Christ or Antichrist
Martin Cecil June 5, 1963
The LORD has offered us a tremendous privilege. I wonder how keenly aware you are, and those others who share this ministry with you, of the reality of this privilege. There are some certainly who have seen something of it. Probably if you were asked about it, in the moment you would say that you have an awareness that there is such a privilege—but to what extent is it a constant thing with you? How much does it take to cause you to forget it? It seems at times that very little is required.
We have been given the privilege of playing a part immediately, directly and consciously in the Divine Plan of Salvation. The Plan of Salvation means something a little different to us than it does to many in the world. We recognize it as a practical thing here and now, relating to human lives on earth. We have this privilege, something that may easily be achieved insofar as God is concerned. His Plan is foolproof. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/gods-great-plan-1.html] That is fortunate. No fools are welcome.
We have taken note of the special blessings which those who live in the United States and Canada, particularly, enjoy. We are included among that number. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/the-twelve-segments-of-mankind.html] Presumably we have something of a perspective vision regarding these things, but thus far it has not permitted a clearing to the point where human pettiness does not still continue to exist. I have been wondering what more could be done or said to allow a real awareness of what it is that hangs upon you and upon others who have been granted this supreme privilege here on earth.
Is it a little thing to you? Do you simply see it in the light of the things you are involved with day by day? How much beyond that do you see? Do your little human affairs surround you to such an extent that it is only when you are really either kicked or inspired that you begin to see something more—really see it? I am not talking about imagination.
There is so much fiddling around in this ministry on the part of those who have been offered this privilege that it seems incomprehensible from the Divine standpoint—so little vision, so little awareness and real acknowledgment of the trust that has been offered to you and those who have had the opportunity of awakening to the truth.
We have the perfect setting, prepared of the LORD, for the acceptance of God's Way. We are counted among the number who could so easily do it, because such a wonderful provision has been made—the perfect setting. And yet those who have begun to see something have been so reluctant to participate truly in that which God is offering. God's Way, the easy way, is wide open. How long does it take for a person to decide to walk in it?
This ministry has been on earth in its present form for over thirty years now [over 90 years now], and if we have thirty people who have really moved into God's Way I think it would be a generous assumption; and even those who have are surely not mature in it. The world is not waiting, in the sense that it has stopped moving toward ultimate tragedy. With the extent of tragedy there is already in the world, what would ultimate tragedy be?
The Divine Plan is foolproof. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/gods-great-plan-2.html] There is no question that it works if it is allowed to operate on earth, but human attitudes have constantly proclaimed either, “We are not interested in letting it work at all,” or “We will try it out a little bit here and there.” But to let it be a total thing for oneself, that would be unreasonable! I am not talking about a total thing in theory. In the actual experiences of living it is not a total thing yet. The affairs of men proceed. The world hangs in the balance.
To this extent you have an awareness. We have the privilege of knowing what it means to serve God and of doing it. An impossible task, do you think? Not at all. We have the perfect setting. And yet how completely do we walk in God's Way? How trustworthy have we proven? We are all still here. To that extent it has been proven. Here is the perfect setting. Wherever we are on this North American continent is the perfect setting. The vast majority of human beings on earth are completely uncomprehending of what is actually transpiring. They do not know. They are subject to so many influences brought to bear from every direction. Some of these influences are more subtle, some of them more obvious. Sometimes plain physical brutality is involved, and more refined methods are used in other places.
It is no use looking here or there for the kingdom of heaven, for it is within you. By the same token we should not look here and there for the kingdom of hell, because that is within you too. Our contact with either of these kingdoms is inside. With respect to the terrible things that happen in the external sense there is the saying which describes the human attitude: “It couldn't happen here,” or “It couldn't happen to me.” It is happening!
It is happening to the world body of mankind. Are we separate from that? Can we delude ourselves that we are isolated somehow? We see what are called “power struggles” going on, on the large scale. It is not at all a clear-cut picture, actually, because human beings are all self-active and seeking their own gain, some in a more gentlemanly manner and with others it is more crude. It is all the same thing.
Those who serve the LORD “wrestle not against flesh and blood.” There are some things to be met; there is no doubt of that. We cannot have it “nicey-nice” in the world the way it is. Things are not really at all gentlemanly; it is just a surface seeming sometimes. There are forces at work which are crude and vile. All human beings are subject to this influence, some more than others. It is not flesh and blood, it is not the external pattern of things that is observable, that is the trouble really. We know that that is simply an effect, a result. It is what is inside people, people like us—"not flesh and blood, but principalities, powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places.” All of this is present. Where? Over there somewhere? Yes, probably it is over there somewhere. The question is as to whether we are connected up with it, in giving it support. If we are, then we do not serve the LORD. We may be counted among those who say, “Lord, Lord,” but that is as far as it goes.
Principalities! What could you place in that category, do you think? There are many principalities: medical associations, manufacturers' associations, retail merchants' associations, unions, what have you—principalities all over the place, to seek to establish and to maintain advantages for certain sections of the population. High-sounding phrases are used sometimes to declare the wonderful purposes of such things, but it all boils down to something self-centered, something which therefore can be influenced by fear and by greed, by the lust for power; and that is something very real in the world. Look at all the human beings who are scrambling to get to the top. If they are really going after it, why? Some perhaps because they want money. But what is money for? Power—to have power. There are little dictators everywhere, human beings treading on the necks of others in their principalities.
Powers. This is not something that is unknown to our own experience. Do you want to dominate anyone? Do you think I want to dominate you? It is not my purpose. I am looking for those who will share with me the dominion of God, worshipping Him in spirit and in truth, actually doing it.
Rulers of the darkness of this world. What is the darkness of this world? Is it not that which prevails in the self-active human mind? Spiritual wickedness in high places. The antichrist. There is the Christ, and there is the antichrist. Human beings tend to go off on witch-hunts, looking for some scapegoat to blame for everything. No doubt there is spiritual wickedness in high places and there are the rulers of the darkness of this world, but how can there be such rulers if there are not those who are willing to be ruled on that basis because the same things are in them that are in the rulers?
We do not think of the Christ as a person. Let us not think of the antichrist as a person. There are particular focalizations from the standpoint of the Christ which may permit the manifestation of the Body of God on earth. There are particular focalizations in the antichrist that permit the manifestation of the son of perdition on earth. All that is true. But the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of the Christ, is within the person; and the kingdom of the antichrist also. Let us not look out there for it, because it will never be dealt with by looking out there. It is only dealt with as the individual, one person for himself, lets it be dealt with in himself. That is the only place that the antichrist may be met. Human beings say, “Let's change the government. Let's destroy the communists. Let's get rid of some evil leader somewhere.” Would it do any good? No, not until the antichrist is met in me and in you. And who is it going to be met by? The Christ. But where is the Christ? In you also. Look.
Can we be governed by fears, dislikes, resentments, personal attitudes of condemnation one of another, or of ourselves, and fail to be members of the body of the antichrist? We only fool ourselves if we imagine that we can indulge in such things and not still be members of the body of the antichrist.
The Body of the Christ is pure. The prince of this world comes and finds nothing whatsoever to take hold of. How long shall we put off that experience? It is something that we either choose for ourselves or reject. Can you imagine the Christ saying, “I can't do this. I can't do that”? Of course not. Who are you? What are you? Christ or antichrist? If there is any element of antichrist in you, you are still a member of the body of the antichrist. We are concerned with something absolute—God is absolute—not something where we can just get by. The Christ! [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/silence-from-steps-to-mastership-uranda.html]
We have to meet these other things—principalities, powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world, spiritual wickedness in high places—right inside ourselves. I have no doubt that you can look out there and see some wicked people. Oh my. Of course most of the really wicked ones are hidden somewhere; they are operating behind others. Behind whom, do you think, if not behind us too?
Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free—so that you can no longer be influenced this way and that by the antichrist—so that the Christ alone shall hold sway in you. Until that is true through a body of human beings there is no Body of the Christ on earth. Maybe a nice dream, a nice hope. But where and through whom? If we are not willing to take advantage of the setting with which the LORD has provided us, who is going to share the victory? Who is going to make possible the victory on earth?
There is a colossal manifestation of the antichrist in the world. It is right here, everywhere on the face of the earth. But we have a little space, a little interlude, a little place in which to allow the Christ to take form, to be made flesh. What flesh, if not our flesh? And once that is really so, even in a few hundred people—as many as we have on our mailing list right now!—there is no more problem, really. It looks as though it is impossible from the standpoint of the human mind, and of course it is from the standpoint of the self-active human mind, quite impossible; but not at all impossible to God. However, He must have a body, the Christ Body
The Christ Body is only the Christ Body when there is no antichrist present in those who form it, none whatsoever. And there is only one thing that stands in the way. Do you know what it is? The antichrist. And what is the antichrist in you? Your self-active human mind. That is the only thing that stands in the way for you, and for the world. Of course there is such an immense manifestation of the self-active human mind on earth now; it looks so vast that it could not be disposed of or changed. But it could be, very easily, if it can be done through you because you choose to let it be done now—no more antichrist. You know the controls of antichrist. Are you going to continue with it? If so, I will bid you farewell.
God seeks those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. In spirit—the Christ Spirit. And in truth—in fact. How about letting it be God's Way, absolutely? No more antichrist control at any time, anywhere. Impossible? Certainly not. The Christ is present, just as surely as the antichrist. How much wallowing in the filth of the antichrist there has been.
Do we need different circumstances, or will this circumstance do? If this circumstance will not do we do not have any circumstance, because there isn't any other insofar as we are concerned. It must be this circumstance, just exactly the way it is. We do not need to try to change it one iota, but to function correctly in it. That is always true, no matter where we are: to function correctly as things are. If we cannot do it as things are we cannot do it. And who says we cannot do it? Do you believe the liar? I do not. The antichrist is the liar.
If it is not done it is because the individual will not do it; it is because the antichrist has been chosen. We have let ourselves be chosen in such case by the antichrist. It has nothing to do with anyone else, anywhere, just oneself. It is for you to decide. What someone else says or does, or how someone else acts, makes absolutely no difference; none at all to you, to your choice. I do not care how unfair or how unjust you may imagine things to be, it still makes no difference.
What is going to be your identification—in the Body of the Christ? or in the body of the antichrist? The Christ is right and the antichrist is wrong. So there is only one right answer. Let us accept the Christ and reject the antichrist. From now on the Christ is going to do it. We do not need your human ego, the representative of the antichrist. Any human ego is the representative of the antichrist. We do not need it. We just need the Christ in this moment, the only moment we have.
The Christ, the Word made flesh. Not oneself, but some special type of person? Oh no, only insofar as an attitude of willingness has seemed to be a rather special attribute in human beings because it has been so conspicuous by its absence. But that ability is present with everyone; we do not need to be special. The Christ is present. The Word may be made flesh. The antichrist has certainly been made flesh on a grand scale. So let us acknowledge the Christ.
I thank God for the spirit of response that is in you. Let it be full and free and open to the expression of the Christ through you, because there is no reason why it should not be so. Apparently it is only the lies and the false convictions emanating from the antichrist that convince human beings so easily of the impossibility of being right, of being balanced and stable in the Central Way and walking in it—in the Christ. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/in-christ.html] How often these words have been spoken. How little they have been experienced. Let it be for you, henceforth, in the Christ.
© emissaries of divine light
