Dalai Lama Reading the Dhammapada in Sankisa, India

Sankisa, UP, India, 31 January 2015 - When representatives of the organizers, the Youth Buddhist Society of India, came to see him this morning, His Holiness the Dalai Lama first of all thanked them for inviting him to this important Buddhist place. He said:

"Although the historical Buddhist site is in ruins, the Buddha's teaching is not ruined. In fact many intelligent people today are taking an interest in it."

He mentioned that since he first came to Sankisa in 1960 several temples have been built. However, he stressed, as he said he always does, that the teachings are more important than temples and statues. Publishing books and establishing a library, as the YBS is doing, is more effective. He advised that work has begun on extracting Buddhist scientific and philosophical explanations from the 220 volumes of the Tengyur that include the works of the masters of Nalanda University. He hopes these can become the basis not so much of religious as academic study.

A short drive up the road from his hotel brought His Holiness to where Shechen Monastery has built a chörten that they had requested him to consecrate. This is part of a project to fulfil the wish of the late Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche to build chörtens in the Buddhist pilgrimage places. His Holiness performed a brief ceremony and posed for a photograph with Khyentse Rinpoche's present incarnation.

At the YBS grounds he was asked to bless an impressive new replica of the Sankisa Ashokan pillar that stands some 40 metres tall and is topped by a whole elephant capital complete with trunk and tail. Taking his seat on the stage at the teaching ground before an audience of several hundred monks, several thousand local laypeople, many hundred Tibetans and a handful of foreigners, he began:

"This is the place where the Buddha descended to earth after teaching his mother. I came here once before and I'm here again at your invitation. The YBS has started a library here and I'd like to express my appreciation of all the hard work that has gone into it. In this place that is sacred to the Buddha I pray there may be more such development.

"We'll begin with a recitation of the Mangala Sutta in Pali by local monks, followed by the Heart Sutra mantra. While the basis of the Pali tradition is the teaching of the Four Noble Truths, the 12 Links of Dependent Arising and the 37 Harmonies of Enlightenment, the basis of the Sanskrit tradition is the collection of Perfection of Wisdom Sutras."

He said that Nagarjuna had commented extensively on the explicit meaning of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras, emptiness, and Maitreya had explained the implicit meaning, the path. This is why he likes to start a teaching by reciting the salutation verses from Nagarjuna's ‘Fundamental Wisdom' and Maitreya's ‘Clear Ornament for Realization'.

"I'm going to go through the Dhammapada," he announced. "I'll read it with some explanations here and there. The Pali text is the Dhammapada, but in Tibetan the equivalent is the Udanavarga, which was one of the six principal texts of the Kadampa masters. In addition to the Jatakamala, these included Shantideva's ‘Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life' and ‘Compendium of Training', Asanga's ‘Bodhisattva Grounds' and Maitreya's ‘Ornament of Sutras'."

He opened the text of the Dhammapada and read the first two verses as an introduction.

Mind precedes its objects. They are mind-governed and mind-made. To speak or act with a defiled mind is to draw pain after yourself, like a wheel behind the feet of the animal drawing it.

Mind precedes its objects. They are mind-governed and mind-made. To speak or act with a peaceful mind is to draw happiness after yourself, like an inseparable shadow

His Holiness remarked that both the teacher and his or her audience should correct their motivation for giving and listening to the teachings. The teacher should check that he or she is not teaching in order to earn name and fame, while the students should not attend merely to run up a score of teachings they have heard. Asking what the Dharma is and whether it is relevant today, His Holiness said it has the function of protecting us from suffering. As the first verses make clear, if your mind is peaceful, you'll be happy. This alludes to our dealing with our disturbing emotions.

Material development only gives us sensory pleasure, but to be lastingly happy we need to develop our minds. We need calm minds.

"If your mind is disciplined you'll be happier, whether you are religious or not. Today, even scientists are finding that if you have peace of mind, you'll be happier and your family will be more content. This is the basis of the kind of secular ethics that can appeal even to those who have no religious faith. And in this context I use secular in the Indian sense of having respect for all religious views and those who have none."

