Although he had never disclosed the fact to Ya’el, Gabriel had always known the ultimate purpose of the mission. Ya’el was the instrument through which The Word was to be brought back into the world; he was to provide the initial impetus that would lead to the eventual liberation of the Ain-folk. During the last two years, Gabriel had been the herald, announcing through Johanan that good news was on the way.
And so it was that Joshua-Ya’el came to the Jordan below Gadara and stood in line with the rest of the poor sons of Canaan: the shepherds, goatherds, the quarrymen who hammered loose the great blocks of stone for the younger Herod’s grandiose building projects, the tanners and dyers, those who took the place of oxen at the plough, and those with green, nimble fingers who tended the vines; the women who worked the fields, wove the cloth, pounded the corn and baked the unleavened bread.
The Man didn’t say anything when the two of them came face-to-face and, as he told it, Johanan-Gabriel was halfway through the simple ceremony of bestowing God’s blessing before he realised who he was laying hands on.
It’s hard for us to appreciate the hierarchical intricacies of the Celestial Empire where the differences in nature, rank and function are not quantifiable in terms we can fully understand but, as the Book records, Johanan-Gabriel was reluctant to go through with it. The Man insisted, saying, ‘Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.’ Which is a mite impenetrable but, when translated into the modern idiom, comes out as – ‘Don’t wait for me to start walking on the water. Just throw me a goddamn life-jacket.’
When The Man submitted to baptism at the hands of Johanan-Gabriel, it was an act of utter humility; an admission of his failure to keep faith with the Empire. It symbolised the rescue of Ya’el’s meta-psyche from the dark spiral vortex of the ‘Braxian world. Ya’el was like a drowning man reaching up a hand; pleading to be saved. But aside from its cosmic significance, it was an emotional reunion too as Joshua and Johanan clasped each other like two long-lost brothers; half-laughing, half-crying, and drenched to the skin.
Leaving Andreas, an ex-fisherman, in charge of the other disciples, Johanan-Gabriel led The Man round the western side of the Sea of Galilee, to Bethsaida and Caesarea Philippi; the capital of the province ruled by the third surviving son of Herod the Great – Herod Philip.
When Joshua and Johanan had found lodgings and were safely asleep, Ya’el and Gabriel transferred their meta-psyches to the landing module buried near the summit of Mount Hermon.
Once again let me stress, as The Man did constantly, the need to reach beyond the Star Trek connotations of the words we’re obliged to use. The landing module was not a mechanical contrivance filled with instruments. Like Ya’el and Gabriel, it was brought into being by the Empire. It was a metaphysical construct; part of the Celestial packaging designed to protect their temporal aspects during penetration of the space-time dimension; powered by the Will of The Presence.
As you can see, ‘landing module’ is less of a mouthful.
Using the newly transmitted energy, Ya’el contacted the Empire via the approaching starfleet. He learned what Gabriel already knew, which was that the breakdown in the landing module had been prearranged to force Ya’el’s integration with a human host. Michael had been left in the dark in order to create a genuine feeling of crisis, the double objective of which was to mislead ‘Brax, tempting him into a mood of over-confidence, and to trick Ya’el into thinking that he and Gabriel might be permanently marooned. This deception had been necessary in order to ensure that Ya’el totally identified himself with the plight of the trapped Ain-folk.
His twelve long years on the road had been a vital part of his mission. For it was only through living as a man that he could fully understand the human condition. Because of who he was, he had suffered more at the hands of ‘Brax than any of the other Celestial envoys to Earth. He had returned to Palestine weakened, demoralised and almost without hope but the Empire regarded his journey as a triumph. It did not matter that he had been beaten to his knees. The fact that he had sought out Johanan-Gabriel to seek God’s blessing, humbly taking his turn among the amme ha ’aretz, the people of the land, meant he had kept faith. He had taken everything that ‘Brax could throw at him and he had come through.
