Global Faith: The Place of Meeting God

This article is a preview from the not-yet-published book: Global Faith: Universal and Existential, the flagship book of the Global Faith Book series which is scheduled to be published in 2012. But this article is included in the new book, about to be published, the second one in the book series: Global Faith: A Model for the 21st Century.

The Place of Meeting God

The prophets of the blessed past called the peoples to meet God of their faith each in their appointed consecrated places which in time became sacred, each in their homeland of origin.

The great Hebrew prophet Isaiah prophesied, "Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established on top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, ' Come and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD'" (Isaiah 2:2-3a NKJV).

Some pious souls interpret this passage literally and look forward to its fulfillment in a literal Jerusalem. Yet other pious or faithful or scholarly souls interpret this passage spiritually-metaphorically. This latter realistically understands the sheer difficulty if not virtual impossibility of God's global people of faith traveling to Jerusalem, not just once in their lifetime, but perhaps many times as the text may suggest. Better it seems this spiritual-metaphorical interpretation of this prophecy that speaks to all God's people of faith globally, wherever they may live, even Global Faith peoples in these latter days who come to God in spirit and in truth and figuratively to His holy mountain, wherever we hear His words, His teachings, receive them into our hearts and souls, submit our wills to Him, and worship Him in all His glory and majesty.

God foresaw our day, our global age, and a growing movement of Global Faith peoples. God has brought a new age through His holy Son Jesus who proclaimed, "...neither on this mountain [Gerizim in Samaria] nor in Jerusalem [Mt. Zion] will you worship Me but in spirit and truth they shall worship Me" (John 4:21, 23 NKJV). Souls of faith, let God's Spirit inscribe these words into your precious hearts and minds. Notice that this speaks of NO CENTRAL place on earth where God's people meet God and worship Him. There is no geographic latitude nor longitude, but speaks of a spiritual Zion of longevity, where the sacred meeting place is the meeting of the Divine and the human being through his or her soul, wherever their bodies are physically, locally. In the roads of the well known Christian rock song by Petra, "the road to Zion's in my heart."

The believers of Judaism have the Wailing Wall, Christians have the Church of the Holy Sepulchre also in Jerussalem, and Muslims have Mecca, the Sikhs have Golden Temple in Amritsar, and Baha'is have the Shrine of the Bab (international Shrine, Haifa, Israel), but the prophetic scripture above from John's Gospel (claimed to have come from Jesus) looks to our day when and where people of faith are not bound to attend one specific sacred spot on earth-obligatorily-for the meeting place of God, for worship and prayer. The great Hebrew prophet Isaiah (most scholars refer to this section as Deutero-Isaiah) prophesied, "He is called God of the whole earth" (Isaiah 54:5d) and the prophetic scriptures speak through Solomon, "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built!" (I Kings 8:27 NKJV).

Therefore, Global Faith does not seek to establish any central sacred place for the meeting of God and His people, but it is intent on remaining decentralized; and likewise it does not to establish even a central global organization or institution. Global Faith peoples do not stress over where to establish a central sacred spot on earth, where it should be, what country it should be located in, consequentially refraining from the potential engine of conflict with established religions or governments. Be let there be thousands of local assemblies of Global Faith peoples who can gather on a regular basis (for example, weekly), locally. Moreover, let it be permitted that Global Faith local communities associate with each other, but remaining decentralized. And let them even establish regional shrines that they may make pilgrimages, either peacefully securing agreement with representatives of existing shrines or establishing new shrines. Global Faith peoples may peacefully worship, pray, and/or meditate in many and various religious settings. But peacefully seek official permission if groups of Global Faith communities want to gather at shrines/houses/temples/churches/gardens or grounds of existing religious institutions or organizations.

Global Faith Org Vision and Mission Statement

Dear Friends of Faith, globally,
I ended up posting a Global Faith Values Statement in a prior post before first trumpeting the Vision and Mission statement, now, here below. Not only is it fitting but indeed essential for every organization to have a vision and mission statement (currently "organization" is used in a loose sense, since the Org has not yet been formally formed).

