In most organizations there are the "dos" and the "don'ts" that are often so over-stressed they blot out the road of glory completely. The pots and the pans of the Hebrews have finally so filled their lives there is little time or opportunity left for worship. Others so emphasize food taboos they forget all the Spiritual glory and blessings of our loving Father. Some believe that lovely apparel or beautiful jewelry is an abomination and a transgression, not realizing that God created all beautiful things. The only ugly thing upon this earth are the things men's hands have brought forth. And since woman was God's crowning creation, she was intended to be the most beautiful of all -- not in pride or vanity but in a sacredness of tribute her loveliness was to be offered for the divine glory of God, like the perfection of a flower, the song of a bird, the indescribable beauty of a perfect day.
As one accepts the higher laws of love and devotion and joy and praise and gratitude he does not need to be clubbed over the head in order to give up his errors and weaknesses and immaturities. It would be like taking a child and beating it to make it outgrow its desire for dolls, for roller skates, for bicycles or for any other childhood attachment. A child will automatically outgrow the things of childhood if left to mature properly and with love.
Parents who pound their small children, or their older ones, into churches and conformities, thinking they are saving their children's souls, assuming they are guiding them into heaven, often find out, too late, that they have driven their precious ones into hell and lost them, mayhap, forever. They have lost their love at least. When children DO LOVE their parents it is the most precious gift possible to receive. But it must be earned. Remember, "LOVE CAN NEVER BE FORCED." Love must be won and held through a respect and an appreciation of the child's rights also. "Children, obey your parents" has been emphasized down the centuries. But there is another great law rarely looked at and seldom, if ever, considered. This most important one is: "PARENTS, PROVOKE NOT YOUR CHILDREN TO WRATH!" (Eph. 6:4)
Cherish this law! And LIVE it!
As one steps into this higher work he gives up nothing except the ugliness within himself. He gradually relinquishes his own weaknesses, dislikes, hates, prides, selfishness, his desire for self-acclaim, his greeds and his lusts. And these automatically drop away as his feet tread the divine Highway of the Gods in the pathway of his own overcoming. This is not a pathway of stress or of torture. It is a pathway of discipline, it is true, but it is a joyous path of divine discipleship as one moves onward and upward with increasing power and understanding and everlasting happiness.
Automatically, one releases his own inferior traits as he develops new and more noble ones. He does not need anyone to stand over him with a club or even an accusing finger pointed at him. He outgrows his unworthy traits and leaves them behind like old rags. And no man can be his accuser. Each individual stands alone with God, and is accountable to God only. If one fails to overcome then he is only failing himself. And that too is his privilege. But he who succeeds benefits a whole world.
It is utterly impossible for anyone to start on this journey of holiness and keep going without these divine, holy principles of love and perfection becoming a very part of himself. They embody themselves into his entire being like an inner cloak of glory and can never again be cast off or discarded.
And no one can continue to travel this road of holiness, of love, of devotion or of reaching for the fulfillment of perfection without eventually reaching its glorious ending. It is impossible for anyone to keep going AND NOT GET THERE!
Those who often have the most difficulty in traveling this Highway of Holiness are not so much the sinners as the self-righteous. These may be the ones who have developed too much personal ego in their own method of service, as they continue to relate their own experiences, as though they were in some manner, far superior to others. Because God has directed them upon occasions they assume it was because they were more favored of God. This is possible, but that favor is lost in any self-acclaim. It is easier to give up any trait or condition or thing than the little self, with this boasting trait. These precious ones believe they are glorifying God in the retelling of each personal experience of their lives. Instead they are only dragging along their own stairways. They are completely over-burdened with this heavy load --AND WITH THE PAST. These often have great difficulty in stepping across into the realms of LIGHT and POWER. Their pathway is blocked by themselves.
God bless such mistaken ones. They usually insist that they are only "letting their Light shine forth!" They realize not that they have developed no light as yet. They comprehend not the real meaning of "LIGHT!"
The command is: "Let your LIGHT so shine that others seeing your good WORKS might glorify the Father which is in heaven!" It does not say, "Let your experiences be shouted forth that others hearing your WORDS may glorify the Father which is in heaven."
As one sends out LIGHT he must have learned to comprehend and to release Light. And no individual is filled with Light until his eyes become single to the glory of God! One learns to send out Light, the great Light, through casting the darkness from him and developing eyes single to the glory of God instead of to his own. Then it is possible for one to be so filled with Light it will flow forth through him to heal and to bless all with whom he comes in contact. He will never need to bear witness of that Light. It will bear witness of him. This is accomplished through loving humility -- not for self, but for God.
