War in Heaven - Chapter 11: Theocratic Bands
Q. Please tell me more about the Theocrats and how they operate. For example, who were they when they lived on Earth?
A. Many notorious tyrants, conquerors, evil religious leaders, black magicians, and criminals have become Theocrats after death, but so have some people whom history calls saints or benign geniuses.
Power corrupts, and the prospect of achieving immortality corrupts even more.
Many people with highly developed souls whose earthly lives were lived quite ethically chose to become Theocrats after death.
Many people with highly developed souls whose earthly lives were lived quite ethically chose to become Theocrats after death.
This has been especially true of people who were religiously devout, then found out the horrible truth about their gods after death.
If they were too powerful for the Theocrats to enslave and devour, some became members of the Invisible College and fought Theocracy; but others became Theocrats themselves.
The temptation is very strong, because the Theocrats as a class have ruled both the Earth and its astral plane throughout most of human history.
For example, most of the medieval Popes and other religious leaders notorious for being cynical and power-hungry are now Theocrats.
For example, most of the medieval Popes and other religious leaders notorious for being cynical and power-hungry are now Theocrats.
So are many famous occult leaders, from Cagliostro down to Aleister Crowley.
Q. I've learned a lot from Crowley's writings and from members of occult organizations he founded or influenced, but I've always also felt a deep emotional revulsion for him.
A. While he was alive, Crowley was very similar to a double agent in espionage.
Sometimes he helped us in our battles against the Theocrats, but at other times he worked for them.
Of course, we were always aware that no matter which side he said he was on, his only real loyalties were to himself.
This kind of egotism is a typical.
Theocratic personality-type and proves that Crowley had been a Theocratic spirit between lives many times before.
This kind of egotism is a typical.
Theocratic personality-type and proves that Crowley had been a Theocratic spirit between lives many times before.
Right now, he's working with various Theocrats of an occultist persuasion, trying to turn some of the occult groups he founded into cults based on his worship.
He talked frequently about doing this during his life, and now he's in a position to put it into practice.
He talked frequently about doing this during his life, and now he's in a position to put it into practice.
Q. This makes the War in Heaven sound more like the Allies against the Nazis than the forces of good against the forces of evil.
A. It's all just politics.
Both sides are working in their own interests.
The important thing is that the self-interest of the Invisible College and of living people is the same.
We acknowledge that we are part of the same human race as you.
The Theocrats are trying to become literally superhuman.
Q. Are you implying, then, that the time-honored goal of so many occultists - that of becoming or merging with a god-like being - is evil?
That trying to do this turns people into Theocratic spirits who literally eat souls?
A. This question doesn't have a yes-or-no answer, and before we can answer it all, we'll have to give you a lot more background information.
The question isn't really a matter of morality so much as one of dealing realistically with natural law.
For example, it is a serious violation of natural law for a disembodied astral soul to take on large amounts of energy by draining it from another spirit, because there is no template for determining how the energy is assimilated, as there is when the astral soul is attached to a body.
In the latter case, the somatic soul acts as such a template.
In the latter case, the somatic soul acts as such a template.
When the somatic soul transmits energy through the silver cord to nourish the astral soul, the pulses of energy are arranged in patterns that keep the growth of astral tissues in proper balance.
By contrast, when Theocrats absorb energy from other spirits, there is no such template, so the growth-pattern is random and may put the functioning of the astral soul out of balance.
Because imbalances in the astral nervous system can cause irrational thinking and behavior, most of the Theocrats are insane.
And the bigger and older they are, very often the crazier they are.
Many Theocrats do irrational and self-destructive things, and most of them eventually become so insane that other Theocrats destroy them.
Q. This means the Theocrats aren't really immortal?
A. Most of them aren't.
They have the potential to be, but only by properly controlling the energies they assimilate, and few of them have the knowledge to do this.
There are some very large, old, and stable Theocrats on the astral plane who do seem to have this knowledge, but they don't cause much trouble.
They feed themselves by stealing spirits from other Theocrats and don't work directly with living people, so we don't worry about them much.
There are some very large, old, and stable Theocrats on the astral plane who do seem to have this knowledge, but they don't cause much trouble.
They feed themselves by stealing spirits from other Theocrats and don't work directly with living people, so we don't worry about them much.
It's the younger Theocrats that cause the most trouble, both for the Invisible College and for living people.
