Honor Thy Heavenly Commandments – From The Essene Gospel of Peace, Part 1 of 2

In 1947, a young Bedouin boy at Qumran, on the banks of the Dead Sea, discovered a ceramic pot inside an empty cave. Within the broken pot were pages of ancient texts. A total of 850 sacred texts were eventually discovered, all around 2000 years old. These scriptures, now known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, contained many details about an ancient spiritual group called the Essenes. With respect for all forms of life, the Essenes’ diet was purely vegetarian. Today, we will read from Book One of “The Essene Gospel of Peace,” which is part of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

“Then Jesus turned to the sick folk and said: ‘I speak to you in parables that you may better understand God’s word. The seven years of eating and drinking and of riotous living are the sins of the past. The wicked creditor is satan. The debts are diseases. The heavy labor is pains. The prodigal son, he is yourselves. The payment of the debts is the casting from you of devils and diseases, and the healing of your body. The bag of silver received from the Father is the liberating power of the angels. The Father is God. The Father’s possessions are Earth and Heaven. The servants of the Father are the angels. The Father’s field is the world, which is changed into the Kingdom of the Heavens, if the sons of man work thereon together with the angels of the Heavenly Father. For I tell you, it is better that the son should obey his father and keep watch over his father’s servants in the field, than that he should become the debtor of the wicked creditor and toil and sweat in serfdom to repay all his debts.’”

“But if you repent of your sins, and by fasting and prayer you seek the angels of God, then each day that you continue to fast and to pray, God’s angels blot out one year of your evil deeds from the book of your body and your spirit. And when the last page is also blotted out and cleansed from all your sins, you stand before the face of God, and God rejoices in His heart and forgets all your sins. He frees you from the clutches of satan and from suffering; He takes you within His House and commands that all His servants, all His angels serve you. Long life does He give you, and you shall never see disease.”