Thursday, October 23, 2014
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Exordium
Early one morning, as I began to
settle down and prepare to search for focus in my prayer and meditation,
something wonderful happened that brought clarity and life to this project.
That morning my mind was changed, and in light of this new perspective, my
thinking changed as well. In truth, my entire life changed, and I am compelled
to share the way that is prepared for all of us, which was given to me that
morning.
By way of
background, a few watershed moments need mentioning. As a child, I suffered
with scarlet fever and had a dreadful time getting any sleep. I could not rest.
Over the course of the illness, I had a recurring nightmare that terrified me.
A skinless head and face of raw evil would get right up in my face. I called it
Hamburger Man. No matter how hard I tried, I could not make him go away. But
Momma could.
She would come down
the hall to my room, sit on the bed next to me, and touch me. “It’s okay,
Donnie,” she would say. “Momma is here now. Let’s say our prayers.” Then she
would begin, and I would join her. “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord
my soul to keep. If I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. In
Jesus’ precious name, we pray. Amen!” By the time we got to “in Jesus’ precious
name,” Hamburger Man had disappeared and I had fallen off to sleep. I made it
through scarlet fever with Mom’s help.
One summer at
Vacation Bible School, our senior pastor, Dr. Morris Ford[i],
came to talk to us kids. As I remember, we were finishing up our punch and
cookies and he offered a few well placed words and then asked something like,
“Do any of you believe in Jesus?”
Without
hesitation, I raised my hand. I knew about Jesus and what he could do. He could
help you go to sleep when Hamburger Man was chasing you!
That was over
forty-five years ago. Needless to say, I sometimes lived a fast and worldly
life over the course of that forty-odd years, but those days are well past, and
this is now.
I lost my dad to
AML (acute myeloid leukemia), a ferocious, fatal disease back in 1997. After he
died, Mom was not doing well without him. She began treatment for CLL (chronic
lymphocytic leukemia), which had begun to take advantage of her loss. She
entered clinical trials under the care of Dr. Michael Keating at MD Anderson
Cancer Center, and we began to travel to Houston on a regular basis. The
six-hour drive from Arkansas and the sharing of a room at the Rotary House gave
us a great opportunity to grow closer than we ever imagined we could. I guess
some derisively might call me a momma’s boy, but I would embrace that epithet
because of the honor and privilege it is to be her son.
My dad’s death at
the hands of this killer had been like a train wreck. Its unexpected suddenness
caused profound shock. We finally learned he had AML on a Tuesday, and he
passed away that Friday. Disbelief and extreme emotional stress attacked us
all, but no one felt it more than Mom. As she held her dying lover’s hand, she
called the name of Jesus. Over and over she whispered, “Je-sus!” It sounded
like she was chanting a passionate yet reverent chant that had an ancient quality
and some kind of Jewish flair to it. This took me back a bit as she repeatedly
called Je-sus with an assurance and
confidence I had never before witnessed. It soon became obvious that Mom and
Dad’s spirits were actually connected. As Dad struggled for air, Mom helped him
let go in the name of Jesus.
I was profoundly
impacted by this connection. I could see past my tears to the truth of their
love for each other, for God, for good, and for those of us who loved them both
so much. The connection was made clear to me. I began to understand the basic
premise of the now nexus—the premise that there is one Spirit that all God’s
intended are tethered to now.
Dad’s eyes had
been yellow and cloudy the few days prior to his death. “Jaundice,” the doctors
said, “from liver and kidney failure.”
But, in the moment
he died, as he raised one eyebrow and stared up into the corner above his bed,
his eyes glowed. Crystal clear and brilliant blue, surrounded by pure white,
they were so bright they appeared to shine as beams of light. It was unreal. He
saw something up there in the ceiling and was absorbed by it. Then he lowered
his gaze to meet mine, bit his lip like he always did just before he knocked
the hell out of something, let go, and escaped his body. His eyes slowly
closed, and he was gone.
Several moments
blurred into one as we gathered close to hug and kiss our dad for the last
time. Finally, I relinquished my place at his head and turned to walk away. I
took the few steps to the end of his bed and then heard his voice as clear as a
bell say, “Go call the kids.” He was referring to my boys who he insisted were
not to make a frantic trip to Little Rock just to see him die. As he said, “Don’t
risk the damned highway.” I also believe he wanted them to remember him before
cancer. My wife Kim was preparing the kids to come to Little Rock when I called
to let her know Dad had passed away.
