"Let the dead bury their dead!" So advised Jesus. But the world has never understood how very literal those words are.
The majority of mankind have so yielded themselves to the powers of death it is almost as though death had already claimed them. These half-dead ones, without the enlivening vibrations of the tingling life force active within, have nothing really better to do than to attend death. Many of them have already enshrined and glorified death as they await the touch of his hand upon them.
And there are those who have made dismal, dreary little shrines of themselves, dedicated to death, as they mope listlessly through life -- expecting to be compensated in a great, glorious HERE-AFTER for either their imagined ills or actual ones. Those who never attempt to overcome one negative vicissitude or to rise above any trial, misfortune or disappointment, have no claim upon glory. They have permitted themselves to be "overcome" instead of exerting their great God-given mandate in triumphant "overcoming."
And there are those who unwittingly invite death into their homes as a permanent guest. He sits at their tables with them, walks at their heels, waits beside their beds, sometime for years, as they nurse some physical handicap in weak self-pity. Their greatest sorrow is that others do not sit down and mourn with them over their CONDITION as they linger by their imagined graves in grieving anticipation. These are truly the chief mourners at their own funerals.
These have worshiped death and evil and darkness though they expect God to exalt them into the highest heaven in "The Great Beyond." Their invitation to death will be answered soon enough without the welcome mat and the spread banquet table. Such have no other goal and are drawn irrevocably toward that dismal, back door of death. They believe that death holds the keys of their release from every ill. And how can they possibly know that their established mental habits go with them, unless they seek to understand? Their cultivated taste for misery has become so savory to their minds they actually relish the anguished, negative conditions they have fostered upon themselves. These attitudes and habits and cultivated misfortunes go with them into the grave -- and beyond. They are their own. They have become a very part of their fibre and their existence. These unfortunate ones have held to every hurt, every sorrow, every misfortune and every hate, refusing mentally to relinquish one single disagreeable happening or condition. Their good is forgotten and crowded out until only the evil is remembered -- and so remains. They do not realize that it is more natural and much easier to eliminate the evil by glorifying the good, with that inner song of gratitude and joy, than it is to develop the evil.
"Joy is of the Saints. And none can put it on but they alone." Joy is actually something one "puts on" like a robe of glory as he overcomes the darkness, the despairs, the negative conditions of earth -- and finally conquers death itself. True Joy is a highly spiritual quality and the very developing of it will make one a Saint.
Why worship death or yearn for its release?
Why think that death can make your troubles cease
While you lack courage to even face your foes
As you yield weakly to the slightest wind that blows?
Why seek to escape in vault or silent crypt,
Giving death the pow'r to write your mortal script?
Gird up your loins and tell me, if you can,
Were you born to be a coward, or a man?
If you're a man then pray, "God's Will be done!"
And know His Will is that man overcome!
Strip death of his scythe and black, dismal robe
As your soul is roused to "ask and seek" and probe.
Then will you know that death can have no claim
On those who glorify the Light and it alone acclaim.
For they overcome life's darkness and its strife
In praise and love and singing gratitude --
The Celestial Symphony -- their great beatitude.
Those who constantly seek the blank voice of inebriation or who crawl into their little cells and crevices or darkened, dreary rooms are seeking to escape life by embracing death and all that it represents. They love the darkness more than they love the light.
These too are the dead who are attending death as life is gradually forced out and they succumb to all the evils they have permitted into their daily living.
In the Lost Books of the Bible, that have been found, and translated is this precious information given by Nicodemus in his eighteenth chapter and twelfth verse: "O Satan, Prince of all evil, AUTHOR OF DEATH, and source of all pride . .", etc.
God did not ordain nor create death. Lucifer did. God only permitted it. He will continue to permit it until man himself accepts the Higher Way.
"We consider that God has created man with a mind capable of instruction, and a faculty which may be enlarged in proportion to the heed and diligence given to the light communicated from heaven to the intellect; and that the nearer man approaches perfection the clearer are his views, and the greater his enjoyments, till he has overcome the evils of his life and lost every desire for sin; and like the ancients, arrives at the point of faith where he is wrapped in the power and glory of his Maker and is caught up to dwell with him."
