4-14-67
(?)…from experience, probably seems strange to the world. Then they share it with others, and the other tries it out, and proves it in the testing to the point where they really then live by it. There is nothing more thrilling than that. Then, if you experience something beyond that, they will trust you and you can take them into something entirely different if you experience something beyond what you’ve told them. So, you say to the world “Imagining creates reality” in every sense of the word. Not only for tomorrow but I will go back in time and change the past, revise it in my Imagination, and see if it works. And if you tell this story to the world and someone believes you to the point of trying it, that’s their belief, and then it proves itself in performance, then you have someone that will go with you into something far, far greater, something far deeper.
Well, this past week, a lady wrote me a letter and she said, “I began to hear you last September. Soon after I heard you I went to my oculist, my eye doctor. He examined me closely and he said, ‘You have cataracts on both eyes.’ I didn’t like his decision, his opinion, so I went to another doctor. The other doctor confirmed the diagnosis of the first doctor. It was then I began to really apply what you teach. When I heard the first one, I didn’t do it, but then I began to apply it. I began to imagine myself looking at a chart, and I read it all the way down, from the top to the bottom, and I saw every word distinctly, every letter distinctly.
“Soon after that, I found myself in a store at a binocular counter, and there was a similar chart and I read it all the way down as I imagined. I said to myself, that isn’t right…I am too near to it. That’s not quite playing the game. Then I began to add to this visual picture the audio picture, and I imagined some man was saying to me, ‘Your eyes are fine, they’re perfect. That’s right, they’re fine, they’re perfect.’ I kept doing this day after day after day. Four weeks later, I had to go for a renewal of my driver’s license. The inspector flashed a light on a chart and said, ‘Take off your glasses and read the chart.’ I read it perfectly, the first three lines. He said to me, ‘Your eyes are fine, they’re perfect.’ Naturally, I got my license, but I knew the third line that I read was fuzzy and the fourth one, which I did not read, was fuzzier still. So, I wasn’t satisfied, although he said to me exactly what I had heard. I heard a man say to me, ‘Your eyes are fine, they’re perfect’ and I got my license. But I wasn’t satisfied. So I kept on revising and revising in my mind’s eye, bringing this whole thing down to a perfect state.
“Then, two months later, my glasses seemed a little strange to me and I said to a friend of mine, my glasses…I think I need some correction. She said, ‘Why do you not go to my doctor?’ So I went to her doctor, this oculist. He flashed these lights into my eyes, examined them thoroughly, did everything that the others did. He said, ‘You know—called me by name— you do not have any cataracts.’ Then he said to me, ‘Neither do you have any astigmatism, but you do have in the right eye a little aging process. But it’s my guess, only my guess, that your eyes will be as good as they are today for the next ten years.’ Then he said to me, ‘Do you know that your present glasses that you’re wearing have a correction for astigmatism and you do not have any astigmatism?’” Then she came out, naturally, with a new prescription for glasses.
Now, following this…here is a lady who heard what you have heard, night after night, as you’ve been here, that imagining creates reality. Following this, to prove that she really had it in the depths of her soul, she had this dream. She said, “I am on the highway, the freeway, but I seemed to be an invisible observer. There are three cars across the freeway as though there were an accident. The cars aren’t damaged, but it seemed as though there must have been an accident. Then a car comes hurtling down the freeway and smashes into the car and sends the three cars in different directions. As I saw it in my mind’s eye, the invisible observer, I sent this car way back where it was before. I took the three cars and put them back just where they were. I allowed that car to come hurtling down the freeway and put on his brakes and then go around the cars and continue without accident. And that’s exactly what happened when I did it. He came hurtling down, put on his brakes, and went around the cars and went on his way. And then I woke.”
That’s what I mean by really believing what I am talking about—when in dream where you seem not to have control, you have control. When in a dream you react as you would here as she did here. Went to the doctor, he said what he did, alright, she went to another doctor, he confirmed the first diagnosis. Then came these events, while she began to apply this principle. Then after the inspector said, “Your eyes are perfect,” having read it, she wasn’t satisfied; he said they were perfect, she wasn’t satisfied. She continued the act of bringing out the perfect point where you could see everything perfectly. Then came the final judgment, “You have no cataracts, no astigmatism, and yet, the glasses you are wearing have been corrected for it.” Then she comes out with this, “And your eyes,” by the doctor’s guess, “will be as good as they are today for the next ten years.”
