Come dream with me...

[firstborn888]

Picture this:

Every single individual on planet earth has only one burning goal and passion - to make sure that everyone else's needs are met and that no harm would come to anyone.

So at any given moment you will have 6 billion + people who are all pulling for you at once.

The same would be true for every one of the other 6 billion + people around you. They would each have 6 billion + pulling for them as well (!)

What would that be like?

- Byron

[willieH]

Picture this:

Every single individual on planet earth has only one burning goal and passion - to make sure that everyone else's needs are met and that no harm would come to anyone.

So at any given moment you will have 6 billion + people who are all pulling for you at once.

The same would be true for every one of the other 6 billion + people around you. They would each have 6 billion + pulling for them as well (!)

What would that be like?

- Byron

HEAVEN!  :cloud9:

peacE...
...willieH  :laughing7:

[joyful1]

:icon_flower: Hi Byron!
It would/will be wonderful!
Funny, when I was a child of about 6, I remember trying to pray for everyone that I could think of .....and fully expecting God to help everyone on my list! I didn't want to leave anyone out, so I would add at the end of my prayer....and everyone in the entire world! and then I felt sorry for the devil and asked God to "save him too!"

Later, when I joined the church, I began to realize how silly my thoughts were as a small child....."the church" made me realize that :

1-- not all of your prayers are heard, because if you have ANY sin in your life, the "heavens become as sounding brass"

2-- not everyone is important to God--only the believers

3-- the devil is the opposite of God and must be destroyed because he is soooo powerful!

funny how time and truth changes things, huh? (*added note: you know of course that I DON'T believe the above 3 things anymore, right?)
btw, what happens to the devil, in the end? I know he is thrown into the LOF, but then what?

Joyce :)

[anti_nietzsche]

Maybe he finally becomes a small snake like we encounter in the forrest. Maybe we'll all laugh about him lot's.

[martincisneros]

I got a stupid "the page cannot be found" when trying to post a longer post.  Maybe I'll try again later.  John Lennon's song, "Imagine" comes to mind on this subject:

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us (i.e. embrace the Lordship of Jesus Christ)
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

[joyful1]

Martin--
Wasn't John into Hinduism at that point of his life? Wasn't "his" sweet lord Krishna? I can't remember....but I do know that John went through a "born-again" type of experience, which he later renounced. Here is a very interesting article about that from Christianity Today Magazine entitled: John Lennon's Born-Again Phase. It's excerpted from The Gospel According to the Beatles by Steve Turner....
If you loved the Beatles, and I did, you'll want to read this article.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/januaryweb-only/001-22.0.html
Joyce :)

[martincisneros]

Yup!  Already familiar with the fact that from the "fundamentalist" way of looking at it, John had prayed the "sinner's prayer."  Perdy hard for a spiritual baby to push the Lord away.  And there was much within the organized Christianity of the day for him to have pushed away, that Jesus wouldn't have necessarily taken Personally.

[martincisneros]

Martin--
Wasn't John into Hinduism at that point of his life? Wasn't "his" sweet lord Krishna?

I believe that the "My sweet Lord" song was actually a George Harrison song.  All of the Beatles playing on that one, but his composition and lead singing.  I've heard Christians singing that one 'cause it was playing in the store like some dumb beep 'cause they weren't hearing the "Harry Krishna" part in that song. 

So, adding a bit to my previous post, even supposing a Restorationist Universalism that would anticipate long ages of judgment before someone who died in their wickedness would be ready for the Kingdom, I don't think that even on that theological plan that John Lennon would be subject to a bit of it.  When he got shot, "absent from the body, present with the Lord."  I'd love to hear his new version of "Starting Over" which he has to have written since then.  I'd bet he really wishes that when he were on earth that someone had given him some truth!

[firstborn888]

Martin--
Wasn't John into Hinduism at that point of his life? Wasn't "his" sweet lord Krishna? I can't remember....but I do know that John went through a "born-again" type of experience, which he later renounced. Here is a very interesting article about that from Christianity Today Magazine entitled: John Lennon's Born-Again Phase. It's excerpted from The Gospel According to the Beatles by Steve Turner....
If you loved the Beatles, and I did, you'll want to read this article.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/januaryweb-only/001-22.0.html
Joyce :)

Thanks for the link - it was interesting to hear some of what was going on behind the scenes. Kind of makes me thankful for a lack of fame and fortune.

blessings,
- Byron

[martincisneros]

I'll never be thankful for a lack of fame and fortune! :icon_jokercolor:

But I'll always be thankful for the God and the Christ that reach us right where we're at, and Who refuse to do this eternity without us!  People for their own reasons or infirmities of the flesh won't always stick it out or stick around, but once you've reconciled yourself to God, according to 2Corinthians 5, They're not ever going to let go!  They don't ever let go anyway, but when you're reconciled, you're a chess piece in Their hands on Their chess board being moved to where they can take absolutely everything from the other side.  The chess board is Christ and the chess master is the Father.  When you're not yet reconciled, you're a ball in a pinball machine going back and forth into every area that from the pinball's perspective won't make the least bit of sense.  But you'll ultimately and inevitably move safely within the hole that you're supposed to go into at the end of the game, though you'll never be dumped from the machine, which is Christ, because the player of the game, which is God, has absolutely no intentions of separating you from His own love.  Although again, until you're reconciled, you're liable to go around and around and around and around to where from your perspective "length of days and long life" might not be such a great thing!

[joyful1]

Your welcome, Byron!
I find my own music drifting into melodies that "sound like" the Beatles-- it was incredible the talent they had--
I'm free at last to enjoy it and know that they will be saved at last!
Joyce :)

[firstborn888]

Your welcome, Byron!
I find my own music drifting into melodies that "sound like" the Beatles-

Mine too. I'd love to hear yours sometime. My CD should be out soon...

Blessings,
- Byron

[sparrow]

Picture this:

Every single individual on planet earth has only one burning goal and passion - to make sure that everyone else's needs are met and that no harm would come to anyone.

So at any given moment you will have 6 billion + people who are all pulling for you at once.

The same would be true for every one of the other 6 billion + people around you. They would each have 6 billion + pulling for them as well (!)

What would that be like?

- Byron

We can start with us...
We're not 6 billion strong...
but so what?  :HeartThrob:

Byron, I've read this same sentiment of yours a few times now and I have to tell you that it's been really sticking in my mind. Believing in the salvation of all, you tend to see others as just your fellow brothers and sisters and even those who wrong you, even if it's a little hard at first you eventually see them in the right light and "pull for them". But lately, it's been much stronger, this feeling of "pulling for everyone..." because of what you've wrote.  It's become larger and more intense in my mind and in my heart.
Thanks bro...
:HeartThrob:,
sparrow

[joyful1]

At sunrise, yesterday, I had the strangest little conversation with the Lord;
I was looking out the window and thinking about all the people who were ever born that never knew the story of Jesus....and suddenly it was as if I could identify with them....in particular, a specific girl who was born in Egypt thousands of years ago.... I know this sounds weird...but I'll go out on a limb here and tell you about it...
it was, for a moment, as if I could feel what she was thinking, looking out on a sunrise that happen thousands of years ago.....that she was searching for "the truth" ...striving to know "the TRUTH"...I was in tears and thanking God for reminding me of the "light" that lighteth every man that is born into the world....because this "moment" of conversation with the Lord showed me how so many will be grateful for the "knowledge of the Lord" that will cover the earth! I was also very grateful that He saw fit to let me see as much as He has in my day! But the compassion for the "lost sheep" that will one day meet Him face to face....that was the main emphasis in this exchange.
Just my thoughts....
Joyce :)

[firstborn888]

Picture this:

Every single individual on planet earth has only one burning goal and passion - to make sure that everyone else's needs are met and that no harm would come to anyone.

So at any given moment you will have 6 billion + people who are all pulling for you at once.

The same would be true for every one of the other 6 billion + people around you. They would each have 6 billion + pulling for them as well (!)

What would that be like?

- Byron

We can start with us...
We're not 6 billion strong...
but so what?  :HeartThrob:

Byron, I've read this same sentiment of yours a few times now and I have to tell you that it's been really sticking in my mind. Believing in the salvation of all, you tend to see others as just your fellow brothers and sisters and even those who wrong you, even if it's a little hard at first you eventually see them in the right light and "pull for them". But lately, it's been much stronger, this feeling of "pulling for everyone..." because of what you've wrote.  It's become larger and more intense in my mind and in my heart.
Thanks bro...
:HeartThrob:,
sparrow

I remember seeing the bumper sticker many years ago "visualize world peace" and my first thought was "that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!".

Now, many years down the road, I've become one of the 'dreamers'.

All those with the breath of God in their lungs are at high risk of being pulled into the dream...

Blessings,
- Byron

[firstborn888]

At sunrise, yesterday, I had the strangest little conversation with the Lord;
I was looking out the window and thinking about all the people who were ever born that never knew the story of Jesus....and suddenly it was as if I could identify with them....in particular, a specific girl who was born in Egypt thousands of years ago....

Jesus crossed all those supposed dispensational and ethnic barriers, before He died. That tells me that time and ethnicity were never a barrier.

blessings,
- Byron

[sparrow]

I remember seeing the bumper sticker many years ago "visualize world peace" and my first thought was "that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!".

Now, many years down the road, I've become one of the 'dreamers'.

All those with the breath of God in their lungs are at high risk of being pulled into the dream...

Blessings,
- Byron

I like that. being "pulled into the dream".
You know,  people can discuss ten thousand different "God" topics and debate and scrutinize and put stuff under a microscope, and theorize and whatever else ad nauseum....
but it's stuff like this that grabs me and makes the most profound impact on my soul.
I'm not kidding.  "being pulled into the dream..." heh, I got this odd little picture in my mind of a galaxy looking thing. And all of these spirits being "pulled into" the dream of world peace, and for having the mind of loving others and pulling for EVERYONE.... The galaxy in my head is more of a golden hue, and you can see people's spirits being pulled in.... And it's just this beautiful swirling thing. (not sure why I always have to visualize stuff... lol. I guess because it helps me to remember it.) There's a car in my town with the bumper sticker that says: Visualize whirled peas. Maybe that's where I got my whirling "galaxy" type picture from. lol....

