New Age "I AM Presence"
To the ascended master groups the I AM Presence is the most important concept, along with the Christ Self. The "I AM" Activity "Jesus" through Ballard said in a dictation given in 1935 that the Chart of the I AM Presence was the most important knowledge given since his ministry ended 2000 years ago. "Jesus" pointed out that it was the knowledge of the power of the I AM Presence that enabled him to produce the so-called miracles. He added that any student could produce similar results.
One of the problems with the idea of an "I AM" presence is that it is not in the Bible, neither is an individual Christ self. The only I AM is God and the only Christ is Jesus. When Moses is at the burning bush, he asks God the question, “If I say to your children that the God of their fathers has sent me, they will ask ‘What is his name?’ How shall I answer them?” From the burning bush, he hears the voice of God say, “I AM, that I AM. Thou shalt say ‘I AM’ hath sent me unto you.” I elaborate more on God's name in my article, "God, the Great I AM".
Bible scholar Nehemia Gordon describes God’s name with a beautiful understanding in how powerful eheyeh ’asher ’eheyeh is.
God’s name YHVH derives from the exact same Hebrew root as “I am.” Strictly speaking, this name is a combination of three forms of this Hebrew root: Hayah, Hoveh, and Yihyeh. These three words mean respectively: “He was,” “He is,” and “He will be.” When we call Him by His name, we are essentially saying, “He has always existed, He exists now, and He will always continue to exist.” God says, “I am” about Himself but we are to call Him YHVH meaning, “He was, He is, and He will be.”
The earliest known use of the "I AM" in connection with a human God Self was from Baird T. Spalding's book series Life and Teachings of the Masters of the Far East. I have written briefly about Spalding here. In Volume I of his five-volume set, the master Emil is teaching the men of the expedition. He tells them:
"When Jesus said, 'I am the door,' He meant that the I AM in each soul is the door through which the life, power, and substance of the great I AM which is God, comes forth into expression through the individual. This I AM has but one mode of expression and that is through idea, thought, word, and act. This I AM God Being, which is power, substance, intelligence, is given form by consciousness; and for this reason the Master said, 'According to your faith be it unto you,' and 'All things are possible to them that believe.' (Vol.1 pg 39)
Emil goes on to say that now you can see that God is within each soul as power, substance and intelligence, or wisdom, love and truth in spiritual terms and comes into being through consciousness. Guy Ballard's I AM Presence uses the same words: "love, wisdom and power" and "the part of you which says 'I AM' is the Life, the Intelligence, and the Power that moves through your physical body" and "truth, law and intelligence come only from the I AM Presence." (Ballard, Magic Presence)
The picture to the right is the I AM Presence chart of the "I AM" Activity. The "I AM" Activity teaches that the "I AM Presence" emanates from the mighty creative fire, the Great Central Sun, the impersonal Source of reality. From this source all creation resulted. In their theology not only does each person have a "Mighty I AM Presence" hovering above them, this I AM Presence is your individual God Presence and one's higher and true self.
This diagram is also called the "magic presence". The upper figure in the chart is said to represent the Electronic Body of the I AM Presence. The Electronic Body is the individualized focus of God that never dies. The "I AM" activity states that the I AM Presence was created in the image of your God parents who directed a threefold flame from their hearts into a "universal light substance". Then around that flame coalesced a glorious body of light, the Electronic Body.
Then from the Electronic Body pour forth constant rays of light by which it renders service in the universe. The concentric circles of color around the Electronic Body form the Causal Body. The Causal Body stores all memories and acts of the initiate, the “Accumulated Good” of all embodiments. The colors of these circles correspond to the colors of the seven rays, although those rays were not defined until a later movement.
The Ascended Master Teachings claim that The Holy Christ Self is positioned between the Electronic Body of the I AM Presence and the physical body, but not illustrated on the Chart. The I AM Activity continues to use this chart today, without the "Christ Self" illustrated, although the chart below is claimed by Werner Schroeder to be the first chart painted.
