Luke Writes that the Divine Love of God Brings Immortality

April 17, 1922
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

Let me write as I desire to say a few words on the question of immortality of which you have been thinking so much during the past few days.

I was with you today as you listened to the discourses of the preacher upon the subject of immortality, and saw that you realized he did not have a true idea of what the term means, and thought how much you would like to inform him of your knowledge of the subject. Well, I understand just how you felt about the matter, and am in sympathy with you in your desire and hope that sometime you may have the opportunity to converse with him on this subject and give him your conception of the truth.

It is the subject of so many sermons and theories preached by preachers and others, and yet not one of them has the true understanding of what immortality is. They understand it only in the sense of continuous life, and in addition, try by argument and inferences to attach to it the idea of never ending - that is of the continuous life being so established that it can never be ended - and in this they satisfy their longings and desires. But you see, this inference is merely one that is drawn from the desires of the preachers - that they have no true basis upon which to found their conclusions, and as to the ordinary things of life they would not be willing to risk the important things of life upon a basis no better established from which they could draw conclusions that would cause them to act.

No, mankind do not really know what immortality is, and all the arguments that they can put forth to establish the true immortality, are not sufficient to convince the clear, cool and unprejudiced mind as to its being a fact.

As is said in the message that you have received from Jesus, immortality can be derived only from that which is immortal, and all arguments that merely tend to show that a thing must be immortal because of the desires or intentions of God, do not suffice.

All the facts that may be established as premises, are not sufficient to logically prove the conclusion desired to be established and men cannot depend upon such method of reasoning.

It is utterly impossible to derive immortality from anything less than that which is immortal in itself, and to attempt to do so by argument or inference is a mere waste of time by the exercise of the reasoning faculties.

As has been said, only God is Immortal, and that means that the very Qualities and Nature of Himself is Immortal; and if it were possible for Him to have any qualities that are not of a nature that partakes of the Immortal, then these qualities would not be Immortal, but subject to change and dissolution. Among the Qualities of His Being is the great and important one of Love and without It God could not be. His existence would be less than that of a God; and that being a fact, this great Quality of Love must be Immortal, and into whatever this Quality may enter and form a part, that thing is necessarily Immortal, and in no other way could it become Immortal. Then this Love of God brings Immortality in the true sense of the term and when It enters into the soul of man and possesses it, that soul becomes Immortal, and in no other way can Immortality be acquired.

Not all things of God's creation are immortal, for in a shorter or longer time they perform the object of their creation, and their existence is no longer required and they become dissolved into the elements of which they were composed. Man's physical body for this reason is not immortal, for after a short life on earth it dissolves and is no more. His spirit body is primarily of this evanescent character, and it may be that in the course of eternity it will have performed its mission and cease to exist. We do not know this, neither are we assured that it is not true, because it is dependent upon the continuous existence of the soul for its continuous existence, and not all souls will receive a part of the Father's Divine Love, which is the only thing that has within itself this immortality; and it may be that at sometime in the future, this soul without the Love may cease to exist and become no more a creature of the Father.

But this we do know, that whatever partakes of the Divine Love has in it that which is necessarily immortal, and can no more die than can this Love itself; and, hence, must be immortal. So that when men speak or teach that all men are immortal, they speak that which they do not know - only God, Himself, knows that fact - and from the mere exercise of the reason men are justified in saying, that such men or souls that do not obtain the Divine Love are not immortal.

Now while this question of man's immortality is in doubt, and has never been demonstrated to be a fact, yet we do know that, that portion of mankind whose souls have received this immortal, Divine Love, are immortal and can never cease to exist; and the great comfort and blessings to these souls that this possession brings, are that they know that they are immortal because they possess that quality or nature of God that is immortal, and as the latter can never have an ending, neither can that into which this immortal Love has entered and found a lodgment have an ending.

The preachers arguments were strong, and in the ordinary workings of men's minds and reasoning powers, may convince men that immortality is a proven fact for all mankind, but when properly analyzed and the true rule of search for immortality is applied, it will appear that the arguments are not conclusive - hope is stronger than fact, and men have not the assurance that for them immortality holds out its desired arms of certainty.

Well, I thought I would write you this short message upon the question that you and the preacher have been meditating upon, in the hope that he might not depend upon the strength of his argument for the establishing of the fact of immortality, but would see and become convinced that the only way to ascertain and acquire the true immortality is by seeking for and obtaining the Divine Love, and thereby having his soul transformed into the very Essence and nature of God in Love.

I am glad that I can write to you again, and that your condition is so much better than it has been, and permits the rapport to be made. Pray more to the Father and believe, and you will get in a condition that we so much desire. I will not write more. Good night.

Your brother in Christ,
Luke

St. Luke Writes on the Erroneous Teachings of the New Thought Movement

March 9, 1919
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

St. Luke.

Let me write a few lines tonight as you are in better condition, and I am able to make a rapport with you and deliver my message.

I was with you today at a meeting of the New Thought people and saw the impression made upon you by the speaker in his efforts to show that God is within man, and that only the opening up of the soul or mind of man to the development of that God is all that is necessary to bring that man into a perfect at-onement with the truths of God's Will.

Well, I have to say that this speaker, when he comes to a realization of himself in the spirit world, will find that God is not in him or in anything that he may have possessed in his earth life; and that his development of the kingdom within him, as he termed it, was a mere delusion and a snare to the progress of his soul in its career through the earth life, as well as through the Heavens or spirit world.

He is mistaken when he announces that the Kingdom of Heaven is within him, or that he has that within him which can, by its development, lead to the condition of the perfect man, in the sense that he spoke of. He is following a false way, and all the efforts that he may make will not lead him into the paths that end in the perfect man that partakes of the Father's Divinity.

He is also mistaken when he asserts that God is everywhere - in the flowers and in the thoughts of men and in the heart - for God does not find his habitation in any of these things, and men do not live and move and have their being in Him. He is a distinct and individual entity and is not spread over all His universe, as the preacher proclaimed, and can only be found by the longings of the soul followed by a development of that soul in His Love. No, God is in His Heavens, and man can reach Him only by the persistent longings of that soul for the inflowing of His Love.

These things that the preacher declared were the presence of God are only the expressions of His being, and they do not declare His presence in any other sense than as the evidence of His existence - in His habitation, from which these expressions flow and make known to man His presence, as these things reflect it.

I am sorry that this speaker has not more knowledge of the true God, and of His seat of habitation, for then he would realize that these things upon which he places so much belief as being the very God, Himself, are but the expressions that flow from Him.

Man has within him that which has in itself wonderful possibilities - I mean the soul. And it may, by the observance of the way that transforms it into a Divine Angel, become Divine itself, or it may only by the slow process of renunciation become merely the perfect man with his natural love in a pure state, which was the condition of the first parents. If men will listen to the call to their souls, they will realize this possibility and receive this Divinity, and with it, immortality; but without this transformation they never can become other or greater than the perfect man.

I know that men teach that there is implanted within the souls of all men, that which is capable of being developed into an existence like unto God, that man needs only this development in order to become a God, and that there is nothing else necessary to make a human soul a part of the Soul of God. But in this teaching men are mistaken and will find themselves, at the stage of their highest development, nothing more than the perfect man.

Man has within him only that with which he was created and can of himself add not one thing that will change him from this condition of his creation. It is true that he can by a right course of thinking and living renounce those things that have tainted his soul and alienated it from the Father and made it sinful and disobedient; but when this is done, he is still only the perfect man, and nothing of the Divine is in him.

Jesus was the perfect man and, as such, was an exemplar of what all men will ultimately become; and if Jesus had never become more than the perfect man, he would not now be an inhabitant of the Celestial Heavens and the beloved Son of the Father. Yet he became more than the perfect man, and it was only after he attained to this condition of excellence, that he could say, "I and my Father are one," for it was then only that he possessed the Divine Love to that degree which made him at-one with the Father.

Only he is at-one with the Father that realizes that he is possessed of the very nature and Essence of the Father, and there is only one way in which this can be obtained, and that is by the inflowing into the soul of the Divine Love. Jesus could not say to the multitude that they were at-one with him and with the Father, for they had only the natural love and had not experienced the transformation of their souls; and such sayings as this were addressed only to his disciples, or to those among his hearers that had received this Love.

The speaker spoke of the New Birth, but had no conception of what it meant and, like many other teachers in and out of the churches, believes that a mere condition of the purification of the natural love constitutes this New Birth, and that that is all Jesus meant when he taught the necessity of being Born Again. There is only one way in which this New Birth can be brought about, and that you already know.

As to the moral truths taught by the Master, such as are referred to in the Sermon on the Mount, undoubtedly they will, if observed in the heart, bring about a regeneration of the soul that will lead men to the glory of the perfect man and make him at-one with the laws of his creation. This condition is devoutly to be wished for and sought after by all men, and when they attain to this condition they will experience the beatitudes that are mentioned in the sermon; but this is only the state of the perfect man and nothing of the Divine enters into their condition.

"New Thought," as it is called, has in it something that is an improvement on orthodoxy, and men will be the better if they will embrace some of its teachings. The great stumbling blocks of the Trinity, and the vicarious atonement and the blood would be moved from the worship of men, and they would then rely on the moral truths in the development of their souls for salvation, and would not rest supinely in the belief of the efficacy of the vicarious atonement. But some other things that it teaches are all wrong, and its followers will find when they come to the spirit world that there is a God to be worshipped, and that man has not within him that God to be developed by his own thoughts and deeds.

I know that according to the orthodox teachings too little is thought of the natural goodness of man, and too much emphasis placed in his innate depravity, and that nothing in man is worthy of the release from the sin and disobedience in which he is now living; and that of himself he can do nothing to bring about his purification and restoration to his original condition of the perfect man. This is wrong, for very largely upon man's efforts depends his redemption; "and as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." He is naturally good, and his present condition was brought about by his permitting his soul to be contaminated with sin, and to become again good he needs only to pursue that way that will remove sin and its consequences from his soul.

Man created sin, and he will have to remove sin, and the process will be slow, but ultimately it will be accomplished, and by the efforts of man himself. He will be helped by spirits who are God's ministering angels in these efforts, but upon him depends the removal of that which he created and imposed. And here let me say, that unless man wills it, he will forever remain in sin, and God will not, contrary to man's desires, make him a pure and undefiled being; and man's belief, unaccompanied by striving and seeking, will not be sufficient to bring about this remedy.

The speaker is a good man, and has experienced to a large degree the workings of his own will upon the conditions of his soul, and knows that his own efforts have caused him to renounce many things that tended to defile him and cause doubt, and in this condition realizes much happiness, and thinks that he is of himself sufficient to attain to that which will bring him into a perfect unison with the God that he thinks is within him. In this he is deceiving himself, for what he thinks is God is only an unusual condition of soul development in its natural love, that gives him a happiness which causes him to believe that God must be in and a part of him.

As you have been told, the happiness of the purified soul is beyond all conception of humans, and the nearer a man approaches to that condition of purification of his soul, the greater becomes his happiness, and the belief that God must in some way be in that happiness and form a part of it, when the fact is that this happiness is only that which was bestowed upon man in the beginning. As the soul becomes purer and relieved from the defilement of sin, man becomes what he was in the beginning and has regained only that which by nature is his. He does not receive any part of the Divine, nor does the Father bestow upon him anything that was not his at the creation, and he must realize that by the removal of sin, his soul becomes more and more in harmony with the will of God, and less and less in harmony with his own perverted will.

Let "New Thought" progress until men may realize that they are at-one with themselves, their created selves, but let it not teach them that what they experience as a removal of sin from their own souls by their own efforts and thoughts, is evidence of a development of any supposed God within them, for it is not true; but is merely the development of their own natural created selves, freed from that which defiled and made them unnatural.

The speaker said that the Kingdom of Heaven is within all men, and needs only for men to realize that fact, and declare its truth, and that then they will become pure and like unto God, and find themselves in the presence of God, and see Him face to face. Well, in this he is all wrong, for the Kingdom of Heaven or Celestial Kingdom is not within men, though it may be, and neither is God in their souls and capable of being seen face to face. These men - who teach purification of their natural love and a superior state resulting from that purification and nothing more - will never see God, and they will always remain in the mere image in which they were created, a merely purified man made in the image of God, and nothing more. The Father will then be the same unseen Creator as he is now, and men will worship Him in faith only, for their soul perceptions, which are the only eyes of the soul that can see God, will not exist, and to them God will still remain the unseen and unknowable being that exists today in the knowledge and belief of men.

Well, I have written enough for tonight, but saw that you were somewhat interested in the teachings of the day, and thought it best that I should write you as to the truth of the subject of which he discoursed and evidently believed.

With my love to you, and the hope that our messages may now continue without interruption, I will say, good night.

Your brother in Christ,
Luke

Luke Writes that Religion is the Relationship and Harmony of Men's Souls with the Soul of God

April 25, 1918
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

Let me write a line - Luke.

I was with you tonight at the church and listened to what the preacher (Gordon) said in reference to religions and their point of contact and was somewhat surprised at his declarations as to the analogy which he drew between the believers in the various so-called Christian religions.

While, as you know, there is implanted in the souls of men a longing for that which tends to elevate and spiritualize them, even though this longing may not be consciously present with a large number of them; yet the beliefs as to the ways in which this longing may be made manifest and develop the spiritual nature of the soul are very different among those professing these various religions and the ways are not equally efficacious in causing their spiritual development.

Religion is a matter of soul and not of intellect, and the greater the development of the soul in the right direction, the higher will be the spiritual state or condition of the soul. Mere intellectual belief, no matter how intense and undoubting, will not tend to bring about this spiritual development, for "religion is really nothing but the relationship and harmony of men's souls with the Soul of God." The mind will not be sufficient to create this state because the mind of man cannot possibly bring into harmony the Soul of the Creator and that of the creature. Mind, in its exercise, may tend to awaken the soul to this possibility of relationship, but only the workings of the soul can effectuate the complete unity of the Creator and the created. Only soul can speak to soul, and mind is only a helper, provided the soul is alive in its longings.

So it is apparent that that form of belief which is wholly of the intellect can have no common meeting place with that belief which is the result of the development of the soul; and, hence, to say that men of all the various religions, just because they are what are called Christians, are in an equal relationship to the Father, is erroneous and misleading.

As regards the condition of man as the perfect man, these several religions may tend to bring about this state of perfection, if the moral precepts which they teach are observed and practiced by men. But as regards man as the Divine Angel; that is, as a spirit having in itself the Essence of the Divine, only that religion which teaches the true way to acquire this Divinity can lead men to the at-onement with the Father in His very nature. There can be, in this respect, only one true religion, and only one way in which that religion can be practiced and possessed; and to say that all religions have a common point of approach is misleading and deceiving.

I know that among these various religions there are individuals who have found the way to the method of becoming transformed into the Divine Nature of the Father, and this notwithstanding that the teachings and creeds of the several churches do not show the way to this soul development into the spiritual of the Divine. But in these churches there is wanting in their dogmas and doctrines that which will help men to this true religion.

Because it may be found that in the churches there are some who have, to a degree, this Divine spirituality, there is no justification in saying that there is any common place of meeting in these several religions. Of course, the moral precepts may be and are taught by all the Christian churches, and when observed will ultimately lead all men to the condition of the perfect natural man, and only to this extent can it be said that they may have a common ground of religion arising from the belief in the moral teachings.

And the church which declares and teaches as its religion with great exactness and more enlarged comprehension is the church in which this, as I may call it, natural religion exists; and the more dissimilar these churches are in these teachings the farther apart is their approach. If a preacher of one church knows, with the conviction that arises from his sincere and honest investigation of the moral laws, that some other church is not teaching or insisting on the observation on the part of its members of these great moral truths, then he has no right to conclude and say this latter church is the possessor of religion, as is the church in which these moral truths are taught and followed by its adherents.

It is a mistake for a preacher to say that because there may be good and spiritual men in all churches, therefore, one church is as good and religious in its teachings as another church. Truth is of such a nature that it cannot be compromised, and the man or preacher who would compromise the truth is not fulfilling his duty to God or man.

The church which teaches that there is nothing greater than morality, and that man can become no more transcendent than the perfect man, is devoid of the truth and would not be accepted as a teacher of the full truth, as should the church which knows and teaches the way by which man may become a Divine Angel.

That the preachers of the various churches should accept as equal and the possessors of the true religion whenever these moral lessons are alike taught by these churches, and have a common point of approach, is not to be wondered at, because these preachers do not know the higher religion, or are able to teach the way to the same. And when it is understood that a moral truth is a truth no matter where it may appear and by whom taught, there is some justification in declaring that all churches which teach the moral truths are on a plane of equality, and that one is entitled to as much respect and freedom from criticism as another. And further, as the great truth of the rebestowal of the potentiality of receiving the Divine Love, and the effect on men's souls, was never known and taught until the coming of the Master, it is not surprising that none of the churches can or do teach this great spiritual truth and the only true religion arising there from. The knowledge of this truth perished from the earth a short time after the passing of the Master and, hence, no church can teach this religion of the soul that transforms the mortal into the Divine.

The religion of the perfect man may exist in varying degrees in all the Christian churches, but the religion of the Divine Angel exists in none, although some individuals of these churches, to some extent, have received in their souls the great truth - the Divine Love - even though they have no intellectual knowledge of the same.

I thought it advisable to make these few remarks on the declaration of the preacher as showing that his broad assertion that the religions mentioned, which to him is all embracing, may have a common meeting point with every religion. When he learns the truth, he will realize the errors of his human and brotherly declarations. I will not write more. Good night and God bless you.

Your brother in Christ,
Luke

Luke Writes on the Subject of the Devolution and Evolution of Man

July 22, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, St. Luke, writer of the third gospel that was. Well, I desire to write a few lines on the subject contained in the book, which you were reading tonight. I mean the book dealing with the creation and fall of man.

Well, the man who wrote the book is endeavoring to reconcile the Bible doctrine of the creation and fall of man with the scientists' doctrine of evolution, and to show that these two views of the subject are not antagonistic, and if properly understood may be used, one to support the other. But in this, he has not succeeded, nor can he for this reason, if there were no others, that man did not evolve from the beast or lower animal, but was always man, the creature of God, perfect in his creation and wholly natural.

There was nothing of the supernatural about him and he never possessed any nature of the superman from, which he fell at the time of his disobedience. He has never been anything more or less than the perfect creation of his Maker, although he has degenerated in his qualities and in the exercise of his will.

Evolution, or the doctrine of evolution, has its limitations and its founder, or those who follow him either wholly or in a modified way, are not able to retrace this doctrine to the fall of man and, hence, when they attempt to pass beyond that stage when man seemed to have been very degenerate and a product of the animal progenitors, they get into the field of speculation and knowledge ceases to exist.

Man was not created with any of the Divine qualities, as the writer seems to think, but was made the merely natural man that you see now, without the defilement of his soul qualities which involves only the elimination of those things from his soul that cause the departure from the condition of his creation. That is, when he was created he was in perfect harmony with the will of God and His laws and when he shall be restored to that harmony of unity with these laws, he will then be in what was his before the fall.

So the idea put forward by the author that man was created with something of the Divine in him, which took him out from a kind of physical condition of imperfection, and that when he lost these Divine qualities, he fell into that imperfect condition, is all wrong. The great truth connected with man's creation is that man was created perfect; that as regards his order of creation or the qualities of his moral and physical nature. there could be no progress, for the next step in progression would be the divine.

Thus, you will see that he was so wonderfully and perfectly made, that he was only a little lower than the angels, and by angels I mean the souls of men which have ceased to be incarnate and have partaken of the Divine Love and become a part of the Father in His Divinity of Love - not the mere souls in the spirit world which have only the development of their moral qualities, because these, whenever they have become purified and in harmony with the laws and will of God, are only men perfected in their natures and organisms as they were at the time of man's creation.

I say, the perfect man possesses those qualities and attributes that were his at the time of his creation, and he cannot progress or become greater or other than he was at the time of such creation. He was made perfect as a creation, and beyond the perfect there can be nothing greater evolved from the qualities and faculties, one and all, that made him perfect. And to progress, there must come into his nature from without - the Divine Love - that which will add to these qualities and faculties, which you may understand is no part or method of evolution.

When the first parents fell, they lost that which destroyed the harmony of their existence with the Laws of God, and also were deprived of the great potentiality of becoming Divine in their natures of Love and Immortality, like unto the Father - but as mere created men, they fell from perfection and not from divinity. Nor were they by that fall deprived of the possibility of living forever in the physical bodies, because those bodies were made only for the purpose of enabling the souls to individualize themselves and thereafter die and become dissolved into their derivative elements.

The physical body was never created to live forever, and men were never created to live on earth forever, for a greater and larger world was provided for their eternal habitation, where things are real and only the spiritual exist. The earth is a mere image of the realities of the spirit world and exists only as the nursery for the individualizing of the soul. That you may not misconceive my meaning, remember the soul is the man - the ego - and that when man fell, it was not the physical part of man that fell, except as it was influenced by the soul, but it was the soul that fell; and the sentence of death was not pronounced upon the physical, but upon the soul potentialities and, hence, you may see that when man shall again become the perfect man, it will not be necessary that the physical body be restored.

