2/13/64
Tonight’s subject is “The Power of Faith.” The most important Hebrew term for the word faith is “Amen,” which signifies firmness, stability; but its precise meaning is “hold God trustworthy,” to hold God trustworthy. And tonight I hope to be able to share with you what I have discovered about this fabulous power that is faith.
First, let us define faith as defined for us in the Book of Hebrews. This unknown author—-some claim that Paul wrote it, but the majority of the scholars are not convinced; they feel it is not quite his terminology unless he radically changed when he wrote this book—so it’s an unknown author, one of the most profound books in the Bible. In the 11th chapter, it is stated: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. By it men of old received divine approval. We understand that by faith the world was created by the word of God, so that things that are seen were made out of things which do not appear” (verses1-3). Then comes the assemblage of witnesses. He first assembles seven, beginning with Abel, and then he summarizes this compound witness, and then he mentions another eleven. Then he summarizes it again.
But here in this statement speaking now of God—-for when we speak of faith it’s simply to hold God trustworthy—God becomes the object of one’s faith. So here, “Without faith, it is impossible to please him. Anyone who would draw near to God must believe that he exists and rewards those who seek him.” Now, the best way to understand this is through a little story. A minister was calling at a home to make arrangements for the funeral of an elderly man. Although he was not a professing Christian he was highly regarded in his community. His widow, trying to persuade the clergyman of her husband’s goodness, said to him, “Henry was a believer. He believed that God is. He’s a believer; he believed that there is a God.” Now she herself would never accept this definition of faith if it was applied by Henry to her. Suppose, for instance, during their married life she had asked Henry, “Henry, do you believe in me?” and suppose he answered, “Yes, Mary, I believe that you exist,” would she be satisfied with that? So it’s more than believing that God exists. So listen to the sentence carefully. People read just a little portion of it and they cut off the important part of that verse. This is the 11th chapter, the 6th verse of Hebrews: “You not only must believe that God exists, but that he rewards those who seek him.” The existence in itself is not enough; there must be an activity. How could I know? I believe this exists [table] but I expect nothing more from it than to hold paper and pencils and anything I should put on it. That’s not what I expect of God.
So I believe that God exists, but I must also believe that he rewards me if I seek him. So God acts; I must react. God speaks and I must say “Amen” to that. Well now, tonight I want something for myself or for a friend, how would I go about seeking God, having God act and I react? So I think of my friend and I see on my friend’s face an expression which implies that they have what I want them to have. I see it right on their face. I listen as though we spoke to each other, and he or she, they are telling me what I want to hear. You may say, “Well, that’s not God acting, that’s Neville acting.” I say to you, “I am doing it” and you will say, “Yes, I know you were doing it.” I say, “No, I am doing it.” What is his name?—-I AM. Has he any other name? Oh, many names, his name is Father, call him Lord, call him God, call him by every name; but the name he revealed to man which must be a name forever and forever for all generations is I AM (Ex. 3:14). So I am bringing before my mind’s eye the face of a friend, and I put on that face an expression implying the fulfillment of my desire for them. And so God is acting. I’m not separating God from myself, for his name is I AM. And so I bring it so.
Am I going to react now? I must now react to God’s action. God acted, I’m quite familiar with the action, but it’s God that is acting. “For God only acts and is in all existing beings and men.” So he dwells in me as my own wonderful human Imagination. I know what I imagined…well, that’s God. To believe in God is one thing, but to believe that he rewards me if I seek him is another thing, and that’s where men stop, like Henry stopped. For Henry was a good man, Henry believed that there is a God and she thought that would pacify the minister, and maybe it did. For you could get from some Communist this night his belief, his confession of faith. And he said, “I believe there is a God.” If you want all people to believe in God, you may be satisfied. That’s not good enough. I must not only believe there’s a God, I must believe that he rewards me if I seek him; and then put him to the test.
