Jesus and the Christ By Richard Kieninger Introduction Who was the person Jesus Christ? Actually, He was two different entities using the same body, but not at the same time. Jesus was an Eleventh Degree Brother, and He was working towards achieving Mastership in that lifetime. He lived the life of a human being just like everyone else so far as outer appearances were concerned, except that He did a lot of traveling which is not mentioned in the Bible. He returned to the Holy Land from Egypt in time for the baptism by John the Baptist in the Jordan River, at which time Jesus gave up control of His body so that the Archangel who the Jews called Melchizedek, could take over as the Christ. It is a very unusual occurrence for an Archangel to be operating in the physical vehicle of a human being, and yet He did so for some three years, which was the ministry of Christ. At the time of the Crucifixion, Christ separated from the body; and after it was repaired by Higher Beings while in the sepulcher, Jesus then took it over again. During Christ’s ministry, Jesus finalized the requirements for Mastership while on the Astral Plane. After the Crucifixion, the disciples were unable to detect the difference between Christ and Jesus. The plan had been set up by Melchizedek for His advent on Earth to serve to help uplift mankind, to take away the karma of the world, and to set up barriers between the lower Astral spirits and those persons who are in physical incarnation. The Essenes and Jesus Very few people seem to know about the association between Jesus and the group of people called the Essenes. Actually, some six hundred years before Jesus was born, Isaiah, an Adept of the Essenes, established an Essene center in Palestine after years of his studying at the Brotherhood’s headquarters in Egypt. This was in anticipation of the changes that were going to be occurring some six centuries later. Isaiah’s prophecy of the advent of Christ gives a detailed account of what was going to happen, and, indeed, it occurred. The Essenes developed a center at Engedi, which is where the cave of David is, and where John the Baptist’s education was continued under several Adepts after his mother died. There was a different community at Qumran, which adopted much of the information that Isaiah brought, and they were responsible for the Dead Sea Scrolls. But the Essene center was at Engedi, not at Qumran, and it stayed there all through the time that Jesus and John the Baptist were doing Their work. The Essenes managed to grow into a fairly large community, but most Essenes were out among the populace, in much the same way as Joseph plied his trade as a carpenter. The Essenes were the smallest of the principal sects of Judaism so far as its number of adherents, but it was very well known, and its tenets were known to the populace. Some Essenes were hermits and some were Nazarenes. But the Essenes who became Initiates did not disclose themselves as being members of the Brotherhoods. Why These People and This Location? The reason the Holy Land was chosen for all these important events to occur is that the Hermetic Brotherhood had developed the Jewish Nation to be the ones who would continue the information about the one God and provide a framework within which Christ could operate and bring His message to the world. Greek invasions of all those surrounding areas under Alexander the Great managed to lend a common language to scholars throughout that part of the world, though the common people of the Holy Land during Jesus’ lifetime spoke Aramaic. Jewish scholars used Hebrew in a legalistic way. The two main trade routes, the east-west and north-south, crossed in the Holy Lands at Jerusalem. So that area was selected by Christ because the information could be rapidly disseminated via the various caravans and trading. The Travels of Jesus Christ didn’t travel very far, but Jesus did quite a bit of traveling. From the time Jesus was about thirteen years old, He became a world traveler, always under the protection, guidance, and tutelage of persons who were high in the Brotherhoods. He spent a great deal of time in Orissa in India—at least four years there—learning some of the higher knowledge that was available to the Brahmans, but He did not learn Hinduism. People were very much impressed by what Jesus had to say as a young child and pre-adult. An Eleventh Degree Brother does not lose consciousness of His full perceptions when He incarnates into an infant’s body. Jesus had an adult’s perception continuously from the time He was born. After He left India, He traveled to Kapilavastu, Nepal. There He studied under some very wise gentlemen for a few years, and they were really very eager to move Him along to Tibet, where all of the information that had been stored by the Brotherhoods for centuries was kept. He spent many years there, into young adulthood, before He traveled to other places acting as a good will ambassador between the various physical headquarters of the Brotherhoods around the Mediterranean basin. Incidentally, because He taught the brotherhood of all men in areas where the caste system was still enforced, there were several times when He was almost strung up! Arrival of Melchizedek During the few years before John the Baptist began his ministry, Jesus and John were together in Zoan, Egypt, receiving final instructions. Then John went