Chapter 6
THE WORLD
CALLS TO COURAGE
Charles Fillmore
Keep a
True Lent
OVER NINETEEN hundred
years ago a man taught a religion that
changed the whole trend of thought of
people. His teachings were called "the
Way."
In the beginning He had
few followers. He was, like Socrates,
accused of treason and killed. His
enemies took for granted that after His
death His doctrine would utterly
disappear, as had many doctrines before
His time. However, they lacked
spiritual discernment, for the
teachings of the man Jesus of Nazareth
possessed an element that the people
vitally needed and they soon sprang up
in regions far beyond the little land
where they were promulgated; they
spread to many lands and have been
spreading ever since.
It was the Word of God
that Jesus was teaching; the Word of
God is the creative agent, and
spiritual man is its supreme creation.
Moreover, the man Jesus stands far out
in front, as evidenced by His
teachings. He is the divine man of this
race. We should impress this on our
consciousness. We should study His
teachings. We should understand and
follow them.
Jesus taught that the
world belongs to man and that man is
responsible for it. The human family is
responsible for the poverty or the
prosperity of the world. By our mental
beholding and working we determine
whether we shall have or have
not.
In the days when the
Israelites were held in captivity by
the Babylonians, a few of the
companions of the prophet Nehemiah were
allowed to return with him to Jerusalem
and to rebuild the wall. They engaged
those remaining in the city to help;
the Bible says "the people had a mind
to work."
Our prosperity is the
result of work--not physical work
alone, but first mental and spiritual
work. There is an everlasting marching
on in every industry and science. We
are never content with the present
methods but are constantly seeking
better ones; we are not content with
our schools but are always finding
easier ways to gain knowledge for
ourselves and our children. Our nation
is, therefore, progressing.
We find that
Christianity is surprisingly
progressive, too. Our religion is
constantly unfolding new possibilities,
new powers, and new beauties; we are on
the way to a great outpouring of
spiritual development. We have not
realized what a wonderful religion we
have. It is filled with possibilities,
and these possibilities are made known
to us in mind and spirit.
But we need more courage
to develop these possibilities. We need
more initiative. We need more awareness
of this divine power in us and when we
awaken to the spiritual man, which
every one of us has within us, we shall
see that through spiritual unfoldment
all good things are possible of
accomplishment, as Jesus
promised.
All things are possible
to us, only we must believe. Believe
what? We must believe in ourselves, in
this innate spiritual man in us and we
must encourage him. Encourage him with
what? With sound words, with
affirmations of almightiness; then we
shall have the key to the overcoming
world.
Our most important study
is our own mind, not only the
intellectual mind but the spiritual
mind. "Know thyself" was inscribed on
the temple of Apollo at Delphi; and it
must be inscribed on our own temple,
"over" the door of our mind. "Know
thyself." We must become acquainted
with our own mind.
Now that it is being
universally taught that with every
thought our brain sends vibrations into
the surrounding atmosphere, every
progressive metaphysician is admitting
that with this invisible thought stuff
we are constantly making structures for
ourselves and the world about us. The
scientific world is also beginning to
recognize the fact that man has within
himself the capacity to re-form the
world about him.
Modern metaphysicians
have discovered that with every thought
we think there is a movement of active
forces--not only a movement of those
forces, but a movement of everything
connected with our consciousness, our
body, our world.
Every time we speak we
cause the atoms and cells of our body
to tremble and go through certain
changes. Not only do we cause the cells
and atoms of our body to form new
adjustments, but we even affect the
cells of the bodies of those with whom
we associate.
We are told that "the
desert shall . . . blossom as the rose"
and that we shall have a millennium
here on earth; that things will be
changed "in the twinkling of an eye."
This is a Biblical view. We find that
changes come gradually, and they come
through work.
We find in the Old
Testament the poems and prophecies of
Isaiah. He tells in the language of the
Orient some of the signs of the
millennium--and they have been shown by
modern science!
The wilderness and the
dry land shall be glad; and the desert
shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
It shall blossom abundantly, and
rejoice even with joy and singing; the
glory of Lebanon shall be given unto
it, the excellency of Carmel and
Sharon: they shall see the glory of
Jehovah, the excellency of our
God.
Strengthen ye the weak
hands, and confirm the feeble knees.
Say to them that are of a fearful
heart, Be strong, fear not: behold,
your God will come with vengeance, with
the recompense of God; he will come and
save you.
Then the eyes of the
blind shall be opened, and the ears of
the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall
the lame man leap as a hart, and the
tongue of the dumb shall sing; for in
the wilderness shall waters break out,
and streams in the desert. And the
glowing sand shall become a pool, and
the thirsty ground springs of water: in
the habitation of jackals, where they
lay, shall be grass with reeds and
rushes. And a highway shall be there
and a way, and it shall be called the
way of holiness; the unclean shall not
pass over it; but it shall be for the
redeemed.
In every generation
since the dawn of history have been
prophets who claimed that they received
revelation of the end of the world. It
is claimed that even Jesus told of the
end of the world. However, more recent
and accurate translations of the New
Testament show this to be an error.
What Jesus spoke of was "the completion
of the age."
A vivid description of
the end of the earth's civilization is
found in the 34th chapter of Isaiah.
Whether Isaiah knew any more about the
end of the world than many modern
prophets is a question.
History testifies to the
fact that they are all wrong. The world
is not coming to an end. Geologists say
that it has taken the Colorado River at
least fifty million years to carve out
the Grand Canyon. It is logical, then,
to conclude that God has a future for a
globe that has taken Him so long to
make.
But through poets,
prophets, and pessimists in every age
we are warned of what, from a human,
destructive viewpoint, might occur.
Shakespeare says:
"These our
actors.
As I foretold
you, were all spirits,
and
Are melted into
air, into thin air;
And, like the
baseless fabric of this
vision,
The cloud-capped
towers, the gorgeous
palaces,
The solemn
temples, the great globe
itself,
Yea, all which it
inherit, shall dissolve;
And, like this
insubstantial pageant
faded,
Leave not a rack
behind."
Now what we want to ask
is this: Are these prophecies of the
end of civilization and the destruction
of the earth and all things the result
of sane thinking or are they the work
of sick minds?
They are undoubtedly the
work of sick minds. The sane man with a
little logic would determine that our
God, with the power and wisdom to
create a world of such mighty
possibilities, would not destroy it and
leave the destiny of all the good
people to the mercies of a few
unscrupulous fanatics.
The destiny of the earth
and of its people is in the minds and
hands of those who seek to know God as
Spirit, and those who seek Him must
seek Him in Spirit.
Jesus points the way,
and by following His formulas we shall
find the solution to every problem. All
the formulas given by Jesus are
constructive rather than destructive.
He does not teach death but life. "If a
man keep my word, he shall never see
death."
Where in Jesus'
teachings shall we find a formula to
offset, to dissolve, to meet and
nullify the atomic bomb? We find it in
the 10th chapter of Luke and the 22d
chapter of Matthew. This is the
formula:
"Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy
strength, and with all thy mind; and
thy neighbor as thyself." "This is the
great and first commandment," Jesus
told the lawyer who asked Him what was
the "great" commandment. This is the
fulfillment of all
commandments.
The formula has been
tested, and history shows that it has
built and sustained civilization and
produced peace, happiness, and
prosperity.
Let us all join in
prayer to this end, that we may take
the formulas that Jesus gave as working
principles, that they may be sent out
in the world through the power of the
word.
"Be strong and of good
courage; for thou shalt cause this
people to inherit the land."
