11A-A-2000 02042000 – Pray to the CREATOR

Date: 2 Apr 2000.

Location: Xian Sheng’s house at 202 Taman Melawati.

(A) Is Heaven and the soul a human construct [01:01 – 28:05]

Xian Sheng is reading from the section Immortal Soul from the book “GODS of the New Millennium” written by Alan F. Alford.
There are two questions at the initial paragraph of the section.
1. Where do we go when we die?
2. Do we go anywhere?
Alan: The question is intimately bound up with the distinction between body and soul. Many of us intuitively believe in a separate soul, reflecting perhaps our self-awareness as a species. Science, however, has yet to provide the definitive answer on whether we truly are a “special” species, or whether our sense of the human soul is simply a biological illusion. In fact, the whole subject of death is a taboo area for science.
Alan: We have therefore traditionally looked to religion to provide the answers to the enigma of death. Due to our all-too-short life spans, we need to believe in something, and this has proved an extremely fertile ground for religion. Given this need, or should I say vulnerability, it is not surprising that concepts such as heaven and hell have arisen without any logical foundation whatsoever. My analysis indicates that these concepts are the invention of man, drawn from the history and culture of the gods. This does not mean, however, that some kind of afterlife does not exist, and the concept of an immortal soul is the central issue.
Xian Sheng: The author is not wrong to suggest that the immortal soul is the central issue as the main objective in Baitiangong is to save the soul.
It is a matter of some debate whether the Bible supports the concept of an immortal soul or not. To the man-in-the-street, any religion that speaks of heaven and hell must implicitly accept the idea of a soul.
Xian Sheng explained this part in Cantonese: But this is actually not the case. Readers may be surprised to find that the Bible does not mention an immortal soul per se, but refers instead to a “resurrection”. The Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that this refers to a physical resurrection, which is not dissimilar to that described in the Koran.
Alan: They thus argue that the Bible does not support the idea of an immortal soul, and attribute its origin to a “pagan intrusion into Christianity”. Where then did the pagan idea of an afterlife come from? Terms such as Hades, purgatory, paradise and limbo are not found in the Bible but come from Greek philosophy. And it is a well-known fact that the Greeks, in turn, obtained their ideas from earlier cultures, and in particular from Egypt. As we have seen in earlier chapters, the Egyptian pharaohs’ belief in the afterlife was one of the strongest religious beliefs in the history of any civilisation. Egyptian tombs were unique, far surpassing anything from the Sumerian civilisation. Their beliefs were so strong that they buried their dead with unprecedented possessions and treasures for use in the next life. It is fair to conclude that the concept of the immortal soul was an Egyptian first, which later spread throughout the ancient world.
Xian Sheng elaborated that early Christianity do not talk about Heaven and Hell. However Christianity today includes them as part of its teachings. This book explains that the topic of the immortal soul first arises from Eygpt and was subsequently adopted by other religions.
Alan: How did the Egyptian beliefs come about? At the centre of the Egyptian afterlife cult was the myth of Osiris. The essence of this tale is that Osiris died and was reborn. He was reborn in the sense that his seed was used by his wife Isis to create the son, Horus. And he was reborn, according to one version of the tale, after he ascended the stairway to heaven. Through these legends, Osiris came to represent the hope of eternal life to the Egyptians, who made pilgrimages to his cult centre at Abydos and re-enacted his life cycle. As I have repeatedly described, the Egyptian concept of heaven was a physical place, which we can now identify as Nibiru. The Duat from which Osiris ascended to heaven was also a physical place, a space centre in the Sinai. And the route to the Duat was marked first by the Pyramids and then later by Heliopolis. The pharaohs’ religion was based on emulating the journey of Osiris using their own pyramids and Osiris-style mummification rites. The procedures were even supervised by a “shem” priest, the meaning of the name signifying the symbolic rocket which is so graphically depicted in ancient Egyptian art (Figure 3). The reason why this cultural revolution took place in Egypt is simply geography – the pharaohs were much closer to the comings and goings of the gods in Sinai than the Sumerians were.
Xian Sheng: In simple terms, the way of the pharaoh’s religion in emulating Osiris journey forms the basis of many religions adopting the soul as part of their teachings. The elaborate possessions and treasures that accompany the pharaoh in their tomb within the pyramids could include live humans too. They were entombed alive to accompany the pharaohs to Heaven.