Now, I ask everyone here to put him to the test. I put him to the test; I put him to the test daily. He does not fail. If it seems long as far as I’m concerned, I know it is not long for what I’ve asked. At that moment that was the beginning of an action, and the action will fulfill itself in its own good time. I’m called upon to be patient, to be faithful, and simply await God’s production. He’s going to produce it. All I’m asked to do is to simply let God act. Well, God acted. I sit here tonight for the next half an hour, three-quarters of an hour…I will sit in the Silence and bring before my mind’s eye some friend who is here, and carry on a simple conversation with him. God acted. So when I rise from there, did I react in confidence, in absolute faith? The opposite of faith is worry. Am I going to be concerned about results? Am I going to ask myself how is it going to happen? Well, then I’m worrying
Now listen to these words from the 4th chapter, the 6th verse of Philippians: Have no anxiety whatever. The words are, “Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make your requests known to God” or “Let all your requests be made known to God.” Have no anxiety about anything. So you ask something…you say, “Well, the doctor said so and so.” Well, I don’t care what the doctor said. Well, the boss said so and so. I don’t care what he said. I am told, “Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let all of your requests be made known to God.” So you sit quietly and now you’re going to commune with God. Wait for God to tell you something? Don’t you know who God is? How must I wait for God to tell me something? God is speaking to me every time I use my Imagination; for God is all Imagination and dwells in me as my Imagination.
So I think of a friend. As I conjure him before my mind’s eye I represent him to myself as I want to see him. That’s God’s action. Now I must react. I’ve come to him and God would now reward me if I seek him. Well, I sought him and I found exactly what he’s going to give me; for the expression on the face of a friend implies the fulfillment of what I want for them. Or, if the expression is not enough, I listen as though I heard words that I would hear and could only hear if things were as they want them to be. And so, I listen just as though it were true. And then I must not worry, for that is then the opposite of faith; and by faith all things were made; without it he didn’t make anything. And how did he make it? He made all the visible things that I see out of invisible states. Now listen to these words from the 4th chapter, the 17th verse of Romans: “And he calls a thing that is not seen as though it were seen and the unseen becomes seen.” He calls a thing that is not seen as though it were seen, and then the unseen becomes seen. So I bring your face before me. Alright, I can see your face; then I put the expression on it. I see that, but I don’t see what it is implying. No one sees that. I can see your face, but what does it imply? It implies the fulfillment of your dream come true, all come true. But I don’t see it; I only see that which it implies. Now I get the secret of God’s creativity; he acts in this manner. I have found him…by him all things are made; without him was not made anything that is made, and I just did it.
Alright, a lady comes to see me—-I do not know her from a hole in the wall—-she said, “I had been recommended to you and I do not understand what you do.” Well, I said, I just do nothing. You sit right there and I will sit here and you imagine that you are telling me you have found the lady that you are seeking. This was her request: “I haven’t seen a friend of mine in over a year, and I’m anxious to see her, now what must I do?” I said, you sit there and you tell me mentally—-don’t scream at me—just simply tell me mentally that you have found her. I will sit just where I am, I will imagine that you are talking to me, and you’re telling me you’ve found her. So when I say, that’s enough or that’s okay, we’ll break the little mental conversation, and that’s all that I will do. So she sat quietly for five minutes, I sat quietly for five minutes; I imagined she is talking to me and she is telling me she’s found her. At the end of five minutes, I got up and said, thank you so much. She said, “Is that all?” I said that’s all. Well, she wasn’t at all convinced. She walked through the door, she’d never seen me before, and so that was all.
She could have told me within the week that she found her. But she didn’t, she waited. And this is what happened. She inquired where her friend last was seen and they said to her she went off to Hartford, Connecticut. So she took a train to Hartford. She was having no faith whatsoever in what we did, because to her that was the height of stupidity. Off she went to Hartford. When she got there they said, yes, we know her, but she left for Boston. So off to Boston, she goes. At the address in Boston, yes, they knew her, she lived here, this was her address, but she left here without leaving any forwarding address, and that’s several months ago. So she returns to New York City. One day on 14th Street, shopping at Hearn’s Department Store, she’s walking by on the south side of the street. You come out of Hearn’s on 14th Street, Union Square. Had she been five seconds early or late they would have missed each other. Because she was right on the button, they ran right into each other on 14th Street right opposite coming out of Hearn’s Department Store.
