Copyright © True Gnostic Church. All rights reserved. Terms and Conditions
SCRIPTURES
Chapter 21
Moshe speaks – Justice (defined) – Men have corrupted the justice of God – Councilors
of justice: mercy, understanding and compassion – First law of Heaven is not obedience,
but love – Preachers have made Heaven a prison – The justice of God compared to the
justice of men – Results of choosing the justice of men – Results of choosing the
justice of God – “Injustice is the father of many sorrows” – Feeding the justice
of men with fear, anger and hate – Words of Noaeya – A gentle resistance towards
hurtful laws – Be not silent nor blindly obey – “Fear not the laws which men do make”
1 These are the words which Moshe spoke before the assembly of many believers, and there was placed round about the mercy seat of God all manner of recording devices.
2 For those which were appointed by the assembly to preside over the lovers of God desired to keep record of all which Moshe might speak and reveal concerning the justice which comes from God.
3 And Moshe, being filled with compassion and tenderness for those which were gathered, spoke, saying: “Come, my children, and sit you by, and I will speak of that justice which moves and stirs, to shine brightly forth from out of the heart of God.
4 Set aside the burdens of your days, and be you still and filled with peace; that you might restore again the soul within.
5 To be yourselves refreshed and enlivened by the spirit of heavenly things; which things would even now well up within your very heart, to carry you away upon the tender flood; to return you to God from whence you come, to become yourselves in this very moment as one with God forever.
6 Let the heart rejoice and in your soul be filled with praise, letting go such philosophies as men might teach; to embrace instead the wisdom which comes from God, setting aside your own selves also, whereby you might see in the mind the likeness of your God.
7 That you might know for yourselves the things of greatest worth; to become yourselves in like manner even as the Father and Mother which do wait upon you, desiring themselves to lift you higher still, to fill you up with light and joy and godly wisdom.
8 If then you would know the soul of God, to keep within your heart the justice which dwells in Heaven, to become yourself just and filled with mercy, then give heed and likewise do.
9 For it is written already among you that justice is the heart of God made manifest in the affairs of men and women, being itself dressed in mercy and forgiveness, being always the power which would uplift the fallen, or reclaim and restore to goodness the one which is made corrupt through the harshness of life.
10 Being itself empowered of God through holiness, to heal the wounded heart, and to renew and refresh even all who should repent to turn again to God.
11 Yet in this life have men corrupted the justice of God, to fill the earth with many sorrows, of which there seem no end; hedging up against you round about, such laws as would but weary the heart and soul together.
12 Proclaiming without surcease through the preachers of the day that the first law of Heaven is obedience only, declaring always that the house of God is a house of order; to make God most like themselves, to become in Heaven both a lawyer and a judge filled with harsh demands.
13 Giving rise among this whole assembly some great debate concerning both the law and justice together; having themselves already corrupted and perverted the ways of justice whereby they themselves might be advantaged.
14 For this I tell you for your learning, that in the true justice of God is there found both recompense and equity, giving to every man and every woman a fair and just reward, even according to the desires of your own heart.
15 Which desires do manifest themselves daily in the things you seek to do; revealing by your own actions the desires of your truer heart, being undeceived by such words as you might speak.
16 For the justice of God has many councilors, which councilors are mercy and understanding and compassion; which things would cause that justice should seek through every means to restore and to heal, being anxious to forgive all who would turn aside from the doing of evil, to turn again to God.
17 Know then that God shall not judge alone by the seeing of the eyes, or the hearing of the ears; but looks instead upon the inward heart of every man and every woman, to see if there be found any good thing.
18 For this must you, yourselves, most rightly know that the first law of Heaven is not obedience but love instead; for those who love as God does love, even these have no need of the law, to be themselves compelled in the doing of good, but do themselves the goodly thing for the sake of love only.
19 For it is not through the law of many commandments that God would coerce that we should seek the greater portion, but through love and godly wisdom only; becoming ourselves, if we should choose, both well instructed and deeply learned in the things which come from God; making of our life a prayer and a song which we would offer up with joyful hands.