His Holiness explained that among the major religions are those who believe in a creator god and those who don’t. Among the non-theistic are Buddhists, Jains and part of the Samkhyas. The two latter traditions believe in an intrinsically existent self, while Buddhists don’t. Nevertheless, the purpose of all religious traditions is the same, to help us become better people. For this reason they are all beneficial and therefore should live in harmony with one another. This harmony that has existed for centuries in India is a treasure that should be preserved and protected.

The Three Trainings of Buddhism, morality, concentration and wisdom are practices found in common with other classic Indian traditions. The difference between them is whether they accept the selflessness of anatman or the intrinsically existent atman. Many people misunderstand this selflessness to mean that there is no self at all when what is actually refuted is a permanent, singular, autonomous self. The explanation is that the person is designated on the basis of the psycho-physical aggregates.

His Holiness read three verses from Chapter 20 of the text:

All processes are impermanent. When you see this with understanding, then you are disillusioned with the things of suffering. This is the Path of Purification. 277

All processes are painful. When you see this with understanding, then you are disillusioned with the things of suffering. This is the Path of Purification. 278

All processes are out of my control. When you see this with understanding, then you are disillusioned with the things of suffering. This is the Path of Purification. 279

He said that the solution to suffering will not be found merely through praying to the Three Jewels. We need to take action on the basis of the four aspects of suffering, the first Noble Truth, that it is impermanent, miserable, empty and selfless. He clarified that ignorance can be a matter of simply not knowing, but it can also involve wrong conceptions that distort reality.

His Holiness reminded his audience that following his enlightenment, the Buddha spent 49 days pondering what he had realized. He thought that while he had discovered the path to liberation, no one else would understand it, which is why we now have to make an effort too.

As he left the stage for lunch, he stopped to answer questions from journalists. They asked what he thought of Mr Obama’s comment that India must preserve harmony among its religious traditions. His Holiness replied that India is a living example that religious traditions can coexist and live together side by side. He added that in our increasingly globalized world we need to acknowledge that there are several religions and several truths. With respect to Mr Obama’s visit to India, His Holiness spoke of the importance of good relations between India, the democracy with the largest population, Japan, the most industrialized and developed Asian democracy and the United States that is the leader of the free world.

Another questioner wanted to know if he had anything to say about Mahatma Gandhi, the anniversary of whose death by assassination fell yesterday. He answered that Gandhi had dedicated himself to fostering the ancient Indian traditions of non-violence and inter-religious tolerance and harmony. Regarding Indo-Chinese relations he remarked that these two great countries have to live together and it would be better to work to build trust and better relations between them.

In the afternoon session, His Holiness explained how the Buddha had taught the Four Noble Truths. He had first stressed the need to identify suffering, its cause, cessation and path. Then it’s necessary to respond to what you have identified, to know suffering, to overcome its causes, to achieve cessation and to cultivate the path. Once that is done the result is that there is nothing to know, nothing to overcome, nothing to achieve and nothing to cultivate.

His Holiness resumed his reading of the Dhammapada with verses 11 and 12 of Chapter 1.

To see the essence in the unessential and to see the essence as unessential means you can never get to the essence, wandering as you are in the road of wrong intentions. 11

But to see the essence in the essential and the unessential as the unessential it is means you get to the essence, being on the road of right intentions. 12

He concluded the first chapter with the observation that “Even if he is fond of quoting appropriate texts, the thoughtless man who does not put them into practice himself is like cowherd counting other people’s cows.”

In this spirit, His Holiness suggested that it is more effective to take refuge in the Three Jewels if you understand what they are. Faith supported by reason will lead to liberation, which means we need to use our brains to the full.

original link with photos http://www.dalailama.com/news/post/1230-reading-the-dhammapada-in-sankisa

Demons vs. You -- You Don't Stand a Chance, Part 3

"Know you enemy..." Ephesians 5:11

Continued from: Demons vs. You -- You Don't Stand a Chance, Part 1
Demons vs. You -- You Don't Stand a Chance, Part 2


Continuation of this five part series blog I will cover and inform all of the readers on an important aspect in the realm of spiritual warfare.  In this part three I continue this discussion regarding the fundamental aspects of having a balanced aspect or approach so to speak when it comes to engaging demons as Christians.

