Good morning. The events of the last few days, and particularly last night at the close of your nation's first political convention in this election year, are not only important for you and your nation, they are important for Me because key figures of your country are standing up and invoking My name. This is not important for Me in an egoistic way by any means, but is important for us together because those key figures, those leaders, realize that this country or any country has no meaning if it does not stand on the foundation of its relationship with the Divine, the relationship of the Divine in each person, each family, in the country as a whole, and, of course, in the world. We are absolutely bound together on every level in our relationship together.

That is not just a matter of a certain religious belief or conviction; it is a recognition of reality. If an individual or a nation or the entire world history does not begin with recognition of that reality, then you are a person or a people without a backbone, and there is no way that you can stand in that Divine mold and move forward.

I was moved last night. And I will move across the face of this nation in the coming months because your people are crying out for Me, not only those who invoked My name last night, but even those who have no use for Me, those who are in pain, those who prey upon one another or may hurt or steal from one another. These cry out for Me, too, for they are quite clearly people without a spine, without that Divine realization that is the core foundation for anyone to live as a son or daughter of God, live as a human being with dignity and true meaning in their lives.

America as a nation and each life within America are parallel; world history is parallel to the lives of nations and the lives of individuals. It is true that whether it be at the moment of the birth of a lovely little baby or of a nation where people stand together and author the Declaration of Independence and cast their solemn future in that spirit, or whether it be those first moments in the Garden of Eden of which your Bible speaks, there is no thought or hope for evil or corruption.

And you will find that the purity of the moment turns into hope for the future automatically, because in those moments of pure conception, I am there, whether My name is invoked or not. And the joy that attends the birth event of a child, a nation, or of all humanity is automatically filled with the spirit of hope. And that is the spirit that should carry each day throughout the life of humanity, of a nation, of every individual. Would anyone want anything less? And yet you see, with the fall of humanity at the beginning of history, how you have the beginning of enormous complexity, not of a Divine or miraculous sort, but a complexity that derives out of losing the center.

It is wrong to think that after the fall of humanity there is no hope at any time until the coming of the Kingdom. As you know from your own study of history, there have been moments and times and people in history that have represented rebirth and re-hope and re-joy (if I may use those words) for humanity. It was true at the time of Jesus. It was true at the time of great men and women throughout history. It's true at this time in ways that are obvious and ways that are quiet.

You yourselves have been able to feel this moment very deeply through our talks together. You've gotten hope for your own lives. You've gotten in touch, and yet you recognize, too, that I want to work in this nation and I want to work in this world. If I want to work in each of your lives sitting here, it means I want to work in every life. I've told you before that I am by no means the God of one group or one family or one nation. I am the God of each and the God of all. I am the Parent of each and of all. And you see, through those times when you walked away from Me--and those times still occur; even every day you recognize moments when you are out of control--but through those times, I am there waiting for the very next moment that you will recognize our connection, recognize the reality of who you are.

This is complex for an individual because there are so many obstacles, so many things that tend to take you away from Me, things you manufacture in your own mind and heart, and things that are manufactured around you. I say it again: The nation of America has lots of troubles today because it is so fascinated by the godless.

If you watch your media and what is popular, what people are drawn to, you will find an incredible fascination with the inventions of the mind, but minds that, while brilliant and creative, oftentimes are not at all interested in bringing forth the Divine. I am sad to see this. Your country has become, in one way, a rather masturbatory culture. (You may use this word; I know you have thought about it before, H [husband], and I will use it this morning.) Do you know what I mean? It wants to have more and more sensation, more and more thrill, more excitement, but it is of a consumptive and selfish variety.

And this is much like the life of an individual at times. You get caught by this or that fascination, and it is godless and carries you away from your true self. And yet you must come back if you are to find peace, joy, substance, and meaning in your life.

This is the same with humanity and world history, too. Empires have risen and fallen because of these same forces, forces that are equally as real in one life as they are in collective billions of lives. Yet sober old men, those who have paid their dues and who have oftentimes gone through great suffering and struggle, will stand up in the midst of this godless fascination and say, "This isn't right! We need to reclaim our backbone, our spine.

We need to get back to the fundamental things that identify who and what we truly are as people." And then My name begins to be mentioned. Even the churches need this because many times they themselves get lost in methods, systems, and various procedures but lose the very spirit of their foundations. This is such a time in the nation of America. It is a crucial time.

I told you before and I will say it again: The 21st century is an extremely important century in the history of humanity. If that century goes in that godless way, godless fascination with godless power, godless creativity, godless complexity, and godless corruption, your world cannot continue. Your civilization as a whole cannot continue because humanity has discovered things that are powerful enough to destroy its entire scope.

Now I want to say that I never come to you or to anyone with a conclusion that is hopeless or that the order of the day is gloom and despair. You know that. I come in the name of hope, in that same hope that attended the birth of those lovely children in Eden--or the birth of your nation or any great nation. I come in that spirit, and I tell you that your own lives are so important.

I ask you to renew your consciousness day by day; let the beginning of the day and the birth of each day be like the birth of a new child in you. And stand on that reality of who you are and what our relationship is. Let it carry you as you go into the day. Let it serve as a basis for your problem-solving and for meeting the challenges that you need to meet. It is as true for your own life as it is for your nation today.

I am inspiring that old man, and I will continue to inspire him because someone is needed to stand up. And I ask you to pray for him. Yes, as he said himself, he's not a perfect example; who ever was? It is necessary to pray and pray for those who have been, by some means, given a providential role to play, whether it be in the secular or in the spiritual realm of events on this earth. So please pray every day.

Take the time in the coming year to work with your family in these areas in ways they can understand, in ways they can somehow see. Please discuss this to help them have more of a foundation as they go into their adult life.

One more time I say: It is not a matter of belief in God or just having some kind of conviction. It is a matter of knowing, knowing who and what you are, having that birth every morning as a new child of God, leaving the anger and the pain to the past, resolving it and moving ahead. You will notice, especially in the corrupt politics that have been so prevalent in your nation in the past years, that everyone, in their television ads and in their speeches, wants to dig up the dirt of another person's past and rub it in his face.

They point at each other and say, "See, this man is not good; he's evil." Do you think that this kind of thinking can lead a nation to God? Can it lead a nation to greatness? Then they say, "Well, this is in the name of the campaign; when it's over, we'll all be nice people." No. No. This kind of thinking is an epidemic! It is a problem! Someone has to stand above that mud-throwing for what is true, what is right, and what is real. Standing up in such a way is always good. And this person cannot think only in terms of desiring victory or fearing defeat; this person should fear nothing except doing those things that take his or her nation from that Divine destiny.

I love you. I love this nation. And I love each and every nation in the world because I gave birth to the people in each of those nations. I know that each of those countries started with a hope and a vision, not of evil but of good. And I am in this for the duration, until each and every one of you recognizes your true selfs and the destiny you have as humanity. I will not leave you. I will continue to uphold you. Even when you abandon each other or yourselves, I will not leave. I will not abandon you because I know <who> you are, I know what you are. And I will ask you to locate, to come to know, and bring forth the best in yourselves. You are My children and I am your Parents, and that is an eternal bond.

Please pray for the future. And, again, please recognize in your own lives the kind of power that you have as you reach that Source. Don't be caught by momentary difficulties; chew them up and use them for that which is your true destiny. I want to leave it at that this morning. I think you understand My message, but I ask you to think on these things and to pray on these things deeply.

I'll ask W [wife] to pray.