Man is a marvel and a wonder beyond anything he has ever thought or dreamed. Man has locked within himself the realms of the three degrees of glory, the telestial, the terrestrial and the celestial. And he has the capacity to select the level of his own existence. He will most assuredly inherit whichever one he chooses to abide in mentally while here on this earth for it is here where the selection is made.
There is the outside, emotional man, consisting of his carnal flesh and its attributes, subject to pain and vicissitudes, rocked by his hates, devastated by his mortal conflicts and frustrations as he is carried along the pathway of his own lusts and physical desires and unproved beliefs.
Any who dwell only on the outside, emotional level of their natures, riding the ferris-wheel of life in an up and down state of uncontrolled exuberance to the low depths of anguish and despair are being cheated. These unstable ones, are like ships without rudders. These can hate harder, dislike more violently and judge more harshly than any others.
The scholar, the true seeker, the sincere searcher may each ride his own smaller, controlled ferris-wheel from the lesser heights to the depths and up again, yet not at such a great variance. They are more or less aware of a hungering for answers to satisfy their thirst for knowledge. The tragic thing is that far too many are satisfied with only a small portion of knowledge, or just half-truths. If one does not go far enough he may often assume that every thought or idea he chances to hear, or is willing to accept, is the ultimate TRUTH of ALL-TRUTH!
I knew a woman once who believed there could be no truth or fact unless she had hatched the idea in her own mind, or unless her own selected leader imparted it to her. And bless her, she was completely carried away with just slight unveilings of truth or with partial truths and so she stood still while TRUTH passed her by.
It must be remembered always, NO ONE PERSON HAS A MONOPOLY UPON TRUTH! Truth will be revealed to anyone who will seek for it or ask for it! Truth belongs to God -- and is awaiting the discovery of every individual on the earth who will only "ask and seek and knock!" "FOR EVERYONE WHO ASKS RECEIVES! AND HE WHO SEEKS FINDS! AND UNTO HIM WHO KNOCKS IT SHALL BE OPENED!" This is the most perfect assurance anyone can possibly have on this earth that his search TO KNOW (for himself) will not be in vain.
And so man is the great marvel and wonder who has remained unfulfilled as he has been satisfied with the outside, emotional, every-day, carnal level of his being.
Then there is the mental being of man, who too few have ever really associated with at all. Few really think! Modern education is more or less a cramming process as the thoughts and ideas of others become stashed and crowded into the minds of the students. Thinking involves a process of choosing and eliminating and of PROVING. Thinking requires that the mind be harnessed and placed under control as one learns to concentrate upon the subject of his inquiry until he has tested and proved his idea or solution.
The mind must become the servant. It must learn to obey. It must accept and reject as it PROVES ALL THINGS. This is required if one is to fully KNOW THE TRUTH. And in this training even the mind evolves into a higher capacity of functioning.
So is man endowed. And so is man's capacity to KNOW for himself. And the full KNOWING can only be established as one PROVES or EXPERIENCES any TRUTH.
When one finally enters the realm of KNOWING, his emotions will have been brought under control, the powers of his mind will have developed the marvel of their full functioning, and he will be prepared to be "TAUGHT OF GOD!" And by his own developing he will be prepared "TO COMPREHEND ALL THINGS!" This is the condition in which he will have developed the ability TO ACTUALLY KNOW! "Nothing will remain closed to him, for he will have discovered that he is truly the door to everything," as the writer of the Odes of Solomon testified.
This realm of "All-knowing" goes beyond the mental realm. Or rather, it is reached when the mind itself has evolved into its highest point of functioning. Or when the conscious mind has joined with the super-conscious mind in a divine contact of development. It is the realm where PEACE abides -- "THE PEACE THAT PASSETH UNDERSTANDING!" This realm where love goes beyond thought. Then it is that one can KNOW TRUTH FOR HE WILL BE ABLE TO EXPERIENCE IT, not just hear or read about it.
And there are many in this precious day and age who will never be satisfied with anything short of the full TRUTH. For these are the promises given: "Seek me early and you shall find me!" Yes, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled with the fulness of God." Or to express it in another way: "THEY SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH" fully and completely.
This inner realm of glorious KNOWING is difficult to describe. It is so far beyond emotions and even beyond thought and the carnal existence there seems to be no terms available with which to make it KNOWN or comprehensible. It is the realm of deep, inner stillness.
