On this Sunday, the second day of May, 1954, we share the sacred privilege of being together with one accord in one place in the chapel on Sunrise Ranch. In our pattern of meditation, we have been considering certain basic principles of being as they relate to the reality of Father God and Mother God. And you're beginning to have a deeper sense of the presence of Mother God, beginning to know that it is only as we are aware of the presence of Mother God on earth that we can have a sense of being at Home on earth, and so function that we may truly let the Kingdom come and let the Will of God be done in earth as it is in heaven.
We noted in our earlier meditation, the need for the Father's provision and for the Mother's care if there is to be a true Home. Intellectually, theoretically, we have all recognized the reality of the Father's provision. And yet we well know that we have fallen far short in that cycle of function by which the Father's provision might be made manifest. And it is in this field that I would center your attention tonight for meditation. The Father's provision is projected from God out of heaven into the earth. That projection is spoken of, in the beginning, as the Garden which God planted eastward in Eden, that coming out of the east, out of the future, there might be the fulfillment on earth.
This morning we were considering together the pulsations of life, and we began to realize more deeply the nature of the Seasons of God, for we recognize that in all things, small and large, there are cycles or seasons. In the pulsations of being, the heartbeat of a man is normally slower than the heartbeat of a woman. The heartbeat of a child is normally more rapid than the heartbeat of an adult. The pulsation which we call the heartbeat varies according to the nature of the pattern and its purpose. And so, if we are going to think about the manifestation of divine provision and the correct process of receiving that provision into manifest form, we must consider the matter of pulsation.
We go back to the pattern in the amoeba, the single cell, and we realize that the body of the cell is charged by the current which flows from the nucleus into the body; and that is soon as the body or female mass of the cell is fully charged, there is a release of the current flowing back to the nucleus—the pulsation of life in the single cell—the outflowing until the body mass is charged, and then the release of that charge in response back to the nucleus.
We see these same principles in relationship to the mass of humanity and God. For God is the nucleus of this larger “amoeba”. As far as the mass of the single cell body is concerned the nucleus is God. It is the contact with the positive expression of being which God is. And the amoeba has no way to contact God except through its nucleus. That nucleus does have, of course, a vibratory pattern of relationship, in the currents of being, to a higher level; but it is, at the level of the amoeba, the means by which God manifests to the single cell pattern of life. Now if the provision of positive radiation, or charge, from the nucleus into the mass body of the single cell be established, and yet no response thereto be given, so that the charge is not returned to the nucleus, the cell would become rigid, crystallized, and under the abnormal intensification of the continued charge, not released, it would perish. The mass of this single cell body is made to receive the charge from the nucleus, but not to hold it for an unnatural or abnormal period of time. It is this pulsation of the charge radiating out from the nucleus, and the return to the nucleus, that provides the basic expression of life in the single cell form, the amoeba. The principles are exactly the same in the more complex form of the human being. The means of manifestation, the means of function, is altered—it becomes more complex, but the principle is exactly the same.
Now if the amoeba, or the mass of its body, had self-awareness and the capacity to enter into self-activity, so that having received the charge from the nucleus it undertook to use that charge for some purpose other than to return it to the nucleus, the pulsation pattern would be broken. Suppose the mass body of the amoeba attempted to project, or use in some other fashion, without returning to the nucleus, this charge, the pulsation broken, the mass body would feel deflated, weak. There might be a resurgence, some more receiving from the nucleus, but the cycle violated, the tendency would be to let it leak out in self-active uses, instead of letting it be returned to the nucleus. The pulsations would grow more erratic; they would slow down and become weaker, and finally cease altogether. In the life of an amoeba, this cycle would probably last, at best, no more than a few hours. The self-active lifespan would be very short, and the power to reproduce would be lost. For it is only as the mass of the single cell responds effectively to the charge from the nucleus that the pattern can be held, the nucleus divide, and the mass of the cell follow the pattern established by the nucleus, un cell division. It is by this process of cell division that the cell is perpetuated in what is virtually eternal life.
Now let us examine these factors in relationship to the human being. The positive radiation from the nucleus—God—to the mass body of humanity is constant. It is always there. Sometimes the human mind must be persuaded to believe that the Father's provision is always here. We have in time past emphasized that point over and over again. But the fact that the Father's provision is here is of comparatively little significance to most people. Why? Because it is not received into form. We have noticed, in relationship to the amoeba, that there are two primary patterns of pulsation. One, what we might call the normal life function of the amoeba, the charge from the nucleus, and before it becomes too intense, the release of that charge, which we may call “electrical” to illustrate, back to the nucleus. And in the normal life function of the amoeba that rhythm in pulsation continues. But when there is an approach to the time of reproduction, remember that the form of the amoeba, its body mass becomes round, the charge becomes much more intense and it is held for a longer period of time. There is a change in rhythm, not just for the purposes of the life function of the cell, but for the purpose of reproduction of the cell. Consequently, this charge into the mass body is not only held, but it becomes more intense, till the round form of the cell is complete; and instead of receiving the charge back again immediately, it is held in powerful radiation while the nucleus itself divides. Two positives repel each other. Therefore, the moment the nucleus divides, the two parts move toward the outside of the nucleus body. And then the charge begins to flow back to the nucleus, but the nucleus is divided, So the response is to the two parts. If the response of the body mass were incomplete, the division would not be complete. It would only be partial. But normally there is a complete response, yielding to the two halves. The nucleus has divided. The body of the cell divides, and the two parts separate; whereupon each part is whole in itself, and it relaxes into the pulsations of normal life functions at the level of the amoeba. But that process of division, which is creation at the level of the amoeba, creative function at the one cell level—that creative function would not be possible if there was not a positive charge of greater intensification which is held until the nucleus can divide, and the charge be released back in pulsation to the two parts of the nucleus. The creative activity at the one cell level requires a greater pressure, a greater intensification of force, in order to allow creative function.
