The Urantia Book
PAPER 149
THE SECOND PREACHING TOUR
149:0.1 THE second public preaching tour of
Galilee began on Sunday, October 3, A.D. 28, and continued for
almost three months, ending on December 30. Participating in this
effort were Jesus and his twelve apostles, assisted by the newly
recruited corps of 117 evangelists and by numerous other
interested persons. On this tour they visited Gadara, Ptolemais,
Japhia, Dabaritta, Megiddo, Jezreel, Scythopolis, Tarichea,
Hippos, Gamala, Bethsaida-Julias, and many other cities and
villages.
149:0.2 Before the departure on this Sunday
morning Andrew and Peter asked Jesus to give the final charge to
the new evangelists, but the Master declined, saying that it was
not his province to do those things which others could acceptably
perform. After due deliberation it was decided that James Zebedee
should administer the charge. At the conclusion of James's remarks
Jesus said to the evangelists: "Go now forth to do the work as you
have been charged, and later on, when you have shown yourselves
competent and faithful, I will ordain you to preach the gospel of
the kingdom."
149:0.3 On this tour only James and John
traveled with Jesus. Peter and the other apostles each took with
them about one dozen of the evangelists and maintained close
contact with them while they carried on their work of preaching
and teaching. As fast as believers were ready to enter the
kingdom, the apostles would administer baptism. Jesus and his two
companions traveled extensively during these three months, often
visiting two cities in one day to observe the work of the
evangelists and to encourage them in their efforts to establish
the kingdom. This entire second preaching tour was principally an
effort to afford practical experience for this corps of 117 newly
trained evangelists.
149:0.4 Throughout this period and subsequently,
up to the time of the final departure of Jesus and the twelve for
Jerusalem, David Zebedee maintained a permanent headquarters for
the work of the kingdom in his father's house at Bethsaida. This
was the clearinghouse for Jesus' work on earth and the relay
station for the messenger service which David carried on between
the workers in various parts of Palestine and adjacent regions. He
did all of this on his own initiative but with the approval of
Andrew. David employed forty to fifty messengers in this
intelligence division of the rapidly enlarging and extending work
of the kingdom. While thus employed, he partially supported
himself by spending some of his time at his old work of fishing.
1. THE WIDESPREAD FAME OF JESUS
149:1.1 By the time the camp at Bethsaida had
been broken up, the fame of Jesus, particularly as a healer, had
spread to all parts of Palestine and through all of Syria and the
surrounding countries. For weeks after they left Bethsaida, the
sick continued to arrive, and when they did not find the Master,
on learning from David where he was, they would go in search of
him. On this tour Jesus did not deliberately perform any so-called
miracles of healing. Nevertheless, scores of afflicted found
restoration of health and happiness as a result of the
reconstructive power of the intense faith which impelled them to
seek for healing.
149:1.2 There began to appear about the time of
this mission -- and continued throughout the remainder of Jesus'
life on earth -- a peculiar and unexplained series of healing
phenomena. In the course of this three months' tour more than one
hundred men, women, and children from Judea, Idumea, Galilee,
Syria, Tyre, and Sidon, and from beyond the Jordan were
beneficiaries of this unconscious healing by Jesus and, returning
to their homes, added to the enlargement of Jesus' fame. And they
did this notwithstanding that Jesus would, every time he observed
one of these cases of spontaneous healing, directly charge the
beneficiary to "tell no man."
149:1.3 It was never revealed to us just what
occurred in these cases of spontaneous or unconscious healing. The
Master never explained to his apostles how these healings were
effected, other than that on several occasions he merely said, "I
perceive that power has gone forth from me." On one occasion he
remarked when touched by an ailing child, "I perceive that life
has gone forth from me."
149:1.4 In the absence of direct word from the
Master regarding the nature of these cases of spontaneous healing,
it would be presuming on our part to undertake to explain how they
were accomplished, but it will be permissible to record our
opinion of all such healing phenomena. We believe that many of
these apparent miracles of healing, as they occurred in the course
of Jesus' earth ministry, were the result of the coexistence of
the following three powerful, potent, and associated influences:
149:1.5 1. The presence of strong, dominant, and
living faith in the heart of the human being who persistently
sought healing, together with the fact that such healing was
desired for its spiritual benefits rather than for purely physical
restoration.
149:1.6 2. The existence, concomitant with such
human faith, of the great sympathy and compassion of the
incarnated and mercy-dominated Creator Son of God, who actually
possessed in his person almost unlimited and timeless creative
healing powers and prerogatives.
149:1.7 3. Along with the faith of the creature
and the life of the Creator it should also be noted that this
God-man was the personified expression of the Father's will. If,
in the contact of the human need and the divine power to meet it,
the Father did not will otherwise, the two became one, and the
healing occurred unconsciously to the human Jesus but was
immediately recognized by his divine nature. The explanation,
then, of many of these cases of healing must be found in a great
law which has long been known to us, namely, What the Creator Son
desires and the eternal Father wills IS.
149:1.8 It is, then, our opinion that, in the
personal presence of Jesus, certain forms of profound human faith
were literally and truly compelling in the manifestation of
healing by certain creative forces and personalities of the
universe who were at that time so intimately associated with the
Son of Man. It therefore becomes a fact of record that Jesus did
frequently suffer men to heal themselves in his presence by their
powerful, personal faith.
149:1.9 Many others sought healing for wholly
selfish purposes. A rich widow of Tyre, with her retinue, came
seeking to be healed of her infirmities, which were many; and as
she followed Jesus about through Galilee, she continued to offer
more and more money, as if the power of God were something to be
purchased by the highest bidder. But never would she become
interested in the gospel of the kingdom; it was only the cure of
her physical ailments that she sought.
2. ATTITUDE OF THE PEOPLE
149:2.1 Jesus understood the minds of men. He
knew what was in the heart of man, and had his teachings been left
as he presented them, the only commentary being the inspired
interpretation afforded by his earth life, all nations and all
religions of the world would speedily have embraced the gospel of
the kingdom. The well-meant efforts of Jesus' early followers to
restate his teachings so as to make them the more acceptable to
certain nations, races, and religions, only resulted in making
such teachings the less acceptable to all other nations, races,
and religions.
149:2.2 The Apostle Paul, in his efforts to
bring the teachings of Jesus to the favorable notice of certain
groups in his day, wrote many letters of instruction and
admonition. Other teachers of Jesus' gospel did likewise, but none
of them realized that some of these writings would subsequently be
brought together by those who would set them forth as the
embodiment of the teachings of Jesus. And so, while so-called
Christianity does contain more of the Master's gospel than any
other religion, it does also contain much that Jesus did not
teach. Aside from the incorporation of many teachings from the
Persian mysteries and much of the Greek philosophy into early
Christianity, two great mistakes were made:
149:2.3 1. The effort to connect the gospel
teaching directly onto the Jewish theology, as illustrated by the
Christian doctrines of the atonement -- the teaching that Jesus
was the sacrificed Son who would satisfy the Father's stern
justice and appease the divine wrath. These teachings originated
in a praiseworthy effort to make the gospel of the kingdom more
acceptable to disbelieving Jews. Though these efforts failed as
far as winning the Jews was concerned, they did not fail to
confuse and alienate many honest souls in all subsequent
generations.
149:2.4 2. The second great blunder of the
Master's early followers, and one which all subsequent generations
have persisted in perpetuating, was to organize the Christian
teaching so completely about the person of Jesus. This
overemphasis of the personality of Jesus in the theology of
Christianity has worked to obscure his teachings, and all of this
has made it increasingly difficult for Jews, Mohammedans, Hindus,
and other Eastern religionists to accept the teachings of Jesus.
We would not belittle the place of the person of Jesus in a
religion which might bear his name, but we would not permit such
consideration to eclipse his inspired life or to supplant his
saving message: the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.
149:2.5 The teachers of the religion of Jesus
should approach other religions with the recognition of the truths
which are held in common (many of which come directly or
indirectly from Jesus' message) while they refrain from placing so
much emphasis on the differences.
149:2.6 While, at that particular time, the fame
of Jesus rested chiefly upon his reputation as a healer, it does
not follow that it continued so to rest. As time passed, more and
more he was sought for spiritual help. But it was the physical
cures that made the most direct and immediate appeal to the common
people. Jesus was increasingly sought by the victims of moral
enslavement and mental harassments, and he invariably taught them
the way of deliverance. Fathers sought his advice regarding the
management of their sons, and mothers came for help in the
guidance of their daughters. Those who sat in darkness came to
him, and he revealed to them the light of life. His ear was ever
open to the sorrows of mankind, and he always helped those who
sought his ministry.
149:2.7 When the Creator himself was on earth,
incarnated in the likeness of mortal flesh, it was inevitable that
some extraordinary things should happen. But you should never
approach Jesus through these so-called miraculous occurrences.
Learn to approach the miracle through Jesus, but do not make the
mistake of approaching Jesus through the miracle. And this
admonition is warranted, notwithstanding that Jesus of Nazareth is
the only founder of a religion who performed supermaterial acts on
earth.
149:2.8 The most astonishing and the most
revolutionary feature of Michael's mission on earth was his
attitude toward women. In a day and generation when a man was not
supposed to salute even his own wife in a public place, Jesus
dared to take women along as teachers of the gospel in connection
with his third tour of Galilee. And he had the consummate courage
to do this in the face of the rabbinic teaching which declared
that it was "better that the words of the law should be burned
than delivered to women."
149:2.9 In one generation Jesus lifted women out
of the disrespectful oblivion and the slavish drudgery of the
ages. And it is the one shameful thing about the religion that
presumed to take Jesus' name that it lacked the moral courage to
follow this noble example in its subsequent attitude toward women.
149:2.10 As Jesus mingled with the people, they
found him entirely free from the superstitions of that day. He was
free from religious prejudices; he was never intolerant. He had
nothing in his heart resembling social antagonism. While he
complied with the good in the religion of his fathers, he did not
hesitate to disregard man-made traditions of superstition and
bondage. He dared to teach that catastrophes of nature, accidents
of time, and other calamitous happenings are not visitations of
divine judgments or mysterious dispensations of Providence. He
denounced slavish devotion to meaningless ceremonials and exposed
the fallacy of materialistic worship. He boldly proclaimed man's
spiritual freedom and dared to teach that mortals of the flesh are
indeed and in truth sons of the living God.
149:2.11 Jesus transcended all the teachings of
his forebears when he boldly substituted clean hearts for clean
hands as the mark of true religion. He put reality in the place of
tradition and swept aside all pretensions of vanity and hypocrisy.
And yet this fearless man of God did not give vent to destructive
criticism or manifest an utter disregard of the religious, social,
economic, and political usages of his day. He was not a militant
revolutionist; he was a progressive evolutionist. He engaged in
the destruction of that which was only when he
simultaneously offered his fellows the superior thing which
ought to be.
149:2.12 Jesus received the obedience of his
followers without exacting it. Only three men who received his
personal call refused to accept the invitation to discipleship. He
exercised a peculiar drawing power over men, but he was not
dictatorial. He commanded confidence, and no man ever resented his
giving a command. He assumed absolute authority over his
disciples, but no one ever objected. He permitted his followers to
call him Master.
149:2.13 The Master was admired by all who met
him except by those who entertained deep-seated religious
prejudices or those who thought they discerned political dangers
in his teachings. Men were astonished at the originality and
authoritativeness of his teaching. They marveled at his patience
in dealing with backward and troublesome inquirers. He inspired
hope and confidence in the hearts of all who came under his
ministry. Only those who had not met him feared him, and he was
hated only by those who regarded him as the champion of that truth
which was destined to overthrow the evil and error which they had
determined to hold in their hearts at all cost.
