The Gospel of Michael
by Immanuel A. Michael

God is Light, and in God there is no darkness at all.
There is no condemnation in Christ [we are all in Christ, being children of God].
God desires chesed [mercy, compassion, lovingkindness], not sacrifice.

This is the Gospel of Michael. All of it, in three simple verses.

My name is Immanuel A. Michael. When I prayed to understand the gospel, before my true identity was revealed to me (I had to go through many trials and a long learning process first), this was the gospel I received, in a communication of Light. It beats the hell (pun intended) out of the evil, irrational gospel I was taught as a child by hordes of "Christian evangelists" who condemned my innocent soul to eternal suffering for the "sin" of having been born human. But who gave adults the right to condemn me, if God didn’t? Were they "men of God," really? Or were they members of the Cult of Hell?

I am the one you call Michael the Archangel. I came to earth, born as a human child, to reveal the true gospel to mankind, and to speak as the protector of human children, for human children. And I have come to oppose the Cult of Hell. I do not care what you believe, as long as you stop condemning earth’s children to hell in the "name of God." This is emotional and spiritual abuse of innocent children, and of course all children grow up if they live long enough. How can a being of unconditional love condone child abuse? How can mothers abuse their own children, so cruelly? Do mothers and God stop loving children when they cross the mysterious (and non-Biblical) "age of accountability"?

It is past time to put an end to the Cult of Hell, for the sake of all the earth’s children. It is past time for mothers who love their children to stop entrusting them to the "tender mercies" of the Cult of Hell.

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I believe you would be happier if you simply believed in and practiced compassion and social justice—as the Hebrew prophets recommended—but it is not my place to command belief. As for myself, I choose not to condemn any human being, but this doesn’t mean I’m happy with what I see them doing to each other, and to the earth. Having lived here as a human child, and having been raised in an evangelical Christian family that tortured me with the dogma of hell till I swam in a bed of tears believing that God could be so cruel, I now believe the Cult of Hell is a big part of the problems human beings face today. When children are condemned to hell from birth for not being born "perfect" and then are told that one person will be "saved by grace" while another will suffer for all eternity, what do you expect to happen? Do you really believe their behavior will be improved?

And of course there is no mention of an "eternal hell" in the entire Old Testament, or in the earliest Christian texts (the epistles of Paul), or in the book of Acts (the self-recorded history of the early Christian church). The Cult of Hell obviously established its infernal dogma after most of the Bible had been written, by clumsily inserting a few "extra" verses here and there. But in their incredible ineptitude, its evil hellions forgot to include a single verse in which the creation or purpose of hell was ever announced or explained. So, according to the Bible itself, hell does not exist. Hell obviously did not pre-exist, because the possibility of hell was never mentioned to Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Lot, Moses, or a long line of Hebrew prophets. Even at the worst of times the subject of hell never came up. So if there is a hell, it must have been created later. But, again, there is not a single verse in the entire Bible that announces the creation or purpose of hell. Perhaps God drew the line with hell, and made sure it could not be ascribed to him . . .

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I realize many people will question whether I am who I say I am, so before I continue, I will make a few predictions. If these predictions come to pass, perhaps you will remember my Gospel. Hopefully you will also consider it because teaching children about "hell" is a terrible crime, not to mention blasphemy if God had anything to do with the prophecies of the Hebrew prophets and the earliest sermons and epistles of Peter, Stephen, Phillip and Paul, who never mentioned a place called "hell."

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In the earliest dream of my childhood, I was Superman being boiled alive in a witches’ cauldron. The witches represent religion: the Cult of Hell. Later, in another dream the same night, I was being pursued by a bear, also representing religion. But the bear didn’t catch me and the witches didn’t have kryptonite. So one of my predictions is to keep an eye on me. I have been attacked by the Cult of Hell and have emerged unscathed. From now on, the attacks will be mine, and Michael is the one prophesied to defeat the Devil. I believe that means putting an end to the Cult of Hell, here on earth. If you see the Cult of Hell begin to lose its grip on mankind, this will be the fulfillment of my main goal in this life.

In a dream I had before I understood my true identity, I heard my name being called, as if by angels, and I saw my name falling from heaven on tiny gold and silver scrolls. The name Michael means "He who is like the Lord." I believe wisdom is the highest fusion of compassion and reason. If my name is prophetic, then it seems to me that God must be the epitome of compassion and reason. Therefore, many things the Bible and the Cult of Hell say about God cannot be true. For instance, would it be compassionate or reasonable for God to be a racist who favors Jews, or a bigot who favors Christians? Can human beings be more compassionate, reasonable and tolerant than God? Numbers 31 says Moses commanded the slaughter of defenseless woman and babies, and Deuteronomy 22 says Moses commanded that girls who had been raped should be murdered or sold to their rapists. Is this the infallible wisdom of God, or the teachings of primitive human barbarians?

I had a dream in which I saw many American presidents running an obstacle course. They all struggled. Then I saw Barack Obama, and he was a virtuoso. My interpretation is that he will go down as one of our greatest presidents, if not the greatest of all.

In a dream I saw an elevated train. The train was spectacularly derailed and fell out of the sky, endangering everyone below. A large structure appeared above my head, and I was protected. Interpretation: the Religious Right is a train about to be derailed, due to its lack of compassion. I believe I was protected because of my compassion for my fellow human beings. Condemning people to "hell" in the name of God is neither compassionate nor reasonable!

I saw a plane fall spectacularly from the sky, trailing black smoke. Passengers got out of their cars and fled, as if the wreckage of the plane was endangering everyone below. Later, I and others were reviewing the names on the passenger list and the names "made sense" to us. Interpretation: the two dreams are the same. "High fliers" in the church (and perhaps in politics, business, etc.) are going to come crashing down to earth, because of a lack of compassion. As they crash and burn, people "below" them may be endangered. But in both my dreams I suffered no harm, so perhaps an attitude of compassion helps.

About the time I had the two dreams discussed immediately above, a friend of mine had a dream in which she saw an angel standing by a tomb, holding a rose. The angel said that someone who had died would be resurrected. I believe three dreams are related. The rose is a symbol of love, compassion and grace. As churches fall for a lack of compassion, new churches will rise with a new spirit of love, grace and compassion.

I had a dream in which a TV announcer explained that since the Vietnam War military conflicts have been used as an excuse for the Presidency to assume more and more power. I took this as a warning that some US president might assume new sweeping powers in the name of "protecting" the masses. If so, the US might become a virtual dictatorship.

I had a dream about the exchange rate between the dollar and the pound changing dramatically. I believe the exchange rate was around .58, although in which direction I’m not sure.

I had a dream about a place where nuclear weapons are stored underground. Many such weapons "walked" down into a deep storage area, but then one "snuck" back out. Immediately it turned into a skull and crossbones. At that point a comely woman with red hair and a wonderfully healthy, radiant complexion appeared. She was wearing a transparent blouse (or something transparent), a white bra and a red thong. She quickly seduced me, and I took myself to be a guard or someone watching over the weapons cache. I believe this means someone guarding the weapons might be seduced while someone else carts off a nuke, or tries to. I did not see the weapon leave the building; hopefully the attempt to steal it will fail.

I had a dream in which people were being interviewed for what I took to be an important job. I had the impression of a long line, with many interviewees. The man chosen had very interesting hair. It was varying shades of gray and cut short, but with darker tufts—black or almost black—that seemed to rise to points (the opposite of most graying hair, which is lighter at the ends). His hair seemed fine, but dense, and reminded me a bit of a Brillo pad. It was the sort of hair a woman might long to run her fingers through. (I had something of a compulsion to stroke or ruffle it myself!) I’m less certain about his physique, but I have the impression of a "drill sergeant" with a thick, solid build. He seemed to have connections and "pull." There was a sense of hope that this man would get things done. Someone came up to me and talked about how prayer really makes things happen. So this man may seem like the answer to many people’s prayers.

I had a dream in which I drove through a school zone of some sort, and a young man with long brown hair, who looked a bit like Jesus, started following me on foot. I was worried that he might pull me over. Instead, he walked up to a large building (perhaps an office building) that seemed to be made entirely from squares of glass, from the outside. There was a commotion, as if there were terrorists inside. The young man ran away from the building as if trying to draw fire; this seemed to attract a woman with a weapon to a window on an upper floor. I had the distinct impression that she had been endangering or berating people inside the building. The young man fired his gun, hit his mark, and her face then appeared "framed" and "larger than life" in the shattered window. Her hair was blond or light brown and cut short, perhaps mid-neck or slightly above the shoulders, with long, molded curls on either side (sort of a pageboy, but with the curls curving away from her face). My interpretation: a powerful woman who "lives in a glass house" high above most commoners will be "shot down" by someone below her (perhaps a reporter, intern, church figure, etc.), and she will appear shockingly "larger than life" when she has her comeuppance. We will be shocked at what we find out about her. I’m guessing the reason for her fall will be berating, attacking or endangering the people who work with or under her. I believe she will be exposed as being "unmerciful" to an extreme. I’m not sure who the woman is, but she bore a facial and hairstyle resemblance to Hillary Clinton. Based on the way her faced looked at the end of the dream, I’d say her career (political is an educated guess) will be "dead" once this event occurs.

