The Bible is generally accepted, by those who profess to be Christians, as the authentic record of the Word of God and the book of the Law. Men seal their vows by kissing the Book with reverence; though no one has considered this act as indicating a worship of the Book itself.

Unfortunately, all too many who revere the Book of The Law, are not so generous with others as they are with themselves, and set themselves as judges of those who have lived before them; being wholly unjust as a result of their utter misunderstanding.

As an example, they declare that the Egyptians, to whom the Nazarene himself applied for instructions and guidance, worshipped the Sun itself as their God. They refuse to recede from their judgment, although it is fully explained that, in paying homage to the sun, the Egyptians no more worshipped the sun than do Christians worship the Bible when they kiss it to seal a vow. To the Egyptians the sun was a symbol, something they could see and feel, of the God who was their creator and continued to give them life.

No true adherent to biblical teachings as expounded in the New Testament, with the Spirit (feeling) of God in his heart, regards the Bible as an object of worship, or even as sacred in itself, any more than the Osirian, who accepted Osiris as the representative of God considered the terrestrial sun worthy of supplication. The intelligent adherent to Christianity - the teachings of the Nazarene - accepts the Bible in toto as a record, as the history of men, and as a dependable compendium of the Divine Laws by which men should govern their actions both as concerns themselves and their fellow men. The true Osirian held the visible sun in awe as a symbolization of the Spiritual sun which gave birth to his being and life to his material body.

The worship of many an Egyptian was no doubt actuated wholly by a superstitious devotion directed to the sun. It must also be admitted that many who believe themselves true Christians are taught to see in the Cross, and in the Virgin Mary, the means of their salvation, without giving much thought to God Himself. Moreover, they pray upon the Cross and to the Virgin for the grossest desires and for the most selfish possessions. In neither instance, should judgment be rendered. Men are able to worship no more deeply, sincerely or devotedly than their understanding and enlightenment dictates.

Who, among men, can honestly claim to be entirely free from every superstition, and from all materiality? Just as Christianity grants to the orthodox a reasonable degree of inner Spirituality, so likewise must inner Spirituality be granted to all others outside the pale of the orthodox fold.

To the real convert to the Nazarene's teachings, the true devotee to the Divine Law and its behests, the Christ represents the Spiritual Essence, an Individualized Divine Spark, an emanation from God, the Creator and Father, brought into Awakening and Consciousness. This is the hidden Christos or Soul essence breathed in with the first breath taken by the child, BROUGHT INTO CONSCIOUSNESS, NOT BY FAITH, NOT YET BY WORSHIP ALONE, but by the actual obedience to the Divine Law...by obeying the command to bring about a second birth to the Spirit, that it may attain to Consciousness and, in doing so, BECOME the Christic..., the "son of man becoming the Son of God."

To the Initiate in the Osirian Mysteries; to the Nazarene and all others before and after him, Osiris was the visible and Spiritual (invisible to the mortal eye) manifestation of the One God. He was recognized as the Creator and Maker of all that existed or would ever exist; an all-embracing, all-governing, all-creative Being who, under the Divine Laws co-existed with creation, governed all heaven and all earth, and all existing therein.

To the true Osirian, as to the Initiates of all ages, the all- important fact was that the sun represented the universal source of all heat; the life of all existing things. They realized that life could not exist without this heat, which is life, and life being from God, the sun was to them, in truth, the symbol of the mighty, all pervading, invisible God. This Osiris was, therefore, in a double sense, "the light that lighteth every one that cometh into the world"...light to the visible sight, and in a Spiritual sense. It was also, and still is, the Light of the Soul brought into Consciousness, a Spiritual Light, but likewise God Himself in His Spiritual essence by which alone He could make Himself visible to man.

Because of such deeper understanding, the Egyptians saw in the sun for more than the ordinary light of day. They comprehended the MYSTERY OF BEING concealed in every brilliant ray of sunlight and the significance of the threefold application of each scintillation of the light as it came from the sun. Moreover, THEY WERE KEENLY CONSCIOUS OF THE FACT THAT, NOT BY FAITH ALONE, BUT BY BRINGING THE HIDDEN CHRISTOS, THE EMANATION FROM GOD HIDDEN IN MAN INTO EXPRESSION, BY THIS MEANS ONLY COULD MAN BECOME AN INITIATE IN THEIR TERMS, A CHRIST IN THE PRESENT TENSE, TRULY KNOWING GOD.

Only by ignorance, total and inexcusable, can man consider ancient Fire and Sun Worship as heathenism. Why not be generous and just - two holy attributes of the generous heart so constantly and consistently ignored by men - and yet so consistently inculcated by the Nazarene. Mankind must try to find the similarity between the actual sense and feeling of worship by the ancient people, especially the Egyptian, and those of today professing Christianity. These facts are especially deserving of consideration as they are directly concerned with the mistaken idea relative to Sun, Light or Fire Worship.

The Bible itself states that God appeared to Moses in a "flame of fire;" yet no one accuses Moses of being a Fire Worshiper. Moreover, the Bible does much more, it claims that God spoke to Moses by means of the flame; that He gave Moses all his commands and laws by that means. Above all, and most important for everyone seeking Consciousness of his own Soul and of God, we are told that Moses became Conscious of God by this means.

The Egyptian Initiates themselves experienced the appearance of God to man in the form of the Light or Flame. Initiation, or attaining Soul Consciousness, was not considered possible without this Divine appearance as a Light or Flame. True consciousness of God was held as impossible until the Soul, by consistent, consistent, conscious effort, was awakened (the voice of God in the wilderness) and then gradually brought into consciousness or manifestation.

In the book of Acts man is informed that when the disciples - those who had followed the Nazarene in his ministry after he, like Moses, became conscious of the Divine or Ineffable Light - were filled with the Spirit - that is wholly imbued with the Divine feeling, "there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire and it sat upon (enveloped each of them."

This is exactly what happened to every Egyptian Acolyte, and must happen to every modern Neophyte, before, or during the attainment of Spiritual Consciousness. However, due to ignorance, self-righteousness, and pre-judgment, when that which happened to the Disciples and to the Egyptian Acolyte is experienced by the modern Neophyte, it is considered superstition, a neurosis, insanity or what-not.

It is written that when Moses led the Jews out of Egypt and bondage, the Lord generously went before them "AS A PILLAR OF FIRE BY NIGHT, and as a pillar or cloud by day." Moses was an Initiate of that same Egyptian school in which the Nazarene was also instructed. This IDENTICAL pillar of fire was the Egyptian symbolization of the "overshadowing God," descending upon all those who had attained to Soul Consciousness or Christification.

The "cloud by day" that covered the "pillar of Light" - the image of God - is identical with the "veil of Isis," which all Neophytes had to lift aside by means of their own inner development and Spiritualization. It is the Shadow which the Neophyte of the present day must penetrate; hiding as it does the mystery of mysteries; the Light by which God has always made himself known to men, and which the individual seeking to attain Soul Consciousness must find within his own temple.

The Hebrews, who were the original writers of the books which were finally selected by lot (not by choice) to become part of the old Testament, naturally misrepresented, perhaps ignorantly, what was really taught by the Egyptian Initiates, because not one of these writers had even been accepted as Acolytes, and therefore had never been permitted to enter the inner Sanctuaries of the Temples of Initiation.

These writers misinterpreted every thought and action of the Egyptians, using their freedom to glorify their own work and worship. This was natural and human, though not ethical. Nevertheless, they copied with slight variations, the Egyptian form of worship. They symbolized both the Fire or Light, by which God made Himself known to Moses and the Egyptians, keeping a light continuously burning on their altars, a material fire which was never permitted to be extinguished or burn out. Did they worship this light, or lights as they claimed the Egyptians did their Aten, or disc of light?

Not having come into possession of the true Light, their own inner dormant Light never having been brought into manifestation, these altar lights or fires were used to represent the Most High, in like manner that the lesser lights of the Vestal fires in the Egyptian temples symbolized to the people that the Sun was life, god and the Giver of Life.

In the recorded words of Judges these highly symbolic words have a special significance:

"Let them that love (venerate, adore, worship] Him be as the sun when he goeth forth in the night." -Judges 5:31.