How could you possibly have arranged it? She could not possibly have arranged it. She went to Hartford to spend her good money and time, Boston, her money and time, and returned disappointed. But we had planted the seed. I did not know how she would ever know that this person…alright, so she found her. She’s walking down 14th Street and all of a sudden they bump right into each other in front of Hearn’s Department Store. That’s how it works. I could sit down and burst all the blood vessels of my brain trying to figure out for her what she should do. You don’t do anything. God acts and man reacts; God speaks and we say “Amen.” Amen is holding God trustworthy. That was his action. You act…I know I acted, well, that’s God.
Is it arrogant? It’s your own wonderful human Imagination, that’s God. God actually became man that man may become God. And how did he become man? By sinking himself in man as man’s own wonderful human Imagination, that’s God. He so loved man he became man. And in man, can’t you say “I am”? Well, that’s his name. He has no other name, really. He does have fatherhood—that’s the greatest name in the world—but that comes at the very end. Long before the Son appears and calls you Father you will use the name called “I am.” Only in the very end are you called “Father.” I tell you that you’re Father, but it has to be revealed to you personally for you to know it. You must experience fatherhood, and only the Son can make you experience it. Until that day comes, use the name he gave us. For that same name will be forever and forever: “This is my name for all generations, forever and forever,” and the name is I AM.
So I sit down quietly and I think of someone. At that very moment they may not respond, I may not hear from them. But do you know that at that moment, in some strange way, they thought of me. They may never sit down and write a letter and tell me, “At this very moment I was thinking about you.” But they had to. They’re all in me. So you bring someone up and you simply bring them before your mind’s eye and you bless them. In what way? God blesses them because God acts. You bring them into your mind’s eye and you see them as you want to see them, one who is happy, gainfully employed, things are just right. He could not ask at this moment in time for something lovelier. So you ask it for him, and then you see his face reflecting the fulfillment of that request. “Make all of your requests known to God.” Well, God knows it. Don’t I know it? Well, that’s he. My own Imagination knows it; well, that’s God. God is my Imagination, he’s your Imagination. So when you know that, you do it wisely from morning to night.
Let me paraphrase that wonderful 13th chapter of Corinthians for you. It’s the one on love. But now we’ll take it and paraphrase it on faith. For you know the very last verse (which was asked me) and you’ve read it: “What is the greatest thing in the world?” and you answer, “Faith, hope and love; but the greatest of these is love” (verse 13). With that I agree, love is the greatest in the world. But in that trio faith is mentioned—-faith, hope and love. Love is the greatest, but faith is there…and these three abide. So we now paraphrase it: Though I speak in the tongues of men and angels, though I have all the prophetic powers of the world so that I know all the mysteries and understand all knowledge, though I give all that I have away, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not faith, I cannot please him. I said love—-I should say I am as nothing; without love you are as nothing—-but faith, without faith I cannot please him. Those who come to him must know that he exists, but before that is stated, “Without faith it is impossible to please him.”
So if I gave all that I had…suppose that I had all the wealth of the world and I gave it to the poor. Suppose I offered my body to be burned while still living in it, as many Buddhists have done recently. Suppose I was so wise that I had all the prophetic powers of the world, that I could see tomorrow and play the game today based upon tomorrow, and knowing tomorrow’s quotation on the market. If I knew exactly every horse that would win tomorrow…I was so prophetic I know every horse that’s going to come in, and I knew it today. All I’d have to do is call my bookie (if I had one), have him go out and just simply bring the money back, I know it all. But suppose I knew all these things, and had not faith, I could not please him. He can’t be pleased in any way save through faith. So he calls upon man, who is completely shut out from the next second—-he can’t know exactly what’s going to happen five minutes from now—because this [body] is a veil that blinds the being that he really is. For man is really God awakening. So God blinds himself with the garment of flesh, and with this blind upon him he has to live by faith. So we walk by faith not by sight, we’re told.
