Chapter 1
NECESSARY EXPLANATIONS
By
The Man Who Saw God Face To Face
Raphael Okechukwu Nweze
Only those who know the Truth
navigate the ocean of life,
as Masters of the Universe.
Others do guess work and may sink,
without knowing it.
The Source Of Life
God is the source of life. He is living, intelligent, active and creative. He is “All-in-All”, who is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. He is the Father of everyone. He is The Supreme One, Who is within all things centering them and without all controlling them.
The laws of Nature and their network bear evidence of His existence. The varieties of life prove his unbounded creativity and wisdom. Nobody can deny His existence. Your belief or disbelief does not in anyway add to or subtract from His sure existence. Your ignorance of His Presence and Love rather limits your success.
He is ever ready to work with you, through you and for you. This is your birthright. You do not have to inherit it or pay for it. It is already yours. Your problem is how to work with Him. This book is “How To”.
Body and Spirit
The spirit wears the body and drives it about.
Self-Knowledge
Know Yourself!
It is very important that you know yourself: the knowledge of whom you are, what you are and your unfailing rights in life. These rights are written in Deuteronomy 28:1-14 as blessings.
You are an image of the Supreme God, an extension of Himself, and one with Him. Realise that “I am in my father, and you in me, and I am in you.” John 14:20. Just as water and its drop are one, as a spark is from the fire and one with it, so is the relationship between God and man. Put more clearly, it is as you would have a tree and its seed, with the seed created in the image of the tree. The seed embody the tree and is capable of becoming a tree, though it does not look like a tree.
There are several qualities of God in a man. The qualities confirm the divine nature of man, that man is an exact image and likeness of God: a child of God. For example, God is a creator, and of all that God created, it is only man that is able to create as God does. The products of man’s creativity abound: the towering skyscrapers, the magnificent bridges, the beautiful planes, the enjoyable automobiles, the sailing ships, the exploratory space shuttles, the interesting television, the delightful radio, the versatile computer, the working robots, the scientific gadgets, etc.
A second aspect of God in man is the spirit. Man is essentially a spirit just as God is spirit. The physical body is not the man. It is only a mobile house, an encasement, a suit or clothe meant for the physical plane of life. It is the spirit self that thinks, dreams and lives. Jesus said, “The spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing.” The body which God molded, did not become a living thing, until God breathed into it a spirit-spark, the very nature of God Self.
Another evidence that man is an image of God is the spoken word. The words of man fulfill, just as the words of God fulfill. This is in agreement with Isaiah. 55:11.
“So is the word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty
But it will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
Of all the creatures of God, on earth, only man is able to speak definitely and variedly as God does.
You do not need to become fully developed before you start using the potentials of God within you. In fact, it is the use that improves you, in the same way that practice makes perfect. We become by becoming, and by doing, not by waiting for perfection.
The potentials of God are in you – “All my fountains are in you.” Psalm 87:7. No one is more blessed with these potentials than another. “Whoever believes in me, as the scriptures has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” John 7:38. The streams of water are not only spiritual and heavenly. They include all the good thoughts of every kind, all the good things of life and all the good works of man.
The heights that the great and successful men have attained, you can also attain, even more. No person is more blessed or opportune than others. It is the same God and His Nature (image and likeness) for us all. It is the same sunshine, the same air, the same life, the same water for us all. A person may be prominent or wealthy in one field of life and lacking in the others. Yet, if others have achieved, if others have become successful, it is a clear indication that you too can.
Let not the solidity of the physical world
deceive you.
The Universe is fluid to the power within man
by which he commands it.
Mountains have risen and cities fallen
because of this power
Stones have been crushed, irons melted
and both molded by this power.
The One Within
God is the omnipresent one, who is not separated from man. He dwells in every man. John 14:20. He is “The One Within,” within everybody. To Him the geniuses and successful turned, to make their prodigious and unbelievable achievements. Jesus Christ bore witness to this truth, saying “The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing His work.” John 14:10.
Another point confirms. The world provides an enabling environment for people to become great and successful. Then, individuals make themselves great and successful, and thereby, make the world what it is today in development.
God, the Supreme One, is already within you, ready and willing to work with you. Jesus taught the Israelites how to pray in secret in their inner rooms. There is no inner room, or a place more secret, than the heart. It is from the One Within that streams of living water can flow out. “Apart from me, you can do nothing,” said Jesus. John 14:5. Again, He made it clear that “... The son can do nothing by himself; he can only do what he sees the Father doing, because whatever the Father does the son also does.” John 15:19.
If you must succeed
If you must ascend in life,
You must turn
to the One Within
In silence, in solitude
and in thoughtfulness.
Nature – A Network Of Laws
A network of laws governs Nature. The laws explain the causes and effects relationships. It is the duty of man to master these laws and utilise them for his own benefits. The laws are the divine will of God in creation. They are immutable and perfect in operation. They act likewise for every man, irrespective of age, sex, colour, race, creed or status. Their existence is a reality, whether you believe them or not.
From time to time, these laws of the universe are being discovered by people and named after their respective discoverers. This is why we have Newton’s Law, Archimedes’ Principle, Boyle’s Law, Pythagoras’s Theorem, Doppler Effect, etc. You may like to know that these laws are ever present, true and active, whether discovered or not. It is as though they exist in silence or imperceptibility. As a fact, the scientists do not find out new laws. The laws are new to a person whenever the person discovers or comes to know them.
You cannot cheat Nature. I mean that you cannot break its law and escape with it or keep the law and miss the benefits. You must pay for the breach, in one way or the other, or receive due compensation for keeping the laws. To know these laws of life, which are God’s will in creation, and to live accordingly is wisdom. Otherwise, you tear yourself down and hinder your own success. The statement of Jesus that “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free” tells you the root cause of your problems. Furthermore, it tells you how to set yourself free.
As it is, man must learn the laws by experience, observation, enlightenment and mistake. Mistakes are bound to be made until mastery is achieved. The mistakes do not deter the progress of man. They are the stepping stones to mastery.
You may ask, “What are these laws?” They are the laws of causality, compensation, transformation, transmission, attraction, growth, exchange, etc. You find them stated in your religion, in Sciences and in Arts. They manifest in almost every aspect of Nature and Life.
What The Youths Do Not Know
The youths have a false impression about life. Their impression about life is mainly an illusion. The youths realize this fact too late, after they had misspent a significant part of their life, time and wealth. By then, they have missed several achievements.
Usually, the parents fend for the youths. Therefore, the youths think that life is very rosy. As far as they can understand, you can have the necessities of life without labouring for them. This explains why the youths are very carefree.
Undoubtedly, it is not every youth that is carefree and disorientated. There are among the youths, those who are careful and diligent in life. Many of the world great and successful people were those who in their youthful periods battled against poverty, adversities and disappointments.
But the fact remains that so many of the youths are misled by their fantasies. Moreover, they have little or nothing to worry about, no hard cases to settle, no relatives and dependents to provide for, and little or no social obligations to perform. All is freedom, joy and leisure. The aforementioned reasons account for why many youths do not take their studies and duties serious.
What a disappointment, for the youths to grow up and find out that life is not as they had thought. Soon, they realize that their monthly salary is not enough for feeding. In addition, there are problems to solve, relatives to fend for, obligations to perform, with costs so high. This is cardinal point in the life of a man, when one must decide either to swim and win or sink and loose. Unfortunately, only a few make it in life, so successfully, thenceforth.
The youthful period must not be wasted, even in the least. Observant teachers and adults are worried over the loss of enormous amount of time and resources by the youths, in laxity, talking, loitering, playing, leisure, sleeping, idleness, lateness, procrastination, joking and carelessness.
“It doesn’t Matter,” one of them would remark.
“Never mind,” another would encourage.
They do not see anything bad or wasteful in the loss of time, means and opportunities. Here is one difference between the youths and the adults. The youths fail to understand that the right use of time is one of the qualities that distinguish the successful from the mediocre.
There is a misconception by some that the world make great and successful people. The world does not make people, though it tries to bring up every body to a niche. It is the positive and progressive who make themselves great and successful, through their prodigious and varied achievements, even as every drop of water increases the mighty ocean. Men are the architects of their fortunes.
What is more? - Some think that there are people who are specially prepared and loved by Nature, who are the only ones destined to become great and successful. Contrary to this view, a study of the successful men of the world has shown that each of them earned his own greatness and success. They earned by fighting ignorance, hardship and obstacles, which they eventually overcame.
Edison, who is one of the world’s foremost scientists, was in his boyhood described as an educational misfit - a boy too stupid to learn. Today, the world study and utilize his discoveries and inventions.
Shakespeare did not attain high standard in education, but he became a genius in literal work, more than professors of literature. In fact, the world of students, teachers and lecturers gain much from his work.
Many of the things taught in schools and universities today, were discovered or invented by people who did not have formal education. The author remembers a case vividly. During university education, the author was assigned the project of finding out ways to improve the blacksmith’s work. The author was chanced to meet one blacksmith, who uses the pedal and wheel of bicycle to supply an easy and steady flow of air to his furnace, instead of the strenuous bellow system. His Head of Department was alarmed to learn that the man had used this bicycle system for over forty years. Examples abound. People are bound to progress and succeed in life, when they discover themselves and apply the principles taught in this book.
Nature holds an open success way to mankind as in Rev. 3:8, “See, I have placed before you an open door that no-one can shut.” Only few discover this way and walk in it. Others are prevented by their own ignorance, indifference and carelessness, which they translate into excuses, fate and obstacles.
Meditation Does Not Encourage Idleness
If you must win,
you must delight in work,
Misuse not time:
for time lost is never regained
And never assume you were not meant to be great
As greatness is our destiny – a divine heritage,
Which some achieve now
And others then.
Some do so rapidly;
many, so gradually
But that eventually we all become.
What is Law?
Law is anything made compulsory
for the good of mankind.