Gospel According To Spiritism Presented Sunday May 27th, 2012 @ Bezerra de Menezes Spiritist Center in Miami

1. No One Can See the Kingdom of
God Unless His Is Born Again
Except a Man Be Born Again He
Cannot See the Kingdom of God
Gospel According to Spiritism – Chapter 4
Claudia Nunes

2. Agenda
• Bible Passages
• Resurrection x Reincarnation
• Reincarnation
• Family Ties
• Anti-reincarnation Doctrines
• Acceptance of Reincarnation
• The Four Alternatives
• Limits of Incarnation
• The Need for Incarnation
• God’s Justice
• Analogy

3. The Bible Passages
• Who is Jesus?
o What do people say about the Son of Man?
o “Some people say you are John the Baptist or maybe Elijah or Jeremiah or
some other prophet.

4. • But, Who do YOU say I am?
o “You are the Messiah, the Son of God”
o Simon, son of Jonah, you are blessed! You
didn’t discover this on your own. It was
shown to you by my Father in heaven.
• Herod Antipater
o Born before 20 BC – died after 39 AD),
known by the nickname Antipas, was a 1st-
century AD ruler of Galilee and Perea, who
bore the title of tetrarch ("ruler of a
quarter"). He is best known today for
accounts in the New Testament of his role in
events that led to the executions of John
the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth.
• John have I beheaded; but
who is this, of whom I hear such
things? And he desired to see
Him

5. The Bible Passages
• And His disciples asked Jesus
o Why the scribes say that Elias must come first?
o Elias should truly have come first to restore all things
o Elias has come already, and no one knew him, and did to
him whatsoever they wanted.
o Just like the Son of Man it will suffer of them
o Then the disciples understood that He spoke about of John
the Baptist

6. Resurrection x Reincarnation

7. Resurrection x Reincarnation
• Reincarnation was part of the Jewish dogmas
• Taught under the name “Resurrection”
• They believed that man could live again
• Resurrection presupposes a return to the same
physical body
• Reincarnation is the return of a soul, or Spirit, to
physical life in another body

8. Resurrection x Reincarnation
• If John the Baptist was Elias, could the Physical Body
be the same?
o Elijah, (9th century BC) was a prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel
during the reign of Ahab, according to the Books of Kings. According to
the Books of Kings, Elijah defended the worship of Yahweh over that of the
Phoenician god Baal, he raised the dead, brought fire down from the sky,
and was taken up in a whirlwind (either accompanied by a chariot and
horses of flame or riding in it). In the Book of Malachi, Elijah's return is
prophesied "before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord,"
making him a forerunner of the Messiah and “the final event of history” in
various faiths that revere the Hebrew Bible.
o John the Baptist (c. 6 BC – c. AD 30-36) was an itinerant preacher and a
major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels and the Qur'an.
He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus who led a
movement of baptism at the Jordan River.
• John was seen as a child and his parents were
known
• Was John reincarnated or resurrected?

9. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbBmpaDBizA
Stop at 2:35

10. Reincarnation

11. Reincarnation
• If John was not the reincarnation of Elijah why
would Jesus have agreed with Nicodemus?
• No one may reach the Kingdom of God if he is not
born again
• Do not be surprised when I say it is necessary to be
born again.

12. Reincarnation cont.
• What does Water Mean?
• Very imperfect knowledge of physics
• Earth had risen out of the water
• Water represented the nature of matter
• Flesh gives birth to Flesh, and Spirit gives birth to
Spirit.

13. Reincarnation cont.
“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the
sound but know not from whence it comes nor
whence it goes”
• Spirit of God
• we do not know who the Spirit had been previously
or who it will be in the future
Pre-existence of the soul
And
Plurality of Existences

14. Reincarnation cont.
• Reincarnation is the one doctrine through which we
can find out where we came from, where we are
going, and why we are here on Earth.
• This principle offers the key that will help restore
them to their true and original meaning.
• Reincarnation becomes an absolute necessity
- Law of Nature

15. Reincarnation strenghens Family Ties
A single life would Destroy them

16. Familty Ties and
Reincarnation

17. Family Ties
• Family ties are not destroyed by reincarnation.
• Affection, feelings and empathy bind spirit into
groups or Spiritual Families.
• Spiritual Families seek each other out because
being together brings them joy.
• Spiritual Families help each other progress.
• Those who are Free (Spirit World) watch over those
who are in the flesh.
• Each lifetime is a STEP forward toward perfection.
• Feelings become more sublimated.

