The Art of Spiritual Peacemaking by James Twyman
Book Review by Fredrick James
In a secluded
mineral spring beside the Dead Sea in Israel, a miracle is about
to occur. A man walks out of the desert with “eyes that shine like the sun” bearing
a message of peace for the world.
Enter James Twyman, a peacemaker who has had more than his share
of spiritual adventures. His books Emissary of Light and Emissary
of Love have been read by hundreds of thousands of people around
the world and recount his adventures traveling through war-torn
countries sharing his ministry as “The Peace Troubadour.” One
of the spots he often returns to is Israel, a place where peace
and reconciliation seem almost impossible.
“Israel, and especially Jerusalem, are prophesized to be
the birthplace of the new world,” Twyman said. “Jerusalem
literally means ‘City of Peace’ and has been predicted
by many to be the place where it all happens. What makes its history
even more fascinating is that it continues to be the center of
such violence and division. If peace can come to Jerusalem, then
it can happen anywhere.”
Three years ago, after leading a group of 65 peacemakers from around
the world to Israel, James and four others remained behind to relax
and rejuvenate. They decided to return to the Dead Sea, the lowest
spot on earth and the site of the ancient Essene community where
the Dead Sea Scrolls were hidden nearly two thousand years ago.
Near the spot where the scrolls were found there is a sulfur spring
where the dense salt water from the sea combines with hot mineral
waters from deep within the earth. James and his group had visited
this spot earlier on the trip, but at that time it was filled with
tourists making it difficult to fully enjoy. On this day, however,
it was nearly deserted, and the experience turned out to be very
different.
From the introduction to
THE ART OF SPIRITUAL PEACEMAKING:
“The water and the minerals seemed to inspire an impenetrable
contemplation, and I was unaware of anything other than the waves
of deep relaxation washing through my whole being. Nothing else
existed, and my spirit seemed to shake free from my body, my friends
and the motionless sea. I was at peace, vast and unfathomable,
and it felt as if nothing would penetrate the stillness I felt.
“Then I felt a presence, as
if someone was standing next to me. I instantly realized, however,
that it was not a body I felt beside me, but the spirit of a person
I felt I recognized. In my mind I saw this spirit as a man who
seemed to have walked straight out of the desert, his hair matted
and his dark skin covered with sweat. But there was something else
that caught my attention: his eyes. I had never seen eyes like
this before, radiant and dazzling like the sun. He looked at me
as if he saw more than the person floating there in the spring.
He saw me, the me I rarely, if ever, saw myself. The love that
shot from his eyes wrapped around me and filled me with Divine
radiance. I knew, without him saying a word, that this was he:
Jeshua, the real man who walked the same paths and roads two thousand
years earlier.”
Many, if not most, Christians do not realize that Jeshua ben Joseph
is the actual Aramaic name of Jesus. This is what his friends would
have called him, and as James says, there seemed to be a difference
between this man he met in the spring and the iconic character
that has dominated history for 2000 years.
“I use the Aramaic name rather than the more common ‘Jesus’ for
a good reason. This was not the character from a book I met, nor
was it the man that had been painted by the great masters or whose
image had been immortalized in statues on altars around the world.
This was the real guy, the authentic man who walked and talked
and ate with his friends two thousand years ago. The man I sensed
next to me wasn’t the cookie cutter Jesus, but rather, the
mystical and passionate master who inspired or inflamed the land
we now call holy. In an instant I knew why he inspired them so,
for my own heart began to race.”
According to James, Jeshua came with a gift. James had already decided
to write an Internet course called “The Art of Spiritual Peacemaking,” but
after weeks of work he still had not written a word. Several months
earlier he shocked the global spiritual community by offering an
Internet course called: “The Spoonbender Course,” a four-lesson
class on how to bend spoons with one’s mind. Over 60,000 people
took the course online, but James felt they wanted more. The Art
of Spiritual Peacemaking would give him the chance to express a deeper
message, if only the inspiration would finally come.