Alan: This geography may also account for the archetypal image of the phoenix rising from the ashes, which also has its origin in Egypt.
Xian Sheng skipped this part: The phoenix cult, centred significantly in Heliopolis, involved a cycle of rebirth which was closely connected to the idea of an afterlife. It is believed that the Temple of the Phoenix in Heliopolis contained an obelisk, capped by a conical or pyramid-shaped apex stone, known as the Benben Stone. Whilst the origins of this myth are lost in time, there is almost certainly a link to a physical return of a god or gods in Egypt, and possibly to the shems which we discussed in chapter 6.
Alan: It is these events – the Osiris ascent to heaven and the phoenix cycle of rebirth which have caused the idea of an afterlife and an immortal soul to be passed down over thousands of years.
Xian Sheng: These events took place in Eygpt long before the time of Jesus. The author suggests that the resurrection of Jesus was also copied from the Egyptians.
Alan: I would now like to shift to the closely related concept of physical resurrection, which also has its origins in Egypt. This idea has featured prominently in the history of religion, via the claimed resurrection from death of Jesus (disputed by the Koran), which is absolutely fundamental to Christian beliefs. Even more important is the idea of a future physical resurrection at a Day of Judgement. The Koran spells this out quite explicitly, and the Bible, too, can be interpreted in this sense. Both the Bible and the Koran claim that this physical resurrection will occur in a coming Kingdom of God.
Xian Sheng: Islam and Christianity believe that the Kingdom of GOD will come one day and the dead would be resurrected. As long as the Day of Judgement does not come, the dead would remain trapped.
Xian Sheng asked the followers whether the concept of resurrection for Judgement Day logical or not.
Bro Phuah Kim Yean: There are billions of planets with souls out there. Even our planet is billions of years old. The dead would have to wait for a very long time for Judgement Day to come.
Xian Sheng: Actually there is no logic to the concept of resurrection.
Alan: When that appointed time comes, all that have lived on Earth will be physically resurrected from death, and will be judged whether they are fit to enter the Kingdom of God.
Xian Sheng: The New Testament states that there will come a time when GOD will come to judge the dead that we left in some places. Xian Sheng questioned the logic of GOD judging the dead by the billions that passed away aeons ago. GOD would be very busy judging the billions that were physically resurrected and lining up for HIM to pass judgment.
Bro Tan An Bin stated that millions died during World War 2.
Alan: According to the New Testament, the Kingdom of God will come when the “times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” is when that appointed time comes, all that have lived on Earth will be physically resurrected from death, and will be judged whether they are fit to enter the Kingdom of God.
Xian Sheng said that the author’s research led him to write about religions that believe a dead person would wait for GOD to come to judge them and determine who goes to Heaven and who goes to Hell. The first criterion requires the bones and skins to remake themselves into a human again to face judgement. Xian Sheng commented that the author cannot say that as the process of judgment is automatic. (The soul will judge itself upon death.)
Xian Sheng skipped this part: Where do these resurrection ideas come from? Ancient Egyptian folklore is brimming with resurrection myths, with Osiris, already mentioned, being the most famous example of physical resurrection from death. Another legend describes how his son Horus decapitated his own mother, who was then brought back to life by the god of magic, Thoth. Then there is the imprisonment and escape by Marduk from his death sentence in the Great Pyramid. We discussed that incident in great detail in chapter 9 and concluded that it was a genuine historic event. It is curious that, in the Babylonian myth, the resurrected Marduk had to be judged by the other gods whether he was fit to return to Babylon and assume Lordship over the gods. The religious parallel is striking. It is also possible that our archetypal obsession with rebirth and resurrection may have its roots in an event 4 billion years ago. It was at that time that the planet Tiamat was split apart by Nibiru, with one half being reborn as the Earth, with an entirely new orbit. It was the mother of all resurrections. Even more intriguing are the Biblical references to the timing of the resurrection. According to the New Testament, the Kingdom of God would come at an exact time, at the “end of an age”.” Jesus said that this would occur when the “times” of the nations were fulfilled, and a close reading suggests that the reference to “times” implied a fixed or definite period.’”
Alan: Someone seems to have acquired the idea that God is working to a very precise timetable! Could the reference to an “age” therefore represent a precessional period of 2,160 years, or could it perhaps represent Nibiru’s orbital period of 3,600 years?

(B) Evidence that the soul is a reality [28:43 – 38:34]

The view of Alan F. Alford, the author of the book Gods of the New Millennium, is that Heaven and Hell are constructs of man. He stated that the Bible made no mention of the immortal soul. This means that early Christians believe only in the resurrection, but later Christians adopted the soul, Heaven and Hell which are constructs of man.
Xian Sheng asked the followers to debate whether the soul, Heaven and Hell are real or constructs of man.
Xian Sheng summarised Bro Phuah’s argument that someone must have seen the soul or else the concept of the soul would not have arisen in the first place. This is opposed to the view of the author that the soul is a construct of man as the Bible made no mention of it.
Xian Sheng asked them to give their views as Baitiangong followers and their reasons for it. Do they have any consciousness of their soul’s existence?
Sis Sin Oi Chun: She saw her deceased husband, Ah Seong dressed in all white kneeling down to pray alongside her at 6:30 pm. But his soul vanished shortly after that.
Sis Wong Chow Keng said her soul left her own body and she saw Bro Chan Fei’s mother-in-law.
Xian Sheng questioned whether they could have imagined all that?
Bro Tan An Bin said Bro Lai Chong’s soul spoke to him while he was driving his taxi. He asked Xian Sheng for his advice and Xian Sheng told him to let others know about it. Bro Tan was reluctant to do so as he only recently accepted Baitiangong (fearing people would think negatively of him). He changed his mind after he heard Xian Sheng’s voice reminding him again while he was also driving his taxi.
Xian Sheng said we must read any books even if they go against our teachings. We cannot say that we believe in the soul, Heaven and Hell and therefore rejects any book which says these are merely constructs of man. (In Baitiangong, we do not declare any reading materials as heresy and ban them like in other religions. On the contrary, Xian Sheng encourages followers to read as much as possible to increase their insight and knowledge in all fields.
Xian Sheng himself read this book and use its arguments to ask the followers questions that would increase their knowledge and understanding of the subject, in this case – the soul.
Xian Sheng said that he personally saw other people’s souls and even his own soul. He was also given the opportunity to see his past incarnation as a human. In fact, many people had similar experiences to him including Sis Elaine.
Sis Wong Chow Keng said she (her soul) saw herself (body) lying down. She was shocked and leapt back into her body and woke up sweating profusely.
Sis Lim Yew Eng said she was sleeping on the sofa in the living room as she was exhausted while her children were playing cards in the room. She was however fully conscious and aware that her daughter Sis Yum Shirley told her siblings that their mother had woken up and therefore came out of the room. Seeing her mother was still fast asleep, she told them their mother was still sleeping and went back inside the room. At that juncture, Sis Lim Yew Eng felt her soul rising upwards and she is well aware of her body still lying on the sofa. Unfortunately, she felt the presence of someone standing outside her bedroom. She tried to open her physical eyes to get a better look but there was no response from her body. She anxiously recited the Prayer over and over as she was new to Baitiangong (and do not understand about wandering souls). Finally, her soul drifted down to her body and she woke up. Despite her body was physically sleeping on the sofa, Sis Lim Yew Eng was fully conscious of her surroundings.
Xian Sheng asked what is real and what is reality. The body is real but if our soul leaves our body and we are staring back at our body, then the soul is a reality.
Baitiangong followers are given ample opportunities to realise this.
Sis Chung Swee Chun said that non-Baitiangong people would naturally say that we are biased in our view about the soul as we are Baitiangong followers. She said her son-in-law, Sis Chan Miew Fun’s husband who is not a Baitiangong follower frequently experiences out-of-body experience (OOBE) where his soul would rise above his body when he sleeps and this has been happening since he was very young. He is still not a Baitiangong follower and has never meditated.
Xian Sheng recalled his own personal experiences when he meditated, prior to knowing his true self. He would sit down to meditate and his soul would get up and walk away from his body. He would suddenly feel the need to walk back and sit down in the same exact spot where his body was sitting. He would try to open his eyes and force himself out of meditation. The reason was that he was concerned that his soul would walk too far away and cannot return to his body.
Xian Sheng also experienced a different type of meditation where both his soul and body would travel together. Some may even call it resurrection as his body is no longer physically on Earth. Xian Sheng would still go back to the same exact spot where his body used to be sitting and sat down in the empty area and will himself to wake up. Xian Sheng explain that his soul could have possibly brought along his atomic particles for the journey.