So this question must be asked: How can anyone possibly partake of the "Life more abundant" who does not have a deep reverence and a true appreciation for that most holy, divine gift of Life? One must appreciate his own sacred life as well as respect the gift in his fellowmen in order to receive of its abundance.
One must be ever aware of the vibrancy of that surging life force right within himself in order to receive of its fulness and its breathtaking powers. This sacred gift of life is the true reality of existence. It is the caressing, nurturing, enfolding benediction of Almighty God manifesting in the individual. It is the very truth and substance of being. It is the power and the love of our divine Sire flowing from within.
It is the everlasting plan of God that each individual partake of the gift of life fully or in its complete fulness. This is the "Life more abundant!" When one partakes of the gift of life in its fulness and abundance he is no longer a drab, dull, impotent mortal. He becomes a dynamic being aflame with purpose and power.
This sacred "Life more abundant" is merely the regular gift of life developed and brought forth into the highest potency as one becomes completely aware of it. It is the full establishment of vibrancy and joy and vivid, glorious, purposeful living. The principle of life is increased and expanded into its divine powers by the ecstasy of appreciation. Only in gratitude and joy and understanding can it become fully established.
"If a man hate his life, he shall find it," means that if one is dissatisfied and discontented with his meager, skimpy, desolate, little mortal existence then, if he uses his prerogative aright, he can reach out into the greater LIFE and bring it forth. Thus it is possible to take hold of the "Life more abundant!" This "Life more abundant" is the gift of life in its fulness as the physical, mortal elements become embued with the full, surging vibration of the great spiritual force of LIFE in all Its dynamic, everlasting power. And he who takes hold of it fully need never die. This is the law.
Death comes because the individual himself relinquished the gift of life. He permits the life force to be crowded out by his own tired, resentful, self-pitying thoughts; his negative attitudes or his degenerate desires and lust-filled, greedy actions. Every dreary, evil, hate-filled, jealous thought; every sensual, lustful thought and act; every discordant, negative word and attitude are but the destructive forces of death bombarding the life of man. Every evil vibration that is permitted to abide within the being of man contains the destroying, pushing, shoving forces of conquest as they battle against the glorious gift of LIFE. As man himself sits by and permits these evil forces of darkness to operate within him the life principle is gradually crowded out and defeated by man's ignorance and his unconscious willingness.
As any individual harbors his ordinary, everyday, mortal attitudes, he is operating on the physical level of existence. He is not only inviting the forces of death to proceed in their softening, undermining "cold war", he is assisting them to carry on in their slow, subtle procedure of destruction. Man himself may be only the neutral ground on which the forces of life and death wage their silent, ingenious war. But that war is for the man himself. His very LIFE is at stake. And the victory or the defeat is his own as death triumphs in the end or the man himself takes a hand in the struggle and "overcomes."
Man has stood indifferently, ignorantly by and permitted himself to be the unholy habitation of all that will eventually destroy him unless he begins to exert himself and direct the raging battle of thoughts and emotions that arise continually from within -- or that are hurled at him from without. Man has the right to direct the battle and to reap the victory. Yet man has rarely exerted his divine nature and privilege of choice because he has not realized that the battle truly his own.
The gift of life is exalted and increased through the joy of right thinking and the positive force of right actions. Life itself becomes victorious and completely established through a triumphant awareness of inner rejoicing as the individual learns to appreciate Its dynamic glory of everlasting power.
"The Life more abundant" is the vibrant, singing, wondrous potency of complete existence. It is the triumphant, powerful reality of being. It is the melodious awareness of the eternal power of God in its fullest expression.
As one takes hold of the most holy gift of life, with his awakening faculty of understanding appreciation, he receives the "Life more abundant!" As this sacred Life force increases old age and physical deterioration ends. They are conquered as the cells of the body are spiritualized and hence released from death. This is the "overcoming" or the vanquishing of all mortal ills. And when the "life more abundant" is completely established death is automatically conquered.
