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The Spirit of The Golden Rule
<style type="text/css"> h2.bwtitle {color: #b8860b; font-family: "georgia", "times new roman"; font-size: 22pt; font-weight: 600; line-height: 80%;} li {margin-bottom: 7px; color: #000000;} p.inner {font-size: 10pt;} #picntext {width: 310px; float: right; padding: 5px; text-align: center; border-style: solid; border-color: #000000; border-width: 1px; margin: 5px; background-color: #FFE6C5;} .caption {margin-top: 10px; padding: 3px; font-size: 9pt; font-family: georgia, times new roman; color: #000000; font-style: italic; font-weight: 500; text-align: center; background-color: #ffffff; border: 1px black solid; border-right: 2px black solid; border-bottom: 2px black solid;} h3.details {font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, verdana; color: #173297; margin-left: 3%; margin-right: 3%; font-weight: 500; font-style: normal; padding-bottom: 5px; border-bottom: 1px solid black;} </style> <div align="center"> <h2 class="bwtitle">The Spirit of The Golden Rule</h2> through <a href="#author">David Nelmes</a><br /> (1/14/2011) </div> <h3 class="details">Does it really matter that you do unto others as you would have them do unto you? Is there a link between what you give and what you get back or experience? If so, how do we learn how to give and receive in a way that is helpful to all?</h3> <p>I had an image the other day of a long oval wheel of thought that exists between all of us. This wheel of thought is always rotating between each of us which means that we are constantly giving through one end of the rotation and receiving through the other end.</p> <p>Think of thought like a bicycle chain where you have the sprockets at the pedal and the sprockets at the wheel, with each sprocket being either yourself or another being. The moment you begin to turn this chain, or give to somebody, you are immediately also receiving from them because the entire chain moves both away and towards each sprocket at the same time.</p> <p>You are always giving and you are always receiving. <i>A Course in Miracles</i> states that whatever you desire for yourself, to first give that to another and then you shall have it for yourself as well. This works because we receive thoughts in return that are in line with the spirit of how the thoughts were given.</p> <p>If you extend or share thoughts of love, peace, healing and abundance, those same thoughts will return to you in some way. Likewise, if you share thoughts of mistrust, greed, fear or hate, those thoughts and experiences will return to you in same way.</p> <p>This is why we have the golden rule to do unto others as we would have others do unto us, because we will experience the results of what we have given. In the <i>Bible</i>, Jesus says '<i>judge not or you will be judged as well</i>'. This was misunderstood as a retribution from God that he will judge us if we judge others, but that's not what Jesus is saying. He is saying that you receive or experience what you give, so if you don't want to experience being judged, don't judge others. The spirit of this concept works with any line of thinking.</p> <p>Let's go back to the golden rule and go one step further to realize that doing means nothing without the proper intent behind it. It's what you are being while you are doing that matters. Jesus said that if you were to lust after a woman, it's no different than having been with her. This was not meant to foster guilt, but to demonstrate that it is our thoughts that really matter and not the resulting actions. He is saying that our thoughts are the source of all things and that these thoughts are the cause of all the effects we experience here.</p> <p>So if we look at the source behind the effects of the golden rule, we could say instead, be unto others as you would have others be unto you; think about others as you would desire they think about you; desire for others what you would like them to desire for you.</p> <p>There are many spiritual things we strive to learn, but at the end of any whole hearted attempt to discover the truth about a concept, the answer is often the same. There is nothing you need to do to master a technique or concept other than letting go of your own preconfigured concepts and simply allowing in that which is already naturally there. Likewise, giving and receiving is not an act you need to learn how to do. It's an unending process that exists whether you are aware of it or not. You are always giving. You are always receiving. The only thing you have any choice about is the experience you will have due to what you choose to give and receive. </p> <p>One of the first questions about giving and receiving I generally get is along the line of, "<i>If I need money, how can I give money I don't have, in order to get it?</i>"</p> <p>The answer to any and all questions like this is the same. Never pursue specific answers to anything physical, but be open for and pursue the spirit of the perceived need. For example, if you need money, your problem is not the lack money, because that's simply the effect of the source of your problem. The source of your problem is a lack of knowing you can be abundant or are deserving of being blessed. To resolve this, choose somebody and sincerely desire they be abundant. Desire the best for them. Choose that they do well. Desire that whatever may be holding back their experience of being abundant is healed. Extend thoughts of blessing, peace and love to them and those same thoughts and experiences will return to you in some way. It simply will.</p> <p>So often we are trying to fix the effect of a problem instead of being open for the source of the problem to be healed. This is like perpetually placing band-aids on your cut fingers while you continue to hold a knife by the blade. The cuts are an effect of the problem, but the way you are holding the knife is the source of the problem. All the band-aids in the world will never fix your problem, but a simple shift in how you see and use the knife will.</p> <p>Giving and receiving never stops and it never has a physical focus. The focus is always one of being. Then, when we experience a change in how we are being, the effects or physical aspects of our lives change accordingly. We have gotten so confused in believing it is the other way around in what Neale Donald Walsh calls "<i>Having a Do Be</i>", where we think if we Do this or Do that, then we'll Be happy or Be successful, but this is all backwards and is focusing on the effect and not the cause.</p> <p>Find and focus on the cause of anything you perceive as a lack. Anything you perceive as a lack is something you are withholding from truly desiring for another. It takes the joining of the thoughts of two or more to result in any change, so join with another and love them. It doesn't matter if they're not conscious of your thoughts because the connection is there anyway, waiting for your participation. Hold them in your heart and desire the best for them. Desire that they see more clearly and that they become more open for their mind to be healed. Extend your loving and creative thoughts to them and the source of your problems will begin to resolve. Peddle that bike. Send your links of love and goodness along the chain that connects you to another and the perfect links for you will flow into your being as well.</p> <p align="center">(You can find this publication online at <a href="http://www.beingwilling.com/articles/spirit-golden-rule.php">http://www.beingwilling.com/articles/spirit-golden-rule.php</a> )</p> <hr size="1" /> <p><i><a name="author"><b>David Nelmes</b></a> - David considers it a wonderful blessing that his insight and writings can provide opportunities for those around him to see things from perspectives they had not considered before. He pursues Gods truths and is open and willing to see what God would have him see. He invites you to join him.</i></p> <p><i>His influences consist of truly being open to seeing and applying the truths he has discovered through life and through both “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2F0960638881%3Fie%3DUTF8%26me%3D%26seller%3D&tag=beinwill-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">A Course In Miracles</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=beinwill-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />” and the “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fexec%2Fobidos%2Ftg%2Fbrowse%2F-%2F10405901%2Fsr%3D53-1%2Fsr%3D53-1%2Fqid%3D1181498397&tag=beinwill-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Bible</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=beinwill-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />”<br /> You can visit David's website at: <a href="http://www.beingwilling.com" target="_blank">http://www.BeingWilling.com</a><br /> You can visit David's facebook page at: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Being-Willing/125753334117191" target="_blank">Being Willing on Facebook</a></i></p> <p>This article Copyright ©2011 - David Nelmes. All rights reserved.</p> Highlight & Copy Html Version	THE SPIRIT OF THE GOLDEN RULE through David Nelmes (1/14/2011) I had an image the other day of a long oval wheel of thought that exists between all of us. This wheel of thought is always rotating between each of us which means that we are constantly giving through one end of the rotation and receiving through the other end. Think of thought like a bicycle chain where you have the sprockets at the pedal and the sprockets at the wheel, with each sprocket being either yourself or another being. The moment you begin to turn this chain, or give to somebody, you are immediately also receiving from them because the entire chain moves both away and towards each sprocket at the same time. You are always giving and you are always receiving. A Course in Miracles states that whatever you desire for yourself, to first give that to another and then you shall have it for yourself as well. This works because we receive thoughts in return that are in line with the spirit of how the thoughts were given. If you extend or share thoughts of love, peace, healing and abundance, those same thoughts will return to you in some way. Likewise, if you share thoughts of mistrust, greed, fear or hate, those thoughts and experiences will return to you in same way. This is why we have the golden rule to do unto others as we would have others do unto us, because we will experience the results of what we have given. In the Bible, Jesus says 'judge not or you will be judged as well'. This was misunderstood as a retribution from God that he will judge us if we judge others, but that's not what Jesus is saying. He is saying that you receive or experience what you give, so if you don't want to experience being judged, don't judge others. The spirit of this concept works with any line of thinking. Let's go back to the golden rule and go one step further to realize that doing means nothing without the proper intent behind it. It's what you are being while you are doing that matters. Jesus said that if you were to lust after a woman, it's no different than having been with her. This was not meant to foster guilt, but to demonstrate that it is our thoughts that really matter and not the resulting actions. He is saying that our thoughts are the source of all things and that these thoughts are the cause of all the effects we experience here. So if we look at the source behind the effects of the golden rule, we could say instead, be unto others as you would have others be unto you; think about others as you would desire they think about you; desire for others what you would like them to desire for you. There are many spiritual things we strive to learn, but at the end of any whole hearted attempt to discover the truth about a concept, the answer is often the same. There is nothing you need to do to master a technique or concept other than letting go of your own preconfigured concepts and simply allowing in that which is already naturally there. Likewise, giving and receiving is not an act you need to learn how to do. It's an unending process that exists whether you are aware of it or not. You are always giving. You are always receiving. The only thing you have any choice about is the experience you will have due to what you choose to give and receive. One of the first questions about giving and receiving I generally get is along the line of, "If I need money, how can I give money I don't have, in order to get it?" The answer to any and all questions like this is the same. Never pursue specific answers to anything physical, but be open for and pursue the spirit of the perceived need. For example, if you need money, your problem is not the lack money, because that's simply the effect of the source of your problem. The source of your problem is a lack of knowing you can be abundant or are deserving of being blessed. To resolve this, choose somebody and sincerely desire they be abundant. Desire the best for them. Choose that they do well. Desire that whatever may be holding back their experience of being abundant is healed. Extend thoughts of blessing, peace and love to them and those same thoughts and experiences will return to you in some way. It simply will. So often we are trying to fix the effect of a problem instead of being open for the source of the problem to be healed. This is like perpetually placing band-aids on your cut fingers while you continue to hold a knife by the blade. The cuts are an effect of the problem, but the way you are holding the knife is the source of the problem. All the band-aids in the world will never fix your problem, but a simple shift in how you see and use the knife will. Giving and receiving never stops and it never has a physical focus. The focus is always one of being. Then, when we experience a change in how we are being, the effects or physical aspects of our lives change accordingly. We have gotten so confused in believing it is the other way around in what Neale Donald Walsh calls "Having a Do Be", where we think if we Do this or Do that, then we'll Be happy or Be successful, but this is all backwards and is focusing on the effect and not the cause. Find and focus on the cause of anything you perceive as a lack. Anything you perceive as a lack is something you are withholding from truly desiring for another. It takes the joining of the thoughts of two or more to result in any change, so join with another and love them. It doesn't matter if they're not conscious of your thoughts because the connection is there anyway, waiting for your participation. Hold them in your heart and desire the best for them. Desire that they see more clearly and that they become more open for their mind to be healed. Extend your loving and creative thoughts to them and the source of your problems will begin to resolve. Peddle that bike. Send your links of love and goodness along the chain that connects you to another and the perfect links for you will flow into your being as well. (You can find this publication online at http://www.beingwilling.com/articles/spirit-golden-rule.php ) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Nelmes - David considers it a wonderful blessing that his insight and writings can provide opportunities for those around him to see things from perspectives they had not considered before. He pursues Gods truths and is open and willing to see what God would have him see. He invites you to join him. His influences consist of truly being open to seeing and applying the truths he has discovered through life and through both "The Bible" and "A Course In Miracles". You can visit David's website at: http://www.BeingWilling.com You can visit the Being Willing facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Being-Willing/125753334117191 This article Copyright ©2011 - David Nelmes. - Reproduced with Permission. Highlight & Copy Text Version	The Spirit of The Golden Rule through David Nelmes (1/14/2011) <p>I had an image the other day of a long oval wheel of thought that exists between all of us. This wheel of thought is always rotating between each of us which means that we are constantly giving through one end of the rotation and receiving through the other end.</p> <p>Think of thought like a bicycle chain where you have the sprockets at the pedal and the sprockets at the wheel, with each sprocket being either yourself or another being. The moment you begin to turn this chain, or give to somebody, you are immediately also receiving from them because the entire chain moves both away and towards each sprocket at the same time.</p> <p>You are always giving and you are always receiving. <i>A Course in Miracles</i> states that whatever you desire for yourself, to first give that to another and then you shall have it for yourself as well. This works because we receive thoughts in return that are in line with the spirit of how the thoughts were given.</p> <p>If you extend or share thoughts of love, peace, healing and abundance, those same thoughts will return to you in some way. Likewise, if you share thoughts of mistrust, greed, fear or hate, those thoughts and experiences will return to you in same way.</p> <p>This is why we have the golden rule to do unto others as we would have others do unto us, because we will experience the results of what we have given. In the <i>Bible</i>, Jesus says '<i>judge not or you will be judged as well</i>'. This was misunderstood as a retribution from God that he will judge us if we judge others, but that's not what Jesus is saying. He is saying that you receive or experience what you give, so if you don't want to experience being judged, don't judge others. The spirit of this concept works with any line of thinking.</p> <p>Let's go back to the golden rule and go one step further to realize that doing means nothing without the proper intent behind it. It's what you are being while you are doing that matters. Jesus said that if you were to lust after a woman, it's no different than having been with her. This was not meant to foster guilt, but to demonstrate that it is our thoughts that really matter and not the resulting actions. He is saying that our thoughts are the source of all things and that these thoughts are the cause of all the effects we experience here.</p> <p>So if we look at the source behind the effects of the golden rule, we could say instead, be unto others as you would have others be unto you; think about others as you would desire they think about you; desire for others what you would like them to desire for you.</p> <p>There are many spiritual things we strive to learn, but at the end of any whole hearted attempt to discover the truth about a concept, the answer is often the same. There is nothing you need to do to master a technique or concept other than letting go of your own preconfigured concepts and simply allowing in that which is already naturally there. Likewise, giving and receiving is not an act you need to learn how to do. It's an unending process that exists whether you are aware of it or not. You are always giving. You are always receiving. The only thing you have any choice about is the experience you will have due to what you choose to give and receive. </p> <p>One of the first questions about giving and receiving I generally get is along the line of, "<i>If I need money, how can I give money I don't have, in order to get it?</i>"</p> <p>The answer to any and all questions like this is the same. Never pursue specific answers to anything physical, but be open for and pursue the spirit of the perceived need. For example, if you need money, your problem is not the lack money, because that's simply the effect of the source of your problem. The source of your problem is a lack of knowing you can be abundant or are deserving of being blessed. To resolve this, choose somebody and sincerely desire they be abundant. Desire the best for them. Choose that they do well. Desire that whatever may be holding back their experience of being abundant is healed. Extend thoughts of blessing, peace and love to them and those same thoughts and experiences will return to you in some way. It simply will.</p> <p>So often we are trying to fix the effect of a problem instead of being open for the source of the problem to be healed. This is like perpetually placing band-aids on your cut fingers while you continue to hold a knife by the blade. The cuts are an effect of the problem, but the way you are holding the knife is the source of the problem. All the band-aids in the world will never fix your problem, but a simple shift in how you see and use the knife will.</p> <p>Giving and receiving never stops and it never has a physical focus. The focus is always one of being. Then, when we experience a change in how we are being, the effects or physical aspects of our lives change accordingly. We have gotten so confused in believing it is the other way around in what Neale Donald Walsh calls "<i>Having a Do Be</i>", where we think if we Do this or Do that, then we'll Be happy or Be successful, but this is all backwards and is focusing on the effect and not the cause.</p> <p>Find and focus on the cause of anything you perceive as a lack. Anything you perceive as a lack is something you are withholding from truly desiring for another. It takes the joining of the thoughts of two or more to result in any change, so join with another and love them. It doesn't matter if they're not conscious of your thoughts because the connection is there anyway, waiting for your participation. Hold them in your heart and desire the best for them. Desire that they see more clearly and that they become more open for their mind to be healed. Extend your loving and creative thoughts to them and the source of your problems will begin to resolve. Peddle that bike. Send your links of love and goodness along the chain that connects you to another and the perfect links for you will flow into your being as well.</p> (You can find this publication online at http://www.beingwilling.com/articles/spirit-golden-rule.php ) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Nelmes - David considers it a wonderful blessing that his insight and writings can provide opportunities for those around him to see things from perspectives they had not considered before. He pursues Gods truths and is open and willing to see what God would have him see. He invites you to join him. His influences consist of truly being open to seeing and applying the truths he has discovered through life and through both "The Bible" and "A Course In Miracles". You can visit David's website at: http://www.BeingWilling.com You can visit the Being Willing facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Being-Willing/125753334117191 This article Copyright ©2011 - David Nelmes. - Reproduced with Permission. Highlight & Copy Combo Version

The Key to Living Prosperously
<style type="text/css"> h2.bwtitle {color: #b22222; font-family: "gill sans mt", "georgia"; font-size: 22pt; font-weight: 600; line-height: 80%;} li.bw {margin-bottom: 7px; color: #000000;} p.inner {font-size: 10pt;} #picntext {width: 360px; float: right; padding: 5px; text-align: center; border-style: solid; border-color: #000000; border-width: 1px; margin: 5px; background-color: #FFE6C5;} .caption {margin-top: 10px; padding: 3px; font-size: 9pt; font-family: georgia, times new roman; color: #000000; font-style: italic; font-weight: 500; text-align: center; background-color: #ffffff; border: 1px black solid; border-right: 2px black solid; border-bottom: 2px black solid;} h3.details {font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, verdana; color: #173297; margin-left: 3%; margin-right: 3%; font-weight: 500; font-style: normal; padding-bottom: 5px; border-bottom: 1px solid black;} </style> <div align="center"> <h2 class="bwtitle">The Key to Living Prosperously</h2> through <a href="#author">David Nelmes</a><br /> (7/29/2010) </div> <h3 class="details">The world has provided many ways through which you can make money and propser, but those ideas often include taking from others. Let's see how to do this while seeing your brothers with love.</h3> <p>If you are looking to find out how to live prosperously while also pursuing a spiritual life, please read on.</p> <p>There are many ways the world has provided through which you can make money, or prosper, but so many of those ideas include taking advantage of anothers situation, and this is not a healthy spiritual practice.</p> <p>In a spiritual reality, nothing can be lost and therefore, nothing can be taken, but while we perceive this physical reality, the idea of losing when you give or gaining when you take, are inbred into the worlds thinking.</p> <p>If you embrace this form of getting, you might succeed, but this may come at the cost of your peace. This might seem to be an acceptable compromise that you are willing to make, but when you lose your peace, all things in your life will become tainted, unhealthy and sickly. This has nothing to do with any punishment from God. Quite the contrary, it is a direct result of you allowing your mind to go to a place where you are not allowing God to enter due to the fear of hearing Him say you should be doing something else...and He would, but this is not a fearful thing. This is a joyous thing since this involves the knowledge that God is now helping to lead you towards a more beneficial place of mind where finances and health will fall nicely in line since they are but the effects of having your spirit mind in a good place.</p> <p>The key to living prosperously is in letting go of how the world has taught you could prosper and also to let go of what you believe it means to prosper.</p> <p>You are a glorious child of God. You are an eternal being with all the creative capacity of your Creator. With this in mind, there is nothing in all existence that is unworthy of you, nor are you unworthy of anything in existence. Everything is already at your disposal...so the idea that you must fight or struggle to survive, let alone prosper, is not a natural state of being. This 'less than' form of living is simply the direct result of us believing we do not deserve abundance...even though we so often cry for it, but we still feel undeserving...and so we experience what we believe we deserve.</p> <p>How do we get past this? We move on by doing everything we can to quiet our lives and open our minds to hear the Holy Spirit, the voice of God. It may not be that you hear words, but that you feel inspired or simply lead to do something that you might have otherwise not done. The inspiration may come in many forms, but the overall idea is that you let go of what you have believed to be the way to prosper and allow the Holy Spirit and Jesus to rewrite how your mind sees this and then be open for these new ways of seeing to take hold in your life.</p> <p>For example, if you have lost a job or hate your current job, you might feel very fearful as to what is going to become of you. You might be very fearful of how you will survive, how you will maintain medical insurance or how you will take care of your family. These concerns may seem valid, but the simple fact that you have fears is preventing your mind from hearing the answers that God would provide.</p> <p>For Jesus and the Holy Spirit, fear does not exist because they know only love. You can't hand your fears over to them because they are not real thoughts, but simply experiences you are choosing to have based upon how you perceive other thoughts. So the thing to do is to find those root thoughts that bring about your fear and hand them over to the Holy Spirit and Jesus to correct. They will shine perfect love on those thoughts and those thoughts will be returned to you as healed.</p> <p>By releasing these thoughts, your fears will begin to subside and your mind will become quieter. You will slowly begin to become more and more aware of the presence of God...Who never ever left, but was just obscured by your fears and overactive misuse of mind.</p> <p><i>A Course in Miracles</i> states that whatever you want for yourself, give that thing first to another and then you shall also have it for yourself. The Course also states that how you see and treat your brother is how you see and treat Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit. So if you truly desire to stop punishing yourself and truly want to prosper, see your brothers with love. See all people with compassion. Ignore what they are doing with respect to using their actions to paint a picture of who they are. Instead, know that they are all wonderful, shining, perfect and glorious Sons of God. Know that anything they do does not represent who they really are, but simply represents who they currently believe they are, and they are merely mistaken.</p> <p>Stop identifying your brothers by their mistakes, and you'll stop identifying yourself by your own. Stop judging them by their actions, and you'll stop judging yourself by your own. Stop seeing them as being unworthy of everything the universe has to offer, and you'll stop seeing yourself as being unworthy as well. Choose to see your brothers this way, and you will have opened the door to be prosperous. Not because you deserve it, because we all deserve it, but because you will have allowed it.</p> <p>I know it's hard to fathom that our struggles are a result of what we have done to ourselves. You may ask, "<i>How or why would we do this to ourselves?</i>", and the answer is simple... we hate who we have become. Inherently, we know we are deserving of all things, and we know we have chosen to settle for less. This has split our mind to where we do not make rational choices. We often do exactly what is not in our own best interests, and then we ignore or forget that we had any part in bringing about the situation. We blame the world or God for the situation, but this does nor make it true. This just makes it the experience we have settled for, but we don't have to settle for this experience.</p> <p>Open your mind right now and stop thinking about the world for a moment. Be sincere and say to Jesus and the Holy Spirit, "<i>I choose to see that I am worthy. I choose to allow you to bring into my life the perfect experiences that will help me to draw closer and closer to you. I open my mind to you. I choose to see the root of all my fears, and then hand those thoughts over to you as I become aware of them. I will work with you to heal my mind so that I do become willing, once again, to experience all the blessings that God has already provided, but I had simply chosen to hide from. I hid because I thought He would control me, but now I choose to see that He and I are one, and are working together to bring happiness and joy to all. I am thankful and happy to know I am moving forward. Life will never be the same again, and that is what I really want. I set aside all images of what I believed was true, and I allow you to help me see clearly. I open my mind to you. You are my brother and my advocate. I will be like you someday because of the love you have for me and because I will allow you to heal my mind so that I too see that I have that same love for you and all creation. I am a creator like my Father and I am one with Him. I cannot be destroyed or harmed in any way. We are one.</i>"</p> <p>Know you are loved. Know you are not alone. Know you are worthy. Know that your experience until now was simply the result of what you thought you knew, but now, your experience of this world will transform into what God would rather have you see.</p> <p>Go in peace and all the love of creation with you. You are loved. You are one. Be in peace.</p> <p align="center">(You can find this publication online at <a href="http://www.beingwilling.com/articles/key-living-prosperously.php">http://www.beingwilling.com/articles/key-living-prosperously.php</a> )</p> <hr size=1> <p><i><a name="author"><b>David Nelmes</b></a> - David considers it a wonderful blessing that his insight and writings can provide opportunities for those around him to see things from perspectives they had not considered before. He pursues Gods truths and is open and willing to see what God would have him see. He invites you to join him.</i></p> <p><i>His influences consist of truly being open to seeing and applying the truths he has discovered through life and through both "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2F0960638881%3Fie%3DUTF8%26me%3D%26seller%3D&tag=beinwill-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">A Course In Miracles</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=beinwill-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />" and the "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fexec%2Fobidos%2Ftg%2Fbrowse%2F-%2F10405901%2Fsr%3D53-1%2Fsr%3D53-1%2Fqid%3D1181498397&tag=beinwill-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Bible</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=beinwill-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />"<br /> You can visit David's website at: <a href="http://www.beingwilling.com" target="_blank">http://www.BeingWilling.com</a><br /> You can visit David's facebook page at: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Being-Willing/125753334117191" target="_blank">Being Willing on Facebook</a></i></p> <p>This article Copyright ©2010 - David Nelmes. All rights reserved.