AmberLC writes,

Hi Dan,

James 4:3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

What do you think about this vs the teachings of Neville Goddard? I read a ton of Neville and the Bible and this has me a little bit confused as what NG teaches would seem to contradict this.
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Hello, Amber. Thank you for the question. If you have been reading this blog for awhile, you have seen I am struggling with this problem, too. It has made me reevaluate what Neville did teach, what the Bible does teach, what is the truth, the kingdom, and what do false prophets teach. I personally believe that the kingdom is the power (of a consciousness) which makes us as we want, and that, as Dr. John Messer said at Melodyland School of Theology while I was there, "The Kingdom has to do with attitudes."

Neville taught a number of things I mentally modify or refine. One was that the authors of the Bible wrote what they did so that we might have whatsoever we desire. I see enough of the mechanics of this in the Bible and in action in my life to believe it, but not like that. Everywhere I read about Neville that he was a New Thought teacher. Neville HATED "New Thought." My impression is that he loathed it. "There is no new thought!" he screamed. "We are here to fulfill DESTINY." Destiny is already laid out. There is nothing new under the sun; it was all laid out in the Old Testament. The New Testament is commentary on it, explanation of it. It is God who gives us the desires of our hearts. Psalm 37:4 and 5 says He gives us the desires, we COMMIT OUR WAY TO HIM WITH TRUST, and then He -- God -- brings it -- the desires he gave us -- to pass. He is far more that the frequency of our thoughts.

Another thing you hear frequently from Neville is that no character of scripture was a person who had a personal history. Review what Dr. John Messer said above. If anything, the characters in scripture are illustrations, or perhaps rather manifestations, of our attitudes. The facts of metaphysics, that everything is imagination aside, there were people. They just weren't the people of the stories the authors wrote. Something was going on in their world. The writers of scripture wrote about THAT. They wrote about the Season of Grace, a bit bigger span of time than the 70 7's of Daniel. Or maybe the exact same - I don't know. But I know that God called it a man. One guy formed as the culmination of the Season, who saw and believed and by all accounts died, and rose a life-giving spirit. There was a man, but the authors wrote about the ATTITUDES. I have never heard of anyone who believed more in that man than Neville, except for the man himself.

Which brings me to your question: the wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. Pride, selfishness, separateness. I see all the guys (and gals) boasting in their commercials about how well they are doing, the mansions, the cars, the boats, the planes, the wonderful vacation life-style, and I think, boy, are you missing it. Nebuchadnezzar was given the whole world(!), and learned it didn't matter. The trouble you and I have is understanding that Neville taught to sleep here as though you were there, and it will come to pass; and the Man DID, and had nowhere to lay his head. We can't wrap our heads around that success. Was it limited to pre-resurrection only, or is it still success after resurrection? Joined with Him, we are resurrected, seated with Him in heavenlies. So then, where do we sleep?

As I read the commentary, the New Testament, I hear, "Touch not the spoil. Not for yourself -- you don't need any of this." I think Neville's attitude was, "It's okay." No real connection. Have confidence in God; it will happen when he makes it happen; do not care or be anxious; everyone should BENEFIT, there should be no loss from it for anyone. We are made for OUTFLOW, for giving, for love, for other people's pleasures. For ourselves, distant and disconnected -- it's just a state. Maybe that is what Abel means. Cain is acquisition, Abel -- it's just a state.

Kind of makes me wonder what false prophets preach. They seem to be or preach that we should be the terminus of shared wealth. The spoil is for us by giving to them. Jeremiah heard an earful from the false teachers. The weird thing is, even today, false prophets don't know that they are false. They are quite confident and assured they are telling the truth. What they say is what they think. At least, I think it is. I don't believe the lying, thieving skunks are colluding to defraud their constituents. They believe they are to prosper and keep 90% of what they get to spend it on their pleasures.