WHAT IS THE MEANING OF: “BY GRACE ARE YE SAVED”?

One day, I posted on Facebook: “Grace and forgiveness can only be obtained by strict adherence to the Laws of God!”  Promptly, a friend responded: “If it is by adhering to the law then it is no longer Grace”.  He then went further to cite Ephesians 2:8-9. In the King James Version we read ^“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ⁹ Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Now, what is written in scripture also needs to be understood.

By grace are ye saved means: by the grace bestowed through the knowledge and adherence to the Laws of our Creator we are saved!  It is GRACE that we are permitted to know of the laws of God which was also explained fully to us by the Son of God Jesus. Great grace! This Grace came about by a great sacrifice.  Jesus descended from all glory to this low-level earth to proclaim the Will of His Father which shows us the way of salvation and redemption. A  Mission  so dangerous and made even more perilous  because mankind for whose benefit all the sacrifice was made eventually sided with the darkness to wage war against the Son of God leading to the dastardly crucifixion!

We are saved through faith means that when we come across the Word of Truth and embrace it even if at first through our faith and belief, our decision for what is good will establish the good in us leading us to a clear  understanding. Thereafter follows full conviction. Our belief which has grown into CONVICTION then leads us to conscious and victorious adherence to the laws of God as brought to us through the Word of Truth.

“Not by works” in the sense of the cited scripture simply means that we are not saved by following the dogmas imposed by men and their religions! Such religious dogmas are familiar: we must fast, we must not celebrate birthdays or Easter,  we must pray 39 times a day, we must go on some pilgrimage, we must not eat a type of meat, we must wash hands and feet  and must worship only on a particular day of the week! And so on…Tenacious adherence to such dogmas are the works Paul is referring to. These types of work cannot save us and are not to be compared to the works of repentance and works based on an adherence to the Word of Truth. For example, obedience to the Law of Love as explained by Jesus is real work. However, such work will save us! Imagine giving so must love to our neighbour to the extent that such a neighbour then changes for the better. That is pure love and service. That is living in accordance with the Will of God. Such works of love redeem us and lead us back to our Creator, Who is Love!

Salvation and redemption will come to us only in the Word of God which we must absorb, so that by

living in accordance with It, we may release ourselves from the bonds of wrongdoing that holds us down through misunderstanding and distorting the true concepts.

Let us therefore constantly stand in prayer to God for the strength to live in accordance with His Will, to grant us the power to carry out ourselves the works that count towards our salvation and our redemption!

ARE WE SAVED BY WORKS?

When we are told that we are not saved by "works" it means that works emanating from a robotic adherence to the dogmas of our religions will not save us!

We may say: Oh,  in my religion we don't wear gold, we don't consume pork, we must not work at all on a particular day, we must convert others, we must pray till we sweat, we don't celeberate birthdays, we don't celebrate Easter, we must do pilgrimage etc... All of these are works linked to the dogmas of our religions and will surely make us shine before our religious leaders but not before our Maker!

Paul in his epistles referred to such works and was quoted to have  said that  the "righteousness" based on such works is like "filthy rags!"

This conclusion of Paul however does not apply to works arising from a  heartfelt obedience to God's Primordial Laws! For example,  the Law of Sowing and Reaping is a Law of the Almighty.  Obedience to it is a necessity and will definitely liberate us! In the operation of this particular law, no one can stand in the place of another as each will have to bear the responsibility for what they think,  say and do! There is no escape for anyone except  total repentance! There is  no other way!

We turn around, change  from our evil ways first and then we obtain forgiveness. Works of repentance and works based on obedience to the laws of our Creator are works which are pleasing to God and cannot be compared to a superficial following of  religious dogmas earlier mentioned. It is the dogma based works  which are described as similar to filthy rags.

A clear distinction is hereby made between works that redeem and works that are lifeless and of no effect.

May we all be strengthened to work out our salvation by turning our back on sin forever and adhering in all honesty to the redeeming laws of the Lord of all! Amen.

ARE WOMEN AND MEN EQUALS?

Women need not seek to be equal to men as they already stand higher than any man!

However, there is a need for woman to know her real vocation as a true guide for humanity. Her influence from the home makes her so influential and so powerful. For example it is usually the case that every man aspires to be what the woman in their lives take them to be! What a great influence to wield!

Therefore, competing with men is like going half a step down! Let woman remain at her post and fulfill her Heaven ordained task as Priestess of Purity and peace will reign on this heavily troubled earth!

