Quotations from the novel; THE SECOND APPEARANCE

On December morning of 2006, I began writing a novel about what would happen if Jesus Christ returned to Earth as a nine-year-old child. I finished the book on the morning of Easter 2007. What follows are some of the statements uttered by some of the characters in the book about common concerns about life and death and other issues that I put in the book.

Prayer

We can all call upon God at any time to help us when we are in need. Sometimes God grants our requests but often he does not. Why he does not, I have no explanation to give you.
Chapter 3.

It is true that Jesus in his final hour asked God why he had forsaken him but do you really think that God abandoned him? If he had, would Jesus have been resurrected again?
Chapter 4.

When many pray together, no matter in what language or ritual, for the health and wellbeing of others, it is a sign to those in need that there is a brotherhood of sympathy in Mankind. To pray at the moment of death, for life or salvation or both, is the one moment when repentance is most sincere. Those prayers are probably the most common form of prayers in all languages. Do not pray for riches or power for it is no better than a form of begging shamelessly. Instead, pray for the health and a soul of others, for it is no less than giving graciously.

It is a fact of life that God does not answer all of our prayers. We must leave it to God to decide what prayers are in our best interests and the best interests of those we love.
Chapter 6

Jesus’ return to Earth

It was Paul who said that when Christ returns, he will not return as flesh and blood but rather in spirit. I am not sure if anyone now or in the future will see him in the form of a human being but if he doesn’t appear to us in the flesh, I believe that those of us who live a life of goodness will have Jesus’ spirit within us.
Chapter 4.

I think that it means that the spirit of Jesus will enter our hearts, our minds or our souls or whatever, if we are kind to those in need, if we offer assistance to those in need and if we obey the Commandments given to Moses by God and believe in God and Jesus. I believe that Jesus’ spirit has always been with Mankind after his spirit ascended into Heaven. We should not be looking for his reappearance in the flesh. His spirit has already arrived and has been within all of us since his ascension into Heaven.
Chapter 4.

Heaven

I believe that Heaven is a place of perfection for those who embody the will and the spirit of God. If we are within God’s graces, surely we are in Heaven.
Chapter 4.

I believe that some day, which may well be beyond our lifetimes and the lifetimes of those who are our immediate descendants, there will be a day when those in God’s presence will suffer no pain and little sadness and that our life on Earth will be extended until humans live well beyond a hundred years of age, when there will be enough food for everyone and no one will be in need and there will be peace on Earth. When that time comes on Earth, then our descendants will truly be in Heaven. That concept certainly beats the one that suggests that those in Heaven will be floating on the clouds playing harps and at the same time, being bored.
Chapter 4.

The people in the past, like many alive today, spoke of Heaven as being in the sky or beyond. Heaven, according to ancient Judaism and Christianity, was merely the sky. But then they also thought of Earth as being flat. To them, the term ‘the kingdom of Heaven’ was the same as ‘the kingdom of the sky.’ Modern thinking like the thinking of the past, considers Heaven as the abode of God and the location of the blessed afterlife but it has undergone a hasty retooling in light of modern knowledge, namely that there is no absolute up or down, that the sky and outer space are not up there but out there and Heaven can be out there and even here on Earth. In other words, it is everywhere. We can’t define it in a way that it is easily discernable from Earth. For example, air is present with us and yet we cannot see it. Because we can’t see air, doesn’t mean that it is not with us on Earth.
Chapter 14.

Not appreciating the gifts we receive

In searching for the message that the former slave trader, John Newton was trying to portray in the hymn he wrote called Amazing Grace, his inspiration was found in the New Testament in John, chapter nine, verse twenty-six. It says, ‘Whether I am a sinner, I do not know; one thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see.

Many of us are blind to what is going on around us just as John Newton was blind to the suffering of slaves. If we are abusive and indifferent to the needs of our parents, we are blind to their feelings. If we ignore the plight of those who are bullied, then we are blind to those who experience fear. If we are blind to those who are victims of crime because we ignore them, then they suffer all the more. If we are blind to the dangers we heap upon our own bodies, then we are ungrateful for the gift of life that was given to us.

Alas, it is often that we finally see the light that was always there but because of our blindness, we were always in the dark but later, it was too late to see what was previously there to see.

How many times have we wished that we were kinder to our parents before they passed on? How many times do we wish that we came to the assistance of those in need when some tragedy befell them? How many times do we wish that we had taken greater care of our own bodies before we suffered from the abuse we brought onto ourselves?

How easy it is for us to ignore the plight of the visually impaired by presuming that someone else cares for them. How easy it is to ignore the loneliness of a homeless person because we presume that they have chosen that way of life for themselves. How easy it is to ignore the teachings of the scriptures because we have our own interests at heart above all others.

But just as John Newton found his way back into the good graces of God, so can all of us. Just because a person commits a crime and is imprisoned, this does not mean that he has not later seen the errors of his ways and has been reformed. Just because we ignored the plight of others, this does not mean that we cannot have empathy for those whom we ignored. Just because we abuse our own bodies does not mean that we cannot take greater care of our bodies in the future.

