The State of Isaiah's Body During His Soul Travel Experience of Ascension Through the Seven Heavens, by James Bean

 

The State of Isaiah's Body During His Soul Travel Experience of Ascension Through the Seven Heavens, by James Bean

People often bring a physical plane folktales sort of bias to stories of ascension found in old scriptures, imagining a Jesus, Paul, or Muhammad (and his horse) ascending through the stratosphere bound for space without pressurized space suits or oxygen to breathe. The reality is of course much different from the perspective of mystics, with these being solely spiritual experiences "caught up in spirit". 

Below is excerpted from the Ascension of Isaiah. The text describes Isaiah's visions of the Seven Heavens, but here I focus on the state of Isaiah's body at the beginning and at the end of his soul travel experience. Rather than flying through the sky, the nature of it was a spiritual experience Isaiah was having while sitting on a couch. The text describes Isaiah during this experience as "his eyes were open although his lips were silent, and the spirit of his body was taken up from him. And only his breath remained in him, for he was in a vision... and he was left looking like a corpse." At the end of the vision, very much reminding me of near-death experiences (NDE's) when the soul is told it still has more to do in the world and gets sent back into it's body, it says: "And this angel said to me, Isaiah, son of Amoz, I set you free; for you have seen what no mortal man has ever seen before. Yet you must return to your garments of the flesh until your days are completed."

"The Vision which Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw. VI (6). In the twentieth year of the reign of Hezekiah, king of Judah, Isaiah the son of Amoz, and Josab, Isaiah’s son, came from Gilgal to Hezekiah in Jerusalem. And Isaiah sat down on the king’s couch; and they brought him a seat, but he would not sit on it... 

"And they gave praise to him who had thus given to a man a door into an unknown world. And while he was speaking in the Holy Spirit in the hearing of all, he suddenly became silent, and his spirit was caught up into heaven, and he no longer saw the men who were standing in front of him. But his eyes were open although his lips were silent, and the spirit of his body was taken up from him. And only his breath remained in him, for he was in a vision. And the angel that was sent to explain things to him in the vision was not of this world, nor was he one of the angels of glory of this world, but had come from the seventh heaven. And, apart from the circle of the prophets, the people who were there did (not) believe that the holy Isaiah had been caught up into heaven. For the vision that the holy Isaiah saw was not a vision of this world, but of the world that is hidden from man. After Isaiah had seen this vision he gave an account of it to Hezekiah and to his son Josab and to the other prophets who had come. But the magistrates and eunuchs and the people did not hear it, but only Samnas the scribe, and Joachim, and Asaph the secretary of state; for they were men who did what is right and were approved of by the Spirit. And the people did not hear it either, for Micah and his son Josab had sent them away when the wisdom of this world had been taken from him, and he was left looking like a corpse....

"And I saw also the angel of the Holy Spirit sitting on the left hand. And this angel said to me, Isaiah, son of Amoz, I set you free; for you have seen what no mortal man has ever seen before. Yet you must return to your garments of the flesh until your days are completed. Then will you come up here. These things Isaiah saw and told them to all who were in attendance, and they sang praises."

-- Ascension of Isaiah, H.F.D. Sparks translation, The Apocryphal Old Testament  (selected from pages 794-812, a nicer translation of the books of Enoch, Odes of Solomon, and many other key writings, published in 1984)

IMAGES: 1) Swami Ji Maharaj of Agra used to meditate in a quiet, dimly lit cave-like "room-within-a-room" on the basement floor of his home sitting on a meditation cushion resting on this chair; 2) a rather intense-looking Swami Ji Maharaj (a.k.a. Seth Shiv Dayal Singh) in an old colorized photograph;

Vegetarianism and the Yoke of the Lord in the Didache, by James Bean

 

Vegetarianism and the Yoke of the Lord in the Didache, by James Bean

In an early Christian text called the Didache is a statement to new gentile converts to do the best they can, giving them time to adjust or transition to the ethical ideals of the Jesus Movement: "If thou art able to bear the whole yoke of the Lord, thou wilt be perfect. But if thou art not able, what thou art able, that do. But concerning meat, bear that which thou art able to do. But keep with care from things sacrificed to idols, for it is the worship of the infernal deities."

"The Yoke of the Lord" was a term for the ethical code of the Jesus movement according to the Didache, an early witness to vegetarianism at a time when some of the first gentiles became interested in following Christ. Vegetarianism was part of the Yoke of the Lord and here very opposed to even new converts from day one eating meat sacrificed to idols (“the worship of dead gods” as it’s rendered in another translation). Whoever composed that section of the Didache was part of a sect closer to the James the Just branch than Paul's version of Christianity. See Didache, chapter 6: https://othergospels.com/didache

IMAGE: Fragment of an early Christian scripture called the Didache: “The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles”

John the Baptist's Vegetarian Diet -- An Exploration of Early Christian Writings and Scholarly Texts - Spiritual Awakening Radio Encore Podcast

John the Baptist's Vegetarian Diet -- An Exploration of Early Christian Writings and Scholarly Texts - Spiritual Awakening Radio Encore Podcast 

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Due to a mistranslation of a particular Greek work in certain gospel manuscripts John the Baptist has gained the most unfortunate cave-man reputation of being a bug eater, an eater of locusts. It's supposed to be locust beans ("egkrides"), used to make a kind of Middle Eastern flat bread or cake from carob flour, not bugs ("akrides")! If we examine early Christian writings and learn of the Nasoraean movement the Prophet John was associated with, a wilderness sect operating near the Jordan River maybe somewhat related to the Essene branch of Judaism, we will discover references to the vegetarianism of John the Baptist and his disciples (Sabians, a "People of the Book"). Contemporary scholars have also recognized this and written about it. Today on this Spiritual Awakening Radio podcast we'll sort through the evidence, including a surprising number of fascinating passages from ancient sources, as well as learn about "Saint John's Bread" and the "Saint John's Tree" of the Middle East.

Since my original research on this topic, a couple more early Christian apocryphal writings have come to light, have been made available in English. These add to the surprisingly large collection of vegetarian references in early Christian writings regarding the diet of John the Baptist. New Testament Apocrypha, Vol. III, by Tony Burke was published and some John the Baptist books are included. In one of the earlier volumes there was a John the Baptist text made available for the first time in English that has a vegetarian passage regarding John's diet in the wilderness. Included in the third volume are, The Birth of Holy John the Forerunner, and, The Decapitation of John the Forerunner, both containing plant-based passages about John's diet consisting of "locusts from the tree" (in the Middle east called "the Saint John's Tree", and "Carob Tree") and "wild honey", also "an abundance of bread and wild honey dripping from a rock". Clearly there was an understanding in early Christianity that this was referring to locust beans (carob pods), not insects. Carob pods do look a bit like locusts hanging from tree branches, hence the name. Locust beans can be ground up and used to make a kind of Middle eastern carob flour flat bread. There's a "cakes dipped in honey" reference in the Gospel of the Ebionites. The wild "honey" was not from bees but sticky desert fruit of some kind. So, as you'll hear being documented during this podcast, there are all these plant-based references to John's diet coming from many different sources, and scholars have noticed and discussed these: 

"Probably the most interesting of the changes from the familiar New Testament accounts of Jesus comes in the Gospel of the Ebionites description of John the Baptist, who, evidently, like his successor Jesus, maintained a strictly vegetarian cuisine." (Professor Bart Ehrman, Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew) "His [John the Baptist's] food was wild honey that tasted like manna, like a cake cooked in olive oil." (The Other Gospels, Accounts of Jesus from Outside the New Testament, by Bart Ehrman)

John the Baptist was a prophet with large number of followers in Israel and Transjordan regions. After his passing, several of his successors headed what became various rival Nasoraean (Nazorean) sects, one of those being Jesus and the Jesus movement. "Again Jesus said to his disciples: Truly I say to you, among all those born of women none has arisen greater than John the Baptizer." (Matthew 11:11, George Howard's translation of Shem-Tov's Hebrew Gospel of Matthew, described as "the oldest extant Hebrew version of the Gospel of Matthew") 

Henry Ford: "Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young." 

Albert Einstein: "Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death."

All for the Love of Wisdom, Radio, and Podcasts,

James Bean

Spiritual Awakening Radio

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Gnostic Christian Psalms Discovered! How the Odes Became a Lost Book of the Bible - Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcast

 

Gnostic Christian Psalms Discovered! The Book of the Odes + How the Odes Became a Lost Book of the Bible - Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcast

It's as-if those who composed the Gospel of John decided to create a hymnbook. This is about the little-known discovery of a collection of early Christian psalms called, The Book of the Odes, written in Syriac-Aramaic, described by scholars as "some of the most beautiful songs of peace and joy that the world possesses." The Odes got mislabeled, misfiled, misunderstood, misplaced somewhere along the way becoming one of those Lost Books of the Bible. Time to explore this would-be book of New Testament psalms and that is finally gaining long overdue recognition and popularity in the 21st Century. This is one of two podcasts I've devoted to this inspiring collection of mystic-poems and music -- The Odes of Solomon -- once viewed as a sacred text by Jewish Christians, Syriac Eastern Christianity, various Gnostic movements -- it's quoted in Pistis Sophia -- and other early Christian writings.

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In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters,

James Bean

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The John the Baptist Podcast via Youtube - Spiritual Awakening Radio

 

The John the Baptist Podcast via Youtube

IMAGE: The Locust or Carob Tree, also called the Saint John's Tree of the Middle East. Hanging from it are carob pods. Yeah, they do somewhat resemble "locusts" to some extent, thus the name.

John the Baptist has a tarnished caveman reputation of being all about bugs and bees, eating locusts and honey in the wilderness. But this is really a story about one religion misunderstanding another, and a copiest mistranslating a Greek word and then his mistake is declared to be enshrined as scripture.  Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcast @ Youtube: https://youtu.be/rBM34Cm4laE

I just received my copy of, New Testament Apocrypha, Vol. III, edited by Tony Burke. As with the earlier volumes there are some John the Baptist books included. In one of the earlier volumes there was a vegetarian passage. In this new volume are, The Birth of Holy John the Forerunner, and, The Decapitation of John the Forerunner, both containing plant-based passages about John's diet consisting of "locusts from the tree" and "wild honey", also "an abundance of bread and wild honey dripping from a rock". Clearly there was an understanding by some in early Christianity that "locust" was referring to the carob pod and maybe a kind of carob flour flat bread, and the "wild honey" was not from bees but sticky fruit of some kind, not a diet from bugs and bees.

Indeed, there is a ‘vegetarian’ depiction of John’s diet in the Gospel of the Ebionites: "His [John the Baptist's] food was wild honey that tasted like manna, like a cake cooked in olive oil." (Verse from the Gospel of the Ebionites found translated in, The Other Gospels, Accounts of Jesus from Outside the New Testament, by Bart Ehrman)

“Probably the most interesting of the changes from the familiar New Testament accounts of Jesus comes in the Gospel of the Ebionites description of John the Baptist, who, evidently, like his successor Jesus, maintained a strictly vegetarian cuisine.” (Professor Bart D. Ehrman, Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew, pp. 102, 103)

The Key to Unlock the Inner Door of Spirituality - Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcast

 

The Key to Unlock the Inner Door of Spirituality - Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcast

There has always been a Living Mystic Path of the Masters operating in the world across the many centuries, across the ages of humanity. The Path of the Masters or Way of the Saints is in possession of the key that unlocks the inner door of spirituality: the embodied wisdom of qualified teachers, competent masters, that guide souls into developing their own meditation practice to successfully explore inner space, the path that ascends back to the Supreme Being in the Ocean of Love and Spirit. Here and there, from time to time since the beginning of time schools of spirituality have appeared as Lights in the darkness. Eventually they fade away, or sometimes get commandeered and transformed into more conventional earthly materialistic religions, with their sacred texts edited and their original saints declared to be heretics. As old branches of the mystic tree of life fall to the ground and turn to dust they are replaced with new living branches. "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." (Seneca) Such has been the history of the irrepressible saints and mystics on planet earth, this world of changes (samsara).