</p> Highlight & Copy Html Version	THE KEY TO LIVING PROSPEROUSLY through David Nelmes (7/29/2010) If you are looking to find out how to live prosperously while also pursuing a spiritual life, please read on. There are many ways the world has provided through which you can make money, or prosper, but so many of those ideas include taking advantage of anothers situation, and this is not a healthy spiritual practice. In a spiritual reality, nothing can be lost and therefore, nothing can be taken, but while we perceive this physical reality, the idea of losing when you give or gaining when you take, are inbred into the worlds thinking. If you embrace this form of getting, you might succeed, but this may come at the cost of your peace. This might seem to be an acceptable compromise that you are willing to make, but when you lose your peace, all things in your life will become tainted, unhealthy and sickly. This has nothing to do with any punishment from God. Quite the contrary, it is a direct result of you allowing your mind to go to a place where you are not allowing God to enter due to the fear of hearing Him say you should be doing something else...and He would, but this is not a fearful thing. This is a joyous thing since this involves the knowledge that God is now helping to lead you towards a more beneficial place of mind where finances and health will fall nicely in line since they are but the effects of having your spirit mind in a good place. The key to living prosperously is in letting go of how the world has taught you could prosper and also to let go of what you believe it means to prosper. You are a glorious child of God. You are an eternal being with all the creative capacity of your Creator. With this in mind, there is nothing in all existence that is unworthy of you, nor are you unworthy of anything in existence. Everything is already at your disposal...so the idea that you must fight or struggle to survive, let alone prosper, is not a natural state of being. This 'less than' form of living is simply the direct result of us believing we do not deserve abundance...even though we so often cry for it, but we still feel undeserving...and so we experience what we believe we deserve. How do we get past this? We move on by doing everything we can to quiet our lives and open our minds to hear the Holy Spirit, the voice of God. It may not be that you hear words, but that you feel inspired or simply lead to do something that you might have otherwise not done. The inspiration may come in many forms, but the overall idea is that you let go of what you have believed to be the way to prosper and allow the Holy Spirit and Jesus to rewrite how your mind sees this and then be open for these new ways of seeing to take hold in your life. For example, if you have lost a job or hate your current job, you might feel very fearful as to what is going to become of you. You might be very fearful of how you will survive, how you will maintain medical insurance or how you will take care of your family. These concerns may seem valid, but the simple fact that you have fears is preventing your mind from hearing the answers that God would provide. For Jesus and the Holy Spirit, fear does not exist because they know only love. You can't hand your fears over to them because they are not real thoughts, but simply experiences you are choosing to have based upon how you perceive other thoughts. So the thing to do is to find those root thoughts that bring about your fear and hand them over to the Holy Spirit and Jesus to correct. They will shine perfect love on those thoughts and those thoughts will be returned to you as healed. By releasing these thoughts, your fears will begin to subside and your mind will become quieter. You will slowly begin to become more and more aware of the presence of God...Who never ever left, but was just obscured by your fears and overactive misuse of mind. A Course in Miracles states that whatever you want for yourself, give that thing first to another and then you shall also have it for yourself. The Course also states that how you see and treat your brother is how you see and treat Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit. So if you truly desire to stop punishing yourself and truly want to prosper, see your brothers with love. See all people with compassion. Ignore what they are doing with respect to using their actions to paint a picture of who they are. Instead, know that they are all wonderful, shining, perfect and glorious Sons of God. Know that anything they do does not represent who they really are, but simply represents who they currently believe they are, and they are merely mistaken. Stop identifying your brothers by their mistakes, and you'll stop identifying yourself by your own. Stop judging them by their actions, and you'll stop judging yourself by your own. Stop seeing them as being unworthy of everything the universe has to offer, and you'll stop seeing yourself as being unworthy as well. Choose to see your brothers this way, and you will have opened the door to be prosperous. Not because you deserve it, because we all deserve it, but because you will have allowed it. I know it's hard to fathom that our struggles are a result of what we have done to ourselves. You may ask, "How or why would we do this to ourselves?", and the answer is simple... we hate who we have become. Inherently, we know we are deserving of all things, and we know we have chosen to settle for less. This has split our mind to where we do not make rational choices. We often do exactly what is not in our own best interests, and then we ignore or forget that we had any part in bringing about the situation. We blame the world or God for the situation, but this does nor make it true. This just makes it the experience we have settled for, but we don't have to settle for this experience. Open your mind right now and stop thinking about the world for a moment. Be sincere and say to Jesus and the Holy Spirit, "I choose to see that I am worthy. I choose to allow you to bring into my life the perfect experiences that will help me to draw closer and closer to you. I open my mind to you. I choose to see the root of all my fears, and then hand those thoughts over to you as I become aware of them. I will work with you to heal my mind so that I do become willing, once again, to experience all the blessings that God has already provided, but I had simply chosen to hide from. I hid because I thought He would control me, but now I choose to see that He and I are one, and are working together to bring happiness and joy to all. I am thankful and happy to know I am moving forward. Life will never be the same again, and that is what I really want. I set aside all images of what I believed was true, and I allow you to help me see clearly. I open my mind to you. You are my brother and my advocate. I will be like you someday because of the love you have for me and because I will allow you to heal my mind so that I too see that I have that same love for you and all creation. I am a creator like my Father and I am one with Him. I cannot be destroyed or harmed in any way. We are one." Know you are loved. Know you are not alone. Know you are worthy. Know that your experience until now was simply the result of what you thought you knew, but now, your experience of this world will transform into what God would rather have you see. Go in peace and all the love of creation with you. You are loved. You are one. Be in peace. (You can find this publication online at http://www.beingwilling.com/articles/key-living-prosperously.php ) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Nelmes - David considers it a wonderful blessing that his insight and writings can provide opportunities for those around him to see things from perspectives they had not considered before. He pursues Gods truths and is open and willing to see what God would have him see. He invites you to join him. His influences consist of truly being open to seeing and applying the truths he has discovered through life and through both "The Bible" and "A Course In Miracles". You can visit David's website at: http://www.BeingWilling.com You can visit the Being Willing facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Being-Willing/125753334117191 This article Copyright ©2010 - David Nelmes. - Reproduced with Permission. Highlight & Copy Text Version	The Key to Living Prosperously through David Nelmes (7/29/2010) <p>If you are looking to find out how to live prosperously while also pursuing a spiritual life, please read on.</p> <p>There are many ways the world has provided through which you can make money, or prosper, but so many of those ideas include taking advantage of anothers situation, and this is not a healthy spiritual practice.</p> <p>In a spiritual reality, nothing can be lost and therefore, nothing can be taken, but while we perceive this physical reality, the idea of losing when you give or gaining when you take, are inbred into the worlds thinking.</p> <p>If you embrace this form of getting, you might succeed, but this may come at the cost of your peace. This might seem to be an acceptable compromise that you are willing to make, but when you lose your peace, all things in your life will become tainted, unhealthy and sickly. This has nothing to do with any punishment from God. Quite the contrary, it is a direct result of you allowing your mind to go to a place where you are not allowing God to enter due to the fear of hearing Him say you should be doing something else...and He would, but this is not a fearful thing. This is a joyous thing since this involves the knowledge that God is now helping to lead you towards a more beneficial place of mind where finances and health will fall nicely in line since they are but the effects of having your spirit mind in a good place.</p> <p>The key to living prosperously is in letting go of how the world has taught you could prosper and also to let go of what you believe it means to prosper.</p> <p>You are a glorious child of God. You are an eternal being with all the creative capacity of your Creator. With this in mind, there is nothing in all existence that is unworthy of you, nor are you unworthy of anything in existence. Everything is already at your disposal...so the idea that you must fight or struggle to survive, let alone prosper, is not a natural state of being. This 'less than' form of living is simply the direct result of us believing we do not deserve abundance...even though we so often cry for it, but we still feel undeserving...and so we experience what we believe we deserve.</p> <p>How do we get past this? We move on by doing everything we can to quiet our lives and open our minds to hear the Holy Spirit, the voice of God. It may not be that you hear words, but that you feel inspired or simply lead to do something that you might have otherwise not done. The inspiration may come in many forms, but the overall idea is that you let go of what you have believed to be the way to prosper and allow the Holy Spirit and Jesus to rewrite how your mind sees this and then be open for these new ways of seeing to take hold in your life.</p> <p>For example, if you have lost a job or hate your current job, you might feel very fearful as to what is going to become of you. You might be very fearful of how you will survive, how you will maintain medical insurance or how you will take care of your family. These concerns may seem valid, but the simple fact that you have fears is preventing your mind from hearing the answers that God would provide.</p> <p>For Jesus and the Holy Spirit, fear does not exist because they know only love. You can't hand your fears over to them because they are not real thoughts, but simply experiences you are choosing to have based upon how you perceive other thoughts. So the thing to do is to find those root thoughts that bring about your fear and hand them over to the Holy Spirit and Jesus to correct. They will shine perfect love on those thoughts and those thoughts will be returned to you as healed.</p> <p>By releasing these thoughts, your fears will begin to subside and your mind will become quieter. You will slowly begin to become more and more aware of the presence of God...Who never ever left, but was just obscured by your fears and overactive misuse of mind.</p> <p><i>A Course in Miracles</i> states that whatever you want for yourself, give that thing first to another and then you shall also have it for yourself. The Course also states that how you see and treat your brother is how you see and treat Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit. So if you truly desire to stop punishing yourself and truly want to prosper, see your brothers with love. See all people with compassion. Ignore what they are doing with respect to using their actions to paint a picture of who they are. Instead, know that they are all wonderful, shining, perfect and glorious Sons of God. Know that anything they do does not represent who they really are, but simply represents who they currently believe they are, and they are merely mistaken.</p> <p>Stop identifying your brothers by their mistakes, and you'll stop identifying yourself by your own. Stop judging them by their actions, and you'll stop judging yourself by your own. Stop seeing them as being unworthy of everything the universe has to offer, and you'll stop seeing yourself as being unworthy as well. Choose to see your brothers this way, and you will have opened the door to be prosperous. Not because you deserve it, because we all deserve it, but because you will have allowed it.</p> <p>I know it's hard to fathom that our struggles are a result of what we have done to ourselves. You may ask, "<i>How or why would we do this to ourselves?</i>", and the answer is simple... we hate who we have become. Inherently, we know we are deserving of all things, and we know we have chosen to settle for less. This has split our mind to where we do not make rational choices. We often do exactly what is not in our own best interests, and then we ignore or forget that we had any part in bringing about the situation. We blame the world or God for the situation, but this does nor make it true. This just makes it the experience we have settled for, but we don't have to settle for this experience.</p> <p>Open your mind right now and stop thinking about the world for a moment. Be sincere and say to Jesus and the Holy Spirit, "<i>I choose to see that I am worthy. I choose to allow you to bring into my life the perfect experiences that will help me to draw closer and closer to you. I open my mind to you. I choose to see the root of all my fears, and then hand those thoughts over to you as I become aware of them. I will work with you to heal my mind so that I do become willing, once again, to experience all the blessings that God has already provided, but I had simply chosen to hide from. I hid because I thought He would control me, but now I choose to see that He and I are one, and are working together to bring happiness and joy to all. I am thankful and happy to know I am moving forward. Life will never be the same again, and that is what I really want. I set aside all images of what I believed was true, and I allow you to help me see clearly. I open my mind to you. You are my brother and my advocate. I will be like you someday because of the love you have for me and because I will allow you to heal my mind so that I too see that I have that same love for you and all creation. I am a creator like my Father and I am one with Him. I cannot be destroyed or harmed in any way. We are one.</i>"</p> <p>Know you are loved. Know you are not alone. Know you are worthy. Know that your experience until now was simply the result of what you thought you knew, but now, your experience of this world will transform into what God would rather have you see.</p> <p>Go in peace and all the love of creation with you. You are loved. You are one. Be in peace.</p> (You can find this publication online at http://www.beingwilling.com/articles/key-living-prosperously.php ) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Nelmes - David considers it a wonderful blessing that his insight and writings can provide opportunities for those around him to see things from perspectives they had not considered before. He pursues Gods truths and is open and willing to see what God would have him see. He invites you to join him. His influences consist of truly being open to seeing and applying the truths he has discovered through life and through both "The Bible" and "A Course In Miracles". You can visit David's website at: http://www.BeingWilling.com You can visit the Being Willing facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Being-Willing/125753334117191 This article Copyright ©2010 - David Nelmes. - Reproduced with Permission. Highlight & Copy Combo Version

The Jesus I Know
<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> H2.bwtitle {color: #191970; font-family: "arial rounded mt bold", "verdana"; font-size: 22pt; font-weight: 600; line-height: 80%;} LI.bw {margin-bottom: 7px; color: #000000;} p.inner {font-size: 10pt;} #picntext {width: 350px; float: right; padding: 5px; text-align: center; border-style: solid; border-color: #000000; border-width: 1px; margin: 5px; background-color: #FFE6C5;} .caption {margin-top: 10px; padding: 3px; font-size: 9pt; font-family: georgia, times new roman; color: #000000; font-style: italic; font-weight: 500; text-align: center; background-color: #ffffff; border: 1px black solid; border-right: 2px black solid; border-bottom: 2px black solid;} H3.details {font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, verdana; color: #173297; margin-left: 3%; margin-right: 3%; font-weight: 500; font-style: normal; padding-bottom: 5px; border-bottom: 1px solid black;} </STYLE> <DIV ALIGN=CENTER> <h2 class="bwtitle">The Jesus I Know</H2> through <A HREF="#author">David Nelmes</A><BR> (6/24/2010) </DIV> <H3 class="details">The Jesus I know is vastly different than the one I believed I knew in years past. Here is how I now see Jesus, my brother, my guide, the one who helped open our minds for God to speak to us ...</H3> <p class="inner">I witnessed a sermon recently where a preacher made it very clear that how he saw Jesus was 180 degrees different from how I see him now, having studied A Course In Miracles.</p> <p class="inner">As I looked around into the audience of people listening, it dawned on me that there was no other voice for them to listen to as to how Jesus truly was. These individuals were receiving information from somebody who they believed was an educated and spirited leader, and so they have no reason not to believe what he says.</p> <p class="inner">The pinnacle of the sermon was when the pastor waved a long sword in the air while also reading from The Bible in the book of Matthew 10:34 where Jesus was quoted as saying "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.".</p> <p class="inner">Additional information that could be used to create this warrior image of Jesus could be taken from biblical reports where he ransacked the temple, knocked the soldiers to the ground in the garden of Gethsemane, killed the fig tree, scolded his disciples, and his prophesied return as a lion that will slay the billions who don't know him. Overall, the gist of the sermon was that Jesus was neither peaceful nor passive, so if you chose to be passive, it would be a sin, and Jesus would reject you.</p> <p class="inner">Neither the sermon nor the lyrics to the songs provided much that I was able to embrace, and so during that period of time I simply joined with the Holy Spirit and extended peace and love to them all, keeping in mind that we are all children of God and we are all searching for the truth.</p> <p class="inner">If I go back 20 years or more, I was one of those people who was so sure that every single word in The Bible hinged upon what God required me to know was true. There wasn't a phrase that could be mistaken. There wasn't an idea presented that could be ignored. So when God endorsed the killing, or should I say mass killings, that occurred almost regularly in the Old Testament, it all fit in with what was believed to be an omnipresent being that had the right to do with us as he pleased because we are subservient to him and had no rights of our own.</p> <p class="inner">I had forgotten how sure I was at that time that I was right, and that the bulk of the rest of humanity was on the road to hell. I just felt lucky at the time that I wasn't on that same road. Still, within me, something always stirred because the system did not appear to be fair. I thought that if Satan truly were the cause of all the problems on the earth, couldn't God just forgive him so that all our lives would once again be blessed?</p> <p class="inner">It was a long road from where I believed every single word in The Bible was inspired and selectively saved and organized by God to where I see it today. I've come to understand that although God may have inspired many of the authors of The Bible, their egos and narrow perception of God prevented them from hearing what He was saying and so they wrote what they believed he would say. In many other cases, the stories were simply nothing more than attempts to teach the people around them what they thought were good rules and guidelines to follow. Since they could not understand why somebody would be motivated without fear of retribution, the fear of retribution was generally placed in the story as a motivating factor.</p> <p class="inner">It was a very fearful thing for me to even begin to imagine that The Bible might not be correct. It was believed that if any portion of The Bible were proven to be mistaken, then the whole book and all its teachings were simply wrong. If this were the case, then all my beliefs and even the existence of God would be threatened.</p> <p class="inner">Some writings refer to this moment or experience as a 'dark night of the soul'. This is the result of feeling lost, abandoned, disillusioned, fearful, and unsure of your spiritual future. As much as it may appear to be an unwelcome moment, it's a most necessary experience to allow you to move away from the concept of a fearful God that demands obedience and sacrifice towards the concept of a truly loving God that asks nothing from you and shares all he has with you.</p> <p class="inner">This is where A Course In Miracles refers to a 180 degree change in perception that is necessary to see God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit as they really are. This shift in perception is totally necessary to allow your mind to open to hear from God so that He can heal how you see the world around you, because as long as this world around you is solid and unchangeable, so is your perception of an ancient and fearful God.</p> <p class="inner">Regardless of what religion or belief you follow, it's very helpful to be open to the idea that you might not have all the right information and that some of your information may even be detrimental. For any belief, a starting point to truly be open for the truth is to simply pray for and be open for the truth. When you begin this process it can be difficult to believe that certain things are true. You may get preoccupied with not wanting to follow another mistaken path because you are becoming aware that you may have already done that with your current beliefs.</p> <p class="inner">To get you through this simply remind yourself that God loves you, He'll do nothing to hurt you, He's never upset at the choices you make while working your way back to Him, and that He has placed in your path all the tools and help necessary for you to find your way home to Him.</p> <p class="inner">Once you become open to receiving a new image of God and His teachings, this information will be presented to you without having to pursue it. You might not catch this at the time, but later you will see how God is handing helpful information to you. In my case, rather out of the blue, an acquaintance handed me the first book in the series called Conversations With God. It was this book that gave me some of my initial glimpses into how God may be very different from what I had previously believed.</p> <p class="inner">When I got to the second book in the series, some things did not seem as inspired or on target as in the first volume, so I set the book aside. I had no sooner done that when I was invited to a healing meeting, which I had no idea what that meant, and I was introduced to A Course In Miracles.</p> <p class="inner">In the days that followed I started reading through the book, but found it to be both confusing and dry to some degree. Little by little I pushed on as I became more and more open for my perception of God to change. Still, I had some difficulty grasping some of the concepts. Then I found a section of the book that contained daily lessons, and so I focused my attention there instead.</p> <p class="inner">By doing the lessons and focusing my day around practicing the concepts within the lesson, my perception changed dramatically. Now I was no longer just reading, but I was practicing, and I was being.</p> <p class="inner">The one thing I did have trouble getting past was the fact that A Course In Miracles was supposed to be Jesus' actual teachings to us. Since Jesus played such a major role in my previous beliefs, I really did not know how to picture him anymore. Even though I knew A Course In Miracles was supposed to be his teachings, I kind of took him out of the picture and focused on the teachings and not from where they came.</p> <p class="inner">It took me some time to see Jesus more truthfully and accurately. There were so many things I was taught about how he came, why he came, his purpose here, and his purpose yet to come. The teachings from A Course In Miracles basically undid all this. It made it very clear that most of what I was taught about Jesus was incorrect and was based upon what could only be the actions of the son of an unforgiving and vengeful God.</p> <p class="inner">And so now, years later, the Jesus I know is vastly different than the one I believed I knew in years past. Here is how I now see Jesus, my brother, my guide, the one who helped open our minds for God to speak to us ...</p> <p class="inner">It was unlikely that Jesus' birth was the result of an immaculate conception. Since anything physical does not really matter, securing particular bloodlines or insuring that the father's blood was not part of the child's blood, had nothing to do with the spirit that was Jesus.</p> <p class="inner">Jesus entered this world with his mind open to hear God. He was a person no different than you or I, other than his mind being in a much better place than ours. He was not a perfect being. He was a human with an open mind and a true desire to learn and understand the truth about himself and his Creator.</p> <p class="inner">As a child, Jesus was drawn to the synagogues to learn about God. He was not born knowing who God is or what God really wants, but he was born with an open mind to learn this. As time passed, he saw that the established teachings of God were not in line with what he felt was true about God. Many of the dots did not connect the way that he believed they should. He had a knowing that his Creator had to be more than an jealous entity that required pleasing in order to satisfy its anger.</p> <p class="inner">After spending many years of his young adult life seeking the truth about God and spending much time in meditation, Jesus then introduced himself to the world, knowing that he saw something that no one else was seeing.</p> <p class="inner">Jesus talked about being forgiving just for the sake of being forgiving. He talked about giving without requiring anything in return. He talked about becoming aware that your thoughts are more important than your actions because your thoughts are what really matter. He talked about having an eternal existence. He talked about being loving and kind to all those around you because you are one with all, and anything you do to anyone you are also doing to yourself.</p> <p class="inner">He may have had a female companion named Mary with whom he may have married and had children. It would be perfectly normal and natural for him to be a loving husband and father. There is no proof either way, but the idea here is that this shouldn't matter either way because nothing physical matters. Jesus teaches in A Course In Miracles that it's not what you do that matters, but what you are being while you do what you do.</p> <p class="inner">His life also demonstrated that this world is terrified of the light. As much as we may often feel warmed by the light, many people fear being burned by the light, and they'll do anything to put out the light.</p> <p class="inner">His death was the result of a terrible fear that the very religious experienced in that his teachings suggested their beliefs were mistaken and that their path back to God had nothing to do with all the rituals and rules they had established. For those that had hoped to make Jesus their king, they could not even begin to imagine that a peaceful and passive existence had anything to do with them being a people ruled by God.</p> <p class="inner">The crucifixion of Jesus was not a sacrifice required to appease God. God never requires nor desires any physical action. He always see us with forgiving eyes and always loves us unconditionally. Quite the contrary, the crucifixion was an opportunity for Jesus to tear through the final veil that obscured his perception of seeing himself and God as they truly were. At the instant where he cried out that he believed God had abandoned him, he remembered he was not abandoned, and he knew it to be true. At that moment, any final lingering thought that even hinted he was disconnected from God in any way, ceased to exist.</p> <p class="inner">A Course in Miracles teaches that the only real purpose of the body is to communicate with others that they are loved and forgiven, and that a way home has been provided. As Jesus had his epiphany on the cross, he saw he no longer had a need to communicate anything else through that body, and he let it go.</p> <p class="inner">What was later recorded as the resurrection was a continuation of this physical illusion to show that nothing physical that happens here could really touch you. No matter what happens to the body, you are not a body, and it has no lasting effect other than what we believe to be true. Likewise, in A Course In Miracles, Jesus says, "Teach not that I died in vain. Teach rather THAT I DID NOT DIE by demonstrating that I LIVE IN YOU."</p> <p class="inner">Records show that Jesus was not recognized when he appeared several days after his body's death. Since God places no importance on the physical, there would be no specific need to raise his previous body. Instead, Jesus appeared in a perfectly new body that he manifested into existence when he had a desire to communicate a few final words to his followers. Jesus was never resurrected because he never died. You are not a body. I am not a body. Jesus is not a body. Bodies may die, but those that make use of them are eternal beings. We are all eternal beings. The purpose of the crucifixion and resurrection was to demonstrate that nothing that happens here can touch the real you-- the eternal Spirit that is you.</p> <p class="inner">Jesus performed a miracle on the cross when he overcame a major obstacle that had made it difficult for him or any of us to clearly hear the voice of God. In that one instant on the cross where he thought he was abandoned, his mind was healed and he became fully open to hear the voice of God. This voice of God we call the Holy Spirit. Since we are all one spirit, all our minds were healed, and we can all more easily hear that voice.</p> <p class="inner">It took quite a while, but I learned to see Jesus in a different and wonderful way. He is the brother who opened the door for me to hear the voice of God. He is the single voice that is A Course In Miracles and his voice says nothing other than to be forgiving and to be loving and to live a peaceful existence.</p> <p class="inner">We are all totally equal with Jesus, and we are all part of the Son of God. None of us individually, including Jesus, is the Son of God because the Son of God comprises of us all. The only major difference between us and Jesus at this time is that he is a forerunner in a journey that we are all making back to God. Since he is in the lead, there are so many things he has experienced and now understands which makes him a wonderful advocate and guide to help us more easily follow the path back to God as compared to just trying to do this on our own.</p> <p class="inner">Jesus doesn't want our worship, nor does he want our sacrifice or obedience. All he wants is for you to recognize the authority in what he teaches because he's at the head of this journey that we are all making. He is happy and willing to guide you through any part of your life that will help to speed you on your way to healing your mind and moving closer to seeing our Father and Creator.</p> <p class="inner">Jesus has already returned. His second coming is a spiritual awakening within the minds of everyone on this planet. As we choose to see him more clearly, and as we choose to join with him on the journey home, our path back to God will become more direct and will occur more quickly.</p> <p class="inner">As when Jesus was here the first time, the people that will have the hardest time listening and believing him are the ones who are so sure their religion and beliefs are set in stone and must be followed to the letter. As much as those individuals might declare their love for God, their fear of allowing light to descend upon their beliefs can lead them to make very irrational choices that will make it seem normal to embrace concepts of war, fighting, and attack, in lieu of pursuing peaceful and loving paths.</p> <p class="inner">You need only to remember the stories in The Bible about Jesus to know that it was the religious right that went far out of their way to destroy the light because it threatened their beliefs and their way of life. The average typical person was not threatened by him and generally was drawn to him, but those who had very rigid beliefs were threatened by him and so they had to either kill him or face looking upon the flaws in their beliefs and quite possibly experience a dark night of the soul.</p> <p class="inner">So I leave you with this... Regardless of what you believe and regardless of who is the central figure in your beliefs, the Jesus I know is totally peaceful, totally passive, totally loving and unconditionally forgiving just as our Father and Creator is. If this is at odds with what you currently believe, you are not expected to just take my word for it, but I will suggest you take a moment, close your eyes, and simply say, "I am open and willing to see the truth. No matter what I currently believe, it is the truth that I really want. I open my mind for the Holy Spirit and Jesus to heal how I see them, and how I see this world."</p> <p align="center">(You can find this publication online at <a href="http://www.beingwilling.com/articles/jesus-i-know.php">http://www.beingwilling.com/articles/jesus-i-know.php</a> )</p> <hr size=1> <P><I><A NAME="author"><B>David Nelmes</B></a> - David considers it a wonderful blessing that his insight and writings can provide opportunities for those around him to see things from perspectives they had not considered before. He pursues Gods truths and is open and willing to see what God would have him see. He invites you to join him.