May women and girls of this earth recognise their high office!

WE WORK FOR THE CHILDREN!

That is the explanation for the struggles of so many people. They work so hard, make deals, and if they are in a vantage point, they use it or even resort to outright stealing so that they can provide for their children and even grandchildren yet to be born!

Let us free ourselves from this burden. It is unnecessary. We must consider that childbearing does not mean that you must deny the child the benefit of finding his own feet early in life. Through earthly birth, parents simply provide a physical body for the spirit of the child, the body being a tool for the child as he journeys on earth on the path to spiritual maturity which involves knowing the Will of God and making it a deed!

Once the parents have taken care of the child to the point where the child can take care of his own physical body, then anything done beyond that is a gift because the child is really an independent individual who is just a guest of the parents who have implicitly agreed by their voluntary act of love to accept this loved one.

If the parents live only for their children then they have missed the very purpose of their lives: the redemption of past errors, spiritual maturity and salvation. Just as parents have a lot of work to do on themselves, children too must realise that they are on earth to fulfill their own purpose and must seek to be independent of their parents as soon as possible and not revel in a sense of entitlement that is non-existent!

WHY DO YOU WANT TO BE A PARENT?

Do you think having children is the next thing to do after concluding your formal education and getting married? Do you think you need to have biological children to feel fulfilled and be happy? Do you also think you need children to carry on your legacy, and inherit your name, fame and fortune? 

If you have based your desire to have children on any or indeed all the above, please think again and consider that the questions posed here must be answered by anyone who is independent minded and inwardly free, who takes life on earth seriously and do not wish to live his life on frivolous grounds or live just solely in accordance to the customs and traditions of his environment. We must ask ourselves these questions before taking on the duty of parenting and keep them  in mind even as we continue the work of parenting.

If we consider in brief how children come to us, perhaps it will lead us to a new way of thinking about this matter. From the moment you and your partner seek a child and engage in an act of reproduction, you have thrown out an invitation to the many souls in the beyond ready and waiting to reincarnate on earth! These souls at times come with heavy baggage from their past lives that may later affect even the lives of the parents!  If we are careful and proceed prayerfully in this important matter, we can have a say in the type of child that will be attracted to us. Of course, Nature’s Law of attraction of all that are similar also play a part in determining the nature of the soul that will be incarnated into families.

Having said these, let us go straight into the valid reason for taking on this blessed role of parenting. The right reason for parenting can be found when we first understand the purpose of life on earth. The purpose of life on earth is simple: we are incarnated on earth in order to awaken spiritually and through experiencing here to grow from spirit seed to fully matured human spirits! Subsequent reincarnations offer us the opportunity to atone for our past misdeeds, cast off old faults and to mature further. All of these are achieved by coming to know, understand and live in accordance with the laws of God! It follows therefore that we should only seek to bring children into this world when we are willing to take on a strange human spirit into our family as a permanent guest, and willing to give the child the opportunity on earth to atone and to mature. That is the valid reason. All other reasons are beside the point and cannot replace the main reason.

May we be able to raise children not just to satisfy ourselves and our empty purposes but to raise them such that they too will come to understand the purpose of existence and live to the honour of the Lord Almighty!

TODAY'S MIRACLE WORKERS

A man goes and kneels before another. The one standing then tells the kneeling one what he ate last night, he goes further to tell stories about the circumstances of the kneeling one which are otherwise confidential. The kneeling one now assumes that the standing one is a man specially called to be a prophet, a man set apart to help mankind from their afflictions. He puts all his trust in him and in some cases practically becomes a slave to him. All decisions that concerns his life must first receive clearance from this “man of god”!

If the standing one has a gift to heal with the magnetism of his body which often can have a salutary effect by the laying of hands or other bodily contacts then he is proclaimed a miracle worker and followers will flock from home and abroad. He too will want to live up to expectations and begins to teach and preach; many a times offering empty words…

But what really is the value of the ability to see the ethereal world which is on the same level with man? What also is the value of the activities of the many so called miracle workers and healers? Many of them are not even endowed with real and beneficial healing powers but are people with low level radiation, who make many words and mysterious gestures, and who imagine they are accomplishing great things.

All of these may be of interest to the individual, but they operate within low limits. Receiving healing for physical ailments on its own do not translate to the true healing of the soul. Being able to see, hear or feel the invisible world have little or no value when it is a matter of the spiritual ascent and maturity of mankind! However, to ascend spiritually, to inwardly grow and mature, and to seek God’s Kingdom is the real purpose of life.

