Faith like a mustard seed?

Luke 17:5-10 Say, Before you know it, it is already October and another Christmas will be here. Would be good if I could spend Christmas in KL or Singapore. Today' Gospel Reading is from Luke 17:5-10. It is quite short, so I shall list it out at the beginning. 5 The apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our faith.' 6 The Lord replied, 'If you had faith like a mustard seed you could say to this mulberry tree, "Be uprooted and planted in the sea," and it would obey you. 7 'Which of you, with a servant ploughing or minding sheep, would say to him when he returned from the fields, "Come and have your meal at once"? 8 Would he not be more likely to say, "Get my supper ready; fasten your belt and wait on me while I eat and drink. You yourself can eat and drink afterwards"? 9 Must he be grateful to the servant for doing what he was told? 10 So with you: when you have done all you have been told to do, say, "We are merely servants: we have done no more than our duty." ' Today's Gospel Reading is really strange. It is as if a frustrated Jesus were scolding the Apostles, and telling them that they were useless or hopeless, and that they should just learn to obey and serve him. Let us give it a better 'spin' and decide that Jesus was just provocative and wanted us to reflect or contemplate spiritually. Let us say that he was discoursing ZEN style, whacking the back of the disciples with a bamboo stick, to awaken their spiritual focus and concentration. You will note that paragraphs 5-6 relate to 'faith' the size of a 'mustard seed' but that paragraphs 7-10 appear unrelated and incongruent with the former as they refer to 'servitude'. Quite by chance in my discourse last week on the Parable of Lazarus the Beggar, I discussed certain aspects of the 'faith' required of a Christian. Please take some time again to fully appreciate that discourse as to the tenor of faith as in parental love and filial piety of the children; and the sense of 'egolessness' of a filial child in reverence and servitude to a parent. Let me reiterate the relevant comments "Who goes to Heaven? Between the Spirit Father and His spirit sons, it is all about a Father's unconditional endless love and his children's filial piety and their being good and hardworking. The Pharisees took faith as a religion when it is all simply about a Father's love and compassion and correspondingly filial piety, humility, reverence, subservience and putting the parents' welfare and wellbeing first on the part of the children. Faith should simply be about mutual love, trust and belonging between father and child! That sort of faith of love, trust, commitment, loyalty and relationship is not a religion! A father does not expect miracles from his child; but just take the child for what he or she is! A child does not demand or expect miracles out of his or her father either! All there is, is love, mutual love!" "As I said earlier - be a simple, discreet, humble, unpretentious, loving and kind pious Christian. When faith is judged or measured as greater or lesser, it becomes a worldly religion! It should just be simple faith, that is either there is faith or none, when we are reborn (in our spirit or baptised with the Holy Spirit). It has nothing to do with the extant of faith, whether greater or lesser, in the worldly false self-ego of son of man, son of Adam. It has to do only with the simple intuitive faith of the spirit son of God! The simple intuitive faith required of the 'spirit' is like the air or space or vacuity in the wind (refer John 3:8); once you have air or space or vacuity, you can fill the universe. You either have faith like 'air' or not have 'air'! It is not a case of greater or less air! That would be judgemental like a Pharisee! God the Spirit Father takes the spirit sons of God as they are, without judgement as to whether they are greater or lesser spirits. Simple faith is like that! There is simply either faith or not!"

