"1914 HEROES WERE BETRAYED"
WHEN Silver Birch was asked for an Armistice messageーit was in 1938, the year before war declaredーhe said:
"For twenty years your world has continued to betray all those who made the great sacrifice. Those who have striven to lead you have failed you. They could offer you no hope, no comfort, no guidance in your hour of perplexity. They worshipped false gods. No light came from the forces of religion. They wasted their efforts in confused argument and unimportant discussion.
"No hope came from Pope or Primate, from prelate or priest. They repeated the old shibboleths, the creeds that have failed because they were built on untruths. They tried to resurrect the myths of a forgotten Yesterday, whilst all the time they continued to refuse to provide a sanctuary where the power of the spirit could be made manifest in all its might, in all its wisdom. The doors of churches were closed against God, and His power could not reach them. They continued to recite the old formularies, the ancient doctrines, the age-old ceremonies and rituals which have no value in the sight of the Great Spirit.
"To those whose hearts were weary and sad, to those who were filled with grief because death had removed the ones they loved, no comfort could come. Those who were weary and perplexed and who could not accept the revelation which was said to be divine—but which was made false by the find-ings of science, by the discovery and invention of manーthe Church could not help. It could only point to a dis-credited book and repeat what it has said for many long years, even though many of the 'teachers' could not believe it in their own hearts.
"And to those who, from my world, sought to reach the ones they loved, drawn by the magnetic power of love to range themselves at their side and make their presence felt, those who should be the servants of God could offer no help. Though they were well versed in all theology they were impervious to the voice of the spirit and its power could not touch or move them; neither could they respond to the 'Holy Ghost.'
"The activities of your world will be stilled for two minutes, whilst homage is paid to a faded, tattered memory. For twenty years you have insulted those whom you call the heroic dead, and for a brief fleeting moment you will strive to recall them—but you know them not as they are and will think of them as they used to be. Shame on those who have opposed this knowledge and who have ranged themselves as adversaries against us, when they should have lent their power to break down the barriers of ignorance and super-stition and help the might of the spirit to reveal itself to your world. Even after twenty years there are many who have failed to make their presence felt because the ones they seek to reach are imprisoned behind the bars of creedalism.
"In the fight against vested interest, whether it be secular or religious, there is no armistice on our side, for we declare eternal war on those who oppose the Great Spirit, on all those who continue to be blind when they should see, deaf when they should hear, ignorant when they should have knowledge. The walls of their proud citadels are beginning to crumble because the foundations were built on shifting sands. The mighty truth of the spirit has pierced the walls that were erected to oppose it. Now, truth cannot be gainsaid any longer. Ours is a winning army. The power that is ranged behind us is the power that fashioned this universe and all that it contains. It cannot lose. It cannot fail.
"The leaves drop from the trees and make a brown carpet. The trees stand gaunt and bare, their arms outstretched to the sky. Nature sleeps, and soon the snowy mantle of winter will be worn by all Nature's children. That sleep will be disturbed as in the spring there come the rising sap, the green foliage, the bud, the song of the bird. Nature awakes, and a new life makes itself visible in multitudinous manifestations. The sun rises and soon the majesty of summer crowns every phase, every rhythm, every motion of life. The eternal cycle goes on and on, endless throughout infinity, perfect in its opera-tion because the Law behind it is perfect.
"The power that fashioned that Law is the power we seek to reveal. We ask nothing for ourselves, only that you shall understand those truths which will rescue you from the morass made by selfishness and materialism that nearly destroyed your civilization, so that you may learn to save yourselves and help us fashion the New World that has been born. Rejoice! The power of the spirit is triumphant and all the forces that oppose it are in retreat. Our power ranges the whole globe and there are those who can testify in every country in your world. We march forward to victory and add to the swelling army, as more and more realize we only seek to serve....