Message from Jesus, received on December 24, 1916. Published in The Gospel of God’s Love, page 124.
“I was with you tonight at the church, and listened to the preacher’s sermon and was somewhat surprised to hear him declare that all the wars and persecutions, and outrages, that have been perpetrated on humankind since my coming, can be ascribed to my coming and my teachings. I can only resent that imputation and declare that the preacher has misconceived the cause of these wars and persecutions. To charge that they are due to the truths I taught is not only an injustice to me, but a great injury to the truths and the objects of my mission to humankind.
“My mission on earth was to show mortals the way to the Father’s Love, and to declare to them the great gift of this Love, and also to break down the erroneous beliefs and ignorance that then existed among humans as to what was necessary in order to obtain their own salvation. And so far as the truths which I taught antagonized the false beliefs and practices of mortals, there was, and necessarily would be, a conflict between the thoughts and lives of those who followed me and those who persisted in their existing beliefs. To this extent I brought a “sword” into the world, but it was not the sword that called for bloodshed or persecution. It was the sword that pierced mortal’s souls, where this great conflict should and must be fought to the end.
“No nation can be more spiritual in its government or in its treatment of other nations than are the individuals composing it. And the nation cannot be greater than or different from the individuals who control it, be such control centered in a group of individuals or in a secular or religious head. And a leader or ruler, if he be not a real follower of me (even though he may claim to be) cannot attribute to me the result of his own thoughts, desires and actions.
“The present war is not a part of my warfare, or the plan of the Father to bring salvation to humankind. The cause is this and only this: The exercise by people in control of the nations of their desires for increased power and territory and subjugation of nations, together with their sinful cravings for what they call “glory,” and unsatisfied ambition.” To be continued…