"Egolessness is synonymous with simple faith, as in being a simple, discreet, humble, unpretentious, loving and kind pious Christian; is synonymous with air, space or vacuity; is synonymous with the spirit son of God and is synonymous with the kingdom of Heaven. Only the 'spirit' can go through the 'eye of a needle' metaphorically representing the gateway to Heaven. The gateway to Heaven is metaphorically narrow because it is like disappearing into thin air, like in the movie Matrix! Allegorically, the kingdom of Heaven is like emptiness of space or vacuity because that is 'eternal' compared with the phenomena and matter of the 'temporal world. It is like the 'temporal' world set against the vast curtain backdrop of 'eternity' that is Heaven. Reflect on what egolessness is or means in spiritual terms. When you are still thinking in terms of greater or lesser faith or the need to increase or grow your faith, you still have the ego of a Pharisee. Once you are reborn in the spirit, the intuitive inherent simple faith (no lesser or greater) of the egoless spirit son of God will guide the Lost Prodigal Son back home!" OK! In last week's discourse I described simple true genuine faith of the spirit son of God as being like air, space or vacuity. My reason for doing so was obvious as I was focusing on salvation as being of the 'spirit' and therefore what was relevant was the 'faith' of the 'spirit'; and because the 'spirit' is 'eternal', I naturally progressed further to the 'eternity' of time and space, like the blank curtain backdrop of outer space. It is of course all imagery and metaphor and hyperbole on my part. Jesus used the metaphor of a 'mustard seed' to denote smallness of something tiny. But how are we to imagine or perceive how, if the Apostles really had the true and genuine 'faith' he denoted, even if such 'faith' was as tiny as a 'mustard seed', such a tiny faith would cause or give them Herculean power to uproot a mulberry tree and replant it at the bottom of the sea? Note also Matthew 17:20 where Jesus said in similar terms - "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you." This was the episode where the Apostles could not cure an epileptic child so Jesus had to do it himself when the child's father complained to him. It would appear that in both instances Jesus was asking the Apostles to do the humanly impossible, whether it be moving mountains or throwing trees into the sea! But using superlatives is standard jargon or hyperbole in any spiritual literature! Therefore when it comes to parables do not read literally with worldly wisdom but read spiritually with spiritual wisdom. Let us now consider other instances where Jesus had used the metaphor or hyperbole of a 'mustard seed'. In Matthew 13:3132 Jesus said - "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field; which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches." In Mark 4:3032 Jesus said - How will we liken the Kingdom of God? Or with what parable will we illustrate it? Its like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, though it is less than all the seeds that are on the earth, yet when it is sown, grows up, and becomes greater than all the herbs, and puts out great branches, so that the birds of the sky can lodge under its shadow. In Luke 13:18-19 Jesus said - What is the Kingdom of God like? To what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and put in his own garden. It grew, and became a large tree, and the birds of the sky lodged in its branches. Now, the mustard is a herb! There is no such thing as a mustard tree! If there were, there would be a billion dollar mustard tree industry in Israel today! Just saying that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a tiny mustard growing into a gigantic tree that provides arbor to birds is just speaking in

superlative terms that transcends worldly reality. This is like the example I gave of the 'spirit' being like 'air or space or vacuity' and therefore Spirit Heaven is like a realm where you enter by the most narrow of gates, that only 'air or space or vacuity' can slip in, and once in Heaven, you will find that it is unimaginably vast like endless space! If you are awakened to the spirit son of God in you, you immediately transcend beyond your false worldly self-ego being. You transcend from the 'temporal' that is mortality to the 'eternal' that is eternity! You overcome the fear of death! Which is obvious if you are now or are once again in or has reverted to your eternal spirit! If you can overcome the fear of death, even while you are alive as a worldly being, you can virtually leave this mortal world behind. You can, so to speak, in superlative terms, uproot a mulberry tree and replant it at the bottom of the sea! So, Jesus was exhorting the Apostles to 'rise up' in the 'spirit', to be awakened to their 'spirit son of God', to be reborn in the 'spirit'! A powerful faith that is, metaphorically speaking, as tiny as a mustard seed is undoubtedly the faith in and the faith inherent in your spirit son of God. What can be more powerful than the 'eternal' in the 'temporal' world? But how many of us are already fully imbued with the 'spirit' while we are in our worldly self, such that our worldly physical form is only like a piece of clothing, a mirage, an illusion, a