Now, if you believe that to the point of really trying it, really applying it, really making it come out in this world, then you can believe what I will tell you. “For, said he, if I tell you earthly things and you do not believe me, how could you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (John3:12). How can you believe when I tell you of heavenly things? What heavenly things? Well, tonight, I will tell you who Jesus Christ really is. “I have come to fulfill scripture,” as we read it in the 22nd chapter of the Book of Luke, “Scripture must be fulfilled in me” (Luke 22:37). Then we are told in the 24th chapter, that “Beginning with Moses and the law and the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning him” (Luke 24:27). For, said he, “Everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled” (verse 44).
So he only comes to fulfill scripture, that’s all that he does. So Jesus Christ is the one in whom scripture is fulfilled. There is no other Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the power and the wisdom of God buried in man. God proclaimed a plan as stated in scripture, then when it unfolds in man the one in whom it unfolds is Jesus Christ. There is no description, no personal description of Jesus Christ in scripture. Why? Because it’s going to happen in you.
Are you described in scripture? It’s going to happen in everyone in this world. Are you described in scripture? No. That is why it is not described. Christ is not described in scripture, yet there are those who will say he looks like this, looks like that, and paint pictures of him, in violation of the Second Commandment, “Make no graven image unto me” (Deut. 5:8) Here is God buried in man, who will fulfill all that he foretold in man, raising man to the heights of himself. So God becomes man that man may become God.
Now, let me share with you a vision. We are told in the 107th Psalm—and the 107th Psalm has a few verses, but I will take just the one verse, the 23rd; the 28th has it too, but take the 23rd verse: “Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters.” Now this verse, “Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters” is bracketed with the letter Nun. Well, Nun in Hebrew is N, the symbol is a fish, Nun is a fish. And it is bracketed, as I would bracket something, but it’s inverted. Because if I would bracket Nun, Nun goes this way, if I can follow my hand, but if I invert it, I would go this way, just like I bracket something. When something is bracketed in the manuscripts of the Hebrew, it means transpose it. Transpose the sentence, transpose that thought. So it is, “Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters”: On the great waters, some went down into the sea. Yes, on the great waters doing business, some went down into the sea. Now the verse that follows that is this, “They saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works in the deep. The Lord commanded the stormy wind to raise up and it lifted up the waves and lifted up the waves to heaven, and then they fell down into the depths; their souls melted because of the plight.”
Now, “I have come to fulfill scripture”… everyone has come to fulfill scripture. How do I fulfill this? May I tell you? I was twenty-three years old; I was living in New York City; and I made my decision that whether I starved to death or not I would not return to the comforts of my father’s home in Barbados where all the comforts were provided. He had businesses, all the cushions that one could have, and all the invitations, and the inducements, I would not go back. I had to find out the cause of the phenomena of life. I had to. And whether I died in the effort or not, I would not return to the comforts of my father’s home…and it certainly was a comfortable home. Every inducement was made, but I would not go back.
This night I had this experience. I was a young man, about the same age, say twenty-two, twenty-three, the captain of a ship. It was a merchant ship; it wasn’t a pleasure ship, it was bearing cargo, business, an enormous ship. I was in the way back aft, in the stern, at the wheel steering the ship, and the most horrible storm imaginable came up. The waves went up, truly, as though they touched the sky and the ship went down just like it would not come back. But it came back, bringing with it the waves, and they kept on coming. I knew this thing is going to go down, I knew it would go down. I couldn’t save the ship. I strapped myself to the wheel. I took straps and I strapped myself to the wheel that I would go down with my ship. I recall it vividly. I strapped myself to that wheel that I was using to steer the ship, and, true enough, as I strapped myself to make a quick end to this, down I went. And then I woke on my bed.