From earlier we have learned that one must be very afraid of demons and that we also need not fear demons when we as humans are walking righteous with God.  So when clergy speak about getting stronger in faith and resisting the devil, people often get the mistaken idea that it’s all about becoming more self-reliant on our faith or perseverance.  That is completely false!  Read Proverbs 9:10 to understand fear of the Lord is true knowledge.

Remember that God is zealous to be our all sufficient supplier.   God wants all the glory for protecting us from demons and truly deserves it.  God will never lead you into a mentality of thinking you are spiritually bold by yourself.  However, God is going to teach you quite the opposite, which is that you are a powerless wimp who can’t do much of anything without him.

So then is the Holy Spirit trying to teach us how to out muscle demons?  If that is not happening then what is the Holy Spirit truly teaching us?   So to be honest here, the truth is this primary agenda from God with every Christian person is to strengthen their personal bond with Him.  Therefore, spiritual warfare is not about conquering demons, it is about growing and drawing closer to God.   Due to this agenda demons are never going to go anywhere near that bond.

Demons will always be raging against us humans and the closer we move towards God, the louder they roar against us.  View if you can for a moment a climactic scene from a movie where the two people are staring deep into each other’s eyes.  They are so intensely focused on each other and in tune with each other that they forget about the chaos that is happening around them, even if it is for several moments in time.

For those few brief moments, these two are in a world all of their own.  This is what strong faith is about!  This is not about huge bulging muscles, more so the tunnel vision in which an intense focus that blocks out everything else but God standing before us.  Whereas we then become triumphant over demons by learning to ignore them.

A person simply can’t ignore them by thinking of nothing.  However, we need to learn to cut off their access to us by intensely focusing upon God.  Hence, walking with God himself.  For our Lord Jesus said in Matthew 16:24 “Deny thyself and pick up thy cross to truly know me.”

In a hymn sung by the Christian group Hillsong it states to “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wondrous Face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”   Controlling our focus towards God is how we defend against and defeat the demons.  Therefore the louder they scream into our ears, the more stubbornly we must intently focus our eyes, mouth and heart upon that which the Holy Spirit provides.

This is an absolute war of wills.  In a strange manner this is about who can be the most stubborn, them or you.  One cannot not try to drive demons away, instead, we must learn to ignore their unholy presence and focus upon the presence of the Holy Spirit.  For it is written in James 4:7 “Resist the devil and he shall flee.”

To most people demons are extremely intimidating.  Especially when they manifest in some physical form which our eyes can detect, people instantly panic and who wouldn’t?  Some go so far as to think they’re ready to handle demons in person, because they never flinch at scary movies but that is far from the truth.

No matter how desensitized one has become by man’s impersonations of evil in movies and television shows, when the real thing manifests in your bedroom at night, you will go into immediate terror.  Thus if the Holy Spirit were to let demons constantly come at us in pure forms, those of us would be too terrified to learn the lesson God wants us to learn.

Consequently the Holy Spirit introduces us to their nastiness in stages.  This is done by carefully monitoring our level of exposure to them in very short bursts.  Demons are masters of disguise and half the battle is just learning how to recognize their presence.  Demons have the ability to plant thoughts in our minds, speak to us through other people and be hidden as well as the manipulation of our emotions and physiology to work in their favor.

Ever been home alone and suddenly you hear a creepy sound and the mind searches for a logical reason to explain this?   When a logical reason cannot be determined, then instantly images of a spiritual intruder fill the mind and the heart begins to race as well as reactions to the human body. This is a well-known classic demon trick to fool us so that the demons can see how we will respond.

Demons are the ones who make the noise, they watch and interpret how you respond or react.  They are the ones who will fill your mind with scary images.  Demons are all about creating negative responses and cause distress to the human to react.  Unfortunately this form of response from humans is what most people do.

In our next blog we will further discuss demons vs. you and how you don’t stand a chance!

