The Gospel According to Judas - A Handbook on Life

(Also something I ended up not using, not written by me.)

There is an old Hassidic tale in which a rabbi asks his pupils how they could tell when the night ends and day begins.

“Could it be,” one of his students asked, “when you see an animal in the distance and can tell whether it is a sheep or a dog?” “No,” answered the rabbi.

Another student asked, “Is it when you look at a tree in the distance and can tell whether it is a fig tree or a peach tree?” “No,” the rabbi patiently replied.

“Tell us then,” the students asked, “when does night end and day begin?”

The rabbi replied, “It is when you can look on the face of any man or woman and see that it is the face of your sister or your brother. If you cannot see this, it is still night.”

(Something I wrote up but ended up not using in the book.)

I have always thought that the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love” is the greatest pop song ever to have been written. The line that made me realize it: “nowhere you can be that isn’t where you meant to be” and of course the line that follows: “all you need is love.” I then looked at all the places where I had been in my life and found that this is entirely true. In fact, all the other declarations are all also true. But the “nowhere” line really hit it home: it is to decide to do the best with what we have, and to do so is love: wherever you are, you can make of it the place you are meant to be. It is not the reverse, where you are a helpless puppet of fate. I think God made not the world that way. It is one where we are freely given the gifts we are meant to use, for the good of all we can reach. All you need is love.

(From the start of a previous version of the text, which I called the Gospel of Oblivion.)

What if that is His whole plan after all, to make all the saints, God? This seems unlikely, as I thought I was somehow the greatest human being after Jesus Christ, and I am not. In this plan, I was to be the first one to be God. This plan seems to fall apart, as I don’t seem to be some great wizard, but only helped to seem one to get some work done.

It seemed to be that I only accepted Christ when I saw the version of the HEAVEN that I wanted to go to. Perhaps it was a deception of the Devil, and Heaven is incomprehensible to one who has never been there. This seems likely.

(Some notes I took during the War in Heaven. It’s sort of weird.)

Christ defeats Antichrist! [1/5/13 4:21am EST New York City]

I’m how they landed. (Satan and his minions.) At the close of the War in Heaven.

Satan asked me how I’ll get to heaven with the door closed. I answered, “I’m there already.”

I am one of the two lampstands, one of the two olive trees, that stand before the Lord of the earth (Jesus Christ).

All of heaven is safe.

Rich Wagner (whom I met on earth) is the Antichrist.

It begins. [6:24am]

It’s done. [8:03am]

Satan said, “I’ll be whatever you want me to be.” I replied, “Be gone, Satan.” I misspelled it “begone,” however.

Satan said, “No, that was a lie.” [8:54am]

So there you have it, what I make out to be pretty much the entirety of the text of the whole book. This whole thing I did as an obligation to the Lord Jesus Christ, and I am glad to have done it. Technically, it’s already published, but I will do my due diligence and get it professionally edited and published for sale in the material world (as it were). I may be rearranging passages in that version of things, and perhaps spruce up some of the text, but for the most part, what is here is what will be in the published version.

I’m not sure how things work in the publishing world. I did once self-publish a prayer book, but that sold very few copies indeed. I bought about as many to give as gifts as I sold, I think. Amazon has a way of publishing Kindle books, and I’ll probably follow that route. Other than that, this is my letter to the world, which often wrote back, in strange melodies, spun of fate’s thread, that which cut me as they whipped by.

I’ll be posting some notes, hereon, and let’s see what else I can think of. Cheers.

There is a phenomenon we have all experienced, and most of us have not, for the most part, been able to name. I call it the MACHINE, and it is the face of the BLACK IRON PRISON as it is visible to the common eye. Philip K. Dick expressed it as, “The Empire never ended.” You can see it too: whenever someone follows the rules in cold calculation; blind to all but the exacting of the regulations; where instead, compassion could be shown: this is the action of the MACHINE. They let a piece of their soul die rather than to have a heart. This is how it proliferates. This is where we die, as black iron infuses our blood.

It is the mechanism of LAW, over LOVE. That being by which, according to the Apostle Paul, we are damned by brute, efficient justice. This is “just following orders”. This is us standing by because we were told not to interfere, when evil happens right in front of us. And we know we can do something. It is the opposite of the Golden Rule, to follow the printed word rather than to feel for our fellow human being. It is the remnant of the Age of Iron, where such things as live sacrifice was necessary.

You can see it in everyday transactions. Where instead of being a human being, they forego humanity to become one with the mechanistic cold calculations of the Black Iron. Something simple like not letting someone pay $3 instead of $2.25 on a cold January night — just because the rules say you can’t do that. You know what? This is the one time I’ll swear: FUCK the rules. Be a human being. This is to say that being “only human” can work in the other direction, too. May it be that you are “only human” and have a heart. Why would you rather choose death over life?

