The Jesus Generation

Some years back, we read of people born in different periods being classified as generation X or generation Y etc. The social classifiers (mostly commercially linked) tried to put people into periods with distinct market related characteristics (for the sake of selling the right consumption products to each niche people market) by the chronological years in which they were born. This watchman did a bit of market-related study on such classifications then. Of course nothing of original note or unique worthiness came out of the study. Any serious researcher will admit that there are no fixed factors. One famous management saying at one time was, “The only constant is change.” Having been in the management scene practically all of my corporate years, I have learned this important fact and principle: “Do not attempt to presume and classify an individual.”
Because this is not a management blog, I will proceed to share of some recent testimonies of Christian individuals I have met who have lived a fruitful life in the Kingdom of God and have never fit into any ‘sociology-commercial’ or ‘pseudo-psychology’ categories.
I have been honored and blessed to meet with a godly couple. A medical (dentistry) doctor and his wife who used to be a professional nurse until she became a full-time housewife cum intercessor. When I listened to their sharing I was humbled and touched. The man (now in his mid-fifties) came from a Christian family and went through the whole journey of being in Sunday school, junior and senior youth in the church. When he attended university, he was exposed to and discipled by many Christian theological and Bible-focused scholars and practitioners. He was also given many opportunities to serve the Lord in various Great-Commission-oriented evangelical ministries. After graduation he heard from the Lord, “Give Me your best 25 years.”
He went back to his hometown, started his dentistry practice (as a ‘tent-maker’) and resumed serving as an elder in his home church. He continued this ministry for thirty years to date. When I interviewed him I perceived his unwavering and ever-burning zeal and passion for the Lord and the Great Commission given by Jesus to the disciples. His wife and his children (two medical doctors and one dentist) too serve the Lord actively. This is a family of disciples of Jesus. Their affluence and professional successes have not diverted them from their first love.
The head of the house shared how he was overwhelmed by the great love of God in the form of brilliant light twice in his life, comforting him at his depressed moments when he felt such burdens on his shoulder from the external environment in spiritual valley (family and church lives not being what he wanted them to be). He shared how the love of God changed his perspectives.
What generations are they? They are members of only one generation -the Jesus generation. The Child of God generation. They are timeless. They live the characteristics of the Kingdom of God people.

See God: The power of His Resurrection !

The power of His Resurrection

(Bible verse are from New King James Version unless otherwise annotated)

Philippians 3:10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,

Ephesians 1:19-20 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,

Colossians 2:12-15 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

Colossians 3:1-4 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Colossians 2:6-10 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.


Isaiah 53:2 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors.
________________

Warfare now ! (from inside out)

Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

John 12:31 The time for judging this world has come, when Satan, the ruler of this world, will be cast out. (NLT Bible)

Colossians 3:5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. 6 Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. 7 You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. 8 But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. 9 Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. 10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. (NLT Bible) 

  

concluding words from an apostle: our conscience is clear, our strength comes from God’s grace

Hebrews 13

New Living Translation (NLT)

Concluding Words

13 Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters.² Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it! ³ Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.
⁴ Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery.
⁵ Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said,

“I will never fail you.     I will never abandon you.”

⁶ So we can say with confidence,

“The Lord is my helper,     so I will have no fear.     What can mere people do to me?”

⁷ Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the example of their faith.
⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. ⁹ So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas. Your strength comes from God’s grace, not from rules about food, which don’t help those who follow them.
¹⁰ We have an altar from which the priests in the Tabernacle have no right to eat. ¹¹ Under the old system, the high priest brought the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, and the bodies of the animals were burned outside the camp. ¹² So also Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make his people holy by means of his own blood. ¹³ So let us go out to him, outside the camp, and bear the disgrace he bore. ¹⁴ For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.
¹⁵ Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name. ¹⁶ And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God.
¹⁷ Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit.
¹⁸ Pray for us, for our conscience is clear and we want to live honorably in everything we do. ¹⁹ And especially pray that I will be able to come back to you soon.

²⁰ Now may the God of peace—     who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep,     and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood— ²¹ may he equip you with all you need     for doing his will. May he produce in you,     through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to him.     All glory to him forever and ever! Amen.

²² I urge you, dear brothers and sisters, to pay attention to what I have written in this brief exhortation.
²³ I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been released from jail. If he comes here soon, I will bring him with me to see you.
²⁴ Greet all your leaders and all the believers there. The believers from Italy send you their greetings.
²⁵ May God’s grace be with you all.

____________Verse of the Day
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!        2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT
 

journey on: to undeserved favor - grace, grace, grace!

The last sermon 2013 and first sermon 2014 he heard for the over-midnight service by watching online a recorded Sunday worship (due to time zone difference he does not watch live) is all about getting rid of the trash in our lives. The watchman admitted that this was truly most appropriate for this spring cleaning day for him!
Pastor Sandra Kennedy aptly titled the subject, “God is the Redeemer not the condemner”. It is about getting rid of our daily trash. She said God has paid for the trash collector, but each man must take out his or her own trash. We cannot let the trash stay in the house and go out. Because when we come home the trash is still there and stinks! She opened her preaching by quoting from NLT Bible Isaiah 43:25, Micah 7:19, then Jeremiah 29:11, 31:33, 37, Psalm 103:8, Hebrews 1:3, 2 Corinthians 5:17. Pastor Kennedy warned that the devil is the condemner. If anyone condemns, he is walking with the devil. God is Redeemer!
Here is a summary of the action steps we each need to take to get rid of our personal trash:

1. be specific about our trash (sins). name them and claim them.
2. allow God teach us something from it.
3. allow God have our past: forgive, heal, pour oil and wine.
4. forgive ourselves. (God has forgiven us and there is no record of it.)

Do start our new year 2014 right by hearing God right. Here is the last message for 2013 and the first one on this first day of the new year!
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewEmbedResizeCC2.aspx?ccEnabled=false&autostart=true&indexSessionSKU=i8mIsipYweI6PFo4Pu3dkw%3D%3D
http://hosted.earthchannel.com/WholeLife/tabs/sundays.php#

Isaiah 43:25 (NLT)

²⁵ “I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake     and will never think of them again.

Micah 7:19 (NLT)

¹⁹ Once again you will have compassion on us.     You will trample our sins under your feet     and throw them into the depths of the ocean!

Jeremiah 29:11

New Living Translation (NLT)

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 31:33

New Living Translation (NLT)

³³ “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Jeremiah 31:37

New Living Translation (NLT)

³⁷ This is what the Lord says: “Just as the heavens cannot be measured     and the foundations of the earth cannot be explored, so I will not consider casting them away     for the evil they have done.     I, the Lord, have spoken!

Journey to see God: see Christ in me, my real life!

Today’s message is Galatians 2:20, a new song being sung over and over in the spirit of the watchman. This was the first verse from the Savior Lord, Jesus Himself, when the watchman was first converted and born again in the Spirit and in Word. This is the first love. The second set of verses is from Colossians 3:1-3. What a wonderful reminder and fresh revelation!


All verse in NKJV: ___________

Galatians 2:20 Crucified with Christ; Christ lives in me

2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Galatians 6:14 But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Colossians 3:1-11 Raised with Christ and hidden with Christ in God!

(Psalm 91:9-10 Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, 10 No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;)

3:1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.


Ephesians 2:1-6 We were dead in sins, but God made us alive together with Christ

2:1And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,


Romans 6 Dead to Sin, Alive to God: the power of sin was broken by Christ in us, the hope of glory. All who have been united to Christ in His death have been set free from slavery to sin. We are free to live the New Creation Life (Christ is our real life).

6:1What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

From Slaves of Sin to Slaves of God

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! 16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Not Carnality but Christ

 The watchman is reminded today of the way we should live in Christ. 

Last night during a home prayer meeting one brethren suggested praying for a local Christian group. When the others started praying, the watchman asked the Lord what to pray for and he was shown a terrible verse, which stated that when Israel asked the prophet to pray they did not mean it. They had no intent to obey what God would speak to them through the answer to prayers by the prophet. So there was no need to pray for them! The stern words were sad. How can any Christian meeting come to such a terrible stage? Yet, history showed that the Israel nation sank to that low over again and again. God sent prophets to warn them but they killed the prophets. The same thing happened to the apostles and many disciples of Jesus when they faithfully proclaimed the word of God -the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Today he asked the Lord further how to pray for such and he was given sterner words in Job 34:21-30, in particular, verses 21, 22, 26, and 30. The assurance is that God’s eyes is on the ways of man and He sees all his steps, and He takes corrective action. One verse stood out: Job 34:30

“that the hypocrite should not reign, lest the people be snarled.”

Therefore, the positive focus for watchman today continues to be on Jesus, the perfection in the love of God, our real life!

Colossians 3

New King James Version (NKJV)

Not Carnality but Christ

3 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. ² Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. ³ For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

⁵ Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. ⁶ Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, ⁷ in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.
⁸ But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. ⁹ Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, ¹⁰ and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, ¹¹ where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

Character of the New Man

¹² Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; ¹³ bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. ¹⁴ But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. ¹⁵ And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. ¹⁷ And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Colossians 3

New Living Translation (NLT)

Living the New Life

3 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. ² Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. ³ For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ And when Christ, who is your^[a] life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.

