Be Able to Recognize God
THE first step we shall take will, of course deal directly with God. That is all we are interested in. God. And God only.
This is the only definition we need. Anything more than this may hinder instead of help us find God. On this one fact alone, we shall rest. We cannot introduce the many concepts of God which our theological system have brought into being. These can only hinder and becloud the simple truth of the existence and character of God.
If we get the picture clearly in our minds that God is the invisible Spirit of Life first of all, and many other things that after that, we shall have little trouble in discovering the greatest Spiritual Power or Force this world can ever know.
But if we wander off into creeds, beliefs, rituals, etc., we shall wander off the pathway we are beginning to tread. Our search for God will end in complete failure and we shall get hopelessly lost if we deal with any other concept of God than that advanced here.
When you say that God is the Maker of the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them-you have said all you need to say.
So then, in our travels together, we shall at the very outset, discard any theory of God or any teaching about God which would introduce any other picture than this.
The invisible Spirit which created this universe is all we need to discover. We want nothing less than this and certainly there cannot be anything more. This creation has been admitted by geologists and scientists to be at least 500,000,000 years old. Some of them admit of even a far greater age.
However that may be, we most certainly know that the creation of both the earth and man, took place a very long time ago. Certainly it took place before there were systems of religion. These are comparatively recent. Our own Christian religion is not yet 2000 years old. But God-the invisible Spirit-God, created this earth millions of years before man was ever even thought of, except in the mind of God.
To take anything man has written then, as the last and final word concerning God, we may slip away from the facts. So we shall not do that. In traveling along this wonderful pathway together, we shall made no mistake if we discard or lay to one side, any theory of God, or any claims about God, which claims originated with man.
If God exists, and we know God does, because we exist, then we cannot get off the path if we deal directly with God. What man may say about God will be subject to error certainly, for man is full of error and mistakes. (I was before I found the exceedingly beautiful Spirit of God in my life).
' Yes-the very first thing for us to do while walking along the pathway that leads to God, is to remember to deal only with God. To deal directly with God. The Power that made this universe and man, certainly is great enough to reveal itself to man. It is great enough, wise enough, powerful enough, to reveal Itself to man without any aid from man.
As a matter of fact man cannot help God reveal Himself to man, the human race, nor was there ever a time when man could add anything to the glorious revelation of the Power of God which God Himself brings to man. I can go one step farther and say to you that God never dealt with a man through anyone else. God did not ordain any human organization to be the agency through which Almighty God is presumed to either deliver "salvation" or anything else to the human race.
Whenever anyone finds the Power of God, that one will find it by dealing with the Great Spirit of God direct. Human approaches fail Human approaches to God must ever be human approaches. But the God-approach to God-well, that is the only safe and sure method of finding God. I might go so far as to say that the Power of the Spirit of God cannot be revealed through anyone.
So then, the first thing for us to understand is that we are dealing direct with God. Human rites, rituals, creeds, etc., are all good. But they are only good in the absence of an actual and literal experience of the Power of God in human lives. When God becomes a Living Reality to men and women, these other things, many of them relics of a pagan past, at once disappear. They are lost. They have no worth or merit.
All they ever pretend to do anyway is to reveal God to the human race. But it is quite evident that God is practically unknown on the earth today. Organizations which have presumed to teach what they believe to be truths of God-well, they flourish. But it is significant to note that while this earth is full of systems of religion, the actual Presence and Power of Almighty God is a completely unknown factor among us.
This is not as it should be. It is evidence that these good people, while earnestly believing what they presume to teach about, are impotent to reveal the Presence of God to any of us. Most of them, however, predicate their teachings on the theory-the very human theory-that God may not be known on the earth. There is no major system of religion which does not confine most of it's teachings to "the life beyond." These good folks tell us that we must not even try to deal direct with Almighty God.
They tell us that all that is necessary is to believe what they believe, and then after we die, we shall perhaps know something about God.
Now, that is not what the Spirit of God revealed to me. Nor is that the pathway to God which we are taking. It may be one pathway to God-but you and I will arrive at our destination while we live. We shall find the actual Presence and Power of Almighty God, right here on the earth. We shall find it very speedily.
That once accomplished, what more can we ask? If you and I can find and use the Power of God here and now-do we not have in our hands the key which unlocks the vast storehouse of all the treasures God has? Of course we do.
But, if we are convinced that we just simply cannot get acquainted with Almighty God here in this life, then we are of all folks most miserable. Fortunately, this theory of the absence of God, which humanity has believed for so long, is not true. It is not of God. For the whole object of this creation was to reveal to man-here and now-the fullness of the Power of the Spirit of God.
