THE LATTER DAY APOSTLES OF JESUS

 

This pamphlet describing the work of the mercy ministers of the end times, should be read in conjunction with the brochure entitled “What Is the Family of God?” which is also available from the Elijah Ministry. The address for ordering copies is at the end of this pamphlet.

 

To understand the labors of these Latter Day Apostles of Jesus in the final days of the old earth, you must have in your mind a clear comprehension of what the present day and future Family of God really is.

 

The Family of God acts in anticipation of, and recognition of the fact of our religious life in Graceland, the emergency evacuation world.

 

There, worship shall not be circumscribed, but all encompassing, not unsocial -- narrow and sectarian -- but socially fragrant and open.

 

Inter faith fellowship will be the spiritual reality of this eschatological Kingdom.

 

On Graceland, you will vividly be aware of a new kinship with all God’s earth children, the rescued citizens of a war destroyed planet, as God’s Family. This consciousness of a common bond of Divine love is now submerged in so many races, colors, nations, cultures and religions here -- many of them bitterly antagonistic.

 

In this beautiful new world prepared for your continuing existence, you will be aware of a new social order. The far flung diversity of earth civilizations shall suddenly become a somewhat unified cosmic civilization of delivered people.

 

The Family of God Temples here on earth are the precursors of this sudden future worldwide socialization in Graceland. People attend these Temples now,

 

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because they instinctively perceive the truth that such attendance is a form of survival insurance --guaranteeing peace of mind -- for they truly constitute the beginning of this new cosmic community of delivered mortals.

 

In Graceland all people will come to see that the diversity of all the religions of earth was the multi stage scaffolding of this future unified Family of God -- a truly universal religion.

 

Attending these Temples today, helps you to discover that in Graceland there really will be a world religion unifying all creeds on the central figure, and authority of, GOD HIMSELF as Universal Father.

 

In the face of the pending self destruction of earth, you are witnessing the present and immediate reconstruction of humankind, in these Family of God temples, whose multi faith attendees thus become the spiritual nobility of this day and generation.

 

THE DAWNING OF A NEW SOCIAL ORDER

 

The Latter Day Apostles of Jesus proclaim the dawning of a new world order of the consciousness of our Divine Family fellowship.

 

Religion must be consoling and stabilizing amidst the rip tides, cross currents, and uncertainties of life in the shadow of nuclear destruction.

 

Ironically, the philosophy of the Family of God is the only hope for world peace, even as it prepares you for deliverance from a world soon to be destroyed by the insanity of war.

 

Most religions are theologies. But the Family of God is a superior theologic philosophy -- the perception of the reality of the unity of the Divine Family on

 

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earth, amidst a diversity of theologies.

 

Most religions are complex. These Apostles will teach you that the Family of God is simple -- Jesus’ message of love for our Divine Father as ~ ad of the Family, and for our fellow children within the Family, no matter how different they are from each other. And all families know that life is more enjoyable when it is shared with others.

 

Love is contagious -- it’s like a benign virus, spreading from person to person in accordance with the ethics of the carrier.

 

Ethics means a respect for the rights of others. These Apostles will teach you that you have a duty, not only to yourself, but to someone else. Remember, Jesus’ Golden Rule has two component parts, the worship of God, which you can do alone, and loving service to your fellows, which requires that you give something away, expecting nothing in return. If you expect something in return, it is not love, but commerce.

 

They will teach you that the true role of any religion is to bring God to the people, and the people to God. And the greatest gift that you can give God, is this unselfish love for all your brothers and sisters on earth. Any father wants a happy family.

 

The indwelling Presence of a piece of the Universal Father inside you makes you a Temple of God. Therefore, you can worship Him as you are, and where you are. The physical Temples are merely symbolic assembly halls for group worship and family interaction.

