"The Era of the Single Savior is Over"
—A New Age Peace Plan
by Warren Smith

One year after the events of September 11th, 2001, New Age leader Neale Donald Walsch's new book The New Revelations: A Conversation with God was published. In this book Walsch announced that "God" was now offering humanity an opportunity to avert self- destruction, and achieve world peace, by accepting the principles of his New Spirituality. Walsch explained that "God" was proposing a post-September 11th "PEACE Plan" that would help to bring the world's widely varying religions and belief systems closer together. Walsch's "God" was calling his PEACE Plan "The Five Steps to Peace." And both Walsch and his "God" were citing Robert Schuller as the kind of "extraordinary minister" who could help make the PEACE Plan and the New Spirituality work for everyone. Walsch's "God" quoted a statement that Schuller had made in his 1982 book, Self-Esteem: The New Reformation. Schuller had written that "theologians must have their international, universal, transcreedal, transcultural, transracial standard."

Walsch's "God" suggested that this universal standard be the statement: "We Are All One." Prior to Walsch and his "God" bringing Schuller into their conversation, they discussed their thoughts about the PEACE Plan and the world's need for a New Spirituality.

In his introduction to New Revelations: A Conversation with God, Walsch wrote:

The world is in trouble. Bigger trouble than it has ever been in before.

This book provides an explanation of the crisis we are facing in a way that not only clarifies the crisis, but clarifies how to resolve it.

This is a life-altering book. It contains New Revelations. It provides the tools with which to pull ourselves out of despair, lifting the whole human race to a new level of experience, to a new understanding of itself, to a new expression of its grandest vision.

"God" told Walsch that people are not being terrorized by other people. They are being terrorized by people's "beliefs." In a language and tone reminiscent of the serpent in the Garden of Eden, Walsch's "God" explained that people don't have to change their individual beliefs, they just need to "transcend" them. He said that "transcending" does not mean that you have to abandon your beliefs completely, but rather just modify and "enlarge" them.

"Transcending" does not mean always being "other than," it means always being "larger than." Your new, larger belief system will no doubt retain some of the old—that part of the old belief system that you experience as still serving you—and so it will be a combination of the new and the old, not a rejection of the old from top to bottom.

Walsch's "God" cunningly advised that most people couldn't and shouldn't abandon all their beliefs because it would make everything suddenly seem "wrong." It would make their Scriptures and traditions seem wrong. It would make their lives seem wrong. "God" told Walsch:

In fact, you don't have to declare that you were "wrong" about anything, because you weren't. You simply didn'thave a complete understanding. You needed more information.

Transcending current beliefs is not an outright rejection of them; it is an "adding to" them.

Now that you have more information that you can add to what you presently believe, you can enlarge your beliefs—not completely reject them, enlarge them—and move on with your lives in a new way.

A way that works.

But then there is the "catch." Walsch's New Age "God" warned that the New Spirituality will necessitate a willingness to compromise. To achieve world peace, people will have to sincerely dialogue about their perceived differences and perhaps even "give up" some of their most sacredly held beliefs. "God" explained to Walsch:

It will take an unprecedented act of courage, on a grand scale. You may have to do something virtually unknown in the annals of human history.

You may have to give up some of your most sacred beliefs.

Walsch's "God" explained that in the near future established religions may still retain the general nature of their individual identities. But he severely warned that a "self-centered" and "exclusivistic" belief in a personal Savior would not be conducive to a world seeking peace and harmony. In other words, he was telling Christians that, in the days of the New Spirituality, Jesus can be your friend but not your Lord and Savior. In a statement that should sober every Christian believer on the face of the earth, Walsch's "God" warned:

Yet let me make something clear. The era of the Single Savior is over. What is needed now is joint action, combined effort, collective co-creation.

"God" then described his solution for how humanity can learn to live together through "combined effort" and "collective co-creation." By cleverly removing the word "age" from "New Age Spirituality," Walsch's "God" called his repackaged New Age solution, the "New Spirituality."

The world must create a New Spirituality.

Not something to completely replace the old, but something to refresh it.

Not something to reduce the old, but something to expand it. Not something to subvert the old, but something to support the best of it.

Human spirituality is in need of refreshment.

It is now time to present the world with new theological thoughts and ideas, a new spiritual model.

The world must have something new to hold on to if it is to release its grip on the old. If you were in the middle of a raging stream, would you let go of a log?

Build, therefore, a bridge.

Prior to directly suggesting that Robert Schuller's theology of self-esteem could be the kind of "bridge" that could help humanity transition into the New Spirituality, Walsch's "God" formally presented his 5-Step PEACE Plan. The PEACE Plan is the proposed spiritual process that will help everyone move past"outmoded" beliefs and prepare the way for the New Spirituality. Walsch posted the Five Steps to PEACE in the form of an acronym on his "Conversations with God" website:

THE FIVE STEPS TO PEACE

Peace will be attained when we, as human beings:

P ERMIT ourselves to acknowledge that some of our old beliefs about God and about Life are no longer working.

E XPLORE the possibility that there is something we do not understand about God and about Life, the understanding of which could change everything.

A NNOUNCE that we are willing for new understandings of God and Life to now be brought forth, understandings that could produce a new way of life on this planet.

C OURAGEOUSLY examine these new understandings and, if they align with our personal inner truth and knowing, to *enlarge* our belief system to include them. [Emphasis added]

E XPRESS our lives as a demonstration of our highest beliefs, rather than as a denial of them.

For endnotes and more on this topic, read Deceived on Purpose by Warren Smith.

Neale Donald Walsch (from Reinventing Jesus Christ)

Global Peace Plans