The Marks of Jesus

The subject is the Mark of Jesus. The story of Jesus is an acted parable, a parable which is all about the last things, that part of the history of salvation which is still in prospect and which presses for realization. And the man who has experienced that part of the history of salvation cannot escape the responsibility of telling its meaning to his fellow men. No one who's experienced it can really turn away from others and leave them as he was prior to his experience. When you and I open the Bible and read of these wonderful characters. It ought always, as far as we're concerned, we ought always to really understand that these patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and all of them, are not there meant as persons as you and I are persons.

They are simply representatives of the eternal spiritual states of the soul, states through which you and I pass from our beginning of the journey to the end, where the end is God. These are all visions of these eternal states as they were received by men qualified to receive them, called by us the prophets, and they recorded them, and we have them in our Bible, but these are states. I have seen these states. When you see the state, yes, it's personified, it's a person, but you must always remember it's a state, not the person as you're a person or I am a person, so here tonight the marks of Jesus: what are they? Our churches paint pictures of him, and they think the marks of Jesus are the stigmata.

They're not. The mark I have gone from— I would say— gallery to gallery. I have seen these pictures of what the artist believed to be Jesus. And here he has painted a man and given him the mark of the stigmata: in the palms of the hand, the feet, the head, and the side. Some even change the side from the right to the left, depending upon the artist. And these are not the marks. When Paul said, "Henceforth let no one trouble me, for I wear on my body the marks of Jesus." He is telling us, if we understand it, he has experienced this passage of the last of the history of salvation. And these marks begin with the resurrection.

That's where it begins. I will bring you to a remembrance, said the evangelist John. "I will bring you to the remembrance of all the things that I have told you. And I have told you before it takes place, that when it does take place, you may know that I am he." When you read that, you might think a man is talking to a group and telling the group that when this thing takes place, that I'm telling you now, you will know that I am he. That's not it. What he is telling everyone that when it takes place you will know that the I am in you who experiences it, all that I am, he now disappears, for he says, "If I do not go away, the Holy Spirit cannot come, but if I go, I will send him; this is the gift of the Father, and when he comes, he will lead you into all truth, and teach you all things, and he will bring to your remembrance all the things that I have told you."

For the word "tomb" in Greek is "cenotaph" — remembrance, supplicant, grave, interment. That's where it starts. "I will bring to your remembrance what will you bring?" you⟩ That I carry in my body the death of Jesus. That I may also manifest the life of Jesus in my body. I carry in my body the death of Jesus that I may manifest the life of Jesus in my body. This is the story. Everyone carries in his body the death of Jesus.

Now let me give you one of them all. You're told in the 42nd Psalm. This is the Psalm of Remembrance, when he brings back to memory I remember when said he I walked with this enormous crowd and led them in procession to the house of God, it was a gay crowd, a festive crowd. Well, let me give you my own experience here.

I found myself in this enormous crowd, all dressed as though they were of the Near East, where the drama is laid. I am leading them in procession, and they're gay. It's a very, very gay crowd, singing praises and giving thanks to God, walking towards some unseen Mecca, unseen temple. And as we walked a voice rang out, we heard the voice, but no one saw a form, and the voice said, And God walks with them. At that, a woman at my side asked a question: If God walks with us, where is he? For she is addressing the unseen but heard voice. And the voice replied, and all could hear it, with enormous pride, At your side. With this, she turned automatically to her side and looked into my face, and she became hysterical.

It's practice of funneling, so now she addresses again this voice. It has no face, it has no form, and she said to the voice that spoke to all of us, You mean that Neville is God? And the voice replied, Yes, in the act of waking.

Then from the depths of my own soul, the voice spoke only to me. No one heard what it said, but the speaker. And the voice said to me, I laid myself down within you to sleep. And as I slept, I dreamed a dream. I dreamed, and I knew the end. I became so ecstatically happy, I can't describe in words the thrill, the emotion that possessed me, for I knew the end of that sentence. Yes, I dreamed I am you. With this, I felt the crucifixion.

And may I tell you, far from what the churches preach, speech, and all the teachers talk about is sheer ecstasy. What a joy! My hands became vortices, my head a vortex, my two feet vortices, and my right thigh a vortex, Whirling vortices nailed me to this body, but it was joy. And then you will understand the Tenth of John. No one takes away my life. I lay down myself. I have the power to lay down, and the power to lift it up again. So it was in love that he laid himself down with enough to sleep, to dream the dream of life. And at the end of the dream, to raise us with him. He, the dreamer, raises us because he's dreaming that he's us.

