GIVE ME THAT OLD TIME RELIG-- er... BLASPHEMY

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LIVES OF THE MASTER: The Rest Of The Jesus Story
by Glenn Sanderfur
published: 1988
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Let's be clear about two things right from the start:
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1) By REINCARNATION we mean the concept that a soul might activate more than one human body at different times. This is commonly confused with SOUL TRANSMIGRATION which theorizes that souls can inhabit the bodies of dogs, cats, and other animals, and even ostensibly inanimate objects such as rocks and raindrops. There is much evidence to support the former belief and not a shred of evidence to support the latter.
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2) Despite the vehement denouncing of it by contemporary Christian theologians, REINCARNATION is a Biblically-sound belief that is prevalent throughout both Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible. There are a great many Bible verses that allude to reincarnation, and some Bible passages even remain unintelligible until the moment reincarnation is applied to them.
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The idea that Jesus Himself may have incarnated multiple times will seem a greater blasphemy to most Christians than reincarnation in general. And although I don't personally take a hard and fast position on this, I do lean heavily toward it. The idea seems to be implied in several Biblical passages. For instance: "Though He (Jesus) was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered." (Hebrews 5:8) This seems to hint at earlier lifetimes in which The Son suffered as a result of disobedience and from those sufferings He learned obedience. Based on what we learn of Jesus from The Bible, one could accurately say that Jesus suffered as a result of His obedience to God, but it would NOT be correct to say that He learned obedience by suffering, because from His earliest Childhood we see Him being obedient to God's Will. ("Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?" --Luke 2:49) At no point was He disobedient. And so Hebrews 5:8 seems to imply AT LEAST one earlier lifetime for Jesus.
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It's hard not to appreciate the humility and simplicity of Glenn Sanderfur's writing in 'LIVES OF THE MASTER' and the research that he shares. The book makes compelling arguments and the sheer amount of evidence that Sanderfur presents will surprise a great many readers. There is more than ample food for thought in these pages. But there is also a downside:
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For many people the reincarnation concept becomes a stumbling block. Reincarnation is the patience of God in action (as I like to refer to it) and like all Divine Laws, the system works whether one is aware of its existence or not. Reincarnation is sometimes turned into a false idol by students who make too much of it and lose sight of the fact that what one does with their present circumstances is far more important than learning how they arrived at their present circumstances. Reincarnation can be very helpful, but it can also be misunderstood and misapplied, becoming detrimental to spiritually immature individuals.
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Much of the information in 'LIVES OF THE MASTER' is derived from pseudepigraphic writings. My limited study of the pseudepigrapha leads me to believe that those texts were justifiably not canonized. Another source of information is the Edgar Cayce readings which have proven to be both accurate and (often) inaccurate.
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I was once so dedicated to the Cayce readings that I even visited Edgar Cayce's hometown and gravesite in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. But decades of study led me to the conclusion that the readings sometimes originated from highly "questionable" sources. One reading actually admits this! (*See my review for 'The Edgar Cayce Companion' by Ernest Frejer, titled, 'Danger! You Are Skating On Thin Ice', posted at Amazon.com on 2004, July 25th.)
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In a few chapters, Sanderfur quotes Manly Hall as an authority. Manly Hall was a prolific Masonic writer and, like other "adepts" in the Masonic Order, was a luciferian.
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"When the Mason learns that the key to the warrior on the block is the proper application of the dynamo of living power, he has learned the mystery of his craft. The seething energies of Lucifer are in his hands", Manly wrote in 'Lost Keys Of Freemasonry'.
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In his book 'Twelve World Teachers', which is quoted from several times in 'Lives Of The Master', Hall doubts the crucifixion of Jesus and states that, "in a sense the Last Supper concluded the ministry". This exhibits such a woefully inadequate understanding of (if not a deliberate deception about) the Messianic mission of Jesus, that quoting ANY passages from Hall's book casts Sanderfur's book in a very bad light! And whereas contemporary Christianity suffers from nearsightedness and a rigid, confining theology, the New Age movement is dangerously occultic at best, and downright luciferian at worst. For this reason, I recommend Glenn Sanderfur's 'LIVES OF THE MASTER', but I do so very, very cautiously.
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This book may be helpful to you "if you are willing to receive it" and have "ears to hear". But it could also be a hindrance to your Spiritual development and lead you down a very dark path. Honestly, I strongly suggest that you pray about it. Too often I have used my "reasoning" ability to make decisions and later regretted them. But whenever I have gone to The Father or His Son, Yeshua, with a question, and then waited patiently for the answer, I have NEVER been led astray. Should you read 'LIVES OF THE MASTER'? Don't ask me. Ask the ONE who knows!
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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