A Quote from the Gospel Of Philip with Commentary

fire and water

“It is from water and fire that the soul and the spirit came into being if is from water and fire and light that the son of the bridal chamber came into being.

“The fire is the chrism, the light is the fire. I am not referring to that fire which has no form, but to the other fire whose form is white, which is bright and beautiful, and which gives beauty.

“Truth did not come into the world naked, but it came in types and images. The world did not receive truth any other way.

“There is a rebirth and an image of rebirth. It is certainly necessary to be born again through the image, for resurrection.

“The image must rise again through the image. The bridal chamber and the image must enter through the image into the truth; this is the restoration.

“Not only must those who produce the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, do so, but they have produced them for you.

“The Lord did everything in a mystery, a baptism and chrism and a eucharist and redemption and a bridal chamber.

“He said, ‘I came to make the things below like the things above, and things outside like those inside. I came to unite them in the one place.’”

–Gospel of Philip(58-61)

From Water and Fire

When we read ancient documents, we must understand that fire often means light as fire was the only way to make light back then. It is also true that fire often means energy of any kind, so this really means from Water and energy. The next sentence adds light. It is an allegorical use of those elements. It is not physical water or physical light that brought the soul into being, nor is it the physical elements that awaken and develop the soul in us. The soul is spiritual, and it is spiritual water, energy, and light that awakens the spirit.

Chrism and Light

The second paragraph in the quote now says that “fire is the chrism, the light is the fire”. So Philip is saying here that the words fire and light are used interchangeably. He adds that he is not referring to the fire which has no form, but to the fire that is white. So there are three levels of light: the mundane or physical light, the spiritual Light that comes to us primarily through the Spiritual Sun, and the highest level of Light which is Divine Light. Only a fully awakened and conscious Soul can partake of Divine Light.

Truth does not Come Naked

Truth comes into the physical world in symbols and images as its true spiritual nature cannot be comprehended by physical beings. Zeven as symbols, it cannot be understood by the human mind, but it is understood by the Soul.

Rebirth Through the Image

It is through the image of God that we are reborn as spiritual beings, and that image is the Light of the Spiritual Sun and the even higher Divine Light. When Philip says the image must rise again, he means that the world must become spiritual again, and that is happening now, but it is a slow process as people gradually awaken to the truth. That is what it means when Philip quotes Jesus saying “’I came to make the things below like the things above.”



“ Solar Cycle 25 more active and powerful than predicted”

 

sun

 

 

Sun activity has been low in recent days. But we’re currently heading toward another peak in the sun’s 11-year cycle of activity. And Solar Cycle 25 has already proven surprising. The maximum activity was predicted to occur in 2025. But solar activity has already exceeded that predicted maximum. So we’ve been seeing more geomagnetic storms, more auroral displays, and more potentially hazardous conditions for satellites in low-Earth orbit.

Read the full article here.

 



“The centuries-long effects of Saturn storms”

 

Saturn with mega-storm

 

Saturn is the 2nd-largest gas giant in our solar system. It’s the 6th planet outward from the sun. It’s a step beyond from Jupiter, the largest planet. And, like Jupiter with its iconic Great Red Spot – Saturn also has mega storms. They look like great white ovals on Saturn that can grow to stretch partway around the planet! On August 11, 2023, researchers said the aftereffects of the Saturn mega storms can last hundreds of years.

Read the complete story here.



“Scientists at Fermilab close in on fifth force of nature”

 

Fermilab

 

Scientists near Chicago say they may be getting closer to discovering the existence of a new force of nature.

They have found more evidence that sub-atomic particles, called muons, are not behaving in the way predicted by the current theory of sub-atomic physics.

Scientists believe that an unknown force could be acting on the muons.

More data will be needed to confirm these results, but if they are verified, it could mark the beginning of a revolution in physics.

Read the complete story here.

Link contributed by Gene Savoy, Jr.



Flesh Cannot Be the Temple of God

“Christ said. Unless ye turn and become as children, ye shall not see the Kingdom of God. Again, he said to Nicodemus; except a man be born again, of Water and of Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God; for that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.

“Scripture positively declares that the fleshly natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know or achieve them.

