Questions

We are excited about this new feature!  Here John will periodically answer some of the many questions he receives.  Email us at info@johnofpeniel.com and your question may be answered in a future entry.  Please note that personal questions will not be answered in this forum.

Question: Was Judas the Betrayer?

John:  From various past life memories and psychic intuition I have a different view of the role Judas played in the life of Jeshua.  I firmly believe that Judas was a trusted friend and companion, and very much in the inner circle of Jesus and the disciples.  It is well known that Judas was the keeper of the community purse, the money handler.  And when it came time for Jeshua to save his people, he turned to Judas to turn him in to the authorities.  Jeshua promised to Judas that he would perform some great miracle for all to see.  Judas excitedly Cook the role of the one to turn him in because he had always wanted Jeshua to become a leading political figure, and felt that if he performed a miracle in front of the masses, people would know he was the Messiah and would follow blindly. 

Where Judas fell short was understanding the true miracle Jesus was performing.  Upon learning of his death on the cross, Judas lost faith and then took his own life for the killing of his friend.  I am not one who believes in divine plan, and this plan was set in place by Jeshua at the time, and Judas did not understand.
 

Question:  Did Jesus really die on the cross?

John:  Having experienced what I did in the regression, I know full well he died on the cross.  And I know full well he did rise.  My first visual memory of my life with Jeshua came in a reading with Sharon Prince in Lewes DE.  My memory started with my face rising from the sand and first seeing his feet before me.  I gazed up to look into his eyes, and he was laughing.  He was laughing because in seeing him alive again, I had passed out at his feet - not the most composed moment of that life! - and Jeshua found that quite amusing. 

My memory of his death on the cross came in many visions during the regression, and in spontaneous visions during the years after the regression.   I have many graphic images of him being brutally beaten and nailed to the cross and dying that still haunt me to this day. The real question her is why did he do it.  During that time period in history the land was ruled by kings and emperor, and held by large armies.  As Jeshua's fame grew so too did the numbers of his followers.  And any among the numbers felt he should rise to king himself and were pushing for that outcome.  Jeshua new full well that people would be slaughtered by the armies, and then the words and lessons he taught would be lost to history. So he gave himself up for their "sins."  He turned himself in to save their lives.  He took up his body again, to show that in doing so love will always overcome fear, and to show our potential for divinity.  

Question:  How do you overcome the external influences that don't match what I believe and want to create in my life?  What if my friends and family don't "get it"?

John:  Remember that the external influences will always be representative of your thoughts and fears.  If you think that they will be fearful and judgmental then they will be.  As Jeshua said, the kingdom of God is within.  The Buddha said "The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. Only the moment you reject all help are you freed."  People will always present their fears to you, but when you consciously shift yourself and your beliefs then those around you will shift with you, or move along to another that matches creation. 

In the healing sessions, we often hear stories of people who have received the healing, and later ave a relapse.  Many of these people, after having relapsed, will again take up their faith and healing.  It is not with the help of any healer or the external influences affecting them.  it is from within themselves they find the faith.   All of the concepts you talk about I have heard before in books and cds, but I can't get it to work in my life.  Is there a magic pill? Often the people who come to me tell me they've heard it all before but it doesn't work for them.  I find it interesting that they profess to be gurus or advanced students of metaphysics but the simple truth eludes them.  The reason it doesn't work for them is in those simple two words - "doesn't work."  Their beliefs fell short before they could witness the tangible results.  Your faith has to be unwavering to yield positive results.  And the fact that they're saying "I can't" means they have lost the faith. 

They also with their words have told me that they have tried it in the past and it doesn't work.  I will skip discussing that word "try" as we all know how I feel about that word (see this blog)!  What that statement tells me is that they are unconsciously creating in the present moment  the same past results because that is their focus.  We all only have one moment - that is the present one.  What you choose to do in the present will be your future "past results."  If you choose a positive action in the present, then your past will become positive.  And then you will have seen the results of it's working for you!

Question:   Are there people who come for healing with you who are not healed?  Why not?

John:  No healing is possible without the faith of the person being healed, because in reality there are no healers, only those who facilitate healing.  What the facilitators do is help the person find the faith in the present moment and then allow themselves to also be a vessel for the energy of Source to come through.  Many times at the end of healing sessions I know full well that the person has not been healed, because I know full well that their faith had not risen to a level where they believed they were healed.  There are others, however, who had instantaneous healings because their faith had shifted to that place.  There are also those who have a healing and then lose their faith later.  Some of those will again pick up their faith and receive a healing by themselves without a facilitator.   There are those that put their faith in time.  They believed that their ailment would take time to heal, and through their faith in time, they eventually are healed.

Question:  How does your healing method differ from others, like Rieki, Quantum Touch, etc.?

John:  In my regression, the regressionist asked the question "How do we heal?"  The answer that came through from the hypnotic session was "Create within your self the remembrance of love and be it, and emit it."  Most other forms of energy healing have a structure, a form, a system that you work within to create.  I one time had a Reiki Master, after attempting to do Reiki on me, told me that she would not want to teach me Reiki as she thought it would be too limiting.  I believe that all forms of energy healing are coming from the same source, and that the modalities of structure and symbols and patterns of hand movements are unnecessary.  The healing comes with the pure intention of love, and the person's faith that they can be and are healed.

