“Disasters”?

TUES., AUG. 6, 1996, 7:42 AM
FARM, STUDY

With two forms of punctuation I have made a word into several questions. “Are there really any disasters?” “Am I involved in disasters?” “Can’t I prevent all disasters?” “What is a disaster?” Since your culture is reasonably upset about some current “man-made” disasters you should be more aware of how I answer such questions, for you, at least.

Airplanes have gone down, killing several hundred people. Bombs have exploded, and more people are killed or maimed. In less publicized events automobiles crash, guns fire, and fires rage. Persons are hurt and killed. What kind of a place is this earth, anyway? Well, I’ll say… just about as I designed it and have allowed it to be. Remember that I have told you repeatedly that there are spirit realms where there are no disasters, no losses, no pain. Some who suffer, directly or indirectly, from disasters here in the earth “spend time” in such realms for “repair”, but they are not as ideal as they may seem as conditions for real spiritual growth. Earth is, partly because of disasters.

Try to consider, again, what I see and experience. A plane goes down. Hundreds die. The same day thousands of planes take off and land safely. And thousands more babies. All those who die continue on in spirit form, some “prematurely”, it seems, some overdue; and some, just about right. (Disasters aren’t perfect, either!) Some survivors continue, in crippled form (as those who survive land mines in Cambodia and elsewhere), opportunities for spiritual growth. Loved ones mourn; some accept the spiritual challenge. Some turn away from Me and waste life in excessive self-pity.

I can prevent disasters, and, as I’ve told you often, I sometimes do. But, of course, prevention can rarely be proven, so I get no credit for planes that don’t go down, cars that reach destinations, and bombs that don’t go off… let alone for floods that don’t happen, tornadoes that don’t touch down ( 8:16 / 8:20 ) and other ways in which the earth environment threatens and takes human life. You had a slight and brief experience like this during your time as a football coach. To avoid all injuries there would have to be no practices and no games. Certain drills would inevitably produce injuries, from slight to serious. Yet you saw that these drills developed skills, and, more importantly, spirit and “sense of self” that made for better athletes. How much would you allow and encourage?

I have prevented nuclear war. Now that would be a real disaster! Many… really many… innocent people would die or would die prematurely. Several generations hence would be adversely affected. Portions of land would be contaminated and unusable for many years. But a plane crashing? I let that happen, from time to time.

Those who set off bombs? Some are “sick”, angry, envious… but some protest against the power of one group of people over another. With some of these I am sympathetic. When your nation exerts its power you can feel this is perfectly right to do… and who can protest. You call them terrorists, but some will risk or give their earth lives for what they see as a spiritual cause. And sometimes I agree. Remember that your nation can be seen as Goliath…