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Edna Lister’s Sermons, 1963
Born of the Spirit
Edna Lister outline, June 9, 1963, Cleveland, OH. John 3:1-8, Hebrews 1:7.
“There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”–John 3:1-8.
“And of the angels He saith, Who maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire.”–Hebrews 1:7.
We live in the age of doing the greater works of Jesus Christ. Astronaut Gordon Cooper recently orbited earth twenty-two times in the Faith 7.
The School of Astronauts has become the greatest school of wisdom of this age. Dare we say this? Yes! The astronauts are accepted and trained under honor, loyalty and integrity as basic requirements. They work and live by the rule of “One for all, all for one,” having no time for “I.” Astronauts live by that greatest law of all, Attention to all details. A millionth of a second in timing is the difference between life and death in space. Without proper timing, you can have no harmony in your life, for you would pay no attention to details. The astronauts make complete sacrifice of self in their rigid training. This is the Way of Rebirth, an exact formula. The prefix “re-” means “to go back to,” and “birth” is a new life. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”–John 3:3.
“Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”–John 3:5-6. This text in the Gospel of John describes Jesus’ teachings as a School of Rebirth that operates on formulas of mathematical exactitude. Rebirth is a mystical term that means “to renew, to go back to something new.” To be reborn is a mystical statement meaning you must pick up the pearls of wisdom you discarded to build an outer sheath heavy enough to descend into matter for the soul’s experience.
You cannot enter the kingdom of heaven from what Paul Tillich
Rebirth is the only way to enter a new higher kingdom of consciousness. Rebirth then means to become aware of a new way of life, to accept all the “possibles” of God while “letting go” of the “impossibles” of man. Why isn’t this easy? Some doctors say things like, “You’re going blind” and “There’s no hope” or “You need an operation to live.” They are repeating the teachings from the “impossibles” of man. They are right from their physical point of view and opinion.
We have no hope without rebirth. Under rebirth, you burst the bonds, the shackles of earth-level opinions and prejudices, and see God’s “possibles” move into action as miracles. So the question is, Who dares to pay the price of Rebirth? To be reborn or born again is to live by a new set of rules, to give up the sovereignty of the self and belief in the “impossibles” of earth. Self hunts ease and comforts, and saves itself for what? A rainy day? Old age? As long as anything on the outside can cause you to doubt, to fear, to tremble, to dread, you are under the rule of self. Why isn’t this easy? Because you do not own yourself.
Every time you tremble in dread, you sell more of your soul stock to fear. Your subconscious servant—the appetitive soul’s creature consciousness—steals stock from you. One day you find you’ve sold and lost so much soul stock that you haven’t enough dividends to live on. Every idle word devalues your soul stock. If you repeat the wrong that another commits, you create and send suggestions to do more of the same. The vibration returns to you and creates some part of your body in their image and likeness. The law is exact.
Dare you now dedicate your life to Rebirth, to become the servant of all the Power? What is your idea of the greater Power? What is it? God’s Power is all you can imagine it to be and do. It makes of you a flame of fire, a burning desire to be perfect as your Father in heaven, to be born into this kingdom of Power, and to become immortal now. The greater Power is a flaming imagination that gathers all your stored dreams, knowing that by dedicating yourself to the sovereignty of God, you become the Master of your fate, the captain of your soul.
Born of the Spirit
Edna Lister transcript, June 9, 1963, Cleveland, OH. Ruth Johnson, Lotus Landis, Irene White, scribes. John 3:1-8, Hebrews 1:7.
“There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”–John 3:1-8.
“And of the angels He saith, Who maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire.–Hebrews 1:7.
We are firmly established in an age of greater Power. We have passed from the Piscean Age into the Aquarian Age of undiluted spiritual Power. We live by the twelve soul virtues, and no reason exists now for anyone to be influenced materially or emotionally by the Piscean vibration; no one needs to be a fish. Pisces was an age of emotional tears, self-pity and desire to escape from life. True, you may weep at times over humanity, but weep in compassion or in joy. Wear your armor so nothing can get through to disturb you.
It does no good to pity the masses or to challenge God by asking why He permits tragedies and disasters. Why complain or blame when you may work at night for the masses with the Legions of Christ? The Aquarian Age is one of spiritual Power, not for weaklings. Astronaut Gordon Cooper
People ask, “Why doesn’t something happen when I pray?” You can sit and watch the corn grow, and nothing visible happens. If you want someone healed, you must be at work every hour making declarations, because your spoken word releases Power. For example, say, “Let John be filled with Light.” When your spoken word releases Power, God moves in. This is your work with God.
The College of Astronauts has become a mystery school of the new Jerusalem. The astronauts live by a code of honor, loyalty and integrity, which is “One for all and all for one.”
This text in the Gospel of John describes Jesus’ teachings as a school of Rebirth that operates on formulas of mathematical exactitude. “Rebirth” is a mystical term that means “to renew, to go back to something new.” To say that one has been reborn mystically means that one has fulfilled some goal, vision or new laws to obey. Even if you just bumble along, you finally reach that far horizon. When family or friends crowd you on your truth, it is a sign of an eminent rebirth.
As a life wave, we descended from Light gradually, experimenting with the density of our sheaths. We laid down a precious pearl of wisdom at every level to gain the extra substance we needed to descend. A rebirth means ascending on your life chord and picking up the pearls you left at higher levels. You are reborn as often as you have a new idea or illumination.
People say, “You’re in the world now,” but you are also in the kingdom of heaven. When you become aware of a new horizon, you find that it expands. When you accept the fact of a rebirth, you must accept the impossible. Drop humanity’s “impossible,” and accept God’s “possible.” For example, when a doctor gives a medical prognosis, he is correct under his law, not God’s. Anything is possible to God. Speak the Word and “nothing doubting, stand.” Declare, “I am moving up in consciousness to new and greater illumination.”
You can have a miracle only by a rebirth to a higher level of consciousness and faith in God. Sometimes you may wonder why your prayers or declarations do not work. Yet if someone irritates you or you have even one subconscious doubt or dread, your faith is incomplete, and you can have no miracle. Everything that startles or scares you owns you.
When a candidate for rebirth comes to you, lift his soul substance to God for cleansing. Hold everyone in compassionate love, but do not take them into your soul aura. Lift their soul substance as they spew it out in idle words. Words create a powerful vibration. If you repeat the story of anyone’s ill health, your words can create powerful suggestions that color your listener’s emotional receptivity, and he may recreate an even stronger negative pattern. If you recreate a story, how he hurt you, how noble you are, you send it back to hit him. You drop your pearl of wisdom in the mud and sell your soul stock short.
To say, “I am praying for her” is tantamount to saying, “I’m noble.” You recreate yourself in the image and likeness of the gossip that you gullibly rehash, a weak heart, liver, eyes. Wisdom does not recreate earth’s darkness. You are responsible for casting your glance over earth daily to see darkness just to lift it and declare everything good. Do not drag your soul wings in the dust of earth’s messes. You must leave the old behind to be reborn. Recognize it, lift it for cleansing, but do not ruminate on past events like a cow chews its cud. Lift the world’s darkness by giving it to God and speaking the Word to heal the ill person or condition. Declare that the Power makes him perfect. We could raise the world’s vibration and lift evil if we took responsibility without entering bondage. This is the solemn responsibility of the sons and daughters of God.
“Of the angels He says, Who makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire.”–Hebrews 1:7. You can become a minister of flame and fire, or you can become old and useless. Fill churches and ministers with Light. Be a minister of flame and glory yourself. When you minister to anyone or anything, you are a minister. Dare you to be reborn into a higher kingdom? You owe God so much for the space you occupy. Are four hours of extra work going to kill you? Do you want more rest? Dare you make the sacrifice and surrender to be reborn? Your responsibility is greater, and it grows as you give more hours to those who call on you and you meet new people. Do not plan for something devastating, or be a martyr.
We are living in the Age of Power. We could convince everyone of God’s Power if we were convinced, and did not mind what anyone said. Take up your inner responsibility and be reborn. When you speak the Word for a miracle, Light heals someone somewhere in the world. He may have greater chronological soul age than the one for whom you prayed, but your loved one’s turn will come.
Declare that everything is working together for good. Declare that spheres of fire encase the doctor’s hands, and see all doctors and nurses as great healers. Have the flaming desire and vivid imagination to see beyond the visible. Every idle word sells your soul stock short. Give up self. “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”
Today we all walk with God. Are you convinced that God is the only Power? Take up your inner responsibility and know your words are all powerful. Let go of the impossibles of earth. Speak the Word in the Master’s name, and know that it is your open sesame to the Kingdom of the Source.
The Water and the Fire
Edna Lister outline, June 16, 1963, Cleveland, OH. Matthew 3:1-3, 3:11-17, Romans 6:3-4, Acts 2:1-4.
“In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.”–Matthew 3:1-3
“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”–Matthew 3:11-17.
“Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”–Romans 6:3-4.
“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”–Acts 2:1-4.
Jesus’ record opens in a time of conflict. The Roman Empire’s tax collectors and governors were cruel and demanding. They oppressed the Jews of Judea, who hated them and the rule of Rome. Yet the Jewish officials were always currying favors both ways. The proud Sadducees, who had been trained in law intellectually, were fighting for their religion. Into this situation John the Baptist came, crying, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” To John, repentance included being baptized. He belonged to a sect, the Nazirites,
John had been preaching and teaching in the wilderness, outside the villages and towns. He made no mistake about moving into public view. He knew he was chosen to open Jesus’ ministry. His sect believed in full immersion and baptism of infants and for repentance as adults. (Edna Miriam noted: Build the full picture.)
John was “the voice of one crying in the wilderness.” The wilderness represents mental confusion. So many people live in a personal wilderness of thoughts, emotion and imagination. The world today is a jungle of confused ideas. Some John the Baptist-type preacher, teacher, leader, book, or friend is always arising to awaken and arouse the sleepers to the first Rebirth in consciousness. To come to full consciousness of life invokes Power.
Water is a symbol of purity, and represents emotions. Water is fluid, flexible and malleable. It is also a name for Spirit as the flexible, flowing “spiritual waters.” Universal Spirit melts the ice of opinions and prejudices. It seeps into every cell of the body to purify, cleanse and take on new form, or to melt, dissolve, replace and repair the old form if needed. So Baptism by Water is a symbol of needed cleansing of mind, heart, body and affairs. It is the first important step after Rebirth.
The second important step is Baptism by Fire. Fire represents the consuming flame of the Spirit, a higher form of substance than water. It releases more energy, and is hot. Temperature covers a continuum ranging from the cold of outer space [2-3 degrees Kelvin] to the white point of heat in a blue white O-type star [30,000-52,000 degrees Kelvin]. Fire melts ice and vaporizes water into steam, physically and metaphysically.
Soul ascends through the four elements of earth, water, air and fire under Rebirth and the Baptisms by Water and Fire, to reach the three Emanations of Light—Wisdom, Love and Selflessness, the Logos. The Holy Spirit is the white point of heat. All high trinities descend into the elements of fire, air, earth and water, physically and metaphysically.
Rebirth and the Baptisms by Water and Fire are ways of saying that you must and do ascend in consciousness to become Light and life in your expression of love. You move from asking who and where to how and when. Plant your feet solidly on earth, become flexible as water, breathe air as inspiration and burn your dross of self by fire.
As the head of the process of Ascension, Jesus led creatively. He never tore down anything good, but invoked Light as Power to conquer evil. He stood on principle firmly, holding fast to God and knowing truth. John taught that the way to heaven is to repent. Repentance consists in regret and remorse, then contrition and penitence. Thus, you become conscious of the need for Baptism by Water.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines repentance in botanical terms, as something creeping, crawling, and growing along just under the surface of the ground. When you repent, you become conscious of things creeping around in your subconscious mind. You find this idea in these verses about Baptism by Water: “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”–Romans 6:3-4. In other words, as Jesus was raised from the dead, so shall you be raised to new life, eventually.
“When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”–Acts 2:1-4.
The flames of the Holy Spirit were the highest vibration of Light as life that had come to earth. Holy Spirit is always the highest vibration that manifests. It melts crystallization in the mental body lotus centers, and lifts the veils of illusion, which are belts of Light between each level of consciousness. Thus, Spirit dissolves old “human nature” to free it. The crystallized twins of selfishness and blame walk hand in hand. So, under the Baptisms by Water and Fire, you move through the wilderness of blame and finally arrive at the Promised Land, and enter the Holy City.
The Water and the Fire
Edna Lister transcript, June 16, 1963, Cleveland, OH. Ruth Johnson, Lotus Landis, Irene White, scribes. Matthew 3:1-3,11-17, Romans 6:3-4, Acts 2:1-4.
“In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.”–Matthew 3:1-3.
“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”–Matthew 3:11-17.
“Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”–Romans 6:3-4.
“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”–Acts 2:1-4.
You need to know so much than the words on the page before you can understand the Bible. Matthew describes the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, and how his teachings on love brought evil into the open. Jesus began his ministry during a time of bitter conflict. The Roman Empire had been crushing its provinces economically with taxes for decades. Pontius Pilate and his Roman Centuries had to produce greater tax revenues for Rome annually.
The Jews in Judea hated Rome. They resented their enslaved position since Pompey Magnus had desecrated their temple. Herod, whose family Rome had authorized to rule Judea, hated being subservient to Pilate. Behind his back Herod sent emissaries to Rome to plead for help and to better his own position with Caesar.
Then came John, who had been preaching repentance to the common people in the rural areas, but had not entered the public eye before he baptized Jesus. John headed a sect that prophesied that the end was near, because they believed the Messiah was coming. When John saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he called them a brood of vipers. Both sects had trained in law at their level, believed their opinions about law were right, and defended their religion with all their souls. The Pharisees held to the most rigid interpretation of Jewish laws regarding piety.
The Sadducees, who dominated the temple priesthood, insisted that Jewish religious life was centered in the temple at Jerusalem. They persecuted less observant Jews and the poor people, demanding that each should live and act in their image and likeness of righteousness. Yet the Sadducees had added so many small laws to the Talmud that no one could keep them all without becoming a master of their law. They made laws to explain Mosaic laws, and had multiplied the entire body of their oral and written law. We do the same today in our courts and justice system.
Then John the Baptist came, crying, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”–Matthew 3:11-12.
The Sadducees and Pharisees feared that John’s message would arouse the people into Messianic fervor again because it gave them hope. John challenged the Sadducees, who feared another uprising among the poor people. They then plotted privately for another three years. John helped Jesus to open his ministry with a bang, as a challenge to evil, to “burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” His teachings on love brought the hidden treachery into the open. The fan in Jesus’ hand was law. This is the background of the conflict that Jesus entered as a catalyst, like being squeezed between the angered members of a family. He kept the Sadducees’ laws, but since they lived outside God’s pure law, they misused the Wisdom principle as opinion and the Love principle as soul substance.
Jesus came from Galilee to be baptized by John at the Jordan River, but John, who was his cousin, knew about his mission. He said he could not, but Jesus replied, “Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.”–Matthew 3:15. A lesser man “suffers” when he so initiates a high one. John obeyed because he knew they must fulfill law. Then John baptized him, as he did all whom he had converted to repentance.
As Jesus emerged from the water, exaltation came: “The heavens were opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him.”–Matthew 3:16. Some people must have heard the Voice of God saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved, in whom I am well pleased.”–Matthew 3:17. Imagine the awe, the ecstasy at this revelation.
The first step of initiation is always a rebirth. You walk with the twins, blame and selfishness, until your rebirth. Life always informs you when it comes. The second step is to submit to spiritual discipline to be cleansed and purified for the Power to use. Baptism by Water symbolizes the purifying, clarifying Power of God, and the emotions. Spiritual waters represent three levels of cleansing, emotional, spiritual and cleansing Power for the world. Spiritual waters seep through every cell in the body to cushion and feed it. Water is fluid and flexible and must be contained to be useful, or it is destructive. You must give water a sheath or form to do its necessary work of purifying mind, thinking and emotions.
The percentage of body water is about 60 to 65% in men and 50 to 60% in women. Eighty-five percent of your brain is water, which creates the electrical potential shared by your neurons and neurotransmitters. The body’s water is carried by the lymph system, and you must feed it enough fluids to let it maintain its cleansing system. Illness results when lymph becomes too thick. Sufficient water enables your brain to think.
Your conscious mind is a recording system. You cannot repress the subconscious and sit in an overstuffed chair mentally. Instead, recognize its drivel and lift it to the Father. The subconscious mind does not bother you when you engage it in constructive action. You can experience a much better silence doing dishes, vacuuming, or working than if you sit in a chair.
The Baptism by Fire begins as you emerge from the spiritual waters, and divine fire descends to burn out the dross. Fire is higher in vibration than water because it is nearer to the Source. Under a Baptism by Fire, you ascend to the Emanations of Light—Wisdom, Love and Energy, which form the River of Life flowing through the universes. The Emanations are ready to fulfill your needs and become whatever you declare. Life sparks are the primordial unit of life substance.
A handful of air holds as much life as the Emanations that form the River of Life containing all that is. Its quantity is not great, but its quality counts. Conscious mind must activate an unconscious faith, for faith must be conscious. This is the meaning of “the three falls into the four.” Do not lose your contact with God. Plant your feet firmly on earth and hold onto your rod of Power. Stand, and reach up in consciousness.
Part of the River of Life is always flowing home, and you stand in its spiritual waters, which must immerse you constantly, as though you were a screen moving in water. Unless you are fluid and flexible as the water runs through your screen, you push 14.7 pounds per square inch of resistance ahead of you, and feel heavy. You feel differently when spiritual waters immerse you constantly as you reach for the stars.
Aging is nothing more than a drought of spiritual and physical waters, and you need at least three quarts a day for health. You either are open to the River of Life, or you age quickly. When you blame, criticize or use idle words, you have left the spiritual waters behind. Grab subconscious negativity as chaff to burn in the fires of love, and stand with the fire moving through you. Let God’s Breath of Life inspire you. Use the four elements, earth, air, fire and water to tie your earth to heaven.
John came, saying, “Repent for the kingdom is at hand.” Repentance has four stages, regret, remorse, contrition and penitence. Before you can repent, you must know about what you need to turn from. Someone must tell you: Repent of the creeping, crawling things under the surface, misused law, opinions and prejudices.