 

These Apostles will help you to transfer your veneration from the material and visible symbols, to the spiritual and invisible God who dwells not only in you, but in all your brothers and sisters on earth --the same Father who sits at the head of all true religions in His worldwide Family on earth. ‘

 

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DESTROYERS OF RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE

 

The Latter Day Apostles of Jesus will teach you that it takes real faith in your religion, to enter into a trusting dialogue with someone of another faith. Intolerance is a cowardly mask we use to hide secret doubts about our own convictions.

 

Religious pride is a weakness! It does not enhance joy, liberty, and love, but enslaves and destroys them. It favors un-Godlike reactions of intolerance, resentment, antagonism, persecution, contention, arrogance, competition, condescension, and attitudes of moral superiority and spiritual infallibility -- such as hardly reveal the inner peace of a God knowing person!

 

Self righteous religious pride makes you unyielding and uncompromising, and is an abomination to God, not at all the Divine self assurance its adherents hold it out to be. It causes you to see your own religion as the only vehicle of salvation, your religion as Divinely revealed, while others are relegated to the junk heap of human concoction, to see other religions merely as a decadent form of your own, and your beliefs as unquestionably dominant over all other faiths in the sight of God.

 

And such individuals attribute to other faiths the very stubborn, unalterable bull-headedness that they themselves practice.

 

It doesn’t matter that some people follow a certain religion and its style simply out of family or racial conformity -- they were “born” into it. Others may be drawn because that religion satisfies the longings of their “type” of intellectual, emotional, social, or spiritual beingness or belonging-ness.

 

These Apostles will tell you, in no uncertain terms, that if you wish to be taken to Graceland, you

 

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are going to have to abandon and forsake all this hate!

 

The Family of God is a loving family of God’s own children. And such hate is the unmistakable earmark of non-inclusion, rejection as the evil bastard half breed, from the Divine bloodline of earth sons and daughters, the rescued mortals of this world!

 

It is not enough that this world is beset with continuous secular wars -- even to its very self destruction -- it is shot through as well with religious war, dissension, intolerance, and recriminations!

 

Elijah the Third, the last of the heaven sent messengers of this age, declares authoritatively that the Father wants a TRUCE in the Family! And this truce shall be the foreshadowing of the universal world peace that shall begin in Graceland.

 

Intolerance tends to promote the study of one’s own religion as theology, and the analysis of another’s beliefs as psychology -- “Why does he or she believe that?”

 

Fine. Psychology is the beginning of the mental understanding of others. And fraternal understanding is the essence of love. It is impossible to truly understand a brother or sister, and not love that person! Understanding and love are sine qua non and quid pro quo -- unity amidst diversity.

 

These Apostles of today will teach you that you should not perceive this command to love your brothers and sisters as a negative inducement, the threatening alternative being not getting to Graceland.

 

Rather, should you realize that it is positive insurance -- so that when war, as the flood tide of mortal adversity, washes over this world, you will stand eminently assured that the bank of Divine watchcare will still be paying out dividends of mercy to your account, because of your familial love, loyalty and devotion.

 

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The Family of God is a quiet cease fire zone of truce in the war of inter denominational rivalry, the ongoing battle of religions to dominate people and each other.

 

The only fighting going on in this zone is the labors of these Apostles who are laying siege to the walls of hate, blind prejudice, group rivalry, race bitterness, judgmental arrogance, sectarian superiority, self righteous condescension, spiritual pride, and religious self assertiveness.

 

These mercy ministers are the oil of reconciliation in the religious engine of so many gears that characterizes God’s family as it runs on earth.

 

They are the gladsome shepherds of peaceful pastures beside still waters.

 

If all religions accept the spiritual sovereignty of the Universal Father, despite their differences, then there shall be inter religious peace, and such a state of affairs shall obtain in Graceland. There,*all religions shall surrender their guns of ecclesiastical authority at the door. They will check their weapons of prejudice, persecution, and contention. No one, nor no religion shall lord it over someone else, nor presume Divine favor, chosen people or special status.

 

One of the progressive features of Buddhism is that its believers are permitted to choose truths from other religions. This freedom of choice idea is the very cornerstone of the Family of God.

