CHAPTER 5

ON RELIGION, ACCORDING TO THE CLEAR AND PRECISE MEANING OF SACRED SCRIPTURE, AND ON THE TRUE MAGO-CABBALA, BASED ON THE SAME

PART 1

In the name of God we now move to a topic, which will surely earn us the censure of orthodox scholars. Many of these gentlemen believe they alone have the right and ability to teach and write about theological matters, and that priests cannot err in matters of the Law. Thus they will attack anyone who is not a member of their guild the moment he dares to speak on such topics. They will criticize, fault, judge and condemn in a most unpleasant manner anything he might say that doesn't conform with their ideas. And if they cannot find anything in his statement to criticize or condemn, they are mean enough to simply reject the author's work because he is not a member of their order and was not educated like them in their discipline at the best schools, which they feel gives them the privilege of speaking and writing about theology. However, neither Christ the Lord nor his disciples came from their order of priests and theologians, nor did Christ and his true teachers and disciples attend the top schools of theology. Rather, the disciples studied in the school of Christ and his Holy Spirit. Therefore, no upstanding and enlightened theologian would approve of the insane and downright idolatrous illusions of the orthodox heretic-makers. And so we will not expect a reasonable judgment from them, based on the rules of Christ. Their mocking and faulting will not affect us. And so, let us move on to our principle purpose here.

PART 2

No one should expect that our thoughts on religion in this chapter will be written in a scholarly style, nor should he hope that we will begin with a short description of religion in general, according to the rules of human art and science. Such a hope would certainly be dashed, since the Holy Spirit can make no use of such vain undertakings, as Scripture tells us. We will indeed follow Scripture here and present everything as short and simply as possible.

PART 3

Since we want to discuss religion (that is, the debt that each man owes his Creator, according to his command), then we will first have to discuss man's knowledge of God. Paul says in Hebrews 11, verse 6, “For anyone who comes to God must believe that he exists.” And in his letter to the Romans 1, verses 19 to 21 Paul writes, “For all that may be known of God by men lies plain before their eyes; indeed God himself has disclosed it to them. His invisible attributes, that is to say his everlasting power and deity, have been visible, ever since the world began, to the eye of reason, in the things he has made. There is therefore no possible defense for their conduct.”

From the wondrous creation of the heavens and the earth, together with all its creatures, man could recognize easily enough that the Creator of this awe-inspiring system must be an eternal, all-knowing and almighty being, and that man should inquire about and seek him, and honor and worship him as his Lord, God and Creator, if he wishes to be happy and content. It is also possible for man to trace back Creation all the way to God, the beginning of all things. Nevertheless, it is quite difficult for many people to come to God in this manner, and to recognize him and honor him as he deserves. And only a very few can follow it back to their own origin in God. Rather, for most people the Lord God remained hidden and unknown until he finally revealed himself to them more distinctly through Moses and the prophets, and then most clearly and completely in Christ Jesus, his beloved Son, the reflection of his glory and his being, and proclaimed to them his will for their eternal salvation and happiness.

PART 4

The first and most necessary part of what we are discussing here is our knowledge of God, namely that there is a God and Creator of all things, as well as who he is and how he exists. In the great book of nature we can learn through countless symbols about his infinite unfathomable nature, wisdom and power and recognize from this that something exists that had no beginning or end, and which is the beginning and origin of all creatures. But who is this God? And what is his name? For these questions there are no symbols in the book of nature; rather, we must find the answers in Sacred Scripture, whose first words are “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Thus, we can call him the Beginner and Creator of all things, in Hebrew Elohim. The ancient cabbalists translated this name as “the powerful judges.” Since this word appears in the plural form, God was then referred to in the plural, as for example in Genesis 1, verse 26 and Genesis 3, verse 22, where God says in the former passage, “Let us…” and in the latter, “The man has become like one of us.” We must conclude from this that the mystery of the Triune God is concealed in this usage: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

God also revealed himself as the Lord the Almighty (Genesis 17, verse 1). As he says to Moses in Exodus 6, verse 3, “I appeared to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob God Almighty, but I did not let myself be known to them by my name: Lord.” Now we come to another name that Almighty God gave himself in Genesis 2, verse 4, where he is called Jehovah Elohim. Translated, this means “He who was, who is and who will be,” that is, love and mercy itself.

PART 5

We have now heard from Scripture that the Almighty Being who created all things is called God. But how does he appear? Because he is unfathomable, we cannot construct a likeness of God. And because all things were made from him and by him, it is not possible that he can be comprehended by one of his own creatures. Rather, just as the Lord God contains in himself and fills this amazingly large universe, nothing exists outside of it except God, without there being any end to the profound expanse of Godliness for all eternity. Therefore, it is impossible to create an image or likeness of God, and he strictly forbids man from doing so (see Exodus 20, verse 4; Deuteronomy 4, verses 15 to 23; Joshua 40, verses 18 to 25 and Joshua 46, verse 5).

