Neville Goddard Lectures: “When the Spirit of Truth Comes”

20 Dec Neville Goddard Lectures: “When the Spirit of Truth Comes”

2/10/69

In the Book of John we are told, “I have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will lead you into all things” (Jn. 16:13). Here, the incomplete form of the incarnate revelation will be continued by the Spirit of truth until there can be seen all the truth. When he comes you will know it. I will show you tonight how he comes into this world.

We think we are completely free to receive everything in the world that is true, but are we? I read recently a work called Vanished Pomps of Yesterday by Lord Frederick Hamilton, and in it he tells this story that Catherine the Great finding the first violet of spring ordered a sentry to be placed over it to protect it from being plucked. She forgot to rescind the order and so eventually it became a tradition, and day and night, summer and winter, a sentry stood where a violet a hundred and fifty years ago once grew. Now, these are researched stories that Lord Hamilton gave us in his works…150 years later a sentry was standing where a violet once grew. The generation that came didn’t know why he was there and he didn’t know. Well, make sure that some sentry is not standing now on the lawn keeping you from the Word of God. As we are told, just as this was the tradition in the Book of Mark and in the Book of Matthew that here you make the traditions of your fathers to void the Word of God and then you hand it on. You void the Word of God through your traditions and hand it on.

Now tonight, let me share with you (and the lady is here). When I got home on Friday night and read it, I was thrilled beyond measure, for the Spirit of truth has come to her. She said, “I found myself on a movie lot, I seemed to be in the company of two others. In the center of the lot sat a man and I walked up to him and he seemed to take on the appearance of John Wayne. He greeted me, he said, ‘Hello, Peggy’” Well now, that’s her name. “I in turn said, ‘Hello, John’ and I was thrilled and amazed that he knew me. Then he said something to me which I didn’t hear and I asked him to repeat it. He did, but he did in a softer tone and I didn’t hear it. I was embarrassed to ask him again. So when I woke I knew it was the most important thing that was said to me…and then I remembered what he said. This is what he said, ‘It is not “Before Abraham was, I am”; it is “Before Abraham, was I am” (Jn. 8:58). You dwell upon it. It will make all the difference in the world to your concept of this statement. In all translations the comma is after “was.” Now bear in mind that the original manuscripts from which all of our translations are made had no punctuation marks. These are all man made. There were no verses, there were no paragraphs, there were no chapters. We did not have punctuation and verses and paragraphs and chapters until almost the 16th Century.

So man thought, well certainly, it is “Before Abraham was, I am” and a man is speaking. No. Here is the incarnate revelation trying to reveal the source of all the phenomena of life, and that source is I AM. When you read it with the punctuation after “was,” you think a man is telling you that he as a man preceded Abraham. But if you read it as it was revealed to my friend—I should say our friend for she now shares with us her revelation—read it “Before Abraham (comma), was I am.” He is not making any claim that would now separate him from us; for he said, “Go unto my Father and my brothers and say unto my brothers, I am ascending unto my Father and your Father, unto my God and your God” (Jn. 20:17). Now there’s no separation from this revelation of the incarnate Word…not putting himself apart as something different that you and I should worship…just revealing to us what the I AM is unfolding within us. So I can’t thank her enough for this revelation. So when the Spirit of truth comes, he will lead us into all things as we are prepared to receive it.