Paper 166
1. This entire mission of three months in Perea was successfully carried on with little help from the twelve apostles, and the gospel from this time on reflected, not so much Jesus' personality, as his teachings. But his followers did not long follow his instructions, for soon after Jesus' death and resurrection they departed from his teachings and began to build the early church around the miraculous concepts and the glorified memories of his divine‑human personality.
2. A wealthy Pharisee named Nathaniel... made a breakfast ... and invited Jesus as the guest of
honor ... The Master immediately took his seat at the left of Nathaniel without going to the
water basins to wash his hands ... After considerable whispering between Nathaniel and an
unfriendly Pharisee on his right ... Jesus finally said: "I had thought that you invited me to this
house to break bread with you and perchance to inquire of me concerning the proclamation of
the new gospel of the kingdom of God; but I perceive that you have brought me here to
witness an exhibition of ceremonial devotion to your own self‑righteousness ... How carefully
you cleanse the outside of the cups and the platters while the spiritual‑food vessels are filthy
and polluted! You make sure to present a pious and holy appearance to the people, but your
inner souls are filled with self‑righteousness, covetousness, extortion, and all manner of
spiritual wickedness. Your leaders even dare to plot and plan the murder of the Son of
Man ...Woe upon you Pharisees who have persisted in rejecting the light of life! ...Woe upon
all who shun justice, spurn mercy, and reject truth! Woe upon all those who despise the
revelation of the Father while they seek the chief seats in the synagogue and crave flattering
salutations in the market places!"
3. When Jesus would have risen to depart, one of the lawyers who was at the table, addressing him, said... "Is there nothing good in the scribes, the Pharisees, or the lawyers?" And Jesus, standing, replied to the lawyer: "You, like the Pharisees, delight in the first places at the feasts and in wearing long robes while you put heavy burdens, grievous to be borne, on men's shoulders... Woe upon you who take your greatest delight in building tombs for the prophets your fathers killed!... Woe upon all of you lawyers who have taken away the key of knowledge from the common people! You yourselves refuse to enter into the way of truth, and at the same time you would hinder all others who seek to enter therein. But you cannot thus shut up the doors of the kingdom of heaven; these we have opened to all who have the faith to enter, and these portals of mercy shall not be closed by the prejudice and arrogance of false teachers and untrue shepherds who are like whited sepulchers which, while outwardly they appear beautiful, are inwardly full of dead men's bones and all manner of spiritual uncleanness."
And when Jesus had finished speaking at Nathaniel's table, he went out of the house without partaking of food.
4. The next day Jesus... encountered a group of ten lepers ... Nine of this group were Jews, one a Samaritan... when Simon Zelotes observed the Samaritan among the lepers, he sought to induce the Master to pass on into the city without even hesitating to exchange greetings with them. Said Jesus to Simon: "But what if the Samaritan loves God as well as the Jews?... Jesus, going near the lepers, said: "If you would be made whole, go forthwith and show yourselves to the priests as required by the law of Moses." And as they went, they were made whole. But
when the Samaritan saw that he was being healed, he turned back and, going in quest of Jesus, began to glorify God with a loud voice... As the Samaritan remained kneeling at Jesus' feet, the Master, looking about at the twelve, especially at Simon Zelotes, said: "Were not ten cleansed? Where, then, are the other nine, the Jews? Only one, this alien, has returned to give glory to God." And then he said to the Samaritan, "Arise and go your way; your faith has made you whole."
5. Though all ten of these men really believed they had leprosy, only four were thus afflicted. The other six were cured of a skin disease which had been mistaken for leprosy. But the Samaritan really had leprosy.
6. As Jesus and the twelve visited with the messengers of the kingdom at Gerasa, one of the Pharisees who believed in him asked this question: "Lord, will there be few or many really saved?" And Jesus, answering, said:
"You have been taught that only the children of Abraham will be saved;... You also have another saying among you, and one that contains much truth: That the way which leads to eternal life is straight and narrow, that the door which leads thereto is likewise narrow so that, of those who seek salivation, few can find entrance through this door. You also have a teaching that the way which leads to destruction is broad, that the entrance thereto is wide, and that there are many who choose to go this way. And this proverb is not without its meaning. But I declare that salvation is first a matter of your personal choosing. Even if the door to the way of life is narrow, it is wide enough to admit all who sincerely seek to enter, for I am that door. And the Son will never refuse entrance to any child of the universe who, by faith, seeks to find the Father through the Son.
7. "But herein is the danger to all who would postpone their entrance into the kingdom while they continue to pursue the pleasures of immaturity and indulge the satisfactions of selfishness: Having refused to enter the kingdom as a spiritual experience, they may subsequently seek entrance thereto when the glory of the better way becomes revealed in the age to come ... then will I say to all such selfish ones; I know not whence you are... Salvation is not for those who are unwilling to pay the price of wholehearted dedication to doing my Father's will. When in spirit and soul you have turned your backs upon the Father's kingdom, it is useless in mind and body to stand before this door and knock, saying, 'Lord open to us; we would also be great in the kingdom.' Then will I declare that you are not of my fold.