PART 6

Although the Lord God is entirely inconceivable and incomprehensible in his Godliness, and he thus forbade man from trying to picture him in image or likeness, the ruined reason of man was not satisfied with how God revealed himself in Scripture, but rather made up numerous words to describe God, thus creating a likeness, but also countless idols in his theological seminaries. And whoever would not accept their Scholastic dust in lieu of the pure gold of the sanctuary, that person is considered a heretic, even though they themselves introduced heretical and idolatrous turns of phrase to describe God. Where in Sacred Scripture can we find the terms “Trinity,” “Person” and the like, which were coined during the fall of the Greek and Latin Churches; and where did the phrase “three persons in one Godhead” come from? Indeed, anyone in the early apostolic Church who would have used such words as “person” or “Trinity” would certainly have been cast out of the community as a heretic. And no reasonable person could deny that once people started talking about three persons in God in their distinctive roles as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, one couldn't help but think of these as three separate gods, which runs contrary to the revelation of divine majesty. No man's faculty of reason is so pure and clear that it will not immediately think of three separate gods when it hears talk of the three persons in God. This creates a false image of the true God.

PART 7

Moses says in Deuteronomy 6, verse 4, “Hear, 0 Israel! The Lord God is one Lord.” Christ the Lord confirms this in Matthew 19, verse 17; Mark 10, verse 18; Mark 12, verse 29 and Luke 18, verse 19. The apostle Paul writes in Romans 3, verse 30, “God is one” and in 1 Corinthians 8, verse 4 he writes, “There is no God but the One.” He also confirms this in Galatians 3, verse 20 and elsewhere. Of this “one God” Christ the Lord said in Matthew 28, verse 19 that he is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And Saint John writes in his first letter, chapter 5, verse 7, “For there are three witnesses, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and these three are one.” We can also find many passages in the Old Testament where this sacred number three is used in connection with the one God: Genesis 1, verse 26; Genesis 3, verses 22 and 23; Genesis 11, verse 7; Genesis 18; Joel 3, verse 21, and Psalm 33, verse 6.

PART 8

From what we have said thus far the reader can recognize that an eternal God exists as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In the first letter of John 4, verses 8 to 16 John writes that God is love, while Christ the Lord says in John 4, verse 24, “God is a spirit.” Therefore, according to the characteristics of a spirit he is a simple essence and unity, but also the highest perfection in holiness, justice, wisdom, power, love, goodness and mercy without the slightest deviation. And the will of his power can only consist of mercy, compassion, patience, great goodness and faithfulness (according to Exodus 34, verse 6). However, when God is described as angry, etc., this occurs only in conjunction with some contrariness on the part of his fallen creatures against his perfect majesty.

PART 9

As we mentioned above the one true God consists of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. However, we cannot say what exactly it means that the one God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit not only in name, but also in deed. This secret is incomprehensible to our reason and thus also indescribable and we know of no example in nature that could provide a parallel or comparison to this, except perhaps . Fire is a single essence that has three distinct qualities: to light, to warm and to burn. None of these qualities can be separated from the others without destroying it entirely. And so the Father is called the Creator through the Son; the Son is called the Redeemer through the compassion of the Father; and the Holy Spirit is called the Light and Illumination from the Father and the Son. But these names are in fact meaningless images that do not capture the essence of the matter, that is the focus of our discussion. “Happy are those in whom God himself is revealed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” It is difficult to understand or grasp this without God's Revelation, no matter how clearly one tries to imagine or describe it in words.

PART 10

No one will deny then that the Father, or rather God, is God, and that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of the Father and the Holy Spirit. They are the one true God who is eternal life, as is clearly proven in many passages of Scripture. In John 14, verses 9 to 11 Christ says that whoever sees him also sees the Father, because he is in the Father and the Father is in him. Christ also states in John 10, verse 30 that he and the Father are one. After wrestling with Jacob in Genesis 32, verse 28 to 30 God says, “You have wrestled with God and with men, and prevailed.” John also writes that Christ, as the Word that became man, was with God in the beginning (the eternal essential beginning, which is God Himself—see Revelation 1, verse 8; Revelation 3, verse 14; Revelation 21, verse 6 and Revelation 22, verse 13) and was God himself (see John 1, verse 1 to 3). In his first letter, chapter 5, verses 7 and 20 John writes that he (Jesus Christ) is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit and that he is the true God and eternal life. The apostle Paul writes in first letter to Timothy 3, verse 16 that God was revealed in the flesh, in the humanity of Jesus Christ, and in the second letter to the Corinthians 5, verse 19 Paul writes that God, together with Christ, redeemed the world. In his letter to the Colossians 2, verse 9 he states that the complete fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ, and in Romans 9, verse 5 he says that God is supreme above all, blessed forever. Also, the angel who appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as well as Moses and led the children of Israel out of the desert was in fact Almighty God himself, the Lord and God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (see Genesis 17, verse 1; Genesis 28, verse 13; Genesis 31, verse 13 and Exodus 3, verse 6). No reasonable person would contest that this was God. And since 1 Corinthians 10, verses 4 to 9 reveals that this angel was Christ the Lord, this conclusively proves the eternal divinity of Jesus Christ. And in the first letter of John 5, verse 7 and in Matthew 28, verse 19 we have confirmed for us that the Holy Spirit is also the true God for all eternity. John says in his letter that the Holy Spirit is one with the Father and the Son and that Christ the Lord commanded that he be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. It is also certain that wherever in Scripture we find an allusion to the “angel of the Lord,” who is sometimes called Jehovah, it is really Christ himself who should be understood in his capacity as angel of the Covenant. And whenever we find in Scripture reference to the spirit, where the name of Jehovah is added to that of the Triune God, we are dealing with a passage about the Holy Spirit.

