::Home:: ::Testimony:: ::We Believe:: ::Children:: ::Devotions:: ::Donate::
Bible Worship & Praise Teaching & Worship Calvary Teaching Videos Chuch Smith Calvary Chapel History Video
Weight Of Glory 1941 C. S. Lewis EAGates Artist Good Friday Reading Habakkuk Teaching Being Sent Out Teaching
|
"We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." C S Lewis |
|
DEVOTIONS 
BACK ON MAUI 2008 The Worship Song Maranatha Praise Strings 4 DEVOTIONS Do Not Worry I feel like Jesus woke me up this morning at 4am. With all that is going on in the world, and the current national disasters ringing in my ears day in and day out, why do I continue to think of only my needs, and my personal worries? Why do I seem to keep dwelling on the closest people to me with all the need that is going on in the world? As my mind opens to these thoughts, I begin to hear the still small voice of Jesus in the quiet of the early morning. I can help Jesus meet the needs closest to me. I feel Him directing my thoughts toward my wife and children. Thoughts of how to lead her and them through these times of mind filling concern. my oldest son, his future wife, and my other children need direction and a clear picture of what to focus on. What is it we should hope for? I begin to dwell on the family members and friends that have asked me questions of Jesus and His Word. How they need hope for just every day life. Each day seems to have so much worry in itself. Every person has hundreds of thought of concern before they even get to the middle of the day. My thoughts move quickly to others. People I don’t know well. My neighbors and people in this community that may be filled with fear, and doubt. Jesus offers hope in times of trouble. I remember what He told me 10 years ago, and I dwell on these words often. so I will share His Word with you. THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 12:22-32 22 Then He said to His disciples, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. 23 Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? 25 And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 26 If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith? 29 "And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. 30 For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. 31 But seek *the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. 32 "Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. September 25th 2005 The Promise of Rest A good friend wrote me today from Maui, and told me that her sail boat is now 29 feet under water. A few days of large waves breaking on Maui's south shore was more than the boat could take. It was the last one of 4 that went down in the area that week. It was sad news because I know how much work they put into it. As I read the story, I remembered that I felt led to pray for them on the days the swells were hitting, and the thought occured to me that Jesus brought them to my mind for that reason. This passage from Hebrews came to mind as I wrote them Back. Jesus has given us a promise of rest that can only be experienced by us by stopping our work of trying to do things for Him. We must focus on the fact that He has already done all that is needed. What I realized is that God will not begin to do His work in our lives that gives us rest until we stop trying to do it ourselves. In verse 7 of Hebrews we read that we do not hear His voice if we have hardened our hearts, and this is the key to understanding Gods rest. We must work at knowing Him, and not work at trying to do what He is saying. He will do the work that is needed in our lives that give us rest and peace, but not if we are busy trying to do it ourselves. If we will just spend our time drawing close to Him, he will be the strength we need to do what is needed to be done in our lives. We draw close to Him by spending time reading His Words (the Bible), and Talking with Him (praying)on a regular day by day basis. My friend said that she felt God was just getting them prepared for a bigger blessing as they had just purchased a slip for the boat a few days before it sank. She has the right frame of mind. Not looking to the bad in the situation, but looking toward God and what good He will do as they rest in Him. You might be asking yourself now, Did Almighty Powerful God allow the boat to go down just to get them to think about Him? That I do not know, but what I do know is that God is good. He loves us and wants the best for us, and if He wants my friends to have a sailboat, he will get them one that is even better. Like any Father who loves his child would. He is not the Godfather, He is Father God! HEBREWS 4:1-9 4Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. 3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: "So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest,'"* although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all His works";* 5 and again in this place: "They shall not enter My rest."* 6 Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, 7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, "Today," after such a long time, as it has been said: "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts."* 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. September 26th 2005 He Is Our Rest In John 12 Jesus is being sought by "certain Greeks" (JN 12:20). They came to Philip and said in verse 21, "sir, we would see Jesus." What a great line! It reminds me of when a Greek couple came to my office on Maui and just about asked the same question. Our talk ended with them asking the most important question, "what must we do to be saved?". I made a life long friendship with these people at that moment. Would you consider yourself a follower of Jesus as Philip was? When people come up to you seeking Jesus do you direct them to Him. I think of how often I have spent so much time showing them myself rather than Jesus. Jesus is what people need to see and hear today, not what we think about Jesus, or what we have heard others say about Jesus, or people who look and sound like Jesus, but Jesus. In verse 32 of chapter 12 Jesus speaks of how all mankind will be drawn to Him, but only if He be lifted up. He was speaking of His own death on the cross for our sins. This is what we should hold before people too. This is what people need to hear and want to hear. Knowing that Jesus has paid the price that is required to live at peace with GOD is what all mankind needs to hear. This is what brings peace. We can spend all day talking about how bad we are and how much we need Jesus, and we would be right, but what is the good news? If we do not present Jesus, we have not presented the gospel. People can not have peace without Jesus. He is our peace. Point people to Him like Philip was asked to do, and Jesus Himself will do the work needed in each heart of every person. October 3rd 2005 He Is The Way In John 13 After washing the feet of the disciples, Jesus speaks to Peter about what is soon to come. That even though Peter says he will lay down his life for Jesus, he actually will deny that he even knows Him. In chapter 14 Jesus goes on to comfort Peter In verses 1 - 4. He said that they already know the way to where He is going. Thomas questioned "knowing the way" that Jesus spoke of in verse 5, so Jesus makes it clear. I AM THE WAY. Jesus is the way. He also says He and God are one, and if you have seen Me you have seen the Father. How often do I try to find my own way in this world. How often do you? It is such a hard thing to figure out. We all look for purpose in what we are doing, and then get caught up in the process of trying to build a meaningful life. Jesus would say we already know the way. Lets not let our work become our God, or our sport, or even our ministry, it too can take the place of Jesus in our lives. It is not what we do, do, do. It is about who He is and what he has done, done, done. He has gone to prepare a place for us. I have attached an easy reading of John chapter 14. Read it, I know it will comfort you. October 4th 2005 That You May Believe In John chapter 20 verse 30 and 31 John writes, "30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. John is stating the purpose of his writing. The main reason for the book. Just as he states it in the beginning of his other letters, and the book of Revelation. It got me thinking of how simple it really is to present Jesus to people. Just reading through the gospel of John or his letters, we can easly see Jesus. This is what we all need to hear today. Jesus was and is today. He did live. It is a recorded fact. Not only by John and other Bible writers, but by many other writers that lived during that time. It is recorded history. Jesus the son of Mary and Joseph was born and lived and died as it is written. What we do with that fact is the big issue. Read the recorded history. He said he was the Messiah, He said he and the Father were one. He allowed Thomas to worship Him as God. What will we do with this recorded history. It is truth. It is fact. believing it or not believing it does not change the facts, but it will make a huge difference in our lives, and in how we look at things from day to day. Nothing is more important to know, and to live by. I think it was C.S Lewis who wrote that if we live only for this world we will miss heaven, but if we live for heaven we will get both. John 20 NLTOctober 18th 2005 Follow Me In John chapter 21 Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee. He questions how the fishing was going. Fishermen do not like that question when it is not going good, and it was not going good as if Jesus did not know. Jesus often asked questions to get the disciples thinking. At first they did not know it was Him, but after he directs them to cast the net on the other side of the boat, they knew. This is a story of how common these men really were. They had lost hope and had no "Holy Spirit" to guide them yet, so they just returned to what they knew. A life not directed by Jesus. They had forgotton what Jesus had said not to long ago. JOHN 14:15 "If you love me, obey my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor,* who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world at large cannot receive him, because it isn't looking for him and doesn't recognize him. But you do, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. 