Beyond Heaven and Earth

by Steven H. Propp

  “Do you think it’s possible that…well, my requests to cover more material about life after death influenced Andr…I mean, Omazio?” Jobran asked. With a small laugh, he added, “Although the notion that my ‘earthly’ request would have influenced a being who lives in the spirit world, and is a veteran of some ten incarnations, seems a little silly…”

  “Actually, it’s not silly at all,” Jana said. “Most channels will tell you—if you press them on this—that a certain percentage, anywhere from 10% to 30%, of a channel’s message is actually contributed by the channel himself or herself. In fact, people that are first starting to channel often fear that they are ‘just doing the whole thing by themselves,’ which is why it may be years after they have started to channel before they are willing to ‘go public’ with it. But the interaction between the entity and the channel is actually a dynamic thing, and that’s what gives it such vitality. A channel isn’t just a ‘dumb’ radio transmitter, but in most cases is actively interacting with the channeled entity, to provide the best way of communicating the information itself. Channeling is a way for people to access their own intuition, as well as their personal knowledge and background, and it’s why different channels are so different: Jane Roberts/Seth were intellectual, J.Z. Knight/Ramtha are loving and empowering, Darryl Anka/Bashar are visionary, and Ron Goettsche/Jason are down-to-earth and gay-friendly.”

  “Out of curiosity, what’s Andrew’s background?” asked Jobran.

  Jana looked thoughtful. “You know, I’m not really sure. He says that he came from somewhere like Ohio, or Idaho—some small town out in the middle of nowhere. I met him at church, and I gave him a job at the bookstore when he first got here. He’d worked there for several months before he casually mentioned that he did channeling, and he invited me to the group that Lucy was just starting. Andrew refuses to say much about how he got started, however; he prefers to simply ‘let the information he provides stand on its own merit.’”

  “What’s the background on Omazio?” Jobran asked. “You said that he had been through ten incarnations on earth, but who, or what, is he supposed to have been?”

  “Tell you what, why don’t you save the twenty questions for Andrew’s Q&A session? That’s coming up next,” Jana suggested.

  “Fair enough,” Jobran said, and he gratefully accepted Jana’s hand gesture inviting him to partake of the free food. Remembering that he had a long night of work ahead of him, he dug in greedily to the fruit and cookies.

  About five minutes later, Lucy said in a cheery voice, “Question time, everybody!” Two of the ladies had excused themselves after the second session, but the remainder of the group reassembled in the living room. This time Andrew was sitting in the chair normally, looking relaxed, well, and alert.

  “Well, Lucy tells me that I only did Kui and Omazio tonight; but that I did Omazio twice—so it’s no wonder that I feel more tired than usual!” Andrew said, and the group laughed. Then with a sly smile, he added, “And she says that you all got a crash course in metaphysics from Omazio in the second session!”

  “That’s for sure!” one woman said, with a nervous laugh.

  “So who has questions?” Lucy asked.

  The woman who asked the question to Lucy earlier repeated, “Do you sell transcripts, or tapes, of the talks? Or can we tape-record the sessions ourselves?” Shaking her head in despair, she added, “Sometimes—like tonight—the information just comes too fast for me to absorb it, and I’d really like to be able to review it at my own convenience.”

  Andrew looked frustrated, and said, “Well, up to this point I’ve only had my handwritten notes that are made of the sessions, that I personally transcribe from the tapes. As you know, I don’t know myself what is said during them, so I have to review it just like you do.” He shrugged and said, “I’ve talked to some people in the book busines about trying to edit and then publish the transcripts, but I think they want to wait until I’ve appeared on ‘Oprah,’ or until Shirley MacLaine gives me a big ‘plug,’ before they take a chance on publishing me and Omazio.” Looking apologetic, he concluded, “So unfortunately, I guess you’ll just have to wait awhile.”

