Download LIGHT OF THE WORLD INSPIRATIONS Ascending into God

LIGHT OF THE WORLD INSPIRATIONS
Ascending into God Consciousness
by Tony den Hartog
Preached 8/11/2008
A transcription of tape 2822
Transcribed by Jackie Weber
The apostle Peter gives us an outline of
how to again become conscious of the one
that not only rose from the dead, but was
the pattern Son. The pattern Son is the
example (or the original idea) that came
out of the bosom of the Father and
declared grace and truth.
Now we know that grace and truth are not
found in words or thoughts; they simply
come to us by recognition, or by an
awareness that brings salvation to us. We
have thought that salvation means that I will
go to heaven when I die. But that is not
what it means. The word "salvation" itself
means that we can live in this world and
be preserved from the temporal powers
that are there. And there are many of
these so-called temporal powers. Of course
the greatest lie is that death is a power, or a
finality.
That's why Jesus came. He didn't come
here to start another religion. Christianity is
not a religion. What is a Christian?--one
who is living a God-governed life, not
just a card-carrying member of the party,
the church or the organization.
2Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God. . . .
"The knowledge of God" means knowing
the true God, not a God concept that
religion has given us. God is none of
these things you hear in what we call
church today. If you give a name,
theology or doctrine to it, it isn't God.
Grace and peace can be multiplied to us
only through the knowledge of God. There
are three kinds of knowledge.
1. The knowledge of the senses (gnosis).
You learn to adjust to the environment you
find yourself in. The moment you are born
as a human being, you begin to learn to
adjust yourself to this world and its dangers
by becoming aware of natural law--and
obeying it.
2. The knowledge of the intellect
(epignosis).
This is a higher knowledge--a further
development of one's mind on an
intellectual level. A high IQ can learn to
solve a lot of problems that human beings
experience in this life.
You may also become very theologically
minded. Paul was trained under the great
Hebrew philosopher Gamaliel, but that
didn't help him.
3. The knowledge of God (eido).
This is a far higher wisdom. That wisdom is
not just to cure disease or do miracles.
There is a spiritual dimension which is
within us, but which we've never been
aware of. It is the impartation we received
when God spoke in the beginning and said,
"Let us make man in our image and
likeness" (Gen 1:26).
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten Son. . . .
This doesn't mean what was born of Mary.
What was born of Mary was actually the
last Adam. Christ was never born. In
theology and history we have learned of the
man Jesus who was born of a woman.
According to Galatians, this man was born
under the law (4:4). Circumcised on the
eighth day, He was a complete Jew.
But there was something that was also
there which was the Christ. Peter saw that.
Matthew 16:13 Whom do men say that I the
Son of man am?
Verse 15 But whom say ye that I am?
Verse 16 And Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God.
"We know who you are. You are the son of
Joseph and Mary. Or you are the
reincarnation of some ancient prophet."
They had a total physical understanding of
their heritage as Jews.
We are living in a day where we have to
cast down every imagination that we've
ever had of God, man, and the universe.
We have to abandon it all.
Saul of Tarsus had a profound knowledge
of the theology and concept of the Hebrew
God Yahweh, the law god that rewards
people for their good and punishes them for
their evil. The Jews had that concept right
up to Jesus.
Then Jesus came on the scene and
brought a whole new dimension. It was
called the kingdom of heaven, or the
government of God. He brought back into
the earth what we have lost--a conscious
awareness of myself without having any
sense of God looking at me and wanting
to improve or perfect me.
I don't have to approach God and ask Him
for forgiveness, though there's nothing
wrong with that in a sense. But God doesn't
know anything about your sin, or the things
you do and don't do. God's eyes are too
holy to behold iniquity (Hab 1:13). God is
innocence. He will not reward or
punish--because God simply IS everything
that you can see. There is not God AND
the universe. The universe is the
expression of the totality of God. Every
being that lives on this planet is an
emanation of the wisdom and the creative
power of a loving God that wouldn't even
hurt a fly.
God loves the animals as much as He loves
you. He is no respecter of persons (Acts
10:34). You can trust the Lord completely
with your coming in and your going out. You
must, of course, walk in the laws of the
country, obeying them. Jesus learned
obedience by the things He suffered (Heb
5:8).
It wasn't easy sometimes--when the
religious people wanted to persecute Him
and throw Him off a cliff and were calling
Him the devil. But most of the time He didn't
retaliate. He did tell the Pharisees that they
were whitewashed sepulchers, beautiful on
the outside but full of dead men's bones on
the inside (Mt 23:27). They had no insight
into the mystery of the knowledge of
God--because they were so alienated from
the life of God.
