Earth's Born-Again Birthday

You and I both know that new year’s day, the day that the earth was first created, happened last September and that’s why we went into the bubble together on that great adventure to the beginning of time. So an aspiring immortal has to wonder what to think about December 31^st at midnight. I’m sure that scholars, scientists, and historians all can give us wonderful explanations of why the new year begins in January and why the death of the old year happens in December. But my Boss asked me to tell you the real reason we celebrate the new year, albeit AGAIN, and this is what it is.

If our earth was a person like you and me, which it kinda is, since the world has a life of its own, a history of its own and we are all little cells in that life being shed and renewed every day, then the birth of the earth was an event like the birth of Harvey.

You and I agree that the most spectacular historic event that this world has known happened when God condescended to become a person born on earth. Jesus lying in the manger cooing and crying. Well, that wasn’t just a new cell coming; that was more like a whole new birth for the earth! Jesus coming to live on earth was equal to the day when the Holy Spirit first came to live in your heart. That’s a born again experience for the earth! A rebirth worth celebrating world-wide every year as if it is happening for the first time!

Yes, the old world died in December of an electric surge of humanity and was born again in January (the J standing for Jesus of course) when divinity walked on its mountains and lakes. So, my friend on this new year’s eve let the champagne flow because we are not just celebrating the turn of a single digit in our counting of years, we are celebrating the day the earth was born-again, 2,009 years ago! Hallelujah.

A Million Pregnant Men

In the Kingdom of God, on the new earth, there is neither male nor female which makes a lot of sense since we will have brand new versions of bodies and there is no marriage anyway. A whole new world will be different enough that prudent aspiring immortals may as well begin to live there in our minds and hearts to the extent possible so the transition won’t be shocking.

When young Mary agreed to contain the uncontainable she blazed a path for all aspiring immortals. As the seed of life and light grew within her, Mary appeared to be normal to every publican and common person who happened to brush her in the crowd. And yet this shameful pregnancy gave birth to the first steps of Mary dying to her old self. The clamor of self-righteous gossips was temporarily rewarded when more suffering befell the girl in labor, the manger’s refugee. 

How easy it is to contain the uncontainable Holy Spirit of God in our hearts and to appear normal to the world. How easy it is to have a two-faced soul. Instead of protruding unmarried teenage bellies, we may only dare to dangle gold crosses around our necks before the mighty atheists.

Genderless immortal, are you pregnant today? Does your belly show the world that you said yes to God’s request to enter your body? Did you die to self even a little bit today? I mean your pride, your appetites, and your self-respect in the community for God’s sake?

Will that Holy Seed inside you emerge one day, perhaps when you too are at your lowest point? And will that visible evidence of His cohabitation with you illuminate your world just enough so that others can see the path to the new earth and the narrow gate?

It is easy to know the answers. Look down and all around you to see if delicious fruit has dropped from your branches: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, long-suffering, mildness, fidelity, modesty, continence, chastity. My fellow aspiring immortal, lets live there now and here! And like the trailblazer Mary, man and woman alike let those bellies bulge!

4. Thread - Luminopoly

A short while back it was all darkness around me and I was scared and unhappy. Then I decided that I needed to start a fire for light. So I went deep inside and swept into a pile all of the trash I could find. Believe me there was plenty like pride and impatience, gluttony and anger. To light the fire I swallowed the burning coal when suddenly enough light appeared that I could see two threads in front of my eyes. I pulled the one thread, which turned out to be a thank-you thread and sure enough it got brighter and I was happy.

Light is the most important thing in the world. For us aspiring immortals who will make it to the new earth there won’t be any darkness at all. Remember the revelation: “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.” My friend John told me over and over that the life of Jesus Christ was light. I suppose he got that from the Lamb’s own mouth because He said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." That sounds easy enough but it’s not. Every day darkness displaces the light and every day we need to grope around to find Jesus so we can see again. But Jesus is invisible! What a dilemma! Or is He? Are those threads lifelines to light?

If it wasn’t for the thank-you thread I don’t know what I would do. No matter how dark it is I can reach around and feel the thread dangling. Then I know that with a serious yank or two some brightness will come. But even better is the second thread. Man, when I pulled that second thread a flood light appeared! Nope, better than that, it was like a bright sunny day on a snowy mountaintop. You know; how the light is all around because it comes down from the sun and up from the reflective snow. My friend Isaiah said it was like seven sunny days all in one. Luminopoly!

With a yank of the second thread I heard what sounded like a thousand voices telling God how magnificent He is. That’s when I discovered that the second was the praise thread. The shepherd/king David was very good at praising God and I am very glad that he wrote his praises down so we can say them all together but what I found out the other day is how much fun it can be to keep pulling the praise thread with my very own heartfelt thoughts. The room grows so bright. How does that work? Maybe it is because when I tell God how amazing I think He is, I am saying the most truthful reality based statement I can make. Just like thanks unite, praising God fills me with particles of angel dust. When a metal sword is placed in a hot fire, the fire and the sword are united, they meld. When I praise God, the reality of who He is melds with my own self who is recognizing God. I become a flaming red sword! Poof light!

My own little revelation is that I can sit in the dark and fret or I can spend that same amount of time and energy looking for the threads and yanking them a lot. Reality is in the light filled room, not the dark room anyway, so the less time I spend staring at the illusions of death, the more time I have to be joyful in the light. Light filled reality has a funny way of elbowing out illusory darkness. I remember a while back when it was dark every day and night for years, I finally learned that circumstances should have nothing at all to do with real life because circumstances live in time. Real life, the immortal life doesn’t have time at all. Time is where darkness and light take turns, but where we want to go, there is no time because there is no darkness. That must mean that the more we keep the lights on with the two threads and the hundreds of ways we can stick to Jesus Christ like glue, the less the darkness of time and all of its illusions of scary circumstances can grab hold of us aspiring immortals.

One problem: what I discovered is that nothing can make me feel smaller than trying to tell God how great He is. God is so creative and intelligent; He is so tolerant and patient. He is so wise and loving. I mean so much more of all of these things than I can even imagine that I figured it would take about a million of me(s) saying it all together to reach an inch of the reality. So, I have an idea! How about if we all get together next Sunday morning in church and focus on praise together. Really focus, don’t just pretend. I’ll bet that holy building will light up like a firecracker. Deal?

3. Thread - The United State of Light

Did you think I forgot about the second thread? I didn’t. Aspiring immortals are wise to keep their rooms well lit at all times. When I lived in Africa I did a lot of African things like travel around my country of Sierra Leone, and I ate Ma Temple’s stew and breadfruit, and I drank palm wine but I also ate pizza and went dancing at the disco on the beach. That’s because I wanted to bring my country of America to that country. I wanted to be surrounded by the me-ness that was American.

One problem with being an aspiring immortal is that we have never even been to our homeland except for moments in our hearts. But we know that the place is full of light and full of love. When God turned on the light in the dark void, He made the statement of His life. He said, “ The difference between Me and everything else is this new thing called LIGHT.  From now on Light will be my M-O.” 

Darkness is not evil; everything starts with darkness. From darkness and void God created light and all we see. I know darkness is not evil because darkness doesn’t need light to exist. Evil is a parasite of good, but darkness isn’t a parasite at all, darkness is completely distinct. Darkness and light are two completely independent things. God wants to be represented by light and darkness can be everything else. Darkness always was everything else before light was created. Not everything that isn’t light and Godly is evil. Most everyone knows that instinctively, especial non- aspiring immortals. I suppose they can be smarter than aspiring immortals in that they know that goodness is universal and not always Godly. 

Aspiring immortals waste too much life-time in the darkness of normal old earth matters. The more aspiring immortals learn how to make light, study what light is (not the sun kind of course) and bask in the light the more comfortable and familiar the land of immortality will be and the more likely that our major aspiration will become reality. Some people say, think rich and you’ll get rich, think smart and you’ll get better grades. I say, decorate your space with light and when you arrive at the place where God lives, you will feel like you’ve been there for years. Let’s talk about the second thread later.

2. Thread - Luminocity

I’m so happy! I just found two threads dangling from the sky that I can pull on for instant light! Wonderful! It was exactly like pulling the chain that dangled from the light bulb in my grandfather’s cellar. Why didn’t I find them sooner? Oh yeah, it was too dark to see them until I swallowed the hot Coal that burned off my garbage pile. Dark-Light-Dark-Light. Hahaha. It was so much fun pulling that chain off and on. The big difference now is that when I pulled the yellow thread I hear a voice in my very own heart say, “thank you.” And poof! -- Light. Is that me saying thank-you or someone else? I can’t tell.

My Boss told me that gratitude unites the one who gives with the one who receives. Unity, not materialism, is why giving and receiving are so much fun. Uniting, whether it’s the union of minds in agreement, or united hearts that ignore everything but love or even bodies that unite with hugs can all make light like thankfulness does. But thankfulness is the easiest way to make light.

Gratitude is an uncomplicated way to unite. Uniting with God is the goal for all aspiring immortals, which is why He thanks us. Have you ever noticed how grateful God is when you forgive someone who doesn’t deserve it? Light? Or when you give someone your money or gifts because they need it more than you do. Light? Everyone has more money than God. Sometimes people need money and God has to ask for a favor. The light doesn’t necessarily turn on just when God thanks us, but when we thank Him back at the same time.

When with all of our minds and hearts we are grateful for a gift that we know came directly from His powerful and generous Self, well that collision of gratitude from two givers and two recipients at the same time unites them and turns on a light so bright that darkness doesn’t have a prayer. Not the darkness of disappointment, nor the darkness of poverty, nor the darkness of betrayal. It’s just too bright, light is so much stronger than darkness will ever be.

So, I say whenever you hear yourself crying reach for the thank-you thread and pull. It’s okay to be in the light; don’t worry that all those things in the darkness will miss you. It’s okay to leave them. Maybe someday they will pull the thank you thread  or the other one too. When you do, I’m pretty sure God will be pulling it too. Illuminate your space with holy gratitude.

1. Thread - Black and Blue

The darkness of night is falling all around me. I don’t know how far out it goes but far enough so that I can’t see the end of it. It’s scary because in this darkness eyes are easily tricked into seeing a make-believe world where lies are good, where hatred wins, and where hope is exploited to deceive the simple minded. I know it is dark because I hear myself crying. Where there should be walls that shelter me, or that at least I can lean on when I start to fall, there is only a mirage. It’s important not to become dizzy or I will surely lose footing and plummet into the abyss. Eyes, stay open! Stay standing! I don’t know if my legs would have the strength to get me up again. My feet, as muddy as they are, are planted in a dirty kind of cloud in which a roller coaster keeps my heart on high alert. Am I dreaming? Where is my Boss? Remember I saw Him yesterday when He told me to turn on the television set just in time to get a message from a smiling white haired man who showed me the sparkle of light where before, when it was day, there had been a black hole of darkness. Some consolation! It was easy to avoid that black hole; I never paid too much attention to it even though I knew how dangerous it was, how many people fell into it. That timing made me feel calm for about a second. Boss, can you do any better than that? Where did you go? It’s so dark I can’t see you or hear you or nothin’! I want to go inside and look for some light there, at least enough to read by until morning comes. Is this a test like in the olden days when I was fed to the lions? Okay, I can take a test. Surely I studied enough. If the feet are muddy and there is no water around, get rid of them entirely. I don’t need feet. I only need light. Cling. I don’t need walls and I don’t need hard ground because I am a spirit after-all. Now where will I find some light? When it is this dark, the only thing I can do for light is to burn something. The only things I have to burn in this crazy place are those impurities in my self that have been making me feel fat and happy: pride, anxiety, vanity. I hate to see them go. But I must, these are desperate times. This darkness may eat me alive! Oh wow look at all that filthy pride and animus in here! That should give me at least a day or so of light! I remember when I was young and wanted to be a candle because of the way candles sacrifice themselves for light, and the day I realized that fasting was a good way to become a candle because it burned the fat. Ha-ha-ha, that was funny. If I was an olive I could be an oil lamp, but I’m not an olive and I’m not a waxy candle. I must get all that garbage together and figure out how to ignite it. I know; I’ll ignite the filthy garbage with the fiery coal of Eucharist. That’s what I’ll do. That should work. Maybe this is a very good situation after all. A pitch-black dark crazy world may be just what I need to prepare for the luminous land of immortality. Sunny daytime made me think everything was okay when it wasn’t really at all. I’ll get use to this dark place and when I finally make light maybe other spirits will come closer and we can make enough light together so that we can pretend, if only for a minute that we are in the new world. Okay, something to look forward to and to work on. I feel better. 

