To you, my most dearly beloved, who have felt the touch of my hand upon you as you have read this work, and who have felt my love enfold you and my Spirit yearning over you, I now speak.
The gold that is tried in the fire, which you are instructed to buy of me, is the pure gold of your own soul.
The gold, or soul that is completely refined for use must be purged in the furnace, for I Am the purifier of pure gold, and I "sit with my fan in my hand."
In olden times, when I trod upon the shores of Gallilee and lingered with men, in my sojourn upon earth, gold was refined by intense burning. The dross rose to the top and was drained away. The gold was then placed in new cauldrons, and the purifying continued as occasionally the refiner leaned over the cauldron to gaze into the molten ore. When it was completely purified the refiner would behold his own face reflected in its golden depths as the vapors would separate as he waved his fan. Yea, I am the purifier of gold and I sit with my fan in my hand. And when you are purified for use my face will be reflected in you, my thoughts made apparent in you, my love made manifest through you.
Yea, "You must be tested and tried in all things," even until the dross is cast away and the evils purified and transmuted into good. Then as the molten cauldron reflects my face so will my face be reflected in you and you shall see me and know that I Am. Yea, beloved, when your heart is pure you will behold my face. This is my eternal promise unto all men.
Yea, come to Zion, the place, or state, of the complete purification of your heart. And you will behold me there.
And now, the last step of the journey to Zion must be revealed unto you, for it is my finger that is writing this record. It is my finger that is pointing the way back into my presence.
Come! Follow me!
If your sufferings have been great, if your purging has been intense, and at times, seemingly unbearable, then lift up your head and rejoice. For know this, my beloved, suffering is only given to teach obedience, or to purge out the wilfullness within your own heart, to help you overcome the desire for transgression.
When you have learned obedience by the things you have suffered then there is no more need for suffering. Yea, when you can love the suffering, for my sake, then will the suffering flee from you. Then indeed, will you be able to rejoice in your tribulation and thank God for every trial and every heartbreak and all your troubles. You will understand fully, when you reach the point of such divine purification, the glory of the things I now speak to you. You will comprehend that the suffering is but the fires of the furnace of purification. Then will you be able to commune with me face to face and know that my promises fail not.
You must also understand that the burning does not turn the dross into gold. If you desire to be evil, if you hold to your sins and glory in your wickedness, then are you the dross and have become the sin. And after the burning you are cast out upon the refuse heap, defiled, worthless, unglorified and unredeemed. Even the pure gold of your own hearts will be extracted from you and you will be left unto yourself and be consumed by the second death, which eliminates the dross and dregs of the rubbish heaps.
The choice is always yours, that is, up to a certain point. That point is a degree of transgression which completes the defilement of yourself and commits you to the dross, to be damned and rejected.
If your suffering has not helped to purify you, to refine you, to turn you to me, then it is because you have hardened your heart and have rebelled against my chastening rod, my pruning knife, or my refining fire. But understand this, the gold cannot be completely purified and refined without the heat of the furnace. The branch cannot bear perfect fruit without the pruner's knife. If you have grown hard and bitter under the divine tutorage of the Master, then have all your lessons been in vain and there is no more place for you in My Father's school, for whomsoever the Lord loveth he chasteneth. Yea, the Father is the husbandman, and the dead and lifeless, unproductive twigs (or traits) upon the branches must be trimmed away that you can stand forth in the strength of My glory, to bring forth much Fruit, the gift of love.
The remainder of my words are to you, beloved, who have not rebelled against the chastening hand of God, you who have learned obedience by the things you have suffered, for you are mine, and I know you.
To you, most dearly beloved, I now speak.
"Obedience is better than sacrifice." Not the obedience men would demand of you, for such obedience will damn your souls, for by it you become enslaved to the arm of flesh. The obedience of which I speak, is that loving, glorified obedience that makes you one with the divine Will of God. This is the obedience that completely overcomes the "self", the obedience that rejoices always, knowing naught and caring naught but for the will of God.
Yea, beloved, in that glorious obedience you become a vessel of purity in the hands of the Almighty Father. You become the fountain through which His perfect love pours forth to give life to a world.
In this obedience you take your place as a living branch and a bearer of the Fruit of the Tree of Life. This divine fruit is the pure love of God which must be shed forth through your heart. Yea, you shall be a bearer of the Fruit, which is God's pure love, the only Fruit containing the power of your own healing and the healing of the nations. Such is your divine destiny and for such were your brought forth.
Even as you are tested and tried in all things, and as the father finds you are determined to serve Him at ALL HAZARDS, even to the loss of your families, your friends, your positions, your good names, your lives, and your souls, if necessary, then I seal upon you my holy promise that your sacred and holy calling and election is made sure, for you are mine.
