By Dwight Moss
Columnist
In Acts the words written by Dr. Luke revealing the words of Peter on the day of Pentecost have taken us back to David, Elijah and Moses. Elijah and Moses, seen by Peter, James and John talking with Jesus, brings us into the eternal realm of heaven. This appears to confirm what Jesus said, “to God all are alive.” In Vietnam at the age of twenty I quickly went from about 180 pounds down to less than 140 pounds. Because of our situation and many deaths due to combat, I did not get help with malaria. I could not swallow food. With a temperature exceeding 106 degrees at some point, while lying on a cot in a medical tent, I left my body. I examined it. Then I left it and traveled. My body was dead or dying. However, after leaving my body, I did not feel any less alive.
Moses and Elijah showed up on the mountain with Jesus, Peter, James and John. Now, Jesus had not died! However, he told Martha that he was the resurrection and the life, John 11:25a. Today my understanding at this place in my life is that both Moses and Elijah believed in Jesus as the Lord of life. Jesus said that whoever lives by believing in me will never die, John 11:26. Jesus was with God in the beginning, see John 1:1-5. God said, Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, Genesis 1:26a. Jesus is a member of the “us.” The gospel of John gives us a vivid vision of the father and the son at the beginning of his gospel.
So where are we in our understanding of the life which the Lord of life reveals to us? So, God is the God of Moses, Elijah, Jacob, Abraham and you and me. So, if God is God of the living, then as Jesus says, to God all are alive, Luke 20:38b.
It is perfectly logical and I believe a scientific fact, that we all have a body, mind and spirit. Our mind alongside our spirit evokes feelings of the spirit-heart. We all have a rainbow of feelings and more. When we wake in the morning, we feel things in our body, our mind and in the depth of our souls. Sometimes we are up. Sometimes we are down.
We all have a spirit-life and a mind that extends beyond the body. When I was dying with malaria, my mind and my spirit separated from the body. My body. Rising up above my body, I could see myself as well as the surroundings. Looking at my body, my spirit and my mind spoke these words through me, “I do not need that anymore.” I seemed to be at ease and comfortable. I wasn’t stressed or excited. I was comfortable with myself. I traveled. At the time I did not question how I was able to think and reason. I felt very much alive apart from my body. Stay tuned.
Dwight Moss is the pastor of God’s Dwelling Place. Visit: www.godsdwellingplace.org.