Q. Why do the Theocrats maintain bands of spirit followers, and what are these bands like?
A. The Theocrats enslave other spirits to provide psychic energy, as slaves or employees on Earth provide physical labor.
Individual Theocratic bands can contain from a couple of dozen spirits to several thousand, with the average in the low hundreds.
The paintings and poems that describe a Heaven containing millions of souls are inaccurate.
The paintings and poems that describe a Heaven containing millions of souls are inaccurate.
The daily activities of a Fundamentalist Theocratic band organized as Heaven are similar to a church service as such sects hold them on Earth, except that they go on perpetually.
The Theocrat in charge poses as the Lord God Jehovah, and subordinate Theocrats pose as Christ, various Angels and Apostles, and so forth.
The Theocrat in charge poses as the Lord God Jehovah, and subordinate Theocrats pose as Christ, various Angels and Apostles, and so forth.
God quotes the same Biblical passages and preaches the same sermons as preachers in the same sect do on Earth, and the congregation joins in singing the same hymns.
Dead Fundamentalists in Heaven find out they even still have to confess their sins and receive divine forgiveness, because they are still capable of thinking "rebellious and impure thoughts."
Of course, since they are in constant, direct telepathic contact with their God, the process is simple and automatic.
Christians in Heaven are kept in a perpetual state of religious ecstasy, which activates their psychic powers under the control of their God.
Christians in Heaven are kept in a perpetual state of religious ecstasy, which activates their psychic powers under the control of their God.
The Theocratic leaders of the band then channel this collective psychic energy to perform whatever functions they consider necessary.
Most of the activities have to do with the survival of the band, and especially of the Theocratic dictator posing as God.
Most of the activities have to do with the survival of the band, and especially of the Theocratic dictator posing as God.
The band recruits new members from among the recently deceased, steals souls from other bands, fights to keep spirits like us from liberating members of the band, and so on.
Q. I still don't have a clear picture of how the Theocratic bands on the astral plane relate to living people.
A. Each Theocratic band has to have a working relationship with a group of living people, often a religious congregation.
Occult and political groups are also used; and now more and more Theocratic bands are controlling groups of people whose common interest is popular music, sports, or something else centered around the electronic media.
Traditionally, the majority of Theocrats hung around places of worship, but now you can find them almost any place that crowds gather.
Q. Please clarify this. You talk about spirits being on the astral plane as if it's a place, but you also say, "hang around places of worship." Just where is the astral plane? Is it on Earth, in another dimension, or what?
A. The astral plane is a condition, not a place.
A spirit, meaning an astral soul, on the astral plane is in the condition of not being bound to physical matter through the silver cord.
The Earth plane is the surface of the planet Earth as you perceive it with your physical senses.
The astral plane is that same place as we perceive it with our psychic senses.
The Earth plane is the surface of the planet Earth as you perceive it with your physical senses.
The astral plane is that same place as we perceive it with our psychic senses.
We and the Theocrats and all spirits live on the same world you do.
Spirits are present around you all the time, and if you enter the correct state of consciousness to put your psychic senses under conscious control, you can perceive them directly.
Spirits are present around you all the time, and if you enter the correct state of consciousness to put your psychic senses under conscious control, you can perceive them directly.
Q. This makes more sense than anything else I've ever heard about the astral plane.
However, you and practically every other disembodied spirit I've communicated with telepathically or seen quoted in the literature still use the term "astral plane" as if it were a place.
You make statements like,
"When the soul separates from the body and arrives on the astral plane…"
Why do you do this?
A. It's just a verbal convention, but we continue to use it to keep our communications with living people consistent with those of other spirits.
You do the sane thing when you use illogical idioms and other grammatical structures simply to conform to common usage.
Q. You're right. To get back to the Theocrats, then, every religious congregation has its own individual god?
A. Yes, though there are also hierarchies of Theocrats on the astral plane that work very much like political hierarchies on Earth.
Q. Does this mean that each Christian congregation has a Theocrat who claims to be an Angel or a Saint or something in charge of it, with some Theocrat equivalent of the Pope out there somewhere claiming to be the Lord God Jehovah Himself?
A. This is roughly correct, but the reality isn't this simple.
There are many such Jehovahs, thousands of them.
The Theocrats who communicate telepathically to individual Christians when they pray also call themselves God or Christ or the Holy Spirit because that's what the believers expect, but they also claim to be angels or saints or devils when that seems appropriate.
