Customer Reviews

The Mystical Life of Jesus: An Uncommon Perspective on the Life of Christ

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I am so very glad that Sylvia's publisher encouraged her to write this book, because most of us Christians are fascinated by the life of Yeshua and those surrounding him, including Mother Mary, and especially Mary Magdelene, two individuals that we know very little about from the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke-Acts and John. Her book goes to great detail and length to explain the role of Mother God in the life of Yeshua, and how he came to die on the cross in an interesting and refreshing style. It also clearly explains the split in the church between the Jewish Christians, the Gnostic Christians and the Pauline Christians and the differences in philosophy in an interesting manner. I loved the book and could not put it down. I started it at 10 pm and had to finish it in the next four hours, which is possible because her writing style is interesting, exciting and clear--not difficult or scholarly.

In any case the one thing which she did not explain well, and I see it in many comments on reviews of her book on Amazon, is that people are concerned that Mother God is not mentioned in the bible, but this is not entirely accurate. She is, because the most popular name for God in the bible is "Elohim", mentioned some 2500 times, and it is derived from "Eloah" meaning Goddess with a masculine ending. The article used before it is gendered fe/male plural, with Hebrew being a gendered language, unlike English. Another word for god is "El Shaddai" which means the "mighty breasted one" and is gendered female. She forgot to mention this, so I thought this might help everyone better understand where the Mother God in her book comes from, or at least according to the bible. The unfortunate thing about this language interpretation, is only few biblical and intellectual scholar are aware of this, with the bulk of translations of the bible having been done by promoters of a patriarchal religion, which Sylvia does mention quite frequently in her book, but perhaps not always as completely as she should.

In any case, the details of the life of Yeshua and the holy women are amazing and it explains the strong existence of the Cathars in France for many decades in early Christianity.

Sylvia has once again, done a wonderful and credible job in promoting a loving, caring and nurturing Mother and Father God in this book who assisted and supported a Messiah throughout a long and notable life.

The book expands upon other books such as the Tomb of God and the Da Vinci code, which it is not incompatible with. These are also books I would highly recommend on this subject with the exception that the Tomb of God is much more scholarly and drier than reading Sylvia Browne. Another good series that is similar to the content of this book are the Essene Gospels of Jesus by Dr. Szekeley and Edgar Cayce's book on Jesus, which again, reaffirm the statements made by Slyvia in this book.

She also states in her book that much more archeological evidence will be uncovered in the next few years that will more clearly establish the fact that Yeshua survived the crucifixion, lived to have children, and Mary Magdelene was in fact instrumental in spreading his work and gospels.

This book follows the life of Jesus as told by Francine, a "spirit guide" that has been "advising" Sylvia Browne for the past 60 years. If you can read this far and not turn away, then you might want to know that a lot of what Ms. Browne claims is not so far fetched. Indeed, comparing Francine's version of Jesus life with my own, told in my 2006 book Jesus Who?, you'll find that we agree on many things -

- Jesus' family wasn't poor
- Joseph was the true father
- There was no virgin birth
- Jesus was born in June
- Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married
- The wedding at Cana is Jesus' wedding
- John the Baptist was an Essene
- Jesus studied with the Essenes, but was no a card-carrying member

So apparently this information is out there for historical research, although I envy Ms. Browne that she had someone who could tell her these things. It took me years of research to find them out.

Ms Browne (or shall I say Francine) and I disagree on a few points:

- She claims Jesus was born at the time of the census in Luke. Most scholars dismiss this as a decade or two too late, as Jesus is born while Herod the Great is alive (he died in 4 BCE) and the census took place in 6 CE.
- She claims Mary and Elizabeth are sisters. The gospels describe them as relatives.
- She says Thomas put his fingers in Jesus' wounds, but the gospels make it clear that Jesus merely offers, and Thomas is satisfied.

You can see that our agreements are far greater than our disagreements. Francine also tells us that

- Jesus spent his "lost years" travelling with his brothers to Turkey, Iran, Iraq, India, Tibet, Kashmir, and Egypt (it's certainly possible).
- Jesus survived the crucifixion by plotting with Pilate and Joseph of Arimathea (this part of her book makes no sense at all)
- Jesus, Mary, and their children lived out their life in France (also possible, though unlikely).