A ray of light (also called the silver cord) extends from the heart of the Presence, through the Holy Christ Self, down through the top of the head, through the area which would correspond to the soft spot on the head of a newborn baby, then enters the heard of the physical body (represented by the lower figure). The Christ Self is said to be the provision which the I AM Presence has made to give the embodying soul assistance in the human world. The Holy Christ Self is then anchored within the heart of every man, woman and child, through the focus of the threefold flame in the heart. The Ballard's St. Germain taught that the ray of light is the substance, energy and intelligence by which the physical body has life and is enabled to move around. Once that silver cord is cut, so-called “death” ensues.
Pillar of Protection
The white light shown around the physical body is the protective pillar of light, also called “Tube of Light.” This forms by the person making the daily call to the I AM Presence for that pillar of light. The Ballards taught that it is a white light, so invincible and impenetrable that not even a bullet can penetrate it. It can also prevent any human feeling, thought or suggestion from entering in the student's world. It is said to be nine feet in diameter. Of course many ascended master students are aware of accidents happening, and even experienced accidents while wearing this tube of light. There was really no absolute protection from invoking it, or any proof that it worked to prevent something from penetrating it. Guy Ballard broke his ribs after his son drove their car into a ditch heading to one of their lectures. Donald was unhurt.
Elizabeth Clare Prophet came to the podium one day during service. One of the staff had sustained a broken leg while playing soccer. She announced that Archangel Michael could not protect students when they went outside the law and played such dangerous sports as soccer, neither could the tube of light protect you. This still did not explain why accidents in cars happened after invoking the light and giving all the decrees. The excuse given was that the decrees mitigated a karma that would have been far worse, maybe losing one's life instead of just sustaining injuries.
I was giving the child's rosary to Mother Mary (with a recording) while traveling on the freeway when a van in front of me momentarily lost control of his vehicle on a rainy wet road. I instinctively slammed on my brakes (this was before anti-lock brakes were the norm) and my brakes froze. The van driver regained his control, but I lost mine and was unable to stop and ran into a barrier dividing the highway that was up due to road construction. I was unhurt but my vehicle was damaged. I would have hoped that since I called forth protection of my vehicle that it also would have been protected, and not just myself, from divine intervention, but alas, it was not so.
I have a testimony to prayers though. My oldest son was about seven years old when his spiritual faculties were temporarily opened. I did the customary Lord Michael protection call and he exclaimed, "Mommy, there are angels around the car!" He saw one angel at each corner of the car. For about three months he saw angels, elemental beings (fairies) and even Jesus. When he told me Jesus was before him I said, "Why don't you invite him in your heart?" He did and I asked him what happened. He said Jesus entered his heart!
To the left is the original chart of the I AM Presence created by May de Camera, in the 1930’s. The colors on that chart are not representative of the rays, as mentioned before that teaching was not developed yet. It is unclear how this chart could be the original though, since a Christ Self is depicted on the chart and the "I AM" activity uses a chart without the Christ Self.
The figure of the individual in the bottom of the chart surrounded by the white tube of light also is encompassed by the violet flame. This flame is invoked by the devotee to transmute personal and world karma and is believed to be paramount to winning one's ascension.
The I AM Discourses
The Ballard's first book, Unveiled Mysteries, was published in 1934. Not one mention of the I AM Presence is in that book, although their movement officially found the same year is called the "I AM" Movement. Ballard does have his St. Germain explaining in that book about a "Mighty God Presence". This "God Presence", St. Germain says, is the Christ within man's hearts.
