Negative Aspect Of The Silver Cord

Negative  Aspect  of  the  Silver  Cord

Kathy  Meeker

Special  Focalization  Session

Uranda   March 2, 1948  p.m.

Gabilan  Ranch,  Salinas,  California

As I was resting this evening, I was meditating on many things. There are so many things that have already been said, that it is not so much a matter of my undertaking to say something new as it is a matter of helping you to a deeper realization and a more complete feeling recognition of things that you have already begun to know.

The primary phase of my work on earth in this cycle of outworking is the formation of the One Christ Body, that it may be a Reality, that through the Body made manifest, the works and the Greater Works may be done. Sometimes individuals imagine that they should, more or less by and of themselves, reach a point where individually they could do the Greater Works; but that is not the Goal; that is not what we are undertaking to accomplish. The Greater Works must be done through the Unit as a whole. Individual members may take primary focus of activity in varying phases of those Works, but it is not that any individual, working on a more or less segregated vibration, should accomplish the Works that are necessary in the earth. It is that the Unit should be the channel through which the LORD of Lords may do the Works.

I was considering the formation of this Unit, or Body, the way it is manifesting, the steps of its growth. Not all of those who live on earth, or who continue to live on earth, will be actually in that Body in the sense of its focalization of the world-body. The 144,000 spoken of in Revelation relates to the formation of the Body, but all people on earth are eventually to be either in the Body or related thereto in coordination—but the Christ Body on earth, the Unit, is the focus of manifestation in its present form. It needs to grow and increase, and then it will, in one sense, be the Head of the world-body, that all the earth may be coordinated in the vibrations of Reality in season. With respect to the formation of this Body as it is now made manifest, I was considering the manner in which it has been brought forth. I was considering the way in which you all had a part, coordinated; but I think tonight my attention focused more fully on the part that Kathy has played in this regard.

I know that all of you have always had a high regard for her. I feel that, in some respects, it is increased in this Special Focalization Session; and as I was considering it, I was thinking how it is that she has been, and is now, as it were, the Pineal Gland in this Body made manifest; how, at least insofar as my function in that Body is concerned, her stable vibration has provided always a Silver Cord, as it were, between myself and that Body that is coming into manifestation. I think you all recognize that she has, also, a very wonderful attunement in the Current of that Love that flows forth from the LORD of Lords, and as I was resting there my heart was full of an overwhelming spirit of thanksgiving, of gratitude and praise to God for her ministry at my side by which so many things have been accomplished in such a wonderful way. I am considering this tonight, not so much to draw attention to Kathy, and I know that in her heart she does not seek or desire any special approbation, and she did not know what I was going to talk about tonight—but because it seemed to me that in this there are many things that are of value to you, not just in the fact of the stable vibration of that Silver Cord that I mentioned, but also with respect to the basis of effective service in the Unit. She has not claimed any great knowledge; she has not tried to understand a lot of mysteries; she has not let herself be bothered with questions that were too much beyond the range of her immediate vision; and when there has been a need for her to see or comprehend more fully some point, she has always brought it to me on a basis that allowed it to be a sensible, straightforward consideration.

As a person, she is a jewel among women because she does not try to govern or control me through emotional upheavals or reactions of some sort or other. In fact, she does not try to control me at all. We see the manifestation and operation of the Law here, because the fact of her love, coupled with a common sense vision and deep stability, have allowed the cycles to work out gradually and surely. In the outworking I have not had to worry about whether or not she would be on the vibration. I have not had to be constantly straightening her out, so to speak, and, whatever the necessities of my Ministry, in periods of time and under conditions that conformity to the female patterns of this world would have made her feel that I was neglecting her in some fashion, she has held true to that expression of Divine Womanhood by reason of which I have always found in her a stable, unwavering, dependable vibration. When I have had to face difficulties that pertained particularly to myself, which would, from the ordinary standpoint, have given her excuse for emotional upheaval, she held steady, and gave me that vibration necessary to the outworking of the Father's Will on earth; and when there has been turmoil manifest in the hearts and lives of others, she has held steady.

Sometimes when there was too much of it, sometimes when the supporting vibrations that should have been closely coordinated with her were not, I have seen her reach a point where there was too much tension, but even under that terrific pressure she held steady—and always the Lord worked it out so that the supporting cycles cleared in one manner or another to relieve the pressures in time. If I had not had this dependable vibrational contact and cycle, holding steady in what we might call the negative aspect of the Silver Cord, by which the Life Forces were reaching the Body, or the Unit, we would not have been able to reach this point and place, this cycle of outworking. This is not just a tribute to her—although I gladly recognize that it is a tribute—more than that, it is a tribute to the LORD of Lords and KING of Kings, by Whose Grace and through Whose Love, this and all the other factors necessary to the accomplishment of what has been done, has been made manifest. More than that, it stands as an example of the application of Law and Principle, as they are taught in the Third Sacred School, so that it is not a theory only, but a proven fact. All of you have various evidences from your own experience, so that for you also in various ways, it is proven fact, and you share in the formation of this Unit, so that you have evidences therein also.

But reaching down into the feeling realm, not limiting ourselves to the realm of intellectual perception, acceptance and belief, we need to feel and know and recognize all of those things by which the absolute conviction of the outworking of the Law in Reality may be an abiding thing in our hearts and lives, so that no Member of the Body should think or say or do anything that would constitute a denial of our recognition of the operation of the Law and the fulfilment of the Promise of God in the outworking of that in which we share. One of the reasons I wish to emphasize this tonight is this. The focalized manifestation of Divine Manhood, as it finds expression in the Unit of the One Christ Body, has its sphere of function in relationship to the feeling or emotional realm; but it is in the female aspect of that Body, that which is becoming the focalization of Divine Womanhood on earth, that we have the primary concern with respect to the feeling realm, the clearing of the emotional currents.

Women, being conformed to the outer-world patterns of function, have, through the ages, sought, by all kinds of emotional processes, to control their men-folk, and the list of those things which are to be found in their bag of tricks is exceedingly long. By that means women have maintained control of the men, and to a high degree made the men what they are in the world. We can say the men ought to have been strong enough to overcome, but I think that is rather a ridiculous approach to the matter. Men have not known how to function, that is true enough; but women have had the advantage because they started from the cradle, and taught men that they should be thus and so toward women; so by the time the boy has reached the point where he is very much influenced from the standpoint of men, the men he has contacted have been taught and trained in the school of women, and it is pretty well ingrained, and so on it goes. I am not condoning anything wrong in the men; I am not condoning their weakness—we are going to change that too, by the way. But all of this in the emotional realm must be eradicated. It has to be eliminated utterly and completely and cleansed away; it is something that has absolutely no part or place in Divine Womanhood or in the expression of the One Christ Body on earth.

Of all the things necessary to the development of the One Christ Body on earth, after I began to get the initial factors worked out, the one that caused me the most difficulty, and the one that required the most faith, was the idea that there would manifest somewhere, somehow, a focalization of Divine Womanhood that would be sufficiently free of all of these things to allow the beginnings of the outworking of the Will of God on earth. Finally, in an extremity, a critical point of my Ministry, the Lord provided for me such a woman, and I praise God. There is not anything that brings a current of thanksgiving to my heart more frequently than the abiding realization of that; and, to varying degrees, I have seen movement toward that ideal in various ones of the ladies who are letting themselves become members of the One Body on earth; but it is a phase of the development of the One Body where there is need for considerable progress. There has been progress, and certain ones have been doing outstandingly well, but it is not enough that there should be just a few.

In order to become absolute Members of the Unit, fully and finally, the hearts of women must be cleansed and purified—the emotional realm must come under control. The woman is likely to get so emotional that she feels that the cleansing of her own emotional realm is an impossible business, or she is likely to get so indignant that she claims that it does not need cleansing; but sometimes there are those women who face these things in tranquility of spirit, knowing that they could not possibly cleanse their own hearts if they could live for ten thousand years trying to do so. So, there are those who face these things in tranquil spirit, calmly, not struggling, not trying, and not being indignant, not being resentful, willing to accept the changes, willing to cease being conformed to the world, that they may be transformed and made whole. The women who function according to the world pattern of emotionalism do not have pure hearts.

