaker person's faith we commit a great evil against them!

If we convince the first grader that reading doesn't matter because he/she is too slow at it and after all, Tom, Dick and Harry are not real people anyway, or that calculus is so much more important than basic arithmetic that there is no need to understand it, what good have we done the child? Instead we have seriously harmed the child! Rather than negate a person's Quest for Truth we do much better to encourage the person to go ever deeper, to learn more.

Someone may tell me that, "The Bible is God's infallible Word!" I say, "Great! Let's study it! How did we come to get such an amazing book? What does it teach? What does it say in the non-translated (Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic) texts of our interests? What culture did it arise in? Why does it say thus and such? Let's go deeper and deeper and deeper!"

Or again, "Jesus is God's sacrifice for our sins!"
I reply, "Let's praise God for such a kindness! What does this mean anyway? How do sacrifices work? How could his death attone for my sins? Let's dig into this and understand it more fully!"

You see? Seek and we will find.
Destroy faith and we will spiritually wither on the vine.

Hope this helps,
Feel free to write back anytime,
~John of AllFaith

My Diet: Reasons

Since posting about my diet here and elsewhere I've received a few notes from people concerned about the possible health effects of such an extreme diet.

First, I think it is so cool that we have the technology wherein we can have friends around the globe who genuinely care about each other! This is very cool and heart warming to both know and experience! I sincerely wish to thank everyone who has written me about this! For those who may find this of interest, here is my response:

Thanks for your concerns and thoughts,

The extra weight I'm carrying is causing several other potentially serious health problems, for instance a lot of bad heartburn and indigestion. My feet are frequently becoming numb and at times painfully "tingly", which is a warning sign for diabetes (I was tested and am negative for it thank God), the muscle pains that are common with ME (ME is like a cross between MS and Lupis) are exasperated by the extra weight and have been getting worse lately. I have far too little stamina. I used to hike mountains and swim rivers (literally), now a trip down the hill to the mailbox winds me. My Sleep Apnea (also common with ME folks) is worse due to the extra weight. I could go on and on. There are several things that both clinically and experiential are worse for overweight people, or at least in my case.

I'm not concerned about looks or social pressures and I'm not passing any judgments on overweight people. My decision to drop the extra weight has nothing to do with that. In my case, I just turned 51 and am in poor health. I need to get my health better. One of the really harsh (and particularly annoying to me) aspects of ME is that too much exercise cuts off the oxygen that goes to our brain. This causes mental difficulties like short term memory loss, confusion, feeling "stoned" etc. Because of this, exercise must be engaged in carefully. I have an alpine ski machine that I use a bit, I walk a little, but by exorcise alone I can't get the weight off. This is a matter of health and my desire to live for many more years. Frankly, I want to live long enough to see the fulfillment of the end time prophecies and am convinced they are already well in process. Reading the newspaper or dependable Internet new sites is like reading the prophets. Everything is falling into place as they foretold.

Also, related, my research into the REAL ID System that will soon be introduced into the US, Canada and Mexico (soon to unite as the North American Union) has convinced me that when this new system is implemented I as thousands of others will refuse to accept it. Those who refuse will essentially become non-persons. Without REAL ID one will not be able to legally drive, fly on commercial planes, travel on commercial buses, travel between security zones (the checkpoints for which are springing up all over the country now as I saw on my recent trip back east) enter any federal government building, get passports (US passports are already RFID chipped by the way) receive federal aid, disability payments, food stamps, AFDC, welfare, HUD or other subsidies, etc. As the system develops, health information will be added, thus removing health care from the loop for non-compliant people. An out of shape obese person has little hope of surviving what lies ahead under such circumstances. This system, depending on the source one considers, may either be implemented this March or May. They were going to start the program May 1, 2005 but opposition to the RFID chip component put the idea on hold until this year ('08). According to the Department of Homeland Security website itself (http://www.dhs.gov/xprevprot/laws/gc_1172767635686.shtm), religious-based objections to the new system will not result in conscientious objector status being granted. The only option will be to accept or reject this pre-mark technology. Depending on exactly how they do it, I will almost certainly refuse it and embrace non-person status.

This aside, how many elderly people does one see who are seriously overweight? Not many. They typically don't live that long.

