Credit: crafty-witch.blogspot.com
Showing posts with label magical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label magical. Show all posts
Sunday, 14 April 2013
Credit: crafty-witch.blogspot.com
Sunday, 14 October 2012
Thursday, 13 September 2012
He must be feeling rather invincible at the moment (or maybe he knows his time to rule this world with an iron fist through the Antichrist is close at hand) because it just dawned on me how "in-our-faces" he's been with his mockery of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ this week.
Last night, the History Channel asked: "Does the Shroud of Turin show the 'real face of Jesus'?"." Today, many seekers of the truth who remain unsaved are asking: "Are all Christians wacky militia members like those arrested over the weekend?".
So, when the Body of Christ is just days away from meditating on the eternal significance of the "Passion of Jesus Christ" -- His arrest, trial, torture, crucifixion, and resurrection all on our behalf -- Satan is succeeding in getting the rest of the world to refrain from considering this holiday as truly being demonstrative of the free gift that is still available to them, and is instead getting them to ask if the "passion of all Christians" is to believe in "crazy stuff" and to want to kill those who disagree with them.
When did we become Jihadists and when have we ever called/treated those who disagree with us as infidels? Folks, the prophesied persecution which is a hallmark of the end times is on its way for sure. How can there be any doubt about that when we're witnessing a world that is calling us the enemy when their are millions out there who are killing and decapitating all in the name of their god?
It makes me angry! It makes me sick! Lord, please shield the hearts and minds of those who haven't returned to you yet so that Satan cannot place his death grip on them!
It's so sad to think about how deluded the unbelieving world is at the moment. To call them "delusional" seems laughable to them I'm sure, but that doesn't mean it's not true. When I surfed over to The Huffington Post (I know, I know, I was "asking for it" by going there willingly) to see what the general sentiment is about all of this from a group where the majority does not believe in God, my heart broke.
These are some excerpts from ONE ARTICLE that appeared there today:
> Like many of us, I was horrified but not shocked by news of the heretofore obscure Hutaree militia and their plans to foment an uprising in Michigan. Instead of waiting for the "end-times," these rapture-ready militias seem bent on making them come early.
> It would be nice if the militias were an isolated example of periodic Christian fanaticism, but this kind of extremist religiosity has been wreaking havoc on the world for centuries. A short list would include the Inquisition, slavery, the genocide of native populations in the Americas, and the legacy of African colonialism. It's enough to make one wonder if far from being distortions of the Christian message, these horrors represent the inevitable consequence of a religion whose central symbol -- the cross -- represents one of the most unpleasant and cruel tortures that can be inflicted.
> I used to think, like Oscar Wilde, that the idea of a man dying to take on the sins of the world was the ultimate work of art. Now it seems rather grandiose, a delusion that would land someone in the psych ward. There is nothing inherently redemptive about a violent end to a sacred life. What Christians have done to try to make the suffering of Jesus meaningful is to glorify it. This, unfortunately, bleeds into a fetishization of violence itself.
> There is nothing to glorify in the ugly death of Jesus. Suffering is not inherently ennobling, even if, as in childbirth, it's necessary and even tolerable given the result. Redemption does not come in the afterlife; it comes right here on earth, in the practice of a millions forms of kindness. It certainly does not come at the end of a gun barrel.
Pray for Mark Olmsted who is the author of that column.
In hindsight, and in all fairness though, there were "some" important truths contained in that same commentary that struck a chord with me because it was spot on. Here's that section:
"The most chilling excerpts from their manifesto invoke the perpetual emphasis on violence as a vehicle to "defend" Jesus. They seem to believe with complete sincerity that if Christ were here today, he'd be carrying an Uzi and be ready to lead a bloody overthrow of the government. I truly wonder if these fanatics have stopped reading the Gospels every night and just watch an endless loop of The Passion of the Christ."
Condescending and mocking tone aside, the point about those "Christians" who are more like the Hutaree Militia members is a fair one. They have stopped reading the Gospels.
The irony, however, is in the fact that this observation is coming from someone who writes for an online news service that is typically more anti-Christian in its views than it is pro-Christian, which leads me to wonder how many of The Huffington Post readers (let alone its writers) ever even read the Gospels at all themselves. But I digress.
You know, I've often wondered how many people come to Christ during Easter. When you think about it, it seems like if there was ever a good time to talk to people about the Gospel, if there was ever a good time to impress upon the lost, unsaved world who Jesus was and what He really did for us, then Easter would be the time to make that powerful impression.
If that assumption is correct, then it pains me to see Satan ramping up his efforts "just days before" what is commonly thought to be the most important time of the year for those of us who are praying that we might be put in a position to reach the lost with Jesus' free gift of salvation.
The worst part? Instead of the focus being on Jesus Christ Himself and of having people ask themselves and others, "What is this Passion of Jesus Christ all about anyway?", we have those same people shifting their focus and asking, "What is the passion of all Christians anyway?".
Thus, Satan has succeeded in getting them to place their focus during this Easter season on the Christian (on fallen man himself!) and not on the Lord and Savior (Jesus Christ) where it belongs this time of year!