Death itself begins with the cells and the tissues as they are gradually undermined and destroyed by the vibrations of all negative, evil thoughts and fears. Death begins its battle from the day one is born. It is carried on through the emotions and the thoughts and the words and the acts of the individual as he matures and is trained to act and to re-act, perhaps violently, to every circumstance and condition of life which does not please him.
Man has never fully understood the truth of God's word, given in the very beginning of time, when He relinquished unto His children the dominion of the earth. Man was, in that day, given full dominion over himself also. He was given the right to choose and to select and to control his own thoughts and actions and re-actions and the unspeakable power of vibrations he would release through his own being. He was also given the power to control and to rule over the vibrations that sought to enter his being from without. The kingdom and dominion is entirely his own. If he has permitted the robbers and usurpers to enter his kingdom and take control then he suffers through his own acquiescent surrender.
To learn to appreciate that most holy gift of life, centered right within oneself, is to learn to appreciate the power and the dominion of God in its unutterable wholeness of expression.
Glory in the gift of life! Rejoice in it! Praise God for it and watch it unfold in the beauty and power of its sublime fulfilment -- even into the "Life more abundant." Then lift your eyes to behold the wonder and exquisite beauty of that gift of life within your fellowmen. Look beyond the fleshy tomb in which it is concealed. Look into the sublime gift Itself and you will behold the majesty and the power of God in operation. Let your mind reach out to contemplate It in reverent tenderness in the being of every living soul and you will help to bring it forth in them.
Go another step and rejoice in that superb gift of life in every growing thing, in every flowing stream, in every blooming flower and singing bird and in the breathtaking expanse of the heavens as you behold "the stars move upon their wings in their glory in the midst of the power of God."
Rejoice in the sacred gift of life as your heart expands in gratitude and you will feel the life force begin to surge anew within the members of your own being.
In the singing song of ecstasy and the vibrant gratitude of heart-felt praise, life is increased and established and the body becomes quickened and renewed.
As long as there is breath and intelligence LIFE is always there awaiting man's acceptance of It in Its complete fulness. Love the life God has given you and watch it unfold into beauty and loveliness and power. Love is like sunshine to that divine, precious gift of Life. Through tender, understanding appreciation it can be brought forth until one becomes the powerful ruler of his inner domain and the master of his destiny.
The gift of Life is increased through joy. It flourishes in happiness and is established in gentle tenderness and singing glory. It is the one eternal reality of existence. It IS existence in all Its completeness and fulness. It is health! It is joyous ecstasy! It is an abundance of all that is good and beautiful and worthwhile.
In the vibrant gift of life one is exalted above the dreary, mediocre phase of drab, ugly, mortal existence. Life is the expression of vibrancy and joy and perfection. It is always beautiful! Life is that wonderful "Glory to God" vibration that unfailingly exalts one into that realm of abundant Life as It becomes manifest in man through his own understanding.
Life is the great eternal! It is your own in some degree, just as you stand. It can be yours in its fullest measure as you open your heart and mind and soul to receive It. It can even be yours in Its fulness, if you desire It. It can be more! It can become you if so be you glorify It right within yourself.
That "Life more abundant" is that million-dollar vibration! It is more. It is a vibration beyond price or physical purchasing power. That vibration of glory, which is Life in expression, is the "White raiment." In that highest vibration of joyous ecstasy and singing, inner praise one clothes himself in the holy vibration of Light. It is time that man realizes that the "white raiment", which all are instructed to clothe themselves in, is pure spiritual substance. It is the glorious substance of heaven. It is vibration in its highest potency of beauty and creative power. Vibration is the material or substance of the higher realms. Vibration is the spiritual "substance of things hoped for" as they are gathered into form by the life force of creation.
Every man is clothed in the vibrations of his own thoughts and mental habits.
