St.John writes about the Divine Love

I AM HERE. St. John (Apostle of Jesus).

I come to-night to say only a few words and these in reference to love--the Divine Love of the Father which He rebestowed upon mankind at the coming of the Master. 

This Love is the greatest thing in all the world, and the only thing that can make man at one with the Father, and change the soul of man as it has existed since his creation, into a Divine Substance filled with the Essence of the Father.

 There is nothing else in all the universe of God that can cause man to become a new creature, and an inhabitant of the Father's Kingdom; and when men possess this Love, then they possess everything that will make them not only the perfect man but the divine angel. 

Then men will understand the moral precepts of brotherly love and also the Father's oneness, and they will not have to seek for other help in order to bring into the life of the human race those qualities that will bring to it peace and good will. 

Then will every man know that every other man is his brother, and be able to do unto each as he would have the other to do unto him, and this without effort or sacrifice on his part, for love worketh its own fulfillment and all its beneficence floweth towards the fellow-man as falls the dews from heaven. Envy and hatred and strife and jealousy and all the other evil qualities of man will disappear, and only peace and joy and happiness will remain. 

It is so abundant that it may be possessed by all men by the mere seeking and the sincere longing for its inflowing. But man must understand that it is not his  by matter of right, nor is it ever forced upon him but comes only in response to the sincere earnest prayer of a soul that is filled with longing for its coming.

This Love comes not with observation of mere moral rules, or with good deeds and the exercise of the natural love of a man towards his fellows, because no man can possibly merit it by any deeds or acts or kindness of heart that he may have. 

All these things are desirable and they work out their own rewards, and bring the happiness and peace that result from good thoughts and kind deeds; but all these do not bring unto the soul of man this Great Love. 

It is the Father alone, and only when the soul is opened up to its reception can it possibly find its home in that soul. 

It is greater than faith or hope, because it is the real substance of the Father, while faith and hope are the qualities which a man may possess by his own efforts, and which are given him that he may realize the possibility of obtaining this Love. They are merely means--it is the end and fullness of their exercise. 

But men must not believe that all love is the Divine Love for it is very different in its substance and qualities from all other loves. 

All men have, a part of their possessions, the natural love, and they need not pray for a bestowal of that, although since it has become defiled by sin it needs to be purified and freed from this blight, and the Father is ever willing and ready to help men obtain this purification. 

But this Divine Love is not a part of man's nature nor can he obtain or possess it, except he seek for it. It comes from without and is not developed from within. 
It is the result of individual aquirement and not the object of universal possession. It may be possessed by all, it can be possessed by only a few and each man must determine for himself whether it shall be his.  

With God there is no respect of persons, neither is there any royal road to the obtaining of this love.All must pursue the same way and that way is the one that Jesus taught. The opening up of the soul to this love finding a lodgement therein which can be brought about only by sincere prayer and longing for its inflowing.


This love is the life of the Celestial Heavens and the only key that will unlock the gates and when the mortal enters therein, all other love is absorbed by it.  It has no substitute and is of itself a thing apart. It is of the essence of the divine, and the spirit which possesses it is divine itself. It may be yours it may be all men's and it may not. You must decide that question for yourself, not even the Father can make the decision for you.
 
 In closing let me repeat that it is the greatest thing in all God's Universe and not only the greatest but the sum of all things. For from it flows every other thing that brings peace and happiness.


I will not write more to-night, and with my love to you, and the blessing of the Father, I will say good-night.

Your brother in Christ,

JOHN

Paul encourages evangelization of the messages

I am here, Paul. 

Well, my dear brother, I have not written for a long time, and I now will embrace the opportunity to say a few words. I do not intend to write a formal message, though I should like to do so, but conditions are not just right to enable me to write as I desire.

Of course, you will remember Jesus' message on "The Soul," and it will not be necessary for me to say anything about the soul; but you can read my message in connection with that message.

As Mark has just written you, it is a great pity that a man in the position of a teacher of spiritualism should not know more of the truth so that he may disclose it to those who may listen to him and have confidence in his knowledge.

And it may be that at some time you will have the opportunity to read both messages to him, and the result may be he will seek for the truth in the way that shall be pointed out, and when he does so in earnestness he will find it and make his find a blessing to many with whom he may come in contact.

It is very unfortunate that a leader of this great truth of spiritualism - and it is a truth and one that will ultimately supersede the old religions whenever it comes into contact or association with people who think for themselves - should have such little knowledge of what a true understanding of it would enable them to teach.

We spirits have for a long time endeavored to enlighten these leaders and at times have been able to impress upon them some of the vital truths; but these efforts have not been very successful until now, when we are to deliver our messages through your writings. But this endeavor will become more and more earnest or successful in the future, and many of these people who are anxious to learn the true religion and are waiting only for some authoritative source will learn, and among them will be many leaders of what is now called Spiritualism.

The work is one that must become world-wide in its results, for the soul of every man on earth, no matter where he may be, is worthy to be saved; and, as you know, if the start towards regeneration can be made on earth, the progression in the spirit world will be so much more rapid. I know that the spread of the truth will take much time, but when the commencement is made the progress will become more rapid.

I do not think that I should write more tonight, and will only add that the evangelization must start very soon, and those who work to start the truth on its way to the knowledge of men must put all their energies and love into the work.

 You know that now there are very few - only three(Dr. Leslie R. Stone, Eugene Morgan and James E. Padgett) - who have any conception of the truth and what the plan is for the making known of these truths to the world. Yet Christianity was started by only one besides the Master, I mean John the Baptist, and he, as I must tell you, did not have the knowledge of the truth as you three have this day, and did not have behind him the power of the Celestial Heavens, as you have.

His mission was performed, and Christianity would have been a success if its truths had not become lost and perished by the acts of men who did not have in their souls the Love that has been given to you. The truths perished, and men perished as far as their souls' salvation was concerned, to a large extent.

But now these truths will not perish because they will be presented in living type, and no copying or recopying will be needed, and no addition will be made to, or anything taken away from the writings of the spirits who are now engaged in formulating these truths. It will not be a failure this time, and the way to the Kingdom of God in the Celestial Heavens will be made plain and no man will have an excuse for not walking therein.

And those who do not will have a greater penalty to pay than was required of the Jews and pagans who lived in the time of Jesus, or who have lived since that time; for with increased opportunity to learn the truth will come increased obligations, and the one who neglects will have that lost opportunity as a part of his consciousness, and this may be even after he becomes the perfect man, for I tell you here that the memory of man lasts even when the highest perfection is reached, as to those things which it is not necessary for him to lose in order for him to become the perfect man.

Well, you are tired, and I will not write more. So, with my love to yourself and your friend, I will say good night.

Your brother in Christ,

Paul

Luke writes about his Gospel

I am here Luke,

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 

Jesus brother James

October 8th, 1915

Received by James Padgett

Washington D.C.

I am here, James the Lesser.

I come because most of the apostles have written you, and I want to be in the number who testify that Jesus is the living and true son of God, and that he has selected you - and also your friend - to do his work.

I know that this has been told you by many spirits, but yet I want to add my testimony, for the time may come when you will meet such unbelief and skepticism that you will need all the testimony that you can get.

The work that you will have to do will not be an easy one. You will have many antagonists, especially in the churches and among the preachers and rulers of the churches, and you will need all the help that the spirit powers can give you.

I am one of the band of Celestial spirits that will sustain and help you in your work, and I am so interested that you shall succeed that I want you to know the fact that back of you both is the most wonderful power that has ever been given to mortals to carry out the plans of the higher Celestial world.

When on earth, I was the brother of Jesus, and called the Lesser to distinguish me from James, the brother of John and son of Zebedee. I was not the son of any Alphaeus, such as that name is understood in the New Testament, but the son of Mary and Joseph, as was my brother Jesus. Jesus himself will one day come and tell you exactly who Alphaeus was.

So have faith, and believe what we write you, for it is all true. You must not doubt as you do sometimes, or let your earthly affairs turn your thoughts from the great truths which we come to teach you. So without writing more, I will say, believe.

 Your brother in Christ

James the Lesser