The Secret to a Long and Happy Marriage 2

This is the right place, the secret to a long and happy marriage, part 2.

People ask my wife and I what is the secret to our staying together for 46+ years. Of course, every couple SHOULD stay together for all of their lives: "Each one gets one," and that is all you get--your one. There is no hopping around.

In 1975 I was living illegally in a pickup truck in Honolulu, Hawaii. I had a homemade camper (a big, windowless box, actually) mounted on the back, and in the yacht harbor I parked it in the police assumed it was just a mobile storage shed.

Only occasionally and informally employed, I listened to rock music, sailed with friends, and read a lot of books about Eastern religions and philosophy, spiritualism, meditation, opening chakras and the like. (I'd been a sixties hippy, literally in San Francisco in 1967 and 68, and had become enamored with "spiritual" stuff while in the Navy 1968-1972.)

During a metaphysical-meditation class, I encountered a demon feigning to be Jesus Christ coming to teach me personally. Suddenly, I could see into the spirit and saw that its light was a façade; it was all darkness within. Three things were immediately apparent to me:

1) the deceiving spirit thing was real, and if it was real, then what it was a counterfeit of and trying to lead me away from was also real.

2) while the deceiving spirit had been influencing my thoughts for years, it had needed me to lower myself to allow it to actually enter me, whereas the one who had opened my consciousness to see the spirit for what it really was did NOT need my permission to act within and upon me.

3) I was going the wrong way.

I went to my camper and dug out the old zippered Bible my mother had given me when I was seven. I looked up the word 'deceive' in the concordance and found Revelation 12:9: "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him" (King James Version). Oh, the Devil is still around, unannounced and working continuously to deceive us away from God and lying about Christ. I figured that Jesus was the way to go.

I went with a friend to the House of Praise in Kaimuki. It was a Pentecostal-church-sponsored communal residence. Friday nights Rod Wilson, the overseer, led a Bible study. There was much praise and worship, healings and testimonies of miracles, and almost everyone spoke in tongues. "That" world, the world according to the Bible, was real and present. I went forward and accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I felt good about being "saved," but I did not speak in tongues.

At another church I was asked if I wanted to pray for the gift of tongues, which my friend was already praying for. I asked Jesus for the gift of tongues once, I asked twice, I asked once again. Nothing happened. I realized that Jesus rejected me. I had "accepted" him and given him my life, but he did not accept me--wouldn't touch me with a ten-foot pole! I cried and sought desperately to find out why. What must I do, or stop doing, to become accepted by Jesus?

From that sobbing I entered a trance state. In my mind I followed a trail to a block I could not get over or go around. I discerned that I needed to go under it. Then I was underground. I saw a man's figure scooped from the mud, and the mud-man was formed into a living man. He thought of what he needed to do, and I followed him as he set off to do all those things. I was hearing his thoughts and seeing through his eyes. I became him.

As I was occupied doing all those things, suddenly a realization came to me--I was honestly gob-smacked--for only a moment ago I had been a lifeless blob of mud who was made to live, and here I was directing "my" life. I had STOLEN God's lordship over me!! This wasn't my life; it was His! God must have had a reason to make me, a purpose of HIS to fulfill, and I was robbing Him of that purpose. I directed my life, and I had NOT given that up when I "gave" God my life when I was saved. I was in rebellion, sin as witchcraft.

I was so ashamed and repentant. I resolved to undo my control over my life. I cast my control, my self-lordship out of myself. I thought I'd fall as a spineless blob. Instead I found myself high in the mountains kneeling beside a felled pine tree. Surrounded by aspen-glow, the sky above me became rosy with the presence of God. I dared not look up. In total surrender I submitted to Him: "You are Holy God; I am but a mudman. Whatever you tell me to do, that I will do." I shut up and listened intently. After a few moments I heard a very soft voice say, "Remember this, and it is all right."

"It is all right." I was accepted! My emotions soared. I couldn't express the thrill and gratitude and appreciation and adoration I felt for God. I could feel quivers of living water flooding my bowels. They rose up my throat. My mouth shook, moving on its own. The church minister who all this time had his hands laid on me said, "Don't try to control it." I didn't. Out of my mouth flowed praise and worship and adoration I could not speak in English. It appeared to be a Chinese dialect, most like Cantonese I now think. My mouth ran on its own for some time; I exercised no control or direction over it. I just listened to this unknown worship by the Holy Ghost and agreed with it.