And he individualizes us in this manner. It was a voluntary act, and there was no pain whatsoever in that decision of God to become you. God became man voluntarily, that man may become God. And there is no pain in that act whatsoever. Sheer ecstasy. And that word doesn't describe cry, the thrill that was mine when I felt it that night. In fulfillment of the 42nd Psalm, I will bring to your remembrance all that I have told you. ¶Now he disappeared from Simon. God tells the story of his plan, of his purpose, and then becomes invisible. He He isn't near, for nearness implies separation. God becomes man. There's no nearness about him. He's actually man. Can you say, I am near?

You can't say, I am, and say that it is near. That's the core. That's the center. You may say, the hand is near. That is near. Everything else is near to what? To I am. but I am can't be near. It can't be even so far off as even to be near, for nearness implies separation. He actually became man, and in becoming man, man is using the name, the only name, which is I am. So here that's a mark. I bear on my body the marks of Jesus because I carry always in my body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in my body. ¶Now this story of Jesus is always about the last things.

This is the eschatology of Scripture. It's the very end of the great drama. When it's coming to an end, there are certain signs that will appear on the body, not visible to any mortal eye. The signs are experiences of the individual who bears the signs. Christianity is based upon the assertion that a series of events events happen in which God revealed himself in action for the salvation of man. And it begins with the tomb, with the resurrection. I will bring to your remembrance all the things that I have told you. If he brings to my remembrance, I go back to the cemetery where he is buried. He is buried in the skull of man. That's where God is actually buried.

The sleep is so profound it's called in scripture death. It isn't death. It's the great mystery of life through death. For he had to empty himself completely of all that he is to become this little thing called man. He completely emptied himself and took upon himself the form of man. And becoming man, he dreams the dream of life and takes himself through this dream of horror. We are the incarnation of the tragedy and the glory of this wonderful message of salvation. We should not forget the glory in the tragedy that there is tragedy; who denies it, look all around: there is tragedy, but we must not forget and should not forget the glory that follows when the dream is over and God awakes from the dream, as told us in the Psalms: Rouse thyself; why sleepest thou, O Lord?

Do not cast it off forever. Awake, awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead. So he equates sleep with death. Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead. So he takes these two and they are equated— sleep and death— it is so profound: God had to completely forget who he was to become you. So I'm speaking from experience; I am not theorizing. I'm not trying to build some little philosophy of life. I promise you that my purpose here is to tell you what portions of scripture I have experienced experienced. Man must experience Scripture. To sit down and work out some little philosophy of life— millions have done it, and they're all over the world, little isms all over the world.

I am not here to work out some little ism, but just to tell you that the Word of God, as recorded in Scripture, is true, but not as the world teaches it. It is true for for the individual to experience. And every person in this world will experience Scripture. As told us, Scripture must be realized in me. Scripture must be realized in me, fulfilled in me. And then beginning with the law of Moses and all through the prophet and the psalms, He interpreted to them in all of the scriptures the things concerning himself. So we go back to the tomb. That's where the real end is coming in. No one understood it until the resurrection.

As we are told in scripture, he said to them, you do not understand now what I am doing, but you will afterwards. Afterwards, he was washing their feet, and he told them, you do not now understand the reason behind this, the meaning of this, but you will afterwards. And it was only after the resurrection that the disciples understood the unfolding drama. Well, what is the drama? you've gone to the theater and you've seen the most wonderful play with the meaning, with the message not everyone in the audience got the message and no two got it in the same manner so we're told in Galatians the same book from which we quoted tonight's title when we say I bear on my body the marks of Jesus he said to the Galatians oh foolish Galatians who has bewitched you before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified let me ask you only this did you receive the spirit by the working of the law or did you receive it with hearing with faith you heard it and you believed it are you so foolish having begun in the spirit are you now ending in the flesh for the whole vast world accepts this personification of God's creative power as a being of flesh and he's asking the Galatians you heard it in the spirit didn't you a story was told you the most incredible story in the world the story of God's plan his purpose to actually endow his own creation with life like an artist conceiving like a Pygmalion in Galatea and a Pygmalion conceives the most glorious thing in the world as he can conceive it but it's dead it's made of marble and it can't respond respond.

It can't love him, the creator. And he has no what to do because he wanted to become animated, something alive. And to whom does he pray? He prays to the goddess of love. And when Galatea responds, the first word that she utters is the name of her creator. I've seen the play and here this beautiful mob statue and suddenly it begins to pronounce Pygmalion. The dead becomes alive and is saying Pygmalion. In our case, we become alive, we call our Creator's name too. We don't call him God, we don't call him that, we don't call him that. We say I am. Before man can say anything, man must first be aware that he is. To be aware that he is, he is saying, whether he voteth or not, he is saying, I am.

So we are the so -called dead, who become animated, and we know that we are. Knowing that we are, we are saying, I am. So So the Creator is calling forth life and making us become animated lovers in his world. He wants lovers. So here in this wonderful picture, he goes to this state of death. It begins with death, and then he animates it and it brings it out. So here, let me give you now my own experience beginning with the first great mark. the crucifixion, yes, that's over but although the crucifixion is over the resurrection is taking place and the most damnable statement he pronounces upon those who teach that the resurrection is past, read it in his second letter to Timothy those who teach that the resurrection is over and past are leading people astray and causing them to move from the faith, the true faith.

So the churches say the resurrection took place two thousand years ago. Paul, in his death, to Timothy, condemns the man unmercifully who teaches that it is over. It is taking place. Every moment of time someone is being raised from the dead. And it starts where he was buried. I bear always in my body the death of Jesus. For I know the location. It's my skull. I didn't know it until it happened. And so when it happened, and I woke within my skull skull, to discover the skull to be a tomb, to be a sepulchre. It was only then that I realized that that's where he was buried. I heard the voice say to me, I laid myself down within you to sleep.

And as I slept, I dreamed the dream. I dreamed, and I do, I dreamed I am you. But I didn't realize how literally true that statement was. That That he actually entered me, this death's door, and laid himself down within me. And shared with me these visions of life. Until the dreamer awoke. And awaking, he wakes me with him, because he fused that interval. We fused and became one. And then we come up. And so the mark that Paul speaks of, I bear on my body. the marks of Jesus, he starts now with the tomb. Do I bear the mark of the tomb? Yes. I have had the experience of the tomb. You can't see it with mortal eye, but I know it from experience.

And so that one mark was my first mark, the mark of the tomb. For all have had the mark of the crucifixion. That was only a remembrance. Remember, I will bring to your remembrance all that I have told you. So every one is going to have that experience of leading the crowd in procession to the house of God. And when it happens, the night it happens, it will only be a remembrance of the things that he told us would happen. But beginning with the tomb, there's something we did not experience before. These things were just simply told us, and now, man could not believe it, and suddenly it began to unfold within him. So the first great mark is to awaken in your skull, to find it a sepulchre.

And then you come out. You push the base of that skull from within. Something gives and you come out. And you come out in the manner that a child comes out of the womb of a woman. Head first. and you come out inch by inch by inch and there you are on the floor and you rise look back at that topical the body out of which you've just emerged and it's ghastly pale to fulfill scripture the 30th chapter of the book of Deuteronomy, pardon me, Jeremiah. The 30th chapter of Jeremiah. Why is every face so pale? And so you look at it and it's ghastly pale. And now comes the great unfolding of the wind.

The Spirit. So much is said in John about the importance of the Spirit, the importance of the wind. And you hear it and you feel it. And you wonder where is this strange, unethical wind coming from? You know it's here, you feel it here, but it's all over. And then all the symbolism of Scripture begins to appear before you. And it happens so automatically and so naturally. And when three men take the place where the body was when it disappears, you look at these men, they can't see you. But you see them and you hear every thought. You hear their words and read and discern what they're thinking. And when two of them are, well, they can believe what the third has announced.

For the third has announced what he has found, and he finds the sign of your birth. For you're told in Scripture, this shall be a sign unto you. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes. Well, it's a sign. It's not the event. It's not any more the event than the flag flying on the White House tonight, if the president is there. If he's in residence, the flag flies. It only signifies his presence, but that's not the president. If I want to know, is he in office? Look to see if the flag is flying. For whenever he's in office, that flag should fly. And when he is not in the White House, the flag is lowered.

So the little babe wrapped in swaddling clothes is a sign, signifying an event, this unearthly event where the individual has been born into an entirely different age, a new world, a new beginning. Pardon me. So they find the sign, lift the sign up, and place it on the bed. and you will take that sign, a child, you will raise it, you will look into its heavenly face and say some wonderful, endearing sentence. And with that, it will break into a smile. And the whole thing will dissolve while you are still holding that sign in your hand, a living, living babe wrapped in swaddling clothes. So that the second mark I bear upon my body I bear upon my body the marks of Jesus.

