From the
Teachings Of
Spirit John
Rev.
Stephen Fulton, Trance Medium
“To
Forgive is Divine”
Some
Thoughts on the Iraqi War
March
23, 2003
From
out of the lands that time touched from almost the beginning of
time; from out of the lands that came such rich life and many
forms of it; from out of the lands from which creation brought and
spread throughout an entire planet; and from the lands which have
touched the Spirit from the time of its inception to the present,
stirred it, lived it, demanded it, fought for it, and stood beyond
imagination for it -- all trying to understand a pathway, all
forging pathways -- today, with the deepest of sadness those lands
are ravaged, again, by war and by type of war that goes beyond
what we might have imagined.
It
is a war over lands; it is a war over rivers; it is a war over
people; it is a war over religions; it is a war over belief in
God; it is a war over whose belief shall prevail. And it is a war
which hardens so many hearts; not in one place, but in all of the
world.
As
we come together to remember and to pray, we come together to
remember that God bid us to call upon Him in our times of trouble,
that He would should us. “Call on Me and I will answer you,”
said the Lord
unto the prophets.
“Ask
me; I will show you many great and wondrous things which you did
not know. I will give you guidance. I will show you ways in which
the impossible may happen. Call on me and I will answer you.”
God
called on Abraham, and Abraham felt and came to know God in his
mind and, then, in his heart, and his faith built a Nation -- a
Nation which would survive even beyond that of the lands of Egypt.
God spoke to the prophets, and they called unto Him and they
called unto the people. And Moses, who was slow of speech, was
gifted by many spiritual gifts from God, and led a Nation, and led
that Nation out of bondage; not just a bondage of slave-keepers,
but of the mind, of the heart, of the soul.
And
so, to the time of the prophets moved and Jesus Christ, a prophet,
came also to remind the peoples of what God had brought and done
through time and that we are all Spirit. We understand from
Scripture that God is Spirit, the prophets are Spirit, Jesus
Christ is Spirit, Mohammed is Spirit, Buddha is Spirit, your loved
ones are Spirit, you are Spirit. That’s how we are all
connected. That’s how we come together. That’s why we’re all
in this war together. And that’s why whatever it reeks, we shall
all reap.
We
are never alone. Healing and wonder is always before us. God is
real. God is God. God may manifest to many people in various ways,
but there is still one God. Because man has fashioned many names
does not change that equation.
Throughout
all the things that God has done and reached to, with Spirit in
the body in the physical world, you are stand faced with them,
today. They’re illuminated by the life and love of many who
cherish these very places. They are illuminated by bombs, and they
shake on the earth, and the Spirit of it all is what’s in the
center. What happens to one happens to all.
We
have spoken so many times about the most powerful and wonderful
gift that has been given to each and every one of us: the power
and the ability to forgive; to forgive our enemies. Once, an eye
for an eye and a tooth for a tooth meant, in all understanding,
that if you put someone’s eye out, you were going to lose yours.
Then, it became a punishment. “Do unto others as you would have
them do unto you” seems to apply to whoever is holding the
biggest gun, the biggest vendetta, the biggest resentment.
Today
is a day which lives in ancient time as well as modern. Today is a
day where we all reach together, where we can all pray, where we
can look at the words which have been spoken by the prophets, by
Jesus Christ, and that we have related to you here: forgive your
enemy. What arguments that causes. People get goose bumps thinking
about it.
How
could you ever forgive the people who destroyed two buildings with
so many people in them? How could the people that were in them
forgive? How could the families that lost lives and loved ones
forgive? How could a Nation forgive? Keep in mind, I am not
talking to you about “Forget it; it’s OK; don’t do it
again.” We may loathe what has happened. We may be stunned and
shocked and horrified over what has happened. Our spirits may be
stirred to believe and understand that this cannot be a thing
which happens and must never happen again. It’s not the first
time, but there are so many things that we need to look at. But,
what we must look upon is the ability, as spirits – as spirits
– not nationalities, but as spirits; because that’s what we
all are at the base of everything, at the root of it all and all
of its being.
To
forgive means that we have to look inside of ourselves. To forgive
means we have to try to look inside of those who we might consider
our enemies. We have to look at our fears, and our needs, and the
things that might scare us so. We need to look at how we react to
things. And, then, we have to stop and say if we are all Spirit,
these are common things, common reactions. Let us, then, stop,
pause: “What is my enemy feeling? What drove them to do the
thing against me or someone else that they did?”
And
we begin, like Jesus, to feel the Humanity in each other. And,
then, to feel the spiritual drive. We then pray and we reach to
touch and to understand each other. Not saying, “It’s OK what
you did,” but, “I know if we don’t work to heal one another,
to forgive one another, then there will be three buildings, and
four, and ten here and twelve here.” And the whole world will
erupt like a volcano over anger and hatred.
God
said, “Look at what has happened in the past. Look at what
happens in the present. Forgive one another.”
Jesus
said, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Oh,
so hard that is to remember for, all of those who sit in this land
and ask God to be with them, as they go into war against others
who have a less value of life, but whose people may have no
presence in it. What, then, have we become? Have we become “an
eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth”? Have we come only to
recognize ourselves as body parts?
We
must reach to one another. We must have faith. We must find the
faith that God has given to us; it’s inside of you. It’s a
candlelight that burns brightly, or a fire that burns in the
desert. We are the shepherd of your beliefs. Sit and warm
themselves to discuss your presence in the world. For every soul
that is pained, we are all pained.
A
Nation of love has become a Nation of anger -- looking, with great
distrust, upon anyone that doesn’t look like them. It has become
a Nation which would gladly accept a holocaust, because they
don’t realize that’s what’s beginning to happen. That’s
one of the reasons we have to reach and forgive one another, not
to destroy.
It’s
so easy to get angry. It’s so easy to simply react. It’s so
easy to forget what our Spirit’s light reflects to us. There are
good reasons, and there are not-so-good reasons for what is
happening today. And God is with you. And God is with everyone who
prays and asks for His help. Think of that. God is with everyone
who prays and asks for His help. That’s all of you. That’s all
of the people in this country. That’s all of the people in the
word. That’s the people dying underneath bombs.
How
can God reach to answer the prayers of all who call upon Him, even
though the names may be different? How can God hear those prayers
and reach to answer them in the best way possible? If you see
someone as an enemy and you ask God to help you to get rid of
them, and they see you as an enemy and ask God to help get rid of
you, what do you have?
It
boils down to principles. It boils down to fruits. It boils down
to whether are innocents which must be protected, whether we are
willing and able to reach out, in a way we do not want to. At the
same time, no matter how it works, we must work to forgive each
other, no matter what takes place, no matter how it happens. We
can never say, because of our beliefs, “It’s OK”.
But we can truly reach to forgive.
Forgiveness
is the paramount point of healing. Forgiveness is the paramount
point in which God lifts from your shoulders the weight of the
world. Forgiving is the point from which you let go of all the
things that people have done to you, that you cannot tolerate,
that have hurt you, that have caused you to feel badly in, oh, so
many ways. Forgiveness isn’t just about the other person; it’s
about you as well.
Think
of what you lift off of yourself. Think of what you help your
enemy to lift off of themselves. And, then, can God come forth to
speak and hope and pray with us all? Yes! To forgive is divine.
And you have a spark of divine within you.
We
pray that those who hold materials that are designed to kill and
destroy innocent people; we pray that God will protect us in all
aspects of life, and that those things will be done away with and
destroyed. And we pray that, as those things begin to heal, we
will work to forgive one another. We pray to God that the innocent
who have nothing to do with any of this will not die in the rubble
of their homes, or in the rubble of their minds, or in the rubble
of their lives; wherever that may fall, in whatever country that
may come.
The
world is being stirred to feel again. Some of that will be
positive, healing, and wonderful, and some of it will contain the
most horrifying treachery that could ever be known.
Who
will win? Who will understand? Who will reach?
We
need to step within. We need to reach to each other, and we need
to reach out,
even further, to those around us. Stand upon what you
believe; it is not wrong to do so. It is not wrong to stand upon
what you believe. But, let it not be built on a foundation of
anger and hatred; most especially, upon apathy.
To
all those who hold in their heart the desire of revenge, in these
wars which occur, they hold within their heart the same energy as
if they were to light the bombs of hell.
Let
us reach to God and speak with God, and ask God to show us the
way, and to heal us, and to bring us safety, and to give us
calmness of Spirit and body, and to give us calmness of mind and
heart.
So,
when you are afraid, when you are lonely, when the world and all
that is taking place begins to overwhelm you, reach to God. God is
your Savior. Reach to Jesus Christ, who understands the feelings,
as Spirit, in the human-ness of us, that have all experienced that
touch; that he may sit down on that road, in the dust, and talk
with you, comfort you, and tell you about God, our Father.
Once,
Jesus sat upon those roads, talking to those who were in fear of
Roman armies, a Caesar. Now, Jesus sits on that road with those
who are afraid, as huge pieces of equipment roll by, as things fly
though the air.
The
world may change, situations may change, God will not. Jesus will
not. Spirit will not. We may have to all work very hard together
at is. But, there it is.
“Forgive
one another,” God says. Please, forgive one another. It will
relieve the stress and anger and that which is killing you, all of
you. And you will help to lift it off of your enemies. And then
your differences can be seen and worked out together.
Forgiver
one another. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Remember, that’s not just saying, “If you give me a nice,
fresh piece of cake, I’m going to give you a nice, fresh piece
of cake,” until someone decides that day-old cake is OK. Then,
the other feels slighted. The next thing you know: cake is being
made as weapon to throw at each other.
Stand
together, in Spirit and in hope, and pray together, even though
your differences may be – and there are some who will feel
differently about what is happening than others. Do not become
enemies. Forgive.
“Do
unto others” means put on their shoes, walk in them for a while,
so that you can see what life that other person has had to feel
and see; so that you might understand.
Now,
it’s time for us to stop and to put in to and take from our
spirits the joy and the wonder of healing, and the mystery of what
it does for all of us.
Let
us take pause. Godspeed.
