Postscript to Easter

Manhunt for Judas – Part Three

by Franklin Loehr

In the first two parts of Manhunt for Judas we traced the reincarnational history of the Judas soul from its Atlantis incarnations through the key lifetime as Absalom, rebellious son of King David, and then as one of King Rehoboam’s disastrous young advisers. We pick him up at the after-death experience of this last named incarnation.

A new learning experience for the soul entered at this point. The soul itself was caught in the personality consciousness of death and held there for some 300 years.

This was an experience of being “earthbound” and in a very unhappy state. Such an experience feeds evil, yes, but sometimes it is the only way for the soul to learn a particular lesson. The discomforts we undergo have a teaching effect. Experience, life, God, still use the carrot (encouragement) and the stick (the uncomfortableness of the punishing after effects of wrong) to bring us ever onward and upward.

Following its release from this astral imprisonment, the Judas soul, largely through the planning and guiding of its celestial monitors, was brought through three quick lives that in a sense recapitulated some of the earlier incarnations that had proved effective. In other words, since a rehabilitation system had been tried and proved helpful before, the same general pattern was used again now as the soul again needed rehabilitation.

There was a feminine life in China, in a restrictive but happy personality framework. There was life as an Arab man with physical strength and leadership, though not too great a mentality and without any great problems to face. And there was an incarnation in Finland in which he returned to be a leader in that same society in which he had lived long before. All were successful in small, inconsequential ways.

Now the soul - having sweated out the three centuries (Earth time) caught in the personality consciousness of death, and then having been refurbished as it were by three earth lives which “got it into the game” but in positions that did not test its mettle nor give opportunity for much achievement - wanted to return again to do battle against its ancient enemy, evil. This was good. Rather than a fear of evil, this time “in the minor leagues” resulted in a soul feeling of restlessness at such small stuff, and a real desire to return with its new strengths to the major contest.

It was returned this time again to the Israeli framework, in a little-known but very important lifetime between the Absalom and Judas lifetimes. The Judas soul was allowed to return to earth living as a young man follower of Judas Maccabeus – Judas “the hammerer.”

To understand this important epoch in the soul life of Judas we need go back to Alexander of Macedon who lived 357-323 B.C. – the one called Alexander the Great, of whom it is said he conquered the world by the time he was 33 years old. Alexander was a very enthusiastic Greek.

Aristotle was his tutor as a boy and young man. So wherever he conquered, he introduced Greek civilization, Greek ways of doing things, along with Greek government of the conquered areas. Upon his death his domain was divided four ways among his generals, no one being strong enough to emerge as leader. Palestine, of course, was one of the conquered provinces.

The advantages of Greek culture and of the greater trade resulting from world organization and peace on this larger scale, plus the relatively enlightened governance by the conquerors, produced a fairly stable period. But when Antiochus IV endeavored to root out the Hebrew religion and replace it with the Greek, he ran into far greater resistance than he bargained for. Students of world history who can see large purposes running through successive centuries – in other words, who know that God as well as man is at work in Earth history – know that spiritual as well as physical forces were gathered to prevent the overthrow of the Hebrew religion. For it was to be in this historical setting and among this religion-oriented-and-centered people that the Christ was to come.

The earth instrument who aroused and led the revolt was an aged priest, Mattathias, who resisted the new tyranny and fled to the hills, calling for a revolt. Mattathias lived but another year, to be succeeded by his son Judas. This vigorous young captain waged a very successful campaign, winning many victories. In effect he and his successor, his brother Jonathan (Judas died in battle in 161 B.C., with seven years success behind him), and later the younger brother Simon, achieved both the religious and for a time the political freedom of Israel. Since this whole period falls between the times of the Christian Old Testament and the beginning of the Christian New Testament – a period of about 400 years – we Christians do not know very much about it.

But it is one of the bright spots of Jewish history. Many felt that Judas Maccabeus (Judas is the Greek form of Judah and means “Jehovah be praised”; Maccabeus means “the hammerer”) might be the promised Messiah. Indeed, he did fulfill that prophetic role in some ways much better than Jesus, nearly two centuries later.