But at what a cost. The Empire might regard the mission as a triumph but Ya’el knew that, with the crippling degree of karma he had acquired, he could never return to the Ninth Universe. Worse still, he could not pass through the Time Gate. He had become trapped in the endless cycle of reincarnation; one more Celestial prisoner of the World Below.
It was at this point, when he had reached the depths of despair that the miracle happened. In an extraordinary act of faith that put the Empire at risk, The Presence moved to free Ya’el from ‘Brax’s temporal dominion. Once again, we’re stuck with our own words but bear with me. This is pretty mystical stuff but I’ve reduced it to the simplest possible terms and thrown Teilhard de Chardin out of the window.
Imagine a laser-like beam of cosmic power, triggered by the Will of The Presence, blasting out through the Time Gate and across the yawning vastnesses of physical space. This is the real thing. One hundred per cent pure God. The stuff that angels’ dreams are made of. Follow it now, as it punches a hole right through the bad static ‘Brax has spread around the Universe, is relayed along the line of rescue craft and is deflected by the lead ship into the buried module on Mount Hermon. And now, think of it raying through Ya’el’s meta-psyche, wiping out his earthly karma; cleansing him of both past and future actions; restoring his spiritual perfection and replenishing his powers.
This was the moment when Joshua-Ya’el was transmuted by the Power of The Presence into the figure described in the opening chapter of John’s Gospel. The Logos. The Word made flesh. Full of Grace and Truth. The Son of Man; what we were all, in the fullness of time, to become. And it is depicted in symbolical form in the paintings of the Baptism of Christ in which The Man stands haloed in the Jordan, with a dove descending from God’s hand.
Some of you may ask, did the painters know the secret? The answer is, not necessarily. As The Man said, The Word has the power of God, or The Presence behind it. That’s why Truth is often linked symbolically with a sword. It keeps breaking through the barriers set up by ‘Brax and working on us in all kinds of ways. Sometimes subconsciously. No matter how much he tries to twist the message, he can’t destroy it. The Word lives.
It was now that Ya’el learned that he had twelve months, and not the three years some authorities have claimed, to set up the nucleus of a liberation movement that was to be fuelled by a massive power input from the Empire. The transmission would take place when the rescue fleet was in position with the longship at the head of the chain in solar orbit, but a prerequisite step was the liberation of Ya’el’s meta-psyche through the physical death of his earth-host – by crucifixion.
After all the good news, the manner in which he was required to die came as a profound shock and, as some of you know from the Book, the decision did not go unquestioned. Both Ya’el and his companion psyche Joshua were still haunted by the shared childhood memory of the two thousand Jews crucified by Varus outside the walls of Jerusalem.
Gabriel drew an easier death sentence. In order to assist in the planned resurrection of The Man, he was instructed to arrange for his earth-host to die within the next three months. The death of his earth-host before that of The Man was also intended to check that their spirit-beings could escape unhindered from the chains that bound them to the world of ‘Brax. Remaining true to the character he had created through Johanan, Gabriel proposed to provoke his arrest by Herod Antipas by publicly denouncing his dissolute relationship with his wife and niece Herodias, and her daughter Salome who, by all accounts, was an X-rated version of Shirley Temple. His plan met with the Empire’s approval.
Breaking contact, the two Celestials slipped back into their unconscious hosts at Caesarea Philippi and, the next day, prompted Joshua
and Johanan into making the return trip. As they passed through Capernaum they crossed the path of Shimon-Petrus who stopped folding his nets and stared back curiously at the golden-eyed stranger as he walked by. Like me, Shimon had no inkling of what lay ahead. Or that, in fact, the bearded stranger was a second cousin long given up for dead.
When they rejoined Johanan-Gabriel’s small band of disciples at Salim, Andreas, who was also gifted with a high degree of ESP, was quick to discern the aura of Celestial power that now radiated from Joshua-Ya’el. Johanan-Gabriel introduced The Man to his disciples and explained that they were now to follow him. He, Johanan, would soon be arrested and put to death by Herod Antipas. The six young men were shocked and bewildered by this unexpected news. Johanan-Gabriel reassured them. This was not the end but the beginning. The Man was the Messiah whose arrival he had predicted. He was the Master they must now follow. But in the meantime, they were to go home and wait there till summoned by The Man. Later, when they had gone, Gabriel told Ya’el that he would send along someone else who might prove useful. A man who had joined the Essene commune after Ya’el had left, and whose given name was Judas.
