"As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." (Rom. 8:14)
"They are known as gods unto whom the word of God comes." When one has rent the veil of unbelief, overcoming the hardness of his heart, and has opened his eyes so that they are no longer half closed in blindness, "that he might have eyes to see,” then he will be prepared to "be taught of God,” and will no longer be just a plodding, grubby mortal with his vision focused only upon the earth and the things and conditions thereof. He will have opened up his soul, through faith, to the extent that God's minute instructions and powerful, loving wisdom will direct him in every act of his life. And his life will become powerful! He will begin to do the WORKS which Christ did -- and then GO ON TO THE GREATER WORKS! This is the eternal promise of God to those who truly believe, not just profess to believe.
The attaining of this divine contact with God contains the power promised -- the power to "be born of the Spirit” not just in words or in self-righteous phrases or in false acclamations, But in ACTUAL FACT! And that one "will be able to come and go as the wind and no one will know from whence he came or whither he goeth!" This is the power Christ had and used as he disappeared out of the midst of those who sought to lay hold of him upon various occasions, seeking to force their wills upon Him. And this is the power He used as He walked upon the Sea of Galilee.
"And he who is thankful in ALL THINGS shall be made glorious!" To be made glorious one would have developed the Song of Praising love and gratitude until his whole being would have fulfilled all the laws of righteousness. He would have filled the measure of his own Spiritual pattern and would be born of the Spirit and receive the almost incomprehensible power thereof. And from there on his growth would be much more speedy and perfect than the slow maturing of an infant born of the flesh. He would be able also to step across ages and eons of plodding as "his mind and lips would lose the power to hurt and wound!" And so his voice would be heard among the Gods because he would be admitted into their presence as a member of their divine, progressive glory.
Such are the promises!
"When you cast the darkness from among you, you will be ordained of God, and will be sent forth to be the greatest, notwithstanding you are the least and the servant of all. And all things will become subject unto you, both in heaven and on earth, the Life and the Light; the Spirit and the Power, sent forth by the Will of the Father, through Jesus Christ, His Son!" And in the fulfilling of this promise one is given an assurance of receiving all the powers possible to receive -- the very powers of heaven and of earth. But because of the gross wickedness of unbelief and the hardness of men's hearts and the blindness of their minds they have failed utterly to even look at "the great and marvelous things which God has held waiting since the foundations of the world." And the only reason these mighty things have been hid is because man himself has been too fearful and too unbelieving to even look!
But the promise is, that when man would "REND THE VEIL OF UNBELIEF which has caused him to remain in his awful state of wickedness" -- then the great powers of these promises will be made manifest in the lives of the children of men.
Yes! "The nearer man approaches perfection (through his own overcoming) the clearer are his views and the greater are his enjoyments, till he overcomes the evils of his life (the temptations, the vicissitudes, the darkness, the fears and even the calamities, misfortunes and dismays) and loses every desire for sin, and like the ancients, he will arrive at the point of faith where he will be wrapped in the power and glory of his Maker and will be caught up to dwell with Him!"
Just words? Oh, NO! PROMISES! Promises so great they have blinded men with their glory insomuch that they have been enfolded in the dark veil of unbelief and held there for centuries. And because of the blindness of men's eyes and the hardness of their hearts these dynamic blessings have remained unfulfilled.
God has left the following divine invitations awaiting man's acceptance of them: "Seek me diligently and you shall find Me!" "Seek me early and you shall find Me!"
There are over sixty references in the Holy Scriptures which hold forth that everlasting promise that they might KNOW God. This does not mean just to know ABOUT Him. It means to KNOW HIM! And "This is LIFE ETERNAL THAT THEY MIGHT KNOW THEE, the only True and living God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent!"
Then there is the promise that he who would pray continually without ceasing: yea, "unto such it shall be given to KNOW the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed!" "And they shall comprehend all things!"
Almost the same exact promise is given in these words: "And if your eyes be single to my glory your whole bodies shall be filled with Light and there shall be no darkness in you. And that body which is filled with Light shall comprehend all things -- and I WILL UNVEIL MY FACE UNTO HIM!" Which, fulfilled is Life eternal!
With these dynamic, glorious promises waiting down the centuries for fulfillment how is it possible that man could have been so blind he could not see them? How could his heart have been so hard he could not test them or even accept them? By his own unbelief man has woven that dark, dismal, unholy veil of evil and doubt and gross UNBELIEF that has caused him to remain in his awful state of wickedness and darkness and despair.
There is none of these promises recorded here, or the many that have not been included, that if accepted and lived, will not prepare one to receive that glorious birth of the Spirit, which all churches claim and none have received.
With that Birth of the Spirit one's entire being becomes so filled with the Spirit of the Almighty it is thereafter a permanent factor in his life. This being born of the Spirit is not just a fragmentary or temporary experience to be recalled in memory or spoken in words for the remainder of one's life. This retelling is but carrying one's stairway with him. This is not the Birth of the Spirit. The birth of the Spirit is a gift and contains even more than the ability to "be able to come and go as the wind -- and no one will know from whence he came or whither he goeth!" The bestowal of this power is very great indeed for if one IS "Born of the Spirit" he will also receive the gift of translation. Being Born of the Spirit IS the power of translation! They are one and the same thing! And this power contains the understanding and ability to serve to one's fullest capacity of love, wheresoever he may be directed by God. Such will become a servant in the hands of God in very deed. And he will be able to GO FORTH AND DO THE WORKS WHICH CHRIST DID, instead of just talking about them.
He will also have the power to go on and DO THE GREATER WORKS, which Christ promised! "He will do greater works than these because I go unto my Father!" It was necessary for Christ to go unto His Father that His greater assignment to contact and send out His power and blessings and enlightenment to ALL who would only ask or seek for His help might become a fact. "And lo, I am with you always, even unto the ends of the world!"
As an individual is Born of the Spirit, or receives of the power of translation, the privilege, if so be he desires, will be granted to continue to serve right here on this earth where the opportunity to do all the works which Christ did, while here on earth, and the greater works will become his privilege to accomplish and fulfill.
Those of great faith and great love will be permitted to remain on this earthly plane, though they will no longer be of it. "They will be able to step to and fro" but their services will be to help suffering mankind. These overcoming ones are only required to "go to the Father,” that they might receive their most holy ordination to be sent forth, for "They will be ordained of God and sent forth to become the greatest, notwithstanding they are the least and become the servant of all." These will have the power, as they are born of the Spirit and are ordained of God, to "be able to come and go as the wind" and no one will know from what assignment they came or to what assignment they will go.
Such is in the plan of God! Such has been in the plan even from the beginning of time. "These are the great and marvelous THINGS that have been hid up from the foundations of the world because of the hardness of the hearts of the children of men, and the blindness of their eyes and because of the gross wickedness of UNBELIEF!"
Accept any one of the great promises of Almighty God, or ALL of them and live by them and you will KNOW of their POWER for the power they contain will become your own for you will be born of the Spirit -- or become a translated being with a higher calling placed upon you as you go forth in the joy and the power of eternal glory to serve!
In closing I shall quote only a fraction of the promises contained in the Holy Scriptures, regarding the power to overcome death.
Remember: "The wages of sin is death!" "And the gift of God is LIFE ETERNAL!" Then glance for a moment into the record of the LOST BOOKS OF THE BIBLE, to Nicodemus, chapter XVIII, verse twelve which states; "O Satan, prince of all evil, AUTHOR OF DEATH, AND source of all pride, " etc. God did not ordain death. He permitted it! Satan ordained and has manipulated it from the beginning.
"In the way of righteousness is LIFE: and in the pathway thereof is no death." (Prov. 12:28)
"The law of the wise is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death." (Prov. 14:27)
"Verily, I say unto you, THERE BE SOME STANDING HERE, WHICH SHALL NOT TASTE DEATH, TILL THEY SEE THE SON OF MAN COMING IN HIS KINGDOM." (Matt. 16:28; Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27).
"Verily, verily I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting Life, and shall not come into condemnation; but IS passed from death into LIFE." (John 5:24).
This hearing of His Word is the opening up of one's heart so that "one may be taught of God" in every emergency as God directs that individual personally in the pathway of his own overcoming and calling.
Those who have not yet learned to be taught of God are frequently jumping off the deep end into the mysteries which have not become completely opened to their understandings, by God's Personal instruction. They begin to focus their attention upon the great possibility of translation without understanding in the least the cleansing of themselves that they might attain unto the PROMISE to be "born of the Spirit."