God came again and again to Israel.
Abraham came out of the Ur of the
Chaldees where they were worshiping the
moon and the stars; they were under the
zodiac. The word "Israel" consists of
three words for God. "Is" is Isis, an
Egyptian goddess of fertility; "ra" is Ra,
the Egyptian sun god; and "el" is El, the
Hebrew name for God. "Israel" was a
combination of the gods that were in
their midst. One of the excavated
Hebrew synagogues has a huge mosaic
zodiac sign on its floor. They were living
by the stars; they were star gazers.
They had a little bit of an idea of what God
was. Abraham really thought he was
worshiping the true God. God told Abraham
that He was all that Abraham needed, that
He was his exceeding great reward, his
shield and buckler (Gen 15:1). If Abraham
had accepted that, he would not have had
to worry about anything any more. He
would have everything that God has, would
be totally sufficient in all that he set his
hand to do.
But instead of acknowledging God as his
total sufficiency, he asked, "What will you
give me, seeing I go childless and the heir
of my household is Eliezer of Damascus?"
(Gen 15: 2). If you read Genesis 15 very
carefully, you will notice that a great
darkness came over Abraham after he
started sacrificing animals (v 12).
As long as we believe that God requires
a sacrifice of any kind, we are
worshiping the wrong god.
Jesus said
Psalms 40:6 Sacrifice and offering thou
didst not desire; mine ears [understanding]
hast thou opened [that I may know You, the
only true God].
He also said
John 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self with the glory which I
had with thee [in the beginning] before the
world was.
--before this world was, before there was a
cosmos. Now this world is not a bunch of
trees, houses and people. This world is an
unconscious realm, a dog-eat-dog world
where people are here only for self survival,
doing the best they can to survive as long
as they can. And they walk over everyone
else trying to get there.
But Jesus said
Matthew 5:39 . . . resist not evil: but
whosoever shall smite thee on thy right
cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any
man will sue thee at the law, and take away
thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.
If they want to crucify you, let them do
it--because your life is not in the flesh or
in the bones. Your life is hid with Christ in
God (Col 3:3). You actually will never, ever
see death (Jn 8:51)--once you know God
aright. To know God aright (to know the
right God), to know the true God is life
eternal (Jn 17:3). If you do not know the
true God, you are worshiping an idol.
Jesus came to reveal the true God, the true
Father, the cause of all being, the cause of
all life. God is the one who faithfully digests
the food in the stomach, the one who looks
after the birds.
You must learn to see this correctly and
begin to worship in Spirit and in the
recognition that God has given Himself to
you so that you can become aware of Its
Presence--for in His presence there is
fullness of joy and at His right hand there
are pleasures forevermore (Ps 16:11).
2Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied
unto you. . . .
He is a god of grace. "By grace are ye
saved" (Eph 2:8), and it is a continuous
process. Every day I am being saved by
grace out of every situation. If I drift off a
little, God brings me back to grace and
truth. And gradually I develop. My attitude
changes. Things that I used to do, I'm not
doing any more--so much. We all
sometimes do the wrong thing. But God is
always faithful and just to get us out of the
miry clay and set our feet upon a rock (Ps
40:2). He always calls us back. That's why
Jesus said that He came to save that which
was lost (Mt 18:11). Even if only one is lost,
He will go after him to bring him back into
the fold--that is the picture of the shepherd
of the sheep (Mt 18:12-13).
2Peter 1:2- Grace and peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God,
and of Jesus our Lord, According as his
divine power hath given unto us all [not just
a few] things that pertain unto life and
godliness. . . .
This grace and peace is multiplied unto
you only through the knowledge of God.
Everything that God has is yours; there is
nothing missing. And it is all coming about
through what I would call the
consciousness of what I am.
God is consciousness. Consciousness
could also be called the Word.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God.
And that Word is the life, and the light, and
the constitution of all living. And in that
Word is a willed action that brings about
everything that you need every day, keeps
the whole universe in order and hangs the
earth on nothing--you don't even have to
pray for it to go right. It always happens
perfectly and harmoniously, according to
His divine will. And there's nothing you can
do about it. Your heart will keep on beating,
whether you are good or bad. Criminals are
often healthier than the "good" people.
