Expectations placed on a Messenger

"People will consider the Messenger and think he must be powerful and produce miracles. He must be able to be flawless—without sin, without stain, without error, loving and compassionate to everyone all the time. Yet the real Messenger is a human being—fallible, prone to error—and yet strong, committed and dedicated."

People want many things

"People want the Messenger to be many things, to meet their desires, their beliefs and their preferences. But the Messenger has been prepared by Greater Powers and sent from the Divine to be in the world according to a Greater Plan and destiny. Be careful then in how you approach this rare and significant individual. Be careful regarding your expectations, your beliefs, your preconceived ideas, your judgments and your grievances. For these can all blind you to who he is and to what he can offer to you and to the whole world."

"People want the Messenger to be a super person—powerful, magnificent, immaculate, utterly pure, well behaved, in accordance with human expectation. But the Messenger is a human being and is always fallible, but it is the Message and the Presence that accompany the Messenger that makes all the difference. Jesus made mistakes. Muhammad made mistakes. The Buddha made mistakes. All the great leaders that followed them, and all the great teachers in other traditions, they all made mistakes. To live in Separation is to make mistakes. To enter a world of Separation means you will make mistakes. But if the Messengers deliver the Message and do not elevate themselves into a godlike position, then they have achieved their goal."

"People may want many things from the Messenger—hoping for dispensations, for miracles, hoping to believe in someone supernatural, hoping to have their life be enriched by his presence and his work. They will be disappointed as have the previous Messengers disappointed many people. That is why Messengers are denied, rejected, avoided and, in some cases, destroyed because the people do not get what they want. They only receive what they truly need."

"Amongst those who will reject the Messenger are all those who are protecting their position, their investment, their ideology, their arrogance, their significance, their pride, their position in society, their position in academia, their position in the theological community. There are those who will reject the Messenger because he does not bring them gifts and miracles and relieve them from all of their difficulties-promising ecstasy, bliss and paradise in the future. They have to be sold on the truth. They cannot see it clearly themselves. They will want the Messenger to prove himself to them, when in reality they must prove themselves to him."

Blaming the Messenger

"He will be asked foolish questions. He will be asked malicious questions. Doubt and blame and terrible associations will be cast upon him by the foolish and the ignorant. People will feel threatened by his declarations, not because the declarations are incorrect, but because they are unwilling or unable to re-examine their own ideas."

"He will be limited by the limitations of people’s response. He will be held back by the ignorance of others. He will have to contend with projections of blame and condemnation."

"He will be doubted, maligned and blamed for the failures of so many others who really could not substantiate themselves."

"If you judge the Messenger based upon ideas or your own projections of fear and blame, you will not see and you will not know."

See also

Exploitation of human belief

How God works

Messengers

Mistakes

Quotes About Miracles

The challenge of the new Revelation

The Messenger

Further study

• Greater Community Spirituality, Chapter 9: How does God participate in the world?

• The Time of Revelation: The Burden of the Messenger

• The New Messenger, Chapter 12: The Messenger's Calling

• The Worldwide Community of the New Message from God, Chapter 7: Bringing the New Message to the World