For in my body I bear the death of Jesus. And now, because it's life through death, he must now spring into flower. And these are all the marks of the flower that appear upon the tree. And that's the second one. And then comes the third. And the third mark you will bear upon your body is when he reveals to you your true identity. For God is a father. And if God is a father, and he succeeds in his purpose, which is to so give himself to you, that he actually becomes you, in that moment of becoming you, you are a father. And so he brings in this third mark his son, and the son calls you father.

And you know exactly who you are, and you know exactly who the child, the boy is. He is David. David of biblical fame. And there is no doubt in your mind, no uncertainty as to this eternal relationship. So you can say, I now bear that mark upon my body. And then comes the other sign, for he brings us out of this wilderness with signs and wonders. And so the one sign identified with the escape from Egypt as we make our exodus is that of the serpent. And so the great fiery serpent is lifted up upon a rod that bud. And here, in your wonderful body, you will feel it as though it took place physically.

You will feel it just as though the whole thing was taking place physically. You will be split from top to bottom. And you will observe this thing that is split that the book of Hebrews equates with the body of Jesus. The curtain of the temple is the flesh of Jesus as we are told in the book of Hebrews and you feel the flesh being cut right down from top to bottom and just as it's split and you see it parted you look and behold the blood of God at the base it's not red it's liquid golden light. As you look at it, you know in the depths of your soul, I am it. That is my very self.

Knowing it, you fuse with what you perceive. And the perceived and the perceiver become one. And then like a serpent, but a fiery serpent, you ascend this rod right up into your self. that the other mark you bear upon your body and then comes the seal of approval as the final mark and that seal of approval is when the heavens open and there is no limit no circumference just infinite transparency translucency and you look up and hovering above you as though floating on water yet there is no water but just as though you are floating is this heavenly dove and it looks at you and its eye catches your eye and you do it automatically you raise your hand it gently descends upon your hand and you bring it to your face and it smothers you you with affection, kissing you all over your head and whilst mothering you, the whole thing dissolves.

But I'll give you one little instant between whether it happens to you or not, I don't know. But I must tell you, I have not written it, I omitted it from the telling in the book. A woman was on my side and the woman said to me, he loves you. well it was so obvious that he loved me smothered me with kisses so he loved me then she said to me you know they avoid man man gives off the most offensive odor and to avoid the odor they avoid man but he so loved you he penetrated the ring of offense saints, and came down to demonstrate his love for you. So this scene from on high is not only a world of violence, but a world of death, a world of decay, a world that gives off the most horrible odor.

But the Holy Spirit symbolizes the dove, showing his infinite mercy, penetrates this horror called the odor of man which is his vial and comes down upon the one that at that moment he has selected and sealed and approved everyone will have it but everyone I didn't put that in the little pamphlet for reasons I do not know if it's the experience of everyone the doubt is experienced everyone but that portion I omitted because I didn't want someone to feel that it was something different. But that was my experience. She said to me, she loves you. And I didn't reply because to me it was so obvious that she loved me. And then she gave me the reasons for his descent and told me that this horrible odor that man gives off so so offends them that they avoid that.

But that his love was so intense for you that he penetrated the ring of offense and came down to demonstrate his love for you. His work in me was finished and he sealed it with himself. So this is our story concerning the mark of Jesus. So heretofore said he, or henceforth, let no one trouble me, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. Has nothing to do with the stigmata. The stigmata is ecstasy beyond measure. Not painful, as you'd see on these paintings. Don't for one moment believe it. Last year, in the Metropolitan, in New York City, There was one at a fantastic pride and they had the sixth point on the left side.

Well, that was not my experience. It was on the right side. But these points came simultaneously. He didn't puncture this and then that and then my feet, singly, and then my head. All came together. I was tucked into this body by these thick, whirling vortices. And I can't describe the sheer ecstasy of that kneeling on this body when God made his decision to take what he had created and make it alive and give himself to it so there are not two of us, just one, and I am he. That's the story. So this wonderful vision or experience I would say of Paul will be the experience of every child born a woman. No one will fail for the very simple reason you aren't doing it.

