Baptism

In the early 1900s, a Catholic priest by the name of Johannes Greber had a series of life-altering experiences. They would shake his faith—not in God, but in his own church. In short, he heard some very unsettling information about changes that were made to the Bible in the early centuries of Christianity. Also there were ways in which his own church had usurped a number of sacred traditions. They had tweaked them just enough so that they were no longer worth their salt.

This information came to him by way of channeled communications. That, in fact, is exactly the same way the Pathwork^® Guide delivered hundreds of teachings. Lectures were given to a broad community of spiritual seekers during the latter half of the last century. Using a human being as their voice, spirit beings are able to speak their message to people who very much need guidance if we hope to walk straight in this world. Otherwise, the dark forces will continue to make us their playthings. And then we’ll never get all the way back home to God.

In his book Communication with the Spirit World of God: Its Laws and Purposes, Greber spends most of the pages convincing the reader that this type of communication is really a thing. Back in his day, just saying so was cause for ex-communication from the Catholic church. Given that, he was really sticking his neck out.

Ironically, today, channeling is commonplace and unfortunately, often uninspiring. Publishers of spiritual material such as Hay House no longer even accept proposed books of channeled material for publishing. Seems it’s right up there with poetry, the other not-that-popular category that people are no longer interested in.

Greber compares channeling with tuning into a radio; in either case, you don’t have to believe in it for it to work. You just have to get the technical details of it right. And while radio seems to be a fairly recent invention, the wizardry behind how it works hasn’t changed for thousands of years. It’s just that we didn’t figure it out until now. Channeling, on the other hand, was figured out long, long ago. And it is how the helpful information for guiding us was given to us, way back then and ever since.

As we know, there is a lot available on the radio and not all of it is good. In the same way, just because a spirit being is speaking through a medium, doesn’t mean that spirit or their message is good. For one thing, channeling is a phenomenon that works for light beings and dark beings alike. It’s extremely important then that the medium keeps doing their spiritual work. A medium must be constantly searching for truth and aligning with God’s Spirit World. Otherwise one can get caught up by the seductive tricks of Lucifer’s less noble cohorts.

Baptism: A public proclamation

Going back to Greber, despite the fact that the Bible is filled with references to channeled communications, were a priest to say out loud in 1925 that he believed in this, he would lose his frock. Such is the kind of odd and dichotomous thinking we find in the church. And this is why for so many people, Christian religion no longer holds water and they are no longer showing up.

In the last chapter of the book, under “Concerning Christ’s Teachings and Modern Christianity,” Greber shares a detailed sacrament-by-sacrament assessment of where and how things have gone off the rails, specifically for the Catholic church. But many other flavors of Christianity have picked up on the same sideways customs. For instance, in many Christian churches today, babies are baptized shortly after being born. This, we believe, will assure they are saved in the event they meet an early death.

At the time of Christ, it wasn’t believed that being baptized brought something new—like, say, automatic salvation.

Such a practice implies, of course, that salvation doesn’t require us to have any awareness of what’s going on. And this, for many of us, flies in the face of what we now know to be essential for transforming negativity in ourselves. We must consciously develop our awareness.

During the time of Christ is when the symbolic ritual of immersion in water was first practiced by John the Baptist. But it wasn’t believed that being baptized brought something new—like, say, automatic salvation. Rather, it signified a person’s inner attitude. It said, “I’m with Him.” If they had t-shirts back then, it would have included an arrow pointing to that guy who kept performing those crazy miracles.

Consider two things. First, our silent inner beliefs are sometimes not as crystal clear as we think they are. So stepping up to the plate—in front of other people—and stating what we believe out loud can have a clarifying effect. Second, consider what fans of John the Baptist were faced with when they admitted they were hanging on his every word. Seriously, people got crucified over stuff like that back then.

Jewish priests were not seeing John as having been divinely sent. And their taunting and insults were only a lead-up to stoning or dragging someone off to prison. And then you say you are willing to be baptized by that guy. Now who’s crazy?