Jesus taught us who we are, why we are here, where we are going, and how to do it. Sooner or later, you discover you have misused law. You have been like a Sadducee instead of as Jesus. You cannot turn off the “how” of it. For example, you feel “heavy” after a Sunday dinner. You feel “blue” on Monday. If you turn the fire beneath you up to the boiling point, you are young, free, alive, inspired and illumined. Declarations, affirmations and positive statements are not enough if you do not have any life.
“Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”–Romans 6:3-4. You must die in Christ to be renewed, to have new life. New life is spiritual substance, like water or fire, which you can form into any mold you desire. You die a little death whenever you give up self in the spirit of forgiveness, to be baptized in water and fire. Unless you are baptized in Christ, new life could not resurrect you.
When you work to live like Jesus the Christ, it brings death to the old, the little self. Conquering grudges and selfishness is hard, and you must work at it. To be resurrected into new life, to climb in ascension, to know what you have discarded of self is a glory. Anyone can change, be reborn, and Light can heal him. Spread a spiritual feast table for your loved ones, and God will fill it. Tell each how wonderful he is, to make him happy. Spread a table of love before your worst favorites or one who hates you.
“When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.”–Acts 2:1-2. Imagine what Jesus’ disciples, apostles and followers had been through when the Pentecost came. Think of the healing, miracles, disappearances and appearances they had seen.
Right up to the cross, they thought he would perform a miracle before the world and reveal himself as Messiah. They expected him to prove himself for their exaltation. In their grief, they thought they had lost him, and they forgot his teachings within forty days. The disciples had been scattered and confused since Jesus’ death, but now they gathered as one again. A mighty wind from heaven filled the house till it shook, the room whirled. The flames of the Holy Spirit descended as the white wings of the Christ.
The Father wants you to witness this too, but first you must know spiritual laws to be conscious of Power using you every minute of every day. Power uses you as the Holy Spirit and white Light of the Christ and you can witness cloven tongues of fire. You must know you have made room for the Holy Spirit. Let the purifying waters and fires of the Holy Spirit fill your aura and form a sheath around all who come your way. This can happen when you walk earth loving God enough.
The Cross
Edna Lister outline, June 23, 1963, Cleveland, OH. Hebrews 12:1-15, Matthew 10:38.
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children: My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.”–Hebrews 12:1-15.
“He that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.”–Matthew 10:38.
All history points to one fact: Civilization everywhere has, to some extent, a fear of God and a fear of darkness. From the earliest times, man has been afraid of God. The Eskimos believed that God was angry when winter came, and prayed all winter long for Him to set aside His anger. When spring arrived, they believed God had answered their prayers. The cross has always been a religious symbol, even before Christ. To early Christians and to many even now, the cross means “sorrow, a burden, sacrifice, or retribution.” The cross really symbolizes the Way of the Holy Spirit. It is also represents a ladder to heaven, which you build, rung by rung, through sacrifice and discipline of self. So, to them who are willful and stubborn in opinions and prejudices, it means a daily crucifixion, to take up the cross of self each day, and “follow me.” When people are opinionated and stubborn, the cross and self mean the same thing.
Chastening self means to subdue, refine or correct the self through suffering. As you take up the cross of self, it follows that you must discipline, subdue, refine and correct the self, which causes the self to suffer. To make all experience into a ladder of Ascension automatically places you on your path of destiny, on your own chord of life, into your own rhythm. Taking up your cross involves six steps of awareness, recognition, acceptance, surrender, obedience and faithfulness.
First you become aware of God and of your ability to choose. You may also become aware of something greater than self and not choose. Then you must recognize this new thing as belonging to you. Then you must accept it as your identity with God. Once you have accepted God and your identity with Him as His son or daughter, you must surrender to His Power to be used by it. Then you need enough devotion to be obedient to His commands, and faithfulness through love enough.
“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.”–Hebrews 12:2-3. Jesus is the author and finisher of your faith. When you become aware of your Source, you endure the cross, despising the shame. Of what are you ashamed? You feel the shame of your failure to follow when you forget, the shame of fainting in your mind, of growing weary. “Despising the shame” means ignoring it and lifting. The “contradiction of sinners” has multiple meanings, beginning with gossip and idle words.
“Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children: My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.”–Hebrews 12:4-8. To “resist unto blood” requires burning desire. The law chastens you to subdue self, to change, and finally to conquer the little self. Bastards are unwanted, unclaimed, counterfeit. Having no identity with God, they are not in the right place, but always an outsider.
If you chasten yourself, you lift up your cross, and God has no need to chasten you. When you identify yourself with the Source, you may not hold any bitterness, or defile anyone with your grimness or peevishness. Disciplining the self, which is chastening, is hard. It seems grievous and it hurts. Yet you do lift up your hands, which hang down. You do strengthen your feeble knees. You do not turn from your path because it is hard. You declare, you decree a healing. To conquer the self is a glory. Stand at the banker’s window of life to collect your share of God’s inheritance. Recognize that what you gave up was an old, outgrown paradise. Every old paradise eventually contracts and pinches everywhere. You outgrow last year’s hats, dresses, suits, coats and shoes. Last year’s beautiful is this year’s shabby.
“To conquer the self is a glory.”
A new paradise opens, and you find all good waiting there. Who can separate you from your own? Who can conquer you? Who can subtract from you? Through awareness, recognition, acceptance, surrender, obedience and faithfulness, you have chastened self, made a ladder of ascension of experience and added all of heaven to your earth. You stand in a new paradise of God’s glory.
The Cross
Edna Lister transcript, June 23, 1963, Cleveland, OH. Ruth Johnson, Lotus Landis, Irene White, scribes. Hebrews 12:1-15, Matthew 10:38.
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children: My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.”–Hebrews 12:1-15.
“He that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.”–Matthew 10:38.
All history points to one fact: Civilization everywhere has, to some extent, a fear of God and a fear of darkness. From the earliest times, man has been afraid of God. The Eskimos believed that God was angry when winter came, and prayed all winter long for Him to set aside His anger. When spring arrived, they believed God had answered their prayers.
Something of that attitude remains today among many people. For example, Spanish-speaking people say, “Via con Dios, Go with God,” which really means you must ascend. This fear has a universal reason, a cosmic reason. A vast time elapsed between the first and second verses of Genesis. The span of the cycle of a great Day of Manifestation is too great for finite minds to comprehend, seven times forty-nine times forty-two billion years, a mystical number.
We are closing out a lesser cycle now, preparing to enter a lesser Night of Rest and Assimilation, when all supernal Light is withdrawn from the planets. The heat of this Day’s suns will not be withdrawn, but nature, all life will fall into a deep sleep. Only those who have taken up the cross will remain aware during the withdrawing of Light. Finally, Light will awaken them. Thus the cross became the symbol of Crucifixion because of a memory of fear of losing the Light.
“Cross” means “crucifixion, to cross over a bridge, or an obstacle.” So we say, “he has crossed over,” when a person passes to the other side. “It crossed my mind” means you thought of something briefly. To cross means that something occurred “to thwart, to be peevish, to be contrary, to be ill-natured, out of humor, of irritable disposition.” The prefix dis means “out of place.” Disposition means one is out of place, or off the path of destiny. The cross has always been a religious symbol, even before Christ. To early Christians and to many even now, the cross means “sorrow, a burden, sacrifice, or retribution.” The cross really means the Way of the Holy Spirit. It is also symbolic of a ladder to heaven that you build, rung by rung, through sacrifice and discipline of self. So, to them who are willful and stubborn in opinions and prejudices, it means a daily Crucifixion, to take up the cross of self each day, and “follow me.” When people are opinionated and stubborn, the cross and self mean the same thing.
A ladder, stairs or an escalator, all are symbols of this Path of Ascension. Declare, “Now is my ascending escalator.” When you dream of climbing a ladder, it symbolizes taking up your cross and following him. If you dream of a broken stairway, it means breaking the process of giving up self, so you may step through and fall to the bottom. The stairway or ladder of Ascension is solid only if your giving up of self is lavish and free. Dreaming of broken stairs prompts fear to raise its head. Fear is nothing more than memory impressions of the past. For example, many have an instinctive fear of change. Some fear to take a new step in life. It is even hard to move to another house or city. When you live through a period of lifting fear of change, you are lifting not only for yourself, but for the whole world. When you look to the self, filled with bitterness, you move down under the cross of pain.
“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord.”–Proverbs 3:11. If you chasten yourself, you lift up your cross and God has no need to chasten you. It is hard to discipline or chasten self, it is grievous, it hurts, but you do lift up your hands which hang down. You do straighten your feeble knees. Do not turn from the path because it is hard. It's easy to declare a healing when you know that conquering self is a glory!
“It's easy to declare a healing when you know that conquering self is a glory!”
Chastening self is to subdue, refine or correct the self through suffering. As you take up the cross of self, it follows that you must discipline, subdue, refine and correct the self through suffering, to make all experience into a ladder of Ascension. This automatically places you on your path of destiny, on your own chord of life, into your own rhythm.Taking up your cross involves six steps of awareness, recognition, acceptance, surrender, obedience and faithfulness. To begin, the creature in human form experiences instinctive emotions. Then he becomes aware of a God of Light and mercy, that he is more than just a body, then of his ability to choose, and to make his own heaven.
During the pause between the shock of awareness and subsequent action, you must recognize this “me” as the little self, and let this awareness of the first glimmering of your identity as a son or daughter of God take charge. Too often people do not accept their true identity, because it seems too hard, too much responsibility. However, unless you ascend into complete acceptance of your identity with God, loving God first, you do not remain on the path.
You must lavishly accept to lift self into soul, and be devoted to surrender to be used by the Light. How great is your surrender to be used by the Light? God created you for His Light as Power to use. Remember, “I don’t do the work. God does.” Ask yourself, “Am I really accepting my responsibility and surrendering all self?” You must be obedient, faithful and loving enough to be a responsible ensample of truth. Being faithful is easy, after you start.
Jesus is the beginning and the end of your strong foundation of faith, the author and finisher of your faith. Surrender in obedience to his commands. “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame.”–Hebrews 12:2. To “despise,” in this case, means to ignore. You endure the shame of your failure to follow when you forget, the shame of growing weary, despairing, and ignoring your responsibility for lifting.
Jesus left the mandate, “Ask in my name,” which gave him perfect joy despite the cross. It was the Father’s gift to compensate for the cross, to let him know that he would lift all life through the Gates of Light and save earth. You can look at an ill person, see Jesus’ face and form, and that perfection can manifest. If you keep building your steps, the rungs in your ladder of ascension, you can take up your bed and walk. Speak the Word in his name, believing, and you shall have it.
They ridiculed Jesus, and he endured the hostility of sinners. Everyone has experienced ridicule and hostility from others. “For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.”–Hebrews 12:3. We have all been weak sisters at some time. For instance, you pray for abundance then wonder if it will come, which crosses out your prayer.
“Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.”–Hebrews 12:4. This verse rebukes their lack of burning desire. “And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him.”–Hebrews 12:5. The law chastens you to subdue self, to change and finally to conquer the little me.
You find the way to carry the cross through suffering. The very idea of suffering when you pick up your cross is exquisitely agonizing to soul because the little self is in pain when it surrenders. Never forget that subconscious opinions and prejudices block prayer.
“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”–Hebrews 12:6. Law tempts and tests you to see if you really have surrendered and been obedient. You challenge God when you say, “I will never do that again,” and are scourged through the testing of your words.
“But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.”–Hebrews 12:8-10. Bastards are counterfeits. When you become a son of God, then return to arrogance, you fall on your face and become illegitimate.
“Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”–Hebrews 12:11. Be joyous. The first chastening of self never seems joyful. When the Holy Spirit moves in, it hurts, like an arm or a leg falling asleep. Later, if you keep your aura expanded about you, the Holy Spirit will lift you until you will walk lightly as a feather.
Do not let the world enter through the holes you’ve poked in your armor by succumbing to cross vibrations. Let your joy be so great that you forget the pain. When you identify yourself with the Source, you do not have a “root of bitterness,” or defile anyone with your grimness and peevishness.
Compliment one whom you criticize in your heart, and your ill thoughts will make no impression. Otherwise, your blame contaminates their vibration and destroys joy. Keep the path straight before you, and walk the straight and narrow. Stand at the banker’s window of life to collect your share of God’s inheritance. Stand before God’s teller counter to receive His bounty.
What are you doing with your share of the
Expand your paradise through surrender of self and love of God. See that what you gave up was old, outgrown. Every old paradise contracts and pinches. You outgrow last year’s hats, last year’s dresses, last year’s beauties, last year’s shabbiness. A new paradise opens, and you find all good waiting for you, for who can separate you from your own? Who can conquer you? Who can subtract from you? Every past good is carried forward to add to the shining and new.
Through self-awareness, recognition, acceptance, surrender, obedience and faithfulness, you chasten self, make experience a ladder of ascension and add all heaven to your earth. Pick up your little self and follow the Light. You stand in a paradise as God’s glory.
The Crown of Roses
Edna Lister outline, June 30, 1963, Cleveland, OH; July 28, 1963, Buffalo, NY. James 1:2-17.
“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”–James 1:2-17.
A rose in bloom is beautiful. It appears fresh and velvety and unfolds with no apparent effort nor work, unlike a lily, which must work. Yet, a rose is subject to drought, heat and blight, and can be disfigured, or grafted upon from the outside. he rose is a symbol for happiness. We call being in a good place, landing in a “bed of roses.” Being optimistic is having a “rosy outlook,”being “sanguine” and cheerful.
A red rose symbolizes beauty, as a woman who is beautiful, and a white rose represents innocence or purity. The rose symbolizes the effort of growth. For example, the “rose of Jericho,” also called the resurrection plant, has dried fronds that unfold under moisture, and dries up again without water. In the ancient mysteries, the rose represented the soul. In one mystic ritual, called the Burning of the Rose, they burned a rose to symbolize the treachery that causes a soul to regress.
The Master’s own symbol of the Oversoul is a rose and a cross, which represents resurrection. The rose and crown symbolize ascension. Today we are speaking of the rose as the crown, as the flower of the soul.
In the Orient, the Hindus use the lotus as the symbol of the mental body centers. At birth, the crown lotus is a tight bud, slowly opening in seven-years cycles, until it is full blown in the third cycle, at twenty-one years of age. Usually the eight petals on the left side are open at birth as the love faculty of intuition. Children seem just to “know” and see and hear spiritually. During the second cycle, from age seven through fourteen, the wisdom faculty petals of illumination open on the right side, as the child is gaining knowledge. Under training and discipline of the self, the youth maintains the balance between love and wisdom, intuition and illumination. Then the left eight petals remain open. If the soul falls into self-centered will, the lotus petals gradually close until the soul loses its heavenly contact.
In this first chapter of his Epistle, James, clearly states two things, How Not to Do It, and How to Do It. Listening, and accepting as you heed and obey, leads you to ask Who and what am I? The adult who challenges the Supreme Being to show Himself manages to disprove every atheistic and agnostic statement. You can spend your whole life seeking through reading, listening, teaching, discarding, and accepting truth. Everyone seeks his identity. “I am John Henry. I am integrated with my family, school, or job.” Or you can say, “I am one with God.” But what am I? You discover what by experiment and expression. A child seeks security, yet challenges authority, disobeys and is disciplined. Thus, a child learns to know external authority.
“He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”–James 1:7-8. You learn two outstanding lessons under How Not to Do It—no wavering or double-mindedness. Wavering people are as waves of the sea, driven as the wind blows. Darkness thrives on wavering, lukewarmness, indifference and thinking, “What’s the use?” Darkness is always waiting to lap up the Power that may be leaking through your aura. Every waver cuts your vibration, and you must do all the work again as the Power oozes away and scatters. The Power must condense in one place, in your mold, to become an “added thing.”
You must be steadfast to establish your identity with God. To do so, you must stand still and know that you are always in contact with the Source. Double-mindedness is a belief in God and or belief in man’s laws alone. You believe that God can work, or you believe man’s ideas that God cannot. When stable, you know that God's possibles outweigh man’s impossibles. When you lack identity with God, your instability affects everything. We call this process doubts and fears, which subtract from your identity with the Source. You learn who you are by seeking and finding God. Learning what you are teaches you how to do it.
“You learn who you are by seeking and finding God.”
“Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life.”–James 1:12. First, you must ask of God in faith. You must endure temptation while remaining loving in your attitude. Then, your reward will the crown of life, the crown lotus center’s sixteen lotus petals fully opened.
“Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.”–James 1:13-14. Remember, God never tempts you. God cannot be tempted, neither does He tempt man. Man tempts himself. Every time you hear of a new law to obey, it sets up an inner conflict until you conquer in joy. Joy is your liberty and your freedom.
“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”–James 1:2-3. To “count it all joy” when you fall into temptation permits no self-indulgence. Love of God is the only common denominator. Leave others alone in their right to choose. Live and let live.
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”–James 1:2-17. In God you find “no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” If you accept your identity with God as your Source of life, His closeness, His goodness, then get up and make the effort to move, to do, and to be.
Stop just thinking about it. Feel alive, strong and rejoice. God must get there first and leave last. In all these things, we are more than conquerors. To be a conqueror is to know what you are. You know the Power meets everything, all situations in graciousness, in love, and in compassion. You know that you can give in loveliness when unexpected things happen.
You know that you are not loved in spite of, but because. God is always ready to get there first. Soul conquering is an ecstasy, a rapture, a glory no words can paint. You are crowned with life, and your rose has opened. You are immortal now.
The Crown of Roses
Edna Lister transcript, June 30, 1963, Cleveland, OH. Ruth Johnson, Irene White, Virginia Whitehead, scribes. James 1:2-17.
“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”–James 1:2-17.
The title of this sermon should have been “The Rose as the Crown.” The Gospels mention only the lily, yet the rose’s flowering beauty is something great, completely untouched, perfect in grace, color and fragrance. We enjoy the perfection and beauty of roses. Fresh and velvety, the rose appears to be gorgeous with no effort. Yet, behind this beauty is hard work, the effort of roots invoking magnetic currents to put forth leaves, form the bud and open the rose, all in complete stillness and silence. You are like the rose, for you stand as the total of your service to this moment.
