Spiritual Advantage with Sam Stone

When I was in college, a friend invited me to join a Wisdom Society. We were required to write a philosophical essay every month, and the best essay received an award and was published. The first assignment was titled “God Created Humans or Humans Created God.”
It was thought-provoking but not as easy to write as I had expected. Even though I didn’t win the contest, the topic stayed in my head for over 30 years: Did God create humans, or did humans create God? I’m open-minded, and I like to investigate the truth. Wrestling with this topic does expand your wisdom.
I’ve discovered that the best way to answer this question is by figuring out the second part, “Did humans create God?” because it’s easier to prove than the first.
If God created humans, God is the higher intelligence. It’s harder for the lower intelligence to understand the higher one.
If humans created God, we are the higher intelligence, and it would be easier to reverse-engineer our creation to figure out why and how we created God.
As humans, we create things to meet necessities. We made airplanes to meet the necessity of traveling faster and farther. We created countries and territories to meet the necessity for security. Otherwise, we could have lived in a global village without borders.
We created kings and presidents because leadership is necessary. We need someone to call the shots; the buck must stop somewhere.
If God is also our creation, what human need necessitates our creation of God? I’ve discovered that humans need a moral compass or a North Star to orient our lives for meaning and purpose. God meets that human need.
Then, it becomes a catch twenty-two situation. If we need God to have a moral compass, the moment we realize God is our own creation, the magic stops working because we are following our own artificial North Star.
When you say, “Humans created God,” you become an atheist instantly? You can’t have it both ways. You can’t be a theist and be a creator of God. Atheists don’t believe in God because they believe God is a human invention.
They also argue that human belief in God evolves with time. They say, “If God is true, why does theology evolve along with human evolution? If God existed, he wouldn’t have changed over time. Therefore, God is a human creation.
That’s also a catch-twenty-two logic. If belief in God is part of human evolution, then wouldn’t it make atheists less evolved? In fact, some cultures do believe atheism to be barbaric. Civilized societies are God-believing societies.
If you think deeply enough, there is no logical argument for “Humans created God.” Instead, the need for meaning and a moral compass are clues that God created humans.
John Calvin said we are born with a sense of divinity and a seed of religion. That’s why you see religions and philosophers all over the world in search of the Creator. Saint Augustine put it succinctly,
“You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” ~Saint Augustine
We didn’t create God to rest our restless hearts; our hearts are restless because God created us to rest in God. After digging into the great minds from past to present and East to West, there is only compelling logic to argue for “God created humans.”
If “God created humans” is more logical, why do we have atheists, and some of them are pretty smart? After talking with many atheists, I discovered that organized religions turn them off. They can’t differentiate religions from God.
God created humans, but humans created religions. Religion is not equivalent to God. The atheists got it wrong. God is not a problem; religions are. When religions corrupt, they blame it on God. They say, “If there’s a God, why can’t he even keep his church in order?”
What they don’t understand is that God created humans with responsibility, not as puppets. God created humans with free will so our love can be genuine.
Jesus didn’t come to establish a religion but to rekindle our relationships with God and with people. So, Christianity is not a religion but a relationship. That’s what Jesus’ Great Commandment is about—love God and love people—nothing more and nothing less.
Religions set rules, but relationships sow love. We see Jesus frequently breaking the rules, triggering the religious leaders’ anger. He didn’t break the rules to be rebellious but to show us that corrupt religions turn people off by valuing rules above love.
So, today, let’s explore how Jesus broke the rules and why so we can learn when to break the rules to maintain loving relationships and avoid loveless religiosity based on this week’s scripture lessons. Let’s begin!

There’s a Chinese proverb, “Men do not pass 8x8; women 7x7.” This saying comes from the Yellow Emperor’s Internal Medicine Manual, written in the 5th century B.C.E. What does it mean? It’s about the pattern of physical changes in males and females. Men grow in an eight-year cycle and women in a seven-year. Let me explain by referring to the Internal Medicine Manual.
A boy changes his teeth when he is 8. By sixteen (8x2), he has the reproductive capability. By twenty-four (8x3), he is fully grown. By 32 (8x4), his body quality reaches its peak. By 40 (8x5), his energy starts to drop. By 48 (8x6), his hair begins to turn grey, and his skin begins to wrinkle.
