Teaching Mission Newsletters

FROM THE EDITOR

I can't begin to tell you how much pleasure there is for me in editing this newsletter. In the process I get to see how many wonderful things so many of you are doing and experiencing. The SpiritFest 97 booklet that John Creger sent me contains a piece John wrote about the SpiritFest 97 experience that is a pure joy to read as he shares how so many of you worked together in harmony and synchronicity. It is such a fine example of brotherhood in action. One of the things that has always pleased me the most is the lack of leadership in the Teaching Mission - leadership in the old pattern. Here is a great example of what can happen when people do come together using individual leadership and initiative in a new way to achieve a specific goal - leadership in a new pattern of cooperation. Reading this is enough to make one want to sign up now to be part of the whole event beginning with the planning. Hopefully, there will be information to share about SpiritFest 98 in the next issue and a perfect time to share John's piece. It is too good and too difficult to try and extract excerpts.

February 26 - March 1 will see many of you gathering in San Blas, Florida to attend the Celestial Nights gathering. What started off as a small local event now has attendees coming from far and wide. May the days be sunny and warm and the nights balmy and bright with stars. We know there will be a lot of stars on the beach - all of you and the teachers all around. May the Reversion Directors guide you in joyful spiritual play and fellowship.

I thank those of you who told me how much you  appreciated my sharing my experiences in  "Awareness and Forgiveness" in the last issue. How much I wish I could encourage others of you to share your experiences. I keep waiting. I know whatever you have to share will be of great value to other readers. The newsletters that contain personal articles and experiences are always the ones that elicit the most positive comments. I've said it before, but I don't feel that this is my newsletter - it is our newsletter.  I have shared some of my experiences over the years in hopes that it will encourage others to do the same. Your experiences and insights have value and meaning and I want to learn from you. Please don't hide your light under a barrel. Let it shine forth for all of us to partake of your light and learn from your wisdom.

Valentine's Day is around the corner. With all the lessons we have had on love, this would a perfect day to practice our lessons with every single one we meet. How many hearts can we in the Teaching Mission touch? How many ways can we in the Teaching Mission make a difference in the lives of those around us?  As the teachers say, practice, practice, practice. What a day for it!!! Let's go for it!!!

May our Father help us all to grow in grace, grow in wisdom, grow in understanding, grow in love, grow in brotherhood and move in peace as we learn to serve Him.

Allene Vick

Editor

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                    FROM THE READERS

1/2/98

Thank you so much for keeping us in touch with those in the Teaching Mission.

With love

Terry & Marlene Olsen

Corvallis, OR

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1/4/98

Please send me the T.R. News. Enclosed is a check for $20 per your suggested donation. Thank you for your efforts to connect us on the physical level until the mind link is known to all.

Steffani Murray

Wisconsin Dells, WI

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1/5/98

I hope you are reading the tml. I haven't seen you on these boards. BUT, you deserve another big gigantic hug and my heartfelt appreciation for the Newsletter I just received and read. Again, I say, the best issue ever. So timely, and so insightful on the posts you have selected.

Thanks my great and dedicated sister.

"Much" love

Calvin

Woods Cross, UT

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1/8/98

Thank you for your loving an unselfish service to me and many others. Your efforts are bringing us to Light and Life.

Happy New Year

Jeff Cutler

Medford, OR

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1/9/98

Thank you again for the wonderful newsletter. I especially thank you for sharing your experiences with forgiveness. The lesson there was very helpful for all who are working with forgiveness to whatever degree. I, personally am working with this in a big way. I particularly think that the last paragraph was of most useful introspection, that the Father within protects us from memory of traumatic experiences until we are really ready for them.

Wow I have been very busy, have been meaning to send you something to help with the newsletter. Thank you for all of the support you have offered in the newsletter with my transmissions the past year, especially the Jeremiah t/r's. When I went to Colorado and met Nolus again, she shared what a tremendous confidence those conversations meant to her during those times. It was then that I felt the whole weight of the experience was more than justified. Also at the same time, I remember Bill Kelly telling me that he had a tremendous time accepting those transmissions, then he looked at me in the eyes and said, "You have a lot of balls to print those transmissions, good luck."  Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha, Ah Ha. It was also your support that made that all possible, at the time I didn't have the computer, (such an enslaving devise isn't it?), and your newsletter was and is still very instrumental in reaching us in a personal way only your vision and insight still provide for us.

I wish you all the very best this coming year, and Hope that it is possible for you to come to Florida in late February, if not Florida, then Nashville.

In love and service,

Henry Zeringue

Desert Hot Springs, CA

[Learning forgiveness and owning responsibility make our load a lot lighter and Father knows when we are ready to lighten our load. Looking back we can see His loving oversight in our lives.

Thank you for the courage to share your Jeremiah transmissions. It is such a large puzzle and as LorEl once told us, we all have pieces of the puzzle. As we share our experiences with others always is there the opportunity that what we have to share may shed light on a piece of the puzzle for someone else. We just never know when what we share is exactly the message another needs to hear. I wonder how many clues and insights are lost because of our doubts and concerns of being "right.." If we all waited for peer confirmation, the only messages we would be sharing would be a bland spiritual pablum of little value or more likely - nothing at all! I suspect the teachers are much more adventuresome, letting us test our wings, exercise our personal discernment and stretch our minds. Better that we go forward with joyful hearts and possibly make mistakes than hang back in fear and go nowhere. - Ed]

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1/11/98

Happy New Year! A while back I promised to send you a copy of the booklet of transmissions, statements and poems our East Bay group brought to SpiritFest 96. Since it seems I'll never find the missing pieces for that booklet . . .

Here's a copy of the post-conference booklet for SpiritFest 97, which our group organized. Hopefully there'll be something here for the newsletter that will give readers a sense of a terrific, love-drenched event.

The newsletter continues to serve many, Allene, and I thank you from the heart. I haven't noticed that anyone's come forward to critique "distracting" "sensational" content. Hopefully, people will air concerns in print rather than nurse untested assumptions.

Much love,

John Creger

[John, thanks for the SpiritFest 97 booklet. It is an impressive tribute to real success in teamwork - an example for all of us of brotherhood in action.

As always, I welcome all opinions pro or con. Surely we do not all agree and it is not important that we do, but it IS important that we share our opinions and to do so in a loving atmosphere of honoring our uniqueness and differences.-ED]

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1/14/98

Thanks!  What you are doing is working. I consistently get clarity, validation and understanding on something that is pertinent in my growth at the time and an overall view of the greater perspective. The parallels in my journey to what seems to be happening all over in the T.M. tell me we're on to something here. (Grin)

I may be one of the few not on the net, I don't know so I really look forward to the newsletter.

I send my love and light to you and hope your year is filled with yes those important lessons but also peace and harmony.

Love

Frosty Johnson

Post Falls, ID

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1/16/98

Though we haven't met in the flesh, I feel like we know each other and THAT is a very nice feeling indeed!

I first just want to express my sincerest & humblest gratitude to YOU for all the time, energy and effort you put into the newsletter. Your dedication is awe-inspiring and just plain inspiring. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Secondly, I was very moved & pleasantly provoked to thought and meditation by the 'Awareness & Forgiveness" portion that you shared from  your personal experience. I loved the whole thing & could easily relate to your early-in-life experiences, those with your boss & your thoughts about the unconscious tapes that we run & re-run until we get at the root and take ownership of them. Yes, it IS distressing to "allow myself to fully experience the feelings of the root event" and it takes great faith and trust, at least for me anyway, to just 'hang out' with that uncomfortableness full in the knowledge that it's OK and that Our Very Best Friend loves us so much and no matter what!