The Theocrats who communicate telepathically to individual Christians when they pray also call themselves God or Christ or the Holy Spirit because that's what the believers expect, but they also claim to be angels or saints or devils when that seems appropriate.
Q. How are the Christian Theocrats organized - according to sect, or geographically, or what?
A. Both.
The structure is very complex and constantly changing as Theocrats fight among themselves.
The intellectual content of Christian dogma among the living believers is a factor in this, as is the personality-structure of use religious mind control to program the minds of living believers, and the way they are organized as a political structure on the astral plane.
The intellectual content of Christian dogma among the living believers is a factor in this, as is the personality-structure of use religious mind control to program the minds of living believers, and the way they are organized as a political structure on the astral plane.
However, the structure of the Theocratic bands on the astral plane is even more important.
There are many different kinds of spirits that you could lump under the rough heading of Theocrats.
High-level Theocrats are rulers who claim to be gods or important servants of gods, angels and the like, and these all have bands of subordinates or servants working under them.
They control these subordinate spirits by direct psychic means, something like hypnotism, or by persuasion or intimidation.
Q. This sounds very much like certain kinds of political structure on Earth, both in governments and in churches.
I take it the Theocrats within each band have an ascending power structure, with a sort of "dictator playing god" at the top, and other classes of Theocrats under them with different degrees of power and privilege.
And the lowest class at the bottom is like cattle, eaten by the rest.
Correct?
A. It is a very complicated structure, and it varies a great deal from band to band.
For instance, there are dead Christians who think they are in Heaven, sitting around the throne of Jehovah "eternally singing his praises," when they're really just his slaves and possibly his dinner as well.
Now you understand the real significance of "Holy Communion."
As practiced in Heaven, there's nothing more unholy.
As practiced in Heaven, there's nothing more unholy.
Q. I have always been revolted by the symbolic cannibalism in the Eucharist ritual, and I've heard a lot of other people say the same thing.
There's a terrible irony to the Christians eating the body of their god during life, and then having the process reversed after death.
Only it's not funny, because in Heaven, the cannibalism is no longer symbolic.
It's real.
A. Yes. And it's not just the high-level Theocrats who participate.
All members of a Theocratic band are offered the Host, who is a rebellious or degenerating member.
Not all souls who enter Heaven can survive even through the obscene practice of feeding on other spirits.
Many souls simply aren't developed sufficiently to survive very long even when nurtured within a Theocratic band, though they would survive if they reincarnated.
Q. Are there also Theocratic bands organized into a version of the Christian Hell, with the boss Theocrat claiming to be Satan and various subordinates claiming to be demons?
A. Yes.
Some people who deliberately become Satanists on Earth hold positions of power in "Hell" after they die, and the lower classes are composed of Christians who believed the basic mythology but had too little self-confidence to believe themselves "saved."
One major irony about Christian Hells is that individual believers usually don't have much power over whether they go to Heaven or Hell.
That is determined more by which particular band of Theocrats gets to them as they're in the process of dying.
All except the most devout believers have enough self-doubts about the strength of their faith and the certainty of their salvation that Satanist Theocrats can get control of them as they're dying and lead them off to Hell.
All except the most devout believers have enough self-doubts about the strength of their faith and the certainty of their salvation that Satanist Theocrats can get control of them as they're dying and lead them off to Hell.
However, a Theocratic band organized as Heaven is more stable and easier to control than one organized as Hell, so Heavens are more common.
There is no other significant difference between the two anyway:
they are both just political institutions run to serve the interests of the Theocrats.
The:
mythologies also describe a variety of afterlife states resembling the Christian Heaven or Hell; they too are Theocratic institutions designed to imprison the souls of believers after death.
As fanatical belief in organized religion declines in the modern era, the Theocrats have even devised ways to persuade atheists and agnostics to join Theocratic bands after death.
The most common is simply to invite them to join what appears to be a community of spirits that includes some of their previously deceased relatives or friends, or some famous person they greatly admire.
Q. Does this mean there's a "Rock'n'Roll Heaven" presided over by Theocrats who claim to be the shades of Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, etc.?
A. There isn't just one, but many of them, and the number grows every year.
There are also "Heavens" whose "gods" claim to be:
- politicians
- movie stars
- writers
and scientists, or even fictional characters.
However, we'd like to delay a detailed discussion of this until later.
