Messenger of the Holy: Guidance from a Spiritual Messenger on Living, Grieving and Growing

by Ph.D. Michael Olin-Hitt

Overview

In 1998, Michael Olin-Hitt is thrown to the floor with spiritual energy, and a spiritual messenger guides him to be an open channel for spiritual wisdom. Such is Michael’s introduction to the trance state of the channel, oracle, shaman and prophet. In time, Michael’s trance state extends for hours at a time, and the spiritual guide, known to Michael as a Messenger of the Holy, speaks through Michael with a stream of spiritual guidance and sacred orientation. When Michael and his wife, Jennifer, experience devastating grief and loss, they have direct access to this Messenger of the Holy to provide spiritual perspective, wisdom, comfort and guidance. This is the vulnerable, genuine story of human struggle, spiritual transformation, mystical experience and sacred wisdom.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781504373777
Publisher:	Balboa Press
Publication date:	03/16/2017
Pages:	278
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.63(d)

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

A Dark and Holy Time

On December 24, 1999, I stood by my wife, Jennifer, as she lay in a hospital bed giving birth to our second son, Jordan. Under normal conditions, this would have been a joyous time. A Christmas Eve baby. But Jordan's delivery was coming two days after we'd learned that he had died in utero. He was at thirty-six weeks of development. Full term.

In the delivery room, we rocked him in our arms and wept over him. The family gathered. My mother-in-law rocked Jordan, shifting him in her arms to make him look as natural as possible. Jennifer, a United Methodist minister, sat up in the hospital bed and asked for a bowl of water so she could baptize Jordan. I filled a Styrofoam bowl with tap water and set it on the tray by her bed. Jennifer reached for our son, and her mother laid Jordan's body in her arms. The family was quiet. The crying had eased. Jennifer was exhausted from the delivery. Her hair was mussed, her eyes weary. She sprinkled water over Jordan's head.

"Jordan Paul Olin-Hitt," she said. Her voice cracked. Her eyes filled with tears. "I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

Despite the grief that rose to my throat and burned my eyes, I could feel the presence of the Spirit.

It was a dark and holy time.

We had known that Jordan would need corrective surgery for his esophagus soon after birth, but we had not been prepared for his death.

Jennifer and I spent the next weeks in numbing sorrow. On New Year's Eve, 1999, when the rest of the world was celebrating the dawn of a new millennium and worried that their computers might forget how to tell time, Jennifer and I put our other son, two-year-old Samuel, to bed and prepared for prayer. It was the first time since Jordan's funeral that our family did not surround us. We needed to enter into prayer in private. We wanted answers directly from God.

For over a year, Jennifer and I had held discussions with a messenger of God. I mean this literally. Beginning in 1998, my prayer life took a dramatic turn when I began to sense the presence of spiritual messengers. Through guidance by these prayer messengers, I learned to surrender my body and mind to the Holy and become a vessel for inspired speech. Some would call this gift prophecy, others deep-trance channeling, others oracular speech. But when it first began in 1998, I just called it prayer. I learned to allow my prayer time to deepen until I went into a trance state I called prophetic awareness. During this trance state I learned to surrender my mind, body and spirit to the Holy, and a spiritual messenger enters me, and holy wisdom f lows from my lips in poetic eloquence. The spiritual messenger who speaks through my voice — identified to me only as a "Spirit of the Holy" — uses my words, my cultural framework and my understanding to mold messages beyond my awareness. This spiritual messenger is a conduit for the wisdom of the Holy to be expressed in human language and understanding. I have come to call this speaker the Messenger of the Holy or, simply, the Messenger.

Because of this intermediary gift, Jennifer and I were able to enter into prayer expecting to receive answers to our questions. While in a deep, meditative state of prayer, I always lost the ability to move my body and speak for myself, but Jennifer had often asked the Messenger questions during these wisdom lessons, and she had received startling, faith-expanding replies. This time, we came to prayer with laments, hoping to discover some meaning and purpose in the death of our son, Jordan.