Now if this be seen as true at the level of the amoeba, it is true at the level of the human being. We do not function as single cells, it is true, but the principle is the same. How can the provision of God the Father, how can the provision of the nucleus, be made manifest? That provision in the ordinary sense, in the limited sense, is simply in relationship to the normal pulsations of life itself. But, being made in the image and likeness of the Creator, with the capacities essential to intelligent sharing of creative activity with the Creator, we know that the life force flowing through us is supposed to do more than merely permit breathing, eating, etc, we might say, as in the animal kingdom. We are supposed to be able to produce something out here, accomplish something, give form to something, give meaning to the forms on earth. This requirement, of the greater intensification, is something which human beings tend to seek to evade.
When the cycle of pressure begins to build up, instead of yielding and responding so that the body of the “amoeba” becomes round, the outer mass of the body, feeling the intensification in the currents, tries to move out of the range of pressure, to release the pressure in this direction or that, to get away from it, to escape from it, and it produces a leak. After the human being has dissipated his share of that energy, or perhaps more than his share, he may not know just how he dissipated it, but he feels unsatisfied, restless, nervous, insecure, and he tends to enter into some kind of a self-active drive pattern. He seeks entertainment. He does a thousand and one things. He may go to a show, or a dance, or to the bar for intoxicating liquor. All of these things to try to provide a substitute which would be satisfying in relationship to that which he has dissipated, in his failure to share in God's creative activity on earth.
Now we see here the working of the principle, “according to thy response so be it unto thee.” And we remember that one of the first things that was drawn to your attention as you came in contact with this Ministry was the necessity for the spirit of thanksgiving, of thanksgiving to God, the attitude of appreciation. Now if there be genuine thanksgiving, appreciation, toward God, the consciousness is centered in relationship to the nucleus, which God is. There is by reason of that attitude of thanksgiving, or gratitude, an openness, a yielded condition, which accepts the positive charge of the Father's projection of provision. But having received that positive radiation, the human being, sensing something of its presence, says to himself, “Now the Father has provided this, I will take it, I will use it, I will do this with it.” And when he does this with it, he finds that what he thought he had is gone—it is dissipated and lost. Now if the attitude of thanksgiving had continued, and not been just for the moment when he perceived something of the provision, he would have not have said to himself, “This is the Father's provision for me to use.” He would have held steady in the attitude of openness to receive the wholeness of that provision, and to let that provision be used according to the Father's will. He would have allowed the capacities of his being to be filled to the very limit, to “become round”, as it were. For when you blow air under pressure into a balloon, it tends to become round and it tends to swell.
Something of the same thing takes place in the life of the human being. It is not his physical body which changes, but the vibratory nature of his whole being begins to feel this change. We might say it is the sphere, the atmosphere, or the envelope, like the envelope around the earth, which is around his physical body. If this charge from the Father is not properly received, if we're not properly open to it, if we're just receiving a little of it, and weakly responding to it, and the pulsations are becoming erratic, and weaker, there will not be any “round form”, there will not even be enough of the current to permit the level of life function merely as a human being. But if we allow the fullness of our capacities to be filled with this charge, without taking an attitude, under pressure, that we must find some way to dissipate it, some way to use it, something to do with it—if we hold steady and let it increase, what will happen? We will find that we are not asked of God to hold that intense pattern longer than we are able to do.
That which God is doing, that which the nucleus is doing will be done at this level where we are. The new form within that sphere will begin to take shape, and then the giving back to God will take place. And because we give back to God instead of dissipating, there is something of the outer form of substance which begins to take form in relationship to that which God, the nucleus, has done or established in the vibratory field. Not a separation into a new human body necessarily, although the same principle holds true in conception, gestation, and birth. But I'm talking about the process of the creative action appearing in relationship to external things, conditions, circumstances, or the current that may be used in helping to establish healing in the body of another.
The cycle builds up. Something takes place in the invisible realm which the physical eye of itself cannot see. The nucleus form through which God operates does something on the level where that thing is to appear. Not some other level, up here. In the physical realm, it appears; in the mental, emotional realms. And there is enough of the life substance returned to God, the charge of being, so that that which God has done may begin to have meaning in the realm of form. In the continued patterns of pulsation, all that is needful to giving form to that which God has done, will be drawn. It may take a little time. The seasons of the Lord, and not the seasons of men, are involved; but the continued pulsations, and the substance is drawn to give form to that which God has established. And in season it appears, and it is there. Now God's provision is here with respect to all things whatsoever—every level and aspect of life, for every human being upon the face of the earth, in an absolute sense, it is here. But human beings have not known how to function correctly in permitting the Father's provision to have form for the purposes of manifestation.
