The True Explanations for Many of Jesus' Sayings and Parables are in these Messages
Quotes from Jesus and others found in the messages.


Jesus:
So you see, all spirits in order to inhabit this kingdom must have the prescribed requirements of soul love and soul development. As I said when on earth, "He that enters into the sheepfold in any other way than through the gate, is a thief and a robber," and no thief or robber is fitted for this kingdom of divine love.
 
Let man know that no mercy or love of the Father will be given him to enable him to enter this kingdom, unless that man seeks this love and mercy in the way the Father has ordained that they shall be sought for. No special providence will be extended to any man, and if he comes to the marriage feast without his wedding garment he will be cast out and not permitted to enjoy the feast.
 
Men may reason to the extent of all their reasoning powers to prove that the Father, being a loving and merciful Father, will not cast them out or keep them from entering this kingdom because they are all His children and the objects of His love and favor, and that one is as dear to Him as the other, and that He is no respecter of persons and therefore will treat all alike. But I tell them that they are mistaken, and if they wait until the great day when the sheep shall be separated from the goats, they will realize to their everlasting exclusion from this kingdom that what I say is true.

 
Jesus:
Merely good deeds are not sufficient. Back of all deeds must be the soul's development, which results only from the possession of this love. I do not mean by this that deeds do not form a part of this development, for they do, but deeds without the possession of this love will never make a man the possessor of the one thing needful to ensure his entrance into the heavenly kingdom.
 
Men must love one another, and must of course, 'do unto each other as they would be done by.' If this rule of conduct were observed, men would be much happier on earth even if they do not possess the divine love that I speak of.
 
Life on earth is an important part of the great eternity of living, and men should realize this to its fullest meaning and not think the earth a mere stopping place where the spirit is enfolded in flesh only for the pleasures and gratification of its carnal appetites. This earth life is a fleeting shadow of the spirit life, but an important shadow to the happiness which man may enjoy in the future. It is the most important period of man's whole existence, and the way that such life is lived may determine the whole future life of a man. I don't mean that there is no redemption beyond the grave, for the mercy of the Father continues into the spirit life, but when man fails to accept this mercy, I mean the way in which he may become a divine child of the Father while in the earth life, he may never accept it in the spirit life.
 
As I said when on earth, “Strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leads to life eternal, and few there be who enter therein.”
And this saying applies to the spirit world as well as to the material world.
Let men seek this great divine love, and in faith they will find it and forever be One with the immortal Father as He is immortal, and happy beyond all conception. So I will say with all my love and blessings, and the blessings of the Father, "Seek and ye shall find".
 

 
Jesus:
I was with you tonight at the meeting of the Christians, and saw that you were thinking of several things that I had written. You wanted to tell the preacher of my Truths, but of course you could not. He took a text from the Bible which I am credited with having uttered; and I did, but it did not mean exactly what he explained it to mean.
 
When I said, "He that liveth and believeth on me shall never die," I was referring to the man whose soul was not dead in sin, and who believed the Truths that I declared - that is, God's Divine Love was waiting to enter into and fill his soul with Its Essence and Substance. And if that man by faith received that Divine Love, he should never die - that is, he would become Immortal, as God is Immortal.
 
No mere belief in me as Jesus, the man, or as the son of God, is sufficient to give a man eternal life. For while he must believe that I was sent by the Father to proclaim the Great Truth that He had again bestowed on man the possibility of obtaining this Divine Love by his prayers and faith, yet unless he believed this and became the possessor of this Divine Love, he could never claim eternal life.

 
Jesus:
I was with you at church in the morning and heard the minister's sermon, and saw that he did not rightly comprehend the meaning of the words of the texts: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do because I go unto my Father." and "If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it."
 
His explanation of what was meant by "greater works than I do" was not in accord with what I meant, or with the meaning that I intended to convey; for when I referred to "works," I meant those works which the world considered as miracles. I intended to assure my disciples that they would have power to do similar works, or perform similar miracles, to a greater extent than I had performed them. "Greater" referred to quantity and not to quality.
 
