A  Time  To  Rejoice

John Gray

December 9, 2001   Phoenix, Arizona

Do you ever wonder what’s really going on? I know someone who has a fascination with global conspiracy theories. I don’t think she really agrees with such ideas, but they intrigue her, much like a good mystery novel or a challenging crossword puzzle. She enjoys the mental challenge and exercise. But there is certainly more going on these days than meets the eye. We receive, through the various news media, information filtered through others. Is what we hear really true?  Maybe. Sometimes. Notwithstanding, I confess that I believe in a cosmic conspiracy. “Conspire” means to breathe together, and all of us living on this planet are breathing together right now, so there’s a vast conspiracy! It’s a conspiracy of life. Let’s keep breathing together, conspiring, and consider what’s really going on.

Those of us who have had Emissary training should be familiar with some English words to which we have assigned meanings which differ from their common dictionary definitions. One of those words is “heaven.” As we may know, “heaven” doesn’t refer to a place to which one goes after death. The heaven of something, of anything, is its invisible design, along with the rules which govern how that invisible design manifests. The earth of something is the manifest form of its heaven, and the earth is one with its heaven. The earth lends heaven expanded dimension and creative effectiveness. When a form is an accurate revelation of a true heaven, we sense its meaning. We know it. We sense its grandeur and we feel its aliveness, we know its spirit. This is true whether the form is what we call natural—a flower or a tree or a lake—or whether the form is man-made, such as a work of art or a piece of music or a building or a landscape. Everything has its heaven. I think it odd how we usually distinguish, though, between natural and man-made things, as if man-made couldn’t be natural. I think something truly man-made should be supremely natural.

Everything has a heaven. The heaven is the precursor of the form; it’s the guide by which the form takes shape. It is the spiritual reference for the form in the cosmic scheme of things; the source of the form’s essence. The planet Earth has a heaven; humanity as a whole has a heaven. And individuals, each of us, everyone, has a personal heaven. This is rightly where our treasure is, as it’s said in the Bible.

In an address on August 8, 1979, entitled Essences and Form, Martin Cecil said: “When we are alive to spirit, we recognize those who are alive to spirit, whoever, wherever they are, whether they call themselves emissaries or not. And I would suggest that there are far more factual emissaries than are included among those who call themselves Emissaries. There may be some factual emissaries among those who call themselves Emissaries, a few, but there are far more beyond that who are factual emissaries, who never heard of Emissaries. And this is the fact. Let’s not deny the fact.”

“When we are alive to spirit, we recognize others who are alive to spirit, whoever, wherever they are.” What a revelation of how large the body of God on earth actually is! If we’re alive to spirit, we see those others everywhere. The body is huge!

So what’s going on these days? What’s really going on? What’s going on in humanity’s heaven in this current era of experience? Anger, fear, hatred, war, confusion, suffering—those abound, and not just in Kabul or in Gaza or some other human hot spot. But there’s a lot more going on: Strength, love, peace, compassion—these also abound. The question is, what predominates in my view? What do I see? What is real to me? What am I convinced of? Where is the power and control in my own experience? What rules?

The answers to those questions determine what we see. If we’re alive to spirit, we see the spirit of God at work everywhere. We see where it is absent also, but we see the spirit of God at work everywhere.

Bible expert Grace Van Duzen describes the book of Revelation as a symbolic blueprint for this era of human experience. In the twelfth chapter of Revelation there is a description of “war in heaven.”

“There was war in heaven...

“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth...

“The accuser of our brethren is cast down.” (Revelation 12:7, 9-10)

We know that the heaven is the invisible realm of design, along with the laws by which that design is made manifest, is sustained, and lives. “War in heaven” refers to a contest in the place of control and design. Many of us will remember that “devil” is but a contraction of the two words, “do evil.” “Devil” describes certain behavior and what determines it, not an entity. So, the behavior or the activity of deceiving, of accusing, is what is cast down or cast out of the heaven, cast out of the place of control. There is war in heaven, and the casting down of the devil is the outcome of war. War in heaven, as the phrase is used in Revelation, is a metaphor for a process of cleansing and purification.

What is really going on these days? What is the cosmic conspiracy? Humanity’s heaven is being purified. The realm of design and control for humankind is being cleansed and clarified, and we are not bystanders to this process! Where do you think this cleansing is happening? It’s happening in you and me; it’s happening in our consciousness. It’s happening in the hearts and minds and bodies of human beings, our brethren, everywhere on earth. We are a part of the process, we are integral to it—in fact, we’re the means for its happening where we are.

And in the midst of this occurring, in the face of an intensifying current of the spirit of purification, the devil fights for control. Evidence of this fight is found in the lies and accusations that almost constantly beg for your attention and your agreement. We’re beset with the lies of the accuser: “Listen to me. Agree with me. Believe this to be true.” What guidance have we to determine what’s worth listening to and what’s just “yak-yak-yak-yak,” blather? Deep within our hearts we are alive to the call of spirit, we’re alive to the tone of spirit. Our ability to determine what’s worth listening to, what’s worth giving our hearts and minds to, what’s worth agreeing with—is determined by where our sense of identity rests.

In the twelfth verse of the twelfth chapter of Revelation:

“Rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.”

“Rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them.” When the accuser is cast out of heaven, out of the place of control, there’s rejoicing. That’s the experience of all who dwell in heaven, welcoming the purification, the cleansing process. “Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea”—those whose sense of self, their identity, finds focus in their own forms and feelings. That’s a woeful experience; it’s sad and sorrowful. And there’s a lot of anger too, “for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath,” great anger, “because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” This is what’s really going on these days!

The question of greatest importance is, What is my identity? Where do I dwell? Do I dwell in heaven? Is my identity in heaven, or is it in the earth or sea? My experience tells the tale; it’s not a theoretical question. What’s your experience? Is it rejoicing? “Rejoice ye heavens”—you’re dwelling in heaven. Is it sorrow and sadness? Is it “things are terrible”? Well, guess what? To that extent, you’re still identified in the earth and the sea, in form and feeling. If I’m an inhabiter of earth and sea, identified with my form and feelings, then how full of anger and accusation I’ll be! I’ll feel fearful, I’ll feel insecure, I’ll be quick to lash out at others to cover my own weakness. I’ll indulge in gossip, if only passively, and even believe it, if not spread it. That’s the “accuser of our brethren” at work, angry and desperate because his time is short.

If I know my identity in heaven, then I’m full of joy; I’m rejoicing. I can love my brethren without having to work at it. I can even love my enemies—especially since they’re often the same people! I understand what’s going on, and why it’s going on, both personally and in the larger world, and I’m not afraid. My heart is not troubled.

If there are times when it seems that there’s war in heaven personally, what do I do? Breathe! That’s good advice. Conspire, breathe together, breathe—breathe out. Breathing out creates a space. Even if it seems a small one, it’s an internal heart space in which I reside. By breathing out, I press the conflict beyond that place, leaving peace. The war in heaven is over for me as I never retreat from that space, I never give up that holy ground, the clarified heaven. The war in the heaven of humanity is ended in the same way.

If we understand these things, we have a sense of perspective about our own experience and what’s going on in the world, and we welcome what’s happening because it is evidence of the spirit of purification at work. Welcome it! Let the cleansing continue. It’s what we’re here for, in fact. We chose to be here now, to be part of this, not to just to watch it go by or wish it weren’t happening. Purification is taking place in us!  We’re not going through change; the change is going through us!

Maybe like King David of old we’ve prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me”—daily, constantly. Today that prayer is being answered in us and for us all. This is what’s really going on—the purification of the heart, our own personal hearts and the great heart of all humanity. The pure heart accommodates God.

With this understanding, our hearts are filled with joy. “Rejoice ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them.” That isn’t a fictional experience; it isn’t something to be hoped for in the future. It’s what’s transpiring now. We have sufficient perception of the tone of the spirit of God to know what is of the heaven and what is of the earth; to know what is of joy, born of love, and what is of sadness, born of separation. Everyone participates in the cleansing process. What our experience of it is, is essentially our own choice. We may understand what’s going on, because we welcome it, we rejoice in it, we maintain identity in heaven--or we may fight it, and so the war’s in us, and we experience conflict and woe, sadness and suffering.

That choice is a personal one. Everyone has it to make, whether consciously or not. We are especially blessed because we have an opportunity to see what we see, to know what we know, and to wakefully make the choice to welcome what’s happening, to welcome that aspect of the spirit of God called purification, which is especially in focus in this current time. Some of how that shows up may look pretty bad, pretty dire—it’s war, after all—but back of that comes the new heaven being made manifest, taking form, as the new earth.

So who could choose a better time to be around than right now? It’s perfect that we’re here, now, and we share the vision and understanding that we do. It’s really vital that there are emissaries of divine light on earth, whether the organization of that name has ever been heard of or not. Numberless people know identity in heaven and live in that identity. How vast this body of people on earth really is! It’s not just a little group of folks here, or just little groups in other places. The body of our brethren, of our spiritual colleagues, is a vast body indeed. “When we are alive to spirit, we recognize others who are alive to spirit, whoever, wherever they are.” Those who are so alive know the focus they provide for others in the creative process. We know great comfort and assurance that what is transpiring is transpiring everywhere, and that the fulfillment of this purifying process is sure and swift. “Rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them!”

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