Eastwood Sez: Ladies and Gentlemen, once again those "Love and Light" folks at the SHARE INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION (the "non-profit, non-governmental organization in association with the Department of Public Information at the United Nations") seem to have betrayed their faux-tolerance of all religious faiths. Throughout their publications they frequently print things like:

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Q. Maitreya and Sai Baba say that we should respect our own religion. I am a spiritual seeker, but the fact is that I don't believe in my religion any more. (I was born as a Protestant.) Is it okay to go on alone?... I can't choose which path is the best to follow.

A. To 'respect our own religion' does not mean to believe in every dogma and doctrine of that religion. You have free will, you can follow any path you choose. The important thing is to respect the spiritual basis of all life which is what all religions espouse, despite their separative tendencies.
(*from the June '98 issue of Share International)

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But then, they have the gall to print such intolerant hate-mongering like the editorial below!

Personally, I am shocked. Here I thought any religious faith was OK, but I have to find out that my faith is the one that isn't acceptable! How terribly surprising. Color me blue.

EDITORIAL

Echoes of Armageddon

Underlying many people's attitudes and actions today is a sense of some impending, worldwide calamity. Many 'religious' and 'new age' people anticipate Armageddon and the end of the world, and their anticipation echoes ominously. In spite of the unspeakable, total destruction implied by their viewpoint they are happy to consider themselves the fortunate, chosen few. They hope and expect to be lifted up, to be saved from the final conflagration in which the rest of humanity and nature perish in agony. Their concerns are not with the world but themselves as they await salvation from trials and sins, forever to bask in the glory of divinity.

As ideal as their illusions of a 'rapture' may be to them, basically, they are afraid. The mere whiff of eternal damnation or nothingness compels bulldog belief and death-grip desire to force their point of view on the rest of us. Not to save souls as they say, but because doubters and detractors cannot be allowed to undermine their belief, to steal certain salvation away from themselves.

An astonishing manifestation of many militant members of this self-appointed army of the Lord of Love, is their hatred. Missing in action is the Christ's simple teaching to love God and one another. Missing is the realization that God resides within all human beings, as well as the universe. Missing is the knowledge that loving God and loving one another are the same. Excluded from their company are all but the minority who side with them. Not the Sword of Love, but a rock and a stick are their weapons -- the love of themselves and their ideas. Underlying their desperate campaign is the dread of defeat, of ending utterly, of not being saved.

But so effective has been their assault, that the non-religious majority are also overcome by fear of the end. Wounded by thoughts of impending calamity, ordinary people stagger along the road of compulsion and resignation toward the expected dead-end ahead.

Meanwhile, the always-resourceful manipulators of market forces find ways to profit from the general distress. Playing upon fear, the materialists engage the militants in unholy alliance, and this band of thieves plucks from the public as opportunities occur.

But the truth of life today is that there is no reason or need for people to be enthralled by their fable of Armageddon. Taking it literally, we act it out to the detriment of ourselves and the environment. We fail to realize or remember that the decisive event has already happened. Armageddon took place -- decades ago -- before most of us were born. Armageddon is over! And the world did not end!

Beginning in 1933 with the assumption of power by Hitler and his group, decided in 1942 in favor of the Forces of Light, and ending with the defeat of the Axis powers by the Allies in 1945, Armageddon and the Anti-Christ force destroyed or altered civilization across the world, profoundly affected nature, and made possible the reappearance of the Christ in 1977. The forces of evil were defeated, ending the specter of a thousand-year reign of terror for a subjugated humanity.

Existing now is a profound new opportunity, one in which the Christ -- Maitreya -- and the Masters of Wisdom, including the Master Jesus, are present and ready to assist and guide us into a brilliant, golden era. Faced by an ever-clearer choice between remaining with the materialistic past (death) or moving forward on the new way of sharing, justice and brotherhood (life), humanity struggles toward the sane decision.

This conflict between the old and the new is the cause of today's discords. But they are the aftershocks, the reverberations, the echoes of Armageddon that ended long ago. -- Tony Townsend

Eastwood's Response:

• Armageddon isn't the "end of the world",
  It's just the final battle before the Second Coming of the REAL Jesus Christ.

• A Christian's anticipation is hardly ominous...
  This is the blessed hope of our physical presence with the Savior!

• We are quite sad that the rest of the world rejects Jesus Christ,
  since He died to make ALL mankind free.
  We are actually very concerned about our unsaved fellow humans.

• As made clear in James 1, "Trials" come from God...
  It is actually "Temptations" from Satan that we long to forget.

• We do wish to "bask in the glory of divinity",
  but we speak of God's divinity, not our own.

• Afraid? Of what?
  We only fear God Himself, who is our loving Father.

• "...bulldog belief and death-grip desire to force their point of view on the rest of us"?
  Do you suppose the author sees himself doing something different?

• Yes, we wish to tell the Good News of Jesus Christ, to save souls.
  Why else expose ourselves to the mockery of the unsaved world?
  There is no chance of undermining a true Christian's belief.

• "An astonishing manifestation... self-appointed army...of not being saved"
  This entire paragraph is not only a lie, but again sounds applicable to the author.

• "Armageddon took place decades ago... And the world did not end!"
  False. Armageddon comes from "Har Meggido", an area in northern Israel, where a world-sized battle will occur. It has nothing at all to do with Hitler.
  Besides, it was the then-Christian USA that brought Hitler down.

• "The forces of evil were defeated..."
  Huh??? I wonder if this author sees today's world as "good"?

• "the Master Jesus" referred to by Maitreya's bunch is a limp conterfeit of The Son of God.
  Jesus Christ of Nazereth was NEVER "overshadowed" by Maitreya.

In summation, I wonder how this author expects to convince us of his, or his master's, love? The venom and anger are so clear, and the hatred is obviously pointed straight at Christians. I find it interesting to note that these Satan-inspired lies make such a big deal about The Rapture.

Perhaps Satan knows the Truth that it's coming very soon!