BIRTH AND YOUTH
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was born in the normal way, no different from other babies, and Joseph
and Mary
were my natural parents. My mother told me that the
story of an angel coming to her, informing her that
she must submit to the birth of a child by the holy
spirit, which in reality never happened.
Interestingly, the concept of the virgin birth was
borrowed from legends of the Egyptians and Greek mythology
and even the Buddha, who is said to have been conceived
in a supernatural way, without the benefit of a mortal
father.
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When I was six weeks old, my parents fled with me to Egypt to avoid the soldiers
of King Herod, who had been sent to destroy me. My father had a relative who lived in
Heliopolis, a town near Cairo, and who helped our family get a start in this new land.
We lived in Egypt for ten years and my mother and father had four other sons and three
daughters while there. As the years passed, my mother became homesick for her people
and wanted to return to her home in Galilee, which we did.
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While growing up in Nazareth, I was a kind and gentle boy who loved my mother and father
and my sisters and brothers. I was much like other boys with similar feelings and engaged
in the usual activities of play. The only difference was that I was not sinful and did not
engage in pranks or harmful deeds, because my soul was constituted to know the love of God at an early age. |
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My father Joseph was very eager for me to fulfill the old prophecies
and become King of the Jews. He provided me with the funds necessary to learn the Jewish
Scriptures, which I did with great thoroughness because of my desire to know the things
that God had done for my people. I studied them while I gained increasing spiritual awareness
and knowledge directly from my Heavenly Father. |
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At the age of twelve, I was never questioned by Jewish priests or did I expound
the law to them because I was not yet aware of my mission that was yet to come. I lived at home
all these years of my life, working hard to help my father with his carpentry trade so that our
family could prosper until I started on my public ministry. |
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By the time I was twenty, I began to wonder whether I might be the promised
Messiah prophesied in the Scriptures, who would show my people the way to their deliverance. The reality
of this came later after frequent communions with God through my spiritual senses. I knew this in time,
because God's love was growing in my soul that the prophecy of the New Heart (Ezekiel 18:31) was
being fulfilled within me. |
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