THE GREATER WORLD CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALIST CHURCH

THE ZODIAC MESSAGES

"THE GREAT INSTRUCTOR"

An address given 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 the Zodiac Circle on Saturday, 5th February, 1927.

1. "O PERFECT Mind of Love, we thank Thee with grateful hearts that Thou hast shown us something of Thy Love in our daily lives. Grant that this knowledge may expand, that we, loving each other, may be able to throw out our thoughts of love upon others, and they catching the warmth and the comfort of our thoughts, may in turn release that mighty power within and spread its radiance on those around.

2. "O Christ, how can we thank Thee for what Thou hast expressed to all mankind; how can we offer to Thee even that little which shall express the mighty debt we owe to Thee! Most Loving Friend, explain to us as we go on how wide a thing is friendship, how strong a bond is brotherhood; and grant that we, Thy little children, because we love Thee, may be able to express something of the gift of love to others! Help us, O Father, we entreat Thee, and gather us this night under the protection of Thy o'er-shadowing wing, where we may feel we are protected from the enemies within and-without.

3. "Continuing our work in faith, in perfect confidence that what is given to us is the very best, once more we thank Thee for Thy unlimited gifts. Amen.

4. "MY LITTLE CHILDREN, when we meet together in this way can you understand that your tender thoughts, your wish to get closer to Holy things, that this, as it were, opens a channel between you and the realms which are Spirit? And there are many this night, as always, far from you as you judge distance, who delight to send of their power into this little room, receiving not only the joy you give them, but indeed the blessing of the Creator Himself.

5. "Blind it seems at this stage, so limited, so hedged in by that which is physical, but when the body is no more, in conditions of Spirit you shall see what you have wrought by faith, though children in understanding.

6. "Yes! faith seems afar off to some. They have gathered other tools which, for the time being, appear equally useful and have powers more tangible than that of faith. But anon to-day passes and is gathered up with all the yesterdays; and the time comes when they stand alone and the consciousness creeps o'er them that they were betrayed by that which seemed to mean so much.

7. " - 'Faith' - cries the man bound by the world 'it is a delusion of those who have not cultivated their thinking powers!' 'Faith', cries the weary, troubled man of toil, 'each day brings its sorrows and God seems far away!' 'Faith', cries the aspiring soul, 'it is my all, and while I strive so I see that faith works miracles beyond the mind of man!'

8. "This, my children, I have ever taught you, but I have underlined that faith without effort is asking without giving ought in return. Faith with effort, with the wish to serve, with that quiet dedication of the real You within, that is a gift not only acceptable by the Father, but it enables Him to do that which He longs for most - to give to His little ones those gifts which never pass away.

9. "And so to-night, dear children, because we know Whom we serve, Who is the controller of our lives, I speak to you on THE GREAT INSTRUCTOR, and I build up in your minds some faint image of the task He undertook, when, laying aside His power, His Godhead, He came as a little child amongst mankind and they received Him not.

10. "Children, the task which lay in front of the Master of all - Who though Master, from the earth point of view was controlled by the world and killed by the world - the task which lay before the Shepherd was so gigantic in its nature that you and I, looking back over that which is called ancient history, we marvel how one could have dared to attempt so much. And if you remind me that He was God, then in turn I remind you that as man He triumphed, for He had laid aside that which represented His real Self.

11. "Oh, think you! as you go your daily way, how you would feel if such a call came to you? Picture that young man in His humble dwelling, with those around Him who had watched Him emerge out of helpless childhood into a measure of independence, how, first of all, He had to conquer their minds and to win not only their love but their willingness to believe that He was the Teacher sent to reclaim, sent to restore! Aye, think of it! - so difficult it is amongst those familiar, how quickly the retort comes: 'But who are you to instruct!'

12. "Yet Christ started His work, started that which should bring the redemption of the world, with the little home circle and the friends beyond.

