Ibraim Filogônio Neto (photo), from Belo Horizonte, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, became a Spiritist in 1987. He is now a passionate member of a local Spiritist Centre, Irmã Scheilla, and travels the country giving speeches and lectures on the Doctrine. He is also a professional musician and cultural producer. In this interview he talks about his activities in the Spiritist Movement and his interpretation of the Bible:  The Spiritist Doctrine and the Bible: should we restrain ourselves to the Spiritist teachings or would we also benefit from browsing what is commonly known as the sacred books?

What are the best tools to improve our understanding of the Spiritist Doctrine through the study of the Bible?

You need to gather a good selection of books. To begin with, you will need more than one version of the Holy Bible, a good Bible dictionary, The Gospel According to Spiritism, books by Cairbar Schutel. Read a little bit every day. The Spirits’ Book says in answer to question number 625 that Jesus was the most perfect model for human beings to try to emulate and get inspiration from. Bearing that in mind, it’s clear that we should look for inspiration in his life, in the Holy Bible as a whole and especially in the 27 books that make up the New Testament. 

Moses, Jesus, Kardec: what is the connecting point?

Moses is the first revelation, he taught humankind the concept of a single God. He announces that Jesus would follow him. Jesus, in John 16:12, announces the third revelation when he explains that he couldn’t tell us everything in those days. He says he would send the Consoler, the Spirit of Truth, who would teach us all things and would remind us of everything he had taught us (John 14:26). And Allan Kardec when asked for the identity of his spiritual guide in the house of Mu Baudin was told: I am “The Truth”. Years later, in the preface to The Gospel According to Spiritism, the same spirit will send four messages. As for his true identity, Allan Kardec asked him if he had already been born on Earth in previous incarnations. He replies: “I’ve told that for you I am The Truth. You won’t be told anything else.” God doesn’t have chosen people or chosen groups. The Spirit of Truth is working for all of us, from all religious groups. 

What are your favourite questions on The Spirits’ Book?

Questions 625, where we are told who our model should be, and 642, which spells out what God expects from us. 

We know Jesus is, in a way, the architect of our planet. What can you say about his evolution process?

The Big Bang happened 13 billion years ago. Our planet, Earth, detached from the sun 4.5 billion years ago. There is a gap of 8.5 billion years between the two events. That’s when Jesus had his spiritual evolution. He is an ancient spirit, who has reached a very high degree of evolution, which allowed him to coordinate the genesis of Earth as described in John 1:1. 

Kardec was one of the most important men in the history of humankind. Do you agree with that?

One can’t argue with that, he did a brilliant job and successfully performed the task he received, of organising in books the teachings from the Spiritual World. The main aim of the Spiritist Doctrine is to give us better understanding of the teachings of Jesus and the Spiritual Benefactors. One shouldn’t be too close up. The best way to admire a masterpiece is from a certain distance. The masterpiece is in fact the work of Jesus. It is a much bigger picture than Spiritism and the work of Allan Kardec, who was one of the valuable collaborators in the project of Jesus for planet Earth. 

What do you think of the interpretation of Dan Brown, the best-seller writer, author of The Da Vinci code, who says in his book that Jesus and Mary of Magdalene were a couple?

The book is a thriller and should be read as such. It is a commercial enterprise with no commitment with historical accuracy. Dan Brown has no knowledge of the true spiritual nature of Jesus Christ. The success of his work is due mostly to a common feature in the history of humankind: our attempts to lower God and his messengers to our level, so that we don’t feel obliged to try to reach up to them. 

How should the true Spiritist react to the all the information made available by the Doctrine?

They should use their free will. We should really try to put to good use all the information we get and we learn by putting charity in the centre of our lives. There is no point only gathering knowledge if you don’t put it into practice. The more we learn, the bigger our responsibility.

Many Spiritists say it’s very hard to be a true Spiritist. Does that make sense to you?

It makes sense, yes. It’s like saying that it’s difficult to be a doctor, a good housewife, a lawyer, an athlete, a true catholic etc. All that demands effort and discipline can be considered difficult indeed. But we should bear in mind that if others have managed, so should we. God would never endow a few ones with the capacity of being true, good Spiritists, excluding all the others. We can all be Spiritists if we really want it. But some people see the obstacles ahead of them as too big and difficult to overcome. Perhaps their discipline and determination is not big enough at this stage to allow them to overcome them. 

In a nutshell, what teachings should we follow to become good Spiritists?

Read in the following order and practice it: Matthew 25:35; Matthew 6:3; 1 Corinthians 13:1 to 13; question 642 in The Spirits’ Book and Matthew 5:19.