When one's vibrations are exalted by joyous praise and loving thoughts, that are held triumphantly above doubts, he is taking hold of the eternal substance of heaven. This substance will fulfill his own righteous desires for it is the very element out of which the "things hoped for" are created. By comprehending the use and the power of this element or substance a man can glorify his life and will be able to clothe himself in the "White raiment," which no darkness or evil can touch or defile. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for." It is the material or element out of which the "White raiment" is woven and out of which all good is created. It is the vibration of Life expressing in Its great creative potency. Faith is a vibration which man can use at all times. It is an element of power and is more real than any substance of mortality.
In that wondrous "White raiment" of glorified vibrations and exalted praise and adoration one becomes clothed in the spiritual substance that covers the shame of his physical, mortal nakedness. He actually becomes robed in Christ's Light. This white apparel is the substance or material of Light as It is released from within man. This Light is vibration. It is the vibration or element of Faith. It is an actual element of life itself.
This true vibration of creation clothes the individual as it exalts and glorifies him. It banishes all lacks and fulfills all things -- even the man himself. In It nothing is lacking and no destitute or unhappy condition can possibly exist.
The "glory to God" vibration of LIFE and hence FAITH is expressed and developed in that inner song of triumphant, glorious gratitude and exulting praise. It is contacted and released from a full heart of thanksgiving as one reaches beyond words and thoughts into the depths of his own soul where the powers of God are contacted and released. As one makes this contact, through praise and love and gratitude, the creative song of the universe is released in its powers of perfect manifestation.
That holy gift of "Life more abundant" is the reality of being in its entirety as one is completely filled with "The Spirit of the Lord" or the divine "Light of Christ." That effulgent vibration of "Life more abundant" is contacted and released from within as the Christ Light is brought forth in joyous love and deepest gratitude. Then faith is perfected. It could even be stated that the Light of Christ is contacted and brought forth when the full appreciation of the divine gift of Life is accepted and brought forth through love and glory.
That exalted, wondrous vibration of sublime glory IS the "Life more abundant" as belief advances into the stage of assured, positive faith. And this positive faith always carries with it the seed or capacity of KNOWING. And "knowledge is power!" It is as one begins to use his knowledge of the higher laws that the greater works are accomplished.
No man was ever created who was not entitled to the "Life more abundant, even Life eternal" if he will but reach forth his hand and lay claim to the gift by fulfilling Its Laws of singing glory. The gift is your own. It has been waiting from the very beginning for you to accept it.
It is only an appreciation of that most holy, divine, stupendous gift of LIFE that can establish It permanently and powerfully within an individual.
LIFE! "LIFE MORE ABUNDANT! EVEN LIFE ETERNAL!" The second is but a fuller manifestation of the first. The third, or the Life eternal is but the first and second developed into its supreme power and excellence. One's own meager little mortal life, or whatsoever degree he may possess of it can be developed and glorified until the second and third phases are fully established. One may be expressing only a weak, resentful little shred of life as he permits it to be beaten by every vicissitude and vibration of fear and despair and ugliness or wrath. Or one may have enough vitality expressing to fulfill a mortal existence of physical satisfaction on the earth level, if that is all he is willing to express. The individual is the one who makes the bargain with life whether he will accept the penny's worth or require the fullest amount of the most glorious abundance of fulfilment and power.
Life, in its fullest magnitude, is always awaiting man's comprehension, appreciation and acceptance of It.
The gift of Life is God's own power in action. Life is always active, progressive, expanding and gloriously beautiful. Life is never ugly nor static nor disagreeable. Man himself may express his life in these terms. That is up to him. But it is entirely within each individual to decide how he will express his gift of life. It can be expressed for good -- or for evil. If one uses It to express the evil, then it becomes evil to him and he dies by the sword of its destructive force. It is a two-edged sword and the individual reaps whatsoever he manifests in his own life.
The gift of Life itself is a vibration of singing, triumphant glory, even the very power of God in action. It can be increased within one until he is re-vitalized and his whole existence becomes glorified and exalted. This "Life more abundant" can only be expressed through him who is completely aware of It.
"Therefore it is given to abide in you: the record of heaven; the Comforter; the peaceable things of immortal glory; the truth of all things; that which quickeneth all things, which maketh alive all things; that which knoweth all things, and hath all power, according to wisdom, mercy, justice and judgment." Or according to the irrevocable, eternal law of God. And it is up to man to bring these powers of LIFE forth and use them.
