February 16, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, Taggart.
Let me say just a word, as I am anxious to tell you that Perry has had demonstrated to him, by the appearance to him of certain suicides, the fact that his punishment will not be everlasting, and it is wonderful to see what effect the demonstration had on his hopes and belief that there may be salvation for him.
Then your grandmother brought these spirits to him and had them tell Perry their experiences, which in the darkness were so very much like his own, and then told him that their present condition is due to the Divine Love of the Father, which came into their souls in response to earnest prayer. He commenced, at once, to send his aspirations and longings to the Father for this Love, and all these spirits joined with him in prayer. It was a very impressive sight, as you mortals might say, and his mother was there praying and so very happy.
Your grandmother also brought Judas, and he was so filled with love and glory, that his presence made Perry look in wonderment and astonishment and when he was told that the glorious spirit was Judas, he said that now he knew there was hope for him.
Well, Padgett, I must not take up more of your time now, and I only wrote, because I thought you would like to know the result of Perry's experience with the bright spirits who had once been suicides and inhabitants of the Hells. But sometimes I should like to come and write you as to some of my knowledge of the things of the spirit world. I will say good night.
Your old friend and brother in Christ,
Taggart
Showing posts with label Judas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Judas. Show all posts
Friday, January 31, 2014
Monday, November 11, 2013
Judas Writes to James E. Padgett to Help Him Stay in Rapport the With Higher Spirits
December 1, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, Judas.
I will say only a few words tonight, as I see that you are not just in condition to write a long message.
I wish to say that whenever you let the thoughts of your material mind control your spiritual consciousness, the result is that you suffer a darkening of the soul's faculties and a consequent impossibility to get in rapport with the higher spirits and their condition of exalted truth and the happiness that necessarily accompanies the association of such spirits with your spiritual essence. So you will understand the importance of keeping the purely mental thoughts that are created by or arise from the exercise of the five senses and the reasoning powers, in subordination to the perceptions of the soul that arise from the condition of that soul being in harmony with the truths of the Father.
I know that at times the cares and worries of life will cause the mental faculties to so operate as to obscure or make almost non-existent these faculties of the soul, which alone can perceive and comprehend the spiritual truths of God, that are the only truths that can make men really happy and fitted to enjoy the blessings that the Father is bestowing upon them. I make these abstract suggestions that you may apply them to your own condition of mind, as it has existed for the past few days and making such application, you will realize the force of what I say.
Your worries and dread of impending distress and failure to be able to satisfy the demands upon you, have alienated you, to a large extent, from the higher truths and the rapport that you have heretofore enjoyed and possessed and have caused much unhappiness to come to you. But being mortal, and realizing the demands that are made upon you as a mortal, it may be quite natural that you should get into that condition of worry and dread and not be able to realize that these higher spiritual conditions are the more desirable, and the only ones that will bring you happiness and freedom from worry.
I know that so long as you are a mortal, the cares of life will be a part of your living, and that they will be of sufficient weight to exercise a powerful influence on your thinking and acting, and that you will scarcely be able to cause the spiritual thoughts and happiness that always flows from them to set aside and make unreal this material condition. Yet such a thing is possible, and you can bring about this so desirable condition if you will only follow the advice that has been given you by your spirit friends. Pray to the Father and believe.
No, that is true. This desired condition will not of itself bring to you these things that you speak of, but it will help you to endure their absence to a greater extent than you can possibly imagine. Neither does the fact that your worry and fret bring these things; and when you have this need and, in addition, the condition of mind that worry and dread bring to you, you have a double burden and one which does much harm. So let me advise you to make every effort to get into that condition that these spiritual acquirements will place you in and trust to the promises that have been made you as to the material things.
I desire to write merely this tonight to encourage you, and to assure you that you need not let the worries and fears of the future, as to these material wants, take possession of you and deaden the spiritual contentment that may be yours. You will not be abandoned in the particulars mentioned, and you must rely upon the promises that have been made you, and you will find that you will not be forsaken. So think of what I herein say and give your thoughts to the Father's Love and to the promises of the spirits who are so much interested in you.
I will not write more now. With my love and assurance that what has been promised, you may expect, I am
Your brother in Christ,
Judas
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, Judas.
I will say only a few words tonight, as I see that you are not just in condition to write a long message.
I wish to say that whenever you let the thoughts of your material mind control your spiritual consciousness, the result is that you suffer a darkening of the soul's faculties and a consequent impossibility to get in rapport with the higher spirits and their condition of exalted truth and the happiness that necessarily accompanies the association of such spirits with your spiritual essence. So you will understand the importance of keeping the purely mental thoughts that are created by or arise from the exercise of the five senses and the reasoning powers, in subordination to the perceptions of the soul that arise from the condition of that soul being in harmony with the truths of the Father.
I know that at times the cares and worries of life will cause the mental faculties to so operate as to obscure or make almost non-existent these faculties of the soul, which alone can perceive and comprehend the spiritual truths of God, that are the only truths that can make men really happy and fitted to enjoy the blessings that the Father is bestowing upon them. I make these abstract suggestions that you may apply them to your own condition of mind, as it has existed for the past few days and making such application, you will realize the force of what I say.
Your worries and dread of impending distress and failure to be able to satisfy the demands upon you, have alienated you, to a large extent, from the higher truths and the rapport that you have heretofore enjoyed and possessed and have caused much unhappiness to come to you. But being mortal, and realizing the demands that are made upon you as a mortal, it may be quite natural that you should get into that condition of worry and dread and not be able to realize that these higher spiritual conditions are the more desirable, and the only ones that will bring you happiness and freedom from worry.
I know that so long as you are a mortal, the cares of life will be a part of your living, and that they will be of sufficient weight to exercise a powerful influence on your thinking and acting, and that you will scarcely be able to cause the spiritual thoughts and happiness that always flows from them to set aside and make unreal this material condition. Yet such a thing is possible, and you can bring about this so desirable condition if you will only follow the advice that has been given you by your spirit friends. Pray to the Father and believe.