By 56 (8x7), his legs become weakened and slow down. By 64 (8x8), his hair and teeth start to fall. That’s the end of his prime and productive years. (Yike, I’ll soon approach that age!) A man after 8x8 (or 64) is deemed old, not according to me, but according to the Internal Medicine Manual.
It also says that females change in a seven-year cycle. A girl changes her teeth by 7. By 14 (7x2), she has the reproductive capability. By 21 (7x3), she is fully mature. (Girls mature sooner than boys.) By 28 (7x4), she reaches the peak of her development. By 35 (7x5), her physical state turns downhill.
By 42 (7x6), her hair starts to turn grey. By 49 (7x7), she loses her reproductive capability. That’s the end of her prime and productive years. It’s the nature no one can avoid, according to the Internal Medicine Manual.
So, the saying, “Men don’t pass 8x8; women 7x7,” means men’s most productive years don’t go beyond 64, and women 49. If you are still active beyond that point, you are blessed. Many of you are far beyond that point and truly blessed to live in times like this to enjoy the longer and stronger golden years.
That’s physical, but how about mental and spiritual since humans have body, mind, and spirit? Mentally, we don’t have a pattern like that. Your mental maturity depends on how much you learn. The average person reads only four books after graduating from college. So, if you read more than four books a year, you are above average. Many brilliant people read about a book a week, fifty books a year.
Spiritual maturity is even more nebulous. You can measure your physical growth by age. You can also measure your mental capacity by taking an IQ test. How do you measure your spiritual maturity? It can be measured by the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
However, there’s a caveat. Jesus said we are branches. A branch cannot bear fruit by itself without attaching to the vine. Jesus said he is the True Vine. He said without him, we can do nothing. (Jn 15:5). It’s a strong statement, warning us that a branch doesn’t even have life without attaching it to the vine.
An atheist told me, “Well, I don’t need God or Jesus to live by love, joy, peace, patience, etc.” I gave him the benefit of the doubt, but then I discovered his life behind the scenes was a big mess. So, fat chance! Communism is the largest experiment to bear the fruit of the Spirit without the Spirit. They do good without God. History shows they failed miserably, building a utopia without the creator. I don’t have to elaborate since it’s well-recorded.
Branches don’t have life unless it’s attached to the vine. Furthermore, the Bible says a branch that connects to a poor-quality vine bears poor-quality fruit. That’s why Jesus said he is the True Vine. It means other vines are not true.
You might wonder, “Isn’t it arrogant or insensitive to say he is the only true vine, and we can do nothing without him? There are so many religions out there.” Jesus said by their fruit, you will know them (Mt 7:20), meaning, “Look at the evidence!” Ignore him at their own demise. Good luck, utopians!
Today, we will explore how to become a branch of the True Vine. Jesus uses parables and metaphors because spiritual reality is metaphysical. We need physical analogies to understand metaphysical reality. In today’s scripture lesson, Jesus uses another metaphor to describe how the branches emerge from the True Vine. He says,
“Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” (Jn 3:3).
To be born from above is like being born as a branch of the True Vine. It’s a spiritual rebirth. The initial outcome is seeing the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is the alternative living. We live in a fallen world of suffering, but there is an alternative world, the kingdom of God, the Promised Land filled with the fruit of the Spirit, so we can live life to the fullest despite this fallen world.
To live in that kingdom, we must first see it. To see it, we must be born from above. So, today, let’s look at the mystery of this eye-opening rebirth that allows us to see the kingdom of God based on this week’s scripture lesson. Let’s begin!

This week, I saw a video of an interview with Richard Dawkins, the famous atheist renowned for his book, “The God Delusion,” and his recently published “Outgrowing God: A Beginner’s Guide,” teaching young people how to outgrow religion. He is a retired professor of Evolutional Biologist at Oxford University. Currently, he is on a tour around the world to promote his ideology.
