Abd ru shin is the pen name of Oscar Ernst Bernhardt, an Austrian who is the Truth-Bringer of the modern age. Abd ru shin Has published his revelations in book form titled “The Grail Message, In the Light of Truth.” The Grail Message consists of 168 lectures of carefully worded instructions, teachings and warnings to all men. The Grail Message is a dire necessity for all men who declare that they are seeking for the Truth.
When the question is asked “What is Abd ru shin’s attitude towards the church?” this question raises a four pronged query as follows: 1. What is Abd ru shin’s attitude towards the church? 2. What is Abd ru shin’s attitude towards the Christian? 3. What is Abd ru shin’s attitude towards Christianity? and 4. What is Abd ru shin’s attitude towards Christ? We will attempt to answer these questions.
In this essay the church is addressed in the plurality of its forms, as there are countless churches of diverse denominations scattered all over the face of the earth. For the purpose of this essay the church will be defined as any group or congregation that advances as its intention the Teachings of the Great Master, The Son of God, “Jesus Christ of Nazareth.”
It must be pointed out that Abd ru shin did not specifically write out any treatises directly towards any church. Thus Abd ru shin’s attitudes towards the various Christian groups can only be gleaned from inferences after an examination of his writings.
One must realize that at the time of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, there already existed a multitude of religious groups that catered to the people. Jesus Christ’s band of disciples merely became the latest in such a series of groups. But because of the power of Jesus’ group, the hitherto existing organizations began to lose ground against Him, because of His superior Truths and His healings. It was because of this loss of influence that these previously established groups became uncomfortable with Jesus Christ, and made them view Him as an enemy.
In the same as Jesus was regarded as a great threat to previously existing groups, so also Abd ru shin in his own time was also regarded as a similar threat. This is because of his new revelations. Thus Abd ru shin words and teachings also produced a result similar to Jesus’, leading to many defamatory actions being taken against Abd ru shin, which included his being summoned to the law courts, as well as suffering uncomfortable detentions and house arrests.
But Abd ru shin declares that in innumerable matters the churches are quite “off the mark”in their teachings. Giving his opinion about the Christian groups of his day, Abd ru shin writes:
“There is no greater danger to a cause than to leave a gap in its presentation which needs filling up, as may often be intuitively sensed. It is of no avail to pass it over because such a gap hinders all progress. Any building erected over it will inevitably collapse sooner or later, even if the greatest skill and best materials have been used.
“Such is the case with the various Christian religious communities of today. They persistently close their eyes and ears to certain points in their teaching which can be sensed as illogical. They try to dismiss them with empty phrases instead of taking thought in all seriousness.
“They readily apprehend the danger that one day the temporary bridges they have built over such gaps through a teaching of blind faith will no longer suffice, and they dread the moment when enlightenment will show up the flimsy character of these structures. Moreover they know that they will then no longer be able to persuade anybody to follow such deceitful course, with the natural result that all the rest of their teaching , however sound, will also be discarded. They also realize that a single flash of fresh truth must sweep away such artificial constructions.
“Still, for want of something better, they seek to maintain their swaying plank in spite of every danger. Even worse, they are prepared to defend their position by every means in their power, and would destroy him who dared to provide a firmer crossing over the gap through the Truth Itself! Without any hesitation they would try to repeat what occurred here on earth nearly two thousand years ago, and which still casts its shadow right down to the present day.”(The Grail Message of Abd ru shin pg.389, World Events).
Abd ru shin further elaborates his view about man’s attitudes towards the Truth-Bringers sent to this earth. He states that every Truth Bringer sent to the earth by Almighty God had to suffer the persecution of his fellow men. In his words:
“Wherever some Messenger of the Light had to proclaim the Truth according to the Will of God, he was attacked, defiled, slandered and persecuted. This was done first and foremost by the representatives and servants of the prevailing religious dogmas who pretended to serve God, and by those who even had the effrontery to profess themselves as representatives of the Divine Will. Always and ever again it was just the priests who were the most definite adversaries of the Light and thus enemies of God.
(Shun the Pharisees, pg.836).
And now we come to a critical part of this essay. Abd ru shin explains that the world develops in stages. Just as a baby learns how to walk in various degrees, first by learning how to sit, then to crawl, then to stand up, then to walk, and finally how tom run, so does the earth develop in measured stages. Thus the earth goes through a stone age, a dark age, a glacial age and finally through the present day stage of the Great New Cosmic Turning-Point also referred to as the “Age of Aquarius.” It is this passage between one age and the next which is called a “Turning-Point.” And the Turning-Point of the present day, comes along with all the strife, confusion and hardships on earth.