The question would be why the omission of "I AM" when this is one of the most important concepts St. Germain purportedly brought to mankind? Book one ends with a "master" Lord Lanto presiding over a ceremony saying, "There is nothing Supreme but—God. There is nothing Eternal and Real but—The Christ. There is nothing True but—The Light. These Three are 'The One'". The premise was to adore and become this "white light" of the God Presence, yet nothing about it being "I AM". Ballard's St. Germain in the book teaches him to meditate on this white light and one's heart as a golden sun and accept this God presence within as the pure Christ. Then you are instructed to end the exercise with affirmations:
"I Love the 'Light'—I Serve the 'Light'—I Live in the 'Light'—I am Protected, Illumined, Supplied, Sustained by the 'Light,' and I Bless the 'Light'. Then remember one becomes what what meditates on and 'Light' is the supreme perfection." (pg 15)
The book is about meeting St. Germain on Mount Shasta, who is purported to be an ascended master, and Guy's experiences with him. St. Germain picks Guy Ballard to be his messenger after scouring the earth looking for the perfect representative which he finally finds only in Guy Ballard, and then takes him to secret hidden places and forgotten cities via astral travel and to past life embodiments in lost civilizations where he shows him his past lives with his present family and with St. Germain.
In Ballard's second book, The Magic Presence, there seems to be a sudden jump into "I AM" as if it was always there from the beginning of Ballard's encounter with St. Germain, while yet never mentioned once in the first book. St. Germain in The Magic Presence states that the "Great Ones have been able to raise and illumine the physical body; by purifying it through use of the Consuming Flame of Their own Divinity," which he calls, “The Mighty I AM Presence.” He states, "This can only be accomplished by Adoration to 'That Presence' and Complete Obedience of the personality, or outer consciousness, to Its Every Direction!" (pg 5-6) (The Ballards make frequent use of capitalizing letters throughout their writings, as well as use lots of em dashes, all in unusual places.)
The term "I AM Presence" was used almost two hundred times in The Magic Presence. Although the affirmations from the Unveiled Mysteries supposedly from St. Germain, have no "I AM" sustained by the Light, or "I AM" blessed by the Light, etc., attached to Lord Lanto's ending words quoted above,The Magic Presence stresses the importance of using the word "I AM", as it empowers everything following. St. Germain said,
"The vibratory action of the Word 'I AM,' either in thought or spoken word, is the Release of the Power of Creation; and whatever quality follows that Decree is instantly imposed upon the electronic substance in the ethers. This being the only substance and energy in existence whose nature is to be qualified in some manner, it must outpicture the pattern within the Decree."
Taking a look at the Ballard's third book, the "I AM" Discourses, they have presented thirty-four dictations with twenty-six of those dictations supposedly received over a three-month period at the end of 1932, all from St. Germain and published in 1935. In those discourses the St. Germain dictations and the forward contains almost three hundred references to the "I AM Presence". Thereby it seems highly unlikely that those dictations were taken before the Unveiled Mysteries was published in 1934 if they were filled with references to the "I AM Presence" while Unveiled Mysteries had none, signaling that something is amiss with their "story" of when and how these discourses were created and/or the legitimacy of the Mt. Shasta tale with having not one mention of the most important teaching of this great "Mighty I AM" and then the use of the term almost two hundred times the following year in book two.
In the Magic Presence there seems to be a highly repetitive theme throughout, and it is about power and perfection. St. Germain says,
"Therefore you can talk to your Mighty Master within as you would to a loving father who possessed limitless Light, Love, Riches, Power, Health, Happiness, or anything you could desire; for the more you consciously use this Mighty Presence of the 'I AM,' the quicker will It respond to you." (pg 95)
The term "magic" presence was used a dozen times, as well as used for the title of the book. Is it any wonder people became enthralled with the movement and the books with so much emphasis on how much power, beauty, love, health and wealth one would obtain by using the violet flame and adoring the I AM "magic" Presence, fulfilled through either frequently visualizing the chart throughout the day or using decrees and affirmations to the I AM and the violet flame?
Promised Ascensions
Magic evokes the idea of a hidden, unknown power, and the word "power" was used almost two hundred and fifty-four times throughout the second book, and the word "perfection" was used one hundred and sixty-four times. The word "power" was used not only with the "I AM Presence" but with such terms as "creative power", "power of perfection", "power of St. Germain", "radiant power of divine love", "power of divinity", etc.
The immortal master Emil, from Spalding's books, tells the expedition group, "It is the belief in separation from Spirit that has caused our forms to age and die." Thus is born the idea the Ballard's promoted throughout their lectures and writings of "eternal youth" through the I AM activities and the use of the violet flame and that we do not need to age and die, but we can ascend in our glorious "ascended master light bodies". That was a big carrot to draw in followers. Yet although Guy Ballard claimed to have already achieved an ascended light body in the physical he died a physical death from heart disease and cirrhosis of the liver. He told his followers that his physical body was indestructible. The membership was told that Guy, Edna, and their son Donald were all to ascend simultaneously.
Some of these claims were buried in the archives and their followers did not know them, but when Guy died it shook up many followers who believed Guy would not die a physical death. Edna claimed Guy had ascended, but not a physical ascension. Yet Ballard's Jesus had said through them on November 30, 1939, a month before he died and a month later it was published in The Voice of I AM (Jan. 1940, No. 11): “You cannot and no one ever did or ever will make the Ascension except from the purified substance of physical bodies. There has been lurking in many the idea that one may make the Ascension after so-called death; but that cannot be accomplished because the call for the Ascension must be made to the "I AM Presence” and the Ascended Masters from within the physical side of Life."
In the same publication of The Voice of I AM Mrs. Ballard announced Guy's ascension and added comments about a previous dispensation supposedly from the Great Divine Director, although no reference is given when it was supposed to have taken place or if it was published in the Voice:
"A year ago, the Great Divine Director said a Dispensation had been given from the Great Central Sun, to accomplish something on this earth that had never been done before. It was to withdraw all purified essence from the physical structure and raise It into the Higher Mental Body and the Higher Mental Body raise again into the Electronic Body. Thru this Dispensation, it will permit hundreds of thousands at this time to make the Ascension who otherwise would have to come back for another embodiment.
"That Dispensation was given to step up the vibratory action of this planet and to release into the Ascended Masters’ Octave a certain group of the humanity from our earth who are the designers of the civilization which is to come forth here in the future. You, the "I AM” Students are that group! All who are intensely sincere, call to the "Mighty I AM Presence” for their Ascension, make their application and call to the Ascended Masters for Their Assistance, will be given that Assistance as you give obedience to the Light and hold your feelings harmonious. Under the old Dispensation, the individual had to purify and illumine the atomic structure of the physical body and raise it out of the atmosphere of earth."
Another mention of Guy's physical ascension is in The Magic Presence. St. Germain told Guy Ballard that before long his body would enter the ascension and St. Germain made it clear to him that the ascension must be accomplished on the physical side of life because after the silver cord is withdrawn it is impossible to raise the body and then one must reembody. Edna Ballard had Guy cremated after his body lay for three days without ascending.
Yet another explanation, according to Werner Schroeder in Initiations of the First Ray, (pg. 214-15) he states, "Mr. Ballard ascended under a special dispensation obtained through the efforts of the Goddess of Light, the Goddess of Liberty, and the Ascended Being known as Mighty Victory. Under that dispensation, which applies to all mankind, it is no longer necessary for qualified lifestreams to raise the physical body into the Christ Self, and then ascend into the I AM Presence, as Jesus did. The new action is that the purified essence of the physical body will be drawn into the etheric body and following this, the ascension into the I AM Presence takes place. Under the new action the outer structure, the physical form, remains. This makes it much easier to gain the ascension. Saint Germain called this act of mercy the greatest gift ever offered mankind." It is not clear when this special dispensation was given, from whom or where announced.