No, that is true. This desired condition will not of itself bring to you these things that you speak of, but it will help you to endure their absence to a greater extent than you can possibly imagine. Neither does the fact that your worry and fret bring these things; and when you have this need and, in addition, the condition of mind that worry and dread bring to you, you have a double burden and one which does much harm. So let me advise you to make every effort to get into that condition that these spiritual acquirements will place you in and trust to the promises that have been made you as to the material things.
I desire to write merely this tonight to encourage you, and to assure you that you need not let the worries and fears of the future, as to these material wants, take possession of you and deaden the spiritual contentment that may be yours. You will not be abandoned in the particulars mentioned, and you must rely upon the promises that have been made you, and you will find that you will not be forsaken. So think of what I herein say and give your thoughts to the Father's Love and to the promises of the spirits who are so much interested in you.
I will not write more now. With my love and assurance that what has been promised, you may expect, I am
Your brother in Christ,
Judas
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Judas Writes About "the Greatest Sin"
October 21, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, Judas.
I come tonight to write a short message for I have been interested in what you and your friends have said regarding "the greatest sin."
Now, to me, for a long time, the greatest sin in all the universe of God was my sin in betraying Jesus to the Jews, and it was a real, living, blasting sin, and so enormous that I could not endure my life and face the recollection of that awful tragedy; but since I have been forgiven of that sin and become a redeemed child of the Father and an inhabitant of the Celestial Heavens and a possessor of immortality, I realize and know that my sin was not the greatest, even though I suffered for long years after I became a spirit.
As sin may be committed by neglect as well as by affirmative action, and my betraying the beloved Master was a heinous one, but yet, even in my case and as applicable to me, my greater sin was not seeking for the Divine Love of the Father. We were not ignorant of this, for the Master had taught us that this Love was open to and waiting for us to seek and obtain, and I had not sought for it in the right way and, of course, had not obtained it; and in such neglect, I was not the only one of the disciples that was guilty of that sin.
No, even we who had been with the Master for so long a time did not fully understand the importance of obtaining this Great Love, as we were more interested in his establishing his kingdom on earth and, as we thought, a material kingdom to be controlled by spiritual powers manifested in him and in us as his disciples. And the material, in our minds, was of more importance than the spiritual and our expectations were that this great power would come and that the Master would become our king.
As I say, he had taught us that this Divine Love was open to us, and that by prayer and earnest seeking we could receive it, but to us there were so many important things to be done, connected, as I say, more immediately with our earth lives, that we neglected the Great Gift that was ours for its seeking and, as a consequence, in my case, I had to suffer for a long time before I awakened to the fact that it was not too late, even for me, to receive it. My sin of betrayal had been forgiven me in that I realized that the recollections of it were leaving me and that I was progressing in the way of purifying my soul in its natural love and that as the spirit of the onetime murderer, I was coming into happiness and light.
And then I had memories of what the Master had said to me about this Great Love, and after awhile I had sufficient awakening to cause me to make the effort to obtain this Love, and as that awakening came to me, my old-time associates, who had progressed to the higher spheres came to me, and in their great beauty and transcendent love, helped me to progress and to pray until at last this Love came to me, and I realized that not only had my sin of murder been wholly forgiven, but that the greater sin of rejecting and neglecting to seek for the Divine Love had also been forgiven me.
The sin of the murderer or of any violator of God's laws, other than that of rejecting the inflowing of this Love, may and will be forgiven a man and he will become pure and happy in his natural love, but such forgiveness will not make him an inhabitant of the Divine Heavens or an inheritor of immortality, while the forgiveness of the sin of rejecting the Holy Spirit will not only take away from him the recollections and taints of all other sins, but will open up to him the very portals of the Celestial Heavens and give him a home in the Father's Kingdom.
And, thus, you see every sin except that of sinning against the Holy Spirit, may be forgiven a man, with the result that he will become the perfect man, but the forgiveness of all these sins many times over, if it could so happen, would not make him the Divine Angel.
And I need not explain to you, for you can readily see from what I have written, that the greatest sin in all the world is the sin against the Holy Spirit; the sin of neglecting or refusing to let the Holy Spirit bring in and to the soul of man the Great Divine Love of the Father. And not only is this sin the greatest because of the results that flow from it, but because it will continue to be the unpardonable sin so long as man refuses to permit its forgiveness.
When the sin of murder and such kindred sins are committed, the sin then ends and only its consequences must be suffered and the penalty paid; but the sin against the Holy Spirit is a continuing sin, committed every day and hour and minute and never having an end until the mortal seeks and receives the inflowing of this Divine Love. As has been written you many times, yes, the large majority of men and spirits will continue forever and ever to commit this sin, and in the effects to follow, to them, it will become and is the unpardonable sin.
As we are much interested in you, and have determined that you shall not go astray to these Divine truths, my brother spirits of the Celestial Spheres thought it fitting as the world considers that I committed the greatest sin in all the history of the world, that I should write you on this subject and explain that the greatest sin in all the world is the sin against the Holy Ghost. We all know this, and while I write, you must believe, for it is true, that all of us and the Master, too, declare that the sin I name is the greatest sin.
And now to be a little more personal for your gratification and comfort, I desire to tell you that you three will not be found guilty of having committed this great sin, for you have in your hearts and souls much of this Divine Love, and the Holy Spirit is with you quite often in answer to your prayers and in answer to ours, also, for we all pray for you, causing this Love of the Father to possess your souls, even as the leaven wrought in the batch of dough.
I have written longer than I expected and will now stop. But be assured that you have our love and the blessings of the Father.
Your brother in Christ,
Judas
**********
Helen Confirms Judas' Message
I am here, your own true and loving Helen.
Well, I am pleased that you received the message from Judas and it is a wonderful message filled with truths that you will perceive with more force and newness the more you read it. It was actually Judas writing, and as he said, he was chosen by the others to deliver the same for many of them were present while he was doing so. And I was here also and heard what was said and know that what I tell you is true.
How blessed you and Mr. (Eugene) Morgan and the Dr. (Leslie R. Stone) should feel to know that of all the wonderful spirits of the Celestial Spheres, the most wonderful and the highest come to you and communicate with you, and not only that, but they bring with them an atmosphere of love that has a most beneficial effect upon the conditions of your souls. I am so happy that I can tell you this and I know that you will believe me, for my love for you would not permit me to deceive you, no matter what the occasion might be.
