Science of Religion

I have to admit I was not looking forward to this lesson. I do not like philosophy. To me it is just people who are not afraid to speak their opinion and want to get recognized.

I was impressed with what I learned and did get some answers to questions I had and learned some things about myself.

Let me explain this way. I have always been a person that believes totally in God but have a real bad taste in my mouth for churches. When we were young and living in a house with a father who was an alcoholic, my mom taught us her way of believing and what was best for us. We had a cabin that we built as a family growing up. We did not go to church much, but were members of a church. I remember one time our minister came to the house and accused my mom of not raising us right because we were not in church. My little 5 ft mom kicked him right out the door, saying we believe in God, but the things that keeps us together is being up north. 

During the week my dad spent all his time in the bar after work, spending money we did not have and never being around when we needed him My mom not having a license had to depend on others to get groceries, hospital emergencies and most things, however when we were up north with no electricity or plumbing we were a family. We played family games, rode snowmobiles, fished, spent time with friends. It was a great way to grow up. The cabin was our house of God. That is were we were a family and felt God keeping us together.

When I met my husband and we decided to get married we went to his church, were his family was very active in the church. We wanted to get married in the yard on his family farm, but the Minister said he would not tip toe through the tulips. The minister said it was not a house of God. How much closer to God can you get than under the sky above.

When we had our children I believed it was right to have them in Sunday school and be confirmed so they could make their own choices. During that time I did teach Sunday school. My son never had much to do with the church, my daughter loved it until she got older and was totally turned off by the same Minister that would not tip toe through the tulips.

I really had a hard time with a minister who did not even acknowledge your presents when you went to church and when he sees you on the street he does not know you are there.

Getting back to the coarse, it taught me why some ministers are the way they are and I can forgive them for it. The to are a product of greed, at least some of them. It still amazes me though how people are because of one philosopher. But then I see it every day in the way people listen to the news with politics, (because it is on the news it is true). I believe in 1% of the news, especially when it come to politics. Words or a lack of them can be a very dangerous thing.

I am an Municipal Judge here in Glenwood City. The law is so much like religion. If you have a good attorney that can take one word in the law and change its meaning, he can get you off. It all has to do with interpretation.

This coarse has also taught me to get my ego in check. I had thought I was doing pretty good in that area, but have since learned I have a long way to go. Trying to build my business of Holistic Pet Pampering. Healing Energy, and all Natural Products has been hard. I have groomed for 15 years and working with the animals and the love I have for them is easy. However building this business with finances and wanting to be financially stable is getting in the way of why I started to begin with. It made me realize I have to just focus on helping as many animals and people as possible and try not to dwell on the finances. It will come. My ego also gets in the way of how I look at some people and being jealous of others successes.

The sad part about all of this, God loves us all unconditionally, but it is the interpretation of his love that causes wars and hate among others. There is some definitely wrong with this.

My sister says I should talk about God more in my teachings of Reiki and healing energy. I refer to the Higher Power. I try to explain that even though my Higher Power is God, It is not everyone’s. I have to keep religion out of it. She has a hard time separating the two. I do tell people I am a Minister and proud to be able to say that, but I specify that I am a Minister of the Body, Mind and Spirit, and the Higher Power. not a Minister of Religion. This coarse helped me to figure that out and explain the difference of the two.

Rev. Kimberly Moe

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The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. I have been a proud member of the ULC for many years and the Seminary since its inception

The Four Gospels

The Sermon on the Mount has always been one of my favorite parts of scripture. In the words that Christ uses He explains the benefits of walking with Him. There is so much hope for the believer and His words give so many reasons to follow Him. For example:

“The poor in Spirit are in luck, the kingdom of the skies is theirs”. How many more poor people are there (financially strapped) then there are wealthy? To know that there is a hope that all they have to do is believe in something outside what they see. They can see and feel poverty but because Jesus has given them such an amazing hope, that motivates their faith to continue on. These words were a great help during many a time when we were without because we were actually wealthier then most because we had a hope.

How many of us suffer daily with just the circumstances of life and then we are given a reason to go on because of the words Jesus uses here. We are given a reason for doing what is good and right. There is a reward for all of this and it may not be here on earth but we will receive it and the way I see it is that “The kingdom of the skies” is in fact heaven. Christians have been persecuted in one form or another for believing because you can’t always see things with physical eyes. However; when the eyes of your spirit are opened it’s much easier to see the benefits of being that follower of these words. “You are in luck”. I have personal experience with seeing things with my spiritual eyes and I am grateful for each and every experience. These times are like glue that bonds my faith to the continuance of my walk, a reward here on earth.

Christ gives so much encouragement to the masses. “You are the salt of the earth and you are the light of the world”, I wish my earthly father would have been able to give me such an encouragement! To know that I can do the same things that Jesus did, that I can love, to be capable of forgiveness, then I am like Him. I can do, I will do, and our Father in heaven recognizes each and every act of kindness, each and every move we make is recognized by God and our treasures are stored in heaven waiting for us as a reward for following these words. Encouragement will always make someone want to do what’s right.

Then, He lets us all know that there are rules we need to follow. We can’t be like those that do evil. We are to set and example of being “Christ like” and that should be our goal in life: to hunger for justice, to be merciful, to see goodness in others and to be those peacemakers. If we were to post these words on our walls and read them over and over everyday would it make it easier to apply them to our daily walk. Maybe we will but if we write them on our hearts and commit ourselves to follow them, then we will see our hope, we will receive our rewards. Yes, it’s a journey but what a journey it is!

Rev. Renee Cormalis

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Four Gospels

This paper is written about a story from Luke Chapter 18. ( Pharisee and tax-collector )

There was once a pharisee and a tax-collector who went to the temple at the same time to pray. This pharisee prayed to God, thanking Him that he was glad to be so much better then the tax-collector who was behind him. Mr. Holier Than Thou Pharisee was telling God how great of a man he was and all the good things he did for the community and his church. While basking in his own glory, he was trashing this guy behind him. In fact, he was probably listing every single reason why he didn't like him and how awful he thought he was ( I've done that before).

In the mean time, this so-called sinner was too ashamed of himself to even come to the front of the sanctuary at the alter to pray (at alone look at God if he could see Him). Yet he was brave enough to go to God's house and pray. This sinner admitted to God all the things he had done wrong and expressed his own remorse for his actions. In turn God forgave him, because He saw that this man was truly repenting of his bad conduct. (REPENT means to "turn away from")

Most Christians who are "TRADITIONAL" in their faith are no different from the pharisees back in Jesus's days on earth. Traditional Christians believe or at least think that if you go to church three or four times a week in your best suit, dump a lot of money in the offering plate each time it passes by you, listen to nothing but "CHRISTIAN MUSIC", send your kids to "CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS", and talk about Jesus ALL DAY LONG in every conversation from the minute they wake up til you go to bed, you're on the way to the beautiful pearly gates of heaven.

In the eyes of most "TRADITIONAL CHRISTIANS", if you do not do everything "CHRISTIAN", you are going to this most awful place called; "HELL!" I call this NONSENSE; "THE CHRISTIAN GHETTO". The "CHRISTIAN GHETTO" HAS ABSOLUTELY NO REAL MEANING TO IT WHATSOEVER! All it means to "TRADITIONAL CHRISTIANS", is that it's a security blanket. They seem to think that when they get to the judgment bar (where God sits) after they die, they can say to Him;

"LOOK! I sent my kids to CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS and only allowed my kids to play with other CHRISTIAN KIDS! Shouldn't that count for anything on my behalf?!"

WHAT I'M ABOUT TO SAY IN THE PARAGRAPH BELOW MAY BE OFFENSIVE TO SOME, BUT IT'S HOW I FEEL.

Not only do I think this ideology is retarded, but it's the most RIDICULOUS ideology for someone to have. Not only is it RIDICULOUS, but it tells me that people with this type of thinking are VERY INSECURE ABOUT THEMSELVES!

AGAIN, IF WHAT I SAID IN THE ABOVE PARAGRAPH IS OFFENSIVE TO SOME ONE, I APOLOGIZE. THIS IS HOW I FEEL.

People who claim Christianity, but DO NOT claim the traditional thinking, KNOW that God loves each person unconditionally ( including themselves ). God not only loves us unconditionally, but He also forgives us for every sin we commit. They also KNOW that God is not going to condemn them for electing HILLARY CLINTON for President OF THE UNITED STATES instead of John McCain. God does not care how we dress, how often we attend church, how big of a check we drop in the collection plate, or if our kids marry outside their race.

