Scripture! Scripture?

WED., JAN. 27, 1999, 8:55 AM
OFFICE, PULLIAM

You and your Wednesday morning breakfast/study group are still mired in Thessalonians, one of the letters of My chosen servant, Paul, that became Holy Scripture. Now, many years later, in both a different time and quite a different culture I come to you with Teachings. You accept that these are for your spiritual development and are not meant to be comparable Holy Scripture. And yet…

You boldly raised the point, today… Paul’s affirmation to these early Christians was that I, as Jesus, would return again, soon, and they would be rewarded with eternal life with Me, while the rest of humankind… Obviously that didn’t happen in the time Paul affirmed… or was it, as you suggested (with help from Me?) that Scripture is mystical and timeless – what he said to the Thessalonians he is saying to us, today, no matter what the differences?

Yours is a rational culture… or, better, the rational is strong as an influence, and you, with your “higher education” have valued this perspective for much of your life. Seminary professors, at least in your portion of the Christian spectrum, are mostly “scholarly”, and hence it is difficult to accept and value the mystical. But I, Holy Spirit, who “speak” to you in this now familiar way, am certainly mystical. I am credited now and then, in Scripture with inspiration and assistance, but I can never be limited. As I have told you repeatedly, I “work” (and also play) when, where, how, and with whom I choose.

Was Paul wrong in his assertion to these early Christians? Well, Yes and No. If you take what he said as mystical the main point is that no one knows when I shall come again… at least no one here on earth. I could… but the conditions he described, sketchily, have potentially been, in the past, and I did not return. These conditions are not obvious now, and don’t seem at all probable. And, Yes, objectively, he was wrong, for that context and those folks.

I like… and applaud… the C.S. Lewis quote that Barbara offered… to the effect that I can be… and am… recognized and worshipped in many forms and ways. I am not, as Paul preached, only available to those who perceive Me as Jesus Christ. This is a good way… and the one for you… and yet it is not the only way.

You, and most humans, particularly in complex cultures, are rough analogs. You have this desk in this place because you still are a Professor (even though Emeritus). This has little to do with your being a grandfather or a worker of crossword puzzles… or a husbandman of rabbits. You are both a single person – Bob Russell, but also Bobby, Robert D., R.D., Mr. Russell, Dr. Russell, even Stumpy (remember!?) – and also a many-faceted and perceived person. Expand this, and you have Me – as Father God, Almighty God, Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, Holy Spirit, Allah, the Great Spirit, Siva, and…

It is simpler to see Me only as God in Christ, “many are called, but few are chosen”… “enter through the narrow gate”… most of humankind will be with Satan in hell forever… work hard at being righteous… But then consider the mystical: I gave My life, as the Christ, for the sins of all of you, then and now. You don’t have to “do” or “be” anything… just accept My free Gift.

And I love diversity, so there are many ways in which diverse humans accept what I offer. Do all have an “equal chance”? Yes and No. I love and want all of you. And… I call some of you in ways you truly can’t reject… or not accept. Some are called and accept My invitation early in an earth life. Others respond after some “time away”, and still others come to Me at the end of an earth life.