Here is scripture unfolding in the soul of man when it makes the decision. Some, not all, some went down with the ship into the depths, when the decision is to find out causation, and not be satisfied with phenomena in this world. So we are told, “Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters.” While doing business; my ship was a cargo ship. And here, I am paying rent, buying food, taking care of the normal obligations to life, so I am doing business. And while doing business on the great waters…well, these are the waters…I went down with my ship.
Now, the 27th chapter of the Book of Acts gives you the story of this journey. It’s the story of Paul. Paul set sail on a ship and a storm arose, everything comes up. They are days and days at sea and all are frightened. Then Paul tells them, “The angel of the Lord has just appeared and I know from what the angel of the Lord has said to me that no life will be lost, only the ship.” No life will be lost. Not a hair on the head of anyone will be lost, just the ship. Well, what is the ship? Well, take your concordance and look it up. The word ship in both Hebrew and in Greek means “to groan, to mourn, to lament” through the idea of being contracted into this anguish, into this horrible state. To mourn, to actually, to be, well, to despair, to (??) because of the contraction into this state.
Now the first presentation of a ship is an ark, in the Bible. The word ark means “coffin.” In Hebrew, the word ark is coffin. Well here, man is the ark of God; all things are contained within man. “All that I behold, though it appears without, it is within, in my Imagination, of which this world of mortality is but a shadow” (Blake, Jer., Plt.71). So here, I am the ark, I am the coffin, in which God entered. God entered this coffin and here in this coffin I will one day awaken, when I fulfill scripture. Do I have the courage to die, rather than return to comfort, to find out the source of the phenomena of life, the cause behind this whole vast thing that is happening in my world? I tell you the truth. That was my experience when I was a boy in New York City, not knowing where the next meal was coming from. I didn’t know where it would come from…many a day without food… I would not return to the comfort.
Then came this wonderful experience. I’m on a ship. I am the captain, a young captain, and I am sailing this merchant ship. And then the storm…I can’t tell you the storm. I’ve gone through storms, actually, in this world, both on sailing ships and on steam ships, across the Atlantic and across the Caribbean. Be-stilled…I mean I was simply off Martinique, for seven days the ship didn’t move, becalmed, because there was no wind to take our sailing ship. They all gave up hope that I would ever come home. I was only eleven years old. We threw the cattle over that we brought from the Virgin Islands. We went down to the Virgin Islands to get cattle, because it was the War in 1916, and there was no meat, so we went down to get cattle. And coming back we were becalmed across this fantastic volcano Mont Pelee in Martinique. They couldn’t see us. We were beyond the horizon as far as they were concerned. We were becalmed. We could see them, the island, but they couldn’t see us. There we were remaining, still, not moving, and the cattle dying…threw the cattle over. And the awful odor from the bilge that came from that ship! Seven days later we came into Barbados. Because, in those days they were shooting all the little ships in the West Indies, for we were at war, this is 1916. But we were not shot; we were simply becalmed.
Then I’ve gone through similar things on ships, both sailing ships where the waves were mountainous, where we came in from Europe in 1925 and the ship at an angle of forty degrees. A little bit more and it would have gone over. Everything, all the ballast and all the cargo, shifted and for forty-eight hours we came in like this. You could put your tie up and the tie would hang at this angle. Everything went at that angle. So I know what it is to have these things in the actual world. But this experience in the mystical world was the most fantastic. The waves really reached heaven it seemed to me, and then they went down into the depths. I strapped myself and dived with it, to make this a quick departure from this world. But in that departure I saw the deeds of the Lord. Then I saw the wondrous works of the depth. It took time for them to unfold but that decision was made. Having been made, then some went down into the sea in ships.
So here, I tell you all these stories of scripture are true, everything is true. And it comes to man and you make a decision. Suddenly you make a decision that you will live by this or die. So you either live by imagining or simply die. So if you want to pay rent, you want to do this, and you will imagine that you have exactly what you want in this world and live by it. “I have come to fulfill scripture. Scripture must be fulfilled in me.” And here is the story of Christ. Christ is only the man in whom scripture is fulfilled.
