Chapter I

An Introduction to the Tree of Life

Part 1

THE ORACLE

They that have an ear, let them hear what the Spirit saith unto the (Seven) churches; To them that overcome will I give to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God...(Revelation 2:7)

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The scriptures also say: If anyone speak, let them speak as the Oracles of God...(1 Peter 4:11)

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A wise man hateth not the law; but he that is a hypocrite therein is as a ship in a storm. A man of understanding trusteth the law; and the law is faithful unto him as an oracle...(Ecclesiasticus 33:2,3; Malachi 4:4) (KJV)

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Fill Zion with thine unspeakable (hidden) oracles, and thy people with Thy Glory. Give testimony unto those that thou hast possessed from the beginning, and raise up prophets that have been in Thy Name...And let Thy prophets be found faithful. O Lord hear the prayers of Thy servants according to the blessings of Aaron...(Ecclesiasticus 36:14-17)

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The kingdom of God cometh not with observation...(Luke 17:20-30). But as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth...(Luke 21:35)

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And the Lord answered, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that they may run who readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but in the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come...(Habakkuk 2:1-3; Malachi 3:16-18) (KJV)

This Introduction was prompted by a criticism of an earlier, hurried attempt (in the mid 1980s) to put these ideas into a written and comprehensible form. As then, it continues an attempt to emphasize (from the left side of the Oracle--the side of Wisdom, Love, and Endurance) that, as we have been drawing closer, over the course of the twentieth century, to those events that signal the great day of the Lord, we have at last arrived at them. That is, we have arrived at a time of Revelation. As we "open the books" and begin to compare the hidden, underlying meanings of sacred scripture with the mysterious, unfolding realities of our own time, we may even behold the very Countenance of God itself. It is revealed majestically in the sum of every present natural and human event. It is revealed, of course in the whole history of the world, but more terribly in the events of the 20th century, and now even more perfectly in the events that surround us everywhere, and in those things that are about to come to pass.

"Ezekiel (the son of man) was hardly the first to gain a direct glimpse at the heavenly powers. As far back as the time of the Israelite king Ahab, nearly three hundred years before, Micah had been granted a vision of the heavenly court, with God seated, surrounded by an angelic council. And in the time of Hezekiah, just over a century before, the prophet Isaiah had described the appearance of winged cherubs in the Divine Presence, endlessly chanting hymns of praise. Ezekiel's vision, however, was not one of static majesty but rather of a mobile, world-conquering divinity, supported by Four bizarre figures propelled by fiery "wheels," and blazing above an icy ceiling into the limitless depths of the sky...

Exodus 24:10; Ezekiel, chapter 1.

For centuries Jewish sages and mystics have read and studied the enigmatic words of Ezekiel's description, convinced that here was an eyewitness account of a close encounter with God. Scholars have speculated on the meaning of the prophet's words and the accuracy of the description--and the uncanny resemblance of many of its features to the gods of the Mesopotamian pantheon. Yet the stance and hymns of the winged figures supporting the Divine Chariot became models for a unique new mode of prayer and meditation. And, as we shall see, those heavenly figures--called in Hebrew, seraphim, cherubim, and ofanim--were ultimately regarded as metaphysical intercessors for the prayers and requests of humanity. Yet at the core of the vision was an astute political warning. As the exiles spoke of the coming triumphs over the Egyptians and the independent Judean people, EZEKIEL KNEW THAT EVEN GREATER DISASTERS LOOMED BEFORE THEM. HE HAD LIVED THROUGH THE FIRST BABYLONIAN SEIGE OF THE CITY AND RECOGNIZED THAT THE BABYLONIANS WOULD SURELY RETURN at the outbreak of a new rebellion AND LEAVE LITTLE BUT RUINS AND CORPSES IN THEIR WAKE." Heavenly Powers, Unraveling the Secret History of the Kabbalah, by Neil Asher Silberman, p.11.

My gentle critic said at the time that it was confusing, not only because of the unfamiliar concepts but because there was no immediate introduction to the point (or points) this work was trying to make. One meets the ideas, she said, but does not know soon enough what to make of them, or where to follow them. So we are compelled now, as we were then, by the love of God-in-us for each other, and by our submission to each other, to make this next attempt to say in the clearest way we are capable of, what we believe the Most High is revealing again to all of us in our own generation.

(And let us say at the outset: shame on all the preachers and teachers of the Word of God, who, either refusing or unable to perceive the historical connectedness [the structural relationship] of the sacred texts and spiritual beliefs of all humankind, having also failed to realize how the whole earth, and all of its peoples, is indeed filled with the manifestation of the glory of God...

In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple.

Above it stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with (two) He covered His face, and with (two) He covered His feet, and with (two) He did fly.

