Poor Brother Donkey

As you know by now, the New Testament is only the fulfillment of the Old. So the central figure in the New Testament makes the claim, “I have come only to fulfill Scripture.” And the only Scripture known at the time was the Old Testament. So the passage of the Old Testament concerning this donkey, you read in the ninth chapter, the ninth verse of Zechariah. The word Zechariah means “Jehovah Remembered.” And the passage is this: “Lo, your king is coming, triumphant and victorious is he, humble and sitting on an ass.”

Now, in the New Testament, in the twelfth chapter of John, it is written, “Jesus found a young ass and sat on it. As it is written, Behold, now in the New Testament, your king is coming, sitting on a ass.” Well, that was the music that brought him in. Are you all ready now? Well, I hope it didn’t disturb your thoughts.

When you make a mental picture of this, you think of a donkey, don’t you? And year after year, in the great pageantry of the Christian faith, here is the donkey. And from the pulpit, we are told that the Lord came riding into Jerusalem triumphantly. And they spread all the palm leaves before him. And he came triumphantly and victoriously into Jerusalem, riding on an ass.

Tonight, I will show you what the ass is. Francis of Assisi, they call him now Saint Francis. He was not a theologian. He was a very rich, handsome, young man. And he had a vision. And the vision changed his life completely. Those who are changed by a vision must walk by faith. To the mile of doubt, he so believed in the vision, that he took the bulk of it and gave up all of his wealth, including the clothes that he was wearing and stood in the nude.

The bishop of Assisi gave him a prop to cover his nakedness. He died at the age of 43, and he believed his austere life was the cause of that short life. I do not go along with that, for I go along with Scripture. There is a season for everything—a time to be born, and a time to die. A time to laugh, and a time to cry.

Forty-three years was enough for the work he came to do. But on his deathbed, he asks forgiveness of poor brother donkey, my body, for all the hardship which I caused it to suffer. The donkey is the body that you are wearing. Scripture tells us when you find it, it’s a wild ass of a man. It’s into the words of the 16th chapter of Genesis. And the angel of the Lord said unto Hagar, “I will so multiply your descendants that they cannot be counted for multitude, and you shall bear a son. He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against every man, and every man’s hand against him.”

It’s a man. And when you, the individual self, descend, for you are the son of God—we are the sons of God who came down into this world of death—and we penetrated these bodies and annexed their brains. And then we had to actually confront all the vicissitudes of this annexation. We took upon ourselves these wild asses, these bodies, with all of the passions of the body, all of the weaknesses of the body. This is the only ass on which the king rides.

Behold, your king is coming. He’s in you now. It is the Lord, and his name forever and forever is I Am. He has no other name. That’s the Lord’s name. And he’s riding this animal. He has to ride it until it becomes humble. In the Bible, meek means not to grovel on the floor, but to become self-disciplined.

Possibly the most important and the most difficult thing in the world for man to become, is a gentleman. You may become a dictator, a king, or a queen. Hitler was a dictator. Stalin was a dictator. In my book, they were not gentlemen. The most difficult thing in the world for a man is to become a gentleman. And for a woman, to become a lady. I know nothing more difficult in the world.

And that’s what the book means by meekness: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” That is the humble person. Not groveling, no. Your head high, for you know who you are. You know who the king is. You know where he dwells. And he dwells not in space or in time, he dwells in you, as your own wonderful human imagination. And you’re ever on guard as to the use of this being that you are, which is your own wonderful human imagination, your consciousness.

So here he is coming, and he is humble, but he is victorious. He is triumphant as he comes riding on an ass. So when Francis asks forgiveness of poor brother donkey, and then he states it quite clearly, “My body, for all the hardships I had caused it to suffer.” How could you spare any clearer? and more beautiful than he did. It was his body. He denied his body the warmth it needed. He stood in the nude and was told by the bishop.

He would not eat what the body needed. The body needed to be clothed properly, to be sheltered, and to be fed properly. And he thought the denial of these things would make him closer to God. No, you aren’t closer to God by denying the body these things—the essentials of life. And today we have all kinds of cults in the world concerning diet. We are warned in scripture, “Food will not commend you to God. You’re no worse off if you do eat, and no better if you don’t.”

It is not food. It’s simply taking this body of yours with all the passions of the body and bringing it under control. Actually controlling the body. But you don’t deny it its normal, natural, essential things in this world. As Francis did. But he learned a great lesson. And you and I can learn the lesson from him. Most of us have indulged alright. You can only learn by possibly overdoing something, as he did it in the other direction.

But the donkey spoken of in scripture is the body that you are wearing. This is the coat of an ass, the young ass. You penetrated it, and you annexed the brain. And then from then on, you aren’t pretending that you’re a man. You really are the son of God. But you aren’t pretending that you’re a man. You’re so identified with it, it’s become a temporary portion of your soul. As Blake said, “Man has no body distinct from his soul. That cold body is a portion of the soul discerned by the five senses in this age.”

So this is now a temporary part of the soul. It’s only temporary. But while we wear it, it is actually the soul. It’s not something aside from you. You feed it, clothe it as yourself. I said I’m going to take some food. I’m going to take a drink. I’m going to buy a suit and wear it. I’m speaking of myself, the body, but I am wearing it and I’m eating. I’m doing all these things until the day will come when I will take it off for the last time. I don’t take it off in death. I am instantly restored to a body just like this, only young.

When I say young, I don’t mean an infant. I mean young, about 20. And here I find myself in a world just like this, with all the problems that I thought I would leave behind, just like this. And I go through life as I go through it here, learning my lessons and still trying to overcome and bring this body into subjection. I make it obey me. I make it certain that I can ride it, as I will ride the ass, the donkey.

In time, I will take it off for the last time, and then I will ascend to where I was prior to my descent. But when I go back, I am not the son of God. I am God himself. He came down for that purpose. We are the sons. Collectively, we make Christ. The word Elohim is plural. It means God. “Let us make man in our image.” In the likeness of God, may he live. So the son came down. And he has put a bound. He has put a limit. I’ll leave it to the peoples of the earth, according to the number of the sons of God, as you read in the 32nd chapter, the 8th verse of Deuteronomy. He’s put bounds to the people, according to the number of the sons of God. Although the promise to Hagar was that she could not number her descendants, for multitude, nevertheless, it’s still a number. They cannot exceed the sons of God. For if God’s son did not penetrate the body and annex the brain, the body couldn’t live. The body couldn’t breathe. That is the breath of God, the very spirit of God, when you say, I am.

And so when the work is completed, and what is the work, it transforms you into God the Father. For the body of God is a living form, a transforming form, and through union with him, he fashions us into the image of himself, who is God the Father. So his name forever is I, and so he came down, and for reasons which I think one, as you dwell upon it, to begin to grasp. You took the limit of contraction upon you when you became man. Having worn it for a while, you will break it in vain, and then you will ascend into expansion. It’s a constant contraction and expansion. Contraction and expansion.

And so the day will come that your consciousness will expand beyond anything known to mortal man. And that expansion will take you into the actual being that you and I call God the Father. You are awakened one day to know you are God the Father. They said of him, “Are you a king?” He said, “You say that I am. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world.”

Now read these words in the 34th chapter of Ezekiel. “David shall be their prince. David shall be prince among them. I, the Lord, have sworn it.” David shall be prince among them. I, the Lord, have sworn it. If he’s a prince, then his father is a king. David called him, “My Lord.” He called him, “My Father.” I tell you from my own experience, the day will come, you will know that you are David’s father. He will stand before you, and you will know without any uncertainty, you’re looking into the face of your son. And he is your son, and he knows you are his father. You are the Jesse spoken of. A Jesse simply means “Jehovah exists.” You will know that God does exist, for he is the father of David. David being the sum total of humanity.

Having played all the parts that man is capable of playing, you will awaken—awaken from the dream of life. And you will encounter your son. And your son, only your son, can reveal to you who you are. And that son is David. And you are God the Father. Do you not yet know it? But I tell you, you will know it. And I am not theorizing. I am not speculating. I am telling you what I know from experience. David is not of the flesh. God is spirit, his son is spirit. The whole drama is a supernatural drama. It did not take place here in this world of flesh.

So let me quote now Paul’s letter to the Galatians. “And Abraham had two sons, one by a slave, born according to the flesh, and one by a free woman born through a promise. The children of the slave are in slavery with her. The child of the free woman is born of new Jerusalem, Jerusalem above. She is our mother.” Everything from the womb of woman. Is the child born into slavery, and the womb of a woman in scripture is Hagar. He tells you this is an allegory. Like a parable, it’s a story told as if it were true, leaving you who hears the story to discover its fictitious character and then extract its true meaning.

So he tells you the story of Abraham is an allegory. He had two sons. One by a slave, Hagar, and then one by a free woman, who was Sarah. And the one by the slave, bore children into slavery. More than you could number. Look at the people of the world. Three billion plus. And then the one by the free woman, she only bore one. Only one son.

So that your son is my son, and our son will be every person’s son who awakes, that will prove to us the unity of life. If my son David is your son, then you and I are one. So hear, O Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one. There can only be one God, the Father. And therefore, one son. But God the Father became fragmented into the unnumbered sons, as became God into this world of death.

He will return, individualized, no loss of identity. And yet, wearing the form of God the Father. And we will go back knowing we are one. Yet, I will know you as my friend, and individualize as you are, but I will see you in the form of God the Father. I know you, still know you, as my friend. So here is the mystery of scripture. It’s not secular history. Man insists on reading it as secular history, and it is not. It is completely supernatural. The whole thing is a vision. A delightful, glorious vision. A vision that cannot be logically proved to anyone.

I can prove things of earth, but I cannot prove these things of scripture. I have experienced scripture, and I can share my experience with you, but I cannot prove it as I could things of earth. So here we are told, the two sons: one is of the flesh. And it makes a man a slave, and the other sets the man free. When he brings into birth the other one, called the Christ. Now listen to these words in the third chapter of Galatians: “And the promise is made unto Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say offspring, referring to many, but to one. And to your offspring, which be Christ.”

I quote it accurately from the 16th verse of the third chapter of Galatians. The Christ is the offspring of David, of Abraham. Abraham is the father of the multitude. We are all the descendants of the multitude. But a true Israelite is not a descendant of Abraham after the flesh, but the elect of God of any race or nation. We are called, one by one, are incorporated into the one body, who is the Father and God of all. And that incorporation into that body, that body becomes our body. And he in whom I am incorporated is the Father of David. And therefore then, David is my son.

So I will tell of the decree of the Lord. He said unto me, “Thou art my son. Today I have begotten thee.” And so David finds him. And David cries unto him, “Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.” Now we are told David hides in us. The day will come. You will expand to the point where it can explode, and David is released, and as he’s released, he stands before you. And here, you’re looking now at the mystery of mysteries. God kept his promise. It is his purpose to give himself to us, his sons, as though there were no others in the world—just you and God’s son.

And God’s son is David. And so when you look into the face of the son of God, and know him to be your son, then you know who you are. There’s no other way you’ll ever know. I could tell you from now to the ends of time that you’re God. You won’t believe it. Not really. But you will have to the day it happens to you. When it happens to you, there is no doubt, and no argument in the world, but to persuade you that you are dreaming, or that it’s some strange hallucination. It is simply a vision that you cannot let go.

So the man who is changed by vision must walk then by faith through the mile of doubt. And so he is faithful to the vision in times of trouble. It doesn’t matter what happens into the world. You know what happened to you, and it sustains you through everything in this world. So the donkey spoken of, that acts, but every year, year after year, in the Christian faith, we dramatize it. And yet, the ass is the body that you wear. That is where the king is riding. And he’s riding in triumphantly into Jerusalem.

But the Jerusalem above, and the Jerusalem above is free and she is our mother… Now, we are told in scripture, Zion, Jerusalem, City of David, Bethlehem, are synonymous terms. In the 87th Psalm, you will read: “Zion, and in Zion it is said, This one and that one were born in her. And that one was born there, and all these are recorded, for the Lord recalls his people and registers his people.”

Every one that is called, and we are called one by one to be born out of Zion. And Zion is not in the Near East, in spite of what we read in the papers, in spite of what many believe. Zion is your own wonderful skull. That’s where you are born from above. That’s the Jerusalem from above. She is your mother, and she is free. And when you are born from above, you are set free.

As you are brought into slavery when you are born from below through the womb of a woman. For when you are born from below, you penetrate into Esau. And as you are told in a strange way in scripture, “And Abraham was put into a deep sleep, and darkness fell upon him. And the Lord said to him, ‘Your descendants shall be enslaved in a land that is not theirs for four hundred years. Then they will come out with great possessions,'” possessions being the world itself.

Because when you come out, you are God himself. And there goes a hole in you when you come out. But for four hundred years. It has nothing to do with 400 as we measure years. In the Hebrew alphabet, every letter has a numerical as well as a symbolic value. 400 is the numerical value of the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the letter Tav. Its symbolic value is that of a cross. This is the only cross that God ever wore. This is where he is crucified, and this is where he remains crucified until the journey is completed from the moment of penetration until the very end is called the privilege of the Son of God.

And in the very end, you are told, “Be perfect now as your father in heaven is perfect.” And that word “perfect” istelios, which means to have a definite goal, a definite aim, and to complete and, well, not only to complete it, but to follow closely to the nth degree the original image. You simply must fashion within yourself that original image, which is God himself.

But who is doing the fashioning? It is God who is doing it, molding you into his own image, and it takes the journey, this pilgrimage of ours, through hell, for this world is hell. This is the world of death. But at the end, when we reach the end, we break the shell, our own wonderful skull. It’s all done in a supernatural manner, and you’ll hear the explosion. But it all settled. You’re looking at your son.

Who would have told me, a man born in this century, that I am the father of one recorded in scripture as having lived 3,000 years ago. And I am not talking of any reincarnation. It has nothing to do with any reincarnation. I am individualized, and I came forever and forever towards an ever greater individualization. And so do you. So, no reincarnation. Here is a drama. We came down into a state of sleep, a state of complete forgetfulness.

And then comes the end. At the end, memory returns. And the one that I’d completely forgotten, didn’t know that I was his father. I read the scripture and thought of him as an ancient being, some patriarch of the old, old world, a thousand years B.C. And then to discover that I am his father, that I, a man in the 20th century, am the father of one who is supposed to have lived forever. One thousand years B.C., and I know from experience, I am.

I also know that you are too. But you do not know it yet. And you must know it. And one day you will know it. And then, you and I will meet in eternity as the one being. For in the end, there is only one being, one spirit, one Lord, one God, and Father of all. And may I tell you, one body. You wear the body of God the Father, and I wear the body of God the Father. And yet I will know you, and you will know me. And in that day, there will be nothing but love. Nothing but love.

For we have brought under control these garments that we had to wear. For these are the slave garments. These are the garments where one’s hand is against every hand, and every man’s hand is against me. Isn’t that true of the world? You think you have a friend, to find it isn’t. I think a man’s greatest possession in the world is a friend.

I can conceive of anything greater in the world that I could ever have than that of a friend. Money can go. All things can be taken from me, but a friend—if I can get on that phone and call a friend, if he really is a friend, he will come to help. I have had experiences of that, and I know what a friend is in this world.

And I can tell anyone what it is to have a friend. If you haven’t a friend, well, try to find one. But first, become a friend. First, become the friend, and you’ll have friends. But I can’t conceive of any greater possession in the world than that of a friend. As I can’t conceive of any greater accomplishment in the world for a man than to become a gentleman, and a woman to become a lady.

To be a dictator, to be a billionaire, these means nothing. I cannot—I’ve met many of them—not dictators, but I’ve met many very wealthy people, and I cannot put them in my book as gentlemen or ladies. I may be somewhat among the few—maybe there are others who have great wealth who are gentlemen and who are ladies—but I haven’t met them. I’ve met wealthy people, very wealthy people, but I cannot, in my book, call them gentlemen and call them ladies. Yet, I know many gentlemen and many ladies who are not wealthy, but they are gentlemen and they are ladies.

Under any circumstance, they are gentlemen and they are ladies. And they may tonight doing a job that is menial, but they are gentlemen. So, the ass of scripture is the body that you are wearing. This is the one the king is riding, and eventually, he will ride triumphantly and victoriously into Jerusalem. And you will find as you ride into that state, you are the king of kings, and your son David is prince forever, among all, as told us in the 34th chapter of Ezekiel: “For I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will not take back what I have said. I, the Lord, said he, have spoken, and David shall be their prince forever.”

It comes as a surprise and as a shock to those raised in the Christian faith, as I was, to discover David to be the Christ. David is the Christ, and the one in scripture called Jesus is the Lord himself. It’s a drama. It’s a play. He is simply dramatizing the story of God himself. And he has that one son. And David is the essence of humanity. He symbolizes the whole vast field of humanity. If you took all the men in the world, and all of their experiences, and fused it into one single whole, that concentrated time into which it is fused, if personified, would come out as David. That’s David.

And there is no doubt in your mind when you look at him. How on earth can you look at him with certainty? But you will. You will not have to, for one moment, ask. Ask nothing. Memory has returned, though it had suffered from total amnesia. And then, suddenly. The whole thing is returned, and you’re looking into the eyes and the face of your everlasting son, and he’s David. Yes, the David of biblical fame.

So, Francis was right when he asked forgiveness of poor Brother Donkey for all the hardships he had caused it to suffer. You don’t have to go through that. I did it for 7 years and tore my body apart. I became, knowing nothing of nutrition, and those who go on diets, they know nothing of nutrition. They’re not scholars who studied it, and they would take any little suggestion and go on it, as I did.