I set the tape recorder on the piano bench in our living room. Jennifer went to the bookshelf to get a Bible. She still moved slowly because of her recovery from Jordan's delivery. She wore sweat pants and a sweater. Her hair was neatly brushed, and she had applied some make-up. I saw a glimpse of the dynamic and vibrant woman I had known before our loss.

Jennifer read Psalm 13, a psalm of lament, which moves from a sense of loss to an attitude of hope. It expressed our desires. We wanted to feel God's hope and promise in addition to gaining some understanding of our grief.

Jennifer turned to another psalm, this time 28, and as she read it, I felt myself moving into a trance state. It began with a sensation of being drawn into myself. My eyes were clenched shut. My head lowered. My jaw muscles tightened. I felt a tingling come over my fingers.

Jennifer finished the psalm and prayed aloud. "God, we need you. We need you. We need you." She began to cry, but she continued to speak. "It's been so hard, God," she said. "I know you have been with us, but I miss our boy so much I can hardly breathe."

The Spirit came over me. My limbs trembled. My stomach muscles quaked in spasms. I had come to know these involuntary tremors as a result of spiritual energy, and I relaxed into them. My breathing deepened, and I surrendered my body. I felt pulled to the back of myself, as if my conscious mind and my own spirit were gathered along my spine, making room for the Messenger of the Holy to come into me as a gentle presence. My throat tensed and relaxed. My face contorted, and I heard the Spirit speaking through me.

I see you, my children. I bring what comfort I can. Temporality yields such suffering.

It is a rupture, a tearing. It shall not heal without a scar, and where shall the scar be hidden when it is your whole being? What shall you offer if not your pain?

Ironically enough, it was a great comfort to hear the Messenger acknowledge our pain. Despite this needed recognition of our sorrow, I was ready for more than compassion. I was ready for answers.

As usual, while I was in the deep state of prophetic awareness, I could not move my body, and my eyes were closed tightly. But my focus on the message was intense, and I could hear my own voice. I, myself, could not speak, but Jennifer — in the meditative, gentle voice of prayer — asked what was on both our minds, "We seek answers, O God. I don't mean to be demanding or harsh, but we need answers. But first, I need to know about our boy, our little Jordan. I pray for his spirit."

What cannot be born of flesh shall be born of spirit. What cannot be seen with eyes shall be sensed in heart. What cannot be felt in touch shall be known in soul. What cannot be tasted in mouth shall be treasured in breath. What cannot be held in your arms, shall be known in your spirit. Beyond the physical, my daughter, beyond the moments of your pain, beyond the emptiness you see, is a spirit born and living; the spirit of your son. What could not be corrected in the body is perfected beyond the body.

My daughter, do not be ashamed of your grief. You have borne much. The Spirit dwells within you, and a spark of the Holy grew within you, lived within you. That was not taken from you; it was delivered to you. But you cannot see this now. For now, know that the Spirit of God is with you. In and through the pain, the Holy is with you.

The process of inspired speech had become routine to me. My awareness deepened and expanded to include several levels. My own mind was free to question and react, but there was also an awareness of peace and a sense of endlessness that came from beyond me. On this night, my own mind was not satisfied with what the Messenger had said. I needed more than promises of things beyond my awareness and the assurance of God's presence. At other times in my life, such answers were more than enough to sustain me and support my faith, but on this night the words seemed empty. I wanted some knowledge beyond the comforting presence of God. I wanted to know why we suffered the death of our baby.

The Messenger of the Holy must have read my heart and mind because words began to pour forth that addressed my disappointment:

What can be offered but assurances? What can be brought but presence? I regret it is not enough for you now. The nows shall become the promises. The nows shall reveal the unfolding. The nows shall stretch out. The nows shall bring you the presence of the Holy, again and again. The nows will bring you to joy. The nows will see you holding an infant. The nows will unfold.

