Acknowledgements
I am a poet who works at writing. In my life, I studied and worked in many different areas of teaching academia, investments, advertising and information technology. Partly this broad variety was due to interest, mostly due to necessity. In this book, I have borrowed from many sources coming out of my life experiences that I cannot remember with a specific association of credit due. My objective here is to acknowledge that I have learned from many teachers and have no desire for anyone to think that everything in the book flows from my original thinking. I do take sole credit for the particular synthesis and presentation of the written expression of the concepts found in these pages. The readers will be the judges of its usefulness and unique contributions to the open ontological discussion group of public knowledge.
I wish to apologize to professionals in science and industry if my big picture approach to understanding how everything fits together neglects, misstates, oversimplifies or otherwise important facts, corollaries and details of how a discipline truly operates in its own research and explanation of reality. I have taken an intuitive approach to these matters based on my experience and education. With the exception mentioned below, I have just written what comes to mind about these questions and issues without engaging in any directed research.
In general, I wish to thank all of those who have contributed to my education. Besides a Bachelors Degree in Theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena, CA, I earned an MA in the Archaeology of the Land of Israel from The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel and an MBA focused on International Management from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. I also completed two graduate courses on the Ancient Near East at UCLA towards Ph.D. I am a licensed Evangelist with the International Ministerial Fellowship. None of these organizations has endorsed my writings.
From my youngest days, I had experienced uninvited and unintentional ESP. During my teens, I oscillated between career paths in astrophysics and parapsychology. In the 60s, I read a great deal about Extra Sensory Perception (ESP) including books about unsolved mysteries. Taking that information, I embarked on some years of personal experimentation in these borderline areas of human consciousness with some tangible success, as far as I could determine, in the conscious choice to force anomalous events. I purposefully do go into detail here on how I did what I did because I do not want others to try to duplicate my own methodology.
For example, I became quite adept at controlling dice. I could “call” a specific number better than two thirds of the time, as I recall. On several occasions, I rolled an unbroken string of 7s over 20 times successively, only stopping by choice and not by failed roll. However, I would not want anyone to experience the severe intensity of emotional stress that I imposed upon myself to attain those successfully predetermined outcome dice rolls.
I had a variety of other experiences with the “other side” that I draw on in these pages. Not all of them were pleasant, and some were very dangerous. By God’s grace, I did not succumb to the great temptations of power, but I did have some years of struggle to get my life back within spiritually safe parameters. The cautions regarding the spirit world and what to avoid about ESP that I have included in these pages were learned personally the hard way. Please take the principles presented seriously, although you may find a slightly different way to apply my lessons in your own life because persons and contexts vary.
Recently, I updated my exposure to the field of parapsychology after about a 40-year hiatus by reading Extraordinary Knowing: science, skepticism, and the inexplicable powers of the human mind, by Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer (New York: Bantam Books, 2007). I wish to acknowledge that I have borrowed terminology and some broad concepts from this book in order to improve the chances for successful communication. I recommend its reading to those unfamiliar with the issues, documented data and history of parapsychological research.
Christopher J. Patton
June 13, 2007
Use of Scripture
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations marked kjv are from the HOLY BIBLE, KING JAMES VERSION.
What is Faith in the Future Foundation?
The ideas, teachings, implied theology and biblical exegesis presented on these pages represent the beliefs and opinions of Herbert R. Stollorz, the author, and to a lesser extent they also represent those of Christopher J. Patton. They do not knowingly represent the positions of any organized church, ministry or spiritual movement. Neither do they represent in full the teachings or objectives of any political organization or social movement known to us.
Obviously, there may be aspects or portions of our material that parallel or even derive from the teachings and beliefs of others. We do not live in a vacuum and believe our fundamental faith in and understanding of the Bible to fall within the broad parameters of evangelical Christian context. Faith in the Future Foundation’s official Statement of Faith simply focuses on the essentials:
- The Bible is God’s word or testimony, the divine revelation of His will and purpose for life. It is the written expression of His Spirit.
- Personal faith in Jesus the Messiah and obedience to God's Word, according to one's understanding, is the only way to receive the Holy Spirit of God, who is the presence of the Father and the Son in the believer, creating a new life that will last for eternity.
- The Holy Spirit is required for continued growth in spiritual matters such as overcoming sin (a changed life today) and a better understanding of the Bible
Faith in the Future Foundation teaches that a believer's "citizenship is in heaven." The directors do not endorse or work for any national or international political party or government, military operation, or specific religious denomination. We do not support or undertake any type of forced conversion or change of religious and/or philosophical beliefs. Jesus Christ alone can rightly judge the mortal heart and determine a person's spiritual condition and future in eternity.
Faith in the Future Foundation does not initiate, support or encourage anyone to participate in any activity that seeks to bring biblical prophecies to pass in this world and time. God is Almighty and able to bring about His prophecies without dependence on human imagination or activity. Our recommended course of life is to obey God above all and so far as it depends on us, to live in peace with all persons.
Faith in the Future Foundation is a private charitable, educational and religious organization dedicated to the evangelism of nonbelievers. The foundation also seeks to encourage and expand the horizons of those who already accept the Bible as God's Word and revelation of His mercifully loving and righteous plan for humanity. It is a railroad train dedicated to delivering the oracles of God to any and all who would receive them for as long as God gives us the means and ability to do so. This is the vision shared by its original directors.
Legal Disclaimer
The social, cultural, theological and spiritual commentaries represent the best efforts of the authors to express their views and perspectives on the Bible in the context of historic and prophetic time, but the information presented in these books is not intended to constitute and should not be taken as any type of financial or legal advice.
First of all, we are only human and may be wrong when it comes to the specific facts and dates that someone might use in financial speculation, for example. Our methods of researching and understanding of the biblical texts are founded on some basic assumptions that are either only discernable spiritually at this time or may turn out to be incomplete.
Secondly, we are not in a position to and do not intend to offer any type of advice about the legal and material affairs of any other person’s life. That is for each of us to do responsibly for ourselves as God leads us.
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