In these words the sun is employed as a symbol of might and righteousness, and no one would think of accusing the writer as advocating the worship of the sun; nor is he so accused. Why then use the sun as a symbol to more easily teach the masses the power of the Great Light, or Light Giver, God?

Malachi is still more explicit; through him the lord of Light is made to speak to the children of men:

"But unto you that fear my name [revere and honor by obedience] shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and grow as calves of the stall." -Malachi 4:2.

This is symbolization in the highest sense. The sun which all men can see and feel, is compared to one of great righteousness with the power to heal, that is, right the wrong and make men strong. This is a correct statement, because just as the Great Light, or God, has given into man's keeping a part of Himself which may be brought into Consciousness and be the Light of the Spiritual life, so the sun offers warmth, which is life to the body; and the food and drink, and every other means by which man lives and becomes strong.

Neither one infringes upon the other, but each is supreme in his own domain. God in His heaven; the sun on earth; the two working together in perfect harmony. In the last analysis, would it be an unforgivable sin if man did worship the sun?

The Nazarene taught by comparison; by symbolization; by allegory and by legend, as he himself so often stated. Let us compare God and his Love to a true mother and her love for her offspring. Such a mother will appreciate and think more highly of the person who will praise he child, favor it and grant it favors, than if the same favors WERE DONE TO HER. Did not God call the sun into existence and give it power? Is not the sun His creation, His child as it were?

Matthew is accepted as one who was possessed of a fairly accurate knowledge of the Nazarene, who had become the Christ, and his mission. He wrote:

"He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with Fire." - Matthew 3:11.

This statement has a deep, esoteric, Spiritual meaning. No man can baptize another with Fire. The only one capable of performing this type of baptism is the Christ. This Christ is not man, but the Christos awakened and brought into Consciousness. When this is accomplished then the Christos as Christ, is a Light, and baptizes; that is, ENVELOPES or OVERSHADOWS the person who has so attained Consciousness, i.e., succeeded in attaining the second or Spiritual birth.

This Statement by John could not possibly refer to the Nazarene, even though he had attained to Christhood, because his ministry was of but a few years and, at best, he could have baptized only a few Souls, and few would have been saved.

The Holy Ghost is interpreted as a Spiritual Light, or Fire. It is the Light or Fire of God that becomes manifest to man when he attains to Consciousness of God as a result of the inner Spiritual Birth. It is man's Illumination. This was the Sublime or Greater Mystery that the Nazarene, like all other Neophytes, was compelled to discover, or unveil for himself. IT WAS THE UNVEILING OF ISIS.

Fire, or Light, despite all that has been written and said against heathen worship of the ancient peoples, has always been, and continues to be, a symbolization of the Light that envelopes God through which alone He can Manifest Himself to man. That which is greatest, next to God and which all men can see, is the sun, fire and light, symbolizing the supreme being. These things were concrete, not theoretical. Men cannot reason in the abstract. They must have the concrete for understanding, and the sun, fire and light were real to them, mighty forces whose presence assured them warmth and life.

God, in the form of the awakened part of Himself in man, the Christos, becoming Light as a result of the awakening, baptizes or envelopes man in its Light, with its native Spirit; the qualities of love, affection, gentleness, graciousness, humaneness, devotion, and adoration. All of these beatitudes must have become active as a result of transmuting the evil passions, during the process of awakening the Christos and resurrecting him from the tomb in which he, the Divine Spark, was buried.

This is not idle speculation; not a dreamer's dream. It is vital, stark reality. Throughout the Biblical narrative, the Christ is spoken of as "the Light that shines," or as "the sun," and again as "the Fire." What then is the Christ? What does the term "Christ represent? Certainly not a human fleshly creature, but a Divine, ever-existing principle; a Light, yes, but a Divine Light.

A Light, truly, but only as the Flame, or as a part of the Flame in which God envelopes Himself. This Christ IS a Light. It is become a Light through the effort of man in arousing a dormant Spark of a flame that exists within himself. This much after the manner of olden people who had only the hearth fire to both warm their homes and cook their food. On the approach of night, they would most carefully collect the embers on a heap in THE MIDDLE OF THE HEARTH and there cover them up so they would not die out.

