Showing results by author "Neville Goddard" in All Categories

According to a rabbinical principle, what is not written in the Old Testament does not exist. The life of Jesus follows this principle. He made no attempt to change the world of Caesar or its social order, but left it just as it is, for man to make mistakes and live as he desires. Urging man to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's, Jesus comes into our lives for one purpose and that is to fulfill scripture. I want to show you how this is done in 1,260 days.

Tonight's title is the Family Portrait. Thirty-odd years ago, a play appeared on Broadway called The Family Portrait. It was a study of Jesus and starred Margaret Webster and Judith Anderson. They played the parts of Mary Magdalene and Mary the Mother. The central figure - Jesus - never appeared on the stage, just as it should be. The brothers appeared, bringing the news of what he had said and the reactions of the crowd and the concern of the two Marys.

I am going to ask a question which you can silently answer yourself. Have you lived this life of yours in such a way that you desire to live it again? Well, if you haven't, you'd better listen very carefully to what I will say this morning, if you have not already started, for may I tell you the next life is this life. When the eye is opened, you will see it, that man, unless he awakes and changes the tracks of this life, he walks them forever. So if you have not lived this life in such a way that you really desire to live it again, you start now to interfere with these tracks and laying new tracks.

To think of the Bible's events as historical, and the characters recorded there as persons such as you and I, is to see truth tempered to the weakness of the human form, unable to stand the strong light of revelation. But I tell you: It is in us, as persons, that the nature of God is revealed.

When our great scientist, Dr. Robert Millikan, was young and very poor, he set a goal for himself. Condensing his dream of greatness and security into a simple statement, he silently repeated the thought over and over again. This he did until the feelings of greatness and security crowded all other thoughts out of his consciousness. These are his words: "I have a lavish, steady, dependable income, consistent with integrity and mutual benefit."

During Good Friday, undoubtedly millions attend services and hear some portion of the last seven words of Christ; but I wonder how many of them know who he is and what the words really mean. I tell you: Jesus Christ is your awareness, your I Amness, who became as you are that you may be as he is. I want you to accept this literally, for it is true.

Those who experience the Christian mystery are charged with the responsibility of telling others. Their aim is the awakening of faith in God. For, as Paul, I ask the questions, "How can men call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how can they hear unless there is a preacher? And how can men preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news!'"

The book of Genesis is made up of three records called the J, P, and E manuscripts. Here, I will refer to the E manuscript, which begins with the 15th chapter of Genesis: "As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep and great darkness fell upon him. Then the Lord said to Abram, 'Know for a surety that your descendants will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs. They will be slaves there and they will be oppressed for four hundred years. After that they will come out with great possessions.' Abraham believed and it was accounted unto him for righteousness."

Jesus Christ is the true identity of everyone! His name, forever and ever, is I am. Therefore, when you say "I am", you are declaring your true identity. Do you believe that all things are possible to someone called Jesus Christ but not yourself? If you do it is because you do not know who you are!

God is the great artist, and there is no artistry so lovely as that which perfects itself in the making of its image. God has but one consuming objective, and that is to make you into his image, that you may reflect and radiate his glory. On this level, however, God exists as the human imagination, for the human imagination is the divine body called the Lord Jesus.

In the ninth chapter of the book of Mark, it is said, "All things are possible to him who believes", and in the 19th chapter of the book of Matthew we are told, "With God all things are possible". Here we see God equated with the believer. You believe you are a man or a woman. You believe you are here, but are you willing to believe you can go beyond what your reason and senses dictate? You do not have to limit your power of belief to what your reasonable mind dictates.

Concerning the law, I can only acquaint you with the law and leave you to your choice and its risk, but we have scripture for it - to tell it, regardless of what they do with the law. In the 18th chapter of the book of Matthew, you see these words: "If any two of you agree on Earth about any request that you must make, that request will be granted by my heavenly Father" (Matthew 18:19).

God's promise is true; he who promised it is faithful, and is being fulfilled in every being in this world and the unnumbered beings to come. The first statement of it, you find in Genesis 17. We are told on the surface that Abraham was 99 and he was promised an heir, a son. If you are familiar with the story, he had a son who was described as a "wild ass" in the 16th chapter. That one was born of a servant of the household of Abraham, born of Hagar, born of a slave; and the Lord said unto her: "You will have a son and his name will be Ishmael ("God hears").

We must go on to higher and higher levels, for that is the purpose of the teacher. I would like to look tonight into what it is to my mind, the greatest book in the world, the Bible, and show you a section with which you may not be familiar. It concerns the Seven Eyes of God, from the visions of Zechariah. He saw a stone with seven facets, and the Voice said that this is actually the seven eyes of God that reach over the entire world. For these seven eyes are really in man, for man is the earth of God.

In biblical language, a man's name reveals his character. His name is an expression of this essential nature of the bearer. As I have said in the past, these characters are not persons; they are eternal states, spiritual states, through which the immortal soul passes to awaken as God. To understand this subject, let us go back just for a moment. As you know, I have told you the Bible is God's plan, something to be understood only through revelation.

The evangelists of scripture, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are anonymous names of men who wrote salvation history. They introduced characters who never walked this Earth, but whose names are significant. In the book of John, we find the story of Nicodemus. Now, Nicodemus is not mentioned in any other part of the Bible, or in any historical records of the time; so we see Nicodemus was not introduced for some historical purpose. The word means "conqueror of the people; all victorious".

Sit quietly and ask yourself who you are, where you are, and what you are. Your answers will reveal your state of consciousness: your body of belief. Paul said, "We do not look to the outer things, but to the things unseen, for the outer things are transient, but the unseen things are eternal." Your beliefs, seen by the mystic, are personified. They form a state, which completely controls your behavior. Any modification within your body of belief will result in a change in your outer world.

Tonight you may find yourself in a terrestrial world like this one, and you feel just as real to yourself as you do here. And when you return with its memory, you may think it was a dream, but it was a vision. You are dreaming right now, for this world is the dream you and I agreed to complete. Its end will appear when we turn around through a series of visions.

I trust that you will find tonight's message a very practical one, because today there are so many reading the paper and believing what they see and what they hear on radio and TV about the depression and the recession and this, that, and the other. Now tonight, let me tell you who you are.

This series is really a combination of both the law and the promise. Tonight, naturally, will be the law, and yet some parts of the promise may be woven into it. The title, as you know, is Imagination Plus Faith. So, we will have to define the words as we use them.