An essay donated by Warren Smith.

Solomon said of God, "He has also set eternity in the hearts of men..." In our hearts we are aware that this "here-and-now" is not all that there is.

Introduction:

After a long lifetime I believe I understand the reason for my existence. I pray to God to forgive me for my misunderstanding and provide me with enlightenment. I do not wish to convert anyone from their beliefs, start a new church, or write a book. I just want to document my thoughts which might benefit other souls. I have tried to ignore the theories and influences of teachers and others, and have tried to develop my own personal philosophy independent of traditional or modern teaching and thinking.

I am an engineer who has tried to apply experience, logic, science and reason to all things. I cannot just have ‘faith’ and believe in something I do not understand or have not experienced.

Figure 1.

A short history of Mankind (with each year converted to one inch):

Billions of years ago intelligent life evolved on a planet in a galaxy far, far away on a planet called Heaven. This was at about the same time as early bacteria were developing here on Earth.

These intelligent beings are billions of years more advanced than we are. Think of how much our technology has advanced in only the last thousand years (83 feet), and then consider that these beings are at least 2 billion years (32,000 miles) more advanced than the human ape. We could not possibly understand them or their technology. They have conquered time and space. They can be anywhere in the universe at anytime. They have developed beyond material physical bodies made of flesh that can get sick and die; they have developed into immortal ‘spirits’ without restrictions of time or space. They have become so advanced that they understand God, the original creator, and some have become His servants and messengers and we call these good (God) spirits ‘Angels’. Some spirits rejected God and we call these evil spirits ‘demons’ or ‘devils’. Maybe these evil spirits came from a fiery planet called ‘Hell’.

These intelligent spirit beings can move through time and space. They can be here with us and around us at any time but since they are not physical, or they inhabit other dimensions, we cannot see them. The scientific "String Theory" of sub-atomic forces strongly suggests the existence of ten or eleven (in M-theory) space-time dimensions in the universe. I have experienced that Angels will help us when we ask God in prayer. Many times my prayers have been answered – more than could be statistically expected. One resulted in a short stay in prison. I have also experienced that evil spirits like to influence what we think and make us do bad things and even possess us. Many religions have tried to develop rituals and prayers to remove (exorcise) these evil spirits from people, objects and buildings. The Christian Bible describes how Jesus cast out demons and told his disciples to cast out devils. Demons also like to play games with us and tease us (have you ever had a ‘bad day’ when everything seemed to go wrong?), bring us misfortune and make us unhappy, make us hate, and make us reject love and goodness (‘God’) and try to block our path back to Heaven. Pray that evil spirits are kept away from you and they don’t tempt you into doing wrong. (‘…lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil...). Of course, not all of our misfortunes are due to evil spirits; most are due to quite natural occurrences such as accidents or just the frailty and limitations of our physical bodies.

But we have been given authority over demons and devils and we can order them to depart from us. Try this sometime when trouble is upon you or when you have evil thoughts: just tell the evil ones, in no uncertain words to leave you alone. Just say "f..k off devils, I believe in God!". (Whisper it quietly so others won’t think you have gone crazy). You will be surprised at what a change it can make immediately. Bad thoughts will leave you and things will seem to get better for you right away. Just try this sometime when you notice bad thoughts or bad things happening and you will immediately notice the difference it will make. Many such experiences have proven to me that these spirits do exist all around us but we have authority over them. Mankind throughout the ages and all over the world has believed in good and bad spirits – might there be a reason for this? Modern teaching is that possession by evil spirits is just a mental or physical illness such as Epilepsy, but if you have ever met an evil person or witnessed an exorcism then you will not dismiss spirits so easily.

What happened to suddenly expand the human brain over only a few thousand years? (See the sudden vertical jump on the right hand edge of figure 1). Scientists have no answer.

There is much speculation within the scientific community for this sudden expansion of the human ape’s brain. Anthropologists and evolutionary biologists usually point to things like the rise of language and tool making to explain the sudden expansion of early hominid brains. Some respected anthropologists think it was due to our need to become smart so we can catch frogs to eat. Some scientists believe that when our ancestors came down from the trees we could spend more time thinking about things instead of just swinging from branch to branch and this has caused the explosion in our brains and our intelligence over other similar apes. Question: Which came first – the larger brain or tool making and cave painting? The human brain and our intelligence have exploded in size compared to the development rate of other ape families or other animals. The brain cavity size of the average ape has changed little over the last million years. Do not mistake the tricks we can teach a dog with our intelligence or consciousness. You can teach a chimp to point to a number when he is shown a certain pattern of objects but this is not the same as human consciousness.

I believe the only answer lies in a major genetic modification to our brains by unusual external forces. We suddenly evolved from apes to humans in only a few thousand years and realized we were naked and clothed ourselves; we began painting on cave walls and to use language to communicate ideas and concepts. We were given a conscience and could understand the concepts of ‘good’ and ‘evil’. It will take the ape, our closest ‘flesh’ relative, many hundreds of thousands or millions of years to evolve to the intelligence we were suddenly given. The intelligence of our closest relative apes have not advanced much over the last 100,000 years; most other apes can still hardly write their own names (just kidding) while we have advanced so much over the same period.

Our ‘Spiritual side’:

I believe these ‘spirits’ from Heaven and Hell (or wherever) visited Earth about 50 thousand years ago and genetically modified the most advanced species they could find here on Earth to be more like themselves. We ‘inherited’ our consciousness, intelligence, imagination and creativity from genetic modifications by these ‘spirits’. They provided humans the ability to develop into spirits like themselves (Bible quote: Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness . . ." – this does not mean physical likeness since they were not physical beings). We developed into a combination of both flesh from our ape ancestors and spirit from our spirit ‘ancestors’. Our evolution suddenly jumped hundreds of thousands of years, maybe millions of years, most noticeable in the explosion in our intelligence sometimes referred to as the ‘Brain Big Bang’. Our brains suddenly expanded ("The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil . . .") so fast that the human female pelvis has yet to evolve to comfortably pass the enlarged brain of the human baby (I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth; in pain you shall bring forth children"). We still only use a small fraction of this sudden brain expansion that God, through his Angels, gave us. Scientists say we only use about 5% of our brain power. Perhaps in another million years, we will develop and learn to use this dormant brain power and become fully spiritual beings like the Angels.

We are a combination of animal ("..because he also is flesh..") and spiritual beings. Our sexual instincts came from our animal ancestors, but our Father, God, through his Angels, gave us Love and Beauty ("God is Love."). We must develop this non-animal part of ourselves (our ‘spirit’ or ‘soul’) to be able to become immortal and join the other Angels in Heaven. ("An evil spirit will not attain Heaven").

(Jesus said "…and fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul").

Our spirit (‘soul’ or ‘character’ or ‘psyche’) is constantly evolving and being developed by exercise and testing during our lifetimes. We are constantly given choices between good and evil. We are tempted by evil spirits to see if we will reject God (Good). Our spirit is tested by riches and troubles in our lifetimes to break it or make it stronger.

If our spirit proves to be strong and good then it does not die but will be reincarnated to be tested again after our mortal animal flesh dies. Only the spirit that sins and is not forgiven will die and not be reborn in new flesh. Jesus died for our sins so that we (our spirits) shall have everlasting life! Since Jesus died for our sins, our sins can be forgiven and our spirit can have everlasting life. He died for our souls. But spirits that die in sin will not have reincarnation and rebirth ("The person [soul] who sins will die" and "the wages of sin is death..."). Each of our very short (only 80 inches) lifetimes is another test for our ‘spirit’, ‘soul’, ‘character’ or ‘psyche’. Sometimes we are born into hardship, sometimes riches, sometimes black sometimes white, our spirit is tested many ways in many lifetimes to see if it will stay true to God. (Jesus said "Ye (your spirit) must be born again" and "whosoever believeth in the Son of God shall not perish, but have eternal life" and "shall be passed from death unto life". Jesus was talking about your spirit, not your flesh which must perish).

Jesus said "He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares (weeds) are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear". I believe the seeds Jesus is describing in this parable are our spirits.

Even your thoughts can affect your spirit. We can sin and destroy our soul with our thoughts (God knows what is in our hearts).

Why do bad thing happen to good people?

Why does God let little Johnny die with cancer? What are we here for? Why are some kings and some paupers? Each time we pass a test in these lifetimes and do not forsake God (good) our spirit is reborn and becomes stronger and we get nearer to returning to our home in Heaven. The evil spirits are our testers and God does not interfere with our free will or our testing. He awaits our return as Angels to Heaven.

Do you see the beggar on the street or the king in his palace? This could be you in your next lifetime. Your next lifetime is selected at random and not due to blood, location or as a punishment for your previous lifetimes. You do not bear the sins of your ancestors. Your blood is not your ‘soul’ or ‘spirit’ or ‘character’. I do not believe you can be reborn as an insect or a cow since they do not have the Holy Spirit. Help lift the spirit of your neighbor towards Heaven. Your neighbor could be you in another lifetime. Do you understand? ("Love your neighbor as yourself"). Help his spirit to love and not hate. Help each other toward Heaven and you will also be helped.

Have you ever noticed that each baby is born with his own individual ‘character’? Even the character of twins in the same household and environment can be so different. This is an indication that we are born with a pre-existing ‘character’ or ‘spirit’. You can be of good character or bad. You are constantly being tested and given the opportunity to choose.

During your first few days after birth you forget the trials and tests of your last lifetime so that your spirit can be retested without being affected by past tests. You are reborn and everything is fresh again. Your spirit is not weighed down with past troubles since this might influence your decisions in this lifetime.

Have you ever had an instant like or dislike for someone? I believe this is because your spirit does not completely forget past lifetimes and can retain a subconscious memory of previous lifetimes and can recognize other spirits and places your spirit has known. This is similar to your spirit’s memory of its original beautiful home in Heaven and its constant yearning to return.

Have you ever wondered why we find some things ‘beautiful’? Did we learn this from our parents? Did we learn at school what is considered ‘beautiful’ and what is not? Did you have to take Art Appreciation 101 at college before you could enjoy a scenic view or a beautiful sunset? Why do we like certain combinations of vibration frequencies (music)? Our genetic modifications by our spirit ‘ancestors’ also gave us a subconscious memory of the beauty of Heaven, our spiritual birthplace and the place our spirits yearn to return to. Have you ever noticed other apes staring transfixed at the beauty of a ‘heavenly’ sunset? Nor have I.

All this is beyond our present understanding. Today our best scientists still only have unproven ‘theories’ on how a simple thing like gravity works. Perhaps, if we survive, the human ape will begin to understand God in another billion years.

Posted: 2007-JUN-16
Updated 2007-JUN-16
Author: Warren Smith