The Hidden Love of Jesus For the Animals
Animals - The Defenseless Victims
The Gospel of the Perfect Life
How much those contemptuous of animals in antiquity and during the Middle Ages disregarded the teachings of the Nazarene can be drawn from the apocryphal scripture "The Gospel of Perfect Life." In the foreword to the first edition in English (1902) of "The Gospel of Perfect Life" (also known as "The Gospel of the Holy Twelve" or "The Gospel of Jesus") G. J. R. Ouseley writes: "This original gospel of Christian inspiration is one of the oldest and most complete early Christian fragments and is preserved in a Buddhist monastery in Tibet, where it was hidden by members of the Essene community, in order to protect it from the hands of falsifiers." On the following pages, we have chosen several chapters on the topic "The love of Jesus for animals."
The Gospel of the Perfect Life
Humata Verlag, Bad Homburg
And "The Gospel of Jesus," Verlag DAS WORT, Rottweil 1968
(These texts are taken from "This Is My Word" Verlag DAS WORT)
Woe to the Hunters!
6. As Jesus went with some of His disciples, He met a man who trained
dogs to hunt other animals. And He said to the man, "Why do you do this?"
And the man answered, "Because I live from this. What sort of use have these
animals? These animals are weak, but the dogs are strong." And Jesus said to
him, "You lack wisdom and love. Behold, every creature that God has created
has its meaning and purpose. And who can say what good there is in it or
what use it is to you or to mankind?
7. And for your living, behold the fields, how they grow and are fertile,
and the fruit-bearing trees and the herbs. What more do you want than what
the honest work of your hands will give you? Woe to the strong who misuse
their strength. Woe to the crafty who hurt the creatures of God! Woe to the
hunters! For they themselves shall be hunted.
8. And the man was very astonished and stopped training the dogs to hunt;
and he taught them to save life, not to destroy it. And he embraced the
teachings of Jesus and became His disciple. (Chap. 14)
Jesus Frees the Animals
1. And it happened one day, after Jesus had finished His speaking, that,
in a place near Tiberias where there are seven wells, a young man brought
Him live rabbits and doves, that He might consume them with His disciples.
2. And Jesus looked at the young man lovingly and said to him, “You have a
good heart and God will enlighten you; but do you not know that in the
beginning God gave man the fruits of the earth for food and by this did not
make him lower than the apes, or the oxen, or the horse or the sheep, that
he may kill his fellow creatures and consume their flesh and blood?
3. You believe that Moses rightfully commanded such creatures to be offered
in sacrifice and consumed and so you do this in the temple; but see, One
greater than Moses is here and He comes to abolish the blood sacrifices of
the law and the orgies and to restore the pure offering and the bloodless
sacrifice as it was in the beginning, namely, the grains and the fruits of
the earth.
5. Therefore, let the creatures go free, that they may rejoice in God and
bring no guilt to man.” And the young man set them free and Jesus tore apart
their cages and their fetters.
6. But see, they were afraid to be taken captive once more and did not want
to leave Him. But He spoke to them and sent them away and they obeyed His
words and departed full of joy. (Chap. 28)
Freeing the Birds
7. And on a certain day, the boy Jesus came to a place where a snare was
set for birds and there were some boys there. And Jesus said to them, “Who
has set this snare for the innocent creatures of God? Behold, they will
likewise be caught in a snare.” And He beheld twelve sparrows that appeared
to be dead.
8. And He moved His hands over them and said to them, “Fly away and, as long
as you live, remember Me.” And they rose and flew away with cries. The Jews
who saw this were very astonished and told it to the priests. (Chap. 6)
Jesus Heals a Horse
1. And it came to pass that the Lord departed from the city and went into
the mountains with His disciples. And they came to a mountain with very
steep paths. There they met a man with a beast of burden.
2. But the horse had collapsed, for it was overladen. The man struck it till
the blood flowed. And Jesus went to him saying, “You son of cruelty, why do
you strike your animal? Do you not see that it is much too weak for its
burden and do you not know that it suffers?”