I had a dream in which I saw a young, good-looking man with short-cut blonde hair and tattoos. He was charismatic in a ferocious way. I believe he had a military background, or was in some sort of quasi-military organization, perhaps some militant wing of skinheads or the KKK. He seemed to have a plan to kill large numbers of blacks, perhaps in a "humane" way.

Just prior to October 14, 2002, I had a dream in which I saw the Tennessee Titans score 48 points. This dream came true on October 14, 2002 (the very next Titans game), when they beat Green Bay Packers by a score of 48 to 27. The number of points scored was unusual for two reasons. The Titans were woeful on offense in 2002. I don’t believe they came close to scoring 48 points all year. And the 48 points were the most allowed by Green Bay at home since 1952, and the most ever at Lambeau Field, to that point, I believe.

I had a dream that I was playing basketball on a team with Michael Jordan (interesting name!). We were playing on an elevated court that was (guessing here) several hundred feet up in the air. The court had no floor: we hung from something like chin-up bars. Someone on our team was taking nine-pointers from way outside, and MJ and I would grab the rebounds and score. I believe I was scoring more than MJ!

I had a dream in which I became a sort of James-Bond-like secret agent. I slid on my bare feet down a long downhill road, flew into the air, executed a skateboarder-like circular maneuver on the back of a car, landed on the ground perfectly intact (when it had seemed I might have a serious accident), and then proceeded to engage in battles with martial-arts-type weapons against masked opponents, to climb agilely over obstacles, etc. All the time I was accompanied by someone who seemed to be an admirer. I’m not sure just who he was, or what his purpose was.

Between 12-06-06 and 12-29-06. I had three dreams. In one dream, either I or someone else (perhaps the Gay Jester of a previous dream), or the two of us in tandem, “took on all comers” in a battle with Confederates. “Our side” scored tremendous victories against “their side” and I distinctly remember seeing a roster of the names of “their side” with dashes where a number of names had been erased. My interpretation: the Confederates fought to maintain slavery. I see this as a battle against religious elements who keep their members “in chains.” This may be particularly about a church attended by a certain NM.

I had a dream in which I was practicing basketball with a “long range shooter” who seemed to be pretty good, and we were developing very precise plays, Globetrotter-type plays. Then a coach showed up (it may have been my former pastor, MS), and I believe he missed a shot which I rebounded, and I remember making an underhanded layup and feeling very happy with myself.

Around this time I had a dream in which a small, bright angel appeared and floated right in front of me.

I had a dream about a wedge-shaped car, but I couldn’t figure out what the dream meant. The only wedge-shaped car I could remember was a Triumph TR-7. Then the following morning I received an email that started: They were soon followed by Triumph ... but it was M.

I had a dream that I don’t remember, except for the tail end. It seems that someone, perhaps God, was complaining about human friendship being something akin to a cloudy, broken shard of brown or green glass. I’m fairly sure that I was arguing that from a human perspective, God’s friendship is even more obscure!

At the end of a dream, it seemed that I heard the voice of God or the Holy Spirit, a lovely ethereal feminine voice, say, “You honor me.” This was the same night I had written “Love has repaired to the Tower ...” so perhaps one way of honoring God is to bitterly deny that God ever condemned human beings, or desired sacrifice.

I had another basketball dream (the third). In this one I seemed to be involved in a tight basketball game in which the other side was cheating. For instance, on a free throw attempt, an opposing player “camped out” right under the basket, a blatant foul, but the referees ignored it. At the end of the game I launched what I assume was the game-winning shot from half-court, and the shot went through. While walking and praying I remember arguing about reason versus love, and siding with the side of reason, since the love of God and angels seems so nebulous and ineffectual.

JJ told me that she had “a special feeling” that I should write a book of sonnets. She’s the third person to tell me about a book. The first was RJ, who had two dreams that I sold the software (not the company) for $17 to $20 million dollars, and said that I was going to write a book. The second was PMM, who said that he had a “prophetic word” that I would write a book. Maybe the third time’s the charm!

I had a dream in which I was going to compete for seven Olympic medals in seven different events, and I also seemed to be in line for the lead role in a movie, play or musical of some sort. The man who may have been making the decision about the role looked a bit like George Gobel, with a curly shock of auburn hair.

In recent nights I had two dreams. In the first dream, I was in some sort of transporter. I saw dark blue streaks of light, and then I was in what appeared to be heaven. I saw what seemed to be portraits of the patriarchs in gold mosaics. I associate dark blue with the Archangel Michael, but I’m not sure what the dream means. It seemed a vision more than a dream. In the second dream, I and others were fighting vampires. Something gave us the skill or talent to combat the vampires. We would touch them with something like toothpicks and they seemed to be horribly injured or fall apart.

Last night, I had a vivid dream in which Tennessee was playing Memphis in a college football game. The line was 19 ½ points, and it seemed to be late in the game and I believe Tennessee had just scored its first points. It seemed unlikely that Tennessee would be able to cover the spread, although this is just an impression. The reason I think it was late in the game is that I had the impression of a number of people on the field, perhaps the band or people from the sidelines or stands.

I had a dream in which I was playing pool, in some sort of tournament, perhaps a straight pool tournament, and I saw a series of calculations on a scroll of some sort, and it was as though I “gobbled them up” and was able to use them.

I had a dream of a man whose name comes to me as “Reed.” He had a strange, block-like, “broken” face but he exuded a sweet spirit. I had dream of two women who seemed to have recently moved to Nashville together. One woman seemed to be the manager of Macy’s and had a connection to Alcatraz, and perhaps Berkeley. Her friend had honey-colored hair, thick and frizzy, and seemed to favor frizzy woolen sweaters and might have been a bit of an exhibitionist. My friend PB was in the dream, and there was also something about “taking JR home.” There was a very comfortable, comforting aura to this dream.

I had a dream in which I, TT and others were members of an organization that seemed to be a combination of NASA and an air force. I saw many vehicles docking at something like a huge space station – a towering structure – and I had the impression that we were part of a huge organization, with some of us exploring, some reconnoitering, and so on. My impression is that the scope of what were involved in was very large. Members of our “flight team” came to me and were asking where TT was, as though he had been out of touch. I went to find TT, and I had the impression that he and I were following after two different “enemy aircraft.” He had his sights on one type of aircraft, and I had my sights on another. There seemed to be a problem with paperwork. I had the impression that TT was not filing his paperwork. In my dream, I pointed out that even teenagers have to fill out time cards at McDonald’s in order to get paid.

Dream of rushing into the air, soaring heavenward – Superman with a powerful chest.

Dream of a girl or young woman swimming with a mask (scuba or snorkel or something similar). She was attacked by a shark and I believe she had lost her arm. She was still trying to swim, and it seemed she had a chance to survive, but then I saw a shark coming at her through something like a black tunnel. Interpretation: I believe this was JJ, who thought at the time that she had skin cancer. I believe I saw her fear because we were “connected.”

I heard an angelic voice say “They hear you.” As I walked down the stairs, the TV announced, “Michael’s hope is for the future.” Not exactly what I wanted to hear! However, I went downstairs to my prayer closet and immediately prayed, “Now is the future, since the message is in the past!”

Dream of Maplewood High School football team being ranked number one in the state, with three rifle-armed quarterbacks. Saw a black woman (Rosa Parks) looking for someone on a bus. Interpretation: Was she looking for someone unwilling to take a back seat to the fear and intimidation of religion, which cause violence in young men, including young black men?

I had a dream of Madonna, open. BB was showing me her picture. I heard an angelic voice say, “Call me collect.” The same voice then said, “Book me in.” Lovely little Mary is very sick, so I am going to pray for her. Woe to heaven if my prayers are not answered. (They were!)

On my birthday, while drinking from my Cup of Enchantments, not dreaming but awake, I heard what sounded like the voices of angels (or perhaps Wiccan voices). They said: "A sacred enchantment / White Bridge Road / A royal pain in the ass."

I dreamt of speaking, and a man excitedly announced that I could make $3,000 per engagement. 

I had a dream in which there was some sort of conspiracy against me, and when I got in my car, there was a bomb and some sort of gas-fueled explosion. But my car somehow extinguished the explosion (as if it “knew” how) with only a few shimmering flames or gusts of hot air that did no damage at all. As in the past, I emerged unscathed. When I looked at my car, it was fabulous, like the Batmobile on steroids! It was a car fit for a superhero, perhaps like the car in Knight Rider. Way cool!

Please note that none of my dreams prophesy death or destruction. The best outcome in every case would be for the damage to be nipped in the bud and minimized. I am not predicting the end of the world—not at all—but merely reporting things I have seen in my dreams. In most of my dreams the main "problem" is a lack of compassion, tolerance and understanding.

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I have written a small tract called The Poisonous Tomato, which cites book, chapter and verse, demonstrating that "hell" is not a Biblical doctrine. I’ll hope you’ll read it, and consider believing something less damaging to innocent children than the dogma of "hell."

The HyperTexts