⁵ So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. ⁶ Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming.^{[b] 7} You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. ⁸ But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. ⁹ Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. ¹⁰ Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. ¹¹ In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile,^[c] circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized,^[d] slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.
¹² Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. ¹³ Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. ¹⁴ Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. ¹⁵ And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.
¹⁶ Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. ¹⁷ And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

 (Watchman’s study notes: Take note of all the ‘therefore’ , ‘since’, and ‘but now’. )

End Times church witnessing: The Pattern is the Son

The watchman found new treasures in the writings of older archives. Here is an excerpt from the writing of Austin Sparks in "The Kingdom That Cannot be Shake" 
____________ http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/002070.html

The Pattern is the Son

The pattern of the training of sons is the Son. Conformed to the image of His Son! Christ fully formed in you! Foreordained unto adoption as sons! And adoption is at the end not at the beginning; adoption still waits; the day of our adoption has not arrived. You know the New Testament teaching on this matter is altogether different from modern English practice; and so, although Paul does not use that actual word in that connection, he puts the same truth into other words when he says, “Waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God”. The manifestation of the sons is only another way of saying the day of adoption: that is, when the sons are brought forth and presented as sons, no longer children but mature, now to take responsibility.
What is God doing with us? His work with us is to reproduce in us the constituents of sonship as represented by the Lord Jesus. The battle that rages and rises between our thought and the Lord’s thought, between our will and the Lord’s will, between our way and the Lord’s way, between our desiring and the Lord’s desire, has this one issue at stake, whether something more of His Son is to become a part of our very constitution, or whether we are going to put that back and remain just the same old creation. There is a big thing hanging upon that battle. In our last meditation we were speaking about adjustability. What is it that we are to be adjusted to? It is simply putting Christ in the place which we ourselves in some way have occupied, giving place to the Lord. That is Christ being fully formed. He is in us, but He is to be fully formed in us.
I am sorry the translators left out the value of the Greek in that passage. The Greek word is perfectly clear: “Till Christ be fully formed in you”. He is there, but there is formation, and this formation is through conflict, and Paul says that he is undergoing the suffering: “For whom I am in travail till Christ be fully formed in you”. There is something going on that is costly. It is marked by a painful process.

The Sphere is our Spirit

I want to come to the sphere of the training of sons, the spirit; of course, now not the Holy Spirit but our spirit: “the Father of our spirits”. You notice the word “father” in this twelfth chapter is implied, suggested by son; “fathers of our flesh” — “Father of our spirits”. So that it is in the realm of our spirit that all this is going on. God is concentrating upon our spirit, and I want to define that. The teaching of the Word of God about the spirit is not just what we mean when we say, He has a nice spirit! That means that what you meet is something very pleasant, it is a kind of outgoing influence to you. Or we may say, He has a nasty spirit! You mean he is a cantankerous person. That is not the meaning of the Father of our spirits. Our spirits are represented in the Word of God as the essential man: that is, the innermost part of our being, and if you like to sit down with a concordance and go through this matter of spirit you will be surprised.
I am impressed with some of the things that are said about spirit. I will give you two or three references.
Take 1 Corinthians 2:11, “For who among men knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of God.” That is not just breath, that is an intelligent organ, and that is clearly something deeper than reason. It is not that I meet a certain man, and I look him up and down; I look at the size of his nose, and the shape of his chin, and just how his head is formed, and various other things, and I come to the conclusion that he is a certain type of man; that kind of man will behave in a certain way. I know what I may expect by having taken the measure of that man, and so I know that man. No, it is not that. This passage is deeper than the reasoned thing, the thought-out thing, the sized-up thing, it is intuitive knowledge, and that is spiritual knowledge. Spiritual knowledge is intuitive knowledge, and the spirit is the intuitive organ. That is exactly how angels move; they are spirits. God and angels never have to reason out anything. They never have to calculate. Angels do not move at the behest of the Lord by being told in words and given an explanation. They move intuitively. It is intuitive knowledge of the Lord. If another brother and I are one in spirit we intuitively know what we will do, and what we would like each other to do. We do not have to be told, we do not have to be argued with, we know intuitively and we can anticipate one another’s wishes intuitively. It is an organ of knowledge.
Or take another passage in the same letter, 1 Corinthians 5:3: “For I verily, being absent in Body but present in spirit, have already, as though I were present, judged him that hath so wrought this thing”; “...absent in Body... present in spirit, have... judged”. In spirit judged. I have weighed this thing up in spirit, my spirit has come to the conclusion that such-and-such is the case; my spirit has decided this thing. It is an intelligent organ.
Or pass to 1 Corinthians 14:14-15: “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.” There you have spirit and soul. The understanding heart is the intelligent, the rational soul, but that is not the point. The apostle is saying that it is possible for the spirit to pray. It is an organ that can pray and that can sing. You can sing in spirit, and you can pray in spirit. If it comes to the matter of an unknown tongue that is another thing, and it is not our point. We are detaching it from the matter of tongues at the moment. Here is an organ that it is said can pray and sing. I suppose you know something about the singing inside; your understanding is not at work, but it goes on. I know what it means. I remember an experience I had myself, and just recount it to convey to you what I mean by this. When undergoing a somewhat serious operation I experienced that in coming back to consciousness. Not knowing anything or anyone, being altogether dead so far as soul activity was concerned — that is, reason, and feeling, and all the rest — there was going on in me a hymn all the way through. I might have been in another world; it was going on all the time: