Some of you might be thinking, “If Marshall Vian Summers could arrange these teachings, he would put the important ones in a prominent position.” The first book of Volume 1 of the New Message from God is “God Has Spoken Again.” The first chapter of this book is “The Proclamation.” And the opening words of The Proclamation are “There is a New Message from God in the world. It has come from the Creator of all life.” I hope and believe and pray and work that these words will be said many times. Said by growing numbers of people from many nations and faith traditions.
But why do I write about a sacred day? July 7 is an ordinary day in my world. But someone brought it to my attention that Marshall Vian Summers received The Proclamation on July 7, 2006. Therefore The Proclamation has been in the world for slightly over 16 years. The Society for the New Message from God made The Proclamation available to the public on October 19, 2011. But I have a thought that a hundred years from now, students of the New Message will look upon July 7, 2006. They might recognize it as a day when the direction of the world changed. Thus it would be a sacred day in the history of the future.
But every so often I hear a report of people from all over the world finding the New Message. Some of them come from the relentless efforts of tireless advocates. Others come through seemingly chance encounters. Is it enough? I don’t know, but it’s definitely more than what would have happened had we done nothing.
In the gospel of Luke, many people in various situations asked John the Baptist what they should do to demonstrate their repentance. I share this because I dare to dream of a day when people in various situations ask “What does this New Message from God say humanity must do?” An enterprising student made a list, collected from various New Message teachings. These are not in any particular order.
Humanity must cease and prevent all war. If there is another all-out war, it will be the end of humankind.
The human family must unite to solve global problems. In particular, the climate becoming less hospitable, and the environment becoming more polluted and unsupportive of life.
The human family must provide for its members. There will be great stress in the future when certain regions of the world become uninhabitable due to rising seas and drying lands.
The human family must resist extraterrestrial intervention. There are craft in our skies. There are people being taken against their will. This is not benevolence.
This is what the human family must do now. I realize some people are reading this and saying “Good luck with that!” But I accept the miracles in my life as a demonstration of the presence of Knowledge. Sociologist Jem Bendell said something recently that might make a good exclamation point. “I remain a positive pessimist: I anticipate a very difficult future but continue to hunger for new ideas for how to reduce harm and find joy in the process.”
The following is the 47th paragraph of this teaching. I will add my experience of each paragraph in brackets.
There are those responding at this moment, but their numbers are very small. There are those who are awakening at this time, but their numbers are very small. This is a Calling for every person who can respond. And for those who cannot respond, they will have to face the consequences of living in a new world reality.
[I concur that the numbers of people responding to this message are very small. The numbers of people awakening to the situation described here are very small. Those who cannot respond will face an increasingly difficult world.]
If humanity cannot respond sufficiently, if enough people cannot respond, then the human family will fall prey to domination by other forces, who are already planting the seeds of dissension amongst you and even within you, within certain people. This is their great opportunity to intervene while humanity is unwary, while humanity is irresponsible, while humanity is obsessed with its own conflicts and ridiculous pursuits.
[If humanity cannot respond to the consequences of its actions, it will be vulnerable to extraterrestrial manipulation. This persuasion will be cloaked in benevolence. This seduction will take advantage of human ignorance of the Greater Community and its realities.]
You do not realize how valuable this world is in a universe of barren planets. You do not realize what you are facing. So only God can reveal these things to you. If you cannot accept this, then you will be lost in this world—lost in confusion, lost in travail, lost in hostility and rebellion.
[How many trees are there in the universe? So many things have to go right for this. Our world is seen by foreign space-faring nations as a resource-rich environment. A rare gem in a universe of barren worlds.]
Already your political governments are failing, breaking apart, your nations divided between extremists who try to lead their countries, not realizing that nations will have to unite, practically and fundamentally, to be able to deal with the consequences of what We speak of here today. Instead of breaking apart, you should be uniting—not because it is a good thing to do, but because it is the only thing to do.
[I realize this is a hard thing to contemplate. People have strong attachments to their ethnicity, their nationality and their religion. But there is a truth that is stronger than these attachments. A united humanity may succeed, but a divided humanity will fail. And by “fail” I mean “either become extinct or lose its freedom.”]
Those who say, “Oh, this is too much. This is too extreme. This cannot happen. Things will not turn out like that!” These are people who are too weak to respond. They are too given to their own priorities and obsessions. They do not have the inner strength to face something like this, even though the signs of the world are being presented to them with each passing day.
This is the evolution of humanity. Evolution has painful thresholds within it. The world did not become the paradise it is today through graceful change alone, but through convulsive change—great extinctions, great alteration of the climate, convulsion, combustion. This is evolution. It is not some simple path that you follow, that delights you at every turn. You have come into the world at a time of great evolution. Fail and you will become governed and oppressed by foreign powers, beyond what you can imagine today.
[By “foreign powers,” they mean “extraterrestrial space-faring nations.” By “governed and oppressed,” they mean “enslaved and exploited.” Humanity is perceived as intelligent animals to be domesticated. Freedom is not cherished by foreign powers.]
If you rise and unite, humanity will become a strong race, an independent race, in such a way that this independence can be protected and preserved. Only the New Message describes why this is the case and what it really means.
[Rise and unite become a strong race. There are other free worlds in our region of space. Freedom is rare because it requires sustainable self-sufficiency and discretion. But it is not impossible.]
UPDATE 06/09/2021: The next post in the series is here.
What have we seen so far? What portion of humanity will respond and prepare for the great changes it faces? The changes of declining resources, affected climate, environmental destruction, and extraterrestrial intervention? It seems to require a conviction that one came to the world to face these times. This seems to be part of the preparation offered by the New Message from God
The seas will rise. The lands will dry
The following is the 28th paragraph of this teaching. I will add my experience of each paragraph in brackets.
What will drive you is urgency. You might be frightened at the beginning, but beyond this, it will be Knowledge that will carry you forward, for it is without fear. It is eternal. It is the part of you that is eternal that is still connected to its Source. It wants to keep you alive and protect you and guide you so that you can give to the world what you were sent to give, to play your small but important part, which will fulfill you in this life and justify your being here.
[Fright isn’t good enough, because many people consider fright as a means of manipulation. The Knowledge spoken of by the New Message from God is so much greater than a body of information. It can give a person the strength to meet life’s great challenges.]
You will not respond until you can face the reality that is coming. It is greater than you can think of at this moment. But We can paint some pictures for you so you may have an idea of its scope and its power.
[The seas will rise. the lands will dry. The New Message from God has gone to great lengths to avoid catastrophic language in describing the future, using phrases such as “great waves of change,” “a new world reality,” and “a great turning point for humanity.” I sometimes think the point of that is to get me and other readers thinking, “How will I respond and prepare for this?]
Large parts of the world will become uninhabitable, where many great populations already reside. What will they do? Where will they go? Who will accept them into their nations?
[The seas will rise. the lands will dry. In the United States, there has been great contention over immigration. I can only imagine the situation if people are immigrating to survive. You may have to take care of someone who has had to move from the arid regions of the world. Who knows, you may have to move and someone may have to take care of you. How can you strengthen yourself in the face of these possibilities?]
There will be great loss of food production in the future as the world becomes drier, hotter, difficult to navigate.
[The world becoming drier and hotter is predicted by many climate scientists. Farming regions may need the building of an irrigation infrastructure. Water that can help food grow will be highly valuable.]
Everything that is important in your life will come down to very elemental things for your well-being and for your ability to make a constructive difference in this new world reality.
[The seas will rise. The lands will dry. Perhaps you have plans for your future. You will discover how vulnerable these plans are to the great changes coming to the world. But growing population and declining food production means more expensive food. More expensive food means more expensive everything.]
The seas will rise. The lands will dry. Whole cities will have to be abandoned. Whole coastlines will have to be abandoned. Not in some future century, but in this century. Not tomorrow, but it is coming.
