The Spirit of Forever

 by

C Wolf Forrest*

*Motivated by Adelle Bradford

“In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.” In my early years, a very long time ago, I would wonder and envision ghosts in a manner which aligned with a number of popular singular portraits which not necessarily conformed to the explanations by my parents. After all, we were talking here of the “Holy Ghost” proclaimed every Sunday in church. Admittedly, this did not occupy a great deal of my time since WW2 forced the family to struggle over many years for our survival. These days it seems to have changed linguistically to the “Spirit.”

And then, of course, there is the matter of the “Soul,” the residence of empathy and love we can accumulate over our lifetime. But for my purposes here, I shall infer these terms all into the “Spirit.”

A great deal of change with regard to my religious upbringing happened when I encountered my future wife in December of 1963. The primary distinction rested in Adelle’s opposition to “Organized Religion.” I easily adjusted to that belief since I had previously surmised a similar opposition at the time my father rejected being a Catholic and became a Protestant. He was told by a priest that this change would forever damn his soul and that, I believed then, was a totally wacky notion from a so-called “Man of God.”

Quite detailed and surprisingly convincing, Adelle wrote about this:

Organized Religion – Excerpts

A Personal Perspective

(For the full text, see the Addendum)

I have always, insofar as possible, tried to adhere to the idea, or principle, if you will, that one never attacks the religious beliefs of another person, regardless of personal thoughts on the subject. It is sort of a “if it's not broke, don't fix it” philosophy with the corollary of “if you can't give them something better, don't take away what they do have,” firmly attached.

- - - - -

I was a “seeker,” I looked for the “correct, “ and “God blessed” church, the “true path.” I saw it as some sort of spiritual; haven, a place to cleanse, replenish and refresh a soul tired of hypocrisy, tired of trying to be all things to all people, never just me, myself, the person I truly am. In my search, I slowly developed a framework, parameters into which a religion must fit in order to meet my own personal requirements, number one was

1. “Fear shall have no place in it.” In that one simple idea, most of the organized religions of the world fell by the wayside. Another requirement, number two, was

2. “There shall be no secrets,” and number three was

3. “No person shall presume to have spiritual authority over me, or require that they stand between me and God.”

  - - - - -

 My world is simple: All humans, be they male, female, both – or neither – have one basic right that springs from our unique evolutionary progress toward intelligence . . . . We have the right (or perhaps it's a duty) to

ASK QUESTIONS AND SEEK ANSWERS. If we don't avail ourselves of this right, we have no-one to blame but ourselves. It is NOT God's will, it is our own.

Adelle Bradford, May 2, 1995

 - - - - -

I am not a Bible expert and now having read many version of the Good Book, I am probably more confused than ever. But, in my mind, I seem to have discerned a central theory, or theme, with regard to the “Spirit” of which Jesus talks so often which very much appears to point to the Spirit of being a life force and, more importantly, a solid clue as to its central nature of our physical existence, here in the realm of Earth and our existence of our spiritual being in our life thereafter as promised by Jesus.

1. Jeremiah 1:5 [Full Chapter]

Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee ……...”  

Here it seems that the Lord “knowing” the child clearly indicates that the child was blessed and imbued with the Spirit of God. Ergo, the logic follows that life is intended to begin at conception.

2. Matthew 6:25-34 [Full Chapter]

“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? ...”

Here it is my contention that, touched by the hand of God, animals have their own souls (Spirits), despite their intended use by man as specified by God. I have looked in the eyes of so many of my animal friends and I cannot doubt or deny the truth of that. Adelle taught me this.

3. Matthew 9-18 [Full Chapter]

¹⁸ While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.²³ And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise,²⁴ He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.²⁵ But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose.²⁶ And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.

In Luke 8:49-56 (55) appears a special nugget of information: “⁵⁵ And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat.” 

Jesus brought back her Spirit into her body and she lived. Obviously, the Spirit is displayed here as a life force without which no body survives. Her Spirit had moved on to her final home where Jesus was able to retrieve it, being the Son o God.

4. Luke 7: 11-17 [Full Chapter]

¹¹¹ And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people.

¹² Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.¹³ And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.

¹⁴ And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.

¹⁵ And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.

¹⁶ And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.

¹⁷ And this rumour of him went forth throughout all Judaea, and throughout all the region round about.

5. John 11: 1-45 [Full Chapter]

11 Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.

² (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)

³ Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.

⁴ When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.

⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.

⁶ When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.

⁷ Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again.

⁸ His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?

⁹ Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.

¹⁰ But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.

¹¹ These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.

¹² Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.

¹³ Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.

¹⁴ Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.

¹⁵ And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.

¹⁶ Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.

¹⁷ Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.

¹⁸ Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off:

¹⁹ And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.

²⁰ Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.

²¹ Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

²² But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.

²³ Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.

²⁴ Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

²⁵ Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

²⁶ And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

²⁷ She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.

²⁸ And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee.

²⁹ As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him.

³⁰ Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him.

³¹ The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there.

³² Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

³³ When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.

³⁴ And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.

³⁵ Jesus wept.

³⁶ Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!

³⁷ And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?

³⁸ Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.

³⁹ Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.

⁴⁰ Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?

⁴¹ Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.

⁴² And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.

⁴³ And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

⁴⁴ And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

⁴⁵ Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.

  Of all the miracles performed by Jesus (by my last count 37, not counting those by his disciples), the above bringing-back-to-life events point straight at the recovery of the Spirit into those fortunate few who had died and were resurrected by God’s life force.

But, of course, the best miracle of all, performed by God the Father, is the resurrection of Jesus, the Son of God, in that long ago time and land.

 Conclusions

Of course, I have picked and chosen those examples which seem to fit my original theme of “the Spirit being a life force and, more importantly, a solid clue as to its central snature of our physical existence, here in the realm of Earth and our existence of our spiritual being in our life thereafter as promised by Jesus.”

And consider this:

A)   In today’s world of computers, RAM, CPU, software and memory sticks, focus on the last of these. We have the capacity to virtually remember data en masse on CDs and other memory devices. Thousands of books can fit on just one of these to be recalled at our pleasure.

What if God’s powerful Spirit has an unlimited capacity to record our entire being, from the time of our conception throughout our life, with every miniscule detail of our physique to every moment of our life through all the turns and twists we experience until finally the moment comes where we depart this world and enter another?

This would very much explain why our bodies were not important anymore since, in God’s world, whether lost at sea, in war, or cremated, we could or would be recalled at His will in full measure of who we had been, physically and mentally, with all our faults and positive traits fully exposed.. It is called resurrection.

B)    At the time of death of our loved ones, in an instant, their Spirit is claimed by God and transported to His world. We usually respond with the ubiquitous R.I.P. (Rest In Peace) but I hardly believe that they actually enter this new spiritual world to rest. Rather, I believe that while our loved ones remains firmly lodged in our hearts, they are very much alive and frequently occupy our dreams and thoughts in anticipation of once again be united with them. This is pure speculation on my part but it is what I believe.

Two thieves were crucified alongside Jesus. One of them voiced what his intuition had detected; that Jesus was indeed the Son of God! Then he said, 'Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom'" (Luke: 23:42).

Luke 23:43 ⁴³ And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.

An indication that no rest (R.I.P.) was intended.

C)    God’s time is not our time. 2 Peter 3:8 King James Bible But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. At my age today, it means that I am, in Go's time 29,277,000 years old. Over 22 milion years. Igure this out!

At this point, I would very much like to invite a conversation with God saying “Explain yourself.” No matter how I turn, all aspects of that concept are confusing and I can only read this as meaning  FOREVER. So when Adelle and I promised to love each other forever, this may turn out to be a day or a thousand years, multiplied by God’s time. Good luck with that.

Finally, it all comes down to FAITH. And with that I can only repeat:

Adelle, I shall love you ---------forever!

Addendum

Organized Religion

A Personal Perspective by Adelle Bradford, May 2, 1995

QUOTE

I have always, insofar as possible, tried to adhere to the idea, or principle, if you will, that one never attacks the religious beliefs of another person, regardless of personal thoughts on the subject. It is sort of a “if it's not broke, don't fix it” philosophy with the corollary of “if you can't give them something better, don't take away what they do have,” firmly attached.

My entire life, as far back as I can remember, has involved questions about religion and I have sometimes envied those who were born and raised in some religion - - in their unquestioning acceptance of the “correctness” and “God blessed” status of their particular dogma. They seem smugly content, sure of their passport to Heaven. I can't say the same for myself.

I was a “seeker,” I looked for the “correct, “ and “God blessed” church, the “true path.” I saw it as some sort of spiritual; haven, a place to cleanse, replenish and refresh a soul tired of hypocrisy, tired of trying to be all things to all people, never just me, myself, the person I truly am.

In my search, I slowly developed a framework, parameters into which a religion must fit in order to meet my own personal requirements, number one was “Fear shall have no place in it.”

In that one simple idea, most of the organized religions of the world fell by the wayside. Another requirement, number two, was “There shall be no secrets,” and number three was “No person shall presume to have spiritual authority over me, or require that they stand between me and God.”

For me, these three simple-seeming parameters served to isolate me from the organized religion world. I have read the bible from cover to cover many times, always looking for a key, some clearly defined way of finding and testing the “right way,” the “right church” - - and found myself even more lost than before - - and with a slowly building sense of outrage at the amount of distortion and downright perversion of the bible found in every church teaching and doctrine I encountered.

“Are the so-called Ten Commandments literal rules for behavior?” I asked many clerics . . . many . . . .

“Of course they are - - quite literally God's rules given to Moses,” they all replied.

“Then why aren't ALL the rules listed in that exact, same short Bible chapter considered to be COMMANDMENTS, requiring the same obedience as the ten?” I asked.

“What?” was the response every single time. “What other rules?”

For anyone who might some day read this, I say, ”Read the whole Ten Commandment chapter, the whole chapter!”

You see, there are OTHER commandments listed there, as literally clear and concise as the first ten that all churches use, but these others are carefully ignored - - or denied - - because they aren't convenient, because they make it very clear that organized religions have been violating God's commandments as given to Moses from day one!

Basically, those so conveniently ignored rules pertain to the churches themselves and how God wishes them to be built. Thou shalt not go up by steps to my altar, and if you build it of stone, IT SHALL NOT BE OF HEWN STONE – clear and explicit.

Where does this leave those huge, magnificent, costly church-built monuments to themselves? They are violations of God's commandments, the voice of mere people presuming to stand between men and God, saying: “See me, hear me, FEAR me!”

Christ said, “Go into your closet and pray.” That, I do.

Christ did not teach fear - - but by a hundred or so years later, the damage was done - - Paul was writing his epistles and eventually the Koran was spreading - - and hatred of women was in full flower. Far from the apparently free and openness of dealing with women, practiced by Christ, Paul clearly, and quite explicitly, defined the place of women: seducers, harlots, the downfall of men, but necessary evils to produce the next generation of nice young men like the one who traveled with Paul as his “beloved companion.”

What bothers me the most, I think, is the way people accept the “interpretation” of the Bible as given them by those with particular church-dictated axes to grind. I truly believe it is nothing more than intellectual laziness that stops people from reading the actual words as written, and comparing that factual information with “teachings” and “interpretations” they are force-fed by various religions.

Where, in the entire Bible, does it speak of “crossing” yourself? Where does it speak of praying to Mary? Or kneeling, Or covering your head? Or lighting candles? Or giving money to the church? Or wearing your collar backwards? Or flagellation? Or Christmas trees or Easter eggs, Maypoles or - - organized religion invented them all.

The old testament, I think, is a kind of chronicle of men - - when writing was invented, old verbal stories passed down through endless generations, “interpreted” by only God knows how many verbal historians, were finally etched in stone, frozen in the time they were chiseled there. Then to papyrus, to scrolls - - copied, recopied, edited, “interpreted” into the shape of today's Old Testament.

Then, with recorded history, the stories of real people, documented, edited, ”interpreted” perhaps, but people about whom we can say, “He lived from then to then, his name was this or that, and he did this or that.” A bit more reality enters the picture, we dig up the ruins of the place he lived, see the streets he saw - - Christ was a real living human being, He walked here, He traveled there, He said this, He said that.

In ancient days, there were many Gods, named and unnamed, many spirits good and evil. And believers in them truly believed . . . truly worshipped. I think man invented God as a kind of scapegoat, a kind of ultimate “pass the buck” entity - - “It's not MY fault! It's God's WILL”.

Of all the things I hate, I hate that the most: “IT'S GOD'S WILL.”

I don't think so - - not my God! He is Supreme, beyond mortal comprehension. Certainly, He didn't direct the evils of the inquisitions, the certain death to which an excess population of children were sent in the Children's Crusade, the rampant homosexuality, the castration of boys to keep their voices and bodies sweet - - all these things were perpetrated by mere men who claimed - - and still claim - - to be carrying out the “Will of God,” as given them by divine revelation, their “pipeline to God” that made their religion the richest, most powerful, most debased and degenerate religion on earth. Hitler was a Catholic, so was Mussolini - - the Catholic Church hates Jews and Communists - - World War II was actually another of the endless religious wars, fought by that church since its inception.

Think of this: Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia - - Catholic Croatia, Protestant Bosnia, Moslem Serbia - - a clearly defined religious war that went on for 400 years except for the forty years Russia controlled them..

Think of this: Irish Loyalist and Separatists – Catholic IRA wants a separate, Catholic Ireland, Loyalist Protestants want to stay  attached to Protestant England – a religious war of many, many years.

Think of this: Tootsies and Hutoos in Rwanda – Catholics and Protestants slaughtering each other.

Think of this: Saddam Hussein and Desert Storm – Moslems against a highly Christianized country.

Take your pick - - Man created churches, created and controlled all three religions, Catholic, Protestant, Moslem, Jews - - and man has done all these evil things - - in the name of God!

No, I'll muddle along as best I can without associating with any organized religion – I have more moral values, more principles, more codes of decent conduct and behavior in my big toe than all of them put together . . . .

As I see it now, all world religions are damned well “broken and in need of fixing.” And what I believe in is far better: I can sense God in a flower, and speak to Him in a tree, feel Him in the innocence of animals and rest content knowing I didn't invent Him, He invented me.

My world is simple: All humans, be they male, female, both – or neither – have one basic right that springs from our unique evolutionary progress toward intelligence . . .

We have the right (or perhaps it's a duty) to

ASK QUESTIONS AND SEEK ANSWERS.

If we don't avail ourselves of this right, we have no-one to blame but ourselves. It is NOT God's will, it is our own.

UNQUOTE

I most fully endorse these views expressed by Adelle and I came to this over the years from 1963 to the date of her writing this in 1995. When Adelle left for her final home in February of 2009, I began to read the Bible she had so obviously read many times over as she has stated, finding her scribbled notations in the margins. Looking for confirmations, I purchased other versions from her King James writings and became somewhat familiar, on a non-expert level, of a central theme which began to nestle in my mind, that of the “Spirit” so often referred to in those good books and attributed to Jesus in his travels and teachings.