3. But the man retorted, “What have You to do therewith? I may strike my
animal as much as it pleases me, for it belongs to me; and I bought it with
a goodly sum of money. Ask those who are with You, for they are from my
neighborhood and know thereof.”
4. And some of the disciples answered, saying, “Yes, Lord, it is as he said,
we were there when he bought the horse.” And the Lord rejoined, “Do you not
see then how it is bleeding, and do you not hear how it wails and laments?”
But they answered saying, “No, Lord, we do not hear that it wails or
laments.”
5. And the Lord became sad and said, “Woe to you; because of the dullness of
your heart, you do not hear how it laments and cries to its heavenly Creator
for pity; but thrice woe to the one against whom it cries and wails in its
torment!”
6. And He went forward and touched the horse, and the animal stood up, and
its wounds were healed. But He said to the man, “Go on your way now and
henceforth strike it no more, if you, too, hope to find mercy.”
7. And seeing the people come to Him, Jesus said to His disciples, “Because
of the sick, I Am sick; because of the hungry, I go hungry; because of the
thirsty, I suffer thirst.”
8. And He also said, “I have come to put an end to the sacrifices and feasts
of blood. If you do not cease to offer and consume the flesh and blood of
animals, the wrath of God will not cease to come upon you, just as it came
upon your ancestors in the wilderness, who indulged in the consumption of
flesh and were filled with rottenness and consumed by pestilence. (Chap. 21)
Jesus Helps a Camel
12. Jesus went to Jerusalem and came upon a camel with a heavy burden of
wood. The camel could not haul its load up the hill and the driver beat it
and treated it cruelly, but could not get the animal to move.
13. And as Jesus saw it, He said to him, “Why do you beat your brother?” And
the man retorted, “I did not know that it is my brother. Is it not a beast
of burden, made to serve me?”
14. And Jesus said, “Has not the same God created this animal and your
children who serve you from the same material and have you not both received
the same breath from God?”
15. And the man was very astonished by this talk. He stopped beating the
camel and freed it from a part of its burden. And so, the camel went up the
hill and Jesus went before it and it no longer stopped until the end of its
day’s journey.
16. The camel recognized Jesus, for it had felt the love of God in Him. And
the man wanted to know more of the teachings and Jesus taught him gladly and
he became His follower. (Chap. 31)
Jesus Spoke Against Blood Sacrifices
1. Jesus taught His disciples in the outer court of the temple, and one
of them said to Him, “Master, it is said by the priests that without the
shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Can then the lawful blood
sacrifices take away sins?”
2. And Jesus answered, “No blood sacrifice of animal or bird or man can take
away sins. For how can a guilt be paid off by shedding innocent blood? No,
it will increase the guilt.
3. The priests indeed receive such offerings as an appeasement from the
faithful for the violations against the law of Moses; but for the sins
against the law of God, there is no forgiveness except by repentance and a
change for the better. (Chap. 33)
Jesus Spoke Against Eating Meat
4. Is it not written in the prophets: Take your blood sacrifices and your
burnt offerings, and away with them. Stop eating meat; for I did not speak
of this to your forefathers, nor have I commanded them to do so when I led
them out of Egypt. But this is what I commanded them:
5. Obey My voice and walk the paths that I have commanded of you, and you
will be My people and things will go well for you. And yet they were not so
inclined and did not listen.
6. And what did the Eternal command you, other than to practice justice and
mercy and to walk humbly with your God? Is it not written that, in the
beginning, God ordained the fruits of the trees and the seeds and the plants
to be food for all flesh?
7. But they have made of the house of prayer a den of thieves and, instead
of the pure offering with incense, they have stained My altars with blood
and have eaten the flesh of slain animals.
8. But I say to you: Shed no innocent blood and eat no flesh. Be upright,
love mercy and do right, and your days will endure in the land for a long
time.
(Chap. 33)
Animals Are Our Brothers and Sisters
7. Jesus came into a village and saw there a stray kitten, and it
suffered from hunger and cried out to Him. And He picked it up, wrapped it
in His robe and let it rest at His breast.
8. And when He went through the village, He gave the cat to eat and to
drink. And it ate and drank and showed Him its thanks. And He gave it to one
of His disciples, a widow called Lorenza, and she took care of it.
9. And some of the people said, “This man takes care of all the animals. Are
they His brothers and sisters, that He loves them so?” And He said to them,
“Verily, these are your fellow brothers from the great family of God, your
brothers and sisters who have the same breath of life from the Eternal.
10. And whoever cares for the least of them and gives it food and drink in
its need does this to Me, and the one who deliberately allows that one of
them suffer privation and does not defend it when it is ill-treated allows
this evil to happen as if it were done to Me. For just as you have done in
this life will it be done to you in the life to come.” (Chap. 34)
Jesus Spoke About the Right Kind of Food
1. And some of His disciples came to Him and spoke to Him about an
Egyptian, a son of Belial, who taught that it is not against the law to
torment animals if their suffering brings profit to people.
2. And Jesus said to them, “Verily, I say to you, the one who derives
benefit from the injustice that is inflicted on a creature of God cannot be
righteous. Just as little can those whose hands are stained with blood or
whose mouths are defiled with flesh deal with holy matters or teach the
mysteries of heaven.
3. God gives the grains and the fruits of the earth as food; and for the
righteous man, there is no other lawful nourishment for the body.
4. The robber who breaks into a house built by man is guilty; but even the
least of those who break into a house built by God are the greater sinners.
This is why I say to all who want to become My disciples, keep your hands
free from bloodshed and let no meat touch your lips; for God is just and
bountiful and has ordained that man shall live by the fruits and seeds of
the earth alone.
5. But if an animal suffers greatly, so that its life is a torment for it,
or if it becomes dangerous to you, release it from its life quickly and with
as little pain as you can. Send it to the other side in love and mercy and
do not torment it, and God, your Father, will show mercy to you, just as you
have shown mercy to those who were given into your hands.
6. And whatever you do to the least of My children, you do to Me. For I Am
in them and they are in Me. Yes, I Am in all creatures and all creatures are
in Me. In all their joys, I, too, rejoice and in all their afflictions, I,
too, suffer. This is why I say to you: Be kind to one another and to all the
creatures of God.” (Chap. 38)
The Conversion of the Bird Catcher
1. And as Jesus was going to Jericho, He met a man with young doves and a
cage full of birds which he had caught. And He saw their misery, as they had
lost their freedom and, furthermore, were suffering hunger and thirst.
2. And He said to the man, “What are you doing with these?” And the man
answered, “I earn my living by selling the birds which I have caught.”
3. And Jesus said to him, “What would you think, if someone stronger or more
clever than you would capture and shackle you, or would throw your wife or
your children and you into prison, in order to sell you for his own profit
and to earn his living from this?
4. Are these not your fellow creatures, only weaker than you? And does not
the same God, Father and Mother, care for them as for you? Let these, your
little brothers and sisters, go forth into freedom and see to it that you
never do such a thing again, but that you earn your bread honestly.”
5. And the man was astounded at these words and His authority, and he let
the birds go free. As the birds came out, they flew to Jesus, sat upon His
shoulders and sang to Him.
6. And the man asked more about His teachings and he went his way and
learned basket weaving. He earned his bread from this work and broke his
cages and traps and became a disciple of Jesus. (Chap. 41)
9. Verily, I say to you, I Am come into the world in order to put an end to all blood offerings and to the eating of the flesh of animals and birds that are slain by men. (Chap. 75)
Sources:
“The Gospel of Jesus,” Verlag DAS WORT, Rottweil 1986
“The Gospel of Perfect Life,” Humata Verlag, Bad Homburg
“The Forgotten Gospel” Christianity and Animal Protection Fachverlag für
Tierschutz, Munich
“This Is My Word,” Verlag DAS WORT, Marktheidenfeld, Germany 1996
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