Yes, my dear, these high spirits are your friends and brothers. What more can I say to cause you to realize the greatness of the experience that you are having? I do not know. Well, as you were much drawn on by the message of Judas, I do not think it best to write more tonight and I will stop.
Your own true and loving,
Helen
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, Judas.
I come tonight to write a short message for I have been interested in what you and your friends have said regarding "the greatest sin."
Now, to me, for a long time, the greatest sin in all the universe of God was my sin in betraying Jesus to the Jews, and it was a real, living, blasting sin, and so enormous that I could not endure my life and face the recollection of that awful tragedy; but since I have been forgiven of that sin and become a redeemed child of the Father and an inhabitant of the Celestial Heavens and a possessor of immortality, I realize and know that my sin was not the greatest, even though I suffered for long years after I became a spirit.
As sin may be committed by neglect as well as by affirmative action, and my betraying the beloved Master was a heinous one, but yet, even in my case and as applicable to me, my greater sin was not seeking for the Divine Love of the Father. We were not ignorant of this, for the Master had taught us that this Love was open to and waiting for us to seek and obtain, and I had not sought for it in the right way and, of course, had not obtained it; and in such neglect, I was not the only one of the disciples that was guilty of that sin.
No, even we who had been with the Master for so long a time did not fully understand the importance of obtaining this Great Love, as we were more interested in his establishing his kingdom on earth and, as we thought, a material kingdom to be controlled by spiritual powers manifested in him and in us as his disciples. And the material, in our minds, was of more importance than the spiritual and our expectations were that this great power would come and that the Master would become our king.
As I say, he had taught us that this Divine Love was open to us, and that by prayer and earnest seeking we could receive it, but to us there were so many important things to be done, connected, as I say, more immediately with our earth lives, that we neglected the Great Gift that was ours for its seeking and, as a consequence, in my case, I had to suffer for a long time before I awakened to the fact that it was not too late, even for me, to receive it. My sin of betrayal had been forgiven me in that I realized that the recollections of it were leaving me and that I was progressing in the way of purifying my soul in its natural love and that as the spirit of the onetime murderer, I was coming into happiness and light.
And then I had memories of what the Master had said to me about this Great Love, and after awhile I had sufficient awakening to cause me to make the effort to obtain this Love, and as that awakening came to me, my old-time associates, who had progressed to the higher spheres came to me, and in their great beauty and transcendent love, helped me to progress and to pray until at last this Love came to me, and I realized that not only had my sin of murder been wholly forgiven, but that the greater sin of rejecting and neglecting to seek for the Divine Love had also been forgiven me.
The sin of the murderer or of any violator of God's laws, other than that of rejecting the inflowing of this Love, may and will be forgiven a man and he will become pure and happy in his natural love, but such forgiveness will not make him an inhabitant of the Divine Heavens or an inheritor of immortality, while the forgiveness of the sin of rejecting the Holy Spirit will not only take away from him the recollections and taints of all other sins, but will open up to him the very portals of the Celestial Heavens and give him a home in the Father's Kingdom.
And, thus, you see every sin except that of sinning against the Holy Spirit, may be forgiven a man, with the result that he will become the perfect man, but the forgiveness of all these sins many times over, if it could so happen, would not make him the Divine Angel.
And I need not explain to you, for you can readily see from what I have written, that the greatest sin in all the world is the sin against the Holy Spirit; the sin of neglecting or refusing to let the Holy Spirit bring in and to the soul of man the Great Divine Love of the Father. And not only is this sin the greatest because of the results that flow from it, but because it will continue to be the unpardonable sin so long as man refuses to permit its forgiveness.
When the sin of murder and such kindred sins are committed, the sin then ends and only its consequences must be suffered and the penalty paid; but the sin against the Holy Spirit is a continuing sin, committed every day and hour and minute and never having an end until the mortal seeks and receives the inflowing of this Divine Love. As has been written you many times, yes, the large majority of men and spirits will continue forever and ever to commit this sin, and in the effects to follow, to them, it will become and is the unpardonable sin.
As we are much interested in you, and have determined that you shall not go astray to these Divine truths, my brother spirits of the Celestial Spheres thought it fitting as the world considers that I committed the greatest sin in all the history of the world, that I should write you on this subject and explain that the greatest sin in all the world is the sin against the Holy Ghost. We all know this, and while I write, you must believe, for it is true, that all of us and the Master, too, declare that the sin I name is the greatest sin.
And now to be a little more personal for your gratification and comfort, I desire to tell you that you three will not be found guilty of having committed this great sin, for you have in your hearts and souls much of this Divine Love, and the Holy Spirit is with you quite often in answer to your prayers and in answer to ours, also, for we all pray for you, causing this Love of the Father to possess your souls, even as the leaven wrought in the batch of dough.
I have written longer than I expected and will now stop. But be assured that you have our love and the blessings of the Father.
Your brother in Christ,
Judas
**********
Helen Confirms Judas' Message
I am here, your own true and loving Helen.
Well, I am pleased that you received the message from Judas and it is a wonderful message filled with truths that you will perceive with more force and newness the more you read it. It was actually Judas writing, and as he said, he was chosen by the others to deliver the same for many of them were present while he was doing so. And I was here also and heard what was said and know that what I tell you is true.
How blessed you and Mr. (Eugene) Morgan and the Dr. (Leslie R. Stone) should feel to know that of all the wonderful spirits of the Celestial Spheres, the most wonderful and the highest come to you and communicate with you, and not only that, but they bring with them an atmosphere of love that has a most beneficial effect upon the conditions of your souls. I am so happy that I can tell you this and I know that you will believe me, for my love for you would not permit me to deceive you, no matter what the occasion might be.
Yes, my dear, these high spirits are your friends and brothers. What more can I say to cause you to realize the greatness of the experience that you are having? I do not know. Well, as you were much drawn on by the message of Judas, I do not think it best to write more tonight and I will stop.
Your own true and loving,
Helen
Saturday, June 8, 2013
St. John Writes About the Belief in the Efficacy of the Vicarious Atonement of Jesus by His Death and Crucifixion
March 18, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, St. John, Apostle of Jesus.
I wish to write tonight on a subject that is of importance to the members of the orthodox churches as to the belief in the efficacy of the atonement of Jesus by his death and crucifixion.
All the orthodox believe, and their preachers and evangelists teach in their sermons and addresses, and the teachers of Bible classes instruct their students, that the blood of Jesus and his death on the cross were the two factors in his career on earth that save men from their sins and satisfy the great penalty of death which overhangs them, because of man's first disobedience and the sins that followed therefrom.
Well, this doctrine has prevailed in the beliefs and teachings of the church ever since the church became established by the convention that met in pursuance of the orders of Constantine, when the books that now constitute the Bible were given the sanction of the church as canonical. Before this time some of the early fathers believed in the doctrine of the atonement as above stated, and the controversies between them and others who did not subscribe to this doctrine were very bitter, and at times, very un-Christian according to the Christianity that prevailed among the early followers of the Master, or according to his teachings.
From that time until the present, although the great Roman church has been seceded from and reforms have been made by churches founded on such reforms, this doctrine has been incorporated in and believed by most of the churches, no matter what name they may have adopted and what form of government they may have prescribed. This doctrine constitutes the foundation principles of these various bodies of church entity, and to-day, these principles are as much a part of faith and teachings of the churches as they ever were in all the centuries that have passed.
Of course, with this cardinal doctrine there have also become incorporated in these faiths and teachings certain other principles, which apply more to the individual members of the church than to the church itself as a body. I mean belief in the truth that there is a close relationship between God and the individual which may be established by prayer and the longings of the soul for the inflowing of God's Love and the regeneration of the nature of man by the influence of this Love by the Father.
But in these latter days, this truth has been known to and its workings experienced by a comparatively few of those who call themselves orthodox Christians. The large majority has depended upon the belief in the doctrine that Jesus, by his sacrifice and death, paid the debt which man owed to God; and when the members of the church in an intellectual belief assert that they believe in and accept Jesus as their Saviour because he paid the debt, and by the shedding of his blood washed away their sins and made them at-one with the Father, and thereby became saved from the wrath of the Father, and in a moment become the truly redeemed and accepted children of God, and that as long as they maintain that belief and attend to their duties as such members and observe the regulations of the church, they are safe and fitted for the enjoyment of Heaven and the presence of the Father.
They also believe that unless a man accepts Jesus as his Saviour, in the way I have mentioned, that man will be eternally lost, and in the beliefs and teachings of some of these members, will be sent to hell to be eternally damned and punished.
Well, one view of this doctrine is just as true as the other, or rather just as untrue, because both of these phases of belief have no foundation in fact, and are not in accord with the teachings of the Master, or with the fact as I know it to be, not from any mere belief but from personal experience and observation.
Oh, how the pure teachings of the Master have been distorted and made the means of preventing so many human souls from reaching the Heaven of happiness that they wished for, and that they thought would be theirs when they should give up their mortal lives.
This doctrine, so long believed, has worked the damnation of many a man, as regards his soul development and his becoming at-one with the Father and reaching the Heavens that are prepared for those who obtain that soul union with the Father.
I know it may seem surprising to some who are really true believers in this doctrine and, as they think, in the truths of God and the teachings of Jesus, which are believed to be infallibly contained in the Bible, that I announce the falsity of these beliefs and their utter ineffectiveness in enabling these sincere people to obtain that which they so earnestly desire.
But such is truth, and truth never changes, never compromises with untruth, and never permits the erroneous beliefs of a really sincere mortal to swerve in one iota from the results and consequences of that false belief. And the great injury that this false doctrine has done to humanity, and is now doing, will continue in the world to come, until the belief in truth shall supercede the belief in that which is false. And, thus, not everyone who shall say "Lord, Lord," will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
These false beliefs have operated in two ways to injure man and render him unfit for an entrance into the Kingdom. First, by the belief that brings about the injury that results from the positive operation of error, which is great; and next by the want of belief in the truth, which prevents progress in the acquirement of those qualities which belong to and are necessary parts of that truth.
When men believe in the doctrine that I have stated they become satisfied and, knowingly or not, remain in a state of false security, not attempting to develop the soul qualities, which are the only ones that are in relationship with God. Their mental beliefs are strong and may increase in strength, but their soul communions with the Father and their growth and expansion in the soul development, becomes stagnant and, as it were, dead.
This is the great injury that these false beliefs do to the man and to the spirit. I mean in his individual capacity, for it must be known as a truth, that the salvation of man or his soul progress towards an at-onement with the Father is an individual matter solely, and men as aggregations or in church communities are not redeemed from sin, nor as such, can they have any relationship with the Father or receive His Divine Love, which is the only salvation.
There is only one possible way in which man can come in unison and at-onement with the Father, and thereby fitted to enjoy or inhabit the mansions in His Kingdom, which Jesus spoke of when on earth, and that is the way that will make the soul of man like the soul of the Father, and a partaker of his Divine Qualities of Love and Life. No belief that will not bring about this uniting and commingling, as it were, can possibly make the soul of man a partaker of these qualities that are a part of the soul of God.
Then let man consider for a moment what possible connection there can be between these Soul Qualities of God and the death and blood of Jesus. God is the creator of life and death, and also of blood and flesh, and He can destroy as well as create. Had the sins of man called for the sacrifice of that which was mere flesh and blood, or the extinguishment of a life that God had created in order to pay the penalty of that sin, then a God who demanded such a payment - and this implies of course, that such a God was wrathful and could only be appeased by something that He could not of and by Himself obtain - would not possibly be satisfied with that which He had created and over which He still had absolute control, and which He could destroy and make non-existent at any time He pleased. Jesus' life was already a possession of God, and when he surrendered that life, he did not give to God anything that he did not already own and could not have taken. And when his blood flowed on the cross, it was not that which God could not have made flow at any time and in any manner.
So the absurdity of such a doctrine is too apparent for serious consideration. For its logical meaning is that God was demanding a debt that had long been unpaid, all wrathful and insatiable, and would be satisfied only with the death of a living being and the flowing of his blood; and that death and that flow of blood in one way or manner only, namely, on the cross. And yet with all this demand that has been sounding down the ages for centuries, relentlessly and unpityingly, He became satisfied and His wrath assuaged by seeing His own creature die - and that creature His best beloved son - and by hearing the trickling of the blood of that creature from a wooden cross; by all which, the life and the blood being already His to let live or destroy as He might see fit, man became at-one with Him.
The simple reduction of such a proposition is that God, in order to pay a debt that was owing to Him, accepted in payment thereof that which was already His, and which no power or being in all His universe could have taken from Him.
Now, I say all this reverently as your preachers say, but the fact is, that the mere assertion of such a doctrine, as I have been dealing with, is so blasphemous that no treatment of it, showing its falsity, could be irreverent.
And again, the absurdity of believing that God demanded that Jesus should die on the cross as one of the necessary accompaniments of his death, in order to carry out God's plan for this death and make the payment satisfactory, is so apparent and absurd, that I and all of us spirits in the Kingdom of the Father wonder that mortals can believe such an unreasonable dogma.
To follow this absurd proposition to its logical conclusion, it was necessary not only, in order that the debt might be paid, that Jesus should die on the cross, but that Judas should become the traitor, that the Jews should clamor for his death and that Pilate should pronounce the sentence. These were all necessary means to the satisfaction of the debt, and being so, why is it then that Judas and Pilate and the Jews are not saviors of mankind also, even if you say in a secondary sense. Jesus could not have clamored for his own death, or erected his own cross or nailed himself thereto, or pierced his side with a spear in order that the blood might flow, for if he had done this he would have been a suicide; but it may be, there would have been more of the elements of the payment of a debt in that method of dying than in the way in which his death was brought about.
No, I tell you, I, John, who loved the Master more than all the others and who was closer to him, who was with him when he was nailed to the cruel cross, which I think of with horror, and who was among the first to take his body from the tree and first felt his blood upon my hands - tell you that the death of Jesus on the cross did not pay any debt that man owed to God, nor did his blood wash away the sins of any man. And oh, the pity of it all is that mortals for all these long years have believed that they were saved by his sacrifice and blood, and by such belief have never come any nearer to the Master or in at-onement with the Father.
As I and others have written you, the only way in which man can be saved from his sins and become in at-onement with the Father, is by the New Birth, which the Master has described to you as being the result of the flowing into the soul of a man of the Divine Love of the Father, and the disappearing of everything that tends to sin and error. As this Love flows into a man's soul it permeates that soul as does leaven the batch of dough, and that soul partakes of this Divine Love and thereby becomes like the Father in His Divine Nature, and fitted to inhabit His Kingdom.
Now, you can readily see that there can be no possible relationship existing between the death of Jesus on the cross and his blood, and the giving to the soul of a man those Divine Qualities that belong to the Father's Nature. These Qualities are not imparted to man by death and blood, but by life and love and faith which comes with that Love - and here when I say faith, I do not mean the mere intellectual belief of which I have spoken.
As we have before written, when the first parents were created, they were not given this Divine Love, but the mere possibility of obtaining it upon their seeking for it in the Way that God had provided. It was not forced upon them, but it was optional with them whether they would receive it and become fitted to inhabit the Kingdom of Heaven. When they committed their act of disobedience, they forfeited this privilege and, as to it, died and were left without a mediator between themselves and God. And here I don't mean any mediator in the way of paying a debt, for they owed no debt to God - they were merely, as you mortals might say, disinherited children; and the only mediator that man needed after that time was one through whom might come the Glorious Tidings that the Father had changed His Will, or forgiven the disobedience to the extent of restoring his original state, which is the re-bestowal of the privilege of obtaining into their souls His Divine Love.
And, in this sense, never was there any mediator between God and man until the coming of Jesus and his announcing to man that the Father had changed His Will and had restored to mankind the great privilege of partaking of His Divine Nature and Immortality. And thus, as in the first man, Adam, all men died, so in the man Jesus, were all men made alive. And Jesus was the mediator not only in declaring to man the re-bestowal of this Great Gift of the Divine Love and Immortality but, also, in showing the Way by which men could and must seek for that Gift in order to possess It.
The Great Gift of God to man was not Jesus, but the potentiality of obtaining the Divine Love of the Father and thus becoming Divine and fitted to reside in the mansions of the Kingdom of Heaven.
And thus Jesus became the Resurrection and the Life and brought Immortality to light. How much greater a saviour than by paying a supposed debt by his death and blood.
No, he is the saviour of man by his living and his teachings, for he was the first to receive this Divine Love and to become Divine himself, and the first fruits of the resurrection. We have explained to you before in detail, some of the truths that I have declared in this message, and it is not necessary to further explain them here.
In closing, I wish to declare with all the emphasis that I possess, arising from a knowledge based upon the teachings of the Master and my personal experience as a possessor of this Divine Love and a partaker of the Father's Divine Nature, that no vicarious atonement of Jesus, nor the shedding of his blood, saves any man from sin or makes him a redeemed child of the Father, or fits him for a home in the mansions of the Celestial Spheres.
With a love that can come only from a redeemed and Divine Nature, I love all mankind and am working to help them find the way to life and immortality and happiness beyond the conception of mortals or spirits who have not received this New Birth of the Divine Love of the Father.
I have written enough for tonight and you are tired. So my dear brother with all my love and the blessings of a heart filled with the Love of the Father, I am
Your brother in Christ,
John
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, St. John, Apostle of Jesus.
I wish to write tonight on a subject that is of importance to the members of the orthodox churches as to the belief in the efficacy of the atonement of Jesus by his death and crucifixion.
All the orthodox believe, and their preachers and evangelists teach in their sermons and addresses, and the teachers of Bible classes instruct their students, that the blood of Jesus and his death on the cross were the two factors in his career on earth that save men from their sins and satisfy the great penalty of death which overhangs them, because of man's first disobedience and the sins that followed therefrom.
Well, this doctrine has prevailed in the beliefs and teachings of the church ever since the church became established by the convention that met in pursuance of the orders of Constantine, when the books that now constitute the Bible were given the sanction of the church as canonical. Before this time some of the early fathers believed in the doctrine of the atonement as above stated, and the controversies between them and others who did not subscribe to this doctrine were very bitter, and at times, very un-Christian according to the Christianity that prevailed among the early followers of the Master, or according to his teachings.
From that time until the present, although the great Roman church has been seceded from and reforms have been made by churches founded on such reforms, this doctrine has been incorporated in and believed by most of the churches, no matter what name they may have adopted and what form of government they may have prescribed. This doctrine constitutes the foundation principles of these various bodies of church entity, and to-day, these principles are as much a part of faith and teachings of the churches as they ever were in all the centuries that have passed.
Of course, with this cardinal doctrine there have also become incorporated in these faiths and teachings certain other principles, which apply more to the individual members of the church than to the church itself as a body. I mean belief in the truth that there is a close relationship between God and the individual which may be established by prayer and the longings of the soul for the inflowing of God's Love and the regeneration of the nature of man by the influence of this Love by the Father.
But in these latter days, this truth has been known to and its workings experienced by a comparatively few of those who call themselves orthodox Christians. The large majority has depended upon the belief in the doctrine that Jesus, by his sacrifice and death, paid the debt which man owed to God; and when the members of the church in an intellectual belief assert that they believe in and accept Jesus as their Saviour because he paid the debt, and by the shedding of his blood washed away their sins and made them at-one with the Father, and thereby became saved from the wrath of the Father, and in a moment become the truly redeemed and accepted children of God, and that as long as they maintain that belief and attend to their duties as such members and observe the regulations of the church, they are safe and fitted for the enjoyment of Heaven and the presence of the Father.
They also believe that unless a man accepts Jesus as his Saviour, in the way I have mentioned, that man will be eternally lost, and in the beliefs and teachings of some of these members, will be sent to hell to be eternally damned and punished.
Well, one view of this doctrine is just as true as the other, or rather just as untrue, because both of these phases of belief have no foundation in fact, and are not in accord with the teachings of the Master, or with the fact as I know it to be, not from any mere belief but from personal experience and observation.
Oh, how the pure teachings of the Master have been distorted and made the means of preventing so many human souls from reaching the Heaven of happiness that they wished for, and that they thought would be theirs when they should give up their mortal lives.
This doctrine, so long believed, has worked the damnation of many a man, as regards his soul development and his becoming at-one with the Father and reaching the Heavens that are prepared for those who obtain that soul union with the Father.
I know it may seem surprising to some who are really true believers in this doctrine and, as they think, in the truths of God and the teachings of Jesus, which are believed to be infallibly contained in the Bible, that I announce the falsity of these beliefs and their utter ineffectiveness in enabling these sincere people to obtain that which they so earnestly desire.
But such is truth, and truth never changes, never compromises with untruth, and never permits the erroneous beliefs of a really sincere mortal to swerve in one iota from the results and consequences of that false belief. And the great injury that this false doctrine has done to humanity, and is now doing, will continue in the world to come, until the belief in truth shall supercede the belief in that which is false. And, thus, not everyone who shall say "Lord, Lord," will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
These false beliefs have operated in two ways to injure man and render him unfit for an entrance into the Kingdom. First, by the belief that brings about the injury that results from the positive operation of error, which is great; and next by the want of belief in the truth, which prevents progress in the acquirement of those qualities which belong to and are necessary parts of that truth.
When men believe in the doctrine that I have stated they become satisfied and, knowingly or not, remain in a state of false security, not attempting to develop the soul qualities, which are the only ones that are in relationship with God. Their mental beliefs are strong and may increase in strength, but their soul communions with the Father and their growth and expansion in the soul development, becomes stagnant and, as it were, dead.
This is the great injury that these false beliefs do to the man and to the spirit. I mean in his individual capacity, for it must be known as a truth, that the salvation of man or his soul progress towards an at-onement with the Father is an individual matter solely, and men as aggregations or in church communities are not redeemed from sin, nor as such, can they have any relationship with the Father or receive His Divine Love, which is the only salvation.
There is only one possible way in which man can come in unison and at-onement with the Father, and thereby fitted to enjoy or inhabit the mansions in His Kingdom, which Jesus spoke of when on earth, and that is the way that will make the soul of man like the soul of the Father, and a partaker of his Divine Qualities of Love and Life. No belief that will not bring about this uniting and commingling, as it were, can possibly make the soul of man a partaker of these qualities that are a part of the soul of God.
Then let man consider for a moment what possible connection there can be between these Soul Qualities of God and the death and blood of Jesus. God is the creator of life and death, and also of blood and flesh, and He can destroy as well as create. Had the sins of man called for the sacrifice of that which was mere flesh and blood, or the extinguishment of a life that God had created in order to pay the penalty of that sin, then a God who demanded such a payment - and this implies of course, that such a God was wrathful and could only be appeased by something that He could not of and by Himself obtain - would not possibly be satisfied with that which He had created and over which He still had absolute control, and which He could destroy and make non-existent at any time He pleased. Jesus' life was already a possession of God, and when he surrendered that life, he did not give to God anything that he did not already own and could not have taken. And when his blood flowed on the cross, it was not that which God could not have made flow at any time and in any manner.
So the absurdity of such a doctrine is too apparent for serious consideration. For its logical meaning is that God was demanding a debt that had long been unpaid, all wrathful and insatiable, and would be satisfied only with the death of a living being and the flowing of his blood; and that death and that flow of blood in one way or manner only, namely, on the cross. And yet with all this demand that has been sounding down the ages for centuries, relentlessly and unpityingly, He became satisfied and His wrath assuaged by seeing His own creature die - and that creature His best beloved son - and by hearing the trickling of the blood of that creature from a wooden cross; by all which, the life and the blood being already His to let live or destroy as He might see fit, man became at-one with Him.
The simple reduction of such a proposition is that God, in order to pay a debt that was owing to Him, accepted in payment thereof that which was already His, and which no power or being in all His universe could have taken from Him.
Now, I say all this reverently as your preachers say, but the fact is, that the mere assertion of such a doctrine, as I have been dealing with, is so blasphemous that no treatment of it, showing its falsity, could be irreverent.
And again, the absurdity of believing that God demanded that Jesus should die on the cross as one of the necessary accompaniments of his death, in order to carry out God's plan for this death and make the payment satisfactory, is so apparent and absurd, that I and all of us spirits in the Kingdom of the Father wonder that mortals can believe such an unreasonable dogma.
To follow this absurd proposition to its logical conclusion, it was necessary not only, in order that the debt might be paid, that Jesus should die on the cross, but that Judas should become the traitor, that the Jews should clamor for his death and that Pilate should pronounce the sentence. These were all necessary means to the satisfaction of the debt, and being so, why is it then that Judas and Pilate and the Jews are not saviors of mankind also, even if you say in a secondary sense. Jesus could not have clamored for his own death, or erected his own cross or nailed himself thereto, or pierced his side with a spear in order that the blood might flow, for if he had done this he would have been a suicide; but it may be, there would have been more of the elements of the payment of a debt in that method of dying than in the way in which his death was brought about.
No, I tell you, I, John, who loved the Master more than all the others and who was closer to him, who was with him when he was nailed to the cruel cross, which I think of with horror, and who was among the first to take his body from the tree and first felt his blood upon my hands - tell you that the death of Jesus on the cross did not pay any debt that man owed to God, nor did his blood wash away the sins of any man. And oh, the pity of it all is that mortals for all these long years have believed that they were saved by his sacrifice and blood, and by such belief have never come any nearer to the Master or in at-onement with the Father.
As I and others have written you, the only way in which man can be saved from his sins and become in at-onement with the Father, is by the New Birth, which the Master has described to you as being the result of the flowing into the soul of a man of the Divine Love of the Father, and the disappearing of everything that tends to sin and error. As this Love flows into a man's soul it permeates that soul as does leaven the batch of dough, and that soul partakes of this Divine Love and thereby becomes like the Father in His Divine Nature, and fitted to inhabit His Kingdom.
Now, you can readily see that there can be no possible relationship existing between the death of Jesus on the cross and his blood, and the giving to the soul of a man those Divine Qualities that belong to the Father's Nature. These Qualities are not imparted to man by death and blood, but by life and love and faith which comes with that Love - and here when I say faith, I do not mean the mere intellectual belief of which I have spoken.
As we have before written, when the first parents were created, they were not given this Divine Love, but the mere possibility of obtaining it upon their seeking for it in the Way that God had provided. It was not forced upon them, but it was optional with them whether they would receive it and become fitted to inhabit the Kingdom of Heaven. When they committed their act of disobedience, they forfeited this privilege and, as to it, died and were left without a mediator between themselves and God. And here I don't mean any mediator in the way of paying a debt, for they owed no debt to God - they were merely, as you mortals might say, disinherited children; and the only mediator that man needed after that time was one through whom might come the Glorious Tidings that the Father had changed His Will, or forgiven the disobedience to the extent of restoring his original state, which is the re-bestowal of the privilege of obtaining into their souls His Divine Love.
And, in this sense, never was there any mediator between God and man until the coming of Jesus and his announcing to man that the Father had changed His Will and had restored to mankind the great privilege of partaking of His Divine Nature and Immortality. And thus, as in the first man, Adam, all men died, so in the man Jesus, were all men made alive. And Jesus was the mediator not only in declaring to man the re-bestowal of this Great Gift of the Divine Love and Immortality but, also, in showing the Way by which men could and must seek for that Gift in order to possess It.
The Great Gift of God to man was not Jesus, but the potentiality of obtaining the Divine Love of the Father and thus becoming Divine and fitted to reside in the mansions of the Kingdom of Heaven.
And thus Jesus became the Resurrection and the Life and brought Immortality to light. How much greater a saviour than by paying a supposed debt by his death and blood.
No, he is the saviour of man by his living and his teachings, for he was the first to receive this Divine Love and to become Divine himself, and the first fruits of the resurrection. We have explained to you before in detail, some of the truths that I have declared in this message, and it is not necessary to further explain them here.
In closing, I wish to declare with all the emphasis that I possess, arising from a knowledge based upon the teachings of the Master and my personal experience as a possessor of this Divine Love and a partaker of the Father's Divine Nature, that no vicarious atonement of Jesus, nor the shedding of his blood, saves any man from sin or makes him a redeemed child of the Father, or fits him for a home in the mansions of the Celestial Spheres.
With a love that can come only from a redeemed and Divine Nature, I love all mankind and am working to help them find the way to life and immortality and happiness beyond the conception of mortals or spirits who have not received this New Birth of the Divine Love of the Father.
I have written enough for tonight and you are tired. So my dear brother with all my love and the blessings of a heart filled with the Love of the Father, I am
Your brother in Christ,
John
Monday, October 22, 2012
Judas Writes a Short Note About His Betrayal of Jesus and Will Come Again to Tell His Story
August 23, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, Judas Iscariot.
I came tonight because I want to tell you of just what my condition and expectations were when I betrayed Jesus, which resulted in his crucifixion.
I was a very enthusiastic lover of the Master and believed thoroughly in his teachings and his power and did not believe that the Roman soldiers could take him away from where we were, if we did not permit it to be done. As a consequence, I was anxious that Jesus should show his great power and demonstrate to the Jews that he was a true son of God with power over men and devils.
I never betrayed him for the money that I received for it was not sufficient to pay for one moment of happiness, which I have lost because of my act in betraying the greatest spirit in all God's Kingdom.
I see that you are too sleepy to write more tonight. I will come again and tell my story.
So goodnight,
Judas
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, Judas Iscariot.
I came tonight because I want to tell you of just what my condition and expectations were when I betrayed Jesus, which resulted in his crucifixion.
I was a very enthusiastic lover of the Master and believed thoroughly in his teachings and his power and did not believe that the Roman soldiers could take him away from where we were, if we did not permit it to be done. As a consequence, I was anxious that Jesus should show his great power and demonstrate to the Jews that he was a true son of God with power over men and devils.
I never betrayed him for the money that I received for it was not sufficient to pay for one moment of happiness, which I have lost because of my act in betraying the greatest spirit in all God's Kingdom.
I see that you are too sleepy to write more tonight. I will come again and tell my story.
So goodnight,
Judas
Sunday, October 14, 2012
St. John Writes About Judas and His Unintended Actions That Caused the Crucifixion of Jesus
August 15, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, St. John.
Well, there are some things in my gospel that do not seem to be very plain and, perhaps, are contradictory. But you must remember that many of these writings were not mine or written at my dictation. In the mutations of time, many things have been added to and subtracted from what I wrote and, as a consequence, the true and the untrue are mixed.
Well, it will be a very difficult task for you to make the distinction in simply reading or even studying the Bible, for the tenor of the writings is the same. The only way that you can separate the true - from that which is not - is to wait until Jesus gives you his messages. Of course, we can help also in that particular.
Well, that was not the word which he used, because he never taught that it was ordained by God that Judas should betray him. In fact, the death of Jesus was never a part of that which the Father considered as necessary to the performance of his mission. Of course, it was certain that Jesus would die, but the manner of his death was not foreordained, as my Gospel written in your Bible declares.
Judas was not a bad man as he is depicted to be and his betrayal, as it is called, of the Master, was not for the purpose of gratifying any avarice that he might be supposed to have or because of any jealousy or desire to revenge a wrong, but it was because he was impulsive, and a belief in Jesus' powers and ability to overcome the Jewish leaders in their fight to defeat the objects of Jesus' mission; and he thought he would be doing the Master and his cause a great benefit by having it demonstrated to these Jews that the Master could not be silenced or harmed by any act of theirs. It was really an act that grew out of his love for and belief in the greatness of the Master's powers.
Well, I tell you that Jesus never said any such thing. He never even told us that one of us should betray him, and I know because I was there. If Jesus knew that Judas would betray him, he did not tell any of us at that time, and we only knew it for the first time when Judas actually committed the act. I don't believe that Jesus knew it before that time; in fact, he has told me that he was surprised at Judas' betrayal of him. So you must not rely on the Bible statement as to what occurred at that time.
Judas was the youngest of the disciples and not so easily controlled in his impulses and acts, as he would have been were he older.
Yes, I know, but they are all based upon the same erroneous writings, for you must know that these gospels, as you have them, are not the originals written by those whose names they bear. Let not these things disturb your belief in the essential truths, which the Bible contains.
The trouble is that Jesus, as the individual, is given the prominence which should be given to his teachings. He is displeased very much because of this, and one of the great objects of his writing anew his truths is to correct that error and make the truths, which he received from the Father, the prominent things. As you progress in your writings, you will see that this is the great object of which he shall write.
Well, I will tell you that you are in the way to receive the Father's Love in very great abundance. In fact, so much so, that you will realize that you are one with the Father. I see, that you at present, have some difficulty in your way, but they will soon disappear and leave you free to do this great work. So my advice is to believe in the Master and pray to the Father and you will soon be a much happier man.
When on earth, I was a married man, and in my family the mother of Jesus lived until her death. She, Mary, lives near me. She is a beautiful spirit and filled with the Love of the Father. But you must not suppose that because she was the mother of Jesus she has any more exalted position than she otherwise would have had. Family ties do not determine anything in the higher spheres - the soul development is the criterion. Many spirits are living in higher spheres than Mary.
I will not write more now.
Your brother in Christ,
John
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, St. John.
Well, there are some things in my gospel that do not seem to be very plain and, perhaps, are contradictory. But you must remember that many of these writings were not mine or written at my dictation. In the mutations of time, many things have been added to and subtracted from what I wrote and, as a consequence, the true and the untrue are mixed.
Well, it will be a very difficult task for you to make the distinction in simply reading or even studying the Bible, for the tenor of the writings is the same. The only way that you can separate the true - from that which is not - is to wait until Jesus gives you his messages. Of course, we can help also in that particular.
Well, that was not the word which he used, because he never taught that it was ordained by God that Judas should betray him. In fact, the death of Jesus was never a part of that which the Father considered as necessary to the performance of his mission. Of course, it was certain that Jesus would die, but the manner of his death was not foreordained, as my Gospel written in your Bible declares.
Judas was not a bad man as he is depicted to be and his betrayal, as it is called, of the Master, was not for the purpose of gratifying any avarice that he might be supposed to have or because of any jealousy or desire to revenge a wrong, but it was because he was impulsive, and a belief in Jesus' powers and ability to overcome the Jewish leaders in their fight to defeat the objects of Jesus' mission; and he thought he would be doing the Master and his cause a great benefit by having it demonstrated to these Jews that the Master could not be silenced or harmed by any act of theirs. It was really an act that grew out of his love for and belief in the greatness of the Master's powers.
Well, I tell you that Jesus never said any such thing. He never even told us that one of us should betray him, and I know because I was there. If Jesus knew that Judas would betray him, he did not tell any of us at that time, and we only knew it for the first time when Judas actually committed the act. I don't believe that Jesus knew it before that time; in fact, he has told me that he was surprised at Judas' betrayal of him. So you must not rely on the Bible statement as to what occurred at that time.
Judas was the youngest of the disciples and not so easily controlled in his impulses and acts, as he would have been were he older.
Yes, I know, but they are all based upon the same erroneous writings, for you must know that these gospels, as you have them, are not the originals written by those whose names they bear. Let not these things disturb your belief in the essential truths, which the Bible contains.
The trouble is that Jesus, as the individual, is given the prominence which should be given to his teachings. He is displeased very much because of this, and one of the great objects of his writing anew his truths is to correct that error and make the truths, which he received from the Father, the prominent things. As you progress in your writings, you will see that this is the great object of which he shall write.
Well, I will tell you that you are in the way to receive the Father's Love in very great abundance. In fact, so much so, that you will realize that you are one with the Father. I see, that you at present, have some difficulty in your way, but they will soon disappear and leave you free to do this great work. So my advice is to believe in the Master and pray to the Father and you will soon be a much happier man.
When on earth, I was a married man, and in my family the mother of Jesus lived until her death. She, Mary, lives near me. She is a beautiful spirit and filled with the Love of the Father. But you must not suppose that because she was the mother of Jesus she has any more exalted position than she otherwise would have had. Family ties do not determine anything in the higher spheres - the soul development is the criterion. Many spirits are living in higher spheres than Mary.
I will not write more now.
Your brother in Christ,
John
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