When Jesus said that the work was
finished, He destroyed
Hebrews 2:14 . . . him that had the power of
death, that is, the devil; and deliver[ed]
them who through fear of death [fear of hell
and eternal damnation].
He delivered them from that fear and from
their false beliefs about God. And He gave
them a deeper insight into the mystery of
what God is.
Consciousness is what I am--and what
you are also. The Word is not in the Bible,
but the Word of God is consciousness.
God is consciousness; He is aware of
everything going on at the same time. He is
omnipresent and omniactive, knowing
everything that you have need of, even
before you ask. This goes for every living
thing that there is; even the trees and rocks
are looked after. Everything is cared for by
this holy, holy Presence.
Holy, holy, holy!
The word "consciousness" is the most
important word we know as human beings.
It means being aware (being conscious). If
you know that you are here, you are
conscious.
But there are different levels of
consciousness. There are states of
consciousness. I am aware of pain. Pain,
lack, fear, anxiety--whatever feelings that
you have in your emotions--this is a state of
consciousness that is not under the
jurisdiction of God. If you are afraid of
something, God has no control over that.
But the recognition of what I'm telling you
tonight will deliver you from your fear.
"Perfect love casts out all fear" (1Jn 4:18).
What is perfect love?--to know that God has
commanded the light to shine out of
darkness to give you the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ (2Cor 4:6). You have all the
potential--everything that you will ever need
is already within you.
"You could have fooled me. I have nothing
but trouble. Everything I touch goes wrong."
That's because you are not yet under the
jurisdiction of this thing called God. That's
why Jesus came. He came to spoil
principalities and powers (Col 2:15) and the
rulers of the darkness of this world which
exist as the human mind. It's not really a
mind, but the human thoughts that we have.
This is why Jesus said:
Luke 12:27 Consider the lilies how they
grow: they toil not, they spin not:
The lily doesn't worry and is not anxious
about the things happening around it. It just
stands there and worships. Without doing
anything, it is aware. But of course it is just
the awareness of a lily; it doesn't know
anything about anything else. And most
humans know only the little cage that they
live in. They just keep doing the same thing
over and over until finally they just die in
their misery.
But there is a time coming now when this
living principle that I would call "God" is
becoming present to us.
2Peter 1:16 For we have not followed
cunningly devised fables. . . .
The world is absolutely full of fables--false
impressions or feelings that we have within
ourselves that have led us astray and
caused us to experience untold misery.
2Peter 1:16 . . . . when we made known
unto you the power and coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his
majesty.
Where were they eyewitnesses of his
majesty?--on the Mount of
Transfiguration--as Peter goes on to say:
Verses 17 For he received from God the
Father honour and glory, when there came
such a voice to him from the excellent glory,
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased. 18 And this voice which came
from heaven we heard, when we were with
him in the holy mount.
On the Mount of Transfiguration they saw
the pattern Son. They saw the substance
that every one of you should stand in. It's
hard--because you can no longer judge by
the appearances. You cannot look at your
problem and wring your hands, saying,
"What am I going to do in this situation?"
You don't have to do anything in any
situation.
Verse 16 . . . we made known unto you the
power and coming. . . .
The word "coming" does not mean coming
from somewhere. It means "presence." The
Presence (God's Presence) is where we
can be now--where there is fullness of joy
(Ps 16:11).
Jesus said:
John 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye
believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my
Father's house are many mansions: if it
were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place [realm, or Presence] for
you.
Jesus walked in that realm. After He grew
in wisdom and stature (Lk 2:52) and got to
know Himself, He transcended His own
human identity as Adam and began to walk
in the Father consciousness. That simply
means that he now was no longer a man,
though He still bore the body of a man and
still had to suffer as a man. But He also
bore the witness of the Father, or the
witness that my Father (or this Presence)
and I are one. And I am bringing this
oneness to you, that you may all know that I
and my Father, and you, and everyone
else, are all one being.
In every one of you is the fulness of the
Godhead bodily (Col 2:9). Within you is the
potential to be the light to the world--a city
set upon a hill that cannot be hid (Mt 5:14).
You are the temple of God (2Co 6:16). We
no longer worship God in temples made of
stone or in holy cathedrals. Why not?
Jesus told His disciples that in their
generation the beautiful buildings of the
temple in Jerusalem would all be
overthrown, with not one stone left upon
another. And it was--in 70 A.D. Can't we
see that all the governments we have
trusted in, all the religions we have believed
were true--all that is going to be overthrown
by a little stone that was hewn out of the
mountains without hands (Dan 2:34). It
doesn't make sense, does it?
It is simply the Christ consciousness that
Jesus brought. He brought back the
Presence. I want to be there, don't you? But
it can be difficult to get the mind still enough
to enter--for that is what communion is.
Communion is that point that we come
to which is beyond words or thoughts
where the human self is completely out
of the way and where the Father is
praying in us--"the Spirit making
intercession for the saints according to the
will of God" (Rom 8:27). It is beyond the
comprehension of the human mind.
We think, "How can I pray?" The disciples
asked Jesus to teach them how to pray (Lk
11:1). He didn't give them a little prayer
book. He told them to go into their closet,
come into a state of silence, and begin to
hear from the Father (Mt 6:6). It is not you
that is doing the talking; it is the Father
speaking into you. And it is the Spirit within
you that begins to make intercession. If you
have loved ones who are sick or having
a lot of trouble, this is the best way to
pray. Just be still, listen to the Father,
and give thanks.
Think of it! You can actually lift the whole
of creation into a place where there will
be reconciliation and healing. No one
knows what is really happening. But
eventually you will see the result of your
faithfulness. Jesus would go around
healing, destroying all the works of the
enemy (the devil); then He would go within
Himself and sit on a mountain all night to be
still and meditate. He was in communion
with the Father. That's what we have to
learn. It is still an exercise; and sometimes I
myself find it hard to do. There's so much
noise and so much stuff around us.
You first start with contemplation. That
means to join the temple. You focus on a
particular thing--perhaps a lily. You think of
how everything in it works perfectly--even
though it does not do anything. Then you
think of how your Father knows everything
you have need of even before you ask. And
something happens; you are lifted a little
higher until you come into a state of
meditation where your mind is totally quiet.
You can go up even higher into a place of
communion. Here there is no longer any
you at all. You are gone, and there is only
God. That's communion. And that is why
Jesus could say, "If you have seen Me, you
have seen the Father" (Jn 14:9). There is
only God.
If you learn to see this, then your
developed consciousness becomes a
healing agent to the people round about
you. And the peace of God that passes all
understanding (Phil 4:7) will begin to flood
through you. People will notice that. But you
must be very careful what you say. They
won't understand where you have been.
The whole aim is to be lifted into a place
where we are actually IN GOD--not
praying to God, but just listening. Then
you will hear the music that you've never
heard before. You have come into a place
where death or disease cannot enter. There
are no problems and there is no lack. The
economy of God functions perfectly and
harmoniously.
Jesus demonstrated this when the disciples
were confronted with the tax collectors. He
told Peter that those in (and of) this world
must pay tax while the children of the living
God are free, not being taxed with burdens
of the economy. Yet, to keep the tax
collectors happy, we will take gold from the
mouth of a fish (Mt 17:24-27) and "render to
Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to
God the things that are God's" (Mk 12:17).
That's how it worked for them, and for us
too. When there seems to be no way,
God will provide a way out of the
situation you are facing. You don't say,
"My God, what am I going to do?" You
must rather be still and let it unfold. And
in the meantime, you just keep on doing
what you are doing.
In the days of Elijah, there was a drought
and a famine. The woman had only a little
oil and meal. At his request, she used the
last of it to bake him a cake. As she did this,
more and more supply came. If you are
experiencing lack, give whatever you
have to those in need. As you cast your
bread upon the water, it will come back to
you with butter and jam on it (Eccl 11:1).
When you give of your substance to
those in need, you will find increase in
your own life--in whatever area. Remain
faithful. You have been given the substance
that you need; it is called "faith."
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen [that you cannot perceive with your
senses].
Faith is a conviction that moves one into
action, that which makes one dare to act
without certainty, without signs, without
guarantees. He then operates under grace
or, actually, in the resurrection of life. Life is
spontaneous activity that increases all the
time.
Yet the substance which we call "God" does
not increase. God is always the same.
When there was only Adam and Eve, there
was the same amount of God that there is
now in all the earth. Even though Christ is
in every one of you, God is the same
substance. The whole of God is in every
one of us.
When you have the feeling that
everything is going wrong, that very
feeling CAUSES everything to go wrong.
We must know that when we put our trust
and confidence in the Father, everything
will work for good for them who love Him
and are called according to His purpose
(Rom 8:28).
