Preface
What you are about to read is a true account of a
visitation by an angel. Is it unlike anything you have read? I believe it is, or
at least I know for sure I haven't read anything like this before.
Imagine what it would be like to have an angel appear and bring good news for a
change. The last time something like this happened was about two thousand years
ago. Again a message is given of God's unconditional love for all. God sees you
as perfect, whole and complete just the way you are. A new baptism is given that
opens a direct line to God that you may be unaware of. The pages of this book
hold the secret of building your mansion in heaven. Within these pages you will
find a builder's manual called The Book of Bricks which describes the
"how-to" in creating your mansion, brick-by-brick.
You will also find this to
be, at times, a humorous journey through a year-long conversation between the
angel Michael and me. Michael speaks of things I must do and teach, even though
I think he has the wrong man for the job. He talks about seven people that will
become Masters. They will teach seven others, who, in turn, will teach seven
more, and so on and so on. Open your heart and mind so that your soul will be
filled with God's love. Writing this book has opened a relationship with God I
never dreamed possible. I only hope that in reading this book, your relationship
takes the quantum leap that mine has. Bless your heart.
Blessings, Gifts & Deeds (by Joseph Crane)
Chapter 1 - Teach Only Love - pp. 1 - 20
�1996 West Coast
Media Group
CHAPTER 1
Teach Only
Love
Christmas is the time when most Christians remember the birth of
Jesus. It seems strange that he was born in the spring yet we still celebrate
his birth in December. Having been touched by the story of his birth one more
time, this year, I decided to read the Bible. Many years had passed since I have
had one to read, so I figured it was time to get one. You need to know that this
was only for my own knowledge. I'm not a member of any religion. I don't go to
church on Sunday, but I do believe in God. I also pray asking for God's guidance
and have for many years.
Each night I laid in bed and read the Bible,
chapter and verse. I would go over what I had read on the following day. Some of
it made sense and some of it did not. After three or four weeks of reading, I
asked God to help me understand the real message. The next night I went to bed,
took out the Bible, and began reading again.
It was around midnight when
I closed my Bible and set it on the night stand. Looking over at my sleeping
wife, I thought what a beautiful woman I married. I noticed our four
mastiffs, two on the bed and the others on the floor. "Whatever have I done to
be so blessed with such a lovely family?" I said to myself, as I reached over to
turn off the light and kiss Donna good night.
Putting my head on the
pillow, I settled in, pulling the covers over my shoulders. Feeling the warmth
of the waterbed relax my body I slowly began drifting off to that place where we
go just before sleep, when our minds are clear of all thought.
"Joe," a voice said. "Joe," the voice said again. I was
now fully awake trying to decide what course of action to take, for this was not
the first time something like this had happened to me. On three other occasions,
as far back as ten years ago, I had heard this voice. I always thought it was my
roommate calling, but each time when I woke them to ask what they wanted, they
told me that they hadn't called me. Once I was home alone when I heard my name
called. I got out of bed and went to the door thinking it was someone outside,
but no one was there.
I told my friend, Alexander Everett, about my
experiences and he asked me if I was familiar with the story of Samuel. I had
heard the story before but could not remember any specifics.
Samuel was
in the spiritual tutoring of a master named Eli. One night Samuel went to bed
and before dawn he heard a voice call "Samuel! Samuel!" So he got up,
went to Eli, and asked him what he wanted. Eli told him, "I didn't call you, go
back to bed." Samuel did so, but again he heard, "Samuel! Samuel!" So off
to Eli he went, only to be told, "I didn't call you! Go back to bed." The third
time he heard "Samuel! Samuel!", he went to Eli and said, "Here I am, for
you called me." Eli realized that the Lord must be the one calling Samuel. Eli
instructed Samuel to go back to bed and told him if he was called again to say,
"Speak Lord, for your servant hears." Samuel did what he was told and the Lord
spoke to him.
"So Joe," Alexander said, "the next time you hear your name
called, say, 'Speak Lord, for your servant hears' and see what happens. God just
may have something to say to you."
By this time I had serious doubts.
Oh sure, I thought, with all the people in the world to talk to, God
is going to talk to me. Why me? What does he want from me? I really hope it is
not that I'm supposed to do something. Maybe I am just hearing things, or maybe
I'm going crazy.
