John 18 - The Manifest Cookbook

The Current State Of Truth

For a moment, let’s look at the current state of “truth” in the world today. All the countries of the world have highly paid specialists devoted to spinning the events of the day. They are hired to spin as truth whatever places their country in the best possible light. When they do actually announce something that actually is what is happening, nobody believes it. Fake news is the order of the day.

Politicians, bless their little conniving hearts, are experts in saying whatever is necessary to maintain their power and status. Whatever is the actual state of events doesn’t matter. It is irrelevant to them. If actual events do not coordinate with their own position on any matter, it is labelled “fake news”. The controllers then make up what they want to feed the public. Then they relentlessly dish it out. They then call the truth of the matter “fake news”. Let’s do an “opposites Rorschach test.” Cold…..Hot. Upper…..Lower. North…..South. Politicians…..Truth.

Now let’s go to the real rulers of the world – corporations. Corporations have two appointed missions. The first is to suck every last dollar that they can out of the public. The second is to suck the very life out of all the minions under its control. When a corporate representative says that they are making a change to “better serve the public”, watch out. Hold on to your wallet because they are really saying “to better serve the corporation.” Mitt Romney says a corporation is a person. If so, a corporation is a person without a soul.

Sigh. Truth is twisted every which way in today’s world. It’s a royal mess. You may find yourself echoing the words of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, when he said, “What is truth”?

A Well Known Story

In the book of John, there is related the following well known story. Jesus was arrested by the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. The charge was blasphemy. They brought him to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of that area.

Pilate asked the leaders, “What are the charges against this man”? When he did not get a clear cut answer, he disgustedly told them to go away. He told them to handle the matter under their own laws.

The leaders then answered Pilate. They told him that they wanted Jesus executed. Only Pilate had the authority to allow an execution.

Pilate had the guards bring Jesus in his chambers in the palace. He asked him point blank, “Are you the King of the Jews”?

Jesus replied, “Is that your own idea or did others talk to you about me”?

Pilate replied, “Am I a Jew? Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it that you have done”?

Jesus replied, ” My kingdom is not of this world. If it were my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by Jewish leaders. But now my Kingdom is from another place”.

“You are a king then”! exclaimed Pilate.

Jesus answered, ” You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into this world was to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

To which Pilate gave his famous retort, “What is truth”?

The Rest Of The Story

Ah yes. What is truth? The billion dollar question. Did Pilate say it philosophically? Jestfully? Cynically? Rhetorically? We may never know. But it sure is one helluva question.

To finish the story within the eighteenth chapter, Pilate went out again and told the leaders, “I find no fault in him at all.” Pilate continued, “You have a custom that I should release someone to you at Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the ‘King of the Jews’?

Then they all cried again saying, “No, not this man, but Barabbas.” Now Barrabbas was a robber.

The Question Of All Questions

The question “What is Truth”? is indeed the question of all questions. Scripture clearly states that knowing and living the truth will set you free. Free of what you say? Free of the dozens of personal prisons that encapsulate the overwhelming majority of human beings in the world. If it is clearly stated that the truth will set you free, then, it is of paramount importance to you to understand what truth is.

First, let’s see what the Webster dictionary says about the definition of truth. Of course, the first definition that they give is completely useless. It defines truth as, “the state of being true.” Going on to the secondary definition, we see truth being defined as “the body of those events, things and facts that are judged as real.”

Going over to Wikipedia, we find truth defined as “the property of being in accord with accepted fact or reality.”

Various themes, essays and viewpoints of truth have been vigorously debated over the centuries by scholars, philosophers and theologians. Mountains of pages of literature have been written addressing the simple question “What is truth”? Kant. Hegel. Schopenhauer. Nietzsche. Swedenborg. Heidegger. Fromm. And the list goes on and on. Just to read a concise summary of all the themes and viewpoints about the nature of truth is enough to make your head spin.

An Ever Increasing Illumination

Truth is an ever increasing illumination. All things in the world are subject to the imaginative power of mankind. Moses wanted to know what the name of God was. He is told the following (in the book of Exodus): “And God said to Moses, I AM THAT I AM. Say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.”

In order to create the reality that you desire, you must choose. You must make the choice to walk, to live, to breathe, in the full feeling of I AM. Do you desire good health? Then feel I AM healthy. If you wish to experience success, then feel I AM successful. Want to experience what it is to be a conduit of God’s love, then feel I AM loving. How about desiring some of your God-given power, then feel I AM powerful. And so on in keeping with whatever you desire to experience. The more you feel your I AM to be true, the more natural it becomes to you.

