In those days, Spiritualism was considered basically evil. Yep, believe that or not, as you will. I had been reared in this religion but when asked what church I went to other kids made fun of me. They said we talked with the devil and would go to hell. That experience was and is always painful for a child. I determined that when I grew up, I would be ANYTHING except Spiritualist. Finally, Mom and Dad said as long as I went to church somewhere it didn’t matter where I went. They also told me not to throw my “pearls before swine, or basically not to say anything much about my religion, if it bothered me.” It was my business, not the worlds’ and that I should tell anyone who asked that I believe in God and Jesus is my Master teacher. I finally was comfortable with that and let things rest.
However, when I went to college, I visited every denomination of church I could find in the hope of becoming something more mainstream and “acceptable” to my peers. The problems developed when I could not accept wholeheartedly what I was being taught. I had sat in circles from an early age; I knew my grandparents who had transitioned before I had been born, recognized their voices when they spoke through a tranced medium, interacted with them conversationally and took their counsel seriously about doing well in school, minding my parents and teachers, being strong enough to say no and mean it when different situations popped up during my school days.
Finally, I matured enough to face who I was and what I really believed. I came full circle back to the earliest teachings I had been given and eventually became ordained as a Spiritualist minister.
The world grows through what is called “common knowledge” – the flat world became known as being round and folks perhaps slowly, but steadily, began to believe it. There is something beyond the horizon and it goes on to something else beyond that. That is why no one falls off the edge of the earth! Gravity does exist. That is why things never fall up when they are dropped. The horseless carriage did replace the horse drawn stagecoaches. Vaccination does prevent diseases. Airplanes really did fly and continued to develop until now space travel and actual photos taken from space have enlarged our understanding and everyone takes it all for granted!
And yes, Souls can communicate after they have left the physical body, audiences recognize and authenticate the things publicly that mediums have “given them” from Spirit. And they do it openly and on television!
Today, being a Spiritualist is easy. Movies, and television, even when they are not all that well done, have been loosely based on our religion and this has enlarged the thinking and understanding of the general public. Now there are practicing mediums with prime time shows of their own. The problem is that the philosophy is ignored, and I heard one of the mediums say publicly, “I don’t know how this works, I only know what I hear.” Some of the mediums on TV are openly members of other religions.
What a lost opportunity to teach the deeper parts of our beliefs. And yet, those exposures have increased the number of people who openly will admit they believe it can happen.
Jeannie Dixon, John Edwards, James Van Praagh, Tyler Henry Koelewyn known as the Hollywood Medium, are all people who have made mediumship more well known and acceptable to the public. They do not teach our philosophy but have assisted greatly in opening people’s minds to this wonderful information and it is now well on its’ way to becoming common knowledge. This makes our job as Spiritualists much easier!
We should be capitalizing on this information, so we are able to spread our philosophy. Our churches should be growing and thriving.
At the very least, we should be talking freely about our beliefs and assisting with the growth of our religion.
Let’s not hide our candle under a basket. Let’s use every opportunity to advance the understanding of Spiritualism. It is our responsibility to do so.
May Spirit be with you and bring you the wisdom and words to assist with this revelation!