O.K., I thought, let's go for it, what's the
worst that could happen? I might feel like a fool and then I'll go to sleep and
forget all about it by morning. So I said, "Speak, Lord, for your servant
hears." There was no reply.
I saw a pinpoint of light in the doorway, it
looked like a piece of glitter on black velvet hit by blinding white light. It
began to grow. Oh boy, I thought, I'm in big trouble now. Why did I ever start
this? The light was beginning to fill the doorway. As it did, it was becoming a
bright, yet soft, blue-white and spilled onto the walls, illuminating the room.
If this is a dream, I thought, then the dogs are having it too because
each one has his head up looking in the same direction that I am. I guess it
must be O.K., or at least seven hundred pounds of muscle, teeth and loyalty seem
to think so. If the dogs aren't afraid, I'm not either... not much, anyway.
Maybe if I just sit still, whatever it is won't see me, I thought.
Better yet, if I just pull the covers over my head, it won't find me and will go
away. I didn't do either one. I just sat there with my mouth open, waiting to
see what would happen next. I looked over to see if the dogs were going to save
me from whatever this was. They weren't.
It looked like someone was
coming from far back in the light, moving closer and, yet, already here. At
first, the eyes were all I noticed. They were blue, unlike any blue I had ever
seen before. Kind and gentle are the only words to describe those eyes. I felt
at peace as I saw the figure more clearly. It had long, platinum blond hair and
alabaster skin. Covered in a white robe, it was smiling at us.
The
figure spoke in a masculine voice. It struck me as odd that someone so beautiful
would appear to be male. "Put down your books for they hold no truth for
you." he said. "As the sands of the
desert have been moved to suit the winds of time, so has the light been darkened
by man's ink on the pages.
"This you must do or you will not be called
upon again. Teach this which Lord God has charged me to give you, for it is the
last baptism of God's children. Have those you teach, in turn teach others, for
they are well- meaning in their houses of God. You are not a Christ or even a
prophet, but a servant of God (who will put words in your mouth) and God's
children will hear and understand.
"Take a jug of wine before sunrise
and pour it into a bowl. Set this bowl in the sun's path so the light will warm
it. Fast, and be still until the sun is at its highest place in the sky. At this
time, go to where the bowl has been laid on the ground and remove your shoes,
for you stand on holy ground. Sit and wash your feet, from your toes to your
knees, so that you may stand and walk the earth. Wash your hands from the tips
of your fingers to the elbow so you may do God's work. When this is done, kneel
and say 'My loving Father, your child has come home to your counsel. Guide me in
all things that I must do.' Then take up the bowl of wine and pour it on the
ground. As your Mother Earth drinks the unclean liquid, all that is unclean with
you, his brothers and sisters, is absolved, just as the blood of God's son was
said to do. Go now, be at peace and take care of that which I have given you.
Teach only love. After you do this we will speak again."
With that he
stepped into the light and faded away as the dogs and I watched. I got out of
bed, went to the dining room, pulled out some paper and wrote down what he had
told me, word for word. Two days later I told my wife and she asked me what I
was going to do. All I could say was, "I don't know. It's not every day an angel
comes to me and tells me something this profound, let alone wants me to do and
teach this Last Baptism thing."
Why on earth would anyone want to listen to me? It is
a good thing the churches don't burn people at the stake anymore, I thought, at
least I don't think they do.
I called Alexander again to tell him
what had taken place and that this was a little frightening to me. Alexander is
one of the most spiritual people I have ever met. I went to a class he was
teaching about ten years ago called Inward Bound. I had never seen or met a
master before, but from the first moment I saw him I knew he was just that. Over
the years I've attended many of his classes and got to know him quite well. If I
could talk to anyone about this, it would be him.
Alexander told me that
I had had a vision. I knew that, vaguely, but what I really wanted to know was,
-- "why me?" It seems to me that there are a lot of people in this world who
have a much closer relationship with God than I do. People like Alexander have
spent their entire lives teaching spiritual truths. Why didn't the angel go to
them? But Alexander told me some people wait all their lives to have such a
thing happen. I should be grateful for having been chosen to serve in a grand
plan. He also told me I would most likely hear from the angel again. I KNEW he
was going to say that.
He told me that I shouldn't be frightened at what
had happened, and to be open to whatever I was told to do by the angel. He asked
me to let him know from time to time what was happening. I agreed. It was nice
to know that he didn't think I was insane. It was even nicer to know that I
didn't think I was insane either. Still, it was no comfort for me to think that
I was on some kind of mission from God. So I figured that whatever God wanted me
to do, he would give me a sign for when and how to do it.
The next day
my door bell rang. There were two nicely dressed people standing there wanting,
with all their hearts, to tell me of God's love for me. Was this some kind of a
sign or what? If anyone wanted to listen to my story of the angel, I thought,
surely it would be someone whose whole life is about God. I listened to what
they had to say about God for awhile and then I proceeded to tell them about
what had happened to me. I showed them the baptism I had written down. I felt
like a little child giving a gift that was the most special thing in the whole
world. I was wrong. By the time these nicely dressed people had left my door, I
had been told it was Satan who had come to me, trying to steal my soul and that
I would burn in hell forever. My son would grow up to be the Antichrist just
like it said in the Bible. Armageddon would be my fault. They didn't want to
hear that I have no children, let alone a son. I was crushed by their rejection,
almost to the point of tears. How is it that something as beautiful as this
could be understood as the work of the devil? So much for whom I thought would
listen. The next time I talk to this angel, I vowed to myself, he will have some
questions to answer. Which brings me to a second visit, however, it was not the
angel I first saw.
I did not rush out the first chance I got to do the
baptism. I wanted to think about it before I did anything. While I was thinking
about it, I had a visit from someone else. I was lying on the sofa, watching an
old movie on the television. Annie, my female mastiff, was sharing the sofa with
me, her head resting on my shoulder.
Annie raised her head up and back,
as if on the alert. She looked toward the hallway and so did I. Thinking it was
Donna, I waited to see her come through the doorway. I saw a light move along
the wall as if someone had a flashlight and was coming from the back of the
house. Oh, it must be the angel again, I thought. A man I had not seen before
came out of the hall and stopped just outside of the doorway.
"Who the
hell is this?" I said to myself. He stood about six feet tall and he was as thin
as a rail. Long white hair surrounded a strong, determined face. A thick bushy
set of eyebrows above his deep brown eyes made him look as if he were angry
about something. The robe he wore hung down to the floor, with baggy sleeves and
a hood. Given the way he dressed and his apparent attitude, he appeared to be a
monk, who was quite mad.
Looking at me, he shook his head and walked
through the dining room into the kitchen mumbling about something. I looked at
Annie and she looked at me as if we were asking each other, "What just
happened?" He came out of the kitchen. Still shaking his head as he looked down
at the floor, he walked across the dining room and went through the glass patio
door which was closed. He stood there shaking his head and talking to
himself.
I looked back over at my dog. "Yes indeed," I said to Annie,
"This boy is wrapped too tight and crazy as a pet coon with rabies."
The
Angel never said anything about this. Is this going to be like Dickens where I
get visited by three ghosts or what?
Once again, through the glass door
he came, and stopped in the middle of the dinning room. He looked straight at me
and then down at the floor. As he raised his head I could see a calmness had
come over him as he started to speak. "You people have been told from the
very beginning," he said with a soft slow voice, as if to make sure what he
was saying was clear. "Over the centuries you have been told in a gentle way,
so have you been told in a mighty way, of God's love for you. Do you hear
it?" He had a stern voice that got more forceful as he continued to speak
without waiting for an answer.
"You people have been given the wonders of the universe,
including the world on which you live. Do you say, 'blessed are we? God loves us
so much that he gives us all this?' Do you say, 'Brothers and Sisters, we may
live long to care for one another? Our happiness and well-being are great with
God?' NO." He said in a resounding voice
that almost shook the room. "You people would rather frighten each other with
stories of an angry God that will lay to waste all who do not obey. You get
pleasure from thinking of all the horrendous ways your enemies will be made to
suffer. You will listen to someone expound for hours about how you are a sinner.
They tell you God will only forgive you if you believe and do as they do. Some
are so self-righteous they believe that only they are worthy to enter paradise.
They carry the lie to their Brothers and Sisters, saying, 'if you believe as we,
you will be saved.'"
Waving his arms in the air, he walked about the
room, almost yelling. He must have learned this from some of the evangelists
I have seen on television, I thought.
"When most of you pray, do you ask for guidance? No,
all that is asked for are things you want. 'Oh, Heavenly Father, please make me
worthy, make the world a better place for me and mine, help me to teach the
sinners so as they may be in heaven with me.' Or you try to bargain with God.
'If you do this for me, I will do that for you.'
"Some try to buy their
way into heaven by giving money to their church or the poor. I have seen this
when I walked the earth. The killing of animals and the burning of their bodies
for sacrifice, or paying someone else to do it for them. Thousands of years have
passed since then and still only few have heard. People have always sat and
wondered why I rant and rave the way I do.
"It is beyond my realm of knowing
why so much time is wasted on all this pettiness. If only you truly knew of
God's love. You will learn, I promise, you will learn."
He dropped
his hands to his side, bowed his head, turned around, walked through the glass
door and was gone. The next time I see the angel, I think I'll ask him who this
mad monk is.
Blessings, Gifts & Deeds (by Joseph Crane)
Chapter 2 - Write It Down for It Is Important - pp. 21 -
32
�1996 West Coast Media Group
CHAPTER 2
Write It Down for It Is
Important
I was still thinking about doing the baptism a month later.
During this time there was no angel, no monk, no anything. Donna kept asking if
I saw the angel again, but I hadn't. Then one night Donna set the alarm clock to
wake us before sunrise, and placed a bottle of wine and two bowls on the table
by the door. "Let's do the baptism in the morning," she said. I was glad she
brought it up.
We don't normally eat breakfast until late morning, but
since I needed to fast before doing the baptism, I wanted to eat something.
Because I needed to be still until the sun reached its highest point in the sky,
I started thinking that I should have done this back in January when the days
were shorter and I didn't have to be still for so long. Well, I could see now
that all that waiting does is cause more waiting. I put it off for as long as I
could because I didn't want to find out what was next. Did I want to? Well, to
be honest, I was a little afraid.
My life was going along just fine and I
didn't need any angel coming around to mess it up. What if this angel tells me I
have to give up my wife, my dogs, my home and everything else I've worked so
hard for? How do you tell an angel, if it comes to Donna and the dogs, he will
have to find someone else? It has taken me forty eight years to get here and I
don't want to give it up.
That's when I began thinking that God would
not have given me all this just to take it away. God is going to do with me what
God is going to do, whether I like it or not. Besides, if I can learn to like
spinach, I can learn to like whatever God has in store for me.
We went
out in the back yard to do the baptism. I was glad we had a six foot fence
around it because I didn't want the neighbors seeing what was going on. Only a
nut would go out in his backyard, pour wine into a bowl and wash his feet and
hands with it. The whole thing kept sounding pretty lame to me, but that's just
what we did.
When we were done we picked up everything and started into
the house. Donna asked me, "What now?" I told her, "I don't know, but, I am
getting a splitting headache."
Donna told me later she was driving home
after work and thinking about the baptism. She was wondering when she was going
to be told what to do with her life. It wasn't like a thought or an idea that
came to her. She didn't hear words as in a conversation, but she did hear very
clearly. "What makes you think that I am going to tell you?"
She understood that she would be
guided or shown what to do. Donna was very clear about what she heard and what
it meant. She doesn't question it now or need more information to be satisfied
with it.
I know something has changed in her. Donna has a Masters of
Business Administration degree with a very strong background in statistics. It
is very unusual for her to accept the answer she was given and let it go at
that. If she makes a plan for us to go on a vacation, she has a contingency plan
just in case and a contingency plan for her contingency plan. No stone is left
unturned, no "t" is left uncrossed, no "i" is left undotted when she is looking
for something.
A few days after doing the baptism, I was sitting in the
backyard watching the waterfall in my lily pond when the angel I had first seen
in the doorway of my bedroom came to visit again. This time he was not as
dramatic as before. I would like to tell you that he came rising out of the
water and stood in the middle of the pond, but it didn't happen like that. He
was just there. All I could get out of my mouth was, "Who is this crazy man?" I
started to tell him about what had happened when God's children came to my door,
when he cut me short.
"It is
Isaac and he is one with God. A very long time ago he was a prophet that walked
the earth. So great in the understanding of God's love is he, that when he left
the earth as its teacher, God gave him leave to return. Isaac has visited many
people over the centuries. Several in your time has he spoken to, but most of
them have run to their ministers, saying that they had seen the devil and were
afraid of him. For the unenlightened, he is truly a frightening sight to behold.
Joe, I am going to speak plainly so you will have no misunderstanding. First of
all, if you think every time you open your mouth all will listen and hear the
words, you are as crazy as you think you are -- point taken?"
"Point
well taken," I said, "but I have a few hundred thousand questions to ask. O.K.?"
Before I could ask, he said, "I am
from the Lord God and my name you could not pronounce if I told
you."
He did tell me. As beautiful as the sound of his name was, I
could not get it out of my mouth. He said I could call him whatever I wanted. I
chose "Michael" and asked, "What is the name of the one who sent you?"
I
knew that was a mistake. One look at his face told me it was a very big
mistake.
With all the authority there is put together, he said, "No one that walks the earth or breathes the air may
know God's name for if they did and spoke it once they would not live long
enough to finish. Many claim to, but none actually do, and this is true. If you
are asked who you are sent by, you say, 'I AM' has sent me."
Once
again, he knew what I was about to ask before it came out of my mouth.
"Hell is a dump outside of
What about the devil, I thought.
"Satan is someone Moses made up in the
Book of Genesis only to explain the power of God. Man, in his great
wisdom, found it useful to blame an unseen force rather than take responsibility
for the things he did. Man thinks in terms of greater than or lesser than, as
though there is a hierarchy, when in fact there is only God as everything."
"This is all well and fine, I know what you are saying, but just what
does this have to do with me? I am not a member of any church, all I do is ask
for guidance in God's will for me. Am I to start a new church or religion?
Because if I am, I can tell you I am not the man for the job," I said.
"No one is ever the man or woman for the job. They always say that and
some will even suggest someone who they think is just perfect for it."
"That's too bad because that was going to be my next move," I
said.
"I know," Michael said, "starting another church will serve no
useful purpose and will only confuse people more than they already are. So over
the next two years you will be told of God's will for his children and in this
time you will choose three women and four men to take this message out into the
world. They will know you and you them. Out of the seven, three will be what you
call gay."
"Excuse me! Hold on there just a minute. Let me get this
straight, not that I have anything against gay people, I can tell you right now
the churches are going to have a field day with this. Just in case you haven't
been keeping up on current events, the church says that being gay is a sin and
forbids it. Do you have any idea what they are going to have to say about this?
My God, Michael, it is going to be hard enough -- I mean that would be like me
telling the churches to sell all they own and give it to the poor."
"I
knew you were the right man for the job. You are beginning to know that which I
have not told you yet. Besides, God doesn't care what they think, why should
you? Let them forbid what they will, let them be selective with whomever is let
into their houses. God is not limited in his love and will not deny the kingdom
to anyone."
Great, I thought, I will probably get nailed to a cross or
burned at the stake -- not as a Christ to be remembered but as a trouble maker
who will serve as an example of what happens to such a person.
"My time
is over for now. Think about what I have said, write it down, for it is
important."
"This is all well and fine, I know what you are saying, but
just what does this have to do with me? I am not a member of any church, all I
do is ask for guidance in God's will for me. Am I to start a new church or
religion? Because if I am, I can tell you I am not the man for the job," I said.
"No one is ever the man or woman for the job. They always say that
and some will even suggest someone who they think is just perfect for it."
"That's too bad because that was going to be my next move," I
said.
"I know," Michael said, "starting another church will serve
no useful purpose and will only confuse people more than they already are. So
over the next two years you will be told of God's will for his children and in
this time you will choose three women and four men to take this message out into
the world. They will know you and you them. Out of the seven, three will be what
you call gay."
"Excuse me! Hold on there just a minute. Let me get this
straight, not that I have anything against gay people, I can tell you right now
the churches are going to have a field day with this. Just in case you haven't
been keeping up on current events, the church says that being gay is a sin and
forbids it. Do you have any idea what they are going to have to say about this?
My God, Michael, it is going to be hard enough -- I mean that would be like me
telling the churches to sell all they own and give it to the
poor."
"I knew you were the right
man for the job. You are beginning to know that which I have not told you yet.
Besides, God doesn't care what they think, why should you? Let them forbid what
they will, let them be selective with whomever is let into their houses. God is
not limited in his love and will not deny the kingdom to anyone."
Great, I
thought, I will probably get nailed to a
cross or burned at the stake -- not as a Christ to be remembered but as a
trouble maker who will serve as an example of what happens to such a
person.
"My time is over
for now. Think about what I have said, write it down, for it is important."