Why This is Happening

A Major Shift in Religion

Discourse II

by Kim Michaels
January 20, 2002

It might be valuable to step back, take a look at the big picture. An increasing number of people are beginning to realize that religious organizations are facing new challenges. For example, some of the larger churches are losing members, and it is important to investigate why this is happening. The people who leave can roughly be divided into three groups:

• Some have become discouraged with all religion and they don’t want to have anything to do with organized religion.
• Some have had enough of their current church, but are willing to look for another church that promises to give them what the old church is no longer providing.
• Some have had enough of a rigid or doctrinal approach to religion, and they look for a different approach. Some of these people are attracted to more charismatic churches or they take a non-traditional approach and look at the New Age movement.

Based on these observations, one obvious conclusion is that religion on planet earth is in a phase of transition. What causes this transition? If you look at history, you will see that there seems to be certain cycles or intervals. Obviously, a major shift in religion took place 2,000 years ago with the birth of Christ. Is a similar shift occurring today?

Many people are aware that the planet is undergoing the transition from the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius. From a purely scientific perspective, this phenomenon is caused by the fact that the Earth wobbles on its axis. After roughly 2,000 years, the polar axis will begin to point to a different constellation in the sky. Beyond this scientific fact, many spiritually interested people believe there are spiritual effects associated with the transition from one age to the next. For example, many people believe that a new age releases a different type of spiritual energies. This opens new avenues for spiritual growth, but it also closes the avenues that worked in the previous age.

If you are somewhat open to this idea, you must reason that as the earth moves into a new age, religious organizations must embrace the opportunities of that age. If they do not, they cannot continue to meet the needs of their members, who will then look for an organization that is more in tune with the times. The problem is that to fully enter the new age, you must leave behind the culture and mind-set of the old age. For a church with a rigid and dogmatic culture, this can be an almost insurmountable challenge.


Do Not Fear Change!
When an organization and a planet is in a phase of transition, it is necessary to acknowledge that change is the order of the day and that change must be embraced by everyone in the organization. In this respect, it is necessary to recognize that every human being who is in embodiment, no matter what their spiritual attainment might be, still have elements of the carnal mind. The carnal mind will, by its very nature, resist change. Therefore, you can only change your personal life if you recognize and overcome the forces in your psychology that resist change. Likewise, an organization can only successfully embrace change if the leaders and members recognize and overcome the forces in the organization that resist change.

To successfully undergo a transition, an organization must do two things:

• Make a clean break with the past and with the organizational resistance to change.
• Embrace the state of consciousness of the new phase or age that the organization is moving into.

An organization is basically a compilation of the consciousness of the individual members. Therefore, the transition of an organization must begin as a transition in the consciousness of the individual members. Only when the change on the individual level reaches a critical mass, can you expect to see visible changes in the organization itself. A change in the organizational structure must begin as a change in the organizational culture.


Is centralized control and leadership outdated?
In the past 2,000 years, many churches have had a very centralized form of leadership based on centralized power and control. Is this governance model still relevant in the new age?

Let us go back to the story of Moses who goes to the mount and receives the Ten Commandments from God. When he comes back down, the people have made merry, and Moses destroys the tablets. Moses then goes back up the mount and comes down with a new set of tablets. Most people assume that the second set of tablets were the same as the first set, but what if that is incorrect?

For centuries the Israelites had been in a very oppressive situation in Egypt. When they were set free from slavery, they suddenly had freedom to embrace their relationship with God. Moses went to the mount to receive a divine law that would allow the people to grow in their new freedom. When he came down, it became apparent that the people had not adjusted well to their new sense of freedom. We see this in the Soviet Union today. People who have been oppressed for a long time, find it difficult to use their new-found freedom in a responsible manner. Therefore, Moses destroyed the first law, and when he came down the second time, he might have brought a law that was more adapted to the people’s consciousness.

This law was centered around the idea of punishment. It set forth a set of very direct rules, and through the law of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for tooth,” Mosaic law promised that anyone disobeying the law would be punished.

When Jesus came, he brought forth a new and higher law. The consciousness of the people and the planetary cycles had now progressed to a point where God could give a higher law. The teachings of Jesus were centered around the promise of a reward. If you keep these commandments, you will be saved and go to heaven.