We look out into the world in relationship to what shall we say money that which represents wealth in various forms. We recognize that in the Lord's service we need a certain amount of money or we cannot operate. We look out into the world and we see that there is a great deal of money in the world, but into what patterns does it flow? Under what control is it maintained? To what degree is there a release of that substance into the range of control in the Lord's service? It is comparatively small. We are not objecting. That's the way it is. But it is not because there isn't enough money in the world. And actually we have faith to believe that there are stewards of the Lord's substance who, when they are contacted, when they understand, they will be the means by which more money is made available. And I am simply illustrating at this level, for it works at every level in relationship to all things. But if we here who know the principles, the law in operation, all the factors that are involved, allow the charge from God the nucleus to be misused, lost, dissipated in various ways, that which God has established cannot take form. But if we learn to hold steady, remain under the control pattern, let the intensification take place, we will begin to provide that which is necessary in the outer sphere of being to permit the inner provision to take form, to have manifestation.
In relationship to this, at the time of the Garden of Eden, eastward in Eden, we remember the statement that man was commanded to “dress the Garden, give it form, and to keep it.” Most people when they think of dressing the garden think of hoeing the weeds, trimming the grass, trimming the hedges and so on, putting in stakes for the grape vines and the tomatoes, maybe the green beans. Dressing this Garden, the Garden of God, means giving it form, allowing it to have form, to dress it and to keep it, which is to say, keep it in form on earth, so that it can have meaning here. This is the realm of care, the care that is a part of the function of Mother God—the provision of the Father and the care of the Mother.
We begin to realize, that out here in this realm, we have more to do with the body of Mother God than we have directly, within the range of perception, with the body of Father God. But the body of Mother God belongs to Father God. So, if we say that man is to give form to the body of God, it is true. And if we say man, the mass of mankind, men and women, man is to provide the body for Father God, that is true. But what will be the shape of the body which is so provided for Father God? It will be the shape of the body of Mother God, which is provided for Father God.
Now, what is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit? What is the baptism of the Holy Ghost? It is the intensification of that which issues forth from Father God into this realm where we live. If feeling something of the pressures, the intensification of the current, we do as Peter did, and go out and try to use it, we could for the moment do some remarkable things, no doubt, because the power is there. But if we dissipate it, the form of its manifestation will disappear. And that is what happened after the Day of Pentecost with the coming of the dark ages.
We have a new cycle to carry out—a new release of the spirit of God into the earth to experience. Now we cannot properly say to ourselves, “We will wait for the great intensification,” correlating with the cell division point in the amoeba. “We will consider only that, as the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.” We must first learn to function in harmony with the Law, in the normal pattern of life function at the level of mankind, before we can hope to function correctly under the pattern of the greater intensification. If in the level of daily life we are not working correctly in relationship to the pulsation pattern; if we are dissipating the current by self-activity in some fashion, then what would we do with the greater intensification? It too would be dissipated, and the dissipation there would be more dangerous, more devastating, than at the level where we now are. So there must be training, there must be practice in correct function, in the pulsation, allowing it to work out in the pattern of the Divine Design.
But you may say, “How do I dissipate this precious charge which I receive from God?” One of the ways that it is dissipated, most profusely, most generally, is by idle chatter, by talking to much, by letting words flow out of the mouth without the control of the spirit—one of the most devastating of all the methods of dissipation! People might say, for instance, well, liquor provides a terrible pattern of dissipation in the world, and it does—yes, it does. But do you know that as terrible as that is, there is one worse? Talking, idle chatter that dissipates the energies of human beings, and their patterns. And what is happening in this? The consciousness is not centered in God. The control of the spirit is not established with respect to the words that are spoken, and the response is to this condition, to that person, to this thing, back and forth, idols, false gods, bowing down, which is to say responding to a multitude of things which are not of the nucleus which God is. And all of these many haphazard patterns of response, established in foolish speaking, meaningless chatter, produces a dissipation that is horrible to see. And the results—humanity must suffer the results. We have sickness in body and mind and heart, as a result; all kinds of things, nervousness, ill conditions of many kinds, primarily from this one thing. Idle chatter, which by its very nature violates the pulsing cycles of the One Law, and causes the individual to become subject, momentarily perhaps, but definitely to bow down to all of these idols which are producing the stimuli utilized in the expression—the control in the expression. What is controlling? Not the principle of being, in basic form, not the purposes of God, not the design of God, not the control of God, it is being dissipated.
But not just in words. Another tremendously dangerous pattern of dissipation is in the field of attitudes. It is in the range of attitudes that thoughts have their destructive pattern. It is not thought as such, ordinarily. It is attitudes which derive from wrong thought, which provide the patterns of dissipation. The weakening of the negative body of the amoeba which man is in relationship to God. If we see God and the whole mass of mankind as an amoeba, which is to say a single cell being, we can perhaps more readily understand the application of the principle. We are simply parts of the mass bodies of the amoeba, with the exception of the fact that a focalization of the nucleus is contained within each one. The nucleus in the sense of the form is not just in one body, except as human beings are in the one body of the mass of mankind. Here the one nucleus is differentiated into many points, one for each human being. The nuclei are everywhere—the means by that which is of invisible God may work in the level of this form, this realm of being.
Now that through which or by reason of which God may work must be on the level where the work is to be done. The nucleus pattern is differentiated throughout this body which we call mankind. And yet it is one nucleus, in actual fact, because all of these differentiated aspects of the nucleus provide a perfect nucleus pattern in relationship to God, regardless of what human beings do. The nucleus pattern of radiation is completely coordinated and is never violated. The outflowing is constant, yes, and yet it has its rhythm. Once you begin to feel that rhythm so that you are not trying to respond, as it were, at the wrong point in the pulsation, you will find that response is easy. If you are swimming in the ocean on the beach and the tide is going out, you may have some difficulty in swimming fast enough to get into shore. But if the tide is coming in, you shouldn't have any difficulty. If you work with the tide, it will be easy. If you work against the tide, it will be difficult.