A rose is part of the same Creation you are—Light. Heat, rain, hail, insects and delay may work to keep the rose from achieving perfection, but it continues growing. A rose has no power to ward off blight, but you do. You can choose instantly to declare, “Let the Power change this,” when you show blight. The rose is unconsciously intelligent, an individual is consciously so, which allows you to set your own keynote, choose your own path. Moreover, you also have the tools of desire, thinking and imagination. The rose is the Master’s symbol, also the symbol of a soul that is sanguine or optimistic. A red rose symbolizes beauty, and white stands for innocence and purity. The rose is also a symbol for happiness. We are all familiar with the phrases, such as “a bed of roses” and “a rosy outlook.” We associate the rose with optimism, cheerfulness and a sanguine disposition.
The red rose symbolizes beauty and the beautiful. The white rose represents innocence. The rose of Jericho is the Resurrection flower, whose fronds dry out, but become green again when watered. A rose cannot be resurrected, but an individual can. No matter how old, you can return to beauty and youth. All you need to do is enter that timeless infinite place where God’s work always goes on, with no interference. Every soul born on earth has an atomic body, symbolized by a rose in the West, and as a sixteen-petal lotus in the East, where they believe a lotus unfolds at the crown. A rose unfolds petal by petal, which process teachers have used to show that the student cannot conquer from the outside by tearing open one petal at a time. Light will cause you to grow, but with no forcing. The petals open as the Power of God descends through the individual’s flaming desire to identify with God.
Eight lotus petals of intuition open during the first seven years of every soul’s earth life. Eight lotus petals of illumination open on the right side during the second cycle to age fourteen. The child seeks discipline just as you do, to prove God is. Western mystics call this the “awakening of the rose.” It is important, both symbolically and factually as soul growth, and includes identifying yourself with God.
A naughty child seeks identity with authority just as does the adult atheist who challenges God. Children seek security in their parents’ firm and loving expression. Petals open under love of God, burning desire to have more of God, burning desire for oneness with God. You must pass through initiations, and conquer. If you refuse, that petal does not open.
“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”–James 1:5-8. This text provides a list of how to and how not to do it. Get rid of doubts and fears. Learn who and what the Christ consciousness of “I AM” is. You remain the plaything of fate when you do not know whom and what you are.
A wavering man is prey to doubt, fear, lukewarmness and the world’s evils waiting to lap him up when negativity oozes through his aura. Stand steadfastly stable, then “having done all, stand!” Do not let your imagination build the wrong pictures. “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”–James 1:8. Some say, “If my family or my boss was stable, I’d be stable.” Blame adds to the instability. Ask in full faith, but ask believing. Be persuaded in your heart and imagination that God will answer you.
To stand and endure does not mean that you bang your head against a stone wall. It is your choice. A closed mind is just another stone banging the wall. You just do not believe. Some people would rather lose their body than admit they are wrong. They cringe from truth and with every word you utter, they fold in tight, until no Power or Light can get through. If another slaps your cheek, turn the other, for you need the lesson, to remember. Whenever you grasp a new law, an inner conflict upsets the little self. When you declare that God has not answered, you fall. This is wavering. Stand and wait upon the Lord when you make a declaration.
You each have a personal identity with God, and know how much or little you love Him. If you do not know who and what you are, you become a victim of blight. Unconsciously, you take advantage of the fact that God must take you back, though you do not always return in the same class.
“For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.”–James 1:11. Like the rose of Jericho you may become dry and brown. Yet when you lift your arms in love, God’s moisture refreshes your rose again.
“Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.”–James 1:12. Endurance means to stand until God has a chance to set things right. Do not interfere with God. Let Him do it.
“Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.”–James 1:14. God never tempts you. You tempt yourself by holding on to foolish things. If God is important in your life, get to it. God always gets there first. You entice yourself and fall into diverse temptation when you hold onto the mud. Love God enough, and you do see only the love of God during every test, not darkness. God shows you what you are through these tests. If your heart is clean enough, you have only compassion for the other fellow. Be joyful. If God is all Light, Power, glory, life, and love, do not be afraid that anyone can take anything from you. The Father of Lights admits no shadow of turning.
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”–James 1:17. When you know who and what you are, you know God has designed your great equipment for use in His service. You identify with Him in every step, emotion, thought and picture of imagination. When you doubt and fear, or use the “not"-word, you create negative molds and increase your insecurity.
God is everything. When you let in the “not,” you puncture your prayer molds, substance leaks out, and you must gather it up again. Declare it good. Say, “I am in the right place at the right time. What am I going to put into this place, now that I am here?” You must face situations that you hate and fear until you learn the lesson.
Gird your loins, and grow where you are, like the rose. The rose’s bloom must grow from within; no one hangs it there overnight, like an ornament. Be unwavering. Declare that every adversary is a son of God, and he will become what you declare. You must conquer someday, so why not do it now? Let the better person in you get there first. Who am I? I am part of God. What you are is who you are.
God says, “Prove Me now,” where you are, in whatever situation you find yourself. When you prove God, you have your reward, the crown of life, the open rose or thousand-petaled lotus. “A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before great men.”–Proverbs 18:16. Stand firmly on principle. Keep increasing your gift of standing. Let what you are equal who you are.
“Father, You have sent us here with great potentials. We seek to become the laws of love, joy and obedience that we may serve where we are and earn our way. The greatness of our gift is to be able to stand, to be where we are, facing the Light.”
The Crown of Thorns
Edna Lister outline, July 7, 1963, Cleveland, OH. Revelation 3:11, Joshua 1:1-7, 12, 3:14-17, 5:13-15, 6:1-16.
“Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in. And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour. And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him. And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said unto them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord. And he said unto the people, Pass on, and compass the city, and let him that is armed pass on before the ark of the Lord. And it came to pass, when Joshua had spoken unto the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns passed on before the Lord, and blew with the trumpets: and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them. And the armed men went before the priests that blew with the trumpets, and the rereward came after the ark, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets. And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then shall ye shout. So the ark of the Lord compassed the city, going about it once: and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp. And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. And seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord went on continually, and blew with the trumpets: and the armed men went before them; but the rereward came after the ark of the Lord, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets. And the second day they compassed the city once, and returned into the camp: so they did six days. And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times: only on that day they compassed the city seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the Lord hath given you the city.”– Joshua 6:1-16.
The story of Joshua succeeding Moses, leading the tribes across the Jordan River into the Promised Land, and taking the walled city of Jericho illustrates four great steps to God. From the degrees of Rebirth to Ascension, they are promise, preparation, protection and obedience. The story of how Joshua took over as leader of the children of Israel begins with God’s promises. “Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you.”–Joshua 1:3. “As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”–Joshua 1:5.
“The waters [of the Jordan River] which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho. And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.”–Joshua 3:16-17. God caused the miracle of crossing the Jordan to build their faith in preparation for taking the walled city of Jericho.
“And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant? And the captain of the Lord’s host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.”–Joshua 5:13-15. Later, to prove God’s protection of them, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joshua, telling him to remove his shoes because where he stood was holy ground.
“And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho.”–Joshua 6:2. The Lord then told Joshua that He had given them Jericho, and what Israel must do to cause the walls of Jericho to fall. The promise is that every foot of ground you conquer is yours. If you are strong and courageous, you shall prosper. God will be with you as He was with Joshua and Moses. Follow straight on the path, turning neither right nor left.
During the preparation, Joshua took charge and commanded the officers of the tribes. The twelve tribes represent the twelve endocrine glands and plexus centers. He ordered them to prepare food, for in three days they would cross the Jordan River. Then Joshua spoke to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, ordering them to leave their wives and children to go ahead of the other tribes and help them conquer. They all promised to follow and do as ordered.
Joshua represents the Oversoul’s Christed “I AM” consciousness. Manasseh represents the rational soul. Joshua, the Oversoul, spoke in terms of law to the conscious mind. Reuben was Jacob and Leah’s oldest son, and saved Joseph’s life. As the eldest brother, he represents logic and reason. Gad represents the flexibility to change with no crystallization.
People make or receive promises for a reason. What is being promised? Credits? Rewards? Those who say, “I don’t want credits,” or “I’m not here for the loaves and fishes,” are not noble, but are repudiating personal responsibility. You can interpret this in many ways. The loaves and fishes represent substance and love. If you are in it for the joy and beauty of ascension, how can you advance without a promotion? God does not let you through the gates of Light because you feel noble. You must work to advance.
Israel’s protection was the covenant of the bris, circumcision. God’s first covenant was with Abraham (Genesis 17:11), when He ordered the circumcision of every male child at eight days after birth. The second covenant with the Israelites was immediately after they crossed the Jordan River. They were ordered to circumcise every male who had not received circumcision in the wilderness (Joshua 5:1-9). The River Jordan represents the
Joshua called on the tribes to elect a man, one from each tribe, to follow the priests and to stand in the river as they bore the ark of the covenant into the Promised Land. These men and the priests stood in the river, which parted and remained dry until the tribes had crossed dry-shod. In the human body, the ark of the covenant is in the head, which is also called the golden bowl (Ecclesiastes 12:6). Each of the twelve powers in man, represented by the endocrine glands and plexus centers, serves to support the head. If you are deficient in a gland or plexus center, your head is unsupported in that area, and you experience weakness and pain.
When you raise your hands in prayer you support the ark, and you can win against all odds (Genesis 17). The water may stand still, as when Israel crossed the Jordan, and the sun may stand still as it did for Israel (Joshua 10:12-14). Pray for Light from above to cross over situations and problems. You may also take all things for all your needs from the River of Life.
Jericho is the first city in the Promised Land, and it represents faith in God. You must deliver every part of your self in surrender. God provided His final high protection while Israel stood in front of Jericho. This represents the high throne, the high altar, spiritual seeing, knowing, hearing, and comprehending. An angel of the Lord appears and you remove your shoes, for this is holy ground. Start where you are in crossing the River of Life, the Jordan River, from the fate line to your
Obedience is the final step. Unless you obey, you hit a hard wall of your own willfulness, rebellion, opinions and prejudices. Jericho’s walls must fall! Marching six times around the walled city represents creative power, and building up a high vibration. Seven times seven equals forty-nine, the number of times you must forgive an offense. Obedience leads into forgiveness which loosens the wall. Your shouts are your spoken words, which cause the wall to fall. Now you need more obedience, more forgiveness and more compassion.
What is your crown of thorns? A device for deflating a big head, a swelled head. This is true, but it is more. The head is the golden bowl, the ark of the covenant that holds the thousand-petaled lotus, one thousand lights, each representing one burnt offering. A day of sacrificing one thing of self. The thorns represent a thousand “candle snuffers” that put out a light. The crown of thorns represents ridicule, contempt, mockery, insults and offenses from the outside. If you believe you have outer enemies, a thorn pierces a petal juncture and snuffs its light, if you allow it. Or you may let the self douse your light through self-condemnation, feeling guilty and blaming self. “I’m not worthy,” and feeling regret pokes another thorn, and rips open another petal.
One thousand burnt offerings represent a thousand sacrifices of self to open a thousand lotus petals, a thousand rays of repulsion to protect the ark from evil and destroy darkness. Looking back leaves you vulnerable and defenseless. Faith carries you into the Promised Land. Obedience gains the crown of life you earn. Forgiveness, having no enemies, holds all your gains. Instead of thorns, you earn a thousandfold stronger crown of lights.
The Crown of Thorns
Edna Lister transcript, July 7, 1963, Cleveland, OH. Ruth Johnson, Irene White, scribes. Revelation 3:11, Joshua 1:1-7, 12, 3:14-17, 5:13-15, 6:1-16.
“Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in. And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour. And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him. And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said unto them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord. And he said unto the people, Pass on, and compass the city, and let him that is armed pass on before the ark of the Lord. And it came to pass, when Joshua had spoken unto the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns passed on before the Lord, and blew with the trumpets: and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them. And the armed men went before the priests that blew with the trumpets, and the rereward came after the ark, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets. And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then shall ye shout. So the ark of the Lord compassed the city, going about it once: and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp. And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. And seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord went on continually, and blew with the trumpets: and the armed men went before them; but the rereward came after the ark of the Lord, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets. And the second day they compassed the city once, and returned into the camp: so they did six days. And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times: only on that day they compassed the city seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the Lord hath given you the city.– Joshua 6:1-16.
Moses was gone, and his assistant, Joshua, had to take charge. It is hard to fill a great man’s shoes. To have had a leader like Moses, then to take over, Joshua had to stand on law and represent God to the Israelites, who were troubled wanderers. Though they had wandered for forty years, they were still just people. In Joshua 1:3, the Lord told him, “Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given you, as I said to Moses.” God made a definite covenant with them. Then God told them exactly what to do.
“Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest.”–Joshua 1:7. The injunction to be strong and courageous is repeated in verses 6, 7 and 9. Joshua called the officers of the tribes and spoke “to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh” (Joshua 1:12). Why would he talk to two special tribes and one half of Manasseh? He told them to camp for three days and prepare food.
Joshua ordered twelve men, one from each tribe, to bear the ark and wait for his order to cross the river. He told the priests to wet their feet in the water. Everyone had to cross together after the priests wet their feet. The waters of the river parted, they crossed on dry ground, and came to Jericho. The man with the sword was the captain of the Hosts of the Lord, sent by God. Joshua did not stop to reason or rationalize about him. He recognized the angel of the Lord and fell on his face. After you have had a miracle, do you stop to rationalize and thus lose it?
Jericho had mighty walls. He told Joshua the ritual to follow around the walls for seven days. The law was not to shout, not to make a sound. It was an order. On the seventh time around on the seventh day, the Israelites probably looked like fools to the people in Jericho. By the third day of hearing those trumpets, finally they were frightened. When the walls fell, the people of Jericho must have been relieved that it was no worse. It was a miracle that the Israelites accepted Joshua’s orders.
What has this to do with us today? This story illustrates four great steps to God, from Rebirth to Ascension—promise, preparation, protection and obedience. Ascension is a level of spiritual knowing, of consciousness, an established comprehension of principle, coming up out of the world mind in consciousness, to where nothing can shake you. Ascension is the soul climbing to establish its identity with God, the Source.
Everyone needs the lure of a promise before they become interested enough to ascend. Some profess that they want nothing for their good works, yet to say that you do not want credits is senseless. Initiations gain you wisdom. Do not feel noble because you do not want credits. You receive a diploma, which is a credit, with every graduation.
The Bible is full of promises of rewards. You are free to choose whether you use the will of God for Him or to please yourself. The glory of knowing that God keeps His promises is a reward. How would God ever get any soul back without hooking us with promises? Yet you must earn His rewards. You have to wet your feet in the
Joshua chose twelve men from twelve tribes, which is important metaphysically. The tribes represent twelve gates of Jerusalem which you have in your own physical equipment, the first being your mouth. Twelve nerve plexus and gland centers of the physical body carry the ark, the golden bowl in the head, supported by the endocrine glands and nerve plexus centers.
It took all twelve men chosen to support the ark, which warns the student not to strengthen the pineal body and pituitary gland in the head at the expense of the other ten glands. The pineal body and pituitary gland must water the whole body, so you must take care of your outer physical vehicle with every aid God has given you. When spiritual Light descends through your head as the etheric currents, it meets the magnetic currents of the earth flowing up through the feet and creates an explosion of Light at the solar plexus, filling the entire body with Light. Thus, you dwell in the Temple of the Living God.
Joshua talked to the Reubenites, Gadites and half of Manasseh. Ruben, who was the eldest brother, represents logic and reason. Gad represents change, mutability, and flexibility with no crystallization. Manasseh represents the rational soul, the conscious mind. Joshua talked to the rational soul about everything that was to be done. He appealed to the conscious mind, the twelve men, for logic and reason, doing and obedience. He made them understand that they must be silent for the coming six days. Three days means a fixed period of time in which change can occur. Food, in this context, means feeding the physical, mental and emotional dimensions in preparation for perfect balance.
Jericho was the first city in the Promised Land. To take the first city or to complete the ascension, requires that all bodies, physical, desire, mental, and fire must have their twelve centers working in perfect rhythm and harmony. The Jordan River symbolizes the River of Life. Crossing the Jordan symbolizes stepping from fate to your
The tribes were commanded to march around Jericho’s walls six times, once a day for six days. Six is the number of creation, a double trinity, the length of time it takes to speak the Word and bring it to fulfillment. You may not talk during this period of time or your efforts will fail. Who wants to be loved in spite of his sins or failures? The Father of Wisdom and Mother of Love are ruling you. It takes the symbolic six days to break up your crystallization so the walls fall and you can ascend.
The transformative tone, the sound of the trumpets, enfolds you if you look up to God and give up the walls of opinion and prejudice that held you in bondage to self. Jericho represents the Oversoul, and Joshua symbolizes the Oversoul’s Christed “I AM” consciousness. This is the path of rewards you earn when you have circled the wall 36 times in silence while waiting upon the Lord. As you persevere, the people will love you ever more greatly because you are expressing God’s glory.
On the seventh day, you are tempted to sink back. It takes all your strength and burning desire to continue. Too many march only five times on that seventh day and stop to look back, wondering if the miracle is happening. Thus they break the law of not turning right or left. If you keep on and finish the seventh march, the walls fall and you receive your reward. Obedience is seven times seven, or forty-nine, the number of forgiveness, and one of the greatest laws of God. The reward is forgiveness. You cannot remake anyone in your image and likeness, so, free them of you, to go their own way.
A crown of thorns is a device for deflating a big head, and at some point, every soul receives one. The head represents the ark of the covenant. The crown of thorns represents ridicule, contempt, someone making fun of your greatest goal. The thorns represent a thousand chastisements from the outside. Each rebuke is one of a thousand burnt offerings, each of which represents a sacrifice of self. If you sacrifice one thing daily, one of the thousand petals opens to the flames of the Holy Spirit, and illumines the petal. A crown of thorns represents what your enemies can do to you when you let them wound you. These emotional injuries to your pride puncture the petals of Light. A thorn is like a candle snuffer that puts out the Light of an awakened petal, the antennae of nerves that awaken to divine Mind.
