Principles

Just recently, I was reminded of a story of a young lady who was loudly saying her nightly prayers.

Her mother heard the prayer and later asked her daughter why she was praying for such a thing. Her daughter explained that on her school exam that day, she had incorrectly written down that Boston was New Hampshire's capital. She said that she wanted God to actually change capitals so her exam answer would be correct.

God doesn't work that way. When fundamental principles and truths are violated, then no amount of praying can rectify the situation by changing the principles involved. If we, for example, stick our two fingers into the live wall outlet, we're going to get zapped. It won't matter if we pray to suddenly become an infinite resistance or an insulator. We're going to get an electrical shock. We've violated a principle and we must suffer the consequences.

This is a huge problem with cults and/or churches. They expect that they can somehow get God to bend to their personal wills. Since they arrogantly figure that they're God's servants, God will surely listen to them. Right? We've all heard it before. They break all the rules of human decency and still expect that God will somehow, rescue them from any and all repercussions. They, in one way or another, believe that they can break every principle in the books and still be "miraculously" exonerated from the backlash. But the rules of the Universe are simple. If we go against the basic principles, then we'll automatically suffer the penalties.

Certainly, prayers and requests are honored and people are indeed blessed in various situations, but if fundamental principles are corrupted, then the ugly results will surely follow and prayers will not be answered. If we think that we can break the basic laws of human integrity and kindness, then our karma will surely tag along.

The word "karma" is basically an Eastern word, but is used in the Western world to denote the reaping of whatever is sowed. It's simply ONE word that says: "What you sow, that shall you also reap." It has nothing to do with anything weird or anything that's of demonic origin, as we were once taught. It's simply a word which means that what goes around, comes around.

Most of us were taught in the Worldwide Church of God cult that if we prayed (or fasted) hard enough, we could "change" God's mind, and thus bend God's will to ours. If things were going bad in our life, then we were told, we could pray that God will make things better. If - for example - "God's work" was suffering for some reason, we had to now get God to recant, change His mind and now bless His work . . . usually with more income. But, in the long run, it didn't really work, did it?

The reason that these things did not work, and that "prayers" are not answered is because fundamental principles were being broken. If that is happening, then our karma can only be debris.

In all the Worldwide Church of God cults (and the myriad demented variations) that we've left, the basic principles of human dignity and respect are being ignored. The result can only be despotism. That's the karmic result of ignoring the premise: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." We can all see the results in the chaos, heartbreak and suffering among the COG cults. But how much of this wrong teaching and thinking has rubbed off onto us?

Do we really believe that we can change God's mind by His changing His own eternal principles, for our personal benefit? Do we think we can harm another and then pray that God will absolve us of all responsibility? Do the departed NON MINISTERS of the cults think that because they've left the organization, they are not still responsible in some way - no matter how small? Has their karma suddenly gone "ZIP" and left the galaxy simply because they decided to leave the cult? There's an abuse of the principle of love here, and that karma is sticking around most of those guys and their mates like a bad smell.

Nature is a wonderful teacher. If we would listen to our "Mother" we'd learn much. We can see the result of the breaking of global principles. We see what pollution has done. We've damaged our air, water, and land with all sorts of toxic and nuclear waste. Then we drink the water, breathe the air, and eat food from the soil. Is it any wonder, that when we break the principles of ecology, we get all sorts of sicknesses? We have an avalanche of illnesses today, and it appears to be especially damaging to our women on this planet. There have been all sorts of ugly diseases that are now extant that we never even heard of fifty years ago. Ecological principles are being desecrated and the innocent people suffer.

And all the praying in the world won't rectify this global problem as long as we violate the principles of ecology. We can pray all we want and people will still get sick. We can pray all we want and we'll still increase the global warming. We can pray all we want (while still destroying the rain forests and polluting the oceans), and we'll still have less and less oxygen to breathe. Prayer, no matter how intense, won't help. As long as we disobey the principles then our karma will automatically follow.

Cults/churches still believe that we can somehow "pray down" God's blessings on this world while we still continue to ignore and shatter the principles of life. It simply won't work. For this premise to work, then God (or whatever) would have to change the principles. Since this has never happened, then it behooves everyone to realize that, since the principles can't be varied (according to some cult leader's wishes) we must therefore align ourselves with these principles in order to survive.

It would be foolish for anyone to jump off a ten story building and expect to say aloft. The principle of gravity will attract us to the ground. Praying to stay aloft won't make gravity change for us. And the same thing is true in all of life. The principles will always stay the same. Those principles are eternal. We must get in line with them to see the results. We don't pray to God to get something anymore than we pray to electricity to give us power. We simply align ourselves with the principles and what follows is not miraculous, but a normal outcome of using those principles correctly.

The biggest principle in the universe is that of love. It has a infinite number of manifestations, but the spiritual intent behind each and every action is still the same. It's showing consideration and kindness to another human, animal, or the eco-system of the planet. If we genuinely give out love in some form, then in time, the blessings will return to us. They must return. We've given love, and the inexorable law says it must return. But, we've all breached this love principle at times, and we've suffered the results. However, if we were all in total sync with it, then our lives would be that of abundant ecstasy.

Since leaving the cults, our thinking has changed on many levels. Prayer must be one of those levels. Now, prayer must NOT be our trying to alter God's will or principles to conform to our wishes, but a simple aligning of our wishes with the eternal principles of the universe. "Thy will be done," Jesus said, and with that statement, He allowed his WILL to be manipulated by a power higher than Himself. He was so attuned to His Higher Spirit that He knew instinctively what to ask for and what to claim as rightfully His. He never begged or pleaded for anything. He never held prayer meetings, or moaned, groaned and muttered in tongues, to get God to conform to anyone's will. Jesus simply gave thanks, and that was it. It was done.

Since prayer in the common sense of the word means the asking for something that's desired, it is therefore wise to desire the right thing. "Thy will be done," so it's important that we know what the Eternal will is for us. And there are two basic ways to do this . . . ask, then listen.

It takes a little practice to listen at first, but in time, we'll hear Ok. If a good desire persists, after we ask for God's will be done and for Divine guidance, then we can take that as a positive sign. We are simply acknowledging that God wishes to express that desire through us, either individually or collectively. Then our prayer doesn't become one of begging or pleading but one of submission.

One of the biggest problems is our ego. It always seems that we want to tell God what is best for us. Most of us - definitely including me - never want to listen. We always know better. And over the years, I've found that everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) that I thought was best for me . . . was not. What always (and I mean ALWAYS) turned out to be the best for me, was what I did not think ever would be. I perpetually had the habit of asking God for His will be done, and then proceed to tell God how to do it. It never worked.

When our ego drops away to nothing and we are totally surrendered to the Divine will, then the blessings will flow, but never the way we think. When we give up the old man, who wants this and that, and let God make the decisions, then things will start to work for us. Then we are in sync with the right principles.

This is the correct method of behavioral living in compared to the counterfeit one of totally submitting to the cults and their leaders. Since those leaders think they're God incarnate (or inspired by Him), they want complete submission from the laity, as if those diabolical hirelings are the source of spirituality for the membership.

We are not, now or anymore, trying to twist our Higher Selves (or Father, or Spirit), in order to see things our own egotistical way in our lives. We are basically allowing God to do His "thing" THROUGH us. We are aligning ourselves with the Infinite principles and the results will follow. There can be no other outcome. And I promise you, that the more we surrender to God, the more that we'll have the most wonderful future possible.

These things are much the same principles as Jesus used in His prayers: "Thank you Father," He would say, in effect. "Fulfill your perfect desires through me. Your will be done." And, it worked.

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