Once more Ya’el and Gabriel were at the parting of the ways. It was the last time they saw each other alive; the last physical embrace. Joshua-Ya’el made his way up into the Judean hills; Johanan-Gabriel set off to tour the towns of Galilee. The Man told us how he had stopped and looked back as Johanan’s ragged, wild-haired figure strode resolutely away down the road, never once looking over his shoulder. Doubtless rehearsing the fire-and-brimstone speech that was to put Herod the Fox on the spot, Herodias into a towering rage, and his own head on a plate.
Alone in the high places, The Man meditated upon his mission and eventual death and how best to accomplish both. He now had the most extraordinary power ever given to a Celestial this side of the Time Gate. For not only had his past karma been removed, he had gained eternal freedom from the hitherto immutable law that governed existence in the temporal Universe. Nothing he did now, or in the future, could dilute the purity of his spiritual essence.
It was to these hills, as the Book says, that ‘Brax sent emissaries to parley with Ya’el. Eight Black Princes formed from his all-embracing cosmic presence. Up to that moment, ‘Brax had been convinced that he had the upper hand. Ya’el had been tied to a human host and buried alive under a crushing burden of karma. ‘Brax’s master-plan had been to offer Ya’el a truce in the hope of recruiting him to the Secessionist cause. For, reasoned ‘Brax, until his karma had been purged in the World Below, where else could Ya’el go?
‘Brax had persuaded himself that, with Ya’el on his side, there was a real possibility of rallying the remaining pockets of Loyalist resistance to his dark banner. Starting with the twelve great Aeons of Eardh-Ain: the Ain-folk trapped within Man. But now, all his scheming had come to naught; his plans were in tatters. The second greatest power in the Empire had been his prisoner. For one heady moment, victory had been within his grasp and had been snatched away in a manner that ‘Brax could not have possibly anticipated. For in removing Ya’el’s karma at a single stroke, The Presence had changed the rules of the game.
This was why ‘Brax now came, in the guise of his fawning minions, cap in hand and honey-tongued. The defeated Ya’el would have been a great acquisition, but a Ya’el freed from the law of karma and armed with the transcendent power of The Presence held the key to the Time Gate and the ultimate ‘Braxian vision; the conquest of The Empire and subjugation of The Presence.
Now you know where we get our rebellious arrogance from.
The Man never revealed what went on in his mind during this crucial encounter but, as we all know, he turned down the offer. Which I can now reveal was a two-way split of the World Below with Ya’el holding fifty-one per cent of the stock and ‘Brax as his trusty lieutenant. Some deal. There was as much chance of Ya’el saying ‘Yes’ to that as there was of my mother doing the Viennese waltz with Adolph Eichmann.
What The Man knew, and what he was trying to tell us via this episode was that God, The Presence, or Whoever, represented, and was the source of, the essential eternal values that lay at the very foundation of existence. And that the ‘Braxian universe and the Netherworld beyond were no more than a cosmic house of cards that was already programmed to self-destruct.
In essence, the Empire gave life; ‘Brax represented death, decay and corruption. This was not important in the physical sense. The cycle of birth, death and rebirth of all life on this planet mirrored the larger life and death cycle of the Universe. And in any case, it was only our host-bodies that died. The real ‘us’ – the trapped Ain-folk fragments – the intangible essence that was regarded as the soul of Man, lived on. We had not lost our legendary immortality. We had merely mislaid the key. We simply no longer understood its nature. We had become fixated with our physicality; an obsessive desire to prolong, at whatever cost, our earthly existence.
