March 19, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, Maurice Smith.
Let me say a word too. As Hay had the opportunity to write I would like to do so, also. I will not detain you long, as I merely want to let you know that I am alive. Well, I am not very happy and am in darkness and suffering and don't see any prospect of relief.
I noticed that as he left you, he was much happier than when he commenced to talk to you, and I thought that maybe you said something to help him, and that you might help me, also. I know you will, if you can.
I saw some spirit who was very bright looking, but I could not see distinctly or recognize him, and I suppose it was some acquaintance of Hay, that you had something to do with his meeting. Well, you surprise me for I did not know that Mr. Riddle was that kind of spirit. I thought that he was like the rest of us lawyers, who all seemed to be grouped together in darkness and suffering, and some say, Hell; but I don't like that word and I shall insist that I am in the darkness only, and, besides if it were Hell, I should see the devil and the fires, etc., which I have never seen.
A long time ago, as it seems to me, I saw Taggart. It must have been when he first came over, but I have not seen him for some time, as he appears to have left us.
Well, you astonish me some for I have never thought that you could help a spirit and, in fact, I am so astonished at the knowledge that I can communicate to you in the way that I do, that I am ready to believe most anything, and I assure you that I am very willing to follow your advice if there is any hope of my changing my condition for a better one.
Yes, I see some spirits, and they certainly are bright and beautiful. They must belong to another sphere, for I don't often see spirits of that kind, and when I do, they don't seem to be quite natural. But, as you have called my attention to them, I see that they are real, and they seem to have looks of love and kindness about them. And now, I see one who is not so bright or beautiful as the others; but he seems to be happy and does not have the darkness surrounding him, and he comes to me and says: "Hello, Maurice, I am glad to see you," and lo, and behold, it is Taggart!
Well, don't this beat the devil! Who would have thought that he could look as he does? And he says he is very happy and wants to help me and will tell me the way to get into a condition similar to his own, and if I want to argue the matter, he is ready to do so. The same old Taggart, ready for an argument. I wonder what he has to say? He says come with him and he will tell me, and I must go.
So thanking you, I will say good night.
Your old friend and fellow lawyer,
Maurice Smith
Friday, June 14, 2013
Thursday, June 13, 2013
E.R. Hay, a Brother Lawyer of James E. Padgett, Writes that He is Now a Spirit and Happy that He Can Communicate with Him
March 19, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, E. R. Hay.
Yes, I am, and I am so glad that I can write you. I learned only recently that spirits could write through mortals. When I came to make inquiries, I found that you are the mortal through whom they write and I was surprised. Why, my dear fellow, you certainly are favored to have such a power, and I know that many spirits are very thankful that you permitted them to write.
Well, let me see, what shall I say. Well, well, what a wonderful thing, and I am right here to participate myself. I know you don't care to hear from a spirit like myself, as you have so many of the beautiful and bright spirits write you. But say, old fellow, I have met your wife here and she is a beautiful spirit, and so loving and kind. I have talked to her, and she has tried to help me, and she has. Oh, what a favored man you are to have such a wife! Not only so beautiful, but so powerful and majestic! She comes from the Celestial Spheres and is so filled with what she calls the Divine Love, that I can scarcely look at her at times.
What does all this mean, anyhow? It has not been long since we were both on earth, and yet there is such a difference between her and me. I was a church member and attended to my duties very conscientiously, and I don't know that she did more, and yet, the great difference. I wonder if going to church and conforming to its creeds and ceremonies amount to anything. There must be something else.
She has told me the cause of the difference, but I don't quite comprehend, and I find it hard to turn my thoughts to the things that she has told me of; for the beliefs of my earth life cling to me and hold me just where I was on earth.
Of course, when I died, I did not go to Heaven, and I have not seen God or his throne and the angels that we used to sing about, and it causes me to think that there must be some mistake in what I believed with regard to these things; yet I am afraid to let go my beliefs.
I have seen other spirits than your wife who have told me of what they call this Divine Love, and the necessity of having it in my soul in order to progress, but, yet, I doubt, and can't make up my mind to seek for it. It certainly is strange. I wonder what the church is for, if its believers find no more realization of their expectations than I have found.
I am in what is called the earth sphere and not happy, although I try to make the best of it, there is considerable darkness and some suffering, and I don't appear to find any associates, except those who are unhappy, too. I know that if I were on earth, I would not associate with such people, but here I can't help it and don't seem to be able to find any other kind. And I tell you, when your wife and several others who are bright and beautiful come to me, it gives me the greatest joy imaginable.
Yes, I have seen a number of our old lawyer friends, but they are just about as I am; some may be a little happier, but the most of them are just in my condition; and some, I am sorry to say, are in greater darkness and seem to be suffering intensely. There is one who killed himself. He is in a terrible condition, and I believe that he would like to kill himself again if it would put him out of his misery. I feel sorry for him, and wish that I could help him, but what can I do? I can't tell him of the consolation of my church creeds, for I have not found any consolation in them myself.
Well, I have listened to your advice, and I must say that in some particulars, you astonish me; but as you say it is all true, I must try to follow it, at least, until I find that it is not true. It certainly is wonderful that some of the spirits that you name could get in the condition of happiness that you speak of. I will try to do as you say, and as I understand the first thing is an open mind, I will try.
Yes, I see some bright spirits and among them your wife, and she is smiling at me and now comes to me and says, believe what you have told me; and now she says, "Here is an old acquaintance of yours," and brings Mr. Riddle to me, and my stars, what a beautiful man he has gotten to be and so bright and lovely. Well, I am astonished!
He says he remembers me and is glad that he can be with me, and says, that he has some things to tell me which are true and vital to my happiness and invites me to go with him. And notwithstanding I feel such happiness in being with you and writing to you, I will have to go with him, for I may find what you have told me I can find, if I will only follow the advice that may be given me.
Well, I am certainly glad for this opportunity to write, and I thank you for your talk. I will go now, but I should like to come again sometime and write.
With my kind regards, I will say goodbye.
E.R. Hay
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, E. R. Hay.
Yes, I am, and I am so glad that I can write you. I learned only recently that spirits could write through mortals. When I came to make inquiries, I found that you are the mortal through whom they write and I was surprised. Why, my dear fellow, you certainly are favored to have such a power, and I know that many spirits are very thankful that you permitted them to write.