PART 11

Because this true and eternal trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit without beginning or end) enjoyed great and perfect joy, happiness and contentment, and because he wanted to share himself in the emanation of his divine goodness with creatures who would love and praise him, God created through Christ the spirit-world, whose pinnacle was the Son of the Dawn, a most glorious and magnificent spirit who was also the ultimate point of the divine diameter line extending through our solar system. Since this spirit in his magnificent glory and power rose up against God out of sinful pride, he was cast down into an unfathomable darkness together with his angels, and for his resistance against God's simple perfection he forfeited his former magnificence, as well as all the worlds over which he held sway. And thus his light became a desolate, dark place called Chaos by the ancients, that is, a mixed clump of all kinds of essences without order.

PART 12

Because the unchanging godhead could not change the will of its omnipotence, the worlds originally ruled by Lucifer and his angels had to be filled with other creatures for the praise of divine glory. Therefore, God created our world through Christ and in this world he placed man, created in his image, as the Holy Spirit revealed to us through Moses, so that this man would rule the world instead of the fallen Lucifer.

PART 13

When Satan saw that a magnificent world was created from the dark chaos and that the wondrous creature called man was created by God to take his place as ruler of this world, Satan's envy and anger was directed against this creature. As a result, he deceitfully seduced man to abuse his free will and disobey God's laws and will. The devil thought he had won his struggle against God because of man's disobedience when he saw that man had been expelled from the Garden of Eden and cast into this world, which was accursed because of his sin and where he would have to struggle his entire life by the sweat of his brow to nourish himself and eat his daily bread. But God took pity on the man and cursed the serpent above all other animals, saying, “The seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent.” God wanted man (Adam and his descendants) to strive to regain his original inherent magnificence and to seek the Lord his God, so that he might once again find him and feel his presence, which is never far from his creatures (see Acts 17, verse 27).

PART 14

The Lord God did not create man for the purpose of anger, accursedness and ruin, but rather to be happy and contented. And it was his will that man seek him and find life in him, so that he might be blessed. To this end, the Lord God provided man with everything he would need for his salvation and well-being; for his inner spiritual life he gave man the Holy Spirit, and for his material life on earth he gave them the patriarchs and the prophets, who would teach him discipline and lead him on the right path in God's truth back to his Creator. God gave the children of Israel through Moses his laws and rights, so that they could live according to, and be guided in, his way of life. He led them out of Egypt and into the desert and he taught them how they should turn their hearts and minds away from the ways of the world with its empty glories and think of themselves as pilgrims and strangers in this world, searching for their heavenly homeland. He gave them many signs and miracles in order to awaken their faith and to trust in him. He let them see the many terrible and fearsome judgments that befall the disobedient, the godless and the sinner, so that they would disdain such things in their heart and would obey him. Through the many purification rituals that he gave them he sought to teach them how to cleanse and purify their heart of all sin and impurity by means of faith. And through the sacrifice of oxen, goats and rams he sought to teach them how to do away with their former self, bound to the ways of the earth, to discipline their flesh with its instincts and desires, and to offer themselves to God as a sacrifice and as incense. He let them build for him an indescribably beautiful and costly residence and lived among them and taught them how to work with one another to build him a residence of the spirit and make within themselves the sanctuary of a new mankind, giving him space within their hearts, so that he could live among them. He was their God, whom they loved and honored with their whole heart and mind and soul, and they were his people who in the most submissive obedience would serve and live for him alone in holiness and justice for as long as they lived. He provided for them everything they needed for their salvation and he performed countless good deeds for them, seeking to win their love and their hearts for himself, so that they would be entirely his and thus be blessed for all eternity. What he had done since the beginning of the world, and did in a particular way through Moses, he continued right up to the arrival of Christ on earth, doing everything he could for the salvation of wretched man and his return to his original state of being.

PART 15

However, as soon as man was placed on the earth (which God had cursed because of his sin) he began to multiply, and with this, evil multiplied in men as well. They tore themselves away from the nurture and discipline of the Holy Spirit and distanced themselves from God. There was not even one in a thousand among them who inquired about God or sought to live according to his ways. And after man had gone his own ruinous way, the Lord God in his just judgment wiped man off the face of the earth through the Flood in the time of Noah, and thus put an end to this first godless world. The only exceptions to this were Noah and his family, who were spared. However, once the Flood was past and the descendants of Noah once again began to multiply, they turned away from God and evil began to grow once again. As a result, this second world was no better than the first and in some respects even worse. Instead of seeking the Lord their God in order to serve him, they chose instead all manner of horror and corruption, making idols of men and birds, four-footed and crawling creatures, and serving them in the most shocking manner by offering their sons and daughters to walk through as a sacrifice. This was done not only by the so-called wild pagans, but also by the children of Israel, to whom God had revealed himself in a special manner from among all the peoples of the earth. And even after he revealed himself to them in a special way · in the desert, giving them his laws and rights, they still made for themselves a golden calf and worshiped in the service of devils; they took up their residence in the house of Moloch and the stars of its god Remphan, worshipping the idols whose images they had made (see Acts 7, verse 42. They continued this practice through the ages and whenever God sent them messengers, who punished them, warned them and sought to return them to his service, they were stoned and killed (see Matthew 23, verse 14 and Acts 7, verses 51 and 52), for the people would not be deterred from their idolatry and evil designs. Those who on the surface appeared to be faithful to God were only mocking him, ostensibly following the rituals ordained by God through Moses with apparent fervor; they approached God with their mouth and honored him with their lips, but their heart still remained distant from him, and so their service to him was in vain. God told them that their rituals without meaning were an abomination in his sight, which he did not desire and of which he was growing tired. He did not like their festivals or Sabbath celebrations either, and could not bear to smell their sacrifices, nor hear their songs, and he wanted to throw the filth of their holidays in their faces, so that it would stick there and remain with them. It was into this hypocritical and ruined state of the Jewish faith that Christ the Lord was born in the flesh.

