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I've got a good fish story for you
JONAH was a servant of God who was a good man and loved God, but not well enough to obey him as he should. If you love your parents more than you love anybody else, you will always do the very best you can to please them.
Isn't that right Well, Jonah didn't love God as much as he should have, so when God asked him to do something that was not pleasant to Jonah, he tried to run away from God so he wouldn't have to do it.
Jonah was one of God's prophets.
A prophet is one who tells people about God, and what God wants done. A prophet also tells people when they are doing wrong, and that they will have trouble if they keep on doing wrong.
A prophet also tells about things that will occur long before they take place. Jonah, being one of God's prophets, was asked by him to go to a very wicked city called Nin-e-veh and tell the people of that city that they were all to be destroyed because of their wickedness.
Jonah didn't want to do this, so he decided that he would run away to avoid doing what God wanted him to do. He went to a seaport called Joppa, and found that a boat was sailing to Tarshish, so he paid his fare to sail from Joppa to Tarshish. Jonah was sure that by sailing on a ship that was going to Tarshish he would land far from Nineveh.
Well, Jonah was wrong. The ship didn't go to Nineveh, Jonah did!
A short time after the ship left Joppa, God caused a fierce storm to arise, and the wind whipped the sea so terribly that the waves were breaking right over the ship, and all the sailors were sure it would he wrecked.
These sailors were heathens, who did not believe in the true God. But being afraid, they prayed to their own gods. Their gods were not really gods It all, and of course could not do anything for them.
Meanwhile Jonah had crawled under the deck of the ship and was sound asleep. Probably the air wasn't very fresh down there in the hold of the ship, and that is why he had gone to sleep. The captain of the ship missed Jonah and started to hunt for him. When they found the prophet, the captain asked him to pray to his God to save the ship.
Before Jonah had a chance to say very much the sailors cast lots to see if they could find out who had brought this terrible storm upon them. They decided, you see, that someone on the ship had done wrong and was being punished.
They didn't know that the ship was in God's hands because his prophet was aboard. Yes, God was taking care of everything, so when they cast lots they found out that it was because Jonah was on the ship that the fierce storm had arisen.
Then they went to Jonah and asked, "Who are you, and where did you come from? Why has this trouble come upon us?" Jonah knew he was doing wrong in running away from God and from what God wanted him to do, so he confessed his wrongdoing to them.
Jonah was a good man, though, and he did not want all the sailors to be drowned just because he was running away. The sailors asked Jonah, "What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm?" And Jonah said, "Throw me into the sea, and the sea will be calm, for I know that it is on my account that the great storm has come upon you."
Jonah was willing to be drowned in order to save the lives of those heathen sailors. That was very noble of him, wasn't it? The sailors did what Jonah asked, and as soon as he was out of the ship and in the water, the storm died down and the sea became Calm, and the ship was safe!
But poor Jonah! You probably think he couldn't live long in the water, and you are right. But God helped him, and that made a big difference.
The Bible tells us that God had "prepared a great fish, to swallow up Jonah." We know there are fish large enough to swallow a man. Whales are very large, aren't they? But it wasn't a whale, because whales have very small throats, although the stomach of a whale is big enough to hold a man.
God knew what Jonah would do, so he had this large fish ready to swallow the prophet as soon as he was thrown overboard from the ship. You may think that wasn't a very good way to take care of Jonah, but it worked out all right.
Jonah was in the stomach of the fish for three days. Of course God took care of him there, or else he would have been digested by the fish. And while Jonah was in the stomach of the fish, he prayed very earnestly to God, and God heard him.
Yes, God heard Jonah's prayer, and delivered him, and he found himself on the beach, safe and sound. My, but wasn't that an experience!
Did he go back home then? Oh no! Where he landed on the beach was not very far from Nineveh, the city God had asked him to visit.
Jonah knew then that there was no use in trying to run away from God and from what God asked him to do, so he walked to the city of Nineveh and told the people what God had asked him to tell them. He told them that they were very wicked, and that God would destroy their city in forty days.
What did the people of Nineveh do?
Did they try to kill Jonah because he brought them such bad news? No, they were very sorry. The King of Nineveh who lived in the city sent word to the people that they should repent and do what God wanted them to do. Because of this God did not destroy the city.
And now you probably think that Jonah was very happy that the city was not destroyed, but he was not. Jonah thought God was unfair because he didn't do what he had told the people he would do. Jonah was too proud, and did not want the people to think that he had made a mistake; so instead of being happy that the people were sorry, and that God loved them and didn't destroy them, he became sulky and cross.
But Jonah was a good man, just the same, and he got over being sulky, and God loved him. My, wasn't it wonderful how God made him go to Nineveh and tell the people what he asked him to tell them?
