As an ordained Deacon of 22 years, it truly amazes me how Deacon Bernard Swift can put into writing all the concepts and truths that he shares to help others live a healthy and intimate relationship and spirituality with our God. It compels me to delve deeper into the very depth of my inner self. -Deacon Fred Von Voight Deacon Bernie Swift's recent spiritual book, Will Thinking It Is Make it So? is a must read for the Christian soul. It is a brilliant and simplistic explanation of how thought plays a powerful role in one's relationship, or lack there of, with our Creator. -Tom Keysor, a Lord's daily Altar Server, Lector, Eucharistic Minister, International Pilgrimage Tour Host, and humble believer in the true faith - Catholicism
Will Thinking It Is Make It So?
By Bernard R. SwiftTrafford Publishing
Copyright © 2013 Bernard R. Swift, D. Min.
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4669-7498-2Contents
Acknowledgments...............................vii1. Purpose of Life............................12. Belief Systems.............................43. Thought I..................................84. Thought II.................................115. Truth......................................146. Truth II...................................177. Nothing is Impossible......................238. Slavery Versus Freedom.....................259. Real Love..................................2910. Love II...................................3311. Unconditional Love........................3712. Guilt.....................................4113. Suffering.................................4614. Suffering II..............................4815. The Word of God...........................5016. Sin and Reconversion......................5517. Judgement.................................5918. Freedom...................................6219. Conscience................................67
Chapter One
Purpose of Life
THOUGHT IS THE power of reasoning; it should be fair, just, wise, and sensible. We should always keep good thoughts in our minds.
God gave us life for a purpose. He gave us a free will to choose. With the power of our mind we can choose, through our reason, good thing and thoughts for the betterment of God's people and ourselves. Our mind can help us to make good decisions about how to live and how to help and get along with our neighbor. This can only be done with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit and our guardian angel. In Daniel 3:27 it states, "For you God are just in all you have done, all of your deeds are faultless, all of your ways right, all of your judgments proper."
The power of reason tells us that we are not alone in this world; somehow our intelligence tells us that some powerful force is guiding us to our destiny, a destiny we are all looking forward to, "Heaven." A survey was taken several years ago, which showed that 97% of the people wanted to go to heaven. This is a universal desire, a belief or faith guided by this powerful force. This force must be defined. This force enlightens our thinking in a way that suggests it must be somebody, not something, that could design and fill the universe with billions of heavenly bodies like stars, nebulas, asteroids, suns and moons, even the earth, and man and give them life through electrons, protons, cells, etc. All these elements were made perfect to live and work together in harmony. This somebody must be someone all knowing, all wise, all-powerful, all understanding, all loving, all merciful, in other words, perfect. This person is defined in scripture (the Bible) as God, who appeared to Abraham 1700 years before Christ. Then down through the scriptures, God gave us His only Son, Jesus, to tell the world that God is all-powerful and knowing, and He made us because of His great love for us.
God knew the mind of man, how fickle he is, and defined a set of rules on how to live a good and holy life. He guided our faith in believing only good (love God and neighbor), tantamount to the Ten Commandments. He also gave us wisdom to pray and change the things we can (for the better) in accordance with His precepts. This supports our thinking with good reason, not spurious false information or data. Many of us don't know or realize why we are put here on earth. God had a plan before the world began to fill the earth with people, whom God loved so much. God made a covenant with Abraham, that his generation would fill the earth with as many people as the sands of the sea. From God's deepest love He formed man and woman to His design and likeness. He carefully created us with all our faculties, particularly the power to think and live as an individual different from anyone else. He knows each by name and gave us the Holy Spirit to guide us and give us His seven gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and the fear of the Lord. Also, the Holy Spirit provides us with the fruits of charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, modesty, self-control, and chastity. These are perfections formed in us to assist us to love and worship God and neighbor and to enter into eternal love and peace in heaven. These are the gifts provided to us through baptism in the name of the Trinity, which sanctifies these gifts and provides graces for the people who are in most in need of them.
We can use these God given gifts in our daily lives to help us make good decisions when it comes to how to best live our Faith and to be happy and peaceful. We see the many gifts God wants to give to His people, yet some of us decide not to cooperate with God and to live a "better life", a life of peace and joy that he world cannot give. They take upon themselves whatever they think is good and beneficial to achieve the temporary goal that would give them happiness, peace, and joy.
Many in this world don't choose any goal. They feel that if they live a good life and get the most out of this life they will be saved. They are not really concerned about eternal life. Basically they say that there is no eternal life because you can't prove it. They don't realize that they can't disprove it. They also claim we have no eternal life as they believe that we evolve from animals and die as animals. We just become dust. Can we blame so many of the people who have this belief when evolution is taught in elementary and high schools? They omit the presence of a soul in the body. If this were true than we were created for no purpose other than to die as an animal.