But this power, or the successful exercise of it, was not dependent upon belief in my name, but upon their faith in the power of the Father, and in the fact that He would confer upon them that power. There was no virtue in my name, or in me as the individual, Jesus; but all virtue rested in the faith that they might have in the Father. I never performed any of the so-called "miracles" of my own self, but they were all performed by the Father working through me. And just as He worked through me, He would also work through my disciples who should acquire the necessary faith.


Jesus:
As I said when on earth, "Narrow is the Way and strait is the gate which leads to Life Everlasting, and few there be that enter therein," I repeat now; for it is apparent from the observation of the way in which mankind have exercised their will from the beginning - which God leaves free to their own volition - that a vast majority of men will never enter in at the strait gate, but will be content to live in the spheres and with the happiness which their natural love, in its perfect state and progress, will fit them for.

 
Jesus:
"As for the healing act which I performed at the pool of Bethesda, I am reported to have said, "Is it easier to say, 'take up thy bed and walk,'than for God to forgive your sin?"
Well, that is the way it is recorded, but that is not what I said.
 
Actually I said, "That thou may know that the son of man through the power of God can forgive sin, I say unto you, 'take up thy bed and walk.'"
 
It was only as God's instrument in showing man the way to His Divine Love, that I could bring about forgiveness of sin and not by any power of my own. If God did not forgive, I could not and neither can any man."
 
I know that a church claims that authority, but it is not correct. It has no power to forgive sin or to grant any favor or indulgence to mankind, and its assertions of that power is a mere usurpation of what God alone, has the power to give.

 
Nicodemus:
Oh, the long years that have gone by, since Jesus told me that I must be born again to inherit eternal life, and how comparatively seldom this great truth is taught by the churches and the teachers of religious matters.
 
This truth is at the very foundation of mankind's redemption, and until a man receives this New Birth he cannot possibly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Men may claim to have faith in God and believe on Jesus' name and conform to all the essentials and sacraments of the churches, and yet, unless they have this New Birth, their faith and works as Christians are vain.
 
This I know from my own experience as well as from the teachings of the Master, and I desire to emphasize, with all the powers that I have, that it is the only important requirement to immortality. The New Birth means the flowing into the soul of a man, the Divine Love of the Father, so that that man becomes, as it were, a part of the Father in His Divinity and Immortality.

 
Jesus:
A saying that he did not say.
 
You are now in condition, and I will give you a short message. When I was on earth I was not worshiped as God, but was considered merely as the son of God in the sense that in me were imposed the Truths of my Father and many of His wonderful and mysterious powers. I did not proclaim myself to be God, neither did I permit any of my disciples to believe that I was God, but only that I was His beloved son sent to proclaim to mankind His truths, and show them the way to the Love of the Father.
 
I was not different from other men, except that I possessed to a degree this Love of God, which made me free from sin, and prevented the evils that formed a part of the nature of men from becoming a part of my nature. No man who believes that I am God has a knowledge of the truth, or is obeying the commandments of God by worshiping me. Such worshipers are blaspheming and are doing the cause of God and my teachings great injury.

 
Jesus:
I first became the Christ when I was anointed by my Father, and that occurred at the time of my baptism by John. I as Christ am different from myself as Jesus. Christ means that principle which the Father has conferred upon me, which made me at one with Him in the possession of this great love. Christ is that love itself made manifest in me as man. This Christ principle is universal and is everywhere, just as is the Holy Spirit, but I am limited in my place of occupancy just as you are.
 
I never as Jesus merely, promised the great gift, mentioned in the Bible, such as, where two or three are gathered together there will I be also; for it would be impossible for me to be in all places at the same time. But Christ, being without form or limitation, is omnipresent and, consequently, may fulfill my promise in this regard. Christ is as much alive today as ever. He was never crucified and never died as did Jesus.

 
Jesus:
But the Holy Spirit, while a part of the spirit of God, is as distinctive as is the soul of man distinctive from all other creations of God. It is that part of God's spirit that has to do with the relationship of God's Soul and man's soul exclusively. The subject of Its operation is the Divine Love of the Father's Soul, and the object of Its workings is the soul of man; and the great goal to be reached by Its operations is the transforming of the soul of man into the substance of the Father's Love, with Immortality as a necessary accompaniment.
 
