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CAPs#1-7— Have a Happy Friday the 13th with no chance in your paradise! (CAP#5)
Citation Application Possibilities! (New title instead of Warren’s Post Scripts)
from Cobbey Crisler and others for citations from the Christian Science Bible Lesson on
“Substance”
for September 9-15, 2019

CAP#1— Separate fables from Substantial facts as you hear the angels you need—"in your own tongue” –Cobbey Crisler on Acts 1:1, 2; Acts 2:1-47 (Responsive Reading)

“I’m sure you realize the Book of Acts is a second volume of a two-volume work, the first volume being, Luke, right! And the reason we know that: What does verse one in the book of Acts tell us?

It starts out with…really giving us that information, doesn’t it? It says
Acts 1:1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

Now, why in that brief group of words do we have clues about the Gospel of Luke and similar authorship? Do you know?

Well, the Gospel of Luke, if you check the opening verses there, you will find that that Gospel is addressed to “Theophilus” as well. (See below)

Luke 1:3 It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,
Luke 1:4 That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.

And here, we’re told in the opening verse of Chapter One of Acts, “The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus….” (See Acts1:1 above)

So, it doesn’t take too much more than common sense to at least link the books in terms of the one to whom it was written and in terms of the author….

Now, Theophilus – who is he? No one knows, but translated from the Greek it means what? Do any of you know? What’s “Theo” like in theology, God and Logos. All right, it’s…well, not Logos, that was theology, but Theo-PHILUS, Philus meaning, like Philadelphia, love. So, God-loving, literally, which has again caused some to think that it might not be addressed to an individual named Theophilus; it could be to us if we qualify in that definition, collectively.

“O All those who are God-loving.” (See below, Paraphrased) Again that is conjecture, but something worth considering.

We know that the first treatise that Luke wrote had to do with – what does the first verse tell us? (Indistinct answer from audience) Right. What “Jesus began both to do and teach.” (See below, Partial)

Acts 1:1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

So, it really, it sounds like it was a gospel such as we have. And the progress of the gospel, narrative wise, would take us, according to Acts 1, Verse 2, “until the day in which he was taken up after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen.” …

Now, probably the most extensive use of the concept and phrase Holy Ghost is in the Book of Acts. So, we’re talking about not only church but a very close relationship to church of the concept of Holy Ghost. So, let’s review that a bit. The word Ghost in Greek is pneuma… pneuma is spirit, or ghost, or wind, or breath, or air – and very much associated with movement, isn’t it? For instance, you know how the Bible opens: “The spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” (See below, Gen 1:2)

Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Gen 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

And then, look what happened in the next seven days, rather remarkable accomplishments. So, the pneuma is/has something to do with movement.

And even the definition of prophesy, given to us in Second Peter in the first chapter, tells us that prophesy really is the result of holy men of God being moved by the Holy Ghost. Alright, now we’ll see several examples of that movement as we go through.

Reviewing the narrative in the gospel at the end, how many days between the resurrection and the ascension did Jesus have to get across to his students what they apparently had failed to get during the preceding three years? (Murmurs from audience) 40 days. Right…

Acts, Chapter 2, Verse 1, introduces right away the phrase that we’re to look for. What is it? “With one accord.”

“The day of Pentecost” is fifty days past Passover and when you realize the Jesus was crucified just prior to Passover and within the tomb roughly three days, how many days since Jesus’s actual departure via the ascension have transpired? (See below, Partial)

Well, fifty days, Pentecost, fifty days from Passover – all right, so it’s about a week since Jesus is gone. This is a real test for the church, isn’t it?

Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

He’s not going to be back physically, personally, but he told them where they could find him, which is where? In the scriptures.

And they seem to be obeying this, don’t they? They’re looking to the scriptures for inspiration for church decisions. And “in the day of Pentecost…they were all with one accord in one place,” there is church fulfilling its destiny – “all with one accord in one place.” (See above, Paraphrased)

And suddenly, look at the result of this collective harmony! And it may be the reason why we haven’t heard this kind of thing.

The “sound from heaven as a rushing mighty wind…” remember ‘wind,’ pneuma, the movement.

The church is an expression of the movement, then. “The rushing mighty wind…” spirit, and remember “holy spirit, Holy Ghost” is very much in the forefront in the Book of Acts.

“It filled all the house where they were sitting,” showing that the early church started out in houses: the early house church.

Acts 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

And, this wind is needed. It’s needed in our own consciousness today. It’s needed in our churches. It may start as a sound and then move to movement and then even become something visible in our midst as we work together, and arrive at something together that we never could have arrived at individually – namely the victory over collective problems because we’ve applied the solution collectively, to blow away the stagnant air around church, all those neatly stacked theories that we can line up on call — the encrustations of Ecclesiastism needs the wind of “the Holy Ghost.” (See below, Partial)

And not only that wind but “cloven tongues like as a fire.” (See below) Now, it’s talking about communication which you know immediately breaks down when you get more than one. Co-mmunication. Co- involves more than one.
And these “cloven tongues like as a fire sitting on each of them:” (Acts 1:3)

Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Communication possible more than ever before possible for each individual, now that they’re working collectively. And they’re “filled with the Holy Ghost.” What a church meeting in consciousness: “Filled with the Holy Ghost” and feeling it, and seeing it, and able to do something that never had been possible individually. And they “began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (See above)

Now, at this moment, let’s first explore why this combination of wind and fire is so important.

If you remember, John the Baptist said that “his baptism by water would be succeeded by a higher sense of baptism, which Jesus would bring,” and what was it? — “The baptism of the Holy Ghost and of fire.” (See below)

Luke 3:16 John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:

That combination, absolutely working together, or it would not be mentioned. What does wind do to fire? (Audience answers: “Burns faster.”)

So, if your hearts are burning in you, and the Holy Ghost is also moving within you, what happens to the fire in your heart? It spreads.

And that’s what attracts and draws, and the church just glows. (laughter)

All right, now, to illustrate the Holy Ghost and fire, just from an everyday incident in the Holy Land today, in separating “chaff and wheat.”

There are several steps that are necessary:
[Warren: We have reenacted the following steps in CedarS Bible Lands Park atop Mt. Nebo with hundreds of groups –including two groups here last week with the International Christian Science Nursing Conference.]

First, the one trying to separate this mixed-up mess of chaff and wheat has to locate a very high place – a threshing floor that has no obstacles between it and what? — the wind.

So, if we’re translating this mentally and this is the kind of baptism we’re talking about, it looks like a mental baptism, a spiritual thing. What would that suggest itself to you as being required or pre-requisite for this baptism to occur in our own thinking?

Step One is…uplift your thinking? What? Clear everything out, right? — And give priority, unobstructed priority, to this threshing floor, because we’re about to sort out things, which Jesus in many of his parables and other statements indicates is the kingdom of heaven – a sorting out type of thing.

All right, now, once we’re on that exposed height available to the wind, there is something that is our responsibility, and there is something that belongs to God. Let’s make sure we don’t confuse the roles.

Our responsibility with that mixed-up fact/fiction, truth/error, chaff/wheat, looking very much alike all bundled up together, which describes our own consciousness at times, what do we do? Man’s responsibility is to apply the fan.

Now, it’s called a fan, but what it really is – it’s not a Madame Butterfly type – it’s a fork, pitch-fork type of thing. And you go into the mixed-up mess, and then what do you do with the (mess)? You throw it into the air! That’s man’s responsibility.

2nd—Step Two… What is the Holy Ghost’s responsibility? The wind does the separating.

Now, that should come as a great relief to us because we’re usually down there trying to do the Holy Ghost job, especially for someone else – to do the separating for them. (Laughter)

It’s the Holy Ghost’s responsibility to do the separating. We dig into it, be willing to get up on that highest plateau of mental consciousness, dig into the confused sense of good and evil – throw it up to the air and the wind, and let the Holy Spirit blow the chaff, which is lighter, of no substance, away, while the wheat, productive, nourishing, heavier in content, falls back at your feet.

Now, some of the intelligent threshers still today in Israel will build a fire over on the side where the chaff will blow. It saves time.

When the chaff is separated by the Holy Ghost, the chaff just goes right into the fire where it is burned up and has no opportunity to mix back with the wheat again. [W: Inspired by this thousands of participants have left behind never-true fables that they wrote on scraps of paper and threw into a fire atop CedarS Mt. Nebo.]

That shows that those two processes are necessary, aren’t they: the Holy Ghost and fire, working together in consciousness, are essential. And each has its own specific responsibility.

The fire takes care of the chaff; the wind takes care of the separation. But by golly, we’d “better be up there” with the fan – which might be why God has that very strong demand for Moses when he tells Moses to come to the top of Mount Sinai in the morning. And he says, “And be there!” Humanity needs that: those last two words, “Be there!” (Exodus 24:12) And the necessity for us to be there with our fan is important.

…Now, today we have a great deal of emphasis on speaking with tongues. It’s reached into religion like never before; even established denominations are beginning to work with this concept, not just the Pentecostal and the Charismatics.

Let’s study it (speaking in tongues) as it’s introduced in its earliest form. We find in Acts 2, verse 4 that the early members here find they begin to “speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

We’re about to see the first public presentation of the church, the first lecture, or sermon, publicly presented. And therefore, we want to see how it was done, because they were doing this “with one accord;” the spirit was impelling them to every move at this early period of the church … The inspiration which, really, was the Spirit of the scripture was with them at every point.

And, Acts 2, Verse 6, I think maybe sheds a little further light on this “speaking with tongues,” because it clarifies it somewhat by describing “that every man heard them speak in his own language.”

It seems to convey, then, that they were “hearing” in tongue, rather than speaking in tongue, which might make more sense because individual receptivity is preserved in that sense – tailor-made for each receptive thought, even in the language of their own country. The possibility, then, may be that it is hearing in tongues, rather than speaking in tongues, but I think very early there may have been a confusion of the two.

…Now, if church is designed for communication and harmony, are either one of those aided by speaking incomprehensibly? Or even in a lingo that isn’t comprehended by others.

… So, church apparently has the necessity for simplicity to be conveyed, to help with this harmony and unity.

Back in Chapter 2, in Acts, they heard in their own tongue, and we find that the Bible is presenting here a solution or a remedy to something that occurred very early in the Bible.

Pentecost and what happened on the day of Pentecost is a remedy for what? The what? Tower of Babel.

Why? What was the effect and result of Babel versus Pentecost? Babel is the collective problem of not being able to communicate. It’s still around. Pentecost, the collective solution of showing that even human languages and their differences make no difference when the spirit communicates.

There is a uniting of humanity, when language disparity begins to break down as barriers and the spirit begins to take over in communication. I think that many of us perhaps in meeting those of over lands may have had the experience of, even though you cannot communicate in their language, you had very touching moments of being able to share the basic human yearning to be one and at one, and language has receded as the primary factor enabling you to communicate. And here it is subordinated completely after this being “of one accord”…

Now we talk about what is needed to get members in our church. The ingredients better be there; it’s the Holy Ghost pattern. Peter didn’t invent all that, and it was the result of the church praying “with one accord” to come out with the Holy Ghost. There’s no obstacle to the Holy Ghost.

Getting our church up to the highest possible platform with nothing standing between it and the Holy Ghost – and that’s moving – both in thought and action.

Look what occurs as a result of it. In Acts 2, verse 43: “Many wonders and signs are now done by all of the apostles.”

They’re healing everywhere! Not just understanding the Bible, but healing, but it looks like our comprehension of the Bible is essential to it, and both come from the Holy Ghost – both prophecy and understanding the scriptures, the key to the scriptures comes from the Holy Ghost, and no lesser source.

They, in Acts 2, verse 46, again with a familiar phrase, do what? “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,”

That’s the secret! But instead we opt for the easier alternative. If it isn’t working out “in one accord,” we leave early. But, sticking it out on that high level, knowing that nothing can interfere between you and the Holy Ghost, you, collectively — that movement occurs and things happen that we never dreamed were possible.

And even Peter had to reach back into prophecy to explain what was going on because God had notified his people that this thing was possible collectively. And Acts 2, verse 47 ends: “Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”
“After the Master What? – The Book of Acts,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**


CAP#2—Put all aside for the priority of healing—Cobbey Crisler on Mattnew 8:14-16 (B13) and Jesus healing Peter’s mother-in-law of the flu.
"(Verse 14. We come to the third healing [in Matthew's series of 10 of Jesus' proofs after the Sermon on the Mount of his Messiahship by his works, the healing of Peter's mother-in-law. To have a mother-in-law, Peter had to be married. Peter had a wife. It's on the Sabbath day, too. But does Jesus consider women that important? Would he break the Sabbath for a woman? One may think that he might for a man. But would he do it for a woman? He does.

Whatever business he had in Peter's house, he puts all aside and gives priority to the mother-in-law's needs. Despite the fact that it was the Sabbath. (Verse 15). He heals her of fever. [W: So much, for the supposed length and severity of the flu—as well as for its being communicable… "and she arose and ministered unto them."]
(Verse 16). "Many come, when the even was come to be healed." Why the evening? Because then the Sabbath is over and they could all come without any fear of recriminations from the Jews.”
“Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master: A Tax Collector’s Report”, by B. Cobbey Crisler**


CAP#3—When pressed on every side strive to show enough Christly compassion to heal—Cobbey Crisler on Matt. 14:14+ (B18):
Matthew 14: “(Verse 13, before the verse in the lesson). Jesus hearing that John the Baptist had been beheaded, decides to make himself scarce, leaves into a desert place apart.
(Verse 14). “But the multitudes followed him.” Instead of saying, “Look, will you let a man be alone for once,” he turned around with compassion and healed their sick.”
Verse 15-20). And out comes the famous loaves-and-fishes incident in which everyone is fed, with a balance left over despite the fact that we’re dealing with thousands of people. …
And, right after this (Verses 24-33) we have the walking-on-the-sea incident.
“Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master, A Tax-Collector’s Report,”
by B. Cobbey Crisler**


CAP#4a—Expect healing and dominion in church!—Cobbey Crisler on the withered hand healing in Luke 6:6-19 (B19) (and Mark 3:1-5)
“In Mark 3, Verse 1, [and Luke 6:6-10] we have a renewed definition for church where another healing occurs in the church context, namely, ‘the man that had the withered hand.’… According to an earlier, largely lost gospel called the Gospel of Hebrews, we find this man saying to Jesus, “I was a mason seeking a livelihood with my hands. I pray thee, Jesus, to restore me my health that I may not beg meanly for my food.’ According to Luke 6:6, it was his right hand. As a mason, you could not really pursue your craft. If that is an authentic recollection, it just adds a little more enrichment to our comprehension of the story. Again, it’s the Sabbath and we find that prayer is a church activity. It would be hard to find someone that would disagree with that no matter what denomination one belongs to. Healing would have to take place, because prayer is no idle exercise without results. Healing follows prayer…
Verse 3. Jesus stops the order of service again. He says to the man with the withered hand, ‘Stand forth.’ Would that electrify most congregational worship today? ‘Stand forth.’ Everything stops. The priority is here.
Verse 4. Then he asks the question, ‘Is it lawful,’ is it a church rule, ‘to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil?’ Notice his definition of ‘doing-good’ here. He must not remain on the surface. Doing-good for Jesus would be what? Healing the man. Doing-evil would be what? Not healing the man. He regarded not-healing as evil. The normality of the spiritual function of healing is underscored here…
Verse 5. Then he says, ‘Stretch forth thine hand.’ Why didn’t he go and stretch it forth for him? Again, the consistency of having dominion. Dominion doesn’t exercise you, does it? You exercise it… ‘Stretch forth thine hand and it was restored whole.’”
“What Mark Recorded,”
by B. Cobbey Crisler**

This stone mason no doubt could earn a living again using his hands.

CAP#4b—Exercise the dominion method from “Heal the Sick” Cobbey Crisler on Mark 3.1-5 (~B19):
“Chapter 3 of Mark, Verse 1, [& Luke 6:6, B19] the man with the withered hand. It's on the sabbath day again. Jesus hadn't checked his calendar. Here it is in the middle of a service, the man with the withered hand. [Verse 2:] they're watching Jesus, almost like they hope he will break the sabbath rule, so they could accuse him of something.

Notice how he takes this early church-service-to-be. [Verse 3:] "He says," right in the middle of the service, in the middle of the synagogue, "to the man with the withered hand, Stand forth."

So, he's going to make an issue out of it. Then, he turns to those around. Notice, again, this is not an immediate healing. He deals with the environment. [Verse 4:] "He says, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil?" How about that being the basic law for what we do and where? If it's good, it's according to the law. If it's evil, it isn't, regardless of what man has legislated to the contrary. "They didn't answer him."

[Verse 5:] It says, "he looked round about on them with anger." Only Mark used those things with reference to Jesus. And "being grieved for the hardness of their hearts," the blindness of what? Of ecclesiasticism. "He says to the man, Stretch forth thine hand." Did he go up to that man and say, [Speaker made sound of physically straightening out the man's hand] Did he do it himself, "Let me help you," even though it was bent perpendicularly to his arm probably?

He says to that man to do what? "You do it." Notice what his support of that man's ability to do resulted in. Suppose Jesus had gone up and done that to him, performed a surgical operation, in a sense, on that man's arm? It would have been depending on person and not God. [Live recording voice: not clear] That's right. Look at the great impersonal freedom, plus the dignity of the man in participating in his own healing. Is it dominion if someone else does it for you? It's not your dominion. It's someone else's. Jesus told him to stretch forth his hand, the very thing he thought he couldn't do. He does, "restored whole as the other."