(http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/178491main_sig07-009-516.jpg)

[joyful1]

There's a car in my town with the bumper sticker that says: Visualize whirled peas.

(http://dl3.glitter-graphics.net/pub/568/568363v9kx6xu2g5.gif)

[Taffy]

There's a car in my town with the bumper sticker that says: Visualize whirled peas.

(http://dl3.glitter-graphics.net/pub/568/568363v9kx6xu2g5.gif)

Now that Is Funny :laughing7: :laughing7: :laughing7:

[martincisneros]

Well, Sparrow, you've given us a picture of whirled peas.  Which galaxy looks like whirled okra??

Seriously, though, whirled peas must be what the politicians and their military strategies have been working for.  Then again, doesn't it say somewhere in Scripture that when they say peas and safety then sudden destruction is coming?

[sparrow]

awww c'mon Martin...
Don't start talking about destruction! you're ruining the moment, bro.
Visualize.Whirled.Peas.
:HeartThrob:

[firstborn888]

Then again, doesn't it say somewhere in Scripture that when they say peas and safety then sudden destruction is coming?

Sometimes it seems like Bible literalists LOVE negativity. Talk about giving and they say "Jesus said we will ALWAYS have the poor with us". Really? He told everyone who reads that verse that? (Note, when the poor read that it reads "You will always have you with you" :mshock:). So then, perpetually - throughput eternity, there will always be poor people, right?

So, when anyone tells you "Peas be unto you" you better watch out! That's not it really means, what they're really saying is that you will are probably about to be sucked into a giant pea mixer and be suddenly destroyed  :Sparkletooth:

blessings,
- Byron

[Paul]

I have this same thought. Peace and love.

[martincisneros]

Sometimes it seems like Bible literalists LOVE negativity. Talk about giving and they say "Jesus said we will ALWAYS have the poor with us". Really? He told everyone who reads that verse that? (Note, when the poor read that it reads "You will always have you with you" :mshock:). So then, perpetually - throughput eternity, there will always be poor people, right?

:eek: :mrflo: Poverty's about to be abolished perdy soon :coolsmile:  If death is the last enemy to be abolished, then the Goliath of poverty's got to come down a bit sooner.  Always is used in Romans regarding a threat against Israel that St. Paul quotes from the Psalms that their back would be bent over always.  I'm not sure that I totally understand that statement that St. Paul quotes.  Must be a Hebrew euphemism for a backslidden condition 'cause that's how St. Paul seems to use it.  Yet he concludes by saying that all of Israel shall be saved and this will mean much greater riches for the world.  Obviously spiritual in some way, but perhaps riches should be read as "riches" as well.

With the way that I've been looking at the book of Revelation over on the book of Revelation board, the 7th and last of the Churches that the book is addressed to are in absolute abundance, yet in the sight of Christ they've wandered from a blessed position to being poor, blind, wreched, and naked.  That would seem to correspond to the end of the millenial age which is after the 7th bowl.  So, they buy gold from Him refined in the fire, fire falls from heaven, and there's a new heavens and a new earth.  I don't believe the close of Revelation 20 teaches a final apostacy, but a final revival in the way that I'm reading Revelation.  (Again my notes on it are on the Revelation board on this forum for anyone going "wha??")  I believe that the Gog and Magog situation in Revelation 20 is an attempt at a demonic attack.  There's nothing to demand that in Revelation 20 that that's human armies that have turned away from Christ.  Satan is loosed for a little season.  Perhaps still self deceived enough to think that he's escaped 'cause of his own cleverness, stunning power, or whatever.  And when people merge the earthly wealth with the heavenly wealth by opening the door to Christ afresh, then as the fire of God comes in you've got the beauties of the newer and much higher level of prosperity, and Father stabilizing the universe sufficiently enough with the Blood of Christ to where it can stand the intensity of His full Presence living among us without limitation.  But world peace (and yes, I guess peas for everybody too) and the end of poverty are really really really soon on the horizon.  We need it for the discipleship of the nations, and even if spirituality teeters on waning towards the end of the millenium (however long that winds up genuinely being), the whole earth will hear the knocking Christ before the fire that falls winds up being a condemning fire because of the last verse or two in Malachi.  The future is something to look forward to 'cause Jesus Christ has already prepared the way through the veil of His flesh.

So, when anyone tells you "Peas be unto you" you better watch out! That's not it really means, what they're really saying is that you will are probably about to be sucked into a giant pea mixer and be suddenly destroyed  :Sparkletooth:

blessings,
- Byron

So, Byron, that's what that was in that can of peas, eh?  Too chalky and salty!!  I thought they'd simply been at the store for too long or had gotten overheated on the truck on the way to the store.  I thought that that was a twig that was in the can that I'd bitten into...  Bleh!!  I'm eatin' only fresh or frozen peas from now on :dontknow:

Peas and love, and don't forget to pray for whirled peas before you go to bed tonight :icon_jokercolor:

[reFORMer]

Lettuce pray:  "Carrots Thou not that we perish?"  May grapes and peas be multiplied unto us!"