I didn’t grow up religious. For much of my life I was the opposite: skeptical, angry, and publicly dismissive of anything that hinted at organized faith. What brought others comfort only gave me anxiety, and my world was built on frustration and a restless hunger for truth that seemed impossible to sate.

Things began to shift after I found music. I saw it as a way to escape poverty — and while it didn’t make me rich, it took me far beyond the trailer park. Music carried me across the world, and though I was no saint, the people I met and the things I saw combined into something like a psychedelic awakening. For the first time, I felt fortunate, not cursed. Gratitude cracked the door to a different way of seeing life.

That openness carried me far enough to become an ordained reverend, though I was still unsure of my purpose. The seeking was blind, restless, unresolved. Eventually, I sought help in another way — through therapy. With the guidance of a brilliant therapist, the sharp edges of my anger softened. Anxiety loosened its grip. For the first time, I wasn’t fighting myself every waking second. That stillness opened another door.

Through that portal I stumbled into mysticism, and eventually into manifestation. At first I was only curious, but when I put it into practice, the results startled me. What I experienced was too precise, too clear, to be coincidence. I had no choice but to admit: reality was more fluid than I’d believed. That discovery sent me into the writings of Neville Goddard, who showed me how scripture itself was a guide to the creative power within.

The more my life improved, the more I studied. The more I practiced, the more connections appeared. I began to see through-lines between the Bible, other sacred texts, and even the science I had always trusted: quantum entanglement, alternate timelines, the shifting nature of reality itself. It all began to click.

And I realized something: my old anger wasn’t only about disbelief. It came from a deep sense of justice un-served, of cruelty unanswered. But ruminating on the world’s indifference had never changed it. The way to a more compassionate world is through compassion. The way to a more loving world is through love. To be one with mankind is to be one with God.

Out of all these threads — scripture, mysticism, science, compassion — something new was forged: the Five Sacred Lenses. Five distinct ways of seeing God: the Traditional, the Mystical, the Compassionate, the Universal, and the Quantum. Not competing, but complementary. Five perspectives that, when combined, reveal a fuller picture of God and our purpose on earth.

It was like a bolt of lightning that took decades to strike. Suddenly, everything I had lived through — my skepticism, my travels, my anger, my healing — all made sense. I could see the Kingdom within, and our place within it.

That moment was not the end of my journey, but the beginning of a new one. My purpose now is to share what I’ve seen, so others can quiet their minds, align with love, and discover the Kingdom of Heaven within themselves.

This is how Inner Kingdom Ministries was born. It is my life’s calling and my greatest joy. As above, so within. Amen.

— Reverend John Wheeler