Article Title: A Book “Review”: ‘The Sermon on the Mount’: The Key to Success in Life (by Emmet Fox)Submitted by: Craig LockCategory (key words): Jesus, Jesus Christ, Emmet Fox, Sermon on the Mount, books, thoughts on Jesus, success, success principlesWeb sites: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005GGMAW4 and http://www.creativekiwis.com/amazon.html
The submitter’s blogs (with extracts from his various writings: articles, books and new manuscripts) are at http://www.sharefaith.wordpress.com.
http://www.buildbridgesofunity.wordpress.com
http://www.buildbridgesofunderstanding.wordpress.com
http://www.breakdownwalls.wordpress.com
http://religiousunity.wordpress.comhttp://www.peacepursuit.wordpress.comand http://craigsblogs.wordpress.com
(obsessive or WHAT!)
Other Articles are available at:http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/user/15565 and http://www.ideamarketers.com/library/profile.cfm?writerid=981
(Personal growth, self help, writing, internet marketing, spiritual, ‘spiritual writings’ (how ‘airey-fairey’), words of inspiration and money management, how boring now, craig and may be freely published)Publishing Guidelines:
These thoughts in point-form (as with all my articles) may be freely published, electronically or in print. Please acknowledge the source, thanks
“We share what we know, so that we all may grow.”*Matthew 5-7
New International Version (NIV)
Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount
5 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them.
The Beatitudes
He said:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Salt and Light
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
*
A BOOK “REVIEW” THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT:The Key to Success in Life (by Emmet Fox)Submitter’s Note:
I have extracted (and “bolded” and underlined) what I consider to be the main points from this article on Emmet Fox’s excellent book and am sharing in a “spirit of enlightenment” thanks to the amazing power of the ‘net’ to reach so many people around the globe.
Enjoy and be happy…
“total non-techno” craig
PSThis blog has arisen from applying the principles written about in the following article.*Article SummaryThe book is a practical manual of spiritual development“Fresh with contemporary relevance, this classic of positive thinking from one of the world’s great motivational writers offers galvanizing insights on self-transformation. Based on Emmet Fox’s simple message that “thoughts are things” and all potential lies in their creative and constructive use, these thirty-one inspiring essays how to have it all — health, healing, happiness, and a liberated spirit — through the power of constructive though. First published in 1940, Power Through Constructive Thinking has been a never-failing source of strength and renewal for generations of readers.”
The eminence of Jesus Christ in the world…* Jesus taught without dogma
* Tap into the power of prayer* Transform negative attitudes into life-affirming beliefs through tapping the realm of infinite power that surrounds us.Book excerpt:
“In the scriptural sense, ‘prosperity’ and ‘prosper’ signify a very great deal more than the acquirement of material possessions. They really mean success in prayer. From the point of view from the soul, success in prayer is the only kind of prosperity worth having; and if our prayers are successful, we shall naturally have all the material things that we need.”*
Emmet Fox offers people of all faiths powerful strategies and practical guidelines for bringing health, happiness, and true prosperity into their lives and the lives of others.As you read the Bible, you should constantly affirm that Divine Wisdom is enlightening and inspiring you.
What Did Jesus Teach (Chapter 1)?JESUS Christ is easily the most important figure that has ever appeared in the history of mankind. However you regard him, the fact will remain that the life and death of Jesus, and the teachings attributed to him have influenced the course of human history more than those of any other man who has ever lived.There can hardly, therefore, be a more important undertaking than to inquire into the question of what Jesus really did stand for.What did Jesus teach? What did he really wish us to believe and to do? What was his message to the world? If he should come back now, what would he say? The message which Jesus brought has a unique value, because it is the Truth, and the only perfect statement of the Truth of the nature of God and of man, and of life, and of the world; and of the relationships which exist between them.
Jesus explains to us what the nature of God is, and what our own nature is; tells us the meaning of life and of death; shows us why we make mistakes; why we yield to temptation; why we become sick, and impoverished, and old; and, most important of all, he tells us how all these evils may be overcome, and how we may bring health, happiness, and true prosperity into our lives, and into the lives of others, if they really wish for them, too.The first thing that we have to realize is a fact of fundamental importance, because it means breaking away from all the ordinary pre-possessions of orthodoxy. The plain fact is that Jesus taught no theology whatever. His teaching is entirely spiritual or metaphysical.Historical Christianity, unfortunately, has largely concerned itself with theological and doctrinal questions which, strange to say, have no part whatever in the Gospel teaching. It will startle many good people to learn that all the doctrines and theologies of the churches are human inventions built up by their authors out of their own mentalities, and foisted upon the Bible from the outside; but such is the case.
The actual explanation of man’s life lies in just the fact that he is essentially spiritual and eternal,
The “Plan of Salvation” which figured so prominently in the evangelical sermons and divinity books of a past generation is as completely unknown to the Bible as it is to the Koran. There never was any such arrangement in the universe, and the Bible does not teach it at all. What has happened is that certain obscure texts from Genesis, a few phrases taken here and there from Paul’s letters, and one or two isolated verses from other parts of the Scriptures, have been taken out and pieced together by divines, to produce the kind of teaching which it seemed to them ought to have been found in the Bible. Jesus knows nothing of all this.But he teaches that we are only punished for—and actually punished by—our own mistakes; and he teaches that every man or woman, no matter how steeped in evil and uncleanness, has always direct access to an all-loving, all-powerful Father-God,who will forgive him, and supply His own strength to him to enable him to find himself again; and unto seventy times seven, if need be.
It seems that human nature is very prone to believe what it wants to believe, rather than to incur the labour of really searching the Scriptures with an open mind.
Jesus, as we shall discover later on, made a special point of discouraging the laying of emphasis upon outer observances; and, indeed, upon hard-and-fast rules and regulations of every kind. What he insisted upon was a certain spirit in one’s conduct, and he was careful to teach principles only, knowing that when the spirit is right, details will take care of themselves; and that, in fact, “the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life,” as was so obviously seen in the sad example of the Pharisees. Yet, in spite of this, the history of orthodox Christianity is largely made up of attempts to enforce all sorts of external observances upon the peopleBut the miracles did happen. All the deeds related of Jesus in the four Gospels did happen, and many others too, “the which, if they should be written, every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” Jesus himself justified what people thought to be a strange and wonderful teaching by the works he was able to do; and he went further and said, referring to those who study and practice his teaching: “The works that I do, ye shall do, and greater works.” (see the Gospel of John)
*
Now what, after all, is a miracle?
Miracles, in the popular sense of the word, can and do happen as the result of prayer. Prayer does change things. Prayer does make things happen quite otherwise than they would have happened had the prayer not been made. It makes no difference at all what sort of difficulty you may be in. It does not matter what the causes may have been that led up to it. Enough prayer will get you out of your difficulty if only you will be persistent enough in your appeal to God.Prayer, however, is both a science and an art; and it was to the teaching of this science and this art that Jesus devoted the greater part of his ministry. The Gospel miracles happened, because Jesus had the spiritual understanding that gave him greater power in prayer than anyone else before or since.
It is the Spiritual Key that unlocks the mystery of the Bible teaching in general, and of the Gospels in particular. It is the Spiritual Key that explains the miracles and shows that they were performed in order to prove to us that we too can perform miracles, and thereby overcome sin, sickness, and limitation. With this key we can afford to discard verbal inspiration and all superstitious literalism, and yet understand that the Bible really is the most precious and most authentic of all man’s possessions.Externally, the Bible is a collection of inspired documents written by men of all kinds, in all sorts of circumstances, and over hundreds of years of time. The book, as we have it, is an inexhaustible reservoir, of Spiritual Truth, compiled under Divine inspiration, and the actual route by which it reached its present form does not matter. Divine Wisdom is the author; and that is all that concerns us. .
The spiritual message is given in the Bible; and, above all, the parable is used to convey spiritual and metaphysical truth. In some cases, what was never intended to be more than a parable was, at one time, taken for literal statement of fact; and this often made the Bible seem to teach things which are opposed to common sense. The story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden is a case in point. Rightly understood, this is perhaps the most wonderful parable of all; it was never intended by its author to be taken for history, but literal-minded people did so take it, with all sorts of absurd consequences.
The Spiritual Key to the Bible rescues us from all these difficulties, dilemmas, and seeming inconsistencies. It saves us from the false positions of Ritualism, Evangelicalism, and what is called Liberalism alike, because it gives us the Truth. And the Truth turns out to be nothing less than the amazing but undeniable fact that the whole outer world—whether it be the physical body, the common things of life, the winds and the rain, the clouds, the earth itself—is amenable to man’s thought, and that he has dominion over it when he knows it
All day long the thoughts that occupy your mind, your Secret Place, as Jesus calls it, are moulding your destiny for good or evil; in fact, the truth is that the whole of our life’s experience is but the outer expression of inner thought.
Now we can choose the sort of thoughts that we entertain. It will be a little difficult to break a bad habit of thought, but it can be done. We can choose how we shall think—in point of fact, we always do choose—and therefore our lives are just the result of the kind of thoughts we have chosen to hold; and therefore they are of our own ordering; and therefore there is perfect justice in the universe. No suffering for another man’s original sin, but the reaping of a harvest that we our-selves have sown. We have free will, but our free will lies in our choice of thought.
NB: This is in essence what Jesus taught. It is, as we shall see, the underlying message of the whole Bible; but it is not expressed with equal clearness throughout. In the earlier portion of the book it shines through but dimly on the whole, as the light from a heavily shrouded lamp; but, as time goes on, veil after veil is removed, and the light shines ever stronger and stronger, until, in the teaching of Jesus Christ, it pours forth clear and unimpeded. Truth never changes, but what we have to deal with on this plane is man’s apprehension of the Truth, and, throughout historical time, this has been steadily and continuously improving.
Jesus Christ summed up this Truth, taught it completely and thoroughly, and, above all, demonstrated it in his own person. Most of us now can glimpse intellectually the idea of what it must mean in its fullness, and much that must inevitably follow from a competent understanding of it. But what we can demonstrate is a very different matter. To accept the Truth is the great first step, but not until we have proved it in doing is it ours. Jesus proved everything that he taught, even to the overcoming of death in what we call the Resurrection. For reasons which I cannot discuss here, it happens that every time you overcome a difficulty by prayer, you help the whole of the human race, past, present, and future, in a general way; and you help it to overcome that special kind of difficulty in particular. Jesus, by surmounting every sort of limitation to which mankind is subject, and in particular by over-coming death, performed a work of unique and incalculable value to the race, and is therefore justly entitled the Saviour of the world.A number of those present naturally took notes, and, later on, these notes were edited into what we know as the Sermon on the Mount. The authors of the four Gospels each selected the material for his monograph in accordance with his own purpose; and it is Matthew who gives us the most complete and carefully arranged version of the address. His setting forth of the Sermon on the Mount is an almost perfect codification of the Jesus Christ religion, and I have therefore chosen it as the text for this book. It covers the essentials. It is practical and personal. It is definite, specific, and yet widely illuminating. Once the true meaning of the instructions has been grasped, it is only necessary to begin putting them faithfully into practice to get immediate results. The magnitude and extent of these results will depend solely upon the sincerity and thoroughness with which they are applied. This is a matter which each individual has to settle for himself. “No man can save his brother’s soul, or pay his brother’s debt.” We can and should help one another on special occasions, but in the long run each must learn to do his own work, and “sin” no more, lest a worse thing befall him.
If you really do wish to alter your life, if you really do wish to change yourself—to become a different person altogether in the sight of God and man—if you really do want health and peace of mind, and spiritual development, then Jesus, in his Sermon on the Mount, has clearly shown you how it is to be done. The task is not an easy one, but we know that it CAN be accomplished, because there are those who have done it—but the price must be paid, and the price is the actual carrying out of these principles in every corner of your life.
If you are prepared to pay that price, to break really and truly with the old, and start upon the creation of the new , then the study of the great Sermon will indeed be to you the Mountain of Liberation.
Emmet FoxSourced from http://self-improvement-ebooks.com/books/tsotm.php
(for the full article)
“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
-Proverbs
”Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”
– Philippians 2:5
“…have the mind of Christ.”
– 1 Corinthians2:16
“And do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed to this world by the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove that what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
– Romans 12:2
Shared by Craig Lock (“Information and Inspiration Distributor, Writer for Self Empowerment, Incorrigible Encourager and People-builder”)
“Faithsees the invisible,
follows the unfathomable…
and achieves the impossible.”“I’d rather attempt something great and fail, than attempt nothing and succeed.”
NV PealeAbout the submitter:
Craig likes (rather loves) to share knowledge and insights from his life experiences with dashes of humour to try and help others in ‘every little way’ he can…
without being too much of a “Mr too airey-fairey, arty-farty, goody-goody boring two shoes” (as he’s lost the other one and anyway, they may be different colours!)
http://www.craiglockbooks.comand http://www.selfgrowth.com/experts/craig_lock.htmlThe various books* that Craig “felt inspired to write” are available at: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005GGMAW4and http://www.creativekiwis.com/amazon.html
Hard-copies and e-books, fiction and nonfiction: self help, novels, travel, humour, writing, inspiration and money management
All proceeds go to needy and underprivileged children – mine!
(Come on now, craig. Show some faith!)
Craig’s novel ‘The Awakened Spirit’ is based on some true stories from the ‘beloved country’ of South Africa. Inspiring stories of endless possibilities of the indomitable human spirit, that lies within each one of us.
He is currently writing his own “work” (a “real labour of love and enlightenment” (to himself) titled ‘WHO ON EARTH IS (WAS) JESUS CHRIST?’ and is posting extracts on his blog as he writes.
The submitter’s blogs (with extracts from his various writings: articles, books and new manuscripts) are at http://www.sharefaith.wordpress.com.
http://www.buildbridgesofunity.wordpress.com
http://www.buildbridgesofunderstanding.wordpress.com
http://www.breakdownwalls.wordpress.com
http://religiousunity.wordpress.com
http://www.peacepursuit.wordpress.comand http://craigsblogs.wordpress.com
(obsessive or WHAT!)
“The world’s smallest and most exclusive bookstore”
“Together, one mind, one life at a time, let’s see how many people we can impact, encourage, empower, uplift and perhaps even inspire to reach their fullest potentials.”
These thoughts may be freely published
PS
“Faith is the light that guides you through the darkness.”
– Emmet Fox“For me, Jesus is the ‘noblest figure, a model to aspire to, a hope to pin on, an anchor to cling to in the storms of life. Someone on whom to pin our highest (supreme) characteristics, values and aspirations (our most noble and loftiest goals) , in short the very best in life …the name and spirit of Jesus Christ symbolises endless possibilities… and each one of us in invited to partake in and share His Infinite Spirit.”
“My belief is in the God who gives us responsibility for our own actions, who I see in Jesus Christ, who stated and showed in his own way of life that His purpose was to give quality of life.”
Michael Templer (in a letter to the New Zealand Herald 23rd Nov 2010)*
Matthew 5-7
New International Version (NIV)
Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount
5 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them.
The Beatitudes
He said:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Salt and Light
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Web sites: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005GGMAW4 and http://www.creativekiwis.com/amazon.html
The submitter’s blogs (with extracts from his various writings: articles, books and new manuscripts) are at www.sharefaith.wordpress.com.
www.buildbridgesofunity.wordpress.com
www.buildbridgesofunderstanding.wordpress.com
www.breakdownwalls.wordpress.com
http://religiousunity.wordpress.comwww.peacepursuit.wordpress.com and http://craigsblogs.wordpress.com
(obsessive or WHAT!)
Other Articles are available at:http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/user/15565 and http://www.ideamarketers.com/library/profile.cfm?writerid=981
(Personal growth, self help, writing, internet marketing, spiritual, ‘spiritual writings’ (how ‘airey-fairey’), words of inspiration and money management, how boring now, craig and may be freely published)
Publishing Guidelines:
These thoughts in point-form (as with all my articles) may be freely published, electronically or in print. Please acknowledge the source, thanks
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WHO IS "THE REAL, THE TRUE, THE LIVING" JESUS? 
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