Do you know that all things in this world, but everything, minerals, the animals, the trees, the plants, everything, carries within itself symbolic significance. But everything in this world does. All these things are used by the deep of one’s own being to simply unfold it, to explain where you are in the unfolding of the dream, this wonderful story of God. So I tell you the only Christ that there really is is buried in man. You are the ark, you are the coffin. And God became man that man may become God. In that ark, all things are contained, there’s nothing left out of the ark. Everything you can conceive of is put into the ark and the ark is a coffin and the coffin is man. Man’s skull is Golgotha; that is the tomb where God is buried. While buried there, he will fulfill scripture. He’s in this fabulous world and these things happen, and he hears it and sees it. And these peculiar decisions are made in him. You either believe it or you don’t.
So when my friend writes me this story…and may I tell you I do not know this lady. She signs her name. I will not use it. Maybe she doesn’t want it used. But here, she gives me her name and tells me she started last September to the point of belief to bring about a complete revision and change in the organ of the eye. Then comes into a dream, where in her dream she so believes it she revises the accident. Sends the car back, brings the car forward, puts on the brakes, and makes the car go around. And it happened exactly as she had imagined it. So I tell you imagine exactly what you want in this world. If you give up, alright, give up. But I tell you don’t give up. Die first. Be willing to die rather than give up, and then you will experience the 107th Psalm. For Christ must experience scripture. Do you want Christ to awaken in you? Well then, don’t give up. If you don’t give up, he will awaken you, and every passage of scripture you will experience. And you will know who you are. The only Jesus Christ is buried in man and Christ is Jehovah. There is no other God. There’s only one God: Jehovah and Jesus are the same. Jehovah means salvation; Jesus means salvation. I am saved from this state into which I deliberately entered. I entered this deliberately, purposely.
Now, listen to these words, the 3rd chapter of John, “If I tell you earthly things and you do not believe it, how will you believe it if I tell you heavenly things?” Now he makes this statement, “No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven.” And now here seems the most irrelevant statement following that one, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up” (John 3:14). How do you relate them? Well here, he follows it right on the heels that “No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man.” Now he makes the statement, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up.”
When you go down into the depth, you see the creative power of God. As my friend saw it just about a month ago, say, two months ago, where the heavens seemingly came down in a shaft of light and the earth was opened up, and in the depths he saw the serpentine power of golden liquid light moving in the heavens. And then, the voice said to him, standing next to him, “They’ve decided to put an end to it. But they’ve started from the center and it will take a little while to reach the surface.” That’s the power, the serpentine power. So, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man…when he comes up, he comes up, that Son of man, in the same manner. That Son of man is your own creative power; it is God. For Christ is defined in scripture as “the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1Cor.1:24).
There’s only God in this world, bringing forth himself by limiting himself. “No man takes my life…I lay it down myself, that I may lift it up again” (John 10:18). But no one has taken my life. No. All this nonsense about some race of people took my life? No. Christ is simply the fulfillment of scripture. And someone took my life? No. I made the decision to go down. I made the decision and no one forced me to go down into the depth of my being and die, seemingly, to the world. And yet, because I cannot die I am a mortal again now. But I discover the being that I am.
So when he had this wonderful vision…and then his wife, this past two weeks, with a vision that we told you last…and some of you were not present, so let me repeat hers. On the night of the 24th of March, and the voice speaks to her, “You are David, my dear, and I want to love you with all my heart. I am God. I am. I am. I am. And I am you.” These are the words that she heard. As we told you the last lecture night, the 89th Psalm tells you the entire thing that she heard. David is called “his chosen one.” He is called “the servant of the Lord.” He is called “the anointed of the Lord” and “the first born.” All these are said of Jesus Christ. Now she is David and yet she is God the Father…so the Father and the Son are one. Get the mystery? “You are David, I am God, and I am you,” that’s what the voice said to her.
Then comes, in the 89th Psalm, a complete collapse of all the prophecy— nothing but dust, nothing but despair. But in the end, the Psalmist is still saying “Blessed be the Lord forever.” He does not give up, even though everything has fallen into dust, because, in the end, you will have the courage of David. For David is spoken of in the 16th of 1st Samuel as a man of valor, a courageous being, a man of war, a man of great presence, a man prudent in speech. And so, that will still rise in you. And so, the courage to go down into the depths will still be in you. That man of war will still be in you. And when he rises, who is David? Everything said of Christ is said of David. And David is called in scripture God’s only begotten Son: “Th ou art my son, today I have begotten thee” (Ps. 2:7).
