Jesus Writes on the Necessity of Faith and Prayer in Doing the Work

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

I am here, Jesus.

I was with you tonight and heard the sermon, but there was not much said that was very vital to our truths, and I have no comments to make on the sermon. Luther was there also and was disappointed somewhat, for he rather expected the preacher to say some things that might have been beneficial to the souls of his hearers. He will write you very soon, and he is very anxious to do so.

Remember that I love you with a very great love, and that you are my chosen one to do this work, and that to no other man has such an opportunity and privilege ever been given; and you must not become a failure. So much is dependent upon the world getting the truths at this time, for men's souls are longing for the truth, and are susceptible to receiving the same than ever in the history of mankind. So believe in my love and anxiety and permit yourself to get in close rapport with me. I will pray with you tonight, and you will realize some response to my prayers. When you pray tonight, believe that what you ask for will come, and you will not be disappointed.

Well, as I told you, when I delivered to you the prayer, if you offer that prayer with all the earnestness and longings of your soul, it will be answered; and when the answer comes these material things will come also, for when you receive what that prayer asks for, you will then be in possession of the Kingdom of God, and these other things will be added to you. God knows what you need and is always ready to bestow upon you these needful things, and when you become His true child, He will not neglect to give you these other things. He is more thoughtful and careful of His children than is the earthly father, and His angels are always ready to do His bidding, So have faith and pray and pray and you will realize the wonderful responses that will come to you.

I will not write more tonight, but again impress upon you the necessity of faith and prayer; and you must not forget that we angels of the Father are with you trying to help you. Good night.

With all my love and blessings, I am

Your brother and friend,
Jesus

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Luke affirming that the Master wrote.

I am here, Luke.

I will say only a word, for I see how you feel and how important it is that you believe that the Master wrote you, and how certain it is that you can rely upon what he said. If you only knew how much he is interested in you, and how much love and care He is bestowing upon you, you would not for a moment doubt or lose faith in his promises. And, besides, we are all with you in love and efforts to help you. So believe and you will not be disappointed. With my love I will say, good night.

Your brother in Christ,
Luke

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Eight Celestial Spirits affirm that Jesus wrote.

I will say that we are all here, and heard what the Master said, and know that he wrote, and that you can rely on what he said, let doubt leave you, and love and faith take possession of your soul. May God bless and keep you in His love,

Paul, John, James, Luther, Barnabas, Samuel, John Wesley, John the Baptist

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Helen affirms that eight of the Celestial Spirits signed their names.

I am here, your own true and loving Helen.

Well, dear, the messages have been rather unusual tonight. I mean the messages corroborating what the Master said, and they show you that you must not doubt or lose your faith in what has been written you, not only tonight but in all the past. You must also see how interested these spirits are in you, and in the work you must do, for otherwise you would never have received such messages.

Each of those whose names are subscribed, actually wrote. I know them all and saw them sign their names, and with each signature was a prayer that God would bless you and give you a great abundance of His Love. It is all so wonderful, that I am somewhat astonished at this great display of interest in you, and desire that you shall believe. So, my dear husband, believe with all your soul, and trust in the love of the Master, and his great desire to see you happy and free.

I will not write more tonight, although I had intended to write my personal letter, but you are too tired to receive it. But you know how much I love you and how anxious I am to see you happy and filled with the Father's Love. I love you and want you to love me. Good night.

Your own true and loving,

Helen

Martin Luther Writes a Note of Encouragement to James E. Padgett About the Greater Importance of His Work

April 12, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Luther.

When I was on earth, I had my troubles and suffering but thanks be to the Father, I was never forsaken and you will not be.

And when you consider the greater importance of your work as compared to mine, you must realize that the Father and the powers of His angels are more interested in preserving you from everything that may interfere with your work than He was with me; for while I was earnest and sincere in what I attempted to do and believed that I was right in my attacks on Catholicism and in my teachings of the truth, yet I was in error in many things; and you, on the contrary, will not be in error, because what you may receive will come only from the spirits and angels who know what God's Truths are. So you must see the importance of your work and the necessity for its being accomplished.

Take courage, and when these thoughts of dread of not being provided for and being felt without the means necessary to your existence come to you, cast them aside. My dear brother, believe what I have been trying to impress you with and that we all love you and are trying to help you. Good night.

Your brother in Christ,
Luther

Martin Luther Writes on Swedenborg and Why His Mission was a Failure

February 28, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here. Luther.

I merely desire to say that as you read the pamphlet I read with you, and the description and explanation therein contained - as to who God is - are entirely erroneous and blasphemous. Jesus never claimed or taught, while on earth, that he was God, and this I say because he has so instructed us, and he never since becoming a spirit has made any such claim, and the teachings of the New Church in this particular are all wrong and tend to lead men away from the true conception of who God and Jesus both are.

Swedenborg has often conversed with me about his teachings and declared that his explanations as to God are not in accord with the knowledge that he now has, and that the teachings as contained in his books upon this subject were the results very largely of his own speculations, and the results of his endeavors in trying to reconcile what he thought was an absurd conception of the nature and being of God with the true interpretation of the Bible.

He could not accept the doctrine of the Trinity, as explained and accepted and taught by the Church and, hence, being a believer in the inspiration of the Bible and its infallibility of religious truths, he sought some exegesis (critical explanation or analysis) that might be consistent with the Bible, and at the same time in consonance with his ideas of reason and common sense. But, as he now says, he added mysticism to mysticism and irrational explanations to irrational explanations, and the result was that his teachings were more absurd and more difficult to understand than were the teachings of his church.

