Myrtle Replies

August 20, 1924



Marjorie Kendrick
Evanston, IL

My Dear,

Thank you for your generous offering and kind words about our works at Unity Society.  It is quite an undertaking, but it is a privilege to do God’s will and to offer ourselves to God.  We are doing whatever we may to encourage and help those who are led to come to us.  

My dear, you have placed a label on me, that of a Methodist.  I must confess that I have no use for labels.  I see labels as nothing more than a form of compartmentalization.  Well, if I were called upon to write out my creed it would be a rather strange mixture.  I am decidedly eclectic in my theology.  

Rest assured that you are correct in your belief that our Savior never intended to omit anyone from the ranks of the blessed.  Know, my dear, that we are all God’s children.  God does not discriminate.  Galatians 3:26-28 reads:

         “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.  For as many of you as      have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”

So, you see, we are all children of God.  Remember that Methodism preaches that all persons are capable of being saved by faith in Christ.  

You make reference to Jesus who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6), but Jesus also said, “suffer the little children to come onto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.” (Mark 10:14).

As a teacher since my early years, and most recently a Sunday school teacher here at Unity, I cannot stress enough the importance of reaching little children who are so impressionable.  We, as adults, have the ability to guide these little children along the right road of living and thinking.

Old age!  My dear, we are as old as we think.  Put the thought out of your mind.  Why, I remember when everyone thought I was “at death’s door” that I had the most remarkable revelation which completely turned my life around.  Prayer!  That’s what you need to do. Pray.  Now I am not suggesting that you do not pray.  That is not my intent.  What I am suggesting is that you turn your ailment over to God and leave it in his hands, while you continue to pray, looking at your faults, discovering what’s hindering your vibrant health. There is no reason for you to heave and sigh until you die.  Know that with God all things are possible.  Look among your virtues, not your faults.  You have only to open your lungs to the fresh air provided by the ever-present supplier of all.

I would suggest that you take time each day to spend in quiet reflection, reflecting on the Truth of who you are -- a child of God and as such you are a beneficiary of all His goodness; all his gifts.  Over time, although you will experience setbacks, especially with old ways and habits coming back, through perseverance you will see a change in your health.  You will see that you are not destined to spend your years heaving and sighing, but you will enjoy the good health that is your birthright.

Yours in Christ, 
Myrtle Fillmore

Salvation

Mrs. Fillmore writes, “Our salvation is in our living by the Christ pattern – not only by the teachings of the man Jesus Christ but by the Christ Mind within us.  Jesus Christ is merging His consciousness with the universal race consciousness, that we may have His presence and the light, power, life, and love which are expressing as our pattern and constant, quickening help.”
The question for this week is threefold: salvation from what, for what and by what?

Salvation from Error Thinking – Paul says, “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Rom. 12:2).

Because all thought is formative, whatever thoughts we have are projected in our lives.  If our subconscious mind is filled with negative beliefs and feelings, then we can expect to receive much of the same.  Error thoughts such as sickness, poverty, lack, among others are detrimental to the Truth.  We have to put a halt to worry and anxiety.  We have to live in the present rather than dwell in the past and release any appearance of lack or sickness.  Therefore, our attention ought to be on the Truth of God, the truth of our being, and on the very essence of our lives.  This cannot be accomplished with negative thoughts.

According to Mrs. Fillmore, there is no such thing as a disease or an incurable condition, and anything that does not measure up to the Christ pattern of perfection can be changed.  Whenever we have an experience of sickness, it is evident that we have been letting go of our hold on the gifts of God and have ceased to make use of the life of Spirit through our thoughts, words and actions.

All is not lost, however, as the way to healing is to first re-educate the mind and to establish the Truth in all the faculties, then to see the reality of the body and its functions and to stamp every part with the perfect pattern, which is God given and known as the Christ man.

Salvation for Illumination – “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32).

