Joel gave several beautiful classes on world work and topics related to world work. Since Joel’s recordings are still under copy protection, we have obtained permission to post these recordings for your online or telephone listening. Each recording will be available for listening at any time for one month after it is posted. There is a list of previously posted recordings at the bottom of this page.
To hear the recording by telephone, call
1-641-715-3900, and enter the extension number 828754, followed by the pound sign (#). After you enter the extension number, the introduction to the recording will begin, followed by the recording itself. The telephone number and the extension number will always be the same, even as we change the recording each month. Depending on your telephone calling plan, the call may or may not incur a charge, so it is a good idea to check whether your plan covers calls to the 641 area code. Even if you usually participate in the tape group by computer, the telephone option is convenient when you would like to listen to the recording but for some reason do not have access to your computer.
You can listen to this recording from the Sanctuary page. To listen by telephone, call 1-641-715-3900 and enter 828754#.
This month’s recording, 420B, “The Nature of Spiritual Power,” is from the 1961 London Closed Class. It was not used as source material for any book.
Preview of the Class
In this recording, Joel calls upon us to help bring peace on earth through an understanding of the nature of spiritual power.
He begins with the recognition that humanity faces problems for which there appear to be no human solutions. He then points out that diseases once considered incurable through human means have been dispelled through spiritual healing, and he asks:
“If the world now has an incurable disease; if the world has several situations that cannot be humanly solved, can it be saved by spiritual power? If so, to what extent are we spiritually endowed to go about such a demonstration of harmony, of peace, of Grace? Are we sufficiently imbued with the Divine Spirit? Can we say that the Spirit of the Lord God is upon us, and that we are ordained to bring peace on earth spiritually?”
His answer is that it depends on our knowing the nature of spiritual power, and he goes on to explain and explore the nature of spiritual power and how we become receptive to it.
Joel suggests that if we are willing to undertake this work silently and impersonally, we must “accept the world as a patient,” as humanity suffering under universal ignorance, fear, and the belief in material power. Our work is not to condemn the world or prescribe a human outcome, but to realize the nature of God and become instruments through which spiritual power may bring forth harmony and peace on earth.
Speaking as if he were addressing the conditions of today, Joel says:
“We believe a man or a group of men threaten us. We believe an ideology threatens us. We need only remember twenty years ago when it was a different man and a different ideology. We need only remember twenty years before that when it was still another one. We can go back in history to the beginning of time and name the tyrants and their ideologies. As each one was overcome, another rose up. It is never worthwhile to overcome the prevailing one.”
What is necessary, Joel says, is that “Ten righteous men—using that ten figuratively—must know this truth about spiritual power. It is not going to overcome our enemies, destroy them, or win victories for us. It is going to reveal to us God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.”
Joel emphasizes that we must abide in stillness, quietness, and confidence, so that spiritual power can have an outlet through us and be the activity of Grace that reveals spiritual harmony where a very materialistic world seems to be. Therefore, meditation is essential because in meditation, we let physical and mental powers rest. In that stillness, we allow ourselves to become instruments through which spiritual power can operate.
The recording will be available for listening through August 31, 2026.
July 1-31, 2026
Recording 400B: 1961 San Diego Special Class
“The Essence of The Infinite Way, continued”
June 1-30, 2026
Recording 323A: 1960 Chicago Open Class
“The Way”
May 1-31, 2026
Recording 341A: 1960 Holland Open Class
“Understanding God and Prayer”
April 1-30, 2026
Recording 55B: 1953 Second New York Practitioner Class
“Isaiah’s Nature and Fulfillment of Christ”
March 1-31, 2026
Recording 506A: 1962 Cape Town Class
“Past and Present Civilizations”
February 1-28, 2026
Recording 8804: 1956 Holland Closed Class
“The Word Made Flesh”
January 1-31, 2026
Recording 507B: 1962-63 Princess Kaiulani Open Class
“1963 New Year’s Message”
To view recordings posted in 2025, click/tap here.
To view recordings posted in 2024, click/tap here.
To view recordings posted in 2023, click/tap here.
To view recordings posted in 2022, click/tap here.
To view recordings posted in 2021, click/tap here.
To view recordings posted in 2020, click/tap here.
To view recordings posted in 2019, click/tap here.
To view recordings posted in 2018, click/tap here.
To view recordings posted in 2017, click/tap here.
To view recordings posted in 2016, click/tap here.