"God's Kingdom is not in WORD but in POWER!"
These blessed ones will take longer, perhaps, to reach the great fulfilling than others. But they too will make it in time as that little, grubby, mortal self wears itself out and humbles itself in a devotion that sings in an ever increasing tune within the purified heart.
And now, there is this bit of information I am instructed to share as this divine road of holiness is opened wide. In Hebrews, the eleventh chapter and the fifth verse, it states: "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found because God translated him: for before the translation he had this testimony that he pleased God."
As one accepts these higher laws of PROMISE and "lays hold of them as the best gifts" he begins to live according to their fulfilling, by faith! And as he continues he will reach the point where God will bear witness to his soul, "That He (God) is pleased with him!" This is not that self-righteous feeling of an inferior person being pleased with himself. This is the divine, holy touch of God's hand upon him as the sacred glory of this unspeakable blessing is released deep into the soul of the individual with a completeness that is so perfect and so divine there can be no more doubting or evil -- or too much delay. As one gathers this LAST great PROMISE, in the joy of his own final quickening, the assurance within increases and love and praise and ecstasy fills his entire soul.
This sacred witness from God is most necessary for each individual to receive and only God can give it. And it is fulfilled by the fulfilling of the law -- that divine law of love and devotion and increasing joyous praise and gratitude.
Daily that inner assurance will increase as one evolves into the fulness of the PROMISE and he, at some unexpected moment, yet in a complete state of awareness "will be wrapped in the power and the glory of his Maker and will be caught up to dwell with Him!"
Or, as stated before, one may request the privilege of returning to earth that he might be permitted to serve here where the need is so great and the laborers so few -- AND the time so short!
Whatever your request, or whatever the desire or the desires of your heart, they will be fulfilled according to the fulness of your own sanctified hope. And, whenever your fulfillment is accomplished and "your calling and election is made sure" or is completed, there will be those before you who will be there to welcome you as the hosts of heaven rejoice over your achievement, for it will be a blessing to the entire world. God bless you great and noble ones! And may your graduation be fulfilled speedily!
"And all the sons of God shouted for joy and the morning stars sang together” over the anticipated wonder of the promise contained in the laying of the foundations of the earth. We were therein PROMISED that we were to possess this beautiful planet as our future abode or school room of progress. It was a world in which we would learn to handle tangible things and receive denser bodies than we had ever known, and would be given the opportunity to be tested and tried in all things and so PROVE ourselves worthy or unworthy of greater honors and opportunities.
As we, the Spirit children of our Almighty Sire, became clothed in flesh, with our memories of the past veiled, God gave out many PROMISES that drifted out across space and time as snatches of melody rippling over the ocean of eternity. And sometimes, even now, our souls catch some haunting refrain, some hope forgotten, some special promise pending -- and we stand lost in silent, expectant waiting -- waiting for we know not what.
And later it was those of great faith, those divinely inspired ones, those ancient, holy prophets or the chosen sons who put those divine PROMISES INTO WORDS, under God's minute direction. And so all those great and mighty PROMISES, given forth before ever earth began, became the heritage of man. These eternal PROMISES are even now man's to reject or ignore or to accept and to PROVE!
And the following words of TRUTH came drifting across the ages to be heard by those of open, questing minds and to be recorded thus: "Behold, when ye shall rend the veil of unbelief which doth cause you to remain in your awful state of wickedness, and hardness of heart, and blindness of mind, then shall THE GREAT AND MARVELOUS THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN HID UP FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD FROM YOU * * * be made manifest!"
What were those "Great and Marvelous things that were hid up from the foundation of the world because of our awful state of wickedness, our hardness of heart and our blindness of mind?"
Those "great and marvelous things" were the great and mighty PROMISES of God as they were either buried or submerged between the words and the passages of scripture. And because of the hardness of men's hearts and the blindness of their minds and because of the gross wickedness of UNBELIEF those sacred PROMISES have lain buried under the dust of ancient verbiage -- and ignored.
It is true that "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise: and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty!" (I. Cor. 1:27)
And it was I, the most weak, the most foolish and the most lowly of all His children, whom God chose to catch the wondrous melodies contained within those hidden PROMISES. At first, I would only lift my head momentarily from the deep sleep of the centuries as my intellect would catch a glorious phrase of some divine refrain, which those around me seemed to hear not.