So you know who Jesus Christ really is. Jesus Christ is nothing more than the power and wisdom of God. But the power and the wisdom of God is one with God, so, in the end, there’s only God. He sends his power down into the depths, lets it die, and then he can raise it up again. When it comes back, it comes back to its Father. “I came out from the Father and I came into the world; again, I’m leaving the world and I’m returning to the Father” (John 16:28). You can’t go any other place. So I come out from myself, the Father, I come into the world; and then I leave the world, when I have played the part fully, and I return to myself, the Father. So there’s only Jehovah… there is nothing but the Lord God Jehovah in the world.
So I tell you every story told in scripture is true. You’ll play it fully. But the decision is yours, are you willing to really believe what is told of earth? I will tell you the things of earth and if you believe it, well then, you’ll believe the things of heaven. If you will not believe the things of earth, how could you believe the things of heaven? And so, what did he say concerning the things of earth? “Whatever you desire, believe that you received it and you will.” That’s the thing of earth…an assumption, though false, will harden into fact if the one who assumes it believes it; for an assumption is an act of faith and without faith it is impossible to please him. So I will assume that things are as I would like them to be.
So, if I dare to assume that things are as I would like them to be, they will harden into fact. Am I willing to really go all out and believe him? If you believe that much, well then, you’ll come with me…we’ll go into greater and greater depths, into things beyond the wildest dream of man. Hasn’t a thing to do with anything in this world. No personality, no John, no Mary, no this, no that. Forget all the personalities of the world, all the kings and the queens, all these things…completely forget them. I’m speaking only of principle. I’m speaking of the power of God and God is your own wonderful human Imagination, that’s God. There’s nothing but God and his power is your own wonderful act, imaginal act. Can you actually believe it? Can you act in Imagination and believe in the reality of what you’ve done, and just wait confidently, knowing that every imaginal act has its own appointed hour, that it ripens and it will flower? And if it seems long in the coming, well then, wait, for it is sure and it will not be late (Hab.2:3). It won’t be late, if you remain faithful to the imaginal act. Well, if you do, and you prove it on this level, well then, you’ll know it when I take you into deeper and deeper and deeper levels of being.
For I tell you, my drama is over, it’s completely over. All these things that I’m talking about I have experienced. I’ve experienced scripture in its fullness. I share it with you, but I do not have anything of scripture to really experience. And, Jesus Christ in scripture is told only of the one in whom scripture is fulfilled. So Jesus Christ is simply the all-inclusive symbol of scripture, as told us in 1st chapter of 2nd Corinthians, “All the promises of God find their Yes in him”, their affirmation, their fulfillment (2Cor.1:20). All the promises…and they find their “Yes” in him. When they are completely fulfilled in him, then the drama is over relative to that aspect of God’s power. And that power returns, individualized, into the one being that is God. There’s nothing but God. There’s only the Lord God Jehovah.
Everyone is going to come back. We’re put through the paces—this courage, that courage, that challenge, that challenge, until finally you are willing to make the decision I’ll die rather…and not, at least, make the effort to prove this principle. And so, every inducement is made to man to leave it. Don’t do it, come back. Take a little cushion. Get a little security. Join this, join that, join that…and this will comfort you against the inevitable blows of life. You just simply say, “Get behind me.” Then you simply go out and you will die of starvation rather than take the comfort that is offered. Then comes the vision, the 107th Psalm. Those who do business on the great waters went down into the sea in their ships; but when they went down they saw the deeds of the Lord and the wondrous works of the deep. For he called on the stormy wind and raised up the wind and raised up the sea, the wave, to the very top.
Well now, this reminds me of when I was a child. I must have been just about reaching the age…but I don’t believe it could have been the age of puberty…I wasn’t that old. Certainly I was not eleven when it began to happen, I was simply, well, a little boy. But it happened for quite a few years, every month, month after month. And I knew when it was coming. All through the day I could tell from my emotion, my feelings, it’s going to happen tonight, and it scared me to death. For then I became the ocean that night…not only the ocean, I also became the wave. As the ocean, I tossed myself, the wave, and as the wave I was frightened to death; then I came down upon myself, the ocean, embraced in his loving arms. As the ocean, perfect. As the wave, scared to death.