He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. He began it enough and he completes it. And so no one does it. It's being done on man. If it seems a prying time, all right, do not dwell upon the tragedy. Dwell upon the glory. For the glory is ours. We are the incarnation of both tragedy and glory. For we should not dwell upon the tragedy to the exclusion of the glory. So here, these marks are not to be seen with mortal eye. They are to be seen by being experienced. And then you hold them forever in your wonderful, immortal memory. When you take off this garment for the last time, you will see the full significance of the experience.

It will all be revealed to you why this eschatology had to take place. So the story of Jesus is simply that portion of the message of salvation that is still in being, still in prospect, but perfect for realization. And it realized in us. So the end comes so suddenly. It takes us unaware, it takes us suddenly, and comes to us while we're still living in in this strange, existential situation. You wake in the morning, the same person. You go to bed that night, same person. That you were the day before. And all of a sudden, in this strange world of ours, that we took for granted, this thing happens. And then you go back into the ancient scriptures and you read it.

And see it was all foretold. That's why the ancient rabbis said, that we are predestined or events are predestined if foretold by a word of Scripture. If I can read it in Scripture, it's predestined. I don't make it, it yet happens. It happens when the work is being brought to completion. And the moment that work is coming to completion, well then, it unfolds within us. So Jesus Christ is a holy supernatural being don't look for him in the flesh so let me remind you what Paul said to the Galatians are you so foolish having begun in the spirit are you ending in the flesh don't look for any physical Jesus don't look for any man outside of yourself as the savior Listen to the words of Isaiah.

I am the Lord your God. The Holy One of Israel. Your Savior. And besides me there is no Savior. Who spoke? I am. I am the Lord your God. The Holy One of Israel. Your Savior. So don't let make any image of a Savior outside. But when he comes, he's gonna come within you. And when he comes, you'll understand the words. I have told you before it takes place, that when it does take place, you may believe that I am he. So all this was said of the Lord, and it happened to you. But then you'll believe I am he. For these things only happen to the Lord. He is born out of a tomb.

He allowed himself to be in tomb voluntarily. No one takes my life. I lay down myself. I have the power to lay down and the power to lift it up again. Or I put me in the tomb and I will rise. And so they put him in the tomb. The human skull. And when he rises you will know I am he. So he rises. And may I tell you, the sensation is one of rising from sleep. The only reason that you know it was so deep that it was likened unto death is the location. When you find yourself in a tomb, only the dead are placed in tombs. Therefore, finding yourself out in the tube of your own skull, and you know it's a sepulcher, and it's completely sealed.

However I got there, I don't remember. But whoever put me there must have thought me dead, because I didn't realize that I went into the place. But here I am, I'm in it, and it's sealed, and I wake in it, waking in it, in a tube. I must now associate my state with death, but I'm not dead anymore. Then you know the words of the first chapter of the book of Revelation. I was dead and I'm alive forevermore. The faithful witness the firstborn from the dead. The mystery of life through death. Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it remains alone. But if it falls into the ground and die, it brings forth much.

So that grain of wheat was the creative power of God, called in Scripture you, Jesus Christ. And so it penetrated the tomb, the cenotaph, the skull of man. And there, in that tomb, it reamed the dream of life. And then comes the last scenes, these wonderful scenes as they unfold in you, revealing how you really are the very being that entered you. For in that day you will know that I am he. Now you dwell upon it. For I'm telling you, everyone is going to have this experience. Everyone. No one can fail because you aren't doing it. You're not doing it on the outside at all. While you go about your business, doing all the things on the outside, being Being a greater person, a wealthier person, contributing more to society, all these things are lovely.

But while you're doing these things, a work is taking place in you of which you're totally unaware. And when that work is being completed, it begins to unfold and unveil itself in this series of supernatural experiences. And one by one they unfold, and then you know, I am He. I can tell you, the first time I told the story of the crucifixion, it was a strange reaction. It happened in New York City. And so the very next night, it was lecture night, and I told my friends, just as I've told you tonight, well, their reaction was one of, who do you think He is? That was the reaction. I wasn't telling them that I differed from them.

I was just telling them exactly what happened to me. And what happened to me, I can't conceive as something different from what either has happened to you or will happen to you. and so I have told him I heard the voices thinking they heard the voice but only I heard the last expression of the voice they heard this wonderful conversation between the woman and God the voice of authority when it came to the very end I and I alone heard it but it came from the depth of my being I laid myself dumb within you to sleep and as I slept I dreamed the dream I dreamed yes I dreamed that I knew and dreaming that he is me he fused with me and you'll understand that second chapter of the book of Genesis and the Lord God caused a profound sleep to fall upon man and he slept there's not a word said in scripture where he was ever awakened He awakes only when God in him awakes.

