The Presentation of Question 27 Chapter 21

How does In God's Love 
written by Janet Hurlow
relate to 
the Catholic Faith ?

  Chapter 21 Conclusion

            Part 1 Review of Chapters 14-20

931           Admittedly there is much information that is in our deposit of faith that is not contained in In God’s Love and that is OK because it was never intended to a representation of the Catholic Faith.  It is meant to lead people to faith in the “time of times.”

932           There are some things that are in In God’s Love that I do not understand, but none of the areas seem to be things that would contradict the faith.  Because of its poetic and mystical nature, it is not surprising that we cannot have perfect clarity on every phrase.  The fact that there are some lines of scripture that we do not understand does not keep us from having it be our “book of book” for all ages.  The reality that there may be some parts of a private revelation that the Church does not understand probably has not kept the Church from approving  a private revelation.  I hope that will be the case here as well.  

933           The Church professes the belief in a new dwelling that God has prepared for us and a new heaven and the new Earth.  In our deposit of faith, we also mention that the church does not have a clue of how these things will come about nor does it concern itself with predicting future events.  Since the “how” of these matters is not a part of the deposit of the faith, the messengers are free give us some clues and not be in conflict with the deposit of the faith. 

934           What the messengers observe or reveal about themselves, the universe, Janet Hurlow and their opinion of In God’s Love is, of course, outside of the normal realm of whether this conflicts with the faith.   Likewise, their observations about us, our planet, and their relationship to us are also outside the normal realm of whether or not this conflicts with the faith.  If these observations had come up with something that was wildly against what the Catholic Church teaches, like the fictional examples given in the prefaces of Chapters 14-18 then there could have potentially been some concerns, but there are no wild observations like what was presented in the prefaces.  I believe it is safe to say that in Chapters 14-20 there is nothing that would cause one to claim that In God’s Love is in conflict with the Catholic Church.    

            Part 2 Review of Chapters 1-13
                        Section 1 The Same Tradition 
                                             Expressed in the Same Way

935           As presented in the Outline to this work, the first thirteen Chapters of this work have several layers.  One layer is The Same Tradition.  A vast amount of the theology of In God’s Love is the same as the Catholic faith and is even expressed in the same manner.  According to my survey of the 532 Passages of In God's Love there are 688 discernable theological topics which I present in the first thirteen chapters of “The Presentation” and 81.40% would fall under this category.  I also realize that one could argue that some topics in the “Same point but different expression” category could also fall into this category, or visa versa.   I also realize there may be some overlap in the Theological topics.  I am not going to list all 560 of the topics of this category. I am merely going to mention some of our major theological doctrine that the messengers not only agree with, but phrase in the same way that the Church does.

936           There is only one God(1)  and this one God created everything,(2)  which would include, the universe, Angels(3) , the Earth, us and everything else that exists(4).  God is the uncreated Creator.(5)  God is a Triune God, three persons in One God(6), the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  We are made in God’s image(7)  and have been chosen by Him to live with Him forever(8) ; however we have freewill to be wise and choose to follow God(9)  or be foolish and reject God.(10)  Jesus is the Son of God.(11)   God became human and was God and man.(12)   Jesus, the Lamb of God,(13) forgives us(14)  and died for our sins and rose from the dead.(15)   The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son(16)  and is the giver of life.(17)  Satan is the father of lies(18)  and his sign is death,(19) whereas all life is in God.(20)  Sin disrespects and offends God,  but God is always ready and willing to forgive the repentant sinner.(21)   If we are in Christ we do not need to fear death.(22)  

937           Concerning our beliefs about heaven and hell they agree that God is in heaven,(23) and the Angels(24)  and saints who have followed God(25) are there, too.  In heaven there is no sorrow,(26) death,(27)or disease.(28)  Foolish people who are not ready for judgment go to hell.(29)  God does not send people to hell; people choose to go there(30)  by foolishly rejecting God.(31)  People in hell will be separated from God forever.(32)   The messengers believe in the bodily resurrection of the dead,(33) the day of judgment,(34)  a new dwelling prepared for God’s children,(35) and the creation of a new heaven and a new Earth.(36) 

938           The Holy Spirit helps us to grow spiritually.(37)   We are to do good and avoid evil.(38)   We are to obey the commandments of God to remain in His love.(39)   We are to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength.(40)  

939           The Lord longs for our prayers(41)  and we are to pray in the name of the Trinity.(42)  We are to pray without ceasing.(43)  We are to pray because friends speak to each other.(44)  These highlights of this category show that there is a lot of  agreement in what the Catholic Church believes and what the messengers profess to believe.
 
                      Section 2  The Same Tradition Expressed 
                                            in a Different Way

940           Another layer is The Same Tradition, but a Different Expression, and sometimes this expression can lead to a deeper appreciation of an aspect of our faith.  According to my survey of the 532 Passages from In God's Love there are 688 discernible theological topics in which I present in the first thirteen Chapters of "The Presentation" and 17.73% would fall under this category.  I also realize that one could argue that some topics in the “Same point and same expression” category or the “different emphasis” category could also fall into this category or vice versa.   I am not going to list all 122 of the topics.  I am going to mention fourteen of the more significant theological thoughts that the messengers present that agree with what the Church believes, but they state them in a different way.  

941           Eight of the thoughts are about God.  First, the messengers state God is polite. We always state that God is love and Paul states that love is not rude, so it makes sense.(45)   Still, we do not have the “God of politeness” in any of our litanies of praise to God.  

942          Second, God’s Spirit is vast but His stature is small.  I believe this is getting at the humility of God. He is the God who authored the Beatitudes, which beg us to be like Him, humble.(46)    This humbleness of God also comes across in the image of a fragile flower in our hand.(47)   

943          Third, God creates in music.  We say that God creates with His Word and that the Spirit, or the breath of God, gives life; therefore, to say that God creates in song makes wonderful sense for what do you get when you combine "words" and "breath", but song.(48)   

944          Fourth, everything is made from God's Spirit and is a spirit.  The Sun, Moon, Earth, Time all things made are made from the Spirit of Spirits, which is the Holy Spirit. and becomes a spirit as well.  St. Francis of Assisi, author of Brother Sun and Sister Moon, is smiling.(49)   

945          Fifth, God is young.  You can almost hear the messengers chuckle at our images of God as an old man, an old Father as they proclaim that God is forever young.  God is life. God is a fountain of youth.(50)   

946          Sixth, God wanted to experience being human.  They state that Jesus came for our redemption, but they also state that God came to experience what it was like to be human.  The author of Hebrews states this in a different way in that we now have a High Priest who can sympathize with our weakness.(51)   

947          Seventh, God's wrath is one of removing Himself from us and not actions of violence.  The messengers’ definition of the “wrath of God” does not have God blasting us, but rather removing His protection from us.  This is profound and is perhaps alluded to in Isaiah 57:17. "Because of their wicked avarice I was angry, and I struck them, hiding myself in wrath, as they went their own rebellious way."(52)   

948          Eighth, God does not go to hell, not because He can’t, but because, like most of us, He chooses not to go where He is not wanted and everyone in hell did not want God in their life.(53) 

949          Thoughts nine and ten deal with the Spirit of Sorrow, or suffering.  Ninth,, Sorrow is described as not in God’s nature because she was not inscribed in the beginning. (54)   If something is  not in the beginning it cannot be of God, for only God is in the beginning; therefore, suffering is not in the nature of God.   Sorrow is not a part of who God is.

950        Tenth, Sorrow is described as working in God's Spirit.  How can sorrow not be of God's nature and yet be in God's Spirit?  I hypothesized that Sorrow, because of the Paschal Mystery, is now in God's Spirit; whereas, in the beginning, sorrow was not in the Spirit of God.  Jesus Christ experienced and claimed suffering for Himself.  Because of Jesus' suffering, death and resurrection, we can experience the presence of God, the Kingdom of God, even in sorrow.   God opens up His Spirit and Body to Sorrow for our redemption.  Once again this is my hypothesis to reconcile thoughts nine and ten.

951          Thoughts eleven through thirteen focus on prayer.  Eleventh, when we pray our young God makes us young.(55)   Don’t we often feel refreshed after prayer?  

952         Twelfth, the love we give God in our prayer is always returned.(56)  God will always love us more back.

953         Thirteenth, all prayers are answered but some answers are reserved until the hour of death when they are needed the most.(57)   Our Catholic faith knows of the need of the hour of death, which is why we are constantly asking Mary to pray for us at the hour of our death.  

 954         Our last two points have to deal with Satan.  Fourteen, Satan often uses the promise of power and wealth to lure people to him. (58) 

955          The fifteenth and final point of this category is that Satan is limited to our Earth.  This a a thought that could be seen as reflected in two Scripture passages: "Jesus said, 'I have observed Satan fall like lightening from the sky'" (Luke 10:18) and "The huge dragon, the ancient serpent, who is called  the Devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world, was thrown down to earth, and its angels were thrown down with it." (Revelation 12:9)  If Satan is literally "thrown down to the earth" as Revelation states, and remains only here, then he is not anywhere else but the earth.  In God's Love states that Satan has no power beyond Earth's Sun. (59) This is only mentioned once and, I view that it is written in an almost "well-didn't-you-know-that" kind of fashion.  (The messengers would probably tell me/us to read our Bible again.)  In reality this changes nothing, but in my perception, this changes everything.  Before reading In God's Love, if someone had asked me or the Church, "To what degree can Satan tempt us, hurt us and cause us suffering?" hopefully I would of given the Church's answer, which would of had its roots in the book of Job, "That Satan can hurt and tempt us only to the degree that God lets him."  With the messenger's statement this answer remains the same.  If someone had asked me a follow-up question of "How far is that?"  I  would have probably answered until we die (unless we go to hell) and other than that I do not know.  I would have probably assumed (without any Church statement providing grounds for this assumption) that the same struggle of good and evil that is happening on the Earth is also happening all throughout the universe.  This struggle would not be a yin-yeng, or good force vs bad force type of war, for we all know that God is God and Satan is a created, hateful, defeated, ugly lying twit, but still I would have assumed there was a battle for the souls of the universe like it is here on Earth.  My assumption, according to the messengers, would be wrong.  God has limited Satan to our little itty bitty solar system.  In this category, while the way the messengers state things may be different from our normal Church language and may cause us to ponder and reflect in a different way about a topic, I do not see where anything they write in this category would be contrary to the faith.

                      Section 3 A Different Emphasis of a
                                         Part of the Tradition of the Church 

956           A third layer has a different emphasis of a part of the Sacred Tradition.  As noted in the introduction at some point individual repeated Confession seemed like a “new” tradition and at some point the “new” Good Friday prayers also seemed new.  What is new is really not new, but a spiritual development focusing on what was really there all the time.  We come to a greater understanding of the truths that have already been a part of our deposit of the faith.  According to my survey of the 532 Passages of the book In God's Love  there are 688 discernable theological topics which I present in the first Thirteen Chapters  of “The Presentation” and 1.60 % would fall under this category.  I also realize that one could argue that some topics in the “same point different emphasis” category could also fall into this category, or visa versa.   Because this work is concerned with whether In God’s Love conflicts with the doctrine of the Catholic faith, I am going to discuss all eleven of the potentially challenging thoughts.    

957            First, they use the word "Saint" differently than we do.  If something, anything, does God's will, it is a "Saint."  Do the Earth, Sun and Moon do what God wants them to do? Yes.  Then they are Saints.  Do the Spirits of the Holy Spirit like the Spirit of Wisdom, Spirit of Virtue, Spirit of Kindness and Spirit of Justice do God's will?  Yes.  Then they are Saints too. (60)  If a “thing”, including time, does what God wants it to do, then it appears that they call it a “Saint.”  Is this not yet another way of saying God’s will is done in everything, or that God can make everything work for the “good”.  It does broaden our use of the word “saint”, but I do not believe what is being said as a result conflicts with the faith, for we believe that God is in all and makes all things work for the good?  The sun and moon and stars and all creation obey God’s will.  God never freaks out and says, “Oh my why did the sun do that?” but, rather, the Spirit of the sun is obedient to the will of God.  Even the Spirit of Sorrow is called a saint because she is unwittingly used by God to bring repentance and holiness to people she detests.  In their definition of Sainthood, anyone who does the will of God, even unwittingly, is a Saint.  (Sorrow hates that she is used by God to bring about good.(61)  Sorrow, in her world she is hell.) (62) 

958          Second, the messengers state that Jesus was comforted on the cross by the blood of martyrs.(63)   There is not an assertion of the faith that I am aware of that speaks to either of these possible reality  I do not see where the Church could say yes or no to the scripturally unspoken feelings of Jesus Christ.  I do not see where it would cause a difficulty with any of our doctrines of the faith if this event was asserted as true.  If it is true,  it speaks to the deep union of the Communion of Saints.  

959          Third, the messengers proclaim that Satan invented homosexuality as an outward insult to God.(64)   There are three things to note here:  First, virtually all sins  (and maybe all sin) have the presence of Satan and our freewill at their origin.  Second, the Church states that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered” and who else could or would intrinsically disorder something other than Satan.  Third, as the Church constantly refrains, it is the act that is evil and to be condemned and not the person, that is why the chaste homosexual is a wise person.  

960          Fourth, a second thought regarding evil is that the sickness in men's souls causes natural disasters.(65)   One of the truths of Genesis is that there is a connection between sin and suffering.  In a world where there is no sin, like in the beginning, there is no suffering.  As noted, one caution with this, is that while tornadoes and Earthquakes are caused by sin, which empowers suffering or Satan, the people who are “doing the sinning” may not be the ones who suffer.  One thing that our Church has NOT done is to state things like, “because the people of New Orleans were such sinners, they were hit with Hurricane Katrina.”  The messengers just reaffirm the link between sin and real suffering caused by “natural disasters” which they state are caused by our sinning.  

961         Fifth, everywhere, except the little prison of hell on a dead planet, is Heaven.  In the previous section we mention that Satan is now limited to the Earth and will be limited to a dead planet after Judgement Day.  This changes my perception of many things and leads to the  thought about Heaven.  If the rest of the universe does not have the influence of Satan and therefore there is no evil or suffering there, then every place is a place where God dwells and there is life and goodness and no evil or suffering or death.  Everyplace, every planet (except for one little speck that Satan is on) can be called Heaven. (66) So much for "Heaven is not a place, it is a state of being" my mommy told me when I was growing up.  But she is right in that it is also a state of being.  When we are one with the Lord, it is a wonderful state of being.  The fact that planets can be Heaven should not surprise us because we already profess this belief.  We state that we believe that God will create a New Earth where the Lion and the Lamb will lay down together.  That is Heaven on Earth and Earth will still be located in the universe that God created and dwells in.  We also state that we can experience Heaven right now, although imperfectly because of the presence of evil, because God is here.  "The Kingdom of God is at hand", proclaims Jesus and He also mentions in some of the Beatitudes that "the Kingdom of Heaven IS theirs" it belongs to those who are living the Beatitude.  Looking up to the heavens at night just took on a whole new meaning, revived from days of old.

962          Sixth, another thing the messengers mention is that when we are in this heavenly world, we become a part of that world.   It will fill us up like a world of wonder.(67)  Isn’t heaven supposed to be wonderful?      

 963          Seventh, a third thought about Heaven is that the messengers state that people make decisions in Heaven.(68)   That thought had never occurred to me and I do not believe the deposit of faith speaks to it either.  

964          Eight, a fourth thought about heaven is somewhat depressing. It is the thought that people make mistakes in Heaven.(69)   I thought I was leaving my mistake-filled life behind.  Perhaps “to err is human” is a human quality that will remain a defining quality.  On Earth, when we err often there is suffering as a result of it.  Somehow in heaven this is not so because they state that there is no suffering in heaven.  What decisions are we making and in what arenas we are making errors is not explored by the messengers.  Does the idea that we can make mistakes in heaven conflict with our deposit of faith?  I think that if we believe that God can make any mistake and any situation work out for the good, then I do not believe there is a conflict.  As Catholics, we state that even in our imperfect sin-filled world, God can make all things work for the good.  If God can do that now, in a sin-filled world, then certainly He can do it in a world where everyone strives to do His will and there is no evil, no hate, and no falsehood.  If we were no longer able to make mistakes would that imply that we are god?  Are all God's sinless creatures able to make mistakes.  The messengers admit they have made some. (199:5-7)  

965          Ninth, a fifth thought about heaven is that the messengers mention that those who love animals are in heaven.  We believe St. Francis of Assisi is there.  Also, if we look upon the animals as beings that are totally entrusted into our care and are in many ways, powerless, or dependent upon our loving care to live well, we could see how just as loving the needy humans is an act of kindness, so is loving our needy animals.  I have often found it to be true that those who are kind and loving to their pets and stray animals, often treat people kindly, too.  A kind heart is kind without limits.  

966          Tenth, another thought I think is profound is the concept that the Earth will stay in our bodies.(70)    With our creation, God made us in His own image, but also out of Earth stuff and we will never be separated from the Earth stuff for it is part of us.  It is a part of the goodness that God has given us at our creation and is in our nature.  We shall not be separated from it.  Even though, between the Judgment Day and the New Earth, we may be apart from the planet Earth, we take the our “Earthiness” with us.  This, perhaps, gives a different emphasis on being made out of the stuff of the Earth in Genesis than what we may have previously perceived.

967          Eleventh, finally, a profound and simple, but confusing concept is “Sirts”.  “Sirts” are defined as things that are real and exist, but to our eyes are not yet alive.(71)   They are our aborted children, our lives not yet begun yet existing, and they are also the messengers from the race of Rem.  The Church acknowledges that it is God who calls forth the life of His children and ours.  The Church proclaims the truth that creating children is not something that we humans do without God’s involvement.  This is precisely why the Church takes the stances it does on abortion, contraception, and invitro fertilization.  What is new is that we get the messengers’ view of the reality of the creation of life and it is mysterious and wonderful.  There are realities that are being presented in the discussion of Sirts that, at least for me, go beyond what I can understand, for I am missing many pieces of the puzzle of “Sirt”. 

968         In this category, the messengers write in a new definition for "Saint" and give us a deeper appreciation of the Communion of Saints, and maybe a deeper awareness of the connection of evil, defacement of creative beauty, hatred and suffering.  They also share with us the  the wonderful realities of Heaven, our earthen glorified bodies and the wonders of Sirts.  In these eleven thoughts I do not see anything that would contradict the faith of the Catholic Church.

           Part 3  Disclaimer

969          As I mentioned in the preface, the passages have been a part of my life for a long time.  I have tried to write this theological presentation of  In God’s Love  as thoroughly and honestly as I can.  I have tried to remain true to what I believe the messengers are stating.  When I have tried to make connections or elaborations that are my own ideas, I have tried to be very clear in the writing that these are my thoughts.  If, during the evaluation of “The Presentation,” it is discovered that some of my thoughts are in error, it should not be a poor reflection on In God’s Love, but rather upon my inability to correctly understand or write about what is written in the book and should not deter the Church from embracing the work of the messengers.  If I have in some way erred in my understanding of the Catechism or the Bible, I hope that people who are wiser and smarter than I am will make the needed corrections.  I have prayed in the name of the Trinity for help before each writing session, and I hope that God is pleased with this work.

           Part 4 Conclusion and Hope

970           Do I believe Janet Hurlow has been visited by messengers of God to give us the “book of books” for the “time of times”?  Yes I do.  Janet could no more tell a lie than I could pretend to be a scholar in the Chinese language.  (I do not know any Chinese.)  This knowledge is way beyond Janet’s ability to create.  Do I believe that the messengers are from God?  Yes I do.  I do not believe God would allow other beings to come and constantly address us in the name of the Trinity, unless they were indeed coming in His name.  We use the name of the Trinity to ward off Satan, not embrace him.  Finally, as they state, would the evil one write such a work that would bring so many to their loving Father?

971          I have tried to be very critical and thorough in this theological presentation of In God’s Love .  I see tremendous agreement with the Catholic faith.  I see a richness of knowledge that could cause us to express our faith in different ways.  I see emphasis on some matters of the faith that give a freshness of understanding.  When I read the passages, I am at peace.  While there may be some things I do not fully understand, given what I do understand and their insistence that nothing that they state goes against this sacred institution which I believe is the Catholic Church,  I believe that there is nothing in In God’s Love that contradicts what the Catholic Church preaches and teaches as revealed by God in matters of faith and morality.  Hopefully the Magisterium of the Catholic Church will come to the same conclusion. (72)

            Part 5 Concluding Prayer

973        Father, in the name of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, I commend this work to You, Your messengers, Janet Hurlow and Your Church.  I believe it is from You that In God’s Love  has come and it is to Your Church that it must now go.  Father, may Your Spirit of knowledge and wisdom guide Your Church into doing  Your will with the gift You have given to us with the private revelation of In God’s Love.  May In God’s Love be a powerful instrument of Yours to the world to bring billions upon billions of people to You who might have otherwise gone to hell.  I offer this prayer in Jesus’ name.  Amen 

           Part 6  Postlude (web version only)

 974          If you have read this on the web, as mentioned in the Introduction, I hope you have read In God’s Love and it’s Preface before you read this personal reflection.  If you have not read the book yet please order it and do so.  If you have read the book and had this question concern you, I hope this has been helpful for you.  If you are a person who is searching or are currently a loosely committed Catholic I hope that this has helped you in your search for the Truth.  If you are a committed Catholic if there were parts about this or about In God’s Love that you have troubles with, then take what is useful and pray about the rest.  If you come to the same conclusion I have about the book and you are a Catechist of youth or adults, please be like me and do not use In God’s Love in your teaching until it has been approved of by the Catholic Church, but do encourage your friends to read the book.  After reading the In God’s Love if your friends are wondering if In God’s Love contradicts the Catholic Faith then refer them to this question on In God’s Love by Janet Hurlow website.  May you rest in God’s love.

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