scintilla of a phenomenal appearance, so that we can exert our spiritual power to perform miracles and supernatural feats? Jesus can and could because he was Spirit Son of God incarnate as Son of Man. But unlike the 1st Adam, He was not 'lost' in his alter false self-ego as Son of Man. He was not lost in the Original Sin of Adam! By incarnating pure as Son of Man without the sin of 'separation from God', He came as God. By dying on the Cross and in His resurrection, He came to show us the way home of the Lost Prodigal Son.That is how Jesus as Son of Man came to redeem the Original Sin in the 'son of man' in us. He came as the Spirit Son of God to instruct us to repent, to forsake our 'son of man' in us, so as to return, to be reborn, to our 'spirit son of God'. Regardless of what I discoursed as to faith last week, what support can I demonstrate from the Gospels? What exactly is faith as personally expressed by Jesus? Let us first refer to the case of the 'prostitute' who came to Jesus and washed his feet with her tears and with her hair and anointed his feet with expensive perfumed oil in Luke 7:44-50 - 44 Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, 'You see this woman? I came into your house, and you poured no water over my feet, but she has poured out her tears over my feet and wiped them away with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but she has been covering my feet with kisses ever since I came in. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 For this reason I tell you that her sins, many as they are, have been forgiven her, because she has shown such great love. It is someone who is forgiven little who shows little love.' 48 Then he said to her, 'Your sins are forgiven.' 49 Those who were with him at table began to say to themselves, 'Who is this man, that even forgives sins?' 50 But he said to the woman, 'Your faith has saved you; go in peace.' Do not rush. Study the words gently. Note that Jesus did not say - I forgive your sins - but rather 'Your sins are forgiven'! Study Jesus' explanation for that, he said - 'because she has shown such great love'. So, what was the prostitute's faith? Her faith was her 'love'! Remember the 1st of the Twin Commandments of Jesus - Love God with all your heart, mind body and soul! When the Lost Prodigal Son returned home, the Father did not actually forgive his sins in Sin City. Only the victims of the Lost Prodigal Son can forgive that. But to the Father, all that his Lost Prodigal Son did in Sin City 'was forgiven' out of love. Let us next refer to the case of the blind man in Luke 18:39-43 - 39 The people in front scolded him and told him to keep quiet, but he only shouted all the louder, 'Son of David, have pity on me.' 40 Jesus stopped and ordered them to bring the man to him, and when he came up, asked him, 41 'What do you want me to do for you?' 'Sir,' he replied, 'let me see again.' 42 Jesus said to him, 'Receive your sight. Your faith has saved you.' 43 And instantly his sight returned and he followed him praising God, and all the people who saw it gave praise to God. So, what was the

blind man's faith? Let me explain. We will never get to have any idea or sense or inkling of this 'faith' unless we know what it is like to be at wit's end, when all is lost and hopeless, when we have lost everything and have nothing left to lose, when the next step is death or being as good as being dead. Read Les Misrables by Victor Hugo. That 'let me see again' invocation by the blind man is synonymous to 'let me live again' or 'give me another chance'. Think back to when you were a child; when you were hurt or frightened or hungry, who do you run to? Understand this and you will understand filial piety. The Lost Prodigal Son was like the blind man here. He was down and out, in despair and despondency, and of certain death if he stayed in Sin City. Out of desperation what faith was left in him? Faith in the unconditional and undying love of the Father! Now sing 'Amazing Grace'. Faith that is akin to the faith of a blind man is what we sing about in 'Amazing Grace'. While on the point of God's Grace, please note that it has nothing to do with his whimsical mood or his impulsive judgement or infatuation; or whether someone is good or bad or rich or poor or handicapped or whole. Grace is not a lottery! A Father loves his children for what they are; no matter how lost, how prodigal or how bad, they are and have been in Sin City. 'Amazing Grace' is just the the quality of the unconditional and undying love of a Father for his Lost Prodigal Son, the love of the Good Shepherd for his lost sheep. Let us next refer to the case of the one leper (a Samaritan) out of ten lepers who got cured, who turned back in gratitude and gave thanks to Jesus in Luke 17:15-19 - 15 Finding himself cured, one of them turned back praising God at the top of his voice 16 and threw himself prostrate at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. The man was a Samaritan. 17 This led Jesus to say, 'Were not all ten made clean? The other nine, where are they? 18 It seems that no one has come back to give praise to God, except this foreigner.' 