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THE GREATER WORLD CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALIST CHURCH
THE ZODIAC MESSAGES
"THE MYSTERY OF SACRIFICE"
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), given through
the mediumship of Miss Winifred Moyes in the first
half of the twentieth century
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"MY little children, this night we meet together
called by Christ for that which must come upon this
little earth. Aye, I say called by Christ, for have
I not told you that volunteers - those with the warrior
spirit - are wanted to demonstrate their faith and
to bring about a change in the conditions of this little
plane?
-
"Each one is known to me. The long, long past
is uncovered as I speak, and I say that out of the
troubles, out of the disappointments and the temptations,
so that preparation has been put in which is essential
for the work which lies in front. That which you have
done is good in part; that which you will seek to do
shall be good in three parts, and when you are free
from the physical garment, so I say commanded by the
One Who loves you best - that what the past has held,
its sorrows, its so-called sacrifices, ah, this will
seem good to you and joy shall fill your being.
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"This night following the plan, following that
laid down in the past long before the physical body
had been prepared for you, so I speak on that which
I name 'The Mystery of Sacrifice'. Now think you as
to this: Those of the world, those who desire to cheat
themselves and others as regards the truth as the truth
is, they take not the hard road. They gather to themselves
the things of the earth; they pander to the body and
they feed the mind with that which has no life beyond
this little plane. What know they concerning the mystery
of sacrifice and the miracle that it brings about?
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"Around you all, in your own surroundings and
environment, there are those chained by the past. I
speak of stages and conditions long before this little
earth played its part in the great, grand purpose of
God. I say that many of the children upon the earth
plane, though they present so fair a face to others,
they are as spirits in prison, and such as these for
the most part lead the thought of this little world.
How few there are who hold up the beauty of so-called
sacrifice. Ah, and there are still less in number who
will put into action that which they teach to the toilers,
to those who are not in a position to retaliate. The
road of sacrifice comes as a matter of course to the
humble, but the worldly wise - the spiritually foolish
- they thank their God that through their intelligence
they have done better themselves.
-
"Oh my little ones, you know this is true! You
know that in this little city to-day there are those
who have made a god of self; and Christ, the suffering
One, the One Who went before to show the way into Life,
that One is spurned - not outwardly, perchance, for
these are held by the conventions of their day, but
inwardly the Christ is crucified again and again.
-
"I take you over the long past. Go back over the
spiritual history of this little world. Who were the
light-bringers? Those who had the strength and the
wisdom to sacrifice the things of the earth and cleave
to those of God; those who had the discernment to deny
the lesser self so that the God within might have the
freedom for which It pants.
-
"Aye, those wise in their own conceit argue thus:
'The prophets and the teachers of old were essential,
for humanity had not evolved as it has to-day'. They
read, unmoved, about the ignorant ones of the past,
how they listened to the voice of the Spirit and obeyed
though hearts were breaking, though fear held them
and they scarce could fulfil God's sacred behest. They
look back - those held by the earth and thoughts of
the earth - and they criticise: 'This one blundered;
that man faltered; such as Moses was limited; there
were traitors; there were deceivers'. And all the time
the insistent call which is all around for them to
arise and cast off their chains and to face self-revelation,
this is overlooked.
-
"You, my children, seek the Light; some have faltered,
have hesitated as to the direction from which the Light
of God shall shine, but I say to you, instructed by
the Master: Oh, have no fear! A little while perchance
the road is missed, but when the heart and mind are
pure, when the desire is for the best, so then in the
darkest moment, in the moment when the enemy seems
over close, then comes the Light which shines from
Christ, and all is well.
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"Yet I go back to that which is my theme - the
mystery of sacrifice. Now think you as to the long
past. I have told you that the journey of experience
has gone on over time unthinkable to you, and you can
grasp that eternity - again unthinkable - lies in front.
Now ask yourselves this question and face it fairly
as men and women: At this same time, where do I stand?
Perhaps you answer: 'I fail so often, my courage seems
to go when tests are put.'
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"Can you not see that even this attitude of mind
is part of the mystery of sacrifice? It is indeed something
which indicates the past. Spirit-consciousness in a
measure has been made your own; Spirit-vision, ah,
not that which those of the earth call 'sight,' but
the vision which reaches out and grasps something concerning
the truth which is of God - Spirit-vision has been
made your own.
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"Think you as to the stage before the earth stage
and, again, think you as to that condition into which
you pass when the physical garment is no more. I say
that to-day you indicate that in the stage before you
tried, you struggled, you suffered. Bound, unconscious
maybe, but, as it were, you unravelled one small portion
of the mystery of sacrifice, and to-day you are reaping
that which you sowed in the past.
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"Oh, think you as to the Master, of His lonely
life, of the toil, the distress in the home and the
enemies that were around. Cannot you see that from
the Child, the Boy, and the Man so others can unravel
that which is the mystery of sacrifice and the miracle
it has the power to put into being for all time? God
as man came to earth, bound Himself by His own laws,
was subject unto others; yet as the years went on,
so through sacrifice, that which was wisdom was uncovered,
that which was truth was given out to the world which
believed it not.
-
"So I speak to you individually and I say that
in the measure that you have suffered, in the measure
that you have denied yourselves, so something of Divine
wisdom has been made your own.
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"Forget not this: When man was created perfect
even as his God, so within man there was the gift of
sacrifice; yet over those stages which I name 'involution'
so the gift was covered up, and now the children of
God seek to open that which they have bound.
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"Sacrifice! What does this mean in the earth language?
Something to shrink from, something to be evaded! But
in the God language, something to fight for; for only
through that which you name sacrifice can man return
to that perfection in which he was created. Only by
sacrifice can the gifts of the Spirit be purchased
- those gifts which are spiritual. Only by sacrifice
can this little world and the conditions and states
in bondage be redeemed.
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"Now think you, little ones, as to this. In the
sacred record plainly stated there is that which comes
from sacrifice. Perchance it seems to you that the
call to-day is so different, conditions do not provide
that which the past demanded; but I say unto you that
to-day as never before comes the call for sacrifice,
for over this little earth is coming revelation - the
power of the Holy Spirit - to cleanse, to rouse and
to reinstate. In that time those who shirked that which
was sacrifice, those who turned from self-denial, these
will be even as the enemies of the Most High.
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"I prophesy in part, I tell you once again that
this little earth must go through its crucifixion.
Oh, cannot you see that until an individual, until
a nation has arrived at a certain stage of evolution,
so the crucifixion cannot take place? Think of the
Master's life, the years of service and toil, how He
passed among the people, taught and raised and healed
and heartened; and, after the service, after the thoughts
and the prayers and the love, so the crucifixion came.
You will tell me that this was caused by the evil in
man's heart, and I answer: Ah, yes, and the crucifixion
of the individual and, again, the crucifixion of the
nation or of the world, comes from the evil in man's
heart. But fix not your thoughts on the agony of the
cross, for the cross is a gift beyond your comprehension
now, for out of the cross comes the resurrection, and
out of the resurrection the unravelling of the mystery
of sacrifice; for when the individual looks into the
eyes of Christ, the past is as nought.
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"So, my children, I return to you, to your lives.
There are some here who have taken the hard road; there
are some here who will take the same hard road for
the sake of the One Who loves them best. Oh, joy fills
my being when I look at my little children upon the
earth plane and in other conditions and I see one here,
one there - oh, many - who find within the strength
to take the mountainside for the sake of the God within.
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"So think you as to this: The earth life, as you
have been told, is as a second of time to the great
Father and Mother God; yet in that second so the great
Father and Mother God registers the anguish of His
creation. Oh, cannot you see? Here we unfold something
of the mystery of sacrifice. What of the Christ? His
life upon the earth plane is but a symbol, but a fragment
of the sufferings of our God.
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"Little ones, the birth of any child entails that
which the earth calls anguish; the coming into fuller
life by the individual must exact its pangs, in turn.
In the suffering of the mother and that of the individual,
so Christ - God - bears the treble part; ah, inconceivable
to the mind of man, by the mercy of the Lord God of
all.
-
"So, my children, when I impress upon your minds
that you are children of the Most High and that you,
each one, must return to that perfection from which
you started on the long journey of experience, cannot
you grasp that the pangs of to-day are indeed an indication
- fragile though it may be - of your inheritance? You
suffer over yourselves, and perchance you suffer more
over those you love. It is the God within struggling,
fighting for expression - the God within. You, out
of your release, are seeking in your tiny way to follow
the path laid down and to bring back to you that same
privilege which God holds - the privilege of suffering
for others. So we get a little closer to that which
underlies the mystery of sacrifice.
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"Sacrifice to those of the earth means sorrow,
loss, something that tears the heart. To us it is gain,
it is joy, it is freedom; for out of the pangs, out
of that which God allows us in His mercy to endure,
so we are bringing that time nearer when, once again
in God's image, we shall demonstrate the miracle of
Divine Love and understanding.
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"Children, how can I teach you, how can I explain?
Many over the past gathered up this and that; self
was their god and the Christ within was crucified again
and again. But to-day the message of the Christ must
be re-delivered and the power has come; yes, the power
has come through suffering, through self-denial, through
that which others have contributed out of their hearts
and out of their bodies. Aye, the power has come and
the cleansing of the world shall not be delayed over
long; for, again I say, there shall be those who are
willing to suffer for the sake of others. Willing!
Yes, some shall gladly take of the Cloak of Christ
one tiny portion, and such as these shall pass into
a peace which no man can name.
-
"Holiness is all around; the Spirit of God is
coming upon the children of the earth and they shall
arise. No longer shall the old men dream dreams, but
out of the visions passed on through the young - aye,
and through some of the tiny ones - so the old, so
those fettered by conventional thought shall re-learn
their lessons, and dreams no more shall have a place
in their life but work for Christ - for the call has
come.
-
"Now, my children, I speak to you, commanded by
the One we love and revere, and I say: Have no fear
as to that which your life shall hold - trouble, sorrow.
These things shall be seen by you in their proper interpretations;
they have been masqueraded far too long. The time has
come when joy shall seize your being for something
of sight shall be made your own, and the wisdom from
within - not of the earth mind, not of the earth body,
but something of the wisdom of that greater, grander
man and woman - shall be released, and you shall not
only carry your cross, but by your fire, by your example,
by your courage there shall be thousands upon the earth
plane and in those conditions where half-light holds
the mind and bewilders, there shall be thousands who
shall arise and, clasping that which is the cross,
pass out of death into light and sweetness and peace.
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"Again I say, sweet are the uses of adversity.
The man and the woman who have a level life, a comfortable
life, oh, to them I speak in tones urgent and imperative,
for that which they hold in this stage must represent
decay in the next.
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"Little ones, at this stage I cannot teach you
much concerning the mystery of sacrifice and the miracle
it hides, but I can tell you this: As you endeavour
to give up, to think of others and not of yourselves,
so stage by stage that which man calls mystery shall
be explained; and lo, instead of the dark cloud which
obscures the Light of God, instead of the rain of sorrow
and the iciness of grief, slowly as you emerge out
of things seeming into Reality, so that cloud shall
assume a rosy hue; and in time so the smile of the
Christ shall be your own in conscious manner, for behind
the mystery of sacrifice is that which is holy indeed.
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"We pass out of the little into that which is
less limited. We pass again out of our limitations
into something of freedom; again, answering to the
call, we strive and strive, and at last, at last, free
from the past, free from self, we receive the blessing
of the Saviour, and in His tenderness compensation
in full is made our own. Oh, gather this thought in
for the time is fleeting. You, each one, are called
to give out the message of the Christ as the message
was given by the Master, not as interpreted by those
who shrink from the cross.
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"Give out the truth that the way into peace, the
way into knowledge, the way into wisdom, is the way
that the Master followed Himself. Still the call comes
and still the call is ignored, but the power of the
Holy Spirit shall send men down upon their knees; and
out of that which comes to pass so the real self shall
be sufficiently released to answer to the call, to
follow and not to evade.
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"Children, I want to close this happy evening
on a note which expresses the love of God in its highest,
grandest form. Oh, think you as to this: The understanding
Mind of God; how He ministers to human longing, how
He directs the emotions - that which you name the heart
- into channels which shall bring peace instead of
destruction. Remember that the Master passed on that
message which has rung down the ages: 'Little children,
love each other!' But how have the children of the
earth regarded love? As something to have! How few
look at love as love is, something to give.
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"In time there will come the enemy, and those
who are banded together for this sacred work for God,
they will feel the enemy and hear the enemy beating
upon the gates of their consciousness. In that time,
children, remember the Master's command: 'Love each
other!' And if that which you have within for each
other resembles love so the protection is complete.
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"Oh children, I draw back your thoughts again
to the Master and the miracle of sacrifice. What is
sacrifice but love, what is love but life? So then,
let illumination scatter the shadows. Let not the world's
view hold you, but turn to that commanded by the Lord
God of all: 'Little children, love each other.' Give
and it shall be given unto you a hundredfold in return,
but give first you must; and as the love within is
released from its prison-house, as the love is purified
and refined, so then sacrifice no longer will be named
a mystery. It will be revelation in its highest form;
yes, revelation as to the past, the present and the
future - the Cross seen as a light transfiguring all
the darkness, banishing the gloom. Love triumphant
over death, hate and ignorance.
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"As I leave you I pass on the peace of the Holy
Spirit, and I turn your eyes ever and ever again to
the Saviour and the radiance of His smile. Oh, grief
has no meaning, sorrow no sting before the smile of
the Master. So in spirit we kneel and the Master gives
of Himself, because He is Love.
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"Master, take that which is our gift and teach
us how to do better! And the Master answers: 'You are
my beloved; arise and claim your gifts!'
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"Farewell, my children, but we shall meet again."
©GWCSA
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