IN THE STOMACH OF A FISH
QUESTIONS
Who was Jonah, and why did he try to run away, and not do what God asked him to do?
Why was Jonah not drowned when he was thrown overboard from a ship?
Where was Jonah when he was delivered from the stomach of the fish, and what was the work that God wanted him to do?
THOU SHALT NOT READ THE BIBLE LITERALLY!!!!!
The story of Jonah is as fantastic as any other story in the bible, the great flood of Noah’s time, the dragon and beast of the revelations story, these stories are not to be taken literally, they are spiritual stories (inner stories) designed for spiritual enlightenment and understanding.
They are SYMBOLIC of mans/womans consciousness his/her mind, being driven by the beast, which he must overcome, if he/she wishes to help end the sickness and diseases that humankind has heaped upon this world. A change must take place within each person.
The Jonah allegory is but one of hundreds of spiritual allegories in the bible,that seeks to teach the initiate, the mysteries of the higher planes of life, The Masses read these things LITERALLY, and completely miss the beauty hidden within the stories.
Just as the book of revelations says these things were written “In the spirit” Not Of the LETTER (literal) So is the Jonah allegory, “In the spirit”
WHAT WAS THE SIGN OF JONAH?
"CHRIST" NOT A NAME
Over a thousand million Christians today blindly accept that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. They produce "a thousand and one" prophecies from the Jewish Bible (the Old Testament) to prove their claim that Jesus was the Messiah promised to the Jews.
Let us hold the thousand" prophecies in abeyance for a moment and examine the only unequivocal claim made by Jesus in the Gospels and examine whether he fulfilled his promise to the Jews.
We must admit that the word CHRIST is not a name. It is a title. It is a translation of the Hebrew word Messiah, meaning "anointed." The Greek word for "anointed" is Christos from which we get the word Christ.
Priests and kings were "anointed" when being consecrated to their office. The Holy Bible confers this title even on a heathen king CYRUS (Isaiah 45:1).
We are reminded in the Gospel of St. Luke that "WHEN EIGHT DAYS WERE ACCOMPLISHED FOR THE CIRCUMCISING OF THE CHILD, HIS NAME WAS CALLED JESUS, WHICH WAS SO NAMED OF THE ANGEL BEFORE HE WAS CONCEIVED IN THE WOMB." (Luke 2:21).
The name that was given to Mary for her yet unborn son was JESUS and NOT Christ. It was only after his baptism at the hands of John the Baptist that he, Jesus, claimed to be the Christ. The Jews were not the ones to accept his claim on its face value. They wanted proof!
MIRACLE AS PROOF
Matthew records that the learned men among the Jews - the Scribes and Pharisees - came to Jesus and asked, "MASTER, WE WOULD SEE A SIGN FROM THEE". (Matthew 12:38).
What they really wanted was some "magic trick," some "sleight of hand" like producing a rabbit out of a hat or walking on the water or flying in the air or trodding on burning coal. This is the type of "sign" or MIRACLE they were looking for. The Jews mistook him for a sorcerer, a wizard, a charlatan.
NO "SIGN" BUT ONE
With righteous indignation Jesus replies: "AN EVIL AND ADULTEROUS GENERATION SEEKETH AFTER A SIGN; AND THERE SHALL NO SIGN (no miracle) BE GIVEN TO IT, BUT THE SIGN (miracle) OF THE PROPHET JONAS: FOR AS JONAS WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE WHALE'S BELLY; SO SHALL THE SON OF MAN BE THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE HEART OF THE EARTH." Matthew 12:39-40). Jesus says, "NO SIGN."
He does not refer the Jews to blind Bartimeus whose sight he had restored. He does not speak about the "woman with issues" who was healed by merely touching him; or about the 2000 pigs he had destroyed to heal "a man possessed;" or the 5000 and the 3000 people he had fed and satiated with a few pieces of fish and a few pieces of bread. "No sign," says Jesus, BUT ONE!
"THE SIGN OF THE PROPHET JONAS!" He is putting all his "eggs" in one basket. His claim to being the Messiah (Christ) stands or falls the ONLY "sign" he was prepared to give.
Did Jesus fulfill the only sign he gave? Christendom answers with a unanimous Y-E-S! without heeding the Biblical advice - 'not to take things for granted.' but "PROVE ALL THINGS!" (1 Thessalonians 5:21)
JONAH FLEES HIS CALL
What was the "sign" (miracle) of Jonah? We have to go to the "Book of Jonah" in the Old Testament to find out. God commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh and warn the Ninevites to repent from their "evil ways, and from the violence that is in their hands."
(Jonah 3:8) But Jonah was loath to go as a warner unto the Ninevites, so he goes to Joppa instead of Ninevah, and takes a boat to run away from the Lord's command.
