Cayce: Parallels to Biblical Prophecy
The following passages from the Edgar Cayce readings center on the Day
of the Lord and profess a pre-millennial return of Jesus, as clearly
stated in this first example. This position states that what we
commonly refer to as the "second coming" of Christ, Jesus' return, will
occur prior to the thousand years of peace. Further, this passage
appears to support a post-tribulation rapture view, since those whom he
will "receive", those who will be "caught up" to rule with Christ, do
this at his second coming, not before. Jesus then begins the thousand
years as Lord
and king.
Reading 364-7 given April 5, 1932
Then, as that coming into the world in the second coming -
for
He will come again and receive
His own, who have prepared themselves
through
that belief in Him and acting in that manner; for the SPIRIT is abroad,
and the time draws near, and there will be the reckoning of those even
as in the first so in the last, and the last shall be first; for there
is that Spirit abroad - He standeth near. He that hath eyes to see, let
him see. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear that music of the
coming
of the Lord of this vineyard, and art THOU ready to give account of
that
THOU hast done with thine opportunity in the earth as the Sons of God,
as the heirs and joint heirs of glory WITH the Son? Then make thine
paths
straight, for there must come an answering for that THOU hast done with
thine Lord! He will not tarry, for having overcome He shall appear even
AS the Lord AND Master. Not as one born, but as one that returneth to
His
own, for He will walk and talk with men of every clime, and those that
are faithful and just in their reckoning shall be caught up
with
Him to rule and to do JUDGEMENT for a thousand years!
Reading 5749-2 given June 28, 1932
17 (Q) He said He would come again. What about His second
coming?
(A) The time no one knows. Even as He gave, not even the Son Himself.
ONLY
the Father. Not until His enemies - and the earth - are wholly in
subjection
to His will, His powers.
18 (Q) Are we entering the period of preparation for His coming?
(A) Entering the test period, rather.
19. (Q) Any message to the group gathered here?
(A) In that ye seek to know the manner of preparation of Him that
would be your guide, seek also to prepare YOURSELVES to be His subjects
with that same diligence as that which has prompted the seeking here.
In the next passage we have a direct and succinct
answer as
to the signs of the approaching day of the Lord. The answer basically
frames three
levels
of understanding as to the time: the Day, the Generation, and the “time
and
half-time”. This is the same three levels presented in “God’s Master
Plan of
7,000 Years” developed from the Bible and shows the biblical depth
in Cayce's message.
The “Day” is the
“day of the Lord” and implies the whole
7,000 years with emphasis on the Day of Judgment ushering in the age of
peace.
The generation is presumably that referred to by Jesus, the generation
that
shall not pass away before the day of the Lord is seen. Jesus said it
begins
when we see the fig tree put forth
its
leaves again. Since the fig tree is a biblical symbol for Israel, many
interpret this as the time when Israel was resurrected in 1948.
Finally there is the “time - and half time”. In
two other
places in the readings, Cayce refers to the “time, times and half
time”,
a term
used in Revelation but originally defined in the book of Daniel. It is
the
period of time that the Antichrist reigns and persecutes the faithful.
The term
“time and half time” is never used in the Bible yet it is a very clever
twist
of the biblical term and appears to refer to all of Daniel’s 70th
week and half of it, the second half, which is the time of the
Antichrist. By
using the biblical terms this way, Spirit through Cayce makes a very
eloquent
reference to Daniel’s 70th week, which is the
focus of the
answer. It is also the next sign for which the faithful should be
keeping
watch. The reference to "has been" fulfilled in this context would be
the first 69 weeks of the prophecy and the "is being" fulfilled would
be the steps leading up to fulfillment of the final week.
Reading 262-49 given July 9, 1933
6 (Q) What is meant by "the day of the Lord is near at
hand"? [See 262-47, Par. 21-A.]
