March 3, 1918
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, Jesus.
I desire tonight to write you in reference to the way in which, as the preacher advises, "Christ may be in you."
I know that it is almost universal among preachers of the orthodox church to teach their hearers that the way to salvation is to get Christ in them and thereby they will be enabled to come into unity with the Father, and cease to remain subject to the effects of sin and evil. Well, this teaching is the true foundation of salvation for the Celestial Heaven, provided it be understood by the preachers and the people what the true meaning of "Christ in you" is, and unless this meaning be comprehended, the fact that preacher or people may believe that they have Christ in them will not work the results that they may suppose or desire.
Many, and l may say the most, of these professing Christians, have ideas of what this expression means in order to become effective that are not in accord with the true meaning of this condition of the soul. They believe that all that is necessary is to believe on Jesus as their saviour by his sacrifice and death, and that in so believing they have Christ in them, and that nothing else is required. They have no conception of the distinction between Jesus, the man, and Christ, the spirit of truth, or more correctly, the spirit that manifests the existence of the Divine Love in the soul.
Christ is not a man in the sense that he is Jesus the son of the Father, but Christ is that part of Jesus, or rather quality that came to him after he fully received into his soul the Divine Love, and was transformed into the very Essence of the Father in His Love. Christ is, thus, not a man but is the manifestation of this Love as bestowed upon Jesus, and made part of his very existence. And when men use the expression, "Having Christ in you," if they could correctly understand the true purport of the same, they would know that it, the expression, means only that the Divine Love of the Father is in their souls.
The indiscriminate use of the words, "Jesus and Christ," is the cause of much misunderstanding among these Christians as to a number of the sayings of the Bible. Jesus became the Christ only because he was the first to receive into his soul this Divine Love and to manifest its existence, and this Christ principle is one that all men may possess with the result that they will become at-one with the Father in His substance of Love and Immortality.
It would be impossible for Jesus, the man, to get into or become a part of any mortal, and it would be equally as impossible for Christ, as the man Jesus, even though perfect and free from sin, to become a part of anyone. No, the meaning of "having Christ in you" is to have this Love of the Father in your soul, which can only be obtained through the working of the Holy Spirit as the instrument of the Father in bringing this Love into the soul.
To many who hear the preachers' exhortations in this particular, the expression is only a mystery, which they accept merely intellectually and feel that by such acceptance they have the possession of this Christ, which is the only evidence of the truth of the Father's Love. Good night.
Your friend and brother,
Jesus
No comments:
Post a Comment