While at sea, there was a terrible tempest. According to the superstition of the mariners, a person fleeing from his Master's command creates such a turmoil at sea. They began to enquire among themselves and said, "COME, AND LET US CAST LOTS, (like the tossing of a coin, "head" or "tail") THAT WE MAY KNOW FOR WHOSE CAUSE THIS EVIL IS UPON US. SO THEY CAST LOTS, AND THE LOT FELL UPON JONAH." (Jonah 1:7).
Though here was a temporary lapse on the part of Jonah in fulfilling his mission, he manfully and most outrageously volunteers: "AND HE SAID UNTO THEM TAKE ME UP, AND CAST ME FORTH INTO THE SEA; SO SHALL THE SEA BE CALM UNTO YOU: FOR I KNOW THAT FOR MY SAKE THIS GREAT TEMPEST IS UPON YOU." (Jonah 1:12)
DEAD OR ALIVE?
Since Jonah was selflessly offering himself as a "vicarious" sacrifice there was no need for strangling him before throwing him into the sea, no need to spear him or break his arm or limb. In his own words: "TAKE ME UP AND CAST ME FORTH."
The question now arises, that when the shipmaster and the crew threw him overboard, was Jonah dead or alive? Any Christian child who has attended Sunday School will give an immediate reply: "ALIVE!" The storm subsides. Was this perhaps a coincidence?
A fish swallows Jonah. Was he dead or alive when swallowed? The answer again is "ALIVE" Was he dead or alive when "JONAH PRAYED UNTO THE LORD HIS GOD OUT OF THE FISH'S BELLY?" (Jonah 2:1)
Surely dead men don't cry and don't pray! The answer again is "ALIVE" For three days and three nights the fish takes him around the ocean: dead or alive? "ALIVE!" is the answer. On the third day it vomits him on the seashore: dead or alive? A-L-I-V-E, of course! What had Jesus prophesied about himself?
He said: "AS JONAH WAS SO SHALL THE SON OF MAN BE" LIKE JONAH. And how was Jonah? Was he dead or alive for three days and three nights? Alive! ALIVE! ALIVE! is the unanimous answer from the Jew, the Christian and the Muslim!
UNLIKE JONAH
If Jonah was alive for three days and three nights, then Jesus also ought to have been alive in the tomb as he himself had foretold! But Christianity hangs on the flimsy thread of the death" of Jesus for its salvation. So it has to answer that Jesus was DEAD for three days and three nights.
The contradiction between his utterance and its fulfillment is obvious. Jonah ALIVE, Jesus DEAD! Very UNLIKE Jonah! Jesus had said "LIKE Jonah" not UNLIKE Jonah. If this is true then according to his own test Jesus is not the TRUE Messiah of the Jews. If the Gospel record is genuine then how can we blame the Jews for rejecting "CHRIST".
THREE AND THREE = 72 HOURS?
The Doctor of Divinity and the Professor of Theology replies that in Matthew 12:40 under discussion, the emphasis is on the TIME factor "as Jonas was THREE days and THREE nights in the belly of the whale, so shall the son of man be THREE days and THREE nights in the heart of the earth."
"Please note," says the learned theologian, "that the word "THREE" is repeated F-O-U-R times in this verse to prove that Jesus was going to fulfil the prophecy as regards the length of time he was going to remain in the tomb, and NOT 'As Jonas was' in relation to his being alive or dead.
If it is the time factor that Jesus was stressing then let us ask whether he fulfilled that aspect of his promise to the Jews as well. The Christian dogmatist answers: "OF COURSE!"
PUBLIC HOLIDAY
The question arises: when was Christ crucified? The whole Christian world answers: "FRIDAY!" Is this the reason we celebrate "Good Friday" as a Public Holiday in every Christian nation from America to Zambia, from Abyssinia to Zaire at Easter?
What makes Good Friday" so good? "it is the death of Christ on the Cross on this day to wash off our sins," says the Christians. So he was killed on the cross on a Friday, 19xx years ago? "YES!" says the Christians.
From the Gospel records we gather that the Jews were in a hurry to eliminate Jesus. Hence the midnight trial, and then dispatching him off to Pilate in the morning; from Pilate to Herod and then back again to Pilate. The vested interests were afraid of the general public. Jesus was their hero. He had been their benefactor.
His enemies had to do away with him quickly, and succeeded in doing so. However, as much as they were in a hurry to hang him on the cross, they were in equal hurry to bring him down from the cross before sunset on Friday because of the Sabbath.
The Sabbath starts at about 6 p.m. on Friday and the Jews were warned in Deuteronomy 21:23 that the victim of crucifixion was an "accursed of God" and was not to be permitted to remain hanging on the Sabbath day, "that thy land be not defiled which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance."