It's easier to describe the nature of Theocracy using the religious infrastructure that's been traditional through most of human history.
Once we've done that, we will describe how the Theocrats have changed their methods because of modern technology and other factors, and what they intend to do in the future.
For now, we will continue describing the traditional political structure of the Theocratic bands on the astral plane, especially those organized to resemble the Christian Heaven.
Most of the lower-level spirits in these bands have no idea of what's actually going on, but genuinely believe that the afterlife is exactly what their earthly faith taught them it would be.
Q. People who have had point-of-death experiences have often reported being met by Jesus, angels, or other religious figures who invited them into Heaven; but meeting spirits who claim to be previously deceased relatives or friends is even more common. Is this part of the recruiting process?
A. Yes.
Point-of-death experiences represent a major mistake by the Theocrats:
trying to recruit people who are close to death but not really dying.
The silver cord is stretched out very long but not broken, and the mind is in a state of consciousness very similar to that occurring during the actual death process.
The Theocrats perceive this and try to recruit the person into their band, but nothing happens because the silver cord is still intact, and disembodied spirits lack the psychic power to break it.
Eventually, the person returns to normal consciousness and remembers a point-of-death experience.
Eventually, the person returns to normal consciousness and remembers a point-of-death experience.
We call this a major mistake by the Theocrats because many point-of-death experiences reveal information about the afterlife that the Theocrats would like to conceal.
Sometimes, members of the Invisible College show up during the encounter and warn the person that the Theocrats are impostors who enslave and destroy souls.
Only a few remember this warning consciously and talk about it afterwards, but many more are affected by it enough to become hostile to the Theocratic aspects of religion.
Q. I remember reading passages in accounts of point-of-death experiences that support both of your statements.
Especially, many people who have had such experiences tend to avoid church attendance and involvement with any sort of traditional religious dogma from then on.
I've always been somewhat mystified by this, because it would seem logical for such an experience to strengthen faith in religion, not weaken it.
A. The greatest enemy of Theocracy is the truth.
The more that people find out about the true nature of the afterlife and other aspects of spiritual reality, the harder it is for the Theocrats to delude and enslave them.
This is why so many Theocratic religious sects forbid deliberate mediumistic contact with the spirit world.
This is why so many Theocratic religious sects forbid deliberate mediumistic contact with the spirit world.
But point-of-death experiences are accidents, and there isn't much that the Theocrats can do to prevent them.
Q. When people see the spirits of dead relatives waiting to greet then during point-of-death experiences, are these fakes like the Theocrats pretending to be Jesus, or are the other spirits really their relatives?
A. Quite often, they really are.
Theocratic bands often contain many members of one family.
There are several reasons for this.
Frequently, whole families belong to the same church congregation and are recruited, after death, into the Theocratic band that controls it.
Even if not, ties of family affection are also used to recruit spirits after death.
One of the most important activities of every Theocratic band is obtaining new members to replace the souls the band devours.
There are several reasons for this.
Frequently, whole families belong to the same church congregation and are recruited, after death, into the Theocratic band that controls it.
Even if not, ties of family affection are also used to recruit spirits after death.
One of the most important activities of every Theocratic band is obtaining new members to replace the souls the band devours.
Maintaining a relationship with an organized group of living people also allows the Theocrats to maintain a social and political system here on Earth working in their interest.
Theocratic bands maintain their relationships with the living by using religious mind control, which should be described in a separate chapter.
Let us end this chapter by pointing out that every single one of the ideas at the core of traditional deistic doctrine is a lie.
"Only God (under various specific names in different sects) is good: people are basically evil and are incapable of improving themselves morally by their own efforts."
This is a lie.
"Only God is naturally immortal, but people can gain immortality by doing proper service for the Deity."
This is a lie.
"Human beings can receive forgiveness for their sins, and divine strength to prop up their various weaknesses, by ‘Letting God into their hearts' i.e., by creating a powerful psychic bond between themselves and the deity."
This is also a lie.
Q. From what I've learned so far, the biggest lie of all is that the "gods" worshiped by organized religions are "archetypes of virtue."
We humans are bad enough, but the Theocrats are obviously many times worse than the worst of us.
And it's not Satan who's the real "Father of Lies."
It's God.
A. Exactly.
However, the important thing to realize about this whole body of lies is that it makes people weaker and eviler than they already are, and increases their dependency on the Theocrats, as we shall describe next.