Well, let me see, what shall I say. Well, well, what a wonderful thing, and I am right here to participate myself. I know you don't care to hear from a spirit like myself, as you have so many of the beautiful and bright spirits write you. But say, old fellow, I have met your wife here and she is a beautiful spirit, and so loving and kind. I have talked to her, and she has tried to help me, and she has. Oh, what a favored man you are to have such a wife! Not only so beautiful, but so powerful and majestic! She comes from the Celestial Spheres and is so filled with what she calls the Divine Love, that I can scarcely look at her at times.
What does all this mean, anyhow? It has not been long since we were both on earth, and yet there is such a difference between her and me. I was a church member and attended to my duties very conscientiously, and I don't know that she did more, and yet, the great difference. I wonder if going to church and conforming to its creeds and ceremonies amount to anything. There must be something else.
She has told me the cause of the difference, but I don't quite comprehend, and I find it hard to turn my thoughts to the things that she has told me of; for the beliefs of my earth life cling to me and hold me just where I was on earth.
Of course, when I died, I did not go to Heaven, and I have not seen God or his throne and the angels that we used to sing about, and it causes me to think that there must be some mistake in what I believed with regard to these things; yet I am afraid to let go my beliefs.
I have seen other spirits than your wife who have told me of what they call this Divine Love, and the necessity of having it in my soul in order to progress, but, yet, I doubt, and can't make up my mind to seek for it. It certainly is strange. I wonder what the church is for, if its believers find no more realization of their expectations than I have found.
I am in what is called the earth sphere and not happy, although I try to make the best of it, there is considerable darkness and some suffering, and I don't appear to find any associates, except those who are unhappy, too. I know that if I were on earth, I would not associate with such people, but here I can't help it and don't seem to be able to find any other kind. And I tell you, when your wife and several others who are bright and beautiful come to me, it gives me the greatest joy imaginable.
Yes, I have seen a number of our old lawyer friends, but they are just about as I am; some may be a little happier, but the most of them are just in my condition; and some, I am sorry to say, are in greater darkness and seem to be suffering intensely. There is one who killed himself. He is in a terrible condition, and I believe that he would like to kill himself again if it would put him out of his misery. I feel sorry for him, and wish that I could help him, but what can I do? I can't tell him of the consolation of my church creeds, for I have not found any consolation in them myself.
Well, I have listened to your advice, and I must say that in some particulars, you astonish me; but as you say it is all true, I must try to follow it, at least, until I find that it is not true. It certainly is wonderful that some of the spirits that you name could get in the condition of happiness that you speak of. I will try to do as you say, and as I understand the first thing is an open mind, I will try.
Yes, I see some bright spirits and among them your wife, and she is smiling at me and now comes to me and says, believe what you have told me; and now she says, "Here is an old acquaintance of yours," and brings Mr. Riddle to me, and my stars, what a beautiful man he has gotten to be and so bright and lovely. Well, I am astonished!
He says he remembers me and is glad that he can be with me, and says, that he has some things to tell me which are true and vital to my happiness and invites me to go with him. And notwithstanding I feel such happiness in being with you and writing to you, I will have to go with him, for I may find what you have told me I can find, if I will only follow the advice that may be given me.
Well, I am certainly glad for this opportunity to write, and I thank you for your talk. I will go now, but I should like to come again sometime and write.
With my kind regards, I will say goodbye.
E.R. Hay
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Joseph of Arimathea Writes That He Laid the Body of Jesus in the Tomb After His Crucifixion
March 16, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, Joseph of Arimathea.
I desire merely to write a few lines to let you know that I really did exist as a mortal, and that I am the same man who laid the body of Jesus in the tomb where never before had anybody been laid.
I was with him at his death, and I was with his body when it was laid in the tomb and sealed, and I know and testify that no man or men or society of men, as it has been said, stole his body from the tomb. His body was entombed as was the custom of my time, and he was wrapped in cerements and fitted for the long sleep in the tomb, as we supposed.
While I was not a full Christian, yet his doctrines appealed to me as containing the truth, having about them a living inspiration, which I did not find in the teachings of the Jewish theology, for I was a Pharisee. I never thought that his death was justifiable or approved it, but I was not able to prevent it; and feeling that a great crime had been committed by the people of whom I was one, I tried to make a small atonement for the great crime by giving him burial in my new tomb.
Of course, I did not believe that he would rise again in the way that he had made known to some of his disciples, and when we buried him, I only thought that that tomb would be his sepulchre until nature had destroyed the body as it had done in the cases of all others who had been entombed.
As you may realize, I was interested in the proceedings taken by the Jewish leaders in their efforts to prove that he, Jesus, would not arise from the tomb on the third day, and I kept watch as well as did the soldiers, and I can testify that no mortal ever removed the stones from the mouth of the tomb.
I was there when the angel came and the soldiers were put in the sleep that the Bible speaks of, and I Joseph say this, knowing that it may not be believed and the Bible makes no mention of it, that I saw the stones rolled away and the shining one standing guard at the entrance of the tomb. I was frightened and I left the place, and was so overcome that I did not return there until the early morning, and then I saw Mary and heard her inquiring for the whereabouts of her beloved Master, and more wonderful, I saw the man of whom she inquired suddenly reveal himself to her, and I can testify also, that it was the same Jesus whom I had helped lay his body in my tomb.
He was not of flesh and blood, as they say, for he suddenly appeared, and his appearance was not the same as that of the Jesus whose body had been entombed; but when he revealed himself to Mary, there was the same countenance and the same wonderful eyes of love that I was familiar with, and the same voice of love and affection. I know this and I want to tell the world that it is true.
Before Peter came, I went into the tomb, and it was empty and when Peter came I was with him in the tomb and saw his astonishment, and heard his words of wonder and amazement, for notwithstanding what the Master had told him prior to the crucifixion, he did not believe or comprehend, and he was astonished and bewildered as were all of us.
Jesus of Nazareth arose from that tomb, and his fleshly body was de-materialized. As to his disappearance, I could not then explain, as could none who saw him after he had arisen, but now I know that because of his great psychic powers, as you would call them, he caused the disintegration of that body into its elements, as can be done now by many spirits who have that power. Yes, Jesus arose from the tomb, but not from the dead, for he never died, as you will never die, only the physical vestment that enveloped his soul.
I am now in the Celestial Heaven and am with him a great deal, and know that he is the greatest and most wonderful of all the spirits in the Celestial Sphere, and the nearest to the fountainhead of God's Love. He is truly His best beloved Son.
