An address given by the Christ messenger Zodiac through the deep trance mediumship of Miss Winifred Moyes,
at the Christian Spiritualist Church, Academy of Dancing, Beach Street, Herne Bay, Kent, on Sunday, July 11th, 1943
(Note: This message was edited for a more general readership)
"...Today, dear-children, I have been asked to discuss with you a simple question, yet one so deep in its import that over the ages there have been those to argue and few to convince. So I take you back to olden days, to that one (Pilate) who at a time of crisis asked the Holy One - What is truth?
"You have to take into consideration the various religions of these times and of the past, and those who are wise do not condemn; they realise that all religion started with a pure motive, formulated with the idea of helping, must have in its folds something of truth; that in all religions there are fundamentals which are similar. Therefore, it is not wise to rule out any form of religion which helps those in the body to live a better life, to understand a little more clearly the Divine Law that should govern life - the law of love, the law of service.
"So in thinking of other religions which perchance seem alien to your own, I take you back to the time of so-called idolatry. I have said before that when the instinct within the individual was a pure one, when there was deep distress and a desire for protection and guidance, then the prayers made to wood or to stone images passed as it were above those images straight to the Heart of God! For always remember that each and every one, whatever their upbringing or tendencies or religion, they are His!
"In all those religions - and many of those who accepted them paid their penalties, made their sacrifices - surely you can see that certain fundamentals were there? For the only way for any man to gain emancipation is by willingness to suffer so that the real self within may break free from its chains! And who should say that the so-called heathen did not suffer grievously - and those of old, the slaves to tradition, so ignorant, so full of fear, their lives representing a purgatory from their early years until kindly death released them - who shall say that such as these did not put in, as it were, stepping stones over which they trod out of ignorance into understanding, out of blind belief into a living, proved faith?
"I ask you to come to grips with this important point, according to your own mind and upbringing: 'What Is Truth'?
"Some there are who answer straight away: 'I turn to the Light of the World!'. And in the degree that they seek to follow the Example of the Light of the World, they are approaching the outer courts of the great vast City of Truth. But, dear-children, merely to accept a leader is not enough. You may say: 'Christ is my Master and my Lord, I will seek to follow in His footsteps!'. But again I remind you that to believe in the Master is no sign, beyond a willingness to climb, that you have climbed.
"And the climb can be tested in this same wise: are you conscious of the strain of life; do you weary in your service to others; is your mind employed in seeking to grapple with the mental difficulties of those who are alien to religion? There have been those in the past who have sat down with blind faith, depending upon God for protection and guidance, but individually they have made no effort, they have not sought, for they think they have found!
"Can you not grasp the difference between the seeker who has wearied and suffered over the seeking, and the one who is content merely with a faith passed on from forebears, who does not seek to reason, who does not put faith to the test?
"And remember this: it is only possible for faith to be tested when something assails faith, and to those with comfortable lives the test has not yet come. So it seemed in the yesterday of time! Thus I bring in war and the scourge it represents, the torn hearts, the maimed bodies, the torture of anxiety! You see, dear-children, there were many sleepers, sleepers to the woes of others who were rudely awakened, for lo, before they hardly realised what was taking place savages knocked upon their door and took away their own, the ones so dear! Then came the test of faith, and faith was tested in severe manner by silence, by the not knowing, by those strange fears that seize the mind in the darkness and quietness of the night! Yes, the acid test was put to those who for so long had easy lives, enough of this world's goods, their family around them, no worries over the future.
"But I ask you to try to believe that the Spirit within them rejoiced, rejoiced because the physical mind at last was brought up against: 'What is truth?'. You who have lost, so it seems to you, the light of your life, you who have buried joy and you scarce can bear to think how deeply joy has been buried, I ask you to try to come to grips with reality.
"You may say: 'Then are you advocating war?'. And I answer: I am advocating war upon the lesser self! The war that seems so terrible to you cannot be presented to those who are free from the flesh in that same guise. The war that is so terrible to us is waged by the unseen enemies among idle, careless people, those who think that physical life means pleasure and having; not caring or thinking of the woes of others.
"When you are free, dear-children, and you pass into conditions of reality, you will see that there was (spiritual) war before this present war (World War on the physical plane) and that it was far more dangerous to the soul of man, far more dangerous in regard to his safety and his future welfare. Many forget this.
"There are those who cry: 'Oh, for the war to be over, to get back to the same old happy times!'. But the boys who have passed on know better; they know that by the self-denial, by the exercise of discipline perchance the first discipline they ever had in their young lives - they know that by making the full surrender they have ensured their future, they have stepped out of bondage into something of freedom, and because of this they can answer in part the question: 'What is truth?'
"Truth, dear-children, is that wonderful gift of God that can make men free! It is not a question of creed, or of doctrine or of practices in the churches and the temples! Truth is something that can turn the key of the prison-house of the real self within you; and the only way to find the key is by searching, and the only place where the key can be found is among real life, not that seeming life so dear to the heart of the careless and selfish.
"You will find truth in some of your great institutions, among the sick, the afflicted, the blind and the lame; you will find it among the patient - those who are enduring and those who are ministering. There, dear-children, the key of the prison-house of self can be not only found but put to use.
