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When I first heard that the Great Mystic
Isaiah preached naked I thought it was a joke ... but for some reason I
felt it a good idea to research it and found that it was indeed the
truth ... and he did so for three years. I wonder how many
ministers truly grasp the importance of this? ... especially those who
teach from the standpoint of man-made morality. And then I
thought, how many of us would listen to a man preaching naked? ... would
I? I probably would not have had I not discovered that Isaiah
preached naked. And just think if he had been dismissed how much
we would have lost by judging him crazy or too eccentric? His
writings are some of the most profound work in the Old Testament of the
Bible ... I would even go so far as to say that his teachings guide us
to the radical dispensation that the Master Mind Jesus taught.
From the Book of Isaiah: 11
To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the
LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed
beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of
he goats. 12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath
required this at your hand, to tread my courts? 13 Bring no
more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons
and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is
iniquity, even the solemn meeting. 14 Your new moons and your
appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary
to bear them. 15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will
hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not
hear: your hands are full of blood. 16 Wash you, make you
clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to
do evil.
... these passages bring the reader into a greater
understanding of the metaphysical teaching that we are to stop giving
power to effects but give All Power to God ... the Radical Jesus
restated this same message when He stated that we were to turn from the
old traditions and the old ways and cultivate and nurture a
Silent-Relationship with God ... within.
Again from the Book of Isaiah
chapter 11: 2 And the spirit of
the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear
of the LORD; 3 And shall make him of quick understanding in
the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his
eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 4 But
with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for
the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth: with the rod of his
mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. 5
And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the
girdle of his reins. 6 The wolf also shall dwell with the
lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the
young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
... in Religious Science we know
that LORD as used in the Bible is our Law of Mind ... "it is done
unto you as you believe" .. is a Principle that is to be used ...
the word fear as used in the above writings of Isaiah mean
"discipline" ... we must discipline our minds to think of
Peace, Harmony and Loving-kindness ... in order to register in our
consciousness these things ... and then we will experience them in our
affairs.
I grew up in traditional
religion. I have read many books by the Rev. Billy Graham and
other traditional religious leaders and have watched Christian ministers
speak on television and in person ... but never have I heard any of them
mention that Isaiah preached naked. It is important that we know
this ... that those who created the Bible from the works of the Greats
did not throw out his work because of it. As I was doing my
research, I found the remarks of one minister who stated that probably
he did wear something ... I guess that makes this minister feel better
about it ... but the truth is, he did not. Naked is naked ... even
during ancient times. To dismiss this is to dismiss the truth that
the wisdom found in the preaching of Isaiah was truly only available to
those who looked beyond his naked-ness ... and heard the Truth.
This poses a good question for all
of us ... is our conviction to "know the Truth" strong enough
that we would listen to someone preaching naked? ... knowing that
the "Truth will set us free?"... how
many of us are willing to look beyond appearances in our search for the
Truth ... how many of us are willing to "loose" the old
concepts and judgments and seek the Truth even when it means that we are
no longer "comfortable" in doing so? How many of us are
frozen in consciousness to a teacher that we are unwilling to seek the
Truth from a source that we are not familiar with? Is our trust in
God great enough that we allow ourselves to go beyond tradition ... go
beyond what we have become habitually accustomed to ... in order to take
that leap of faith that may finally and forever bring us into a Higher
State of Consciousness? I know this for me and I know it for you
... there is something within each of us that is willing to go beyond
everything that we know ... everything that we have believed ... for
this that is within us ... is God ... the same Power and Presence that
was within Isaiah ... and Jesus and all the Great Mystics ... we must be
"open at the top" as Ernest Holmes would say!
And
So It Is!
Maximum Love,
Rev.
Hank Bates
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