I also want to say that he writes to you his messages of truth, and was with you tonight for a short time. Listen to him and know that you have in him a friend who is closer than a brother, or father or mother.
My brother, I will stop now, and in leaving, say that you have my love and blessings.
Your brother in Christ,
Joseph
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, Joseph of Arimathea.
I desire merely to write a few lines to let you know that I really did exist as a mortal, and that I am the same man who laid the body of Jesus in the tomb where never before had anybody been laid.
I was with him at his death, and I was with his body when it was laid in the tomb and sealed, and I know and testify that no man or men or society of men, as it has been said, stole his body from the tomb. His body was entombed as was the custom of my time, and he was wrapped in cerements and fitted for the long sleep in the tomb, as we supposed.
While I was not a full Christian, yet his doctrines appealed to me as containing the truth, having about them a living inspiration, which I did not find in the teachings of the Jewish theology, for I was a Pharisee. I never thought that his death was justifiable or approved it, but I was not able to prevent it; and feeling that a great crime had been committed by the people of whom I was one, I tried to make a small atonement for the great crime by giving him burial in my new tomb.
Of course, I did not believe that he would rise again in the way that he had made known to some of his disciples, and when we buried him, I only thought that that tomb would be his sepulchre until nature had destroyed the body as it had done in the cases of all others who had been entombed.
As you may realize, I was interested in the proceedings taken by the Jewish leaders in their efforts to prove that he, Jesus, would not arise from the tomb on the third day, and I kept watch as well as did the soldiers, and I can testify that no mortal ever removed the stones from the mouth of the tomb.
I was there when the angel came and the soldiers were put in the sleep that the Bible speaks of, and I Joseph say this, knowing that it may not be believed and the Bible makes no mention of it, that I saw the stones rolled away and the shining one standing guard at the entrance of the tomb. I was frightened and I left the place, and was so overcome that I did not return there until the early morning, and then I saw Mary and heard her inquiring for the whereabouts of her beloved Master, and more wonderful, I saw the man of whom she inquired suddenly reveal himself to her, and I can testify also, that it was the same Jesus whom I had helped lay his body in my tomb.
He was not of flesh and blood, as they say, for he suddenly appeared, and his appearance was not the same as that of the Jesus whose body had been entombed; but when he revealed himself to Mary, there was the same countenance and the same wonderful eyes of love that I was familiar with, and the same voice of love and affection. I know this and I want to tell the world that it is true.
Before Peter came, I went into the tomb, and it was empty and when Peter came I was with him in the tomb and saw his astonishment, and heard his words of wonder and amazement, for notwithstanding what the Master had told him prior to the crucifixion, he did not believe or comprehend, and he was astonished and bewildered as were all of us.
Jesus of Nazareth arose from that tomb, and his fleshly body was de-materialized. As to his disappearance, I could not then explain, as could none who saw him after he had arisen, but now I know that because of his great psychic powers, as you would call them, he caused the disintegration of that body into its elements, as can be done now by many spirits who have that power. Yes, Jesus arose from the tomb, but not from the dead, for he never died, as you will never die, only the physical vestment that enveloped his soul.
I am now in the Celestial Heaven and am with him a great deal, and know that he is the greatest and most wonderful of all the spirits in the Celestial Sphere, and the nearest to the fountainhead of God's Love. He is truly His best beloved Son.
I also want to say that he writes to you his messages of truth, and was with you tonight for a short time. Listen to him and know that you have in him a friend who is closer than a brother, or father or mother.
My brother, I will stop now, and in leaving, say that you have my love and blessings.
Your brother in Christ,
Joseph
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
St. Stephen Writes a Short Note About the Importance of James E. Padgett Receiving the Truths
March 15, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here and desire to write just a few lines, for you are not in condition for lengthy writing tonight.
The Master was disappointed, but he is so loving and good that he did not complain and only wanted you to feel that you must not worry, because of the fact that you could not take his message; but nevertheless he was disappointed.
I understand that you could not control your sleepiness and are not to blame, but it was unfortunate, and it must in some way, if possible, be avoided in the future.
If you only realized the great importance of these messages and the great number that are yet to be written, you would bend every effort to facilitate their reception. I am not saying this complainingly, but merely stating a fact. So try your best to get in a good condition so that there will be no failure in your receiving the messages.
I am so very much interested in this work and so are a host of other spirits who realize the importance of these truths being given to mankind. They are the only truths and never since the time when the Master was on earth have they been revealed to man.
I will not write more tonight, but will say with all my love that, I am your brother in Christ.
St. Stephen
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here and desire to write just a few lines, for you are not in condition for lengthy writing tonight.
The Master was disappointed, but he is so loving and good that he did not complain and only wanted you to feel that you must not worry, because of the fact that you could not take his message; but nevertheless he was disappointed.
I understand that you could not control your sleepiness and are not to blame, but it was unfortunate, and it must in some way, if possible, be avoided in the future.
If you only realized the great importance of these messages and the great number that are yet to be written, you would bend every effort to facilitate their reception. I am not saying this complainingly, but merely stating a fact. So try your best to get in a good condition so that there will be no failure in your receiving the messages.
I am so very much interested in this work and so are a host of other spirits who realize the importance of these truths being given to mankind. They are the only truths and never since the time when the Master was on earth have they been revealed to man.
I will not write more tonight, but will say with all my love that, I am your brother in Christ.
St. Stephen
Monday, June 10, 2013
Jesus Writes About What it is That Makes a Man Divine?
March 15, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, Jesus.
I wish to write tonight on the subject of: "What it is that makes a man Divine."
When man was created, he was given the highest qualities that could be bestowed upon a mortal, and yet he was mere man, but the perfect one, and with these qualities was given him the possibility of becoming in his nature Divine like the Father; but this gift was never possessed by him in its enjoyment of full fruition until after my coming to earth and making known to man that such a possibility existed.
The first created man never possessed this gift in its fulfillment, but merely had the possibility of receiving it, on condition that he continued in his obedience and made the effort to receive it in the way that the Father declared was the only way. You have been told in detail what this gift was, and how the first parents forfeited the enjoyment of it by their disobedience and ambition to possess it in a way that was not in accord with the Father's way.
As I have said, man lost this possibility at the time of the first disobedience, and thereafter became gradually a man with his moral nature sinking lower and lower until he got almost to the condition of the beasts in the field. And from that condition man has been gradually improving or progressing towards his first state of purity.
