- As the feast of the Passover approached, Jesus knew the time had arrived for his sacrificial death and return to the Father. He had loved and ministered to those who believed on him, and remained ministering to them until the end. At the conclusion of supper, Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon the leper, had been seduced by the accuser to betray Jesus.
- Jesus knew the Father had empowered him to have dominion over all things because he had been sent by the Father to redeem the world, then to return to the Father once he departed from the world. And so Jesus arose from supper and removed his cloak and took a towel as an apron. And he poured water into a basin, and he began to wash the disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel he wore as an apron. When he came to Simon Peter, Peter objected, saying, Lord, why do you wash my feet? Jesus answered and said to him, You will not understand this now, but will later come to understand this ordinance is necessary. Peter said to him, You do not need to wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I do not wash your feet then you cannot rise up to be with me, for it is a required ordinance to be with me. Simon Peter still did not understand and said to him, Lord, if you must then don’t just wash my feet, but finish the ordinance also on my hands and head. Jesus replied, Those whose hands and head have been washed only need to receive washing of their feet, and are clean from the blood and sins of this world. You whom I have washed today are clean, but not all of you. Now the ceremonies of the Jews under their law required them to wash, but Jesus washed for a higher purpose. And he knew who would betray him. Therefore he said, Not all of you are clean.
- So after he had washed their feet and replaced his cloak and sat down again, he said to them, Do you understand the example I have just provided to you? You call me Master and Lord. And that is correct to say, for I am. If I am your Lord and Master, and knelt to wash your feet to cleanse you, you should also labor to make each other clean from the blood and sins of the world. For I have given you the example that you should do as I have done with you.
- In the name of Father Ahman I declare to you, No servant is greater than his Lord, nor am I who have been sent greater than my Father, who sent me. Since you know these things, you will have joy if you follow them. I do not expect all of you to do as I have shown you. I know whom I have chosen, but the Psalm prophesies that my familiar and trusted friend, who ate bread with me, has lifted up his heel against me. I am telling you this beforehand so that when I am betrayed you do not lose your belief in me. I am the Messiah. In the name of Father Ahman I declare to you, He that accepts my word spoken by whomever I send with my word receives me, and he that receives me receives him that sent me, even my Father.
- When Jesus said this, he was troubled in spirit and declared, In the name of Father Ahman I say to you, one of you will betray me. Then the disciples looked at one another, wondering who he was talking about. One of the disciples Jesus loved was next to him at the table. Simon Peter got his attention and asked him to inquire of Jesus who he was referring to as a traitor. That disciple next to Jesus then asked him quietly, Lord, who is going to betray you? Jesus answered, It is the one to whom I will hand the bread I now dip. And when he had dipped the bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And he took the bread, at which point the accuser took control of Judas. Then Jesus said to him, What you have planned, do it quickly. Now no one at the table understood why he said this to him. For some of them thought that because Judas was the treasurer, Jesus was saying to him, Buy the things needed for the coming meal, or perhaps, he should give something to the poor. Judas, having received the bread, left immediately and entered the darkness.
- Then, after Judas had departed from them, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified through his sacrifice, God shall also glorify the one sacrificing himself and will never abandon him. Little children, I will only be with you a little while yet. You will want me here, but remember I said to the Jews, I will go onward on my path, and you will not take it with me. Now I tell you the same thing.
- I give you a new commandment, That you love one another. Love each other as I have loved you. If you have love for each other it will be a sign that will identify you to all mankind as my followers.
- Simon Peter asked him, Lord, where are you going? Jesus answered him, The steps I take next on the path, you will not be taking for now, but you will take those steps later on as you travel the same path. Peter responded to him, Lord, why can I not follow you right now? I am willing to lay down my life for you. Jesus answered him, Will you lay down your life for me? In the name of Father Ahman I tell you, The rooster will not crow tomorrow morning before you have denied me three times.