PART 16

“When the time was fulfilled, God sent his only Son” in the form of a poor servant, and sought to further reveal his will for man's salvation through the life and teachings of his Son, and to show the way to life. The Father spoke from heaven, saying “Behold, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear him!”

PART 17

Many passages of the Old Testament prophesied that Christ the Lord would come to mankind in the flesh. The New Testament reports that he really did come to earth in human form, lived, taught, was crucified, died, was buried, and arose again on the third day, later ascending into heaven. These things are so well known that it is not necessary to comment on them here; and no one would deny that these things did occur, except the most rabid anti-Christian. Therefore, we will concentrate only on those aspects of Christ's life and teachings that will be useful for the purpose of our discussion. The first of these is his holy conception, where he chose a poor, humble and chaste young virgin to be his mother. We should learn from this the importance of having a chaste and humble heart, if the Word that can make our soul rejoice is to be planted and grow there. Second, he was born in great poverty in a strange stall while his parents were traveling away from their home. From this we should learn to despise the material things of this world. Third, he had to flee into Egypt with his parents while he was still a baby. rom this we learn that as soon as God draws us to himself so that we try to lead our life according to his ways, we will be hated, envied and persecuted by the world. Fourth, almost his entire life was a constant pilgrimage, from which we can learn that we are only pilgrims and strangers on this earth with no lasting place of our own, so that we must look for our future place of rest beyond this earth. Also, during his life Christ always strove to do the will of his Father and was obedient to him unto death, even to his death on the cross. From this he wanted to teach us to deny ourselves and to do the will of God in voluntary obedience, and to practice humility, patience and other divine virtues, if we wish to follow him and to come to God, the new and living way, through him. And after he completed his ordeal of suffering and patience through his obedience to his Father's will, Christ became the source of eternal joy for all who are obedient to him (see Hebrews 5, verse 9).

PART 18

Now that we have briefly outlined his holy life, which can serve as a model for us to follow, we will now discuss his teachings, which are perfectly reflected in his life. The first thing that strikes us in how he called men to himself and told them to take up his cross along with him and to learn from him how to have a meek and humble heart. Whoever would serve him, he said, must follow him, and whoever followed him must deny himself, take up his cross and follow him. He further noted that anyone who was unable to turn away from his possessions could not be his disciple. He taught them to not respond to evil with evil, that they should love their enemies, bless those who curse them, pray for those who insult and persecute them, and to forgive their enemies then they repent their evil deeds. He also taught them that they should avoid all hypocrisy and that their almsgiving, fasting and prayer should be done in private for God's sake, rather than for public praise; they should place their trust in God and strive first and foremost to attain the kingdom of god and his justice, and their Father in heaven would provide everything that they needed. He taught them to be compassionate, to take the narrow path and to be wary of false prophets; he also praised those who are poor in spirit, those who suffer, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for justice, the merciful, those who are pure of heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted for his sake or for the sake of justice. He comforted them by saying that they would be rewarded in heaven. He further taught them that he did not come to destroy or dissolve the law or the words of the prophets, but rather to fulfill them, and that not a letter of these things would pass away until all these things came to be. He also told them that their justice would have to be better than that of the teachers of Scripture and the Pharisees, or else they would not enter into heaven (see Matthew 5, verses 6 and 7). He directed them to look not at the letter of the Law, but at its spirit, and not at its shadow, but at its essence. He then summarized the Law and the prophets by saying that they should love the Lord their God with their whole heart, their whole soul and with their whole mind, and to love their neighbor as themselves. And so that they would not misunderstand he said to them that they should do to others what they would want others to do to them (see Matthew 7). He then told them to tear down their splendid temples and to change the manner in which they worshiped the Lord there with their sacrifices, songs and prayers, because the time had come to worship the Father in the spirit and in truth and not just in Jerusalem or some other specific location, for the Father wanted men to worship him in this new way, in the spirit and in truth. In saying this, Christ presented a threat to those who made their living from the rituals of worship in the temple. They were like the money changers who made their living from the temple and who were worried that their business would suffer if knowledge and worship of the true God spread. As long as Christ the Lord did not call for changes in the temple worship and even taught there himself, they would tolerate him. However, when he said he could destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days and then made a whip from rope and chased the money changers out of the temple, turning over their tables, they then started calling him a seducer and blasphemer who spoke against that holy place. And so they condemned him to death, a death on the cross, and mocked him · as he hung on the cross saying, “How are you going to destroy the temple now?”

From this short synopsis of the teachings and life of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ the reader can see the essence of the true Christian religion, namely obedience to and the implementation of God's will. For obedience is better than sacrifices, and whoever carries out the will of God will gain eternal rewards. But for those who do not understand these things, we will elaborate and clarify some of the points described above. The first of these points will be the Law.

