8-Ascension and Enlightenment

There is a growing New-Age belief that the world is entering a “new paradigm” and is about to ascend into a higher evolutionary dimension. This “quantum shift” will takes us to unprecedented spiritual heights and we will soon be walking on a transformed earth as gods and goddesses. Well, at least some of us, not everyone…..!! Really? For some of you this may sounds outrageous, still for others, I know it is an enduring hope. For many years I have been holding on dearly to this fable. I was working my way up to “enlightenment” and believed that sooner or later I would become an “ascended master” walking on a higher-dimensional, newly-ascended earth. While I held on to this sugar-coated version of Reality, I was complacent and unmoved to take concrete action to help change the world.

“And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (1 Timothy 4:4)

Yes, I wanted to believe that, indeed, humanity as a “collective consciousness” is ascending. I discovered this to be at best a very distorted truth. I mean, for our heart to hold on to a lie, there has to be some truth mixed into it, otherwise, if the deception is too obvious, we would just reject it.

The new age utopia of an ascended earth comes straight out of the bible. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.” (Revelation 21:1)

Scripture reveal that after the Tribulation the earth will experience a 1000 years of perfect peace in the Millennium Kingdom that Jesus will be setting up as the King and Ruler of this world. Then at the completion of the Millennium, we will receive the final and ultimate end which will be the New Heaven and New Earth , where God the Father Himself will literally be coming down to live with all of us for eternity.

Is it any wonder that the New Age teachings have distorted the most amazing beautiful revelation and promise of the end time?

This New Heaven and New Earth is going to be beyond our wildest imaginations and this truth can only be found in the sacred book of life, the Holy Word of God the Bible.

In its pages, we learn that our earth as we know it now and our atmospheric heaven will pass away.

In its place we will be getting a new earth and a new atmospheric heaven. There will no longer be any more seas. There will no longer be any more night. It will be daylight all the time. There will no longer be any sun or moon to shine their light. The Bible says that we will no longer have any need of the sun or the moon because the glory of God will now be illuminating the earth! There will no longer be any more death in any way, shape, or form. The curse of Adam and Eve will have finally been broken and completely done away with. There will also be no more pain since we will all have brand new, glorified, spiritual bodies. The Bible says that all sorrow, pain, crying, and death will be fully taken away. Every tear will be wiped away.

There will be no more sickness or disease! Our new, glorified, spiritual bodies will no longer age, corrupt, die, or be subject to any kind of disease or illness ever again.

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new. (Revelation 21:4-5)

What the new age teachings fail to mention is that the people who will survive the tribulation and enter into the Millennium Kingdom are the faithful children of God who have Jesus as their Lord, Master and Saviour.

This idea that we have to toil countless lifetimes to eventually reach a higher consciousness is like trying to find the way out of a labyrinth. I believed if I worked hard enough, I would be like God. This striving towards “a God-realized state” is a terrible egotistical condition of being that removes and separates us from the Grace of the Lord. If I believe I have the power to construct myself into a god, a separate, sovereign entity endowed with the same power as God, then I don’t need God, He is out of my life. What a dangerous place to be, indeed….!!!

This doctrine also implies that God is hard to reach, unattainable, far away and not readily available. Nothing is further from the truth……..! All that is needed to have a close, personal, fulfilling relationship with God is to recognize Him, love Him, have faith in Him and pray to receive His Grace. Fellowship and intimacy with God doesn’t mean we will become God, but it will bring unimaginable blessings. To know what my true place is, who I am and where I belong, has brought me great freedom from trying to “achieve”. It has released me from pretending to be someone else and humbled my heart to receive the greatest gift, the infinite tender love of my heavenly Father.

I have gone around and about in circles, diligently working to find God, endlessly searching, trying to become this “God-realized individual”. So many times I have been told I was a “master” in the making. While I believed I was all-powerful I was also in complete denial of who I really was. How could I not see the truth of being so easily crushed by life’s challenges? And Jesus looking upon them said to them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. Matthew 19:26

I have immersed myself in the study of countless spiritual books, experimented with many self-help recipes, subjected myself to various rigorous spiritual disciplines and practices, sat in meditation long hours, traveled out of my body and had powerful Kundalini experiences. Nowhere in any of this study or those paranormal experiences did I find God. Instead, I became a persona, thinking highly of myself, puffed up with spiritual pride. Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: Though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished. Proverbs 16:5

The search for God is a profitable business and while we are searching, practising and playing god, we don’t realize that God is right here, standing next to us and in us, waiting patiently to be acknowledge. This confusion is a great tragedy.

No doubt we are made in the image of God and God dwells in us as we choose to dwell in Him.

But when we think of ourselves as gods and goddesses, when we glorify ourselves and nature around us, above and instead of God, we remove God from our life. When we worship the creation instead of the Creator and we claim to be “co-creator”, we are essentially saying to God: “I don’t need You. I am my own creation. I am as powerful as You are. I can create my own reality.”

Yet, if a “man can receive nothing, except it have been given him from heaven.” John 3:27, why do we tend to glorify ourselves instead of humbly recognizing all that we have, absolutely everything in our life, has been given to us by God?

Just imagine for a minute, as a parent, having your child standing up to you in defiance and boldly asserting that she/he doesn’t need you and is quite capable of making it out in the world without your support. How would that feel to you when, of course, you know you are providing every single little thing for that child’s subsistence?

I believe this is How God feels when we stand in defiance like spoiled children and we insist on following our own will instead of paying attention and listening to His will for us.

This attitude of denial that God is Sovereign in our life is what brings us the trials, the pain and the misery. It is really the pain of being cut-off and separated from His loving care and protection. We are cut-off from the source of His Being and His Grace because we choose to be.

What would you do as a parent in response to the child’s rebellion as stated above?

An appropriate response is to endeavour to show the child how much he is dependant on you. If that doesn’t work, a little discipline and tough love would be the next step.

I believe this is what God is doing with each one of us, and with mankind as a whole. He is running the show, in perfect control, as sovereign of all things on earth. God is omnipotent (all-powerful) over all things and is omniscient (all-knowing) about who we are, what we think and what we do. Isn’t this a sobering thought to realize that God knows all our deeds, intimate thoughts, secret plots and actions? for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts. 1 Chronicles 28:9

But all things are of God. (1 Cor.11:12 and 2 Cor.5:18) God “worketh all things after the counsel of his will.”

God is “declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not [yet] done; saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure” (Isa.46:10)

The Lord hath made everything for its own end (Pr.16:4)

For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.(Php.2:13)

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