The contact with the TRUTH or understanding or divine knowledge that goes beyond thought or feeling is an inner discernment that was implanted in every living soul from the beginning. It has become a dormant faculty in most because it has been neglected and unused.
"Therefore it is given to abide in you as the record of heaven; The Comforter; the peaceable things of immortal glory; the truth of all things; that which KNOWETH all things, and hath all power, according to wisdom, mercy, truth, justice and judgment."
This is one of the great revelations which God has given to man. But its full impact and power can only be comprehended by those whose hearts are softened by love and devotion and whose minds are opened to receive, and who have OVERCOME the great evil of UNBELIEF. To them this scripture, given originally to blessed Enoch of old, will become their own. And all the promised wonders of it will be fulfilled in them -- the complete all-knowing, the all-power of accomplishment, the memory of that pre-existent experience and their own individual assignment and the way of its unfolding.
When I used to teach classes questions would sometimes arise which I had never before heard or thought of -- and many of them pertained to points to which no answers had hitherto been recorded, I learned, during those experiences, that there is no question without an answer. And the true answer will be given if one does not pretend or assume that he already knows everything. If one makes such pretensions he will begin to teach false doctrine and give out unproved theories. He will be "trusting in the arm of flesh" -- his own weak arm of uncomprehension.
In every such emergency it is possible to stand perfectly still for a moment, to weigh and measure the question asked, for no question must be slighted or ignored, and in that momentary stillness one's mind will automatically reach down into the depths of his own soul and there will be the answer. It will be direct and true and beyond controversy. It will be infallible and carry its own weight of authority.
As I learned to use this method I learned that I did not even have to search for the answers, or rack my brain for them. And when an answer came forth to fill my conscious mind with its infallible truth it was clothed in the everlasting perfection, direct from the sources of all-knowing. Those answers had the divine power sealed upon them. They would be clothed in the plainness and TRUTH of uncontradictable substance around them.
Thus I used this source of all-knowing for years to answer the questions and to solve the problems of others. And my own problem went unsolved.
I stood alone upon the mountain with my own desire and fulfilling unfulfilled. How was I to have that great PROMISE of my earlier years granted -- that PROMISE that "My life would be sanctified unto God fully and completely, for His service, insomuch that saints and angels would rejoice and KNOW that a renewed strength and assurance would be injected into HIS work as I would become a servant in HIS hands in very deed!"
That question became the uppermost concern of my life. How was I to go about sanctifying my life to such an extent? The need was so great and the fulfilling became so urgent I felt overwhelmed with the burden of it. In my own great intensity I forgot the unfailing power of God's PROMISES AND POWERS, if we would only ASK. And it was in my ASKING and humble willingness to accept completely His answer that the great enlightenment of eternal TRUTH was poured out upon me.
"The Holy Spirit of Promise, which the Father sheds forth upon all who are JUST and TRUE" is a wonder almost incomprehensible. But as one opens his mind to comprehend it holds a satisfaction and enlightenment in an unfailing power of ever unfolding glory as one becomes TRUE to its infallible Witness of Truth.
And there is no soul who has not been given or who will not be given the Witness or Testimony of Truth if he asks to KNOW the TRUTH about any information, condition or fact, being truly sincere in his asking and humble in his receiving. This Holy Witness or Spirit, when verifying TRUTH or revealing knowledge is like a living flame of glory being lighted in the center of one's soul. It carries a singing vibration of exquisite, eternal radiance and marvelous, divine assurance and power which is undeniable at the time of its Witnessing.
It is only later, when one opens up his heart and mind to doubting that he loses that Testimony or Witness and fails to be TRUE to TRUTH. As he encourages his own unbelief and doubting he closes the door to the "Light communicated to his intellect from heaven" and so goes even deeper into the darkness than he was before.
There is always a burning Witness in the soul to the very TRUTH OF ALL THINGS if one is JUST and TRUE in his desire to KNOW TRUTH, and then is willing to remain TRUE to that TRUTH.
As one opens his mind to receive enlightenment, in humble requesting, he will assuredly be given the outflowing Witness to TRUTH upon every occasion until he is led into all truth! This ability to be TRUE to that Holy Spirit makes one ELECT! And the scripture states that "Lucifer will deceive even the very ELECT, if possible." This is only possible when one has not "Made his calling and his election sure." And this election is achieved if one does not fail to give heed to the Light communicated from heaven to his intellect.
This developed ability to be TRUE to the divine Witness of that Holy Spirit makes one's calling and election sure! And he who achieves this status can never be deceived or left comfortless or alone in his journey to glory or into the realms of TRUTH! And only those who are JUST and TRUE can ever know the TRUTH!
