Discernment 1.3

2004-5-14 05:08:00

People are divided into three categories.

(1) Those who have the mark of the beast.
(2) Those who have escaped the mark and have the "name of the Father in their foreheads."
(3) Those who are making the transition away from the outward authority of the beast to the Father (God) within. These people will sense the inward authority but not always have the courage to follow it.

Those who have the mark of the beast follow an outward authority that substitutes for God, takes the attention away from the Spirit within and places it on an idol without. This can be a righteous person, an evil person or even a work of scripture.

Paul tells us before Christ can come the man of sin must be revealed "who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." II Thess 2:4

One of the meanings of this scripture is this.

The coming of Christ here is represented by the disciple obtaining soul contact, or union with the Christ principle. In other words, one interpretation of the coming of Christ is the shifting of the attention away from the outward beast to the God within.

The man of sin is revealed when the disciple realizes that the God he has been following is not the God that speaks to him from within, but a substitute for God that barks orders and doctrine from without.

This prophet, priest or king who speaks for God and takes the place of God "opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God."

How does this outward authority take the place of God by "sitting in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God?"

The temple of God is our bodies and the representative of the beast resides in a physical body like you or me. He presents himself in this temple of God claiming to speak for God expecting you to worship him as God because "God is in his temple."

If you disagree with him you are this going against God.

When this acceptance is complete the devotee has the mark of the beast in his forehead (thinks as he is told to think) and in his right hand (acts as he is told to act) and thus this man of sin extends his reach to the temple (body) of the student obtaining complete control over it.

To become as the Gods as promised in Genesis the disciple must cast out the "man of sin" and become as one of the wise virgins and rely on the oil (spirit) that burns within so the power of Christ can be seen. This leads the disciple to become one with God and thus become as God, knowing good from evil.

Earlier in this treatise I asked what the effect would be if you discovered that a cherished belief that perhaps is the foundation of much of that which you hold dear is discovered to be not true.

For example what if you discovered that Jesus was a mythical character? This would be devastating indeed for a strong believer.

One of the reasons I asked this startling question is that such a jolt in the undoing of certain beliefs will happen when one switches attention away from the God without to the God within.

The discovery will not be that Christ is not real, but it will be other things just as startling.

Instead of Christ or God not being real the seeker will find that what is not real is where he placed his attention. The person, book or oracle who was speaking for God is that which is found to be illusion and must be put in its correct place.

God is found to be more real than ever, but just in a different place than was imagined. God is discovered to reside within the temple of the seeker's own self. Now he only listens to words of voices without that speak the same words as revealed by the "Father within the forehead" and the Mother God within the heart.

When one communes with God within he learns to discern the true good from the true evil and will indeed discover that many cherished icons are not what they were believed to be. But when this happens is any truth previously registered undone?

No. Truth is never undone and truth is never not true.

Suppose that tomorrow you discovered that I was a con man, just out to deceive you so I could relieve you of all your money. Would this mean that a truth you received by reading my words is no longer true?

Verily no.

If you read the words of the worst scoundrel on the earth and your soul verifies that a principle within the words is true then nothing can take that from you. 2+2=4 even if Hitler teaches it to you.

It is this a mistake for anyone to take the words of Alice A. Bailey or any other teacher and reject the whole thing because you come across a point or two that does not sound right. No teacher is all right or all wrong, but the guidance you receive from the God within will never lead you astray.

If you therefore read my teachings or that of another and find words that strike the cord of truth within, trust that truth for in doing so you are trusting God and are on the path to knowing good from evil.

The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting. Milan Kundera