THE GREATER WORLD CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALIST CHURCH

THE ZODIAC MESSAGES

"WORKING OUT OUR OWN SALVATION"

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 the Zodiac Circle on Saturday, 16th October, 1926  

1. "Most understanding Saviour, we thank Thee that we can come to Thee whatever the past, whatever the present, and in coming receive not only Thy blessing, but that Love which nothing can quell.

2. "O Christ, remembering the earthly way, Thou canst enter into all our fears, all our apprehensions, all that conflicting war of doubt which surges against the human mind. Because Thou hast worn a body of flesh, Thou understandest the little children the way seems complicated and the lessons hard to learn; so tonight we ask Thee to give us that greatest blessing of all - comprehension of the journey in front, realization that the present is but building up for the future, that the little tasks we do today are preparing us for that work which Thou hast reserved for us in the sweet by-and-by when illumination is all around.

3. "O Christ, help us to learn our lessons and, above all, teach us how to come to Thee, our most loving Instructor, and to take from Thee not only the strength to learn, but the balm which shall wipe out the remembrance of the pain entailed.

4. "Father, we thank Thee, and we ask Thee to use us once again to bring comfort and revelation to others, and to prepare the way for all that mighty manifestation of Spirit which Thou art waiting to bestow.

5. "Father, we thank Thee.

6. "My children all, tonight we meet together in love, in sympathy, and in the desire to so combine our forces that we shall provide for the Creator that which He will use again and again.

7. "Perhaps to some it sounds rather an audacious thing to say - that His little children can provide anything for the Lord God of all; but oh! if you could once grasp how your Father regards you, so you would see that He delights in your efforts, He delights when you, out of the greater consciousness within, set into being that power which is Spirit force.

8. "And tonight, in this little room, by your fellowship, by your wish to aid each other, so could you see it, you would find that something resembling a golden cloud, aye, touched with rose, was flowing out beyond these walls; and it will be caught in those realms where Light is scarcely known. A little illustration of power.

9. "You cannot grasp how, within, there is the capacity to create for God; but out of the gift which is of Himself you can give back to the generous Bestower; and render Him aid in that missionary work which must go on until every straying sheep has been gathered back into the fold of Love.

10. "Tonight, my little ones, it has been ordained that I speak to you on that which you would call: 'WORKING OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION', and to that I bracket the statement that 'whatsoever a man soweth that must he reap'; yet, my little ones, no consternation should be caused in your minds by the seeming sternness of those decrees.

11. "You and I have been introduced to God as He is, in that measure that we can understand, and we have learnt that the Creator, the Lord God of all, is our Father and Mother combined, is the One Who never misunderstands us however much we may misunderstand Him. So, my children, keeping the Love-aspect of God in the forefront of your mind, so we will talk together for a brief space on that which each one must face, if not in this world of sense then in other conditions, some, alas, less favourable to development than your little earth

12. "I have underlined - and especially when last we met together - I have underlined that the 'Redeemer' side of God has scarce been grasped by man. That from the beginning, when those of His children turned from Him to that which was the second best, so from that moment the work of redemption was commenced. Yet, because the Lord God gifted mankind with freewill, so also He cannot interfere with man's inclinations, with his many desires, with his folly and his confidence in himself.

13. "And then I bring you back to your own lives, in the sense that I would use a little illustration common to all to indicate, in miniature, how your Father God is placed in regard to His children.

14. "You see, my little ones, that with your own children the time comes when they must go to school, and sometimes it happens when perhaps the previous training has been resisted, that the learning processes come very hard indeed. The will is difficult to curb, aye! a thousand things distract the attention, and the parent grieves over the tears which the learning of the lessons provoke; and because love dictates, so the mother draws her child to her and she goes over the points seeking to make the difficulties clear, hoping by her sympathy as well as her desire to help, that that which seems so obscure may be made the possession of the little one she loves so well.

15. "But, my children, no parent, however great the affection may be, can learn any lesson for their child. They can instruct, they can explain, they can reason and they can help, but the time comes when the child is forced to have those facts embedded in the physical mind. Without them it cannot get on; without them its progress is barred.

16. "So, my children, transfer your thoughts from yourselves and the other mothers whom you know, and think of the Great Parent, how, over the centuries, He has instructed, directed and guided, and again and again reasoned with His children so that the difficult processes of the acquirement of experience may not only be shortened but may be sweetened as they go.

17. "I have told you ever that the journey of the spirit of necessity must be long, that the hill to God, again of necessity, must be steep, but have I not added as well that there are countless helpers all around, and the hardness and the steepness can be ignored if you will take Christ into your confidence and learn of Him.

