by Roger Fuehrer-Denver, CO
As a young boy I had several "unusual experiences" and kept them a secret. Once I heard Chapter One of Divine Principle when I was an adult, I finally knew what had been going on. Since that time, in my 26 years with the Principle, spiritual experiences have continued, and in the last few years they are occurring more often about many things. To me it is only a natural part of our life: the growing together of our spiritual and physical selves. The value is to share these experiences and learn from them. Upon hearing of some of my recent experiences, Rev. Pak asked me to share them here.
I was privileged to attend two of the recent Ministers' Conferences in Washington, DC. The atmosphere at the last one, Dec. 10-12, was very exciting, with over 700 guests. On Wednesday night, Rev. Levy Dougherty led one of his patented "revival" sessions. Towards the end, when there were about 250 or so left, he asked us to join in a large circle, hold hands and participate in unison prayer.
Most of my really profound spiritual experiences happen during prayer. Usually as soon as I close my physical eyes, my spiritual eyes are opened to spirit world. Again, as I closed my eyes for this unison prayer, I saw standing behind this large circle another group of people 10 to 15 deep, all with their heads also bowed in prayer. From my previous spiritual experiences, I knew they were spirits-not high spirits, but ordinary people praying with us and giving us not only support but helping in their own way so they too could grow with us. The spiritual feeling was very strong as now there were several thousand there praying and not just the 250. This was most exciting because it confirmed for me that spiritual world was now directly helping us.
On God's Day, the Denver church held its first True Family Festival. During the ceremony, while the eight couples were receiving the holy wine, I saw coming through the ceiling a most unusual light descending upon the group. I had seen similar light before at the 1992 Blessing of 30,000 Couples in Seoul. In this case, it was the light of the Holy Spirit, a most beautiful color that does not exist in the physical world. This was most exciting because I knew that God was showing the radiant favor of His grace upon this event. I was also very thrilled to have this approval for the Denver church, because we have been struggling so much over the last few years and the spiritual atmosphere has not always been that good.
But more of this was to happen. Only a few days later, during our first internal guidance workshop in years, our regional director, Rev. Shin, was inspired to perform a holy robe ceremony for one of the blessed Christian ministers and his wife. During this ceremony, the four formed a circle and joined hands. Immediately they began crying deep, flowing tears of joy. At the same time, I saw again through the ceiling descending on the four the same wonderful light of the Holy Spirit I saw on True God's Day. When such light encompasses you, you are overcome with the deepest emotions one can have, feelings beyond description.
But more was to come. Once the formal ceremony was finished, the Christian minister and his wife were asked to step to the podium and speak. As they did, I saw above them a door open and a long series of wooden stairs leading down behind them. And walking down those stairs was Jesus adorned in the most beautiful robe I have ever seen. Now, I have seen Jesus many times before but never in such a robe, made of such fine materials. Nowhere on earth is there such material. And nowhere is there such color. While the robe is similar in style to holy robes, the texture and color were absolutely heavenly. And
following Jesus, also wrapped together in similar robes, were his disciples. What a glorious event! Jesus and his disciples were giving approval to this special ceremony. The minister was representing Christianity, and he also was acting as a bridge between the New Testament Age and the Completed Testament Age. The atmosphere was deeply moving-one of those magical spiritual moments!
Jesus is working directly to help and support our work. And our church is in a position where it can hold such events with the blessing of God and Jesus!
With this in mind, I am inspired to relate another spiritual event told me today by Denver sister Kathy Rivera, concerning an acquaintance recovering from heart bypass surgery. About 30 years ago he felt deeply about Jesus and prayed to Jesus to understand what it was like for him to go through the pain of Gethsemane. Lately this man's life has been in turmoil, with a stroke, feelings of tremendous loneliness and the threat of losing his home. While recovering at home from his surgery, the phone rang and his close friend Rudy called. He said his friend Rudy spoke to him in the most beautiful and heartfelt way, a way he had never spoken before. This call was so comforting to him, giving him strength he really needed to handle his current situations. A few days later, he gave Rudy a call to thank him. Amazingly enough, Rudy denied ever calling him and saying all those wonderful things. He knew that something special had happened, but it was not until the next Sunday when he was able to attend his regular Catholic church service that the puzzle was solved. During mass, he looked up at the crucifix and heard Jesus saying to him, "I am Rudy"!
The time for the unification of the spiritual world and physical world is here. We are in a most special time when we can witness this happening before our very eyes. We need it. Spirit world needs it. And Heavenly Father is just waiting for us to grow and participate in our own spiritual way.