Know this: a spiritual presence was within the physical that you knew, and while the physical had malformations, the spiritual did not and does not. There could not have been that spiritual presence without the physical development, and yet when the physical showed it could not sustain the spiritual, separation occurred, and transformation took place.

At a later date, Jennifer and I would return to the transcript of this prayer and see the promises of a future child in what the Messenger had said. We would also take great comfort in the message that Jordan's spirit was with God. Now, however, we were both focused on our loss, and Jennifer's next question went straight to our central concern:

"Thank you, O God, for your care in our lives, for caring for those things we understand, and for caring for those things beyond our awareness. I am thankful for your presence tonight, and so thankful for your messenger that comes through Michael. But God, I have to admit, I am confused. We prayed for Jordan. We prayed for healing. And there are so many examples in our Bible of healing. I guess ... I guess my question is basic. Why wasn't he healed? People ask me this question all the time when I deal with a family in grief, and I never know what to say."

There is healing and then there is miraculous healing. Miraculous healing is a sign of divine presence. The intensity of the presence is so great that the physical yields and is altered. Such intense manifestation, my daughter, comes only with the highly developed in spirit. While miracle is a divine sign, healing is cooperation of physical and spiritual.

"We have had many divine signs," said Jennifer.

The question is why was not the presence of Christ so concentrated that your son was miraculously healed? That is the heart of the question, is it not?

"Yes."

For if such a divine, miraculous presence is possible, why was it denied? That is the heart of the question. Was it a failure on your part to bring Christ's presence so strongly? No. For the presence of Christ and the Holy Spirit were with you. Christ's miracles were possible while he was on earth because he contained such a strong presence of the Spirit. He was made of light. He brought the presence of the Holy with such concentrated energy that the physical would break down and reconstruct. The physical would become spiritual and then would become physical again. This transformation is known only in part when the physical becomes spiritual at death. Becoming physical again, after the dissemination of death, is the step that the Christ could make. He made it not only for himself, but made it possible for others. I am not speaking here of the passing into the spiritual at death, for that transformation has always been possible for others. I am speaking of the passing into the spiritual and BACK into the physical. Sections of bodies: legs, eyes, arms, becoming spiritual and then physical again. The Spirit of Christ has made such miraculous healings possible before the incarnation, during the incarnation, and since that time.

Are there people on this Earth capable of such a transformation? Certainly healings take place. Certainly people can bring the holy presence. But such a healing as I have spoken of does not happen often, and only in a concentrated power of the Holy such as Christ can bring. A rare convergence of the Spirit of God within the physical world must take place for such a healing.

"Thank you, God. Thank you," said Jennifer. "But there seems to be such randomness to everything, like a circumstance of just the right elements have to be present for a miracle. I don't like this randomness."

There are dependencies between the spiritual and the physical in your lives. The Spirit resides in the physical and relies on the physical in your existence. These dependencies within the limitations of the physical must be accepted. Even the Holy must accept them. There are limitations. The Spirit moves and responds in cooperation with the physical. The limitations of the physical create limitations for the Spirit. The secret of the sacred life is to find spiritual possibility in the limitations.

"I don't understand."

The spirit of the Holy sweeps over the Earth, saying, "I shall not fix it; I shall BE IN IT." Do you see? "I shall not reconstruct it; I shall be in it. I shall come. I shall be broken. I shall weep. I shall be in it."

And the Wisdom of the Holy said, "I shall bring myself forth in the physical wherever the opening is made. I shall lead them out of the physical into the spiritual. Moment by moment, I shall be there. And they shall know me, and I shall know them."

How can the Holy acknowledge inadequacies and through these reveal wisdom? If the Holy can find the power and glory of creation within the inadequacies of the physical, shall you not look within your own inadequacies to find God's love, your own brokenness to find God's wholeness, your own pain to find God's comfort?

The image of God's Spirit sweeping over creation, seeking to enter into our broken lives was a great comfort to me. By this time in the prayer, I had reached the deepest state of prophetic awareness, and my own mind stopped questioning but marveled at the message as it came forth through my voice.

