Love Without End

By Glenda Green

Love Without End is one of the most quoted books in modern spiritual literature. Its messages have improved the lives of millions. Although it is based on a special encounter with Jesus, it is not about religion. It was not written to solicit, reinforce, or change existing beliefs. These teachings are a gift to your heart for the fulfillment of your life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Glenda Green
• Release date: Dec 16, 2010
• ISBN: 9781604143089

Glenda Green

Glenda Green is one of the world’s leading teachers of contemporary spirituality. Although her guidance and inspiration stem from a living spiritual relationship with Jeshua, her teachings are not directed toward the cultivation of religious doctrine. Instead, they revolve around universal truths that are uplifting and enlightening to all people of all beliefs. From poetry to science, her teachings move the reader to deep waters of understanding. Within her body of work are some of the most complete, extensive treatments of pure science ever found in spiritual literature. World-renowned scientists have conferred with Glenda about these astounding revelations. She has also authored The Keys of Jeshua (a best selling sequel to Love Without End); “When Heaven Touches Earth,” a treatment of Western Mysticism from the perspective of one who has helped to extend the tradition; and in the painter of the internationally acclaimed portrait of Christ, “The Lamb and The Lion.” In addition to her writing and teaching, she is also acknowledged by the nation's leading scholars, critics, and museum officials as one of the world's foremost portrait painters and spiritual artists. Her paintings are housed in major public art collections, including the Smithsonian Institution. She has taught on the faculties of Tulane University and the University of Oklahoma. She is an exceptional public speaker in high demand. “Her warm, witty and confident manner evokes our inner certainty of a higher awareness. Glenda has a clean energetic style, and masterful comprehension of the most critical spiritual issues. Her writing and teaching offer genuine opportunities to acquire a truer, more complete, understanding of the universe and our own place in it.” Biographical references include, North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary; Who’s Who in American Art; Who’s Who of American Women; Dictionary of International Biography. For more information about Glenda Green or other products and services offered by Spiritis Publishing please contact: [e-mail]

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Love Without End

Jesus Speaks

Best Selling. True Story

Expanded World Edition

Glenda Green

Smashwords ebook edition published by Fideli Publishing, Inc. and Spiritus Publishing

Copyright 2011 Glenda Green

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system other than the specific number of downloads authorized by purchase, unless written permission has been obtained from Glenda Green or Spiritis Publishing.

Smashwords License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Editor: Dr. Nancy French

Text illustrations: First Light, a spiritual portrait of Jesus Christ.

Copyright Glenda Green, 1998. The Lamb and The Lion, a portrait of Jesus Christ.

Copyright Glenda Green, 1992. Copyright 1999 Glenda Green.

First Digital release, December 5, 2010

Pre-assigned LCCN: 2002012345

ISBN: 978-1-60414-308-9

Spiritis Publishing

P.O. Box 239

Sedona, AZ 86339

http://www.lovewithoutend.com

Dedication

Our Father who is innocent and pure,

Holy is your name.

May love be seen as all that is.

May earth be seen as heaven is

Nourish this day with your bountiful supply,

And allow us to receive as we give that right to others.

Restore us from the perils of illusion,

And renew our perception of truth.

For truth is the kingdom, and love is the power,

And Yours is the glory forever.

Table of Contents

Dedication

Preface

Prologue – Through the Mists of Time

1 – Let There be Light

2 – He Spoke

3 – The Wondrous Universe

4 – The Love that You Are

5 – The Adamantine Particles

6 – The One Spirit

7 – The Heart is Your Higher Intelligence

8 – Bridges

9 – The Blessed Life

10 – The Ten Commandments of Love

11 – Your Rights and Freedom

12 – God and Reality

13 – Jesus on Science

14 – Pathways to Success

15 – The Beloved

Preface

If you came this way

Taking any route, starting from anywhere,

At anytime or at any season,

It would always be the same: you would have to put off

Sense and notion. You are not here to verify,

Instruct yourself, or inform curiosity

Or carry report. You are here to kneel

Where prayer has been valid. ¹

~ T. S. Eliot

Mysteries are all around us, and the greatest, most fascinating mysteries of life are to be savored and not resolved. Perhaps the most amazing and humbling discovery of modern science is the fact that 99 per cent of all existence is not only invisible to our senses and instruments, but also without mass or configuration. Even the 1 per cent that comprises our physical universe is solid only because of relatively stable configurations of energy. Among the greatest scientists — including Niels Bohr, Max Planck, and Werner Heisenberg — it has been conceded that there is room in a rational universe for incomprehensible wonders. Albert Einstein said: The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mystical. It is the power of true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms — this knowledge, this feeling, is at the center of true religiousness. ²

