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A Reformed Christian Perspective of my life in Christ.

As the Keeper and Captain of this vessel, I share with my crew our mission to be "Vessels of Light for Christ" learned as just a Seaman in my earlier years.

An aid to navigation in a darkened world, allow me to help navigate you towards the truth of God while on station in a sea of sin.

The Beacon is set to try and point the way towards a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior too the world.
The day marker is always the Cross of Christ.

Do not run aground by following anything less, than the true course set for us by our Heavenly Father, before time began.

Ch. Roland T. Dell, (Keeper of the Light)

Near Death Experiences, and the Bible

Near Death Experiences: Does the Bible and secularists’ agree?

I have read many articles about what the Bible supposedly say’s about the afterlife, according to secular teachers that apparently have had no training in the scriptures.

Also I have had my own near death experience, and at one time was trained to an extent in the basics of deliverance of “unclean spirits” or what some might call exorcisms.

Although I have never personally had to encounter an individual needing this type of assistance, I did learn from my “Christian Mentor and Pastor” about those who had.
At that time in my life the Holy Spirit revealed to me a basic understanding about the human soul’s power, the spiritual realm, and the possible combination of them both. I have witnessed in my life, first hand some “spiritual activity” surrounding me, and was instructed in discernment from other More Mature Christians.

I have been tight lipped on this issue publicly for years, but in reading what many NDE websites have written on this subject, I felt compelled to expose some things written about that go contrary, to a good Biblical understanding of the scriptures.

I am troubled that more ministers of the Gospel will not engage the secular community, on what should be there job.

As a minister with some “accredited Bible training” and some, “non-accredited” training (while serving in street ministry) I would like and attempt to answer some of these questions.

Later, I will attempt to address some of my more limited experiences within the spiritual realm, to include my own personal near death experience. However, this article is merely an introduction concerning the basic doctrines of the Bible, and why I believe like I do about the spiritual world.

You have probably heard it said that you can make the Bible say whatever one would like, how convenient, but is absolutely untrue! Although many “historic” books of the Bible were found to be unacceptable to the “Church Fathers” of Christian Orthodoxy, this does not undermine in anyway the present day scriptures, or cause them to change their meaning.

The whole idea of being a “real minister” of the Gospel is to be able to accurately explain the meaning of the Bible (in context) by historic, grammatical, literal or figurative meanings.

It is not, nor has ever been simply a matter of stating it is a “Spiritual Book” (that it is), so one can derive any meaning from it that suits one’s agenda. That being said, why then do denominational and doctrinal divides exist in Christianity?
The answer to that question is because although divisions of ideas exist, the Foundational Truths have never changed!

Like the U.S. Constitution, the Bible “is really the living and breathing document”; however its meaning never changes, because God never changes! Unlike the institutions and religions devised of man. So it is really never possible to change the foundational truths of the Bible or the “orthodoxy” of Christianity. Many unorthodox “churches” exist today, most all claiming to be CHRISTIAN, but they are not.

Remember what Jesus Christ said to the Simon Peter, when he asked him, who do you say that I am?
Peter said to Jesus that he was the “promised one” the Christ, the Savior to the world.
Jesus replied; “flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my Father that is in heaven, and upon this truth I shall build my Church”. Christian Orthodoxy is based in this profound statement.

How the early “Church” attempted to explain this heavenly relationship was by using the creed of the “Trinity”, the Father-Son-Holy Spirit. This explanation is “closely related” to the terminology found in Scripture, we know that the words Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are used in the Bible to distinguish between the “Godhead”, or to help us understand this divine function.

Foundational Truths of Christianity
1.) That God the Father promised to send a Messiah or Savior to the world.
2.) That the Holy Spirit conceived Jesus Christ, in the Virgin Marry’s womb.
3.) The Incarnation of Jesus; (total God and total Man) born in Bethlehem, and lived without sin.
4.) That the promised one would suffer and die on a cross, rejected by man.
5.) That on the third day he would rise again from death unto life.
6.) That he would descend to the bowls of the earth, and then ascend to his Father in heaven.
7.) That he will return to Judge the living and the dead.

One cannot deviate from any of these foundational truths, and consider themselves a Christian.

You will find in studding Church history, that largely even within the Protestant Reformation period, all main bodies of today’s Christian Church are derived from the Roman Catholic Church, and maintain the same foundational truths as I have stated above. Having stated the foundational truths of Christianity: I am now free to examine some of the following possibilities...

If one is so inclined to dissect some passages, there is room for discussion in some of the following teachings that I have out lined below.

The term “God” is a title not a name, as is the term Son, and so is the words Holy Spirit, all found used in the Bible.

However, terminology found in the Bible has never included the words Trinity or Godhead, only Father, Holy Spirit, or Son is ever used in any Bible terminology.
In fact if you were to continue to look even closer you will find that even in the Sacrament of Baptism, we are instructed to Baptize in the Name (singular form) of the Father and of The Son and of the Holy Spirit! So then what is the name of all three of these titles? The answer is, Jesus Christ!

I don’t know about you, but to my way of thinking that is only one persons’ name so at this point the analogy of God combined into “three distinct persons” falls apart.

Ok, now that I have just exposed myself to the criticism of the Orthodoxy of the establishment of the Church, I will dare and move on to some of my other food for thought.

Everyone knows that our bodies allow us to exist in a physical world. The words temple, tent, are a couple examples used in describing our earthly bodies. The Bible also teaches us that apart from the body we are present with the Lord, (in the spiritual realm). I do agree that the Bible is a spiritually discerned book, but one must be careful in not overstepping its meaning.

I will go as far as sharing with you a mental bridge of an example of the Trinity taught me years ago. After all, as finite beings we can not be expected to understand the infinite without some help. This fact has always held true and is precisely the reason of using the Creed of the Trinity in the second century to begin with.

My mental bridge is as follows: Is God a spirit? Yes, is he a Holy Spirit? Yes, did he not enter into the Virgin Mary? Yes, did he conceive a Son? Yes, so at “that point in time” God became a Father to the Son.

Now, because “we” are the only beings caught in time, (20th century thinking) that would mean that in the spiritual world that these other eternal beings, or being always existed. In the Old Testament in the Bible a, “type of Christ” is thought to have been seen a number of times during God’s communication with man. Christian theory or study indicates this even in the Old Testament Saints of that time looked forward towards the coming of their Messiah. We as Christians look back, by way of the cross; this is why this event is still considered to be the most significant event in human history, even dividing the measurement of time from BC to AD. Many would love to discount the meaning of this, in today’s secular society.

This brings me to another point, the word eternal and everlasting. Like the words, soul and spirit used often interchangeably within the Church, they have close but not the same meanings.

The words Eternal meaning; no beginning and no end is slightly different than Everlasting meaning; that a being had a point of creation, but has no end. This is why God, who is also spirit, is the only being that is eternal. Any thing that he has created will either pass away, or will go on in the everlasting, but they are not eternal.
I might add that this is dangerous territory that I am speaking about as a Christian, and in particularly as a minister, but stay with me please.

Hell in the Bible is often described as burning and gnashing of teeth, people joke and say that they will have plenty of company. However it is also described as a place of intense torments and blackness, devoid of others. In other words hell could be a place that we suffer by ourselves for eternity.

Wait; did I just say eternity rather than everlasting? Yes, Hell is described as a place of eternal torment and damnation.
I must say as a minister, I am not trying to create my own doctrine; for this like many other areas of the Bible.
The Bible probably does not go into much more detail in this area because God does not want us to know “everything” hidden in scripture, because that is his job and not ours. Our job is to be a witness, and bring glory to him.

I can also tell you that the “New Kingdom, of Jerusalem” (set up here, on the new earth) briefly describes those not mentioned as the “Bride of Christ” living inside the New Jerusalem, but rather refers to them as roaming the earth.

This is the only clue that I have ever found that could be construed to possibly mean that hell as talked about in the Bible, might not last forever? That is to say that there is a “possibility” that after death, those who do not have the “eternal life” that Jesus Christ taught us about in him, “might” have to endure their own personal hell, “being purified by fire, left alone in there sins”. Then could all God’s original creation “just possibly” be allowed to exist, in being restored in this new earth? Who knows?

Another example of the mysteries of the scripture is when animals’ are briefly mentioned, such as the Lion lying down with the Lamb, is it figurative or literal? I believe that it is literal, as the Bible also teaches that the whole creation groans for the day of redemption. But again with so little references made in the Bible, who could really say for sure?

This is a very far stretch of scriptures however, based on little to no evidence in the Bible, and as far as I am concerned has little to do with Bible teachings, and certainly would find no standing within the established of the Church
.
However, upon examining the Bible there are clues that briefly might allow for such concepts to not be excluded, but probably never accepted.

So why have I written about them? It is because of my own personal near death experience, my personal relationship with God in Christ, and other spiritual fights that I have had in my life, and seen in the life of some others.

It also comes from my desire to think “outside the box” in examining possibilities that only some theologians might take the time to look at. Perhaps it is because I am not a formally educated man that I am able to see beyond what is taught in accredited academies? Or perhaps it is because of my Christian education being taught me on the streets, and my own personal struggles in “working out my own salvation” as pre-ordained by God. I am sure that all these variables’ play apart in what I believe, and what I have been taught.
These near death experiences are fascinating to me, and although primarily written by some people that have never been affiliated with the Church, hold many truths that I can agree with, even as a Christian. What I object to is those who would take the Bible and form it to whatever agenda they might have. This is a hallmark of a cult, and also the markings of so called “occult sciences”.

Our creator has warned us never to partake in such spiritual actions as “out of body experiences” or condering up spiritual contact with other beings purposely, or even Tran dental mediations as made famous in the 1960’s “awakening culture”. Why, because God does indeed love us, and like any good parent, want’s to protect us from harm.

This is also why we are given our mortal bodies, not only so that we may exist in a physical world, but to protect us from harm in the spiritual world. Interestingly enough for me, this is why the Hebrews were instructed to put blood of there sacrificial lamb over the physical doors of there homes. This blood was a “covering” for them, so that the “forces of darkness” would pass over them during the Passover. I do not believe in coincidences’ but rather in Divine providence, The sacrifice that Jesus Christ made on the cross, for all of us willing to believe on him, exactly coincides with the day of Passover for the Hebrew people, and being done outside the City of Jerusalem, was not only on behalf of a “chosen people” but for all those that would come to Christ in there lives.

I am not trained in apologetics’ as to be able to interact with so called “parapsychologists” or scientists, but I do know that the spiritual world is real, and it is not just a manufacturing of our minds, no matter how deeply recessed; by some who claim to be scientists in the true sense of the word. I will be posting my near death experience, in future posts.

Search and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.

God bless you’re hearts and minds this day, Chaplain Roland Dell

My Near Death Experience

My near death experience was a two fold experience, allow me to explain...
It was exactly my twenty years in the military, I had just returned to my former Unit of assignment (that I work for fulltime).

Our Battle Group Training was in water survival, (that I had practiced for over twenty years.) Towards the end of completion of the course, I had what I thought was terrible heart burn. A little embarrassed, I approached my Commanding Officer and other NCO's so that I could lay down for just a moment.

Due to the quick response of a Warrant Officer, an ambulance was dispatched.
As the NSA police officer was questioning me and as the Paramedics arrived, I would "black out" due to heart failure caused by a piece of plaque.

Immediately before blacking out, I would feel a being laying shoulder to shoulder with me,(on my right) and see HIM in shadow. I remember at this point the sound was my last sense to go.
As the Paramedics’ defibrillated my heart (one or two times) the sound returned in the blackness or void. As I regained consciousness it was if I was under the street and someone slowly slid open the manhole cover above me. I could look up and see the Paramedics faces working on me looking down.

As documented, I said "that feels better" although I only remember asking if I had a heart attack? I was told not to try and talk, so I said "being as no one said that I haven’t, I must have!"

The second experience I had was much different... In transport to my requested hospital my ambulance became stuck in traffic, I could hear Donny, (my Paramedic)saying that we must get on the highway and find a different route to a different hospital. I thought to myself, "this is not good" and only wished I could see outside. Immediately afterwards I could see a "birds eye view" of my ambulance moving "in slow motion" towards me, the clarity of that moment was perfect, I remember seeing everything looking down on the highway from the tan brick wall abutments to the puddles in the street.
My ambulance raced toward me with headlights and strobes flashing.

However, this time there was no sound! Sight was all that I maintained. Oh yes, this was the "best mood" I have ever remembered being in! My mind was very sharp and I was still very much aware of what was happening to me. I knew I was married and in transport, I could have even given you my social security number, I had forgotten nothing about my life, but when you are in such a good mood nothing can seem to bother you! All that I can remember thinking to myself that "this is really cool and amazing".

The next thing that I remember was being stabilized for airlift to Washington hospital center; I remember seeing my wife, the commanding officer, and my buddy the Platoon Sergeant standing by the door as I was made ready for flight.

My wife asked if she could fly with me, but she could not. I remember being laid on the deck of the helicopter, trying to stay awake so that I could remember the flight, but could not.

I awoke briefly in intensive care, later my wife would tell me that she tried to hide behind my door, but they shortly removed her. I also found out that I was not expected to survive the night as my lungs filled up with fluid.

One or two days went by and I awoke again first seeing my elderly parents clutching each other and staring at me. Then I saw my wife and brother beside me. When I told the storey of the ambulance to them, my mother asked me how I could have seen that event.

Immediately, I told her that it must have been looking out the back doors and saw my ambulance in a bug eye mirror along the highway. She looked at me strangely and asked how that was possible?

I thought about that for a second, and realized this could not have been possible as I was strapped down facing the front of the ambulance with no windows, and now just realized that it would be impossible to see the front of the ambulance from the rear anyway! But the whole experienced seemed so natural that your mind doesn’t know any difference anyway.

I feel it is my duty to add that; later when I returned to Church about three weeks later, a fellow deacon approached me with eyes as big as silver dollars.
I asked him what was the matter, which is when he told me he expected never to see me again. It seems the hospital told my Pastor I was not expected to pull through. The sermon that Sunday was the "Good Shepherd" lying down with the lamb. I had the sensation of having water poured over me as I thought about the "being" lying next to me shoulder to shoulder in my original experience. Why do I believe in this "Christ" so intently you may wonder?

It is because many times on this side of my existence, I have met Him also!
Death is only a continuation of the spiritual life that I already posses.

Please allow me to ask you a question, why is it that so many scientific minds are closed to the idea of an "intelligent design"? Is it because we must have physical evidence? That is not very scientific as quantum mechanics do not apply to the physical laws we are familiar with. In fact in my humble opinion it would most likely be opposing to anything that we would understand.

It is my belief, that faith like gravity in the natural realm must be applied before we can start to comprehend a place that is infinite rather than finite.

Could it be that mankind is naturally hostile towards the recognition of a God, because than he would be held accountable to a "higher power" than himself? This is what the Bible tells us is so.

Respectfully, Chaplain Dell of LIGHTSHIP MINISTRIES Maryland

Not formally educated, to speak in front of Church!!!

I know that the God of Abraham and His Christ, have given me a Pastors heart.

A life of study of God's Word (the Bible) and a heart towards our Lord have allowed me to experience many things that formally educated Pastors know little about, because they have not grown to experience God's fruit in there lives to such a level.

Mostly, I believe because they do not believe that normally this type of one on one relationship is even possible because they are taught in Seminary to reject such an assertion to be able to communicate on a personal level with our Lord.

Please do not misunderstand me, my communion with our Lord is not like picking up the phone in my head, and speaking and receiving answers when ever I like.
However, when the Lord desires to speak to my heart in his good time I will hear him if I am still enough. If then our Heavenly Father wants you to be sure that you herd him, he will make sure that you do!

I have learned these lessons in being a Christian for the past thirty years, and I did not develop to this point overnight, it has come with "Good Teaching" and a desire in faith to "hear God's voice in my life". Oh yes, there are many counterfeits that exist including our own minds however this is where the "good teaching" and discernment come into play.
If you are taught these things are not "normal" or are "abnormal" in your faith, you may not be open on a deeper level to the Lord speaking personally to you, or if you haven't the spiritual maturity you may be deceived or at least very disappointed.

But do not freat, for it is God who decides whom he will speak too and not man. So it is not up to us anyhow. The most important thing that we personally can do is have an open heart towards God, and communication by his Holy Spirit, the rest is up to Him!

I have shared this with many of my denominational Clergy, they are intrigued by my understanding "Biblically" of this thing but view me as somewhat of an anomaly.
Why, because in there understanding and experience most have never had this happen to them!
Like I said, I believe that there Seminaries had alot to do with this in some cases.

On the other hand me, (not to brag in my weakness) was never able to attend a formal Seminary education but I have always had a heart towards our Lord since I was a Child!
Well God knows this, because he gave this heart to me! It really does not matter to him what man thinks! However, I must confess that I do.

Mostly I have always struggled with acceptance with my station in life, because someone else has always dictated to me what my capabilities were. I like many have an above average intelligence level, but also posses some flaws in my performance specifically academically.

If most of us are honest with ourselves we must admit that, specifically today the United States thrives on a formal education, (and what school you went too) to be recognised and get ahead in our society. However, God does not measure us by such institutions for he looks into our hearts and searches for someone who is willing to be used by him for the betterment of his kingdom,(that is not of this world!)

Being near death before, I have a unique understanding of this concept. I am ALWAYS hurt and angered repeatedly by those in the Church community that know of my stories, yet have never allowed me to share them with the congregation!

Even though I surpassed the course requirements of leadership for my Church (the only thing I have ever done better than others, besides refrigeration) my leadership role within the Church was short lived. I felt marginalized when other only more formally educated men were elected to Elder, or were simply better showmen than myself.

Of course I protested this establishments actions for recognising Teaching Elders and Pastors, I wanted to know by what standard they were nominated and elected.
I had many a discussion with both Pastor about my concern, but never have received an answer. Sound like your run of the mill everyday politics to me, but being a Soldier I just can't let it go!

If our Lord has called me to such a task of sharing with others the reality of his strength and grace in my life, why do the "Church Priests" not allow me to speak with others openly like I do to them about Christ in my life? Are we not on the same team?, Why is it that the same words are given me that many in the leadership preach on that week, yet I am still marginalised?

The answer must be that they are scared of me for some reason, perhaps because I have the same spiritual insights and authority that they have but do not posses the cultural stature or education that they have... Is this not wrong for a Christian to smite his brother?

I often remember when Christ spoke in the Temple of his day, many of the priest wanted him out, (if not dead) but we all know how Our Father in Heaven used that event for our good.

Nothing seems to quench this fire in my heart, even death itself!

So if I can't tell people in Church how I feel, I'll blog it on the Internet!

Even the Soldiers in the field looked forward to talking with me, how come the Church doesn't?

Chaplain Dell

Lightship Ministries
Reformed Evangelical Church Outreach