Reflections on Love, Humanity and Bliss Through Jesus

By Merle Templeton

In the present day this book will help one who is confused about our problems both political and social to understand that the problems have existed throughout mankind’s existance and that the only solutions is to believe in heaven and God. To show love and kindness to all humanity is the most important idea of the book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Aug 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664239050

Merle Templeton

Merle Templeton was a mid-century prophet who talked with Christ and declared Christ’s Love for all who believed. He wrote this book to help everyone who reads it to start to believe in God and to find God through the light of Jesus. He asks all to read it slowly and thoughtfully and his hope that your seeking may end here.

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Copyright © 2021 Written by Merle Templeton.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

844-714-3454

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the bible.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-3904-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-3903-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-3905-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021913340

WestBow Press rev. date: 7/13/2021

Contents

Introduction by Joan Templeton

Merle Templeton’s Journal Introduction

Chapter 1 Love

Chapter 2 Wealth and Sharing

Chapter 3 Freedom from Fear

Chapter 4 Humanitarian Government and Human Nature

Chapter 5 How to Escape Evil and Suffering

Chapter 6 Knowledge and Wisdom

Chapter 7 Beautiful Gifts From Jesus

Merle Templeton’s biography, family, and early life

Marriage and family life of Merle and Vivian

Merle’s letters to his daughters

Introduction by Joan Templeton

Merle Templeton was blessed with a personal revelation from God, and he seems to have spent much of the rest of his life processing the event. While in a church my father experienced a visitation from God whom, he claims, spoke to him. He said he was enlightened with the love of God and the light from heaven. I remember, after this experience he seemed to have changed completely and began to pursue a simpler life of studying the Bible and other writers, including political and philosophical figures.

I remember my Dad as a contemplative man who never had a negative thing to say about anyone or anything. He loved animals, his books, and classical music. He always strove to be kind to people and animals. This book is in his own words about his own beliefs, which seemed to intensify with time and study. His beliefs grew from many sources, including his studies, but were founded upon his life changing experience with God.

This book began as over a dozen hand-written journals of varying lengths and with different degrees of legibility. It is clear to me that Dad wrote them in a stream-of-consciousness fashion and worried little about penmanship, grammar, or punctuation. This has made compiling and editing it a serious challenge. I’ve done my best to include as much of his original writings as possible, while eliminating redundancies and creating a coherent, readable volume. In that regard I’d like to thank Erik Hoff for his exacting diligence editing the text. Without you this book would never have happened.

Some brief notes about the text. Throughout his hand-written volumes Dad often included what appear to be aphorisms or sayings, which he liked and often emphasized them by setting them out on a single line. I’ve followed this convention and highlighted them using italics. He quotes the Bible using various translations. I decided to use the Authorized Version (KJV) throughout. Finally, anywhere he included the title of a published work, other than the Bible, I’ve capitalized and underlined them.

I have no idea why I held on to dad’s journals for over sixty years and never even read them much less attempt to edit or publish them. I remember saving them. In the intervening years, I married, raised a family, had a career, and took care of my mom in her later years. Long after the deaths of my parents and my sister, I heard a voice in the middle of the night. It might have been like the voice Dad heard so many years before or my imagination, but it has had a profound impact upon me. The voice instructed me to finally read dad’s writings and publish this book. Another strange circumstance happened right after Merle’s death in 1964. Merle lived and died in Des Moines, Iowa. I lived in Long Beach, California. I attended Merle’s funeral services in Iowa and stayed with my mother for a while. Upon returning to California, I attended a dinner with a professor and his wife in Fullerton, California. The hostess was a well-known spiritualist medium. Although she claimed it as a gift, she also said she didn’t want it and never tried to capitalize upon it. During the party, she related being visited in the night by the spirit of a man in a plaid shirt and baseball cap. My father wore a plaid wool shirt and baseball cap most of his life. He would tell her that he was worried about the boy and his handicap. Later my son was born with a serious birth defect.

Because of these and many other strange and surreal events, of which I have explained only a few, I’d like to offer this book to the public. I hope you are inspired by Dad’s writings and enjoy reading them. They represent one man’s journey and the joy he found in universal love.

Merle Templeton’s

Journal Introduction

What I write in this book I do not claim to be truth. These words are steps in a process of my seeking truth. My worldly mind and my spiritual mind sometimes get things mixed up a little bit, which I hope to eliminate by reading and writing. The purpose of this book is to try to appeal to your sense of honesty as to whether you can conscientiously believe in God, so you will at least try to find him. I do not say that all my thoughts or ideas are correct, but I have tried to bathe them in the light of my love for Jesus. To me, this makes other things sink into insignificance. I give myself no credit for finding Jesus. He knew I was searching for truth humbly and meekly, and He came to me and rolled the curtain of selfishness away, revealing universal love to me. I don’t ask you to accept this book as truth, all I ask is that you read it slowly, and thoughtfully. If you are seeking for something you have not found, it may be God’s will that your seeking may end here, and your actions begin.

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Merle in Baseball Uniform

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Love

Jesus gave up his physical life so that you and every living soul from the beginning to the end of time might know his love and compassion. This makes it possible for us to understand and know that God’s love is for everyone. So that you and everyone else might know this love and compassion for Jesus and all other human beings of the earth and can have others believe is what ultimately counts most.

Reason only allows for mental and physical facts. Wisdom allows for mental, spiritual, and physical facts. I can imagine nothing more physically perfect than a healthy human, as God intended us to be from the cradle to grave. I can picture nothing more beautiful than a human who is mentally healthy, with a mentality directed by God. A mentality uncontaminated by worldliness, which is the abode of sin and sinfulness. One of the great troubles with the people of today is that they set themselves up as judges of one another about what is right and what is wrong. One only has to see the differences in opinion on all sides pertaining to what is right and wrong. Everyone has great conviction in the truth of his or her own opinion because each person judges from his or her own viewpoint.

What people want more than anything else is love. How can one beget love by doing evil? How can one help but beget love by doing kindness? Jesus said the purpose of the world is for people to learn to love and help one another. Everyone who sees and accomplishes this prepares him- or herself for the future eternal life. Waste no time or thought on the idea that one must, or even can, reform the world. Your one and only duty is to seek until you know you have found love and Jesus Christ. Enlighten and reform yourself, and your success is assured in this world and in the world hereafter.

The terrible fallacy that people grow into is that they think what they are taught from birth is correct. But ninety times out of one hundred we are taught from birth to be selfish, self-righteous, and worldly. Our parents don’t teach this way maliciously. It is the way they were taught and the nature of most of