13. "And then, dear children, this great problem faced Him- - who to choose, who to choose! The little life of the body is soon worked through and He had come to save the world!

14. "My children, cannot you imagine how brave a man was the Master when He walked amongst those who were strangers to Himself, and called to them by His Love not only to spread the Truth but to work for and to die for the Truth? And then there was that greatest test of all - to have faith in the Truth after the Truth in Person had passed from them.

15. "The Great Instructor looked amongst the crowd. And the people of that time can scarce be imagined by you in this age of order and arrangement whereby each, in a measure, is free from the other. In those far off days, as I have told you before, there were the few in power and there were the masses who fought an unending struggle to procure the necessities to keep the body for its daily toil. Yes, in that far off time we were face to face with a million problems which long since have been solved so far as this little corner of the world is concerned.

16. "There was the constant warfare one against the other; there were the differences of so-called Religion which made barriers impossible to surmount; there was an unbridgeable gulf between those with the possessions of the world and those without; there was the Law - an all-powerful weapon - which was used and abused on every side.

17. "Yet the Great Instructor came amongst such as these with His message of Love. The Great Instructor faced hate in a hundred forms, yet such was the power of His Love that amongst the masses - the so-called common people, there were thousands who loved Him if they could not grasp that He was the Lord God of all.

18. "And then, dear children, we think of those whom you name the disciples, and in regard to this, some of my children have questioned why the word 'apostle' is not used by those who come and speak to you in this way. Well, dear children, in God's sight all are His children and the only division is as this: There are the hearers and the doers, yet, as I speak, lo! those who heard but did not act, they have passed a span farther on and they are doers as well as hearers of the Word. Never forget that this is worked out, and must be, because God's Love rules all! The hearers to-day are the doers to-morrow; and when they act what form does their action take? Why, my children, to spread the good news so that others may hear and, as they hear, arise and become doers too.

19. "So we come first of all to those you name the disciples. They heard the Great Instructor and they pondered on His words, they had their ties, their friends; more than all, in their veins flowed the blood of those who had been bound by a thousand chains, and tradition had them in its grip in a way you cannot fathom because of the freedom of thought which appertains in this time. Yet they listened to the Great Instructor, and because He spoke of that which seemed so sweet, because He laid down a gospel of Love in place of that of domination and control, so they pondered within, and as they thought so the Spirit - which had been fighting long before - so the Spirit was able in a measure to guide and to lead them out of the past into the unknown future.

20. "They listened and they loved! Oh! believe, dear children, that as they listened so they loved, for that which you name the emanations of the real Self reached far beyond the body in which Christ dwelt. Their hearts awoke and their minds threw off the bondage which had held them, and because they loved so they drew close watching and wondering and hoping that it all was true.

21. "That is a point which many have overlooked. Children, when good news comes after a night of suffering there are many who hesitate to believe it for they are afraid there is some mistake. This was the attitude of the followers of the Master as they listened to Him, for what He taught was so contrary to that of the priests and the elders, the scribes and the Pharisees. He taught the 'humble heart', the little acts, the obedient will, while those of the world had passed on a message which was different in every particular.

22. "The Law of that time as regards the religion of the land, it was movable, it was buyable, if the sinner had within his possession sufficient to make excuse worth while; the greed, the avarice of those in high places is inconceivable to you, my little ones, who are content with little and love the simple things of daily life.

23. "Yet as I speak you can gather that there were the few who hungered for better things, who were conscious - although they could not frame it in words - who were conscious that these teachers were somehow betraying God. And such as these gathered round the Christ, and as He spake to them - so tenderly, so clearly, yet with that which you name the humour of the mind - as He spake to them, as the children they were, so joy filled their hearts, and the only shadow that was upon them was the question: 'Is it true?'

24. "They watched and they loved and, again, as they watched so the love within their hearts gathered to it reverence, and, again, as they watched, so the love and the reverence grew and that you call 'awe' was added as well. For He was mighty Who was so humble, He was holy in a way that Holiness had never been presented to them before.

