Difference between revisions of "Heaven"

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"A mind that is serious in its outward direction and lighthearted in its internal delight will be a mind that is fully integrated. This will be a mind where Heaven and Earth touch."
+
"This is the gift of Heaven—that your life can be redeemed, but you must allow the pathway to be presented to you. You must respond to the Revelation." <ref name="init">''God Has Spoken Again'', Chapter 7: [https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/volume-1/god-spoken-again/the-initiation The Initiation]</ref>
−
<ref>[[Steps to Knowledge]], Step 225</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
"The answer is in the heavens, in the Greater Community. Look to the heavens for inspiration. Look to the Greater Community. Heaven itself is beyond the Greater Community, but the Greater Community is where you will instinctively look for the answer."
 
−
<ref>[[Greater Community Spirituality]], Chapter 18</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
"You must always be watchful. That is part of being aware; that is part of being alive. This world is not your heavenly state."
 
−
<ref>Signs from the World (November 7, 2008)</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
"The world that you see is really the product of these three things: the reality of Knowledge, the denial of Knowledge and the ignorance of Knowledge.
 
−
In your heavenly state, there is only Knowledge, but you are not living in your heavenly state."
 
−
<ref>Taking the Steps to Knowledge (April 21, 2000)</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
"The return to God is not an intellectual enterprise. You do not come to God on your terms. Reality and Creation are not based on your understanding or evaluation. Heaven does not value your ideas, only your participation."
 
−
<ref>Destiny (April 12, 2011)</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
"You cannot run home to Heaven or think that if you are a good boy or a good girl, you get to go to Heaven—whatever that looks like in your imagination."
 
−
<ref>The Reconciliation (May 2, 2011)</ref>
 
  
−
"This is the gift of Heaven—that your life can be redeemed, but you must allow the pathway to be presented to you. You must respond to the Revelation."
+
“The memory of your Ancient Home, though seemingly blotted out by your current experience, is there nonetheless. It shines like the sun beyond the clouds.”
−
<ref name="init">The Initiation (June 28, 2011)</ref>
+
<ref name="h&h">''The Pure Religion'', Chapter 9: [https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/volume-1/pure-religion/heaven-and-hell Heaven & Hell]</ref>
  
 
== Blessings ==
 
== Blessings ==
−
"From the position and perspective of Heaven, you are the blessed amongst the few, a person who has been given the greatest opportunity....Finally, your life has a possibility of being redeemed."
+
"From the position and perspective of Heaven, you are the blessed amongst the few, a person who has been given the greatest opportunity."
 
<ref name="init"/>
 
<ref name="init"/>
  
−
"The Revelation only comes every few centuries, or perhaps once in a millennium, and you happen to be here at that time. From Heaven’s perspective, that is a great blessing, a great opportunity."
+
"The Revelation only comes every few centuries, or perhaps once in a millennium, and you happen to be here at that time. From Heaven’s perspective, that is a great blessing, a great [[the Opportunity|opportunity]]."
 
<ref name="init"/>
 
<ref name="init"/>
  
−
== Processes ==
+
== The gifts of Heaven ==
 
"You will have moments where you will feel the power and the presence of Heaven, for just moments, for that is enough."
 
"You will have moments where you will feel the power and the presence of Heaven, for just moments, for that is enough."
−
<ref>The Reconciliation (May 2, 2011)</ref>
+
<ref name="tr"/>
  
−
"The gifts of Heaven are for everyone, even living in a difficult and calamitous world, but who can receive them? ... Awaking from one’s own fearful separation is a tremendous event. It calls the powers of Heaven to you, who are beginning to awake."
+
"The gifts of Heaven are for everyone, even living in a difficult and calamitous world, but who can receive them?"<ref name="tsotf"/>
−
<ref>The Shock of the Future (April 30, 2011)</ref>
 
  
−
"You cannot return to Heaven unwillingly. You cannot return to your Ancient Home ambivalent or with grievances or [[aggravation]] or resentment. These things must all be worked out in time.... Some people believe that God, through grace, will just sort of evaporate this ambivalence, this conflict of purpose and intention, and you just enter Heaven as if nothing ever happened. But this is just an attempt to accommodate human expectation."
+
"Awaking from one’s own fearful separation is a tremendous event. It calls the powers of Heaven to you, who are beginning to awake."
−
<ref name="wic">What is Creation? (February 4, 2007)</ref>
+
<ref name="tsotf">''The New World'', Chapter 12: [https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/volume-1/new-world/the-shock-of-the-future The Shock of the Future]</ref>
  
