New Page on Spiritual Revelation Pg 2/Part 1 This page is partly about my life - why I waited so long to begin talking openly about my encounters with God - and to explain a few things about revelations from God. Why did I wait so long to speak about spiritual revelations? Christians are curious. Non-Christians are also curious about anything that smacks of secret knowledge. But really, most things God shows me are already in the Bible. When I first had an encounter with God it was during a crisis. I was a suicidal atheist planning to kill myself that day. And to talk about my encounter I also had to open many other jars of worms that I wasnt ready to talk about. Why was I so suicidal? Why was I such a screwed up person in the first place? I didnt want to go into all of that. And every time I started to, more jars of worms opened up. My early life was so convoluted - in terms of bad things happening - I had to face all the associated implications. Many people think all supernatural experiences are signs of insanity. We live in a cynical world. And if I told people what I saw - its no different than people telling about a near death experience on Youtube. Some believe. Some call people liar. Others say these people are nuts. Who likes drama? But a bigger reason for much silence, is that many of this things that happened in my history, happened in the context of family. I was depressed. Who was to say I wasnt insane? I knew I wasnt. But all the same, people have to question things. God appearing to me happened in the context of getting me through a hard part of my life. And worse yet, after God revealed himself to me - I constantly cycled back in and out of suicidal thinking - but this time pleading with God Why is it wrong to kill myself. My life sucks... - at least that was how I felt until God began to fix what was broken in me. I honestly had this thought - What if I tell people about this amazing God, and then I kill myself? What message does that send? - and so I knew God had to lead me to a much better emotional state before I even had a right to talk about what Hed done in my life. Otherwise Id be this horrible footnote - Christian encounters loving God - then kills self. And again, I didnt want to make either my mom or dad feel bad about my childhood - or how they contributed - even though it was unintentional. Even the abuse outside of the home. Why couldnt I talk to my parents about that? I never felt I could talk to either parent about anything. My step-mom might have had the ability to handle that - but I wasnt ready to admit to my dads second wife that I had severe daddy issues. Maybe she could see that anyway. But you have to remember - my childhood was being pushed off to one cruel caretaker after another - people who didnt give a dam. I wasnt used to talking to anyone about anything. Bottling things up was my way of coping. Did I ever try? My dad had a very emotional response when I told him about the cruel caretakers hed left us with. Because my dad always wanted to know why - why we didnt talk to him more. Why my brothers had become estranged from him and didnt call him. ...........And when I began to go into Why? - it hurt him. ........The conversation never moved beyond the first couple who locked me and Bob in the closet all day, when I was 3 1/2 and Bob was closer to 5. End of conversation. My mom found out about those people shortly after it happened - but she didnt bring it up again until I was much older, which validated my memory - because you want to make sure youre remembering things and not having false memories. Bob had forgotten that period altogether. However, he had remembered things Id forgotten about - like the periods we were left in a locked house with no supervision and no food. When your story intertwines with other peoples, it can all add up to an emotional mess. Fast-forward years later. Now as a Christian who wanted to do good, I couldnt think of any way to tell my life story without dishonoring father and mother or bringing others into the tale who didnt want to be a part of a public story. One of the cruelest moments in my life includes someone taking a baseball bat to me - and then he and his friend humiliated me and gang-mugged me, shoving dirt in my mouth, my eyes, my ears and nostrils. The instigator is now a great father with beautiful children and a magnificent career. I saw him on the beach many years later and realized - whats the point - do I really need to bring this up - how he pushed me into a suicidal tailspin? My mom told me that I had to write my life story - she said it was too important and it could help lots of people. She knows only partially how dramatic it was. But then when I began to tell her my story - and how it could implicate people in my family - she kind of freaked out - no you cant write that, or that - thats my story. Thats their story - just write your own story. In fact she went into a panic. Mom - you dont understand - those people are a part of my story! ....No, no - you cant write that! Just write your story! God will show you how to write it without including this and that... There are things Bob and I talk about that only Bob and I know. And there are secrets we may both take to the grave. My encounter with God is directly linked to my screwed up childhood, my deep depression with constant suicidal ideation and intent. God revealed himself to me because I think He had to or I wouldnt be here. What is a revelation? Really? When I explain how many people actually do get spiritual revelations, some are surprised. Honestly, many of you do get revelations, you just dont see it that way - and what I say may open some of your eyes. Its just that less people have dramatic revelations. A revelation is merely God opening our eyes to see any spiritual mystery. Few revelations are dramatic in the grand scheme of things. God can speak to us until the cows come home. But without our hearts getting in the right place, we wont hear it. For example, after Jesus got baptized, the heavens opened and God spoke. God the Father said to the entire world, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Everyone heard something. Only a few heard the exact words. Some heard only a loud voice speaking. Others said it had thundered. ...In other words, God can speak and it can bounce off of our ears - or off our minds. People have revelations all the time. They just dont realize theyre having a spiritual revelation. Jesus revealed this to Peter: When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. (Matthew 16:13-17) Peter just assumed he had a correct notion. He didnt know hed had a divine revelation. Thats why Jesus had to tell him that His Father revealed this to Peter. When Im teaching Christians, I sometimes ask, Has anyone here had a divine revelation? Many say they have not. I explain that their faith is a gift from God (See Ephesians 2) They cant believe in Jesus without a divine revelation. A light-bulb goes on. Well then, how many other revelations have you had that you didnt know were from God? God wants to give Revelation to everyone. But everyones heart is not ready to hear. Hearing is related to our attitude: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God... (Matthew 3:8) 16 So Jesus answered them and said, My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. 17If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. (John 7:16) Every Christian gets revelations on some level. They just dont know it. And even non-Christians get revelations - but theyre often too distracted to notice them - or if theyre angry at God for something they may not want to hear what He says. Heres the Bible declaring that God has revealed things to people that suppress His voice: 18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Romans 1:18-21) Did God speak to me when I was an atheist - all the time. I just didnt want to listen. However, when He physically appeared to me and hugged me, I began listening, and Im glad I did. But he didnt appear to me until I opened my heart and asked him to show me if He is real. ...................................................... Check out: artakiane Maybe I can get my former publisher to allow me to somehow put the full article on facebook? When I interviewed Akiane Kramarik and her mother about Akiane being taken up into heaven at age 6 and her talking with God, I was a Christian for nearly 30 years. We talked like two friends who knew the same secrets. And she really enjoyed our conversation, because I understood exactly what she was talking about. And few people can understand, because they never had any profound spiritual experiences. Talking to God is not like talking to another human. Akiane and I discussed one particular experience she had before she started writing poetry. Before that she was much like most little girls. But then she had an experience that John the Apostle had in Revelation and Ezekiel also had in the Old Testament. .........God had given her a scroll to eat. From the Bible: So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey. (Revelation 10:9) So I opened my mouth, and He fed me this scroll. 3He said to me, Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your body with this scroll which I am giving you. Then I ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth. 4Then He said to me, Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them.… (Ezekiel 3) ............................................................................... I had wished I had stayed in touch with Akiane. It was sad that she was surrounded by a circus of people who wanted to exploit her. She was just a child, and they were assuming she was ready to walk on water. Every Christian program was interviewing a child and expecting all of this deep knowledge to pour out of her. I told Akiane something then that she would go through in the future. All supernatural revelations will fade. And people who have revelations can even fall into unbelief, just like people that Jesus healed who didnt worship Him or follow him. And so I talked about getting to know God through the Bible. Why? Because the knowledge you dig deep for will stay with you long after supernatural revelations fade away. And besides, people will always question supernatural experiences. Unless you can explain the truth of a revelation from scripture, its not going to do anyone much good. It will sound like fun trivia - but you cant base your theology on it. Supernatural experiences act as a sign to some. Or if God has to say something quickly (Remember I was suicidal and planning to end my life the day God met me - and only after I put down my pride and prayed, God, if you are real, you have to show yourself to me... - which was a huge blow to the pride of an avowed atheist. Honestly, I wanted to die with my atheistic integrity in tact. In my pride I told myself I was at least holding onto the truth and not grabbing a crutch. Obviously I didnt know God would show up and throw everything I believed into a garbage can. Seeing and feeling God - especially his love and the unbelievable joy - two feelings I had never even felt before. I was convinced that no one in the world loved me. I was convinced that killing myself was actually relieving people of a burden. Back to Akiane Eating a scroll - and receiving divine revelation: Now dont freak out. ...Its actually very easy to explain what this eating a scroll means in the computer age. ...When God gave these Bible people these supernatural experiences, they werent living in the computer age. The imagery was meant to be understood by people with simple vocabularies. Remember, when the first parts of the Bible were written there were very few words in comparison to now. In the computer age you understand so much more. We know what it means to download a file. We understand multi-threaded applications - at least computer nerds do - which helps us to understand how God can speak to many people at the same time. In fact God knows every single molecule and sub-atomic particle - they all exist in him and He holds them all together - Thats in Colossians chapter one if you want to read it. With computers you dont download information word by word or sentence by sentence. You download the entire dictionary at a single moment. Its a very quick way to transfer data. God has an equivalent of downloading entire files of information into us when he speaks to us. With the book of Revelation and with Ezekiel, God gave the Apostle and the Prophet scrolls, which was the equivalent of God giving them entire files of information to download to their minds - a huge body of understanding and information that they knew at once. The moment they ate the scroll they had a body of spiritual knowledge. Thats the sweet part of eating these scrolls in my opinion. But some knowledge becomes bitter when you have time to think everything through. Why? Ezekiels download was that the entire nation was sinning against God and God was soon going to destroy the nation - a very, very bitter revelation. Johns revelation was partly sweet. He saw the angels worship God, and learned many heavenly things, even things not recorded in Revelation. He saw that God was going to win. He saw Christians rejoicing in Heaven. But he also saw the souls that would be cast into the Lake of Fire. He saw the world falling apart. And He had to write all that down for our sakes. Thats BITTER. Some of what God showed me is extremely bitter - especially about the future. No one will want to hear about it. People will want to change the station - so to speak. And others will just say Im nuts - which I dont care about. God can either speak to us word for word - or God can download an entire file of information into us - so that we absorb a huge amount of knowledge at a single moment. With Akiane, God downloaded a pleasant thing - She was only six, and He revealed His unbelievable love for mankind. And if you look at her art and poetry through age 12 - she was like a walking sign of Gods love. In a revelation, you can actually see people in a moment of time like God sees them. Thats why you can see Gods love for mankind in this young womans early art and her early writings. ...But I sense that since then, she hasnt heard from God for awhile, at least from her recent art. ...Like many people, we will eventually be forced to read the Bible and other sources of information and figure things out. People who only rely on revelations are almost dangerous. Because there are demonic revelations too. And if someone gets 9 revelations from God, and the tenth is demonic - they can easily start cults. But some people only have demonic revelations. And they assume its from God because they dont know how to test anything. Those people definitely do much harm in this world. Another reason I didnt tell people about my revelations is that at the time, I also wanted to test things out - to see if what God had shown me was consistent with things written in the Bible. Why doesnt God speak to us all through revelations? Blessed are they that believe without seeing - What Jesus said to doubting Thomas. Why rob people of blessing? If its more blessed to believe without seeing, youre actually doing better than someone who needs constant reassurances. Many of the deepest Christians in the world dont have many supernatural revelations. They have the quiet kind that comes through studying the Bible, meditating in prayer, and listening to good teachers. We cant summon God like a genie in a bottle. There were countless years where it seemed like God was a million miles away from me. Why after revealing himself so dramatically did God go into hiding - and the Bible says that God does hide himself from us when he tests us. Huge revelations isnt the normal way people learn. But Akiane had that experience; and I had similar kinds of experience where I had downloads from God. In other words, without an extensive conversation, God revealed a boatload of information about his power, his creation, his plans. And rather than a long drawn out conversation - God showed me many things in an instant of time. This is the experience that Akiane had. She had almost no understanding of God, and then when she ate the scroll - which was not a long drawn out experience. It just went into her - no chewing - it happened instantly. The next day she was able to write astonishing poetry and she had profound insights into the love of God for mankind. She saw God speaking to people throughout the world - everywhere. And so she knew at once that God loved (loves) everyone. The truth is that God speaks to people all the time (something he revealed to me also) - but its like most of us are way too distracted to notice when God speaks. But God has shown me some very important things. And at this point in my life I know its time to begin saying the things he has shown me - and told me that I have to share.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 04:02:43 +0000
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