THE GREATER WORLD CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALIST CHURCH

THE ZODIAC MESSAGES

"FORGIVENESS"

An address by the celestial messenger 'Zodiac' (the unnamed scribe of the Bible and a teacher in the Temple of Jerusalem at the time of Christ), through the mediumship of Miss Winifred Moyes in the earlier part of the twentieth century

1. "FATHER of Love, grant that Thy little children may feel Thy peace all around - that in our presence tonight may be evidenced the great and mighty power of the Spirit; and because Thou sendest us helpers of all kinds, we commend ourselves to Thy care with faith and truth. We ask Thee to banish all thoughts which perhaps are a little too closely attached to the world of sense; and to link us in close communion with those realms where joy and love and peace abound.

2. "O Christ, Thou knowest that during the busy day, with so many distractions on either side, it is that same peace which we desire the most; and we realise that the only peace which can comfort and sustain is harmony between soul and spirit - that harmony banishing the remembrance of the physical and the memories which fret and burn.

3. "Tonight, O Father, once again we ask Thee to give us that vision which makes all things clear - to enable us to see beyond the present, and to visualise something of the beauty of the future, when the struggle between body and Spirit will be no more, because Thou - our Strength, our Hope and our Guide - will have shown us that Spirit is stronger than anything else.

4. "As little children we gather together, and we ask Thee to show us tonight Thy Fatherhood in a way that children can understand; so that faith and confidence may be as a firm staff to help us through the tomorrows which are to come. Amen...

5. ..."MY little children, once more the days have flown and we gather together in love; and I want to try and impress upon you tonight something of the far-reaching love there is between us.

6. "You little realise it, but all the time - every hour of your life you are seeking or you are feeling the loss of Christ. My children, lest there should be misunderstanding I want to make it quite clear that those times when you feel the Father is a little removed from you - this is but trying the love which is within your hearts; yet it should not be necessary for me to tell you that Christ is always and for ever within your personal vibrations.

7. "Yes! there are days which are sweet indeed - when you feel close to the things of the Spirit, when the world and its many fractious details pass over and beyond you and leave no mark behind. These days are 'good days'; but, my little ones, if your faith could survive the days of chill those days would be far better still.

8. "It is difficult, I know. It seems strange to the searching mind of man that with the desire for this close contact with Christ, the shadows should be allowed to intervene; but, my children, these tests must be put, and the one who still seeks after the Master in spite of feeling at times that he has lost the direct way into Love - he that still seeks shall not only find, but in the by-and-bye he shall see with so much joy that those periods of chill tightened and strengthened the link between him and his God.

9. "Tonight, dear children, I want to direct your attention to a question which has caused misgivings in the minds of many - yes, and there have been those who have laid the subject aside because, as it were, they came to a wall in which they found no door.

10. "Children, I am going to tell you a little, just a very little, about the underlying meaning of that wonderful word - of that most beautiful quality which you call 'Forgiveness'. Yes, the word comes up so often. In daily life where so many warring interests are in evidence there is much to forgive and there is much to forget; yet my children, the world and even those who wish to love The Master have scarce touched on the outer covering of that comprehensive quality of Forgiveness.

11. "Children, I speak tonight with so much understanding of the past and I want you in listening to my words to say to yourself - 'Zodiac is thinking of me and Zodiac is trying to help me because his love is mine'.

12. "Children, as the years go on, mercifully the remembrance of wrongs committed by others against you - mercifully this remembrance grows less; and this is another law of the Spirit because the Father is unwilling that the ones who have taken on this burden, out of love for Him, should bear it for all time. You find it so among yourselves. There was a time when memory was all too keen; when a chance word, when the sight of a forgotten thing brought back in all its force, in all its agony as well, that which had been done against you in the days of long ago.

13. "Children, our Saviour Christ, realising how much each one has to forgive the other put in His own prayer that most protective sentence: 'Forgive us . . . as we forgive them'. And oh! my children, though there may be many who have thought that was hard indeed, yet tonight I am going to show you for your heart's comfort how wonderfully like Love it was and is.

14. "First of all, dear children, I have to remind you that God as your Father separates Himself from that gift of Forgiveness in the sense that it is applied on earth. If I tell you that God does not forgive then you will gain an entirely false impression; but if I say that God does forgive then, again, the impression is not according to truth. Between the Father and His child the position is this - and I speak tonight under the direct authority and instruction of the One who created us all - that where Love is, forgiveness does not exist; and if there are some who would challenge this statement then I turn them to their own heart and mind. I say to them: Do you not know that love when forgiveness as forgiveness is mockery, because even as the blow is struck - though you suffer through your love - the love surges up and dominates, and by its very strength overwhelms every other thought?

