Next Generation Gospel - updated

The gospel of Jesus of Nazareth cannot be wholly limited to the things he said; only the matchless life he lived can provide us with the full stereoscopic reality of the depth of his teachings. It is remarkable to think that such marvellous truths could be hidden in plain sight. Indeed, if you were to ask many Christian theologians 'what was truly original about the teachings of Jesus?' many would be at a loss to tell you, and while this might seem extreme – it is nonetheless valid. 

Part of the difficulty we experience when we try to interpret the life and teachings of the Man from Nazareth is to be found in the audience of Jesus. Of necessity, he had to speak in a language they would understand – not simply Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek but employing the idioms of that day, age and culture. Consequently, it was inevitable that he would employ the vocabulary of concepts supplied by the Torah; it was literally the only show in town. While he was at pains to ensure his disciples did not confuse the Torah with the Gospel he taught and lived, undoubtedly, the flawless fluidity with which he employed the Torah to relate gospel truths compelled his followers to think they were co-extensive and mutually inter-dependant. Heaven knows, they were hardly likely to be very familiar with the traditions of others.

Jesus was so skilful in the art of putting new spin on old truths; so artful in his employment of available idioms and common concepts; so expert in using the ordinary and everyday things of life to communicate extraordinary truths; and we should remember, the truths he taught were so vital, vivifying, and enlightening, that not only was their spirit revered but so too were their very forms; such that incidental facts associated with the gospel came to be viewed as fundamental elements of it – the New cloth was sewn onto the Old. Consequently, the Old Wineskin of the Torah, contrary to the teachings of Jesus, was blended with the New Wine of the Gospel he taught and lived. For all his effort to ensure that his followers did not confuse the spirit of his gospel with its inevitable cultural expression, the subtlety of his message proved too fine – consequently they missed his point, and his gospel became identified with, and ultimately seen as an extension of, the Torah. Such was the success of this hybridisation that in the hearts and minds of nearly all Christendom the Torah is now regarded as an indispensible element of the gospel of Jesus of Nazareth.

While it is easy to see how this error evolved, there can be no overestimating the significance the difficulty this presents to the forward motion of the gospel. People’s loyalties, once mobilised, are difficult to reset; especially is this so when people are locked into a tradition where disloyalty means a first class ticket to Hell!  While the highly serviceable nature of the Torah is beyond question, it should be borne in mind that the Spirit of Truth can gainfully employ the truth of any tradition. The Spirit of God is not limited by gender, race or religion; the Creation may be limited but the Creator is not; the Creation is an instrument of the Creator but it is not that Creator. However, we commit a tremendous spiritual blunder when we take one piece of the Creation and say ‘that and that alone’ reflects the Creator and this is what we do when we assert the primacy of one tradition over another.


Do you realise, or can you appreciate, the truly marvellous nature of the revelation made by Jesus? For many people, prior to the arrival of Jesus, God was a terrifying mystery – the One who inspired fear and dread; a God of War, Judgement, and Vengeance; but the Cross put an end to such a god. Behold! In place of the god of War, we find the Prince of Peace! In place of Judgement, we find Mercy! In place of Vengeance, we find Forgiveness! In Jesus we discover a God who inspires Love and Faith and Hope; a God who can quench the raging fire of terror with the Great River of Peace that flows from the Rock of Faith; who can turn tragedy into triumph, defeat into victory, despair into hope, death into everlasting life; who can transform the flawed and weak creatures of time into the perfected children of an Eternal God. 

And so, on the cross, we see the greatest spectacle this world has ever beheld! The death of an old god and the birth a new and everlasting Ideal; a God who inspires transforming love, a hope that can give life new direction, new meaning, new value; an enlightened faith that no darkness can extinguish! A God of Loving Mercy! Behold! He was beaten and tortured, did he curse? Did he revile? Did he promise retribution? Vengeance? No! This is the one who proclaimed, 'You that have seen me, have seen God.' Behold the Great Revelation! Know your God!

My soul grows rich

My soul grows rich in wonder and joy,

The majesty and mercy of the Almighty

Pour over my soul

And I am washed,

Away,

As flotsam and jetsam,

In the torrent of his glory.

His love, like his wisdom,

Knows no bounds.

He holds the universe

in his hands

as tenderly as a father

holds his first born.

