Yes, I Was There…

WED., MAY 13, 1998, 9:01 AM
OFFICE, PULLIAM

…and I’ve been in the earth since, I’m with you today, and I shall be here for eternity. This affirmation does not mean, however, that I am not in other realms simultaneously. I am not limited by time or space, meaning that I can be effectively functioning in many different places “at the same time”. It doesn’t make sense in your Western, rational thinking, but it, your thinking is based on principles that don’t apply to Me. I enjoy what I do, and I never tire of the tasks, even ones that seem difficult.

Yes, I was there at My Birthday, now called Pentecost. I came as tongues of fire and as a rushing wind, with the dramatic act of allowing those who spoke and understood different languages to all hear Peter, as if he were speaking in their tongue. I was with Stephen as he summarized the Hebrew experience with Me, as Yahweh and as Jesus. He could have been less firy and less “Christian” in his spirited sermon (guided by Me) and saved his life, but I urged him on, and he was martyred. In the spirit of the Christ he gave up his life. It was not taken from him. And others followed this path until the Church (My Body) was established.

Thus, I’m saying, surely that life in the body is precious, but it may be given up for something better – life in the spirit. Your Western secular thinking, which has tainted Christian thinking, sees human life in an idolatrous way. There are many and varied approaches to saving and prolonging human earth lives, many of which I deem to be foolish.

Why do I say this? Ironically, the purpose of earth life is to grow in spirit, reaching, finally, a state in which all that you do is perceived in terms of spirit. When such enlightenment comes (sometimes slowly, even “painfully”, but sometimes in a flash of insight) physical comforts, successes and failures… concerns (like that for your ring finger and its “encroaching band”) and much of what has seemed important before becomes like a tinkling bell and a clanging cymbal.

Oh, it may not be “time” to move on… “to lose” or “to die”. But life is different, in that now you do what you do for Me, with a happy and grateful heart/spirit. You can pass on over or you can stay here and live life fully and spiritually. It now makes no difference. This is how it was with Stephen. He preached a powerful summary message and then he gladly (and even forgivingly) gave up his spirit.

Yet, later Paul had an opportunity to experience a martyr’s death, much like Stephen’s. But he had work to do for Me, and I guided him in his escape and the continuation of his mission to establish My Body, the Church. I certainly don’t have to function in the same way in every situation.

I like the academic contrast between two ways of seeing the aftermath of an earth life that you (and I?) originated (even as you, humbly, give credit to some anonymous student). The “judgment way” is “A or F”… heaven and closeness with Me or hell and separation from Me (on the basis of one life, long or short, consistent or variable). The “evaluation way” is “A or INC”… how well have you done in this life (whatever its circumstances) and what do you need to do now… reaching toward enlightenment?

I say there is merit in both “aftermaths”. Again, who ways I have to be one-way consistent in dealing with spirits who have finished an earth life? Don’t you find it interesting that I have been here with you, guiding you to be and remain a Presbyterian Christian and yet also letting you realize that there is much more to life than this one incarnation and that you can be both Presbyterian and a mystic, who hears Me directly, at any time of the day and in a variety of places?