The ground is holy, being even as it came from the Creator. Keep it, guard it, care for it, for it keeps men, guards men, cares for men. Destroy it and man is destroyed.
ALAN STEWART PATON (1903- )

China, a world power but yet not militarily aggressive these days. I will speak about thoughts I had while standing in the Tianamen Square, and as I walked around the city Souzou China. I will cover a little about my views of the culture and look at the country from my religious perspective.

Scribbling from a taxi: Here I sit in a taxi in Beijing China. A week ago I did not even know how to spell Beijing. It is amazing how life works. Five years ago I was destined to be another one of life's sheep and go about my life where it should lead. We are always somewhat forced by life's changes to follow certain directions. Some people make decisions but the wrong ones and then others like me until five years ago just follow the path blindly. As it is now with a lot of luck and divine guidance I feel happy with my life's direction. Not everything is perfect but I am happy with myself and where I am. The problem I have now is that I am bored I have got everything I thought I wanted and a little confused. For me right now the only way to improve myself is in my spiritual life. I realize that we have only one life but sometimes we forget that it is really spiritual. We as humans think we are human. My definition of human is an animal. A human is animal with high intellect, but never less an animal. Our real life and our self are locked away inside of this body to mature like inside of a cocoon. If we are to mature we must do so in this life form. But eventually we will have to move on to a better life. I feel that my thought on life's secrets come directly from Gods guidance by the Holy Spirit. I believe in one Supreme Being and constantly pray to him. I feel that without his guidance I would not be where I am today. I read one time are some one told me, I am not sure, but I remember that King Solomon was thought of as the wisest king that ever lived. This has made a lasting impact on my philosophy toward life. What I understand is that he asked God for wisdom and was granted his request. I feel God is not a part of this world but only coexists with it. Most people are always asking God to bless them with riches and wonders of this world but for God this has no meaning. He sees us as spirits and not as the humans we see ourselves. In order that we might improve we must come to understand ourselves before we can truly understand Gods judgments against mankind. I feel I know myself better than most people but not because I am better than anyone else but only because of the way I have sought to understand myself. I still feel I have a lot to learn about myself before I can even begin to understand the universe that our lord in heaven has placed us. I understand that in order to do this I must listen to the teachings of the great teachers of the Bible. But I want to make it clear that I don't trust completely in the teachings of the Bible. Men wrote the Bible. I credit most of the men involved with being divinely guided but I also know God does not take a mans hand in his own and say this is what you must write. The other problem is that the King James version that I read has been translated by possibly a thousand different scholars with their own ideas of the meaning of words written in a different language two thousand years ago. This is my reasoning for saying this. I see so many different religions that have sprung from the Bible and I realize I must use caution in the way I interpret anything that comes from there.
When I was a child I sometimes imagined that I was not of this world. Through time I have prayed to God for wisdom and understanding. I want to know the secrets of the universe. I want to know why I was created. What I want to do here is to put in writing some of the answers that God has given me before I forget them and really I want to tell the world what I feel is Gods wishes for mankind. I don't know how to explain it but when I hear God talk to me it is not through words but it is a feeling that comes from deep within myself. When he truly speaks to me I feel cold chills across my entire body and at that I feel as if I could fly.
I have come to understand myself as a spirit. My real self is hidden within this shell we call life. My spirit right now craves to grow beyond this shell. It is the real me. My questions for God right now are how can I continue to grow. "You must pray and seek your true feelings, the will of God." I love God, the one true God of heaven, the Beginning and the End, Alpha and Omega. Right now I feel at peace with Gods will and my inner self. This is necessary if we are to mature as spiritual beings. God said he created Adam and Eve in his image.
This was the last thought I had a week ago. I have been praying for a word from God for the entire week but I have not felt the presence. Whenever the feeling leaves me it feel like I am alone. Today I received a message or rather it was more like conversing with God. As I was walking about the city of Shanghai, China, I realized how small our little world is. As I looked into the faces of the people walking beside me in the street it came to me that most of them were all blind. They do not see God. They could not feel God. And last of all they could not talk with God. They are only thinking of ways to survive here in this world. As I looked around it came to me that we think we are intelligent and that we are civilized. If we humans were half as intelligent as we think we are we could see what we are doing to our small little world and maybe we could save ourselves. I see the pollution, the ugliness, and all because of greed of money, wealth, power, and a hunger to better only one person. Too many people are thinking how can I survive are how can I be better than the last person. Is this what we call success? Is success when we can build an empire or when we can store up riches here in this world? What we are forgetting is that our souls must grow but to do that we must seek to grow. When we seek to live in this world our soul withers but does not die. God has given us an eternal life with our inner being the real self of each and every one of us. This is the part of each and everyone I feel is what God meant when he said that he created man in his image. One of the lessons I have learned from the Bible is that whatever we truly believe is possible. Too have as much faith as a mustard seed can move mountains or can win wars. It reminds me of a few of the miracles of Jesus, when he walked on water, when he calmed the stormy seas, when he raised Lazereath from the dead, when he fed the multitudes, and one of the greatest events of all times, when he himself ascended into heaven. I don't think God gave Jesus any special sort of body to perform these miracles. His power came from within. It was his faith in God in heaven that allowed him this special power. He realized that he was the creation of God. He realized all things come from God. Even in this shell of humanity he realized there was more. The problem with most of us, myself included we are thinking of survival here on Earth and not of our true selves. This belief is necessary if we are to mature. God does not expect us to give up living because if he did he would not have put us here in the first place. I feel this is trial that we must pass. Not everyone is going to be able to live with God. I feel that those of us that truly seek the ways of this Earth will not be able to leave. Not because of some great curse God has put on us but only because this is the only thing we really and truly believe exists and our spirit being believes what we learn in our life times. I hear of people dying every day and I realize I cannot live forever. We must come to understand this and to begin seeking a way to leave the Earth in our spiritual lives while we are still living in this shell. It would not be such a problem except that this physical world is always changing. Our precious little world is in the middle of the biggest mess you could imagine. The physical universe that our scientists know about points to the fact that it could be only a matter of time before this world is destroyed if not by ourselves mankind it could be any number of ways. A meteor like the one a few years ago that hit the planet Jupiter would completely destroy the Earth. I feel that some day this will happen. I base my belief on the visions of John on the island of Patmos. Here he saw stars falling from the heavens. I don't understand all of his vision but this I am sure is a sign of some terrible problems in the future we cannot imagine. This beautiful little world could become hell. Because our souls cannot die and if we truly come to believe this physical being is how things really are we are doomed to walk this terrible future for eternity.
I am not afraid of Satan. He crawls the earth as he was cursed by God to do. I believe he has hoards of evil spirits and Jen to assist him in his devilish tasks. I don't fear him so much as I do myself. It is my fear that my faith is not strong enough to do battle with a spirit creature that has lived for so many eons. I must have faith that God will continue to protect me. I am sure that if for one second God allowed I would be finished. Satan is cursed but like people say misery loves company. He does not want to see God succeed in saving any part of man that was created. It was because of man that Satan is cursed to walk here on this world. When he betrayed God in the Garden of Eden to lead Adam and Eve away from Gods path and revolt against God. This has created a war beyond imagination. It is war of principalities. A war beyond the natural order of things we come to understand. It is a war never the less.