I had a dream, the other night – a very real dream! I awoke with these images floating through my head, and, after pondering them a moment, hurriedly thanked the Lord for guiding me and protecting me against such scenarios. I worked throughout the day to flush my brain of those recurring images – those hells liked to keep reminding me, dragging me down, I could tell! However, it was neat to be able to stand back and envision the evil spirits, doing just that; bringing those images back into my consciousness, rejoicing over the emotions they would evoke in me. It was helpful to be able to remove myself from the situation and see it from what may have been the Lord’s perspective. So, again and repeatedly I bid those spirits adieu and thanked the Lord for supporting me through the process.
Continue reading He’s Got Our Backs
Reinventing Traditions
This year as I looked out over our congregation’s New Church Day celebration, I marvelled at how my church has adapted this celebration for our unique situation. Ten years ago I may have protested against changing the traditions that I held close to my heart. It’s not just the traditions that have changed, it’s my perspective. Let me describe the tradition that I held so dear.
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The Muslim Religion — What the HD Say
The Muslim religion has been much on my mind lately. The Heavenly Doctrines refer to the “Muhammadans” in several places. The following is an excerpt from Married Love:
342. (9) The Muslim heaven exists outside the Christian heaven and is divided into two heavens, a lower and a higher; and only those Muslims are raised up into their higher heaven who renounce concubines, live with one wife, and acknowledge our Lord as equal to God the Father, who has given Him dominion over heaven and earth. Before we say anything about this specifically, it is important that we premise something about the Lord’s Divine providence respecting the rise of the Muslim religion.
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The Universal Church
There is a billboard that is up around my small hometown in several places. It’s just a pithy electrical business, but my children always have their eyes out for it. Every major and minor holiday, the man on the billboard gets decorated: a Santa hat for Christmas, a bouquet of roses for Valentine’s Day, an “I Love Mom” shirt for Mother’s Day. It’s thrilling.
The other day we were driving into “the city”(nearby town with an approximate population of 4,300) and we passed the billboard. With much excitement, we noticed the man was dressed for Father’s Day. But my six-year-old asked, “Why isn’t he dressed for New Church Day?” I had to muffle my laughter as I thought of how to respond: “Well, not everyone knows about New Church Day.” And that’s where the conversation ended. But I’ve been thinking about that conversation since.
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