The Aquarian Gospel (Part 1)
Periodically, a new gospel comes along with new claims that strain credulity. The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ is one of those. It was first published in 1908, and your congenial editor found a more recent version of it, copyrighted in 2010. It claims to divulge what Jesus was doing during those "missing years" from ages 12 to 30.
The author of the work was Levi H. Dowling (no relation to the Father Dowling mystery series). His eventful life occurred from 1844 to 1911. According to Wikipedia, Dowling claimed to have taken part in a debate at the age of 13, when he opposed a Presbyterian elder by denying that the wicked would receive everlasting punishment. If so, he was in error at a very young age, since Jesus taught that the cursed would enter into "the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matt. 25:41). This Scripture certainly teaches punishment. And since there would be no reason for the fire to continue if the wicked were annihilated, the verse also teaches everlasting punishment, just as Matthew 25:46 does (cf. Mark 9:43, 45, 57).
In 1860, he started preaching among the Disciples of Christ and allegedly worked with them for forty years. It is hard to imagine that they at that time would have agreed with his objections against eternal punishment. Probably, the Seventh-day Adventists would have popularized that teaching.
Levi served as chaplain during the Civil War. In 1866–1867, he was a student at what is now Butler University in Indiana. He must have learned a great deal in that one year because the next year he began publishing Sunday school literature…song books, and a children's Sunday school paper. Reportedly, "Dowling preached President Lincoln's funeral service to Union troops in Illinois." He also published two books.
He devoted himself to promoting prohibition—and graduated from two medical colleges, after which he "practiced medicine for a number of years." But he always had time to spend on meditation, according to a more recent author, Alan Jacobs, who wrote the introduction for the 2010 edition of The Aquarian Gospel.
According to Jacobs, Dowling was "a man of impeccable moral character" (2). Such a statement is difficult to reconcile with the fact that this "gospel" is false and therefore Dowling is a false teacher. Theoretically, he found a way to "access the Akashic Records," which sounds really impressive. But most people will want to know, "What are those?" They are also called "God's Book of Remembrance" (2).
According to Wikipedia, "the Akashic records are believed to be a compendium of all universal events, thoughts, words, emotions, and intent ever to have occurred in the past, present, or future, regarding not just humans, but all entities and life forms…. There is no evidence for the existence of Akashic records, and the concept has seen little academic attention or rigorous scientific research." Edgar Cayce, the "sleeping" prophet, also claimed to have access to this vast body of unrecorded material.
Obviously, this means that anyone could claim that, through meditation, he learned the secrets of the universe. Then he could set forth any doctrine that he desired. One could accomplish the same result by being given golden plates to translate (from Reformed Egyptian, no less) or by the angel Gabriel bringing him revelations in a cave.
Needless to say, it takes a "highly trained and skilled spiritual medium" to "tune his mind into these records, receive the information that is stored there, and then channel it down…" (3). Not surprisingly, the Aquarian gospel has enjoyed tremendous success among those enamored with the New Age Movement (3). The first eighteen chapters are omitted in this publication, but the book includes chapters 19-60. The omissions involve: Section 1: The Birth and Early Life of Mary, Mother of Jesus; Section 2: The Birth and Infancy of John, the Harbinger, and of Jesus; section 3: The Education of Mary and Elizabeth in Zoan; and section 4: The Childhood and Early Education of John the Harbinger. One wonders why these are left out because they sound interesting, but we will review what we do have.
The Aquarian Gospel
Chapter 19 finds Jesus at the age of 12 talking to some of the doctors of the law; Hillel asks Him to explain an Old Testament prophecy, which He does, and the people conclude He must be the Christ. In the Scriptures people often drew this conclusion about Jesus, but this was not one of those occasions. Luke simply says: "And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers" (Luke 2:47).
Descriptions of Jesus' physical appearance are non-existent in the Scriptures—except to say that the Savior had no comeliness (physical beauty), that men might desire Him (Isa. 53:2). It was His character and His Divinity that were important. But in chapter 20, Levi Dowling decided to give us more information than the Scriptures. At the age of 12, Jesus was "a fair-haired boy, with deep blue eyes" (15). Is that the picture we all have of Jewish lads?
Dowling also has Jesus mentioning the tools that a carpenter uses and then making spiritual applications of them. A compass can be used "to draw circles around our passions and desires to keep them in the bounds of righteousness" (17). A hammer can be used "to drive home the truth" (17). However, this is just the beginning. Pack your suitcase; we're about to travel.