The Winds of Aquarius
We are now entering the Age of Aquarius and an even higher law is needed. The challenge in the Aquarian age is that people must realize that the key to salvation is to attain a higher state of consciousness. People must rise above the carnal mind and unite with the Christ mind.

The Piscean age was a time when people needed to rise above the idea that they can only be saved by something or someone outside themselves. People must realize that there is no automatic salvation, but that their salvation depends on the choices they make. It is simply not enough to be a member of a particular organization or to follow a set of outer rules. You must attain the higher consciousness, the Christ consciousness, that is the only key to entering the Kingdom of God. You must put on the wedding garment of Christ consciousness before you can enter the wedding feast.

In this age, people are not meant to obey the law because they fear punishment or because they hope for a reward. They are meant to recognize their true spiritual origin which among other things means that God has written his law in their inward parts. Therefore, people are meant to follow the Law of God because doing so has become as natural to them as breathing. They no longer fear punishment of hope for a reward; they simply act the way it is natural for spiritual beings to act.

However, this can only happen when people have a direct contact to the higher self and are well on their way to becoming one with that higher self. That is why, in the Age of Aquarius, the most important thing to keep in mind for the individual is the saying: “Let no man take thy Crown,” meaning that nothing comes between you and your higher self.
When you understand this, it is easy to see that a spiritual organization in the Age of Aquarius must take a different approach than the spiritual organizations we have seen in the Age of Pisces and in previous ages.

If an organization attempts to set itself up between the people and their higher selves, this organization will fail to attract followers. In the early days of Christianity, there were two movements, namely the Gnostics and the organized church. The Gnostics believed in an individual salvation that was a matter between the individual and his or her God. The organized church believed that the key to salvation was the sacraments that were controlled by the church. In other words, the organized Christian church set itself up as the only doorway between man and God. In reality, the only doorway between man and God is the Christ consciousness.

In the Age of Aquarius, any church that attempts to set itself up as a doorway between the individual and his or her higher self will fail to attract followers. That is why the big Orthodox churches, such as the Catholic Church, have started losing members at an accelerated rate.
If a church is to successfully make the transition into the Aquarian age, both leaders and members must embrace this principle, and they must be constantly on guard for anything, any aspect of the organization, that might come between the individual and his or her higher self.

The essence of the Aquarian age is that people are no longer blind followers of the laws of God, because they have now internalized the law. There is a huge difference between following a set of outer rules and truly internalizing the teachings of God. When people are in a lower state of consciousness, such as the Israelites after the exodus from Egypt, it can be necessary for God to give them a set of outer rules that they must follow. The same might apply to people, who are new to the spiritual path. However, as soon as people rise to a higher level of consciousness, they will no longer follow a set of rigid outer rules.


Individual Christhood
In the Age of Aquarius, the most important thing for any spiritual organization must be to help people attain this internalization of the Christ consciousness. If an organization attempts to set up rules for everything, then the organization will simply miss the boat. Again, the religious organizations that dominated the age of Pisces created elaborate sets of rules and elaborate doctrines. This approach will not work in the Age of Aquarius because people will demand their freedom to be under their own wine and fig tree.

One might say that the true spiritual goal of the Age of Aquarius is that people attain their individual Christhood. Jesus came to set forth an example, showing that it was possible to overcome the carnal mind and unite with the higher consciousness of the universal Christ. The most important words about Jesus’ mission are the words: “Let that mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” What is meant to happen in the Age of Aquarius is that large numbers of people begin to follow the example of Jesus.

A Unique Opportunity for Churches
How can a church assist its members as they attempt to attain individual Christhood? It is essential to realize that building Christhood is an individual process between you and God. The very idea of Christhood is that you have a direct connection, through your Christ Self, to your Spiritual Self and therefore to the mind of God. It should be obvious, that the direct connection between you and your Christ self can never depend on anything outside yourself, including an organization. An organization can help you build that individual Christhood, but in the end, you will only attain your Christhood by going beyond any outer teaching and embracing your Christ Self in a personal, inner process.

