“Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’” (Matthew 4:10)

“Away from me, satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’” (Matthew 4:10)

Who is 'satan' or 'the devil'?

This ends the exchange described in Matthew during which Jesus was tempted by the devil or satan. Just who is this person that Jesus is having conversations with? Is it really a person? Is the devil really someone who is challenging God and whom God cannot control?

The event unfolds during Jesus' fast of forty days and nights. Jesus was hungry:

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. (Matt. 4:1-2)

"The devil" is introduced in the text as "the tempter", translated from the Greek word πειράζω (peirazō) - meaning "to try, make trial of, test:"

The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." (Matt. 4:3)

Jesus responded by describing our identity as spiritual and our relationship with the Supreme Being:

“It is written : ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matt. 4:4)

But next we find that "the tempter" - the "devil" - now takes Jesus to "the holy city" - apparently Jerusalem:

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. (Matt. 4:5)

And then he tempts him with another possibility:

"If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: " 'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" (Matt. 4:6)

Jesus responded to this latest temptation:

“It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” (Matt. 4:7)

And this is precisely what "the tempter" is asking of Jesus - to put God to the test. And what is putting God "to the test" mean? We'll discuss this below.

Next "the devil" takes Jesus to another place and tempts him with another possibility:

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." (Matt. 4:8-9)

So we must ask: Who is this person who can not only tempt Jesus with turning stones to food but can take him many miles away to Jerusalem and then also take him to a mountaintop to show him "all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor"?

Who has this kind of power of transport? And who has the power to give someone "all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor"?

And what about God? Does God not have such power? Doesn't God have the power to remove those powers of satan? Doesn't God have the ability to strike down the devil? Why, then, is the devil still around?

Who has 'all this' to give to Jesus?

Some sectarian institutions and their teachers threaten us that "the devil" or "satan" is a person who has somehow gotten out of God's control and is now going around tempting people. They also teach that all the suffering in the world is caused by "the devil" or "satan." That he has somehow gotten out of control and now he is going around messing things up for us and God.

It makes no sense to say that there is the existence of a Supreme Being - who is all-powerful - yet someone has gotten out of His control. As if God - which means omniscient - cannot control His creation.

This is an atheist concept: If someone has gotten out of God's control there is no God: A God who is not in control is not God.

This is hypocrisy. To say there is a God but God lost control over part of His creation is a nonsensical doctrine.

The reality is that there is a Supreme Being and He never loses control. There is never anyone out of His ultimate authority and control.

Is anything out of control?

This would mean that such a "tempter" or "devil" or "satan" is ultimately within God's control.

And this means that all the temptations that we are presented with are ultimately taking place with God's authority and permission.

The reality is that the Supreme Being arranged temptation. It is part of His energy that deceives us into thinking we will be happy if we act in a self-centered fashion within the physical world.

Temptation is ultimately designed by God to give us freedom of choice. Each of us has the freedom of choice to act in a myriad of ways.

Ultimately, we each have the choice to love others or love ourselves. We have the choice to be God-centered or self-centered.

We can also waiver between the two, in various ways. These are part of the choices each of us is given by the Supreme Being as He created us.

God created each of us to love Him and serve Him. But love requires freedom. We cannot be forced to love someone.

So the Supreme Being created each of us with the option to love Him or love ourselves.

The option of self-centeredness also has a number of gradients. We can still be self-centered and inflict less harm to others. Or we can not care at all, which can lead to becoming violent and even hateful.

Loving others also has gradients. These range from sacrificing oneself to help others to just trying to be kind when possible. We can love others more or less.

Regardless, this world provides choice: It requires us to make a choice in one respect or another - and at one gradient or another.

Isn't temptation a form of choice?

As such, the physical world continually gives us the choice, through temptation.

Temptation is set up through the mind and the senses. The senses, through nerve conduction and neurotransmitters, feed the mind physical attractions. And the mind concocts designs for us to try to enjoy those attractions.

The combination of these sensual attractions and the mind's concoctions create the temptations that pull us into the physical world's net.

And this net of the physical world keeps pulling at us - constantly giving us the choice of remaining away from the Supreme Being. This, as stated in Matthew 4:3, is what a test is: A choice.

Yes, we can certainly personify this system - as it has been personified by ancient teachers. And it is not incorrect to say that the Supreme Being has others help Him manage things. Yes, the Supreme Being has many servants and those who don't serve Him - who help maintain the physical world from different aspects.

For example, there have been many cruel leaders in the past who treated their subjects with painful consequences. Where was God in these circumstances? Was God not around when millions of Jews were persecuted by German leaders? Was He not around when millions were slaughtered and raped by African overlords? Did He lose control during these times as some institutions like to teach?

Certainly not. None of those evil leaders were challengers to God. None of them are out of God's control. Yes, each abused the power they were given by virtue of their own consequences, and they will each have to suffer the consequences of their actions, just as their actions executed the consequences of others' previous actions.

What we do not understand about these circumstances is that we are not these physical bodies. They are temporary vehicles. The pain we feel when they are damaged are nerve impulses to our brains. Just as the driver of a car is not harmed when the car breaks down, the spiritual person within is not harmed when the body is harmed or killed.

We might compare this to a video game. The video game icon we identify with might be shot or even killed, but we are not shot or killed. We simply turn off the game and walk away from the computer. In the same way, the spirit-person leaves the physical body when it dies.

So these experiences that produce pain within the physical body are merely teaching opportunities, just as being shot in a video game can teach us.

The bottom line is that the physical world - the physical senses and the mind - was set up perfectly to offer us temptations that allow us to exercise our freedom to not love God.

Did God create this world as a place of choice?

Ultimately, in order to provide us with the choice not to love Him, the Supreme Being created a separate world - a virtual world - to allow us the ultimate dimension of choice. Here we get to make choices regarding love and selfishness. But we can also choose to completely forget God, or even deny God's existence.

This physical world was created for those of us who chose not to love Him to play out our self-centeredness without having to see Him.

Why would He make the choice complete? Because only this will allow us to make a real choice to love Him out of freedom. The option of not loving Him has to be real and it has to be executable. What is the benefit of having choice if we have no way of exercising one of the options?

So the Supreme Being created this dimension - the physical world - in order for us to exercise our choice not to love and serve Him.

And these physical bodies are the vehicles that we use to access the physical world. These bodies are not us - they are vehicles we utilize temporarily. They are like a car a person gets in and drives for a while. After a few decades, the physical body dies and we move on.

We are spiritual in essence. But our spiritual identity and the Supreme Being are hidden from the perception of the physical body and mind. Why?

To give us the complete freedom to exercise our desire not to love and serve God. If God was ever-present to our physical eyes and mind as He is in the spiritual realm then how could we play out our fantasies to be independent of Him and seek out our personal pleasure, fame and glory?

We couldn't. If we were faced with His presence we'd be unable to ignore Him.

We might compare this to how parents will give a child their own bedroom. While they own the house and have complete control over the house including the bedroom, they give the child their own room so the child can have some privacy and not have to have their parents looking over their shoulders all the time.

But this privacy is only perceived. The parents can go into the room anytime they want. They can look through all the kid's stuff as they want. But they may not because they want to teach the child respect. They may respect the child's privacy as part of their raising of the child.

Just as the child is given their own room and the perception of privacy, the Supreme Being has given each of us the physical world and this physical body and mind to act out our self-centered desires. The perception of privacy from Him gives us the freedom to choose as we want, without having Him "in our face" so to speak.

After all, how could we make an objective choice to love God if we couldn't get away from Him?

And just like the child's bedroom is always within the control of the parents, the Supreme Being is always in control over the physical world. He just set up things so that the world seems independent from Him, and yet still feeds back to each of us the consequences of our various choices.

And this is why there is suffering in the world. It is not because some guy (devil or satan) got out of control. It is because the Supreme Being designed the physical world to produce precise consequences for our activities. When we do something good, there is a good consequence, and when we do something that harms another, we get harmed in return.

This consequence system is designed to teach us, just as the best way of parenting has been shown to be consequence training rather than physical discipline.

So while the physical world is set up by God to allow us the freedom to choose, it also teaches us. Why? Because our innate identity is spiritual - and our innate behavior is loving. So the physical world has been designed to point us towards our innate spiritual nature.

But it still gives us the ultimate freedom to choose whether we want to love and serve God or love and serve ourselves. This is God's perfect design.

Is this a symbolic conversation between Jesus and the 'devil'?

There may be a practical element to Jesus' fast and walk through the desert. But this exchange between Jesus and the devil is certainly metaphorical - and symbolic.

The symbolism used in the event that played out between Jesus and "satan" portrays our freedom of choice precisely. It illustrates how Jesus was given the choice to exercise his self-centeredness, by being offered the notion of seeking wealth, power, and fame within the physical world.

But Jesus did not choose those. He chose to love and serve the Supreme Being - and "worship" Him - rather than "testing" God.

This is the teaching purpose of this event portrayed using personification and symbolism. We each have this choice to make: we can love and serve ourselves by chasing the various concoctions of our mind as fed by the senses - and executed through the chase for wealth, fame and power.

Or we can love and serve the Supreme Being. We have that choice.

This is the lesson provided by this event, and this is the sum and substance of the real teachings of Jesus. Jesus came to deliver to us this message that if we make the choice to love and serve the Supreme Being as our Best Friend and Soul Mate, we will be fulfilled, simply because this is our innate spiritual nature.

This is why Jesus states clearly:

"‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’"

*Here is the translation of this verse from the Lost Gospels of Jesus:

“Go away, enemy of God! For it is written, “You shall worship the LORD your God and Him only shall you serve.” (Matt. 4:10)

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged ..." (Matthew 7:1-2)

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Matthew 7:1-2)

What does Jesus mean by 'judge'?

The word "judge" here is being translated from the Greek word κρίνω (krinō), which means, according to the lexicon:

-to separate, put asunder, to pick out, select, choose
-to approve, esteem, to prefer
-to be of opinion, deem, think, to be of opinion
-to determine, resolve, decree
-to judge
-to pronounce an opinion concerning right and wrong
-to rule, govern

While "judge" may be the best word to use, the meaning of Jesus' statement begins to have greater meaning because it indicates not just judging others but feeling oneself in a position to judge others. That is, thinking highly enough of oneself to think that our opinions and judgments have value. It is a false sense of entitlement - feeling ourselves great enough to be able to judge others.

Feeling so highly of ourselves to enable us to judge others is practically universal in the physical world. The citizens of this world feel it is our right and responsibility to judge others.

Are our judgments and opinions valuable?

In this world, practically everyone has an opinion - on practically everything. Regardless of whether we know anything about what we are talking about or not. We think our opinions and judgments are invaluable.

We can see it online in the form of comments and reviews. So many people want to get their opinion out there - judging an article or book or topic in general. Regardless of their expertise on the topic. Regardless of whether they have had any training or any kind of knowledge given to them to share.

There are two issues here. One relates to a lack of knowledge and the other relates to humility.

Are we really in any kind of position to make judgments upon anyone else? No. Therefore, our judgments have no value.

Just consider how small and inconsequential we are. There are about 7,800,000,000. Thus we are each one 1/7,800,000,000 of the human population on earth.

Now consider the Supreme Being. He created every single one of these 7.8 billion people, and a lot more. How can each of us be undergoing simultaneous learning experiences?

Because God intelligently designed the physical world and all of its lessons and consequences.

Humans have invented computer programming that allows for what is called artificial intelligence. God is the ultimate programmer, and he has designed a whole living mechanism within the physical world that expresses intelligence in the form of teaching us. 

Only the intelligence within this world is not artificial. It is alive.

Who is in a position to judge?

In order to judge, one must have all the facts, and the intelligence to interpret them. Do we have enough facts to make judgments on someone else? Do we know what they have gone through? Do we know the various causational issues to make an educated judgment?

Not really. Only one person has all of this: The Supreme Being.

Because the Supreme Being is the Source of everything and the Owner of everything, and the Knower of everything, only He has the right of judgment. Only He has an opinion of value.

Therefore, if we are not glorifying the Supreme Being, or passing along His opinions - the teachings of His representatives - then our opinions are no better than dogs barking or cats meowing.

Jesus confirmed this position as he said:

"By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but Him who sent me." (John 5:30)

Jesus is stating that is judgments are fair because he is working on behalf of the Supreme Being. He is God's representative. His purpose for judging others is not related to the reasons we in the physical world like to judge others.

We like to judge others because we think that we are great. This is self-centeredness. It is pride. It is egotism based upon false identification.

Because we mistakenly identify ourselves as these physical bodies, we think we have some right of judgment. Yet we are not these physical bodies. They are temporary vehicles. And our minds are also temporary. So even if we think we have a sharp mind, the mind will not be sharp for long. At some point, our mind will become forgetful just as our physical body falters and begins to die.

Jesus' statement above also indicates one of the designs of the physical world - that the physical world is designed to teach us through consequences. Whatever we do comes back to us in the form of consequences. This allows us to experience what we do to others. It is the perfect learning tool.

Jesus is explaining this process with regard to judgment. He says, "in the same way you judge others, you will be judged." This is precision consequence learning.

It is so precise that even the measure with which we judge others - "and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

How does God judge?

The Supreme Being is the perfect judge. Not only does He see everything and automatically understand the various causational issues. But He imparts fair and merciful judgments upon us in real-time.

Some of His judgments are immediate, while others take place over time, depending upon the circumstance.

The basis of God's judgments is consequences. The Supreme Being wants us to learn and grow from our mistakes. So He combines mercy together with the impartial serving of consequences. Much of this takes place seemingly automatically, but there is tremendous wisdom behind it all.

This is confirmed by Jesus as translated from the NLT version:

"For you will be treated as you treat others." (Matt. 7:2 NLT)

The foundation is that we are here in this world to learn. So what we do while here may come back at us during this lifetime or the next lifetime.

This consequence system, designed by the Supreme Being, is perfect. It is the perfect system because it doesn't require God to intervene and move things around for each situation. The consequences are measured out automatically depending upon our situation and learning opportunities.

Yet some feel that God is not perfect, because if He were, then why is the world so messed up? Why are there so many wars, and people starving and people dying if God were perfect?

Those who make such a judgment of God are judging God without the ability to do so. We don't bother considering that quite possibly the reason why the world is so messed up is that we are messing it up.

Yes, the Supreme Being simply provided us with a world where we could make choices regarding our activities. Here we have the choice to be as mean and greedy as we want or a loving and kind as we want. It is our choice, and the condition of the world reflects this choice.

As such, it is the meanness - the hostility - the greed - of those of us in the physical world that has produced all the hostility, starvation, and wars around the world. These are not coming from God. They are coming from us. These are the consequences of our actions. Our consciousness. Our self-centeredness.

Why do we suffer in this world?

Why, we might ask, are some children born into starvation? What have they done to deserve this?

This same question was asked of Jesus:

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:1-2)

Such a question assumes that this man lived before he was born and had the opportunity to sin. Therefore, we know the question assumes the man had a lifetime before this lifetime.

How else could the man's sins have possibly caused him to be blind if he were born blind? This assumption clearly means that Jesus taught that we can live multiple physical lifetimes.

We also know that living multiple lifetimes was also understood by many during Jesus' time. We can see this in the following verses:

Jesus and his disciples left Galilee and went up to the villages near Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other prophets.” (Mark 8:27-28)

We can understand from these and other verses that at least part of Jesus' teachings was that we each have lived before being born within this physical body. These teachings were neatly removed from the New Testament by the Romans and the sectarian institutions that followed - along with silencing early Christian teachers such as Origen Adamantius from Alexandria. The Romans and the Roman Catholic institution repackaged Jesus' teachings in ways that fit their agenda of controlling the populace.

The reality that cannot be neatly removed is that we are not these physical bodies at all. It is scientifically verifiable. These bodies are constantly changing. The molecules that make up our body now will be recycled for new molecules within five years. So within five years, we will effectively have a completely different body on.

This means we changed bodies - right in this lifetime.

We can also change bodies after this body is dead - if we haven't re-developed our loving relationship with the Supreme Being.

And this is why some children are born into suffering. Because that suffering is a consequence of actions taken in a previous life. Just as Jesus' disciples mentioned, "who sinned, this man or his parents?"

Think about this further. The question is a logical one. The boy's blindness might be a consequence of the parents - something the parents did before the boy was born. Or it might have been a consequence of something the boy did - in his previous lifetime.

Who is suffering?

Suffering in the physical world takes place upon the temporary physical body - not upon the spirit-person within. Yes, it can certainly affect the spirit-person, invoking learning, and understanding produced by previous activities.

But essentially, it is like playing a video game. If a boy's icon gets blown up in the video game does the boy get hurt? No. The boy can just turn off the game and walk away.

In the same way, if our body gets blown up, we simply leave the physical body - and "walk" away. We actually rise up out of the physical body (resurrection) at the time of death.

So the suffering of the physical body is meant as a learning experience. It is like getting into a flight simulator. The flight simulator is not a real plane. It is designed to teach a person how to fly a plane.

In the same way, these physical bodies are designed to teach us - to rehabilitate us.

This is the purpose for consequences, which are borne from the perfect judgments of the Supreme Being. When we treat others poorly we get treated the same in reciprocation - if not immediately, at some point.

This system is meant to teach us so that someday we will learn to love again. And one day desire to re-develop our innate relationship with the Supreme Being.

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye ...?" (Matthew 7:3-5)

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye." (Matthew 7:3-5)

What do the 'speck' and the 'plank' mean?

Jesus is using a metaphor to make the point that we are in no position to judge others. That is because each of us has things we need to work on.

The "speck" that Jesus is referring to would be someone else's fault. "Your brother's eye" means the sawdust is preventing that person from having more understanding. And the "plank" in our eye represents us not having more understanding - not being able to see out of that eye due to the blockage.

Notice that a "speck" is much, much smaller than a "plank." This means that while we are focused on others' small faults, we have bigger, much bigger ones to fix.

Making judgments of others' faults simply reflects our own larger failings to fix.

Can we change others or should we change ourselves first?

Trying to change others is a difficult task. Yes, some people are in a position to help guide others. But for most of us, it is better for us to change ourselves first.

And should we change ourselves for the better, others around us may change for the better as well. This means setting an example for others.

Making big changes requires seeing God as the center of the universe and not us. In order to have a change of heart, we must undergo a major shift in focus and activities. We must gradually put God at the center, and try to put His happiness before our own happiness. Then and only then, will we be able to change.

It is way easier to see that others are not undergoing that major shift in activities than to undergo this major shift ourselves. In fact, the physical world is set up to reflect our faults until we decide to change. So whatever fault and shortcomings we see in ourselves that we are not prepared to change, we will see those faults in others.

When we begin to criticize others for the same faults that we ourselves have, we actually move further from being able to make those changes within ourselves. They allow us to escape our own need for change.

How do we make changes then? We can surely try to make changes, but the Supreme Person can give us the strength to change from within.

We can ask the Supreme Person to help us change. We can take refuge in Him.

We can realize that we are weak, and He has the power to help us.

This is called taking refuge in the Supreme Being.

Jesus showed us how to do this by his example, as he prayed to God openly before his disciples:

"Now they know that everything You have given me comes from You." (John 17:7)

“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ..." (Matthew 7:9-12)

“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him! In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." (Matt. 7:9-12)

What does Jesus mean by this hypothetical?

Jesus is explaining, using a symbolic hypothetical situation, the Supreme Being's unconditional love for us.

The care that a parent has is compared to God's love because a parent would care about a son regardless of whether the son is rejecting the parent or has rejected the parent in the past.

This is the reality of the situation between the Supreme Being and ourselves at this point. He unconditionally loves us and therefore He is always ready and willing to forgive us, and take care of us.

This also illustrates His impartiality. He is attentive to all His children, not necessarily just the better ones.

Who is Jesus saying is 'evil'?

Jesus also makes an important and revealing statement here regarding "evil." He says:

“If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children ..."

The assumption of Jesus within this text is that the people he is speaking to - the crowd, his students and disciples - are all "evil." Notice that "evil" is not being described as some alien-looking guy with big horns.

Rather, Jesus clearly indicates the people around him - those he was speaking to - were "evil." Why?

And if Jesus' disciples and students were "evil" what to speak of us?

We must also realize that each of us living self-centered lives in physical bodies, ignoring the Supreme Being in all or some aspect of our lives, is "evil." This is because evil is the condition of being self-centered.

Those of us who reside here in the physical world reside here specifically because of our self-centeredness - which gives birth to envy and greed. The spiritual world is that place of selfless love and compassion - and that place where the Supreme Being is the center of everyone's lives.

For those of us who rejected this consciousness, we were given temporary physical bodies to gain the freedom from God we were seeking.

And because God loves us and wants us back, this physical environment is set up to re-educate us to the fact that we will only be happy and fulfilled if we resume our innate spiritual consciousness - where the Supreme Being is the center of our lives.

Naturally, we all prefer to be treated fairly and cared for. This is because the Supreme Being cares for us and He treats us all impartially and fairly.

He gives us what we need, teaches us with love, and wants us to be spiritually happy.

This doesn’t mean that we always get what we want. Just because we think we are going to be happy if we get a red sports car doesn’t mean that we will be happy if we get the car.

In the same way, a child might think he or she will be happy if he or she has candy for dinner. The child’s parents know better. They know that eating candy for dinner will only lead to blood sugar problems, mood issues and the like. Therefore, because the parents love the child, they will give the child healthy food.

Does God teach us through consequences?

God designed the physical world to teach us through the use of consequences for our actions. Should we hurt others, we are eventually hurt. When we are kind, people are kind back. This world was designed by the Supreme Being to be a classroom that teaches us, tests us, and grades us.

Treating others the way we wish to be treated is considered the bottom line of the laws of the Prophets because it wraps together caring for others. The ultimate in caring for others is to put ourselves in someone else's shoes and treat them the way we want to be treated.

By treating others the way we want to be treated, the consequence is that we end up being treated in the same way we treat others. Our kindness to others returns kindness to us. This is universal because this is God's law, as Jesus states:

"For you will be treated as you treat others." (Matt. 7:2 NLT)

This doesn't mean that the world doesn't still present us with lessons each moment. Sometimes we are learning lessons from previous lifetimes and the decisions we made during those lifetimes.

God teaches through the events of the physical world that material things will not make us happy. For this reason, we usually have to work hard for those things, and then when we get them, we are let down.

This is because the Supreme Being loves us and is trying to teach us what will actually make us happy: to love and serve Him in our natural position within the spiritual realm.

It is for this reason that Jesus says:

"...do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."

In other words, all of the Ten Commandments can be followed if we are truly caring, loving and serving God and His children.

"So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed ..." (Matthew 10:26)

"So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known." (Matthew 10:26)

Who is Jesus describing?

Who is Jesus referring to - as "them"? What what is he referring to with regard to what will be known or disclosed?

Jesus is continuing his instructions to his disciples as he is sending them out to teach on his behalf. He is discussing those who would persecute them:

"I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues." (Matthew 10:16-17)

Now Jesus is telling them they have no one to fear. The Supreme Being will protect them, and what they do will be known to the Supreme Being. They won't be able to hide from God. And neither can their persecutors.

This is an important element because some figure that they can do things that hurt others in secret. That no one will know. But this is untrue. The Supreme Being is next to each of us within these physical bodies. He is there for us when we need Him, and He is watching over us.

This means that He sees whatever we do. We cannot hide our self-centered activities from Him.

Every activity that harms someone will bear a consequence.

Is this justice?

Many complain that there is no real justice in this world. That is because they are only seeing with their physical eyes. They are not seeing what takes place over a span of multiple lifetimes.

The Supreme Being knows how to arrange the perfect form of justice. And what is that?

Each of us gets to experience precisely what we do to others. Anything we do that impacts another must also be experienced by ourselves in the future. If we help others, we get helped. If we hurt others, we get hurt.

This of course takes place upon our physical bodies - as we are not these physical bodies. They are like vehicles we drive temporarily.

We might compare the system of consequences to a demolition derby: If a driver plows his car into another car, that car will turn around and plow right back into his car - or another car will plow into his car.

But at the end of the demolition derby - after all the cars are wrecked up - the drivers can get out of their beat-up cars - just as we all leave these physical bodies at the time of death.

And just as a demolition derby driver can go drive another car after his derby car is wrecked up, we also may occupy another physical body after this body dies.

How else could we experience all the consequences of the things done in a lifetime?

Is this why there is so much suffering in this world?

Yes. This also explains why some people suffer more than others during this lifetime. This is why some children are born into starvation. It is not that God does not love us or does not exist as some figure - as they consider children born into starvation or congenital defects. Rather, through the new body, the person can experience the results of the actions of their previous lifetime.

And it is not as though we are forced to experience these consequences. It is a system intended to allow us to understand how our actions can impact the lives of others.

If we could not experience what we put someone else through we may not be able to learn the effects of our actions. This would cause even more suffering. Those who caused suffering for others would never learn what it feels like, and thus would continue to do so without cessation.

This is why Jesus was asked by his disciples when they saw a man who had been born blind:

His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2)

Because parents' activities can also create consequences that may be reflected in their children, this question came from Jesus' teaching them about the law of consequences.

The bottom line is that the Supreme Being created a system of justice that will precisely mete out consequences according to our activities. This is not punitive justice. It is designed to allow us to learn.

Certainly, we can also learn this lesson otherwise. By simply thinking through how our actions can affect others, or looking at how others' actions have affected others similarly, we can also learn the lesson and grow out of our self-centered predisposition. 

This also means that we don't have to blame God for suffering. Yes, He created the system, but His system is so perfect that He rarely has to intercede. The design of the system allows us to learn and grow. It nudges us to love others.

In other words, the world is so messed up today but it is not God's fault. It is because we  - as individuals, cultures and individuals - are suffering the consequences of our previous activities. This world is simply reflecting our previous choices made.

This means we have to look at ourselves before we can blame God for the suffering in this world.

"Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours." (Matthew 17:27)

After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?” “Yes, he does,” he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?” “From others,” Peter answered. “Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him. “But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.” (Matthew 17:24-27)

Why did Jesus tell Peter to pay the tax?

Jesus had just made a case for not being responsible for the temple tax. Why then did he tell him to pay it?

Because Jesus did not want to cause a commotion. He didn't want to squabble about a four drachma coin - worth about two dollars in today's money.

Jesus used the occasion to teach about who he was and the fact that they were serving God and therefore not responsible for the tax. They were already paying in the form of teaching on behalf of the Supreme Being.

What does Jesus mean by 'exempt'?

The NIV translation says that Jesus says, "Then the children are exempt".

This word "exempt" is being translated from the Greek word ἐλεύθερος (eleutheros) - meaning "freeborn - in a civil sense, one who is not a slave" according to the lexicon.

Thus Jesus is stating that those who are serving the Supreme Being are free. They are not obligated to the same responsibilities and consequences as those who are attached to the names and forms of this temporary physical world.

Further to the lesson is the fact that Jesus is making a point about the relationship between the Supreme Being and His devoted children/loving servants. Just as a king would consider his own children and servants exempt from taxation, the Supreme Being covers and protects his devoted loving servants.

To the extent of our devotion to the Supreme Being, the Supreme Being gives complete protection against the calamities of the world.

God certainly takes care of every one of us, but for those who work diligently in His service, He takes special care.

Why do we suffer then?

One might question the first statement due to the many forms of suffering within the physical world, including violence, pain, sickness, old age, and death. But these are only temporary sufferings that take place for the physical body. They do not inflict the spirit-person within.

We are not these material bodies. We are the eternal spirit-person that lives within this body. Much as a person gets into an automobile to drive it, each of us resides within this physical body for a temporary period of time. And just as the car will break down one day, this physical body will become diseased and die. And just as the driver walks away from a broken-down car, each of us will leave these physical bodies at the time of death.

We might compare the situation to a computer video game, wherein a person sits down at the computer and takes on a temporary game icon, and begins to play the game. The icon might be shot up or blown up, but the person playing the game is unharmed. When the game stops, the person can get up from the computer and walk away unscathed, even though his icon got blown to smithereens.

Thus even though our physical body might be smitten with pain and suffering - we are still being protected and cared for by the Supreme Being. He is still here next to us - always offering us a way back home to Him.

In other words, we are each endowed with the freedom of choice - whether we want to love and serve the Supreme Being (our innate identity) or whether we want to love and serve ourselves - which is expressed within the physical world.

The latter results in the fall down to the physical world and coming under the illusion of misidentifies ourselves with these physical bodies while we seek self-centered pleasure for the body or its extensions - the body's family, country, or other organization. In such a state, we must be obliged to face the consequences of these activities.

In other words, those who are living self-centered lives devoted to the illusions of fame and fortune of this temporary body and the forms and names of the physical world will have to abide by the laws of cause and effect.

But those who are using these physical bodies to serve the Supreme Being are exempt from these consequences. For those, He gives special protection because they are working for His pleasure instead of their own pleasure. Jesus spoke to this point specifically:

"By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but Him who sent me." (John 5:30)

Jesus was also respectful and considerate. He could have tried to escape the tax. Instead, he told Peter that their tax payments would be found in the mouth of a fish.

Jesus is illustrating that by Peter following the instructions of Jesus - as a devoted disciple - Peter would not be responsible for working to get the tax money. His payment was still being covered by the Supreme Being - Who in this case was providing the money in a miraculous manner to prove the point.

This doesn't mean that God will always provide in such a miraculous manner. Most of the time, we will still need to do some work to earn the money to pay our share of tax. But the point being made is that God takes care of those who care for God.

This is because the Supreme Being ultimately owns and controls everything.

“You travel over land and sea to win a single convert ..." (Matthew 23:15)

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.” (Matthew 23:15)

Why did Jesus say they 'travel over land and sea'?

Over the centuries, missionaries have traveled by boat and by land, and now by air to distant locations to convert those of other beliefs to their particular doctrine. By Jesus’ statement, we know this was also taking place during his time among the institutional temples.

Historically, Judaism was spread throughout the Middle Eastern region. After the Jerusalem temple was destroyed around 587 BCE, there was a rebuilding of Judaism in the region. This is often referred to as the Second Temple Period, and lasted between about 516 BCE to about 70 CE - after the Jerusalem temple was again destroyed, this time by the Romans.

During that Second Temple Period, Judaism expanded, partly through the missionary activities of temple priests and Pharisees.

During the life of Jesus, these missionary activities focused on the conversion of people into the temple organization and their acceptance of various rituals.

Jesus rejected this focus on rituals by the temple priests, just as Jesus' teacher, John the Baptist did. For example, we find these verses in Matthew:

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." (Matthew 3:7-10)

What about later missionaries?

We can also draw lessons from Jesus' statement with regard to some of the missionary expeditions that have been done in Jesus' name over the centuries, also done "over land and sea."

If we consider these missionary efforts, we find that some incorporated violence and intimidation to convert natives in foreign lands. This was often followed by confiscating lands and commodities from native peoples. As a result, over the centuries, native cultures have been damaged or severely diminished.

For example, we find that in the 15th Century there were several edicts issued by the Roman Catholic Church that encouraged missionary expeditions that confiscated lands and enslaved natives. In 1452 Pope Nicholas V issued the Dum Diversas papal bull that allowed Portugal's mission led by King Afonso V to conquer lands and convert "pagans and any other unbelievers to perpetual slavery."

In 1455, the Romanus Pontifex papal bull authorized Afonso to expand this seizure of land, which encouraged the enslavement of West Africans.

European missions eventually used these kinds of authorizations to conquer lands in the Americas and the Pacific island nations, enslaving many of those peoples.

These activities also provided the foundation for the slave trade from Africa to the Americas and Europe. (Though in fairness, later papal bulls tried to discourage slavery.)

Some of these missionaries apparently did not accept or realize that many native peoples were already worshiping the Supreme Being in their own manner. For example, we find many North American Native tribes honored The Great Spirit.

While some may have sincerely desired to bring Jesus’ teachings to others, there were many others who simply utilized these missions to take advantage of foreign lands and their peoples.

Many of these 'missions' resulted in violence, and the slaughter of thousands of native peoples around the world over the centuries.

Were these 'missions' what Jesus wanted his followers to do? Certainly not. As we can see from Jesus' statement above, there is a wrong way to preach to others. This includes forceable conversion.

What did Jesus mean by 'a son of hell as you are'?

Jesus confirms that these 'missions' of the Pharisees and temple priests were degraded, and their converts were not benefited. This is confirmed by the Greek phrase υἱὸν γεέννης, which has been incorrectly translated to "son of hell."

The more appropriate translation for υἱὸν γεέννης would be a follower of those who will suffer.

The word υἱὸν has been incorrectly translated as son. While υἱὸν can mean 'son' in the context of a father and his physical son, this is not the correct context. This context indicates the translation, as confirmed by the Greek lexicon, υἱὸν should be "used to describe one who depends on another or is his follower." So a person who becomes converted by one of these hypocritical Pharisees becomes one of their followers.

The next word in the phrase is γεέννης. γεέννης has been translated to "hell," and this is not altogether wrong, but Jesus' concept of hell should be clarified.

The Greek word γεέννης, transliterated as 'geenna,' is an allegorical reference to a location south of Jerusalem in the valley of Hinnom, called 'Gehenna.' Here there were ghastly sacrifices of children and animals to an idol called Moloch. The animals and children were thrown into the fire.

This place and its practice were abhorred by the local people, and they used a reference to this as a place of suffering, where people followed a demoniac god and suffered as a result. Therefore, this place (Gehenna) became referred to allegorically as a place of suffering. This has since been expanded to mean some kind of underworld.

Many people have been lulled into a concept prognosticated by sectarian teachers that hell is an underground world where a fiery devil named satan lives and tortures people who are chained up on cavern walls. This imaginative teaching has even been taken to the extent that the entrance to hell is through volcanoes.

This has been proven wrong by those who have explored volcanoes, and by those who have drilled many miles deep into the surface of the earth. There are no caverns where people are being chained to walls and tortured.

So where is hell then?

Depending upon our consciousness, hell can be right here. We can be living in hell right now. The question is to what extent we are suffering in hell. This physical dimension simultaneously supports relative degrees of hell, depending upon our past activities, and our consciousness.

Do we think that a person who is starving is not in hell? Is a woman who is repeatedly raped at gunpoint not in hell? How about a person in the grips of war? Are they not in hell? How about someone being tortured or murdered in a Holocaust? Are they not experiencing hell? Or how about someone in prison, subjected to being beaten or raped? Are these circumstances not hellish enough?

Hell is where fear reigns. Hell is that place where God is forgotten. Hell is that place where people fight over money. Hell is where people become angry and violent because they are afraid others may take what they have. 

This means that hell can reside among those who are violent towards others. Those who harm or abuse others are residing in hell, just as those they harm and abuse.

Hell is a consciousness, but it is also that place where the consciousness of fear, anger, violence and hatred plays out in physical reality.

Is this because of what we have done in a previous lifetime?

The question is whether our life in the physical world is the result of actions taken in a previous lifetime. Consider this question, asked of Jesus by his disciples:

"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" (John 9:1)

Why did Jesus’ disciples (note multiple disciples) ask this question? This question was very logical because some people are born normal and others with deficiencies. Why is one person born blind they asked? Why is one person born in more fortunate circumstances than another person?

The question arose from an understanding of Jesus’ teachings. At one point Jesus said to someone:

Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” (John 5:14)

In other words, they understood that there were consequences for sinning.

And in this case, Jesus' disciples assumed that before the man was born, he had the ability to sin, and this sin caused his current suffering.

In order to have the ability to sin, the man must have had a previous physical body. Why? Because as Jesus also taught that sinning was an activity executed through the flesh. In other words, the person must have had a prior physical body in order to have sinned before he was born.

Note also that Jesus did not ridicule or criticize this question. He accepted it. He did not say, “that cannot happen.” What he said was:

"Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent me.” (John 9:2)

In other words, Jesus accepted that a person could suffer in his next life from sins of the past life. This means that we do have previous lifetimes.

This is also confirmed here in Matthew 23:15, as Jesus confirms that the Pharisees will suffer, and so will their converts. Jesus is not threatening a fictitious place called hell. He is simply telling them that they and their followers will suffer in the future for what they are doing now.

Does he mean they will suffer during this lifetime? That would be impractical since they were living within a system that continued to support their practices. Therefore, Jesus could only be referring to a future lifetime.

Why are there consequences to our actions?

Jesus is indicating from his teachings that there are consequences to certain actions. Especially bad consequences for harming or misleading others. Why are there consequences?

We can look around us each day and see how in the physical world there serves up a reaction for every action. All of us suffer our particular situations for the activities we did in the past. Consider a person sitting in jail. They are in that hellish situation because of their past activities. Or a person who has lung cancer after smoking for 40 years. Their smoking addiction caused their current suffering.

Or a person who is beaten up by another person after starting a fight.

All of these indicate that the physical world is a place of consequence. Everything we do has a consequence here: Good or bad.

Does this mean that God put us here to suffer? Actually, God set up the physical world as a place of learning. This is a rehabilitation center, where we have the opportunity to grow.

Why? Those of us in this physical world are here because we turned away from our relationship with the Supreme Being. We no longer wanted to be His loving servant. We wanted to enjoy separately from God - rather than love and serve God (our natural constitution).

So we were sent down to this physical world and given virtual temporary physical bodies in order to 1) exercise our right to try to enjoy independently from God and try to pretend to be God, and 2) to learn.

And since these bodies are temporary virtual shells, the miseries they suffer are also virtual. We might compare this with an icon in a video game. The icon may get shot, but we are still sitting there handling the video game controller.

This virtual world has a purpose, however. We have been sent here to take on these virtual physical bodies because God wants us to learn once again how to love. He wants us to return to Him and His loving kingdom because He knows only this will make us happy.

In order to return, however, we must have a change of consciousness. We must be willing to give up the idea that we are going to enjoy ourselves independently of God. We must give up the idea that we are superior to others and the world revolves around us. We must learn what it means to love and care for someone other than ourselves.

Isn't this what the physical world constantly teaches us? That loving and caring for others brings happiness, while self-love and selfish behavior brings us misery? Is this a coincidence? No. It is intentional. God programmed the physical universe to teach us about love.

The ultimate source of pleasure for us is to love and serve the Supreme Being because when we love and serve God, we become truly fulfilled. And when we love the Supreme Being we automatically love all of God's children. These are the real teachings of Jesus:

“ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.” And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40)