Messages 2008
War and Peace and God’s Plan 5.
January 11th, 2008
Santa Cruz, California
Received by FAB
I am here, Jesus.
You continue to lack clarity on the subject of war and God’s plan, so let me channel another message about this subject.
People often have felt as you do, that World War I seemed senseless, with no moral cause or purpose. In your way of thinking, you feel that wars of this scale have occurred because they were profitable to the industrial sector and the military suppliers.
When I said that German aggression resulted in that country’s ultimate defeat, I was simply stating a fact, and even without judgment - it happened that way because of the psychological and moral laws that were set into motion.
Though wars have occurred continually, and though mortals all have a free will which the Creator will never manipulate or tamper with, this does not negate the fact that God is still in control. How can this be? It seems like a complete contradiction - it seems that God’s sovereignty is nullified by humanity’s free will, which God, by choice, does not restrict or control.
The example of Moses will illustrate my point. I have used this example before to show that a silent but powerful presence exists in historical forces. Certain gifted individuals are given the opportunity to exert influence on others so that God’s will may be achieved. And, as you well know, the Divine Will always works for humanity’s betterment and the good, for where there is love, there is God.
When Ruth told Naomi, in the Bible, “Wither thou goest, I goest,” she was expressing a very powerful principle, that when humans exert their will in the direction of self-sacrifice, generosity, and love, they are furthering God’s Will. And likewise, when Joseph forgave his brothers, God’s Will was done.
As the Padgett messages continually teach, the focus of God’s efforts is on the individual. Nations are always just the aggregate of individuals who compose these countries, and if the leaders are corrupt and cruel, that is how that country has become. But still, there has been dissent. For example, in Nazi Germany, Dietrich Bonhoeffer1 took a courageous moral stand, which cost him his life.
So then, what is God’s plan? Simply this - that human beings love each other and do good toward each other. If certain individuals have power and yield to temptation by bringing their country into the senseless downward spiral of war, this simply creates situations that others have used in a contrary direction - toward truth, justice, and love.
So the point I am attempting to make is that the onset of war creates certain predicaments, or opportunities (if you see it more fully and optimistically), for individuals to do those things of love that God desires.
An act of self-sacrificing kindness in a war situation is just as much a part of a country’s war history as is the blind cruelty that that same country’s leader might unleash, and in both cases, the good and the bad, human free will defines individuals, and also determines the consequences of these deeds.
And over and above all these choices is a Loving God, who is always working toward the good in Love, no matter how far His children have strayed from the path of love that God favors.
I think, therefore, that you make this whole subject more complicated than it really is, but since it is of the utmost importance, it is my pleasure to discuss it in a way that will bring more clarity.
1 Dietrich Bonhoeffer (4 February 1906 – 9 April 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident, and key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity’s role in the secular world have become widely influential, and his book “The Cost of Discipleship” became a modern classic. Apart from his theological writings, Bonhoeffer was known for his staunch resistance to the Nazi dictatorship, including vocal opposition to Hitler’s euthanasia program and genocidal persecution of the Jews. He was arrested in April 1943 by the Gestapo and imprisoned at Tegel prison for one and a half years. Later he was transferred to a Nazi concentration camp. After being associated with the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, he was quickly tried, along with other accused plotters, including former members of the Abwehr (the German Military Intelligence Office), and then executed by hanging on 9 April 1945 as the Nazi regime was collapsing.