18. "That which man calls the Atonement has raised many difficulties on every side. Reason argues: How could one, even God, atone for the sins of the whole world? And there are others who, while holding in their minds that whatsoever a man sows that must he reap, still affirm that Christ on the Cross 'atoned' for the sins of humanity.

19. "Children, consider! What does that word mean? To atone suggests not only a sacrifice but also that there is a Being of power who demands that sacrifice; that there is one to be propitiated, one whose wrath must be assuaged. Atonement - think you again! Is there anyone who can atone for another? They can suffer for them, ah yes, and they suffer in a measure far greater than perhaps the culprit realized until too late. If by that word 'Atonement' suffering is meant, then I say to all, that Christ suffers for us in a way impossible to be grasped.

20. "That He forgives us our weaknesses and our failures is taken for granted, for where Love is, unforgiveness or forgiveness are unknown. Where love is, even among the primitive children of the earth, unforgiveness can find no place, for love being Love, brooks no rival.

21. "That word Atonement has mislead so many. Your Father and Mother God would gladly learn your lessons for you if that were possible, but in so doing He would be depriving you of your greatest gain. Sweet it is to have gifts from those we love, yes, but they are gifts and the soaring soul longs to give some little thing in return. All-Wisdom has the traversed the path, that journey of the spirit with His children each one. He has shared their sorrows, He has born their griefs; but if those sorrows and if those griefs had been absent from their lives, so, little ones, the wonderful experience which they bring could not be their own.

22. "You cannot take of another's experience unless you too have suffered; you cannot get that illumination of the Spirit, that higher, purer wisdom, unless you have been willing to work through the earlier stages, to make your own the knowledge of this and the knowledge of that; for lo, though the Light might be gifted it would but shine on darkness, and that darkness would be too resisting to give it place.

23. "So simple is God's Truth, but man has complicated that simplicity, and in so doing has lost the greatest gift of all - that close contact with Love, that link with the Holy Spirit which God meant should be within the scope of all.

24. "Children, in those days when the Holy One trod the earthly way, power in a way unimaginable by you held first place in the thoughts of man. It is not easy to take your minds back to those early days when there were so many restrictions and barriers between the masses and those in authority. Life was cheap; the only law which was recognized as unanswerable was the law of property, of possession. Justice, if you can call it thus, was meted out chained by a thousand traditions, suffocated by a million desires, and those who held the power wielded that power in a way terrible to behold.

25. "And in regard to that which you name Religion, fear played a very great part. The attitude of the individual towards his God was that of conciliation, that of the presenting of gifts, that of turning the wrath of the Most High by the offering up of the spoils and the treasure which they had brought to themselves by methods which were against the Light.

26. "I find it difficult to present a true picture of that time, but that which you call disease was rampant, and the disease was of the mind as well as of the body.

27. "Those who were in authority not only wrested from their victims that which they thought was their rightful due, but through fear and by the force which lay behind the fear, so tyranny in every form was the order of the day.

28. "And this, dear children, relates in a measure greater than you can grasp to those who named themselves the representatives of the Most High. I have told you before that here and there was a pure heart, a faithful heart, but these were so sadly in the minority that their voices were never heard.

29. "It was necessary to build up in your minds some picture of those times, so far away to you yet even as yesterday to myself. Those who loved the Master had been trained from babyhood in that attitude towards God which held fear instead of love, conciliation instead of confidence.

30. "My children, those whom you love who have spoken to you direct have gathered here tonight to give me of their strength, and they entreat me to underline so that all may read, that, obsessed by traditional thought and the habit of regarding God, it came naturally to them that the Master was the living sacrifice offered up to propitiate that great and awesome Being who ruled all worlds.

31. "Yes, though His disciples loved Him with a love which penetrated heart and mind, they understood Him but little. The love-aspect of God in Christ was so hard to grasp. As a man, ah yes, they could understand love between man and man, but love between God and man was something entirely beyond their comprehension. Jehovah, the Lord God of all, the Ruler - He issued His instructions and He laid down His laws, and His children in disobeying opened themselves to a punishment greater and more frightful than the human mind could conceive. That was the general aspect of the Creator: fear held the place of love and fright instead of confidence in His promises.

32. "Oh, my children, let not your hearts be sad over that far-off time and the gigantic difficulties which those who loved the Master encountered on every side, for lo, the comforters were around, helpers in plenty, and though they suffered, yet the consciousness remained that that suffering was their greatest gift of all.

33. "And then I bring you back to that statement which, as it were, lies side by side with the thought of the Beloved as the propitiation for sin: 'Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap', and this great revelation which came to the one you love so well, this indeed is true in many aspects not yet considered by the mind of man.

