The following is a conspectus of some of the truths that have been explained in these books, which God has commanded me to write. This brief summary is given here to refresh the memory of each individual upon the dynamic highlights that mark His divine Pathway to the very stars.
The first requisite to even begin to travel that "Straight and Narrow Way" of glory which Christ gave is the ability to believe, or to be and live according to the teachings He revealed. He left the perfect map to that glorious Way of Life, which so few find, not that it is not plainly marked, but because so very few are desirous of changing themselves that they might KNOW. In order to develop even the power to believe it is necessary that one be and come to the point where his vision is lifted to behold "the glory of God." At least one must comprehend, in a measure, the desirability of a path and a goal so gloriously divine. One must be the attitude of every righteous instinct until they are thoroughly developed and established within. As one's own highest spiritual qualities are developed the evil, negatious ones are overcome automatically. This is the "overcoming" so necessary for fulfilment. As one fulfills the greatness locked within himself and releases it he will soon "find his calling and election made sure." Those divine, coveted qualities will become his own without either strife or difficulty. And he will become them -- his very self -- the great spiritual self of his own being.
It is not evil to believe that perfection is possible, and for man to strive for it, for so commanded Jesus Christ. And no commandment was ever given that did not contain the complete power of its own fulfilment. This work contains the vision of perfection as the ultimate goal of man. This does not mean just a state of mere mortal perfection, as one without power, accepts and acknowledges and occasionally practices "the Golden Rule," which is the highest mortal law. This perfection includes the law of the angels -- then the laws of God as the complete, comprehensive adherence to Christ's command is fulfilled: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect!"
Any who will only make the effort to prove the laws He proclaimed by LIVING them will KNOW of their power and their truth and will be granted "the Life more Abundant" -- "even Life Eternal!"
As one exerts the effort to LIVE the laws he will grow into the dynamic powers of perfection and will automatically "overcome" his own weaknesses and evils. His own weaknesses, whether inherent or self-developed, along with all mortal inclinations will be gradually discarded like repulsive, worn out rags.
The knowledge that death is not only unnecessary but a shameful experience is at first startling. Then, as one begins to live Christ's laws the deeper understanding of His precepts become embossed in clear radiance. One realizes fully that Christ came to earth to reveal the keys of overcoming death. He informed the world that "death would be the last enemy to be overcome." And man has sat back indolently expecting Christ to come and do that overcoming for him. This is because none have lived his laws that they might know of their truth and their power.
Each individual, as he exerts himself to begin to live His laws, that he might know, that divine, holy pathway of "overcoming" will unfold before him. As he progresses onward and upward he "grows from grace" or from virtue to virtue, he "fulfills all the laws of righteousness." "The nearer man approaches perfection, the clearer are his views and the greater are his enjoyments, until he overcomes the evils of his life, and loses 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!" And as one fulfills this law of continual progress and develops into this degree of righteousness death is automatically overcome by that individual.
Death was never instigated by God. It was permitted, after the great transgression so "that man could not go on living forever in his sins." If men were permitted to go on living forever, in their sins and their blindness, the accumulation of suffering and distress and anguish would become intolerable and completely unbearable. Suffering is caused by the transgressing of men. Suffering is not caused by God. Death was permitted as a release from the accumulation of evils and continued wickedness and impossible suffering created thereby.
"By sin came death!" When sin is overcome, in any life, then death will also be conquered, for it is the last enemy to be overcome in any life.
"But every one follows his own wicked lusts: having taken up an unjust and wicked envy, by which DEATH first came into the world." (I. Clement, 2:5 -- Lost Books of the Bible).
In the record of Nicodemus, XVIII: 12, 13 (ibid), is given this revealing information: "O Satan, prince of all evil, AUTHOR OF DEATH, and source of all pride, thou shouldest first have inquired into the crimes of Jesus of Nazareth, and then thou wouldst have found that he was guilty of no fault worthy of death.
"Why didst thou venture, without either reason or justice, to crucify him, and have brought down to our regions a person innocent and righteous, and therefore hast lost all the sinners, impious and unrighteous persons in the world?"
And from the most ancient records of the earth stands forth this divine proclamation: "On him who overcomes sin, death has no claim!"
