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THE GREATER WORLD CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALIST CHURCH
THE ZODIAC MESSAGES
"SACRED TEMPLES"
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 Central Spiritualist
Church, Brighton, on February 24th, 1929
-
"MY dear children, I come tonight because we have work
to do together, and I ask you for this short time to
lay aside preconceived ideas, to lay aside your theories,
your worldly ambitions, and to listen to the words
which I pass on, given to me by the Master whom I serve.
-
"In these times there is so much that is misunderstood,
so much that has been misinterpreted by those who have
not kept close to the Divine commands. There are the
teachers and the preachers - and I challenge them in
this way: How close do they example in their lives
that which Christ laid down for them to follow? I challenge
the teachers and the preachers as to their sacrifices,
as to that which they pass on to others. Many there
are who give out the pleasing word, many who forget
that only by taking the steep road can Truth be released.
That is a point which has never been emphasised sufficiently.
Christ not only taught the way which led into spiritual
emancipation, but He took that way Himself.
-
"Yet, little ones, it is not mine to come here
and speak in tones that seem as scolding, or to sit
in judgement upon anyone. I come into your presence
charged with love, and I ask you to lend your thoughts
to me for a short time while we think of those things
which are lasting, those things which have not to be
changed in aspect when the body is no more. And the
Master has instructed that this night I speak on that
which I name 'Sacred Temples'.
-
"Now bear with me while I explain. There are many
with good motives, many good and conscientious men
who will give up unthinkable time and effort to travel
into foreign countries and to search out the history
of the temples built up in the past and used for the
purpose of worship in one form or another. I say that
there are many men and women who will undergo inconceivable
hardship to unravel the secret of a few stones or ruins,
and they pass on their information to others without
asking reward in earthly coin. These things are constructive
in a sense I would explain to you: Anything that calls
out from men endurance, self-denial, self-government
- all this is on the creative side. But I ask you to
ponder on this fact: that those so-called sacred temples
served their purpose and now lie in ruins among the
sands of far countries; yet within the grasp of all
is a Temple which is holy indeed.
-
"Oh, cannot you grasp my meaning? Cannot you see
how effort is squandered on these expeditions, how
those who could be used for God's essential work, are
frittering away their capacities their gifts, their
intellect, their physical vitality - to unearth something
which has had its day and which now, symbolically,
is crumbled to dust?
-
"Around the individual there are countless sacred
temples - the temple of the physical body which houses
God within. How many are there who would dedicate their
lives to unearthing the history of their brother or
their sister, of the one who seems as dead so far as
the things of the Spirit are concerned?
-
"Let us come back to values, I have underlined
that effort, that concentration, that self-denial are
on the constructive side, but I must speak the truth:
Those who would seek for that which has had its day,
and will not raise a finger to rebuild the temple of
the outcast, of the fallen, of the one who is obsessed
by the enemies of the Christ; the man or the woman
who shrinks from this most essential duty, this responsibility
placed upon him or her, by the Lord God Creator - such
a one has much to learn and much to suffer when the
body is no more.
-
"Sacred Temples. Little ones, cannot you grasp
that to me you are sacred indeed; and, what is more,
to God you are sacred as well. The physical tabernacle
may not be according to your liking. The body may represent
pain and restriction and an obstacle - so it seems,
to your lofty aspirations - but that body of yours
is sacred. It is the temple which houses the Divine
within.
-
"In time long past when I too walked the earth
plane and had my place at the Temple, there were -
so symbolic it seems to me now - the outer courts,
then the enclosure which held the table for the shew-bread,
and the seven lights - the lamps dedicated to the lord
God Jehovah, and the Altar of Sacrifice, and beyond
there was the Veil, but beyond the Veil there was naught
- naught of the physical just space, and that was the
Holy of Holies. The threshold was not crossed except
once a year, on the Day of Atonement, when those whose
duty it was parted the Veil and passed therein.
-
"Cannot you see how all this is worked out with
each and everyone? You have a physical tabernacle,
and beneath the physical tabernacle is that which you
name the soul-body, and the soul-body houses the divine
Spirit - all-purity, all-wisdom, something of God Himself.
And that cannot be expressed by anything on the physical
plane; it cannot be seen by the physical eyes. It is
as naught to those who look thereon, for only the eyes
of the spirit can gaze upon Spirit; but the Holy Spirit
itself is enshrined within. Sacred Temples each and
everyone.
-
"Think you, dear children, as to this: The outer
garment, oh, much attention is paid to that. The physical
body must have its comforts, its ease; it must have
many ministrations; and there are countless thousands
who, when they pass out of the earth-stage find upon
the soul-body the selfishness of the life that was
lived for the physical alone. Oh forget not that that
which you think, that which you do, that which you
desire, that which you deny - all this is shown upon
the soul-body. But again, forget not that the soul-body,
however distorted it may be, however horrifying to
look upon, however weak, however indicative of a careless
past, houses something which is holy, something which
is indestructible, that which is of the Creator Himself.
-
"Consider this, for time is fleeting. This world
has much to undergo. It has to pass through the wilderness-stage
and the crucifixion before the resurrection, in a spiritual
sense, can be made its own. And upon the earth-plane
there are millions of sacred temples, temples in which
God dwells; yet the owner knows not the truth, the
owner has not been taught. Oh, sorrowful is the thought
- the owner knows not that there is God within.
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"Cannot you see how great is the responsibility
of those who know, and how terrific is the responsibility
of those who know and teach not? You may wander far
upon the earth-plane. The beauties of nature may call
out from you your highest admiration. You look upon
the setting sun over a glistening sea; the birds soar
into the sky and song breaks from them and something
within you is freed for a space. But I say that the
finest beauties upon the earth-plane are but the merest
reflection of the beauty built up in the conditions
around you by the faithful thought, by the tender care
of another, by the wish to serve, by the desire to
do better today than yesterday. Aye, the glories of
the earth-plane are but dimness in comparison with
what you, little ones of my heart, can build up, by
the grace of God; for within there is all-power, within
you - caged, fettered, entombed may be - is the Holy
Spirit waiting to express Itself.
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"So then, I ask you to ponder upon this thought,
to put aside the books, to extricate yourselves from
that which is confined to the mental plane, and as
children to seek your God so that the golden doors
of wisdom may be opened unto you and you may pass therein.
For indeed it is true that when the body is no more
that which you have learnt, for the most part, will
be as useless to you. You will have emerged out of
the physical aspect, and you must re-learn, you must
change your sense of values; you must have another
interpreter, another teacher from the one to whom you
gave your deference when living as men and women upon
the earth-plane.
-
"The doors of wisdom cannot be opened by the gifts
of the mind. The doors of wisdom remain closed to many
a man who startles his little world by the unravelling
of so-called scientific secrets. The doors of wisdom
are closed to so many who have upon their altar the
god of intellect and worship at its shrine. But the
doors of wisdom are thrown wide open to the little
child who turns to her gentle Jesus, to the tired mother,
to the harassed father, to the young man in his uncongenial
employment, to the young woman who awakens each morning
to a day of ceaseless toil. The doors of wisdom are
opened to such as these, for out of effort, out of
suffering, out of the reluctance, out of the going
without - the Spirit within has gained something of
freedom, something of that sweet liberty which it longs
to make its own.
-
"So I come back to the thought: Sacred temples
- the sacred temples which are all over this little
plane. In outward guise they are different. Some are
beautiful to look upon, yet within there is disease
in a way that is horrifying when the truth is known.
There are other temples, commonplace, maybe, showing
naught of that which man admires so much; but within,
if the heart is pure, there is a radiance and a loveliness
inexpressible in earth language. There are temples
coarse in character, blackened by the sun. You name
such as these savages, yet very oft through that endured
by these children of God - the famine, the thirst,
the dangers of the forest, the diseases which they
understand not - very oft such as these pass out of
a blackened temple and find that upon the soul-body
glory is there for evermore.
-
"Sacred temples of the Most High. How are they
treated? How are they protected? What of the young,
what of the careless, what of the ignorant? Oh, cannot
you see that no tour of exploration could be half so
wonderful as the exploring of what lies within the
physical temple of some homely man or woman? God works
in mysterious ways, and within the reach of everyone
there is this great and glorious capacity to be as
the finest pioneer and, more than that, to be as great
as the greatest missionary upon the earth-plane.
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"Little children of the Light, hold up your light
and forget not that all around you there are those
whose light is indeed hidden under a bushel, and the
bushel is self. The time is coming when there shall
be power descending from the Most High upon the earth-plane.
The power of the Holy Spirit shall be cast to the right
and cast to the left, and in that hour, in that day,
no longer will it be possible to deny the God that
lives within.
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"Sacred temples of the Most High. Cannot you grasp
how wonderful is the gift that you each can have -
the treasure of humility, the grandeur of the powers
of Christ Himself, all awaiting release by that which
you are willing to endure? And forget not this, that
when the body is no more, upon the soul-body will be
marked your history - that which you did, that which
you forgot to do; and upon the soul-body of others
will be marked their weakness or their strength, and
in that hour it may be that you have to gaze upon another
who could have been helped by you, who could have been
saved uncountable years of suffering when the physical
body was no more. In this moment that which man names
'hell' is tasted to its fullest. If we had spoken,
if we had acted, if we had given the word of warning,
that one would be free instead of bound!
-
"Yet again I raise your thoughts above the sadness,
above the folly, above the selfishness of the child-souls
and the bondage of the physical mind, and I say unto
you: You are precious to God, infinitely precious to
God. You are sacred unto Him for you are His own. He
has given unto you that which is Himself, and though
the temple may be spoiled, though the temple may be
desecrated, though the temple may be cast aside by
those who know not its worth, yet within the temple
there is a second temple, and within the second temple
there is Divinity Itself.
-
"So I take my leave. I come in this same way through
the power of the Holy Spirit, sent by my Master Christ,
and as I spake to the children when upon the earth-plane
- to those who sat around listening to the words which
He had bequeathed to us - so I come into your presence
to give once again the simple teaching of the Master;
to underline and underline that the time must come
to each and everyone when they must go back over the
past and see for themselves to what use was the sacred
temple of the body put. Was it kept in honour of God,
or was it a monument to the bondage of self?
-
"These things, dear children, most be faced, and
our responsibility grows and grows as our consciousness
of the reality of truth is expanded. We cannot say:
'I was ignorant'. We cannot say: 'There was no-one
to guide, no-one to warn'. When the body is no more
we judge ourselves, and even the All-Compassionate
Heart cannot comfort us, for that which we did was
by our own free-will. God, as Christ, soothes and raises,
points to the part of retrievement, but our hearts
seem as broken, for we look back upon the record of
the past and the cry is wrung from us: 'I did it myself,
I did it myself!'
-
"Yet I dare not leave this thought upon your minds,
for it is not in harmony with Perfect Love. The Master
bids me speak in tones of reassurance, to tell you
once again that by work, by service, you can retrieve,
you can rebuild. That which you failed to accomplish
in the yesterday can be done today, and the tomorrow
is full of opportunity, full of spiritual opportunity.
Then arise, my children, arise and grasp your privileges;
and hold this thought closer, closer still: You are
as a sacred temple and within there is God for ever
and forever.
-
"The Holy Spirit is resting upon you even as in
days of old - that which you name the tongues of fire.
Oh, stretch out to God, draw unto yourselves something
of His power, something of His love, and go forth as
His messengers to do His work while yet the day-time
is within your grasp."
©GWCSA
GIFT
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