At Peace With God

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by Mike Rigby

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Copyright 2009 by Mike Rigby

All Rights Reserved

Any part of this book may be reprinted or published

in part or in whole so long as the user reprints the text

exactly as it is written and is not republishing

or copying this material to get financial gain.

ISBN: 1-891265-11-3First Printing 2009

Distributed By:

MAP

511 E. 1250 S.

Payson, Utah 84651

801-224-6002

[email protected]


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Acknowledgments

I wish to express a very special thanks to three people

in my life. Two very dear friends, Terry Obrien and Valerie

Sauve, whose hard work, critique and sometimes kick in

the pants has finally put this story to print. Your ability

to polish my rough exterior into something palatable willsurely not go unnoticed by the reader.

And what can I say about my overly supportive wife

Valerie? Her grasp of spiritual principles and love for others

has taught me one great lesson: Be yourself, but be your

best self. I love you! Thanks.


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Contents

Chapter 1 ~ Reflections 1

Chapter 2 ~ Night Visitor 15

Chapter 3 ~ My Grandfather 25

Chapter 4 ~ Destruction Dream and

Learning to Listen 37

Chapter 5 ~ Christ in My Life 45

Chapter 6 ~ Teachings of Christ 59

Chapter 7 ~ Christs Life 65

Chapter 8 ~ Earthquake Predictions 75

Chapter 9 ~ Receiving Records 81

Chapter 10 ~ Publishing Sacred Scripture 87

Chapter 11 ~ Disciplinary Action 99

Chapter 12 ~ Dream About My Wife 109Chapter 13 ~ The Garments 113

Chapter 14 ~ Seminary Teacher 119

Chapter 15 ~ Blessings 123

Chapter 16 ~ Tranquility 131

Chapter 17 ~ Speaking in Tongues 135

Chapter 18 ~ Exercises in Faith 141

Chapter 19 ~ Jenny 149

Chapter 20 ~ Conclusions & Summary 157


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And this is life eternal, that

they might know thee the only true

God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

~ John 17:3


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What you are about to read is my spiritual journey to

learn about myself and to meet and/or experience God.

Your path will probably be totally different. Our spiri-

tual advancements seem to be as varied as our personali-

ties, and only a Divine Source seems to know the needs

of each individual. It is my hope that in the pages of thistext you will be able to relate to principles or personality

traits of Godliness perhaps even character attributes of

deity that can be woven into the fabric of your own life.

Hopefully by learning of someone elses struggle you may

be able to comprehend God in a simple way which will

make focusing on God, or recognizing the God within,easier for you. If along that path you gain information

which helps you to be God like, then my life will have

fulfillment and the purpose for this writing will have been

accomplished. MLR

Forword


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CHAPTER 1

Reflections

The sun beat down on our car as my wife and I sat

waiting for the next few minutes to tick by. We were hoping

to not be too early to my church Disciplinary Council. It

was the 19th of July 1994, and even though it was early

evening, the sun still hung high in the sky above the moun-tain town of Midway, Utah, which we called home.

As we walked to the foyer in the church, I could feel

the presence of a host of relatives who had long since

journeyed beyond this life. Only two years earlier I would

have dismissed such things as a figment of my imagina-

tion. But now it had become a reality. A reality I could not

free myself from, nor did I have a desire to. Life, and my

outlook on it, had changed so drastically, I was sure that to

the rest of the world I had become a kook.

As our meeting time approached we were directed to

a small lobby, only to find our wait there was longer than

expected. This gave me time to reflect on the past year and

a half of my life.So much had changed. My attitudes had shifted so

greatly. I was not the person that I used to be, and yet I

could not deny all that had happened to me, nor would I


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want tofor it would be to deny that I existed, or that life

itself was real, and we were sitting in that lobby that very

moment.How could I convey the feelings and the experiences

of the past year and a half to those who had never had

them? Would I have believed these things myself back then

if someone had come to me with the same tales? Perhaps

not. In that sense I was no different than my peers. How

could I hold these men to any higher standard? My feelingwas I could not.

I was about to face fifteen men who had been called

together to decide whether or not I had become a threat to

the organization we all loved so dearly. If you have never

been a member of a church or social group you will have

a hard time relating to what was about to happen. If you

have, then to some degree you should understand.

I had worked side by side with these men and their

wives for the past ten years. (There was only one person

there with whom I was not well acquainted.) In my past

church experience I had sat on a High Council just like

this one. I knew exactly how the protocol went, for I had

been there dozens of times.As an active member of the LDS faith your whole life

revolves around church activity. There are programs for the

youth of all ages, and groups set up involving the women in

social and charitable service. As a young man I was expected

to go on a two year mission. It was an experience that I

looked forward to and then enjoyed to its fullest.This church had become a part of me. A part I loved

and a life which gave me great satisfaction. It was who I

was; it was a major element of my identity.


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Never in my wildest dreams had I considered the

possibility of finding myself at odds with the leadership.

That was so far from my way of thinking it just hadntcrossed my mind.

LDS Church Councils are presided over and called

together by the local Stake President. He is a lay minister that

oversees five to ten wards which are each the equivalent of

a parish or small congregation. His decision is normally the

final word over the roughly 2000 people which he serves.The council members he calls to work with him are made

up of men only, who help administer policies.

The decision of these men, and especially the Stake

President, could change the course of my life, and I knew

it. For myself, I felt that I could handle it; but what about

my five children and my wife?

Their lives would change as well, and they were

innocent bystanders, with no way to alter the course. My

concern for them far outweighed my regard for myself.

Such were my initial thoughts on that hot July evening.

As we sat holding hands I could feel my wifes support,

and I wondered if even she could handle the opening of

the next door. Thought after thought raced through mymind and I went back to my first recollections of how I

had come to be where I was.

In the year 1954 my father was drafted into the

American Army. As fate would have it he didnt get sent

to Korea but was given a two year stint in Germany.

Being married at the time, he took my mother with him,and I was born abroad in 1955 the first child and only

son in what would eventually be a family of six. When

the military service ended, we came home to Utah where


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I spent the next 17 years in a small suburb of Salt Lake

City, called Holiday.

I grew up under fairly normal circumstances, despitethe fact that I was being raised in a community that was,

and still is, predominantly Mormon. In my mind it had

only a positive effect, giving my personality what I needed

to become a normal upstanding citizen in society.

I was taught to love God, and to seek to serve him with

all of my heart. I learned respect for the laws of the landand the rights of others. My parents were quite religious,

but I never felt forced to be as they were, nor to act in what

others would call a religious manner. I dont remember

being forced to go to church it was just expected.

As I look back on it now, it was the feeling of the

warmth of the Spirit that kept me going, not the sense

of duty to God, or the fear of my parents, or of some

eternal damnation.

Spiritual experiences were not shunned in our house-

hold; but also were not shared much outside of our home

environment. While I was in the fourth grade, a boy

down the street got hit by lightning and killed. Because

I was two years younger than Scott (the boy killed), andI was in school, I was not permitted to go to the funeral.

I remember my father coming home and telling me that

while he was waiting for the funeral to start, he saw Scott

come into the church with his deceased grandfather,

then walk to the open casket, look inside, and walk away,

vanishing through the church wall. This experience wasrarely talked about with others outside of our family, but

we were all aware of what my father had seen. It was just

something that happened, and we as a family all believed


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it, for I never knew my father to lie.

My mother, too, was prone to spiritual experiences,

but was much more quiet about them than my father,feeling that these were for her personal growth alone and

not to be shared. Still the very fact that she was going

through encounters of a spiritual nature herself left me

knowing that these things were real and not to be feared.

