Excerpt From "Home To The Light"
by Rev. Ellen Douglas
#89
Chapter 11: Christ in Us
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. John 14:12
The dictionary tells us that ‘truly’ is a synonym for verily, which appears so frequently in the bible. Jesus says it often, confirming his words are only truth. When we seem to have a ‘mind of our own,’ we often go down a dangerous path in life; a negative path in life, an unstable path in life. Depending on our own thinking we lead ourselves seriously astray. It takes a long time to realize our error in choosing that particular path. The realization that it is the wrong path may come in form of a traumatic awakening, an imprisonment or an addiction, a confrontation from another, especially a friend. The other choice we all have is to choose a path guided by our Creator. I do not speak of religion. I speak of spirituality. Spirit means breath and our very breath is God-created. This is not unusual since we are his begotten children. How could we not have the breath of life in us from Him? How could we think that this holy, beloved Father of ours could direct us down a path of negativity and disaster? Too early in life we assume we have all the answers we need. The truth is we have not even met all the questions as yet. God knows all the answers. God knows what we came to do on Earth. When we ask the Holy Spirit, the transforming energy of God, to guide us, we cannot fail. We cannot fail.
The Bible says, May the mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus, and uses this as a blessing. It is the blessing of miracle-mindedness. It asks that you may think as I thought, joining with me in Christ thinking. ACIM T 5:I: 3:4-6
#90
You cannot distort reality and know what it is. And if you do distort reality, you will experience anxiety, depression and ultimately panic, because you are trying to make yourself unreal. When you feel these things, do not try to look beyond yourself for truth, for truth can only be within you. Say, therefore:
Christ is in me, and where He is God must be,
for Christ is part of Him. ACIM T 9: 1:14:3-7
We create our own reality based on what we see, hear and feel. It is not reality; it is illusion, for all that we see is illusion. The only ‘real’ is outside the world of sense, higher than the illusions we believe in and accept as the only reality. There is a higher sphere of inner thought that escapes us as we focus on illusion. We may liken it to visiting a motion picture theater. We become engrossed in the story line. We identify with the actors. Feelings are evoked in sympathy of the players. Sometimes we weep for them. As we leave the theater we brush off the tears and return to the ‘reality’ of our lives. Life on the Earth plane is very much like the movie house. We create, by our own choice, our lives and our experiences. We feel them therefore we believe them to be the only reality. As we come to understand that reality is the higher sphere of inner thoughts we find we can disengage ourselves from the illusions we have created. Next we learn to accept the inner thoughts as the new reality. Finally, we must feel the truth of reality. It is a knowingness that can not be denied. When we know and we know that we know, only reality comes into our consciousness and only the higher realms can teach us as we choose to remain there.
The neophyte, who by some inner urge
Is set to find infinity will first
Of all be overwhelmed, like you, with loss
Acute of all that once seemed real. The mind
is hung above a deep abyss between
The solid world of sense material
And that high sphere of inner thought in which,
Though real, the soul feels not at home. The Voice
Celestial, 17
#91
You will awaken to your own call, for the Call to awake is within you. If I live in you, you are awake. Yet you must see the works I do through you, or you will not perceive that I have done them unto you. Do not set limits on what you believe I can do through you, or you will not accept what I can do for you. ACIM T-11: VI: 0: 1-4
God can do nothing for us that He cannot do through us. That is a lesson to be learned before we can become aware of Christ in us. Jesus could do only so much for his followers and the multitudes. He could only heal if they chose to be healed. He could only raise the dead if they chose to be raised from the dead. He could only give sight to the blind if they chose to receive physical light. God and the Master, our example to follow, can only awaken us to our truth if we choose to be awakened to our truth. We have been given free choice as God’s beloveds. Every moment of every day we make choices. Poor choices lead to more poor choices. Choices based on love, peace, joy and harmony lead to more such choices. In our very hands is our personal destiny. There is no capricious ‘fate’ that chooses who shall suffer and who shall enjoy good health. God ordained us to have perfect health. We went against His will when we choose poverty of any kind. We blame it on karma, but we make our own karma. We have made many poor choices and we can wallow in guilt or rise above the muddle in which we have put ourselves, by seeking guidance from the Holy Spirit and following it.