 

When it comes down to brass tacks, it should be easy for us to agree on religious values -- ideals, purposes, goals -- for example the fostering of the home and the family, the protection of individual rights and freedoms, and the sincere service of God, doing His will as each of us is given to see that will.

 

Such a loose and informal collectivity of religions as the Family of God can never hope to find

 

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uniformity of belief, for that is intellectual. But it can find unity of the spirit, in the collective worship of the Universal Father -- for in this all people are equal, and are equally loved by God. Besides, religion is more sentimental anyway, than logical.

 

The Genesis idea of special creation defies the logic of painstaking scientific observation of geologic and life evolution -- but that does not prevent many intelligent and sincere people from believing it.

 

The TRUTH in this conflict is that only when the geologist and the geneticist can honestly admit that yes, they could be wrong, at least in some respects, will the fact blinded religionist be able to hesitatingly make the same admission. Such is the give and take of love and peace making. And both, or all of them, can acknowledge and agree upon the further truth that, however achieved, all this grand planetary metamorphosis was planned and intended by a wise, providential, and far seeing God.

 

The Family of God shall not be a confusion of faiths, but a focus of true spiritual reality, based on the diverse family-of-a-unified-God idea.

 

SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY OF THE APOSTLES

 

Most religions of earth operate in a secondhand fashion -- a rabbi, priest, Imam, minister, or preacher intervene between the worshipper and God.

 

These worship conductors of today are but the perpetuation of the shamans and medicine men of yesteryear. As labor became specialized, it stood to reason that there would also have to be specialists in the business of Divine worship.

 

And, of course, people felt that some kind of authority was needed to conserve morals and force conformity to moral codes, to enforce the repression of base drives, unacceptable social conduct, generally to “drum the fear of God into people.”

 

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In this modern day Family of God, ethics and morality grow out of genuine love and respect for others, not out of some artificial code of mandatory conduct, with its “enforcers.”

 

That’s why Jesus eschewed negative commandments -- “Thou shalt nots,” and opted instead for his two positive commandments of love.

 

True happiness is to be found not in the fear of violating something -- doing wrong -- but in the love of actually doing right -- service to one’s fellows. It is impossible to love not doing something!

 

So you can see that the Latter Day Apostles of Jesus shall never be intermediaries, nor intercessors, the voice of God, nor bestowers of Divine providence, the exclusive vested authorities of God’s will, nor the manipulators of human will and conduct.

 

They shall be ambassadors of love, facilitators of service, conductors of worship, ministers of understanding, consensus evaluators, and social conveners.

 

Rather than the authority of standardization, they shall be ministers of mercy, the epitome of comforting help.

 

Their task is to save and console people, not to judge them.

 

The very founder of this Apostleship said: “For the * Son of man also came not to be served but to serve,” and, “But I am among you as one who serves.” (Mark 10:45, Luke 22:27 RSV)

 

The emphasis of Jesus’ entire ministry was on love and service, and the fact that service to one’s fellow mortals is likewise service to the Father --”Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:40)

 

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Besides, those who crave ecclesiastical authority already have it in many, if not most religions of earth.

 

The Family of God is revolutionary -- herein we have overthrown all such authority, except the living presence of God inside you. Like Jesus before us, we know that if you truly believe that you are a son or daughter of God, you will naturally act like one.

 

While there will inevitably be a need for some internal social regulation in the Temples, this will be determined by the Temple Governing Committee --essentially a group of elected laypersons -- and all authority will be vested in this GROUP, not in any individual.

 

The Apostles do not govern, they are pastors, spiritual advisers, and multi-faith theologians. And the Apostles are not mandatory in any Temple -- they, come when requested by a Temple organizing committee.

 

The elected Chief Apostle of the Latter Day Apostles of Jesus has no authority in any Temple, but is a patriarchal or matriarchal administrator of the Apostolic group only.

 

Always remember that the work of the Family of God in these, the last days of the old earth, is the final garnering and winnowing of the souls that will go to Graceland. The fields of hope are ripe unto the harvest!

