THE LIVING GOD

 

What, exactly, is meant by the Living God? First we have to understand the meaning of the word living. The dictionary tells us that it means having the quality of life or vitality; pertaining to the living as opposed to dead; filled with life. And life is defined, among other things as the animation of the body by the vital principle; a conscious and intelligent existence; a particular state of existence or the manner in which one lives; the energy which tends toward growth, development and progress; animation and vigor. This gives us much ‘food for thought’ and supplies some vitally important information. The Living God is mentioned in a few places in the Old Testament and in the New Testament as well. One tends to gloss over this appellation without much thought. Perhaps it is just used to distinguish the God that we worship from gods that are made of wood, stone and metal, commonly called idols. But this is no so. Today, we no longer worship these ancient idols, but have found other idols to replace them, such as money, power and control over others: But what of the Living God? What do we know about Him?

 

The Living God must be non-static, or active; must have capacity for reproduction; must have powers of attraction and repulsion such as love and hate, and must have energy or spirit. In Deuteronomy 5:22- 26 we find Moses saying: “ These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the clouds, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me. And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,) that ye came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; and ye said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God hath shewed us his glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire; we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and He liveth. Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us : If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, then we shall die. For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the Living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and liveth?’ ”

 

Here we can see that the Living God is much more than an image. He is a sentient entity or Spirit, able to speak, think, write, command and manifest fire, clouds and thick darkness. This is so far and beyond an idol that it is incomprehensible that any man could have worshipped idols of wood, stone or metal. In Daniel 6:25-26 we find: “Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; ‘Peace be multiplied unto you. I make a decree, that in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel; for He is the Living God, and steadfast forever, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end.’” From this we can see that mankind attributed to God some of the qualities that man has plus qualities above and beyond man as well. God is understood here as a consuming fire and a jealous God, all powerful and omnipresent. The people were told that “the Lord, He is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: There is none else.” We must take note that “heaven above” is not a geographical location; rather, it is a system of higher vibrations, no longer material. Note the important piece of information, “there is none else”. So we can see that all things are composed of vibrations. Also we can see that the Living God encompasses all things – everything. Hence it is easy to see the truth in the statement that it is within God that we live and move and have our being.

 

In the New Testament, if we read Matt 16-16 we find: “And Simon Peter answered and said, ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God’ “. Just as genetic traits are passed on to our children, here God’s traits are passed on to Christ Jesus. And in 2 Corinthians 6-16 we find: “And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the Living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people”. Here we can see that not only are we in God but God is within us. We are, indeed, His hands and feet, His eyes and ears, His mouth and Nervous system.

 

By studying the “Cosmo.” We can trace man’s descent or slowing of the vibrations of the Virgin Spirits until we arrive at humanity in the Earth Period. It is during this Period that man begins the turn-around; that is, he begins his evolution or ascent back to Spirit. By ascent, we mean that man’s vibrations are becoming higher or faster and finer. Could it be that as this process continues and man evolves to higher and higher standards and finer and finer vibrations, that God, too, undergoes change? The jealous, vengeful God of the Old Testament becomes the loving, guiding Father of the New Testament. We still have a long way to go before we can join in the blissful and perfect high vibrations of God, but we are on our way. As we become increasingly pure and free from the lower Desire Body influences, our vibrations become finer and faster allowing our Mental Body to develop without distortion. This gives us ever increasing understanding. Together, the higher Desire Body and the rapidly developing Mental Body affords us wisdom. Jesus spoke of this process of purification when he said, in Matthew 23:26 “…cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also”. This inner cleansing must take place before we are clean. Outer cleansing is certainly not enough. Starting within will enable us to be as Jesus also admonished, “be perfect, even as your Father in heaven, is perfect”. This is vitally important and not to be considered a feat that is beyond attainment. As our vibrations become increasingly congruent with those of God, we become one with Him even as Christ Jesus did. Even though God is everywhere within us as well as outside of us, still we need to gain in purity to have interaction with Him; to become a functioning part of Him; to become one with Him. The fact that spirits join as we evolve bears witness to the fact that we can do it. We gain assistance by joining with those who have evolved along with us.

 

It should be noted in passing, that the God we are talking about here is the Father, the architect of our solar system. He is Lord of the Seventh Cosmic Plane, and His attributes are Will, Wisdom and Activity. It is He who is the progenitor of the Seven Spirits Before the Throne. They reside with Him in the World of God. The Father is the source and goal of our existence. We must distinguish the Father, from God The Supreme Being, The Absolute, The Great Architect Of The Universe, who embodies Power, the Word (also known as the Creative Fiat) and Motion. All of the Exalted Beings permeate each part of their own realm, plus realms of greater density; so that all of Them are present in our world. We, on the other hand, are unable to penetrate their worlds at this time.