And I could tell when it was going to come by the emotion that was building up in me all through the day. I would sit up in this dormitory. Because I am one of nine brothers and a sister, the only one who had her own bedroom was my sister. We had a dormitory and we would sleep three and four in a bed in this large room. I would sit up, because I didn’t want to go to bed. I knew exactly what was going to happen…but it always happened. From shear exhaustion I would fall asleep and then I became, as I fell asleep, I became the ocean. And as the ocean I would toss myself, the wave, a way up into the skies, and then catch myself coming down. I was scared to death. But as I caught myself, I was the being who caught myself. I was both the ocean and the wave. But I couldn’t quite understand it. I had it month after month for several years. But I couldn’t understand this peculiar something that happened every month. Then as one matured in this world, one realized there’s only God. Only the depth, only your own wonderful being that is God.
So I ask you to believe me when I tell you of the external things. Believe me when I tell you that imagining does create reality…even to revision… for revision will result in repeal if you do it. If you try it, then you’ll believe me when I take you into something that is completely fantastic, out of this world. You’ll believe that, because if you prove it on this level, well then, you’ll believe me to the point of, well, acceptance. Then that will prove itself in you because I can’t prove it for you. I can take something on this level and have you believe it and prove it to your own satisfaction. When I take you beyond this level, then I have to leave you completely alone until it happens in you. And I tell you, all that is said in scripture concerning Jesus Christ will happen in you, but everything. Because Jesus Christ is only the fulfillment of scripture…and when you fulfill scripture, you will know who Jesus Christ is.
So don’t make any graven image unto yourself, called Jesus Christ. So, there’s no description of him in scripture, none whatsoever. So when they tell you he looks like this, he looks like that, forget it. There is no description of him in scripture, for the simple reason he is only the all-inclusive symbol of the fulfillment of scripture. Everything is a symbol, but he is the all inclusive— he contains all within himself. You are the ark containing the whole of life. You are the coffin in which God himself is buried; for God became man that man may become God.
Now tonight, you take it on this level and try it, just as this lady with her eyes. Maybe in your case it’s finances, maybe it is something else. I don’t know what it is, but whatever it is be willing to die in the attempt to prove it. And may I tell you, you won’t have to die. You’ll prove it if you go all out and live by imagining. And then, the day will come because you were bold enough to do it that all these things unfold in you. Because, I have no memory image of ever having had the physical experience of going down with my ship. Oh, you read of captains going down with their ship and that’s all part of the symbolism. A captain must remain after all are gone and he goes down with his ship. But may I tell you when you are on this ship you are the captain, you are not anyone else. You are the captain of the ship, regardless of your age. I was a young captain. I was not more than twenty three, and yet I strapped myself to that ship, I went down with it. And then you’re told, he saw the deeds of the Lord…all the wondrous works of the depth he saw. Then you come back. You don’t remember them, but all of a sudden they unfold in you. The whole thing unfolds in you because you had the courage to go down into the depth with your ship, and you’re doing it while you are doing business on the great waters.
Now let us go into the Silence.
* * *
Q: (inaudible)
A: (??) Saul. Well, first of all, Saul was the choice of man, not of God. He was the first king of Israel, not chosen by God but chosen by man. David was the first king of Israel chosen by the Lord. So he rejected Saul, man’s choice, and took David. David is something entirely different, it’s invisible; the sum total of all the generations of men and their experiences personified is David. In scripture you’re told Israel wanted a king, like other nations, and he warned them what would be the result of such a king. Well, if one would only take that story in Samuel and read it. There isn’t a kingdom in this world or a dictator in this world that does not fit that story that goes back hundreds and hundreds of years. I warned you what he’s going to do to you. So you think you want a great leader? Alright, you take a leader and this is what’s going to happen to you. First of all, he’s going to enslave you, enslave your sons, take your sons for the army, take your daughters, take your servants, take your money, and when he takes everything then he’s going to take you. And in that day you’ll cry out to be saved from a king of your own choosing; but in that day, I will have no ears to hear you.