Mrs. Fillmore contends that it takes great illumination and constant identification with Jesus Christ and His wonderful humility and obedience if we are to rid ourselves of beliefs in materiality, in the power of disease, or in adversity of any sort.  She stresses the importance of going to God-Mind for more light, love, life and substance.  It is through the indwelling Christ Mind that we have the power to change our soul’s impressions, as well as our subconscious, thereby changing our bodies and their functioning and also the conditions about us.

By dwelling upon the Truth that we are one with Jesus Christ and one with God, we can quicken our own Christ Mind through the understanding that Jesus the Christ helps us to unfold.

It is when we cease to think shadows and lack of knowledge, and begin to call to mind the teachings of Jesus Christ that the light will shine for us.  That stops the desire to recall past experiences thereby allowing the mark of helpfulness to abide with us.  As a result, there will be renewed growth that will be pleasing and refreshing as we look at life, present and past, through eyes that see only God.

With renewed insight, each day should be spent in a period of stillness for the soul to gather power and restore life.  God gives freely, and we have to be open and receptive if we are to receive those gifts.

Undesirable conditions result when we fail to identify with God and to use His gifts, and when we fail to let Spirit express through all our faculties and powers.  Undesirable conditions lessen or dim illumination.

Salvation by Jesus Christ  – “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27).

The teachings of Unity are based on the teachings of Jesus Christ, and, as suggested by Mrs. Fillmore, if we want to insure success and inspire faith and confidence in ourselves and all that we undertake, then we should always have Christ as the source of our inspiration and prosperity.

Jesus brought forth into expression the Christ, the God-Mind within and consciously identified Himself with Spirit.  He has given us the ability to comprehend the life and the activities of mind that result in freedom from the limitations of race beliefs and intellectual reasoning.

According to Mrs. Fillmore, we are to pray for understanding – understanding for ourselves, and get all our faculties and powers awake and working in perfect harmony with the Christ pattern.

Jesus Christ eagerly lived the light that came to Him day by day, and He saw Himself and others in a new light.  He understood why He had been born into the world and He knew where He was going.  He knew that He was merging Himself with the race mind so that He might abide with us and bring us into the same wonderful light in which He dwells. Jesus was discovering the real purpose of life and fulfilling it not for Himself alone, but for all humanity.

We must depend wholly on the inner kingdom of supply and the indwelling Christ, for this inner way is the only way to receive permanently.  We are to cease depending on outer, material avenues for prosperity, because when we look to the outer we look away from the one resource that is within us and gives drive to embrace and transcend excellence.  We must think of the Lord as our God given Christ Mind and of Jesus Christ as ever with us in the spiritual consciousness that He has established and has merged with the race mind in order that we may be in touch with Him and lay hold of Him and build our lives according to His pattern.  Jesus says, “Follow me” (Luke 9:59).

An Analysis of Christology

“We are indebted to Jesus Christ and His fearless propagation of Truth…  He demonstrated that sin, sickness and death are false quantities and are no part of a correct statement of life.”  Those are the words of Mrs. Fillmore, in How to Let God Help You.

According to Mrs. Fillmore, Jesus Christ made a living thing of every statement.  What has been called His teaching is not His teaching if it will not heal the sick and feed the poor as He said it would.  Jesus Christ declared “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also.”

Further, Jesus declares “If a man keep my word, he shall never see death” (Jn. 8:51).  However, Jesus is confronted by naysayers who tell him that Abraham and the prophets all died so how can he say that.  “Whom makest thou thyself?” (Jn. 53). Jesus responds “It is my Father that glorifieth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God; and ye have not known him: but I know him; and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be like unto you a liar: but I know him, and keep his word …. Before Abraham was born, I am” (Jn. 8:54-55, 58). Here, Jesus is saying “I am.”

Jesus demonstrated that to keep His Father’s commandments was to be saved from sin, sickness, sorrow and death, and that in keeping His Father’s saying all power was given to Him “in heaven and on earth.” Such power included control of the elements, power to turn water into wine, power to increase loaves and fishes, power to make Himself visible or invisible at will, power to command the fish of the sea to yield Him money, power to lay down His life and power to take it up.  Jesus clearly states that it was the indwelling Father who “doeth his works.”

According to Mrs. Fillmore, Jesus taught certain great propositions as the law of God and spent much time communing with God.  He knew more of God than anyone who ever lived and that “to find out what He taught is to find true life.” Jesus declared: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me …The word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me” (Jn. 14:6, 24).

Jesus Christ, as indicated by Mrs. Fillmore, is an authority to bear us out of our conclusions.  He declared that the devil is a lie; an unreality.  Additionally, Mrs. Fillmore says that Jesus taught in the shining of a perfect life.  His denials in the wilderness revealed the glory of His Father’s full light.  Jesus commanded, “Call no man your father on the earth,” and then affirmed “for one is your Father, even he who is in heaven.”

Jesus Christ taught distinctly that “one is your Father, even he who is in heaven,” and that “the kingdom of God is within you.” Jesus says “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake. (Jn 14:11).  Mrs. Fillmore states that Jesus declared that the Scriptures were full of the same teachings He was giving. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me.  The word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me” (Jn. 14:6, 24).  She further states that our salvation is in our living by the Christ pattern not only by the teachings of the man Jesus Christ but by the Christ Mind within us.  Jesus Christ is merging His consciousness with the universal race consciousness that we may have His presence and the light, power life and love which are expressing as our pattern and constant quickening help.

Myrtle's Doctrine of God

Mrs. Fillmore’s doctrine of God can be summed up in one word—Omnipresent!  A cursory look at chapters 1 through 3 of How to Let God Help You reveals that Mrs. Fillmore makes reference to God on every page and in almost every paragraph of this book.  From the onset, she admonishes readers to “Let us forget all that has pressed itself in upon us, to make us sometimes feel that God the Good is not all in all.”

Mrs. Fillmore wants readers to know God as she knows him; she wants readers to experience God, to live the life He has planned for us.  She acknowledges that from her experience in Unity, she knows there is “almost a universal lack of understanding of the Truth of Being.”  The Truth is that we are children of God, and as such, we are beneficiaries of his wisdom, his love, his power, life and substance.

The real purpose of our life, according to Mrs. Fillmore, is to express the creation of God, to live the life God has planned for us.  We are, after all, created in the image and likeness of God. God has given us faculties and powers which we are to use rightly.   

God the Father - Mrs. Fillmore makes reference to God as her Father after all she is a child of God, as are we all.  However, she has had a love for and a close relationship with God since her youth; He is familiar to her.  She goes on to say that ‘God my Father has made me to know that no matter what I have done or what others have done to me, He has implanted within me the pattern of perfection.” 

God the Giver - He has given us the gift of life, a gift that is never withdrawn, never lessened never limited by the Giver.  What greater gift is that!  According to Mrs. Fillmore, “He has given me the life, power, intelligence, and substance out of which I may recreate my soul qualities and my physical structures and so come forth a new creature.“

God is the Source of our being – Mrs. Fillmore acknowledges God as the Source of our being.  “Just as surely as there is God the one Presence and one Power, we shall find that all is well and that we are but going from one room, as it were, into another, larger and lighter room.”

Mrs. Fillmore wants readers to not harbor any misgivings, but rather to “leave past, present and future in God’s hands.”  We are to keep our thoughts on God’s presence and power!

God establishes order – According to Mrs. Fillmore, God’s law of equalization is effective everywhere.  “For everything that has its place upon the earth, there is righteous satisfaction, and there is plenty for all under divine law. “

God is Love - God’s love draws together and holds all the elements of our being in perfect harmony.

Finally, Mrs. Fillmore admonishes readers to “Pray for understanding.  Claim your oneness with God.”