</I></P> <P><I>His influences consist of truly being open to seeing and applying the truths he has discovered through life and through both "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2F0960638881%3Fie%3DUTF8%26me%3D%26seller%3D&tag=beinwill-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">A Course In Miracles</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=beinwill-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />" and the "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fexec%2Fobidos%2Ftg%2Fbrowse%2F-%2F10405901%2Fsr%3D53-1%2Fsr%3D53-1%2Fqid%3D1181498397&tag=beinwill-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Bible</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=beinwill-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />"<br> You can visit David's website at: <a href="http://www.beingwilling.com" target="_blank">http://www.BeingWilling.com</a><br> You can visit David's facebook page at: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Being-Willing/125753334117191" target="_blank">Being Willing on Facebook</a></i></p> <p>This article Copyright ©2010 - David Nelmes. All rights reserved.</P> Highlight & Copy Html Version	THE JESUS I KNOW through David Nelmes (6/24/2010) I witnessed a sermon recently where a preacher made it very clear that how he saw Jesus was 180 degrees different from how I see him now, having studied A Course In Miracles. As I looked around into the audience of people listening, it dawned on me that there was no other voice for them to listen to as to how Jesus truly was. These individuals were receiving information from somebody who they believed was an educated and spirited leader, and so they have no reason not to believe what he says. The pinnacle of the sermon was when the pastor waved a long sword in the air while also reading from The Bible in the book of Matthew 10:34 where Jesus was quoted as saying "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.". Additional information that could be used to create this warrior image of Jesus could be taken from biblical reports where he ransacked the temple, knocked the soldiers to the ground in the garden of Gethsemane, killed the fig tree, scolded his disciples, and his prophesied return as a lion that will slay the billions who don't know him. Overall, the gist of the sermon was that Jesus was neither peaceful nor passive, so if you chose to be passive, it would be a sin, and Jesus would reject you. Neither the sermon nor the lyrics to the songs provided much that I was able to embrace, and so during that period of time I simply joined with the Holy Spirit and extended peace and love to them all, keeping in mind that we are all children of God and we are all searching for the truth. If I go back 20 years or more, I was one of those people who was so sure that every single word in The Bible hinged upon what God required me to know was true. There wasn't a phrase that could be mistaken. There wasn't an idea presented that could be ignored. So when God endorsed the killing, or should I say mass killings, that occurred almost regularly in the Old Testament, it all fit in with what was believed to be an omnipresent being that had the right to do with us as he pleased because we are subservient to him and had no rights of our own. I had forgotten how sure I was at that time that I was right, and that the bulk of the rest of humanity was on the road to hell. I just felt lucky at the time that I wasn't on that same road. Still, within me, something always stirred because the system did not appear to be fair. I thought that if Satan truly were the cause of all the problems on the earth, couldn't God just forgive him so that all our lives would once again be blessed? It was a long road from where I believed every single word in The Bible was inspired and selectively saved and organized by God to where I see it today. I've come to understand that although God may have inspired many of the authors of The Bible, their egos and narrow perception of God prevented them from hearing what He was saying and so they wrote what they believed he would say. In many other cases, the stories were simply nothing more than attempts to teach the people around them what they thought were good rules and guidelines to follow. Since they could not understand why somebody would be motivated without fear of retribution, the fear of retribution was generally placed in the story as a motivating factor. It was a very fearful thing for me to even begin to imagine that The Bible might not be correct. It was believed that if any portion of The Bible were proven to be mistaken, then the whole book and all its teachings were simply wrong. If this were the case, then all my beliefs and even the existence of God would be threatened. Some writings refer to this moment or experience as a 'dark night of the soul'. This is the result of feeling lost, abandoned, disillusioned, fearful, and unsure of your spiritual future. As much as it may appear to be an unwelcome moment, it's a most necessary experience to allow you to move away from the concept of a fearful God that demands obedience and sacrifice towards the concept of a truly loving God that asks nothing from you and shares all he has with you. This is where A Course In Miracles refers to a 180 degree change in perception that is necessary to see God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit as they really are. This shift in perception is totally necessary to allow your mind to open to hear from God so that He can heal how you see the world around you, because as long as this world around you is solid and unchangeable, so is your perception of an ancient and fearful God. Regardless of what religion or belief you follow, it's very helpful to be open to the idea that you might not have all the right information and that some of your information may even be detrimental. For any belief, a starting point to truly be open for the truth is to simply pray for and be open for the truth. When you begin this process it can be difficult to believe that certain things are true. You may get preoccupied with not wanting to follow another mistaken path because you are becoming aware that you may have already done that with your current beliefs. To get you through this simply remind yourself that God loves you, He'll do nothing to hurt you, He's never upset at the choices you make while working your way back to Him, and that He has placed in your path all the tools and help necessary for you to find your way home to Him. Once you become open to receiving a new image of God and His teachings, this information will be presented to you without having to pursue it. You might not catch this at the time, but later you will see how God is handing helpful information to you. In my case, rather out of the blue, an acquaintance handed me the first book in the series called Conversations With God. It was this book that gave me some of my initial glimpses into how God may be very different from what I had previously believed. When I got to the second book in the series, some things did not seem as inspired or on target as in the first volume, so I set the book aside. I had no sooner done that when I was invited to a healing meeting, which I had no idea what that meant, and I was introduced to A Course In Miracles. In the days that followed I started reading through the book, but found it to be both confusing and dry to some degree. Little by little I pushed on as I became more and more open for my perception of God to change. Still, I had some difficulty grasping some of the concepts. Then I found a section of the book that contained daily lessons, and so I focused my attention there instead. By doing the lessons and focusing my day around practicing the concepts within the lesson, my perception changed dramatically. Now I was no longer just reading, but I was practicing, and I was being. The one thing I did have trouble getting past was the fact that A Course In Miracles was supposed to be Jesus' actual teachings to us. Since Jesus played such a major role in my previous beliefs, I really did not know how to picture him anymore. Even though I knew A Course In Miracles was supposed to be his teachings, I kind of took him out of the picture and focused on the teachings and not from where they came. It took me some time to see Jesus more truthfully and accurately. There were so many things I was taught about how he came, why he came, his purpose here, and his purpose yet to come. The teachings from A Course In Miracles basically undid all this. It made it very clear that most of what I was taught about Jesus was incorrect and was based upon what could only be the actions of the son of an unforgiving and vengeful God. And so now, years later, the Jesus I know is vastly different than the one I believed I knew in years past. Here is how I now see Jesus, my brother, my guide, the one who helped open our minds for God to speak to us ... It was unlikely that Jesus' birth was the result of an immaculate conception. Since anything physical does not really matter, securing particular bloodlines or insuring that the father's blood was not part of the child's blood, had nothing to do with the spirit that was Jesus. Jesus entered this world with his mind open to hear God. He was a person no different than you or I, other than his mind being in a much better place than ours. He was not a perfect being. He was a human with an open mind and a true desire to learn and understand the truth about himself and his Creator. As a child, Jesus was drawn to the synagogues to learn about God. He was not born knowing who God is or what God really wants, but he was born with an open mind to learn this. As time passed, he saw that the established teachings of God were not in line with what he felt was true about God. Many of the dots did not connect the way that he believed they should. He had a knowing that his Creator had to be more than an jealous entity that required pleasing in order to satisfy its anger. After spending many years of his young adult life seeking the truth about God and spending much time in meditation, Jesus then introduced himself to the world, knowing that he saw something that no one else was seeing. Jesus talked about being forgiving just for the sake of being forgiving. He talked about giving without requiring anything in return. He talked about becoming aware that your thoughts are more important than your actions because your thoughts are what really matter. He talked about having an eternal existence. He talked about being loving and kind to all those around you because you are one with all, and anything you do to anyone you are also doing to yourself. He may have had a female companion named Mary with whom he may have married and had children. It would be perfectly normal and natural for him to be a loving husband and father. There is no proof either way, but the idea here is that this shouldn't matter either way because nothing physical matters. Jesus teaches in A Course In Miracles that it's not what you do that matters, but what you are being while you do what you do. His life also demonstrated that this world is terrified of the light. As much as we may often feel warmed by the light, many people fear being burned by the light, and they'll do anything to put out the light. His death was the result of a terrible fear that the very religious experienced in that his teachings suggested their beliefs were mistaken and that their path back to God had nothing to do with all the rituals and rules they had established. For those that had hoped to make Jesus their king, they could not even begin to imagine that a peaceful and passive existence had anything to do with them being a people ruled by God. The crucifixion of Jesus was not a sacrifice required to appease God. God never requires nor desires any physical action. He always see us with forgiving eyes and always loves us unconditionally. Quite the contrary, the crucifixion was an opportunity for Jesus to tear through the final veil that obscured his perception of seeing himself and God as they truly were. At the instant where he cried out that he believed God had abandoned him, he remembered he was not abandoned, and he knew it to be true. At that moment, any final lingering thought that even hinted he was disconnected from God in any way, ceased to exist. A Course in Miracles teaches that the only real purpose of the body is to communicate with others that they are loved and forgiven, and that a way home has been provided. As Jesus had his epiphany on the cross, he saw he no longer had a need to communicate anything else through that body, and he let it go. What was later recorded as the resurrection was a continuation of this physical illusion to show that nothing physical that happens here could really touch you. No matter what happens to the body, you are not a body, and it has no lasting effect other than what we believe to be true. Likewise, in A Course In Miracles, Jesus says, "Teach not that I died in vain. Teach rather THAT I DID NOT DIE by demonstrating that I LIVE IN YOU." Records show that Jesus was not recognized when he appeared several days after his body's death. Since God places no importance on the physical, there would be no specific need to raise his previous body. Instead, Jesus appeared in a perfectly new body that he manifested into existence when he had a desire to communicate a few final words to his followers. Jesus was never resurrected because he never died. You are not a body. I am not a body. Jesus is not a body. Bodies may die, but those that make use of them are eternal beings. We are all eternal beings. The purpose of the crucifixion and resurrection was to demonstrate that nothing that happens here can touch the real you-- the eternal Spirit that is you. Jesus performed a miracle on the cross when he overcame a major obstacle that had made it difficult for him or any of us to clearly hear the voice of God. In that one instant on the cross where he thought he was abandoned, his mind was healed and he became fully open to hear the voice of God. This voice of God we call the Holy Spirit. Since we are all one spirit, all our minds were healed, and we can all more easily hear that voice. It took quite a while, but I learned to see Jesus in a different and wonderful way. He is the brother who opened the door for me to hear the voice of God. He is the single voice that is A Course In Miracles and his voice says nothing other than to be forgiving and to be loving and to live a peaceful existence. We are all totally equal with Jesus, and we are all part of the Son of God. None of us individually, including Jesus, is the Son of God because the Son of God comprises of us all. The only major difference between us and Jesus at this time is that he is a forerunner in a journey that we are all making back to God. Since he is in the lead, there are so many things he has experienced and now understands which makes him a wonderful advocate and guide to help us more easily follow the path back to God as compared to just trying to do this on our own. Jesus doesn't want our worship, nor does he want our sacrifice or obedience. All he wants is for you to recognize the authority in what he teaches because he's at the head of this journey that we are all making. He is happy and willing to guide you through any part of your life that will help to speed you on your way to healing your mind and moving closer to seeing our Father and Creator. Jesus has already returned. His second coming is a spiritual awakening within the minds of everyone on this planet. As we choose to see him more clearly, and as we choose to join with him on the journey home, our path back to God will become more direct and will occur more quickly. As when Jesus was here the first time, the people that will have the hardest time listening and believing him are the ones who are so sure their religion and beliefs are set in stone and must be followed to the letter. As much as those individuals might declare their love for God, their fear of allowing light to descend upon their beliefs can lead them to make very irrational choices that will make it seem normal to embrace concepts of war, fighting, and attack, in lieu of pursuing peaceful and loving paths. You need only to remember the stories in The Bible about Jesus to know that it was the religious right that went far out of their way to destroy the light because it threatened their beliefs and their way of life. The average typical person was not threatened by him and generally was drawn to him, but those who had very rigid beliefs were threatened by him and so they had to either kill him or face looking upon the flaws in their beliefs and quite possibly experience a dark night of the soul. So I leave you with this... Regardless of what you believe and regardless of who is the central figure in your beliefs, the Jesus I know is totally peaceful, totally passive, totally loving and unconditionally forgiving just as our Father and Creator is. If this is at odds with what you currently believe, you are not expected to just take my word for it, but I will suggest you take a moment, close your eyes, and simply say, "I am open and willing to see the truth. No matter what I currently believe, it is the truth that I really want. I open my mind for the Holy Spirit and Jesus to heal how I see them, and how I see this world." (You can find this publication online at http://www.beingwilling.com/articles/jesus-i-know.php ) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Nelmes - David considers it a wonderful blessing that his insight and writings can provide opportunities for those around him to see things from perspectives they had not considered before. He pursues Gods truths and is open and willing to see what God would have him see. He invites you to join him. His influences consist of truly being open to seeing and applying the truths he has discovered through life and through both "The