25. "Children, you can imagine their sensations when those skilled in the things of the world, with minds sharpened by suspicion and fear, when these came to the gentle Stranger and sought by every means to prove that Truth was false; how they watched and marvelled at the replies which came so readily, for remember this: they knew not that the Spirit within the body had been released. They feared for Him - was that not like love? They would have hidden Him from the mighty ones, they would have 'protected' Him, as the children in understanding that they were.

26. "And then the pride which came from devoted love. They saw that the Master was able to answer even those questions framed with all the guile which those experienced in the Law could call upon. They watched His patience, they looked from the Beloved to His enemies, and they marvelled that those enemies were not won over by the love which the Master showed so plainly. And, little ones, there were those amongst His hearers, skilled in the knowledge of the earth, who fought down the love within their hearts because that which you name jealousy claimed first place.

27. "The Great Instructor taught and taught and taught, but He knew that very little that He said could penetrate into the physical mind at that stage, so unprepared were His hearers, so unused were they to getting beyond the narrow confines of that which they named the Religion of their day. But did the Master withhold His words because so many must fall on shallow ground? Nay, little ones, He spoke at all times, when He was weary, when sleep should have rested the fragile body, at all times when those gathered to Him, drawn by love, He put aside His weariness and spake, again.

28. "And then we come to those who carried on the great message of Love. The one who is dear to your hearts, he told you that had Christ's words, as spoken, been preserved, that ere this the Kingdom of God would have been upon this little earth.

29. "And Paul spoke a truth, for He suffered much and accomplished much. Yet, dear children, can you understand that out of this loss so God will bring gain? - for the hearers and the doers tried to follow the Master's instructions to the letter as their minds had grasped the teaching He had left with them.

30. "And when Love was taken from them so far as the body was concerned, these, His children - aye, children in a sense you scarce can grasp, unversed in this, ignorant of that, yet controlled by their desire to do as the Master had bidden - because of the power of the Holy Spirit so as these simple men spoke, the Truth - that measure of Truth which the physical mind could not grasp - poured through them and brought conviction to thousands who listened.

31. "They were greater than they knew. They were vessels used by God Himself to pass on that which was His will. And because the Holy Spirit was upon them, so as they spoke the limitations of the physical mind gave way and the Spirit, with its knowledge, its unuttered wisdom, was poured out upon the waiting throng.

32. "Yet, dear children, as you have been told, that was not possible in regard to the written word. There are many so placed. As they speak so they are inspired, so they are instruments used by those who have passed into enlightenment, but with the written word there was the battle between the mind of the body and the mind of the Spirit. And those with discernment, in reading the sacred Record, can put their finger on the freed vision, and on the mind which still held its fetters because its owner lived in a physical world.

33. "And then there was this: Before writing the words so they talked together, they consulted and they consulted, and I am directed by the Controller of us all to emphasise that when men talk together rarely is it possible for the Spirit to take that freedom which it desires.

34. "And remember this: They wrote the words for a people chained to tradition, bound by laws, steeped in that which you name superstition, and all the furniture round the Lord God Jehovah Who demanded much that was precious of the possessions of the world to be conciliated to His own. As they wrote so they considered within themselves this interpretation and that, and at times the Spirit triumphed, and at times, in little ways perhaps, the mind of the body took first place.

35. "Yet you say to me: 'Does not this make it all the more wonderful that these few followers grappled with such difficulties, that so limited and so restricted they were able to do so much?'

36. "Children, your love for those you name the disciples of the Holy One is as a gift which renews itself to them day by day. You say to me and you say to them: 'Oh, speak not against that which you accomplished, for to us you are sacred by the sufferings that you bore.' And they answer, using me as their spokesman: 'Little children, we have seen the Light! Little children, we have watched All-Holiness at work! Little children, the Great Instructor has given us of that wisdom which is of Himself, how then can we do aught but mourn, for we have seen Reality, and our efforts, our accomplishments appear as nothing!'