And he told Abraham the most fantastic story. And a deep, deep sleep fell upon Abraham. And he slept. And there’s no thought in scripture where Abraham in his long, long journey was awakened. He was dreaming. Well, who was dreaming? God entered death’s door for those who enter. And they down in the very grave with the man, and dreams with him until they’re both awake, but they aren’t two when they awake. When they awake, they’re one. And you will say, I am he. So I bear on my body the mark of Jesus. You can take this of the body here and cut it up, you won’t find one more. Open up the skull, you’ll find nothing in there that looks like a pool.

And yet, in my body, I’m speaking now of my supernatural body, the eternal body, the immortal body. That’s where the drama really takes place. And these are only shadows of that body. Are there any questions? What is the meaning of I Am? Very important. What is the meaning of I Am, that I Am? Very good question. What does it mean, I Am, that I Am? A friend of mine drove me to Tiburon yesterday, and he’s a very, very serious student of the mysteries, spends much time daily, in spite of his business hours that he must give to the business where he works, with his concordance, and he came up with an excellent interpretation of that.

He said, you speak, and the Bible speaks constantly, of two ages. This age and that age. Though I am not only the God. I am the God of this, the world of Caesar, but that I am. Taking one from this level into that level. So there’s no other God. So I am that I am also. Or are you speaking of an entirely different world? We can’t deny here that before man can do anything, man must first be. For that’s obvious. I am. But can I believe that when I go into an entirely different sphere, I will confront the same I am? Yes. Under different circumstances in an entirely different world. But you can use it here on this level to make it as practical as you want.

When you think of something, all right, it seems to be detached from you. Be perfectly still and assume I am that until it ceases to be that and it becomes I am. Think it’s a particular little story of health or wealth. Well, there is health, or there is wealth. I’m not feeling well, and I’m not wealthy. Therefore, it seems like that over there. But if I am all, I will assume I am healthy. Well, health seems to be other than myself. When I began to assume it, I would draw it closer and closer and closer and that I feel I am healthy or I am wealthy. The story of Isaac drawing his son clothed in the garment where he tried to deceive.

Come close, my son. Come near, my son, that I may feel you. And so Jacob comes clothed as Esau. And finally, it is not out there anymore. It is here. The secret of making there here and then now. Any other questions, please? In the next world, will people experience this experience that you are speaking of? Do they have to experience it while they are here in the flesh? Did you hear the question? In the next world, will people experience that which I spoke of tonight? If they have not now experienced it, will they experience it there in the flesh? By then, the so -called next world is just as solidly real and flesh -like as this world.

You are going to find the surprise of your life. That it is just like this world. They're not made of gospel. They don't go through walls, as people teach. They're just as solemn as this, with all the problems they have here. And they procreate there, and they die there too. Just as they die here. This is a curved play. This is only a section of the play. And so, Peace for Intent is allotted this. All right, another section of time. You will make your exit here to find yourself, not necessarily in the same month of the same year following death. You will find yourself a thousand years beyond or a thousand years back. That will be determined by the work yet to be done in you.

He began it, he's going to complete it and he's not going to ask you for your permission to insert you into that wheel as the 8th chapter of Romans tells us the creature was made subject unto futility not willingly but by reason of the will of him who subjected him in hope that the creature would be set free from this bondage to corruption and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. So he didn't consult me to put me in this place. Didn't consult you. We were made subject unto futility, not willingly. And that was shown me so clearly in vision. One night when I saw all these people, and they refer to this world of ours as woodland.

They don't call it earth. Woodland. And I was talking to Heine, the great German poet and he said, Neville, they all speak of it as woodland. Not one of them believed that anyone could ever come back from woodland. Woodland to them is eternal death. And so you read the 8th chapter of the book of Mark and when the eye was opened, he was asked, now what do you see? He said, I see men like trees walking. This is like a tree. As far as they're concerned, this is all woodland. And they wouldn't believe my stories at all. They loved to hear them. I told them all my stories of earth. But they didn't believe me.

Any more than they believe the gospel story today. Read the 20th chapter of the book of Acts. And he spent the entire day from morning to evening trying to convince them of Jesus. Using as support for his argument all the argument of Scripture. And some believe what he says and others disbelieve. Good night.