We're just sitting here as neophytes in the twentieth century reading the account of a method which worked. If we are laboratory scientists at all, or oriented in that direction in our century, which we certainly should be in our technological age, the least we should do is to be willing to study the method and see if it works.”
“’Heal the Sick’: A Scriptural Record,”
by B. Cobbey Crisler**


CAP#4c—Hear an inspired eyewitness account created by Ken Cooper from the viewpoint from the best friend of the man healed of a withered hand (B19). Although Ken takes the deformity to be from his birth versus from an injury to a stone mason (as noncanonical scriptures state in CAP#4b ABOVE), The Withered Hand Restored” is none the less inspiring. A print version of it is Downloadable from upper right of CedarS webpages on this Christian Science Bible Lesson. An audio version is read by Ken at https://youtu.be/6CStngXPuWc


CAP#5—On Friday the 13th experience “the paradise of God” with no chance (Revelation 2:7 (B21)
Warren’s corny “pair-a’-dice”
P.S. To enter “the paradise of God”—or the gates of paradise or of the kingdom of God should not be thought of as too difficult since Jesus said “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). This universal salvation of entering the peaceful Paradise of God’s reign within you is the Christ-pronounced identity and destiny of all of you and doesn’t depend on time or on chance. It’s what we are to pray for daily in the “Daily Prayer” given to us by Mary Baker Eddy. (“Thy kingdom come;” let the reign of divine Truth, Life, and Love be established in me, and rule out of me all sin; and may Thy Word enrich the affections of all mankind, and govern them!”, Church Manual, p. 41:19).

To find yourself in God’s kingdom (Paradise), “unfallen, upright, pure, and free…” (Science & Health, p. 171:4), it helps to remind yourself often that “There’s no chance in this Paradise (or in this ‘Pair-a-dice…)’!” To help remind me of this I keep on my desk a pair of Monopoly dice that I have altered (and altar-ed with spiritual sense) the common acceptance of randomness and of luck—be it good luck or bad luck. I added just enough dots on each of the six surfaces to make a total of 7 dots per side; no matter how often or oddly these dice are rolled, double 7s, or double completeness, is all that ever comes up. (Click for sample pic @ webpage upper right.) With this assurance in mind, we can affirm that no matter what bad things seem to be happening TO us, they are really happening FOR us, to bless us. (Like getting sold into slavery and unjustly thrown into prison ultimately did bless not only Joseph, but also his family and the whole Mediterranean region.)

An easy, universal pattern for you to use to make your own improved pair of dice is to add dots with a Sharpie permanent clothes marker with one dot in the middle of each surface and a row of three dots on each side of it. You can modify any pair of dice according to this “pattern shewed to thee on the mount” (Ex. 25:40, Heb. 8:5). This could include dice designed to be hung from a rear-view mirror, but I chose Monopoly dice to link to another large lesson that “One with God is a monopoly” – not just a majority. This concept reminds me (and new Sunday School student drivers who I share it with) of this biblically-based assurance: “The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.” (Ps. 121:8)

Changing the common notion of chance elevates and brings a calm, all-is-well assurance to all our travels, to our relationships, to employment entry and exit timing for ourselves and others, to elections, to real estate transactions… For this to take place, here’s what Mary Baker Eddy says “must” happen: “we must leave the mortal basis of belief and unite with the one Mind, in order to change the notion of chance to the proper sense of God’s unerring direction and thus bring out harmony.” (SH 424:8) Like “the ancient worthies” who understood “the control that Love held over all,” we can “emulate the example of Jesus.”(S&H, 514: 26…] And, in this Paradise (as with my ‘Pair-a-dice’), there is no chance!”


CAP#6—Join a divine appointment and insights on Patmos—Cobbey Crisler on Revelation 1:1 (B25)
In the first verse of the first chapter of Revelation let us consider again the phrase “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.” This is as close to the original title of the book that we will ever be. It is not John’s revelation, despite the heading that appears in the King James’ translation. In fact, the earliest form of any title of the Apocalypse, apart from its opening sentence, is dated in the second century, and reads “The Revelation to Saint John the Divine,” not “of”. It is originally not even Jesus’ revelation because the next few words tell us that God gave it to him. The message comes through Jesus who “sent and signified [it] by his angel unto his servant John.”

No other book of the Bible carries with it such dramatic credentials: God to Jesus, to John, to God’s receptive servants in general. The authenticity of this imposing claim, of course, has been widely challenged by scholars and lay readers alike. Should it not be true, however, it would impeach the credibility of the entire work. If it is true, it would rank at the top of the list of Scriptural books for Christian believers. It makes the meeting between Jesus and John-on-Patmos neither fortuitous nor imaginary, but a divine appointment arranged long in advance…

The human mind finds it difficult to conceive of divine appointment except in terms of earthly politics. Jesus had to respond to Peter [in Verse 22], “If I will that he tarry till I come, what [is that] to thee?” With these words, “tarry till I come,” Jesus fixed a prophetic appointment with his beloved disciple. The Bible doesn’t close before we are told of John and Jesus meeting on Patmos [in Revelation1:1].
“Apocalyptic Pictures: Prophecy and Parody,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**


CAP#7—Come to Life’s river and be healed and nourished at a divine, church picnic!— Cobbey Crisler on Revelation 22:1,2, (B26) and 22:14-17
“Revelation is like a smorgasbord: it has everything, but it is not meant to be devoured all at once. Bite full by bite full, when we are ready, when we have digested our earlier courses, when we begin to chew upon the meat of scripture, because we are weaned from its milk, we will be nourished, and sustained, and understand why Jesus made his appointment with John on Patmos. What mystery remains in the Bible? Didn’t Amos assure us God has revealed His secret to His servants, the Prophets? Fulfillment of prophesy constitutes the validity of God’s Word – so the fulfillment of prophesy must come. This includes the Comforter, the Holy City, God’s Temple, everywhere God is. The river of Life whose waters sustain the trees which are for the healing of the nations, [Rev. 2:1,2 B26)] a vision coinciding with Ezekiel’s. Jesus, the Lamb, reminds us why he is transmitting these Apocalyptic pictures in the last chapter of his book, verse 16. (Rev 22:16) “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.” The book is addressed to us in church. Did Jesus foresee that his church on earth would be assaulted in such obscure, obscene, and occult ways, that his Book of Revelation would be essential to its defense? Rev 22:17 invites us to a wedding in his church. “The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”

The only acceptable R.S.V.P. to such an invitation is to be with one accord in one place. This is Luke’s description of church in the Book of Acts. When your thought and mine relate to God and to all His infinite creation, aren’t we wearing our wedding garment already? Isn’t it spiritual unity with Him and with our neighbor that keeps the commandments and fulfills this prerequisite of the remnant? Could there be any greater revelation than one uniting us to our God and to one another. Here, in the presence of the throne, we throw off our crowns of divisive opinions. We worship on our mental knees, not from self-appointed seats disputing who should be greatest. This meeting with our God takes place scripturally only in the temple’s Holy of Holies in heaven itself, where our high priest has entered before us and both Cherubim sit on the right and on the left hand of God. This is the Father’s house where Jesus assured us there are many mansions. Access has been won for us, but we also have had to earn our entry. For Rev 22:14 states, “They that do his commandments… have right to the tree of life.” Blessed are they that do his commandments—that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. Accepting that divine invitation, we sit down at the feast which has been promised to us throughout the Bible – the Agape, the feast of Love in the now fully revealed tabernacle of God and His two witnesses. Are we members of that church? Are we even now a part of that remnant, keeping the commandments and imbued with the spirit of spiritual prophesy? If we can respond affirmatively to that, not one single picture of Tohu and Bohu, of chaos, crisis, curse, tragedy, tears, ruin, pain, decay, death, or parody can any longer impress itself on human consciousness and develop there. The mark of the beast is effaced – the seal of God is in our foreheads – our names are written in heaven where nothing tampers with the majesty that God bestows. In the beginning of the Bible, God said, “Let there be light.” The divine shutter snapped, and our nature was recorded in apocalyptic pictures. It may seem unendurably long for these pictures to develop in human consciousness, but He is our God, and we are His people, and that is the apple, the Apocalypse of gold in our pictures. – The End”
“Apocalyptic Pictures: Prophecy and Parody,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**


**You can buy your own transcripts of most of Cobbey Crisler’s 28 talks at this website: www.crislerlibrary.co.uk Email your order or inquiry to office@crislerlibrary.co.uk, or directly to Janet Crisler, at janetcrisler7@gmail.com

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