What Do The Prophets Say?

[FineLinen]

In the Book of Acts we read regarding the final recovery of all things from sin, or if you like, when all things are put right, or restored anew.

Acts 3:21

**** "Until final recovery of all things from sin." -Kenneth Taylor-

**** "Until the whole world is re-created." -RIEU-

**** "When all is restored anew." -Monsig. Ronald Knox-

**** "When all things are put right." -BAS-

**** "Of the great restoration." -James Moffatt-

Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. (AKJV)

Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, whereof God spake by the mouth of His holy prophets that have been from of old. (ASV)

Who is to be kept in heaven till the time when all things are put right, of which God has given word by the mouth of his holy prophets, who have been from the earliest times. (BBE)

Whom heaven must receive until the time for establishing all that God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from long ago.
(Common)

Whom heaven indeed must receive till the times of the restoring of all things, of which God has spoken by the mouth of his holy prophets since time began. (Darby)

Heaven must receive him until the time of universal restoration that God announced long ago through the voice of his holy prophets. Matt. 17:11; Luke 1:70; Acts 1:11 (ISV)

Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. (KJV)

Whom, indeed, heaven must retain till the time of the accomplishment of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets, from the beginning of time. (LO)

Whom the heavens must receive until the time of restoration of all things. "God spoke of this ages ago, through the mouth of his holy prophets. (Montgomery)

Whom the heavens must retain, until the completion of the times of those things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of his holy prophets of old. (Murdock)

Unto whom, indeed, heaven must needs give welcome, until the times of the due establishment of all things, of which God hath spoken through the mouth of his holy age-past prophets. (Rotherham)

Whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God spoke long ago by the mouth of his holy prophets.
(WEB)

Heaven must receive Him until those times of which God has spoken from the earliest ages through the lips of His holy Prophets--the times of the reconstitution of all things. (Weymouth)

Whom it behoveth heaven, indeed, to receive till times of a restitution of all things, of which God spake through the mouth of all His holy prophets from the age. (YLT)

Apokatastasis= Restitution=

Re-establishment from a state of ruin (Of a perfect state before the fall of Adam. The kindred verb is "to restore" (see Dr. Marvin Vincent N.T.)....the same as regeneration in Matt. 19:28

http://www.godrules.net/library/vincent/vincent.htm

Apokatastasis Rooted In Apokathistemi

Apokathistemi=

To restore to its former state.

Regeneration=

The making of all things new. The restoration of Acts 3:21= the "when" of the next clause.

"And this is in harmony with Gods merciful purpose for the government of the world when the times are ripe for it--The purpose which He has cherished in His own mind of restoring the whole creation to find its one Head in Christ; yes, things in heaven and things on earth, to find their one Head in Him." 

Please Note: 


Apokatastasewv in linked with palingenesia

Palingenesia ="new birth"

Palin= "again,"

Genesis= "birth"

Used of "spiritual regeneration," Titus 3:5, involving the communication of a new life.

[CHB]

Amen, FineLinen. can't get any plainer than this.  :thumbsup:

CHB

[FineLinen]

Charlotte: The word of the Lord in the mouths of the prophets rings in no uncertain tone.

"I will restore!"

And I will restore all the years that the locust have eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, My great army which I sent among you.

"I will restore!

Restore= Shuwb=

To restore/ refresh/ repair.

To return back/ to turn back.

To cause to return/ to cause to bring back.

To come back to spiritual relationship.

To enticingly lead away.

To reverse/ to revoke.

To be returned/ to be restored/ to be brought back.

"I will restore!

Restore= Shalam

Shalam=

To be in a covenant of peace/ to be at peace.

To make peace with/ to cause to be at peace.

To be complete/ to be sound.

To be complete/ to be finished/ to be ended.

To make sound/ to make safe/ to make whole or good.

To complete/ to perform/ to make an end of.

To be requited.

Restore= `Alah

`Alah=

To go up/ to ascend/ to climb.

