My dear H___:

Allow me to tell you that I have been observing you during the last days, and I have understood your complaints — yes, I know that you would not call them complaints. But it is true that you feel some discontent with our work in progress.

[H.R.: You are referring to the messages on the Master’s life.]

Yes, I am. But let me give you a few short explanations in order to make clear the reasons for my mode of procedure.

Firstly, you do not understand the grounds why I interrupt so often the messages’ natural flow, why I insert messages that have nothing to do with the topic of your preference — Jesus' life — such as the latest messages on trust.

I want to give you the assurance that I will carry on with the subject. In fact, even in this message I will do so, as you will see very soon. But on occasions I feel the necessity for dealing with other topics that I find important, too. I have my reasons, and I ask you to trust in my judgment and not to offer resistance.

In the second place, I have realized that you feel confused and dissatisfied over how I am proceeding with my story of the Master's life. You would prefer me to communicate the facts, in the style of diary, in chronological order: On this day Jesus left to such place, he taught this or that and cured two lepers. On the following day, Jesus made this or that thing....

However, my dear brother, things won’t work this way.

Living on earth today, the Master perhaps would have written a book, and later on a conference tour, he could refer to his teachings exposed in chapter three of his book, for example, in order to provide more detailed explanations on them, with the certainty that everybody has already read the pertinent parts and is aware of his instructions.

Two thousand years ago, the largest part of the population was illiterate. And even when they would have had the capacity of reading, there were practically no books available. There were no print shops; books were copied by hand in an expensive and time-consuming process that was prone to errors.

Each time that the Master visited a town for first time, he had to repeat his most primitive teachings. He repeated and repeated the same stories, the same parables, the same instructions over and over again. Of course, he understood this problem, and this was the reason why he concentrated his efforts in his first year of public ministry on a limited area around Lake Genesaret, the "Yam" or Sea, as we called it.

He did not use to go out and preach every day either, but stayed much time with us, working and teaching. You remember the story in the Bible where he sent us out to preach. This is a true story. Once he felt that we were ready and prepared, he had to use us to spread his message. At least, we could prepare the soil in the towns, so that people there would have already some basic knowledge of the Master’s teachings. Later, he would visit the villages personally and deepen on the rudiments of teachings that the population had already grasped.

Why, dear friend, it was a time full of frustrations for Jesus. Perhaps I should not say frustrations, because I think that he never got frustrated. But, yes, he felt tired. However, his patience was exemplary.

Imagine Jesus how he speaks to us of his spiritual kingdom of love and peace. Suddenly, one of the disciples interrupts him and asks: “Will I be one of your minister?" He uses the word obviously in the sense of "Secretary of State" and not "servant." And in spite of this patent proof of incomprehension on the part of one of his "initiates," Jesus always knew how to smile, responding for example: “Yes, my confused brother, you will be a high official when you understand that the office of my kingdom is Love, and you will be an executive when you execute Love." And this poor ignorant whose question revealed his little understanding could have easily been me.

It is virtually impossible to deliver a series of messages on a day-by-day basis in form of journal without endlessly repeating the same things over and over again. Don't forget that your understanding of Jesus' teachings is greater than that we had then.

It is more constructive and interesting, so I think, to describe the atmosphere in which the beginnings of the Master's public ministry developed; and it is undoubtedly worth while to take a look on one or another parable that he explained to us during that time.

With this, I hope to have given the necessary explanations in order to clarify the reasons for my proceedings. At least, I call upon you to demonstrate some trust in me. In short, whatever I am doing, I am doing so because I find it to be the appropriate way to proceed.

Besides this, I have noticed that you tend to compare whatever I tell you with what you believe to know. Very often, both things are in contradiction, of course, or they are in conflict. Then, as a proof of your uncertainty, you scrutinize frantically the entire documentation on the topic at your disposition, and you start doubting.

In the first place, my dear brother, there is no perfect message. There is always the possibility for errors. But I hope you can realize certain consistency in what I am communicating. And I hope you understand that the most important cause for possible errors is exactly your uncertainty.

In the second place, the “scientific” information that you use to verify or evaluate the truthfulness of the messages is based on writings composed one generation or longer after the events they describe. You know well that the gospels are not, and cannot be, biographies containing "historical truth," as you understand this term today. However, when you read how certain scholars try to extract dates and facts from these stories, and when it turns out that these dates and facts do not agree with what I am informing you, your doubts grow.

Lately, we have talked about trust. And I ask you to have this trust in me. I am aware that your lack of confidence is not directed against me in the first place, but against yourself. Perhaps it may be helpful for you to know that I am very satisfied with what we have achieved so far. I also tell you that your doubts have neither foundation nor reasons to exist. It is true, there are errors in the messages as you received them, and there will be more errors in the future. But in their substance, these messages are correct. Why do you worry so much about details? Even when you paint a picture, you change details, you omit particulars and you add brushstrokes where reality would not justify them, all this in order to accentuate whatever you find important, and to leave the observer with an indelible impression of how you are seeing things. So, consider my messages as my painting of Jesus: I will suppress details whenever I deem it convenient, I will detail things at times that do not even figure in the New Testament, and I will paint a living portrait aflame with colors. Work together with me, and we will surely achieve a piece of art.

This is the advice of a friend. Listen to me.

I will say goodbye now. God bless you,

Judas