Our perceptions are focused most of the time upon the 1 per cent of existence that can be seen, heard, and touched. What about the remaining 99 per cent? How do we engage with that? Most likely it is through senses not yet identified or even developed in most individuals. Yet we all partake of the endless universe in ways that we take for granted. Whenever we set aside, or relax, the filter called self and lose ourselves in play, service, conversation, sharing, imagination, meditation, prayer, study, or sleep we shift our focus from survival pursuits into larger patterns of connection with unlimited possibility. Most often our connection with the infinite is not a mystical ascension into some distant paradise, but a quiet and personal epiphany at moments when we realize that the miraculous and the mundane are one and the same. At such moments we see clearly that everything is already before our eyes awaiting only a shift of perception. Marcel Proust said that, The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands but in seeing with new eyes.³

There is no question that the exploration of human consciousness is the last great frontier. Well in advance of our scientific progress, two thousand years ago the life and teachings of Jesus stimulated an expansion of consciousness that will see no end. In many ways he ignited this through demonstrations of what seemed like paranormal mastery of life. Yet the power behind his miracles and the reason for them was his assurance that they were not paranormal for him, and actually NORMAL for his level of consciousness, love, perception, and power. Indeed, he promised that through spiritual attainment, love of God and man, and the elevation of consciousness, All these things and more YOU shall also do. Jesus’ miracles would have had no lasting value if they had been performed merely to dazzle his audiences with mystical ability beyond the grasp of humanity. The value of his life was not in what set him apart from (or above) humanity, but in what united him with it. By that same standard, if you struggle over why this author was chosen for such extraordinary experiences — by what virtues of goodness or strangeness she has been set apart from others — you will miss the value of this book. My value lies in what I share with you, not in what separates us. The values, clarifications, inspirations, and truths within this book are their own witness to a power existing within the human soul accessible to all.

The story you are about to read did, in fact, happen to me. The only difficulty in telling this story is the inadequacy of language to transmit the rare and unusual through the windows of existing and familiar reality. Therefore, I would be very happy (and you would be well served) if you suspended all pre-conception and simply entertained the thought that I happened to stumble onto a heightened wave of consciousness which — like a grand Rosetta Stone — revealed truths both common and elevating to the human spirit.

The purpose of this book is not to solicit belief, reinforce, or change existing beliefs. In fact, there is nothing that will limit your inspiration and enjoyment of these messages more than a mental struggle over how to regard Jesus’ appearance to me. Actually, it would be wise to consider two important facts about the nature of spirituality and belief. Truth always transcends any story that presents it, regardless of whether the medium is real or fiction. Actually, many of the greatest truths and philosophical premises of all time have been advanced into consciousness through imaginative presentation. Because of this, you need not feel compelled to believe in the events of this, or any, story in order to discover the truths within it. Secondly, the power of personal and subjective belief is far greater than any formal or external belief system. You will form your own beliefs, and they will be according to your personal nature — as they should be.

What you get from the messages is a direct result of what you HEAR! Basic to all of Jesus’ teaching to me was that of innocent perception: Open your eyes that you may see and your ears that you may hear. For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret that it should not come to light.⁴ In the end, we will all draw conclusions about what we have heard; yet little will be seen or heard if we enter the listening without an openness to receive or without a yearning heart.

The conversations presented in this book are more important by far than the way in which they occurred, and yet for the sake of clarity and history, they are inseparable from the context which gave them birth. I am by profession an educator, having taught at two major universities, and an internationally acclaimed portrait artist. The expressed purpose of his appearance was to employ my talent in creating a new portrait of him. The tapestry of this book, and the loom that wove it, was my experience of painting that work of art, which is now known around the world. It is called The Lamb and The Lion. However, as the years have revealed, there was a great deal more intended.

On November 23, 1991 Jesus appeared to me in a presence as real as life, but it was manifested from realms beyond the limited matrix we would normally call reality. During that time, until the painting was completed on March 12, 1992, he visited me frequently. During this time we spoke ... as friends do ... of matters large and small. Every day that we spoke I took voluminous notes, sometimes during the conversation, but most often in the evening when I was alone. My sole intent in taking notes, however, was to preserve the wisdom presented for my own future reference. During the process of transcription it never occurred to me that I would ever share my conversations publicly, and most certainly I did not proceed with academic diligence to cover all aspects of theological concern.