Just after my birth, my mother hemorrhaged and had what

we would call today a near death experience or NDE.From that time forth she never feared death, but seemed

to feel a sense of duty toward a lifes mission that would

have an influence on the lives of thousands of people. I

believe that she still has never wavered in trying to accom-

plish what she sees as her own personal responsibility to

the human family.

As a young boy I felt much closer to my mother than

to my father. She was my protector and playmate. I shall

never forget the hours that she held me as a young child

and successfully protected me from the negative inf luences

of the world around me. It wasnt until about age ten or

twelve that I noticed I was starting to attach to my father,

and move away from my mothers influence.Dad is the outgoing type and we found a mutual

interest in camping and outdoor activities. His interest in

the Boy Scout program always kept young men around

the house and he seemed to have a profound inf luence on

their lives. To this day they still come back on occasion

and thank him for the time that he spent in their lives.I was raised with the same ideals as others in our

community, but as I began to grow and mature, I felt that

my relationship with God was not what I wanted it to be.


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There was always something that seemed to be missing, a

void, if you like regarding my understanding of God.

I read in books of the closeness others felt with Deityand I desired to have these same intimate spiritual experi-

ences for myself. I had a great desire to know and experi-

ence spirituality with a longing that could not be quenched.

Some have a desire to excel in sports or to achieve finan-

cially, but my drive was to know God and feel the warmth

of His spirit continually.In the scriptures I came across people like Moses who

met God face-to-face, and I longed to have that experience

of closeness or communication in my own life. The best

way I can describe it is to say that I hungered and thirsted

to not only see God, but to be one with him as Jesus had

said he was one with His Father. I believed deeply that the

experiences of others, such as Christ, were true and that

it was possible for me to do the same.

I also knew that it would take a commitment on my part,

but at the time I had little understanding or comprehension

of how complete that commitment had to be. I had no idea

of how far reaching the effects of getting close to God would

be for me, or how difficult it would be on others to allow meto go there.

At the age of nineteen, I was called to serve a mission

for the LDS Church in England. This was one of the

greatest experiences of my life. Since then I have always

felt that it doesnt matter who you are or what religious

understanding you have, if you are able to dedicate yourlife to serving others and to serving God, you are going to

grow and have many spiritual experiences. And so it was

true of my experiences in England. There I learned to love


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people who were a lot less fortunate than I, and to give of

myself when I felt there was nothing left to give to go the

extra mile and make a difference in peoples lives.Miracles happened weekly where I witnessed healings

and blessings in the lives of others. I was miraculously

preserved from harm many times and often given the gift

to look into peoples lives or hearts and see what was trou-

bling them.

The hardest transition of my life was to come homeand get back into the rat race of earning a living. I can

remember praying when I got home and saying, Lord if

you are going to take my life, do it now, for I feel that I am

at the peek of my spiritual growth. At that point I could

not see myself ever again living on the spiritual level that I

had found as a missionary.

For the first 38 years of my life I tried to make the

spiritual experiences happen. This I did by trying to live

every law or rule that I had learned in church and in the

scriptures. Although at times I experienced a form of

Godliness or spirituality, I still did not feel I was having

encounters that brought me to a greater closeness or

oneness with God.It seemed as though I was stuck on a spiritual plateau,

and that the people around me were at the same point.

I could see that almost all of the individuals I met were

content where they were spiritually, and had little desire

to progress, or move forward into what they considered

the unknown. It is probably complacency or the easinessof drifting along that lets people get stuck in the limita-

tions of a just go to church rut. I have always been

surprised at how content people are to stay in their daily


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and weekly routines with little desire to find out more

about the unknown.

After a long struggle with what seemed to be minimalresults, I began to get a bit discouraged with the whole

process of growing spiritually. This was probably due in

part to the fact that I kept reading in the scriptures about

spiritual gifts that the righteous possessed, and I didnt

seem to have or be experiencing any especially not on

a daily basis. Even my closest friends didnt display any ofthese gifts in their lives.

The church that I grew up in claimed to have the

Gifts of the Spirit, but I rarely saw them manifest by

the church members as displayed by the early apostles of

Christ, or members of the early Christian Church. With

greater and deeper discouragement I found myself turning

to God more often in prayer and pleading for guidance and

help. I find it hard to describe what this feeling of frustra-

tion is like. Its not that I was totally unhappy, but rather

that my life was lacking purpose. I wasnt making progress.

Surely there had to be more to life than the everyday go

to work and come home, do my church assignments, and

love my family.My foundation, or that which I had trusted in (which I

realized later was mostly based on the precepts or concepts

of men) was coming up short. I began to doubt that anyone

was having the spiritual experiences witnessed by the early

Christian Saints. Through my church teachings I was

taught that to seek and know God was not wrong. In fact itwas generally encouraged, but I couldnt find anyone that

would say they had met the Lord.

Trust and truth were words I began to dissect in my


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mind. Was truth something that I could actually put my

finger on, and was it the same for everyone? Or was it

something that was relative to me and the reality I wascreating through my actions and thoughts? If the latter

were true, then how could I even trust the written word

which translators may have exaggerated and even fabri-

cated to some degree? And what about the interpretation

that each of us makes when we see or read something?

Finding the true intent of the individual putting forth theirviewpoint on something was difficult and at best subject

to many angles or levels of understanding.

I felt so confused about the whole matter that I really

wanted to back off; to somehow walk away and start all

over from scratch. If I had not witnessed some spiritual

experiences, I probably would have given up on the whole

thing, or tried to ignore the problem out of existence. Still,

deep within me was a longing for the warmth and love

that the Spirit brings. I kept going back to that two-year

period of my mission when I had dedicated myself to the

service of God. It was the only time when I had really

found continual joy. This caused me to reflect on what

made this time so special. What brought the joy I had feltthen and why was I not feeling it now? I am sure some will

argue that I was delivering the truth to a world that didnt

have it and God was blessing me with a peace that kept me

content in this endeavor; but inside I knew there was more.

Something was different then from now and it went much

deeper. Somehow I had to put my finger on it.As I wrestled with this problem, I noticed that my

prayers started to change. They began to feel more sincere

and I found myself pleading with the Lord to show me


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what I was doing wrong, and help me see what was stop-

ping my spiritual progression. While praying, I often said,

Lord take away from me everything that is keeping mefrom seeing you although I felt that if taken literally,

this statement could mean that I may give up all that I

thought was of value in my life.

Still the desire to penetrate the barrier continued to

push me forward and drive me to some sort of peace with

regard to the matter. Through all the confusion I somehowknew deep within my heart that God would somehow

open things up for me.

I remember one time as I was pouring my heart out

to God for help, I suddenly stopped in mid sentence and

began to cry. I felt overcome with sadness that somehow I

was letting God down, that I was failing the tests or experi-

ences of this physical existence. At that moment all I could

see of my life was the failings and lack of progress. It was

as if in some way I had been rejected by my Maker and that

my offering to God was not complete enough. But, what

else could I give? Had I not been willing to put all I had on

the altar? As I wept, I pleaded for an answer. Precisely how

much time elapsed I am not sure for I felt caught up in theanguish of failure.

As I continued to sink into my own manufactured

hell, I felt a burning or tingling sensation gradually cover

my whole being, and a great joy welled up in my chest.

It was as if a blanket of peace had slowly been rolled

over me and I was encompassed by some power I hadfelt many times before, in brief moments. But now it was

stronger and more focused as it moved through me and

enveloped my emotions. Instantly I felt my mind clear,


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and a serene calm washed over me. It was wonderful.

At this point I heard no voice, nor saw any heavenly

being, but I had a comforting reassurance and confidencethat all things were in Gods hands, and would work out

for my best good. I knew that God was aware of me and

that in time the answers would come.