Attaining Christhood is a two-fold process, and it has an inner and an outer side. You must go within and build the oneness with your Christ self, and you must go without to express that Christhood in the world. Jesus demonstrated both aspects of this process.

Therefore, the most important consideration for any spiritual organization must be: “How can we help people build their Christhood, and how can we allow them to express that Christhood within the framework of the organization?” In the Aquarian age, a successful spiritual organization must never prevent people from expressing their Christhood.


Expressing Christhood
The question now becomes: “Are the members of your church in the process of building their Christhood (attaining a higher state of consciousness) or are they still in a state of consciousness in which they need to have a set of strict outer rules to follow?”

If you believe that most church members are truly engaged in the process of attaining a higher state of consciousness, the church must be constantly on guard for anything that might impede this process or prevent people from expressing their Christhood within the framework of the organization.

In the Aquarian Age, a church must never put anyone in a situation where they perceive a conflict between their individual spiritual growth and their involvement with the organization. If such a conflict is allowed to arise, then those who are farthest along in their Christhood will inevitably leave the organization. You can only truly build Christhood if you do not allow anything in this world to stand between you and God. So, if an organization prevents you from expressing your Christhood, you must leave it behind.

Obviously, it would be a great loss for an organization to lose those of its members who have attained the greatest degree of Christhood. Therefore, it should be a goal of any spiritual organization to look at how the organization can help people build their Christhood without restricting the expression of that Christhood. If the leaders and members of an organization would embrace this idea, an organization could enter an entirely new phase that would be fulfilling to existing members and attract numerous new members.

If this transition is not made, the membership of the organization is likely to dwindle. It should be easy to see why this can occur. In the new age, people will intuitively (even if they do not consciously recognize this) look for a church that will help them attain a higher state of consciousness. People subconsciously know that salvation is not an outer process, but an inner process. The key to salvation is not the blind following of rules and doctrines, but the attainment of a higher state of consciousness.

Most religious teachings promise some form of salvation, but if the organization does not live up to that promise by helping people attain higher consciousness, then people will realize that something is missing (even if they don’t know what it is). When you realize that the greatest calling of the Age of Aquarius is to let no man come between you and God, then it follows that interfering with this process is the most severe mistake that any church can make in this age.


The Need to Reach Beyond the Carnal Mind
Let us take these deliberations and apply them to the question of how a church can adapt to the new age by bringing forth new ideas, new activities or perhaps even new spiritual teachings.

As stated earlier, most churches were started by a leader who had a connection to the spiritual realm. Therefore, the leader could bring forth ideas and teachings through this connection. This connection to the spiritual realm should be considered an invaluable part of any spiritual organization.

To understand why, you only need to look at the history of other spiritual and secular organizations. If an organization does not have some mechanism that allows it to rise above the relativity of the carnal mind, and the power struggle that inevitably results from it, then the organization will either self-destruct or it will fail to fulfill its original mission.

Any organization is faced with numerous questions that must be answered. To find viable answers, the organization must find a way to reach beyond the carnal mind. If the organization does not have a direct link to a higher level of consciousness, then the organization will inevitably be caught up in the eternal human power struggle. One aspect of this power struggle is the battle between the rebels and the judges, as described in a previous discourse. However, there are numerous other aspects of the carnal mind that come into play.

So, the only means of survival and growth for a spiritual organization is to have and maintain a direct link to the spiritual beings that serve as the mentors or teachers of humankind. Many churches no longer have their original founder, and therefore they have lost the direct link to the Ascended Host. Such churches have two options:

• The church can reason that no one else could possibly attain the direct connection of the original founder. The inevitable outcome is that the organization will be caught up in the human power struggle.
• The church could consider that there might be an alternative way to establish and maintain such a connection. In the Age of Aquarius numerous people are meant to embody their Christhood. As a person builds this Christhood, he or she can serve as a link between this material universe and the spiritual realm. Such a person can serve to bring forth new ideas, perhaps even new spiritual teachings that can revitalize an organization.

If the Messenger Be an Ant
The very nature of individual Christhood is that as a person builds his or her Christhood, that person establishes a link that reaches beyond the carnal mind. Therefore, through that Christhood, the individual can serve as a messenger between the material world and the spiritual world. It follows, that any person, who has attained some level of Christhood, could potentially serve as a messenger for bringing forth specific ideas and specific answers to the questions that the organization is facing.

