I appreciate the many thoughtful responses that I received as the result of my "important clarification." I would like to take just a couple more minutes of your time to sum up.

      Let me begin by saying that I very much like the image of this organization as: THE GOOD SHEPHERD SENT BY GOD TO LEAD THE NATIONS INTO A GOLDEN AGE.

      (As you ponder this, place the emphasis on "THE" and also be sure to focus on "NATIONS" as in ALL Nations.)

      Perhaps it takes a bit of flexing of the imagination to get the image of all the various components of this organization to coalesce, within the mind's eye, into the form of the Good Shepherd, but I believe that it's worth the effort. In fact, I think that it would be a useful exercise for each of us, before we get out of bed in the morning, to repeat several times, "This organization is THE Good Shepherd sent by God to lead the nations into a Golden Age."

      We ought to do this because the entire body of the Teaching delivered through Mark and Elizabeth Prophet points to exactly that truth. This organization has a collective body, and that body has exactly the same shape, in principle, in terms of global functionality, and global purpose as the body of the original good shepherd, Jesus Christ.

      Now, if this is an accurate image, and there is no doubt in my mind that it is, then it must follow that the next Spiritual Leader of this organization, to qualify for that office, ought to have achieved a level of attainment commensurate with that demonstrated by the original Good Shepherd, who demonstrated the ability to walk on water, verily, on the surface of the sea of Galilee, during a storm no less, some 2000 years ago.

      This is the central principle behind my proposal that the next Spiritual Leader of Church Universal be able to demonstrate the capacity to walk on water, and that we immediately begin planning for the construction of a small lake in the Heart of the Inner Retreat, to be filled and fed by Mol Heron Creek, where upon the candidates for this office can demonstrate this ability to the gathered congregation.

      (If no one can come forth to demonstrate that ability, then that office should remain vacant.)

      In moments of sober reflection upon the potential of the Teaching, and the purpose for which it has been radiated into the world by the Ascended Masters through their Messengers Mark and Elizabeth Prophet, I believe that the great majority of Ascended Master Students will conclude that the foregoing principle cannot be gainsaid.

      I have heard the objections, and I can safely assert, that none of them can stand against the immutable nature of that central principle, nor can any of them stand against the numerous varieties of positive benefits that surround the work and the effort of making that principle physical.

      Let us consider here just twelve (12) of those positive benefits.

1. The work and the effort associated with planning, designing, and bringing to together the resources, and actually building the walking lake at the Heart of the Inner Retreat, will help to make very tangible, within the hearts and minds of the members of this organization, this vision, that this organization is THE Good Shepherd sent by God to lead the nations into a Golden Age. This project will accomplish this by keeping alive the vision of the next leader of this organization, demonstrating upon the surface of this new lake, the same ability that Jesus Christ demonstrated when he walked upon the waters of the Sea of Galilee. In this respect, this project will provide a powerful factor of assistance to help the membership hold the immaculate concept for this organization.

2. This is forward looking project that the membership of the organization can rally around, helping them to get past the despair and dismay associated with the dilemma of Elizabeth Clare Prophet's Alzheimer's disease.

3. It is a positive answer, in the form of a real and achievable expectation, to the doubt that resides in the minds of many members in regards to the future of this organization.

4. This project will help focus the attention of the membership on the Heart of the Inner Retreat. This is important because the Masters have great plans for the Inner Retreat. This project will provide an impetus for a rebirth of those plans within the hearts and minds of the membership. Moreover, by helping the membership to place their consciousness actually there, with the distinct visualization of the new lake, and the whole scenario surrounding the purpose of this new lake, this will help to give the membership access to the actual energies of acceleration that the Masters have anchored there. This serves the overall goal of assisting the membership to "come up higher."

5. This lake building project focuses the attention of the membership on the attainment of Jesus Christ and his all important prophecy: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father." (St. John 14:12). By focusing the attention of the membership on this target, they will be raised into a higher sense of their own destiny. This again serves the overall goal of assisting the membership to "come up higher."

6. This project focuses the attention of the membership on the words of St. Germain from his book, "Saint Germain on Alchemy", regarding the attainment of Jesus Christ where he makes explicit reference to the act of Jesus walking on the water. This, and the more general dissemination of the knowledge, that Saint Germain's book was written for "Adepts in the Aquarian Age", will serve to raise the student body into a higher sense of their own destiny. This again serves the overall goal of assisting the membership to "come up higher."

7. This project inserts a very important element of drama into the affairs of the church, helping to keep the membership interested, involved, and contributing. It does this by focusing our attention on the enchanted link that exists between El Morya's life on the one hand, as King Arthur where he drew the sword from the stone to prove that he was the one sent to rule over the divided kingdoms of medieval England, and on the other, a similar unifying drama that will unfold around the new leader, a drama into which the entire membership can enter. An additional dramatic element is added by the fact that it was St. Germain as Merlin who placed the sword into the stone in the first place, and it is again Saint Germain today, but now as the Ascended Master, and Hierarch of the Aquarian Age, who has set before us, in his book on alchemy, the definitive affirmation that Jesus's demonstration of walking on the water is the result of the mastery of pure love and nothing else, thereby setting the standard of action whereby the people will be able to recognize their next leader.

8. As the membership focuses on this project, they will actually be focusing on, and thus accelerating their consciousness towards, the Altar Presence. And this is done while away from Altar, which effectively extends the reach of the Altar Presence further out into the world. As we have been taught, the images on our Altars work to establish the currents of victory within our consciousness. And this project contains within it a focus on all three elements of the Altar of the Holy Grail. First, our attention is focused on Jesus Christ and his demonstrated attainment in terms of walking on the water. Second, our attention is focused on the Master Saint Germain, in regards to his personal endorsement of that demonstration as something very very important. Third, in the process of coming to a personal conclusion as to the value of this demonstration, we come to realize that only communion with the individual God Presence would give to the soul the mastery of love required to demonstrate this ability. Therein, we have a focus on each of the three images which are present upon the Altar of the Holy Grail, in terms of the having the portrait of Jesus to the left, the portrait of Saint Germain to the right, and the Chart of the Presence at the center.

9. As the members of this organization study this issue and begin to understand more and more that it is the mastery of love that gives the adept the capacity to walk on water, and when they come to understand that a leader which exhibits this level of mastery of love, would only be sent forth by God to lead an organization committed to the mastery of love --- in daily effort, and not just in the abstract --- then this provides an incentive for the entire membership to make a greater daily effort towards the mastery of love, in terms of a greater daily commitment to making a personal contribution to setting the organizational tone of love (by actively make a more concerted effort to establish and hold an awareness of the individual God Presence as their own shining star of infinite love) that will allow such a leader to rise up within their midst.

10. When the leader appears who can demonstrate this capacity, an important key symbol will be provided to the world that will unlock the hearts of millions, finally setting the stage for the conversion of the Christian and Moslem world to the Teachings of the Ascended Masters. Jesus Christ is revered, at least by the Children of the Light, in both camps. To date, there exists an organizational inertia, and an inertia associated with tradition, that keeps them from crossing over to the Teachings of the Ascended Masters. This demonstration on the part of the Spiritual Leader of this Church will provide the stimulus that will allow millions to overcome that inertia.

11. When the leader appears who can demonstrate this capacity, it will put to rest any doubts concerning the validity of the Summit Lighthouse and Church Universal and Triumphant over the false hierarchy organization the "Temple of the Presence." Taking tangible steps, beginning immediately, to prepare for this leadership qualification, will effectively claim the high ground and provide a bulwark against the loss of additional membership into the hands of the false hierarchy sponsored Temple of the Presence.

12. It is the goal of the Masters to make the Teachings of the Ascended Masters a household name. This lake building project at the Heart of the Inner Retreat, along every step of the way, will provide good positive fuel for stories about the Church in the mass media, thereby moving us towards that goal of household recognition. You can be sure that once thecapacity to walk on water is demonstrated by the Spiritual Leader of this organization, we will have the full attention of the world.

[end of short list of benefits]

      While there are many very enlightened people in this organization, and perhaps scattered around the world, who may be able to clearly discern who has the attainment that will qualify them for the Office of Spiritual Leader of this organization, I would encourage everyone to realize that this attainment is not evenly spread throughout the organization, and it is effectively non-existent in the general public.

      In this regard, as far as this organization goes, while there will always be that small but vocal contingent who will challenge, out of the mass of doubt they've yet to transmute, any visible movement towards the manifestation of the actuality of Christ attainment, this demonstration of attainment on the part of the NEXT Spiritual Leader of this organization will nevertheless provide a powerful unifying symbol for the great bulk of the membership.

      And in regards to those children of God who still reside nearly completely within the mass consciousness, I would point out that there are countless examples where God has acted to give his children signs of the attainment of the leader sent, in order to stabilize their tumultuous and doubt ridden emotional bodies, allowing them an opportunity to follow that leader. The works performed by Moses provide many examples of this. He performed many signs which had the effect of rallying the people around him. And the same is true in regards to the works of Jesus Christ. Those works established his authority in the minds of many who would have otherwise completely ignored him.

      Therefore, as we look out over the mass of humanity, we can see clearly, that the manner in which the authority of the NEXT Spiritual Leader of this organization is perceived by the general population of the planet, may well be the deciding factor whereby millions of people will either accept the use of the violet flame, or simply continue to ignore it.

      While those of true spiritual attainment do not need such signs, we must think of the needs of those who are very far from that place of attainment, both within the organization and without. What will it take to get such people within this organization to forge ahead on the path with more gusto, and what will it take to get those people who are outside of this organization to place their feet onto the path of initiation for the first time? These are important considerations. And this lake building project addresses those considerations.

      Finally, then, though on a somewhat lighter note, I would like to direct the readers attention to the age- old maxim which holds that if you build a church, people will come to worship in it. And so, in the same manner whereby you can be assured that people will come to worship in a newly built church, so too can we be assured that people will come to walk upon our newly built lake. And it will become a famous lake, for it will be the only lake on earth built exclusively for the purpose of walking on. Lake WOW (for Walking On Water) at the Heart of the Inner Retreat will be talked about throughout all the cities of the world.

      And that has a nice ring to it I think: Lake WOW at the Heart of the Inner Retreat.

      And some already have their eye on this. Referring to this statement by Saint Germain from his Book on Alchemy --- "The most dazzling conception of all was his ability to transfer this authority over energy to Peter, through the power of Peter's own vision of the Christ in radiant, illumined manifestation." --- one reader commented, "Perhaps by our vision of the Christ in radiant, illumined manifestation in this fitting venue at the Inner Retreat, walking on water, we could all walk on water with the Christ. And have a celebration."

      Let us work to fulfill the dreams of such precious hearts.

Steven S. Showers
Newbury Park, Ca.
May 2, 2002
 
 
 

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