And one cried unto the another, and said, Holy, holy, holy: the whole earth is full of His Glory...(Isaiah 6:1-3).

Thus Paul wrote: Not holding the Head (the Mind of God), from which all the body (the whole world) by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God...(Colossians 2:19).

...still imagine that their religion or their group or their limited point of view is the singularly correct one, for we are told that "every mouth shall be stopped." It also says: But who may abide the day of the Lord, and who may stand when He appears? [Malachi 3:2]. God has literally concluded all of us in disbelief).

There is an ancient path that leads out of the Atlantean age, and from the lower garden of Eden, across the sea to Europe, through Mesopotamia, as far as India and down into Egypt (and from these places into all the world), and we shall follow it. And we shall follow this path full circle back to the garden again, back to the very root of the World Mystery itself, and to all of the events that are presently unfolding in the world around us. But more: This is a journey into the upper worlds of the Space-Time continuum--into the hidden world of Four dimensions, and Ten. It is a journey into the supernal realm that exists hand over hand, and side by side with our own, a world of hidden Dragons and angelic forces--the realm of God. We ask the reader to take this journey with us.

Yet we do not want to be presumptuous or arrogant in the Face of Divine Reality, or to make such claims, as have so many others, that we have torn the seals off God's Revelation. At the beginning of this work we said that we would simply reach out and touch them, and give them a gentle tug. If they came loose of their own accord we would be awed, and would praise God for it all (which we do). (We know, of course, that to many we sound exactly like all the others who have been, and who still are making popular claims to divine revelation, ceaselessly traffiking in the Word of God as they do. We do not want to be included among them, but I suppose in the eyes of some that we are. Nevertheless, our work is for free, to all who may. The subjects here are the inspiration of the Muses (the Holy Spirit), physics, psychology, history and geography, not religion as we know it. It is about awakening to a hidden reality, and about waging spiritual warfare in a time of Final Combat. The wise will understand).

We said that we would turn the key, as it were, to the Door of the World Mystery. If the Door opened we would fall down before the wonder of it all (and we have). We said that if it did not, then we would "gladly" take our seat in the back of the congregation with all the rest; that the day would declare it. If the Door opened, however, it would reveal to our mind's eye the things that have been hidden in the garments of the created order, and in the fabric of the historical process all these many centuries (all these years and jubilees of years since the very time of Adam itself). And we pray that those in our time who suddenly find themselves caught in a state of darkness that they did not even realize existed, have the spiritual strength and courage to stand up and get themselves out of it without partaking of the great transgression as we are told that the children of Israel did in the days of Pharaoh (Exodus 5:20,21). As it is also written of our time here in America: And at the end of Four hundred years, I will judge that nation...(Genesis 15:12-14):

According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto them marvelous things...(Micah 7:15; Revelation 15:3/Exodus 15.)

Beware in a plague of leprosy...(Deuteronomy 24:8,9; Numbers 12.)

This work, before anything else, is an effort to reemphasize in the most urgent way the very first principle of the oracles of God: There is only One God, one Divine Reality, one unfolding of natural and human events. (Deuteronomy 32:39-42; Daniel 12:7; Revelation 10:5-7). The whole world, indeed the entire universe, is filled with the meaning and the terrible awesomeness of the glory of God. It is filled with the Revelation of God.

Perhaps the most striking thing we can say at the outset of this work is that despite all that the world has been led to believe over the events of the 20th century, the return to Zion has not happened yet, and that the many passages of Scripture that were used to justify the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 are not fulfilled yet. They will be soon, but they havn't been yet. Zion is still on its journey through the wilderness of the Nations. It is still assembling itself here at the Western ends of the earth.

The Mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the Sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of Beauty, God hath shined...(Psalm 50:1,2...KJV).

Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the Sun for a light by Day, and the ordinances of the Moon and of the stars for a light by Night, which divideth the Sea when the waves thereof roar; the Lord of hosts is His Name. If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever...(Jeremiah 31:35,36).

It will not be a matter of saying "here it is" or "there it is". Rather the Kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the Earth, and men do not see it.... (The Gospel of Thomas, saying 113).

"These sacred scrolls which the Jews received from God...are the only hope of the world. If they are lost to mankind, it would be worse than putting out the Sun, Moon, and all the Stars of night, for this would be a loss of sacred Light to the souls of men...

And this I fear, is going to be the trouble with our nation...To avoid this Israel must be taught that the prophecy of Isaiah does not stop with the Babylonian captivity...and that Ezekiel's wheels do not whirl politically or spiritually in heaven, but upon Earth and have reference to revolutions or changes, and show the bringing to pass of great events." (From a work entitled Jonathan's Interview).

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Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know Him (and Her) not see His days?...(Job 24:1).

 

 

 

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