PART 19

It is a well known fact that a couple of hundred years ago there was much arguing and fighting among the so-called Christian religions on the topic of the Law and good works. The one side taught that the Ten Commandments are too difficult to keep and that good works are not necessary in order to be saved. All that matters, they say, is divine mercy. They sought to support this teaching by citing Paul's letters. And in order to solidify this belief among their followers, they taught their children with the question: Can we keep God's Commandments and Law through good works alone? The answer that their children had to memorize was: No! Because our good works are not entirely good due to our sinful nature and, although we may want to do good, our true intention is to do evil (see Romans 7). Thus, they inculcated the belief in their children that the Ten Commandments were impossible to keep, that good works were not necessary for salvation, and that divine mercy alone mattered, even if we grievously sinned every day and deserved great punishment. Thus, they went about their sinning without great concern and paid no regard to the need for good works.

The other side in this debate taught that good works are necessary for our salvation and that we could and must keep the Ten Commandments. But they, too, followed their beliefs as little as the other side did, and as a result, the debate was one only of words. And what those on the other side accused the others of doing, they always did themselves. The one side faulted the teachings of the other that the Ten Commandments were too difficult to obey, while they themselves did not bother to obey them. The latter reciprocated by denouncing the teachings of the former that say good works are necessary in order to gain salvation, while teaching themselves that their church services were also necessary in order to be saved. And so they built up with the one hand what the other hand tore down. In order to stick to our intended focus here let us look at the words of Christ the Lord in Matthew 5, verses 17 and 18, “You should not think that I came to do away with the Law or the prophets. I did not come to do away with these things, but to fulfill them. Verily, I say unto you until heaven and earth shall pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke of the Law will pass away, until these things have come to pass.” In John 14, verses 15 to 21 Christ says, “If you love me, keep my Commandments. For whoever keeps my Commandments and honors them, he loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father and I will love him as well and reveal myself to him. Indeed, those who love me will keep my word and my Father will love him and we will come to him and reside with him. From this we see that our dearest Savior did not only demand of his followers and disciples that they keep his word and his laws, but he also gave witness himself that they would do it. Saint John confirms this in his first letter when he writes that we know that we love God's children, when we love God and keep his Law, for the greatest sign that we love God is when we keep his Law, which is not so difficult to do. And what we ask for we will receive if we keep his Commandments and do what is pleasing to him. However, in his letters to the Romans and to the Galatians Saint Paul rails against those who deceive Christ's followers by insisting that they can be justified through the Law alone. It is impossible that Paul, one of the most important of Christ's chosen disciples, would have done or written anything that ran counter to Christ or his teachings. And so we must inquire what kind of Law he is referring to in various passages, since he is so concerned about the works that it produces. And when we do such works we discover that his concern is not at all directed toward the divine law to love God and one's neighbor, but rather against the ceremonial services of the temple and the Jewish temple laws on attending services, on circumcision, on sacrifices and on observing holidays. Thus Paul criticized the same things that Christ found unacceptable at the temple and which he tried to stop by saying that the time had already come when people would no longer worship the Father in Jerusalem or on the mountains, for the true worshipers would honor the Father in the spirit and in truth, as the Father wanted. Indeed, God is a spirit, and those who worshiped him would have to do so in the spirit and in truth (see John 4).

When Christ said “Tear down this temple and I will rebuild it again in three days.” He was speaking here about the spiritual temple of his body, in which he was both the priest and caretaker of holy, true and heavenly things, which are far superior to the splendid temple of the Jews and the Christian monasteries with all their ritual objects and ceremonies. These are but a shadow of the spiritual temple of Christ's body. Nevertheless, Paul saw that the Galatians and others, whom he had clearly introduced to the teachings of Christ and whom he taught how to serve God in the true, new existence of the spirit and to fulfill the divine Commandment of love through Christ and the power of his spirit in them, had fallen away from Christ and once again began to serve in the manner they had earlier, observing the Jewish Sabbath, new moon and holidays, circumcising their newborn males, etc. Paul was concerned and inveighed against the false apostles who had misled them; he called them sorcerers and wished that they would disappear. If today's churchgoing Christians look closely at this example they might recognize that if he were here today Paul would be more concerned about them than about the Galatians because our contemporaries have completely abandoned the ways of Christ and have nothing more than a shadow of him in their ceremonies and rituals, which they believe will make the justified in the eyes of God and lead them to salvation. However, they are quite wrong in this assumption.

PART 20

Now that we have shown which Laws the apostle Paul opposed, and proven how he was of one spirit and one mind with Christ in this respect, we will continue by showing how Paul was also in complete agreement with Christ in his command to keep his Commandments. Paul writes in Romans 7, verse 12, “Therefore the Law is in itself holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.” Romans 8, verses 3 and 4 continue, “What the Law could never do, because our lower nature robbed it of all potency, God has done; by sending his own Son in a form like that of our own sinful nature, and as a sacrifice for sin, he has passed judgment against sin within that very nature, so that the Commandment of the Law may find fulfillment in us, whose conduct, no longer under the control of our lower nature, is directed by the Spirit.” The point of Saint Paul's message is that all men should truly repent and approach their Savior in faith, in order to seek their salvation in him and his wounds, and give themselves to him in total obedience. If they did this, the Savior would deliver them in truth from all sin and injustice, purify their hearts through faith, enlighten them, make them holy, and make them into men who obey his Commandments with childlike love, living according to his laws and rights. He would make them like newly planted trees or new men who, through the good power of Christ's spirit, would bring forth good fruits and sin no more. Galatians 2, verses 17 and 18 states, “If now, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves no less than the Gentiles turn out to be sinners against the law, does that mean that Christ is an abettor of sin?” Thus, consider yourselves dead to sin and live in God in Christ Jesus our Lord (see Romans 3, verse 31 and Romans 6, verse 11).