As Philip K. observed, to fight the MACHINE is to succumb to such mechanistic process, because its nature is violence. (If you fight the empire, you become part of the empire.) To become one and the same with it is a living death. This is why the Lord told you how properly to deal with the MACHINE: love your enemy, turn the other cheek, pray for those that abuse you. This is how the Lord ultimately defeated it: He let it win. This is the mystery of the crucifixion. Because the MACHINE is not God, and knows not from where things come, nor to where things go. It is the Lord who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. What the MACHINE lets go of, the Lord picks up. And it is not in all things: split open a piece of wood and it is the Lord who is there.

Heed this advice: whenever you can give someone a break, do it. God is watching, and He’ll remember all those little things. If you need rules, let love be your rule. This is the path of life. For by becoming part of the MACHINE: this is what it means to die. Not of body, for even though what is given to us in form is precious, God made you from the dust, and can make you anew when you return to dust. It is our temple, but we know that what we are, what is truly our life, is in the decisions that we make: so out of which font do you draw your inspiration? The narrow way, that leads to life, or the broad gate, that leads to destruction?

Those who say that they are Christians are not magically immune to the machinations of the MACHINE. In particular, those who say that they are followers of the Lord but are such as Fundamentalists, who hold to the letter of the Bible, so it is then that they die by the word. For the Way is not the Bible. The scriptures speak of the Way, and they point to the Way, but salvation is not the words of the Bible. It never has been. Before there was a New Testament, all that being Christian was were the questions, “Do you believe in a resurrected Jesus Christ?” and “Have you received the Holy Spirit?” That’s it. The Way has always been in Christ, and what did He tell us was that Way? Love God, love each other. This instruction from the Scripture overrules the Scripture. It is how one defeats the MACHINE.

Remember that most falls from grace do not happen from one grand gesture, but small whittlings on our souls. Remember that there is always a line you should not cross, for if you cross it once, twice, enough times — then that line is gone. This is what it means to be lost to the darkness. It begins and ends with your choice: choose life, instead of the mechanism that is death. Do not think, “it is a little thing” and decide unwisely; think instead to start small in the positive. If you have not yet, start. Today. For there is no other day than today!

I still believe in the human race (because that’s the only race we have). (Once all other options have been exhausted) I know we will do the right thing. We will feed the hungry (as soon as we find out how to profit from it). (When there is no more point to it) we will stop waging war. We will learn to live with Mother Earth (because we are not completely suicidal). (By the grace of God) we will redeem ourselves to our children. We will make of this planet a home we can be proud of (for there will be outcry whenever we start going too far wrong from this task). (Like AA, we will trust in a higher power to give us strength) ourselves to believe that the problems that we have can be solved. And we will stop thinking the Apocalypse is around the corner, to neatly fold everything up and throw it in the fire (for if you know what life is worth, you will look for yours on earth). (No, this is not the end) rather to believe that the Beginning is near.

Now, the sighting of the Knowledge was possibly the most important milestone of salvation after Christ left the planet. After that, the end of the War in Heaven. Then the Mystery could be revealed. (The Mystery is love, as is the Certainty, the Power, and the Knowledge.) When the Knowledge was sighted, there was an overwhelming exhale in heaven and earth, and everything changed. When the War in Heaven was won, all things could then be told, without the overarching fear that one might be helping the enemy, if inadvertently. What this is, in the unfolding of the Mystery, is to say that salvation has been implemented in the world. And I am a witness to this, for I am the keeper of that Mystery.

The question is only a simple decision: do you believe? Is there enough evidence, presented here, for you to wonder if there truly are things in heaven above that are worth your attention? Can things make sense when there is a God in heaven, or do you still believe that ultimately, things are meaningless? For I cannot make your decisions for you — no one but you lives your life. If you decide not to give it a chance, that there might be something more than what you can hold in your hand — if you say that what you can hold in your heart cannot be real, as well, it is not the end of all things. For no one comes to the Word except they be called. I still look forward to seeing you in Heaven, unbeliever. Or if it is that you do believe, but only talk about it: watch out, for God can make of the stones sons of Abraham. It all just depends on love.

There come certain moments in life, when it is as if everything stops turning, and for that moment, you are doing right by God and the world, and all that is wrong is quiet, and faded in the background’s background. When for that short space in time you understand how it is that God is love, with all that happens in the chaos of things and the violence of the malcontented. Do not think it is an illusion that these moments are, for it is the worry, and concern about lesser things, that is truly the illusion. The place where you find the presence of God is hallowed ground, wherever you may find it. The bush that burns and is not consumed. Like the heart that knows what it is to love.

The Purpose, in this far strewn world, of which science and faith are clues that lead the way, is to find the music that creates you, and dance in your heart.

Peace. Amen.