[In an earlier paragraph, it was asked “Who has the foresight to do what must be done today before the waters rise and the lands dry out?” Maybe you thought they were being alarmist to make a point. But they are serious. When they said “Large parts of the world will become uninhabitable, where many great populations already reside,” I believe they referred to people in arid regions and people in coastal cities.
I believe someone is reading the paragraph with the words “Who has the foresight to do what must be done today before the waters rise and the lands dry out? You have this power within you, but it is unknown to you yet.” I believe they are saying “I want to know this power within me. I want the foresight to do what must be done today.]
UPDATE 06/09/2021: The next post in the series is here.
What have we seen so far? Humanity is facing a future it does not foresee. Humanity faces a future for which is it unprepared. In a number of paragraphs, this revelation describes the consequences of human environmental destruction. In other paragraphs, this revelation describes the extraterrestrial intervention currently underway. The New Message from God is in the world to help mankind prepare for the future.
A great calling goes forth
The following is the 21st paragraph of this teaching. I will add my experience of each paragraph in brackets.
This is a great calling out of self-obsession; a great calling out of trying to fulfill yourself in a world where fulfillment cannot really be obtained; a calling out of the confusion and your self-denial; a calling out of human conflict, human will and human domination.
To even begin, you must face the reality We speak of here today and have spoken of throughout God’s New Revelation for the world. It is not like what you think. And if you face it, you may feel overwhelmed and hopeless, but God has already put the hope within you, the power within you, the strength within you – deep within you.
[There are two books in the New Message from God that describe this reality. The Great Waves of Change is one of them, and The New World is the other. The hope, power and strength is in the form of Knowledge. God has placed it within every human being, but it takes desire and capacity to reclaim it.]
Your intellect is too small and too weak and too preoccupied and too conditioned by the world to be able to see and know what to do. You need a Revelation from God. And that is what has been given.
[God has spoken again, for the first time since the days of Mohammed. God has spoken again because the world faces a difficult road ahead.]
Who has the humility and the honesty to face and accept this? Here you will see who is courageous and who is not, who is humble and who is not, who is responding and who is not, who is open to the future and who is not, who is free enough from their own investment in their position in life and their ideology to face something new and great and powerful.
[A great calling goes forth. I’m not sure who has the humility and the honesty to face and accept this. It takes some effort to unwind one’s investments.]
You can see it as a great test, and test you it will, certainly. But what you are facing is reality and the consequence of your own misuse of the world, and the consequence of facing and not facing a universe of intelligent life, a consequence of being divorced from nature and reality’s most powerful and complete manifestation.
[I consider “reality’s most powerful and complete manifestation” to be Knowledge.]
You must be honest enough to say you do not know what to do. You must be honest enough to say you cannot make a plan. You must be honest enough to say your ideas are too small for this.
[There are people in my world who have this honesty.]
But it is your destiny to be here. You were sent into the world to be here at these times, to face the great things that We speak of here today. That part of you that was sent and that knows this resides beneath the surface of your mind. You have the ability to see this and know this if you can go deeper within yourself.
[Most people think of themselves as thrown into the world, born against their will. But what if I agreed to come here? What if I requested to come here? Can I hear these words “You were sent into the world…?” Can you? A great calling goes forth.]
Penn’s Treaty with the Indians by Benjamin West, with the opening sentences from “The Will of Heaven,” Chapter 1 of “The New Messenger”
In October of 2016, I mentioned the publication of the book “The New Messenger,” a book of the New Message from God. I didn’t share too much of it at the time. This is another post in a series of Amazon reviews of the books of the New Message from God. I am adding additional material [in brackets]. I realize I hold a minority opinion, but I dare to declare that the Messenger is in the world.
The Messenger is in the world.
