Month: December 2022

Jesus Christ Is King

December 25 – Christmas. Christians all over the world celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. The message of Jesus Christ as King can be observed in several verses throughout the Bible. One verse is in John 18:37. “Therefore Pilate said to him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice”. Another verse is located in Revelation 19:11. “On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords”.

Christ the King has been used as a name for churches, schools, seminaries, hospitals and religious institutions. In the liturgical calendar for the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church there is celebrated a Feast of Christ the King. Lutheran, Anglican, Moravian, Methodist, Nazarene, Reformed and United Protestant churches also celebrate the Feast of Christ the King.

I have always been grounded in the Christian faith. The phrase “Jesus Christ is King” is a phrase that I was familiar with but had never actually spoken. That abruptly changed some 26 years ago. At that time those words came out of my mouth without any aforethought as I was under duress. Those words were my shield of protection against an approaching ominous evil spiritual entity.

Vivid Dream Number One

I was sprawled out on the living room sofa late at night. I was watching college basketball on television. As I found myself getting drowsy, using the remote control, I remember turning off the tv. It was one of those situations where I was so tired that I did not even feel like getting up to go to bed. I just thought to myself, “I’m just going to rest my eyes here for ten minutes and then I’ll head to bed”. Of course, I promptly dozed off to a deep sleep.

I rarely remember my dreams. Even the remarkable dreams fade away very rapidly after awakening. I tried keeping a dream journal a few times but gave up after a week or two. The dream that I had that night however is something that is burned into my memory. In my dream I was laying on the living room sofa exactly in the manner that I had fallen asleep after turning off the tv. Everything in the house was quiet. In my dream I was awake, just laying on the sofa.

An Icy Cold Chill Went Down My Spine

Suddenly I got an icy cold chill down my spine. I looked over to my right to the stairs that led to the second level of the house. My eyes saw a grey luminous mist. It had the general outline of a human being but without any real definition or features of any type. You can call it an entity or a presence or a spirit or any one of a dozen different things. Call it whatever you want but it was there and the evil essence it gave off was unmistakable. It was midway down the stairs and heading in my direction. It made no sound whatsoever and moved without any motion from the arms or legs.

In Dire Danger

Whatever this thing was, I sensed through intuition that it was pure malevolence in nature. As soon as I saw it on the steps, I knew that I was in dire danger. I felt the essence of its complete contempt for me and for any ability I had to resist it. My body was literally frozen in fear. I could not run away because I could not physically move so much as an inch. It is difficult to imagine that a luminous mist can emit such an evil presence but it did. I felt an intense but cold hatred directed at me. I knew it was coming for me. Whatever its intent upon reaching me, I knew it was something bad. Very, very bad. It was the type of terror that could cause a heart attack.

I was paralyzed and powerless to fend off this malevolent creature. It was the nightmare of all nightmares. I have had nightmares where when I was about to be killed, I just woke up. Aliens or some other bad guys would be chasing me. I would have one close call escape after the other (a la Indiana Jones). Then at some point in the dream I would actually have the thought, “Alright, enough of this bullshit, I’m waking up” and then I woke up. Not this time however.

No Escape

In this particular dream however, there was no such escape. Pure and simple, I was screwed. The malevolent entity reached the bottom of the stairs. At that point, from the very deepest part of my being, came the words out of my mouth “Jesus Christ is King.”. I had no thought beforehand of saying it. I did not think “what am I going to do?” The words just came out of me without thinking. Since even my vocal cords were partially paralyzed through fear, I barely was able to voice the words but I spoke them slowly with conviction “Jesus…..Christ…..is…..King”, somewhat in the manner that a stroke victim would struggle to speak.

As soon as those four words came out of my mouth, the evil presence stopped in its tracks. Then, immediately, in a more pronounced manner, I spoke those same four words “Jesus Christ is King”. This caused the entity to shrink backward and begin to lose presence. Without thinking, I followed up with a third more forceful, almost shouting, “Jesus Christ is King”. I intuitively knew that I was now in possession of the sword and shield that it was not able to resist. So it left. After the third pronouncement, it vacated the scene and was gone.

