Shaker Commentary from the Past:

 

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On-line at PTW: March 19, 2000
  Last update: January 30, 2013

Let us ask the Early Shakers some questions about situations facing mankind in the 21st Century ... and we will find their answers among the Heavenly Communications to the World that they received  and published themselves, a long time ago —

With so many school shootings in America (and elsewhere in the world) it seems an appropriate time to quote from an early Shaker prophetic manuscript which speaks clearly of the mechanism at work behind such outbreaks...The contributor of this page has presented the material as a set of questions from those living in the Present to our Shaker friends from the Past.


Teenage Shootings in American Schools

 

Question:

Is there a SPIRITUAL explanation for...
“WHAT HAD GOTTEN INTO THOSE WHO DID THE SHOOTINGS AT THEIR SCHOOLS” ?

 

Answer:      [from Prophetic Revelations; Joel, Chapter 1*]

“ 6 Yea, every act of this fleshly nature does gather and attract something to that mass, from the original world of darkness, and thus binds the soul in stronger and stronger bands, to the dark world, by increasing its connections with dark beings and things, either visible or invisible; and thus separates it further and further from the world of light.


7 Nay, says the pure Prophet, who sees by the Divine light, there is not a single act of the flesh that does not form an immediate connection with some dark spirit. Nor is there a single indulgence of it in the mind, that does not open a correspondence with some such spirit, who is thereby fed by the life of that soul; and in return, throws a part of its own dark life and feelings upon that soul.


8 In this manner human beings bear the burdens of devils and damned souls. Therefore these wicked spirits strive with all their influence, to make mankind increase those operations; for there is no avenue by which they can enter, and rest their spirits upon the souls and bodies of mankind like this.


9 This is the medium through which they first entered; for no spirit can enter the body nor the organization of the soul, unless it can first find an entrance through its life: for that life is a natural spirit; and all spirits that are not connected with natural bodies, must first form a connective operation with a spirit that is connected with a natural body, before they can operate upon it.


10 It was for this reason that the fallen spirits first introduced themselves into man, through the life of the flesh; and there is, and ever will be, their first and main door of entrance.

 

11 Hear ye, O children of men! (saith the Prophet;)


Do ye not know that there never was any principle nor power in human nature which causes so much pride, ambition and avarice, so much envy and revenge, so much affection, fawning servility and flattery, until the desired object is obtained, as this nature of the flesh or fleshly spirit?


12 Or if disappointed, it causes the most dire bitterness. Yea, and often when the object is attained, and the passion gratified, the most bitter envy and contentious feelings succeed. And it is never gratified without more or less of such like feelings.


13 Do ye not wonder, O children of nature, why these things, which ye know are true, are so? The spirit of light saith unto you, It is because, by these operations, ye hold correspondence with, and gratify the feelings of fallen angels and damned spirits, and are bound to their cursed state, and they feed upon your life, which is not so full of anguish as their own.


14 For these wicked spirits are full of those evil passions and corrupt propensities. And for their pride and lusting to gratify their own wills, in disobedience to their Creator, they were cast down from the world of light, to the regions of darkness and eternal shades, where they are bound in unutterable anguish, and are doomed to endure the raging fire of their own passions. But they can gratify them through the medium of human beings, and thereby find some mitigation of their anguish and raging fire.


15 From these causes arises their desire to tempt beings who are not so deeply fallen as themselves. When they can influence any such being to act in the passions of anger, malice, or any evil propensity, it gives them pleasure and releasement; but none of these passions affords them so much releasement as the operations of the lust of the flesh. ”

 

Question:

What is the only saving cure for such ills?

 

Answer:      [from Prophetic Revelations; Joel, Chapter 1*]

“16 O ye children of fallen nature! "Why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?" As said the just Savior unto the Jews. (See Luke 12:57.) Exercise your rational understanding, which the Lord of true knowledge hath given you for that purpose, and ye will see the relation and correspondent connection of the works of fleshly lust with the dark spirits; not only because they are the works of darkness and shun the light; but also from their raging and deplorable effects.


17 And ye know that the more this nature is gratified, the stronger are its bands. And why? Because the connection with those raging spirits bound in anguish increases by every such operation. Therefore these operations must cease; and ye must be redeemed from that nature, or ye can never, through the ages of eternity, reach that world of light and happiness, which is the desire implanted in all souls that ever existed: for, until this work is effected, ye are bound to those spirits that cannot go there. ”


and more... [from PR, Joel, Chapter 2*]

“ 2 When your minds are exercised upon purity and holiness, when ye walk in obedience to your holy faith, and do as you are taught, ye do feed and please your heavenly kindred; and in return, they feed you with their heavenly food, and nourish you with their life. This ye may know as a truth, if ye observe your good and pleasant feelings and sensations that flow in upon you, when ye do these things.


3 Will you, can any of you, my beloved relations, for the sake of a momentary satisfaction to the carnal feelings of the fleshly nature, ever consent to displease your heavenly kindred, and cut off your union with them; and thus obey and please the dark spirits, and thereby bear their accursed burdens?


4 For this you will surely do, if ye hearken and yield, in the least, to their temptations in the flesh. And the union and correspondence thus formed can never be dissolved, neither in this world nor in that which is to come; except by coming to the light of God, before his appointed judgment seat. And why?


5 It is because evil spirits and devils can dwell and hold any connection which they have obtained, and can act out their own natures anywhere, except where the light of God is manifested, and his laws and true order are placed and maintained. Here they can never dwell, but will flee from the soul that comes to this order. ”

 

Question:

What influence does the prevalence of Ghosts, Demonic Creatures, Alien Monsters & Violent Super Heroes, portrayed in the Media and in Video/Computer Games, have on a young person's mind?

Answer:      [from Prophetic Revelations; Joel, Chapter 2*]

“ 11 Beware of these dark and poisonous spirits, saith the Lord, all ye whom I have called into my holy work. If ye hold a feeling of attraction to your natural relations and kindred after the flesh, and even your acquaintances of the world, who have gone out of the body, and meditate and feel after them, their spirits will leap upon you, and ye will feel just what they have.


12 Yea, and know ye not that such, while in the body, have correspondence with the wicked spirit of the dark world? And if ye hold a relation to them, and feel after them, those wicked spirits will, by that means, get power on you, and instill their corrupting influence into your souls.


13 And above all, the cursed spirits of apostates, if ye do not wholly cut them off from your feelings, will operate upon you, and ye will have to bear the judgment of their wicked and raging passions. These are the reasons, saith the Holy Spirit of light, that ye have many dark, filthy and unclean feelings, and many sensations of evil, when ye think ye are doing as well as ye can. ”

and more ... [from PR, Joel, Chapter 4*]

“ 8 For the ancients who worshipped the sun, moon and stars, beasts and dumb idols, did thereby worship and honor wicked spirits, the rulers of the darkness of this world, who had established their high places among the children of men.


9 These spirits were present at their devotions, received their sacrifices, and were exalted by their adorations. They deceived and lured mankind by their oracles, and it was the bewitching temptations of these spirits, that possessed the ancients to such a degree to worship those things; because these spirits were fed, honored and exalted thereby. But all their power and worship hath been overthrown wherever the light of Christianity hath prevailed.


10 And to the Christians was more particularly applied that part of the prophecy which declares that "when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded," for it did but increase their spiritual life. This was the order and power in which they stood, while "the Lord uttered his voice before them as his army.”

11 But at length they ceased to hear the voice of the Lord, and took their own wisdom to guide them; and refused to give ear to the alarm blown by the trumpets of faithful witnesses. Then succeeded “a day of darkness and gloominess,” even a long “day of clouds and thick darkness,” for many ages, such as never was before. ”

 

Question:

Does the death of those youngsters release their souls from such spiritual bondage?

Answer:      [from Prophetic Revelations; Joel, Chapter 1*]

“ 18 The souls of men are in the natural, fallen world, after they leave the terrestrial body, as really as they were before; and they are bound by the spirit of the flesh, with all their corrupt propensities, raging with increasing fire. And this raging fire is their curse, and increases their tormenting anguish in proportion to the strength it hath gained by indulgence. And there they are tormented under the bondage of those cursed spirits which they have obeyed; and so must forever remain, unless redeemed from that nature, and from the power of those wicked spirits.


19 For this cause the holy Spirits of God must always begin the work of redemption at the same door through which the evil spirits first entered, and work through the same root wherein is the seat of the influence of those spirits, or they can never be supplanted, and the resurrection of man to the heavenly state, be effected, saith the beloved Prophet, who knoweth by the light of God, and by ages and ages of experience which he hath witnessed.”

 

*The source for the above excerpts are from Shaker Elder, Calvin Green's Communications from the Ancient Prophets, entitled Prophetic Revelations published in 1843, New Lebanon.  This book is long out of print, but some copies remain archived in various private collections.

 

More: Shaker Manuscripts On-Line

 


When this page first went online in March of 2000, there had been 15 school shootings with fatalities in the United States.  A recent review of the crime data at Infoplease.com, in their tabulation called, "Time-Line of Worldwide School and Mass Shootings" yields a much higher number...if the contributed dissection of the crime data-count is correct, the number stands at 193 dead in 47incidents involving schools, with another 193 wounded as of the end of 2012.