To spring up/ to grow up/ to shoot forth.

To go up/ to go over/ to rise.

To come up before God.

To go up/ to go up over/ to extend the boundary.

To be taken up/ to be brought up/ to be taken over.

To bring up/ to cause to ascend/ to cause to go up.

To rouse/ to stir up/ to be taken up into/ to be inserted again.

And I will restore all the years that the locust have eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, My great army which I sent among you.

http://members.tripod.com/~Spirit_Songs/canyouse.htm

[FineLinen]

The Prophet Zephaniah

The Lord will be terrible unto them; for He will famish all the gods of the earth, and men shall worship Him, every one from his place and all the isles of the heathen.....Indeed, My decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out all My burning anger; for all the earth will be devoured by the fire of My zeal. For then I will give to the peoples purified lips, that all of them may call upon the Name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent, shoulder to shoulder.

Please Note:

1. All men, "every one of them", shall worship the Lord.

2. All the isles of the "heathen" shall worship Him.

3. All nations shall be gathered, all kingdoms assembled.

4. All nations & all kingdoms shall experience the burning of the Lord and the devouring of His fire.

5. The devouring of the Lord is linked with purified lips that call upon the Name of the Lord.

6. All mankind, "all of them", standing shoulder to shoulder, with one consent, shall serve Him.

I cannot tell how He will win the nations,
How He will claim His earthly heritage,
How satisfy the needs and aspirations
Of East and West, of sinner and of sage.
But this I know, all flesh shall see His glory,
And He shall reap the harvest He has sown,
And some glad day His sun shall shine in splendor
When He the Savior, Savior of the world is known.

I cannot tell how all the lands shall worship,
When, at His bidding, every storm is stilled,
Or who can say how great the jubilation
When all the hearts of men with love are filled.
But this I know, the skies will thrill with rapture,
And myriad, myriad human voices sing,
And earth to Heaven, and Heaven to earth, will answer:
At last the Savior, Savior of the world is King!

Sing It HERE

[dboutwell]

That was beautiful Bro. Fine Linen.  :bigGrin:

[pneuma]

Amen  :thumbsup:

[FineLinen]

Hi there Debbie: The prophets flow with the message of reconciliation to the farthest corners of this terrestial ball.  Beautiful it is, and full of hope and glory that is  unprecedented. In the New Testament we read of our God making all new, meaning in the Koine unprecedented.....you simply cannot compare it with anything gone before, the glory of the Lord in that day exceeds anything we can ask or even think.

Let's hear a brief word from the prophet Isaiah shall we?

"The Lord of Hosts will make unto all people a feast of rich food, a banquet of matured wine well refined. And He will destroy the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God shall wipe away tears from off all faces;....for the Living Life has spoken it."

Note:

1. The Feast is for all peoples and all nations.

2. The Table is spread with the finest wines and the richest foods.

3. The festivities prepared of the Lord lead to the veil that is upon all nations and all peoples being removed. "Then their eyes were opened..."

4. Our God consumes death. He swallows it up and swallows it down. He swallows up death in victory.

5. The Lord wipes away all tears from all faces.

6. The Endorser of the Plan= The Living Life "who has spoken it."

"We must all die and are like water spilled on the ground that cannot be gathered up again, but the Lord does not take away life, instead He devises ways for the banished to be restored."

Literally: for the banished to not be banished.

[Peacetroll]

still considering 'mankind' to be all flesh vessels?

Mankind = True God Kind = Those with Christ indwelling

No restoration of the chaff.  Nowhere left for death and his kin but the eternal darkness of the outer abyss.

Psalm 37:38
But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off.

Psalm 92:7
When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever:

Matthew 3:12
Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

John 3:18
He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

[FineLinen]

King David:

You have been declared a man after God's own heart. What do you think regarding the prophets Zephaniah and Isaiah who have declared that all mankind shall approach the Lord of Hosts, the delivering God? Are they correct in the assumption that all nations and all peoples shall have all tears wiped away?  Will all the inhabitants of the earth "stand in awe of Him"? Will the whole earth, from end to end, come back to the Eternal One, the whole human family worship in His Presence?