I don't know if you know the musical group It's A Beautiful Day from the '60's & 70's but they simply said (and with corresponding music for emphasis) that 'Love is a lifetime' and a little later in the same song 'Love is the high sign of a lifetime'. So we patiently, persistently deal with our 'stuff', heal as we go until someday there'll be nothing left put pure essence, pure Spirit, pure love and that's probably when Adjuster-fusion occurs.

Anyway, I know I'm not saying anything you don't already know but I really just wanted to say "Hi" and let you know how much I enjoyed your sharing as well as the whole newsletter, as usual.

Love,

George Coutis

Silverdale, WA

[I'm not familiar with much of the music from the 60's as I was out of the country during much of that time, but I'm learning that there are some really good lyrics that I missed. Where are all those people from the 60's now who must have been paving the way? I'm waiting for them to emerge.]

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     CELESTIAL WORDS AND TEACHINGS

                               MICHAEL

My Children: As we begin a new year, bring to Me all past failures, all sadness, all grief, all frustration and lay it at My feet. Then unencumbered, begin the New Year - a New Year in My Presence, and in My Service, a New Year in striving to bring our Father's Kingdom to earth.

You may imagine that your little effort does not help the Kingdom, but if you could but see the little efforts by more and more people, brought together, you would rejoice at the beautiful pattern of kingdom living being established right here on earth.

So take heart, be glad to be part of My Mission to redeem the world, and know that what you strive to do will succeed, because you are friends and kindred of Michael of Nebadon.

Avis Nicholas

Sarasota, FL

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The following two transcripts come from the 1997 SpiritFest booklet John Creger sent:

Friday Evening Transmissions. Christ Michael.

Christ Michael (Susan): My dear children, I greet you this evening and wish to speak to you of love. What can we make of this world that is of love? This, I say to you, is my primary request of your creation. You are to experience love manifesting in your beings on many levels. You are to touch the earth with love. You are to inhale the sweet breezes with love. You are to relish the warmth of the sun with love. You are to touch another with love. You are to use this power, this energy of existence, this dynamic impulse of my creation. You are to express this love, my children. I wish you to look into your hearts now and share with me any and all questions you may have regarding this particular topic that I have placed upon the table. What is there of love in our soul that you can share with me now? If you wish to, you may approach this microphone and speak here so that your words are recorded easily. I am Christ Michael who speaks now, for any who are inquiring.

Alerqwin: Good evening, Michael, this is Alerqwin.

Christ Michael: Greetings, Alerqwin.

Alerqwin: I was here for the pre-conference stillness exercises, and after extensive stillness, before many had arrived, I went for a walk on the hill and I was surprised that I was in a waning condition, like I wasn't feeling joy. It was kind of a let down and a lack of love that surprised me. I tried little tricks on myself, happy little jokes about: it is as good as it gets, and little gimmicks and stuff all wondering why I was in a down mood. It is rather rare that I get into that almost dead area where nothing seems to be happening, so I was a little perturbed. And I was back out when people arrive, back in the comradely swing, but it was for me a long time to be down -- it was like twenty minutes or so -- and it surprised me. Do you have anything to say about the lack of love?

Christ Michael:  Most certainly, I can address this topic. You are all creatures of a vacillating nature. This is to be expected in your natures. As you evolve you will steady yourselves emotionally and in all other ways, but for now, you must be patient with your beginning, your nascent self. You have extended yourself so well, my son, in the preparations for this conference, have you not?

Alerqwin: I have been working at it.

Christ Michael:  Most certainly you have put much energy and indeed have brought much hopefulness, many possibilities to this gathering. With your hopefulness can come this risk of resting this hopefulness upon the experiences of others. We begin to wish for certain events to play themselves out in the manner in which we want them to develop. I would say to you, Alerqwin, that you are one who can indeed develop strong expectations, at times, of possible outcomes to events. It would be better to leave such expected outcomes, and entertain a zone of possibility, zone of free-floating possibilities, surrendering your sense of what comes next, what comes tomorrow, what comes even in this next moment today. You will find that if you allow this resting, if you will, between you and the moment to come, you will be able to receive the energies that come towards you in a more effective and efficient manner. Indeed, Alerqwin, I would say to you that at times we can see this expectation of outcome as the barrier for the true possibilities that indeed exist. We can close the gate, if you will, upon the true potentials of others by too much of our own sense of what will be next. I would encourage you, my friend, to find yourself softening. Do not put so much of your thoughts into what comes next. Again, I bring you back to the topic before us, my son: merely place love before you, Alerqwin. Place love in the zone that surrounds your creative self. Love is an energy which will draw in others towards you, draw in positive and helpful possibilities to your life. You will find in this manner that your energy increases and your emotional equilibrium begins to modulate itself. Do you understand, my son, the direction I have offered here?

Alerqwin: Yes, thank you very much, Michael. That was very helpful.

Christ Michael: You are most welcome and you are most loved. Are there further questions for me now?

Hal:  Yes, I would like to ask one. I heard quoted that the total creative energy of the Father, the First Source and Center of all things, is love. Would you care to enlarge upon that, affirm or explain this, that being the total energy of the universe?

Christ Michael:  I will speak of it in a manner which I hope will touch your hearts and minds at the same time. The Father's gift is this scintillating, penetrating, impulse of creation. I strain now, even as one of his creative sons, to explain fully the way in which this can be perceived. This is the sum, the essence, the gathering together of all that is. Perhaps I can offer the image of a massive cable such as you see in a very large freighter or the cables that are used on such a boat as a tanker, such a ship. Imagine the many threads and fibers of material even if we think of a metal cable line which is created from many filaments for additional strength. This is one possible way I can express the concept of the power of love which can indeed break apart into these many, many manifestations of energy and display itself within the creative universe. And yet I say to you my children that if these energies were again gathered into one massive conduit and cording that this is indeed the cable which pulls the universes along in their flowing patterns.  I speak now of the power of God's love, but this is indeed only one understanding of this magnificent essence. The power of love can be understood as the balm, the penetrating, cleansing, binding energy which overcomes chaos, undoes any possible evil created in the worlds of time and space, enriches and nourishes all creation, moistens, softens, gently lubricates and replenishes all who begin to in any way suffer. The power, the healing balm, and I will offer a third. And then, because of the hour, and perhaps another possible question, I will end this answer to your question. The glory of God's love is the glory, my children, of creation. God's love glistens in this universe, God's love reflects all beauty, all marvels, all joy. God's love is the mirror  which can bounce back to the creation itself its beauty. God's love is the testament to his creation and indeed we do gaze into the face of the Father in all ways in which we perceive the beauty in our lives, in our experiences in our existence. Have I helped you to understand, my son, something of God's love in my answer?

Hal: Yes, that is a beautiful explanation and description of it. Could I summarize in my mind that the example used of the cable, that there are many strands of energies, creations upholding the universe and that the sum total (this is possibly over simplification) is our use of the word love, is the total cable of all God's expressions.

Christ Michael:  One can find love ultimately in reflection. One can find as the essential element within all other energies this power of love. Yes.

Hal: Thank you, that was a very nice explanation.

Christ Michael: You wish no further summation of my words then? You are content now, is this correct?

