Launching a site like Beyond Religion, or writing a book like A Handbook For Heretics, is a scary proposition. You don't do these things without a lot of prayer and soul-searching.

One of the answers to prayer, at least in my case, is a surprising number of "coincidences." To paraphrase the popular baseball movie, "If you write it, they will come." In other words, if you stick your neck out far enough and ask for God's help, coincidences will fall into your lap. I believe that this is God's way of indicating that there is divine assistance available if you want to make use of it.

For instance, during the writing of A Handbook For Heretics, I was completing a section on angel communication. I was telling of the phenomenon which many people have observed, seeing the numbers 1111 and realizing that it was a sign that their angel was in touch with them. I was trying to find a dramatic way to sum up this section of the book when the phone rang. It was a friend whom I had not seen for several years. She had no idea about the book or about my connection with angel numerology. All she knew was that I might be open to mystical things. She said, "I've been having this strange experience for months, and it occurs five or six times a week! It's like someone is trying to communicate with me, but I don't understand what they're trying to say. It seems that every time I look at the clock, it says "11:11." I roared in astonishment. She had never heard of this phenomenon and assumed it was only happening to her. The "coincidental" timing of her call was a gift to me, confirmation from my angels that this technique is a legitimate means of heavenly communication.

When we launched this website, Beyond Religion, we had stories for every section-Near-Death Experiences, Coincidence, Angel Communication, etc. - but nothing for Out-of-Body Experiences. As a result, I didn't include such a section, but hoped that we might find among our visitors people willing to share their OBE stories. Within two weeks of going public, we not only had an OBE section, but we had three stories attached to it.

I have to tell you about one of them. The writer contributed the story titled "Healing Gifts" on the Out-of-Body Experiences page. She is identified as N.C. I've known her for many years but hadn't talked to her for some time. After the site had been open only a week or so, I was working on another project for the family. I went to a filing cabinet in my study and pulled out the bottom drawer looking for a particular file. The divider plate at back of the drawer was pulled forward about a foot to hold up the files. For some reason I looked in that empty space behind the files, although there didn't appear to be anything there. On the bottom of the drawer lay a single piece of paper, out of sight behind the divider. When I picked it up and read it, I was flabbergasted. It was from N.C. and it said in part, "Here is the paper you asked me to write on my OBE experiences."

I have no idea how the paper got there, or why I even looked in that place. I didn't remember ever asking her to write those stories. The request must have been several years old, long before the launch of the website. I called to tell her the story, and she later wrote me, "I had just told my sister and daughter about sending you some OBE stories awhile back, and I spent all weekend looking for them. And then you called and asked for them!" So that's how her story came to be on our site.

It says in James 4:2, "You do not have what you want because you do not ask God for it." God wants to help. Our angels and our spirit guides want to help. But we need to believe that they really can help. We need to expect "coincidences" to happen.

Posted Dec 1st, 2003

Copyright: John W. Sloat 2003