149:2.14 On both friends and foes he exercised a
strong and peculiarly fascinating influence. Multitudes would
follow him for weeks, just to hear his gracious words and behold
his simple life. Devoted men and women loved Jesus with a
well-nigh superhuman affection. And the better they knew him the
more they loved him. And all this is still true; even today and in
all future ages, the more man comes to know this God-man, the more
he will love and follow after him.
3. HOSTILITY OF THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS
149:3.1 Notwithstanding the favorable reception
of Jesus and his teachings by the common people, the religious
leaders at Jerusalem became increasingly alarmed and antagonistic.
The Pharisees had formulated a systematic and dogmatic theology.
Jesus was a teacher who taught as the occasion served; he was not
a systematic teacher. Jesus taught not so much from the law as
from life, by parables. (And when he employed a parable for
illustrating his message, he designed to utilize just one
feature of the story for that purpose. Many wrong ideas concerning
the teachings of Jesus may be secured by attempting to make
allegories out of his parables.)
149:3.2 The religious leaders at Jerusalem were
becoming well-nigh frantic as a result of the recent conversion of
young Abraham and by the desertion of the three spies who had been
baptized by Peter, and who were now out with the evangelists on
this second preaching tour of Galilee. The Jewish leaders were
increasingly blinded by fear and prejudice, while their hearts
were hardened by the continued rejection of the appealing truths
of the gospel of the kingdom. When men shut off the appeal to the
spirit that dwells within them, there is little that can be done
to modify their attitude.
149:3.3 When Jesus first met with the
evangelists at the Bethsaida camp, in concluding his address, he
said: "You should remember that in body and mind -- emotionally --
men react individually. The only uniform thing about men is
the indwelling spirit. Though divine spirits may vary somewhat in
the nature and extent of their experience, they react uniformly to
all spiritual appeals. Only through, and by appeal to, this spirit
can mankind ever attain unity and brotherhood." But many of the
leaders of the Jews had closed the doors of their hearts to the
spiritual appeal of the gospel. From this day on they ceased not
to plan and plot for the Master's destruction. They were convinced
that Jesus must be apprehended, convicted, and executed as a
religious offender, a violator of the cardinal teachings of the
Jewish sacred law.
4. PROGRESS OF THE PREACHING TOUR
149:4.1 Jesus did very little public work on
this preaching tour, but he conducted many evening classes with
the believers in most of the cities and villages where he chanced
to sojourn with James and John. At one of these evening sessions
one of the younger evangelists asked Jesus a question about anger,
and the Master among other things, said in reply:
149:4.2 "Anger is a material manifestation which
represents, in a general way, the measure of the failure of the
spiritual nature to gain control of the combined intellectual and
physical natures. Anger indicates your lack of tolerant brotherly
love plus your lack of self-respect and self-control. Anger
depletes the health, debases the mind, and handicaps the spirit
teacher of man's soul. Have you not read in the Scriptures that
`wrath kills the foolish man,' and that man `tears himself in his
anger'? That `he who is slow of wrath is of great understanding,'
while `he who is hasty of temper exalts folly'? You all know that
`a soft answer turns away wrath,' and how `grievous words stir up
anger.' `Discretion defers anger,' while `he who has no control
over his own self is like a defenseless city without walls.'
`Wrath is cruel and anger is outrageous.' `Angry men stir up
strife, while the furious multiply their transgressions.' `Be not
hasty in spirit, for anger rests in the bosom of fools.'" Before
Jesus ceased speaking, he said further: "Let your hearts be so
dominated by love that your spirit guide will have little trouble
in delivering you from the tendency to give vent to those
outbursts of animal anger which are inconsistent with the status
of divine sonship."
