Hello, Friends – This email continues something new – a once-a-week email on Friday written by regular participants in our Fillmore Wings Study Program.

This week’s post is by Rev. Melissa Hill Greenbaum, founder of Front Porch Wisdom and leader of Fillmore Fridays, and in person and online program each Friday presenting all 18 lessons using the original language of Charles Fillmore and his teaching team. Melissa is also hosting a Fillmore-inspired retreat over Labor Day weekend in the North Carolina mountains. The retreat is still open for registering.

If you do not wish to receive these Saturday emails, scroll down to the bottom of this email and click on "Change your subscriptions to our newsletters." That will open a box where you can change Subscribe/Unsubscribe to the Fillmore Events Newsletter and other newsletters we send out. – Mark

This week’s Fillmore Wings Study class focuses on the last temptation Jesus overcame: the Devil. No, I am not referring to a person being crucified. I am referring to the willingness to die to my own false consciousness!

Just as the other two temptations (the world & the flesh), this one, too, is about our state of consciousness. A “devil” consciousness is a state where one has forgotten its true Divine essence which is the image and likeness of God. This forgetfulness puts us in a belief of being separated from our Good (God). Therefore, we are prime to be swept up by the idea that forces outside of us are the drivers of our lives. It is the mental law of cause and effect resulting in unhappiness with the way our life is going. We knowingly or not feel our own crucifixion in this state. Our mental choices are showing up based upon false beliefs and our physical bodies begin to show dis-ease.

Sometimes we don’t realized we are carrying on “devil” thoughts from previous generations. This is known as ideas or concepts that we were exposed to by our parents, or born into faith traditions that emphasized a devil as an “other” force. And we begin to learn that as a child of God; there can not be but one power (force). That force is good; therefore, we begin to grasp the idea of a choice. The choice to teach our children spiritual truths is the beginning of erasing the power of a devil state of consciousness in our world.

How do we crucify this “Devil”? We have the freedom of will. We consciously choose to speak (denials & affirmations); to be silent (listen); and to live from our authentic self (the soul). This faculty of will gives us the power to choose a different thought when we are tempted by negative thinking. By choosing to see another and our world through the Spirit of Truth we are actively “upsetting the apple cart” as one might say. We are replacing thinking habits that do not serve us (or those around us) with a power of good (God).

As those “apples” fall out of the cart, it can be quite a mess. The apples (devil thoughts) become bruised, damaged and seemingly unusable (our bodies). We pick them up in whatever shape or condition and we cook (crucify) them. We now have a tasty apple pie! We have a renewing of the mind & body!

I invite you to choose one false belief or idea that is no longer serving your highest good and be willing to die to its power over you. Eternal Truths are ready to shine through you.

– Rev. Melissa Greenbaum

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Hello, again, one more thing – Right now we have four ongoing Fillmore Wings groups meeting. THERE IS NO PREREQUESITE for entering a class. YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO PARTICIPATE, but we ask you to identify your name in the Zoom session and try to turn on video if possible. To join in, go the Events page for days and times; look for these classes:

• Sundays–Unity Correspondence Course with Marty Keller and Capital City Unity
• Mondays (starting July 13)–Fillmore Correspondence School Christ, The Only Begotten of the Father with Dara Bermick, LUT
• Tuesdays–Fillmore Wings Study Program with Rev. Mark Hicks
• Fridays–Fillmore Fridays with Rev. Melissa Hill Greenbaum