In the morning they would carefully fan these embers into a flame that would not only light and warm the room, but also cook their meals. In like manner, did God give a Spark from Himself into the keeping of man, that it might be covered for a time, and then fanned by effort into a Light that would become a Flame, which would both Light and give Life to the Spiritual self. This Flame, this Light, is the Christos Awakened and brought into Consciousness - and is the Christ. The sun, material fire and light are symbolic and representative of the Christ; as Individualized, conscious Light.

The term "Christ" was not, as most Christians believe, original with the Nazarene's appearance among men; not with the formal churches or organizations. It is an adaptation, with just the slightest variation, of the Gnostic Christians long before the term "Christ" was known. To them it was the Divine Principle in man and was known as the Christos. This Christos was asleep in man and was known as the Christos. This Christos was asleep in man and so as long as it remained in its dormant state, Biblically "Buried in a tomb," man remained mortal; of the earth, earthy. It was man's mission on earth, by means of changing the many evils inherent in the flesh, to develop the finer emotions and, at the same time, by desire and effort, to awaken and fan into a flame or Light, the Christos hidden in himself.

If he did this, then he would become wisdom personified; he would develop into a Spiritual being, his body would have BECOME The Church of God, wherein the Living Christos, later to be called The Christ, would reign supreme.

These Christian Fathers were men of God. They did not organize formal churches because in their sight every man who became Christos conscious was a "Church in his own right" and God, the Christos, or Christ would abide therein. This, in substance, was the fundamental doctrine of the Ancient Wisdom, the teachings of the Nazarene.

The Nazarene freely confessed:

"Of myself I can do nothing: the Father which is within me does the work." -John 14:10.

It is important to carefully note that he did not here refer to any outside power, force or being, but to the Father who is within me. This "Father" was that part from God which, primarily imbedded in his being, he awakened and brought into Consciousness during his period of study and training in Egypt. The Father is God. God is a Light or Flame, and a part of God, in the form of the Divine Spark, was inherent or "imbedded" in the Nazarene and brought into Consciousness. It therefore was not he, the man, but the Awakened Christos, the Christ, which actually was the power that performed the work. This has been true throughout the ages and will continue to be so.

This "Father" within is the Divine principle, the Christos, hidden within every personality and this principle brought into Consciousness, i.e., individualization, becomes dynamic in the "works for righteousness." The Christos become Christ is essentially a manifestation of the Divine Fire. It is the Ætheric Light burning upon the altar in the temple of the Illuminated.

This Christ is the Inner Light, the Voice of the indwelling God. After the man of Nazareth brought this God principle into his Consciousness, he became Illuminated - Lighted up. It became not only a Light unto itself, but by example, the "light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World," i.e., every man who would recognize the truth; follow in the Way, and by continuous effort bring the Light within himself into manifestation.

The Nazarene further stated:

"The righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of heaven." -Matthew 13:43

He did not hesitate for a moment to make use of symbolization, legend or parable. He might here have said: As the sun dispels the darkness and brings light into the world, so do the righteous become the Spiritual Light that leads man into the ways of heaven. Or again:

Righteousness awakens the Spiritual Sun within man and opens the kingdom of heaven to him.

Either statement would have been correct esoterically as well as literally.

In all of his ministry, the Nazarene taught, in a more simplified form, as the Egyptians had taught him, that the Christ is not man, whatever his mode of entrance into the world of matter, but is the Light, the Illuminating essence from God implanted in man in embryonic form, but which could be brought into a state of Consciousness, i.e., individualization, hence his command:

"Call no man on earth your master."

It is man's duty to free himself from ALL bondage whether this be to evil tendencies within himself or to other men. Furthermore the sun, i.e., the Spiritual essence of righteousness must be directed to bring about this Consciousness or individualization; radiating its warmth, the essence of which are love, forgiveness, kindness, generosity and other beatitudes, so that this inner sun, the Christos. becomes the Christ, and may shine forth and do its (His) work.

