Heretic
M D Wilson
AUTHOR NOTE
Genesis 2:9 ‘And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden...’
Becoming a Controversial Argument...
The voice of reason
‘Heretic’ is a radical rejection of world religion, its God; it’s Bible and gives reason why you should do the same.
This is what happened. After being an ordained minister for 18 years, trying to understand, interpret and teach the many complex levels of spirituality from the Bible, my religion’s beliefs, God and the workings of humanity to others, I came to some startling and controversial conclusions. You could say I had an epiphany. That epiphany led to uncovering a secret that could change how the world believes. It is also the reason I left the ministry. In short, God is not who we have been taught He is through world religions. The authentic God is in fact very different and if followed would change the world for the better.
The dictionaries definition of a heretic is, ‘‘one who dissents from an accepted belief or doctrine’. I have dissented and this book will tell you why.
Dedication
Many thanks to Liette Landry for her endless support of my writing passions and in believing Heretic needed to be published.
Copyright
Published By
M D Wilson
Copyright © 2012 by M D Wilson
Thank you for downloading this eBook.
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This book is a work of non-fiction. Its contents are a collection of unorthodox personal spiritual conclusions intended to inspire. Enjoy the read and please encourage others to do the same.
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Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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ISBN
978-1-105-55645-6
Chapter One
ERROR OF ASSUMPTIONS
…a terrible mistake
Quote: “How do you know so much about everything?” was asked of a very wise and intelligent man; and the answer was “By never being afraid or ashamed to ask questions as to anything of which I was ignorant. Sir John Abbot 1821-1893. Lawyer, statesman, and prime minister of Canada from 1891 to 1892
Once, while taking scuba diving lessons, I was told about a young man who went on a deep water dive. He was far beneath the dark murky water and had been down there for quite a while, when he became disorientated. Worse yet he discovered his tanks were low on air. To add to his problem the water was frigid. He decided to head back to the surface, his fins ploughing him through the gloomy deep.
Unfortunately, the direction he assumed he was going was wrong. Instead of going up to the surface he was racing down towards the bottom! He had ignored the first rule of survival for scuba divers that should have come by instinct, when disorientated under deep murky water. Keep close watch on the air bubbles from your tanks! Air bubbles always rise to the surface. All he had to do was follow them.
So what is the point of the story? This: The scuba diver had a directional problem. If it had not been for the saving hand of his diving buddy, he would have lost his life because of a wrong assumption. Humanity too has a directional problem - of the spiritual kind. We have brought ourselves to the brink of destruction because of our many ‘errors of assumptions’ about God. These wrongly assumed ideas have affected all aspects of our lives through the centuries including how we have run the planet and it has been mainly due to world religions ‘error of assumptions,’ who have directed us. Yes, humans are in desperate need of a ‘saving hand’ spiritually but it will not come by the typical means. It will only come by taking a completely different direction from what we have always assumed we should take. What is amazing about this saving change of course is that it will come from us, from you and me and not from any organization on Earth.
Yes, humanity has been thrown off its original course and has had a ‘directional problem spiritually primarily because of world religions, be they part of Christendom or some other influential world spiritual group. They have all been the carriers and promoters of what you will discover here, to be the equivalent of false teachings regarding God, teachings which have created serious spiritual errors among humanity. In fact world religions have created their most lethal parts. The purpose of this book is to expose clearly those spiritual errors and to also reveal the Authentic God, who is very different from religions brand of God.
Religions views and ideas regarding God have been wrong and those wrongs run deep within us all. It affects all parts of our personal lives, whether we have been religious or not and by extension it has affected how we run or do not run the planet. Those errors have led us to where we are now in history. It is hoped that what you are about to read in this book will be the catalyst for the greatest change humanity has ever experienced for the better good. We are talking about world spiritual reformation by unorthodox means outside of world religions constraints. You will be shown here how doable such a world spiritual reformation really is. Yes, we will be talking a lot about God but it will be a God you probably have not met yet but who you have often sensed. We will be referring to this God as the Authentic God.