Bible" and "A Course In Miracles". You can visit David's website at: http://www.BeingWilling.com You can visit the Being Willing facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Being-Willing/125753334117191 This article Copyright ©2010 - David Nelmes. - Reproduced with Permission. Highlight & Copy Text Version	The Jesus I Know through David Nelmes (6/24/2010) I witnessed a sermon recently where a preacher made it very clear that how he saw Jesus was 180 degrees different from how I see him now, having studied A Course In Miracles. As I looked around into the audience of people listening, it dawned on me that there was no other voice for them to listen to as to how Jesus truly was. These individuals were receiving information from somebody who they believed was an educated and spirited leader, and so they have no reason not to believe what he says. The pinnacle of the sermon was when the pastor waved a long sword in the air while also reading from The Bible in the book of Matthew 10:34 where Jesus was quoted as saying "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.". Additional information that could be used to create this warrior image of Jesus could be taken from biblical reports where he ransacked the temple, knocked the soldiers to the ground in the garden of Gethsemane, killed the fig tree, scolded his disciples, and his prophesied return as a lion that will slay the billions who don't know him. Overall, the gist of the sermon was that Jesus was neither peaceful nor passive, so if you chose to be passive, it would be a sin, and Jesus would reject you. Neither the sermon nor the lyrics to the songs provided much that I was able to embrace, and so during that period of time I simply joined with the Holy Spirit and extended peace and love to them all, keeping in mind that we are all children of God and we are all searching for the truth. If I go back 20 years or more, I was one of those people who was so sure that every single word in The Bible hinged upon what God required me to know was true. There wasn't a phrase that could be mistaken. There wasn't an idea presented that could be ignored. So when God endorsed the killing, or should I say mass killings, that occurred almost regularly in the Old Testament, it all fit in with what was believed to be an omnipresent being that had the right to do with us as he pleased because we are subservient to him and had no rights of our own. I had forgotten how sure I was at that time that I was right, and that the bulk of the rest of humanity was on the road to hell. I just felt lucky at the time that I wasn't on that same road. Still, within me, something always stirred because the system did not appear to be fair. I thought that if Satan truly were the cause of all the problems on the earth, couldn't God just forgive him so that all our lives would once again be blessed? It was a long road from where I believed every single word in The Bible was inspired and selectively saved and organized by God to where I see it today. I've come to understand that although God may have inspired many of the authors of The Bible, their egos and narrow perception of God prevented them from hearing what He was saying and so they wrote what they believed he would say. In many other cases, the stories were simply nothing more than attempts to teach the people around them what they thought were good rules and guidelines to follow. Since they could not understand why somebody would be motivated without fear of retribution, the fear of retribution was generally placed in the story as a motivating factor. It was a very fearful thing for me to even begin to imagine that The Bible might not be correct. It was believed that if any portion of The Bible were proven to be mistaken, then the whole book and all its teachings were simply wrong. If this were the case, then all my beliefs and even the existence of God would be threatened. Some writings refer to this moment or experience as a 'dark night of the soul'. This is the result of feeling lost, abandoned, disillusioned, fearful, and unsure of your spiritual future. As much as it may appear to be an unwelcome moment, it's a most necessary experience to allow you to move away from the concept of a fearful God that demands obedience and sacrifice towards the concept of a truly loving God that asks nothing from you and shares all he has with you. This is where A Course In Miracles refers to a 180 degree change in perception that is necessary to see God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit as they really are. This shift in perception is totally necessary to allow your mind to open to hear from God so that He can heal how you see the world around you, because as long as this world around you is solid and unchangeable, so is your perception of an ancient and fearful God. Regardless of what religion or belief you follow, it's very helpful to be open to the idea that you might not have all the right information and that some of your information may even be detrimental. For any belief, a starting point to truly be open for the truth is to simply pray for and be open for the truth. When you begin this process it can be difficult to believe that certain things are true. You may get preoccupied with not wanting to follow another mistaken path because you are becoming aware that you may have already done that with your current beliefs. To get you through this simply remind yourself that God loves you, He'll do nothing to hurt you, He's never upset at the choices you make while working your way back to Him, and that He has placed in your path all the tools and help necessary for you to find your way home to Him. Once you become open to receiving a new image of God and His teachings, this information will be presented to you without having to pursue it. You might not catch this at the time, but later you will see how God is handing helpful information to you. In my case, rather out of the blue, an acquaintance handed me the first book in the series called Conversations With God. It was this book that gave me some of my initial glimpses into how God may be very different from what I had previously believed. When I got to the second book in the series, some things did not seem as inspired or on target as in the first volume, so I set the book aside. I had no sooner done that when I was invited to a healing meeting, which I had no idea what that meant, and I was introduced to A Course In Miracles. In the days that followed I started reading through the book, but found it to be both confusing and dry to some degree. Little by little I pushed on as I became more and more open for my perception of God to change. Still, I had some difficulty grasping some of the concepts. Then I found a section of the book that contained daily lessons, and so I focused my attention there instead. By doing the lessons and focusing my day around practicing the concepts within the lesson, my perception changed dramatically. Now I was no longer just reading, but I was practicing, and I was being. The one thing I did have trouble getting past was the fact that A Course In Miracles was supposed to be Jesus' actual teachings to us. Since Jesus played such a major role in my previous beliefs, I really did not know how to picture him anymore. Even though I knew A Course In Miracles was supposed to be his teachings, I kind of took him out of the picture and focused on the teachings and not from where they came. It took me some time to see Jesus more truthfully and accurately. There were so many things I was taught about how he came, why he came, his purpose here, and his purpose yet to come. The teachings from A Course In Miracles basically undid all this. It made it very clear that most of what I was taught about Jesus was incorrect and was based upon what could only be the actions of the son of an unforgiving and vengeful God. And so now, years later, the Jesus I know is vastly different than the one I believed I knew in years past. Here is how I now see Jesus, my brother, my guide, the one who helped open our minds for God to speak to us ... It was unlikely that Jesus' birth was the result of an immaculate conception. Since anything physical does not really matter, securing particular bloodlines or insuring that the father's blood was not part of the child's blood, had nothing to do with the spirit that was Jesus. Jesus entered this world with his mind open to hear God. He was a person no different than you or I, other than his mind being in a much better place than ours. He was not a perfect being. He was a human with an open mind and a true desire to learn and understand the truth about himself and his Creator. As a child, Jesus was drawn to the synagogues to learn about God. He was not born knowing who God is or what God really wants, but he was born with an open mind to learn this. As time passed, he saw that the established teachings of God were not in line with what he felt was true about God. Many of the dots did not connect the way that he believed they should. He had a knowing that his Creator had to be more than an jealous entity that required pleasing in order to satisfy its anger. After spending many years of his young adult life seeking the truth about God and spending much time in meditation, Jesus then introduced himself to the world, knowing that he saw something that no one else was seeing. Jesus talked about being forgiving just for the sake of being forgiving. He talked about giving without requiring anything in return. He talked about becoming aware that your thoughts are more important than your actions because your thoughts are what really matter. He talked about having an eternal existence. He talked about being loving and kind to all those around you because you are one with all, and anything you do to anyone you are also doing to yourself. He may have had a female companion named Mary with whom he may have married and had children. It would be perfectly normal and natural for him to be a loving husband and father. There is no proof either way, but the idea here is that this shouldn't matter either way because nothing physical matters. Jesus teaches in A Course In Miracles that it's not what you do that matters, but what you are being while you do what you do. His life also demonstrated that this world is terrified of the light. As much as we may often feel warmed by the light, many people fear being burned by the light, and they'll do anything to put out the light. His death was the result of a terrible fear that the very religious experienced in that his teachings suggested their beliefs were mistaken and that their path back to God had nothing to do with all the rituals and rules they had established. For those that had hoped to make Jesus their king, they could not even begin to imagine that a peaceful and passive existence had anything to do with them being a people ruled by God. The crucifixion of Jesus was not a sacrifice required to appease God. God never requires nor desires any physical action. He always see us with forgiving eyes and always loves us unconditionally. Quite the contrary, the crucifixion was an opportunity for Jesus to tear through the final veil that obscured his perception of seeing himself and God as they truly were. At the instant where he cried out that he believed God had abandoned him, he remembered he was not abandoned, and he knew it to be true. At that moment, any final lingering thought that even hinted he was disconnected from God in any way, ceased to exist. A Course in Miracles teaches that the only real purpose of the body is to communicate with others that they are loved and forgiven, and that a way home has been provided. As Jesus had his epiphany on the cross, he saw he no longer had a need to communicate anything else through that body, and he let it go. What was later recorded as the resurrection was a continuation of this physical illusion to show that nothing physical that happens here could really touch you. No matter what happens to the body, you are not a body, and it has no lasting effect other than what we believe to be true. Likewise, in A Course In Miracles, Jesus says, "Teach not that I died in vain. Teach rather THAT I DID NOT DIE by demonstrating that I LIVE IN YOU." Records show that Jesus was not recognized when he appeared several days after his body's death. Since God places no importance on the physical, there would be no specific need to raise his previous body. Instead, Jesus appeared in a perfectly new body that he manifested into existence when he had a desire to communicate a few final words to his followers. Jesus was never resurrected because he never died. You are not a body. I am not a body. Jesus is not a body. Bodies may die, but those that make use of them are eternal beings. We are all eternal beings. The purpose of the crucifixion and resurrection was to demonstrate that nothing that happens here can touch the real you-- the eternal Spirit that is you. Jesus performed a miracle on the cross when he overcame a major obstacle that had made it difficult for him or any of us to clearly hear the voice of God. In that one instant on the cross where he thought he was abandoned, his mind was healed and he became fully open to hear the voice of God. This voice of God we call the Holy Spirit. Since we are all one spirit, all our minds were healed, and we can all more easily hear that voice. It took quite a while, but I learned to see Jesus in a different and wonderful way. He is the brother who opened the door for me to hear the voice of God. He is the single voice that is A Course In Miracles and his voice says nothing other than to be forgiving and to be loving and to live a peaceful existence. We are all totally equal with Jesus, and we are all part of the Son of God. None of us individually, including Jesus, is the Son of God because the Son of God comprises of us all. The only major difference between us and Jesus at this time is that he is a forerunner in a journey that we are all making back to God. Since he is in the lead, there are so many things he has experienced and now understands which makes him a wonderful advocate and guide to help us more easily follow the path back to God as compared to just trying to do this on our own. Jesus doesn't want our worship, nor does he want our sacrifice or obedience. All he wants is for you to recognize the authority in what he teaches because he's at the head of this journey that we are all making. He is happy and willing to guide you through any part of your life that will help to speed you on your way to healing your mind and moving closer to seeing our Father and Creator. Jesus has already returned. His second coming is a spiritual awakening within the minds of everyone on this planet. As we choose to see him more clearly, and as we choose to join with him on the journey home, our path back to God will become more direct and will occur more quickly. As when Jesus was here the first time, the people that will have the hardest time listening and believing him are the ones who are so sure their religion and beliefs are set in stone and must be followed to the letter. As much as those individuals might declare their love for God, their fear of allowing light to descend upon their beliefs can lead them to make very irrational choices that will make it seem normal to embrace concepts of war, fighting, and attack, in lieu of pursuing peaceful and loving paths. You need only to remember the stories in The Bible about Jesus to know that it was the religious right that went far out of their way to destroy the light because it threatened their beliefs and their way of life. The average typical person was not threatened by him and generally was drawn to him, but those who had very rigid beliefs were threatened by him and so they had to either kill him or face looking upon the flaws in their beliefs and quite possibly experience a dark night of the soul. So I leave you with this... Regardless of what you believe and regardless of who is the central figure in your beliefs, the Jesus I know is totally peaceful, totally passive, totally loving and unconditionally forgiving just as our Father and Creator is. If this is at odds with what you currently believe, you are not expected to just take my word for it, but I will suggest you take a moment, close your eyes, and simply say, "I am open and willing to see the truth. No matter what I currently believe, it is the truth that I really want. I open my mind for the Holy Spirit and Jesus to heal how I see them, and how I see this world." (You can find this publication online at http://www.beingwilling.com/articles/jesus-i-know.php ) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Nelmes - David considers it a wonderful blessing that his insight and writings can provide opportunities for those around him to see things from perspectives they had not considered before. He pursues Gods truths and is open and willing to see what God would have him see. He invites you to join him. His influences consist of truly being open to seeing and applying the truths he has discovered through life and through both "The Bible" and "A Course In Miracles". You can visit David's website at: http://www.BeingWilling.com You can visit the Being Willing facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Being-Willing/125753334117191 This article Copyright ©2010 - David Nelmes. - Reproduced with Permission. Highlight & Copy Combo Version

Keep It Simple Savior
<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> H2.bwtitle {color: #800000; font-family: "arial rounded mt bold", "verdana"; font-size: 22pt; font-weight: 600; line-height: 80%;} LI.bw {margin-bottom: 7px; color: #000000;} p.inner {font-size: 10pt;} #picntext {width: 350px; float: right; padding: 5px; text-align: center; border-style: solid; border-color: #000000; border-width: 1px; margin: 5px; background-color: #FFE6C5;} .caption {margin-top: 10px; padding: 3px; font-size: 9pt; font-family: georgia, times new roman; color: #000000; font-style: italic; font-weight: 500; text-align: center; background-color: #ffffff; border: 1px black solid; border-right: 2px black solid; border-bottom: 2px black solid;} H3.details {font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, verdana; color: #173297; margin-left: 3%; margin-right: 3%; font-weight: 500; font-style: normal; margin-bottom: -10px; padding-bottom: 5px; border-bottom: 1px solid black;} </STYLE> <DIV ALIGN=CENTER> <h2 class="bwtitle">Keep It Simple Savior</H2> through <A HREF="#author">David Nelmes</A><BR> (2/12/2008) </DIV> <H3 class="details">It can appear as though there is something wrong with God in making the return trip to him so confusing, however, the one theme that flowed through all of Jesus' true teachings was that the path to truth and God is very simple.</H3> <p class="inner">When attempting to find the path that leads to God's truth and the ability to find peace, we can find ourselves within a maze of ideas and concepts that not only don't help, but often makes things even more unclear than before. Our minds can easily go awash with thoughts such as: </p> <p class="inner">"<i>If only the path to God were simple, then I would surely follow it. If only God would make spiritual concepts easier to understand, then I would more easily follow him. If only God did not hide his truths from the world, I would know for sure, how to follow them.</i>"</P></p> <p class="inner">This line of thinking echoes in our thoughts from time to time, as we wish for an easier and more simple solution. We're not necessarily asking for the "Idiots Guide to Heaven", but it can appear as though there is something wrong with God in making the return trip to him so difficult and confusing. Besides, if Jesus truly did love us, couldn't he have made things just a little easier to understand? Couldn't he have just embraced the KISS concept of <b>Keep It Simple Savior</b> and laid everything plainly for us to see?</p> <p class="inner">Although often clouded within the varied belief systems of this world, Jesus did provide answers to our questions. The one theme that flowed through all his true teachings was that the path to truth and God is very simple. He stated that we need only be as a child in order to be open to reach God. This means that we simply look up to our heavenly father as any child looks up to their earthly father, and simply trust that he will take care of us.</p> <p class="inner">Since a young child can't understand why or how his father does things, neither should we try to understand why or how our heavenly Father does things. Just look up and trust that he will take care of you because it's mainly when we attempt to fathom how spiritual things work that we complicate our relationship with God. Be a child and trust your parent without a single thought or pre-conceived idea of how or why spiritual things work. It's best not to get pre-occupied with concepts of reincarnation, or if spirits speak to us from beyond or if there is some higher spiritual level we can attain. These are all distraction and idols that will stand before God and hinder our communication with him.</p> <p class="inner">You are not alone in your curiosity of spiritual workings. Jesus' disciples asked for an explanation of heaven and other spiritual things and Jesus did not try to explain it to them. Instead he replied to them and said that since they did not even understand most earthly things, they should not concern themselves with trying to understand spiritual things. In other words, you won't understand it, so don't waste any of your time or resources on trying to figure out what can never be fully understood until we finally do return to our Father.</p> <p class="inner">So then, if the path to God is easy enough for even a child to grasp, why have hundreds of religions sprouted over thousands of years, all with various ideas of what is necessary to reach God? This reason goes back to our original mad idea that created what appears to be our separation from God, when we chose to fear the will of God. Since we now inherently fear what we believe God wants from us or will do to us, this has severely degraded our ability to listen to him. In place of simply trusting God, we made up our own ideas of what we think God demands from us in order to please him. We tend to love drama and assume calamity is due, so we refuse to believe there can be a simple answer and therefore, we look for answers where there are no answers to find. When these efforts bear no fruit, we assume we're falling short of hitting the mark and then we add even more layers of complexity to our path.</p> <p class="inner">So, since we have aspired to totally confound the simple message from God, how can anyone find the simple solution now that so many things have complicated it? We can start by finding the few pieces of simple truth that have not yet been messed with. Let's take a look at a few from the Bible.</p> <ul></p> <p class="inner"> <li> Treat others as you would have them treat you.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> Give without expecting anything in return.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> Forgive without being asked.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> Share the truths of God without requiring anyone understand your point of view.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> Know that God is totally aware of every single person and knows exactly what each person needs in order to step closer to him.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> Love those who believe they are your enemies.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> Do not see any action towards you as an attack, and therefore, never attack back.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> Be totally defenseless in your beliefs.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> Don't focus on what you do, but only on what you are being.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> Do not try to understand anything on your own.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> Trust God's judgement alone.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> All your sins have been forgiven.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> Nothing physical that happens to you on earth has any spiritual effect.</p> <p class="inner"> </ul> <p class="inner">Let's take a look at a few more of Jesus' teachings from '<i>A Course In Miracles</i>'.</p> <ul></p> <p class="inner"> <li> Judge nobody, because when you do, you are only judging yourself.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> Miracles are natural.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> Nothing outside yourself can save you.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> There is nothing to fear.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> Forgive at all times.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> All things work together for good.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> Having, rests on giving, and not on getting or taking.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> Whatever you desire for yourself, give it first to others.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> Only you can deprive yourself of anything.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> See your brothers as one with you and our father.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> Know that you are not disconnected from any one and what you do to anyone, you are also doing to yourself and everyone, including Jesus.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> God was never upset at us, but we thought he was and we have decided to hide from him, not the other way around.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> Your only purpose is to forgive and accept that you are a glorious son of God as is everyone around you.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> Your salvation rests in your brothers since you will only receive that which you give them.</p> <p class="inner"> <ul></p> <p class="inner"> <li> forgive them and you are forgiven.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> love them and you are loved.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> bless them and you are blessed.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> trust that God will bring about what is best for them and you will be open to allow God to bring about that which is best for you.</p> <p class="inner"> </ul> <p class="inner"> </ul> <p class="inner">What then do you do with all the requirements that many beliefs have made obvious? How about the special words you must say? What about the specific prayer you must recite? What about the rituals where you must get wet, exchange vows and appoint leaders? What about all the detailed demands and requirements that you must hopefully discover, learn and relentlessly follow? The answer is simple and applies to all of these concepts equally. They are not simple spiritual concepts and therefore, they are not from God.</p> <p class="inner">There is absolutely nothing you can do or must do to reach God. God's wish for us has always been simple, and that is for us to remember who we really are, and be the loving and forgiving beings that are truly the children of his image.</p> <p class="inner">What then do we do with religion and established beliefs? Nothing. Don't judge the path of anyone, but instead, know that God is working with all beings at all times. You cannot understand God at this time, so don't attempt to understand his creations either.</p> <p class="inner">Share what you learn, but never press it upon anyone. Only the Holy Spirit can heal how the mind sees and comprehends the truth. Your only purpose is to be forgiving and loving while sharing what you believe is the truth. Plant the seeds and be satisfied in knowing that God will nurture and tend to what grows from them. If you try to understand why the seed grows or how it should grow or what is necessary to make sure it grows a certain way, you will have only served to busy yourself with trying to figure out and understand things that you may never understand while here on earth.</p> <p class="inner">The Holy Spirit is waiting for you to allow him to nurture your seeds for you because he is the voice of God and therefore, he totally understands God. Your only task is to simply share the truth of a loving and forgiving God by being loving and forgiving. Even if you never say a single word, your seeds of being loving and being forgiving will prosper within those you have touched.</p> <p class="inner">To summarize, it's all very simple.</p> <ul></p> <p class="inner"> <li> Set aside any established requirements for God to accept you or hear you. They don't exist.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> Choose to open your mind to see God and his truths differently and more clearly.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> Create a focus in your life, regardless of what you do, on being forgiving and being loving of all your brothers.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> Plant seeds for the Holy Spirit to reap, by being loving, forgiving, peaceful and defenseless.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> Spend a few moments with God each day and show him a little willingness to continue to learn more about his love, peace and forgiveness.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> Trust that God will bring into your life, the perfect situations that will enable you to prosper in spirit and overcome fears and limitations you had previously chosen to embrace.</p> <p class="inner"> <li> Be thankful for all things and invite the Holy Spirit and Jesus to provide guidance in all that you choose to be and do.</p> <p class="inner"> </ul> <p class="inner">These simple steps are all that is needed to help you create a greater focus and be more open for the Holy Spirit to directly guide you along the way. Then, knowing there is reason and purpose in moving forward, circumstances that appear to just drop into your life will now be seen as the opportunities for growth and change that they really are.</p> <p class="inner">I join with the Holy Spirit and Jesus as we extend our peace, love and spirit of forgiveness to you.</p> <p class="inner"></p> <p align="center">(You can find this publication online at <a href="http://www.beingwilling.com/articles/keep-simple-savior.php">http://www.beingwilling.com/articles/keep-simple-savior.php</a> )</p> <hr size=1> <P><I><A NAME="author"><B>David Nelmes</B></a> - David considers it a wonderful blessing that his insight and writings can provide opportunities for those around him to see things from perspectives they had not considered before. He pursues Gods truths and is open and willing to see what God would have him see. He invites you to join him.</I></P> <P><I>His influences consist of truly being open to seeing and applying the truths he has discovered through life and through both the "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fexec%2Fobidos%2Ftg%2Fbrowse%2F-%2F10405901%2Fsr%3D53-1%2Fsr%3D53-1%2Fqid%3D1181498397&tag=beinwill-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Bible</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=beinwill-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />" and "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FCourse-Miracles-Foundation-Inner-Peace%2Fdp%2F0670869759%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1181498802%26sr%3D1-1&tag=beinwill-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">A Course in Miracles</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=beinwill-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />".<BR> You can visit David's website at: <A HREF="http://www.beingwilling.com" TARGET="_blank">http://www.BeingWilling.com</A></i></p> <p>This article Copyright ©2008 - David Nelmes. All rights reserved.</P> Highlight & Copy Html Version	KEEP IT SIMPLE SAVIOR through David Nelmes (2/12/2008) When attempting to find the path that leads to God's truth and the ability to find peace, we can find ourselves within a maze of ideas and concepts that not only don't help, but often makes things even more unclear than before. Our minds can easily go awash with thoughts such as: "If only the path to God were simple, then I would surely follow it. If only God would make spiritual concepts easier to understand, then I would more easily follow him. If only God did not hide his truths from the world, I would know for sure, how to follow them." This line of thinking echoes in our thoughts from time to time, as we wish for an easier and more simple solution. We're not necessarily asking for the "Idiots Guide to Heaven", but it can appear as though there is something wrong with God in making the return trip to him so difficult and confusing. Besides, if Jesus truly did love us, couldn't he have made things just a little easier to understand? Couldn't he have just embraced the KISS concept of Keep It Simple Savior and laid everything plainly for us to see? Although often clouded within the varied belief systems of this world, Jesus did provide answers to our questions. The one theme that flowed through all his true teachings was that the path to truth and God is very simple. He stated that we need only be as a child in order to be open to reach God. This means that we simply look up to our heavenly father as any child looks up to their earthly father, and simply trust that he will take care of us. Since a young child can't understand why or how his father does things, neither should we try to understand why or how our heavenly Father does things. Just look up and trust that he will take care of you because it's mainly when we attempt to fathom how spiritual things work that we complicate our relationship with God. Be a child and trust your parent without a single thought or pre-conceived idea of how or why spiritual things work. It's best not to get pre-occupied with concepts of reincarnation, or if spirits speak to us from beyond or if there is some higher spiritual level we can attain. These are all distraction and idols that will stand before God and hinder our communication with him. You are not alone in your curiosity of spiritual workings. Jesus' disciples asked for an explanation of heaven and other spiritual things and Jesus did not try to explain it to them. Instead he replied to them and said that since they did not even understand most earthly things, they should not concern themselves with trying to understand spiritual things. In other words, you won't understand it, so don't waste any of your time or resources on trying to figure out what can never be fully understood until we finally do return to our Father. So then, if the path to God is easy