You are called according to His purpose to
experience LIFE. The Satan, which is your
own disposition (not some angel floating
around out there), is a thief and has stolen
from you. The arguments which you have in
your own mind, the self-condemnation or
the condemnation of others that you
feel--these are the Satan. What you sow is
what you are going to reap (Gal 6:7). So we
must put a watch over our mouth (Ps 141:3)
that we will not sin against ourselves (Ps
119:11).
If you are in lack, if you are troubled by
what you are experiencing in life, get a little
recorder and record the words of your
mouth for a week. Listen to it, and you will
know why you are experiencing what you
are experiencing. It is by your own words
that you will be justified, and by your own
words you are also condemned (Mt 12:37).
So you must believe the things that are not
as though they already are (Rom 4:17).
God said to Jeremiah, "What do you see?"
Jeremiah said that he saw an almond tree,
the emblem of awareness and alertness.
God then said to Jeremiah, "What you see,
I will perform" (Jer 1:11-12).
So make sure that you are seeing
correctly with a single eye. See it as it is
and "I" will perform it. But if you see it
wrongly, that will also be performed--for
that is the law. If you sow potatoes, you
don't get cucumbers. If you sow lack, you
will get more lack.
But the one who has the sense and the
awareness that God is his total sufficiency
will get a 30-fold, 60-fold and even 100-fold
harvest out of his own consciousness. For
it is your own consciousness that either
puts you down or sees you over. That is
the mystery. Let us see it the proper way
and don't condemn ourselves that we are
not making it. You will be making it if you
change your attitude and begin to sow life.
The realm of the kingdom is the mind of the
new creation man who has transcended the
physical and mental realms of existence. I
have now come back to the Father realm as
a son or daughter; I've returned to my true
identity, which is Christ, the image of God. I
have awakened from my Adamic sleep, or
the darkness that Adam experienced when
he became afraid.
Fear is F-alse E-vidence A-ppearing as
R-eal. It is false evidence that you create
about yourself and about others; then you
are in a deep sleep. Now we must awaken
out of the sleep that Christ might give us
light (Eph 5:14). I call this the realm of
NOW. "Now is the day of salvation; now is
the accepted time" (2Cor 6:2)--never
tomorrow. God is not going to heal you
tomorrow. Now you have to believe that you
have received, and you will have it (Mk
11:24).
The new creation realm is the realm where
the flowers grow, where true life is
expressed out from the invisible now realm.
The now realm is the Presence of God.
Now is where life flows spontaneously for
all eternity without death in it.
Proverbs 12:28 In the way of righteousness
is life; and in the pathway thereof there is
no death [at all].
Isaiah 32:17 And the work of righteousness
shall be peace; and the effect of
righteousness quietness and assurance for
ever.
The consciousness of righteousness is
peace; it is assurance; and it is quietness
forever. You will never have to worry about
anything any more. In total harmony you
will experience the song of the Lamb, the
song of those not born of a woman, but
were born (or generated) of God. They will
sing the song of the Lamb. You can read
that in Revelation 14.
This is why the Scripture says, "Come out
from among them" (2Cor 6:17) Come out
from this world where there is so much
strife, financial crises and wars. If you abide
in the Presence of God, none of these evils
that are in this world will come nigh your
dwelling place (Ps 91:10). Actually, the
people of this world will come to you for
healing, quietness and assurance. They
sense your quietness and want it for
themselves. Give them a little parable, a
little sample; but don't give them what they
can't handle.
Gradually we are growing up into a higher
realm--the realm of IS where only God is
our life. In the realm of now there are no
opposites, good or evil; for now is the
consciousness expressed as you and I.
That is the house where Jesus now lives.
You can enter by grace. He prepared this
realm for you to live in. "For where I am, ye
may be there also" (John 14:3).
That is what Jesus said, and that is what I
now say. For I have become flesh of His
flesh and bone of His bone (Eph 5:30); "it is
no longer I that live, but Christ is my life.
And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live
by the faith of the Son of God who died and
gave Himself for me" (Gal 2:20).
These words that you are hearing now have
become flesh in me. I can never forget, for
they have performed their work in me day
by day. It's all by grace, not by works, not
by being good or praying long prayers or
going on a holy mission to Mecca or Rome.
Your only mission is to stay where you are,
go within yourself, be still and know that I
am God (Ps 46:10). There's not God and
I. There's only God AS me, AS you, AS
all. When we become that aware, we begin
to trust that all things begin to work together
for the good to those who perceive it, who
understand it; for now we are lifted above
the world's knowledge, above religious
knowledge. Now we are living in the realm
of IS--where God is, where I am.