20 Who runs the world?

The son holds authority over all creation, not by his own power but by the gift given him from his father.

The father, the son, and the holy spirit

As Jesus was preparing his apostles for what was to come, he told them that he would be sending the spirit of truth. And as they went forth in the world to spread Christ’s message, they were indeed inspired by this spirit.

But in fact, there isn’t just one spirit of truth. We can liken this to saying “I went to the doctor,” which of course isn’t meant to imply there is only one doctor in the world.

What was meant then was that he would send the spirits of truth. These are the divine spirits who, according to their talents, have been assigned various tasks. Some are with us for protection or for going to battle—yes, sometimes we have to fight for what’s right—while others offer things like wisdom or strength. They are not interchangeable as, for example, a spirit from St. Michael’s legions has certain gifts that others may not.

Lucifer, too, has the ability to marshal his hosts according to their specialties*. Some work to encourage lying, despondency or pride, while others tempt us toward revenge, stealing and every other vice.

We’ve gotten things confused over the ages between who is who, and who does what, sometimes wrapping God up together with the son and the holy spirit, as though they are all one and the same.

In truth, only God is the creator of all, while the son and all the holy spirits are creatures belonging to God. And for sure, there is a harmony and unity amongst all the beings of the good spirit world. For the will of God is also the will of the son as well as that of all the spirit-hosts under God’s command.

Regarding the relationship between God and his son, Christ: The son holds authority over all creation, not by his own power but by the gift given him from his father.

It’s fair to say then that God is the owner and master of all creation, spiritual and material alike. Everything belongs to God. But the management of it all has been turned over to the son, much the way we might understand a factory is handled when the owner puts the running of the business in the hands of the oldest son. In this way, the owner is putting all of the work force under the direction of the son.

In such a situation, the son is still receiving his instructions and orders from his father, and the son remains dependent on the father for pretty much everything since the father still owns the place. That said, the son may be authorized to carry out certain actions according to the instructions he’s been given.

But as far as the people working in this rainbow-making factory are concerned, the son is their “master”, if you will, and they are obliged to obey him. If they have a wish they want made known to the owner, they will need to go through son who is acting as the father’s representative.

We can translate this scenario into our human experience regarding the relationship between God and his son, Christ. The son holds authority over all creation, not by his own power but by the gift given him from his father. So the son is in charge, but at the same time, the son is subject to the father’s will, same as everyone else.

Whatever God the father wants done in the universe, he accomplishes it through the agency of his son. And only through the son can the father be reached. Hence, Christ is known to have said, “No one comes onto the father but by me.”

The son gets the download from God and then either carries things out personally or passes them on to the holy spirits who happily work for him. When Christ told his Apostles to “go you therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son, in a holy spirit” (Matthew 28: 19), he was sending them on a mission that had been handed down from God. They were carrying out their tasks in the name of God and also the son, and since it could only be done with the aid of one of God’s spirits, it was said to be done “in a holy spirit.”

Christ himself is actually the one to assign these spirits, who were constantly credited by the Apostles as they were teaching, emphasizing that the truth they were sharing had been revealed to them by a holy spirit. In other words, they weren’t just going from memory.

It’s the same in our daily lives. Every time we do something that is pleasing to God, we are fulfilling his will. But his will is revealed to us through his son, Christ, so we are also acting then in the name of Jesus Christ, using a power lent to us by a holy spirit.

*But wait, you say, isn’t everything God’s world? How does Lucifer have his own spirits?

The Guide: It is like this: there is God’s great Creation with its wonderful laws, and it includes all the spirits he has also created and to whom he has given free will. A great number of these spirits have voluntarily accepted God’s laws and his order and have thus remained happy. A great number of other spirits have broken that order, again voluntarily, and by that act they have created unhappiness and disharmony for themselves.

For happiness can lie only in the wisdom of God’s laws. All spirits who have at one time or another broken this law and have not yet found their way back to recognize this law as the only wisdom, the only right course, stand outside this order—voluntarily—just as they could voluntarily accept it. And one day they will. But as long as this does not happen by their own volition and conviction, they will remain outside the world of God.

God does not force any creature; choice has to come from the free will of each individual. Ultimately, and such is the beauty and perfection of God’s laws, every single child of God will return – return to the enlightenment and wisdom, to the happiness and freedom that can be found only in divine law.

There are almost as many human beings as spirits who fall into one or the other of these two categories: those belonging to the divine order and those outside of it. The former are perhaps helping, working, cooperating in the great Plan of Salvation. The entities in this group, among other things, find out in spiritual endeavor where they are still unconsciously deviating from the laws. And then there are those, many of them, who do not accept God’s laws, who create chaos in their surroundings and in their own selves, by wanting to follow their own very incomplete laws.

—The Guide’s wisdom in Jill Loree’s words