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Bawa Harnam Singh once asked Hazur Baba Sawan Singh, "'What difference is there between your faith and Guru Nanak's teachings?'

"'None at all', the Great Master replied. Nanak, Kabir, Dadu, Paltu, Tulsidas, Jagjiwan, Shams Tabriz, Maulana Rumi, Khwaja Hafiz, Mansur, Baba Farid, Mujaddid Al Sani, and all other Saints to whatever country, clime or religion they belonged, preached the same truth. The principles, the method, the teachings always remain the same, though the 'key' is transferred from one house to another after some time. It is said that 'God fulfills Himself in many ways lest one good old custom should corrupt the world'. At one time the 'key' to unlock the Inner Door was in the house of Kabir. Then it shifted to Guru Nanak, where it remained for ten generations. Then it went to Tulsi Sahib, from where it came to Swami Ji (Seth Shiv Dayal Ji). This is the law of nature. Change becomes essential after a certain period. You will find that the followers of such great Masters have totally forgotten their real teachings, though it has been only a few centuries since They departed from the world. The method of spiritual exercises, which was the essence of their faith during the time of the previous Masters, is quite unknown to their followers of today.

"'Now coming back to Sant Mat, it is not a new Path. It is as old as the world, and was born with man. There is one and the same Path for God realization for all times and for all countries and races. Saints have been coming to all countries and in all ages. Their way of life may differ, according to the customs, climate, characteristics and conditions of the country to which they belonged or the time in which they came, but their teachings, whether given in Sanskrit, Persian, Hebrew, Chinese or Arabic, always remain the same.'" (Hazur Baba Sawan Singh)

Today on this Sant Mat Satsang Podcast edition of Spiritual Awakening Radio readings from: Hazur Baba Sawan Singh, Swami Sant Sevi Ji Maharaj (Harmony of All Religions), Acts of Peter (New Testament apocrypha), Saint Isaac the Syrian, The Coptic Gospel of the Savior, The Book of Grace (Syriac), John of Dalyatha (Syriac mystic), The Apocryphon of James, and, The Apocalypse of Paul (from the Gnostic Nag Hammadi Library of Egypt), Bar Hebraeus (Book of the Dove, Syriac text), Acts of John (extra-canonical text), Simon of Taibutheh (Syriac mystic), Kirpal Singh (God Power, Christ Power, Master Power), Baba Ram Singh (from the satsang discourse: Once We Come To The Eye Center, The Progress Further In The Inner Planes Is Much Faster), Huzur Maharaj Rai Saligram (Prem Bani Radhasoami, Volume Four), and mystic poetry verses from Sant Namdev.

In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters,

James Bean

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Odes of Solomon, Lost Psalms of Early Christianity Discovered - Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts

 

Odes of Solomon, Lost Psalms of Early Christianity Discovered

“I extended my hands and hallowed my Lord,

For the expansion of my hands is His sign.

And my extension is the upright cross.

Hallelujah.” (Ode 27)

Out of all the apocryphal writings I've collected, I think the Odes of Solomon is the most beautiful, inspiring and inspired, the greatest scripture of the Jesus movement. It is the would-be book of New Testament psalms! The Book of the Odes has been described as the first known hymn-book of early Christianity. They have nothing to do with "Solomon" but somewhere-along-the-way got mislabeled and assigned to the genre of Old Testament Apocrypha as the Odes represent one of the earliest of Christian documents near the beginning of the Jesus movement within Judaism and so composed before a time when there were many Jewish or Christian writings associated with a "new" covenant, and long before the concept of a New Testament canon or collection of scriptures was conceived of. Thus, this collection of psalms was named in a way that's reminiscent of how some scriptures were assigned names during the time of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the pseudepigraphical literature. This indicates a very early date of composition.

For me the Odes, as well as another collection of mystic poems called, Metaphysical Meditations, by Paramahansa Yogananda, during my formative years as a spiritual seeker proved to be quite influential. They also gave me a preview of the type of literature I would eventually be introduced to: the Adi Granth (Sikh Scriptures) and various collections of bhakti mystic poetry of the Sants of India: Kabir, Dadu, Namdev, Paltu, Tulsi Sahib, Soamiji Maharaj, and many others.

