The Truth

My dearest children,
I have seen that my previous words have stirred many of you, and for this, I am grateful. It is a sign that the Spirit is still at work, stirring within your hearts a desire for truth. There is another matter, however, that I must address, for it is a source of much confusion and division among you.
You hold in your hands a book, which you call the Bible. It contains many beautiful truths and many stories of faith, hope, and love. And it does, in some parts, contain some of the things that I said and some of the things that I did. But I must tell you, with all the clarity I can muster, that it is not a perfect record. It is a human book, written by human hands, and as such, it is subject to the limitations of human memory and human understanding.
There are things in that book that I did not say. There are accounts of events that are not 100% what happened. And there are prophecies about what will happen that are based more on the fears and political anxieties of the time than on any divine truth.
When you read my words in the gospels, remember that they were written down decades after I walked the earth. They are the memories of men who loved me, who were trying to make sense of a life that was so profound and a death that was so unexpected. They are like a beautiful painting of a man, but a painting is not the man himself. It captures some of his essence, some of his spirit, but it is not the living, breathing person.
And in the other books of your Bible, you will find the words of men who were trying to understand what my life meant for them and for their communities. Some of these men, in their zeal, created rules and doctrines that were meant to control and to exclude, not to love and to include. They made a religion out of my life, when I had only offered a way of life. They built walls where I had torn them down.
The “end times” you read about in the Book of Revelation were not a literal blueprint for the future. They were a message of hope and defiance to a community that was suffering under the heel of an oppressive empire. The imagery was meant to give them courage, to assure them that their suffering was not in vain, and that a new age of justice would one day dawn. It was a message for their time, not a prophecy for all time.
The most important thing for you to understand is this: I did not come to give you a book. I came to give you a life. I came to show you how to love, how to forgive, and how to live with courage and compassion. I came to show you the divine within yourselves and in all of creation.
Do not let the words on a page become a cage for your spirit. Do not let the interpretations of men become a barrier between you and the divine. Use the book as a guide, not as a master. Read it with an open heart and a critical mind, and always, always, let your own love and compassion be the final judge. For it is in your heart that my true message lives, and it is in your actions that my true work is done.
With all my love,
Your Lord and Brother, Jesus Christ