 

What is the importance of this? Does this mean merely that man evolves by incorporating these experiences or lessons into his Soul and that his Soul is later incorporated into his Spirit? No, there is more. Maybe we can see the picture clearer if we know that the words spoken to Moses by God in reference to the name of God were mistranslated. Instead of saying, “I am that I am” God actually said, “I am becoming that I am becoming” or “I am becoming that which I decide to become”. Since among the Israelites a name indicated who and what you were, God could not name Himself because He was not finished becoming. This would make perfect sense when understood in terms of the teachings of Max Heindel. If we think about it, we understand that God does not have a physical body; therefore, He can have no experiences of a physical or material nature. We are the source of God’s material experiences. We are bringing these home to Him incorporated into our souls which is further incorporated into Spirit, which, in turn, is part of God. We are helping God to know what material existence is like. He has all consciousness. Through us He is developing self-consciousness. The reciprocal of this is that God is helping us to evolve, to grow in knowledge and awareness. We truly are gods in the making.

 

Max Heindel points out that man was made out of the dust of the earth and God breathed life into him. This is significant in that God did not give man life but breathed life into him. Could we then say that the surrounding air, or the air that God breathed into him, is life? It sounds like this is so. We can say that God is life, or breathes out life, and that without God there is no life. Hence, it appears that a Living God is required to give life, if we understand that life is the substance of God. No wonder that Christ Jesus said, “I am the life, the light and the way”. After all, he was one with the Liviing God.

 

The Bible speaks of a living soul or a dead soul. Because of this, many people believe the soul is the same as the body, or a spiritual representative of the body, or the personality of the person; all very confusing. But according to Max Heindel’s explanation, soul is a product of experience in the body. We could look at Soul as the notebook of life experiences in man’s various bodies, the contents of which will be incorporated into spirit. This is succinctly illustrated by the diagram in the “Cosmo” showing that the Divine Spirit elaborates the Dense Body for the production of Conscious Soul; the Life Spirit elaborates the Vital Body for the production of Intellectual Soul; and the Human Spirit elaborates the Desire Body for the production of Emotional Soul.uman Spirit elaborates the Desire Body for the production of Emotional Soul. The diagram goes on to illustrate that each of these souls are  All three kinds of Soul are then incorporated into its corresponding Spirit. If one is a living Soul, continuing information can be added to this ‘notebook’ producing further soul growth. A dead soul (which is reflected by death of the body) can no longer gather information from life experiences, so nothing more is added to this ‘notebook’ of the spirit. Gathering life experiences is work, is it not? Remember, God’s archetypes are eternal, but our individual experiences of these archetypes are different. God is interested in these differences and expects us to do His work while we are in the material world; that is, to experience and mentally process as much as possible during our earth life. This is what Christ Jesus was talking about when he said, “ Soon the night cometh when no man can work”.

 

God has always used human beings, singly or in groups, to further His plans. Look at the story of Noah and how he saved the remnant of the faithful. And look at Moses; how he led his people to freedom from Egyptian domination and brought them to the Promised Land. God used people to fight wars and bring down empires; He gave Sampson such strength that he slew the Philestenes with the jawbone of an ass; and David the talent to bring down the giant, Goliath with a sling shot.

 

Down through the centuries and millennia, God has drawn His people closer to Him: Firstly, by fear, such as experienced by the ancient Israelites, mentioned above; secondly, by example, wherein steadfast belief afforded protection, such as Daniel and his friends in the fiery furnace or Daniel in the lion’s den; or by the voice of His prophets who brought messages or warnings; or by His Angels and Archangels who brought announcements and proclamations.

 

By the end of the Old Testament times mankind knew about the Laws of God written on the stone tablets, but did not really understand them, holding fast to the concept of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”. It took the Lord of Love, Christ Jesus to set things right. Man was unable to understand the “law” correctly and needed clarification and teaching by example.  Thus Christ Jesus came. His example was the finest and his teachings, superb. He looked for the good in everything, did not condemn, brought healing and love to the needy, taught that love is the greatest power in the world and that forgiveness and compassion are the handmaidens of love. He taught patience and understanding, and “turning the other cheek” to avoid violence. He warned against war saying, “those who live by the sword shall die by the sword”. He gave up his life on the cross, showing irrevocably, that the true value of existence lies in the spiritual realm, not the material: “What gaineth a man if he gaineth the whole world and suffers the loss of his soul?” The teachings of Christ Jesus leave us with the true and certain knowledge that the force of fear (and all negativity) is to be banished and replaced by the force of love. Remaining positive and living the teachings of Christ Jesus is the only salvation. It is not only possible, but it is the Will of God, that we become one with Christ Jesus, just as Christ Jesus became one with Him, that we may all be one together.  

 

The Living God is truly our Father and we, all the sons and daughters of this solar system, are His children. He is very interested in our every thought, word and deed. As we grow in understanding, God understands with us. As we form interpersonal relationships, God enters into them as well. When we are sad, He feels the sadness; when we are happy, He rejoices with us. God wants us to gain right thinking, right feeling and right action. Let us accomplish this aim and hasten the day of Christ’s return by letting go of all enmity, hostility and other low desires, to gather together in freedom, dew-eyed in the full love and true unity of fellowship, doing all things to the glory of God. Losing ourselves in the great, blissful sea of perfectly synchronous vibrations, becoming one with the Christ and with the father, the Living God.

- Ruth Winocur

                                    

 

 

ROSE CROSS

A Quarterly Rosicrucian Online Magazine

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