- Do not allow your heart to be troubled. You are devoted to God and are also devoted to me. In the journey through my Father’s realms are many stages with temporary abodes. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare an abode for your upward journey. And when I arise, I will prepare places for you, but I will be your companion again and visit each of you, so that where I travel, you may journey to also. And the path I follow upward you know, and the way of ascent you also know. Thomas said to him, Lord, we don’t know where you are going; how can we know the way? You have not told us. Jesus said to him, I am the way, the record of the truth, and the means for Eternal lives, worlds without end: no man comes to the Throne of the Father without me. If you follow me, you will come to the Father’s Throne through me and will thereafter be like him forever.
- Philip said to him, Lord, reveal to us the Father and that will be all we ask. Jesus responded to him, Have I been with you this long and you still do not yet know who I am, Philip? Any who see me has seen my Father. How can you ask, Reveal to us the Father? Do you understand that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? Do you understand that the words that I speak to you came from the Father, who is one with me? Nothing I have done is mine. Understand that the Father, who is one with me, is to be given credit for all I have done or will do. Believe me that I am one with the Father, and the Father is one with me; but if you do not, at least believe through these works. In the name of Father Ahman I declare to you, the individual who trusts me, what I have accomplished he will also. Followers will also accomplish the greater works I do next. Followers will also finish the path, as I am now concluding, at the place my Father dwells. As he helps me, I will help you, and you will accomplish what I have along with the greater sacrifice I have yet to finish. And whatever you shall ask in my name, I will answer, so that the Father may be glorified by the honor shown his Son. If you shall ask any thing in my name, I will answer.
- If you love me, stand ready, watching for every communication I will send to you. Remember that I will ask the Father, and he will provide to you another Comforter, that he may be by your side endlessly. You will obtain the record of Heaven, the truth of all things which is denied to the world because the world refuses my Father, and therefore they do not know him. But you know him, for he is with you, and shall provide answers to guide you. I will not leave you comfortless. I will stand at your side also.
- Yet a little while, and the world will no longer see me, but you will not lose sight of me because I give life, and you shall share in endless lives. You will know that I and the Father are one, and I am one with you, and you are one with me. He that treasures my teachings, and stands ready, watching for every communication I send him, is he who shows love for me. To those who show love for me, my Father will show love to them, and I love all those, and I will personally minister to them.
- Judas (not Iscariot), asked, Lord, how is it you will manifest yourself to us, but not to the world? Jesus answered and said to him, If a man loves me, he will stand ready, watching for every communication I will send to him; and my Father will also love him, and we will come visit him, and continually abide by his side.
- Whoever claims to love me but does not stand ready, watching for every communication I will send, indeed does not love me. These teachings are not from me, but come from the Father who sent me.
- These words have I spoken to you while I am still present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost that the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and restore to your memory all truth I have taught to you, and the record of Heaven itself.
- I leave you in peace, the peace only my teachings can provide for you and not as the world claims to find peace. Do not be confused nor fearful. You heard me say to you, I am leaving, and will return again. If you loved me, you would be rejoicing because I told you I am returning to my Father’s realm. My Father dwells in the highest Heaven. I foretell you about what remains for me to accomplish so that you are not confused as it happens. When the coming events unfold I will not be able to explain it further as it occurs. The prince of darkness will not overcome me, but he can overcome you if you are confused and fearful. Remember, I explained that I will suffer because of my love for the Father, and he requires me to pass through this ordeal for your sakes, and I am ready to comply. Now let us walk together from this place.
- I am the true vine or head of the Father’s family, and my Father is the husbandman over that family. Every branch connected to me that does not produce fruit, he will remove, and every branch that produces fruit he will prune back so that it produces better fruit. You will bear fruit if you follow the things I have taught you. Stay connected to me as part of the Heavenly family, and I will nourish you. Just as a branch cannot produce fruit if it is not connected to the vine, neither will you be able to bear fruit unless you remain connected with me. I am the vine, and you are the branches. He that stays connected to me, and I to him, will be abundantly fruitful; but without the connection to me you will perish. If a man loses his connection with me, he is merely a withered branch; and men take the withered branches, cut them away and burn them. If you stay connected to me, and my words live in you, you will ask according to my will, and you will be given the ability to accomplish my will. It will please and vindicate my Father if you produce abundant fruit, and that will prove you follow me. Just like the Father has loved me, I have in turn likewise loved you. Therefore, remain connected with me and my love will be with you. If you practice my teachings you will always remain connected with me; just as I have kept my Father’s teachings and have remained connected with him.
