To Tell the Truth

For about a month or two at the beginning of this year, I spent a lots of time sitting on the steps at the far end of the patio intensely contemplating the domino effect vision(s) I had seen after God, the Universe, and Everything revealed itself to me on Christmas Eve of last year.

My lovely supermodel wife was more than little worried that I had lost my fucking mind, and finally said this, “What the hell are you thinking about when you stare off into space for half of the day?”

She knows now.

Yesterday, she said this, “I read your blog. I’ve read every one of your blog posts. I’m afraid the content of your last post is going to be over the heads of most of the people who read it. I’m not saying this as a criticism, I just think you’re writing about stuff that’s probably too deep for a lot of people to understand.”

Yep, she’s right about that. In response, I told her the water isn’t going to get any shallower, so take a big breath, and hold it as long as you can. We’re diving deep — very deep. I’m going to start to try to explain the Truth about God as I now understand Him.

Most of the things I’m going to say, if not all of them, are going to go directly against the grain of everything you currently believe. If you want to get anything out what I’m going to say, you’re going to have adopt the attitude of that famous German philosopher, Sergeant Hans Schultz from the American TV show Hogan’s Heroes:

You might think that’s a joke. It’s not. Your intellect and personality are going to try to reject everything I’m going to say. And the only thing I can say in advance is you’ve been forewarned.

* * * *

To Tell the Truth is an American television panel show in which four celebrity panelists are presented with three contestants, one of which has an unusual occupation, or a unique experience — and this contestant must tell the truth when questioned. Hence, the name of the show. The other two contestants are imposters, and they can lie their asses off. When the celebrity panel has asked all the questions they’re allowed, they have to decide which one of the contestants is the real deal. Then the host says, “Will the real Billy Bob Thornton please stand up.”

I picked Billy Bob simply because I like saying his name.

If the panel can’t guess which Billy Bob is the real Billy Bob, the contestants get to split more money. So being a convincing liar can be very advantageous for the contestants.

Apparently, this show is still on the airwaves, but I haven’t watched it since I was a kid. The host of the show back then was Bud Collyer. And the celebrity panel was a bunch of has-been actors that I don’t think I’d ever seen in any movie, ever. Tom Poston, Peggy Cass, Orson Bean, and Kitty Carlisle are the panelists I remember the best, though there were probably a boatload of other has-beens that appeared on the show from time to time.

* * * *

Okay, let’s get back on track. Why do you believe all of the things you currently believe to be true about God and your relationship with Him?

I can tell you what happened to me. People started telling me the things I used to believe about God back when I was just a little kid. And that’s what had happened to the adults that were teaching me. They taught me what they had been taught to believe. And that pattern has been repeating itself for centuries.

It’s been a long time since I was a kid. I’ve spent years independently researching everything I had been taught to believe, just to check and see if it made any sense in the harsh light of day.

It didn’t. After years of what I thought was unguided study on my own, I’ve come to the conclusion that goddamn near everything I’ve been taught to believe about God, the Universe, and Everything and my relationship with Him — almost all of it is a lie.

If you’ve been wondering why I’ve decided to go down the road I’m on, that’s why. This bullshit has got to stop.

* * * *

If I were to ask you to describe who and what God is — when you think of God, how do you imagine Him to be — almost everyone that believes in God will likely say something like unto this: Well, I see God as the Supreme Being/Deity, of course. He’s a Spirit, right? So He’s probably invisible, unless He’s far, far away in Heaven with all of His angels, and then He probably looks like Orson Welles. God is mysterious and unknowable, and I never really know if He answers my prayers or not. If I really analyze it, God probably scares the shit out me because I want to be a good person, but I’m afraid He might send me to Hell because I don’t always succeed at that being good thing, and I’ve done some pretty bad things in my life…”

Am I close? Feel free to leave a comment at the end. I might respond to you…

If you’re afraid I’m about to get all theological and start quoting a bunch of scriptures from the Bible, fear not, and be of good faith. If you really want to understand God, the Bible is the last place you should go. In order to understand God, the Universe, and Everything, you need to research an entirely different genre of study. You need to go to the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of Barnes and Noble.

Here’s a little Best Practice tip for you: the better you are at abstract thinking, the easier this may be for you. Even then, you are going to struggle with this. I am one of the best abstract thinkers I know, and even I find this stuff baffling at times.

