Julia Ames
We hear hymns that talk about meeting Jesus in the clouds and being saved. Are they true?
Yes and no. We don’t meet Jesus in the clouds above the Earth. But we can and do meet Jesus in etheric planes that have cloud-like ambiances.
Here afterlife commentator, formerly American journalist, Julia Ames describes being taken to see Jesus on a higher plane (probably the Christ sphere, on the Seventh Dimension) and realizing him.
I found myself free from my body. It was such a strange new feeling. I was standing close to the bedside on which my body was lying; I saw everything in the room just as before I closed my eyes. I did not feel any pain in “dying”; I felt only a great calm and peace.
Then I awoke and I was standing outside my old body in the room. There was no one there at first, just myself and my old body. At first I wondered [that] I was so strangely well. Then I saw that I had passed over. …
Then I felt as though a great warm flood of light had come into the room and I saw an angel. She, for at first she seemed to be a female, came to me and said –
“I am sent to teach you the laws of the new life.”
And, as I looked, she gently touched me and said: “We must go.”
Then I left the room and my poor old body, and passed out. It was so strange; the streets were full of spirits. I could see them as we passed; they seemed to be just like ourselves. My angel had wings; they were beautiful. She was all robed in white. (1)
When we were journeying I spoke little. My thoughts were busy and yet I was not conscious of even thinking, only of feeling and seeing, drinking in at every point new impressions.
When we seemed to be arriving at a new world, I spoke. I asked my guide, “Where is this? Is it Heaven?” He replied, “Wait and see. You will find those there who will teach you what you want to know.”
The place was very pleasant to behold. The air was sweet and there was a delicious fragrance of flowers in June. The world – for it was a world we were approaching – seemed not unlike our old world, but it was different – there was nothing to jar. The sense of restful peace and contented love was everywhere. The place had a placid smile of tranquil joy. (2)
I found myself in a great expanse of landscape where I had never been before. I was alone; that is, I saw no one. But you are never really alone. We are always living in the presence of God. But I saw no one.
Then I heard a voice. I only heard the words. “Julia, He who saved thee would fain speak with thee.” I listened, but no words other than these were spoken.
Then I said – “Who is it that speaks?” And, behold, a flaming fire – really like fire though in human shape. I was afraid. Then he spoke and said, “Be not afraid. It is I who am appointed to teach the secret things of God.” Then I saw that the brightness as of fire was only the brightness that comes from the radiant love of the Immortals.
Then the flame-bright One said to me, “Julia, behold your Saviour!” And when I looked I saw Him. He was sitting on a seat close to me, and He said, “Beloved, in My Father’s House are many mansions; here am I whom you have loved so long. I have prepared a place for you.”
And I said, “Where, oh, my Lord?” He smiled and, in the brightness of that smile, I saw the whole landscape change as the Alps change in the sunset, which I saw so often from the windows of my hotel at Lucerne.
Then I saw that I was not alone, but all around and above were fair and loving forms, some of those whom I had known, others of whom I had heard, while some were strange. But all were friends and the air was full of love.
And in the midst of all was He, my Lord and Saviour. He was as a Man among men. He was full of the wonderful sweet mildness which you are acquainted with in some of the pictures that have been painted by the Italian Fra Angelico. He had an admirable look of warm affection, which was as the very breath of life to my soul. He is with us always.
This is Heaven – to be with Him. You cannot understand how the consciousness of His presence makes the atmosphere of this world so different from that with you. There are many things I wish I could write to you, but I cannot, nor could you understand them.
I can only tell you that He is more than we ever have imagined. He is the Source and Giver of all good gifts. All that we know of what is good and sweet and pure and noble and lovable are but faint reflections of the immensity of the glory that is His. And He loves us with such tender love!
Oh, Ellen, Ellen, you and I used to love each other with what seemed to us sometimes too deep and intense a love, but that at its very best was but the pale reflection of the love with which He loves us, which is marvelously and wonderfully great beyond all power of mind to describe. His name is Love; it is what He is – Love, Love, Love!
I cannot tell you everything; you could not understand it. But I am in a state of bliss such as we never imagined on earth. (3)
It was beautiful and glorious, exceeding all my powers of description. There was no expectation of the meeting nor was I even able to realize the fact that I had met Him until I saw the whole landscape flame and glow as with the radiance of opened Heaven when He spoke to me.
The cause for this difficulty was, I suppose, the extreme naturalness of all that I saw and heard. There is such a difficulty in realizing that today, as yesterday, is the same. When there is something of what we used to call the supernatural order occurring in the midst of what seems so very natural it is difficult to realize it.
But, oh, my friend, when it is realized, what a change occurs! The whole world was transfigured in the realization of the intensity and constancy of His love. And from that moment I have never been sad, save from my own shortcomings and my own lack of love. Oh, my dearest friend, if only we could live more in the realized sense of His love. (4)
When I had seen the splendour of the love-light that flooded the world, I was beside myself with joy. All the many loves which I had known on your side faded swathed me about as with a garment and enabled me to see what marvelous possibilities, what undreamed-of powers were all the while in the heart of each of us. (5)
Footnotes
(1) Julia [Julia T. Ames] through W.T. Stead, medium, After Death. A Personal Narrative. New York: George H. Doran, n.d.; c. 1914, 77.
(2) Ibid., 41-2.
(3) Ibid., 43-5.
(4) Ibid., 87-8.
(5) Ibid.,89.