The inculcations of the Nazarene relative to the Divine Principle inherent, but dormant, in man, were identical with the teachings of the Priests in the Egyptian temples. How could it be otherwise? The Son of Joseph of Nazareth was taught and trained for his mission in the world; taught and trained perhaps as no other Neophyte had ever been instructed, due to the fact that the Initiate Priests were well aware that the time was rapidly approaching when these Temples would be closed and they themselves would enter into silence.

The actual Initiates into the Greater Mysteries of Egypt worshipped God in wisdom and feeling; in devotion and reverence beyond the ken of ordinary man. They KNEW God, not in theory only, but by FACT, as a living, ever-burning Fire; and kept alight within themselves the Light, evidence of His presence, and the assurance that they as sons of men had become, by desire and effort, Osirians - Sons of God.

The numerous symbolic representations made use of by the Egyptians represented attributes ascribed to God, or manifested by God. Thus, the sun, which shone so brightly and warmed the land to permit production, naturally exemplified the great virtues of a kind and merciful God.

The light and warmth of the sun made possible the two first requisites of life: warmth and food. The rain that descended from the clouds caused the mountain streams to swell and bring down by the Delta the waters to quench the thirst of both themselves and the ground that produced the food to keep body and Soul together.

The moderns who pride themselves on greater advancement, expanded knowledge, plus material and Spiritual attainment, have not changed greatly except in forms of expression. Mankind sees and speaks of God in the beautiful flowers, the majesty of the trees, the smile of the child, the love of the mother, the divinity of friendship and the expression of the beatitudes.

The only difference is that the present-day man does not symbolize the Spiritual attributes and therein is a great weakness, rather than an advancement. Perhaps even worse, man prays to God for that which he himself can earn with little effort. He asks forgiveness for evils committed and then repeats them within the hour. He requests God's blessing after having cheated his neighbor. Man expects God to send him liberal blessing directly after having dishonored a trusting Soul. He asks God for rain when he fears that the crops will be ruined with a possible loss of expected profits.

The self-righteous, materialistic and even religious, throughout the ages and to their eternal discredit, have overlooked the fact that every symbol used by the Egyptians possessed an inner, and Arcane meaning. To these people, stones, mountains and their hieroglyphs possessed meanings we express in words. Men forget, or ignore, that the letters and words of all peoples are no more than an intelligent symbolization of feelings, senses and things.

To the Egyptians, the pyramids. obelisks, monuments, and hieroglyphic representations constituted a language, a system preserving their knowledge and religion. Even though the present generation may ridicule symbolism, we find it present in all churches, their steeples, and even in our present forms of worship. Furthermore, and in this men have failed grievously, the language of those early peoples was distinctly and fundamentally based on religious ideas and the incentive to actually live, as nearly as possible, in harmony with the meaning of the symbols.

The symbology of the Osirian Priest Initiates, even faintly understood, becomes representative of a religion of purity, simple but exalted, which, in all its essential features, is parallel with the fundamentals taught by the Nazarene. The application in life of these teachings resulted in bringing the Christos into Consciousness; the Soul into Illumination; a recognition of the Light that emanates constantly from God, unrecognized by the masses because of their blindness.

It was blindness on the part of the masses in the heyday of Egypt, as it is among mankind today, that demanded forms, ceremonies, legends, parables and many word pictures to make them conscious of simple facts; ever-present Spiritual truths.

The Biblical narrative informs us plainly that Moses was instructed in all of the learning of the Egyptians. This could hardly be otherwise, since Moses had been found and adopted into (was actually by birth one of) the royal family. This made it compulsory that he should enter the temple and then receive all instructions and training, have every advantage, also obey every law to which the royal youths were subject.

It is generally conceded that the child Moses did not fall into the hands of a maiden of the ruling family entirely by accident, that his mother was an Egyptian of the royal family. All things considered, including the supposition that Moses was ordained to become a leader of people and the dispenser of the Divine Law to govern the actions of all people throughout the ages, can we believe, or be led to believe, that if, as so frequently asserted, the Egyptians were idolatrous people, God, who ordains well, would have permitted both Moses and the Nazarene to have fallen into their hands, be taught by them and prepared in all details to become future world teachers and leaders?