Now, can I walk by faith? Alright, I think of someone…I don’t have to sit down and really work it out. I don’t consider the ways and means. You’re told, “I have ways and means you know not of. My ways are past finding out” (Rom. 11:33, KJV). If they’re past finding out what am I doing trying to unravel the ways by which I will realize my objective? So when this lady left my room, she thought, well now, this is the height of insanity. They told me to go and see this man, he seemed a normal person, but that isn’t normal. So she goes through the door and the whole thing seemed to her a complete waste of her time. Yet a week later after her visit to one place, another city and back disappointed, she runs into her. How could you ever have arranged it?
A lady came to see me after completely exhausting all the things in New York City. She went to the police department first then she went to the detective agency, and paid a goodly price, to find the furniture that had disappeared while she was in Europe for almost a year with her children. She left her furniture and her apartment. She was paying the rent every month and yet when she came back there was no furniture. So she sought the help of the police department, she sought the help of the private agency, and they couldn’t locate it in all of the things that they did in New York City. They went to the five boroughs, going to all the great storehouses, and they couldn’t find any evidence of it. Then she came to me. She knew me well. She could have come first and saved herself time and money. No, she’s going to take Caesar’s way first. When Caesar failed, she came. She and I sat in the Silence and simply saw the furniture, and sat on it, and saw the lovely family pictures on the piano, and all the things where they would be were it true.
So one day she’s coming out of a bank on Madison Avenue and there were rails—on Madison Avenue all things, sort of an old atmosphere— coming out of this bank and she sees these rails; and it reminded her of a very strange experience of hers years ago when she had a mental breakdown and they committed her. They thought she was violent so she was committed in a violent ward. So when she saw these rails it disturbed her. At that moment of being disturbed she turned south instead of turning north to her hotel. She went one block, she discovered her mistake. At the very end of the block, having discovered she was going south instead of north, she stopped, and as she was turning around to go north she sees a familiar pair of ankles. There they are. And just before the light turned green for her to cross the street, she sees, she looks at the face, it’s her maid. And she goes and she holds the maid, and the maid begins to scream. She said, “I’m not going to hurt you. I only want my furniture, and I’m not leaving you, I’m not letting you go until you take me right this very moment to my furniture.” So she hailed a cab and together they got into the cab and the maid took her to her furniture. The maid, in that interval, thought, well, this lady is always a little bit off, she will not know, so she’ll disappear with the furniture.
And it all happened after all the police gave up and the private agency gave up; but not until they took her money, because she paid for that help, and then they couldn’t deliver the goods. It was not contingent on finding it; it’s simply putting in time. They put in x-number of weeks or months. If you want to pay for it, we’ll try to find it for you. When you feel you can’t give us any more, you can stop us, but we’ll make the great effort. In that interval, we hope to find it. Well, they didn’t find it. And how did she find it? By stripes coming down through the window…and so it reminded her of a most unpleasant past and it disturbed her. She comes out on Madison Avenue and turns south instead of turning north, and one block, because she was disturbed, there is the maid. See how God works?
So what happened? God acted. We sat on the furniture and there was no furniture. “He calls a thing that is not seen as though it were, and the unseen becomes seen” (Rom. 4:17; Heb. 11:3). You’ve got to learn to believe that God and you are one: “I and my Father are one…although my Father is greater than I.” Believe it. If I and my Father are one, my Father can never be so far off as even to be near, for nearness implies separation. We either are one or we aren’t one. So I and my Father are one, how can he be near? He can’t be near; for God acts, well, how does he act? By putting my hand out? No, that’s only compulsion. God acts in an imaginal manner, so my imaginal act is God in action. So I imagine a friend telling me good news, now can I say “Amen” to that? Can I, as he acted, can I react in confidence? For I must hold God trustworthy; that’s the meaning of the word. Hold God trustworthy is Amen.