This experience helped me see that I was not forgotten,

that none of us are forgotten, nor can we be.

My direction now took a bit of a change, and I soughtto have this warm reassuring feeling guide me in all I did.

As I faced the cares of everyday life, I tried to hold onto

the feeling of comfort whenever I noticed it starting to

leave. With practice you can become very aware of when

the Spirit of God or the feeling of Love is with you and

when it is not. Or maybe I should say, when it is strong

and when it is not. This practice also reveals the things

that drive the spirit away in your life. I noticed that I was

becoming aware of everything that was going on around

me, not from what I saw, or the physical experiences but

by how I felt.

I now found that if I would ask in prayer concerning

a decision I had just made, or one I was about to make,I would often get that feeling of comfort or a Witness

of the Spirit (as it was known in my church), to help me

know which direction to go. If I got a Spiritual Witness,

then I would stick with the decision. If I didnt get the

Witness, then I would drop it, or forget what I had asked

about. This led me to trust the Love feeling or Spirit witheverything I did.

I also found that many people began to think I was

crazy, and radical. Business friends started to treat me a


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little differently when I shared what was happening in my

life. I was no longer asked to participate in company gath-

erings, and clients began to act strictly business like.Still I persisted in following the Spirit, for it kept

bringing peace to my mind and heart even though at times

I must admit, I too wondered if I was losing it.

By the warmth of the Spirit I was directed to many

books that helped me learn the deeper meanings of life,

and I began to see that if I wanted to have the experiencesI had read about others having, I would have to make a

full time commitment to doing Gods will. This did not

mean that I would have to become a monk or preacher or

priest, but rather I would put my desire for godliness ahead

of all else.

By now I could look back at my life and see that all

the highs and lows were there for a reason. They each

had purpose and in some way, however small it may have

seemed at the time, I was growing from each peak and

each valley. I tried to program my mind so that I looked

at all things as for my good; to see everything as being in

divine order and for the good of not just myself but all

those I influenced. This helped me to plow through therough things the Spirit directed me to do and still keep a

positive attitude.

I began looking for the good in everyone and not

caring what the world thought. It was coming down to

me and the Spirit, and let the rest of the world worry

about their own relationship with God. In other words, Icouldnt let what others thought dictate what I believed or

how I acted upon that belief.

There is a very shocking reality that hits you when you


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sincerely try to not let others influence what you say, do, or

think about. For me what came home hardest was just how

much I was being affected by those around me. It seemedthat 98% of what I was doing in life was the direct result

of my contact with others. And this contact meant I was

behaving a certain way because I was pre programmed by

my environment to act that way. Not realizing it, I really

thought that was how people wanted me to act, or that I

would gain the acceptance of others by displaying char-acter traits they approved. It seems a bit silly now but at

the time I became very aware of the reasons behind my

everyday actions. I dissected my behavior and the thoughts

I was thinking to justify that behavior. When you do this

sincerely, your personality will change very rapidly.

The scripture Praise God in All Things took on

new meaning, and I asked myself which part of my experi-

ences was not included in all things. I came to the conclu-

sion that there was not one solitary thing happening to me

for which I could not thank God and give Him the glory.

Merlin Crowthers book From Prison to Praise was a big

help. When you can look at the mistakes of your own life

with true objectivity as a third person, you become moreforgiving of others, and then you can see the purpose in

what is happening in your own life. The divinity of it all

becomes overwhelming.

At this point my faith and understanding of God

were beginning to grow, even if still small. A seed was

there that I began to water and nurture in a most tenderway. Rather than rely on my own ability to get through

problems, I began to put the burden on God and let him

take care of them.


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Some people assumed I had a dont care attitude,

because when I was pushed into a corner or felt stuck

solving a problem, I would back away and place it at Godsfeet. As I did this I noticed that it always came out in my

best interest and long term growth, even if I didnt see it

at the moment. But in time as I looked back, I could see

the hand of Divine intervention in every part. Thank you

Lord and thank you Father were words I could not say

often enough. However I began to choke on those wordsas the reality of my excommunication court came rushing

back to the forefront of my thinking.

I need your help Father; I so need your help. My

nervousness at that moment was a dead give away that I

had put a lot of value on my church membership.

Only by sinking back into my spiritual experiences

could I relax and leave the present turmoil.


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Night Visitor

CHAPTER 2

Along my spiritual path, I had been asking God for

any enlightenment extant on the subject of life after death.

I often wondered why, if this life is to prepare us for the

next, are people so fearful of information about that next

life? If you set out to study all you can about the after lifeyou will be amazed at how much information is published

on the subject and how well that information dovetails

together. The broad picture is vast and far reaching. Even

with all you can find you will only be learning the smallest

part of the vastness of Gods creations.

I ran across a book written by Betty Eddie, called

Embraced by the Light. The book had only been out two

months when a friend gave me a copy to read and I stayed

up until three oclock in the morning devouring its message.

The book went on to be a best seller and I was able to chat

with Betty at one time about her encounter. She was as sweet

and loving on the phone as I had pictured she would be from

her writings.More than anything else this book let me feel through

her experience the love of God and how close and personal

He is. I realized that we are the ones that drive God away


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and that there is nothing that I can do that will stop Him

from loving me. My desire then became even greater to

meet this Jesus, as his apostles had done after His deathand resurrection.

As I shared this book with others, I came across a

photocopy of Robert Bensons book, Life in the World

Unseen as channeled through Anthony Borgia. I found

myself astounded at its compatibility with what I had

already learned from my LDS background. A personwould have had to study all of his life on this subject to

bring so many truths about the other side, or Spirit World,

together in the pages of one book.

As I read it, I received Witness after Witness (that

burning loving feeling from God) of its truths, and my

insight and learning grew tremendously. His book also

brought up a lot of new questions for which I couldnt find

answers. So broad and expansive were his descriptions of

the Spirit Life and the Spirit World that I found my own

religious teachings fell short. I also found that there is a

great fear among religious sects today, my own included,

of what the after life is like.

I decided to research the author of this book, andfound Robert Hugh Benson had been a priest for the

Church of England while in the flesh. As a priest, Benson

had written about 20 religious books, which were basically

along the same theological lines of his church. However, he

later converted to Catholicism. Having labored in England

as a missionary for the Mormon Church I was acquaintedwith the basic philosophies of the Church of England

and Catholic religions. I thus found it easy to understand

Bensons concept of God.


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In 1914 at the age of 42, Robert Benson died after a

short illness, and passed on to what he called the Spirit

World. Here he found that a lot of what he had writtenas a priest was incorrect, and it troubled him that he had

given out information that had become a stumbling block

for many, and was not helping them progress. After 25

years in the Spirit World he was granted the opportunity

to come back to a friend and dictate a book, or channel

information on what it is like to live in the Spirit Worldas a Spirit Individual. His book gives a lot of details as to

how this communication was done. He leaves few stones

unturned, and his eloquent way of writing far overshadows

my own. (If it bothers you that the book was channeled,

then take a look at all of Holy Writ and see if you can find

any writings from God or the other side that are not

channeled. If you think about it, you will conclude, as I

did, that there is nothing written from God that is not

channeled in some way.)

I felt compelled to get the message of this book out

to people and in the early part of 1993 I was able to obtain

the rights to publish Bensons book in the United States,

and began the process of getting it ready to go to press.When the book came out I placed radio ads on a local

LDS church owned radio station which was very skeptical

of what their listeners would think about the book. To

calm the stations fears, we decided to run the ads from

midnight to five oclock a.m. and see if they received any

negative feed back. These ads were run at random times,and because of the time frame, were not too expensive.

At about four oclock a.m. on the third night of running

the ads, I was awakened abruptly from a very sound sleep.


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It was as if someone had grabbed the front of my shirt and

pulled me to a sitting position in bed. At the same time I

heard a voice say, You need to listen to the ad on the radioright now. The voice was not harsh or demanding but

confident in its tone, if you can call it a tone of voice for I

could not distinguish whether I heard the sound with my

ears or in my mind.

For a moment I thought I must still be dreaming and I

started to lie back down when I was firmly pulled forwardagain and the exact same words were repeated. At this

point I began to fumble around in the dark for the radio.

This woke my wife up and she asked sleepily, What are

you doing?

I said, I need to listen to the ad on the radio.

She said, Its four in the morning; go back to sleep.

In the dark I kept fumbling with the radio until it

came on, and then I began to play with the unlit tuner. As

I turned the knob I came across the radio station the very

second the ad started to play.

My wife then sat up and asked, What is going on?

I said, I dont know, but I do know that I need to

listen to the ad right now.When the ad finished I set the radio down and

through the dark I could see that my wife had a puzzled

and somewhat fearful look: Mike . . . there is someone

here in our room.

No, I said.

There are three of them and they are right overthere. She pointed.

Although I looked about the room and saw nothing

out of the normal, I could distinctly feel or sense three


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individuals off to my right. The best way I can describe it is

to say that they put off energy, and I instinctively knew they

were males, or that it was male energy. How exactly I knewthis, I cannot say. It is difficult sometimes to describe how

information from the Spirit World is conveyed because

much of the time it is received differently from the way in

which we usually communicate knowledge.

At the time I dont remember thinking about being

afraid or scared, but later I did look back on the experienceand marvel at how calm I was, yet rather excited to have

such an experience.

Not knowing what to do next, I tried to relax and

immediately I heard a voice in my mind say, I am Robert

Benson and I want to thank you for your interest in my

behalf. If you have any questions about the Spirit World I

am here to answer those questions.

All of my communication with Robert and his two

friends were done by speaking mentally back and forth.

My wife and I would talk back and forth verbally deciding

what to ask, and then I would relax and mentally ask the

question. The visitors would immediately answer in the

same way. The answers were so clear and distinct that Iasked my wife several times if she could hear what they

were saying, but she could not.

We asked every question we could think of and I was

surprised at some of the strange answers that Robert gave.

This correspondence took place for about 40 minutes, after

which time I began to feel extremely tired even though Ihad just had most of a nights sleep.

Robert and his friends seemed to ignore my need for

a change in pace so I point blank told them: I need a rest.


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Either I need to go back to sleep, or make love to my wife,

or something, but I need a change.

To this they said nothing but I could hear themcommunicating among themselves. As Robert and his two

friends began to leave, their images came into view and I

could see them as one sees three friends walking away after

a short chat. (Whether this was with my physical eyes or

spiritual eyes I cannot say, but I saw them without having

to strain or concentrate.) Then the one on the right lookedback and said, Enjoy it while you can. I was astonished

at his apparent sense of humor, and it did leave a lasting

impression on me.

My greatest mistake was not writing down what we

asked and what they said in return. Within two weeks my

wife and I could only remember about half of what was

said in that forty minute encounter. Still it was just as real

as me writing this now, and I basked in the joy of having

had this break through of the veil.

As simple and comfortable as this encounter seemed,

we came to the realization that we had actually talked with

the dead, and our lives were changed. I knew from that

moment on I would never be the same. I would nevergo to a funeral again and think of that persons body in

the box as anything more than a pile of earth that at one

time housed the personality of someone I knew. The real

person, the life essence, or spirit, was still as alive as it

had ever been, but it was now free of the limitations (and

advantages!) of the physical body.As you may well imagine I was very quiet about whom

I told this experience, and how. For a time and out of

fear of being ostracized I kept the experience to myself,


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only telling my father and one or two trusted friends.

Some very important truths came out of this meeting.

Not that Robert and his friends told me anything so earthshattering or profound, but what I learned about myself

and how God works would change my life forever.

First: I came to realize that the heavens are not

sealed, that the other side, as we have come to call it, is

a real place. It exists just as much as we do now. These

personalities or spirits, as we on earth like to refer tothem, have desires to grow, progress, and share what they

know, just like we often do. Later on I will explain this

in more detail.

Second: This place is accessible to anyone at any time.

Worthiness has no bearing on whether you can talk to

God or hear His voice, or any other voice or person from

the Spirit World.

This was a very radical shift from my upbringing. I

had always been taught that the only way you could experi-

ence the things of God was by being worthy, with no real

definition or sometimes too many definitions of what that

word worthy meant.

Then I remembered reading in the scriptures whereGod had called to Cain, after Cain had just killed Abel,

and said, Cain where is thy brother? Cain was a murderer

and yet God had just spoken to him. I felt even more sure

that God could speak to me as well, even if it was not

directly, but through a spirit named Robert Benson.

If worthiness had no bearing on talking to God, thenwhat did? Why were some able to do it and others not?

Jesus gave the answer when He said, If you believe,

you can do all things. I was learning that belief is


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everything, for it is the foundation of faith the idea of

worthiness was something apart and has judgment written

all over it.The power of believing that you can get through the

veil is critical. If you exercise no faith that it will happen, I

promise you that it wont. At the least you must be neutral

to the possibility of the world of Spirit to even experience

something from that realm that you dont understand.

Third: I found that I had to be very flexible. If I hadan agenda of how I thought it had to happen, then I was

setting myself up for disappointment.

This too was a difficult lesson to learn, because others

would tell me that God only worked a certain way, which

of course they knew, even though they hadnt had any

experience with God or someone from the Spirit World

speaking to them.

When I gave up the idea that it had to happen for

me as it had happened for someone else, things began to

move forward at a faster pace. I was taking God out of the

box where I had put Him/Her (theres another box), and

tearing down the barriers that had blocked my mind to

learning more truth. That is not to say that I was wrong inmy first thinking or my early understanding of God, but

that I was now building upon what I had learned, and that

enabled me to go further than I had before. At least I was

seeing a shift in myself and progress being made.

I also noticed that if I found I was being criticized by

those who didnt understand the changes that were takingplace in my life, or if they felt that I was not going about

this the right way, then I tried to look at the kind of person

they were, and what they had accomplished in their lives.


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There are many places in the Holy Writ, and even Jesus

said, By their fruits ye shall know them. I had to ask

myself, Were my actions and accomplishments loving,kind, and gentle; was I at peace with myself and God?

And how about those who didnt understand? Were they

displaying these loving attributes? If not, should I be

heeding their advice?


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Two weeks after meeting Robert Benson, I was driving

only three or four blocks from my home when I began to

get that Witness of the Spirit feeling again. This was

a very strong sensation and it went from the top of my

head to the tips of my toes. I started feeling sweaty and I

thought that my whole body was going to overheat.

I began to have the sense that my grandfather was

there with me. He had passed away eight years earlier and

although we were close I had not thought much about him,

even though I had enjoyed being in his company. I saw

nothing unnatural, but could feel a familiar energy that my

grandfather was emanating.As with Robert Benson I tried to clear my mind of all

thoughts and listen for a voice, but nothing came, just this

extremely intense feeling of great joy. As the feeling began

to fade I looked next to me in the passenger seat and actu-

ally pointed my finger in that direction, and said out loud,

I know that you are here, Grandpa, and when I get to theother side, I want you to tell me how you made me feel this

way. Still I heard no speaking. At this point I so wanted

to hear him or see him, but there was no contact in what

CHAPTER 3

My Grandfather


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26

we would call a normal or physical way.