19 And he said to the man, 'Stand up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you.' So, what was the Samaritan leper's faith? How many of us are not grateful to our parents till they are gone and we ourselves become parents? We take things for granted when they feed us, send us to school, take us to the doctor when we are sick. We realise later when we have left home and have become like a 'foreigner', and then we become grateful belatedly in most cases. The Lost Prodigal Son was like the 'foreigner' in this episode. He was a runaway child and separated from the Father and home. He was caught up with the bright neon lights and allurement and pleasures of Sin City. He had become a 'foreigner', he had become somebody else! He is now grateful because once 'blind' he now sees, once lost, he is now found. Whatever our lot in life is, it is like what fortunes or misfortunes that the Lost Prodigal Son might have experienced in Sin City, we should always be grateful and filial to our parents. Whether our parents were rich or poor or strict or lenient, or less than desired parents in many ways, we owe it to them because they were the only people in the world that showed unconditional and undying love for us. Faith in loving God the Spirit Father and being filial, reverent and grateful to him as his children is exactly like this. Let us next refer to the case of the Roman centurion with a sick servant in Luke7:6-9 - 6 So Jesus went with them, and was not very far from the house when the centurion sent word to him by some friends to say to him, 'Sir, do not put yourself to any trouble because I am not worthy to have you under my roof; 7 and that is why I did not presume to come to you myself; let my servant be cured by your giving the word. 8 For I am under authority myself, and have soldiers under me; and I say to one man, "Go," and he goes; to another, "Come here," and he comes; to my servant, "Do this," and he does it.' 9 When Jesus heard these words he was astonished at him and, turning round, said to the crowd following him, 'I tell you, not even in Israel have I found faith as great as this.' So, what was the centurion's faith? The quality of his faith is that of total humility although he was powerful in rank and stature, yet benevolent such as to care for a servant even though he was the Lord of the house. Reading the passage literally you might think Jesus was referring to the centurion's faith in him. If that were so, Jesus would have said - 'found faith in me as great as this'. No! Like the faith of the prostitute, was in her 'love'; the faith of the centurion was in his 'humility' and 'benevolence'. In filial piety we have to be humble and benevolent. Lastly, let us refer to the case of the menstrual woman in Luke 8:43-48 - 43 Now there was a

woman suffering from a haemorrhage for the past twelve years, whom no one had been able to cure. 44 She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak; and the haemorrhage stopped at that very moment. 45 Jesus said, 'Who was it that touched me?' When they all denied it, Peter said, 'Master, it is the crowds round you, pushing.' 46 But Jesus said, 'Somebody touched me. I felt that power had gone out from me.' 47 Seeing herself discovered, the woman came forward trembling, and falling at his feet explained in front of all the people why she had touched him and how she had been cured at that very moment. 48 'My daughter,' he said, 'your faith has saved you; go in peace.' So, what was the menstrual woman's faith? Note first her sense of anonymity. Even in adversity, hardship and suffering, she was meek and genteel. Even when she realised she had been cured, she was too shy or embarrassed to feel exalted to have been favoured. This was opposite to the manner in which the Pharisees flaunted their wealth and stature as an overt sign of being blessed by God. This is a very pure form of humility. This is how filial piety should be practised. In most families there will be other siblings. Even if you are favoured as the 'baby' of the family, or if the way the genetics play out that you have your mother's beauty or your father's brains etc be totally humble. Stand at parity with all your siblings! Be humble to all, whether greater or lesser beings than you! As fellow human beings, we are all brothers! Whatever faith is, whether it is represented by filial piety or other notions, it has to be humble faith. Unless faith is humble it is not the faith of the 'egoless'. An ego by definition can never be humble because it has an ego'! We have discussed paragraphs 5-6 relating to 'faith' the size of a 'mustard seed'. Now let us discuss paragraphs 7-10 which appear unrelated as they refer to 'servitude'. However, in fact it is related, as it explains the quality of 'faith' required as in mutual servitude, as in the 2nd of the Twin Commandments - Love your neighbour as thyself. Let me follow through from paragraph 10 where Jesus said - "So with you: when you have done all you have been told to do, say, 'We are merely servants: we have done no more than our duty.' " We somehow get irritably offended in our intuitive senses when we hear or see Jesus' instruction for us to be like a 'servant' or a 'slave'. Somehow worldly pride of our 'ego' automatically kicks in. Please do not take the words 'servant' or 'slave' in a literal worldly sense. Take it in a spiritual sense that Jesus is expecting us to be a 'servant or slave' to him or mutually to each other among us, as he himself is spiritually a 'servant or slave' to us. In fact Luke 17:7-10 is not quite as explicit or as clear as Matthew 20:26-28 where Jesus said "Yet it shall not be so among you (about rulers of Gentiles lording over them); but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave - just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." What did Jesus expect us to be like in mutual servitude spiritually to each other, as he is to us. The answer lies partly in Matthew 25:35-36,40 - " 'for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me. .... Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch a you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.' " This all sounds like just instilling charity and compassion. But it is more than being charitable and compassionate spiritually. Being charitable and compassionate does not quite make you a 'servant or a slave' spiritually. In John 15:12-13, Jesus said - "This is My commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that to lay down one's life for his friends." This does not mean throwing away your life or giving up your life physically. Spiritually, when you give up your worldly life, you do not have to do more than to give up your 'ego'! Spiritually, when you are a 'servant or slave', whatever you possess (including your life) you share it (wisely of course with spiritual wisdom rather than worldly wisdom) mutually with others. You see yourself as a sole custodian of your worldly goods and possessions and worldly

attributes in servitude for the well-being of others and the world at large. Of course, family comes first! You do not belong to you; you belong to the world! You have no ego of self! This was where the Pharisees, like Dives the Rich Man, went wrong in their apathy to the poor and poverty around them, and treated their wealth as a sign of God's blessing of them. It seems rather a strange round and about way for Jesus to explain 'egolessness' but that could be the colloquialism found in the Aramaic language of Jesus. For unless we lose our worldly ego, we will not be reborn or re-inherit our spirit son of God. If we are not a spirit son of God, how can we follow the Spirit Son of God to eternal life? See John 12:25-26 - "He who loves his (worldly) life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honour." How else can you follow Jesus but in your 'spirit'? That is why the need for the 2nd baptism - 'baptism by the Holy Spirit'. Even this is a much used but misunderstood phrase. Baptism by water actually means your worldly birth. Baptism by the Holy Spirit refers to your 'rebirth' or awakening in your spirit son of a God. First you have to be born a son of man, thus 'the water broke'. But that is your temporal false worldly self-ego. Next, to regain eternal life you have to be 'reborn' as your eternal spirit son of God. Refer to Jesus' lecture to Nicodemus in John 3:1-21. Do not expect an external phenomenon of lightning flashing and thunder clapping when you are baptised in the spirit! The awakening or rebirth is all taking place within yourself in the spirit! Jesus said in John 3:8 - "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." Please do not take the expression 'servant or slave' in the worldly sense as a contrast in status to lord or master or poor as to the rich or in the sense of disparity of worth. To be a 'servant or slave' spiritually applies to all, whether you are a lord or master or a rich man; or for that matter a husband, a wife, a father, a mother, a brother, a sister, a friend or an enemy, or whether you are a king, a general, a doctor, an accountant, a businessman, a tradesman or a labourer. If we are not in a broad sense mutually serving each other, whether voluntarily or not, there would be no human society. We are all 'servant or slave' to different degrees and extent, in the different stages and various roles we play in our life. In an inextricably bound network sense we serve each other mutually. As a king, we can only serve God as a king. As a rich man, we can only serve God as a rich man. As a poor man, we can only serve God as a poor man. We cannot be what we are not! The degree or level of servitude here is in the sense of a faith, servitude like a son serving his parents in filial piety; for that is what is required for the spirit son of God to return home to the Spirit Father. Part of this confusion about a bias in favour of subservience or the downgraded or the classe infrieure may be because of the expression 'the first shall be the last and the last shall be first' used by Jesus a few times in his parables. It is usually taken wrongly to mean that the rich or the elite or powerful would be the last to go the heaven and that the poor and the oppressed and those who suffer will be the first to go to heaven. This is incorrect as I explained in last week's discourse on the Parable of Lazarus the Beggar. There is bad and good in both the rich and the poor. There is apathy in both the rich and the poor. There is humility and generosity and benevolence in both the rich and the poor. Further, most of us are rich and poor in different aspects; and good and bad in different aspects. In the 'spirit' you cannot be tied down to this world or its worldly concepts or worldly wisdom. Thus the