Another word used, which is not often used, but it’s always translated truth, and that is Emeth—Aleph, Mem, Toph—that’s translated truth. Well, what is a true judgment? Now this is called faith. A true judgment, said the world of Caesar, must conform to the external reality to which it relates, that’s what Caesar said. I say, “Isn’t that a wonderful plant!” and you say, “What plant? Now he’s really gone.” So there’s a marvelous plant…and not one sees a plant…but I am seeing a plant, a lovely plant. And so, that’s a false judgment, for it does not conform to the external fact to which my judgment relates. There is no plant, so that’s a lie. So the word faith which is Emeth in another way is truth. So that’s not true…but I still say I see a plant; and I live in the assumption that that was an act, God acted. All things are possible to God. And so, in my Imagination I saw a plant. Who saw it? Well, God acted. Can I accept it? Can I react? For God acts and I’m called upon to react; God speaks and I’m called upon to say “Amen” to what he said. So can I say “Amen” to that…that there’s a plant there? If I can say “Amen” to it, well, then it’s done. And in no time, and in a way I do not know and could not devise, someone’s going to bring a plant. But they will say, “But someone brought it, it didn’t grow out of the piano.” Did I tell you it’s coming out of the piano? They want me to bring it out of something.
Back in New York City I said, “Imagining creates reality.” This professor, he teaches in some eastern college, and he said to me, “Imagining creates reality? Well, here is a pencil, Neville, it’s a yellow pencil. Make it red.” I said, go and paint it, paint the pencil. Go in the backroom and paint it red. You can make it red. “No, you make it red.” “Did I tell you I’m going to make anything?” I said everything is possible to Imagination. I can imagine it red. “But it isn’t red.” To you it isn’t, I said, but it’s red to me. I say it’s red, and tomorrow maybe you’ll lose this pencil and find one just like it, and you’re going to find a red one. You go back to your college and teach them all your little things that you know concerning what Aristotle said, what Plato said, what all the others who are blind said. I am telling you only about the Bible, and the Bible tells me whatever I believe comes to pass…if I can believe it. Whatever I ask in prayer believing, the same comes to pass (Mark 11:42).
Well, can I believe it when reason denies it and my senses deny it? Can I give my belief sensory vividness and give it all the tones of reality? Well, certainly I can, I do it. I’ve gone all over this world when they told me I couldn’t go, when I had no permission even to travel, no permission to travel from this country, or permission to get back into this country. I went out of the country and came back into the country by putting myself just where I wanted to be if it were true that I am there. And so, what’s his name?—-I AM. Well, can’t I say “I am”? Well, is there anything impossible to God? Nothing! But man has to make that answer. Man may say, “Oh yeah? He can’t grow a second foot if one is severed.” So right away they think God can’t do that. He can make me…he’s already made four billion pairs walking the earth now, but he can’t make another one. So he’s made billions of pairs of eyes, but he can’t make another one, not one single eye that you gouge out. He’s done all these things but he can’t make another one. And may I tell you, he can. I had that experience. I was lifted up on high and saw this fabulous world of imperfection, blind, lame, halt, withered, shrunken, and just as I was lifted up—-and I did nothing—-as I walked by everything was molded into perfection, as I walked by. Eyes that were missing came out of some strange place and molded themselves in the empty sockets. Arms that were missing came out of some strange reservoir and they came back and molded themselves into the empty sockets. And everyone was made perfect. When I got to the very last, this heavenly chorus sang out, “It is finished!” Then I came back to this limitation where I must live by faith. But I saw it.
Now, having seen another aspect of the power which will be yours and mine tomorrow, for I tasted of the power of the age to be. Where this whole vast world…if you took the human body with its billions of atoms and then fragmented it and each becomes a man…so if this whole vast world…just as God in this lady could take mankind and rearrange it to bring about the maid at the corner, rearrange the entire structure to produce the maid who knows where the furniture is. Well, someone is ill, can’t he also rearrange the structure of the body in the twinkle of an eye? He arranged the structure of the macrocosm; can he not rearrange the structure of the microcosm? And so, who did it? All you do is simply act in your Imagination. You imagine that things are as you would like them to be, and they will react. The imaginal act was God. Don’t say it was Bob doing it and John doing it and Mary doing it. Alright, it was God doing it; now let John and Mary and Bob react. And so, I react with pleasure.
