Showing results by author "Neville Goddard" in All Categories

In the 25th chapter of the Book of Matthew, a parable is told comparing this gift to the kingdom of heaven as: "A man going on a long journey called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another, one. Then he went away. When he returned, the servants explained their use of the talents....

You will find this a very practical night, for I feel that the truth of the working of God's law should be looked upon as intensely as anything in this world. So tonight I want to show you quite clearly how God's law operates.

To say "I am going to be rich" will not make it happen; you must believe riches in by claiming within yourself: "I am rich." You must believe in the present tense, because the active, creative power that you are, is God. He is your awareness, and God alone acts and is. His name forever and ever is "I am" therefore, he can't say "I will be rich" or "I was rich" but "I am rich!"

I am quite sure you are going to find this an interesting series. Tonight it is "The Law of the Identical Harvest." In the very beginning, God established the Law of the Identical Harvest. And God said, "Let the earth put forth vegetation: Plants bearing seed and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, and it was so." (Genesis 1:24)

God's almighty power and wisdom expresses itself most characteristically in the acceptance of what the world calls weakness or foolishness. Matthew tells the story of one who - knowing himself to be the personification of God's creative power and wisdom - questions himself.

You will find tonight very practical, and yet I assure you, very, very spiritual. Christianity has to be continually redeemed from secular history, for Jesus Christ is the human imagination. As Paul tells us in his first Letter to the Corinthians: "We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed upon us by God."

The Reverend Dr. Trusler saw the Bible as secular history, and criticized Blake, saying he needed someone to elucidate his ideas. Blake responded by saying, "You ought to know that what is Grand is necessarily obscure to Weak men. That which can be made Explicit to the Idiot is not worth my care. The wisest of the ancients considered what was not too Explicit as fittest for Instruction because it rouses the faculties to act. Why is the Bible more Entertaining and Instructive than any other book?"

God does not dwell in us as something other than ourselves, for god actually became as we are, that one day we may be as he is. I tell you: you are the being who became man, the being Blake refers to as god. You, human imagination, did not begin in your mother's womb and will not end in the grave. As a pre-existing being, you emptied yourself of memory for a divine purpose. Tonight I will try to touch on that purpose.

When asked: "What is the greatest of all the commandments?" God answered: "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one." Accept this commandment! Live by it and you will be free from all secondary causes. There is only one God. He is the father of us all who is above all, through all, and in all. He is a universally diffused individuality whose name forever and ever is I Am.

While considering scripture, always bear in mind that it is a story of salvation and not secular history, that the characters - from Adam to Jesus - are states of consciousness. The first five books of the Bible are called the Torah, or the Law, with Abraham as the symbol of the beginning of civilization.

Judas is called the betrayer, but what was it that he betrayed? Judas betrayed the great secret of the messiah and where Jesus might be found. His is the most important role in the great mystery of god.

Well, my first proposition is this one. The individual state of consciousness determines the conditions and the circumstances of his life. The second proposition is that man can select the state of consciousness with which he desires to be identified; and the third follows naturally - therefore, man can be what he wants to be.

In the 11th chapter of the Book of Hebrews, faith is described as: "The assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God, so things seen are made out of that which does not appear.

"He is our peace, who will make us both one by breaking down the wall of hostility, that he may create in himself one new man in place of the two, so bringing peace." This being of peace is a person, not a doctrine or philosophy. He is a person who breaks down the wall of hostility between you who are seated here and your true identity, who is a son of God, one with his Father.

In the 64th chapter of the Book of Isaiah we read: "O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay. Thou art our potter; we are the work of thy hand." When you hear the words Lord, father, and potter, do you think of another? I certainly hope not.

In Paul's letter to the Colossians, he said: "I strive for you to have the riches of an assured understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery of Christ." Now, you may think there is no mystery to Christ and believe as any Christian believes - that Christ is Jesus, the son of God; but Paul doesn't state that. What Paul is trying to do is change your fixed ideas of the past, in order for you to have the same assured understanding and knowledge of God's mystery of Christ that he has.

You read about the flood, and you think, "Well, certainly that happened unnumbered - if it ever did happen, it happened unnumbered years ago." This morning, as is my custom, I turned on channel KFAC. That is a radio station that plays through the day and night, 24 hours a day, only lovely classical music; only a few interruptions.

"We have only to raise Imagination to the state of Vision and the thing is done." (William Blake) Just imagine it! That is all you and I are required to do. No matter what it is we desire, we have only to raise imagination to the state of vision, and the thing is done! Now, when the prophets of old used the word vision in scripture, they meant all of the senses, either individually or in combination.

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.

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.