Ken’s “POETIC POSTLUDE” shares Bible EXAMPLES of the immortality of man, our perfect witness of God.

Ken Cooper’s “POETIC POSTLUDE” shares Bible EXAMPLES of the immortality of man, our perfect witness of God.

inspired by The Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on

 “Mortals and Immortals”
for November 13, 2022

• In Ken’s poem “Enoch Ever Walks With God”, we see the importance of thought focused on all the qualities / synonyms of God.
• Ken’s new poem / monologue, “Caleb a follower of God” shows the healthy and freeing effect of trusting in the power of God.
• Ken’s poem, “The Mother of Eutychus” movingly read by Sue, shows how a mother’s healing thoughts resonated with those of Paul, proved immortality, – her son’s life was in him.

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[Ken:] “How do we prove the immortality of man when we look round and only see his mortality? Last week’s lesson asked a key question that began “Who told thee…”, and this week we have a similar question, – what are you looking at? What are you witnessing? What is God seeing and telling you? With faith we listen and see, and hold fast! The mortal view is one of duality, and duality is not just the impossibility of God and another power, it is also the impossibility of mortal man and immortal man. Duality simply does not and cannot exist in God’s Kingdom. There is no mortal man. Immortal man is all we can witness, – our declaration of faith and understanding! 

The Golden Text shows what is required of us:

1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good battle of faith against all evil, keep your grip on that life eternal to which God has called you, and to which you have boldly declared your loyalty before many witnesses. (Forsake duality!)

Immortal man is God’s witness, and this is the Gospel news of salvation to all who have faith and act in accordance with what they believe of the Scriptures. This is shown in the Responsive Reading:

Romans 01:16   Be proud of the Gospel, it IS good news! Why ever be ashamed! It is the very power of Almighty God, His plan to rescue and save everyone, – first the Jews then everyone else, embracing all.

Romans 01:17   The Gospel shows how God makes people true to His righteous character: it begins from one believing person spreading to the next, with God’s faithfulness resulting in our faith, faith growing faith wherever it shines. As the Scripture says, “those who are true to God will live by faith in that truth, a life eternal”.

Romans 01:20   From the very beginning, creation in all its magnificence and splendour enlightens us to understand God’s true nature. Creation shows His uniqueness and perfection clearly to the spiritual senses, while yet invisible to the physical; and it makes as nothing the excuses and ignorant claims of those who deny God.

2 Corinthians 04:01       God has entrusted us with His ministry of preaching the Gospel, and so we cannot get discouraged, despondent with fear, weak with weariness, for we are fulfilling His plan. Nothing can daunt us when we are doing God’s work.

2 Corinthians 04:15       All these good things that you are witnessing are for your benefit, as God has planned. As this abundant grace flows to benefit more and more people, it will cause gratitude and thanksgiving to increase, revealing and expressing the glory of God.

2 Corinthians 04:18       So we do not set our sights on those things we can see with our eyes. All of that is fleeting, temporal; it will eventually fade away. Instead, we focus on those things we cannot see, which live on and on. These are eternal.

 This is so clearly shown in Section 2 with reference to Enoch, Moses and Caleb, and the simple citation from Habakkuk “the righteous man stands by his faith, living a good life in demonstration of his faithfulness.” (Bible Citation 10, Habakkuk 2:4).

My poem “Enoch Ever Walks With God” shows the commitment required and the result obtained!

When you walk with someone, they are always at your side, – you commune together. When walking with someone, the underlying motive is love. God is always with us, because we are His thought. When we walk with God, we are recognising what we are.

Enoch walked with LOVE: and he was not; for LOVE took him (embracing him forever).

As it says in Bible citation 16 “Keep yourselves in the love of God” (see Jude 1:20). We necessarily walk with each of the synonyms for God, – this is the immortality and joy of man. We cannot be separated from what we are.

Enoch walked with God, the incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life,
Truth, Love: and he was not; for God, incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul,
Principle, Life, Truth, Love took him, embracing him forever.

The message is clear. “And Enoch walked in habitual fellowship with God, such a close relationship; and then one day he could not be found, for he was completely at one with God.” (Bible citation 5, Genesis 5:24).

As Jesus said “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free”  (John 8:32) This is the true nature of man, free from mortality and all its imaginary restrictions.

The Bible is full of examples of the effect of faith in the true nature of our relationship with God, good. Section 2 continues with the closeness to God that Moses expressed: “Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eyesight wasn’t impaired at all and he was still as vigorous and strong as ever.” (Bible citation 8, Deuteronomy 34:7)

The poem / monologue “Caleb a follower of God” re-enforces this demonstration of what God, Life, always gives. The pdf copy gives an interesting timeline for Moses, Joshua and Caleb, and raises the interesting question how far we are willing to spend forty seconds / minutes / hours / days / years in communion with God. “To begin rightly is to end rightly”. (SH 262:28). Caleb began his wilderness journeying at 45 years old, when Moses was 80, What an example Moses was! His strength would have been such a waymark for both Caleb and Joshua:

“I was forty-five, fit, knew what was required, felt the power of God with me.