"All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, Oh Lord; and shall give glory and honour to Your Name...all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God, the most distant parts of the earth shall see the saving power of our God. Let all the earth shout for joy to the Lord, let them break forth and sing for joy.

NOTE

1. All nations You have made shall worship before You.

2. All nations shall give glory and honour to Your Name.

3. The most distant parts of the earth shall see the saving power of God.

4. The giving of worship, glory and honour is linked with breaking forth into singing and joy.

[FineLinen]

James Montgomery: will you please lead us in singing Hail To The Lord's Anointed?

Hail to the Lord's anointed, great David's greater Son!
Hail in the time appointed, His reign on earth begun!
He comes to break oppression, to set the captive free;
To take away transgression and rule in equity.

He comes in succor speedy to those who suffer wrong;
To help the poor and needy, and bid the weak be strong;
To give them songs for sighing, their darkness turn to light,
Whose souls, condemned and dying, were precious in His sight.

By such shall He be fearèd while sun and moon endure;
Beloved, obeyed, reverèd; for He shall judge the poor
Through changing generations, with justice, mercy, truth,
While stars maintain their stations, or moons renew their youth.

He shall come down like showers upon the fruitful earth;
Love, joy, and hope, like flowers, spring in His path to birth.
Before Him, on the mountains, shall peace, the herald, go,
And righteousness, in fountains, from hill to valley flow.

Arabia's desert ranger to Him shall bow the knee;
The Ethiopian stranger His glory come to see;
With offerings of devotion ships from the isles shall meet,
To pour the wealth of oceans in tribute at His feet.

Kings shall fall down before Him, and gold and incense bring;
All nations shall adore Him, His praise all people sing;
For He shall have dominion o'er river, sea and shore,
Far as the eagle's pinion or dove's light wing can soar.

For Him shall prayer unceasing and daily vows ascend;
His kingdom still increasing, a kingdom without end:
The mountain dews shall nourish a seed in weakness sown,
Whose fruit shall spread and flourish and shake like Lebanon.

O'er every foe victorious, He on His throne shall rest;
From age to age more glorious, all blessing and all blest.
The tide of time shall never His covenant remove;
His Name shall stand forever, His Name to us is Love.


Sing it HERE

"And the leaves of the Tree of Life are for the healing of the nations. And there shall no longer be a curse upon anything."

[FineLinen]

Announcing Good News

How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him

Who brings good news, good news:

Announcing peace,

Proclaiming news of happiness.

Our God reigns, our God reigns!

(Chorus)

Our God reigns! Our God reigns!

Our God reigns! Our God reigns!

Sing It HERE

We know that the "whole of created life" (the whole creation), including "we ourselves" who "have the first-fruits of the Spirit" groan and travail in pain "together" with the ktisis.

For the ktivsiß was made subject to bondage/ decay, not willingly, but by reason of Him who subjected the same (the ktivsiß) in hope. Because the ktivsiß shall be delivered from the bondage of change and decay into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation (the ktivsiß) groans and travails in pain together until now. And not only they, (the ktivsiß) but we ourselves which have the first-fruits of the Spirit (the ajparchv) also groan within ourselves...

And the groan of creation is met by the God of deliverance. The whole of created life (the ktisis) shall be delivered/ rescued. 

Delivered =

"The ktisis shall be delivered"

Delivered= Eleutheroo=

To make free from the yoke of slavery.

To set at liberty from the dominion of sin.

Eleutheroo Rooted In Douleia

Douleia= Bondage

Slavery/ bondage/ condition of a slave.

"The whole of created life shall be delivered."
Father's Love Letter

HERE

[FineLinen]

Please Note

The word katallasesthai, was used in ancient Greek marriage records to denote the reconciliation of spouses who had been separated.

I will cleanse them of all the wickedness and sin they have committed; I will forgive all the evil deeds they have done in rebellion against Me...in this place shall be heard once again the sounds of joy and gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the bride; here too shall be heard the voices shouting, 'Praise the Lord of Hosts, for He is good, for His love endures forever, and they offer praise and thanksgiving in the house of the Lord. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as once they were.

Hosea

Welcome to Tentmaker. There is a rumour that you spoke regarding "not pitied" and "not my people", is that correct?

The word of the Lord came to Hosea telling him "to take a wife of harlotry, for the land commits great harlotry by forsaking the Lord." From this union, a son was born, Jezreel, closely associated with the punishment and putting to an end of the kingdom of the House of Israel in the siege of Samaria, ending in the fall of Samaria in 722 B.C., and the end of the monarchy in Israel.

Please pay attention to the names of the other children flowing from this union. Hosea 1:8..."bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, "Call her name Not Pitied." When she had weaned "Not Pitied" she conceived and bore a son...."and the Lord said, "Call his name Not my people, and I am not your God." or "I am not yours,"

YET, YET, YET

....Yet in the place where it was said to them, 'you are not my people,' it shall be said to them, 'Sons of the living God.'

Oh I love this God of Glory! He speaks to His prophet, He speaks to His people..."Plead with your mother, plead-----for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband--that she put away her harlotry from her face....lest I strip her naked...and make her like a wilderness....and set her like a parched land, and slay her with thirst....therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns, and build a wall against her so that she cannot find here paths......

Then shall she say,

I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now, and she did not know, that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine and the oil...

The revelation of our fall from our Maker, our God, our Husband; and our demise into the realm of sin and death, with the wilderness that encompasses such a world, is what is spoken of in this story of despair. But wait! Do we hear our God tenderly calling into our desert/wilderness/parched land....

Behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her...and there she shall answer as in the days of her youth.

And in that day, says the Lord, you will call me, 'My Husband,' and no longer will you call me, 'My Baal. For I will remove the name of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be mentioned by name no more....And I will make you a covenant on that day....and I will betroth you unto Me forever; I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy....I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness; and you shall know the Lord.

I will have pity on Not Pitied!

"In that day...I will answer the heavens and they shall answer the earth....and I will sow him FOR MYSELF.... and I will have pity on "Not Pitied" and I will say to "Not my People"...You are my people and he shall say, 'Thou art my God.' 

Yes, the Eternal One says "I will betroth you to Myself forever. I will betroth you in lawful wedlock with unfailing love and devotion...I will betroth you to Myself to have and to hold and you shall know the Lord.

"And He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you; whom the heaven must receive until the restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." Acts 3:20

*** When all things are put right.

*** When all is restored anew.

*** Until the world is re-created.

*** Until the final recovery of all things.

*** Of the great Restoration.

*** For the universal reformation.

I will pity Not Pitied!  Not My People shall be My people!

[FineLinen]

Let's hear from the prophet Zechariah again, shall we?

"Hush mortals in the presence of the Lord....and He will speak peace unto the nations, and His dominion shall stretch from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth." 

And Jeremiah

"I will cleanse them of all the wickedness and sin they have committed; I will forgive all the evil deeds they have done in rebellion against Me...in this place shall be heard once again the sounds of joy and gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the bride; here too shall be heard the voices shouting, 'Praise the Lord of Hosts, for He is good, for His love endures forever, and they offer praise and thanksgiving in the house of the Lord. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as once they were." 

http://newhopemusic.com/songs.s-z/thine.htm

Blessing and honor, glory and power,
Be unto the Ancient of Days.
From every nation, all of creation,
Bows before the Ancient of Days.

Every tongue in heaven and earth
Shall declare Your glory,
Every knee shall bow at Your throne,
In worship,
You will be exalted, oh God,
And Your kingdom shall not pass away,
Oh Ancient of Days.

Your kingdom shall reign over all the earth,
Sing unto the Ancient of Days.
None can compare to Your matchless worth,
Sing unto the Ancient of Days.

[BenJasher]

Hi Brother Dave!

You got just a whole passel of good things to say, don't you? I have never been able to not be delighted to know that "...His mercy endures forever..." What an awe-inspiring thought! That thought has reduced me to tears many times. "...His mercy endures forever..."

As I live says the Almighty; All the earth shall be full of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea

And to think that those words were uttered by God Himself in response to Moses prevailing upon God to forgive the Israelites for their idolatry against Him. He is not a man that He should find Himself short of mercy and hasty with His temper. "...His mercy endures forever..."

Someone told me that that phrase was the most often repeated phrase in the whole of the Bible. And that that thought was put forth again many times more using other words. I wonder if there was a message we were supposed to grasp in all of that...

Anyway, soo good to see you back in full color again brother!

[hopeful]

As I live says the Almighty; All the earth shall be full of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea

And to think that those words were uttered by God Himself in response to Moses prevailing upon God to forgive the Israelites for their idolatry against Him. He is not a man that He should find Himself short of mercy and hasty with His temper. "...His mercy endures forever..."

Hey, Ben.  Where are you quoting from?

[BenJasher]

Well Hopeful,
let me see here...

I guess I have to admit I misquoted Number 14:21.
Hmm... Things that make you go "OOPS!"
Not only that, but I mixed two different scriptures together when I did. I had Moses and Isaiah all jumbled together.

And for all that I humbly ask your forgiveness.

Yesterday just wasn't my day for quoting scripture.

[hopeful]

Thanks, Ben.  I was quite confused while trying to find that verse!    :mblush:

[Cardinal]

 :cloud9: FL, I LOVE that song. I can't sing along to Ancient of Days, without crying; it gets me every time. Did I miss something or was not supposed to be audio on that Url? Blessings to you.....

[BenJasher]

What is going on here? Am I the only one who noticed that my posts on this thread are being duplicated on  the "Election and the Restitution of All" thread?

[hopeful]

H-m-m-m...  Interesting.  Ask the mods about it.

[FineLinen]

Hi Brother Dave!

You got just a whole passel of good things to say, don't you? I have never been able to not be delighted to know that "...His mercy endures forever..." What an awe-inspiring thought! That thought has reduced me to tears many times. "...His mercy endures forever..."

As I live says the Almighty; All the earth shall be full of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea

And to think that those words were uttered by God Himself in response to Moses prevailing upon God to forgive the Israelites for their idolatry against Him. He is not a man that He should find Himself short of mercy and hasty with His temper. "...His mercy endures forever..."

Someone told me that that phrase was the most often repeated phrase in the whole of the Bible. And that that thought was put forth again many times more using other words. I wonder if there was a message we were supposed to grasp in all of that...

Anyway, soo good to see you back in full color again brother!

Well hello there B.J. Thank you for your words of life. It is truly good hearing from you again. His mercy does indeed endure forever. In one passage alone, the prophet David declares "For His mercy endureth forever!" There are those who proclaim His wrath endureth forever, but alas, His wrath is for a short while and leads to change and transformation and glory. In fact, wrath in the Koine is orge and is firmly rooted in oregamai which means to reach out to touch something for Himself. Ah, let your oregamai touch us all oh Lord!

The Lord will be terrible unto them; for He will famish all the gods of the earth, and men shall worship Him, every one from his place and all the isles of the heathen.....Indeed, My decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out all My burning anger; for all the earth will be devoured by the fire of My zeal. For then I will give to the peoples purified lips, that all of them may call upon the Name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent, shoulder to shoulder. 

1. All the isles of the "heathen" shall worship Him.

2. All men shall worship Him "from his place."

3. All nations shall be gathered, all kingdoms gathered to the devouring fire of the Lord. For what purpose?

4. I will give all heathen, all men, all nations purified lips. To what end?

5. That all of them may call upon the Lord.

6. And the calling upon the Name of the Lord finalizes in all of them serving the Lord "with one consent."

I cannot tell how He will win the nations,
How He will claim His earthly heritage,
How satisfy the needs and aspirations
Of East and West, of sinner and of sage.
But this I know, all flesh shall see His glory,
And He shall reap the harvest He has sown,
And some glad day His sun shall shine in splendor
When He the Savior, Savior of the world is known.

I cannot tell how all the lands shall worship,
When, at His bidding, every storm is stilled,
Or who can say how great the jubilation
When all the hearts of men with love are filled.
But this I know, the skies will thrill with rapture,
And myriad, myriad human voices sing,
And earth to Heaven, and Heaven to earth, will answer:
At last the Savior, Savior of the world is King!

Sing it HERE

[Redlettervoice]

A "fine linen" thread ..........in which I see a lot of "fine linen" ..........How excellent
and majestic is the Lord!  High and lifted up!  High and lifted up!  His train fills the
temple. Angels cry HOLY!  Mercy meets Truth!  The earth opens up and sings, the
hills reverberate! The little hills skip.   With JOY His Triumph is made known. 
Hope springs up!  Hope thou
in God! Always!  Make known His Glorious Name.  Far above "all names" ........
Eternally "given" a Name far above all gods.  This is our God! Lo! we have waited for
HIM! The time is come to spread palm branches and untie the donkey......for the King
of glory will ride in.  Let us bow before HIM!  For lo, He is lowly!  Whatever we do, '
let us do it with our whole heart, let us praise the Lord! He has looked down from
heaven. He has beheld our state.  His mercy endureth forever!

[FineLinen]

A "fine linen" thread ..........in which I see a lot of "fine linen" ..........How excellent
and majestic is the Lord!  High and lifted up!  High and lifted up!  His train fills the
temple. Angels cry HOLY!  Mercy meets Truth!  The earth opens up and sings, the
hills reverberate! The little hills skip.   With JOY His Triumph is made known. 
Hope springs up!  Hope thou
in God! Always!  Make known His Glorious Name.  Far above "all names" ........
Eternally "given" a Name far above all gods.  This is our God! Lo! we have waited for
HIM! The time is come to spread palm branches and untie the donkey......for the King
of glory will ride in.  Let us bow before HIM!  For lo, He is lowly!  Whatever we do, '
let us do it with our whole heart, let us praise the Lord! He has looked down from
heaven. He has beheld our state.  His mercy endureth forever!

Hi there Carlene....In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up and His train filled the Temple. In that moment a new vision broke upon the horizon of Isaiah's life. The cheribum and seraphim cry holy, holy, holy, and with one of the three sets of wings they fly. They had to fly because the House is filled with the glory of God....every square centimetre saturating the place reaching out to the farthest corners of the House. Ah, the prophets: they declare the glory of the Lord, and a day that breaks upon the horizon of this tired earth when the knowledge of the Lord shall fill the earth as the waters cover the sea!

Thanks for your lovely comments, Red. They speak the language of the heavenlies.

[FineLinen]

The Day We Saw The Angels

Patriarch Tychon was seized with a kind of ecstacy and overheard the singing of angels, the beauty of which he was afterwards unable to describe; neither could he at the moment grasp the words of that song, but was aware of it only as the harmony of many voices. -A Treasury Of Russian Spirituality-

Dr. S. Ralph Harlow

It was not Christmas; it was not even wintertime, when the event occurred that for me threw sudden new light on the ancient angel tale. It was a glorious spring morning and we were walking, my wife and I, through the newly budded birches and maples near Ballardville, Masachusetts.

What Can I say About Myself

Now I realize that this, like any account of personal experience , is only as valid as the good sense and honesty of the person relating it. What can I say about myself? That I am a scholar who shuns guesswork and admires scientific investigation? That I have an A.B. from Harvard, an M.A. from Columbia, a PhD from Hartford Theological Seminary? That I have never been subject to hallucinations? That attorneys have solicited my testimony and I have testified in the courts as a faithful reliable witness? All this is true, and yet I doubt any amount of credentials can influence the belief or disbelief of another.