When man is dead he ceases to be man. He has lived his life on this earth under the very grave misapprehension that while he was on the earth he could not know the glory, the joy, the wisdom, the power of Almighty God. If that should prove to be untrue, then what a vast number of human beings have wasted their lives.
As far as the soul of man is concerned, no religious organization on earth knows anything about the soul. In any event, after man has died a physical death and is no longer man, the indwelling Principle while that man was alive, belongs to God. No man-no religious organization has anything to say about what happens outside of this earthly span of life. If he attempts to, he is merely rushing in where angels fear to tread.
These well-meaning theories of god have filled a certain place in the long evolution of man. But they have left the world without actual knowledge of God. They have demonstrated very forcibly the fact that there is much more to God than they have been willing to give God credit for revealing.
It is entirely possible that had religion, as we have known it, been able to present to this world the actual Power of God, and the Presence of God, which we shall find before we finish our little journey together, this brutal war which is decimating the human race never could have happened.
It is completely within the bounds of reason that it is the "absentee" ideas of God held by the religious organizations of the world which are directly responsible for the world not knowing the Power of the Spirit of God today.
The idea of an absent God, only knowable after death, came from an age when ideas of God were very pagan and far-fetched. Inversely to the remoteness of time has been man's ascent into the temple of Spiritual knowledge and truth.
The path you are walking along with me had not been discovered then. The Power of the Spirit of God has had to make its ingress into the human mind in the ratio by which man has attained the capacity to receive and appreciate it. The Peking Man, The Neanderthal Man, and the Cro-Magnon Man, all of them human beings, even as you and I, could not possible have received or appreciated the staggering truths of the present existence of the Spirit of God.
If we tread back the meandering pathway of human history, we find that every step in the receding process brings us to a lower plane of intelligence and a state of mind quite thoroughly encrusted with ignorance and superstition. We find then, and reason dictates that it is wrong to look to the past for true concepts of God.
Only now, when the earth is being seared to its very heart with misery, suffering, and blood-only now-at this very time, are the actual truths of the existence and power of Almighty god being brought to the human race.
What satisfied humanity, a10,000 years ago, did not reveal god. The religions of the present day certainly cannot reveal god. At least they have not. And as a result of the almost complete absence of authentic knowledge of the Presence and Power of the Creator, look at the world today. Do I need to say more?
I have the most profound respect for the eleven major religious systems of this earth. But I have a more profound respect for the ability of Almighty God to reveal Himself, with all His Power, to this suffering world, and to do that now.
If humanity discovers the Power of God as you will discover it as a result of our little journey together, may I say to you that this earth will blossom as the rose. How long do you think the present misery could last if even one jot or on tittle of the absolute Power of God were known on the earth?
Not very long, I assure you.
So, then, the first thing incumbent upon us before we start our happy travel into the Realm of God, is to get the correct perspective of God. Let us then, realize that the only God we are interested in knowing is the Great Invisible Spirit which created this universe, the stars above, the water beneath, the human race, and every created thing that has life.
Instead of looking back to the Cro-Magnon Man and the rest of the incomplete specimens, and their theologies, let's anticipate God a little bit. In any event, let us take God as we see Him through His works. Let us deal with a present existing Gos, and the first thing for us to do is to learn to recognize God when we see him.
Many today are very apt to mistake a clergyman for God. Many are inclined to make the mistake of attributing some theological building as the residence of God. But you and I are not traveling down that path. I did travel down it for many years until God, the infinite Spirit of God met me on the way, and, taking me by the hand, turned me completely around, and set my feet on the path which did lead to God. That is the path I shall lead you along. It is the only known and proven pathway to God.
The shrinking violet blooming in some crannied nook bespeaks the very Presence of God. The crocuses which are just now poking their little yellow heads above the earth around my home - these are living evidences of the existence and Presence of God. The painted pansy decorated by the hand of God as no artist could decorate - these too are living proof of the existence and Power of God.
It would not be correct to say that all of God lived in those flowers. But it would be categorically correct to state that these beautiful things are a living example of God in actual operation. For the life of those flowers is part of the Life of God.
This Great Life manifests in a million different ways. The flower-realm is from God just as surely as you and I are. A different manifestation of creative Power but the same original Creator.
What Power do you think makes the lovely flowers so beautiful? What Power do you think it is that, after an all-winter sleep, awakens them in the spring, giving them life enough, and grace enough, and power enough to grow again, beautifying every home fortunate enough to have them growing hard by?
Take the pouting, painted pansy. do you know of an artist who can cause life to flow in the almost perfect models he can make of these flowers? The reproduction can be perfect-but it will lack the life.
No-both the life of these wonderful things, and the sheer beauty of their coloring come direct from the hand of God. The actual Life and Power of God is plainly visible in the growth of both violet, crocus, and pansy, and every other form of plant life. If God were not in those creations - they never could have life.