The tide, or the pulsation, in our pattern of relationship with God, God through the nucleus or as manifest in the nucleus, if we work with the pulsations there, it will be easy. But if we disregard that pulsation, we'll be trying to govern our pattern of response, our pattern of receiving, on a basis that conflicts with the rhythm from the nucleus—and we will fail. We'll bring about a distortion. We'll have an emptiness. If the positive radiation is intensified in any given moment, that is the point of receiving—just letting it radiate. As that positive intensification relaxes, begins to recede, as it were, that is the moment of response, to yield and let it carry through, back to the nucleus. It is a rhythm, and that rhythm is in every aspect of life, every level of body and mind and heart.
That which is allowed release in radiation, the positive projection from God out of heaven into the earth, will have all of the different patterns necessary for the perfect manifestation on earth. And it is in our sharing in the pulsation that we will begin to gather together the substance which will, in the larger cycle of pulsation, permit the outer manifestation in form of that which the Father has provided—the living, pulsing, open receptivity and response. As we work in that pulsation, that which the nucleus establishes in pattern is given form. If we violate the pulsation, the rhythm, that which is so established by the nucleus never has form, and then the human being says the provision of the Father is not made manifest.
The care of Mother God is in this, that as we function consciously as parts in the body of Mother God, we begin to sense the control aspect, the care aspect, by which we may allow the rhythms to be in the true expression of the body of Mother God, and all the things that the Father provides will be carefully given form, and allowed to be born into outer manifestation in their season. And then we will have the outer evidence of the Father's provision. But human beings are so impatient, and consequently so impertinent, that they try to make the Father's provision appear without giving it body, and then they cannot see it, they cannot use it, and they deny that God has given or provided. Here we see that God gives to man; but the meaning of that giving cannot manifest to man except as man gives to God. For the giving to God is the response pulsation by which outer substance is drawn to the position of the divinely established pattern as ordained through the nucleus.
If we say we're going to be positive, or we're going to be this way or that way, and try to attract something out here to us; if that is to move, there must be movement here. What kind of movement? The movement in the pulsation back to God, vibrationally speaking, expanding out, drawing in; and that which is responding out here will not be repelled as the expansion in the pulsation takes place. We'll simply be reaching more deeply into it. And then in the attraction pattern we draw it closer. And in that rhythm, step by step, draw people, things, substance, all things needful, into the pattern. But if we refuse to have the rhythmic breath—and this is the rhythmic breath, not just rhythmic breathing, the air out here—this is the Rhythmic Breath in the Body of God. It is the Body that belongs to Father God, but it is the Body of Mother God. And in that pattern we draw all things into form in relationship to the divinely established design. We begin to let the Father's Will be done in earth as it is in heaven. We begin to let His Kingdom come.
This is our GPC Servers’ Training Class of June 26th, 1953, carrying forward with the basic theme of Heavenly Magic and considering specifically Shekinah Magic. Gradually the pattern is unfolding so that you can begin to perceive with the eye of your heart the beautiful reality of the Divine Design, and seeing it, you begin to relax into it. You begin to let its control have meaning. You can, on the basis of faith—not seeing clearly—when there is trust, begin to let control have meaning, but the fulness of control in the reality of Truth appears when you have begun to see for yourself the beauty of the Divine Design. Until you do begin to see for yourself, there tends to be a feeling that you are going to lose something, that something, somehow is being taken away from you, or that you are being forced into some type of pattern where you will lose your independence. Independence to be a dying soul is not of much value. When we enter into the glorious liberty of the children of God as living souls, we find that we have the privilege of living in the Kingdom that is at hand, and are no longer enjoying(?) the seeming privilege of being independent in a prison cell from which the only release will be death. And so, you are beginning to see the beauty of the Divine Design, and relaxing into it you begin to let control have meaning. And you’re finding that gradually your questions are either answered or they tend to become unimportant. Have any of you noticed that? The questions are either answered or they tend to become unimportant. In season all things are made clear. But you must learn to see for yourself, and you are learning to see with the eye of the heart, with the Guardian Angel of the mind, the conscious mind, at work in you.
This morning I would like to direct your attention to one of the outstanding keys to a realization of reality that can be found in Scripture or Holy Writ anywhere, an outstanding key which has from the standpoint of its true purpose and meaning been virtually ignored. As long as we ignore the keys, we cannot use them to unlock the doors and let the things of God come in. It is not a matter of you climbing up; it is not a matter of you opening your prison door and going out of it. It's a matter of opening the door—you have to do that, you have to use the key—but you let the Master in, and when He comes in He begins to prepare a place for you; He begins to make the place over, not just an ordinary remodeling but the former things are caused to pass away. Behold I make all things new. Instead of imagining that you must somehow escape from a prison, you let the prison be rebuilt into a mansion, a mansion of the soul in which the things of heaven are present and made manifest.
This particular key was given to man at the time our Master's body was born on earth in the form of a babe. There were many remarkable revelations of the reality of Shekinah at the time of the Master's birth, but the central key is the Angels' Song. The central key is the Angels' Song: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Let us look at this expression from the standpoint of reality, with the eye of the heart. Glory to God in the highest. What is the Glory? The Shekinah Cloud of Glory. Glory to God in the Highest. That carries to the Highest Focalization of Deity, going beyond the range of human consciousness or awareness. Glory to God in the Highest. And the expression was made in relationship to those who dwell on earth.
So, if there was a recognition of Glory to God in the Highest, we see with the eye of the heart how there was a Great Cone, shall we say—or what we have illustrated by the use of the word “tent”—a Great Cone, allowed to settle down over the earth, the base of it enfolding the earth as in a net, and the point of it extending upward to God in the Highest. And what is it that shapes this; what is it that gives it form? Glory—the Shekinah Cloud of Glory. And it was brought to the earth, enfolding man, centered on earth in the babe that was born.
And, Glory to God in the Highest, signifies that the Cloud of Glory, made manifest to man through the form of the babe that was to become a Man, extended to God in the Highest—that there was no break, no point of separation, no veil, except the inability of human beings to see the Cloud of Glory, the Shekinah, extended to the earth, enfolding the earth and carrying to God in the Highest. Glory all the Way. The Shekinah Cloud of Glory here, and all the Way to God in the Highest. And then following, when that is a reality, what does follow? “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth”—enfolded in the Shekinah Glory, something begins to manifest—peace on earth. “Peace on earth, good will toward men.”
Now, the coming of the Master was the supreme gesture from God, the zenith of God's Gift of Love to man—and only in relationship to love can there be peace—and it is clearly indicated it was on earth, and the supreme gesture of good will—good will. Instead of seeing God as an avenging god, seeing God as a blood-thirsty god, seeing God as one who was always looking for a chance to torture human beings, instead of seeing God as One who had somehow conceived in His own mind the idea that He wouldn’t forgive human beings until His own Son was sent into the world and slain on the cross, we see that at the time of the Master's birth the Divine expression, the Angels' Song, conveyed to man the supreme gesture of love and good will. If there is good will, can we say that in the pattern of that good will there is a desire to get even, to make people pay for their sins, to make people suffer, etc? No. What is the natural result when human beings allow themselves to be enfolded in the Shekinah Cloud of Glory that extends all the way to Highest God?
First there begins to be a sense of peace—peace on earth, from which peace had been banished for so long, and from which it was again banished—peace on earth, the result of the working of God's Love within the Shekinah Cloud of Glory. And then good will—good will from God in the Highest, through the Shekinah, to all the children of men. Good will—the willingness to let all differences be past, to let all wrongs be as if they had not been. This is not the message of a bloodthirsty god through his angels, his avenging angels, to the cringing cowards dwelling on earth. This is the message of a God of Love, who does not require any blood sacrifice. This is the message of Highest God to the children of men through the Shekinah Cloud of Glory made manifest on earth, and centered on earth in the body of a babe. Peace on earth.
And the Angels sang the Song even though there was no room in the inn for Him; they were so busy there, celebrating; they were so busy with such important affairs that there was no room in the inn, no bed available to Mary. They were busy with such busy business! And the Angels sang the Song. Even though they had to move the ox from the stall, and put in a little fresh hay in the manger to make a place for the birth of the babe—the lowliest place. And still, even though that was all that man could provide for the coming of the LORD of Lords and KING of Kings, there was still the Angels' Song, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” No judgment, no condemnation, the open invitation to come, to come and let the beauties of the Kingdom of Heaven be revealed in the lives of the children of men. In conjunction with this there were other evidences.
This Song the Angels sang was heard by the shepherds who tended their flocks—and there we have again the Pattern of the Shepherd. Suppose a good shepherd is herding his sheep and one of the sheep wanders off a bit, gets over in a dangerous place, and the shepherd brings it back. Suppose one of the little lambs straggles, is straggling behind, does the shepherd come along with that staff and start beating it, and say, “Get up in there where you belong, or I'll beat you to death. I'll have your blood if you don't get in there”? And one of the sheep wanders aside a bit. Does he beat the sheep with the rod, or send his dog to chew it up, to make it bleed? We would take the attitude that such a so-called shepherd ought to be confined somewhere. We would say that that shepherd was a brute.
And yet we take the attitude that that was what God did. He wasn't content unless there was some bleeding. He was going to beat them up, have their blood, and the only way, supposedly, He could set aside this dogmatic attitude—“I'll have your lives for this”—was for Him to send His own Son into the world and say, “Now, I'll torture you. I'll have your life. I'll spill your blood. And then I'll take that as a substitute for the blood of all these other critters.” That is supposed to be the religion of the so-called Christian world. That's what they say, exaggerated a bit maybe, but that's what it is. No, God is not like that. Human beings have attributed to God their own dastardly attitudes and conceive God to be as limited as they themselves are, and they have built their concept of religion on that basis.
So instead of seeing the glorious significance of the Angels' Song, they have continued to weave the patterns of assumption and belief on the basis that prevents God's Love from being received, His Power from manifesting, His Truth from being known. And so human beings have continued to die, not because God cursed them and required that they die. No. How were they cursed in the beginning when man fell? They cursed themselves. Did God curse them? Human beings have consistently assumed that God cursed man, that God cursed woman, that God cursed the serpent. No, He did not. God did not curse anyone. They cursed themselves. They brought the curse upon themselves. And God did not say, “Now for doing this, because you did this, you've got to die.” No. He said, “If you do this you will die.” He didn't require their death. He only recognized that if they violated the laws of Life they would die.
If I say to you, “You go out here on one of these high points on the Rimrock and jump off, it'll kill you.” Now does that mean I'm going to take a club and drive you up there and force you to jump off. Certainly not. I've merely acknowledged that if you do violate the law of gravity, and jump off of that point, there won't be anything but crushed flesh and bone at the bottom of the cliff, and your life will be finished. Just so, God acknowledged, God told them, “If you do this you will die.” He didn't force them to die. He didn't compel them or say, “Now that you've done this, I'm going to make you die.” And it’s this distortion pattern in consciousness which has kept human beings from even beginning to see what the Master was talking about when He said, “I am the resurrection, and the life.” Remember, God did not curse man. God did not require that anyone should die at any time, under any circumstance, and least of all did He require that His Son should die.
Let us remember that the Master said, before the betrayal, before the mockery of the trial, before the agony of the crucifixion, before any of that, He said, “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” Before any of this pattern of atrocity had appeared, Jesus said, or the reality of our LORD through the lips of Jesus, “I have finished.” He didn't say, “I have almost finished. When I've died on the cross, and the blood has been dripping from my hands and feet and side, then I'll have finished the work.” No. Before the betrayal, He said—and if we deny it we make him a liar, or try to—He said, “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” And once you begin to see that God did not require the death of any human being anywhere at any time—God did not produce the condition which would cause death—that He did not require the death of our LORD on earth, or His body; once you begin to actually see these things, the truth of the matter, you can begin to have a new attitude toward life and towards God. But as long as you imagine, which is again an assumption, as long as you imagine that you are under sentence of death from God, what can you do? God does not require your death, or anyone else's; your suffering, your misery—it is not required.
Now carry this a step further, a point which we have noted before, but let’s have it clearly established in consciousness, with spiritual vision of the Truth. If God required that our Master's body had to be crucified on the cross, or that He had to die, if that were required of God, as some assume, then those who carried out the conditions or produced the conditions necessary to the crucifixion were serving God; they were preordained by God to do that, if you are going to carry out such a concept, if you are going to say that God required that they should do that so that man could be saved. And when spineless Pilate washed his hands and said, “I don't know. I don't find anything wrong with this man, but if you want to take Him out and crucify Him, all right, I guess it’ll be all right”—spineless Pilate.
But that was after something else. Let us clearly understand what was at work in Judas. Let us understand Judas. Judas was the treasurer. He was inclined to be over-fond of the monetary aspect of the program. And he conceived himself to be rather smart, politically minded, and he had the idea that they were going to set up an earthly kingdom, to restore the kingdom to Israel, and that Jesus was going to sit on an earthly throne, and they were going to drive the Romans out, and they were going to re-establish the pattern in Palestine. But he felt that the Master was not taking adequate advantage of His opportunities, His political opportunities. He felt He was wasting His time and effort, and was not getting the job done. Now he knew something of the Master's power, and ability. He had seen Him disappear from the eyes of men. He had seen Him do all kinds of things. And so the reasoning in his distorted brain, his distorted mind, was this: “I see an opportunity here, to take advantage of something. I’ll force the issue with the Master. He is so powerful that if He gets in a corner He will have to use His power. We’ll precipitate the thing a little. He is letting it drag on too long and He is missing His chance to become king. So I will do a little conniving. I am going to set the stage that will put Him in a position where He will be forced to use His power, and the thing will be opened up and then He will carry through, establish the victory, and we’ll have the kingdom, the kingdom of Israel on earth again.”
And in his distorted mind there wasn’t the slightest concept but what Jesus would do just that. He never dreamed for a moment that the Master wouldn’t resist, He wouldn’t use His power under that circumstance. And so he undertook to set the stage, and that was his reasoning. And when he found that the Master wasn’t going to use His power to establish an earthly kingdom, when he saw all that he had hoped for crumble, and realized that it was too late to do anything about it, he went out and hanged himself. He couldn’t stand it. He couldn’t face it. It wasn’t just regret—he loved the Master in his fashion—but it wasn’t just regret over what he had done, in that sense. He had seen himself as treasurer of a kingdom, collecting taxes, making the wealth roll in, having political power, the power of life and death—if someone did not do just so, he could put the squeeze on. He had seen himself as a political figure of power in an earthly kingdom. That was the reason why he did what he did. And he saw all his dreams fade and he knew that it would never be, and he couldn’t take it, and he went and hanged himself. Now, that is the fact of the case, that is the way Judas felt and reasoned, if you could use the word.
Let's see it as it is, and stop assuming, and begin to recognize that the death of our LORD on the cross was not something required of God. It was an atrocity pure and simple. And he did not actually die. He went into a coma. He went into a coma, but He did not die. Once we begin to see that, we can begin to realize the truth of the matter, that God did not curse man; man cursed himself. God did not require that you or anyone else should die. Human beings produced the conditions which brought on death, and God simply said, “If you violate these laws you will die.” They violated the laws; established themselves in the pattern wherein they would bring on death; and consequently they cursed themselves.
The Angels’ Song to the children of men was, “Glory to God in the highest and on Earth peace, good will toward men.” And where is there in that, the death sentence for God's Son on Earth? It isn't there! It never has been there. Human beings have believed a lie, a falsehood, an assumption, and until we begin to accept that, and realize that the greatest lie, the greatest and most dastardly lie that the devil has ever succeeded in establishing in the minds and hearts of men, was the lie that Jesus died on the cross, and that He had to die to save us. As long as the devil can keep human beings believing that, the Kingdom of God can be kept out of the world. God's control cannot reach into the world, because human beings are believing something of God that is not true. Their pattern of religion and belief and worship, and their supposed way of salvation—all figments of fancy! Assumptions pure and simple, deluded human beings! Now, don't go out and try to tell them that, but you must know that if you are going to serve God, and not be trapped into serving the devil. Remember that there are good people in all these religions and beliefs, and don't try to change their religion, whatever you do. Never proselyte, never condemn the religions. I do not. But I have to point to the truth of the matter if you are going to know the truth and let the truth make you free. And in season there will be those who are willing, of their own volition, to draw near and begin to see the truth as it is. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
The shepherd—the Pattern of the Shepherd—not concerned about punishing the sheep. What was the parable the Master gave? The ninety and nine that were safe in the fold, and one had wandered away, and the shepherd went out and found it, and carried it back, to bring it healing and restore it to its place in the fold. Do you suppose he went through all that just to give the sheep a good beating when it got he got it back in the fold, to beat it with an inch of its life? No. How senseless to attribute such dastardly things to God. No. Those who say that because man fell he either had to die, God couldn't do anything about it; or His Son had to die or we couldn't be saved. That isn't reasoning; that's assumption pure and simple. And we cannot understand life, the Magic of Life, the principles of living, or even how to give an attunement, until we see that.
Seeing it, we begin to recognize that the Wise Men who followed the Star came to the place where the Master was born, directed of the Spirit of God. And what was the Star? First we have the pattern with the Shepherds—the Glory, the Shekinah Cloud of Glory. And then come the Wise Men—wisdom, the sense of the fitness of things, a function in relationship to the mind, to the Truth. And what do we see? The Wise Men following the Star. And the Star is what? The Light that Glows. The Cloud of Glory, the Light that Glows, and then the Fire of Love. And within the Fire, One like unto the Son of God. The Shekinah Pattern of Being was established in relationship to the Master's birth, and He used it all the way through His ministry. He talked about it. He revealed it over and over again.
And when He came to the point of the conclusion of His work on earth, before the pattern of the atrocity had taken form, before the betrayal, He prayed a prayer. And in this prayer we find a glorious portrayal of Shekinah: “These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come.” What hour? The hour that He had to be crucified? Because He was crucified, human beings have jumped to the conclusion that He meant, “Now the time has come for me to be crucified.” He didn't say it. It's an assumption, pure and simple. The hour is come for what? “Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.” Now in order for God to glorify His Son, He had to put Him through the mockery of a so-called trial, the misery of a crucifixion, and all of that was necessary to glorifying the Son so that the Son could glorify the Father. Not at all! Only human assumption has connected up those ideas and assumed that, well now, Jesus said, “Now is the time for me to be glorified, for me to glorify Thee, Oh Father.” And what happened following that? He was betrayed. He was crucified. He went through all of the ignominious experiences involved. And what happened? Human beings assumed, “Well now, this is the way God glorified His Son. Because He came forth out of the tomb, that means that He had to die. He had to do this; He had to do that.” Assumptions! Assumptions! No. How is He glorified? Not by the crucifixion on the cross—the cross of your body. You can crucify God and the things of God on the cross of your body too. There has been enough crucifixion. And it wasn’t required. If it was required that Jesus should be crucified on the cross then it's required that you should crucify the things of God on the cross of your body; God intends that you should do evil, so you might as well go out and do a good job of it.
And He said, “As thou hast given him power over all flesh.” As thou hast given Him power over all flesh. Well then, He could have used that power to do what? He had power over all flesh. But who is it that is speaking the Word? The man Jesus? The man Jesus was One in it, not to be separated from it. But remember that it is the Shekinah that has power over all flesh. The Shekinah Presence of the One Who Dwells has power over all flesh. And entering into the Cloud of Glory is the Way by which the Father glorifies the Son. He was talking about the Shekinah Pattern of Being here. And then He continued on, “I have glorified thee on the earth.” How? By letting the Shekinah Cloud of Glory have meaning, by letting the Shekinah Power manifest, by letting the Shekinah Light shine. “I have glorified thee, O Father, on earth”—the revelation of the Shekinah on earth.
And then He said, “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” Now, is that a true statement or not? That is where the thing finally hinges. What do we believe? Whom do we believe? He said, “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” He had some other things to face, but they were things that human beings forced upon Him. He had already completed all that God had given Him to do, before the atrocity. Seventeenth Chapter of John, the Fourth Verse, if you want to read it and look at it yourself. “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” Here we have the description of Shekinah, and it’s working in relationship to heaven and earth. “I have manifested thy Shekinah unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.”
But those who thought they were following Him, who called themselves Christians, forgot that, “All things are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me.” Specifically, “I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me … and they have received, and have known surely that I came out from thee.” And that is all they did know, surely. The pathos in this prayer is something that must surely touch the awakened heart. He couldn’t anywhere through it say, “My disciples have reached a point where they can carry on.” If you read it with understanding you will see that the only thing He could say that they knew surely was that He had come from God. But how it worked, what it was, the reality of Shekinah, all the rest, they did not understand. “… and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.”