In the long run, each of us must sift what comes to us from others through his own life experience, his view of the universe. And so I will tell my story.

Behind & Above

The little path on which Marion and I walked that May morning was spongy to our steps, and we held hands with the sheer delight of life as we strolled near a lovely brook. It was May, and because it was the examination reading period at Smith College where I was a professor, we were able to get away for a few days to visit Marion's parents.

We frequently took walks in the country, and we especially loved the spring after a hard New England winter, for it is then that the fields and the woods are radiant and calm yet show new life bursting from the earth. This day we were especially happy and peaceful; we chatted sporadically, with great gaps of satisfying silence between our sentences.

Then from behind us we heard the murmer of muted voices in the distance, and I said to Marion, "We have company in the woods this morning."

Marion nodded, and turned to look. We saw nothing, but the voices were coming nearer--at a faster pace than we were walking--and we knew that the strangers would soon overtake us. The we perceived that the sounds were not only behind us but above us, and we looked up.

How Can I Describe What We Felt?

Is it possible to tell of the surge of exhilaration that ran through us? Is it possible to record this phenomenon in objective accuracy and yet be credible?

For about ten feet above us and slightly to our left was a floating group of glorious beautiful creatures that glowed with spiritual beauty. We stopped and stared as they passed above us.

There were six of them, young beautiful women dressed in flowing white garments and engaged in earnest conversation. If they were aware of our existence they gave no indication of it. Their faces were perfectly clear to us, and one woman, slightly older than the rest, was especially beautiful. Her dark hair was pulled back in what today we would call a ponytail and although I cannot say it was bound at the back of her head, it appeared to be. She was talking intently to a younger spirit whose back was toward us and who looked up into the face of the woman who was talking.

Neither Marion nor I could understand their words although their voices were clearly heard. The sound was somewhat like hearing but being unable to understand a group of people talking outside a house with all the windows and doors shut.

Astounded

They seemed to float past us and their graceful motion seemed natural--as gentle and peaceful as the morning itself. As they passed, their conversations grew fainter and fainter until it faded out entirely, and we stood transfixed on the spot, still holding hands and still with the vision before our eyes. It would be an understatement to say we were astounded. Then we looked at each other, each wondering if the other also had seen.

There was a fallen birch tree just there beside the path. We sat down on it and I said, "Marion, what did you see? Tell me exactly, in precise detail. And tell me what you heard."

She knew my intent--to test my own eyes and ears to see if I had been the victim of hallucination or imagination. And her reply was identical in every way to what my own senses had reported to me.

I have related this story with the same faithfulness and respect for truth and accuracy as I would tell it on the witness stand. But even as I record it, I know how incredible it sounds.

Perhaps I can claim no more for it than that it has had a deep effect on our own lives...Since Marion and I began to be aware of the host of heaven all about us, our lives have been filled with a wonderful hope. Phillips Brooks, the great Episcopal bishop, expressed the cause of this hope more beautifully than I can do:

"This is what you are to hold fast to yourself--the sympathy and companionship of the unseen worlds. No doubt it is best for us now that they should be unseen. It cultivates that higher perception that we call 'faith.' But who can say that the time will not come when, even to those who live here upon earth, the unseen worlds shall no longer be unseen?"

The experience at Ballardvale, added to the convictions of my Christian faith, gives me not only a feeling of assurance about the future, but a sense of adventure toward it too.

[SeekerSA]

I heard a story that in the time of Christian persecution in the USSR, folk would go to the woods to fellowship and worhip.  They always saw angels encamped around them and could even converse with them.  One day the agels warned them of a patrol and they hid, the angels apparently also did something and teh patrol passed by.

After the USSR fell and folk were again allowed to worship publically, the angels were no longer seen, but they still felt their presence.

Blessings