By Their Fruits

2001-6-30 06:16:00

One thing that has always amazed me is how people make judgments on what is good and what is evil or what is neither good nor evil but "just is."

One thing that is difficult for the thinking person to deal with is the fact that many people make judgments based on catch phrases rather than the substance of what is said.

For instance, with a fundamental religious person anything that sounds like "one world order" immediately raises the red flag as a mark of Satan.

Often times these fears have their origin in an evil possibility. For instance, it is true that there is always a danger that we could progress to a one world order headed by a tyrant that would indeed be a bad situation for the while planet.

BUT--

Even the scriptures predict a one world order under Christ so obviously everything that unites the world is not evil.

The Red Cross is a one world order type organization and few would call that evil.

"Christ consciousness" is another turn off for these people as well as the word "meditation."

Now the funny thing is that these words and phrases should not be turn off for the religious ones for the Bible predicts a united world, tells us we should have the Consciousness of Christ and encourages prayer and meditation. Because of their programming they allow their thinking process to be shut down by these and other words.

Now the same happens on the other polarity with the New Age Community. What shuts down their circuits?

One interesting concept that shuts many down is the idea of Hierarchy. Even though this is a foundation teaching of Theosophy and Alice A. Bailey, many channeled writings are anti-hierarchy, anti-structure and anti-authority of any kind.

Thus, as soon as a person mentions anything that implies a structure of any kind, a symbol of evil looms in their mind and they shut down.

Another concept that makes this group shut down is the phrase "good and evil" itself. Paradoxically many believe that there is no such thing as good and evil and as soon as someone mentions these trigger words, the speaker is rejected as if he were evil (even though they do not believe in evil).

Another trigger revolves around the idea of "control." Now we now that much harm can come about through unjust control, but there are many good uses of the concept. One is self-control, but many New Agers tune out when control is mentioned even in this context.

Another just use of control is through laws which are just. For instance most thinking people are happy to have laws that control the populace in such a way that harmful crimes are prevented.

Every word or phrase represents some concept behind it and all concepts and principles can be used for good or evil.

Another positive use of control is that used by a teacher in a classroom situation to maintain order and a positive learning situation.

In this class we use a very limited form of moderation to maintain control, much less than a teacher uses in a college classroom.

We recently had several members complain of too much control because a couple posts were sent back to be rewritten, but what is not appreciated is that we could have prevented any disruption at all by increasing our moderation as many other lists do. If we had done this then the list as a whole would have been unaware that anyone was disagreeing with me or the main moderator who is Diane.

It seems that every three or four months someone comes on the list who has some of their trigger words aroused and the idea of evil or sinister motive or "energy" seems to come before their mind in dealing with me or other members of the Keys.

But what I want to look at here is what are real signs of good or evil in relation to a person or group. Trigger words, phrases or nebulous energy is far from enough from which to make a good judgment.

Jesus gave the principle here:

Matt 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Matt 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Matt 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Matt 7:17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
Matt 7:18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Matt 7:19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Matt 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

Now one of the problems with this scripture, as in the case of all teaching no matter how pure and true they may be, is that its interpretation is often turned upside down. Isaiah tells us that many call good evil and evil good, so this is no surprise.

For instance, a person may offend many by his words and generate numerous enemies. In such a case many in history have been accused of generating evil fruit and thus seen as evil or mislead themselves.

But is this the criteria for judging an evil person and his fruit?

Not hardly, for look who fits in this category.

Abraham Lincoln had perhaps the most enemies of any President in U.S. history and was even assassinated by them. But was he an evil man with evil fruit?

Nay, for the fruit of his works was the freedom of the slaves and the blacks have continued to make progress in civil liberties from that day onward.

Winston Churchill, who was the most important force in defeating Hitler also offended many people and had many enemies.

Then the most offensive person in history was probably Jesus himself who offended and angered so many that he said: "Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me." Matt 11:6

Thus we can conclude by examining the lives of those who we acknowledge as producers of good fruit that the criteria for bringing forth good fruit is not to walk on eggshells and make sure you do not offend anyone. Most people in history who brought forth good fruit offended many and some were bitterly hated.

If being surrounded by outer love and peace is not the good fruit that Jesus was talking about then what was it?

There are three interpretations of good fruit in the teachings of Jesus.

The first is presented in the Parable of the Sower. In a nutshell a teacher goes forth and plants his seed (which are his words or teachings) in various types of soil. The seed grows into plants which bring forth fruit in varying quantities.

The first criterion for good fruit is that the words of the teacher, or initiate, will multiply. This does not mean that his words will necessarily be many, but that the words he does speak or write will enter the hearts and minds of people and be accepted and multiplied, or spread from person to person.

Who was the greatest example of this type of fruit? Again, it was Jesus. Even today, 2000 years later, His words are more widely circulated than any other person on the earth. The amazing thing is that we only have a handful of His words, but they were so profound that some of them are upon the lips of almost every human being.

If we apply this principle to Abraham Lincoln we have the same result. His Gettysburg address was so fraught with soul energy that millions have it memorized or at least know a few lines of it. Hundreds of Lincoln's maxims are still in use today in every day language and inspiring speeches.

I'll just name two.

"God must have loved the common people because be made so many of them."

"You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."

On the other hand, if we examine the arch villains in history there appear to be close to zero fruit of this kind. When's the last time you beard anyone quote Hitler to teach something that is good, beautiful or true? Or how about Nero or even Saddam Hussein?

Only those who are working for the good of humanity will produce the good fruit of words that will survive them and permeate the consciousness of humanity, passed from person to person and used for teaching and quoted by many.

Now if you wish to know whether or not I am good or evil based on this principle you must look at the words I have written. Do you think the words I have written will survive me?