“I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.” How? When the Shekinah Pattern of Reality works through them, the Shekinah Cloud of Glory, the Light that Glows. He said, “Let your light so shine before men”—the Light that Glows. “Love the Lord thy God”—the Shekinah Fire, the Light that Glows, the Shekinah Cloud of Glory. Let these things manifest in you. He said it so many times, so many ways.
“And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own Shekinah those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy Shekinah: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the scripture must be fulfilled.”
Now, human beings again assumed; they jumped to a conclusion that meant Judas. “And none of them is lost but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled.” And immediately busy minds jumped to a conclusion, an assumption, that means Judas. It didn't mean Judas any more than it meant any man or woman. What is lost? The son of perdition. Is Judas the son of perdition? He may have been a manifestation of the son of perdition, but the son of perdition is the whole devil pattern as it works through man, the whole fallen sphere—the son of perdition in any generation. Every human being who defies God and refuses to let God's Will be done is a member of the body of the son of perdition. And the son of perdition is lost. If you are not a member of the body of the son of perdition you are not lost, but if you are a member of the body of the son of perdition and insist on staying there, you are lost. The son of perdition is lost; yes, that is true. But to say he meant Judas is an assumption pure and simple.
“And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.” Here, at the conclusion of the Master's ministry on earth, He was talking about joy: “That they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.” Does that mean that they have to go and be crucified? No. No. That wasn’t the working of God's Will. That was man violating the Will of God. “I have given them thy word”—I have given them Thy Shekinah—“and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world.”
Well, most of those who conceive themselves to be Christians are very much concerned about getting out of the world and into heaven where they will be safe from the devil. And the Master in His prayer which concluded His ministry on earth said, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” Thy Shekinah is Truth. Sanctify them through Thy Truth; Thy Shekinah is Truth “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.” Now let’s stop and look. If God sent Jesus into the world to be crucified to save people from their sins, then He sent you into the world on exactly the same basis. You were sent into the world on exactly the same basis that He was sent into the world. “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.” Was He sent into the world to be crucified? If He was, then you were too; if not, then you are not. You were sent into the world on exactly the same basis, the same laws, the same principles, as the Master was sent into the world.
“And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth”—through Shekinah. “Neither pray I for these alone.” Now the Master recognized that in all likelihood there would be those who would rise up and say, “Well now, He was just talking about His disciples, the twelve, and Judas was gone; but just these men were going to have power, not us down here. We cannot expect it. We’re just poor, weak human beings. We can’t have the power of God. He was just talking about His twelve disciples having the power.” And there are churches that actually believe that rot. That's all it is.
What does He say? “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.” I do not know how He could have made it any plainer, that everything He was saying in His prayer applied to any man or any woman, in any generation, of any color, regardless of background, socially or by creed or anything else. No limitations. It applies to you. His prayer applies to you just as much as it did to anyone, anywhere, at any time. “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory”—and the Shekinah Glory—“which thou gavest me I have given them.”
Now where are those who have received the Glory? Look in the world—either God didn’t give our Master very much Glory, or else those who were supposed to receive it haven’t received it. “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them.” And it applies to us in this hour. When are we going to receive the Shekinah Glory? When we let it appear. “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are.” Now human beings have assumed that we had to be One with the Father on some other basis than Jesus was. Now He was One with the Father for this reason and that reason, and the other reason. Now we are not going to be like that; we'll be some other how. We'll be One with the Father; we're going to go through some other channel. Assumptions. If we do not say that Jesus was a liar when He prayed this prayer, we must accept the fact that we are supposed to have Oneness with the Father on exactly the same basis that He had Oneness with the Father. And how was it? Through the Shekinah. It has been called different names, but human beings have forgotten what it means; they dom’t know. “That they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me.”
I, Shekinah, in them, and Thou, the One Who Dwells, in me, Shekinah, that through Shekinah we may all be one. Not until you begin to understand the principles of Shekinah can you really understand the Master's use of language here. “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me—Shekinah—and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” That the Father loved them—you, in this hour—as, in exactly the same way, that He loved our LORD when He was on earth. “As thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am.” Not where I am going to be. They have jumped to the conclusion that that meant He was going to take Him up into the sky somewhere. Where was He when He said these words “Where I am.” He was the manifestation of Deity on earth. He was the focalization of, the revelation of, Shekinah to the children of men, and He said, “I pray that they shall be with me where I am,” not where I am going to be. But assumption again has said, Well, He really meant, “I want them to be where I'm going to be, and I'm going to be up in heaven; so, come on, little chillins, come on up to heaven.” No. Where I am—the manifestation of the Power of God on earth.
“Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory…” What Glory? Do they have to go to some far heaven to behold the Shekinah Glory? Certainly not. “… which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name”—I have declared unto them Thy Shekinah—“and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.” The Shekinah Fire of Love in the manifestation of the Divine Pattern on earth.
Here we have the words of the Master Himself, in His concluding prayer. If they be the words of Truth, the words of our LORD in fact, then let us give heed to them and stop being concerned with all the assumptions. Let us “soar to high neglect of what's denied or said, this way or that, in Holy Writ”, on the basis of assumption, interpretation, belief, and all the rest. The Master said, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”—free to live, and move and have your being in the Shekinah of our God. And so shall you share the Victory and do your part toward finishing the work which you came to do.
Shekinah transcripts and audios by Uranda,
and related Shekinah transcripts and audios by Martin