34. "Why is it that so often these statements are used entirely to express censure and so seldom to express encouragement? You have it plainly stated that whatsoever a man soweth that shall he reap; and think you of the million little seeds put in by the individual - a kind thought here, a compassionate desire there, the wish to do better, the craving to help on that cause and this for the succouring of humanity. Tiny seeds perhaps, ah yes, but I say that there are countless thousands who after they have passed out of physical life look back over the field which represented their earthly experience and see, with joy, that although the weeds grew up yet there were flowers too; that though tares appeared amongst the wheat still the wheat stood firm, and by God's overseeing care they reaped that which they had sown in ignorance, they gathered in the flowers and the good grain. And these, having created for themselves, have the gift of recreating for others those possessions which remain for aye.

35. "My children, you are entreated by the One Who loves you best to work out your own salvation; for the Saviour is a Saviour in very truth, and what you have overlooked perchance, or have allowed to slip aside, lo, because He is your Redeemer He has made it possible - by a little sorrow here, by a little anguish there - to make that omission as though it had never been.

36. "That is the secret to your life, that is the clue to your troubles, that is the explanation why to the soaring soul that which represents grief comes so close. So simple are the ways of God, so saving, so redeeming, so inexpressibly like Love. And you, when you look around amongst your friends and see this one hard beset and that one harassed by much which frets, say to her, say to him: 'All is well! You are greater than you understand; you are stronger than you would dare to hope. You are working out your own salvation, yet let it not be with fear and trembling but with faith and trust in God!'

37. "Ah, my children, you see again how traditional thought comes out in that sentence: 'Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling' (Phil. 2:12). The mark of authority, of the Ruler, the Judge and the Condemner! Now those, once bound, are free; those who had the half-light have the full illumination; and they are pouring down upon you tonight their gifts, hoping thereby to still further release the Divine within, so that you too may go out to that which represents your little world and spread the message of God's Love.

38. "Oh cannot you understand that the Saviour would learn your lessons for you if He could, but He knows that in order to make anything our own it must be learnt ourselves. Yet, dear children, think not of Him as standing aside criticizing your feeble efforts, but rather remember that which He said to Peter: 'I have prayed for you' (Luke 22:32). Prayed for you so that strength may take the place of weakness, determination that of a shrinking will.

39. "I bring in that phrase tonight because the children of the earth know not what lies within that word 'Prayer'. To the majority it represents a petition for this or an entreaty to be spared from that; but when you are free you will find that prayer in its true aspect is Power, it is creating that which you call Power in its highest form - which beating upon the spirit within is able, in a measure, to link up with it and to so strengthen the individual that the sorrow is borne leaving no hampering marks behind.

40. "Yes, Christ prays for us in the true aspect of prayer. When His little ones are sore beset so then if spiritual sight was your own, you would see your Redeemer, by His thought, by His compassion, by His Love, bringing into being that power, that Spirit force which has enabled countless thousands to pass through their troubles and to express amazement that so much help could have been provided, that the pangs could have been so lessened when the grief or the pain itself was so great.

41. "Children, in the sweet by and by - and with some not so far ahead - you will change your form of praying and aim at that which is prayer indeed. And when you reach that point so, my little ones, you will be sowing that which you will reap with joy when you are in that Home which is rightly your own. Your prayers for others will enable them to work out their salvation, and because your own salvation loomed not so large upon the horizon as that of another, so you shall see that you have redeemed and restored to yourself for ever that which you will never have to lay aside, for it will be of the Spirit, and the Spirit is of God.

42. "There are many aspects of the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, of that most precious gift which He bestowed for all time - many aspects, and tonight I have covered but one or two.

43. "In the future I must return to this subject and I will show you then that the coming of the Messiah, of the Lord God of all, not only saved humanity but contributed to the redemption of all those who has passed out of physical life, of the millions yet to be born, and of a myriad of other beings of which as yet you are ignorant. Christ came to earth to remind man of his Father God, and that reminder - paid for so dearly, so it seems to some - that reminder has had a deep effect in conditions which have never yet been considered by the human mind.

44. "Well, my children, we close tonight on the note of peace and understanding. I commend you to the Father's care. I entreat you to hold fast to simple faith; to let the complicated thinking of the physical mind fade away and in its place put childlike trust - the child's trust in the mother she adores. Yes, and your Father and Mother God, leading, guiding, directing, so He will bring you out of that which perchance represents twilight into the full light of day, and that day means revelation. Revelation not only of God's Love but the realization that with Him the past and the present and the future are secure.

45. "Realization of God!...that in the Master's Name I bequeath to you - realization of the Love of God.

46. "Goodnight, my little ones, and remember that when sleep claims you that you are mingling with those you love so well; free from the physical, enjoying that freedom which one day will be your own, when, with those who love you, you shall enter into that peace and joy which passeth all understanding, because it is of God.

47. "Goodnight".

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”