So you are told, let me quote for you again, the 4th chapter, the 6th verse of Philippians, “Have no anxiety about anything”—-what a statement!—-“but in everything by prayer with supplication and with thanksgiving let all your requests be made known to God.” No anxiety about anything! Now comes letting your request be known to God. Well, my request is that John has a wonderful job, gainfully employed and moving up, expanding, month after month. So I meet John in my mind’s eye now, and John tells me he has the most wonderful job in the world. Well, that action was God. And so, he tells me; I react; I say “Amen” to that; the whole thing is done. I go to the end and then I don’t raise a finger to get John the job. I don’t call a friend and say, “You know John is in need of a job, can you help him out and steer him in the right direction?” I do nothing. I can’t put my hand upon that ark and steer at all. Let it be steered properly by the imaginal act, for the imaginal act contains within itself the power and the wisdom to externalize itself.
So I can’t do a thing about it. All I’m called upon to do is simply to react to God’s action. But I know who God is. I have found him. Because, if by him all things were made and without him was not anything made that was made, I know exactly what I did. I recall exactly sitting with that lady in her imaginary wonderful room, sitting on her own furniture. That’s all that I did. If she found it in this strange, unique manner, I know that I didn’t aid her in the finding; I only sat on the furniture. If I’m sitting in her place on the furniture, and then it happens that the furniture comes in that place, and I’m invited there for tea and I do go and sit on that furniture, I know what I did. Now I’m told, “By him, all things were made and without him was not anything made that was made.” Well, I know what I did, so I’ve found him. I’ve found exactly who he is: He’s my Imagination. My Imagination in action is God creating, and when I can react to that imaginal act and say “Amen” to it, well then, I know exactly what is meant in the Bible: “He is the yea to everything.” He simply said yes to every imaginal act that takes place within him, confident that his Father who is himself can externalize it.
On this level, when I’m veiled I am shut out. When the veil is taken off, I am one with the Father in the true sense of the word; we aren’t then two. And then you’ll understand this fabulous mystery. I came out of this, and therefore that which comes out of this is its son, and this is its father. But that which comes out has been promised to be the father of this. Well, that’s a fantastic thing! You mean I mature and I awake when I become my own father’s father? Yes, I come out of this and therefore this is its father. I awoke in this and this is David. David is the sum total of all the generations of humanity fused into a single being that is a youth, called David. But every being is David. When fused, it’s David. But individually, it’s David. So that body is David. So I awoke in this body and I know who I am.
To you who may not understand it, when I say I awoke in my skull, don’t think I was a little tiny thing this big, you know. I’m just as big as I am, and my skull, if I drew a straight line here, the skull is equal to the size of this area here. Because I stood up and walked around in my skull. The skull was just as big as this area here. All things being relative, I wasn’t any little, tiny thing this big. I was the man that I am now, feeling myself just as I am now. So I stood up and walked around in the skull, the skull the size of this room. Then I came out. I woke in my own being, for this is David. I come out of David; and then five months later, David, the sum total of all humanity, stands before me and calls me Father. So man matures when he becomes his own father’s father. For this gave birth to it. I slept in it and woke in it. And then you’ll understand the words: “When your days are fulfilled”—which means when you’re dead; that’s a lovely way of putting it—“When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers”—-that means when you’re buried with the rest of them—-“then I will raise up your son after you, who shall come forth from your body”— out from your body—“I will be his father”—-who is speaking? God is speaking—-“and he shall be my son.” So I’m raising up out of David (the body) my own son. But he comes out of the body, therefore the body is its father; so he comes out of David.
