| Answer
from Jesus:
Thank you for raising an
important question. Let me give you some thoughts to ponder.
Thought 1
I consider it important – for a number of reasons – that
visitors to this website know that the Ascended Host have sponsored
– to varying degrees – a substantial number of organizations
and individuals within the last century. One reason this is important
is that I am hoping to help visitors – and especially the Guardians
of the Mother Light – avoid falling into the trap of exclusivity
that so easily leads to spiritual pride.
To avoid pride, it is important to be aware that an organization can
be left behind by the Ascended Host if its leaders and or members do
not live up to their responsibility. For example, several of the organizations
we have sponsored have been based on the bringing forth of direct revelation
from us. Yet once this progressive revelation stopped through a particular
organization, the leaders and many of the members often started believing
the Ascended Host were no longer speaking through anyone. Unfortunately,
this has also happened to the Summit Lighthouse, which was indeed sponsored
by us.
Another reason I mention the Summit Lighthouse and other organizations
on this website is because there is much valid teaching brought forth
through these organizations. Many of the visitors to this site will
not need this information, but some will and it is thus important to
have a link for people to follow.
I also consider it important for the more mature spiritual seekers to
realize that the Ascended Host are trying to reach a wide variety of
people and that we have to adapt our message to the level of consciousness
of the audience. It is therefore important not to formulate an image
in your mind that the Ascended Host should always speak in a certain
way or say certain things. It is extremely important for today’s
seekers to avoid becoming fundamentalists about the teachings of the
Ascended Host. Do not fall into the trap of thinking that truth can
be expressed in only one way. This is the attitude that has led to most
religious conflicts, as I explain in Beyond
Religious Conflict.
Thought 2
Let me comment on the fact that it is so easy to find negative information
about many spiritual organizations on the internet and that some people
have seemingly made it their life’s mission to criticize a specific
organization or person. As a sincere spiritual seeker it is important
to keep in mind that when you take in any kind of information, the people
publishing the information do, in a sense, become your teachers, your
gurus.
Only those with spiritual pride/blindness believe they can walk the
path without inner and outer teachers. Thus, a teacher is essential
to your spiritual growth and it becomes important to select teachers
who will actually help you grow. Only few people can rise above the
level of consciousness of their teachers, so when selecting where you
get your information, it is important to consider the level of consciousness
of the people providing the information.
Do they seem to have a balanced and harmonious approach to life? What
are their motives for sharing the information? Do they have a hidden
agenda that is self-serving? Do they express any kind of negative feelings,
especially anger? Do they seem unwilling to take responsibility for
themselves? Do they portray themselves as victims with no control over
their circumstances? Such factors will increase the possibility that
their information is biased and thus unreliable.
I am not hereby denying that some spiritual organizations abuse people
or that some people have legitimate complaints. Yet by considering people's
tone, their level of anger and their level of victimhood, you can gauge
their objectivity. It is not hard to see that some people are truly
pointing out legitimate concerns, whereas others are merely trying to
demonize an organization or teacher in order to defer responsibility
from themselves. Such people are not the ones I recommend that you select
as your teachers.
Thought 3
One of the themes I consistently seek to get across on this website
is that you must be willing to look for the beam in your own eye, that
you must take full responsibility for your life and that you must change
your inner situation before you can change your outer situation. Unfortunately,
many of the people who look for spiritual teachings have not reached
the level of maturity that empowers them to take responsibility for
their own growth.
The inevitable consequence is that such people look for an organization
or teacher who promises them an automatic salvation. Just join our organization
and follow all the rules, and you will automatically be saved. For that
matter, many mainstream Christians fit into this category, but they
would vehemently resist having their churches labeled as cults, even
though they gladly label any unorthodox organization as a cult.
The pattern followed by many people is that they enter an organization
with the belief that after a while they will automatically become perfect
people. By following the outer rules, they will overcome whatever problems
they face without having to change themselves. Sooner or later, this
bubble inevitably bursts.
The real problem is that these people have not taken full responsibility
for their path, and because they have not done so, nothing can be their
fault. They cannot admit that they have immature and unrealistic expectations
and that they need to refine their approach to spirituality. Thus, it
has to be the fault of the organization/teacher who must have made false
promises and must have fooled them by various means of mind control.
The simple fact is that no one can control your mind unless you let
them. And if you have taken full responsibility for yourself, you will
never allow anyone to control your mind. Yet the theme of demonizing
other people and turning them into scapegoats – thereby using
them as an excuse for not looking at the beam in your own eye –
has been repeated countless times throughout history. My point is, once
again: do not make such people your gurus.
