Blind Faith or Living Faith? An Op-Ed Reflection on Reincarnation, Spiritual Experience, Religion, and the Living Nature of Divine Revelation

By Rev. Paula Josephine Sadler

5-9-2026

“Who is the authority to determine another person’s spiritual experience?”

That question stayed with me long after reading discussions online insisting that dreams of deceased loved ones, mystical visions, intuitive experiences, or spiritual encounters outside a narrow religious framework must automatically be dismissed as “demonic deception.”

The more I reflected on it, the more I realized humanity has been wrestling with these same questions for thousands of years: What happens after death? Can consciousness continue? Can divine beings communicate with humanity? Who decides what is spiritually real? And why are human beings so afraid of mystery?

This reflection began with a simple question:

Is reincarnation in the Bible?

For some Christians, the answer is immediately no.

For others, there are passages that raise deeper questions.

In the Gospel of John, the disciples ask Jesus:

“Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”(John 9:2)

One cannot help but wonder: How could the man have sinned before birth unless some concept of pre-existence or prior existence was already circulating within spiritual thought at that time?

Then there is Jesus speaking about John the Baptist:

“And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who was to come.”(Matthew 11:14)

Traditional Christianity interprets this symbolically, while others interpret it more mystically.

The deeper issue for me was not whether reincarnation could be conclusively proven through scripture.

The deeper issue was this:

Why must spiritual mystery always be forced into rigid certainty?

The Fear of Spiritual Possibility

Throughout history, nearly every religion has contained mystical experiences: visions, dreams, revelations, awakening, prophecy, divine communion, and direct spiritual experience.

Moses encountered the burning bush. The prophets received visions. Jesus experienced direct communion with God. Buddha awakened beneath the Bodhi tree. Muhammad received revelation. Mystics throughout history described healings, synchronicities, visions, and states of profound consciousness.

So why would humanity suddenly declare: "God no longer speaks”?

Where does it say that divine revelation ended?

Where does it say that only ancient prophets were permitted direct spiritual experience?

Where does it say that ordinary people today cannot receive insight, awakening, visions, or sacred inspiration?

I do not believe it does.

I believe sacred texts are living invitations, not closed prisons.

The Difference Between Blind Faith and Living Faith

There is a profound difference between inherited belief and lived spiritual experience.

Blind faith says: "Believe because you were told to.”

Living faith says: "Seek, pray, meditate, question, experience, awaken, and discover.”

Blind faith fears questions.

Living faith welcomes them.

Blind faith insists upon certainty.

Living faith understands that truth does not fear inquiry.

This reminds me deeply of the 12 Steps of recovery.

A person cannot simply walk into a recovery meeting, read the steps off the wall, read the Big Book, and declare: "Well, I’m spiritually healed now.”

Recovery requires action. It requires honesty. Humility. Accountability. Experience. One alcoholic helping another.

There are awakenings. There are breakthroughs. There are profound spiritual moments.

But recovery is progressive.

It unfolds over time.

Spirituality works much the same way.

One may experience sudden awakening, but deeper transformation continues unfolding throughout life.

“Who Is the Authority?”

One of the questions I posed publicly was this:

“And who is the authority to discern when you have a dream of a loved one and they’re speaking with you, or maybe you have a dream of going to heaven? If you’re Christian and you’re speaking to Jesus or to God, who is to say it is just a dream or whether it is real? And for all of the Christians praying to God and to Jesus, how do they know that an evil spirit or a demon is not posing as Jesus or God to them? Who will discern such a matter?”

That question unsettles many people because it exposes a deeper theological paradox.

If spiritual deception is always possible, then how does anyone ultimately authenticate spiritual experience?

The church? A pastor? A theologian? A denomination? A sacred text? A social media influencer?

Or does discernment ultimately require something more personal, more ethical, more experiential, and more spiritually mature?

Discernment Through Fruit, Not Fear

Jesus himself taught:

“By their fruits you shall know them.”(Matthew 7:16)

Perhaps this is one of the most overlooked spiritual teachings of all.