20 Neither think you likewise that Heaven is a house of order, for such are the prisons which men have made; but know you deeply well instead that Heaven is the house of joy and glory and shining light.
21 For the preachers of the day have made of Heaven a prison house, filled to overflowing with many laws and many judges; each being filled with wrath and fear and punishments of every kind.
22 Pretending among themselves to hold the keys to the greater glory, while yet they are empty and filled with prattle, proclaiming with doleful vigor that except you obey them first, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
23 Speaking only of the law and punishment, for they have no mercy; declaring always the law of obedience, for they have no love; shouting from the rooftops the need for order; for they know not God or heavenly things but fear only.
24 Being themselves compelled and driven by all manner of greed and envy and anger and hate, which things are of our own making.
25 Seeing in others what lurks within them also, being anxious to bear down upon every man and every woman whereby they might lift themselves above you; creating through sophistries, such illusions as might prove the rightness of what they do.
26 Observe you well and see for yourselves: For the justice which comes from God is superior above every other, being itself rooted deeply in mercy, understanding and compassion, being of itself the healer and restorer of every child which comes from God.
27 While yet the justice of men you have seen for yourselves already, being itself harsh and filled with punishments, being itself rooted in wrath, vengeance, anger and hate, becoming itself the fount of many sorrows.
28 Becoming through its harshness the oppressor and destroyer of those which would transgress the laws of men; to break in pieces the heart and soul of those imprisoned to make of them a scourge and a heartache; casting them again and again upon the innocent and unsuspecting, creating in their wake even greater and greater crimes.
29 Choose then the justice which you would serve, to hold it in your soul and spirit whereby it might guide you; for whichsoever of these you choose, even it shall shape and fashion the very heart within you.
30 For if you should choose the justice of men, then shall you be fashioned of wrath and judgment, anger and hate, greed and envy; dispensing unto the weak and fallen and disadvantaged the vial of all your vengeance, filled with endless retribution.
31 To be yourselves seized hold of by all manner of harshness and cold disdain, even till you yourselves are swallowed up in the darkness of your own making, being yourselves weighed down by many sorrows.
32 For the justice of men is seldom justice, but injustice only, having as its hurtful offspring both guilt and shame, both anger and hate, both revenge and constant revilings; which things do continually rise up in such societies as you would make, to afflict and haunt you without surcease.
33 But if you choose the justice of God, to speak it from the heart, to lift the hands in blessings and not with curses, then shall you be filled with healing, becoming yourselves the redeemer of those which fall.
34 For in the justice of God do you set aside the hurtful passions which make ruin the soul of every man and every woman who should fall by the way, to become yourselves instead filled with redemption and healing grace; making of your life and the life of many others, even as a light which cannot be hid.
35 Know then that if your judgments be rooted in anger or hate, or if they be born of envy and greed, then is there no justice within you, but revenge and bitterness only; causing that you should separate yourself from God, to fill your heart with many shadows.
36 For injustice is the father of many sorrows, instilling into the hearts of many a great and heavy burden; for the justice of men is founded on fear and deep foreboding, being empty itself of love and mercy, healing and redemption; being unable to make as whole again the one which falls from grace.
37 Consider then and ponder deeply well, for whensoever you should see in the justice of men the wrath of retribution; then is the justice of men made as vengeance only; filled with loathing and contempt; seeking by some cruel and harsh endeavor to break in pieces the one which sins, to crush them underfoot.
38 Why then will you permit this dark imposter to move and breathe and make havoc the spirit which dwells within you; causing that you yourselves should stand divided because of such laws and justice which come from those who rule?
39 Becoming in your heart and mind unsettled and filled with uncertainty concerning the way which you should go, being anxious now that the light of God should shine within you, to chase away the gloom, and to reveal as clear and sweetly pure the path which you might walk.
40 Hear then and be you wise, for such injustices as come from man through the administering of the law, even this is made to live because you, yourselves, do fear it; to be itself fed continually by even your own anger and hate, filled with great resentments.
41 Causing that you should struggle within the very soul between the darkness and the light, provoking again and again without surcease the lesser portion.
42 Causing that it should rise up in anger within your very heart, to chaff and offend at every turn, to consume in bitterness the peace which comes from God; to leave instead a burning waste filled with hurtful passions.
43 If then you would dwell peaceably in the societies of men, to be yourself imbued by God till you are filled to overflowing with the justice which reigns in Heaven, then open your ears that you might hear.
44 For in your soul are you made to tremble with great anxieties, and this because of such laws and injustice as men would make to hold you bound, being themselves enabled to rule over you because you, yourselves, are fearful.
45 Being yourselves apprehensive because of the law, lest you, yourselves, be imprisoned, to lose both your rights and liberty; and by this fear are you made resentful and discontent, hovering between the light and darkness, not certain the way to go.
46 Remember then such words as Noaeya spoke: For the law is made for those who do not love, being themselves thoughtless and uncaring for any save themselves alone; becoming themselves hurtful and without regard towards family, friends and neighbors.
47 But if it so be that you do most rightly love, being yourself filled with kind regard towards every man and every woman, then how can the law offend you, seeing that even your own love has lifted you far above it.
48 If then you would dwell peaceably, then surrender happily such rights as others would most hotly claim before the law; removing from your heart the seeds of great offense; speaking to all about you words of kindness and humility.
49 Thus in standing humbly before the men of law, being yourselves wrapped in kindness and gentleness always, even then shall those which rule see in you no offense worthy of reproach and punishment.
50 For the law have you most humbly obeyed already, not because you were compelled by the law, but by love only and kind regard.
51 Yet, this hear and weigh most carefully within the soul, that you may prove yourselves the rightful heir of heavenly things, to stand you forth as the mighty men and women which come from God, to bless the lives of those who live.
52 For even as love would compel that you most humbly keep the laws which men do make, even so would love compel that you should break in pieces such laws as would prove themselves hurtful to the children of God.
53 Appointing even your own selves the guardians of life and liberty; not with railing words and angry heart, but with gentleness and meekness always; electing yourselves to resist such evil as men would do, while yet you provoke not some greater evil.
54 Standing yourselves in the place of God, being yourself most rightly endowed from above with wisdom and benevolence and faith, knowing well within your heart already the justice which comes from God.
55 And in that good and holy place, withstand with words made brave and calm such hurt as men might do, being yourselves firm and unmovable in doing the things which prove most right.
56 Yet being yourselves always kind and humble, that by your goodly presence might those which rule be themselves reminded of still the greater portion, being themselves the children of God also.
57 Holding up before their eyes both grace and mercy, offering to them a way out of such evil as they might do; proving yourselves not only the light which shines in darkness, but also the redeemer of those who sin.
58 Be not silent before such evil as men might do, neither surrender to blind obedience the moral conscience of your soul; for if the men of law do evil while you, yourselves prove silent in the knowing of it, then are you made partakers of such evil as men might do through the laws which they do make.
59 Beware then of those who speak, saying: “Obey those who are appointed over you and do not bother if it be right or wrong. For if you will obey only, then will God most surely bless you.”
60 I tell you truly: Whosoever shall speak to you this saying, even that one is made corrupt and in his heart speaks falsely, being themselves a stranger to God, being devoid of love and mercy and wisdom.
61 Being eager themselves to corrupt you, even as they are made corrupt and filled with sin; for blind obedience will make you blind, to cover the soul with darkness.
62 Be not silent, therefore, in the face of evil, neither provoke it with angry words of condemnation; but stand you calmly forth, being yourselves wrapped round about in goodness, and with words both strong and gentle, speak well the truth which comes from God.
63 For you are the children of God above all other things, and not the servants of the law, for the law should serve you well for the sake of goodness only.
64 Therefore, fear not the laws which men do make, neither stand you fearful and filled with tremblings before those who would be appointed as officers and judges over you.
65 But in calmness and humility comport yourselves with grace and gentleness, being in your outward selves both good and wise, but in your inward selves both firm and strong; for in your heart is the justice of God made real, to fill you up with great resolve.”