The Law of Assumption: What Did Neville Goddard Say About Reincarnation

The Law of Assumption’s perspective on reincarnation as explained by Neville Goddard does not really discuss reincarnation. Many people ASK about this, they wonder what Neville Goddard’s take on this philosophy was.

Here is part of one of Neville’s lectures where he discusses this pretty extensively:

Neville Goddard Lecture: “Jesus: God’s Plan of Salvation”

“We find ourselves here, and we must admit we were born of the action of powers not our own, and this is the physical birth. Let us now admit that we are also born spiritually by the actions of powers beyond ourselves. We certainly didn’t do it physically; we found ourselves here. Don’t let anyone tell you that by some effort on your part that you’re going to be born spiritually into some wonderful world. It’s all being done by the one who subjected us to this wheel of futility.

Now this morning’s letter brought…this mail brought this letter. She said, “My mother died in ’53. She was, I would say, seventy years old—-she might have been seventy-one, two, but she was in her late sixties or early seventies. I met her in my vision and mother was radiantly beautiful. She looked about thirty, and the joy, I can’t describe the joy of my mother. She told me that when she left here she moved into the age or the year 3,804 at the age of twenty-one. She found herself twenty-one years old, living in the year 3,804. Then I asked her many questions. There were many interruptions by people and circumstances, but I tried to get as many questions across as I could. She seemed to be quite familiar with your teaching, although in this world where she left eleven years ago she never heard of you in any way whatsoever. But your name was not a strange thing to her in that circle where she now lives. I got the impression that she’s married. And I tried to find my father and my brother Art to share with them my experience that I met mother. She told me she is living in a part of Pennsylvania. I asked her if death to her in that world of 3,804 is like death to us in this world, and she said it was the same thing. They feared it as we fear it, and they know it is the inevitable as we know it is the inevitable. Then she said, ‘Our moral code, our ethical code is just like your code, same thing.’ But she also said, ‘We have no choice in that time sequence into which we are placed. I found myself twenty-one years old. At death being seventy, I was twenty-one in a time sequence that is the 3804th year A.D.’”

Now, in the Bible we’re taught that there is nothing new under the sun: “Is there a thing of which it is said, ‘See, this is new’? I tell you it has been already, in ages past. But there is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of things to come after, among those who will come later; for there is nothing new under the sun” (Eccles. 1:9-11). That’s difficult for man to understand. And then he reads the Book of Ezekiel, where there are wheels within wheels within wheels, all turning. Then he reads the Book of Romans where you and I, not willingly, but subjected to the will of God for a divine purpose, that we would, being subjected, one day be freed from this futility and obtain, having gone through it, the glorious liberty of the children of God. And that liberty comes; and it is inaugurated by a divine event and we call that event resurrection.

But resurrection seen from a certain angle comes seemingly at the last, and it doesn’t. The great mystery: It comes not at the end of history, it comes within history. This very night it could come to all of you, or to one of you. I do not know, no one knows. So when they asked the question, “When, O Lord?” he said, “It is not for you to know the times and the seasons that’s fixed by the authority of God” (Acts 1:7), by his own authority. But wait for the promise of the Father, just wait—he has promised to redeem you. Redeeming you is redeeming himself, he’s not redeeming another. It is God who fell asleep in the great creation called “the wheels and wheels within wheels” for educative and creative purposes. That by putting himself into the state likened unto death—-it’s not really death but it’s so still, so altogether a sound sleep that it seems like death. But the ancient scripture, the Old Testament, does not use the word “resurrection,” it implies it. But I would rather go back and use the term that is used in the Old Testament. The New uses the word “resurrection” throughout, and I love it, it’s a marvelous term, and I use it here night after night. But in the old scripture, they only speak of “waking from sleep.”

The 78th Psalm, which is a maschil, meaning special instruction, it is a recapitulation of the entire history of Israel, which is divine history. We come to almost the end, the 65th and 66th verses, it’s a very long chapter, and then suddenly we’re told that God or “the Lord God awoke as from sleep” (Psalm 78:65, 66). He awoke as from sleep and then he chose Judah and chose David. Then we come to the end of the glorious awakening of the being who was asleep, as the whole story was being told. You start in the beginning of that chapter, the 78th chapter, and he simply tells the traditions of the fathers: “I will open my mouth in a parable, and I will utter dark sayings from of old.” And he tells all the stories of Israel, the horrors of the world, and the conquering of Jehovah—how he conquers, and he overcomes and he overcomes and he overcomes. Man still falls back, but God overcomes…and then the Lord God awakes. He awakes as from sleep. When he wakes from sleep, then the whole thing comes to an end.

“Now we are all told to please tell it just as it happened. Don’t embellish it, don’t add to the word of God; don’t take from the word of God. Well, the word translated word—in the New Testament the word logos—-has as a root meaning “that which is behind the thing.” That is, the sense or the meaning of the thing. So when we are told, “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God” (John 1:1) that word logos, translated “word,” means “that something that is the sense or the meaning behind the event, whatever that event is.” So when you tell it, tell it clearly. So at the end of Luke we are told, “They related their own experience”; they told what had happened, not embellished, don’t add to it. And that’s why I don’t quarrel with the use of the word resurrection, for it is part of the event. But I would go back to the 78th Psalm and rather use that terminology. For in my own case, when I was taken off the wheel of recurrence but left on it to tell the story, for I must tell it until this garment comes off; and when it comes off now it comes off for the last time. I do not find myself—like my friend Larry’s mother who found herself in the year 3,804—I am through with the wheels within wheels within wheels. But I must remain on the present wheel, the year 1964, and tell it until that time when the garment is taken off, and this time for the last time; for I am not going through death any more.“

Neville agrees with the Sovereignty of The Creator:

Neville Goddard’s The Law of Assumption, in alignment with biblical teachings, emphasizes a different perspective; REINCARNATION no longer applies. THIS journey, THIS discovery, THIS resurrection, is final. There us a great mystery hiding here of course. The Bible, the Book of Job, is as a guide to trusting in God’s sovereignty rather than seeking answers in the concept of karma and past deeds. God is sovereign in what He allows to happen and over every possibility that He prevents from happening. His authority is exhaustive. Once the RESURRECTION is accepted, and understood, reincarnation ceases to exist. Every Christian knows this. Now, it seems as if the Law of Assumption, along side with Christianity will be a vehicle for this :great news” is THE GOSPEL.

And HEADS UP to everyone who thinks that the Law Of Assumption is sone weird mix of pantheism and sorcery, please read Neville, and read The Bible.

The sacrificial act on the Cross, exemplified by Jesus declaring “It is finished” (John 19:30), is considered a complete payment for the debt of sin. This definitive act negates the need for cycles of rebirth. This applies to ALL humans: “Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Ultimately, the theory of reincarnation places all emphasize of “the works” of a human being, while the Gospel places all emphasis on the mystery of the resurrection. The implications for this is that you can now begin to TRUST and stop trying.

The New Age Movement and Reincarnation:

The New Age Movement, with its emphasis on the divinity within each individual and the pursuit of unlimited potential, aligns itself with the concept of reincarnation. Followers anticipate a cycle of births, deaths, and rebirths leading to perfection and unity with the divine, however, the Law of Assumption takes a distinctive stance from Ne Age, like it or not. Neville literally NEVER believed in any New Age type of religion. There is a distinct difference in the New Testament teachings and it is precisely what the title of his lecture suggests: “Jesus: God’s Plan of Salvation”. Christians have understood this mystery for 2000 tears now, and I invite you to find out what it is all about.

Arguments in Support of Reincarnation:

Proponents of reincarnation often present arguments that claim to explain the problem of evil, physical defects, and social inequalities. The Law of Assumption, however, asserts that the Bible encourages trust in a sovereign God. Neville Goddard makes it clear that memories of past lives are challenged as products of imagination. “Imagination creates: as he states. Imagination can produce evil or good. Imagination can be under ones control, or it can be out of control. Imagination can be taken over by the world, following and believing in everything that is shown to it. Be careful what you watch so that ot does not become part of your imagination. Let your imagination be under the ownership of your will.

Remember:

In contrast to reincarnation, the Gospel of Jesus Christ has eliminated the need for human works, the sacrificial act on the Cross, the RESURRECTION, is considered a “full payment of the debt of sin,” rendering the cycles of rebirth unnecessary, and this applies to all of mankind, from everywhere on the planet, born at anytime, including before the resurrection chronologically took place. God time is not linear and all is already complete.

Neville Goddard used the Bible as his source, not any Eastern teachings, and NOT New Age, and he challenged the concept of reincarnation, urging instead the purposeful use of our own imagination, and to not let unwanted beliefs free access to our imagination.