The opening sentence of the revelation “The Lineage of the Messenger,” Chapter 3 of the book “The New Messenger”
Marshall Vian Summers has been receiving material from 1983 to the present. This book is a collection of 13 revelations received between 2009 and 2014. Most of them were received in Colorado. One was received in Damascus, Syria, and one was received in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The opening sentence of the revelation “The Story of the Messenger,” Chapter 4 of the book “The New Messenger”
The opening sentence of the revelation “The Requirements of the Messenger,” Chapter 5 in the book “The New Messenger”
This book paints a picture of God working in human history through sending Messages (Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and what is now known as the New Message from God). These Messages are not merely bodies of information, but a new reality. A Message from God doesn’t arrive like a letter in the mail. A Messenger (Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, Marshall Vian Summers) is selected to come into the world from the Angelic Assembly. For a certain amount of time, these Messengers seem like relatively ordinary people. But a certain unseen preparation is taking place.
The opening sentence of “The Veil of the Messenger,” Chapter 6 of the book “The New Messenger”
[The chapter “The Veil of the Messenger” speaks of the seemingly ordinary appearance of a Messenger. The chapter “The Requirements of the Messenger” speaks of the preparation given to Marshall Vian Summers in his childhood and early adult life.]
The opening sentence of the revelation “Facing the Light of Revelation,” Chapter 8 in the book “The New Messenger”
Then a moment of initiation takes place, and a new life begins. These Messengers have the task of receiving, demonstrating and proclaiming their Messages. Some people respond with rejection and ridicule, for various reasons. Others respond with interest and resonance. Eventually the Messenger leaves the world, and God waits until the next time a Message must be sent.
The opening sentence of the revelation “The Journey of the Messenger,” Chapter 9 of the book “The New Messenger”
What does this Messenger bring to you? A Message teaching to how to navigate difficult times ahead. A Message teaching how to serve a troubled, reckless, adolescent, destructive world. A Message teaching that humanity faces its greatest trial, and its greatest opportunity. A Message proclaiming purpose, meaning and direction for the individual. A Message speaking of humanity’s preparation for a future in a greater community of intelligent life. This Messenger brings his demonstration of his Message. He offers no miracles or dispensations besides his Message.
The opening sentence of the revelation “The Consequence of Revelation,” Chapter 11 of the book “The New Messenger”
What does this Messenger ask of you? He asks for your recognition and engagement with his Message. It is a large body of material. He asks for your recognition of him as the Messenger. He asks you not to ascribe miraculous powers to him. While he is in the world, he asks for your engagement with him, as part of his Message is his demonstration. He asks for you to hear and respond to his proclamation of his Message. He asks you to benefit from the wisdom he has to share.
The first sentence of “Comprehending God,” Chapter 1 in the book “The One God”
In October of 2016, I mentioned the publication of the book “The One God,” a book of the New Message from God. I didn’t share too much of it at the time. This is another post in a series of Amazon reviews of the books of the New Message from God. I am adding additional material [in brackets].
The God of a billion, billion, billion races and more
The first sentence of “The New God Revelation,” Chapter 2 of the book “The One God”
The One God is a collection of revelations received by Marshall Vian Summers. These revelations were received between 2007 and 2015, in a number of different locations (Boulder, Colorado, USA, London, Tehran and Jerusalem). It is Book II, Volume 1 in a much larger body of material called the New Message from God.
The first sentence of “The Origin,” Chapter 3 of the book “The One God”
The first sentence of “The Separation,” Chapter 4 in the book “The One God”
What kind of God is Marshall Vian Summers talking about? A God who is the Creator of all life. A God who responded to the choice of separation by creating the universe. A God of a billion billion billion races and more, in enormous variety. A God who delegates management of the universe to the laws of physics and biology, an Angelic Assembly over each of these many races, and a portion of himself in every individual, called Knowledge. A God with a plan to save every individual of every race in the universe.
The first sentence of “What Is Creation?” Chapter 5 of the book “The One God”
[What kind of God are we talking about? Has such a God ever been proclaimed before now? I don’t think so. Here and there, now and then, certain aspects of this God have been considered. It’s not just the Prodigal Son who is returning to his patient father, but a prodigal universe returning.]
