Stop Misreading the Bible: Matthew 5:22, Self-sabotage Affects Success: Are the Negative Things You Really Believe--Taking the Lord's Name in Vain--Causing Your Present Hellfire/Failure?

Nothing happens in the world unless it has first been imagined. Not necessarily by us. We are all of the one Imagination which causes all things. The good news is that we are that one Imagination and can change our local situations by it (because, dude, the kingdom [power] of God—imagination—is within).

Matthew chapter 5 discusses the attitudes of mind—imagination—we can have to change our situations (just as does, I believe, Genesis chapter 5). Outwardly (verse 22), if we kill someone, we are guilty and condemned to punishment. But the point is to the inward attitudes. If we harbor anger toward someone, disparage and/or disregard them, we have "killed" them in our mind. "Idiot!" we think. "Son of a bitch!" "That sneaky little weasel," or whatever. We can't hardly drive or deal with people without thinking such things. But all is God, and all disrespect is despising him!

The point in Matthew 5:22 is that having these negative feelings CAUSES them to manifest in our immediate situation. Hellfire is not something suffered after death, but in this death (state of ignorance) we call "life." Mark is saying, "Don't sabotage yourself." 'Raca,' by the way, according to Alexander's translation from the Aramaic, means "mute," - lunacy - implying the person is demon possessed (and/or a freaking idiot).

Christianity is making Christ, the anointing of the Merciful Father, real. Let everything be done in love, and let not the sun set on your wrath. Remember, in the Bible the "name" of a person, place, or thing means its nature. “Take not the name of YHWH in vain.” YHWH’s nature is imagination. The idea is to eschew negativity and be as positive, loving, and forgiving as God is, you know, all that “and thy neighbor as thyself” stuff, in your imaginings.

In MENTAL DIETS, Neville talks about his wife, "Bill," a designer who mentally argued with her boss all day. Her boss was reflecting her mental arguing. She changed her mental activity, and the hellfire she was condemned to (for she had created it) went away, her boss coming to cherish and praise her.

From The Revealer:

"Now, the words "God" and "Lord" mean I AM! Awareness is the foundation of all life, while the words God and Lord cover it up, like a mask. Rather than calling upon the Lord's name, call with his name. To do that you must say I am! And because all things are possible to God, anything can be called forth with his name. The minute consciousness is connected to desire, you have called it forth with God's name. If your desire is for wealth, fame, or health, call it forth by claiming: I am famous, I am wealthy, or I am healthy. Do that and you are calling with God's name. We are told to not take God's name in vain; for if we do, he will not hold us guiltless. The minute you say: I am a nobody, I am unwanted, or I am no good, you have taken God's name and conjured exactly what He has assumed - be it good, bad, or indifferent. Any assumption is yours! Now that you know God's name, put your trust in the true God who is your own wonderful imagination!"

From The Roll of the Book:

Now let me share with you an experience which happened to me many years ago. Back in the early 1930's I suddenly found myself confronted with two characters. Above me and to my right stood a beautiful angelic being, while below stood a monstrous hairy animal which looked like an orangutan. Speaking in a guttural voice he looked up at this heavenly being and said: "She's my mommy." Repelled by the thought, I struck him and with each blow, he grew in strength. Then, from the depth of my own being I realized that these two were my creations. Speaking with a human voice and looking like an animal covered with hair, this monstrous being was the embodiment and personification of all of my misspent energies. Every unlovely thought, every cruel, thoughtless act aided its growth. Whispering in my ear, influencing my decisions in order to feed its hunger, it fed on violence, while the angelic being was the embodiment of every kind and lovely thought I ever possessed.

Then I realized he had the right to live. By claiming to be the offspring of this heavenly being, he claimed to exist, but I knew he did not. He had no power of his own, only my power of awareness. Although he appeared to be detached and completely free of my perception, I knew I was the cause of his life. And as I pledged myself that I would redeem him, he melted and all of the energy I had given to create and sustain that monster, returned to me. He not only dissolved, but left no trace of ever having been present. Today I can bring him back in memory, but he had no existence outside of myself. He was simply embodied energy; therefore, was he not Christ, the creative power of God? Is not Christ the bearer of all the sins in the world, allowing man to use or misuse him? It was my own creative power that I misused and Christ is the creative power of God. And only God can create and only God can redeem.

