Abide In Me: How Jesus Models Secure Attachment with God

It was now two days before Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The leading priests and the teachers of religious law were still looking for an opportunity to capture Jesus secretly and kill him. “But not during the Passover celebration,” they agreed, “or the people may riot.”Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfumemade from essence of nard. She broke open the jar and poured the perfume over his head.Some of those at the table were indignant. “Why waste such expensive perfume?” they asked. “It could have been sold for a year’s wages and the money given to the poor!” So they scolded her harshly.But Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. Why criticise her for doing such a good thing to me? You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. Butyou will not always have me. She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time. I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.”Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests to arrange to betray Jesus to them. They were delighted when they heard why he had come, and they promised to give him money. So he began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus.On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go to prepare the Passover meal for you?”So Jesus sent two of them into Jerusalem with these instructions: “As you go into the city, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. At the house he enters, say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is where you should prepare our meal.” So the two disciples went into the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover meal there.In the evening Jesus arrived with the Twelve. As they were at the table eating, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, one of you eating with me here will betray me.”Greatly distressed, each one asked in turn, “Am I the one?”He replied, “It is one of you twelve who is eating from this bowl with me. For the Son of Man must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for the one who betrays him. It would be far better for that man if he had never been born!”As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take it, for this is my body.”And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And he said to them, “This is my blood, which confirms the covenant betweenGod and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice for many. I tell you the truth, I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new in the Kingdom of God.”Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.On the way, Jesus told them, “All of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say, ‘God will strike the Shepherd,CREDITSDr.Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson  EmanuelSwedenborg, www.swedenborg.com JohnClark Echols, www.clarkechols.com SolomonKeal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.net Podcast Host: John ClarkEcholsMusic Credit: Solomon Keal Show Your Support:https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠ I invite you to continue tolisten to the next episode. Be well.

Jesus sat down near the collection box in the Temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts. Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins. Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.” As Jesus was leaving the Temple that day, one of his disciples said, “Teacher, look at these magnificent buildings! Look at the impressive stones in the walls.” Jesus replied, “Yes, look at these great buildings. But they will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another!” Later, Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives across the valley from the Temple. Peter, James, John, and Andrew came to him privately and asked him, “Tell us, when will all this happen? What sign will show us that these things are about to be fulfilled?”.... “I say to you what I say to everyone: Watch!”  Mark 12:41-13:37Goodwill is not essentially measured by the excellence of one's role or of the gift itself, but by the fullness of feeling that led to it. Therefore a manual laborer who gives a single coin can be making a donation with more abundant goodwill than a ranking official who gives or wills an extensive collection of valuables. This fits the following statement: 'Jesus saw rich people placing their donations in the treasury. He also saw a poor widow throwing in two mites. He said, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow threw in more than all the others"' (Luke 21:1-3). Swedenborg, True Christianity §459When people are [overly worried] about the morrow and are not content with their lot, they do not trust in God but in themselves, and have solely worldly and earthly matters in view, not heavenly ones. These people are ruled completely by anxiety over the future, and even by the desire to possess all things and exercise control over all other people. That desire is kindled, and then inevitably grows greater and greater, till at length it is beyond all measure. They grieve if they do not realize the objects of their desires, and they are distressed at the loss of them. Nor can they find consolation, for in times of loss they are angry with the Divine. They reject Him together with all belief, and curse themselves. This is what those concerned for the morrow are like. Those who trust in the Divine are altogether different. Though concerned about the morrow, yet are they unconcerned, in that they are not anxious when they give thought to the morrow. They remain even-tempered whether or not they realize their desired outcomes, and they do not grieve over loss. They are content with their lot. If they become wealthy they do not become infatuated with wealth; if they are promoted to important positions they do not consider themselves worthier than others. If they become poor they are not made miserable either; if lowly in status they do not feel downcast. They know that all things are moving towards an everlasting state of happiness, and that no matter what happens at any time to them, it contributes to that state. All because they trust in the Divine.  From Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §8478CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson Emanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.comJohn Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.comSolomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.netMaurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957Podcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_meSubstack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Then Jesus began teaching them with stories: “A man planted a vineyard. He built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a lookout tower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and moved to another country. At the time of the grape harvest, he sent one of his servants to collect his share of the crop. But the farmers grabbed the servant, beat him up, and sent him back empty-handed. The owner then sent another servant, but they insulted him and beat him over the head. The next servant he sent was killed. Others he sent were either beaten or killed, until there was only one left—his son whom he loved dearly. The owner finally sent him, thinking, ‘Surely they will respect my son.’ But the tenant farmers said to one another, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’ So they grabbed him and murdered him and threw his body out of the vineyard.“What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do?” Jesus asked. “I’ll tell you—he will come and kill those farmers and lease the vineyard to others. Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures?‘The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.’”The religious leaders wanted to arrest Jesus because they realized he was telling the story against them—they were the wicked farmers. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away.Later the leaders sent some Pharisees and supporters of Herod to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested. “Teacher,” they said, “we know how honest you are. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. You teach the way of God truthfully. Now tell us—is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them, or shouldn’t we?” Jesus saw through their hypocrisy and said, “Why are you trying to trap me? Show me a Roman coin, and I’ll tell you.” When they handed it to him, he asked, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. “Well, then,” Jesus said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.” His reply completely amazed them.Then Jesus was approached by some Sadducees—religious leaders who say there is no resurrection from the dead. They posed this question: “Teacher, Moses gave us a law that if a man dies, leaving a wife without children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will carry on the brother’s name. Well, suppose there were seven brothers. The oldest one married and then died without children. So the second brother married the widow, but he also died without children. Then the third brother married her. This continued with all seven of them, and still there were no children. Last of all, the woman also died. So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her.”Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God. For when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will be like the angels in heaven.CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnsonEmanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.comJohn Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.comSolomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.netMaurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching. Translated by Gia-Fu Feng and Janet English, Vintage Books, A Division of Random House, NY 1972Podcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_meSubstack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.Helen Keller, The World I Live In, Hodder And Stoughton, London, Copyright 1904, 1908, By The Century Co.

As Jesus and his disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead. “Go into that village over there,” he told them. “As soon as you enter it, you will see a young donkey tied there that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks, ‘What are you doing?’ just say, ‘The Lord needs it and will return it soon.’”The two disciples left and found the colt standing in the street, tied outside the front door. As they were untying it, some bystanders demanded, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” They said what Jesus had told them to say, and they were permitted to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over it, and he sat on it.Many in the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others spread leafy branches they had cut in the fields. Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting,“Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!Blessings on the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David! Praise God in highest heaven!”So Jesus came to Jerusalem and went into the Temple. After looking around carefully at everything, he left because it was late in the afternoon. Then he returned to Bethany with the twelve disciples.The next morning as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. He noticed a fig tree in full leaf a little way off, so he went over to see if he could find any figs. But there were only leaves because it was too early in the season for fruit. Then Jesus said to the tree, “May no one ever eat your fruit again!” And the disciples heard him say it.When they arrived back in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people buying and selling animals for sacrifices. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves, and he stopped everyone from using the Temple as a marketplace. He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”When the leading priests and teachers of religious law heard what Jesus had done, they began planning how to kill him. But they were afraid of him because the people were so amazed at his teaching.That evening Jesus and the disciples left the city.The next morning as they passed by the fig tree he had cursed, the disciples noticed it had withered from the roots up. Peter remembered what Jesus had said to the tree on the previous day and exclaimed, “Look, Rabbi! The fig tree you cursed has withered and died!”Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.”CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnsonEmanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.comJohn Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.comSolomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.netLao Tsu, Tao Te Ching. Translated by Gia-Fu Feng and Janet English, Vintage Books, A Division of Random House, NY 1972Podcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_meSubstack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

They were now on the way up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were filled with awe, and the people following behind were overwhelmed with fear. Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus once more began to describe everything that was about to happen to him. “Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be delivered to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die and deliver him over to the Romans. They will mock him, spit on him, flog him with a whip, and kill him, but after three days he will rise again.”Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do us a favor.” “What is your request?” he asked. They replied, “When you sit on your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.” But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?” “Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!” Then Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup and be baptized with my baptism of suffering. But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. Those places are for those for whom they are prepared.”When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. So Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”Then they reached Jericho, and as Jesus and his disciples left town, a large crowd followed him. A blind beggar named Bartimaeus (son of Timaeus) was sitting beside the road. When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” “Be quiet!” many of the people yelled at him. But he only shouted louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” When Jesus heard him, he stopped and said, “Tell him to come here.” So they called the blind man. “Cheer up,” they said. “Come on, he’s calling you!” Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus. “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked. “My Rabbi,” the blind man said, “I want to see!” And Jesus said to him, “Go, for your faith has healed you.” Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus down the road. Mark 10:32-52CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnsonEmanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.comMaurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957Helen Keller, The World I Live In, Hodder And Stoughton, London, Copyright 1904, 1908, By The Century Co.John Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.comSolomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.netPodcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_meSubstack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is good. But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.’” “Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.” Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!” This amazed them. But Jesus said again, “Dear children, it is very hard to enter the Kingdom of God. In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!” The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked. Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.” Then Peter began to speak up. “We’ve given up everything to follow you,” he said. “Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property—along with persecution. And in the world to come that person will have eternal life. But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then.” Mark 10:17-31We are told that Jesus loved him because he said that he had kept those commandments from his youth. But he lacked three things, namely, that he had not withdrawn his heart from his riches, that he had not fought against his urges, and that he had not yet acknowledged the Lord as God. For that reason the Lord told him to sell whatever he had, meaning that he should withdraw his heart from his riches; to take up the cross, meaning to fight against his lusts; and to follow Him, meaning to acknowledge the Lord as God. The Lord said all this, as He did everything else, using terms that correspond [to spiritual principles]. No one can refrain from evils as being sins unless he acknowledges the Lord and turns to Him, and unless he fights against evils and so puts away his urges to do them. [For otherwise, he does these things for selfish or materialistic reasons]. Swedenborg, Life §66People who believe only in what they can grasp [with their senses, inevitably fall] into error, human nature being what it is. Our thinking is purely earthbound, body-centered, and matter-based, because it is formed out of earthly, bodily, and materialistic notions, which cling tenaciously to it. Those notions form the foundation and resting place of the concepts that make up our thinking. §1072CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”⁠www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠John Clark Echols, ⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957Podcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_meSubstack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Then Jesus left Capernaum and went down to the region of Judea and into the area east of the Jordan River. Once again crowds gathered around him, and as usual he was teaching them. Some Pharisees came and tried to trap him with this question: “Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife?” Jesus answered them with a question: “What did Moses say in the law about divorce?” “Well, he permitted it,” they replied. “He said a man can give his wife a written notice of divorce and send her away.” But Jesus responded, “He wrote this commandment only as a concession to your hard hearts. But ‘God made them male and female’ from the beginning of creation. This explains why a ‘man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together.”Later, when he was alone with his disciples in the house, they brought up the subject again. He told them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries someone else, she commits adultery.”One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him. When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Do not stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them. Mark 10:1-16​​The union of the good and the true finds its origin in the Lord’s divine love for everyone in the heavens and on earth. Divine good emanates from this divine love, and divine good is accepted by angels and by us in divine truths, truth being the only vessel for the good….To the extent that true elements are united to what is good within us, then, we are united to the Lord and heaven. This is the actual source of marriage love, which means that it is the actual matrix for the inflow of the Divine…. When one partner wants or loves what the other does, then there is a freedom for both, because all freedom stems from love. However, there is freedom for neither one when [the reach for] control comes in the door, [and their] minds are not united but severed. Control subjugates, and a subjugated mind either has no purpose or is of opposite purpose. If it has no purpose it has no love, and if it is of opposite purpose there is hatred in the place of love. Heaven and Hell §§371, 380Let little children come to Me, do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven. (Mark 10:14) Here, “little children” means those who are in innocence. Good is good to the extent that it has innocence in it, because all good is from the Lord, and to be led by the Lord is innocence…. Innocence is the essence of all good…[And] wisdom is wisdom in the measure of the character it derives from innocence. The same is true of love, charity, and faith…No one can enter heaven unless they possess innocence. Marriage Love §414CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnsonEmanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.comJohn Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.comSolomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.netPodcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_meSubstack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

When they returned to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd surrounding them, and some teachers of religious law were arguing with them. When the crowd saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with awe, and they ran to greet him. “What is all this arguing about?” Jesus asked. One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him talk. And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.”Jesus said to them, “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth. “How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father. He replied, “Since he was a little boy. The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.” “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.” The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”When Jesus saw that the crowd of onlookers was growing, he rebuked the evil spirit. “Listen, you spirit that makes this boy unable to hear and speak,” he said. “I command you to come out of this child and never enter him again!” Then the spirit screamed and threw the boy into another violent convulsion and left him. The boy appeared to be dead. A murmur ran through the crowd as people said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up. Afterward, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him, “Why couldn’t we cast out that evil spirit?” Jesus replied, “This kind can be cast out only by prayer.”Leaving that region, they traveled through Galilee. Jesus didn’t want anyone to know he was there, for he wanted to spend more time with his disciples and teach them. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but three days later he will rise from the dead.” They didn’t understand what he was saying, however, and they were afraid to ask him what he meant.After they arrived at Capernaum and settled in a house, Jesus asked his disciples, “What were you discussing out on the road?” But they didn’t answer, because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.” Then he put a little child among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not only me but also my Father who sent me.”CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnsonEmanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.comJohn Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.comSolomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.netMaurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957Podcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_meSubstack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain to be alone. As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed, and his clothes became dazzling white, far whiter than any earthly bleach could ever make them. Then Elijah and Moses appeared and began talking with Jesus. Peter exclaimed, “Rabbi, it’s wonderful for us to be here! Let’s make three shelters as memorials—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He said this because he didn’t really know what else to say, for they were all terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son. Listen to him.” Suddenly, when they looked around, Moses and Elijah were gone, and they saw only Jesus with them.“We are not following the First Way – the Way of the Fakir [In the Muslim and Hindu traditions a fakir is one who purposefully lives a life of extreme materialistic self-denial with the belief that enduring long and terrible suffering perfects the will.] Those who enter a Fakir School are ignorant natives. In the Fourth Way, along which this Work begins to lead us, people are supposed, at the start, to be reasonably educated, reasonably responsible, and capable of dealing reasonably with life. It is not for “tramps” – such as those who will not work – or “lunatics” such as enthusiasts who wish to reform the world. It is not for silly people seeking the elixir of perpetual youth, nor is it for psychopaths. The Fourth Way starts from the level of Good Householder. That is, it starts from some degree of good – from some gold. This was emphasized strongly in the early days and needs to be repeated. Moreover when the Work says, that understanding is the most powerful thing you can develop, it means that, beginning with the level of Good Householder, this is the case. It is not the case with the uneducated native, who following the Fakir-Way, seeks to develop will over their body by maintaining one posture for years. To develop will without developing understanding is not the aim of the Fourth Way. As I said, of what use is will without understanding? How are you going to use it? It does not take much insight to see that the results might be evil. Do you think that activity based on a powerful will without a corresponding development of the understanding is something desirable? I have no sympathy with those who believe it is and practice methods to achieve this mindless result.”(Commentary V, pgs. 1719-20).“When a person undergoes regeneration, which is accomplished by the implantation of spiritual truth and good, and at the same time by the removal of falsity and evil, the regeneration is not hurried but takes place slowly. The reason for this is that all the things the person has thought, intended, or done since early childhood have entered into the composition of their life. They have also formed themselves into a network which is such that one cannot be moved without all of them together being moved….From this it is evident that the evils and falsities with a wicked person cannot be removed suddenly from where they are. They can be removed only in the measure that forms of good and truths in their proper order have been implanted more deeply within the person. Heaven within a person removes hell. If the removal were done suddenly the person would pass out, for the whole network of things, every single one, would be thrown into confusion and deprive him of his life.” Secrets of Heaven §9334.CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson Emanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.comJohn Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.comSolomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.netPodcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_meSubstack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and they begged him to touch the man and heal him. Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then, spitting on the man’s eyes, he laid his hands on him and asked, “Can you see anything now?” The man looked around. “Yes,” he said, “I see people, but I can’t see them very clearly. They look like trees walking around.” Then Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes again, and his eyes were opened. His sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly. Jesus sent him away, saying, “Don’t go back into the village on your way home.” Jesus and his disciples left Galilee and went up to the villages near Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other prophets.” Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Peter replied, “You are the Christ” But Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead. As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” Jesus went on to say, “I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Kingdom of God arrive in great power!” Mark 8:22-9:1“’Seeing' symbolizes understanding, and being in possession of faith as a result of one’s religious knowledge. The word in the original language means one who is open - whose eyes are open, to be precise - and so the word means a person who sees as a result of religious knowledge, for these serve to open the mind.  And ‘the blind' symbolizes the absence of faith as a result of a lack of religious knowledge, since a blind person is not one of 'the seeing'. In the Word those who are 'blind' also mean people who have no knowledge of the truth of faith because they live outside the Church. When they have been taught, they accept faith. Those same people are also meant by the blind whom the Lord healed.”  Secrets of Heaven §6990Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson Emanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.comJohn Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.comSolomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.netPodcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_meSubstack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

About this time another large crowd had gathered, and the people ran out of food again. Jesus called his disciples and told them, “I feel sorry for these people. They have been here with me for three days, and they have nothing left to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will faint along the way. For some of them have come a long distance.” His disciples replied, “How are we supposed to find enough food to feed them out here in the wilderness?” Jesus asked, “How much bread do you have?” “Seven loaves,” they replied. So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, thanked God for them, and broke them into pieces. He gave them to his disciples, who distributed the bread to the crowd. A few small fish were found, too, so Jesus also blessed these and told the disciples to distribute them. They ate as much as they wanted. Afterward, the disciples picked up seven large baskets of leftover food. There were about 4,000 men in the crowd that day, and Jesus sent them home after they had eaten. Immediately after this, he got into a boat with his disciples and crossed over to the region of Dalmanutha. When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had arrived, they came and started to argue with him. Testing him, they demanded that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority. When he heard this, he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why do these people keep demanding a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, I will not give this generation any such sign.” So he got back into the boat and left them, and he crossed to the other side of the lake. The expression 'God opens the eyes' describes how God opens interior sight, or a person’s understanding, which opening is accomplished by means of an influx into the spiritual part of their rational. The route taken by this influx is through the soul, that is, the internal route, of which the person is unaware. This influx is their state of enlightenment in which the truths they hear or read about are confirmed for them by a kind of perception existing within, in the understanding part of their mind. The person believes that this enlightenment is innate within themselves and that it springs from their own power of understanding. But they are very wrong. This enlightenment consists of an influx from the Lord by way of heaven into that person's dim, mistaken, and specious sight of things, and by means of the goodness there causes the things which they believe to become imitations of truth. People who are spiritual are blessed with enlightenment in spiritual matters of faith. And this is the meaning of the expression 'God opens the eyes'.  from Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §2701 Change of being begins with changing the reactions to actual incidents of the day. This is the beginning of taking your life in a real and practical sense in a new way… To get to know yourself, begin with observing your behavior towards the events of a single day in your life. Then try to see how you can change these reactions....A single moment in which one is conscious enough not to behave mechanically, if it is done willingly, can change many future results.” Nicoll, Commentaries I pp. 26,27Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson Emanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.comJohn Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.comSolomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.net Tao Te Ching, Lao Tsu. Translated by Gia-Fu Feng and Janet English, Vintage Books, A Division of Random House, NY 1972Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957Podcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_meSubstack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre. He didn’t want anyone to know which house he was staying in, but he couldn’t keep it a secret. Right away a woman who had heard about him came and fell at his feet. Her little girl was possessed by an evil spirit, and she begged him to cast out the demon from her daughter.Since she was a Gentile, born in Syrian Phoenicia, Jesus told her, “First I should feed the children—my own family, the Jews. It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.”She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even the dogs under the table are allowed to eat the scraps from the children’s plates.”“Good answer!” he said. “Now go home, for the demon has left your daughter.” And when she arrived home, she found her little girl lying quietly in bed, and the demon was gone.Jesus left Tyre and went up to Sidon before going back to the Sea of Galilee and the region of the Ten Towns. A deaf man with a speech impediment was brought to him, and the people begged Jesus to lay his hands on the man to heal him.Jesus led him away from the crowd so they could be alone. He put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then, spitting on his own fingers, he touched the man’s tongue. Looking up to heaven, he sighed and said, “Ephphatha,” which means, “Be opened!” Instantly the man could hear perfectly, and his tongue was freed so he could speak plainly!Jesus told the crowd not to tell anyone, but the more he told them not to, the more they spread the news. They were completely amazed and said again and again, “Everything he does is wonderful. He even makes the deaf to hear and gives speech to those who cannot speak.” Mark 7:24-37There were three reasons why faith in the Lord healed people [such as the possessed child]. First, because there was an acknowledgment of His Divine omnipotence, and that He was God. Second, because faith consists of an acknowledgment, and the intuition that then comes to mind. All such intuition, from acknowledgment [of another person], causes them to be present [in one’s heart and mind]….It was this intuition, from an acknowledgment of the Lord’s power to heal, which was their faith. The third reason [the Lord healed people] is that all the diseases healed by the Lord represented and thus symbolized the spiritual diseases that correspond to these natural diseases. And spiritual diseases can be healed only by the Lord, and in fact by looking to His Divine power, and by repentance of life. This is why He sometimes said, “Thy sins are forgiven; go and sin no more.” This faith also was represented and symbolized by their miraculous faith. The faith by which [our] spiritual diseases are healed by the Lord can be given only through truths from the Word, and a life according to them. Swedenborg, Apocalypse Explained §815:5The “deaf man” symbolizes those who do not obey because they have no understanding of truth. A “speech impediment” symbolizes their difficulty in confessing the Lord and the truth of the church. The “ears” opened by the Lord symbolize the perception of truth and obedience; and the “tongue” whose bond was loosed by the Lord symbolizes the confession of the Lord and of the truths of the church. From Swedenborg, Apocalypse Explained §455:21CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnsonEmanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.comJohn Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.comSolomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.netMaurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957Person To Person: The Gospel of Mark, Paul V, Vickers. Swedenborg Foundation, West Chester, PA 1998Podcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_meSubstack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Jesus said “For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition. You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition. For instance, Moses gave you this law from God: ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I cannot help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ In this way, you let them disregard their needy parents. And so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others.”Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “All of you listen,” he said, “and try to understand. It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart.” Then Jesus went into a house to get away from the crowd, and his disciples asked him what he meant by the parable he had just used. “Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, adultery, murder, theft, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.” Mark 7:8-23Goodness and truth are said to be lost when they are lacking insideus. Outwardly visible goodness and truth draw their existence and life fromwhat lies inside. So the quality of the inner depths determines the qualityof the outer surface, no matter what the surface looks like to the humaneye. Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §4314CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnsonEmanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.comJohn Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.comSolomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.netPerson To Person: The Gospel of Mark, Paul V, Vickers. Swedenborg Foundation, West Chester, PA 1998Podcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_meSubstack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

After they had crossed the lake, they landed at Gennesaret. They brought the boat to shore and climbed out. The people recognized Jesus at once, and they ran throughout the whole area, carrying sick people on mats to wherever they heard he was. Wherever he went—in villages, cities, or the countryside—they brought the sick out to the marketplaces. They begged him to let the sick touch at least the fringe of his robe, and all who touched him were healed.One day some Pharisees and teachers of religious law arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They noticed some of his disciples eating with defiled, that is, unwashed, hands. (The Jews, especially the Pharisees, do not eat until they have poured water over their cupped hands, as required by their ancient traditions. Similarly, they don’t eat anything from the market until they immerse their hands in water. This is but one of many traditions they have clung to—such as their ceremonial washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles.) So the Pharisees and teachers of religious law asked him, “Why don’t your disciples follow our age-old tradition? They eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony.” Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’ For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.”  Mark 6:53-7:8 The reason why 'touching' means an imparting, conveying, and being received is that a person's inner feelings are expressed by outward means, in particular by touch, and are thereby imparted and conveyed to another. And insofar as the will of the other is in tune and at one with theirs’s, the feelings are received. Whether you say the will or the love, it amounts to the same thing. Whatever a person loves they likewise will. From this it also follows that the inner feelings a person has as a result of what they love and therefore think are expressed through touch, and by means of it are imparted and conveyed to another. And insofar as the other loves the person expressing those feelings, or loves the things which that person says and does, those feelings are received. Secrets of Heaven §10130In the ancient laws of Moses, “Washing of the body and the garments represented the purification of the heart and mind. Everyone who thinks from any enlightenment can see that the evils of the heart and mind were not wiped away by the washing, but only the uncleanness of the body and the garments; and that after this was wiped away the evils still remained; and that evils cannot possibly be washed away by water, but by repentance….[External actions represented] internal ones, and these internal things were the real holy things of the church among them, and not the external things apart from the internal things. But eventually the people nevertheless made all holiness to consist in the external things, and nothing of it in the internal things.” Secrets of Heaven §10235CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnsonEmanuel Swedenborg, http://www.swedenborg.comJohn Clark Echols, http://www.clarkechols.comSolomon Keal “Affection for Truth” http://www.solomonkeal.netPodcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: ⁠⁠https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC⁠⁠YouTube: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me⁠⁠Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and head across the lake to Bethsaida, while he sent the people home. After telling everyone good-bye, he went up into the hills by himself to pray.Late that night, the disciples were in their boat in the middle of the lake, and Jesus was alone on land. He saw that they were in serious trouble, rowing hard and struggling against the wind and waves. About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. He intended to go past them, but when they saw him walking on the water, they cried out in terror, thinking he was a ghost. They were all terrified when they saw him. But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage! I am here!”  Then he climbed into the boat, and the wind stopped. They were totally amazed, for they still didn’t understand the significance of the miracle of the loaves. Their hearts were too hard to take it in.Mark 6:45-52 Those who [have become what is called] heavenly, are moved by love for goodness. Those who [have become what is called] spiritual [are moved] by love for truth. Heavenly people possess perception, whereas spiritual people possess [merely] the dictate of conscience. The [inner] light which heavenly people have enables them to see goodness and truth from the Lord with their eyes as well as to perceive it. It is like the light of the sun in the daytime. The light which spiritual people have from the Lord is like the light of the moon at night, and so, compared with heavenly people, spiritual people dwell in obscurity. This is why heavenly people never reason about faith or the truths of faith. Because of their perception of truth from goodness, they simply say, ‘That is so.’ Spiritual people talk and reason about the truths of faith because they have a conscience for what is good based on truth. Also, heavenly people have goodness implanted in the will part of their minds, where is a person’s primary life. Spiritual people [have goodness] implanted in the understanding part of their minds, where is a person’s secondary life. from Secrets of Heaven §2708CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnsonEmanuel Swedenborg, http://www.swedenborg.comJohn Clark Echols, http://www.clarkechols.comSolomon Keal “Affection for Truth” http://www.solomonkeal.netPodcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: ⁠https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC⁠YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me⁠Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and taught. Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat. So they left by boat for a quiet place, where they could be alone. But many people recognized them and saw them leaving, and people from many towns ran ahead along the shore and got there ahead of them. Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.Late in the afternoon his disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat.” But Jesus said, “You feed them.” “With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!” “How much bread do you have?” he asked. “Go and find out.” They came back and reported, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish.” Then Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of fifty or a hundred. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone to share. They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish. A total of 5,000 men and their families were fed. Mark 6:30-44The state of ignorance of truth, in which [Christian] Gentiles have been, is meant by a “wilderness,” and the desire for truth by “hunger,” and instruction by the Lord by “feeding.” [We learn this from the story] that the Lord withdrew into the wilderness, and there taught the multitude that sought Him, and afterwards fed them. For all things that the Lord did and all things connected with Him represented [spiritual things] because they corresponded [to spiritual realities]. Based on many scriptural passages, it is clear that a “wilderness” means an uncultivated and uninhabited state with a person, thus a state not yet made vital from what is spiritual, and, when applied to the church, a state not enlivened by means of truths. So [a “wilderness”] means a religious principle [held by them] which is almost empty and void, because they did not have the Word where truths are, and therefore did not know the Lord who teaches truths. And because they did not have truths, their goodness also could be no otherwise than such as the truth that was with them, for good is like its truth, because [truth is the form of good]. from Apocalypse Revealed §730:30CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnsonEmanuel Swedenborg, http://www.swedenborg.comJohn Clark Echols, http://www.clarkechols.comSolomon Keal “Affection for Truth” http://www.solomonkeal.netPodcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: ⁠https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC⁠ YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me⁠Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Herod Antipas, the king, soon heard about Jesus, because everyone was talking about him. Some were saying, “This must be John the Baptist raised from the dead. That is why he can do such miracles.” Others said, “He’s the prophet Elijah.” Still others said, “He’s a prophet like the other great prophets of the past.” When Herod heard about Jesus, he said, “John, the man I beheaded, has come back from the dead.”For Herod had sent soldiers to arrest and imprison John as a favor to Herodias. She had been his brother Philip’s wife, but Herod had married her. John had been telling Herod, “It is against God’s law for you to marry your brother’s wife.” So Herodias bore a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But without Herod’s approval she was powerless, for Herod respected John; and knowing that he was a good and holy man, he protected him. Herod was greatly disturbed whenever he talked with John, but even so, he liked to listen to him.Herodias’s chance finally came on Herod’s birthday. He gave a party for his high government officials, army officers, and the leading citizens of Galilee. Then his daughter, also named Herodias, came in and performed a dance that greatly pleased Herod and his guests. “Ask me for anything you like,” the king said to the girl, “and I will give it to you.” He even vowed, “I will give you whatever you ask, up to half my kingdom!”She went out and asked her mother, “What should I ask for?” Her mother told her, “Ask for the head of John the Baptist!” So the girl hurried back to the king and told him, “I want the head of John the Baptist, right now, on a tray!”Then the king deeply regretted what he had said; but because of the vows he had made in front of his guests, he couldn’t refuse her. So he immediately sent an executioner to the prison to cut off John’s head and bring it to him. The soldier beheaded John in the prison, brought his head on a tray, and gave it to the girl, who took it to her mother. When John’s disciples heard what had happened, they came to get his body and buried it in a tomb. Mark 6:14-29“All the evils that we have a tendency toward from the day we are born are a lasting part of the will of our earthly self. When we allow ourselves to be influenced by these evils they flow into our thinking. Good things along with truths flow down into our thinking from above, from the Lord. In our thoughts the two are weighed against each other, like weights on a pair of scales. If we choose evil things, they are received by our old will and become part of it. If we choose good things along with truths, a new will and a new intellect are formed by the Lord above our old will and our old intellect. Gradually over time, the Lord uses the truths that are in our new intellect to implant new forms of good on that higher level. Through these truths he also gains control over the evils that are below, moves them out of the way, and sets everything in order. This also makes it clear that our thought process purifies and excretes, so to speak, the evils that are resident in us from our heredity.” True Christianity §659CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnsonEmanuel Swedenborg, http://www.swedenborg.comJohn Clark Echols, http://www.clarkechols.comSolomon Keal “Affection for Truth” http://www.solomonkeal.netPodcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_meSubstack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Then Jesus went from village to village, teaching the people. And he called his twelve disciples together and began sending them out two by two, giving them authority to cast out evil spirits. He told them to take