Now listen to these words, Jesus Christ:—this is from the Book of Timothy, 2nd Timothy—Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descended from David. “Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descended from David, blessed forever” (2:8). Descended from David—-you come out of this body, and therefore this that gave birth to it must be your father. And in spite of that, suddenly he appears before you and calls you Father. So I say, maturity comes to man when man, born of David, becomes David’s father. So you’re actually matured when you become your own father’s father, and the father’s father is God.
But while you are here in this world wearing this garment of flesh, you must walk by faith, and understand why you must walk by faith, and why you must react to God’s action. God’s action is your own wonderful imaginal act…that’s God’s action. So learn to discriminate and only act in noble manners. So you want to be successful? Why not! You want your friends to be successful? Why not! You want all the fellows that you know to be happy and successful? Why not! Well, then act in that way and say “Amen” to it. Learn to say “Amen” to your imaginal acts, and then don’t raise a finger to make it so; let it be so. And don’t justify failure…but wait patiently. Simply let it be known to God, let all your requests be known to God. And you’re known to God because I know what I did—-that’s being known to God. How could I know something, and the presence men call God not know it if he’s God? Well, is he all-knowing? Well, he knows what I imagined because he imagined it…because he is my Imagination. God became man that man may become God.
So now, this very moment, without any bursting of blood vessels, you simply think of someone and see them as you would like to see them; gainfully employed if that’s the problem of the moment. If it’s health, that you’ve never seen them look better, and they’ll say, “Never felt better.” Alright, that’s all that you do. Say yes, say “Amen” to that imaginal act. Don’t go home and call them up to see if it’s working, just leave it alone, and in a wonderful manner that you do not know they will make it visible for you. They’ll either call you, write you or some third party will say, “You know what? I read it in so and so, and you should see them” and then they will bring the good news. So it doesn’t matter how it happens, it will happen. So don’t go into any palaver.
I went to New York City two years ago, as I go year after year. I called a friend I hadn’t seen in quite a while. And so I went up and I said, Is Mr. so-and-so in, Mr. x? and she corrected me, “Oh, you mean Dr. so-and-so.” Alright, Dr. so-and-so. When I knew him he was not Dr. so-and-so, but now he has a little degree, not a medical doctor. She said, “He’s busy.” I said, “Well, I’ll wait.” “Well, he’s giving a treatment and there are others waiting for treatments when he’s through.” Alright, I’ll wait. Then I heard a voice coming through the door, “Infinite Mind is healthy, Infinite Mind is wealthy, Infinite Mind is so and so,” and pouring word after word after word into this one sitting there getting all these words. And then the words came to my mind, if this man would only read the Bible, and go back and read, “Who by his many words hopes to gain the ear of God.” They hope to gain the ear of God by empty words that he himself does not believe and the one who is paying him for that half-hour does not believe either. Just empty words, driving it into someone who is so anxious about tomorrow’s job or tomorrow’s rent, and sitting there all anxious, and this one, just words, empty words. Hasn’t a thing to do with this simple approach to God. He’s not out there and he’s not dead. You don’t have to scream at him. And so he’s just simply bawling out someone about God being infinite in power, infinite in health, and infinite in wealth; and she came out of that simply minus whatever she gave him, and there was not a thing from the words. It doesn’t work that way. You sit down quietly, imagine the loveliest thing in this world and say “Amen” to that. And then leave it.
Now let us go.
(??) a section wherever recorded. You read it in the 11th chapter in the Book of John, the raising of Lazarus, and the words are “Thank you, Father,” that’s all that he says. He saw the end and could say “Amen” to that and the words recorded are, “Thank you, Father. You always hear me”… but I said it that they may know you sent me. The most effective words…you see something clearly in your mind’s eye as you want to see it for a friend and then say “Thank you, Father!” with complete confidence that this is true (??) and then let it work.
Now are there any questions, please? Yes sir?
Q: Would you please recapitulate where you were talking about the word Emeth.