If you don’t like SciFi/Fantasy because the genre is too “abstract” for you, reading anything I have to write from this point onward — I’m probably going to be wasting your time.

* * * *

Just in cases you were wondering: Abstract thinking, also known as abstract reasoning, involves the ability to understand and think with complex concepts that, while real, are not tied to concrete experiences, objects, people, or situations.

Here, I have an example for you:

* * * *

Her: “Thanks for coming to the Museum of Modern Art with me today, honey!”

Him: “When you said we were going someplace fun, I thought you were taking me to the ballgame…”

Her: “This is a special exhibition with works of art from over 100 different counties, from some of the most amazing artists spanning every important era in the history of art — from all across the world! Like this painting here — Oh, I just love this painting, don’t you? This is just so powerful! Look how incorporates the rigid structure and symmetry of the Renaissance, but it’s punctuated with free-flowing elements from Pointillism and asymmetry from Cubism. I think this creates the perfect juxtaposition of classic Romanticism, counterbalanced with the Post-Modern, Neoclassical, Minimalist Rococo eras! This painting speaks to my soul. What do you see when you look at this painting?”

Him: “Well… It looks like a vagina… Marching in a Gay Pride Parade… With, like, the Eye of Sauron from Lord of the Rings on top of its head.”

Her: “Hahaha! Vaginas don’t have eyes. That’s the clitoris.”

Him: “What’s a clitoris?”

* * * *

Are you ready? Avengers, assemble! We’re heading to Narnia to stop the evil Bavmorda from killing Harry Potter, and find the Holy Grail. We’re going jump aboard the Federation starship USS Enterprise. Don’t panic, and don’t forget your bath towel. Is everyone wearing their secret decoder white gold rings of power? Did you remember to pack your lembas bread? You’re going to need to eat a snack every now and then. Did you bring any ale? Every good fantasy story has a lots of ale in it!

* * * *

Does anyone remember the Eleventh Universal Truth from my last post? God is Every Thing in the Universe. Every Thing in the Universe is God. Do you remember these verses from the Gospel of John: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made.

I don’t think I’ll be citing the Bible very often, but even the Bible concurs that everything that was made — was made by God. I’ll have more to say about the Word at some latter point in time yet to be determined by my Muses.

* * * *

According to the current understanding of modern science, the universe was born out of something called the Big Bang. Anyone disagree with that? However, if you were to ask a scientist person to explain just exactly what the Big Bang was, they’d probably tell you they couldn’t.

This is the way I have come to understand this phenomenon: Imagine, if you can, that the first suicide bomber in history was none other God. And then understand this: God wasn’t trying to kill Himself to death when He blew Himself up. I just need you to understand this was an intentional act.

The Big Bang was exactly that, it was an enormous explosion. And the thing that got blown into a million, billion, trillion, ga-zillion little pieces was God Himself. God did not die in the process. He continued to live on as the All-Powerful, All-Knowing Supreme Being that lives in Heaven with his angels and looks like Orson Welles — but wait, there’s more! God also continued to live on in the form of every other particle of matter, mass, energy, and any other obscure piece of the material world that exists or ever will exist.

* * * *

Even though I consider the Bible to be an inadequate source of information about God, the Bible makes at least one point very clear. God is not human. He is not like us, not in any way. In order for God to blow Himself up and still survive — God has to be an alien lifeform comprised completely of energy. Incredibly complex, sentient, and unimaginable fucking powerful, ENERGY.

When God described Himself as being All-Powerful, this is why. If He can create an entire universe without breaking a sweat, is there anything He can’t do? God, as I have come to view Him, is not merely an alien lifeform, He is The LifeForce. Without God, I wouldn’t be writing this, and you wouldn’t be wondering why you ever started reading it.

We are accustomed to energy in several forms: potential, kinetic, electrical, nuclear — and there are several others. We may know many, maybe most of the forms of energy that exist, but that doesn’t mean we know them all. Nor does it mean we completely understand all of the potential uses or applications of any of the forms of energy that we’re familiar with.

* * * *

“There are more things on heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” ~ Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5. That’s Shakespeare’s way of telling us we don’t know as much as we think we do.

* * * *

Do any of you remember this law from Physics class: Energy can be changed from one form to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed. That’s the First Law of Thermodynamics: ΔU = Q − W. It was developed in 1850 by a German physicist named Rudolf Julius Emanuel Clausius, William John Macquorn Rankine, a Scottish mechanical engineer, and William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, a British mathematician, physicist, and engineer.

If you take the Big Bang of God and analyze it with this law, it lines up perfectly.

* * * *

Whoa! Time out, dude! I think my brain just fucking exploded!

See? I told you that you’d have a hard time accepting this. Your human brain will tell you that’s not possible. I don’t expect anyone to read this and say, Oh! That’s how it works!, and not question anything I say. That is impossible. But consider this: In 1799, the first time the scientific community in Great Britain saw the preserved specimen of a platypus, they thought it had to be a hoax.

Just because you don’t think something is real doesn’t mean it isn’t. Conversely, if you refuse to acknowledge an alternative reality, you will never be able to gain any benefit from it…

* * * *

Your brain is going to tell you none of these puzzle pieces are going to fit together. Not the way your brain is programed to process this information, so try thinking of it this way: God is just like Deadpool. And the Wonder Twins.

God cannot be killed to death — He’s actually better than Deadpool in that regard. And the Wonder Twins, if you remember them, could transform into anything — gas, solid, liquid, animal, mineral, vegetable — any shape or form they could imagine, but the shape and form they morphed into still retained their own personal consciousness.

Now apply what you just read to God. Not only can God survive blowing Himself into a million, billion, trillion, ga-zillion little pieces in order to create the universe and everything in it — every one of those minute particles of God that are floating around the universe, and the galaxies, and the solar systems — every little itsy-bitsy atom created in the Big Bang contains a fragment of the consciousness of God.

When God described Himself as being All-Knowing, this is why. He is consciously part of everything within our universe, and every thing in the universe contains a part of His consciousness. How could He not know everything?

* * * *

The only example I can think of to illustrate this comes from one of the books in the Dune series, by Frank Herbert. In the third book, Children of Dune, Leto Atreides II merged his human flesh with an unknown number of sandtrout, the harmless larval form of the monstrous and deadly sandworms that inhabited the planet Arrakis. Over the next few millennia — because of the sandtrout in his body, Leto became a human/sandworm-hybrid; the only part of him recognizably human was his face. In every other way, Leto had become a sandworm.

In the fourth book of the series, God Emperor of Dune, Leto was assassinated when his enemies blew up a bridge spanning a river that Leto’s procession had to cross. When Leto’s sandworm body hit the waters far below, the dormant sandtrout that had been trapped inside his body were released — each of these hybrid sandtrout contained a pearl of Leto’s consciousness.

If you haven’t read Dune, I highly recommend you read it. At least the first six books. There’s, like, twenty books or more in the series. And then you’ll have a better understanding of the above “nonsense” that may or may not be making any goddamn sense to you right now.

* * * *

Maybe you remember this bit of cinematic magic:

“The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.”

* * * *

Um, excuse me…

Yes. The guy in the back of the room. I thought you were sleeping, but do you have a question?

Yeah, I do. So, God is an alien lifeform that blew Himself apart, but somehow didn’t blow Himself apart — and in the process of doing that — God became The Force?!? From Star Wars??

Hmm… You’re close, but I was hoping you’d be able to make the jump to this conclusion:

“The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.”

Oh… But does that mean I can still become a Jedi knight?

Um, yeah. I mean it’s possible, if that’s what you want to do…

Can I have a lightsaber, too?

Sure, why not. But you should know this: a true Jedi knight wouldn’t need a lightsaber. It’d be about as necessary as a catcher’s mitt is to a ballerina when she’s dancing on stage.

* * * *

God. He reigns in Highest Heaven, and is about as attainable to us as humans living on Saturn is possible for humanity at this time. That’s what I imagine most people think when they contemplate their relationship with God. But now you know that God isn’t an icy deity a couple of thousand parsecs away. God is diffused throughout the entire universe. He is part of everything in the universe. and there is nothing in the universe that doesn’t contain a particle of the consciousness of God.

And when I say everything, I mean everything. Even you.

Yes! We, and by we, I mean every single human being living on this planet right now. We are part of the Everything that was created when God blew Himself to pieces to create the universe, are we not? And if you’re really good at abstract thinking, you will realize that the implications of this version of the Big Bang are truly mind-boggling.

We are composed of flesh and blood, but within every cell of our bodies, we contain a microscopic piece of God’s consciousness. We have the very DNA of God and His angels written into our genetic code! It’s dormant, just like the sandtrout trapped in Leto’s body, but if you are able to attune your mind, your heart, and your body to the correct frequency — you can awaken the presence of God inside your body.

* * * *

If, in reading this, a part of you feels compelled to continue on this journey, you’re going to have to start reprogramming your brain. And how am I supposed to do that? you ask. The solution sounds simple. All you have to do is change the way you think. To phrase it another way, your task is to elevate your level of consciousness.

I used to teach a class on this when I was a psych nurse. It’s called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. There are a couple of tons of information available on CBT on the InterWeb, and you don’t have to sign yourself into a psych ward to get any of it. All you have to do is use the Google. Or sign up for Noom…

Be the change you want to see. Reframe the way you see yourself in the world, and how you see God. You are not separated from God. You have never been separated from God. You have always been united. He lives and breathes within you. You are one with God. All you have to do is wake the fuck up and realize it.

The Kingdom of Heaven is within me.

Say that to yourself, like, a thousand times a day.

Place your faith and trust in God. Fear not, and be of good faith. And don’t worry that you’re not making any progress. You are un-Doing almost everything you’ve ever learned. This is not like going to LensCrafters and getting a new pair of glasses in about an hour.

If you open your heart to Him, your mind will follow. If you open your mind to Him, your heart will follow. It doesn’t matter how you do it, it only matters that you do it! Meditate on the new way you see yourself and God for an hour a day. If you don’t have any free time, do it whenever you can, but the greater effort you put into this, the greater your return will be.

* * * *

I don’t know. This sounds like a lot of work to me.

And that’s the first insightful thing you’ve said. It is a lots of work. Actually, it can be extremely exhausting. But remember when I said we all have to try to make the world a better place? And God, the Universe, and Everything had some very, very very cool ideas on how to make that happen?

Remember how Bastian saved Fantasia from complete destruction by using his imagination to create a brand new Fantasia?

If you can battle through the arguments of your intellect and personality, if you can cast aside your doubts and anxieties and put your faith in God — if you can find the Key to unlock the potential of your dormant Divine DNA — if you can do that, all you’ll have to do is imagine something/anything — and it will become a reality in less than a blink of eye.

Give Me That Old Time Religion

It’s about 2:00 PM here in Mexico as I start writing this post. I’m not used to doing this much writing anymore. When I first started writing my blog, I was incredibly productive in terms of writing, but as time went on I became less and less enchanted with writing until I got to the point that I didn’t post anything on a regular basis.

I’m not sure, but based on the amount of writing I’ve been doing and the sheer volume of all the thoughts bouncing around inside of my head lately — I think I’m going to miss those days.

* * * *

Give Me That Old Time Religion is a traditional Gospel/American folk song that has been covered by countless musical artists dating back to 1873. Perhaps the best known recording of the song was done by Tennessee Ernie Ford. Or maybe Elvis Presley. Or Johnny Cash. Or Billy Bob Thornton. Take your pick.

From what I can tell in my research, it must have an incredibly easy song to write. The title of the song is repeated ad nauseam, and comprises the majority of the lyrics.

I think it’s a stupid song, but it’s perfect as the title for this post because I’d like to take a semi-detailed look at the five major religions in the world and explore some of the truths they hold. And it’s okay if you don’t agree with anything I have to say about the topic at hand. I’m not gonna get all butt-hurt if you think I’m full of shit. When it comes to this subject, I’m pretty sure you’re full of shit, too.

* * * *

Just in cases you were wondering, the Five Major World Religions are: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In terms of the numbers of believers claiming to be a member of the Big Five, the results look like this: #1. Christianity. #2. Islam. #3. Hinduism. #4. Buddhism. #5. Judaism.

Buddhism and Hinduism have a lots of commonalities in their belief systems. They both originated in India. The main difference is Buddhism was founded by a guy named Guatama Buddha, and is perhaps the only religion that doesn’t have a god.

Hinduism is believed to be the world’s oldest religion. No one knows who is responsible for creating this religion, and unlike any of all of other major religions Hinduism doesn’t have one god or even the lack thereof: Hinduism has a multitude of gods. And, it has a caste system. If you don’t what that is you can Google it. In essence, it’s a religiously based system of bigotry and segregation that ensures the rich get to stay rich and the poor get to stay poor.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam also have a lots of commonalities. They are all monotheistic: there is only one God. There are notable similarities between the three religions in the concepts of sacrifice, good works, hospitality, peace, justice, an afterlife, a God that loves us, and loving God with all one’s heart and soul in return.

The main differences between them appears to be the name of the God they worship, name of the major prophet responsible for announcing His presence to the world, and who the Messiah will be.

In Judaism, God’s name is Yahweh, and the founder of Judaism is a guy named Abraham. He doesn’t appear to be the guy that actually created a religion, but he did make a deal with God, and the Jews consider him to be the Father of their Faith.

If you thought Moses was the founder, you were close. Moses is easily the most important prophet of the Jewish religion and is thought to be the author of the Torah — the first five books of the Bible. Moses was the guy that brought the Ten Commandments to his people. And all of the 613 laws of Judaism are named after him, too.

In Christianity, God’s name is also Yahweh. Or Jehovah. The major prophet of Christianity is a Jewish guy named Jesus, who claimed to be the Son of Yahweh/Jehovah/God. I don’t believe Jesus wanted to create a new religion — he was more interested in reforming his old religion.

Jesus said God the Father wanted a make new covenant with His people. The New Covenant, according to Christians, is the promise that God will forgive sin and restore communion/fellowship with those whose hearts believe in His Son, Jesus Christ. 

And Jesus replaced the Ten Commandments and all of the 613 Mosaic laws with Two Commandments: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.

After his crucifixion and resurrection, his followers created a new religion that has become the most popular religion on the planet. And that probably wouldn’t have happened if not for a Jew that converted to the Cult of Jesus named Paul of Tarsus.

In Islam, God’s name is Allah. He also has ninety-eight other names, and if you’re interested in more information, you’re going to have to Google them. The major prophet of Islam is a guy named Muhammad, peace be upon him.

* * * *

This is not going to be an in-depth examination of any of these religions. If you have suddenly become interested in this subject, there are a few million books that have been written about all of them. Or you could watch a YouTube video. There appear to be more than a few of those, too.

I don’t believe there is One, True Religion, even though Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have laid claims to being exactly that. I do believe each of these religions contain one or more kernels of Truth. And that’s a good thing. It’d be a shame if all of these building blocks of our collective ethos were nothing more than a pile of manure.

* * * *

Buddhism and Hinduism both believe in Cause and Effect, Enlightenment, Moral Order, and Rebirth/Reincarnation. They might have different terms for these beliefs, but the most common titles for them appear to be: Karma, Nirvana, Dharma, and Samsara.

To the best of my knowledge, I don’t know anyone that claims to be a Buddhist, and I know of only one person that claims to be a Hindu, yet almost everyone I know that claims to be a Christian, Jew, or Muslim also believes in all four of these principles to a greater or lesser degree.

* * * *

Cause and Effect, Enlightenment, Moral Order, and Rebirth/Reincarnation. These are the first four Universal Truths — they exist whether you believe in them or not.

* * * *

Judaism was the first of the major religions to believe in one God — a God who not only created the universe and everything in it, but also a God that each and every Jew can have an individual and personal relationship with. Jews believe that God appointed them to be His chosen people. The word the Jews use to describe this special relationship with their God is covenant.

Judaism may or may not have invented the concept of salvation, but they had to be the first religion to believe that their unique, One and Only God was the sole source of spiritual salvation. Originally, this was more of collective belief — as God’s chosen people they were the only people on Earth that God was interested in saving.

As this belief evolved into a more singular belief, salvation was based on a person’s ability to keep God’s laws, and to bring holiness into every aspect of their lives. Almost anything a Jew does can be considered an act of worship.

Judaism also invented the concept of a messiah, or savior. In Jewish eschatology, the Messiah is a future king from the Davidic line, who is anointed with holy oil, and will rule God’s chosen people during the Messianic Age and world to come. The Jewish Messiah will be a great political leader who will usher in the end of this world, and rebuild the Great Temple.

* * * *

The original Great Temple of God in Jerusalem was built by King Solomon in 957 BCE, and it was the religious center of worship for all of the Jews living in the area generally known as Judea back then. The First Temple was subsequently totally destroyed by Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylonia around 586 BCE.

Cyrus the Great, the King of Persia, conquered Babylonia and allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild their Great Temple. Known as the Second Temple, it was rebuilt around 515 BCE. This temple was renovated and modified for hundreds of years until Herod the Great completed the final reconstruction around 26 AD, and then it was totally destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, ending the First Great Jewish Revolt. It wouldn’t be the last great Jewish revolt…

The Great Temple of the Jews was never rebuilt after it was destroyed by the Romans. And where the Great Temple used to sit is now the site of the Al Aqsa mosque. The only portion of the Great Temple that remains is the Western Wall. It’s a very small part of a very huge retaining wall that was built by Herod the Great when he was rebuilding the Great Temple. Sometimes referred to as the Wailing Wall, it is the holiest place in the world to the Jews.

* * * *

In addition, the Messiah will judge the living and the dead — something called the resurrection. I’m guessing this is where being a good and righteous person will be a serious advantage because the righteous will be resurrected to eternal life. And the not-so-righteous possibly/probably will suffer a fate of more or less eternal death.

* * * *

Um, excuse me, but aren’t rebirth/reincarnation/resurrection pretty much all the same thing?

That’s a good question. I don’t think so. Rebirth/reincarnation seems to imply that in each life you live you are a different person. None of us is ever reborn as the same person, time after time after time, are we? Resurrection seems to be something more like unto the reanimation of every person you may or may not have ever been.

And I think it’s hilarious that every person that has ever claimed to be another person in a previous lifetime was always someone famous, like, Cleopatra. Or William Shakespeare. Or George Washington. No one ever says, “I used to be Bill Berditzman. You’ve probably never heard of him, but he had the largest herd of pigs in North Dakota back 1857. He was the Pig King of Minot!”

* * * *

In the Old Testament of the Bible, a guy named Malachi prophesied that another Jewish prophet named Elijah would return before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. Elijah will be the precursor of the coming of the Messiah, and then everyone will know that they better get right with God in a hurry.

All Jews celebrate something they call Passover. It roughly coincides with the Christian holiday of Easter. This Jewish holiday commemorates the Biblical story of Exodus when God freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.

Every Passover is celebrated with a ritual feast called a seder. At this meal, every Jewish family sets an extra cup of wine on the dinner table, and opens the front door for Elijah, hoping he will walk in. I’m guessing that will turn into one helluva party when it happens, eh.

As for the actual identity of the Messiah, the Jews don’t appear to have any idea who this guy is going to be. The one thing they do appear to be sure of is his name isn’t Jesus.

* * * *

God is an Interpersonal God. Salvation is an Act of God. The Coming of the Messiah. The Resurrection of the Dead. These are also Universal Truths. We now have eight of them.

* * * *

Little Known Fact About Eschatology: it is a branch of theology concerned with the final events in the history of the world and/or of humankind. It always stuck me as an incongruous word. To me, it sounds something more like unto the science of collecting stool samples and looking at shit under a microscope.

* * * *

Christianity. If you were to dissect this religious system down to its roots, Christianity is nothing more than a offshoot sect of Judaism that believes Jesus is the Messiah. The Christian God is the same God of the Jewish faith.

Well, there is this one, small, insignificant difference: The One, True God of Christianity is a three-in-one Trinity consisting of God the Father — He is still the same God as the Jewish God that created the universe and everything in it — Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and future King of Heaven and Earth — and an enigmatic third person called the Holy Spirit. And they are somehow all the same person even though they are all distinctly different from one another.

As near as I can tell by talking to other Christians, I’m not sure anyone truly understands exactly who or what the Holy Spirit really is. Unfortunately, that is not a joke. I’ve written about who and what I believe the Holy Spirit to be. I shared my ideas with several pastors I knew when we were living in the Greater Phoenix Metro Area.

I think most of them are still laughing, and that was almost ten years ago…

If you want to know what Jesus had to say about the Holy Spirit, read the story of the Last Supper in the Gospel of John, Chapters 13-16. That’s where I got all of my ideas from…

* * * *

The concept of the Holy Trinity was invented by a guy named Tertullian. I have no idea where he got the idea of the Trinity from, because God is never described as a trinity anywhere in the Bible. If you don’t believe me, go ahead and read the Bible for yourself. I’ll wait.

