God Only Acts

GOD ONLY ACTS – Neville Goddard

You may ask how can a mortal man, born as we were born and who will die as we all will die, know that God only acts, but I tell you I know it from experience. I have experienced the Word of God and tonight I will tell you how I know that God – and God only – acts.

The name of God is the key to understanding the biblical doctrine of God. In biblical terms the question is asked, "Does God exist? Who is our God? What is his name and what is his son’s name?" For Israel, the personal name of God is I AM. Although I read that statement in scripture, I did not know it until it was revealed to me through experience.

Let me begin by quoting a passage from the 82nd Psalm.

"God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment. I say, ‘You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, you shall die like men and fall as one man, O Princes.’"

Now, the interpretation of this great psalm depends upon the meaning the interpreter gives to the word "Elohim". The word "Elohim" is a plural word meaning "God". It first appears in Genesis in its singular form "In the beginning God" then, in the 26th verse the word becomes plural when God says, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." In the 82nd Psalm the word "Elohim" appears twice in the first verse and once again in the sixth. God (Elohim) has taken his place in the midst of the gods (Elohim). In the midst of the changing series of events of men in secular history stands the unchanging Word of God.

Creation is over. It is finished. The time is fulfilled – now – in us, for sacred history is over. Secular history is a changing thing that will, in time, wither like a plant and fade like a flower. No matter how great a nation is today, tomorrow it will vanish. No matter how important you appear to be now, your life here will vanish like the footsteps on the sand as the waves wash it away at high tide, but salvation history is forever. So in the midst of these changing series of events of secular history stands the unchanging salvation of Jesus Christ.

The passage I have just quoted from the 82nd Psalm is literally true, for I experienced it in the summer of 1929. From this experience I know that God only acts. When Blake wrote that beautiful poem, "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" he wasn’t exercising his right as a poet when he said "God only acts and is in Existing beings or Men" for when Blake advanced into Jerusalem in his greatest of all poems he said, "Let us of whom all is and who was among us give decision." The only actor is God and besides him there is no other actor; therefore, "I say, ‘You are the Elohim, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless you will die like men and fall as one man, O Princes.’"

Now God, having taken his place in the divine council, holds judgment in the midst of the gods. This is literally true. It was revealed to me back in 1929. Here is my experience:

I was a professional dancer in New York City. It was just before the great depression when one night I was called and taken in Spirit to stand before a heavenly woman seated before a large ledger. As I stood at her left, she turned and, although she did not speak, she looked into my eyes as though for confirmation. Then she looked back at the ledger and with a long quill pen she made a motion in it.

Then I was taken into the divine council (the assembly of the mighty ones) to stand before God, the Risen Christ, the personification of infinite love. Standing before him I could feel nothing but love. Then he asked me a simple question, "What is the greatest thing in the world?" And I answered in the words of Paul, "Faith, hope and love. These three, but the greatest of these is love." With that he embraced me, we fused and became one body of infinite love. I now wear the human form divine, which is love. Having fused with God, no one in the world can separate me from the love of which I am.

As I was embraced a voice said, "Down with the bluebloods." Then I found myself standing before God in the appearance of Almighty (the mighty ones now gathered as one) who commanded me saying, "Time to act." At that moment I was whisked out of that divine assembly to find myself back in this secular world of man… this world in which I was born and where I will die. When this experience was mine, I had fulfilled the 82nd Psalm,

"I say, ‘You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you, nevertheless you shall die like men and fall as one man, O Princes.’"

As I said earlier, the name of God is the key to the interpretation of the doctrine of God, and to Israel that name is I AM. The Word reduced himself to the state called Moses and said, "Say to the people of Israel ‘I AM has sent me.’" How do I know I AM has sent me? I experienced it. And who is this mighty one who sent me? Myself.

We are told that I AM contains all the gods from which you and I fell. Listen to the words, "You will fall as one man, O Princes." Now, the word "Yod He Vav He" translated "I AM" has as its primary meaning "to fall; to cause to fall; to blow; to cause the wind to blow." One being containing all is the one who fell and caused the fall. This was all predetermined, for it was God’s plan. One God containing the gods (all sons of the Most High) fell and caused to fall so that the one God may rise one by one from this world of sin and death.

God was one in the beginning and he is one in the end. We are told in Isaiah, "I will gather you one by one, O people of Israel." We are all gathered back into the same being we were before, but infinitely enhanced by the experience of our fall into the world of sin and death. I say to everyone, you are gods, sons of the Most High; nevertheless you will die like men (everyone dies here) and fall as one god fragmented into infinite beings. Then all will be put together again to form the one man, this time infinitely greater than he was before the fall.

The words rang in my ears, "Time to act", for God is the only actor in the world. It is God who is playing all the parts. Some parts of the drama are horrible, while others quite pleasant, but at every moment in time God is acting. The most horrible act is being played by God, for God is man, yet he is a God of infinite love. I know, for when I fused with God, I fused and became one with his body of love.

You cannot see the body that I wear with mortal eyes, for mortal eyes die. You need God’s eyes to see the garment that I wear, for let no man put asunder what God has joined together. We are brought back one by one to be united with him and "He who is united with the Lord becomes one spirit with him," therefore no man or organization can put that union asunder.

Blake spoke the truth when he said, "God only acts and is in existing beings or men." I wish I had his talent in the world of men so I could tell this vision more beautifully.

Now, if you are here for the first time you might wonder about the words, "Down with the bluebloods." The bluebloods, throughout scripture, mean church protocol, all the external trappings of the world of religion, the outside sacrifices, the rituals, all this is collectively called the bluebloods. Down with it all.

I did not receive my knowledge of scripture from any man and my authority to teach it is not from any organization. It came to me as it did to Paul, by the revelation of Jesus Christ. He unveiled himself to me and when I answered his question correctly, he embraced me in fulfillment of the gospels. "When they bring you into the synagogue before the rulers, do not be concerned as to what you are to answer or what you are to say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say." I heard no words, they came automatically, like an actor standing on a stage, I didn’t take thought as to what I was going to say, and neither will you, for the Holy Spirit will, in that hour, teach you what you ought to say and you will say it. Being divinely guided, you cannot and will not make a mistake when you are brought into the assemblage of the gods.

Although others are present, you see only two, the Risen Christ who as infinite love embraces you, and El Shaddai, one and the same presence, but seen only as God Almighty. El Shaddai, infinite power without compassion, and the risen Christ, infinite power of love, yet it is the same being. "I appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as God Almighty, but by the name the Lord (which is I AM) I did not make myself known unto them."

Then comes a greater revelation when God, who is our Father, reveals himself to us his sons. Being sons of the Most High, no one can fail. No one will be lost, not one in all my holy mountain.

So I urge you to remain in Jerusalem until you are called into the divine assembly. No one knows when that time will be, for he who fell is he who caused the fall, and the wind is the one who caused the wind to blow, for the wind and the cause of the wind are one. That is God’s elective love. No one knows when the wind will blow. He may come this night and breathe upon you to awaken you and take you in spirit into that divine assembly. "As the wind (Spirit) blows where it wills and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know when it comes or where it goes, so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." The word "wind" and "spirit" are the same in both Hebrew and Greek.

No one knows when it is going to happen,

only that you are called according to his purpose.

"Those who He foreknew (and he foreknew all of us) He predestined to be conformed to the image of His son. And those whom He predestined He called, and those whom He called He justified and those whom He justified He glorified."

Here we find we are predestined to be called into the divine council, justified through divine acquittal and glorified by being given the gift of God Himself.

No matter what you have done in this world, when you are justified you are divinely acquitted. No one is without sin. Every child born of woman has violated the commandments of God, for the commandments are done psychologically.

"You have heard it said, "’Thou must not commit adultery’, but I say the one who looks lustfully upon a woman has already committed the act of adultery with her in his heart."

What individual in this world is not guilty of violating that commandment? Yet all are justified and justification is divine acquittal. The moment you are divinely acquitted you are glorified with his presence by becoming one with Christ and from then on you aren’t two anymore, you are one.

