WOODS CROSS GROUP

ABRAHAM & EMULAN –

WHAT IS SALVATION?

JULY 28, 2003

I am ABRAHAM. Greetings. I am always made to feel joyful when we can meet. I enjoy your humor and wisdom, your willingness to share life’s discoveries. I realize each day that you live there are happenings that are molding you into that person who will one day be at-one with the internal Father. Living the mortal life is practically a series in making mistakes and continuing to improve.

How wonderful it is to know Father will never forsake us. There is always His mercy, His kindness, His loving watch care and His hard lessons in truth. Many times as a mortal I had felt my struggles had embittered me to the point that I would question why such a magnificent Father would have anything to do with such an erring child. I came to see that even in all my misunderstanding that Father had never left me or punished me with His absence, no. He was always there, always pointing the way.

People of this day and age speak of the wonderful possibilities of having second chances, as if life is quite random and luckily you have opportunity to correct your mistakes and progress. With Father there are endless chances and numerous possibilities to correct and move further along that eternal path to Him. Last week we discussed the possibilities of salvation. What is salvation? This evening I present to you our friend and teacher, EMULAN.

Greetings, my friends. I am overjoyed to have opportunity to be with you again. I am honored my friend and mentor, Abraham, would recommend that I speak this evening. Most of you know my history of living the mortal life, my tragedy of having lost my family to an accident and losing my mental capacity for a time, which led to my interest in the psychiatric field.

At the lowest point in my experience of having lost those in whom I had loved so much, I was indeed lost and felt nothing but a future of doom. With all the human emotions that one would experience because of tragedy, such as despair, guilt and anger, I was practically my own worst enemy. By that I mean I took the tragedy on as my own, as if I had somehow caused it or could have prevented it. The guilt was tremendous. In this emotional state there seemed to be nothing but darkness, nothing but loneliness, nothing but a future of reoccurring doom.

My salvation came when I could move beyond the emotionalism to accepting the simple gift of love from our Father. His saving grace was there all along, but my cycling emotions had kept me blinded. Salvation is indeed simple. It is accepting what God, the Father, offers you. It is accepting your sonship status. It is accepting His unconditional forgiveness, His ever abiding mercy and expanding love. Father’s offerings are endless. It is the darkness of our own emotions that keep us from reaching for salvation. In Him I am truly saved. In Him I am truly safe. In Him I am pointed Paradiseward.

With the complexities of mortal living many are made to overlook the Father’s offerings. Old thinking has some stuck in a cycle of guilt, atonement or self-punishment. Many look at Father as if He were also mortal. Needless to say, this indeed limits Father to what He can do in your life. Every day Father offers you abundance, He gives gifts that cannot be measured by man’s understanding. His gifts involve all aspects of mortal living. I do remember the impatience I felt toward getting what I truly needed and receiving what Father knew I truly needed.

We must remember in this day and age that many ideas are built on emotionalism. The instability of emotions are for the most part leading to lower thinking or the animal mind. In this state of the animal mind, judgment is cloudy and one may tend to rely upon one’s own understanding. The higher mind is one who trusts in Father and His ability to do any and all things. Salvation is simply accepting the Father’s offerings.

I am overwhelmed with gratitude from time to time when I think back over my experience and see how Father never gave up on me, never lost love for me, never lost faith or hope in me. His love is unfailing and His tenacity to continue to be ever close with His children is unending. My regards to you, my friends. Farewell.

I am ABRAHAM. Gratitude to our brother and friend for this evening’s lesson. This week ponder your emotional roadblocks. How might your emotions lead you to a lower thinking level? Take time to think about what the Father’s offerings are. Take time to journal your understanding of salvation. How can this new concept affect those you may have discussion with? This week find time to have a moment or two of real worship, real gratitude. How does that change your outlook in your overall everyday living? No questions this evening. Know that I make it my personal task to take time with each one of you every week. Look for me. My love is ever growing for you each. Until next week, shalom.