Mankind’s attempt to cheat Time mirrored ‘Brax’s fight against the inexorable Law of Simultaneity under which all events were preordained by The Presence. All ‘Brax’s efforts were, in the end, directed towards trying to transform the multi-dimensional nature of Time, to wrest control of the future from The Presence. It brought us back to the book analogy again. Only in this version, the characters were trying to take control of the author in a desperate attempt to stop the story from ending.
It seems irrational but down here on the ground we were trying to do the same kind of thing. Groups with more money than sense had begun to believe that cryogenics was a substitute for salvation. It isn’t. And if you don’t need the money, give it away to the poor. Your soul is not going to hang around until some kindly serviceman in the far future switches your central heating back on. But the lunacy doesn’t end there. The medical profession and its richer patrons are so besotted with the manipulation of life that they have not faced up to the Frankensteinian future of transplant technology. In fifty to a hundred years from now, medical science may discover how to keep you alive for, say, two or three centuries. Can you imagine it? Two double centenarians humping? Each of them a sutured collage of silicone plumbing and pieces from other people’s auto-accidents? Terminal men and women living in fear of a power-outage?
Even if science achieved the ultimate ‘Braxian miracle – control of the genetic matrix, giving us test-tube replicas of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bo Derek, or John Wayne and Jane Russell – all the wit and ingenuity of cloned, transplanted Man in the ages to come will not enable us to survive the death of the sun or the collapse of the Universe.
How much better to come round again as a fresh, new-born human being with all your options open. To be able to see, once again, the world through the unveiled eyes of a child. With the possibility that, this time, you may get it right.
Innocence and idealism tend to be derided as impossible and impractical states that have no place in the ‘real world’. Yet these abstract notions are not products of our brain’s bio-chemistry. The moral dilemma, the concept of perfectibility, could not exist unless it had been put into our minds by some external agency. Man would not strive towards these goals, would not seek the perfect love, the perfect friendship unless he was driven by some inner force. This desire for the seemingly unattainable is the outward expression of our soul’s longing to be reunited with God. The yearning of the Ain-folk to be freed from their prison cells.
The Man came down from the hills with a clear idea of what he had to do. His first priority was the recruitment of twelve disciples. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, they were a symbolic representation of the twelve Aeons he had come to liberate. They also had a more practical purpose. The Man intended to use them as test-vehicles to evaluate the effects of an input of Celestial power and they were to serve as his bodyguard. The Man had not forgotten his near-fatal mugging on the road to Jericho. Even though he now had the ability to blank himself out of the landscape, his earth-host was not totally invulnerable. As long as he remained bonded
to his physical body, his power was finite and could be drained away in the same manner that electrical current flows down an energy gradient. From a source of high potential to one of low. As in the incident when the woman crawled through the ring of disciples and touched the hem of his robe. Remember how he felt the power drain from him? If you don’t, it’s recorded in Mark, Ch.5 v.30. That was why he kept pulling out when the crowds became unmanageable.
Despite what the Book says at this point about his movements after the forty days and nights in the wilderness he did not go to Capernaum, but to Jerusalem. To seek out Mary of Magdala, who he had left in the care of Nicodemus. He found her rested and ready to travel. It was with Mary by his side that he journeyed northwards to Galilee to summon Shimon-Petrus and his brother Andreas from their nets to be fishers of men.
Andreas, you may remember, had been instructed to await The Man’s arrival. Shimon, who is enshrined in Christian theology as St Peter, was not the first to be recruited, nor was he called ‘The Rock’. That is a mis-translation for ‘The Truth’ – something that he, along with the eleven other disciples, was to be the foundation for. Peter’s pre-eminence in the New Testament Canon is due to the creative editing of the Pauline organisation men; the essential underpinning that provided the foundations for the Apostolic Succession.
From the very beginning, The Man’s teaching was, anti-hierarchical. Time and time again he stressed that the first would be last and the last first. Don’t be misled by indications in this account of a pyramidal command structure inside the Empire. There are no class divisions, only degrees of essence. In the way that a cloud and a wave have their beginning in the same ocean.
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