But a great many men have ceased to know, or have never known, that God is the Creator of all things, and that all creation is dependent upon Him for its very existence, and in their assurance and self importance they have assumed and professed to be true that their progress or salvation depends upon their own efforts, and that these efforts are sufficient to bring about this state of purity or harmony with God's Laws and desires.
But in this men are mistaken, for there is nothing in them that is Divine, and there never will be when they depend upon their own selves to progress to that state of perfection. The Divine Nature of the Father is not in man and will never become a part of him until he pursues the way which is absolutely necessary for him to accept and follow in order to become anything more than mere man.
I will not write more tonight as I think it best not to do so. I understand that you could not prevent your condition of sleepiness, and I do not blame you, but I think it best to wait until later to finish what I desire to write.
Well, my dear brother, believe that I have only love for you, and will get close to you as we progress - so I say, don't worry. I will say good night.
Your brother and friend,
Jesus
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, Jesus.
I wish to write tonight on the subject of: "What it is that makes a man Divine."
When man was created, he was given the highest qualities that could be bestowed upon a mortal, and yet he was mere man, but the perfect one, and with these qualities was given him the possibility of becoming in his nature Divine like the Father; but this gift was never possessed by him in its enjoyment of full fruition until after my coming to earth and making known to man that such a possibility existed.
The first created man never possessed this gift in its fulfillment, but merely had the possibility of receiving it, on condition that he continued in his obedience and made the effort to receive it in the way that the Father declared was the only way. You have been told in detail what this gift was, and how the first parents forfeited the enjoyment of it by their disobedience and ambition to possess it in a way that was not in accord with the Father's way.
As I have said, man lost this possibility at the time of the first disobedience, and thereafter became gradually a man with his moral nature sinking lower and lower until he got almost to the condition of the beasts in the field. And from that condition man has been gradually improving or progressing towards his first state of purity.
But a great many men have ceased to know, or have never known, that God is the Creator of all things, and that all creation is dependent upon Him for its very existence, and in their assurance and self importance they have assumed and professed to be true that their progress or salvation depends upon their own efforts, and that these efforts are sufficient to bring about this state of purity or harmony with God's Laws and desires.
But in this men are mistaken, for there is nothing in them that is Divine, and there never will be when they depend upon their own selves to progress to that state of perfection. The Divine Nature of the Father is not in man and will never become a part of him until he pursues the way which is absolutely necessary for him to accept and follow in order to become anything more than mere man.
I will not write more tonight as I think it best not to do so. I understand that you could not prevent your condition of sleepiness, and I do not blame you, but I think it best to wait until later to finish what I desire to write.
Well, my dear brother, believe that I have only love for you, and will get close to you as we progress - so I say, don't worry. I will say good night.
Your brother and friend,
Jesus
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Professor Joseph Salyards Writes About Perfecting the Natural Love While on Earth
March 15, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, Prof. Salyards.
Well, I was telling you of the object of man's life on earth, and the necessity for his doing certain things, in a general way, in order to bring to mankind the happiness which might be theirs while on earth. Now I desire to go into a little in detail with reference to these matters.
As has been written you before, there is only one way in which man can attain to the supreme happiness, which the Father in His goodness has made possible for man to attain to and which, when once obtained, can never be taken from him. But there is also another kind of happiness which is not in either its nature or results, the same as that which I have just referred to; and man may obtain it in a way and by a method which are different from those which are necessary to obtain the first kind.
Man was originally created good and pure and happy, and only by his disobedience did he lose these qualities which, when lost, finally made him approach somewhat the likeness of the lower animal, although the latter is probably not so unhappy as man became, by his fall from the state of the high condition of his creation.
When in his original state, he was happy in what we called, and what was, his natural love, which he fully possessed and needed nothing additional to make him happy. This condition made man his own master, as it were, and the Father's Divine Love was not necessary to develop him more as mere man than he then existed. He was pure and free from sin and in perfect harmony with God's Laws governing his creation.
But after the disobedience, he lost this harmony and in doing so lost also the power to preserve in himself the happiness which was his by right of creation; and he also soon realized that as this power left him, his dependence upon himself became less and less effective to keep him in a condition of purity and contentment and, as a consequence, he became less than perfect man and has been such ever since that time.
Now with the other qualities that were given him at the time of his creation, there was, and is, one that he has never been deprived of, and one that he has never realized his inability to exercise, although he so often exercises it wrongly; and that is the will, which is the greatest of the natural attributes that man possesses, for even God will not attempt to control that. I mean in the way of compelling.
And this quality is the one that, more often than any other, will help man to again attain to that state or condition in which he was the perfect man; but while this is true, yet it is also one of the greatest obstacles to attaining to that state.
Upon man himself, very largely depends the success of his regaining his pristine purity and harmony with the laws that govern his being, and he must understand this fact; for if he should believe, and rest in the belief, that other men, or other instruments controlled by men, can rescue him from his present condition of in-harmony and unhappiness, he will be disappointed and his salvation will be a long time delayed.
But the exercise of this will power in the proper direction will depend upon other things that he must possess in order to insure his return to his first estate. Among these are the necessity for his obtaining knowledge that will enable him to know himself and the relationship of himself to what is true and good. This knowledge will come to him as he examines himself and learns the difference between right and wrong, and this I mean in its general sense, for right and wrong mean harmony or in-harmony with the laws of which I speak, and not right and wrong according to the several circumstances of men, for these differ, and what may be right or wrong to one man will not be to another.
And man by proper contemplation and observation may learn the difference between right and wrong, in the sense in which I use the terms, and be enabled to embrace or avoid those deeds or thoughts that come within one category or the other. Again, he must realize that there is such a thing as the natural love being a part of him, and a thing which may be possessed and cultivated to such a high degree that all men will be brothers to him and the children of one common Father, who has Love and care for all alike who are content to remain the mere man.
Again, he must realize that he has a Father in God, his Creator, and that that Father has a love for him which will always bring to him happiness and peace, if he will only respond with his own love; for man must have an object of worship and adoration, even when he possesses only the natural love, and he must learn that his love must go out to the Father in faith and confidence. There are many other things that he may learn by contemplation and meditation as I have said.
Many qualities that are desirable will flow to man from the knowledge that there is a Father who loves him, and that he has or may have a love for that Father, and also for his brother man. In fact, from these two subjects of knowledge, everything else may come to man that will make him the perfect man in harmony with the laws of his creation and a pure happy and contented creature.