What God cares about, is these two simple things: "Love thy neighbor as you love thyself" and "Love the Lord your God with all thy heart, soul, and mind". By following the "TEN COMMANDMENTS" we are following these two great commandments listed. Even if we fall short in obeying these commandments, God will give us GRACE. This is because, God KNOW's that sooner or later we're going to break one, two, or more of these commandments. After all, He KNOW's that we're not perfect! This is why He sent His son Jesus Christ to earth as a human being just like us. Except Jesus Christ came in a different time era before you and I did. However, it still applies to US!

Whether we obey His teachings or not, is our choice. If we decide to worship in a one-million dollar church building wearing our best suit on Sunday morning is our choice. If we decide to worship on Friday evening in the forest, wearing cut-off blue jean shorts and a tank top while holding a can of bud-light in our hand ( I prefer Budweiser Select ), that's our choice. What we wear and who we hang out with is our choice.

Following Jesus Christ does not mean that I have to follow all these RIDICULOUS rituals and dogmas. It means that I have a relationship with my creator, and what I do ( as long as it's legal and not breaking "Choose that which is right" ) is between me and Him/Her.

People with "TRADITIONAL CHRISTIAN" beliefs make me wonder if they even have an idea of what the true gospel of Jesus Christ teaches.

This concludes my paper on THE FOUR GOSPELS course.

Rev. Troy Graham

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The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. I have been a proud member of the ULC for many years and the Seminary since its inception.

Four Gospels

I've never been very good at writing, but here goes. Before I begin I'd like a few moments for some background. I initially heard about the ULC on some TV show where the host got himself ordained online and performed a wedding ceremony for some of his production staff. I decided to do the same, however the certificate that spat out of my printer looked kind of cheesy and I didn't do much with my new status as Reverend, until recently. I had a chance to perform my first wedding so I ordered a wall credential to show the county. I must be a shallow person because seeing my name on a fancier document suddenly triggered a change in me, the ordination suddenly stopped being a joke and that's when I decided to start taking some seminary courses.

To get some "street cred". I hope to start my own ministry some day, but until I get some more classes under my belt I have no business occupying a pulpit.

As for the course, kudos to who ever chose the text, it was an easy read. It was much like a novel. I didn't get any particular trouble or comfort from the course, instead I got perspective. This was a particularly difficult time to pursue studies. My father-in-law became very ill and succumbed to the illness and passed away. It was difficult for us to watch him suffer and we frequently asked God why? This may seem like a cold response but why not? In John 3:16 it is said that God sent his only begotten Son for our salvation, and roughly 33 years later he died for all of our sins for now and forever. Where does the perspective come in? I've always been confused why if Jesus suffered and died for our sins then why do we centuries later have suffering? My only answer is this, God has a reason for everything he does, perhaps the suffering he allows is as a reminder of what his Son went thru for us. After all any discomfort we "mere mortals" go thru is but a small fraction of the humiliation and suffering that Jesus went thru for our salvation.

I enjoyed the course and can't wait till the next one which will likely be the Comparative Religion Course.

by Rev. Taras Bobiwsky

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The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. I have been a proud member of the ULC for many years and the Seminary since its inception.

St. Paul

"Master of St. Paul". The subject and title seems a bit ironic because of St. Paul's service and dedication to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Non the less I found this course to be informative and I enjoyed the weekly assignments. The teaching techniques used are effective in that they make the student research the course material. I do find however that Lesson 16 "Admitting that you are a Sinner", to be more of a sermon and less of a lesson. It seems to be a bit more personal to the instructor than to the student. The lesson would be better served in my opinion if the focus on sin was from various perspectives using more study on actual transgression as in the Old Testament on the transgression of law.

However when studying the life of arguably the greatest missionary, theologian and writer of the early church this course does a good job of covering Paul as one of the most important figures in the New Testament. Paul's gospel indicted all of humanity for the crime of rejecting God and His rightful authority. Under the influence of Adam's sin, mankind plunged into the depths of depravity so that they were utterly unable to the righteous demands of God and deserved only the wrath of God. Consequently, the sinners only hope was the gospel which embodied God's power to save those who had faith in Christ which was the focus of Paul's gospel. Paul affirmed Jesus' humanity and His deity and the fact the Jesus was a physical descendant from the from the line of David.

