We, God's spirit-offspring, have lived our entire lives during an age of humiliation. Such is our lot. We turned our backs on our Father way back at the Fall, thus do we reap the consequence which we deserve.

This kingdom of World is our age of humiliation, lasting for a half-cycle time period of about 12,000 years. Prior to this world age we chose to leave the kingdom of God our Father, in order to experience the kingdom of World again. And now this kingdom is about to end. Many of us will return to our heaven home, but not all. Whether one gets welcomed home again depends on how he/she did during the humiliation.

Getting pruned from the vine will be the fate of so many of our people who failed to produce. What did they fail to produce? Righteousness, Godliness, Justice, Spiritual life, Seeking of Truth, Yielding to God’s will, Rejection of this material world, Hatred of this world and all personal relationships, Following Jesus to the death, Obeying Jesus’ commands. Those are just a few of the fruits which we spirit-beings should be producing during our human lives in this kingdom of world. Most of us feel that because we were born to this world, then we should make the best of it by using whatever resources are available. It is easy to argue that God wants His children to have the good things of this world because He loves us, but that is wrong. He wants us to hate this world and come home. We were born into Satan’s world of temptations in order that we might represent our Father by condemning and rejecting all the enticements by which Satan tempts us. We can only WITNESS against Satan’s lie by rejecting it, not by "making the best of it."

Humiliation is the lot of God’s witnesses. In a world of technological wonders, wealth, and sensational pleasures, one who rejects those things will be scorned and mocked and pushed aside. The people of the world believe in success and the Good-Life; they will not tolerate such radicals who prefer poverty to luxury.

We spirit-offspring of our Father deserve this humiliation, but we do also have the great promise that we can work out our salvations and be welcomed back to our Father’s palace if we will represent Him during this half-cycle of Satan’s lie. We are to WITNESS of His Truth by rejecting the lie of Good-Life. We must yield to the humiliation without complaint. No matter how spiritual and Godly one might think he is, if he appears successful like other worldly people, then he has failed to witness of the Truth and will probably be pruned from the vine. That sounds pretty severe, doesn't it? Jesus once said that many will come to Him on the last day, saying, "Lord, I believe," but He would say to them, "depart from Me, I never knew you." Why would He say that? I suggest it might be because one chose to succeed in this world instead of to follow Him. Clearly, simple belief in Jesus is not enough; even Satan does that. One cannot serve both world and God. So, did He mean what He said about rejecting those who claim to believe in Him, or will He let some get by with a wink? Simply, we are spirit-beings who must willingly get free from this world and our flesh bodies. How does one do that without the liberating crosses and pyres? Curtain is coming down soon on the last act, folks; time to get real!

Any religion which pretends to represent God by grandeur, rituals, wealth, impressive buildings, and ostentatious costumery has failed to follow our Lord who calls us to a path of sorrows, yes, a path of humiliation. Jesus came to destroy temples, never suggesting any kind of religiosity, but only compassion and humiliation. St. Francis got it right but his followers perverted the simple Truth of his example.

Now, against such social conformity, it is each solitaire, alone, who must seek Truth, and even to defend his own humuliation if he wishes to follow his Liberator from this world nightmare.

For myself, if I may share some personal comments, my effort to follow my Lord has been intense. Most recently, I considered the idea of sacrifice. Old Testament history depicts a religion of sacrifice. While prize animals were the usual victims, God prompted Abraam to offer up his own son, substituting a lamb at the last moment. Nevertheless, the suggestion did happen. As radical as the killing of animals might have been, our ancestors got comfortable with it.

When Jesus began His teachings, He went far beyond what most people could accept by making it a condition of salvation that one drinks His blood and eats His flesh. Most of those who were attracted to Him turned away because His command was abhorrent to them; remember God’s strong admonition against drinking of blood! Jesus taught other things which were contrary to the Old Covenant. He brought a new paradigm which was impossible for most people to accept.

Because of the Old Testament practice of sacrifice, I examined the idea of self-sacrifice. If it is good to sacrifice living creatures which are most valued, then what about sacrificing one’s own life which Jesus commands us to hate? Since Jesus’ commands to hate this world, relatives, and one’s own life were so clearly stated, it seemed to me that God would be pleased with a devotee who wants to offer up his own life. So, I wrestled with this question, and I wrote about it in the article titled Going Home.

It also seemed to me that with our history of sacrificing animals, the idea of self-sacrifice is not far-removed. Certainly, it is not nearly as far-removed as Jesus command to drink His blood and eat His flesh! But, the idea of suicide is too repugnant to the human instinct of self-survival. Actually, Jesus said that no man took His life, but that He offered it up of His own accord; essentially a "suicide." No matter, my suggestion of self-sacrifice brought some pretty passionate admonitions from acquaintances. I’m still wrestling with the idea, by the way.

At this point, I would say that self-sacrifice is probably not a good idea because I should rather yield myself to my humiliation. God’s children have experienced all kinds of humiliations during our recorded history, many of them by crucifixions or burning stakes since the time of Jesus. For now, I shall accept humiliation as my lot, yielding to it in whatever manner my Father wills it to be. While I would much rather die and go home, the task of completing my humiliation seems to be my appropriate path for the moment. The natural deterioration of my vision seems to be a part of this process. I'm accepting it gracefully, but I confess that it is a hindrance. My 32 inch monitor does help, though.

by Roger Hathaway, April 2, 2012