(A) That as has been promised through the prophets and the sages of
old, the time - and half time - has been and is being fulfilled
in
this day and generation, and that soon there will again
appear
in the earth that one through whom many will be called to meet those
that
are preparing the way for His day in the earth. The Lord, then, will
come,
"even as ye have seen him go".
7 (Q) How soon?
(A) When those that are His have made the way clear, PASSABLE, for Him
to come. ...
10 (Q) Is there a message for the group as a whole at this time?
(A) So let thine own light shine in such a manner as may hasten the day
of the Lord.
Again, Cayce makes clear that the timing of the
events
depend upon us, or rather on those who belong to him, those who have
committed
their lives to him, to live the way of Christ and thereby prepare the
way for
his return, to prepare for the time when the veil hiding the
spiritual realm
is dissolved in a single moment and Christ and the heavenly host is
revealed
for all the world to see.
This passage
of making the way “clear” and “passable”
moves me to think of the passage in Revelation 7:1-3 which states the
angels
are not to let the winds of tribulation blow until the most faithful
servants
of God, the 144,000, are ready to receive His seal. The events of the
tribulation
won’t be
let loose until those who are his are ready and prepared to witness on
his
behalf and anchor the energy that will pierce the veil. In order for
Jesus to establish his government on Earth, he will need the faithful
who will implement this government by living the way of Christ.
Yet there is a time that is set because there is a time that only
the Father knows. For the Creator knows when the 144,000 will be ready
to answer His call and thereby the next point to set things in motion
so that events fit His calendar and purposes.
The next passage emphasizes that the return will be physical. It is
not just a spiritual event. When Jesus returns in body, he will rule
for 1,000 years.
Reading 5749-4 given Aug. 6, 1933
12 (Q) Is Jesus the Christ on any particular sphere or is He
manifesting
on the earth plane in another body?
(A) As just given, all power in heaven, in earth, is given to Him who
overcame.
Hence He is of Himself in space, in the force that impels through
faith,
through belief, in the individual entity. As a Spirit Entity. Hence not
in a body in the earth, but may come at will to him who WILLS to be one
with, and acts in love to make same possible.
For, He shall come as ye have seen Him go, in the BODY He occupied in Galilee. The body that He formed, that was crucified on the cross, that rose from the tomb, that walked by the sea, that appeared to Simon, that appeared to Philip, that appeared to "I, even John." ...
15 (Q) When Jesus the Christ comes the second time, will He set up
His
kingdom on earth and will it be an everlasting kingdom?
(A) Read His promises in that ye have written of His words, even as "I
gave". He shall rule for a thousand years. Then shall Satan
be loosed again for a season.
Reading 3976-15 given Jan. 19, 1934
And, as there is the wavering of those that would enter as emissaries, as teachers, from the throne of life, the throne of light, the throne of immortality, and wage war in the air with those of darkness, then know ye the Armageddon is at hand. For with the great numbers of the gathering of the hosts of those that have hindered and would make for man and his weaknesses stumblingblocks, they shall wage war with the spirits of light that come into the earth for this awakening; that have been and are being called by those of the sons of men into the service of the living God. For He, as ye have been told, is not the God of the dead, not the God of those that have forsaken Him, but those that love His coming, that love His associations among men - the God of the LIVING, the God of Life! For, He IS Life.
If it is one's desire to hasten the day of the Lord, then one should do the will of the Father. One should do those things that will manifest God's love in this world.
7. (Q) [993]: For some time I have been thinking
continually about the coming of the Kingdom on earth and His coming.
Has it any bearing upon the lesson? Please give me more light
upon the Kingdom and His coming.
(A) How long has been the cry of those that have manifested in
the earth the glory of the Father through the Son, "Hasten, O Lord, the
day of thy kingdom in the earth!" How have the promises read that
the Son has given? "I go to prepare a place that where I am there
ye may be also. I will come again and receive you unto
myself." Then, as the individual heart attunes its mind and its
body-activity into that consciousness of the desire for the hastening
of that day. Yet the merciful kindness of the Father has, in the
eyes of many, delayed the coming, and many have cried even as the
parable He gave, "We know not what has become of this man. Show
us other gods that may lead us in this day." Yet the cry in the
heart and the soul of those that seek His way is to hasten that
day. Yet, as He has given, in patience, in listening, in being
still, may ye know that the Lord doeth all things well. Be not
weary that He apparently prolongs His time, for - as the Master has
given, "As to the day, no man knoweth, not even the son, but the Father
and they to whom the Father may reveal the Son prepareth the way that
all men may know the love of the Father." And as ye would be the
channel to hasten that
glorious day of the coming of the Lord,
then do
with a might that thy hands find to do to make for the greater
manifestations of the love of the Father in the earth. For, into
thy keeping, and to His children and to His sons, has He committed the
keeping of the saving of the world, of the souls of men; for, as He has
given, "Who is my mother? Who is my brother? Who is my
sister?" They that do the will of my Father who is in heaven, the
same is my mother, my brother, my sister." So, as He gave, "I
leave thee, but I will come again and receive
as many as ye have
quickened through the manifesting in thy life the will of the Father in
the earth." Hence know that, as thine mind, thine activities,
long more and more for the glorifying of the Son in the earth, for the coming
of the day of the Lord, He draws very nigh unto thee.
The next reading is for Edgar Cayce. He was asking Spirit about understanding his abilities and how to develop them further. He is told that it is the activity of service for others that brings same. He also asks about two dreams. The first occurs after the second coming but makes reference to the time of trial that had passed by using Daniel’s term, “time, times and half time”. The final dream is back in the present and makes reference to the same time of trouble that the earth must pass through with a message to be strong in the promises of God.
3. Oft there is confusion in the minds of those that may seek or
may study, in that there is the lack of understanding that psychic IS
of the SOUL; whether of groups
or whether of individuals that manifest
in any given experience.
5. As the experiences of the entity Edgar Cayce (now called) in
the earth's plane in the varied activities have been ... in the most
part for a universal service, or the thought of the others rather than
self, these abilities arise above ...
6. ... Yet when earthly-mindedness, that of self is laid
aside, through the submerging of the physical consciousness and desire,
it is then ... As has been given, "to be absent from the body is
to be present with the Lord." ...
7. ... If the seeker seeks for that which is for self and not for the help, the cheer, the aid for others, this becomes - as the law - a stumblingblock in the experience; and thus confusion arises even in the EXPERIENCE of the entity attempting to aid.
8. For when physical consciousness again controls the experience,
there is the suggestion, the desire on the part of self - or of selfish
individuals who may seek - to belittle or to find fault, or to cause or
to produce that which IS confusion in the experiences of others.
9. The abilities of this entity, then, arise from those
experiences when the ego, the self, was submerged in a service for the
fellow man. ... and there are the fulfillments in the experience to
that voice
from within and that meeting constantly within the temples of the
physical forces where there has been the consecrating of self for
service, there comes that growth that may be more and more
helpful. But keep the faith!
19. (Q) Interpret and explain the dream which Edgar Cayce
has on March 3, 1936 in which he was born again over two hundred years
in the future and traveled to various sections of this country where
records of Edgar Cayce could be found.
(A) ... Be not unmindful that He is nigh unto thee in every trial,
in
every temptation, and hath not willed that thou shouldest perish. Make
thy will then one with His. Be not afraid.
That is the interpretation. That the periods ... as visioned
are to come to pass matters not to the soul, but do thy duty
TODAY! TOMORROW will care for itself.
These changes in the earth will come to pass, for the time and times and half times are at
an end, and there begin those periods for the readjustments. For
how hath He given? "The righteous shall inherit the earth." ...
20. (Q) Interpret the conscious experience which Edgar Cayce
recently had of seeing a chariot and man in armor?
... Be faithful through those periods of oppression, as well as
those periods that would soon come when the MATERIAL things of life
would be as plenteous in thine experience. But keep the whole
armor of the Lord that ye may stand even as He in that day when
temptations of every nature, when
trials of every sort, come upon thee
and thy fellow man.
Cayce has given us great insight into the personal level of meaning in the book of Revelation. This is the level of the microcosm. Cayce also addresses the traditional macrocosm view, as shown in this example. For Revelation is a book about spiritual development on more than one level, a guide for any person in any lifetime and also for the time when we all develop together in a single lifetime.
11. (Q) What is meant by the mark of the beast in the right hand,
or forehead?
(A) These are as signs or symbols of this or that grouping, or of
the organizations that become as a part of the vows or obligations to those who
have joined in with the work of the beast.
Hence the warning that if these come to mean more in the
experience they stand as that which condemns, rather than that which is
the helpful experience.
For having the mark of the beast
and the mark of the Lamb
becomes the difference between the consciousness of the indwelling
presence of the Christ and the hoped for yet not seen or known.
In this next reading Cayce reviews several lifetimes for the client,
called the entity. This includes a life as one of the first priests to
minister to the people of Israel in the tabernacle in the wilderness.
In a later lifetime, after the temple is built then destroyed, he
is involved in the effort to rebuilt the temple
and city of Jerusalem following a decree issued by Artaxerxes in 444
BC.
A primary concern were the walls to protect the
city. This person worked under Nehemiah during the fulfillment of the
start of the first 69 weeks of Daniel’s 70 weeks prophecy. I find it
no coincidence that Spirit choose this setting to speak through Cayce
about the time of the Antichrist using Daniel’s terms: “time, times and
half time”. To deliver this message about future fulfillment with a
reading for a lifetime at the start of the fulfillment of this very
same prophecy emphasizes the whole context of the 70 weeks prophecy -
meeting God in the temple. For those who recognize the biblical terms,
it is a clear
sign of the relevance of the 70th week to the day of the
Lord.
3. In giving ... that as we find which would be ... helpful and
beneficial to the entity in the application of self in the present
experience, we would analyze for the ... appearances in the earth - and
that manner in which the entity applied self or failed in the
experience;
5. But first let's begin with that premise from which there is a reasoning ... all must answer to a something within - ...
6. Each soul as it has entered and does enter into material
manifestation is to fulfil a purpose, with the Creative Forces or
God. For He hath not willed that any soul should perish, but hath
with every temptation, every fault, prepared a way, a manner, an
opportunity for the entity to become as one with Him.
10. The entity was among those first who ... came into
consciousness ...
11. Thence we find the entity passing through those experiences,
becoming rather aware, with ... Noah.
12. Then we find the experience as the priest the entity became
among the first to minister in the tabernacle in the wilderness.
And there we find the entity as it were was persuaded into the offering
of strange fires upon the alters. ...
13... The strange fire then is rather that ye overstepped thy bonds and
bounds in entering before thy day was called.
14. But know that today ... He has called that if ye will but put
thy trust alone in Him, He will lift thee up. ... For though the
heavens and the earth pass away, His promises to thee - AS the son of
Aaron - will NOT pass from thee, ...
15. Hence the activity that the entity is called to do in the
present; not as a priest that is called apart, but rather as He gave in
those days, "the time and times and a
half times shall pass, and THEN shall man come to know that in
the temple, in the tabernacle of his OWN temple will he meet his God
face to face!"
16. That experience {as Levitical Priest} was countenanced, as it
were, or a portion of the experience of the entity just before that -
when in the Egyptian land the entity was as the aide to the Priest, -
yea, the defender even in the exile. ...
19. Arouse, ye people then of Levi! Harken to the voice of
thy fathers! Hate not those precepts that have brought to thee
the awareness of the needs of thy turning to the ways of thy God, but
rather let the Lord thy God have His way with thee.