Maybe in time the enlightened thoughts presented here, for world spiritual reformation might help world religions themselves to reform or maybe it will not. In the end it does not really matter for as you will see spiritual evolution has already begun outside the walls of world religion and will continue with or without them. As for you, if you have ever wondered about this thing we call ‘Truth’ and believe in a Higher Power, then you owe it to yourself to at least consider what is written here and hopefully take it to heart.
Today, world religions may each dress up differently but at their core their concepts about God are all the same and have been built upon a conglomerate of assumptions about Him that are incorrect. Their image of God is not the image of the true and Authentic God and this will be proved to you. And even though, world religions have been around for a long time that longevity does not prove correctness, reliability or true spiritual security anymore than the Titanic being claimed unsinkable was correct! The proof is in the sinking ship.
Besides exposing religions errors, and how those errors have infected humanity, this writing will also fully reveal who God truly is in character and personality. So as one thing is taken away, something else more wonderful will be given.
And before anyone may be thinking humanity does not need to rethink its concepts of God, think about religions views of God. Religions God has always been a contradictory one, unpredictable, fickle, bad tempered, vengeful, cruel in punishment, a warrior, frightening and oh yes, he is also said to love. But are not these human traits? You are going to see how religion’s God is a human kind of God with human traits and with human behaviours and weaknesses and who problem solves like a human. However, this is religions idea of God and not who the true and Authentic God is as you will be seeing. Believing that world religions ideas about God have been the correct one has manipulated humanity into a global personality not intended for them. That personality has also been a dangerous one to us and to the planet.
As for the Authentic God you will discover what He is really like. You will be shown that He is magnificent in love, a love that is far superior to religions God and that He is in fact love and what that means. The Authentic God is also peaceable in nature and does not kill and this too will be shown to you, whereas religions God does kill. In fact the Authentic God has never taken human life nor will He ever. The Authentic God also does not war and is not a warrior God nor does He inspire wars. He does not favour anyone peoples, gender, culture, or nation over another. He loves all because He is Love. Nothing is more intelligent than the Authentic God or more powerful. He created Heaven and Earth with that intelligence. He is smarter than religions God. The Authentic God does no harm - ever. Maybe these statements surprise you. Good! You are about to experience many surprises while reading this book.
Let me just say this now; if you have been able to find a measure of happiness with religions version of God you will be ecstatic with the true Authentic God. Not only will you be thrilled about finding out what He is truly like and who He truly is in all His full splendour, you will be thrilled to discover who you truly are too having been designed and created by this powerful creature and God.
The further good news we will be discussing is that it will be now that humanity’s ‘error of assumptions’ about God, will be fully exposed. That error will be replaced by purity of belief where transparency of Truth reigns. Many countless problems have been brought upon us, individually, within our families and the planet because of world religions and their twisted-up systems of beliefs. Too many spiritual contracts have been forged between humanity and their religions for better ways of life that have not been fulfilled because they have been built upon false assumptions and concepts that do not work. We are looking at the end results of those misguided ideas by the condition we now see our planet in. It has been enough! The truth is humanity has survived this long on planet Earth not because of world religions input but in spite of it! The God we have been worshipping through them and using as our holy template, for running our lives and for problem solving has been a counterfeit one. It is no wonder we have arrived to where we have and with so many problems. But this wounding damage will be undone and healed.
You can be confident such a change is coming because today, no religion of the world is as sacred as it once was. Many believe world religions have been and still are more dangerous and deadly to the planet than our present day crises with the environment, global warming, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. Many would like to see religions abolished altogether and find their presence nothing more than pretentious vehicles for intolerance disguised as God’s emissaries, like ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing’. The truth is though that getting rid of religion will not get rid of the problems they have created or their lack of spiritual insight. The magnitude of their creation permeates all aspects of life on Earth as you are about to see. Solving this problem will require planetary effort and a revolutionary plan that travels deep and begins with you and me. That plan is now in your hands.
We begin by becoming enlightened to what the ‘error of assumptions’ are that humanity has been brainwashed into believing and to be introduced to the Authentic God who I promise will be a reveal like no other. And even though world religions have had eons of time to build their spiritual monster and an equally long time to brainwash humanity into their dark ideas of God, it need not be an overwhelming problem to solve. It will be undone quickly simply by shining a light on the darkness they have created and that light has already begun to shine. It is just a matter of more people becoming aware and changing their minds from one set of loyalties to another. Let’s face it, changing a mind boils down to a few split seconds.
Yes, we can fix this. Remember slavery? Now there was a very bad idea that was condoned and promoted primarily by religion and spread far and wide. That bad idea lasted a long time. We all know that trying to remove a bad idea from the minds and hearts of people is a lot harder to do than removing anything else. More than a century after its end, we still suffer from the residuals of that one bad idea. But it did eventually change and it was eventually stopped. Yes, that bad idea was removed and it was removed by higher thought. There is a reason why ‘higher thought’ eventually wins as in the case of slavery. Higher thought contains superior power to anything else because it originates from the Authentic God the source of higher thought. After all the Authentic God is not a new God. He has always been around even if not known or seen by most. Some through time have seen and still do see Him despite everything else going on around them and Abraham Lincoln was one such man.
History shows that it was because of the higher thinking of this one man, Abraham Lincoln, who inspired others towards enlightened thought, slavery was eventually ended. That thought of his was a spiritual one. It was divinely motivated. It was one good idea that led Congress on January 31, 1865 to passing the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America proposing that slavery and involuntary servitude be illegal except as punishment for crime.
This was not just a matter of a new law being put in place it was about a new spiritual law being put into place and becoming part of the legal system.
Positive action was taken and in time won out. It demonstrates the power of higher thought and higher reasoning when put into action. We must do the same when it comes to carrying out this one good idea regarding the Authentic God and world religions. We must elevate our mind and heart into a position of higher thinking and put a different vision of God inside us and a different picture and to do so fearlessly like others who operate under the influence of higher thinking do. The fact is our present reasoning and thinking has been far from elevated. We have been treating God cruelly by enslaving His reputation and restricting it to our misinterpretations and false ideas using the very forms of worship designed to please Him and bring Him praise within world religions.
Correcting this and moving up to a higher plane of thought will not be as daunting a task as one might think. Already, millions worldwide have realized there has been something wrong with the ideas we have about God and morality. Humanity is now too sophisticated for the confusing contradictions and so called ‘mysteries’ of religions God. Religions grip on millions is barely a handhold today. Something inside us has been waving a red flag and finally we are ready to look at it! It is a very odd dilemma for the world to be in. The planet is not in trouble because of a lack of belief, like so many evangelists claim, nor is it the fault of ‘sinners’ as they also blame. The truth is the planet is in trouble because of what we have believed. To change the problems we must change what the world believes.
Some may be saying, ‘if religions are such a problem why not just remove them?’ To remove world religions would not be enough. We have to fix us first. Besides, to remove religions before they are reformed would not solve anything. They would simply regroup with the same bad ideas. Worse yet, they would then claim that their resurrection was due to God being with them. Instead we start over with our new spiritual plan without them, a plan that is superior to their proven ineffective one. The new plan has the power to `move mountains` because it will be powered by the Authentic God!
Quite frankly, religions no longer deserve the elevated position they have long enjoyed or the kind of sacred respect they demand. They are indeed accountable for humanity arriving at its ‘eleventh hour ‘of self-destruction. The heart of religions problem is that they do not know how to tell what is morally right from what is morally wrong because they do not know the Authentic God who is the measuring rod for all morality. It is time to say what needs to be said and point the finger where it must be pointed. So strap on your courage! Open your heart to the possibilities presented here. Agree or disagree. In the end the final decision this book will generate will be yours.
Chapter Two
CIVILITY
…in spite of world religions
Quote: ‘Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past’. George Orwell 1903-1950 British novelist, essayist, and critic
For the past 50 years world religion has come under closer and closer scrutiny. At the same time humanity has been moving forward in its spiritual evolution independent of them venturing out and developing other spiritual concepts of God and experimenting with these. Humanity has been awakening to deeper and more intelligent spiritual questions that world religions are not equipped to answer. It has become very noticeable that religions prime directive has always been and still is to convert people rather than to help them actually understand God or answer the deeper questions of life realistically for better living and problem solving. But converts are what keeps the treasury chests of religions full. But serious church members from the ‘flocks’ want to mean more to their religions and to God than a pay cheque or a place for social gatherings. This dissatisfaction has created spiritual restlessness worldwide and although uncomfortable and at times disruptive, is a good sign. It means we are starting to think about what we are doing, what we are supporting and above all, what we believe.
Some may protest religions stern evaluation and in its defence say that they have brought civility to the planet. They may claim that without them we would have chaos. They may say that many of the principles behind our present day laws have sprung from the Bible because of religions input even though promotion and enforcement of that ‘input ‘has often been far from godly. They say the end has justified the means. But is this true?
Perhaps some biblical principles were used as templates for the writing of a few of our laws but I do not give credit for planetary civility to world religions. After all, they do not have a great record for behaving civilly themselves and have given no evidence of being particular masters at it. Through the ages humanity has become what we consider to be civilized because of the natural progress of intellectual evolution for our species. In other words we have simply become smarter by living on planet Earth longer. We have also wanted to be civilized because we have seen from experience that being able to live a more organized peaceful life is better. It makes us happier. We like it. We have been civilizing ourselves in spite of world religions meagre input since our beginnings as spiritually cognitive beings. If the truth be really told, religious aggression through time has slowed down civility.
Yes, despite popular religious beliefs, humans are much greater than the sum of their physical parts. Considering who designed and created us, why wouldn’t we be? We have an instinct for civility and for anything else that elevates us and brings us closer to the spiritual engine that inspires and drives us – that being the One who created us the Authentic God. The reason it may not feel natural to us is because we have been systematically brainwashed over time into not knowing who and what we really are as life forms created by a powerful God. In truth, we are very capable creatures, capable of much more than what we have experienced from ourselves thus far and are able to do so without religions help.
The passing of time has shown us that much more than laws being enforced for the sake of civility, whether biblical in essence, religious, or anything else, does not guarantee civility. Much more is needed to be truly civilized. What is needed is self-awareness of who we really are as humans and in being Authentic God aware. Until we grab hold of these two main components for civility we will continue to need more and more laws, stricter punishments and larger prisons simply because we are not operating at full natural capacity.
Part of the definition for being civilized is the ability for having ‘restraint’. If we look at our over-all global picture, have we and do we reflect ‘restraint’? Certainly not! We still war, we still pollute, we still hold prejudices against gender, lifestyle, race and colour and the list goes on. But then again, so do religions around the world. We allow greed to motivate our countries actions instead of compassion when it is compassion, which identifies true civility. Then again greed and lack of compassion also describes world religions. We are a global collection of life illustrating lack of restraint and cannot see the forest for the trees to remedy the problem. We cannot see it because of our collective brainwashing put there by our systems of beliefs. They have trained humanity well by example through the ages, in how not to have restraint.
Some may protest and say that lack of civility is a ‘government’ problem and from political mismanagement and not the fault of religion but this is simply not so. Behind every country leader is a man or woman who proclaims themselves a lover of God and has some kind of religious affiliation. Who would vote in a leader who claims they are an atheist, who holds no religious affiliation or is not a believer in God? Religion and its views permeate everything, including our world leaders and this plays a major part in forming what we think is civilized.
The problem is, true civility is simply too big a job for world religions. They have had their hay day at trying but their time is now up. It should never have been their responsibility. Any good intentions they may have had are too filled with faulty methods, and limited knowledge. They have actually been a distraction from success and a deterrent from knowing the True and Authentic God and it is this God who is the originator of what is civilized.
Besides training humanity to be weak in restraint and therefore weak in understanding the core nature of what it means to be civilized, religions have also taught us to have a poor view of ourselves. They tell us we are sinners only good enough to meet God on bended knees begging for mercy because we are worthless creatures who are inclined towards bad things first, stupid in reasoning and lacking commonsense, therefore what else can we expect from ourselves? But this has been a human evaluation of who we are strictly for religious control over us. It certainly is not how the Authentic God sees us. After all, we are products of His design and are in no way weak! We are much stronger and more capable than religions have led us to believe and this too you will discover here.
Civilization is a story that must be grown and told by each one of us personally after we have come to know who the true and Authentic God really is. Without this knowledge it is a matter of hit and miss, trial and error as it has been to date. True civility is not something that can be dictated to us for it limits its power. We must submit to the originator of civility, the Authentic God, who is very different from religions branding of God and civility.
Once awakened to the Authentic God humanity will begin to see what and why we have so many global problems and how better to redirect our focus and change for the better. We will begin to see who God is and also who we are. Suddenly, with enlightened awareness we will be spiritually conscious of our divinely programmed predisposition for what is civilized from the heart. To become conscious in this way will open a new door to spiritual relearning and to a different kind of listening and to a glorious new world. We will begin to hear the peaceable voice of our own natural spiritual instincts. No more will it be drowned out by miss-guided religious teachings and sentiment. No more will we be controlled by religious threats, terrorized into submission by their improper image of God, manipulated by unreasonable guilt or have our humanity degraded. We are special creations of God and are not special creations of religion or anything else human. We are powerful and we are free!
Chapter Three
THE BAD BOOK OF GOD
…the bible
Quote: ‘We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.’ Albert Einstein 14 March 1879 - 18 April 1955 Theoretical Physicist
I call it, ‘The Bad Book of God’, because of how badly it has been misinterpreted and misused! It is the ‘book of 1000 interpretations’. It is of course the Bible. A book as prominent as the Bible and held in such esteem by so many and for so long, whose interpretations are uncountable in numbers, merits discussion. It is impossible to address humanity’s ‘errors of assumptions’ regarding God without taking a good hard look at how the Bible has been used to acerbate the problem. Whether deserved or not, the Bible continues to influence people for better or worse and more often for the worse. It has been praised as the world’s greatest salvation and as a weapon for mass destruction. It has held generations of humanity captive under its spell.
The Bible has been used for centuries, to orchestrate the planets history; its belief systems, how it is run, its actions and has moulded directly or indirectly the life-styles of individuals as well as complete nations. Yet, unbelievably the majority of those who have been moulded by it and have confessed it as their mainstay for faith have never actually read it from cover to cover or even in its bits and pieces. Imagine! Many past and present have died or taken lives in wars fought in the name of God from what someone has told them came from the Bible, without actually having read or researched it personally. The sad thing is to fight a war, any war, in the name of God as you will learn later, is a misconception. So then, how has it happened that millions have been manipulated by, beguiled by and even died for a book they have never read?
Think about this. Who would think of joining a book club and enter a discussion that includes giving their opinion on a book they had not read? How would they look to the other club members? I invite you to run your own survey. Pick a church that is empting out after a Sunday service and ask the people coming out of it how long they have belonged to the religion they are supporting and then ask them if they have read the Bible from cover to cover. You will be surprised at the answers.
What also makes the Bible interesting is that there is actually no single Bible. What is called the Bible is made up of individual books. Depending on the religious denomination belonged to it could range from 5 books long to 81 books long. What is added to make up a Bible or not added to it depends upon what is considered by the religion using to be useful, but not necessarily divinely inspired. For Christians the Bible is generally 66 books long. The Bible has multiple authors’ spanning through centuries. The first list of books to make up a Bible is said to have occurred AD 382. The Bible has since been translated into thousands of languages.
The Bible is a book primarily about one nation of people, the Jews, their history, their perceptions of God, and how they interacted with the nations of people around them. Whether or not it was or is a book that should be embraced by all humanity is debatable. Certainly there are some good things and wisdoms about the Authentic God that can be gleaned from the Bible but only once He is known, otherwise He is hard to detect. The Bible is also more about the workings of humanity than it is about the true workings of God.