Hal:  Well, not really, but it ensures and enlarges the concept.

Christ Michael:  Very well. What further questions do you have for me now, my children?

Frank:  Christ Michael, this is Frank. It seems to me when you asked for expressions of love that everyone should be able to say something. I have been searching my mind and I have come up with a simple little instance. Today, I met a three year old child and I asked her name. After three times, I finally learned it is Emily. And then I said I have a sister named Emily. Then, she started saying what her sisters' names were. In about a minute she was offering me the chance to color in her coloring book. She was coloring pictures of teddy bears. So, this is my expression of love, for today. This three year old child that I just met today, in about a minute she was asking me to share with her in her coloring. It is just a small little thing, but I have to say something.

Christ Michael:  It is a most powerful example, my son, and I appreciate your willingness to be so childlike yourself in sharing. This is the same powerful and compelling, appealing trust that this child offered to you. And for you now to share this with me touches my heart also. And I am most grateful.

Frank: Thank you.

Christ Michael: You are welcome. I would add one comment to this. Susan indeed observed some of what has now been spoken of. She herself was touched by noticing at a distance this man walking with this very small child. It was from behind the cabins and up a slight incline around towards the cabins. Susan this moment was touched also because she saw the beauty of these two. The older one who led and at the same time was being led by a small child. And I would encourage you all to understand that when you express yourself in this world with this sense of love and trust and openness to all experiences, that just feel right in our heart, that there are many moments when you are demonstrating to others, ones you are not even aware of, that are watching, you serve to demonstrate to others something most powerful.

In this way I would ask you to always realize that your gift to yourself in this experience can very often be used by the universe as a gift to others also. There is much observation that occurs in this creation from one level to the next. Is it not most true that all of us delight in observing the beauty of small children and their unfettered, spontaneous, marvelous expressions of themselves? Please understand, my children, that you are seen in this way by all levels which are indeed more highly evolved than you are now. You are in your own way a delight to their eyes and hearts. And so I would ask you to be gentle with yourself in all your moods, all your experiences. Remember that the experience you make for yourself in the moment is not necessarily how you are being observed by others who care, just as you watch a small child who has stubbed her toe, cry and most vehemently protests that this rock has hurt her toe. At the same time we feel sympathy and empathy for her pain, there is still something of precious delight in observing how she conducts herself in that moment.

I would say to you that even in those moments when you suffer, you are being observed with love and appreciation by many levels of creation. You are precious in their sight. Do feel honored by their love and appreciation; do not cripple yourselves with any sense of shame in your suffering. You can suffer in this life with still a sense of trust in the way you are cherished and held with this love of the Father. I hope my words have brought together further thoughts that might have been in our mind that you have not yet shared with me. Is there any final comment that anyone wishes to make in this audience?

Caitie: [Note Caitie is Susan's 16 year-old daughter] It is funny talking to Christ Michael. I just wanted to express the joy of love. I know it is the joy of love that keeps the energy going. Today I went to the meditation room and I talked with my angels and I do know it helps me rejuvenate. I don't really know why I am saying this, but expressing the joy of love makes me feel so bright inside. Expressing your love not just to humans, but to hear angels! It just feels good. I don't know what I am trying to get to, but the joy of love is important. I just wanted to share that. Just sharing the joy to people helps.

Christ Michael: I am most pleased that you have indeed made this point today. I will share something from Susan's mind now and that is that she too is most comfortable in her own privacy, dancing with happiness. You come by this trait most honestly and I wish for all in this room who indeed also in their private moments dance that joy, to feel validated in this experience. It is no matter that we are perhaps no longer in our most perfect physical form when we dance our joy. I know that for many also there is this inhibition, this sense of "I feel I could dance but such a thing is most ludicrous, not an option for me any more. This is inappropriate." I would say to you, again, just as you are observed with appreciation in your moments of pain, or tears, or moodiness, you are observed with great relish and appreciation when you allow this joy, this energy of trust and exhilaration to indeed flow out from your bodies and generate itself. Most certainly I encourage you all to dance in those moments of privacy, sing in the shower, offer yourself in praise. Never feel there is any time or state or stage in our creation when you are not worthy of this expression. As Caitie has mentioned, there is a marvelous payoff in such trust and as you move with this joy, you will feel your own beauty flowing through you. You will not feel the awkwardness that you think you will have; instead you will feel the lighthearted and happy fulfillment of this use of yourself. You will be refreshed by such an experience.

Thank you, Caitie, for being willing to share with all of us this private moment that you had today. I do indeed wish that this type of sharing of your private self can indeed develop more as you work with each other in this Teaching Mission. You will find yourselves becoming most safe and comfortable in this open hearted and trusting way of sharing yourself. To be able to say to one you care for in this group, "I was so happy a few minutes ago, I danced. I danced my happiness, I danced my joy." That is  wonderful insight to offer of yourself to another, that you wish to work with in this mission for God. I will close this session now; the hour grows late and you need your rest, but we will continue in our communication soon enough. I hold you all in my heart and I bless the spirit in this room. Amen.

Agadem: (Benjamin) Greetings to each and every one this evening. My name is Agadem. I am a primary Midwayer of Urantia and have resided here for many ages. I have witnessed the lives of many mortals and have enjoyed a panorama of history in this world, which to my understanding is certainly like no other. Each of you in your life at this moment is fulfilling an integral and unique destiny within this continuing development, the progress of this world. While it is good to realize that each of you have roles, that each of you have strengths, insights, and spiritual understandings to offer one another, bear always in mind that the most important work in your life here certainly is growing in friendship with our Father, learning in each moment to trust in that presence within you, to allow the marvelous Thought Adjuster who resides in each of you, in that stillness within, to create the sense of reality that you hunger and strive for. Think now of your common origins together, of our common destinies as mortals striving to become Godlike, and contemplate the wonderful sharing there is among you, as you carry a Father fragment within and display certain attributes of the Father, as you express your personality and display your free will choices to your brothers and sisters. In each of you the Father is revealed. If you wish to see the Father more clearly, look within and look into the hearts of your brethren. For there the Father is most certainly present at all times. It may seem magnificent to the mortal mind, the many changes of which you have been told, those that are occurring and are about to occur on this world. I ask you to always remember that the true power of living in this life is to remain focused in God's love within, to understand the exquisite intimacy of a Father who indwells your mind and heart. He knows your every longing, forgives your every weakness, and takes every step with you. There is nothing which can surpass the realization of this. In whatever way you can express this from yourself to others, It will be felt as gifts of great treasures, though often in small ways  -- and without you even being aware you have touched the lives of those around you, simply by living your life in this way. It is very easy to become distracted with many ideas of how to proceed in your life and how to express ourself. This is normal. It is fortunate that you have many ways of creativity in which to spend your time, but I would say that unless your intentions, your consciousness, is focused in some way on doing the Father's will, these expressions may only be mere distractions. But with the remembrance of the Father's will, they become deeds of consequence beyond your imagination. I am certain that each of you is learning quite well that choosing the spiritual path is not an easy life. In the true tribulations that you face, you will be assured again and again of the Father's presence with you and that you are guided along through each turmoil. Your destiny is survival to reach the Father's presence.

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Gerdean, as many of you know, was the primary transmitter of Daniel and Tomas in the Pocatello group before moving to the Pittsburgh area. In a recent conversation with Gerdean, she was telling me of the growing number of transcripts from the Pittsburgh groups and sent the following transcript of Tomas and Merium.

