The Kingdom of Love Not Manipulation

The  Kingdom  of  Love,  Not  Manipulation

Grace Van Duzen   September 3, 1989  Sunrise Ranch

I thought we could share a new look at some portions in the Bible. Some things have been in my consciousness for several months. First, I would make a few general observations. The story in this book is not a Judeo-Christian document. These words were here before Judaism or Christianity, and the religions grew out of literal translation of them. There are many references to the greatest One, in cultures and religions, and that is wonderful. In this book we have a very complete record from the beginning—from creation of man and this planet, and whatever else is involved, through to the story of the advent of that One, in the Gospels, and then on to Revelation, which is a blueprint for the time in which we live. It has been called a blueprint, and I think that is a very good word for it, because we are now experiencing what was written in the Book of Revelation. We are in the time of revelation.

A service was used the other day of Martin’s, [Opening Doors September 1, 1985] and a few pertinent words here struck me, which I will read: “With respect to what needs to happen insofar as all of mankind is concerned, a door always has to be opened in what may be deemed to be a very personal sense. This, obviously, was so in the life and experience of our Master on earth. All that could be done insofar as He was concerned, as it proved out, related to Himself in a very personal way. But in this, a door was opened; a door was opened in a very specific way for the whole of mankind. That door has been rather obscured in the following centuries since He was present on earth. Something was remembered about Him and interpretations were made of what the purpose of His coming might be, but the fact of the matter remained hidden. All this degenerated into a doctrine, a belief about Him, even though He spoke of Himself as the door… The door which the Master had opened and which had been obscured, overgrown with a tangle of vegetation… had to be revealed for what it was once again, and Uranda undertook to do this, clearing away the vegetation, the traditions that had accumulated to obscure the truth.” They could be called weeds, choking out the truth. Martin masterfully continued that clearing, and we all share in that.

I would share with you a portion in the Gospels that deals with the time of our Master, His advent in human form on earth two thousand years ago; and the character I am particularly looking at with you now is Judas. This came into my awareness specifically around the time of Easter, when I shared a beautiful hour with our friends from the Soviet Union. They were questioning about Jesus and what He was like, and Judas came into the picture. Something has been recalled in my awareness of what Uranda said many years ago about the motivation of Judas. He was the treasurer for the body which had come to focus under the hand of Jesus. I never could believe that Judas, or anyone else, would commit the act of treachery which he did for thirty pieces of silver. It didn’t make any sense—especially when he was the treasurer! Thirty pieces of silver? And why have the Master executed? What was the reason? And then to commit suicide after he had accomplished what he had wanted to do? He had the thirty pieces of silver. It didn’t make sense.

Perhaps we should look first at the body that was present at that time, because there was a body. We might say that the record in the Bible, and especially in the Gospels, is sparse. There are many vacant spots, but the spirit fills in a great deal with what is available. I think this is exactly the way it should be. If it were all laid out like a schoolbook—“Do this and don’t do that,” and all the rest, pragmatic—it would be inviting the mind to do the work. That is not what we are about at all, and the wonderful action of the spirit on the few words that are here is magic.

In the past twenty years there have been some records discovered which tell of a body in existence at the time of the Master, which continued after He left. Of such records as have been unearthed, only a few were translated. This is interesting, because I read recently of some Biblical scholars who were incensed about this: “What’s happened to all this? Haven’t they done anything for twenty years?” They have done something, but they are keeping it for a privileged few. Things are no different than they ever were before; they are exactly the same. But there are enough of these records to show that there was a very effective body and that it continued for a while after the Master departed, seeking to continue His work. Much power was moving through those people, and shortly they were persecuted, and seemingly disappeared. The first reaction might be “Wouldn’t it be great to get those records?” I don’t think so. The Word is available now, and our body now has been built by spirit, not according to whatever happened at another time. It is perfect this way.

