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Chapter 54
Beloved God and Goddess Meru - December 31, 1985

     My reading to you is from Cosmic Consciousness, chapter eight, by Lanello:

     As you practice the presence of love, you will find that the Christ of you, your own Real Self, will draw nearer and dearer to your heart. For it is love in balance with wisdom and power that enabled Jesus to become the Christ and to be accorded the appellation: Jesus, the Christ.

     Love draws the light of Father and Son into balance. And love engenders a desire for greater and greater purity, even as it makes plain the necessity for personal sacrifice.

     For to feel love is to desire to be that love. And to be that love is to continually transcend the former state until heaven is realized on earth and your aura, an expanding egg of cosmic consciousness, merges with the aura of the Christ and magnetizes so much more of your causal body into manifestation for the blessing of all mankind.

     Through the crown chakra, the focus of the yellow ray, magnetize love in the love of the wisdom teachings.

     Through the third-eye chakra, focus of the green ray, magnetize love by seeing the Cosmic Virgin as she enfolds all life in the immaculate conception - and go and do thou likewise.

     Through the throat chakra, focus of the blue ray, magnetize love by the power of the spoken Word offered in praise of Father, Mother, Son, and Holy Spirit and by giving the adoration to the flame.

     Through the heart, focus of the pink ray and the threefold flame, magnetize love as the adoration of the will of God, as the balance of the Christ mind, as the intuitive faculty of love itself, and as the wholeness of the Trinity in manifestation.

     Through the solar plexus that is the focus of the ray of purple and gold, magnetize love by being thy brother's keeper and washing the feet of thy fellow servant on the Path.

     Through the seat-of-the-soul chakra, focus of the violet ray, magnetize love in the pursuit of freedom, the invocation of mercy, and the upholding of justice.

     Through the base-of-the-spine chakra, focus of the white ray of purity's light, magnetize love by the consecration of the energies of the sacred fire for the victory of the light in all of the chakras and for the restoration of purity at every level of consciousness.

     Love, then, is a universal quality that is used as the action of the flame of the Holy Spirit to endow all of the rays - and the secret rays as well - with the magnetic impulse of God's love that is for the whole creation and that permeates that creation when it is intensified through the souls that He has made.

     Now, before this course is complete we desire to have transferred to the devotees who are following our weekly releases an increment of the flame of the Holy Spirit as we merge our auras with your own.

     And therefore we make known to you that we will stand, the Maha Chohan and myself, over each one who calls upon us. And we will place our mantle and the momentum of our causal bodies as an electronic forcefield over the four lower bodies of each devotee of the sacred fire who will call upon me as Lanello and upon the Maha Chohan as the Representative of the Holy Spirit.

     In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and the Mother, I send Light from the heart to each devotee so gathered here. I send Light from the heart of the Sun, from the heart of Lake Titicaca, from the heart of the God and Goddess Meru, for I AM THAT I AM.

     Students of the Light and of Summit University, we place our presence over the Messenger to deliver to you what is the offering of our hearts and of our dispensation concerning these paragraphs dictated to Mother by Lanello.

     (These are the words, Light and Presence of the God and Goddess Meru, who now deliver to you their teaching as I continue reading to you from Cosmic Consciousness, chapter eight.)

     This action of our consciousness enfiring your own can be made permanent only as you increase your application to the flame and pursue the high calling of the sons and daughters of God.

     The calling which I deliver to you directly from the Great Initiator is this: to purify your chakras in this hour of the Lord's appearing. For he would anchor his energies in the seven planes of consciousness - in the power of the seven rays released from the hearts of the mighty Elohim and their divine complements.

     You must have not one but seven chalices prepared for the full complement of the Christ consciousness that must be delivered to some among mankind in this age to prepare the way for a higher order of evolved beings who are to appear on earth in the coming decades.

     For, you see, as you prepare your temple as the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, so the Holy Spirit prepares your temple to receive enlightened ones - avatars from far-off worlds and souls who have made considerable advancement evolving on Terra under the aegis of hierarchy.

     (What follows is the word of the God and Goddess Meru to you:)

     Beloved, since these dictations [published in Cosmic Consciousness] were given in the Spirit of the victory of the ascension of Mark,¹ his message and goal has come about in a very physical way at the Inner Retreat. Here, then, we desire to send the highest order of souls of Light.

     This preparation of the seven chakras and the body temple will afford you the opportunity to sponsor souls of Light that could not otherwise come into embodiment. Thus, looking to the union with the twin flame or the soul mate is important. But the path to that union must be purification by the violet flame and the understanding of this cardinal truth which we bring to you today.

     Each and every one of you has a peculiar karma. Most karma involves the bringing forth of lifestreams with whom one has the karmic tie. Some of these ties of karma are to souls not of the Light, souls who would not profit from being in a spiritual community and who would be a burden to parents who have chosen to live in the lifestyle of such a community, souls who themselves would not be happy in the environment and path you have chosen. Nevertheless, the karma is there.

     In deliberation, then, with the Lords of Karma, we bring you the following: If you will take to heart the demand of the Law and your responsibility to it, if you will dedicate yourself to violet flame decrees and the call to the Lords of Karma that you might serve the Light within this Community in some capacity, near or far, by holding the balance for that Light, you will then be given the opportunity through world service to the Brotherhood to balance your karma with those lifestreams whom your karma dictates you must encounter, you must serve, you must spend time with in this life.

     Serving instead all life, giving the blessing to each part of life on earth, you will receive from the Lords of Karma the dispensation for your personal karma to be balanced in world service only on the condition that you specifically make the call daily that the violet flame you invoke go to every lifestream on this earth and beyond with whom you have unfortunate and negative karmic ties.

     Thus, sending the violet flame daily, thereby cutting free all souls to whom you are karmically tied and making the call for them to be drawn into the perfect path of Light for them, you and your spouse who keep together this path of chelaship under the Ascended Masters may turn toward the Sun, come in your etheric body to the retreat at Lake Titicaca, stand before the altar, and there receive from us the blessing, the initiation, and the benediction to bring forth the higher evolution - the higher stream of souls that must come preceding the seventh root race as well as teachers who must appear to teach them and leaders who will take their position to lead the people in the world battle that is and is to come.