Because of the close connection with my grandfa-

ther when he was still in the flesh, this encounter surpris-ingly meant a lot more to me than the meeting with Robert

Benson. Although Robert and his two friends were visible

to my physical eye they still did not have the impact that

my grandfather did. Looking back on it now, I think the

added emotion tied in with this encounter gave it a much

longer lasting and deeper meaning for me.It took a couple of days for the effects to wear off, and

even after a few weeks all I had to do was think about the

experience and immediately the feeling would return, and

I could to some degree, enjoy him again.

As the weeks began to roll on with publishing Life

in the World Unseen, my grandfather started coming

more frequently. If I became still, focused, medita-

tive, or went into the now (which I will explain later),

I could actually hear his voice and he would speak to me.

The encounters always seemed to have a purpose and I

pondered often at how concerned he seemed to be about

his family and what was happening to his posterity. Several

times he came with information about my living grand-mother, and things that I could do to help her.

In late July of 1993, my grandfather made a most

unusual visit while I was driving to work on the freeway

one early morning. My grandfather suddenly, without

warning, appears in the car with me! Now he is not sitting

invisibly next to me, but I can actually see him standing inthe middle of the dashboard half in and half out of the car!

Exactly how this works I havent a clue. He is dressed as I

remember seeing him when he was still in the flesh. The


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27

road and the rest of the area behind him, in front of the

car, have gone gray and it seems as though the vehicle is

on auto pilot.The first words out of his mouth are, Whatever you

do, dont stop growing and developing spiritually, it will

put you so much further ahead in the world to come. At

this time he also tells me several personal things about my

life and tasks I should do which will help me to progress.

Then he explains that a cousin of mine is in need of helpand he wants me to call and try to be of assistance!

As he leaves, my surroundings go back to normal, but

I can still feel the energy he brought with him. It is peaceful

and serene calming, yet direct. It is hard to convey now

the true depth of what I was feeling at the time.

To experience the continuation of a relationship that

had ended with death was new to me. It is really difficult

to convey the magnitude of what it felt like. When people

died I had learned to drop them from my contact list.

That was the end of any kind of relationship. Yet here he

was literally continuing our friendship. There really is

no deathjust a transformation to another state of living.

The mind or personality is exactly the same mind it wasupon the change to spirit life. I had always had a belief in

the afterlife, but to switch to a knowing or sure knowledge

that it is there, is a bit of a jump.

I knew I had to act on my grandfathers wishes.

As I made the first call I could feel the hesitation in my

voice when my cousins wife answered the phone. I hadonly seen my cousin once in five years and it was a little

awkward trying to help him when I didnt even know what

he needed. His wife was very nice on the phone, but told


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me everything was fine and that they didnt need my help.

With this I let it go and went about my normal routine.

It had never occurred to me to have my grandfather bespecific about what was wrong.

A couple of weeks later the same thing happened

againmy grandfather came to me and repeated the same

words about helping my cousin. This visit was not visual,

but verbal only. I could hear him very clearly and feel his

presence, but saw nothing with my physical eyes. StrangelyI began to find it hard to tell if I was hearing his voice with

my physical ears or in my mindsort of like seeing Robert

Benson and wondering if I saw him with my physical

eyes or with spiritual sight. The two worlds feel closely

connected and overlap in so many ways, it actually seems

very natural.

After this visit I again made the call to my cousin,

with the same results. A bit more embarrassed than the

first time, I dismissed the incident but began to wonder

just a bit if I was losing my mind. Why would I be asked to

help someone who didnt need help?

Another two weeks went by and again my grandfather

came and gave me the same message for the third time.With extreme trepidation I sunk my head and thought, not

again. How can he do this to me? Am I just a guinea

pig and they are having their fun with me? How many

times can I do this? But this time there was a different

result. When I asked my cousins wife if there was anything

I could do to help them, she started to cry.After some time she composed herself and began to tell

me a most bizarre tale about her adopted children. Before

she and my cousin married she was married to another


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man and they had adopted four children. These children

came from three different cultural backgrounds: Indian,

Korean, and African American. It was a family blend thatwas sure to present challenges to the best of parents. Then,

accusations of child molesting led to a divorce and left the

family very dysfunctional.

When my cousin came on the scene, it at first seemed

that the family was going to find stability again, but that

was short-lived. Within a brief period of time the teenagegirls were accusing my cousin of similar problems. His

wife informed me that Family Services had just picked up

the children and put them in foster homes.

Both my cousin and his wife were devastated. I then

asked her, How could I help? She said that they needed an

attorney and the money to fight Family Services and prove

that they were fit parents. At this point I had no money and

knew of no attorney that handled such cases. I didnt have

the courage to tell my cousins wife that our dead grandfa-

ther had told me to call, so I just said, I dont know exactly

what to do, but I think I know someone who can help. Ill

get in touch with him and see what he has to say.

By this time I had learned that if I prayed and askedthe Lord to send my grandfather, he would immediately

respond. This would not work, however, if I only put a

casual effort into my request. The endeavor had to be

genuine and with a concentrated intent (in time this process

would become easier). When I requested of the Lord to

send my grandfather on this occasion, he was immediatelythere. (I later learned that I could leave the Lord out of

the request and still get results, but I had to be a bit more

careful about what I received.)


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My grandfathers instructions were to call my attorney

and get a referral for another attorney from him. This I did,

and my attorney not only gave me a referral for anotherattorney, but he gave me a list of four lawyers to choose

from. As soon as I concentrated on the list, I heard my

grandfathers voice and felt that warm feeling again. He

showed me which attorney to call, by saying him and

having the name light up on the page, so I never even

bothered contacting the others.To my surprise the attorney that I called was a bishop

in the Mormon Church. I felt that if anyone would under-

stand my cousins need for help, it would be this man. He

wanted to meet with my cousin and his wife and then

contact me.

This he did a few days later, and told me that he would

like to take the case. He felt he would be able to help my

cousin get his children back. I then asked him how much

he charged and he said, One hundred dollars per hour. I

am sure he heard me gasp on the other end of the phone.

I then asked, Do you ever do these things on a lump sum

basis? I gulped. I think that my terminology caught him

off guard a bit, but he understood what I meant and said itwould take $5000.00 to see this case through. This seemed

like a mountain of money as I was trying to get my little

book publishing business off the ground. I could think

of ten places that I could spend that kind of money rather

than putting it into something that seemed like someone

elses problem.I said, I dont have the money, but I know someone

who may be able to help me get it. Ill have to get back

to you. Please dont say anything to my cousin about how


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much this is going to cost; I know that it will only put him

under more stress. He agreed and thanked me for helping

him get involved with the case. I think he felt a genuineconnection with this family and really did want to help.

It was only a split second before my grandfather was

talking to me. He said, Dont worry about the money; we

will help you get it. I must admit this didnt help me to

forget about the money. I could see no way that my busi-

ness was going to get those kinds of funds. It would havebeen easier to crawl across the freeway naked in rush hour

traffic than to find $5000.00!

About a week later, in early September, my grand-

father came again. He told me to get a thousand dollars

together and go to Las Vegas. Once I was there he would

show me what to do.

For the first time since his appearing to me, I started

to question what he was telling me, and I wrestled with his

instructions. I found that the communication line was not

as clear. This, I didnt know at the time, was because of

my lack of faith. I asked him what he wanted me to do in

Las Vegas, but he would give me no answer. In my mind

I kept trying not to think about it, but I still couldnt helpbut wonder if he was going to have me gamble.

Although he was not speaking, I knew he was

listening, so I told him I had never gambled in my life, and

that what he was asking me to do was totally out of char-

acter for me. He still did not answer back, so I resolved to

get the thousand dollars together and play it by ear (go bythe spirit).

When I got to Las Vegas I began to hear my grand-

fathers voice again and he directed me to Caesars Palace.