15. "Children, though you may 'sin', as you call it, the Father neither forgives nor withholds His forgiveness, but the Father throws around you again and again those mighty rays of His Love, and if your ears could hear the Voice which for ever is speaking to the heart of man, you would know that the Father was claiming you as His own.

16. "Yet, dear children, I must not keep back anything from you. You have been told already that before the stronger self, which is within each one, you indeed tremble with fear and apprehension. This is no exaggeration; there are no words in your language which could portray the feelings which come to all when spiritual sight is their own and they are faced with the past. I make no reservations at all because you must know that the nearer we are, that the higher we have climbed the hill of achievement so because of our greater Spirit-consciousness the appalling multitude of our failures face us. You have noted again and again with those who come back and speak to you - speak to you with a joy you will never know until you are free yourself - that those who, as you say, have done 'the best', express - with a sincerity which cannot be denied - their great regret, their overwhelming sense of failure towards their greater selves. And that must be so; therefore, dear children, remember always that the position is this: That God your Father neither 'judges' you nor does 'forgiveness' in the earth sense, ever come into the relationship between you. These many expressions regarding forgiveness which appear in the sacred record were used solely and only to try and dissipate that deeply rooted belief that God Almighty was the Ruler and Condemnor.

17. "It is difficult for you in this generation to realise anything of the relationship between the children of the earth and the One God Jehovah of old. Very little love came into it from man's side, and although God's Love was shown in such a bountiful way right through the ages, yet the teaching and the training was entirely on lines of fear and of punishment. Forgiveness of sin was almost a foreign idea to the majority - it was a term so vague that it conveyed very little to the mind even of the student; it was, for the most part, 'attrition' which controlled; but when the Master came that greatest change of all was brought into active being, for once the Love of Christ had pierced the physical mind attrition was displaced by a contrition too deep, too far-reaching to be explained.

18. "My children, I have had to go into this rather at length but it is necessary for you to gain some idea of the attitude of mind in those early days, with its many forms of bondage and, most of all, with the minds and the lives of the people controlled and guided by those who had very little notion of God as the Creator and none at all as the Father of Love.

19. "Children, you have learnt a little about the effect of forgiveness, particularly in regard to the influence it has on the progress of those who have finished their experience in a body of flesh. I want tonight to put into words what is not understood in its simplest form by those who are investigating this great Truth.

20. "You have been told that if a man or a woman has injured another and has not sought to right the wrong, when they pass out of physical life that deed done in such spiritual ignorance, has to be worked out with pain and with effort. You are conscious too that it is a dangerous thing to withhold forgiveness because it blocks the progress of the one who is beyond your ken, in the sense that no visible act of theirs can right the wrong.

21. "Well, dear children, as I am so anxious that you should learn a little more regarding Divine justice, there is one point which I should like to make clear. True it is that those who have passed out of the body are hindered and hampered in a most terrible way by the lack of forgiveness from those on earth; yet, dear children, is it not more in harmony with God's Love when I explain that although this unforgiveness hampers, it is in one direction alone.

22. "Think you like this: When you are free from the body there are a multitude of things which have to be done; there are those so-called 'sins' of commission and of omission and these, each one, have to be made good in order that the pattern of the life may be true to the design of the God-Spirit within.

23. "You see the point? It will appeal to you at once that it would be grossly unfair if the absence of the necessary forgiveness should hinder the progress of the soul, now gifted with spiritual sight, in any direction but the one concerned. It is like this: You know that during daily life now and again you come upon an intricate piece of work and try how you may you cannot conquer certain difficulties which, at the time, seem insurmountable. And so if you are wise, after putting a certain amount of effort into the accomplishment, you leave it for a while and do some of those many other tasks which await your attention. And then when the mind has had a little rest and distraction back again you come to the obstinate piece of work; you put a little more effort into it, and as time goes on, perhaps a fresh idea comes to you and at last, in conjunction with all the help that is around you, you finish that which you began with so much doubt and misgiving - you finish what has cost you dear, but you finish it in the end.

24. "Children, that is exactly the position in regard to those who have injured another and who have not righted the wrong during the time they were on earth. And this explains much; it explains why as the years go by the sense of injury grows dimmer in the mind of the one so injured, and at last - thank God! - the time comes when they can say: 'Not only have I forgiven but I've almost forgotten as well'.

25. "Perfect is the Mind of Love! There is no mistake so grievous which cannot be rectified when consciousness - that Spirit-consciousness comes to the one who has struck.

26. "Another point, dear children, is this: There are many in the world who with quite a worthy motive, scruple not to destroy both love and happiness in the life of another. There are those, I know, who out of lack of thought and - alas and alas! - from evil intent deal these blows, little reckoning the consequences which must follow. But at the moment I am speaking of the conscientious ones; and, children, do not confuse that word 'conscientious' with Spirit-consciousness, because often when such as these come here they find that the Spirit was fettered indeed.