Like most popular atheists, Richard Dawkins likes to reduce Christianity into a straw man to tear it apart. He is a perfect example of a “reductionist,” reducing a whole truth to part of the truth or making part of the truth the whole truth. For instance, he says if you believe in science, you can’t believe in religion, and vice-versa.
That’s completely false because the majority of scientists are Christians. Oxford University, where he taught, was founded by Christians. Christians love science because God assigns us to be stewards of this world, and we must study this world to be good stewards.
Sure, there were exceptions in Christian history, but a real intellectual would not use the anomalies to represent the entire Christianity. On the other hand, there is no shortage of scientists who manipulate data for profit or popularity, but no one accuses all science of being false. Anyone who does is called a reductionist.
Scientific reductionism is the same as religious fundamentalism. It is the root of all evil because when you reduce the truth into part of the truth, you can never discover the truth. Knowing the truth is essential to freedom, primarily mental and spiritual freedom. Jesus said,
“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (Jn 8:32).
Freedom is a human right given by God. That’s why our founding fathers built this nation on the God-given unalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Our pledge of allegiance ends with “One nation under God with liberty and justice for all.”
We treasure liberty, and Jesus shows us that liberty stems from knowing the truth. To know the truth, you must avoid religious fundamentalism and scientific reductionism. Then what is reductionism?
Everyone knows the famous fable of the Blind Men And The Elephant that we learned when we were young. That fable is to teach us the ridiculousness of reductionism. The first blind man touches the elephant’s truck and says that the elephant is like a snake. The second touches the tail and says an elephant like a rope. The third touches the leg and says an elephant like a tree. And so on.
Every blind man in this story gets hold of part of the truth but not the whole truth. Children find it funny and silly, but we should not forget this fable because it has a profound lesson. Humans are like those blind men regarding the truth because the truth can be too complex for our minds to contain. A reductionist is someone who insists that that part of the truth they know is the whole truth.
Then how can we know the truth? A solution is to resist reductionism and humbly gather more data to create a more complete picture. However, as the fable shows, a pair of eyes that can see the whole picture is better than a hundred blind men trying to feel it.
A picture is worth a thousand words. Recently, something went wrong on the roof of my home. It’s too dangerous for me to climb up to see what’s happening. I have a drone, but I have never learned to fly it. I broke my first drone the first time I flew it by hitting a tree. We have too many trees around. Mine was old, but I know the latest drones are much smarter. They can avoid obstacles by themselves.
Drones are like extensions of our eyes to give us pictures beyond what human eyes can reach. The good news is that Jesus promised to give us a Super Drone that sees what God sees, hears what God hears, and transmits the truth to us to set us free. Jesus nicknamed this Super Drone “The Advocate.” Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit.
I might be oversimplifying the Holy Spirit as a Super Drone. But, based on what Jesus told us in today’s scripture lesson, it functions like a Super Drone, serving as an extension of our eyes to see the blind spots.
Most importantly, it transmits the truth and sets us free. In today’s scripture lesson, Jesus says this Super Drone will reveal three common errors that keep us from knowing the truth. So, let’s find out what this Super Drone does and how to own it. Let’s begin!

I hope everyone is safe and sound after the two earthquakes on Friday. Even though it was only 4.8 magnitude, for those born and raised on the East Coast, that was the strongest earthquake they had ever experienced in their lifetime. So, some were extremely shaken by the experience. Pun intended! Paul said,
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks. (Heb 12:28a).
Everything on earth can be shaken except the kingdom of God. You are blessed to live in New Jersey, where disasters are rare compared to many places in the country.
I have experienced many earthquakes like this while living in Burma and California. I was taught to stay away from tall buildings during an earthquake as far as possible.
So, as soon as I felt the earthquake, I got outside the house immediately. Then, I found out it was pretty cold, so I came back in to put on some warm clothes. By then, the quake had stopped.
How do you prepare for an earthquake? The least you can do is not to put heavy stuff on top of the cabinets or high places because they could fall on your head. If you can’t run outside, the bathroom is a safer hiding space because it has more walls and pipelines to support the structure.
Most importantly, learn to maintain a peaceful state of mind or serenity during chaos. I usually don’t panic because of past experiences. But, this time, I panicked because of the strong earthquakes in Taiwan just days ago. However, I resumed my composure immediately by regulating my breathing.