And now, that you might know the last step in overcoming, that you may be truly followers of me, I say unto you that your wills must be yielded to the will of God, our Father.
When you can completely blend your will with Him, so that you desire only His Will, naught but His Will, though it be the cross, then indeed, will you be prepared to partake of my feast, even the feast of the Passover. Yea, for then you will be prepared to pass over from mortality into a higher phase of existence.
This giving of your will is not a letting go of effort, or feelings, or a stupid indifference of dead numbness. This giving of your will, completely to God, is the point of power, alive and vibrant with glory, though the cross awaits. It is the point of divine majesty. It is the complete surrender of the little mortal self, with all its desires, its personality, its petty yearnings, even to the giving up and complete surrender of all that you possess, your loved ones, when and if they turn against you, or if God requires them. Yea, it is the supreme sacrifice of the broken heart.
Yea, as you relinquish your broken heart freely to Him, the surrender becomes a privilege and not a burden because of your love for His will. Then are you purified. Then you will find me, and my arms will be opened to you.
Know this, beloved, there is no glory in the heartbreak, nor is there any glory in the furnace of tribulation. The glory is produced as the gold is purified and yields its dross obtaining its eternal status of beauty and perfection. The process of refining holds naught of beauty. The glory is accomplished by your reaction to those things that take place in your life. The broken heart, when it is yielded up, and surrendered to God, is the offering supreme, the sacrifice divine. As you let go of your self-pity, your suffering and anguish and tears and personal will, relinquishing all to God, the great song of unspeakable glory will fill your soul and you will take upon you my Name, even the New Name which no tongue can utter. And you shall abide in that Name and its power will enfold you and you shall be clothed in Light, or the raiment of white.
Yea, beloved, accept thy cross! Rejoice in it, whatever it is! Embrace thy cross and glorify the Name of God in songs of everlasting praise! Let the worst befall thee that is possible to befall thee, if it is not of thy own doing, and rejoice in it, as though it were the Divine Will of God. Sing forth thy songs of eternal thanksgiving from deep within thy heart, praise His Holy Name and sorrow shall flee from thee, and pain depart from thy life; and all sorrow and tears will end, for you will have overcome them as you step forth to fill a greater destiny in the higher realms of Light.
I am telling this to you in "words" for this is the language which you speak. But it can never be fulfilled in words, for the fulfilling of it is beyond all words. It can only be fulfilled out of the very fibres of your heart and through the strength of your soul.
As you surrender yourself to the Will of God you will learn the perfection and glory of His Will. In His Will is contained naught but beauty and love and glory and perfection, your own perfection, your own joy, your own complete and eternal happiness, now, and forevermore.
Only your own fulfilling of this divine law can reveal to you its unutterable glory. You will realize fully that as you relinquish your will, my most dearly beloved, that you do not become insipid, or an inactive being. Nay, then is when you truly become dynamic, powerful, stupendous, bearer of eternal Light.
Yea, as you relinquish your will, your own personal desires, aims, lusts, weaknesses, ambitions, or loved ones, you are also relinquishing your little, mortal self. It is crucified upon the altar or cross of obedience and utter surrender. Thus are the weaknesses lost and left behind. As you lose your life so shall you find it, yea even your greater life of power and fulfillment. Thus you become one with the power and majesty of the Almighty and receive even of His Fullness. Yea, then are you given power to "sit with me in my throne, even as I overcame and am sat down with my Father in His throne."
That, my beloved, is how you become the least, that you might become the servant of all; and how you truly become the greatest and have all things subjected unto you, both in heaven and on earth, the Life and the Light, the Spirit and the Power, sent forth by the Father, through Me, Jesus Christ, His Son. And so shall you become the sons of God and co-heirs with me.
Behold, my beloved, I stand with open arms, waiting to receive you.
Yea, most dearly beloved, you are a fountain through which the Living Waters must flow.
Yea, you are a branch that must be a bearer of the Fruit of the Tree of Life; yea, a bearer of my pure and eternal, healing, restoring, life-giving gift of love. This love must be shed forth through your heart to bring its healing to you, to your surroundings and to the nations. Yea, beloved, for you are mine.
When you learn to cast away the darkness, and to overcome it so that no thought or vibration is out of harmony with my divine love, then you will know the meaning of the promise, "Ye shall receive a fullness of joy!" Then shall you know also that "Joy is of the Saints, and none can put it on but they alone."
"And God shall wipe away all tears from your eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for these former things are past away.
"For behold, I make all things new.
"Yea, I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the waters of life freely. And he that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
"But the FEARFUL, and the 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 remorse and eternal regret, which is the second death." For so I commanded my servant John to write. And My words are true and faithful, and they fail not.