To satisfy the religious scruples of the Scribes and Pharisees the "secret disciples" of Jesus took down the body from the cross. They gave the body the Jewish burial-bath, plastered it with "one hundred pounds weight of aaloes and myrrh" (John 19:39), then placed the shrouded body into the sepulcher before night-fall.
WHY "SUPPOSED"?
There are numerous differences between the various sects and denominations of Christianity, but on the above they are unanimous. Jesus is SUPPOSED to be in the tomb on the night of Friday. He is still SUPPOSED to be in the tomb on the day of Saturday. He is still SUPPOSED to be in the tomb on the night of Saturday.
Christians agree whole-heartedly with this. It will be noted that I have repeated the word 'SUPPOSED' three times. The reason is that the Gospels are silent as to when exactly Jesus came out of the tomb.
He could have been taken away on Friday night by his "secret disciples" to a more congenial and restful place, but I have no right to assume about what the Gospel writers are silent. I have, therefore, repeated the word 'SUPPOSED' three times.
In the final analysis, let us see whether Jesus was THREE days and THREE nights in the tomb:-
EASTER WEEK
IN THE SEPULCHER
DAYS
NIGHTS
FRIDAY - placed in tomb just before sunset
- nil -
One night
SATURDAY - supposed to be in tomb
One day
One night
SUNDAY - missing before sunrise
- nil -
- nil -
TOTAL
One Day , Two Nights
You will no doubt note that the GRAND TOTAL is ONE day and TWO nights, and NOT three days and three nights. According to the Christian Scriptures Jesus had failed a SECOND time.
FIRST he was unlike Jonah, who was ALIVE in the belly of the fish, which is the exact opposite of what the Christians claim had happened to their master Jesus, who was DEAD for the same period of time as Jonah was ALIVE.
SECONDLY, we discover that he also failed to fulfill the TIME FACTOR as well. The greatest mathematician in Christendom will fail to obtain the desired result THREE days and THREE nights.
We must not forget that the Gospels are explicit in telling us that it was "before sunrise" on Sunday morning (the FIRST day of the week), that Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of Jesus and found it empty.
"GOOD" WEDNESDAY
The Armstrong family has debunked the whole Christian world. They seem to know their arithmetic! Mr. Robert Fahey of the "Plain Truth" magazine, delivered a lecture recently at the "Holiday Inn,' Durban, where I was present.
Mr.Fahey attempted to prove to his Christian audience that Jesus Christ was crucified on a Wednesday and not on Friday, as is supposed by Orthodox Christianity for the past two thousand years.
According to him if one counts backwards from Sunday morning deducting 3 DAYS and 3 NIGHTS, one ought to get WEDNESDAY as the answer.
I congratulated Mr Fahey for his ingenuity. I asked him, how was it possible for the past two thousand years the whole Christian world celebrated GOOD FRIDAY instead of GOOD WEDNESDAY.
Thus the 1,200,000,000 Christians of the world today are ignorant of the correct day of the so called crucifixion!
It means that even the Roman Catholic Church , which claims an unbroken chain of Popes from Peter to this day according to Mr. Fahey are mislead.
GOD OR THE DEVIL?
The question arises, who deceived the millions of Christians for the past TWO THOUSAND years. GOD or the DEVIL? Mr.Fahey categorically answered: "THE DEVIL!" "If the devil,"
I said, "can succeed in confusing the Christians in the most elementary things of their Faith, whether to celebrate a Good Friday or a Good Wednesday, then how much easier for him to mislead Christians in other things concerning God?" Mr. Fahey blushed and walked away.
If this is the belief of the trend-setters of the Christian Faith in the world today, may we not then ask: is this not the mightiest hoax in history?
Or are you reading MYTHOLOGY?
Remember that the bible says don’t be a minister of the letter, the letter killeth etc.
The secret to understanding the Jonah allegory is simple, once you possess the key, the key is that it is a spiritual story and not a literal one. The other key is that Jonah did not die, but he LIVED!
Look at the only sign Jesus gave: : FOR AS JONAS WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE WHALE'S BELLY; SO SHALL THE SON OF MAN BE THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE HEART OF THE EARTH." Matthew 12:39-40). Jesus says!
What dies it mean? It means, just as Jonah never died, but lived, so also Jesus will live, and not die, because Jesus was whispering into the ear of understanding, “I will not die (Literally) but shall live as Jonah lived.
Herein lies the secret, Jonah LIVED! And Jesus said, as Jonah was, so shall the son of man be, I will LIVE! You fools!
Again, if you read the following carefully, you will understand, that the death of Jesus is a Symbolic death, not a LITERAL death, as Christians have been taught from the time they were toddlers. As Jonah lived so will the son of man live? The riddle is solved.
The symbol of the fish is used many times in our Gospels. With a few fishes, five thousand people were fed by the Christ, and there was more food afterwards than before. The scene was on a hill, referring again to the exalted state of consciousness.
Remembering that fishes represent god’s divine protection, the greatly needed nutriment of the human mind and soul.
We recognize that an inexhaustible supply exists within, and that the more this interior Christ like love, healing power and wisdom are poured forth upon the world (the multitude) the more of radiant life will there be welling up from within for further ministration, and the wider will be the channel for its onward flow.
JESUS NOT RESURRECTED
A PHYSICAL, LIVE JESUS!
After the due greetings of "Shalom", Jesus begins calming the disciples' fear for taking him to be a ghost. He says:
"Behold (have a look at) my hands and my feet, that it is I myself (I am the same fellow, man!): handle me and see; for A SPIRIT has no flesh and bones, as you see me have.
And he showed them his hands and his feet."
Luke 24:39-40
What was the man trying to prove? That he had been resurrected from the dead That he was a spirit? - What has the demonstration of hands and feet to do with resurrection? "It is I MYSELF!" Can't you see, you fools!?
"For a SPIRIT ... any spirit, has "NO flesh and bones, as YOU see ME have!". This is an axiomatic, self-evident truth. You do not have to convince anybody, whether Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jew, Atheist or Agnostic. Everyone will acknowledge without any proof that A SPIRIT HAS NO FLESH AND BONES!
"If you can't see this self evident truth THEN YOU ARE SURELY blind" IT'S A SYMBOLIC DEATH OF OUR old man (OLD NATURE) THAT IS CRUCIFIED, NOT LITERALLY A PERSON NAMED JESUS."
The three days in the tomb, and the three days in the fish have the same meaning.
As the sun is entombed in the bowels of the earth for three days, it leaves it tomb on dec 25th each year, to be resurrected as it brings new life and light to the world.
The three also represents the parts of your nature, the physical, the intellectual and the emotional,the same three that went into the furnace heated seven times in the book of Daniel,Meshac, shedrach and abenigo.
Don’t get hung up on the literal idea of three days as presented in the story, as it shows Jesus in the tomb for only two nights and day.
The three is also significant because three days is 72 hours and 7+2 is of course nine, and the number nine is significant, because it is the number of man, as you have read about elsewhere on this blog. 666 equals 18 which is Nine, 144,000, is also nine etc..
The story is not about Jesus, or Jonah, but about you and I, we too must spend three days and nights within our fish, and within our earthly (body) tomb, so that when we have allowed the energy in the solar plexus to rise to the brain, we will have overcome the lower nature, we will have escaped EGYPT, and are no longer controlled by the Pharaoh within.
(Luke 2:21). The name that was given to Mary for her yet unborn son was JESUS and NOT Christ.
This is significant because, we are all Jesus until we have been in the tomb for three days and crucified ourselves anew, then as the mind is Christed or christened by the energy that has risen up the spine and touched the lamb (the pineal gland), we become Christ, Buddha, Krishna etc.
"AND HE SAID UNTO THEM TAKE ME UP, AND CAST ME FORTH INTO THE SEA; SO SHALL THE SEA BE CALM UNTO YOU: FOR I KNOW THAT FOR MY SAKE THIS GREAT TEMPEST IS UPON YOU." (Jonah 1:12)
The bile always uses a boat to symbolize the physical body, when we are operating off of the emotional body we are prone to create storms or tempests within us, and the wife and kids better run and hide during these storms, just as Jesus calmed the tempest in another story.
Here Jonah again calms the tempest within, by entering into the great fish, the fish represents the spirit of god in mediation, just as Jesus said he will tear down those buildings (churches) made with hands, and he will rebuild his new church in THREE days, made without hands or tools. He’s referring to your spiritual house, built in meditation.
Jesus is residing in the solar plexus of us all, hiding out, from the pharaoh and protected, until we, whether in this lifetime, or a thousand to come, let him loose within us.
Can you become Jonah, and overcome the destructive cult thinking of the earth tribes? The destructive teaching of religion, and the lies from the governments of the world. These things are an illusion (maya) God has a new government, waiting to set up within your brain, if YOU allow it. It’s called the new Jerusalem.
And when Jonah came out of the great fish, he began ministering the word of god, that’s because he was changed, a change had overcame him, this change is also waiting for all of us. You see, “touch me, feel me” Am I not flesh and bone? Of course, because it’s not a LITERAL death, it’s the death of the lower nature within.
The story of the stilling of the tempest by Christ is a beautiful illustration of this allegorical method of writing. The disciples set sail on the Sea of Galilee. They navigated the ship while the Master who accompanied them slept. All was well until a great storm arose.
