THE GREAT GOSPEL OF JOHN
VOLUME 5
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus in the region of Caesarea Philippi. (cont.) Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 16
- Chapter 214 -
Gullible faith and superstition.
1
(The Lord) "There is, unfortunately, beside the true, necessary faith also a gullibility, as a result of which certain indolent, non-thinking men hold anything another tells them jokingly or, more often, out of sheer selfishness, to be the pure truth. Well, there is now a by far greater number of people of this kind of faith on earth.
2
You really cannot do much with such gullible people, for they hardly care whether or not they achieve anything through their faith. They merely believe, now and again marveling about it unconcernedly, and carry out what a teaching imposes on them, but without any inner benefit to their life. It does not matter to them that they never achieve anything through it, except from time to time boredom. They are too indolent and neither know nor have any determination. Therefore, they can be likened to those ephemerides that only buzz about pro forma in the sunlight of the day so that the swallows find it all the easier to catch and eat them.
3
Superstition and gullibility are anyway alike, the only difference being that superstition always arises from gullibility and actually is a result of it.
4
The incalculably dire consequences of superstition are unfortunately only too visible and perceptible all over the earth; all the millions of pagan temples were built by superstition, and this often under great and heavy sacrifices."
5
But now the time has come that it should be destroyed, and thus there is a big work here; but still there is a great lack of competent and brave workers. I therefore have a large field before Me which is to be prepared, and I am hiring workers. You all would be already very good people for this business, if you were familiar with the correct path with good insight; but it goes without saying that you yourselves must be fully indoctrinated in My new teaching for life beforehand. But once that has happened, then you would be very suitable for use thanks to your various experiences in life. But that the reward here and particularly in the next life will be no small one, of that you can all be most perfectly sure in advance. What do you say now, My friend Epiphan, to this suggestion of Mine, which was certainly quite unexpected for you all?"
6
Epiphan says, "Hm, why not? Once I have been thoroughly and convincingly penetrated by a truth myself, then I will be a teacher even without reward, only for the sake of the truth and have no fear of having to starve to death for it. For although the people in these days are indeed very spoiled and live in the greatest self-centeredness, they are nonetheless not against a good new teaching; if only a correct teacher comes to them, they still take him in, listen to his teachings, and when they begin to sense only some higher and truthful things in it, then they soon leave aside their egotism and become nice and generous.
7
In this respect a small degree of gullibility among the people is not bad either; for without that it would often be difficult to give the people a teacher. But only the correct teacher should then strive above all to not let his disciples sit and be stuck in unfounded gullibility, but instead work with them and lead them until they have penetrated the brightest light of his teaching right to the foundations. If he has caused this through his hard work, then he has given something truly good to the people and can count upon it that they will not be ungrateful to him.
8
How many benevolent deeds do very false teachers enjoy among the gullible people, since they pretend that they understand something, and in this way they soon find a number of listeners who admire them and positively compete to make themselves noticed by the teacher with all sorts of presents! How much more will they do that to a teacher who can show and explain to them the greatest secrets and conditions of life thoroughly and with good insight theoretically and of course, wherever necessary, also practically! I am already here and can be found at any time for this; but of course I must know myself beforehand most thoroughly what this whole story is about. Well, I am not hard of hearing, nor am I hard of understanding; whatever Aziona and Hiram understand, I and all my neighbors will also understand. But naturally "we are never sold a pig in a poke, and we never deal in the dark of the night! Well, friend and master, what is the actual essence then of your business and, let's say, new religion?"