     Therefore, beloved hearts, truly this path of Lanello's teaching on cosmic consciousness does become for you a liberation. Though you follow it on the physical plane, it is as though you had reincarnated in the etheric octave with the ability (unique in that octave) to cast into the sacred fire that burdensome karma. Without this opportunity now made possible in the physical octave for those in physical embodiment through the sponsorship of the Ascended Masters, beloved, many of you would have to reincarnate to experience what you are experiencing now - the fullness of what the divine plan can be on earth as you function simultaneously on the physical and etheric planes at the Inner Retreat.

     Our hearts, as Twin Flames, place, then, the matrix above you of your divine plan and your etheric blueprint. If you will reach for the highest and bypass the pulls, the intense magnetic attractions that you may have for various individuals along the way or the repulsions or simply the involvements - emotional, mental, business, family or otherwise - you will find that your contribution to the Brotherhood in this lifetime may be sufficient and more than sufficient for the earning of your ascension.

     Understand that the caliber chela we define in this message is that one who is ready for the fire of Serapis Bey and El Morya and who will learn to deal with that fire by the supersaturation of self with the violet flame, making himself able thereby to receive the disciplines and the intense love that these two hierarchs may bring.

     This message from Lanello comes due, then, and finds fulfillment in this hour because many at inner levels have actually applied for some dispensation whereby they might work the works of God and set aside years of obligation, i.e., karma. Beloved ones, on an individual basis we have made the effort to test the dispensation and we have found the following two types of responses which we observe in our chelas:

     The first comes from those chelas who apply for the dispensation of the setting aside of karma, enter the service of the Brotherhood, experience a certain lightness because of the setting aside of that karma, and by and by begin to complain or commiserate or even chastise those they work with or those who are over them. Or they become bored and they find welling up within themselves desires for greener pastures, more education, going here and going there. In sum, various momentums set in with which they must deal that are of their own human creation, for the Great Law cannot set these aside. Nay, the chela must pursue his own self-mastery and in the process learn that keeping one's word to the Brotherhood is fundamental to the trust of the Guru/chela relationship.

     And thus, even though they have been given the boost of Light, the setting aside of personal karma by the Lords of Karma, and a sponsoring Master, by and by these chelas desire to leave this world service which has so uniquely afforded them the opportunity for a higher way of life and future joys appearing bright and the fullness of all that their hearts have desired. This, then, means that the sponsoring Master or Masters must pay the price of the dispensation, i.e., compensate from their own causal bodies for the quotient of energy granted by the Karmic Board. Moreover, when individuals leave off their world service for private pursuits, the entirety of that karma set aside must return to them with full accountability.

     The second type of response we see forthcoming from those who apply for and receive dispensations for world service is the perpetual gratitude of some of our chelas who, though their karma be set aside, have not forgot the weight and the burden of that karma and who have therefore pursued with all diligence as fiery spirits the daily praise of God for being a part of the Great White Brotherhood in this Community and directly in the service of the Messenger. And therefore their striving knows no ends, and by their striving we have achieved great outreach and a sufficiency of contact that is wondrous to behold and applauded by the angels, from the tiniest cherubs to the hierarchs of Light in the Central Sun.

     We see, then, that when the dispensation and the option to enter world service in the name of the Great White Brotherhood are given to those who also have a track record of self-discipline in previous lives and a certain amount of self-abnegation, it is predictable that such chelas will not take such a dispensation for granted. They will not despise the instrument but serve with a true caring and a sense that they have received an impetus (which is what a dispensation really is), literally a bounty of light. And therefore they have seized it to run with it and to clear the way for our coming.

     Through these chelas you begin to know the Ascended Masters. They have become evangels. The true evangelist is the one who goes before the angel announcing his coming. When you decide to be an evangelist of the Great White Brotherhood, you are in fact going before the Ascended Masters, before the Archangels, trumpeting their coming into every city and town, announcing, "The Buddha is coming! Sanat Kumara is coming! The World Teachers are coming! They come today in the person of their Messenger! They come tomorrow face-to-face!"

     Thus, beloved, those who respond to this dispensation move on, increase in fire. They may marry or not marry, bear children or not. For there is more than one way to sponsor the souls of Light and that is, of course, to receive them in the Community, in the Montessori School, or in Summit University as chelas and devotees as they emerge from the world cut free by your calls to Astrea and arrive at the gate needing your fathering and your mothering twenty-four hours a day - so much so that you have found that the office of spiritual father and spiritual mother is adequate and fulfilling and provides you with all that you require to fulfill the destiny of yourself and your twin flame. This is also true, of course, of those who have passed the childbearing years, some having had their families; and they come to this activity ready to fight for Saint Germain and to fight for and win their own ascension.

     These paragraphs contain a summation of basic requirements for those who wish to accept this opportunity and this dispensation. I read, then, from Lanello:

     For each sacrifice of human substance that is made by your free will, there is a corresponding release of divine substance into your being.

     Thus, consider yourself in one sense a limited forcefield able to contain, by cosmic weight measures, only so much substance. The divine substance cannot be contained in this "bag of Maitreya." And thus the human must be cast aside, the vacuum established, and the divine substance descend.

     This is called sacrifice, but it is sacrifice only from a human standpoint because the human mind has grown accustomed to itself - to its habits, to its substance, to its body weight and so forth. But it is not truly a sacrifice. From the moment the human is given up, the word sacrifice itself is transmuted into freedom, soul-liberation, mastery. The advice to "fast and pray" was never more appropriate. Thus, empty that thou might be full.

     And therefore, although it may be painful at times to rid yourself of human momentums, of carnal-mindedness, of involvement with the interplay of egos and the games that people play, and although it takes a determined will aligned with the will of the Father to overcome momentums of lethargy, complacency, rebellion, and ego control -

     Each victory that is won
Will replace your darkness with a sun
Of blazing glory in heart and mind,
Of star-fire light -
`twill quicken all mankind!
 

     Each morsel of substance
you now revoke
Through light of prayer
you do invoke
Will translate the human
into the divine
And surely make your life sublime.
 

     And so, my beloved,
fear not the surrender,
Fear not the temptation
or the blunder.
For the paltry energies
that you give up
Will be returned as light
to fill your cup.
 

     Know, then, that the
Homeward path we view
Is a daily exchange -
the human for the divine.
Do not fail to give Him his due,
And He will not fail to give thee thine.

     Our message from Lake Titicaca this day to all Keepers of the Flame, all true students of our path is that from our retreat we sponsor the Lightbearers of the world. We set the planetary grids consisting of paths, channels of light, through which you may pass more easily. Upon entering these etheric paths and cycles, you may be cut free by Archangel Michael from the entanglements of time and space and environment to make your way to the Inner Retreat at the Royal Teton Ranch - to find the economic solution, the spiritual solution, the family solution, and every resolution you require.

     The sponsoring of this place for these incoming souls and many who will come because you form the initial rings of the magnet of the Central Sun to be placed there does open the way worldwide for other souls of Light to find this gold, this haven, this way out through the Mystery School of Maitreya and the ascension in the Light.

     We come, then, to this Summit University quarter of stalwart souls who have wrestled with a certain amount of human creation - some stubborn about retaining that human creation and some even more stubborn about giving it up. Thus, you see, stubbornness as an action of the Divine Will can be powerful when you let the pendulum swing and you come exactly in the center of life on the pole of being and allow yourself to magnetize the good of the Central Sun and to reject those human, errant, stubborn ways that prevent you from your Christhood.

     Beloved ones, understand, then, that our counsel to you and our announcement to you is the deliverance to your hearts of the mantle of the God and Goddess Meru that this Church, this Activity, and this Dispensation of these Two Witnesses might be fulfilled in these centuries and bring home that harvest of souls who have a date with Helios and Vesta.

     The cycles have turned. Many are called. All who are called have a destiny, an open door and an option for victory in this hour. But the many who are called do not all choose. For they have gathered such density of that human stubbornness that even in the hour of maximum potential and opportunity they willfully reject the representative of the Teacher and desire yet to "call their own shots," as the expression goes.

     They want to be in control of the situation more than they want God-control. God-control is the Light-emanation of Helios and Vesta, and we enthrone that very flame as illumination, as the Feminine Ray. The God-control of one's forces leads to adeptship, including the control of elemental life.

     When you are obedient to your Mighty I AM Presence, beloved chelas, understand that many forces of elementals and angels will come around you in spirals of light, obedient to your every prayer and call. It is the obedience of the Messenger to the will of God and the voice of God that commands the respect of angels and elementals, who therefore immediately answer the call of the Messenger given at this altar.

     I assure you that no one's human creation is any better or any worse than another's. Therefore all who have arrived at the point of obedience have struggled, have fought, have surrendered, and have won. The most important question therefore to be asked by the human questioning mind, by the chela who concludes his study at Summit University is the following: "How much do I really desire to save the world?"

     The answer to the question comes in the measuring by your Holy Christ Self of the desire body. How many horses in the desire body are tethered to this or that desire, pulling you this way and that? And therefore, your members not aligned, not one in direction and purpose, you go nowhere.

     Every horse, then, must be reined by the very strong hand of the Christ Self and you yourself within that Christ Self as the driver in your life must be seated in the heart of the threefold flame. When you can command all of the horses of desire in a single direction, you will have, as Jesus had, the all-power of heaven and earth to fulfill the one desire to be God and, in the process, to save humanity.

     Beloved ones, this question, "How much do I desire to save the world?" will answer all other questions. You come and you say, "Shall I work here? Shall I work there? Shall I go in this profession or shall I pursue an education? Shall I go to that place?"

     Measure the desire and follow the lead to that which becomes the unifying desire of your life. If you do not approve of or like the desires that you see in yourself, then "fast and pray" and call to God and demand that Archangel Michael bind the untoward desires. Let them be cast into the sacred fire and the violet flame. The Archangels are yours to command, in the name of Christ, to come forth and bind the human elements that prevent you from answering this question as you would like to answer it.

     When you discover your level of desire, so Maitreya teaches in his Mystery School, then you will discover just how effective you can be in any calling or any necessity of the hour. Therefore, beloved ones, according to your desire to be God in action in order to overcome the many-headed beast of opposition to the little ones on earth, so will your strength be, so will your decisions be, so will the course of your life be before you, and so will be the purity of your call and the answer to that call - so will be your integrity and your honor to the Great White Brotherhood.

     When you ask us, "What shall we do?" we shall say to you: "Do what thou wilst. Do what is the fullness of thy heart's ability. If it is to offer thyself in service and to be the chela, then enter the Guru/chela relationship and strive for it under the sponsorship of Padma Sambhava through the Messenger until that one shall tell you that you are launched as a star to be the chela of an Ascended Master without the intermediary of the Messenger."

     This is the goal of the Guru in embodiment - to qualify you for the direct relationship with the Ascended Masters with only your Christ Self as mediator. This requalification of the sons of Israel (who have gone out of the way) to the path of discipleship unto their Christhood and of the daughters of God as the handmaids of the Lord unto the calling of the World Mother is the work and office of this Messenger.

     Therefore, beloved, see and know and understand that your path, even so, is an internal one that is the relationship between thee and thy God. The Messenger is there as (when) the child takes her first steps, not interfering, not reaching out but only there to catch the child lest the child fall. So, beloved, your independence is the goal of this path. Your independence on the path of Light is our summoning and our desire.

     We are independent ones. We will move on to the Sun and occupy the office of Helios and Vesta when this dispensation is fulfilled. We desire the next calling, for it affords us greater opportunity to bless life. Yet we are not in a hurry. We only portray to you that through the path of interdependence in God we champion your free will and offer you our best guidance and best teachers to accomplish your goal as directly and swiftly as possible.

     Now, then, come to the cubicles, the compartments, the departments - all fashioned, beloved, to see to it that you get the most of initiation and training and the most face-to-face encounter with your unreal self and your Real Self. These compartments and departments and cubicles of which I speak are the many avenues of service at Camelot at the Royal Teton Ranch and the Teaching Centers. They are defined. Their cubes are square. And you will find there the most reinforcement of brotherhood and oneness if you desire the most accelerated path to your own ascension.

     This very preparation described by Lanello is that which we seek for you. If you will place seven cups, seven matching receptacles, upon your private altar, you will see as you tend that altar how much time it takes even to dust seven receptacles. The care of the seven must be in balance, for it is the seven chakras which the Seven Holy Kumaras require for world service. The seven receptacles are the reminder of the seven flames.

     Let it be so, then, that your goal in life enables you to realize God where you are - simple statement of the focus of all you have learned. Simple focus of God's statement for you. All of the words and the healing, the brotherhood, the interaction, the aloneness, the pain, the joy, the laughter - all of this comes down to: Realize God where you are.

     We teach not in silence, though in silence you have heard our word. We teach through the spoken word because we must hasten the day of thy God's appearing in thyself. We speak, then, through the Messenger to warn and give counsel and admonish what must truly be accomplished and because so much error has beset the mind that it does indeed require the Mind of God in the Great White Brotherhood to show you what is the difference between the lower mental body and its functionings and its programmings and that of the Universal Christ Mind.

     This is why we, the God and Goddess Meru, have sponsored with many the retreat of the Royal Teton Ranch and the Mystery School - because illumination in the Mind of God has become our principal offering. We work with all Brothers of the Golden Robe and we work with all retreats of the Second Ray.

     When the world is illumined, then we will see who are the Dark and who are the Light. For when universal illumination is present and the individual does still reject the Path, then you understand that all along it was the seed of the wicked who understood and yet pretended they did not know God.

     They know God only too well and scheme against him and his children. Thus, illumination shows which side of the river the individual is on. Let illumination prosper, for the conspiracies of the dark ones cannot hold in the presence of this Light.

     Our only regret is the knowledge that if this Teaching were in the hands of all those who are the Lightbearers in the world, certain calamities would not have taken place in the recent years since the ascension of Lanello. It is for want of contacting the true Lightbearers and for want of their awareness of true illumination that some schedules of the incoming golden age and of the Great White Brotherhood have been severely set back. I am certain that through the mind of Surya you will determine exactly which these are and that you will concentrate on the causes of the setbacks with the most powerful prayer vigils that have ever been held on earth.

     So we decree it. So we bless and heal. So we seal you in the delicate but very strong fire of illumination's flame.

     Learn this, then, O chelas of Morya and Saint Germain - that to put on the consciousness of the Holy Spirit, you must put off the darkness and the profanity of the common man. You must be clothed in royal robes of king and priest, of son and daughter of God.

     And therefore, if you would come to know Him whom I know as the very living presence of the cloven tongues of fire, learn the discipline of self-sacrifice. And fear not the momentary vacuum, the momentary aloneness. For God will fill your soul and body and mind with the very presence of a living flame.

     I am your comforter as you seek to be that Comforter to all mankind.

     "The Summit Lighthouse Sheds Its Radiance O'er All the World to Manifest as Pearls of Wisdom."

     This dictation by the God and Goddess Meru was delivered through the Messenger of the Great White Brotherhood Elizabeth Clare Prophet on Friday, June 14, 1985, at Camelot, Los Angeles, California. N.B. Words unspoken yet implied by the God and Goddess Meru have been added by the Messenger under their direction for clarity in the published text.

Bibliography

[1]

Volume 28, Number 1, footnote 6. On Christmas Eve 1984, shortly after 6:00 p.m., a fire started in the large metal factory building at the Royal Teton Ranch's Industrial Park, east of Livingston, Montana. Within twenty minutes the central roof had collapsed, causing the walls to cave in. Metal tools melted, and sections of the steel frame became twisted in the heat. Firefighters battled the inferno for several hours before bringing it under control. At about 6:00 a.m., the fire was completely out, though two-thirds of the building was totally destroyed or rendered unusable. Investigators assume that the cause was electrical. In a Jan. 11 Livingston Enterprise article, "Power Line Blamed for Local Warehouse Fire," Tom Shands reported: "According to Rural Fire Marshall Walt Adams, who enlisted the help of the state fire marshall's office, the fire apparently started when Montana Power's 440-volt overhead line touched the metal warehouse, igniting a spray-on polyurethane insulation that was applied to the center section of the warehouse. Rural Fire Chief Ken Hanson said that type of insulation is supposed to be fire resistant, but under certain conditions it will ignite and burn fast and hot. `In essence, that whole metal building turned into one hot hunk of metal,' Hanson said. `This would account for the fact that we had so much fire so fast.' In sifting through the rubble, Adams said he attempted to determine the point of the fire's origin, what fuel was available for it to burn and in what direction the fire spread. ... Adams said the electric heater was not near the point of origin and could not have caused that much fire that fast. Adams said church members were in the building about 10 minutes before the fire started, and within one-half hour after they left, the building was consumed in flames. Montana Power's spokesman in Butte said the utility does not agree with the fire marshalls' report. `We disagree with the fact that the fire was caused by our line,' said Jerry Woods of MPC's claims division. Woods said MPC has had engineers inspect the warehouse and the company believes its line was subjected to intense heat, sagged, and then touched the building. He said early indications are the line came down after the fire was started. Woods said MPC engineers will continue to investigate the fire in an attempt to clear its line from any liability, but he added that investigation may not go as far as to determine the cause of the fire."

[2]

Volume 28, Number 2, footnote 2. Peshu Alga: the first rebel against the Most High God; also known as the Accuser of the Brethren (Rev. 12:10). When Peshu Alga's son died, he cursed God for allowing his death, rejected all consolation, and swore eternal vengeance against the Almighty. It was the first sin ever committed against God. The archangel Lucifer (tempted through his own pride and ambition) was traduced by Peshu Alga and followed in his rebellion, thus causing the fall of many other angels under him. In his 1983 Christmas Day Address, "Ancient Records of Earth's Karma," Jesus announced: "As the year passes you will enter the Dark Cycle on April 23 - the Dark Cycle in Aries. As you know, this cycle is the cycle of Helios and of Vesta and of the I AM Presence and the affirmation of the name of God, I AM, whereby the Christ, the Son of God, does declare, `Lo, because thou art, I AM!' The identity of the Son of God as the living Christ is therefore the testing of the soul in 1984. You also understand that the perversion of the I AM, made originally by that one Peshu Alga and his consort and then Lucifer, was on that very line of the I AM THAT I AM. Declaring `I am God!' as the antithesis of the sons of God, these fallen angels literally stole the Light from the altars of heaven to go forth to pervert and subvert the children of the Light. Now understand that these records of the original fall, the original betrayal of the LORD God Almighty by Peshu Alga, come due in 1984. And you will face the test of pride and of ambition, of the arrogance of the fallen ones - as you have never faced it before. This will be not only these elements untransmuted as black filings in the garment of thy self, but mainly and principally as the planetary momentum of the fall of the false hierarchy itself." At Summit University, January 12, 1984, El Morya reminded us: "Do not forget it has been spoken: 1984 is the year of the judgment of Peshu Alga and his seed and consort." (See "A Prayer Vigil for Communist Nations," Pearls of Wisdom, vol. 27, no. 26, p. 202.) Archangel Gabriel, April 20, 1984: "Therefore, look to the hour, for come this Monday, there shall return the Dark Cycle in Aries, which, as you have been told, signifies the returning karma of all of the fallen angels who followed after Lucifer, who followed after Peshu Alga, who was one of a number, specifically twelve renegades, who determined to pervert the Light of the archangels in their schools of Light on the twelve points of the rays of the sun." (See "The Joy of the Path," Pearls of Wisdom, vol. 27, no. 30, p. 236.) Jesus Christ, Easter Sunday, April 22, 1984: "I have said it before, and I say it again: It is the hour, therefore, in 1984 to look to the judgment of those who are the pagan ones, those who have professed me and the name of Christ and yet have denied in action the firstfruits of that love." (See "My Victory, Your Victory," Pearls of Wisdom, vol. 27, no. 31, p. 242.)