I agree that living on 300 calories for an extended time would be very unhealthy, however for a short period of time I don't see that it would hurt anything. I've done water-only fasts for 40 days once, 30 days a couple of times and for 20 days several times and never experienced any negative effects from doing this (quite the contrary in fact). This time I am eating, just not much, and it is working so far.

I sincerely believe that the darkest days of our nation's history are just ahead and that in order to survive them we must be physically and spiritually prepared. I am working to prepare myself as best I can.

If interested, sources of information about REAL ID and what lies ahead from my blog can be found here and elsewhere:

http://johnofallfaith.multiply.com/tag/real%20id The excellent "Freedom to Fascism" movie, various DHS quotes and links, my commentaries on this and other issues, and much more.

Also see my: http://johnofallfaith.multiply.com/tag/national%20id%20card for info on the REAL ID cards themselves.

One can also google:
real id
rfid
mark of the beast
North American Union
CAFTA
and so on.

There is a lot of info out there on what is coming down. The problem is, there is practically no real resistance yet.

Thanks again for your concerns,
~John of AllFaith

Saturday, January 26, 2008

A Note of Accusation From a "long time friend"

As I mentioned a few days ago, AllFaith.com has moved to a new server. This is always a pain as it requires so much clean-up. Most of the site is working properly again (though some problems still remain to be fixed). As I was checking for broken links etc. I came across the following post and thought it might be of interest to some of you here.

Hare Krsna,
~Jagannatha dasa adhikari



His Divine Grace Abhay Charan Bhaktivedanta Swami
(September 1, 1896–November 14, 1977)

A Note of Accusation From a "long time friend"

I just received an anonymous snail-mail note today that I thought worth commenting on. It was sent to my previous PO box and just arrived in my new box today. As there is no name and no return address I can't reply via snail mail. Assuming the author regularly reads my blog, I'd like to encourage you to contact me direct so we can discuss this. In the event that the views expressed in the note are shared by others, it seems worthwhile bringing this issue up as well.

The unedited note:

John...you are very disrespectful of Srila
Prabhupada...it is obvious that you went
astray as your arrogance and huge ego come
through in everything you write. Please stop
trying to do so much damage on behalf of
your self-serving interests.


From a long time friend of yours

The postmark says San Jose Ca. and is dated June 7, 2007.

First, I invite anyone who agrees with this "long time friend" of mine to show a single example of my ever disrespecting our Diksa Guru Maharaja, Srila Prabhupada!

In my opinion our Srila Prabhupada was one of the most spiritually potent religious leaders to appear during this age of kali Yuga! I offer my unworthy dandavats to him a billion times over!

For those unfamiliar with Srila Prabhupada:

His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami is known around the world as Srila Prabhupada, a title of endearment bestowed on him by his early disciples. Srila Prabhupada brought the Hindu sect of Bhakti Yoga known as Gaudiya (ie Bengali) Vaisnavism to the western world. Vaisnavism is one of the major branches of Hinduism. Srila Prabhupada established an international religious society known as ISKCON, the International Society for Krsna Consciousness, better known perhaps as the Hare Krishna Movement although this sect is but one of many branches of the Sanatana Dharma (greater Hinduism) to worship Sri Krsna.

I was fortunate to receive first initiation from Srila Prabhupada as I recount in my autobiographical section. Our beloved Guru Maharaja left his body (died) on November 14, 1977 before I was able to request second initiation. I received second initiation by the mercy of His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Bibudha Bodhayan Maharaja, acarya and spiritual master of the Sri Gopinath Gaudiya Math and appointed successor to Srila Prabhupada's most senior godbrother, His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Pramode Puri Goswami Maharaja.

Prior to Srila Prabhupada's passing he issued clear instructions about how his Movement was to continue after his departure. He also stated very clearly what was not to happen.

What was NOT to happen was ISKCON employing the same structuring system unsuccessfully tried by the Gaudiya Matha following Srila Bhaktisiddhanta's passing (our Srila Prabhupada's guru's organization). That system lead to the collapse of the Gaudiya Matha into rival factions and Srila Prabhupada felt that this system of many diksa (initiating) gurus weakened the Movement's ability to advance the cause of Lord Caintanya's prophesied Golden Age. Despite Prabhupada's clear rejection of this system, this is precisely the structure used by ISKCON today! Srila Prabhupada specifically rejected this system!