The doctrine of the Trinity, as you have been told, is not true and never had any authority in the teachings of Jesus or those of the Apostles and Bible writers, and was merely the deduction of some of the old fathers of the church arising from their speculations and desire to make of Jesus a God, though a lesser God than the Father, and at the same time one with the Father and a part of the Godhead that must be considered as being only one God, and as taught by the Old Testament writers and prophets that there is only one God.

This doctrine, of course, was absurd and, hence, was one of the mysteries of God, but nevertheless was taught as a truth and incumbent upon man to believe whether they could understand it or not which, of course, they could not. But the doctrine was not accepted by all the writers of the early days, for as you know, there were bitter controversies among these expounders of what they supposed to be the scriptures upon the question as to who Jesus was, and his relation to God. But as the years went by the doctrine of the Trinity became firmly established as a canon of belief in the church, and in my time on earth, it was believed and not questioned by the church; and I believed it also, although I could not understand it.

Now, Swedenborg was a member of the church that bore my name and which I was credited with having founded and believed in its doctrines, even as to the Trinity, and the actual transformation of the wine and bread into the blood and body of Jesus, and he continued in this belief up to the time of his wonderful visions of the spirit world and his experience in meeting the spirits and angels of that world, including Jesus, whom he in his writings claimed to be God, and with whom he had many conversations and from whom he learned the spiritual truths that he declared to the world.

As you have been told in the working out of the plans of the Celestial Angels under the leadership of Jesus, Swedenborg was selected as the instrumentality through whom the spiritual truths should be revealed to mankind, and in carrying out that plan, power was given to him to come in his spirit perceptions or his inner sight, as he calls it, into the spirit world and there see the conditions of spirits and angels, and also of their environments, and learn the higher truths from conversations with spirits and angels. And he did come in the manner indicated and communed as he has claimed, except that he never talked with God, but only with Jesus, who he misconceived to be God; and this cannot be wondered at, for Jesus was a spirit, so transcendent in glory and love and wisdom, that it was almost natural, as I may say, that the mortal in his new and unusual experience should conceive this glorious Jesus to be God himself. But it was not God, only Jesus, that this seer saw and listened to.

Having a conception of this kind, you can readily see that when he came into his mortal self again, and many times this occurred, he firmly believed that Jesus, who had form and individuality in the spirit world similar to what he had when on earth, was actually God, and it therefore became easy for Swedenborg to reject the doctrine of the Trinity, (and in its place proclaim) Jesus is God, manifested in the flesh, and God is Jesus, the Divine Man.

Of course, you must understand, that in the exercise of this seership, he experienced the doubts and fears, that at times what he saw and heard might not be things of actuality, and that possibly his imagination, or as in these latter days, what is called the subconscious mind, was deceiving him, and being a man of extraordinary mentality and strong convictions, as well as established faith in the doctrines of the church to which he belonged, many of his interpretations of what he saw and heard, and his teachings therefrom, were limited and flavored by his existing mental condition and faith.

He has told me that for many years before his experience as seer, he had to a more or less extent doubted the truth of the Trinity and accepted it only as a mystery, and because the church declared it to be a truth, and that after his experiences as such seer, believing in the statements of the Bible as the infallible words of God, and also believing that he had seen God in the person of Jesus, he sought an explanation of these Bible statements and a reconciliation of them with his belief that Jesus was God, and the result was his declared doctrine that Jesus is God.

And so in many other of his teachings, based upon his experience in the spirit world, he embraced many errors and misconceptions of the truths, and to such an extent that, as you have been told, his mission, in its results, was a failure, and the truths that he had been selected to learn and declare to the world were never made known to mankind. This failure was disappointing to the spirits who conceived this plan and in whom were lodged the spiritual truths of God, and who were acting as God's instruments in their endeavor to make them known to humanity.

But it will be more satisfactory to you, and convincing to whomsoever may read the truths that you are receiving from these same high spirits that selected him, as their messenger, to have Swedenborg come himself and explain the workings of his mission, and the causes and particulars of his failure in doing the great work that had been assigned him to do.

He says that he has one consolation that many who have founded churches and attempted to declare spiritual truths upon which doctrines and creeds have been promulgated and believed in, and that is that his followers are so comparatively few in numbers and, consequently, so many less mortals are being deceived by his teachings. And I can appreciate the consolation that he may have in this fact, for my teachings and beliefs that are false as his are false, are believed in and followed by a very large number of mortals, to their injury.

Well, I am glad for the opportunity to write you tonight, and I am still waiting for the chance to finish my message to my people on the errors of continuing in my teachings, and the necessity for them to become undeceived and learn the truths that are now being declared to mankind. I will not write further. So good night.

Your brother in Christ,
Luther

Luther Writes as to the Eucharist that the Change in the Qualities of the Bread and Wine Are Untrue

January 31, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Luther.

I have come merely to remind you that I am waiting to continue my discourse to my people. I am very anxious to do this and as soon as you get in condition, I hope that you will give me the opportunity. Well, we will arrange that, and all that we desire is for you to get in condition. We are with you a great deal and try to assist you in every way possible.

Well, you have asked me a question that I should like to have more time in which to answer than I have now. But in short, Jesus was not of the substance of God in the sense that the Catholic Church, following the Nicene Creed, claimed. He took on a part of the Divine substance as the Divine Love filled his soul, and so can you or any other man do to the extent that you may receive this Love. But to say, that Jesus was in his very being of the substance of the Father to that degree that made him equal to God is erroneous and should not be taught or believed in. He was born or created in the likeness of God in the way that has been explained to you and in no other. He was a man and not God, or any part of Him, and if he had not received into his soul the Divine Love, he would never have been of the substance of the Father.

But being of a very spiritual nature and, in fact, so much so that he was without sin, this Love commenced to come into his soul very early, as you may say, from his very birth, and at the time of his anointing he was so filled with it that you may say, he was of the substance of the Father in the quality that that substance possessed of the nature Divine. He was no more Divine though naturally, as I may say, than was any other mortal born of the flesh. I should like to write you a long message on this subject and will some time when convenient.

Well, all the speculation that has ever existed as to the Eucharist, and the change in the qualities of the bread and wine, are untrue. Jesus is not in these elements in any particular or view that may be taken. His flesh and blood went the way of all other flesh and blood of mortals, and no more forms a part of the bread and wine than does your flesh and blood. This sacrament, as it is called, is very abhorrent to the Master, and when it is celebrated, I must tell you, he is not present, not only not in flesh and blood but also not in his spiritual presence.

He dislikes any kind of worship which places him as its object in the position of God or as the son of God who paid a great debt by his sacrifice and death. He wants God alone to be worshiped and himself to be thought of only as the one who brought to light immortality and life by his teachings and the living demonstration of the truth of the existence of the Divine Love in himself.

He does not approve of the teachings of men that his death and his blood were the means of man being saved from their sins and becoming reconciled to God. He says, it was his living and teachings and demonstration of the Love of God existing in his own soul that showed the only true way to salvation.

But, I must not write more now. So with my love I will say good night.

Your brother in Christ,
Martin Luther

Martin Luther Writes About the Popes Who Were in Darkness and Suffering

August 28, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Luther.

I will not write much at this time but am anxious to continue my letter to my followers and, as soon as you are in condition, I will come and hope that you will give me the opportunity. Well, of course, I will have to wait until they have delivered these messages, but I have no doubt that there will be times when you will not be occupied by receiving their messages. I thank you and will come.

I have met both the Popes who were in the papal chair at the time that I went to Rome and when I was afterward persecuted and brought to trial before them. (Pope Leo X and Pope Clement VII) They are now in the Celestial Heavens but before they left the earth sphere they were in very great darkness and suffering intensely and, thus, repentance was very thorough and sincere. They were compelled to realize the great evil that the teachings and dogma of their church was doing to humanity and they devoted all their time in the spirit life to attempting to influence the priests and hierarchy of the great errors that they were teaching, but the result of their work was not very satisfactory for reasons that I have not time to explain now.

The state of the ignorant Catholic laymen is a very deplorable one when he comes to the spirit world, but that of the Pope and the priest is beyond all description. They are forever branded by the results upon their followers of their evil teaching and, consequently, suffer very much. Some time I will come to you and write in detail into the conditions and causes there are of these blind teachers of the blind. I must not write more tonight.

With my love I will say good night.

Your brother in Christ,
Luther

St. Luke Writes a Short Note that He Did Not Write the Gospel or Acts as They are Now Contained in the Bible

July 25, 1916
Received by James Padgett.
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Luke.

I merely come to corroborate what Luther has written, as I am one of those who have set the causes in operation. You may believe what is said, and your realization will not be long postponed. I will not write more tonight.

I did not write the Gospel or the Acts, as they are now contained in the Bible. I wrote a Gospel and also a book called the Acts, but my writings were not preserved and in the copying and translating of them many things were eliminated and many things added. Of course, I cannot tell you now what these things are, but before our messages are finished you will know of many truths, which will explain this matter. I am really the Luke who wrote the Gospel and the Acts which were the supposed originals of what the Bible now contains.

So with my love and blessings I will say, good night.

Your brother in Christ,
Luke

Martin Luther Writes About the Futility of Religious Ceremonies as Redemption from Sin

June 29, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Luther.

I desire to write a short message tonight on the subject of: "The observance of the ceremonies which my church still uses in its worship is not approved by God or Jesus." I will not detain you very long and will try to express myself as succinctly as possible.

Well, as you may not know the church of which I am the founder believes and teaches the necessity of infant baptism and the observance of the Lord's Supper as necessary parts of its church doctrine, and of such very great importance that without them it is difficult to become an accepted member of the invisible church of Christ. Nothing is further from the truth than these doctrines for the baptism of infants, for they have no virtue to save one from his sins or to make him in atonement with the Father, and the mere fact that water is sprinkled on an infant's head and some blessing pronounced by the preacher does not in any way bring that infant in unison with the Father.

Baptism is of man's creation and to God it means nothing more than an outward ceremony that affects the infant merely as regards its connection with the established earthly church. It is not possible for this baptism to have any effect upon the soul of the infant and neither does it open up the soul faculties to the inflowing of the Divine Love. God cares not for these ceremonies, and rather looks upon them with disapproval, for their tendency is to make men and women neglectful of the great truth that will bring them in harmony with God's Laws of Love and redemption. And the same thing may be said of any and all kinds of baptism, whether the subject thereof be an infant or a grown man or woman.

As to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, it has no part in God's plan for the redemption of mankind and it is merely a reminder of the association of Jesus with his disciples. It cannot affect the condition or development of the soul and, as now understood and practiced, this sacrament is of no importance for Jesus does not want to be remembered in the way of recalling to him the tragedy on the cross, which was only the result of the malice and envy of the Jews; and the blood spilt is not an element that enters into the plan of the salvation of men. And besides, with this sacrament there is always more or less worshiping of Jesus as God, which he, Jesus, abhors and looks upon as blasphemy.

So you see, the celebration of the Last Supper is a thing which is not acceptable to God or to Jesus. He does not want men to believe that they can be saved by any sacrifice of him or by any blood which he may have shed as a result of his crucifixion.

Of course, you will remember that the question, of what the wine and bread of the sacrament really were, was one that engendered much controversy and even hatred and ill-feeling on the part of those who were assisting me in the great Reformation. If I had known then what I do now, no such question would have been debated or believed in by me and taught for many years. The blood of Jesus was no more than any other man's blood, and the commemoration of the last supper that Jesus gave his disciples before his death is a useless ceremony and brings no help to those who indulge in this sacrament.