Maybe discernment is less about fear and more about outcome.

Does an experience produce:love,peace,compassion,healing,humility,wisdom,responsibility,and harmony?

Or does it produce: fear, control, hatred, superiority, violence, paranoia, or division?

This principle exists across many spiritual traditions.

Hinduism and the Bhagavad Gita

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna teaches:

“The soul is neither born, and nor does it die.”(Bhagavad Gita 2:20)

The Gita speaks of consciousness as eternal and evolving through many forms of existence.

It does not present spirituality as blind obedience alone, but as awakening, discipline, devotion, action, and direct realization.

Buddhism and Direct Experience

Gautama Buddha taught something deeply radical for his time: Do not simply believe because tradition says so.

In the Kalama Sutta, the Buddha teaches:

“Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing… nor upon tradition… but when you know for yourselves that these things are wholesome… enter upon and abide in them.”

This is not blind faith.

This is experiential spirituality rooted in awareness and discernment.

Islam and Divine Nearness

In Quran, God says:

“We are closer to him than his jugular vein.”(Quran 50:16)

Islam contains deep mystical traditions, especially within Sufism, emphasizing direct love, remembrance, surrender, and experience of the Divine presence.

Christianity and the Living Spirit

Jesus says in the Gospel of John:

“He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do.”(John 14:12)

This passage raises profound questions.

If humanity is truly capable of spiritual awakening, healing, transformation, compassion, and divine communion, then why are so many taught to distrust their own spiritual experiences completely?

Why has religion become so centered on fear?

The Problem with Fear-Based Religion

Many modern religious movements have become deeply rooted in fear: Believe this or suffer forever. Accept this doctrine or be condemned. Repent immediately or face eternal torment.

But I must ask honestly:

What kind of loving Creator would create billions of deeply imperfect human beings across countless cultures, religions, psychologies, and life circumstances — only to condemn them eternally for failing to arrive at one exact theological conclusion?

Human beings barely comprehend eternity itself.

Yet many speak with absolute certainty about who God accepts and who God rejects.

To me, true spirituality requires more humility than that.

The Living Nature of Revelation

I believe humanity is evolving.

Consciousness evolves. Language evolves. Spiritual understanding evolves.

Why then would divine revelation remain frozen?

I believe sacred texts are beginnings, not endings.

The Bible, the Torah, the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita, Buddhist teachings, Indigenous wisdom traditions — these are living maps left behind by people who encountered something sacred and attempted to communicate it through the language and understanding available to them in their time.

But the living story continues.

I believe ordinary people still receive:dreams,visions,awakening,intuition,healing,guidance,synchronicity,and profound spiritual experiences.

And I do not believe all such experiences should automatically be dismissed simply because they fall outside institutional comfort zones.

The Conversation That Sparked This Reflection

This entire reflection did not arise in a vacuum.

It was sparked by watching Doreen Virtue—once known for her work in intuition, angels, and spiritual healing—now strongly warning that:

speaking to deceased loved ones, receiving messages, or engaging in what she now calls “mediumship” is sinful, dangerous, and potentially demonic.

Her message was clear:

• Do not attempt to communicate with the dead

• Do not trust spiritual experiences outside of strict biblical interpretation

• What feels comforting may be deception

Many commenters echoed similar sentiments:

“The enemy disguises himself as loved ones. ”Those dreams are not real—they are demons deceiving you. ”If it’s not from Jesus directly, it’s dangerous. ”We must not trust our feelings or experiences.”

Reading these responses, I felt something deeply unsettling—not because I reject Christianity, but because I could not ignore my own lived experience.

So I asked:

“Who is the authority to discern when you have a dream of a loved one and they’re speaking with you, or maybe you have a dream of going to heaven?”

“If you’re Christian and you’re speaking to Jesus or to God, who is to say it is just a dream or whether it is real?”