When you say, “I am unworthy,” or, “I don’t want credits,” you let self condemnation, blame and false pride crown you with thorns. Wearing a crown of thorns is martyrdom, which can destroy you. You ascend in consciousness to a higher level, one step at a time when you stop smudging your soul’s pages with emotional negativity. A perfect treatment is to choose to overcome your most difficult trait each day and conquer it. Next day, you can conquer another hard trait. Stand on holy ground and do not soil it with pouting or self-pity. When you hold up the ark and raise your hands, you surrender self, and wait upon the Lord. Your lighted crown lotus petals protect you, as they protect the ark, and you are saved. Thus you bridge a new way across your River Jordan.
Jericho represents the sheath of Oversoul, which is closed to you at first. Joshua represents your “I AM” super-consciousness. Manasseh represents you, the embodied rational soul and Oversoul. Reuben and Gad represent your soul faculties of obedience through logic and reason, and the change from self to soul. The crown of thorns represents the word’s ridicule and contempt, which you can use positively, as a rung in your ladder for ascension to heaven.
Right now, this minute, you can choose to give God the gift of always seeing you as a happy and joyous soul. Declare, “Father, let always and only Your words be on my lips. Let your great love enfold and use me to Thy glory.” This was, you will automatically conquer every challenge.
The Crown of Glory
Edna Lister outline, July 14, 1963, Cleveland, OH. 2 Corinthians 3, Revelation 2:10, Revelation 3:11, Revelation 21:1-2, 22-27. New King James Version text of 2 Corinthians 3 used for clarity.
“Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones; was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious. Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”–2 Corinthians 3:1-18, NKJV.
“Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”–Revelation 2:10.
“Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”–Revelation 3:11.
“I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband…And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”–Revelation 21:1-2, 22-27.
“Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”–Revelation 2:10.
“Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”–Revelation 3:11.
What is your crown of glory? God promises a crown of life for faithfulness. Then the Spirit speaks to the sixth church in Revelation, and warns not to let a man take it from you. To let someone take your crown means that when you express the little self, you allow others to dominate you, and lose your crown. Faithfulness wins the crown, but obedience holds it. You have spent the past five Sundays learning how to gain the Christ consciousness of “I AM” that wins your crown and how to hold fast to it.
Still, what is this crown of glory? The dictionary defines glory as “great honor, praise, or distinction, renown, resplendence, majestic beauty and splendor, the splendor and bliss of heaven, an effulgence of heavenly Light; a halo, nimbus, or aureole, also called a gloriole.” To glory in some event or experience is “to rejoice triumphantly, to exult.” To say that someone or something is “glorious” describes a “state of exaltation characterized by great beauty and splendor, magnificent, delightful, wonderful.” Aren’t these definitions amazing and startling? A crown goes on top of your head. While you may be beguiled by the appearances, you must listen to what is underneath that crown.
“I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”–Revelation 21:1-2. A new heaven and new earth are here and now, your personal new Jerusalem. The head is the Lamb, Jesus the Christ. When he is ruling your consciousness, the Holy Spirit possesses you.
“I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”–Revelation 21:22-27.
The third chapter of the Second Epistle to Corinthians describes how to hold your crown, a summing up. First, you may seek no commendations from the outer, nor commend yourself. God writes the truth principles upon your heart until you become a living Christed Epistle for the world to read. Second, you must avoid thinking you are self-sufficient, knowing instead that your sufficiency comes from God above. Third, God makes you able to be His ministers of the New Testament, not by the letter of the law, but by the Spirit, which gives life.
Moses facing death was all-glorious and radiant. How much more glory shall shine when you become ministers of righteousness. “For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.”–2 Corinthians 3:9-11. Moses, who was made glorious had no glory, physically, yet Moses was so beautiful, so blindingly glorious, that God had to veil his face before the children of Israel.
Then Paul makes the statement, “But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which veil is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.”–2 Corinthians 3:14-16. Today, most men’s minds are still veiled unless the soul turns to God.
“Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”–2 Corinthians 3:17-18. The Lord is the Spirit, and the Spirit of the Lord is your liberty. Your crown of glory is a state of exaltation from knowing God. A gloriole, a glorious halo, an aureole opens the spiritual centers in your personal city of new Jerusalem and man speaks to God and hears God speaking directly to man.
Unveiled, you shall see the glory of the Lord, as in a mirror, and changed into “the same image from glory to glory,” by the Spirit of the Lord, the Lamb. Then your crown of life and glory will blind earth until people’s eyes will need to be veiled.
The Crown of Glory
Edna Lister transcript, July 14, 1963, Cleveland, OH. Ruth Johnson, Irene White, scribes. 2 Corinthians 3, Revelation 2:10, 3:11, 21:1-2, 22-27. New King James Version text of 2 Corinthians 3 used for clarity.
“Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones; was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious. Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”–2 Corinthians 3:1-18, NKJV.
“Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”–Revelation 2:10.
“Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”–Revelation 3:11.
“I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband…And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”–Revelation 21:1-2, 22-27.
This text from the second Epistle to Corinthians relates to two outstanding verses in the Book of Revelation: “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”–Revelation 2:10.
What is this crown of glory? Why do we believe in it? “Suffering” refers to your own shortcomings, and you will have days of tribulation as long as you are still trying to lift the little self. The crown of life gives physical health and energy.
The Spirit speaks to the sixth church in Revelation 3:11–"Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown,” which means that when you express the little self, you allow others to dominate you, and lose your crown.
God is over all, everywhere evenly present as the crown. Revelation 21 describes what is under the crown: A new heaven and a new earth, New Jerusalem, adorned as a bride coming down from heaven. The bride is you, clothed in love, surrendered and dedicated to God.
Revelation 22 describes the Christ as the Lamb, which represents innocent purity, enthroned with God. The temple is the wisdom and love of God, and the innocence and purity of the Lamb, which represents gamboling joy, freedom and energy. “The lamb is the Light thereof” because innocence and purity release Light. Before you interpret a passage, unfold the symbols, and what ordinary words mean. For example, “nations” in the Book of Revelation mean the endocrine glands and nerve plexus centers, and “kings” represent your soul faculties.
Self and soul, made one in unity, creates your purity, which releases the Light, but you must open the Oversoul’s door and take it in at the crown of your head. You use the lotus centers, endocrine glands and faculties to contact God’s limitless Power, open the Gates of Light, and see and hear spiritually.
Once you get your crown of glory, which is Christed consciousness as Oversoul “I AM,” you need not return to the dark night, but live in your new city of Jerusalem, the golden bowl, in Light. No “abominations” of self can enter if you do not allow them. You must live by love. You earn your crown of glory, by going up in consciousness on everything that comes from the outside. Made a gift of all insults, criticisms, and stinging remarks, saying, “Father, please accept this as my gift to You.”
The glory of God comes quickly as instantaneous answers and miracles once you accept, you have a crown and are up in your New Jerusalem of consciousness. The dictionary defines glory as “great honor, praise, or distinction, renown, resplendence, majestic beauty and splendor, the splendor and bliss of heaven, effulgence of heavenly Light; a halo, nimbus, or aureole, also called a gloriole.” To glory in an experience or event is “to rejoice triumphantly, to exult.” “Glorious” is a state of exaltation characterized by great beauty and splendor, magnificent, delightful, wonderful. All this is yours when you wear your crown of glory, and let no limitation in.
“Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you?”–2 Corinthians 3:1. Are you stumbling and losing your crown because someone does not appreciate you, or praise you? Double your efforts where you are if others fail to appreciate you. If you always return to the Source of Power and glory, your gift will be great enough someday, and then they will notice you. Sometimes it takes forty years to get Egypt out of you. Failure is getting weary and quitting. God has agents at every crossroads, to promote, to give you your place, and to honor you.
“You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of flesh, the heart.”–2 Corinthians 3:2-3. If you ask for praise, your crown is gone already. Running to another for commendation is the same as gobbling pills to allay every ache. On the other hand, do not be overly self-sufficient, which is pride, saying, “I’ll work this out myself.”
Depend on God, be a pillar in His church, and ask others to pray with you, to add their prayers to yours. Giving or receiving is the same. Offer, “Let me add my prayers to yours,” or you send your crown rolling across the floor. A prayer is the soul’s sincere desire in expression. Exalt the one for whom you pray, and you can both ascend in consciousness on the exaltation. Act as if you have your goal or answer to prayer, and act as if the other fellow wants it for you.
“Our sufficiency is of God; who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?”–2 Corinthians 3:5-8.
If Moses, knowing he was soon to die, was so glorious, how about those who have years left ahead in life? You do not need self-sufficiency and others’ praise to hold your crown. They can lose it for you. For example, you must skim the cooking jelly until it is pure and perfect. So you skim your own self-sufficiency, pride and negativity to become purified. Surround every hate group with pillars of fire, walls of fire. Skim off their lack of devotion to God.
Paul spoke of how Moses’ face shone so brightly that it blinded the people. Some minds were blinded to the Light of Shekinah glory, and continue to be. Through the new covenant, their minds can be un-blinded, and evil lifted by those who take on responsibility to lift evil clouds. Surround all councils, committees and board meetings with the Light of Shekinah glory.
You have only one way to go on the path of sacrifice of self, by moving up in glory. The path of sacrificing self takes nothing from you. No one can take the smile from your lips. When they blame you for blundering, say, “Goodness, where was I? What was I thinking?"
Every time you make a gift of darkness to the Father, look up, embrace everything you hear, lift, and give it up to Him. Do not brace against it, embrace it to lift it to God. Embrace blame as it comes, even if it is a lie. Someone must remove the lie from the soul who repudiates you. Lift it into Light rather than blighting him with a debt of blame. Otherwise, you pay a double debt, his and yours, when you blame.
The crown of glory is a practical matter. Your privilege is to ascend in consciousness so the past cannot touch you. You are now so high in consciousness that the past means nothing today. When Shekinah glory fills you, your face shines as the sun. The Source, the Crown is the glory of your life. Stand as if you are wearing your crown, and let no one take it from you.
You are Elect, royalty in your own right. You are creator gods walking earth. However, you may wear no “holier than thou” look, for self-righteous is illegal. Surrender to your covenant with the Father so that He may use you. The Power goes forth to do the work. He does the work, and your face shines like sun.
Go forth as the seventy did from the upper chamber in Jerusalem. When you go forth with face shining and crowned with glory, your gifts are big enough to be seen and recognized by great men. Love will consume any darkness as long as it is not a love that wants to make someone over in your image and likeness. You must know that the Light does the work. Put your arm around them and lift them into the Light, with no pity or sentiment. You do not handle it. You give it to the Father instantly to lift into the Light for healing.
If they attack you, God wants it lifted. Light uses you to cleanse someone. Lift it. Clean us all, Father. Give it all to the Father. When you call on the Power of God to quell evil, it quells. The River Jordan will back up in a heap, and people will be speechless, unable to speak evil. Speak the language of love. To be glorious is to be possessed by God’s glory.
The Rebirth
Edna Lister outline, July 21, 1963, Buffalo, NY. John 3:3-8, Hebrews 1:7.
“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”–John 3:3-8.
“And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.”–Hebrews 1:7.
We are now in the age of doing the “greater works” of Jesus Christ. The astronaut, L. Gordon Cooper,
Complete sacrifice of self is the Rebirth formula. Why must we be reborn? Because the soul is of the Spirit, not of flesh. We have left the Piscean Age and are well into the Aquarian Age, the age of spiritual Power. This is a mystical statement. We must pick up the pearls of wisdom that we discarded on coming forth to earth so we could descend into outer matter, into a heavy sheath to gain experience.
Paul Tillich,
As a butterfly breaks through its chrysalis, so must you break through all the blockages of earth to expand your horizons, to take in new ideas, illumination, new vistas and goals. Have you ever felt cramped, with no place to go? This is your sign of a rebirth coming over the horizon. Dry your wings! Spread them and get ready to take off. Face the impossibles of man, doctors who say there is no hope, that you will be blind, or crippled. They believe it’s too late or that they’re too old. They are right from their earth grade, teaching and living from the “impossibles” of man. Without faith in rebirth, they are perfectly right in their judgment. Under rebirth, you know that all things are possibles with God. Bursting all shackles, bonds, opinions and prejudices, you are free!
Jesus said, “Ask anything in my name.” What is “anything"? All Light moves into action as Power to produce, according to your Word in prayer. Who dares to pay the price, never wavering, with no variableness, neither shadow of turning? Anything includes God’s all-inclusive “possibles.” Live by a new set of rules. Give up the sovereignty of the self, belief in the impossibles of earth, for sovereignty of the soul in the Christ. Self searches for ease and comfort, to “save” itself. What for? Death? As long as anything on the outside can cause you to doubt, fear, to tremble or dread, you are under self-rule. You do not own yourself. Every time you dread and tremble, you sell more of yourself, your soul stock. The appetitive soul servant steals your soul stock to increase its hold on your emotions and mind. Someday you find that you’ve lost so much soul stock, you haven’t enough to pay you any dividends.
Every idle word drives your stock down. By repeating another’s wrongs, you form suggestions for them to do more of the same. The vibration returns to some part of your body to create it in their image and likeness. The law is exact. Dare you dedicate your life to rebirth to become the servant of all the Light as Power? What is your idea of greater Power? Make it “All I can become or do.” This makes of you a flame and a fire.
To be reborn into this kingdom of flame and fire, to become immortal now, requires a flaming imagination, a burning desire gather up my stored away dreams. When I dedicate myself to the sovereignty of God, my soul takes charge. I become a minister of flame and fire. I am the master of my fate, the captain of my soul.
The Rose as the Crown
Edna Lister outline, July 28, 1963, Buffalo, NY; June 30, 1963, Cleveland, OH. James 1:2-14, 1:17.
“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.”–James 1:2-14.
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”–James 1:17.
A rose has beautiful blooms. It looks fresh and velvety and the flower unfolds with no apparent effort or work, like a lily. Yet, it is subject to the heat of drought, and blight of cold. It can be grafted on, or disfigured, from the outside.A rose is a symbol and metaphor for happiness. When we refer to being in a good place, we say we’ve landed in a “bed of roses.” When we feel optimistic, we speak of having a rosy outlook, as being sanguine and cheerful.
A white rose represents innocence or purity. The Rose of Jericho, known as the resurrection plant, dries into a dead-looking ball during drought, but its dried fronds unfold within minutes under moisture. It symbolizes the effort of growth. An ancient mystic ritual used a white rose to represent the soul unfolding. They ceremonially burned a rose to purge treachery and regression, in a ceremony they called “the burning of the rose.” A red rose symbolizes beauty or what is beautiful. The rose is the Master’s own symbol of the Oversoul. A rose and the cross symbolize Resurrection. The rose and a crown symbolize Ascension. Today we refer to the rose as the crown and the flower of the soul.
First, picture the tight bud slowly opening to its full-blown glory. This follows the pattern of the birth and development of the mental body crown lotus bud until it unfolds fully in the third cycle at age twenty-one. At birth, usually the eight petals of intuition and are open on the left side. Children intuitively know and see or perceive the truth. During the second cycle, at ages seven through fourteen years, the wisdom petals on the right side open, as the child is gaining knowledge. Under training and discipline, the soul holds its balance and the eight left-side petals stay open. If the soul rebels under self-will, the lotus petals gradually close until the soul loses all heavenly contact.
In this first chapter of James’ Letter, he clearly states two alternatives in the How Not to Do It warnings, and the How to Do It recommendations. Listening and accepting, as you heed and obey, leads you to the answers to the eternal questions of Who I AM and What I AM. >Every atheistic and agnostic statement challenges the Supreme Being to show Himself, to display His Power. You spend your adult life seeking through reading, listening and talking, discarding and accepting. You seek identity. “I am John Henry. I am integrated with my school, my family, my job.” Yet the soul’s true identity is to be one with God.
You find the answer to “What am I?” by experiment and expression. A child seeks security and learns through disobedience. A child challenges authority because that child must know some authority exists. {In 2025 we call this testing boundaries.} Under How Not to Do It, you learn two outstanding lessons—not to waver or be double-minded. When you waver, you are as a wave of the sea, tossed by the blowing winds of opinion and prejudice. Darkness thrives on wavering, lukewarmness and indifference. Darkness is waiting to lap up the Power leaking through your aura on a “What’s the use?” attitude.
Every incidence of wavering cuts your vibration. Power oozes away and scatters, and you must do your work over again. Power must condense in one place in your mold to become an “added things.” “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”–Matthew 6:33. You must be steadfast to establish your identity with God. You must stand in stillness and know that your Oversoul’s I AM consciousness is always in contact with the Source. “With God all things are possible.”–Matthew 19:26. You know that the “possibles of God” cover the “impossibles” of man. This process doubts and fears subtracts from your identity with the Source.
How do you know who you are? How am I to know what I am? I need to know how to do it. “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.”–James 1:12. Ask God in faith. To endure in love, you endure the temptation of doubting. Your reward is a crown of life, an opened sixteen-petaled crown lotus.
“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.”–James 1:2-3. To “count it all joy” means that you may permit no self-indulgence. The love of God is the only common denominator. You must grant all others the right of choice, to live and let live. You are never tempted by God, only by your choices under law. God cannot be tempted, neither does He tempt man. Man tempts himself. Every time you hear of a new law to obey, it sets up an inner conflict between soul and self until you conquer self in joy. Joy is your liberty and freedom.
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”–James 1:17. Double-mindedness is a belief in God and a belief in man’s laws. A double-minded person believes that God can work part of the time, but then believes in man’s ideas and that God can’t do the job. This mental instability affects everything. If you accept your identity with God as your Source of life, His closeness, His goodness, then get up and make the effort to move, to know, to be, and to do. Stop thinking about it! Feel alive, strong and rejoice. God must get there first and leave last! Wait upon the Lord.
“In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”–Romans 8:37. To know what you are, you must know that the Power meets everything in love, graciousness and compassion, in all situations. You must give in loveliness when unexpected things happen, not to be loved “in spite of” but because. To know God is always ready to get there first creates an ecstasy, a rapture, a glory that no words can paint. Crowned with life, your rose opened, you are immortal now!