I was told to become a vegetarian, so I became a vegetarian for my soul’s sake. When I went into a restaurant, I was a dancer in those days, I would ask the waiter, “Does the soup have beef stock?” Well, he would say, “Yes.” But I’d say, “I can’t take it.” What kind of soup in this world is there without a beef stock? Plain water. But all soups have some kind of a meat stock, chicken stock, if you have good soup. But I would say, “No, no soup.” I wouldn’t even eat eggs. No fish, no fowl, no meat. As a result, dancing as I did, I simply became a thin little thing and I lost all of my strength.

Seven years of strict, strict vegetarian, I tore my body apart. It has never really been rebuilt, and I was strong and strapping prior to this experiment. But I believed what I read and what I was told, and I tried it to discover in the end that was not the way. It was not diet, it wasn’t anything that I did faithfully for 7 years. It was a blind alley, and I, who knew nothing of nutrition, denied this body of mine what it needed badly. And I could well afford to give it what it needed, but I didn’t have the intelligence to know that I was doing the wrong thing. And so I did it as a blind fool.

But I could tell you tonight, and I could not persuade you. If you are a strict vegetarian, you’ll say, “Well, maybe he didn’t know.” A friend of mine ran an advanced age on sunflowers, as though she were a parrot. The parrots eat them, parrots can thrive on them, but she couldn’t. So, she just simply dropped from sheer exhaustion and they just picked her up on the streets of San Francisco. She was gone. Though she was advanced, I must confess, she was advanced in years, but she tore her body down to all these silly little diets that people give each other.

Now, I am not an authority on any diet. Today, I simply eat for pleasure. I eat what I think I would like to enjoy. I feel that this body has a palate for a purpose, and I should exercise it. And so, I simply look at the menu and I pick out—not because of price—I blind my eyes completely to price and pick what I want. And when I feel like a martini, or a double martini, and two double martinis, you may tell me it’s no good for me. I will say, “Bring me my martini. Bring me whatever I ask for.”

Now, as the time for my departure has come, it doesn’t make any difference now. I’m like Paul: “The time for my departure has come. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. And henceforth is laid up for me the crown of righteousness.”

Now, righteousness in the Bible, you’re told that Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. The man who fulfills that which is placed upon him as an obligation, as he fulfills it, it’s a relationship. Then, in biblical terms, he is accounted righteous. I tell you a story. It’s a true story. It’s in scripture, but not as a story. I have brought it to life through experience in the story. I share it with you. I ask you to keep it alive. It will be reckoned unto you for righteousness. You keep it alive.

The only Christ that ever lives is in you. He is buried in you, and he will rise in you, and the only God of scripture is in you too. That’s God’s apartment. God himself entered death’s door with those who entered it. And death’s door is not in the cemetery. Death’s door is your own skull, Golgotha. That’s where he’s buried. God himself entered death’s door with those who entered, and he lay down in the grave with them in visions of eternity until they awake and see the linen clothes that the female had woven for them.

Yes, this is the linen clothes, the body that I wear that my mother wove for me, my earthly mother. And one day I will awake from the dream, as I have awakened from it. It’s an entirely different body than in which I am clothed. Face, yes. Hands, voice, but not the body. And that cannot be described. To tell you that you have a body of light, a body that is altogether alive, a body that you can’t describe, that is all power.

And yet, its form, I can’t describe it. I can only tell you of my experience in it, and what it does when you wear it. It’s all love, and it’s all life. And yet, you will recognize it, and know me to be your friend. And yet, I am wearing then the garment of the risen Lord.

And I will not, for one second, take back one word that I’ve told you. And no one in the world, or all the world, could in any way force me to take it back. Because I’m telling you what I know from experience—it is the truth. And our Bible is the greatest book in the world, but it is not secular history. It’s divine history. And one day you will experience it. And when you do, you are at the very end of the journey.

And then, you are not restored to life as all are, to those who are not yet born from above. You will simply take off the garment for the last time, and you are one with the risen Lord. And you are the risen Lord.

Now don’t forget who the donkey is. And treat him well, as you should treat every animal well. I know in my own case, as a boy, if anything that annoyed my father, it was when the animals were not well-fed and watered. He would fire a man on the spot if he came home at night and found they had not fed and watered his animals—the donkeys, the horses, the sheep, the goats, everything, the cows. He could not stand having one animal being abused.

Yet, he had a slaughterhouse. That was alright with him. He slaughtered them for human consumption, but not to abuse them. You get all these things, but you could not abuse an animal. He would bring an old mule, I see it now. That mule served him through the day and through the night. If 1 in the morning a ship came in and needed something urgently, had not a thing in cargo for the island but needed something for the crew and my father would go off and get the order and fill it and the old mule would be awakened from its sleep and harnessed to deliver the things.

And when that mule came to the end of its day, daddy said….(tape runs out)