The Aquarian Gospel (Part 2)
When the moon is in the Seventh House,
And Jupiter aligns with Mars,
Then peace will guide the planets,
And love will steer the stars.
It is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius,
Age of Aquarius,
Aquarius,
Aquarius.
So sang the 5th Dimension as the opening of a song that spent six weeks atop the pop charts back in 1969. And, yes, the “Aquarian Gospel” is based on the same ideology as the song. According to Wikipedia,
The title is derived from the practice in astrology of naming time periods in terms of constellations and their dominant positions in the sky, according to the earth's axial precession. In that system, the Age of Aquarius is approaching.
It was approaching in 1908 (when The Aquarian Gospel was published), and it was even nearer in 1969 when the song became popular. When did that time period begin? Some say in 2020 or 2021; others point to February 4, 1962, based on the alignment of the first six planets, the sun, the moon, and the constellation of Aquarius. At any rate, Levi Dowling decided to call his life of the lost years of Jesus The Aquarian Gospel, based on the coming new age. Alan Jacobs, who wrote the introduction to the 2010 printing claims that in this “gospel” many see “a Jesus Christ who relates to our contemporary world with an inspiring new relevance” (5). No. It’s the Jesus who never was.
Chapter 23 finds Jesus allegedly learning the Hindu art of healing from Udraka (discussed previously). Good health seems to relate to love, harmony, and an understanding of Nature. “Thought, reinforced by love is God’s great sovereign balm” (29). Although a person’s healthy and positive outlook may help him avoid certain illnesses, it will not cause a lame man to walk or a blind man to see.
Chapter 24 gives the Hindu version of the creation of mankind, and it explains how the various castes began. The Holy One is called Brahm, and he created men to suit himself (31). The first man he created was white, like himself (31). He was the priestly class. The red man was second; he ruled and also was a warrior. The third man was yellow; he got to work the soil and have flocks and herds. The fourth man was black and was of low estate; he became a servant (32).
To his credit, Dowling has Jesus proclaim that His Father-God made all men to be equal (33). This pronouncement was not well-received; the now-angry priests seized Jesus “and would have done him harm” (33), but Lamaas told them to “beware! You know not what you do; wait till you know the God this youth adores” (33). These words echo what Jesus said on the cross (Luke 23:34). Lamaas then takes the role that Gamaliel played in Acts 5:34-39. First, he tells them that Jesus’ God may be more powerful than Brahm (330). Then he adds that if Jesus spoke the truth, they could not force him to quit. And if they were right, Jesus’ words would “come to naught” (33).
This solution did not satisfy one priest, who saw Jesus’ words as an attack on their system of deity. Even though Lamaas pleaded on his behalf, they “seized a scourge of cords and drove him from the place” (34). Jesus left that area and dwelt with the yellow and the black man who eagerly accepted his message of “the Brotherhood of man, and the Fatherhood of God” (34).
Later, Jesus criticizes Krishna and the idea that God lives in an earthly shrine (39), adding: “God’s meeting place with man is in the heart, and in a still small voice he speaks…” (40). Jesus actually did teach that a particular physical place was no longer needed to worship God (John 4:21-24), but He never taught that God would speak to His followers in a still small voice.” God did speak to Elijah, once, in that manner (1 Kings 19:12). Jesus said that God’s Word is truth (John 17:17), and that is what His followers are to heed.
Jesus tells His listeners that if they would serve God, they should serve their fellow man, which is close to the thought of loving God and loving one another. Also they were to help the poor and weak, refrain from coveting what belongs to others, and do no harm to anyone (40). All these are based on Biblical principles. Asked about sacrifices, however, Jesus tells them God doesn’t need anything, which is true, but He required them of Israel in the Old Testament anyway. Giving is for our benefit—not God’s. Jesus tells them to give to the table of the poor (41).
Dowling has Jesus tell the Indian people to tear down their idols and burn them, which is what they did in Old Testament times when they were emerging from error. But then the author goes a step too far at the end of chapter 26, when he writes:
All the people were entranced and would have worshiped Jesus as a god; but Jesus said, I am your brother man just come to show the way to God; you shall not worship man; praise God, the Holy One (41).
Jesus never said such words in the New Testament. Peter said those words to Cornelius—because he was just a man (Acts 10:25-26). The angel who spoke with John forbade him from worshiping because he was a fellow servant (Rev. 19:10; 22:8-9). But Jesus never forbade anyone from worshiping Him (Matt. 8:2; 9:18). In fact, He made known that He was God.
In Mark 2:5, Jesus forgave the paralyzed man of his sins. Some of the scribes present immediately drew the conclusion that Jesus had blasphemed. “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (v. 7). They were right. It would have been blasphemy if Jesus were not God. But He was! Man does not have that power or ability to forgive sins. What Jesus wanted the people to see on this occasion was that He could forgive sins because He was God in the flesh.
Furthermore, Peter confessed that Jesus is the Son of God (Matt. 16:16). John even wrote his gospel to furnish proof that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (John 20:30-31). Dowling blundered by having his fictional Jesus refuse worship. This denial of Jesus’ Deity totally contradicts the inspired Scriptures. If there were no other reason to reject The Aquarian Gospel, this fundamental error would be it.
Dowling’s Jesus agrees that men commit sin in their hearts but acts as if the actual commission of a sin is irrelevant (44). Both are of importance. He also agrees with Romans 3:23: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (46). Here’s one that’s worth considering: “The man who spends his time in pulling other people’s weeds can have no time to pull his own” (45).
Various Hindu Teachings
Chapter 28 contains several Hindu talking points—many of which are part of New Age theology as well. Among these errors are: All things are God. All things are one (47). The first of these sounds like pantheism: God is all; all is God. None of these ideas come from the Scriptures that were inspired of the Holy Spirit. All things are of God; He made all things. However, He is not all things. All things are one? What does that mean—that there is some kind of universal unity?
Many years ago there was a comic strip that exploited this ideology. In Funky Winkerbean, one of the characters ordered “a Zen Pizza.” “What’s that?” someone wanted to know. The answer was, “One with everything.” Zen theology is just as funny, but alas! some people take it seriously. So, how do these two precepts play out? The next two sections explain:
By the sweet breaths of God all life is bound in one; so if you touch a fiber of a living thing you send a thrill from the centre to the outer bounds of life (47).
And when you crush beneath your foot the meanest worm, you shake the throne of God, and cause the sword of right to tremble in its sheath (48).
Wow! Your congenial editor is in serious trouble for killing over 100 flies in the mess hall at camp one year—although the cooks approved. Dowling is what Rush Limbaugh would have called “an environmental wacko.” But surely those words above just comprise some flowery sort of speech and are not meant to be taken literally. We could wish. But there’s more.
Now, men and birds and beasts and creeping things are deities, made flesh; and how dare men kill anything?
Say, he wasn’t kidding when he said all things are God. Men and birds are deities? This claim is not only absurd; it is blasphemous. Only The Word was made flesh (John 1:14). God created man, but man is not Deity. Man is human. He is a spirit within a fleshly body (James 2:26). Only Jesus was God in the flesh (John 1:1-3, 14). Man is not Divine—and much less are the animals and insects that God created.
How dare man kill anything? God authorized man to eat animals after the Flood: “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs” (Gen. 9:3). God gave restrictions during the Mosaic age on certain animals, fish, and birds. But in the New Testament era, God again authorized all things to serve as food (Acts 10:10-16). No vegetarian has the right to forbid his fellow human beings from eating what they desire.
One might think Dowling is on the right track when he refers to the Triune God, but he is not referring to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—but rather to wisdom, will, and love (49). Truly, God is wise; how else would He have created a universe that is so harmonious and precise in its operation? God does have a Divine will, which centers on mankind’s redemption, which is his greatest need; it involves a spiritual kingdom, the church, concerning which the Aquarian Gospel is mostly silent. Truly, God is love (1 John 4:7-8). However, Jehovah has other characteristics, such as holiness and justice.
Priests
Dowling may have held some animosity toward the Catholic Church; he has Jesus say: “When men become afraid of God, and take him for a foe, they dress up other men in fancy garbs and call them priests” (49). In condemning the practices of the Catholic Church, as well as Episcopalians, Dowling also insults God Who made certain of the Levites priests. The high priest especially had a special garb. He would have done better to point out that, while God appointed priests under the Law of Moses, in Christianity, no class of men serve as priests.
He indicates every Christian is his own priest—but for the wrong reason. He thinks that, when we understand God is our Father that we will need no middle man as priest, but he is wrong again. We have Jesus as our high priest (Heb. 3:1) He is also our mediator. “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5).
Dowling has Jesus state that when prayers do not work, men try to buy God off with animal sacrifices (49). This also maligns and insults God’s system of worship under the Law of Moses. Furthermore, it is a foolish conjecture. Jesus would never have said that God does not want the sacrifice of blood (50). His own blood washes us from our sins (Rev. 1:5).