It's me, mike hillebrecht

Have you ever considered the real purpose of grace? What does it do beside the obvious? Why does it seem to matter to mankind more than to God?

That last claim probably tweaked your theological sensibilities a bit. And there is a reason for that. Wherever there is the presence of lack, real or perceived, then a “tendency” is manufactured to level the differences so all parties are able to maintain homeostatis. “Tendency” runs a gambit of conditions from mental health to economic health, social wellness to physical well-being. If there is a “lack” in any area, grace fills the void, right? Really? Hold that thought for a moment.

God is omni. It is a term which means, “all.” Omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent. All-powerful, all-knowing, all-present. When you use the term “all” there is no possibility to leave anything out, or to be lacking. This also makes God omnist – one who believes in all religions.

Israel recognized that there is only one God. Theirs was, and still is, a monotheistic faith. The Christian narrative developed out of this tradition and still claims after 2,00 years the validity of this God who is one with all and in all. One with omni and in omni.

You might not have considered how being Omni does have a limitation associated with it. Try as you may to find this limitation, the overwhelming nature of Omni eclipses this weakness and yet, it is the driver behind the very nature of God declared throughout the New Testament writings: God is love. Love is not the limitation – being in the relationship is.

Allow me to demonstrate this point for a moment. Presently, there are over 7 billion people in the world. How many of them do you NOT have a relationship with? Obviously, you don’t know about them just as they don’t know about you, so having any kind of relationship beyond a cursory one would be monumental on your part. The sheer quantity is the overwhelming factor to the limitation to your finite body/mind.

The Omni God, however, does know each and every one of the inhabitants of His creation. The love which abundantly flows from Him is equally portioned and available to each person regardless of…

But they don’t know Him. They don’t know He is with and within them. He is All and yet not if they, you, and me don’t acknowledge Him.

Scientists have posited that a thing only exists if it is observed. Until the observer turns its attention toward the thing, it doesn’t coalesce. You may not believe this to be true, however, who has turned their eyes upon you to allow you to make such a contradiction of thought valid? Who is able to look upon ALL as an expression of love for just being in a relationship?

All of us have at one time or another been in a relationship which went in a direction we had not foreseen or desired. We’ve taken every step to purge all the memories of this ill-fated bond and moved on with life. Out of sight, out of mind. Then one day, quite unexpectedly something triggers you. It could be a word, a song, a smell, a date on the calendar, a book on a shelf, just something innocuous causes a flood to capture your thoughts about this person who you have believed you had forgotten. Suddenly there IS the relationship.

In the fog of your chaotic thoughts, grace is the lighthouse beacon pointing you from the shoals of despair and depression. It is the reminder that the sun is still shining above the haze and will penetrate this moment too. Your course and destination are not in what you think you see but what you know to be true at the heart of your spirit. Herein is the residence of the divine you, ALL of You.

Grace allows you to move onward through forgiveness not ignorance. Many believe they can ignore a matter and proceed forward in whatever endeavor they have embarked upon. They naively believe that since they don’t have to think about the OTHER involved in this matter, there are not conditions which will dictate their advancement.

If you want to limit an omni-god, don’t forgive. Then see how this works out for you.

I have been on this journey of grace long enough to have deconstructed all of my previous indoctrinations and form a belief founded on genuine divine encounters with serious meditation and contemplation. As much as I dislike making that claim due to the pompous nature it portrays, I know of no other manner presently to introduce the material which follows.

In the previous posting where I spoke about the grace to believe I indicated that having beliefs of any sort are neither right or wrong but merely evolving as we enter into our high calling. Recognizing that all beliefs are inherently weak because we create them to enable us to navigate through the struggles of life grace fills in the places we can’t anticipate or refuse to consider vital.

I am often pressed about what I do believe. This is a difficult position to be place in each time it arises simply because I recognize how those who are asking are seriously searching for answers to the questions in their lives which their current belief patterns can’t resolve. It is also challenging because anything I offer has been processed in my life through the events in my life and may not directly apply to them at this time. So typically, I just offer snippets which are designed to provoke thought and permit them to continue the process of inquiry with me as they so desire keeping in mind the old adage, “A teacher will appear when needed.”

What follows are snippets to my beliefs. I assure you that you will be challenged by what at first glance may be called heretical teachings. This does not bother me in the least. Heretic simply means a person who doesn’t espouse or follow the approved narrative. If this doesn’t describe Jesus, then why shouldn’t I receive the same level of honor. Buckle up. It’s about to get real.

1. The Omni God

Start with the beginning. Who is God? God is Love. Everything flows from this and this alone. Grace is the power of this love. When you declare how God is omnipotent, all-powerful, you are expressing the wonder and magnitude of His grace. When you declare God to be omnipresent, all-present, you cast down the vain thoughts of how God is up there, out there away from your daily activities and trials. And when you declare God to be omniscient, all-knowing, you accept how God being with you daily knows everything about what you face, and because of His love, deeply desires to help you. “I will never leave you nor forsake you” is absolute truth. Meditate on this until your knower can’t argue anymore.

2. The Habitation of God

God inhabits all of His creation. It is His word which brought it forth and it is His word which sustains it and keeps it. There is not one thing visible or invisible which is not a creation of His word. Accept that you are also a component of His creation. Wherever the word resides, the Creator abides. There has NEVER been a moment in the entire scope and passage of creation where the Creator, The Ground of All Being has not dwelt therein. The same yesterday, today and forevermore.

3. Oneness

As Jesus is one with the Father, so are you. You don’t suddenly become one with the Father by some confession. You have always been one. If you can’t fathom this possibility, see item 2.

4. Christ is not Jesus’s last name

Jesus is first and foremost a man. He was conceived, born, lived and died as a mortal. He experienced all the trials, tribulations, joys and pleasures open to mankind. He is no different from you and me. He ate and drank, had to relieve himself afterwards, and then went to bed only to arise and begin it all over again. The Christ is the revealed power from God which resides within. The Christ expresses the will of the Father for humanity. You are every much the Christ as Jesus is.

5. Jesus did not come to be a sacrifice for our sins.

Jesus stated quite clearly that he did not come to abolish the Law but to complete it. When He proclaimed at the cross that it was finished, the Law was completed in Him. The Law clearly states that the sacrifice for sins is made through a goat on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, a yearly ritual conducted by the high priest in the fall. Jesus was crucified and died on the eve of the Passover; a yearly spring festival described in the Law. As the Lamb of God, Jesus fulfilled the sacrificial requirement specified in the Law. As the Passover sacrifice Jesus came to give us life and that life more abundantly just as the lamb had for the Hebrew children on the last night in the land of Egypt.

6. The second coming of Christ is you.

Many believe that Jesus will return one day. If they mean the man, this is highly circumspect. If they mean The Christ, He has been returning at every birth upon this planet. Regrettably, the majority of people on this planet cannot fathom this. The Jews were expecting a warrior king for their messiah when Jesus arrived. Today the religious world is looking for the same thing. Since He never changes why do we think he will come as something different from what he has already displayed? We grapple with the Holy Spirit coming upon all humanity while believing in a warrior god of our own imagination. It’s time to go within to our Self to see anew what it means to be You.

7. The Ten Commandments have been taught wrong

Jesus proclaimed a kingdom of God principle which many overlook. He stated that the first shall be last and the last shall be first. The first words given to Moses which established the corpus of The Law in Jewish history are a directive toward humanity to right the misfortunes cast upon humanity by Adam and the woman. The transgression of the woman stemmed from her desire. The result for following her desire was the expulsion of both her and Adam from the garden. When the Ten Words are read in reverse order, they fully explain the journey which occurs when inordinate desires are followed. The remaining 603 laws are simply an extension of the ten when viewed in this manner.

8. Eternal Torment is a projection of an inflated ego.

If you think that you or someone you know will spend the entire span of eternity being tormented because of some transgression which occurred, then you have control issues! Are your parents still beating you because you spilled milk as a child? If they are then they have control issues too! What about “God is Love” and “the same yesterday, today and forevermore” that you do not understand?

9. But the bible says…

Reading and writing is a luxury which the people of the bible longed for. What is commonplace for us today was a great rarity during the time of Jesus and Paul. Jesus would say, “You have heard it said…but I tell you…” simply because the people couldn’t read let alone even write. The greatest mystery of Jesus today is what he wrote in the dirt with the woman caught in adultery. The writer of this incident didn’t reveal it probably because he couldn’t read it and subsequently couldn’t convey it to the scribe who wrote the story he told it to. If you are compelled to accept only a literal interpretation of the bible, you are setting yourself up for trouble. Grace, here more than anywhere else in life, is what you have to employ to define what your actions will be as declared in this book.

10. The Enemy is your projection not something from God.

Jesus said that we are to love our enemy. God loves our enemy just as much as us. God doesn’t have enemies. God does have a satan which looks like you and me, but He never made the satan or the devil. If you want to dispute this with the story of a fallen angel, then read the book of Enoch where the story originally came from. If you still feel compelled to stick with this because of a revelation someone said they had then you need to look at their projection and ask where they a copying it from to take credit for it. The simplest way to refute this is simple to ask, “Does God see them as an enemy?”

11. All religion today is simply a rehash of someone else’s thoughts trying to understand the mystery of God in their life.

Welcome to the journey. They didn’t have the answer then just as you don’t today. Handle their revelation lightly as you cling tightly to what the Father unveils to you. There is freedom in the kingdom of God to allow you to explore the goodness it offers. When you feel constrained and limited in your walk it simply means that you’re following the traditions of man. Turn back within and rely on Self to move you back onto the path of your high calling.

This list is not exhaustive by any stretch. I’m fairly certain many of you will be challenged by what I have conveyed. The last thing I am asking you is to believe what I have expressed. These are beliefs I have because of the life I have experienced. They are not carved in stone but are composed on a heart which relishes the Presence of what I Am is offering. Grace wafts throughout undergirding them with the Love of The Ground of All Being. Since God is no respecter of person you have the same luxury to explore your beliefs as I do. You have nothing to lose except your shackles and prison clothes.

In case you haven’t discovered it yet, I am a “grace” guy. I function entirely through the realm of grace. As a matter of fact, so do you – whether you believe it or not. This is what I am going to tackle in this writing: Belief, believing and ultimately, how it matters.

Today, very few people believe in, or even on God. I recognize that many who are reading this may take exception with this statement, but I make this claim even to you simply because what in fact you believe is what has been handed down to you from relatives and the institutions with their creeds and doctrines which were handed down to them.

To have a belief that makes you a believer is to have an experience which has penetrated to the very core of who you are. This experience by divine intervention is foundational to your character and cannot be changed.

There is a whole world of people out there who have created their beliefs from great amounts of study and reflection – but no experience. I don’t mean that they haven’t tried the things they have studied but that they haven’t had the Experience of the Presence to either validate or invalidate their assumptions. Many have lived entire lives devoted to a premise which is completely devoid of any truth whatsoever and have even championed this ignorance onto the following generations.

I’ll be the first to admit that I lapped up their “insight” and puffed up my chest as testament to acquiring the “sacred knowledge” they espoused. I felt empowered to take the teachings and scatter them as the true seeds of kingdom revelation expecting the appropriate harvest. They never manifested a 30/60/100 fold return simply because they got choked out by the vines and thistles from prior broadcasts created to restrict and inhibit believing.

And yet there is grace. Consider how the Apostle Paul, who through the divine revelation which was imparted to him and subsequently elevated him above even the first disciples in understanding what Jesus accomplished, had to deal with what he called “a thorn in the flesh.” Anything which pricks, pokes, and prods the flesh jointly pricks, prods, and pokes at the thoughts and beliefs held in the mind. Entreating God for relief, Paul hears, “My grace is sufficient for you; for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”

Read this carefully: We are no better or different from Paul. Our thoughts and beliefs are covered by grace. We all have different beliefs about a variety of things, some of which at first blush might seem contradictory to the orthodoxy called Christianity. Yet, grace is liberally applied to them all simply because these thoughts and beliefs are our weakness. This even applies to those who refuse to believe in God!

I hope that you have the maturity to understand how the thoughts and beliefs I am referencing to here are not in any fashion limited to God and His kingdom. All thoughts and beliefs are covered. Until you are capable of accepting your divine nature, your thoughts will always be the weakness which grace covers in order to make you strong.

So, the question of how does this matter is eventually going to arise. Our beliefs are created. They are created by the events in our lives and they reflect what we have experienced and accepted as valid representations of who we have determined to be our “true” self. Because I need to place quotation marks around the word true should indicate how this is not a reality but a manufactured result on our part. As Solomon would respond, “.. this too is vanity.”

Because we fail to recognize and accept our true Self, grace covers us in our effort to express who we truly are. This applies not only to us but to those around us who are experiencing the exact same thing. All of humanity is going through this daily and grace is working for each one.

There are certain groups of people who have determined how their beliefs are the absolute final truth for all mankind. They are staunch adherents to a mindset they believe is God ordained. When this group meets a different group who is as adamant in their beliefs as them there is often conflict about the “rightness” of their belief. Neither of these groups is willing to accept how grace covers the weakness each standard of belief has.

If you have done any in depth study on the original teachings of the Christian faith and how they have evolved over the course of two millennium you would recognize how many tenets have morphed as more and more study has been applied to the basic precepts. While there are those adherents to these flights of religious fancy, each one fails to accept that grace is intentionally covering their weak understanding so that they may one day enter into the absolute truth which eludes them.

The apostle Paul has said how “…we are looking through a glass darkly.” We profess to know the truth and are willing to sacrifice everything to it without having known the Presence of the Truth. Hopefully, now, you can recognize the beauty of grace to believe. It might appear admirable to claim how your belief is the one true faith until you meet another who espouses an even greater conviction. Neither is right or wrong but merely evolving towards the high mark of our calling. A calling enveloped in grace.

Can world events change a revelation about God’s character? In this final installment to a series of articles where I’ve been briefly examining history and how the American Revolution restored the gospel of grace to the world I’m going to uncover the deception we’ve been living under through our ignorance.

A Revelation Withheld

Even in the aftermath of a successful revolution, the traditions of man still have made the word of God ineffectual (Mat 15:6) and compromised the message of grace to align with man-made beliefs. Consider the previous statement of grace in light of a new paradigm based on a revolution over the kingdoms of man.

Grace(1) is the unmerited favor(2) of God. It is His undeserved(3) love(4), mercy(5), and kindness(6) that He gives(7) to us freely. It is a gift(8) from God that we cannot earn or deserve(9).

1. Grace is represented here as the animating power of God love which springs from His throne by every word which comes from His mouth. (Heb 4:16)
2. Favor is a characteristic from the ancient Greek meaning of “charis” which is transcribed as the word “grace” in the bible. In the kingdoms of man, favors from the king were always given as a matter of merit to the king and subsequently bound those who received the favor with their full allegiance to the king.
3. This word modifies the nature of the words which follow. It demonstrates bias. See item 9 as to how this is addressed.
4. Love is not undeserved if the character of God is love (1 John 4:8)
5. The question which must be asked is if whether mercy can ever be undeserved? Mercy is a legal remedy to a justice system based on good and evil. In a kingdom functioning solely on grace, compassion, not mercy is the remedy to all circumstances and it is always deserved.
6. As with love and mercy, can kindness be undeserved? Kindness in this depiction can be seen as being able to be withheld. Kindness under the movement of grace can never be withheld and is rather a manifestation of grace in action.
7. Grace is giving – period. It is always in operation.
8. In ancient Greek thinking gifts were always associated with the nature of grace. “Reciprocal giving” best describes how the Greeks understood charis.
9. “Earn or deserve” are characteristics of man-made kingdoms. God as a Creator who is Love can never withhold His Love from anything, for once He does, all creation ceases to exist. God is impartial to all; hence we all deserve His grace, which comes without measure, simply by being a product of his Love.

Hopefully you can see how these positions are often missing in any discussion on the grace of God. Some could claim how this lack might be intentional in order to maintain control over the ignorant, however, I am more likely to accept how traditions have been handed down without considering their validity to reality. It is easy to follow the crowd of generations past. A revolution however shook the very foundation of those generations. It created a new footing, a surer foundation based upon truth from a divine realm which hasn’t shifted through the wiles of man.

While we have been inundated by professions of belief in all things relating to God, it is the kingdom of grace which has been most frequently hidden like the pearl of great price. While it has surrounded us throughout all time, and was spoken frequently of during the time of Jesus, it has only been clearly revealed through the refining fire of a great revolution. We must remain committed to keeping this truth from being compromised by powers which seek to re-establish dominance through a select few while ushering in a new religion devoid of God and devoted to ignorance for all.

Revolution Refines a Revelation – Introduction

Revolution Refines a Revelation – Part 2

Revolution Refines a Revelation – Part 3

Can world events change a revelation about God’s character? In this series of articles I’m briefly examining history and how the American Revolution restored the gospel of grace to the world.

The Kingdom Message of The Church

I need you to recognize how at this moment, as you read this article, you are only able to do so because of events which happened within the founding of this nation. For all that I have expressed so far, the majority of people (99.5%) in those experiences could neither read nor write. The letters the Apostle Paul wrote to the churches he founded, were often written by another in the language of those people and then read to those churches. It was extremely rare to find an individual who was capable of reading and writing in the native language. This is why Jesus proclaimed that direct revelation would be the basis for his church. People couldn’t read about the church of Jesus from the writings of an expert. They had to believe that God would reveal it to them.

As noble a thought of direct revelation from God might appear to the masses it was corrupted by the dealing of a State apparatus seeking to retain and strength the power over the populace. Hence, any language expressed about the nature of a heavenly kingdom would be framed in expressions which supported the present conditions familiar to the people. There is no inherit difference with the nature of a human king or a divine king when you mention how grace is the unmerited favor of the monarch. Since kingdoms are defined by their conquests, there is no difference whether it is a neighboring realm or the realm of darkness. The Church merely became an intermediary to the nature of kingdom influence by employing divine linguistics as a mediating tool to the masses.

The Kingdom Message by Revolution

Up until the American Revolution the message of the Kingdom of Heaven changed very little except to instill greater penalties upon the fallen human condition before an all-powerful deity. The mention of grace was uniquely offered to only those who were the worst of the worst (according to the dictates of The Church) and solely with a contrite heart towards the kingdom’s premise. The following description has been a common depiction of what grace is:

Grace is the unmerited favor of God. It is His undeserved love, mercy, and kindness that He gives to us freely. It is a gift from God that we cannot earn or deserve.

This is more than likely how you have understood grace for your entire life. However, this description is bound to the construct of all man-made kingdoms. When the American Revolution occurred, the true nature of a heavenly kingdom became apparent to those who had eyes to see and ears to hear. Thomas Jefferson penned a heroic claim in the Declaration of Independence which many today simply do not comprehend:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Never in the course of human history had mankind ever been recognized as being equal in position or stature with others. Nor had any rights been recognized as assigned by the Creator upon all humanity. In every instance prior to the revolution, kings, emperors, dictators, and rulers had direct control upon the condition of their subjects. The difference in classes was most prominent within the kingdoms of the world. If you weren’t the ruler, all cowered to the power the sovereign held over them. That power determined the issues of life, liberty, and happiness upon all. To be “in the good graces” of the king made life bearable, while “being out of the good graces” of the king put a bounty on your head, and possibly your entire family.

The Declaration of Independence redefined what it meant to be in relationship to God. God as Creator shifted the focus of mankind to the effect He holds on the entire world rather than just a small portion of it. “Unmerited favor,” “mercy,” “gift which isn’t earned or deserved” became terms unbridled to the bounds of the character of a few select men and their institutions.

Revolution Refines a Revelation – Introduction

Revolution Refines a Revelation – Part 2

Can world events change a revelation about God’s character? In this series of articles I’m briefly examining history and how the American Revolution restored the gospel of grace to the world.

Quelling the Masses

Riots, revolts, and rebellions are the tools to liberation. However, they are also the nightmares of every ruler. Keeping people pacified has been the top priority for every nobleman throughout history. Some were better at it than others.

One of the means to appeasing the hearts of the minions was found in their devotion to their gods. As long as you permitted people to worship their god in the manner their customs dictated, the people were more supple in how you could repress them.

When the governing body adhered to a particular religious devotion, the State claimed divine authority in all its actions. States then began to incorporate themselves into the rituals of devotees to secure their dominion over the people while professing their allegiance to a supreme deity.

From church to The Church

During the Roman Empire, all the people of the conquered lands were allowed to worship their own god so long as they recognized the divine nature of the emperor. In the land of Judea where the Hebrew people worshipped YAWEH there arose the man Jesus of Nazareth who spoke of another kingdom – a kingdom of Heaven, the kingdom of his Father.

On a particular journey into the countryside around Caesarea Philippi with his disciples, Jesus asked them who they thought he was. When Simon said that he was, ”…the Christ, the son of the living God.” Jesus declared,

And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. (18) And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Mat 16:17-18)

The writer of this gospel has Jesus using the Greek word “ekklesia” for “church.” This word roughly translated means “the called-out ones.” Its origin within Greek society had to do with the nobles and freemen of the individual Greek states who were called out to administrate the civil rules of the land. According to Jesus his “called-out ones,” the freemen and nobles of his kingdom who had received a direct revelation from the Father about who Jesus truly is, would be responsible for administrating the civil laws of the land.

Sidebar: The “gates of hell” in this passage is literal. There is in this area of Caesarea Philippi a cave dedicated as a Roman temple to the god Pan. This temple was founded by a Roman decree against the wishes of the Hebrew people. The inhabitants of the area called it The Gates of Hell. It was believed by the Romans who traveled the road alongside the temple that Pan would during the daytime enter the cave and descend to the underworld and come out during the night and spread havoc throughout the land. People would come and present offerings at the cave to subdue Pan’s lust as he made his exit and thereby diminish his reign of terror in the night.

During his ministry on earth, Jesus proclaimed the goodness of his kingdom to multitudes of people, Jews and Gentiles alike. Those who heard it directly from him took this to their homes and relayed with enthusiasm the message of hope and grace to all who would listen. After his crucifixion, the disciples carried the message far and wide. However, it was a message which came into conflict with the Romans.

Since the followers of the message could not be recognized as an official religion by the Roman authorities, the believers of Jesus’s church had to hide their worship from the occupiers as well as the Jewish religious system. Yet, the church grew across the Roman Empire, even into the capital of Rome where the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter would be imprisoned and executed.

Over the next 400 years, the believers of Jesus’s church were persecuted greatly. It wasn’t until the Roman emperor Constantine converted to the new Christian faith that the torment stopped. Almost overnight it seemed that the church of Jesus became The Church, official religious institution of an evolving empire. The Church gained status, prestige and wealth enough to be seen as a kingdom itself, one that could make or break the power structures of dynasties. Some men of learning within The Church would study the holy writings of their faith and pass on the message they discovered to the humble people they were surrounded by as a means to encourage them in their daily plight.

Revolution Refines a Revelation – Introduction

Can world events change a revelation about God’s character? In this series of articles you’ll have an opportunity to examine history and how the American Revolution restored the gospel of grace to the world.

Introduction

When John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston and Roger Sherman handed the Declaration of Independence to the members of the Continental Congress in 1776, the revolution which followed not only changed the colonies into a nation, it also impacted how scripture would be revealed to the populace. Freedom from a tyrant King now became a means to worship an eternal King in spirit and in truth. But what truth am I talking about? The truth about the grace of God and not the grace from a king or lord.

Would History Prevail

From the beginnings of human civilization all people groups have been ruled over by kings, queens, pharaohs, sultans, emperors, tsars, lords, nobleman, aristocrats, viceroys and regents. These titles were given or claimed by the few who, with great might and resources, conquered enemies, pillaged lands, plundered livestock, subjugated the inhabitants, and instituted laws which favored the ruler.

Every group of oppressed people has sought freedom from those who have held their foot on their throats. A savior, a messiah, a deliverer, a redeemer was the cry of their heart. These people beseeched their gods for the one who would break off the chains and shackles which bound them.

Across the span of history, a liberator would rise up and lead a few to their promised land only to have it conquered in future generations.  The hope of those who traveled to the New World was how they would be able to free themselves from the bonds which controlled their lives in the land of their birth. The hope for freedom to worship God in the manner they believed ordained drove many across the stormy waters to the adversity of an untamed land. Those who prevailed the passage and the native conditions created communities dedicated to the freedom of worship unlike the land of their ancestors.

However, the long arm of the monarch could not be outrun forever. Royal houses clamored to grab all they could in the New World and then subjugate all who resided therein. Those who would have no part in their royal conquest moved deeper into the hinterlands to retain their freedom. Those who remained nurtured the ember of freedom they had experienced hoping for the day when passion would ignited the fiery flames of liberation.

In the previous post it was revealed how the second posting in this series was not written by me but rather was generated by an artificial intelligence program. I fed this program the following information in order for it to generate the content: The title; keywords of grace, ego, level of consciousness, and David R. Hawkins; and the subheadings. I also had it review the first posting in this series to recognize my writing style. I entered these few items, and the result of the second posting, which henceforth I will refer to as the “AI-posting,” is what it produced. Only thing I added to the content was the opening paragraph which declared that what was being read was part of an experiment.

Context or Content

Technology these days is moving rapidly to the point where machines will be handling the “menial” work leaving humans with time to devote their lives to…

That phrase is pure propaganda. So is the second posting in this series. The question is are you able to distinguish it as such or are you following the herd?

The purpose of propaganda is to create a narrative which shapes context about reality and then floods the senses with content to support the narrative. The unsuspecting masses believe that what they are consuming is truth and blindly follow whatever is being promoted. When this process is viewed through understanding the levels of consciousness, the purpose and techniques all fall below level 200 which is defined as integrity.

According to Dr. Hawkins, the levels below 200 all require force to maintain themselves. This force can be physical but many times it is psychological. Many tyrants and even institutions operate below 200 simply due the need to control the populace. The use of propaganda is to create first a specter of fear and then develop a means to overcome the fear which is under the control of the person who initiated the message to begin with.

Controlling Grace

If there is one issue I have taken great efforts to debunk on this site from the very beginning is the narrative which has been handed down to us over millennia about grace being the “unmerited favor of God.” The AI-posting leads off with this in the first subheading:

Grace is defined as the free and unmerited favor of God, the disposition to or an act or instance of kindness, courtesy, or clemency.

This is the classical definition that religion has been promoting since the times of Noah. It views God as an up-there, out-there deity who seeks to punish the entire world for being “sinners” but is willing to offer a reprieve from any judgment as a show of his grace as a kind ruler. Does any of this sound like an integris claim? If God is Love (level 500) then why does this description shriek more like the pride (level 175) of a despot?

On the Level

The consciousness level of integrity is the demarcation line of where actions require force or actions demonstrate power. Pride, greed, shame, grief, fear, desire, anger, and apathy are all lower levels of consciousness which reside below the level of integrity. Within these lower levels force must be employed to hold onto these thought patterns not only in yourself but within a social structure. This is the realm of ego.

This is the claim I made in the first post of this series. I recognize how introducing the model of levels of consciousness to many people of the religious persuasion can cause an immediate rejection because of the claim that this type of material is “not spiritual.” This is often more an expression of pride – spiritual in thought, but pride none the less. My only rebuttal, even if I needed to provide one, would be how such a response is evident of thoughts operating below the level of integrity.

We are all spiritual beings traveling through a human experience. Below level 200 is where the human predisposition for survival is fully expressed by the ego. Once level 200 is crossed, the ego begins its steady regression from first position to second position as the spiritual nature moves to the forefront.

Since this series is about what I see to be the demise of grace, my focus will be bringing attention to those thoughts and attitudes which are bound to the ego-mind which functions below the 200 level of consciousness. I recognize that many of you might already be above this level, however, allow this to be reminder of the potential traps all of us can enter into if we should slip below the mark of integrity.

In the next posting I will finish the expose on the AI-posting by looking at how it plays to the ego by demanding a level of consciousness it hasn’t achieved. Moving forward and upward…

The last posting was an experiment. It was designed to see how you would react to what the message was promoting. The responses, while few in number, were revealing in many ways. But how does this experiment portray the demise of grace? How do the responses also fall into this demise status?

The Back Story

Recently I met with a few intrepid spiritual sojourners in our weekly workshop. On this particular evening we were presented with the following video as a point of discussion. I recommend you watch it before proceeding forward.

I had only become aware of this technology days prior and only in a passing manner. So, while I knew what it was about, I was stunned by the depth in which it could and had been employed.

The was much discussion which followed covering a breadth of territory which only a subject like this could spark. At the end of the evening, it was pretty clear that we all agreed that no matter how far this technology goes, how will those who will be the ones driving this content be monitored and policed, if required.

Leveling Up

In the first article of this series, I stated my intention as follows:

My intention is to move us into the higher levels of consciousness beyond the level of integrity. As I proceed with these writings you may find that some of the materials hit too close to home. Grace is identical at every level, but our understanding of it is often stunted by a level of thought we have never encountered before or have difficulty in accepting. Whatever result this produces within you, stay the course for the answer will be revealed to carry you higher.

Talk about levels of consciousness might seem odd to many (especially in relationship to spiritual matters) but it comes from the work accomplished by David R. Hawkins M.D., PhD. In his ground-breaking book entitled “Power versus Force.” In this study he calibrated consciousness, or thought patterns, on a graduated scale which he established from 0 to 1000. What he discovered is how at level 200, which he called the level of integrity, there is a shift in whether one functioned from a position of force or from a position of power.

It is at these higher levels where true spiritual disciplines reside. Level 1,000 is the level of Christ and Buddha; level 600 is enlightenment; level 500 is unconditional love; level 400 is reason; level 350 is forgiveness and acceptance; level 310 is willingness. Within these levels the power of the thoughts is dominate as it is released in the actions which transpire.

Examining the Experiment

If I was to summarize the content from the previous post it might read like:

Grace is defined as the free and unmerited favor of God, the disposition to or an act or instance of kindness, courtesy, or clemency. It is often thought of as a virtue and a sign of humility and respect. In today’s society, it is a rare and often overlooked concept. If we are to restore grace to our society, we must first change our level of consciousness.

Please make note of the crucial word “If” at the beginning of the summary declaration. In logic terms this establishes an “either/or” condition to the claim. Either I did or I didn’t. For your consideration, the “I” who wrote the summary is the same “I” who wrote the previous post. However, in both cases, it wasn’t me. Welcome to the world of AI!

The Next Step

In the next post I will break down what you may have thought was a human-centered writing about a topic which I have been solely promoting on this venue. I am not attempting to justify my actions in this matter, whether you deem them to be right or wrong, but simply to provide an Integris explanation from the consciousness level 200. If I’m going to explore the demise of grace, this appears to be a good place to start. Upward we go.

In light of the purpose to this series I defined in the previous post, the following is an experiment. See if you can determine the result. The answer to this experiment will follow in the next post and just might shock you.

In the modern world, grace seems to be a thing of the past. In the hustle and bustle of daily life, we are so often engulfed in our own egos and the pursuit of success that we forget to be kind to one another. But grace has not always been forgotten. In fact, it has been an integral part of human life for centuries, and its absence has been noticed in recent times.

Currently

Grace is defined as the free and unmerited favor of God, the disposition to or an act or instance of kindness, courtesy, or clemency. It is often thought of as a virtue and a sign of humility and respect. In today’s society, it is a rare and often overlooked concept. We have become so consumed with the “rat race” that we have forgotten the importance of grace and kindness. We are so wrapped up in our own desires and ambitions that we forget to show others consideration and compassion.

We are so focused on getting what we want, on achieving success, that we neglect to think of others. We are so caught up in our own worlds that we often forget to stop and appreciate the beauty of life. We fail to recognize the small moments of grace that fill our days, such as a kind word from a stranger or a helping hand when we need it most. We forget to be grateful for the people around us and the blessings we have been given.

The Demise

The decline of grace in our modern world has been noted by many. David R Hawkins, author of “Power vs. Force”, described the decline of grace as a decline in our level of consciousness. He argued that when we are focused on our own individual pursuits, we are less likely to be in tune with the needs of others. We become so focused on our own goals that we become disconnected from the world around us.

This decline in consciousness is also evident in the way we interact with one another. We are so focused on our own lives that we often forget to show grace and kindness to those around us. We become so wrapped up in our own affairs that we forget to extend a helping hand to someone in need. We are so focused on our own egos that we forget to be gracious and considerate of others.

The lack of grace in our society is not just evident in our interactions with one another, but in the way we view the world. We are so focused on achieving success and acquiring wealth that we forget to appreciate the beauty of life. We are so focused on our own pursuits that we fail to see the beauty of the world around us. We become so focused on our own ambitions that we forget to take a step back and appreciate the simple joys of life.

What is Needed

It is clear that if we are to restore grace to our society, we must first change our level of consciousness. We must become more mindful of the needs of others and be willing to extend a helping hand. We must become more aware of the beauty of life and be willing to appreciate the small moments. We must be willing to be humble and gracious, and to put the needs of others before our own.

We must also be willing to break down the barriers of ego. We must be willing to recognize the importance of humility and respect, and to be willing to let go of our own needs in order to serve the needs of others. We must be willing to put aside our pride and to be open to the possibility of grace.

Finally, we must be willing to make simple choices. We must be willing to choose kindness over ego, to make time for those we love, and to be willing to be present in the moment. We must be willing to be mindful of our words and actions, and to be willing to recognize when we are wrong. We must be willing to take a step back and recognize the beauty of life, and to choose love over fear.

Simple Choices

The restoration of grace does not have to be a complicated process. All it takes is a few simple choices. We can choose to be kind, to be humble, and to be mindful of our words and actions. We can choose to be present in the moment, to be open to the possibility of grace, and to be willing to put the needs of others before our own.

We can choose to break down the barriers of ego and to be willing to recognize when we are wrong. We can choose to make time for those we love and to be willing to extend a helping hand. We can choose to be grateful for the blessings we have been given and to be mindful of the beauty of life.

Grace is something that can be found in the simplest of moments. All it takes is a few simple choices. All it takes is the willingness to be kind and to be humble. All it takes is the willingness to recognize the importance of grace and to be open to the possibility of it in our lives.

Grace is something that we have been missing for far too long. But with a few simple choices, we can restore it to our society. We can choose to be kind, humble, and mindful. We can choose to be present in the moment and to be open to the possibility of grace. We can choose to be grateful for the blessings we have been given and to recognize the beauty of life. We can choose grace and, in doing so, make this world a better place.