Thought 4
If you want to know the truth about any topic, seek out the most objective
sources of information, seek personal experience if possible and seek
the guidance of your Christ self. If you feel you have not found reliable
information or cannot get personal experience, there is nothing wrong
with reserving judgment.
Many people have fallen into the trap of thinking they have to have
an opinion about everything, thus making snap judgments based on whatever
information comes across the screens of their minds. As a spiritual
seeker, you want to avoid this trap, and you do so by not forming a
judgment until you feel you have reliable information on which to base
it.
It was for good reason I told people not to judge (Matthew 7:1). For
truly, the way you judge others is the way you subconsciously judge
yourself.
Thought 5
As I said, scapegoating is as old as Cain and Abel. One aspect of this
is to create a label and associate that label with something bad. You
then make a sweeping generalization and say that all people who fit
into your labeled box are bad people. This was used against the early
Christians, it was used by Hitler against the Jews, it has been used
against black Africans and many other types of people.
I consider the word cult as a modern version of this form of dehumanization.
This word was brought to its modern use by people who are bent on destroying
religious freedom and diversity. I strongly recommend that anyone who
is a sincere spiritual seeker stops using this word and speak out against
it wherever it is used.
You might be aware that even some large Christian churches use this
word from the top leadership to the general members. Some of these churches
sincerely believe that any church besides their own is a cult. Thus,
some fundamentalist Christian churches have labeled the Catholic Church
as a cult. Many other people – especially in the media –
label anything that is not mainstream as a cult.
Consider what would have happened if the word had been in use 2,000
years ago. I would have instantly been labeled as a dangerous cult leader
by the scribes and Pharisees. Imagine what a field day the modern sensationalist
press would have had in “reporting” some of my actions and
words. “This Jesus fellow seriously believes he is the son of
God!”
As a spiritual seeker, it is wise to be aware that there are forces
in this world who deliberately work against the spiritual awakening
of humankind. Thus, they will aggressively – and by using any
means available – seek to destroy any genuine spiritual teacher
and organization. In today’s slightly more civilized world, crucifying
a “cult leader” is no longer an option. Yet many people
have been crucified by the press and once they have been labeled with
the infamous word “Cult” who can take them down from that
cross? Well, you can—at least in your own mind.
I was subjected to this kind of character assassination 2,000 years
ago and it did keep many people from following me. Back then, it was
spread only by word of mouth and thus it was not recorded for posterity.
In today’s world, it is far easier to spread such false information
and thus it can permanently discredit people. Many modern spiritual
seekers have been misled by such misinformation and have thus missed
opportunities for spiritual growth. Many of the spiritual organizations
that serve a valid function as forerunners for a new approach to spirituality
have been mislabeled as cults.
Thought 6
If you truly want to understand the Summit Lighthouse, you need to carefully
ponder the fact that this organization was the last organization we
sponsored in the Piscean dispensation. Thus, the Summit was meant to
serve as an organization that would help people pass the tests they
needed to pass in the Piscean age. Passing these tests is necessary
before you can move into the Aquarian age consciousness.
The Summit was, therefore, designed to not only help, but even to force
people, to look for the beam in their own eyes. It is, however, impossible
to start any organization without attracting people who have not yet
taken full responsibility for themselves. One of the major initiations
of Pisces is that you take this responsibility, which means that you
cannot blindly follow outer leaders or outer rules. You must be willing
to find your own answers within. You must be willing to make your own
decisions, and in doing so run the risk of being wrong.
To truly take responsibility for your own salvation, you must understand
that the true object of life is to learn, to self-transcend. Thus, even
a wrong decision can become a springboard for growth. When people have
not understood this, they often become so afraid of making mistakes
that they do not want to make their own decisions. They want someone
else to make decisions for them.
At the lower stages of spiritual growth, following outer rules is necessary
because the soul it not mature enough to make its own decisions. Yet
there comes a point when you must be willing to look beyond the outer
rules and follow your inner directions. If you do not do this, the outer
rules/organization/teachings become a trap that stops your growth. Once
people are in this trap, they often need to be shaken out of it in order
to resume their growth. My point being that at the end of the Age of
Pisces many spiritual seekers need to be shaken out of the tendency
to follow the automatic path to salvation.
If you will study the teachings we released through the Summit Lighthouse,
you will see that we went to great length to help people overcome this
hurdle and manifest their Christhood. Yet many people did not understand
or internalize these teachings and continued to want others to make
decisions for them. What are spiritual teachers to do with such students?
We could reject them, but that is not a loving response, so we used
another time-tested method.
This method is to force people to confront their unwillingness to make
decisions by giving them what they ask for—to the extreme. Thus,
the Summit Lighthouse did go through a phase in which people were given
very specific rules for every aspect of life. The intent was to box
people in so tightly with outer rules that they could no longer move
and would thus have to either leave or start making their own decisions.
Obviously, this intent was not stated publicly or it would have ruined
the test. People had to figure it out on their own.
This is not our preferred method of teaching, but as I said, the Summit
was the last organization we could sponsor in the Piscean age, so extreme
methods were called for. The downside of this is that some people made
almost fanatical attempts to follow all the outer rules, and when they
finally broke under their – self-created – strain, they
became angry and blamed the organization and its leader, who for them
became the scapegoat for deferring responsibility for their path.
I am not hereby saying that some people did not have legitimate complaints.
Neither Elizabeth Clare Prophet nor the church’s staff and members
were perfect people. Yet if you take responsibility for yourself, you
will NEVER let other people’s mistakes take you off the spiritual
path. It really is that simple when you are willing to be brutally honest.
I might mention that many people were not burdened by the outer rules.
For example, both Kim and Lorraine took a balanced approach and followed
their inner direction over the outer rules. Kim took one look at the
rules and decided, “If I have to do everything the church recommends,
I simply couldn’t do it all in 24 hours. So I have to do what
feels right and not worry about the rest.” Many other people took
a similar approach and never allowed the church rules or Elizabeth Clare
Prophet to control their lives. Thus, we might say that there were some
people who literally turned the outer rules into a cult environment,
whereas others lived mature and balanced lives in the same environment.
This, of course, is true of many other spiritual organizations that
have been labeled as cults.
Thought 7
The fact is that in any organization of any size, you can find some
people who have been offended and who look only at the mote in the eyes
of other people. It is very easy to use such people as an excuse for
placing the label “Cult” on an organization. Again, I am
not saying the Summit Lighthouse was a perfect organization. However,
if you take a positive approach, spiritual seekers can learn much from
studying this organization, including learning much about how things
should not be done or should not be done in the Aquarian age.
However, the most important lesson you can learn from studying any organization
is that the goal of spiritual growth is to overcome the ego. The ego
plays many subtle games in spiritual organizations. We might say that
the underlying game is that the ego is constantly trying to come up
with a reason why you should not follow the true spiritual path. Thus,
it wants you to leave behind a spiritual teaching or organization that
could help you transcend the ego. It is constantly seeking to find imperfections
in the organization, its leader, its teachings or its members and use
them as a justification to get you to leave.
Thought 8
How do we select a messenger? Well, the first thing you need to understand
is that selecting a messenger is not a popularity contest. We do not
select messengers based on their potential popularity among people or
their acceptability to the media. On the contrary, the purpose of a
messenger is to challenge people’s mental boxes, their preconceived
opinions, and thus a messenger will by definition be unpopular.
There is no universal standard for selecting a messenger. Each messenger
has a specific mission, which is to challenge a certain state of consciousness
and help people rise above it. Thus, for each task we select the messenger
best suited for that task. For example, the Summit Lighthouse was meant
to challenge the Piscean mindset of blindly following an outer leader.
Thus, we needed a messenger who was capable of and willing to do this,
even to the point of taking on the role of mirroring back to people
whatever they brought to the table (in an attempt to magnify people's
flaws and make them visible). Elizabeth Clare Prophet had the personality
to fulfill this role eminently, whereas Kim would have been completely
unable to do this and would, because he knows this, have refused to
do so.
It is also helpful to consider that Elizabeth Clare Prophet was meant
to challenge the Piscean illusion that women cannot be spiritual leaders.
To do this, she needed to be very determined and, in fact, have many
masculine qualities. Only a very strong woman could have survived the
intense attacks to which she was exposed. The same holds true for Helena
Blavatsky who was the messenger for the Theosophical Society. Yet it
goes with the territory that people who are strong and powerful leaders
are not soft and gentle. Thus, some people will inevitably see them
as too powerful and too controlling.
What I am saying here is that we do not select messengers based on outer
criteria. We look beyond the outer personality and look at the deeper
qualifications of the lifestream. When selecting a messenger for a specific
task, we often have a limited field from which to choose. A messenger
must have the necessary inner qualities but must also have an outer
willingness to do the job. The twain do not always meet.
As a result, we must sometimes choose a messenger who has the inner
qualifications and the outer willingness, but who has certain personality
traits that some people will find offensive. This is acceptable because
as a spiritual seeker you MUST learn to look beyond outer appearances.
If you reject a messenger based on his or her human personality, it
shows that you are not yet ready for the higher stages of the spiritual
path, where you must look beyond ALL outer appearances. This is another
Piscean test that people must pass, and again Elizabeth Clare Prophet
had the qualities to present people with this test.
I can assure you that there were people who rejected me because of my
personality or what they perceived as flaws in my character and behavior.
Many Christian churches have created the idol that I was gentle, loving
and soft-spoken. A careful reading of the scriptures will dispel this
myth. I was and am a very strong and powerful personality with a flair
for the dramatic. In fact, this did cause some people to perceive me
in a way that in today’s language would have labeled me as a paranoid
and egotistical person who had deified myself and was controlling my
disciples.
Thought 9
Let me give you a different view of Elizabeth Clare Prophet. Imagine
a young girl who is just starting her college education. She has always
had a strong interest in public service, including politics. She knows
she is intelligent and a hard worker who can go far in public service.
In fact, she could have become a senator or congresswoman or have attained
a high position in the United Nations. Yet as she is ready to start
what she has grown up to see as her life’s mission, she is contacted
by what some like to call the “spirit of a dead person.”
This was the Ascended Master El Morya, who explained to the young Elizabeth
that he needed her to become his next female messenger.
El Morya showed her what would happen to the planet if she did not take
this assignment and he made it clear there was no one else at the time
who could fill that specific role. And while she was eager to serve,
she was well aware of the consequences. She would have to completely
abandon her life’s dream of public service. She had to give up
getting an education and her reputation would be ruined to the point
of making her unemployable. She would face enormous challenges and be
subjected to numerous attacks from male religious leaders, from the
media and even from some of her own followers.
All in all, it was a thankless job here on Earth, and I can assure you
that many people would not have been willing to abandon their life plans
or subject themselves to so many challenges. Yet Elizabeth took on the
task and applied herself to it with the best of her ability. For several
decades, she literally gave it 110 percent until her illness ended her
messengership on the outer. When her husband died in 1973, she was left
with four young children, a fledgling spiritual organization and an
enormous responsibility. Yet she still remained true to her calling,
never allowing any of the attacks upon her to deter her from moving
forward. If I had 10,000 people with the same dedication, you would
see this planet change rapidly.
I dare say that very few people could have survived the strain to which
she was exposed, and even fewer could have done so much work under such
conditions. I am not hereby saying that Elizabeth Clare Prophet was
perfect. Yet when we anoint a messenger, we do give that person some
leeway for making mistakes. As long as the person does not go beyond
certain boundaries, he or she can maintain our sponsorship. Obviously,
we always prefer that messengers make as few mistakes as possible, yet
if we required messengers to be perfect, we could never find one.
Thought 10
There is a common misconception in spiritual organizations that the
leaders of such organizations should somehow be superhuman and should
be perfect according to a standard that no one can quite define. This
misconception was created by the prince of this world by using the psychological
mechanism that causes people to refuse to take responsibility for themselves.
The purpose is always to take you off the true spiritual path, and the
devil can win in more ways than one.
Many religious people are trapped in a state of idolatry of their own
organization and its leader. They think their organization is perfect
(the only true religion) and that their leader is appointed by God and
thus must be the perfect human being. This gives rise to the belief
that as long as they stay in the organization and follow this perfect
leader, they will automatically be saved. It is the dream of becoming
perfect through associating with perfect people. As long as people retain
this sense of idolatry, they simply cannot rise to the true spiritual
path, and thus the forces of anti-christ and their own egos have them
under control.
As I explain throughout this website, you cannot manifest your Christhood
without taking full responsibility for yourself. This means that you
must overcome any idolatry of an organization or leader. Many of the
more spiritually mature people on this planet are in the process of
moving out of this idolatry. Some souls deliberately chose – at
subconscious levels – to become involved with certain organizations
in order to overcome this idolatry. One way to do this is to experience
a spiritual leader with obvious imperfections, which then helps you
overcome idolatry.
An obvious example is the sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, which
has given many Catholics an opportunity to overcome their idolatry of
this organization. I am not hereby saying that sexual abuse is in any
way justified. Yet I am saying that the many imperfections in spiritual
organizations can have the positive potential of helping people take
responsibility for their spiritual growth instead of blindly following
a leader.
When the idolatrous dream of an automatic salvation is shattered, people
have the opportunity to take a quantum leap forward on their spiritual
path. Unfortunately, the forces of anti-christ and people’s egos
know what is at stake and they try to take people into various blind
alleys. One such blind alley is to go into denial and refuse to acknowledge
the flaws of your spiritual leader. Another blind alley is the idea
that you were fooled or abused by the spiritual leader, and thus nothing
was your fault. As long as you feel like a victim, you cannot follow
the true spiritual path. Another blind alley is the idea that the spiritual
path is unreal and that there are no genuine spiritual leaders and thus
you should give up on the whole thing.
Can you see that the devil will win either way? If you stay in the idolatrous
consciousness, the devil has you under control. If you go into denial,
the devil has you under control. If you see yourself as a victim, the
devil has you under control. And if you give up on the spiritual path,
the devil has won. The only way out is that you make a total commitment
to using every experience as an opportunity to learn.
So what if you have been involved with an imperfect spiritual organization?
You chose that experience because you wanted to learn something from
it. So stop looking at the mote in the eye of another and look for the
beam – the lesson – in your own psychology. Simply learn
that lesson and move on—which is the only way to prevent the devil
from controlling you.
Consider my saying, “The prince of this world cometh and has nothing
in me” (John 14:30). The devil will have nothing in you only when
you have no attachments, when you are willing to transcend any aspect
of your life and psychology. In other words, being willing to use every
situation as a springboard for self-transcendence is the only way to
escape the devil and his attempts to keep you from your God.
I am not hereby trying to tell you what you should think about Elizabeth
Clare Prophet or the Summit Lighthouse. I am simply saying that you
need to formulate your own opinion based on your own observations and
inner direction. You should always follow your heart, but to do so you
will need to look beyond the dualistic ideas that have been programmed
into your mind. If you allow your vision of any spiritual teaching to
be colored by such dualistic images, you simply cannot hear what your
Christ self is telling you in your heart.
Thought 11
Consider why the devil has created the myth of the perfect human being?
It is to get people to follow the “way which seemeth right unto
a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12).
The simple fact is that no human being ever has been or ever will be
perfect. The concept of human perfection is a lie that has no reality
in God. The devil created this myth to make people believe that if they
can attain human perfection, God simply has to save them. So people
pursue human perfection, as did the scribes and Pharisees. And you might
recall my statement, “Except your righteousness shall exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter
into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).
Again, the devil can win either way. Some people manage to convince
themselves that they are perfect according to some human standard, and
thus they refuse to see the beam in their own eyes—their egos.
This prevents them from escaping the ego and keeps them on the false
path of pride. Others pursue human perfection but realize they always
fall short of the mark, and thus they never feel they can be saved.
They either spend lifetimes running after the carrot – as a donkey
in front of a cart – or they become discouraged and give up. Either
way, the devil has won.
Simply reach for the key of knowledge and let your Christ self and spiritual
teachers take you beyond this oh so human game. Stop trying to become
humanly perfect – which means you must stop demanding perfection
of others – and instead discover the real key to salvation, “Blessed
are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).
Kim's comment:
It is customary for spiritual seekers to pay homage to those who have
served as their teachers, and I would like to take this opportunity
to express my profound gratitude for the many lessons I have learned
from Elizabeth Clare Prophet and my involvement with the Summit Lighthouse.
I was never close to Mrs. Prophet and only spoke to her a handful of
times. Yet I learned immensely from the teachings she brought forth
and from watching her in a variety of situations. I learned much about
myself from watching my reactions to her as a spiritual leader.
I was never blind to her personality traits, but I was always able to
see beyond them and did in fact have experiences of seeing the Christ
light within her. I was also able to see beyond the obvious shortcomings
of the outer organization because I sensed the genuine Presence of the
Masters while Elizabeth Clare Prophet was still functioning as a messenger.
Unfortunately, this Presence is no longer there, but even the current
evolution of the organization has been a good learning experience.
I can honestly say that I would not have been able to serve as a messenger
for Jesus if it had not been for what I learned from Elizabeth Clare
Prophet and the Summit Lighthouse. I am not saying there was no other
organization where I could have learned those lessons, but I do think
the Summit was a unique opportunity for those who found it. I certainly
learned a lot about spiritual organizations in the Aquarian age.
My involvement with this organization has been put in a new perspective
by Jesus' teaching that it was the last organization sponsored by the
Masters in the Piscean dispensation. I now understand why I needed to
be in that organization and why I always felt like an outsider. I am
very much attuned to the Aquarian Age consciousness, and thus I never
fully identified with any Piscean organization (including any mainstream
Christian church). As Jesus said, life is all about moving on, and I
am grateful for any aspect of my life that helped me transcend some
of my personal limitations and take the next steps on my path.
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Copyright
© 2005 by Kim Michaels |
