Rev. Dr. John Rodgers is Arizona's most widely read New Age columnist, For nearly a quarter century his column has appeared in the Omega Directory.  Dr. Rodgers is the founder and leader of the New Age Community Churches, the editor of the Omega Directory, and web-master of aznewage.com and its related web sites.

I haven't spoken to you for several months. I guess I just have been too busy with mundane things and surviving day to day.

But I just reviewed a book that triggered me to speak out.

The book?  Jesus vs. Christianity - The Myth of Heaven and Hell by Michael Dybicz. It's only $18.95 and that is a great price for a 440-page book. 

This is the first book I have come across that makes the distinction between Jesus and Christ. And it is very satisfying to see in print what I have been teaching for decades.

The Gospel of Thomas makes it fairly clear that today's teachings about Jesus are far from the mark, greatly removed from what was taught 2000 years ago. But finally clear-thinking scholars are voicing this to the world.

Many people fail to understand that Jesus and Christ were two separate ideas that were gradually blended together until the Roman Emperor Constantine blended the story of  Jesus with the myths of  two other savior gods of the time - Mithras and Sol Invictus.

Sol Invictus was worshipped throughout the Roman Legion and the Mithras cult was secretive but could be found throughout the Empire.

It may be that the Emperor Constantine was combining these three religions with the intent of using them as a personality cult in which he would be the incarnation of Jesus, Mithras and Helios.

We don't know what happened to those plans, but we do know that from the fourth century onward this welded religion came to be known as Christianity and it was the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Now, do you follow me?  There was the religion built around Jesus as the Messiah of the Jews, but this was nothing like the religion that we know of today as Christianity. These three beings Jesus, Mithra and Helios, were deified and merged into one holy anointed being ( anointed in Greek is Christos).

Also going on throughout the Mediterranean area were myths about God ( Jupiter) coming down and have a divine child by a mortal woman.  There were other teaching about how a truly devoted believer could become one with his God (Orpheus Bacchus)

Remembering that books were expensive and hard to come by, it is quite believable that these various teachings would combine and give us was we know today as Christianity.

We can celebrate the Christmas spirit of giving without believing that there is an actual Santa Claus, even so we can not accept the teachings of  Jesus without believing that he is the only-begotten Son of God, or even God himself?

Why do people say that the Bible is the Word of God?  If God dictated or inspired it, it should be perfect. But it is far from perfect.  Did you know that there is no outline of Christian beliefs to be found anywhere in the New Testament. Even the story of Jesus life is incomplete. The book has been translated and retranslated a thousand times. There are currently several hundred different English versions. Which one it the right one?  Isn't God going to smite someone for changing his divine book?  Read Revelations 22:18-19.  Since the New Testament was first written in Greek, is changing it to English a violation of that commandment?  The Moslems believe that the only valid Koran is one written in the original Arabic

Just some things to think about.

How is it the Alpha Book Center gets selected for filming?

I don't know.  It just happens.

This time, with the Japanese film company, I received a call from someone with a Japanese accent.  At first I wasn't sure what they wanted.  It seemed they had called the store, but Joy has a hard time with accents, so she had them call me.  I eventually learned that they wanted to film a New Age bookstore. I said, sure.  We made a date and they showed up with about four people and cameras.  They asked a lot of questions and I gave a lot of answers. They said thank you and left and I never got the name of  the film company.  I guess I was still groggy from my  hospital stay.

We used to get filmed because of the Omega Directory which was read around the world.  I guess the Omega Directory on line is finally picking up readers.

While I was in the hospital, President Obama crossed the line.  He appointed someone to office contrary to the will of Congress and contrary to Constitutional law.

Obama has undertaken a willful assault on the rule of law in America, and consistently bypassed our legislative system in order to get what he wants. By using Executive Orders, Presidential Proclamations, Appointed Czars ... and just ignoring our system of government altogether ... he will do whatever he has to in order to continue his European, socialist, entitlement playbook.

No President in the history of America has ever used his executive power to the extent Barack Obama has already, and intends to use, this year. Bruised by the November 2010 elections, the arrogant and elitist Obama has decided he will use the executive branch to do whatever he wants to America, because HE knows what is best for ALL OF US better than we do.

We, the People, are the only defense against his self-appointed monarchy!

Well,  it's great to be out of the hospital and back at my desk.

         The nurses at St. Joseph's were angels - wonderful and caring.

         However, the nurses were handicapped by the rules and regulations of the hospital, the medical profession and Medicare.  If you wanted a doctor you had to wait at least four hours. With several doctors in charge of my case - the case manager, the surgeon and I don't know who else, no one wanted to step on the others' toes, so few of my requests were granted.  I think I may not have been a good patient.

But I am back, I am feeling much better, and I lost several ounces in the process - appendix, etc.

Thank to all those wonderful people who asked about me and sent me their prayers and good wishes.  They are greatly appreciated.

A problem has been brought to my attention.

The thousands of Pagan, Wiccan and New Age inmates in our prisons.

The prison chaplains are Christian and have little knowledge of the beliefs and needs of our brothers and sisters who are their responsibility.

I would like to compile a list of individuals and groups who are prepared to travel to various prisons around the state to visit and assist those in prison who cannot be helped by the Christian chaplains.

I you would like to participate, please send me your name, your religious affiliation, what services you would like to perform and what credentials you may have.

Help others and help yourselves.

NOVEMBER 2011

Liberty is impossible without the protection of law

Law should be based upon ethical principles, while morality is based upon religious teachings. Therefore, when the ethical principles of a people are weakened, there follows a progressive collapse of law and order, and the breakdown of society. When religions change, there is an improvement in society as long as its ethical principles remain unchanged. 

When law is based upon morality, and that morality is itself based upon religion, the result is a progressive collapse of law and order, and the breakdown of society.

Law should be based upon ethical principles, but men, moved by ignorance and ego, create laws that limit freedom. Christianity, claiming that Biblical law is the foundation for all morality and liberty, is used as justification for the most restrictive legislation. As long as societies attempt to impose religious morality upon society, the end result can only be the death of liberty. Unless law is regulated by ethical principles,  there is no liberty is for any one.

     Vice President Biden, pushing for Pres. Obama's so-called "Job's Bill", said that if we don't hire more police murder and rape will increase.   That is the dumbest thing I have ever  heard. Is he trying to tell us that criminals consider how many policemen there are before committing a crime.  Generally speaking, the police do not prevent crime, they prosecute it. They find out who did the crime and arrest them.  This has very little to do with why the crime was committed in the first place!

       Beware of statistics when quoted by politicians.  

      Dr. Robert Jeffress, the senior pastor of the 10,000-member First Baptist Church of Dallas, who has his own TV program, and is highly respected in the ranks of Evangelical Christians said he was not supporting Governor Mitt Romney in his race for the Republican nomination for the presidency because he was a Mormon. He called Mormonism a cult and said further,  "Mormonism is not a part of historical Christianity . . . .It has a human founder versus a Divine founder."

         Dr. Jeffress, are you telling me that Jesus or God founded the Baptist Church or your Evangelical Association?

          Don't you mean (when say Mormonism is not a part of historical Christianity) that it is not a philosophical or political sub-division of the Roman Catholic Church?  A church which they have condemned for centuries.

          Many of the basic doctrines of the Catholic Church are condemned by the Baptists. In fact, almost the only doctrines they have in common is a believe that the Bible is the Word of God and in the Trinity.

          Mormonism (actual name The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) believes in Jesus, that he is the Son of God and that he died for our sins. They believe in baptism, confirmation, etc.  They do not believe in the traditional Trinity - a doctrine that came into being hundreds of years after Jesus and a doctrine that has yet been explained to me in any manner that made sense.

         The fact is they simply don't like Mormons!!

         The sit-ins in Wall Street and the across the country.

        These young people are expressing the anger that most of the country is feeling - an anger at the "Big Powers" that are getting richer while the rest of us are getting poorer. The situation clearly is wrong, but they do not know where to point the finger.

        One of their problems is that they think American was established as a Capitalist nation. In this they are wrong. The U.S. was established as a free market, a free-enterprise economy. Capitalism was part of the many systems within this economy.

        Capitalism is not necessarily synonymous with freedom. Red China has Capitalism.  Nazi Germany was Capitalistic. Etc.

         One of the modern off-shoots of Capitalism in the U.S. is that Corporations have been declared legal "individuals" in the sense that they can buy, sell, own property, sue and be sued.  Recently the U.S. Supreme Court made one of its few stupid rulings and said that as "individuals" corporations could donate funds to political parties and political candidates.  This ruling has created a situation in which corporations, with their millions of dollars,  have too much power in selecting candidates.

         The solution is for Congress to pass a law which re-defines what a corporation is and what power it has. 

         The situation that caused the problems we faced in 2007 and still face today is the fact that the prime members of the N.Y. Stock Exchange and many other corporations in this country are "Too Big to Fail."  If this had not been the perception in 2007-2010, there would have been no impetus to shore up these corporations with federal funds.

        Unfortunately, these same "Too Big to Fail" corporations still exist in the same form. Whatever the Federal Government is doing, it is clearly inadequate.  What needs to be done is to break up these giant corporations into several pieces each, as was done in 1984 with AT&T, the giant telephone monopoly .

          In a dozen years, AT&T was grossing 50 billion dollars, and the divisions, called Baby Bells,  were grossing 50 billion!  AT&T's share of the long distance market dropped from 90% to 50%, and rates dropped by 40%.  But  because of the lower costs produced by competition between AT&T and the new Baby Bells,  customers made more long distance calls.  In 1984, volume was 37 million calls a day; by 1989 it was 100 million, and by 1999, 270 million.  Of course, AT&T is still immensely profitable, while offering services that are competitive, and lower than anyplace else in the world. 

        We should do the same thing with any of these corporations that are Too Big To Fail and I am sure the results would be similar. 

        I may have said this before, but I'm saying it again because I hate to see people get sucked into spending their money because of high-pressure TV advertising.

         About buying gold. The cost of mining gold changes very little from day to day. It is the speculators that cause the value to go up. They are selling gold back and forth constantly, which raises the price of gold artificially, much like the price of diamonds. Also have you noted that they are spending millions of dollars advertising that you should buy gold. Who do you think is going to end up covering the costs of all that advertising? You or the dealer?

          It is a good hedge against inflation  -- providing you had the gold on hand when the inflation started!  When you consider the cost of the transaction, the fees, etc.  It takes about 4 or 5 years for you to begin to make any profit on gold. And, if the inflation stops before then, you have lost money!! These people want to unload their gold before the economy takes an upturn a year from now. At that time the price of gold will drop and they don't want to be holding it then.

         Ask yourself, why are all these people selling all their gold for money if it is more valuable than money?

         That takes care of buying gold for financial reasons.  How about buying gold as a hedge against total disaster?

         If society breaks down due to war or a bad president, gold will not be much good. It will be worth more than paper money, but not much more!!  The things of value in a disaster are: water, food, shelter, weapons and tools.

         Invest in them!!

SEPTEMBER 2011

        Lee (Amrit Dev Singh) was very upset. He had picked up one of the flyers for a New Year's Eve retreat in Sedona with some Hindu guru with a French name.  

          "$2700!" he exclaimed.  "It's a con game. It's a rip-off. People like this are con artists.  $500 would be more realistic fee."

          And I agree with him.

          How can anyone conscionably charge this much money for a six-day feel-good session.?

          Especially in the wake of James Arthur Ray's conviction for very much the same thing. Except no one is likely to die as a result of the Frenchman's game.  

          Why do New Agers continue to fall for this sort of thing?  Apparently they do not think for themselves.  They are often of a Christian background and are used to some great spiritual authority telling them what to do and what to think.. So, when someone comes along who puts on a good show and have PR men pronouncing them to be great spiritual leaders, these empty-minded New Agers jump on board. And hand over all their cash!

         Surely they must know that you cannot buy spiritual enlightenment.  Yes, Christ Consciousness can come upon someone quite suddenly.  But this is after years of preparation, whether or not the individual knows they are being prepared.

         I have been teaching at the New Age Community Church for 30 years. When we were new and unique, we had a good turn-out, but now that there are dozens of New Age and metaphysical organization making all kinds of fantastic claims, our turn-out is light.

         We are still providing the same (even slightly improved) spiritual insights, historical revelations and personal guidance, but the competition is great.

         The adage, "make a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door," is not true.  In order for the world to even notice you, you have to have a powerful PR organization, a posh-looking building, and a fancy presentation.

          We have none of that.  I keep hoping that some individuals have risen to the level of not being moved by outward show and that they will turn up here. Apparently outward show is a big thing in almost everyone's mind.

A few people are guided by spirit, but only a few.

          Repeal the 17th Amendment!!  More later.

AUGUST 2011       

          You see all the ads on TV-- buy gold, buy gold, it's your best investment!!!

          It's not true. Based on real dollars, gold today is worth two-thirds of what it was worth in 1980. 

         Ancient Rome fell because of the madness of its emperors and the corruption of its Senators.  If we do not get rid of our corrupt Senate, we, too, shall fall, just like Rome.

           It is not the Senators themselves that are corrupt, it is the entire system of the Senate. From how they are selected to how they conduct their business.

           Here is a letter (I'm not sure who from) that everyone should read. It reflects much of what I have been saying for years.

        Start the 28th Amendment

Congressional Reform Act of 2011
     1. Term Limits. 12 years only, one of the possible options below..
         A. Two Six-year Senate terms
         B. Six Two-year House terms
         C. One Six-year Senate term and three Two-Year House terms
     2. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.
     3. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people.
     4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
     5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
     6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
     7. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
     8. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 10-1-11
The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.
Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.
THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!!

          To this I would only add: Have the Senators selected by State Legislators as the original Constitution provides. It will assure less corruption (of course, there will always be some) and a better response to the will of the people back home.

          You probably notice that much of your spam comes from Republican party/Fundamentalist religion sources who are trying to tell us that the Protestant religion is the faith that made America what it is today - that created this nation.

          They are wrong. the founders of this nation made it clear what the basic religion is. It is stated clearly in the Declaration of Independence. It says that we are endowed with inalienable rights by our Creator who is God - or more specifically Nature's God. Our founding fathers said that the God of the the U.S. is a Nature God.

So, if any religion has pre-eminence, it should be the Pagans and Witches who worship a Nature God.

          The first segment of the new TV show Curiosity had physicist Stephen Hawking propounding the theory that there is no God because everything can be explained by physical laws.  Hawking is a very smart man, but he has been brainwashed by the fundamentalist Christians into believing that God has to be some anthropomorphic being existing within time and space. 

          If that were true, there would be no God.  

          But it is not true.  God DOES NOT exist within time and space.  Time and space exist within God. That is why there are physical laws. It is the will of God. Sorrry Stephen.

JULY 2011

It saddens me to report that it appears that former Alpha Book Center teacher, Jennifer Gerhardt, has not received any treatment for her mental/emotional condition. As you recall, about a month ago she had a serious emotional breakdown.  Since then she has turned on many of her friends and students,, accusing them of attacking her psychically. Our first awareness of her fantasy was when she publicly accused the Goddess Temple of psychic attack. This was while she was teaching classes at Alpha and doing psychic reading there.  Then she had her breakdown and accused Alpha and everyone there of attacking her psychically.  Since then she has accused the spiritual group, Transitioning Spirit, of psychic attack. An others, also, have been falsely accused. Those people who do not know of her mental condition are being unduly alarmed and upset. We publishing this information to ease their concerns.  This is all very unfortunate.

In case you missed it, the Omega Directory is no longer available in print. Instead we have enlarged it, updating it almost daily, and have placed it on line, on the Wef.  A number of people have expressed their disappointment in this change. But it was the most practical thing to do.

Everybody loved to read the Omega directory. We had lots of subscribers, but few of them paid. Only a few people advertised. The Directory was costing us nearly $2000 a month to publish. Our income from it was less than $1000. You can't keep that up for long, but we managed to keep it up forover 30 years.  Where were those people who are complaining about it now being only on line  - where were they when we asked for donations and financial help a year ago?

Put away your disappointment and you will find that the new on-line directory is a lot better and up to date than ever was the paper version.

It seems I am always being asked, "What's my purpose in life?"

People are always insisting that they have some mysterious element called "free will" but they also believe that God intended that they have some particular role to play in the scheme of things. Apparently God forgot to tell them what that role was when he sent them here and now they have to spend all their time trying to figure out what it is.

In the movie Oh God! the lead character asks God what his purpose is, and God's reply is, "I have given you everything you need and the rest is up to you.

I think that is very good answer.  Your purpose in life is to make the most of it ...... and to be happy.

Why did God create the universe?

He didn't make it for any reason.  It is an expression of his existence.  Often, an artist does not create a painting or sculpture for any reason. It is simply an expression of his being.  And the Universe is an expression of God's existence. It is a great and wonderful work of art. Everything is constantly changing and yet is remains harmonious.  And it is beautiful on every level. It is wonderful. We can wonder at the universe and at the same time we are wondering at God. His universe is all we will ever actually know of him. To know the universe in its totality is to know God.  Love the wonder of the universe and you are loving God.

JUNE 2011

We have tried to keep this out of the news as much as possible, but so many people have been asking, "What happened to Jennifer Gerhardt?", that something should be said. 

           It can't be said any other way. Jennifer seems to have had a nervous breakdown. It was quite sudden and shocking, and we all feel sorry for her. It is our hope that she will get the treatment and counseling that she needs, and that she will soon be back in balance.  Our prayers go out for her recovery.

         Can anyone of you tell me anything about Johnny Prochaska? I believe he is dead.  Can you tell me when he died and where?  If he isn't dead, please tell me how he can be reached.   

          All the furor of Rep Weiner's faux pas is silly.  Of course, in every sense he is the source of all the problems. But this business of making his resign is also silly.  What he did online was personal. Do you want every congressman and senator who has committed adultery or hired a prostitute to resign. That would leave the chambers half empty.  Others are saying that he should resign because he lied about it.  Now if you want to make every congressman who has lied in public to resign, we might as well close down the government.

If you are reading this, you are clearly a sinner, because all the righteous were raptured last month. If you haven’t noticed anyone missing it is probably because you didn’t know any righteous people. After all, righteous people are so hard to find in the U.S. This is not surprising because we have legalized pornography and homosexuality. And you know how important sexual things are to God. 

According to our Fundamentalist Christian friends (the ones who warned us about the rapture on May 21) sex is God’s main concern. You are still here because you have committed some sort of sex sin – masturbation, leering, etc.

Anyway, sorry you didn’t make it.

My good friend Robert Cohen (who didn’t make the rapture either because he is Jewish) ,puts forth, elsewhere in this issue: “God or the whole universe . . . divides within itself.”

I will take issue with this perspective.

God does not divide himself. Rather, each point of perception is a limitation and cannot perceive the whole and therefore sees only part.

A Course in Miracles says that time exists so that everything doesn’t happen at once. In other words, if we did not, perceptually, divide up all motion and change into units, it would be more than we could cope with.

Thusly the universe, in our perceptions, is divided up into smaller units so that we can comprehend them, because our mind cannot contain the whole.

Our perceptions are small and manifold, but the universe (i.e. God) is one.

Something new!  You’ve heard of nude dancers, topless car washes, nude news shows, and topless hair dressers. Here’s something really new: A Naked Life Coach! Nadine Sabulsky is distributing her business card which says that’s what she does! On the back of the card is a photo which shows her in the altogether, so I guess she really does life coaching in the nude. Will she have her clients’ full attention? I am sure. But they will be too distracted to remember much of what she tells them. 

For years I have heard people say “Jesus was a communist.”

This is not true. Jesus was not a Communist. He was a revolutionary. He was trying to overthrow the government of Herod to replace it with the traditional Jewish theocracy.

It was the Christians who were communists. In the New Testament it says:

And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul. Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things common.  Neither was there any among them that lacked. For as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet, and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.  —Acts 4:32-35

This is clearly communism. Like socialism, communism works in small, homogeneous groups. The Hippy communes and the Kibbutzim of Israel – one of the reasons they work is because participation is voluntary. If you don’t like it, you can leave. They only work if all participants are sharing equally.

This is unlike the communism and socialism we find in the world today in which a small ruling class runs everything.

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. — Animal Farm, George Orwell

The communism or socialism (whatever you want to call it) that President Obama and the other Liberals in Washington are trying to impose on us, is like Animal Farm.  Everyone has to share equally, except for some who get more because they are in charge.  This system is call Fabian Socialism. What President Obama is doing with Obamacare is a perfect example of Animal Farm Communism or Fabian Socialism.

The first steps in this direction were taken years ago by Congress, which chose not to participate in Social Security, but set up their own very plush retirement program.  They also do not participate in Medicare, they have their own federal health plan.

A president spends eight years on the job and then  retires and is taken care of for the rest of his life at a cost of perhaps several million dollars a year. Congress has a similar plan. When they retire or are voted out, whether after five years or fifty years, they retire on a very plush plan.

All men are created equal, but some men are more equal than others. Those who work in Washington are the most equal and they are making sure it stays that way.

You may not know this, but giant corporations who do business with the U.S. government, are permitted to make tax-deductible “contributions” to political parties.

These giant corporations may be labor unions or international banks. These huge “contributions” are essentially pay-offs to senators, representatives and the president to grant them special favors.

Then, these bribes are taken off their taxes as “contributions”.  So anyone who has several million dollars on hand can bribe a government official and then take it off their taxes.

The solution to this problem is to stop taxing corporations. Let them still pay state taxes, but no federal taxes. That way all their bribe money will have to come out of their own pockets. That will slow them down a bit.

Let's not stop with huge corporations. Consider the fact that property owned by a charity is often exempt from city/county/state property taxes. We have huge churches that pay no property tax but still have fire and police protection and other services provided at no charge.

I am perfectly okay with the leadership of these organization being politically involved as long as I don't have to pick the slack. A very good example is the
Southern Christian Leadership Conference  (SCLC). It hides behind tax exempt churches but is a totally political organization for the Democratic Party.

The only real solution to this nonsense is (1) to reverse the idiotic and corrupt US Supreme Court decision that declares corporations to be people and grants them constitutional rights, and (2) let's elect legislators with the courage to end the tax-exempt status of religious organizations who meddle financially in partisan politics.

The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations.. . . .If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent they conquered.     —President Thomas Jefferson