Now, when man obtains this knowledge - and here observe the distinction between knowledge of these things and the possession of them - he will naturally try to obtain all that knowledge shows him may become his to possess, and then will come into operation the great will power, and by its exercise there is nothing that can prevent him from arriving at the goal of his desires. In this way, one can, in a sense, be his own redeemer, but he will find the struggle hard, and the obstacles to be overcome, many and repelling.
There are many mortals who have a wonderful development of this natural love, notwithstanding the fact that they are living in sin and in in-harmony with the laws that I speak of, and who will find from that fact alone that their progress will be more rapid and easy when they come to the spirit world, on their journey to the state of perfect man. I do not believe that any mortal can ever attain to this condition while in the earth life, but he can lay the foundation for a rapid progress after he becomes a spirit. The temptations and desires that beset him as a mortal, at this time, are so great, that rarely can he become that perfect man while on earth.
But the time will come, I believe, when men will become perfect even while on earth and in this I have reference to his natural love merely. While, as I say, for man to obtain this state of perfection, he must depend upon himself to a very large degree, yet, it will be comforting to him to know, that there are hosts of spirit friends who are with him, trying to help him to obtain the knowledge of which I have spoken; and in his contemplations and meditations, they are with him suggesting to him and impressing on him the thoughts of truth that help him very much to understand the right from the wrong, and they also sustain him, in some degree, in the exercise of his will in the right direction.
So from this it must become apparent to man that a very important thing in the determination of this great problem as to what is right and what is wrong, is the kind of associates that he may have, and this applies to the mortal as well as spirit companions. And man must know this, that as his desires and appetites on earth attract to him companions of similar desires and appetites, so; also, does the same Law of Attraction operate in the case of his spirit friends.
Now, in all this, I have no reference to the redemption of man by the possession of the Divine Love of the Father, for such redemption and its way of saving man, are altogether different from those of redeeming him in his natural love. In the one case, when he has found the goal of his desires, he becomes a merely perfect man and nothing more. In the other case, he becomes an Angel of God, Divine is his nature, with no limitation to the progress that he may obtain and the happiness that may become his.
And - Oh, man! Why will you be satisfied to become merely a perfect man, when you may become a Divine Angel of the Father's Kingdom with immortality assured? Man may not know it, but it is a fact, that it is easier, and the way is shorter to become a Divine Angel, than to become a perfect man.
So my advice to all men is - and I speak what I do know from a knowledge that comes to me from experience and possession - to seek for the Divine Love of the Father with all their strength and efforts, and then they will become not only the perfect man, but will obtain that which our first parents never obtained, but which was theirs for the proper seeking, as it is all men's.
I have written enough for tonight and will close.
Your old friend and professor and brother in Christ.
Joseph H. Salyards
Saturday, June 8, 2013
St. John Writes About the Belief in the Efficacy of the Vicarious Atonement of Jesus by His Death and Crucifixion
March 18, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, St. John, Apostle of Jesus.
I wish to write tonight on a subject that is of importance to the members of the orthodox churches as to the belief in the efficacy of the atonement of Jesus by his death and crucifixion.
All the orthodox believe, and their preachers and evangelists teach in their sermons and addresses, and the teachers of Bible classes instruct their students, that the blood of Jesus and his death on the cross were the two factors in his career on earth that save men from their sins and satisfy the great penalty of death which overhangs them, because of man's first disobedience and the sins that followed therefrom.
Well, this doctrine has prevailed in the beliefs and teachings of the church ever since the church became established by the convention that met in pursuance of the orders of Constantine, when the books that now constitute the Bible were given the sanction of the church as canonical. Before this time some of the early fathers believed in the doctrine of the atonement as above stated, and the controversies between them and others who did not subscribe to this doctrine were very bitter, and at times, very un-Christian according to the Christianity that prevailed among the early followers of the Master, or according to his teachings.
From that time until the present, although the great Roman church has been seceded from and reforms have been made by churches founded on such reforms, this doctrine has been incorporated in and believed by most of the churches, no matter what name they may have adopted and what form of government they may have prescribed. This doctrine constitutes the foundation principles of these various bodies of church entity, and to-day, these principles are as much a part of faith and teachings of the churches as they ever were in all the centuries that have passed.
Of course, with this cardinal doctrine there have also become incorporated in these faiths and teachings certain other principles, which apply more to the individual members of the church than to the church itself as a body. I mean belief in the truth that there is a close relationship between God and the individual which may be established by prayer and the longings of the soul for the inflowing of God's Love and the regeneration of the nature of man by the influence of this Love by the Father.
But in these latter days, this truth has been known to and its workings experienced by a comparatively few of those who call themselves orthodox Christians. The large majority has depended upon the belief in the doctrine that Jesus, by his sacrifice and death, paid the debt which man owed to God; and when the members of the church in an intellectual belief assert that they believe in and accept Jesus as their Saviour because he paid the debt, and by the shedding of his blood washed away their sins and made them at-one with the Father, and thereby became saved from the wrath of the Father, and in a moment become the truly redeemed and accepted children of God, and that as long as they maintain that belief and attend to their duties as such members and observe the regulations of the church, they are safe and fitted for the enjoyment of Heaven and the presence of the Father.
They also believe that unless a man accepts Jesus as his Saviour, in the way I have mentioned, that man will be eternally lost, and in the beliefs and teachings of some of these members, will be sent to hell to be eternally damned and punished.
Well, one view of this doctrine is just as true as the other, or rather just as untrue, because both of these phases of belief have no foundation in fact, and are not in accord with the teachings of the Master, or with the fact as I know it to be, not from any mere belief but from personal experience and observation.
Oh, how the pure teachings of the Master have been distorted and made the means of preventing so many human souls from reaching the Heaven of happiness that they wished for, and that they thought would be theirs when they should give up their mortal lives.
This doctrine, so long believed, has worked the damnation of many a man, as regards his soul development and his becoming at-one with the Father and reaching the Heavens that are prepared for those who obtain that soul union with the Father.
I know it may seem surprising to some who are really true believers in this doctrine and, as they think, in the truths of God and the teachings of Jesus, which are believed to be infallibly contained in the Bible, that I announce the falsity of these beliefs and their utter ineffectiveness in enabling these sincere people to obtain that which they so earnestly desire.
But such is truth, and truth never changes, never compromises with untruth, and never permits the erroneous beliefs of a really sincere mortal to swerve in one iota from the results and consequences of that false belief. And the great injury that this false doctrine has done to humanity, and is now doing, will continue in the world to come, until the belief in truth shall supercede the belief in that which is false. And, thus, not everyone who shall say "Lord, Lord," will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
These false beliefs have operated in two ways to injure man and render him unfit for an entrance into the Kingdom. First, by the belief that brings about the injury that results from the positive operation of error, which is great; and next by the want of belief in the truth, which prevents progress in the acquirement of those qualities which belong to and are necessary parts of that truth.
When men believe in the doctrine that I have stated they become satisfied and, knowingly or not, remain in a state of false security, not attempting to develop the soul qualities, which are the only ones that are in relationship with God. Their mental beliefs are strong and may increase in strength, but their soul communions with the Father and their growth and expansion in the soul development, becomes stagnant and, as it were, dead.
This is the great injury that these false beliefs do to the man and to the spirit. I mean in his individual capacity, for it must be known as a truth, that the salvation of man or his soul progress towards an at-onement with the Father is an individual matter solely, and men as aggregations or in church communities are not redeemed from sin, nor as such, can they have any relationship with the Father or receive His Divine Love, which is the only salvation.
There is only one possible way in which man can come in unison and at-onement with the Father, and thereby fitted to enjoy or inhabit the mansions in His Kingdom, which Jesus spoke of when on earth, and that is the way that will make the soul of man like the soul of the Father, and a partaker of his Divine Qualities of Love and Life. No belief that will not bring about this uniting and commingling, as it were, can possibly make the soul of man a partaker of these qualities that are a part of the soul of God.
Then let man consider for a moment what possible connection there can be between these Soul Qualities of God and the death and blood of Jesus. God is the creator of life and death, and also of blood and flesh, and He can destroy as well as create. Had the sins of man called for the sacrifice of that which was mere flesh and blood, or the extinguishment of a life that God had created in order to pay the penalty of that sin, then a God who demanded such a payment - and this implies of course, that such a God was wrathful and could only be appeased by something that He could not of and by Himself obtain - would not possibly be satisfied with that which He had created and over which He still had absolute control, and which He could destroy and make non-existent at any time He pleased. Jesus' life was already a possession of God, and when he surrendered that life, he did not give to God anything that he did not already own and could not have taken. And when his blood flowed on the cross, it was not that which God could not have made flow at any time and in any manner.
So the absurdity of such a doctrine is too apparent for serious consideration. For its logical meaning is that God was demanding a debt that had long been unpaid, all wrathful and insatiable, and would be satisfied only with the death of a living being and the flowing of his blood; and that death and that flow of blood in one way or manner only, namely, on the cross. And yet with all this demand that has been sounding down the ages for centuries, relentlessly and unpityingly, He became satisfied and His wrath assuaged by seeing His own creature die - and that creature His best beloved son - and by hearing the trickling of the blood of that creature from a wooden cross; by all which, the life and the blood being already His to let live or destroy as He might see fit, man became at-one with Him.
The simple reduction of such a proposition is that God, in order to pay a debt that was owing to Him, accepted in payment thereof that which was already His, and which no power or being in all His universe could have taken from Him.
Now, I say all this reverently as your preachers say, but the fact is, that the mere assertion of such a doctrine, as I have been dealing with, is so blasphemous that no treatment of it, showing its falsity, could be irreverent.
And again, the absurdity of believing that God demanded that Jesus should die on the cross as one of the necessary accompaniments of his death, in order to carry out God's plan for this death and make the payment satisfactory, is so apparent and absurd, that I and all of us spirits in the Kingdom of the Father wonder that mortals can believe such an unreasonable dogma.
To follow this absurd proposition to its logical conclusion, it was necessary not only, in order that the debt might be paid, that Jesus should die on the cross, but that Judas should become the traitor, that the Jews should clamor for his death and that Pilate should pronounce the sentence. These were all necessary means to the satisfaction of the debt, and being so, why is it then that Judas and Pilate and the Jews are not saviors of mankind also, even if you say in a secondary sense. Jesus could not have clamored for his own death, or erected his own cross or nailed himself thereto, or pierced his side with a spear in order that the blood might flow, for if he had done this he would have been a suicide; but it may be, there would have been more of the elements of the payment of a debt in that method of dying than in the way in which his death was brought about.
No, I tell you, I, John, who loved the Master more than all the others and who was closer to him, who was with him when he was nailed to the cruel cross, which I think of with horror, and who was among the first to take his body from the tree and first felt his blood upon my hands - tell you that the death of Jesus on the cross did not pay any debt that man owed to God, nor did his blood wash away the sins of any man. And oh, the pity of it all is that mortals for all these long years have believed that they were saved by his sacrifice and blood, and by such belief have never come any nearer to the Master or in at-onement with the Father.
As I and others have written you, the only way in which man can be saved from his sins and become in at-onement with the Father, is by the New Birth, which the Master has described to you as being the result of the flowing into the soul of a man of the Divine Love of the Father, and the disappearing of everything that tends to sin and error. As this Love flows into a man's soul it permeates that soul as does leaven the batch of dough, and that soul partakes of this Divine Love and thereby becomes like the Father in His Divine Nature, and fitted to inhabit His Kingdom.
Now, you can readily see that there can be no possible relationship existing between the death of Jesus on the cross and his blood, and the giving to the soul of a man those Divine Qualities that belong to the Father's Nature. These Qualities are not imparted to man by death and blood, but by life and love and faith which comes with that Love - and here when I say faith, I do not mean the mere intellectual belief of which I have spoken.
As we have before written, when the first parents were created, they were not given this Divine Love, but the mere possibility of obtaining it upon their seeking for it in the Way that God had provided. It was not forced upon them, but it was optional with them whether they would receive it and become fitted to inhabit the Kingdom of Heaven. When they committed their act of disobedience, they forfeited this privilege and, as to it, died and were left without a mediator between themselves and God. And here I don't mean any mediator in the way of paying a debt, for they owed no debt to God - they were merely, as you mortals might say, disinherited children; and the only mediator that man needed after that time was one through whom might come the Glorious Tidings that the Father had changed His Will, or forgiven the disobedience to the extent of restoring his original state, which is the re-bestowal of the privilege of obtaining into their souls His Divine Love.
And, in this sense, never was there any mediator between God and man until the coming of Jesus and his announcing to man that the Father had changed His Will and had restored to mankind the great privilege of partaking of His Divine Nature and Immortality. And thus, as in the first man, Adam, all men died, so in the man Jesus, were all men made alive. And Jesus was the mediator not only in declaring to man the re-bestowal of this Great Gift of the Divine Love and Immortality but, also, in showing the Way by which men could and must seek for that Gift in order to possess It.
