Schiller’s Warning and the Role Played by Pain

We are in full apocalyptic transition, as foretold since the Prophets in the Old Testament, through the Good News of Christ, the Apostles’ Epistles, culminating in the unfolding of the human and spiritual reality provided by the Apocalypse of Jesus. That explains why I announced, early in this book, that I would write a long dissertation on Pain because unfortunately this has been the script followed by humankind. However, I do this inspired by the extraordinary example of Christ; therefore, not for our defeat into discouragement, but rather, aiming at victory, since I have been preparing you to learn even from torments and, through them, leverage courage.

Regarding the anticipated era of planetary transformation, some are firm believers in it; others do not grant it the least credit. However, it so happens that in contemporary times, renowned thinkers and scientists have experienced concerns that would not have affected their labor before: global warming, with faster climate changes, in addition to the danger of a war over water, over future lack of fuel, and over living space,¹ considering the great increase in the planet population.

We have noticed that something is starting to shake the most stubborn minds who deny what those with clear spiritual vision have realized much earlier, as, for example, the reality of the still Invisible World, the Home of the Spirits.

Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805), a German playwright, poet, philosopher, and historian, summarized the current scenario through the following statement:

“If the sparkle that inflames does descend from heaven, if the Spirit is not vivified, hearts will languish.”

The pedagogically divine function of Pain is not to destroy us, but rather to raise us onto the pathway to salvation. Pay attention to the reason the Apocalypse was written. As I have told you before, it is a letter of Love from God to us, His children:

“Blessed are those who wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb of God, so that they may have the right to the Tree of Eternal Life and may enter the city [Celestial Jerusalem] by the gates.” (Apocalypse 22:14)

I again point out: “Those who wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb of God,” which is to say, in essence, to learn and to experience the Holy Doctrine of Christ that speaks to the heart and enlightens the mind, and for which He laid down His life. We will, then, correct our mistakes and will have our Souls cleansed by this Divine Knowledge.

Spiritual Destination

One of the missions of the Apocalypse is to prevent Souls from forgetting their spiritual destination. What sometimes happens is that many read the Holy Bible, but only see what reflects their own face. As a consequence, they only see the human part and turn away from the Divine Part.²

In Jesus, o Profeta Divino [Jesus, the Divine Prophet] (2011), in the subtitle “The Origin of the Authority of the Apocalypse,” I wrote that the Book of Final Prophecies, which has received so much hasty criticism, is incomparably valuable exactly because its origin is in God and was delivered by Jesus, the Divine Prophet, to John through an Angel (Superior Spirit). Nothing can be higher than that: the Prophetic Revelation coming from Heavens, from the highest. It is the exercise of the Divine Hierarchy.

That means the Apocalypse came down to Earth ordered by God to Christ and is being spread all over the world through the Holy Spirit, so that we learn how to overcome the obstacles it announces, as hard as they may be. If the warnings it brings are not all pleasant, it is not the Apocalypse’s fault, but a result of our own actions. It is always crucial to remember what Jesus said about the Great Judgement, when He will return to the plane of forms, rewarding each one according to our own deeds:

“For the Son of God is going to come in His Father’s glory with His Angels, and then He will reward each person according to what they have done.” (The Gospel according to Matthew 16:27)

If I explain all this to you, I do so because I trust it will be useful for the strengthening of each one of you who listen to or watch me or read my words. Therefore, it is vital that all who have access to the Apocalypse understand that it was not written to be scary; however, it is a strong warning, so that we finally learn that its content shows us the right way. It teaches us how to tread the redeeming road that leads us to the longed-for reencounter with the Christ of God:

“Behold, Jesus is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him. And all peoples on Earth will mourn because of Him. So shall it be! Amen.” (Apocalypse 1:7)

Let us then persevere, persevere, and persevere some more, and then we will deserve the most extraordinary of all glories: to see Jesus and respectfully kiss the hands and feet of our Divine Master and Lord.

Celestial Promise Regarding the End of Pain

As we have seen, even to this day, people unfortunately tend to remember God only when serious problems knock on their door. This is what we see most of the time. However, despite that, He manifests Himself with His Love to all His children, irrespective of beliefs or non-belief, in its various degrees. All we have to do is watch the notable examples of Faith, of overcoming Pain throughout the human journey.