Even if it were not contrary to the physical laws of the universe or to speak more correctly to the laws controlling the material part of the universe that the material body of man be resurrected and again be housed in the soul, it would not be necessary - for the soul has its spirit body, which manifests its individuality. There is no necessity for the resurrection of the physical body, and there will be no such resurrection, for God never does a useless thing.

As I say, man has never ceased to be the man of God's creation, although he has become degenerate and defiled, and at one time in the history of his existence devolved to that degree where, save for the essential qualities of his creation, he appeared to be lower than the brutes; but he was always the man of God's creation and never an animal of the lower order.

The scientists in their geological search and research and in their finds of fossils and traces of ancient man, and in their biological theories, conclude that man was of a lower degree of intelligence and manner of living, and they may be justified in so concluding, and also that he has gradually evolved from that condition and state and draw apparent correct theories therefrom, yet when they attempt to go further, they enter only into the realm of speculation and become lost in the darkness of mystery. They can rightly acclaim the evolution of man from where they lose him in their retracing of that evolution, but can know nothing of his devolution anterior to that time; and, hence, their speculations are without foundation of substance.

No, man has not evolved from the lower animal, but only from himself when he reached the bottom of his fall. In this particular, the history and experience of man is this: he was created perfect; he sinned; he fell from the condition of his created state.

His condition at the bottom of his fall was inferior in some phases to the brute animal. After long centuries, he commenced to rise from his base condition and had made progress when the scientists by their discoveries found evidence of his then condition, and since then he has been the subject of their "evolution." But the scientists and all mankind must know that all during these centuries of descent and ascent, man was always man, the greatest creation of God, and the most fallen.

Well, I have written enough for tonight, but as I was with you to-day as you were reading and saw the misconceptions of the writer of the book, as well as those of the scientists to whom he referred, I thought it advisable to write the few incompleted truths about the subject. I will soon come and write. So with my love and blessings, I will say good night.

Your brother in Christ,
Luke

Luke Writes That Very Few Mortals Have James Padgett's Rare Phase of Mediumship

June 25, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Luke.

I have listened to your conversation and have enjoyed the facts disclosed of the knowledge of the truths that you two possess of these truths that have been conveyed to you by the various messages and the intuitions, if I may so describe, which I wish to say that I have also impressed you with these truths. And here I desire to say that in our working to make plain to you these truths by our impressions or as some mediums might say our inspirations, but we do not let you depend entirely on the mere language of the message but we try to give you accurate understanding of the true interpretation of these messages.

This you may not know but it is a fact and in many instances our work of this nature has caused you to conceive the truth that is delicate shades of meaning that otherwise you might not have received. And from this, you will understand that you have the clairvoyant faculty as well as that of writing. And when I say clairvoyant, I do not mean that faculty which enables you to hear clearly with the spirit ear, but rather that which enables you to receive our impressions and inspires you being actually conscious of the reception of these impressions.

So you see, you have the opportunity of receiving these things which very few mortals have, for this is a phase of mediumship, as it might be called, which is rare and not possessed by many mortals. It differs from the ordinary inspirational phase in this that - where the medium receives information in this latter way - the spirit ear actually hears the thoughts coming of which the medium is conscious while in the former method there is neither an actual hearing or a consciousness on the part of the mortal of the thing conveyed. And all during the delivery of these messages of the higher truths both to you and your friend, you will have the benefit of our instructions conveyed in this impressional way.

Well, I am glad that you are both progressing in soul development as you are doing, and if you continue to pray and seek, this will increase until the time will come that will bring to you powers that you do not now conceive of.

You both, as you know, have special guardians who are looking after you in reference to these spiritual things that will not fail to succeed in making you what they desire, and what you will wonder at when the time of your realization comes.

I heard what my charge (Eugene Morgan) said as to my writing him a special message dealing with truth that will help in the work that he is now doing among the deluded spirits in purgatory, and I will soon fulfill that promise and when I see that he is in the proper condition, I will write.

I will not write more tonight but with my love advise you both to pray and have faith and you will be happier on earth and more than happy when you come to your eternal homes. Good night.

Your brother in Christ,
Luke

St. Peter Writes that Jesus Did Not Perform All the Miracles Claimed in the Bible

May 30, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, St. Peter, Apostle of Jesus.

I have seen what you were reading (Luke's Gospel) and must inform you that many of the supposed miracles of healing and raising of the dead and the controlling of the laws or expressions of nature never occurred. No, these accounts are not true and are the results of the imaginings of men who attempted to add to the book that Luke wrote. Of course, there is a true foundation for some of these alleged miracles, but as to others, there is no foundation in fact.

Jesus did heal the sick and cure the blind and the deaf and the withered hand and the palsied man and resurrected the supposed dead, but not in the way described in the New Testament; and it is not good for men to believe in the truth of all these miracles.

Well, that incident never occurred, for Jesus in casting out evil spirits would have had no authority or power to permit them to enter into the swine, and it would not have been in consonance with his love and ideas of what was just to have allowed the swine to receive these spirits and thereby perish as the account says. And besides, the result of such an happening would have been that the property of the innocent owners was taken from them and lost.

In all Jesus' performance of miracles, or in any of his teachings, did he ever do or say that which worked wrong to a human being. All men were to him the objects of his love and the salvation which he came to earth to show men the way to. Sometime, I will consider these miracles in a message and inform you of those that he actually performed and those that are the mere fancies of some of those eastern teachers who had a very wonderful imagination and used them in adding to the truths of Luke's original writings.

Well, there is some little truth in that for we were in a storm and were afraid and he slept, and we awakened him, but he did not rebuke the storm and the waves and cause them to subside, but rather he allayed our fears by his talk and example and to us it became as if there were no storm, for when fear left us, it was as if we were not sensible of the storm so far as the dread of drowning or perishing was concerned. No, this is another interpolation and should not be believed.

Many wonders ascribed to Jesus were never performed, although it appeared to us as if there was no limit to the powers of Jesus. But sometime I will come and write fully on this matter. I must stop now.

Your brother in Christ,
Peter

Luke, the Guardian Angel of Eugene Morgan, Writes About the Great Work He is Doing Among the Dark Catholic Spirits

May 14, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Luke.

I want to take advantage of the opportunity to write while my dear and personal charge (Eugene Morgan) is present. As he knows, I have been with him a great deal, doing for him that which gives me great pleasure, and also helps him in his work of trying to convert some of the dark spirits who are living and suffering in the very erroneous beliefs that they had when on earth, and which, if they be left alone, will cause them to remain in their darkness for a time or times that cannot be determined.

I want further to say that he cannot possibly appreciate the work that he is doing, and its results upon these spirits who come to him, not for kindly purposes, but to pronounce upon him the anathemas of the church, which they used when on earth to scare the unruly believers of their congregations. Of course, I refer to the priests of the Catholic Church, for they, of all the spirits in the spirit world, make the greatest efforts to keep their followers together and with the greatest feelings of hatred and indignation resent any attempt to intrude upon and change the beliefs of these followers.

But I am glad that my charge does not become frightened or allow these priests to prevent him from doing his work, which is a wonderful work in this, that never before in all the history of the habitation of the Catholics and their deluded leaders in the Spirit World has any attempt by mortals been made to impinge upon the authority and domination of these priests and, consequently, he must not be surprised to know that his crusade, for I must call his efforts such, has started a very considerable commotion among these blind followers and their blind leaders; and more especially is this the case when it is known to be a fact that many of these Catholics have been shown the way to light and have embraced the opportunity to follow the instructions and teachings given them and get out of their darkness and away from the folds of these priests.

He is doing a great work and must persevere, for if he has been the means of saving only one of these poor benighted spirits, he has done a work greater than that of conquering a city, as the Bible says. But he has shown not only one to the light and truth, but many, and those thus saved from their darkness and suffering have taught others the way, and the work thus started by him goes on in almost geometrical progression. No man before has done this work among the spirits of that faith, and when it is considered that there are myriads of them, it can be appreciated what the possibilities are for an earnest worker in the way of changing a sinful and benighted and satisfied soul in sin into a spirit of light and happiness.

And I want further to tell him that this work of his is becoming noised all through the host of Catholic followers and many are asking about its effect upon the congregations of the faithful, and many also have become dissatisfied with their condition and commenced to doubt the truths of the teachings of the priests and their promises of salvation through the prayers and masses, and are commencing to make inquiry as to where this mortal can be found and how he may be reached. Now, what I have written you is a fact, for I visit these spheres where these spirits live and hear what is said among them, and know that the efforts that my charge has made to help these dark Catholic spirits who have come to him have resulted in good.

Well, I could continue much longer my description of what effect his work has had upon these spirits of darkness and delusion, but will not do so tonight. Now, I want to say a few personal words to him. As he knows, I am praying for him and am interested in his every thought as to spiritual matters and am with him, in times of doubt and loss of faith, trying to encourage him. And I want to say that he must not lose faith or doubt what we have written him or the truth that he has received in his soul the Divine Love to a great degree, and that if he will continue to pray, he will receive more and more, and after a time his faith will become so strong that it will almost be impossible for him to doubt and he will then realize the meaning of faith as the Master defined it; all the aspirations of his soul will become things of real existence.

He is blessed among mortals, for there are very few who have with them the association and rapport of the high spirits, as he has, and when it is understood what this means, it will be seen that he enjoys that which the civilized world among its church members pray for continually and yet never realize, as he does, palpably and unmistakably, the presence of these high spirits and the sensible presence of their love, and even that of the highest and greatest of all spirits, the Master.

I am so anxious that he shall realize all the privileges and blessings that have been bestowed upon him, for I want him to develop his soul and permit me to come into a higher and closer rapport, which only the greater development of his soul will bring about.

I will not write more tonight, as I see that you are somewhat tired, but in closing permit me to say that I most earnestly desire that he shall realize who and what I am, and how much I want him to understand that I am his own Guardian Angel, with a duty that only my love makes it pleasurable for me to perform, and that so long as he shall live as a mortal, I will be with him and as time goes by will get in closer rapport with him, which will result in his powers increasing more and more until, before the time comes for him to perform the great work that has been given him to do, he will be in that condition that will enable him to do it successfully to the glory of the Father and the salvation of mankind.

You may wonder that I write so enthusiastically tonight, but when you come to realize the great work that is to be done and that I know to the fullest extent what it means, and the further fact that I have in my soul the Great Divine Love of the Father to a degree that not many of the Celestial Spirits have, you will not wonder.

So, believe me and trust me, and know without doubt that I love you both with a more than brother's love. May the Father bless and keep you both in His care. Pray and pray and believe. Good night,

Your brother in Christ,
Luke

Swedenborg Writes on Earth He Did Not Know of the Divine Love; Luke and Helen Confirm

April 8, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Swedenborg.

I merely want to say that I have been reading my work as you read, and that I now realize how many statements of error and untruth I made in that work. The errors are so many that it will take a longer time than I have tonight in which to give you a bare outline of them. But I will soon come and write you and hope that you can give me an evening when I can write without limitation of time.

Since I have been in the spirit world, I have found that there are so many statements in my writings of my experiences while in the mortal, when I was permitted in my spirit - or as I then said "interiors" - to enter the spirit world, that were not truly conceived or interpreted, that it is absolutely necessary that I should correct and describe in accordance with what I now know of the truth, and especially is this necessary as I have on earth a large number of mortals who believe in my teachings and are trying to follow them in their lives and deeds. So you will appreciate my anxiety to be permitted to write. Tonight, I will not write more.

Well, I am sorry to say, that I did not know of the Divine Love, which by its reception into the soul made angels of men and recreated them, so that their souls became in their very substance, Divine. I did not know of this Love as contradistinguished from the love that was bestowed upon man at his creation, and which, in itself, has nothing of the Divine. No, I was ignorant of this and never learned it in the spirit world in my visits to that world, nor in my conversation with spirits.

I know now that no matter how great is the ruling love of a man for falsity and evil when he enters the Hells, he will have the opportunity to have that love changed, and that ultimately the loves of all who are in the Hells will be changed into the love for good; in some instances into the Love of the Divine, and in others, to the purification of their natural loves to that which will make them perfect men. These are some of the things that I desire to write about, and there are many others equally erroneous.

I am in the Celestial Spheres and, of course, am an angel of God and the possessor of His Divine Love that has caused my soul to become Divine and immortality to become to me a thing of understanding and possession. I will stop now, and with my love and the blessings of God and all the Divine Angels, I will say good night.

Your brother in Christ,

Swedenborg

**********

Luke affirms that Swedenborg wrote.

I am here, Luke.

I come to tell you that you must not doubt that Swedenborg wrote to you, and what you wrote, or rather, received, in answer to your questions, he actually wrote. We are all desirous that he shall write you on the subjects that he has expressed a desire to write upon, for many of the teachings and doctrines that are contained in his earthly writings are erroneous and must be corrected, for they are being studied and believed in by many mortals, and all to their leading away from the truth.

The one great error or untruth that must be corrected is his teaching, that Jesus is God. This is blasphemous and abhorrent to all the angelic spirits, and more so to the Master than to any other, and for the correction of this, Swedenborg must write. Well, I will not write more tonight, except to say this, that another anniversary of the resurrection of the Master, as it is believed, has come, and men are worshipping Jesus as God, and sending their praises and thanks to him as the great redeemer of the world by his death and resurrection, while as you know, his death had very little to do with that redemption, and his resurrection was not the resurrection that he taught could be the experience and possession of all mankind.

It is pitiable and destructive to the truth for men to believe and teach that the mere resurrection of the spirit from the body is the resurrection that Jesus came to teach and demonstrate; and when we see each year the repetition of the observance of the anniversary of this rising of Jesus from his physical body, and all the false beliefs and teachings, we realize more and more the necessity for our truths being made known to the world.

So you must work harder and pray to the Father to increase your soul development so that our messages may be more rapidly received. Remember what John said a few nights ago and believe, for the promises then made will soon be realized by you. I will come soon and write a message. With my love and great desire that we become closer in our rapport and more expedient in our work, I will say good night.

Your brother in Christ, Luke

**********

Helen confirms that Swedenborg wrote.

I am here, your own true and loving Helen.

Well dear, I come to say that Swedenborg actually wrote you, as I realize that you had a doubt come into your mind as to whether he really wrote. He actually answered your questions in his own words, and not any thought contained in his answers came from your mind. Luke also wrote, and you must believe. Good night and God bless you.

Your own true and loving, Helen

Lukes Writes About the Spirits Who Reside in the Twilight Zone and Their Progress in the Natural Love

February 5, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Luke.

I merely want to say that you are in better condition tonight, and that I will write a few lines upon a subject that may be of interest to you.

In the spirit world, there are many spirits who are in neither darkness nor light, but are in what has been called the Twilight Zone, and are neither very happy nor unhappy. These are spirits who have progressed from the lower spheres, where they expiated their sins and errors of the earth life and have gotten rid of their recollections of many of their sins and have progressed somewhat in the development of their natural love and, also, in the acquirement of the intellectual knowledge, and are not feeling the stings of conscience, but are realizing the happiness which the forgiveness of their sins and the improvement of their intellects causes them to have.

They are, to a large extent, very much in the condition of men who have paid the penalties of their sins, yet have not received such increase in their natural love as to enable them to progress to the higher intellectual spheres where the spirit becomes to a more or less degree the perfect man. And they have been a long time making their progress, for it is a fact that the development of their souls from the condition of the wholly sinful man to that where such sins have almost disappeared is a very slow development.

These spirits, though, are not to be classed with the dark spirits who so often come to you for help and relief from their darkness, for they are in that condition where it is difficult to convince them that they need any help in order that they may have a more wonderful progress and obtain greater happiness.

In this Zone, the spirits seem to be well satisfied with their conditions and have the belief that their advancement must necessarily be slow and that there is not a better and quicker way to obtain relief from their conditions.

Among this class of spirits commences the greatest difficulty for the higher spirits to successfully convince them of the great truth of the Divine Love and the possibilities of obtaining a condition that will place them in the higher soul spheres without the long delay in making their progress.

In the lower spheres, the spirits are not satisfied and generally are very desirous of getting relief from the darkness and suffering and, as a consequence, we can do more to convince them of the truths that are so necessary for them to know.

You would be surprised to know the number of spirits who are in this Zone, and the great number of years they have been in making the progress that they have made. Many of them have been in the states to which I refer for centuries and yet have never known any desire to progress out of those states except in the way that they consider to be the gradual and natural way to advance.

I will not write more now. So, good night, and may God bless you.

Your brother in Christ,
Luke

James Writes that Dr. Leslie R. Stone is Progressing in His Soul Development and in His Rapport with the Spirits of the Higher Spheres

January 8, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, James.

I want to say a few words to you and the Dr. (Leslie R. Stone) for, as you know, I am especially interested in him as his guardian and spiritual helper. I, of course, do not have the opportunity to write him as often as I should desire, but yet I am with him very much trying to help him in his soul developing and in his spiritual understanding of the Heavenly things that Luke has just written of, and I am glad to inform him that he is progressing in his soul development, and in his rapport with the spirits of the higher spheres.

I am with him frequently as he tells others of the Divine Love and the other truths pertaining to the spirit world, and sometimes I suggest to him thoughts, which I see may be beneficial to his hearers. He may think that sometimes the thoughts that he conveys to those with whom he talks are thrown to the winds and leave no impression on the minds of his hearers, and sometimes this is true, but I must tell him here that in many cases they take root, at least, for the time being and cause these hearers to think and wonder if there can be any truth in what they hear and as to how they may learn more of the things that are told them.

He is doing a good work in this way and must continue to do so, for there is no telling when a word or idea dropped into the mind of other people may find lodgment and grow into greater and wider thoughts and cause serious inquiries as to the truth.

What he says has this advantage over what is generally taught as to religious matters and, that is, that his thoughts as he expresses them are new and not objectionable to reason and, as a consequence, the hearers wonder how the thoughts could have arisen and give to their consideration more attention than they otherwise would do.

All the world is ready for the truth that will satisfy the soul and liberate the mind from creeds and unreasonable beliefs, and whenever anyone speaks such truth, it is heard - no matter what its source - the anxious soul will grasp it and often meditate over it.

He must keep up his courage and belief in his spirit friends, who are behind and with him, helping him in this part of his work, for it is a part, but not the important part. Have faith and let his soul reach out more and more for the Great Love of which he speaks and believes in, and he will realize in the not far distant future a power that he little conceives of. He must know this, also, that he is being prepared and developed for the great work which he has to do that will help very largely to make certain and convincing the truths that you are receiving in the messages.

He must have patience and he will not be disappointed for the powers that are with him are great enough to carry forward the great work, which is set before him to do. Even now they could fill him with the power which will be his, but the time is not yet in the order of the plan which has been determined on for the forwarding of the work that must be done. I am pleased that I could write this tonight as I feel that, though he has much faith, yet he must also have encouragement based on what will be his as the time comes for helping humanity.

Love is the great thing, and he who teaches the way to that Love, is a great instrument in the work of the Father, and his position of a good and faithful servant will be one that even Angels may envy. This is not extravagance, but actual truth, and I know that when he shall have finished his work and come to his spirit home, he will realize that what I have said is a faint representation of the actual fact.

I must not write more tonight. With my love to you both and the promise of continuous help, I will say good night.

Your brother in Christ,
James

Luke Writes About the Necessity for Men Turning Their Thoughts to Things Spiritual

October 16, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, St. Luke, of the New Testament.

I desire to write my promised message, and if you feel that you can receive it, I will try to write. Well, I desire to declare certain truths with reference to the necessity for men turning their thoughts to things spiritual and letting the material things of life consume less of their time and thoughts.

In the first place, that which is eternal is of more importance than that which is temporal and has an existence for a short time only, even though these things of time are necessary to sustain and preserve man while living his life on earth.

I would not be understood as implying that these material things are not necessary and important for man to acquire and use to the best possible advantage, for they are a necessity to his earth existence, and it is not only a privilege but a duty for man to make the best use of these material gifts that is possible, and to place himself in that condition which will enable him to enjoy to the utmost these things that have been provided for his material comfort and happiness.

And further, it is his duty to bend his efforts to develop the use and application of these things, so that the greatest possible benefit and utility may be derived from the proper use of them. And to do this, I understand that man has to give a portion of his thoughts, and devote a part of his time to their consideration, and to the means and methods by which the best results may be brought about, and in doing this man is not disobedient to the Father's laws, or to the requirements which the laws of his own being calls for.

The discoveries of the inventors are desirable and men's work in making these discoveries is commendable, and so are efforts of the merchant and mechanic and financiers to succeed in their different undertakings and as a result accumulate money and use it for their comfort and sustenance. But these things, or the thoughts and efforts used to accomplish these results, do not help the soul development, or even the development of the spiritual side of man's nature, and if man devotes himself for the greater number of his hours of living to these pursuits, when he comes to lay these burdens down and pass into the land of spirits, he will find that he is very poor, indeed, and that the eternal part of his being has little developed, and his soul fitted for a place where those who have laid up their riches on earth must necessarily go.