 

These Apostles are here to welcome and console God’s children, at the gates of His Kingdom, whose glories they have already tasted through their spirit insight.

 

They are not here to function as judges or gate keepers.

 

Only angels hold the rolls of the Book of Life. (Daniel 12:1, Philippians 4:3, Revelation - many refs.)

 

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THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

 

These Latter Day Apostles of Jesus are Ministers of Light. They are the light of the world.

 

They light your way with the lamp of Divine truth -- the love of God and of His family.

 

Their authority is solely this light, which, if you knowingly reject it, shall eventually condemn you at the Last Judgment. And this light is in their eyes, and yours too. It is the pilot light of God!

 

They are Daniel’s “Maskilim” of the last days. Maskilim is Hebrew for “the wise ones.” (Daniel 12:3) And as Daniel promised of this Day of Deliverance, they shall, with this inner light, “shine like the brightness of the firmament; and ... turn many to righteousness.”

 

The cocoons of the NEW AGE are opening. And these are the first radiant butterflies thereof!

 

And in the personalities of these Merry Ministers, Jesus lives again!

 

These Apostles are Guides into the unknown future, where they have already been and have come back to lead you safely, step by step, through the swamp of uncertainty and the mires of despair.

 

They are guide posts, not policemen.

 

They want to encourage you to go in the right direction -- and that’s inside yourself to the God fragment, and thence, refreshed with this appreciation of Divinity-within-you, outward in loving service to your friends.

 

Thus do you yield the fruits of the spirit --gentleness, meekness, goodness, peace, joy, patience, long-suffering, tolerance, understanding, empathy, temperance, love, faith, loyalty, devotion, fairness,

 

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truth, beauty, honesty and trust -- taken together, the milk of human kindness.

 

These Apostles will help you to discover that unselfishness: selflessness, self-control, and self-forgetfulness is the shining badge of true human greatness -- that which makes you like God.

 

In the friendly ambience of the Temples, they will illuminate your destiny --fulfill your hunger and thirst for true righteousness, and prepare you for the sudden adjustments, and changed circumstances of living that lay just ahead.

 

Thus shall you face the uncertain future not with tension, but relaxation, not with fear, but with amazing bravery and courage, not with conflicts, but with inner peace in loving familyhood, not with lonely agony, but with the soothing comfort of family fellowship, not the despair of a doomed world -- a death . star -- but the refreshing hope of a day of universe fellowship, not the confusion of despair, but the certainty of salvation, not death here, but life in Graceland, not the prejudice of selfishness, but the sharing of a place in the shadow of the Divine wings, not the blindness of materialism and self-seeking, but the cosmic vision of God-seeking, not the Immaturity of selfishness, but the stability of generosity, and all this culminating in self-understanding, through the understanding of other selves.

 

They shall teach you that what is coming is not the destruction of world war, but the regeneration of a NEW EARTH, not the end of the world, but the beginning of a NEW AGE, the cosmic pregnancy now coming to term.

 

LIBERTY NOT CONFORMITY

 

These Ministers of Light shall be to you as sails are to a ship -- facilitators of easy spiritual power -- not bringers of increased burdens, as they work to further socialize religious worship and practices.

 

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They are evangels of religious liberty, not religious conformity. God wants your life to be original, not poured from a mold.

 

They will teach you that making a show of religion -- self-conscious piety -- is not what God wants, rather that you should love and serve others.

 

It is natural to be an evangel -- a witness for one’s beliefs -- for in so doing we hold out He who is the object of our worship as being worthy of the worship of all other people.

 

In the Family of God, our only witness is worship of the head of our Family, God, and this loving service to others. There are no other collateral social requirements.

 

The only “conversion” that shall happen to you is the recognition of the validity of God’s worldwide Family, and of all religions that worship Him.

 

These Apostles are shepherds in search of lost sheep, not thieves of sheep from someone else’s fold. They desire to overcome distrust and jealousy among religions, not create it.

 

They shall not force revision on any religion. In the place of autocratic theologic egotism, they bring unselfish social service.

 

They have not been ordained so much to build another outward church, as to take you inward to the very Temple of God that you are. They will teach that the hope of a better world is inside you, and all other individuals, not in any religion, cult, or sect per se.

 

Religion is only a form of social clothing that you can put on -- a collective “style.” But you are the real temple of religion, the storehouse of Divine energy of future promise. As an indwelt child of God, you are a religion. You do not need a vehicle to approach God, for He is with you, and you can talk to

 

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Him as a child talks with his father, in the same natural and ordinary way -- without a show of formality.

 

The job of these Apostles is to help you to find this God inside you, in your soul, of which you are the architect and He the Builder, for that discovery will help you to find Him in other people’s souls.

 

If they call upon you to show brotherly and sisterly love, you can expect to see in their attitude, fatherly and motherly love, for ‘ more is expected of the teacher than of the student.’ Jesus said: “By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35) The earmark of Jesusonian association was not theologic expertise, but LOVE -- the desire to be of service to others.

 

If they call upon you to show forth the fruits of the spirit, they shall be the very exemplars thereof -- gracious, spiritually fragrant, and morally attractive people who teach friendship with God.

 

They will teach you to be comfortable with the joyous and easy relationship of a child and his or her Divine Dad, in place of so much fearsome, formal, and pious reverence.

 

AMBASSADORS OF GOD

 

These Apostles are Ambassadors of God. Diplomats. With broadmindedness and fairness, they shall foster in your Temple a climate of friendly, fraternal, and tolerant social interaction, worship, and sharing. They are partners with God to ensure the smooth running of this community of faith by their loving interface.

 

The wars of the 1990s are going to reverse civilization -- send it stumbling backwards to barbarism. The job of these Ministers is to keep you going forward to God, and to escape. The light at the end of the tunnel is not an oncoming train of war. It is Graceland! And it is the task of these exemplars of love to prepare you for this glorious inheritance.

 

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The gospel of fraternal love they proclaim is really a fresh beginning for this entire world -- the beginning of love, tolerance, and understanding, as you will find it in Graceland.

 

Jesus inaugurated the Kingdom of Heaven inside you, albeit this teaching was virtually lost to the world. These Ministers proclaim its final coming outside you.

 

These Apostles shall engage in no social or political activism. They are not social reformers, nor moral exhorters.

 

By placing emphasis on the spiritual friend even God Himself -- inside YOU, they are assisting you to develop true cosmic self-realization. The greatest living expert on feeling the inner Presence of God is YOU. Likewise are YOU the greatest living authority on the subjective experience of knowing God.

 

They will help you to see that in God’s eyes, it is the individual that counts, not so much the race, nation, or creed -- for it is the individual that is indwelt by God.

 

The Latter Day Apostles of Jesus will avoid over-organization, or elaborate social requirements in the Temples. To the degree that the Family of God becomes institutionalized, just to that same degree will it lose its spiritual qualities -- spontaneous and extemporaneous familial love, fraternity, sharing, and interaction. Institutions are not indwelt by God.

 

Even as this world, in nuclear folly is about to turn itself inside out -- put the fiery core on the surface -- these Ministers carry the reassuring message of God’s rescue mission, which is coming from the OUTSIDE IN. They are the telescopes whose lenses focus the oncoming rush of the angels of salvation. Many sincere seekers after truth will be attracted to the Family of God because of the vividness of Elijah’s message of deliverance.

 

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GROUP FUNCTION OF THE APOSTLES

 

There are in the world many seekers of truth who are not tradition bound individuals for whom all future religious events have not been settled once and for all.

 

But there are also those whose false fear of the sacred has bred bigotry, ignorance, suspicions, narrow mindedness, and sectarian rivalry and bitterness.

 

No single group of individuals in the history of the world is faced with a more difficult task -- blending and interrelating diverse worship and faith systems.

 

They are going to have to be skillful mediators between and among the ancient religions of authority, with their fixed ritual and sacred practice, as they point the way to genuine love, trust, and truth exploration.

 

Armed solely with sentimentality and Divine truth, these custodians of a household of faith are going to have to use only the spiritual force of applied love to break through these barriers of suspicion.

 

With their theological emphasis on trust and faith, and their social emphasis on love, service, and tolerance, they shall be the artful presenters of that which ought to be.

 

By such techniques, the Latter Day Apostles of Jesus shall promote a new type of religious security, rooted in the liberty of free thinking and tolerance, and the removal of creedal pressures.

 

Always remember: the opposition to caste and any other form of discrimination in the Family of God is rooted in the fact that in Graceland, you will experience vivid social reconstruction -- the rich shall

 

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wake up there with the same status as the poor! No wealth, nor possessions of any kind shall be transferred to Graceland with you. And that is why this social reconstruction begins now, in the Temples. It is no accident that the Master said in his beatitudes: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 5:3) In fact, all the beatitudes were about this worldwide eschatological Kingdom which begins in Graceland, and continues later in the NEW EARTH.

 

These Apostles shall help you to find new ways of righteous living, and improved methods of working out differences with adherents of other religions, or other races. As they stimulate the culture of social contacts, they want to help you find enhanced self control, as you strive to be “cosmically cultured.”

 

Races, cultures and creeds may all be different, but as God’s Family they all share two important traits:

 

A. Uniformity of Divine-Spirit Indwelling

The Father fragments inside each of us, however unique in personalizing your relationship with God, are identical in origin, nature, and destiny. This gives all of us uniform spirit insight, and the assurance of being loved equally by God. Economic differences may characterize our lives in the material world, but all people are equal when in assembly for worship.

 

B. Uniformity of Destiny -- Graceland

 

They are promoters of Jesus’ invisible religion of the spirit -- understanding sympathy and empathy among all peoples of earth. In this religion of the spirit, their task is to enlarge and illuminate the wealth of shared truth.

 

The spirit draws all religions together, accepting every one of them, and submerging differences

 

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while exalting common goals, values, ideals, and purposes. It does not try to unify, theologies, creeds, and interpretations.

 

TEMPLE FUNCTION OF THE APOSTLES

 

These Apostles will have been trained to assist you in developing appropriate liturgies and an annual liturgical calendar for your Temple, the program of weekly activities and focus of ongoing Sunday worship.

 

Such a program of Divine communion will avoid static, stereotyped, complex, and cramping rituals. Instead, the services shall encourage a worthwhile symbolism and slogans of group worship that foster emotion, satisfy sentiment, and encourage your loyalty and devotion.

 

Instead of the bondage of ritualism, the tradition of authority, and the mandatory ceremony of slavish incantations, the services of these Conductors of Worship shall be elastic, dynamic, and flexible, yet embodying a sense of the permanency of God.

 

Their style shall be more philosophical than theological, more analytical and exploratory than fixed. The services shall be meaningful to the individual as well as to the collectivity -- true celebrations of the Spirit in all of us, while extolling truth, beauty and goodness as the highest human standards representative of God.

 

They will help the Temple Governing Committee determine times and frequencies of worship services, and will officiate at, and conduct these religious ceremonies, even as they work to train laypersons to do this as well.

 

They shall reconcile science and religion, while clarifying and explaining the mysteries of the unknown, in order to satisfy your most profound longings, and relieve your confusion of origin, history, and destinies in this vast Creation.

 

As pastoral shepherds of the Family of God congregation, they shall uphold morality, while teaching patience, tolerance, understanding and love for the temporarily backslidden.

 

They shall promote healthy relationships, and wholesome recreation and activity for youth, in the place of so much substance centered “partying.”

 

They shall exalt the home and the family, as torchbearers and embellishers of this very vital centerpiece of all civilization, while upholding the Idea of the equality of the Father’s love for all His children in the worldwide Family.

 

You shall perceive in them the joy of service as they manage the ongoing Temple food service operation, and host the Sunday revelry of the Messianic Banquets.