God may move in a "mysterious way," but man certainly cannot believe that He also moves in an "illogical" or "contradictory" manner. If, as asserted and believed by so many, the Egyptians were a people outside of God's pale, then certainly mankind would be forced to believe that the Divine Law being absolute, unchangeable, and above all, absolutely just, God or His Law would have selected another people to "find" the babe Moses, teach him, instruct him and prepare his in the new Law, or the interpretation of the old Laws so that he might correctly, and without error, fulfill his mission.

The very fact that the Soul which was Moses, was incarnated among the Egyptians, then instructed and trained according to their knowledge and science, and that it was the verdict that there was "not another Hebrew (though he was himself a Hebrew) like him," indicates beyond contradiction that the Egyptians, at least the educated and Priestly class, were a superior people, far above all other people. If not, then God must be considered an inconsistent being and His Law variable, undependable and unpredictable.

Joseph was another great leader who evidently required more profound knowledge and training than his own people could give him, and was seemingly by accident brought into this supposed "land of darkness." He, like Moses, emerged from among the Egyptians endowed with wisdom and honors, and virtues unknown to his brethren.

Lastly, not to mention many others, the angels themselves instructed Joseph, father of the infant born in Nazareth, to take his son into Egypt, that there he might not only be protected from the ruling tyrants, but also be instructed and so prepared, according to the DIVINE LAW, to lead his people out of the self- bondage into which they had permitted themselves to fall.

If, according to Biblical inculcations, a "tree is to be known by the fruit it bears," then it must be equally true that a nation must be judged by the leaders it produces. Considering the works of Moses, Joseph, the Nazarene and others, Immortalized and memory-fresh after many centuries, men of today, who profess the spirit of graciousness and justice, should be more generous in their judgments, and the teachings of these Godly men accepted as truth by the multitudes.

Especially is this true in the present age when every effort is being made, not only by the age-old enemies of the Christian precepts, but by those who profess Christianity, to the end that Jesus, the person, may finally be destroyed or officially classed as a myth by the unbelieving, the atheistic and most unfortunately, in many of the churches.

However, one thing is certain, all these can not more destroy the Christos of the Gnostics, BECOME the Christ IN THE HEARTS OF MEN, than they have been able to destroy the glory of Egypt at the times of Moses and the Nazarene. the Christos in the human being, the Christ as a principle Immortalizing those who Obey the Divine Law, will continue to exist as long as man is on earth and God in His heaven...and Manisis, the incarnate spirit, interpreter of the Divine Law, will become as ageless and as eternal as Osiris-Isis and the Nazarene.

The Lawgivers, Avatars, Masters of the ages may inculcate beautiful and exalted truths, but each individual must prove for himself the wisdom and efficiency of their teachings. Before the baptism of the Divine Love (the Holy Ghost) is poured upon man, before he can be imbued with the wisdom of high heaven and the guidance of the governing Hierarchies, man must prove, not merely profess, his worthiness and ability, by manifesting the qualities and virtues that always follow the application of the Divine principles in a man's life.

Actually, whether or not the teachings of Spiritual awakening and Soul Illumination originated in Egypt or elsewhere, is of little importance.

The one essential factor is: Will man accept the Law, apply the operation of the Law to his own thoughts, desires and acts? Will he, in the Spirit of Love and other beatitudes, bring into manifestation the Divine Flame received from the Eternal and by the transmutation of the gross matter in himself, change the son of man into the likeness of the Son of God?

Each individual is capable of becoming this Church of God, a center of dynamic light, embracing and blessing those less fortunate and serving them to the end, while likewise becoming Illuminated - Sons of God.

Thus, in time, many individual centers of light (the Illuminated) will be banded together as workers, whose ideals, aims and purposes urge them on to higher and yet greater endeavor to improve themselves and at the same time serve their fellow men.

Their united efforts, their harmony of purpose, their concentration of pure and noble thoughts, will set into motion vibratory waves of great power, which will prove a blessing to the weary and will ultimately burn up race hatreds and the malice of unregenerate men not yet on the path toward Light.

The leader of the New Order of the Ages is known to the select as Manisis, the reincarnation of Manasseh, to whom God promised a new world and a new people.
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