37. "Yet again you say to me: 'How does God regard them?' And I answer for them as for myself, that the All-Generous Father has blest us and blest us. He has denied us nothing! But, children, does not this again come back even as agony to the Spirit which is within, to think how much we take and how little we gave? - to think of the love we have called out from so many during the earth stage, our gifts, our treasures. Ah! little ones, with sight you will understand. You love us, and those with names so familiar they take of your love and thank God for it, but they, as others, say because it is true: 'We could have done more.' And as I speak the child I use feels even as a mother who would protect her young. Another gift because it comes from love, and love comes from the Great Source, and once more we raise our hearts in gratitude to God. Yet, little ones, we could have done more if we had understood what manner of thing was Life and the unending future which lay before us.

38. "So to you I speak as an instructor used by the Great Instructor and I tell you - because God's Love passes the imagination not only of the physical mind but even of those who are most advanced in that wisdom held out to all - I tell you that the Great Instructor delights in your efforts as He delighted in ours; and His message to you and to all is 'Pass on the Love of the Father for His children and forget it not'. And as we think of God's Love for us so, within us, part of the Great Instructor regains some of the Light which it had lost. All-Wisdom seeks to teach and guide and uplift, and we, because of this freedom, we talk to others; we pass on the privilege of the gift and they - at first hearers, then thinkers - become doers, for the Divine within has instructed the mind of the body how to act.

39. "This, little ones, is the great chain which was started in a time long ere this little plane was thought of in the scheme of things, amongst peoples inconceivable to you, in states and conditions which one day you will explore yet which are hidden even from your imagination at this time. That chain started with the hearers, the thinkers and the doers, and there has always been the few, perhaps at times the tiny few, who have held to God and who have sought to instruct others as to the gift of holding to God. And these in ways so ignorant and, as it would seem to you so ineffective, these in turn out of their limitations have instructed others still more limited; yet out of their limitations they spoke and gained a measure of freedom which, at this time, has so expanded that they are, as you would term it, angels of the Most High.

40. "The Great Instructor is in our midst to-night saying to you, saying to me: 'My love for you it changeth never. Go to the outcast, go to the sorrowful and pass on to them the gift that thou hast taken thyself.' This is our work, and this work when you are free will be seen as sacred indeed. The world calls with many voices. The Voice of God it holds first place, and He sends us amongst the bound, the imprisoned and those overwhelmed with the troubles of life, and we, as instructors in miniature - we are used by the Great Instructor to release, to inspire and to comfort; and only the comforters have interpreted the message aright.

41. "Oh, my children, let not your hearts be sad over the responsibilities of this work! Go back to the past and think of Peter, and how through the ages Peter has shown that the frail can be strong, that the impetuous can be patient, and that a courage can be built up which nothing can assail. Go back over the past and think of the boy Stephen. What did the mind of the body know? Very little, dear children, very little! But the Great Instructor was within, and boy that he was, as he stood up to face his enemies, so the Waters of Truth were poured through him and he saw his God.

42. "Children, I name but these two, because from the world's point of view perhaps they were the least equipped for the great work that they undertook, for when Stephen's body was destroyed so his example was written across the sky of time, calling to the young to be brave and to fight for Christ.

43. "Those others, equally loved by you, they knew not what they were doing, but in the measure that consciousness had come to them, it was the obedient will. The Master had left the Truth with them, and because love held they could not betray. The Master had warned them that suffering must be their portion, and when the so-called blows fell they gloried in the thought, for the wisdom within showed them it was another link with the tortured One.

44. "My children, you ask again and again why these great and holy ones come into your presence and seem to delight to converse with you. I say it is memory, memory of the past. They give holding nothing back, and all they ask is that you should feel towards them as you would to a loved friend, to one who would not fail you in time of need, one who understood you through and through. Not as saints, not as figures silhouetted against time and reverenced and hallowed because they kept the faith. Nay, little ones, that makes barriers, but say within yourselves: 'Such as these, so limited, so restricted, so bound by earthly things, they carried their cross, and I will carry mine too!'