I see that you are tired and sleepy and I will not write more now. So with my love and wishes for an increase in you of the Divine Love, I am

Your brother in Christ,
Luther

Jesus Writes Further on How a Mortal May Obtain the Development of His Soul Condition Without the Help of the Divine Love

June 17, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Jesus.

I see that you are in better condition tonight, and it may be that we can continue the message.

Well, as I was saying, the only way in which a mortal may obtain the development of his soul condition, without the help of the Divine Love, is by attempting to exercise his will in the way that will cause the thoughts of evil and error to leave him, and to be replaced by thoughts that will bring his heart and soul into harmony with the laws of his creation as mere man. This can be done by his seeking for those higher things of morality, and the subordinating of the purely animal desires and appetites of the mortal to the aspirations and desires of the higher and nobler part of his nature.

As I have before told you, man was pure and good until he, by the exercise of his will following the suggestions of the animal desires, permitted himself to degenerate from the high and perfect condition of his creation. These sins and desires do not belong to his original nature, for his true nature was pure and in harmony with the Laws of God. And although he has lost it by the excessive and wrongful exercise of his will, obeying the desires of his animal nature; yet he can recover his condition of original purity and harmony, if he will get rid of these sins and errors, so that his nature may again become free from everything that defiles it, or places it out of harmony with the laws that created it.

So you see, it is not necessary for man to obtain, or add to his original condition, any qualities that were not his in the beginning, but merely to get rid of or eradicate from that condition those things which are mere excrescences or parasites - and thereby have his nature in the same condition that was his when he was created and was the perfect man.

So long a time has the nature or condition of the nature of man been in this state of defilement and alienation from the true condition of his creation, that the effort to bring about the restoration will necessarily be great, and he will have to use all his power of will that he is capable of to effectuate this object, and he will find in such efforts two conflicting forces, always fighting each other for the mastery.

The fact that he believes his present condition is the natural one, and that the state and purity and freedom from sin and error is one that does not belong to him naturally, but must be acquired by adding something to what he now has and always possessed, will make the fight more uneven.

Therefore, the first things that man must believe is that his present condition is not his natural one, and that he has nothing more or greater to accomplish than to relieve himself of those things which prevent his condition from becoming as it was when he was the perfect man. If he will get this belief firmly fixed in his mind, and assert that he was made by God, and that God never created anything impure or not in harmony with His laws, he, man, will have accomplished the first step towards his regeneration and towards success in his effort.

He must not consider himself to be a weak, low and unworthy creature of God, not being entitled to those conditions of purity and greatness which made him the beloved child of the Father. Of course, self-esteem and pride and everything of that nature must be eliminated from the estimate that he must have of himself, but on the contrary the idea that he is a degenerated and utterly helpless being must not be permitted to enter his mind. Such thoughts do not make him pleasing to God, as he has been taught they do, but only make him subservient to his masters - sin and error - and prevent him from asserting his own superiority to these things, which is necessary to exist in his conception of his true condition in order that he may obtain the ascendancy over those masters.

When he shall have assumed this position, then he will realize that these animal appetites and desires and evil thoughts, which arise from them and from the belief that he is by nature degraded and unworthy of a better and higher condition of nature, are really beings of his own creation and subject to his will and self control  and total destruction. And with such realization will come a consciousness that they are not parts of his nature, but foreign to it; and in order that his nature may become separated from them, he must look upon them as enemies and treat them as such, to be destroyed and utterly extinguished, and never more to be taken to his bosom and cherished as inalienable and dominant parts of his nature.

Of course, in treating them as such enemies, great watchfulness and determination will have to be exercised, for they are very insidious and will at all times and in all ways, whenever the opportunity arises, try to convince him that they are an integral and necessary part of his being, incapable of being separated from him. But by the exercise of this belief, based upon a right conception of what is and what is not a part of him as the perfect man, and by the exercise of his will power in accordance with this conception, he will be able to rescue himself from these unnatural appetites and desires and thoughts of error and sin.

As this belief becomes stronger and this conception clearer, and his will exercised in closer harmony with the two essentials, these excrescences will gradually and one by one fall away from him until, at last, he will rise again - the perfect man - with the pure and harmonious nature which God gave him at the time of his creation.

But this process will be slow and sometimes hardly perceptible, for the long years of misbelief in the idea of original sin, and that God created evil and error for the purpose of defiling man's nature and making a disobedient devil of him, without any inherent goodness or the possibility of becoming regenerated, unless by the operation of some miracle, will make it difficult for the acquiring of the true belief as to what he, and what his nature are and enable him to become the master and not remain the servant.

God is the Father of all, and loves all His children, and as He originally provided for their happiness, so now He desires that all may be happy, even though they may not seek for that Divine Love which makes mortals and spirits more than the mere perfect man.

Forgiveness is, in effect, forgetfulness; and when men in their efforts cause all these things of evil and sin to cease being a part of their nature, and only thoughts of purity and righteousness to find a lodgment in their minds, then these other things are forgotten and forgiveness has taken place. Man no longer is the slave of false beliefs and unrighteousness, nor is he their associates, and even in memory they become things of nonexistence; and when he gets into this condition of purity and freedom and in harmony with the laws of his creation, there exists nothing which can be the object of forgiveness, and he is the man of perfect creation.

But in all this man must realize that he does not exist by and for himself alone, for always he is surrounded by mortals or spirits or both, exercising upon him their influence for good or evil; helping him to turn his thoughts from these things of evil and sin into those higher things which are his by nature, or causing him to receive and foster these evil thoughts with increased intensity. He cannot get rid of these influences, of one kind or the other and, hence, he should seek the influence of those who are good and desire to help him in his efforts towards the recovery of that condition which is his by right of birth.