Facing these things in tranquility of spirit, willing to let the cleansing take place, is so important. It is important for the men too. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” That applies to men and women alike, but tonight I am thinking more about the ladies—but the ladies must reach a point where there is one thing, morning, noon and night, sixty seconds in every minute, sixty minutes in every hour, and twenty-four hours in every day, day-in and day-out that is most important, and that is the doing of the Father's Will, not getting their own way, not satisfying their own vanity, not building up their own pride in some fashion—the simple reality of the Father's Will, regardless of any inclination to pull any tricks out of the bag.

From the standpoint of the precedents in this world, that was the most improbable phase of my whole undertaking, that any woman would ever reach a point where she would provide evidence that it could be so. The rest of it is comparatively simple. The most improbable part was that a woman would let that be true; because when it comes to the point of doing the Father's Will, the woman will accept the idea as long as it does not touch her own emotional realm in any way that limits her control. But that does not make her a Spiritual person by a long ways. Emotional tricks of various kinds must be removed. The heart of woman must be purified. I have seen this purifying process going on in many ladies in the Service. Some are reaching a high degree of that purity; but one of the things that has caused me to marvel day by day, one of the things that has caused me joy unspeakable, and encouraged me beyond measure, is the fact that in my wife I find a wonderful focalization of that purity of heart in Divine Womanhood on earth.

I am not saying this to satisfy her vanity in some way, or her pride, or just because it is nice for a husband to talk about his wife that way. No. If I thought for a minute it was going to be satisfying any human pride on her part, I would never say it. No. But this is the point. This outworking to this point, as it is seen within the scope of the Unit as it now stands, provides factors which to me are very encouraging—very encouraging from the standpoint of the men, and very encouraging from the standpoint of the progress of the women. But the job is not done, and I do not know any better way to set the stage for letting that process be increased and carried forward effectively in the weeks and months to come, than to say to you what I have been saying tonight, that we might review the fundamental facts involved.

It is no longer just a matter of blind faith on the basis of the outer in relationship to laws and principles. We have reached a point where there is evidence; it is not just a theory, it is a fact. We knew that, theoretically; but it is being proven now, and that is important. And since it can be done, there is not any more excuse for it not being done, and that is important. For a long time the women could advance the idea that, after all, they just could not help feeling the way they do; they just could not help having that kind of reaction; they just could not help getting upset, etc. I knew that there was no truth in the arguments advanced, and I kept pointing to the Law. But it has finally been proven—and so, since it can be done, there is not any excuse remaining for its not being done. Now, that is important. Women themselves must begin to realize that point. As long as they think they have excuse for not doing it, they will not do it. It is just that way. As long as they can convince themselves, and those around them, that they are a little bit different, so it is unreasonable to expect it of them—you see where you get!

But now we come to the point where the women, facing themselves—whether they like it or not—have to recognize and come to the point of acknowledging that it does not have to be that way. Because man could not pin it down to any logic or reason, he thought he could not understand women. Of course that was foolish on the part of men to get taken in, but the point is that we have come to a time and place in the outworking of things where we can take a look at these things and see them for what they are. A man can understand a woman. There are precious few women who even have a glimmering of understanding of themselves. A lot of men just pamper their wives and sweethearts because it is easier to get along with the women, with them deluded by their own delusion. I would not say that, except from the standpoint of reality here. But it is true. A lot of men know it is true. A man has to acknowledge that he cannot understand nonsense that has no basis of understanding. So, men have used that as a means of sort of smoothing things out and accepting the childish nonsense that the women have insisted on maintaining through their so-called years of maturity.

There are very few mature women—very few. From my own standpoint, I would say my wife comes nearer being a mature woman than any woman I have ever met, but there are a few who come pretty close along the line with her. Age does not mature women. It does not mature men. So, as we have looked at these things and considered them, we are touching upon one of the reasons why no movement of the past, at any time, has ever succeeded in carrying through to that point which we envision as the Goal, whether it is because there was not any leadership able to penetrate that realm adequately enough, and inspire response enough, to carry through to a point of facing the facts, we do not need to argue—it does not make much difference now—but the point is that this is the thing that has prevented the outworking all the way through, the thing which always before has stopped every movement upward.

Now we come to a time when it ceases to be as it has been in the past. We come to a time when this emotional realm in men and women must be cleansed and purified. It must cease refusing to let the individual do the Will of God. You know, the devil does not care much whether his rule is carried on through the mind, through false concepts; or through the emotional realm, through false reactions of various kinds, when there is not any difference in the net result. So, the individual can believe anything he pleases, actually, no matter how true it is, without ever interfering with the rule of the prince of darkness, as long as it does not reach down into the emotional realm and purify that. But when the mind accepts the Truth and believes it, and the emotional realm is purified and caused to conform with the Truth, then the Truth truly sets that individual free to enter into the glorious liberty of the children of God, and the rule of the prince of this world comes to an end.

That must be done. It is going to be done; and it will be done easily as soon as all the ladies realize that it is no use, that they are not going to interfere with the doing of the Father's Will on earth by getting their own way through emotional upheavals of various sorts, and they realize, to a point of conviction and acceptance, that this can be done, and they stop making excuses for themselves, stop being resentful, stop being disturbed, and begin to be calm, tranquil, serene, trusting the Lord—lo and behold, the operation will be so painless and so easy, comparatively quick, that they will hardly know it happened, and then they will know what it is to abide in Peace, IN the Christ. It is only when the individual struggles over it that it becomes painful. In the outworking thus far I have had to do a great deal of holding back with respect to the ladies in this regard, but we are coming to that time, when, through that one-pointed dedication to the Lord that is in you, we may let these things work out, so that, male and female, we may serve the LORD our GOD to His Glory, that, male and female, we may let His Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven, so that the One Christ Body may truly be the means by which the Greater Works are accomplished. O LORD, I thank Thee that Thy Word, spoken in the Altar Flame, accomplishes that whereunto It is sent, IN the Christ. Aum-en

Grace Van Duzen — I would like to express thanksgiving to the Lord, and I know I speak for all the women in the Unit, and in the School, in acknowledging the inspiration which Kathy is for all womankind.

Uranda — I praise the Lord for your recognition and acknowledgment, and I praise the Lord also, most deeply, for the part all you lovely ladies are playing with respect to making that focalization have true meaning, for we recognize that Kathy could not do it alone, that it takes all put together, in Oneness, to make it effective and real in the world.

© Emissaries of Divine Light

I Was There — I Am Here

I  Was  There  —  I  Am  Here

Martin Cecil   December 14, 1980  p.m.

“Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?” As a son or a daughter of God the answer is, “I was there.” From the standpoint of human consciousness there may be no memory of this. Would this mean that one could not say with assurance, “I was there”? The human consciousness imagines that it has to have all the information immediately available, firsthand. This would be quite impossible. Certainly this particular human consciousness was not present, but the one who has made possible this particular human consciousness was. The human consciousness, in yielding, reaches a point where it does not take the attitude anymore that it needs to know everything for itself firsthand. There is a sense of trust and assurance, insofar as that outer human consciousness is concerned, in the one who knows. There is a willingness to rest in that assurance.

There is one present in each human consciousness who says, “I know,” because that is the fact of the matter, and who could say truly with respect to the laying of the foundations of the earth, whether of the planet itself or of this physical form, “I was there. It wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t been there.” The human consciousness begins to awaken to this truth. The truth that the human consciousness may want to awaken to is likely to be a matter of imagination—to awaken to the vastness of what is contained in the consciousness of the son or the daughter of God. But the human consciousness has just so much capacity, which should not be made available for extraneous and useless information. It simply provides the facility for what needs to be known now. It doesn’t even provide this, for the most part, in most people; it’s so busily occupied with a lot of extraneous and useless information, besides milling around in circles by reason of emotional stimulation. What immense waste there is of this marvelous facility, which is useful only to the extent that it is occupied by the immediate expression of the son or the daughter of God. If there begins to be this experience and the human consciousness then says, “Well wait a minute; I’d like to know more about this or that,” a separation instantly occurs, the blind is drawn, the darkness falls, and it’s right back where it started. But if there is a willingness to receive what is necessary in the moment then there is always present what is necessary in the moment.

Presently, what comes to a rather fuzzy focus in human consciousness as a rule is produced by what is happening in the environment. This has always seemed to be the matter of supreme importance to human consciousness. We know differently. What is of supreme importance is the expression of spirit, which should occupy the available capacity of the human consciousness. Only as there is an exhibited willingness on the part of the human consciousness for this to occur will it occur, but when it starts to occur, as it has in your experience, then the action of the spirit comes directly into the picture. This action is quite capable of carrying forward what needs to be achieved in the human consciousness which is now being made available.

