The School of Ek Devata
Considering that the Bible has been altered in certain respects, how can we know the truth?
Consider I John 2:26 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you [spiritually].
27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
The "anointing of God" is Ek Devata's spirit that dwells within us. In our hearts we know what is true and as we seek to become ever closer with the Holy One this inward "knowing" leads us on.
The "religion of Christianity" (ie the official dogmas), like all other religions of men, seek to control us and to define what we are to believe and do. In many cases this is done with the best of intentions. Humans need to be instructed, to be helped. And yet the Word of Master Y'shua, like the teachings of all the Masters, is freeing and so we have no need that any one should teach us.
Of course, Paul also tells us that many are called to be teachers...
In this seeming contradiction we can understand a great truth. The Bible is not our master, it is a source of information. Teachers are not our masters, they are (hopefully) people who are farther along the Path than we are and who can therefore advise us in wisdom. The Scriptures should never be understood as a series of "proof texts," but taken as a whole and the words of teachers should never be taken as "Gospel Truth," but as the shared wisdom of more experienced fellow travelers on the Way.
Ek Devata sends us the scriptures, teachers and ministers who can point us along our Way Home, but it is up to each of us, harmonious with the indwelling spirit of God, to determine our Path. This is known as "the Doctrine of the Priesthood of All Believers." We will each "stand before God" as individuals and "give an account" of what we have done with what we have been granted. No teacher, no priest, no rabbi, no scripture etc. can answer for us and none can "show us the Truth."
Think of this life as "the School of God." In kindergarten we are lost. We don't know what to do, which direction to go, and so we are told, "go here" and "believe this." Then as we advance in spiritual understanding we begin to question, "Why should I go there and believe that? Doesn't the Scripture say... Doesn't the indwelling presence of God tell me...
This is the teaching of God:
I Cor 13: 11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
13 And now abideth faith, hope, [love], these three; but the greatest of these is [love].
This "glass" is a mirror. When we begin to look into it as ego-laden 'children' we see only our own reflection and we think, "God is like me! What I like, God likes, what I dislike, God dislikes! I believe this is true and so does God! I know I should not do that, and look, God agrees with me! I don't like those people, and neither does God! There's even a verse that says..."
But we are merely beholding our own "reflections" as though in a mirror. God is more!
Many Believers never get beyond this point.
But those who are spiritually wise will gaze with ever more intensity and devotion into the divine mirror and as we do we begin to glimpse what truly resides beyond, beyond our distorted images of Truth, beyond our personal assumptions and prejudices, and we gradually come into deeper appreciation for the things of God. We gradually begin to get just the slightest taste of how utterly "Great" God truly is!
We also often discover that our growing realizations increasingly put us at odds with the beliefs of our former co-religionists and others. Many Believers, at this point, stop gazing into the mirror, which is fine. There is a cost to continuing... there is a cost for not. God grants us this liberty.
For those who continue to gaze ever more deeply however, the spiritual sojourn never ends because we can never come into full knowledge of the One God. What is "beyond" is unutterable and utterly transcendent. If we try and describe it we find we can not. There are no suitable words and applying words to the Truth only cheapens it, denies it, alters it into non-truth or partial truth. And so we hold the Truth we have thus far received in our hearts. We show love to all and judge no one, understanding full well that we have but skimmed the surface of the Ocean God's Gory. God is more! Always more! Seek and you will find!
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