In his years as a Pharisee, Paul's initial and adamant rejection of Jesus as the Messiah may largely have been motivated by Jesus' ignorable death. Death by crucifixion was indicative of divine curse. Certainly the Messiah could not have died under the curse of God. But when Paul wrote his first epistle, this death curse was recognized as the grounds for substitutionary atonement. (Gal.3:10-14) Paul explained that the idea of a crucified Messiah was a stumbling block to the Jews. This gospel would later lead to plotting his death and several attempts on his life. Yet through all of his life's challenges after his conversion he never spoke in anger or arrogance but always in love and patience. But he knew that he would suffer after his vision from God, "This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before Gentiles, kings and the sons of Israel. I will certainly show him how much he must suffer for MY name !".

Paul's missions were initially met with suspicion from Church leaders but Barnabas intervened in is behalf and when meeting with Peter and James, the Lord's brother, and he is on his way to teach for several years. The pillars of the Church Peter, John, and James approved the no-Law gospel preached by Paul and his focus on Gentile evangelism. "No-law" of course referring to Paul and Branabas' journey to Jerusalem to settle the circumcision matter. Still as a result of this matter, the Law-free gospel does not encourage unrighteous behavior in believers.

History tells us that Paul was probably a man of above intelligence considering his years of Rabbinic training and by his own words in Gal.1:14, "I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors". Though zealous, his knowledge would have taken a great deal of reading, work and study. Yet after Christ appeared to him as the resurrected and glorified Christ in blinding radiance on his way to Damascus, Saul immediately surrendered to His authority and went into the city to await further orders. There his blindness was healed and he received the Holy Spirit and accepted believers baptism.

I take great solace and comfort in the example set by Paul. His amazing display of courage and faith to endure the prison's, the death threats, ship wrecks and other situations that may have never been recorded in the annals of history are truly are a testament of his never ending faith and belief in God's work. His gospel of salvation that is so freely given to humankind through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and our union with Jesus through faith is our liberation from sin, death, and allows us to help one another mature, to serve Christ, and glorify Him, which is the highest purpose.

I thank you once again for offering this course.

Gods blessings upon you all.

Rev. Dennis Zerull

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The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. I have been a proud member of the ULC for many years and the Seminary since its inception.

The Four Gospels

First of all I would like to say that this course was very interesting and thought provoking. To be able to choose just one specific area is going to be difficult but I would like to talk about the book of Mathew.

It’s interesting to first note that the gospels are not placed in order in the bible, but rather in the order of what makes sense. I was looking at the estimated dates of when the gospels were written and discovered that the gospel of Mark was actually written first, followed by Luke, then Mathew and finally John.

However, having said this, I find Luke to be the least in depth of all the gospels and Mathew to be the most detailed. I seemed to be constantly drawn toward the book of Mathew for the main reason that it’s the first book in the New Testament and has often been unofficially declared the “New Genesis”, meaning that it is the book that sets the foundation for the New Covenant.

Upon reading the book of Mathew we see that it starts with the outline of Jesus’ lineage demonstrating that His return was indeed foretold from the very beginning, in fact it was talked about in the book of Genesis. In fact it is quickly understood that Jesus is God incarnate and that He is coming to live as man so that He can fulfill the promises for the new kingdom, Jesus has to become a human and live among men not as a rich man but as a man of humility, He is born of a virgin whose husband is a carpenter. This picture of humility is illustrated many times throughout the bible as it is the spirit that is more important, the body is just a temporary shell and as we know, God does many great works through those who are looked down upon by the world. Jesus was no different, He was disrespected by many in His time but He demonstrated great faith and continued to share His teachings to all who would listen. Despite what people thought and said, Jesus was to become the new Adam except this time to live a life that was sinless, in a sense, cleaning up Adam’s mess!

The first part of Mathew talks about the birth of Christ and the visitation of the 3 Magi or Priests. We see right from the get go that Jesus was threatened with death by Herod so He had to be taken to Egypt until it was safe to return to Nazareth.

John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin paves the way for Jesus saying to the people that the Messiah is coming and when He does come, Jesus is baptized by John. We see that in order for the new covenant to succeed, Jesus has to experience all that man has had to experience, including being tempted for 40 days and nights by the devil. What this demonstrates is that Jesus not only became human but it shows that with the faith that Jesus had in His father, man can overcome anything, this is important because in order for Jesus to truly understand what man is, He has to become what man is, including the experiences of man.