You wanna know what the "real" face of Jesus looks like? Here's a start...
> Jesus Christ is God's ONLY provision for man's sin. Through Him you can know and
experience God's love and plan for your life.
> The face of Jesus is portrayed as The Messiah, The Prince of Peace, The Word Made Man, Lord and Savior, The King of Kings, The Lion of Judah, The Lamb of God.
> He dies in our place.
"God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8)
> He rose from the dead.
"Christ died for our sins...He was buried...He was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures...He appeared to Peter, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred..." (1 Corinthians 15:3-6)
> He is the ONLY way to God.
"Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me'" (John 14:6)
Shall we continue? We could go on and on if we have to.
Yes, I hate Satan -- especially lately! Yet, nothing he does this time of year will lessen my love for my Lord and Savior.
If anything, it will only serve to strengthen it and motivate me to want to worship and praise Him that much more.
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Monday, 23 June 2008
Higher Self reminded me why I sought out Goddess in the first place. For me it was far more than just not being able to relate to a male God. It was my way of getting the nurturing and unconditional love from a Mother that is always there for me. My real life mother didn't raise me so I always felt a huge void in my life because of that. So when I no longer could feel the Divine Mother I felt that abandonment and rejection all over again.
Higher Self explained to me that Goddess never left me. She never disappeared. And she certainly has been there the entire time. The problem is that my own mother left me feeling so unloved and unworthy that all that came flooding back when I did that research on Eostre and Goddess felt like something made up. Of course Goddess feels like something "made up" to me sometimes. I don't know what it's like to have a normal relationship with my mother, so when I try to connect with the Divine Mother I am left feeling like I'm unable to make it happen. Higher Self explained that getting back to why I love paganism, Wicca, and witchcraft in the first place will help me find Her again.
Higher Self also explained to me that a female version of Divinity is needed to balance out the energy of patriarchy that has existed for thousands of years. Women will never truly be equal in a culture that worships only a male God.
Then I did a second meditation and had another conversation with my Higher Self. This time she explained that if I believe I alone can do a spell to make something real manifest, then what could millions of people for thousands of years who all believe in the same deities manifest? She reminded me that I've always believed in the collective consciousness of the world. If enough people believe something, it becomes real.
She went on to explain that the relative word there is "real." What is real? If I do a guided meditation or shamanic pathworking, we consider it real. It's simply on a different level of reality. Higher Self explained that whether I view them as archetypes or believe there are indeed Gods and Goddesses it doesn't matter. They are "real" on some level, even if they are just ideas, even if they are just myths.
Higher Self went on to remind me how I've always believed everything starts in the mind as an idea before it becomes part of tangible reality. Whether it is the idea for how a ritual should be done, what the first Model T looked like, the painting of the Mona Lisa, or what makes up a religion - it begins as an idea. Ultimately I believe thoughts and ideas are energy and that thought energy is converted into Drawing Down the Moon, a working Model T car, the Mona Lisa painting, and even Gerald Gardner's Wicca.
Actually I believe everything is energy. It just vibrates differently resulting in being able to perceive different levels or dimensions of reality. This is why I feel somewhat agnostic towards deities. I'm not perceiving their energy. Like I explained earlier, Higher Self believes that my personal issues are blocking me from perceiving their energy.
The agnostic/atheist part of me tried to argue once more. What if it's all just a product of my brain? The grey matter inside my head. Higher Self argued maybe everything is just in my head! It's all part of the matrix and I only perceive it because of my senses. Arguing whether or not Divinity is real is as pointless as arguing whether or not what I perceive to be reality is real. If this computer I'm typing on isn't real but just vibrating energy than how is Eostre any less real?
Yet I still wasn't entirely convinced. If I have agnostic feelings than surely deities may not really exist, right? Higher Self worded it a different way. If Gods and Goddesses are mere ideas, and ideas are energy, then they are very real on a specific energetic level. Bluntly put, even an idea is real! This is why myths have continued to be around for several if not tens of thousands of years. Myths have a power that I don't understand. Higher Self said studying myths and especially the work of Joseph Campbell is the best thing I could do right now.
Ultimately I believe this. All of it is real and none of it is real. An atheist may claim that Gods and Goddesses are figments of the mind but science can equally prove that everything is a figment of the mind! Things are real only because we perceive them. The mystery of the universe is that none of us know the mystery, and even if we do, we can't prove it one way or the other.
So does that make me an agnostic, a theist, a soft or hard polytheist, or a pantheist? I haven't found a word or phrase yet to describe my beliefs because I'm all of those. I only know that I've decided to stop worrying about what is real and what isn't. Sometimes a Universal Power suits me just fine. Sometimes a specific deity is what I need. Sometimes it's just a vague general idea of God. Sometimes "thou art God/dess." And sometimes all I need is nature.
"This post has been part of the blogging project The Pagan Blog Project 2013. This is a year long blog party where you blog on pagan topics from A to Z."
Reference: spellscasting.blogspot.com