Translation is not the fullness of the resurrected state. Translation is that which Christ received upon the Mount of Transfiguration. It is not the resurrected state, but it holds all the powers of "BEING BORN OF THE SPIRIT."
After the experience on the Mount of Transfiguration Christ had the power to disappear or appear upon occasion and the power that no one could take his life from Him. He could relinquish it, which He later did WILLINGLY. But no one could take it from Him. He could lay His life down and He could take it up again, according to His word. But when Christ came forth from the tomb He had received the full powers and the glory of the RESURRECTION.
To those who have overcome their impatience, their impurities and their every desire and inclination for sin and selfishness and self-acclaim, the gift of translation will be granted and they will "be able to come and go as the wind and no one will know from whence they came or whither they have gone." And when they have finished their ministry upon this earth or at the coming of Jesus Christ in His glory, "They will be changed in the twinkling of an eye from mortality into immortality." The translated ones are not subject to death or to aging or to suffering and can "Come and go as the wind," to whatsoever assignment may be theirs at the moment -- AND THEY TAKE THEIR BODIES WITH THEM, though they can become invisible to those who are upon a lower vibration or plane.
During the Millennium all will be taught these higher laws, for they are the laws of the Millennium. AND THERE WILL BE NO MORE DEATH -- FOR DEATH IS THE LAST ENEMY TO BE OVERCOME in every individual's life.
The admonition is not to worry about the dynamic power of translation or to be impatient concerning your receiving it. Be only concerned about the condition of your own heart and the power of its releasing love. Love alone is the key. Therefore the admonition is to be watchful of your thoughts and the caliber of the vibrations which you release. Cleanse yourself of all darkness and of the evils of negative, hateful, fearful, lustful or jealous thoughts and the memory of those negative conditions which you have harbored, unwittingly in the temple of your soul.
And again, the promise is: "If you will chase darkness from among you, you will be ordained of God, and sent forth to become the greatest, notwithstanding you are the least" -- and the humble, loving servant of all.
"God's WORD cannot return unto Him void or unfulfilled!" This is the law of eternity! It cannot be changed for it is irrevocable! It cannot possibly be revoked, not even by God because He established it at the dawn of creation! And His WORD is His PROMISES to man! And it is man, as he opens his eyes and his heart to BELIEVE, who has the power to return these PROMISES TO GOD for fulfillment! This is the plan and the pattern and the glory as man steps forth to fullfill his part in the divine system of glorious accomplishment! It is only man who can return God's promises to Him! And when man holds those promises forth God must fullfill them! This too is His PROMISE!
Take any one of God's most holy promises, or ALL of them, and hold them upon the altar of your own soul, that Sacred Holy of Holies, the Secret Place of the Most High -- your very own heart-center, and there hold them forth "without wavering" or "without doubting in your heart!" And they will have to be fulfilled. The law of the fulfilling of God's promises is perfect! It cannot fail! And nothing in existence can hold back the power of those divine and holy promises except man's desolating UNBELIEF as he continues to exist in the darkness of his own blindness and in the hardness of his own heart. It is impossible to even contact the power of God let alone return His divine promises to Him as long as one's heart remains in that hardened condition of UNBELIEF and while his eyes refuse to look or his mind to investigate. Often that deadly evil of FEAR, which is the first of the great crimes, holds one's mind in bondage to the past ages of darkness and dead dogmas.
Herbert Spencer said: "There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all argument, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance. That principle is condemnation before investigation."
As one opens up his eyes to see and his heart to believe and his mind to investigate, nothing in existence will remain impossible if he will pray for understanding as he makes his search. THIS IS THE LAW! This is the law of the great unveiling of TRUTH! "Rend the veil of unbelief that the great and marvelous things which have been hid up from the foundation of the world," might be confirmed and fulfilled in you! Do not let it matter to you what others have done or have not done -- or what they are doing. ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE TO YOU -- IF YOU WILL ONLY BELIEVE!
And God be with you in your great unfolding! His angels will attend you as the Light of Christ is brought forth in you! And ever as you open up the doors of your own soul to rejoice those heavenly angels will rejoice with you and will begin to be glorified in Light! And as you progress you will forever glorify the pathway for those who follow and it will become the great Highway of Transparent Gold.