Among God's Laws, which never change and which work impartially, is the great Law of Attraction; and it works in the case of all mortals and spirits and never rests. And the great principle of this Law is that "like attracts like" and the "unlike repulses the unlike." So man must know that as he is - I mean in his state of mind and soul - so necessarily will be his companions of those who desire his association and, hence, he should realize this important truth and all that it implies.

If his thoughts and deeds are evil, he will attract those spirits or mortals who have similar thoughts and deeds, and who will not help him to higher things, but who will retard his progress towards his first estate; and if his thoughts and deeds are good, then his associates will only be those of like qualities, who can and will help him in his progress.

Every effort to create good thoughts strengthens the desires and will in that direction and assists the coming of other good thoughts, for with these efforts comes the help of these unseen influences and the repulsion of the influences of the retarding forces.

Man is a wonderful being and the highest creation of the Father, and yet his greatest master is his belief in the power and supremacy of these things of evil of his own creation. But beyond all this, a means to accomplish man's restitution to his perfect estate, is the help of the Father, which is never refused when man seeks for it in earnest sincere prayer. Always the Father is willing to respond to the true prayers of man, and by His instrumentalities, will make the efforts of man sure and effective, so that he can acquire that condition that will free him from all sin and error and slavery of false belief in the mastery of his evil creatures.

Man must believe in the love and help of the Father, in the manhood and greatness of himself, and in the utter error of his belief in the mastery of his own children of sin and error.

I have written enough and must stop as you are tired. So assuring you of my love for you and my care and help, I will say good night.

Your brother and friend,
Jesus

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Helen Writes a Short Note.

I am here, your own true and loving Helen.

Well, my own dear Ned, you have had a very entertaining letter from the Master tonight, and I am glad that you were in condition to receive it so well. He said that you were very successful and he is pleased.

Good night.

Your own true and loving,
Helen

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Martin Luther Writes a Short Message.

I am here, Luther.

I come tonight to say that I would like to write again very soon, as I desire to write further in the line of thought of my last message. I see that you are too tired to write tonight and I will not ask you to do so, but if you can soon give me the opportunity to write, I will be much obliged.

Yes, I know, and I enjoyed his message and believe that it will be readily understood. What a Master he is! So beautiful and powerful and loving.

Your brother in Christ,
Luther

Martin Luther Writes About the Errors of His Teachings and the Church's Tenets

May 29, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Martin Luther, One Time Monk and Reformer.

I desire to continue my message, if it is agreeable to you. Well, we will try.

When on earth I firmly believed what was contained in our doctrines and teachings, and was sincere in trying to induce others to believe as I believed and taught, but after my long experience in the Spirit World and my communications with Jesus and his apostles and others to whom the truths of the Father have come, I realize and know that many of my teachings were erroneous and should not longer be believed by those who worship in the churches that bear my name.

My doctrine of faith - that is justification by faith - is all wrong when its foundation is considered, and the impossibility of understanding from my teachings and the church's tenets, just what can be intended by faith. Our faith was founded on the assumption that Jesus was a part of the Godhead and the only begotten son of the Father, who so loved sinful man that He caused His sinless and beloved son to die on the cross that divine justice might be appeased, and the burden of men's sins taken from them and placed on Jesus. Oh, the terrible error of it all, and how it has mislead so many of the believers to a condition of darkness and deprivation of the Divine Love of the Father. No, such objects of faith have no foundation in fact, and such a faith does not justify sinful man or bring him in atonement with the Father, so that he becomes a redeemed child of God.

Jesus was not a part of the Godhead, and neither was he begotten in the way that I taught and my followers believe. He was the son of man, and only the son of God by reason of the fact that he had received in his soul the Divine Love of the Father, which made him like the Father in many of His attributes of Divinity.

God did not send Jesus to earth for the purpose of dying on the cross or for the purpose of paying any debt or appeasing the wrath of his angry and jealous Father, for these qualities are not attributes of the Father - only love and sympathy and the desire that men turn from their sins and become reconciled to Him, are His attributes as affects the salvation of men. No death of Jesus could make any man the less a sinner or draw him any nearer to the Father, and faith in this erroneous proposition, is faith in an error and never has man been justified by it.

Jesus came to earth with a mission to save mankind from their sins and that mission was to be performed in two ways only: the one by declaring to man that the Father had rebestowed upon him the privilege of receiving the Divine Love, and the other by showing man the way in which the privilege might be exercised, so that this Divine Love would become his, and thereby make him a part of the Father's Divinity and ensure him Immortality. In no other way could or can men be saved and made at-one with the Father; and faith in these Truths, which makes them things of possession and ownership by men, is the only faith which justifies.

I write this for the benefit, more particularly, of my followers so that they may learn the vital truths of their salvation and change their faith in the death and blood sacrifice of Jesus, to faith in the rebestowal of the Divine Love, and in the further truth that Jesus was sent to show the way to that Love, and that he thereby and in no other manner, became the Way, the Truth and the Life.

I know that the acceptance of these truths will take from them the very foundation of their beliefs, and many will refuse to accept my new declarations of truth, but nevertheless, they must accept, for truth is truth and never changes, and those who refuse to accept it on earth will, when they come to the Spirit World, have to accept it, or exist in a condition where they will see and know that their old beliefs were false and rested on no solid foundation; and the danger to many will be that when they realize the utter falsity and non-existence of what they believed to be true, they will become infidels, or wanderers in spirit life without the hope of salvation or of becoming redeemed children of God.

I fully realize the errors of my teachings on earth, and the responsibility that rests upon me for these teachings which are still spreading, and I am almost helpless to remedy them. And so, I write this message, hoping that it may be published in your book of truths.

I, Luther, the onetime monk and reformer, declare these truths with all the emphasis of my soul, based on knowledge in which there is no shadow of error, and which I have acquired from experience not founded on the claimed revelations to man by the voice of God. My knowledge is true, and nothing in opposition can be true, and the beliefs and faith of a man, or of all the inhabitants of earth, cannot change the truth in one iota.

The Roman Church taught the communion of saints, and I declare the communion of spirits and mortals, be they saints or sinners. That church taught the doctrine of purgatory and hell, and I declare that there is a hell and a purgatory and that probation exists in both places, and that some time in the long ages to come, both places will be emptied of their inhabitants, some of whom will become redeemed children of God and dwellers in the Celestial Heavens, and others will become purified in their natural loves and inhabitants of the merely spiritual spheres.

I pray and desire that my followers may become inhabitants of the Celestial Heavens and partake of the Divine Nature of the Father and Immortality.To them I say, hearken to the Truths as Jesus has and will reveal them in his messages to you, for in the Truths which he shall thus declare, they will find Life Eternal and the at-onement with God, for which they have for so many years been seeking in darkness and disappointment.

I will not write more tonight, but will come again soon, and reveal other vital truths, if you will find for me the opportunity. So with my love and blessings, I am

Your brother in Christ,
Martin Luther

Martin Luther Writes About the Roman Catholic Church and His Disagreement with their Dogmas and Teachings

May 23, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Luther.

I came tonight in the hope that I may write my message of which I spoke to you a short time ago. Well, if you feel that you can receive the same, I will proceed.

In my day, the members of the Church - I mean the Roman Catholic Church - were dependent entirely upon the priesthood for all information as to the contents of the Bible, and the interpretation that should be given such contents, and very few of the laymen were able to possess the Bible, and scarcely any could read it, as it was written in the Latin tongue; and the inhabitants of my section of Europe were not acquainted with that language. The consequence of this was that all the people were dependent entirely on the priests for any knowledge of the will of God, and that only as the priests saw proper to convey the same to these people.

Many things were taught by these officials of the church in such a way as to convince the people that the church was the divine institution of God; and that, in every particular, as to the conduct of men, what the priests said and declared to be the will of God must be accepted without doubt or hesitation, and that the penalties of disobedience of these teachings of the priests would be in the form that they should prescribe, and that the wrath of God would fall upon all who should disobey these teachings of the church.

The spiritual enlightenment of men was not attempted to any degree, and the requirements of the church were that men should strictly obey the dogmas and tenets which should be declared to them by these instructions of the priests. Duty was the principal thing to be observed, and the utmost obedience to the commands of the church must be performed, unless the church itself should release the people from the performance of these duties.

Every violation of these commands was a sin to which a penalty was attached which could not be avoided unless the priests should give to the believers an indulgence, and then to the extent of the indulgence the penalty was taken away. But in order to obtain this indulgence, a compensation would have to be made to the coffers of the church, depending upon the ability of the one receiving such indulgence to make. At a time when these indulgences were most prevalent, and when the church was becoming rich from the revenues paid for the same, I commenced to revolt from the claims of the church and declared my want of belief in the dogma that the church could grant such indulgences and absolve men from the penalties which their sins brought upon them.

You all know the history of the Reformation and its results upon the power of the Church of Rome, and how men were freed from the superstitions of the church and how the reform grew in many of the Catholic countries, and new churches and beliefs were established. Well, I will not further recite any of these things, but merely say that what I have written is intended to be only preliminary to what the object of my writing is.

As men of thought, convinced of the false claims and superstitions of the church and of the necessity of making known to mankind the truths of the Bible, I and several others, in our zeal, refused to recognize and accept as a part of the teachings of the reform belief many things which were contained in the church's dogmas or teachings that were really true, or in a manner true, when relieved of their appendages which the church had attached to the kernels of truth. As a consequence, we rejected many principles that we should have made parts of the beliefs and teachings of the new beliefs.

Well, I am sorry that you do not feel in condition to receive more at this time, but it is best to postpone the remainder. I will soon come and finish what I desire to write.

So, with my love and best wishes, I am

Your brother in Christ,
Luther

Martin Luther Writes a Short Note About the Necessity of Correcting Many of the Principles of Belief of His Followers

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

I am here, Luther.

I come to tell you that I desire very much to write you before a great time shall elapse, as I have a subject that is important to me to reveal to mankind, and especially my followers in the Church which bears my name. I see the necessity of correcting many of the principles of belief which now hold my followers to bondage and prevent them from learning the truths as I now know them to be.

So soon let me write, if you can possibly find the opportunity. I am very happy in my condition of love and living, and so want to help all others to learn the truth and become happy.

So, with my love and best wishes, I am

Your brother in Christ,
Luther

Martin Luther Writes About "The Atonement" by Pastor Russell and Gives Advice on How to Test the Spirits Who Wish to Communicate

October 19, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Luther.

I came to tell you that you are not much benefited by the book (Pastor Russel's The Atonement) you have been reading tonight, because it ignores the very foundation of the plan of man's redemption; that is, the Divine Love which the Father bestowed on mankind at the coming of Jesus. The blood atonement is all wrong and misleading and has done much harm to the truths of God and to mankind.

I will admit that there are many truths stated in the book and many that will do much good to humanity to understand and believe, but because of the great error in the vital point of the declaration as to the plan of man's salvation, these truths which the book contains may not do the good that they otherwise might.

Of course, you who understand the true plan of salvation may make the true discrimination between those declarations, which declare the truth and those which do not. But on the whole, I do not see that the teachings of the book will do you much good.

Well, I know that the passage in John refers to the spirits of men who once lived on earth and who communicated to the members of the early church in their places of worship, and elsewhere John has explained to you, and what he said, I have been informed by others of the apostles, is true.

The author of that book has certain theories and, of course, he is construing all the teachings of the Bible in such a way as to sustain his theories. But he is wrong as he will discover when he comes to the spirit world.

He teaches that the soul as well as the body of man goes into the grave to await the great day of judgment, and there is no such place as the spirit world inhabited by the spirits of departed mortals and to maintain this position he quotes from some of the old books of the Bible. But these books were not written by men inspired by God to declare the truths; and the quoted expressions are merely the result of the purely human minds of the authors, who did not know what they wrote to be a fact, but because of the conditions in which they were in, they concluded that such assertions must be true.

Let not the writings of these old writers, or of the present day writers either, cause you to hesitate to believe what the Master may write as being true. I merely wanted to say this as I saw that you are interested in this book and I wanted to warn you against letting it influence you in any way.

Yes, I say that Jesus Christ did come in the flesh, and I know it, for he is here a spirit and once lived on earth, But that fact does not prove that any spirit who acknowledges that is a true follower of him or a redeemed spirit of the Father. There are many spirits in the spirit world who believe that Jesus, the spirit whom they sometimes meet, once lived as a mortal and would, if asked, say that he lived in the flesh, but they are not believers in the Divine Love of the Father, or have had the benefit of his great plan of salvation or acknowledged him as the savior from sin and error. So that the test set forth in the Bible may have been considered a true test in the days of the early church, yet it is not now a very safe one for the reason that I have mentioned.

And if a test is necessary, I think a better one would be: try the spirits and every one who does not acknowledge that Jesus is the best beloved son of God and brought to the knowledge of mankind the rebestowal of the Divine Love and declared to men the way in which that Love may be obtained, is not a spirit that should be communicated with for the purpose of learning spiritual truths. This test is better, because no spirit who has not received this Divine Love, or the New Birth, will acknowledge the existence of these things, because it has no knowledge upon which to make the acknowledgment.

I must not write more to night, but I hope the little that I have said may help you and others who have doubts, as to what the meaning of that part of the Bible, which refers to the trying of the spirits, is. I am very anxious to write you again as to some of the higher truths pertaining to the spirit world and soon I hope that I may have the opportunity. I will say goodnight.

Your brother in Christ,
Martin Luther

St. Luke Writes About the Errors That Others Wrote in His Gospel of the Bible and That This Saying That "The Blood of Jesus Saves From Sin," is Not True

September 5, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I will write a little as I am interested in what you have received from Luther tonight. And as I am supposed to have written the Gospel of Luke, I desire to say a few things in reference to the correctness - or rather incorrectness of many things contained in my gospel.

As you infer, I am St. Luke. the writer of the third gospel and a follower of Jesus.

My Gospel was not founded on anything I had personal knowledge of, but upon the writings of others and the traditions, which were the common knowledge of many Christians at that time. I knew several of the apostles and obtained much of my information from them, as well as from many of the Christians who were members of the congregations to which these apostles preached and expounded the sayings of Jesus.

In my gospel, as now contained in the authorized version, there are many things that have been interpolated. This version was not based on what I wrote, but upon pretended copies of my writings; and the persons who made these copies did not follow literally my writings, but added to my text and gave their own interpretations of what I had written in such a way as to destroy the true meaning of what was intended to be conveyed by my writings.

There are many truths contained in the gospel as now written in the Bible, and they are the truths of God, but there are also many errors which contradict these truths. For instance, I never wrote that Jesus commanded his disciples to believe that the wine was his blood or the bread his body, and to eat and drink these things in remembrance of him. How this interpolation could have been made I do not know, but will observe that the same things are said in all the four gospels, and this saying must have been derived from a common source, and that must have been the minds of those who pretended to copy the gospels.

I tell you now that this saying, that the blood of Jesus saves from sin, is not true, and if men depend upon this blood for their salvation they will never be saved, but will enter the spirit world in all their sins, and will be surprised to learn that Jesus is not waiting to receive them in his arms and carry them to the mansions prepared for the truly redeemed of the sons of men.

I know that a vast number of the members of the various churches believe this harmful doctrine and that, as a consequence, many persons claiming to be Christians will realize that their sins have not been forgiven them when they come into the spirit world.

Sometime, as these writings continue, I will point out the errors of my gospel to an extent that will show you the fact of what great additions and misinterpretations have been made thereto. I will stop now.

Your brother in Christ,
St. Luke

Martin Luther Writes That "No Greater Error Was Ever Written Than That the Blood of Jesus Saves From Sin - or That His Blood Washes Away Sin."

September 5, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Luther - Martin Luther.

I came again because I want to tell you that I was with you this afternoon when you were reading the comments on the origin and different versions of the Bible. Among them was a reference to my version, and I want to say that while my version was a pretty correct translation, yet, the manuscripts and other versions upon which I based my translation were not the real writings of those who profess to have written them. I mean that those manuscripts were not true copies of the original epistles and books written by those whose names they bear. Many interpretations and more constructions were given to the texts of the originals than you or any other mortal are aware of.

The Bible as now written and as I translated it, is full of contradictions and errors and makes the truth hard to ascertain. Take for instance that one subject of the blood redemption.

No greater error was ever written than that the blood of Jesus saves from sin - or that his blood washes away sin.

It seems to me now so absurd that I wonder and am astonished that I could ever have believed in such an absurdity.

I know now that there is no efficacy in Jesus' blood to accomplish any such results, and the pity is that many men now believe this and, as a consequence, neglect the one vital and important requirement necessary to salvation - that is the New Birth. This and this only saves men from their sins and fits them to enter the Kingdom of God, which is the Kingdom of Jesus, for he is the Prince of that Kingdom, and the Ruler thereof.