Meet Eveready Michael

Sunday morning I received an assignment. Tell the world the story about an aspiring immortal named Michael.

I didn’t really mean to scare anyone last week when I mentioned the end of the world and how all true aspiring immortals must be prepared for it. The closer you are to immortality (on the spectrum from the mortality of a puppy to the immortality of a person who looks, thinks, and acts like God) the less you need to make a separate effort to pack your bags for the day when earth must be evacuated. To show you what I mean, here is the true story of an aspiring immortal who is always ready.

During World War II, German soldiers upon the command of Hitler occupied Greece. They took over the government and held cities, towns, and villages of people hostel. Everything the people owned, what they could do, even say was controlled by the Germans. From today’s western perspective it seems impossible for one people to dominate another so quickly and so thoroughly but the fact is that most people are anxious to take the path of least resistance so when an army of strong men comes to town with guns and whips, it seems practical to do whatever they tell you. Aggressors like that kind of attitude. It helps them get their way.

In Corinth, Greece, there was a holy man named Michael who was the spiritual shepherd of the people. One day a brave rebellious Corinthian who had had enough domination by the German soldiers killed one. Since the Germans didn’t waste much time with the court system they rounded up about 125 Greek men from the age of 13 to execute for the impudence of the one that truly committed the crime. Killing innocent people was the most effective way to illicit a false sense of loyalty from their subjects. German soldiers killed innocent Greeks by the droves.

As this was about to happen to the 125 or so men in Corinth one man jumped on his motorcycle to the village where shepherd Michael was and told him of the imminent mass execution. Michael immediately hopped on the back of the cycle and the two sped to the scene. When they arrived, Michael jumped off the bike and ran over to the swath of land between the firing squad and the accused men.

Michael mightily struck the ground with his golden staff and in perfect German he commanded the armed executioners to kill him first, before touching one of his innocent sheep.

Silence followed. Even the birds were afraid to chirp. It was as if God, in the form of Michael, dared the men to kill the innocent. The executioners didn’t know what to do. It would have been easy to pull their triggers, but for the power that the holy man exuded who was ready to die for his sheep.

The executioners walked away. Then the innocent men walked away, and then Michael walked away.

If the end of the world had happened at that moment in time, Michael may have been among the first to arrive safely on the new earth. Michael didn’t have to think about what to do, he simply yielded himself who was already enough like God to his heart’s Holy Roommate who took over and guided Michael at that critical time. When the world comes to an end, aspiring immortals need only do the same. Yield your courageous self to the Spirit of God. Don’t hesitate, don’t look back.

Practice by performing small acts of courage. This can be as easy as telling the uncomfortable truth or standing up for and with someone else who is trying to take the narrow road. Courage simply takes willingness to be different because God is different than mortals. In fact, holiness simply means to be different… in a Godly way. Most people are cowards, accept that. They need love too. With enough love and good example maybe they will become brave. Bravery, even small acts of courage, shows God that we have our priorities in the same order that He does: love, truth, justice etcetera.

Michael left his body back on earth in 1958 after he was given more and more important jobs to do for God like becoming the second Archbishop of North and South America. Like all of us aspiring immortals, Michael is still waiting for his new body and for the new earth. But you can be sure that when it is gathering time Michael will still be ready. Are you? Practice bravery and see for yourself.

A Visit to the Birth Canal

Okay grab my hand real tight, I want to show you something. I want to a show you the entrance to the land of immortality because I don’t think you believe me when I tell you how small it is. I keep talking about getting small enough to get through it and meanwhile most people have this idea that just about everyone they know will fit. Don’t get me wrong, I want everyone to get in who is even remotely a good person, even most of the time a good person no matter what they believe about God. It’s just that one day while I was flying around I saw that door and it was almost tiny! I just don’t see how everyone can fit, especially if they are in a hurry to escape a disaster.