18. Family Ties (cont)
• Affection, feelings and empathy
bind spirit groups or families.
• Spirit Groups seek each other out
because being toguther brings
them joy.
• Spirit Groups help each other
progress.

19. Family Ties (cont)
• Spirit-to-Spirit affection
• Love that survive after the destruction of the body.
• Physical attraction Motive to look for people in the
Spirit World.
• The sense of unity = feelings of empathy
• Non Spirit Group Members incarnate within families
for tests or progress.
• Spirits less Enlightened have a chance to improve.
• Character grows milder
• Disposition become more refined
• Hostility tends to disappears

20. Family Ties (Cont)
• Spiritual Families Love Grows as they travel together
• Ever-expanding circles of relationships
• We will meet in the Spirit World the loved ones we
knew on Earth.

21. Anti-reincarnationist
Doctrines

22. Anti-reincarnationist
Doctrines
• Only ONE existence of the soul
• Implies the ending of all progress
• Good Life = Home of the blessed
• Bad Life = Eternal Hell
• Spirits would be complete strangers to each
other.
• Rupture of Family Ties

23. Acceptance of
reincarnation

24. Acceptance of Reincarnation
• Only ONE existence of the soul
• Implies the ending of all progress
• Good Life = Home of the blessed
• Bad Life = Eternal Hell
• Spirits would be complete strangers to each other.
• Rupture of Family Ties

25. Acceptance of reincarnation
• Continued Progress
• All loved ones will meet on Earth and in the Spirit
World.
• All Spirits move together in the direction of God
• Some may weaken but never loss of hope.
• Helped, encouraged, and sustained by loved ones.

26. The Four Alternatives

27. The Four Alternatives
• Nothingness – Materialistic Doctrine
• Absorption into the Universe – Pantheistic Idea
• Individual Existence (fixed destiny) – Traditional
Churches
• Individual Existence (progress) – Spiritist Doctrine

28. Limits of Incarnation

29. Limits of Incarnation
• What are the limits of incarnation?
o No defined limits
o Limits = Spirit’s experience in the physical realm

30. Limits of Incarnation
(Cont)
• Envelope = Material Covering = Body
o Proportional to the purity of the Spirit
o In more advanced worlds may be more subtle and refined
o Less body mass -= more energy = more elevated
o Spirit is clothed according with its present environment.
o Perispirit transforms
o Perispirit Etherealizes as Spirit Purifies
o Pure Spirits are NOT bound to physical environment
• Earth like incarnations are a characteristic of less
evolved planets
• Each Spirit, in the spirit world, reflects its own level of
progress.

31. The Need for Incarnation

32. The Need for Incarnation
• Is incarnation a punishment?
• In that Case only guilty Spirits are subject to
reincarnation?
o Physical body allows spirit to function as in the physical world
o Incarnate Spirits can fulfill their part in the designs of Providence.
o Required to develop intelligence.

33. God’s Justice

34. God’s Justice
• Everyone has the same conditions
• Every Spirit starts from the same point
• Same aptitudes
• Same obligations to fulfill
• Same Freedom of Action
• No Privileges = No Favoritism
• Incarnation is a Transitional State for all Spirits
• Exercise Free Will
o accelerate or delay the reincarnation progress of each soul.
• Reincarnation is NOT a punishment.

35. Analogy

36. Analogy
• Can anyone Scuba Dive?
• Divers can only go under water if:
o Take lots of theoretical lessons
o Take many practice lessons
o Pass Tests
o Receive Certification

38. Chapter 4 - Review

39. What to take home…
• Resurrection
• Reincarnation
• Family Ties = Spiritual Families
• Anti-reincarnation Doctrines
• Acceptance of Reincarnation
• The Four Alternatives
o Nothingness
o Absorption into the Universe
o Individual Existence
o Individual Existence = Spiritism
• No Limits of Incarnation
• The Need for Incarnation
• God’s Justice

40. Claudia Nunes
Assistant Secretary
Bezerra de Menezes Spiritist Center in Miami, FL
www.spiritist.com