QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Neville Goddard – 1970
Courtesy of FreeNeville.com
Here is part three of Neville Goddard answers questions. These are taken from lectures Neville gave in the 1970s.
Enjoy!
Question By A Lady [mostly inaudible on tape] – I want very much to do whatever is necessary for my son to overcome his .
Neville: Well, my Dear, causation is mental. People do not realize it. He teaches that causation is mental. Listen to His words; it is the Sermon on the Mount, “You have heard it said by men of old” – He’s telling you what came down through the ages – “You have heard it said by men of old, You shall not commit adultery.” You have heard that – “But I say unto you” – this is something entirely different now.
He now speaks with authority – this is the Lord speaking, “But I say unto you, Any man who looks [concupiscently] lustfully upon a woman has already committed the act of adultery in his heart with her.” (Matthew 5:27, 28, RSV) He puts the whole thing on an entirely different level. It’s mental.
I may not have the courage to go forward and perform the act that I long to do. I may have many reasons for not doing it; I may contemplate the consequences along with the act, and restrain the impulse, but He tells me restraining the impulse isn’t good enough.
I am told it isn’t good enough if I restrain the impulse because I am a coward, or restrain the impulse because I am afraid of the consequences that would bring shame to my family or to myself. Well, then, that is still not good enough, if I look lustfully on another.
Therefore all men have committed sin. There isn’t a man in this world who can tell me he is not guilty of that act, but we are told in the 11th chapter of Romans: “God has consigned all men to disobedience, that He may have mercy upon all.” (Romans 11:32, RSV) God is merciful. He has consigned all men to disobedience, that He may have mercy; therefore, no one earns the Kingdom. It is Grace – Grace – Grace, and still more Grace! Our fitness for the Kingdom is the consequence, and not the condition, of this choice of ours.
So, I know, as a man – I’ve been married twice; I have two children (one 46, one 28) and I know as a man that I am not unique. I am guilty of that act. If a man stood before me and told me that he is not guilty of that, I wouldn’t even argue with him. Why call him a liar? It’s such an obvious fact that he is a liar – stupid! And by “man,” I mean generic man. I mean, “Male female made he them, and called their name Man,” (Genesis 5:2) as told us in the 5th chapter of Genesis, so I mean generic man.
So, “He has consigned all men to disobedience, that He may have mercy upon all.” (Romans 11:32, RSV) “For Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love Is God, our Father dear, And Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love Is Man, his child and care.” – Wm. Blake, from “The Divine Image”
Question By A Lady: One more thing, when you say this is your last night, I hope you are planning to return to this City.
Neville: Well, my Dear, thank you. I say it is the last night for this year. But do you know, no one knows when the Father will call him. I feel, really, I have finished the work that my Father gave me to do. I have accomplished the story. He did it in me. I take no credit, because He gave me Himself. He who started a good work in me has brought it to completion, (See Philippians 1:6, RSV) and therefore He could call me now; the work has been completed in me.
Now, if I am needed to still tell it to others who are coming who must hear it before I depart from me, then I will be here until they come. I will not go one second before or one second later. But, as I said last night, it would make no difference to me if I went now.
I felt, when I had a little child, uneducated, that I had unfinished business, because she wanted college. Well, now, she has had her college training. She has gone to a lovely college, graduated, and has a lovely job, and she is well equipped for life. I feel that I have left my wife provided for in the world of Caesar. That was my one concern.
So, I know today I have left her a sufficient investment in the world of Caesar to live graciously without having to go out and ask for alms. Well, now, that has comforted me, for that was my only concern. My son pulls his own weight. My daughter pulls her own weight. And when my wife eventually goes – I left it all to her; then I have left a condition upon my will that she cannot dispose of it, save to give it to my two children.
So, I feel satisfied that I am qualified to go now. I am not saying I want to. I am enjoying life; I’m enjoying every moment of time. But if tonight was my moment to go – and I am not going to make a conscious effort to go, but if I slept tonight and did not wake here, I know that I will awake in the Body of the Lord Jesus Christ, for I have finished the work. I will not be restored to continue the journey. I will awake in the One Body, with the one Lord, with the one Spirit. That I know, therefore, what could concern me?
But to come back to your question, if it is in the sphere of my Father’s wish that I be here to tell it once more to those who are not now hearing me, I will be here.
For, He has used me under compulsion, and yet, He and I are one.
Question By A Lady [largely inaudible on the tape] about some people having more imagination than others.
Neville: Well, first of all, “God is One.” We may not exercise our imagination, but, may I tell you, when we think that one has more imagination than another, it could not be, because “God is One” (Deuteronomy 6:1) – undivided. But one misuses imagination. Who knows if someone tonight in a dungeon feeling themselves wrongfully confined could be using that imagination to start a world conflict?
If you know the power of imagination, it could be some woman treading the wine press who starts the conflict in men’s minds. If a man does not use his own imagination, it may be used for him by someone else.
And if I confine my imagination to my senses and only what reason allows – well, I would never exercise it.
Someone quoted from a book the other night from some very prominent speaker, who also has written many books, and they are all popular books and very successful books, and he said, “The credulous mind is a weak mind that must be strengthened.” Of all the nonsense in the world!
In almost every particular is the world about us different from what we think. Why, then, should we be thought incredulous? Life calls upon us to believe, not less, but more. The most incredulous story in the world is the Christian story.
It’s the most incredulous thing in the world, the story of Christ. And may I tell you from experience, it is the only really true story! All the others are “played,” and that will be forever and forever. It is forever extant in the depths of the soul of man.