And what is more: His Promise about the end of punitive Pain—which only exists as a result of the bad actions of human beings—can be found exactly in the Apocalypse of Jesus 21:3 to 5, as in the narrative of John Evangelist, the Prophet of Patmos:³

³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne [in New Jerusalem] saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.

⁴ He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

⁵ He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then He said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

As we can see, the Apocalypse of Jesus is above all the announcement of happiness. Human beings prone to see only sadness are the ones defaming it over the millennia. As for the messages concerning punishment and pain, those were sown by us. Let us, then, sow better things every moment we can! This is the message by Prophet Job, since the Old Testament in the Holy Bible, 34:11:

“God repays everyone for what they have done . . .”

Also in Psalms 37:4:

“Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

Therefore, these warnings are not new.

And consider what the Celestial Father reveals, now through Prophet Isaiah, in the Old Testament 65:17 to 19:

¹⁷ See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.

¹⁸ But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.

¹⁹ I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.

When will that happen? Prophecies are fulfilled in God’s Time, which differs from human calendar. But each one can hasten the experience of such a blessed time or not, depending on personal dedication in building it.

In a spiritual message transmitted during the ecumenical meeting of the Religion of God, of the Christ, and of the Holy Spirit in São Paulo/SP (Brazil), on August 24, 2002 (Saturday), through the Christian of the New Commandment sensitive Chico Periotto, the eminent Brazilian educator, politician, journalist, and medium Eurípedes Barsanulfo⁴ (1880-1918) pointed out that we should never cling to suffering, but rather face challenges head-on, overcome them, and persevere in building more auspicious times:

“Stumbling blocks and obstacles that hindered our happiness, despite the wounds imposed by pain, let us unload them like a lightning rod onto the ground that shelters us, since new times of love and joy are to come.”

Jerusalem Extended

Today, as I have explained earlier, Jerusalem holds a very extended meaning: humankind as a whole! I invite you all to join us, as carefully as you usually do, for the study of the series “The Apocalypse of Jesus for the Simple-Hearted.”

Reward for the Charitable

In the 29^th Surah, “Al-’Ankabut” (The Spider) the Holy Quran also talks about the new dwelling of the good ones:

⁵⁸ [As for] those who believe and do Good, we will certainly lodge them in [elevated] mansions in Paradise, under which rivers flow, where they will abide forever. How excellent is the reward for the [righteous] worker!—

⁵⁹ those who patiently endure and put their trust in their Lord!

The charitable really deserve God’s reward, even if they—out of humbleness—do not have such ambition.

Pain Is Not Fatalism

As we have seen earlier, Pain is not fatalism in human life. We are the ones who have made it so. Let us stop and think for a moment and recognize this reality. If we strive to make ourselves worthy, whatever awaits us is the best possible.

Persevere to Be Acknowledged by Jesus

For those who never give up on the ideal of Good, in verse 32 of chapter 10 of the Gospel according to Matthew, we are assured to be acknowledged by Jesus, who asserts:

“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in Heaven.”

However, He warns us in verse 33 of the same chapter:

“But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my Father in Heaven.”

Power, Justice, and Compassion

So much glory awaits the faithful and persevering who understand the beginning of the authentic Power and legitimate Authority! Those will never be disturbed, since they have become aware of the true, incorruptible Authority and Power that come from God, regardless of their beliefs. God is the source of all Knowledge, of all Justice, of all Mercy, of all Compassion, and of all Generosity on Earth!

Jesus, “the Living Bread that came down from Heaven,” said to satisfy any and all kinds of hunger—spiritual, moral, physical, religious, scientific, personal and/or public:

“I am the Living Bread that came down from Heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (The Gospel according to John 6:51)

For better understanding of the meaning behind this revelation from the Eminent Politician, the Divine Statesman, and of the active presence of initiatory Pain in the formation of a government that is really good for the peoples, read, with a pure Soul, free of pre-conceived ideas, the books of the Religion of the Third Millennium, and study the Old and the New Testaments of the Holy Bible. However, do so in Spirit and Truth, never by “the letter that kills,” as condemned by Paul the Apostle (Second Epistle to the Corinthians 3:6). And most importantly, in the light of the New Commandment of Christ (the Gospel according to John 13:34 and 35), because God is Love. Therefore, His Word can only be discerned through the understanding of this highest feeling—never through hatred!

