By Victor M Fontane
Jesus (Yeshua or Y’shua) was born and grew up among the Essenes for the first twelve years as established by the bible approved by the Christian church. However, there are documents in the East that speak of a saint named Isa who made a pilgrimage through India, Tibet, Iran, Greece and Egypt to later be baptized in Palestine to begin to preach his knowledge.
The first Christians called themselves Gnostics, which means knowledge, and they said that knowledge is within the being, in us, and that Jesus always indicated that the path was self-knowledge to awaken consciousness, which means "God in us." In the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John we find details that corroborate Jesus' indications about the Divine spark and knowledge within us, as in Luke 17:20-25, Jesus told the Pharisees: "the kingdom of God is in us”, Matthew 15:17-18: “what enters the mouth goes to the stomach and is then eliminated, but what enters the mind stays and contaminates it”, Matthew 15:8, John 8:34 -35 etc.
The ultimate goal that Jesus taught was personal self-realization.
In Matthew 15:48, "be perfect as our Father which is in heaven is perfect."
In December 1945, some Egyptian peasants in the city of Nag Hamadi discovered 52 manuscripts, among which were the Gospel of Philip, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Peter and others. The Gospel of Thomas is the most Gnostic because it does not narrate stories of Jesus with the other disciples but instead tries to show Jesus' point of view, his message and direct teaching from him to others. The secret words of him that Didi Judas wrote to Thomas: "and Jesus said, whoever finds the interpretation of these words, will not taste death". "The kingdom is within you and outside as well." "When they get to know each other, they will be recognized and will understand that they are living children of the Father."
In the Gospels of Mary Magdalene, to whom Jesus entrusted the secrets of life and death, explains how Peter questioned why he should share these with her because she is a woman.
The Gospel of Judas found in 1978 in Beni Masar Egypt, where it narrates that Judas, being the highest apostle, was asked by Jesus to betray him that even if he would lose his body, his soul would transcend to the father to fulfill his mission.
Now, why, being these apocryphal gospels so important for the early Christians, were they discarded from the bible?
In the third century after Christ, the Emperor Constantine in Rome in the year 325 gathered the bishops in the Council of Nicaea I and forced them to accept the standardization of the Christian faith that spread throughout the world, thus consolidating his power.
At the Council of Nicaea II in 787, the processes were finalized to destroy the apocryphal gospels and persecute Christians who did not accept the four gospels approved by the church and legitimized by the Roman Empire.
Even when the Gnostics did not accept the worship of images, it was approved as they are representing the divine; luxurious churches and temples were built and the Gnostic Christians were persecuted to death.
Rome, then, never accepted that God is nowhere in particular and everywhere, as well as illumination or the search of the Divine spark within.
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