” But Abd ru shin makes the assertion that at every Turning point in the world, further teachings are proffered to the inhabitants of the earth at such peculiar times. Thus at the time of Israel’s captivity in Egypt, Israel experienced a Turning-Point with the advent and the teachings of Moses, with the ten commandments of God being hewn ion to the tablets of stone on Mount Sinai. Similarly at the time of Christ, the Jews experienced a Turning Point, this Turning Point being an extension of knowledge through Christ’s Teachings. Abd ru shin states that at this present day, the earth is now experiencing a climactic Turning-Point, and this is accompanied by an extension of knowledge. Abd ru shin states that the extension of the knowledge to Creation at this time are contained in his own Grail Message. The following statements are Abd ru shin’s words:
“For years now, strangely enough, mankind have been talking about the Cosmic Turning-Point which is supposed to come, and in this they are as an exception right for once. But the Turning-Point has already come! Mankind stands amid the world-embracing happening which they are still awaiting, and they do not notice it because they do not want to.
(Omniscience, pg.929).
Abd ru shin explains in several parts of his Grail Message that the confusion on earth today is the sign of the approach of the long-expected promised period of peace, which is called the time of the Millennium. At this time every man will render an account for his actions and inactions. It is the time when every man will render an account to his God.
But Abd ru shin in his words lays a litany of complaints against the churches. Abd ru shin accuses the churches of embracing false doctrines. Abd ru shin states that the cornerstone, or the bedrock of the church’s faith is faulty, and the most weighty accusation Abd ru shin lays against the churches is the propagation of the belief that Christ came to this world in order to die on a cross, as a way of washing away the sins of mankind. This belief is called the vicarious redemption of man. But Abd ru shin states that this belief is false. That Christ’s death on the cross is not to be regarded as redemption, but rather it belongs to the category of a dastardly murder of the innocent Christ, no matter the saccharin – laced arguments to the contrary.
It is arguable that the churches perform many useful functions. They bring about peace and harmony in any society. They promulgate a matrix of regulations that contribute to the common good of any men. So it cannot be said that the churches are irrelevant. .But in matters of religious advances it is often found that the churches cannot go far enough.
Speaking of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ Abd ru shin also states:
“Christ’s violent death, in the form at the time used by the Romans to execute people, was not in itself the redemption, nor did it bring redemption. It atoned for none of mankind’s guilt, liberated them from nothing, but burdened them still more with a dastardly murder.
(pg. 435 The Crucifixion of The Son of God, and the Lord’s Prayer).
Abd ru shin states that his own Grail Message is a consolidation and a continuation of the Message of Christ. He writes:
“Look around you and see how people today accept the extension of the knowledge of Creation which is necessary for them! From this alone you can already draw sufficient conclusions about their true condition! My Message is completely in accord with the true words of Jesus. So many people when reading it intuitively perceive that there is nothing new in it! But this is only for the reason that the Message of Jesus and my Message are in reality one!
(Abd ru shin pg.913, Believers Merely Out of Habit).
It is in the Grail Message that Abd ru shin reveals his attitude towards Christ as he further explains:
“With my words I lead to God and also to Jesus! However, in a more vital way than has been known in the past, and not as people have trimmed it through their propensity for spiritual comfort. Jesus shall not be given up as the Son of God through my Message! He must now be recognized as such all the more, but not as the servant and slave of a decayed humanity in order to carry their burden of guilt, or to redeem it so that they may have it easier. The meaning and purpose of the Message from the Light through me in the fulfillment of God’s All-Holy Will is the necessary extension of the knowledge for mankind.
(pgs. 917 & 918 excerpted, Believers Merely Out of Habit).
In conclusion it is seen that Abd ru shin does not need to pander to the churches, or to any other religious bodies. Abd ru shin professes a Message from The Holy Grail which is to benefit all men that are seeking. The Message is a benefit for men, in that it is for their own good that they accept it. Abd ru shin begs no one. He does not seek the people out. It is rather they that must go to him. It is for the good of the people that they embrace the Message, and not the reverse. Abd ru shin makes the following severe comments about the churches:
“The church sought adherents, riches and power. To serve this purpose no one was allowed to realize that he could find his way into the Kingdom of God, quite by himself, without assistance from the church! The thought must not occur to him that God does not need a church between Himself and His creatures, whom indeed He had created without a church. And this succeeded. Slowly but surely, the church thrust itself and its demands dividingly between men’s longing for the Light and their God.
“As the church grew larger it became more ruthless, in the end even discarding its mask to some extent. Acting against all the laws of God, it undermined everything that refused to acknowledge it. It agitated and slandered, even murdered if it could not otherwise attain its goal. At first this was done secretly but later on quite openly, as its earthly power increased. It did not shrink from using the name of God as a shield. Here no man can speak of an error. Such a deed bears all too plainly the stamp of the basest Darkness! It is in the sharpest contrast to what Christ Jesus taught! Hostile blows were thus directed against every word that He had uttered. There is nothing on the entire earth that has dared to oppose Christ and His Word more than the church has done from the very beginning.
(Abd ru shin. Admonitions.“Resurrection Morn”).