There Was No Difference

As soon as the malevolent force departed, I opened my eyes and woke up. It hit me almost immediately that I was in the same exact position now that I was awake as I was in the dream. I was wearing the exact same clothes. Everything in the living room was in the exact same place as the dream. Even the light from the street lamp outside shining through the living room window was exactly the same as in the dream. My immediate thought was WTF, was I in the Twilight Zone or something. I was somewhat shaken by the experience. I turned on a living room lamp and walked to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

As I passed the stairs, I just stopped for a moment and stared at the spot where “it” was. I sat on the sofa for a few moments in the quiet of the night pondering over what I had just experienced. I prayed a succinct “Thank you Lord” before going up to bed. My conclusion was simple yet profound – the dream was no dream. It was real.

Vivid Dream Number Two

Flash forward some twenty years later to the year 2016. I was now living in another house. It was a one story house. I slept in one bedroom. My oldest son, who lives with me, was sleeping in the other bedroom. I had the habit of leaving a forty watt lamp on in the living room at night. I slept with the bedroom door open. This was for easier access to the bathroom. BPH was going to be sending me there at least a few times during the night. In those intervening twenty years, I never forgot my encounter with the evil entity. I even kept a crucifix on the wall above my bed that had been in my mother’s bedroom when she was alive.

Anyway, it is the middle of the night and I am in bed sound asleep. All of a sudden, in my dream, I am awake. I look at my open bedroom doorway. Standing there in the hallway, just outside the bedroom is “you know who”. It is the same evil entity that I encountered some twenty years ago. The exact same grey luminescence. You might wonder how could I possibly know that since the spirit had no discernable features. I can only tell you that I knew. I just knew. It was strictly an intuitive knowing, no logic, just a knowing.

A Different Response

This time however, I had a different reaction than my first encounter of twenty years ago. Just as before, it was standing there, observing me with the utmost contempt and hatred. I sensed that it was about to head toward me as I lay in bed. This time my memory banks kicked in immediately. I was not frozen in fear. I simply said out loud, “Oh, it’s you again”. Then I followed up with the very same phrase that I had used twenty years before – “Jesus Christ is King”. At the sound of those words, it froze. I followed up with a second “Jesus Christ is King”. After that second salvo, it started backing away. I felt it was losing energy. One more time I repeated loudly “Jesus Christ is King”. With that third pronouncement, the malevolent entity departed – poof – gone. This time I knew from the very start that the power of Jesus Christ would protect me.

Free From Fear

I was aware of the pure malevolent essence of the being. This time however, I did not fear. In fact, in this second vivid dream, after the departure of the entity, I said aloud to myself, “And that takes care of that”. In my dream, I turned on my side, back to the hallway and went back to sleep. And then I opened my eyes and woke up. Everything around my bedroom was exactly the same as in my dream. The bed, my position on the bed, the bedsheet, the blanket, my bed clothes, the wall hangings, the quiet of the house, even the light from the living room lamp. This time I understood that my shield of protection was something that the evil presence could not overcome. I then said, “Thank you Lord, now I’m going back to sleep” and I proceeded to do just that.

Merry Christmas to you and a very happy new year!

Conceive. Believe. Receive.

Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772)

A Little Background On Swedenborg

Emanuel Swedenborg was a pluralistic Christian theologian, scientist, inventor, philosopher and mystic. He was born in 1688 to a wealthy family with extensive mining interests. He completed his studies in Sweden in 1710, at the age of 22. Swedenborg then went on a grand tour through Netherlands, France and Germany to continue his studies. Continuing on to London, he chose to stay there for the next four years. He voraciously studied physics, mechanics, geometry, chemistry, metallurgy and philosophy. Swedenborg thoroughly immersed himself in the abundance of scientific ideas and discoveries that were flourishing in London. He wrote to his patron, his brother-in-law, that he felt destined to be a great scientist.

She Blinded Him With Science

In the early 1980’s, there was a very popular music hit by the English musician, Thomas Dolby. It was accompanied by an equally popular music video. The name of the song was “She Blinded Me With Science”. Even today you may hear the song played as background music in a retail establishment. Emmanuel Swedenborg was the epitome of a man on fire in the pursuit and dissemination of scientific knowledge.