A messenger is simply a person who reaches beyond the carnal mind and the physical octave to bring back an idea or message from the spiritual realm (See LINK). Throughout history, the Ascended Host have used numerous people as instruments for bringing forth new ideas. What does it take to be such an instrument? It takes an open mind and heart, and also a certain knowledge about a specific topic. If a spiritual teacher wants to bring forth a new form of technology, he is likely to work with a person who is an expert in the field.

When you transfer this to a church, you realize that any organization faces numerous questions that involve many fields of knowledge. Therefore, if the church wants to find the best possible answers to these many questions, it must draw upon experts from a variety of fields. It is not likely that the top leadership will have a representative from each of these many fields. Therefore, the governing bodies of any church must be open to drawing upon experts from the broader membership.

In this respect, it should be clear that “expertise” doesn't necessarily mean that one has a degree or a position in society. Some people have built a deeper understanding of a certain topic. Therefore, they might actually be able to bring forth an idea in fields for which they have no outer expertise in this lifetime. The motto should be that if the messenger appears in the form of an ant (a humble and seemingly insignificant animal) the organization should still listen to the message.
This, of course, requires great humility among top leadership, and traditionally this quality has been lacking in many organizations. It might be wise to remember that God is no respecter of persons and that the first shall be the last and the last the first. Do not limit God’s ability to speak through a person who has no official position. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.


The Goal of the Ascended Host
When you consider the many questions facing any church in today’s rapidly changing world, it becomes obvious that no group of leaders or experts can sit down and analyze all of these questions with the outer consciousness. There is simply no way to answer these questions with the lower consciousness, no matter what level of spiritual attainment or expertise people might have. The only way to find viable answers is to reach into the spiritual world and bring forth an answer that comes directly from the spiritual Masters.

Remember that most churches started because the founder had direct communication with the Ascended Host. This is the process that has built and sustained any organization sponsored by the Ascended Host. Why would anyone assume that the Masters suddenly want this process to stop? Why would anyone assume that because the founder of an organization is no longer present, the Masters no longer want to communicate with the members and leaders of that organization? Why would people not simply reason that the organization has entered a new phase, and it needs to find a new way to communicate directly with the Ascended Host?

The true goal of the Ascended Host is to help each person establish a direct link to their Christ self and through that to the spiritual teachers that serve to help all people. The goal of a true spiritual organization has never been to have one person who can communicate directly with the Masters and have everybody else be blind followers of that person. The true goal of an organization is to bring everyone, who is willing, to a point where they can walk and talk with the Masters.

Let no man take thy Crown also applies to your involvement with a spiritual organization and a spiritual leader. If you allow yourself to think that because you have found a spiritual leader, you no longer need to establish contact with your Christ self, then you have sabotaged the role of that leader. If you allow yourself to think that because you are a member of a certain organization, you can simply follow the outer rules and doctrines and you no longer need to establish direct contact with your Christ self, then you have sabotaged the role of the organization.
Make a supreme effort to go within your heart, establish the contact to your Holy Christ self, and then consider what should be the future of this organization and what should be your personal involvement with the organization.


An Aquarian Leadership Model
Any church needs to acknowledge that the organization must embrace a leadership model that is suited for the Age of Aquarius. In this leadership model, there will not be one person who plays a dominant role in the organization. The concept of having one dominant leader is a Piscean model that will not be successful in the new age.

In terms of politics, the Ascended Host do not simply support one side or the other. They seek truth wherever it can be found. They support the individual who is willing to reach for a higher understanding of the issue, and that person could be found anywhere in the political arena. If a spiritual organization is to succeed in the Age of Aquarius, it must embrace the idea that no one person can always have all the right answers.

It has been said that the Aquarian age is the age of the Holy Spirit. The most important statement ever given about the Holy Spirit is this: “The Holy Spirit bloweth where it listeth.” You cannot imprison the Holy Spirit in a set of rules and doctrines and you cannot confine its expression to a certain group of people (such as church leadership). This has been elaborately demonstrated by the Orthodox churches of the Piscean age, and there is absolutely no need for any church to prove it one more time!