Then the disciples awoke the sleeping Passenger, and He in His might confronted the storm and stilled it by uttering three words, "Peace, be still." It’s an inner stillness, in meditation. “be still and know that I’m god” says the bible.
Many of the symbols to which I have drawn your attention are used in that story. The scene is on water, meaning that it concerns the emotions of man. The ship is the containing and conveying vessel, the body which carries the Soul over the waters of life.
The disciples personify human attributes of the Soul, such as the impulsiveness of Peter and his inherent sainthood, the simplicity of the fishermen James and John, the busyness of Matthew at the receipt of custom, the faithful love of John, the only disciple who was present both in the courtroom and at the foot of the cross.
All are within man, as also is Judas, who on occasion, tempts us to betray the divine within us. But also within each and every one of us is the Christ Nature, the God within us, our "hope of glory" as St. Paul said.
At the beginning of life (the voyage) that inherent divinity is unconscious (sleeps) until the storms of life, the gusts of desire, anger, hate, malice, greed, jealousy, threaten the safety of the soul.
Then what is to be done? Do as the disciples did. Turn inward to the deeper part of your nature in search of the divine, the Christ Nature, reach up to it, touch and awaken it, and thus exalted and inspired, confront fearlessly the storms of the lower nature and, with certainty of obedience, say to them "Peace, be still."
The value of the storms of life is also indicated in this story for, had it not been for the storm, the Christ might not have been awakened. So also the storms of life, difficult, painful and often tragic as they are, have their place in our lives and evolutionary progress.
If we can learn to deal with them intelligently, rise intuitively above the emotional storms, and exalt ourselves into realization of our spiritual Selves, the awakened divinity within us, we shall find the most difficult of emotional problems relatively easy of solution, as long as we keep to our meditations.
This narrative also suggests the full evolutionary journey of the innermost Self of man with its peaceful sleep at the beginning (the unawakened condition of the human Monad, the divine spark).
At the commencement of man's evolutionary pilgrimage, all powers are latent; but human life with its experiences stormy and otherwise fructifies, awakens the germinal divine powers; and these, consciously wielded, give peace at the end. This latter is not the peace of innocence and ignorance but the peace of power, fully awakened and consciously employed.
Deserts and wildernesses, describe conditions of mental dryness and spiritual aridity when idealism declines and aspiration almost disappears. The sun is a symbol for the highest spiritual nature of man, the Monad, or Divine Spark, and has nothing to do with the physical orb.
When Joshua made the sun "stand still in the midst of heaven" he brought his highest spiritual power to its position of maximum influence, and its spiritual light shone upon his mind "the moon" so that, symbolically, for him it was day.
"For a SPIRIT" ... any spirit, has "NO flesh and bones, as YOU see ME have!".
IT'S A SYMBOLIC DEATH OF OUR old man (OLD NATURE) THAT IS CRUCIFIED, NOT LITERALLY A PERSON NAMED JESUS."
Jonah lived through his ordeal, and so did Jesus, because the meaning of the word death in spiritual texts and mythologies is never referring to a literal death, but a symbolic death of the lower mind/brain. “you must crucify yourself anew” said Paul.
You great FISH is waiting! Happy is he/she who finds this FISH.
But first we must hit our donkey with the staff three times, as well as
Strike the pinata with your stick.
The sign of Jonah is the sign of the fish. The water being the second stage of consciousness is where one is swallowed by the fish which is God or spirit.
One is swallowed by the fish when one enters the second level of consciousness in meditation.
If you put that together with Jesus instructions on seeking within, taking no thought, and practicing the single eye , it all comes together.
All of the biblical allegories are referring to meditation.
Jesus said “take no thought” God said “ I make darkness my secret place” “be still and know that I’m god” “what I say, I say to all, WATCH” “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, for you have shut up god’s kingdom, for ye have not gone IN YOURSELVES, and ye have not suffered (taught) the people to go in” Etc…etc…
So, what is this gourd and worm business?
The Lord God prepared a gourd [vine, NIV], and made it to come up over Jonah'(Jonah 4:6)
God prepared a worm…and it smote the gourd [chewed the vine, NIV] that it withered'(Jonah 4:7)
In the story of the Muchalinda Buddha, it says a great tempest arose, bit the Buddha was protected with the great hood of the cobra. This is referring to meditation.
This is the same as the gourd or bush ordeal, it means that when you are in meditation and taking no thought, you are following god's command and communing with god, this is the second stage of meditation, known as water baptism.
God sent a hot wind to Jonah for disobeying, this is a symbol of thinking during meditation, when you start having thoughts, and lose concentration, then god put a gourd or vine over Jonahs head to protect him from the heat.