If you have serenity, you can make better decisions even if you have never been taught what to do. How do you maintain serenity in chaos? How to eliminate fear and resume composure as soon as possible.
Tomorrow, we are expecting a rare solar eclipse in our area. That could trigger some anxiety in people asking what’s going on in the world. Earthquakes and eclipses?
The good news is that Jesus taught the disciples exactly what to do after his resurrection. They were in fear when their master was crucified. They worry they could be next. So, they hid themselves in a room and kept the door locked.
When Mary Magdalene came to tell them that Jesus had risen, they couldn’t believe it and sank deeper into fear because it was abnormal for someone to rise from the dead, even though Jesus had told them many times before. They thought Jesus came back as a ghost.
So, today, we will learn how Jesus taught us to handle panic, fear, and anxiety based on what he told the disciples to do. There are three components. The main part is to breathe the Holy Breath. Let’s begin!

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
What is more important for your quality of life, happiness or freedom? Many of you know I pursue happiness because I lost my happiness due to some unpleasant childhood events. However, some philosophers and thought leaders argue that freedom is more important than happiness.
Immanuel Kant emphasizes the importance of freedom as a prerequisite for moral action. He believed happiness without freedom might be desirable but lacks moral significance. In other words, for him, happiness without freedom is shallow.
Jean-Paul Sartre emphasizes the importance of freedom and choice as the very essence of human existence. For him, freedom is not just important; it is what defines us as human beings.
I agree with our founding fathers that all these three are important—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These are the unalienable rights given to us by our Creator. Therefore, we must create a society that allows all these rights to thrive.
Freedom has three levels—physical, mental, and spiritual. Some people may be physically free but not mentally free. Influencers, the media, or the government could infuse them with false information to enslave their minds. Communism is an example of a mind control machine.
Some people are physically and mentally free but not spiritually free. Spiritual freedom is the ability to bear the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
The opposite of it is spiritual enslavement, such as being unable to love, unable to rejoice, unable to forgive, etc. Just reverse the fruit of the spirit, and you get the condition of spiritual enslavement.
I think spiritual freedom is more important than mental and physical freedom because if you are spiritually free, no one can control your mind. People may control you physically, but if you are spiritually free, you will find the way out sooner because you don’t have the fear of death.
Easter sets us free from the fear of death because the resurrection of Jesus Christ reveals to us there’s more to life than this physical body. Jesus said that he came so that we would have life and have it abundantly. His resurrection takes away our fear of death so that we are free to live.
Some might say, “Wait, how do you know the resurrection of Jesus Christ is true? How do you prove that?” I am a rational man, so I have asked this question myself in the past.
I have mentioned it before, so here’s my brief logic. The resurrection of Jesus Christ shattered human history into two parts: AD and BC or BCE and CE. Each time I look at the calendar, I see the miracle of resurrection.
I know the calendar was created to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ, but who cares about Christmas if there is no Easter?
Each time you put down your signature, you must put the date next to it, referencing Jesus Christ. Even an atheist communist must reference Jesus. They can deny him, but they can’t hide from him. The calendar is ubiquitous. Jesus is on their wall, their watch, and their phones.
So, each time I look at the calendar, I say in my heart, “He is risen indeed!”
According to a survey, two-thirds of Americans believe in the resurrection but don’t understand its significance. Jesus is risen, so what?
So, today, we will answer the “So what?” question. What Easter means to us and how Easter sets us free to live, love, lead, and leave a legacy. Let’s begin!

I know the title is a little ambitious, but this message is not about me teaching you how to know everything but exploring together the secrets of discernment taught by Jesus Christ. Just as physicists have been trying to figure out the theory of everything, religions and philosophies try to discover the knowledge of everything.
For example, one of the highest goals of Buddhism is to attain the wisdom of all-knowing or omniscience (sabbannuta ñāna in Pali).
Similarly, people all over the world want to know why we suffer, why bad things happen to good people, why there are wars, why innocent children suffer, why there are injustice, etc. There are so many questions in life that need answers.
