BIBLE LESSONS By CHARLES FILLMORE. Lesson 12 - September 19, Review GOLDEN TEXT-So mightily grew the word of the Lord and prevailed.-Acts 19:20. The metaphysician should break the prevalent mental habit of retrospection, hence he does not review the past. This should be carried into every department of thought. The "good old days” are all right for those who liked that sort of thing, but for those who have caught sight of the glorious now there is no sighing for the past nor regret over its waning glories. The present is vital with living energies, and has in its keeping undreamed of possibilities for those who will grasp it and throw all the force of their minds into the declaration of their now present capacities to achieve all the desires of their hearts. He who has learned the dynamic power of his superconscious mind never wastes any time in grieving over wasted opportunities, nor does he ever lose a single volt of energy in thinking about past pleasures. It may be that the past has its lesson for the future act, but this holds good for those only who square their lives by experience. The spiritually minded drops all that binds him to tradition and precedent; they are of the earth while his life is henceforth to be cast in spiritual ways, that is in the consciousness of the Absolute. We are already in eternity. Time is a mortal concept. To the man who has this understanding, the Eternal Now is a reality, and he lives, moves and has his being in it. He is not limited by thoughts of the past or of the future, but is free in the consciousness that he is the Son of God, one with the Father. "If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." have no ending. It is safe to lay down a rule that you will not talk about the past. You are Spirit, and you never had a past. You are I AM and both the past and the future are concentrated in your now. You were never born; you will never die. You had no beginning; you will These statements are absolutely true of the Spirit, whose "image and likeness” you Then why not “walk after the Spirit?" If you talk about your physical birth, your age, your childhood and youth, you are gluing yourself to those conditions and will be bound to them until you rise up and deny them. Let go absolutely of all past recollections. Cast them as completely out of your mind as you did the water from the bowl in which you took your morning bath. Whether they have been good or ill it matters not. The consciousness must be cleansed of all its memories before the “mind of Christ” can find a resting place in it. Many people have trouble in concentrating their attention and ask why. The cause can usually be found in this realm of mind overburdened with useless memories. Thoughts occupy space, are alive and have a certain amount of intelligence. If you have not denied away the remembrances of the past, all of its thoughts are waiting recognition in your subjective consciousness, and when you go into the silence they come up by companies and by regiments and "speak their little piece.” "One thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." "Before Abraham was I AM.” Lesson 13-September 26 TEMPERANCE LESSON - Prov. 23:29:35. Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath to seek out mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, its color in the cup, when it goeth down smooth ly; at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. GOLDEN TEXT Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler; And whosoever erreth thereby is not wise.— Prov. 20:1. To desire to be instructed by God is the first step in exalting the Inner Scribe. The sincere desire of the heart is always fulfilled by the Divine Law. All the woes of humanity have their root in disregarded law. Man has many factors to deal with in his "garden." The most "subtle" is the "serpent, "or sense consciousness. It is not evil, as we have been taught, and there is no warrant for such interpretation. The allegory of 3rd Genesis plainly teaches that sensation is a blind force, and should not be regarded as a source of wisdom. In its right relation the serpent stands upright on its tail and forms the connecting link between the swift vibratory forces of the spirit and the slow vibrations of the flesh. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so must the son of man be lifted up.” In the body the spinal cord is the seat of sensation, "the tree in the midst of the garden,” and its branches extend to all parts of the system. The "fruit" of this "tree" which the desire for sensation (serpent) urges man to eat, is the seminal fluid, which flows throughout the nervous system, and is the connecting link between the mind and the body. When desire for sensation leads man to dissipate this precious "fruit" of the "“tree” in his earthly garden the whole nervous system is drained of its vitality and the spinal cord loses its capacity to conduct the higher life into the consciousness. Man feels a lack, he is “ naked.” Sensation is no longer a heavenly ecstasy but a fleshly sex vibration. It crawls on its "belly” and eats "dust" all the days of its life. That is it functions in the dryest, most lifeless part of man's being. Yet sensation is a Divine creation, it is part of the Lord God's formation, and must find expression somewhere in the consciousness. This brings us to the root cause of that appetite which craves stimulants and goes to excess in seeking satisfaction in eating and drinking. The cause is plain to be seen when we understand the anatomy of mind and body. Sensation is seeking satisfaction through the appetites. Through listening to this serpent of sense man becomes sexually insane, a glutton and a drunkard. The remedy is, turn away from the lusts of the flesh and seek God. Take up the problem from its mental standpoint. Sensation is a mental quality. It can be satisfied only by cultivating the spiritual side of your nature. If you are a sexual drunkard, deny the power of this ungodly lust over you. Pray for the help to overcome, then affirm your own power and spiritual dominion over all the "beasts of the field” in your "garden. When you have gotten the mastery of the sexual intemperance you will find the conquest of appetite easy. Simply deny all desire for material stimulants and affirm that you are satisfied with the stimulant of the Spirit. Whenever the desire for the material stimulant manifests itself say to it "You are nothing. You have no power over me or anybody else. I am Spirit, and I am wholly satisfied by the great flood of spiritual life that now fills my being." (Coffee, tea and tobacco drunkards are included in above, and should apply the same remedy.) Lesson 1- October 3 PAUL A PRISONER - THE ARREST-Acts 21:17-22:29 27 And when the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, when they saw him in the temple stirred up all the multitude, and laid hands on him. 28 Crying out ye men of Israel, help: This is the man that teacheth all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place and moreover he brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath defiled this holy place. 29 For they had before seen with him in the city Trophimus the Ephesian, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple. 30 And all the city was moved, and the people ran together: and they laid hold on Paul, and dragged him out of the temple: and straightway the doors were shut. 31 And as they were seeking to kill him, tidings came up to the chief captain of the band, that all Jerusalem was in confusion. 32 And forthwith he took soldiers and centurions, and ran down upon them: and they, when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, left off beating Paul. 33 Then the chief captain came near, and laid hold on him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and inquired who he was, and what he had done. 34 And some shouted one thing, some another, among the crowd and when he could not know the certainty for the uproar, he commanded him to be brought into the castle. 35 And when he came upon the stairs, so it was, that he was borne of the soldiers for the violence of the crowd; 36 For the multitude of the people followed after, crying out, Away with him. 37 And as Paul was about to be brought into the castle, he saith unto the chief captain, May I say something unto thee? And he said, Dost thou know Greek? 38 Art thou not then the Egyptian, who before these days stirred up to sedition and led out into the wilderness the four thousand men of the Assassins? |