The Great Gospel of John
Volume 2
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Second Journey of the Lord: Nazareth - Cave at Bethabara (First Feeding of the People) - Mountain of Prayer - Walking on the Sea of Galilee (Peter's test of faith) - By ship to Genneseret in the bay with the same name
- Chapter 106 -
The Roman Chief's wordly self-assurance.
Says the Centurion: "Dear friend, I recognise quite well that you speak the truth and that things should be the way you spoke to me now most wisely and amicably; but the human world is a mighty current against which it is very hard to swim. Whencesoever anyone tried to do so, he was swallowed up by the mighty whirlpools. This can only take place in small, quiet locations to where the current cannot get with its destructive force; whoever throws himself into the vortex of the current is lost.
2
It is for you therefore dear friend easy to speak the truth in a quiet spot whose people are still compliant, not having yet breathed the luxuriant pestilence of the big world; but go to Rome, to Athens, to Jerusalem and if you are not fully a god then you shall only too soon get to taste the full sharpness of the sword of the earth's mighty, like John of Bethabara, whom the mighty Herod had beheaded in prison.
3
Behold, this John surely was a man who, sky distant from any worldly earnings, from deepest possible self-denial and with captivating rhetoric told men the barest truth to their faces and thousands accepted his doctrine, truly glowing with godly spirit, repenting in free will and converting to goodness. But after leaving Bethabara about two months ago as I was told, starting to preach and baptise upon the big Jordan near Jerusalem, it took only a few days and Herod's henchmen overpowered him and threw him into prison, to where only his several well-to-do disciples, paying a certain fee where able to come before his beheading, of which I was informed a couple of days ago. Now the disciples can of course secretly tell his doctrine to their acquaintances and relatives, and the latter to their children; but it is questionable whether his doctrine in a couple of hundred years shall maintain itself the way it came from his mouth!
4
Our Roman doctrine about God is bound to have exactly the same origin as that of the Jews; for it is also based on a primordial being to whom all gods are subject! Myth has given this being many names; the Greeks still call it the unknown God of Gods; the Romans call it the Fatum to whom all other powers are subject.
5
Look at the present divine doctrine of the Greeks and Romans, and you shall find that it is composed of the most silly, meaningless fables and fairytales, gathered together from human virtues, but nonetheless mainly from human passions, weaknesses and vices. And this is imposed upon mankind with fire and sword! But do it differently if you can and you shall not be hindered on my part.
6
The nicest example however you will find in the divine doctrine of Moses. Read Moses and afterwards look at the Temple and tell me whether one iota of the wisdom doctrine remains. God Himself is supposed in the desert near the Red Sea to have thundered down with lightning the truly salutary Commandments to His people on tables of stone, tying up the old Covenant between Himself and His people. Those who dared to deviate were punished instantly with all kinds of evil and even death itself. But to what good end all this? Ask the current Temple mysteries, now reaching into the abominable, and they shall deliver the most obvious testimonies to vanity.
7
Where is the glorious Ark of the Covenant, above which God dwelt in a pillar of fire? Yes, you indeed get to see a naphtha flame, if you are a Roman and offer the Temple some gold and silver; but no trace can be found of the glorious Ark of the Covenant.
8
Hence in my humble opinion there is therefore nothing to any divine doctrine or revelation. It may be ever so pure at the outset, but in the hands of men it shall be so distorted that it shall resemble the original one no more than a centenarian resembles the newly born babe. Time and the diverse human passions and needs transform the purest into the most impure. And a great and unconquerable testimony to this truth is the history of all periods and nations which no one can deny.
9
Behold further, friend: although I would not overestimate myself to the extent of imagining myself a teacher to you, I yet believe that here and there - excluding your certainly most profound knowledge of nature's secret powers, I too have some limited understanding of higher human affairs, and would advise you as a fairly like-minded philanthropist to yourself to flee like the worst pestilence the large towns, where humanity is sunk to its deepest life-foundations, or this earth shall not be trodden by your redeeming feet much longer!
10
Don't trust the Pharisees, Scribes, your own doctrine, and enter Herod's fiefdom rarely, and you shall still be able to do much good for poor mankind. But if yo go beyond this, then you shall soon share John's rough fate. For I am placed to know the indescribable evil of the people of this world. Take the sword out of Rome's grasp today, lifting the oppressive laws away, and the next day men shall proceed among each other more despicably than a herd of tigers, bears, wolves and hyenas. Men shall turn into devils and women into furies!"