India
And the first stop is India. The travels come to be by the suggestion of a royal prince of India, named Ra-vanna. He heard Jesus speak in the temple and discussed the youth with Hillel, who told him that Jesus was called "the Day Star from on high," who was "to bring to men a light" and "redeem his people, Israel" (20). If the Jewish leaders already knew who He was, why did Jesus need to travel? He seems to already have their attention. Why, with Hillel's endorsement, Jesus could have taught in Jerusalem immediately.
Be that as it may, Hillel is so knowledgeable about Jesus that he knew about the prophecies concerning Him. So, what happened? Later on, no one seems to remember that Jesus would be associated with Galilee (John 7:52; Isa. 9:1-2). Hillel also drew the conclusion that Jesus would redeem His people; how did he arrive at that from a few conversations (21)?
Regardless, Ravanna is convinced that Jesus should accompany him to India. He visits Nazareth and even stays with Joseph. He offers to take him to India, and Jesus is eager to go that He might learn the wisdom of the Brahms. Why would Jesus care about erroneous views of God when He knew the truth, having been sent by God to earth (John 4:34; 5:24, 30, 36-37)?
So, Jesus accompanies Ravanna back to India, is received warmly by the people, and "accepted as a pupil in the temple Jagannath," where He "learned the Vedas and the Manic laws" (22).
Lamaas Bramas
One of the priests there took a liking to the young Jesus, and they engaged in interesting spiritual conversations. When asked, "What is Truth?" Jesus (allegedly) answers, "Truth is that only thing that changes not" (23). Wait a minute. What about God, who said, "I change not" (Mal. 3:6)? Would it not be the case that if God changed, truth would change? But, actually, neither can change, or they would not be absolutes.
Just moments later, however, Dowling has Jesus say, "Force changes not" (24). Now we have two things that do not change: truth and force. There are three if you count God. Other contradictions surface: After claiming that force is nothing but an illusion (24), Dowling says that force "is the will of God" (25). Does that make God an illusion, too?
Lamaas wants to know what Jesus thinks about wisdom? Of course, Proverbs 8 deals extensively with this subject, but none of this material finds its way into the conversation. Dowling has Jesus answer that "God and man are one" (25). This declaration sounds a bit New Agey, doesn't it? We ought to say that, when man repents of his sins and follows God's ways, he can have fellowship with God and be at peace with God, but even in that sublime relationship, God and man are not one—except in unity (because man's sins have been forgiven).
Confusion
What follows is a hodgepodge of unclear thinking. Among other things, "power is but an illusion" (25); "Heaven and earth and hell are not above, around, below, but in" (25-26); "faith is…the certainty that man will reach the deific life" (26); salvation "is a ladder reaching from the heart of man to the heart of God" (26); and "man is saved when he has reached deific life; when he and God are one" (26).
Wherever these ideas come from, they did not come from Jesus. Where did He ever teach that power is but an illusion? God created the world with His awesome power: "For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast" (Ps. 33:9). This tremendous feat was not an illusion; it involves the physical, the material.
Heaven is not in us; it is too vast (Rev. 21:10-27). Earth would scarcely fit. Hell is not within, although the lawlessness that leads to it is. Hell is described as a Lake of Fire in Revelation 20:14-15, and anyone whose name is not written in the Book of Life will be cast into it. Heaven and hell are not mere ideas that men have dreamed up; they are real spiritual places.
Salvation involves having our sins forgiven. For that reason Jesus died on the cross. Sin separates us from God (Isa. 59:1-2). Sin, salvation, heaven, and hell are not part of some esoteric claptrap. They are truths by which we choose to live—or die. Peter told the people on Pentecost they needed to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins (Acts 2:38)—not that they should construct a ladder from our heart to God's. If we obey that gospel, we can have unity with God here on earth as a forerunner to what we share later on.
Jesus, the Pupil
In chapter 23, Jesus becomes a pupil of Udraka (27). Does this make sense? Just a few pages earlier Hillel and the people in Jerusalem were so impressed with Jesus that "they were astonished at His understanding and answers." Is Udraka even more astonishing? Furthermore, the people concluded He must be the Christ. So, then, who does this make Udraka?
He supposedly teaches Jesus "the Hindu art of healing," since he was the "greatest of the Hindu healers" (27). He theoretically taught Jesus "the uses of waters, plants, earths; of heat and cold; sunshine and shade; of light and dark" (27). Really? And when did Jesus use these "arts"? If Hindu healers could actually heal anyone, how can it be explained that in 1960 the average lifespan in India was 45? In 1908, the year Dowling's book was first published, the average lifespan was 25. If Jesus would have learned from a Hindu how to heal, He would have been a colossal flop.
Jesus did not learn to heal from anyone. As God, He had the power to do so. And He could give that ability to others (Matt. 10:5-8). The Aquarian Gospel is fanciful and full of errors; it bears no resemblance to truth.