Universal Life Church - ULC Seminary

A Course In Miracles

Universal Life Church

Dr. of Metaphysics

I selected this course because I was intrigued by the idea of manifesting miracles at will.

Part I, Preparing for Miracles, quickly set the stage for what was to come, exploring and uncovering how the 3 minds work. Once I had a firm grasp on this, it seemed easy to accept, and I was eager to begin to apply the strategies taught in Parts II and III, the Keys to Miraculous Living and the Applied Principles of Metaphysics, to my daily life.

As I worked through the course material, I was reminded of people I have encountered and observed throughout my adult years, people who repeatedly were blessed with good fortune, seemingly always coming out on top, no matter the obstacles or circumstances placed before them, while others struggled to maintain their footing, being caught up in perpetual “victim-hood”, despite opportunities within their reach. This course laid out in simple, progressive terms, the how and why of my thinking, the impact my thoughts, desires, and attitudes have on my life, as well as the the application of purpose, intention, and prayer to attract abundance and joy. The course introduction stated that it was necessary to suspend any previous belief system I had in this area, and I willingly was prepared to do just that.

“Thinking from the Ego” covered in lesson 2, was of special interest to me because being born and raised in New York City, and being a woman determined to succeed in a man’s world, the development of ego was the foundation for survival in the business world. As I studied the lesson, I tried to dismiss the notion that the over-inflated ego was a negative trait. I scrutinized each word of this portion of the course material for several weeks, and looked to other materials outside of the course as well, looking for a loophole , highlighting those sentences that I identified with, so that I could gather arguments to counter them. Forty of the forty three sentences in the descriptive paragraph of the over-inflated ego described me. While I gained a complete understanding of the written lesson, it was difficult for me to actually apply my learnings to my daily actions. The in-depth search for arguments to counter-balance the existence of the over-inflated ego proved instead to be an exercise that would cement the concept of the balanced ego for me. A new internal mantra was born. Daily, I remind myself, “Get over yourself. Focus on something bigger than you”.

Learning that I can choose to act either from my ego or from my higher mind opened up new challenges for me. The concept of “What can I give to life?” instead of “What can I get from life?” interested me and became the starting point of my new path. Focusing on this idea, and applying it to my daily life in small ways, required me to align myself with my higher mind, where I began to see my connectedness to the universe instead of my separateness from it.

This course helped me to uncover any flaws that might exist in my view of reality. Additionally it helped me to accept that every entity of the physical world that I live in has a specific nature and when different entities interact, they do so according to the nature of both. This realization of cause and effect encourages and inspires me to find my purpose and set my intentions with the understanding that I am a part of a universal consciousness.

In this vein, I strive everyday, in all my actions, to be harmless in all encounters with those whom the universe places before me. I strive to cause no person to alter his course of actions negatively because of a chance or planned meeting with me.

Both the Bible and “A Course in Miracles” were my companions as I worked through the course. These books supported the course materials and were invaluable to me, helping to clarify, or re-state some of those points that I initially found difficult to accept.

During the 20 weeks of my studies I kept my course notes on small index cards with me, as a reminder to take each day’s journey in baby steps to minimize stumbling and discouragement. The learned principles, which seemed to be simple when on paper, proved to be challenging in application, as old thoughts and habits overshadowed my efforts. But with confidence in the course materials, I continued to persevere, with the anticipation of replacing old habits with new.

The course had a profound effect on me, and with the knowledge gained, brought up more questions about life that I am eager to have answered. There is no doubt that whether I take a little or much from the lessons, I have emerged more “centered” in my life, and am inspired to seek yet more growth from additional studies.

Previous to taking this course, my definition of “miracle” was: The occurrence of something impossible. Now, I understand that a miracle occurs when I experience something that I previously believed was impossible for me.

by Rev. Cathi Tessier

If we were required to write a single word essay to describe this course it would be easy. WOW!!

I have done a lot of reading and attending other religious ceremonies over my long lifetime, most of that early on in my young adult life. I can honestly say I have never seen so much information of such value in one place before. I have no doubt that I would take further courses compiled by Kythera Ann at some point in the future. I particularly appreciated the way the sections were laid out to compare various religions side by side, rather than doing separate chapters on each and expecting us to refer back.

There was nothing that I did not like about the course, except for the trouble I had in getting it all to print out for me. This resulted in my having to hand write some parts after printing out the text. This could have been a fault at my end though.