Perhaps for the blind, they cannot see images and light again but this doesn’t mean they cannot see. To see something is to understand something. The phrase, ‘I see what you mean.’ means that you understand what you are being told. It means that at long last, you fully comprehend what is going on around you. It also means that you now have empathy for the suffering endured by those less fortunate then yourself.

I, like many of my fellow human beings have been blind in the past but now I see. I have changed my ways because of my willingness to see what I had previously turned a blind eye to and refused to see.
Chapter 4

Faith

For a man who is lame and walks across uneven stones; his faith is his crutch. For a blind man who walks into an unfamiliar room; his faith is his eyes. Faith and hope are distinguishable. Without faith, there can be no hope. Without hope, there is a need for faith.

To know that God exists, is truly faith. To think that God exists, is merely belief. If you look upon faith like one looks upon the light of day, remember that darkness follows the light of day and that is why your faith must be strong enough to be sustained throughout those moments of darkness.
Chapter 5

The act of giving

To give a poor man a bottle of Burgundy is akin to giving a pair of skates to a child who has no shoes. Sometimes a gift of kindness is like a Trojan horse. Its purpose is to get past the walls of your heart. But unlike the invaders of Troy, a Trojan horse and your heart can become one.

It has been said that it is far better to give a gift than to receive it. This is an undeniable truth. What is equally enjoyable is that moment when you get to express your gratitude. There is no greater gift you can bestow upon other human beings than your willingness to share your life with them.
Chapter 5.

Love

Everyone needs love, touch, contact and support. Humans want to know that their needs are going to be met and that there is at least one person in their lives who is able and willing to help them meet those needs. Love is a deep and tender feeling of affection for or attachment or devotion to a person or persons. It is also a feeling of brotherhood and good will toward other people.
Chapter 5.

There are seven kinds of love. There is the love of one’s parents, the love of a sibling, the love of one’s own child, the love of one’s spouse, the love of a sweetheart, the love of a friend and the love of a pet. Each kind of love is distinct from the other and yet none is necessarily more intense than the other.

Love is a gift that is bestowed on each and every human being and that gift is the highest form of pleasure one can obtain. Many will sacrifice much to obtain and retain it. One may sacrifice a crown whereas another will sacrifice his or her freedom and another still, will risk life itself to obtain and retain it.

It is fascinating indeed to think that when God made it possible for human beings to perpetuate the species, he included love as an important ingredient. To love another fully and to be loved in kind is to have reached the environs of Heaven itself.
Chapter 8.

The sexual act

When one truly participates in a sexual act with another human being, the act is one that includes love and devotion to the person who shares the sexual act with another and with those two emotional feelings added to the physical act, then and only then is anyone truly intimate with that other person. You cannot express these emotional feelings with a harlot. Sex with her would be purely physical. That form of sexual relationship with another human being is no different than indulging in self-gratification.
Chapter 8.

Love is an emotion or a feeling and that there is no one definition of love because the word ‘love’ meant many different things to many different people. Sex, on the other hand, is a biological event and even though there are different forms of sex, most sexual acts have certain things in common and may or may not include penetration. When two people are sexually intimate and in love at the same time, their intimacy, both at love and in sex are intensified.
Chapter 8.

There comes a time in the sex act when trying to hold back is as futile as trying not to pee when your bladder is about to burst.
Chapter 8.

Oppression

Perhaps the abuse of Jews in Canada is not done in the same manner that had befallen them under the Nazis during the Holocaust but how many Jews are invited into our Christian homes? How many Jews are permitted to stay overnight in our hotels? How many Jewish students are expected to recite the Lord’s Prayer in class when they are not Christians themselves? Are these not forms of oppression?
Chapter 8.

Evolutionary theory v. Creationism

Schools should not refuse to teach the evolutionary theory simply to avoid giving some offense to religion nor should they circumvent my decision by reaching religious faith as science. Put another way, our schools shouldn’t teach as scientific fact or theory any religious doctrine, including ‘creationism’. Of course, any genuinely scientific evidence for or against any explanation of life should be taught. Just as teachers should neither advance nor inhibit any religious doctrine, they should not also ridicule, for example, a student's religious explanation for life on Earth.
Chapter 8.

Students should have the right to speak to others and attempt to persuade their peers about religious topics just as they do with regard to political topics. But school officials should intercede to stop student religious speech if it turns into religious harassment aimed at a student or a small group of students.
Chapter 8

Should we take the Bible at face value?

Not everything in the Bible is to be taken at face value. For example, Moses passed a law that anyone that worked on the Sabbath was to be stoned to death. That punishment for that reason hasn’t been applied in a very long time. Times change and so must our beliefs.
Chapter 8.

Jesus’ return to Earth

I don’t know how God will make that event (Jesus’ return) known to us but I know that at first the Christian community expected an imminent return of Christ, but it has adjusted itself with remarkable ease to the notion of an indefinite postponed second coming. When the return will occur, the Christian community simply doesn’t know absolutely.
Chapter 14.

Throughout the history of our Church, it has steadfastly insisted on the reality of the reappearance of Christ as a settled belief, but at the same time, it has granted liberty on the question of when it will occur. Our Church believes that the New Testament revelation of the second coming of Christ is meant to stimulate our preparation for it, not our speculation about it
Chapter 14.

For almost two thousand years, Christians from all walks of life during their days on Earth; have looked for the reappearance of Christ. As we approach the end of the second millennia, millions of Christian believers still speak of hope of his return to Earth. Never before has the world heard so much talk about it-----from the backwoods preacher to the most renown television evangelist and while the Christians continue to search the Bible for further clues to the second coming, scoffers also continue to mock the idea saying, ‘Where is the promise of his coming?’ It seems to me, we must take a stand and recognize the fact that Jesus may be amongst us, even to this day.
Chapter 14.

If the pope said that Jesus was on Earth at this time, many would claim to be Jesus. If there was to be a public statement made to this effect, it had to come from someone else and not the pope.
Chapter 14.

On souls and the afterlife

The definition of man is best described as an entity on our planet composed of body and soul and made in the image and likeness of God. Man, then, is composed of a material element, the body and a spiritual element, the soul and not as two independent elements that just by coincidence, happen to be joined together while the body grows but rather as two separate elements that by God’s will, are joined together from inception and as such, they need each other to form a complete whole, namely, a human being. I believe that if Jesus returned to Earth, he appeared both in spirit and in body, as a human being, as he did when he first appeared on Earth almost two thousand years ago.
Chapter 14.

It is my belief that souls, like atoms are indestructible. When we die, our souls do not die but instead they take their places in the bodies of other human beings. I believe that when Jesus Christ died and then was resurrected and later ascended into Heaven, his soul remained with him because he was still alive in Heaven. I also believe that when God decided that his son should return to Earth, his soul then took its place in other human bodies and that the soul in those human bodies was still the soul of Jesus Christ who had returned to Earth, time after time.
Chapter 14.

Most religious people believe in life everlasting for the faithful, a continuation of the life force that reaches far beyond the limitations of our mortal flesh. In such belief systems, death is not an end but a transformation where we as human beings shed our corporeal selves at the moment of our demise and that our souls live on to rejoin our Creator. I believe as many do, that once our souls are free from our corporeal selves, our Creator causes them to enter other human beings again at the moment of their conception and live within those human beings until they too are deceased and their souls are transformed again to other human beings being born.
Chapter 14.

The difference between fact and belief, is not unlike seeing the same object from two different directions. If the object is a round ball of the same colour throughout and two people are looking at it from two different directions, then what they see are the same. They would regard their observations of the ball as an undisputed fact of its existence. If however, after standing in different locations, the object they see is a house of different dimensions throughout, then what they each see is obviously different. They may not agree in their interpretation of the description of it but that doesn’t alter the fact that the house they see is still a house even though they differ in their interpretations as to what they saw, and for this reason, their observations of the house is nevertheless, an undisputed fact of its existence and not merely a belief of what they saw.
Chapter 14.

As much as we believe in the concept of the existence of souls, this life spark remains strictly an article of faith. It is my faith that makes me believe that God sent his only son Jesus back to Earth again in another reappearance in this century.
Chapter 14.

My quarrel with being told that I will be born again, though, at least in its current usage, is that it gives the mistaken impression that transformation is a one-time affair. It predisposes that once you have come to Earth as a human being and die, your soul will either go to Heaven or Hell. End of story. I don't believe this is an accurate representation of the scriptures. We can never be born enough. The soul----the curious soul, at least, the live soul---always longs to be made new. To be ever more whole. To be reborn. Not because we were born wrong the first time, but because God has created our souls to live forever in the bodies of human beings. And so my wish for all of us is that we be born again... and again... and again.
Chapter 14.

The pope said, ‘Happy Ascension Day. Let us hurry to the Lord who goes up into Heaven. And if we cannot follow him and we remain on Earth, let us do what the apostles did, who gathered in the hall of the Lord’s Supper and prayed for the Holy Spirit…Saluti, Saluti’ unquote. I believe that, like Jesus, the pope spoke those words as a riddle. I believe he meant that we should hurry to meet God in Heaven which is on Earth and that if we can’t follow Jesus because we don’t believe in Him, then we will remain on Earth beyond the presence of God and Jesus and as such, not be in Heaven which is also on Earth.
Chapter 14.

On the subject of reincarnation

The concept of children's past lives coming to the fore are quite remarkable especially in western countries, where children have seldom been exposed to the beliefs of reincarnation. Often such memories can fade as some grow up, while others will be able to recall past incarnations all their lives. Thousands of cases have been documented by various researchers from around the world. Some children are recorded as having described where they had lived, and they have recognized family members by name, even when these families live in a different area of the continent. Many have successfully passed tests set by the identified families. What is remarkable here is that in most cases the children appear to have no incentive, financial or otherwise, to make such claims.
Chapter 14.

PLEASE NOTE

My novel, THE SECOND APPEARANCE has been published and can be found in Barnes and Noble and Amazon.