The Quarterly Review of the CHURCHES' FELLOWSHIP For
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The Quarterly Review of THE CHURCHES’ FELLOWSHIP for Psychical and Spiritual Studies Winter 1988 No. 138 President’s Letter ......... ...................................................... 2 Angels in Dark Places ....................................................... 5 The Celestial Hierarchies ....................................................... 9 Annual General Meeting ...................................................... 12 Annual Conference Report ...................................................... 26 Programmes ................ ....................................................... 34 White Wave ................ ....................................................... 37 The Churches’ Fellowship for Psychical and Spiritual Studies (FOUNDER: LT. COL. REGINALD M. LESTER, C.J.I) President Emeritus: The Worshipful Chancellor the Revd E. Garth Moore 44 High Street, New Romney, Kent TN28 8BZ Telephone: 0679 66937 PATRONS who have expressed their sympathy with the general purposes of the Fellowship, as set out in the Prospectus, without thereby necessarily endorsing all the individual views put forward in this Review or at meetings of the Fellowship: The Bishop of London (The Rt Revd and Rt Hon Graham Leonard, PC) The Bishop of Hereford (The Rt Revd J.R.G. Eastaugh) The Rt Revd Philip Pasterfield The Rt Revd Mervyn Stockwood The Rt Revd Oliver Tomkins The Very Revd E.F. Carpenter DD The Revd Lord Soper The Rt Revd R.H. Coote The Bishop of Truro (The Rt Revd P. Mumford) President: The Revd Dr Martin Israel Vice-Presidents: Miss Margaret Brice-Smith The Rt Revd George Appleton, Miss Renee Haynes M.A. Chairman: The Venerable Michael Perry Vice Chairman: Capt. Hugh Corbett, C.B.E., D.S.O., R.N. Canon John Smith Honorary Treasurer: Mr Jack Holmes General Secretary: Mr Julian Drewett Editor: Dr Elizabeth Bowen MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL The Revd George Aylen, Mrs Barbara Bunce, Dr Elizabeth Bowen, The Revd John Quigley, Canon John Smith, Mrs Beryl Statham, Mrs Dorothy Warren, Mrs Margaret King, The Revd Keith Denerley, The Revd Michael Shrewsbury and Regional Representatives ex-officio. AIMS AND OBJECTS The aims and objects of the Fellowship are summarised below, but can be read in fuller detail in the official prospectus. The Fellowship, and Ecumenical body of Christians founded in 1953, exists for the study of the wider reaches of the paranormal and extra sensory perception in their relation to the Christian faith. The field of study includes psychical phenomena, mysticism, creative meditation and spiritual healing. The psychical includes such phenomena as telepathy, clair voyance, clairaudience, precognition and psychokinesis. There are two classes of membership: full and associate. Those eligible for full membership must be practising members of Churches which are members of or affiliated to the World Council of Churches, or must themselves acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour of the World. Others are eligible for associate membership as the council may from time to time determine. Associate members cannot vote or hold office. The Fellowship is entirely dependent for its funds on the generosity of its members. The subscription is £9.00 per annum; £13.50 for combined husband and wife subscription; pensioners, students, clergy, ministers of religion and their spouses £6.00 each. Joint reduced rate £10. Life Membership £100. Subscription includes the Quarterly Review and The Christian Parapsychologist free. Those who can subscribe more are asked to do so. Copyright of all material in this Review is reserved to the authors and publishers. Nothing may be reproduced or translated without written permission, opinions do not necessarily express the views of anyone except the individual contributor. EDITORIAL This winter we are thinking about guidance, angelic or discarnate guidance in particular. Today, pedagogic, hierarchical and authoritarian tend to be derogatory terms; it seems that the secular world is at variance with us in this as in other things. It does not look with confidence and thankfulness to its guides and guardians. We do. That we each have our own angel, we know, because Jesus spoke of them. Some of us are aware of other discarnate intelligences whose loving concern and suggestions are a precious thing. Each of us knows someone whose spiritual stature and awareness have been an influence through contemporary speech or past writings. Might it be that each of us is, in some way, guide and guardian to another and that we all grow together? Perhaps our angels are the good friends to each other that we should be. Guidance is not always recognised. There is a story told of a man who became lost one day in a forest. “Quite an unpleasant experience,” he said. “I was really frightened. I even started praying at one point. Fortunately the prayer wasn’t needed because just