As one learns to take hold of those ecstatic moments of high inspiration he can gradually establish them permanently through his own awakening desires for righteousness. These high moments of joy are the spiritual realities and are increased through tender thoughts of loveliness and compassion and joyous gratitude. As one's thoughts are trained to encompass and enfold only goodness and mercy and love, he begins to assert his dominion over the mortal kingdom of himself, which God entrusted into his keeping. As he begins to assert his divine rulership he automatically begins his own development and will evolve into the "Life more abundant!"
One lays hold of LIFE, or the power of God, by his own thought actions and his emotional re-actions. Life is vibration! It is pure! Life is ecstatic splendor. It is glorious vibrancy in its fullest expression! Life is love in its highest devotional essence of divine purity! It is hope in all its expectant, reaching power of glorious fulfilment. It is joy in its triumphant splendor of attunement. It is the marvelous song of gratitude expressed in that singing ecstasy of inner praise. It is tenderness and beauty and loveliness and completion -- the completion of oneself. It is the fulfilling, triumphant power of eternity.
This divine, glorious gift of LIFE belongs to every man in its fullest abundance as man reaches out and takes hold of It. It is the very Light of Christ made manifest within one's own being as he accepts It and brings It forth. It is the power of God swinging into action from within as one casts out the darkness of his ordinary, mortal thinking habits and takes hold of the gifts and powers of Almighty God.
Life is endless! It is increasing, everlasting glory! It is eternal power! It is joy and happiness and the power of complete fulfilment as one becomes filled with the very "Fulness of God!" This glorious vibration is developed from within. It is established in tenderness and appreciation and joyous gratitude. As the "Life more abundant" is brought forth one progresses into a dynamic, creative individual who becomes the master of his fate as he triumphs over the darkness, the evils and vicissitudes of his life. Then as he continues to fulfill the measure, for which God created him, his life forces expand in every increasing glory until he reaches the fulfilment of himself in that triumphant transition where he is "changed in the twinkling of an eye from a mortal being into an immortal son of God."
These gifts are yours! They have always been yours. But you must accept them. Remember, "The first requisite to fulfilling is the ability to believe." Then as you live the laws the gifts and powers are your own. None can fulfill the laws for you. None can do your believing for you. None can do your "overcoming" of your doubts and fears and negative thoughts for you. None can receive the great glory for you.
The way is perfect. The plan is unerring and the laws unfailing and divine. You alone have the power to turn "The Battle of Decision" into victory. The choice is your own as you begin to rule over your own dominion -- the kingdom of yourself -- or relinquish that divine Christhood to the thieves and robbers of the darkness, the usurpers of the Divine Domain -- The reward of "overcoming" is not only abundant, beautiful Life but "Life Eternal!"
What is Life eternal? It is the bestowing of all keys and all powers and all good and abundance and joy upon the individual whom merits it. It is the stage of existence when nothing can be lost. It is the state in which all perfection is fulfilled and all glory expanded and all joys multiplied. It is the realm in which no sorrow or lack or distress or darkness can possibly exist. It is all that the hungry, yearning soul of man has ever yearned for. It is the full completion of oneself in breathtaking majesty and splendor. Life eternal is the clothing of a man in divinity as love and joy are perfected.
This gift, Christ holds out in everlasting fullness, to those who will only accept His words and fulfill His divine laws of "overcoming:" These laws go beyond the creeds and requirements of any earthly church or organization. These are the laws of perfected love, of infinite, tender forgiveness, of established joy and confidence and perfected faith. This is the church and the kingdom of "The First Born". It is the "Brotherhood of Light," or consists of those who have glorified and brought forth the Light as they overcame the darkness of every negative fear and thought and action.
Life Eternal is awaiting every individual on this earth who can only be-live and fulfill. It is not something that exists in some far distant, remote, future time. This is awaiting man's acceptance of it NOW. It is yours whenever you prove yourself worthy of Its powers.