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The Old Testament of the Bible has long been regarded
by Christians of the world as the Word of God, written down by men of
faith whose mission was to bring God and mankind into an at-onement of
spirit and purpose. These men of great faith were deeply spiritual by
nature, feeling within their hearts and souls that keen sense of justice
and brotherly love which was to manifest outwardly as true righteousness
and mercy towards all. It was through these noble human feelings that
God and His spirit messengers were able to reach the hearts of individuals
here on earth from the earliest Biblical times, as the souls of His children
were again awakened to His unseen Presence and Goodness as Lord of the
Universe and Creator of life.
The Hebrews of the Bible, whose brave history is so
forthrightly recorded in the Old Testament, were the first peoples on
earth to embrace the Truth of the Oneness of God. It is to them that we
owe our heritage of the true meaning of God in the natural sense as well
as in the Divine sense; for it was through the wonderful instrumentality
of the Hebrew patriarchs that mankind were given a code of ethical and
moral conduct to live by, as well as a feeling of the Greatness, the Power
and the Might of the Lord, Jehovah; and, finally, through the instrumentality
of our beloved elder brother and divine leader, Jesus of Nazareth, we
were given a knowledge of the Divine Love and Tender Mercies of the Supreme
Being who is our Heavenly Father of today.
We of the Foundation Church of Divine Truth acknowledge
our debt of deep gratitude for the teachings of the Hebrew religion; for
it is through this record of human faith in God, as contained in the Old
Testament of the Bible, that we can today know the origin of our own faith.
Without this background of human love for Jehovah and the awareness of
His love for His children as found in the Hebrew Scriptures, we would
be poorer in spirit, and poorer in the knowledge of these acts of human
love, faith and courage which show forth in the inspiring stories of Father
Abraham, Joseph, Naomi, Ruth and Boat; in the life of King David; and
in the great courage of the prophets who withstood the wrath of the priests
and the rulers of their day to uphold what was good and righteous and
moral, in an effort to bring the Hebrews back to the Laws and the Love
of the Lord.
In the seventy-six sermons which Jesus delivered through the instrumentality of Dr.
Daniel G. Samuels, a Founding Trustee of the Foundation Church of the New Birth, we have the privilege of
learning how our Heavenly Father tried many times to restore the souls of His children to an at-onement with
Him in the natural love, whereby they would again become attuned to the spiritual laws operating through the
emotions and desires of their souls 'he human emotions of love and justice and mercy which the Father bestowed
upon His children at their creation.
Jesus brings to our attention those instances of noble
human love which have been recorded in the Old Testament, standing out
as examples to us of the goodness that can, and does, flow from our human
hearts when we exercise the loving, harmonious qualities of soul given
us by our Father in Heaven.
Yes, Jesus takes us on an unforgettable journey into
the olden days of Biblical times and, for our greater understanding and
sympathy and love, points out to us along the way how the courageous souls
who then lived on earth and wanted with all of their hearts to love God
and His Justice and Mercy gave to their fellowman such noble examples
of the natural love, and thus opened up the Way to the eventual coming
to earth, and into the hearts of the Father's children, of His Own Divine
Love and Compassion, first bestowed upon and manifested by Jesus, as the
Christ.
Through the guidance of our elder brother Jesus of Nazareth,
given in his sermons on the Old Testament of the Bible, we have been privileged
to become more knowledgeable and understanding of the hearts and souls
of those who lived in the days of the crystallization of the Hebrew religion.
We are able to envision their ideals and their motivations of heart, springing
from their closeness to Jehovah, the unseen God of the Universe who is
now our beloved Heavenly Father of Love and Mercy.
Jesus opens our eyes and our hearts to an appreciation
of his people, his forebears and ancestors, whose struggles in the harsh
times in which they lived helped those who were to come after them, because
these very struggles enabled them to grow spiritually and to come ever
closer to God through an increasing understanding of His love for them,
first through the observance of His Commandments and, then, through their
receiving into their hearts and souls His own Divine Essence which brings
Eternal Life.
The Trustees,
Foundation Church of Divine Truth
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
that I will make
a new covenant with the House of Israel,
and with the House of Judah;
I will put my law in their inward
parts, and in their hearts
will I write it; and I will be their
God and they shall be my people.
And they shall teach no more every
man his neighbor, and every man
his brother, saying, Know the Lord:
for they shall all know me,
from the least of them unto the greatest
of them, saith the Lord:
for I will forgive their iniquity,
and their sin will I remember no more.
Jeremiah, Ch. 31, Vs. 31, 33, 34.
A message has finally been received from Dr
Daniel G Samuels, some 34 years after his death in 1972.
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