I mention this because of the part Judas played; and to see something with respect to an actual body that was present at the time of Jesus, and that there was power moving through it. There is reference in the Gospels to great power moving through Jesus, and His disciples—some of them anyway—but not directly about a body of people. Sometimes the picture is of Jesus and twelve men, and the inference is that these twelve men were focus points. Well, focal points with nothing to focalize doesn’t make a lot of sense! There was a body, and there are two short verses in the Bible that tell this. But first I would look at the fact that this was just two thousand years ago. When we hear of records or reports when the power was working through man on earth, it is usually twenty thousand years ago—before a cataclysm. Well the earth was a little different then, and man was a little different—maybe a lot different—so that could happen. But this was two thousand years ago, and not only the Master but a body with Him was letting the power work in what we would today call miracles. A body of people was sharing what the Master brought then, with the world the way it is today and the bodies the way they are now. I think that is something to look at. We tend to think of the invisible as impossible of taking visible form, but it is actually the reality.

I will read these verses I mentioned, in the sixth chapter of John. Jesus and His disciples traveled, and spoke to many people, and on one occasion, after He had delivered the Word in His positive way: “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?” That is a poignant passage. But my point here is that there were many besides the twelve, and they were called disciples—in our day maybe “responding ones” or “Emissaries.” Many disciples “went back,” and the fact that they went back showed that they had come out of something and joined, or been a part of, a body. So there were many who went back, and many who didn’t go back. Then He said to the twelve, “Will ye also go away?”

So there was a body besides the twelve. And this included all the strata of the world’s body, society, whatever. There is emphasis upon the poor, and the widow who put in her last penny to the treasury, but there is also reference to much more. There is reference to publicans—usually that referred to someone in a high position working for Rome, a tax gatherer, and so on. Jesus didn’t say, “That filthy Rome.” He said, “Come on in.” And there were those with wealth. Remember the rich young ruler? He had authority over a particular section of society. I am sure these rich people made donations; there was a treasury. There was a body, like ours. At one point this rich young ruler asked the Master what more he could do; he knew there was more. And Jesus told Him—He didn’t mince any words because there was a nice income here—and the young man went away sorrowing. It was too much. There is reference to another wealthy man, Zacchaeus. He was wealthy and he was a publican. And when Jesus came around to his part of town He stayed with him. He probably enjoyed the lovely home—maybe a private bathroom! Here was another one who contributed; there’s no doubt about it. Every child in JTS knows the song about Zacchaeus: “I’m going to your house today!”

So there was a body, and there was a treasury. Perhaps sometimes there is the question of why Judas was included in this close body with the Master. This was His core body. There was a position to be filled. Judas filled the requirements, and he came the way everybody else came, or he would not have been included in that close body. Everyone came in response to this attraction from Jesus, the radiance from the Lord, or he would not have been accepted. There may be an idea that at the time of crucifixion Jesus saw what Judas was doing, for the first time. He knew the propensity; He knew what the character of Judas was from the beginning. He also knew what was true of every other disciple. Perhaps we could say that the Lord takes a chance with every one of us! That is what there is to work with; it is all there is to work with.

However, we see a progressive deterioration in the character of Judas as we look through the story, for instance references to the fact that, in the language of the Bible, he had “the bag” and obviously was skimming off some of the funds. He would say that he was going to feed the poor, but there was not an honorable practice going on. One of these evidences of deterioration is in a few verses in the twelfth chapter of John. This was at a supper with Mary and Martha, Lazarus and others, when Mary took “a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment”— not just the ointment, but the love. Then said Judas: “Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag,” and so on.

Then said Jesus, Let her alone

“Then said Jesus, Let her alone.” That is a beautiful, revealing passage. Money did not have significance of itself in the mind of the Master. Whatever its use was for, that was the whole reason for it being there. In this instance it was used for what was right. But it again shows something about Judas.

One might say, “Well at the time when this all happened, this crisis point, this critical point of the crucifixion, Jesus must have seen it coming.” And I would say yes, He did. He knew what could happen. Did He not work with Judas? I say yes, He worked with Judas, as everyone was worked with—all the twelve, all of us. And then, as I was pondering this one evening, it took my breath away when I thought: there is a record in the Bible of a conversation with Judas. And Jesus said, "Man shall not live by bread alone.” This shatters another illusion. I could never believe that in that passage where Jesus was supposed to have met the temptations it was something He had to deal with in Himself. It was true in the sense that He met everything that needed to be resolved for the whole world of mankind, but it was not something he had to “deal with.” I say this was a conversation here with Judas, because it is exactly what Judas had in mind.