on ahead to the Holy Land. The baptism of Jesus by John was really quite an interesting situation, because it was the advent of Melchizedek, the Archangel. When Jesus returned to the Holy Land from Egypt, John had already gathered a considerable following, and for several days prior to Jesus’ baptism, Jesus was anonymously among the crowd around the Jordan River. John and Jesus would follow a little routine where John would wade out into the middle of the river and Jesus would come to the bank of the river. John would be praying and look towards heaven and Jesus would do the same thing, and nobody seemed to notice. After several days of this routine, a sign that they were looking for suddenly appeared, which would be apparent only to persons of considerable advancement, and that was that the Archangel Melchizedek was present among them. John asked if there was anyone else who wanted to be baptized, and Jesus spoke up and came into the water of the river. John supported Jesus’ body while he dipped Him full immersion into the river’s waters and had to pinch His nose and hold his hand over Jesus’ mouth while Jesus’ Ego left His body for the moment Melchizedek could take it over. Otherwise, Melchizedek, upon standing, would be coughing and sputtering trying to get the water out of His lungs and nose. What John encountered as soon as Jesus’s body, now supporting Melchizedek’s intelligence, stood up, was an Archangel—literally, a Son of God. Of course, They had been informed of and expected this from the time that They were teenagers; but try to imagine, knowing what John the Baptist knew, who it was that He was addressing. A dove flew down and landed on the shoulder of Christ, and the crowd suddenly felt that something very different had occurred, and John turned to the crowd and began proclaiming Hallelujahs and announcing that this was the One for whom He had been preparing. The crowd rushed upon them as They came to the bank of the river, and things got so pressing that Christ had to conceal Himself with invisibility, which is a trick He used a number of times in order to protect Himself. Christ’s Work The first important thing Christ did was to set up a barrier between the lower Astral Plane and people who are in physical incarnation so that nether entities would not have direct access to people who were incarnate. These nether entities were bringing the world to the brink of destruction through their influence on living people, which explains why there were so many possessed people who were brought to Christ to be healed. Most of the rulers of the people had also been taken over by spirit controls. That helps explain Herod’s actions against all the children, as well as why he was terrified of the advent of Jesus’ birth at Bethlehem. (When the three Magi from Persia explained to him Who it was that they were looking for and thought that he would know—inasmuch as he was king—where Jesus could be found, Herod inquired of his minister, what was this forecast about the coming of the Messiah?) Before Christ’s time, anybody was fair game to the mentalists, whether or not the person was on the same wave-length as the mentalists. Today you have to definitely override Christ’s protection with your own desire to encounter spirit beings on the Astral Plane. Another important thing that Christ did was to remove the national karma of the world so that man would be able to advance. He did not actually dissolve it, but He was able to put that karma in abeyance until the end of this century, so that mankind could start getting ahead. Christ’s Demeanor From accounts in the gospels, we probably have a good idea of how Christ conducted Himself; but in many cases people do not see the human side of Christ. He liked to be with the people. He was very convivial. He had favorite friends who He chose to be amongst in addition to His disciples, whom He essentially lived with day-by-day. He liked to be feasted, and He drank wine. Of course, people criticized Him for drinking wine to the same extent they criticized John the Baptist for not drinking wine. Furthermore, He was really quite a raconteur. He could spin tales for three days standing. Being humorous was a means by which He would get people to repeat the things He said over and over again. Very apparent truth was put in such a palatable form that people would continue to talk about it years afterwards. He was at least a head taller than just about any other person that He ever encountered in the Holy Land. He had sandy hair, blue eyes, light complexion, and He was a person who slouched a lot. He would lean on something rather than stand erect. If He could sit, He would sit as long as people could still see Him and hear Him. That included Him among the people. As an Archangelic Ego, He had total command of everything in His environment—total command. Any one individual Archangel has the power to dissolve a planet, to kill any life form—humans or what have you. He had absolutely nothing to fear at any time. Everything went just as He decided the scenario should go, and He had persons working among the Brotherhoods to help set things up so that they would go the way He wanted them to go, because He had many things to show people and many things to teach, mostly by example. Children just flocked to Him, and women fell in love with Him. Mary Magdalene might have been called a groupie by