He sings songs to us

And tells us stories

That we do not understand

But we know

When we cry

He hears and responds

And

in the depths of our being

we know

we are loved

The Father

There lives within you the power that formed the universe. There lives within you the guiding voice of the Architect of all Creation. Behold the Heavens, even the Heaven of Heavens! Great is the power of the Almighty, who holds the stars of Heaven in his palms and plants them where he wills. Behold infinite cosmic Father! Bring unto him your troubles, nothing is too big or small for him. If he, with a shout, can shake the Heavens – how much more will your troubles tremble before his might!

He is the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, of time and space, doubt not that he would be glad to make time for you! Open your heart to his instruction. Trust wholeheartedly in the righteousness and efficacy of his ways. His plans are infinite, his goals are eternal so let not yourself be perturbed by the small things of time.

Learn of him and his ways, make your world richer by daring to be like him. Lend your shoulder to his great work; give those that thirst something to drink, those that hunger something that nourishes, give protection to them that are exposed and vulnerable, open those eyes blinded by spiritual darkness, point the way for those that are lost, liberate those captivated by fear and loose tongues that they may sing his praise!

You are his beloved child and you are loved more than you can imagine. It is the father’s delight to shoo away the Boogey Man of your fears; to give you peace, courage and hope, but until you learn to trust him you will remain trapped in the realm of your own fears – trust is the key to realising your fondest hopes. Your father will not vanquish your demons for you. He desires that his children be able to stand on their own two feet but neither will he let you struggle on your own, he will always be one hundred percent behind you – he believes in you – even when everyone else would give up. You might doubt yourself but he doesn’t doubt you.

The father will not rob you of the dignity of your achievements by doing all things for you. Moreover, he knows well what you are capable of and has set his angels the task of trying and testing you – charged them with the sacred duty of making you the best and strongest person you can be. Bearing such a commission one cannot expect an easy life, more likely a life of struggle relieved now and then by small islands of respite and rest. The love of the father makes his children strong, it is not that unwise love that indulges children and makes them weak. His is a fearless love! It does not shrink or complain about unavoidable hardships, nor flinch when sending instructive discipline upon his wayward children.

Fear not to bring your joys and hopes to him, your laughter and excitement, your dreams and adventures, for what father does not treasure to listen to his child tell their story with great excitement and energy; what father is not brought to joyful tears to see his child thrilled by his existence; or is not puffed large when the child swears to honour his generosity, kindness, wisdom and faith. Even as the father can fill your cup of joy to overflowing, you can do the same for your heavenly father when you sincerely, faithfully and humbly – even joyfully and gladly – put at his service everything he has helped you become. Rest assured when you give him everything, you lose nothing!

Number One

When all you do is look out for number one you cannot avoid hurting everyone else. When all your concern is for the wellbeing and happiness of others no one gets hurt.

The Cross Roads

The struggle for the establishment of the New Way for our current age is a truly titanic, even global, struggle. Presently, the world is held firmly in the deathgrip of a selfish,  secular, materialistic empire that is driven solely by Profit. These gods of the earth are a jealous and wrathful cabal; they will suffer us to have no gods before them. They sing the tune and expect the whole world to dance to it. They pour scorn upon the New Way and its Prophets.

These monsters are like the Hydra of old - a monster with many heads; these monster corporations have a head in Paris, New York, London, Hong Kong and Tokyo; while they maintain a foothold in the developing world, the global south and East, and step heartlessly - with crushing power - upon the defenceless, destroying lives, families, communities and environments.

As it goes forth to ravish the earth it has the power to call fire down from heaven; it paralyses those that could stop it by injecting its venom into every home, making the populace delirious with fear, numb with fantasy, bloated and unable to move by inducing rapacious consumption.

But these are fleeting realities; we are developing resistance to their venom; love calls forth the faith that conquers fear; truth is electrifying those stupefied by fantasy; while dissatisfaction is giving birth to higher hunger, the hunger for righteousness, mercy and justice and on these they will feast!

Fear not to enter the New Way; fear not to leave behind the old ways - for the end thereof is doom. Fear not the Titans for from age to age the small and faithful have gone toe to toe with them and won - turning the world upon its head!

The gods of this world promote fear; the Eternal God inspires the faith that calls forth all conquering divine courage; the gods of this world preach the necessity of war, proclaim that it is the only way; the God of Peace sent His Son, the Prince of Peace, to establish us on the way of Peace; the gods of this world declare that Competition is good and thereby set brothers at one another's throats; the Father of All declares that we are one family and calls us to Unity, and to the realisation that only through Co-operation can we achieve our destiny.
The gods of this world promote suspicion, hatred, and selfishness; the God of the New and Everlasting Way promotes trust, love, and service for one's fellows; the gods of the old way advocate grabbing all you can for yourself; the Creator of the Better declares that lasting happiness can only be found in doing all that you can for others. The gods of the old way constantly encourage you to judge and condemn; the Lord declares the New Way can be secured through forgiveness and forbearance.

Behold, the decision bell is ringing, whom do you serve? The children of men once again face a Cross Roads - one is the Way of the Blessed and it can be found through Renunciation and Service; the other is the Way of the Cursed and it can be found through yielding to the Deathgrip of Selfishness.

The Gospel Cosmic

This is the Gospel: the one and only Ever Living, Ever Loving, All-Powerful God of all Creation is the Father of your soul. You are a child of this Ever Living, Ever Loving,All-Powerful Source from whence springs all things and beings, meanings and personalities, facts and values. If you can dare to accept this transforming truth, if you will allow it to sink down into the deeps of your being, then you are both in and of the Kin-Dom of God.

The primacy of this relationship precedes the formation of the world, precedes the establishment of borders and the division of humanity into the various races; it stood before the formation of even the galaxies and it therefore takes precedence over all these other incidental and coincidental factors. The moral obligation, the divine privilege, to serve this family precedes all other loyalties. There exists only one other thing more primal than these duties, obligations and privileges, and that is the worshipful recognition and loving response to the Eternal Father, the Primal Source from whence this tremendous reality issues.

Theologies and ideologies reflect the time and place, as well as the level of enlightenment of the individuals and people wherein, wherefrom and through whom they originate. These very material facts, the diversity of their origins and the relationships that govern them, imply that theologies and ideologies inevitably become contaminated by materialistic thinking - materialism. Our perception of the unifying and indivisible truth from whence we all draw our existence is thus obscured and refracted and, consequently, is our primordial sense of loyalty and brotherhood corrupted, distorted, perverted and twisted. In our confusion, we mistake brothers for enemies and out of the dark fear soil of the human heart spring vengeance and violence, hatred and wrath, the Masters of Woe, the Architects of Tragedy, Sorrow and Heartache.

Once we learn to spiritually transcend material differences; racial, national, religious and ideological, and from that exalted perspective learn to perceive the underlying unity that creatively binds all this endless diversity, then will we have entered truly and fully into the clear light of unending truth and therein shall the darkness of our ignorance no more be found and our cup of joy will be filled to overflowing!

The Search

The search for God is the search for the Infinite One. The finding of God means the finding of everything. Jesus said,  'Seek first the Kin-Dom and thereafter will all things needful be added to you.' Thus to find God is to find that you have been abundantly blessed, the trick thereafter is trade diligently with such treasure and to share from your abundance in a way that enriches the lives of your fellows. To find God is to discover that you are cared for and loved more than you can imagine. Consequently, you come to understand that no real harm can come to you. Therefore does your soul abide in peace even while the world yet clamours and scrambles.

Jesus taught us that we cannot survive on bread alone, that only the God of Truth, Beauty and Goodness can slake the spiritual thirst of the parched soul. We need Hope if we are to endure but this cannot be bought in any shop.

We need faith, love, truth, beauty and goodness or we will fade away just as surely as we do when we run out of oxygen. An existence without hope is hellish and few can bear it, but it is not the Father's will that any of his children should suffer such deprivations. He, personally, will ensure that they have as much as they desire. In truth not one of his children is in spiritual want save through their own choices.

They may wander into the darkness of confusion and lose their way; they may be snared by the hidden traps of selfishness but they need never lose hope, for they are never alone - the Father is ever by their side, whispering words of hope and encouragement into the ear of the attentive soul.

Fear not, follow me. I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. Follow me and I will show you the way out of the carnage of your disappointed dreams and the ruins of your ambitions, to a better place. A place that I have prepared for you. A place better than any you have ever seen or even imagined. Fear not, believe only, have faith and follow me. I am the True Shepherd. I can save all who truly desire salvation and I will not lose one.