Why do bad things happen to good people?

This question is usually asked because majority of people will never want to accept that they bear the responsibility for whatever happens to them. Some believe that time and chance determines everything. Clever religious ones will hide under the erroneous belief that the Almighty acts as He wishes, His ways being unexplainable! Easy going ones embrace such beliefs as these require nothing more but blind faith which of course is unsound and wrong.

In answering this question in the Light of Truth, we come face to face with the adamantine Law: “What a man sows he will reap many times over!” Man bears spiritually the responsibility for everything he says and does and this includes his thoughts which ordinarily no other human being can see. It is therefore an erroneous presumption to conclude that a person is good just because we see the activities he shows to the world whereas his innermost thoughts remain hidden from us.

This Law of Sowing and Reaping ensures that each person gets what he deserves without preference or prejudice and any injustice is totally ruled out. However, one of the mistakes so many people make is to believe that all happenings can be accounted for in only one earth-life. If this were true then Justice would naturally require that the combined causes, effects and reactions must occur during the span of one earth-life. When we turn away from this error, we will discover the logic and justice in everything that happens.

What we experience now can be a reaction from former debts and if we go through it with the right attitude, we are released from the debt. Apart from this, obstacles can be put in man’s way to teach and develop him in which case he adds to the means of his spiritual progress or ascent. In either case, these experiences help man to advance and works for his good. Furthermore, some can be born into families with hereditary diseases because through the Law aforementioned, they need such diseases for redemption, for purification or for advancement. In some cases a soul may have volunteered to come to this world for a specific mission to help some particular persons or to engage with some others in some beneficial work for all mankind. Out of his free will the soul accepts in advance all that will happen to it on earth, so there is no question of injustice.

Finally, since the Laws of the Almighty Creator works only in Love and Justice then the answer to this question which is often asked is this: what we see as the adversity of the obviously good people are in fact the reciprocal effects of former decisions which must now strike them!

What is the meaning of the parable of the prodigal son?

The parable of the prodigal son can be summarized as follows: A certain man had two sons. The younger of them asked his father to give him his inheritance which he later wasted through riotous living during his stay in a distant country. He soon became poor and had to work as a caretaker of pigs! After much suffering and nearly perishing with hunger, he came to his senses and decided to go back to his father who subsequently accepted the son back amid great rejoicing!

This Parable like all the other Parables of Jesus the Son of God must be understood not in the earthly but in the spiritual sense.

The prodigal son in this parable represents mankind. Man has his origin in Paradise the Spiritual Realm where he starts as a spirit seed. Paradise is symbolized by the father’s house in the parable. The young man’s journey to a distant country in the parable can be likened to the journey of man as spirit seed from Paradise to the earthly school where he is meant to mature and subsequently go back home to Paradise as a fully matured human spirit.

However, for most spirit seeds the time granted for this necessary schooling is frittered away in vanity, immorality and running after earthly things like the riotous living of the prodigal son. The result of such a way of life is unhappiness, lack of fulfillment and lack of contentment just like the poverty and hunger suffered by the prodigal son in the parable.

It was only after his repentance that the prodigal son’s journey back to his father’s house began. The lesson here is obvious. The parable shows that contrary to the erroneous belief that the guilt of men can be heaped upon the Son of God; the only way mercifully provided by God’s Love for man to obtain the forgiveness of his sins is repentance.

The way of repentance and continuous obedience leads back to the Kingdom of Heaven from where we came to the earth. This time however, we will through the experiences gained on our way, go back fully matured to participate in the joyful activity of other blessed human spirits who already live in Paradise.

Therefore, one of the admonitions in the Grail Message is that we should strive for the ability to enter the Spiritual Realm so that there will be joy over us as already indicated in the parable about the prodigal son!

Can destiny be changed?

Destiny can be changed.

Our activities form our destiny. Our activities include our thoughts words and deeds. Each of these are seeds that we plant every moment and they are nurtured through the workings of the Laws of creation such that at a definite time we will have to reap what we have sown earlier on as seeds. As an example, a person who nurtures envy in a relationship may not expect to reap happiness from that interaction. On the other hand acts of kindness will bring us a harvest of peace. So, we can only expect results that are similar to the earlier seed. The Law that brings these about is the Law of Sowing and Reaping, the Law of Reciprocal Action. This Law speaks of the Justice and Love of the Creator and makes man the architect of his own fate or destiny.