Our Srila Prabhupada wanted the Movement to remain one organization under a single acarya. This was his clear instruction to his followers and the ISKCON GBC (Governing Body Committee)

If I am at times harsh it is of this violation of Bhaktivedanta Swami's clear instructions in this matter.

What Srila Prabhupada instructed the implementation of a temporary structure known as the rikvik system.

Srila Prabhupada made it very clear that NONE of his disciples were qualified to lead ISKCON as a diksa guru. NONE of us. History has more than vindicated his opinion! The most senior of his disciples had only been initiated for about 10 years at that time, most not nearly even that long. This was not nearly long enough for any of them develop the skills needed to lead an international spiritual order, let alone to become an uttama adikari (Prabhupada said only such a fully realized master was qualified to lead ISKCON). Srila Prabhupada was a very practical man. Realizing none of us were ready, he instructed the GBC to handle the organizational affairs, as they had been doing for years, and that eleven of his key disciples would continue to do the initiations and teachings ACCORDING to his books, as they had been doing for years. In other words, the same system was to continue. The Eleven, continuing their roles as ritvik gurus, would initiate Srila Prabhupada's disciples in his physical absence. This is why he so often stressed that the Guru never dies and that he would continue to live and teach through his books. Following his departure (a true guru never "dies") these ritvik gurus, these representatives of the Diksa (initiating) Guru (ie Srila Prabhupada) would then be responsible for the decision of who to initiate and when. New disciples would STILL be initiated as disciples of Srila Prabhupada, just as before. Only Srila Prabhupada's physical presence on the earth was changed and most of his disciples never even saw him in the flesh anyway; Srila Prabhupada lived in his books (mainly translations and commentaries of the scriptures).

As I say, this plan was to be temporary. Never had the Gaudiya Vaisnavas used this ritvik system and Srila Prabhupada wanted it used as an interim system only. Unlike Christianity that teaches that Jesus is the eternal initiating guru (although of course not in those words), Gaudiya Vaisnavas have always believed a living physically present guru is best. Srila Prabhupada foresaw that at some point in the future the GBC and the majority of devotees would see in one of the eleven ritvik gurus (or perhaps someone else) the necessary qualities of an uttama adhikari and sole ISKCON acarya. AT THAT TIME the GBC (and it was assumed the rank and file devotees) would accept this person as the new ISKCON guru/acarya. As before, ISKCON would be a unified Religious Movement, managed by the GBC, under the parampara (disciplic succession) of a single fully authorized acarya. This was his system but ISKCON's GBC rejected his orders.

Until such a fully qualified guru appeared, Srila Prabhupada instructed that ISKCON could ask his Gaudiya Matha godbrothers for advise if needed, however his disciples were to remain within ISKCON and abide by his instructions as found in his books (ie not join the other mathas).

Those who argue that Vaisnavism never used the ritvik system (other Hindu groups have and do) and therefore can't miss the point. It was to be temporary, AND more importantly, Srila Prabhupada (both Bhaktivedanta and Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada) did MANY things that Vaisnavas had never done before... including in initiation! Very few of Srila Prabhupada's disciples were personally initiated by him.... that was all but unheard of!

This ritvik system was to be a temporary exception to the norm intended to make sure the devotees were properly lead and ISKCON continued to grow under authorized spiritual guidance.

However even before Srila Prabhupada left his body the Eleven ritvik gurus fell from their noble positions and began fighting one other for power.

After Srila Prabhupada's departure, almost immediately after, these men forged a VERY badly spliced tape supposedly by Prabhupada appointing the Eleven as 'zonal acaryas'. These unworthy disciples divided the world between them and ran their areas as minor fiefdoms. Some, like Hansadutta and Ramasvar, waged literal turf battles! Some went literally insane, some were revealed as chronic, malicious pedophiles, murderers, drug and prostitution runners, confidence men and were jailed and fined... on and on the list goes. Last I heard ISKCON is still paying off millions of dollars in legal fines and fees over these abuses.