In 1715, he finally returned to his native Sweden. For the next 25 years, his focus was on science. He devoted himself to the gaining of and applying knowledge through scientific observation and experience. Swedenborg came to be considered the preeminent expert in metallurgy in all of Europe.

Swedenborg published a veritable mountain of papers and treatises regarding metallurgy, chemistry, geometry, anatomy, engineering, natural science and physiology. He was a true whirlwind of science-based activity and discovery.

Throughout the 1730’s, he undertook many experiments with regard to the anatomy of the human nervous system. He had the first known anticipation of the neuron. He had prescient ideas about the cerebral cortex, cerebrospinal fluid, the pituitary gland and the association of frontal brain regions with human intellect. It is safe to make the statement that the guy was really “into science”.

And Now For Something Completely Different

In the 1970’s, there was an English sketch comedy show that was very popular called “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”. In the beginning of the show, a man dressed in a tuxedo (John Cleese) would introduce the show with the catch phrase, “And now for something completely different”. There was even a movie by the same name in 1971. If John Cleese was around in 1741, he would have issued his famous catchphrase with regard to “The Emmanuel Swedenborg Show”.

Picture a finely tuned automobile zipping along a smooth stretch of superhighway. The driver is a luminary on his way to an award ceremony where he is the person being honored. All of a sudden, the brakes screech and the car jolts to a stop. The car backs up a bit and then turns off into a dirt road leading through a dense forest. Got the picture? Good, now you have an idea of what Swedenborg did in his middle age years.

In his mid-fifties, Swedenborg’s next scientific project was to write a multi-volume definitive study of the animal kingdom. He was granted a leave of absence from the king from his position as the head of mining in Sweden. Netherlands was known to have an abundance of books that would assist him, so he set off for Netherlands in 1741.

Dreams And Visions

While Swedenborg was in Netherlands, he suddenly began having extremely vivid dreams and intense visions. Some were very pleasurable while others were highly disturbing. If this happened in modern times, people would have accused him on tripping out on LSD or ayahuasca.

Swedenborg carried a travel journal with him. He made a written record of his dreams and visions. The whereabouts of the journal was unknown until being discovered in the 1850’s in the Royal Swedish Library. I always forget my dreams except for two extraordinarily vivid dreams that I will talk about in my next blog post. Anyway, these dreams and visions sent Swedenborg on an entirely different path for the remainder of his life.

Heaven, Hell And The World Of Spirits

After his experience with regard to the dreams and visions, he chose to conclude his efforts on the original animal kingdom project. He began writing treatises on spiritual matters. Swedenborg stated that he found himself able to travel to the spiritual world. His writings, most of which were published anonymously, merely reported what he saw and heard in the spiritual world.

Perhaps his best known book was published in Latin in 1758. The official title of the book is “Heaven And Its Wonders And Hell – From Things Seen And Heard”. It is commonly known by its short title, “Heaven And Hell”. In this book, Swedenborg gives a detailed description of his observations of life after death in the world of spirit. This world is divided into three areas – Heaven, Hell, and The World of Spirits. The book is a whopping 574 pages.

After The Body Dies

What distinguishes this book is that it is not presented as theory derived from the logic of the mind. It is presented by Swedenborg in a straight-forward, empirical manner as actual observations of what happens to a person after the physical body dies.

The book is divided into three parts, Heaven, Hell and World of Spirits. As you might expect from a book of over 500 pages, the book is divided into 63 chapters. The three basic levels of heaven and the three basic levels of hell are described. In between these two areas is something Swedenborg called The World of Spirits. This is the area where everyone first goes to after death.

In the book, Swedenborg makes two fundamental points. First, intractable love of self above all and of the things of the world is a basic determiner of Hell as a destination. Second, love of God and fellow human beings drives one in the direction of Heaven.

Rejected By The Church

Swedenborg did not follow the template of Christian theological orthodoxy. This caused his work to be censored by the Swedish state church authorities. He was attacked as a heretic as well as derided as a hallucinatory lunatic. Even today there are Christian websites that describe Swedenborg as dangerous and the followers of his teachings as members of a cult.

