Learning Places: Weeping Saints: The Secret of a Powerful Life

By David Apelt

The true story of a personal encounter with a segment from the world's most popular book of all time.

It includes experiences related to many of humankind's most serious problems... and highlights observations regarding solutions which can potentially help to resolve many of these seemingly insoluble challenges.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The LDC & JO Apelt Family Trust
• Release date: Sep 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9780645484076

David Apelt

David Apelt is a man of many and varied life experiences who has had the privilege of journeying long on this earth. He gained learning and wisdom from many champions of both earlier and contemporary eras, as well as through the firsthand challenges and opportunities of a long and rich life experienced in more than fifty different nations and cultures.At the turn of the millennium, he felt compelled to begin capturing some of these life experiences for the benefit of his descendants, and those who would journey with him and come after him in the earth.His books feature small cameo stories and experiences, together with foundational principles and values and an evolving ideal world view, which are distilled from life and captured in a variety of different ways, of interest to most readers.David is a country lad from Queensland Australia who later in life lived with his family in the city and suburbs of Melbourne Victoria.His connection with the land has meant he is very practical, ingenious and discerning, able to see through deceptions and hyperbole to discern truth and beneficial patterns and information. These perceptions are extremely valuable given the challenging times we are living through.He has always been a disciple of Jesus Christ, applying biblical principles successfully in life, occupations, business and family.He rose to very senior levels in banking and finance and Information Technology and Communications, and was ordained in apostolic Christian ministry later in life. Husband and father of three children and grandfather to four, he is also a well-seasoned family man.Dave's passion is to help people identify their callings in life and to grow to their fullest potential, breaking through any roadblocks, barriers or setbacks, and be able to deal with any complex situations in life.He and his wife are Senior Pastors of their local church. He operates in the apostolic. prophetic, evangelistic, pastoral and teaching areas. Functioning as needed as: writer, husband, father, grandfather, spiritual father, businessman, investor, project manager, banker, IT engineer, life and relationship coach, mentor, counsellor, consultant, adviser, architect, philosopher etc., whichever is needed in the moment.

Book preview

Prologue

Do you ever reflect on things that seem to be wrong in this world... and why... and what could perhaps be done to make it a better place?

That is the genesis of this book, and it describes some of my own personal experiences surrounding this very issue... in real life situations... including many of the discoveries that I have made regarding some very practical and workable solutions.

In this my second book I seek to share various accounts and events which I have observed... and experienced... and some significant keys of learning discovered along the way.

Some of the topics addressed here have been avoided by many authors for a variety of reasons but I have felt compelled to tell it like it is and say it as I find it rather than beating around the bush. I trust you find this helpful.

The unusual title of this book came to me as I felt the call to write and reflects the fact that life here on earth is always a challenging and often confronting mixture of joy and exhilaration... as well as pain and sadness. We encounter some of the most amazing and joyous life changing experiences... like falling in love; getting married; the birth of children; awakening to a new truth; the acquisition of knowledge and the discovery of beautiful places or objects of nature... many of which will often literally take our breath away! Yet we also have to deal with seasons of sadness and disappointment; times of deep compassion for one another; of potentially devastating grief and loss; the death of a loved one... and so on.

There is also the fact that even when experiencing a degree of joy and happiness in our own life, if one is truly compassionate and caring, there will always be an underlying sadness and concern for those who are not yet experiencing that same level of enjoyment... together with a deep abiding concern for those of us who seem to innocently or even wilfully resist trying to seek out a path toward true freedom and happiness.

So, a sincere and engaged life will always involve that mysterious blend of both happiness and sadness... tears of joy and delight... yet also tears of sadness, concern and deep compassion...

And regarding the Saints! Well... we all have the inherent basic potential to become saints... and to really have our lives make a difference... it all comes down to a matter of the choices that we make... based on the knowledge motives and attitudes which influence us each day.

The story you are about to experience is woven around just one small segment from a miraculous and timeless book... and I seek to share some of the simple yet profound... often mysterious events... and understandings... which occurred to me as I read and reflected... and sought to discover... how these issues applied to real life... and the world around me.

Please Enjoy!!!