Vision Statement:
That people as individuals and as humanity as a whole, globally, grow in mutual respect and understanding of other faith traditions, and that people individually and humanity as a whole grow more spiritually mature.

Mission Statement:
Global Faith Org encourages, inspires, educates humanity toward mutual respect and understanding among peoples of various faith traditions, world religions, in the spirit of peace, grace, and the Golden Rule and toward spiritual maturity globally, through blogging, writing, speaking, dialoging, gathering, engaging in ministry, and fellowship.

Global and Eternal Peace to you,
Brother Mark

To Be Human is to Believe

To be human is to believe.

Global Faith Overview

Dear friends of faith, spirituality, and religion (and those curious or interested but may not consider themselves spiritual or religious).
Thank you for your interest in Global Faith. Below is a quick overview of Global Faith, basic definition and main values.
Here I will give an overview of a definition and Values and highlight again the Global Faith Pledge. Look for more to come!

Global Faith Defined
Faith: In internal sense which connects all people who have alittle or much faith not in external sense like an established world religion or institution.
Faith is a connecting factor which helps to unite all people, even if the object of
their faiths differ
Global, International, but Apolitical: The emphasis is that Global Faith peoples are citizens of heaven or a universal or global spiritual kingdom that does not compete with any earthly kingdom or nation, recognizing that there is no political system or order of government on earth that is perfect. We stive to live peacefully in whatever system we find ourselves.
International Multicultural: There are no limits. Global Faith peoples are everywhere in various cultures, in all nations, and is therefore diverse and multicultural
Monotheistic: Most Global Faith poeples are monotheists, revering only the Supreme God Creator of the Heavens and Earth, but recognize other children of God who do not see God as a personal Being but have a monistic impersonal understanding, and we all strive to live in peace with each other, which also includes our polytheistic and animistic brothers and sisters of humanity.

Global Faith Values
Faith
Life
Love
Compassion
Kindness
Community
Univerality
Global Consciousness
Unity in Diversity
Tolerance
Freedom
Knowledge, Wisdom, Education, Enlightenment
Righteousness


The Global Faith Pledge (see below: November 13, 2010 post)

Global Faith Overview and Some Highlights

Dear friends of faith and those who are seeking or those unsure, thank you for reading this article and for your interest in Global Faith. You are invited to followthis Global Faith blog.

It this article, we define "Global Faith," highlight some previous points made in earlier posts, and highlight some new points not yet stated.

So what is "Global Faith" or how do we mean it? I know it may conjure up immediate concerns among many Bible-believing Christians today, many of whom have been taught the interpretation of Bible prophecies regarding the End Times that there will be a world order, one world government, and a one world religion. These prophesies speak of such things as the rise of the Antichrist, the mark of the beast, and even cataclysmic events. These Biblical prophecies are enough to put some fear in the hearts of most people. "Global Faith" therefore may bring up such connotations to them, thinking that it sounds like it is in alignment with such End Time forces.

But fellow believers, rest assured, Global Faith is not in league with nor aligning toward any such thing as a one-world government or religion; neither does Global Faith have a goal to unite the religions of the world together as ONE, or create a one-world religion consequentially controlling the world in a certain way. No, that is far from my intent. Instead, Global Faith is both heavenly and earthly; the earthly portion is the "global" which highlights the realm and fact of internal faith in human beings living on earth; the heavenly is the heavenly or "eagles" perspective of faith, or rather, from God's vantage point. The "Faith" component of Global Faith is meant in the internal sense, faith in the human heart, mind, and soul, which is in every human being who has as least some faith in the heavenly. Global Faith operates in the spirit of spiritual understanding and peace among human beings at a spiritual level, irregardless of what one's country's form of government it possesses, in the spirit of Jesus who said, according to John's Gospel, "My kingdom is not of this world" (Jn. 18:36).

