Messages from Heaven



Messages from Heaven: What Jesus, Buddha, Moses, and Muhammad Would Say Today is a new book of channeled communication through Ryuho Okawa.  An autobiographical Prologue entitled "My Life and Spiritual Messages" precedes the transcripts of channeled commentary.  Living in Japan, Okawa was 24 years old in 1981 when he started conversing with transcendental intelligences through automatic writing.  Then:

. . . in July, the spirits began to use my vocal cords to speak.  I couldn't write fast enough to capture everything they were telling me, and because they wanted me to convey their messages more directly and freely, I became able to speak their words.

Okawa acknowledged that he summoned the same 'spirits' multiple times over the course of several years to confirm the consistency of their individual characters and messages.

I felt that my situation and experience were like those of the prophets in the Old Testament whom God had called to service.

He was residing in a dormitory of the company where he worked, a large Japanese trading firm, as he published books of channeled spiritual messages.

I was surprised to find that even among the spirits, opinions differ.  The spirits would even argue with one another due to their differences of opinion.  For this reason, I was especially careful to empirically check, confirm, and verify what they said to see whether they were right or wrong.

Okawa decided to publish the spiritual messages first, to prove the existence of the spirit world, and in later books he introduced his own thoughts and philosophy.  It was shortly before his thirtieth birthday when the "divine spirits" who had been talking to him gave the message: "Now is the time to move."

By then, we had already published five or six books; we were publishing new compilations of spiritual messages every two months.  This was when I decided to leave my company and to found the spiritual organization that would become Happy Science.

Okawa described how he conveys the words of spirits.

When a spirit enters my body, I retain my own consciousness.  My soul remains in my body the entire time the spirit is speaking through me.  It is like having two souls (spirits) inside my body.  So I am able to hear the messages of the spirits, ask questions, and listen to the answers as myself.  I can play two roles at the same time—I can ask questions and answer them.  This is how I conduct my spiritual message sessions.

The ideas and opinions of the spirits had helped me construct the early foundations of my philosophies, but after I began to put my own philosophy together, I made it clear that I was a religious figure rather than a medium.

Okawa begins a session by concentrating his mind to become calm and peaceful; then he can contact the spirit world in one or two seconds.

I can also talk to spirits by way of telepathy without even having to summon them.  I talk to them just like you would engage in conversation with a physical person.

I used to only speak with the spirits of great figures, but today, the guardian spirits of the people I know come and see me every day and give me a piece of their mind.

A footnote explains:

Guardian spirits are a part of our souls, or a part of the consciousness of the people living on Earth; they reflect our thoughts and personalities.  Everyone has a guardian spirit that provides spiritual guidance throughout the person's life.

Okawa commented about the guardian spirits of the executive members of the Happy Science organization —

. . . things usually unfold in the way that their guardian spirits have indicated.

On the other hand, guardian spirits do sometimes exaggerate, so I take that into account.

When I receive and convey messages from spirits, I let the spirits speak through me, but at the same time, I listen to their opinions and evaluate them as a spirit judge.  I'm responsible for ascertaining which god or spirit is speaking, interpreting the message I'm receiving, and passing judgment on the contents of the message.

Like Jesus, divine spirits in the higher dimensions have abilities that transcend language barriers.

Okawa gave an example of what happens when foreign spirits send their messages to him.

When Confucius sent his messages to me, he spoke in Chinese for the first fifteen minutes.  But after a while, my linguistic center started to focus, and I started receiving his will—his meaning, or what he was trying to say.  Then I was able to translate what he wanted to say into my native language of Japanese, just like simultaneous interpretation.  I did the same thing with Moses and Jesus Christ.  They have a bit of an accent, but their message comes out in Japanese.  I can decipher the essence or the basis of the ideas without using words.

Okawa mentioned that he also conducts readings with extraterrestrial beings.  Since 2009, he has been conducting spiritual message sessions in an interview format in front of an audience and then publishing the transcripts along with his own commentary.

In publishing these spiritual messages, I have slightly edited or changed some of the spirits' words.  Otherwise, the messages are basically transcripts of what the spirits said in an actual conversation.

