Posted on 11/28/2015 8:50:31 AM PST by Salvation
Black Elk,
If you are a fraction of the man whose name you use, you are truly a great man. I have admired him and and his wisdom for many years.
One of my favorite quotes of Black Elk is:
“There can never be peace between nations until there is first known that true peace which is within the souls of men.”
Or: Grown men may learn from very little children, for the hearts of little children are pure, and, therefore, the Great Spirit may show to them many things which older people miss.
Or very similar to John 17: The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells Wakan-Tanka , and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us.
thank you and I concur with your comment about hospitals.
The parable of the wheat and the tares paints a grim picture of the harvest at the end of this age. The harvesters are angels. They cut down (kill) the wheat and the tares, save the wheat and burn the tares. Fortunately, God is patient: that isn’t happening yet.
And then there are exorcisms that happen upon accepting Christ and happening while being baptized.
“Her Daughter’s Poltergeist and Baptism”
http://framl.tripod.com/id34.htm
I am FRAML in the transcript.
Let me know if you can’t get the link to work and I’ll post it here in full.
Good, great link and thank you for mentioning that! Every rite of Baptism involves exorcism. So we, the baptized, have all been exorcised.
Thank you. But being baptized does not necessarily protect us from being becoming possessed by demonic spirits, if we leave a door open for them to exploit. Thus we must maintain our faith and spiritual link to Jesus.
When I had taken courses to become an RCIA instructor, when taking a course about those persons who have not been baptized, the part in the prayers leading up to the baptism, there is a minor exorcism done as well by the priest or deacon.
Good. thank you for that information.
Thanks for the link. Apparentl, the daughter’s baptism was an exorcism.
If it were not for God’s intervention in these troubling times no one would survive.
True, all Baptisms are exorcisms. In many ways difficult exorcisms are baptisms of the spirit.
You are exactly right.
I have had way too much trouble with the counter-intuitiveness of spiritual warfare and adapting to the way Satan fights with me and gets me to fight with me and with the world.
After a short time in life, I had dug down so far that I even took Pride in my damage and weakness, and I think my ego got off on it with perverse satisfaction!
As you might imagine, I've failed a LOT of His tests and screwed up most of the opportunities He's sent my way.
He eventually had to hold me back a grade or so and boy howdy do I hate detention and summer school here in Schoolhouse Earth! And those field trips through the desert? They are seriously no fun at all. Sure good for changing one's attitude, though.
Your posts on these topics are always enlightening. I used to think such a "gift" would be pretty cool. Thanks for the reality check!
When I said "His tests", I'm referring to God, our Heavenly Father, and His way of testing us, checking our spiritual progress, etc.
Thanks for sharing
You will never be tested beyond your ability.
Usually they are not tests, but learning experiences to help you become a better human being. We gain much compassion through suffering.
Never tested beyond ability, but in my case, often beyond my "want to" or will or faith or belief...something...and then my free will to say no gets in the way.
I think that is the "test" part. We say many things, but we do our truth.
So what I as a student see as a "test" is both a measure of growth and progress and a learning experience as well.
He knows our truth, of course, but humans are incredibly good at self-deception and rationalization.
We sometimes must learn our truth, which we often hide from ourselves as well as we do from others, as revealed by our actions in the "heat of the moment" when our guard is down and we are who we really are.
The "tests" I've failed, so to speak, stay with me and some haunt me, but I learned that I/we should Ask For The Grace Of Compunction, and I know you are absolutely correct saying we gain much compassion through suffering.
The Teacher is very patient preparing us for graduation day. I read this quote today:
"have you not heard, My child, that everyone who loves is one of My Own and knows Me? have you not heard that on Judgement Day you will be judged according to the measure of your love?"Uh oh...I need to learn(?) to feel towards others as you've described in your post-"death" work.
Thank you for your posts and for making me ponder.
Well said.... Thanks for sharing.
“The “tests” I’ve failed, so to speak, stay with me and some haunt me”
You did not fail per se. The test is actually an experience where you are designed to recognize the strength beyond yourself. If you are not pushed beyond your own limits by perceiving failure you would not find your true strength that lies beyond yourself. Thus, your strength is only found in your weakness.
Recently I was given some "Patience Testing" over the course of the day, at Lowe's, in traffic, etc., and I "failed" a couple of them big time.
Now looking back, I didn't "see" it for what it was during the testing part, only later when I realized how badly I had reacted and behaved, even if no one saw it, and especially foolish when they had.
Then, in that state of mind, I even could see the humor of how some aspects had played out.
I'm sure it's always there in the details of every everyday event, but I only saw them in humbled reflection. Which is not usual for me and, in re-reading that, I think bad things about my self. lol...
A few days later, I got some more of the same tests, but this time I "saw" things differently in each moment than I had a few days earlier, and this time I enjoyed peace instead of frustration and anger. I even laughed at His sense of humor. Best Teacher ever!
I'm not sure I'm using the term correctly, but maybe I'll be a bit "weaker"(?) in each of the next round of testing's heat of the moment right from the start and "feel the Love" in each moment, rather than being so full of myself, instead.
Is that getting close to understanding what seems to be a paradox?
Life becomes one wonderful bizarre synchronistic event after another in spite of us. That’s what happens when you give up.
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