enough for even a child to grasp, why have hundreds of religions sprouted over thousands of years, all with various ideas of what is necessary to reach God? This reason goes back to our original mad idea that created what appears to be our separation from God, when we chose to fear the will of God. Since we now inherently fear what we believe God wants from us or will do to us, this has severely degraded our ability to listen to him. In place of simply trusting God, we made up our own ideas of what we think God demands from us in order to please him. We tend to love drama and assume calamity is due, so we refuse to believe there can be a simple answer and therefore, we look for answers where there are no answers to find. When these efforts bear no fruit, we assume we're falling short of hitting the mark and then we add even more layers of complexity to our path. So, since we have aspired to totally confound the simple message from God, how can anyone find the simple solution now that so many things have complicated it? We can start by finding the few pieces of simple truth that have not yet been messed with. Let's take a look at a few from the Bible. - Treat others as you would have them treat you. - Give without expecting anything in return. - Forgive without being asked. - Share the truths of God without requiring anyone understand your point of view. - Know that God is totally aware of every single person and knows exactly what each person needs in order to step closer to him. - Love those who believe they are your enemies. - Do not see any action towards you as an attack, and therefore, never attack back. - Be totally defenseless in your beliefs. - Don't focus on what you do, but only on what you are being. - Do not try to understand anything on your own. - Trust God's judgement alone. - All your sins have been forgiven. - Nothing physical that happens to you on earth has any spiritual effect. Let's take a look at a few more of Jesus' teachings from 'A Course In Miracles'. - Judge nobody, because when you do, you are only judging yourself. - Miracles are natural. - Nothing outside yourself can save you. - There is nothing to fear. - Forgive at all times. - All things work together for good. - Having, rests on giving, and not on getting or taking. - Whatever you desire for yourself, give it first to others. - Only you can deprive yourself of anything. - See your brothers as one with you and our father. - Know that you are not disconnected from any one and what you do to anyone, you are also doing to yourself and everyone, including Jesus. - God was never upset at us, but we thought he was and we have decided to hide from him, not the other way around. - Your only purpose is to forgive and accept that you are a glorious son of God as is everyone around you. - Your salvation rests in your brothers since you will only receive that which you give them. - forgive them and you are forgiven. - love them and you are loved. - bless them and you are blessed. - trust that God will bring about what is best for them and you will be open to allow God to bring about that which is best for you. What then do you do with all the requirements that many beliefs have made obvious? How about the special words you must say? What about the specific prayer you must recite? What about the rituals where you must get wet, exchange vows and appoint leaders? What about all the detailed demands and requirements that you must hopefully discover, learn and relentlessly follow? The answer is simple and applies to all of these concepts equally. They are not simple spiritual concepts and therefore, they are not from God. There is absolutely nothing you can do or must do to reach God. God's wish for us has always been simple, and that is for us to remember who we really are, and be the loving and forgiving beings that are truly the children of his image. What then do we do with religion and established beliefs? Nothing. Don't judge the path of anyone, but instead, know that God is working with all beings at all times. You cannot understand God at this time, so don't attempt to understand his creations either. Share what you learn, but never press it upon anyone. Only the Holy Spirit can heal how the mind sees and comprehends the truth. Your only purpose is to be forgiving and loving while sharing what you believe is the truth. Plant the seeds and be satisfied in knowing that God will nurture and tend to what grows from them. If you try to understand why the seed grows or how it should grow or what is necessary to make sure it grows a certain way, you will have only served to busy yourself with trying to figure out and understand things that you may never understand while here on earth. The Holy Spirit is waiting for you to allow him to nurture your seeds for you because he is the voice of God and therefore, he totally understands God. Your only task is to simply share the truth of a loving and forgiving God by being loving and forgiving. Even if you never say a single word, your seeds of being loving and being forgiving will prosper within those you have touched. To summarize, it's all very simple. - Set aside any established requirements for God to accept you or hear you. They don't exist. - Choose to open your mind to see God and his truths differently and more clearly. - Create a focus in your life, regardless of what you do, on being forgiving and being loving of all your brothers. - Plant seeds for the Holy Spirit to reap, by being loving, forgiving, peaceful and defenseless. - Spend a few moments with God each day and show him a little willingness to continue to learn more about his love, peace and forgiveness. - Trust that God will bring into your life, the perfect situations that will enable you to prosper in spirit and overcome fears and limitations you had previously chosen to embrace. - Be thankful for all things and invite the Holy Spirit and Jesus to provide guidance in all that you choose to be and do. These simple steps are all that is needed to help you create a greater focus and be more open for the Holy Spirit to directly guide you along the way. Then, knowing there is reason and purpose in moving forward, circumstances that appear to just drop into your life will now be seen as the opportunities for growth and change that they really are. I join with the Holy Spirit and Jesus as we extend our peace, love and spirit of forgiveness to you. (You can find this publication online at http://www.beingwilling.com/articles/keep-simple-savior.php ) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Nelmes - David considers it a wonderful blessing that his insight and writings can provide opportunities for those around him to see things from perspectives they had not considered before. He pursues Gods truths and is open and willing to see what God would have him see. He invites you to join him. His influences consist of truly being open to seeing and applying the truths he has discovered through life and through both "The Bible" and "A Course In Miracles". You can visit David's website at: http://www.BeingWilling.com This article Copyright ©2008 - David Nelmes. - Reproduced with Permission. Highlight & Copy Text Version	Keep It Simple Savior through David Nelmes (2/12/2008) When attempting to find the path that leads to God's truth and the ability to find peace, we can find ourselves within a maze of ideas and concepts that not only don't help, but often makes things even more unclear than before. Our minds can easily go awash with thoughts such as: "<i>If only the path to God were simple, then I would surely follow it. If only God would make spiritual concepts easier to understand, then I would more easily follow him. If only God did not hide his truths from the world, I would know for sure, how to follow them.</i>"</P> This line of thinking echoes in our thoughts from time to time, as we wish for an easier and more simple solution. We're not necessarily asking for the "Idiots Guide to Heaven", but it can appear as though there is something wrong with God in making the return trip to him so difficult and confusing. Besides, if Jesus truly did love us, couldn't he have made things just a little easier to understand? Couldn't he have just embraced the KISS concept of <b>Keep It Simple Savior</b> and laid everything plainly for us to see? Although often clouded within the varied belief systems of this world, Jesus did provide answers to our questions. The one theme that flowed through all his true teachings was that the path to truth and God is very simple. He stated that we need only be as a child in order to be open to reach God. This means that we simply look up to our heavenly father as any child looks up to their earthly father, and simply trust that he will take care of us. Since a young child can't understand why or how his father does things, neither should we try to understand why or how our heavenly Father does things. Just look up and trust that he will take care of you because it's mainly when we attempt to fathom how spiritual things work that we complicate our relationship with God. Be a child and trust your parent without a single thought or pre-conceived idea of how or why spiritual things work. It's best not to get pre-occupied with concepts of reincarnation, or if spirits speak to us from beyond or if there is some higher spiritual level we can attain. These are all distraction and idols that will stand before God and hinder our communication with him. You are not alone in your curiosity of spiritual workings. Jesus' disciples asked for an explanation of heaven and other spiritual things and Jesus did not try to explain it to them. Instead he replied to them and said that since they did not even understand most earthly things, they should not concern themselves with trying to understand spiritual things. In other words, you won't understand it, so don't waste any of your time or resources on trying to figure out what can never be fully understood until we finally do return to our Father. So then, if the path to God is easy enough for even a child to grasp, why have hundreds of religions sprouted over thousands of years, all with various ideas of what is necessary to reach God? This reason goes back to our original mad idea that created what appears to be our separation from God, when we chose to fear the will of God. Since we now inherently fear what we believe God wants from us or will do to us, this has severely degraded our ability to listen to him. In place of simply trusting God, we made up our own ideas of what we think God demands from us in order to please him. We tend to love drama and assume calamity is due, so we refuse to believe there can be a simple answer and therefore, we look for answers where there are no answers to find. When these efforts bear no fruit, we assume we're falling short of hitting the mark and then we add even more layers of complexity to our path. So, since we have aspired to totally confound the simple message from God, how can anyone find the simple solution now that so many things have complicated it? We can start by finding the few pieces of simple truth that have not yet been messed with. Let's take a look at a few from the Bible. <ul> <li> Treat others as you would have them treat you. <li> Give without expecting anything in return. <li> Forgive without being asked. <li> Share the truths of God without requiring anyone understand your point of view. <li> Know that God is totally aware of every single person and knows exactly what each person needs in order to step closer to him. <li> Love those who believe they are your enemies. <li> Do not see any action towards you as an attack, and therefore, never attack back. <li> Be totally defenseless in your beliefs. <li> Don't focus on what you do, but only on what you are being. <li> Do not try to understand anything on your own. <li> Trust God's judgement alone. <li> All your sins have been forgiven. <li> Nothing physical that happens to you on earth has any spiritual effect. </ul> Let's take a look at a few more of Jesus' teachings from '<i>A Course In Miracles</i>'. <ul> <li> Judge nobody, because when you do, you are only judging yourself. <li> Miracles are natural. <li> Nothing outside yourself can save you. <li> There is nothing to fear. <li> Forgive at all times. <li> All things work together for good. <li> Having, rests on giving, and not on getting or taking. <li> Whatever you desire for yourself, give it first to others. <li> Only you can deprive yourself of anything. <li> See your brothers as one with you and our father. <li> Know that you are not disconnected from any one and what you do to anyone, you are also doing to yourself and everyone, including Jesus. <li> God was never upset at us, but we thought he was and we have decided to hide from him, not the other way around. <li> Your only purpose is to forgive and accept that you are a glorious son of God as is everyone around you. <li> Your salvation rests in your brothers since you will only receive that which you give them. <ul> <li> forgive them and you are forgiven. <li> love them and you are loved. <li> bless them and you are blessed. <li> trust that God will bring about what is best for them and you will be open to allow God to bring about that which is best for you. </ul> </ul> What then do you do with all the requirements that many beliefs have made obvious? How about the special words you must say? What about the specific prayer you must recite? What about the rituals where you must get wet, exchange vows and appoint leaders? What about all the detailed demands and requirements that you must hopefully discover, learn and relentlessly follow? The answer is simple and applies to all of these concepts equally. They are not simple spiritual concepts and therefore, they are not from God. There is absolutely nothing you can do or must do to reach God. God's wish for us has always been simple, and that is for us to remember who we really are, and be the loving and forgiving beings that are truly the children of his image. What then do we do with religion and established beliefs? Nothing. Don't judge the path of anyone, but instead, know that God is working with all beings at all times. You cannot understand God at this time, so don't attempt to understand his creations either. Share what you learn, but never press it upon anyone. Only the Holy Spirit can heal how the mind sees and comprehends the truth. Your only purpose is to be forgiving and loving while sharing what you believe is the truth. Plant the seeds and be satisfied in knowing that God will nurture and tend to what grows from them. If you try to understand why the seed grows or how it should grow or what is necessary to make sure it grows a certain way, you will have only served to busy yourself with trying to figure out and understand things that you may never understand while here on earth. The Holy Spirit is waiting for you to allow him to nurture your seeds for you because he is the voice of God and therefore, he totally understands God. Your only task is to simply share the truth of a loving and forgiving God by being loving and forgiving. Even if you never say a single word, your seeds of being loving and being forgiving will prosper within those you have touched. To summarize, it's all very simple. <ul> <li> Set aside any established requirements for God to accept you or hear you. They don't exist. <li> Choose to open your mind to see God and his truths differently and more clearly. <li> Create a focus in your life, regardless of what you do, on being forgiving and being loving of all your brothers. <li> Plant seeds for the Holy Spirit to reap, by being loving, forgiving, peaceful and defenseless. <li> Spend a few moments with God each day and show him a little willingness to continue to learn more about his love, peace and forgiveness. <li> Trust that God will bring into your life, the perfect situations that will enable you to prosper in spirit and overcome fears and limitations you had previously chosen to embrace. <li> Be thankful for all things and invite the Holy Spirit and Jesus to provide guidance in all that you choose to be and do. </ul> These simple steps are all that is needed to help you create a greater focus and be more open for the Holy Spirit to directly guide you along the way. Then, knowing there is reason and purpose in moving forward, circumstances that appear to just drop into your life will now be seen as the opportunities for growth and change that they really are. I join with the Holy Spirit and Jesus as we extend our peace, love and spirit of forgiveness to you. (You can find this publication online at http://www.beingwilling.com/articles/keep-simple-savior.php ) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Nelmes - David considers it a wonderful blessing that his insight and writings can provide opportunities for those around him to see things from perspectives they had not considered before. He pursues Gods truths and is open and willing to see what God would have him see. He invites you to join him. His influences consist of truly being open to seeing and applying the truths he has discovered through life and through both "The Bible" and "A Course In Miracles". You can visit David's website at: http://www.BeingWilling.com This article Copyright ©2008 - David Nelmes. - Reproduced with Permission. Highlight & Copy Combo Version

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