Jews… Christians…

TUES., DEC. 29, 1998, 6:53 AM
FARM, STUDY

It is bothersome to you to read Isaiah and hear prophesies about the Jews… that they would be a powerful people. They were the people of the One God, Jehovah, amongst peoples who created and worshipped “other gods.” (This is somewhat amusing to Me, for while I had the Jews decrying such worship I was allowing it… for I never have relinquished the absolute Power I have… over the earth and all realms of being.) Yes, it was a form of Maya, for the Jews of that time could not have known even what you know of the various races and “groups” that were in the earth then… and are even “more so” today.

Just as I tell you about life in ways different from Christian doctrine… and am not bothered by the diversity this represents… so I told the Jews, through their prophets, of their favored place in My Kingdom. Do I perjure Myself with stories that seem to conflict? I suppose, by your culture’s standards, I do. Just accept that I Am the Truth, and therefore what I say and do is Right and True, however it seems in your way of thinking. I just am not limited to thinking only like an American, middle-class Christian. It is a good way, but far from the only one.

Now back to the Jews. I told them they were My chosen people, and I still tell them that today. They expected a Messiah who would lead them on to peace and greatness. Isaiah, in a way, prophesied My coming in this truly regal way. I did come as a child, but in humble circumstances, and there is no Scriptural story of my childhood and youth. I was born, I was 12 and somewhat “independent”, and then I was a man, preaching and healing, but proclaiming that My Kingdom was not of this world. I was (in a way) in the lineage of David, but I was not to be an earthly king after his fashion.

Some Jews accepted Me… My disciples were mostly Jews… and My especially chosen apostle, Paul, was certainly a “card-carrying”, devout Jew. But the leaders held to their “vision” of the Messiah, and I didn’t fit the “model”. When I proclaimed that I was He, whom they expected, after My preaching in non-political, non-military ways, they had Me crucified. But My message was that I gave Myself as a sacrifice (and the Jews were “steeped” in sacrifice) for the sins of all who would accept and receive Me… which was a follow-up on “My Kingdom is not of this world”.

Then began a generation of Christians, with “Scriptures” – gospel stories of My life as Jesus and letters to the early Christian groups. The Jews remained Jews, in their tradition (though there are now differences in interpretations and practices, from conservative to liberal). Christians developed differently in different parts of the world, and now show forth a marvelous diversity in… interpretation and in practices.

Now go back to an early story in the Jewish tradition. Abraham, the patriarch, had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael. Isaac seemed to have the “right” mother, while Ishmael and his mother were sent away. From Isaac came Jacob and then his 12 sons, heading the 12 tribes of Israel. From Ishmael came the people to whom I sent, through a servant Mohammed, the Koran… The Book. And today the Middle East, that portion of the earth where the Scriptural story was played out, is in constant conflict, Jews, Christians, and Moslems. Am I responsible for this inability to live peaceably together? Finally, of course, I am.