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32

There he had me sit at the roulette wheel and we began

playing. This was by no means something I was forced to

do; nor was my free will taken away at any time. EverythingI was doing I did of my own free will and choice.

Now I simply tried to concentrate on my grandfather

and have him give me any instructions that he felt I needed.

Never, ever in my life had I been in such an awkward posi-

tion. This place seemed to have no redeeming qualities,

and I kept questioning myself why I was there. One thingI was sure of; I was not here for my own personal gain. I

would rather have starved.

Still I persisted taking one step at a time, and then

things started to happen. After about an hour I had

tripled what I came with and began to see light at the

end of the tunnel. Even to this day I can feel the pride

that came over me as I was winning the money that my

cousin needed to get his children back. It was a feeling of

exuberance that I was beating the system. Then, as fast

as I had won it . . . I lost it all! Not just the winnings, but

the seed money as well!

Dejected, at one oclock in the morning, I went out

to my Jeep and lay down in the back. As I thought onthe events that had just taken place, I began to plead with

heaven that I could have an answer to why this had turned

out so negatively. Not only was I short the $5000.00 that

my cousin needed, but I was out the $1000.00 I had brought

with me. Money was tight at the time and this was begin-

ning to feel like a mean trick. It was much easier to blamemy grandfather than to ever blame myself. I knew that

getting angry would not solve the problem, but some outlet

for the frustration I was feeling would really be nice!


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Then I heard my grandfathers voice. He said, We

just had to see if you would do it. In kind of an angry

tone I shot back, But you knew that I would do whateveryou asked!

And he said Yes, but you didnt know that you would

do it. You put too much emphasis on money.

Then I said, Thats easy for you to say; you dont

have to eat, or buy clothes or put a roof over your head!

He replied, Go home and we will provide the money tohelp your cousin.

It was a long rather embarrassing six hour journey back

home. Not often have I felt sorry for myself or indulged in

self pity, but I did this time! Looking back I can see that I

had far too much interest in the outcome. I was not going

to be happy unless it turned out the way I thought it was

supposed to. I would soon learn differently. The other side

had a different agenda for me on this trip.

(I have included this in my history here because it

has impacted myself and many others, and will at some

point have a greater significance to me than it does at this

writing. My thoughts are that by sharing it now, its future

roll may have a smoother transition.)On the way home I was led to take a side jaunt to

a gold mining venture known as the Relief Mine, or the

Dream Mine. This mine is just south of Spanish Fork,

Utah, and has never produced any monetary benefit to its

supporters since its opening back in the late 1800s.

Starting with a dream experienced by John Koyle,this mine has created more spiritual controversy than any

single project in Utah history. The fact that John Koyle

made prediction after prediction that came true, left even


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his staunchest critics wondering where this man fit into

the grand scheme of things. Although a strong supporter

of the Mormon Church, he found himself at odds with theleadership on many occasions.

It is hard to describe in words the feelings I had this

hot September day as I stepped foot on the property for

the first time. Some call it hallowed ground, or a spiritual

vortex; but for me, a newcomer to this place, it was an

exhilarating feeling I had never experienced before. I feltlight or buoyant as I walked. Why it had this effect on me I

cannot say. I have been back to the land many times since

and never felt the energy like I did that day.

Some time shortly after getting home, I had a dream

about this mine, in which I was taken into a cavern that

was opened up by the people working the mine. When we

entered this cavern, or large room, there were seven or

nine of us who had been selected to view and document

what was in this man made cave. We proceeded past other

caverns to this last one and entered from what seemed to be

the west side, (if one is able to tell directions underground).

The room had some large columns which looked like they

may have been left for support. Near one of these columnsI saw a vase about three feet high and ten inches across the

top. It was filled with gold coins that had inscriptions on

them I had never seen. Records of every type and descrip-

tion were all around. Most of them seemed to be made of

metal but I did not examine them close enough to be sure.

At one end of the room there was a table that attracted myattention, but I could not tell why I was drawn to it. On

top of the table were writing instruments that I had never

seen before.


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I started to ask questions about what I was seeing and

the dream began to fade. I know that I was told many

things about this place but I have never been able to recallthe specifics. I suppose that in time I will understand with

greater detail what this is all about. Until then I am satis-

fied to let it unfold in its time. How Koyles visions and

mine will finally play out I cannot say, but I do know that

he fulfilled a great mission on this earth, of which we have

only seen the beginning.Within two weeks of getting home from Las Vegas my

business began to go crazy. I was doing radio interviews

by phone about the book, Life in the World Unseen all

over the country, and the books were selling better than

they ever had. Prior to this time I would sell between five

and fifteen books in the days following an interview; now

the numbers increased dramatically. One interview at a

station in Philadelphia sold over 300 copies within a few

hours. To my great surprise, I soon had earned enough

money to pay for my cousins legal battle. Although I had

stretched the payments out over a couple of months with

the attorney, I still had enough money to pay him and meet

all of my other obligations. At this point I found that mygrandfather was right, if I would just trust in what I was

given, it would all turn out for my good, even if I didnt

see it at the time.

The legal battle for the children went on for over a

year and in the end the parents decided it was in the best

interest of the children and their long term good to bewith families that better fit their needs. For me it was

another lesson in trying to not predict the outcome; just

do as I know to do.


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Sometime in early August, I had a most interesting

dream in which I was standing at the south end of a long

valley. I knew the valley ran north to south because the sun

had just come up to my right over some mountains and wasnot very high in the sky. On my left were smaller mountains

that didnt seem to have as much foliage on them.

At the time I was not sure exactly where I was, for

the surroundings were destroyed, and changed enough to

make it hard to identify features. As I looked up the middle

of the valley, all I could see was broken cement and twisted

metal. I knew that the destruction had just happened, but

I was unsure of the cause. My first thoughts were that this

looked like Hiroshima or Nagasaki, but I could see no

mushroom cloud to indicate a nuclear explosion. In fact

the sky looked totally clear. There was no smoke or fires

coming from the rubble. I was also surprised that I could

see no dust coming up from the falling of these structures,and I assumed the dust must have already settled by the

time I was viewing this.

Far down the valley I could still see nothing but

CHAPTER 4

Destruction Dream and

Learning to Listen


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flattened buildings. (After the dream was over I realized

that there were no people in this dream. I felt that they were

there, but I didnt see a single one.) I then heard a voice say,This is October 10th. The date stuck in my mind because

it was only two days after my oldest sons birthday. I waited

to hear an indication of what year, but it was never given.

For the next yea and a half I thought the valley I was

looking at was Salt Lake Valley from the south end, but

when I moved to Payson, Utah, in February of 1995, Ibegan to wonder if the valley that I was shown was actually

Utah County looking north from the hill about 200 yards

from our home. It fit the dream as well as the Salt Lake

Valley, but still that part was not clear enough to make a

definite identification.

The clearest part was the date, which I still feel will

transpire in the not too distant future. Exactly why I was

shown this particular dream I cannot say. Many times

I have tried to figure things out, only to find that it is

better to set the dreams aside and let them unfold in their

natural way. It reminds me of the statement, Let go and

let God.

As you read on you will see that my lifes story includesmany dreams and visions. These dreams and experiences

are woven together in a rather complex manner, but I have

tried hard not to use them to make life-changing decisions.

They have been more assistance in looking at myself and

seeing how I would react if placed in a particular situa-

tion. I have learned to gauge the accuracy of them by theirintensity or realness. This dream of destruction was one

of the more real ones that I have ever had. At the time it

seemed very vivid, but I had nothing to judge it by because


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this was the first of its kind, and it happened so early on

my path. Since then I have had many dreams that have

had definite meanings, and as we progress you will seethat these dreams foretold events that had significance in

my life.

