Our Spiritual Awakening: Post #6 (Post #5 of Our Spiritual Awakening can be found here.) “Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father.”  —John 16:25 During the time Jesus lived, Israel was filled with people who spoke Latin, Greek (the Romans), Hebrew (Jewish leaders), and/or Aramaic. Though Jesus' native tongue was Aramaic, scholars speculate that Jesus understood Greek but couldn't speak it. So when he taught at the Sermon of the Mound, or educated his disciples, he spoke in Aramaic. Today, this causes many problems because Aramaic is known as a language that uses exaggerated verbiage such as hyperbole and metaphors. (The same with Hebrew.) Add to that the use of idioms from that time and we have a recipe for many misunderstandings.  If that isn't problematic enough, there's even more room for misconstrued understanding when you consider that even Jesus' own disciples had a hard time understanding him. For example, Matthew 15:10-18 shows Peter needing Jesus to explain his parables. Mark 8:31-33 shows Peter being in disagreement with Jesus. And John 6:60-68 shows that many of Jesus' disciples ended up leaving Jesus because they found his teachings “too hard.”  Considering this background, is it any wonder that, today, there are so many different Christian denominations with diverse understandings of Jesus' teachings? But, as Jesus says in John 16:25, there's to be a time when he will use plain language to explain things. I believe that time is now. In Revelation 14:6 we find that during the Tribulations a new truth will be given to mankind: “Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people.” But this new truth will be hard to digest: Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: “Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but ‘in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.’” I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I was told, “You must prophesy AGAIN about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.”  —Revelation 10:8-11 Most Christians struggle with this idea of Jesus coming with a NEW GOSPEL. But, as you see in these passages, Jesus is telling us we must proclaim this new truth to the world. And by saying we must do this AGAIN, Jesus is implying that it is a different Gospel than the one that has already been given to the world. (Hence, the reason for the “sourness” in the stomach of most Christians who can't digest the updated theology.) In the next post, I will share some of the new revelations found within this new truth. (To be continued.)