The Pain of Christ Is His Power Within Us

Here we have reached the point that explains why I included the sentence The Power of Christ Within Us in the cover, right after the book title.

Please notice what Master Jesus announces:

“This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (The Gospel according to John 6:51)

And in the Good News of the Lord of Peace, we find this Sublime Revelation:

“The Word of God became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of Grace and Truth.”
Jesus (John 1:14)

In light of that, to manifest the Spiritual Splendor of the Father’s Only Begotten, Jesus accepted to be submitted to the fatal martyrdom of the cross, and to lay down His life for the life of the world, offering Himself as the divine mainstay of our existence. Therefore, the Pain of Christ is His Authority and His Power within us; it is the Word of God made flesh every day, driving us to do Good in all possible scenarios.

Therefore, as I said in the opening of this book, Jesus did not inflict pain upon Himself, quite the opposite of what we do. As an unstained Spirit, the Anointed One of God voluntarily carried our errors on His shoulders in order to free us from ignorance, which causes our Pain, since He “has freed us from our sins by His blood” (Apocalypse 1:5).

In verses 1 to 12 of chapter 53, Prophet Isaiah talked about Jesus’ extreme sacrifice—the origin of Divine Power and Authority, which deservedly belong to Christ throughout centuries—in a passage so many times mentioned by old Zarur in his always up-to-date explanations:

¹ Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

² He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.

³ He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces He was despised, and we held Him in low esteem.

⁴ Surely He took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered Him punished by God, stricken by Him, and afflicted.

⁵ But He was crucified for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed.

⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each one of us has turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth.

⁸ By oppression and judgement [an unjust trial] He was taken away. Yet who of His generation protested? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people He was punished.

⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death, though He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.

¹⁰ Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer, and though the Lord makes His life an offering for sin, He will see His offspring and prolong His days, and the Good Will of the Lord will prosper in His hand.

¹¹ After He has suffered, He will see the light of life and be satisfied; by His knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities.

¹² Therefore I will give Him a portion among the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He poured out His life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.

“And the Good Will of the Lord will prosper in His hand.”

Amen!

______________________

¹ Living space — In German, lebensraum. In political geography, it is a term coined by German geographer and ethnographer Friedrich Ratzel (1844-1904). It refers to the spatial and natural conditions that are necessary for the maintenance or consolidation of the power of a State on its territory and for the strengthening of a society or people. Such concept was used as a component of the Nazi ideology in Germany. The Nazis supported territorial expansion at any cost to gain living space.

² Paiva Netto’s Note:

Human part and divine part of the Bible — As warned by the Proclaimer of the Religion of God, of the Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, Alziro Zarur (1914-1979): “The Holy Bible has a human part and a DIVINE PART. Errors, in the human part, are the natural consequence of the evolutionary state of their authors. . . .” On the same topic, in Somos todos Profetas [We Are All Prophets] (1991), I also said: God stands above our errors . . . the proof that the Bible, in its prophetic part, is the Word of God lies precisely in the fact it was written by men full of sins and yet it gracefully survived their faults . . .

³ Patmos — A small Greek island located east of the Aegean Sea, 34 miles from Southwest Turkey. There, as ordered by Emperor Domitian (51-96), John, Evangelist and Prophet, was in exile. Having reached 90 years of age, he received the Apocalypse. History tells that in his exile, he converted all island guards to Christianity because of his power of persuasion, which made the Emperor change the guards all the time. After Domitian died, John went to Ephesus and continued to bear witness to Christ until his last days.

⁴ Eurípedes Barsanulfo (1880-1918) — He was born on May 1, 1880, in Sacramento/MG (Brazil), and died in his hometown when he was 38, on November 1, 1918. In 1902, he had an active participation in founding the Liceu Sacramentano, where he began teaching. He also helped create the weekly newspaper Gazeta de Sacramento, where he published articles on economy, literature, and philosophy, starting his career as a journalist. On January 31, 1907, he founded Allan Kardec School. He assisted poor and needy people, indistinctively, who looked for his help. He was a dedicated server of Christ to the very last minute of his earthly life, when the Spanish flu pandemic devastated the world between 1918 and 1919.