Stay with it. Grow in it. When you get to the point where your I AM is completely natural, it is truth. Truth then materializes into external circumstances. When I say natural, here is what I mean. It is a natural belief of yours that your nose is attached to your face, your hands are attached to your arms, your feet are attached to your legs. You do not have to think or reason or wonder about these things. These beliefs are completely and totally natural to you.

One of the most mind blowing utterances of Jesus is the following” Whatsoever things you desire, when you pray, believe that you have them, and you shall have them.”

Deeper Meaning To The Pontius Pilate Story

Jesus stated with crystal clarity how you can receive every good desire. Every. What he stated is truth. This truth, when absorbed into your inner being, will indeed set you free from all the various prisons of this world.

A very large majority of people on this planet cannot bear to part with what they do not want, long enough to be able to receive what they do want. It is unfortunate. Ultimately however, truth will prevail. It always does. In the book of Hebrews it states that faith (imaginative belief) is in fact the very substance (truth) of what you long for. Faith is the concrete substance of that which your senses do not see. It is the indisputable evidence of that which the five senses simply are not able to perceive.

The Jesus/Pontius Pilate story represents the level of Caesar (reason). In that level of truth, only external facts are classified as truth. Barabbas was a known robber. Barabbas represents the external facts of life. These are what the world at large primarily live by. This is what they want. Barabbas, the robber, the evidence of your senses, robs you of the substance of your true faith.

I leave you with this beautiful slice of a poem from Robert Browning, the great nineteenth century poet and playwright:

Truth is within ourselves; It takes no rise from outward things, whatever you may believe.

There is an utmost center in us all; where truth abides in fullness.

Conceive. Believe. Receive.

Origin Of The Term – Jesus Christ is King

December 25 is almost upon us. Christians all over the world celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Have you ever heard the phrase “Jesus Christ is King”? The message of Jesus Christ as King can be observed in several Bible verses. One is John 18:37 – ” Therefore Pilate said to him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘ You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.” Another is found in Revelation 19:11 where it is stated that the title given to Jesus Christ is “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”

Christ the King is frequently used as a name for churches, schools, seminaries, hospitals and religious institutions. There is even celebrated a Feast of Christ the King in the liturgical calendar. The feast is a relatively recent addition to the liturgical calendar instituted in 1925 for the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Lutheran, Anglican, Moravian, Methodist, Nazarene, Reformed and United Protestant churches also celebrate the Feast of Christ the King.

My beliefs over the course of my life have always been grounded in the Christian faith. The phrase “Jesus Christ is King” is a phrase that I was familiar with but had never actually spoken. That abruptly changed some 25 years ago. At that time, the words “Jesus Christ is King” came forth without thinking from my mouth and from my soul. Those words provided me with a shield of protection against an approaching and ominous evil spiritual entity.

Dream Number One

I had been sprawled out on the living room sofa late at night watching college basketball on television. Using the remote, I remember turning off the tv. It was one of those situations where I was so very tired that I did not even feel like getting up. I just said to myself “I’m just gonna rest my eyes here for ten minutes and then I’ll head up to bed”. Of course, I promptly dozed off.

I rarely remember my dreams. The dream that I had that night however is burned into my memory. In my dream I was laying on the living room sofa where I had fallen asleep. Everything in the house was quiet. I was awake in my dream.

A Cold Chill Down My Spine

All at once I got an icy cold chill shooting down my spine, from neck to tail bone. I looked over to my right to the stairs that led to the second level of the house. My eyes saw a grey luminous mist. It had the general outline of a human being but without any real definition or features. You can call it a presence or an entity or an energy source or any of a dozen different things. Call it whatever you want. It was there and it was real. It was midway down the steps and was slowly heading toward me. The entity made no sound whatsoever. It moved without any movement of arms or legs.

Deep Doo-Doo

Whatever it was, it was pure malevolence in nature. I intuitively knew immediately that I was in deep doo-doo. I felt the essence of its total contempt for me. My body was literally frozen in fear. I could not physically move. I was paralyzed. It is difficult to imagine that something such a luminous mist can emit such an evil presence but I felt an intense hatred directed at me from the entity. I knew it was coming for me. Whatever its intent, it was not going to be anything good. I knew if it reached me it would have been bad for me. Very, very bad. Like maybe dying from a heart attack caused by terror.

Since I was frozen, I could not run away. It was a nightmare’s nightmare. I have actually had nightmares where aliens were chasing me. In these dreams I would have one close call after another (ala Indiana Jones). At some point in the dream I finally said “Alright, enough of this bullshit” and I actually woke up, thus escaping my dilemma.

No Escape Route

In this dream there was no such escape route. I was truly fucked. Then, as the malevolent being reached the next to last step at the bottom of the stairs, there came out of my heart and out of my mouth, from the depths of my soul, the words, “Jesus Christ is King”. I had no thoughts beforehand of saying it. I did not think “what should I do”. The phrase just came out of me and just barely at that. Even my vocal chords were partially frozen in fear. However feebly I whispered the words “Jesus….. Christ….. is….. King”, I spoke them with conviction..

At the sound of those words, the evil presence stopped in its tracks. Then, in a more pronounced manner I immediately followed up with the same spoken phrase, “Jesus Christ is King”. This caused the entity to shrink backward and begin to lose presence. Without even thinking, I immediately followed up with a third even more forceful, almost shouting “Jesus Christ is King” intuitively knowing that I was in possession of the kryptonite of the malevolent entity. After the third pronouncement, it vacated the scene and was gone.

Dream And Reality – There Was No Difference

At the same moment that the malevolent force departed, I opened my eyes and immediately woke up from my “dream”. It hit me at once however that I was in the exact same position on the living room couch as I was in my dream. I was wearing the exact same clothes and everything in the living room was in the exact same place as in the dream. Even the light from the street lamp outside shining through the living room window was exactly the same as in the dream. I was somewhat shaken by the experience and turned on a living room lamp and walked to the adjacent kitchen to get a glass of water.

As I passed the stairs, I just stopped for a moment and stared at the spot where “it” was. I sat on the couch for about fifteen minutes pondering what I had just experienced. Then I prayed a succinct “Thank you Lord” before going up to bed. My conclusion was quite simple yet profound – the dream was no dream. It was as real as real ever gets.

Dream Number Two

Flash forward some twenty years later to 2016. I was now living in a different house. It was a one story house. I slept in one bedroom. My son slept in the second bedroom. I always left a small 40 watt lamp on in the living room at night. I slept with my bedroom door open. The door led to a hallway which led to the bathroom. I knew that at some point during the night that tag team duo of prostate and bladder would be sending me to the bathroom at least once, maybe twice. In those intervening 20 years, I never forgot my encounter with the unseen malevolent energy. I kept a crucifix on the wall above my bed that had been in my mother’s bedroom when she was alive. I figured it couldn’t hurt to have it there if a vampire decided to show up one night.

Anyway, it’s the middle of the night and I am in bed. I look over to the bedroom doorway. Standing there is the very same evil entity that I encountered 20 years ago. The same grey luminescence You may wonder how I could possibly know that to be a fact. I can only tell you that I knew. I just knew. It was an intuitive knowing. I have no idea how I was able to know, but I knew.

The Second Time – A Different Response

This time however, I reacted differently than my first encounter some twenty years prior. As before, it seemed to be just standing there, observing me with hatred and contempt. I sensed that it was about to head toward me as I lay in my bed. This time however, my response was different. I was not frozen with fear. I just said out loud, “Oh it’s you again.” Then I followed that up with the same phrase that I had used twenty years before, “Jesus Christ is King.” At the sound of those words, the entity froze. I followed up with a second “Jesus Christ is King”. At that second salvo, it started backing away. I could sense it was losing energy. One more time I repeated loudly, “Jesus Christ is King”. With that final pronouncement, the malevolent entity departed – poof- gone. The difference this time was that I knew right from the start that the power of Jesus Christ would protect me.

A Peaceful Sleep – Free of Fear

I was aware of the pure essence of malevolence of the being. However this time I did not fear. In fact, in this second dream, after the departure of the entity, I said aloud to myself, “And that takes care of that”. I turned on my side, back to the hallway and went back to sleep. And then I opened my eyes and woke up. Everything around me in my bedroom was exactly the same as the dream. The bed, my position on the bed, the bedsheet and blanket, my bed clothes, the wall hangings, the bureau, the light from the living room lamp, the quiet of the house. This time however I understood. My shield of protection “Jesus Christ is King” was something that the evil presence could not overcome. I then said, “Thank you Lord, now I’m goin’ back to sleep” and proceeded to do just that.

To anyone reading this – Merry Christmas to you and a Very Happy New Year!