some people. She had it in mind that she was going to marry Him somehow and she worked on that. He would remind her on occasions that that was not what was going to be, but nevertheless, she never lost that hope. Christ probably enjoyed the emotional intensity of her love, for its depth surpassed that of the more patriarchal of His disciples. He accepted the fact that the people with whom He was dealing were limited in all areas of development, but He loved them for the sincerity of their love. Mary Magdalene was not alone in loving Him as a man. He was everything that women adored; poet, spiritually inspiring lover of all mankind, and kindly. Of course, those women had no idea whatsoever of who or what they were really dealing with. In Him, both men and women found a marvelous companion. He was easy to get along with. He knew psychology absolutely inside out. He could construct a brain; so He knew how human beings were set up to think, and how as Egos they were designed by God to desire to move towards God. He was there to help facilitate that. He loved everyone, and He really loved them. His love was so apparent that He didn’t have to say that He loved them; people could sense it. But He never seemed to be sentimental about it. His love was a dry kind of love, utterly respectful, and yet very warm. Christ was never haughty. He didn’t have to prove anything to anyone. And nobody ever pushed Him around. All He had to do was look at them steadily without showing any emotion, and somehow or other they said, “This person is not going to be intimidated, so there’s no sense even trying.” He was respected by everyone. It’s interesting that He never was imprisoned until just the time He set it up to be imprisoned and then go immediately to His death on the cross. Remember, the Sanhedrin knew who He was by lineage and had a pretty good idea of what it was that He was about. The Sanhedrin’s and the Pharisees’ reactions to the things that He did were probably remarkably like what modern-day authoritarian reaction would be to His advent had He chosen to come now. If He wore a gray flannel suit today and cut His hair short and didn’t wear a beard, He would look just like the people of today. But what He said and what He’d do would still rub people the wrong way, and His message would be accepted the same way, which was adoringly by those who were seeking truth, and with great jealousy and fear by the rulers. Those who were ruling Jerusalem two thousand years ago were afraid of an uprising and afraid that this claimant to Messiahship was going to take on the Roman Empire, which would definitely lead Jerusalem to war with Rome. But many Jews who saw Him and walked with Him were looking for a warlike Messiah to lead them to freedom and glory, and yet, there was an incident in which Christ drove home the point that He had no intention of doing that in a mundane sense. Christ gained considerable attention by all the miracles He worked, and His statements of being sent by the Father were accepted by many at face value. There had been for years a murmur among the people concerning the imminent appearance of the Messiah, since the prophecies of the old Prophets were showing evidence of coming due, and the appearance of Angels in Bethlehem thirty years earlier certainly alerted the populace and the priests. John the Baptist was thought by many to be the Messiah, but he consistently disclaimed it; but Christ never did disclaim it. The priests probed into His background thoroughly, and the records showed that, through Jesus’ father, He was the direct descendent of King David, as required by Isaiah’s prophesy. It didn’t take very long before this exciting bit of news raced through official circles and then filtered down to the common folks. Jewish officials were overjoyed at the prospect of a long-awaited fulfillment of these prophecies, but it became apparent by Christ’s admonitions against the Pharisees and the rulers that they were not going to be cut in on the rule of this king if He became king. They worked against Him so that they wouldn’t be supplanted by His reign. The people still adored Him, and they followed Him everywhere. One day there were some 5,000 persons who followed Him into a deserted place to hear Him speak. Because He sensed their militant intent, He had them arrange themselves in rows and in companies of fifty. At that particular time He fed the multitudes with His miracle of the five loaves and the two fishes so that there would be no doubt that God worked in Him. They admired Him for His serene, commanding manner born of His total self-confidence and control of every situation. He didn’t subordinate Himself to anybody. Those who understood His real message worshipped Him; but for the most part, men saw a handsome, fearless leader worthy of the throne of David. A great stir ran through the multitudes there on the hillside that day at the realization that they were arrayed as an army in companies at the feet of their king. Suddenly, just spontaneously, great shouts of Messiah, and King, rang from the throats of thousands. A young woman ran up to Christ, and He allowed her to place a crown of laurel upon His head. Pandemonium ensued, as you might imagine, and concealed sword hilts and daggers were gripped by their owners. Here was Israel’s return to glory at hand. He was going to march them back to Jerusalem, they