The lesson from the Messenger of the Holy lasted over fifty minutes, and after more explanation about the limitations of the physical world, the Messenger returned to the topic of healing:

And even if the the Holy fixes the brokenness, even if the power of creation is concentrated and there is healing, in the physical it is only temporary, is it not? The individual moment of healing does not last in the physical. So the Spirit of God says, "I shall make the ultimate correction in the realm of the spiritual." THAT is the wisdom of God, the power and the glory of the Holy. The correction shall be made where the Holy can make it. It shall be made beyond the physical.

This time, I heard the comfort that the Holy intended. Despite my own sorrow, I understood that Jordan's body could not support his spirit. In this life, the Holy works within our physical bodies, despite the limitations we present. What is more, I was beginning to see that the limitations themselves were avenues for the Holy to be made manifest in our lives.

The Messenger then turned from our sorrow to the suffering of Jesus. When this new topic began, I thought, "Of course. This understanding of God's presence in the midst of suffering explains why Christ was crucified," but I had not seen this turn of the message coming:

Give the pain to the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit who knows the pain shall transform it; not erase it; not take it away, but shall transform it. This is the fundamental truth, is it not? The purpose of the crucifixion is to take the pain and transform it. Does that mean the pain did not exist? Does that mean the brokenness did not occur? Does that mean the blood was not shed? Does that mean the tears did not flow? Does that mean the darkness did not come? Does that mean the heart did not burst? See the wisdom of it. This is the only wisdom that can be constructed from the present, from the way the fabric is constructed. Do you see? The fabric was already constructed. The dependencies of the physical and the spiritual were already made, and the wisdom came out of it, through it. Through the dependencies themselves did the wisdom come. The only wisdom possible is within the limitations. See the possibilities of the limitations. Grab fast to those limitations for they shall reveal to you the transformations. The Holy works within the limitations. The ruptures become openings for the Spirit and the physical to intermingle.

In the final moments of the prayer, the Messenger of the Holy added a confirmation that I needed. Since I had first learned of Jordan's death, a nagging question had brought confusion and anger: Had God intended this death to happen in order to teach us something? Many who have suffered the death of a loved one or the news of a terrible illness have asked the same question, and, unfortunately, there are well-wishers in our communities of faith who think God gives us hardships for a purpose. Such phrases as, "Don't worry, God has a plan for everything," are often spoken from the lips of the pious. So, I was relieved by what the Messenger told us next:

The pain was not created to teach a lesson. The lesson was created to give meaning to the pain. The possibility came when the Spirit sought wisdom in the limitations, which had caused such pain and anguish. Do you think the Spirit does not feel it also so acutely? So the Spirit said, "I shall take this brokenness; I shall take this interdependence, and I shall make of it something beautiful. I shall reveal myself in it."

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Messenger of the Holy"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Michael Olin-Hitt, Ph.D..
Excerpted by permission of Balboa Press.
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Table of Contents

Introduction: The Shaman, the Prophet, the Oracle and the Channel, 9,
PART I Call of The Holy,
1 A Dark and Holy Time, 23,
2 The Awakening, 33,
3 Through the Darkness, 45,
4 Voice of The Holy, 61,
5 Messengers, Companions, Gate Keepers and Angels, 79,
6 Expectations, 93,
PART II Wisdom of The Holy,
Introduction to Part II, 109,
7 Creation and Control: "In the Beginning Was the Release", 111,
8 The Holy Whole: A Map of Heaven, 123,
9 The Purpose of the Soul, 135,
10 The Purpose of Prayer, 153,
11 Living in the Holy Way, 157,
12 The Nature of Evil, 169,
13 The End Times and the Gatherings, 181,
PART III Hope of The Holy,
14 Fu Jia (Happy Family): A Story of Renewal, 203,
15 The Ways of Civilization and the Ways of the Holy:, 215,
Epilogue: Oracle of the Holy, 229,
Appendix: "The Braided Way", 259,
Books Cited in this Work, 275,
Acknowledgments, 276,