8. "But fear not; every one who sincerely desires to find eternal life by entrance into the kingdom of God shall certainly find such everlasting salvation... And they who shall thus take the kingdom in spiritual power and by the persistent assaults of living faith will come from the north and the south and from the east and the west. And, behold, many who are first will be last, and those who are last will many times be first."
9. "to all who are honest of heart and sincere in faith, it remains eternally true: I stand at the doors of men's hearts and knock, and if any man will open to me, I will come in and sup with him and will feed him with the bread of life; we shall be one in spirit and purpose, and so shall we ever be brethren in the long and fruitful service of the search for the Paradise Father. And so, whether few or many are to be saved altogether depends on whether few or many will
heed the invitation: I am the door, I am the new and living way, and whosoever wills may enter to embark upon the endless truth‑search for eternal life."
10. Even the apostles were unable fully to comprehend his teaching as to the necessity for using spiritual force for the purpose of breaking through all material resistance and for surmounting every earthly obstacle which might chance to stand in the way of grasping the all‑important spiritual values of the new life in the spirit as the liberated sons of God.
11. Thomas asked Jesus: "Master,...I would like to inquire whether spiritual beings are concerned in the production of strange and extraordinary events in the material world and further, to ask
whether the angels and other spirit beings are able to prevent accidents ........... Jesus said: "Have I
been so long with you, and yet you continue to ask me such questions? Have you failed to
observe how the Son of Man lives as one with you and consistently refuses to employ the
forces of heaven for his personal sustenance?... Do you see the power of the spiritual world
manifested in the material life of this world, save for the revelation of the Father and the
sometime healing of his afflicted children?
12. "All too long have your fathers believed that prosperity was the token of divine approval; that adversity was the proof of God's displeasure. I declare that such beliefs are superstitions... The Father causes his rain to fall on the just and the unjust; the sun likewise shines on the righteous and the unrighteous.. .You... know about the eighteen men upon whom the tower of Siloam fell, killing them. Think not that these men who were thus destroyed were offenders above all their brethren in Jerusalem. These folks were simply innocent victims of one of the accidents of time.
13. "In the matter of sickness and health, you should know that these bodily states are the result of material causes; health is not the smile of heaven, neither is afflicted the frown of God.
"The Father's human children have equal capacity for the reception of material blessings; therefore does he bestow things physical upon the children of men without discrimination. When it comes to the bestowal of spiritual gifts, the Father is limited by man's capacity for receiving these divine endowments. Although the Father is no respecter of persons, in the bestowal of spiritual gifts he is limited by man's faith and by his willingness always to abide by the Father's will."
14. Of all the cities of Perea, in Philadelphia the largest group of Jews and gentiles, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, embraced the teachings of the seventy, thereby entering into the kingdom of heaven. The synagogue of Philadelphia had never been subject to the supervision of the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem and therefore had never been closed to the teachings of Jesus and his associates... This very synagogue later on became a Christian church and was the missionary headquarters for the promulgation of the gospel through the regions to the east. It was long a stronghold of the Master's teachings and stood alone in this region as a center of Christian learning for centuries.
15.. The Jews at Jerusalem had always had trouble with the Jews of Philadelphia. And after the death and resurrection of Jesus the Jerusalem church, of which James the Lord's brother was head, began to have serious difficulties with the Philadelphia congregation of believers. Abner
became the head of the Philadelphia church, continuing as such until his death. And this estrangement with Jerusalem explains why nothing is heard of Abner and his work in the Gospel records of the New Testament. This feud between Jerusalem and Philadelphia lasted throughout the lifetimes of James and Abner and continued for some time after the destruction of Jerusalem. Philadelphia was really the headquarters of the early church in the south and east as Antioch was in the north and west.
16. It was the apparent misfortune of Abner to be at variance with all of the leaders of the early Christian church. He fell out with Peter and James (Jesus' brother) over questions of administration and the jurisdiction of the Jerusalem church; he parted company with Paul over differences of philosophy and theology. Abner was more Babylonian then Hellenic in his philosophy, and he stubbornly resisted all attempts of Paul to remake the teachings of Jesus so as to present less that was objectionable, first to the Jews, then to the Greco‑Roman believers in the mysteries.
17. Thus was Abner compelled to live a life of isolation... In his last years Abner denounced Paul as the "clever corrupter of the life teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of the living God."
During the later years of Abner and for some time thereafter, the believers at Philadelphia held more strictly to the religion of Jesus, as he lived and taught, than any other group on earth.
Abner lived to be 89 years old, dying at Philadelphia on the 21st day of November, A. D. 74. And to the very end he was a faithful believer in, and teacher of, the gospel of the heavenly kingdom.
U.B. 166: 1825‑1832
Discussion Questions
1. In the face of the extra ordinary personality and mighty works of Jesus, is it surprising that the early Christian Church emphasized his divinity and miraculous works rather than his teachings?
2. Do customs and orthodox doctrines still stand in the way of enlaarged truth and loving relationships?
3. Among the population of the world, do you think many or few will be saved to eternal life?
4. How do we use spiritual force to break through to a spiritual destiny?
5. Many people believe they have been saved from accidents by angels, does this harmonize with Jesus' answer to the question of Thomas about the help of angels?
6. Which influence is greater, the help of science in saving religion from superstition or the hindrance of science in the philosophy of materialism?
7. Was Abner correct in his evaluation of Paul?