figured. But Christ restored quiet and then He repeated His familiar message that the kingdom He preached was of Heaven and not of Earth. Then He removed the crown of laurel and He broke it, and He stepped upon it. He spoke of peace and everlasting brotherhood between men, and that was a day that many Jews turned away from Him and persuaded others that the promised Messiah was yet to come. As unequivocally as possible, He had turned His back on the throne of Israel and set up His subsequent execution, which He had planned for thousands of years. The Mystery and Message of Christ Shortly thereafter, when the crucifixion took place, Christ said before death, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” This has been a mystery to most people for centuries and has led many to conjecture that Christ was merely a very special carpenter. But an explanation of why He said that can throw light on why so many people were converted to belief in Christ’s divinity at that time. Jewish scholars argue various points by making reference to a given Bible passage, by repeating just the first sentence in that passage; so He was calling everybody’s mind to the 22^nd psalm of David, which all Jews had memorized from childhood. The 22^nd psalm says, “for dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and feet. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.” He was telling everybody, and the Sanhedrin was already thoroughly aware, that He was fulfilling prophecy written a thousand years before Jesus was born, four hundred years before Isaiah said much the same thing in His prophecies. So He was telling them, “You have hung God upon the cross. How do you feel about that?” Mankind needed that message, and He was here to put it across as impactfully as possible and yet not blaspheme so as to go against the Jewish Scriptures or in any other way be labeled as an agent of evil so that everybody would just forget about Him. He conducted Himself with diplomacy and kindness throughout His advent. People have not forgotten Him. Some regard Him with a highly charged emotional faith, and some from a historical and intellectual standpoint, but a large percentage of the population of the world have some idea who Christ was. How Hidden Is the Real Christ to People Today? Unfortunately, most of the religious people of today think of Christ in a maudlin, weak, and sentimental context. Of those who must reject that image as not at all Godlike, many deny that there ever was a figure in history who was worthy of being “king of kings” and submitted Himself to a crucifixion. One piece of evidence of the crucifixion of the Messiah is the shroud of Turin, which the Brotherhoods say was actually the burial cloth of Christ. An image was scorched onto that burial linen along the entire length of it. There is only one way that could have been done, and that was with an extremely high burst of energy that cast a picture, and left a negative impression of the front and the back of the body. A Mind had to control that to make it look that way. Studies that were done in the early 70’s by a team of scientists (some of whom were philosophically-inclined) working to determine the authenticity of the shroud, revealed quite a bit of corroborative evidence. Learning of these kinds of things was an emotional experience for some of those scientists. Even Adepts like John the Baptist and Mary, the mother of Jesus, had some emotional adjustments dealing with the Egoic presence of the Archangel, Melchizedek, in Jesus’s body. John the Baptist’s hallelujahs and Mary’s recorded pondering “these things in her heart” show that they had to take emotional and intellectual leaps in consciousness to fully grasp the idea; so it will likely take some adjustments for us as well. Exploring what happened in the minds of contemporary scientists who slowly and bit-by-bit uncovered impressive evidence, such as the presence of blood on the shroud and impressions of coins over the eyes which were dated at the time of Christ’s advent, and evidence that there was much more brutal treatment at that particular crucifixion than was normally the case, gives one a personal glimpse at this point in history that has been given so much attention and reverence. There is evidence of the spear wound, the cap of thorns and the wounds of the scourge, as well as things which show other maltreatment, which fits the story as handed down. The fact, also, that the shroud was so expensive and so finely made, shows that the person was very highly revered and places the importance of this crucifixion far above that of many thousands of others who met such a fate at the hands of the Romans of that time. Balanced individuals, in whom emotional involvement is backed by an intense desire to know, can follow the path of scientifically-minded philosophers who conduct their own research into what actually happened, so that our intuitive beliefs match with what the logical mind uncovers. Following the scholarly path probably takes more determination than intellectual prowess, and the rewards are great. Information which is carefully investigated and then eventually converted into knowledge, can bring purpose and energy into people’s lives through solid belief instead of blind faith. We recommend your reading Richard Kieninger’s book, The Hidden Christ.
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