God in His infinite wisdom and as the Creator of the universe and man to his image would never permit us to die as animals. People have lost their faith by believing we are only animals. How can they believe in evolution when none of it can be proven as fact? Why are some people trying so hard to disprove scripture when there are so many differences in behavioral characteristics like thinking, learning, loving, mercy, etc. between animals and humans? Evolution is just a myth. Scripture is written under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. There are no myths, antiquated moral practices, or false or evil passages written by God's prophets.
If one studies the solar system he will see how complex, precise, and beautiful it is. This should be enough to confirm creation. Somebody put all the things in the universe and made them function in a very precise order. God loved man so much He created Him in His image and likeness and planned that he would return to Him with his glorified body.
Looking for a purpose of life is commendable; however, forming a purpose for life conformable to our Supreme Being or God would take a lot of insight, prayer, and help.
Chapter Two
Belief Systems FOLLOWING IS A breakdown of just a few of the prevalent belief systems that have attracted a large number of believers through history:
1. Mohammed: Islam. Mohammed was born in 570 AD. He emphasized, "One in God of all the people." He claimed he saw the Angel Gabriel who gave him many messages from God. Some of these messages revealed the following: 1. Submit to the will of Allah who is God; by doing so you will gain an inner peace. 2. There is no God but Allah and Mohammed, an apostle of Allah. 3. All believers must pray five times a day. 4. All believers must give 40% of as their income as alms. 5. Believers must fast in month of Ramadan. Believers must make a pilgrimage to Mecca once a year. Rather than the Bible, they follow the Koran.
2. Buddha: Born 63 BC. (Enlightened One) He searched for the meaning of life, death, and suffering. During meditation he went over parts of his past life, until he reached his great awakening and became Buddha. He tried many severe paths of life and then he chose the middle path. He taught the four noble truths, namely:
* Physical suffering exists.
* Self-desire and self-will are the cause of physical suffering.
* To end suffering, one must overcome self-desire and will.
* Nirvana is freedom from suffering.
* In order to reach nirvana one must follow the eight noble paths:
* Right understanding
* Right thought
* Right speech
* Right action
* Right living
* Right effort
* Right remembrance
* Right meditation
Buddhists believe in reincarnation. They believe they will come back to earth with a new body called the higher self. When they are reincarnated they can live a life with greater wisdom and the knowledge necessary to learn the things that they missed before on earth.
3. Krishna: Born 3000 BC. He reported all life is "one;" all are parts of the same life. His teaching is found in a book, Bhagadad Gita, (Lord's songs), which includes dancing and playing the flute. He spent years trying to find out why people have pain and suffering. He taught that we need to get rid of all the things we want for ourselves and accept God's way, allowing His love and light to fill our heart and mind. According to his teaching, by the grace of God, we find the joy of God.
4. Lao-Tzu: Lived 604-524 BC. As a child he learned about Tao, the way of the universe. His teacher told him, "When everyone goes along with Tao, the world is at peace and everyone is happy."
5. Confucius: Taught that all should strive for earthly happiness. Also taught human kindness and family love and loyalty. Wrote his own book that is much like the Bible.
6. Zen (Buddhist): Since 1200 AD. Followers practice the idea of enlightenment. The believe if you stop ordinary thinking, your higher mind and intuition can reveal the truth. Uses riddles to sharpen the mind.
Some of these belief systems tie in with God, the Master Creator of heaven and earth, and teach goodness, kindness, and to be happiness. Love is mentioned, but not sacrificial love and there is very little mention of unconditional love. Most promote praiseworthy ideals such as living a good and happy life to enter heaven; however, they miss the fundamental truths of Jesus suffering, dying on the cross, and rising on the third day. They shy away from the Eucharist, the body and blood of Jesus available at every Mass, and the Ten Commandments. The biggest difference is they are missing the Bible, which was written by the men who knew and walked with Jesus and who actually saw and heard the things they wrote under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. These followers of Jesus combined the Old and the New Testament to make it the "Bible" for the whole world.
In a number of faiths a small portion of the Bible is grasped and used as their basis. The rest of their beliefs are filled with self-interpreted scripture and ideas that would best suite their lifestyles and thinking. No amount of thinking can make something true, just as none of God's Word can be changed in scripture to meet a person's preferences.
Regarding new age spiritualities, these are lost souls looking for solutions to their own problems. They believe if we change for the better, society and the entire planet will change. Also, some teach men to know themselves and regain their inner harmony.
Our Catholic faith, though similar here and there, is fundamentally different. We believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. We believe He is one God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Ten Commandments states specifically that there is only one God, "I am the Lord thy God, thou shall not have any strange gods before me." Some of our basic beliefs follow.
1. No one can enter the Faith until he is baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
2. Candidates to the faith must have a strong desire to become a Catholic, also pray for the grace to become true members of the Faith.
3. We must pray to God for the continued grace of the Faith.
4. We must reconcile with God for past sins.
5. We must make reparation for our sins.
6. We must be very sorry for our past sins.
7. We must ask the Lord to have mercy on our souls.
8. We must go to a priest for absolution of our sins and guilt.
A Catholic must abide by every detail of the Ten Commandments, particularly the first, that there is only one God. Anyone who deviates from them in the slightest degree and tries to change one meaning or believes any other version than the Commandments' original intent, violates God's law and sins. We cannot go searching for anything more current to fit our lifestyle or decide it is too difficult to carry out.
We go to church for only one purpose, that is to adore, praise, and thank God for giving us so much and work to know, love and serve Him. We want total union with this one God, to be with Him forever in heaven.
This faith began with Abraham in 1700 BC. It has been handed down from generation to generation to this current generation, without changes in adoring this one same God.
This is God's law and cannot be changed; however, church beliefs or law can be changed. Our thoughts cannot change one iota of God's word. God's word is cast in stone. There can be no change, no matter what our current situation is. Thinking something is true cannot and does not permit modification of God's law. Only the one true God, the Creator of heaven and earth, is the true God.
Chapter Three
Thought I God gave us the power to think. We can think of anything. We can contemplate anything from the smallest atom to the entire universe. These thoughts can be opinions, ideas, processes, hopes, dreams, aspirations, goals, beliefs, etc.
With a thought we can change anything but not everything. To change everything we should need the power of God, the God who created heaven and earth.
If we stick with a reasonable situation, we can make many changes within. For example, we can make a change in our behavior, our beliefs, our thinking that could cover a multitude of change, but we must start with reason. I know that some individuals have made tremendous changes in their lifetime, but those are few and far between. To achieve a major change, there must be a definite need and someone who is able to dedicate most of his life to complete the change. Within the realm of reason we can offer some quotes from Scripture that anyone who hopes to lead a better life and to overcome some of his weakness must dedicate himself to that better life. We can use our thoughts to remake our lives as we wish them to be. In other words, thinking with action will make it so. Thinking alone won't bring about change. It probably will take a lot of work and prayer depending on how deep the habit is. For example, being an alcoholic, denying God, being homeless, etc. would take a deep commitment and effort. With God's powerful words that can give you hope, courage, and the will to carry out your changes and your own dedication, you can achieve great change.
1. First of all, we must displace our negative, bad, and unhealthy thoughts with good thoughts.
2. We must enter the spiritual world and petition the help of the Holy Spirit to become a better person.
3. We must request the knowledge, wisdom, and will to accomplish the change.
4. We must pray to receive the graces (help) necessary to be able to change.
5. We must ask for the power of the will and determination to accomplish a betterment of life.
Quotes:
Luke 17:21, "The kingdom of God is among you." Never quit; once you start an action or a job, ask God for the graces to finish it as you have the kingdom of God (which includes Jesus and the Holy Spirit) within you. You are a temple of the Holy Spirit a gift which you received in Baptism. To become a saint, right where you are today, you must do every job:
• Willingly and with your entire mind.
• The best you can with God's help. This applies to even the smallest job.
• Completely.
John 15:16, "It was not you who chose Me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you." This means that God has chosen us to bear fruit, to do good and accomplish what we need the most, i.e. to become what God's will is for us, to bear fruit. We have to change our current thinking and realize that we have the promise of God that if we ask, we will receive it.
Ephesians 3:20, "Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine by the power at work within us." You can reach the greatest heights in this world with the help of God. Your thoughts, hopes, and dreams can be realized. You are on the right road to receive happiness and joy in reaching your goal. Rid your mind of everything negative. You can and will reach your desires to live a better life, a life of heaven upon earth. God wants you to have an abundant life by the power at work within us. We can ask for a change in thinking for the whole world to save their lives and, at death, for the conversion of sinners. While here on earth ask for peace, happiness, and joy for everyone. Unimaginable is the abundance of graces we can reap in this lifetime.
Romans 12:2, "Do not conform yourself to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect." Most of us do not know what God's will is for us. I have even heard a clergyman say he really didn't know what the will of God was for him. We wonder and doubt what God's will is for us. In Scripture, God tells what he expects of us. As we grow in faith, we will understand and accept the following:
1. God makes us a kingdom and priests to bring His message to all peoples. (RV 4:10)
2. We must love Christ's words and be able to accept and respond to anyone we come in contact with. We must attract others to Christ by living lives worthy of Christ's light within us.
3. We must follow in His footsteps, through His life, suffering, and death, in order to welcome the resurrection.
We must eliminate all thoughts of worry, anything destructive such as fear, anger, hate, envy, lust, and pride. These are capital offenses against God. To grow in God we must fill our minds with thoughts of God, his Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. We should strive to live a life of praise, happiness, and goodness, and dwell as much as possible on pleasant thoughts.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Will Thinking It Is Make It So?by Bernard R. Swift Copyright © 2013 by Bernard R. Swift, D. Min.. Excerpted by permission of Trafford Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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