So learn to recognize God when you see God.
Do not make the very common mistake of thinking that in order to get close to God you must attend some "house of worship." God has not asked anyone to "worship" Him. The great heart of God is ever open to reveal His fullness to every created human soul. But that is only that that soul may come to know the fullness of the Power of God. It is only because the Creator wants us all to know the vast ocean of invisible Power instantly available to us all not because God lives in us all, making each one of us living manifestations of what God can create.
The farther we travel together along this pathway, the more shall we be convinced that with every step we take, we are learning more about the actual Presence of God. And we shall discover something very unusual. For the revelations of the Power of the Spirit of God which will inevitably come to us will come direct from God.
This writer will not ask you to "believe" anything that you see, or experience in your own life. For instance- before too long, you will know, beyond any doubt, that the Spirit of God is making It's presence known to you in a very marked manner.
Now this would happen if you were in the middle of darkest Africa, or anywhere else. The path you are now treading is quite free from any human concept of God. It is quite free from any human teaching about God. If it is possible to bring to the whole human race, the actual Power of God, do you not see how the whole human race can be unified by and through this mellowing Power?
Religion, as we have it, and as we have had it for many thousands of years, has been directly responsible for more than one brutal war. Two different ideas about God have met and clashed. In some instances, our religious organizations have been more interested in becoming a political power than they have been about discovering the pathway that leads to God.
So- God has been sort of left in the discard. It must not be inferred here that I mean to suggest that any major system of religion is dishonest. They just simply live in the past. Their minds are made up that the traditions of 2000 years ago, is not suited to either the mind or the need of man today.
If civilization progresses, religion must progress with it. If it does not, it will stagnate and die. What has become of the Pterodactyl - the Dinosaur - the Tyrannosaurus? They outlived their usefulness - and they became extinct. If the theories upon which our present religious systems are founded have outlived their usefulness, they too will stagnate and die.
After all - there is a God. That God must needs be the most vital, powerful, dynamic Spirit in the universe today. If that Spirit was great enough to bring this amazing creation into being without help from man, certainly it is great enough to bring peace, joy, happiness to the entire human race.
To this writer, it borders on blasphemy to assume that Almighty God is powerless to crush world-disturbers and wholesale murderers. To me, that is admitting God to be impotent. Either that, or it is admitting the complete impotence of any major religious organization to demonstrate any of the Power of God to this bleeding, suffering human race.
And this has been so since time began. This is not the first time dictators have arisen with insane dreams of conquest of the world by brute force. But never yet has any system of religion anywhere been able to bring such mad-men to their knees through the superior Power of the Spirit of God.
So then, we find here in our own land, out of nearly 150,000,000 people, less than 20,000,000 ever attend their churches. More than that hold memberships but only that number actually attend. Here, then, do we not find complete lack of understanding of God? Certainly there is a complete absence of the Power of God.
That absence, however, cannot be the fault of God. It must be, then, our utter lack of authentic information about God. The concept of God prevalent on the earth today cannot be the true concept. It is not. The works speak for themselves. Where the Spirit of God is, there is freedom, there is liberty, there is peace and utter harmony. Where God is not, the very opposite manifest.
All about us, all around us we find absolute evidence of God in actual manifestation. This is not Pantheism. I simply state the fact that all life was originally created by God. In the human family, the only family on the earth capable of understanding the Power of God, we have vast potentialities of the Power of God in human lives.
God does not confine His facts only to the human race, however. The little mongrel dog now lying at my feet while I write to you - who do you think gives him life? Where did the life on the earth come from originally? From God. Then let us admit and agree that God not only is the original Creator, but that God lives in His creation.
We shall find the actual literal Power of God if we do this. Admitting that God does exist and manifest on the earth in and through all life, and granting that God must sustain all life, regardless of it's physical manifestations, we must also admit that it must be possible for the human race, in whom God manifests to a greater degree than in any of His creations, to know that life to the very full.
If man were an automaton, incapable of reason - incapable of comprehending the acts and works of God, that would be something else. But as long as the Life which is God exists on this earth, and as long as the Life of God exists in man, does not that make it completely possible for man to draw upon the Power of God to the very full? I think it does. In any event, God has seen fit to use your writer as a "guide," and, as a result of the God-inspired vision brought to me, hundreds of thousands have walked along the paths you are now treading. They have found God. More glory and honor to the Power of the Spirit of God. For credit certainly does not belong to me.
So then - on this little journey we have learned first to recognize God wherever He is. That is everywhere. But - listen - that "everywhere" means GOD IS IN YOU TOO.
Top of Page