This being TRUE to this divine Holy Witness of Truth and Promise is that which is required to make one's calling and election sure and permanent as the Holy Spirit becomes his eternal Companion. And as this is accomplished one will be led into ALL TRUTH and will receive the fulfilling of every PROMISE ever given by God until he himself is perfected and glorified and exalted.
This statement must be made clear and plain at this point. It is stated in the scripture and those "who sin against the Holy Ghost (or Spirit) will not be forgiven in this world -- or in the WORLD TO COME!" To deny the Testimony or instructions or Witness of that Holy Spirit of Promise is that unforgivable sin that takes a lifetime and a world beyond to atone for. This unpardonable sin or unforgivable sin is when one rejects or denies or defies God in a rebellious effort to make HIM adhere to one's own erroneous beliefs and accept them. Thus they reject LIGHT and TRUTH and become ever more unjust. Such have sinned indeed! They have shut themselves out from TRUTH and LIGHT and progress for their entire lives. And because they have so retarded their own progress, rejecting the Pathway of advancement and enlightenment and glory they have condemned their own souls to a lower, inferior status in that world which is to come.
And may God have mercy on them! So that when this world and the world to come have passed on these retarded ones will be able at last to pick up again where they failed. But in this retardation they will perhaps be ages even eons behind where they could have been had they not been UNTRUE.
Oh gracious, wonderful, Holy Spirit of Promise, I shall sing to Thy praise! I shall worship and adore and thank God continually for a blessing so great and so divine as Thy eternal, unfailing Companionship, for Thou hast led me along the Pathway of TRUTH! I rejoice in Thee always for thou hast never failed or forsaken me from the first moment of my awareness of Thy glory and the wonder of Thy infallibility and unspeakable TRUTH! For Thou hast indeed made me free! Eternally Free!
This is glory beyond thought! It is power beyond man's greatest dreams. It is the ultimate in all wonders and achievements. And the privilege of this marvelous Witness belongs to all who will only believe and who will "ASK and SEEK and KNOCK!" For everyone who asks receives! And he who seeks will find, the answer. And to him who KNOCKS the door to that Kingdom of Heaven will be opened wide. This is God's personal, individual Promise to you and is eternally Witnessed by that Holy Spirit of Promise if you are willing to receive.
It is there for everyone. Yet none can ever KNOW this TRUTH or EXPERIENCE IT WHO ARE SATISFIED WITH THEMSELVES and with their present, inadequate, powerless beliefs. Neither can they be satisfied with the outward show of things, or who are carried away with pride in their own understanding. This realm is reached only as man opens up his soul and heart to receive that Holy Witness of God. It is for those who are JUST and TRUE!
As one learns to associate with that Holy Spirit of Promise he begins to abide in higher realms. It is not only the realm of PROMISE, but the realm where Promises are fulfilled and made eternally sure. This is the Kingdom which man was instructed to seek for first and above all else. It is the Kingdom of ALL-TRUTH and ALL-POWER! One enters it by desiring and then by asking and finally by being TRUE to the PROMISES vouchsafed to his own soul in the flaming power of God's eternal Witness of Truth.
As one uses his mind and soul to explore, to weigh and to measure and to PROVE or to LIVE BY the PROMISES, he enters the realm of the Patriarchs. These are no longer under the law but LIVE BY THE PROMISES, at first through FAITH and then through KNOWLEDGE. As one lives true to the PROMISES he begins to exert his own ability to PROVE THEM. In this Proving one enters the realm beyond thought. This is the realm of Spirit where one can actually behold the mighty forces of God take hold of the elements of Creation as they fashion requests and desires into the things "WAITING TO BECOME!" Here one views the wonder of the Holy Spirit of Promise solidifying the substance of things hoped for into tangible reality. This is glory indeed!
THIS IS THE LAND OF PROMISE! This is where the great and Holy Promises of God take form and solidify into supreme fulfillment. This is the realm of the Holy Spirit of Promise as it fulfills all things! This is the realm in which one comprehends all things! This is the realm of the "HOLY OF HOLIES!" This is the "SECRET PLACE OF THE MOST HIGH!" This is the realm in which one can comprehend all things. It is the realm in which all evils and ugliness and falsehoods and doubts are eliminated. It is that Kingdom of HEAVEN (within) as one reaches it -- his own PROMISED LAND!