[3]

Volume 28, Number 2, footnote 3. Nov. 19, Mexico: a series of explosions at the Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) liquefied gas storage and distribution site in San Juan Ixhuatepec (just north of Mexico City) leaves at least 490 dead and 4,248 seriously injured. Dec. 3, India: 40-minute toxic gas leak from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal kills over 2,500; an estimated 100,000 permanently disabled. The worst industrial accident in history. Dec. 4-9, Iran: 4 Arab terrorists, demanding the release of 17 Shia Muslim fundamentalists held in Kuwait for the December 1983 bombing of the U.S. and French embassies in Kuwait, hijack a Kuwait Airways jetliner and hold hostages for 6 days at the Tehran airport. Two Americans murdered and other passengers tortured and brutalized until Iranian security forces successfully seize the terrorists and free the remaining 9 hostages on December 9. Dec. 6, Florida: Provincetown-Boston Airlines plane, on a flight to Tampa, crashes shortly after takeoff in Jacksonville, killing all 13 aboard. Dec. 11, Belgium: Bombs explode at 6 NATO pipeline sites in southern Belgium, sending streams of burning fuel into the air and shutting down sections of Europe's largest fuel delivery system for several days. Terrorist group Communist Combatant Cells claims responsibility. Mid-Dec., USSR: explosion in underground Soviet munitions factory kills hundreds of people in western Siberia. Exact date and precise death toll unknown. Dec. 19, Utah: coal-mine fire breaks out in the Emery Mining Corporation's Wilberg mine at Orangeville, trapping 27 people, including 6 executives of the company - no survivors. Dec. 23, Italy: terrorist bomb explodes aboard a Naples-Milan express train; at least 15 killed and 150 injured. Several terrorist groups claim responsibility, including the leftist Red Brigades, neo-fascist groups - the Black Order and the New Order - and the right-wing Armed Revolutionary Nuclei. Dec. 24, Montana: fire in large (600' x 60') metal factory building at the Royal Teton Ranch's Industrial Park, east of Livingston. Within 20 minutes, central roof collapses, causing the walls to cave in; metal tools melt in the heat and firefighters battle the inferno for hours before bringing it under control. Two-thirds of the building destroyed; investigators assume cause was electrical. Dec. 25, Florida: Explosions tear through 3 Pensacola abortion clinics, bringing to 23 the number of bombings and arsons at U.S. abortion facilities in 1984. Two young couples are arrested and tell authorities they carried out the bombings on orders from God. Dec. 26, California: fire destroys part of a Texaco oil refinery in Wilmington; no casualties; cause unknown.

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Volume 28, Number 2, footnote 4. Events subsequent to Archangel Michael's dictation: Dec. 29-Jan. 1, Peru: 11 peasants murdered in retaliation for aiding the government in anti-guerrilla campaigns; 12 Huayhuas villagers dragged from their homes and killed; 4 cities bombed and 2 others blacked out (23 dead) in New Year's attacks by Sendero Luminoso ("Shining Path") Maoist guerrillas. Jan. 1, Bolivia: an Eastern Airlines Boeing 727, en route from Asunción, Paraguay, to La Paz, Bolivia, crashes into the side of Bolivia's Illimani Mountain, killing all 29 aboard. Marian Davis (wife of U.S. Ambassador to Paraguay, Arthur H. Davis) and William Kelly (director of the Peace Corps in Paraguay) are among the 8 Americans killed in the crash. Jan. 1, Washington, D.C.: explosion in Hillcrest Women's Surgi-Center abortion clinic; 230 windows in nearby apartment buildings shattered. Caller claiming to be a member of the "Army of God" claims responsibility. Early Jan., Europe and North Africa: "killer freeze" cold wave blamed for an estimated 170 deaths and for seriously damaging crops. Jan. 9, France: fire in state-run nursing home kills 24 residents in Grandvilliers. Cause linked to electrical wires short-circuited by water from a burst pipe. Jan. 10, England: explosion, apparently caused by leaking gas, blows apart a luxury apartment building in the London suburb of Putney; 8 reported killed. Jan. 11, West Germany: 3 American soldiers killed when an unarmed U.S. Pershing 2 nuclear missile catches fire at a U.S. Army base near Heilbronn. (The rocket's solid fuel propellant ignited when the missile fell on the fuel container while being moved from a shipping crate.) Jan. 11, Lebanon: bank explosion in West Beirut marks fifth bombing of a Druze institution in past 6 weeks, bringing total casualties to 17 dead and over 86 wounded. "Youths of Free Beirut" claim responsibility. Jan. 13, Ethiopia: an express train derails on a bridge in central Ethiopia, plunging 4 passenger cars into a 40-foot ravine, killing at least 392 people and injuring another 370. Jan. 14, Australia: major fires, predominantly caused by lightning and initially fanned by high winds, sweep the states of Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia (later spreading to Western Australia). At least 6 dead. Towns evacuated; hundreds of thousands of acres of forest, bush, and grazing land blackened; thousands of sheep, cattle, and wild animals killed.

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Volume 28, Number 9, footnote 14. Saint Francis - born into the wealthy Bernardone family about 1181 in Assisi, Umbria, Italy - was called by God to restore the Church, which had fallen into corruption. As he was in prayer one day in 1206 at the ruined chapel of San Damiano outside the gate of Assisi, he heard a voice from the crucifix above the altar command: "Go, Francis, and repair my house which, as you see, is falling in ruins." Renouncing worldly goods and family ties, Francis embraced a life of poverty and, for two or three years, fervently dedicated himself to repairing the church of San Damiano, a chapel honoring St. Peter, and the Portiuncula, the chapel of St. Mary of the Angels, near Assisi. The Portiuncula, which was to become the cradle of the Franciscan Order, was described by Saint Bonaventure as "the place that Francis loved most in the whole world." It was there that Francis received the revelation of his true vocation. While attending Mass in the restored chapel on the Feast of St. Matthias, February 24, 1208, he listened as the priest read from Matthew 10: "Go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils. Freely ye have received, freely give. Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves; for the workman is worthy of his meat." Francis later recalled this as his "day of decision" - the day in which "the Most High personally revealed to me that I ought to live according to the Holy Gospel." He donned a coarser garment, went barefoot, and began to preach to the townspeople, attracting followers to his way of life. In 1209, Francis, with a band of eleven disciples, went to Rome to seek the approval of Pope Innocent III for a "rule of life" to formally begin his religious order. The Pope assented when he recognized Francis as the same figure he had seen in a dream holding up the Lateran basilica on his own back. This marked the official founding of the Franciscan Order, which then began to spread rapidly, growing to over 5,000 members by 1219.

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Volume 28, Number 10, footnote 4. The Ascended Masters teach their chelas (Sanskrit, `disciples') to leave the physical body and travel in their finer bodies (in the etheric sheath) to their retreats and halls of learning situated on the etheric plane. Before retiring at night, call to your beloved I AM Presence and Holy Christ Self and the guardian angels to take you to Banff in Alberta, Canada, the location of Archangel Michael's headquarters and training center for his legions of blue-lightning angels. Here you will be trained in the service of protection for the children of the Light and for the preservation of freedom on earth. Earnest students of the Keepers of the Flame Lessons make steady progress on this path of world service through spiritual self-discipline leading to attainment and self-mastery. Archangel Michael, whose name means "who is as God," serves on the first (blue) ray, embodying the God consciousness of faith, protection, perfection, and goodwill. He is called the Prince of the Archangels, the Defender of the Faith, Guardian of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, and Captain of the LORD's Host (Josh. 5:13-15). In Daniel 12:1, he is referred to as "the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people." Revelation 12:7 records that he and his angels "fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels and prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven." In Revelation 16:2 Archangel Michael is the angel who poured out the first vial of the seven last plagues upon the earth (see Vials of the Seven Last Plagues: The Judgments of Almighty God Delivered by the Seven Archangels, Summit University Press. pp. 2-14). The Book of Enoch describes Archangel Michael as "the merciful, the patient," "one of the holy angels, who, presiding over human virtue, commands the nations" (see Enoch 20:5; 40:8). In one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, The War of the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness, he is the "mighty, ministering angel" through whom God promises to "send perpetual help" to the sons of Light.

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Volume 28, Number 12, footnote 5. In recent months, the Labor Party government of New Zealand's Prime Minister David Lange (elected July 1984) has banned all nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed ships from its harbors, thereby threatening the 1951 Australia-New Zealand-United States defense alliance, the ANZUS treaty. Since it is U.S. policy not to disclose whether or not its warships are nuclear-armed, the ban effectively applies to all U.S. Navy ships capable of carrying nuclear weapons. Prime Minister Lange, who contends that New Zealand can avoid becoming a target in time of war by keeping its territory free of nuclear weapons, has said that his government will deny access to U.S. warships if the United States refuses to guarantee that they are not equipped with nuclear arms. In late January, New Zealand denied permission for the American destroyer Buchanan to make a port call during ANZUS military exercises scheduled for March. The U.S. retaliated by withdrawing from the exercises (known as Sea Eagle I-85) and subsequent training maneuvers involving New Zealand. According to reports, the U.S. has also blocked New Zealand from receiving top-level intelligence on the Soviet Union. Lange stresses that his policy is "anti-nuclear, not anti-American," but says: "We do not wish to have nuclear weapons on New Zealand soil or in our harbors. We do not ask, we do not expect, the United States to come to New Zealand's assistance with nuclear weapons or to present American nuclear capability as a deterrent to an attacker." A second threat to the ANZUS alliance came through Australian Prime Minister Robert Hawke in early February. Hawke announced that because of strong opposition in his government he would have to withdraw his previous offer to allow U.S. aircraft to use an Australian staging base to monitor MX missile tests later this year. According to Secretary of State George P. Schultz, the United States will proceed with plans to test the MX in the South Pacific, but "without the use of Australian support arrangements."

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Volume 28, Number 12, footnote 14. On August 21, 1983, Philippine opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino was assassinated upon his arrival at Manila International Airport. Seconds later, Rolando Galman, the alleged hit man, was shot and killed. The assassination shocked the nation and instigated a year of protests against President Ferdinand E. Marcos, who had jailed Aquino in 1972 on charges of subversion and murder. After nearly eight years in solitary confinement, Aquino had been released to go to the United States for heart surgery, where he spent three years in self-exile. Upon his return to the Philippines, Aquino intended to unify the anti-Marcos opposition and challenge the president in the May 1984 parliamentary elections. Based on the report of a five-member citizens panel which investigated the case, special prosecutor Bernardo Fernandez indicted twenty-five military personnel and one civilian for conspiring to kill Aquino and Galman or for participation in a cover-up attempt. Among those charged was Gen. Fabian Ver, armed forces chief of staff. On December 26, 1984, twelve leading opponents of Marcos signed a "declaration of unity," vowing to seek a new constitution and the legalization of the Communist Party should any of them succeed Marcos as president. The declaration, which would become the platform of a new government, also calls for the removal of U.S. military bases in order to establish the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations as a "zone of peace and neutrality." This would affect Clark Air Base and Subic Bay Naval Base - two of America's key military installations. Both are about sixty miles north of Manila and are crucial to the United States' defense posture in the Pacific. From these two facilities, the U.S. counters Soviet military buildup in the Pacific and Indian oceans. Another source of increased tensions since the Aquino assassination has been the movement for a "protracted people's war" led by the New People's Army (NPA) - a group of 5,000 to 10,000 Communist guerrilla insurgents rapidly attracting new members, despite all efforts by the Marcos regime to crush it.