My prayers changed
on the day Daddy died. I had literally begged, bargained, and tried everything
to get God and humankind to save my beloved father. I told God that I would
sell everything and give it all to and go to work for the Leukemia Foundation
if he would just save my dad. To this day, I still wish I could have done something,
I not only felt helpless, I was helpless. My sorrow was deepened because not
only was I helpless to stop his disease, I knew it would soon be Mom’s turn. I
don’t know much pathology, psychology or philosophy; I see myself in the
business of distributing the truth as far as I know, but I am very passionate
and simply must tell you about the truth.
Dr. Charles
Stanley[ii],
a great man and preacher whom I love, said in one of his messages that we
should pray with a burden to be
filled with the knowledge of God’s will and that if we do, God, being faithful,
would no doubt do it.
I knew that God is
good and that I should seek His will more earnestly. So, for the first time, I
constructed a prayer that asked God to fill me up with the knowledge of His
will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, just as Dr. Stanley prescribes.
My prayer had
changed, and let me tell you how that new prayer changed my life. After being
propelled through all manner of obstacles, I was compelled to write. I set out
to write something about ethics in marketing, which I felt somewhat qualified
to do. But a week or two into the project, I was getting nowhere. I only had a
few pages that might have been considered readable and informative. There was
no doubt in my mind that I needed help.
So, on that
morning, I prayed the same prayer again. I asked to be filled with the
knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding just as I had
done before, but suddenly something inside me kicked the prayer up a notch and
added the words, and may my efforts be brought in line with Your will
and desire. By the way, I also prayed that my wife, kids, and co-workers
not think I had gone crazy.
That morning God
assured me I was on the right track and answered my prayers. As I prepared for
the day and began to focus on Him and meditate on His ways, I received a vision
of a character to write about. Now I am very sure that this had never happened
to me before: not like this, not with such clarity and power. This vision
personified a humble super-hero, a character that was some sort of
supernatural, bioelectrical engineer, a nano-technician or brain surgeon of
some kind. Hey, I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out.
His name is Emeth[iii].
He is from the source of all life. In truth, he is a very good character, whose
mission is to connect new pathways and rewire patterns and circuits of truth in
the human mind to dispel illusion. He is a sort of spiritual neurologist or
psychic surgeon with license to heal and save. He repetitiously whispers words
of wisdom and displays pictures of truth directly into the mind of humankind.
He has absolute power and authority from the source, and his reliability and
loyalty are beyond belief. At first, I did not know why he was named Emeth. I
had never heard that name before, although my grandfather Willis was named
Emmit, and I dearly love Emmitt Smith. At first, I was not quite sure what to
do with this character. He was so far over the top; I was reluctant to keep him
in a book about ethics in marketing for fear of ridicule or outright rejection.
So I didn’t, and like a self conscious numbskull, I threw it all away! I
destroyed all of the free flowing notes that I took down direct
from Emeth. All of the material about Emeth I had worked on in those moments is
gone. I was too self conscious to let anyone see what I had written. But the
connection in my mind still remains firm.
I went on for a
while without Emeth and even tried not to think about him, but I knew deep
inside I was onto something good with him. Somehow I felt I had received
privileged information from him. So I began to search for some reference to him
in all my current reading. In my mind I kept seeing and hearing the words Spiritual Warrior. I wanted to know where I had come up with this guy. I
wanted to prove to myself where he had come from, so I searched again for
E-myth or Emmeth. At the time I did not know how to spell his name and I found
nothing whatsoever about him. I found nothing that would lead me to believe
that he had come to me any way other than directly from God. I even asked a few
godly men if they had ever heard of Emeth or Emyth, but the name wasn’t
familiar to them, either. Deep down inside, I knew he had come to me straight
from God because I had asked God to inform
me and to conform me to His will. I
was just afraid to accept what God had given me.
A few months passed,
and the thought of this amazing character kept on hounding me. At that time we had
lots of trouble with our internet connection; it was slow at best and we
finally upgraded to DSL. So, once again, I searched the Web for some reference
to Emeth. This time I typed in Emet, and there it was. The search engine found
Temple Emeth, a Jewish synagogue in New Jersey. So I clicked there, retrieved
the phone number off their Web site, and called.
“Shabbat Shalom,”
answered a man’s voice. I cleared my throat and said, “Yes, sir, this is Don
Peek, Jr. calling from De Queen, Arkansas. Would you be so kind as to tell me,
what does Emeth mean?” With no hesitation, he responded, “Emeth is Hebrew for truth.”
Old time religious
chill bumps covered my entire body. I thanked the man and hung up the phone. I
was thrilled beyond belief by this confirmation of my vision and the firm
connection to the flow of truth that I call the Now Nexus. Emeth, Truth, is the Third Person
of the Holy Trinity! This was a revelation to me. He is the unchanging
connection we have to the Father that runs through the Son; this connection is
what I call the Now Nexus and this nexus now leads us to the knowledge of God’s
will and His desire for our lives. The Now Nexus is not a transcendental
meditation technique with psychobabble to boot; it exists solely because of the
grace of God and the vast miracles of faith. It brings greater understanding
and more meaning to God’s Word. It empowers a higher sense and sensitivity to the
spirit in symbols, words, music, language and even letters. It provides greater
understanding and control of the mental images and word pictures that so often
flash in our minds. In truth it is a powerful helper that connects and
positions us for Christ’s leadership in our life and it attracts others to the amazing
power that is available to us all now.
The title of this work is
intended to attract attention and hopefully draw a new age of believers into
the true power of now. In many cases in this text, Now is used to personify
that part of Himself that God gives us, our lives.
The word nexus [iv]
is defined as: (1) a connection, tie, or link between individuals of a group or
members of a series; (2) the group or series connected. Nexus in this
work is intended to have such meanings to a point that I call the golden point that once reached goes beyond mere sensory communication onto
shared mind, vision, epiphany, enlisted consciousness, realization, and oneness
with God’s will, intention, and desire. Thus, the Now Nexus is our super-exalted
lifeline, a sort of spiritual umbilical cord that feeds the Spirit of Christ within
us. My goal is to remove the shadows of doubt in our minds and shine a
spotlight on the truth of our connection to and inclusion in the family of God.
I attempt to bring the most vital and urgent sense to the word now and
to fully express the precious truth intended by Jesus Christ. His command is to
wake up, take hold, and stay connected to our eternal lifeline now! Many times
we think that this sort of thing is other people’s personal business and therefore
none of our business, so let’s get started right here and briefly take a look
at this business now.
[i] Dr.
Morris Ford was the senior pastor 1945-1971 of the First Baptist Church
Longview, Texas. He was a great man of God and had a wonderful voice. The whole church would come alive
when he would sing.
[ii] Dr.
Charles Stanley is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church Atlanta, Georgia
and the founder of In Touch Ministries. Dr. Stanley has served two terms as president of the
Southern Baptist Convention. Distribution of Stanley’s messages on Television,
Radio, Cassette Tape, CD, and DVD has changed the world. Recently the In Touch
Messenger, a mobile camouflaged solar
powered digital MP3 type device has been deployed to U. S. troops and others.
For years and years a mini King James Version of the Bible has done such
wonders all around the world. But if we know so many cannot read and that faith
comes from hearing and hearing from the word, we must leverage technological
innovation now. Dr. Stanley is a great Spiritual leader and an innovative
pioneer in the distribution of the truth of Jesus Christ. In Touch is now in every nation and they are not alone in this
effort,; it is just a matter of time until the Word reaches every dark corner
on Earth.
[iii] Emeth
is Hebrew for truth and firmness. Emeth is the Holy Ghost, God’s Spiritual
Warrior sent in the name of Jesus. In 2011, I learned from my editor that C. S.
Lewis chose the name for his controversial character in his work The Last Battle. I have never read The Last battle or The Chronicles’ of Narnia. I had never heard of Emeth except
through the vision that was free flowing back in 2002-2003. My editor and I
were both surprised but from different perspectives. I attempt to express all I
can of Emeth and to point out some of the pitfalls that I have met along the
way.
[iv] Nexus:
Think of being on an old one-way street that now suddenly opens before you as a
brand new multi-lane two-way Perfect Highway; of going up the down stairway to
heaven, of a spiritual (fiber) optic cable. Knowing we were made and appointed
for times such as these now we can see all the attributes of our nexus in Isaiah 35:8 and even all those
that Webster’s New World College Dictionary; Fourth Edition uses in Defining
the English Language for the 21st Century.
Friday, October 3, 2014
Thursday, October 2, 2014
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