There is no historical value in this text, although the ideas can certainly be found elsewhere with the historical foundations. Nonetheless, the book is well written. It will appeal to people who believe in "spirit guides" and the occult. More "right-brained people" should probably give it a pass.

I devoured this book over the space of two days. What Sylvia says rings of the truth for me. Even as a small child exposed to religion and the Bible I did not believe that Jesus was born of a virgin. He was mortal, blood, bone and flesh... If he was truly the biological son of an all powerful God how could he be mortal? So much of the bible does not make sense, many stories are told several times with conflicting details. Much of it is pure bunk. However, that does not change the fact that Jesus was the child of God (as we all are) and that he had a direct connection to God that he used to help people. This book reminded me of how great a man he was and how relevant his teachings are even today. This is a fascinating book - you may not agree with all of it but it will certainly make you think.

This book is by far the greatest work Sylvia Browne has presented to the public! It explains so many long held fallacies of the life of Jesus, his birth, his crucifixion, and his life after the crucifixion. It is a breakthrough work of Gnosticism that the world is finally ready to hear! This book expands on the works of scholars like Dr. Fida Hassnain in his book, "A Search for the Historical Jesus" which Slyvia mentions as an resource as a written record and proof of the same truths of Jesus' life after crucifixion, his life with Mary Magdalene. I recommend this book to anyone who dares question and employ Jesus advise to "Search and ye shall find".

I really love Sylvia Browne, but this one will leave you fuming one page and agreeing the next. This book about Jesus - the 'real' story - throws many of the actions in the New Testament out of whack - But while I respect Ms. Browne's or Francine's Jesus, I believe Christ was truly the Son Of God, and born of a Virgin, a man, yet Divine, not Joseph's child but a blessing from God. Period. I agree with Ms. Browne that Jesus traveled seeking knowledge from different philosophies - have read books about Jesus in India and have no problem with this - Have no problem that according to this book Jesus and Mary Magdalene married and had children. He became man and had human emotions, including love. As stated in the book, Ms. Browne's words will rattle some chains. There are bits and pieces that you can agree on - To me, Jesus is Divine, and feel that the power of His Word is the message the Lord wanted us to live by. Ms. Browne's view of the Beatitudes was beautiful - showing that Jesus spoke to the masses for all to understand. No one really knows what happened 2000 years ago, and we won't know until we cross the other side to see. While many will believe this book to be totally true, don't we all have to share our opinions on the works we read? Where religion is concerned, maybe we agree to disagree, and say what we feel when we read books. The fact that we cared to read and share our opinions, good, bad, or anywhere in between is what this process is all about, isn't it?

If you want to know what the book is about, the title and back cover offer a wonderful synopsis: It is about the life of Jesus, as told to Sylvia Brown by her spirit guide, Francine. If that doesn't make you cringe as to how reliable her claims are, I'm not sure what else will.

Where you stand on the issue of who Christ is / was, what the Church does / did, and whether or not Christianity is more or less true, matters very little in the discussion of whether or not this is a good book. The book itself makes claim after claim, tries to speak with authority, yet has not one footnote, endnote, citation of source from any expert in his/her respective field (in fact, there are no footnotes / endnotes at all). And as much as Sylvia Brown would like to pretend she is, she is neither a biblical scholar (secular or religious), nor a historian. Her word is worthless, and if she or anyone is going to speak on such a subject, she should at least respect her readers enough to say, "Here is my proof of what I say is true."

But Syliva makes it clear that she has great disdain for any sort of research or factual backing of claims. For she so says, "I do not depend upon the research of obviously biased Christian scholars...nor do I accept the biased work of skeptics or anti Christian scholars" (pg 9). As we read on, she does not accept the work of anyone at all. Nor does she do her own work either. She simply says "Francine told me..." Change that sentence to "God told me..." or "My dog told me" and well, you get the idea.

So, if you want take the word of a "spirit guide" that has been documented to have made glaring medical errors, future predications that never came true, etc. then this is the book for you. If you want a book that is willing to engage in a subject deeply, have a well supported and research argument, you'll not find it here. I suspect the publisher knew this was a cash cow, and hardly printed it on its merits.