This is the Great Miracle of the universe; and so high and sacred and merciful is the Transformation, that we call that part of God's spirit that so works, the Holy Spirit.
 
So let not teachers or preachers teach, or their hearers believe that every part of God's spirit that operates upon the hearts and thoughts and feelings of man, is the Holy Spirit, for it is not true. Its mission is the salvation of men in the sense of bringing them into that harmony with God, whereby the very souls of men will become a part of the Soul of God in substance, and not merely in image. And without this working of the Holy Spirit, men cannot achieve such union.
 
I have written to you before as to how this Holy Spirit works, the Way in which It can bring men the Divine Love of the Father, and what is necessary for Its inflowing. The Way described is the only Way, and men must not believe and rest in the security of the belief that every working of the spirit of God is the working of the Holy Spirit.
 
Except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. And such attainment is only possible by the working of the Holy Spirit. Oh preacher, upon whom a great responsibility rests, learn the Truth and then lead men into the Way of salvation!
 

John:
But sometime after the Celestial Kingdom is closed, our work on earth, as well as in the spirit spheres will cease, and then our homes in the Celestial Spheres will be our only places of labor and love.

The kingdom will be completed--the door of the Heavenly Kingdom closed, and the angelic hosts become separated from the spiritual or perfect man. Such is the decree.

And as the Father desires all men to become at-one with Him in His Divinity of Love, we must work until the great day of the consummation of the Kingdom arrives, and spirits who have not on the wedding garments, shall suffer the doom of the second death.

And when Jesus said, "Work while it is day, for the night cometh when no man can work," he meant that while the Kingdom is open for men to enter we must work, for when its doors shall be closed the work of the angelic laborer must cease, and men and spirits be left to an eternity in the spiritual spheres.

And so we work, and so must you work until the time of separation, and as the Master said, the wheat and the tares must be permitted to grow together, until the great time of the harvesting shall take place.

But until then, we must mingle and work and pray without ceasing.

The Kingdom will be completed, and the Door of the Heavenly Kingdom closed


Jesus:
But neglect or incompleteness notwithstanding, the Bible, which most of those professing to be Christians believe contains my sayings, does set forth this Way to the Celestial Kingdom! The words are few and the Way is plain, and no mystery prevents men from comprehending the meaning thereof. When I said, "Except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God,"

I disclosed the only and true Way to this Kingdom. During my time on earth, there were some who understood this great Truth; since that time, there have been some who not only understood this Truth, but also found the Way, and followed it until they reached the goal, and are now inhabitants of this Kingdom. But the vast majority of men - priests, teachers, and people - have never understood, and have never sought to find the Way. To their spiritual senses, this great Truth has been, as it were, a hidden thing. And as they read or even recite the same to their hearers, it has no special significance. It is merely considered one of the moral precepts, such as "Love your neighbor as yourself," and with not as much importance to it as to some of these others. And so, all down the ages since the Great Kingdom has been waiting for men, they, though in all sincerity and in love towards God, have sought for and found only the Kingdom of the Perfect Man (to a greater or lesser extent), and have neglected to seek for, and have missed, the Kingdom of the Divine Angel.

The True Kingdom of Heaven That Jesus Taught on Earth - the Celestial Kingdom


Jesus:
In the future, all men, either as spirits or mortals, will possess that soul quality or potentiality, until the great day of judgment shall again, take from those who have not perfected their souls at that time into the enjoyment of the Divine nature, as I have explained. When that day comes, those who are without this Divine Essence in their souls will be forever deprived of the privilege of receiving this Great Gift or of obtaining this Divine Essence, or in other words, of God's Divine Love.

And after that time those spirits who have never acquired this Divine Nature will be permitted to live merely as spirits enjoying their natural love, just as Adam after his fall, and just as all spirits and men who lived between that time, and my coming lived only in their natural love.
This is the "second death." Adam's was the first, and the great day of judgment will declare the second. And after that, never again will man have the opportunity of partaking of this Divine Essence of the Father and becoming "as one of the gods."