Judas sought to convince Jesus that He could have all the kingdoms of this world if He would use His power according to Judas’s plan. Judas was an expert financier! This is exactly the state of the world, as it has ever been in the fallen state—seeking to use the power of God, which is the only power there is, for man’s own greedy ends. He sought to convince Jesus of this. And Jesus’ answer was always the same: “Man shall not live by bread alone”—this whole level of material substance into which the mind of man has sunken and fallen. It is an interesting sidelight that bread is a slang word for money today, isn’t it!

But that didn’t stop Judas, so He kept on. And the answer came: “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God,” not in the sense that He could be tempted—“Don’t tempt me!”—but the awful arrogance of seeking to tempt the Lord, the utter lack of respect and response. And then Judas’s last remark: “I know how you can get all these things—all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them.” The Master had talked about His kingdom that would fill the whole earth, and Judas had this plan for an earthly kingdom to come, if the Master would use His power. I feel sure that over and over again these words were spoken to Judas until, finally, he got the point—"Get thee hence” were the Master’s words—that He was not going to do it this way. So Judas decided that he would force the issue, and that if he delivered Him to the authorities—Judas believed implicitly in the power of Jesus—under that pressure He would certainly exercise the power to save His own life and, above all, the purpose for which He came on earth, which was His passion, that He would never see it go into nothing. Little did he know the Master, whose complete faith and response was to His Father in heaven, to the invisible realm of spirit, to that place from which all form comes. His absolute trust was in that; no matter what the circumstance, all was well and in the hands of the Lord. It is a magnificent revelation of the character of Jesus.

But Judas believed that his plan would work, and it makes a lot more sense than those thirty pieces of silver. It also shows why he hanged himself on a tree when he saw that it did not work. The usual interpretation is complete remorse; but that doesn’t altogether fit his character. Everything was gone, nothing left, the end of all his dreams, his self-active dreams. One is caused to think about the present-day state, where people jump out of high-story buildings when the stock market crashes—because the body of mankind is in the same position; this is the story of what we are in today. This greed that fills the earth partakes of that self-destructive element which was in Judas. It is picturing that element. And the Master did not judge it. It was the way it was. He could not possibly go along with what Judas had set up without destroying everything.

I shall read some of the story of this betrayal in the eighteenth chapter of John. This follows the seventeenth chapter, that magnificent expression of oneness with the Father and of Jesus’ passion for the oneness of His body. “And I have declared unto them thy name… that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples. And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples.” There is so much in a few verses, this very poignant picture of a secret place—secret at least to the extent that they were not disturbed—where Jesus would come with His disciples. Oh, Judas knew that place.

“Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.” He went to the top—chief priests and Pharisees—he wanted them to be hit first. “Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him… Whom seek ye? He said. They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth.” Now in the Bible it says: “Jesus saith unto them, I Am he." Bible students may remember that where there is an italicized word it has been put in either for so-called clarification or because they thought something was left out—“he” is put in here; that is interesting, because without that the answer is: “They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth.”

Jesus saith unto them, I Am

“Jesus saith unto them, I Am. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them.” He was watching to see his plan work. “As soon... as he had said unto them, I Am, they went backward, and fell to the ground.” This must have been the one moment of victory for Judas—the plan was working: the power was working. This was the first step; then they would go on to Pilate and then all the rest—eventually Rome, and, however it would be done, take it all. We have seen those bent on world domination. This isn’t unusual; we have seen not one but many in our day. But I think we need to remember that we are not talking about those diabolic forces that want to take over the world. This is the element of manipulation, and we can all recognize something of this. We couldn’t relate in any way to a Judas who would do what he did to the Master for thirty pieces of silver and want to have Him destroyed—but we probably can relate to manipulation. I think it is very good to see what really is involved here, because it applies to everyone on the face of the earth, to whatever degree.