Regardless of the curious facts surrounding the Bible, the major forms of world religions, the most of which are not Jews, adhere to it in its entirety or in part. Together these ones make up nearly 60% of the worlds religious population. They are composed of all Christian religions, be they Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox religions and Anglicans, as well as the non-Christian ones such as the Islam religion and Judaism. There are also hundreds of other religions, considered to be more minor ones and not typically included in statistics, but who contain millions of followers that adhere to the Bible. The rest of those religions who do not officially use the Bible as their religious mainstay, hold it in high regard, incorporating its spirit, principles and moral standards into their daily life styles and forms of worship. Some experts estimate that the Bible has been printed approximately five billion times since 1815! Let’s face it; this has been a book with clout!
But has that clout really been earned and has it helped us find God better or become better people? Not really. It has become abundantly clear that being trained up in it has not brought the desired results its promoters have promised it would. The endorsement of support the Bible has received has been off balance to its genuine benefits to humanity. It also continues to be advertised by people who have not read it fully nor verified that it’s preached upon platforms are valid, trustworthy or true! The Bible has also gained much of its support by centuries of coerced loyalties, both physical and psychological. Today, we still darn not challenge the Bible but we do not know why we darn not to. This is because we have been conditioned not to from babyhood, century after century! Fear has been a big part of that conditioning because too often good things do not come to those who challenge the Bible!
Considering the Bibles history in how it was written, it’s number of authors, the questionable backgrounds of some of those authors, the only gender of the authors used, the era the books were written in, the political climates under which they were written, the cultural influences, it’s numerous and less than perfect translations, the quantity of hearsay that makes it up, it’s gross lack of proof and the eons of tampering, humanity should be on high alert when it comes to making it their one and only journey to God. More importantly the contents of the Bible should not be the only thing someone stakes their eternal life on. If something is truly from God, as Bible promoters claim it is, it should be organized, consistent, non-contradictory and there should be no guess work involved in understanding it yet there is. Remember, whatever the Authentic God puts His hand too should not have flaws and the Bible is filled with them.
As most will agree, God is a Supernatural Being with a perfectly organized mind, the holder of wisdom, intelligence and power beyond comprehension, who designed and built the Heaven’s and the Earth. He does not make mistakes. If He was responsible for the Bible it would be clear, especially in regards to humanity’s eternal life and there would be no debate and yet there is plenty of debate. In fact, each religion and church has its own debate on the issues of how to please God in order to gain eternal life. The Bible itself, has, at the hands of its writers, misrepresented God horribly in this regards and humanity’s misinterpretations have added to that horror. The question is what really have we been doing to ourselves with this collection of books we call the Bible? What have we believed? What have we been condoning with it?
Personally, I came to the conclusions I have in Heretic, only after reading the Bible from cover to cover many times. It was its lack of genuine Divine Truth that helped me to eventually find that Truth but I found it outside what biblical training had impressed upon me. If anything, the Bible proved to me what not to believe anymore! I had to read it many times though before I would allow myself to believe what my own eyes were seeing and my own heart was realizing. And being a minister at the time you can well imagine my struggle.
Before that first cover to cover reading of the Bible, I had previously thought that maybe Truth had eluded me because it was like trying to find the ‘fountain of youth’, something that was a fable and not real. In my mind, if there was such a thing as Truth, it should be freely and easily understood, without open ended interpretations, it should be free from contradictions, mysteries and confusion. This was my personal code for recognising it. So since I had not come upon it and my formulae for recognising it had not yet materialized, I assumed it was my failing and that perhaps it did not look like I expected it to. Others were saying Truth did exist and they said they knew what it was, and that I was simply looking in the wrong place. They were those from religion pursuing a convert. So I converted and began to study their book of truth, the Bible.
However, in the end, without knowing it back then, my ideas of what Truth should be like were correct even before I had been convinced to immerse myself in religious pursuits. If I had kept following that original train of thought I would have actually come upon it. My original spiritual instincts had been the correct ones. Honestly, in hindsight, my affiliation with religion distracted me away from the correct track I had already been on. As I discovered later, after leaving my ministry and my religion, Truth was indeed easily understood, free from contradictions, mysteries and confusion. Yes, my years of religious Bible training, waylaid me from those first instincts but also got me back on track too.