Jesus of Nazareth as known in esoteric traditions

Jesus as a personal and social counselor

Jesus as a personal and social counselor

At this time, the Roman Empire included all of southern Europe, Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, and northwest Africa;

Its inhabitants embraced the citizens of every country of the Eastern Hemisphere.

Jesus visits the Roman Empire

Jesus' desire to study and mingle with Rome ,this cosmopolitan aggregation of Urantia mortals was the chief reason why Jesus consented to make this journey.

Jesus learned much about men while in Rome, but the most valuable of all the manifold experiences of his six months' sojourn in that city was his contact with, and influence upon, the religious leaders of the empire's capital.

Before the end of the first week in Rome Jesus had sought out, and had made the acquaintance of, the worth-while leaders of the Cynics, the Stoics, and the mystery cults, in particular the Mithraic group.

He selected five of the leading Stoics, eleven of the Cynics, and sixteen of the mystery-cult leaders and spent much of his spare time for almost six months in intimate association with these religious teachers.

Whether or not it was apparent to Jesus that the Jews were going to reject his mission, Jesus most certainly foresaw that his messengers were presently coming to Rome to proclaim the kingdom of heaven.

He therefore set about, in the most amazing manner, to prepare the way for the better and more certain reception of their message.

His method of instruction

Never once did he attack their errors or even mention the flaws in their teachings.

In each case, he would select the truth in what they taught and then proceed so to embellish and illuminate this truth in their minds that in a very short time this enhancement of the truth effectively crowded out the associated error

Thus were these Jesus-taught men and women prepared for the subsequent recognition of additional and similar truths in the teachings of the early Christian missionaries.

It was this early acceptance of the teachings of the gospel preachers which gave that powerful impetus to the rapid spread of Christianity in Rome and from there throughout the empire.

The significance of this remarkable doing can the better be understood when we record the fact that,

out of this group of thirty-two Jesus-taught religious leaders in Rome, only two were unfruitful;

the thirty became pivotal individuals in the establishment of Christianity in Rome,

and certain of them also aided in turning the chief Mithraic temple into the first Christian church of that city.

We who view human activities from behind the scenes and in the light of nineteen centuries of time recognize just three factors of paramount value in the early setting of the stage for the rapid spread of Christianity throughout Europe, and they are:

1. The choosing and holding of Simon Peter as an apostle.

2. The talk in Jerusalem with Stephen, whose death led to the winning of Saul of Tarsus.

3. The preliminary preparation of these thirty Romans for the subsequent leadership of the new religion in Rome and throughout the empire.

Through all their experiences, neither Stephen nor the thirty chosen ones ever realized that they had once talked with the man whose name became the subject of their religious teaching.