−
"The road to Heaven is through relationships. It is a road of relationships. You may try your hardest to feel whole and joined with life, and you will have experiences of this now and then, but until you can be joined to another, give yourself and dedicate your resources in conjunction with another’s dedication, you are only flirting with reality."
+
== Misconceptions About Heaven ==
−
<ref>[[Living The Way of Knowledge]], Chapter 8</ref>
 
  
−
== The Myth of Heaven and Hell ==
+
"You cannot run home to Heaven or think that if you are a good boy or a good girl, you get to go to Heaven—whatever that looks like in your imagination."
−
"It is not a human universe you are facing, and that is why your notions of Heaven and Hell are so incorrect, so limited and really pathetic."
+
<ref name="tr">''The Power of Knowledge'', Chapter 7 [https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/volume-1/power-of-knowledge/the-reconciliation The Reconciliation]</ref>
−
<ref>The Story of the Messenger (May 23, 2011)</ref>
 
  
−
"It must be understood that your role and position in the world is not simply to garner a future reward. If you are a good person, you go to heaven; if you are a bad person, you go to hell. That is not the truth at all. That is what people think because they want to be rewarded for good behavior, and they want to punish others for their bad behavior."
+
"God’s initial impulse and intention for religion—to keep Knowledge
−
<ref>The New Message on Fulfillment (August 24, 2007)</ref>
+
alive in the world, to teach The Way of Knowledge, to encourage human responsibility and
 +
ethical behavior, not simply as a prescript or as a requirement for admission into Heaven or some other exalted future state."
 +
<ref>The New Message on Religion (July 20, 2009)</ref>
  
−
"Religion [is] not simply ... a requirement for admission into Heaven or some other exalted future state."
+
"You cannot return to Heaven unwillingly. You cannot return to your Ancient Home ambivalent or with grievances or [[aggravation]] or resentment. These things must all be worked out in time."<ref name="wic"/>  
−
<ref>The New Message on Religion (July 20, 2009)</ref>
 
  
−
"People imagine heaven to be kind of a perfect version of their physical reality without realizing that should such a reality ever be created, it would be hell itself. To be in a beautiful place where you could never be happy would be a kind of ongoing hell."
+
"Some people believe that God, through [[grace]], will just sort of evaporate this [[ambivalence]], this conflict of purpose and intention, and you just enter Heaven as if nothing ever happened. But this is just an attempt to accommodate human expectation."
−
<ref name="wic"/>
+
<ref name="wic">''The One God'', Chapter 5: [https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/volume-1/one-god/what-is-creation What is Creation?]</ref>
  
−
"People’s beliefs and assumptions and their metaphysical ideas and their religious values and their speculations all suffer from a kind of level confusion. They try to imagine a permanent blessed state called Heaven, but they cannot see it as it really is. They cannot resonate with it yet as it really is, for they are not ready for that. They have not been yet prepared for Heaven, to return. They are not complete in their service here in the physical reality. They have not completed their mission here."
+
“Heaven is full of foreigners! Would that still be Heaven for you? If it were filled with other beings who did not look even like you, would that make you feel uncomfortable, arousing suspicion and judgment and prejudice within you? It is not like every race gets to have its own unique Heaven, as if there is a Heaven for human beings, and then there is a Heaven for all these other races, millions and millions of Heavens.”
−
<ref name="wic"/>
+
<ref>The Presence of the Teachers (August 26, 2008)</ref>
  
−
"The whole notion of Heaven and Hell is built around [inherited] belief and ... assumptions about ... God.... You will have to let go of your notions of Heaven and Hell and your belief in a final judgment day and all of these things, for they will not fit with the greater reality that you are entering."
+
==Beyond and Through The Greater Community==
−
<ref>The New God  (Feb. 12, 2009)</ref>
+
"The answer is in the heavens, in the Greater Community. Look to the heavens for inspiration. Look to the Greater Community. Heaven itself is beyond [[the Greater Community]], but the Greater Community is where you will instinctively look for the answer."
 +
<ref>''Greater Community Spirituality'', Chapter 18: [https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/volume-4/greater-community-spirituality/what-is-human-destiny What is human destiny?]</ref>
  
−
== Heaven and Manifestation ==
+
"Such is the greater reality into which humanity is emerging—a
−
"You can never duplicate what God has created. In this temporary changing reality, it cannot be achieved. There will be no Heaven on Earth but there will be contribution to the Earth and to all worlds like this, of which there are countless."
+
universe filled with wonders and horrors, a universe of influence, a
−
<ref name="wic"/>
+
universe of competition, yet also a universe filled with
 +
Grace, much like your own world but infinitely greater.
 +
The Heaven that you seek is not here."<ref>''The Allies of Humanity'' Book One, Third Briefing: [http://alliesofhumanity.org/the-visitors/ A Great Warning]</ref>
  
−
"To have God simply appear, that would strike terror in the hearts of just about everyone here.
+
== The Heavenly Host ==
−
You are not ready for that. You are not ready for Heaven. That is why you must come now to serve. That is why God has given you a greater purpose for being here in this life."
 