I think that the greatest thing I got out of this course was the realization that most religions seem to share so many myths and stories and traditions. Surely this cannot be coincidence. I got the feeling that all religions had the same starting point and evolved over time as people wandered and passed along their stories and beliefs, sort of like wandering minstrels.

I had believed in the existence of Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha etc, as historical individuals and great teachers elevated to saviour status. I now wonder if perhaps they are not all the same person, or to be more precise, the reincarnation of a single soul throughout time. There are just far too many similarities.

Taking this course should be required for all adults in order to help them to understand that we are truly one in this world; that all man made religions seem to lead back to one deity. We would realize that fighting our fellow man in the name of religion makes no sense when we all seem to have the same basic core values covered over with differing vegetation.

It was quite interesting to learn about all the different ceremonies of each religion as well as their “chains of command”. This did not help me to better understand how each are similar, it merely gave me a bit better understanding of how bureaucratic some can get.

The chapters dealing with angels were interesting. I have always had an interest in the realm of angels. It seems that they have played a much greater role throughout history than I could ever have imagined.

Overall, this comparative religions course was outstanding. It would be a huge benefit for all ministers to read in order to get a better understanding of, and perhaps become more tolerant of, other religious beliefs around the world.

It was well written and easy enough to understand that most lay people would be well advised to make it required reading.

I thank Kythera for all the work she obviously put into compiling this course. I have learned a great deal.

Universal Life Church

Master of Religion - My final essay:

The Bible and its contents have been extensively dealt in this study program , taking into account the great value and evidence of the divine teachings to the whole mankind. The importance of the divine message in our everyday life is impressive and we can find in the Bible a solution to our problems, doubts and needs if we carefully read this inspired Book. Its advices for our spiritual growth are continuously stressed in every page and you can find always valid and practical tools to lead your life.

In every lesson I appreciated the clear description of the topics. In particular I noticed the different point of views that have been proposed, according to the various interpretations available of this divine message. In my opinion, it is important to have a complete panorama of the religious beliefs of the Christian message and how they can be different in the doctrinal content. This is a way to open our minds and to chose to follow our religion with full responsibility and rational criticism.

The chapters on Bible Basics and the Old Testament, in this study program, are a compendium of the original writings of the divine revelation. The truth contained and expressed in the Sacred Scripture have God as author and expresses, without error and with evidence, the spiritual project for each man in order to affect and positively change our life in a spiritual renovation. The inspired words have the purpose to expose and educate to the divine justice and love.

The Jewish tradition brings to us the first unit of divine books, corresponding to Torah, called Pentateucum , which means 5 books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy).

The Genesis is the description of the origin of the universe and of the mankind, describing the origin of the Jews and their link with God through Abraham and his descendants up to the creation of Israel from the 12 tribes. The last part of Genesis describes Joseph’s life and his Egypt vicissitude.

Exodus describes the freedom of Jews from Egypt, where they were slave and their liberation by the action of Moses. This important book contains the God law and the divine commandments.

Leviticus can be seen as a collection of cult prescriptions. Numbers contains the list of the members of 12 tribes and first exploration of Canaan land from Jews in compliance with the God promise. Deuteronomy contains Moses discourses to Israel, stressing the importance to respect the divine commandments as a condition to possess and enjoy the promised land.

The part of this study program on Ten Commandments is interesting because they are differently exposed and interpreted according to Protestants, Catholics and Hebrews. As I pointed out, in my opinion the divine message is simple in his meaning, in spite of these different versions, because its contains a universal and univocal wisdom and message of love for every man.

The old scriptures also contain all the Prophets events and writings, inspired by God, based on the Israel history and the various Hebrew events. Psalms are my favourite book because you can deeply feel the inner prayers of the Hebrew people , respecting the God words and their feelings of hope and faith.

The New Testament is the most used portion of the Bible, in today’s churches. Here you can find the Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Acts of Apostles who witnessed His life, death and resurrection. Gospels are a message of hope, mercy iand salvation , addressed to everyone believing in Jesus.

I appreciated the way to study the Bible in an effective way, with a humble approach, because it is not to acquire knowledge, but rather to know God and to bring His words in our life.

The part of the study programs on the Holy Sacraments is interesting because I could see different ways to understand the various sacraments and their symbolism.

The religious counseling , as fundamental action of a Christian minister, the approach to the problems of the church community and the discourses on Marriage, Divorce , etc. are a picture of the hard and severe work of a minister within the church members. I think a minister must have a strong personality and a deep faith in order to help and give effective support to those asking for his advice, considering the source of their problems. I was really impressed by his responsible work which is undoubtedly hard, but full of strength and capability to understand and forgive , expressing the message of Jesus Christ to love each others and to forgive each others, to live in peace among us.

The last part of the study program was dealing with the History of the Christianity and all the historical events from the beginning, focused on the way to spread the message of Jesus Christ. The Apostles and their predication on the Lord and His power to save everyone in faith.

The Journeys of the Apostle Paul express his action to rescue every man and to glorify the Lord.

From the teachings of the Apostles we can learn the deep meaning of the divine message of love which I think is the base for everyone, in spite of the different religious tendencies and churches in the world. The Christian churches have the Bible as fundamental book. Other Churches and Denominations also use other books, such as the Book of Mormon, but this is a violation of the divine commandments because the only inspired book is the Bible. We have to discriminate between real and false prophets in this case.

I agree with a spiritual church , not a material church, interested in financial business rather than in the real Christian message of faith, love and humility. Unselfishness is a value clearly in contradiction with personal profits.

This course was excellent for me and I was particularly impressed by the different approach proposed to understand and interpret the Sacred Scriptures (from the Old to the New Testament) , by the Catholic (Orthodox or Roman), Hebrew, Protestant churches and how the Bible is exploited to create a lot of religious bodies which are often not really inspired.

The really deep values inspired by God and his Son Jesus Christ, and the effective presence of the Holy Ghost in the described events can be made understandable by the work of a good Christian minister.

As a final statement, I am sure that all the program contents will be fruitful for me and will positively affect my ordinary and spiritual life.

MANUELA FASOLI

Universal Life Church Seminary

Master of Chaplaincy Studies

Final Essay

The assignment following this course was to answer the following questions:

1. What did I learn from this course?

2. What helped me the most?

3. What could be improved in this course?

4. What do we hope to accomplish after taking this course?

I guess the best place to start here is with defining what a chaplain is. A chaplain is a religious leader frequently working with transient worshippers and usually working in more than one faith. The transient nature of the flock often leads to a lack of relationships with the individual worshippers and therefore a lack of connection beyond that attributed solely to the shared faith. Also, due to the transient nature of the worshippers a chaplain in often required to minister to those who follow different beliefs and practices than his or her own. This in and of itself makes a chaplaincy a difficult experience. On top of that chaplains frequently work in places where they deal with the extremes of human existence. By working in places such as air ports, police departments, hospitals, prisons and the military they often have to deal with people grieving from death, killing, sickness and all other forms of human suffering. Sometimes, although less often, they will have the pleasure of dealing with the more positive aspects of the human condition such as marriages and births.

What did I learn from this course?

From taking this course I learned some of the finer points of exactly what a chaplain does or deals with, things I had not thought about before. I also developed a small kit bag of things to do, know and think about involved in a chaplaincy. I haven’t taken the time to put together a kit bag of tangible items yet as with my career field and location that is not easy nor feasible.

There were also some great sections covering some of the many different types of chaplains and some of the specifics of their practices as well as some of the challenges and pitfalls.

What helped me the most?

The most helpful part for me was the small thoughts and assignments at the conclusion of every discourse. They helped me to solidify my ideas, find out some of the local laws and regulations and discover more about what a chaplain really does. The only chaplains I’ve dealt with were military chaplains so this created some new ideas and gave me things to think about as well as new things to study and learn to better myself as a minister.

What could be improved in this course?

I think it would have been beneficial to add some more required courses or add sections to the course on counseling, in its many forms. As stated in several of the discourses, counseling is a major role of the chaplain and while it is good to put it out there as something extra to do separate from the coursework it would also be beneficial to at least provide some guidance on actual counseling in addition to the sections covering active listening that are included in many seminary courses.