Jesus never said any such thing, for he has told me so. This saying that his blood was shed for many is not true. He never said it, neither did he say "drink the wine," being his blood, in remembrance of him, for the wine is not his blood, and neither does it represent anything that has to do with him or his mission on earth, or his present work in the spirit world. How unfortunate that this saying is made to represent something that he did not say.

So in order to understand the real truths of God and man's relationship to Him and His plan of salvation, you must believe what the Master shall write you and what his apostles may write, for now they understand what his true mission was, and what he attempted and intended to teach when on earth, and what he is teaching now.

I also will write sometimes and give you the result of my instructions and knowledge as I received them since being here. I will not write more tonight.

Your brother in Christ,
Martin Luther

Martin Luther Writes the Truth About the New Birth and Regrets Teaching The Error That Jesus Was God

July 6, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, a stranger, but a spirit interested in the work that you are doing for the Master and, also, for many spirits - good and bad. I am writing by permission of your band and, hence, do not feel that I am intruding. So if you will kindly bear with me, I will say a few words. I am a spirit in love with the efforts that you and your band are making to help the unfortunates who come to you with such pitying tales of suffering and darkness and ask for help.

I was once, when on earth, a man who suffered much because of my spiritual darkness, and not until late in life did I find the way to my Father's Love through prayer and faith. And even then, I had many erroneous beliefs caused by the interpretations of the Bible, then obtaining in the church of which I was a member. But since coming to the spirit land, I have learned the truth and have gotten rid of any old erroneous beliefs, and thank God, I am in the way that leads to life everlasting.

I was a teacher when on earth of what I thought were Bible truths, and I know that some good resulted from my teachings, although they were mixed with errors. But I have met many spirits of men who listened to my teachings and believed many things that I taught. So you see, that even if the churches do teach many false doctrines in their creeds, yet, mixed with these false doctrines are many truths, and these truths often find lodgment in the hearts of the hearers, and result in their finding the Light and Love of the Father.

I am still teaching mortals whenever it is possible to do. But I find that my task is a difficult one, because there are so few mediums who are capable of receiving the truths of the higher things of life, and the impressions that I make on mortals by the exercise of suggestions are not very encouraging to them or to me. Sometimes the impressions are received and understood but very often they have no effect.

If we could have more writing mediums, such as yourself, who are interested in these higher truths, and would believe that we could communicate such truths to them, the salvation of mankind would become much more rapid. But, as Jesus said, the harvest is ripe and the laborers are few.

You have a mission, which is greatly to be envied, I mean in the best sense, because you by the exercise of your duties become the medium between the Master and man. And I want to tell you that such a mission is a glorious one, and will bring to you untold blessings because you have now, and will have with increasing power, the influences of the higher world of spirits and angels.

The one great spirit, I mean the Master, is with you very often, and seems to love you so much, and his love and power are beyond comprehension. He is your friend and brother and the association with such a one will give you much spiritual excellence and power, which men have not often possessed.

At the same time that this mission holds forth so much glory and power, it also brings with it a great responsibility, and one which will demand of you the exercise of all your love and faith and energy. So you see with the great favor comes responsibility.

I have written rather longer than I intended to when I commenced, and I will now stop. I live in the Second Celestial Sphere, where live your grandmother and mother and wife. Well, I did not have the love and faith that they had and my progress was very slow and, hence, they have overtaken me in my spiritual progress. They are wonderful spirits and have so much of the Father's Love in their souls.

I was a preacher and lived the life of one after I separated from the church in which I had been taught the doctrines. My name was Martin Luther. Yes, Martin Luther, the Monk.

I now see that my teaching of justification by faith is not of itself sufficient for man's salvation. The true doctrine is that of the New Birth. I mean that with faith must come the inflowing of the Divine Love of the Father into the souls of men. Merely having faith will not suffice. Without this Love - faith is futile, except as it may help to bring the Love.

So you see that while I was in my teachings an improvement on what I had been taught, yet, I did not preach the great essential of the New Birth in the sense in which Jesus taught it and which should be understood by mankind. Faith without works is not sufficient. Works without faith will not bring about the great results desired, and both faith and works without the New Birth - or the acquiring of the Divine Love of the Father - are not sufficient to bring salvation to mankind.

Love is the fulfilling of the law and Divine Love is the Essence of the Father, which when possessed by men makes them one with Him. Let all men know that of all Divine things, Divine Love is the Divinest and makes man part of Divinity Itself.

Well, I have regretted so very much that my followers, believing in my teachings, worship Jesus as God. Oh, the great error of this belief and how much injury it has done and is now doing to men and spirits! But, thank God, I see the truth breaking into the consciences and minds of many of my followers, and I hope the time is not far distant when this great heresy will no longer be believed.

And the other false doctrine, which is common to all the orthodox churches has caused much unhappiness and infidelity and disappointment both in the mortal world and in the spirit world, that is, that Jesus' blood saves from sin or that he made a vicarious sacrifice to appease the wrath of an angry God, and thereby removed from men the penalties and burdens of their sins. This false doctrine has caused more men to lose their soul development and rest secure in a false belief that they were saved from sin and immune from punishment, than has any dogma taught by the churches.

No blood, no death on the cross and no vicarious atonement saves a man from his sins and the resultant expiations, but Love, the Divine Love of the Father, which Jesus brought to the world and declared the way in which it might be obtained, and that it is free for all the Father's children, saves from sin both on earth and the spirit world.

I must stop now and will come to you again if agreeable. No, I am not. To me all men are the children of God, and I have long since forgotten any distinction between the Germans and the other races of mankind. But war is cruel and unholy and without valid excuse and should never arise.

With the love of a brother who wants all men to seek the light, I am the former monk and reformer,

Martin Luther