Men may reason to the utmost of their limited intellects, in the way of saying that God would not subject his creatures to this second death, and thereby deprive them of this great boon of becoming partakers of His Divine Nature and the great happiness that comes with It. But such reasoning, or the conclusion reached, will not change the fact. What I tell you is the fact, and when too late, many men will realize to their sorrow that it is true.

He will still be their Father, even though they may not accept his Great Gift, and they will be comparatively happy from the natural love bestowed upon them. But they will not partake of His Heavenly Kingdom. They will be like the guests invited to the marriage feast who, because of various excuses, declined to attend. While they were not deprived of other food and sustenance, yet they never partook of the more precious food which the host had provided for them at the feast, and never thereafter had the opportunity to do so.

Many of my parables in the Bible illustrate this great Truth when properly understood. And men in those days did understand my parables when I was on earth. But men now harden their hearts and shut their intellects to the Truths of these parables and to my teachings.

Immortality. Only from the Immortal Can True Immortality Be Acquired


Jesus:
The Bible does not contain many sayings of mine disclosing the Truths, and does contain many sayings attributed to me which I never said. Take that saying over which a controversy is now occurring and which is referred to in another article contained in the book mentioned; that is, that I said "I came not to bring peace to the world but rather a "sword."

Now, while this appears in Matthew's Gospel as coming from me, I never said it nor used any expression that would convey the meaning that some of the commentators are endeavoring to place upon the words. I never taught war upon a man's neighbors, and never at any time was such a thought a part of my teachings to the disciples or to any others.

No, militarism is all wrong and against all the precepts of truth. It should not be believed for a moment by any Christians, or by anyone else, that such action was ever advocated by me. While I know the truth will cause a division among men as to what the truth is, and may even separate men and cause bitter thoughts and even hatred to arise in the souls of men towards their fellowmen, with even brother perhaps coming to dislike brother, yet the accomplishing of such results was not the object of my coming to earth and teaching the Truths. Rather, they are the results of the unavoidable conflict between truth and error. Truth cannot compromise, even for the sake of peace, and error will not submit or acknowledge its untruth so long as it can get any mortal to believe in and advocate it.

Sin Has No Existence Except as It Is Created by Mankind, and Man Must Pay the Penalties


Paul.
There are some things which are contained in the Bible which, if properly understood, would reveal to man that no resurrection of the body was intended as the thing which Jesus came to earth to declare and teach.

When he said, "I am the Resurrection and the Life," he did not say or mean, "Wait until I die and then I will demonstrate the Resurrection," or, "When you see me ascend to heaven, then will I become the Resurrection and you will know it." Rather, not only in the first instance mentioned but also at all times, his declarations were that he was the Resurrection while living! And these declarations did not refer to the man, Jesus, or to any disposition that he might make of his body, either physical or spiritual; or to any apparent ascension of his physical body (which never took place) or to any ascension of his spiritual body (which did occur). In these particulars, he was essentially no more than, or different from, other men who had died or would die.

Truly, Jesus was the Resurrection and the Life; and I, Paul, who am the recipient of this Resurrection and know whereof I speak, and have knowledge of the fact that those inhabitants of the spirit world who have never received this Resurrection are still in a condition of death, insofar as obtaining the Divine Love of the Father and the consciousness of Immortality are concerned, declare unto you that what I have attempted to describe as the Resurrection from the dead, is the True Resurrection.

The True Resurrection That Jesus Taught


Concerning the End of the World.
Jesus:
Well, so far as that prophecy is concerned, it referred to the fall of Jerusalem. At that time, I mean just prior to and at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, the whole world was in that condition that the prophecy speaks of. I did not know anything about the present condition of the earth and could not have referred to these times or to what may now happen among men.

The end of the age, as it should be written, referred to the ending of the Jewish dispensation and not to the end of the physical world. That was not to be destroyed at the time the prophecy was to be fulfilled, and no man or spirit now knows when the earth will cease to exist. Only God knows that and He has never revealed it.

But this I do know, that such an event will never take place until He has worked out His plan for the ending of the world, and I believe it would be many centuries yet before such an ending to the earth and the visible world would take place. And I do not know that it will ever have an ending, and much less can a human foretell the same. So you need not bother about these things.