20. Again we see a portion of the activities of the entity, the
soul, as it sought expression again in the rebuilding, the rehabitation
of a destroyed purpose, a destroyed ideal; when there had come, as by word of mouth, that
there ... again ... must be established
in Jerusalem a house, yea, the
rebuilding of the walls and the reestablishing. There we find
the entity was as the scribe to the teacher, the leader [Ezekiel]
during those experiences. Hence we find that the priest of the
day, yea the warrior Nehemiah,
yea the priest or scribe Ezre, all were a part of the activities of the
entity.
22. These become again then a part of the entity's activities in
the present sojourn. For it is to put as it were the words into
the mouth of those that are downcast, to those that are gone astray ...
23. This is the message ye must put into the hearts and minds of
those who have become afraid because of the edicts of those in
power. But there is no power given except it is lent of the Lord!
... For thou art among those that have, even in thy faulty ways, shown
the way to the understanding; and in thus doing ye may walk again in
the pathways that are straight, in those ways and standings that will
bring to thy experiences the knowledge that God IS in His holy temple, let all the earth keep
silent - and He will bring it to pass! For it is His promise unto the
sons of thy fathers and unto thee!
26. For as ye have chosen and have come into a land that is the
home of the free, the home of the brave, where man may worship
according to the dictates of his own conscience, and every man stands
before God as an entity, recognizing that each is His child and is to
fulfil those purposes for which there was GIVEN the opportunity of a
body that it might be used unto the glory of the Creator, ...
31. What will ye make the harvest? What seed will ye sow?
32. Will ye put word by word, line upon line, precept upon
precept, here a little, there a little, a reminder to all that they
alone who love the Lord and His ways and His precepts SHALL
succeed? whether they be in the position of affluence, in
authority, or as the servant? They alone shall succeed, now or
hereafter!
33. For the way ye know, and the truth ye have seen. The
truth needs NO verification, but thy glorification in thy life, thy
heart, thy manner of dealing with thy fellow man.
15. Then, today, we are to answer within our individual consciousness, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Not "What does the world owe me?" but "What contribution can I, as an individual soul seeking God, seeking to know His face, make that may hasten the day of the Lord?"
What is needed most in the earth today? That the sons of men be
warned
that the day of the Lord is
near at hand, and that those who
have
been and are unfaithful must meet
themselves in those things which come
to pass in their experience.
Perhaps it may be too general a statement, but it seems a popular
view in the New Age arena to believe that the age of peace will come
about gradually by enough people manifesting the Christ consciousness
over time. In eschatology, this view is traditionally known as a
post-millennial view of the second coming, with the understanding that
Christ would manifest at the end of the thousand years.
It is my opinion that this is neither the biblical view nor the view
found in the Cayce readings. Both sources speak of the critical aspect
of man’s desire and will to manifest the way of Christ. Both also speak
of a sudden point in time when the veil hiding the spiritual realm will
dissolve and Jesus Christ and the heavenly host will be visible to all.
This view of how the new age begins is the pre-millennial return of
Christ.
Further, I believe the Cayce readings espouse a post-tribulation
rapture and speak of the
relevance of Daniel's prophecy of the 70th
week to the
coming of the day of the Lord. (Unfortunately the ARE, the Association
for Research and Enlightenment,
the organization founded by Edgar Cayce, no longer promotes this view
of his prophecies.) For those who love the Bible, the next
sign we should be watching for is the "time - and half time", NOT the
rapture as many others who
claim to know the Bible would insist.
The Bible and Cayce’s view of the dawning of the age of peace is one of
facing responsibility and partnership with the Creator. If enough
people
focus on mastering themselves to the point of manifesting the love of
Christ, then Christ will manifest and take care of the big picture by
removing the tyranny of the Antichrist and establishing a righteous
government. Then all will see and experience the manifestation of the
age of peace.
©1997, 2007 Collins Hamblen