To be born anew is the real miracle! Let us seek this first!

IS LIFE VANITY UPON VANITY?

To encourage humility in us, many essays go overboard to paint a very pessimistic view of what happens after death. I read one of such posts that said: “A Former President Of United States had this to say, Hear him: When I think of the depth of the grave and the pounds of sand that will be thrown at us, no need to harm my brother. When I think of the darkness that will invade the grave after closing, no need to hurt my sister.” Etc.

The statements here would have been meaningful if man was only the physical body. However, man is much more than the physical body he wears when he sojourns on earth. His core is spirit! Life continues and each soul will receive the reward of how they have lived while on earth.  The physical body is what faces decay and not the soul which really continues to live in a better place if it lived in accordance with the Will of the Almighty whilst he lived on earth. A soul who has lived a life of disobedience will however find itself in dark regions of the beyond.

Some of the essays I referred to above also end by saying that all life on earth is vanity, vanity upon vanity! Is this true?

There is no one whose existence on earth is without purpose unless he makes his life purposeless! The purpose of life on earth is simple. We are here to learn the Laws of God, live in accordance with them and mature thereby! This knowledge of the Laws of God are not acquired by swallowing some religious dogma but the whole of Creation speak the Language of God and we have a duty to learn this so we can grow and have a life that is blissful, happy and peaceful even whilst still here on earth.

May we live a life of service and humility and live in a manner pleasing to our Maker!

“WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE” -- MEANING

The popular meaning which today has been given to the words “With God all things are possible”, do not belong to these words at all! The true meaning and the background of these words can be found in Scripture (Mark 10:26, 27). It happened that Jesus was talking of the high demands of the Kingdom of God on any man who wishes to tread the path leading upwards to Heaven. The disciples on learning of the Lord’s strict demands were amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?” We are then told that Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible”. 

Therefore, in the context in which they were used in the passage under reference, the words mean that the way of salvation though difficult for man, is possible to tread with the help of the Most High provided of course that the man has first decided firmly to follow the Holy Word of Truth!

A SENSE OF RIGHT AND WRONG

Some are deluded as to their sense of right and wrong. Do you remember the 9/11 attacks in the United States? 9/11 refers to the

Some are deluded as to their sense of right and wrong. Do you remember the 9/11 attacks in the United States? 9/11 refers to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. Perhaps the attackers even prayed moments before they committed their suicide attacks.

Mohamed Atta one of the attackers had a document in his bag which provide a unique insight into the psychological state of the 19 men who took over the doomed aircraft on 11 September 2001.

According to The Washington Post, this document urged the hijackers to pray, fast and recite the Koran so that fear of death would recede. There was also listed prayers to be said on the plane itself. When the hijackers stepped on board, they were to say: "Oh God, open all doors for me. Oh God who answers prayers and answers those who ask you, I am asking you for your help. I am asking you for forgiveness. I am asking you to lighten my way. I am asking you to lift the burden I feel."

The last prayer concluded: "There is no God but God, I being a sinner. We are of God, and to God we return." 

Obviously, these people believed that they were right and justified in carrying out their destructive act! Be that as it may, as man may try very hard to delude himself, the Law of Sowing and Reaping ensures that each person gets what he deserves without preference or prejudice and any injustice is totally ruled out.

LIVING IN THIS “WICKED” WORLD.

To kick-start a meeting with the Managing Director(MD) of a government Agency who was really being oppressive to him and his firm with regards to an assignment they were handling for the MD’s organisation, a learned gentleman spoke to the effect that he was not at that meeting as a lawyer but as a simple human being and suggested that both parties should consider the matter at hand as human beings subject to the Creator of all. The MD countered that he would rather take a “legal stance”!  Of course, that was just to retain his earlier oppressive and rather unfair stance. At that instant our lawyer knew inside of him that the battle had been won! The lawyer had tried to speak to the spirit of the MD but going by his response, the MD had most probably chosen instead to take matters intellectually. He hardened his heart as most people who have succumbed to the influence of the darkness do. A few months later he was removed, and a new MD solved the matter swiftly, fairly and amicably.

Most likely, you too have encountered people who shamelessly put their wicked ways on display. It may also happen that ill health, adversity or conflicts stare us in the face, and we feel certain that we are under the attack of evil people who hate us, who are strong and are connected to “principalities and powers”! Certainly, there are humans who have become minions of the evil one and operate as servants of darkness. Lucifer needs these people to work as his operatives as he himself cannot work directly in this world. We therefore come face to face with these numerous minions of Lucifer in all places, in families, in the professions, in society both religious and social, and in every walk of life. How are we to live with this reality?

I have good news! These dark and wicked slaves of Lucifer are inferior to any man who is striving upwards! Your strong, constant and unchanging decision to stand for the Truth and to be pure will activate a strong shield and armor which can be employed such that with your single act of will, an army of them will disappear without trace! They cannot withstand one who stands in the Light! So, the saving grace is to live by the Laws of the Lord Almighty. His Power that flows through us remains pure and potent once it is not passed through impure channels of impure thoughts, words and deeds. These three forms of our actions (thoughts, words and deeds) can be strong and impenetrable shield for us as well as spears to ward off attacks.

Therefore, let us live our lives with childlike and calm confidence in God our Heavenly Father and His Commands. The war we really need to wage is not with our perceived enemies but a war to conquer ourselves, our vanity, our own faults and adhere solely to the Laws of God. We should also avoid relying on astrologists, occultists, medicine men, and all kinds of “men of god” who give their clienteles nothing but disquiet which is the soul’s most dangerous enemy. No matter the outward storm, we should never allow such to cause us internal instability. Rather, we need to remain calm, prayerfully seek for guidance and clarity on the right steps and that it be given to us to act aright.

Our greatest shield and weapon remain: keeping our thoughts pure. This leads to pure words and deeds. That way, we will be victorious and  bring to ourselves nothing but everlasting peace and happiness!

THE POWER OF THOUGHTS (PART 5) -- CONCLUSION (d) LET US KEEP OUR THOUGHTS PURE!

In this concluding part, one wishes to bring to the fore, the importance attached to thoughts by the author of the Grail Message.  In seven lectures he called, exhorted (encouraged), and even adjured us to do just one thing: keep out thoughts pure! Produced here are quotations from the work In The Light of Truth, The Grail Message and the title of the lectures concerned: -

   1. ...I exhort you:

Keep the hearth of your thoughts pure, by so doing you will bring peace and be happy!

--Awake

2. Therefore I once more urgently exhort you, seekers:

“Keep the hearth of your thoughts pure and then, above all, exercise the great power of silence if you wish to ascend.”

--Silence

3. Do you now understand the value of my counsel to start exerting yourselves with all your strength for what is good, and to keep your thoughts pure? Not giving up, but pursuing this course with all your longing, all your energy? It will uplift you! It will change you and your environment!

--Ascent

4. “Keep the hearth of your thoughts pure, by so doing you will bring peace and be happy!”

--The First Step

5.  The foundation for the upbuilding of a new humanity, which you can­not and must not evade, rests in the one sentence: Keep the hearth of your thoughts pure!

--The First Step

6.       Therefore I call out to every seeker:

“Keep the hearth of your thoughts pure, by so doing you will bring peace and be happy!”

--Responsibility

7.   It is therefore necessary repeatedly to call out to all true seekers: “Give heed to the purity of your thoughts!” Put all your energy into this effort! You have no idea what you are thus doing; something stu­pendous lies in it! You can work with this like mighty warriors and pioneers for the Light, and thus liberate your fellow-men from the poisonous creepers that infest the world of thought-forms!

--Thought Forms

8.    Therefore I once more adjure all men: Keep the hearth of your voli­tion and your thoughts pure, and you will become peacemakers and be happy!

--In the realm of demons and phantoms

In this series, we have examined the power of thoughts; how they operate; what we are to avoid and the emphasis the Grail Message places on keeping our thought pure.

In closing, I wish to point out one practical advice from the Grail Message which can help us to avoid evil thoughts. And this is it: We should just think of the process of the pure Power of God always streaming through us then we will shrink from guiding this purity into the unclean channels of evil thoughts, because without any effort we can equally attain to what is highest and noblest. When we decide resolutely to desire only what is good and strive to give purity to our thoughts, we have found the way to Truth and to Life! The way to God!

THE POWER OF THOUGHTS (PART 4) (c) What to avoid

Let us start by gratefully acknowledging that the ability to form thoughts is a sublime gift from above!

With our understanding of the power of thoughts and how they operate, let us now consider those things which needs to be avoided so that we can make use of this gift aright since no one may trifle with gifts of the Almighty without harming himself.

First, we should be wary of confused thoughts and of all shallowness in thinking. Careless thoughts can debase us to the level of a playground for strange influences, through which one can very easily become morose, temperamental and unjust to his surroundings. Many for example are always thinking of enemies of all kinds and categories. Enemies emanating from their father’s family line, from their mother’s family line and enemies at the market place! If you proceed always with distrust and suspicion of everyone around you, the risk is that one draws things which are like these thoughts to oneself because thoughts too are subject to the Creative Law of attraction of all that is similar. Let us take a very simple example. False rumours spread that something is wrong with a bank which arouse the thought in many customers to rush to the bank to try to get some of their money out while they still can. The number of customers at the bank increases, as does their thoughts of annoyance and excitement, which in turn fuels the false rumours of the bank's insolvency and upcoming bankruptcy, causing more customers to come and try to withdraw their money. Really, the bank was not insolvent. But the rumour of insolvency caused a sudden demand of withdrawal of too many customers, which could not be answered, causing the bank to become insolvent and declare bankruptcy.  This is a classic example of self-fulfilling prophecies which come as harvest for those that sow negative thoughts. Negative thoughts simply attract negative results. Let us avoid it.

Again, many on realising the power of thoughts can be tempted to exploit it to serve their own selfish ends. Dangerous! Such are intellectual efforts and not the work of our spirit. Rather we are enjoined to let our spiritual intuition pervade our thoughts. We are to set free within us the urge for what is noble and good. This will then form that foundation for thinking which comes from the wish of our spirit. When we strive deep inside for only the good, and to live solely in accord with the Laws of God, this striving will affect our thoughts, and subsequently tame our intellect to obey our spirit and to do good as well. This way, even our intellectual plans and works will already be pre-influenced by the spirit and nothing wrong can develop!

The next essay is the conclusion titled:  LET US KEEP OUR THOUGHTS PURE!

THE POWER OF THOUGHTS (PART 3) (b) How Thoughts Operate:

The Son of God was reported in Mathew 5:27 & 28 to have said during the Sermon on the Mount: “You have heard… ‘You shall not commit adultery.’  But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

This means that it is not only the external action that can bring about guilt. Thoughts too, as invisible as they are, counts as action! How can this be? The Grail Message explains to us how thoughts operate in a way that clears all doubt and in a way that brings to remembrance the words of Christ in this regard to the effect that a lustful thought is equal to a lustful deed with attendant consequences!

In the lecture of the Grail Message titled Morality, we see pictorially the danger posed even if just one person out of 30 pure minded people in a swimming pool for both sexes harbours impure thoughts.  If this 30^th person stimulated by what he sees begins to nurture impure thoughts towards the object of his glances, then such thoughts will take on invisible forms, moves towards and attach themselves to the affected person and defiles the person even if nothing has been said or done by both parties! The person thus contaminated will carry this dirt away with the danger that this dirt can attract similar straying thought forms which are capable of poisoning and confusing the victim. Is this not scary? Of course, there is protection against the dangers posed by such thought forms, but that protection is for one who constantly strives for purity of thought and is inwardly anchored firmly to the centres of light-streams!

The visible deed, words and thoughts belong to the Realm of Gross Matter in this Creation! Thoughts operate in the World of Fine Gross Matter, words in the World of Medium Gross Matter, and visible actions take form in the World of densest Gross Matter. These three kinds of our activity are gross material!

Therefore, the forms of all three are closely connected with each other and their effects are interwoven. This means that a thought, automatically work­ing according to its nature in Fine Gross Matter, can strengthen words of a similar type in the World of Medium Matter, thereby producing more powerful forms. Going further, the thought gains more strength, continues to work on and eventually arises in a visible active form in the coarsest World of Matter, without the originator of the thought appearing to be directly linked to the visible action which may be carried out by someone else at another part of the planet!

No wonder then the Grail Message gave us a strong warning to the effect that not one single evil thought will remain unexpiated, even when it has not developed into a physical deed!

The next essay will discuss: What to avoid.

THE POWER OF THOUGHTS (PART 2) (a) The Power of thoughts:

Our thoughts are our act of will. What makes thoughts special is that they are endowed with spiritual power if they are deep. This is because real thoughts are glowed through by the inner perception of the spirit. Where this is not the case, such thoughts are cold and feeble. Thoughts arise through the activity of the frontal brain (large brain). No doubt, the brain perishes at earthly death but the thoughts it had generated which had received the radiations of a spiritual nature take on form and outlives the body.