The Truth Concerning The End of The World


Jesus:
I desire tonight to write to you in reference to the way in which, as the preacher advises, "Christ may be in you." I know that it is almost universal among preachers of the orthodox church to teach their hearers that the way to salvation is to get Christ in them, and thereby they will be enabled to come into unity with the Father, and will cease to remain subject to the effects of sin and evil. Well, this teaching is the true foundation of salvation for the Celestial Heavens, provided it be understood by the preachers and the people what the true meaning of "Christ in you" is. Unless this meaning is comprehended, the fact that preacher or people may believe that they have Christ in them will not work the results that they may suppose or desire.

Many, and I may say the most of these professing Christians have ideas of what this expression means, in activated terms, that are not in accord with the true meaning of this condition of the soul. They believe that all that is necessary is to believe on Jesus as their savior by his sacrifice and death, that in so believing they have Christ in them, and that nothing else is required. They have no conception of the distinction between Jesus the man, and Christ the Spirit of Truth, or more correctly, the Spirit that manifests the existence of the Divine Love in the soul.

Christ May Be in You - What it Means


Jesus:
So that, when we pray to the Father to increase our faith it is a prayer for the increase of Love. Faith is based on the possession of this Love, and without it there can be no faith, because it is impossible for the soul to exercise its function when Love is absent from it.

Sometime, as you progress in these writings, you will be in soul condition to understand just what faith is, but until that time your faith will be limited by your possession of this Love.

Well, in my healing of the sick, and the blind and the others of earth, who needed a cure, when I said: "as your faith so be it unto you," I meant that they must believe that the Father had power to bring about the cure; but I did not mean that if their minds merely had the belief that I might cure them, that then they would be cured. Belief was not sufficient of itself, but faith was required.

Faith is not a thing that can be obtained by a mere exercise of the mind, but has to be sought for with the soul perceptions, and when obtained will be enjoyed only by the soul perceptions.

The Truth Concerning Faith


Jesus:
When on earth, I taught the doctrine of salvation only through the workings of the Holy Spirit in fulfilling the commandments of the Father.
Mere belief in me or in my name without this Love will never enable any man to become the possessor of this Love. Hence the saying that all sins against me, or even against God's Commandments may be forgiven men, but the sin against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven them, neither while on earth nor when in the spirit world.
This means that so long as a man rejects the influences of the Spirit, he sins against it; and such sin prevents him from receiving this Divine Love. Hence in that state, he cannot possibly be forgiven and be permitted to enter into the Celestial Kingdom of the Father.

The Divine Love of the Father and the New Birth of the Soul


Luke:
Nowhere, not even in the Bible, is there any saying of Jesus to the effect that God is tripartite, consisting of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost; and, as a fact, never did Jesus when on earth teach any such doctrine, but only this: that the Father is God and the only God, and that he, Jesus, is his son and the first fruits of the resurrection from the dead, and that the Holy Ghost is God's messenger for conveying the Divine Love, and as such, the comforter.

I know that in some of the Gospels, as now contained in the Bible and adopted as canonical, it is said, in effect, that the Godhead consists of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost - these three are one - but such Gospels do not contain the truth in this respect and are not the same Gospels that were originally written. These original Gospels have been added to and taken from in the passing of the years and in the copying and the recopying that occurred before the adoption of the same.

The mystery of the Godhead, three in one is a myth. There is no mystery that men should not know


Jesus:
Now, as I have written you before, all this can be accomplished only through the operation of the new birth, that is the inflowing into the soul of man of the divine love of the Father. This love contains the essence of God's Divinity and when man obtains it he is then of the same essence as the Father and for the first time becomes a part of the divine and fitted to inhabit the celestial heavens. In no other way can man partake of this nature. And it does not require much reasoning to show the logical truth of this statement, for man in his earthly affairs and in his material experiments in producing compounds from elements, applies the same principle that I assert in my statement: “The dough cannot be leavened unless leaven is placed in the batch”.

So you see that without this divine love entering into the soul it will be impossible for the natural man to become the divine angel. Beliefs and creeds and doctrines and sacrifices cannot work this transformation. And even though the beliefs may be without doubt, and the creeds and doctrines satisfactory and the sacrifices without end, yet they will all be futile to change the soul of the mere man into the soul of the divine angel.
And all this, in part, is why man should seek to obtain the divine love and become an inhabitant of the celestial spheres.

Why the Divine Love is Necessary to Become an Inhabitant of the Celestial Heavens


Jesus:
The Father is Himself, Alone. There is no other God besides Him, and no other God to be worshiped.

I am His teacher of Truth, and am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, because in me are those attributes of goodness and knowledge which fit me to show the Way and to lead men to eternal life in the Father, and to teach them that God has prepared a Kingdom in which they may live forever, if they so desire. But notwithstanding my teachings, men, and those who assumed high places in what was called the Christian church, imposed doctrines so at variance with the Truth that, in these latter days, men, in the exercise of an enlightened freedom, and of reason, have become infidels, and have turned away from God and His Love, and have thought and taught that man himself is sufficient for his own salvation.

The time has come when men must be taught to know that, while the teachings of these professed authorities on the Truths of God are all wrong, they, these same men, are in error when they refuse to believe in God and in my teachings. What my teachings are, I know, is difficult to understand from the writings of the New Testament, for I never said many things contained therein, and many things that I did say are not written therein.

I AM NOW GOING TO GIVE TO THE WORLD THE TRUTHS AS I TAUGHT THEM WHEN ON EARTH, AND MANY THINGS THAT I NEVER DISCLOSED TO MY DISCIPLES OR INSPIRED OTHERS TO WRITE.

When James E. Padgett's Soul Development Was Sufficient to Permit Jesus To Write, the Following Informative Message Was Received


Jesus:
No man who has lived and died has escaped, and no man who shall hereafter die can escape this judgment unless, in a Way provided by the Father in His Love, he comes into harmony with the laws requiring harmony. "As a man soweth so shall he reap" is as true as is the fact that the sun shines upon the just and the unjust alike. Memory is man's storehouse of good and evil, and memory does not die with the death of the man's physical body. On the contrary, memory becomes more alive - all alive - and nothing is left behind or forgotten when the spirit man casts off the encumbrance and benumbing and deceiving influences of the only body of man that was created to die.

Judgment is real, and men must come to it face to face. Want of belief, unbelief, or indifference, or the application to men's lives of the saying "sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof," will not enable men to avoid the judgment or the exactions of its demands.

There is a Way, though, in which men may turn the judgment of death into the judgment of life, inharmony into harmony, suffering into happiness, and judgment itself into a thing to be desired. Elsewhere we have written of this Way open to all men, and I will not attempt to describe it here.

After Death, the Judgment: What It Is and What It Is Not


Jesus:
I have seen the operations of the Spirit upon the souls of men, and know what I tell you to be true. No man must rest in the assurance that any instrumentality or medium other than the Holy Spirit will enable him to obtain this Love. He must not rest in the thought that he can become a part of God's Kingdom without this, for no love but this Divine Love can entitle and qualify him to enter that Kingdom.

When on earth, I taught the doctrine of salvation only through the workings of the Holy Spirit in fulfilling the commandments of the Father. Mere belief in me or in my name without this Love will never enable any man to become the possessor of this Love. Hence the saying that "all sins against me, or even against God's Commandments may be forgiven men, but the sin against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven them, neither while on earth nor when in the spirit world." This means that so long as a man rejects the influences of the Spirit, he sins against it; and such sin prevents him from receiving this Divine Love. Hence in that state, he cannot possibly be forgiven and be permitted to enter into the Celestial Kingdom of the Father.

God's Love is not that which needs the love of man to give It a Divine Essence. But on the contrary, the love of man must be completely enveloped in, or absorbed by, the Divine Love of the Father in order to become Divine in its nature. So let man know that his love is but the mere shadow of what the Father's Love is, and that so long as he refuses to receive this Love of the Father, he will be compelled to remain apart from the Father, and enjoy only the happiness which his natural love affords him.

The Divine Love of the Father and the New Birth of the Soul


Jesus:
These truths while, when understood and applied by the individual, will not render that individual less qualified to perform the duties of life, but on the contrary will increase these qualifications, and must be so taught, yet in the case of you who are to make and teach these truths, your interest in the world must be forgotten or submerged in these higher interests. In other words, "while you are in the world you must not be of the world," as I taught my disciples when on earth.

