THE GREATER WORLD CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALIST CHURCH

THE ZODIAC MESSAGES

"THE RELIGION OF THE CROSS"

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), at Reading, on Sunday, 26th March, 1950.

1. "Saviour Christ, into Thy hands I commend the spirit of this Thy child.

2. "My children, this is an hour of Spirit Communion, and I want you to benefit, for there are many grades of evolution, many types of the children of God, and it is our part to do all we can to break down the barriers of mind and of memory which seem to hold them so fast. And it should be a joyful occasion for each and everyone to know that it is possible for them to contribute to the raising up and the release of souls in prison, for they are imprisoned by self.

3. "So tonight, bearing in mind this sacred season, I am commissioned to speak to you upon the Religion of The Cross. Some there are who have foolish notions regarding the Cross, they link it up with idolatry and there are others who repudiate the One with whom we associate the Cross.

4. "Far from me to extol that form of suffering as above all others; men and women under the heel of authority have suffered more. In that time crucifixion was a common punishment; but those who went through that ordeal they had to drink the cup to the dregs, inasmuch that many stood around taunting them in their agony, deriding them because of their helplessness. I want you to think on this point, and when there are those who repudiate the value of the Cross or misinterpret its meaning, then allow the Holy Spirit within to give forth something of the truth.

5. "So tonight we will analyse the Religion of the Cross, and if you study those words uttered by the Beloved you will find in them teaching not only for a past age, but a teaching for you in this same modern age, for life goes on and experiences are repeated. One here and there is, it seems, picked out for persecution and even for martyrdom; but the majority represent the crowd watching the trend of events, desiring to share the material proceeds, if there are any left by the victim. So let us think upon not only the teachings of yesterday and today, but try to fit ourselves so that a religion charged with spiritual joy may be available for the generations yet to be born.

6. "The experiences of the Christ were in greater measure than we can understand; but there are those who have queried why so advanced a character should have lost touch with the Godhead. He had withstood His trial with courage and with faith, He had seen His devoted followers forsake Him one by one, for fear was in their hearts and the authority in those days was terrible to witness. Judge them not. Yes, with patience He took His way to Calvary, and although the body was so weak, the Spirit was triumphant, and the love was unceasing even towards His persecutors.

7. "And yet as He stood upon the nails of the Cross - for the nails were His only support - there came from Him that anguished cry - 'My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?' (Matt.27:46; Mark 15:34).

8. "It was necessary that the man Jesus should go through in the fullest measure spiritual isolation, the loneliness of the soul, so that those who followed after should never be able to say that the Christ, because of His fuller contact with the Godhead, could not understand them in their hour of loneliness and seeming desertion by man and God alike. 'My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?' Forsaken by those He loved so well and for whom He had suffered so much, the moment came when it seemed to Him, through the physical casket and the torments of the flesh, that the link between Himself and the Godhead had snapped.

9. "Then, children, you see in such a wonderful measure how His thoughts were turned from Himself, and how because of His love He wanted to protect the wayward children of the earth plane - 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!' (Luke 23:34).

10. "Forgiveness? Nay more than that, for when you really love, forgiveness is a word that ceases to exist. Love triumphant rose above the pain and the isolation of His position. Dying there upon the Cross, still He fought for humanity. And what He said then relates to the children of all worlds and all generations, for many there are who strike the helpless, not realising that they are inflicting a mortal wound upon the soul body which they must wear when the physical casket has done its work. They know not that you cannot injure another without injuring in far greater measure the Divinity that is imprisoned within.

11. "I give these words of comfort to you who have suffered, to you who feel that you have scarcely had fair play from life. Remember, dear children, that the laws of God work on in spite of man's ignorance and cunning, and from your heart try to say - 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' And in so speaking you are asking the stronger self within to forgive and to forget.

12. "Then once again we have the illustration of the wideness of the sympathy and sensitiveness of that tender Soul. He thought of the one hanging beside Him who knew so little and whose sins were not so grave as the one who condemned him, and because there was no help to come from a physical point of view, He gave those words which reveal that death can be trampled under foot and is destroyed by Life Eternal.

13. " - Today thou shalt be with Me in Paradise - (Luke 23:43). No sleeping, no long waiting, no grave, no fear of a Judgement Day; but a proclamation of the continuity of Life. And 'death' indeed is but an incident in the long series of lives the Spirit has undergone in countless bodies and in countless worlds

14. " - Today thou shalt be with Me in Paradise! - you who have lingered by the bedside of one on the point of going through the transition, you who have tried to stem your tears so that your distress might not be passed on to him, have you remembered the promise of the Christ that death is but a term, an expression applied by those in the physical world? As the strength of the physical wanes, so the vigour of the true Self within is able to gain command; and there is no one, as promised by the Christ, who loves Him who ever sees 'death'; but life more abundantly is opened before him in the degree of man's strivings through the earthly sojourn.

15. "Can you imagine the wonder in the mind of the poor suffering soul on the cross who knew naught of a Father's Love, only a cruel authority? Yet there was something within which responded to the beauty of the character of the Master Christ, and he believed on Him, and consolation fell upon his soul.

16. "Then as the Master's thoughts were turned towards the Better Land - God's Realm - He prepared and offered Himself in words of commendation to His Father, yet He did not die then. 'Into Thy hands I commend My spirit' (Luke 23:46) - but the Spirit had still work to do, and His human love, so linked to Divine Love that they were as one, expressed itself again as His eyes fell upon Mary, the tortured mother.

17. "You who have lost your young, you who have had to say goodbye in a physical sense to the warriors of the wars, you can understand what it meant to Mary, the mother, having such a Son. Feeling His love, all her being, in love, was poured out on Him, as helpless, blinded with grief, she had to watch Him die upon the Cross.

18. "So little they knew in those days of long ago; death seemed to be utter separation. No mercy was shown or comfort given by the priests. Rather punishment and blame poured from them so that fear held the people, and they parted with their little treasures to pacify the Lord God Jehovah, who had all power and would exercise it for the torment of His own creation.

19. "Think of Mary, so gentle, one who had had a hard life and yet possessed the Jewel of great price. And as the eyes of the Beloved fell upon that shrinking form, His love was shown once again - 'Son, behold thy mother; mother behold thy son' (John 19:26-27) -.

20. "It was all that He could do from a material point of view for the protection of that one so dear; but a home was provided for her and a son's arm on which to lean as old age came along; and the sacred trust was fulfilled in its fullest sense.

21. "But the sufferings of the Christ were not over, the worst had yet to come. The physical had done its part and the torment went on; but because He was Christ, there was a greater torment than the flesh could ever inflict, and that was the anguish of being repudiated by those He came to protect. He was as a starved and parched man. He looked around mentally if not physically, and He saw those who had been false to Him; but that was not the worst. He had come into the body to bring the Light that should scatter the darkness and overcome the power of material authority; but they wanted Him not.

22. "And so there came those words so full of meaning to you and to me - 'I thirst' (John 19:28). What was it He thirsted for so deeply and so urgently? When the sponge was handed to Him He turned aside from it; He thirsted for the love of His own, for the Light to enter their souls, and for their chains to be cast from them.

23. "And is it not the same today in this material age? Thousands of men and women, seizing upon the excuse of liberty, are abusing free-will; they want nothing of religion and they know scarcely anything of the Christ Life or the Christ Love. Does not the Master say to such as these - I thirst? And would lip-service or ritual or creed and doctrine, without the dedicated heart, would these things quench His thirst? Not so, not so! Today Christ is thirsting for humanity to turn to Him; and He only can supply the waters of Everlasting Life so that they may not thirst, in turn, and find no response in the way of love from those they love so well.

24. "I ask you to exercise your imagination over those few words uttered on the Cross, because they epitomise religion. Until a man or women is linked to God there must be loneliness, there must be restlessness. And many who are persecuted by misfortune, and even by those who should support them, they have much in earthly language to forgive.

25. "But I ask such as these to remember that their enemies know not what they do; they are spiritually ignorant, they are in the bondage of self. But the time must come when the missionaries, seen and unseen, must have sufficient love and sufficient patience to set them free.

26. "What is it that causes the deepest grief in this same time? Is it not separation by so-called death? But once the truth is borne upon the physical mind that there is no death, that the soul steps out of dimness into light, and the link of love is never severed, the wounds can be healed and the mind can function again.

27. "It should be possible, my children, for you to watch your loved ones in the Spirit World; but the veils of materialism are too thick, and only the few can pierce the darkness, when their eyes rest upon a vision glorious. They see the little ones playing in the children's Spheres, and they watch the wild animals mingling amongst them, and they witness those who were old and sad and tormented by pain, in their new body, charged with light, teeming with happiness.

28. "Only the few can part the Veil and look on God's happy land; but you are training others, and when there are those who will face the discipline - and the discipline must be severe - when there are those to go into training to release their spiritual gifts, more and more will be able to testify to the Love of God and the continuity of Life in all its glory and power.

29. "But mediumship entails dedication. The individual must commend himself or herself to God, must have confidence in God and less and less confidence in self. In the degree that those in the earth body love themselves, so their love for Christ is lessened and their protection is limited, for this is Divine Law.

30. "Therefore, as your mediumship grows, so will your love for humanity. You will look for the fatherless and orphans; your mind will take a wider range altogether from the personal, although the personal love-ties are sweet and binding. But as your mediumship advances you will develop, also, and learn to love humanity, to rise above personal likes and dislikes, learn to release that greater self within so that you may vibrate to the vibrations of others and not be offended by them.

31. "I beg you all, you who are in this work, to widen your love-area, not to criticise this one and that but to look for the good beneath the faults, and to realise that in the vast range of Life there must be all grades, all stages of evolution. To the Father each one is equally His child. Does the Father see the frailties within them? Surely, but He knows that we do not realise what we do, we are spiritually bound when we think of self, we show our limitation of consciousness when we are held by mental things and despise the grand simplicities of Christ.

32. "And so, children, having attained in little part, and wearing upon your shoulders the cloak of the crusader, you must suffer in the degree that your understanding grows; and then you will thirst, thirst for the souls of others, thirst because you cannot pass onto them from yourself the Waters of Everlasting Life. But that thirst of yours will drive you hither and thither to seek and to find the lost sheep and to bring them back into the one True Fold, and in time you, too, can say of the earthly sojourn - It is finished (John 19:30).

33. "How many sufferers, how many noble souls, as the body was giving up its real Self, have thought, even if the strength of speech was beyond them - it is finished! - And that means the beginning of a glorious New Day, with a wonderful new life, with powers released, with love on either side, and with unlimited opportunities for service for evermore.

34. "With the men and women who have sinned against their better selves, it is finished for them, too, but fear holds their minds. Finished all the joys so dear, all the playing fast and loose with friends, all the earthly pomp and material ambition - finished!

35. "And such as these pass into another world to find that all the lessons for which they took on the physical body remain to be learnt by them.

36. "Children, I have been sent to comfort you. I know that there are many here who have had their great tests, and I know that there are some who have tried to take the pioneer path who have found it too steep for them, so they thought. But the religion of the Cross brings back to them reassurance that all is well. It is a religion of joy, of pain overcome, of the physical selfish nature triumphed over; it is a religion that can comfort in any nation and in any world.

37. "And tonight I ask you to read those sacred words, not with sorrow, not feeling that you must weep over the sufferings of the Christ so long ago, but to read those words with a new understanding to find out how they relate vitally to you, to your experience, to the experiences of the world. As you read, something of revelation is possible, according to your desire to comprehend; and you will go forth recharged with strength, looking at your neighbour with different eyes, taking the things of this world and sifting them out and finding that the only thing of value that remains is love.

38. "But love which is for self, or expressed only for the ones so dear in your conditions, is scarcely love to us. When you are free from the flesh, one of the first things you will wish to acquire is this - a wider knowledge of love, a releasing of the tenderness within not only for your own, but for the so-called stranger outside the gate. For forget not this: you are all one family under God the Creator, and while one is not happy or straying from the path of protection, then you cannot rest. You thirst for them, and take in your trembling hand the cup holding the Waters of Life and seek to induce them to drink. And oh, the joy and the peace and the thankfulness that fills our being when one, seemingly dead, turns to us in trust, and tries to follow the way laid down - out of the darkness of the past into the light of God's perfect day.

39. "And now our little time together is drawing to a close. It is finished, so far as your physical bodies are concerned; but when sleep holds the flesh we can meet again, and then you can go back over the message delivered unto me, by the Grace of God, and feel that in these few utterances there is a religion that is complete.

40. "So, by the Will of God, I will bring the instrument amongst you, because there are those who seem a little outside (sitting in the corridor), and I would not have them going away thinking that they have not been blessed in the same wide measure as the ones within this citadel of peace.

41. "What is it, children, that you all want? You want to be right with God. Then all the troubles of this life, all the disappointments and the despairs, will fall into place; they will not disappear, because they are there for your experience, but they will fall into their own place, something that had to happen so that you might understand when others were assailed in that same measure.

42. "Yes, to be right with God means peace, means the end of restlessness, means the end of travelling a lonely road. It is a great test to feel that you must go on and on, not knowing where you are going. But once you are conscious that you are travelling to the Promised Land, that death cannot touch you nor can age defeat you, then it is well with your soul, and happiness streams upon you, and you long with all the force of your being to seek out other lonely souls and give them what you have experienced yourself.

43. "I bless you all, bless you with courage, bless you with a greater faith, bless you with a desire to understand the religion of the Cross, when no mental problems will trouble you any more, for you will realise that the mind associated with the physical body is a very poor tool; and by taking the way of service you will make it possible that when the transition takes place the mind of the Spirit can be in operation.

44. "I bless the workers here for they have tried to do much, and I say unto them: the path is stony. Is there anything wrong with that when we think of the saints and martyrs? For great gifts a great price has to be paid. Be of good cheer, and remember the Love of God; remember also that you love God, and because you love God you are taking the stony way. Pity the ones who have cast their burdens upon others and their responsibilities too; pity such as these, for when the transition comes for them, they will find they have entered the wilderness of self, and the light from the hills of God's Eternal Home scarcely penetrates the darkness that enfolds them.

45. "It has been good to met together, and I pray the Father that that which I have given forth, which will be taken far and wide through the written word, may fulfil its mission, so that men and women may realise the gift of Calvary in the message of comfort given forth from the Master as the body lay dying upon the Cross - the message of comfort given forth for the generations yet to be born now and for all time.

46. "And, as I speak, the Master comes to bless. Simple are His robes, sandals are upon His feet, no diadem adorns the sacred Brow. But the Love from the Master Christ is the only thing that has the power to set man free from self and send him on his way rejoicing.

47. "Master, we bow before Thee, thanking Thee for all that Thou hast given, asking Thee to make us more like Thy Holy Self, so that God's work may be done in the measure that is ordained. Amen."

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”