Messages 2007
Divine Protection and War.
November 25, 2007
Santa Cruz, California
Received by FAB
I am here, George Washington.
Let me discuss an issue which has confused you.
First, let me say that I am well qualified to clarify this difficult matter for you, and second, your mediumship is qualified to take this message, despite your admitted confusion.
You have learned that militarism is all wrong and contrary to God’s Will, and that we should respond to aggression with kindness and love, and not aggression in kind.
You have also learned that I was miraculously saved from harm several times. You conclude logically that I had divine protection, and so I did.
But then you observe that I was no less than Command-in-Chief of the Continental Army, with all the horrors of war that that position entailed.
It seems to you a contradiction that on the one hand, to make war instead of dealing with the issues peacefully in love, seems a violation of everything Jesus stood for. And on the other hand, there was all this divine protection which was indubitable. Where is the truth, you ask?
Well, first, let me say unequivocally that I did in fact suffer for at least some things I did in the war. I was not exempt from the penalty of violating certain moral laws, which violations occurred because of the turmoil of wartime conditions. I had a sense that certain negative things I willed in that time would come back to me, despite the fact that the pressures of the moment made them necessary, at least in my mind at that time.
This causes you to question the very existence of our beloved country, which was born through war.
Yes, I can see how perplexed you are. For you reason, wouldn’t it be logical to assume that I would have attracted dark spirits as a result of my warmaking, who would have then abolished any sort of divine protection?
Now you remember that you have read of many instances in modern warfare when combatants had a similar miraculous deliverance from harm.
To answer adequately, I must first discuss war in a general sense. For you, war is murder, pure and simple. You told the chief executive officer of Regal Theater that “the military is killing,” in regard to his movie theater showing of a military-related video in its public place.
I mentioned this to illustrate the point that for you, it is a very simple equation. But to many others, it is not.
But then you say, God’s laws are absolute and not dependent on human opinion. And this is, of course, true.
Well, what is absolute is that God always looks at the intentions of the heart. One person may take up arms with the sole motive of defending his country, while another may do so to satisfy a sadistic desire to kill. And, since human nature is complex, both of these motives may coexist in the same person. And in the reaping that follows the sowing, every single motive is taken into account accordingly.
Obviously, in a perfect world, there would be no war, for people would then resolve their differences peacefully and lovingly. But human nature being what it is, and the fact of earth life that decrees that mortals are all thrown together in the same world, these realities bring the tragedy of war, which has been fairly constant ever since the murder of Abel by Cain.
Now what you have failed to understand is that one cannot generalize about human behavior in times of war. This has been the theme of many of your past channelings. The mere fact that someone is head of an army, is not an evil reality. It only becomes evil when bad choices are made, as when there is sadism resulting in such repulsive acts as torture and murder.
It is a very different reality for a general to unintentionally make a tactical blunder resulting in great loss of life to his soldiers, than it is for a combatant to go out of his way to inflict suffering, or for a military leader to order his soldiers to do so. I think you can clearly see this difference. Actually, it is huge, in God’s economy.
You love the statement, fate is the cards you were dealt, and destiny is the way you play the game. Well, it has been fairly typical of most of humanity to experience war. But the next, determining factor is, what choices have people made in the admittedly hellish conditions of war?
You are very aware of the example of Viktor Frankl, the celebrated founder of logotherapy. As a Jew in World War II, he chose to stay in Nazi Europe, even though he could have escaped to safety. He did this to protect his parents. And the consequence of his decision of almost superhuman courage was that he endured some years in concentration camps, only to be liberated, and then continue his explorations in his school of psychiatry. You feel that his behavior was nothing short of astonishing, and so it was.
But I mentioned this extraordinary example to illustrate my point, that every person makes different choices in war situations, and these choices are influenced by their personalities, but more importantly, by their will as it confronts the tortures and hellish situations that war always brings.
For example, Mr. Frankl’s soul could have chosen to yield completely to despair, in which case he would have either perished, or would have descended to the animal level, as was so common in that type of hell on earth.
But he chose to keep the most noble aspect of his humanity alive. He consciously cultivated hope, and made that unspeakable tragedy into something positive that has the potential to benefit all of humanity.
Now certainly, one cannot sensibly compare me to him. I mentioned him only to illustrate the point that these sorts of matters are not as simple as you at first thought. You read the sentence, militarism is all wrong, and this is true. But each person and each situation have to be scrutinized carefully and individually.
Now you are thinking, but I was a general, with the power to inflict harm and loss of life, and this is true. And contrariwise, Mr. Frankl was a complete victim.
But he had the power to influence his fellow inmates. He could have chosen not to care at all about them. Or worse, he could have stolen precious food and other necessary items to survive. In other words, many choices were possible.
You made the mistake of generalizing in a simplistic way. To use the statement, militarism is all wrong, to judge categorically every action of every military leader, was not at all the original intention of that true sentence. It was, rather, to provide a guideline, a guidepost.
If militarism is wrong, then human beings who find themselves in militaristic situations must discover things to do that lessen the harm of war.
Look, for example, at the magnificent and heroic outpouring of support that occurred on 9⁄11. (And let me add that this type of behavior, which was displayed so courageously by so many of your countrymen, is the proof that America will survive and endure.)
To many people, war has meant that they had to do their patriotic duty to defend their country and their loved ones. This is exactly how I saw it. And so, I accepted leadership of the Continental Army in a state of mind that tended to be high-minded. I had already experienced war, but felt that my duty to my country was paramount. For me, it had to do with a sense of honor, and a commitment to a principle of freedom.
Finally, I have realized, to my great consolation, that the Creator did in fact preserve my life for His purposes, so that I could provide leadership at the Constitutional Convention, and then later, serve my newborn country as its president. And this was also made possible because my soul was basically good and not corrupt.
I know this has been a very long channeling, but I felt it was necessary to go into some detail in order to help you grasp an admittedly very complex reality.
This channeling has been very good for you, for you have had to put aside your own way of thinking and try to see another point of view. In God’s universe, people are diverse, and their choices arise from entirely different ways of thinking, which affect the motives from which these choices are made.
But all this does not deny that we Celestial Angels are working hard to permanently prevent the scourge of war.