The Dilemmas of Mind, Heart and Spirit…

An artistical creation showing three back views of the head and shoulders of the same person who is looking out over a vast wheat field at a lone tree on the horizon, with clouds and a galaxy in blue space, plus a front view of the same head with the top cut away showing a steel grid and a lone puzzle piece that does not fit.

…of Mr. John Puzzle

An analogy highlighting the importance of authentic prophecies

In the head, a circular grill of interconnected, hardened steel
that obstructs the entrance of essential knowledge.

Greetings. With many Good Wishes for you.

I am pleased to share with you this preamble to the series intitled “Prophetical Lights, Lamps, Torches that Shine in Dark Places of Mind, Heart and Soul.”

These Prophetical Lights cast much light, so I understand, on the subjects of: FAITH, DOUBTS, and INCREDULITY.

In the religious-spiritual environs of our world…

There are prophecies that are…

Authentic. Fulfilled. To be fulfilled. And many that are false.

Regarding FAITH, different kinds are detected.

Genuine faith.
Distorted faith.
A pretended faith Blind faith. Weak faith. Dead faith. A self-serving, convenient faith.

With reference to DOUBTS, we observe…

1. That a great many of them spring up where there is a dearth of knowledge due to a lack of interest and study.

2. That questionings left unresolved may well debilitate, even kill, any kind of faith.

3. And that negative concepts of the religious, and prejudices against any, and all religions, are not only the seedbed of a plethora of doubts, but also, of pure secularism and outright atheism.

A photograph of a young adult man with glasses, eyes closed, fingers over face, and images of gears and squiggly drawings coming out of and around his brain, indicating dilemmas of mind, heart.

With respect to INCREDULITY…

Some atheists appeal to arguments held to be valid, convinced their position is rational.

On the other hand, the subjective atheism of others is to be classified, logically, as irrational.

The unbelieving who do no more than ridicule, are bereft, by nature, of any credibility.

I have invited Mr. John Puzzle to this study. For him, life often turns into a real riddle, mystery, enigma.

A black and white image of a powerful white light shining down in pitch darkness represents fulfilled prophecies that are like a light in dark places.

His dilemmas of the mind and spirit I myself have also confronted, once and again, across the years of my youth and adulthood on the surface of this extraordinary blue planet, Earth, of the Solar system, in the Milky Way.

Perhaps you have experienced them too, to some degree, just as I have.

I kindly ask you and Mr. Puzzle to not reject my invitation to this study on Prophetical Lights because of the principal emphasis, precisely, on “Prophecies.”

Let me be perfectly clear: Prophecies found in the Bible, and not in other books, nor those proclaimed by the hordes of self-appointed “prophets and prophetesses” of these times.

As for me, I am not a prophet, rather a student of prophecies.

A photograph of multiple, yellowish light rays shining in darkness down on the earth.

Please take a little time to get to know Mr. John Puzzle, an intriguing personality with three alternating views of himself, so that you will not miss, as he has up to now, seeing the first Prophetical Light of this series. He has missed it, up to now, because of his real state of mind, ego, inner self, though he may not recognize it as such, a common problem we humans have.

Image of a human head, back view, with puzzle pieces in the brain area, one with a backward-looking face made of puzzle pieces, one with a galaxy in the brain area, and one, forward looking, with a grill and puzzle piece in the top of the head, all before a wheat field.

About 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the business where John works, there is a wide, fertile field where wheat is sown. Now and then, he stops to contemplate, for a few moments, that beautiful, nature scene.

An image of a man, back view, with a galaxy in the area of the brain, reflecting a galaxy he sees in the heavens beyond a wide wheat field.

Thinking about how the earth produces such great quantities of grain for human and animal consumption, fascinated by the great, solitary tree barely visible on the horizon, and marveling at the vast, heavenly vault above, with its hues of blue and little white clouds, he says to himself:

“Truly, there are very strong reasons for believing in an Almighty Creator!”

Left, in the image that John Puzzle has of himself, he visualizes an enormous galaxy, projecting it, in his imagination, in the heavens above the tree, and his faith grows even more, as he is genuinely impressed by the enormity, design, and precision of the material universe.

This is John’s POSITIVE VIEW of himself.

However, on other occasions, before the same scene, as in the image of himself at the right, few pieces of the puzzle of his life remain interconnected.