It was as I lifted my head to listen and opened my ears to hear and to ponder on words, that none seemed to see in all their searching, that God increased my hearing and my power to see. And gradually those sacred, almost silent melodies became a Celestial Chorus of divine, magnificent, breath-taking glory!
God's PROMISES began to stand out in letters of living flame as they sang of the greatness of the Almighty and of His desire to exalt His children above the drabness of mortality. Those PROMISES increased and magnified and became a symphony, revealing fully "THE GREAT AND MARVELOUS THINGS THAT HAD BEEN HID UP FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, because of the great wickedness of UNBELIEF, the hardness of our hearts and the orthodoxed blindness of our minds!"
As each PROMISE became apparent it was revealed to be but a part of a great symphony of eternal glory, held out for the contemplation and acceptance of man.
These PROMISES were not of mortality, or of earth, or of death! These PROMISES marked a path of utter glory, leading back into the divine, Holy Presence of God -- with death and sorrow overcome -- with eternal triumph the reward and God's welcoming arms waiting to enfold any who would rend that VEIL OF UNBELIEF and follow through.
And when the Path is fully revealed and the separated melodies are gathered into the great Chorus of Eternal Glory, they are ONE. It is composed of the divine PROMISES of Almighty God, gathered into a blinding, exalting triumph -- the triumph of each individual overcomer, who will only begin to take hold of the PROMISES, and live them. Within the Celestial Concert of this Almighty rendition of God's WORD is the glory of each man's overcoming as he rends the veil of unbelief and accepts the PROMISES of "The great and Marvelous things which have been hid up from the foundation of the world!"
As each phase or portion of the whole divine symphony was revealed, first as separate PROMISES, they were finally gathered into my heart as the divine musical composition of pure perfection. And I was commanded to write the divine TRUTHS of those eternal PROMISES of God into these books for all the world to read and understand.
None of these TRUTHS are new! Nor was I the one to reveal them. They have been with men from before the foundations of the world. But they have been hidden from the eyes of man's understanding because of the blindness of the minds of men and because of the hardness of their hearts and because of the state of their awful wickedness of UNBELIEF.
And now, these "great and marvelous TRUTHS" have at last been brought out of their obscurity with a giant magnifying lens being placed over them, so that "ALL MEN MIGHT BE LEFT WITHOUT EXCUSE!"
Each holy PROMISE, given by God in the ages past, has been made clear and apparent as God's finger has pointed out each hidden, heretofore unthought-of, secret pledge of God. And each of the almost unspeakable PROMISES contained in these records is backed by God Himself.
They are His PROMISES!
It is time for man to let the hardness of his heart be melted through the cultivation of love as he develops the desire and the faith to fulfill each holy promise given by God. And there is no possible way in which an individual can so please God as to begin to desire His precious PROMISES to be fulfilled. It is only in the power of such appreciation that any gift can be fully received and the joy of its bestowal fulfilled.
It is as one ceases to be a blind follower of the blind and begins to go to God for the confirmation of His Promises that one's mind will be opened to comprehend the "great and marvelous" Truths, which were hidden up from the eyes of the millions who have plodded their weary, mortal ways to the grave. This dreary road could have been by-passed at any time in the past ages if man had only rent the veil of unbelief and laid hold of the PROMISES.
These Almighty Promises are to assist one in fulfilling every divine suggestion, that he "might become perfect, even as his Father in heaven is perfect" -- that he might again enter into the "Kingdom of Heaven, wherein all else is added" -- And the fact that death can be overcome along with sin and sorrow and affliction is made plain and apparent. Henceforth all men will be left without excuse for the Path is made so clear even a fool need not err therein.
As each individual catches the divine refrain, contained within each single promise, he is opening his soul to comprehend. And as he begins to interpret the wonders of these PROMISES and apply them in his own life he will be dissolved and will become that which he seeks to interpret. So promised God through His chosen writer of the Odes of Solomon. Yes! Seek to interpret the divine love of God -- "And you will be dissolved and will become that love!" Yes! Become this love and your mortal form will become translated into its higher spiritual functioning as you "evolve from the man kingdom into the God Kingdom!"
LIVE THE LAWS AND YOU WILL KNOW OF THEIR POWER! Live the PROMISES and you will become all that is PROMISED!
And now, the final key of fulfilling I am instructed to unfold.
God has proclaimed: "My words cannot return unto me void or unfulfilled!"
God released His Holy PROMISES and sent them forth to fill time and space with their eternal power of Almighty blessing. But because of the hardness of men's hearts and the blindness of their minds, which has caused them to remain in their awful STATE OF WICKEDNESS AND UNBELIEF, the glory and the power of His WORDS and PROMISES remained closed. But as man opens his eyes to see and his ears to hear his mind will also be opened so that he will be able to comprehend and to enter the realms of eternal Light.
And since God's words cannot possibly RETURN UNTO HIM VOID OR UNFULFILLED all that is required is for any individual who catches the meaning of even one of those holy PROMISES, or all of them for that matter, to hold them forth for God's fulfilling. Such a one will REND THE VEIL OF UNBELIEF through his own desire to PROVE or to fulfill the PROMISE his own heart lays hold of.
And as the individual holds a PROMISE, or PROMISES forth for God to fulfill they have to be fulfilled. They cannot possibly be held forth to God and be ignored by Him. Since God's words cannot be returned to Him VOID OR UNFULFILLED it is time that man begins to understand that it is only man himself who can lay hold of those PROMISES and return them to God. It is man who must return God's WORDS unto Him for fulfillment.
Any individual who lays hold of any PROMISE or PROMISES and returns them to God, as he kneels before His throne, or before the altar within himself, The Father is bound to return such requests unto him "OPENLY" or out into the open in tangible manifestation -- or FULFILLED. No PROMISE of God can be rejected or left unaccomplished if man will but exercise his faith even in the slightest degree. All that is required is for man to carry the desired PROMISE of his yearning heart to that inner altar of God and hold it forth, without wavering, or doubting in his heart.
As any individual accepts of God’s PROMISES, through such faith and desire, God is bound!" "If ye do as I say then am I bound! But if ye do not as I say then ye have no PROMISE!" Yes! "Lay hold of the PROMISES OF ALMIGHTY GOD" through the faith of your own desiring, and God will be required to fulfill His PROMISES -- for they cannot return unto Him unfulfilled or void! And only man can return these PROMISES TO GOD! And in this requesting man has the right to DEMAND OF GOD the acknowledgement and the fulfilling of His WORD. And God must answer!
There is no loophole! There is no flaw in God's plan! There is no excuse for God to fail and no excuse whatsoever for man to go on, locked behind the great, black veil of UNBELIEF!
God cannot fail! God will not fail! And it is time for man to awaken to the fullness of his own possibilities and responsibilities and requirements as "he lays hold of the Best Gifts!" The very best! And lives according to the PROMISES and by Faith holds them forth for God's fulfilling.
"God will not be mocked!" Neither will God mock His children with unattainable PROMISES; Every PROMISE ever given holds locked within it the germ or seed of its own fulfillment! Rend the veil of unbelief and behold the glorified vision of God's Almighty power made manifest as all things are perfected unto you.
"He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
"But the FEARFUL, and UNBELIEVING, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." (Rev. 21:7-9).
"Perfect love casteth out all fear!" But there are churches and organizations and groups that have only been able to imprison and hold the minds of their followers in subjection through FEAR -- fear of being deceived, fear of their own inadequacy to judge intelligently -- fear of evil -- fear of every ray of light as they are trained to abide in the darkness and trust wholly in the arm of flesh.
Fear is a deadly thing. It is without love! It is without understanding! It is without Faith! And those whose minds have been blighted and warped and sealed by fear do not even Trust God to have the power to answer their prayers or to be capable of revealing His own great Truths to them!
Fear, according to the foregoing scripture, is the first of the deadly sins. Unbelief is the second. Murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and liars follow.
To travel the road of glory into the realms of Light -- and to PROVE the teachings of Almighty God and to receive the glorious fulfillment of those almost unspeakable PROMISES -- one must rend that veil of FEAR, of UNBELIEF, of darkness and step forth, in FAITH! One must have the power to BELIEVE for that is the first requisite to gaining knowledge and enlightenment -- and POWER!
The higher realm belongs to those who can lay claim to it, through FAITH and courage and love and a joy of increasing ecstasy as they lay hold of eternal Light and it becomes subject unto them.
To be cautious is good. To be fearful is damnation!
"Trust in God with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding!"
"O Lord, I have trusted in Thee, I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm."