Visions of Heaven

end of the carbon cycle,
end of gender,
spiritual union with each other and the deity.

does free will mean that the whole controversy might begin again, or will it never start because free will will assume a different shape?

will time travel be the only way to personally document the reality of what rebellion against the systems of grace did to the universe, and to the Son of God? recorded realities will not be as convincing as witnessing the pain and the suffering in realtime which can be realized, if necessary, by traveling in time.

or will the inhabitants of eternity also accept by faith what others who lived and survived life in a sinful world, tell them about the nature of sin and its consequences?

Surrender to Christ vs. Guilt for Not Doing So

Dear brother Michael, I found your site via Adventist Pulpit and a comment you left there about reading Ellen White.

While I do look forward to your post about how to surrender, and while I'm pleased to see how on fire for the Lord you are in your blog, I am saddened that the obsession, if I may call it such, with 100% consecration, sometimes experiencing 99%, other times 90-95% consecration, sounds strangely out of synch with righteousness-by-faith in Jesus. If we look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, and keep on looking at him, what need of feeling guilty of holding back?

Guilt, especially in the Christian life, can be a destructive thing, that only leads you into depression and feelings of low self-esteem. Yes, it would be perfect to be 100% consecrated to Christ. When we're glorified at the 2nd coming, we will be 100% consecrated to him for sure, in the meantime, enjoy your life more. Avoid evil activities that keep you out of synch with Christ, but more importantly, live and enjoy your life to the fullest, less you come to the end of your Earthly life and realize that it was not always 100% consecrated to Christ and that your life was not all it could have been. Living for regrets, present or future, sounds like a truncated life, at best. May God bless you, and all who read this. Again, I look forward to your post about how to surrender. I have been trying to surrender to Christ more and more for all of my 51 years, and in the meantime, I fix my gaze on Christ and try to enjoy Him as well as all the blessings he sends my way.

World Trade Center 3001

Build a virtual time machine and travel back to September 10, 2001: the day before the twin towers fell. Take along with you a list of all the planes that crashed and the passenger lists. Underscore the names of the terrorists on each list. From the 101st floor of one of the towers, fax the list to major newspapers, radio stations, as well as the FBI, CIA and the White House. Cause all major airports to be shut down until the Towers are emptied and guarded.

When the Towers fail to fall on the following morning, go forward in time to September 11, 3001. Stand at the base of the Twin Towers and look straightProject Rebirth: Project Rebirth: up at the aging and abandoned towers that stand as a monument to your time traveling achievement.

Instead of documentaries about the destruction of the Twin Towers, only what-if movies will be filmed about what almost took place.

Nails of Peace

Buy a large nail or a spike like those used for constructing railroad tracks.
Dip it in gold, or silver, or copper or blood.

Engrave on it words of peace only.
Attach a harness and equip it with a small parachute.

Fly over a war-ravaged country.
Drop your emissary of peace out of your airplane.

Repeat until wars become a distant memory.

Electric Funeral Splits a Sabbath Morn

"Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed." I Corinthians 15:52 (NIV)

For days I had known that Saturday, my Sabbath day, was also Scottie's Funeral. All week long I felt unsure about whether to go only for the visitation on Friday night, attend the service at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, but not the farewell get-together at a place known as Georgie's Alibi. I prayed and reflected on what would be the proper thing to do. If the tables had been turned would it have been acceptable for someone to skip out on my last day above-ground? When the decisive moment arrived whether to make the left turn that would take me to Sabbath School or continue going straight ahead for three more blocks to the funeral parlor, the old song from my youth, Electric Funeral, briefly flickered across my mind and I wondered what an electric funeral would be like. A few moments later I was being ushered in to where the service was being held. I arrived half an hour late. I noticed some folks from work. I assumed the music playing was some new age type of hymn. I had no idea what religious beliefs Scottie had, or didn't have. When I looked at the front of the room at the casket, I noticed a large wooden cross. The song playing over the sound system was from Elton John's Blue Moves. It seemed elegiac in a way that music from the early 70s can sound when contrasted to the contemporary rock heard on modern radio stations. Afterwards, Elton John's Goodbye Norma Jean, or is it Candle in the Wind?, his pean to Marilyn Monroe made, at least for me, for a very bittersweet moment. I had to hold back a tear when the phrase "She lived her life like a candle in the wind" was sung.

The minister said a few words, and I do mean few, in remembrance of Scottie's life. He asked that all who wished would accompany him in saying the Lord's prayer. We then passed by the casket and I briefly said to myself, or to him, "Scottie, I hope I see you again someday." The minister then said that the family wanted to spend the last half hour of the service saying their private farewells. He reminded everyone that the Alibi's event would be at 11:30, a few blocks down the street.

I had paid my respects to Scottie so I headed for church and caught the fading moments of Sabbath school. After sitting through the endless announcement period, the pre-doxology as well as the doxology gratified me. Hymns and music in general was what I enjoyed most in church. I felt very dissatisfied though, since I had spoken very little about Scottie with anyone at the funeral. They ushered us out so quickly. I turned to a Cuban lady who I always see in prayer meetings on Wednesdays and gave her my offering envelope, telling her that I had to go to a funeral.

I was the first to arrive at Georgie's Alibi and I ran into an octogenarian neighbor from my apartment building who said that beside his home, this was the only other place in which he felt safe. He asked me if I was there for the catered affair for the guy who died of AIDS. I told him I was and did he know him? He said he didn't but that his boyfriend's cousin had also recently died of AIDS. I wished him well and waited by others who had started to arrive.

Once inside I was able to meet mostly people from work and reminisce about Scottie and his life. I also saw someone I had only seen in pictures, his former partner, Kevin. I told him that I was sorry for his loss. He said that it had come as a surprise, as he didn't seem to be that sick.

This kind of event with food, and beverages and music playing can often dampen the reflectiveness of the occasion. I did my best to ask people I encountered about their memories of Scottie. Agnes, another neighbor of mine said she had gotten to know both Scottie and Kevin at their annual Christmas party that they invited everybody to. These were wonderful events as well as lavish ones. I told her I had not known Scottie well enough to have been invited. I had known him only through visits to libraries where he was stationed at, or sometimes standing outside of restaurants or boutiques in Wilton Manors, Florida.

The last thing I heard someone say at the actual service was "Scottie was such a lovable bear of a man," referring to his large, bearded appearance. I smiled at Mimi and concurred with her as we both went our separate ways.

I'm not 100% sure if I was supposed to have attended that post funeral service brunch with it's multiple video screens with 80s music videos flickering as the conversaton ebbed and flowed on a Sabbath morning, but I'm glad I went. It allowed me to say goodbye to a man that always was more interested in saying hello to me that I was to him. He smiled even when I didn't. He mentioned common acquaintances even when I tried to minimize them. Whenever he saw me he came to greet me and to make pleasant conversation. If only for his affability and natural good cheer, I felt I owed it to him to be at both the funeral service and the brunch at Georgie's Alibi, a place I hope I never have the need to visit again.

Diving Slowly into the Ocean of God's Word

"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." John 17:3 (New International Version)

Have you ever noticed that time operates differently while you pray or meditate on the Bible? Several times this year while devoting an hour to Bible-oriented meditation, it seemed that the enjoyable Bible meditation period existed not in this normal four-dimensional world, but in a fifth dimension, the dimension of one's spirit.

Modern physics speaks of four dimensions, the three spatial dimensions plus time. When you stand still without going anywhere at all for 20 minutes, say, you are traveling in time, sort of speaking, without traveling in the spatial dimensions of height, width and length. Sometimes when meditating, not always of course, something uncanny happens. The hour you spend meditating on the Word of God is somehow disjointed from the normal march of time. You meditate on a particular verse and after what seems like a very long and enjoyable meditative moment, you look at the clock and to to your surprise what seemed like half an hour to you is only 15 minutes. It's almost as if God is slowing down the march of time so your hour can seem almost eternal. Perhaps that meditative hour, with its sometimes altered sense of perception really is an intimation of eternity with its enhanced or peculiar sense of time, where a second is like a thousand years, and vice-versa.

Perhaps what I'm describing here is a kind of Bible-induced trance where you forget your surroundings and a clinical attention to time itself. Recent studies reported in the New York Times report that these altered sense of realities happen only in the mind not in the physical world. A long time ago I read that your spirit, or your spiritual nature, is in a certain region of your mind and that it is, in fact, a very small area of your mind. An altered sense of reality would, it follows, exist only in your mind's spirit. Time itself would, of course, proceed in the normal fashion, but your perception of it would be altered by the awareness or experience you perceive in your spirit. I am not speaking here in any sense of the immortality of the soul, but simply the mind's ability to process spiritual realities or experiences.

This does not only happen during Bible-induced mediation. During the 90s on three separate occasions I sat in a darkened room, with one of the following musical compositions or artists: Ravi Shankar's ragas, Yes' The Revealing Science of God from Tales of Topographic Oceans, and James Carter's In Carterian Fashion, and closed my eyes to enable me to focus on the music only. Without consciously accessing an alternate reality or experience, that 50 or 70 minute compact disc transferred me into an altered sense of reality. With my eyes closed, and my mind and spirit focused on the transcendence of these susurrous, and water-tinged pieces, I forgot I was in my bedroom, with the lights turned out. I even forgot for brief moments that my I was in my body. I felt I was inside the music, the music was inside me. Having seldom experienced an altered sense of reality I couldn't help but smile and enjoy the exquisite quality of the experience itself, hoping it would never end. With the ending of the 50 or 70 minute compact disc the experience slowly ebbed and flowed and I was once again in my room. Even though I knew the compact disc was either 50 or 70 mintues in length, the time I had spent during the experience seemd much longer, almost timeless and out-of-this-world. Mozart's Jupiter Symphony or Mahler's Resurrection Symphony would probably have induced a similar altered sense of reality had I selected those compositions, instead.

My body went no where, time marched on, but I had, in fact experienced another world, another dimension, sensation, and perception. Perhaps the Indian yogis or other spiritual men and women from different world traditions are able to enter and exit such exalted states of being at will.

I'm glad that sometimes I can experience such golden moments of enhanced reality by diving slowly into the ocean of God's word through prayer and meditation. It is an experience that in many ways is finer than any conscious, waking dream.

Faith in Spite of Disharmony

"I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth,
Blood, fire and columns of smoke. " Joel 2:30 (New American Standard Bible)

I continue to believe in the Bible not because it can all be explained but because its study has changed and continues to change my life. There were years in my life that I refused to read the Old Testament because its God seemed too harsh. I've learned again to both accept and love that God no matter how harsh he might seem in the Old Testament. I've learned to live with the difficulties in explaining catastrophes that perplex and wound me year after year.

I thank God for the Spirit of Prophecy no matter how it came about, what sources Ellen White used, or whether she gave them credit or not. In spite of the problems one finds with the writings of Mrs. White, I find her messages inspiring and helpful to me in my Christian journey.

I do think we as a church need to focus more and more on the Holy Spirit and His ministry. Even Mrs. White mentions the Spirit in glowing terms, and that is something that needs to be stressed more and more as time goes by with the return of Christ being delayed. I honestly hope that God sends the Latter Rain within our lifetime and revives the Spirit of Prophecy in the 21st century. We certainly need more guidance and new light to make sense of the challenges we face in an ever increasingly violent and incredulous world.

Most of all, we need to stress our differences less and less and have greater love for one another. There is too much disharmony in the Adventist church today, conservative vs. progressive, old vs. young, heterosexual vs. bisexual/homosexual/intersexual, non-academic vs. academic, Third World vs. Super Power.

When will Christ come? He comes daily to each of us, individually. Someday He will return to make our spiritual connection with him a face-to-face reality. God grant us grace and hope and faith and, of course, love to help us in the meantime.

A Third Testament

" 'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. " ' Act 2:17 (NIV)

While Ellen G. White insisted that she was a lesser light when compared to the greater light of the Bible, some may think that in claiming the category of light, whether lesser or greater, it was almost tantamount to suggesting her voluminous writings were a type of third testament. Some people look to her writings, especially her Testimonies, as being a kind of third testament. Whether her writings can be considered a third testament, or not, is not the subject of this post.

There are so many instances of the number three in the Bible. The Trinity, of course, comes to mind, and is the most important of the triads in the bible. There were three persons on the Mount of the Transfiguration. Christ was in the tomb for parts of three days-- our Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Three disciples witnessed the Transfiguration. Revelation speaks of three angels' messages. There are three synoptic gospels. And so on, and so forth.

The Old Testament is mostly about the Lord God, God the Father, the first person of the trinity. The New Testament is mostly about the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the trinity. Although it can be said that the two testaments were complete as they now stand, had it been possible for Christ to have come before he actually did, if he had been a son of one of the princesses of the House of David, if the Babylonian captivity had not taken place, because the Israelites found other ways of being cured of their idolatry, then the New Testament probably wouldn't have had to have been written. In that case, the Old Testament would have been complete, as it would have existed in that scenario. But, of course, both Testaments exist. History turned out differently.

Two thousand years have passed since the New Testament was written. The New Testament referred back to the Old Testament. What would a Third Testament be like if there ever were a need for it to exist? It would of course refer back to both the Old Testament and the New Testament. A theoretical Third Testament would, of course, magnify God the Father and God the Son. Since we have a third member of the trinity, might a theoretical Third Testament consist of a fuller revelation of the Holy Spirit? Would the inspired writers of the theoretical Third Testament magnify the Spirit who magnifies the Son who magnified the Father? The Old Testament contains fewer references to the Spirit of God than does the New Testament. Might a theoretical Third Testament contain the most references about the Holy Spirit?

You might wonder why even talk of such things? All members of the Trinity are equally important. To speak of One is to speak of Another. You might say that a Third Testament is not really necessary since the Old Testament was all humankind ever needed, but, of course, humanity's rebellion made a second, or New Testament, necessary. Nevertheless, two thousand years have come and gone and humanity's rebellion shows no signs of abating. Spirituality, as well as life itself in the Post-Modern world, sometimes appears increasingly different from the Christianity, or Judaism of the two existing testaments. Needless to say, both those testaments served, and continue to serve, humankind as perfect as perfect can be this side of eternity. Nevertheless, might not a Third Testament be given to us as the third and final gift, because of the new complex reality, as well as future realities that often are light years away from the beautiful simplicity of the two existing testaments? Or do we simply continue to the end of time, now matter how long it takes to arrive, with just the two testaments we have now?

Besides pointing back to the Bible, and drawing attention to both Father and Son, what might a Third Testament look like? Since the New Testament is briefer than the Old Testament might not the Third Testament be briefer than the New Testament? Or might it be even more voluminous then either testament and be ever-revealing, or expanding, as new mysteries in Science and future history necessitate the Third Testament to be more dynamic than the earlier ones? Again, might not a theoretical Third Testament focus on a fuller Revelation of the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit? Like the Old and the New Testaments, a theoretical Third Testament would, of course, be inspired by the same Spirit that inspired the previous testaments.

Since most of our post-modern world prizes its female writers, might the Third Testament not contain as many, if not more, books by woman prophets, chroniclers or editors? Would these 21st century prophets only come from one church, would they come from more than one or would they come from outside the church?

Since each existing testament focuses on either Judaism and/or Christianity, would a theoretical Third Testament, if it ever became necessary, still not only be God-centered, Christ-centered, but also be Spirit-centered? Would the religion of the Third Testament have a new name and would it appeal both to Jews, as well as Christians? Would these Post-Modern or Third Millennium Believers be persecuted by some members of the Old Guard as happened in the early days of Christianity? Would the civil authorities persecute them, as well, for disturbing the peace?

Since the advent of the Internet, blogs, and hypertext, would the Third Testament not be written in the traditional mode, as were the previous two testaments?

Finally, might not the Third Testament be actually being written in some of the religious or spiritual web sites, blogs and hypertexts of the early 21st century? Or does some special outpouring of the Holy Spirit have to occur before this potential Third and, no doubt, final Testament start taking shape? Who will do it and at what time in future history will a third Canon be codified? Will that triadic Holy Text be the text that will accompany humankind as it explores first the solar system, then, one day, the worlds beyond our own sun?

A World Without Adventism

"We are all connected." -- Betsy Chasse, The Bleeping Herald

In many science fiction stories involving time travel or in alternate-history fiction, the removal of just one key, or somewhat important, person in the scheme of things changes future history beyond recognition. Imagine how different World War II would have been had Einstein not discovered E=MC². Nagasaki and Hiroshima and all its inhabitants would have been left untouched. The Cold War would have been colder or hotter, or maybe would have not existed at all. Today we'd have no fear of terrorists getting hold of a dirty bomb and possibly ushering in a nuclear winter or planetary devastation.

Imagine if William Miller had taken up farming seriously. Imagine if Ellen G. White had never been hit in the forehead with that infamous stone and had gone on to get a Master of Divinity from one of the prestigious New England Universities or if someone else had accepted the call to prophesy.

If Seventh-Day Adventism had never existed, Battle Creek and Kellogg Corn Flakes would never have come about. Baby Fae at Loma Linda Medical Center would never have received a baboon heart. Desmond Doss would never have received his Medal of Honor in World War II for being a "conscientious objector who helped his country by saving the lives of his comrades, while also adhering to his religious convictions." (www.Wikipedia.org)

If you consult web sites listing famous Adventists you find more names that one doesn't have time to verify or ponder over, but let me just focus on two who would have changed the 60s counter-culture movement and its aftermath beyond recognition. It might seem to you that I exaggerate a bit, but, again, one key or somewhat important person can make astounding differences for never having been.

Without the rebelliousness and boundary-pushing excesses of Rock and Roll and, especially, The Beatles/Rolling Stones/Bob Dylan triumvirate, our world would be quite different. It would probably be unrecognizably different from what it is today. We might be awash in the third wave of Patti Page or Doris Day Garage Bands or Nat King Cole style recitation/rap experimental ditties. I'm referring to early Rock and Roll pioneer, Little Richard (Richard Penniman), of course. He's been in and out of the Adventist church all his life. I hope he's still in the church. Little Richard was admired by Beatle Sir Paul McCartney. Paul's vocal delivery in such songs as "Oh Darling," and in countless others, owes a great deal to his admiration for Little Richard. Both Paul McCartney and John Lennon, as well, as George Harrison and Ringo Starr were aware of and admired Little Richard for his earth-shaking gospel-flavored raucous musical style. The Beatles interpreted Little Richard songs on their world-famous albums. Little Richard once said he liked the Beatles, especially Paul who was known as the "cute Beatle." Little Richard was quoted in the 80s in Rolling Stone magazine as saying, “If God can have mercy on an old homosexual like me, He can have mercy on anyone.” But that is another story.

Without Little Richard, Paul McCartney would have sounded like someone else. The influence of the Everly Brothers would have been overwhelming and he probably would have recorded more ballads and follky songs, instead of adrenaline-producing rockers like Got to Get You into My Life. The Beatles would have been a different band. They may not have had the world-shaking effect that they had during the 60s, as well as afterwards through their followers. Innovators like Jimi Hendrix and Prince (a former Adventist) and their musical progeny would never have existed. Some might say that a world without Rock and Roll and its excesses would probably be a good thing. Others might not want to have missed out on the positive Art-Rock compositions of groups like Yes, King Crimson and Germany’s avant-garde rock group, Can, or the Beatles’ artier pieces, the second half of the Abbey Road album, or the larger-than-life White Album aka The Beatles. More recently, Jay-Z, the Rapper, would never have been part of the industry-shaking sampling touchstone of DJ Danger Mouse’s The Gray Album (a fusion of the Beatles' White Album and Jay-Z’s The Black Album.)

Perhaps you might think it strange to focus on popular culture instead of focusing on subjects that are more serious. I'll leave those "serious" subjects for someone else who likes to dabble in this type of "What If" scenarios.

Coincidentally, A.O. Scott in a recent New York Times film review says: “The U.S. vs. John Lennon” doesn’t really answer this question, beyond restating the notion, which can neither be proven nor dismissed, that musicians and artists can change the world. They can also, it is clear, drive presidents [Richard Nixon] and other people in power crazy, in part because the impact of popular culture can be so hard to measure or to predict. "

Popular culture surrounds us for better or worse and has had a lasting impact on at least one President of the United States, Bill Clinton. If Ms. Hillary is able to make history by being the first woman president in American history, then the popular culture of the late 60s will have had a major influence on at least two 20th and 21st century major political leaders.

The entire Western world, and its admirers, should be thankful, as should we that every Adventist that has ever existed, no matter how obscure, has had, or continues to have, an effect beyond the religious arena.

Last Prophecy of Light

"And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." Matthew 24:14 (New International Version)

Twenty five years ago I heard an Adventist minister say that all the prophecies in the Bible had been fulfilled except the one in Mathew 24:14. He reasonsoned that with the technology available at that time, the last remaining pockets of the world that hadn't heard the gospel would, no doubt, hear it.

After watching all of the 9/11 specials, especially “The Path to 9/11, I'm hoping that this now forgotten minister's sermon finds its fulfillment sooner than later. Most of the year one becomes desensitized to the death and dying overseas. One almost has to in order to keep on living, going to work, and enjoying life in spite of its imperfections, otherwise depression or something worse would overpower one for good.

But on this one day, with its grim reminder of what should never have happened here, or anywhere in the world, one can allow oneself the luxury of reveling in the shock and the painful memories of those who were lost and of the relative innocence of the pre-9/11 world.

Everyone talks about their last sighting of the twin towers. Mine occurred on 9/9/01 as I walked towards the elevated train that would take me from Brooklyn to Manhattan. The East River was only minutes away by train and as I looked towards the Western sky in mid-afternoon, I saw for the first time in my life the not-so-distant twin towers. I had never thought to look at them from Brooklyn. I'm glad I got one last chance. I admired their colossal size that even from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, they were close enough and could just as easily have been in Brookyn itself.

Later on that afternoon, I was dazzled by a state-of-the-art living-theater panorama with electronic music swirling as the digital images of cityscapes and people, flitting across streets and plazas, created a memorable art montage in a multi-media exhibit of the old Museum of Modern Art. I smiled and felt thankful that I was able to see early 21st century art in my favorite art venue in New York City. I looked forward to my next visit to that city and that temple of art. Little did I know that I would never see that city or that art-for-art's sake environment ever again. No one would.

While watching the semi-fictionalized mini-series, The Path to 9/11, in spite of its controversial build-up, I felt, not hopeless, but a bit frustrated as to what one person could do to deal with the continuing aftermath of 9/11, as well as how to prevent it from ever happening again. It is something that all good people of faith can do. I say it in the following way because I am a Christian and this is what gives meaning and hope to my life. If you are not of my faith, I hope you can find a comparable set of goals to complement my life-affirming approach.

I am attracted to the number three because of it's trinitarian qualities. Therefore, the only three realities that are my tools for suriviving and changing myself and my world are these.

1. Dedicated and meaningful study of the Word of God (Old and New Testaments)
2. Seeking for Righteousness by faith in Christ Jesus
3. Seeking for the baptism and continued infilling by Jesus Christ of the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit

It is my conviction that with these three realities in my daily life, a repeat of the tragedy of 9/11 cannot only be prevented, but spiritually reversed, as well.

If we allow ourselves to be changed through these three realities, then we in and of ourselves become a positive force in the world and for God, the God of peace and life and love. We then effect at least one other person with the results of these three realities. They in turn effect someone else. This endless effect and re-effect can never cease, as a rolling stream can do nothing but seek its outlet in the sea. Year after year, this positive force for goodwill will relentlessly counteract the damage done, and prevent future damage from ever rising again. The power of a genuinely loving individual connected to the source of infinite life is invincible against all systems of hate, death and war.

It is my sincere hope that at least one person will be receive a sympathetic effect from my bittersweet recollections of what was, but need not have been, nor need ever be again.