God's Message to the World: You've Got Me All Wrong

by Neale Donald Walsch

Overview

Is it possible that everything we think we know about God, and what God wants, is wrong?
Could humanity’s ideas about all this be the greatest inaccuracies . . . ever? Would it matter if they were? The author of the multi-million-selling Conversations with God series places the question squarely before our world in another blockbuster book that could move our species closer to true spiritual revolution on the Earth, changing humanity’s future for the better, forever. In direct and spiritually challenging language, Walsch here exposes the many ways in which he believes that humanity completely misunderstands God. He then describes in clear terms how the world could change overnight if humans accurately comprehended what God is, what God wants, who they are in relation to that, and to each other. Walsch calls this the “Missing Data” which, if ever embraced and acted on by our species, would create a spiritual revolution across the globe, bringing humanity both inner and outer peace at last. Does anybody care why our species has been such a failure? Does anybody imagine it has not been? Does anybody want to know how this whole situation can be turned around in the virtual blink of an eye? If you do care about those questions, then you will read this book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781937907303
Publisher:	Rainbow Ridge
Publication date:	10/23/2014
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	282,086
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

NEALE DONALD WALSCH is the author of nine books in the Conversations with God series, which have sold over ten million copies in 37 languages. He is one of the major authors in the new spirituality movement, having written 28 other books, with eight books on the New York Times bestseller's list. His life and work have helped to create and sustain a worldwide spiritual renaissance, and he travels globally to bring the uplifting message of the CwG books to people everywhere. He lives in Oregon with his wife, the American poet, em claire.

Read an Excerpt

1. The Basis of So Much

It's not a small thing to be wrong about God.

And if nearly everyone on the planet is wrong about God, it's really not a small thing.

If nearly everyone on the planet has mistaken notions about God, then nearly everything that everyone on the planet is doing will not work the way it was intended. This is because the basis of so much of what they're doing is found in so many of their beliefs about God.

Think not? 

Think again.

Nearly all of civilization's modern laws emerged from the early rules and laws of some faith tradition. Nearly all of humanity's moral codes derive from the mandates of a religion. Nearly every political moment and economic theory is based on ideas of justice, right-and-wrong, and basic fairness first espoused by spiritual teachers.

Even those who don't believe in God are impacted and guided by many of the fundamental principles placed in the Cultural Story by those who do.

And a striking number of the personal decisions made by billions of individuals across the globe are made within the context of what they beliebe to be the purpose in life, what they believe happens when this life is over, what they believe about God, and about what God wants.

So it's not a small thing to be wrong about God.

*

Proposition: Not one of the systems we have put into place to make life better on this planet is working.

Wait. It's worse.

Not only have the systems we have put into place failed to produce the outcomes for which they were intended—they are actually producing exactly the opposite.

I have made this point before, in previous books. I believe it is worth repeating, with emphasis.

Our political systems are actually increasing disagreement and disarray. Our economic systems are actually increasing poverty and the gulf between the rich and the poor. Our ecological systems are actually increasing environmental degradation.

Our healthcare systems are actually increasing inequality of access to modern medicines and health care services. Our educational systems are actually increasing the knowledge gap. Our social systems are actually increasing disparity, disharmony, and injustice.

And, perhaps saddest of all, our spiritual systems are actually increasing righteousness, intolerance, anger, hatred, violence, and war.

If the improvement of human life upon earth were a laboratory experiment, it would have long ago been considered an abject failure.

Indeed, an appalling disaster.

*

Not everyone agrees. There are those who believe that humanity is evolving to higher and higher levels of sophistication achievement, producing a better and better quality of life for all the members of our species.

It is possible that they would not, however, be among the 842 million people (one in eight in the world) who do not have ebough to eat. It is certain that  they would not be the parents of over 650 children who die of starvation every hour.

They would presumably not be among the 20.9 million women and children who are bought and sold into commercial sexual servitude every year.

They would also, one imagines, not be among the over three billion people who live on less than $2.50 a day, or the billions who have no access to health care. (Some 19,000 children die each day from preventable health issue, such as malaria, diarrhea, and pneumonia.)

They would probably also not be among the 1.7 billion people who lack clean water, or the 2.6 billion without basic sanitation, or the 1.6 billion people—a quarter of humanity—who live without electricity.

That's right. In the first quarter of the twenty-first century, 2.6 billion people live without toilets, and 1.6 billion without electricity.

How is this possible?, you might ask. And that is a very good question.

It is an especially good question given that humanity imagines itself ot be a "civilized" species. To the people in the above categories, the "civilization of Civilization" has not even begun.

A planet where 5 percent of the population owns or controls 95 percent of the wealth and resources—and where most of that 5 percent think this is perfectly okay, even as unconscionable numbers languish in lack and suffering—would not seem to be a planet on which a great deal of humanitarian advancement has been achieved.

All of this possible because of the collective values of those people who can do something about it. And where do those values come from? I suggest they derive in large part from the well-intentioned, but mistaken, beliefs about God held by many human beings—including those who do not believe in God at all.

*

Does anybody care that our species has been such a failure—or why?

Does anybody imagine it has not been?

Does anybody want to know how this whole situation can be turned around in the blink of an eye?

Does anybody want to know how his or her own personal life can be changed for the better with the embracing of a single idea?

Do you? Do you want to know?

Table of Contents

1 The Basis of So Much 1

2 Are You Ready for the Great What If? 5

3 What Humans Simply Refuse to Do 11

4 Most People Agree: God Talks to Us 13

5 Our Well-intended Mistakes 17

6 Let's Just Admit It. We've Been Wrong Before 23

7 Our First Misunderstanding about God: God is to be feared 31

8 Another Misunderstanding about God: God may not even exist 43

9 Another Misunderstanding about God: God exists and is a superhuman male being 49

10 Another Misunderstanding about God: God demands obedience 55

11 Another Misunderstanding about God: God sees us as imperfect, and we may not return to God in an imperfect state 65

12 Another Misunderstanding about God: God requires us to believe in God, and to worship God in a specific way 79

13 Another Misunderstanding about God: God is vengeful and God's love can turn to wrath 87

14 Another Misunderstanding about God: God was at war with the Devil, and that's how this all began 95

15 Another Misunderstanding about God: God determines what is right and wrong 111

16 Another Misunderstanding about God: God's forgiveness is required for us to get into Heaven 119

17 Another Misunderstanding about God: God has a plan for us 127

18 Another Misunderstanding about God: God honors self-sacrifice, long-suffering (preferably in silence), and martyrdom 137

19 Another Misunderstanding about God: God sometimes answers our prayers and sometimes does not 147

20 Another Misunderstanding about God: God is on our side 157

21 Another Misunderstanding about God: God will reward us or punish us on Judgment Day 163

22 Another Misunderstanding about God: God want's us to return to Heaven 169

23 The Final, and Biggest, Misunderstanding about God: God is separate from us 181

24 Something We've Left Hanging 191

25 And Two More Things, Please 197

26 The Moment of Choice is Here 201

27 Putting It All Together: A Simple Statement Explaining Everything 209

28 Is This Really a Message from God? 217

About the Author 229

Editorial Reviews

11/10/2014
Repetition is a time-honored teaching tool, particularly in a church setting, where the rhythm of the sermon helps to imprint a preacher’s message on listeners’ minds. Walsch (Conversations with God) uses the same technique in his writing, repeating themes and phrases from book to book, and within one volume, as he does here. While his newest sharpens his focus—he provocatively questions 17 widely held assumptions about God—both his salesmanlike style and the controversial content will feel familiar to anyone who has dipped into any of the nine Conversations with God books, some of which he excerpts. Walsch’s main argument—that people should question everything they’ve ever thought about God—is intriguing when he considers how human assumptions have in fact changed over time. His look at the church’s shifting messages on things like racial equality and marriage helps him make his point, although he would be more convincing if he included more authoritative sources as support. Mostly, though, Walsch writes to articulate his own interpretation of God. This book is for true fans of his work, looking for more of what they’ve loved in earlier titles. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

[Walsch] is a recognized authority on interaction with whoever or whatever our modern God is . . . [God's Message to the World] intends to open a dialogue here on the earth plane about what God really is and really needs to be . . . whether your customers agree with Walsch or not, this is a book that will stimulate discussion and debate.” 

Retailing Insights

* A Newly-Selected "Main Selection" Title

One Spirit Book Club (Bookspan)

12/01/2014
Walsch, author of nine books in the "Conversations with God" series, is a true phenomenon of New Age spirituality. A former radio program director and newspaper editor and the survivor of personal misfortune, Walsch says that his extensive "dialogues" are not channeled but "inspired" works. He is at the center of several websites and philanthropic outreach programs. His Conversations with God was a best seller, but the author has not gone without controversy—a plagiarism scandal surrounding a brief blog posting in 2008 was an embarrassment to him and his followers; and certainly he is prolific. Yet, as this book shows, he is not mad. His God is not a superhuman male nor a vengeful judge, doesn't make requirements of us, and is not separate from us. He maintains that God "is using Life in order to experience itself." Although it would chagrin them to admit it, Walsch's humane and affirming ideas are at the heart of what many humanists, agnostics, liberal Christians, and even some atheists believe. VERDICT Offering New Age spirituality amenable to reason and spirit alike, Walsch's latest book, like his previous voluminous works, should appeal widely to individual seekers.

Library Journal