Library Outreach Program

In 1957, Joel S. Goldsmith began an activity of placing Infinite Way books in libraries and other institutions in the United States, Canada, and other places in the world so that the books could be made available to those who were receptive. However, he insisted that the books be given only when a written request was received.

Libraries, seminaries of many denominations, prisons, chaplains for the Armed Services, and chaplains for college campuses requested books and received them. This activity was close to Joel’s heart, and the letters he got from those who were blessed by the books were always a great joy to him.

Today the Valor Foundation continues the library activity. If you know of a library, an institution, a chaplain, or a minister who would welcome these books, you can print out the Book Request Form and either take it or send it to the librarian or individual, who can then follow the instructions on the form to make the request.

One Example of Outreach

Some students have taken up the library activity as a project, writing letters to libraries and institutions who might want the books.  One student worked with a list of all the prisons in her state, writing to the librarian for each prison, giving some information about Joel’s prison work, and sending the Book Request Form.  She said that this was a way for her to heed Jesus’ statement, “I was in prison and you visited me.” (Matthew 25:36)

Joel spoke often about his prison work and how effective it was.  For anyone not familiar with Joel’s prison work, here is an excerpt from one of the many classes in which he spoke about it. This is from recording 469B, “Third Stage of Our Unfoldment.”

Now the question is before us here, “We want to be God-governed. Can we be God-governed if we’re willing to sit in judgment on our brother? Can we be God-governed if we want to sit in on somebody else’s death?”  No! No, we can’t.

Therefore, forgiveness has to be a conscious act. You yourself must know why you are forgiving. You are doing it because you’re not sitting in judgment on anyone. It doesn’t mean that they are going to be absolved from the penalty of their sin. It doesn’t mean that, because you haven’t got the ability or the power to absolve them. It only means you are not holding them in condemnation to it.

Remember that when the Master said to the woman taken in adultery, “Thy sins be forgiven thee; neither do I condemn thee,” he also said, “Go and sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee.” In other words, no one can absolve another, we can only absolve ourselves from sitting in judgment on the other. And so, if I look out at a thief saying, “Neither do I condemn thee; I forgive thee,” it doesn’t mean he’s not going to pay the penalty for his theft.

On the other hand, if he is receptive, and I have witnessed this in my prison work, where men serving terms for crimes came to this realization, and they were changed almost in the twinkling of an eye. And right after that, they were pardoned or paroled and wondered how it happened. It happened because they were no longer under the sin, therefore they were no longer under the penalty for sin. They were receptive to this love, this forgiveness. Therefore, it is a conscious act.

Now what actually is done by the forgiver? I’ll tell you. The forgiver releases himself from judgment. The forgiver releases himself from hate, from condemnation, from criticism, from judgment. The forgiver releases himself from bearing false witness against his neighbor. That’s what the forgiver does. And that is why, the moment the forgiver does this, he is under the law of love, which is the law of God. And now healing can take place in mind and body. At the same time, if the one forgiven is at all spiritually attuned, the act of forgiving awakens a spiritual sense in them and changes their nature.

I saw that work out in this way. I was appointed First Reader of Christian Science Services in a prison. And usually eleven, ten, twelve, thirteen men attended this service. And my first weeks as a reader were difficult, because unconsciously I had the idea that I was talking down to them, sort of telling them to be good. I realized, of course, that this is not the way; that my part was to realize the spiritual nature of their being even if they didn’t realize it, or the judge didn’t realize it, or the jury hadn’t realized it. My function on that platform was to realize that, “Call no man on earth your father,” they had the same Father I did. Therefore, we were of the same spiritual household, the same spiritual family, and therefore we were all spiritual being.

Well now, what happened there was that the attendance grew so rapidly that at first, we were accused of drawing them in because we had a nice soloist. Well, we removed the soloist, and we got a very fat man. But our attendance kept increasing. At the end of two years, instead of that eleven or twelve, we had a hundred eighty to two hundred, and we had at that time fifteen men doing healing work inside the prison. That’s what took place inside of two years by a conscious act of forgiving – not saying, “Oh, you sinner, I’ll let you off.” That’s not forgiving.

Forgiving was really forgiving: “Thy sins be forgiven thee. Now let’s start all over, and let me recognize your true identity and no longer feel that I’m more righteous than thou, but rather that spiritually we are one.” And you see, in that recognition, the men in the prison who had enough spiritual attunement were drawn to that service.

We even had the experience on a Thanksgiving morning of hearing the guards go through the prison saying, “Eleven o’clock, Christian Science services, and no free gifts.” And we still had our full attendance, without free gifts, because we had something else. We had this act of forgiveness. We had this act of understanding.