Rev. Bradley Luoma

Spare The Rod Spoil The Child And Risk Raising A Killer?

Hello my para beauties. I've had 12 requests to discuss what the Bible says regarding the title of this article/blog. They feel that many people have and are raising children to feel the world revolves around them and what they want when they want. And can they really create a poltergeist when in chaos or anger. From what I know it's possible. And even grow up to be criminals. Way too many people are having kids at such a young age and are unable to care for them properly. And many have no patience it requires nor willing to give up their life in order to raise the child. They realize everything revolves around this dear child and they often neglect and sometimes kill their own children. They didn't ask to be born in interrupt anyone's life.

It appears that we are seeing on the news many stories of minors killing each people, either, their siblings, their parents etc...more and more teens are having children and are not properly raising them. They are told no but never been made to accept it. It's doing a disservice to the innocent children by not setting reasonable boundaries and rules. And follow thru with punishments they are told is the consequence of not following rules. Even the bible tells us this.

What Does The Gospel Say About This? Here are a few examples...

Colossians 3:20

Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

Deuteronomy 21:18-21

“If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

Colossians 3:20-24 ESV Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. (21) Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. (22) Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, (24) knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

Leviticus 20:9

For anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood is upon him.

Proverbs 30:17

The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures.

Proverbs 13:24

Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.

In my humble opinion "Spare the rod, spoil the child," or, in more complete English, "If you spare the rod you will spoil the child." The general meaning is that parents who don't discipline their children are going to create spoiled children. Some feel they should take a more literal approach, and say that parents must physically discipline their children, because "the rod" here means "to beat your child with a stick." There is much debate about whether it is okay or good for parents to spank, slap, or otherwise discipline children through minor physical pain such as a pop on the rear end for disrespecting adults. That's just one example.

A friend of mine was talking about this very subject at bible study. "I was not spanked as a child. When I became a teenager I became very rebellious. I had no fear of consequence, no respect for my parents, or any authority. It is by the grace of God that I am not dead or jail. I am saddened that this is not the outcome for many who have never been taught as a child that life has consequences." More and more children receive no consequences for ill behavior much less ever have been made to accept the word "No".

Of course this subject could go on and on. I wanted to try my best at discussing this at both point of views. I think you have to do what you feel is best for your situation. There is a huge difference in dicipline and beating a child. But when there is never any consequences your taking a big chance and creating undue stress and a disservice to the child. They only know right from wrong from what the parents teach them.

 Written By Jennifer L Auld

Why the Old Testament is Vital in Countering the Occult

By Reverend Mark Hunnemann

Gnostic/occult.motifs were already present in the age of the Apostles. Early church tradition traces the rise of Gnosticism to Simon Magus, briefly mentioned in Acts 8:9-24. Remember he attempted to purchase the Holy Spirit. Peter was not pleased and it seems from the text that Simon repented, at least superficially. Later tradition says that Simon went to Rome and started a gnostic group, and competed with Peter for converts...he actually arrived in Rome before Peter did according to tradition.Justin Martyr, an early Christian apologist, stated that Simon was teaching that he was the Messiah--God! I don't do this often but I want to include here an extended quote from Harold Brown's 'Heresies'..

"Simon and his followers are charged by their Christian opponents with practicing magic(k) and occult arts.  This was natural enough; to the extent that they were impressed by his ability to work apparent miracles, the early Christians had no choice but to attribute them to the power of evil. MANY OTHER GNOSTIC FIGURES WERE ACCUSED OF NECROMANCY,A NOT UNLIKELY CHARGE IN VIEW OF
THEIR EMPHASIS ON THEIR ACCESS TO HIDDEN, OCCULT, KNOWLEDGE AND POWER.

Simon's system involved a number of points that will also characterize later heretical movements: 1.a syncretistic blending of biblical ideas with themes drawn from other, pagan, Near Eastern sources;2.a dualistic interpretation of the material world as hopelessly estranged, by nature, from the purely spiritual Father;3. the teaching that a personal Savior has appeared on earth; 4.a rejection of the Jewish Scriptures as fraudulent or malicious;5.an interest in not only secret lore, but in magic and the occult.The fact that Gnosticism, like certain later movements, ties rejection of the Hebrew Old Testament to fresh superstitions and an interest in the occult helps us to see the cardinal importance of the Old Testament for Christian orthodoxy.

The major doctrines of Christianity are indeed drawn from the New Testament, and superficially it might appear as though the Old Testament is of interest cheifly as background. As a matter of fact, however, it is the Old Testament that guarantees the rootedness of Christ, His Person, and His work in real history. Whenever the Old Testament is ignored or reduced to mere Jewish religious thought, Christians readily fall prey to various mythologies and occults. With the loss of confidence in the reliability in the Old Testament, brought about by, among other things, nineteenth-century liberal Bible criticism, some nominally Christian leaders developed an enthusiasm for pagan mythology...(Pg. 51)"

There is a confluence of forces that has caused the occult in general, and necromancy in particular, to explode. But according to Dr Brown (now deceased), a loss of confidence in the reliability of the Old Testament has been high on the list of causes.If he is correct, and I think he is, then we have a serious problem on our hands. Of those you reading this, how many of you have taken an Old Testament course which basically undercut the reliability of the Old Testament? Many of you, I am sure. When I was in college, it broke my heart to see the vicious spiritual wounds being inflicted in these classes, and the high number of student casualties. Students in these classes, as with the teaching of macro-evolution, were not made aware of brilliant scholars who differed with their professors anti-supernaturalistic presuppositions.Hence, we were made to believe that any thinking person MUST believe in macro-evolution and that the Old Testament was a mythical book which was riddled with errors and contradictions. Tragic....

The Old Testament is not full of myths, errors or contradictions. It is God's inerrant Word which is on a collision with the worldview which has become dominant today. The infinite/personal God created the heavens and earth....the biblical God is eternal, not energy. It is in the Old Testament where we have the most explicit denunciations of occultism...psychics/mediums, and necromancy.The biblical worldview is stated clearly in the Old Testament, especially in the first three chapters of Genesis. In fact, every major New Testament motif can be found in germinal form in Genesis 1-3.

In high school, and especially college/university, both the content and teaching methodology is uniformly anti-Christian. Not to mention graduate school, where even bible believing Christians are falling prey to the monolithic consensus amongst the faculty to develop methodologies foreign to the bible.And so we have seminary trained folks going on paranormal investigations and attempting to do what the bible abominates--attempting to speak to the dead. This is a call to re-capture a high view of the Old Testament, and to read it. Due to the darkening spiritual landscape, we MUST humble ourselves before God's revelation in the Old Testament--without it, we are historically rootless. May I close with a practical suggestion? Many Christians get fired up about reading the bible but give up after a few months, due to a lack of a reading plan.For the last 40 years, I have followed this plan on a daily basis. This has enabled me to read every word of the bible nearly 40 times. Here is a plan that has worked well for me...

Day one-read Genesis 1, and Matthew 1
Day two-read Genesis 2, and Matthew 2...and so on. If you wish to read through the bible quicker, just read 2-3 chapters instead.

I feel strongly about reading from BOTH testaments during each devotional, for this reason. It is absolutely amazing to see the unity of the bible over 1,500 years. (from Moses to NT)Very often what you read in the Old Testament, you will come across again in your New Testament reading....extremely enriching!! Reading from both enables you to see the continuities and dis-continuities between the OT and NT. Leviticus is usually the book that most Christians give up on. But that is unfortunate, because reading about the various OT sacrifices in Leviticus, illumines the many faceted nature of sacrificial death of Christ.And it helps to drive home the necessity of Christ's once, for all sacrifice.

Reading the bible is for nothing if we do not apply it. First, ask what does the bible passage teach...especially about God? (not what you get out of it), then ask how it applies to your relationship with God (how you think, act, feel) and your life circumstances. Much more could be said, but I will stop there....

"Seeing Ghosts through God's Eyes" (also in a Kindle edition)...please consider purchasing my book which uses science, logic, and the bible to analyze the true source of power behind paranormal activity.