I know a thousand Rumis the world needs to hear,

to be soothed by the Voice of the Soul

that speaks through them all.

Hafiz, Shams, Sarmad, Kabir, Mira Bai, Sahajo Bai,

Rabia, Tukaram, Hazrat Sultan Bahu, Baba Farid,

Nanak, Tulsi Sahib, Surdas, Dariya Sahib,

Dharam Das, Namdev, Ravidas, Paltu —

countless are the lovers of the Beloved.

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The Odes of Solomon consist of 41 psalms. The Odes are believed to have originated in either Antioch or Edessa in Syriac-Aramaic most likely during the First Century AD.

One scholar (James Charlesworth) said of the Odes, "Here are some of the most beautiful songs of peace and joy that the world possesses."

The New Testament scholar Bentley Layton says that the Odes were considered to be inspired scripture and were chanted by Christians who lived in Syria and all around Mesopotamia about 2,000 years ago.

J. Rendel Harris, the discoverer of one Syriac-Aramaic manuscript of the Odes, said the Odes were eventually included in the Sahidic Bible of Egypt.

These ecstatic hymns remind me of Rumi or Sufi love poetry in the tradition of "the lover and the Beloved." They also remind me of the Sikh scriptures (Adi Granth) and mystic poetry of the Sants. Many have adopted the practice of contemplating verses of the Odes and report being brought to a deeper level of devotion (bhakti); being caught up in a love-affair with God, the Ocean of Love. That's also been my experience.

ODE 12: Through the Word (Logos)... Worlds Converse!

"He filled me with words of truth

that I may speak the same.

Like the flow of waters truth flows from my mouth,

and my lips reveal its harvest,

and it gives me the gold of knowledge

for the mouth of the Lord is the true Word

and the Door of His Light.

And the Highest One gave the Word to His worlds,

which interpret His own beauty,

recite His praise,

confess His thought,

are heralds of His mind,

are instructors of His works.

For the swiftness of the Word is ineffable

and like His statement are Its swiftness and sharpness.

Its course knows no end,

It never fails, it stands.

Its descent and Its way are incomprehensible.

Like His work is Its end

for It is the Light and the dawn of thought,

and through It worlds converse...

The mouth of the Highest One spoke to them

and he was made clear by His Word.

The dwelling place of the Word is man

and Its truth is love."

In Divine Love, Light and Sound, Peace Be To You,

James Bean

Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts

Spiritual Awakening Radio

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The Secret Gospel of Mark After All? Solving the Secret Mark Dilemma, By James Bean

 

The Secret Gospel of Mark After All? Solving the Secret Mark Dilemma, By James Bean

Photograph of page two of "Clement's letter to Theodore". Not only Morton Smith but other scholars also saw this now lost, destroyed or hidden Mar Saba library manuscript. See background information about the Secret Gospel of Mark in the Wikipedia entry linked below.

How to reconcile verses of Secret Mark that seem to fit nicely into the regular Gospel of Mark and are rather intriguing, this despite the fact that the story of the now inaccessible Clement document seems rather suspect (according to most scholars)? I wonder if perhaps there could be some middle ground with Secret Mark. It sounds a bit both-sides-ish (a "Marcion" type position that goes half way, unsatisfying to Gnostics and Orthodox alike!), but perhaps there's some ancient origin of the verses of Secret Mark after all, even though Morton Smith placed (or found) them in a problematic document attributed to Clement of Alexandria. I wonder if Smith discovered the verses somewhere, maybe in a "heretical" book and saw them as legitimate, but for whatever reason decided they would never be taken seriously unless given a better venue, so he created a document attributed to an early church father to serve as a more effective means of sharing the verses? 