Let's face it. Sylvia has her devout fans. Anything she'd write, they'd go along with. Her mantra has always been for each of us to search out the Truth (hence her Christian Gnostic faith). So while what she's writing here may not be YOURS, I didn't find her logic OR presentation to be all that sensationist. I actually have her to thank for helping me to understand several years ago in her writings that which I had always 'felt' deep down inside. While her Truth flies in the face of convential Christian teaching, IF one can be objective, it actually augments and solidifies what Jesus our Christ came here to teach. We are all 'one' created by and Loved by our Creator. Christ's mission was to teach in a way at the time would be best recieved and remembered. Yep, he was on a Mission from God. HE knew this. Surviving the Cross in no way detracts from his being The Son of God. HE (and you'd have to be open minded enough to read Sylvia's other works to get this next premise) 'got it' all! What we now explore as Quantum Physics are what he preformed as miracles. Christ only had to do what he came to do once! He was Perfect from the get go. Everything he did was from a place of Love. Which was, kids, His ultimate message to us. As we are Created in Love, Love yourself as God Loves you, and Love others as you Love yourself. Yep, it IS that simple. God IS, has always been, flows freely in and out of everything. That which IS and cannnot be created or destroyed. We all have the ability to create and use this same Love and energy because we are OF it. Jesus knew this, and used it for Good. He 'died' on the cross basically for effect to get the message across for the ages. Whether you call them angels or spirit guides, all that Sylvia is able to connect to any of us can, too. Christ wanted us to know that! Listen to our Hearts...where God's Light and Love exsits in each of us. Do Good for others, as you'd want done to you. These aren't 'Bible' lessons, they're 'life' lessons. Given how so many regions of the world have claimed that Jesus was there, and that the Bible has been 'edited' for Church purposes (putting it mildly), why is it so far-fetched to believe Christ did survive his ordeal, go on to live and continue to teach Love and Peace, and did visit and live in the regions of the world Sylvia shares he did based on other writings and physical evidence? That which resonates within IS Truth. Being open enough to accept it's possibilites are all Sylvia's suggesting. To burn her at the stake is almost akin to putting Christ back on the Cross again. I believe He'd like to hope we'd come futher than that by now. Maybe none of this is possible. But what if, as I believe, it all is, and IS? Nothing to loose...everything to gain. All in the name of God's Love for us all. To that, thank YOU Sylvia for once again, having the courage to share that which is controversial. All for the greater Good. Read it. Discover your own Truth. God's Blessings are upon All!

Born a Catholic, I always wondered if I was getting the FULL picture. I knew that there were too many rules and not enough information. Even in the Bible that I read "cover to cover" I was left wondering which Gospel was correct. None of them gave the complete truth. Man wrote the Bible and it is obvious to me (now) the there were stories chosen to promote fear and obedience - not only LOVE. Now I have something to grasp that makes sense to me. Sylvia has helped to open my eyes to new possibilities and a new way of thinking based on research and truth. That is what I have been seeking - the TRUTH. There should be no secrets when it comes to learning about the Lord. The Mystical Life of Jesus: An Uncommon Perspective on the Life of Christ Thank you Sylvia Browne for your hard work and dedication to finding and spreading the truth.

I loved this book, it was really interesting, but I can't help but notice one major mistake that Sylvia has made, and you don't have to be well educated in theology or religion to see it. On page 18 and 19, Sylvia says that Jesus and Mary Magdalene grew up as childhood friends and even sweethearts, but then on page 184, she points out that when Jesus and Mary were living in France, Jesus was 35-36, and Mary was 23-24. This would make Jesus at least 10 years older than Mary! How could they have possibly been childhood sweethearts? I mean, by the time she was 5, he would have been at least 15, and would have left for his travels by that time. It makes no logical sense.
Sorry Sylvia, you really "missed the mark" on this one. Please check your facts before you print them. You would have had me, if it wasn't for that critical error. I'm surprised noone else has caught this. Otherwise, it's a very interesting thought.

This was amazing and thought-provoking. She had the courage to write about a subject that few have dared discuss in modern times. It is timely and necessary to spiritual development that we allow ourselves to be open to knowledge instead of obliviously manipulated by others.