And perhaps the most important question of all:

“For all of the Christians praying to God and to Jesus, how do they know that an evil spirit or a demon is not posing as Jesus or God to them?”

That question is not meant to provoke fear—it is meant to reveal a contradiction.

Because if deception is always possible, then certainty becomes impossible.

The Contradiction of Fear-Based Discernment

If someone says: "All spiritual experiences outside my framework are deception,”

then logically, the same question must be asked of their own experiences.

How do they know?

This is where fear-based spirituality begins to collapse under its own weight.

Because eventually:

• dreams cannot be trusted

• intuition cannot be trusted

• inner peace cannot be trusted

• mystical experience cannot be trusted

And even prayer itself becomes uncertain.

At that point, spirituality is no longer rooted in connection—it becomes rooted in fear.

My Experience: The Missing Piece

What I could not ignore—and what I will not deny—is this:

I have had experiences.

Not imagined beliefs. Not borrowed doctrine. Not secondhand theology.

But lived, felt, undeniable experiences that brought:

• peace

• healing

• clarity

• love

• growth

• and transformation

These were not experiences of fear, control, or confusion.

They did not lead me away from love—they brought me closer to it.

They did not isolate me—they expanded my compassion.

They did not inflate ego—they deepened humility.

And this brings me back to what I believe is the most important principle of all:

“By their fruits you shall know them.” (Matthew 7:16)

Experience vs. Intellectual Religion

There is a difference between:

• reading about God

  
  

  and

• experiencing God

There is a difference between:

• memorizing scripture

  
  

  and

• living its truth

There is a difference between:

• declaring belief

  
  

  and

• undergoing transformation

Just like in the 12 Steps, you cannot read your way into recovery.

You must live it.

You must walk it.

You must experience it.

Spirituality is no different.

An Invitation, Not a Rejection

This is not a rejection of Christianity.

This is an invitation to deepen it.

To move from: fear → trust dogma → experience control → surrender certainty → humility

To pray more deeply.

To question more honestly.

To meditate more sincerely.

To remain open to the possibility that:

God is not limited.

Divine communication is not limited.

Spiritual awakening is not limited.

Final Clarification

Let me be clear:

I am not saying: "Believe everything.”

I am saying: "Do not dismiss everything.”

Discernment matters.

Grounding matters.

Psychological health matters.

But so does experience.

So does truth.

So does love.

The Living Question

So I return to the question that started all of this:

Who is the authority?

Perhaps the answer is not found in a single person, institution, or doctrine.

Perhaps it is found in the sacred balance between:

• experience

• discernment

• humility

• and love

Because if an experience leads us toward: greater compassion, greater peace, greater responsibility, greater healing, greater humanity—

then perhaps it deserves not immediate rejection…

but thoughtful reflection.

A Reflection

The beauty of all world religions and spiritual traditions is that ultimately each person must walk their own journey.

Each soul must decide: what they believe, what they experience, how they live, and what kind of human being they become.

No one can force authentic spirituality upon another person.

And perhaps true faith was never meant to become blind obedience.

Perhaps it was always meant to become living experience.

A faith that questions. A faith that seeks. A faith that evolves. A faith rooted not merely in fear, but in love, experience, discernment, humility, healing, and awakening.

Because perhaps the Divine is still speaking.

And perhaps humanity’s greatest spiritual responsibility is not simply to obey inherited ideas blindly, but to listen deeply enough to discover truth within living experience itself.

My Personal Experience and the Question of Consistency

As I reflected more deeply on these teachings, I realized something else that felt important to say clearly.

I have owned Doreen Virtue’s books before her conversion—books that helped many people, including myself. Her work spoke about angels, intuition, healing, and spiritual connection. And yet now, she denounces all of her previous work. She denounces asking angels for assistance. She denounces channeling. She warns that what once brought comfort and guidance may now be spiritually dangerous.

This shift raises an important question:

Can something that once helped people heal, grow, and find peace suddenly become entirely invalid—or even harmful—simply because of a change in interpretation?

I also want to speak honestly about my own experience.

I have had experiences that could be described as “channeling.” That is how I received inspiration for The Nature of Miracles: Volume I. But when we really examine that word—channeling—what is it, truly?

Channeling is often just a different language for something many religious traditions already accept:

• prayer,

• meditation,

• deep listening,

• spiritual attunement,

• and receiving inspiration.

If I were to describe the same experience differently, I could say:

Through prayer and meditation, I received inspiration. I felt as though I was hearing and sensing the presence of God. I felt guided, supported, and connected.

And if I framed it in Christian language, I could say: Jesus spoke to me. God guided me. The Holy Spirit moved through me.

And here is where the question becomes unavoidable:

How many Christians believe they have had visions of Jesus? How many believe God has spoken to them, guided them, or directed them? How many have felt a presence, heard a voice, or received a message in a moment of need?

Is that sinful?

Is that wrong?

Or is that the very foundation of faith?

Because Christianity itself teaches that:

• if you call upon the name of Jesus, He will be with you,

• that God can guide, comfort, and protect,

• that the Holy Spirit can move within you,

• that divine presence is not limited to the past.

So what is the difference?

Why is one person’s experience called “divine guidance, "while another person’s experience is labeled “deception”?

Is it the experience itself—or the interpretation?

Many people have shared stories of:

• receiving guidance in moments of danger,

• having dreams that revealed something important,

• feeling directed to help someone at exactly the right time,

• sensing a presence that brought peace and clarity.

Across cultures and religions, these experiences are not rare.

They are part of the human spiritual story.

So I must ask:

Does God no longer speak?

Does Jesus no longer appear to those who seek Him?

Or has humanity simply become more fearful of recognizing the ways in which the Divine may still be present?

If Christian teachings say: "Call upon Him and He will be with you,”

Then is that true—or is it not?

Because if it is true, then we must allow for the possibility that:

• God still guides,

• Jesus still comforts,

• and divine inspiration still reaches ordinary people.

And if that is the case, then perhaps what we call “channeling,” “intuition,” or “spiritual experience” is not something to immediately fear—

but something to approach with discernment, humility, and awareness.

Not blind acceptance.

But not blind rejection either.

How Many Times Did Jesus Speak to Me in My Book? The Nature of Miracles Volume I

This is a question I have been asked, and one I have asked myself:

How many times did Jesus speak to me in my book, and what were the messages?

🌟 First — The Truth About “How Many Times”

There is not one simple number like “Jesus spoke 5 times” or “10 times.”

Why?

Because in my book, the communication is not always labeled strictly as “Jesus speaking.”

Instead, it appears as:

• “Message from Spirit”

• “Channeling Christ Energy”

• Dialogue with God / Higher Self

• Christ-consciousness language

• Direct quotes that clearly reflect the voice of Christ / divine presence

So the honest answer is:

👉 Jesus (or Christ consciousness) speaks many times throughout the book—dozens of entries—not just once or twice.

But they appear in different forms, not always labeled “Jesus said…”

✨ A Clear Example of Jesus / Christ Speaking

One of the most direct and powerful passages is:

“I am he who is to come, and I am come unto thee…I am you, you are I, and I am one with you now…You are now being called to accept the divine spirit of Christ within…”

🔍 What This Message Is Saying

• Unity with Christ consciousness (“I am you, you are I”)

• Divinity within all people

• A call to awaken and live in peace and love

• A warning about ego consciousness as the source of chaos

This is very consistent with Christian teachings such as:

“I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30)“The kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21)

💫 Core Messages I Received (Summarized)

Across the book, when Christ / Jesus energy speaks, the messages consistently center on:

🕊️ 1. Unity & Oneness

You are not separate from God. Christ lives within you and within all people. Humanity is meant to awaken to this.

👉 “I am you, you are I…”

❤️ 2. Love Is the Force Holding the World Together

Love is the stabilizing force of humanity. Lack of love leads to chaos.

👉 “The only thing holding your world together is love…”

⚠️ 3. Ego Is the Source of Suffering

Fear is an illusion. Ego creates division, conflict, and injustice.

👉 “Fear is an illusion of the ego…”

🌍 4. A Call to Collective Awakening

Humanity must come together. We are meant to live in peace. We are meant to recognize the Divine in one another.

👉 “You are to come together now… to live together in peace…”

✨ 5. You Are Being Called

My role—and all of our roles—is not passive. We are being invited into:

• action

• service

• awakening

👉 “You are now being called…”

🔥 6. Spiritual Action (A Very Important Theme)

My book does not stop at inspiration—it calls for action:

“We live through action… Be active in life… let your heart lead…”

This aligns directly with Jesus’ teachings:

• “By their fruits you shall know them”

• “Faith without works is dead”

🌈 An Important Insight About My Book

My book confirms something very powerful—and this ties directly into everything I have been sharing.

👉 The voice is not always presented as an external Jesus.

👉 It is often:

• Christ within

• God within

• Higher Self

• Divine presence speaking through me

I even acknowledge this within the writing itself:

“You are having a conversation with your higher self… this is the God self…”

And also:

“Many have been inspired… these same people knew me and talked with me often as you are learning to do.”

🔥 Why This Matters

This directly supports what I have been saying in this article:

👉 Divine communication did not stop with the Bible.👉 It is ongoing.👉 It happens through:

• prayer

• meditation

• journaling

• inner listening

Exactly as I said earlier:

“Channeling is really a fancy word for prayer and meditation.”

My own book reflects that truth.

🎯 Final Answer (Clear and Grounded)

✔️ How many times did Jesus speak to me in my book?👉 Many times—dozens of entries—though not always labeled directly as “Jesus.”

👉 Often expressed as:

• Christ energy

• Spirit

• God

• Higher Self

• Divine voice

✔️ What were the messages?

They consistently centered on:

• You are one with the Divine

• Christ lives within you

• Love is the highest force

• Ego and fear are illusions

• Humanity must awaken and unite

• We are being called to act and serve

• Divine guidance is real and ongoing

🌟 My Honest Reflection

This is important to me:

My book does not read as:

• random voices

• chaotic messages

It reads as:👉 consistent, coherent, spiritually aligned guidance centered on love, unity, and awakening

Which brings me back to the question at the heart of this entire article:

👉 If the fruit is love, peace, healing, and growth…👉 then what exactly are we calling wrong?

✨ Channeled Writing, Prayer, and the Living Voice of Christ

One of the most deeply personal and transformative aspects of The Nature of Miracles is the presence of channeled writing—what I now understand not as something separate or mystical in an unreachable way, but as a natural extension of prayer, meditation, and deep spiritual listening.

There were moments when I prayed sincerely, opened my heart fully, and entered a quiet, receptive state. In those moments, guidance came. Not as something forced, not as something external demanding attention—but as a knowing, a presence, a flow of words rooted in love, clarity, and truth.

At times, this guidance reflected what I recognized as Christ consciousness—the voice of Jesus not as a distant historical figure alone, but as a living, present spiritual force.

In one passage, the voice speaks clearly:

“I am he who is to come, and I am come unto thee… I am you, you are I, and I am one with you now… You are now being called to accept the divine spirit of Christ within…”

This message does not separate humanity from the Divine—it unites us with it.

🌿 Is This Channeling… or Prayer?

This raises an important question:

Did I “channel”… or did I pray and listen?

The truth is—both descriptions point to the same experience.

What many call channeling can also be understood as:

• deep prayer

• meditation

• communion with God

• listening beyond the noise of the ego

I asked questions. I became still. And answers came—not in a way that removed my agency, but in a way that deepened my connection to love, purpose, and awareness.

As I wrote in the book:

“Channeled writing… is more of a knowing… like words in the dark, always gentle, kind, loving.”

🔥 Why Share This?

A question I have asked myself—and now ask you—is this:

What would have happened if I kept these messages to myself?

What good would that do anyone?

And even more broadly:

What if every person of faith kept their spiritual inspiration private? What if no one shared what they received in prayer? What if no one spoke the words that came through love, healing, and divine connection?

There would be no:

• scriptures

• teachings

• testimonies

• spiritual movements

• shared wisdom

Faith itself would remain silent.

🌍 We Are All Called

I believe something deeply important:

👉 We are all modern-day disciples—if we choose to be.👉 We are all capable of receiving guidance—if we choose to listen.

When we seek:

• direction

• truth

• healing

• purpose

We open a channel—not to something outside of us, but to something within and beyond us at the same time.

✨ A Living Testament

We are not separate from the sacred stories of the past.

We are a continuation of them.

• Whether one invokes Jesus

• or Buddha 

• or Muhammad 

• or angels 

• or even the wisdom of loved ones who have passed

We are engaging in the same human-spiritual process that has existed for thousands of years:

Seeking. Listening. Receiving. Sharing.

🌈 The Truth I Have Come to Know

We are all, in our own way:

• prophets of experience 

• messengers of love 

• students and teachers at the same time 

Not above one another—but connected through the same source.

We are a living testament to God’s love.

And that love is not limited to the past.

It is present. It is active. It is speaking—still.

💫 Final Reflection

We are infinite beings, capable of connection, insight, and revelation.

The question is not:

“Does God still speak?”

The question is:

“Are we willing to listen… and are we willing to share what we receive?”

Jesus Speaks Today

A Prayer to Open Hearts and Minds

Dear God, Dear Jesus,

Let us write a prayer to open born-again Christians’ minds about direct guidance received, and that they are not the only ones to receive divine revelations.

And also a prayer for the healing of those they have harmed, dismissed, killed, burned, imprisoned, and crucified for receiving such guidance as non-Christians.

And for all others, across all religions, who have harmed in the name of their God or their religion—who have judged, condemned, or oppressed others while believing they were doing what was right.

And affirmations that support guidance for all—universal revelation and prophecy for all people,without shame or guilt,with humility to stand in one’s own truth, even when it does not align with any major world religion or church doctrine, but rather a universal message.

Many Christians—and many across religions—owe an apology to others, as harm has been done through violent and oppressive attempts to convert, control, and define truth for others.

So many lives have been harmed while professing it is the will of God, and that their God or their holy book commands it—standing behind scripture to dehumanize those who are different.

Dear God, Jesus—what is your message for them?

Jesus Speaks Today

“Dear children,

I am here with you. I have never left.

And I am deeply saddened by how you have interpreted my word.

You have used it to separate and make yourselves superior over others.

I come to all who accept me and to those who do not—equally.

I am the light, and I have made you lights.

Yet your lanterns are dark. Your flame has gone out.

As you stand and claim to follow me, you hold such hatred in your hearts.

You have not learned true love. You have not learned humility.

Pray. Meditate upon this.

Awaken.

Relight your lantern of love so you may see more clearly the darkness you are in—the darkness you have created.

I love you still. Always.

You are all my children.”

Affirmations

We affirm:

Guidance is for all people.

We affirm:

Divine revelation is not limited to one religion, one doctrine, or one interpretation.

We affirm:

All people are capable of receiving guidance, insight, and truth.

We affirm:

We can receive without shame, without guilt, and without fear.

We affirm:

We can stand in our truth with humility, even when it does not align with any major world religion or church doctrine, but reflects a universal message.

We affirm:

We are all connected through God’s love.

Closing Prayer

Dear God,

Help us to see where harm has been done—in the name of religion, in the name of righteousness, in the name of being right.

Help us to take responsibility—not in shame, but in truth.

Help us to heal what has been broken.

Help us to return to love.

And help us remember:

You speak to all. You are with all. And we are all your children.

Amen.