Question that was Answered in a Dream

I have a friend who has been investigating the restored gospel for the last 4 years and then in earnest within the last six months. She is fully on board with everything she's learned so far, but she has a very hard time with understanding why Jesus Christ is so important. Why is He needed at all?  I know that seems like such a WILD contradiction.  "Christianity speaks to me...except the Jesus part"  What?!?  But understand, that the fruits of the Spirit are sweet.  And we all have the light of Christ within us to lead us home.  It only makes sense that we would be drawn to the doctrine, even without a full understanding of each principle.

Jesus is pivotal in the Plan of Salvation.  I've been through the reasons with her in so many ways I can't even keep track. My friend thinks He is only necessary for people who have a guilt problem. But for those, such as herself that can let's the past go (i.e. who can learn and move on), don't need a Savior.  "Bible Jesus is limited to small cross section of humanity.  He lived thousands of years ago and all of the stories are from a small strip of land on the other side of the world.  He is not relevant to me"

Several weeks ago I had a dream that I was at a Education Week style conference. There was a class called, "Identities of Jesus Christ throughout the world".

The synopsis was that Jesus personally visited the other sheep of his fold (John 10:16).  The teacher was going to go into detail all of the different names that Christ goes by in the different parts of the world and how he was and is still worshiped by cultures everywhere.

I was SOOOO excited to attend, but I woke up before I could cross the threshold into the lecture hall and hear anything. My disappointment upon awaking was bizarre considering that I knew it had all been a dream.

While still in bed, fresh from waking up, I grabbed my phone and did a Google search using the name of the class from my dream.  My first hit was a brief article identifying different religious and mythical figures and listed some of the parallels to Jesus Christ.  It blew me completely out of the water.

I've continued to research all of the main religions, many minor ones, several extinct ones and found Jesus Christ in EVERY. SINGLE. ONE.   Not only that but the otherwise non-typical themes/symbols cross over between religions that you never would have thought would have had such a DUH connection.  Adam and Eve were also very prevalent and to a very minor degree so is Noah.  Ironically Noah is the one people often grab onto being able to recognize the familiarity.  But Christianity in general is unfortunately closed minded, full of judgement, hard hearted and steeped in so much false doctrine that they are blinded to truths that are right in front of them.  If reading that makes you angry, check yourself.

What's worse than the holier-than-thou Christians is that because so much atrocity has been done in the name of God, that non-believers blame Heavenly Father or His son despite their condemnation the reign of blood and horror on this earth.  There is one who thinks he is the god of this world, and he is bent on our destruction.

Many Christians believe that yes, there were other sheep, which was why Jesus gave his followers the commandment to preach the gospel to all the world.  Now stop for just a second.  How important is it for people to hear the gospel message?   Which is: The prophesied Messiah has redeemed us from our sins.  He was crucified and Lives Again! Which is: Have faith in Him, repent of your sins, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost and follow Him into eternal life.

How big was the known world in 33AD?  There were entire continents of people for over a thousand years that lived and died before modern Christian missionaries visited their part of the world.  How many millions of God's children is that?  And then Christians believe that those who haven't heard and accepted the gospel go to hell.  Are you kidding me?  Put yourself their moccasins.  I'm going to hell for not accepting a message that I would never even have the opportunity to hear?!?!  No wonder people hate the god of that doctrine.

Instead, Jesus Himself took the message to otherwise unreachable parts of His world.  Who has more at stake in his flock? Who has more love for the sheep?  The under shepherd or the Shepherd Himself?

Christians, can you seriously tell me that the man who overcame DEATH itself cannot then visit other parts of the world to preach His gospel?  Traveling the world over vs. WALKING OUT OF THE GRAVE.  Which is harder?  C'mon.

To all of seekers of truth: I invite you to travel the world with me.  Open your mind.  Open your heart.  Let me show you what I found!


Aimee

Vishnu and Krishna

Vishnu is among the most important deities of Hinduism. Along with Brahma and Shiva, Vishnu forms the principal trinity of Hindu religious practice. 

In his many forms, Vishnu is regarded as the preserver and protector. Hinduism teaches that when humanity is threatened by chaos or evil, Vishnu will descend into the world in one of his incarnations to restore righteousness.

Because there are so many avatars in Hinduism it is more difficult to keep track of which avatar belongs to who, but I'll do my best to keep everyone straight.