- I say these things to you so I will be able to rejoice at your triumph. You will overcome all obstacles if you follow what I have taught.
- This is my commandment: That you love one another as I have loved you. No man loves more than when he is willing to sacrifice his life to save his friends. You are my friends if you do whatever I communicate to you. Beginning now, I will no longer call you my servants because a servant does not share his Lord’s life. But I make you my friends because every thing I received from my Father I have shared and will yet share with you. You did not choose me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should progress and become fruitful, that your fruit will testify on your behalf forever, that whatever I direct you to seek from my Father you will be able to obtain. I have taught these things to you to enable you to share my love among one another.
- The world will hate you, but you know that it hated me before it hates you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its property. But because you are not a captive of the world, and I have freed you from the world, the world hates you.
- Remember that I told you before that no servant is greater than his Lord. If many have persecuted me, many will also persecute you, but if some few have followed my teachings, some few will follow yours also. The world’s response to you will be because you will act in my name and on my behalf. Those who fight against you are strangers to my Father. If I had not come and testified of the truth to them, they would not be accountable for rebellion, but now they have no excuse for their rebellion. If they hate me, they hate my Father also. If I had not shown to them an example no other man has shown before, they would not be accountable. But they have rebelled after seeing with their own eyes and hearing with their ears the one sent by Father Ahman to them, and have rebelled against us both. Proving men in this way fulfills the prophecy, They hated me without a cause.
- As for you, when the Comforter comes (or in other words the Spirit of truth emanating from my Father), that spirit will testify of me. Then you have the ability to also testify of me. This is because you have followed me from the beginning or before the world was organized.
- Now I tell you beforehand what to expect to come upon you so you are not surprised, nor will you stumble and fall. They will excommunicate you. The time will even come that the self-righteous who kill you will think that they speak for God. And they will do these things because they cannot do what the Father and I have done. I warn you beforehand that you will face this opposition so that when it happens you will remember and be strengthened. When I first taught, the anger and opposition was directed at me, and because of that, you were not their focus. But now I will return to the one who sent me and they will turn their anger at you.
- I said that I return to the one who sent me and none of you asked me to explain what I meant by that. Instead you have become saddened and downhearted. Understand this truth from me: It is for your benefit that I ascend to the Father. If I do not take up my position there I cannot send the spirit of truth, the record of Heaven, the peaceable things of immortal glory to lead you upward. Once I ascend to the Father, I will send the Comforter to guide you on the upward path. The light is given to shine upon the pathway, to expose wrongdoing, and let you decide matters correctly. Those who refused to become devoted to me will not receive this. Because I will ascend to the Father, you will be guided, and they who follow the adversary will be rejected with the adversary they follow. He has already been rejected by the Father.
- There are many things I still have to teach you, but you are not able to understand it all as yet. When I am the Spirit of Truth, I can then reveal to you the record of Heaven and knowledge will be poured into you. The spirit is the means to communicate my words, and my words will lead you on the upward path. The knowledge poured in to you will come from me. I will depart, but only briefly because when I ascend back to the Head of the Household of Heaven, I will also be by your side to guide you by my voice from Heaven.
- Then some of his disciples questioned among themselves, What does he mean he will depart briefly, then when he has ascended to the Father he will be by our side? What do these words mean? We do not understand.