And as stated in the scriptures: "The wages of sin is death!"
There is another reference to this power of overcoming death given in what is known as "THE WORD OF WISDOM!" This is offered by God for the physical, temporal and spiritual welfare of all who will live by it. There is also given the promise that they who obey it and keep all his commandments shall be delivered from death. In this revelation is an injunction to refrain from tobacco and all strong drinks; to eat meat sparingly, in other words, not to defile the body by permitting the sense of taste to become a gluttonous dictator. The revelation is followed by the breathtaking promise first given by Isaiah, the prophet, and is as follows: "And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments (or the laws of Christ), shall receive health in their navel, marrow in their bones; and shall run and not be weary; and walk and not faint. They shall receive treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures. And, I, the Lord, give unto them a promise that the destroying angel shall pass by them as the children of Israel, and not slay them."
There are many who fulfill the first part of this revelation in strict, almost fanatic conformity then go on to hate their brother, cheat their neighbor, mistreat their wives, domineer over their children and otherwise break all the loving, tender, most powerful teachings of Christ's divine kingdom. These who do not accept and live ALL the laws of righteousness are deceiving themselves. They are only wearing the robes of self-righteousness. And those robes of self-righteousness are most deceptive. On that great day that affected, artificial covering will melt away and be dissolved back into the pride from which it was spun. And the shame and the nakedness of those who have been satisfied with the outward show of things will stand forth horrified and humiliated. Then will they slink away completely condemned by their own sins made apparent.
The living of the divine, holy laws of righteousness is far beyond the mere professing of them. The difference is as great as the brilliance of noonday compared to the deep darkness of midnight. One must LIVE the laws of profound beauty and unlimited power in order to fulfill the commands He gave, and hence prove them.
The fulfilling of the laws of righteousness is the only way one can possibly receive "The Life More Abundant" or prove his love for Christ. "If ye love me you will keep my commandments!" And, as John quoted the Master: "I am come that they might have life and have it more abundantly." (John 10:10). This was the purpose of Christ's coming, to break the bands of death by revealing the laws by which death could be overcome by every child of earth.
Christ's whole earthly mission was to bear witness of, and to bestow this precious "Life more Abundant" upon those who were willing to fulfill the laws of its divine glory. The very keys of "Life Eternal" He held out to a dying world -- a world enshrouded in death as each individual plodded his slow, dreary way to the grave.
The pure laws Christ gave, of love and tenderness contain the pattern of each man's overcoming as he casts aside the binding claims of the flesh and of mortality. His way is the inner way of purification and of perfection as the inside of the cup (of man) is cleansed.
Christ said: "If thou wilt enter into life keep the commandments." He also proclaimed, "If you love me, keep my commandments!" There are so many who profess their love for Him though they have never exerted the least effort to LIVE his divine laws of love and of forgiveness and tender service, indicated in that precious Sermon on the Mount. None have sought to BE-COME the BE-ATTITUDES He recommended for fulfilment.
The information has been unfolded in this work that as one learns to blend his will with the Divine Will of God all things will be fulfilled in him, for in the Will of God is all perfection held. To comprehend fully the blending of one's will with the holy Will of God there must be another bit of information added.
There are many, who briefly scanning the law without yet having learned to live it, have attempted to cease working. Some have refused to make the least effort to support either themselves or their families with this blind, self-righteous excuse, "The Lord will provide!" "The Lord does provide!" He provides the earth and the fullness thereof for the benefit of mortal man. His great abundance is there for man to use as he learns to subdue the earth. God not only provides the earth, the soil, the sunshine and the water for the bringing forth, he provides the seasons for planting and harvesting. He provides man with the intelligence and the power to make use of the abundance He has provided. Man was meant to be active, creative and diligent. God does surely provide an abundance of all things but man is required to bring them forth until he has fulfilled all the laws of righteousness. Until, by his own exerted efforts he lifts himself into a higher status of spiritual advancement he is required to obtain that abundance, which the Lord provides, by his own efforts. Even in the Garden of Eden "Adam was required to dress and keep the garden." One may not be a farmer, nor need to be to gather for his use the great abundance which God has provided. There are industries and professions and businesses in which a man can serve and reap of the abundance which God has provided.
