Great Construction

The Teachings of God Should Be Read as
Often as Possible


   The channeling of Johrei and the distribution of church periodicals have been the two main pillars of our efforts to let people know about God's program. Now, however, we would like to add a third method, that of events such as holding lectures and round-table discussions at various locations throughout the nation. In addition to healing sickness and appealing to people through the eyes, we are adding the medium of appealing through the ears, so I think we can expect tremendous results through these three-pronged efforts to enlighten the world of God's plan.
  Appealing through the ears is a way to tell people through speech about our church and how wonderful it is. To convey this, our own knowledge of matters of faith must be more than adequate. The speaker must let listeners know how wonderful World Messianity is, and get them to realize that it is a good faith, one that they would certainly like to participate in themselves. When the subject of talking to others comes up, many members think they are poor at speaking and cannot convince others, but this thinking is mistaken. It is not your words that move others; it is your love and sincerity. Your love and sincerity touches and moves your listener's soul. This is all that is necessary. Eloquence is a secondary matter.
  To move others through enthusiasm, love, and sincerity, though, you also need to have sufficient understanding. The best way to further your own understanding is to read as often as possible from the sacred teachings. In talking to persons who have not joined the church, you will be asked many questions to which you must give clear answers to convince your interlocutors. You must respond to difficult questions with answers that make sense. There are those who are apt to answer a difficult question with a lie or whatever comes to their minds just to avoid the subject or an uncomfortable discussion, but pretending to know something must never be done. It will not do at all. Believers in God are not permitted lie under any circumstance. If you do not know something, you should frankly say you do not know it. The worst possible thing is to pretend to know something because you think your listener will despise you or look down upon you if you say you do not know an answer. Pretending has rather the opposite effect. If you frankly say you really do not know something you do not know, your listener will realize you are an honest person who can be trusted. There are probably no persons in the world so great that they know everything, so it is not a shame if you do not know something.
  When it comes to questions and answers in meetings with followers, there are some who ask me questions whose answers are already in the published teachings. They ask such questions because they have been lax in reading the teachings. The less you read the teachings, the more spiritual energy you will lose. The more you read the teachings, the more your faith will deepen and your soul will become polished. The more your faith grows, the more you will seek to greedily devour the teachings, so it is good to read the teachings over and over until they become a very part of your being. Naturally, the more you read, the more you come to clearly understand God's will.
  Reading the teachings will also help you when channeling Johrei. There is never an excuse to act as if, or pretend to know, the cause of a condition of the recipient you are channeling Johrei when you really do not. People who do this and whose channeling does not result in healing will invariably say that the illness is spiritual in nature as a way to avoid admitting they simply do not know what the cause of a condition is. It is actually very difficult to distinguish whether the cause of an illness is spiritual or physical in nature, but because the human being is a unity of spirit and body, there should be no difference when channeling Johrei. If the spirit heals, the physical will heal; if the physical heals, the spirit will heal. Johrei channels are apt to think that a recipient's condition is normal purification when healing proceeds readily but that when healing does not proceed smoothly, the cause must be spiritual. This is a grave mistake. Such thinking is akin to the doctors who say of patients who do not get better that their improvement is hindered by a tubercular condition.

Eiko newspaper, Issue 80, November 29, 1950
translated by cynndd

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“Ôi ni Shinsho o Yomu Beshi” has previously appeared in translation three times. The citations are given below for reference.


“The Importance of Studying the Teachings Regularly,” Foundation of Paradise, 1984, page 327.


“Read Often the Written Words of God,” Meishu and His Teachings, no date, page 33.


“Be Diligent in Your Reading of the Teachings,” A Hundred Teachings of Meishusama, no date, page 164.