Ascended Master Jesus, April 6, 2007 through Kim Michaels.
But what will it take to enter the kingdom? Well, it will take that you understand the deeper meaning of another of my pivotal statements, namely “The kingdom of God is within you.” For truly, as long as you look for it outside yourself – as long as you think it comes with observances, with observing the beliefs and practices of an outer religion, or speaking in a certain way, acting in a certain way, eating in a certain way, using this kind of oil or that kind of crystal or lighting candles, all of these outer things – as long as you think that doing these things will bring you into the kingdom, you cannot enter the kingdom because you are trying to enter through the wrong gate.
The broad way that leads to destruction is indeed the consciousness of thinking that it is the outer things that will bring you into the inner kingdom. In order to enter the inner kingdom, you need to overcome the focus on outer things. You need to draw your attention within and realize that it is only by changing your consciousness that you can enter the kingdom of God.
The importance of that statement – and I speak these words primarily to the people in the world, who might read this at some point, or even pick it up from the ethers as it goes into the mass consciousness – is that there is no automatic path to the kingdom of God. You cannot live a certain way – whether you define this as a good Christian, or a good Hindu, or a good Muslim, or a good Buddhist – and then think that after your physical body dies, God has to let you into the kingdom of heaven.
For the one condition that determines whether you can enter or not, is whether you have put on the Christ consciousness. If you have not put on that state of consciousness, you will see yourself as separated from God. And how can you enter the kingdom of God as long as you see yourself separated from that kingdom? It simply cannot be done! If you stand in front of your house late at night, wanting to get in and go to bed, and you are trying to unlock your front door, but you are using your car key, how likely is it that your door will be opened? Well, certainly you can see that this is an impossibility. So can you not also see that if you try to open the door to the kingdom of heaven by using the wrong key, you cannot enter in? And the only key is the transformation of consciousness.
And what is the key to the transformation of consciousness? Well, it is the Living Word. For by your words you shall be justified, by your words you shall be condemned. This does not mean that I, or God, or some angel, will sit there and judge you. This is the scare-tactic used by so many Christian churches in order to beat people into submission. They have created this false image that we sit up there in heaven and judge people, and that we send them to a fiery hell if they do not obey the outer Church while they are on earth.
Again, obedience to an outer Church cannot guarantee your entry into heaven, nor can disobedience to an outer Church guarantee that you go to some other place. For it is only those who have the Christ consciousness who will enter. And when you have the Christ consciousness, you have become one with the Living Word. You have become the WORD incarnate.
This is an excerpt from a longer teaching. You can read the full dictation HERE.
Copyright © 2007 Kim Michaels