The true self of the departed will then have to experience the thought forms it brought into existence during its sojourn on earth. If these thought forms are of an evil nature it will hold the departed in gloomy areas just like the nature of these thoughts. In the case of good thoughts, they form a path for happy experiencing in lighter regions of the beyond.


Even in the here and now, we are builders of our lives and environments. When we think of forming our environment with the three well known states of matter then our deeds are like the solid, our words the liquid and our thoughts are like gas that form a part and parcel of our environment.


With our thoughts we can guide Divine Power which streams through all that exists to good or evil purpose! Of course, we are fully responsible for the consequences through the well-known inflexible law of sowing and reaping.


Instead of a negative use of thoughts or just frittering it away, let us be creative with our thinking. The author of the Grail Message charged us to do something very great with our thoughts when he told us to create out of our thoughts the Holy Spear which fights for the good, heals wounds and furthers the whole of Creation!


Let us wrap up on this first sub-topic on the power of thoughts by taking a special note: through our wishes, our thinking and our inner desire we can poison this world and the beyond, or we may purify and uplift them towards the Light. Therefore, the Grail Message tells us “direct your destiny so that it may lead upwards through the purity of your thoughts!” The next essay will be on- How thoughts operate.

THE POWER OF OUR THOUGHTS (PART 1)

Are we tired of the evil, filth and wickedness all around us? Are we thirsting for a real change for the better in our lives, family and society? Are we willing to leave our agelong indolence and stubbornness and become pleasing to God? If we have answered “yes” to these questions, then we need to consider what role thoughts can play in our quest for the good, and the upbuilding of a new humanity that is pleasing to God.

I just checked, and I can inform you that worldwide, there are about 200 well known terrorist groups including Al Qaeda, Boko Haram and Hezbollah. We hear of mind-boggling corruption worldwide. We have also seen the extent to which morbid sexuality has led mankind. Same goes for all kinds of addiction including phone/social media addiction. How about the fake religious leaders? Daily Mail on January 10, 2014 published the story of a South African preacher who made his congregation eat grass to 'be closer to God' before stamping/marching on them. According to the BBC a church commissioned a report in 2004 which said that more than 4,000 of its US priests had faced sexual abuse allegations in the last 50 years, in cases involving more than 10,000 children - mostly boys.

All these acts are preceded by thoughts! But then, thoughts can also be the basis of spiritual upward movement and a healthy earthly progress. It is also important to know that many are implicated in the deeds mentioned earlier just because they have contributed to those actions through harbouring thoughts of a similar nature even if they have not carried out the acts themselves. While the earthly justice system can deal only with those who carry out visible deeds, many others who have contributed in thoughts remain behind the scenes but are liable before the laws of creation. With this knowledge, we need to keep our thoughts pure so that we do not become implicated in the many crimes and sinful acts that are perpetrated on earth today and which we might even detest in our innermost being.

We will contemplate our topic by means of the following 4 sub-topics:


1. The power of thoughts;


2. How thoughts operate;


3. What to avoid and

4. Let us keep our thoughts pure!

These 4 sub-topics will be treated in the coming essays.

THE ART OF GIVING.

We will be giving in the right way if we are able to give to our neighbour with our being.

This is not about giving only money and material gifts else those who are not money-rich will be excluded from giving.  I am pointing here to giving to our neighbour with our being. This is voluntarily giving respect and understanding to our neighbour. When we do this, we are really helping our neighbour as this type of love inspires our neighbour to change for the better and improve.

One can imagine how tasking it can be to preach to one's spouse, siblings, children etc. They know us too well! What can you then say to these group of neighbors? We can impact on them too by the type of love described above.   The love which we give with our being and which can make the loved one become a better person!

May we be strengthened to be able to love in this way!

HOW DO I TELL SOMEONE WHO IS LIKE MY MOTHER THAT SHE HURTS ME?

An objective heart to heart and frank talk should help here. Demonstrate your love and respect however more from your ways with her. Show your love by the respect you voluntarily offer her, show her understanding. Show you care. Help her. Give to her by your being available, with a listening ear and with getting things done for her even if it is some household chore. Support her. This does not necessarily mean throwing money around her but just give of yourself, of your being. It is this kind of love that can have the effect of changing her or indeed anyone you treat with genuine love. Remember that what you do for another you do indeed for yourself because the fruits of all we think say or do will come back to us without fail!

Let us also bear in mind that all of us young and old are here for a time of schooling in the School of life. An interesting school. We thereby gather experiences which makes us understand the Laws of the Almighty.

In all our interactions we need to put this into consideration. With a deep understanding of the Laws, we will be able to understand why we are going through the experiences we are now compelled to go through and we will be better able to cope. We must be prayerful and seek strength to pass through without committing fresh wrongs that can later burden us.

We also need to take precaution that we do not even allow others to oppress us by being doubly watchful. Where all precautions fail, we should be contented in the knowledge that where the need is greatest the Lord's help is nearest to us. We should however avoid acts of anger, words of resentment and thoughts of hate. Even in the long run if we need to take any inevitable steps then such steps must be taken out of love.

Overall, one should never allow evil to prevail, but we must strive always to use the good in us to conquer evil.

We should draw consciously from the power that streams through us and use it only for the good. We will succeed if we remain alert and act solely out of love and not from hate.

HOW DO WE FORGIVE?

So, how can we be sure that we have truly forgiven a person who has wronged us?  What are the practical steps to take so we can really forgive?

Forgiveness is the act of freeing the person who has offended us. It is freeing them form our resentment, anger and our insistence that they pay back for the wrong or the debt they owe us.

However, forgiveness does not mean that we must pretend that we have not been wronged. We can recognise the wrong but choose not to insist on revenge. However, we need to let the offender know exactly how we feel about their actions without rancor and insults. Where they have been rude to us, we need not be rude in return but tell them firmly that such actions are not welcome by us. No pretenses. We should also not allow others to take undue advantage of us. For example, a person borrows from us, promises to pay back but refuses to pay back eventually. We have every right to demand a repayment. Where they still fail, and keep begging that we forgive the debt, we may forgive such debt but should not feel compelled to lend them money in future. We need to protect ourselves from being maltreated.

Of course, we should be ready to forgive those who are penitent and who show that they are willing to change. Now, how about those who have wronged us and are not ready to apologise? We should not condone the actions of such recalcitrant ones. However, we need to save ourselves from feelings of rash anger and thoughts of revenge. Such things as anger and revenge will only make us incur a fresh debt ourselves and this is not what we desire. Let us leave such wicked ones to the operations of the laws of creation which gives to each according to his works.

In all, let us not allow the sun to go down on our anger but endeavour to forgive. After all, it is beneficial to keep our hearts free of resentment, bitterness and anger. It is good for our health and it keeps us free from doing that which is wrong.

FORGIVENESS

QUESTION:

In a recent Post, you wrote: “Forgive your enemy! If you curse him and he dies, do you realise he can still continue the enmity from the beyond? Free yourself!” I do not understand how a departed soul can continue enmity from the beyond. Can you expand this please? I will appreciate it if you do. Thanks very much.

RESPONSE:

The departed ones are still living human spirits just  like us on earth! The main difference between them and those on earth is that they have discarded their physical bodies.

On leaving the flesh, the departed one simply changes his location from one part of Creation to another part. The departed is held fast to the environment in the beyond which corresponds with the way he has lived his life while on earth. So, there are communities in the beyond for those who relish bearing false witness, for those who are robbers, hoodlums and so on. These areas are dark and each one tries to inflict harm on the other thus creating for themselves spheres of great suffering! These are the regions of the beyond which have come to be recognized as hell.
 
Those who are noble minded will however find themselves in the regions of Light in the beyond and they continue to work with those of like nature for the further maturity of their spirits.

Once we see that life continues after earthly death, then the riddle of how a departed soul can continue enmity from the beyond is solved. A person who has suffered an injury in the hands of another reserves the right to forgive the offender. If this is not done, then the matter remains unresolved until the offender bears the consequences through the workings of the Laws of creation. The matter remains fresh regardless of the departure of one or both parties. The benefit of forgiving others is already made known to us in the Lord’s Prayer that tells us that we will receive forgiveness as we forgive those who trespass against us. So, when we forgive others we are  freed from the invisible bonds imposed by relentlessly pursuing revenge.

We should strive to recognize that Creation is one. The different spheres of existence in Creation can be visualized as different countries belonging to one continent. Therefore, those who depart this earth do not simply cease to exist but have relocated to another part of Creation.