The truth about Buddha

Buddha's a cool dude.  He's so approachable.  Pretty much everyone likes Buddha.  I mean, what's not to like?  He's humble, compassionate and wise.  He's a lover of all.  If Buddha were around today we could be buds in contemplation.  In my late teens and early 20's I was really into Buddha.  He jived with my hippied out peaceful approach to life.  He was simple, yet complex in wisdom.  This was at a time when I studied all religions because I was curious.  

 "Be kind to all creatures, this is the true religion." (again, a great philosophy)

      Buddha

Because I liked Buddhist philosophy I considered becoming a Buddhist nun (as I've mentioned in previous posts I had a thing for renunciation of worldly pursuits).  When I carefully considered nun life (just like I'd considered Catholic nun life) it just didn't  jive.  Something felt off about it.  I went to a Buddhist temple where Buddhists would stand in a line and one by one pour water over a Buddha statue enshrined on a golden throne.  They would place flowers, jewels and tokens around Buddha on the throne.  Something in me said no, that's just NOT right.  Having studied Buddha I knew that he was just a man.  He clearly said he was not God, he was not a savior and he was not a prophet.  Buddha was an authentic seeker.  He refused to accept the superficial answers to life's deepest questions.  If Jesus had been around in Buddha's day I guarantee Buddha would have been his most enthusiastic disciple.  Buddha specifically told his followers not to worship him.  In fact, if I could imagine a conversation between God and Buddha it would go something like this:

Buddha: (shrugs) It's not my fault they worship me.  You know how they are (apologetically)...

God: (sighs) I know.  Boy do I know...

It's not Buddha's fault that people misrepresent him.  He did the best he could in the times and place in which he lived.  Jesus wasn't around yet and not everyone in the world knew God was speaking directly to Moses and the prophets. This brings us to Jesus.  Jesus knew the answers.  He didn't need to seek them out.  Why?  Because he WAS God in human flesh.  He knew all there was to know without sitting on a yoga mat, contorting his body and meditating for hours, days, months or years!  You've got seekers, you've got teachers, then you have Jesus.  A whole new level here. Buddha: Seeker/ teacher

Jesus: God/ sacrificial lamb/ died horrifically to redeem man from their sins and ultimately death.  Healed the sick.  Raised the dead.  Knows exactly what's going on...

My point here is this.  Buddhism is a great philosophy but it's not a substitute for knowing the God who created Buddha.  Using Buddhism AS a religion is like making the philosophy of Socrates or Nietzsche (and that would be cRAzy) a religion.  It would be foolish to make man's thoughts God.  Man will never have the capacity to know all that God knows or be all that God is.  Man is a philosopher by nature, but philosophy is always just that.  It's no substitute for absolute truth.  In a future post I will explain how Catholicism married  Christ to Paganism (a big no no).  That will be a much more difficult, complex and intense subject matter.  I don't even know if I can do it;-) 

Ps.  For a long time I kept Buddha statues around the house.  I told myself "it evokes a sense of peace".  After reading the old testament I decided I didn't want to take any chances (idolatry is a MAJOR offense to God).  I think it is mentioned in the bible more than ANYTHING else.  Honestly, as much as Buddha's message was "non attachment non attachment non attachment" it was hard to let go!    I also got rid of any emplems or sanscrit symbols as I now believe that our homes, minds and bodies (more on that soon) represent who we are and our intention to God.  He sees everything.  

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

     Hebrews 4:11

Update:  Maybe it's even more black and white than I thought.  Check out this video and judge for yourselves.
http://youtu.be/ivG8ejbG0GE

Update: 

Hosea's Wife

"Hosea's Wife"

I just spoke silence with the seeker next to me

She had a heart with hesitant, halting speech

That turned to mine and asked belligerently

"What do I live for?"

I see the scars of searches everywhere I go

From hearts to wars to literature to radio

There's a question like a shame no one will show

"What do I live for?"

We are Hosea's wife

We are squandering this life

Using people like ladders and words like knives

[CHORUS]

If we've eyes to see

If we've ears to hear

To find it in our hearts and mouths

The word that saves is near

Shed that shallow skin

Come and live again

Leave all you were before

To believe is to begin

There is truth in little corners of our lives

There are hints of it in songs and children's eyes

It's familiar, like an ancient lullaby

What do I live for?

We are Hosea's wife

We are squandering this life

Using bodies like money and truth like lies

[CHORUS]

[Bridge]

We are more than dust

That means something

That means something

We are more than just

Blood and emotions

Inklings and notions

Atoms on oceans

Brooke Fraser

Song here:

http://youtu.be/8PFIeHyWBO0
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/albertine/id427301341

Typical Christian

I'm not your typical Christian.  This may conjur up all the images you've ever had in your mind about what a Christian is.  What do they look like?  What do they stand for?  Politics?  What are they against?  I want you to erase every image you've ever had about Christians.  What if you'd never encountered a Christian in your life.  You had literally no preconceived notion about Christianity, had never even heard the name Jesus (the most controversial name in history).   Imagine a genuine caring, loving and truly enlightened individual came up to you and explained who Jesus was, what he did and how this affects YOU not only in this lifetime but for eternity?  Would you be interested?  I think just about everyone would be interested.  There are a few exeptions.  Lovers of wealth and lovers of darkness.  People who have everything they need in this lifetime tend to close their eyes to deeper needs.  The focus is so much on the seeming abundance of this superficial reality that it's hard to imagine there is more to life.  It is so distracting in fact, that the wealthy are the most likely to want to live forever on this  earth!   Jesus says to forsake this life.  Die to the flesh.  For he who loses his life for his sake will find it (eternal life).  When people love darkness... well, what can I say?  If you are neither a lover of wealth or darkness there is hope for you!  According to the accounts in Mary K Baxter's books http://www.divinerevelations.info/mary_k_baxter_a_divine_revelation_of_hell.htm  about the people she witnessed in hell (she was taken there by Jesus for 30 nights) (I realize that sounds crazy to a very linear minded person;).  I believe every word she wrote in her book.  Jesus took her on a very detailed trip through hell so she would write a book warning people on earth about the kinds of people who end up in hell, and the eternal tortures that they will endure.  Some people don't want to think about this stuff.  They want to graze from the superficial manna of the temporary.  Now that is the epitome of crazy!  Everyone will die.  No exceptions. Your eternity matters to you, to me and to God.  That is the reason for this blog.  I risk sounding like a bafoon in the hopes that you will open a deaf ear and hear what the spirit is speaking to YOU, before it's too late.  People have this misconception that God will forgive all, always.  This is true UNTIL death.  Once you die that's it.  The verdict is ruled and it is final.  That is why SO many people have been warning you your entire life.  That is why it is urgent.  They're not trying to "convert" you into something for their own gain.  The gain is for you alone.  They're not trying to be annoying although this stuff is annoying to hear if your spirit has been smothered by the distortions of truth that govorn this world.  Annoyance is often necessary.  It is the confrontation of delusion.  It is the assessment of the soil for the seed of truth.  Do you have soil?  Is it workable soil?  Will something good grow in you?  That is always the hope.  All with deep, enduring and eternal love...

Good song here: Brooke Fraser, Shadowfeet
http://youtu.be/AGSS5ZsLIU4

Armed For War --

  If you are always trying to be normal you will never know how amazing you can be.

   -Maya Angelou

I love this quote because it challenges the reader to look beyond the flock.  Just because the flock says it's good and normal and the thing to do doesn't mean it is.  I continue to experience this more and more in depth as I realize what God is really saying in the word, and really taking the teachings literally.  Not comparing them to the watered down teachings that we so often hear in church, which might cause a person to write off their true meaning and importance...

  Last night I had dreams that involved cannibalism, being left by my husband as he sunk into a drunken stuper (he is sober in real life), and being literally hunted for kill by evil forces.  Ahem... suffice it to say I did not wake up well rested!  After a rather long day of.. life, I worked out and watched Sid Roth's interview with Steve Foss  http://youtu.be/lxluTwayoTo  in which he talks about spiritual attack.  I was intrigued so I went to his website where I found his discipleship series fittingly titled Armed For War.  The entire series is FREE.  I don't know about you guys but I'm always leary of Christian based teachings and programs the aren't free.  It feels scammy when you have to pay to learn the word of God.  Ya know? So, I watched the first video in the series and I'm excited to watch the rest http://upperroomdfw.com/lessons-1-12.html.   This guy just strikes a chord with me and I feel like I'm hearing the truth.  Everything I recommend on this blog stikes the truth chord with me and that's why it's called Trails of Truth.  I want to lead you (the reader) to truth as I'm being led.  Let's do this thing!  And in doing so let's arm ourselves with spiritual armour because we are literally living in spiritual warfare.  

All that we perceive...

All that we percieve depends... on our history, the way our brain works, how our body is wired to feel, how in touch we are with the ether, our parents, the space we're looking at, the air we breath, the people we know, our spouse, our boss, the company we keep, music we hear, entertainment we subscribe to.  All that we percieve depends... on our relationship to God, our compassion for all who suffer, the level of fear we feel, our inhibitions, our beliefs, our faith.  All that we percieve depends... on so many factors that if one truly looks it's hard to determine who is percieving.  Is it my past percieving?  My present or future?  Is it my tiredness percieving?  My frustration?  Fear?  Hope?  Who is it that percieves?  Is it really me?  Have I really known anything?  Or have I just been born to knowledge?  Am I just learning how to see and speak?  Is this the beginning of all that actually matters?  Abandon the past.  See the groups, the need within them, the sense of darkness, of being lost.  See things for what they are and not what they are to you.  See the people.  See the light and the source of all truth.  Take it in and know it.  Breath it in and become it.  Be still and listen...

Am I too religious? Or not religious enough?

  Too often people respond to a person who's become "religious" in a negative way.  Like it's sad, a death even.  To a non religious (and I'm using this term  loosly as a generalization) person it can be like they're losing a friend or relative.  They get defensive and start defending buddhism (as if it's a faith), even if they're not buddhists.  They just happen to like some of his insights.  They throw them around as if to prove that you don't have to be "religious" to be wise.  As somebody who has studied buddhism extensively and explored many faith-like thought systems I can testify that chasing wisdom is an ego trip.  I used to think myself wise because I had good insights, many which originated in buddhist thought.  Oh what an egotist I was!  It is only now through deeper study into creation through God's eyes that I realize what true wisdom is.  As the scriptures say in Corinthians 1:19 "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent". God knows that no man is wise or intelligent, especially if he thinks he is!  I am still insightful though.  Insight is imperative.

  When I was 19 and I considered becoming a nun and showed interest in religions my friends were turned off. They wanted to put me in a box and keep me the same way forever.  I realized how phony and superficial our relationships were even though they seemed so awesome while I was blind.  I loved them all on the deepest levels but I knew my path with them had ended.  I now had my own path to follow, for the first time in my life really.  When I didn't know who I was I clung to friendships which gave me a certain sense of identity.  When my soul cried for higher learning I had to venture out on my own.  Since I have been on the learning path for many years I kept my distance from people.  I didn't want to be sucked in too close to the vortex of worldly drama and limiting belief systems.  Solitude and individual exploration were crucial to my developement. I even told my husband on the first night we met that I needed lot's of space to reflect and that I didn't want to become overly involved in his worldly affairs.  This was the price of being with me!  I also said no kids, as it would be too big of a distraction.  I was like a scientist locked in her science lab trying to A) figure out her health and B) figure out the meaning of life.  Although my path took me on a sight seeing tour which included many personal battles with illness, healing modalities, and various ways of thinking,  I have only recently (within the last 3 years) been on a quest to know the REAL God (not because I was avoiding truth but because I was discovering it through the process of elimination). 

 I'm  learning everyday how to relate to people and bring meaning to the table without being the one who "died" of religion, thereby alienating myself from those who could potentially benefit from a glimmer of truth. I don't want to typecast myself as the "religious" one, yet I want it to be known what I'm representing.  Now, to some religious people I might not even seem religious in the sense that they know it to be.  It's confusing.  I've always been the girl who wasn't quite a liberal but definitely wasn't conservative you know?  I was too reserved for some and too outspoken and outrageous for others.  There was and still ceases to be a definition for me, which brings us back to my point once again.  God is my top priority.  Conveying that in a world where God is not priority and/or those who claim God rule you out because you don't fit the typical bill is difficult.  It's weird to be me, but I think God is using this in-betweenness theme in my life for a higher purpose or ultimate lesson or something.     Am I making sense?  I hope I'm making sense for those who need things to make sense in order to understand.  I don't need things to make perfect sense in order to understand them.  It's a thing.  My mind is abstract.  It doesn't require logic.  It's all good...;-)

Forsake All I Take Him

Faith... 
 I was crying to the LORD with my voice, And He answered me from his holy mountain.  Selah 
                   -Psalms 3:4
  
  Back when I was a wee little seedling germinating in the soil of truth I noticed people of strong faith.  I admired them.  I didn't know where faith came from, or how it was acquired.  Were these people born into it?  Were their parents preachers?  How they acquired their personal faith matters little really, as everyone acquires it through different processes.  I now understand that God works like that...in mysterious ways.  He doesn't just put every person through a conveyer belt to experience the same things and come to him by the same means.  I believe he sends his people down here into various situations for various reasons.  He calls his people to do his will and he knows they will hear his voice.

  Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.
  -Jeremiah 1:5

Now, obviously Jeremiah was a legitimate prophet, and there have been many prophets since him, BUT there are more false prophets then genuine and we have to open our eyes to know the difference.  We have to fill our minds with the truth of the bible to know the difference.  To each man has been given the power of discernment but many choose to ignore it.  I think we all have the potential to prophecy if it is God's will and if we are faithful and listen and adhere to the law set forth in the bible.  But FIRST we must learn.  We must study.  We must be in contact through prayer with the living God.  I think God gives as much as we put into it.  He knows our hearts.  He knows what we want.  If we want diamonds and gold, he knows it.  If we're after the fame and the glory of the world, he knows it.  But if we're after TRUTH he knows it too.  I know that I am a die hard truth seeker.  I am in learning mode.  This blog is to map my course for anyone who chooses to follow along.  My power of discernment is telling me that we are in very serious times, so I don't want to neglect all that I've learned so far by not sharing it.  
  Last night I had a dream I had to give a speech.  Anyone who knows me knows that I am not much of a talker much less a speaker and so I was deeply concerned in my dream.  I knew I had to give the speech so I signed myself up to be one of the first speakers because I like to get dreadful things over with rather than let them sit and putrefy my nerves.  So I heard my name, I stood up and walked to the microphone.  I had kind of a list of things I might talk about but once I got up there I just had no idea what to say.  I wasn't prepared.  So I just stood there and held the microphone out away from me.  I said nothing!  And the dread followed me knowing that I'd have to get up there and do it again!  I'm hoping this was not a prophetic dream;-)  

  Anyway,  I'm working on building my knowledge base and my faith so that if someday I actually have to speak I'll be able to.  You know, God often uses people's weakness's to make them strong.  Eek!  And I feel that once you know something it is kind of your duty to share it.  

 If you're a mac user like me, the video might not come up so here is the link http://youtu.be/Ij4GaA9EvIE

  I watch inspiring youtube videos while working out and recently I came across Sid Roth's It's Supernatural where he interviews Glenda Jackson.  This woman is a woman of FAITH.  She has been given the gift of prophesy, healing and discernment.  She has been to heaven and hell.  She speaks the words of God.  I highly recommend watching this and her other videos on youtube.  She is super old school.  Not just preaching the popular lukewarm message that we so often mistake for the word of God. We need to stop settling for lukewarm truth.  Are you ever bored at church?  You shouldn't be!  If you're falling asleep in church your minister is putting you to sleep by being lukewarm in his teaching.  Maybe he doesn't even know the truth.  The truth will wake you up out of a dead sleep!  Check her out!  God told her while she was in heaven the meaning of faith.  F-forsake A-all I-I T-take H-him.  Her mission is to call out false prophets and lead people to the truth.  Awesome...

Therefor, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fail.  For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 
     -Peter 1:10-11

Enter through the narrow gate.  For the gate is wide that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
           -Matthew 7:13-14

  My ultimate message here is don't put all of your faith in one person.  Don't think that somebody, even a preacher knows more than you and has all of the answers.  Trust your instincts.  If it doesn't feel right seek out the reasons... find the answers for yourself.