October 30, 1997

Pittsburgh, PA USA

Tomas:  I am going to address a question which was presented outside of this format but I know that you will all relate to it and find it worthy of note. The question is directed to Jesus by a youngster in the spirit who asks, "What do you mean when you say: 'Greater love hath no man than to lay down his life for his friend'? That sounds to me like abuse."

I have given some thought and it is an admirable question. I will ask you to think for a moment about what it is that Rodan says, that there are two ways in which you may live together. One is the animal way and one is the human way, and that by sounds and guttural indications animals can communicate but in order to live as a human being, you need to launch and say that we must first elevate the arena into one of a higher realm.

One of the things Jesus advised/admonished was that you need to be born of the spirit and it is in the realm of the spirit that this has its greatest truth. You read recently about the last commandment, that being that Jesus asked his apostles to regard each other as their Father would regard you -- greater than brotherly love, but with fatherly love, and he went on to discuss how it is that he regarded his peers as friends and they would continue to be friends as long as they continued to follow his guidance in spirit.

I will divert now into the guttural realms of animal behavior, even that high degree of civilized animal behaviors of the advanced society of today, and I put "advanced society" in quotes. Many relationships are based upon the animalistic level of functioning. The stimulus-response: he grunts, she jumps; she growls, he snarls; he winks, she scampers; and these sorts of communication.

These are not as elemental as sketched here but are actually quite sophisticated, but they are still animalistic communication, and your scientists have done extensive studies on the subtleties of body language and unspoken communication. Your recovery field today is filled with individuals who are only familiar with a level of operating that is animal-based. Only when you step out of the animalistic conditioning of your social training and reach into the realms of the spirit, when you allow yourself to be reborn and to be remade by spirit, do you begin to attain those levels wherein you can understand with clarity what the Master said when he said, "Greater love hath no man than to lay down his life for his friends," for now you have a life that you do something with. You have free will now that you can make a decision about, whereas before you were an animal responding only to certain stimulae.

So now that we have a larger canvas and can see the greater scope of the life that you are laying down, we can look at the motivation of what you are laying down and . . . what for. Now, you have heard it is said that the Master died for the sins of mankind to atone for the fall of Adam and any number of plausible and noble responses to a crucifixion. He himself had indicated that he would lay down his life for his friends and he in some regards did: in fact, he died. However, his act was not a sacrifice, as in the days of Abraham. His death was an end of his mortal incarnation and not an atonement for human sins.

It was not a sacrifice, and I reiterate this because it goes back to what he said in his last commandment to his apostles and that is he did not want you to be sacrifice-minded or servant-minded, but to be a friend -- a friend in the living, loving family of God. In-as-much as he then laid down his life for his friends, he laid it down that He could take it up, that he could show you how it is that you have everlasting life through Him.

Never forget that he laid down his life but He took it back up, and that is the key to the adage, the saying, the truth, the admonition that you have no greater love than to lay down your life for your friend, for the life that you lay down is not yours but the Lord's and he allows you to lay it down, he directs you to lay it down, he tells you where to lay it down and when to pick it up.

When you lay down your life for a friend in the guise of your animal conditioning, you have put yourself in a position of being a doormat and available to abuse. Only as your God-consciousness is a part of your life has your life the will and the inherent respect of deity to allow you the wisdom to understand his will in regards to how your life is being laid down.

As you offer yourself into situations for service, for love of mankind, you are not alone in this undertaking. You are assisted by the Spirit of Truth and your Thought Adjuster. You are assisted also by untold numbers of celestial helpers far and near. When you undertake to assist someone without this spirit association, you are vulnerable to eradication, for the animal is interested in its own survival; as you read this evening in one of your selections, it is "brutal", and when the un-evolved animal is actively finding their reality in addictive substances or aberrant behaviors, they are like an empty vessel that cannot be filled, so and so, like the water that is drained from the tub, that spiraling, eddying, sucking down will take everything with it, including yourself. Only the Father can pull you up, can raise you up, can resurrect you as you have laid down your life in service for a friend.

I remember when the question was asked, the questioner used the word "heroic" and asked if this was an heroic act, and equated Jesus' act of dying on the cross as the greatest heroic act. I suspect that a diatribe will be forthcoming as to what is heroic, but it could be said, in truth, that each one of your moments of portraying truth, beauty and goodness is heroic. Each time you stand up for what you believe in, each time you promote the Father, each time you are loyal to him and to the fruits of the spirit, you are heroic, and so perhaps yes it is heroic, but be mindful of your understanding of heroic, that you are only as heroic as your relationship with the original I AM allows you to be.

I found it interesting, in your reading this evening regarding the I AM, that their discussion of the I Am was qualified, indicating that there were certain inherent dangers in discussing the concept, and I think perhaps the dangers may have to do with the semi-civilized nature of the human being today, that it is so easy for you (not you particularly but you generally) to become egoistic in your understanding of the concepts that are presented that offer you greatness, and yet, in-as-much as we have faith in the Father, and the Mother, and in the plan, these egoistic excursions into grandiosity are short-lived, for we believe in you, we believe in your ability to comprehend, and we believe in your earnest desire to live and grow in the spirit, and so in the spirit, then you may ponder your options in order that you may lay down your life for your friends.

****

And this from our new Teacher Merium after a wonderful session of a personal teacher with her charge:

Merium: I am Merium. I am not going to miss out on a party such as this! How I love to see love affairs taking place, and how I enjoy being part of this love affair of the Butler Berry Teacher Base. How I love the love that comes from the Divine Minister and her Bridegroom. How I love the love that wafts down from Paradise and that rises up from the greatness of the smallest flower in creation. This universe is so wrought with love, you have no idea.

You cannot see the depth and breadth of the love, but consider the harmony of the seasons, consider the molecules of your storms, consider the veins in the leaves and tell me that you do not see living love, that the universe is constructed and organized in such a way as to manifest the symmetry and the choreography of Paradise, even all the way down into these dense realms of time and space.

You are  a party to and an observer of an endless array of rendezvous. Indeed a love story in action. Have you observed how much love there is in your life? How much love there is available? In a grey day, look at the shades of grey. Look at the color, the shadow on the wall. See the movement of the wind. Hear the rustle of the leaves. Observe the movement of the clouds. All of this, all of this, is a love story for you. It is a creation for you. An environment for you.

You know, sometimes children will play, they will create a situation for their dolls or their pets. I have seen little girls take their kitty cats or their puppy dogs and put dresses on them and put hats on them and make homes for them and treat them as if they were real babies; and they would hang umbrellas and they would put fruit on the table and in their imaginations they would create the incredible environments, and The Father has done just such a thing for you!

No, it's not that he has dressed you up like puppies, but he has put fruit on your table; he has put clothes on our back; he has put an environment around you and he shows you his love. He has given you a sky overhead and pillows for your head at night. How loved you are. Consider how loved you are and all the wonderful things you have to appreciate the fact that you are loved.

Your companions, the music you hear, the food you eat -- all of life is a love affair. If only everyone could appreciate that they are having a love affair with their very existence and that each was a reflection of the love affair that the other was having right next to them, everyone would realize that there was a love affair going on everywhere, with everyone! An infinite and eternal expression of divine affection and appreciation. Indeed, how we would dance and how we would sing.

You see, we do! We do! for we realize that this is true. We work together, we appreciate the work of each other, we appreciate the differences of each other, the creativity of the service of each other. It is remarkable, this universe that has been created. The love of the Father needs no testifying to for we experience it on a daily basis, but those of you who cannot see, who forget to realize, perhaps could use a reminder of how permeated this universe is with the love of Michael for his creation.

I love you, Tomas. I love the fact that I am here helping you. I am loving my experience in this assignment on Urantia. I love Urantia. I love my job. Isn't it wonderful! Yes!

Tomas: I am Tomas and I tell you I love my colleague and is it any wonder. She brings such a vivacious approach to my arena. I have enjoyed her companionship since even before she arrived, and this is another attitude that you might consider entertaining when you entertain how wonderful and how well loved you are in your life -- that there is yet another opportunity and experience around the corner, that you are yet unaware of, that you can be in love with already, before it even gets here, so that when it arrives, you will already know, you have been looking forward to it, because it is of the Father. It is life itself. It is yet another experience in your ascension career; another opportunity to express The Father's love; an opportunity to be The Father's love in action, and to know The Father's love from the gift of service, to you and from you. Amen and farewell.

****

Happy Birthday and Happy Valentine's Day to Teacher Tomas who began transmitting on Urantia on February 14, 1993 from his primary T/R "agondonter Gerdean, who walks upon Urantia" and his loyal flock..

                                    * * *

Gerdean and others had contact prior to the "official" beginning of the Teaching Mission and below are excerpts from a couple of those sessions. I think you all will be most interested to read transmissions that predate our active involvement in the Teaching Mission by nearly 10 years..

This excerpted from a small transcript from July 6, 1983:

Jack (A secondary midwayer): Machiventa Melchizedek  will be coming to this planet to do more than open up the channels. It is a voluntary manifestation on his part to help bring this planet back into, not only the fold when Lucifer's rebellion is adjudicated, but ho help involve the planet, as quickly as possible, to its natural, what would be normal evolutionary state in its progression to light and life, which directly or indirectly makes the planet, creates the stage, for the return of Michael. That is the project. This entire project, which will start with lessons in Human Association, is - Guess what? - the brotherhood of man.

And this wonderful transcript from a July 20, 1983 session:

Morontia Companion: I had asked myself earlier if this wouldn't be a good time this evening for me to talk about this business about being born again because it certainly has a lot to do with Human Association; it certainly has a lot to do with philosophy and with spirituality, religious growth, understanding, all of these things, and at the same time, the sharing of knowledge. And then I -- the more I thought about it, the more I felt that, yes, indeed, that is a good idea, but I don't know if I should make this presentation this evening. I decided on the latter, that I would have my friend make this presentation. If you would like for me to share a fellow sojourner, I will, who has kindly consented to discuss this business of being born again, born of the spirit. Would you be interested in this conversation?

Karen: I 'd like that.

Tim: Very much.

Unknown: (Pause) I apologize for the delay. (Another long pause) Gratefully we acknowledge the opportunity to make contact with you.

Tim: Who are you?

Unknown:   There seems to be some minor difficulty with the channel. (Pause)

Mighty Messenger: I have been advised that when we deal with these situations, with a channel like this, if we come in with too much power, we have to either reduce the flow of energy or we have to increase the flow of energy in the channel. I have been utilized before on this planet in this capacity but I am not at liberty to say when, with whom, or where.

I extend greetings and I have the great honor of carrying the banner of Michael. It is with a great deal of love that I enter your environment and also a great deal of gratitude that I am able to impart whatever knowledge that I may have regarding the subject that you seem to want to discuss this evening. I am a Mighty Messenger. My classification, my credentials, are best spoken for, you can read about me in your revelation.

Before I start are there any questions you would like to ask me?

Tim: Not I .

Karen: No, I have no questions.

Tim: If we think of one as we go along, is it okay to interrupt you, or . . . ?

Messenger: Yes. I have no objection to that. We seem to have the channel under control now. There shouldn't be any difficulty. I would like to start by asking you a few questions.

Karen:  Good.

Messenger: Would you like to volunteer and give me your conception of what it means when we use the term rebirth, born of the spirit?

Karen: To me it means giving my life to God, trusting to Him my care and keeping. Growing in cosmic insight, being aware of God being active in my life and hoping for it in my fellows -- working for it, as well, if possible. That's what being reborn means to me.

Tim: To me it means that you are achieving a cosmic mind and that all things old are becoming new. All of the old ideas and the crap that was the old person is all totally wiped out if you are born of the spirit. That's my conception of it:  that the mind of Christ has taken over, or is dominating, or is at least trying, if that is the will of the person, for the mind of -- or the cosmic mind to dominate.

Messenger: If we could put your two conceptions together and make one package, we would be close to the truth. Embodied in that statement, each one of your individual attitudes and conceptions is the essence of everything that I would say tonight. I can't emphasize strongly enough, if you would think in terms of a metamorphosis of a caterpillar becoming the moth -- how frequently -- it's my understanding and I have the opportunity to observe this on your planet -- this process of rebirth gets misconstrued and gets misunderstood and people literally go about changing their identities. I know that my  friend, I believe he has introduced himself as "Doc" to you (Morontia Companion), has discussed this with you in terms of mental health and things like this.

It would be exceedingly awkward for this channel, for Alan, to take on the personalities of the people that came through him. There's absolutely no way that he could impart my presence and not take on certain characteristics, as colored and as materially influenced would be as they are, still he takes this on, but it is happening under a very controlled circumstance, situation, a controlled set of conditions. Now if he were to be reborn of the spirit and not be in an controlled environment or not have the good mental capacity or have followed the good directions of his Thought Adjuster, he could very easily go through a process of changing identities, new identities, changing names, things like these, which of course happens on the mansion world. But when our Thought Adjuster tries to tell us that we are going to go through this metamorphosis and that this metamorphosis will start right here, can start right here on the planet, we have a tendency sometimes to want to become something that we're not.

Now, what I'm getting at is that we don't allow ourselves to rush in where angels fear to tread. If indeed we have given our lives over to the care of God, if indeed we have asked for the mind of Christ and if indeed we pray for these changes, these metamorphic conditions to take place, then we must allow them to take place as naturally as possible. Here's where discretion comes in. Here's where the mind of Christ has to really work, where the Spirit of Truth has to operable in our lives. There is a great deal of potential danger in this day and age in this very thing, this very commandment -- and I know your revelation talks in terms of many strange "isms" that arise as a result of garbled communications with your Thought Adjuster.

Now I know that you didn't expect me to start out talking about this, and I know you've been wondering why, what does this have to do with the ideal of it. I mention it because it's a good time to be cautious. It's a good time to grow and evolve and go through your metamorphosis as naturally as you possibly can, praying always that the will of God be done.

Now, taking the ideal, the work that you do, the groundwork that you lay, is acknowledging the presence of God in your life, in your mind, your Thought Adjustor, in your mind, the kingdom of heaven is within. This is where the inner creative life takes place. This is the beginning of it, right here at his acknowledgement that you are a child of God.

Now what you're saying, then, is "God is my parent, God will raise me in his image. God will raise me and spew me out upon the shores the adult that he chooses me to be." There's where the metamorphic change takes place; there's where the wisdom comes in; there is where the spiritual maturity takes place. Each step of the way, slowly but surely, allowing God your Father, God your Mother, to mold you from the infant through the teenage years to adulthood, to adult maturity, spiritual maturity.