  “How about tapes?” the woman asked. “Can’t you make copies of the tapes you make for yourself?” Andrew looked at Lucy, who looked at Jana, who looked thoughtful and said, “Well, the Church has a tape duplicating machine, that we use to make copies of the weekly services. I suppose we could see if they’d let us use that; we’d have to pay them for it, of course.”

  Andrew interjected, “However, I wouldn’t want copies of the tapes to go beyond those of us who come to the sessions in person.” Looking affectionately at the group, he said, “I mean, it’s one thing if you want to use the tapes for your own personal review after coming to the session; you’ve already paid for it, after all. But I wouldn’t want people to use them as a substitute for coming to the sessions in person.”

  The attendees all looked at each other, and said, “That would be fine,” “We’d be glad to pay for them,” and so on.

  A twinkle in his eye, Andrew now said slyly, “I guess this might be a good moment to make an announcement to this group: I’ve quit my ‘day job,’ and I will now devote myself full-time to channeling!” There were some appreciative

  gasps throughout the room, followed by enthusiastic applause.

  “About time!” Lucy said.

  “Well, I guess Omazio has finally convinced me that it’s time I started ‘living by faith’ a little bit,” Andrew said, with a sly sheepish smile.

  Jobran looked at his watch, and realized that he needed to head back in order to catch his bus on time, so he made a surreptitious gesture to Jana, then slipped quietly out the front door, leaving the happy roomful of people behind.

  * * *

  Back on the streets, his mind was racing furiously, analyzing what he had just witnessed. Well, I’ve just witnessed an exhibition from someone who claims to have been reincarnated ten times; but do I believe it?

  Jobran knew without question that he did not. Part of the problem is that— unlike the older Spiritualist movement—modern channels provide next to no information that can be “checked out.” How could one determine whether assertions such as “We are all God,” or “We create our own reality” were true or not? The sort of opinions that were presented didn’t seem to contain any particular “supernormal” level of intelligence, or blinding insights; in fact, the implications of some of them (that we “choose the manner of our death,” for instance) seem to lead to almost absurd conclusions, if followed to their logical end: Did the Jews killed by the Nazis in World War II “choose” this manner of death? Then why did some Jews—such as at Treblinka—so strongly resist death?

  In the end, it seemed that one would simply end up either believing the channeled information, or not believing it. Yet one’s very acceptance or rejection seemed to be based largely upon whether or not one “liked” the information, and the style in which it was presented. If you are unhappy about the gender of either the channel or the Guide, that was apparently enough to cause rejection for some people, who might then go on to find some other channeled Guide that was more congenial to you.

  Sure, it was fascinating to see Andrew speak continuously for thirty minutes without notes; but lots of people can talk continuously for hours and hours, particularly if you provide them with an eager audience. It was also interesting to hear him speak in two distinctly different vocal styles; but lots of people can do the same—they’re called actors.

  Another interesting question was whether or not Andrew was sincere in his belief that he was channeling information provided by non-physical beings, or was this just some sort of “scam” for him? Jobran had no reason to doubt his sincerity (except perhaps for the fact that he seemed a little bit “cagey” about his background).

  Unfortunately, I meet a lot of “sincer
e” people in the course of this Quest, Jobran thought with a sigh. And their beliefs are in diametrical opposition to yours. So I’m left on the outside looking in, as usual…

  22

  TOWARD THE LIGHT

  The Unitarian Church was nestled at the turn in the road, allowing for ample parking on both sides. The area was beautiful: thickly wooded, and one could almost hear the river nearby.

  As he parked in the nearly-full parking lot, Abraham said, “We found it.”

  “That we did,” agreed Jobran, as he got out of the car.

  The parking lot was well-lighted, and well cared-for; many of the cars were new or recent, with the whole creating an image of affluence—although there were also vans and old Volkswagens covered with flowers and bumper stickers, that looked as if they had been teleported directly from the 1960s.

  “The ‘60s will never go away for some people, I guess,” Jobran observed, as they walked up the sidewalk leading to the main entrance.

  “You realize that it’s against my principles to go into a Christian church,” Abraham said, somewhat apprehensively.

  “You went into Reverend Williams’ church,” reminded Jobran, as they neared the entrance.

  “Correction: I went into his office,” replied Abraham. “Besides, that was a ghetto church; we Jews feel at home in ghettoes,” he said with a smile, which Jobran returned.

  “Anyway, this isn’t a ‘Christian’ Church; it’s a Unitarian Universalist church; they’re something different,” Jobran said. “I’ve been reading about them. There was a Universalist church in this country from about 1770—Reverend Williams’ church was non-denominational, but he basically teaches Universalism—and there was also a separate Unitarian church. The name ‘Unitarian’ basically emphasizes the monotheistic emphasis—hey, I guess that makes them like Jews— or more particularly, the denial of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity; which is the notion that you have God the Father as the ‘first person,’ Jesus Christ as the ‘second person,’ and the Holy Spirit as the ‘third person’ of the Trinity, but these three are one God. Nevertheless, these three persons are each wholly God by themselves. It’s often compared to water, which is H2O chemically, but can exist in the forms of water, steam, and ice, each of which is still H20, although they have very different forms.”

  “Sounds like a lot of gobbledy-gook to me,” Abraham said, as they handed over their tickets at the entrance.

  Jobran nodded and said, “That seems to be what the Unitarians thought, also. One of the people they view as a forerunner was Michael Servetus—who Reformer John Calvin had burned to death at the stake for heresy—who wrote a popular book called, ‘On the Errors of the Trinity.’ Servetus, as well as later Unitarians, denied that Jesus was the ‘second person of the Holy Trinity,’ and that the Holy Spirit was a ‘person.’ Opinions about just who or what Jesus was vary— ranging from ‘the Son of God,’ to ‘a symbol of the divine that is within us all.’ Some early Unitarians were William Ellery Channing, Theodore Parker, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. In 1961, the Unitarians and the Universalists merged, to become the Unitarian Universalist Association. Oh, by the way—Thomas Jefferson was a Unitarian, as well; he even wrote in the 1820s that he expected that all the young men then living in America would become Unitarians before they died, and that Unitarianism would become the general religion of America.”

  “He was wrong, of course,” Abraham observed quickly. “America still seems pretty ‘Christian’ to me.” Since they were now inside the church, Abraham looked around, somewhat nervously. Finally, he said, only partly in jest, “As a Jew, I feel very ‘foreign’ here; are you sure that no one’s going to grab me, and force me to either be baptized, or die?”

  Jobran laughed. “Don’t worry; the Unitarians aren’t going to baptize anybody; they don’t really have any ‘sacraments’; they tend to view all of life as a sacrament—although a given congregation may observe certain ‘life event’ ceremonies. You might be reassured to know that Christian groups such as the World Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches deny the Unitarians membership, because they do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as ‘Lord and Saviour.’ So although this building we’re in may be called a ‘church’—out of custom—I guarantee you that you won’t hear a thing about ‘Total Depravity,’ ‘Substitutionary Atonement,’ ‘Redemption by the Blood of the Lamb,’ or anything like that while we’re here.

  “I’m not sure that I’m very much reassured,” Abraham answered, pulling his jacket around his neck.

  “Don’t worry,” Jobran said. “Unitarian Universalists are by far the most liberal of all the ‘church-type’ organizations in this country; they probably make Reform Jews look old-fashioned,” he added, teasing.

  “You seem to be very knowledgeable about the intricacies of every possible denomination,” Abraham observed. “I’m impressed.”

  Jobran said in a discouraged voice, “I thought that I had pretty much surveyed the entire field as far as religious options go—since I felt that I had studied all of the ‘major’ branches of Christianity, and all of the historical world religions—but I’ve been finding out recently that there is a whole world out there that I’ve been overlooking up until now, consisting of non-traditional churches, fellowships, and study groups. Just looking through the local yellow pages listings under ‘Churches’—as opposed to ‘Mosques,’ ‘Synagogues,’ or ‘Religious Organizations’—will expose you not only to practically every world religion from Bahá’í, to Buddhist, to Hindu, to Sikh, but to a wide variety of ‘interdenominational,’ ‘non-denominational,’ and ‘community’ churches, as well as various kinds of ‘reform’ and ‘reorganized’ subgroups that you’d never even heard of, although it turns out they’re all listed in Frank Mead’s Handbook of Denominations.” He continued, “Then there are also groups in the ‘New Age/New Millennium/New Thought’ category, such as Unity, Christian Science, Spiritualist, as well as groups providing Yoga and ‘Meditation Instruction,’ and many more. These movements often have their own colleges, institutes, and private and charter schools—and that’s just the organized groups. When you add in the various Occult and Metaphysical groups, not to mention semi-related groups such as the UFO community, it’s just too much to even survey, much less study,” he said, shaking his head slowly.

  Jobran checked his watch and saw that they still had fifteen minutes before the lecture was set to begin, so they looked around the lobby of the church: Neatly and plushly carpeted, modern in its décor, the church conveyed an image of prosperity, of positive energy. Then, sitting behind a table piled with stacks of books Jobran saw a familiar face, and grabbed Abraham by the arm, and led him over.

  “Good evening, Jana; how are you?” he said.

  “Jobran!” she said, pleased. “It’s good to see you again; who’s your handsome friend?”

  “Jana, this is Abraham Kaplan—Rabbi Abraham Kaplan, I mean.”

  “‘Rabbi?’” she said, impressed, offering her hand to shake. “I’m always glad to meet a member of the clergy that’s open-minded,” and she laughed lightly.

  Jobran looked with interest at the books on the table; there was many copies of Reverend Montaine’s book, Beyond the Near-Death Experience, as well as other books (most of which Jobran already had) of similar focus, including some single copies of the Journal of Near-Death Studies. “If you’re manning—or ‘woman-ning’—the book table, are you going to be able to hear the lecture?” Jobran asked Jana.

  Jana nodded. “I’ll shut down in a few minutes, then reopen as soon as the lecture’s over. I can here the Q & A session from here in the lobby, though—they’ve got speakers out here—so I won’t miss anything.”

  “Speaking of missing anything, we’d better get our seats; talk to you later?” Jobran said, and Jana nodded, turning to another customer who was holding out a credit card.

  An usher handed them a pro
gram, giving the title of the lecture (“Implications of the Near-Death Experience”), as well as some background information about Reverend Montaine. They had to squeeze past several people to get a seat, as the auditorium was almost full.

  As they took their seats, Abraham whispered to Jobran, “You mean they don’t separate the men and the women in churches?”

  “Oh, shut up,” Jobran said, smiling. “You don’t separate the sexes in your Temple, either; it’s only the Orthodox Jews who do that.” Looking at Abraham, he said, “You mean that you’ve never, ever been in a ‘church’ before?”

  Abraham shook his head. “Never. I stood outside of a Catholic Church once during the funeral of a good friend of mine, but that was it.” He looked around at the beautiful interior of the church, and said, “Nice; but tacky.” Jobran shook his head, in smiling resignation.

  In a few minutes, the lights dimmed, and the program began. Standing at the lectern, a woman from the church welcomed everyone, invited everyone to sign up for their mailing list as well as visit any of their services, told them about where the restrooms were located, and so on. She then introduced a dynamic young woman, who had apparently been responsible for inviting Reverend Montaine to speak. This woman excitedly told a little bit about his background, then closed by saying that she herself had had a Near-Death Experience that had radically changed her life, and that enabled her to comfort and reassure her mother, when she passed away a few months ago. With that, she invited Reverend Montaine to take the platform; he stood up from his seat in the front row, and faced the audience, acknowledging the polite applause. He was tall, appeared to be in his fifties, but had a full head of jet black hair, combed straight back; with the light tan jacket and blue turtleneck sweater he was wearing, he looked very much like a college professor.