Peace

SUN., JUNE 24, 1990, 6:20 AM
FARM, STUDY

Among the several matters you have not completed this Spring, now past, is a paper on Peace. That is not a crucial omission, and you could write it in a day of concentrated effort, but I want you to know it is desirable. So, just in case you do decide to tackle this… or are pushed to it… I have some thoughts you can use.

Peace is a positive state, not simply the absence of conflict. (Still, the absence of conflict is a form of peace… a midway position that is often practical.) I have used the term peace in relation to the Church, My Body, saying that its mystical state of reality is one of peace. There is peace among members, for you are all on in the Christ spirit. There is peace among the churches in a denomination, for regional and ideological differences should be resolved by the power of Christ, shared. There is peace among the various parts of My Church Triumphant, for it is like a beautifully functioning body whose parts work well together, even as they are quite different in structure.

Finally, the Church is a peace with the world in which it exists. It is not here to condemn the world (though there are many Scriptures… and, hence, doctrines that encourage such conflict), but that those in the world might be saved. Few individual souls are brought to Me through conflict and harsh judgment. (Some, but few.) The world needs a church at peace with itself that offers an example of functioning that is so attractive it must be emulated. Because the ultimate reality is spirit this is what the church should focus on.

I have led you to focus on the environment in relation to peace. That is, humans, particularly in your culture, want to dominate the earth, using it for your own present pleasures. This develops into an adversarial relationship, wherein My earth, with capacities I have given it in creation must adapt in ways harmful to humans. Humans could live in peace with the earth and its many life forms, if you were in fewer numbers and could be satisfied with less affluence. You see, in order to maintain peace there must be sacrifice and compromise.

Now I had the Preacher write… there is a time for war and a time for peace. Some conflict is inevitable, but only to restore a better balance for the desired condition of peace. Your country, generally successful in wars, learned an important lesson from the Vietnam conflict – that conditions cannot always be changed to your liking by force. Germany and Japan learned that earlier. Then came your time to learn the comparable lesson that peace may have to come on another group’s terms.

You look out at a truly peaceful scene. The sun shines. The trees are green and moving only slightly. Birds sing. This place is awakening to another day of life. You pull weeds as feed for your chickens. You cut clover as feed for your rabbits. You eventually will kill rabbits for life sustaining food. This is all peaceful coexistence with the various life forms. You take away life, but then you arrange for new life. Your attitude must be one of peace.

Conflict is sometimes necessary, but the motivation should be the restoration of peace. Oh, peace can be boring, while conflict seems exciting. It, peace, need not be so. There is much that can be accomplished that is satisfying in a peaceful state. I encourage you to enjoy life with little conflict and much peace. A few I encourage to conflict, for My purposes. Many who disturb the peace, however, are not responding to My wishes for them. Much violence done in My name and for My sake is human error.