Of course, while you are mortals you will have to have these things that are necessary to sustain life and health and comfort, and your work does not require that you shall make sacrifices of these things, but that you shall have the comforts that are necessary to your enjoying the merely physical life, and this you must understand.

As you have said, the work will be hard and the difficulties that you shall encounter will be great, but you will be able to do the work and overcome the difficulties; for I desire to tell you here that never in all the history of mankind has any work had behind it the power and influence of the high spirits of the spirit world, as your work will have, and your faith must be such that no possibility of failure will be permitted to enter into your conception of success.

The world is now ready for those truths, for men's souls have been and will be more opened to the possibility and necessity of seeking for and obtaining things spiritual than ever before, and mankind will - and now does - realize that man himself, notwithstanding the teachings of some of the writers that man is of the divine and of himself capable of self-regeneration, is not able to become brothers in truth and reality, and that the brotherhood of man is a mere dream when based upon the power of man because of any qualities of goodness or of the divine that he may be supposed to possess.

The importance of the work set before Mr. Padgett. The necessity of getting into condition to do this work


John refers to Jesus exclamation that he and the Father are one.

Doubts as to the teachings of the churches are now penetrating and permeating the minds of many, very many of these are only nominal Christians, and their perceptions of God is almost blunted, and they attend worship only because of a kind of feeling of duty and impression that it is right for them to do so. They know nothing of the Divine Love of the Father's nature and of the plan for their salvation.

Their prayers and worship are mostly only those which come from the lips or a kind of blind intellectual belief. Their soul longings do not enter into their prayers and as a consequence, their petitions for God's Love and mercy go no higher than their heads, as has been said.

This condition of men is very injurious to their future welfare and cannot possibly lead them to the Father, and so long as it exists, men can never become in an at-onement with Him. Only the inflowing of this Love can reconcile men with God in the higher and more desirable sense. Of course they may become in harmony with Him by a purification of their natural love, but that is the harmony only, that existed between Him and the first parents before their fall, and is not the harmony which Jesus taught and which was the object of his mission to teach. When he said, "I and my Father are one," he did not refer to the at-onement between the mere image and the Substance, but to the at-onement which gives to the souls of men the very Substance of the Father.

The Nominal Christian and the Need of the Divine Love in the Soul, so as to Become a True Christian


Jesus:
I know that men preach about the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, and urge them to attempt to cultivate the thoughts and deeds of love and self sacrifice and charity in a way to bring about the greatly wished for unity, of life and purpose on the part of men; and by reason of this natural love can themselves do a great work in bringing about this brotherhood.

Yet the chain that binds them together cannot possibly be any stronger than the natural love which forges it, and when that becomes overshadowed by ambition and material desires, the brotherhood will become greatly weakened or disappear entirely, and men will realize that its foundation was not built upon a rock, but rather upon the infirm sand which could not sustain the superstructure, when the storms arising from men's ambition and desires for power and greatness and many other material things beat upon it. So I say, there is a great necessity for something more than man's mere natural love to help him form a brotherhood that will remain steadfast and firm under all conditions and among all men.

How a Soul must receive the Divine Love of the Father in order to become an inhabitant of the Celestial Kingdom and the Truth concerning the Brotherhood of Man and the Fatherhood of God


John:
As you know, the soul in the condition in which man possesses it before the entrance of the Divine Love is not in accord with the Love of God, nor is it a part of the great Oversoul. It is only a special creation made in the image of the Father, having in it the natural love which was conferred upon man at the time of his creation, and not having in it any part of the essence of the Father, or any quality that makes it of the Divine nature of the Father, or necessarily immortal.

But when the Divine Love enters into it, and it becomes permeated, as it were, with the Divine Essence, then it takes on the Divine nature of the Father, and to the extent that it receives and possesses this Love it becomes at-one with God and ceases to be a mere image, and becomes transformed into the substance.