This is referring to when you are STILL again, ans taking no thought, you are protected, then you start thinking again, being pulled back or to the left, by left brain thinking."God sends a worm to smote the gourd"
The worm is a symbol of the thoughts, that arise out of the left carnal mind. Why a worm? Because worms bore holes in the dirt, worms eat dead carcasses etc.., the worm is just a symbol of something that destroys, just as the negative thought patters of your mind destroys.
Then the protection goes away, the gourd is symbolically smote.
The name of the city is NINEVAH, NINE VAH,is referring to the number 9 (nine),mans number, a symbol of the lower nature, just as Egypt, Babylon etc are symbols of the lower forces, so is NINE VAH. WE are NINE, when are apart from God.
The meaning of VAH
The term to'eva is usuall ranslated as "abomination" and is used in the Bible to refer to a variety of forbidden acts including incest, idolatry, eating unclean animals, and economic injustice.
In the context of sexual prohibitions, the word is also interpreted by the Talmud to be a contraction of the words to'eh ata vah, meaning "You deviate from what is natural." (literally "You are wandering astray with it" since the Hebrew word to'e means "wandering", ata "you", vah "with it")
bar mitz·vah or bar miz·vah (bär mĭts'və) pronunciation n. A 13-year-old Jewish boy, tr.v., vahed or vahed, vah·ing or vah·ing,or vahs. Barmitz VAH.
"Do not follow the ways of Egypt where you once lived, nor of Canaan, where I will be bringing you. Do not follow [any] of their customs." (Leviticus 18:3).
'God prepared a vehement east wind…' (Jonah 4:8). In the Bible the East wind is always referring to the spirit of God,it is the energy culminating at the right hemisphere of the brain,"And the LORD came from the east"If you're meditation goes right (east) then the energy will touch the RIGHT side or East side of the brain.
And then the gourd will reappear, under your withered tree, the tree of life is withered, when the energy from the solar plexus has not risen up the spine, to bring it to life. Just as Buddha became enlightened under the Bodhi tree, Jonah too received his, under a castor bean tree.
But why a castor bean tree, you say? Why not any other type of tree?
For thousands of years, castor beans have been eaten to cure many ailments, even the modern day sleeping prophet, Edgar Cayce, regularly prescribed castor beans be eaten by people who were ailing. Castor beans are simply a symbol of healing.
EVERYTHING HAS A WONDERFUL MEANING, WHEN YOU GET AWAY FROM THE DESTRUCTIVE LITERAL BELIEF, AND UNDERSTAND THE SPIRITUAL MEANING.
(I AM GOD)
Ontology is an exact science. You have all intelligence now, and all power. But until you believe this to be true, you will divide your thinking between the constructive and the negative, until the negative vanishes altogether.
While you are going through this experience, symbolized by the forty years in the wilderness, you must be "faithful over a few things," in order that you may be "Master over many."
You cannot solve a problem in mathematics, unless you obey the rule. You cannot transmute coal into nylon in chemistry, unless you obey the formula. Neither can you solve a single problem in mythology unless you think the thoughts which mythology prescribes.
It is your "old" thoughts that have separated you from the One Being, and made you a "small speck in a large universe." mythology changes all this and makes you the only Being there is, greater than the universe, and embracing and surrounding the universe in all things.
The Bible is not a "material book" written by physical "people." And at no time does it deal with physical people. At no point does the Bible refer to material places, nor conditions.
Neither is it a history or resume of human experiences. The Bible has been written exclusively by You, for You, through "writers" which you have created and empowered with intelligence. And the Bible deals wholly with Ideas and Beliefs, and their manifestations.
Thus, because there is only ONE Mind and One Being, You play the "title role" of every character and every place and every experience enumerated in the Bible. For example You play the role of Adam when you believe the earth is material, peopled with human beings and filled with material things.
And You play the role of Moses when you perceive material beliefs are illusionary and enslaving, and when you determine to liberate your thoughts from bondage and lead them into the promised land.
You may have heard many explanations of God, but there is only one true definition. God is Your Mind, resonating with the Universe, or stars, you will truly be communing with these ancient beings, we call stars, galaxies and nebulas.
You Are Born Anew, you are now a cosmic man or woman
You never at any point have more than one mind! Your viewpoint determines whether that mind is extrinsic or Intrinsic, human or divine. You can have only one Mind but you have the power to choose which of the two minds shall be yours.
But whichever of the two minds you have, it is God to you. Your mind is the all-inclusive, undisputed dictator of your world. Will it be Egypt, Babylon, Sodom or the new Jerusalem, which came down from heaven?
The various mental and spiritual steps that must be taken before you can "know yourself." These steps are three-fold:
1. You must die.
2. You must be resurrected.
3. You must be lifted up.
Or, let me put the "three steps" in another way:
1. Be converted.
2. Become as a little child.
3. Be born anew and baptized.
These steps or these processes have nothing to do with materiality conditions or physical people. Your mind is the "story," the "story writer," the "scenery," the "producer," the "director," the "actor" and the "audience."