"There are doctors and nurses who are doing a wonderful work; there are some who have grown weary, some who seek for distraction from duty in an unwise way - there are always the right distractions and the body has its dues - but you know that my words are true! You cannot have the golden key unless you search amongst those who are suffering, those who are broken-hearted, those who are shamed before their fellows through no fault of their own; and then, in ministering, in tearing out of your physical minds words of comfort, words of cheer, words of promise, you will find that, exhausting though it may be, through the giving out of intensified effort, something has been released within - your Divinity - and that holy Spark is allowed to cast its light upon those in darkened places. But you must not rest there!
"What is truth? - this cry goes out from those tortured by their fellow-beings, from the women and children who are desecrated - 'What is the truth? I believed in the past in the saving Grace of God, but here and now I seem to be betrayed!'. Yes, these moods come, but they pass. You find that after the deepest despair something arises within the human heart and mind - the key of truth has been brought to them through their defencelessness, through their dreadful trial and dire position. Indeed, the bright ones are close at hand, and though the eyes are blind while the body still holds them, soon the clutch of the flesh is released, and then such as these, finding before them all gates open, they pass into God's Land, and they shall see that the words of the Master are true - that they have sown in darkness to reap in the light, they have given of their very best and it is not loss, it is unexplainable gain.
"I ask you to think on my words for if you face that question as the Master intended, you will find that the barriers between the religions no longer will trouble you; you will find also that social distinctions and racial distinctions become meaningless, for each and everyone will be found in God's Eternal Home.
"I ask you to pause on this fact: there are rays of Divinity within you, and in the degree that by sacrifice and suffering those rays are released from their imprisonment, so you are able to contact with a ray of a higher order in those Worlds of Spirit; and through those rays you can perceive and see and hear those other conditions, which will represent to you miracles of grace.
"I ask you all to try to pursue this avenue of thought, to forget not that the sole obstruction is this: that you are unable to contact with those higher forms of life in the World of Spirit if those same rays within you have not been released. And the only way, dear-children, to release those rays which are housed in your own Divinity, is by taking the road of service, by scorning its pains, by enduring unto the very end!
"Therefore you can understand that with some of the young folk who have faced danger unafraid, or have governed their fears, unconsciously guided by duty, they have opened for themselves a range of consciousness far transcending anything that the human mind can imagine.
"You see where I am leading your thoughts? WHAT IS TRUTH? It depends entirely upon yourselves the measure of truth that is opened unto you. Those who think they know sufficient are hemmed in in so narrow a place that it will seem to them when they are free that they were literally in a cell; and that cell was built up by their own free-will, or by their own attitude towards life. Those who by love and sympathy try to vibrate to others, although they do not understand what they are doing, they are releasing those rays of Divinity within, and it will mean all in all to them when they are in God's Land.
"So over your attitude towards other religions, towards the view-point of some who seem so separated from you by the traditions of the past, remember my words. If those concerned suffered and sacrificed they also, in the same degree as yourselves, have the privilege of releasing those rays from their real selves which harmonise with the rays of the Spirit spheres, because the God within indeed vibrates to the God without: and so when this short earthly span is run they pass into revelation, and earthly desires and thoughts fall back on to the rubbish heap, and seem but as the ashes of the past.
"As I take my leave, I ask you to think of the Master and His silence. How can one pass on a definition of truth to another when the mind is lame, when self rules? But the time passed and the one who asked (Pilate) suffered himself through the pains of the body and from the fierce pains of a tortured conscience. And when he was free from the flesh, tremblingly he walked into reality, and through the anguish brought about by the abuse of free-will, at last he was able to understand a tiny portion of truth; and long ere this he has been a servant of the Truth-Bringer, struggling with the unruly minds of man, counting everything well lost for Christ - the Light-Bringer Who was slain by the ignorance of man!
"So in His Name I bless you with a measure of understanding, and I ask those who can read my words to do so, and then turn to God and to ask Him for the strength to endure, for the power to come that complaints may die away, for the determination to be born within that, however steep the hill, however great the weariness, they will go on! And always remember that once you have determined not to be put off by weariness, or the scorn of others, or the pains of the body or the doubts of the mind, once you have faced that condition with resolution, something of the truth can be made your own and you will find that the next stage allows you to rise superior to those physical tests, for you have proved, in degree, that the promises of Christ are kept!
"Thus I bless you with a firmer faith, bless you with a hardened will to wage war, remembering always that war, as we regard it, is against evil things and not against physical personalities, but those personalities cannot be allowed to torture their own; and not until they have paid the penalty for ignoring the laws of Christ, can understanding be made their own.
"I bless you all with greater power to demonstrate in your own lives truth in the inward parts, to be better servants, always remembering that however hard we struggle, we must always strive to be better servants still. And as the will rises to meet the many challenges, so there will come a sense of spiritual exhilaration; at last you have found your real self, no longer are you held back by fear, you are going to see the battle through with your unseen enemies, with your baser self. And if your eyes could be opened you would see a mighty warfare - the bright and glorious ones struggling with you and for you for your freedom.
"So I bless you all with peace, and peace alone can come as the wages of struggle! The workers indeed bear upon them the Crusaders' cloak. Much yet remains to be done, but the will is there, and the strength and opportunity will be provided. In the Name of the great Truth-Bringer I bless you; and when sleep holds you this night you shall understand a little more about Truth in conditions of reality."
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