Gunnar Heiberg (Ariel)'s Page

As a child, I was brought up as a Unitarian Universalist (?the Church of Absolute Relativism...? :-). In spite of that, I somehow received a basic understanding of God as omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent.

Until about the age of 5, I often asked my mother questions about God, but didn’t receive much in the way of answers, so I eventually gave up, and grew through my formative years as an agnostic, taught that all religions were equal, that the journey was more important than the destination (2Tim. 3:7), and therefore uncertain about "what is Truth". However, I always retained the idea that if there was any "being" worth calling "God", "it" would be beyond the ability of the finite human mind to fully comprehend.

In my mid-teens, my oldest brother began to witness to us about Jesus being the only way to God. Concurrent with this were my studies of the sciences; the more I learned of the intricacies of micro-organisms or of how beautifully ordered the cosmos is, the more I was moved to believe that this universe must have been created. And if it was created, then there must be a Creator and I must meet Him. And so, at the age of 19 (1978), I asked, that if there was a God, would He please make Himself known to me. And in that moment, a quiet, but very firm assurance entered my heart that, indeed, HE IS.

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What’s in a name?

My father was proud of our family’s heritage, and so he named me in honour of "those who had gone before".

My first name, "Gunnar", is in memory of my father’s twin brother, who was killed at the age of 10 or 11 while riding his bicycle. He, in turn had been named after their great-uncle who was a prominent playwright and theater critic. My middle name, "Axel", is in memory of another great-uncle who was a well known businessman in the late 1800’s and financier of several polar expeditions.

For those of you who have been to a Wild at Heart Boot Camp, you will recall the session regarding our "spiritual identity", when we are told to seek the Lord to know our "spiritual name", the name He calls us by.

At the time, I did not receive anything, so, after I returned home, I researched the meaning of my names - "Gunnar" means "Warrior" and "Axel" means either "Father of Peace" or "Source of Life". This really excited me, for I could see the hand of God in my family history to give me such a name as "Warrior, Father of Peace, Source of Life".

Then, this past spring, I was given the opportunity to participate in the BraveHeart Intensive, a significant part of which was the exploration and discovery of my spiritual identity and True Name. It was during that time that I had one of those great, "Well, DUH!" moments. While I hadn’t received anything at Boot Camp, I realised that God had already given me a new name back in 1979, just a year after I was born-again. In a personal prophecy, not only did He call me a warrior, He twice called me "a great lion of God". And so, to my earthly given names, I have added my True Name, "Ariel - Lion of God".