Thus, you become converted when you turn from a material standpoint to a spiritual standpoint. Hence, to be converted means to turn from matter to a spiritual mind and change your basis of thought, via meditation.
To be born anew is also a process, in the east it’s called the Kundalini, it has many names, but it is the only known way to enlightenment, the world has ever known. The kundalini process, is what the entire bible story is about.
And the "baptism" requires that you accept the idea of meditation, and become the "I AM THAT I AM." (Exodus 3:14) Everything you have ever done, you have done in the "first person."
"Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven." (John 6:32)
"Do not err... every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of Lights (the stars) with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." James 2:17. "look not lo here, nor lo there, for the kingdom of god (heaven) is within you" “cant you bring forth mazzoroth in it’s due season)? Say’s god. Mazzoroth means zodiac.
Truth is a gift that comes directly to You from God your Mind truth cannot be monopolized, bought, or sold. It belongs only to you, and to your thoughts, and it cannot be taken from you.
The multiplication table is like that. No human person can take credit for it. It is free. It is yours. It means taking no thought from that which proceeds from a Source that is eternal, perfect, unchanging, indestructible and altogether good. Meditation is communing with that great one source, "I am that I am" Which means LIGHT.
you must "be born anew." You must be transformed by the renewing of your mind. You must be baptized and converted. You must be crucified and rise again. You must ascend into heaven and you must not return to the earth.
You must obey every Jesus’ command, "If your eye be single, your whole body will fill with light (god)". You must give the first fruits of all your increase to the Lord (Ten per cent of your time in (meditation) this is tithing to Melchizedek.
All of these steps will take place in your Thought only in your conscious sphere of awareness, known in Bible language as "heaven." You will accomplish this exhaustive, thorough transformation of your base of thought ,by taking no thought in the silence of meditation.
It is in these six days that you will make for yourself a "new heaven and a new earth that passeth not away." You will be renewed on the SEVENTH, it means after the energy has passed through each of your SEVEN seals or Chakras,
"And God spake all these words saying that I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, out of the House of Bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Exodus 20:1-3 Egypt “where also our lord was crucified”
"Land of Egypt" is your body. This body is "the house of bondage." Believing that you have a mind in a body "imprisons" your thoughts. Hence, your extrinsic thoughts have been confined in "Egypt." They originate in EGYPT.
"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them:
For I, the Lord am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the Fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generations for them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments." Exodus 20: 4-5
I AM THAT I AM.
THE REAL JONAH
There is an oft-quoted story concerning a certain James Bartley, when he was a harpooner on the whale-ship Star of the East, in 1891, under the command of Captain Killam, near the Falkland Islands. In the course of a whale hunt, Bartley fell into the sea and disappeared.
The whale was killed and the next day, when the sailors cut it open, they were amazed to find Bartley still alive in the whale's stomach. He was revived and in time recovered from his experience.
The report says, 'During his sojourn in the whale's stomach Bartley's skin, where exposed to the action of the gastric juice, underwent a striking change. His face, neck, and hands were bleached to a deadly whiteness, and took on the appearance of parchment.
Bartley affirms that he would probably have lived inside his house of flesh until he starved, for he lost his senses through fright and not from lack of air.
This story is said to have first appeared in October 1892, in the English newspaper Great Yarmouth Mercury. It was then reprinted in other papers, and was included by Sir Francis Fox in his book, Sixty-three Years of Engineering, Scientific and Social Work, published in 1924.
It has been counter-claimed by sceptics that in 1906 an Anglican clergyman named Canon Williams wrote to Captain Killam to verify the story, but received a letter from the captain's wife, dated November 24, 1906, saying:
'There is not one word of truth in the whole story. I was with my husband all the years he was in the "Star of the East". There was never a man lost overboard while my husband was in her. The sailor has told a great sea yarn.
From the above contradictory reports it would appear that someone has been economical with the truth in regard to this matter. What is not nearly so clear is just who!
Dr Harry Rimmer, D.D., Sc.D., tells of personally meeting a sailor who fell overboard from a trawler in the English Channel and was swallowed by a gigantic Rhincodon whale shark. The entire trawler fleet set out to hunt the shark down and, 48 hours after the accident, the shark was sighted and slain with a one-pound deck gun.
The carcass was too heavy for the ship's winches to handle, so the crew towed it to shore, intending to give their friend a Christian burial. When the shark was opened, the man was found unconscious but alive.
He was rushed to hospital, where he was found to be suffering from shock alone, and was later discharged. He was on exhibit in a London museum at a shilling admission, and was advertised as 'The Jonah of the Twentieth Century.