18 No, I will not abandon you as orphans-I will come to you. 19 In just a little while the world will not see me again, but you will. For I will live again, and you will, too. 20 When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them, and I will love them. And I will reveal myself to each one of them." NLT I am sure these words of Jesus were now becoming clearer to them. The last verses of John's Gospel is where Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him three times. It must have reminded Peter of the three times he denied Him. This must have been a great time for them to see Jesus again risen from the grave. I am sure that it got them all pumped up again, but they still did not have what it would take to do the work that Jesus would direct them in. They still needed the Holy Spirit. They would get this "power" from God in due time, but for now Jesus is reminding them that without Him they will not be able to get this big job done. Our love for Jesus is the where we get our strength to live. John states that at the end of chapter 20, and it is spoken to Peter here. Jesus Himself spoke of this in John chapter 15. JOHN 15:5 "Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. NLT A great conclusion to the book of John. It reminds me of Things that Jesus spoke to my heart years ago about being a fisher of men. Without His direction, I am just like the disciples. Spending alot of time working on my own interest with no real gain in the things of life that matter most. We have the Holy Spirit now. We can ask God to fill us with His spirit for the spiritual strength we need to get the works of God done. John 21 NLT October 21st 2005 Be Thankful For All Acts 13:13 records how Mark went back from the missionary journey he was on with Paul and Barnabas. It is so easy to read past that record. Why did Mark turn back? From Pauls reaction later on in Acts you get the idea that Paul was upset about it. Yet in 2nd Timothoy chapter 4:11 near the end of Pauls life, he sent for Mark, and spoke of him as being useful to him for ministry. I made me think of many situations that I have been in where I needed to make a choice. For example, I thought that It might have been ok if we stayed in California, but if we did we never would have met all those wonderful people on Maui who we now call friends. If we would not have decided to stay for 7 years, we never would have seen the wonderful works God did. We could have stayed on Maui, but we would never have com to know the wonderful people in Alaska we now call friends. We could have stayed in Alaska, yet I am sure that God was showing us to leave was also good. We went to Texas, and then Michigan and where next? Many deep experiences with God and His grace that I will gladly ponder for the rest of my life. In Romans chapter 8 verse 28, Paul writes "all things work for good for those who love Him and are called for His purposes". This is a clear statement from God to us all. We make so many choices in life, good and bad, but if we love Him it will all work out as it did between Paul and Mark. Mark may have turned back for reasons that were not clear to many, but God knows the heart of those who love Him. He will keep us going and guide us through life and be our light. We may come to times in our lives where we feel we have made a big error, yet we also realize that we would not have learned the depth of Gods ocean of grace and mercy if we had not made the choice. Then we see all the good that has come out of the direction we have taken or not taken, and we see God at work in it all. He is our guide through life. What we do for Him is an outward showing of who He is to us. We can be faithful to Him in one place for a long time, or faithful to Him as we move from place to place. The proper choice is Him. What we do for Him as we make choices will be of no effect if we have not chosen Him, and are not abiding in Him , John 15:5 I am so thankful for those we have met in the places we have gone. Our many friends God has called together as His body in California, Maui, Molokai, Oahu, Sitka Alaska, Juneau Alaska, Texas, North Carolina and Michigan. What a wonderful experience we have had and will have among you all. November 22nd 2005 Blessings to you this Thanksgiving season The WIll Of The Lord Be Done In Acts 21:1-14 , Paul was being warned not to go to Jerusalem. His friends were being led by the Holy Spirit to tell him things regarding what to expect if he did go, and urged him not to. More that once as he continued toward that city, he was pleeded with by his friends and yet he resisted. Paul felt strongly led to do this thing even if it ment death. What I though was great was that not until after many days of pleeding and warning, did they gave up and say, "The Lords Will Be Done". Perhaps his friends should have realized from the beginning that the Lords will would be done regardless of what they thought they knew. They should have leaned on that truth, and just supported Paul 100%. God will do His work. We can resist it, and even work against it, but His will, will be done. I take great rest in that, you can too. He has a great plan for the big picture of our lives, and for the whole world. Our plans should always be prayed through, and seasoned with that truth. Go ahead and set your alarm, get up and start your plan, work hard to see it through, but Gods will is what is going to work out. If you love God and are called according to His purpose, it will work out toward your good too! Romans 8:28 God loves us and has a great plan for us. In Jer 29:11, The Bible says He has a plan that gives us a future and a hope. What more could we ask for? The reason I dont always see that is I fail to pray on a regular basis. Do you? When we pray it does not change what God is doing, but it makes what He is doing clearer to us. Pray More, Know More January 3rd 2006 CCBC Maui Psalms Students 2003 Psalms 1-8 CCBC Maui Psalms Students 2003 Psalms 9-20 CCBC Maui Psalms Students 2003 Psalms 21-24 CCBC Maui Psalms Students 2003 Psalms 25-41 Calvary Chapel Bible College Students on Maui Share Words of Comfort These are words to my daughter, Delane and friends and family of Brian Wobbema. Brian died in a bad car crash on a rain slick road in Southern California. Garid to Delane Andrew to all Jesse to all Shanette to all Shane to all Heather to Delane Nicole to all Tyler to Delane Nakeli to Delane Jessica to Delane Aaron to Delane and Brian's parents Christy to Delane Stephanie to all Joe to Delane Rosemary to Delane Cannon to Delane Katrina to Delane and all Donovan to Delane and Brian's parents Jeremiah to all the broken hearted Prayer Video To Tiberas Caesar the emperor of Rome, noble sovereign greeting, the events of the last view days in my province have been of such character, that I will give the details in full as they have occurred, as I should not be surprised if in the course of time they may change the destiny of our nation. For it seems oblate that all the god's have ceased to be popisious. I am almost ready to say. Cursed be the day that I succeeded Dalarias Fasias, in the government of Judea, for since then my life has been one of continual uneasiness and distress. And he goes on and tells of some of the problems that he had as he took over as the governor there in Israel. He said: I granted onto Jesus unlimited freedom. I was true that Jesus was severe on the rich and the powerful. And this was a political reason in my opinion for not restraining the liberty of the Nazarene. The scribes and the Pharisees He would say to them:" you are a race of vipers, you resemble painted sepulchres, you appear well onto men, but you have death within you." At other times He would sneer at the alms of the rich and the proud, telling them that the mite of a poor was more precious in the side of God. And new complains were daily made at the pretorium against the insolence of Jesus. I was even informed that some misfortune would befall Him, and that it would not be the first time that Jerusalem had stoned those that called themselves Prophets. And if the pretorium refuse justice an appeal would be made to Caesar. However my conduct was approved by the Senate, and I was promised reinforcement after the termination of the Partian war, being to weak to suppress the sedition, I resolved on adopting a measure that promised to establish the tranquility of the city, without subjecting the pretorium to the humiliating concession. I wrote to Jesus requesting an interview with Him at the pretorium. He came, you know that in my veins there flows Spanish, mixed with roman blood is incapable of fear, it is a peril emotion. But when the Nazarene made His appearance I was walking in my Baselic, and my feet seemed fastened with an iron hand to the marble pavement, and I trembled in every limb as a guilty Colbret, for He was comm. The Nazarene was as calm as innocence itself. When He came up to me, He stooped, and by a signal sign He seemed to say to me: I am here," though He spoke not a word. For some time I contemplated with admiration and ohh. This extraordinary type of man, a type of man unknown to our numerous painters, who have given form and figures to all the god's and the hero's. There was nothing about Him that was repelling in His character, yet I felt odd, and tremulous to approach Him." Jesus," said I onto Him at last, and my tongue faltered. " Jesus of Nazareth I have granted you for the last three years ample freedom of speech, nor do I regret it. Your words are those of a sage. I know not weather you have read Socrates, or Plato, but this I know, there is in your discourses a majestic simplicity that elevates you far above these philosophers. The Emperor is informed of it, and I as his humble representative in his country, I am glad of having allowed you that liberty of which you are so worthy. However, I must not conceal from you that your discourses have raised up against you powerful enemies, and neither is this surprising Socrates had his enemies, and he fell victim to their hatred. Yours are doubly incensed against you, on account of your discourses being so severe against their conduct, against me, on account of the liberty I have afforded you. They even accused me of being indirectly linked, for the purpose of depriving the Hebrews of the little civil power the Rome has left them. My request, and I do not say, my order, is that you be more circumspect and moderate in your discourses in the future, and more tender toward them, lest you arouse the pride of your enemies, and they rise against you, this stupid populous, and compel me to employ the instruments of law." The Nazarene commonly replied;" Prince of the earth, your words proceed not from true wisdom, say to the torrent, stop in the midst of the mountain gorge, it will uproot the trees of the valley. The torrent will answer you that it obeys the laws of nature, and the creator, God alone knows whither flows the water of the torrent. "Verily I say onto you, before the rose of sharon blossoms, the blood of the just shall be spelled." "Your blood will not be spelled," said I with deep emotions." You are more precious in my estimation, on account of your wisdom, that all of the proud Pharisees who abused the freedom granted them by the Romans. They conspire against Caesar and convert his bounty in to fear and pressing the unlearned, that Caesar is a tyrant, and seeks their ruin. Insolent wretches they are not aware that the wolf of the Tiber sometimes clothe themselves with the skin of sheep to accomplish the wicked ends. And he goes on with his conversation there. And then the interesting part I feel is concerning the resurrection. Talking of the crucifixion he said:" I returned to the praetorium, was pensive on ascending the stair, the steps of which was still stained with the blood of the Nazarene. I perceived an old man in a sublime posture, and behind him several Romans in tears. He drew himself at my feet and he wept most bitterly. It is painful to see and old man weep. And my heart already over charged with grief, wept, though strangers, mutually wept together. And in truth it seemed the tears lay very shallow that day on many whom I perceived out of the vast concourse of people. I never saw such a complete division of feeling. Both on the extreme, those that betrayed and sold Him, those that testified against Him. Those that said, crucify Him, we will have His blood. All slunk off like cowardly Œ curse, and washed their teeth with vinegar. As I am told that Jesus taught a resurrection and separation after death, if such should be the fact I am sure it commenced in this vast crowd. " Father," I said to him, after gaining control of my feelings," who are you, and what is your request?" I am Joseph of Arimathae, he replied, and I have come to beg of you on my knees the permission to bury Jesus of Nazareth. " Your prayer is granted, I said to him. And at the same time ordered Manleous to take some soldiers with him to superintend the Interment, lest it should be profaned. A few days after the sepulchre was found empty His disciples publicly told over the country that Jesus had risen from the dead, as He had foretold. This last report created more excitement then the first. As to it's truth I can not say for certain, but I have made some investigation in the matter. So you can examine it for yourself and see if I am at fault as Herod represents me. Joseph buried Jesus in his own tomb. Whether he contemplated the resurrection, or calculated to cut himself another, I can not tell. The next day after He was buried one of the priests came to the pretorium and said that they were apprehensive that the disciples intended to steal the body of Jesus and hide it. And then to make it appear that He had risen from the dead, as He had foretold. In which they were perfectly convinced. I sent him to the captain of the royal guard Malcus to take Him, the Jewish soldiers, and placed as many around the sepulchre as were needed, and then if anything should happen, they would blame themselves, and not the Romans. And when the great excitement arose about the sepulchre being found empty, I felt deeper solicitude then ever. I sent for Malcus who told me, he had placed his Lieutenant Benishim with 100 soldiers around the sepulchre. He told me Ishim and the soldiers were very much alarmed at what had occurred there that morning. I sent for this man Ishim who related to me as near as I can remember the following circumstances. He said that about the beginning of the fourth watch they saw His soft and beautiful light over the sepulchre. He had first thought that the woman had come to embalm the body of Jesus, as was their custom. They could not see how they gotten through the guards. And while this reflection were passing through his mind, behold the whole place lighted up, and there seemed to be crowds of the dead clothed. All seemed to be shouting and filled with ecstasy while all around and above was the most beautiful music they had ever heard. And the whole air seemed to be filled with voices praising God. And at this time there seemed to be a reeling and a swimming of the earth, that he turned so sick and faint, that he could not stand on his feet, and he said, the earth seemed to swim from under him, and his senses left him, so he did not know what did occur. I asked him in what condition he was when he came to himself. He said, he was lying on the ground with his face down. I asked him if he could not have been mistaken as to the light. Was it not maybe the day coming in the east. He said, at first he thought of that, but only as stones cast away, it was exceedingly dark, and then he remembered it was to early for day. I asked him if his dizziness might not have come from being awakened, and getting up to suddenly. For sometimes it has that effect. He said he was not, and had he had not been asleep all night, as the penalty was death for him to sleep on duty. He said he had let some of the soldiers sleep at the time, and some were asleep then. I asked him, how long the scene lasted. He said, he did not know, but he thought nearly an hour. He said it was hide by the light of day. And I asked him if he went to the sepulchre after he had come to himself, he said no, because he was afraid. That just as soon as relief came they all went to their quarters. I asked him if he had been interrogated by the priest. He said he had, they wanted him to say that it was an earthquake, and to say that they were asleep, and offered him money to tell that the disciples had come and stolen the body. But he saw no disciples. He did not know that the body was gone until he was told so. I asked him what was his private opinion of the priest that conversed with him. He said, some of them thought that Jesus was no man, that He was not a human being, that