People of all faiths are awakening to Christ. He will never shock people out of their belief systems in a way that will hurt them, but as the world's spiritual Awakening continues, he will deliver his message to more and more people directly. I have discovered that many members of the Jewish and Muslim faiths, especially, are now awakening to him at a greater pace than most. This is evidenced by the many letters I continue to receive from them. In the following story, a man who had not known Christ met him after death, then returned to share this knowledge with his son. The son graciously shared the experience with me.

My wonderful dad went to the Lord after battling liver cancer. He was, in this life, Jewish, a soft-spoken, generous man. I asked him to come back to me after he was gone, if he could. I never expected it would happen, but it did. It was not a dream, not a ghost, he was as three-dimensional as you and I. This Jewish man told me about the light. He also told me about Jesus Christ—imagine that—and said that he was happy. I was in awe of all this. I hugged him and he was gone as quickly as he'd come. Never have I seen his face again.

At a Jewish funeral there is no wake, no viewing. I never saw my dad dead. After this baffling experience, I immediately called my mom. I told her what he was wearing: a charcoal-gray pinstriped suit with a light pinstriped shirt and a printed tie. She paused. She told me this is what she buried Dad in. . . .

All people will eventually know Christ as their Savior; "every knee shall bend and every tongue confess," but they shall come to him in love, just as he comes to them. He is kind and merciful, and when he reveals himself in his divine role to anybody, he does so that they might live more fully, that they might grow in love and spiritually, which is the purpose of mortality. However, when I say that we are here to learn and grow spiritually, I do not mean that we have to earn our way back home. None of us can do that. We would have to become perfect in every aspect, and perfection of that nature will not occur here, but later. We can only attempt to become Christ-like here, to become beings of love.
Jesus established the way to return to God. He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). He opened the gate through his sacrifice and showed the way both through his example and his teachings. He reminds us of our true nature—which is divine—and of our reason for living on earth—which is to mature in our capacity to love.
As our spiritual awareness grows, we must not condemn others who worship differently. The Bible tells a story of Jesus and his disciples traveling among the people, teaching. One day they notice a man using Jesus' name to cast out devils. The disciples stop the man, telling him that he is not a member of their group and therefore should not use their Lord's name. Jesus' response is: "Forbid him not, for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on our side. And whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name because you belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward" (Mark 9:38-41). Doctrinal differences should not prevent followers of Christ from loving all people, accepting the good they do, and encouraging more open and helpful fellowship. After all, most of us will experience several religions in our search for truth. At each stop we may discover new truths, new opportunities. Then, if we have grown sufficiently, we may become restless again and open ourselves to yet greater truths. Some will even reach the fullness of truth that is available in life. But, remember, progression is eternal for all souls.

Over the years I've been to the Christian Fellowship, Baptist, Presbyterian, Catholic, Nondenominational, and Unitarian-Universalist churches. Each left me feeling that it wasn't quite right. I had so many questions about God, the meaning of life, the afterlife, reincarnation, the soul, etc. But the answers that were given to me just weren't quite right. I had no true peace. I began studying Taoism and Buddhism, Zen, but those too, just weren't quite right.

In my own past, I too explored various religions that did not satisfy my spiritual needs. I have learned that if we look to religion as the sole House of God, we will find disappointment. Religion can point us to God, but religion does not keep him. Even if we are active in a church and a congregation, we must find our Heavenly Father individually, each for ourselves. And Christ does not love us by the group, but by the individual. He loves us equally, and if we wish to show our love for him, we must learn to love each other equally as well—regardless of religious belief.
Christ said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15). However, learning which commandments are his and which are of men can be difficult. For this, we need his Spirit. A twenty-five-year-old woman wrote:

I was raised in a very loving Christian home and learned and studied scripture, yet I have always struggled with my own faith and relationship with God. It was drilled into my head that the slightest sin would send me straight to hell and, like you, I feared God, and I rebelled against religion. Yet during my years of rebellion I felt an emptiness and a void in my life.

As I grew older I heard more and more about God's wrath and how everything, it seemed, was a sin. It was so stifling spiritually—I was always scared that I had done something wrong and God was going to punish me or strike me dead, and the devil would torment me in hell for eternity. I grew up and drifted away from God, although I still feared I would be hit by a car, and before I could beg for forgiveness, I would be cast into the "lake of fire" I had been told about.

This woman goes on to write about the death of her grandfather when she was eight. She had been close to her beloved "Papaw" and was tormented by doubts about his eternal destiny. "I wondered if he had asked Jesus to forgive him, and if he was in heaven. I became consumed with the thought of my Papaw in hell. But he was such a good, loving and wonderful man. I begged God to take him to Heaven." For three days she couldn't sleep. She refused to eat, and her parents became concerned for her health. It wasn't until her grandfather's spirit appeared to her and reassured her that he was happy and that he loved her, that she could continue on with life. But, indoctrinated with such fear of God, she remained tormented by guilt for her own marginal or even imaginary sins. Any feelings of joy in life were quickly drowned by torrents of fear coursing through her. Finally, while reading Embraced By The Light, she felt God's Spirit touch her as she read about his unconditional love for her. Relief swept into her, washing away all fear. Now, a lightness of being she couldn't have imagined before rests upon her, and she takes joy in life, has many happy moments, and finds meaning through serving others in love. She listens to the gentle spirit voice within her instead of to the harsh voice of condemnation so prevalent in the "full gospel church" of her childhood.
Each religion that leads us to God has its place in the world, though some focus on the negative as a motivating force toward obedience. These religions reserve God's love for the righteous few and preach hell as the awful reward for the sinful majority. This kind of preaching may itself be sinful. If so, those who preach such distorted doctrines will certainly be grateful that God will extend his hand to them with as much energy and love as they suppose he reserves only for the righteous.
Some of these distorted views have worked their way into the native peoples of America. In the past century and a half, Native Americans have been grouped onto reservations and told to rely upon the whites for truth and sustenance. Many native children were rounded up and placed in boarding schools that forbade the practice of native languages or customs. The children were forced to conform not only to the dominant culture's language but to its religion as well. These training schools taught the children that God is found in buildings reared to his name, not in the life that surrounds us, that his words come only from men and the printed page and not from the Spirit that breathes life into every soul. These schools did some good, but the spiritual fear and negativity they engendered still haunts the lives of many former students. One Native American man shares his experience this way:

Like you, I too was brought up scared of God. I didn't know or understand why I had to go to a church to find or speak to God, and the times I did, I was very uncomfortable and afraid to move or even look around. I could never hear what the preacher was saying. I learned to be ashamed there, too, because when they brought the offering plate around I didn't have any money to give. It seemed that everyone watched each other place money into it. I remember asking my mother for some money to put into the plate and she usually didn't have anything but pennies. So I would be embarrassed by only having pennies to put in that plate. After a while I quit going because I figured I was too poor and shamed by it.

I recently bought Embraced By The Light to quench my curiosity. Needless to say, I was enthralled by it. I read it from cover to cover in less than a day. I should add that I am an Ojibwa. I, too, went to a Residential School where I was taught being an Indian was bad. We were segregated from our sisters. Prayer was forced down our throats. When I left, I swore I'd never return to Jesus Christ for anything. I hated everything and anything to do with Christianity. I have felt so very alone all these years.

Last night, for the first time, I laid in bed and had a good cry. I have not shed a tear for so long it felt good. I gave myself up to the Creator and asked for his love. I have not felt this close in his love for so long. I cried and asked my mother who had died many years ago, before I was five, to wait for me. I wanted to see and touch her.

Your book has given me hope that I will see my loved ones, my mother and my Creator. I now ask my angels to care for me and guide me through as I learn to love both myself and others. But most of all, to love my Creator and to make peace and friends with him. Gitchi Meegwetch!!! (A big thank you in Ojibwa)

The suffering which people experience through misguided religious teachings can last a lifetime. In some cases only a powerful experience with the Spirit of God can undo the chasms left in the soul. Fortunately, God is always extending his hand to those who have faith in him. The sins or wounds of the past can always be healed through truth and forgiveness.