27. "Blows received in this way are perhaps harder to endure than those which are done out of malicious intent because it is hard to be hurt by those who, as you think, should have been the first to defend and to aid.

28. "And while I am referring to this I want to touch on those who have struck you perhaps more deeply than any others. I speak to you, Annie my child (Mrs. Moyes) - I am referring to those poisoned darts which as it seems to you have been aimed directly at this most precious work for God. You see, dear children, it says something for human nature when I can state that the sharpest blows of all are not those aimed at your heart and mind but those directed against the quest of the Spirit within.

29. "Well, dear children, have I not told you that because man has been gifted with free-will God cannot interfere with the mischievous thoughts of others, but He can do this - and it is going on in a way so gigantic that no words can express it - He can take the very evil intent and use it to bring you gain. You have had this evidenced amongst your friends in the little yesterday and it gave you joy to see, even as the blow was struck and the victim trembled under its fierceness, how God's Love shone forth and that which was infinitely greater in value than what had been taken away came as a direct result. So God moves amongst those who try and do His will.

30. "My children, will you try and look at it like this: In regard to those who from any motive have injured you to believe that if you could see things as they really are the only feeling you would have for them would be infinite compassion, and 'forgiveness' would cease to have any meaning between you. I am speaking of the big things and I am speaking of the small ones: You cannot either intentionally or through carelessness injure another without immediately creating regret for the days which are to come; and that is why what you call remorse is such a wonderful gift. Yes! when you come here you will thank God for those minutes, those hours of remorse, for the times when you felt all drab and ugly within, for the times when you wished with all your heart that you could be washed clean of those thoughts which, even now, you realise are totally unworthy of your real self.

31. "The gift of remorse! - and when it comes but seldom during physical life it means simply that for these unfortunate victims of the shadows, a terrible accumulation awaits them when the body is laid aside.

32. "So, my children, I want you to turn over in your mind the little I have told you about forgiveness and about the responsibility of withholding it. In everyday life, could you see things as they are, you would know that each has much to forgive and, what is harder still, much to forget. I am speaking, dear children, of those who have entered into the arena of experience - the vast majority of toilers, those who every day come up against seemingly most terrible injustices; and very often because they do not know the truth - because there is no one to tell them, bitterness enters in and the heart and mind becomes estranged from God, although God is never estranged from them.

33. "Children, over the past, over those most unnecessary blows, so it seems to you, I want you to take the bigger view. I want you to take the bigger view. I want you not to say merely: 'I have forgiven' but to try and build up in your mind real compassion for the ones who have sought to hinder you in your upward climb.

34. "When you come here you will see what forgiveness has produced, and it is in this connection that I bring in that phrase in the sacred prayer: 'Forgive us………as we forgive'. Herein, as I said before, is a most wonderful protection. Christ, knowing the attitude of mind of those to whom He spoke, realising in full the power of traditional thought, sought to harmonise - to link together attrition and contrition, so that each one unconsciously to themselves should be building better than they knew.

35. "You see, dear children, that nothing which happens is just between two; there is always the third and the third is Christ. Cannot you visualise this: Two enemies endeavouring to strike one another and Christ seeking to defend them both and, at the same time, receiving the blows of each! That is the position, literally - not drawing upon the imagination one iota. Nothing you do is individual, nothing you do is confined to two, nothing you think or feel, or fail to be, or wish to be can exclude Christ, your Companion, for within you is that Divinity which makes it impossible, even if God wished it, to dissociate Himself from your life.

36. "Children, there is so much I could tell you in regard to this wonderful quality of forgiveness yet even while I use the word I have to say that to the awakened soul it has no meaning at all. And when you lay the body aside and you look back over the past - over your own life and over all those lives which were linked to you - you will find that forgiveness has no place in regard to them; but as the soul stands stripped of pretence, stripped of all those misconceptions built up during physical life, then, dear children, you will find, as we all find, that it is very hard to forgive your lesser self.

37. "Keep the point clear in your mind. Once spiritual sight is your own, forgiveness in regard to others will have no meaning, but in regard to yourself it will have a deeper, wider meaning than you ever guessed.

38. "But oh! I would not leave one tiny cloud of sadness on your minds. You see, dear children, that in the Spirit nothing is hidden; all who are there bear in intelligible form the history of their past life as shown in the pattern of the soul-body. And strange it is to those so critical in physical life - strange it is to such as these that never one word of surprise at another's failure is heard. No! things go too deep for that. If mistakes have been made then, because the one concerned is desperately in need of help, so you focus your love upon them seeking, with them, to make straight that which has gone awry; and while you are doing that someone is doing the same to you, and that is universal. Yet need I tell you - you who have learnt so much - that only by Christ and through Christ could we have either the love or the power to help ourselves and others.

39. "Oh, my children, be glad that you have chosen the hilly way. Cannot you see how this preparation now is going to save you untold journeyings in the days to come? Cannot you see that by linking yourself to God and to His messengers, you are uncovering that buried Spirit in a way which it would have taken you aeons of time to accomplish when the body was laid aside.

40. "And here I bring in that point which so often is overlooked. Progress out of the physical body is infinitely slower than when the body binds. And the reason for this must he apparent to all. The imprisonment of the flesh, the closed eyes of the Spirit - for the most part, the unconsciousness of the why and the wherefore, the crudeness and the coarseness of the physical vibrations - all, as it were, being burdens which the soul is carrying, by the very fact that they exact so much in suffering and in misunderstanding these burdens take you on in a way it is impossible to describe.

41. "In the Summerland, dear children, beauty is on every side and knowledge, as you have been told, simply waits to be made your own; but because conditions are so much easier, cannot you see that the compilation of effort and of endurance is infinitesimal in comparison with life on earth.

42. "Children, these conditions are not what you would call 'spiritually advanced'; they are more or less those into which the ordinary uninspired, unawakened soul enters. The ones who have jogged along - neither doing great things nor stooping to those which are base - into the Summerland they pass and sometimes much time elapses before the desire comes to them and to go over the past and to seek to retrieve the time so wasted.

43. "I know, dear children, that you long for the physical experience to be over, but I entreat you to try and get this in its right perspective - to do your best to grasp the enormous value of the tool (physical body) which is placed in your hands, and to thank God that the Spirit was strong enough not to choose the easier path, but that the Spirit had the Divine wisdom to try and make the best use of the years which, as you will see presently, have really passed so quickly.

44. "My children, I implore you all to keep your thoughts away from that sad subject - that longing to be free of the cumbersome tiresome painful body; that deep, deep longing - which really is remembrance - the longing to be in your rightful Home and to forget, yes, and to forgive the anguish of physical life.

45. "Oh, my children, God understands this in a way no words can tell, but if your wish were granted then indeed would the Spirit mourn - mourn that so much had been thrown away, so much had been sacrificed when the whole of Eternity lies in front of you. Yes! dear children, every month, every week, every day of your bondage counts for great things in the Spirit, and while I assure you that if you laid the body aside ere this night had flown joy and brightness would be your own, yet I must say that because the Spirit is ambitious indeed instead of that wonderful peace for which you crave, regret would be your portion.

46. "Does that sound a contradiction of terms? I tell you that happiness and brightness would be your own, but oh, dear children, so many are in this position, it is because the happiness and the brightness reminds them so much of God that they suffer regret in an extreme measure, because they did not do a little more when the opportunity was in their possession.

47. "My children, even with the longest life on earth as the years pass it seems that time has sped in a flight so fast that they are surprised to find that physical age has crept over them. When you come here the experience of the earth life will represent to you such a tiny portion of time that you will marvel that so much could be accomplished, and, much more, how you could have grieved over anything so passing, so transitory in its course.

48. "Therefore tonight, dear children, I want you to draw out of the vibrations the joy of the Spirit and to try and make it your own - to allow the consciousness to penetrate your physical mind that although it seems that you are banished from the dear Home-land, yet those of the dear Home-land are sharing your exile with you, that they will never leave you and that they come not empty-handed. Roses may be fair, sweet their fragrance but, oh, the flowers of the Spirit cannot fade; they are charged with eternal life and these, symbolical of so much you could not understand, these for ever are being brought to you even by many you know not - those who passed out of the body right back in the deep pocket of time.

49. "So, my children, gather unto yourselves something of the 'blessings' which lies all around and be certain and sure that you are never left, that we are bound to you by every tie there could be, and that Love walks with you - that the Saviour is never too busy, never too occupied with the tragedies and disasters to look after His little ones during the daily round, and this of course applies to all. You cannot understand it neither can we, because it is one of those secrets of Divinity, but Christ is literally and actually the Companion of all, linked to the Spirit within which is of Him; and though the way may be long or short, though the hill may be steep or gradual, Christ is never absent from any experience which humanity goes through.

50. "So my last words in this connection are these: Remember the place God holds in your life; remember that He is the 'third' in every partnership of gladness or of sorrow there may be; that in forgiving others and in covering up the wounds you are indeed contributing to His joy, and - what will appeal to you still more - you are saving the Heart of Love one pang less.

51. "Now, my children, I will go. Help by your thoughts and keep Christ's image centred in your midst..."...

GIFT

Instead of having to connect to the Internet to read the wonderfully revealing Zodiac Messages on this site, it is possible to have them on your computer. A setup file installs the Messages in a folder of your choice, and can be given as a gift simply by clicking HERE. Then a message can be read at anytime giving immense inspiration, guidance, reassurance and spiritual renewal.

Other highly recommended reading...

“Life Beyond The Veil”
“Paul and Albert”
“Spiritual Realms”
“The Ministry of Angels”