Awhile back, I happened to rent the movie, The DeVinci Code. Great movie! Not too long afterward, I was in a bookstore and picked up the books Holy Blood, Holy Grail (1980) and The Messianic Legacy written by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh & Henry Lincoln (1986). Holy Blood is the book that inspired the making of the movie. Personally, I enjoyed The Messianic Legacy more because it tied up some questions I had about the Universal Life Church (ULC) and its negative exposure by the media, almost since its inception.

In 1980, our Founder wrote the book, A New Life, Do You Want It? that shocked the nation. In his book, he claimed that he worshiping the man Jesus as the Christ was the workings of the Anti-Christ. That we as a nation, collectively and individually, are programmed by BOTH the church and state in our every day actions, from the day we are born. It took guts for him to do that! In my opinion, that was the missing weapon for ULC to become known to be non-religious and non-believers of God by organized traditional and fundamentalist organizations, which is not the case at all. There were numerous books hitting the mainstream during the same period and making similar claims.

Here are some eye-opening recollections taken from The Messianic Legacy that piqued my curiosity for their validity:

Heresy? Jewish people don't view Jesus as the Christ and they turned against him. He died for Christians/our sins so that upon our deaths we will attain salvation from God.

Fact? He was a man believed to be born into two royal bloodlines of Judaist Priesthood, David and Aaron (Abraham). He was known as a Messiah, Priest and King believed to be prophesized from the Old Testament to be their Savior against the Romans who were occupying their holy land, Israel.

There is no record of his surfacing Priesthood career in the Bible until he is 30 years old when his cousin John the Baptist baptized him. Many of the events written in the Gospels were to sway the Jewish people into believing that he was their Messiah in order to drum up their support.

He was not nailed to the cross as a symbol of dying for the salvation of our sins to be rewarded upon our deaths. He was persecuted/punished to set an example to the public along with two other men, as it was common custom to do so by the Romans to anyone who defied their rule. He was considered to be a zealot, warrior and terrorist. It took a cohort of men to arrest him, which consisted of thousands of men, to fight his large army as he had claimed a religious war against them and to remove them from Israel

Before his capture, at the Last Supper, he sent his blood brother James and his twin brother Judas Thomas out along with other Apostles to spread the word of Judaism. (Judas means twin in Hebrew, and it is believed they were not identical, but similar in appearance which has prompted numerous theories about Jesus' resurrection in the cave, mainly it was Judas people saw, not Jesus, as it was planned to create illusion.) It is also believed he had two other brothers and two sisters who carried on his teachings after his death.

The book continues to state the scenes we read in the Bible were conscious acts on his part to create "illusions" before and after his death. Some say his persecution, was a deliberate act as a martyr, because of his saying at the Last Supper that someone had betrayed him, then looked at Judas, told him to do what he must and quickly, and Judas (Thomas) fled. Whose writings of Jesus were later found in Egypt during the early 1900s……The Roman Empire, which was heavily influenced by the Catholic Church, captured him and nailed him publicly to a cross because it was the common manner for punishment. He was a menace and threat as Judaism was increasing.

According to many sources, it was actually Paul the Apostle who betrayed him. King Herod influenced Paul to go behind his back, under the guise of spreading Judaism, stating Jesus thought himself as the Christ and should be worshipped as such where common knowledge of his followers knew otherwise. But, we all know how one loves a good story and how rumors are spread, don't we?

Well, it has been historically proven that 66 years after Jesus death the pagan Messiah Constantine, who through diplomatic ploy because of pressure from the Roman Catholic Church declared publicly Jesus was and was to be worshipped as the Christ. And, for added effect, on his deathbed stated he himself believed to be Christian and no longer Pagan.

This is why historically, early "pure" Christianity is believed to stem from Jesus' teachings, which in actuality are based on Judaism, and Christianity is a separate belief system from the Roman Catholic Church. To be Christian, is to be Christ-like, one with God, one with oneself and pure.

It wasn't until 66 years after Jesus' death the "Gospels" began to write the New Testament and reconstruct his life as the Christ, representative of God and Savior to all "Christians," not the man who was King of the Jews who brought war against Roman law. It took almost another 30 years to complete. Unfortunately, in 2007 almost all of our wars are generated on religious differences and pushing Pauline Christianity in the name of "freedom" and "democracy" is at the forefront. I ask, is the Roman Catholic Church, guised as organized and traditional religions (Christianity) as influential as then or is it deteriorating as we are being led to believe?

Because of these books and others, it is believed Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene who bore him children and continued his teachings after his death. I believe these teachings threatened the Roman Catholic Church and this is the main reason why she is depicted as a prostitute in the Bible rather than his rightful wife and a respectable asset to modern Christianity as we know it today, an extension of the Roman Catholic Church, not Judaism, as we are being conditioned to believe.

Additionally, for the matter of Eve, who is representation of all woman-kind, to have been made from Adam's rib is absolutely ludicrous, because anyone with average intelligence witnesses daily it is women who bears and gives birth —life — not MAN.

I believe this "conception" parallels to the "immaculate conception" that Jesus was born from the "virgin" Mary and has powerful effect that is reinforced sublimely to us daily through mass media and organized religion in our daily interactions where it negatively affects women's roles in the family unit to mainstream society. Turn on the television, and all you see is women being degraded by being portrayed as being unintelligent, desperate, having sex with their oppressors with and/or without their consent, being emotionally and physically abused where few times than not, they are rescued which parallels our religious hopes of being rescued at our deaths for a better hereafter in heaven.

As a society we are continually pounded daily that we are powerless individually, which is resulting in apathetic contentions that collective changes cannot be made and it is acceptable to be miserable. After all, we are programmed that we are "born sinners" and deserve our lot in life. Granted, there are few who strive for change, but history proves it is slow as we are sublimely reminded that we are an "us or them" society and to be different is something of a detriment rather than an asset. We are not encouraged to think for ourselves, to let our spirits shine as intended by God. The Devil is not our "enemy" nor to be feared, it is our selves. Through daily practice of knowing and loving ourselves with our strengths and weaknesses, we can truly be the blessed children as intended by God and preached by Jesus.

So, one can easily understand why after our Founder made the claim publicly that to worship the "man" Jesus as the "Christ" (rather than to strive toward Christ-like existence as intended by God) was the workings of the Anti-Christ and that we are brainwashed from the day we are born to look outside of ourselves rather than within, ULC was construed and still is to be, non-religious while claiming itself to be founded on Christian values, meaning not on Pauline Christian beliefs. And, beliefs are just that — beliefs, not facts. And the fact is, it is our belief system that keeps us in shackles or sets us free. We are not powerless.

Please consider this historical aspect of ULC when you see such things generated by the media and on the Internet. As ULC Ministers it is our duty to be open to and respect other's viewpoints, and really understand what ULC's stands for: Upholding the 1st Amendment for religious freedom and by correct conduct, doing that which is right (acting responsibly), we will have Universal Order and Brotherhood. God Bless!