149:4.3 On this same occasion the Master talked
to the group about the desirability of possessing well-balanced
characters. He recognized that it was necessary for most men to
devote themselves to the mastery of some vocation, but he deplored
all tendency toward overspecialization, toward becoming
narrow-minded and circumscribed in life's activities. He called
attention to the fact that any virtue, if carried to extremes, may
become a vice. Jesus always preached temperance and taught
consistency -- proportionate adjustment of life problems. He
pointed out that overmuch sympathy and pity may degenerate into
serious emotional instability; that enthusiasm may drive on into
fanaticism. He discussed one of their former associates whose
imagination had led him off into visionary and impractical
undertakings. At the same time he warned them against the dangers
of the dullness of overconservative mediocrity.
149:4.4 And then Jesus discoursed on the dangers
of courage and faith, how they sometimes lead unthinking souls on
to recklessness and presumption. He also showed how prudence and
discretion, when carried too far, lead to cowardice and failure.
He exhorted his hearers to strive for originality while they
shunned all tendency toward eccentricity. He pleaded for sympathy
without sentimentality, piety without sanctimoniousness. He taught
reverence free from fear and superstition.
149:4.5 It was not so much what Jesus taught
about the balanced character that impressed his associates as the
fact that his own life was such an eloquent exemplification of his
teaching. He lived in the midst of stress and storm, but he never
wavered. His enemies continually laid snares for him, but they
never entrapped him. The wise and learned endeavored to trip him,
but he did not stumble. They sought to embroil him in debate, but
his answers were always enlightening, dignified, and final. When
he was interrupted in his discourses with multitudinous questions,
his answers were always significant and conclusive. Never did he
resort to ignoble tactics in meeting the continuous pressure of
his enemies, who did not hesitate to employ every sort of false,
unfair, and unrighteous mode of attack upon him.
149:4.6 While it is true that many men and women
must assiduously apply themselves to some definite pursuit as a
livelihood vocation, it is nevertheless wholly desirable that
human beings should cultivate a wide range of cultural familiarity
with life as it is lived on earth. Truly educated persons are not
satisfied with remaining in ignorance of the lives and doings of
their fellows.
5. LESSON REGARDING CONTENTMENT
149:5.1 When Jesus was visiting the group of
evangelists working under the supervision of Simon Zelotes, during
their evening conference Simon asked the Master: "Why are some
persons so much more happy and contented than others? Is
contentment a matter of religious experience?" Among other things,
Jesus said in answer to Simon's question:
149:5.2 "Simon, some persons are naturally more
happy than others. Much, very much, depends upon the willingness
of man to be led and directed by the Father's spirit which lives
within him. Have you not read in the Scriptures the words of the
wise man, `The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching
all the inward parts'? And also that such spirit-led mortals say:
`The lines are fallen to me in pleasant places; yes, I have a
goodly heritage.' `A little that a righteous man has is better
than the riches of many wicked,' for `a good man shall be
satisfied from within himself.' `A merry heart makes a cheerful
countenance and is a continual feast. Better is a little with the
reverence of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith.
Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fatted ox and
hatred therewith. Better is a little with righteousness than great
revenues without rectitude.' `A merry heart does good like a
medicine.' `Better is a handful with composure than a
superabundance with sorrow and vexation of spirit.'
149:5.3 "Much of man's sorrow is born of the
disappointment of his ambitions and the wounding of his pride.
Although men owe a duty to themselves to make the best of their
lives on earth, having thus sincerely exerted themselves, they
should cheerfully accept their lot and exercise ingenuity in
making the most of that which has fallen to their hands. All too
many of man's troubles take origin in the fear soil of his own
natural heart. `The wicked flee when no man pursues.' `The wicked
are like the troubled sea, for it cannot rest, but its waters cast
up mire and dirt; there is no peace, says God, for the wicked.'
149:5.4 "Seek not, then, for false peace and
transient joy but rather for the assurance of faith and the
sureties of divine sonship which yield composure, contentment, and
supreme joy in the spirit."
149:5.5 Jesus hardly regarded this world as a
"vale of tears." He rather looked upon it as the birth sphere of
the eternal and immortal spirits of Paradise ascension, the "vale
of soul making."
6. THE "FEAR OF THE LORD"
149:6.1 It was at Gamala, during the evening
conference, that Philip said to Jesus: "Master, why is it that the
Scriptures instruct us to `fear the Lord,' while you would have us
look to the Father in heaven without fear? How are we to harmonize
these teachings?" And Jesus replied to Philip, saying:
149:6.2 "My children, I am not surprised that
you ask such questions. In the beginning it was only through fear
that man could learn reverence, but I have come to reveal the
Father's love so that you will be attracted to the worship of the
Eternal by the drawing of a son's affectionate recognition and
reciprocation of the Father's profound and perfect love. I would
deliver you from the bondage of driving yourselves through slavish
fear to the irksome service of a jealous and wrathful King-God. I
would instruct you in the Father-son relationship of God and man
so that you may be joyfully led into that sublime and supernal
free worship of a loving, just, and merciful Father-God.
149:6.3 "The `fear of the Lord' has had
different meanings in the successive ages, coming up from fear,
through anguish and dread, to awe and reverence. And now from
reverence I would lead you up, through recognition, realization,
and appreciation, to love. When man recognizes only the
works of God, he is led to fear the Supreme; but when man begins
to understand and experience the personality and character of the
living God, he is led increasingly to love such a good and
perfect, universal and eternal Father. And it is just this
changing of the relation of man to God that constitutes the
mission of the Son of Man on earth.
149:6.4 "Intelligent children do not fear their
father in order that they may receive good gifts from his hand;
but having already received the abundance of good things bestowed
by the dictates of the father's affection for his sons and
daughters, these much loved children are led to love their father
in responsive recognition and appreciation of such munificent
beneficence. The goodness of God leads to repentance; the
beneficence of God leads to service; the mercy of God leads to
salvation; while the love of God leads to intelligent and
freehearted worship.
149:6.5 "Your forebears feared God because he
was mighty and mysterious. You shall adore him because he is
magnificent in love, plenteous in mercy, and glorious in truth.
The power of God engenders fear in the heart of man, but the
nobility and righteousness of his personality beget reverence,
love, and willing worship. A dutiful and affectionate son does not
fear or dread even a mighty and noble father. I have come into the
world to put love in the place of fear, joy in the place of
sorrow, confidence in the place of dread, loving service and
appreciative worship in the place of slavish bondage and
meaningless ceremonies. But it is still true of those who sit in
darkness that `the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.'
But when the light has more fully come, the sons of God are led to
praise the Infinite for what he is rather than to fear him
for what he does.
149:6.6 "When children are young and unthinking,
they must necessarily be admonished to honor their parents; but
when they grow older and become somewhat more appreciative of the
benefits of the parental ministry and protection, they are led up,
through understanding respect and increasing affection, to that
level of experience where they actually love their parents for
what they are more than for what they have done. The father
naturally loves his child, but the child must develop his love for
the father from the fear of what the father can do, through awe,
dread, dependence, and reverence, to the appreciative and
affectionate regard of love.
149:6.7 "You have been taught that you should
`fear God and keep his commandments, for that is the whole duty of
man.' But I have come to give you a new and higher commandment. I
would teach you to `love God and learn to do his will, for that is
the highest privilege of the liberated sons of God.' Your fathers
were taught to `fear God -- the Almighty King.' I teach you, `Love
God -- the all-merciful Father.'
149:6.8 "In the kingdom of heaven, which I have
come to declare, there is no high and mighty king; this kingdom is
a divine family. The universally recognized and unreservedly
worshiped center and head of this far-flung brotherhood of
intelligent beings is my Father and your Father. I am his Son, and
you are also his sons. Therefore it is eternally true that you and
I are brethren in the heavenly estate, and all the more so since
we have become brethren in the flesh of the earthly life. Cease,
then, to fear God as a king or serve him as a master; learn to
reverence him as the Creator; honor him as the Father of your
spirit youth; love him as a merciful defender; and ultimately
worship him as the loving and all-wise Father of your more mature
spiritual realization and appreciation.
149:6.9 "Out of your wrong concepts of the
Father in heaven grow your false ideas of humility and springs
much of your hypocrisy. Man may be a worm of the dust by nature
and origin, but when he becomes indwelt by my Father's spirit,
that man becomes divine in his destiny. The bestowal spirit of my
Father will surely return to the divine source and universe level
of origin, and the human soul of mortal man which shall have
become the reborn child of this indwelling spirit shall certainly
ascend with the divine spirit to the very presence of the eternal
Father.
149:6.10 "Humility, indeed, becomes mortal man
who receives all these gifts from the Father in heaven, albeit
there is a divine dignity attached to all such faith candidates
for the eternal ascent of the heavenly kingdom. The meaningless
and menial practices of an ostentatious and false humility are
incompatible with the appreciation of the source of your salvation
and the recognition of the destiny of your spirit-born souls.
Humility before God is altogether appropriate in the depths of
your hearts; meekness before men is commendable; but the hypocrisy
of self-conscious and attention-craving humility is childish and
unworthy of the enlightened sons of the kingdom.
149:6.11 "You do well to be meek before God and
self-controlled before men, but let your meekness be of spiritual
origin and not the self-deceptive display of a self-conscious
sense of self-righteous superiority. The prophet spoke advisedly
when he said, `Walk humbly with God,' for, while the Father in
heaven is the Infinite and the Eternal, he also dwells `with him
who is of a contrite mind and a humble spirit.' My Father disdains
pride, loathes hypocrisy, and abhors iniquity. And it was to
emphasize the value of sincerity and perfect trust in the loving
support and faithful guidance of the heavenly Father that I have
so often referred to the little child as illustrative of the
attitude of mind and the response of spirit which are so essential
to the entrance of mortal man into the spirit realities of the
kingdom of heaven.
149:6.12
"Well did the Prophet Jeremiah describe many mortals when he said:
`You are near God in the mouth but far from him in the heart.' And
have you not also read that direful warning of the prophet who
said: `The priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets
thereof divine for money. At the same time they profess piety and
proclaim that the Lord is with them.' Have you not been well
warned against those who `speak peace to their neighbors when
mischief is in their hearts,' those who `flatter with the lips
while the heart is given to double-dealing'? Of all the sorrows of
a trusting man, none are so terrible as to be `wounded in the
house of a trusted friend.'"
7. RETURNING TO BETHSAIDA
149:7.1 Andrew, in consultation with Simon Peter
and with the approval of Jesus, had instructed David at Bethsaida
to dispatch messengers to the various preaching groups with
instructions to terminate the tour and return to Bethsaida some
time on Thursday, December 30. By supper time on that rainy day
all of the apostolic party and the teaching evangelists had
arrived at the Zebedee home.
149:7.2 The group remained together over the
Sabbath day, being accommodated in the homes of Bethsaida and
near-by Capernaum, after which the entire party was granted a two
weeks' recess to go home to their families, visit their friends,
or go fishing. The two or three days they were together in
Bethsaida were, indeed, exhilarating and inspiring; even the older
teachers were edified by the young preachers as they narrated
their experiences.
149:7.3 Of the 117 evangelists who participated
in this second preaching tour of Galilee, only about seventy-five
survived the test of actual experience and were on hand to be
assigned to service at the end of the two weeks' recess. Jesus,
with Andrew, Peter, James, and John, remained at the Zebedee home
and spent much time in conference regarding the welfare and
extension of the kingdom.
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