I have been asked many times, why the Holy Spirit would have chosen to manifest in a place as destitute and deprived as the Philippines? Benjamin explained that just as Jesus had been forced to establish his ministry outside the organized religious community in Israel, the Holy Spirit has been working outside the confines of organized religion for centuries. Cessationists haven't given the Holy Spirit any other options. The emergence of new forms of Catholic Christianity that Pope Paul VI acknowledged at Vatican II is well underway. The Pope's admission that "a certain theological pluralism finds its roots in the mystery of Christ" is an understatement. The indigenization of Protestant charismatic religion is now taking place throughout the world as well, minus the cessationist error.
In the works of Allan Kardec, the Spirit of Truth described the work of the Pure spirits. The Pure spirits were defined thusly: "They have passed up through every degree of the scale of progress, and have freed themselves from all the impurities of materiality.
Having attained the sum of perfection of which created beings are susceptible, they have no longer to undergo either trials or expiations. Being no longer subject to reincarnation in perishable bodies, they enter on the life of eternity in the immediate presence of God.
They are in the enjoyment of a beatitude which is unalterable, because they are no longer subject to the wants or needs of material life; but this beatitude is not the monotonous idleness of perpetual contemplation.
They are the messengers and ministers of God, the executors of his orders in the maintenance of universal harmony. They exercise a sovereign command over all spirits inferior to themselves, aid them in accomplishing the work of their purification, and assign to each of them a mission proportioned to the progress already made by them. To assist men in their distresses, to excite them to the love of good or to the expiation of the faults which bring them back to the road of supreme felicity, are for them the congenial occupations."
Reverend Pajarillo explained that the emergence of Christian Spiritist communities in Brazil and the Philippines are historical examples of the work of a particular group of these Pure spirits. Different groups of Pure spirits have been sent to our planet on missions. What we know as Christianity has evolved in stages. Each stage has been characterized by human beings being contacted by the group of Pure spirits that have come to be known as the Spirit of Truth, the Comforter, or the Holy Spirit. In the first stage, Abraham was contacted. From this contact emerged the Prophetic traditions of Archaic Judaism. The second stage was the incarnation of Jesus. The third stage was the mass contact known as the Pentecost. The mass possession of the Apostles and disciples at the Pentecost marked the beginning of Christianity.
Since the perfect spiritualization of the human race is still in progress, these Pure spirits have continued to operate in history. What I discovered in the Philippines is the history of how this group of Pure spirits intervened directly into the lives of mostly rural Filipinos to establish a spiritual organization through which the work of the Pure Spirits could be facilitated.
The work of the Pure spirits (Holy Spirit) in the Philippines was directed towards the revelation of what Jesus called, "Worship In Spirit and In Truth." Far from the centers of Western culture, and a Christian religion dominated by men, the Holy Spirit sent the Spiritual Messengers of Christ into a culture where they were certain to be properly understood and received. The Filipino Christian Spiritists learned the spiritual meaning of the scriptures directly from the Spirit of Truth.
Like a Divine chess master, the Holy Spirit has been planning one strategy after the next for centuries, planting a seed here and a seed there. The prophesies and healing work of Edgar Cayce, the transpersonal spirituality that emerged in the sixties, the Toronto Blessing, the spirit-directed miracles of Arigo, psychic surgery, and the emergence of Christian Spiritism in the Philippines and Brazil, have all been characterized by the progressive revelation of the Holy Spirit through Divine spiritual possession. This dispensational post-millennialist understanding, discerned by the members of a minority religious sect in the Philippines, and based on the work of the Holy Spirit, has, until now, been a secret tradition of the Christian Spiritists. This work of the Pure spirits will eventually lead to a breakthrough in which humanity will contact the Holy Spirit in masse.
Central to the secret tradition of the Christian Spiritists is the knowledge that we are presently in the dispensation of the Holy Spirit. Christian Spiritists believe that there will be a Second Coming of Christ. This will take place after the spiritualization of humanity is brought about by the Second Coming of the Holy Spirit. Juan Alvear questioned the Blessed Spirit at length about the spiritual events that led to Christian Spiritism. In the first chapter of the Doctrina, Alvear asks the Spirit, "How do we classify the periods pertaining to the emergence of modern (Christian) Spiritism?"
Spirit: Three phases, First, the appearance of various phenomenon in America since 1848. Secondly, the development of the science and moral philosophy derived from the wise based on the phenomenon in Europe and America. Thirdly, the founding of schools of moral evangelism which arose from the knowledge of the Holy Spirit. From this came the true spiritism in formal mediums, followed by the emergence of conferences and evangelical sessions."
According to the Spirit, the three contemporary events that led to Filipino Christian Spiritism are: 1) The Spiritualism movement that began with the Fox sisters in 1848 in upstate New York, 2) The Spiritist Doctrine that Allan Kardec received from the Blessed Spirit, and 3) The formal inception of worship in Spirit and in Truth based on the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Since the spiritualist phenomena bore little resemblance to the paranormal activities of the Holy Spirit described in the biblical narrative, Alvear questioned the Spirit about the differences:
Alvear: How do you explain why spiritualistic phenomenon like knocking sounds, levitation of tables and other objects in mid-air, the appearance of hands writing from nowhere, and other related phenomenon were the first occurrences of modern Spiritism?
Spirit: Because these events were intended by God to be the beginning, or introduction, of big things that heaven has in store in the end, which is the revelation or appearance of the Holy Spirit.
Continuing to question the Blessed Spirit, Alvear asks:
Alvear: What spirits are responsible for the spiritualistic phenomenon?
Spirit: The elemental and raw spirits.
Alvear: Why should the raw spirits first begin this?
Spirit: It did not come from their own desire. They are under the direction of brilliant spirits who are called the Spiritual Messengers of Christ. The manifestations of the raw spirits are used to call the attention of the masses of innocent people and of the curious and onlookers. There are still a majority of curious individuals and they marvel and delight in flocking to these occasions. In this manner, the people learn of the aforesaid rough phenomena and gather to witness, thus opening the door for yet greater manifestations. The phenomena brought about by the raw spirits and elementals will also come to the attention of wise men, compelling them to research the origins of such occurrences. The priests and pastors will also be compelled to make studies so that they will know how to explain the phenomena.
Alvear: Are these rough phenomena made by the higher spirits who guide the lesser or rough spirits? Are they the ones who lift tables, benches, and other household articles? Do they make the noises that come from things and objects?
Spirit: No, because they (the brilliant spirits) will lose their dignity and besides, it is not becoming for them to do unrefined performances on earth. People who are not used to hard work cannot perform the work of laborers; likewise, the finest spirits cannot perform vulgar deeds. The brilliant spirits can be compared to master architects, professors, heads of state, and heads of organizations or foundations. They are in charge of planning, to direct and govern the unrefined spirits. They are chosen to fulfil God's will. (Alvear 1909)
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