−
<ref name="wic"/>
 
  
−
"You can’t return to your Ancient Home if your mind is set in Separation. You do not simply die and go to Heaven. You have to prepare for your Ancient Home, and that provides you a greater purpose for being in this physical reality, with all of its difficulties and challenges."
+
"Stand in [[judgment]] of the New Message and you will not see. You will not hear. And you will not know. You will be deaf and blind and arrogant all at once.
−
<ref>Nature and Natural Disasters (September 8, 2008)</ref>
+
And the Heavenly Host will shake their heads."
 +
<ref>[https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/other-revelations/gods-power-in-you God’s Power & Presence in the World]  (April 23, 2011)</ref>
  
−
"You cannot imagine the heavenly state. It is so very different from your life in the physical [[manifestation]]. You just cannot imagine it."
+
"All the powers that are true in Heaven and Earth are here to encourage you and to support you so that you can fulfill what you came here to do, to become a man or woman of Knowledge, or Spirit, to engage in the Greater Community of your life, and to learn to gain your freedom and to encourage others to do the same."
−
<ref>The Redeemer (January 18, 2010)</ref>
+
<ref name="ttstk">[https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/other-revelations/taking-the-steps-to-knowledge Taking the Steps to Knowledge] (April 21, 2000)</ref>
  
−
"You are sent into the world to do something that you are not doing now and have no hope of doing unless something greater is given to you, unless you are called out of the crowd, unless your journey is altered by the power of Heaven."
+
"It is not by accident that you happened to come across or even hear about the New Revelation. All the forces of Heaven that support you have been trying to get you to this point of [[recognition]] and to keep you from destroying your life in the process, to limit the damage you have already done and the waste you have already created so that you would be available and be able to respond."
 
<ref name="init"/>
 
<ref name="init"/>
  
−
"In [[stillness]] all things can be known, for the mind is able to respond to [[Knowledge]]. Then, [[Knowledge]] will find expression in your specific thoughts and activities. Your mind was meant to serve [[Knowledge]], as your body was meant to serve your mind. In this, the contribution from your True Home is able to express itself in [[the world]] of exile. Here Heaven and Earth touch, and when they touch, true [[communication]] begins to exist, and the transference of [[Knowledge]] is made into [[the world]]."
+
==The road to Heaven==
−
<ref>Steps to Knowledge, Step 285</ref>
 
  
−
"To re-engage your surface mind—your social mind, your worldly mind—with the deeper mind of Knowledge [is to] become really integrated. This is where you establish and experience your integrity. This is what gives you the strength and power of Heaven as you take your journey here on Earth."
+
“The escape from Hell to Heaven is the escape from personal fantasy into meaningful relationship with life. What is Hell but obsession with oneself? What is Heaven but the full involvement with life as an integral part of its overall expression. Heaven and Hell are something you will experience day to day and even moment to moment, depending upon where you stand.”
−
<ref>Destiny (April 12, 2011)</ref>
+
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'' Level IV</ref>
  
−
"This [temporary, physical existence] is not a punishment from God, but it does represent what life means if you are living apart from God, if you are living in Separation. Life will be changing. Life will be difficult. It will be a life unlike your Ancient Home, unlike your heavenly state, and you will have to face many adversities."
+
“Knowledge will not send you to Hell because Knowledge can only prepare you for Heaven.”
−
<ref>Nature and Natural Disasters (September 8, 2008)</ref>
+
<ref>''[[Living The Way of Knowledge]]'', Chapter 5: [https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/volume-3/living-way-knowledge/greater-work-pillar The Pillar of Work]</ref>
  
−
"You have to work your way back into Heaven, you see. You have to serve the separated world, the separated universe. You have to work your way back, through contribution and through self-development. You cannot return to your Ancient Home as a miserable, conflicted, contentious, grievous person. Heaven would seem like Hell to you, if that were the case."
+
“The memory of your Ancient Home, though seemingly blotted out by your current experience, is there nonetheless. It shines like the sun beyond the clouds. And though you live in a very cloudy world where this sun seems to barely shine through, it is there nonetheless."<ref name="h&h"/>  
−
<ref name="init"/>
 
  
−
== The Heavenly Host ==
+
"There is a lifeline to your Ancient Home. It is kept alive by Knowledge within you. You can deny religion. You can deny God. You can claim that you are an animal only. You can create a very firm belief regarding these things. But Knowledge is still within you.”
−
"Stand in judgment of the New Message and you will not see. You will not hear. And you will not know. You will be deaf and blind and arrogant all at once.
+
<ref name="h&h"/>
−
And the Heavenly Host will shake their heads."
 
−
<ref>God’s Power & Presence in the World  (April 23, 2011)</ref>
 
  
−
"All the powers that are true in Heaven and Earth are here to encourage you and to support you so that you can fulfill what you came here to do, to become a man or woman of Knowledge, or Spirit, to engage in the Greater Community of your life, and to learn to gain your freedom and to encourage others to do the same."
+
“Your return to God may be beyond human comprehension, but the Plan of God makes it inevitable. And God has placed Knowledge within you and everyone else to make the return inevitable. So the focus of your life now, then, is not to continue to reinforce beliefs in heavens and hells. It is not to project upon God the role of the great punisher, the judge who sends those to prison and exonerates others. That is what you do but that is not what God does.”
−
<ref>Taking the Steps to Knowledge (April 21, 2000)</ref>
+
<ref name="h&h"/><!--cannot verify this citation-->
  
−
"It is not by accident that you happened to come across or even hear about the New Revelation. All the forces of Heaven that support you have been trying to get you to this point of recognition and to keep you from destroying your life in the process, to limit the damage you have already done and the waste you have already created so that you would be available and be able to respond."
+
[[File:Celestial stairway.jpg|left]]
−
<ref name="init"/>
 
  
−
==The Will of Heaven==
+
"The road to Heaven is through [[relationship]]s. It is a road of relationships. You may try your hardest to feel whole and joined with [[life]], and you will have experiences of this now and then, but until you can be joined to another, give yourself and dedicate your resources in conjunction with another’s dedication, you are only flirting with reality."
−
"These are not ancient times. You are not asked to be like sheep. You are asked to rise to the occasion, to take the [[Steps to Knowledge]] and to allow [[Knowledge]] to reshape your life and reveal to you your greater [[destiny]].
+
<ref name="ltw8">''Living The Way of Knowledge'', [https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/volume-3/living-way-knowledge/building-spiritual-community Chapter 8: Building Spiritual Community]</ref>
−
This is the Will of Heaven, and this now must become the intention of humanity."
 
−
<ref>Destiny, April 12, 2011</ref>
 
  
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"What people want and the Will of Heaven are so very different. But if in truth you could discern your deeper requirements for life beyond survival and acquiring the simple things that are necessary for stability and safety in the world, you would see that what you want and the Will of Heaven are really the same."
+
"You have to work your way back into Heaven, you see. You have to serve the separated world, the separated universe. You have to work your way back, through contribution and through self-development. You cannot return to your Ancient Home as a miserable, conflicted, contentious, grievous person. Heaven would seem like Hell to you, if that were the case."
−
"People... do not have the humility to recognize that they cannot establish the terms of engagement regarding their primary relationship with the Creator and with the Will of Heaven."
 
 
<ref name="init"/>
 
<ref name="init"/>
  
−
"The Will of Heaven is for humanity to unite and to prepare so that it may survive the Great Waves of change and prepare for its engagement with life in the universe in such a way that human freedom and sovereignty in this world may be protected.
+
==Heaven and Earth==
−
It is the Will of Heaven that this awareness and preparation be shared with others and that you become a vehicle for sharing it, very simply, by pointing to the New Revelation.
 
−
It is the Will of Heaven that humanity will grow up, emerge out of its reckless and contentious adolescence to become the wise stewards of this world, to preserve the life-giving resources of this world and to become a free race in a universe where freedom is rare and is rarely valued.
 
−
It is the Will of Heaven that you end your ceaseless conflicts, for you cannot afford to destroy your peoples and your cities now. You will need all the resources of the world, all the resources that you have, to contend with the Great Waves of change that are coming."
 
−
<ref name="twoh">The Will of Heaven, May 17, 2011</ref>
 
  
−
"The Will of Heaven and the intentions of humanity are still very far apart. But the times grow dark. The hour is late, and there is no more time for foolishness and denial."
+
"Think of Heaven as where you have come from and think of Hell as where you have been sent to serve—to help reclaim the separated, to support their re-association with Knowledge within themselves and to create a world where Knowledge is more evident than it is today, where inspiration is more evident than it is today, where [[harmony]] and cooperation is more evident than it is today. It is like you have come from Heaven, carrying a brick. And the brick is part of the foundation for a greater and more complete and more genuine reality here.”
−
<ref name="twoh"/>
+
<ref name="h&h"/>
  
−
“The sinful are not punished but are attended to. The wicked are not sent to Hell but are prepared for Heaven. This is the true nature of God’s purpose in the world.”                   
+
"The world that you see is really the product of these three things: the reality of Knowledge, the denial of Knowledge and the ignorance of Knowledge.
−
<ref>Steps to Knowledge, Step 241</ref>
+
In your heavenly state, there is only Knowledge, but you are not living in your heavenly state."
 +
<ref name="ttstk"/>
 +
 
 +
"A mind that is serious in its outward direction and lighthearted in its internal delight will be a mind that is fully integrated. This will be a mind where Heaven and Earth touch."
 +
<ref>[https://stepstoknowledge.com ''Steps to Knowledge'',] Step 225</ref>
  
−
“The escape from Hell to Heaven is the escape from personal fantasy into meaningful relationship with life. What is Hell but obsession with oneself? What is Heaven but the full involvement with life as an integral part of its overall expression. Heaven and Hell are something you will experience day to day and even moment to moment, depending upon where you stand.”
+
"You must always be watchful. That is part of being aware; that is part of being alive. This world is not your heavenly state."
−
<ref>Steps to Knowledge Level IV</ref>
+
<ref>''Preparing for the Great Waves of Change'', [https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/volume-2/preparing-for-the-great-waves-of-change/signs-from-the-world Signs from the World]</ref>
  
−
“Knowledge will not condemn you, but it will not compromise either. Knowledge will not send you to Hell because Knowledge can only prepare you for Heaven. Do not try to make a deal with Knowledge because it will not bargain.”
+
"You can never duplicate what God has created. In this temporary changing reality, it cannot be achieved. There will be no Heaven on Earth but there will be contribution to the Earth and to all worlds like this, of which there are countless."
−
<ref>[[Living The Way of Knowledge]], Chapter 5</ref>
+
<ref name="wic"/>
  
−
“Heaven is full of foreigners! Would that still be Heaven for you? If it were filled with other beings who did not look even like you, would that make you feel uncomfortable, arousing suspicion and judgment and prejudice within you? It is not like every race gets to have its own unique Heaven, as if there is a Heaven for human beings, and then there is a Heaven for all these other races, millions and millions of Heavens.”
+
"To have God simply appear, that would strike terror in the hearts of just about everyone here.
−
<ref>The Presence of the Teachers, August 26, 2008</ref>
+
You are not ready for that. You are not ready for Heaven. That is why you must come now to serve. That is why God has given you a greater purpose for being here in this life."
 +
<ref name="wic"/>
  
−
“Heaven and Hell is kind of a use, or a manipulation, of this deeper awareness, the awareness of one’s suffering and the awareness that one is connected to a greater life, somewhere, somehow.”
+
"People’s beliefs and assumptions and their metaphysical ideas and their religious values and their speculations all suffer from a kind of level confusion. They try to imagine a permanent blessed state called Heaven, but they cannot see it as it really is. They cannot resonate with it yet as it really is, for they are not ready for that. They have not been yet prepared for Heaven, to return. They are not complete in their service here in the physical reality. They have not completed their mission here."
 +
<ref name="wic"/>
  
−
“In many religious teachings, Heaven is kind of a reward for doing well in life, for believing in God, for following God’s edicts and the edicts of religion—a kind of future reward, a better life awaiting you, but a life that can only be achieved by meeting certain expectations and requirements. And Hell has been created as a kind of place of punishment. For those who fail to meet these requirements and expectations, they go to a much worse place, a place even worse that their physical existence, a Hell which in some traditions has been described in some detail. So Heaven is the reward and Hell is a punishment. So how can there be this notion of Hell if God is all merciful and all loving? This, of course, has led to a rejection of religion and for some, a rejection of God altogether. And yet they cannot deny that they have a spiritual reality within themselves, something that does not seem to be the product of their culture or even their physical existence.”
+
"You can’t return to your Ancient Home if your mind is set in [[the Separation|Separation]]. You do not simply die and go to Heaven. You have to prepare for your Ancient Home, and that provides you a greater purpose for being in this physical reality, with all of its difficulties and challenges."
 +
<ref name="nand">[https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/other-revelations/nature-and-natural-disasters Nature and Natural Disasters] (September 8, 2008)</ref>
  
−
“You imagine Heaven to meet your current needs and expectations and you fear Hell and you imagine Hell as a kind of further fall from grace, a worse condition. And of course, these imagined Heavens and imagined Hells are used by institutions and traditions to try to corral people into good behavior, to try to even inspire good work, good [[citizenship]] or adherence to the religious principles or to the religious organization itself.”
+
"You cannot imagine the heavenly state. It is so very different from your life in the physical [[manifestation]]. You just cannot imagine it."
 +
<ref>''The Pure Religion'', Chapter 13: [https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/volume-1/pure-religion/the-redeemer The Redeemer]</ref>
  
−
“The memory of your Ancient Home, though seemingly blotted out by your current experience, is there nonetheless. It shines like the sun beyond the clouds. And though you live in a very cloudy world where this sun seems to barely shine through, it is there nonetheless…There is a lifeline to your Ancient Home. It is kept alive by Knowledge within you. You can deny religion. You can deny God. You can claim that you are an animal only. You can create a very firm belief regarding these things. But Knowledge is still within you.”
+
"You are sent into the world to do something that you are not doing now and have no hope of doing unless something greater is given to you, unless you are called out of the crowd, unless your journey is altered by the power of Heaven."
 +
<ref name="init"/>
  
−
“Your return to God may be beyond human comprehension, but the Plan of God makes it inevitable. And God has placed Knowledge within you and everyone else to make the return inevitable. So the focus of your life now, then, is not to continue to reinforce beliefs in heavens and hells. It is not to project upon God the role of the great punisher, the judge who sends those to prison and exonerates others. That is what you do but that is not what God does.”
+
"In [[stillness]] all things can be known, for the mind is able to respond to [[Knowledge]]. Then, [[Knowledge]] will find expression in your specific thoughts and activities. Your mind was meant to serve [[Knowledge]], as your body was meant to serve your mind. In this, the contribution from your True Home is able to express itself in [[the world]] of exile. Here Heaven and Earth touch, and when they touch, true [[communication]] begins to exist, and the transference of [[Knowledge]] is made into [[the world]]."
 +
<ref>''[[Steps to Knowledge]]'', Step 285</ref>
  
−
“God has sent you into a difficult situation and has placed Knowledge within you to enable you to serve that situation and to give you a way back. It is like entering a deep cave where the light of day is completely left behind, and you are in this labyrinth somewhere, and you are sent down there to help others who are lost in the labyrinth, and you yourself seem to be lost in the labyrinth except that God has placed a little rope attached to you, an endless kind of rope that, well, no matter how many turns you take, no matter how deep you get into that labyrinth, no matter how much you forget the light of day, there is still a lifeline to you. You may be lost, but you are not lost to God.”
+
"To re-engage your surface mind—your social mind, your worldly mind—with the deeper mind of Knowledge [is to] become really integrated. This is where you establish and experience your integrity. This is what gives you the strength and power of Heaven as you take your journey here on Earth."
 +
<ref name="d"/>
  
−
"The degree to which you are disassociated from Knowledge is the degree to which you are living in a kind of Hell. You could become more disassociated and live in a deeper kind of Hell. Your suffering could intensify. Your isolation could become deeper. Your sense of shame and [[guilt]] could become more overwhelming. But it is the same problem. You could go to the deepest part of the labyrinth and deny all possibility of redemption for yourself, but Knowledge is still within you. The fire of Knowledge, though it may only be a little light, is still a burning ember within you."
+
"This is not a punishment from God, but it does represent what life means if you are living apart from God, if you are living in Separation. Life will be changing. Life will be difficult. It will be a life unlike your Ancient Home, unlike your heavenly state, and you will have to face many adversities."
 +
<ref name="nand"/>
  
−
"Think of Heaven as where you have come from and think of Hell as where you have been sent to serve—to help reclaim the separated, to support their re-association with Knowledge within themselves and to create a world where Knowledge is more evident than it is today, where inspiration is more evident than it is today, where [[harmony]] and cooperation is more evident than it is today. It is like you have come from Heaven, carrying a brick. And the brick is part of the foundation for a greater and more complete and more genuine reality here.”
+
"The return to [[God]] is not an intellectual enterprise. You do not come to God on your terms. Reality and Creation are not based on your understanding or evaluation. Heaven does not value your ideas, only your participation."
−
<ref>Heaven & Hell, January 29, 2008</ref>
+
<ref name="d">''The Time of Revelation'': Destiny</ref>
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
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==See also==
 
==See also==
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[[Heaven and hell]]
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[[Hell]]
 
[[Hell]]
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[[Judgment Day]]
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[[Redemption]]
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[[Salvation]]
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[[The Will of Heaven]]
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==Further study==
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*''The Pure Religion'': [https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/volume-1/pure-religion/heaven-and-hell Heaven and Hell]
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*''The Journey to a New Life'', Chapter 5: [https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/volume-1/journey-new-life/the-turning-point The Turning Point]
  
 
[[category:god]]
 
[[category:god]]

Revision as of 16:32, 12 June 2021

"This is the gift of Heaven—that your life can be redeemed, but you must allow the pathway to be presented to you. You must respond to the Revelation." [1]

“The memory of your Ancient Home, though seemingly blotted out by your current experience, is there nonetheless. It shines like the sun beyond the clouds.” [2]

Blessings

"From the position and perspective of Heaven, you are the blessed amongst the few, a person who has been given the greatest opportunity." [1]

"The Revelation only comes every few centuries, or perhaps once in a millennium, and you happen to be here at that time. From Heaven’s perspective, that is a great blessing, a great opportunity." [1]

The gifts of Heaven

"You will have moments where you will feel the power and the presence of Heaven, for just moments, for that is enough." [3]

"The gifts of Heaven are for everyone, even living in a difficult and calamitous world, but who can receive them?"[4]

"Awaking from one’s own fearful separation is a tremendous event. It calls the powers of Heaven to you, who are beginning to awake." [4]

Misconceptions About Heaven

"You cannot run home to Heaven or think that if you are a good boy or a good girl, you get to go to Heaven—whatever that looks like in your imagination." [3]

"God’s initial impulse and intention for religion—to keep Knowledge alive in the world, to teach The Way of Knowledge, to encourage human responsibility and ethical behavior, not simply as a prescript or as a requirement for admission into Heaven or some other exalted future state." [5]

"You cannot return to Heaven unwillingly. You cannot return to your Ancient Home ambivalent or with grievances or aggravation or resentment. These things must all be worked out in time."[6]

"Some people believe that God, through grace, will just sort of evaporate this ambivalence, this conflict of purpose and intention, and you just enter Heaven as if nothing ever happened. But this is just an attempt to accommodate human expectation." [6]

“Heaven is full of foreigners! Would that still be Heaven for you? If it were filled with other beings who did not look even like you, would that make you feel uncomfortable, arousing suspicion and judgment and prejudice within you? It is not like every race gets to have its own unique Heaven, as if there is a Heaven for human beings, and then there is a Heaven for all these other races, millions and millions of Heavens.” [7]

Beyond and Through The Greater Community

"The answer is in the heavens, in the Greater Community. Look to the heavens for inspiration. Look to the Greater Community. Heaven itself is beyond the Greater Community, but the Greater Community is where you will instinctively look for the answer." [8]

"Such is the greater reality into which humanity is emerging—a universe filled with wonders and horrors, a universe of influence, a universe of competition, yet also a universe filled with Grace, much like your own world but infinitely greater. The Heaven that you seek is not here."[9]

The Heavenly Host

"Stand in judgment of the New Message and you will not see. You will not hear. And you will not know. You will be deaf and blind and arrogant all at once. And the Heavenly Host will shake their heads." [10]

"All the powers that are true in Heaven and Earth are here to encourage you and to support you so that you can fulfill what you came here to do, to become a man or woman of Knowledge, or Spirit, to engage in the Greater Community of your life, and to learn to gain your freedom and to encourage others to do the same." [11]

"It is not by accident that you happened to come across or even hear about the New Revelation. All the forces of Heaven that support you have been trying to get you to this point of recognition and to keep you from destroying your life in the process, to limit the damage you have already done and the waste you have already created so that you would be available and be able to respond." [1]

The road to Heaven

“The escape from Hell to Heaven is the escape from personal fantasy into meaningful relationship with life. What is Hell but obsession with oneself? What is Heaven but the full involvement with life as an integral part of its overall expression. Heaven and Hell are something you will experience day to day and even moment to moment, depending upon where you stand.” [12]

“Knowledge will not send you to Hell because Knowledge can only prepare you for Heaven.” [13]

“The memory of your Ancient Home, though seemingly blotted out by your current experience, is there nonetheless. It shines like the sun beyond the clouds. And though you live in a very cloudy world where this sun seems to barely shine through, it is there nonetheless."[2]

"There is a lifeline to your Ancient Home. It is kept alive by Knowledge within you. You can deny religion. You can deny God. You can claim that you are an animal only. You can create a very firm belief regarding these things. But Knowledge is still within you.” [2]

“Your return to God may be beyond human comprehension, but the Plan of God makes it inevitable. And God has placed Knowledge within you and everyone else to make the return inevitable. So the focus of your life now, then, is not to continue to reinforce beliefs in heavens and hells. It is not to project upon God the role of the great punisher, the judge who sends those to prison and exonerates others. That is what you do but that is not what God does.” [2]

Celestial stairway.jpg

"The road to Heaven is through relationships. It is a road of relationships. You may try your hardest to feel whole and joined with life, and you will have experiences of this now and then, but until you can be joined to another, give yourself and dedicate your resources in conjunction with another’s dedication, you are only flirting with reality." [14]

"You have to work your way back into Heaven, you see. You have to serve the separated world, the separated universe. You have to work your way back, through contribution and through self-development. You cannot return to your Ancient Home as a miserable, conflicted, contentious, grievous person. Heaven would seem like Hell to you, if that were the case." [1]

Heaven and Earth

"Think of Heaven as where you have come from and think of Hell as where you have been sent to serve—to help reclaim the separated, to support their re-association with Knowledge within themselves and to create a world where Knowledge is more evident than it is today, where inspiration is more evident than it is today, where harmony and cooperation is more evident than it is today. It is like you have come from Heaven, carrying a brick. And the brick is part of the foundation for a greater and more complete and more genuine reality here.” [2]

"The world that you see is really the product of these three things: the reality of Knowledge, the denial of Knowledge and the ignorance of Knowledge. In your heavenly state, there is only Knowledge, but you are not living in your heavenly state." [11]

"A mind that is serious in its outward direction and lighthearted in its internal delight will be a mind that is fully integrated. This will be a mind where Heaven and Earth touch." [15]

"You must always be watchful. That is part of being aware; that is part of being alive. This world is not your heavenly state." [16]

"You can never duplicate what God has created. In this temporary changing reality, it cannot be achieved. There will be no Heaven on Earth but there will be contribution to the Earth and to all worlds like this, of which there are countless." [6]

"To have God simply appear, that would strike terror in the hearts of just about everyone here. You are not ready for that. You are not ready for Heaven. That is why you must come now to serve. That is why God has given you a greater purpose for being here in this life." [6]

"People’s beliefs and assumptions and their metaphysical ideas and their religious values and their speculations all suffer from a kind of level confusion. They try to imagine a permanent blessed state called Heaven, but they cannot see it as it really is. They cannot resonate with it yet as it really is, for they are not ready for that. They have not been yet prepared for Heaven, to return. They are not complete in their service here in the physical reality. They have not completed their mission here." [6]

"You can’t return to your Ancient Home if your mind is set in Separation. You do not simply die and go to Heaven. You have to prepare for your Ancient Home, and that provides you a greater purpose for being in this physical reality, with all of its difficulties and challenges." [17]

"You cannot imagine the heavenly state. It is so very different from your life in the physical manifestation. You just cannot imagine it." [18]

"You are sent into the world to do something that you are not doing now and have no hope of doing unless something greater is given to you, unless you are called out of the crowd, unless your journey is altered by the power of Heaven." [1]

"In stillness all things can be known, for the mind is able to respond to Knowledge. Then, Knowledge will find expression in your specific thoughts and activities. Your mind was meant to serve Knowledge, as your body was meant to serve your mind. In this, the contribution from your True Home is able to express itself in the world of exile. Here Heaven and Earth touch, and when they touch, true communication begins to exist, and the transference of Knowledge is made into the world." [19]

"To re-engage your surface mind—your social mind, your worldly mind—with the deeper mind of Knowledge [is to] become really integrated. This is where you establish and experience your integrity. This is what gives you the strength and power of Heaven as you take your journey here on Earth." [20]

"This is not a punishment from God, but it does represent what life means if you are living apart from God, if you are living in Separation. Life will be changing. Life will be difficult. It will be a life unlike your Ancient Home, unlike your heavenly state, and you will have to face many adversities." [17]

"The return to God is not an intellectual enterprise. You do not come to God on your terms. Reality and Creation are not based on your understanding or evaluation. Heaven does not value your ideas, only your participation." [20]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 God Has Spoken Again, Chapter 7: The Initiation
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 The Pure Religion, Chapter 9: Heaven & Hell
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Power of Knowledge, Chapter 7 The Reconciliation
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 The New World, Chapter 12: The Shock of the Future
  5. ↑ The New Message on Religion (July 20, 2009)
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 The One God, Chapter 5: What is Creation?
  7. ↑ The Presence of the Teachers (August 26, 2008)
  8. ↑ Greater Community Spirituality, Chapter 18: What is human destiny?
  9. ↑ The Allies of Humanity Book One, Third Briefing: A Great Warning
  10. ↑ God’s Power & Presence in the World (April 23, 2011)
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Taking the Steps to Knowledge (April 21, 2000)
  12. ↑ Steps to Knowledge Level IV
  13. ↑ Living The Way of Knowledge, Chapter 5: The Pillar of Work
  14. ↑ Living The Way of Knowledge, Chapter 8: Building Spiritual Community
  15. ↑ Steps to Knowledge, Step 225
  16. ↑ Preparing for the Great Waves of Change, Signs from the World
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Nature and Natural Disasters (September 8, 2008)
  18. ↑ The Pure Religion, Chapter 13: The Redeemer
  19. ↑ Steps to Knowledge, Step 285
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 The Time of Revelation: Destiny

See also

Heaven and hell

Hell

Judgment Day

Redemption

Salvation

The Will of Heaven

Further study

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