My dear brother, at the beginning of this message, it is necessary to establish certain definition, that is: What does the
word “Christ” mean?
It is not as obvious as it may seem at first glance. You have been asked at times, how Jesus could sign his messages with
the words “your brother in Christ,” when he himself is the Christ.
Of course, I know that your are aware of the difference between the person “Jesus of Nazareth” and the concept of
“Christ,” but it is worthwhile dedicating a few lines to this topic.
Jesus of Nazareth was born as any other man is born in this world. He was a man, a mortal. He was not born as the
Christ, but only through his later development, the “Christ principle” was conferred upon him.
What does this mean?
Jesus’ continuous efforts to obtain the God’s Love, his life in prayer and meditation, and principally, the practical
application of his spiritual gifts allowed that his soul became transformed from a purely human soul into a divine soul,
changed by Divine Love. All this happened when Jesus was still relatively young; it was not the product of the so-called
“wisdom of age.”
The word Christ means “anointed one,” exactly the same as the word Messiah means. Ordinary people, in Hebrew
tradition, became kings or priest through their anointment; that is to say, they became very special people, according to
the criteria of mortals.
In the spiritual sense, the “Christ principle” converts ordinary people (the natural human souls) into something very
special (into divine souls, transformed by the Divine Love). The Christ, therefore, is an external essence, conferred from
outside, by God and by means of the Holy Spirit, upon anyone who asks for it in a correct way.
In other words, Jesus and Christ are not synonymous expressions. Jesus of Nazareth was a mortal, as millions of mortals
exist. Christ is an attribute, an external essence, which was conferred upon Jesus. But it has also been conferred, later on,
upon many other people, who achieved the complete transformation of their souls by means of the Divine Love. When
we use the word “Christ” for people, who have been transformed by the “Christ principle,” that is to say, by God’s
Love and Grace, then there are millions of Christ's, and the first among them was Jesus of Nazareth, and he continues
being the most developed spirit in the universe, whose AtOnement with God is the most intimate among all spirits.
Primitive Christianity developed in diverse communities, which usually maintained good communications to each other.
The were also more isolated groups with their own traditions. One of the last mentioned groups was the
Johannites
community, which developed in northern Palestine, in those regions conformed today by Galilee, the Lebanon and parts
of Syria. This community was integrated by Jews and Samaritans, and it maintained few contacts with orthodox
Judaism, it even strongly opposed the Temple cult, very contrarily to the original attitude of the principal
Judeo-Christian church in Jerusalem, and because of its vicinity to the Hellenistic world of the oriental empire, it
incorporated eventually many of the Hellenic tendencies of the diverse churches, which flourished in the east, for
example, Gnostic and Docetic traits.
What I am presenting here as a simple fact, was actually the product of a long development.
This community of Jewish origin had been able to live together with orthodox Judaism, as one of its sects, but suddenly,
when the Christian congregations (that is to say, Judeo-Christian congregations) were expelled from the synagogues by
means of the “Birkat ha-Minim”*, the fraternal love between Jews and Christians became hatred. Frustrated and
embittered, the Johannites community would incorporate many anti-Jewish elements into its gospel, into its liturgical
writings, what would, in the future, be fatal for the relationship between the powerful Christian church and the Jews.
The gospel of this community was based originally on the apostle John’s scarce and short writings, and several other
writings, attributed to the same author, were circulating, such as the three epistles and the Book of Revelation.
I will not deepen now upon this topic, because we will do so, when we will talk about the development of the ancient
Christian church. But now we come to a concept, which is found just there, in the literature of the Johannite community:
“The antichrist.”
The question, then, which we will try to develop, is: What is the antichrist?
This word is composed of two parts: We have already defined the expression “Christ,” and the other part, “anti,” means
“against” or “instead of” something.
The antichrist, therefore, is a person or doctrine acting or pronouncing itself against the Christ (depending on what one
understands under this expression), or somebody who claims to be the Messiah.
It is easy to see that for Johannite Christians Simon bar Kokhba, the leader of the Jewish revolution against the Romans
in the second century, was an antichrist. It is also clear that the Jews, as a people, were antichrists. In other words, any
person or doctrine opposed to their own doctrines were considered as antichrists.
This concept has suffered changes in the course of the centuries, of course. When the heresy of gnosticism was
spreading ever more over vast extensions of the Roman Empire, the Johannite community joánica, feeling threatened,
used the word “antichrist” for denominating gnosticism. Later on, the idea that the antichrist was “the devil’s right
hand” would win more and more ground, forming the background at the present time for many horror movies.
Even politics took possession of this concept, and now many politicians share the doubtful honor of conforming the
illustrious ranks of antichrists in the mouth of preachers, mainly of fundamentalist and apocalyptic sects.
The antichrist concept also brought problems for many thinkers of the churches. On one hand, the Johannite canonical
literature warns of the presence and coming of antichrists, who would deceive people and lead them to their doom. On
the other hand, believers are expected to believe blindly in the doctrines of their churches. However, especially in the
past, when love was notorious for its absence in the ecclesiastical powers of all sides, one group called the others
antichrists, the Pope was the antichrist for the Protestants, the reformers were the antichrists for the Catholics, etc.
You remember that meeting, in whose course a lady spoke to you of the devilish Lutherans and their false doctrines.
And you replied, “Lady, had you been born not here but in Sweden, you can almost be sure that you would now be a
Lutheran, speaking in the same way of the papists. Don’t you believe so?” And she looked at you gasping and with
contempt.
Now we face the situation that there is a vast number of churches, all of which affirm to be owners of the truth. And
therefore, all the others, in some way, are “antichrists.” But how can you know which one of them is the owner of the
truth, if there should really be an owner of the truth in this world?
Jesus said to Thomas: “Is it because you have seen me that you believe? Happy are those who have never seen me and
yet have believed!”
Why did he say this? Because God has not put us blind or deaf into this world, in the spiritual sense, but with
“ore-installed” perceptions in our souls, perceptions that allow us to discover and to know for ourselves. The
development of these perceptions and faith or sure knowledge which result, are definitively the obligation and the great
satisfaction for all of us. You know already how you may develop your perceptions: This development is the result of
the development of the soul in the Divine Love.
Remembers what Mary once told the children of Medjugorje: “Open yourselves to prayer so that prayer becomes a need
for you!”
When people, through prayer, experience how their soul perceptions become keener, they live so much happiness, and
it is exactly then, when it is no longer a question of “ not forgetting to pray,” because prayer has become “as sweet as
the honey,” a pleasure, a necessity and a fulfillment at the same time.
There is only one way to overcome the “phantom of the antichrist”: Reach spiritual maturity, trust fully in what God
grants you to know, without having to trust in what others may present you as the truth.
Therewith, I hope I have dealt with the topic of the “antichrist” to your satisfaction.
Now, my dear brother, I wish you a day filled with love and fulfillment. See you soon.
Your brother in Christ,
Judas
*H.R.: Min (plural minim) indicates “heretic,” that is to say, the Jew who had converted to Christianity or a form of
Jewish Gnosticism. They were called “minim,” because they were still considered Jews, but aberrant ones. The text of
the Shemoné ‘Esre Berakot (18 blessings, which are in fact 19, through the addition of the so-call Birkat ha Minim: the
heretics’ blessing, which actually is a curse): “May the Nazarenes (Christians) and the minim (heretics) disappear in the
twinkling of an eye.”
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