Question:  Do you believe that Jesus was God on earth or a man?

John:  In his own words:  "Even the least among you can do what I have done, and greater things."  Jeshua was telling us that he is a man who is enlightened, a man who has reached a potential higher than the rest of us.  Many religions represent him as God on earth, and once again in his words: "The kingdom of heaven is within thee.  Only when thou hast established the kingdom within and overcome the demons of doubt and fear wilt thou discern the key to the establishment of the kingdom of God of the earth."  In this statement, Jeshua is saying that the kingdom is within each one of us, and that he has overcome his demons of doubt and fear.  And he told us that this was the way, the truth and the life that we are all capable of achieving.

Question:  What book or books do you suggest to someone new to all this? (besides John of Old, John of New by Sharon Prince of course!)

John:  There are lots of books to read, but I will always bow to the truth within first and foremost. If I had to choose a few books I would begin with:

The Celestine Prophecyby James Redfeld
The Way of the Peaceful Warriorby Dan Millman
The Thunder of Silence by Joel S. Goldsmith
Conversations with God(the entire series starting at book one) by Neale Donald Walsh
The Power of Intention by Dr. Wayne Dyer
The Prophetby Kahlil Gibran
Jesus the Son of Manby Kahlil Gibran
Ask and You Shall Receive by Abraham-Hicks
Success in Actionby Dan Thurmon
Shut Up and Get a Lifeby Larry Wingett
The Second Coming of Christby Yogananda
The Bible
The Koran
The Bhagavad Gita
The Vachanamrut
The Tao Te Ching
The Course in Miracles

Question:  Any general suggestions for someone whose family members don't share the same beliefs? How to live in harmony while remaining steadfast on your path?

John:  I was raised in a very Catholic family and had to get past the struggles of belief. It seems, however, that the struggles were my own. When I truly expressed who I was and what I believed, I found myself embraced by both friends and family. I first shared with them the experiences I had been having and allowed them to talk openly about their beliefs. Now I find that the actual sharing of my beliefs helped them define their own. My mother, with her Master's degree in Liturgy, found it all very interesting and we have wonderful conversations and find easily the common ground in our beliefs.

Question:  Can you talk about the chakras a little , the heart and crown especially. How to consciously open them.

John:  "Chak-ra - One of the seven centers of spiritual energy in the human body according to yoga philosophy."

I feel the chakra system is our direct connection beween the physical and the spiritual. Our root or base chakra (kundalini) being our most physical and our crown being the doorway to source. Many traditions have focused on deep meditation as a means of opening these centers consciously. My belief is that these centers open and close as our experience calls for. As we are the creator of our experience, we create the opening, thus deep meditation being one method of creating opening will indeed do so. My experiences hae been much simpler and fun. I will address opening them later.

Question:  Why do you feel a monthly love meditation could be effective - what do you feel happens?

John:  Everything we perceive in the material world consists of atoms. Atoms according to Einstein are nothing but formless energy. That being the case, we are all one. When one of us focuses upon unconditional love for all, it has a ripple effect. When many people do it, it has a wave effect. Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith says in The Secret that a positive thought is hundreds of times more powerful than a negative one, which I firmly believe. As we send the highest possible positive thought, unconditional love, out into the world it sweeps through the negativity and our world changes. Many spiritual groups are doing similar meditations - and did everyone see the news the other day? CNN's headline story was the crime rate dropping!

Question:  Why do so many people say they were Mary Magdalene in a past life?

John:  Many have come to me with the Mary Magdalene claim (more than a dozen at the time I am writing this). There are several reasons why this could be happening. First, the splintering of souls. My dear frend Judy Goodman has written a wonderful explanation of this phenomenon in the back of John of Old John of New. In it she descibes the concept of some souls having large missions splintering to carry the energy forward. Second, I believe with such books as Holy Blood /Holy Grail and The DaVinci Code, the Mary Magdalene energy is in the forefront of people's minds and that may be the cause of so many feeling connected to that soul. There is a very interesting thing in all of this, however, Several have come to me with the same story of their childhood in this life. I won't share what the story is as to not taint the data but it is very interesting that they are all havng the same experience independent of one another.

Question:   I hear several apostles have chosen to reincarnate now - why do you think this is so?

John:  First let me say it really does not matter who I or anyone else as two thousand year ago. What are you doing today is the only thing that matters. That out of the way, I do believe that we are living in a miraculous moment. Our world is currently shifting and a new consciousness is beginning to prevail. Many are awakening to there higher self and thus their past lives, being a part of the higher consciousness, memories are beginning to surface. I have had many doom and gloomers want to make the reincarnation of biblical figures as a sign of the end times. Since I personlly don't believe in a devil or of a Hell then this doesn't fit my model of spirituality. I think it is less about Apostles returning and more about the consciousness of us all raising to a point of remembering.