“Now seeing that all of us have Flesh and Blood bodies, and are mortal, as we find by experience, and yet scripture says that we are Temples of the Holy Ghost, who dwelleth in us, and the Kingdom of God is within us. … Therefore we should seriously consider what kind of person it is that is capable of being thus like the Deity.

“For it cannot be said of the mortal flesh … that it is the Temple of the Holy Ghost; much less can it be said that the New Birth comes to pass in this earthly flesh, which dies and putrifies.”

–Jacob Boehme

Become as Children

This is one of the most misunderstood things that Jesus said. He didn’t mean that we should physically shrink down to the size of children. Nor did he mean that we should be uneducated in a general sense. What he meant is that by the time we become adults, we are full of beliefs, ideas, and concepts that are sometimes false, or only partially true. These beliefs and concepts prevent us from seeing things that do not fit in with our beliefs. The best example of this is the Story of Christopher Columbus landing in the New World. The Native Americans saw the small boats that brought Columbus and some of his crew to shore, but they could not see the large ships those boats came from. Their beliefs blocked them from seeing something that contradicted those beliefs. Only the Medicine Man, the most open-minded of them, saw the big ships and slowly described them to the others. Once they were told about them, they were suddenly able to see them. This is true for many beliefs that we hold about God, spirits, and just about everything. It is most important for the spiritual student to learn to push aside those beliefs and concepts in order to see what is truly there.

Water and Spirit

 

This is an allegorical saying as well. It does not literally mean water, as in baptism, but the Spiritual Water, the Grace of God. The point is, to reborn does not mean to study scripture or to be ordained a minister. It means to take in the Spiritual Light that awakens and develops the Spirit. That is being Reborn.

 

Flesh is not The Temple

The material body of flesh cannot be the Temple of the Holy Spirit, yet Scripture tells us we are such a Temple. It is the spirit of man that is the Temple. The spirit is our link to heaven, to the Angels in Heaven, and to God. But that link doesn’t function if we allow the spirit to stay in the dormant state it was in when we were born. We must awaken and develop the Spirit until it becomes a conscious Soul. That is what the ancient mystery schools taught. It is what the Gnostic groups taught in secret to their members. It is what was truly taught by Jesus, Buddha, and the other founders of great religions. It is the developed Soul that will go to Heaven, not the physical body. The physical, being created by the Demiurge, cannot go to Heaven. In the not-very-distant future, though, matter will change back to its original form as spirit and all will be as God wants it to be.



“Scientists Find Record-Breaking Planet-Like Object Hotter Than The Sun”

 

brown dwarf

 

An object orbiting a star 1,400 light-years away is seriously confronting our notions of what’s possible in the Universe.

It’s a brown dwarf, the curious category of objects that straddle the gap between planets and stars, but it’s on such a close orbit with its very hot host star that its temperature exceeds a blistering 8,000 Kelvin (7,727 degrees Celsius, or 13,940 Fahrenheit) – hot enough to snap apart the molecules in its atmosphere into their composite atoms.

Read the complete story here.



“Webb telescope captures image of most distant star ever seen | CNN”

 

Earendal most distant star

 

 

Astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope to observe Earendel, the most distant star ever detected.

Earendel is so distant that the starlight glimpsed by the Webb telescope was emitted within the first billion years of the universe. The universe is estimated to be about 13.8 billion years old.

Previous estimates suggest the star is 12.9 billion light-years away from Earth, but given the expansion of the universe and how long the light has traveled to reach us, astronomers believe Earendel is currently 28 billion light-years away.

Read the complete story here.

Link contributed by Gene Savoy, Jr.



“NASA telescope spots cosmic question mark in deep space | CNN”

 

cosmic question mark

 

 

A cosmic object in the shape of a glowing question mark has photobombed one of the latest images captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope — and scientists think they know what it might be.

The original near-infrared image, released July 26, depicted a pair of young stars named Herbig-Haro 46/47. Found 1,470 light-years away in the Vela constellation within the Milky Way galaxy, the stars are still actively forming and closely orbiting each other.

Read the complete story here.

Link contributed by Gene Savoy, Jr.



Steamboat Hot Springs is Mentioned in an Article in the Tahoe Newsletter

The Lake Tahoe This Week Newsletter has a Valentine’s Day report on romantic places to go to for Valentine’s Day. They mentioned our Steamboat Spa as a place to “indulge in tranquility”. (Click here to read the article).