The chapters of Messages from Heaven focusing on Jesus, Buddha, Moses and Muhammad are introduced with commentary about the life of each and the chapters conclude with the thoughts of the channeler/author. 

Upon reading the transcript of the channeled discourse attributed to 'Jesus Christ,' it is evident that the objective of the commentary is not to prove the identity of the communicator but to encourage reflection of spiritual truths.  It is as if the figurative embodiment of Jesus Christ as formulated in the 1611 King James Bible is addressing contemporary people.  I found myself having a similar impression while reading the transcripts of the three other discourses featured in Messages from Heaven in relation to extant scriptures and popular understanding of these adulated religious figures.

The vast succession of personalities speaking through Okawa bring attention to the Spiritual Force manifesting the phenomena.  Differences that may be found when comparing records of the communication of transcendental sources (or 'verbiage contradictions') may at times result from different attempts to express conditions that may be impossible to express in words or be understood completely by those accustomed to the limitations of our physical plane of existence. 

The following are some excerpts from the portion of the book entitled "A Message From Jesus Christ."

People who hate want to be loved, respected, and valued.  They are starving for love . . .


God gives us the freedom to think on our own, speak our own words, and behave according to our own will.


It is human nature to exaggerate other people's imperfections while minimizing our own shortcomings.  We have a hard time forgiving people for their mistakes but find it easy to forgive ourselves for the same things.  We must realize that we have imperfections and everyone else does too.

Will you choose to bet your hopes on God's salvation?  Or will you choose to live without hope of salvation?

It is your choice to believe or not to believe, but the difference between believing and disbelieving is the difference between living with and without profound peace of mind.

I come to you now not as a weak human being, but as a profound source of life that will never dry out, no matter how much I give.  I have come as a spring of love, a spring of words.

Jesus Christ was not a weak man who died on a cross two thousand years ago.  No, Jesus Christ continues to exist today and has been working tirelessly throughout those two thousand years to provide guidance to people from his residence in Heaven.  I have not rested a single day as I have sought to fulfill my mission.  I have never stopped working; I have never rested.  I have worked night and day to make your lives happier and fill them with more love.  Please know and believe that I have been guiding you to help you find deeper faith.

Right now I reside in the ninth dimension and have taken the reins to begin the movement of spreading the Truths.  There is a reason I have taken the reins: I am in charge of purifying Earth and providing salvation.  I am the guiding spirit who has been entrusted with this responsibility.


When I was on Earth, His will was far beyond my comprehension.  I knew that I was one of His servants and that He had entrusted me with a mission, but I could not see the full extent of my role.  From a worldly perspective, the majority of His messages would have been seen as completely unreasonable, but it was not my place to ask Him why things had to be that way.  This is why Christians developed a value for the virtue of obedience.


I am just one of many of the Heavenly Father's keys that help people open the gates of Heaven.


I would describe the Heavenly Father as Truth.  Truth is His other name.


God does not always give us what we wish for, because the purpose of this world is to be a place where our souls can learn and grow.


Even if Saint Mary miraculously heals the sick at the spring of Lourdes, hospitals adamantly refuse to provide written confirmation that those illnesses have been healed.  I cannot hold back my tears of shock when I see such strong effects of materialism.


It was never my intention to die on the cross to atone for everyone's sins.


Today, two thousand years after my death, there are as many as two billion Christians on Earth.  Two billion people have found faith as a result of this single grain of wheat that sacrificed its life.


I was a harbinger who was entrusted with the job of signaling the arrival of the Kingdom of God.  I was nothing more than a single trumpet that kept on playing, and my work never accomplished anything beyond that.

 

The following are some excerpts from the portion of the book entitled "A Message From Shakyamuni Buddha."  Reading this portion I again recognized how in Eastern spirituality 'Buddha' can be an alternative word for 'Christ' expressing a powerful intermediary spiritual Force.

My beloved disciples, you are connected to Eternal Life.  You are connected to the life force of the Grand Spirit.


What appears to be accomplished through your own power is, in reality, accomplished through the power of Buddha.  You must always keep this humble attitude.


Even if your actions produce wonderful results, do not become overconfident.  Do not overestimate your abilities.  Do not claim the credit for yourself.


What does it mean to be humble?  It is to remind yourself that you are always receiving the assistance of others as well as from Buddha.


Your successes must not cause others to fail.  Your successes must not harm others.  Your successes must not bring unhappiness to others.  Your path to success must nurture everybody.


Spare some time in your life to cultivate yourself.  Set aside a certain amount of time each day, each month, and each year for your study.


You may read tens of thousands of books and travel the entire world, but to be truly wise, you must understand your true nature.


A mind of offering is a mind that cares for others.  It is a mind that wishes good things for others.  It is a mind that serves others.


The teachings of Buddha are meant to help you serve others, give to others, and love others.


Having kindness in your heart is the greatest proof that you are a child of Buddha.


Those who think only of their own happiness and their own protection put forth untiring effort to benefit themselves, but the direction of their efforts is the opposite of the will of Buddha.  They do not understand that by seeking only to benefit themselves, they are actually harming themselves.  They do not understand that they were born not to be selfish.  Neither were you born to devote your life solely to yourself.


When you are sitting alone, do not forget that the Supreme Being is sitting right next to you.


Young ones, do not fear loneliness, for enduring a time of solitude challenges you to become a person of authenticity.  Young ones, seek not only gaiety.  Seek not only a life of joviality.  Do not only desire the attention and praise of others.  Find something that will keep improving you for all eternity.

The following are some excerpts from the portion of the book entitled "A Message From Moses."

I was born on the banks of the Nile River in Egypt to Hebrew parents who sent me downstream in a basket.  As fortune would have it, I was eventually found by someone who raised me in the royal palace.  My childhood was similar to that of Shakyamuni Buddha, and like him, I grew increasingly aware of the disparities between the lavish life of the palace and the lives of the oppressed people.


Canaan really existed.  My powerful spiritual abilities enabled me to see and experience it.  I encouraged the Hebrews to believe in me.  I told them that the land of Canaan, our Heaven, truly existed and that together, we would create a utopia there.  It was imperative, I told them, that we act.

To help them believe in me and the things I was telling them, I used all my strength and all my spiritual abilities.  I demonstrated my spiritual abilities at the palace, and I performed many miracles for the Hebrews, who saw them through spiritual eyes.  Once, I released a staff from my hand and it transformed into a dragon that flew up into the sky.  I was able to see the future and speak freely with holy spirits and with the god whom we knew at the time as Jehovah.
 
 
At one point, we reached a mountain.  At the foot of this mountain I received a message from Yahweh, so I told my people to wait for me while I climbed the mountain.  When I reached the top, I prayed to my god and received the Ten Commandments.  He engraved them onto a slab of stone.


When I took the stone tablet back to my people, none of them believed me.  I was enraged to find that they were worshipping golden statues.  I taught them not to worship such idols, and when I destroyed their statues, the stone tablet also crumbled into pieces.  I went up the mountain once more and prayed to my god again.  My god granted me the revelations again . . .


I brought the new slab back to the people, showed them the Ten Commandments, and instructed them to obey these teachings.  I must confess, however, that I also made mistakes.  I heard not only the voice of my god, but also that of Satan.  There were times when I mistook the voice of Satan for my god's voice.


I became the first person to create a monotheistic religion.


To God, the vast universe is just a corner of a miniature garden.  This great God is watching over us and supporting us.  We are all tiny ants living in His miniature garden.  Our perception of the world is limited.


Different people have expressed righteousness in many different ways.  As you learn different teachings, you will discover the diverse shapes that righteousness has taken.  We should remember, however, that the essence of righteousness never changes, no matter how diverse its expressions are.  What is right is expressed in many ways, but it always comes back to one source.


Throughout history, we have always  taught the importance of having a right mind that follows God's mind, and this teaching applies to the modern age too.


Sometimes people do not understand the teachings because their minds are being influenced by Devils.  Devils were not created as Devils; they are simply people who are not living in accord with God's mind.  Because of their wrong state of mind, Devils confuse other people and obstruct our work.  The mind that allows them to hinder our progress is a wrong state of mind.


The spirit world is divided into different levels, but the idea that a hierarchy exists can be dangerous if it is taken to an extreme.  We must not allow this idea to lead to discrimination.  We should always adopt a balanced way of thinking that unites our perception of difference with our commitment to equality.  It is important to stress that all human souls are equal.


God's essence is our essence.  In the beginning, we were all given equally precious souls, and our souls then gained spiritual training over the course of countless reincarnations.


The killer who knows that killing is a sin will be in agony as his good conscience and evil mind are pitted against each other.


If the Devil and his people knew about Heaven, they would not be in Hell.

 
Moses referred to "my spiritual abilities"; however, precise understanding of 'spiritual abilities' in relation to the manifestation of wonders and miracles (or 'unexplained phenomena') is to designate these exhibitions of the Christ Spirit as occurring in proximity to chosen individuals.  The resulting circumstances may be capable of expanding the spiritual awareness of others upon contemplation.  Some individual people who've found themselves a nexus for unexplained phenomena without being personally able to control the manifestations are Sathya Sai Baba (1926-2011), Uri Geller and Matthew Manning.

The following are some excerpts from the portion of the book entitled "A Message From Muhammad."

While meditating, I received divine revelations that led me to spread a monotheistic religion.  Historically, polytheism had been dominant, not only in Mecca, but also in ancient Greece, Egypt, and the rest of Africa.  Monotheism only began to spread in that region when Christianity emerged.

Islamic teachings spread because my military victory enabled me to unify the people politically.  To create a unified, national religion, I needed to integrate the religion with the military and political life of the nation.  This is the history surrounding the founding of Islam.

Islam teaches mercy and peace.

There is no mention of suicide bombing in Islamic teachings.  There is only the idea of the jihad, the holy war fought to defend the teachings of Islam.  People today may see Islam as an aggressive, bloodthirsty, and narrow-minded religion, since Muslims tend not to be afraid of war and conflict.  But this is because, while I was a religious leader who conveyed God's words, I was also a military hero.  Muslims worship military heroes.

Similarly, there were many war gods in Japanese Shintoism.  In the process of building a nation, there is always a battle with the former regime.  Those who have fought, won, and brought peace to their nation become gods.  So it is only natural for people to worship as war gods the military heroes that built their nation.  This was actually the reason Christianity didn't spread in Japan.  Because Japanese people worshipped war gods, they just couldn't accept the Christian teaching that the son of the omnipotent God had been so easily captured and crucified by his enemies.

It was actually Hermes who spiritually guided me to come up with the idea of trench warfare.

Many prophets have been persecuted as Jesus was.  But I fought, won and built the nation of Islam.  I established Islam as the national religion and unified politics, the military, and religion.  Our teachings did not glorify the leader of a losing battle—they glorified the winning leader.  Islam fulfilled its mission, in that sense, and it became a world religion.  This is why Muslims think that Muhammad is greater than Jesus.

Muslims also call me "the last prophet" because of my superiority in another respect: Islam is based in spiritual revelations—words of God—that were conveyed through me while I was alive.  This is the basis of the Koran.

It was true that I heard a number of different voices, so I suppose multiple spirits were guiding me at that time.  Actually, there were at least forty different spirits that used the name "Allah" when they sent me messages.  So a team of guiding spirits worked together to form the teachings of Islam.  The voices of Allah that I heard revealed the different ideas of many guiding spirits.  That is why there are different writing styles in the Koran.

I admit that the Koran and the Hadith do teach that women should wear scarves, but I do not intend to force this practice on modern Muslims.  In my day, we wore scarves in the desert because they protected us from the sun.  We draped them from head to toe, primarily to prevent sunburn.

I had a good reason for endorsing polygamy for Muslims.  During the period of relentless war between Medina and Mecca, many young men were killed, so many children were orphaned and many women were widowed.  In the desert, if a woman was on her own or only with her children, without a man to protect her, she would die, most likely from hunger.  So I encouraged women to remarry.  I recommended that men who had the money to spare and were financially capable take in these widowed women.  I wanted to make sure that they were taken care of, so I allowed my people to practice polygamy.

. . . I believe that Islam needs to reconsider and change its stance on women's rights.  In Islam, one man can marry up to four women, but if a woman engages in any "free love" outside of official marriage, she may be sentenced to death.  Christian nations criticize Muslims for the severity of this punishment.  It is not in accord with modern understandings of human rights, so I think Muslims need to reconsider this issue.