The point is, baptism was a public confession of one’s faith, and people frankly often had more fear of retribution. So this was a big deal. It meant they weren’t yet ready to enter the kingdom of God. That’s why Christ himself stepped up for dipping in water by John. He too was making an outward show that he sponsored what this man was telling them. Gospel truth, folks, happening right here!

Dipping in water is a beautiful reflection of how we are in need of inner cleansing.

John could have picked any symbol to show that people were accepting his gospel, but dipping in water was a beautiful reflection of how we are in need of inner cleansing. We come out of the water squeaky clean, so to speak, ready to lead a new life that involves obedience to God.

Through baptism then, a Jewish convert exposed themselves to hatred and persecution from their former brethren. Worse, at that time the State required the worshipping of idols at festivals. But once a person got baptized, that gig was over. Trouble was, the punishment for not showing up for the State-run party was confiscation of property and even death. The stakes were that high.

The Apostles were told by Christ to preach first, baptize later, if the person accepted what they heard. But how many of us today would agree to get baptized under those conditions? Plus, keep in mind that such a baptism doesn’t do any heavy lifting for anyone. It just says we are going to try to set our house in order. We don’t get purged of our inner distortions by having water poured on us. Not even if we go all the way under.

Doing what truly works

This inner housecleaning is what’s called “doing our work,” and thankfully, at this point in time, that’s really all we need to do. The Pathwork Guide points out, if we do nothing other than clean our own inner house while we are here, we will be doing enough. Beyond that, what we “believe” is of little value. It’s the inner knowing we come to by aligning ourselves inside and out with the truth that means something.

There is enough truth in every major religion for people to get what they need.

That said, and despite all the twists and turns of history that have led religions to be the way they are today, there is enough truth in every major religion for people to get what they need. If we go to church and we like our church, we should keep going.

But no matter what path we chose to follow, we should all keep our eye on this greater truth, which we will come to know the more work we do: Christ was and is the real deal. His mission as Jesus is explained in the Guide’s teachings about the Fall and the Plan of Salvation, which early Christians knew about but later decided to not teach. We can find evidence of this version of things in the Bible, but no longer a clear telling of it.

In truth, knowing a truer version of things, which is laid out in Holy Moly: The Story of Duality, Darkness and a Daring Rescue, won’t change our inner conditions. And yet it may help us make sense of why we have this cleanup work to do in the first place. And isn’t it true that our attitude and expectations can make all the difference in the world?

It’s never too late

In his book, Greber explains the valid origins as well as the unfortunate distortions of rites and practices such as confirmation, communion, confession, celibacy (for priests, monks and nuns), voluntary poverty, indulgences and extreme unction. This former priest of 25 years even questions the very notion that only an ordained priest can perform many of these rituals. Since that was never part of the plan when Christ was around.

As a result of religions playing fast and loose with Christ’s life and mission, the truth about who Jesus was—and more importantly, who Christ is—has become a moot point for many. This has lead people to search for a spirituality that makes more sense. Good for us. But let’s not be too quick to turn away from the truth, just because some people are steeped in a version that retains so little likeness to it.

All great spiritual leaders who have ever come to Earth are working in concert with Christ.

Jesus was a man who came here to build a bridge for us to get back home to God. Christ is a being who was the first-created son of God. As such, Christ the one who leads the way for all of us. All great spiritual leaders who have ever come to Earth are working in concert with Christ, trying to help us learn how to get along and love one other. And that, of course, is the real upshot of doing all this housekeeping.

The overarching problem is that we, in our humanity, have made mistake. And we need help to turn ourselves around. Fortunately, nothing lasts forever, including Hell, despite what we might have been told. And so no matter where we stand, it is possible to get back into God’s good graces from here.

Christ truly went to bat for us, and through his mission on Earth, saved our bacon. Now it’s on us to do our work so we can make it all the way home.

—Jill Loree

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