The Authority of Jesus Christ
Edna Lister transcript, August 4, 1963, Cleveland, OH. Ruth Johnson, scribe. John 15.
After teaching the metaphor of the true vine, Jesus later turned from the crowds and concentrated on his disciples. He told them, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you.”–John 15:1-4. Jesus publicly accepted his authority and told his disciples of its privileges. You belong to Jesus Christ because he has chosen you.
A real Christian is one who acknowledges the power of the Lordship of Jesus, and surrenders himself to Christ. Acknowledge his authority. Have you committed and surrendered your life to Christ because he chose you, without caring what he will do with you? If you choose him as an insurance policy, for salvation here and after death, you never know the spell of surrendering to his authority, purpose in life. He who chooses Jesus often does so to resolve his confusion. As some grow older, they worry about death, so they choose Christ, hoping he can help them. Others choose him for ethical, sentimental, or moral reasons.
The only way of discipleship that has lasting power is to know that Jesus chose you and to surrender completely to his authority, given him by the Father. He may stop giving you what you think you need and, in his wisdom, give you what you really need to teach you true discipleship. Loneliness may bring you a new friend, for example. If you acknowledge Jesus’ kind of authority, your discipleship is permanent. You respond to his authoritative call.
Watch for those who say, “I have chosen Jesus Christ.” Jesus chooses you not to enslave you, but that you may bear fruit. Jesus knew the disciples would never be the same again because they had known him, and personally had witessed his works. They had grown so far beyond the former limitations of their understanding, and the Light had set them on fire to do things beyond their wildest imagination.
His authority can bring an overflowing abundance of good to your life, bearing bounteous fruit. Temporal authority blesses and frees you. You receive new Light as Power. Life becomes richer, nobler, which is the glorious paradox of Christ. You are free only through him, being in service to God with him. Being a captive of Jesus brings freedom and strength of hand, heart, and mind.
Those who submit to his authority enjoy privileges. The gateway to special privileges is “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.”–John 15:16.
This is no mere bargain with God, but if you recognize that Christ chooses you and surrender to his authority, you enter into the Spirit of God. Since your overall aim is to glorify God, He grants your aims and requests. Your selfish prayers may not be answered, but those you aim at God’s glory are. Discipleship is the glory of the love that chooses you, your love and absolute authority.
The Crown of Glory
Edna Lister outline, August 18, 1963, Seattle, WA. 2 Corinthians 3.
I am immortal now. You are immortal now. We believe in one Light, one God, one Mind, one Substance, and one Power. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”–John 1:1-3. The Word from which all things were made is the Logos, which is the same as the Light as the original emanation of Energy. Einstein describes this creation as an interrelationship of light, energy and mass. Light equates with the fire body of the soul. Energy describes your atomic mental body. Mass is your physical form composed of atoms, molecules and cells.
The same substance that exists as the primordial Light, the life sparks in the Source of all Light, exists in a lower, more condensed state in the outer as mass. You are that life now. People spend lives finding the answer to the question of Who am I? You find your identity and security when you move into Christed consciousness.
The question before us today is What am I? Today’s school for the astronauts is the replica of the ancient schools of mysticism. Dare we say this, and why do we say this? All such schools have been based on an unquestioned honor, loyalty and integrity, which is stated in the formula of “All for one and one for all.”
We call this the Way of the Christ, the Via Christa, because it is based on the teachings of Jesus the Christ. Ours is the Way of Sacrifice of self. How do you know what to sacrifice? The disciples and apostles tell us. The Bible is the greatest book on psychiatry in the world. They were the psychiatrists 2,000 years ago. When you read their Epistles, you know what and how to give up the self. To sacrifice the self, you must own something of self to sacrifice! You must own yourself! You don’t own yourself if you tremble in fear.
“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”–Matthew 19:23-26. To have God’s “possibilities,” you must give up the world’s “impossibles.” For example, to medical science, so many things are impossible. Doctors tell their patients that they are going blind and there is no hope. They are right, from their level.
Any time you feel dread when a physical call comes, or tremble when someone tells you off, or feel hurt, the little self has taken charge. Any time self takes charge and you become a weak, trembling dish rag, that’s what you are. You discover whether self or soul is in charge in the moments of outer pressure. When you stop bracing yourself against life, when you reach forth and embrace life as being beautiful, you turn the impossibles of man into the possibles of God.
God works miracles. The first three chapters of the Book of Joshua are proof of this. Then you may ask anything in the name of Jesus the Christ, believing, and whatever you desire, you have it. Jesus the Christ was more than a god man. He is the only great teacher who ever said, “Use my name. I will back your word all the way for anything you ask in faith, believing.”
In honor to God, in loyalty to principle, in integrity of soul, I AM what I AM. When I give up the sovereignty of self for the sovereignty of the Christ, I become a minister of flame and of fire. My horizon reaches above and beyond the stars. I move into an eternal and infinite place of all Power. All things of beauty and glory are possible. I reach the place where my immortality shines through my soul.
Before the Beginning, I AM
Edna Lister outline, November 3, 1963, Cleveland, OH; December 1, 1963, Buffalo, NY. Proverbs 8:22-36, John 8:58-59.
“The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: while as yet He had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When He prepared the heavens, I was there: when He set a compass upon the face of the depth: when He established the clouds above: when He strengthened the fountains of the deep: when He gave to the sea His decree, that the waters should not pass His commandment: when He appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was by Him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him.”–Proverbs 8:22-30.
This passage from the Book of Proverbs begins with verse twenty-two and ends with verse thirty-six. The number twenty-two represents the Yetsirah Path of Completion. The number thirty-six is the culmination of a numerical cycle and includes all paths of initiation. The number fifteen represents the Father (9) and Mother (6) of Creation. The vibrations within these numbers open the “void,” include the emanations, and present God as personality and as principles. The seven days of Creation reveal from what God used to make the universe and us, where we came from, and how to find the way home. They also reveal the danger of repudiation. These verses are speaking of the original Emanations. They are an explanation, an expansion of “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.”–Genesis 1:1.
Verses 23 to 26 describe the abstract beginning vibration of the seven days of Creation. Verses 27 to 30 describe the relative objective action. In Proverbs, verses 32 to 34, Solomon gives three admonitions. “Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways.” Proverbs 8:32. First, he warns us to hearken, to pay attention with full awareness, and to “keep my ways,” which means to obey the laws. The second admonition is to “Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.”–Proverbs 8:33. To “hear” means to listen. To “be wise” and “refuse not,” means to take in the instruction and wait until you comprehend it without repudiation before acting.
“Blessed is the man that hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.”–Proverbs 8:34. Third, Solomon admonishes us to “watch daily at my gates.” The gates represent the twelve plexus centers and twelve virtues you open and develop by conquering the self. You must then wait at the “posts of my door.” The posts are the uprights that support the lintel of the door, which means that you are held in protection.
“For whoso finds me finds life, and shall obtain favor of the Lord.”–Proverbs 8:35. When you find God, you find life. Life is obtaining greatest favors. When you are filled with life energy, all things come easily, all things unfold, and everything arrives filled with life. A woman once asked a little boy, “Where did you get those beautiful eyes?” The boy answered, “Oh! They came with my head.”
“Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself? Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.”–John 8:52-59.
Jesus had to “bear witness” to the universal truth as the only Begotten Son. Other Bible passages do so also, but none so clearly as this in the eighth chapter of John. The Jews in this passage were baiting Jesus. They jeered at his statements and said he had a devil. Jesus finished by saying, “Before Abraham was, I am.” Then they tried to stone him. Jesus announced his immortality, his continued life through all ages. Your soul’s privilege is to be immortal, to be invisible to evil, to do “all the works” that he did and greater works than those.
"But he that sins against me wrongs his own soul: all they that hate me love death.”–Proverbs 8:36. When you withhold your own life, you wrong your own soul. To hate God is to love death. What you love, you invite in to live with you. You “die daily” by keeping three laws, to “keep my ways,” or laws. First, you hearken by paying attention. You hear and refuse not, which means you accept. Finally, you “watch at my gates,” which means that you live by the twelve virtues. To wait at the door posts fills you with unspeakable glory. Love of life is love of God! Life is your inherited substance for your creations. How you use life declares your results.
Before the Beginning, I AM
Edna Lister transcript, November 3, 1963, Cleveland, OH. Ruth Johnson, Irene White, scribes. Proverbs 8:22-36, John 8:52-59.
“The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before His works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: while as yet He had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When He prepared the heavens, I was there: when He set a compass upon the face of the depth: when He established the clouds above: when He strengthened the fountains of the deep: when He gave to the sea His decree, that the waters should not pass His commandment: when He appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him: and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him; rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men. Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso finds me finds life, and shall obtain favor of the Lord. But he that sins against me wrongs his own soul: all they that hate me love death.”–Proverbs 8:22-36.
“Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself? Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.”–John 8:52-59.
As a descended creator, you came to prove that you could tie your earth to your heaven in this incarnation, that you could live as a creator in the business and professional world. You live not by the premise of God and me, but by God as me. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”–Genesis 1:1 refers to the current great Day of Manifestation when God established and created galaxies, clusters, solar systems, and so on. In a lesser Night of Rest and Assimilation, all suns and planets whirl, but the Light as consciousness is withdrawn. The children of man sleep, to awaken in the next great day and continue as though nothing had happened.
The scripture from Proverbs contains fifteen verses covering the Creation. “The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.”–Proverbs 8:22. Here the Begotten Son speaks of a long Day of Manifestation (twenty-two symbolizes the pathway of completion). The next verses deal with God as personality and principle, as Wisdom, Love, and as the Word. Your prayers ascend to your own special kingdom and one of these departments. Four of these verses deal with the emanations and the seven days of Creation. This answers the “who, what, when, where, how and why” we are returning home, and shows the way to get there. The Bible is strewn with these texts of commandments.
Originally, the three Emanations flowed from the Source and formed a gestating place. “When he set a compass face of the deep” describes how the Emanations formed an outer magnetic wall for the first three of the seven days of Creation. In Genesis 1, the second day, the separation of the waters, was not declared good.
"My delights were with the sons of men” means how the Begotten Son and androgynous beings, the creator gods, descended. This explains Genesis 1 and bears witness that Jesus, like Melchizedek, had no beginning or end. The next four verses deal with how you must live to return home. This integrates the whole New Testament message. You are one with the Lord Jesus Christ because he is one with the Father. These verses command us to keep his laws.
"Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso finds me finds life, and shall obtain favor of the Lord. But he that sins against me wrongs his own soul: all they that hate me love death.”–Proverbs 8:32-36. "Hearken unto me.” First you hearken, then you hear. You can hearken to a bell ringing, yet choose not to hear it. If you hear it, you must obey its call and answer it. To hear is to pay attention to. You can hearken without paying attention. When you hear, you act on it. Sometimes it takes a week to hear the bell.
The next step is heeding the law. “Hear my instruction and refuse it not.” Do not repudiate your experiences. When you ask to be perfected, your tarnished places will show where you need polishing. For example, another may interpret a look on your face as words, so you may not say, “I didn’t say that.” Agree with the adversary. Do not repudiate polishing even one of the 144 soul virtues.
Do not ask, “Why does he criticize me,” or say, “Look at the laws he breaks.” Your business is to make you good and the other fellow happy. When someone calls you on a point of law, it is your sign that you need to smooth and polish a rough bump on your soul. God is saying, “Child, come up in consciousness. I have all this substance to give you, yet you repudiate it.”
"Watch at my gates.” These gates are the twelve powers of Christ, the virtues, and the twelve powers of man. Each gate holds twelve virtues. To watch at the gates is to polish your virtues. “Watching at the posts of my doors” is truly esoteric. The door’s lintel could not stand without the posts. The gland-like para-thalamus structures are the lintel, and the pineal body and pituitary gland are the upright posts.
"Whoso finds me finds life.” Life contains everything that is God. That life moves through you as the three Emanations in the River of Life. The life of God is perfect, but what do you do with that life? How do you use the divine tools He has given you? You came here, endowed with His equipment to function desire, vision and imagination. The life of God is in you as your endocrine glands and brain cells, and you must learn to function with it. A woman asked a small boy where he had gotten such beautiful eyes. He answered, “They came with my head.”
In John 8, the Jews were baiting Jesus. Read it. Jesus said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. Before Abraham was, I AM,” and we are one with him. They cast stones at him, but Jesus became invisible and escaped them. If you believe, when will you begin witnessing? You can become invisible. For example, when someone approaches and you cry, “Oh, God! Spare me,” they may not see you at all. Put the adversary in a sphere of Light. Pray harder than ever for him or her. Do not criticize the person who bores or irritates you. Say, “She lifts her voice in praise.” When enough people pray for the poverty-smitten in soul, God can heal them.
"He that sins against me wrongs his own soul: all they that hate me love death.”–Proverbs 8:36. If you are not for life, you are against it. Life never leaves you alone. Love of life is love of God in its highest form. If you obey law, the substance of God becomes your treasure. God’s substance makes universes as well as your body, business and money. Lukewarmness and indifference send you halfway down to cold death. Death is having no life in your form.
The golden bowl has all the equipment you need to function the whole life, the life of God. Invite that life in. Want it enough. No matter what comes to you, say, “Father, Your life is ascending me and my outer physical sheath. Fill me. Here I am, Father. I stand and glorify Thy name.”
Your Sacred Light
Edna Lister outline, November 10, 1963, Cleveland, OH. John 1:1-5, Mark 9:33-50.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”–John 1:1-5.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”–John 1:1.
To say “God” or “good” calls the divine fire down from the Source. “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”–John 1:4. Your identity is established forever as one with God, the Word. Everything below is that Light. Light, as God, fills all space. You live, move and have your being in it. You walk through it and it flows through you. In man, Light is called life, the descended creator god’s sacred creative fire. Philosophers also call it the Creative Impulse. Freud degraded Creative Impulse to its lowest expression, downgraded it by calling it mere sex. You can identify the descended creator gods because they are always vital leaders and doers who hold up the good and tear down the dark.
God’s first creative command and activity below the Source is, “Let there be Light.” The first challenge to man is, “Be ye of the Light.” Therefore, your never-failing challenge to all evil and darkness is to declare, “In the Name of Jesus the Christ, show your Light.” If born of darkness, the thing will fade away, or if of God, it will grow brighter. This treatment never fails.
For your assurance, confidence and trust in God, John was sent to bear witness to the divine identity of Jesus. He was told that a dove would rest on his head, not a flash of light. He could turn away, but the dove would still be there.
Prophecy had foretold the Messiah, saying that most would receive him. To them he gave power to become the sons of God. He gave us our identity, which we had mislaid. His life is the Light of men. His life endows us with a flame of sacred fire once more.
"And he came to Capernaum: and being in the house he asked them, “What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?” But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest. And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.”–Mark 9:33-35. These verses show how to defend your sacred fire.
Jesus established his sacred ability to see and to know. The disciples had been disputing along the way, “Who is the greatest?” Jesus gave us the first law of defense, “If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.”–Mark 9:35. Self-credits sell out the soul. Sacred fire leaks away. Self-credits are not demerits, but cancel your heavenly credits.
Jesus gave us the second defense in “Forbid him not for no man shall do a miracle in my name that can lightly speak evil of men.”–Mark 9:38. If my faith in this law is supreme, no man can steal what is mine, hurt or harm me in any way. Do I know this? Do I call him a miracle? Do I call him good?
For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.”–Mark 9:49-50. Salt is the third defense of your sacred fire. Does this sound silly? How do you see this in the world? You always face initiations, tests, trials by fire and temptations. These salt us with fire, and it stings, burns, hurts, hotter. Otherwise how could you prove your worth? If you fail under the stinging fire, you just thought you were ready or wanted to prove your strength.
Every sacrifice is salted with salt. You use salt to protect and preserve food from spoiling. If you make a sacrifice grudgingly or in blame because it is so hard, you spoil the sacrifice. To salt food eliminates flatness and dullness and leaves a sweet aftertaste. Your sacrifice can be deadly dull or lively. You need a live sacrifice.
If a sacrifice is not a challenge to ascend in consciousness and do better, what good is it? If you grow lukewarm or indifferent, your sacred fire dies and you become bored, lifeless, dull. Nothing is left alive if you renege on your vows, turn your back on God or walk in shadows.
Salt your self. Call fire, as Light from above to preserve your faith, to endure. If a sacrifice hurts, you mean it and it pays soul dividends. Salt your self, and watch for weaknesses, dilutions of love. Salt substitutes are a return to easy ways. You have no substitute for salt to keep you alive, alert, up, doing, active and moving. Salt represents the vigor of life. You brought the sacred fire with you, and feed it by obedience to law, not by shouting for your crown, but by being a servant of all.
You may not blame or forbid another who refuses to accept Jesus the Christ as the only Begotten Son. Instead, remain salted by saying, “Let there be Light.” First thing in the morning, before you open your eyes, say, “Let there be Light.”
Your Sacred Light
Edna Lister transcript, November 10, 1963, Cleveland, OH. Ruth Johnson, Irene White, Virginia Whitehead, scribes. John 1:1-5, Mark 9:33-50.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”–John 1:1-5. It is interesting that the Gospel writer John uses the Word and God here as synonyms. This proves that religious thinkers and writers have gone far afield because orthodoxy and cults have separated God from the Word. The Word means God in manifestation.
If John had just used the term “Word,” or only the term “God,” you would think it peculiar. It would be peculiar. Each could then interpret it differently. Here, the term means “eternal” and “all that is.” The Word is God, manifesting. You live, move and have your being in the Word, and as you apply that Word, which contains all there is, to your daily life, you know that God made nothing without it. You are the Word made flesh through the lowering of the vibration of the Word.
"In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”–John 1:4. At this step, the Word has become form. You are the Word or expression of God in outer form. He gave you and I power to become the sons and daughters of God. You have all the attributes and powers of the living God. God has also given you the power to speak the Word, and have it stand fast. You can stand and become the outer expression of that living Word. Your outer expression of life depends on how you accept this power to become the son or daughter of God.
What degree is your readiness? Do you flit along happily expressing, then with the first strong wind that blows, down you go to sit in the mud? There comes a time in your expression of Almighty Power when you must know more. You know that you are a part of the whole, but you are afraid of it, and take just a little bite. You bumble along waiting for something to happen, forever bumping into intellect, what the world thinks or into your fears. You may even fear being too holy.
"In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”–John 1:4. You are one with God. You are one with the Word. You cannot think of all Light without including all God, who is all Light, Power and glory that move through life. God established your identity before you came here. The tragedy comes when you identify with the negatives. Life seeks an entrance, even when you put up barriers. Life consumes all barriers of self. It finally seeps through and you find yourself understanding God’s expression.
You walk in the River of Life and cannot cut off life. You may always operate on the highest sacred creative fire from the Source. This fire is you. If you ascend into the spiritual world and make high vows, you draw the sacred fire down from the Source. The sacred fire is in every person, but your devotion, dedication and the number of brain cells you have awakened determine the degree of its functioning as you. This is how you live by a higher creative pattern.
The descended creators came to live under the divine fire and higher creative Power. Yet some of the most evil ones of earth live by misusing the higher creative fire. You have only the one divine fire, the one God and the one creative impulse that you use in all these ways. You may use it intellectually, as did Freud, who dragged it to the lowest possible level. You can use the creative impulse on a dedicated high or low point.
You can break through to a higher level by eliminating negativity and lifting the barriers of self. Wherever you go, you are a challenge to darkness. Say, “In the name of Jesus the Christ, show your colors. Let there be Light.”
John the Baptist came six months earlier to prepare the way for Jesus. He was already baptizing repentant sinners when Jesus began his ministry. The earliest record of Jesus in the Gospels was of John baptizing him. The dove lit on Jesus and remained there as John prophesied that he was the Lamb of God. John’s prophecy had to be fulfilled. This Light came to earth as Jesus to open the Gates of Light for us. God endowed his life with the sacred fire from on high. He had to arouse the divine fire in his people, and prepare his disciples for his passing.
The ninth chapter of Mark outlines Jesus’ ministry. In three places he gives us the keys to life. When they went to Galilee, Jesus told them of his death by Crucifixion, and his Resurrection. Before they reached Capernaum, they disputed who would be greatest among them afterward. Then he taught them, “If any man desires to be first, the same shall be last and servant of all.”–Mark 9:35. They were separated from the outside world by not asking for self. If you boast, you are ready for a tumble.
John, the disciple, said that they had seen someone cast out devils in his name. Jesus replied, “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in my name, that can soon afterward speak evil of me. For he who is not against us is on our side.”–Mark 9:39. This man could not hurt the Master. The only things that hurt Jesus were his followers’ negative thoughts. If you speak the Word in Jesus’ name, it will work everything together for good. You may not criticize others’ methods, or condemn people for not doing it your way. You progress one grade and others criticize, but can do nothing against you if you declare them good. Everyone is right in his own grade, after his degree and kind.
Send out Power, love and glory. The higher you stand, the greater the Power that goes forth. Good and God are two words you need to use constantly, and you must not declare anything evil or ugly. The words you use become a part of your life. When you call everything good, you have stated that everything is Godlike. When you declare others good, God orders it to be so. He can make anything good before your eyes. The Power of God is the power of good, and can change anything into its own image and likeness.
Everything you do is for God and according to His law. The Power is coming through in such almighty ways with greater speed that you can declare that darkness shall be changed into Light. The Elect may not act or speak differently than their vows. You have vowed to live in the Light, and Light has registered your vows. The action of Power is instantaneous, and the reaction of law in the outer world is faster than before. The spoken Word has become so powerful that the reaction of the law will be higher: If you send out Light discolored by self, it will return sevenfold. You must then eat your words and apologize.
This chapter of John gives us an outline for living. “Light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”–John 1:5. No one can force the Light. Every time another pulls his plug and loses his connection, just plug it in again. One thought of enfolding another in the Light, to free him, lifts him higher.
You have vowed to serve God. The right reaction to law is to cheer up. Law may kick you before you say the words, because the law’s reaction is now so fast that even a thought may trigger it. God shall divinely restrain man from disturbing his brothers. He will not allow the Elect to contaminate the little ones just learning to climb. Those who have been trained in law are responsible. Your negative words will return to you instantly.
Do not think, “He needs to be held. I must straighten him out.” Do not be tempted by dry-rotted spots of self that you know so much better than him. Examine your own life before you dare to tell someone off. Just lift the situation, and speak only if they push you into it. When you see mistakes and darkness, do not voice it or give it form. Bite your tongue.
Power can move through you only when you are dedicated to God. If God needs you to speak the Word, He will speak through you. You will speak as an instrument, not as yourself. You have no debt to pay then because God takes up the slack. Do not create more debt. Dedicate yourself to God in love, lift the one you think is failing, but without pride of self that you are so good because you have learned this lesson. When you must speak, do so as an instrument with no thought of self.
"Jesus said, For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.”–Mark 949-50. The world is experiencing being seasoned with fire. Salt cauterizes a wound to prevent it from festering. You use salt to preserve foods from spoiling. Salt takes away the flatness. How do you prove you are worthy to God? Sacrifice of self is being seasoned with salt.
When someone does not appreciate or like you, what is your attitude? After you have tried to help him and he kicks your shins, are you the teacher for God or the distributor of punishment? Get rid of self, the self in you. Lift it to the altar above. Do God’s work. Hold him. Let the salt work. Make your sacrifice count, let it purify you of self.
If your faith is supreme, you know Light weaves the words of ridicule or anger so strongly they are returning to God. Make your words good for God and the world. Declare your blunders good and pray for all others who make them. Your best “good” can smell because selfishness has an odor. So you salt every sacrifice to preserve it from spoiling. Making a sacrifice with a grudge or blame tears down the vibration. Salt removes the flatness.
Every time life or people challenge you on the outer, God is saying, “Child, come up.” Put a clamp on your tongue before you speak to set the other fellow straight. Offer your desire as a sacrifice. When you offer yourself as a sacrifice, then you must speak. Have your vows ever bored you? They do when you ignore or forget them, until God turns you back toward Him again. Salt yourself with the love of God and your desire to work wherever you are. All fire and glory come from above, but salt yourself in silence with no boasting.
The fellow who puts the knife in your best hopes, and rubs salt in the wound, keeps you on the path so you do not lose your place. Declare that they are blessed, and the Master will bless them. If you keep to the straight and narrow path, and dwell in the secret place of the Most High, every sacrifice of self will pay greater dividends. Self is a dilution of love. Salt keeps you alive, alert and doing. You feed your souls by obedience to law. The greatest hindrance to remaining salted is when you shout for credits and forget to lend yourself to be the servant of all.
Do not criticize those who doubt that Jesus is the Only Begotten Son. You cannot blame another. Keep yourself salted by being alive and alert, and no one else will rub salt into your wounds. Look up and hold to Light. Do not sprinkle your salt shaker on another. Salt is part of life’s savor. Let the other fellow keep his big salt shaker. Use your little one for your self only. Answer every “why” by examining yourself. You want to be a living ensample of Light, not of what you think is Light. However, do not let seasoning yourself turn into self-satisfaction, or you could become a pillar of salt.
When you go to bed, you can truly say, “Let there be Light.” That Light is the salt on the subconscious. Say it when you awaken. Think up, and Light will lift you to your high holy place. Fill all places, people and projects you touch with Light. This could change the world. Do not tear down Light with self-debits. You express God to the same degree as the self you have lifted to His altars. God does not debit you, but self does. When you say, “Let there be Light,” you are saying, “Let my identity with God be established.” Let others salt you while you enjoy the flavor. The salt of Spirit removes the dullness from life. Say, “Let this be seasoned with the salt of Spirit.”
Dig out your sins. Let the flavor of God’s salt penetrate your life. Let the Spirit of the Living God season all that you do. This spiritual preservative keeps you pure, without hardening. Light lifts you now, in this instant. The Spirit of the Living God has moved into your body now. This is how to lift the Power vibration for the world. The Power of the living God has penetrated every cell of your body and awakened the atoms, which are now pulsing with Light. Accept it. Ascend beyond words into Light.
You are now awake. Light wipes out your past. You live in a new body and in the communion of Spirit. For a whole week, say, “Let there be Light,” and your Guards will make it so. You now express God as your sacrifice on the outer.
Love, Your Radar
Edna Lister outline, November 17, 1963, Cleveland, OH. Ephesians 6:10-20.
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”–Ephesians 6:10-20.
Protection means to defend or to guard. NORAD, the acronym for the North American Air Defense Command, is being built at Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado. The mountain is hollowed out to create huge rooms lined with hollow steel blocks surrounded with a rubber material to withstand the shocks. The facility will house the greatest machines ever built, a computerized Master Mind, which is to be a central command station that will coordinate all radar stations at once.
The stations are on the DEW Line
God has sent you here with your very own NORAD station in your head. Like the little boy who, when asked where he got his beautiful eyes said, “Oh, they came with my head,” your NORAD station comes with your head. Your radar is alive to register everything around you. It is your protection, your defense, and your guard. I have it, but how do I get it working? What is the master key to unlock this power? Love, of course. Love unlocks the energy stored in your soul star, and releases it when you use the armor of God. The whole armor of God, described in Ephesians, the sixth chapter, outlines six ways to protect and to defend yourself. The eleventh and twelfth verses list what you must protect yourself from.
“Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”–Ephesians 6:11-12. This means that you can use the whole armor of God to treat all cross-vibrations, all dark, lesser suggestions and thoughts incoming from the world. What are you protecting? Your creative tools of desire, thinking and imagination.
The first step is to gird your loins with truth. This places a band of Light, called the girdle of Aphrodite, over the liver, which represents sincerity, and the spleen, which symbolizes loyalty. You must permit no outer vibration or suggestion of either insincerity or disloyalty to touch you.
The second step is guarding yourself with the breastplate of righteousness, which has twelve stones, twelve lights and colors arrayed like radar to meet any outer vibration. You face the world with your right use of high vision. The third step is to shod your feet with the “preparation of the gospel of peace,” which is understanding. The feet represent your foundation of understanding. You can have no peace when you are in conflict. The fourth step in protection is taking up your shield of faith. Wearing it on your left arm, you move it in every direction. Faith is your protecting sheath of substance. Wisdom is the Light, Love the substance of faith, and the Logos, the Word sends it forth. Thus, you may quench the fiery darts with your words.
Putting on the helmet of salvation is the fifth step of protection. You “take” the helmet of salvation by earning it as the reward for all your conquering of self. This is your NORAD defense, and it came with your sixteen-petaled lotus. You must awaken every nerve of the thousand-petaled crown lotus all over your head. Nothing can shake your brain if these petals are awakened, because they are shock absorbers. Then the white wings of the Christ descend and the fans of pharaoh open to protect the golden bowl. Headaches often result when conflict, internal or external, interferes with the life of the thousand petals. The solar plexus meridian is your DEW line, of outer protection. It receives warnings from the outside, relays the premonitions to NORAD, if you lift them instantly. Push the This-Is-Good button, which directs the Power to the right place for protection, direct to the source of the darkness. “This is good” works faster than the mechanical brain can work.
The sixth step of protection is to hold the sword of Spirit, the balance of love and wisdom, raised in your right hand. Thus, you bind darkness, and it cannot move. Supplication is not begging, but means “Let it come. I am ready!” Give God all the credit. “Not I but the Father does the work. My Father worketh hitherto and I work.” Persevere in the face of difficulty. Move high, and allow no cross-vibration to touch you as criticism born of intolerance. Remember, anything of which you are intolerant or criticize, you have just left or are still in it. He who has earned the right to know, knows that his own taints show. You may permit yourself no criticism or you brand yourself as intolerant. Today, racial integration is so divisive that it is pulling down three life waves. The first wave must release more love. The middle life wave is working to integrate the lower third life wave socially, and marrying among them.
Say, “Thank You, Father, that You have not chosen me for this third grade work. I gladly release Power to be used.” Put them all in an actual sphere of Light, shaft of fire, sphere of fire and walls of fire. Give God the credit. Declare, “I AM become an ambassador in bonds. I AM a servant of Power.” “Father, the platform You have placed under me shall become an elevator, lifting me to the Source, where all the Power of God forms a radar of protection around me. God, the Source, is my NORAD, and instantly sends a call over my lines of Light and the Power surrounds me!”
Love, Your Radar
Edna Lister transcript, November 17, 1963, Cleveland, OH. Irene White, Virginia Whitehead, scribes. Ephesians 6:10-20.
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”–Ephesians 6:10-20.
The Bible is such a great textbook. It answers every need. You can open your textbook and always find a verse that shows you the way. How many of you use it? Make it a constant practice to go to the Bible for a verse to guide you through the day.
Protection means defense, a refuge and a guard. The Father above has prepared the way before you clearly for your guidance and protection. Our religion is a scientific study of the laws of principle, and the whole of what has been prepared for our glory and protection. God can restrain a certain element in the world only by a good constructive fear. He does see and hear everything, and takes care of you.
God is the reason to become moral, honorable, loyal. Recording angels write everything in the Book of Life. My mother trained me in this, and I grew up believing it. No mother should threaten her child about God, but give her children knowledge of a God of honor, love and protection.
A hollowed-out mountain in the Colorado Rockies serves as the headquarters for NORAD, the North American Air Defense Command. Cheyenne Mountain has many rooms of steel surrounded by a cushion of spongy rubber-like material that acts as a shock absorber. If a bomb struck it, the shock absorbers would lessen the blow.
NORAD houses a mechanical brain, a computer said to be the largest ever built on earth. The DEW line
You come to earth with a God-given radar protection built into your head. The golden bowl is your protective radar equipment, the most magnificent device God could plan. You all came with this power of protection. Whether you respect it and develop brain bells for its use, or disrespect and misuse it, it determines what you get from life, and where you are going.
Humanity is the microcosm. God is the macrocosm. Your radar is as great as your Father in heaven. If you do not believe this, you do not believe that the Father made you in His image and likeness. You reject God when you say, “I’m not ready,” or “I’m too old for this.” How do you put your radar in action? Love is the answer, the love you have for God, whom you accept. Accept the fact of your protection, without indulging in a pale thinking and dawdling about accepting it.
God is more than a cold thought. Love for God opens your great Oversoul star storehouse that contains all your creative substance. It is your safe deposit box at in God’s bank. When you say, “Let it happen,” your star opens and you can draw on the substance it contains. No one can ever use your substance, for no one but you can touch it. Your love opens the vault door.
God has arranged this elaborate security for your protection. The sixth chapter of Ephesians expresses this perfectly, tells you to put on the whole armor of God, and having done all, to stand. The whole armor is God’s loving protection that enables you to “withstand in the evil day.”
Having done all you can, you stand, then stand some more until God gets tired of hearing your same petition, and answers you. If you can say, “I’ve done everything. What now?”—you do not believe God. When you believe God, you stand and wait.
“Gird up your loins” means to put a band of Light around your middle. The liver symbolizes sincerity, and the spleen represents loyalty. These organs are the foundation of your physical health protection. Unless you gird your loins and stand protected by your sincerity and loyalty, you will be open to an outside vibration. You must remain loyal to your principles. Disloyalty to yourself is the primary cause of problems with the spleen. Stand on sincerity, for telling lies damages the liver.
“Put on the breastplate of righteousness,” which has twelve stones. Each stone emits the white Light of the Christ in a different color. The white Light goes forth and, in the center of each stone, becomes the color necessary to shatter the evil before you.
“Let your feet be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” Feet represent understanding, and you can understand all things peaceably and peacefully when you stand under the Light. No peace is possible for the world or individuals, save through understanding by standing under the Light.
Next, you put on the helmet of salvation. This is the tricky step, to awaken the crown lotus, which is your radar grid that warns of danger. The thousand-petal lotus at the crown of the atomic mental body forms the aura of lights, and is your protection from vibrations of the outside world. Each petal is a nerve end with a phosphorescent tip, which acts as a shock absorber to cushion the bumps and jars to your head.
Conflicts between self and soul about the positive and negative sides of a virtue will create headaches. If the faculties are crystallized, the person has trouble setting the lotus petals afire. The trick is to let soul consciousness direct and control, not self-consciousness.
You store all principles of Love and Wisdom in the sixteen-petaled lotus at the crown of your electronic spiritual body, and the whole process of Ascension works to awaken this lotus. Each petal represents a virtue, whose negative side you are conquering to make its positive side your own. For example, courage is yours when you conquer fear. Radar rays move in every direction in straight lines to catch passing vibrations. You have protection at the solar plexus meridian, your DEW line, which picks up every worldly vibration.
Put the shield of faith on your left arm. If you feel a premonition, declare, “This is good,” which will trigger the Light from your Oversoul star. “This is good,” starts the action from the Source itself to protect you, and returning rays of repulsion push something that could have happened away from you. “Let there be Light” will ascend it. This is your protection equipment. Your ascending love triggers a vibration from the Source, which invokes protective rays of repulsion around your body. This shield of faith catches every vibration and diverts it directly to your protection station before it strikes your solar plexus.
The sword of Spirit is the double-edged sword of Love and Wisdom, and the Logos of the Christed One forms the crossbar below the handle. You carry the sword is in your right hand, which denotes execution or action in the world. The sword quenches fire, goes direct to the heart of what is happening, and diverts evil, darkness and negativity. Take no self-credit for what you do. Say, “Not I, but the Father does the work.” The Power from above will take you to your goal. Most people just live by vibrations they pick up from the world. Yet you must extract yourself from the world and go to your crown lotus communication station to contact the Source.
“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.”–Ephesians 6:18. Making supplication does not mean you are begging, but that you let the Power work. Say, “Let the Power go through. Father, here I am. Let the Power do everything the people of earth pray for.” The main difficulty is that you do not persevere.
You cannot criticize the world of men and keep your armor of Light intact. When any outside world vibration hits your love radar, launch a This-Is-Good missile, and put walls of fire around them. Call down shafts of fire around your body, and everything that needs protection. oo much political criticism is going around. He who knows law and has advanced, knows that each critic has most likely been the thing he is criticizing. Somewhere the critic has learned the lesson, but criticizes those who have not yet learned it.
Earth is home to three life waves, ascending creator gods, the sons and daughters of man, and creatures, so everyone has lived on the lower pole of a virtue at sometime. Yet you cannot criticize men, governments or events and remain invulnerable to outer evil. It just does not matter to the creature, and the sons and daughters of man can be hypercritical intellectually. You, the ascending creators, can be tolerant of what the world criticizes to death.
Declare, “I am an ambassador in bonds.” Your ambassadorship obliges you to declare every person and situation good and to launch your missiles of Light when something evil hits your radar system. Declare walls of fire around evil. Call down shafts of fire on yourself and your family, and surround them with a wall of fire.
The fiery Light you invoke becomes rays of repulsion so that although “a thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, it shall not come near you.” Declare that you love God enough. When you have invoked your protection, you know what to do and can stand to release more Power.
Healing Through Forgiveness
Edna Lister outline; November 24, 1963, Cleveland, OH. Matthew 18:18-22, Luke 17:1-4, Galatians 6:1.
“Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, until seven times: but, until seventy times seven.”–Matthew 18:18-22.
“Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.”–Luke 17:1-4.
“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”–Galatians 6:1.
Last week, November 19 and 20, we finished a cycle of one hundred years. During this time, man has conquered land, sea and air to the edge of outer space. On November 22, we opened a new cycle in the drama of life. Superman has stepped onto the stage to play his part for the next one hundred years. We have opened the final chapter in the Book of Armageddon. Superman is to conquer evil, hate and self to live by soul.
One hundred years ago, Abraham Lincoln fought a mighty battle to free us from slavery. He was assassinated through hate, and died on Good Friday. A man named Johnson became President. On November 22, a Friday, Jack Kennedy was assassinated for this same vibration of hatred. He is succeeded by Lyndon Johnson. Coincidence? No, a divine plan. Today, a new cycle in the drama of life, opens all over the world, a last chapter in the Armageddon, the battle between Light and darkness.
People have hated the Kennedy dynasty, calling it a combination of means and money to grab power. They said such things as, “Anything to get rid of the Kennedy dynasty.” No one really hated the President. If any other way could have been found, God would have found it. With John Kennedy’s passing, the shock took out all hate. When Pope John passed, he took out one third of the remaining evil in the world. John Kennedy’s passing under a martyr’s vibration took out twice as much as Pope John did. The vibrational wave that took him out and over was a great wave of forgiveness.
Forgiveness means to “give something for.” Another word for forgiveness is nonresistance. Kennedy’s going opened gates into every corner of earth. Every place on earth is affected. His going has given God back to us! Back to our nation, back to the whole world. In one great wave of grief, the world came to its knees in prayer to God!
This wave has wiped out over fifty years of insidious atheism trying to stamp out religion and God. Since evil has belabored religion mainly, in its propaganda, it is now helpless and futile. Once a wave has crested, it must recede. Evil crested when one woman could deny our children the right to pray in school.
Jesus said, “Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”–Matthew 18:19. Millions were praying for the United States, agreeing as one. This is peace. Many heads of state are coming here to be lifted by our prayers.
“It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.”–Luke 17:1-4. Not everyone can hold to this high vibration of love, brotherhood. Some will slip back. Woe unto them that do for it will be as though a millstone were hung around their neck.
“Whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.”–Mark 9:42. Today, some feel the effect of this law as a pain in the neck. Do not carry a grudge. Reprove, rebuke and bring it into the open. The offense must be opened up to be forgiven, but that does not mean I must let another make me over in his image or for me to do so to him. Tell the offender once, not a million times. If he repents, forgive him seven times a day, for the same thing.
Then Peter asked whether he should forgive seven times. Jesus said that he must forgive seventy times seven, or four hundred and ninety times. He meant that we are to forget it and charge no debts. You go through three steps in forgiveness. The first is, “I’ll forgive him this once, but he had better not do it again!” At this step, outside things still annoy and frustrate self, and draw its attention. Self-righteous, self is always talking about “me and mine.”
At the second step, people move up in truth and say, “Father, You forgive them, for they know not what they do.” They are still charging a debt, still taking offense, but conscious of the idea of God, and talking about “thee and thine.” Finally the soul moves up in surrender to become a servant of Power, saying, “Father, please forgive me for causing my brother to stumble.” For instance, in one office, a woman had such strong body odor that everyone held their nose as she walked past. One day she saw them. A perfect treatment would be to surround her body with the blue disintegrating, absorbing ray of the mother, then to enfold her in a sphere of Light. If someone in that office had used this treatment, none would need a clothespin on their nose. Law works. The world is your laboratory to experiment in, to let Light do all the work. You have no need to see or hear offenses. For you, they are just not there because you are too busy using the cleansing ray of forgiveness.
Healing Through Forgiveness
Edna Lister transcript, November 24, 1963, Cleveland, OH. Ruth Johnson, Irene White, Ross and Virginia Whitehead, scribes. Matthew 18:18-22, Luke 17:1-4, Galatians 6:1.
“Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, until seven times: but, until seventy times seven.”–Matthew 18:18-22.
“Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.”–Luke 17:1-4.
“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”–Galatians 6:1. Today is a day of special prayer. Today our prayers are connected to every creed and tongue, whatever it may be. The One God is reminding men in their minds and hearts that this is a day of solemn rejoicing, celebrating the fact that Light has won over darkness.
Last week we celebrated the closing of a 100-year cycle of conquering. Man has conquered land, sea and air. He has grown arrogant and proud, and in many places has completely forgotten the Source of his Power. On November 22, we opened a new cycle of conquering the self to be the soul.
John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln for holding to his vision of the emancipation from slavery on earth. He died on Good Friday and was succeeded by a man named Johnson. They assassinated Kennedy Friday, November 22, for seeking to close out the thing begun on the vibration 100 years before, on a Friday, and he was succeeded by Johnson. This is not coincidence but a divine plan.
No one really hated Jack Kennedy, the man and the President. People said, “The Kennedy dynasty should be stopped,” but did not want him taken from his body. Before Pope John XXIII died, he refused a sedative because he wanted his pain to be a sacrifice to bring peace. He took at least one-third of the remaining darkness of earth with him through the Gates of Light. John Kennedy has taken out more than another third. If there had been a better way to bring this about, God would have.
We have entered a new cycle in this drama of life, and superman has stepped onto the stage to do the acting. Superman will come forth. Superman is defined as one who knows God and who knows his own identity and where his power comes from. Now a sign will come forth. We are entering the final chapter of the Armageddon, which remains to be written in the Book of Life. This shall be a glory. Those who do not know God will say that times are bad. This is the sign of the beast. We lift them. Had there been another way to bring oneness in the world, God would have found and used it.
John Kennedy gave God back to the world. In less than five minutes, people were on their knees weeping and in prayer all over the world. This morning, people all over the world are all praying as one, in grief because he was taken from his body. He has given the world the greatest gift, God. Within two seconds after the last shot, his passing as a martyr wiped out fifty years of atheistic propaganda against God. Those who talked against God called upon Him. Kennedy’s passing has brought us this gift supreme.
One hundred years later they are talking about Lincoln and his gift. They will talk about John Kennedy 100 years from now. Kennedy became a martyr, and darkness has to go. Atheists have taken the Bible from our schools. Yet we are lifting darkness and hatred from the earth on this great tidal wave of forgiveness. Whether Christian, Buddhist or Jew, etc., all are praying to God to forgive us our debts. This is a day of days.
When a wave reaches its crest, it must recede. Darkness has reached an apex as high as the force that created it. The darkness left is all in the minds and hearts of the rabid dark ones on earth. A superman comes to conquer hate, greed, intolerance and self from the minds and hearts of men. While we stand, we say, “Father, skim off the evil.”
Leaders from all over the earth are coming here for the funeral. What a marvelous entrance this is to the Golden Christed Age. No rancor exists among men. Hate has taken a holiday. All nations are taking time to grieve over someone, which will bring miracles toward the brotherhood of man among the nations.
“Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, until seven times: but, until seventy times seven.”–Matthew 18:18-22.
“What is loosed on earth is loosed in heaven.” All over earth, devotion is flowing up to God. Keep the vibration of love going, no matter where atheism raises its head. In five minutes, people all over the world prayed and talked to God. Miracles you have been praying for are just going to pop up under your feet. What a gift John Kennedy has left behind!
“It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.”–Luke 17:1-4.
The law of forgiveness is the outer expression of the great principle of nonresistance. People have thought that nonresistance is soft, and that if you practice it, anyone can take from you. Yet the great principle of nonresistance is making the whole world pray today. Dictators feel this. What are we going to say when the old boys have slipped? Lift them up to a cloud of Light at once. They have tried to take religion from us. Say, “This is just the rest of the evil coming to the surface. Father, scoop it up as we declare it lifted.”
The law of forgiveness is the law upon which martyrdom moves. Nonresistance is not soft. You do not have to return to an adversary be slapped again. To forgive, just stand, without speaking, and just let Light go through you, which is forgiveness. There are three states under the law of forgiveness:
The first step is “I’ll forgive him, but he’d better not do it again. This is the last time I will put up with this.” Here is at least a consciousness that a law of forgiveness exists. f you have blame in your heart you say, “I don’t deserve this. I have loved God and my neighbor.” No law can be set aside, not a jot or a tittle. Put people on a cloud of Light and call down fire and Light upon them until they learn.
The second step in forgiveness is a hard trek between saying, “Father, You forgive him,” and saying, “I forgive.” This is still about “me and mine.” If you do not possess some taint, no “me or mine” applies. You can trip and fall on blame and self-righteousness. You say, “Father, forgive him,” but think, “I have a right to charge a debt to him. His debt is too big for me, so Father, You must do something about it.”
When you live under the law of forgiveness, you learn to forgive seventy times seven. Finally, you see that forgiveness means to forget the offense. “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”–Galatians 6:1. Jesus said, “If your brother sins against you, rebuke him.” A rebuke is saying, “Can you take a little constructive criticism?” It doesn’t mean rebuke him to make him over in your image and likeness.
If it is an offense to offend someone, then it is also an offense to charge that person with a debt. Declare, “Father, forgive my debts as I forgive others.” If I blame someone I hang a millstone around my neck. The soul of a person is bowed when they blame, and debts of blame hunch their shoulders. Put on the whole armor of God and stand to pray without ceasing. Today, we have reached a point where we must ask God to “Forgive me for having caused my brother to stumble.” The Power and glory are going through thee and thine. It is unseemly undignified to see others’ offenses. Say, “I can’t be bothered.”
Forgiveness means to give for. This whole Christed age is about nonresistance and forgiveness. Hold no debts against a nation or a man. Lift. Use the Light. When people rebuke you, thank them for being interested enough to improve you before the world. Nonresistance is forgiveness radiating from your soul. ;John Kennedy’s state funeral is to be a worldly conclave of the brotherhood of man. God will use it to send the Power through us to go out into the world. You and I are the supermen of the new world.
Before the Beginning, I AM
Edna Lister transcript, December 1, 1963, Buffalo, NY. Edna Bender,scribe. Proverbs 8:22-36, Revelation 8:1-5, John 8:58-59. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. CST, Friday, November 22, 1963, Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas.
“The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: when he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: when he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men. Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.”–Proverbs 8:22-36.
“When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth, and there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.”–Revelation 8:1-5.
The verses in Proverbs are about the emanations and God’s Plan before He started an outer Day of Manifestation here. In the other Days of Creation, God said, “It is good.” On the second day, He separated the lower earth from the heavens above, which is perfection, “He separated the seas,” but did not say, “It is good,” because the evil of earth remains here for us to lift.
“Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them and so passed by.”–John 8:58-59. The First begotten Son, whom we know as Jesus, descended to open the Gates of Light.
“The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there.”–Proverbs 8:22-27. He is speaking to us in this passage from the Book of Proverbs.
After being wise, loving and joyful “in the garden,” the creator gods had to take on form. Prayers ascend under twelve great divisions, which represent individual identities of God as personality. It means the twelve endocrine glands and nerve plexus centers in man. It means to stand and live, to obey the Neophyte vows—breathing, exercise, work, recreation, rest and food. Do this every day, because it is your temple of the living God.
“He gave to the sea His decree, that the waters should not pass His commandment.”–Proverbs 8:29. Water represents emotions; evil cannot get in through forcing against law. You can hearken without hearing, because under hearing, you begin to heed. It is the hearing that impresses truth on the brain cells. “Repudiate it not.” Many people hearken and hear, but repudiate.
“Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.”–Proverbs 8:34. “Waiting at the posts of my doors” means support pillars. In the desire body, the door posts are the channels, solar and lunar, on either side of the spine. You must keep them open by breathing deeply, to hold open the door of your crown.
“For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord.”–Proverbs 8:35. You are as immortal now as you will ever be. God has filled your golden bowl, your head, with computer equipment, which were we to build it as a machine, it would fill a building as big as the Cow Palace in San Francisco, bigger than the Empire State Building. God has capacitated the computer in your golden bowl to function as much Power as is released by water going over Niagara Falls at its heaviest flow.
God equipped us in this magnificent way, but the average individual uses only three, four or five of his forty-four faculties. everyone on earth can do anything that they really want to do. It’s a matter of choice. It does not matter how decrepit a body gets, the same powers that made it in the first place can build it again.
In the beginning the Word was God, and each word you speak is just as much God now as it was at first. If you have expended your life sparks foolishly with idle words, you have allowed the outside world to move into your auric substance. If you allow that, you create a condition that you must clean up.
Reach out with arms of Light and say, “I gather in all this misused Substance that I had in the beginning. Here I stand serving You. Please bestow it on me to rebuild my body.” It does not matter how far it has gone, if you believe. It is an insult to God to say, “I hope.” You are just not ready to let go of self to let God move in completely. Believing God can do it is easy, but it is so hard when the doctor says, “It cannot be done.” The minute the blue ray of Love cushions you, you are immune. Bring back all those idle thoughts and send them to the altar.
The eighth chapter of Revelation describes the opening of the seventh vial of wrath: “When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth, and there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.”–Revelation 8:1-5. The “much incense” is Power “that he should offer it upon the golden altar.” He was given this glory to add to the prayers that went up as “smoke of incense.”
Does it matter how it looks on the outside? I declare that no faction can again stir up such hate as before. We have lifted it and the Father has accepted it as our gift to Him. Reach out with the arms of Light to lift darkness, saying, “Please melt and dissolve my offering.” To stand gives God the opportunity to pour the vigor in—He adds tenfold more that you had. The law of forgiveness works this way.
Most of all, I must forgive myself seventy times seven. “Where two or three are gathered, I am in their midst.” You believe it up to the clouds, up to the sun, but must believe it up to the Source. You are supermen and women, so act as if you are immortal.
When you reach the “Though You slay me, I will love you” stage, God moves in. This is the pearl of great price. What are you giving up for it? You must discipline and ascend the appetitive soul to become a part of the rational soul, and declare, “This is good.”
You need just two elements, Light and acceptance. You brought Light with you to earth, so let this Light possess you. It is a matter of accepting, and not repudiating one little speck of it. The world cannot touch what God has blessed unless he who has been blessed steps away from the Light. Even God did not know what mankind’s exercise of free will could do.
You have found life. How shall you live it? God pours it out upon you and has given you free choice. He only knows how you want to live it as you show Him by your actions. Live life gloriously. Give Him and the Power and the glory full advantage. The hard thing is to ascend while ignoring what is here. Willingly walk through the mud to reach the other side, where the beauty is.
How great God is! Everyone can ascend. The depths of hell cannot prevail against you unless you abandon the Light.
Your Soul’s Vision
Edna Lister outline; December 8, 1963, Cleveland, OH. Mark 9:1-29, Luke 9:28-30, Matthew 17:1-12.
“And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power. And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them. And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them. And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.” For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid. And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him. And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves. And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead. And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean. And they asked him, saying, Why say the scribes that Elias must first come? And he answered and told them, Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth all things; and how it is written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be set at nought. But I say unto you, That Elias is indeed come, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed, as it is written of him.
“And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them. And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him. And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them? And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; and wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him unto me. And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose. And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.”–Mark 9:1-29.
“And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering. And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias.”–Luke 9:28-30.
“After six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead. And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, that Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.”–Matthew 17:1-12.
“And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.”–Mark 9:1. This startling statement caused consternation, for everything about the Gospels shows that imagination was just awaking in practically all mankind, especially in the disciples. Most of these people had almost no imagination. They were practical, hard-minded and critical. What a statement to throw at them, what a challenge!
This moment followed weeks of traveling, healing, feeding the five thousand, feeding the four thousand. You can imagine the many laws that Jesus must have given the twelve. Immediately before this passage, Jesus had been speaking of the day of crucifixion to his disciples and healing. He found only the three, Peter, James and John, ready to really take up into the mysteries with him. They all high on a mountain to be alone.
“After six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.”–Matthew 17:1-2.
In Mark, Jesus’ raiment was white as snow, whiter than any bleach could make it. Jesus was talking to Elias [Elijah] and Moses. Luke said that his countenance altered and his robe was white and glistering. Matthew described Jesus’ face as shining like the sun and that his clothing was white as the light.
Jesus told them that he had been both Elias and Moses in previous lives. In Luke, the three went to sleep while he conversed with the Moses and Elias, because the Power was too much for them. When they awoke, they saw two men and Jesus’ glory, then the vision was gone! Under such a high vibration, their vision opened and they saw the inner world. Whether they understood or not, Jesus had to leave this record of the mystery and vision, and they were his witnesses.
In the previous chapter of Mark, Jesus fed the five thousand with five loaves, and the four thousand with seven loaves. He took up twelve baskets left over from the five loaves, and seven baskets from the seven loaves. His disciples were bread-conscious! “Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf. And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread. And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened? Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember? When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve. And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven. And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not understand?”–Mark 8:14-21.
Matthew, chapter 16, describes this in a slightly different way. Jesus, continuing to teach them law, said, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.” They whispered, “It is because we have no bread.” Jesus asked why they related it to the bread. He reminded them of the twelve and seven baskets of leftovers.
He asked, “How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?” Then they understood that he was speaking of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. Because of this, we know he was unveiling the mysteries to them. The leaven of the Pharisees was pride. The leaven of Herod was treachery. He was warning them against pride and hiding their sins.
Silence is one of the greatest of laws in connection with the mysteries. In the seventh, eighth and ninth chapters of Mark, Jesus makes a charge to his disciples not to talk about the miracles he performed. The first charge was when he healed the deaf and dumb man. The more he charged them not to talk, the more they talked! (Mark 7:32-36.)
Jesus charged them twice in Mark, the eighth chapter. Once when he healed the blind man in Bethsaida, he told him to go home and “Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.” Immediately thereafter, he asked the disciples whom people were saying he was. Peter avowed that he was the Christ. “He charged them that they should tell no man of him.”
The third charge in the ninth chapter, was after the Transfiguration. As they came down from the mountain, he said, “Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.” Later, when the disciples asked why they could not cast out the dumb spirit, which was a possessing entity, a devil, he said, “This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.”
These statements are good to apply for disobedience to principle. Only love of God, devotion, praise and fasting from idle words will relieve the possession of personality. How can you apply this law to daily life? Hold fast to your identity with God. You dare not forget for a moment. You can always march on one more day forward toward victory, one day’s march nearer to God.
The greatest of all mysteries is the mystery of the man’s identity with God. Knowing this, all else follows. “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”–Matthew 16:24-26.
Your Soul’s Vision
Edna Lister transcript, December 8, 1963, Cleveland, OH. Irene White, Virginia Whitehead, scribes. Mark 9:1-29, Luke 9:28-30, Matthew 17:1-12.
“And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power. And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them. And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them. And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.” For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid. And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him. And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves. And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead. And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean. And they asked him, saying, Why say the scribes that Elias must first come? And he answered and told them, Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth all things; and how it is written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be set at nought. But I say unto you, That Elias is indeed come, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed, as it is written of him.
“And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them. And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him. And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them? And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; and wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him unto me. And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose. And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.”–Mark 9:1-29.
“And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering. And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias.”–Luke 9:28-30.
“After six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead. And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, that Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.”–Matthew 17:1-12.
What can God do with as little help as we have given Him in the last fifty years? What can He do? We are supermen, and it is up to us to keep the pace of peace going. Earth is ascending. The world is constantly challenging you with something new that you do not yet understand. Some people repudiate the challenges, others remain open-minded. When you reject the new, you repudiate law, for you still have your barrier up against change.
The world had Jesus for so short a time. They had rabbis and teachers in the temples, but none were like Jesus. He said that some of them who were standing there would not die until they saw the kingdom of heaven come with power. Today we are seeing that kingdom of Light. At his Crucifixion, the great opening moment of his kingdom came. He threw his followers a challenge. Jesus had fed them bits of the mysteries and tuned them into the vibration of law. Only the Messiah, the Son of God, could have covered the wisdom of the law in three years as he did.
His every parable and Gospel episode outlines the method of practice to follow. Jesus had visited Tibet, India and Egypt between the ages of thirteen to thirty, before his ministry, to teach, not to learn. Though there were a few wise men there, they did not know the mysteries as he did.
You must read the accounts in Matthew, Mark, and Luke to understand the meaning of the Mount of Transfiguration. I had to request this. I approached the teachers with courtesy and politeness, and did not demand. I asked, “Please, am I ready to be instructed in the mysteries? May I receive instruction?"
Everyone goes before certain Councils when they pray and ask for Light on some matter. If the great ones do not answer you, return regularly until they do. If you go to an attorney for advice, you don’t tell the attorney what to say. If you hear “Thou hast said” from a Council, the answer means you are considering only self and asking for the self. You must study the laws of heaven and open your heart and mind to their mysteries of glory.
Jesus had told Peter, James and John the meaning of the Transfiguration, and they had asked for more information. Since he had disappeared often, they must have asked to go with him, thus saw him lose his material body. He told them to be silent about what they had seen. Silence is a great law that opens the mysteries. He accelerated his vibration and became light in weight and appearance while they watched the Transfiguration. Acceleration of vibration is all that is necessary to transfigure, resurrect and ascend.
Mark said his robe was whiter than any launderer could make it. Luke said his countenance was altered and his raiment white and glistering (this comes from within, not from the outside). Matthew said his countenance shone as the sun. The three could see him with Elias [Elijah] and Moses on either side of him. Jesus had been both Elijah and Moses in other lives. He received Elijah’s soul portion by answering the questions in the temple. Moses withstood the physical harm Jesus endured at his Crucifixion.
Luke says that they were heavy with sleep when Jesus conversed with Moses and Elijah, but they saw them. Peter wanted to build altars to each of them. He had given them the Transfiguration, yet they wanted to make a physical memorial. Jesus had to leave behind a witness to the fact that life does go on after death of the body. He opened their eyes by taking them there. Then they came away from the mountain.
Jesus had just performed the miracle of the loaves and fishes, then he healed a boy. They still talked about the bread and fishes, so he said they should take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which was their pride. He asked if they had forgotten the lesson he had taught them the night before. A father brought his son to Jesus for healing and said, “Lord, help my unbelief.” He cast out the dumb spirit and opened the boy’s ears and tongue. They wondered how he did it and he explained. He charged them to say nothing, so they ran out and told everyone. He told them to tell no man until the Son of Man ascended, yet they didn’t really know what he meant. It was a mystery to them.
A mystery is just something you do not yet understand. Every little episode in life is a part of the great mystery of life. The real mystery is unfolding the meaning of law and applying it to your daily life. The kingdom of heaven opens only when you give up your self. When you climb in ascension, the Guards put a platform of Light under you, but you cannot give up the climb. There is no easy way to enter the kingdom of heaven, so you climb one step at a time.
The two basic approaches to God are the intellectual and the devotional. Fasting and prayer falls under devotion. You can fast and pray devotedly, but you base your prayer statements on principle, which intellect guides. Declare, “Let this fear be lifted,” and you can heal the anxiety.
Psychosomatic illnesses are the result of the appetitive soul’s effect on the body. Those, with demonic entities and possession by the
Love is the healer, love direct from the Source, which comes only when you love God enough. This is one step higher than just statements of truth. You must surrender to be used by the Light as the power of love. The soul’s willingness to pray and fast show that the soul remembers and knows that it was created to give the Father all credit for healing. Everyone is or has been transfigured by love in some degree. Your lights and colors cannot shine so brightly without opening the door to the inner world. You look happy because love transfigures you, and illumination fills you to overflowing. Yet Transfiguration is only a way-station on the path to Ascension.
Jesus said, “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me,” and “Whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” Deny the little self and follow Christ. You save your self by going to sleep and forgetting what your self has done. Give of yourself even when you are tired. God calls on you because He has no one else. If you do not do that extra duty, you lose.
Say, “Fill this body with Your life and make it do Your work.” When you see evil, surround it with Light. Recall one outstanding day of your life, when you were filled with glory. From that day, surrender yourself to receive the greatest-of-all mystery: Your identity is one with God. You are now standing on your own Mount of Transfiguration. Jesus’ every word and the law he taught was to reveal this one concept: I and the Father are one. This gives your and the world its identity, and your identity is from the Source.
Shekinah Splendor
Edna Lister outline, December 15, 1963, Cleveland, OH. 2 Corinthians 3, Colossians 1:27. New King James Version text of 2 Corinthians 3 used for greater clarity.
“Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones; was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious bad no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious. Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”–2 Corinthians 3, NKJV.
"To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”–Colossians 1:27.
“In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid…Also I have made a decree, that whosoever shall alter this word, let timber be pulled down from his house, and being set up, let him be hanged thereon; and let his house be made a dunghill for this. And the God that hath caused his name to dwell there destroy all kings and people, that shall put to their hand to alter and to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have made a decree; let it be done with speed.”–Ezra 6:3, 11-12.
“Unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put His name there, even unto His habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come.”–Deuteronomy 12:5.
Shekinah is a Hebrew noun, taken from the verb shekan, meaning “to live” or “to dwell,” which is used as “habitation” or “dwelling” in the Bible. Shekinah means God as a presence, a material manifestation of God, dwelling in the tabernacle or the temple, or walking the earth.
The Shekinah glory of heaven is effulgent light, so brilliant that its brightness blinds us, for it is too brilliant for our eyes to see. The whole third chapter of the second Epistle to the Corinthians explains how much greater is the glory of God than the Shekinah glory that shone in Moses’ face and blinded the Israelites. When Moses ascended, the Shekinah glory faded. Yet the glory of God remained to shine again as it did on the Mount of Transfiguration.
Three words describe soul growth: Inner awareness, recognition and ascension. In Moses’ time, God placed a veil over people’s minds because they could not bear the glory of His countenance. The veil remained on Moses’ face in the Old Testament, but Jesus’ face was unveiled in the New Testament. Today we have more Light that is ever brighter because the veil has been lifted.
Awareness determines your degree of consciousness in life. When Light has transformed your life, your awareness of all-encompassing. Recognition, the second definition of growth, is first seeing your identity with God, then knowing that your inheritance is all that the Father has.
When you come in sight of your so-great responsibility, you give up the “me and mine” to live by “Thee and Thine.” Surrender the little self. Give up the self-versus-soul conflicts, such as, Did I do it right? What have I done wrong? Is this for me? Yes, it is yours, meant to transfigure your life, to love, to lift, and to use everything you need in joy.
The third definition of growth is acceptance of your full identity as a son or daughter of God, as an instrument for God’s Shekinah glory to use. Ascension is moving up to the ministration of the spirit in pure joy.
“To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”–Colossians 1:27. Christ in you is the hope of glory. Life is now a daily challenge. No defeat is possible because no defeat causes failure. Glory gives you a profit from every defeat. Defeat today is only a delay. You can assume an attitude of glory or failure. You have a choice, the mud or the stars.
In one illiterate New Guinea tribe, if a man was killed, the tribe believed his soul had escaped into a tree. They always searched and found some particular tree and took it home. They made noise, threw rocks to keep evil spirits from the tree, then carved it and set it up outside their village to honor the man. They believed his soul inhabited that tree. This is the lowest pole of vibration of Shekinah glory present in and as mud.
Shekinah glory may also use an intellectual giant in business, commerce, music, the arts or science. The same holds true when you act in devotion as a surrendered servant of all Power. You experience transformation, transfiguration and ascend. Sadly, many who have experienced the Shekinah later mistakenly attempt to use the glory, and so lose it.
What do you want, mud, the stars, or a way station in between? Do you have an ascending code of honor? Is God’s Light and Power greater than the whole world of man? To whom do you listen? What is greater for you, paying attention to men, or wisely seeking the holy? Do you let someone reduce you to feeling like a naked little shelled peanut? If they can or do, you are a nut! If you pay any attention to the world of men, or get all your news there, you are investing your time in the ugly darkness.
God is Light, in and as the Shekinah glory overall. No one can be boosted into the Shekinah glory that shone through Moses’ face all at once. You reach it step by step, through initiations. By becoming aware, recognizing and ascending to your own all-conquering life, you convert self into a seamless robe of Shekinah splendor. The glory allows nothing from outside to touch you.
Thus, “We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”–2 Corinthians 3:18.
Shekinah Splendor
Edna Lister transcript, December 15, 1963, Cleveland, OH. Ruth Johnson, Irene White, Virginia Whitehead, scribes. 2 Corinthians 3, Colossians 1:27. New King James Version text of 2 Corinthians 3 used for greater clarity.
“Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones; was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious bad no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious. Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”–2 Corinthians 3. NKJV
“To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”–Colossians 1:27.
“In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid…Also I have made a decree, that whosoever shall alter this word, let timber be pulled down from his house, and being set up, let him be hanged thereon; and let his house be made a dunghill for this. And the God that hath caused his name to dwell there destroy all kings and people, that shall put to their hand to alter and to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have made a decree; let it be done with speed.”–Ezra 6:3, 11-12.
“Unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put His name there, even unto His habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come.”–Deuteronomy 12:5.
Shekinah is a Hebrew noun, taken from the verb shekan, meaning “to live” or “to dwell,” which is used as “habitation” or “dwelling” in the Old Testament. Shekinah means God as a presence, the material presence of God, dwelling in the tabernacle or the temple, or walking the earth. God still walks the earth as Melchizedek of Salem, the King of Righteousness and King of Peace. How could anyone say that God is everywhere evenly present and available, but say that He cannot take on all form?
While the Shekinah glory usually releases Light in soft, beneficent rays, it can also release Power like the disastrous result of the withered fig tree, but always for a good reason. Shekinah represents the glory of God manifested as a soft Light, in degrees of radiance from earth to the Source, where it is blinding. You can sometimes see it as rays of blinding light shining through a storm cloud. It was the Light that shone over the Hebrew Tabernacle, the Light of the Ark of the Covenant, the shining cloud over Mount Sinai, and the fire in the burning bush.
Shekinah glory washes away sin. If you raise your hands and ask, with all your heart, to be possessed of Light, it washes away the taints. You need faith and true believing for this to happen. The Light of Shekinah is the ultimate substance of the living God, the Light condensed to form your physical body. This is why God designed it to be the temple for your soul. Nothing negative can exist when you allow that Light to have free access to every part of your body. Your weakness shows in some physical organ or system, wherever you seem to hold out—with many people it is their vision.
The Bible contains great examples of witnesses of Shekinah glory. Isis and Osiris had originally brought the universal truth of God as Light and the soul’s immortality to Egypt, where it later degenerated. Moses, who had been trained by the corrupt Egyptian priesthood, spent forty years in the wilderness to regain his full identity with God. Many witnessed the Shekinah upon him several times. Moses received the revitalized truth, and later built the Tabernacle and Mercy Seat of its South Gate.
When the Begotten Son took responsibility for the sins of the evil ones, he came to earth to wipe out sin. He came as Moses first, then as Jesus to finish that Messiahship, even as he walks earth today. A stellar supernova always marks the time when a phase of Messiahship begins. It has taken since September 1936 to condition the world to the degree of Power that protects it from the radiation of a supernova such as the one that flared December 6, 1963.
John and his followers first witnessed the Shekinah in the New Testament, when the dove descended to Jesus after his baptism. The glory appeared again at Jesus’ Transfiguration. To transfigure means to change the form of your character and personality expression, or to change form in outer manifestation. Peter, James and John witnessed Jesus’ Transfiguration on the Mount. They saw his face shining as the sun, the contours of his face altered, his raiment was white and glistering, which means the Light shining on his robe came from within. Then Moses and Elijah appeared to them in this same Light.
Only a few scholars were present in Judea in Jesus’ time, mostly among the priesthood, the scribes, lawyers, and Pharisees. The general populace was illiterate, and stood in awe of the apostles’ words. Today, with our growing literacy worldwide, and complexity of living, we still desire simple words. This chapter of Corinthians is complex, but we need simplicity of expression for our working formula.
Paul wrote the chapter of the second Letter to the Corinthians with one idea, to awaken us now—as Jesus had sought to awaken him on the road to Damascus—to the magnitude of the glory that Christ had given in comparison to the glory in Moses’ time. Moses released the Power from that contact with God’s Presence in the burning bush. When God wrote the Tablets of Law with divine fire from above, which melted the rock from them, Moses reflected that Light. From his Transfiguration to his Ascension, Jesus was that Light embodied in form for the world to see.
The words awareness, recognition and acceptance release greater Power today than the words Jesus spoke from the Cross, which tore the veil of the temple when he was crucified. You must become aware of this glorious Power. Through this awareness you recognize the fact that you must do something about it to identify yourself with it. To say that “a spark of divinity” is in you is a pathetic statement. Just becoming aware gives you no real identity with God, for you still remain only an individual fragment. Each of you is a Christed one, endowed with the image and likeness of God, and your must accept that all that the Father has is yours to share.
Awareness, recognition and acceptance require that you live in the joyous Christ consciousness, in which you are constantly aware of God present as the Shekinah glory. When you accept, you enter state of glory and illumination. Most of the early Church Fathers and Martin Luther had stomach or liver trouble. Dyspeptic and bilious, how could they write of God or His Christ joyously?
Ascend above family, friends, newspapers, radio and TV, which all tell you negative, mundane things. When those who look oh-so-holy try to make you shrink, stand and stare back at them as a creator god. The Light, the radiance of God’s presence will soon put them to confusion and flight. When you ascend, you receive your identity and place with the Father.
Each illumination is an invitation to climb your Mount of Transfiguration, and the first step is responsibility for your actions and words. Bite your tongue. Give up the “me” and “mine” for “Thee” and “Thine.” When you squeeze the little self to death, it screams and moans. It can send you to bed or make you want to escape.
Self doubts all good things, saying, “If nothing happens to help, what shall I do? Maybe God doesn’t want me to have it.” Declare it good and God works all things together to create the good. Surrender yourself to be used by all the Power—you will experience no failure or defeat. Delay can be strengthening, so decide whether you will sit in the mud
Whether of the lowest point of primitive worship or the highest intellectual achievement, everything is good, even pornography though it represents the lowest negative pole. So declare it good and the Light of Shekinah glory will shine on it and sweep it away. If you call it evil, it hides in the darkness of your words because evil hides its own. To declare the darkness good, to shine Light on it to burn and consume it is the way. This how we can cleanse the mess man has created. Those who claim to be high-minded and refuse to enter “dirty politics” help put the wrong politicians in office.
Only one Shekinah glory exists, the one Creative Impulse within you. It is that strength that upholds you when you feel too weak to go on and reenergizes you to keep climbing. You may accept this glory step by step, but all you really need to do is to put on the whole armor of God and stand steadfastly. How great is your goal of ascension? Do not argue or seek to change people’s minds. God’s Light will unveil their minds at the right time. The Shekinah glory then becomes their great seamless robe of life. From glory unto glory, Shekinah glory is yours!
.
Edna Miriam Lister
1884 – 1971
The original Christian Pioneering Mystic,
Platonist philosopher, American Idealist, Founder, Society of the Universal Living Christ, minister, teacher, author, wife, and mother.
Invictus
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.
– William Ernest Henley, 1849-1903
References
s.v. “Anabaptist,” Encyclopedia Britannica.
The Compact Edition of The Oxford English Dictionary: 2 volumes. Oxford University Press, 1971.
Holy Bible: The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson. 1982.
The Holy Bible. King James Version (KJV).
s.v. “Nazirite,” The Jewish Virtual Library.
Unhjem, Arne. “Paul Tillich,” Encyclopædia Britannica, November 15, 2017.