This is a planet of choosing/ where you can see both the darkness and light/ and you have the freedom of choice./Heightened awareness /is very much an integral part/ of your planet’s healing./Your world is in physical crisis/ but what is crisis? A learning process. Emmanuel‘s Book, 9
#92
Much of what I taught on the earth has been greatly misconstrued. It has troubled me all this time that so much of the truth of it was left behind and was made into what mankind thought should be said. I have come in so many forms to so many people in so many ways to try to make right what was a wrong. My desire this day is to straighten the crooked places that the truth of what I brought might be fully understood and lived and not bound by the old ways. Jesus the Christ 1/17/98
When Jesus the Christ said he would not leave us comfortless he meant what he said, for he always keeps his promise. He has come to many psychic and mediumistic people to bring messages to earthlings. Some have seen him, some have heard him; all have been helped by him. I was told in 2003, by a medium, that he would come to bring me an important message when a book I was writing neared completion. In 2004, as I wrote the last chapter of my memoirs, he came to me through another dedicated medium, saying “I understand you were expecting me at this time. I always keep my promise.” As a comforter he sends another in his name to help us in a myriad of ways: Someone to change a tire, someone to say words that comfort our grief, someone who says the very word we need to hear to bring us comfort in our sadness or encourage us. He guides us to people who can assist us on our path, support us in our efforts, whatever they may be. Sometimes we listen and respond. Sometimes we do not. He cannot comfort us if we refuse to accept the person, the words, the deeds that bring us to our desired goal. Those before us left behind the words of truth he spoke that we sorely need to hear. Others distorted or omitted events of his life or altered his words. Because of this, he found it necessary to come again 2,000 years later to straighten the crooked places in our understanding.
I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. I John 4:18
#93
He [Moses] did a symbolic thing: he smashed the tablets. Outwardly that was the manifestation of what was going on within Moses. To smash his rigid, unyielding, unmoving, unallowing attitude. . . . There is nothing more limiting and binding than, ‘Thou shalt not.’ Jesus the Christ 1/17/98
Whenever we succumb to the temptation to accept an attitude or a belief that is rigid we disallow a growth in our understanding. The ‘shalt nots’ were cast in stone. When we cast something in stone it cannot ever be changed. A rigid line of belief can be comforting to a seeking soul, but learning is change and change we must if we are to find peace in our lives. Rigid attitudes of prejudice, judgment and condemnation keep us locked in and unable to expand our consciousness and our thinking. To be open to new ideas does not mean that we must accept them all. We are intelligent beings and have the capacity to discern, without judgment, what is truth and what is not. The best way to prove a truth to ourselves is to put the teachings into practice. Practicing truthful things brings only good feelings, beneficial outcomes and comforting results. When we are troubled, distressed and unhappy it is only because we have denied a truth, become unwilling to seek truth or have distorted truth to fit our rigid beliefs. The unyielding attitude refuses to even listen to a new idea, for the attitude has become ‘cast in stone.’ Rigidity is not compatible with Jesus’ teachings. To become as little children, he taught us, is best. Children are open, trusting, curious. These attributes help us mature as humans and awaken as God’s children.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Romans 6:12-13
#94
It is in the present moment that truth abides; not in yesterday, and tomorrow hasn’t come. You only have the now of it. Jesus the Christ 1/17/98
The concept of staying in the now does not come easily to us. We find ourselves recalling past moments of yesterday, last month or twenty years ago. We are tempted to focus on tomorrow or next year or retirement age. In all this defocusing from the present we miss the gift of it. What is past is past and what is to come is determined by our now. Denying now means that we are unwilling to participate in the now of time. It is a precious gift, to be employed in any way we choose. We have the choice every single moment to be aware of where we are, what we are doing and whom we are with. We can make the most of it by being aware that we are exactly where we are supposed to be. We can make the most of it by being aware that we are doing exactly what we ought to do, and we are with those we choose to be with at this moment. If the moment is at ‘work’ we have chosen it, for whatever reason. Choosing to relish the job makes it more enjoyable, makes the time go faster, nurtures our sense of self-worth, I have seen janitors singing on the job; have seen policemen direct traffic as though they were dancing. They get the most out of the moment of now. A chosen occupation ought to bring constant joy, and it does when we focus on the task at hand and give it our best. Too often we defocus on what others around us are doing or fail to do. Enjoying every mile of scenery, every word of conversation, and every note of music heard on the radio enriches the vacation trip. Family interactions are best when the needs of all are considered.