He was not the son of Mary, that He was not the same that was born of the virgin in Bethlehem. That the same person had been on earth before, with Abraham and Lot, and at many times and places. It seems to me if the Jewish theory be true, these conclusions would be correct, for to sum up His life, it would be in accord with this man's life, as is known and testified by both friends and foes. For the elements were no more in His hands then clay in the hands of a potter. He could convert water into wine. He could change death into life, diseases into health. He could calm the seas. Still the storms. Call out fish with a silver coin in it's mouth. Now I say if He could do all these things which He did, and many more as the Jews all testified. And it was doing these things that created this enmity against Him. He was not charged with criminal offences, nor was He charged with violating any law, nor of wronging any individual in person. All of the facts are known to thousands, as well as by His foes and His friends. So I am almost ready to say as the man said at the cross, truly this was the Son of God. So that is the Actepolati. There are sources in here that try to attest to it's authenticity. We do not know. As I said, the early church fathers did say that Pilate wrote this letter to the Roman government to explain the circumstances. Iranias refers to it, they said, and Justin Marter, and the early church historian Usipheus. Posted November 2008 American Medicine April, 1907 Hypothesis Concerning Soul Substance Together with Experimental Evidence of The Existence of Such Substance by Duncan MacDougall, M.D. of Haverhill, Mass. If personal continuity after the event of bodily death is a fact, if the psychic functions continue to exist as a separate individually or personality after the death of brain and body, then such personality can only exit as a space occupying body, unless the relations between space objective and space notions in our consciousness, established in our consciousness by heredity and experience, are entirely wiped out at death and a new set of relations between space and consciousness suddenly established in the continuing personality. This would be an unimaginable breach in the continuity of nature. It is unthinkable that personality and consciousness continuing personal identity should exist, and have being, and yet not occupy space. It is impossible to represent in thought that which is not space-occupying, as having personality; for that would be equivalent to thinking that nothing had become or was something, that emptiness had personality, that space itself was more than space, all of which are contradictions and absurd. Since therefore it is necessary to the continuance of conscious life and personal identity after death, that they must have for a basis that which is space-occupying, or substance, the question arises has this substance weight, is it ponderable? The essential thing is that there must be a substance as the basis of continuing personal identity and consciousness, for without space-occupying substance, personality or a continuing conscious ego after bodily death is unthinkable. According to the latest conception of science, substance, or space-occupying material, is divisible into that which is gravitative, solids, liquids, gases, all having weight, and the ether which is nongravitative. It seemed impossible to me that the soul substance could consist of the ether. If the conception is true that ether is continuous and not to be conceived of as existing or capable of existing in separate masses, we have here the most solid ground for believing that the soul substance we are seeking is not ether, because one of the very first attributes of personal identity is the quality of separateness. Nothing is more borne in upon consciousness, than that the ego is detached and separate from all things else - the nonego. We are therefore driven back upon the assumption that the soul substance so necessary to the conception of continuing personal identity, after the death of this material body, must still be a form of gravitative matter, or perhaps a middle form of substance neither gravitative matter or ether, not capable of being weighed, and yet not identical with ether. Since however the substance considered in our hypothesis is linked organically with the body until death takes place, it appears to me more reasonable to think that it must be some form of gravitative matter, and therefore capable of being detected at death by weighing a human being in the act of death. My first subject was a man dying of tuberculosis. It seemed to me best to select a patient dying with a disease that produces great exhaustion, the death occurring with little or no muscular movement, because in such a case the beam could be kept more perfectly at balance and any loss occurring readily noted. The patient was under observation for three hours and forty minutes before death, lying on a bed arranged on a light framework built upon very delicately balanced platform beam scales. The patient's comfort was looked after in every way, although he was practically moribund when placed upon the bed. He lost weight slowly at the rate of one ounce per hour due to evaporation of moisture in respiration and evaporation of sweat. During all three hours and forty minutes I kept the beam end slightly above balance near the upper limiting bar in order to make the test more decisive if it should come. At the end of three hours and forty minutes he expired and suddenly coincident with death the beam end dropped with an audible stroke hitting against the lower limiting bar and remaining there with no rebound. The loss was ascertained to be three-fourths of an ounce. This loss of weight could not be due to evaporation of respiratory moisture and sweat, because that had already been determined to go on, in his case, at the rate of one sixtieth of an ounce per minute, whereas this loss was sudden and large, three-fourths of an ounce in a few seconds. The bowels did not move; if they had moved the weight would still have remained upon the bed except for a slow loss by the evaporation of moisture depending, of course, upon the fluidity of the feces. The bladder evacuated one or two drams of urine. This remained upon the bed and could only have influenced the weight by slow gradual evaporation and therefore in no way could account for the sudden loss. There remained but one more channel of loss to explore, the expiration of all but the residual air in the lungs. Getting upon the bed myself, my colleague put the beam at actual balance. Inspiration and expiration of air as forcibly as possible by me had no effect upon the beam. My colleague got upon the bed and I placed the beam at balance. Forcible inspiration and expiration of air on his part had no effect. In this case we certainly have an inexplicable loss of weight of three-fourths of an ounce. Is it the soul substance? How other shall we explain it? My second patient was a man moribund from tuberculosis. He was on the bed about four hours and fifteen minutes under observation before death. The first four hours he lost weight at the rate of three-fourths of an ounce per hour. He had much slower respiration than the first case, which accounted for the difference in loss of weight from evaporation of perspiration and respiratory moisture. The last fifteen minutes he had ceased to breathe but his facial muscles still moved convulsively, and then, coinciding with the last movement of the facial muscles, the beam dropped. The weight lost was found to be half an ounce. Then my colleague auscultated the heart and and found it stopped. I tried again and the loss was one ounce and a half and fifty grains. In the eighteen minutes that lapsed between the time he ceased breathing until we were certain of death, there was a weight loss of one and a half ounces and fifty grains compared with a loss of three ounces during a period of four hours, during which time the ordinary channels of loss were at work. No bowel movement took place. The bladder moved but the urine remained upon the bed and could not have evaporated enough through the thick bed clothing to have influenced the result. The beam at the end of eighteen minutes of doubt was placed again with the end in slight contact with the upper bar and watched for forty minutes but no further loss took place. My scales were sensitive to two-tenths of an ounce. If placed at balance one-tenth of an ounce would lift the beam up close to the upper limiting bar, another one-tenth ounce would bring it up and keep it in direct contact, then if the two-tenths were removed the beam would drop to the lower bar and then slowly oscillate till balance was reached again. This patient was of a totally different temperament from the first, his death was very gradual, so that we had great doubts from the ordinary evidence to say just what moment he died. My third case, a man dying of tuberculosis, showed a weight of half and ounce lost, coincident with death, and an additional loss of one ounce a few minutes later. In the fourth case, a woman dying of diabetic coma, unfortunately our scales were not finely adjusted and there was a good deal of interference by people opposed to our work, and although at death the beam sunk so that it required from three-eighths to one-half ounce to bring it back to the point preceding death, yet I regard this test as of no value. My fifth case, a man dying of tuberculosis, showed a distinct drop in the beam requiring about three-eighths of an ounce which could not be accounted for. This occurred exactly simultaneously with death but peculiarly on bringing the beam up again with weights and later removing them, the beam did not sink back to stay for fully fifteen minutes. It was impossible to account for the three-eighths of an ounce drop, it was so sudden and distinct, the beam hitting the lower bar with as great a noise as in the first case. Our scales in the case were very sensitively balanced. My sixth and last case was not a fair test. The patient died almost within five minutes after being placed upon the bed and died while I was adjusting the beam. In my communication to Dr. Hodgson I note that I have said there was no loss of weight. It should have been added that there was no loss of weight that we were justified in recording. My notes taken at the time of experiment show a loss of one and one-half ounces but in addition it should have been said the experiment was so hurried, jarring of the scales had not wholly ceased and the apparent weight loss, one and one-half ounces, might have been due to accidental shifting of the sliding weight on that beam. This could not have been true of the other tests; no one of them was done hurriedly. My sixth case I regard as one of no value from this cause. The same experiments were carried out on fifteen dogs, surrounded by every precaution to obtain accuracy and the results were uniformly negative, no loss of weight at death. A loss of weight takes places about 20 to 30 minutes after death which is due to the evaporation of the urine normally passed, and which is duplicated by evaporation of the same amount of water on the scales, every other condition being the same, e.g., temperature of the room, except the presence of the dog's body. The dogs experimented on weighed between 15 and 70 pounds and the scales with the total weight upon them were sensitive to one-sixteenth of an ounce. The tests on dogs were vitiated by the use of two drugs administered to secure the necessary quiet and freedom from struggle so necessary to keep the beam at balance. The ideal tests on dogs would be obtained in those dying from some disease that rendered them much exhausted and incapable of struggle. It was not my fortune to get dogs dying from such sickness. The net result of the experiments conducted on human beings, is that a loss of substance occurs at death not accounted for by known channels of loss. Is it the soul substance? It would seem to me to be so. According to our hypothesis such a substance is necessary to the assumption of continuing or persisting personality after bodily death, and here we have experimental demonstration that a substance capable of being weighed does leave the human body at death. If this substance is a counterpart to the physical body, has the same bulk, occupies the same dimensions in space, then it is a very much lighter substance than the atmosphere surrounding our earth which weighs about one and one-fourth ounces per cubic foot. This would be a fact of great significance, as such a body would readily ascend in our atmosphere. The absence of a weighable mass leaving the body at death would of course be no argument against continuing personality, for a space-occupying body or substance might exist not capable of being weighed, such as the ether. It has been suggested that the ether might be that substance, but with the modern conception of science that the ether is the primary form of all substance, that all other forms of matter are merely differentiations of the ether having varying densities, then it seems to me that soul substance which is in this life linked organically with the body, cannot be identical with the ether. Moreover, the ether is supposed to be nondiscontinuous, a continuous whole and not capable of existing in separate masses as ether, whereas the one prime requisite for a continuing personality or individuality is the quality of separateness, the ego as separate and distinct from all things else, the nonego. To my mind therefore the soul substance cannot be the ether as ether; but if the theory that ether is the primary form of all substance is true, then the soul substance must necessarily be a differentiated form of it. If it is definitely proved that there is in the human being a loss of substance at death not accounted for by known channels of loss, and that such loss of substance does not occur in the dog as my experiments would seem to show, then we have here a physiological difference between the human and the canine at least and probably between the human and all other forms of animal life. I am aware that a large number of experiments would require to be made before the matter can be proved beyond any possibility of error, but if further and sufficient experimentation proves that there is a loss of substance occurring at death and not accounted for by known channels of loss, the establishment of such a truth cannot fail to be of the utmost importance. One ounce of fact more or less will have more weight in demonstrating the truth of the reality of continued existences with the necessary basis of substance to rest upon, than all the hair-splitting theories of theologians and metaphysicians combined. If other experiments prove that there is a loss of weight occurring at death, not accounted for by known channels of loss, we must either admit the theory that it is the hypothetical soul substance, or some other explanation of the phenomenon should be forthcoming. If proved true, the materialistic conception will have been fully met, and proof of the substantial basis for mind or spirit or soul continuing after the death of the body, insisted upon as necessary by the materialists, will have been furnished. It will prove also that the spiritualistic conception of the immateriality of the soul was wrong. The postulates of religious creeds have not been a positive and final settlement of the question. The theories of all the philosophers and all the philosophies offer no final solution of the problem of continued personality after bodily death. This fact alone of a space occupying body of measurable weight disappearing at death, if verified, furnishes the substantial basis for persisting personality or a conscious ego surviving the act of bodily death, and in the element of certainty is worth more than the postulates of all the creeds and all the metaphysical arguments combined. In the year 1854 Rudolph Wagner, the physiologist, at the Gottingen Congress of Physiologists, proposed a discussion of a "Special Soul Substance." The challenge was accepted, but no discussion followed and among the 500 voices present not one was raised in defense of a spiritualistic philosophy. Have we found Wagner's soul substance? |Web Servant| |