Dec 11
1
The 4th Dimension, This or AND That! (Chapter Nineteen)
Can it really be this simple?
I’ve just been brought face to face with something I’ve been preaching forever – I know it is true; I’ve seen it in operation over and over …how could I forget?
When I say, “I know that it is true,” I mean something far different than most people mean when they say “I know that I know.” It isn’t that kind of “knowing.” Publisher Ryan Bruce is about to tear his hair out over this one; am I right, Ryan?
I’m working on a project with Ryan that is outside of writing books and articles or publishing thereof.
Because the project entails some business-experience and expertise I’ve gained along the way, I got caught up in a bit of ego-bred nonsense. I began loathing what I thought “I” had to do and forgot all about what Ryan had actually asked me to do …which was just that “…ask.”
He had asked me a simple question and when I gave him my response, he stated that he wasn’t looking for my business opinion, but rather if I would ask our SPIRIT-PARENT to confirm something he had understood from his inquiry.
In order to make the point effectively I’m going to tell a true story many of you have read before. The reason for this particular retelling is that it exposes to the core, this 4th Dimension concept of –this AND that- as opposed to a position that it must be –either or- …which is the substance of ludicrous argument.
I wrote the following in 2005 …
Is this something we even want to consider?
CHRISTIANITY VS. ISLAM? MY SPIN…
I awoke abruptly this morning remembering the definition of a word that is being bandied about more than a bit negatively at the moment. The word is “Islam.”
This led to my remembering the definition of another word… I’ll start with the second word first; “decision” …literally, “the cut.” The origin of the word decision means to lop or cut off all other possibilities. To truly decide something means to choose without any possibility of a change of mind. It is over and done with.
Lopping off implies leaving jagged and imperfect, perhaps even dangerous, edges. Along with decision there is incision (cutting inward) and precision (cutting carefully on the basis of a clearly defined pattern).
Human decisions are best made with incisiveness… going inward to base the cut (choice) on inner, eternal or unchanging values. By first going inside — a template can be made so that the cut can be made precisely with no potentially harmful jagged edges.
Now, The other word with which I awakened …ISLAM:
Islam, of course, is the religion that uses that word to describe itself. It is based on the teachings of Muhammad. A man who considered that he was a prophet …and thus the followers of Islam, Muslims, consider him to be a prophet as well.
Muhammad certainly thought that he was proclaiming the same singular Deity, Allah, which Jesus proclaimed. The “God of Abraham” …the father of Isaac and the religion of the Jews and also the father of Ishmael and the religion of the Arabs. There we have it …Jew, Moslem and Christian… all the seed of Abraham.
Self-professed followers of Jesus and Muhammad miss the essence of the teaching of both men… when they treat anyone with anything less than practical love and tolerance.
The word “Islam” means, literally, “submission to God”… (or Allah, same, same in the mind of Muhammad).
Where Christians and Muslims both stumble, slip and fall is under the direction of men who by their actions miss the “will” (desires and purposes) of God/Allah.
Mohammed and Jesus both proclaimed that the essence of being submitted to God worked itself out in the individual by the loving of one’s enemies and the “returning of good for evil.”
Let's all play the blame game.
Only the narrowest interpretation of the Bible or the Qur’an (Koran) will lead to Holy (as determined by men) wars, in which the sole purpose is to destroy those who believe differently than they.
Both Jesus and Mohammed were vehemently opposed to this. Therefore, Christian/Muslim armed battles are ludicrous. Trying to tell this to a devout fundamentalist, Christian, Muslim, Jew, or for that matter, Hindu… falls on deaf ears and at best brings on verbal justifications for more hatred.
As for me …I go inward and decide to submit to God. If another person, who says he is submitted to God, chooses to kill me for my decision …his fate is in the hands of Allah.
Both Jesus and Mohammed said to love our enemies …it is written in the Scriptures of the Jew thusly: “Vengeance is mine says the Lord.”
Turning the other cheek is obviously a conundrum thought up by somebody who just wasn’t familiar with the problems brought on by the existence of Christians, Jews, Hindus and Muslims on one planet.
Now then, let’s go retaliate!
A personal note to all of this… I was invited to go to Pakistan several years ago by a local Pakistani Christian pastor in Lahore, Pakistan to go as an evangelist to Muslims. He had, himself, been converted to Christianity from Islam. I arranged for my air travel and made extensive plans for the trip with much excitement and anticipation, never having been to that part of the world.
What if you were born into religion?
I knew that Pakistanis who converted to Christianity feared for their very lives. I was excited about the possibility of being a part of such a noble and worthy cause.
I went into a period of fasting and intense prayer for direction and preparation. One morning while literally lying on my face on the floor… I dozed off and had a vivid dream of thousands thronging to Christ as a result of my speaking.
Then I I was shown that what the throng was doing was supplanting one shadow of reality, i.e., the religion of Islam for another shadow of reality …the religion of Christianity and still missing the SOURCE of everything!
“What do I do?” I asked …I clearly heard, DO NOT GO! I “tested the spirits” and knew this was a message for me directly from our SPIRIT-PARENT.
I told the American business man through whom the invitation had been extended and who was underwriting the finances of my trip what had happened to me …he arranged for another American evangelist to go.
I had some very mixed emotions. I was surprised by two of the emotions I could identify …jealousy on the one hand and relief on the other.
After asking about it …I realized I was jealous because I had wanted to go very badly and wanted to be known as a man that had brought many Muslims to Christ! I was relieved because I knew the other man …a renowned international evangelist would “do a good job” and thus I felt relieved of the responsibility to go.
I was deeply troubled by the clear look at such obvious ego-centeredness on my part. One of the other emotions was the dismay at the fact that the man who had arranged for the finances of my travel had disregarded the message I had been given, that is, that it was a fruitless endeavor …the shadow of one reality, Islam, being exchanged for another shadow of reality, Christianity.
All religions require "submission before god". Will you submit?
I was, however, also relieved that he didn’t seem to judge me for my decision not to go. Still trapped in my ego driven thoughts …I finally realized that it simply wasn’t my time or place to go.
Through incision, precision and decision I will know when/if ever it is my time. Our SPIRIT-PARENT’s promise to all… “You will seek Me and find me when you search for Me with all your heart,” which issued out of the mouth of the Jewish prophet, Jeremiah …no less.
Ah, Islam! …a precise decision to be submitted to God.
Do we get this? Islam and Christianity …BOTH imperfect expressions of the SOURCE and yet, BOTH tools that can be used to bring men closer to revelation, if either doesn’t get lost battling the other.
It’s already worked out in the 4th Dimension …let’s go there and taste of the divine.