The section on active listening was beneficial and although covered in a lot of different discourses it is important to understand. One of the major tenets of active listening is that it is a skill that must always and constantly be focused on, worked through and improved. One of the most important parts of active listening is to seem involved in the conversation. Just hearing what someone is saying isn’t enough to have people feel you care. There are simple things you can do involving just your body language that can make someone believe you really care what they have to say. The basics of it are to keep eye contact, learn towards the speaker, don’t fiddle with things or dry wash your hands. If you have trouble or uncomfortable keeping eye contact you can simply look through a person or over that head, it will give the illusion of you looking them in the eye without actually doing it. Those are not tricks I recommend making a constant use of but for people who have issues with eye contact it can be useful. Another great trick for active listening is to through in affirmations (yes, yup, I understand, uhuh, etc) during the natural pauses in the conversation. If something doesn’t make sense ask then what they mean. If you do understand but something is unclear or you wish to clarify say something along the lines of, “what I hear you saying is…” These are easy tricks but they can greatly improve the conversation, plus they help to keep you engaged in the conversation and make it harder for you to grow bored or distant. It is also beneficial to have these conversations one on one. A word of warning there though, you want to avoid anything that could cause issues socially, publically or morally. For example, it would be unwise for and adult male to meet alone with a young woman. In a case such as this it’s best to meet with the full knowledge of other people, possibly with a female friend (either yours or theirs present), possibly in a public place or at a minimum with the door open. Remember to always watch out for your own safety, while counseling and meetings may seem best private and fairly safe there can be a danger there.

What do I plan on doing following the completion of this course?

Before taking this course I was the chaplain of my motorcycle club chapter. While the job doesn’t really require much religious work it does involve mediating problems and coordinating for the annual blessing of the bikes and coordinating any funerals and funeral items for the chapter. After taking the course I feel I have a better understanding of how I could help the club with the various tasks required as part of that. I also frequently get questions from others about my faith and about religion in general, this course has given me some better ideas of how I might explain things depending on different persons, their beliefs and their personalities.

Universal Life Church

When Jesus came of age within the Essenes he purified the structure of the Mystery traditions and re-instated the original Gnostic faith. Hence, the Gnosticism of Jesus is not superior to other Gnostic traditions, but is a refinement or adaptation of an age-long tradition. Indeed, the Gnosticism of Jesus brought together Egyptian, Greek and Mystery Cult traditions (such as those of Eleusis and Mithra) into one coherent system. The iconography of Judaism played a small part but was insignificant in comparison to, for example, the Greek Mystery cult tradition. To understand this “nexus” of the Gnosis we really need to jettison the old model which sees gnosticism as a Jewish or Christian heresy. As has been documented in such texts as the Jesus Mystery and Jesus Christ, Sun of God ++++++ it is more likely that Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity are pagan and Gnostic heresies!

While there may be vigorous complaints and denials it is now even well known that so-called Jewish Kabbalah primarily derived from a reworking of Neo Platonic mysticism which into Jewish religious language.

These teachings, however, did not remain available forever. As society changed and a new regime came to power the teachings of Jesus were suppressed and replaced with the political faith of Emperor Constantine, and accordingly the Gnosis went underground to ensure its survival. What we have in today’s religious movements are not the original forms of Judaism and Christianity, but apostate faiths masquerading in their place. The Bible itself has been tampered with to such an extent that only through much critical study can we restore just some of its inner meaning. The Institute upholds the original inner teachings of Jesus as part of a continuum of wisdom which spans from Pagan to so-called Christian sources.

But it is perhaps desirable to state unequivocally that the teachings here, however, fragmentary and incomplete belong neither to the Hindu’s, the Zoroastrian, the Chaldean, nor the Egyptian Religion, nor to Buddhism, Islam, Judaism or Christianity exclusively. The Secret doctrine is the essence of all these.

The Secret Doctrine,
Madame Blavaskty.

Ask me where I learned this if you want to know, but it is Gnosticism. Please understand this info came to me after my revelations talked about next and please note that I only found he who I mention through trying to become like him following my heart.

However, as Albert Einstein said, ‘knowledge is limited; what really counts is intuition.’

And in Proverbs it says,
“Ask someone with experience and not a scholar.”
Proverb

and in the taittiriva unasnishad it states
“If you have doubts, what may be the right behavior,
then model yourself on the great men, whose judgment is well proven, who are sincere, and devoted to truth.According to these principles direct your acting!
This is the rule, this is the tenet and this the commandment of the Holy Scriptures.”
Taittiriya-Upanischad

“Inspiration is more important than knowledge,
because knowledge is limited.”

Albert Einstein

So I think it may be time for the book blind people to take the head out of the book and trust our hearts again. for there is a great man amongst us again. and we were taught from the start to look for the divine spark in everything. if one cannot see this then ascension must take place of the spirit to raise consciousness to the level where one can accept the god/infinity within each of us as proven by quantum physicist Gregg Braden to be the translation of our DNA encoding.
as well as this all ancient traditions teach of this very same.

that god/infinity/divine spark is within every living thing.
when one can see this then one is ready to accept the Christ as the Christ. eg look through Christlike eyes, then when this happens one can accept the Christ. how else would you know? only through inner knowing this is the mass awakening going on worldwide at this very time. to help us all to elevate our consciousness for the decision we shall face together as mankind in the next short few years.

great change is upon us. and the fact that this man I name and whom when I contemplated every eventuality and feeling in my heart come to accept as the embodiment of Christ. the fact that this man is here. if one doesn’t even look next nor near. prophecies.. conspiracy’s etc etc must account for something of great magnitude about to occur. mankind doe’s not provide its own destruction without its own salvation. please read on Amy for I will name this man down below!

and so.. a good man you will know

“From their fruits
Ye shall know them.”
Jesus
Matthew 7,16

“To accept as knowledge,
what one knows,
to accept as ignorance,
what one does not know,
this is knowledge.”
Konfucius LY 2, 17

“For enlightenment nothing else is needed than freedom,
namely the most harmless amongst all
what may be called freedom,
namely this one:
to make public use of one’s reason
in all aspects.”
Kant

why?. because I Am that I am and as I am.. I love life!

“Who does not dare
to go beyond reality,
will never conquer truth.”
Schiller

“Whom the Gods love,
him they lead to the place
where he is needed.”
Goethe

I am a messenger with a message for all true follower’s of heart

“Experience remains the master of life.”
Goethe

what I have come to experience in life. the journey I have taken in order to share with the world the divine plan/mesg I have received at one point rocked me to the very core of my existence. but in order to find some of the answers we seek I had to take that journey within myself. and no amount of black and white knowledge ascertained and utilized by bishop pat for the master of Gnosticism course it did not help. a very thorough course but when my very being of consciousness came to ascend to a level of consciousness where I now know the second coming of Christ is upon us. it was my heart that decided this not scripted materials or gadgets of a website or an attunement etc it was my consciousness together with a heart-felt feeling..

“On the path to discovery, the intellect has little to do.
There is a leap in consciousness,
call it intuition or whatever you like,
and the solution comes to you,
and you do not know how and why.”

Albert Einstein

“The really important things

are learned in a different way
than through words.”

“Who wants to partake of
the revelation of universality,
should grasp nothing through understanding,
but should experience inside
and come into a specific psychological state -
provided he is capable of it.”

Aristotle

so now you see how I know in my heart and the message I bring to the world that the embodiment of the Christ consciousness is walking talking and successfully walking his path of a Christ since 1991. his name is Vissarion translated means bringer of new life just like Jeshua translated meant salvation and he is re writing the history books for the next 2000 years. with 10 new gospels already completed called the last testament.

He claims to be here to unite all religions and seems to be successfully doing so and he even oversees get this. The promised land.

a man is here again for us. and claims he’s Christ. he believes this and where that course of belief has lead him.. well is outstanding for any man to attempt

I have shared the teachings of the ancient Essenes with you Amy and now the heralded by as many as 50,000 followers across the globe already.. and to them. Vissarion is the embodiment of Christ.

My closing thoughts and a gift to you:
Gnosticism of the light and to the light 1 shall return.

To all who have ears let them hear; there is light within a man of light and he lights up the whole world for if he does not shine then he is in darkness. (Gospel of Thomas)

my greatest discovery in my life is that we live in a loving universe. (Albert Einstein).

my greatest gift of discovery in my life Amy that 1 can share with all is that I to have come to know we live in a loving universe. (Rev Dr Gregory Alexander D.D)

Rev Dr Gregory Knapper Alexander D.D

Final Essay for Chaplaincy Course

By Robert Nelson

This is a wonderful course. As a former military chaplain I wondered if I would benefit from the course and I am very happy to say that I benefitted greatly. The course covered every aspect of being a chaplain from the calling, theology, and liturgics to the nitty-gritty logistics of this type of ministry. I think there is enough detail here about the actual functioning of a chaplain that it would benefit anyone interested in this type of ministry including chaplains in the U.S. Army’s Basic Chaplaincy Course or even chaplains with several years experience, such as myself.

For me personally there were several areas that were especially beneficial. I thoroughly enjoyed the sections on the logistics of ministry. I think this is a weakness for many chaplains who confine themselves to an office and seldom venture into the world of those they serve. For me, ministry of presence is the essence of chaplaincy. Reverend Moore highlighted this in several ways as he wrote of learning the institution. But to conduct this ministry effectively it takes a certain amount of preparation and I think the concept of creating “tool boxes” is probably the best idea I have heard in a while for organizing and preparing for this type of ministry. I have used this concept to a certain extent myself in the past but think I can do it much better with the intention and detail that Rev. Moore suggests. In the past my tool box might have been whatever I threw in my pocket but now I think I can do much better by intentionally creating a tool box for the situations in which I will be serving. My tool box for working with homeless people will be different from that I will use at a nursing home or the one I will use when working with veterans. I am really excited about this concept and have great hopes for its application.

I also found the lesson concerning sacred space, objects, and symbols to be particularly beneficial. As a counselor I have long conceived of the creation of a safe space as an important step in counseling and now this concept has grown to involve the creation of a sacred space (and even a sacred time) as part of ministry. Certainly this involves a certain logistical reality but to a greater extent it is a function of the attitude and spirituality of the chaplain. Years ago I discovered that as a chaplain I was much more useful in the motor pool or on a road march than I was sitting in an office in the chapel. I was able to provide more ministry to more people. Now I see that when I was most effective I was creating a sacred space or perhaps more accurately, carrying a sacred space with me as I traveled around in my ministry of presence. This involves logistical factors such as in some cases some sort of privacy and a certain amount of comfort but it also involves creating at least an illusion of having plenty of time and through symbols, actions, and interactions the creation of a sacred space.

Sometimes this sacred space is created with little more than a smile and a prayer. At other times it might involve more elaborate interactions and symbols. But whether it involves a full-fledged altar and vestments or simply the reading of a scriptural passage and a prayer, it is essential to the ministry of a chaplain.

The sections on counseling, especially grief counseling, were interesting to me since I have spent most of my professional life doing some sort of counseling. Even at that I found that the section on grief counseling was both interesting and informative. This highlights another aspect of the course which was valuable to me – the rehearsal of basic principles. There is often little to be said that is completely new. We are after all speaking of religion, spirituality, and ministry – ancient activities which are based in ancient traditions of wisdom and which at a certain level are fundamental to being human beings. But newness is not a requirement for wisdom. It may be important to fashion and marketing but for ministry it is less important than ancient, profound fundamentals such as compassion and spirituality. I believe that the pursuit of excellence requires a frequent rehearsal of fundamentals. This is certainly true in such things as sports where the athletes who are best at fundamentals such as running, jumping, blocking, tackling, and throwing are the ones who are usually victorious. The same is true for other areas of achievement and such basics as reading, writing, performing arithmetic, and so forth. So it is with ministry and especially chaplaincy. Certainly there is a value to gaining as much knowledge as possible and exploring advanced aspects of hermeneutics, liturgics, and homiletics. But in the end it is the basics of caring, connecting with others, and being present that will bring the most comfort to those we serve. It is the remembrance of our calling and our personal spiritual foundation that provides depth and meaning to our ministry. Rev. Moore has reminded me of that principle and has provided a useful handbook for the frequent rehearsal of some of those fundamentals.

The section on avoiding traps is one of those important fundamentals. Rev. Moore has spelled it out clearly and reminded me to beware of the temptations and even the appearance of evil. I have seen far too many ministers who have ruined their calling and their lives through various traps involving sex and money. I have seen many more flounder because of the trap of pride. These traps are with us always and frequent, even daily reminders, are important to help us stay the course.

I am not sure what I could improve in this course. There are things I would do differently but that is more a matter of personality and preference than of a critique of substance. As I was going through the course there were times when I thought something should be added or expanded but on later reflection I felt that some of this was more cosmetic. In other words, I liked this course.

My personal goal is to shift gears in my career. I have been mostly a counselor since I got out of the Army. I have done some limited volunteer chaplain work with the Veterans Administration and among the homeless but hope to expand that aspect of my life. I’m looking forward to completing the entire chaplaincy program and the D.Min. program and expanding this ministry with my wife into a holistic ministry and health education among several populations. I hope to continue working with the homeless and to expand my ministry among the elderly and veterans. Together with my wife I hope to also do ministry among people who are interested in improving their health. I would like to get an endorsement from the ULC as a chaplain.

Thanks for the inspiration and direction.

Rev. Bob Nelson, Ph.D.

Universal Life Church FINAL ESSAY – MASTER OF PAGANISM

I have just completed the Master of Paganism course. I have been Wiccan for 14 years and am a high priestess of a coven. I have completed many 101 and advanced classes and spent 3 years in a seminary type training program for Wicca. This course is the best one I have taken to date. It covers far more material and in more detail. I call myself a Witch an Wiccan, but after this course, I realize Paganism is more like Witchcraft and is the path I follow more than Wiccan. I enjoyed the lesson on the Great Rite, it described it better than anything else I have read. I liked the way the author did not tell you “this is the only way to believe” etc. He gave the information and let you determine how to make it work for you. So many pagans and Wiccans only use/worship the Goddess, it was refreshing to have someone teach about the polarity and give the God as much credit as the Goddess. The information was easy to read and easy to understand. It was not delivered in a way to make the author superior. The lessons flowed very well and went in a progressive organized order.

The lessons I enjoyed the best were the first lesson’s creation story, it was one of the best I have seen, the great rite and the rituals. So many do not truly explain the parts of a ritual and I thought this one did a good job. The mediation section was very delivered. And I loved the last lesson. No one ever tells about how to incorporate what they teach into your daily life. Some touch on it but fall short.

I would have loved to have seen more on the different traditions, maybe even a comparison. Maybe that could be a different course someday.. a comparisons of Pagan religions or Wiccan tradition.

Overall I did not expect to learn much from this course and was pleasantly surprised to find out I did learn things ans enjoyed each lesson and found myself looking forward to the next.

Bright Blessings,

Rev. Debbie Hawkins

Universal Life Church Seminary

Master of Spiritualism

“Defining Spiritualism”

The basis of this course was first and foremost a philosophical look at religion, ideas, and spirituality throughout about the past 3000 years and then explaining how these same ideas are woven into your daily world. Small sections of the course also went beyond just explaining the philosophical ideas to showing practical uses and placements of those same ideas in modern spirituality and society.

I liked that the author covered various philosophies some of which may not have explicitly been directly related to religion, such as socialism. The author does bring up good arguments for all of the theories he covers including socialism, which once looked at through the right lens does relate very well to spirituality and religion.

It was also nice of the author to bring their personal experience in views into the lessons. It’s unfortunate that the author has had to go through some of the trial and tribulations that they have but they seems to have grown from it. Hopefully all of the students taking the course are also able to learn something vicariously through their experiences.

I can personally say that while I have not lived anything to the extremes that the author has, I did see certain parts of the story that related to me. For example, I’ve been lost in the woods alone in the winter in New York State before, true I was not lost for days I was only lost for hours but it gives me an inkling of the feeling the author must have felt. I’ve never dealt with an abusive lover but I was a child that had to listen to his parents fight all the time.

These things cause us to grow over time and lead us to be the people that we are today. We have a choice, we can either learn from our life, from our successes and failures; or we can choose to keep doing what we’ve always done, the only problem with that is, as the saying goes, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always gotten.

Universal Life Church - Online Seminary Program

Dr. of Christian Studies - The Four Gospels - final essay
By Rev George Parsons

The Four Gospels course has been a great delight to study. At first, it throw me for a loop with the terminology used. I have been so accustomed to the King James Version that the verbiage in “The Unvarnished Gospels” cause me to set it aside. I thought that it was wrong. I finally picked the book back up and, using the weekly discourses, I started seeing how the book was speaking in layman’s terms and a manner in which to communicate the gospels to everyone.

I am required to write a short paper of 300 or more words about one area of the four gospels that gave me the most comfort or the most trouble to receive credit for this course. I hope and pray that the following will suffice:

As with most people/students, the Sermon on the Mount definitely touches my heart and soul. Statements made by Jesus in this location formed a basis for Christianity. You can feel the love in His words as you read them. They make my heart soar. But this is not the area I wish to write about.

I am rather perplexed and disturbed with the Gospel of John. This gospel was written approx. 85 AD. This is 85 years after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Eighty-five years of trying to remember the life of Jesus Christ. Eighty-five years of trying to remember His ministry (some say it was on two years while others say three years). Eighty-five years of “filling in the blanks” with John’s own words. Eighty-five years of bias.

Too many contradictions for what we learn about Jesus from the other gospels.

Examples:

Jesus is depicted as a weakling and coward, running away from the Jews in the temple instead of confronting the issues at hand. (John 8:59)

John uses the word “signs” instead of miracles throughout his gospel. In fact, 17 times it is used instead of stating that Jesus performed miracles, stated in the other gospels.

John glamorizes every “sign” or miracle that Jesus performs whereas in the other gospels, Jesus states that He does not want His presence known when He performs a miracle.

I am not trying to dishonor John, because he was a disciple of Jesus, but I read overtones of John trying to “out-do” Peter. John perceived the betrayal of Judas (John 13), John is the first to recognize Jesus in the boat while Peter jumps in the water (John 21), Peter asks Jesus “What would John do?” (John 21).

I realize that John was preaching the teachings of Jesus in his own manner and this was how he related to anyone who would listen. He made Jesus out to be “larger than life” or a superhero. But yet, if Jesus was so much of a “superhero” in John’s gospel, why would Jesus run away from the Jews? Why is there so much anger in this gospel and less love? God is unconditional love, or at least I thought so.

As I said, I am not trying to judge John and his gospel because it does contain some profound scripture (“BELIEVE ME THAT I AM IN THE FATHER, AND THE FATHER IN ME: OR ELSE BELIEVE ME FOR THE VERY WORKS’ SAKE” John 14:11). My concern is over the validity of John’s scripture. As a Christian, I have to believe that what was written in the bible, specifically John’s gospel, are words straight from God. The problem is that the majority of John’s gospel has the theme of story-telling. Each time told the story gets more and more immense, the main characters becoming larger and larger until it becomes folklore. John uses too much story-telling to tell his gospel, leaving out parts much needed for the story. He leaves God out of much and instead relates that through Jesus things will happen. Jesus’s words not God’s Word. Argument has it that Jesus and God are one in the same so the words spoken by Jesus are the same Words of God. But, should you believe that Jesus was a prophet, then what John is saying is contradicting the other gospels in the bible. Yes, John is not a synoptic gospel. It is more literal and uses symbolism to get its point across.

The Gospel of Thomas should have been the gospel in the bible instead of John. Most of the sayings written in the Gospel of Thomas, also appear in Matthew and Luke. None appear in John. Why is that?

The gospel of Thomas cannot be entered into the bible so in order to study it more clearly one must go to other sources, like the internet, and research for answers.

The fact that the Gospel of John is so different than the rest of the gospels is what causes it to remain controversial but is included in the bible. As I stated in the beginning, I was taken back by the relaxed version of the gospels in “The Unvarnished Gospels”. With the manner in which the Gospel of John is written, I am again taken back yet believe it is correct since I am a Christian. With free will, I can at least question it.

I wholly recommend this course to any and all students who wish to try to understand the gospels. It will definitely get your mind thinking as it did mine.

Thank you,

Rev. George Parsons

As a Reiki Master and long time Reiki practitioner who has studied other alternative healing modalities I thoroughly enjoyed this course although most of the information was familiar to me. It is, however, the most comprehensive of any metaphysical healing course I have read and would be beneficial to all spiritual healers, experienced or new to the practice. It certainly was a great refresher for some of the material I had forgotten. Valerie Archer’s “The Healer’s Oath” is exactly what I have needed to add to my Reiki classes as a guideline for attitude and action.

The most important aspect of what I learned from this course was the lesson on determining our own reality. The New Age Movement in general, of which I consider myself a member, often promotes the idea that we are totally responsible for what occurs in our lives; we brought all situations and conditions on ourselves by our either rightful or wrongful thoughts. This ideology has never made sense to me and I have seen the damage it has done to already wounded people. I have worked with young women who were victims of rape as little children and had been told they didn’t have enough Jesus in their hearts or they wished the rape on themselves or their actions somehow caused it. I have seen how much despair, unhappiness and further loss of sense of self-worth this type of preaching has had on these women. I always counseled them that, as children, they did nothing to cause a criminal act to be committed on them. I explained that they, most unfortunately but absolutely through no fault of their own, just got caught up in the misguided life of someone else. Instances of rape and other abuse were easy to discuss in this way but there have been times in my own life when something really dreadful has occurred and I was vulnerable to the thought that I wished for myself a particular disaster, like a serious, permanent health problem. Logically, I couldn’t believe I would have done that willingly but several people would tell me that I had and, as I said, some books I read agreed. It was extremely gratifying to have Rev. Kruger validate what I have told abused women for years. I also tremendously appreciated the opportunity to read Ted Andrews’ calculation of approximately what percent of our lives we can control and Leo Rutherford’s comments explaining why that is so.

I also found the information regarding the “Shadow” concept most interesting, especially, the suggestion that one can use his/her “Shadow” to assist in personal enlightenment. Perhaps teaching others to realize that their “Shadows” are archives of negativity could help them to avoid visiting that place or dwelling on what is inside it extensively and, instead, focus on more pleasant experiences.

As stated above, the entire course is relevant to my work as a Healer, was interesting, comprehensive, extremely informative and well presented. There was nothing I disliked regarding the course.

This course was made available through the Universal Life Church and its online seminary.