Joshua felt the same strength. Moses was our mentor, leader, and friend.”

 When you see someone demonstrating  keen sight and strength “beyond their years” doesn’t it give faith that it is indeed possible, and something we too can demonstrate, give witness to? Doesn’t it give focus to motive? Wouldn’t walking with Jesus, Peter, Paul have the same impact?  (for Paul see Section 5).

 “For us time stood still. We walked with God, that’s all that counted.”

 “Moses taught us what to watch, how to listen, the presence of “I AM THAT I AM”.

 I just love this thought of “what to watch, how to listen”, — it reminds me so much of Mary Baker Eddy’s poem/Hymn 304: “Shepherd, show me how to go”, and when we follow God we also rejoice, the “rugged way”, the wilderness experience, is but for a moment, for thought is lifted above the mortal to what God is and what we are.  Caleb concludes his oratory:

 “Let me share this thought. With God as our Father, we are immortal: God is our life.

Faith gives freedom; we are now in the Promised Land, at one forever with God.”

Walking with the ageless Caleb would have been such an inspiration, an insight into the immortality of man and expectancy of good. For those who marched round Jericho, having Caleb at their side, would have been a great encouragement, – not only for the effortless marching, but also for the sharing of his faith, his trust in the words of Joshua. Their faith was rewarded, and the fall of Jericho proved that even this mightiest of obstacles could be overcome. The PDF poem shares this additional line:

YES, MY NAME IS CALEB: BUT NOW I SEE: NOT A SON OF THE ISRAELITES, BUT OF GOD.

We may all start with the mortal sense of heritage, but that is the dream of Adam and dust. Man never had a start, he has always been with his Father in the eternal now of immortal life. We do not need the struggle of Exodus, to move from slavery to freedom. Mary Baker Eddy writes: “The human history needs to be revised, and the material record expunged. …
… God is over all. He alone is our origin, aim, and being. The real man is not of the dust, nor is he ever created through the flesh; for his father and mother are the one Spirit, and his brethren are all the children of one parent, the eternal good.” (Retrospection and Introspection, p. 22:1, 17)

This erasure of the past was so important to Paul, for as so clearly shared in the monologue “The Mother of Eutychus”, his past could well have haunted him for ever, – the imprisoning and death of Christians because of his actions. But he shared his conversion, his moving on, his recognition of the true nature of man. One of the mother’s key recollections was this: “Paul was now listening to God.”. When we listen to God we cannot rehearse history, for the perfection of I AM THAT I AM is always in the NOW . When we listen to God we drop all human history, the mortal necessarily gives place to the immortal. As she says so clearly “But with Paul I’d learnt something new. How to forget the past. It was only relevant if you held on to it!”

 His talk was meaningful and strong. Everyone was listening to all that he was sharing, all but one. Eutychus had fallen asleep, and fallen down from the third loft!  The mother instantly turned to prayer when she knew her son needed her, – proof of God’s instant care! “A mother’s instinct and anguish forcibly brought back to everything Paul was talking about, – God being Life, Love, holding all His children in his arms. Did I really believe what he had been saying! I grasped my husband’s hands, seeking his assurance and support. God is Life! Believe it! Know it! Feel the active presence of the Christ! Hold fast to the Truth!”  What a treatment!

 They are told the young man is dead. “It was as though Paul had not heard him. He didn’t rush. He walked calmly to where my son lay.

“He turned his face and somehow knew to look at us.
“Trouble not yourselves: for his life is in him”.

My son stirred. Opened his eyes, staring at Paul, seeming to drink in and draw strength from his knowledge of life everlasting. He turned and saw me. Got up as though nothing had happened and ran to my arms.”

 Paul saw and knew the immortality of the child, untouched by death! His prayers and the mother’s prayers were beautifully answered. LIFE CAN NEVER STOP BEING LIFE, AND IT IS LIFE WHICH WE ALL EXPRESS.

What a great reminder of the Golden Text: “Fight the good battle of faith against all evil, keep your grip on that life eternal to which God has called you, and to which you have boldly declared your loyalty before many witnesses.” 1 Timothy 6:12

WE ARE THIS WITNESS: IMMORTAL MAN IS EVEN NOW IN THE PROMISED LAND, THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

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Bible verses are taken from my combined translations, a free copy of which is available on an excel spreadsheet for those who may be interested. The spreadsheet also includes a genealogy from Adam to Jesus, with related notes. Shared with love. Write to Ken on kengcooper@btinternet.com.

Copies of these poems are available in pdf format in color and B&W as DOWNLOADS at the top right of the online version of this Poetic Postlude to this week’s Bible Lesson. 
The full range of Ken’s videos on YouTube can be found on KenGCooperPoetry.  All Ken’s poetry and other writings can be found on Ken Cooper Poetry. (Links work on Metaphysical page).