After Jesus calls His first disciples, he travels throughout the land performing miracles, which included healing the sick and raising the dead. This is also the time when Jesus lays down the law, so to speak, starting with the beatitudes and reaffirming that the law will indeed be upheld until the end of time and if any of the laws or commandments are broken, they will be called least in the kingdom, but for those who practice and teach the laws, will be great.

Jesus, for those who may have had a memory lapse, provided some refresher courses around the commandments so that all knew what had to be done. Jesus also taught about other things that must happen, from practicing humility, feeding the hungry, loving your enemies, fasting and prayer, just to name a few.

The book of Mathew is a book of great wisdom and is an instruction manual for eternal life and riches. Jesus had never ending wisdom and that wisdom He taught through parables, in fact the book of Mathew is the first we see of the parables and we see 14 of them, the other gospels talk about the parables but in less detail. The idea behind the parables is that if you have the “eyes and ears” needed, meaning the true faith of God, you will understand Jesus’ parables. I have found this in my personal life as I have grown in my faith. When I first started out reading the New Testament, I didn’t really understand, I saw Jesus’ parables as really confusing stories, but now, I have re read them and they make a lot of sense, the depth of such wisdom in them is unparalleled anywhere else, in fact many times in Mathew we see the disciples asking Jesus what He meant by His many stories. This has always been a surprise to me, even after they saw Jesus perform such wondrous miracles, they still questioned their faith and they still questioned Him, can you imagine!

As part of Jesus’ ministry, we see Him cast out demons and thus we have the first exorcisms recorded, and with His great teachings, the disciples learned to do the same thing. This demonstrates and foreshadows on a smaller scale, the predicted defeat of Satan, the defeat that will signal the beginning of the new kingdom.

Mathew is also the book where we see the great sermon on the mount, when Jesus knows that His end is near and He has gathered all in the land to pass on the things that must be done in order for the new kingdom to be successful. The sermon on the mount is what Christians should be abiding by today…He basically has said that we are the body of Christ and that it is important for us to go forth as the arms of Christ and reach out to all that need to be saved, helped and healed. This sermon is probably one of the most important ones in the entire bible and I would say that this is the “backbone” of Christianity.

Jesus demonstrates a couple of times in this book, the awesome power of faith and prayer, specifically demonstrated with Him feeding the five thousand and the four thousand; during these times, Jesus goes off on His own and prays to God demonstrating to the people that God is indeed their provider, as a result all of the people were fed with food left over.

As we approach the end of Mathew, Jesus predicts His death, a death that has to happen in order to fulfill the new covenant. He gives 3 of His disciples a “sneak preview” of what is to come at the resurrection, but He is sure to tell them not to say anything until He has risen. Jesus foretells who is going to betray Him and later as we see, is subsequently arrested, all for things He didn’t do. When looking at this, Jesus is also teaching that just by being a Christian, we will be unjustly persecuted as He was but if you have faith and do not deny Christ, you will enjoy glorification in Christ’s name and have eternal life.

In the final chapters of Mathew we see the fruition of Jesus’ prediction and He is put to death on the cross and 3 days later He rose from the dead in His entire splendor, fulfilling the predictions from Christ Himself.

The book of Mathew is a fantastic book, a book filled with such great wisdom that despite the number of times you read it, there are many treasures to be unearthed. It is a book of hope, of awe, of wonder and excitement, it is a book of things to come, and it is “the new beginning”.

Rev. Jason Casey

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The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. I have been a proud member of the ULC for many years and the Seminary since its inception.

St. Paul

To spend 20 weeks in the study of St. Paul or NOT?, was the question I asked myself twenty weeks ago when I was deciding which class I wanted to take next. 

To complete the PhD program I needed 60 hrs and I had already taken the classes I knew I would like, so I took this the Study of Saint Paul by default, telling myself after all Paul was a man who could "almost" make a complete change in his life patterns when shown an enlightened and better way.