You have important work to do
The first sentence of “God’s Plan Is To Save Everyone,” Chapter 11 of the book “The One God”
Why is this God being proclaimed now? This book does not “wish” to be considered as a book of theology. This book is telling you why you must undertake the effort to reclaim your deeper spiritual intelligence, so that you may be of service to a humanity facing the greatest challenges of its history. This book is providing a context for this in God’s greater work in the universe.
Do you dare to see a greater vision?
The first sentence of “The Heart of God,” Chapter 12 in the book “The One God”
I believe just about every reader will find some things they know to be confirmed by this book. I believe just about every reader will find some things they think they know to be challenged by this book. I believe just about every reader will find their mind and heart stretched and enlarged by reading this book.
At the 2018 Encampment of the New Message from God, we engaged with the phrase “a New World reality.” The previous post addressed the “reality” part. This post addresses the “New World” part.
An increasingly difficult world
The New World is the title of the the soon-to-be-published Book 5 of Volume 1 of the New Message from God. I can imagine that some people read the words “New World” and think of great abundance and discovery. Flying cars, vacations on Mars, and so forth. But the New Message is speaking of a world where a 250-year period of explosive growth is coming to an end. The New Message is speaking of an increasingly difficult world. The chapters of The New World include:
I have written a series of posts on The Race to Save Human Civilization. I once thought these teachings spoke of events in the next hundred years or so. As I pondered these teachings at the 2018 Encampment, I reconsidered their time frame. There are relatively few references to events taking place by a certain time. But the New Message teaches that the previous revelation came roughly 1,400 years ago. These teachings may speak of things to come in the seemingly distant future. However, there are signs and harbingers in the world today. And yet, there are things that must be done now to prepare for an increasingly difficult world.
A world of declining resources
This phrase is used many times in the New Message from God to describe the human future. Another image frequently used to describe this is a growing number of people drinking from a slowly shrinking well. This could mean an absolute decline in resources. This could mean a decline in the amount of resources available for a given amount of money. I can understand the skepticism some people might feel, as certain warnings of declining resources in the past have not come true. But how long can the current arrangement last? A significant increase in the cost of energy would make for an increasingly difficult world.
A world of affected climate
The New Message from God uses this word to describe a climate affected by human activity to such an extent that the climate has begun to change on its own, in ways that will be less hospitable to human activity. The future climate will make for an increasingly difficult world. The future will have many more unexpected weather events. Agriculture will be disrupted by an unexpected climate. Because of this, some currently habitable regions will become uninhabitable. The sea levels will rise to a greater extent than that currently predicted by any scientist. I realize I sound a lot like the doom-mongers I have mocked in the past. But I believe these events are taking place over a longer time-frame than most scientists or politicians consider.
A world with a deteriorated environment
The New Message from God teaches that humanity has affected the chemistry of the atmosphere, the waters and the soils. And not in a good way, either. Therefore, there will be a great deal of work to be done in the future of cleansing the atmosphere, the waters and the soils. There will be a great deal of work to be done in the future of lightening humanity’s environmental impact. All this will make for an increasingly difficult world.
A world facing intervention
The New Message from God teaches that humanity is facing intervention from extraterrestrial races. This intervention is directly related to humanity’s destructive patterns of environmental use and consumption. Suppose an isolated tribe in the world were discovered to be destroying their environment. Some nation might feel they were doing that tribe a favor by intervening. Humanity is in that situation now.
An increasingly difficult world
I realize this is a collection of negative predictions for humanity’s future. However, I take consolation that a warning is being given with directions for preparation. The good news is that the bad news isn’t all the news. The Book of Proverbs declares “Faithful are the wounds of a friend.” (Proverbs 27:6, King James Version). How shall we prepare? That’s for another post. But the “New World reality” of the New Message from God is a future with an increasingly difficult world.
I am pleased to report that last Sunday, April 8, 2018, marked the 114th anniversary of a historic occasion. The occasion is the signing of a treaty of friendship between Britain and France. This treaty is informally known as the Entente Cordiale. This event was not mentioned to me at any point in my formal education. All I was told was, “Well, Britain, France and Russia were allies in 1914.”
Is there a hope for friendship between nations?
I take great encouragement in the existence and longevity of the Entente Cordiale. Let me tell you why.
Britain and France had a long, unhappy history of many wars between each other. Between 1202 and 1904, England (later Britain) and France engaged in 23 different wars. The longest time they were able to go without a war during this period was 89 years, between 1815 and 1904. And don’t forget the Norman Conquest of 1066. Someone might despair of two nations ever getting along because of their long, unhappy history. I can say “Oh, they are like Britain and France in 1904.”
Both Britain and France were global powers at the time with interests around the world. The Entente Cordiale granted freedom of action to Great Britain in Egypt and to France in Morocco. At the same time, Great Britain conceded territory in Guinea, Nigeria, and the upper Gambia valley. France renounced its exclusive right to certain fisheries off Newfoundland. Furthermore, French and British zones of influence in Siam (Thailand) were outlined. Arrangements were also made to allay the rivalry between British and French colonists in the New Hebrides (now known as Vanuatu). Someone might despair of two global powers ever getting along because of multiple conflicts of interest. I can say “Oh, they are like France and Britain in 1904.”
Is there a hope for friendship between nations? Perhaps there were some nobler motivations and some less noble motivations for the Entente Cordiale. Suppose a nation does the right thing for the right reasons. Its motives will be questioned by other individuals and other nations. All I know is that if a nation makes an alliance with another nation, that alliance will be tested. The First Moroccan Crisis of 1905-6 was a test of the Entente Cordiale, in my opinion.
“Humanity is imperiled from within and from without. From within, it is facing a world in decline. Its growing populations will have to contend with a slowly shrinking well of resources and with environmental disruption. It will have to pay attention now to the laws of nature, which hold little mercy for the unprepared. It will have to face a fundamental decision over whether nations will compete and contend and fight over the remaining resources or whether they will unite to preserve them, to extend them and to make sure the human family as a whole has what it needs.
It is not about national security now. It is about world security. Your nation will not remain unaffected if other nations fail. If millions of people stream over your borders because they cannot sustain themselves in your neighboring countries, that will have a great impact upon you. If humanity cannot feed itself, great war and tribulation will follow. Think not that these challenges are not upon you, for the world is telling you otherwise, and Knowledge within you is urging you to respond.”
Is there a hope for friendship between nations? I know there are people reading these words who are persuaded that a unified humanity is impossible. But there were people living in Britain and France in 1816 who believed that the next thousand years would be as full of war as the last thousand years. So far, they have been mistaken. Will humanity unite? All I know is that I must do what I can to help that happen.
When envisioning a brighter future, I envision more and more people waking up and embracing the concepts offered in the New Message. I specifically envision more and more people opening up to the greater intelligence that resides within each person.
The current January-February session of the Free School of the New Message from God offers an opportunity to explore a revelation titled The New World and what this means for us today. This revelation of the New World can be very sobering and even shocking, for in essence it is a wakeup call to take action before it is too late. And we have been heading for disaster for quite some time, only people do not want to take heed. Too many people still think they can go on using and abusing nature, spoiling and polluting the environment, taking more than they return, without it having any dire consequences. And physical demise of the planet is only one aspect. The mental, emotional, and spiritual impoverishment of humankind is also glaringly obvious.
However, I am an incurable optimist. I have undying faith in the human race and its ability to pull up its socks and get with it.
I mean, who wouldn’t want to do what it says here in this excerpt from The New World?
It is this time which can be so redeeming, so clarifying, so sobering, bringing people into the present where they can seek more simple pleasures, more natural activities, become more present to one another, more available to one another, more comprehending of what they see around them. It is within this that certain individuals will begin to reclaim a greater intelligence that resides within each person, an intelligence which we call Knowledge, a greater mind unspoiled by the world, unafraid of the world.
Envisioning a brighter future
In envisioning a brighter future, I take great comfort when I come across something like this. I highly recommend listening to all this boy has to say.
If more of our children had this vision and intelligence, my mind would rest at ease, a brighter future for our planet is guaranteed.