Our conversations were not about idealistic worlds or visions of things to come. His messages were about life as we live it and the potential for happiness that lies within each of us now. His words are immensely practical, universally timeless, and refreshingly relevant to our most advanced level of knowledge. There is clarity in them, which needs no extra support or explanation, although I have presented them in italics so that the reader can quickly identify Jesus’ words and separate them if desired from the context of our conversation.

This was a deeply personal experience, yet it was also external to what I normally consider my ‘self’. Not only was there a physical presence before me, visible to my eyes, but also there was a beautiful voice, and I responded to it with my own. As for existential explanations of it all, my perspective is not yet grand enough to encompass the many possibilities of how and why it occurred.

Regardless of your beliefs about the life of Jesus, it still remains a historical fact that no single individual has had more influence upon the course of human events in the last two thousand years. Exceeding all beliefs or disbeliefs, the impact of his life is a legacy to us all. Well beyond the countless numbers who center their religious convictions on him, there are other millions who hold his influence, wisdom, love, and virtue in great esteem despite their disinterest in organized religion. This is a reality that exceeds the varieties of private or collective faith.

In honor of that, I made a pledge to myself and to him to present this material outside of theological conformity, keeping to the neutral ground of the higher wisdom he had shared with me. I apologize in advance if there are any overtones of that nature in this book. Considering the reverence I feel for him, and the great love he has shown to me, it is possible to subtly express my own veneration as if it were a standard for all. For example, in the earlier editions of the book I capitalized all pronouns referring to Jesus. That was solely an expression of my personal respect. However, one day when I was perusing The New Testament with casual objectivity it popped into my awareness that no pronouns referring to him were ever capitalized! If THE standard of protocol (in all but three sectarian versions) did not capitalize his pronouns, then I had fallen into a stilted theological mode by doing so. Thus, that change has been made in this edition. After 2000 years of religious conditioning, it is more difficult than one might think to find ground 0, but I have made every effort in that direction.

Since the time of his first appearance to me I have gained a greater perspective and much personal growth. Much to my delight the revelations, and even visitations, would continue as he saw fit. The fact is I did not have the eyes to see or the ears to hear everything that was offered in our first meetings. However, the timeless value of what he had to say would be revealed further as I became ready to receive more fully. I had to look deeper within, and even beyond the original context to find the answers. Heightened realizations brought answers to many questions that I and others have asked about his instructions. It would have been a mistake to become locked within one momentous event and not to seek the greater (and simpler) understanding to which it led. These continuing revelations became the basis for my second book The Keys of Jeshua, and will undoubtedly inspire future ones. However, many of the continuing revelations fell directly into the line of conversations that happened in 1992, and offered a splendid opportunity for clarification and expansion of it, which I could pass on to readers of the first book. I realized that much could be done with the writing without changing the substance. Adding more information and explanations would, in itself, bring greater clarity. This would also be a welcome assistance to those people translating the book into other languages, who struggled with the complex sentences that filled the book with meaty, lengthy dialogues and highly compressed information.

Jesus’ messages, which I cherished deeply, were guarded by the reverence I felt for them. Nevertheless, I had to admit that the run-on nature of our endless conversations had left its mark in long wordy sentences. As I relayed the messages spontaneously to live audiences, I learned that authenticity can be preserved without literal repetition of that which was only relevant to me. Adaptations to different languages and realities were both necessary and non-injurious to the inner truth presented in these conversations. The challenge of working with translators who were carrying the story into other languages made this fact even more evident. The process of communicating to many people (and through many) helped to smooth out, clarify, and complete a broader level of understanding. Smaller words, shorter sentences, and more universal metaphors could offer a gentle courtesy and greater vitality. I also felt strongly about a compassionate sublimation of my story to the greater one. As a matter of fact, the overemphasis of my reality in the first and second editions was a more limiting filter than I could possibly have foreseen.

There were hard questions to face as the book reached a cross-section of many cultures and realities and many beliefs about Jesus. None of these questions could be answered from inside my story. The answers could only be found from inside his story and from inside the artifacts of our human history and the natural facts of our universe! Amazingly, though not to my surprise, everything he told me has borne up to be true both in terms of experience and evidence. These confirmations could only be discovered and enjoyed by diving into a larger context and gaining a greater depth of understanding. As I recognized this, a new perspective began to develop.