Yes, this is still the secret to a long and happy marriage 2.

After this experience my life took an odd turn. One Sunday morning I saw Jesus scourged and crucified, and He spoke to me. I decided to go to school to find out what He has said to other men. I went back to California, and without any scholastic qualification got accepted into an experimental seminary course as an upper division student. I got funding through the GI bill and found a room in a local apartment for 90 dollars a month. Somehow, I succeeded as a student.

My point is that though I was not qualified, nor deserving, yet God takes care of His own miraculously. There is a Holy Ghost, and He is God loving those who love Him. I completed my Bachelors before my Associate degree, and apart from the AA began graduate school without any accredited schooling. Doors have opened, monies have come, and though I live as an idiot I am still doing okay. I stand in my home and wonder, "How did I get here?" I know that I didn't do it, I didn't deserve it; it's been the grace of God--it's His abundance. God has intent for my good, for the Milta to be advanced to completion, for the world to be in the abundance of His reality. I DIDN'T DO IT, I DIDN'T ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING; IT HAS BEEN A GIFT--LIFE, THE HOLY GHOST--AND JESUS IS THE LIFE-GIVER. Life-giver is what the Aramaic word for Jesus, Eashoa, means. His is an invisible force, a power with good intent for us to become HIM, and a plan to get us there from anywhere.

The Life-giver, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, is the secret to a long and happy marriage, and He says He is knocking on YOUR door, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" (Revelation 3:20 King James Version).

Again, "Behold, I am before the door knocking. If a human [being] hears my sound...and opens the door, I shall enter to them and dine with them,...and they with me. And the victor...shall be given to be seated with me on my throne*,...just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on His throne" (Revelation 3:20-21 Alexander).

The Secret to a Long and Happy Marriage 1

When people find out that my wife and I have been married 46 years, they ask "What is the secret to a long and happy marriage?" Which has set me to thinking, "Well, what IS the secret to a long and happy marriage?"

The secret to a long and happy marriage, as well as to a long and happy life, is the Guy we make our vows to in the marriage ceremony--God. The Milta* is the manifestation of God, Who is otherwise invisible, intangible spirit (consciousness). The Milta also manifests God as a Man who is in the process of BECOMING the completed Manifestation of God. Believe me, you want to be included in that process, that world, for that is where length of life and happiness truly are.

I recognize that in our wedding, with our vows my wife and I became joined to that invisible world, the world wherein the Milta is making us into the completed Him. We were joined not just to each other, but our world became joined to that world. We touched that becoming world's magic with our vows, and that magic sticks in our spirit as we hold to those vows. That invisible world is a consciousness thing in this visible world. Said my New Testament professor, "The Kingdom of God has to do with attitudes" (Dr. John W. Messer). There is an invisible Power working Its intent in this world

Looking at us, or at least at me, you would think, "I do not see a lot of (or any) progress in your becoming the manifestation of God, if that process is what is truly underway. It looks like it would take an eternity." Well, what do you think eternity is FOR? "He (God/the Milta) has placed Eternity (the development of Himself) in the hearts of men" (Ecclesiastes 3:11, parentheses mine).

The Milta is the work God is doing in this world, in this universe, in all universes, from their beginning to their end. The manifestation of God is one big ACT, and God is the DOER. We just need to co-operate with Him, with His will, with His becoming. God's will is number one, for it is Him, and He, the Source of all things, is the only thing that matters.

The core of manifesting God is SPIRITUAL--being imbued with His Life in humility and submission, and MENTAL--thinking positively, lovingly, nobly, caringly, humbly, with faith, integrity, fidelity, kindness, patience, &c (i.e., manifest the nature and character of God as much as you know of them and can).

The Most High imagines. He has intention. The Milta is His "body": spiritual, mental, and physical. It is Mind . . . into this world.

A marriage ceremony performed today in this world touches that world. There is a real link established, or at least are available. "The two become one," not just between the man and the woman, but between this world and that world--if the link is taken. That world of Power is to us tiny, like a seed implanted inside us. There was a Garden in Eden LIKE the place the Seed of the Milta is in us. In the Garden God placed the Seed in a special, perfect Man to follow His will and to become His Milta. Yes, not following God's expressed will messed up that Man's becoming, but THE SECOND MAN'S--JESUS'--REDEMPTION OF US PUT US BACK THERE AGAIN, IF WE ACCEPT IT. Being back there--recognizing that you and your spouse are in and of it--is the secret of a long and happy marriage.

In other words, the secret of a long and happy marriage is the Guy, the Milta, the Manifestation of God we make our vows to. Keep Him in your world, and your world in His world, "that" world, every day. Submit your will to Him and let the Seed of God grow. Learn of Him, talk to Him, and especially listen to Him, and share that world with your partner.

Love your spouse as Christ has loved you. He went to the cross to get fallen you, to share His holy abundance with you.

"Come to me, all you mourners and carriers of burdens, and I shall give you Peace. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, as I am peaceful and gentle of heart, and you shall find Peace in your souls. For my yoke is pleasant and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-29 Alexander, emphasis mine). (The whole Bible is an introduction to this Guy.)

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* Milta, also Miltha, is the Aramaic word translated as Logos in the Greek New Testament. Jesus' native tongue was Aramaic, which the Jews adopted in their Babylonian captivity. In John 1:1, the Greek Logos is translated as Word. But the Aramaic is better translated as Manifestation: "In the beginning was God's Manifestation"--not just a communication or expression, but an all-encompassing ACT--God . . . in manifestation, a process of BECOMING.

Was Abraham an Old Man or a Teen Age Do-over? Genesis 18:9-15; 20:2; and Hebrews 11:11

Abraham and Sarah both may have become kids again to have Isaac. Because God is faithful and He COULD do it. Abraham believed God, and SARAH BELIEVED GOD, TOO.

"And they (the angels) said to him, 'Where is that Sarah, your wife?' And he said, 'Behold, here at home.' And he told him, 'She will truly return to you* (return the return), as she is alive in this season, and Sarah your wife shall conceive a son,' and Sarah was listening at the door of the abode, she was behind it. Abraham and Sarah were old and aged in years,* and Sarah was beyond the age of child bearing women.* And Sarah laughed in her heart and said, 'After being all worn out, I will become young again, but will my husband remain an old man?'* And the Lord said to Abraham, 'Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Truly, could I bear a child in my old age?" Is that too great a feat for the Lord? That she return to you in this season revitalized* and a son is born to your wife Sarah?' And Sarah blasphemed and said, 'I did not laugh,* it is because I was scared;' and He said, 'Do not laugh henceforth'" (Genesis 18:9-15 Alexander, parentheses and emphases mine).

Sarah had a question as to how all this was going to work out. "God will make me young again to bear a child, but will He make just me young?"

"Through faith also Sarah, who was barren, received the vigor to conceive an offspring and she did not give birth in the season according to her years, because she upheld that faithful is the One Who bequeathed her the Kingdom" (Hebrews 11:11 Alexander).

So Sarah became revitalized--NOT ACCORDING TO HER YEARS, BUT ACCORDING TO GOD'S WILL--to the form of a young woman to bear Isaac. But Abraham?

"And Abraham had said regarding Sarah, 'She is my sister.' Abimelech, the king of Gadar, had sent for Sarah to be fetched" (Genesis 20:2 Alexander).

Revitalized Sarah was a teen/twenty-something knock-out. Gorgeous. The King of Gadar saw her and said, "OMG! I want THAT!" Abimelech believed that Abraham was Sarah's brother, not her great-great-grandfather, which he might have assumed if Abraham still looked a hundred years old. I think Sarah and Abraham both got revitalized, a do-over as a young married couple.

Would Abimelech have believed that Abraham's FATHER fathered Sarah when Abraham was nearly 80? Or that an 80-year-old Abraham had wed such a beautiful young bride? Or was Abimelech attracted to grannies? What kind of miracle are we talking about here?

We are talking about believing that God is faithful, that God WILL do anything He says he will do, regardless of anything else, because He IS God.

May I ask what directed you to The Becoming God Blog?

Hi. Dan Steele here. I am just a guy who puts his theological thoughts on line, and I am curious as to why on certain weekends my blog gets visited by many more people than usual. I am happy to see a hundred visits a day, but on some days my visit count goes up into the thousands. Would YOU mind to tell me why you visited today? I suspect some teacher is providing a link or a suggestion, but I do not know who.

Thank you so much,

Dan Steele