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Volume 28, Number 28, footnote 17. Holy Communion. This sacrament was instituted by Jesus at the Last Supper - at which Christ and his apostles were celebrating the feast of the unleavened bread, or Passover (Matt. 26:17-20, 26-29; Mark 14:12-17, 22-25; Luke 22:7-20). The blessing of the bread and the wine is an ancient Jewish tradition which commemorates the Sabbath and other holy days. It is a ritual which can be traced back even to Melchizedek who "brought forth bread and wine" when he blessed Abraham (Gen. 14:18-20). On Friday evenings, the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath, a ceremonial blessing is first pronounced over the wine and then over two loaves of bread, which symbolize the double portion of manna that fell in the desert on the sixth day (Exod. 16:14-35). At the Last Supper, Jesus "took bread and when he had given thanks, he brake it and said, "Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me" (I Cor. 11:23-25). As recorded in John 6, Jesus had also earlier admonished: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. ... Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life. ..." The "flesh and blood" of the Universal Christ is the essence of His Spirit and His Word celebrated by Keepers of the Flame who "have the testimony of Jesus" (Rev. 19:10) in the LORD'S Communion through the dictations of Jesus and the Servant Sons in heaven, the Ascended Masters. Our cup is the Messenger, our wine is the initiation of the Light outpoured by the Holy Spirit, our Bread is the Living Word. "I AM Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending" (Rev. 1:8; 21:6; 22:13) is the true mystic's mantra of Communion as he partakes of the Body (the Omega) and Blood (the Alpha) of his LORD.

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Volume 28, Number 33, footnote 2. False gurus. The false guru replaces not only the twin flame but also the individual I AM Presence and the personal Mediator and Teacher, the Holy Christ Self, and aborts the search for the Beloved by attaching the chela to himself by means of various devices such as Tantric initiations or forced raising of the Kundalini prior to the attainment of a certain self-mastery and equilibrium gained through the balancing of karma; by engaging both male and female neophytes in sexual rites, secret mantras for the supposed transfer of supernatural powers or so-called initiation, thereby engendering emotional attachment or mindless enslavement to himself; by the lure of ancient traditions, languages and lineage whereby the false guru lays claim to legitimacy by association with or descendancy from the Ascended Masters, Gautama Buddha, Maitreya and Sanat Kumara, plus physical adeptship through developed siddhis (powers), the mischievous misuse of the mantra (black magic) manipulating nature spirits into capricious control of elemental forces heaping disaster against enemies or those in disfavor or influencing the sincere, trusting student to do the bidding of the false guru; encouraging the practice of meditating on the guru's picture together with the recitation of the guru's `secret' mantra: this practice, instead of giving Light to the chela, is the means whereby the false guru, having no Light of his own, in fact takes the Light from his chelas. The entrapments of dress, diet, airs of holiness and meditation for private peace, powers, and personal gain (including financial) without application to the goal of world service all lead to a path of selfish introspection - a counterfeit of the Path of Jesus Christ and his disciples taught by the Ascended Masters - divorcing aspirants from the mighty Work of the ages: the saving of souls and a planet in distress through full participation in the economic and political challenges of self-government and individual economic and spiritual self-deter-mination in God's grand experiment in free will.

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Volume 28, Number 44, footnote 1. Symbolic crowning of Joshua. The Reverend C. I. Scofield's interpretation of Zechariah 6:9-15 quoted at the beginning of this Pearl is as follows: "Following the earth-judgments symbolized in the horsed chariots (Zech. 6:1-8) comes the manifestation of Christ in His kingdom glory (vs. 9-15). This is the invariable prophetic order: first the judgments of the day of the LORD (Isa. 2:10-22; Rev. 19:11-21), then the kingdom (cf. Ps. 2:5 with Ps. 2:6; Isa. 3:24-26 with 4:2-6; 10:33, 34 with 11:1-10; Rev. 19:19-21 with 20:4-6). This is set forth symbolically by the crowning of Joshua, which was not a vision, but actually done. The fulfilment in the BRANCH will infinitely transcend the symbol. He `shall bear the glory' (v. 13; Matt. 16:27; 24:30; 25:31) as the Priest-King on His own throne (vs. 12, 13; Heb. 7:1-3). Christ is now a Priest, but still in the holiest within the veil (Lev. 16:15; Heb. 9:11-14, 24), and seated on the Father's throne (Rev. 3:21). He has not yet come out to take His own throne (Heb. 9:28). The crowns made for the symbolical crowning of Joshua were to be laid up in the temple as a memorial to keep alive this larger hope of Israel." (The Scofield Reference Bible, p. 970, n. 1.) The Ascended Masters teach that this prophecy of the Second Coming is fulfilled in the descent of the Holy Christ Self into the temple of the disciple. The Branch is the extension of the Father in each one's Tree of Life portrayed in the Chart of Your Real Self. The Holy Christ Self is the Sun, or Light, sent by the Father through the I AM Presence. Foreseen by Jeremiah as THE LORD [who is] OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, the Father's standard-bearer unto our souls, this Christ-Presence is the individualization of the Son of God shown descending in clouds of glory from the I AM Presence. Thus, The Branch, as each one's mediator and high priest before the altar of God, ministers as the LORD's messenger and ministering servant unto the soul/supplicant on the path of initiation, represented in the lower figure. Beloved Jesus announced his own Second Coming in his dictation given on Ascension Hill at Camelot May 8, 1983: "I come in the Second Advent with clouds of glory, with hosts of the LORD, and with light. And that Second Advent is as the appearing of the sign of the descent of the entire chain of the Christed One - of Sanat Kumara, Gautama Buddha, LORD Maitreya, and myself therefore embodying this Word in the Messenger for a holy purpose. ... This hour is the hour when I have descended precisely in like manner as I ascended. ... It is the hour of the Second Advent when all the world must rejoice that because I am descended, so the Second Advent is the coming of The LORD Our Righteousness within you!" For the complete dictation, see "The Second Advent: `The Day of Vengeance of Our God,"' Pearls of Wisdom, vol. 26, no. 43, pp. 511-19. Full-color wallet-sized charts of your Real Self, showing the Lord's descent in glory in the figure of the Christ Self, are available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Russian, Hungarian, and Chinese.