The Judas soul we are following was a close officer under Judas Maccabeus. He exulted in serving a righteous leader who was also a winner. Some of the despair of the Atlantean lifetime in which he saw good overthrown by evil, was cancelled out by the fierce exultation of fighting successfully for good. Our Judas soul, as a young officer under Judas Maccabeus, died in battle. It was a happy death and a very good life.

We have not been told of any incarnation between this death in the 160s B.C. and the incarnation as Judas Iscariot. (“Iscariot” – or ish-kerioth, quite probably – means “man of Kerioth,” in the northeast corner of Judah.) The name Judas was given this boy baby under direct spiritual influence upon his parents, for the incoming soul deemed it an honor to bear the name of the leader he had served so well. Judas Iscariot may have been the only Judean among the twelve disciples of Jesus. He must have been capable and trustworthy at least in the beginning, to be made their common treasurer.

It is interesting to note, however, that John distrusted Judas more than the others. It may very well be that “John the Beloved Disciple,” John who rested his head upon Jesus at the Last Supper and was one of the three closest to him – John, who, we are told, was an incarnation of the feminine half of the Jesus soul (as was King David, you remember) – this John may intuitively on deep levels have known somewhat of the betrayal and crucifixion to be brought upon his beloved Jesus by this Judas Iscariot.

Throughout history there have been those who have attempted to exonerate Judas by saying he was only the instrument bringing about the prophesied and intended crucifixion of Jesus. Some have gone so far as to say Judas was really a great friend of Jesus, incarnating for this onerous duty out of love.

I never could agree with this view, for a very simple reason: to betray Jesus would be an incident of tremendous shock effect upon the person and the soul doing it. Why should this shock therapy be wasted on someone who did not need it, when there are so many who do? If God is frugal, getting the most possible out of every resource, every plan, every person’s life, why would He waste such a superlative opportunity?

That Judas was a cosmic friend of Jesus, yes – as has been said, they are Cosmic Family members, one of the closest of soul ties. But the Judas soul betrayed Jesus because of the very forces of evil which had gotten into that soul – a fear of goodness becoming overthrown by superior force, a desire to stay on the side of respectability and the established social leadership in any conflict where the newcomer and challenger, however right and good, was or became weaker than the established forces he opposed.

It truly was shock therapy of tremendous voltage for the Judas soul. He had served under Jesus as King in Atlantis. And just two centuries before he had served under the successful liberator, Judas Maccabeus. His service under Jesus had all these reincarnation, subconscious forces in play – and to then find the very cause led by Jesus going under the same way as Judas had been destroyed in his final Atlantean life, was too much. The weakness of a readiness to betray was called forth in him – and its tragic failure became his own. Jesus died for Judas’ salvation – as well as because death itself must be conquered by this One Perfect Man as he qualified, in that Palestinian incarnation, to become later the ruler for God of all earth.

If you were God – or even the celestial team working with the Judas soul – what would you do next? Take a little time and think…

Actually, what was next done partook of two elements that had already proved useworthy for good in the Judas soul’s past earth lives. First, there was the swing into feminine incarnation. Judas, essentially a masculine soul, must in time win his final victory in masculine incarnation. But the feminine, which had offered a certain retreat for the soul from the forces of competition and dominion, was called upon now. And secondly, the wish of this soul to make up past wrongs by self sacrifice, was used. The next incarnation came rather quickly, at the time when Christian martyrs were being placed helplessly before hungry wild beasts as a Roman sport in the Coliseum.

As this life was being traced in for us we also were informed of items I never saw in a history book. Here is the picture: The police details in Rome were made up of soldiers. Some of these police were sympathetic to the Christian cause, or to any group they saw were possessed of good. So a political deal was in force between some of the higher-ups in the Roman police and the leaders of the Christian movement. Both knew that if the leadership of the Christian movement were wiped out, the movement would suffer greatly.

So an arrangement was made whereby certain Christians who had volunteered for martyrdom – and whose offer had been accepted by the Christian group in prayer – would be at certain places at certain times, to be arrested. After all, the police had a certain quota of martyrs to fill. This arrangement let martyrdom be an honor to the individual who volunteered, and protected the young Christian movement as well.