During this same period of time I began to develop

a method that I found helpful in receiving revelation or

answers to prayer. I share it now to help your grasp of

why I walked my particular path. Many people have askedme how I talk to God or how I know that He is talking

back. And not just God, but any other entity that doesnt

have blood running through it. Mine is just one method

of many, but because it served me so well in the beginning

I used it continually until I found myself doing it without

any conscious effort or without knowing it was happening.

Where this idea came from or how I came up with this

technique I honestly cannot say. Perhaps it has been with

me for countless ages or I may have picked it up in my

sleep. Whatever the answer, it has worked well for me and

this method is so easy that anyone can learn it.

To start with, you must believe that the Spirit World

is real and that you can be spoken to just as people in theBible or prophets of old were spoken to. If you do not

have this basic belief it will be pointless for you to try this

exercise. What you receive you will not believe and your

efforts will be futile. Soon you would dismiss the experi-

ences and in time even forget that you have had them. For

this reason there is little harm in learning this method.A little further along we will discuss learning how to

discern those who wish to talk to you. For now, try to

exercise just a small belief that what I am telling you is the


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truth. Or if you cant go even that far, at least believe that

it is true for Mike Rigby and see if by plowing through this

you can visualize the broader picture of what I am tryingto explain.

In its simplest form this is nothing more than a

two-way communication between you and another indi-

vidual. If we take a few words from the Bible and assume

for a moment that they are true, you should be able to

see that God wants to communicate with us. James theApostle of Christ said, If any of you lack wisdom let him

ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth

not. ( James 1:5)

Lets break this down for a moment: If any who

is not included here? To me this means that everyone is

on equal ground with respect to asking of God. No one

will be turned down for He giveth to all men liberally.

This being the case no color, race, or religious affilia-

tion is a prerequisite for receiving from God. Logic alone

will tell us that if God is truly a God of unconditional

love, then He can place no condition upon that love, or

the dispensing of it to his children. This also holds true for

hearing His voice, or for His giving liberally. To those whowant to put God in a box and say that He has to do it like

this or that I say, You need to experience God for your-

self, and your perspective on how He works will change

drastically. And then let everyone experience God for

themselves, in their own way.

I cannot emphasize enough how open God is to allpeople and how desirous all those on the light side are,

to help us progress. Those who find comfort or security in

the Bible or the way Jesus said it, should remember Jesus


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words when He was talking about His Father and He asked

this question: (Matthew: Chapter 7: verses 9-11.)

. . . Or what man is there of you, whom if his son askbread, will he give him a stone? . . . Or if he ask a fish, will

he give him a serpent? . . . If ye then, being evil, know

how to give good gifts unto your children, how much

more shall your Father which is in heaven give good

things to them that ask him?

It is important here that you put behind you the ideathat you are not going to get an answer, or that you are not

worthy: God will answer you. Now if we can get those two

stumbling blocks behind us He does talk to all and ALL

are worthy lets proceed to develop a way to communi-

cate or listen.

When you close your eyes, where are you? Not just

the physical you, but the mental you, or the spiritual you

the part that does the thinking. What happens to that part

of you (your personality), when you close your eyes and

are no longer able to concentrate or focus on the environ-

ment around you? Now close your ears or stop listening to

outside noises as well. If you need to put ear plugs in or ear

muffs on, do thatstop the external distractions.I ask this question, where are you? Because for me it

is relative to how I see myself from a spiritual perspective.

As I close my eyes, I am just behind where my eyes are

physically located on my body. In other words, the thinking

part of me is situated someplace close to the middle of my

brain. When I first started to continuously close my eyesand go to this place, it was like a room that was bound by

the sides of my skull. It is now much different in that the

limitations of my skull or the sides of the room have no


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restraints. For the purpose of helping you understand, and

maybe experiment on your own, lets go back to looking

at this as a space that has definite walls, top, and bottom.Relax and see if you can feel the energy of your thought

process as you drift or float in this place.

I did not feel this energy when I first started to receive

information, so I know that you can receive without recog-

nizing the energy. When I first found myself doing this

little exercise it was very deliberate and seemed a bit hokey.With time I began to find I could relax very quickly using

this method. Being in this space I would consciously try

to push any and all thoughts away from the center point or

area where I viewed myself.

You may find it even more helpful if you picture

yourself as a small person in this area with your hands

being held up pushing out any thoughts that may enter

your space. As I would do this I found that I could remain

neutral or without any thoughts for longer periods of time.

This state is nothing more than prayer or meditation

or the now. The longer I was here, the less effort it took

to keep the thoughts out. If you can maintain this state

for a while, you will notice that your breathing will slowdown, and for me, my heart beat drops drastically.

While here, many things can be done, not the least of

which is going to sleep. And this is a very deep sleep. Often

while traveling with friends for even short distances, I will

go into this space to catch up on needed rest.

If I now quit blocking the thoughts, I would beginto perceive or feel someone start to speak. Many times

this was only conceived as a thought, but more often I

found that I could hear a distinct voice or voices. These


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are very soft quiet voices that have always given me what

I would call my highest thought. (Never have I heard

any voice that was harsh, cruel, or mean. Many peopleclaim they hear harsh voices, but for me it has never

happened.) It took me a lot of practice and time before I

could learn to distinguish these voices. When you learn

to feel who is talking, you wil l also begin to recognize

the light that emanates from that individual. The only

way I can distinguish these voices is by their frequencyor intensity. This, as I mentioned before, seems to be

distinct to each individual.

I also found that the more I experienced these

frequencies the easier it was to gauge the level or quality

of light or enlightenment coming from the speaker. To my

great surprise, I was able to think back on earlier experi-

ences (like the one with Robert Benson) and re-measure

or re-experience the light others are giving off. This

ability to look back and see the light is a two-edged sword.

On the one hand it has been helpful to know what level

of light is coming from someone giving me information,

but on the other hand I found myself judging those who

were speaking by their level of light, and putting them inboxes or giving them labels that I afterwards discovered

in myself.

Later on in my history Ill share with you an experience

showing just how embarrassing seeing yourself for who you

really are can be. For now, if you are comfortable with this

technique; practice it on a daily basis. If you find that youhave a hard time concentrating on nothing try it for a

shorter period. When I first started, one minute seemed like

forever, but with a little work I could soon go into this space


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for ten minutes and it seemed like ten seconds.

Just dont give up on yourself. You have immeasur-

able help on the other side supporting you in your efforts.This may be something you find hard to believe, but I

assure you it is true. The more you work on this, the more

you will know just how connected and interrelated you and

God are.

My wife brought me back to the present when she

asked me what time it was. A few more minutes passedas we sat waiting at the church for others to pass judg-

ment on our lives. Surprisingly my anxiety was taken up

in the reflections of my life, leaving me calm and much

more relaxed than I would have normally been under such

circumstances. Again I began to reflect and the video of

my life seemed to pick up just where it had left off.


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Some time around September of 1993, after I had

had several voice communications with my grandfather

and seen his physical appearance in the car, I had another

pleasant but startling apparition at home.

One morning as I was getting ready to take a shower,I could again distinctly feel the presence of my grandfa-

ther. Dismissing the feeling and not hearing anyone speak,

I simply pulled the shower curtain back with my left hand

and started to step into the shower when I saw my grand-

father standing half way through the shower curtain! He

looked like his usual pleasant self with a smile that left me

relaxed but a little unnerved.

Here I was, buff naked, shocked at sharing my shower.

Without even thinking I said, Grandfather, dont you have

any respect? And he said Mike, we see everything you

do. I knew that statement alone would change my life,

and I told him that I didnt think I would tell my wife what

he said. I could see by the smile on his face that he knewwhere I was going with this one!

