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Beholding God Face to Face -- Seeing God in All Things
The following is the first in a series that is indexed
at "Seeing God
Face to Face."
Page Contents:
Jon Hess' Epiphany • Sterling's
Paradigm Shift • Follow-up Dialogue with Keith
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Jon Hess on Seeing God
Face to Face
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas, Keith (NTO)" <Keith.Thomas@pacificorp.com>
To: "'Sterling D. Allan'" <sterlingda@patriotsaints.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2001 7:10 AM
Subject: face to face
Sterling I think you know Jon Hess. my story and his are of one heart and
one mind. below is his story. I know that you are having a hard time with this
and hope this may help you understand better where/how and why. may the spirit
of acceptance rest upon you as you read this.
love and light
Keith
------------
March 14, 2001
Dear Doug,
Keith has shared with us some of your correspondence with him concerning
meeting God "Panim el panim", or face to face; and you asked him for
the methodology so that you could emulate the "steps" and achieve
this in you own life; or, something close to that. The three of us, Keith,
Bruce and Jon, all worked for the same utility company at one time, and
together set out on this very path--it became the consuming desire of our
hearts and being. I clung the hardest to doctrine, scriptures, and church
structure and measured my own capabilities on this path by a strict
correlation with accepted methodologies. Especially, I measured my own
capabilities by the experiences of Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Alexander
Niebaur, Lorenzo Snow, and Melvin J. Ballard--because, by their own
accounting, they detailed how they had met God, face to face. Now, that's a
pretty short list. The shortness of the list was daunting; but, our belief in
their experiences, and the challenge of Joseph Smith that we can each drink
from the source ourselves, animated us throughout our lives to meet God for
ourselves.
So what was holding us back? Why wasn't our faithfulness to church
thinking, adherence to standards and commandments, knowledge of the
scriptures, knowledge of the Hebrew scriptures, and knowledge of church
history working. You may have asked yourself that question many, many times.
The secret, or the "hidden knowledge" lies in the invitation of
Joseph Smith, "You can each have the experience I had for yourselves,
just ask, believing and nothing doubting". After his own experience in
the grove, Joseph knew how simple it was to do and invited everyone else to
have this experience. This was the consuming hope of his life; and yet, since
that time, how many souls have actually done it? Not Brigham, not the twelve,
not his own family members. Sidney did it with Joseph, never by himself.
People flocked to the person who had "Communed with Jehovah"; but,
would not or could not do it for themselves--they asked Joseph to ask God for
them, and this evolved into general revelations to all. What held them back?
The Book of Mormon calls it, "The veil of our unbelief". Our
unbelief in what? We thought, "If we can just find out the answer to that
question, maybe we can rectify the problem and finally achieve our
desires".
It is the unbelief in ourselves. We simply do not believe that we are
worthy; or, we believe the pronouncements of others--that God has revealed all
that is necessary and would only appear to someone for a special purpose.
These are not easy obstacles to overcome. What drew the three of us together
in a strong friendship was this very struggle to overcome our own beliefs,
traditions, and prejudices. We thought we knew intellectually how to do it;
but, we were not doing it. So, we thought we needed more knowledge and more
information from the experiences of others; and so, we searched long and hard
in books and among other people for new information that would help us. What
is really comical is that we had the information we needed, but we were
unaware that we had it. So, we searched and searched.
One simple clue is that Jesus said, "I am the stone that the builders
set at naught". "What's that got to do with anything?", I
replied to him when he made the statement to me recently. But, the statement
set in motion a chain of thoughts and discoveries that I had never seen
before, and that are part of the answer to your question, "what is the
methodology?". We are all caught up in our pursuit of "Celestial
Glory", being anointed "Kings and a Priests", and getting to
the highest kingdom possible. We say to ourselves, "Well I'm not able to
meet God, so, I'll earn his approval and rewards by working hard and being
faithful"; "I will earn the crown, and then, surely I will meet
God". So, we build buildings of stone and wood to represent the temple of
our bodies where we can go and figuratively meet God at a "veil" and
embrace Him and be admitted to his presence. We go often to learn the hidden
truths to help us achieve such a meeting. And you ask, "What has all this
got to do with the "stone that the builders set at naught"? To
answer your question, and the answers must come from within you yourself,
consider the building methodology. The plans are drawn, a foundation is laid,
the walls begin to rise, and all the while in the stone quarry, master
quarrymen are cutting and selecting stone. From the beginning, the master
mason and the master quarrymen, look for the capstone of the temple--a stone
without flaws, perfect, and beautiful, to be the last stone placed on the
structure--a crown of glory. And when they find it, they rejoice because it
represents the crown they someday hope to wear. So, they carefully place it
where they can see it, so they won't lose it, and slightly out of the way so
that it won't be in the way. Soon, everyone in their zeal to finish the
edifice, forgets the capstone and begins to stumble against it in their work
and most painfully they bark their shins on it. So, Jesus is the Stone and we
builders do set Him at naught. Jesus tells the truth and He does not lie.
"Hum, maybe", thought the three of us, "we can believe His
promise in the 14th chapter of John, 'I will visit you', and later, 'The
Father and I will visit you and make our abode with you'". We still had
our baggage of methodology and unworthiness; but, we were beginning to look to
the "Stone of Israel" that we had set at naught, Jesus, and believe
Him.
So, very simply, the three of us share a simple thought with God,
"Seek first the kingdom of heaven and all else will be added unto
you", and, "the kingdom of heaven is within you". So simply
said and so hard to achieve. We will do almost anything to avoid it. We will
study and read, search and listen, we will follow methodologies, churches, and
other good people; but, we will not "be still and listen". And when
He talks to us, we refuse to believe our own experience and believe that He
talks to us "in our own language after our own manner of speech"!
This path will surprise you and it will not be at all what you expected.
However, there is nothing else to do! You will not win praise from anyone. You
will not win approval from anyone. You will invite scorn and disbelief; and,
you will walk the path very much alone--simply because Jesus and the Father
will constantly surprise you with their questions and answers. As Keith
related in his story, God asked him, "How long are you going to search
for me in books?". That means all books, including all of the scriptures.
You will have conversations with Them in the middle of meetings, in the
grocery store, in you car, on walks, in you bed at night, at work, in the
middle of conversations with other people. So, "be still and
listen", and answer and question. He said to Isaiah, "Come, let us
reason together"! Just believe Him and then you will believe and They
will come to you and you will be filled with Their love. You will not doubt,
you will know, as we three know, how easy it always was.
Jon
[Sterling's Note: I underwent a major paradigm shift in the course
of writing this. Rather than rewrite the beginning to reflect my
perspective at the end, I am leaving it as is so you can perhaps experience
the shift with me. Basically, I thought Keith was discounting the actual
seeing of God, replacing it with something conjured in the mind.]
Keith,
Thanks for sharing this. I know what you are talking about when you describe
the intense quest to seek the face of God, as is admonished and promised in
the scriptures. I believe you have an important point to make here, but
I also believe you are missing a very important point.
Where you make a very wonderful point is in regards to the readily-accessible
communion with God that is available to all, within their own temples -- the
temple of their body. In this context, your point about setting at naught the
cornerstone of Christ is very good. Yes indeed, people make a personal
relationship with God so impossible that they miss the very essence of the
gospel which is the grace by which even the most vile of sinners may have
access if they but turn to God.
However, the very important point that you have missed, or which you
misconstrue, is that there still is such a thing as a capstone event of
overcoming all things and coming into the very presence of God -- in the flesh
-- to behold him(&her) face to face. The communion of which you speak is
preparatory in the overcoming process. Don't ignore the end because you have
discovered such a profound truth regarding the means.
Without this end in mind, where are you headed?
Now, having said that, I will backtrack and make an observation here that
could be a bridge between where you are coming from and what I just said.
We both believe with all our hearts that in each person (and I go so far as to
include all living things, which includes rocks and what are normally
considered inanimate objects; for all things are living and have intelligence
and are capable of enlargement -- however long it takes -- line upon line,
grace for grace, until receiving of a fullness) has the potential encoded
within them to attain godhood or ultimate perfection.
When we understand this, to a certain extent we can say we have seen God face
to face, as we look into the face of our neighbor, or even as we look in the
mirror (though that comment is more likely to be construed as egocentric than
exalted).
As we come to this understanding in our heart of hearts, we have removed from
us any inclination to injure another, for we know that the statement,
"whatsoever ye do unto the least of these, my brethren, ye do unto
me," is true not only because God created that person or thing, but
because that person or thing has God in them; and some day, whether a few
years, or billions of years or even eons of time hence, will attain to the
fullness and reign as almighty God in some universe, overseeing with all the
attributes of God, the development of those intelligences placed into
his(&her) charge. We know that to injure that person or thing is to set
back that process; so we only want to build and facilitate their development
and enlargement.
We know that the ultimate manifestation of the attributes of godliness is
summarized in the word "charity" -- the pure love of Christ. We also
know that the quintessential manifestation of charity is free-will service to
our fellow men (and all living things). Hence to be in the service of our
fellow men is only to be in the service of our God.
So yes, to epitomize what you have said, when we see the face of God in the
mirror as well as in the face of our neighbor, then we have truly seen the
face of God in the flesh to a very significant extent. But to bring up the
point that I raise, I believe that after we have walked faithfully in this
fashion and overcome all things through the Spirit of God that dwells in us,
then we will be privileged to behold the head honcho, face to face.
But even in saying that, I backtrack, for we know that God does not accomplish
his work all by himself, but in the spirit of the body of Christ, he manifests
himself and his love through the legion of angels at his command. Even the
Spirit of God, also called the Holy Ghost, is made manifest through the legion
of spirits in the world unseen by us in mortality, as they operate in the
office of the Holy Ghost, as messengers of God, to impart truth to us. So I
would even dare say that if we were to fall at the feet of the head honcho,
that he would in turn raise us from our feet and point to the many around him
who have helped make possible his glory and love. He would point to the flower
that gave us joy as we looked upon it and smelled its fragrance and delighted
in its hues of color and pleasing shape. He would remind us of our mortal
mothers who was so gentle and loving with us in raising us to adulthood. He
would call to mind our fathers who rebuked us in love and taught us to discern
between right and wrong. He would present our spouse before us to remind us of
the love and wholeness we received through them. He would remind us of our
children and the many lessons in love they give us. He would show us our
elementary school teacher who lifted our spirit and helped us gain confidence
in our unique abilities. He would even show us the bully that gave us such a
hard time and remind us how it build character in us and stirred within us a
revulsion toward such behavior, teaching us an important lesson.
All of these things are part of God, part of his love, part of his plan. To
see them is to see God, for God manifests himself to us through them an in
them. They are God. We are God. All of us.
No, I am not saying by this that there is no head honcho who is deserving of
our worshipful reverence, for there is, and all glory and honor and praise be
to him(&her) forever and ever. And yet God is what God is because of all
these other things. They are God. Praise be to God. Praise be to my mother for
her loving care. Praise be to the flower that shows itself so beautifully.
Praise be to our fathers who strive so diligently to raise us in the way we
should go. Praise be to our children who teach us what it is to be a
creator. Praise be to our spouses who share in our lives and make us
more whole. Praise be to the teachers who so selflessly give of
themselves to direct us in our path. Praise be to the bullies who teach us
patience and forgiveness. Bless their souls, that they may be turned to God --
the God that is within them and everyone. May they see God face to face in
their fellow men, that they might turn from their hatred and their insecurity
and their meanness, for these are not becoming of the true essence that is
within them.
My heart is burning within me and my eyes are brimmed with tears as I write
these things.
Thank you, Keith and Jon, for helping me to see this very beautiful truth.
Thank you God-Keith, and Jon-God. Blessed be your names.
Sincerely, your friend and brother in Christ,
Sterling D. Allan - God (not the head honcho, but part of the body of Christ,
and part of the face of God)
www.greaterthings.com
March 15, 2001
Follow-up dialogue
 visitors since posting on March 15, 2001
Last updated on November 04, 2007
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