So break the old pattern of present-moment denial and present-moment resistance. Make it your practice to withdraw attention from past and future whenever they are not needed. Step out of the time dimension as much as possible in everyday life. The Power of Now, 45
#95
And even when I came I was not accepted; not accepted. Why? Because I broke every rule. I broke every rule. I loved openly. I loved freely. I cared about people. I didn’t care if it was the Sabbath; if someone needed healing so be it; be healed. I didn’t follow the rules of the synagogue. I didn’t follow the rules of Moses. I didn’t follow any rule except the internal rule of the Voice of my Father within me. Jesus the Christ 1/17/98
When Jesus came to teach us the way he had to break all the rules because the rules were so rigid and restrictive. He came to teach love and love is not rigid and restrictive. If it is, it is not love. What Jesus is telling us here is that the rules of humans are of no significance at all when we listen to the Voice of God. The Voice of God may come to us in a gut hunch or sudden urge. If these feelings are positive we can be assured that they are the Voice of God speaking to us. Negative urges come from the ego and direct us down a path of destruction. The Jews hated Jesus because they had in mind a more powerful savior who would destroy Rome with force. Instead he came to teach love, and to demonstrate it. He was borne by a mother who was blessed to give birth miraculously because she could mentally conceive of a perfect man. Jesus came to awaken all humanity, to a place on earth where the population believed in one God, in contrast to much of humanity who then believed in several gods. Gabriel made it clear that Jesus came not to start a new religion, but rather to awaken humanity to its inner divinity. Gabriel reminded us that Adam slept in Eden, but nowhere n Scripture does it say that he woke up. It is our task to awaken now.
And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day. John 5:16
#96
People think that if you follow God you have to restrict yourself and be narrow, and not allow, and not be. God, to be expressed from within, is a freedom that you have yet to come to know. It is a freedom of love; not a freedom to go forth and hurt, but a freedom to go forth and love whoever you will. Whether they love you back or not has absolutely nothing to do with it. Most of the people that I loved didn’t like me; not at all. Jesus the Christ 1/17/98
Be careful not to misinterpret ‘love whoever you will’ to mean make love to whoever you will. Jesus is speaking of unconditional love, agape love. Some of us tend to love only those who are of the same culture, language, color or nationality. We watch our parents pick and choose who they will love and adopt the same method. The freedom that God gave each of us is the freedom to choose whom we will love. When Jesus said, ‘follow me,’ he meant to love as he loved, without discrimination. He traveled everywhere and loved everyone. We cling to groups and families and do not let anyone else in to our ‘circle’ of friends. We do not reach out to share and learn from others who speak differently, eat differently, or look different from us. Perhaps this comes from fear, or perhaps it comes from lack of self-confidence. Material wealth does not determine a person’s worth, nor does the love of material things equate with love of God. Jesus knew that when we own possessions we place a high value on them. He advised the man to give up all his possessions and take up the cross and follow him. He did not say ‘take up my cross.’ (the crucifixion was years away). Interpreted as a sacrificial symbol, one could believe Jesus meant for us to suffer. That hardly fits with his teachings. The Cross symbolizes eternal life. Jesus proved that. And he said ‘follow me’ to instruct us to live in freedom. Freedom to grow, to be, and to love.
Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. Mark 10:21
#97
Now, within you is the same spirit that is within me. Lying asleep, curled up in the boat of your consciousness, is the Christ. Jesus the Christ 1/17/98
We find it easy to see ourselves as tiny, helpless individuals in the scheme of eternity, on a tiny planet in the suburbs of the Milky Way. Compared to the cosmos we are very small. The life span is approximately one hundred years. We cannot make the rain fall or the sun rise. We disbelieve in a Creator because we attribute the chaos around us to be His doing. We forget that in our free choice we have made exactly what we have on earth at this time. By free choice we can change it. One unaccepted factor is that we have the power to change it as we allow our guidance to come from God. Another factor we discount is that we have the power of God in us, since He created us in His Image, which is Spirit. We are blind to the concept that all change must come from within. How we long to change others, a situation, an attitude. Within us is the answer to all the conundrums of life. The Kingdom of God within is the Source of all answers. We belabor ourselves with questions which we deem to be unanswerable. The key is as close as our consciousness will allow. Prayer and meditation will bring all answers to us. As we practice prayer and meditation on a regular basis, we find not only all answers, but also that fewer questions arise. God is in charge and we are at peace.
At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. John 14:20
#98
Do you believe that God would send you anything that is not a blessing? Jesus the Christ 1/17/98
The God of love would not send anything but blessings to His beloved children. As someone once said, ‘If we are not children of God, who are we?’ The complex human form, the scope of our imagination, the potential of our intelligence all point to a Creator of undefinable and indescribable character. In its perfection the body provides us with a communication vehicle throughout our lives on earth. Our brain is capable of processing all thoughts we receive from God and all misguided directions we receive from the ego. Unlike all other creatures we have the ability to create outside ourselves. Gabriel came to explain the answers to the questions of the ages: Why are we here? How did we get here? Where are we going, and how? The wisdom received by that small group was given to us because we were seekers after truth. He told us that twelve other teachers – all ascended masters – also came to Earth to teach other groups. He described them as being ‘centers of light.’ The lesson brought to us was the same; only the words were different. The message is the same as that taught by Jesus, but now in modern language. The lesson is: Wake up and live from the Lord God of Your Being, for you are holy children of God. These heavenly teachers brought us the truth. When we accept it we will know the truth and it will set us free.
Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities. Acts 3:25-26
#99
Oh, absolutely! [Jesus’ response to a question regarding his authorship of A Course in Miracles]. She was a tough customer, you know. She didn’t believe in me. That’s what made her so good, because she never got into the emotional part of it. She never thought, “Oh, Jesus is coming to me; this is so wonderful. Wait until I tell my neighbors.” It was like, “You’re who?” And that was wonderful; that was wonderful. Jesus the Christ 1/17/98
In 1975 the modern words of Jesus the Christ were published. He gave them to a person who had no investment in his teachings. This objectivism was exactly what Jesus sought. The message was the same as the lessons he taught so long ago, though the words are different. Couched in modern English it is presented in such a way as to awaken us from the illusions we have come to accept as reality. The truth of us is that we are children of the Most High. When Jesus came 2,000 years ago he told us ‘The Kingdom of God is within.’ Where else would the Kingdom be, for a child of God? He came to teach and demonstrate love and forgiveness. Today we still need the lesson. He said we should judge not. Forgiveness follows judgment; lack of judgment allows us freedom so that forgiveness is not required. Love is the stuff of which we are made; not something we can learn. and expressing that love is the most natural thing in the world. Blocking that flow of love is what the ego does best. We have accepted so many blocks to our innate love that Jesus comes once more to teach us about the blocks and how to remove them from our consciousness. Love is the lesson now. Love was the lesson then. Centuries have layered the denial of that love that is our very essence. This Course is required to return us unto God, our Creator.
This is a course in miracles. It is a required course . . .[It] does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that Is beyond what can be taught .It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of love’s presence, which is your natural inheritance. ACIM In: 1:7
#100
[Jesus was asked if women followed him]. There were a lot of women who followed, a lot of women who learned, a lot of women who went forth and taught. Many of them as powerfully and influentially as the men, but they were written out of your scriptures by a male-dominant world. There was Mary Magdalene, who went forth throughout Europe. There was Joanna, who looked faithfully after my mother until her time of transition; and also taught. Jesus the Christ 1/17/98
Gabriel explained that in the cosmos there are two energies in creation: action and repose. The terms ‘male’ and ‘female’ are terms invented by humans to express these two energies on the earth plane. God is androgynous, and his creations are androgynous. The idea of separation of the two energies came about when we devolved to the earth from our natural habitat, Heaven. When we identify the stereotypes applied to male and female we find that Jesus demonstrated both. He had the strength to endure the wilderness for forty days, the extensive traveling that he did and the torturous treatment of the Romans before the crucifixion, as well as the crucifixion itself. He had the gentleness of a healer, the warmth of a human father, the tenderness of an animal rescuer, the patience of a saint. Perhaps it was this combination of qualities which endeared him to all his followers, men and women alike. Everyone could relate to a quality within self. It comes as no surprise that there were many women followers. Nor is it surprising that women were written out of Scripture, because at that time on earth females were considered chattels rather than partners. It would have been impossible to write the Bible without including the women found there. They played a significant role. Mary, Jesus’ mother, Elizabeth who bore John the Baptist and a multitude of others.
Time after time we are brought back to the “Golden Chord” of all religions: that man and woman are expressions of God through their spirit, the Christ, that dwells within each of them. Women of the Bible Speak to Women of Today, Preface, xv
Rev. Ellen Douglas was ordained in 1990 as a Christian Metaphysical Minister. She became pastor of Trinity Temple of the Holy Spirit in 1994, where she served for four years. In 1998 she became pastor of the Capital District Church of Religious Science. She is also a mother of four, a grandmother of nine and a great-grandmother of seven.
She has written eight books, some published by Trafford Publishers. She is a retired alcoholism counselor.
The above Introduction is from her sixth book, "Home To The Light". It is available from her at llndouglas731@gmail.com
For copies of her books, write to 164 Sackett Rd #904, Avon, NY 14414
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