 

These Missionaries who come forth from Elijah’s school the Center for the Comparative Study of Religion shall be conveners of activities, behind the scenes organizers, promoters of music and pageantry, choral and instrumental, as well as of congregational singing -- generally specialists in involving everyone else in all activities of the Family of God, while  simultaneously avoiding egocentricity in all that they do. Religion is not merely the business of priests, it is the legacy of Divine love, creative group liberty in the place of stifling conformity.

 

And they shall be ever ready counselors of those in need, comforters of those distressed or bereaved, and cheerful menders of broken hearts.

 

DEVELOPMENT OF A LITURGY

 

The adherents of so many widely differing religions in God’s earth Family could hardly be brought together for a common prayer-worship gathering without a liturgy -- an “agenda” of some sort, acceptable to all.

 

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There has to be a ritual -- a symbolic ceremonial of some sort. And this must take into account the different social tendencies of the races, the similar practices of all the world’s religions, and be adapted to the local community.

 

The Family of God cannot be a strange religion, and for strangers.

 

It must be unencumbered, dynamic and inventive, not perfunctory and routine, and must forsake the bondage of ceremonialism, and the straightjacket of formalism.

 

The Apostles will teach, through their simple liturgies, that there is a real danger in using the symbolism and ceremonies of religion to effectively replace the actual religious experience of loving God, in and through spontaneous acts of kindness to your fellow Divine children on earth. It is not pleasing to God to replace the righteousness of natural and easy going fraternal family fellowship, with the frozen formalism of ritual.

 

There is no reason why these liturgies cannot conduce even to group entertainment and diversion, so long as this “show” points in the direction of ideals love, morals, and ethics.

 

The very fact that our relationship with God was placed by Jesus on a Father child, or parent child basis, demands that all religious ceremonial should reflect the FACT of this intimate family relationship.

 

The Father would far rather see religion become more the outworking of the fraternity Impulse, than of the piety response to the awe causing effects of Deity.

 

By appealing to this common element among all of us, the Universal Father Indwelling Presence, the Apostles will focus the higher truths inherent in the FACT of this Divine Spirit living inside, and guiding

 

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its mortal manifestation toward family understanding and love.

 

The most powerful ritual is unconscious ritual -- that which seems to be the natural thing to do, the natural fruits of family togetherness.

 

Thus, where so many religions are punctuated by precise requirements and favorable environments, the Family of God will worship in a relaxed atmosphere of simple intimate family fellowship. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (1 Corinthians 3:17)

 

Jesus himself was not concerned with forms. He placed his emphasis on the sacredness of the individual, not the group. Only transformed individuals can transform the society.

 

So shall these inter denominational preachers and teachers adroitly choose such artful and enduring truths from the scriptures of each religion, such that the adherents thereof are proud to attend and join in the dignified sharing of these truths with others of different beliefs.

 

These spirit liberators will devise services that are spontaneous, free and original -- but never unnerving, disconcerting, nor distracting.

 

Individual and group prayer, song, responsive reading, and the worship of individual silent devotion, shall bring alive and satisfy the veneration-response in all comers.

 

And all this shall be punctuated ever and anon by special feast days, enhanced ceremonies, or commemorative events.

 

And for those seeking the celebration of First Jubilees, formal enrollment in the Family of God, marriages, or the dignified and reverent officiation of a funeral, shall find understanding and efficient conductors in these Ministers of Light.

 

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THE APOSTLES AS A RELIGIOUS ORDER

 

The Latter Day Apostles of Jesus is a self governing religious order, operated along the lines intended by Jesus, when he assembled their illustrious predecessors nearly 2000 years ago.

 

The elected Chief Apostle serves for a term set by the order, and may be of either sex. Indeed, the Apostles will work diligently toward the recognition and acceptance of the full equality of women, and will demonstrate this principle in every respect in the management and administration of their order.

 

They shall be bound by assignment policies, social regulation, moral standards, and a code of internal discipline of their own devising -- brothers and sisters together in the Apostolic Family.

 

While it is hoped that individual Temples will eventually sustain and support these Missionary Ministers sent to them, the order itself shall retain the final responsibility and obligation in that regard.

 

As Jesus required that his Apostles have everything in common, so also shall these twentieth century disciples determine and enforce internally, a maximum financial limit to be placed on their personal possessions.

 

ELIGIBILITY AND ENROLLMENT

 

There are no formal academic eligibility requirements for admission to the Apostolic Training Program. Applicants should realize, however, that the level of scholastic standards required for their two year program of study, will be difficult to achieve with less than a pre qualification of high school graduation.

 

Doubtful applicants will be evaluated on a case by case basis, by the Dean of Studies.

 

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Applicants must be at least 18 years of age, and may be married or single. There is no maximum age.

 

Every effort will be made to accommodate on site, in suitable homes, couples with children who may be enrolling as a couple, or where only one of the spouses is applying.

 

The program is open to anyone of any race, color, national or religious background. Multi lingual training will be provided, utilizing in house translation facilities.

 

There are no tuition fees, and all required books, accommodations and necessities are provided free. Where individuals can meet their own necessities however, and/or contribute to the needs of others in this regard, they are encouraged to do so.

 

It is anticipated that the first class at the Center for the Comparative Study of Religion, whose location has not yet been disclosed, will commence studies in September, 1989, graduating to ordination approximately June, 1991.

 

At that time, they shall be temporarily ordained by Elijah the Third, and sent into all the world.

 

Permanent ordination shall take place in Graceland, by the Master himself, or, should his next visit be delayed into the far distant future, by the world Pantocrator, Lord Machiventa Melchizedek.

 

Those readers who wish application forms for this, or subsequent classes, may contact the Elijah Ministry. The address is at the end of this pamphlet.

 

PROGRAM OF STUDIES

 

The two year curriculum shall encompass:

 

Survey studies in all the major religions of earth, and general familiarity with their sacred scriptures.

 

Apocalyptic Studies - Graceland, the NEW AGE, and the NEW EARTH - the teachings of Elijah the Third - nature of prophecy

 

Introduction to the sociology of religion nature of cults, worship, and the structure of liturgies

 

Introduction to philosophy

 

History of Judaism

 

History of Christianity

 

Temple operation and management food service operations

 

Studies in The Urantia Book, the latest revelation of Divine Truth to this earth.

 

Pastoral work - family and marital counseling, crisis management

 

Suitable faculty for these disciplines is now being assembled, and you are encouraged to notify the Elijah Ministry if you feel you are competent to contribute in this regard.

 

Preference will be given to applicants who are lettered, but this should not discourage others from offering their services. The faculty is compensated, albeit moderately, in keeping with the principle of contributing to the advancement of the Kingdom, not the other way around.

 

CENTER FOR THE COMPARATIVE STUDY OF RELIGION

 

The Center for the Comparative Study of Religion will be prudently managed, such as to operate on a self sustaining basis. But it is inevitably dependant now on contributions toward startup.

 

It will feature classrooms and dormitories for

 

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single Apostolic candidates, and suitable homes for married candidates, as well as faculty and administrative staff. A daycare center will assist married couples who are joint candidates, or joint faculty/administrators.

 

A full fledged “training” Temple will be built and equipped on site.

 

Hotel accommodations for visitors will also be provided, as well as suitable support services for the village community. It is in operating these services, as the followers of Jesus operated the for-profit Pella encampment, that the Center seeks to achieve self sustenance, in a financial sense.

 

Finally, the day shall come when the first graduating class shall go forth to lead the world to the final fulfillment of the Apostle’s prophetic picture of Graceland days, now so near at hand:

 

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (I Peter 2:9)

 

* * *

 

Copies of this pamphlet and applications forms for the latter day apostles of Jesus are available from:

 

Elijah Ministry

 

[Apologies for any remaining scan/ocr errors. –Norm]