Jesus Christ has many avatars as well, though as a Christian they are more familiar and therefore perceived as more obvious

Jehovah: pre-mortal name of Jesus
Lion of Judah: Aslan

Avatars of Vishnu:

Krishna

According to Bhagavata Purana some believe that Krishna was born without a sexual union, by “mental transmission” from the mind of Vasudeva into the womb of Devaki, his mother.

Lord Rama is the seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Lord Rama is said to have taken birth on earth to annihilate the evil forces of the age. He is always holding a bow and arrow indicating his readiness to destroy evils

Christ and Krishna were called both God and the Son of God. Both were sent from heaven to earth in the form of a man. Both were called Savior, and the second person of the Trinity. Krishna’s adoptive human father was also a carpenter. A spirit or ghost was their actual father. Krishna and Jesus were of royal descent. Both were visited at birth by wise men and shepherds, guided by a star. Angels in both cases issued a warning that the local dictator planned to kill the baby and had issued a decree for his assassination. The parents fled. Mary and Joseph stayed in Muturea; Krishna’s parents stayed in Mathura. Both Christ and Krishna withdrew to the wilderness as adults, and fasted. Both were identified as “the seed of the woman bruising the serpent’s head.” Jesus was called “the lion of the tribe of Judah.” Krishna was called “the lion of the tribe of Saki.” Both claimed: “I am the Resurrection.” Both were “without sin.” Both were god-men: being considered both human and divine. Both performed many miracles, including the healing of disease. One of the first miracles that both performed was to make a leper whole. Each cured “all manner of diseases.” Both cast out indwelling demons, and raised the dead. Both selected disciples to spread his teachings. Both were meek, and merciful. Both were criticized for associating with sinners. Both celebrated a last supper. Both forgave his enemies. Both were crucified and both were resurrected.

They relate how Krishna (literally “black,” or “dark as a cloud”) was born into the Yadava clan (House of David), the son of Vasudeva (God the Father) and Devaki (Mary), who was the sister of Kamsa (King Herod), the wicked king of Mathura.  Mary wasn't Herod's sister, but she was a literal descendant of King David and she and her children would have legitimate claim on the kingdom of Israel).   Kamsa (Herod), hearing a prophecy that he would be destroyed (the kingdom of Israel taken from him) by Devaki’s child, tried to slay her children (Matt 2:16, slaughter of the innocents), but Krishna was smuggled (Matt 2:13) across the Yamuna River to Gokula (or Vraja, modern Gokul), where he was raised by the leader of the cowherds, Nanda, and his wife Yashoda.

The child Krishna was adored for his mischievous pranks; he also performed many miracles and slew demons. As a youth, the cowherd Krishna became renowned as a lover, the sound of his flute prompting the gopis (wives and daughters of the cowherds) to leave their homes to dance ecstatically with him in the moonlight. His favourite among them was the beautiful Radha. At length, Krishna and his brother Balarama returned to Mathura to slay the wicked Kamsa. Afterward, finding the kingdom unsafe, Krishna led the Yadavas to the western coast of Kathiawar and established his court at Dvaraka (modern Dwarka, Gujarat). He married the princess Rukmini and took other wives as well.

Krishna refused to bear arms in the great war between the Kauravas (sons of Dhritarashtra, the descendant of Kuru) and the Pandavas (sons of Pandu), but he offered a choice of his personal attendance to one side and the loan of his army to the other. The Pandavas chose the former, and Krishna thus served as charioteer for Arjuna, one of the Pandava brothers.  (This might be a story we don't have record for, of a conflict in Egypt while he was there). 

On his return to Dvaraka, a brawl broke out one day among the Yadava chiefs in which Krishna’s brother (the familial tie is his cousin, John the Baptist) and son (John, having been born again, so to speak would have been considered spiritual offspring of Jesus Christ) were slain. As the god sat in the forest lamenting (Matthew 14:13, mourning the death of John and then sorrowing in the Garden of Gethsemane) , a huntsman, mistaking him for a deer (parable-like, where Roman soldiers thinking this is a legitimate arrest), shot him in his one vulnerable spot, the heel killing him. (Genesis 3:15, where God tells Adam and Eve that the Savior will bruise his heel while stepping on the head of the snake).

Parvati (Sanskrit: पार्वती, IAST: Pārvatī) or Uma (IAST: Umā) is the Hindu goddess of fertility (Mary?)

Flee into Egypt

Birth of Krishna - Vasudeva and Devaki Escaping from Prison

Running North to South there is the Port Said Ismailia River separating the land between Israel and Egypt.  Fleeing into Egypt would have required a river crossing.  There is no way around it.