Well, isn’t that the picture of every dictator in the world? “We want this one, he is our savior.” And they cry out for a Hitler, for a Mussolini, for a Castro, for a this, for a Stalin… “He is our savior.” Then he takes them, enslaves them, takes all their wealth from them, and then they cry out to be saved from what they, themselves, chose…and he has no ears to hear them. Read it in the Book of Samuel (1Sam.8:10). He rejects that sort of leadership in this world, and chooses an entirely different…he chooses courage in man standing on your own feet. And when you stand on your own feet, you will bring forth the king of kings, David, as your own son. You bring him forth. He is simply a man of valor—everyone who stands on his own feet, rather than worship anything in this world. What man in this world should anyone look up to as important beyond himself? Can you name any person in this world? You go to the Queen of England, this little silly thing, and you bow before what? You go to the so-called one…well, Khrushchev came over here, he was a big shot. Now the poor little thing walks around the street like any other person and he has to cast his vote just as they, (??) now dictate. Before, he came here he strutted all over the place…he was the important person. Now they’re trying to make some great King Arthur out of the late Kennedy. Of all the nonsense in the world!
Don’t bow before anyone in this world. There is no one but God, and God is housed in you. You are the house of God: “Ye are the temple of the living God,” as told us in Corinthians. “Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1Cor. 3:16). Then who are you going to bow to? Is there anyone in this world? Yes, I recognize him for his ability and treat him as a friend, but to bow before him and become someone prostrated before him? Nonsense! There is no one in this world that you should ever bow before, because God is in you. God bends down and bows before another…and all this silly nonsense all over the world? Forget it! When you walk, you walk in the consciousness of being the Lord God Jehovah. His name is I AM. Don’t you say “I am” before you say anything else in this world? Well, that’s God. So there is no one.
So Saul is man’s choice, rejected by the Lord, and he takes David. Read the story carefully, “I reject him.” And then he does everything that you do. But everything that man could ever do David did. That’s the courage of David. He sent Uriah into battle to get him killed so he could get Bathsheba. That’s what man does. Once he had a thousand women of his own, but he still wanted the heifer of the other one. Then Nathan said to him, “You had all these, and one only had one heifer, and yet, this one took the heifer of the one who only had one, what would you do to him?” And he passed judgment on himself. He didn’t realize he was judging himself. He danced before the ark of the Lord. Made himself a buffoon before people and Saul’s daughter criticized him for playing the ass before the common people. But he was one of the common people…that’s David.
This is this peculiar marvelous picture that is presented to the world, that you actually play your part fully. If it comes upon you tonight to play the buffoon, play the buffoon. Would you play it for some little gallery? Now, forget it. Putting on all the grand airs for what? They all turn to dust but the thing in you. Listen to the story. No one will be lost that is alive in the ship, that 27th chapter of Acts. No man will be lost, no living soldier lost; the ship will be lost (Act.27:22). Well, this is the ship. Certainly it will be lost. Tomorrow you will see it gone, all cremated and scattered into dust, but the occupant will not be gone. And he contains all. He is the true being that contains everything in the world.
So Saul means “ask for”; Paul means “desist.” So he changed his name from Saul to Paul in the New Testament. So the people were asking for a king, so they got what they wanted. But he warned them what would happen if they insisted on such a king, and it happened: they were all enslaved. Don’t let any leader in our world so build himself in your mind’s eye you think that he is the important one and without him everything comes to an end. Forget it. If you do it, he’ll fatten himself at your expense. He will come out with his millions and you’ll be left with less than you had before. It happens all over the world.
Well, time is up. We have four left. We have Monday and Friday next week, and then the following week, closing on the 28th. So we have four lectures left. Then we’ll be back in September. If you are on our mailing list, you’ll get a notice. If you are not and you’d like to be notified when we return, may we have your name and address? And then may I also draw your attention to the fact that we do have my books that were out of print, they are back in print plus a new one, and that is called Resurrection. May I tell you, I do not know of any book—I hope there is another but I do not know of it—that has told the story of resurrection as I have told it in this book. Thank you.