Peter and especially St. Paul. were two of the early Christian leaders I felt the least passion for as I studied the history of the Bible. Both Peter and Paul appeared to have turned the axes of the Christian church away from bestowing honor to humankind by balancing ones self with both male and female energy. Thus, the study of Christian church often appears with an aggressive, "power hunger" ego nature, verses a loving, forgiving,, nurturing, peaceful, soulful nature. Governments from which the church had controlled for many years were also ego center and aggressive. After all, most wars were and still are about power to control or religion views (the one and only "right ones"). Peace, that should come with a spiritual enlightened life has yet to be discovered, for the most part, by those of us who call ourselves Christians. Females, until lately, have always been degraded, and even still the movement forward is slow. Attacks, excommunication or even death awaited anyone that so much., as even questioned the creeds or rules of the Christian church. Fortunately, early founders of the United States of America had the foresight to see that the United States constitution took the control of government away from the church. As our citizens were given a free education, at least through the 12th grade, and more and more make the decision to attend college, humankind is regaining it’s female energy from knowledge and the wisdom about the need for balance, the rights of all, and a need for peace if we wish to survive as a world rather than little groups, here and there, pitting against one another for power as each wipe out the other.

After the completion of this study I came to realized Paul himself faced a struggle with the Jews with all of their many rules, narrow mindedness and a need for control when he tried to establish the Christian faith in honor of the teachings of Jesus. Paul was very aware that Jesus saw all men as equal both slave and master, rich and poor, and he also had to see the female was equal to the male, where he liked it or not. Paul does make a point to let us know his views of marriage and perhaps about females in general are his own, not the teachings of Jesus. Perhaps having this weakness of his own flesh enabled him to work more patiently with some of the communities of the early Christian church that wanted to keep the new church strongly leaning in the path of the older teachings of the Jewish community. "Old dogs have problems learning new tricks" as the saying goes, even though they may appreciate and even understand that the new tricks lead to as a better path. In my driving patterns, I can at least have compassion with Paul as I often choose to travel the old rural route rather than take the new modern bypass.

I especially, liked the last class of the course on Spiritual Gifts. As a young age of six and even more as I became an adult, I have been a prophetic dreamer - dreaming of things before they happen and being told how to deal with them when it dose happen. Often I am given a wiser view in which to see the tragic event so that it was not near as traumatic without the knowledge of the dream. At first, I was often troubled by these dreams and asked God not to send them. For a while they actually stopped, but as I grew older and wiser I came to see there was no need to fear these dreams in the least. If flowers need rain, as well as sun, so do we humans. The dreams have returned and now when problems come I asked not. "Why me Lord?" but "What can I learn and how can I grow from this?"

Two days before the 9/11 attacks I saw them in a dream. When a colleague called, "Come quick! Look what just happened," I ran to the television screen to see the second tower hit and knew this was what I had seen in my dream. An angel had appeared as the ashes came down upon my head and feet, telling me to get up and go read from the Bible a passage from Lamentations. (The night of the dream I had awaken and rose from bed the find passage and it read something to the affect, - An Jerusalem shall be destroyed but it will be built even stronger. ) The angel in the dream continued to tell me I had used my own painful childhood to seek God all the more and had found the love and peace within I searched for, and that as tragic as this event would be I was to send love and blessings to both sides, the attackers and those attacked, for both were in pain and needed to know the positive energy of love, for perfect love cast out all fear. The day of the real attack, I stood and watched in tears and horror but even at that moment I sent love to both sides. I have continued to teacher others from that point forth, that hurt people, hurt people, and that the negative energy of fear only attacks more fear. However, love and forgiveness can break the chain of both fear and hurt.

Reading this last lesson on Special Gifts, I came see my dreams are nothing less or more than special gifts from God that I am to use like a great singer to lift the spirits and hopes of others. 

In the last few years another of my reoccurring dreams is where I am in a play ground with a partner "see sawing" and I am loving it as if I am a child again. I am thrilled both at being lifted into the sun and the big blue sky, and in love lifting my partner for those brief moments, as well. Then an angle appears and stands in the middle of our "see-saw" and holds us both in perfect balance. We are told to close our eyes, and to slowly breath in and out and then to hold the breath and feel the perfect stillness of balance,. Then the angle continues with advice. "Life is not just about the ups and downs but the perfect stillness - the balance that always takes two. Now as I step off, the two of you balance together," the angel directs us. We do and it is good! 

Perhaps the time has come for all humankind to find balance amidst our ups and downs - the yearnings of our souls for perfect peace -Divine Love where "Self" includes all things created on this universe as One Whole, be it male, female, communities, nations or humankind and the flowers, trees, rivers, birds or the sun that greets all with rays of warmth.

Rev. Linda Francis

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The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. I have been a proud member of the ULC for many years and the Seminary since its inception.