On this level you can take that command, "Time to Act" and "No longer drink only water,but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake." Water symbolizes the psychological life. In the second chapter of John, the story is told of Jesus filling the stone jars with water. Now, stone is the symbol of literal facts and water the symbol of their psychological interpretation. When you repent by changing the literal facts to conform to your fulfilled desire, your water has turned into wine, for wine is the application of the truth that you have heard.

If I heard you were ill, saw this literal fact but wanted to turn this water into wine, I would see you healthy. Then I would repent by actually persuading myself that I am seeing you in the perfect embodiment of health, and so persuade myself of this fact that when I think of you, I can see only health. When I see only this new, healthy you in my mind’s eye I have drunk the wine of fulfillment and won’t bring you up anymore, as I know what you want to be pictured in my world.

Tonight take the literal facts of your life and turn them into the psychological truth they represent. Now, instead of drinking that water, turn it into wine by applying the knowledge you have and repent. Do not be remorseful or feel regretful, but when you see someone in need – fill it – for he is only yourself pushed out.

We all fell as one man but became fragmented and we are all being gathered together again into that one man who is God. There is only God. While we are fragmented, we see others and are at war with self. Seeing an aspect of yourself, you think he is another, but he is not. If your little finger is hurting and you think it doesn’t matter and cut it off, you would be cutting off a part of yourself. So, do not discard another, but change that which you formerly despised. Change each person in your mind’s eye, then wait and you will see them conform to the state you have formed from within.

The world is forever echoing the changes taking place in you when you stop drinking the water by absorbing the psychological meaning of scripture and applying its message by drinking the wine. Drink wine from now on and change your world. Make it conform to the ideal that you would like to have. That is acting, and God only acts and is in existing beings or men. If you don’t act upon the knowledge you have, then God is asleep in you. It is time to "Awake O sleeper. Why sleepest thou O Lord? Awake. Do not cast us off forever. Awake and rise from the dead."

If you don’t act you are asleep and likened unto the dead. When you hear what you ought to do and do it, you are beginning to stir and become alive from within yourself. This I know from experience. I am not theorizing. I am not speculating. I have experienced the Word of God, yet I can’t tell anyone what it feels like to have had the experience. But I can tell you that this fabulous world that we all love so much will one day fade, but the Word of God will remain forever. This is the unchanging truth that remains forever in a changing world.

"I say, ‘You are gods of the Most High all of you. Nevertheless, you will die like men and fall as one man, O Princes.’" If you are a prince, your Father is a king. He is the King of Kings and collectively we are the King, for the Father and the Son are one. Returning from our fragmented state in this world, we are gathered together once more to form the one God. There is only God.

When Blake was asked if there was a Jesus he replied, "Jesus is the Only God", then he quickly added, "but so am I and so are you."

The Elohim is plural. It is a compound unity, one made up of others, yet still one. When asked, "What is the greatest commandment" the Risen Christ answered, "Hear O Israel, the Lord, Our God, the Lord is One." One sentence consisting of ten words contains the entire Ten Commandments. And the other commandment? "Love thy neighbor as thyself." Why? Because there is no other.

So tonight remember, God only acts and is. The most horrible act, this night is being played by God asleep, and the most loving act performed this night is the same God in the act of waking.

The day will come when you and I will leave this world of sin and death and return to where we were before, with our translucency again intact, for we will have expanded beyond what we were prior to our deliberate fall into this world. God achieves his purpose by limiting himself to the limit called man, the limit of contraction and when He breaks the shell, you not only return to what you were before that the world was but go beyond it. Everyone will be saved and there is only one Savior who is housed within you.

"Our God is a god of salvation, and to God the Lord, belongs escape from death," and this world is a world of sin and death. Nevertheless, you shall die like the men of this world and fall as one man, O Princes. But because God is a god of salvation, and from God the Lord belongs, escape from death. He who fell is within you, so you can be assured of redemption as no one can fail.

While you are here in the world of Caesar, use what has been revealed to you tonight for yourself, then for others. Make your world more beautiful. Have a little wine for your spirits sake by not just drinking the psychological meaning of scripture, but by putting it into practice and applying its truth.

Now let us go into the silence.