Another possibility is, that Smith was honest in his reporting about the Clement letter, and it was the work of a scribe copying manuscripts long ago that placed these verses of Secret Mark into a forged letter attributed to Clement. Why would some monk who lived many centuries ago do such a thing? The verses might have originated in a gospel deemed by his tradition to be from a heretical source. I will say this. I have seen Orthodox authors in the Philokalia, a collection of mystical writings, quote saints that fell out of favor, were eventually declared to be heretics. Certain Syriac Christian writers have resorted to this maneuver as well. Some mystics valued these kinds of not-so-orthodox passages and wished to quote them anyway, so they gave the sources new names, invented fake names or attributed the quotes to someone more palatable like "Saint Neilos" as a way to get away with quoting material that otherwise would have been off-limits!

For background on Secret Mark, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Gospel_of_Mark

Replacing Toxic Religion With Compassionate Spirituality - Freeing Captive Souls - Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcast

 

Replacing Toxic Religion With Compassionate Spirituality - Freeing Captive Souls

Jesus and the Unwashed Disciples Crash the Temple: A Delightful Story from the Unknown Greek Gospel of Oxyrhynchus 840 on the Egalitarian Spirituality of Jesus

Sant Tulsi Sahib comes to the aid of a a Sudra (member of the "untouchable" caste) -- Brahman-Pharisee Parallels -- Another Example of Imagined Ritual vs. Real Spiritual Purity

The Egalitarianism of Jesus, Tulsi Sahib, Baba Devi Sahab, and the Love Chapter of Huzur Maharaj Rai Saligram

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In Spiritual Freedom,

James Bean

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Hidden Christianity: Forgotten Scriptures, Ignored Saints, Misplaced Mystics

Hidden Christianity: Forgotten Scriptures, Ignored Saints, Misplaced Mystics -- Fragments of a Faith Forgotten -- Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcast

Hidden Christianity: Forgotten Scriptures, Ignored Saints, Misplaced Mystics -- Fragments of a Faith Forgotten -- Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcast 

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"Contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the Saints." (from the Book of Jude)

The Septuagint Greek translation of the Jewish scriptures, made for the Library of Alexandria, was literally "The Bible" of early Christianity, and it included several additional texts (Apocrypha) not found in other Bibles. A translation of it in contemporary English has been published.

Aramaic Was the Language of the Original Jesus Movement: There are impressive Aramaic-Syriac manuscripts of the New Testament that have been translated into English, and even older Aramaic-Syriac manuscripts of the four gospels. Discover the Peshitta, and the Old Syriac Gospels (Evangelion da-Mepharreshe) from Codex Sinaiticus.

Divine Light in the Dead Sea Scrolls: We next turn our attention to the Dead Sea Scroll discovery of Qumran, and hear selections of hymns (psalms) composed by the enigmatic prophet, who was the founder of this community in antiquity, known only as "The Teacher of Righteousness". Also mentioned is the Book of First Enoch, quoted by Jude in the New Testament, and a popular text at Qumran.

The Psalms of Early Christianity Are Back: The book where the Messiah perhaps for the first time begins to materialize, makes his first literary appearance in the first century A.D., is the Book of the Odes. This mysterious collection of ancient hymns written in Syriac, a dialect of the Aramaic language, has been described as "some of the most beautiful songs of peace and joy that the world possesses." These mystical poems and prayers remind me of Rumi and other Sufi poets. Sometimes I refer to the Odes as 'the would-be book of New Testament psalms', and I find the Odes to be a very spiritual book, one of the finest examples of a "lost book of the Bible" that got misnamed, misfiled and misplaced somewhere along the way. And, yes, it was viewed to be scripture in some places, such as Asia Minor, Syria/Mesopotamia and Egypt.

The Author of the Gospel of Luke Said "Many" Had Already Composed Gospels Before He Wrote His: We learn about Sayings Gospel Q, a collection of the sayings of Jesus. Quotes from it were included in several early Christian gospels. We also explore a translation containing over twenty gospels and surviving fragments of gospels from the early centuries A.D.