More can be read on the internal verses external aspects of faith in the earlier post June 12 post on Faith, Purpose, and Image/Design of this blog or the blog:
http://dignityworld7.worldpress.com. Regarding the June 12 post on this blog, I realized after the fact that I did not make clear about the licensing of the Global Praying Hands (trademark registered) image used also on this blog. We do have license from the maker and owner of the Global Praying Hands image(s) to use in this blog and the Global Faith Org websites.

Now one comment about the Global Faith Pledge (also posted below). I look forward to many people, thousands (millions even better!) taking this pledge as it goes out online and across the globe. If you would like to help in this endeavor, please let me know.

Now on to the next point. Here I simply want to highlight the value that faith is quintessential. Of all the good values of Global Faith: faith, respect, dignity, love, goodness, honor, peace, all important they are, I am setting faith as the first, the prima, the quintessential. Without faith, such as in a good God who cares about them, do individual human beings have any hope in this world? Do not some without faith feel that what they are left with is meaningless and non-existence when they take their last breath? And what positive motivation do they without faith have in moral living and doing good to others? These are simply thoughts to ponder.

Next I want to highlight the two main goals of Global Faith. The first goal is educational: to educate humanity on the many good and positive things about faith, spirituality, and religion, the light and benefits. Similarly, teaching of the various religions from a non-sectarian position serves the purpose of building understanding in human beings. The final goal is the spiritual goal of building peace in fellow human beings of various religions (and no religions), and therefore working on global peace in the tangible realm, even with national leaders, though we do not endorse any one religion or form of government.

This brings me to the final highlight in this article, a vital and necessary component toward understanding and peace among fellow human beings: tolerance, religious tolerance (but which spills over into social, cultural, and ethnic tolerance). I am going to define and explain tolerance in a way that should be loud and clear, but unfortunately, very few voices had made it thus clear. I connect the topic of tolerance to human dignity.

I begin with what I'm calling the "old tolerance" understanding from the dictionary, using Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary meaning 2. of tolerance (the religious use) "sympathy... for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one's own." Indeed, I have had a few of my religion students say, "Why should I be expected to accept or believe their (other peoples') beliefs which is not my own?!" Is this not the natural voice and cry of most humans? I assert, on the basis of human dignity, that it is indeed not of human dignity to expect any human to have to accept the religion, creed, or faith of another person or group just because that person or group is now living in our country, community, or neighborhood. Faith should never be forced nor should it be imposed against peoples wills.

So this distinction I make and thus call it "new tolerance" is that no one should be expected to accept any other persons faith, period. But there is social, cultural, and ethnic tolerance of any who are different that us who may be now living in our community, or we find as neighbors or co-workers. Moreover, we should accept them as persons. For society to be healthy, that has people of different religions, ethnic groups, etc, there does need to be tolerance for the fact of co-existing in the community and living orderly and in peace. And there should be religious tolerance to the degree that we accept the FACT that others hold to different religions and faiths than our own, but knowing that we do not have to believe what they believe. So I call this the "new toleration" since there has been plenty of confusion on this point over the years that still has not been cleared up yet.

Look forward to more insightful points to come.
Yours in blessing and peace,
Brother Mark
mark dot globalfaith at gmail.com

Global Prayers For All People New Book: Excerpts

Dear All, friends of faith and all who are not sure of their faith:
Below are many excerpts from the new book just released: Global Prayers for all People, the first in a Global Faith series, by Rev. Paul Wheelhouse, copyright 2010. You will be sure to want a copy of this book. So please request your copy by emailing us at mark dot globalfaith at gmail dot com (in email format) for a suggested donation of $9.99 for the book and $2 for shipping). We soon hope to get the Order page on our websites updated to offer the book there too (www.globalprayinghands.com and www.globlaprayingservants.com). We are exploring other book markets too to make the book available to wider audiences.

Human beings of faith, throughout history, have come to the understanding of a universality of God, their God, in this universe we live in, more than ever before, that there is one Divine Essence, but which has been filtered down to various cultures in different names. More and more people in our times have concluded that many of these expressions are conveying the same God or Divine Essence. Introduction, p. 8


…I find more and more people are thinking and speaking with a universal understanding of God. We, humanity today, have a more global awareness than ever before, throughout human history.
Introduction, p. 8

This book does not intend to replace any religion’s prayer books nor is it trying to unite the religions of the world together. It merely has sought universal expressions in prayers and compiled them, in the name of God, as we each one understands. Introduction, p. 8

On Part III (Occupational Prayers) It makes a concerted effort to reach out to the human strata globally, from poor farmers in third world countries to executives in first world countries, from heads of states to janitors. Introduction, p. 10


On Part IV (Prayers by Religious Faith/ Tradition) This section continues to help carry the Light of universal awareness forward, for the benefit of a larger human reception. Introduction, p. 11

Combining therefore Parts I through IV in this one volume, this prayer book is therefore a blend of ancient and modern prayers, of practical individual prayers and global intercessory prayers, and of beautiful expressions of prayers from several world religions expressing universality. Introduction, p. 11

The universal ideal behind this book may be traced back to ancient sages upon whom the
concept of a universal God dawned or a single cohesive essence of the universe. This understanding, the light of this universal chord, began as a soft beat upon a drum. After millennia, the beat has grown to a melodious crescendo sound traveling around the globe. Introduction, p. 11

This concise prayer primer is great for anyone, from those brand new to the subject of prayer, to those seasoned pious practitioners. Concise Prayer Primer, p. 14

Prayer is a universal and perhaps the most fundamental spiritual language and disposition of humanity, individual souls getting in touch with the Divine. Concise Prayer Primer, p. 14

Yet, through the ages, prayer has manifest itself not merely in the form of written prayers, but framed within sacred scriptures, embedded in liturgies, trumpeted in hymns and songs, and carried on the vibrations of verbal chants and non-verbal tones. Together, a rich faith tapestry has been created historically and globally. Concise Prayer Primer, p. 14

Human beings can pray anywhere, from indoor homes to outdoor places and gardens, from sacred places to secular places, from quiet closets to noisy airports and train or bus stations, from waiting rooms in doctor’s offices or hospitals to public restrooms. Concise Prayer Primer, p. 16

The expressions of prayer are so many. There are expressions of adoration, praise, thanksgivings, joys, and expressions of hurts, pains, and sufferings, and grief from losses. There are expressions which flow out of times of abundance and there are expressions which fly out of times of needs and desperate moments. Concise Prayer Primer, p. 18

May I be quick to forgive but slow to anger. May I be respectful and patient with all others, myself included, and live today by the Golden Rule, “do unto others as I would want them to do to me. Morning Prayer, p. 20

O God of Light, illumination, and revelation, God of all knowledge, understanding, and wisdom, illumine my mind as I delve into your word. Prayer at beginning of Studying Sacred Scripture, p. 23

O God of all Glory, Majesty, Dominion, Power, Honor, and Virtue, I come before you this sacred hour to worship you. Prayer at beginning of Worship, p. 24

O God, who has created the family and knit humans into families, bless my family and children with your provisions, presence, assurance, grace, mercy, and love. For Blessing My Family and Children, p. 32

O God, Source of all things, generous Provider, I give thanks to you for your mercy, grace, compassion, and love. I also give thanks to you for all your provisions…. General Prayer of Thanksgiving A, p. 37

After thousands of years and hundreds of generations of human families and life on earth, we post-modern peoples are still discovering how important the basic family structure and life with care and emotional support is for the well being, mental wholeness, to individuals and therefore to society as a whole. Ancient sages and philosophers, even those who are not notably religious, discovered these truths. Cause the people of the world today to rediscover this truth…. Prayer for Families, p. 42

Cause a new vision of the family in the 21st century to be birthed around the world in which each family in every neighborhood and community is seen as a positive asset, and each contributes, despite the failures and “skeletons in the closets.” May a new wholeness be birthed in every land and on every island of simple, caring love for each other all through life…. Prayer for Families, p. 42-43

May love abound in this world, on every continent, in every region, in every city, town, village, hamlet, and campsite. Let every human be touched deeply by your love, and see other human beings through your loving eyes, not through the eyes of their primordial instincts…. Prayer for Love, p. 46

Pour out your blessing of faith on the people of the community. May all the young be thoroughly educated to prepare for their lives as productive citizens in schools were faith is valued along side intellect, reason, and scientific study, that faith and reason are not seen as diametrically opposed, but complementary. Prayer for Blessing Community, p. 54

We pray all the more earnest for all financial leaders in the world to seek all the wisdom from your ocean of prosperity, and guide them in their efforts and decisions…. Prayers for Prosperity, p. 54

There is no greater, O lover of our souls. None can’t stop your love and grace to humanity. Your invincible Spirit penetrates behind thick walls of oppression, having heard the souls of precious ones who cry out to you. Prayer for Personal, National, Political, and Spiritual Freedom, p. 59

Great God, Shepherd of all Souls, Giver of good gifts, we thank and praise you for the many servants who have heard your Call and have been obedient to the Call, and who dedicated their lives to serve You in and through the gatherings of believers, as clerics, shepherds, pastors, priests, religious teachers, and related vocations. Prayer for Religious Leaders, p. 62

You are the ultimate caretaker, but you have placed humans on it to be the earth’s caretakers. You knew how in the carelessness of human beings, we would mess it up, pollute it physically and spiritually. But you, O Lord, have the power to recreate and make all things new. Prayer for the World, p. 64

O God, you are the God of all knowledge, wisdom, Light, and understanding. You desire all people of every class from the lowest to the highest, to be taught the knowledge, wisdom, and ways of God. Open doors of religious and spiritual learning to all humanity, male and female, to young and old, on every continent and on every inhabited island, through all means available….
Prayers for Enlightenment and Education of Humanity, p. 65

God who desires all souls perfect peace, blessing, bliss, and even eternal life in bliss, may I know your bliss in a more intimate and real way. Prayer for Bliss, p. 67

O Eternal God, Supreme Ruler over all kingdoms of earth and heaven, look with favor upon this land, my nation, and my countrymen. Give me the strength to lead the people, and cause me to lead rightly, justly, equitably. A Prayer By Those Who Serve in Public Leadership, p. 70


(See below for the image of the cover of the book. I am pleased with Angel's [Angelina] work.)
Rev. Paul (Mark)

Global Prayers for All People New Book

Dear friends of faith around the world:
I am pleased to announce the availability in print of the first book of the Global Faith Series which I have self-published. The title is: Global Prayers for All People: Various Occasions, Many Faiths, by Rev. Paul Wheelhouse. Its 117 pages and the retail price printed on the back cover is $12.95. But I am making it available through this blog site for a suggested donation of $10. It its planned also soon to be posted on the store/order page of http://www.globalprayinghands.com/ and http://www.globalprayingservants.com but this page is not fully functional at this time, which my developer is working on to restore. To request your copy, email us at mark dot globalfaith at gmail dot com (email format) with your name and mailing address. I'll ship the book to you in the mail, and email you a confirmation. If writing a check, make it out to Global Faith Org Ministry, or if you wish, you can make it out to the author's name, Rev. Paul Wheelhouse, and we will get it to the author, and mail to:
Global Faith Org Ministry
PO Box 11055
Tallahassee, FL 32302-1055
You may also want to add $3.oo for shipping (suggested total: $13).

Peace and blessed prayers be with you all!