Flickering across his mind are disturbing visions of multitudes of malnourished men, women, and, especially, children, around the globe. Deeply troubling visions of the ceaseless injustices of life. Of widespread vices and criminal activities. Of civil, racial, and political violence, rampant in not a few areas. Of fearful plagues and devastating diseases that result in great suffering and premature death for millions. Of extremely violent weather systems that destroy crops, forests, buildings, houses, and lives. Other such visions from the dark side often swirl through his head and heart.

In this abstract, artistical creation, a few puzzle pieces and a single eye are depicted in the back view of a man’s head, indicating his deficient knowledge and myopic view of himself and the marvels of nature he sees before him.

Thus ruminating, his mind and spirit become filled with thick, wispy tendrils of bleakness, doubts sap his intellect, heart, and soul, and his faith is whisked away by the cold winds of skepticism and incredulity!

A close-up image of the back of a man’s head with his natural face looking out from the brain area and formed of puzzle pieces that fit precisely together, projects the state of mind and spirit the man would like to have.

In the center, John projects himself as he would like to be. With the puzzles of life harmoniously resolved in his mind-soul-spirit.

Every piece in its place. Well ordered. Logical. Zero dilemmas, conflicts, doubts. Peace and tranquility to the max. How exceedingly delightful and comforting!

However, the image of himself facing us represents his true “self,” his “ego,” his “inner person,” discovering, to be sure, an absolutely, fearful state.

An image of a stylized human head with a grill and shining puzzle piece in the top part that cannot get past the grill illustrates the prejudices, mental lethargy, and ignorance that keep people from learning and growing.

The upper part is missing! Vital for an integral, intelligent being, completely formed, able to formulate correct conclusions regarding the great subjects of life.

Much key knowledge is lacking.

To top it off, Mr. John Puzzle has created, in his own head, a circular grill of interconnected, hardened steel that obstructs the entrance of such knowledge.

Steel circles such as: Preconceived ideas and philosophies that have hardened into dogmas. Calcified religious-spiritual prejudices. A steely resistance to new information. Intellectual inertia. Illogical reasonings, etcetera.

This grill keeps many pieces of the puzzle of life from falling into place.

Do you have a grill like that in your own head? Do I have a similar one in mine? If so, each of us needs to break it up and extract it, throwing the pieces in the RED waste can marked: DANGEROUS! Potentially FATAL!

In the image of that shocking head, only one glowing puzzle piece rest on that incongruous, dangerous grill. It represents a large group of interconnected pieces related to “Authentic Prophecies.”

A writing on the glowing puzzle piece constitutes a very important clue for deciphering and understanding the trajectories, often convoluted, intricate and unpredictable, of the peoples and nations of this world. To wit: the words…

“And we have more firm the prophetic word, to which we do well giving heed, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, till day may dawn, and a morning star may arise in your hearts.”
2 Peter 1:19 YLT

CLICK HERE for a treatise on "The testimonio of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."

Perhaps you may now better appreciate the importance of getting to know Mr. John Puzzle, for he epitomizes the dilemmas of men, women and young people who have yet to see, in the dark regions of this world and their own hearts…

The Powerful LIGHT of AUTHENTIC PROPHECIES glowing across years, decades, centuries.

As a LAMP for chambers of the mind and heart.

As a TORCH for the dark caves of the psyche-spirit.

The first “firm… prophetic word” whose “lamp shining” we wish to call attention to is that of Jesus’ Prophecy of the Destruction of the Jerusalem and the Jewish temple in 70 a. d. By means of a video, slides, and complete text.

An image of the flame of an oil lamp against a dark background.

A photograph of a flaming torch mounted on a wall against a background of reds and blacks.

Text and Document Composition by the author Homer Dewayne Shappley. All rights reserved. The only restrictions on the use of this document are the sale of it in any format and proper identification of its origin.

CATEGORY: Additional Prophecies. Open for a “List of all documents” in the Category.

Jesus’ Prophecy in 30 a. d. of the Destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple Fulfilled 40 Years Later in Every Detail. The complete text for the video and slides.

VIDEO for this prophecy of Jesus.

Painting of a panoramic view of the city of Jerusalem in the first century.

"There shall not be left one stone upon another." Jesus' prophecy fulfilled.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNr5gPUWvbo&t=78s

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