Being the treasurer, of course it found its focus in money. And money in man’s world is power. Money and power: there is no getting away from it. And it is an utterly insane situation, isn’t it. There can be so much money focused in one person that in throwing a party it’s nothing to pay a couple of million dollars and, not too far away, a man trying to find something in somebody’s garbage is shot because he was getting too close to the house. This is the world which man has created, and this is the one pictured by Judas and his manipulation. But it didn’t last long, and very shortly Judas saw what was happening. The twelfth verse:

“Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound him, And led him away... Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall… and called Jesus, and said… Art thou the King of the Jews?” The emphasis all through this story is on an earthly king, an earthly kingdom that Jesus was supposed to be setting up, and I suspect that this rumor was deliberately propounded by Judas. We do not find any active effort against Jesus and His people before this. There may have been some little feelings or ideas, but nothing that really threatened Jesus at all. “Art thou the King of the Jews?”

“Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight.” That is interesting: war is a part of man’s world. It is the way it is; it couldn’t be any other way. And he said so here: “If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight. Pilate… said… Art thou a king then?” He kept at it. Jesus said: “Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. From then on, Pilate said: I find in him no fault at all.”

We know the rest of the story. But this issue of an earthly kingdom was definitely a major factor in all of this. The Master’s words are very potent: “My kingdom is not of this world.” This is what we have been hearing: we are not of this world. We are in this world, absolutely. But there is also the kingdom. It isn’t a matter of making the kingdom of this world be something else. The kingdom of our Lord is in this world. Rightly, we are it, the beautiful symbol of His body and what it is moving through and must move through now in this day.

There was not one weak expression in all of the story of Jesus. Every word carried great strength, as did the few words recorded on the cross. He said, “Father, forgive them”—and He didn’t say, “except Judas”—“for they know not what they do.” I wonder if anybody has completely and altogether forgiven every single bit? Well, not if we haven’t forgiven ourselves. I think the barrier is the concept of what forgiveness is. It isn’t a matter of going to somebody and saying, “What you did is okay, it was right; I was wrong. ” Maybe it was wrong, but what is right and wrong? It is purely a matter of transcendence, transfiguration, and letting judgment dissolve. The opportunities we have in this body are surely without precedent.

Into thy hands I commend my spirit

He spoke these most wonderful words, on the cross at the time when we would say He lost consciousness: “Into thy hands I commend my spirit.” There was absolute control every step of the way. What happened was under His control; and for any human mind to think it knows what occurred at that time in all of this is ridiculous—the picture of the suffering and the torture. The Master was not of this world, and He was in control every step of the way—conscious, subconscious, every level. He said, “My Father and I are one”—He said that all the way through His life. It was always true.

This pictures the state we may be in as His body. It didn’t matter what happened. He said, “Thy will is my will,” in essence. Maybe we would say, “If that’s what it takes!” But there was never a wavering. Then there was the time in the tomb, and the tomb was in a garden—in other words, the state of the garden in which man was originally created. He never left the garden. And it is a tomb where the world of mankind is now. It was a body of light that emerged from the tomb, that dissolved the stone, that made the soldiers fall back unconscious. It was light that emerged from the tomb—a body of light.

The world body is in a tomb, but a light body is also in that tomb—and that is what we really are. This is a body of light, and all are welcome to come into that light. The one thing necessary for the light, or that is the light, is love. The Master’s commandments were so simple: “Love one another.” Simple! He said: “A new commandment I give unto you”—it was new because it had never really been done—“That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” In this beautiful body here tonight there is a very tangible love present.

The body at the time of Jesus had power, it had the means of this world. We might look at a chapter which deals with prosperity and money, substance that has been most misunderstood. Jesus did not say, “Now we will take a vow of poverty because money is bad.” Many years ago I read a book on yoga by a very fine man, an instructor, and he said that he had never found a more explicit or accurate expose or explanation of yoga than this passage in the sixth chapter of Matthew. I am going to read part of it:

“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other,” and so on. Judas and Jesus, there are the two: that which transcends and that which destroys itself. “Therefore I say unto you. Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?” I think this is the hardest thing for anybody to look at!

“Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?” Here it is: “Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment?… Yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of” the lilies of the field.

“Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?… For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” He isn’t saying you don’t need these things. “Your heavenly Father knoweth” that living in this world you have need of all these things, but the difference is “your heavenly Father knoweth.” Heaven is within you; here is the heavenly Father. Is it the knowing of the spirit and the direction of the spirit, or is it “taking thought”? There is an emphasized difference here to me: “Take no thought.” Here is the action of the fallen mind of man taking thought—manipulation.

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” There used to be an expression in our ministry of an “added unto.” What is an “added unto”? A bonus of some kind? “You’ve been good; here’s an added unto.” Oh no! This is saying that this is the means for the spirit to bring into form all that is needed—and the heavenly Father might not think our needs are exactly the same as what we take thought of, either! This adding—in other words the forming, in this level of substance, of that which is invisible, in spirit—requires pneumaplasm. Money has been a substitute for pneumaplasm; therefore mankind’s world is destitute indeed, separated from the source. There is no connection, because pneumaplasm is the means of spirit finding form. If only this substitute is available, where is the real power and how can it manifest?

There is one more reference. We can go back in the life of Jesus and see how something might have happened which would have obviated the time of the crucifixion, and that is what occurred on the Mount of Transfiguration, when Jesus took Peter, James and John to a high mountain. In the Bible that always symbolizes the highest point of consciousness possible to those who were participating. Here is a very poignant passage, where the Master sought to extend what He had to those closest to Him, and they could have shared in the transfiguration which would have allowed the resurrection to occur through this, His larger body of disciples—and it was aborted. Then it had to happen in the only way it could happen. The Master had the experience of transfiguration; nothing could stop His personal experience. But this beautiful time with His disciples was spoiled. First there appeared, as it was put, Moses and Elias—the beginning evidence of something from another realm actually taking form. We don’t need to conjecture what it was. And Peter said, “Lord, it is good for us to be here.” Did you ever see a wonderful trend in a group of people beginning and have somebody say something that stupid?

“If thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.” Here was the spirit beginning to let something take form according to the design in heaven, and Peter couldn’t wait. He said, “Let’s make it in form here. We’ve got to have a form for this.” And it was the same for Judas—it had to be in form, in a form familiar in this world. There is a message in Revelation: “And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.” Peter wanted to build tabernacles or temples right away—the form. True change doesn’t come at that level. It comes from allowing the invisible, the spirit of the Lord, to have the willing, yielded substance—we have called it pneumaplasm—the substance of connection, the substance of love.

I feel that was a time when the whole course of events could have been different, but instead, the Master was left alone with His own transfiguration. His resurrection occurred, and it was in a “new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.” Here was an experience man had never had since the fall—a new sepulchre, a new tomb. Today we are not in a tomb of death; we are in a tomb of life. The Master did it, but the whole purpose of this book is to show that a body of people must do it, and the Master showed the way. If we are His body and He had the victory, we know what we are about. And that body in the tomb is light. Love is the light in the tomb.

In this particular configuration of the body, we all know that power is moving. Love is the power. The word is simple: “Love one another.” It doesn’t matter what excuses we may have. Jesus had no exception in His forgiveness, and that is exactly why it worked. And what was going to hang on a tree was free to hang on a tree, but it allowed the transfiguration and the ascension of His body—and it is exactly the same today. We don’t judge what happened, but we know where we are now. We are here to allow a new outworking, that which is not of this world. Our kingdom is not of this world, and there is no attachment to the things of this world by taking thought, the manipulation of the mind, but simply to let the knowing of the Lord fill us, so that the wonders of His kingdom manifest through us. It is happening all over the world, and we don’t judge whether one is a millionaire, or a billionaire, or a hobo. Where is the love? That is all that matters. If we say, “Money is wrong,” it is the same as saying money is everything. Money isn’t! It is god in the world. It is seen as the creator, isn’t it? What can you buy without money?! But we let our complete dependence and our trust be in the Lord, the Creator, in the invisible which we know, which we feel—not through any substitute for that wonderful realm of connection. It is the real thing—genuine, absolute.

We all have experienced love as never before, and it is the answer.

The betrayal came from within, not from without. And that is our great responsibility. We are trusted by the Lord. He knows our shortcomings, whatever they are at the moment, or have been. But we know why we are here, and it has to do with the Mount of Transfiguration where all things may be transfigured. This is the work of the spirit. The vision is limited in the world to what is on one level. Do we really see that the invisible and that which is moving from the realm of the spirit is actually what is? Everything outside of that is in a cycle of self-destruction. Let it go. Praise the Lord.

© Emissaries of Divine Light