Yes, Tertullian was a Christian, and he appears to have been a prolific writer. He also must have been incredibly persuasive because most his ideas have been accepted as Christian dogma for centuries.

* * * *

If you were to ask me, I’d have to classify myself as a Christian. I believe in Jesus Christ; that makes me a Christian, does it not? I was raised as a Catholic, but I disagree with almost everything the teachers of my faith taught me. We need a priest to mediate on our behalf because the Catholic God doesn’t want to have anything to do with His adherents. Seriously?? Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a virgin! Jesus is my savior because his death on the cross freed me from sin? I have no idea what that means.

Catholicism isn’t the only fucked up Christian sect. There’s also the Baptists. These are Christians that claim to love Jesus, but hate almost everyone else — especially homosexuals, people of color, and people of other faiths and religions. Because that’s what Jesus told all of his followers to do, isn’t it?

As far as I’m concerned, the Christian religion is the greatest promulgator of bullshit on this planet. Given the state of world affairs as they exist today, that is truly saying a lot.

* * * *

Jesus is the King of Heaven and Earth. As near as I can tell, that’s the only thing Christians believe that is a Universal Truth. And now we have nine.

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The Muslim Faith. If you were to dissect this religious system down to its roots, this religion is nothing more than an offshoot sect of Judaism and Christianity that believes Muhammad, peace be upon him, was the last prophet that will ever be inspired by God.

Allah, the name of God in the Islamic faith, is the Creator of the universe and everything in it. He certainly appears to be the same Creator God worshipped by both the Jews and the Christians. Jesus is mentioned more often in the Qur’an than Muhammad, peace be upon him. Jesus is revered in the Muslim religion, and so his mother. Oddly enough, Muslims also believe that Mary was virgin…

In Islam, Jesus isn’t considered to be the literal Son of God in the way that Christians do, nor do Muslims believe that Jesus was crucified — he was bodily taken up to Heaven by God before he died on the cross. Muslims believe Jesus is a great prophet, and he is acknowledged to be the Messiah, but Muhammad is a greater prophet because he is the last prophet, and therefore received the latest updates from God about He wants from His mortal children.

Don’t believe me? You can look it up.

Islam is an Arabic word that means submission to the Will of God. Submission to God is not simply obedience or servitude to God; submission to God also means aspiring to and seeking the goodness of God — liberating one’s soul and being from a state of godlessness in order to attain a state of Godliness.

That statement is so deeply profound you should really spend a few minutes contemplating it. Or years. You should examine that statement from every angle and lighting spectrum. If you can’t understand this statement, you have no chance in Hell of understanding anything else I’ll have to say.

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We must all, every one of us, submit to the Will of God. That is the tenth Universal Truth about God, the Universe, and Everything. You might wonder why I keep repeating that phrase. There is a reason for that, of course.

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God is Every Thing in the Universe. Every Thing in the Universe is God.

That’s the eleventh Universal Truth. There might be a few more of them, but these are the only Truths that I consider to be universal at this precise moment in time.

Oh, and there’s this: we should all take a moment to deeply consider the fact that everything we think we know about God, the Universe, and Everything, and our relationship to all of the above — there’s a very good possibility that everything we think we know about that — is wrong.

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Depending on the scientist or researcher you ask, the world we live in has gone through any number of ages and/or eras to get us to this point in history. The Precambrian Era. The Jurassic Era. The Stone Age. The Bronze Age. The Rock and Roll Era. The Age of Aquarius…

In terms of Religious Ages, I have come to believe there are three very distinct and different ages that we as the human race have gone through. I don’t know if anyone else has ever conceived this idea either, so you may not find any evidence that corroborates anything I’m about say.

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I call the First Age the Age of Legends. This is the time period from when mankind first developed civilizations, up to the time of the Great Flood. Almost nothing is known about this age — the only remnants of knowledge we have about it are found in the legends of our more recent, ancient ancestors. And the pyramids.

These are the stories about the mythic heroes of yore: Hercules, Odysseus, Gilgamesh, Beowulf — and don’t forget all of the epic monsters from hell they battled.

Damayanti, Shakuntala, Pururava, and Urvashi from the Mahabharata. If you’re not familiar with them, you have a lots of reading to do. The Mahabharata is the longest epic poem ever written, and it’s almost as complicated as the rules of Cricket.

This age could also be called the Golden Age of the Gods because they were legion at that time. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of major deities, and hundreds of thousands of minor deities. There were so many gods you couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting a dozen gods in the back of the head, and then you were likely to be in a whole heap of trouble, son.

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After the Great Flood, there weren’t quite so many gods anymore. And that’s when the Second Age began. Many people don’t believe the stories about the First Age are true. All myths and legends are based on the truth. So yeah, all of those mighty men and gods really walked the earth. And they probably did all of those incredible deeds — that’s why the stories are so entertaining.

The Second Age covers the time period after the Great Flood to the appearance of Jesus. I don’t have a really cool name for this age. It is the Age of The One God for lack of any other title.

If nothing else, we have a pretty good idea what happened during this time period because people started writing stuff down so they wouldn’t forget about it, possibly just in cases there was going to be another Great Flood…

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The Third Age covers the time period from the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to the present day. I call this time period the Age of the Two Prophets.

Jesus and Muhammad both claimed to have been sent by God to preach the messages they had received from God — The Kingdom of Heaven is upon/within you, and submission to the Will of God is the only path to salvation — and their messages ended up changing the world. I’ll leave it up to you to decide if the world is a better place or not because of them.

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If you can’t understand anything that I’ve laid out in this post, try to wrap your mind around this: At the end of each of the Three Ages of Man, a significant paradigm shift occurred that changed the way we viewed God and our relationship to Him.

We, and by that I mean all of humanity, went from believing in a plethora of gods and goddesses to believing mostly in one God, or no God at all, and from there we received special messages from his two most spectacular prophets/messengers.

Um, excuse me, but are you trying to say that we’re at the end of this Third Age?

That’s another good question. I wish I had a definitive answer for you. The best I can say is I’m not sure. I can’t honestly say this was something I saw when the domino effect kicked in last Christmas Eve, cascading from from one mind-blowing impression to the next in rapid-fire sequence. I received a whole lots of impressions that I’m still trying to sort out, but the end of the world wasn’t one of them. At least, I don’t think it was…

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In my heart of hearts, I sincerely believe that if there was ever a world that needs to be shaken up until it gets its goddamn mind right, we are living on that world. I honestly don’t know how God has been able to put up with all of our collective stupidity for as long as He has.

If I were God, I wouldn’t have stopped with one flood.

When I was a working as a psychiatric nurse, I met people that were so reprehensibly repugnant that if I were God, I would have killed them to death ten times ten thousand times. As they say in Texas, “Them sumbitches needed killing.”

Um. excuse me, again, but do you think you’re some kind of special messenger or prophet sent from God?

Hahaha! Well, if you’ve read my blog, you’d know that my most sincere desire has always been to be a prophet. And my greatest disappointment has been the fact that I didn’t think God had any interest in granting that desire.

I can’t say with any degree of certainty that He has changed His mind about that, even if I may or may not have received His latest updates on His plans for humanity as a whole. And there’s this: given my views on Organized Religion, I have no desire to have my name associated with anything even remotely related to any part of any religion.

If that is God’s plan, I think He could have chosen a much more qualified person than myself, like, you know, Jack Van Impe.

Just in cases you’ve never heard of him, Jack was an American televangelist that knew more about the end of the world than everyone else on the planet, combined. I used to watch his show whenever I needed a laugh because he was a joke of truly epic proportions. He used to rattle off scripture and verse like a has-been actor dropping the names of the A List celebrities they used to hang out with.

I’d be willing to bet there are more than a few of his videos on the YouTube… They’re worth a couple of minutes of your time.

Unfortunately, Jack had the incredible stupidity of dying to death two years ago, so that might be one reason why God, the Universe, and Everything didn’t reveal any of my visions to him…

I am a retired old guy, living in a little village in the Chinese Mountains of South Central Mexico. I write a blog that maybe a dozen people read on a regular basis, and it might be fewer than that now, considering the content of what I’ve been writing lately.

I have no desire to change the world. I wouldn’t know where to begin or how to accomplish Step One, even if God were to give me verbal instructions, which doesn’t appear to be a method He employs.

But what if that is His plan? Then what?

I hope His instructions don’t look like the assembly instructions from Ikea…