Hello Bonnie,

You wrote,
I'm in the Bloomington-Normal area.

Well hello neighbor. I was a professor at ISU for years and left to start my own online writing school at http://writingtrainers.com.

You wrote,
Your comments about Greta are very interesting. So you just sense her around you?

I knew Greta when she was alive. After her death, I then had her come through first in a reading from a well-known research medium in the world, Laurie Campbell. She described Greta and said she would like to help me with my writing. Greta, when alive, had predicted that I would write about spirit and the greater reality. "Put pen to paper," she would often say to me.

Then, one day, I was ready to start working on the book I'm writing now. I sat and meditated and asked Greta if she was ready to work with me. I used writing with pen on paper to set down her messages to me because I go into a meditation and receive inspiration when I write. She said, "Yes, I will help you." I said to her, "How can I be sure it's you?" She said, "Test me, test me." I said "What will be the headline on MSNBC (the online news service) in the next few days?" She said, "Ivan targets Cuba." I wrote it as she gave it to me. I knew Hurricane Ivan was out in the Atlantic somewhere, but not anything more about it. Over the next several days, I watched MSNBC every day to see what the headline was. Sure enough, within two or three days, there was the headline: "Ivan targets Cuba." It was online for only a few minutes because the headlines change. I captured the image and have it in a file today.

Since then, I have spoken to her, but haven't sat down to meditate and get messages. I just know that she is leading the team working with me. We have work to do. After I've finished the book, I'm going to settle down and start to do more communicating with the other side. Greta will be a large part of that.

You wrote,
Some people say that they think animals are just here for our use in this life. That sounds so unbelievably selfish to me.

Yes, it is. It’s a sign of where our species has gone in its attitude toward nature and the world. We believe ourselves to be the supreme being and all other sentient beings to be superfluous. That’s an attitude that in the past led to slavery, the slaughter of Native Americans, cruel working conditions for children, torture, and genocide. Our attitude toward animals is a barometer of our spiritual condition and will be reflected in our attitude towards people. We are one with nature, one with others, and one with God. We can evaluate the spiritual condition of an individual, a group or organization, and our species by seeing whether it talks about the oneness and whether people act as though we were one, or whether they have any notions that another sentient being is less worthy or even inconsequential. That is a low spiritual development.

You wrote,
Do you think that prayer helps eliminate at least some of the suffering in the world?

Yes. But understand that suffering is man-made. The world doesn’t suffer because of a supernatural being that makes men suffer. We do it to ourselves. Prayer changes the environment. Google Masaru Emoto and you’ll read that water crystallizes into beautiful crystals when frozen if the water has been blessed by a spiritual person; it crystallizes into grotesque crystals when “You fool” is written on a piece of paper and taped to the bottle with the water in it. Our thoughts have a tremendous impact on the environment. Studies of sacred places have shown them to affect inanimate things like random number generators.

In the same way, the mystics, those on the other side who have communicated, and now carefully controlled research have told us that the attitudes of all people affect the world, even to healing or creating disease. What that means is that when you pray, you’re having an effect on the entire world and you’re having an effect on your own spirit. It’s the intention to pray that’s important—the prayer is just the outward evidence of the intention.

Prayer, then, is an indication of our spiritual condition. If we pray much, for others in love and servanthood, then that signals a spiritual condition of love, compassion, and brotherhood. That will enable us to enjoy more spiritual maturity and bliss, and it will contribute to the growth in all of humankind. Every time you pray a compassionate prayer, you lift the spiritual energy of a girl in Taiwan and a man in Ethiopia and everyone else on the planet. We are all one. As we each show our attitude of love and compassion through prayer, we bring a little more light to the world.

You wrote,
What do you think about the "lake of fire" in Revelation?

Revelation is difficult to parse. It was written during an age in which the church was in great fear (probably around 95 CE). Christianity had grown enough to be in conflict with the imperial cult and was experiencing persecution. The images in Revelation reflect that stress. It contains the fervent hope that Christ will return soon to end the persecution and bloodshed. And it has angry, venomous images and statements about the “Whore of Babylon” and the “lake of fire” that have to be understood in their context. This is a book full of all the turmoil of the times.

If you’re asking whether the lake of fire is a hell, we certainly can say that the writer envisioned the beast, the false prophet, death, and a host of sinners as being cast into a lake of fire. Those are words penned in anger with visions of revenge and punishment. They don’t reflect the rest of the New Testament and certainly not the teachings of Yeshua (Jesus). If you’re wondering about the hell myth, read what I’ve written at http://30ce.com/jesusonhell.htm. It’s an awful mythology that needs to be eradicated from human consciousness. Revelation is words spoken in anger. And like all words spoken in anger, the images are harsh and the speaker may regret them afterward. Revelation contains such words.

You wrote,
I was hoping that you would say that all relationships would be restored in the next life.

No, that would require forcing a person to change beliefs. That doesn’t happen to anyone on any of the planes of our eternal lives. Today, you and those you have had relationships with aren’t forced to love each other by some supernatural power. You make your own choices. The same is true in the afterlife. You are never forced in any way.

That also means you have complete control over how you react to relationships, now and in the afterlife. As you wrote, you may need to just let go.

You wrote,
As I remember, even Jesus said to treat others as you would tax collectors if they refuse to reconcile. However, Jesus hung out with tax collectors, didn't he?

I have great respect and reverence for Yeshua (Jesus). You can read more about who Yeshua was and what he taught at my Web site, 30ce.com. Yeshua was very clear that no one is to be judged or condemned, although he had harsh words for anyone who was hypocritical. At the time, there were groups who had broken with the Temple worshippers and priests because they felt the Temple had become venal. Among them were the Essenes and the Qumran sect who formed communities to separate themselves from the Temple. Yeshua was at home with the poor and outcast, not the Temple priests. The tax collectors were the most hated people among the Jews at the time because they worked for the Romans, took money from the Jews for the occupying army, and were, in effect, crooks. Yeshua spoke in very strong words—this was a man of action and hyperbole. He used the image of the tax collector often to show that no one is to be condemned, not even the most despised of people. He said of reconciliation and forgiveness, “If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,” meaning you are blameless in God’s sight—also hold others blameless in your sight. It wasn’t conditional; we know that from what he said elsewhere. It was just that he spoke in hyperbole continually. Elsewhere, he said “every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.” Of course, he didn’t mean that if someone cursed God, that person wouldn’t be forgiven. His focus was on the inner person, the spirit. He was saying that if someone turns away from the Divine and the spiritual realm, that person won’t somehow be transformed against his will to make him turn to God. It’s still his choice. But if he turns to God, the entire spiritual universe opens to him. If he turns away, there’s no hope for him in that condition. But each person makes that choice.

What did you read that suggested Yeshua said “treat others as you would tax collectors if they refuse to reconcile”?

Love and peace, Craig