David Apelt

Chapter 1 - The Call

It was a delightful sunny spring morning in early September of 2004. The blackbirds were singing joyfully in the garden and my thoughts were leisurely meandering through my mental ‘to do lists’ and planning for the events of the new day. Suddenly as I turned to stare at the azure blue skies outside of my patio window, my attention was inexorably drawn to my mother’s old black King James Bible resting there on the table. Then out of the blue an unusual feeling came over me, as if something outside of myself was compelling me to begin to read it again that day. This book is one of the very few pieces of personal memorabilia which I have left to remember my precious mum. She died suddenly and catastrophically in a car accident in 1981 when I was just thirty-one years of age. I still miss her dearly and cherish fond memories of her.

The King James Bible by the way is a miracle book by any definition. First print run was back in England in 1611. An English translation and compilation, from an early Latin text called the Vulgate, was commissioned by King James I of England who was also King James VI of Scotland, the only son of Mary, Queen of Scots. When Mary was forced to abdicate her throne, he became King in waiting, under protection of the Scottish Lords and ascended to the throne of the combined Kingdoms in 1603, succeeding Elizabeth I of England. The Book has changed very little since then, although many more modern translations have emerged. The original texts which preceded the Latin and English versions are even more legendary. Written mainly in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic the original manuscripts date back thousands of years. Recent discovery and analysis of the Dead Sea scrolls found in Israel have served to prove that the book really is thousands of years old and that its accuracy in copying is clearly phenomenal.

For some weeks now I had been struggling daily through the Bible reading the book of Jeremiah the prophet, a really depressing book speaking about a very sad time in the history of the Kingdom of Judah. There was unfortunately much more bad news in this account than there was good. When I find this to be the case while reading scripture, I usually seek to look for those key messages and themes which will help me to better understand life and that might provide general keys to learning for me personally. I have discovered that every book seems to be there for a reason and that each has some important principles for us to learn, even if reading feels like hard work at the time.

Something else I have discovered is that this Book of books, usually referred to as the Bible, in addition to containing sound words for daily living also has particular revelatory information and prophetic insight for certain periods of history. This repository of wisdom in fact, seems to be the most important and effective source and means of enlightening humankind, as we progress through the millennia... hopefully evolving and civilizing as we go. It’s as if the book is timeless and speaks to all ages and all peoples everywhere in different times and different ways to help us on our Journey.

Another observation is that this Book also has direct relevance even to people who choose not to acknowledge or serve God personally in their life. The principles appear to be universal, timeless and beneficial to all even in a secular environment. Furthermore, there seems to be a mighty power within or behind this book which goes beyond the normal ‘aha’ interpretation of written text. To the point in fact where the words can actually become ‘alive’ actively enlightening and elucidating... a supernatural dimension one might say.

So, when this special prompting came over me that morning, I picked the old book up again and there I was once again labouring through this myriad of bad news one ‘blood and guts’ story after another, when quietly and unsuspectingly I began to transit from the end of chapter sixteen of Jeremiah on into the first verse of chapter seventeen. As my eyes began to scan the words of this new chapter, a great burden, a sudden deep concern and a strange new awareness came over me. There was an uneasy mixture of excitement yet foreboding about what was welling up in my spirit. I began to quietly weep, which is quite an unusual experience for me.

There was excitement in my heart because it was as if the words were being highlighted with a bright spotlight and were jumping off the page at me. A voice or strong impression also seemed to be speaking to me as I read. The foreboding came as I read each word and the meanings began to sink into my consciousness with momentous impact. My mind was expanding and the awareness of the meaning of the words, at the time they were written, became abundantly clear to me. More astoundingly I began to realize that this chapter was placed in this special book to also say something very profound and important to this generation in which I live. Along with this understanding came an urging for me to share this message with all who will listen in my own country of Australia and around the world, wherever I have the privilege to journey during my lifetime. This book of mine is an attempt to do just that.

I should say it is impossible to convey all the information which came upon me at that moment. It was as if I was being enlightened in an instant in time with years of information. A lifetime of information and observations came upon me in just a few moments. From that time, now nine years ago and even to this very day I have not been able to cease reading and rereading this same chapter over and over again. Every time I read it the perspective gets richer wider and deeper to the point where I just cannot contain it all, let alone capture the fullness of it with words. The thoughts continued to come at a blistering pace faster than one could record them. They just simply soaked into my spirit in some mysterious fashion.

Chapter 2 - Enlightenment

At the time this first happened I wasn’t in some mysterious half-conscious religious state of meditation but rather just sitting at our family kitchen table in the early hours of a new day reading the Bible as one would normally read