When I first agreed to Jesus’ requests for me to tell of our encounters and his teachings, he acceded to my request that I share it only d to my requestinuplelsion in this edition. ve, ink to find 'rogical persuasion by doing so. After 2000 years of religiouas a personal experience written in journal form. However, I did not anticipate the natural result of that imposed condition. Namely, the book would essentially be my story, with all of my anecdotes, struggles, and epiphanies surrounding and pointing to his messages. Presenting the story that way offered many endearing elements and much human appeal to which many readers fondly related. Without reservation, my story is indelible to the experience, and will remain. However, there is a greater history in which it belongs! Finding the true place of my personal experience within a much larger epic is what I have to offer in this expanded edition of Love Without End. There was minor editing in the second edition, and now it is time for a significant leap forward. To facilitate this change of viewpoint, the original prologue and epilogue have been removed. A new prologue has been added, and a total of 88 new pages have been woven through the original text providing clarity and much needed explanations to complete and fulfill the original text.

I knew this expansion had to be made, but at first I was reluctant to take on the project alone. Even though I was the original scribe of the messages, I had to feel confident that anything I added or used to enhance his words would be appropriate and not change the basic meaning. Just as I was beginning, once again, he stepped through the spiritual ethers into visible form and said, Let’s do it together! The Expanded World Edition of Love Without End reveals the rest of that story!

We worked together for ten months. In the middle of the project, I reminisced about the pleasure I had in creating The Lamb and The Lion. He replied, Let’s create another painting while we’re putting together this new edition. Just as you have learned to see me as a friend and teacher, who shares life with you and touches your life well beyond any religious context, this is what others are looking for also. So, we began, and the result is the painting of Jeshua you see on the back cover.

For those who might regret the removal of my original story, have no fear. The story of The Lamb and The Lion and many other wonderful stories about the miraculous paintings and experiences are being redirected toward a new book, When Heaven Touches Earth. It will be released in 2007.

The purpose of this edition is to create a larger perspective which connects the ancient history of Jesus with his continuing impact on the world, his eternal truth, and his inclusion of everyone in the miracle of his life. While we define our lives by agreement and even disagreement, let us remember that it is not possible for us to have the same perspective on any given event. We find our unity by seeking a higher truth. We will each have our own perceptions and beliefs about everything, but there are two things on which I hope we can agree: Without love, little else matters. To summon courage to stand in wonder, rapt in awe, before the vast uncharted potential of this wondrous universe brings us to the heart of life and reveals our place within it.

Prologue — Through the Mists of Time

Easter morning is dawning on the Sea of Galilee. The first rays of light travel like a guided laser over the water and the hillsides, as though searching for a particular point in eternity to illuminate. Inside a dark cave only a rumble of shifting rock can be heard. Suddenly this rumble reveals itself to be a stone rolling away from the closure of a tomb. Just one spark of light finds its way through the slight jar in the passage. But it is enough to gently caress a reclining body that can barely be seen in the darkness. Suddenly, as if to ignite nuclear fission, the sunlight, and the Light of Life explode into a blinding radiance. This is a light that has no direction and casts no shadows. The explosion rolls the stone closure completely away, light pours out of the tomb even brighter than the sunlight, and Jeshua emerges. His body has a growing translucent quality giving evidence of its transformation into some higher substance.

Wrapped in his stained shroud, Jeshua walks, almost gliding on air, to the garden shed of the cemetery to look for garments that might have been left behind by a gardener. He is starting to leave the cemetery when he sees Mary Magdalene approaching the tomb. Sunrise after the Sabbath would have been the first moment anyone could have attended his body. She is shocked to see the stone rolled away and the body missing. She mistakes Jeshua for the gardener, and asks Who has taken my Lord? Then she is further startled to realize that it is Jeshua wearing the gardener's attire. She wants to embrace him, but hesitates. Her caution is confirmed by his words: You cannot touch me, but please, carry the good news to others that I am alive. She departs with great joy.

Later that day he appears from nowhere to join two men walking on the road to Emmaus. He walks with them and visits with them through dinner, when they finally recognize who he is. Then he suddenly vanishes into nowhere.