Therefore, what a man burdens himself with can only be redeemed by none other than himself alone. Before there will ever be a change to this, the Law of Sowing and Reaping will have to be amended but this will never happen! What then is the way out especially for many who have spent more time sowing seeds that can only bring them multiple harvests of bitter fruits? Repentance and the firm volition for what is good will lead to redemption! First of all, a complete inner change has the effect of putting a stop to the unwholesome habit of acquiring further debts. He can then begin his upward journey.

As he goes along, he must engage only in planting good seeds which is a sure way of attracting help to strengthen him in his new way of life. He and even we can make a start here by keeping our thoughts pure. A huge task but the rewards are that we will reap peace and be happy. It will lead to pure words and deeds which in turn will lead to bountiful harvest of forgiveness of our past negative actions. The result or harvest of our past activities will come no doubt due to the effect of the Law of Sowing and Reaping but the sustained resolve to be good also forms a formidable covering and protection for us that prevents the onrushing reciprocal action from having full effect or any effect at all depending on the level of the inner change. This is the way to obtaining forgiveness and attaining to a change of destiny! It goes without saying also that a person who has initially set out on the right road can through willful change to a wrong course alter his destiny negatively.

Let us always give thanks to the Author of the Laws that makes it possible for us to judge and also redeem ourselves.

How true is it to say "with God all things are possible"?

The Almighty is Omnipotent! He is the Source of all Power. This Power created all Creation, maintains, sustains, heals and develops it. In addition, the Lord God is Omnipresent and Omniscient.

The all powerful and ever living God in His Power and Wisdom also created the Laws that maintains His Creation. These Laws are the expression of His Will. He speaks and manifests to His creatures through these Laws which are perfect and do not change! Because these Laws do not change all Acts of the Almighty always corresponds to earlier Acts. There is no arbitrariness in everything that proceeds from the Lord.

Some believers think that the Almighty can do everything and that with His omnipotence He can act arbitrarily. This is not so. Arbitrariness is an attribute of humans who in their weakness and foolishness try to show off their abilities in this way. The Lord is however perfect and His Laws are the same yesterday, today and forever.They do not change. So the Lord will not for example go contrary to His Laws,or do anything impure, unjust or act out of hatred.

God is Love, Just and Holy!

The Mission of the Son of God

Many believe that the sole purpose of the coming of Jesus was to come and die in order to carry upon Himself the sins of mankind. Some say that He could have saved Himself from the agonising death. The fact that He did not come down from the cross means that the crucifixion was the main reason for His coming.

But the Mission of Jesus is higher than this. He came to save man from sin through the Holy Word of Truth He brought from His Father.This Word is the Way, the Truth and Life. Anyone that lives by this Word will be saved from the shackles of sin!The Word saves.Those that abide by It are born anew as they receive Power from the Word to leave the old and begin a transformed life.

The crucifixion stands on its own and it came about because of humanity's ingratitude to the Hand of Love extended from the Highest Heights. The Words "Father forgive them for they know not what they do" already shows that the act being carried out at that time (the killing) was a sin.

May we be endowed with the grace to live strictly in accordance with the Words of Jesus, which He brought to us at such a great price!

Weekends...

It’s another weekend! Days to relax and gather enough strength for yet another week of our life! But how are we to relax? Is it by drinking, dancing, gossiping and wasting time? Is it only by sleeping by the beach side, playing games and rollicking with family and friends?

Well, the foregoing without more will not give us that satisfying refreshment that we long for. Some of these activities may even leave us sullen and heavy. This certainly is not our aim. We have laboured for a number of days. We have attended to our material needs and earthly goals. Maybe we should consider using the days of rest to review the work days, survey them in our mind’s eye and draw lessons from the experiences of the recent days. The lessons we talk about here are those that will help us mature as true human beings.

If we do this we will grow steadily in the material and spiritual sense and would have used our days of rest wisely. May we be able to obey the Commandment that demands that we remember the Sabbath (day of rest) to keep it holy!

"For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory, for ever and ever, Amen!"

Since the main body of the Lord's Prayer consists of pledges to our Maker,it follows that we have to live this prayer! The prayer must become a living experience for us (not just a set of words that we rattle off!)

This last part of the prayer comes therefore as a jubilant expression of our reliance on the Omnipotence of God. It is a confession of total trust in the power which the Lord bestows on all who trust in Him - the power to do all the things that has been promised at the feet of The Almighty by the praying soul!

When however, we live our lives in fulfilment of the pledges in the Lord's Prayer we are on the way that leads to the Kingdom of Heaven, the Eternal Gardens of the blessed. Therefore, this prayer is at the same time a staff that supports us in our life's journey.

May we live accordingly!