A: Emeth is truth—Aleph, Mem, Toph. Why should someone be called tonight and not another when judged by human standards the other is seemingly more worthy of that elective call? And I thought of the temple being broken, for the temple was destroyed. We’re told in the 2nd Book of Samuel, the 7th chapter, Do not build a home for me; I will build one for you (verse 6). The word is house. And so here, if I took a jigsaw puzzle and the whole thing broke, but every little piece is unique and cannot be placed in any other part other than its part, it’s unique, and God has to find it. He can’t lose one little piece. But in the reconstruction of the temple that now becomes a living temple, instead of the former state of a dead temple, well, now all the stones are living stones in God’s living temple that is eternal. So maybe at this very moment in time, the piece that you represent can be fitted, and so you are called because that’s a living stone in the reassembling of God’s eternal temple. Doesn’t mean you’re any better because you’re called before the other fella. He hasn’t come to that piece (??), and so that piece when he comes to it he fits right into this wonderful mosaic; for it is a living, living temple. And all are unique in God’s temple, and not one can be displaced; therefore, “Not one shall be lost in all my holy mountain.”
Q: In the statement of faith, hope and love, and love is the greatest, I’ve always related hope more to faith. Would you define what hope really means?
A: Well, you’re told that no one hopes for things after you receive it. A hope that is seen is not hope, so hope can only be when it’s not seen. I would put them…now they’re not qualified faith, hope, love, because love is the greatest and it’s named last in this. Now we don’t go back and say hope, that’s the next one, and then faith. If I were called upon to name the second, I would name faith, I would, because the world was created by faith. “By faith, the world was created by the word of God,” but by faith. Hope doesn’t come into that passage at all. But everything is held together by love…and everything is love. It seems difficult to believe that the horrors you read about in the world that a God who created it all in love. And God is love. I stood in his presence and God is infinite love. He who created the whole vast universe is infinite love. But faith and hope abide with love, but love is the greatest of all.
Q: (inaudible)
A: Well, every piece that comes into God’s presence is automatically purified. The true Israelite is called the pure in heart. “Behold this Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile.” So no one can stand in his presence and not become him, for we become what we behold. But he doesn’t draw into his presence until in his mind he sees the pure in heart. So he sought David “a man after my own heart.” So he calls him. But he purifies the heart. Don’t try to purify it. The heart becomes purified by the death of delusion, and man cannot work on his delusions and overcome them. A prejudice is a delusion. If you are against any race or nation or religion, you can’t rationalize it, you can’t justify it. And (??) a race of people because one individual of a race you dislike and think all of them are the same, it’s stupid. Yet man who dislikes them can’t seem to help it. But God will purify their heart: He will take a member of the race the individual dislikes and use a member as his savior. He’ll be saved from some embarrassment in this world by a member of the race or the nation or the religion (??). I’ve seen it time and again. And so he could not have plotted the little play whereby he was put in a predicament, and then the only person who rushed forward to save him was a member of the hated group. So a man can’t work upon his delusions, his present delusions. He always tries to justify them. And as Blake said, “Self-justification is the voice of hell.” In hell there is no such thing as forgiveness of sin; it’s all self-justification. A man justifies and justifies (??) justify it. He knew exactly what he did, but he doesn’t know that you know how he’s revealing himself. But he reveals himself by his attempt to justify his behavior. Q: (inaudible) A: (??) you are incorporated into the body of the one who called you, for you become what you behold. But to be sent, you must then at that moment empty yourself of the form that is yours—you are that being—and once more go into the world among men, and wear the garment of the slave, and play your part, knowing that this is the last round, and the time for your departure has come for you’ve been called. And you never return. I have heard people say, “I’m Paul come again.” Don’t believe it. “I am Jesus come again. I am this come again.” Don’t believe it. When you are called, incorporated and sent back into this world with the same identity that you had before being called, that’s the slave body that you wore before you were called; but you came into your final form which is Jesus Christ, and you wear the body of Jesus Christ who is God Almighty, infinite love. But at that moment, to be called is to be sent. And then sent is your last round on the world and your time for the departure has come. But until that moment, you must wear the garment of the slave, and proclaim the gospel and represent Christ and instruct others in the way of salvation.
Goodnight.