- Now Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him to explain and said to them, Do you discuss among yourselves what I meant when I said, I will depart, but only briefly, because when I ascend back to the Father, I will be by your side to guide you by my voice from Heaven? In the name of Father Ahman I forewarn you, You will grieve and mourn, but that will turn to joy and rejoicing. When a woman is in labor she suffers because the time to give birth has come, but after the child is born she forgets the pain and is joyful over her newborn child. You will mourn my departure, and celebrate my return, and that joy will never leave you. Then you will not need to ask of me, but you should ask Father Ahman in my name for what is needed. From now on, inquire from Father Ahman using my name and you will always receive an answer.
- Much of what I have said to you may seem like a riddle, but the time will come when you will comprehend my words and they will no longer seem a riddle, and you will understand them plainly. When I ascend and you ask the Father in my name, you will know that Father Ahman loves you because you have been devoted to me, and have accepted that I came from the Head of the Household of Heaven and was sent by him into the world, and that I will return to be with him.
- His disciples said unto him, Very good, now you are making it clear and not using a riddle. We are certain that you did come from the Father and were sent by him. Jesus answered them, At this moment you are truly committed in this belief, but the time is quickly upon us when you will scatter in fear and leave me alone to face the adversary. Even without you I will never be alone, because the Father remains with me in every trial here. I tell you this beforehand so you will be reassured. In this world there are difficult trials to be faced by my followers, but those who remain devoted will, like me, finish the path and experience the fullness of joy.
- Then Jesus looked up to Heaven and said these words, Father, the hour has arrived. Let your light abide with your Son, that your Son may be filled by your light and illuminate others. Because you have taught me to overcome the weaknesses of the flesh, you guide me to gain power to heal all weaknesses and redeem all creation. From your presence come Eternal lives, worlds without end, and you are the sole source of all truth. Therefore, it is known and will be known that I am the Messiah sent by you. I have kept every obligation you have asked of me and now have completed this part of the work. Let what happens next finish your great work, so I may return to your Throne to be with you where I was before my descent here.
- I have explained your title to the men you gave to me from out of the fallen creation. They were yours at the beginning, and you have given them to me as my offspring. And they are devoted, prepared and always waiting to respond to your words. Now they understand and accept that every thing I have done and taught comes from you. For I have said to them the things you told to me. They are devoted to the truth and know I am your sent Messiah. I pray for them, and what I ask is for them and not the world, for they are yours. And all who are devoted to me are yours, and you share with me, and I am their light. I am soon to depart from this creation, but these followers will remain here as I return again to be with you. Holy Father, please watch over these like a sentinel. Protect and guard them using your power, so that they may be united as one, as we are united as one. While I accompanied them in the world, I shared light with them in your name. Every one you gave to me I have kept, and none of them will be lost to us, other than the son of perdition. Those who are kept and those who are lost are divided according to your covenant made from the beginning.
- And now I will be returning to you, and I declare these words in the world so these devoted believers can share in my coming joyful triumph. I have taught them your word, and the world rejects them because they are not taken in by worldliness, even as I am not distracted by the world. I do not ask for you to remove them from the coming challenges here, but protect them from falling prey to temptations of worldliness. They are not worldly, even as I am not. Sanctify them through your truth. Your words are truth. As you have sent me into the world, likewise I am sending them into the world. And for their sakes I sacrifice myself, that they might be sanctified through the truth.
- I pray not only for these followers, but also for all believers who learn our words from them. I ask that all followers and believers may be united as one, as you, Father, are in me, and I am in you, that they also may be united as one in us. By them becoming one, the world will have reason to believe that you sent me. And the light which you gave to me I have given to them. This allows them to become united as one, even as we are one: my light in them, and your light in me. The light will lead them to be made perfect in one. That light I have given to them is evidence to the world that you have sent me. I have loved them, as you have loved me. Father, I ask that those whom you have given to me may also ascend to live where I am ascending, for this journey was established before the foundation of creation. O righteous Father, this fallen world does not know you, but I have declared that you have sent me to minister here. I have declared your message here and will finish the course. May the love you have for me be shown through the example of my love for them, and they may be saved through my sacrifice.
Chapter 10