Luke 19:11-26 Parable of the Talents

                                   'Parable of the talents' Artist: J M Kronheim

 ¹¹And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.
 ¹²He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.
 ¹³And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.
 ¹⁴But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.
 ¹⁵And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.
 ¹⁶Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds.
 ¹⁷And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.
 ¹⁸And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds.
 ¹⁹And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities.
 ²⁰And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin:
 ²¹For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow.
 ²²And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:
 ²³Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury?
 ²⁴And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds.
 ²⁵(And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.)
 ²⁶For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him.
-Luke 19:11-26 Bible, King James Version

The Beloved Lord the Maha Chohan talks about the Gifts within us: "Mankind have not understood their Responsibility in the use of Life, Its Gifts and Powers which are within each individual! You really have a Double Responsibility... You are responsible to the Infinite Universe around you, an Expansion of all the Perfection which is within your own individual Life Stream! That is why you came into physical embodiment. You are obligated to expand Perfection thru these minds and bodies, thru your mental and feeling world, in order to make It flow into the Universe around you. That is your Divine Responsibility to your own Life Stream. The other half of your Responsibility to Life is the use of the Gifts of Life which come to you from the Universe around you and thru individuals! That is the thing mankind have forgotten completely. The Cosmic Law holds you responsible for the way you use the Gifts Life provides in the Universe around you." ('The Voice of the I AM' 1946 August p12-13)

The Beloved Messenger teaches regarding our talents: "Each Life Stream depending on Its own Divine Pattern has drawn forth from within the Higher Mental Body thru outer use in many embodiments, various Qualities. These Qualities are now in their accumulated momentum, expressing thru you all as what you might term your Talents... Every one has a certain thing which he or she can do that no one else in the Universe can do, but just you; because you were the one which drew those Qualities from within your Life Stream... You only gather a momentum of any particular Quality by use. That is how you gain power. Energy becomes power thru use..." ('The Voice of the I AM' 1946 December p12)

On this subject Beloved Mighty Helios teaches: "After We have given This Explanation of the Sacred Fire, your duty becomes paramount by continuous use of It. We could tell you the Law for Eternity! We could tell you the way and means by which all is done; but unless you use what We have given you My Dear Ones, the time comes when the Cosmic Law does not permit Us to give you any more, until you use what you have. That's the Cosmic Law's Demand, because knowledge unused passes from the mind." ('The Voice of the I AM' 1949 March p27-28)

Last Judgment Posthumous, by Emanuel Swedenborg, [1762], tr. by John Whitehead [1914], at sacred-texts.com

144.
[145] Afterwards I saw an immense number of those who had lauded faith alone, and yet had possessed no faith because they had paid no attention to the evils of their life, both the learned and the unlearned, saying that they have the Word and the true doctrine, that they know the Lord, and many other things, and that, therefore, they, above others, would be saved. They were led away in a multitude, first to the west, afterwards to the south, on the other side of the waste Babylonish tract there, and even towards the east and still farther. And they were divided; [some] were scattered towards the north, nor were they seen anymore. And many were led back, but hither and thither; this transfer was effected in order that they might be explored as to whether they had any faith such as they had boasted of; namely, whether their faith was only a science, which is not faith; or, whether there was anything of life in it, which is faith. And it was given them to perceive that they had had no faith, but only something scientific without life.
145.
[146] When they were in the southern quarter near a gulf there, there came forth a multitude which had been concealed there from early times, who likewise said that they had had faith, and that they would be saved by reason of faith alone, and they had thought nothing about life. This multitude then approached them and was mingled with them.
146.
[147] From a certain mountain region a multitude was brought forth, who had led a moral life, not from any religion, but merely from fear of the law and of the loss of fame, honor and gain; thus without any Christian life; wherefore, so far as they could do it unknown, they perpetrated evils. Because they had not acquired to themselves any communication with heaven by means of a life from religion, they were led around to the southern and western quarters, that they might be explored as to whether they had any religion of life; and because they had none, they were rejected.
147.
[148] Finally came those who had been versed in the doctrinals of the church, and, in like manner, had led a moral but not a Christian life, because they had lived, not from doctrine, or the Word, but for the sake of fame, thus before men and not before God. And, being explored [it was seen] that they had nothing of conscience, because nothing of the religion of life. These were cast out of that mountain region.
148.
[149] All these, who were divided into the three classes, were driven so far away that they could not be seen except as a dark cloud; and they were dissipated. It was told me from heaven that they were cast down into uninhabited and desert places, and thus were separated lest they should consociate together.
149.
[150] The dispersion of these three classes was made to all the quarters, east, south, west, and north, whence they can never return; and this all the more, since every knowledge of religion is taken away from them. Concerning life in deserts, see elsewhere.
150.
[151] The angels wondered that there is so great a multitude in the Christian world who are entirely ignorant of the truth that religion is a matter of life, imagining that religion consists in thinking something or other, and that by thus thinking they absolve themselves from every obligation of life, which they have made up from this: that, by the Lord's merit, they are exempt from the yoke of the law, and that no one can do good from himself, and that if he does, it is meritorious: and yet this is so far from religion of life that it is no religion at all...

158.

[158] Hypocrites who have spoken well concerning God, the neighbor and the country, but in themselves have thought the contrary, were explored and cast into hell. They wished to speak well concerning the Lord's kingdom and concerning heaven, for this is then the country, but their interior thought was explored, which was for themselves alone, and against the rule of the country; wherefore, when they were let into their interiors they perpetrated criminal things. They were cast into hells, being first deprived of all that they had drawn from the Word and from doctrines by which they had deluded others.