Arms And Security

THURS., APRIL 2, 1987, 6:40 AM
FARM, STUDY

You have one of those “extra” tasks to fulfill today, one accepted before I offered you a respite from assignments like this. It is not a bad task. In fact, this morning I shall assist you with it, but it is part of the responsibility that is wearying you and causing you to be less effective as a servant. So, since you have no really negative chores to give up, it must come from some of the relatively good ones. Not easy, but necessary.

Today you shall speak to security, suggesting that more arms is not the answer. Rather, security is in more jeopardy from a deteriorating earth environment than from lack of expensive, sophisticated arms. You know I approve of such a thesis, but it would not be My major “pitch.” Real security, of course, comes from relationship with Me and with the manifestation of spirit that arises naturally from such a relationship.

Looking at the world and the 5 billion people that now inhabit it (an excess blessing I must admit), I must acknowledge that there are many spiritual paths and, unfortunately, many see themselves in competition with others. In other words there is competition between and among religions and those whose religion is no religion. And this is part of the basic environment which makes one group an adversary of another and sows the seeds of conflict which bursts forth as war.

Each truly spiritual path that leads back to Me (acknowledged or not) is a non-violent one. Even the communist philosophy, though it excludes Me specifically, is one of cooperation and sacrifice for one another. It is perverted when it spends resources on arms… resources that could be advancing the common good. For there is an inherent spiritual quality in the philosophy, “each receives according to his needs, but contributes according to her abilities.”

Your nation is one identified with the path of Christ. Though I came and became the Christ in the Middle Eastern portion of the earth, as a Jew, the religion that developed from My life, My sacrifice, and the grace I freely offer is strong in your country. You are governed by people, most of whom acknowledge Me as the source of life and who call themselves Christians. Still, you are a culture which sinks enormous resources into a military establishment and military equipment and machines. You talk peace, but you prepare for war, now seemingly convinced that your security is threatened, even by those who are small and militarily weak.

If the Christian religion did truly prevail I tell you that you would be beating your swords into plowshares and would be studying war no more. Rather you would be offering resources to the poor of the world, even as many do not share your values and perception of life. You would be researching ways to give the billions of people in this earth a better, happier life, without destroying and maldistributing the resources of the physical planet.

And you would be doing this in love and without being in other than friendly competition with those in other spiritual traditions. Competition can be good if it spurs actively toward a common good. It is sinful when it seeks to denigrate or eliminate those on other paths. At one time I did say, as Jesus, “No one comes to the Father, but by Me”… but I did not say, “Therefore all others are your enemies who should be maimed and killed.” Nor did I say any such thing through My prophet Mohammed. A return to a truly spiritual path would be a turn away from arms as security.