August 20, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, St. Paul.
I merely want to write about the truth of the New Birth, because I speak, or rather it is written, that the blood of Jesus saves men from condemnation, and sin and death. This is not true, and I never wrote such declarations of what purports to be true.
Jesus did not save men by his death or sacrifice and, as I am informed now and learned when on earth, he never claimed that his blood or sacrifice saved men. And I hardly see how that could be so, because the blood did not have any efficacy to affect the condition or spiritual development of men, and his death could not help men to become redeemed from any condition of evil or defilement that they might be in and, hence, there can be no possible connection between his blood or sacrifice and the condition of men, whether good or bad.
I know that it is claimed that the blood of Jesus tended to appease the wrath of God towards men as did his death, but this presupposes that God had a wrath against men and that only blood and death could satisfy it. What a barbarous assumption!
God was never a God of wrath, but always of Love, and men can come to Him in reconciliation through Love only, and not through any sacrifice. Jesus never taught this doctrine of sacrifice and does not now, but repudiates it and says that it is a doctrine that is doing his cause and the salvation of mankind a great harm.
If men will only think for a moment, they will see that the only relation between God and man is that which arises from the soul's condition. God, as I said, is Love, and for man to be at-one with Him, man must become Love; I mean that his soul must be filled or permeated with this Love to such an extent, that it will become impossible for anything that is not of Love to be or remain a part of his soul.
I do not mean that it is necessary for men to obtain this Divine Love in order to live and enjoy a happiness which is far above the happiness that they have on earth, for that would not be true. God has given to man a natural love, which, when enjoyed in all its intended purity, is sufficient of itself to make men comparatively happy; but this love does not make man a part of God's oneness, or enable him to partake of the Divine Essence of the Father. And this oneness is absolutely necessary for men to become reconciled to God as Jesus taught.
So while the large majority of men may never become reconciled in the sense that I have mentioned, yet, they will be able to enjoy this inferior happiness in the spirit world, and to such a degree that no sin or evil will be permitted to mar it.
A small minority will become reconciled to God and enjoy the superior happiness which such reconciliation will bring to them. They will be in their nature and substance like the Father, having his Divine Essence and partaking of His immortality.
But this reconciliation can only be obtained by what is called the New Birth, which comes to men not by reason of any power or effort on their part only, but by the operations of the workings of the Holy Ghost, the instrument of God in bringing about this New Birth.
And, yet, man has his part to perform also, in this great renewal of his spiritual being. He must open his soul to the inflowing of this Divine Love, and must pray to the Father for the inflowing of the Holy Ghost, and with his prayers, must believe that the Father is waiting to bestow it.
Without the desire on the part of man to receive this Divine Love with prayer and faith, it will not come to him, for God never forces any human soul to a New Birth against its will.
I tell you this, because in my opinion this is the one great important truth of the mission of Jesus on earth, and the one that human beings should understand and try to comply with. I know now, as I never knew on earth, the full meaning of this truth, and I thank God all the time for His goodness and mercy.
Only those who receive this New Birth become Divine Angels, all other spirits remain mere spirits and subject to all the changes and conditions that belong to spirits; for there is nothing fixed as to those who may remain mere spirits any more than there was in the case of the first man and woman. We know now that changes may take place in the conditions of these spirits during the workings of God's plans.
Many men may, even when they know of the things that I have written, be content to remain mere spirits and live their spiritual lives in the happiness which their natural love gives them, but it seems to me that all men, if they will think a little and understandingly, will seek for the greater Love and happiness and immortality.
I wanted to write this tonight, for I see that some of the teachings of my Epistles may tend to lead men astray on this most important question as to what saves them from their sins and reconciles them to God. I will not write more tonight, but will come at times and write you in regard to the various spiritual truths of this Kingdom.
I will say goodnight.
Your brother in Christ,
Paul
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