These answers cannot be described by words but discerned by wisdom.
We know Jesus knows everything, and Christians are supposed to know everything. Jesus said in John 15 that he shares everything he knows with us like a friend. So, as his friends, we should know everything. Paul said,
Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny. “For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Co 2:15–16).
Notice it says a spiritual person discerns all things, and we have the mind of Christ. No one can deceive us. I think we underestimated our ability as believers. The keyword here is “spiritual.” How can we be spiritual so that we have the mind of Christ and discern all things?
Sometime back, I came across a TV show based on a book about a man who studied finance in Germany. After graduation, he wrote for a financial magazine in Berlin and became famous because his stock predictions were precise.
At his friends’ persuasion, he formed a private investment club. The baseline for joining the club was two million dollars. It was in the 1990s, so it was quite a lot of money. About a dozen people joined, betting their money on his brain.
Their return on investment doubled every year. It was lucrative. Nothing could beat that kind of return. They wondered if he had some angelic or godly insight to discern the direction of the market.
Three years later, he decided to quit. It shocked everyone. Why would you leave when everyone is prospering? They suspect his ulterior motive. So, they had him sign an exit contract prohibiting him from working in any financial industry for five years. They also froze his assets for the time being to prevent him from investing his own money.
Despite the cruel restrictions, he signed the agreement willingly and returned to China, rented a small apartment in a small town, and spent his time there quietly like a hermit. Since his assets were frozen, he lived meagerly and humbly but happily.
A local policewoman fell in love with him after he helped her solve a criminal case. Discovering his abnormal discernment, she asked him for a miracle as a gift for her. She wanted him to turn a dirt-poor and destitute village from poverty to prosperity.
He surveyed the inventory of the villagers’ talents, skills, and hard-working spirit and brainstormed a plan to relieve them from poverty. To make a long story short, in less than two years, he turned the dirt-poor village into a wealthy town of entrepreneurs.
In the story, everyone asked how he knew what he knew.
Today is Palm Sunday. Before entering Jerusalem, Jesus asked his two disciples to pick up a donkey colt, telling them where it was and what would happen when they picked it up. It happened exactly as he told them. How did he know?
Some commentators said Jesus prearranged it. It doesn’t make sense because there are other examples of his discernment. For instance, he told Peter to drop the net on the other side of the boat and catch boatloads of fish. He couldn’t prearrange that?
When he needed to pay the temple tax, Jesus asked his disciples to cash a fish from the sea, locate a coin inside the mouth of the fish, and use it to pay the tax. That means Jesus could summon money whenever he wants. But he never exploited his capability.
In fact, a colt in those days was like a BMW, Rolls-Royce, or limousine used by kings to enter the city ceremonially. It shows Jesus could summon a brand-new Rolls-Royce whenever he needed it. He knew where it was parked and how to get it for a ride.
Many instances in the Bible show Jesus’s discernment. He knew he would be crucified after arriving in Jerusalem and rise again in three days. He foresaw the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. Everything happened precisely as he said it would happen.
The question is, can we know as he knows? If so, how? So, today, we will explore the secret to knowing everything based on this week’s scripture lesson. What does it require to be spiritual so that we can discern all things and have the mind of Christ? Let’s begin!

Are you joyful this morning, evening, or anytime, depending on where in the world you are right now? Jesus expects us to live our lives in complete joy. That’s the outcome he expects from us. He said,
“I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” (John 15:11).
The question is, how do we maintain this complete joy living in this fallen world where the killjoys constantly attack us?
Recently, I got a negative comment on my YouTube channel, severely hurting my ego. Few people watch my sermons on YouTube. I don’t mind because I prepare my sermons to feed my congregation, and as long as my sheep feel fed, I am satisfied.
I posted my sermons on social media to share the good news, hoping someone who needed that message would find it helpful.
So, I was excited when I saw a couple of comments, but they were very negative. This man posted twice, saying, “Shame on you, Sam Stone. Shame on you!”
I wondered, “What did I say wrong?” I wanted to fight back, so I read his comments carefully. It turned out that he didn’t even listen to the entire sermon. He was spewing unfair criticisms that were utterly irrelevant to my message. So, I wanted to react.