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Volume 28, Number 51, footnote 4. Akbar the Great. Abu-ul-Fath Jalal-ud-Din Muhammad Akbar, greatest of Mogul emperors, was born in 1542 at Umarkot, Sind. Akbar succeeded his father in 1556 at age 13 and within a few years embarked on a career of conquest. By the end of his 50-year rule in 1605, the small territory he had inherited was an empire that extended from the Hindu Kush to the Godavari River and from Bengal to Gujarat (present-day Bangladesh and most of Nepal, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan). Through Akbar's military genius and vigorous leadership, the Mogul empire became one of the most powerful in the world. He implemented numerous administrative reforms that strengthened the governmental structure, abolished extortion, and centralized the financial system. Although he could neither read nor write, Akbar ably conversed with scholars and religious men and sponsored a renaissance in art and literature. The emperor was born a Muslim but respected Hindu religion and culture and offered Hindus and Muslims alike the highest posts in his government. He took an active interest in all religious beliefs and in 1575 built the Ibadat Khana ("hall of worship") where learned men of all faiths met to discuss theology. In 1582 Akbar founded a monotheistic, unitarian religion called Din-i-Ilahi ("Divine Faith") with himself as its spiritual leader. In an attempt to resolve the discord among the many religious factions in his empire, and recognizing the limitations of each, he proposed that "we ought, therefore, to bring them all into one, but in such fashion that they should be both `one' and `all', with the great advantage of not losing what is good in any one religion, while gaining whatever is better in another." He did not, however, demand that his countrymen espouse his beliefs and Akbar's new religion had few adherents outside his court. His last years were troubled by intrigues and the rebellious conduct of his son Prince Salim, who became emperor upon Akbar's death in 1605.

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Volume 28, Number 51, footnote 6. Christianity as a Roman religion. From 303 to 311, Christians suffered their most severe persecution under the Roman emperor Diocletian. His edicts, continued by his successor, Galerius, brought the destruction of churches and sacred books, the enslavement of Christian household servants, torture, and death to some 1,500 believers. The obstinance of the Christians, who refused to sacrifice to the gods or pay homage to the Roman emperor, as well as the astounding growth of their religion, was a threat to the established order. But the persecutions failed to suppress the spread of Christianity, and the hopelessly ill Galerius issued an edict of toleration in 311 shortly before his death, asking for the prayers of the Christians in return for "our most gentle clemency." In what is considered a turning point for Christianity, Constantine, competing for control of the Roman empire, won a decisive battle in 312 after seeing a vision of a cross in the sky bearing the words "in this sign conquer" and then ordering his soldiers to paint the cross on their shields as he was directed to do in a dream. Constantine became sole emperor in 324, and while declaring himself a Christian he continued to support both paganism and Christianity. Writing of the growing synthesis of Christian and pagan thinking, author Ian Wilson notes, "That Constantine himself mixed Christianity and the Sol Invictus [pagan sun god] cult is clear from a second commemorative medallion issued by him within two years of the first, on which he represented himself with a Chi-Rho monogram [Christian symbol formed from the first two letters, X and P, of the Greek word for Christ] on his helmet, and with a leaping Sol chariot horse below. How far Jesus had become divorced in western Christians' minds from the Jew of history is forcefully illustrated by a portrait of him as a beardless Apollo-like youth in a mosaic that once decorated the floor of the Romano-Christian villa at Hinton St. Mary in Dorset. Only the Chi-Rho monogram identifies it as Jesus." Although Constantine became an ever-stronger defender of the Christian cause and was baptized on his deathbed, some historians claim that he shrewdly used religion as a means to further his own political ends. In 325, when the bitter Arian controversy threatened schism in the Church, Constantine himself called the first ecumenical council of over 300 bishops in Nicaea, presided over the opening session, and took part in its debates; for "in the Arian controversy lay a great obstacle to the realization of Constantine's idea of a universal empire which was to be attained by aid of uniformity of divine worship" (The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, s.v. "Nicaea [Nice], Councils of"). Arius taught that Christ was not equal or eternal with the Creator but as the Logos was the first and highest of created beings, whereas his opponents said the Son was "of one substance with the Father." As historian Will Durant observes, "If Christ was not God, the whole structure of Christian doctrine would begin to crack; and if division were permitted on this question, chaos of belief might destroy the unity and authority of the Church, and therefore its value as an aide to the state." The council rejected Arius' position and adopted the Nicene Creed, which read in part: "We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, ... and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten of his Father, ... God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God." Athanasius, who became the chief proponent of Nicene orthodoxy, explained that the intent of the creed was to show that "the resemblance of the Son to the Father, and his immutability, are different from ours: for in us they are something acquired, and arise from our fulfilling the divine commands" (A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1979], 2d. ser., 14:3-4). Arius, anathematized by the council, was exiled by edict of Constantine, who also ordered all his books to be burned upon penalty of death. Some of the bishops who assented in the presence of Constantine to the wording of the creed later expressed their remorse. "Only on returning home," says Wilson, "did Eusebius of Nicomedia, Maris of Chalcedon and Theognis of Nicaea summon the courage to express to Constantine in writing how much they regretted having put their signatures to the Nicene formula: `We committed an impious act, O Prince,' wrote Eusebius of Nicomedia, `by subscribing to a blasphemy from fear of you.' ... Although no gospel regarded Jesus as God, and not even Paul had done so, the Jewish teacher had been declared Very God through all eternity, and a whole new theology would flow from this. ... Even in the John gospel, the one most inclined to make Jesus divine, he is reported as stating quite categorically, `the Father is greater than I' (John 14:28)." Furthermore, the emperor's involvement in Church affairs created a precedent for civil leadership in Church councils. Nicaea "marked the replacement of paganism with Christianity as the religious expression and support of the Roman Empire," says Durant. "By [Constantine's] aid Christianity became a state as well as a church, and the mold, for fourteen centuries, of European life and thought." See Ian Wilson, Jesus: The Evidence (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1984), pp. 162, 168, 176; and Will Durant, Caesar and Christ, vol. 3 of The Story of Civilization (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1944), pp. 652, 659, 661, 664.

Footnotes: