MBS

Just coming back from a fascinating day at MBS, good to see Jonny, Gareth and Phillipa. Had some great conversations with people about Christian spirituality and it was great to pray with people too. I met up with Alison from Everyday Angels - she channels angels, paints pictures of them and then give messages. Anyway she gave me a picture of one of her angels called 'The Light'. i can't help but make connection between the Light and the Light of the World...here are some of the words she channelled:

"Do you see the Light?"
Seeing is only one aspect.
I ask you now: "Do you live the Light?"
And as I wonder on this question, ask this:
"If I see the and live the light, am i not then the Light itself?"

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Comments

[philjohnson]

Great to hear of your interactions.

While the light motif links nicely to John's gospel (and elsewhere), it is often the case though that in the nuanced dialect of some travellers that the Light for them equates to saying "the divine-spark-within me" (i.e. I am already divine - a dash of pantheism). The "light and love" phraseology of some travellers can be warm and exciting and permit a bridge-building dialogue to Christ. It is also the case that some simply see themselves as divine and that Christ was just an enlightened way-shower. So when Christ said "I am the Father are one", the seeker interprets this to mean Jesus found his own inner divinity or Christ Consciousness. And that is what we all must find - how we too are already god.

It is also possible to ask the question: "have you settled for the delegated messengers but overlooked the One whom the messengers invariably point to namely Christ?" If the delegated messengers don't point to Christ, then perhaps we could probe them to find out why.

I have shared my 3 angel encounters with people in these contexts. I have also had some intriguing stories shared by those who have encountered angels and then become disciples of Christ.

One chap said he was instructed to go on a vision quest for 40 days and meet an angel. He did encounter an angel who said "I am Michael. You are to stop doing these thingsand follow Christ. Read the gospel of John." He did and became a Christian. Surprisingly, his brother (already a Christian) could not accept that an angel would say this to a non-Christian and so felt the angel encounter must have been "demonic". I told the chap, "since when do demons recommend people follow Christ?"

Hang in there.

[sally]

I can back up Phils experience with a similar 2 conversations regarding angels, one with a lady who was resisting the encouragement of her Gaurdian angel to take a step and meet Jesus through the words of Johns gospel, and one interesting conversation with a young man who was confused about the seemingly bad advice his angle guide had given... he was not sure whether to follow or not, a further conversation revealed that he had made several bad decisions through this particular guide- we talked about the need to be discerning and ask questions of spiritual guides- he recieved prayer for discernment and later (he let us know)became follower of Christ having found a new angel guide who pointed him in the right direction... both of these conversations took time and effort and an openness to listen, looks like you had a similar experience, glad the exhibition went well...

[philjohnson]

Ben
I note from the link to Everyday Angels that the artist is also a practitioner of Reiki. This places her understanding of spiritual reality in a system of thought shaped by Japanese Buddhist and Theosophical ideas with God as universal energy (not necessarily a personal God). The originator of Reiki Mikao Usui was ostensibly interested in knowing how Jesus healed people and could not find the answers in Christianity but instead found them in Buddhism. There are 5 nice principles in Reiki:
Just for today I will give thanks for my many blessings
Just for today I will not worry
Just for today I will not be angry
Just for today I will do my work honestly
Just for today I will be kind to my neighbour and every living thing.

As an energy based system of healing Reiki tosses up an interesting set of questions for reflection on our theology of healing and our understanding of God's immanence in the creation. On my blog sidebar I have a link to an article of mine that explores "Energy Healing". Maybe you'll find it helpful?

Philip

[benedson]

Thanks for the comments, they're most helpful. Alison is a fascinating woman, who I've had many conversations with over the past three years. She has channelled another angel that she claimed was called ' the light of the world' - this is a person with no Christian background whatsoever (her capitalisation)

"I am THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.
look into my Heart and there you will
find your True Love......
is it not the most beautiful thing?
look into my Heart, and I will bring you
Home.....

The question has to be asked at some point, 'would Christ reveal himself to a new age searcher in angelic form?' I'm not necessarily saying that is what is happening here, but it's a fascinating thought...

[philjohnson]

Probably not in angelic form, but certainly such a person could indeed have an encounter with Christ or a genuine messenger sent by God. I have a few stories of people I've met who became Christians after meeting angels who directed them specifically to Christ and cautioned them to desist what they were doing.

In Sth Aust my co-author met a man who was training to be an Anglican priest. He had been into astral travelling and then after a prolonged period of time became deeply depressed. He decided to commit suicide. Before taking the final step he decided to take one llast soul trip. He went to bed with a shotgun next to him and drifted off. He encountered a blinding light that spoke and said "you have encountered the Godhead. Go back to your body, read John's gospel and follow me." He did as bidden, awoke, got out of bed found a bible sat on the floor, read John's gospel and stood up immediately a believer. He soon found himself enrolling in seminary.

Michael Graham, a devotee of Siddha Yoga for 28 years, had the person of Christ appear to him in the total absence of any gospel tracts, Bible reading or Christian contact.

The "light" motifs though do abound in new age circles and in the Sant Mat tradition from whence comes Eckankar, and Sikh related groups. In those contexts it is not uncommon to have biblical language and passages cited in conjunction with a pantheist or gnostic set of teachings about divinity.