nothing for their journey except a walking stick—no food, no traveler’s bag, no money. He allowed them to wear sandals but not to take a change of clothes. “Wherever you go,” he said, “stay in the same house until you leave town. But if any place refuses to welcome you or listen to you, shake its dust from your feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned those people to their fate.” So the disciples went out, telling everyone they met to repent of their sins and turn to God. And they cast out many demons and healed many sick people, anointing them with olive oil. Mark 6:6-13Anyone can see here that a shoe would not detract from the holiness in any way, provided the individual were intrinsically holy. The order is given because the shoe was representing the earthly, bodily periphery, which needs to be shed…. Something similar is involved in the command to the disciples: If anyone does not welcome you or listen to your words, coming out of that house or city shake off the dust of your feet. (Matthew 10:14; Mark 6:11; Luke 9:5) The dust of the feet symbolizes the same thing as a shoe—namely, something made unclean by evil and falsity—because the bottom of the foot means the outer limit of the earthly level. In those days people were engrossed in representation and believed that representation alone, rather than the naked truth, held secrets of heaven within it. That is why they were commanded to shake the dust off. Secrets of Heaven §1748CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnsonEmanuel Swedenborg, http://www.swedenborg.comJohn Clark Echols, http://www.clarkechols.comSolomon Keal “Affection for Truth” http://www.solomonkeal.netPodcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_meSubstack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Jesus left that part of the country and returned with his disciples to Nazareth, his hometown. The next Sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. They asked, “Where did he get all this wisdom and the power to perform such miracles?” Then they scoffed, “He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us.” They were deeply offended and refused to believe in him. Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family.” And because of their unbelief, he couldn’t do any miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their unbelief. Mark 6:1-6A person who [has not yet become a] spiritual person can still think rationally and so speak rationally. This is because a person’s intellect can be raised into the light of heaven, which is truth, and see in that light, even though their will cannot in the same way be raised into the warmth of heaven, which is love, and be impelled to act by heavenly love….The fact that their intellect can be raised into heaven and not yet their will is what makes it possible for a person to be reformed and become spiritual; only when their will is raised as well are they then for the first time reformed and become spiritual. It is because of the ability of the intellect, above and beyond that of the will that even an evil person, can think rationally and so speak rationally, like a spiritual one. But they are still not a rational person, because the intellect does not lead the will, but the will leads the intellect. The intellect only informs and shows the way….When they are left to their own will or their own love, they throw aside the rational considerations of their intellect regarding God, heaven, and eternal life, and instead adopt views in harmony with their will’s love, calling those ideas rational. from Life §15CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnsonEmanuel Swedenborg, http://www.swedenborg.comJohn Clark Echols, http://www.clarkechols.comSolomon Keal “Affection for Truth” http://www.solomonkeal.netPodcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_meSubstack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Jesus got into the boat again and went back to the other side of the lake, where a large crowd gathered around him on the shore. Then a leader of the local synagogue, whose name was Jairus, arrived. When he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet, pleading fervently with him. “My little daughter is dying,” he said. “Please come and lay your hands on her; heal her so she can live.” Jesus went with him, and all the people followed, crowding around him…. [Then] messengers arrived from the home of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. They told him, “Your daughter is dead. There’s no use troubling the Teacher now.” But Jesus overheard them and said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith.” Then Jesus stopped the crowd and wouldn’t let anyone go with him except Peter, James, and John (the brother of James). When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw much commotion and weeping and wailing. He went inside and asked, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.” The crowd laughed at him. But he made them all leave, and he took the girl’s father and mother and his three disciples into the room where the girl was lying. Holding her hand, he said to her, “Talitha Cumi,” which means “Little girl, get up!” And the girl, who was twelve years old, immediately stood up and walked around! They were overwhelmed and totally amazed. Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell anyone what had happened, and then he told them to give her something to eat.  Mark 5:1-24, 35-43  [In the spiritual world] those who touch each other communicate the state of their life to each other. If this is done by the hands, everything of the life is communicated, because the hands [communicate] power, which is the active of life which affects others. From Swedenborg, Heavenly Secrets §10023 The Lord holds people in the Freedom of thinking. And when unhindered by outward bonds, which are the fear of the law and for life, and the fear of the loss of reputation, of honor, and of gain, He keeps them in the Freedom of doing. And through Freedom He bends them away from evil. And through Freedom He bends them to good, leading them so gently and silently that the person knows no otherwise than that everything proceeds from themselves. Thus the Lord, in Freedom, instills and cultivates goodness in the very life of the person, which goodness remains to eternity. From Swedenborg, Heavenly Secrets §9587CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson Emanuel Swedenborg, http://www.swedenborg.comJohn Clark Echols, http://www.clarkechols.comSolomon Keal “Affection for Truth” http://www.solomonkeal.netPodcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_meSubstack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Jesus crossed to the region of the Gerasenes. A man possessed by an evil spirit lived among the tombs, breaking chains, crying out, and cutting himself. Seeing Jesus, he ran and bowed, crying, “Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High?” Jesus had said, “Come out.” Asked his name, he replied, “Legion, for we are many.” The spirits begged to enter pigs, and Jesus permitted them. About 2,000 pigs rushed into the lake and drowned.The herdsmen fled and spread the news. People came and saw the man clothed and sane, and they were afraid. They begged Jesus to leave. The man wanted to follow, but Jesus said, “Go home and tell your family what the Lord has done.” He went to the Ten Towns proclaiming, and all were amazed.Returning across the lake, Jesus was met by crowds. A woman who had bled for twelve years touched his robe, thinking, “If I touch him, I’ll be healed.” Immediately she was cured. Jesus asked, “Who touched me?” Trembling, she admitted it. Jesus said, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace” (Mark 5:1–21, 24–34).Swedenborg and CommentaryThe Holy Spirit’s actions are reforming, regenerating, renewing, sanctifying, purifying, forgiving, and saving. These steps are always at work in us; when we open ourselves, the Lord carries them out (True Christianity §142, 150).Goodwill and faith, empowered by God, unite inner intentions with outer actions; God acts through us when we act from Him (True Christianity §340). Believing in Him means trusting that He saves—and only those who live good lives can have this confidence (True Christianity §2).Trials strip away self-centered autonomy so we may be reborn as spiritual beings. Our sense of self is loosened by truth and goodness, like black and white transformed into beautiful colors by light (Secrets of Heaven §730–731).The life of evil spirits is bound to self-love and materialism—hatred, revenge, and cruelty. They cling to it as joy, like the demons who begged to enter pigs. Such life corresponds to greed, making them at home among pigs (Secrets of Heaven §1742).Maurice Nicoll: Great knowledge cannot be taken casually; it requires sacrifice and inner struggle.CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠John Clark Echols, ⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠Podcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: ⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠ https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: ⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed). And a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water. Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!” Mark 4:35-41 This describes the inner state of people of the church when they are in what is natural and not yet in what is spiritual, in which state the natural affections, which are various desires springing from the loves of self and the world, rise up and agitate the mind. In this state the Lord appears to be absent; this apparent absence is meant by His being asleep. But when the person comes out of a natural into a spiritual state, these agitations cease, and there comes tranquility of mind. The Lord calms the stormy commotions of the natural mind of the person when the spiritual mind is opened, and through it the Lord flows into the natural.” Swedenborg, Apocalypse Explained §514Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠John Clark Echols, ⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠Podcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: ⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠ https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: ⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Jesus also said, “The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens. The earth produces the crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens. And as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle, for the harvest time has come.” Jesus said, “How can I describe the Kingdom of God? What story should I use to illustrate it? It is like a mustard seed planted in the ground. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of all garden plants; it grows long branches, and birds can make nests in its shade.” Jesus used many similar stories and illustrations to teach the people as much as they could understand. In fact, in his public ministry he never taught without using parables; but afterward, when he was alone with his disciples, he explained everything to them. Mark 4:26-34 “There are secret features of regeneration which, although innumerable, a person knows scarcely anything about. From their early infancy to the last of their life in the world, and thereafter to eternity, the person who is in goodness is being born again every moment, not only as to their inner life, but also as to their outer, and this by amazing processes.” Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §5202 “Good and truth are like seeds and the soil. Inner good is like seed that is productive, though not unless it is sown in good soil. Exterior good and truth are like the soil in which it is made productive….Facts and deeds are like the soil. When a person loves the facts that confirm what is good and true, and when he experiences joy in acting them out, those facts are seeds that are present and growing in the natural as the soil; and there they grow. As a result good is made fruitful and truth is multiplied, and they are constantly springing up out of that soil into the person’s rational mind and perfecting it.” Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §3671Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠John Clark Echols, ⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠Podcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: ⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠ https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: ⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Once again Jesus taught by the sea. A large crowd gathered, so he sat in a boat while they listened from the shore. He spoke in parables:“A farmer scattered seed. Some fell on a path, eaten by birds. Some on rocky soil sprouted quickly, but withered under the sun. Some among thorns were choked. Some on good soil produced a crop—thirty, sixty, a hundredfold. Anyone with ears should listen.”Later he explained: the seed is the Word. The path is those who hear but Satan takes it away. The rocky soil are those who receive joyfully but fall away in trouble. The thorns are those overcome by worry, wealth, or desire. The good soil are those who hear, accept, and bear fruit abundantly (Mark 4:1–20).He added: “Would anyone hide a lamp? No, it shines on a stand. All that is hidden will be revealed. Pay attention: those who listen gain more; those who ignore lose even what they have” (Mark 4:21–25).Swedenborg: The Lord is the sower; the seed is truth. On the path are people who reject truth; on rocky soil, those who accept outwardly but not inwardly; among thorns, those caught in lusts for evil. In good soil, truth takes root in those who love and practice it, bearing fruit (Life §90).Each person has a “measure” made complete in the next life—evil for those who loved evil, good for those who loved good (Secrets of Heaven §7984). The Lord’s providence seeks to unite good and truth, removing the divided state of being part good/part evil, which destroys humanity’s image of the Lord (Divine Providence §16).Nicoll: Great knowledge is difficult, as Christ said, “If you can bear it” (Mark 4:33; John 16:12). True knowledge requires sacrifice and inner struggle (Commentary I, p. 209).CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠John Clark Echols, ⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠Podcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: ⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠ https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: ⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