Steamboat does have a Valentine’s Special this month. Here is what it says.

Indulge in the enchanting embrace of our Love in Bloom special, a curated experience designed to elevate your senses and rejuvenate your connection.
Enjoy a day of self-love or enjoy as a pair.
This special includes:
  • 90-minute Signature Massage with an Argan Oil Scalp Massage, Hot Towels, and a Soothing Foot Massage
  • 60-minute Private Mineral Bath with our Elixir of Love Aromatherapy Blend
(Grapefruit, Bergamot, & Roman Chamomile)
  • Free gift of R&R Retreat Grapefruit & Bergamot Bath & Body Products
  • Take home a sweet non-alcoholic Blush beverage & Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Hearts
A package valued at $230, for only $195 a person!
Available now through February 29th, 2024.
Contact the front desk at (775)853-6600 to reserve your spot today!
Wishing you a month filled with love, relaxation, and cherished moments.
We can’t wait to welcome you at Steamboat Hot Springs Healing Center & Spa!

The International Community of Christ inherited Steamboat Hot Springs in 1986 by gift deed and has been operating it ever since as a health and wellness center. The history of Steamboat Springs, Nevada is told in the book A Steamboat in the Desert, written and compiled by Church member Reverend Roger Bowen Weld in 1998.

You can read or download the book in PDF format here.



Spiritual Enlightenment is not achieved by Memorizing Scripture

memorizing scripture

“As the husbandman governs a yoke of oxen and tills the ground, so Jesus, the fair true husbandman, yoked the apostles two by two and sent them forth, tilling with them the ground of those who hear and truly believe. Only this is worth saying, that the Kingdom of God and the preaching of the apostles is not in the word of hearing only, like one who knows a set of words and rehearses them to others, but the Kingdom is in the power and the effective working of the spirit. This was the sad case of the children of the Israelites; always studying the scripture, and in fact making the Lord the theme of their study, and yet not receiving the truth itself, they parted with that inheritance to others. So those who rehearse to others words of the Spirit, while they do not themselves possess the Word in Power, part with the inheritance to others.”

-St. Macarius the Egyptian

As the Husbandman Governs

Many don’t know that a husbandman is not someone who helps women find husbands. A husbandman is an outdated term for one who cultivates the soil, or quite simply, a farmer. In the time of St. Macarius, farmers didn’t have tractors, but usually used draft animals such as oxen to pull the plow and till the field. Macarious is comparing this to Jesus sending out the Apostles to teach the true knowledge of God, and the practice of spiritual development necessary to reach the Kingdom of God.

Memorizing and Repeating Words

Parrots, Macaws, Ravens, and some other birds can memorize and repeat words. If the words they hear come from scripture, that is what they will repeat. They will not become enlightened as a result. St. Macarius tells us that the Israelites of Jesus’ time liked to memorize and repeat scripture, but that did not bring them to the Kingdom of God. Today, many Evangelical Christians do the same thing and are proud of the fact that they can quote from much of the Bible. The image I used to illustrate this post was from an article titled “ The Importance of Memorizing Scripture” and is one of many promoting the idea to Christians. The article promotes the practice because the Bible tells us to learn the Word of God, but the Word of God is not static and locked up in any book of scripture. The word of God is dynamic and must be learned directly. But a Parrot can be taught the same words, but it does not comprehend their meaning. Likewise, those Christians who memorize Bible passages, without understanding their actual meaning, or practicing the spiritual development teachings that were key to the teachings of Jesus, are not moving any closer to God. It is also important to understand that scripture is often written in allegorical language, so memorizing the words is meaningless.

Possess the Word in Power

What St. Macarius is implying here is that one must practice the teaching of holy ones like Jesus, not simply memorize their words. It is in practicing spiritual development techniques that we develop our own spirit. You don’t get the benefits of a healthy diet by reading about it but eating junk food instead. You don’t get strong, healthy muscles by reading a workout plan, but only by putting the plan into practice. Likewise, knowing that the realm of Spirit exists doesn’t make you a spiritual person. You must practice spiritual development methods regularly and develop your spirit, not just read about it, or memorize scripture.