Elizabeth Clare Prophet (1939-2009) was an American spiritual leader, author, orator, and writer. In 1963 she married Mark L. Prophet, who had founded The Summit Lighthouse in 1958 and when he died in 1973, she assumed control of The Summit Lighthouse. During her ministry, she taught on a wide variety of spiritual subjects: angels and archangels, karma and reincarnation, healing and wholeness, soul mates, twin flames and relationships, and practical spirituality, to name just a few.
In the book “Reincarnation: The Missing Link in Christianity”, Elizabeth Clare Prophet and Erin L. Prophet make the case that Jesus taught reincarnation. The authors trace the history of reincarnation in Christianity―from Jesus and the early Christians through Church councils and the persecution of so-called heretics.
This book is very informative, and the work has been meticulously researched. Still, the book is easy to read with many quotes, references and illustrations. It includes a good summary of the various religions and schisms that believed in reincarnation and personal unity with the divine during the first several centuries of Christianity. The historical development of Jewish, Greek, Roman, Christian and Indian thought is outlined and contrasted. It makes a good case that beliefs in reincarnation permeated the population in Jesus’ day including some Jewish sects.
Besides the subject of reincarnation, pre-existence, (original) sin, karma, divine grace and spiritual ascension are discussed and there is a lot of historical, mystical and theological information on those subjects as well. Most of the ideas can be found in [tooltip title=”” content=”See also Theosophy by John Algeo under Philosophy” type=”classic” ]Theosophy[/tooltip] and are based on religions and philosophers from ancient times to modern.
The book illustrates the history of how the Mystics, Gnostics, Cathars and others were left out of the Bible, how emperor Constantine and the Catholic Church eliminated the belief in reincarnation. In part 4, “The Church Rejects Incarnation”, the authors describe in detail the brutal extinction of the Cathars after the inquisition had succeeded in driving the Cathar faith underground.
In part 5, “Jesus Secret Teachings on the God Within”, the authors refer to [tooltip title=”” content=”See also The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels under Religion” type=”classic” ]Nag Hammadi texts[/tooltip] and in the last chapters they include advice on how to work on unity with God. There is a chronological guide to people, events and ideas at the end of the book.