To start with it is quite possible for the human consciousness to withdraw its cooperation. After a certain point in this process that is no longer possible, and when it is no longer possible the spirit has a free hand, the son or the daughter of God has a free hand, to create what is necessary by reason of that consciousness. This is not to say that there will not still be present in that consciousness things of the old state. From the standpoint of the son or the daughter of God it is necessary that there should be, because it is not a self-centered matter from that standpoint. The son or the daughter of God is not interested in somehow cleaning up the act of the human consciousness of that particular individual all on its own. The intent is that the angels, the sons and the daughters of God, should be sent forth. How are they sent forth? Through human consciousness. It’s the only way. The human consciousness, however, must be willing for that to be forthcoming, and if there is the attitude in that consciousness of trying to determine what it is that should be coming forth, nothing can happen of any creative moment. There has been this tendency: “Well I want to know. Tell me this. Answer my questions, and if you give satisfactory answers, then I’ll hear some more. If not, then I’m going to continue in the way I’ve always gone.”

The angels of the Lord are patient and understanding; they are well aware of the human tendencies. Time and opportunity is given to the individual human consciousness to reach a point where all that nonsense might cease. If it doesn’t, the human consciousness goes its own way, and we know where that lands up; but as this facility is made available the action of the son or the daughter of God comes forth. It comes forth through the yielded consciousness, no matter in what state that consciousness still may be. So the son or the daughter of God makes use of what is available in that regard. As this use is made, the human consciousness becomes more assured that it doesn’t need to know all that it thought it did need to know; and there is generated a sense of assurance that what is needful will be forthcoming.

We don’t need to know everything but we have the absolute assurance that it is known, and what needs to be known in the moment will be known by the human consciousness because it is known by the son or the daughter of God. The knowing is then present, but the human consciousness may still have some idea as to what that knowing should be. It says, “Well I need to know this in this situation and I don’t know it.” The human consciousness must come to a point of trust. If something is not known, it doesn't need to be known. What needs to be known will be known and is known. It is in the hands of the son or the daughter of God, not in the hands of the human consciousness. It can’t determine what should be the experience of the moment. Something is being experienced. Accept it. That’s what it is.

This human consciousness is the facility for the right use of the son or the daughter of God. That right use is describable in general terms as the bringing of the kingdom, the kingdom which makes possible what we have called restoration. There was a statement made, according to the translation in the Bible at least, when the Master was speaking to His disciples: “It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” It is the Father’s good pleasure to give the kingdom, but how? By reason of the presence of the sons and the daughters of God who have available human consciousness through which to give it. The human consciousness can’t give it. It doesn’t know what the kingdom is. The right word is: “I of myself, in human consciousness, can do nothing.” The human consciousness tries to do many things all on its own. It all ends up as nothing. That’s the observable fact of the matter, the experienceable fact of the matter, if one persists in imagining that nothing is something. The human consciousness is incapable of doing anything of itself. It deludes itself into thinking it is doing something, but finally it is proven out, in the awareness of others at least, that it could do nothing. But the angel of God, the son or the daughter of God, is present. The only way that the son or the daughter of God can come forth is through the individual human consciousness.

I may be able to speak of these things and you may be able to hear what I say, and you may, in human consciousness, be able to agree; but the agreement is really between angels. Rightly the human consciousness comes along. It does not establish the agreement but it may experience the agreement. The agreement already is between angels. That agreement is what permits the kingdom to come. The angels have the responsibility for the coming of the kingdom. What is happening on earth, what claims so much interest and concern on the part of the human consciousness, is in this sense of little moment. The coming of the kingdom is the sole concern. This is not to say that there may not be an awareness of what is happening in the external sense, but there is no idea that what is happening in this external sense can in any way prevent the coming of the kingdom. It is not a matter, for instance, of manipulating anyone to make sure that they are willing that the kingdom should come. It doesn’t matter whether anybody is willing or not. It’s going to come when there are the angels present, sent forth, through the human consciousness which is adequately capable of encompassing what is being sent forth. That will be adequate when the sole concern of the human consciousness is for what is coming forth, because what is coming forth, the kingdom that is coming, will determine, on the basis of human reaction of course, the nature of the events.

The events follow. We begin to have a new orientation in this regard then. We’re not staring out into the world, wondering what the next event is going to be, as though that event was going to precede what we ourselves know. The event is a result, a result from our standpoint as angels, of the coming of the kingdom. That event may take a number of different forms. We may observe the forms with our eyes, may be aware of them in human consciousness, but we see them as results of the coming of the kingdom; not as anything of themselves, not as carrying any great significance, except, as the days go by, in various ways the fact of the coming of the kingdom may become more apparent by reason of the reflection of events. But there again, let not the human consciousness judge, saying to itself and maybe to others, “If the kingdom is coming it should be this way or it should be that way.” Because it is indicated by the event to be a certain way, do not take the attitude that it shouldn’t be that way. It should be that way! It should be that way if we are assuming our responsibility as sons and daughters of God, and we have the absolute assurance in this regard in human consciousness, not because human consciousness knows all the ins and outs of it—it doesn’t need to. All that needs to be known is what is necessary for the coming of the kingdom now in one’s own expression by reason of human consciousness.

If the question is asked then, “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?” the human consciousness doesn’t say, “Well tell me,” because the human consciousness wasn’t anyplace then, this particular one at least—but there is a sensing of the fact, “I was there,” to the extent that the son or the daughter of God is coming forth in the bringing of the kingdom. It’s all part of the same creative process. If we participate in it now, we participated in it then as sons and daughters of God when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy. The human consciousness has a sense of awareness of this, not according to the customary attempt to get all the details filled in—just content to encompass what it is that is coming forth of the spirit of God in action by reason of the son or the daughter of God.

Do you imagine that it would be in any way useful for the son or the daughter of God to down tools, in order to explain what occurred whenever, far, far in the distant past when the foundations of this earth were laid? What use would it be now? What is useful now is the laying of the foundations of the earth that is to be here. We’re on hand; the human consciousness knows that; it can agree, “I am here.” And if I am here it is known that I am here in this way, because I share the awareness of the son or the daughter of God who I am. If I have this awareness of being present in human consciousness as a part of this creative process now, then what causes human consciousness to be aware of this was also present at any other creative beginning or creative ending anywhere else in the unfolding cycles of creation in the universe.

Certainly the intent of the son or the daughter of God is not to boost the self-importance of the human consciousness by imparting some wonderful information that will make it feel so superior to everybody else. There’s absolutely no purpose to such an undertaking, so it’s not done. We know in human consciousness what we need to know in the moment, as there is a clarity in human consciousness; that is, the consciousness of the angel who one is, experienced in human consciousness now in this moment, for whatever, the purpose is of this moment. That’s all that is necessary. That’s the only reason the human consciousness is there. We see how human consciousnesses have been trying to spread themselves out into the past and into the future, trying to understand what happened and what will happen, thereby removing themselves from the only place by which they might know what is happening. That place is here and now.

So, coming to this point, we know one frame of the ongoing movie—that’s sufficient. Another frame will come; they keep coming, and from the standpoint of the angel who we are we’ve lots of time. From that standpoint also, everything is under control. “The truth is true and all is well, unconquerable life prevails.” There is that assurance—excluded from most human consciousnesses because they are not available to include the consciousness of the truth. They are filled up with all kinds of irrelevant information, and a lot of human effort is given into trying to make what is entirely irrelevant somehow relevant. If it’s irrelevant it’s irrelevant. Leave it that way. Here is the basis for an absolute knowing. The absolute knowing of the truth in the moment is not based in the manipulations of the human intellect. It is simply there in human consciousness by reason of the yielding of that consciousness to the one who knows, and the one who knows doesn’t explain it all to the human consciousness. That would just fill up the human consciousness with a lot of absolutely useless information, thereby blocking the real reason for the presence of the angel, which is to bring the kingdom in the moment. So the action of God may be defined as angelic action, the action of the sons and the daughters of God. This is Jehovah.