The language usage and style of story telling in this first volume of Spalding's is very similar to Guy Ballard's in his I AM Discourses. The style is similar because Guy and Edna copied the ideas from Spalding and other start-up religious groups like William Dudley Pelley (and his organization the Silver Shirts). He stayed with the Ballards for a while and several of his students became I AM followers. The Ballard books also have obvious similarities with A Dweller on Two Planets, and A Wanderer in the Spirit Lands with even some phrases almost exactly lifted from these books. Donald Ballard shared with a good friend of his, Edie Broce, many of his experiences with his parents that followers did not know such as witnessing his father sending his mother letters with what he was learning from various teachers while he was in hiding from the law and living away from them, and how his mother would decide what was to be used to put in their first book.
Much of Ballard's history of his lost continents, and some terms like 'Great White Brotherhood', were taken from Theosophy. If the concepts and ideas were true, the continuing use of the terms by subsequent groups would make sense, but if the words and ideas were contrived and had no basis in God Reality then the use of same words and ideas would suggest they were copied. Gerald Bryan goes into detail in his book, Psychic Dictatorship in America (link in Reference section) how the Ballard's plagiarized many of their ideas from many books and new religious movements of the time.
The Summit Lighthouse chart (to the right) was taken from the I AM Movement and altered with adding the Christ Self. The Summit teaches that the "I AM Presence" is the essence of each individual and the individualization of God's Presence. They teach that a few individuals have risen above the darkness in the world by attuning themselves to their "I AM Presence" and then they have ascended into the light. These individuals are called "ascended" masters. The goal is to follow them. These masters have joined together in a brotherhood, called the Great White Brotherhood, where they work to lift humanity out of their present entrapments.
Decrees and Miracles
Members decree to their Mighty I AM Presence and believe that it can perform miracles on their behalf. They also believe that they can reunite with the Presence through the ritual of the Ascension. This concept of the individual God Self as the Presence has carried forth since and integrated in all other ascended master group doctrines.
Students were taught that the primary means of attuning oneself to the "I AM Presence" is quiet contemplation and the repetition of affirmations and decrees. Affirmations are sentences used to affirm a statement of truth which one aspires to absorb into his life. Decrees are fiats spoken from the perspective of the real self, the "I AM Presence." They call forth the visible manifestation of a divine condition or the dissolution of an evil one. They are always given in the Name of God. Decrees are given daily and such chanting (decreeing) reportedly is supposed to bring about dramatic results in the life of the one decreeing.
The I AM Activity's decrees are believed to have come from New Thought groups that developed various styles of spoken "affirmations" promising to help improve health, one's mental state and bring better financial situations. Psychiana, and its founder Dr. Robinson, were very familiar to the Ballards. Guy Ballard visited him in Moscow, Idaho, where Ballard told Dr. Robinson, he intended to start a dramatic movement. While Robinson encouraged him, he also let him know he would be infringing upon his territory if he took his ideas to use in his "new dramatic movement". (Braden, These Also Believe, pg. 268)
Psychiana had blended a "science" or code of colors with affirmations. For example, chanting a particular phrase while visualizing a certain color "ray" would enhance the power of that affirmation or decree. This idea was incorporated into the I AM Movement. The Summit Lighthouse added to the cornucopia of decrees. Mark Prophet began with the previous movement's decrees and added his own. Elizabeth added more, like the "judgment" call of Jesus and the "ruby ray" judgment decree.
The Ballards' raised up Saint Germain as more important (in the dawning Aquarian Age) than Jesus, and he still is the primary object of worship among "I AM" devotees. Jesus is said to have spoken through the Ballards that Saint Germain is "the Greatest Blessing that has ever come to mankind." (Ballard, Purpose of the Ascended Masters "I AM" Activity (Chicago: Saint Germain Press, 1942 pg. 100) The reason for this devotion to Saint Germain is that he has brought the violet consuming flame. Jesus continued, "The conscious use of the Violet Consuming Flame is the only means by which any human being can free himself or herself from his or her own human discord and imperfection."