If you were on a normal evolutionary planet at this time you would be close to fusion. At this time if you were on a normal evolutionary world, the chances of your being able to fuse on this planet would be very great, but since you are not on a normal evolutionary world, unless you were in an area where you would not do any damage, it would be awkward for you to fuse here, so you are going to be taken somewhere else to fuse. And this is the only thing that the act of death has anything to do with.

So to be born again, to be born of the spirit, is to take what I am, what I have, what I was, what I represent and all of my potential; everything that I was, everything that I am, and everything that I am to be and reconstruct me. Give me new ears, ears to hear; give me new eyes, eyes to see; give me a new heart to love and to receive love and to give love; give me a new mind so that I do not crystallize, so that I do not have difficulty with my metamorphosis, so that I do not have difficultly in my understanding, in my growth, and in my relationship with my heavenly Parents.

It does me absolutely no good to go to my Father's school, or to go to my Father's business, or go to my Father's warehouse and not know what is going on there. Now the only way I can understand what is going on there is to seek for the information, to seek for guidance, to seek for knowledge. I ask.

Now in some cases, such as this, you are fortunate because you are being given information almost unasked. There is a price to pay. There is a big price to pay. The price for which you are willing to give all that you have.

Now what is this "all that you have?" Your prejudices, your bigotries, your ignorance, your egos, your bravura, your self-seeking, your grandiosity, your pride, your selfishness, your self-centeredness, all those things you can think of; your sense of revenge. If you can give all of that, including your well-founded, well-thought-out, well-cherished conceits, intellectualizations, pride of mind, your concepts, all of these things; if you can give them all; give them all. Your health, your dependencies, your fears, your emotional instabilities, all of them, all of them. You give them all willingly, joyfully, happily, for which you receive more than you ever bargained for. That is truly being reborn.

You simply say, "I am your child. You are my parents. You raise me. You teach me to think. You teach me how to behave. You teach me values. You teach me ideals. You direct my feet on the correct path. You show me what you want me to learn. You take me to the libraries of your choosing, you take me to the fields of experience of your choice."

It is your destiny. If you can just remember that, each and every one of you, your Thought Adjusters came with a destiny for you, a pattern for you, a pattern for you totally unlike any other. There is no reason why, with the tools at your disposal, why you cannot get as close to fusion with your Thought Adjusters while you are still here on the planet Urantia before you go.

Does that sound like a far-out goal? Does that sound like bribery? Spiritual bribery? Perhaps. It depends upon how you look at it.

Karen: sounds like a prayer to me.

Messenger: What we have -- what we have here is the opportunity to prepare for the next age. The next age on this planet is soon to be heralded in. We are doing everything we can to bridge the gap of communications and Jack (the secondary midwayer) has talked to you about this. This is one way we can bridge this gap in the communication systems. We do operate over the Archangels circuit. This is exactly how this operates.

You have been told that and I will tell it to you in my manner. We are making preparations. We are doing everything we can with the permission of the Most Highs to get this planet . . . . All we have to do is just move it a little bit on its axis.

Now, the other night my friend the doctor talked to these two young gentlemen about spiritual power. There is no real spiritual power unless you have been born again, born of the spirit, unless you give all that you have to receive more than you had. This spiritual power is the type of power that can literally change your environment. Your environment starts where?

Tim: Here.

Messenger: Where is "here?"

Tim: In us.

Messenger: Exactly. In the individual first. When this occurs we are acknowledging the presence of healing. All compulsions disappear. All physical illnesses will disappear. We're talking about good physical health. We're talking about good mental health. We're talking about emotional health. Physic health. The healing starts within. The environment, the power, the spiritual power starts within and it evolves into our immediate environment, the power, the spiritual power starts within and it evolves into our immediate environment, the home. That is the beginning of the brotherhood. As this power starts to evolve and as this power becomes stronger and stronger, it now has enough power to go outside the home and go out into society.

If you can just put your antenna out right now, put it out into the immediate environment, feel, sense the environment, you should feel the power. You should feel the electricity, you should feel the currents and I'm speaking literally.

Once you get the feeling of that and you can feel it changing, you should feel the vibration of it, you can sense it, then you have a frame of reference, and once you have this frame of reference you now have had a sign post from which you can always operate. You should be able to sense that power in every environment you move into. All of these things happen after -- cause and effect -- the effect from the cause causes the rebirth.

That's all folks.

Love, "Karen" (a/k/a Gerdean)

We are all most grateful for all the Gerdean's contributions over the years. After reading the following transcripts I think you will all be waiting with as much enthusiasm and interest as I am to discovering more of what these teachers have to share in present and prior transmissions. We are looking forward to hearing more from you Gerdean.

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Meeting with Abraham - Paid a Price

December 16, 1997

Wood Cross Group

I am Abraham. What a beautiful sight to behold ---the brotherhood in action. We here, who are unseen by you, marvel at your determination to carry on the Master's teachings. To gather with comfort for yourselves and one another shows a great deal of growth. Your efforts have been worthwhile. Your trials have been a great learning experience. You will know one day that all that you have toiled for was indeed worth it. Your difficult times were another step up towards our Father in Heaven.

I must say to you, my friends, you spiritual seekers, have paid a price for all that you know. You have each paid to attain spiritual meanings and values. You each have consented to pay this price for your continuing education. It is only by experience that I can truly stand before you gratefully knowing that the price I offered up was small in comparison to the rewards I received.

The price I speak of is putting yourself aside to receive the greater meanings of the universe. To allow your desires to be set aside in favor of what is best for the whole. The price you have paid is the loss of your old life in favor of a new and better life. To focus on not so much what you would see as best, but what our Father would have us know is best. He who would save his life would surely lose it, but he who would lose his life for the Kingdom will be saved. Do you see how our lessons on self-forgetfulness pertain to this valued saying?

I would ask that you continue to ponder over and discuss these topics with one another. In your fellowship there are volumes of spiritual knowledge to be had. I would express to you my gratitude or allowing me to speak. I would have each of you know that I know and love you dearly. Peace go  with you. Until next week, shalom.

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Meeting with Abraham

Faith Is A Price You Consent To Pay

December 23, 1997

Woods Cross Group

I am Abraham. It is always my pleasure to meet with you. I am always interested in your weekly findings concerning these lessons.

It is indeed at times a burden to be hindered by the flesh. There are so any limitations within the mortal mind concerning spirituality. Yes, it can be difficult to integrate the material and spiritual, but I can say it can be done, not all at once, but gradually through your continuous efforts to attain self-forgetfulness. Over and over are you each tried and tested. Repeatedly are you given those things essential toward attaining divinity.

In my short journey to this present date, I can confess that the material mortal form was the most difficult of all my spiritual stages. The limitations of the material body make faith mandatory. I can say that the transition from mortal to morontial is indeed a bit more easily understandable concerning things spiritual. The limitations of the mortal body no longer exist, and the faith factor is just existing, and almost without effort.

You are tested by dwelling in flesh, and I can say this is a test that all must take, all ascending beings on a material world. You have relinquished your old life for a life led by the spirit, you will find more meaning to your trials and testing. You, having been born of the spirit, are consenting to pay the price to continue your spiritual learning. There is a force within you that continues to drive you to desire to pay the price, pay the price of laying down your desires, your will, to take up the Will of our Father in Heaven.

This is not much more than what we would call faith, to have faith that there is a Supreme Caretaker and associates that care for each step you take on your journey. To have faith that all you do matters, how you affect others matter. To have faith that your testing is no more than a lesson is a price that is paid by you. To set aside yourself' in favor of Father's Will is a price that is one that you will learn to continually pay upon. Your faith is your foundation. Your faith is what our whole education rests upon. Your faith is a price that you consent to pay, and whether it is easy for you or not. Our faith is a work in progress.

With each test you are given the foundation of faith is made more sturdy, or the foundation of faith is made to chip, perhaps crumble. Do you see your education rest upon your consent to pay the price of faith, believing without seeing, and your continuing education also rests upon your ability to stand aside and allow Father to teach. Do you see ourself to be self-forgetful?

Many do battle for their faith and ride an emotional roller coaster. Many do forsake their faith with the thought that there is no hope. Why make an effort? Many who are self-forgetful find faith to be simple, and often note Father's fingerprints in their lives. I can say the fight of faith is certainly worth whatever wounds you may receive. The fruits of the spirit can still occur even when one is weak. One of these fruits--being pateint, to have patience that this weakening in the foundation will be temporary. The tests that you must take to strengthen the foundation are well worth it to maintain connection with the source of all there is.

I am understanding some to find these lessons difficult, the lessons on self-forgetfulness to be a real test. I can say that through your continued efforts will you find the rewards to be astonishing. You will find ourself in amazement at the transformation of all that you know, a positive transformation. I would ask that you continue to journal and have discussion on these topics.

Rachel: Well Father Abraham, I don't feel like we are paying a price to have faith. I feel like it is a privilege. Sure, some of the times we don't take advantage of that privilege, but I certainly feel like it is a privilege to have faith in Father. Maybe I am misunderstanding it.

Abraham: Yes it is a privilege to maintain a steady level of faith and find the joy therein. It would not appear to be a price to you at this stage in your spiritual development, no. However, in your early years when there were times of struggle, and the foundation of faith was first being established, there were times when there was  bit of chipping or crumbling of the foundation. Do you see by your experience, your testing, your price that you have paid, built your foundation of faith to be able to withstand any and all struggles. When adversity befalls you, you are upon a strong foundation in which you take comfort thereby knowing Father's love and ways of turning adversity into something valuable. Many without such valuable experience are apt to feel this rocking of the boat, the paying of the price, the need to stand aside and allow Father to work.

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January 4, 1998

Tallahassee Group

Will (T/R #1): The light of the Father shines upon this world to light the way to Him. His love is forever, and surrounds us always. His power supports us in our every endeavor. Wherever we gather, He is with us.

Good evening dear friends and beloved students, this is your teacher, Will, who loves you very much. I am very pleased that we are together again. I feel such love and warmth whenever we gather.

As we are poised between the past and the future yes, it is a good time to discuss the present, for this is where you are. This is where you receive God's love, and where you give it out. All this happens in the present moment. It is good to go through certain rituals of letting go of the past year, and I encourage each of you to drop any fears of supposed shortcomings that you have given power over you. And for the future, it is quite natural to make plans and to have goals, and to create for yourselves high standards that you desire to live up to. But never lose sight of what is involved in the present moment. All the good that you do happens in the now; the love you create is generated in each moment. (T/R loses connection.)

T/R #2 continues . . .

Your ability to remain focused on the present is, in large part, predicated on your faith that all things in the future will work for the best. So rather than project into the possible calamities that may await you in the future, you are more capable of reposing your attention into the current surroundings. This does not indicate that you should fail to plan or arrange your affairs to assist in the most beneficial unfoldment of circumstances, but you all must acknowledge that much of what will happen in the future is outside of your personal control, and as such you must have faith that the experiences that are provided to you will be beneficial to your spiritual growth. By inhabiting the present you can more easily give of yourself to those who you encounter. If you are not focused on the present, you will tend to miss opportunities that may be presented because you are wearing blinders that do not permit or encourage your peripheral vision in the present. For those who are constantly worried about the future, there is no end to your anxiety, for when you eventually reach the point you have been concerned about, you will undoubtedly fail to live in the present at that time, looking only to the future for what additional calamities may befall you. So there is no benefit to unduly fretting about things to come.

Enjoy this moment, it shall never be here again. Enjoy your family while they are still with you. Enjoy the beauty of a balmy January day, enjoy your friends, and laughter. Enjoy the stories you tell each other, the hugs you give each other, your health, a new year. There is so much in the present to be thankful for, for you all know that you are beloved children of God, and with this knowledge you are each called to become lights and to shine this love on all you meet. This, my fiends, is the foundation upon which this mission is built, and as simple as it may sound, these truths shall change this work, one person at a time.

So go forth this week with the zeal a new year can bring. Shake off any feelings of insecurity about who you are, or the personal inadequacies that you may feel. You are perfect, who you are, at this time, to take on the mission that lies ahead. Put a smile on your face and live in your heart, and live every minute in the present, as we head to the future in building the ages of light and life on this planet. It starts now. And every day we step closer. I give you all my love, embrace you one and all. Until we meet again, shalom.

                      Will's 1-2-3 Exercise

The lessons of Will were the first introduction to the Teaching Mission for some of you. For those of you who have recently discovered the Teaching Mission, below is one of Will's most well known and loved lessons in a nutshell version I recently read on the tml.

1.  Assume that Jesus is constantly standing next to you all day and you are demonstrating to him by every word, act, and thought that you understand his teachings of living totally in accordance with the Father's will.

2.  Consciously spread divine love to everyone you come in contact with. It does not come from you, but it flows through you to that person. It  is a separate reality that you may channel a gift to that person.

3.  Be totally sincere and direct whenever speaking to another one. This is, no wisecracks, no sarcasm, no teasing. Just say as directly and clearly as you can what it is you wish to convey.

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VERONICA - SEPTEMBER 13, 1994

Volcano, Hawaii #9

                    BEHAVIORAL CHANGE

I love you all very much and want my guidance to take root and blossom into loving manifestation.

Behavioral change and spiritual growth go hand in hand, but you must provide ample opportunity and be open to learn. Think righteously, act lovingly, and speak gently, and you will become perceptive of intuitive knowing. Examine our daily habits to see, by virtue of frequency, which ones you place a great deal of important on by how often you repeat the behavior. Can any be replaced by actions of increased value?

Be gentle with yourself and attempt only small changes at first, so that your successes will be steady and guided. Think of the lessons of the Master Son and all the underlying messages of His parables and how these can translate into your life.

Identify behaviors that are harmful, recognize thought patterns that stagnate your ability to mature; and ask for guidance in discarding these shackles of true freedom and manipulators of soul formation. You will know which ones must take priority in eliminating from your daily agenda. This is truly difficult to achieve when resistance and complacency have strong footholds in your spirit motivation center of your mind.

I strongly recommend persistence and patience as you are also receiving assistance from others on this side who want you so much to succeed and who have used unlimited continuity in attempts to help you see. My purpose is to provide poignant guidance and flashes of divine insight to enable you to receive instruction and begin to tend to those areas you are neglecting.

You are so loved and even your smallest successes provide us with delight and thrilling desire to uplift you even higher in your journey towards the Father. We can only help show you the way; however, you must walk the path and "follow Him" towards our heavenly home.

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                        LOVE IN ACTION

January 23, 1998

Dear Beloved Friends,

The radio program is going well and has great potential. It has gone from bi-monthly to weekly Sunday mornings at 10:15, the time slot I wanted. I'd like to thank those who responded and their teachers and the Universe Creator Michael for making this all possible.