So attractive is this accumulation of money, and the gaining of fame or position to man, that when once engaged in, and especially when accompanied with what he calls success, he naturally devotes his whole waking time and thoughts to these efforts and, as a consequence, very little of this short time on earth is given to thoughts of and striving for things of the higher kind.

If mortals, and especially those who are so arduously and constantly engaged in the effort to win the success that I have just mentioned, could only see and know the condition of those who when on earth were engaged in similar pursuits with like aspirations, and who are now in the spirit world, they would realize the utter futility of such efforts, and the great soul-killing harm that the so-called success on earth has brought to these spirits.

And while we may assume that many of these spirits did not do affirmative wrong or injury in their work and did not enter into the condition to which I refer because of any such among or injury, yet they are in a stagnated and shriveled condition of soul and spiritual qualities, and all because when - in their earnest pursuits of these material things - they neglected the development of their souls or the cultivation of their spiritual qualities.

Their sin was that of omission and it is a sure one in its results, and the more common one among men who think too much of material things, or think not at all or are indifferent to everything, and are satisfied to live in an atmosphere or state of vegetating contentment. The law operates the same upon the man who neglects his spiritual nature because of his absorption in the things material as upon the man who is guilty of such neglect because of indifference, or contentment with the pleasures that these material things give him. In both cases the results are the same - the soul remains stagnant and the spiritual qualities lie dormant; and the man of such neglect will find his place in the spirit world to be one of darkness and suffering.

Life is short and time is fleeting, even though a man may live his allotted time of three score and ten years, and there is no place in all God's universe where it is so important that man should start on his way to eternal progress as in the earth life. There the soul should have its awakening and be fed with thoughts and strivings for the things spiritual. When the start is, thus, made on earth, it is so much easier for the continuous progress of the soul in the spirit world, if not the awakening may be delayed for years, and the progress which follows it may be and generally is very slow.

So I say, let men not devote so much of their time to those things which are of time only, and while they remain in the world of time until the mortal becomes a spirit.

Thoughts are things and when applied to man's spiritual development, they are things of the most vital importance. A little thought may start a soul to a dormant, hardly living state, or cause it to grow and increase into a thing of beauty and harmony with the spiritual possibilities of its possessor. And as it has been said, where your treasures are, there will your heart be also, so also will your thoughts that turn man's soul into darkness or light.

So with all my love, I will say, good night.

Your brother in Christ,
Luke

Luke Writes About a Preacher Who Has Considerable Divine Love But Doesn't Yet Know of the Truths

October 12, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Luke.

I will say only a few words tonight. I have heard the preacher's (Rev. J. S. Gordon) remarks and your conversation regarding the same. Well, the preacher, as you say, is broader-minded than most orthodox preachers and has some knowledge of spiritualism, yet intellectually he believes in the trinity and vicarious atonement and some other of the fundamental doctrines of the church. He has in his soul considerable Divine Love without knowing just what this Love means, except that from its possession he experiences a wonderful happiness and a consciousness that God is close to him in His Love. He has not formulated these feelings of his soul into mental beliefs, but his realization of the presence of the Love comes to him notwithstanding the intellectual drawbacks which, in a degree, retard the growth of his soul. But, as he says, he rests more upon the unconscious knowledge, if I may call it such, of his possession, and the actual living, working presence of this Love, than upon the beliefs in these dogmas of the church.

He has a comparatively open mind, but as he believes so implicitly in the Bible, he has not yet found any evidence in other writings or books or teachings sufficiently strong to cause him to renounce his beliefs in the Bible teachings. But should he find such evidence he would not hesitate to change his beliefs in these things for what might appear to him to be the truth. He is not one of the iron-bound believers in the church dogmas or ecclesiastical interpretations and constructions of the declarations of the Bible, so that under all circumstances, and in spite of truths that might otherwise come to him, he would say a thing is true just because it is in the Bible. He will grow in freedom and knowledge, and it may be well for you to get acquainted with him and gradually declare to him the truths as we have explained them to you.

It is not necessary for me to comment on a particular thing that he preached, for some things that he said are true and some things are not.

I am glad that you three (Dr. Leslie R. Stone, Eugene Morgan and James E. Padgett) are so interested in these matters as to cause you to listen to the thoughts that the preacher expresses and to comment upon and analyze them. It will do you good and develop in you a large understanding of what we have been writing you. The argument of contrast is sometimes a very powerful and discriminating one, and I would advise you to attend his discourses, whenever you feel that he intends to preach upon a subject that may affect or in any way relate to the truths in which you are interested.

Give my love to your friends and tell them to believe and pray and especially pray, for thereby will light and knowledge and faith come to them. I will say good night and leave you my blessing.

Your brother in Christ,
Luke

Luke Writes About the Special Guardians for Eugene Morgan, Dr. Leslie R. Stone and James E. Padgett

October 5, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Luke.

I did not come to write a message tonight but merely to corroborate what Mr. (Eugene) Morgan told you I had spoken to him. It was I and he understood correctly what I said and what I said to him is the truth. I want him to believe for I have a spiritual interest in him and in his spiritual progression and am with him very often trying to help him.

As the preacher (Dr. Gordon) said tonight, back of each mortal who thinks thoughts and evil deeds, I mean of the kind that is important, is an unseen spirit using its influence to suggest truths and inspire soul. And while they are unseen, yet are they evil and more or less harmful?

If men could only know who these unseen helpers are, they would understand the power and wisdom that are back of him helping their thoughts and attempting to control their acts. Sometimes a mortal will have more than one of such helpers but as a general proposition, there exists some special helper who is with the mortal more constantly than the others and acquiring a rapport which the general helpers do not have.

I will tell you now who these spirit helpers and writers of you three men who have been selected for the great work are: Dr. (Leslie R.) Stone is James; Mr. Morgan's is myself; and yours is John; and over and above all - helping all three of you - is Jesus, the highest and most knowing of all. You must each and all believe this and not be astonished if to each of you comes his special guardian quite often.

I thought it best to make it known to you these facts as from the knowledge three of you may realize that back of you are spirits who are powerful and filled with the Father's Love. Believe and pray and you will find that in each of you will develop a spiritual power that will cause you much happiness and the certainty of your relation with us.

I will come soon and write you a message. With all my love and blessing, I will say good night.

Your brother in Christ,
Luke

**********

Helen Confirms Luke's Message

I am here, your own true and loving Helen.

I see that you may have some doubts as to who the last writer was because of his announcement of such an important fact as the guardians who are with you there. It was Luke who wrote and what he wrote I know to be true. It is wonderful that these spirits should assume such a relationship with you and the wonder is that it is true.

So all of you believe and conduct your lives and thoughts in accordance with the assurance given you. I thought I would write my message tonight but it is too late. I was with you at church and in your walk afterwards and so was Mary and we enjoyed the conversation very much.

Yes, I wrote the message and wrote it with all my love and desire to help you. It was true and you will realize that I wrote you will come to pass. Keep up your courage and believe in us all for we are all trying to help and do and will. Well, I must stop now. So believe that I love you and am,

Your own true and loving,
Helen

Luke Writes About the Doctrine of Original Sin and the Principle Involved in "Whosoever Will"

April 27, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Luke.

I have not written you for some time and desire to write a short message tonight on the subject of: "What is necessary for a man to do to recover the purity of soul and love that was possessed by the first parents - I mean as a man possessing the natural love only."

Well, in the first place, he should realize that he is a perfect creature of God, and that his sins and diseases are merely the results of his own thoughts and of qualities that have come to him down the long ages of his ancestors living on earth.

He need not suppose that these sins and desires are inherent in or a part of his creation, for they are not, but merely accretions that fastened themselves upon him by reason of the thoughts he has had and the resultant course of life he has led, and when he changes these thoughts, which will necessarily bring about a change in his manner of living, he will find that he can progress toward the condition of the perfect man.

I know that many of these thoughts are so deep seated that they seem almost a part of his very nature and can only be eradicated by the death of his physical body; but this is not true, for man, even while in the full vigor of his manhood and possessed with all the appetites and desires, which arise from the perverted indulgence of these desires either on the part of himself or on the part of those from whom he is said to have inherited them, may relieve himself from these desires and become a man having only the thoughts of good and desires for those things, which are in harmony with the nature of his perfect creation.

This I know seems to man a thing impossible and so thinking, he does not try to accomplish what I say he may accomplish and to become free from these sins and unnatural appetites. The almost universal belief in original sin has caused men - all along the ages - to think that such a task is hopeless, and that they are thinking and acting only in accordance with the appetites and desires that God has implanted in their natures, and that so long as they indulge these thoughts and desires in a moderate or respectable way, they are not doing that which is contrary to God's Will or to their own nature.

But this doctrine of original sin is a mocking, damnable lie, and the sooner man realizes the fact that it is a fraud and deceit, the sooner he will be able to get rid of those things, which have placed him in his present condition and held him there bound, as it were, hand and foot. This supine submission to this old and ever recurring belief is the great thing that prevents man from starting to progress towards the attainment of that condition, which is purity and health and the perfect man.

Man must decline and no longer submit to this belief, which, I am sorry to say, is fostered by the teachings of the orthodox churches in order to sustain and make forcible their creeds and dogmas, and to show to man that he is not to be considered worthy of the mercy of the Father and cannot possibly obtain that mercy and be relieved from the great wrath and punishment that God has prepared for him, unless he believes and acknowledges that he is a dependent and lost man, unworthy of the Father's favor, or the help of the instrumentalities which the Father uses to assist men in regaining their lost estate.

If men would only think, and in thinking realize that they are dear children of the Father and His highest creation, and that He prizes them above all His creatures and wants them to know that they are beings of such wonderful qualities and possibilities, they would then have come to them an overpowering and convincing sense of what they really are, and of how necessary it is for them to assert their rights as such exalted creatures of the Father and would realize that they are masters of sin and disease, for they are the creators of the same.

When they shall assume such position and become possessed of such knowledge, they will find that they have a wonderful power as creatures of the Father, they will realize that they are masters of sin that must be gotten rid of.

Let men for a moment think again and thinking, know that God does not desire His greatest creature to become or be less than the perfect being that He created. He is not flattered nor does He have any pleasure in the thought that man is degraded and fallen from His perfect creation, and that in order to rise again he, man, must believe that God may show His power in rescuing him from his low and hopeless condition. No, God is not pleased by man assuming such an attitude, nor does He need any such helpless condition of man that He may show His power or gratify what the teachings of these orthodox imply, His vanity, which He has not.

In this particular, man must work out his own salvation, but it will be a difficult task so long as he continues to believe and act upon that belief, that he is a creature of original sin, and that as God in the beginning failed to make him the perfect man, so now, only God can remedy what He failed to provide in His creation, and that man of himself can do nothing; that all he has to do is to wait until God is pleased to recreate him and thereby take from his very nature this great curse of the original sin. See the great fatality of such belief and how it tends to make man a slave of and obedient to this false belief in this blight of original sin?

God gave to man, in his creation, the great power of will and the right to its unlimited exercise, subject only to the penalties of a wrongful exercise; and by the exercise of that will, man created sin and disease and became depraved and fallen, and the possessor of false beliefs as to the perfection of his nature. By the exercise of that will, man - himself - must redeem himself from this condition of depravity and false belief and again become the perfect man - God's wholly perfect creation.

As man was in the beginning the perfect son of God, and by his own will created his own and only devil, so must he - by this same power - kill this devil and again become the perfect son. He must believe and declare and show the sincerity of his beliefs by his acts and living, that he is a perfect son of the Father needing no new creation.

This I have written to show what man was in the beginning, and what he really and truly is now; although covered with sin and disease and false beliefs. To recover this lost estate or better, condition, he will find that by searching for and learning and acting upon many of the moral precepts of the Bible and of other so-called sacred writings, he will be greatly helped and strengthened in his efforts. But above all, let him understand and believe with the certainty of knowledge, that he is God's highest and most perfect creation.

Now, from what I have said, it must not be inferred that man is his own God, and has not - and needs not - any tender, loving Father, who is interested in him and always ready to help him whenever he earnestly and in sincerity asks the help of that Father. Always is man dependent upon God; but that dependence is not recognized by God, unless man first recognizes it and by his longings and thoughts shows to the Father that he needs His help.

This may seem unbelievable, but man was created so independent in his great will power, as regards the dualities of thought and desire both spiritual and material, that God never interferes to compel. The principle involved in "whosoever will" must be exercised by man before the Father will intervene. But when it is exercised, He does intervene and never refuses or fails to answer the call of the sincere cry of man for help.

And God does help man in his recovery from the state of false beliefs and degradation, that I have mentioned. His Love overshadows men, and His instrumentalities are always ready and waiting to answer the call upon Him for His help in assisting them out of their condition of sin, disease and false beliefs; for, as I have elsewhere written you, in God's universe there must be perfect harmony, and the present man, so far as his own creation of inharmony is concerned, is not in that harmony. Ultimately, man, all men, will become again the perfect man.

Of course, you will understand that what I have written does not apply to the redeemed sons of God who receive the New Birth and become partakers of the Divine Nature of the Father, for in their case, the perfect man is absorbed in the Divine Angel.

I have written longer than I intended, but as the theme is an interesting as well as important one, I thought it best to write just as I have. I will now say good night and leave with you my love and blessings.

Your brother in Christ,
Luke

Charles Latham, a Preacher During the Reformation, Writes a Short Note to Confirm St. Luke's Message on the Unpardonable Sin

October 31, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Latham.

I was a preacher in the days of the Reformation and died in England a martyr to my beliefs and preachings.

I merely came to tell you that you must believe in what Luke wrote you as to the unpardonable sin, for I know that it is not true, for many men who on earth denied God and the Holy Spirit, have since coming into the spirit world found the Divine Love of the Father and salvation.

I know it may not have been necessary for me to say this, yet I thought it best to do so, as I was a man and became a spirit long after Luke lived and that which he said was the truth in my day and is the truth now.

I will not write more but will say goodnight.

Your brother in Christ,
Chas. Latham