The Great Gift of God to man was not Jesus, but the potentiality of obtaining the Divine Love of the Father and thus becoming Divine and fitted to reside in the mansions of the Kingdom of Heaven.
And thus Jesus became the Resurrection and the Life and brought Immortality to light. How much greater a saviour than by paying a supposed debt by his death and blood.
No, he is the saviour of man by his living and his teachings, for he was the first to receive this Divine Love and to become Divine himself, and the first fruits of the resurrection. We have explained to you before in detail, some of the truths that I have declared in this message, and it is not necessary to further explain them here.
In closing, I wish to declare with all the emphasis that I possess, arising from a knowledge based upon the teachings of the Master and my personal experience as a possessor of this Divine Love and a partaker of the Father's Divine Nature, that no vicarious atonement of Jesus, nor the shedding of his blood, saves any man from sin or makes him a redeemed child of the Father, or fits him for a home in the mansions of the Celestial Spheres.
With a love that can come only from a redeemed and Divine Nature, I love all mankind and am working to help them find the way to life and immortality and happiness beyond the conception of mortals or spirits who have not received this New Birth of the Divine Love of the Father.
I have written enough for tonight and you are tired. So my dear brother with all my love and the blessings of a heart filled with the Love of the Father, I am
Your brother in Christ,
John
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, St. John, Apostle of Jesus.
I wish to write tonight on a subject that is of importance to the members of the orthodox churches as to the belief in the efficacy of the atonement of Jesus by his death and crucifixion.
All the orthodox believe, and their preachers and evangelists teach in their sermons and addresses, and the teachers of Bible classes instruct their students, that the blood of Jesus and his death on the cross were the two factors in his career on earth that save men from their sins and satisfy the great penalty of death which overhangs them, because of man's first disobedience and the sins that followed therefrom.
Well, this doctrine has prevailed in the beliefs and teachings of the church ever since the church became established by the convention that met in pursuance of the orders of Constantine, when the books that now constitute the Bible were given the sanction of the church as canonical. Before this time some of the early fathers believed in the doctrine of the atonement as above stated, and the controversies between them and others who did not subscribe to this doctrine were very bitter, and at times, very un-Christian according to the Christianity that prevailed among the early followers of the Master, or according to his teachings.
From that time until the present, although the great Roman church has been seceded from and reforms have been made by churches founded on such reforms, this doctrine has been incorporated in and believed by most of the churches, no matter what name they may have adopted and what form of government they may have prescribed. This doctrine constitutes the foundation principles of these various bodies of church entity, and to-day, these principles are as much a part of faith and teachings of the churches as they ever were in all the centuries that have passed.
Of course, with this cardinal doctrine there have also become incorporated in these faiths and teachings certain other principles, which apply more to the individual members of the church than to the church itself as a body. I mean belief in the truth that there is a close relationship between God and the individual which may be established by prayer and the longings of the soul for the inflowing of God's Love and the regeneration of the nature of man by the influence of this Love by the Father.
But in these latter days, this truth has been known to and its workings experienced by a comparatively few of those who call themselves orthodox Christians. The large majority has depended upon the belief in the doctrine that Jesus, by his sacrifice and death, paid the debt which man owed to God; and when the members of the church in an intellectual belief assert that they believe in and accept Jesus as their Saviour because he paid the debt, and by the shedding of his blood washed away their sins and made them at-one with the Father, and thereby became saved from the wrath of the Father, and in a moment become the truly redeemed and accepted children of God, and that as long as they maintain that belief and attend to their duties as such members and observe the regulations of the church, they are safe and fitted for the enjoyment of Heaven and the presence of the Father.
They also believe that unless a man accepts Jesus as his Saviour, in the way I have mentioned, that man will be eternally lost, and in the beliefs and teachings of some of these members, will be sent to hell to be eternally damned and punished.
Well, one view of this doctrine is just as true as the other, or rather just as untrue, because both of these phases of belief have no foundation in fact, and are not in accord with the teachings of the Master, or with the fact as I know it to be, not from any mere belief but from personal experience and observation.
Oh, how the pure teachings of the Master have been distorted and made the means of preventing so many human souls from reaching the Heaven of happiness that they wished for, and that they thought would be theirs when they should give up their mortal lives.
This doctrine, so long believed, has worked the damnation of many a man, as regards his soul development and his becoming at-one with the Father and reaching the Heavens that are prepared for those who obtain that soul union with the Father.
I know it may seem surprising to some who are really true believers in this doctrine and, as they think, in the truths of God and the teachings of Jesus, which are believed to be infallibly contained in the Bible, that I announce the falsity of these beliefs and their utter ineffectiveness in enabling these sincere people to obtain that which they so earnestly desire.
But such is truth, and truth never changes, never compromises with untruth, and never permits the erroneous beliefs of a really sincere mortal to swerve in one iota from the results and consequences of that false belief. And the great injury that this false doctrine has done to humanity, and is now doing, will continue in the world to come, until the belief in truth shall supercede the belief in that which is false. And, thus, not everyone who shall say "Lord, Lord," will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
These false beliefs have operated in two ways to injure man and render him unfit for an entrance into the Kingdom. First, by the belief that brings about the injury that results from the positive operation of error, which is great; and next by the want of belief in the truth, which prevents progress in the acquirement of those qualities which belong to and are necessary parts of that truth.
When men believe in the doctrine that I have stated they become satisfied and, knowingly or not, remain in a state of false security, not attempting to develop the soul qualities, which are the only ones that are in relationship with God. Their mental beliefs are strong and may increase in strength, but their soul communions with the Father and their growth and expansion in the soul development, becomes stagnant and, as it were, dead.
This is the great injury that these false beliefs do to the man and to the spirit. I mean in his individual capacity, for it must be known as a truth, that the salvation of man or his soul progress towards an at-onement with the Father is an individual matter solely, and men as aggregations or in church communities are not redeemed from sin, nor as such, can they have any relationship with the Father or receive His Divine Love, which is the only salvation.
There is only one possible way in which man can come in unison and at-onement with the Father, and thereby fitted to enjoy or inhabit the mansions in His Kingdom, which Jesus spoke of when on earth, and that is the way that will make the soul of man like the soul of the Father, and a partaker of his Divine Qualities of Love and Life. No belief that will not bring about this uniting and commingling, as it were, can possibly make the soul of man a partaker of these qualities that are a part of the soul of God.
Then let man consider for a moment what possible connection there can be between these Soul Qualities of God and the death and blood of Jesus. God is the creator of life and death, and also of blood and flesh, and He can destroy as well as create. Had the sins of man called for the sacrifice of that which was mere flesh and blood, or the extinguishment of a life that God had created in order to pay the penalty of that sin, then a God who demanded such a payment - and this implies of course, that such a God was wrathful and could only be appeased by something that He could not of and by Himself obtain - would not possibly be satisfied with that which He had created and over which He still had absolute control, and which He could destroy and make non-existent at any time He pleased. Jesus' life was already a possession of God, and when he surrendered that life, he did not give to God anything that he did not already own and could not have taken. And when his blood flowed on the cross, it was not that which God could not have made flow at any time and in any manner.
So the absurdity of such a doctrine is too apparent for serious consideration. For its logical meaning is that God was demanding a debt that had long been unpaid, all wrathful and insatiable, and would be satisfied only with the death of a living being and the flowing of his blood; and that death and that flow of blood in one way or manner only, namely, on the cross. And yet with all this demand that has been sounding down the ages for centuries, relentlessly and unpityingly, He became satisfied and His wrath assuaged by seeing His own creature die - and that creature His best beloved son - and by hearing the trickling of the blood of that creature from a wooden cross; by all which, the life and the blood being already His to let live or destroy as He might see fit, man became at-one with Him.
The simple reduction of such a proposition is that God, in order to pay a debt that was owing to Him, accepted in payment thereof that which was already His, and which no power or being in all His universe could have taken from Him.
Now, I say all this reverently as your preachers say, but the fact is, that the mere assertion of such a doctrine, as I have been dealing with, is so blasphemous that no treatment of it, showing its falsity, could be irreverent.
And again, the absurdity of believing that God demanded that Jesus should die on the cross as one of the necessary accompaniments of his death, in order to carry out God's plan for this death and make the payment satisfactory, is so apparent and absurd, that I and all of us spirits in the Kingdom of the Father wonder that mortals can believe such an unreasonable dogma.
To follow this absurd proposition to its logical conclusion, it was necessary not only, in order that the debt might be paid, that Jesus should die on the cross, but that Judas should become the traitor, that the Jews should clamor for his death and that Pilate should pronounce the sentence. These were all necessary means to the satisfaction of the debt, and being so, why is it then that Judas and Pilate and the Jews are not saviors of mankind also, even if you say in a secondary sense. Jesus could not have clamored for his own death, or erected his own cross or nailed himself thereto, or pierced his side with a spear in order that the blood might flow, for if he had done this he would have been a suicide; but it may be, there would have been more of the elements of the payment of a debt in that method of dying than in the way in which his death was brought about.
No, I tell you, I, John, who loved the Master more than all the others and who was closer to him, who was with him when he was nailed to the cruel cross, which I think of with horror, and who was among the first to take his body from the tree and first felt his blood upon my hands - tell you that the death of Jesus on the cross did not pay any debt that man owed to God, nor did his blood wash away the sins of any man. And oh, the pity of it all is that mortals for all these long years have believed that they were saved by his sacrifice and blood, and by such belief have never come any nearer to the Master or in at-onement with the Father.
As I and others have written you, the only way in which man can be saved from his sins and become in at-onement with the Father, is by the New Birth, which the Master has described to you as being the result of the flowing into the soul of a man of the Divine Love of the Father, and the disappearing of everything that tends to sin and error. As this Love flows into a man's soul it permeates that soul as does leaven the batch of dough, and that soul partakes of this Divine Love and thereby becomes like the Father in His Divine Nature, and fitted to inhabit His Kingdom.
Now, you can readily see that there can be no possible relationship existing between the death of Jesus on the cross and his blood, and the giving to the soul of a man those Divine Qualities that belong to the Father's Nature. These Qualities are not imparted to man by death and blood, but by life and love and faith which comes with that Love - and here when I say faith, I do not mean the mere intellectual belief of which I have spoken.
As we have before written, when the first parents were created, they were not given this Divine Love, but the mere possibility of obtaining it upon their seeking for it in the Way that God had provided. It was not forced upon them, but it was optional with them whether they would receive it and become fitted to inhabit the Kingdom of Heaven. When they committed their act of disobedience, they forfeited this privilege and, as to it, died and were left without a mediator between themselves and God. And here I don't mean any mediator in the way of paying a debt, for they owed no debt to God - they were merely, as you mortals might say, disinherited children; and the only mediator that man needed after that time was one through whom might come the Glorious Tidings that the Father had changed His Will, or forgiven the disobedience to the extent of restoring his original state, which is the re-bestowal of the privilege of obtaining into their souls His Divine Love.
And, in this sense, never was there any mediator between God and man until the coming of Jesus and his announcing to man that the Father had changed His Will and had restored to mankind the great privilege of partaking of His Divine Nature and Immortality. And thus, as in the first man, Adam, all men died, so in the man Jesus, were all men made alive. And Jesus was the mediator not only in declaring to man the re-bestowal of this Great Gift of the Divine Love and Immortality but, also, in showing the Way by which men could and must seek for that Gift in order to possess It.
The Great Gift of God to man was not Jesus, but the potentiality of obtaining the Divine Love of the Father and thus becoming Divine and fitted to reside in the mansions of the Kingdom of Heaven.
And thus Jesus became the Resurrection and the Life and brought Immortality to light. How much greater a saviour than by paying a supposed debt by his death and blood.
No, he is the saviour of man by his living and his teachings, for he was the first to receive this Divine Love and to become Divine himself, and the first fruits of the resurrection. We have explained to you before in detail, some of the truths that I have declared in this message, and it is not necessary to further explain them here.
In closing, I wish to declare with all the emphasis that I possess, arising from a knowledge based upon the teachings of the Master and my personal experience as a possessor of this Divine Love and a partaker of the Father's Divine Nature, that no vicarious atonement of Jesus, nor the shedding of his blood, saves any man from sin or makes him a redeemed child of the Father, or fits him for a home in the mansions of the Celestial Spheres.
With a love that can come only from a redeemed and Divine Nature, I love all mankind and am working to help them find the way to life and immortality and happiness beyond the conception of mortals or spirits who have not received this New Birth of the Divine Love of the Father.
I have written enough for tonight and you are tired. So my dear brother with all my love and the blessings of a heart filled with the Love of the Father, I am
Your brother in Christ,
John
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