Again my grandfather gave me information to help

his family. He spoke of my grandmother and told me that

CHAPTER 5

Christ inMyL

ife


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she needed my attention. Then as quickly as he had come

he was gone.

Later, as I tried to analyze why he had appeared inperson at this time and not at others, I could only conclude

that at the time, for some unknown reason, it was impor-

tant that I see him visually.

Since then, however, I have learned that it is totally

within my ability to have any visitor from the other side

stay longer than they or I had planned. I have found thatit only takes conscious effort or an exercise in faith on my

part, and the whole experience can be stretched out until I

feel it is time to end the encounter.

I should also point out here, of all that my grandfa-

ther taught me, one lesson stands out above the others.

The first time I felt my grandfather in the car with me

you will recall that I said, When I get to the other side

I want you to tell me how you made me feel this way....

To my great joy, I didnt have to wait until passing to

the Spirit World to get an answer to this question. Once

as we were talking, I simply asked him how it was that

each time he came around I got this burning feeling, or

Witness of the Spirit.He said, Because I act in the office of the Holy

Ghost.

I said, What are you talking about, the Holy Ghost

is a Spirit?

He said, Yes, that is true, and there is an individual

whom you call the Holy Ghost who presides over or over-sees this office. It would be more accurate to call it the

mind and will of God. But the reality of how it works is

much different than what you have perceived. There are


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literally millions of individuals who act in this office, or a

better way to put it, who have this power. It is the power

to witness or give a witness of truth by the strong burningfeeling of peace that comes from within. Anytime you see

truth, speak truth, or hear truth, we can confirm it by this

burning feeling. I dont know that I could have been more

shocked. This concept seemed to make sense, but it was a

radical change from my upbringing.

(Please note here that I use the word Holy Ghost,because of my church or ecclesiastical upbringing. It was a

word that I was used to and understood. You may choose

burning, warmth, goose bumps, or any other number of

definitions for the same feeling.)

I have since learned that even the concept that my

grandfather gave me is more structured than how this

power is used on higher levels. Those spirits who live or

operate in the upper levels of Light use the Witness of

the Spirit power more as an extension of who they are,

with no conscious effort needed. They act as though this is

just the way it is. Whereas within my grandfathers realm;

it takes mental exertion to give this feeling to mortals. I

also have the feeling this office is a very large step ofprogression for my grandfather and those around him.

It was not long after this visit that my life took yet

another dramatic turn. I was asking my grandfather

questions of a spiritual nature, when I heard a new voice

answer my enquiry. Although it was not the voice of my

grandfather, it was somehow familiar. A peaceful, lovingfeeling of contentment enveloped me, and I instinctively

knew who it was. I wasnt sure where or when, but I had

experienced that voice before. Perhaps it wasnt the voice


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as much as the feeling behind the voice that I knew. I

wanted my grandfather to confirm it to me and so I said,

Grandpa, who speaks?He confirmed my feelings, Thats the Lord, and He

is the one whom you should follow. Suddenly the feeling

intensified and went much deeper into my being. Oh, that

every soul on earth could feel of this intense warmth!

From that day on I have had very limited conversations

with my grandfather, since his work with me was finishedand it was time for me to move on. I shall ever be grateful

for the role my Grandfather Bryant has played in my life,

both in the flesh and in the spirit. His love and concern

for my wellbeing and especially my spiritual growth will

ever be a source of strength to me. I can only hope that

his growth during this important period in my life was as

great as mine. The bond that was developed between us

will last forever, worlds without end.

What unfolded next I can only describe as overwhelming.

For some five plus months everything that I received

from the other side of the veil came directly or indirectly

from Jesus.

I could not begin to try and explain to you what loveemanates from this Being. Words would only confine

the experience and limit how grand and enjoyable it was.

I shall, however, explain to you the things that He did

with me, and the teachings I received at the hand of the

Master Teacher.

As with my grandfather, all I had to do was go intothat quiet mode I have talked about before, and immedi-

ately He (Jesus) would come and begin to speak.

These experiences were much like the ones with


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Grandfather Bryant. I was able to feel His presence and

hear His voice but at this time did not see Him physically.

I could go on for hours about the conversations that wehad together. Never did I find Him to be condemning

of anyone. He always sees the good in others. It became

embarrassing to even bring up a topic that would put

another person or group of people in a negative light (if

there is even such a thing as negative light), for each time

that I did He would show me how what they were goingthrough was exactly what they needed in order to prog-

ress spiritually.

I have always felt that my attitude towards life and

others was positive, but Jesus had me beat hands down.

Anything I asked, He would answer and usually did it with

a question that sent me thinking for several minutes if not

days. The depth of His thought process is astounding. He

could see three steps ahead of my thinking all the time.

Each time He spoke or gave me an answer I would marvel

at His wisdom. It became easy to see why He has the role

He does with this earth.

I also found out why so many refer to Him as Master.

Truly He has mastered all things. To my surprise, Jesus,very early in our working together, had me set aside the

title Master, for it created too much class distinction

and He much preferred we be on a more equal basis. It

will surprise some that Jesus is far more interested in our

becoming like Him than in worshiping Him.

Within the first few weeks of working with the Lord I hadtwo very incredible experiences. Both changed my outlook,

but the second one was much more profound than the first.

Some time in August I had gotten a little bold about


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sharing a few of the experiences I had had in the spring of

that same year. This boldness led me to open up to a friend

who I shall name Mr. Call. To my great astonishment andrelief he actually believed what I told him, and he even

shared it with a lady friend of his that was of the same

mental persuasion. They were both affiliated to a small

degree with a group of religious people in central Utah.

This body of believers in Christ was not a formal religion

at the time, but were simply people seeking further lightand knowledge. Mr. Call told these friends what had

happened to me, and their small assembly of believers in

Christ wanted me to come down and share in person the

experiences that I had with Robert Benson.

This I agreed to do in September, and found it to be

a most enjoyable association. A spirit of great warmth and

openness could be felt among these people as I told them

what had happened to me. They did not question my truth-

fulness but asked many questions about the details, which

they found puzzling, as these experiences took place.

Two or three weeks after I had spoken to these people

they called me on the phone and asked if I wanted to come

down and go through a learning session with them, whichthey called The true order of prayer. They said it was to

help a person better communicate with God.

Not knowing if this was something that I should go

through or not, I turned to the Lord, with whom I had

just started working and asked Him what I should do. His

answer was much different than I had expected. I hadhoped for a simple yes or no, but what I got was a ques-

tion: Mike, can you hear my voice?

I said, Yes Lord, you know I can hear you.


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He responded with another question, Then why do

you need that? What followed next was a several minute

explanation of why He had said what He did and what thepurpose of the true order of prayer was.

The gist of the conversation was this: Mike, all

people coming into the flesh are here to learn because

they see themselves separated from their creator. This is a

very natural process. Within each of us is a desire to gain

back that closeness and love that we have felt in the past.Through the experiences of life, our ability to recognize

that love and the power we each have to manifest it and

bring it to us, becomes clouded.

When we were young, our innocence kept this

connection with the Kingdom of God closer. It is the

reason that I said, Except ye become as a little child you

cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. These people,

and all others who are using different forms of medita-

tion, are only trying to reconnect with the part of them

they think is missing. Most never realize that to make the

connection they need not go through any pomp and cere-

mony. The Kingdom of Heaven is within you, means that

it is within your grasp, even nowas well as the fact that itis not outside of who you are.

Actually you are the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom

is not something man builds with his hands. It is that

power of God that is built within you. If you have learned

to hear my voice, then why would you want to go back to

using the crutches of robes, incense, or oils? That is whypeople use these physical props, and if these put them in a

state of mind where they can communicate with Me better,

then I support them in it k

At Peace With God

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