Perhaps it will be assumed that I am exaggerating here, I am not. There was for a time a most excellent website that listed many of the offenses carried out by the Eleven. That website is now gone for some reason but an off-line friend who claims to have been associated with it sent me the following synopsis. Some of the following links work, some do not. When I have the time I'll try and clean this up more. It is posted here as I received it. The wording and certain of the, in my opinion, prejudices contained within this piece bothers me, however for those who want to understand what happened to the International Society for Krsna Consciousness the information is worth having in my opinion:

Much of what follows I can personally attest is accurate:




Kirtanananda: (Keit Ham) aka Bhaktipad, a practicing homosexual and pedophile in his self-created Holy Dham, runs prostitution sankritan parties, orders the beating of mother Jadurani, orders the murder of Sulochana das. Kirtanananda, for example, was alleged to have been living on a reputed homosexual "household" in Mott Street in New York City with Umapati and others involved in the 1960s "homosexual liberation" scene. Kirtanananda, finally in Jail, was fined $250,000 and is serving a twenty-year federal prison sentence for racketeering and conspiracy in two murders described in the Book "Monkey on a Stick".
Satsvarupa: (Steven Guarrino) Angry at Srila Prabhupada for shaming him in Dallas (when Satsvarupa cut down a holy fig tree) and that Srila Prabhupada stated that he "resigned" as His servant, when Srila Prabhupada had ordered him back to his zone. His attitude toward Srila Prabhupada had become venomously offensive. Cow neglect, destruction of the oral histories collected from Srila Prabhupada's disciples, creating the "false biography" called the LILAMRITA - planting the weed, in which all events are carefully "laundered" to protect the guilty and to misrepresent Srila Prabhupada. (The original tapes were destroyed to prevent corrections by future generations), helped, with his rhetoric, in the murder of Sulochana.
Jayapataka: a self-appointed bogus GBC ISKCON "guru" clone (clown), preaching homosexual pedophile philosophy, one of the biggest supporters of child molester Bhavananada. Jayapataka is a militant enforcer of cult ritualistic worship of homosexual pedophile Iskcon Gurus. He kicked out Kala and others who protested the molester regime, he still works closely with folks like child raper Satadhanya. Srila Prabhupada states that, "he will be responsible for the deaths of all the members of the Calcutta temple because he has hired an abominable sweeper to cook for the devotees and Deities, and that the food thus cooked is poisonous. Jayapataka REFUSES TO FIRE THE SWEEPER-COOK TO SRILA PRABHUPADA'S FACE! (I am the witness). Jayapataka co-supervises the PEDOPHILE run Mayapur Gurukula, and supports his BEST FRIEND Bhavananda, who WAS WITNESSED IN HOMOSEXUAL ACTS LONG BEFORE HE WAS APPOINTED TO BE RITVIK!
Tamal Krishna: (Thomas Herzig) Refused to accept exile in China, practically destroyed Vrindavan, destroyed relationship with George Harrision and John Lennon, Used Radha Damodar bus party to destroy as many temples as possible, destroyed many small, independent temples such as St. Louis temple, Tried to destroy the Bombay project by selling back the land to Mr. Nair (NNd: Srila Prabhupada (Mahaprabhu's "senapati bhakta", who declared "war against maya") called Bombay his "OFFICE"), Tamal is a key suspect in the MURDER OF SRILA PRABHUPADA. Four years before Srila Prabhupada's MURDER, he states that, "Srila Prabhupada is senile, old, and attached". Not exactly a qualification for a successor guru! Tamal Krishna said that his best friend was the homosexual pedophile and child molester Bhavananada. TKG is well known, all along in the 1970s, to have tried to undermine the "varnasrama" (householder society) effort that Srila Prabhupada envisioned. At one point TKG wanted to send all of the householders to Australia. He was also misbalancing the temples by draining manpower out, and discouraging and discrediting the "housholders" who were in charge of many of these temples, so much so that Srila Prabhupada tried to send TKG to China. Simultaneously, TKG would brag that he had to go and rescue Bhavananda from his (homosexual) jet set lifestyle. In other words, there was a tendency to discredit bona fide housholder life and support deviants in positions of authority. TKG was also sued successfully by Guruvastakam dasi for his role in protecting pedophiles in the gurukula of Texas. TKG is the prime creator of the bogus "appointed guru successor scheme", a hoax whereby he and a few other deviants declared they were "Srila Prabhupada's successors." This is related to the Srila Prabhupada poison conspiracy in that: a butler might poison his master to --declare that he is "the heir successor" to the master, in order to illegally take-over the estate of the master.
Hridayananda: (Howard Resnick) a self-appointed false GBC ISKCON "guru," wrote in his Eleventh Canto of his bogus "Srimad Bhagavatam" that the two worst pedophile Iskcon gurus are his examples of acharyas. Srila Prabhupad appointed Pradyumna Prabhu to finish translating Cantos 10, 11 and 12 of Srimad Bhagavatam but Hridayananda's unscrupulous usurpation of Pradyumna's sacred service marked only the start of his 20 year treachery GBC-teamwork trend of perverting Srila Prabhupada's books.
Bhavananda: (Charles Bacis) a practicing homosexual in the Holy Dham molesting Iskcon's Children in the name of God and Guru. Bhavananda was alleged to have been associated with Andy Warhol's homosexual, and apparently pedophile, entourage. Andy Warhol was a prominent leader in the "homosexual revolution." He was seen associating with young men, that is: he appeared to be a potential pedophile. Andy Warhol also applied to the city of New York for a permit to serve (aborted) human fetuses at his restaurant. It was said in ISKCON in the 1970s that Bhavananda was associated with this "jet set" crowd. Andy Warhol also made a very degraded movie about this time, called "Chelsea Girls," where the "girls" are actually homosexual men engaged in abominable activities. Some GBC knew that Bhavananda had a tendency to engage in anal sex with males by at least 1976.

Hansadutta: (Hans Kary) had been involved with substance abuse, guns, black market, smuggling, counterfeiting, inherits "prostitution sankirtan" from Rameshwara, kills cow, sex with disciples, drunkard, drug addiction, gun-shooting.

Rameshwara: (Robert Grant) soon to gift "leather miniskirts" to 15 year old statutory rape girlfriend, Sankritan "prostitution parties", is co-partner in Laguna Beach Drug dealing, helping in the murder of Sulochana
Hariksesha: (Robert Campagnola) Million dollar blackmailer, three-regulations, condom-pada, with meat-eating "Reincarnation of Srila Prabhupada" stepson (did we mention UFO's and psychotropic drugs and Tantra? ghostly possession, hypnotises disciples, using voodoo-doodoo shit on other devotees. Harikesha has been one of the greatest woman hater and is famous for his ruthless purge tactics.

Bhagavan: (William Ehrlichman) soon to run off with another man's wife and to REJECT KRISHNA CONSCIOUS PHILOSOPHY. One of the worst one's, using machiavellian tactics to control, cheat, and exploit Devotees on a large scale. Most vicious crooked calculating criminal.

Jayatirtha: (James Immel) Soon to preach that cannabis and LSD are Lord Chaitanya's "TRUE" sacrament. Loses head after stealing "disciples" wife. Jayatirtha, who was taking drugs and engaging in illicit sex with his followers, was later murdered (decapitated) by a disgruntled follower for his proclivity to engage in illicit sex with the wive's of followers.



Was Srila Prabhupada correct that none of these men were ready to be the spiritual master of ISKCON? I think that's fair to say, yes! And yet the GBC backed them until the court cases started to threaten ISKCON's very survival:

    John...you are very disrespectful of Srila Prabhupada...it is obvious that you went astray as your arrogance and huge ego come through in everything you write. Please stop trying to do so much damage on behalf of your self-serving interests.

Who is disrespecting Srila Prabhupada here? Those of us who point out the truth of this betrayal or those who would cover it up?

While there were already wrongs afoot before Srila Prabhupada left his body, after these men conspired to take over Prabhupada's Movement and disobey his direct instructions, many of them literally went mad. This madness is known as Vaishnava aparadha. I have committed this sin.

This disobedience and dishonoring of the Guru Maharaja got so bad that there are even accusations that Srila Prabhupada was murdered by these men! Personally, I'm not convinced he was murdered (nor that he wasn't), but it would answer certain nagging questions! For more on this allegation click here. Those devotees who believe this certainly do make a strong case for their views!

A friend of mine, Solocana dasa, who tried to point out these abuses was murdered for speaking out. His story is the subject of the book Monkey on a Stick (click here).


You can read Solocana's book, The Guru Business on-line for free HERE

Due to these countless abuses the vast majority of Srila Prabhupada's disciples left ISKCON. Some went to other Gaudiya Math groups, many joined other branches of Hinduism, many adopted Buddhism or other religions, while most merely merged back into the dominant culture. In my case, the eclectic nature of my beliefs lead me to many diverse places, including the Gopinath Gaudiya Math.

My interest in spirituality and religion was even more enlivened by my ISKCON experiences and I expanded my spiritual experiences outward into many different Hindu forms. I was initiated by various yogis such as Swami Brahmananda (Dr, Mishra), Swami Muktananda, Sri Ramana Rai and others. I also received second initiation from His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Bibudha Bodhayan Maharaja as mentioned above. I went into many non-Hindu religions as well. Despite this, part of me was jaded by what happened with ISKCON. Since that time I am more skeptical of those claiming spiritual authority, but perhaps this is a good thing.

Just to be clear, my beliefs and practices remain very eclectic, or what I call "AllFaith Spirituality" and should NOT be taken as those of Srila Bodhayan Maharaja or the Gopinath Gaudiya Matha or any other group. My beliefs and teachings are my own, inspired from many sources. Nonetheless, I do have tremendous respect for Srila Bodhayan Maharaja and were I to devote myself to Gaudiya Vaisnavism again it would absolutely be through his matha.

Srila Narayana Maharaja probably has more of Srila Prabhupada's disciples than ISKCON does today.

To my knowledge, the ISKCON GBC has never apologized, explained or even admitted any their many abuses (out of court) and yet because of them Srila Prabhupada's Movement was severely harmed and the faith of countless thousands of devotees was crushed or wounded.

Of course just to be clear there are ALSO MANY solid and righteous devotees within ISKCON today and I offer them my sincere dandavats (bows of respect). There are also several diksa and siksa gurus within ISKCON who are becoming true masters, some few of them may even have attained enlightenment by now, I don't know. I acknowledge this, even as I wish they would come clean about the past and the unauthorized system of organization ISKCON continues to employ to this day. ISKCON needs to do a major and public historical confession before its too late to matter. Until they do, their hands will remain soiled by Vaishnava aparadha in my humble opinion.

Because I was there (and often on the 'fringes') during much of the abuses that took place within ISKCON and do not shy away from sharing what I saw and know of them, I do have certain ISKCON devotees who do not like me. I can understand this, the truth hurts. Most of Srila Prabhupada's disciples have given up on ISKCON. Frankly, this includes me.

HOWEVER it is NOT accurate to accuse me of Vaishnava aparadha with regards to Srila Prabhupada! It is the GBC and the gurus of ISKCON who dishonor him by not following his clear demands and by attempting to hide ISKCON's true history of Guru betrayal.

To show the type of person our Guru Maharaja was, there is a story I've heard often enough from diverse devotees to believe it true:

    Srila Prabhupada, a very deeply honored and elderly teacher in poor health had been driven to Chicago's O'Hare airport to fly out to his next engagement. It was late and night, there was little traffic and it was snowing and raining hard with sever winds. The devotee driver pulled the car into a red zone before the airport entrance for Srila Prabhupada to get out. Another devotee hurried around to open his door and assist him. As the car door opened Srila Prabhupada looked down at the curb and saw that they were in a red zone. He stayed in the car and demanded the driver find a legal space to park! When the devotee tried to explain that it was OK to stop for a just a moment under such conditions, it is said that Srila Prabhupada replied, "If we will not obey man's law how shall we obey God's?"

ISKCON failed to obey God's law by directly and intentionally disregarding Guru Maharaja's instructions and from there proceeded to violate man's laws as well in countless cases. Srila Prabhupada refused to accept this course of action, ISKCON should do the same.

As for the second point in the note, that 'my huge ego comes through in everything I write,' my readers must decide that for themselves. False modesty can be just as egotistic as an inflated ego. I speak the truth as I see it in honesty and frankness. I do have certain beliefs that I have developed over the years, conclusions I have drawn, however I don't consider myself arrogant... perhaps that is true arrogance...

And for the final point, that I have some self-serving interests, you will need to explain to me what those are. I have nothing to sell or gain from anything I do on line. I am pushing forward no set agenda or movement. My point in everything I do teaching-wise is as follows:

THINK FOR YOURSELF


As always, I am ready to discuss this issue. You can contact me.


The Glorious Lord Sri Krsna and Srimati Radharani
Ki JAI!

Om
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