45. "That is the link, and as you go your way remember always that Christ not only rules over the great worlds and the spheres beyond, but Christ is your Companion and is the One who loves you best of all. How then could He forget you, how then could He forsake you? - yet because He gives so much, seek to raise the standard of your gifts to Him, for as you aspire so you are drawn closer into His Holy vibrations, and, in the measure that you rise, sorrow in its many forms is kept beyond your radius. For Love conquers all, and sacrifice is joy, and burdens they are possessions. Linked to Christ by service as well as desire, by aspiration as well as His generous gifts, so you can pass through the clouds of physical life conscious of the sun which shines from Him upon you, certain that if you stumble He is there to save you ere you fall.

46. "The Great Instructor without and part of the Great Instructor within! How then, my children, can life offer terrors or distress of any kind? You are bound for that Home which is not of the earth, and each experience you surmount, holding on to faith and asking not that your burdens shall be taken from you - each experience brings you nearer to the desire of the Spirit within. And out of All-Brightness so brightness comes, out of All-Love so love fills your very being; and as pilgrims in very truth you leave behind you the sweetness of a life well spent, and others, catching its fragrance, shall be inspired to climb as well.

47. "That is the instruction of the Beloved of our hearts - His promise and the certainty of fulfilment, for you are part of Him and He claims His own; and all that He has is ours when we are ready to take of that which is Holiness itself.

48. "Now, my little ones, I will leave you. You give to me that attention which indeed is a gift more beautiful than the flowers which, to you, furnish this little room. So as I speak I take, and as you take so you give, and all is complete! And now I go...

(After others had spoken Zodiac returned and continued.)

49. ..."Well, dear children, I can but echo that God's will has been done on earth to-night; and I want you to feel that you, as instruments, have been used just as your Saviour desires, and that the seeds sown one day will show strength and beauty, because out of your little you gave freely of your best.

50. "Oh, my children, never forget when the voices come that if they say to you: 'This is good enough' or 'that will do!' that those voices come not from the Great Instructor within but from the destroyers without. You, little ones here, are protected in a way you cannot understand, but when you pass hence sorrow will claim you if you called upon that protection for anything but the Christ within. That is what the children of the earth are reminded of again and again.

51. "God's care in a million, million forms is around the individual life but so often the protection is stolen for that which, in itself, is antagonised from God. Claim protection for the Divine within, keep the close contact with your Father and Mother God, and though the enemies of the earth may strike, lo! your armour is complete.

52. "And when that Wisdom which is within is strong enough and free enough to function through the mind of the body, so then with sight you will look back over the past and thank God for your burdens, thank God that you prayed for the protection of the Spirit and not for protection from those experiences for which you entered physical life.

53. "And yet, dear children, I would not cast a shadow over the brightness of the future, for I should be falsifying Truth as I see it. I have told you, instructed by the Master, that before you as an avenue, opening wider and wider, is the scope of this sacred work - your precious opportunity, your privilege of service. So, dear children, if the trees at this stage cast a shade across your path, remember that it is but a shade, and no obstacles lie between you and attainment except those which you erect yourselves.

54. "I bless you in the name of All-Purity, All-Holiness, All-Love; and I ask you to hold fast to your precious treasure which is the desire to keep close to the One Who loves you best. That desire has been purchased by you in the past - it is the greatest possession ever gifted to anyone. I bless you with the desire to hold close to the One Who loves you best! God at this moment is increasing that desire, and the link between the Father and the children is as complete as you, little ones, at this stage can make it, but remember that in front lies the unlimited, and at each stage rise to the highest and cling to the best.

55. "Peace, understanding; understanding, peace, and they are one - God's gift to the aspiring soul.

56. "Goodnight! my little ones."

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”