Dalai Lama Calls on the Missionaries of Charity

Kolkata, W. Bengal, India, 12 January 2015 - It was a cold, overcast morning today as His Holiness the Dalai Lama drove to the airport in Delhi to fly to Kolkata. He was warmly received on arrival at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport and driven into the city.

His Holiness’s first meeting was with a group of 150 Tibetans doing business in Kolkata, including some 30 Muslims from Srinagar. He thanked them all for coming to see him and recalled an episode from his childhood in Lhasa when a pocket watch that had belonged to the 13th Dalai Lama needed to be fixed. A watchmaker from the Tibetan Muslim community came to repair it and as he handed it back to the young Dalai Lama solemnly warned: "The owner of a pocket watch should be as careful as someone with an egg in his pocket". Everyone laughed.

His Holiness was full of praise for the way the Tibetan Muslims in Kashmir have kept the Tibetan language alive in their community even after nearly 56 years in exile. He expressed his admiration for the elder generation’s efforts to ensure that the young still speak Tibetan fluently. He told them that he cites them as an example when he talks to Tibetans who have settled in the West, some of whom only speak English with their children. His Holiness recalled that, perhaps as a result of famine in Ladakh, Muslims began to settle in Lhasa during the time of the 5th Dalai Lama. He allotted them land on which to construct a Mosque and they began to make their homes around it.

“These people were Muslim by faith,” His Holiness said, “but were strongly influenced by the Tibetan culture of compassion.”

As he posed for photographs with this group of Tibetans, His Holiness lauded the enduring strength of spirit shown by Tibetans in Tibet.

His Holiness next drove to the headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity where he was received at the Mother House by the Superior General of the Order, Sister Mary Prema Pierick. He greeted well-wishers as he went in. Inside the Mother House, which today is a place of pilgrimage dedicated to the memory of Mother Teresa, some hundred sisters and guests awaited him, gathered around the Mother's tomb. The sisters sang hymns of praise as His Holiness and Sister Mary Prema paid their respects before an image of Mother Teresa.

In her introductory address the Superior General recalled His Holiness's previous visit in September 2005 and remarked:

“What a joy it is to have His Holiness amongst us once more in the Mother House.”

She said that what the world needs more than ever is peace and quoted Mother Teresa as saying:

“Peace begins with a smile.”

In his welcoming remarks The Archbishop of Kolkata mentioned how providential was His Holiness’s visit to the Missionaries of Charity, calling it a true gift for Christmas and the New Year.

“And yet peace is not something we celebrate only because of the season. His Holiness is a perpetual apostle of peace."

He went on to say that in a world torn by war owing to people's greed and mistrust, simply to see His Holiness’s smiling face is to know that peace is possible. He thanked His Holiness “for bringing your peace to us.”

His Holiness briefly addressed the gathering:

"Sisters and brothers, I am happy to be here once again, this time not at your invitation, but of my own accord.”

Everyone present expressed pleasure at his spontaneous visit with laughter and applause. His Holiness spoke admiringly of the way the Sisters serve humanity, particularly by caring for the poorest of the poor. He also recalled the one brief occasion on which he met Mother Teresa, describing her as an exemplary person, who revealed to others the true practice of love through her charitable activities. He said that although she is no longer physically among us, her spirit lives on as does the spirit of Jesus Christ and Buddha Shakyamuni. His Holiness urged the gathering to continue serving people, especially the poor and needy in that spirit. He asked all those present to consider that they were working for the entire family of 7 billion human beings with the aim of making this 21st century an era of peace.

Reiterating his admiration of their work His Holiness said:

“It is important that you keep up your humanitarian service. I often point out to other people how Christian brothers and sisters have made the greatest contribution to humanity in terms of education and health. Mother Teresa dedicated herself sincerely to the poor. As an admirer it is my duty to pay tribute to her. She was practical in her prayers, actually putting them into action by taking care of the poor.”

His Holiness went on to mention his own commitments to promoting human values and inter-religious harmony. He also reminded his listeners that, although those who like him belong to the older generation will inevitably disappear, the younger generation must keep up the good work and set an example for generations to come.

“Please continue to dedicate your lives to the service of humanity, particularly the poor."

The Superior General then escorted His Holiness to Mother Teresa’s sparsely furnished room, where he again paid his respects. Before departing the Mother House for his hotel, His Holiness greeted well-wishers waiting to catch a glimpse of him and answered a waiting journalist’s questions.

Original link and photos http://dalailama.com/news/post/1222-his-holiness-the-dalai-lama-calls-on-the-missionaries-of-charity

Does God And Satan Speak To Us In Dreams?

Hello everyone hope you have had a fantastic weekend. I pray everyone is healthy and everyone you love is healthy. This week I'd like to discuss if it's possible to obtain actual knowledge from God in our dreams? This topic has been discussed hundred times over along with the feelings of many that demons can come to you in your dreams and physically harm one.  I'll keep it brief and it's just my humble opinion from A biblical point of view. The bible has examples of God speaking to people in dreams and telling us he will speak through dreams. The following are some examples.

And they replied "we both had dreams but no one can tell us what they mean.”
“Interpreting dreams is God’s business,” Joseph replied.
“Go ahead and tell me your dreams"

"Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers."

Freud once opined that dreams are the "royal road to the unconscious." That road, my friend, is a public conveyance. Incubi and succubi wait around for a hackney-cab to your hallucinations, and, once inside, can roam the streets with impunity, like vandals sacking Rome, like Michigan fans after the Rose Bowl. I feel saying some kind of protection prayer from this possible phenomenon after your initial prayers.

I found the following prayer somewhere online once and kept it. Any protection prayer that you use praying to Jesus Christ will work. There is no specific word or way of doing it you simply ask God to protect you and thank him for being your personal Lord and Savior and dying for your sins:

O God, who made the heav'n and earth,
From dreams this night protect me.
Destroy each succubus at birth,
No incubus infect me.

Interpreting dreams

Some people feel dreams usually need interpretation unless an angel is involved where God would be giving us a direct instruction.

If you really truly in your heart of hearts feel you have heard from God, does not mean everyone will welcome your dream. In fact the contrary is true. Your dream will be opposed just like Joseph’s and Jesus’ and Nehemiah’s or Paul’s. However this should not stop you from sharing if someone happens to come to you with questions about the Bible or the proper opportunity arises where you could maybe speak about it. But you never be embarrassed or deny Jesus Christ or God The Father if you are a believer!! Never deny that to anybody! I don't care if it's the president of the United States. The Gospel says it "if you deny me to man I will deny you to the Father".  You will not be in the book of life. If you know your dream is from God, hold on to it, pray it back to God when the storms and wind come storming in. The brothers of Joseph conspired against him. They threw him into the pit sold him into slavery and he ended up in Potiphar’s house as a servant. It was as if his dream bought and brought him trouble.

"For in many dreams and in many words there is emptiness.
Rather, fear God." "And the LORD answered me, and said,
Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables,
that he may run that readeth  it.  For the vision is yet for an appointed time,
but at the end it shall speak, and not lie:
though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry."
Habakkuk 2:2-3 (KJV)


Genesis 40:8 (NLT) Jacob Dreamed
11 Then the Angel of God spoke to me in a dream, saying, 'Jacob.' And I said, 'Here I am.'24 But God had come to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said to him, "Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad."
Gen31:11,24

Genesis 28
12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

"And the Lord said to them, “Now listen to what I say:
“If there were prophets among you,I, the Lord, would reveal myself in visions. I would speak to them in dreams."
Numbers 12:6 (NLT)

"He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in their beds."
Job 33:15 (NLT)

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams" Acts 2:17

What I do is keep a pen and paper next to my bed to take notes of any odd dreams so I can remember them because many people, and I am among them tend to forget what they have dreamed the longer they are awake. What took place seems to fade rather quickly upon waking up from these. I'm not sure why that happens. Could be a number of reasons for this but if you write down some notes upon waking that will really up possibly in understanding what exactly took place in the dreams you are having.


Written By Jennifer Auld

Reasons for why I think we shouldn't use the word "Entity"

By Reverend Mark Hunnemann

Words are powerful. The words individuals or a culture use can unconsciously impact a person's beliefs, even effecting their worldview. Much of this can occur on an unconscious level. The word that has caught my attention, and my concern, is the word "entity".It may be my imagination, but it seems that it's usage is growing in Christian circles that deal with demonology.For example, I read frequently on Facebook of an "entity" affecting a person or place. I dealt indirectly with this issue 4 years ago when I discussed who populates the spirit realm according to the bible. Also, if we don't know the answer to a question, we should not act like we do. And so when I see "entity" used, I realize that humility may lay behind why that word was chosen.However, may I humbly suggest that the bible is clear enough on what/who populates the spirit realm, that we do not, and should not, use an ambiguous word like "entity". When the bible is clear, then we should be also!

Take for example Matthew 10. In verses 1-4 Jesus is commissioning His twelve apostles for a short term ministry to Israel, which includes authority over "unclean spirits" (pneumaton akatharton) and to cast them out. In verses 5-15 Jesus elaborates on this mission, which in verse 8 includes the casting out of demons (daimonia). The point being that unclean spirits and demons are one and the same...just as Satan, devil, Evil One are synonyms.

What particularly troubles me is when I read that Christian demonologists (or whatever term you prefer) refers to an "entity" that is oppressing a family/place.Nowhere in the Gospel accounts are supernatural beings referred to as merely "entities".Jesus never cast out an entity....the disciples never cast out entities--they were very specific in that they were casting out demons/'unclean spirits.We need to use biblical terminology lest we introduce confusion where the bible is crystal clear. Word choice is vitally important.

Perhaps the main reason the word "entity" has become in vogue is due to the growing belief amongst some Christians that deceased human spirits can haunt (or possibly haunt) or oppress the living. I ask this gently but firmly--show me one place in the bible where a deceased human soul is oppressing living humans.(the Samuel account is not applicable to my question) I can say with confidence that there is no such recorded incident.Why introduce ambiguity where the bible is clear? Dozens of exorcisms are recorded in the gospels, and IF deceased humans could oppress us, then why are they NEVER mentioned?

Someone may reply, "Perhaps that may be true, but the bible does not tell us everything about demonology...so we can discern their presence with the help of the Holy Spirit?" I admit their are incidental things we can learn that are not recorded in the bible, but to say/imply that the bible omits significant demonological details is an affront to the sufficiency of Scripture, and elevates fallen human reason to the same level as sacred scripture. Now, do you not think that who populates the spirit realm is a very significant issue? Of course it is! Put another way, we must know our enemy and how can we be spiritual warriors if we are not sure who we are even fighting against? In human warfare this is certainly true,how much more so in spiritual warfare where our enemies are invisible (usually)?

Perhaps one replies, "Well, if it is human or demonic, the means of getting rid of them is the same." Again I say this gently but firmly, that comment is an evasion of the main issue--there is not a single incident in the bible in which a human spirit is said to have been expelled from a person or home. It assumes that the bible is not clear re this issue. However, from Genesis to Revelation, it is manifestly clear that there are only two kinds of beings that populate the spirit realm--good/elect angels and fallen angels/demons/unclean spirits. Appealing to Genesis 6 as primary "proof" of another kind of being existing today flies in the face of all rules of proper hermeneutics. We certainly never see Jesus dealing with beings who are somehow explicitly tied into whatever happened way back in Genesis 6.

Sure, there are differing ranks of angels and demons (cf Ephesians 6; Daniel 10), but that is all. In the US Army there are different ranks, but they are all essentially US Army.

The continued usage of the word "entity" is not helpful. Indeed, it is infusing confusion or lack of certainty where the bible is clear. A discussion of extra-biblical authority (eg pope) is beyond the scope of this article. Lastly, regardless of your experience, do you think it wise to "discern" the presence of a human spirit when--Jesus never did, and demons have thousands years of experience in knowing how to make Christians feel whatever they want?

Mark Hunnemann is the author of Seeing Ghosts Through God's Eyes: A Worldview Analysis of Earthbound Spirits. It's also available in eBook format.