A Veil of Light and Love

When we die, we don’t go anywhere, but rather, we cross over into unmediated, infinite union with God. We cross over into loving God, with God’s own love for God, which is the Holy Spirit. We cross over into knowing God, with God’s own knowledge of God, which is Christ. 
—James Finley, Turning to the Mystics, podcast    

James Finley leads us through a meditation to help us experience the immediate presence and intimacy of God’s love and those who have joined God before us: 

I invite you to imagine that you are sitting alone in the middle of a well-lit room. There are no windows and no furniture in the room other than the chair you are sitting in…. As you sit there alone in silence, the light in the room slowly begins to dim. As the room dims, a light on the other side of the wall you are facing slowly becomes brighter and brighter. You begin to realize that the wall you are facing is not really a solid wall, as you had imagined, but is rather a gossamer veil that is becoming increasingly translucent in the light that is shining through it, filling the darkness of your room with an unfamiliar light.  

In the light shining out from the other side of the veil you see God, the angels, and the saints. They are all laughing and waving at you, letting you know how delighted they are that you can see them. You start laughing and waving back at them.  

Then God, the angels, and the saints pass through the veil to join you, rendering the room radiant with communal joy and delight in which your very presence begins to glow with the presence of God. Illumined and transformed in this way, God and the angels and saints carry you with them into heaven, just on the other side of the veil, where all are dwelling who have died and crossed over into God. Then God and the angels and saints carry you with them back through the veil, back to the room, now aglow with heavenly wonder and delight. Then, once again, they transport you back into the celestial realm, and then back again into the room….  

You are left once again in the familiarity of your earthly experience of yourself sitting there alone in the room, facing the wall. But while everything is the same as before, everything is, in an interior way, radically different. For you now realize that while, yes, it is true that, on one level, the wall you are facing really is a wall, … yet in the afterglow of the unitive experience that has just graced your life, you now know in the depths of your awakened heart that, ultimately speaking, the wall is no wall at all…. You have been graced with a fleeting experience of being immersed in God-immersed-in-you in a boundless communion that utterly transcends, even as it utterly permeates, the darkness and fragmentations of this world.  

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Eight Lessons from Charlie Kirk’s Life

1. Put God First Charlie never shied away from declaring his faith. “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). Every decision we make must flow from that starting point. If we’re not putting Christ first, we’re building on sand.
2. Be Bold Charlie embodied Romans 1:16: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation.” He wasn’t timid, he wasn’t quiet, and he certainly wasn’t “safe.” He was bold. And that boldness shook the foundations of a society addicted to lies.
3. Go Into Hostile Territory Who else but Charlie would walk into the lion’s den of a liberal college campus and speak truth to young minds being discipled by secularism? “Go into all the world and preach the gospel” (Mark 16:15). That command doesn’t say “go only where you’re welcome.” We need more warriors willing to storm enemy ground with the banner of Christ.
4. Stand on Your Principles In a world where compromise is currency, Charlie stood tall. He knew who he was and Whose he was. Jesus said, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24). That’s the call: principles anchored in Scripture, not popularity.
5. Fight Back with Ideas, Not Weapons Charlie never raised a fist; he raised ideas. He armed himself with words, debates, logic, and truth. Paul wrote, “The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:4). Let us wield ideas and the Word of God with just as much courage.
6. Challenge the Status Quo Charlie rattled cages. He asked hard questions. He dismantled long-held assumptions. And guess what? That’s what Christians are called to do. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2). If your faith isn’t shaking up the world, you’re doing it wrong.
7. Be Devoted to Your Country and Family Charlie loved America. He loved his family. He saw both as gifts from God to be cherished and defended. “If anyone does not provide for his relatives… he has denied the faith” (1 Timothy 5:8). Let us emulate his devotion at home and in our nation.
8. Create Change Charlie was just 18 years old when he launched Turning Point USA out of his parents’ garage. From that humble beginning came a movement that impacted millions. “Who dares despise the day of small things?” (Zechariah 4:10). What’s stopping you from creating something for Christ that will outlive you?

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