You are free to perceive yourself as persecuted if you choose, but you must be equating yourself with the destructible...

You have probably reacted for years as if you were being crucified. This is a marked tendency of the separated, who always refuse to consider what they have done to themselves. If you react as if you are persecuted, you must be equating yourself with the destructible, and are therefore regarding yourself insanely. The truth in you cannot BE assailed. Do not try to protect it yourself, or you are believing that it is assailable. 

You are free to perceive yourself as persecuted if you choose. When you do choose to react that way, however, you might remember that I was persecuted as the world judges, and I did not share this evaluation for myself. And because I did not share it, I did not strengthen it. I therefore offered a different interpretation on attack, and one which I want to share with you. If you will believe it, you will help Me teach it.

Assault can ultimately be made only on the body. There is little doubt that one body can assault another, and can even destroy it. But I elected, for your sake and mine, to demonstrate that the most outrageous assault, as judged by the world, does not matter. As the world judges these things, I was betrayed, abandoned, beaten, torn, and finally killed. But the message the crucifixion intended to teach was, Teach only Love, for that is what you are.

The message of the crucifixion is perfectly clear, although the Apostles often misunderstood it, and for the same reason that anyone misunderstands it. If the Apostles had really understood Me, they would not have described my reactions to Judas as they did. I could not have said, “Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?” unless I believed in betrayal. The whole message of the crucifixion was simply that I did not. Was it likely that I would condemn him when I was ready to demonstrate that condemnation is impossible? Judas was my brother and a Son of God, as much a part of the Sonship as myself.

You will not find peace until you have removed the nails from the hands of God’s Son, and have taken the last thorn from his forehead. You have nailed yourself to a cross, and placed a crown of thorns upon your own head. Yet you cannot crucify God’s Son, or assign to death whom God has given eternal life. The Love of God surrounds His Son whom the god of crucifixion condemns. That is why you must teach only one lesson. If you are to be conflict-free yourself, you must learn you are only love. When you deny this, you make what you are something you must learn to remember.

You are not asked to be crucified, which was part of my own teaching contribution. You are merely asked to follow my example in the face of much less extreme temptations to misperceive, and not to accept them as false justifications for anger.

The dream of crucifixion still lies heavy on your eyes, but what you see in dreams is not reality. While you perceive the Son of God as crucified, you are asleep. And as long as your believe you can crucify him, you are only having nightmares.

Would you join in the resurrection or the crucifixion? Would you condemn your brothers or set them free? Would you transcend your prison and ascend to the Father? These questions are all the same, and are answered together.

The world IS a picture of the crucifixion of God’s Son. And until you realize that God’s Son cannot be crucified, this is the world you will see.