World Tensions

SUN., JAN. 14, 1996, 5:40 AM
FARM, STUDY

A television program you watched last evening had, as an underlying reality, the hate-filled struggle between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland. Later, the base for the MASH episodes was the conflict between Koreans, North and South. There may be some hope for peace in Bosnia, as long as the NATO force is armed and present, but the conflict there has been going on for ages. What do I have to say about these tensions and the destruction they bring? Hear Me.

First and obviously, I am quite aware of the many and diverse tensions in the earth scene today. This is not a new phenomenon. The Old Testament is awash with descriptions of or references to conflicts between various groups, but particularly between My chosen people and others who would oppose and even conquer them. David, My favorite king, is remembered much more for his slaying of Goliath, which defeated the Philistines, which was a continuing conflict.

As I was born into the earth as Jesus, the Hebrew people were under the dominance of Rome, who kept the peach by force (as NATO forces are attempting to do now). The Jewish concept of the Messiah was of one who would lead them militarily, out of being dominated and into dominance over others… in peace, of course. I was a disappointment concerning this expectation, but that led to My death, which has had many positive repercussions.

So, as I see it, there is not more conflict today than in other eras, but there are more people (and therefore more potential for tensions to develop) and there is more “coverage” of these “differences”, particularly when violence and deaths are involved. I see much peaceful coexistence among diverse peoples, even in religious terms. Yet, as you well know, different perceptions of Me and different practices of faith in Me are one major… (time)… factor in these tensions and wars.

At an elemental level you just were reminded of the basis for competition. You assume some wild creature is in need of food, and thus your flock of chickens is now down to just one hen and one rooster. It also may be just the desire to kill. Both of these basic urges translate into human strife – desire to get what someone else has and to take it by force… and in the process “enjoy” the killing process.

In modern warfare much of the destruction, of lives and property, is quite impersonal. Guns fire, and, at a distance, enemies are killed or wounded. Mines are planted, and sometime later they explode with comparable damage. Bombs and missiles substitute for hand to hand combat. Can you imagine the experience of killing with a sword, a knife, or a club? Oh, it still occurs in domestic violence, but world tensions, of major proportions are now mainly of a “longer range”.