The paradigm that should be considered by any spiritual organization is as follows:

• The organization will only succeed by embracing ideas that come from the spiritual realm.
• For every question that is confronting an organization, the Ascended Host have an answer that will bring the organization forward.
• The Ascended Host are perfectly willing to give these answers to the organization. However, the Masters are not willing to grant one person a monopoly on receiving these answers. The reason has already been explained in the idea of individual Christhood.
• To receive communication from the Ascended Host, an organization must accept the idea that top leadership will not always have the right answers.
• Instead, any member of an organization could be used by the Ascended Host as instruments for bringing forth the best answer to a particular question.
• The leaders of an organization must be willing to look beyond a small circle of people and look to the broader membership for answers and ideas that are needed to bring the church forward.

Basically, the Aquarian age paradigm is that an organization cannot have a small group of leaders and a large group of followers. In the new age, the members of a spiritual organization must rise to a higher level of involvement banns stop seeing themselves as followers. All members must accept personal responsibility and become more involved with the organization. Only organizations that allow and encourage such participation will succeed in the new age.

If both leaders and members of a church will fully embrace this paradigm, the organization can take a quantum leap forward. Existing members will recommit themselves to the organization, and many new members will be attracted. People are hungry for community, but that community must give them the freedom to express their Christhood.


Breaking with Elitism
Before a church could possibly embrace this paradigm, the leaders and members of the organization must make a clean break with the past. It is necessary to acknowledge that the organizational culture of most churches have certain elements (leftovers from the Age of Pisces) that are in direct opposition to the idea of individual Christhood. Foremost among these elements is the elitist mind-set which springs from the idea that one member of the body of God is more important than another member of the body of God.

Elitism is found in most organizations. Throughout history, some people have tried to set themselves up as an elite that is somehow above and beyond the general population. In many cases, members of an elite began to believe that they were above the law, and this has led to some of the worst atrocities that this planet has seen.

For anyone, who is willing to take an objective look at their organiza-tion, it should be easy to see if the organization has patterns of elitism. Often, there is an unwritten assumption that the membership can be grouped into different categories and put on a scale of who is more important than who. Certain leaders are often seen as being above the members.

This division of the membership, and the value judgment that follows, not only leads to the assumption that some people are more important than others. It easily leads to the assumption that if there is a difference of opinion between a member of the elite and a member of the masses, then the member of the elite is always and automatically right. It can also cause leaders to ignore ideas coming from people who are perceived to be outside the elite. Therefore, we have the establishment of a human hierarchy that has nothing to do with the heavenly hierarchy. From a higher perspective, elitism is simply the human equivalent of the pecking order found in any chicken coop, and it has no more validity or importance. It springs from pride, and pride has no place in a spiritual organization.

If elitism has become part of an organization’s culture, then it automatically becomes more difficult for the Ascended Host to work with that organization. The very nature of elitism is that some people are more important than others. Yet, it has been stated clearly that “God is no respecter of persons.” When the Ascended Host seek to bring forth a new idea, they look for a person who has the capacity of mind and the willingness of an open heart to be the instrument for bringing forth that particular idea. These are inner qualities, and they do not necessarily have anything to do with a person’s position in society or in a particular organization.

The very nature of an elitist culture is that is places great importance upon a person’s outer position in the human hierarchy. In an elitist culture, the most important question is not whether an idea is true in an absolute sense, but rather who is presenting the idea. If you look at history, you will see numerous examples of how a true idea was rejected by the ruling elite precisely because the idea was not brought forth by a member of that elite. In some cases, the rejection of an idea by the elite has had far-reaching consequences for both the elite and the general population (the French revolution being an obvious example).


Do Not Reject the Messenger
The important point is that it does not matter who is bringing forth an idea. All ideas should be evaluated based on their merits alone, and the organization should never allow any other considerations to be part of the governing process. This very tendency to judge an idea based on where it comes from has been one of the greatest obstacles facing the Ascended Host in their efforts to raise the consciousness of humankind.