The Judas-soul incarnated as a woman in Rome who became a Christian, volunteered for martyrdom and was accepted – and then lost her courage when it was too late to escape. This martyrdom, this self-sacrifice, was not as easy to accomplish as the earlier Chinese girl-baby left to die. This one took place amidst force and fear, took much longer, and hurt much more.

Again the Judas-soul was honored for its intent, but the weakness on carry-through was still there. There was not punishment for this weakness, however, as one might expect. The guides and teachers of the Judas-soul knew how deeply it had been seared by the Atlantean experience.

However, that weakness to fear, that actual fear and hatred and wish for revenge that raged in that female personality before death finally came, all the hurt and panic, the terror, the fright-filled horror, the rage, the fury of helplessness, the thirst for revenge upon her tormentors before being cast into the arena, the pain spasms and convulsions of a tortured death – for the lion is of the cat family, and does not kill quickly and mercifully – all these forces, aroused in that martyrdom, had to be dealt with.

True, simply to get these forces into expression helped raise them from subconscious levels, where emotions are stored, to conscious levels, where change can take place. Here, in the failed martyrdom, was the incarnation bringing to consciousness and into reach more of the forces of the Atlantean martyrdom life than any other. It was an important lifetime. And if it seems wrong to you that such a method be used, then join me in thanking God that He is not as squeamish as we are, and that His love has the strength to redeem us and evil at whatever the cost. It is no idle statement, “God so loved…that He gave His only-begotten that the world be saved.”

Ed- I liken this type process for removing negative forces to lancing a boil. Both processes hurt, but after the poison is drained away, the person (soul) has far less pain than before.

Cosmic family members, the Moses-soul and the Mary-soul, had been present and known to the Judas-soul in the Jesus lifetime as Lazarus and Mary, of course. But there was not much closeness, no personality recognition given them then. However, it was the Moses soul, chief adjutant to the Jesus soul, who was called upon to carry the ball in this critical play of the next lifetime for the Judas soul.

The set up was made in the martyrdom life. The Moses soul incarnated at that time as a fairly simple, ordinary soldier who “just happened” to be on the police detail making the pre-arranged “raid” and capturing some Christians. He knew there was some sort of arrangement back of these raids, but he said nothing and simply did his duty. But this particular soldier was the one who bound the Judas soul’s female incarnation at the arrest. After that there was no way out for her, and it was as she was being bound that the realization of the enormity she was to experience burst upon her, and her high resolve gave way. Her eyes, filled with fear and hate, focused upon the eyes of the soldier binding her – and that was the contact point established for the next lifetime in which these two, the Judas soul and the Moses soul were to meet.

It came several centuries later. The Coliseum had fallen into disuse, and both participants in the drama were born far from it, but it was to Rome they were drawn for their meeting and few weeks together.

The Judas soul was incarnated as a North African man of much physical strength, intellectual cunning and shrewdness, and violent emotions. He became owner of a small sailing vessel that carried some legitimate trade between North African ports and Rome, but which also was pirate to smaller vessels it met. His crew were ruffians even as he. The Moses soul was born in a village in what would be northwest Germany, as the oldest of five children, a not too bright peasant girl in a rather unprepossessing family. (People who tell you of all the great lives they have lived – forget it.

Some of God’s most important work is done through very humble and limited personality lifetimes. Only a hungry human ego needs a constant diet of importance.) This was in the time when the Roman Empire was deteriorating in character. Roman soldiers still nominally ruled the provinces, but a well organized village could put up enough resistance to safeguard its inhabitants.

But Mojera – the name of this north German or perhaps Danish girl – was outside the village this day when a small group of Roman soldiers, going back to Rome as soon as their replacements came, caught her and added her to the group of captives they were taking back to sell as slaves in Rome. Thus did the Roman soldier of that time supplement his pay. Incidentally, the Mary soul was also incarnate and one of the little band of captives. She and Mojera comforted and sustained each other, more by the soul level knowledge they had than by any conscious personality knowledge. They were separated at the slave auction in Rome.

The North African ship-owner, the then incarnation of the Judas soul, saw the tall, blonde Mojera on the slave block and bought her. Both were pawns of forces greater than they knew. Mojera was taken first to a room he had rented overlooking the silent Coliseum – upon which he used to brood and then turn in fury upon her. After a week or ten days of increasing brutality here, he took her aboard ship with him.

There his deep angers broke into ever greater savagery. His three crew members, realizing that the master had gone berserk, quietly abandoned the ship. In a final paroxysm of rage he took the broken body of Mojera to the rail and threw her overboard. Then exhausted, he slumped to the deck of the drifting ship and in a few days was dead, under the hot sun.

The purpose of that incarnation was over, the forces spent – life was withdrawn from the body, and even that personality was allowed, mercifully, to sleep away what little momentum was left. There was thus no conscious astral after life of that personality. Its job was done, and well done. Thus were some of the deep forces set in motion by the Atlantean torture death expended, with a fellow cosmic family member absorbing the brunt of them rather than someone else setting up counter-forces to continue one.

Ed. – Dr. John has often said that young souls have at least one reason to be glad that they are young: they will not have to face some of the experiences had by very old souls. Yes, the world is filled today with horrible happenings, but our lives are far better as a whole.

Before leaving this picture let us notice two other important items showing spiritual truths: (1) The Mojera soul, although an incarnation of the Moses-Joseph-Joab-Elisha-Lazarus soul, was not an outstanding personality. She was rather phlegmatic, stoic in a peasant way. But just consider: had she been possessed of a sharp mind, a sensitive nature, personal goals for betterment, etc., the role she was to play would have brought torture to her. The limitations we have often are as important as our abilities, for the purpose of that life.

(2) There was no karma for the Judas soul accruing from that North African life. Had the explosion of his inner pastlife forces been directed at someone else, there could well have been great karma from it. But a cosmic family member, a close soul who knew what was taking place, came into incarnation to help the cleansing process within its friend – and there were no hard feelings. The native endurance of the Mojera personality and the soul knowledge and service of the Moses soul simply took the incident in stride.

The Mojera person actually left the body (astral projection) just before she was thrown over the side. The person, out of the body, watched the body sink into the clear waters of the Mediterranean, then was received into the astral plane by a happy welcoming party. In time she remet Eligee, her friend of the captivity march to Rome, the then personality of the Mary soul, who likewise had come into a life of martyrdom in service to God and a cosmic friend. The afterlife of both of these personalities was short, as the personalities had been designed and brought into being chiefly for the particular service they rendered after being sold as slaves in Rome.

The personalities were not of a nature for much use in the ascending spiritual planes, so were brought to their end – all the good and all the life from them absorbed back into their respective souls – leisurely, but rather quickly, from the astral realm. And all was well.

We have not been shown much of the Judas soul incarnations since then. We were told the soul had an incarnation in America in colonial days, choosing the Tory side and going to England when the Revolution came – again making a wrong choice, out of fear of resisting the authorities, and this time living to see and to regret his mistake. After the exhausting cleansing life as the ship owner there were several centuries (Earth time) of soul rest, with the feminine half of that soul, the Judas soul’s soulmate, tenderly taking most of the care of it.

The selantiford work was again used, of course. Some other incarnations have been told us, but they would be of such an anti-climax nature here, and in themselves have little interest except as step- by-step building blocks for that soul, that I omit them here. There will be yet several experiences of betrayal (of a lesser nature than the betrayal of Jesus, of course) and of being in turn betrayed – and of learning how to handle such experiences and turn them to soul-growth.

We leave the Judas soul the same place as we leave our own – in the hands of God - God, Who loves even Lucifer and works for the redemption even of evil itself. God, Who master-minds the salvation of Judas and His reclamation as an agent of light and love for life and service on many planes – that God loves and watches over you and me too. He is firm – and we had better be thankful He is! He uses the experiences of life, even the crucifixions and martyrdoms, to further good on Earth.

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