Consequently, the violet flame is imperative to the teachings of I AM and is believed to be the primary means to dissolve all undesirable accumulations with their causes and effects through the giving of decrees and affirmations. The violet flame then burns away undesirable conditions in one's life. The Ballards taught that not only will the violet flame free you from the wheel of birth and rebirth, there is no human being on earth who is excempt to this mighty Law.
When my husband and I became messengers for the masters (2002) we created our own I AM Presence chart (pictured to the left). When I became a messenger I intuitively received that I was no longer to continue giving decrees. For a week I kept receiving that intuition and finally accepted that for some unknown reason decrees were now to be transcended. Meanwhile, I was also inspired to lead my husband to form a relationship with whom I believed was Mother Mary, also an ascended lady master. This he took up with a zeal within a few months of my suggestion, and began taking abundant dictations from who everyone believed was Mother Mary over the following years.
He then also created over fifty unique rosaries supposedly inspired by Mary The first few rosaries I could recite, and then I no longer gave them as they were physically difficult for me to recite, especially hurting my throat. Thus I was led to stop decreeing and giving rosaries, and no longer had a daily ritual of communion through prayer with these "masters". I also was no longer hearing them as I had during the previous seven years. My focus from the beginning was to focus on "Being" with little input and communication from what I thought were the ascended masters, and had to rely on 'knowing', from that place inside I had put aside during my Summit Lighthouse years. Thus the "I AM Being" is the focus placed at the top of the chart. Being was not about rituals or any daily routine, it was about being in the moment in attunement with God who is I AM THAT I AM who spoke to Moses.
The Christ Self
The idea of an individual and universal Christ self is an ancient belief propagated by the Gnostics. They believed that Christ is a cosmic force, an energy and intelligence that radiates in everything. Forward to the twentieth century and the idea is carried forth in the Summit Lighthouse. "There is no difference between the Divine Nature in Jesus and the Divine Nature in themselves (those who understand the meaning of God)." (Prophet, Climb the Highest Mountain) El Morya through Elizabeth Prophet said, "one of the most pernicious errors of orthodoxy this day, and it is the lie that Jesus is the only Son of God, and furthermore that Jesus came into embodiment in the full mastery of Christhood and did not himself have to follow the Path and realize his own inner God-potential before beginning his mission." (PoW, Vol. 27, No. 47, 1984)
Like many New Age groups Jesus is believed to have achieved the state of Christhood during his human lives, and was given the title Christ in recognition of his achievement of this spiritual status. The premise then is that Jesus was special in showing us how to become the Christ ourselves, but he was not the the one and only Son of God of the Trinity, but just an example of an ascended master who transcended time and space and took his ascension. Therefore the path of Christhood is open to anyone regardless of their religious tradition because everyone has an individual Christ Self.
Jesus Christ came then as the bearer of the office of the Son of man, coming in the authority of the Son of God. Jesus is not the Christ according to these teachings, but a representative of the Christ consciousness to all the followers of the ascended masters. Yet has anyone, since all these movements began, taken a bodily ascension? Jesus ascended bodily into heaven after the resurrection. No one has yet proven that any of these so-called ascensions and ascended masters are real. After Christ resurrected He made numerous appearances, proving beyond any doubt the continuance of his human-divine union. Saul's experience with Jesus caused his blindness and his intimate experience with Jesus the Christ transformed him from a Pharisee who killed Christians to a Christian himself. While many people claim to occasionally have a visitation from an "ascended master" they have all been individual claims, with no proof. Jesus appeared to many individuals after his resurrection. He also appeared to all his disciples more than once. (John 20:26-28, Matt. 28:16,17)
The New Testament Gospels were written from A.D. 60 to 100. On the other hand, the Gnostic gospels date from A.D. 150 to 200 with each carrying the name of a New Testament character: the Gospel of Philip, the Gospel of Peter, the Gospel of Mary, and so on. No credible scholar believes any of them could have been written by their namesakes. Are we to accept that the Gnostic gospels are to be believed over the the gospels based on eyewitness testimony? New Testament scholar Norman Geisler writes,
“The Gnostic writings were not written by the apostles, but by men in the second century (and later) pretending to use apostolic authority to advance their own teachings. Today we call this fraud and forgery.” (Norman Geisler and Ron Brooks, When Skeptics Ask, pg. 156)
In The Oxford History of Christianity (pg. 28) John McManners wrote of the Gnostics’ mixture of Christian and mythical beliefs.
"Gnosticism was (and still is) a theosophy with many ingredients. Occultism and oriental mysticism became fused with astrology, magic. … They collected sayings of Jesus shaped to fit their own interpretation (as in the Gospel of Thomas), and offered their adherents an alternative or rival form of Christianity.
While the New Testament Gospels contain innumerable historical facts about Jesus’ life, ministry, and words, the Gnostic gospels leave out historical details such as names, places, and events. Their texts generally range from secret gospels, poems, and quasi-philosophic descriptions of the origin of the universe, to myths, magic, and instructions for mystical practice. Just as the New Age ascended master teachings claim they are the highest mystical teachings that have been lost from the New Testament Gospels and their "misguided" interpretation, the Gnostic gospels are largely esoteric sayings shrouded in mystery.
The Gospel of Thomas starts off by saying, "These are the hidden sayings that the living Jesus spoke. And Didymos Judas Thomas wrote them down."
Luke, in beginning his gospel states:
“Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught” (Luke 1:1-4).
Also, make note that the Gospel of Thomas ends this way, "Simeon Peter said to them, "Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life." Jesus said, "I myself shall lead her in order to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven."
Contrast the disciples asking Jesus questions in the Gnostic Letter of Peter to Philip, where the apostles ask the resurrected Jesus, “Lord, we would like to know the deficiency of the aeons and of their pleroma" to the New Testament Peter asking Jesus, "Then Peter came and said to Him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" Peter and most of the disciples were fishermen, not philosophers, which type of questioning makes more sense?
Many Gnostics believed that the real glorious afterlife will come only to the Gnostics themselves, those who have the divine spark within and who have come to acquire the full knowledge of the secrets of salvation. These are the “elect”. This is the same premise today in the ascended master teachings except the "these" have the inclusion of the violet flame for the remission of sins instead of the blood of Jesus the Christ. Thereby they will win their ascensions and have immortal freedom. Too bad for the billions who don't know about or do not believe in the violet flame, they will remain wallowing in their karma and trapped in the wheel of rebirth, except for the Buddhists who also have their own way and path to Nirvana, but with no Christ or violet flame.
The Prophet's Jesus and Kuthumi said,
"Theologically speaking, the sacrificial aspects of Christian propitiation have strengthened both sin and schism, creating confusion in man's understanding of God, his will, and the plan of Life. We would wipe away all that by teaching you that the use of the violet fire, when combined with the ritual of the sacred labor in daily service to Life, is the sole atonement Life requires." (Jesus & Kuthumi, Vol 4, No. 50, 1961)
In conclusion, the true Christ is the Christ of the gospels. The word "Christ" is used over five hundred times in the New Testament, and not once is the meaning used to mean Jesus became the Christ that is universal and in every person on earth. The Old Testament predicted that God would send a chosen one—the Messiah—to save the world from sin. The Old Testament has many references to the Messiah whom God would send to save His people from their sins (Psalm 16; 22; 45; 110; Daniel 9). Christ in the Bible means "the Anointed one", and is a title for the saviour and redeemer who would bring salvation to the Jewish people and mankind. The many miraculous signs Jesus performed attested to His supreme identity, not some divine potential we all possess. John said, "These [miraculous signs] are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" (John 20:31).