You must ask yourself, why a new religious idea was so often brought forth by a person who was not part of the religious hierarchy of his time. Why wasn’t Jesus an Orthodox Jewish rabbi? Because at the time, the Orthodox Jewish church was so infused with an elitist culture and a judgmental mind set that it was no longer open to hearing the word of God. Therefore, God could not bring forth a new idea through the structure of the organized church. When you look at the history of Christianity, you can see that in the beginning, the Christian movement was very diversified. Gradually, the Orthodox Church began to emerge, and it squashed the diversity of the Gnostics.

The major concern for any church leadership should be this: “Don’t kill the messenger!” Do not reject the messenger no matter where or in what form he or she might appear. A church needs to find a way to allow all members to communicate and present ideas relating to church matters. The church also needs to find a way to have such ideas evaluated by a large body of people.

In the Age of Aquarius, the key to the survival of any organization will be decentralization. You must make sure that decisions are made by a body of people that is so wide that it cannot easily fall into the trap of elitism. In this respect, it seems obvious to make use of modern technology for communication, especially the Internet.

It is, of course, not the intention to imply that all leaders of any church have an elitist mind set. Many do not, yet until the organization has purged itself from the mind set, elitism will continue to block the flow of ideas.


No Personal Messages
It is essential to understand that the ideas presented here should not be interpreted to mean that everyone needs to start giving each other messages from the Ascended Host.

If everyone starts running around saying: “God told me that you should do this” and if everyone starts feeling that they have to impose their messages upon others and upon the organization, then the organization will literally be thrown into chaos and turmoil.

You must recognize that the carnal mind always wants to take on some kind of unquestionable authority. In a spiritual and religious organization, there is always the danger that the carnal mind will seek to take on divine authority. In many spiritual organizations, you see a tendency for people to take quotes given by the leaders of the organization and use them in an attempt to prove their point. Often, these quotes are taken out of context, and therefore they can easily be misinterpreted and misused.

If everyone starts taking messages from the spiritual realm and start using them in an attempt to justify their personal viewpoints, then the organization will get nowhere. Therefore, there has to be a healthy balance.

Also, one should never seek to get “messages” that tell people (including oneself) what to do. Instead, one should seek for a higher understanding that will empower people to make right decisions. Dark forces will gladly tell people what to do, because they have no respect for free will. The Ascended Host have ultimate respect for a person’s free will. The essence of the path is that each person must win his or her personal victory by making right choices. Right choices are not the result of having some outside authority tell you what to do. Right choices are the result of an inner process through which you attain a higher understanding of an issue. After you get the right understanding, it is easy to decide what to do.

It is also important that people do not believe that any idea they receive is the only possible idea or the only true idea. That is why it is so important to establish a broad group of people who can evaluate ideas that are brought forth by the members. By having a large number of people involved with the evaluation process, and by seeking consensus rather than a majority vote, you are more likely to arrive at the best possible idea.

It is also important to realize that in the material world, there is no such thing as absolute truth. In fact, there are no absolutes whatsoever (of course, this statement is not an absolute statement). Therefore, one person cannot always be right. In fact, one should never present ideas with the desire to be proven right by other human beings. Instead, one should have absolute respect for the free will of others, including the right of others to choose not to agree with your idea. You must not judge others for making this choice, no matter how convinced you are that your idea is important or right. You should be content to present an idea, and then let that idea be judged by its merits alone.

Many Roads to Victory
It is extremely important to realize that when you look at the future of a spiritual organization, there are many ways that lead to victory and many ways that lead to defeat. You cannot simply set up a standard and say that if the organization does this; it will fail, and if the organization does that; it will succeed.

The Ascended Host do not necessarily have one solution for how a given church should evolve. God has given each person free will, and therefore the fate of an organization will be the result of the choices made by the individual members. In God’s plan, there are many ways that an organization can be brought to victory. Therefore, while it is important that each person is open to receiving ideas from Above, it is equally important that people do not become attached to the ideas they receive or to how other people react to those ideas. It is essential to do right action, but be non-attached to the fruits of that action. Simply, present your idea and do not enter into a state of attachment as to how other people or the organization should react to that idea.

Save Yourself - Not Others!
When presenting ideas, it is essential to acknowledge the fact that God has given each person free will. The consequence of this is that you are not responsible for the salvation of any other human being. Each person is responsible for his or her own salvation, and everything depends upon the choices that each person makes.