Let’s face it; the thing about truth is that you just can’t change it. A good way to imagine truth is to think of it as matter, something with substance. See this computer screen in front of you. It is true. If Harvey came over to me and said he thought it was round, I’d have to tell him that he was wrong. The truth is that it’s square. I don’t want to start a fight, and if he wants to believe it is round and if Harvey tells everyone he knows to believe it is round, well then he can do that. And all the nice people in the world can either join Harvey in his insistence on a round monitor or let him go ahead and be wrong. The hardest people to convince that Harvey is wrong about the round computer screen are the people with their eyes shut. They are sitting in their own darkness, imagining their own versions of a computer screen, or convincing themselves that computer screens don’t exist at all, and some of them get really mad at you if you ask them to open their eyes and see the square screen. Truth just sits there minding its own business; it doesn’t care if you believe it or not. It can’t change to suit everyone on the planet; in fact it can’t even change to help just two people who disagree to both be right.

If something is invisible you can still know it’s true by what it does. For instance, you know that cyberspace is true because we have email. You know that electricity is true because we have light bulbs and air conditioning. If you tried to tell someone about cyberspace and electricity who never experienced their effects they would think you're wacko. You know that immortality is true because Jesus is still alive. That's true because if you ask Him to prove it and really mean it, He will. But don’t think that anyone else will believe you because He is proving it to you and not to anyone else at that moment. One day about hundred years or so ago I was sitting by a swimming pool at my friend’s house sunning my happy little self when my friend forced me to ask Jesus Christ to prove to me that He was still alive. To make her stop bugging me I did what she wanted and geezoflip…He replied! I wish He had flashed the information up in the sky in brighter-than-the-sun neon lights so everyone else could see, but He didn’t He whispered it loud enough only for me to hear. The problem with that is that on days like yesterday when I tell some people that He is alive their faces glaze over like they want to go to sleep.

I read that Jesus, the only true immortal I know, said to me and to the other aspiring immortals that the road to life is narrow and difficult to travel and few find it. “Strive to enter,” He said, “many will try and won’t be able to.” (Matt 7:14 and Luke 13:24).

Of the xillions of people from day one to now, very few are immortals because you have to

1. take away the zillions of good people who either think that immortality is fantasy or don’t think about it at all. (Why bother to surprise them?)
2. take away the millions of other people who think Jesus is a liar because He said it would be hard to get through and few will make it, (Don’t you hate people who don’t take you seriously?) and
3. if you believe that Jesus has inside information, you even have to take away a bunch of people who are trying to get in and won’t make it.

That’s the scary part! And that’s why we aspiring immortals have to help each other by becoming like athletes who train for the Olympics to go down that hard road that I call the birth canal to the land of immortality. The new planet earth will not be overpopulated. On the other side of that narrow entrance will be the few people who went beyond nice to love those who were mean to them, who trusted God no matter what bad things were happening, who let thieves steal from them, and who don’t mind being nailed to a cross. Well, that eliminates a few …zillion people. At least on the other side you won’t have to stand in long lines for an ice cream cone!

It doesn’t matter that there are few people aware of or willing to go down that difficult road and through that narrow gate, what matters is that the aspiring immortal makes it. That’s what I’m here to tell you. One of the most important things an aspiring immortal must learn is never to look to the left or right to see if anyone else is coming along, only focus with all your might on getting through yourself. You’ll have plenty of time for company on the other side. Okay. Let's go!

Air of Happiness

WARNING: With this message I dare to venture into the forests of science and psychology, begging my Boss to place each foot exactly where it should land because otherwise I’ll get lost, take you with me, and we will never find in these woods the pebble of bright light we want for our journey to immortality.

‘Be Prepared’ is a good motto for space travelers, Scouts, and immortals. For the moon as for the land of immortality we probably can’t go there if we don’t know how to be there. I once thought that when the immortal gets his or her brand new body, on the way to the new earth, it will be all ready for the future oxygen-free atmosphere, but now I’m not so sure. I wonder if some aspiring immortals will still need oxygen and hence will fall by the wayside.

Earth, air, fire, and water, breathe of life. Oxygen has a lot to do on this old planet. It even causes decay. When I started thinking seriously about the immortal world I figured that humankind will no longer need oxygen and blood. I went only so far with that line of thinking when I fell right back to the matter of pride because pride and oxygen have so much in common. Imagine for a moment that pride is oxygen. Both seem to be essential for life on old earth and neither immortalizes us. In fact, to depend on pride and oxygen is a sure way to stay mortal.

Like oxygen, pride is essential for the mortal life. Mortals puff themselves up like swollen little chicks with pride for their achievements, beauty, talent, possessions and whatever power can be evoked. And yet, God’s friend James (4:6) writes that God resists the proud. In fact, keyword search ‘pride’ in the Good Book and it is all bad. Pride keeps the mortal going strong, but it is deadly for the immortal. Pride is the source of anger, resistance to criticism, jealously, vanity, and hypocrisy. Pride causes self delusion because it is what makes us blind to our own failings.

It took me a long time to accept how treacherous pride is for the aspiring immortal. I didn't want to believe it. I was proud of my reasons for pride. When I started to try to become small enough to squeeze through the very narrow gate to the immortal world I could see that pride was my fattening enemy and not my friend. Now I try hard to be aware of my pride. I can see pride seep in via many disguises, and that it is the source of most if not all of my anxieties and conflicts. I think God hates human pride because it keeps us from trusting Him exclusively. Perhaps the meek and poor in spirit are blessed because they have fewer opportunities to fall into the pride pit.

It’s not that God wants His immortal children to be specks of dirty dust, groveling for bits of life to cling to, but rather to be concentrated particles of light. Envision uranium, diamonds and flecks of gold which are of infinite value, purpose and capability. After all, we are all made of tiny cells and elements, not of anything large. Small is good. Be a bright light but don’t look at yourself, shine on and for others. In this way immortals will illuminate this world and the one without the sun.

Aspiring immortal, the message for the day is to breathe Jesus and eat plenty of humble pie to shrink.

Reality - Stranger than Science Fiction

After reading the last entry about the fiery end of Humble Pie making, I had to ask myself and my heart’s Holy roommate how we expect anyone to believe this. It sounds so very science fiction. I even had thoughts of sending it to Hollywood for new episodes of the Twilight Zone. The idea that there will be a new planet earth for immortals that were formed on this old planet earth to live with God forever is preposterous. Particularly, the part that says God chooses who will become immortal and gives them painful fiery baptisms. Any well-grounded reader will think I’m crazy and turn to a good Soduko instead.

Then this morning I opened my Good Book to where I left off in the Epistles and the Gospels, and right there in the first chapter of Corinthians, God’s friend Paul goes on and on about how the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men, and how God likes to play with our heads by speaking through the smallest of us, like children or the poor and meek rather than the most educated and illustrious.

I’ve often thought that using a middle-aged woman like me, who was trained to build clay sculptures, and plans cafeterias for money was certainly a dubious pick for a writer friend but I play along because it’s fun. I often ask Him if He noticed that agents and publishers don’t care about me, but He tells me to shut up and write, so I do. God’s wisdom truly looks like foolishness to men like me too.

Then my Boss made two interesting points. 1) Only true immortals know the difference between science fiction and reality and that’s all that matters. This is the Home Page for Immortals. I am not here to turn water into wine or to turn mortals into immortals. I couldn’t possibly do that. I am only here to encourage aspiring-immortals and 2) Even though the message is far fetched, wouldn’t even a rational mortal realize that the Creator knows best why He made mankind? After all Thomas Edison knows why he made light bulbs better than the light bulb knows why Edison invented it. Oh yeah, most light bulbs don’t believe in Thomas Edison.

Shut up and write means to turn down the noise in my head so I can focus on what He wants me to say to you. The point is that if you can’t possibly believe that human beings are created with the capacity for immortality and that a dual civilization is occurring on earth in the twenty-first century then you probably can’t see the wisdom in hand picking the most virtuous, peaceable, and trusting population to live with forever and ever. Have you noticed that there are two kinds of shoppers in the produce department, the kind who grab a handful of green beans and the kind who look at each bean for bruises that would make the stew bitter? God is the second kind of shopper.

The point is that creative thinking, the kind that set the stars in the sky and turns the planets, the kind that came up with a trillion shapes, colors and textures in nature, hundreds of animal forms and the kind of creative thinking that even dabbles in history and politics is just creative enough to make reality sound like science fiction.

It isn’t God who mystifies me most but mortals. Why do mortals accept the pain and suffering from a surgeon who cuts them open to remove a tumor or to repair an artery, but when a priest or psychologist tries to remove a demon all they can focus on is the giver of the pain and not the cure? Reality is truly stranger than science fiction.

Hypocrites and Why to Love Them

I decided recently that hypocrites don't deserve to get bad a rap as they get. Sure, hypocrites are the reason why so many people choose not to reach for immortality. So what, that's understandable. Afterall, what is worse than seeing someone walk in or out of a church who is obviously a liar, cheater, or hater. Any rational mortal would naturally think that churches must be full of similar self-deluded people and they would want no part of it. Even Jesus Christ hated hypocrites with a purple passion. I know that's because God's business revolves around the commodities of love and truth, and hypocrites are bad for business.

The hypocrite problem is clear enough but I still love hyprocites for two important reasons. First of all, I feel really sorry for them. Even though we people seem to sort ourselves by race, creed, bank accounts, and IQs, that's not how God will sort us on the last day of old earth. God's six categories of humans are found in my still unpublished book, The Immortal Life, but one category is hypocrites. On that terrible day the hypocrites will receive the shock of their lives and there won't be anywhere to go but down. That's AWFUL!!! How sad. I know they deserve it, but they don't know that.

The second reason I love hypocrites is because as bad and self deluded as they are, they have kept the light of immortality shining through the centuries. If it wasn't for the hypocrites do you think for a minute that Christianity would have lasted this long? There are so few immortals and so many hypocrites that if it wasn't for the hypocrites it would be much more difficult to have learned about the immortal option of life. Hypocrites fill churches, pay dues, make large donations, sometimes even the largest donations; they feed the poor and spread the message. Hypocrites do all that good and will still not make it to the land of immortality. Wow, thank you!

So my immortal friend, if you pass a hypocrite on the street today give him or her a big hug from me.

Back to the Future

All of my blogged inspirational suggestions like:

§ realize that the invisible God has shown us, through our own technology, that we can make the short leap from cyberspace to heaven to find Him

§ realize that we have missions, and that a good life is one that is used to please God

§ consider that you too may have a virgin birth, thus you can identify with Jesus Christ a little more to live as a real true child of God, and

§ realize that Christmas should be celebrated because Jesus showed us how to trust God better than Adam did

…are all designed to transport you first mentally, then spiritually, and ultimately physically to the new world as described in the Bible’s last chapter.

In this election year most thinking-people spend time contemplating what can be done to make American–life comfortable for more people. We want what’s good. We don’t want evil. We appreciate the freedom to choose. God endorses freedom. That’s why He allows us to come and go and do whatever we want as if He doesn’t even exist. He doesn’t want to coerce anyone. He favors religions that don’t coerce too. Freedom is a wonderful thing, even though it allows evil. We want to pick a president who can make a good world out of a free world.

This world is heavily flawed because of all the evil in it. To help our president make a good world, we need to use our freedom to choose to defy evil, the evil that whispers in our ears, lurks in our hearts, and impels us to lie, hate and otherwise miss the mark of God-likeness. The world that we want our next president to make is a world that each of us needs to help form by being generous, compassionate, honest, hard working and forgiving. Anyone can govern a country full of good people. No one can govern a country full of radical, self centered people who intentionally deceive each other.

God knows that the person who can make this world a better place, if only for their families and co-workers, clubs, teams, associations and congregations will be just the kind of person He will select for the real permanent world. He will make these people physically immortal.

Some say that being good isn’t good enough. Jesus said that no one is really good but God. That’s why the one goal has to be Godliness. Being good is good enough if you are good like God. Only Jesus was that good, even though He refused to admit it. We can try.

Working at becoming like God, or even like you think a God should be if you would allow yourself for a moment to invent One, is a win-win pursuit. Win here on old earth - win there on new earth.

My message is to ask you to first take the time to learn about who God is, and what He wants from you, that’s mental, then let it sink into your heart to change you in wonderful ways, that’s spiritual, then become an immortal, that’s physical. It starts with learning so read the Bible, read the theologians and read my book, The Immortal Life. Learning is the first step towards the immortal world.

Believe

In the olden days, many people considered themselves prudent and scientific by believing only in what they could see or touch. If something could be purchased with money, it was valuable. Matter sat on its throne and commanded kings and constables to profer practicality, and most people felt secure. Then Thomas Edison said, "Let there be light." And the practical people flipped switches from New York to New Delhi and saw the light and read at night and refused to spend too much time wondering how it worked because in their hearts they knew that it came from matter. A wire brought light to them, and they were glad. Another burp of surprise, then contentment, followed when Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone rang. Among the crowd, however, were those who worshipped an invisible God whom they claimed created everything that was visible and invisible. To them the invisible mattered. Churches and mosques, synagogues and temples were constructed upon designs of clever architects where believers could contemplate God and His invisible realm and where they would be separated for a time from the practical people whose took comfort in matter. The lovers of the invisible sang, and the practical ones ignored them. And the great and powerful Creator of the visible and invisible, gazed upon Earth to watch waves of believers ebb and flow through the centuries. Scientists and engineers moved fast through time until they confounded matter. Increasingly, the air filled with invisible activity. Wires reluctantly stepped down off the throne, and space shared the place where matter once reigned alone. The buildings for believers grew hollow, because the voice once loud in the hearts of their grandfathers and grandmothers was harder to hear and impossible to hear over the buzz of the busy air. They stopped bothering to pray and to sing. Believers became practical, and the practical started to believe in the invisible as technology usurped the place where God once reigned in His world of air. And that was how He introduced Himself to the practical ones. The invisible God of the invisible showed the contented people of matter how little they once knew about the power of air. Without cell phone or VoIP, He broadcast His wireless message of love-with-no-bribery and light-without-sun, and life-without-end. And He waited for them to believe.

The Immortal Life- A Preview

Good morning Immortal,

Welcome to my blog on squarespace.com!

It’s time for a reality check. Okay now maybe you just woke up, like I did, and your mind just reset itself to world-time. First you remembered who you are, then where. Then all of the emotions of the night before probably were loaded up too, mmm was I anxious, content, frustrated? Oh yeah! Okay got that back. It’s so important to keep the continuum going from day to day (not).

How about really waking up this morning? Instead of going back to yesterday go back to immortal life consciousness.

Hi God! Listen, before I load up yesterday, do you want to tell me if you have anything you need me to do today? ………….Okay, got it.

1. Remember I love you and you love me, so whatever others say or do that hurts or angers zero it out, and then smile. Like with mosquito bites, don’t scratch.
2. Get in prayer mode, open up the lines of communication wide so they can override the busyness.
3. Spend a few minutes imagining the new world.

That was my list, He may tell you something a little more relevant to what He wants you to know today. Practice listening. But I think every one of us should spend a few minutes every day imagining the new world. This exercise will help put today in perspective.

For my friends out there who want a little jump start on imagining the new world, I’ll set the scene and you go there, okay?

1. First - since too many people think the land of immortality is on cloud nine or out in the country, don’t go there. Imagine a town with mountains all around. The light is warm but very bright.
2. Second – pick three people who you want to be there with you and probably made it. They can even be saints you want to know.
3. Give yourselves a task. We are going to work in the garden today; do you three want to come along?
4. Chatter chatter chatter, everyone is so full of things to say they forget to take turns.
5. Feel the peace. No elections, no wars, no money problems, no sickness.

Spend a few minutes there, and now go back and forth a couple of times from here to there to get a good image of the contrast.

Okay, now it’s time to get out of bed. Have a good day! Stay tuned!!!! If today is a fighting day, remember that peace wins peace! God be with you.