I tried to track him down to find out who he was. It turned out to be a pastor and somewhat high profile. He was arrested in a foreign country, presumably for his faith, and our government paid a high price to get him released. Sounds like a hero!?
However, I found more news about him. He was arrested for abusing his wife. Wow, oh, wow! The more I dug, the more I discovered he was pretty deranged. The shame is on him, not on me! I felt pity for him. Responding to his comments would be a waste of time. I’ve discovered long ago that people with low self-esteem tend to be critical. Still, my ego couldn’t swallow the insult and almost reacted.
The lesson I learned from this is never to let negativity from anyone or anything affect your joy. Don’t react to other people’s reactivity if you want to maintain happiness. The question is, how not to react? How to hold your horse?
A better question is, “What makes us react?” If you know what makes you react, you know how to hold your horse. The only reason we want to react is when our ego gets hurt. We must crucify the ego first to live our eternal life with complete joy.
So, today, we will look at how Jesus taught us to hold our horses from reacting to the killjoys and live the eternal life that he offers us so that we can attain and maintain the complete joy he expects us to live based on this week’s scripture lesson. Let’s begin!

I was fascinated by a chapter titled “Perfect Happiness” or “Ultimate Joy” in the Book of Zhuangzi, my favorite philosopher of the 4th century BCE. Zhuangzi was a hilarious sage, and, like Jesus, he used parables and fables to explain the metaphysical reality and spiritual truth.
Zhuangzi sang at his wife’s funeral, which was entirely inappropriate in ancient Chinese culture. People expected the husband to weep and mourn to show his love for her. He was sad for a moment at her departure, but he decided to celebrate her return to the Creator.
Saint Augustine said there were Christians before Christ. Zhuangzi is one of those people. He was way ahead of his time. His happiness is infectious. So, when I saw that he wrote about “Perfect Happiness” or “Ultimate Joy,” I couldn’t resist reading it.
Here’s a provocative parable in that chapter on “Perfect Happiness.”
After a long day of tiresome journey through the wilderness on his way to a neighboring state, Zhuangzi decided to take a break. Sitting down, he saw a skull on the roadside in the wilderness. Being alone and bored, he picked up the skull and talked to it.
“Hey, who are you? Do you have a name? Why are you sitting here in the middle of nowhere? Did a wild beast attack you? Were you punished for a crime, dishonoring your parents? Did someone rob you? Did you die of famine and hunger? Did the tragedy of a war kill you? Or did you die of old age? How did you die, poor man?”
As the sun set, he decided to sleep right there, laying his head on the skull like a pillow. That night, the skull talked to him in a dream.
“Sir, you talked to me like a man entangled in the hardship of life. After death, I no longer have any of those concerns. I don’t have a human boss above me nor a servant under me. There is no winter or snowstorm, no war or famine. Every day is like spring and autumn all year round. No human king in the world is as happy as me.”
Surprised, Zhuangzi asked him, “If I had a supernatural power to restore your flesh and body, return you to a human, and bring you back to your friends and family, wouldn’t you wish me to do so?”
To his astonishment, the skull said, “What? Do you want me to leave this joyful eternal life richer than any human king and return to human life to suffer the hardship of the fallen world again? No way!” (End of the Story).
What surprised me is that the chapter mainly talks about death. What does death have to do with perfect happiness or ultimate joy? The truth is death significantly affects our ability to enjoy life. Paul said,
“The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” (1 Co 15:26).
Fear of death disturbs our ability to experience the fullness of joy. Jesus came to destroy death, setting us free from the fear of death by giving us eternal life. Zhuangzi teaches us that humans are not ready to live until they are ready to die.
Children have perfect happiness because they don’t have the concept of death. For them, a hundred years feel like an eternity. Jesus guarantees us eternal life so we can return to a carefree childhood and enjoy the ultimate happiness.
Today, we will learn five steps to turn from hardship to happiness based on what Jesus teaches in this week’s scripture lesson. Let’s resolve our suffering once and for all so that we can enjoy life to the fullest because that’s what Jesus said he came to give us. Let’s begin!