Within days, Jeshua appears to the other Apostles and gives evidence that his material solidity has returned by eating food and allowing Thomas to touch his wounds. After teaching them the miracle of resurrection and many other wonderful things, which even the scriptures say were never written, he ascends (or transcends) into heaven. But what is heaven for those who witness, is infinity for him. He continues to visit all the faithful for the next 40 years until the end of the generation to which he was born. The Book of Acts has numerous accounts of such appearances. One was to Ananias, and the most dramatic was as a blinding light to Saul on the road to Damascus. This is when Jeshua called Saul (who became Paul) from his persecution of the Jews. Later Jeshua came again to warn Paul in Corinth, and once more in Jerusalem it is written that Jeshua stood by him to sustain his faith. In an apocryphal account tradition has it that Jeshua appeared at the moment of his mother’s death and escorted her to heaven

Although we have no confirmation that other similar appearances were of Jeshua, there are legends from all the races of man about a great white prophet who healed and taught in the early part of the first millennium. Some of the ancient tribal stories—ranging from Polynesia to the Americas—reported an extraordinary man traveling by boat literally around the world. Other accounts tell of a human-like God appearing from nowhere and disappearing in the same manner when his work was done.

The first generation of those who knew Jeshua seemed to have no problem with paranormal appearances of him after his resurrection. Indeed, these mystical moments of reunion stirred inspiration, often leading to great acts of faith. Such experiences and beliefs permeated early Christian mystical literature, although this subject would become a challenge for later theologians to reconcile. The first to take on this subject was St. Augustine. In his Literal Meaning of Genesis he discusses three types of visions: corporeal, imaginative, and intellectual. A corporeal vision is when all of the normal senses recognize a physical presence of Christ. These occurrences were frequent enough they could not be dismissed. St. Augustine defined imaginative and intellectual visions as being subjective, even though the cause may have been Divine.

Mystical appearances of Jeshua have been among the most controversial and often suppressed aspects of the Christian experience. Non-believers are simply skeptical, and many believers have difficulty reconciling reported appearances with the prophesied Second Coming. In my humble opinion I see no confusion between a return promised to the whole of humanity and intermediate visitations offered to individuals. I would not like to be one who denied his company.

Human debates notwithstanding, Jeshua has continued to visit whomever he chooses — from beggars to Popes — throughout the ages. These events transcend all doctrine and exceed all limitations in the dauntless and vigilant pursuit of Spirit to reveal a more sublime relationship with the Infinite than we could even imagine, much less control.

Extraordinary events lead us to look beyond limited reality and seek for more of the exceptional. In the accounts of St. Anthony, who suffered greatly in the desert from evil spirits, we read that upon his victory over the torture Our Lord appeared visible and joyous. Then Anthony asked, Where were you when I needed you? The Lord answered, I was here just as I am now, but I wanted the pleasure of seeing how staunch you are. This story offers a poignant answer to many who might ask, if such appearances are real, why does he not appear and cut short events of suffering or even disaster?

Perhaps these extraordinary visitations were never intended to solve our problems or to intercept the patterns of life that we must master for ourselves. More likely, we are being offered extraordinary evidence of a boundless universe in which our problems take on a new perspective. This most certainly resulted from Jeshua’s appearances to Saint Francis, Saint Germain, and Archbishop Cyprian who all entered a higher level of service through transcendental perception.

Records tell of his appearances through the centuries to many others, including St. Gregory the Great, St. Theresa of Avila, and St. Ignatius Loyola, and well into modern times with such visionaries as John Wesley, Joseph Smith, Charles G. Finney, and General William Booth. Many times he came in a blinding light; sometimes through acts of healing; and often in the faces of those to whom charity had been shown. In some cases, these visitations were bestowed as a confirmation of faith, but not always, as with Saul, who had no faith at the time he was greeted by the light of Christ. Often the visions were a compassion gift unconditionally given to clueless recipients.

One of my favorite stories was published in The Church of Scotland Magazine about a Comrade in White, who appeared frequently on the battlefields of Argonne in World War I.⁵ Another remarkable story was told by the Senior Surgeon and Physician at Swansea Hospital, who had witnessed the healing of a thirty-five year old woman, totally crippled and tied to a bed. After a visitation with Jeshua she led a normal life, with very little assistance. No medical facts can explain what happened. Stories like these go on and on, as if to remind us that what we think is so is only a reflection of our deepest fear holding us to the shackles of limiting belief.

Rich or poor, literate or illiterate, healthy or harmed, troubled or happy, believers or non-believers, there seems to be no respect of person as to who has received a vision … and, no reason, except to remind the recipient that he or she far exceeds the limits of structure and conditioning. This relentless pursuit of freedom, unity, and love is what I have found to be most characteristic in all dimensions of Jeshua’s life.

The resurrected Christ has been known by many names in many languages, although his historical Aramaic name was Jeshua. Over time, that slowly changed to Iesous (Ihsouß) in Greek; Iesus in Latin; and finally to Jesus in sixteenth-century England when a hard J was introduced into the language. Probably no one would relish the splendid array of names more than Jeshua. When I was with him I called him Jesus, which came from the tradition of my understanding. However, I have chosen to use his Aramaic name in this prologue because it connects more deeply with his ancient history and eternal presence.

In his visitation with me Jeshua shared some of the untold parts of his early life, so that I might see how in every way he laid a foundation for what was to come. When I asked about the so-called lost years, he graced me with this answer.

"In my boyhood and for a year after my Bar Mitzvah, I worked with my father as a carpenter. When I was fourteen I had an opportunity to return to Egypt with my uncle Joseph. My parents encouraged it for my education as well as to get me out of harm’s way with increasing turmoil in our homeland. After that sojourn I continued to work with my uncle, who was getting on in years, and tended his extensive trading business, which stretched from the Himalayan foothills to what is now known as England.

"My years of travel also provided an occasion to become familiar with many other cultures and customs. This deeply strengthened my vision of world unity far beyond the political recovery of Israel. These varied experiences gave me rich opportunities to prepare for my destiny, in addition to finding relocation points ready for Jewish refugees in the coming years.

"Virtually unknown to modern history is the far-reaching network of Israelites throughout the ancient world. Many had dispersed after Assyria conquered the ten northern tribes of Israel’s kingdom in 722 and 721 BC. They were all exiled to upper Mesopotamia and Medes, but migrated to new frontiers when their captors were challenged by other contenders for power. These ten tribes were said to be lost, but not really. Babylon’s destruction of Jerusalem, almost two centuries later, resulted in another massive flight. Many Israelites were held captive in Babylon, but a large number also fled the homeland and set up communities and enclaves of business and trade throughout the entire known world, joining those who had gone before. For over six hundred years their new communities were growing and even prospering. Even though they adopted new ways, there was enough linguistic and cultural continuity to provide a fertile and ready field of outreach in the event that Jerusalem reestablished its political authority. That failing, at least these communities could become a source of refuge for future Israelites fleeing oppressors.

"As a young man, I avidly explored these distant communities and sought to recover any viable connections and restore unity should Israel have the opportunity to spread into an international community. Israel’s plan for expansion was not entirely unlike that of Rome, except of course, Israel had no military objectives and no desire to conquer. The might of Rome overwhelmed that hope, as history records. However, when Jerusalem was destroyed by Rome in 70 AD, Roman leadership was quite surprised by the efficient evacuation of large masses of people migrating to places where they would be welcome. My exploration of areas to colonize could not have been reported during my life or even later because Rome would have persecuted our citizens for plots of sedition.

By the time I was 25 my father was dying, and so I returned home to take his place as head of the household. He left my mother with a large herd of sheep, a small vineyard, and a fruit and olive orchard, all of which I took care of until I could delegate those duties to others. Soon enough, I needed to break free to begin my ministry. I found much interest among the Galileans and Nazarenes who were rebels, and among the Essenes who were mystics. Many outcasts were called, because their demand for a better way was without reservation. The men along the Sea of Galilee were especially open to truth because their love of the sea had turned their hearts to freedom.

Did you ever marry?

"No I did not. Foregoing marriage was an unfortunate sacrifice, considering that I enjoyed every richness of human experience. It was also a radical choice in a culture that did not even have a word for bachelor. However, I would not have married unless I could have done so without reservation. It would not have been possible for me to be a good husband and father in light of my greater purposes and priorities, not to mention the grief and hardship my eventual sacrifice would have brought upon a wife and children. After my resurrection my body’s biological matrix had been transfigured into my spiritual essence, so it would not have been appropriate to engage in physical relations of any kind. Even though I was able to be fully visible and present on earth, and make my body completely substantial when called for, I remained in communion for higher ends.

"Actually, the most important reason I chose not to have children is that the intensity and purity of love I brought into my life resulted in a DNA change in my body. It was not my desire or covenant to start a new race of humans in the biological sense. I love humanity as it was created and have every conviction that it can be changed from the inside out through realization of its true nature and reunion with God. To accomplish THAT was a sacred covenant, and it could not be cut short or over-ridden by a new biological lineage. Those who believe I left behind a personal family line are either misled or else posturing for power and some exceptional status, which has no basis in reality. There are many heirs extending from the rest of my family, and the Apostle’s families. They migrated mainly to France and England after the fall of Jerusalem.

Who was Mary Magdalene?

"She was an extraordinary woman, to whom I gave a special place among my Apostles. That was another radical choice, so I will tell you the story leading up to it. Mary was about 10 years older than I was, and a widow, when I first met her. There were no men in her husband’s family to whom she could remarry, which was a custom in that day; and she was beyond the age of safely bearing more children. She had two older sons who were killed in skirmishes with Roman soldiers and one small daughter named Sarah. Sarah was very much like her mother, and because of my deep friendship with Mary, was like an adopted daughter to me. Sarah is the mother of a lineage that many legends have misattributed to me.

"Mary was fortunate in that she inherited her husband’s sizable estate in Magdala. She had two sisters, one who lived in Jerusalem, and many female friends who kindly included her in their circle of support. I first met Mary with some of these women and noticed how traumatized she was from her great loss. In addition to being emotionally distressed, there were physical ailments seriously draining her life.

"I cast out the disease of her spirit and healed her body. At that moment we recognized that our meeting was an appointment of destiny. She would be with me until the end. Her life had been set aside for that very purpose. Contrary to modern fiction and romantic speculation, she was neither my wife nor a romantic companion. Nothing transpired between us that would have ever compromised her integrity. However, at many times she supplied the tenderness, emotional support, and nurturing that filled the vacuum of not having a wife. Her daughter Sarah was my constant delight, and gave me an opportunity to foster special abilities and consciousness in a very young one.

"Mary was a brilliant woman. In addition to natural gifts of intelligence and insight into human nature, she had been blessed with an exceptional gift from her husband, who had been a scholar. In those days women were shunned from learning and forbidden to read the Holy Scriptures. Her husband, however, had shared everything with her in secret. Not only was she literate, but also more knowledgeable than most men. She had even traveled to Egypt with her husband and studied the history and teachings of that tradition.

"Mary was well prepared for the role she was about to play. She stood alongside the men with equal wisdom, and her light out shown many of them. Moreover, she had a natural aptitude for healing and was well-schooled in herbal medicine, incense, and anointing oils. Perhaps her greatest gift to my followers, and to me, is that her compassionate heart and difficult past experiences had taught her how to transcend fear. In the days before and after the crucifixion, her council was priceless to us all.

"What made Mary controversial, leading to disapproval and denial by some, is that I consecrated her as the Apostle to women. In those days a man could not reveal certain knowledge to a woman, nor even the secrets of his heart, to any woman who was not united to him in marriage. This points to what many writers and speculators clearly miss today. If Mary had been my wife there would have been no controversy at all! More importantly, her role in the expanded community would not have served for the elevation of ALL women.

"I asked that the men accept her as an Apostle, which they begrudgingly did, but she was never counted among their numbers. After the crucifixion, Mary submerged herself among the women and selflessly taught them and encouraged them to form stronger alliances of the faithful, which could meet in safety outside orthodox channels. While the men were bickering over points of doctrine, competing for leadership, and warding off the ever-encroaching signs of violence, Mary was building community, teaching others how to heal, and helping to transcend the disease of fear.

"Before her life was over, she migrated to France along with Sarah, some members of my family, and a troupe of other widows wanting to prepare for the masses in exile from Jerusalem that would soon be arriving. This community of women made up the rudimentary beginning of the first nunnery, which in those days was more for service to community than for prayer and sanctuary. Mary wrote extensive journals, memoirs, and letters of instruction to the new communities that were forming. Unfortunately, she would not sign most of them for fear they would be intercepted and destroyed even by the faithful. Custom still forbad women to write or teach. No doubt, she would have kept some of the manuscripts up till her death. Perhaps they will eventually surface. She lived to a very old age and died peacefully in southwestern France beside a shepherd’s well.

Women of the free world owe much to Mary Magdalene. She carried a torch of spiritual liberty that has shown brightly through the ages. She was more daring and controversial than most people can even conceive, and for all the reasons they would never imagine. Her courageous life was a monumental tribute to the power of love, dignity, and freedom.

Through Mary Magdalene, Jeshua proclaimed equality of men and women, although it would be centuries before that vine could bear much fruit. No wonder the suppression of her story has been so strong! Jeshua and his followers held visions of unity, liberty, and equality well beyond anything ever hoped for before. It took outrageous courage, depth of commitment, and faith to walk on that path. Most of all it took a heart of compassion to rise above all the opposition. From the beginning and throughout the ages his sacred life was lived to bring wholeness, unity, and peace to all mankind. Daring, loving, transcendent, and sublime are words that characterize his enduring presence among us. The story you are about to read is but one more chapter in that magnificent continuing epic.

1 — Let There be Light

The brilliance was intense. It filled the room so completely that all shadows departed. Glancing upward, I observed the chandelier was off. This was not surprising, because I sensed there was nothing artificial about the soft white radiance engulfing everything, like a cloud descended from Heaven. The whole house possessed a stillness and silence of new fallen snow.

Through the quiet, reverent space there streamed silvery threads of light, energetic ripples, and pulsations of air being expanded as if by a flame. The ripples, which flowed in all directions, took their source from a spot of hyper-luminescence that was almost blinding. This resplendence was like a sun, though not fiery. More likely, it was a concentration of the same quality of light that was everywhere. Its special glory was in its dazzling brightness and the patterns of silver and gold, which were laced with opalescent white and sparkles of lavender, blue, and rose.

I could look toward the center for only a second before the light caused my eyes to fill with tears. Stunned, I had to look away, and at that moment I heard sounds forming into the pattern and cadence of language, although it was no language I had heard before. As the words formed a meaning in my mind, the message was Greetings Glenda.

In this Presence there was unspeakable Holiness. If light could sing, it would have been chanting celestial sounds. If light were fragrant, it would have exuded the innocence of high, mountain air. I turned to look again, but the radiance was simply overwhelming. Closing my eyes, I protected them from the glow and wept at the same time. No sooner had I escaped within myself than this Holy Presence shot a beam of energy from itself to a point between my eyebrows. There was a sensation of pressure, which caused me to open my eyes and verify. What I saw was a stream of energy pouring in. Returning to the comfort of my inner vision, I watched as a picture was being etched into memory. It took about five seconds for the rendering to be completed. The vision seemed to be implanted in the optical part of my brain. It was immutable and would be available for me to view whenever I chose.

Mesmerized by its beauty, I gazed in rapture upon an inner vision of Jesus Christ, which was complete, three-dimensional, and holographic. Majestically, he stood on a hilltop overlooking a green river valley, towering above grazing sheep, while a billowing cloud on the horizon was forming the shape of a lion. I couldn’t have asked for a more vivid or realistic picture from which to paint. It was the next best thing to having Jesus actually present. Interestingly, though, it did not look as my preconceptions would have envisioned. Conditioned, as most western Christians are by Semitic stereotypes, I was surprised to be looking into deep greenish blue eyes framed by amber brown hair.

When my awareness finally externalized, I found that the radiant Presence had gone and objective reality conformed to normal expectations. Nevertheless, I knew that something about me would never be the same again. That intuition proved to be true, for everything in my life changed after that Holy Moment.

The splendid light would be forever etched on my soul or perhaps united with my heart in a single, enduring beat. Within me now, a spark of light had been awakened which would become the doorway to greatly expanded awareness and life.

Forty days would pass before I would be secure enough in the meaning of this encounter to actually begin the painting. Each morning I eagerly sought to rekindle my conscious involvement with the vision through reverent acknowledgment and meditation. I would study its every nuance, and inhale it into my being like the breath of life. As the days passed, the vision became more complete and the presence of Jesus grew more alive. This alone distinguished it from my past experience with visual inspirations or dreams, which usually diminished through repeated recollection.

At first, the sensation was like that of peering through a clear window and greeting a friend looking back from the outside. The beautiful eyes engaging my devotion would eventually dissolve the glass boundary between us and magnetically draw me into his world. As that happened, his presence was correspondingly more compelling and dynamic. It seems as though I had entered a world of sensory richness as vivid and complete as an epic dream, but the dream was in a state more wakeful than any I had ever known. To consider another very relevant contrast, the dreams of our sleeping state are entered through darkness, and my visits with Jesus were entered through a pin hole of radiant light which was both palpable and living.

The days between November 23rd and January 1st were fertile days of creative preparation, explorations of personal reality, and intellectual contemplation, which had suddenly taken a quantum leap into the realm of cosmic and infinite probability. It’s interesting how I recalled my years of being on university faculties. As a scholar of Medieval Christian art, I was familiar with many recorded, and often illustrated, paranormal visions of Jesus or Mary. Considering the monastic life of extended hardship and duress that usually accompanied those sacred visitations, I felt some concern at first about my own well-being. But glowing health soon dispelled those fears, and my greater fascination turned to another spectrum of my academic background—the study of light and physics. In all of this, I had been given the rare opportunity of having a mystical experience, profoundly vivid to all the