The Gospel of Thomas, A Wisdom Gospel or Gospel For Contemplative Mystics Seeking A Present-Tense Kingdom of God Here and Now: The Gospel of Didymus Jude Thomas the Twin, a collection of the sayings of Jesus, went missing for almost two millennia until three copies of it were almost miraculously discovered several decades ago: two sections of it written in Greek found at Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, and a more complete edition in the Coptic language discovered near a monastery not far from Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt buried under the sands of time in a clay storage jar. This important lost book has been found again. Practically predicting it’s own rediscovery the book of Thomas says: "Know what is before your face, and what is hidden from you will be revealed to you. For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor anything buried which will not be raised." (Saying Five) Also mentioned is the possible inclusion in the Gospel of Thomas of a few sayings of Yeshua from another early Christian scripture known as the Gospel of the Hebrews.

If You Don't Want Your Saints and Mystics, We'll Tak'em! In the West, they might not be known, are not usually quoted, and their names are never spoken. Today we remember a few of the "orphan" saints and "homeless" mystics of Christianity, including those from the almost unknown community called "The Church of the East". Shared are excerpts from the out-of-this-world prayers of Joseph the Visionary.

This Spiritual Awakening Radio podcast includes a list of recommended reading: translations of the scriptures referring to above, anthologies of apocryphal writings, and also mentioned is the book, Disciples, by Keith Akers, a scholarly, rather thorough and impressive documentation of the vegetarianism of the Jesus Movement (Ebionites or Hebrew Christians).

In Divine Love, Light, and Sound,

James Bean

Spiritual Awakening Radio

https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com

The Spirituality and Wisdom of the Lost Books of the Bible (Gnostic Gospels) -- Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcast

 

The Spirituality and Wisdom of the Lost Books of the Bible (Gnostic Gospels) -- Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcast

The Spirituality and Wisdom of the Lost Books of the Bible (Gnostic Gospels) -- Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcast: @ YouTube: 

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Background on the Origins and Discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library and Other Gnostic Gospels of Egypt; Wisdom from Wisdom Gospels; also, the Seven Ingredients of a Living Spiritual Path

 

The History of the Destruction of Wisdom 

 

Muhammad ‘Ali al-Samman’s mother would often grab a few pages of Coptic texts to use them for kindling in the morning to light the family woodstove and make tea, perhaps do some cooking also. No doubt it was very nice tea, brewed thanks to the sacrifice of a few pages of unknown and lost Nag Hammadi pages, perhaps from the Gospel of Mary or lost book of Third Allogenes! The misplacing, forgetting, and random destruction of wisdom is all very much part of the story of Gnosticism on planet earth. But perhaps we can remain hopeful like the author of the Gospel of Thomas: "Know what is before your face, and what is hidden from you will be revealed to you. For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor anything buried which will not be raised." (Saying Five of Greek Thomas)

 

Meditation

 

Would you look at that! This passage from the Acts of Peter provides a great description of meditation practice: "Give ear; withdraw your souls from all that appears but is not truly real; close these eyes if yours, close your ears, withdraw from actions that are outwardly seen; and you shall know the reality of Christ and the whole secret of your salvation."

 

"Look at God within yourself, how 'God is Light.' For his Nature is a glorious, many-splendored Light. He manifests the Light of his Nature to those who love Him in all the worlds…" (John of Dalyatha, Syriac Mystic)

 

God is the Ocean of Love.

 

In Divine Light and Sound, Peace Be to You,

James Bean

https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com

Podcast: Lost Psalms of the New Testament Restored: The Book of the ODES

 

Podcast: Lost Psalms of the New Testament Restored: The Book of the ODES

Let's Explore the Would-Be Book of New Testament Psalms: THE ODES -- The Restoration of the Hymnbook of Early Christianity, Today on Spiritual Awakening Radio. The Odes got misnamed, misunderstood, misfiled, misplaced somewhere along the way becoming one of those Lost Books of the Bible. As far as I am concerned, The Book of the Odes, is the greatest extra-canonical or apocryphal scripture of all time. This mysterious collection of ancient psalms known as, The Book of the Odes, composed in Syriac- Aramaic, has been described as "some of the most beautiful songs of peace and joy that the world possesses." We are grateful for the restoration of the Hymnbook of Early Christianity, the would-be book of New Testament psalms!

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