Do people embrace teachings such as the Molecular Relationship and do they share them with others? Will this concept still be talked about and circulated a hundred years from now? Are and will some of my words quoted and passed around?

Now look at my critics who have come and gone over the years. Have any of them produced the good fruit of words that will enter the hearts of humanity? Will anyone be quoting their words a hundred years from now?

Some may say: "I am no fancy writer or speaker. How can I bear good fruit if I am not talented in this way?"

The question this person must them ask is: "What kind of words and teachings to you allow to be accepted by your heart?"

Are they words and teachings that will still be embraced by humanity in another hundred years or are they some passing fad with no substance that will be meaningless in a hundred or a thousand years?

The apostles may not have been as profound as Jesus, but they embraced his words and multiplied the fruit thereof so his words eventually permeated the entire planet and thus they obtained a glory that will never die.

The second association of good fruit in the scriptures is with our labors, sometimes called "the fruit of our labors."

If the person's words are followed the resulting labors will be be good or evil, positive or negative.

While it is true that there have been many conflicts and wars in the name of Christ, it is also true that those who actually put his teachings into practice produce good and positive works.

Jesus said: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Now who ever heard of a bad labor being produced from that teaching?

Or:

"Love your enemies, do good to them who persecute you."

If all people followed the words of Jesus there would be no more war. The wars in the name of Christ occurred largely because His words were not followed.

Again, if you want to apply this principle to me or others here in this forum one must ask this question:

If his words were followed what would be the result? Would the result be good or evil?

I find it amusing that my critics who think I am either in league with the devil to mildly deceived; rarely quote the words I actually say in accusing me. They either seem to make inaccurate quotes or say that what is bad about me is something nebulous, like my energy, or something unsaid between the lines.

This type of accusation can be made against anyone. If someone wants to show myself or any other teacher as being good or evil he should analyze what he has actually said and taught--not what he has not said.

The third fruit mentioned in the scriptures are people themselves. One of the fruits of Jesus was His Twelve Apostles and others (including females) who were great teachers lost to history.

He found people who the world considered as ne'er-do-wells and planted his words in them and these few became some of the greatest embassies of light in history.

Now were these people perfect? No. Peter denied Christ three times and Jesus corrected him when he cut off the ear of a Roman soldier. They were human beings capable of making mistakes and saying and doing rash things, but their hearts were good and in the end their works were good.

Finally, how would you apply this principle in relation to me?

Answer: You would have to look at the works of those who have accepted my teachings and are in reasonable harmony with them.

Actually, if you judge me by those who share oneness of purpose with me it looks like I am destined for sainthood, because these are some very suburb people.

I hate to name names because I just can't cover everyone and am bound to leave out someone important, but I'll forge ahead anyway and name several.

First there's our angel Marylin who has been single-handedly responsible for preserving all the writings of all the people who have ever posted on the Keys. For over a year she has been working day after day in the background with little notice or reward and downloading all the files, taking out the html and repetition so future readers can have many hours of easy reading ahead of them. A while back she had a serious heart operation and we just about lost her, but it was not long before she was back at the job.

I keep telling her to take it easy, but she ignores me. She has a sense of mission about this and will let nothing get in her way.

Then of course, there's Rick who started the Keys list that we all enjoy today. Few of us realize all the work he puts in behind the scenes to make sure all goes well for us in addition to making his insightful posts on a regular basis. He's also helping get our new web page started. He's a gentle soul, very harmless with a big heart and love for humanity.

Then there's Anni our current co-teacher. In addition to the great job she is doing here she spent about six months of her time translating the Immortal into Danish.

Glenys, who is now in a life and death struggle with cancer, has always been there for me and many other members of the group. If you need a favor done she is the one we look to. In addition she has spent many hours counseling others and helping them upon their path.

Samu has given many hours of his time in keeping the archives of my writings current. This has been a big job and he regularly has to make improvements, additions and corrections.

Lorraine spent lots of time last year in organizing the gathering in McCall and making sure everyone was taken care of when they arrived. She is currently working with prisoners and a teaching program. She has a number of prisoners interested in my writings and I have received some long letters of appreciation from some of them hungry to learn more.

Gloria is heading up a research team to help review hundreds of web pages for our coming page. I can't recall all the names of those helping her, but I will mention that Melva seems to be the star researcher of the month.

Mary Ellen has done lots of editing my writings and numerous other odds and ends.

Mindy, sweet soul that she is does a lot of work behind the scenes. She is in contact with a huge number of Keys members and gives them help and encouragement. She has also done a lot of typing for me. This current series on White Magic was typed by her from tapes of my lectures.

I can't leave out Diane who is our chief moderator. She hardly ever sleeps more than two hours at a time and is very diligent in making sure our posts gets examined and forwarded to the Keys list.

Our past co-teachers Larry, Benjamin and Susan. Larry (and his wife Robin) and Susan have done much behind the scenes that I do not have time to mention.

Then there's Mark Williams who started the Cafeteria and also arranged several songs I wrote for the group.

Thanks to our members.John K is back with his endless wisdom, Keith is posting with ever increasing light, Claire doesn't leave anyone out of her comments; then there's Royce, Jean, Geoffrey Assaf (who translated the song into Hebrew), Jennifer, Thomas, Dave Curtis, and many others we haven't heard from for a while.

These are all people who see eye to eye with me on basic principles. They all think for themselves and I am sure have opinions on many subjects that I do not share, yet we all have an affinity that binds us together. I'm proud of my relationship with this group of people and quite a few others I do not have time to mention.

Thank you for your service, for the purity of your hearts and for being the good fruit that you are. If like gathers to like then I am in good company.