Do not think that anything as simple as dying is going to give you union with God, no that proudly declaring your membership is any particular church will guarantee such union.

A person may be Christian or Jewish, Buddhist or Hindu, Muslim of Taoist; he may claim that Jesus is the only way - or the Buddha, or Muhammed - as millions of devout believers do; he may insist that ritual prayer and regular attendance in church, mosque or temple bestows salvation, but it all comes down to what you are in yourself.

No great master enter the physical plane to draw people to himself, but to draw them to Truth which, as Jesus said, "will set you free". This is the 'salvation' of which all true prophets speak. They so no say that we will realise salvation by outwardly following a religion, but what you do personally to establish your relationship with God. Whatever your beliefs and practices, the essential purpose of religion is to establish your kinship with God.

When Jesus says that "there is not way to the father but through me" he is not saying that you have to become a member of a Christian organisation, but you had to become as God-realised as he. Jesus shows the way by example and that way is through becoming as Christ-like as possible. Not a poor, weak, sinful follower of Jesus, but an equal and, of possible, greater Son of God. "These things I do, you can do. Yes! Works even greater than mine." You are all, indeed Sons of God, but we worship health, wealth, power nationality and many other material attributes as our Source of Happiness. We all bow down to these false gods while, at the same time, we profess our affiliation with Jesus or the Buddha. We call the 'Lord, Lord!' And do not do the things they ask. They would not know us.

To become as God-realised as the great masters is to overcome all suffering. Here and now.

Jesus might feel sad, but certainly not heart-broken if another person did not return his love. Some of us have committed suicide because of unrequited love. Would the Buddha suffer if he lost all his possessions? Some of us have been driven to the pits of despair. Why is it that the God-realised no not suffer?

If Jesus were told that he had terminal cancer, would he collapse in a heap sobbing, "Oh, my God! I'm going to die"?

Suffering is sin, for it is ignorance. Ignorance of who and what we really are and of our inseparability from God. If we make no personal effort to become Christ-like in our hearts, - compassion and love for our brothers and sisters of all races and religions - Christ like in spirit, - BEING Christ-like - we shall continue to create suffering on earth. We create hunger, poverty, war and all the other deadly things that flesh is heir to because we do not love God above material things and we do not love our brothers and sisters as ourselves. It is time we stopped calling ourselves Christians and started becoming Christian.