Message from Above Could Offer Hope in Holiday Season Marred by Ongoing Wars and Strife
3 min readMessage from Above Could Offer Hope in Holiday Season Marred by Ongoing Wars and Strife
“Peace on Earth, good will toward men” is a catchphrase tossed about often during the holiday season, but it might sound like nothing more than wishful thinking as bloody wars continue to rage in Ukraine and Gaza … even the land of Jesus’ birth (Galilee back then, now Israel) is engaged in battle.
And most of those in the U.S. probably aren’t even aware that civil wars are also ongoing currently in Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Libya, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan and Syria.
Where to turn for signs of hope? The late Dr. Pieter Noomen, a psychotherapist and senior minister of three Protestant churches, might suggest heeding the words of what he called the Real Reality, the name he used for what others might call Allah, the Holy Father, Jehovah or any of the other many names for God.
Dr. Noomen died in 2019, but he left behind many writings of what he said were his own personal conversations with the Real Reality, and they remain available today, free for anyone to access, at his website, www.wordsforall.org.
Most of those writings are what Dr. Noomen said were direct quotes from the Real Reality, and this is one such quote pertaining to war:
“On earth, in individuals and in nature, so much pure energy is siphoned off and used for destructive purposes like hurting, destroying and killing. The substance of life’s nature – as bubbling with joy and creative passion – is so fragmented that it is an alien concept for many people. Earth is indeed ‘planet Zero,’ hanging in an ‘impossible’ position between the truth and its denial. Fire, literally and figuratively, is used by people to wage wars, to intimidate, to impose their will by force. In nature, it is barely contained and, in many ways, remains a threat. This is also what goes on in people’s internals …
All the horrors and cruelties of people killing people, how can we not be shocked, hurt, saddened and, for many, scared?”
And this, according to Dr. Noomen, was the Real Reality’s own answer:
“Only one reaction is a foolproof contribution to stopping the madness of violence: It is rigorously cleansing our own personal thinking of anything negative. That way, we create and carry inside us a lasting, untouchable pocket of peace.”
The question remains whether humankind will get the message in time to find that pocket of peace.
Dr. Noomen was a staff member of a Los Angeles metropolitan church, where he engaged in helping with mental health issues like suicide prevention and hospice. His writings remain free for anyone on this website: (www.wordsforall.org).
An example of Dr. Noomen’s “Words of Wisdom,” one of the many categories on his website:
“In order to be a decent and creative person, the best possible, we don’t need religious ceremonies or symbols – Christmas, Ramadan, worship services, prayer routines, etc. … Yet religion ‘can be fun’ if it stimulates caring attitudes, healing actions and a positive togetherness.”