It is only as one fulfills all the laws of righteousness, which pertain to the Kingdom of God, that he will be able to use those higher laws of creation and bring forth from the universal "substance of things hoped for" the fulfilling of every need. In this higher law nothing is lacking and one is lifted or released from the laws of mammon and the need to labor for the things that perish. This is the perfect condition and one most desirable. With this law one can multiply the five loaves and three fishes, the oil in the tiny cruse, or he can fulfill instantly any need by his own praising law of gratitude. This is one of the powers of His kingdom, when one has found it. This law is every man's to use when he has obeyed the laws of righteousness.
But to fulfill this higher law, in which one "no longer needs to labor for the things that perish," one has to exert himself beyond anything a lazy, slothful, indolent person could ever dream of. He must "exercise great and mighty faith." And this type of exercise demands a rigid training of the mind and the heart and the soul. It is a road of discipline as one becomes a true disciple learning to bring his rambling thoughts, his wagging tongue, his every motion under complete control. This higher law of unspeakable power requires the complete renovation of every slothful, negligent, lazy, immature habit. It demands that one BE and LIVE every law of righteousness. And in the very effort of seeking to live these higher laws is a reward of continual outflowing satisfaction and increasing advancement.
And so as one learns to relinquish the need to "labor for his daily bread" by exerting his every faculty of advancing splendor the same is true in learning to relinquish one's will to the divine will of God.
To relinquish one's will to the holy Will of God does not mean that one give up every desire, every hope of fulfilment and every personal effort to attain in a stupid state of dull inactivity, waiting for God to do the fulfilling for him. It is true that when "God unveils His face to any individual it will be in God's own time and in His own way and according to His own Will, " and that will be when the individual himself is completely purified and prepared. When the individual is ready then IS the time that God will fulfill the great promise of His patient waiting. And each individual himself must do that work of preparation. He must prepare himself.
To blend one's will with the Will of God requires a knowledge of the Will of God. And here it must be made known -- and never be forgotten: It is never God's Will that any child of His be a failure, a misfit, a miserable, unhappy, grubby mortal, without vitality or dreams or vision or hope. Any individual who weakly accepts any ugly, negatious, desolate, miserable, unprogressive, unsatisfactory existence, believing it is the Will of God, has never fulfilled that divine, glorious command "To lift his eyes to the glory of God, and to hold them single to that glory!"
As one fulfills this command to "hold his eyes single to the glory of God," he begins to comprehend the breathtaking splendor of God's holy Will and knows that in His Will is contained only his own perfection, his own shining splendor, his own divine fulfilment.
"For this is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and the eternal life of man!"
And there are those who nurture and cultivate their misery and unhappiness and their poverty in the evil, mistaken belief that it will bring them a greater reward in heaven. In this idea they err greatly. In Revelations it tells plainly that in the day of their resurrection that he who is filthy will be filthy still and he that is unhappy will be unhappy still. If you are miserable and unhappy in this life it is because you have not applied the laws of Christ nor exerted yourself enough to fulfill the wonder of their power and hence you have failed utterly to prove his promises, and heaven and the resurrection holds out no great rewards to such.
Blend your will with the Will of God and you will begin to comprehend the dynamic power of His desires for you, the unspeakable blessings he is holding out for you now -- and forever. You will begin to comprehend the pattern of your own unfolding, the breathtaking glory of God's dynamic blessings which He WILLS to bestow upon you as soon as you are prepared to receive them.
As you begin to understand His Will you will also begin to comprehend the laws and the powers of creation and will know your part in helping to fulfill them. As you live the laws of His Will you will know of their truth and their power and you will develop your own power in fulfilling all things.
Of you it is required that "you lay hold of the BEST gifts" not just any old thing that is left over of talents or joys or substance. You must "lay hold of the BEST gifts" -- The very BEST! Then you must hold those desires out to God, for His fulfilling. THIS IS HIS WILL! Of you it is required to exercise great and mighty faith by holding that request of your soul, in your mind, as you project the vision or pattern or diagram of it out to reflect its image upon the clear, "still" surface of that pool or mirror of liquid, glorious gold that has been tried in the fire. As you do this then only can the "Father do the works" of fulfilling. Of you it is required to hold your request forth "without doubting or wavering, for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. And let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord." And he who sits back indolently, inactively permitting his hopes and desires to be erased and blotted out in the mistaken belief that he is blending his will with the Will of God is on the path to Spiritual death! Such will find himself sitting in his utter desolation of unfulfilled possibilities until he slowly ceases to exist.
It IS the "Father who doeth the works!" And "It is the Father who rewards you openly." But it is you who must become the powerful vehicle in which His divine power of fulfilling can operate. It is the Father who supplies those rays of radiant, limitless Light and Who has established the law by which they are converted into atoms as they are curled upon themselves by your exerted exercising of faith. It is your part, in the Will and plan of God, to begin to make use "of the substance of things hoped for" as you mirror out your righteous desires with all the energy and power you can possibly generate. It is the Father Who provides the material and the substance for that fulfilling.
Only as man begins to LIVE the laws of God, which are the laws of his own progress and fulfilment, can God begin to do His works of fulfilling glory. As one works with God "The substance of things hoped for" takes tangible form and fulfills every righteous desire of the soul of him who begins to LIVE the laws. "NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE" to him who believes! And everyone who believes will fulfill the laws of righteousness and will therefore use rightly the divine, holy laws of creation.
THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD!
And only by becoming a co-creator with God in the use of His holy laws can one possibly fulfill His Will or blend his own will into the divine Will of God.
As the key to His desire for you He has given this sacred information: "This is the Will of the Father, that you believe on Him Whom He has sent!" If you believe on Jesus Christ then you must also believe in His Light which He gave to abide in you. You must also bring that Light forth as you fulfill the laws of righteousness. And if you DO believe then you must begin to do the works which He did. This is His Will! You must live the laws that you might KNOW of their truth and obtain the fullness of their power.
THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD!
"Hold your eyes single to the glory of God!" Keep your vision high! "Without vision the people perish!" There is no power or strength or accomplishment in any individual who has not the power to hold that vision.
To have "eyes single to the glory of God" has been stressed in this work for a very definite reason.
The power of this statement, fulfilled, is boundless. It has many aspects and many approaches and a continual unfolding of possibilities and results and powers as one begins to "take hold of it as one of the best gifts" and lives by it.
This dynamic, glorious, powerful bit of information is stated in its fullness as follows: "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 comprehendeth all things.
"Therefore, sanctify yourselves, that your minds become single to God, and the days will come that you shall see Him; for He will unveil His face unto you, and it shall be in His own time, and in His own way, and according to His own will.
"Remember the great and last promise which I have made unto you; cast away your idle thoughts and your excess of laughter far from you." The greatest and the last promise to be fulfilled unto those who are striving for perfection is to behold the face of God. "And this is life eternal!" This is the greatest promise possible to give and the greatest one possible to receive.
Now, another meaning of this glorified revelation I am instructed to unfold. If one will take every bleak, unhappy, desolate, evil happening, every misfortune, every set-back, every sorrow and every ounce of suffering and dedicate them to the glory of God that individual's ability to transmute conditions into power will be fully achieved. Like Christ, he will have the power henceforth to take every dishonorable, polluted, shameful, tragic happening and condition and glorify them completely by his exulting praise and released adoration. This is how Christ exalted the blasphemy and the shame of His crucifixion into an everlasting blessing. This is how He conquered death!
No matter what comes into one's life it can be exalted and transmuted if the individual will accept it in praising love, with a released vibration of joyous gratitude for the glory of God. From the moment any individual can achieve this state of progress nothing evil can ever again touch his life, for "he will have overcome the evils of his life." "And things will become subject unto him, both in heaven and on earth, the Light and the life, the Spirit and the power -- !"
No powers or promises are greater than these and it is THE WILL OF GOD that man attain them, by living the laws which pertain to them.
As you hold to your vision of perfection and your desire of fulfilment, without doubting, "God will do the works" of fulfilling.
In this higher work you not only blend your will completely with the Will of God, you become a co-creator with Him as you begin to do the very works which Christ did -- even greater works!
THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD!