Awake! awake O sleeper of the land of shadows, wake! expand!
I am in you and you in me, mutual in love divine:
Fibres of love from man to man thro Albions pleasant land.
In all the dark Atlantic vale down from the hills of Surrey
A black water accumulates, return Albion! return!
Thy brethren call thee, and thy fathers, and thy sons,
Thy nurses and thy mothers, thy sisters and thy daughters
Weep at thy souls disease, and the Divine Vision is darkend:
Thy Emanation that was wont to play before thy face,
Beaming forth with her daughters into the Divine bosom
Where hast thou hidden thy Emanation lovely Jerusalem
From the vision and fruition of the Holy-one?
I am not a God afar off, I am a brother and friend;
Within your bosoms I reside, and you reside in me:
Lo! we are One; forgiving all Evil; Not seeking recompense!
Ye are my members O ye sleepers of Beulah, land of shades!Awake! awake O sleeper of the land of shadows (from Jerusalem)
by William Blake
Finally, I’m back on track.
Peace,
Eric.
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Hatter’s Tea Party List:
Though I’ve been studying ‘end things’ (or Eschatology for a really long time), I neglected reading / watching Dr. (MD?) Tim La Haye’s ‘Left Behind’ book ‘n movie. I mean it’s not like I’d actually studied Eschatology, but I knew the basic ‘street’ calender of events by the time I was sixteen. (It was kind-of-a defense mechanism I assembled from what evangelists had told me, to ward off the evangelists that the Holy Spirit kept sending my way. 
)
I’ve tended to be more interested in the doctrines of salvation (Soteriology) and the Holy Spirit (Pneumatology) and tried to avoid exploring the Eschatology. I think that was primarily because so much of what I had been exposed to was just wild, speculative and disruptive. Thanks to a really amazing friend I’ve been going through a careful step-by-step study of the subject and so far managed to read two books and have my nose in a third. (Hard going but really rewarding study.)
While I was pottering around trying to find a scholarly rebuttal of the booklet put out by the Watchtower Organisation (Jehovah’s Witnesses) some years ago, with regard to the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, I dialed up David A. Reed (an Theology Web Campus connection) and noticed that along with a number of books dealing with the Jehovah’s Witness and Mormon beliefs was a verse-by-verse examination of Tim LaHaye’s novel, ‘LEFT BEHIND’ When I saw the date (19.1.2008) I knew it was another item for this new tag-on-the-end of old articles: Hatter’s Tea Party List (and the picture of the rabbit checking his time piece.)
I guess what came to my attention while I was working on responding to the early teachings of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, first ‘The Trinity’ (though not in enough detail, for one look around the world of literature and one can see that so many liberal writers (I am careful not to call them scholars) have gone off down down the same rotting walkway above the swamp of misinformation to construct any number of conspiracy theories about how Christian beliefs originated. ) I nod my head.
I knew that there was a connection, but it’s the more recent surfacing of ideas with regard to the subject of end things/eschatology ( in particular the dialogue about the next world/afterlife) that had me thinking about how so many of these so-called new ideas seem to be a resurrection of old ideas. So I come to David A. Reeds book, ‘LEFT BEHIND ANSWERED VERSE BY VERSE’
Come to think of it, David has also written a book dealing with a subject that became a big new story with Rob Bell’s book ‘Love Wins’ – Here it is: After Death – What? …according to Jesus. (Coming from and ex-Jehovah’s Witness elder, this should be some killer stuff!!!)
That’s all for now.
Peace,
Eric.
ps. I used the word ‘evangelists’ to describe how I think I remembered the many loving believers who shared the change that Jesus had made in their lives. Of course they’d eventually pop those questions that seem to hit the bull’s eye. (You know what I mean) Hey, ain’t it about time you talked to the Lord? I remember a story a gospel singer (who hadn’t talked to the Lord in years) who was listening to a song on the radio and how the words, ‘It’s so funny how we don’t talk anymore’ cut her to the heart and she rededicated her life to the Lord. (this one’s for you ‘Twisted Wizard’ )