If you truly respect God’s decision to grant people free will, you will never become attached to how other people react to your ideas. You will never feel that it is your mission or obligation to convert them to a particular belief system. You will simply follow your own beliefs to the best of your ability, and let everyone else do the same. Believe and let believe.

One of the major problems in any spiritual organization is that some people begin to feel that it is their duty to save others. Therefore, they become attached to what other people believe or what they do. It is but a short step to start believing that because it is so important to save someone, it is acceptable to start manipulating that person in an attempt to coerce them into accepting what you think is the only truth. It is especially easy for leaders of a spiritual organization to fall into this trap!

The Fear of Psychic Forces
It is likely that some people will be violently opposed to the idea that ordinary members of the church can act in the role of “messenger for a day” and bring forth new ideas. Many of these people will voice various concerns about this topic. One concern is that this is an open invitation for dark forces to start influencing the church.

This is a perfectly legitimate concern, however, it is not a concern that should be used to restrict the flow of ideas. There is no question that some people will be open to dark forces, but others will be open to the Holy Spirit. The only way to grow is to open your mind to ideas that are beyond your existing knowledge and beliefs. When organizations or individuals start closing their minds to new ideas, they stagnate and their growth comes to a halt. So, your choice is simple: you can choose growth and open your mind to new ideas, or you can choose stagnation and close your mind.

You cannot open up to new ideas without opening up to both higher and lower forces. You cannot close the door for one without closing the door for the other. This is the nature of the material universe, and it is better to accept this fact than to resist it by closing your mind.

Most spiritual organizations have tools for keeping lower forces at bay. If you believe these tools work, then you must believe that it is possible for people to receive ideas that are not influenced by dark forces.
To grow you must be willing to open the door of your mind, but you must use discernment before you let anything come through that door. The essence of Christhood is discernment. When the soul has lost contact with the spiritual self, it has no guiding rod for determining what is real and unreal. The Christ consciousness is a mediator between the soul and the spiritual self. When Jesus said: “I come not to bring peace, but a sword,” he was referring to the ability of the Christ consciousness to divide the real from the unreal. As people grow in Christ conscious-ness, they will sharpen their ability to know what is real and unreal.

If you react with fear, reasoning that we must at all cost prevent dark forces from influencing our organization, then you will throw the Christ child out with the bath water of the carnal mind. (And fear is, incidentally, one of the most common tools used by dark forces to gain control over people.)

In this respect, it should be pointed out that it is perfectly possible to be a member of a spiritual organization and to follow all of its rules and doctrines without having actually engaged in the path of manifesting your personal Christhood. The essence of Christhood is that you are willing to work on sharpening your ability to discern what is real and unreal. In doing so, you are also willing to take the risk of making mistakes. If you have discernment, you do not need to fear dark forces. If you have such fears, then perhaps you need to work on getting discernment.

Yes, no one will always be right, no one will always get the best possible idea, and very few people will always get ideas that are not influenced by the carnal mind. From time to time, anyone can bring forth ideas that are influenced by the carnal mind. Yet, you do not have to be perfect to serve the Ascended Host. No spiritual leader was not meant to be the perfect human being. Instead, a leader is meant to show us that the Ascended Host can use even an imperfect person as their instrument. Why would the Masters want to set forth such an example?

To Be or Not to Be
If you are not willing to take a risk, you cannot engage in the spiritual path that leads to salvation. Therefore, as long as you are in physical embodiment you must be willing to wrestle with the question of what is real and unreal. And you must continue to strive to sharpen your ability to discern between the two.

The motto of the Ascended Host is “TRY.” If you are not willing to try, you cannot make progress. If an organization as a whole reacts with fear and is not willing to wrestle with the idea that any member could bring forth a valid idea from Above, then the organization cannot grow. This goes back to the old question faced by Hamlet. To be willing to engage in the process of building your Christhood, or not to be willing to take the risk and therefore condemn yourself to being paralyzed by the carnal mind. That choice is your’s and your’s alone. However, your personal choice will affect the “choice” of your organization.

In the Tree of Life Page Directory

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