then a forester came along and told me where I was.” O God, Who answers every call, thank You for Your care of us, and for our guardians. May we know them. May we hear again the angels thronging to worship at Your coming and know You incarnate still in every baby born. A blessed and glorious Christmas to you all. And the angel said unto them, Fear not; For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy. Luke 2:10 A.V. OUR CHIEF GUIDE Jesus the most of God that human frame Could hold, when seen, was Father shown to Man. His promise he’d return there after death He did fulfil, and stated He would be In other forms at hand to act as Aid To everybody’s need for spiritual growth. He taught obedience to the Father’s Will; For inspiration turned aside to pray. In imitation of His Way of Life, Enabling us to speak direct to God, We must invoke His help before we pray, Or else our guidance may not be Divine: In keeping with what is the Father’s Will When Jesus walked this earth He did appoint Some men to help Him in his earthly task; So, now He operates in wider spheres, With those He has appointed as our “guides”, We should consider, as, when on the earth, There could be those who teach another way, So guard ourselves against those other “guides”, By having Christ contained within our minds. Giles Lang 1 THE PRESIDENT’S LETTER The ministry of angels plays an important part throughout the whole Bible. From the time of Abraham, who is appraised of the imminent destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by angelic beings, to that of the writer of Revelation, who is directly instructed what to write to the seven churches of Asia by an angel, we are not left long without their mediation in the affairs of God and His dealing with the cosmos. In these accounts it is hard to distinguish the Divine Presence from a separate class of angels, but the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews shows us, right at the beginning of his work, that Christ is greater than any angel. An angel is simply a messenger, and as such any ethereal being, including the spirit of a departed one, could be classed as an angel, especially when, as is the rule, it has important information to impart. But, in fact, it is generally understood that a true angel is of a completely different order from the human being, whether alive in the flesh or dead in the spiritual body. An angel is a being of pure light and unimpeded will; it shows no personality such as we might find with a departed spirit, who is likely to retain some of the basic character components that typified him or her while yet alive in the flesh. Sometimes the angel can assume human form, but its message is transpersonal, as in the case of Abraham feeding the three angels, appearing as ordinary men, who suddenly appeared to appraise him of the imminent conception of the child of promise, Isaac, and of the destruction of the two sinful cities noted above. The same applies to the fragmentary passage in Joshua 5:13-15, in which an angel, possibly God Himself, gives the Israelite leader encouragement about the capture of Jericho — or at least this is what the apparition seems to mean, for otherwise it seems somewhat otiose in the climactic course of the Israelite advance into the land of Canaan. An angel transmits the message given it by God or the devil, the latter probably being a fallen angel of great power. The name Lucifer is commonly conferred on this infernal entity. In my own life I have had communication on a spiritual level with what I regard as my guardian angel on a number of occasions. The occasion has invariably been one of immediate peril, and instead of feeling completely at sea and in great dread, I have been aware of a presence directly with me (on one occasion immediately behind me) giving me strength and calmness so that I could comport myself as well as the occasion required. It was as if superhuman strength, on an emotional level, was provided, so that, far from breaking down in terror, I was able to confront my adversary in clear, unimpeded consciousness and do the work demanded of me. I was aware then, and was amazed later on subsequent reflection of my radiant calmness, so that I could show myself to the best in a hard situation. I was also aware of a light of radiance completely other than anything I had known on a purely earthly level, for it seemed to have no limit either of luminosity or of extent, and by its power it seemed to effect an inner healing of my naturally nervous disposition. I have now learned to depend on and cooperate with my guardian angel; I believe it serves to focus the power of the Holy Spirit on my consciousness when creative work needs to be done, as, for instance, in writing this letter. 2 And so I have moved beyond merely looking for help in difficult circumstances to working in dedicated cooperation with my guardian, and hopefully the whole ministry of angels, in the inspirational, healing work it is my privilege to perform.