Showing results by narrator "John Marino" in All Categories

The stories recorded in the Bible are prophetic sketches of events predestined to take place in the individual you! We are told in the seventh chapter of John: “We know where this man comes from, yet we are told that when the Christ appears no one will know where he comes from.” Speaking of the Father and the higher realm to which he now belongs, Jesus says: “A time will come when I will no longer speak to you in parables, but tell you plainly of the Father.”

The theory presented in this book is new only in the sense that it has been revitalized of recent date. It is, in fact, as old as the world. Those who have seen the results of this theory in practice have called it miraculous. Others who have yet to see and learn and understand have called it fakery.

Talking to oneself is a habit in which everyone indulges. We could no more stop talking to ourselves than we could stop eating and drinking. All we can do is control the nature and the direction of our inner conversations. Most of us are totally unaware of the fact that our inner conversations are the causes of the circumstance of our life.

In the brief articles which will make up this series, my objective will be to present methods which have seemed to be conducive to increased mental efficiency in the shortest, plainest, and most practical manner.

Now, this is the sort of a man who is wanted everywhere, in every line of human activity: the man who can swim, the salesman who can swim, who can sell things, who can go out and get business, the man who can take a message to Garcia, who can bring back the order, the man who can "deliver the goods."

Tonight’s subject is, "They Told What Had Happened" - "They Related Their Own Experience" is the better translation of that phrase in the 24th chapter of Luke. When I speak of "they told it", I am speaking of the evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

You might think that you are not really known, that not a thing is ever mentioned about you in any book ever written. But I want to tell you that the greatest book ever written is all about you. The Bible is your biography. It is also your autobiography, because you inspired it. It is you who dictated it, and it’s all about you - every word in it.

I am an anarchist. All good men are Anarchists. All cultured, kindly men; all gentlemen; all just men are anarchists. Jesus was an anarchist.

"Where are you from?" This you will find in the 19th chapter of the Book of John. And the rabbi said to Pilate: "We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die, for he claims he is the Son of God." And their law would not allow that, for we know where this man is from, know all about him; and when Messiah appears no one will know where he is from. So his claim is false. When Messiah appears it will be mysteriously done. And yet we know exactly where this man is from.

The greatest thing ever known—what is it? Surely the answer must be one that is absolutely universal, both in its nature and in the possibilities of its application. It must be one that can be accepted wholly and unreservedly, not only by a single individual, but by bodies of individuals, be they the originators of any particular school of ethics, the followers of any particular system of philosophy, or even the adherents of any great system of religion. It must be one so true in itself that it can be accepted by all men alike the world over.

Today, I am going to talk about enthusiasm and how it makes all of life a joyous experience. Every normal person wishes to be well, happy and successful and there is nothing wrong with this. Sometimes we think that perhaps life withholds these good things from us, as though it didn't wish us to enter into the joy of living. And yet, Jesus said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."

Man's three greatest needs are: to feel that he is needed, wanted and loved; to feel that he belongs to the universe in which he lives, and to have an object or objects upon which to lavish his affection. It is now known that most unhappiness comes from a sense of being rejected; of not being wanted, needed and loved. It is also known that a large percent of our physical troubles is a direct result of emotional congestions that follow in the wake of feeling that we don't belong to life.

Friends, the next voice you hear might be God's! Wouldn't it be wonderful if this were true? Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could hear the Voice of God? And perhaps we can. Perhaps we all have heard the Voice of God but haven't recognized it.

When purpose is revealed, all falls into place. The revelation of purpose gives meaning to everything, and there is a purpose in this wonderful, vast creation of God. Paul said, "He has made known unto us... the mystery of His will, according to His purpose which He set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time." [Ephesians 1:9, 10] There is a plan behind it all.

Through the whole life and teaching of Jesus we find this gentle approach. And yet he was always just, as well as kind. He didn't say that we could be saved in our mistakes, but that we must be saved from them. He knew that to err is human, to forgive is divine.

You know the story of Good Friday. A man is in a garden. It's night time. And one called Judas comes in search of him, seemingly to betray him. He comes into the garden, and it's dark, so he asks the simple question, "Where is Jesus?" Then the voice in the dark answered, "I am he."

Shakespeare said, "There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so." Whether or not this immortal bard was 100 percent right in this, one thing is certain: the mind does play some very weird tricks on us, some of them so startling as almost to convince us that we are actually obsessed.

Tonight’s subject is There Is No Other God. You find this in the First Commandment in the book of Exodus, the 20th chapter. “I am the Lord your God, who have brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:2), followed by the Second: “Make no image, whether on earth, the heavens, or below the sea.” (Exodus 20:4)

Recently I read a book called Vanished Parts of Yesterday by Lord Frederick Hamilton. In it he tells the story of Catherine the Great - who, when she found the first violet of spring, ordered a sentry to be placed over it to protect it from being plucked. Forgetting to rescind the order, day and night, summer and winter, a sentry stood where 150 years ago, a violet bloomed. The new generation did not know why the sentry was there and he didn't either. It was simply a tradition!

God started with a wish, saying; "Let us make man in our image." And we are told that we will be perfect as our father is perfect, and holy as our father is holy. Therefore, whatever God was, when his work is completed, man must be. We are told to be imitators of God as dear children, so we must discover how he became us in order to imitate him. It seems God lives as one possessed by a dream.