The revelation that the Father and the Son are one will come in time to every mind. Yet is that time determined by the mind itself, not taught. The time is set already. ²It appears to be quite arbitrary, yet there is no step along the road that anyone takes but by chance. ³It has already been taken by him, although he has not yet embarked on it. ⁴For time but seems to go in one direction. ⁵We but undertake a journey that is over, yet it seems to have a future still unknown to us. Time is a trick, a sleight of hand, a vast illusion in which figures come and go as if by magic. ²Yet there is a plan behind appearances which does not change. ³The script is written. ⁴When experience will come to end your doubting has been set. ⁵For we but see the journey from the point at which it ended, looking back on it, imagining we make it once again, reviewing mentally what has gone by. - ACIM - [CE W-158.2-4]
Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul.[1] Explanations of predestination often seek to address the paradox of free will, whereby God's omniscience seems incompatible with human free will. In this usage, predestination can be regarded as a form of religious determinism; and usually predeterminism, also known as theological determinism.
some in the Qumran community possibly believed in predestination, for example 1QS states that "God has caused (his chosen ones) to inherit the lot of the Holy Ones".
Some verses in the Odes of Solomon, which was made by an Essene convert into Christianity, might possibly suggest a predestinarian worldview, where God chooses who are saved and go into heaven, although there is controversy about what it teaches.[15][16] The Odes of Solomon talks about God "imprinting a seal on the face of the elect before they existed".[16]
The Thomasines saw themselves as children of the light, but the ones who were not part of the elect community were sons of darkness. The Thomasines thus had a belief in a type of election or predestination, they saw themselves as elect because they were born from the light.[16]
Providentialism
In Christianity, providentialism is the belief that all events on Earth are controlled by God.[1][2]
In ACIM
T-26.V.3:3-4: “Time lasted but an instant in your mind, with no effect upon eternity. And so is all time past, and everything exactly as it was before the way to nothingness was made.”
T-26.V.12:6: “There is no hindrance to the will of God, nor any need that you repeat again a journey which was over long ago.”
T-28.I.1:6: “This world was over long ago.”
W-158.3:5: “We but undertake a journey that is over.”
W-158.4:5: “For we but see the journey from the point at which it ended, looking back on it, imagining we make it once again, reviewing mentally what has gone by.”
“I am here only to be truly helpful.I am here to represent Him Who sent me.I do not have to worry about what to say or what to do, because He Who sent me will direct me.” — Manual for Teachers
“Those who are certain of the outcome can afford to wait, and wait without anxiety.”
— Manual for Teachers
“God’s Will for you is perfect happiness.”
— Workbook Lesson 101
“The script is written.”
— Workbook Lesson 158
The revelation that the Father and the Son are one will come in time to every mind. Yet is that time determined by the mind itself, not taught. The time is set already. ²It appears to be quite arbitrary, yet there is no step along the road that anyone takes but by chance. ³It has already been taken by him, although he has not yet embarked on it. ⁴For time but seems to go in one direction. ⁵We but undertake a journey that is over, yet it seems to have a future still unknown to us. Time is a trick, a sleight of hand, a vast illusion in which figures come and go as if by magic. ²Yet there is a plan behind appearances which does not change. ³The script is written. ⁴When experience will come to end your doubting has been set. ⁵For we but see the journey from the point at which it ended, looking back on it, imagining we make it once again, reviewing mentally what has gone by. [CE W-158.2-4]
“All things are lessons God would have me learn.”
— Workbook Lesson 193
“You are not asked to make the plan of salvation because it has already been made.” — Text, Chapter 18
This is beyond experience we try to hasten. ²Yet forgiveness, taught and learned, brings with it the experiences which bear witness that the time the mind itself determined to abandon all but this is near at hand. ³We do not hasten it in that what you will offer was concealed from Him Who teaches what forgiveness means. ⁴All learning was already in His Mind, accomplished and complete. ⁵He recognized all that time holds, and gave it to all minds that each one might determine, from a point where time has ended, when it is released to revelation and eternity. We have repeated several times before that you but make a journey that is done. ²For oneness must be here. ³Whatever time the mind has set for revelation is entirely irrelevant to what must be a constant state, forever as it always was; forever to remain as it is now. ⁴We merely take the part assigned long since, and fully recognized as perfectly fulfilled by Him Who wrote salvation’s script in His Creator’s Name, and in the name of His Creator’s Son. There is no need to further clarify what no one in the world can understand. ²When revelation of your oneness comes, it will be known and fully understood. ³Now we have work to do, for those in time can speak of things beyond and listen to words which explain what is to come is past already. ⁴Yet what meaning can the words convey to those who count the hours still, and rise and work and go to sleep by them? Suffice it, then, that you have work to do to play your part. ²The ending must remain obscure to you until your part is done. ³It does not matter, for your part is still what all the rest depends on. ⁴As you play the role assigned to you, salvation comes a little nearer each uncertain heart that does not beat as yet in tune with God. ⁵Forgiveness is the central theme which runs throughout salvation, holding all its parts in meaningful relationships, the course it runs directed and its outcome sure. - [CE W-169.7-10]
The Eye of Providence
The Eye of Providence, also called the All-Seeing Eye, is a symbolic image of an eye enclosed within a triangle and often surrounded by rays of light. In Christian iconography, it represents the watchful presence of God, divine omniscience, and the providential care by which the Creator sees, governs, and sustains the world. The triangle is commonly read as a sign of the Trinity, while the radiance around the eye signifies divine illumination.
The symbol became especially prominent in early modern European religious art, Masonic symbolism, and civic iconography, where it came to signify the overseeing wisdom of Providence, moral order, and the higher intelligence guiding human affairs. In esoteric and initiatory contexts, the Eye may also represent awakened spiritual sight: the inner faculty by which the soul becomes conscious of divine truth beyond ordinary perception.