Love and Peace,

Jim Foster

Jim tells me that the Jesonian Foundation came forward to offer to help with phone calls. The radio station offered the use of their digitally computerized auto recording equipment. Fred Harris and Hal Ketell have sent him some material. Thus far he has gotten a couple of calls from his program by people interested in learning more. Being in the middle of Bible country, he is taking it slow and letting it evolve.

Congratulations Jim! Keep up the good work. I hope you will be hearing from others who want to know more and from our TM brothers and sisters with ideas, material and encouragement.

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                       TM FAMILY NEWS

Chris Hart and her partner, Eileen McQuire, are moving business and all to Tucson, Arizona the first of February. With all the many contributions you have made to the Teaching Mission in Florida, we know you are going to be sorely missed. Tucson look out! Here come two shining stars. Moving is difficult enough without also moving a business. We hope you settle in quickly and  feel at home in your new surroundings. We look forward to hearing from you soon. 

                                    * * *

Daniel Raphael is on the road in February promoting his new book, Sacred Relationships for Beginners. Daniel, we wish you well and much success. When you get weary from planes, hotels, book stores and fast paced schedules, remember you can always call one of your TM family for a little chat - we're only a phone call away for a little R & R - Reversion and Renewal.

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                  UPCOMING ACTIVITIES

         CELESTIAL NIGHTS CONFERENCE

            FEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 1, 1998

                      CAPE SAN BLAS, FL

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    NORTHWEST REGIONAL CONFERENCE

                           JULY 2-5, 1998

                          Bogus Basin, ID

These dates are now finalized. Hope to have more information in the next issue. In case you are wondering, Bogus Basin is a ski resort outside of Pocatello.

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           1998 INTERNATIONAL TEACHING

                  MISSION CONFERENCE

                          July 15-19, 1998

                             Nashville, TN

Rebecca Bynum reports that information on this conference will bebe ready the middle of February for inclusion in the next newsletter.

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                          SPIRITFEST 98

                         June 19-21, 1998

                           El Chorro Park

                      San Luis Obispo, CA

The fifth annual SpiritFest 98 gathering is June 19-21 at El Chorro Park, San Luis Obispo on the  Central California Coast. Prior to the gathering on June 18 there will be a Stillness Retreat. Look for more  information in the next issue.

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                               POETRY

January 7, 1998

Love the T/R News Network newsletter. Here is a humble contribution from me and my inner child and perhaps some help from some cherubim or my teachers:

Oh God within

     and God without

Please lift me up

     don't let me pout

Help me to feel the joy You bring

     as happy as a day in Spring

Let me see, let me hear

     Your word that says

     "Child, have no fear"

Guide me along the path with light

     Allow your love beam to be bright

I want to will - Your will be done

     Let's be about it. . .Let's have some fun!

Together we can make a team

     Show me the way to my heart's dream

Your wonders are without an end

     And I know you are my true friend

You have ideas that are really great

     You always say "Create, create"

There is a way to a better world

     Your banner's about to be unfurled

So let us all Your partners be

     In this endeavor - which sets us free

Amen

                                                        Donna Brown

I am Donna Brown of Temple City, CA, affiliated with the Arcadia, CA TM group with Hal and Lucille Kettel. I shared this poem at the beginning of one of our sessions. I wrote it on Sept. 18, 1997.

[Thanks for sharing it with us, Donna.-Ed]

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                    THE URANTIA BOOK

(Rodan of Alexandria)

I see in the teachings of Jesus, religion at its best. This gospel enables us to seek for the true God and to find him. But are we willing to be born again? to be remade? Are we willing to be subject to this terrible and testing process of self-destruction and soul reconstruction? Has not the Master said; "Whoso would save his life must lose it. Think not that I have come to bring peace but rather a soul struggle"? True, after we pay the price of dedication to the Father's will, we do experience great peace provided we continue to walk in these spiritual paths of consecrated living.

Now are we truly forsaking the lures of the known order of existence while we unreservedly dedicate our quest to the lures of the unknown and unexplored order of the existence of a future life of adventure in the spirit worlds of the higher idealism of divine reality. And we seek for those symbols of meaning wherewith to convey to our fellow men these concepts of the reality of the idealism of the religion of Jesus, and we will not cease to pray for that day when all mankind shall be thrilled by the communal vision of this supreme truth. Just now, our focalized concept of he Father, as held in our hearts, is that God is spirit; as conveyed to our fellows, that God is love.

The religion of Jesus demands living and spiritual experience. Other religions may consist in traditional beliefs, emotional feelings, philosophic consciousness, and all of that, but the teaching of the Master requires the attainment of actual levels of real spirit progression.

The consciousness of the impulse to be like God is not true religion. The feelings of the emotion to worship God are not true religion. The knowledge of the conviction to forsake self and serve God is not true religion. The wisdom of the reasoning that this religion is the best of all is not religion as a personal and spiritual experience. True religion has reference to destiny and reality of attainment as well as to the reality and idealism of that which is wholeheartedly faith-accepted. And all of this must be make personal to us by the revelation of the Spirit of Truth.

And thus ended the dissertations of the Greek philosopher, one of the greatest of his race, who had become a believer in the gospel of Jesus.

                                                             Page 1782

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                                  F. Y. I

The newsletter is now operating in the BLACK!

Thank You! It is thanks to your generosity and support that the newsletter will soon begin its 6th year!

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                              PURPOSE

The purpose of this monthly newsletter is to create a network for sharing information among all individuals and groups involved in the TR (Transmitter/Receiver) process with Celestial Teachers in the Teaching Mission during this Correcting Time. More information about the Celestial Teachers can be found in The Urantia Book.  All contributions for the newsletter; correspondence; and requests to be included on the mailing list should be sent to:

                              Allene Vick

The success of this network is dependent upon the help of all it is intended to serve - your interest and your sharing. Please let us hear from you. A suggested donation for the newsletter to cover printing and mailing costs is $20.00. Your support is appreciated.

When corresponding, please be sure to mark any information that you do not wish to be shared with "FOR YOUR EYES ONLY."  Otherwise, it will be assumed that what is received is for sharing in the T/R NEWS NETWORK. The right is reserved to use excerpts and make editorial changes.

                        TRUST  IN  GOD

                 FOLLOW  YOUR  HEART

                 STAY  IN  THE  MOMENT

TRUST  IN  GOD     *     FOLLOW  YOUR  HEART     *     STAY  IN  THE  MOMENT

Here's the information again for those of you who are still considering attending Celestial Nights.

Dear Friends,

We had a meeting last night and determined that we can put you up and feed you for $150 for the Warm Days & Celestial Nights gathering - Feb 26 - March 1. To better plan this reversion gathering we need to hear from you if you intend to attend. In order to encourage early registration, we have decided that the beach front housing will be allocated to those who register earliest, the first come, first serve. In order to register, please send $50 per person to me at:

 and tell us:

(1) the names and addresses & phone           numbers of the members of your party

(2) your flight number and time of arrival      if you need us to pick you up

(3) any articular dietary requirements you      may have.

Celestial attendance will be handled supernally and no deposit will be required. If you are musically talented, bring your instruments. If you want to come early or stay later, please advise so that we can make accommodations for you. We look forward to your attendance and the fellowship that we will share. Hope to see you in February.

Onward toward Light and Life

Fred Harris.