PART 21

With regard to good works we can say that they are clearly not needed in order to be saved, since we have already been saved and made into new and just men through the grace of God in Christ even before we do any good works, for everything that does not come from faith or the new creature is sinful, just as a diseased tree can not bear good fruit (see Mark 11). But when Christ the Lord saves us in truth from sin and injustice and makes us born again and justified, then we must of necessity act in a just manner, and as good trees we then bear good fruit. Those born again in Christ do not commit sin, for his seed remains with him and cannot sin, since he is the child of God. It is easy to see who among us are the children of God and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not act justly and does not love his brother is not from God; whoever sins is from the devil, for the devil knows nothing but sin. However, the Son of God came down to us to destroy the work of the devil (see the first letter of John 3).

PART 22

The second point that we offer here to those who are ignorant of the truth is that of prayer. A true Christian is sinful, but also capable through the grace of God of obeying the Commandments of God and Jesus Christ, as we showed earlier. No one can be granted this power of grace to fulfill the will of God except through faithful prayer. Although the Father of light freely gives his perfect gifts to everyone and forces no one to accept them, he wishes us to desire them and to use them. However, he cannot and will not share himself with us if we do not desire his offer of salvation and learn to ask for his gift of grace through prayer that comes from the deepest faith of our spirit. This is why Christ emphasized not only faith but also prayer as a foundation of true worship in the New Covenant. Let us now consider seven important aspects of prayer, and their basis in Scripture: (1) Christ the Lord commands us to pray; (2) we should pray in his name; (3) we should pray in faith with a forgiving heart; (4) we should pray in private; (5) we should pray with few words; (6) with serious persistence and (7) in spirit and in truth. Regarding the first aspect, Christ the Lord says in Matthew 7, verses 7 and 8, “Ask, and you shall receive; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.” And in John 16, verse 24 he says, “Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be complete.” With this, we have sufficiently proven that Christ the Lord commands us to pray. That it should be done in his name is evident in John 16, verse 23, where he says, “Verily, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in my name, he will give it to you.” And in John 14, verses 13 and 14 He says, “Indeed, anything you ask in my name I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” He also teaches us that we should pray with a heart forgiving of our neighbor, as shown in Mark 11, verses 24 and 25, where he says, “I tell you, then, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you have a grievance against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you the wrongs you have done.” Similarly, he says in Matthew 21, verse 22, “Whatever you pray for in faith you will receive” (see Matthew 6, verses 14 and 15). Christ refers to the fourth aspect of prayer in Matthew 6, verses 5 and 6, “Again, when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; they love to say their prayers standing up in the synagogue and at the street-corners, for everyone to see them. I tell you this: they have their reward already. But when you pray, go into a room by yourself, shut the door, and pray to your Father who is there in the secret place; and your Father who sees what is secret will reward you.” Concerning the fifth aspect of prayer we read in Matthew 6, verses 7 and 8, “In your prayers do not go babbling on like the heathen, who imagine that the more they say the more likely they are to be heard. Do not imitate them.” Christ teaches us about the sixth aspect of prayer in Luke 18 in the story about the widow who implores the judge so persistently that he finally accedes to her request. And the seventh aspect of prayer, that it should be done in truth and in the spirit, we can find in John 4, verse 23 where Christ says, “But the time approaches, indeed it is already here, when those who are real worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Such are the worshippers whom the Father wants.” God is a spirit, and those who worship him must do so in the spirit and in truth.

PART 23

These things, then, are the true foundation of prayer, which was laid by Christ the Lord, and upon which his disciples and true followers have consistently built. God knows that these characteristics of prayer are seldom found today; only one in a thousand people today knows what it means to worship the Father in the spirit and in truth. Most people who pray think they have done well by simply reading some text out of a book in the morning in the evening and again at the dinner table, or by spouting forth some memorized prayer without heart or reflection. We can only wonder at God's patience that he can bear such drivel for so long. Since we wish to avoid unnecessary digressions here, we will let the observations rendered above suffice for now and close this part with the Lord's Prayer, along with a short explication of it.

PART 24

Our beloved Savior spoke to his disciples in Matthew 6, verses 9 to 13 and Luke 11, verses 2 to 4, “When you pray, say ‘Our Father in heaven….’” With these words he distinguishes man from all other creatures and directs his attention to God in heaven from whom alone we should ask and seek all things. And so that our prayer may be more heartfelt and personal, he teaches us that we should say to God “Our Father, hallowed be thy name,” that is, hallowed by us, in us and through our holy life. The prayer continues, “…thy kingdom come…” and expresses the wish that the Lord God through his spirit may reign in the hearts and souls of all men and in the end establish his rule over all the earth, from sea to sea, from the waters to the ends of the earth, as recorded in Psalm 72; Revelation 11, verse 15 and Revelation 12, verses 6, 10 and 19. “…Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…”: the will of God is our salvation, so that everyone may repent and live and so that all men may gain the knowledge of truth or god and love, honor and serve him according to his will, just as he is loved, honored and served in heaven by the holy angels. “…Give us this day our daily bread…”: the words daily bread include all things that are necessary to maintain our body, soul and spirit. “And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us…”: this is clear enough and needs no further explanation. “…And lead us not into temptation…”: as long as we live in the world we are in danger of being tempted in every way by the devil, the world and sin. Thus we have cause to ask God not to lead us to temptation, or if he so wanted to tempt us himself, that he give us the strength to remain faithful to him. “…But deliver us from evil…”: means primarily from all sin and injustice, which are the source of all evil. “…For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory for ever and ever. Amen.” That is, since all kingdoms are yours and you are their Creator, Lord and Sustainer, you alone have the power to hear our prayers and to grant our requests; and this glory is yours for all eternity!

PART 25

Now that we have completed our thoughts on prayer, we will direct our attention to the so-called sacraments and their true nature. As soon as man turned away from God and was given over to death and damnation, God's love and compassion provided in Christ Jesus the means for his redemption and the renewal of all Creation; and God decided that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent that brought about man's fall. God sent his Son in the flesh and made a Covenant with all peoples through Christ's passion and death in the form of two external signs of what should be occurring internally: baptism and the Eucharist.

Concerning baptism, our Savior said to his disciples in Matthew 28, verse 19 and Mark 16, verse 15, “Go forth to every part of the world and proclaim the Good News to the whole of creation. Those who believe it and received baptism in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit will find salvation; those who do not believe will be condemned.” We see from these words that faith must precede baptism. From faith comes the love and fear of God, and from the latter a reticence to sin and from this comes penitence and renewal, which reveal themselves in a holy life and in true works of love for all people. Those who take this path—and they alone—should be baptized. They then will gain the assurance that their sins are forgiven in the passion and death of Christ through the Holy Spirit.

PART 26

Christ the Lord revealed to man the will of God for their salvation and showed them the way of life, both in his own life and in his teachings. And shortly before his holy suffering and death he left us the Eucharist as a remembrance of him. The Evangelist Matthew describes the institution of this sacrament with the following words, “During supper Jesus took bread, and having said the blessing he broke and gave it to the disciples with the words: ‘Take this and eat; this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, and having offered thanks to God he gave it to them with the words: ‘Drink from it, all of you. For this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, shed for many for the forgiveness of sin.” We might ask here for what purpose our dearest Savior established the Eucharist. He answers this question himself with the words “do this in memory of me.” Saint Paul comments on this by saying, “whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes again.” Thus Christ instituted this sacrament so that we may gratefully remember his passion and death for the forgiveness of our sins every time we share the Eucharist. With this we will close our discussion of this topic without any further notes, as it is not our intention to argue and quarrel about this, but rather to allow each man his own opinion and traditions in this regard. And so let us now turn to the second part of this chapter, which will deal with magic.

PART 27

Before we go further we would like to show from Scripture that the basis of true magic is a divine mystery, that is, true faith in God and Christ. Christ the Lord says about this in John 14, verses 12 and 13, “In truth, in truth I tell you, he who has faith in me will do what I am doing; and he will do greater things still because I am going to the Father.” And in Matthew 17, verse 20 He notes, “If you have faith no bigger than a mustard seed, you will say to the mountain, ‘Move from here to there!,’ and it will move; nothing will prove impossible for you.” These passages are sufficient to show that the true divine magic is based on true faith in the name of God and Jesus. Just as the name of God and Jesus Christ can literally be spoken in true faith, it can also be written out in true faith and trust in God for some specific purpose, for the honor of God or for the good of our neighbor. This does not mean that we would approve of every act done in the name of Jesus. Not at all, for we know all too well how the name of Christ is misused, which should never be permitted.

PART 28

We will now outline some basic principles, which a person must follow if they hope to become a true master of magic. First and foremost, he must be grounded in the true faith, to which all else is secondary (see Matthew 17, verse 20). Secondly, an important part of true magic is the recognition of the signs revealed in nature, for which the true Cabbala provides the key. This true Cabbala must be learned from the alphabet of nature, and the alpha and omega of this alphabet can be found in Christ, who is also the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end of all things. Thirdly, the true magician must be a Nazarene, or the betrothed of Christ, that is, someone who perseveres in a holy life in free, obedient serenity through the power of the Holy Spirit. Paracelsus concealed the true secret of his magical signs but reported marvelous things, and because of this he misled many people, for without red and white sulfur, as we have so often noted, prepared potions and salves are not effective and certainly cannot produce a truly great medicinal agent. The macro-and microcosmic can have an amazing effect, but the influence of the macrocosm and microcosm must not only be recognized by the mago-cabbalist as the highest factor, that is, its spiritual aspect, but also be applied correctly and at the appropriate time according to the rules of true astrology.

PART 29

In Matthew 7, verses 20 to 23 Christ teaches us that sin is a spiritual matter and consists of a will and desire that exist outside of God's will and desire. Therefore, the propagation and continuation of all creatures in nature is in no way sinful, but rather an imperative with God's blessing, insofar as the will and desire of the creature does not fall outside of God's will and desire. We can conclude from this that the subjects of all three kingdoms of nature that have been brought forth according to the will and desire of God, that is, simply and not from strange and aberrant desires, will be the best and most useful subjects for any type of magical process. We should add to this point that all things subject to man, be they (NB!) found in , , or , also groan under the curse of man and are therefore useless for such secret procedures. Thus, anyone performing such a procedure must look for subjects that have not yet helped to carry the curse in , , or . All metals and minerals that have gone through the earthly are useless for this purpose and must therefore first be prepared by a magically ignited . The animal subjects that come out of this workshop and into the world are also, to a certain degree, not very useful. It is quite a different matter, however, with plants. The mago-cabbalist must first understand the signs and secondly, know the correct time to collect them according to the magical method. All types of water are also not of much use to the mago-cabbalist; pure spring-and river-water offer the best possibilities, especially those flowing from east to west and from south to north. The mago-cabbalist must be accustomed to loneliness and seek an isolated place in a house, garden, forest or field to do his work, which was not previously the location of sinful or lewd activities whose essence would have been strongly impressed into the air, this great mirror of the world and its activities. And since he is working with blessed candles, baptismal water, swords and other paraphernalia, the magician must avoid all ostentatious flourishes in carrying out his task. He must know the exact time and hour to perform his procedure and worship no other creature with divine fear other than the living God; he must never confuse the names and powers of the angels with those of God in his work, but refer to the former only as servants of God, and never misuse these names. He must never undertake useless, sinful or prideful procedures, by which he would invalidate himself from further practice of this science. In all that he does the practitioner of these arts must always have as his goal the honor of God and the glorification of his name, as well as the salvation and welfare of his fellow man. It would also be useful for the Magus (magician or wise man) to be somewhat knowledgeable of the oriental languages, so that he could better understand the meaning of words derived from those languages, since translations often do not fully express the full magical meaning of a word or phrase. He must know quite well the characteristics of animals, plants and minerals, what they have in common and what differentiates them. He must also be well informed about each region under the heavens, apart from the atmosphere that surrounds the earth whose vapors create a separate region of air up to a certain height in the general atmosphere. When this vapor or sub-atmospheric layer ruins or poisons a region of the globe, this region often suffers from a widespread outbreak of epidemic illnesses. Few people understand this cause-and-effect relationship and that is why so little is done to effectively counter such outbreaks of pestilence.

From this we can also learn the difference in temperaments among the peoples of the earth, for example, that the Spaniard is not as inclined to certain moods as the German, and the German not as much as the Frenchman. To say that such differences are the products of the stars is an absurd idea that comes from the ancient astrologers that has been passed down to our time. Nevertheless the Magus must know something about the influence of the planets and the other stars on man's emotional and physical constitution.

PART 30

When digging for treasure one should take care to do so only when stands in good relationship to the and the moon is in or , without any absurd ceremonies or other rituals; and the treasure-hunters should talk and sing spiritual songs during their work. They should rid themselves of all delusions and if they strike treasure, they should not be afraid of any specters that might appear, for such ghosts can do them no harm. If any such hideous and terrifying specters should appear, it is merely a sign that the gnomes do not want to surrender their treasure. The Magus should not be deterred by this but use the knowledge he already possesses and in this way he will banish the ghosts and become master of the treasure. And even if the gnomes disguise the treasure as some horrible and disgusting thing, it will not matter, since the that can be magically ignited will allow everything to be revealed in its true essence and shape.

PART 31

When we warned earlier about superstitious pseudo-magical quackery as being highly dangerous, we did not mean to say that a mago-cabbalist should refrain from investigating living creatures and the innate powers given them by God, for the true and correct knowledge and use of these creatures is part of true magic. Without them little can be accomplished, as Paracelsus and others knew all too well. He had, for example, attributed to red coral the power to protect a house or field from lightning, hail and other weather damage, if it is correctly concealed in the four corners of the area to be protected at the appropriate time. This power is also attributed to hyacinth and emeralds, as well as laurel, houseleek, wintergreen, wormwood, scabious (devilsbit), pulsatilla and other plants, if they are buried at the right time. The brilliant red stone epistites is also well known as a means of protecting fields from all types of vermin and damaging weather; it can also produce other wonderful effects of nature called sympathetic and antipathetic effects.

PART 32

A well-known sympathetic powder is capable of curing the wounds of a distant subject, although the cause of this effect is not well understood. We can gain a certain insight into this by studying its composition, but this would not tell us everything we need to know. However, if one has true knowledge of the unity of all things, which is one of the main focuses of this book, he will better be able to arrive at the cause of this phenomenon. Similarly, a special salve applied to a weapon that has caused a wound will heal the wound, even though the wounded person is not present. (We might note here that wagon-pitch works equally well as the salve.) However, the wagon-pitch salve does not work unless it has first been disposed to do so by the circular motion of the wheel. Why is that? And especially, why is it that the pitch also becomes a magnet for attracting universal from this circular motion?

PART 33

From all that we have said in this chapter the seeker of truth will certainly find a sufficient description of the foundation of true divine magic. We should now move on to the practical application. However, the reader should not fault us if we do not clearly fulfill the wishes of each person in this respect. Rather, we will consider it sufficient to give only basic directions for the applications.