(C) The soul has different atoms from us [38:36 – 42:29]

The author Alan F. Alford stated that Heaven & Hell and the soul are constructs of man as there is no scientific evidence to support them.
Xian Sheng said that he is wrong in his assessment. Medical doctors asked their patients specific questions while they are under hypnosis and are able to ascertain that they have undergone multiple reincarnations as humans in their past lives.
Researchers have investigated many cases of near-death experiences (NDE) and they verified that people who were clinically dead but revived a few minutes later experienced their souls floating above their own bodies and looking down at themselves.
Baitiangong followers have also experienced their souls looking at their own bodies. Xian Sheng asked for more volunteers to share their experiences.
Sis Wong Chew Peng said that she saw herself during her own obsequies. She tried calling out to the people around her but everyone seemed oblivious to her presence. Her consciousness kept asking what was happening to her.
Bro Choi Lai’s soul was able to pass through a locked iron door to kneel down to pray to the CREATOR. This is proof to him that what Xian Sheng said about the soul being able to pass through walls and doors are true.
The atoms of the soul are different from the atoms in the elements on Earth. Xian Sheng illustrated this using his spread-out fingers. His right hand represented the soul while his left hand represented the body. With his fingers spread out, he can move them past each other although they are both solid. The soul can leave the body just like how the soul can pass through walls because the body and the walls share the same elements i.e. earth element.¹
To the question of whether humans have souls, we would have to start our investigation by asking those who have experienced seeing their soul leave their body.
Xian Sheng asked for the testimonies from followers who have experienced seeing their souls to be recorded and compiled into one volume.
Sis Kiew said her 4-year-old grandnephew can emulate his grandmother’s hunchback pose although he has never seen his deceased grandmother before. She asked Xian Sheng whether her grandnephew has indeed seen her soul. Xian Sheng said there is a possibility. She continued by saying he can recognise his grandmother from a photo. She added that he has also seen the soul of his grandfather as well.
Xian Sheng said that some phenomena cannot be explained. However, there is a possibility that it can happen.

(D) Past Life Regression [48:15 – 51:12]

A follower asked Xian Sheng whether hypnotic regression to see one’s past life is true or false.
Xian Sheng said that it is possible as hypnosis accesses the subconscious mind and renders the conscious mind inactive.
Under hypnotic regression, the mind becomes focused and concentrates on retrieving memories from their past lives not accessible in the conscious state.
Xian Sheng referred to a book he read to the followers a few years back called Many Lives, Many Masters by Dr Brian L Weiss.
In this book, Dr Weiss shared his patient’s past life experiences. Catherine, a pseudonym she used to protect her real identity had lived 86 past lives. Under hypnotherapy, she tells of her past life and her death by drowning, a slashed throat. diseases and etc. After reliving these memories and being convinced that her fears are caused by memories from her past lives, she was able to overcome her lifelong phobias as well as insomnia, recurring nightmares, anxiety, and depression.
This is a real-life story and not a fictional story.

Note: Xian Sheng mentioned that Catherine has a fear of choking when wearing clothing with tight neck collars as she died from hanging in one of her past life. This was not found in the book but there are references that state that Catherine recalls being a young woman named Armina in 1504 Spain. She was executed by hanging as a result of accusations of witchcraft.

(E) Humans cannot reincarnate into animals [51:33 – 54:41]

To a question that someone said they were once a chicken in their past life, Xian Sheng firmly affirmed that that is not possible.
Humans only reincarnate back into human form. They cannot reincarnate into any animal form like a chicken.
Xian Sheng explained that Buddhists are predisposed by their superstitious beliefs that they would be rebirth as a pig, a cow or a mouse before they can be rebirth as a human again.
A follower suggested mosquitos as one of the animals a Buddhist can rebirth into. Xian Sheng clarified that mosquitoes are not part of the Buddhist staple of animals but the Hindus accept reincarnation into mosquitos.
Buddhism believes in rebirth around the 12 zodiac animals before rebirth back to the human form.
Due to their steadfast Buddhist belief that animals are part of their rebirth cycle, when that person undergoes hypnotic regression, instead of accessing their past regressed memories, their subconscious mind imprinted with the image of a chicken manifested as one of their past life memory.
Another follower suggested butterflies but Xian Sheng quickly dismissed it as butterflies are not one of the animals in the Chinese zodiac sign.
With reference to the book Many Lives, Many Masters, none of the patients ever expressed being reincarnated as insects.²
Xian Sheng said that some Taoists believe in reincarnation too.³
Xian Sheng recalled a funny incident regarding the brother of his friend. He was cleaning the tomb of his mother during the Ching Ming festival or the Tomb-Sweeping Day when he spotted a frog. He immediately called out to his son to pray to the frog citing that his grandmother has arrived. Xian Sheng said if he were to see a frog, he would catch it and cook frog porridge with it.
Xian Sheng reiterated that humans do not reincarnate into animals but only into other human beings.