We are interested that God should say what needs to be said now, that the word should be spoken, the creative action taken, the kingdom given. God restores the world. Wonderful. But how? Because His angels are present and do what is required for this to be achieved. That doing is always in the present moment. There is no other moment for the doing. There is no other moment for the living. Here is the action of God now, the action which makes use of human consciousness to bring the kingdom now. We become aware of what is needful in this creative action now. Speculation about creative action that may or may not have occurred in the past is a waste of time. We can be fully occupied with the requirements of now, and when we are, there is an absolute knowing of the truth.

The truth is not equated anymore with the ideas and the opinions of the human intellect separate from the angel. We do not in human consciousness have to have it all laid out so that the human consciousness may say, “Well I see that now, and I’m willing to agree; isn’t that nice of me?” That’s a stinking human ego, isn’t it? All the human consciousness needs to do is to let go, yield, to know the truth. This concept, which has been so current, that one can discover what the truth is by piling intellectual ideas upon intellectual ideas is childish nonsense. The truth is present, the angel is present, and only in the coming forth into the human consciousness of the angel is the truth known, and the angel’s action always relates to that moment of coming forth, which is always the present moment. As there comes in human consciousness increased experience of this, then there is increased assurance of it, the assurance which could say very easily with respect to the foundations of the earth, “I was there,” not because the human consciousness knows anything about it but because the angel is present who was there. The human consciousness simply provides the facility for the word of the angel, and it doesn’t have to know for itself all the ins and outs. If it is true that the angel was there, then the angel speaks in human consciousness and says, “I was there.” The human consciousness then has the opportunity to let it come out in words perhaps, certainly in a sensing of something, but at that point it is quite acceptable and it doesn’t have to pause and begin to say, “Well now you’ve got to make me understand all this.” That is reverting again into the old state.

“Before Abraham was, I am.”

That was a statement expressed through the human consciousness of the One called Jesus. Do you suppose that human consciousness knew all about it, or was it so yielded that it allowed the expression of the Son of God, the expression of the truth? Mind you, other human consciousnesses will tend to object, to argue, as they did with Jesus: “That’s blasphemy: that can’t be so. How do you know?” Having come clear in one’s own human consciousness of all those sort of questions, then that human consciousness, being present in the situation, is ready to allow whatever the expression of the son or the daughter of God is to take form.

We note how easily Jesus was able to handle all that was thrown at Him. He didn’t make a big deal out of it. It was easily handled. It was handled in the moment. I suppose this could be said to be a great secret. It remains a secret until there is sufficient yielding of human consciousness so that the angel of the Lord becomes known to that human consciousness, and when the angel of the Lord becomes known the knowing is in terms of, “This is me.” It is not known in terms of, “Well I’m a human consciousness over here, and the angel of the Lord is going to come.” It doesn’t work that way, because the truth is that there is only One. There would be no human consciousness if it were not for the angel of the Lord. So why should there be any fear? There is, isn’t there, the fear of the human consciousness being caught naked, without an opinion. You may recall that the original state was a state of being naked and unashamed, not having all this vast array of intellectual knowledge but having nothing of itself as a human consciousness, and thereby having everything. That’s the only way it can happen.

It may be said that it is a complete reversal of the human nature attitude, and the way human beings go to try to make themselves wise in their own eyes and the eyes of others. They never get to be wise that way. The human consciousness gets to be wise when it becomes what it really is, nothing of itself. Then it may be everything from the standpoint of God. The angel comes forth bringing the kingdom, and there is absolute assurance on earth, in the human consciousness of those who are letting it happen, that all is well, unconquerable life prevails. This is the truth which is known, because there is no attempt to try to fit the angel into the confines of the structures of human consciousness. When there is emptiness in that sense in human consciousness there is a filling, and there is the experience of freedom. Freedom comes when the human consciousness knows that of itself it is nothing, knows that of itself it could never know anything. No matter how much human knowledge it might glean, it still is nothing; but in that state of nothingness the everythingness of the angel comes forth and is known now, in the eternal now. Because now is eternal, there is plenty of time for the knowing of everything. We share this experience to the extent that the angel is permitted to come forth; then we know ourselves, moment by moment, once more on earth.

© Emissaries of Divine Light

The Price Of Progress

The  Price  Of  Progress

Uranda   May 1, 1954  Class

There has been some progress made in relationship to the unifying of our spirit and our pattern of endeavor. We have made progress toward reaching a point of agreement on earth. The agreement is not yet what it can be, what it should be, in fact what it must be if we are to succeed. Nevertheless there has been some very definite progress, which I would acknowledge, and the degree to which you have held steady and remained true to our basic pattern of agreement has made possible a level of achievement which has been unknown heretofore in our experience. However, we must be careful not to develop a sense of resting on our laurels—from my standpoint we have not acquired any yet. But I have been wondering, if we took an hour of our meditation time for a consideration of your specific function in relationship to my responsibilities, whether we could not find a more effective pattern still. In approaching this subject I recognize the vital necessity of finding the right words, to avoid developing misunderstandings, the right words through which the current of the spirit may work in establishing a deeper realization.

In the world as it is, with conditions as they are, we must face the fact that there is always, with respect to all things, a price to pay. Very often human beings pay a great price for that which turns out to be “fool's gold,” of no value. In other instances we may have reasonably legitimate desires in various forms which, by reason of the circumstances in the face of the necessities of our service, we must set aside. In this field particularly, the basis of evaluation depends upon what is best for the whole. What can we do that will make it possible for all who share in the service of the Lord, whoever, wherever they may be, to carry through into the higher level of life and service?

Personal sacrifice which permits forward movement in the fulfilment of the whole is not actually, for those who are dedicated, a sacrifice. The point is: no matter what we do, no matter what course we may choose, we are going to pay a price. For everything which we receive we exchange something. We have to give something in exchange for the privilege of receiving the air we breathe. We have to give the energy, if nothing else. The gifts of God are given freely, and yet we must pay a price in order to receive those gifts. We must give something in exchange. We cannot receive God's love unless we give our love to God. Wherever we turn, with respect to everything, there is an exchange basis.

I have wondered if, by some means, I could convey to you something of the working of this principle in the ideal state, in a manner which would be of value to us in the present. As we look back to the days in the Motherland and consider the state of those who were not subject to the limitations of the fall, we will find this same principle applies. I mentioned to you the fact that although there were great schools, and there was an opportunity for anyone and everyone to go as high as his or her capacities might allow, in the sense of education, there were many who did not avail themselves of the opportunity to go very far in that educational program. They found a level which, for the time being at least, was satisfactory to themselves in the face of this matter of exchange. To gain one thing, even in the ideal state, it is necessary to give up something else. I do not know how to clearly portray in any detail the situation as it was then, but we might conceivably illustrate.

A certain person, living in a place with ideal climatic conditions, say, on what we might call a little acreage, where the necessities of life were not very demanding, having shared up to a point in the educational program—which might be said to correspond really with, oh, university graduates of today—might be reluctant to give up the opportunity to remain in that quiet place with the friends acquired, the privilege of going fishing when he wanted to, so to speak—not that there was fishing as we think of it, but a certain freedom, a certain ability to live a rather carefree life. In order to achieve a higher level of life expression he would have to give that up, go to school some more, and accept greater responsibility. With privilege there is always responsibility. For those who were willing to pay the price of moving out of one pattern of being, relinquishing one set of circumstances, putting forth the effort, expending the time, providing the application, the diligence, and developing the willingness to accept and discharge responsibility, there was absolutely unlimited opportunity. There was no barrier except that which the individual accepted for himself, that which was to him a balance point. When he reached a point that gave him as many responsibilities as he felt like accepting, he had established the level of his privilege.

The same principles hold true today, only today there is an inclination on the part of human beings to try to have privilege without accepting basic responsibility. Such an attitude is a distortion. Each one must face the question for himself as to where that level shall be for himself—the level where desire or longing for greater achievement shall balance out with a willingness to put forth the effort to make that achievement possible, the level where responsibility and privilege come to a true balance. In the ideal condition the percentage of those who carried forward to the higher levels was always adequate to the need of the program. Today, working in the sphere of fallen man, this is not the case. There are those who would like to have what they deem to be the higher privileges of higher position, who nevertheless do not show forth the inclination or the ability to accept the higher responsibility.

We have made a beginning. If the human mind, in self-active function, begins to attempt to evaluate or measure the task yet remaining, the mind begins to feel overwhelmed with the vastness of the task. And yet comparatively simple measures can be utilized to exert a very powerful influence into the world. But if we are to have power we must accept the right pattern of responsibility in relationship to the uses of that power. To whatever degree self-centeredness remains we have, in relationship to this higher level of function, a bad risk. If a person functions on a temperamental basis—he feels like it one day and not the next—then those who come in the range of his influence in the current of power will be subject to the whims and fancies of the way he feels, and no one has the right to subject others to any such thing. If we cannot accept the responsibility of the right uses of power, we should not have the privilege of the exercise of power. This is just as true with respect to God's power as it is true with respect to temporal power, earthly power or authority. If we are going to achieve that point of basic agreement which will permit us to accomplish that which must be done if we are to be successful, we are going to have to be willing to pay the price. We are going to have to examine the situation and make some deliberate choices, be willing to set aside various things with respect to our own inclinations or tendencies, in order to achieve something else.

The ability to center attention and hold it centered,

to devote one's energies to a single point on a controlled basis in a creative field,

according to a specific design, with a singleness of purpose,

in harmony with the absolute principle of Being —

this is required of us.

To so achieve, we must be ready to set aside, as being of lesser value, certain other things which we may think we would like to do, certain other things which may, according to various reasonable viewpoints, be considered perfectly legitimate; and yet, they must be set aside as being of lesser value. A short-sighted policy may make a person feel that the greater value to self is of the greatest value to the whole, because he may say to himself, “If I achieve thus and so, then that will be of value to others. I will be leading; I will be setting an example; I will be lifting the world of man.” And it may seem so. And yet, if this same individual, doing something that may appear to be perfectly legitimate, had the capacity, the ability, the willingness to set aside this effort in personal achievement, to disregard the various concepts of his own fulfilment in order to do something else for the whole, he would have actually had a greater personal achievement than he could have on the other basis. This begins to suggest a distinction.

Often I am faced with the necessity of making certain suggestions to others, to help others make decisions. I have many, many times seen human beings set forth a possible course of action which in all ordinary respects was perfectly legitimate—definitely of service, a path that involved a certain amount of individual fulfilment, and it could be said to be of value in many, many ways—but the individual's consciousness is more or less lost in this which he sees as a potential. And I have seen, in such cases, instance after instance where, if the person involved were capable of seeing and accepting a different course, he would actually be of much greater service to God, to mankind and to himself. But he does not leave the door open to give himself an opportunity to even see that course of service. He has centered his desire and his determination, and so usually I don't even mention the alternate course as I see it. Usually there is no opening to do so. The price to be paid in such a case seems too high; it looks to the individual as if he would be sacrificing something infinitely worthwhile for something definitely questionable. And so, as long as the person feels that way about it, I cannot encourage—not too strongly—following some other course.

We could take the case of our membership. I look out and I see instance after instance of individuals who are apparently content, probably not satisfied but for the time being content to function at, well, a comparatively small percentage of meaningfulness in the Lord's service in comparison to that which could so easily be. I suggest that we could do more, and yet when I say it, the general tendency is to feel, “Well, I don't see how I could do very much more.” And the individual starts setting up some kind of a resistance pattern. Yet, no matter what is said along such lines, I have to come back and say, “We could be doing a great deal more than we are, in the sense of the effectiveness in the Lord's service, if we would just do it.” I am not talking about something beyond the scope of our capacities. I am not talking about something beyond our abilities. I am talking about something we could do if we would. I am faced with the fact that there is no way in the world that I can compel you to move any higher, to do more, to fulfil your responsibilities more effectively. There is absolutely no way. And if I could, I would not attempt it. It is only if I can inspire you to do so, and encourage you; but you have to accept it for yourself. And I'm not talking about something impossible. Maybe you say, “But I can't see it.” I can. I can see it, and I know. I doubt if any of you are satisfied. But how can we be content to go along in this unsatisfied state, so far from the fulfilment of our potential?

Within the range of what could now be done it is a far cry from what we could be achieving in the sense of actual accomplishment, in the sense of shaping the future of the world's vibrational pattern, in the sense of truly serving the Lord, of being a blessing to people far and near, of feeding the hungry ones and giving of the water of life to the thirsty ones. And I see some little human quirk or determination, such puny little things, stand in the way of that greater fulfilment—things that are utterly unworthy of us here, human determinations this way or that, or the plain refusal to accept a larger responsibility. And I have no way of compelling it; I cannot give orders—and yet I see the vast need, the crying need.

There are blessings flowing out into the world because we are here, but you are as yet unconscious of even a large part of that, because we have not established a true basic pattern of agreement—true accord. You could have a larger consciousness of the result of what you are doing if you would let it work out correctly, but I cannot force the issue. For each one it comes out at a certain point of balance with respect to privilege and responsibility. Some are attempting to gain or take more privilege than their responsibility warrants. Well, it may seem to be something one can get away with for a while, but it will not last very long. There will be a tumble. Sometimes it may seem to the human vision that there isn't as much privilege as the discharge of responsibility warrants; but if the individual is particularly concerned on the point, he shows that he is not discharging as much responsibility as he thinks he is.

There are certain things that I would like very, very much to share with you. I have been considering for some time the possibility of our setting aside one of our evening periods of meditation each week for specific purposes in Radiation, so that you might consciously share with me in the work of meeting certain issues in the world, or exerting certain influences. And yet, every time I think that perhaps we are drawing near to it, certain factors work out which say, in effect, “Not yet, not yet. You will have to wait awhile.” They tell me I will have to wait awhile, the time is not yet. All of these steps forward are, and must be, absolutely voluntary. There are places of responsibility that need to be filled, crying for someone to do a job, and yet vibrationally, wherever they are, I must say, “I have no one to put there; no one is ready. I can't do it. You will have to wait.” And so often I hear sounding through the vibratory pattern, the mental, emotional pattern of the world, “How long, O Lord, how long must we wait?” And what can I answer? What can I say? I release the current: “Hold it steady, be patient, take advantage of all your opportunities; in season, as you hold steady, the fulfilment will come.” And all that is true.

But so far we are not functioning on the basis of the seasons of God; we are functioning on the basis of the seasons of man—when the human being gets ready: “When I get good and ready, then I'll do it.” If we were working on the basis of the seasons of God it would be so much nicer, so much more wonderful, so much more a sense of fulfilment. But we have never made the changeover yet, from functioning on the basis of the seasons of man to the basis of the seasons of God. And I cannot compel it. I cannot give orders and achieve it. Some may be saying in their hearts, “Well what can I do?” I know you really want to do something to speed it up. Well the most important thing any of you can do now is to so function that we can begin to have one night a week—one out of seven—set apart for service in the vibrational sphere.

I have considered the possibility of actually doing that, and making the first nights a particularized training period—the first ones would have to be a training period. But if I were to establish that, with things as they are now, recognizing that our pattern of action is taking responsibility for many others besides ourselves, I would be forced, by that very action, to hold to a specific standard. And if such and such a person did not live up to that standard, did not deliver, I would have to say, “You have flunked; step out,” and I would not like that. But if we started, I would have no choice. So we have not started it. We have devoted our time to meditation on the basis that has been, and I have sought to provide the inspiration, direction, the expansion of consciousness essential to reaching that point. And we are not there yet. It had to wait. It had to wait, and so the seasons are under the control of man, not of God, in relationship to these vital things of future fulfilment. And to me the reasons for this delay are so inadequate.

If someone were to say to you, “Come into Loveland tomorrow at ten o'clock and you will receive a gift of ten thousand dollars,” and if you were to say, “Well now, that's very nice. I'd certainly like to have that ten thousand dollars but, you know, I lost a penny out here in the barnyard; I must go out there and dig through the manure to find that penny. I can't be there at ten o'clock tomorrow morning. It's too bad,” to me it would be just as sensible, absolutely just as sensible, as some of the things I see right here tonight. Yet I suppose everyone here could say, with a reasonable degree of honesty, “Well I'm doing the best I can under the circumstances.” Perhaps that is the point, or at least part of it. Why maintain the circumstances? There is something that you could do: relinquish the right to maintain the limiting factors; and it could be done so easily, and actually there wouldn't be any loss. It would be all gain. It might seem for the moment to be loss but it wouldn't be. There would be such wonderful gain involved, wonderful privileges, wonderful opportunities, and a real step forward, so that we could begin to enter into the rhythm of the seasons of God in the accomplishment of our service. It is in this that we need to do some meditating. A readiness to let it be so needs to appear. And I wonder, when will it be?

© emissaries of divine light

The Prophet Of The Lord #1

The  Body  of  the  Collective  Prophet

from  The Prophet of the Lord #1

Martin Cecil   October 30, 1979

We are here this morning as a company of people to worship God. It is natural to man, male and female, to worship God. It seems that human beings have forgotten what this means. They are familiar with what it means to worship each other but the idea of worshiping God has tended to be rather stereotyped. As a body of people here this morning we worship God in the spirit of love and humility by offering Him a body of flesh with a quiet mind and a yielded heart for His use. If we have any expectations in this regard as human beings they need to be relinquished so that there may be freedom for right use to be made of the facilities we are here to provide. The Lord is quite capable of utilizing whatever may be provided, in the right way. Righteousness is not an imposition upon human beings but whatever is available, whatever comes to point, may easily be used rightly under the hand of the Lord when there is a facility available to make such use possible. We are here to offer that facility.

We are aware, in theory at least, that the central purpose of the right use of all things is to make possible the restoration of the world. The world that is to be saved and restored includes mankind but it certainly is not restricted to mankind. The world is a far greater place than human beings suspect. The world for which man is responsible is vast. It encompasses much more than what may be present on the surface of this planet. The only way man’s responsibilities can be handled correctly is by reason of the creative action of the Lord, and so this action emerges when there is a mean's for its emergence; otherwise it is obstructed and prevented. The results of that obstruction and prevention are obvious enough on earth, where there is much
 tribulation, much violence, and no apparent solution.

Many of you have heard of a columnist by the name of Sidney Harris. Recently one of his articles came to my hand and I thought it might be profitable to read it this morning.

“People keep saying, ‘We need a leader’ or ‘We need better leadership,’ but that is not what they really mean. What most of them are looking for is not a leader, but a Messiah. They want someone who will give them the Word. And the Word would be one that is agreeable to them, that appeals to their preferences and prejudices, so that they can follow it whole heartedly. But this is not what a true leader does—a leader tells people hard truths, gives them a difficult path to follow, calls upon their highest qualities, not their basest instincts. A true leader does not tell us what we want to hear, but what we ought to hear.

“Indeed, this is the difference between a false Messiah and a true one. A false Messiah—such as a Hitler, in our time—caters to and inflames the fears, hates, angers and resentments of his people, and drives them to destruction rather than to salvation or self-realization. A true Messiah—such as Jesus, even taken on the worldly plane—rebukes his people, shows them their errors, makes them want to be better, not stronger or richer, and asks them to make sacrifices for the common good and for the good of their own souls. He is never followed by very many, usually killed by the majority, and venerated only when he is safely dead and need not be taken seriously.

“What we are looking for, I am afraid, is neither a true leader nor a true Messiah, but a false Messiah—a man who will give us oversimplified answers, who will justify our ways, who will castigate our enemies, who will vindicate our selfishness as a way of life and make us comfortable within our prejudices and preconceptions. We are seeking for leadership that will reconcile the irreconcilable, moralize the immoral, rationalize the unreasonable and promise us a society where we can continue to be as narrow and envious and shortsighted as we would like to be without suffering the consequences. In short, we are invoking magic,” [black, I might say] “we are praying for the coming of the Wizard. But there is no Wizard. There are only false prophets—and they come equally from left, right, center and below. Wherever they come from, no matter how they differ, they can all be distinguished by the same sign: those we like make us feel better, instead of making us feel worse. We want to follow them because they ‘understand’ us.

“But all the true prophets, from the Old Testament through Jesus, made us feel worse. They knew, and said, that the trouble wasn’t with our enemies, but with ourselves. They demanded that we shed our old skin and become New Men. And this is the last thing we want to do. What we are looking for is a leader who will show us how to be the same old men [or women] only more successfully—and his ancient name is Satan.”

It may be that this man has certain limitations in his outlook but he lays something on the line here that is very true. Perhaps he doesn’t see what the answer is but then, in the world of mankind, who does? He at least speaks from the standpoint of his highest vision, which is in many respects a clear vision. We find ourselves in position to agree. I do not imagine that it is his intention to try to save the world. But clearly, something needs to happen on earth which is not caused to happen by what the high vision of human beings is capable of accomplishing. There have been many human beings on earth who have had high vision and who have proclaimed their vision in various ways but the state of the world remains as it was, as it now is, and as it is presumed ever shall be.

Disaster  tends  to  creep  up  on  us.

We take for granted things that are happening in the world now that would have shocked us to the heels of our boots not many years ago. Human beings seem capable of adjusting to almost anything. This may be a valuable trait in some ways but it also tends to lull people into a sense of complacency. It is quite obvious that there are immense so-called problems in the world as we know it, apparently without solution. It seems it is a simple matter these days to define the problem. Everybody can see clearly what it is that is coming upon the earth, but because it is not quite here yet we’ll eat, drink and be merry even if tomorrow we die! Of course the human outlook is fundamentally self-centered. Apparently there is very little awareness on the part of anyone that there might be a purpose for human beings on earth other than to enjoy and satisfy themselves. We have come to recognize that it is in the ignoring of that purpose that the troubles proliferate, and as long as the purpose is ignored there is no solution. A multitude of solutions have been proposed but even if some of them found extensive application, which never seems to happen anyway, they would not prove to be solutions. We have come to be aware that it is what is present in people that needs to change, not merely for the sake of handling the impending disasters but for the sake of being what we really are, for the sake of revealing the fact of real worth. We can look at the state of affairs in the world and we could well understand if the Lord should become a little impatient. Here is His earth being destroyed by human beings who are also intent consequently upon destroying themselves. So the very proposal of solutions is part of the state which needs to change in human beings. Whether there is an ignoring of approaching disaster or a desperate endeavor to find solutions, it is all part of the same state of human consciousness which continues to multiply the troubles.

Worship God! That instruction would mean very little to most people; what it actually means has escaped the awareness of human beings for a very long time. When we begin to accept alignment with the attitude of the Lord, who has clear vision, we may share that vision. Incidentally if we actually do we share His action as well. You cannot have true vision without participating at the same time in true action. Only an angel has true vision on earth, and an angel doesn’t just sit around having his vision. The vision is inseparable from his action. It’s a part of his angelic expression. If he has the vision he also has the action. So where there is vision there is always action. Where there is no vision the people perish from lack of true action. They may act in various ways, proposing and trying to initiate solutions to the apparent problems, but that’s not true action and it multiplies the problems anyway.

We recognize that something must be brought to bear by the Lord in the situation, and only as this is the case can there be any fundamental change at all. But that action, that vision, requires a facility for its appearance on earth. We have been invited to share that facility, to share the vision and the action. Sidney Harris makes mention of New Men—new men and women. That’s right, not made-over people but new people. Self-centered human nature will pass away. It’s been doing so for a long time in the individual sense, generation after generation, but self-centered human nature as it is present in the whole body of mankind must pass away. It can be easily seen that this could spell the doom of the human race. In actual fact we are observing the process by which self-centered human nature is passing away. This human evil is destroying itself. It is not a very pleasing sight but it is happening. These things have been portrayed for us in various ways, that we might wake up from our stupor. When there are troubles and somehow or other those troubles are contained so that things begin to settle back to normal, as it might be said, people heave a sigh of relief and say, “Well we took care of that.” But here is self-delusion. The more troubles we have the better off we are. This is not a popular view, but as long as there are troubles we are temporarily no longer being fooled into the idea that the human mind is capable of handling anything that arises. If by some great effort whatever-it-is is handled that way for the moment then we are fortified in the idea that the human mind can handle anything, and so the plagues come thick and fast.

A portrayal of this was in that story of the contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. Before that contest was initiated something occurred between Elijah and Ahab the king. Kings, in the Biblical record, represent the human mind. Ahab was rather a weak king, dominated by his wife Jezebel, the queen, who more or less called the shots—not an uncommon situation!

 Art  thou  he  that  troubleth  Israel?

“And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” Are you the one who is causing all these troubles? This is the usual approach in human nature, isn’t it? Someone else is the trouble. In this case the troubles were being pinned on Elijah, the one who represented the Lord. Ahab represented human nature, and Elijah represented the divine nature of the Lord. The usual view is that the Lord stirs up all the trouble. God made the trouble by creating human beings. When a person begins to be convinced of this sufficiently, the only thing to do is to eliminate the human being. That eliminates the trouble supposedly but ignores the fact that human beings were created for a purpose, and the purpose certainly wasn’t to multiply trouble. So Elijah met the issue with Ahab and said, “All right, let’s prove it out. Let’s see where the trouble really is.” So there was the gathering of the prophets of Baal, quite a lot of them, but only one prophet of the Lord. They worked out a certain format for the contest, which involved building an altar and putting a sacrifice on it, etc. The prophets of Baal came first. They were right there on the job, and that is very much the case in our present experience.

“And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.” They were being put on the spot, and usually when that happens there is a deadly silence. So they went ahead with this undertaking, and having done everything according to the rules they “called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made.” Where is the voice that gives the answer to the problems of the world on the basis of an approach where the worship is of Baal? that is, where the human mind is expected to find the solution. No matter what is said or done, no solution appears. “And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.” There is a right use of anything, including sarcasm. I poke a little fun sometimes at some human nature states. There are some who have objected to that, thought I wasn’t being nice or kind. “And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.” They were very enthusiastic. They really put themselves into what they were doing. “And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.” That’s the way it is in the world. What hopelessness! How pathetic!

“And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me.” Look up. Let go of all your human goals. Let go of all human attempts to solve the problems that are the natural result of countless centuries of the expression of human nature. That cause generates effects: and here they are, more widespread on earth than ever before because certainly there are more people than ever before. We are all so accustomed to this. We take it for granted. How is the change going to be wrought? Certainly not by worshiping Baal but because there are some who worship God, who respond to the invitation, “Come near unto me.” Forget the claims that have been made by human nature in general that the answer comes from manipulation, from even endeavoring to get people to change. It does not come that way. It doesn’t come by anything that human beings can do. It comes because there are those who take responsibility for coming near and providing the Lord with the means of His action on earth, because it is the action of the Lord that gets the job done. And the job is the dissolution of human nature, whether anyone likes it or not.

Human nature will be dissolved, one way or another. There may seem to be alternatives from the standpoint of the way it is dissolved, but it will be dissolved. It can be dissolved in a creative way because the true nature of man is accepted. The only way by which the true nature of man will be accepted on earth is because there are those present who have accepted it. The evidence of acceptance must be there, and it is because of that that the creative power of the Lord is present and functional in relationship to mankind, and something happens. The happening is not only the dissolution of human nature but the resurrection of divine nature, angelic nature. There are those who do draw near. If we have the responsibility for extending the invitation, “Draw near unto me,” we need to make very sure that what those who accept the invitation draw near to is the truth and not another false prophet. As you know, to the extent that you have been willing to relinquish your ties with human nature you feel a lot better; neither do you find it necessary to make sacrifices. The Lord doesn’t require anyone to sacrifice anything. The evidence of our living rightly extends this invitation, “Come near unto me.” We are not anxious to see human nature take everybody out of the picture. We may suspect that it will take some. You know what happened to the prophets of Baal after this exercise described here was complete. They were disposed of. “Fear not” is included with the words, “Come near unto me.” Let us indeed be true to the truth in the angelic expression of vision and of action. We are in position to stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. There is action, but the action comes because of the vision. The primary nature of that action is describable as spiritual expression.

from  The Prophet of the Lord #2

As there is the acceptance of the invitation to draw near unto the Lord the facility begins to be provided by which the fire falls from heaven. There is an intensification of what we have referred to as spiritual expression, an increase in the sounding of the Tone. The fire is present on earth to the extent that there is this means by which it falls from heaven. If there are those who abide in heavenly orientation and who actually live from the standpoint of heaven, then the fire falls from them. In the story of Elijah, finally the fire falls; it falls from heaven—heaven and earth are one. It is an emergence into creative expression of that fire by reason of those who dwell in heaven on earth. Elijah’s invitation to the people was, “Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him.” It was because of this that he was able to do something. The altar of the Lord which had been broken down was rebuilt.

Over the years in this ministry we have been engaged in letting that altar be rebuilt on earth, the means by which the Lord may act on earth. There has been a good deal of washing in the water of truth and an increased yielding to the creative movement of the spirit of God, to the end that the fire might fall from heaven. It is doing so, and in doing so it causes a great deal of discomfort in the lives of human beings everywhere when there is resistance to that movement of the spirit. Because there is resistance the flames of the fire are felt as flames—yellow ones to be exact, the ones that burn. This is an uncomfortable experience. The world is full of discomfort. When people become uncomfortable, when they find themselves in pain, being hurt in whatever way, the habit is to consider who might be to blame. That habit of blaming others for one’s own discomfort is universal. We see it happening everywhere every day, on the large scale and on the small scale. The ones who are uncomfortable discover some one to blame. The person who is uncomfortable is, in this situation, the good guy; the one who is supposed to be causing the discomfort is the bad guy. So lines of various sorts are drawn and confrontations occur in all directions, but the reason for these confrontations springs from the attitude of blame. And of course the looking-for-a-leader syndrome emerges in human consciousness so that someone is sought who will agree that those concerned are badly done by, that they are not at fault, somebody else is to blame.

Very often when there is consideration with respect to the restoration it is thought that somehow God must get into a battle with the devil. There is a ding-dong battle which has been going on here for a long time and apparently God has not triumphed yet. The fact of the matter is that God has never been in a battle with the devil because He does not particularly see much reason to fight against nothing. It is only human beings who do this, and because they fight against nothing, nothing appears to them to be something. It appears to be something because they have given their life force to nothing and it is their own creation. We can say this in general terms but it is specifically true for each individual. Human beings make their own troubles. We are human beings. We have been busy making our own troubles for an extended period of time. Finally, we thought it wasn’t worth the candle, so we exhibited some willingness to change our ways, tentatively at least to stop blaming someone else for our own discomfort. It is not a matter of God fighting the devil. It is simply a matter of what we have called spiritual expression, which judges no one but is something very positive in its own right. It is the expression of the spirit of God in human experience. When there is spiritual expression the fire falls from heaven. It begins to burn in the vicinity of the one through whom spiritual expression has appeared. It may burn some things that are pretty close to that person so that he feels, humanly speaking, uncomfortable.

The fire transmutes. The fire as we understand it in the world is a means of changing substance from one state to another—the fire transmutes so that some substance ascends and some descends. This is what happens when the fire falls from heaven. It happens in our own human experience because what we are humanly speaking is closest to us, but it also extends beyond that. What is closer in the fire is what gets burned. Only the substance that needs transmutation is burned. The flame itself is not burned. There is a central core to the fire, portrayed by the blue part of the flame where it is cool. If we are wise that is where we stay, from the standpoint of our own attitude. Regardless of what may be burning round about we may stay in the cool of the flame. And even though humanly speaking there may still be substance present in us that needs transmutation we are able to let that transmutation occur to the extent that we stand in the cool part of the flame—in other words, to the extent that we recognize that it is our own spiritual expression that brings the fire to bear. If we see this then we don’t need to blame anybody else. The fire is being hotted up, maybe seven times hotter than it’s wont to be, and everybody finds himself in the fire in one way or another. Our concern is to let the fire transmute what we are humanly speaking so that it may become a valuable means for increased spiritual expression—in other words for a hotter fire. As it transmutes what is present in our own human state that human state is clarified and the fire burns with increased intensity further afield. This fire is burning further afield, burning everywhere on earth. The more it burns the more people are inclined to find those others amongst their number to blame for their discomfort. It is a completely false accusation, because it is the fire emerging through themselves by reason of spiritual expression appearing in the body of mankind on earth that causes the discomfort with respect to those things that resist the process of transmutation.

This  fire  is  burning  everywhere  on  earth.

We need to see these things from the standpoint of our own responsibility because we are particularly responsible individually speaking for our own spiritual expression. This, when it is all put together with that which is appearing through many others who are not here present, becomes the spiritual expression of the Body of the Archangel. And this is the fire that burns, that is falling from heaven into the experience of human beings everywhere; it is coming forth through the body of mankind. Here we begin to see that the battle is not between God and the devil but between the devil and the devil. Human evil destroys itself, and we may observe this going on in the world. There is something to happen in the heaven. What is to happen in the heaven happens by reason of spiritual expression. As there is a happening in the heaven so that it is clarified in the experience of the individual, then that is reflected on earth and the fire burns on earth. The fire burning on earth pits human beings against each other insofar as those who do not respond to spiritual expression are concerned. You may recall the story of Gideon and his troop. They didn’t have to do any fighting. There was a swarm of Midianites in the valley and Gideon had 300 people. But they stood around on the hills and at the given signal blasted on their trumpets and unveiled their lights, and this caused so much confusion in the Midianite camp that they began to fight against each other. It was dark down there; they couldn’t see what was happening; they thought they were being attacked. Here is an excellent illustration of the way things work: the trumpet blasts, the lights shine, and the fire burns. Everyone feels extremely uncomfortable, very much afraid, and in that state of desperation they lash out at each other. They develop various supposedly sophisticated methods of lashing out these days.

Gabriel’s trump must be sounding. The light must be shining in some measure at least and the fire burning. We begin to have an understanding of what it is that is happening, to the extent that we are not involved in what is happening. We may be uncomfortable at times in the human sense but even then, because it happens to be our own particular discomfort, we know what is happening, and we no longer feel under any necessity whatsoever to look around and try to find someone else to blame. I think the attitude would rather be, “Lay on the fire,” that whatever it is that needs to be transmuted may be transmuted quickly. How long do we as individuals have to let this transmutation occur? We may recognize that a transmutation is not merely an individual thing; it involves everyone else also. The more fire the better. We are certainly no longer interested in trying to “reconcile the irreconcilable, moralize the immoral, rationalize the unreasonable.” The point is to stop being unreasonable or immoral or irreconcilable. All this is present in human nature because of human failure, individual and collective, to come near unto the Lord.

Of what value would it be for all of us and many more to spread out in the world and call to human beings, “Come near unto the Lord”? What does it really mean, “Come near unto the Lord”? The human mind knows not the Lord, no matter how many fancy beliefs and concepts it may have about Him. One can come near unto one’s concept, one can espouse one’s belief, wrap it around one, but that certainly doesn’t bring a person any closer to the Lord. The belief will stand as a barrier between that person and the Lord—a substitute for the Lord, for the reality. The only way the reality can be known is in one’s own expression. A person will not let that expression appear through himself unless he has found an expression on earth through another which provides a point of orientation. If there is no point of orientation on earth, then everybody can have his own idea, his own belief, his own image of God, and worship that, enthusiastically perhaps as the prophets of Baal did, but it means nothing. It certainly doesn’t
 unify people, does it? It brings conflict. So there must be a point of orientation on earth if there is to be a means for anyone to experience the reality rather than merely to become involved with a substitute. Elijah said, “Come near unto me.” He was in effect saying, “Come near unto the Lord.” But in saying “Come near unto me,” all the people had some awareness at least of what he meant. If one says merely, “Come near unto the Lord,” then the question may be rightly asked, “Well, where is He? I don’t know where He is.” If a person is really honest he will have to admit that he doesn’t know the Lord. When the Lord did come in human form on earth, how many people knew him? “Come near unto me!” All right, there must be this point of orientation.

The point of orientation is not rightly merely one person. It must be one person obviously to start with, but the Prophet of the Lord is not one person insofar as the present outworking is concerned. If there is only one person, well a lot of people would be left out in the cold, wouldn’t they? So the Body of the Prophet of the Lord is composed of many people, and the Whole Body is required to be present if the Word is to be spoken and the invitation extended, “Come near unto me.” Only as there is a coming near in this sense can the altar of the Lord be rebuilt and can the means for the increased expression of the fire on earth become a reality. Only through the fire does the transmutation occur, the transmutation which results in the restoration. The restoration doesn’t result because everybody is re-educated, everybody has the same mental concept as to what the truth is. That is ridiculous. It would never happen anyway.

We  are  concerned  with  the  fire  that  emerges  because  of  spiritual  expression.

The restoration occurs because the fire transmutes the substance that is present—there is plenty of it around, the world is full of it, human flesh for instance—but if the substance is to be transmuted there must be the fire. It cannot be transmuted if there isn’t the fire, so we are concerned with the fire that emerges because of spiritual expression. This fire burns everything, consumes everything; but when the fire burns nothing is lost, is it? What was present before is changed, that’s all. Nothing is lost. There is no sacrifice. The fire burns, the transmutation occurs. An aspect of that transmutation is revealed as what we have called the restoration, but there is also some ash around. We have this experience day by day. What doesn’t belong in our physical bodies is cast out. There’s trouble if it isn’t cast out. What is so tragic then about this larger picture of the rubbish being cast out of the body of mankind? If it isn’t cast out the body of mankind will die, and it is cast out by the spirit of the living God. That is our business. It is not going to be very effective in the larger body of mankind if it is not allowed to work in our own as individual human beings. To the extent that we begin to share angelic consciousness we rejoice in the fire and in the effects of the fire. Human beings are inclined to say, “Oh I’m so uncomfortable. I want to get out of this. I don’t like it.” Who doesn’t like it? The devil doesn’t like it certainly. What is wrong with discomfort? Are we so pure already, humanly speaking, that when the fire burns nothing will get singed? I don’t think that is the case yet for any of us.

So we acknowledge the point of orientation—we draw near. How do we do that? By pressing in around? Are we supposed to be like a hive of bees, swarming bees, all pressed together? That may be all right for bees but it is not the right state for human beings. Of course there is a sense of emptiness in human beings, so they try to press around each other to fill the void, but it doesn’t help much. No, it is not necessarily a physical closeness that is of concern. Come near unto the spirit of the living God. There is a need for leaders—people who are capable of leading. Upon reading the article we saw fairly clearly portrayed what isn’t a leader, but what is a leader? Is a leader someone who is intent upon making everybody uncomfortable?Perhaps some of you at times may have felt a little uncomfortable on the basis of what I have offered; but there is a peculiar thing about it, because at the same time you feel pretty good about it, at least if you are open and responding. There may be some discomfort, you may feel a little rueful at times for instance, but it is so very good to come near unto the Lord. Obviously we cannot come near to the Lord and bring all our rubbish with us. It needs to be transmuted. Some of it is all right; it is not rubbish at all; it is a part of what belongs. But some of it doesn’t belong at all. It needs to be turned to ashes.

We come near unto the Lord to provide leadership in the true sense. It is said that no one can be a leader who hasn’t first learned to be a follower. Sometimes we are in one position, sometimes in another. To come near unto the Lord is to come near to His spirit, to be included in the creative expression of that spirit. The Lord encompasses all of us in His spirit. This which He encompasses is His world, but we each have a world to encompass. We do it the same way, in the same spirit; and on that basis we are near—we are close. We are part of one thing, One Whole. We are not segregated, separate, lonely, empty individuals. We begin to be filled with the spirit of the Lord and, sharing that spirit in expression, the fire burns. It burns in relationship to whatever may be present in our human capacities. It doesn’t matter who we are, the same thing is true. And it burns, as it intensifies, beyond those capacities, so that it is felt by others. Those who are willing to draw near unto the Lord are most willing to step into that fire. They can’t draw near on any other basis. If we are resisting it and fighting against it and blaming everybody else for it, well we end up ashes. I don’t think it is worth it. It is a habit well worth breaking, the habit of blaming other people. Judge not. Just move easily in spiritual expression, letting the fire burn in your environment and encompassing your world in the spirit of the living God so that whoever or whatever responds may come near and whatever resists may be cast out of this One Body, the body of man which is being restored on earth.

Immense disaster seems to be at hand. We understand what that disaster is: the dissolution of human nature. Thank God for that! Lots of discomfort in the process no doubt for us and everybody else, but thank God just the same. At last it is being drawn to a point of issue. The last act of the drama of human failure is coming to a close, the curtain soon to fall—but while that closes, at the same time something else opens and we become increasingly aware of what it is that opens. This is so as what has obscured what is now emerging falls away. The falling away of the unreality, the destruction of evil by itself, exposes the reality. Those who look at the destruction with fear and trembling are not inclined to see what it is that is being revealed, but those who are concerned with what is being revealed are not particularly concerned with respect to the destruction because nothing that is of any value can be destroyed, only what doesn’t belong.

The  Prophet  of  the  Lord  is  not  one  person  insofar  as  the  present  outworking  is  concerned.

Again we have had opportunity of sharing spiritual expression, in the fire, the fire which has been intensified a little, the fire which extends through this Body of the Archangel, emerging consequently through the body of mankind, that all may be transmuted to the glory of God. As angels of the Lord we are rightly thankful for the opportunity of being present on earth at this time to share in these things in this present moment and in each succeeding moment as we move along the way of life.

© wmissaries of divine light