How shall we recognize him? How shall we be sure that the one we see is indeed the Christ? There are many men in the world today who are giving very sound instruction, very beautiful teachings, and some of them are claimed to be the Christ by their followers. We know there are, today, many people who claim to be the Christ or Maitreya; and we know, too, that there is a prophecy which says that before the Christ comes there will be many false Christs, false teachings about the Christ, and that: “if someone points to a man and says, ‘that is the Christ, lo, here! or lo, there!’ do not believe him.”

No one will point to the true Christ and say: “That is the Christ.” The recognition of the Christ is up to each one of us, individually. The Christ is the Embodiment of the energy we call the Christ Consciousness or Christ Principle, the energy of the Cosmic Christ. It is released into the world for us by Maitreya, the Christ, and to the degree that it manifests in us, we will recognize him.

He will show that our political and economic life has to make a complete change of direction and become the spiritual activity which essentially it is; that our educational systems, our science and culture, should, again, take on a new, spiritual, connotation. He will speak across the whole range of human activity, and it will be by the breadth of his teaching, the universality of his viewpoint, that we may recognize him; by his tremendous spiritual potency, his extraordinary aura of purity, sanctity; by his obvious love and capacity to serve; by all of these we may recognize him.

Many people will follow the Christ without recognizing him, without even knowing he is in the world. But they will follow that man because they believe in what he is saying, in what he stands for: sharing and brotherhood, justice and freedom for all mankind. He will be the spokesman for a certain type of group thinking along these lines. Not the Preacher of old. He has said that many will be perhaps surprised at his appearance. He comes, not as the Head of the Christian, or any other church, for that matter. It may be that the orthodox Christian leaders will be among the last to recognize the Christ. He is not the one and only Son of God, but the friend and Elder Brother of Humanity.

The radio and television networks of the world will be linked up, and he will make his appeal, his call, to mankind. By mentally overshadowing all mankind simultaneously, he will come into telepathic rapport with all humanity everywhere, and we shall hear his words silently entering our minds, in our own language. We in the United Kingdom shall hear him in English, the French in French, the Russians in Russian, and so on. It is in this way that we shall know that he is truly the Christ. Thus will be repeated, only now on a world scale, what happened at Pentecost; and in celebration of this event, Pentecost will become one of the major festivals of the new world religion which the Christ will eventually inaugurate. Our response to his call will determine the future of the world.

His teaching will be released in phases, each phase being relevant to the needs of humanity at each stage over the next 2,350 years or so. In the first place, we will find that he will lay the emphasis on the oneness of humanity, on the fact of the human soul, and on the need for sharing and right relationships. He will teach, again, the Law of Cause and Effect and its relation to the Law of Rebirth, showing the need for harmlessness in all relationships. When these ideas have permeated society and brought about the changes in our political, economic and social structures, he will set about the inauguration of the new world religion, bringing together the approaches to God of the East and the West, God immanent and God transcendent. He will teach the Mysteries of the Path of Initiation, the scientific path to God. Initiation will be central to the new world religion. Above all, he will reveal a new aspect of God. This is the New Revelation which he brings.

In the first place, he will be concerned with inspiring humanity to create the conditions in which world peace can be guaranteed. He will show that this requires, above all, the acceptance of the principle of sharing. This will insure a harmonizing of the imbalance caused today by the tremendous discrepancies in the living standards of the developed and the developing nations. His immediate proposal will be to launch a crash programme of aid to save the starving millions in the Third World. Then, over the next few years, the restructuring of society along more just lines will gradually form the basis for a new civilization. He will inspire humanity to create the new world. His initial task is really one of reconstruction.

It is very difficult to crucify someone whom you cannot see, and Maitreya can appear and disappear at will. You could fire a cannon at him, an 18-inch shell, and it would just bounce off him and fall to the ground. He created his own body, and if you can create your own body you can keep it intact. He is inviolable.

Yes. The whole of the Age of Aquarius (the next 2,350 years).

The outstanding quality of the energy of Aquarius is synthesis, hence the result of its action will be a blending and fusing of the present divided and separative humanity into a whole. A new sense of oneness (with all creation) will replace the present sense of separation. In the social and political sphere this will demonstrate as brotherhood, justice and sharing. The present fear and confusion will give way to a new freedom and sense of meaning and purpose in life. It will be an age in which humanity ― for the first time as a whole ― realizes and manifests its inherent divinity. Cooperation will replace competition; tolerance and goodwill will supersede division and hate.

The answer, of course, is that we can’t be sure. But it’s up to us to make sure he is not rejected. His is the task to lead and guide, but we willingly must follow. Otherwise he can do nothing. His hands are tied by Law. The decision rests with humanity. The decision is ours, but as I explained, we have no alternative but to go forward through sharing and cooperation, and this is what the Christ will teach. Humanity is now absolutely up against it. It is in an impasse and there is no way out; it is staring mankind in the face. So much so, that all the uneducated and most of the educated peoples of the world are now terrified of the future. They see ahead of them nothing but destruction of one kind or another: destruction through pollution, ecological destruction; through famine; destruction through over-population; through nuclear war; or a combination of all of them.

There is no way out at all. The Christ comes with a set of proposals which entail a complete redirection of human thinking and feeling. If we follow these, we go forward. We can reject them. It’s up to us. He said recently: “Many will accept me, but not all. Nevertheless, my Army of Light will surely triumph.”

And a long time ago, he said: “The end is known from the beginning,” and you can assume that, though one cannot say (I cannot say, with any authority), “Yes, he will not be rejected, this time. He will be accepted by mankind,” I know that he has come at the earliest possible moment ― but not too soon. There has been preparation going on for many years. The externalization of the Hierarchy actually started as far back as 1860. Certain disciples came in, such as H.P. Blavatsky and others, who have been releasing to the world the New Age teachings. I don’t mean just the occult teaching. I mean new ideas of philosophy, of politics, of economics, etc. Mankind is now adult, and is prepared in an altogether different way than before (when Christ came in Palestine). The Piscean experience, the spread of education throughout the world, modern communications, have made it possible for a Teacher to come and speak to a really adult world for the first time. So the hope is ― and I would say the almost certain fact is ― that mankind will not reject him.

Note from Benjamin Creme: In many of the Messages, since the above answer was given, Maitreya himself makes it clear that he is in no doubt about man’s response. In Message no. 11, he says: “My heart tells me your answer, your choice, and is glad.” In Message no. 65, he is explicit: “Therefore, my friends, have no fear that mankind will reject me, my plans are safe in your hands.” In Message no. 77: “I know that within men sits a divine Being, whose Plan it is that love and justice should triumph. This being so, the end is assured.” In Message no. 78: “But, my friends, I know beforehand your answer and choice. Through your love ― the love in your heart for your brothers ― have no fear, my dear ones, you will choose correctly.”