Now listen to these, the last words on the cross as recorded in the 23rd chapter of the Book of Luke: "Father, into thy hands I commit my Spirit." That is a portion of the 5th verse of the 31st Psalm, which reads: "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God." Here we find God, the giver of the power, redeeming it, for his creative power cannot be lost, not in eternity. When confronted by my misused power I simply redeemed it. Declaring itself to exist outside and independent of me, I knew it could not be, for there is no other, and as I redeemed all of my misspent energy it returned to me and the glorious one shone like the sun.

We are told in the 13th chapter of the Book of Revelation: "The beast was given a voice to utter blasphemies against God, against his name and his dwelling place, that is, those who dwell in heaven." My monster uttered blasphemy, claiming divine right by declaring the heavenly being was his mother. Are we not told in the 10th [chapter] of John that he was accused of blasphemy because he dared to claim he was the Son of God? Read the 13th chapter of John carefully and you will see that the dwelling place of God is made up of those who dwell in heaven, so that the entire redeemed society form the body of God. The angelic being I saw, personified that society, that dwelling place of God which is God, so my monster was taking God's name in vain.

. . . .Always keep alive that which you love; your emanation is your dwelling place. The monster not only opened his mouth to utter blasphemies against the name of God, but against his dwelling place - that is, those who dwell in heaven. Heaven, made up of the redeemed, is that one dwelling place of God. Everyone, when lifted up and redeemed, will be incorporated into that one body of beauty and glory. The monster, by claiming self-existence, takes the name in vain. He does not have any life outside of the one who, by the misuse of God's creative power, caused him to come into being. When you see him you will know in the depth of your soul that you are the cause of his misfortune. He has no right to live, no right to exist, but you cannot kill him, he must be redeemed.

From Maggy Whitehouse, The Mystical Ten Commandments:

To say “I am stupid; I am unworthy; I am no good” is to take the name of God in vain . . . You are a spark of divinity incarnate; your every word is a command to the Universe. It affects everything in your life and everything in the life of the Universe.

Neville, from Broome:

CHAPTER 2 TAKE NOT THE NAME IN VAIN


Your individual state of consciousness is your level of being and attracts all of the events you encounter in life. Since your reactions determine what you are, any change in your outer world must be produced by your inner level of being.

In the 7th Chapter of the Book of Mark, we are told, "Hear and understand: there is nothing outside which can defile man; but what comes out of a man's mind is what defiles him. He who has ears, let him hear." Now, thoughts are things. When you identify yourself with a thought, it outpictures itself as an act. If the thought is unlovely, it defiles you. Awaken and select only thoughts that contribute to the birth of your desire. You must constantly observe your dwelling place, for where you are psychologically is what you are. Your mood indicates your state, and you are always externalizing the state upon which you stand.

The Upanishads, one of a class of Vedic treatises dealing with broad philosophic problems, states: "The soul, imagining itself into a state, takes upon itself the results of that state. Not imagining itself into the state, it is free from its results." Your soul is what you consent to. As you feel yourself into the situation of your answered prayer, you have entered a state and your soul has taken upon itself the results of that state. If you do not enter the state, you are free of its lovely results. Accept an idea as true. Identify yourself with it and it will outpicture itself in your world. But if you do not accept the thought and identify yourself with it through feeling, you are free from its results. You must become very selective and learn not to associate yourself with unlovely thoughts.


In the Book of Kings, we are told how those who entered the temple brought something alive with them such as an ox or bullock. These were used as burnt offerings. These sacrifice offerings are your body of suffering. They are the animals you must offer called grievances. No matter what the grievance may be, you have no right to carry it around with you and you cannot ascend in consciousness until all of your grievances are tossed on the altar and sacrificed. Only as you give them up will you find the holy water.

Now, this holy water is not the church variety but the symbol of the twelve aspects of the mind. When your mind is cleared of all of its cobwebs (grievances), the bowl of holy water is placed on the backs of oxen, and your disciplined mind serves you rather than you serving it. The bull symbolizes the mind in its wild state and must be tamed (washed in holy water and clothed in soft raiment). When you enter the Holy of holies alone and bathe in its waters, your mind is washed of all mean thoughts and cleansed. Begin now to associate your thoughts only with the good; then that which proceeds out of your mouth (mind) will never defile you.

I AM is the self-definition of the infinite. "Go and tell them that I AM has sent me unto you. Awareness (I AMness) is the only power of the universe. Its power makes you alive.

If you say, "I am sick," you are! If you say, "I am secure," you are! Feeling yourself into the situation of a given state, you must take upon yourself the results of that state of mind. All things are made alive from a state of mind and without the state nothing can be made, as you only resurrect the state from which you are identified. Where you are psychologically is what you are in reality.

Therefore, if you catch yourself feeling sorry for yourself, stop it and start feeling happy. If you don't, you will identify yourself with the state of self-pity and outpicture it.


"Let the weak man say, 'I am strong'." Don't wait until you become strong before saying this. If you feel weak in any sense, affirm "I am strong," and if you persist in that assumption it will harden into fact. No one should ever take the name of the Lord in vain, for that name is I AM.

The righteous man is already conscious of being the person he wants to be. He never sins, but runs into the name, for sinning is missing his desired state, and righteousness is hitting it. "I will set him on high because he knows my name." Assume the consciousness of being the one you want to be and you will be saved from your present state. Your individual hunger can and will be satisfied when you run righteously into the state desired. This is done through the act of feeling. Feel happy and you are conscious of happiness. Feel married and you have consciously moved into the state of marriage. The thing desired must be felt before you are conscious of possessing it.

Learn to say "no" to unlovely thoughts rather than accepting them with passive indifference, for a soul must imagine himself into the act to taste the fruit of the state acted upon. Remember, consciousness alone is the cause of the fruit you reap and the only explanation for its existence.

There is no one to blame but self for all of the things that have happened, are happening and will happen to you, as they could not come into your world unless you consented to them. Start now to consent only to lovely thoughts of fulfilled desires prior to their confirmation by your senses, and give up the animal instinct of suffering and bathing yourself in the feelings of hurt and self-pity.


The psychological tongue is much like the physical one. If someone annoys you, turn aside and keep the tongue of your mind away from the sore spots of dislike, for your little mental conversations are the producers of your future. Sacrifice your body of suffering by giving it up and tame your mind, for we are told, "Blessed are the meek (tame), for they shall inherit the earth." Clothe yourself with joy and good news and you will walk into your holy of holies clothed in your immortal garment of love.

There is a rhythm in your world which you cannot hear or see, and your aura is like no one else's. A bloodhound knows. If two odors were alike, no bloodhound could find you. But you are unique, one of a kind with your own special aura radiating your level of being. Don't judge auras for the simple reason that you have to see the aura of another through your own, and what you are seeing is only your assumption of the man.

Complacency is a curse. "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness." Control your imagination with steady attention and dare to stand and be heard. Andrew is the disciple who symbolizes this aspect of mind. Pay attention to your thoughts and discipline them so that they flow from the feeling of your wish fulfilled, for you are not awake until the outer you becomes placid and the inner you dynamic.

Don't try to argue someone out of their misery. We are told to, "Let the filthy be filthy still; what is that to thee? Follow thou me." Man is given the power of the "I" to think, and everyone is allowed to think for himself.

All things, when admitted to consciousness, are made manifest, be they good, bad or indifferent. Dare to stand on your own by this teaching and you will never again feel the need to justify failure.
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So, refuse negative thoughts and represent to yourself positive, loving, and lovely images.