expression 'the first shall be the last and the last shall be first' means something altogether different in spiritual terms. Were this expression 'the first shall be the last and the last shall be first' to be found in a Chinese philosophical text, as Chinese we will know straight away that it means the 'cycle of reincarnation' or the 'three generation theory' or 'what goes around comes around'. In Hokkien, we say - "Ooh Lai, ooh khi; chit pai, du teh it, gua teh bui, ai pai, gua teh it, du teh bui." (Everything comes and goes; this time you are at the top and I am at the bottom, next time I will be at the top and you shall be at the bottom). But the underlying gist or notion of equity or fairness to all before Heaven is duly apparent. In Cantonese this is implied in the expression - "Teen yow

ngan" (Heaven has eyes). In Matthew 19:30 at the end of his answer of 'everlasting life' to Peter's question as to what the disciples will get for following him, Jesus said this - "But many who are first will be last, and the last first." Now, this was an aside and was not necessary to complete the answer. It added nothing to the answer. It is almost like saying 'Amen' at the end of a prayer! We have what is like a 'mustard seed' expression, a 'superlative' that does not make sense literally! In my opinion, all it means is that all are 'treated as' equal at the starting line to or before the narrow gateway into Heaven. In other words there is equanimity! Equanimity means that it does not matter whether we are worldly good or bad, rich or poor in Sin City. We are all Lost Prodigal Sons with different shades or hues as to or dependent on what we have been through or done in Sin City. But as Lost Prodigal Sons (i.e. spirit sons of God lost in our false worldly alter ego sons of man) we are all treated with equanimity. Whether we take the 180 deg. turn to return home or not is another (but critical) question or issue altogether. For that is the critical diabolical dilemma of a choice that we face - do we repent and leave Sin City? In that critical decision, what is the relevance of how good or how bad you are in the Sin City, other than the fact that in remaining in Sin City you have to reap what you sow? You will then just spend your continuing existence in the Hotel California (never coming out) of Sin City metaphorically going up and down Jacob's Ladder. As Jesus said in John 12:25-26 that I cited earlier - "He who loves his (worldly) life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honour." If you love Sin City, you will die! If you hate Sin City and leave it and follow Jesus, you will have eternal life! So, in my humble opinion the expression 'the first shall be the last and the last shall be first' simply means all are treated with equanimity before Heaven or all Lost Prodigal Sons are treated as equal or regarded with equanimity in the Father's eye, whether the eldest or the youngest, the first or the last. As the communion hymn goes - 'Come as you are'. I reiterate. If the Father is concerned only with the Lost Prodigal Son; the Good Shepherd for his lost sheep; the Spirit Father for His spirit sons of God, each taking them as they are, warts and all!; Heaven can therefore never be partial to (interested in) any worldly being! Spirit is spirit and flesh is flesh! The worldly being represents the false self-ego of Adam after the Fall! The worldly being is consequently responsible for his own deeds. The worldly being will reap what he sows! The Father cannot be held personally responsible or accountable for what the Lost Prodigal Son does or did in Sin City! Heaven and the world are two separate realms! Heaven is Spirit and eternal. The world is earthly and temporal. When the spirit son of God that is 'lost' or trapped within the worldly false self-ego being should awaken, be 'reborn', be a 'light' in the 'darkness'; the alter ego that is the worldly being and all its trappings and karmic residue or consequences (like dirty pieces of clothing) are immediately cast away back into the pit of 'darkness' that is the temptation and web of deceit of Satan. It is a misconception to think that the worldly being has to repent and that he then goes to heaven. It is the spirit son of God who repents, by turning away, by walking away from Sin City, from the worldly being, that he is 'lost' in. God does not in a direct sense forgive the worldly being for his sins of Sin City. God is simply not interested in the worldly being or Sin City. God is only interested in His spirit sons of God! However, what the 'lost' spirit son of God went through or experienced in his alter ego as a 'temporal' worldly being in Sin City 'is forgiven' wholesale by God; in the sense of 'let bygones be bygones', do not harp on the past. Otherwise, we would have this ridiculous situation of this 'sin' is forgiven but that 'sin' is not, and that other one, the jury is still out! Do not think in worldly terms! It is in this spiritual sense that David, the adulterer and murderer, was forgiven wholesale; that the 'adulteress' was forgiven wholesale; the 'prostitute' was forgiven wholesale and the 'robber' on the Cross was forgiven wholesale! When we repent in the 'spirit' all will be forgiven wholesale! Simple as that! See the forest from the trees, do not get lost in the woods.

I find support for my view in Matthew 20:16 where at the end of the Parable about Vineyard Labourers being paid the same rate, whether they started earlier or later, Jesus said - "So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called but few chosen." The Lost Prodigal Son was like the vine labourer here who came or started late but was nonetheless paid the same rate; for the Lost Prodigal Son being delinquent (like a lazy useless son) came to his senses late in realising that there was nothing like home. But he was loved as equally by the Father if not more, with equanimity or just the same. But the phrase I am calling in support is actually the ending bit 'For many are called but few chosen.'. For this expresses quite emphatically that even though all spirit sons of God are loved as equally with equanimity by the Spirit Father only a few are chosen; and these are those who like the Lost Prodigal Son in the parable, actually repented and turned their back on Sin City and embarked on the journey home to the Father. My view is further supported by what Jesus said in Luke 13:30 at the end of the sermon about entering though the narrow gate and that few will be saved - "And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last." In short, yes, the gateway to Heaven is narrow; yes, very few will be saved; but all will be treated with equanimity at the starting gates. For God is not interested in Sin City and what we did in Sin City; God is not interested in our flesh; flesh is flesh, render unto Caesar what is Caesar's; render unto God what belongs to God, for spirit is spirit. The Father is waiting for the Lost Prodigal Son to come to his senses, awaken to his eternal spirit son of God in him, forsake his false worldly mortal self ego and make a U-turn and return home. This is what faith is in one word - egolessness. In two words it is called 'filial piety'. In three words it is called 'unconditional, undying love'. If you understand this and is awakened, salvation is immediate, you are immediately liberated! The world remains the same, the trees remain trees, and mountains remain mountains, and you outwardly remain the same. But there is a 'light' in you, where once there was 'darkness', your mind is now 'clear' and 'un-fickled', and your heart is un-condescending, humble and merciful. The 'spirit' is in you! This would probably be my last discourse for the year as Christmas is coming. I will take a sabbatical. Unlike others who ponder upon why Jesus died on the Cross; I often ponder as to why Jesus was born incarnated as the Son of Man. Why did God incarnate as Jesus? Why not someone else? Were there other avatars of Jesus? Why did Jesus discourse in parables? Why do Moslems take Jesus as a prophet, as a son of man, but not as the Son of God? Do Moslems believe that we are amorphous egoless spirit sons of God? Or, are they like the Jews, and believe that there is 'marriage' in Heaven, that when we die we go to Heaven retaining our worldly persona? Which means that all other things aside, in Heaven we would still be Chinese, Indians, Europeans and others, which logically is nonsensical! For, Jesus is an amorphous Spirit Son of God, because we are amorphous spirit sons of God! Our being Christians is based on the amorphous Holy Trinity; Father, Sons in the Spirit as ONE! These are all valid questions. For all people, whether green, orange, red or purple, are treated or regarded equally with equanimity before the narrow gateway to Heaven. If the Jews were the chosen race, why did Jesus spend his life deriding them? If Jews were the chosen race what or how have they contributed to the well-being and peace of and in this world? Or, are we all 'Jews', because we have an 'ego'? The Jews have an 'ego' because they think they are the 'chosen' ones! That is the fundamental issue! We are separated from God because of our (false) ego! In other words, it is 'all' mankind that is 'chosen', and not the Jews! If that be so, then all mankind, not just Christians will be saved, if they are awakened in the 'spirit'! Thus Jesus taught universal salvation for all! Not just for Christians! Beware of the self-righteous Christians aka the modern day Pharisees and Sadducees e.g. the City Harvest Church in Singapore and other 'New Age' bang-a-bang bang on the tambourine Hari Krishna-like Christian denominations. Please read and read and read this discourse until you understand its full tenor and significance! As my twin I will not lie to you, and I have nothing to hide from you. What I discourse is the Absolute Spiritual Truth. Now you and I will know why I came back from the 'dead' in 1995. Yes, imagine the 'rebel', the HAK SOON FOONG ('Black Whirlwind'), the 'ferocious bull', the 'Ah Hock the Communist' discoursing on spiritual matters! But no one who has worked with me or associated with me has ever doubted my fearlessness, integrity and honesty. Even though I am

only an involuntary spiritual messenger, it still comes to nothing, if my twin does not share it with me. What use is the YIN without the YANG? God Bless! Chuan