One time Jesus entered a house, and the crowds began to gather again. Soon he and his disciples couldn’t even find time to eat. When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said. And the teachers of religious law who had arrived from Jerusalem said, “He’s possessed by Satan, the prince of demons. That’s where he gets the power to cast out demons.” Jesus called them over and responded with an illustration. “How can Satan cast out Satan?” he asked. “A kingdom divided by civil war will collapse. Similarly, a family splintered by feuding will fall apart. And if Satan is divided and fights against himself, how can he stand? He would never survive. Let me illustrate this further. Who is powerful enough to enter the house of a strong man and plunder his goods? Only someone even stronger—someone who could tie him up and then plunder his house. I tell you the truth, all sin and blasphemy can be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. This is a sin with eternal consequences.” He told them this because they were saying, “He’s possessed by an evil spirit.” Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him. They stood outside and sent word for him to come out and talk with them. There was a crowd sitting around Jesus, and someone said, “Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.” Jesus replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” Then he looked at those around him and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” Mark 3:20-30  Good and evil cannot coexist within us in our deeper levels. Neither can malicious distortion and beneficent truth. The Lord can bring into our deeper levels what is good, and the truth that comes from it, when evil and its distortions are discarded by us (otherwise, we would simply keep acting from that evil and falsity). While, a lot of truth can be understood and stored in our memory before we actually love it or do it, coming to accept and will it require we first stop acting from evil and speaking falsity. When we continue to be run by evil and falsity, we will use the truth selfishly and maliciously. This spiritual process is thus designed so that we gain inner access to the truths that wisdom discloses and the good that love reveals only when it becomes beneficial to our whole lives and relationships.  Swedenborg, paraphrase of Divine Providence §233You know that according to the teaching of this Work, Humanity has two distinct sides – the side of knowledge and the side of being: and that in order to change or evolve a person must nowadays receive first of all new knowledge and then apply it to their own being through self-observation. Nicoll, Commentary V, pg. 1747Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠John Clark Echols, ⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠Podcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: ⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠ https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: ⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Afterward Jesus went up on a mountain and called out the ones he wanted to go with him. And they came to him. Then he appointed twelve of them. They were to accompany him, and he would send them out to preach, giving them authority to cast out demons. These are the twelve he chose: Simon (whom he named Peter), James and John (the sons of Zebedee, but Jesus named them “Sons of Thunder”), Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James (son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus, Simon (the zealot), Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him). Mark 3:13-19 Peter was the first of the apostles because truth from goodness is the first thing of the church…. But it must be truth from goodness, for truth without goodness is mere knowledge that a thing is so. And mere learning does nothing except to make one capable of becoming a church. It is not accomplished until a person lives according to knowledge. Then truth is bonded to goodness, and a person is introduced into the church. And what is more, truth teaches how a person ought to live so that when one is affected by truth for the sake of truth, which is done when they love to live according to them, they are led by the Lord, and a connection with heaven is achieved, and they become spiritual, and after death an angel of heaven. Still, the case is that it is not truth that produce these effects, but goodness by means of truth. And goodness is from the Lord. Swedenborg, Apocalypse Explained §820:2Scientists ascribe every discovery to themselves, not understanding that they are studying a Universe already given them which existed long before they were born.  They even call stars by their own names.  It is absurd.  But False Personality ascribes everything to itself. (Nicoll, Commentary III, pg. 915).Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠John Clark Echols, ⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠Podcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: ⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠ - https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: ⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

“Jesus retreated to the lake with his disciples, and a large crowd followed him. They came from all over Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, from east of the Jordan River, and even from as far north as Tyre and Sidon. The news about his miracles had spread far and wide, and vast numbers of people came to see him. Jesus instructed his disciples to have a boat ready so the crowd would not crush him. He had healed many people that day, so all the sick people eagerly pushed forward to touch him. And whenever those possessed by unclean spirits caught sight of him, the spirits would throw them to the ground in front of him shrieking, ‘You are the Son of God!’ But Jesus sternly commanded the spirits not to reveal who he was.”   Mark 3:7-12 “Clearly, ‘to go after the Lord and to follow Him’ is to deny self. To deny self is to be led not by self but by the Lord. A person denies self when they shun and turn away from evil behaviors because they are sins. And when one turns away from evil they are led by the Lord, because they do the Lord's commandments, not from self but from the Lord. ‘To follow the Lord’ has the same symbolism.” Revelation Examined §864It is these quiet emotions and insights and perceptions of truth that have the greatest healing power and help us against the tyranny of the machine – which all this time we have assumed is oneself. Nicoll, Commentary III, pg. 1013Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠John Clark Echols, ⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠Podcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: ⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠ - https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: ⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Jesus went into the synagogue again and noticed a man with a deformed hand. Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus’ enemies watched him closely. If he healed the man’s hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the deformed hand, “Come and stand in front of everyone.” Then he turned to his critics and asked, “Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?” But they wouldn’t answer him. He looked around at them angrily and was deeply saddened by their hard hearts. Then he said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” So the man held out his hand, and it was restored! At once the Pharisees went away and met with the supporters of Herod to plot how to kill Jesus. Mark 3:1-6[There is] no acknowledgement of the Lord's Divine Human and His Holy proceeding. People who lead a life of evil deny these at heart, they despise others in comparison with themselves, they hate all those who do not treat them with respect, they take delight in getting their revenge on those people, and indeed delight in being cruel to them, and they think that acts of adultery do not matter. [All people have] evil spirits and at the same time angels present with them. Through the evil spirits they communicate with hell, and through the angels with heaven. As their life moves towards evil, hell flows in; but as their life moves towards good, heaven and so the Lord flows in. From this it is clear that people who lead lives of evil are incapable of acknowledging the Lord. Instead they invent countless arguments against Him, for the delusions of hell flow in and are believed by them. And those who lead lives of good do acknowledge the Lord, for they have heaven flowing into them, where love and charity reign supreme since heaven is the Lord's, who is the source of all love and charity. From Secrets of HeavenIt is sufficient to work on the evil of today [Matthew 6:34]. If a person begins to work on the irritations and troubles of daily life, they begin to work on themselves. To change, one must observe their ordinary day, noticing recurring events and their own mechanical reactions—what they say, think, and feel. Real change starts with altering these automatic responses. But if one believes they always act consciously and rationally, they will never see their mechanical nature and therefore never change.And certainly do not excuse oneself by saying that “I have no chance yet to apply to myself, because I am so busy with the day’s work”... Our daily life, our profession, our trade, our occupation, et al, are nothing but a dream with which we identify.  (Commentary I, pgs. 26-27).   My dear heart never think you are better than others.Listen to their sorrows with compassion. If you want peace, don’t harbor bad thoughts do not gossip and don’t teach what you do not know.-RumiCREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠John Clark Echols, ⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠Podcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: ⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠ - https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: ⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Once when John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, some people came to Jesus and asked, “Why don’t your disciples fast like John’s disciples and the Pharisees do?” Jesus replied, “Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. They can’t fast while the groom is with them. But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins.” One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grainfields, his disciples began breaking off heads of grain to eat. But the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Look, why are they breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?” Jesus said to them, “Haven’t you ever read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He went into the house of God (during the days when Abiathar was high priest) and broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat. He also gave some to his companions.” Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!” Mark 2:18-28“As for the new will, it is above the old will, on the spiritual level. So is the new intellect. The intellect is with the will and the will is with the intellect. They come together on that level, and together they examine the old, earthly self and arrange all the things in it so that they obey what is higher.“Surely everyone can see what would happen if there were only one level to the human mind - evil traits and good traits would be brought together and mixed up with each other there, as well as false impressions and true impressions, and conflict would erupt. It would be like putting wolves and sheep, or tigers and calves, or hawks and doves together in the same cage. The inevitable outcome would be a cruel slaughter, in which the savage animals tore the gentle ones to pieces.“Therefore it has been provided that good things along with their truths are gathered on a higher level so that they can remain safe and ward off an attack, and can use chains and other means to bring evils under control and finally disperse them along with their falsities.“The Lord rules the things of this world that are present in a regenerated person through heaven. The higher or spiritual level of the human mind is in fact a heaven in miniature form, and the lower or earthly level is the world in miniature form. This is why the ancients referred to the human being as a microcosm. We could also be called a microheaven.” True Christianity §604“Sabbath” in the literal meaning, indicates that there are six days that belong to us and our labors, and a seventh day that belongs to the Lord and to the peaceful rest that he gives us. In the original language "Sabbath" means rest. The Sabbath was the holiest thing among the children of Israel because it represented the Lord. The six days represented his labors and battles with the hells. The seventh day represented his victory over the hells and the resulting rest. That day was holiness itself because it represented the completion of the Lord's entire redemption.CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠John Clark Echols, ⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠Podcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: ⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠ - https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: ⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Then Jesus went out to the lakeshore again and taught the crowds that were coming to him. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up and followed him. Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.) But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”  Mark 2:13-17 In the Word ‘physician’ means forms of preservation from evils and falsities because in the spiritual world ‘sicknesses’ are evils and falsities. Spiritual diseases are nothing else, for evils and falsities rob the internal of a person of good health. Spiritual diseases introduce mental disorders, and at length states of depression. Nothing else is meant in the Word by ‘sicknesses’. from Secrets of Heaven.“‘For I, Jehovah, am your Healer’ means that the Lord alone preserves them from evils. This is clear from the meaning of ‘healing’ as curing of and also preserving from evils; for when evils are meant by ‘sicknesses’, curing people of them, and preserving them from them, is meant by ‘healing.’” Secrets of Heaven.CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠John Clark Echols, ⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠Podcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: ⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠ - https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: ⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them, four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.” But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, “What is he saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!” Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’? So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!” And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, “We’ve never seen anything like this before!”  Mark 2:1-12 Our own close connection with the Lord also comes about through times of trial, and through the grafting of faith onto love. Unless faith is implanted in love, or in other words, unless the tenets of faith lead us to live a life of faith—which is charity—the bond will never develop. This alone is following him, or forming as close a bond with the Lord as the Lord’s human part formed with Jehovah. A life of faith is also what causes all who live it to be called God’s children (after the Lord, who is the only child of God) and to become images of him.  (References: Genesis 14:20) Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §1737"The task of the first half of life is to create a proper container for one’s life, and the task of the second half is to find the contents that the container was meant to hold." Richard Rohr, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of LifeMaurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957Richard Rohr, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, New Jersey, 2011CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠John Clark Echols, ⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠Podcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: ⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠ - https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: ⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said. Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” Instantly the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed. Then Jesus sent him on his way with a stern warning: “Don’t tell anyone about this. Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.” But the man went and spread the word, proclaiming to everyone what had happened. As a result, large crowds soon surrounded Jesus, and he couldn’t publicly enter a town anywhere. He had to stay out in the secluded places, but people from everywhere kept coming to him.  Mark 1:40-45 ‘He laid His hand on me’ (from Revelation 1:17), symbolizes life then infused from the Lord. The Lord laid His hand on him because a communication is achieved through the touch of the hands. That is because the life of the mind and so of the body projects itself into the arms and through them into the hands. It is on this account that the Lord touched with His hand the people He brought back to life and healed….The fundamental reason for this is that the Lord’s presence in a person is an attachment, thus a joining by contiguity, and this touching becomes closer and fuller in the measure that the person loves the Lord, which is to say, as they keep His commandments. From Apocalypse Revealed §55CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠John Clark Echols, ⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠Podcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: ⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠ - https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: ⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray. Later Simon and the others went out to find him. When they found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you.” But Jesus replied, “We must go on to other towns as well, and I will preach to them, too. That is why I came.” So he traveled throughout the region of Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and casting out demons.  Mark 1:35-39 The more closely a person is joined with the Lord, the wiser they become. Since a person has in them from creation and so from birth three degrees of life, they have especially three degrees of wisdom. These are the degrees that are opened in a person in the measure of the conjunction. They are opened in accordance with their love, for love is the essence of the joining. But a person perceives only dimly the ascent of love by degrees, whereas those who know and see what wisdom is perceive clearly the ascent of wisdom in them. The reason degrees of wisdom are perceived is that love enters through its affections into one's perceptions and thoughts, and these display themselves to the mind's inner sight, which corresponds to the body's outward sight. So it is that wisdom is seen, and not so much the love's desire which produces it. The case here is the same as with all the other things that a person actively does. They are aware of how the body accomplishes them, but not how the soul accomplishes them. Thus a person perceives also how they deliberate, perceive and think, but not how the soul of these activities - which is their affection for goodness and truth - produces them. Swedenborg, Divine Providence §34But there are many other ways of getting oneself out of a bad inner state. You must understand that no work is possible unless you get into these bad states because they are tests or, if you like, temptations, which are absolutely necessary in order to make us skillful in dealing with them. You will not learn to swim well unless you are often dropped into the water. And it is always surprising that some of you think that if you pass into a bad state it is because you cannot do the Work. It is just in these bad states that one can work and learn what it is about. It is quite an interesting view, that was once given a long time ago, to regard bad states as something about which you must be clever and use, as it were, every possible intelligence and technique to get out of them. There are many different forms of Self-Remembering, and Sly Person was once defined as “they who know how to remember themselves in different ways at different moments.” Sometimes when one is in a bad state and attempts to get out of it and fails to do so, one can be consciously passive to it, without being negative and without identifying with it fully, having the inner certainty that it will pass provided one does not let negative imagination work and does not consent to its presence. This is a form of Self-Remembering and is just as if one has to wait, and knows that one has to, because it is raining too heavily and one cannot go out just at present and yet remains certain it will clear. Nicoll, Commentary I, pg. 368CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠John Clark Echols, ⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠Podcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: ⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠ - https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: ⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

After Jesus left the synagogue with James and John, they went to Simon and Andrew’s home. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever. They told Jesus about her right away. So he went to her bedside, took her by the hand, and helped her sit up. Then the fever left her, and she prepared a meal for them. That evening after sunset, many sick and demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. The whole town gathered at the door to watch. So Jesus healed many people who were sick with various diseases, and he cast out many demons. But because the demons knew who he was, he did not allow them to speak. Mark 1:29-34 By “disease” is meant evil, and the reason is, because “diseases,” in the internal sense, mean such things as affect one’s spiritual life, which things are evils, and are called lusts and cravings. Faith and charity constitute [an authentic] spiritual life, which life sickens when what is false takes place of the truth which is of faith, and when evil takes place of the good which is of charity; for what is false and evil brings that life to death, which is called spiritual death, and is damnation, as diseases bring natural life to its death; hence it is, that by “disease,” in the internal sense, is meant evil.  Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §8364. The Lord is present with each and every human being. He exerts insistent pressure on us to receive him. When we do receive him, which occurs when we acknowledge him as our own God, Creator, Redeemer, and Savior, his First Coming occurs [in us], which is the twilight before dawn. From then on, we begin to be enlightened intellectually in spiritual matters and to grow into deeper and deeper wisdom. As we receive this wisdom from the Lord, we move through the morning into midday. The day continues into our old age until we die. Then we come to the Lord himself in heaven. There, although we died old, we are brought back into the morning of our lives, and the rudiments of wisdom that were planted in us while we were in the physical world grow and thrive to eternity. Swedenborg, True Christianity §766CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠John Clark Echols, ⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠Podcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: ⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠ - https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: ⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠

Jesus went to Capernaum, and on the Sabbath He taught in the synagogue. The people were amazed, for He taught with authority unlike the teachers of the law. A man possessed by an evil spirit cried out, but Jesus commanded the spirit to be silent and come out. The spirit left after a convulsion, and the crowd marvelled, saying even evil spirits obey Him. News about Jesus spread quickly throughout Galilee. Mark 1:21-28‘Demons’ mean evil lusts produced by the love of the world. And people with the same lusts are connected with spirits emotionally, even so that they are a unit. Such is a person who does not search out any evil in themselves which they call a sin, and consequently is not desirous of removing it by repentance. And as every evil is composed of lusts, being nothing but a bundle of lusts, it follows, that the person who does not search out any evil in themselves, and shun it as a sin against God, which can only be done by repentance, becomes a demon after death. From Swedenborg, Apocalypse Revealed §458Someone asked: “Is it bad, the dark side?” You must understand that everything you do not acknowledge appears at first sight bad. It is the devil because the devil is always what is unknown, unacknowledged or not understood. If someone had invented the radio a few centuries ago they would have been burned as an agent of the devil. The dark side does not mean anything evil in itself. It means simply that it is evil to you, with your present estimation of yourself. It is evil to you, because when you admit it into your consciousness your present estimation of yourself will change. The result will be that you will be much better than you were before. You will be much better because your present estimation of yourself kept up by imagination, and by buffers, and by pictures, and by continual lying, has been  weakened, and you have entered a larger world of consciousness. You should not think of the dark side as evil except to your Imaginary “I” which is one’s worst evil. If your Imaginary “I” is full of imagination about what you are, and if this imagination becomes destroyed by admitting what is antagonistic to you, you will begin to lose this wrong, sensitive Imaginary “I”, and your consciousness will broaden out and you will cease to be what you imagine yourself to be and move a step towards Real “I”. All the Work is against Imaginary “I” with which each one of us faces life so inadequately. The teaching of the Work sets out to destroy the power of Imaginary “I” but at first everything that threatens Imaginary “I” seems to be very evil – in fact, the devil. That is why I think it was once said in the Work: “The devil is also necessary.” So many people identify themselves with God without any justification and even imagine that they have intercourse with God continually. All this belongs to Imaginary “I” and in such cases God has indeed to take the aspect of the devil and destroy this imagination, these pictures, these fantasies, this self-merit, and all this nonsense that the Work attacks so strongly in each of us. Nicoll, Commentary III, pgs. 835-36CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠John Clark Echols, ⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠Podcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon KealShow Your Support: ⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠ - https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WCYouTube: ⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” And they left their nets at once and followed him. A little farther up the shore Jesus saw Zebedee’s sons, James and John, in a boat repairing their nets. He called them at once, and they also followed him, leaving their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired men. Mark 1:16-20No one follows the Lord from their own self, but only from the Lord Himself. For the Lord draws after Him those who from freedom will to follow. He can draw no one who does not will to follow Him. For the Lord provides that the person may follow Him as if of themselves, flowing into their freedom, for the sake of the person’s reception and installing of truth and good, and resulting reformation and regeneration. If it did not appear that they followed the Lord as if of themselves, that is, acknowledged His Divine and did His commandments as if of themselves, there would be no attachment and joining, and thus no reformation and regeneration. For everything enters into the person and becomes as if it were their own that they receive in freedom, that is, as if of themselves, whether it be what they think and speak or what they will and do as if of themselves. And yet one ought to believe, as the matter really is in itself, that they do these things not from themselves but from the Lord. This is why it is said that they must act not of themselves but as if of themselves….A person cannot know otherwise than that this is done by themselves, when yet all good flows in, and so also that which they think, that which they will, and that which they consequently do….All this makes clear that to "follow the Lord" is to be led by Him and not by self. Swedenborg, Apocalypse Explained §864CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠John Clark Echols, ⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠ Podcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon Keal Show Your Support: ⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠ YouTube: ⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

The Spirit then compelled Jesus to go into the wilderness, where he was tempted by Satan for forty days. He was out among the wild animals, and angels took care of him. Later on, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, where he preached God’s Good News of the kingdom of God. “The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent and believe the Good News!”  Mark 1:12-15[People], by Divine guidance, are led by means of temptations to a firm acceptance of the truths and the forms of the good that constitute faith. [In Exodus 13, “God led them in a roundabout way through the wilderness toward the Red Sea.”] 'God led' is Divine guidance; and 'by the way of the wilderness' is the process that leads people to be tested and so to reach a firm acceptance of the truths and the forms of the good that constitute faith. Temptations are the means by which they become firmly accepted. 'The wilderness' in the spiritual sense, is a situation in which truth has not yet been bonded to good in the person’s spirit, as well as the state of those with whom the two are to be bonded together. This bonding is not accomplished except by means of these tests. Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §8098“[Love and wisdom] flow in from God. We receive them as if they were ours. In fact, because we feel them that way, they emanate from us as if they really were our own. The Lord grants us this feeling so that what flows in will have an effect on us, and be accepted and stay with us. All that is evil also flows in, not from God but from hell. We feel pleasure as we take evil in, because we were born that way. Therefore we receive no greater amount of goodness from the Lord than the amount of evil we have removed as if we were removing it on our own. It is our repentance and our faith in the Lord that does this removing.” Swedenborg, True Christianity §461)“No one can know what a spiritual crisis is like except the person who has lived through one. The trial mentioned in Mark 1:12, 13 sums up all the Lord’s trials, which consisted in his battling the self-love and materialism that filled the hells, out of love for the entire human race. All trials target the love we feel. The severity of the trial matches the nobility of the love. If love is not the target, there is no trial. To destroy a person’s love is to destroy the core of that person’s life, since love is life. The Lord’s life was love for the whole human race, a love so great and good that it was pure, unalloyed love. He allowed this life of his to be attacked continuously, from the dawn of his youth until his final moments in the world, while he was continually routing, subduing, and vanquishing them. This he did purely out of love for the entire human race. Since his love was not human but divine, and the greater the love the harder the struggle, you can see how fierce his battles were and how savage on the part of the hells.” Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §1690CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnsonEmanuel Swedenborg, ⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠John Clark Echols, ⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠ Podcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon Keal Show Your Support: ⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠ YouTube: ⁠⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠⁠Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

This is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. It began just as the prophet Isaiah had written:“Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,    and he will prepare your way. He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming! Clear the road for him!’”This messenger was John the Baptist. He was in the wilderness and preached that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. All of Judea, including all the people of Jerusalem, went out to see and hear John. And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River. His clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey.John announced: “Someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not even worthy to stoop down like a slave and untie the straps of his sandals. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!”One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.” Mark 1:1-11“A wilderness is a symbol for something dim, but only relatively so. “Relatively dim” refers to the condition of spiritual people compared to that of heavenly people. Heavenly people are drawn to goodness; spiritual people, to truth….Those who are heavenly never debate about religion or religious truth. Goodness gives them an intuition for truth, so they simply say “Yes.” The spiritual, though, talk and argue about religious truth, because truth gives them a conscience for goodness. Another reason is that heavenly people have a loving goodness planted in the voluntary part of their mind, where a person’s main life resides. Spiritual people have it planted in the intellectual part of their mind, where a person’s secondary life resides. This explains why that loving goodness is relatively dim in spiritual people.” Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §2708:9 [It is said of the Children of Israel as they traveled from Egypt to the Promised Land:] ‘And God led the people around by the way of the wilderness’ means that under Divine guidance they were led by means of temptations to a firm acceptance of the truths and forms of the good of faith. This is clear from the meaning of ‘God led’ as providence, or Divine guidance; and from the meaning of ‘by the way of the wilderness’ as a way that leads people to undergo temptations and so to reach a firm acceptance of the truths and forms of the good of faith since temptations are the means by which they become firmly accepted. ‘The wilderness’ means a place which is uninhabited and uncultivated, and spiritually, a situation in which there is no good or truth, and also a situation in which truth has not yet been bonded to good. That being so, ‘the wilderness’ means the state of people with whom the two are to be bonded together and the temptations that accomplish that bonding.”  Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven §8098CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnsonEmanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.comJohn Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.comSolomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.net Podcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon Keal Show Your Support: ⁠PayPal⁠ YouTube: ⁠@Abide_In_Me⁠Substack: ⁠@clarkechols⁠I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

This series surveys the Gospel of Mark with an interpretive eye, looking for Jesus’ offer of a secure attachment with God. This mental experience of connection is the physiological experience of salvation. Through the series, we will discover the benefits to our wellness of being securely attached.First off, Jesus repeatedly teaches that there are rules governing the processes in creation, including our thoughts and feelings. He says in Mark 12:29 that the “greatest” of these is loving God and others with our whole selves. That is being securely attached.Modern studies of the brain, and current understandings by psychology, confirm this point of view from which we will read the Gospel of Mark. Among the many ways we will be saying this, the following principles serve to start us off:The surer I am that I am loved by another, the more secure I am in my sense of self, and the more fully I can love others.When I am loved by another, I am secure in my sense of self, and I can love others.Being loved by another, I am secure in my sense of self, and I can love others.I invite you to follow Jesus Christ and discover the path to discovering a mind and heart that so securely connects with God that you experience salvation; and, based on that relationship, you become so securely attached to others that you experience satisfaction, joy and peace here and now.EFFECTS OF BEING SECURELY ATTACHEDHas an active experience of self-worthHas unconditional regard for others’ worthIs silent when typically one is verbal (not defensive, explaining, or justifying)Looks for and affirms others’ goodnessIs affirming and optimistic (non-complaining)Is conscious of, can identify and express the emotion being feltHas a mindfulness practiceRemains in the present during conflict with another personRests in the non-duality of mercy and justiceHas clarity regarding selfishness and self-careConsiders oneself on a journey, in process, unfinished, on the wayHas a sense of being part of, and connected to, all living beingsLives from a sense of abundance (rather than fear of scarcity)CREDITSDr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” https://www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnsonEmanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.comJohn Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.comSolomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.netI pray this has supported your transformative life, whatever practice you have in your life. Podcast Host: John Clark EcholsMusic Credit: Solomon Keal Show Your Support: PayPal YouTube: @Abide_In_MeSubstack: @clarkecholsI invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.