One of the things that rankled the church hierarchy was the fact that Swedenborg maintained that Heaven was not only populated by Christians. He stated that there were also Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and even atheists. The nature of a person’s heart was described as the prime indicator of a person’s experience in the afterlife.

Today Swedenborg’s writings are considered heresy by various Christian theologians and scholars. What Swedenborg espoused in his writings does not check all the boxes of the traditional teachings of Christianity.

Some People Influenced By Swedenborg

Now that it has been established that learned men and women of various church denominations say that Swedenborg’s writings are heretical, let’s move on to some people who have been influenced by Swedenborg.

William Butler Yeats – Irish poet, dramatist and writer. One of the foremost writers of twentieth century literature.

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe – German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist and statesman. Widely considered the greatest German literary figure of the modern era.

Franklin D. Roosevelt – Thirty-second president of the United States. Seminal president of the 20th century, leading America through the Great Depression and World War II’

Calvin Coolidge – Thirtieth president of the United States. Well known for his tight-lipped New England conservatism.

Arthur Schoenberg – Austrian – American composer, music theorist and teacher. One of the highly influential composers of the 20th century.

Martin Luther King – American Baptist preacher and activist. One of the most prominent leaders of the American civil rights movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Ralph Waldo Emerson – American essayist, poet and philosopher achieving worldwide fame as a lecturer and author.

Arthur Conan Doyle – British writer and physician. He created the character known around the world – Sherlock Holmes.

Robert Frost – One of the greatest American poets of the 20th century, winner of four Pulitzer prizes.

William James – Considered by many to be the most insightful and stimulating of American philosophers. Known as “the Father of American psychology”.

Carl Jung – Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung’s work is influential in psychiatry, anthropology, archeology, psychology and religious studies.

Helen Keller – American author and disability rights activist. Lost her sight, speech and hearing at the age of two. Taught herself to speak and visited twenty-five countries as a lecturer.

Light In My Darkness

The person in the above list who I am in total awe of is Helen Keller. To have done what she was able to do, with the disabilities that life threw at her, is nothing less than mind-boggling.

Helen Keller’s spiritual autobiography was a book titled, “Light In My Darkness”. It was written in 1927 when she was 47 years old. The book was written as a tribute to Swedenborg whom Helen regarded as “one of the noblest champions true Christianity has ever known”. Keller stated, “in a state of exhilaration, I accepted the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg and drunk in his interpretation of Bible, fearless, reverent, yet as unconfined as the sun, the clouds, the sea”.

The title of her book is from one of Keller’s poetic statements. “I know life is given to us so that we may grow in love. And I believe that God is in me as the sun is in the color and fragrance of the flower, the Light in my darkness, the Voice in my silence.”

You Be The Judge

So there you have it – Emanuel Swedenborg. Super intelligent, thoroughly devoted to science. Then in his fifties, a switch of some type was flipped on in his life. After this, his focus was on the spiritual side of life.

What do you think? Is he a heretic? Was he hallucinating? Was he mentally ill? Or was he a true seer? He was a man who stated that he was given the ability to pierce the veil between the physical and spiritual worlds. Swedenborg purportedly observed things in his travels to the spiritual world that he was directed to report.

He was not a raving lunatic. An English friend of the famous German philosopher Immanuel Kant visited Swedenborg in London at Kant’s request. Swedenborg was described as a “reasonable, pleasant and candid man”.

Swedenborg was not a publicity seeker. His writings were published anonymously. He was not a “truth entrepreneur” seeking to cash in on his visions. Swedenborg was very well off financially due to his mining interests. He created no organizations or foundations to support his contentions. In fact, he dissuaded those who would attempt to do so. He was not looking for status. Swedenborg said he was directed to publish what he saw and heard. He said, “Do not believe that without the express command that I would have thought of publishing things which I knew in advance would make me look ridiculous and many people would think lies.”

Regardless of whatever conclusion that you come to with regard to Emanuel Swedenborg, you must admit that he is indeed an interesting enigma.

Conceive. Believe. Receive.