When it comes to end-times prophecy, some people think (based on their interpretation of scripture) that they'll leave this earth and go to heaven someplace else - another realm, another dimension etc.
But there's no other place, it's all right here. It's simply a matter of perception. You can either perceive that you're in heaven or you can perceive that you're on earth.
Then there's the concept of revelation: The last book of The Bible is called The Book of Revelation and The Quran talks a lot about what is revealed and what is concealed.
What is revealed? The answer is: The Truth. Our eyes will be opened, we'll wake up, we'll rise from the dead, we'll come out of our graves - meaning we'll enter into the quality of bestowal.
Right now we're immersed in the quality of selfishness and this state is called - being asleep, being blind, being dead, being in the grave etc.
We'll see and perceive The Truth - including the quality of selfishness and the quality of bestowal. The Truth will be revealed to us right here on earth, we wont' have to go anywhere else.
The Bible talks about a time of great distress, as it is written, "For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now - and never to be equaled again." (Matthew 24:21, NIV)
This distress will comes to us in two forms:
- First, we'll experience labour pains, blows - similar to contractions - that will help us leave the quality of selfishness and enter the quality of bestowal. During the distress of these labour pains, we have to cry out to The One True God, The Infinite God, The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to help us. He will hear our cry and help us. Then we'll give birth to a new internal quality, the quality of bestowal. Also, we'll go through a change in the perception of our reality.
- When we go through a change in the perception of our reality, we'll experience a different kind of distress / tribulation:
- Who we really are will be revealed to us and we'll see that we're immersed in the quality of selfishness, as it is written, "And then the lawless one will be revealed ..." (2 Thessalonians 2:8, NKJV). The lawless one is our internal quality of selfishness. When this happens, we'll realize how much we've hurt others and this will cause us great distress.
- Also, we'll perceive that others are already in the quality of bestowal and that they know everything about us, that we're the only one's in selfishness. This will cause us great distress.
- Also, we'll perceive that the people around us aren't who we thought they were, our families aren't our families and our friends aren't our friends. This will cause us great distress.
- The shock and distress of this spiritual awakening will cause us to flee - we'll leave our jobs, families and lives behind. Jesus spoke of this when He said, "Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath." (Matthew 24:20, NIV). This flight will also cause us great distress.
- During the distress of these times, we'll have to fake it until we make it. Meaning, we'll have to pretend that everything's okay, until everything becomes okay - until we get past the difficult times, until we adjust to our new perception of reality and until we grow in the quality of bestowal. And everything will be okay, it'll just take time. Also, we have to ask God for help and He will help us.
Also, as time passes, our perception of reality will also change, we'll begin to perceive new things. In an advanced state, we'll perceive that we were always in bestowal and never in selfishness. This will alleviate our distress and we'll learn to accept that there is none else besides Him.
Do not be afraid, God is with us.
Copyright © 2013, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.
