imcheryl
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The Sixth Sense, evangelists and our natural evolution!
fear (...link back for visitors from Our Enchanted Garden)
I got bored, I'll admit it, decided to flip through the stations on the TV - usually I don't bother - I just leave music on and go about my day, or the weather station or a news channel... but for some reason I was inspired to flip through the stations until I came across an older man, quite greyed, wearing a jacket that appeared to be of the old neru style - perhaps it was supposed to be similar to a Catholic priest's black collar with the white center. He was giving a speech somewhere in South Africa, a man who claims god speaks to him. Some people have the sense that god only speaks to them but not to others, so I found what he was saying intriguing - why would he think what god says to him is somehow more important than what god says to someone else?
It was the Benny Hinn Ministry show, I caught just the end of it and then jumped over to check out his website.
Benny Hinn, (www.bennyhinn.org if you want to check it out) he seems to be another evangelistic styled christian and he raised some questions in me. He referenced burning incense as inviting the devil and suggested that "people in the east, people in India and Japan are inviting the devil in...", and that "using perfume is okay, sprinkle it all over", he said, "scented candles are okay, but be careful with that incense..." He was on a roll speaking of how the devil and satan gets into a person's home and their life through various avenues - music, books, photos, artifacts and then "takes over"... And that the devil, once in one's life, will always seek to come back - if removed - and "bring seven more with him". Funny too, cause I remember the heavy scent of incense in our family's church, it was so overpowering, it almost made me feel ill at times. Though I liked it when it was lighter, like at times when I was in the church and there wasn't a sermon going on, and just a hint of the fragrance was still in the air.
Ugh! Promoting fear. I have a problem with any religion that promotes fear! That promotes superstition, that tries to take away a person's sense of empowerment... In particular, after checking out this man's schedule - where he's traveling to spread his word, his ministry, his ministry training, his conferences... (The Dominican Repulic, elsewhere in Africa, in Taiwan, in Rome, and several cities in the US) And he suggested that people need to physically attend these conferences of his, to receive the "energy" of god... Interesting I thought - I've heard this said by others as well.
I pondered this idea - about this energy being received. It's interesting because that sensation of receiving energy is universal to many religions as well as within imaginative activities. Children tap into it, artists of any medium do as well - painters, writers, musicians, poets. Interesting - because it is also the thing often used to put fear in the hearts of people - that surge of energy. Yet, I get a sense myself that this might simply be a natural tap into creation itself. And It's not something that need be feared. It is something that can enrich our lives and bring us closer to our own divinity - to our own natural way of being. Again children and artists tap into it quite naturally, often without much effort.
People who lead meditations can help to bring this sensation of energy into focus for a group and help to strenthen a person's own receptors, still there, but virtually forgotten from his or her own youth, after being buried under the "seriousness" of living and so-called maturity. I have to ask myself, why burden ourselves with superstitions and generalizations inherited from our elders and leaders, all the expectations we carry on our shoulders and attempt to live by? When in the end we simply wish to appreciate and receive and sense that "energy from god"? When in the end we all wish to have a conversation with god ourselves, our own personal relationship with god. Jesus and St Francis both told us this was possible if anything in the scriptures and history is of truth. That god is with us always and that we can speak freely with god at any time and be answered.
And so, while I take issue with how some ministers go about scaring their congregations I guess I can take comfort from what they are attempting - in that they are attempting to bring people back to that place where they can sense that energy. That's a very good thing. I'm not thrilled with the means - to be sure. But I hope people can build this strong sense - a sixth sense really. Once people "get that" and really appreciate it they may see how children manage the same technique effortlessly and allow the children to run with it instead of bending it out of them only to try to put it back in again, later, when they're older, after they've learned discipline!
It's no wonder people are so mixed up and children are so confused in this modern world!
That sense of energy is part of the magic I relate to, it is the magic fabric of the natural world and is what makes things work for us all - however way we wish to describe the process, no matter what names we wish to ascribe to it. THAT energy is what swims around us and within us and throughout the universe. It touches each of us differently, and yet, magically the results - in the end, are the same... For those who prefer the scare tactics I wish you very well and welcome the time your sixth sense comes to you that you too can see just how very magical and beautiful this life on earth is. This magical earth that can be the heaven we all hope to create. The garden of eden we all hope to return to, can be created right here, right now by using that sixth sense and allowing the same for all other beings. I do believe this world is truly an enchanted garden and I am certain we are about to see it's unfolding before us. We are humans, evolving, and it is a beautiful and natural thing to behold!
(...link back for visitors from Our Enchanted Garden)
I got bored, I'll admit it, decided to flip through the stations on the TV - usually I don't bother - I just leave music on and go about my day, or the weather station or a news channel... but for some reason I was inspired to flip through the stations until I came across an older man, quite greyed, wearing a jacket that appeared to be of the old neru style - perhaps it was supposed to be similar to a Catholic priest's black collar with the white center. He was giving a speech somewhere in South Africa, a man who claims god speaks to him. Some people have the sense that god only speaks to them but not to others, so I found what he was saying intriguing - why would he think what god says to him is somehow more important than what god says to someone else?
It was the Benny Hinn Ministry show, I caught just the end of it and then jumped over to check out his website.
Benny Hinn, (www.bennyhinn.org if you want to check it out) he seems to be another evangelistic styled christian and he raised some questions in me. He referenced burning incense as inviting the devil and suggested that "people in the east, people in India and Japan are inviting the devil in...", and that "using perfume is okay, sprinkle it all over", he said, "scented candles are okay, but be careful with that incense..." He was on a roll speaking of how the devil and satan gets into a person's home and their life through various avenues - music, books, photos, artifacts and then "takes over"... And that the devil, once in one's life, will always seek to come back - if removed - and "bring seven more with him". Funny too, cause I remember the heavy scent of incense in our family's church, it was so overpowering, it almost made me feel ill at times. Though I liked it when it was lighter, like at times when I was in the church and there wasn't a sermon going on, and just a hint of the fragrance was still in the air.
Ugh! Promoting fear. I have a problem with any religion that promotes fear! That promotes superstition, that tries to take away a person's sense of empowerment... In particular, after checking out this man's schedule - where he's traveling to spread his word, his ministry, his ministry training, his conferences... (The Dominican Repulic, elsewhere in Africa, in Taiwan, in Rome, and several cities in the US) And he suggested that people need to physically attend these conferences of his, to receive the "energy" of god... Interesting I thought - I've heard this said by others as well.
I pondered this idea - about this energy being received. It's interesting because that sensation of receiving energy is universal to many religions as well as within imaginative activities. Children tap into it, artists of any medium do as well - painters, writers, musicians, poets. Interesting - because it is also the thing often used to put fear in the hearts of people - that surge of energy. Yet, I get a sense myself that this might simply be a natural tap into creation itself. And It's not something that need be feared. It is something that can enrich our lives and bring us closer to our own divinity - to our own natural way of being. Again children and artists tap into it quite naturally, often without much effort.
People who lead meditations can help to bring this sensation of energy into focus for a group and help to strenthen a person's own receptors, still there, but virtually forgotten from his or her own youth, after being buried under the "seriousness" of living and so-called maturity. I have to ask myself, why burden ourselves with superstitions and generalizations inherited from our elders and leaders, all the expectations we carry on our shoulders and attempt to live by? When in the end we simply wish to appreciate and receive and sense that "energy from god"? When in the end we all wish to have a conversation with god ourselves, our own personal relationship with god. Jesus and St Francis both told us this was possible if anything in the scriptures and history is of truth. That god is with us always and that we can speak freely with god at any time and be answered.
And so, while I take issue with how some ministers go about scaring their congregations I guess I can take comfort from what they are attempting - in that they are attempting to bring people back to that place where they can sense that energy. That's a very good thing. I'm not thrilled with the means - to be sure. But I hope people can build this strong sense - a sixth sense really. Once people "get that" and really appreciate it they may see how children manage the same technique effortlessly and allow the children to run with it instead of bending it out of them only to try to put it back in again, later, when they're older, after they've learned discipline!
It's no wonder people are so mixed up and children are so confused in this modern world!
That sense of energy is part of the magic I relate to, it is the magic fabric of the natural world and is what makes things work for us all - however way we wish to describe the process, no matter what names we wish to ascribe to it. THAT energy is what swims around us and within us and throughout the universe. It touches each of us differently, and yet, magically the results - in the end, are the same... For those who prefer the scare tactics I wish you very well and welcome the time your sixth sense comes to you that you too can see just how very magical and beautiful this life on earth is. This magical earth that can be the heaven we all hope to create. The garden of eden we all hope to return to, can be created right here, right now by using that sixth sense and allowing the same for all other beings. I do believe this world is truly an enchanted garden and I am certain we are about to see it's unfolding before us. We are humans, evolving, and it is a beautiful and natural thing to behold!
(...link back for visitors from Our Enchanted Garden)
The Caretakers IMCheryl & John the Lucky Dragon
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