An address given by the Christ messenger Zodiac through the deep trance mediumship of Miss Winifred Moyes,
at the Museum Road Hall, University Road, Bristol, under the auspice of Seymour Christian Spiritualist Temple, 26 Sussex Place, Bristol, on Easter Sunday, April 9th, 1950
(Note: This message was edited for a more general readership)
..."Although the outlook may seem grey, feel happy; throughout this season of the year, we celebrate the breaking down of the barriers of death, bringing back to the faithful few, peace and knowledge and happiness, when it seemed that the One that we loved so well had gone forever more.
"The Easter story is a beautiful story, and you know how the Master fulfilled His promise. Those who stood around must have marvelled that life had conquered death, that love was triumphant over all evil which had been piled against it.
"On Easter Day let us think of that which concerns everyone: 'The Arisen Lord Within Us'.
"Sometimes you associate certain experiences with certain people. You believe that it is not possible that such a thing could happen to you. Yet there are many who have endured, in lesser measure, the Garden of Gethsemane, through the adversities of the physical body. Many have cried to God for the cup of suffering to be taken from them - yet the tests go on. It is because you are evolving souls that you have to carry a very heavy cross. At times it may seem more than you can bear.
"But, thank God, in many, the faith prevailed. The real self reached out to God - the loving Father of us all - and to their amazement they found that the darkness and the blackness and the desolation of Calvary gave way to the coming dawn. It may not have been a sudden resurrection, but a working through the clouds of physical life to a realisation of that which was to come.
"Think about this point because in the degree that you have been through these fierce experiences, you are training, not only to become a missionary, but to become a leader of others when this short span of life is finished for you.
"Think about the power-rays from the World of Spirit. The sun does wonderful work for humanity and nature in its various forms; it is a life-bringer. But as you consider the rays of the sun, you have to remember that those rays bring into being things that you feel the earth could well do without; for life is not confined only to that which is useful to man.
"The rays of the sun fall upon various aspects of nature, and the evolving processes take place; but you would not like to find yourself surrounded by a cluster of snakes - which is a common occurrence in other climes; nor would you like to be at the mercy of hordes of insects whose sting might mean physical death. This is the result of the sun's rays shining on something that has to be brought to birth according to nature's plan.
"Why are these things allowed to take place? It is because of the evolving process of life. You have a simile in human nature. For instance, the sun's rays falling upon the physical body can do much to save it or to redeem it from disease. Again, with some natures it has a detrimental effect; it has a way of bringing out their worst instincts.
"Sunshine and the beauties of nature are not always associated with the raising of mankind. It depends entirely upon the character of the one concerned. You need not look very far, nor search the map of the world, to find those beautiful climes where crime and diseases of the flesh are rampant. It may seem strange to you who love nature, that when men and women are in such beautiful conditions, the loveliness of their nature is not brought out - it is usually the reverse.
"So when you think of the sun's rays and the work of the rays upon the earth, you also have to take a very broad view in regard to those power-rays from other worlds. They were intended to be good for man, to raise man up, to release in him some of those wider creative faculties that are associated with the flesh. But as there are many worlds, so there are many rays, and in thinking of those beams of light that come from the sun, you have to multiply these rays into a multitude more so as to try and visualise a little of the power-rays directed towards this earth.
"So you see, the subject of the rays and of the risen Lord within us is of the first importance. It is shown to have the closest relation to the power-rays from the World of Spirit. On one side you see something which is of a remedial character, and on the other side you find many things that are entirely material in their substance.
"How is it that with so many men and women of varying characters, there should be this great difference of influence? Well, you have answered yourselves. They are of varied characters and the kind of character possessed by the individual depends entirely upon the release of the Lord within them.
"There is another aspect of that wonderful word: 'Lord'. You associate it upon the earth with authority; with the man who is lord over others, lord over his servants, or his possessions. But there are those who are not 'lord' over their own natures. Something has gone wrong there.
"Think about these power-rays from other worlds, and think of the kind of effect they have on you - your attitude to others, your viewpoint on life. Are you swayed by that which brings out the best in you, or are you influenced rather by those more material rays which come from other spheres of life and being?
"We have to remember that although, as promised, there are 'many mansions' - many worlds in God's Universe, there are also those worlds that can be recognised as the hells of man's own making. Free will cannot be interfered with. You can choose; not only now, not only in that life before you had physical birth, but in your life after physical death - you will choose for yourself the rays to which you will vibrate.
"Thank God that there are those in this mundane world who are responding in part to the health-rays. The health-rays of the body are good but there are more important rays than that. There is the health of the mind - and more importantly - the health of the soul. Why are these two more important than the first? Because the earthly body will pass away in due course; you will throw it away like a discarded coat. Then you will find that you have, as your equipment for the next stage, remnants of the physical mind - your memories, your hopes, and what you have built up in the way of character. Therefore, health of the mind comes before health of the body.
"Take a step further. How is the health of the soul brought about? It may sound a hard edict, yet it is the truth: The only way that the health of the soul can be brought about is by discipline, and by having a certain amount of practice over discipline. What does 'discipline' represent? It means the curbing of your personal desires in great measure; it means you have to harness your will to those things that are difficult; you have to become 'lord' of your own make-up and to exercise your authority over it so that it becomes a co-partner to the spirit - not someone or something working against the spirit - but the 'Overlord' within. How wonderful is this thought, for it brings back a sense of your own unlimited power.
"You may think that you cannot control the physical body for many reasons; but whatever particular condition you have taken on in this life, does not deter you from making progress in the health of your soul. Many people of so called 'rude' health, also have rude natures, aggressive natures, crude and mean natures, and they seek to impose their will upon others. Good health may be a desirable quality, yet it does not represent a great benefit to the soul. When the physical body is strong, then it attracts to it material things.
"If you are struggling with your physical body and sometimes feel that you have received no help from the World of Spirit, that is not so. It is simply because your real self vibrates to a higher ray than the physical alone. You are vibrating to a Spirit-ray, and when this short stage is ended, you will thank God that you had the instinct within you to hold on to that spiritual ray, and to endure the Gethsemane and Calvary so that there might be the resurrection of the Lord within you.
"When the Lord within is risen from its prison house, no evil has the power to stem its progress. The tests have been met. The challenge has been faced, and victory, in spite of a seemingly broken heart, has been won.
"Thinking about the multitude of rays from the World of Spirit requires discernment. The physical may cry out for material things, yet you know that they only have a transient life and that they will change. When you are free from the flesh, you will be changed in the degree that the old has cast on the new. The stone has been rolled away from your tomb; you come forth in your new garments and you learn for the benefit of your own soul, and are able to pass on to others that the Lord within you knew best. Then all the regret and rebellion and the wondering about God's Love and God's Plan - these things die for ever more.
"On this happy Easter Day, think clearly about those rays to which you, individually, respond. Some mental-rays are very helpful to the world at large, but you have to discriminate. Are you taking strength from the mental-ray merely for your own advantage, or for the advantage of humanity? Never stifle your mind - it was given you to use, to exercise, to draw from the greater mind of the spirit experience. As you employ your intelligence to the different tasks of daily life, remember that you are also building something very effective for the life to come. Do not hesitate to exercise your minds to the fullest - but always remember: what will avail you Hereafter, will be the motive.
"Many of you have dependants, business, people who depend upon you. Never fail to pray to God for help in your material life. 'Give us each day our daily bread' - that is material and spiritual life combined.
"God the Father understands that you need help over your business propositions, and in the degree that you are honest and straightforward - that there is a measure of integrity within you - so you can draw from the World of Spirit which definitely will help you. But you cannot bargain with God. Many so called Christians try to do this - this is the road to disappointment.
"That is why Jesus instructed us to put the things of God first and all else will be added unto us - but you have to put God first.
"Do not separate this material life from the spiritual life, they intermingle. Those rays which come from the World of Spirit are essential to the use of man. For the most part, he does not use them or cannot respond to them or does not want them. Many want those rays from the astral sphere which minister to the baser self within - which comfort them, which tell them that they are not worse than their neighbour.
"You can see now, the awful waste of the opportunities of physical life and how true happiness slips through the fingers of man because he disobeys the law of protection instituted by a most loving Father, that they might be raised above the sorrows of the earth.
"At Easter time our thoughts can rest with a sense of relief upon the promise, upon the Great Exampler. We have the Lord within us - that spark of Divinity. How far are we prepared to go to bring about its release? What are we willing to do to enable the stone to be rolled back from the tomb, the tomb of self?
"Always remember, that to criticise others and to condemn that which they are trying to do, is not helpful to any state or to any world. The point is: Is the stone ready to be rolled away from your own tomb? It needs all the power that you can muster to move the stone even an inch - then the angelic ministers are found to be there to help. That is a fundamental. The self within must make the first move for freedom.
"Think upon these words, and realise that there is no limitation imposed upon you in any shape or form. Try to exercise your imagination so that you may have some idea of rays streaming down upon you from God's wide World of Beauty - health for the mind, health for the soul. Then, when the casket of flesh has released the real self within you - there is freedom for ever more.
"You may want to do useful work - and you will - but not perhaps in the way that you imagined. You want to rise above your lesser self - you will - always remember that the physical eyes have only a limited view. You want to be true to God - you will - with perseverance. And He will be true to you.
"On this happy Easter Day, you are reminded about Resurrection and the meaning of the word. It has a far more reaching explanation than that of the Christ rising on the third day. Draw the clouds of truth around you and hold them fast; when they break, the sunshine of that wide world of power shall be revealed to you - in however small a measure.
"There is nothing you cannot achieve so long as you strive, so long as you are brave, and so long as you do not go with the swim for expediency's sake, and so long as you have the courage to tell the truth even to your friend who is betraying his better self.
"We must learn to have courage. Before you are able to come back from the World of Spirit and use an instrument as God intends, you have to learn to steel yourself to tell the truth, even though it may wound and lose you adherents.
"It would be so easy to say that you are all doing wonderfully well; but the real self can rise to heights far transcending anything that the earth can show. When you are free from the flesh, you will know that there is no deceit in these instructions.
"Know that in the degree that you strive, humility will fall upon you - and that is a sign of progress. Those who are self-satisfied, who think that they know more than their neighbour and that they are doing better than their neighbour, show signs of bondage.
"Think of the humility of the Christ and the grand simplicities of the truth that He brought to the earth. As the way grows steeper and steeper - as it must for every pioneer - hold fast to the staff of faith and believe, because it is true, that you are climbing.
"Looking back over the past, you will realise that many material conditions have fallen from you - hardly noticed. Self has many forms and many guises - and some masquerade as good. But as you climb, it is no longer possible for you to deceive yourself - nor to be deceived by others. You are learning discernment. The eyes are opening a little wider and you see the radiant Cross of Jesus the Christ transformed by long-suffering, and the loving Christ waits there to receive you and to bless you as He sets you to work anew.
"Let your true self be your master. You cannot serve two masters. The risen Lord within you can control your mind, can control your life, and spread from itself those loving rays of power that will help a far greater number of people than you can imagine. There are many unseen, seeking the right kind of teacher, and you can be chosen for this high and holy office.
"Let it be Easter Day for you every day. Let the dear ones of the World of Spirit pour down upon you those rays that have become spiritualised, so that you may make more personal sacrifices - so that you may not scorn the road of discipleship and suffering. In the sweet by and bye, these things are justified up to the hilt.
"You are blessed with joy in your adventures - and you can venture much for the Christ. From your true spiritual self, stretch out to Him to make contact with the Love-rays from His Heart and Mind: For you are His well beloved, and no one understands you better than the Christ, the loving Christ of our Way of Life.
"Bless you in His Holy Name. During your sleep state, you can see the kind of rays to which you vibrate. Then you can reconstruct, re-make anew the pattern of your life, while you still remain an advocate for Him upon the earth.
"The workers are blessed. They have striven, yet they must know that there is much still opening out before them. As they tread the path of service and sacrifice, a wider blessing still shall be given to them; for they desire in their hearts and minds to do God's work in God's way for the bringing of His Kingdom upon earth."
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