You Are God
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
57 Stories For Cycle C
Out On A Limb, Shirley MacLaine's spiritual odyssey, was first published in 1983. She calls this book her unfinished spiritual diary. In her book Ms. MacLaine joins forces with the Sadducees of old and with many, many people in our land today, who do not believe in the resurrection of the dead. MacLaine's replacement for a belief in the resurrection is a belief in reincarnation. Reincarnation asserts quite simply that we don't need to be raised from the dead because we never die. Only our body dies. Our true inner self continues to live forever inhabiting many bodies along the way.
In her book MacLaine tells of an evening she spent with a man by the name of Kevin Ryerson. Kevin Ryerson was a channel so that people who did not occupy a body could speak to the living. Through Kevin Ryerson, as MacLaine tells it, a person named John spoke to her. MacLaine actually claims to have taped their conversation. One of the first things John told her was that, "... to understand the soul within yourself today, you must also understand something of previous civilizations you have known... you were incarnate several times during the 500,000-year period of the most highly evolved civilization ever known to man" (pp. 197-198).
John preceded to tell Ms. MacLaine that she lived twice before as a male and once as a female. He told her that Gerry, a politician from England with whom she had an instant affinity and an affair, was her soul mate. "Soul mates," John said, "were actually created for one another at the beginning of time..." (p. 200).
John also instructed Ms. MacLaine in the reality of extraterrestrials who can teach us true knowledge. "The only important knowledge," John went on to tell her, "is the spiritual knowledge of God within every man. Every other knowledge flows from that" (p. 200). It wasn't difficult for MacLaine to figure out that if we are really God then, of course, we can never die. God doesn't die. I am God. I don't die. We don't need a resurrection! This she learned from John.
John even talked to Shirley about the truth of the Bible. He warned her though that the Bible had been badly misinterpreted through the years. "Reinterpreted by whom?" MacLaine asked. "Ultimately by the church," John reported. "It is to the advantage of the church to 'protect' people from the real truth... (which is) the process of each soul's progression through the ages. The real truth being each soul's responsibility for its own divinity."
"You mean reincarnation," MacLaine interjected.
"That is correct," John affirmed. "The church wishes to deny you this truth, '... because such a truth would make the power and the authority of the church unnecessary. Each person, that is, each entity, becomes responsible to its self for its conduct' " (pp. 204-5).
John then reaffirmed his basic teaching, "the big truth." "You are God," he told MacLaine. "You know you are Divine. But you must continually remember your Divinity and, most important, act accordingly" (p. 209).
Shirley MacLaine, and many like her in our world today, do not believe in the promise of resurrection given by Jesus. Self-proclaimed gods, after all, live forever. They don't need any help with matters of life and death.
In her book MacLaine tells of an evening she spent with a man by the name of Kevin Ryerson. Kevin Ryerson was a channel so that people who did not occupy a body could speak to the living. Through Kevin Ryerson, as MacLaine tells it, a person named John spoke to her. MacLaine actually claims to have taped their conversation. One of the first things John told her was that, "... to understand the soul within yourself today, you must also understand something of previous civilizations you have known... you were incarnate several times during the 500,000-year period of the most highly evolved civilization ever known to man" (pp. 197-198).
John preceded to tell Ms. MacLaine that she lived twice before as a male and once as a female. He told her that Gerry, a politician from England with whom she had an instant affinity and an affair, was her soul mate. "Soul mates," John said, "were actually created for one another at the beginning of time..." (p. 200).
John also instructed Ms. MacLaine in the reality of extraterrestrials who can teach us true knowledge. "The only important knowledge," John went on to tell her, "is the spiritual knowledge of God within every man. Every other knowledge flows from that" (p. 200). It wasn't difficult for MacLaine to figure out that if we are really God then, of course, we can never die. God doesn't die. I am God. I don't die. We don't need a resurrection! This she learned from John.
John even talked to Shirley about the truth of the Bible. He warned her though that the Bible had been badly misinterpreted through the years. "Reinterpreted by whom?" MacLaine asked. "Ultimately by the church," John reported. "It is to the advantage of the church to 'protect' people from the real truth... (which is) the process of each soul's progression through the ages. The real truth being each soul's responsibility for its own divinity."
"You mean reincarnation," MacLaine interjected.
"That is correct," John affirmed. "The church wishes to deny you this truth, '... because such a truth would make the power and the authority of the church unnecessary. Each person, that is, each entity, becomes responsible to its self for its conduct' " (pp. 204-5).
John then reaffirmed his basic teaching, "the big truth." "You are God," he told MacLaine. "You know you are Divine. But you must continually remember your Divinity and, most important, act accordingly" (p. 209).
Shirley MacLaine, and many like her in our world today, do not believe in the promise of resurrection given by Jesus. Self-proclaimed gods, after all, live forever. They don't need any help with matters of life and death.