The soul in this condition is altogether a different entity from the soul in the condition in which it was created, and no longer is subject to the dominion of either the mind or of the animal appetites and desires, and, hence, the spirit possessing such a soul is, in essence, a part of the Father, or as Jesus said, is in the Father and the Father in it.

Now, do not understand that such a soul is the soul that man originally possessed with increased development of purity and goodness or freedom from sin, because such is not the case. Such soul by such transformation becomes a new thing, and never again can it relapse into the soul of man's origin. Because of the qualities that it then possesses, it becomes immortal, and such immortal nature can never be taken from it.

The Condition of the Soul when and after the Divine Love flows into it


Ann Rollins
As I have said, beyond the sixth sphere, these merely mental or moral seekers cannot progress, unless they seek for the Divine Love, and in this sixth sphere the mind's happiness is reached.

And the sixth sphere is a more prolific one of probation, in the sense that many of these spirits are awakened to the necessity of seeking this soul development, because after some of these spirits have been there for a long time, they commence to realize this limitation to their mental happiness. And, strange as it may seem to you, they frequently make their first start by calling up the recollections of their childhood days, when they were taught and believed that God loved them, and that His Love was the greatest thing in all the world. So you see here illustrated, in a way you probably never have thought of, the saying of Jesus that, "except ye become as little children ye can in no wise way enter the Kingdom of Heaven."

In all this you will see how God recognizes and respects the independent will of His creature. He does not force them to seek His Love, but waits until they, by their own experience, learn that what they once thought was all sufficient for their happiness, is not sufficient; and realizing this insufficiency, they become dissatisfied, and with such dissatisfaction comes the wish to learn the great unknown of desire, which, at last, causes them to feel their dependence upon a source of happiness not emanating from themselves.

And thus you will understand the great saying of the Bible: "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."

Ann Rollins describes several spheres and the different kinds of spirits inhabiting them


We often see the birth of the two parts of the souls into mortals and know that such souls then, for the first time, assumes a shape and form, for this invisible image of God fills the whole of the spirit body, and from that body assumes or receives its form, and thereby becomes individualized.

The soul is the life of the spirit body and never leaves it during the earth life of the mortal; and comes with it at the death of the physical body, and remains a part of it during all the time of the existence of the spirit body in the spirit world. Whether it can ever become lost is a question upon which I shall write you later. You will remember that Jesus said, according to the Bible, "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?"

I will say this though, at this time, that a man may retain his soul as a fact and yet have a consciousness of having lost it, and he is then as if he had no soul.

How a Soul is Born into the Flesh and becomes an Individualized Person


When God rebestowed this Divine Love on man, there was no man in existence, or spirit either, who could be called His son, if it were necessary that he had been converted as the preacher said, because none had received this love which is the only thing or power in all God's universe that can convert a man dead in trespass and sin: yet God loved all His children and conferred upon them this great gift, because they were His children. If God had loved only the righteous there would have been no one who could have been the object of His bounty. He would have had no sons or children of His love.

And now that He has rebestowed this gift, and some of the sons of men have received and possess it, and are more in harmony with Him, it is not true that those who were His sons and children before its bestowal are any less His sons and children, because they may not have sought and made this gift their own.

No, the Father's love is so great and broad and deep, that it goes out to all the children of earth, waiting to bestow it upon them, and the lost sheep is as much His child as the ninety and nine who are safe in the fold, and although the lost one may never find or enter the fold, where those are that possess His Divine Love are sheltered, yet that sheep remains and is the object of His love.

God Loves All of His Children. His Love and Care Are Over All, Even Though Some Are Strangers to His Love and Mercy


They decline to receive the knowledge of the Truth of the New Birth. And as that is a thing that is optional with them, and Its rejection does not prevent them from becoming the perfect man, as you have had explained to you, they think that there is no absolute necessity that they should be born again in order to enable, a restoration of the harmony of that condition and relationship that they may have with the Father. Of course, until the day of the Consummation of the Kingdom of the Celestial Spheres, they will have the opportunity to become recipients of the Divine Love, and transformed into redeemed angels. But it is doubtful if very many of them will ever elect to accept this great privilege.

I am glad that I could write to you tonight, as it is a new experience with me, but one that gives me great satisfaction. And I will come again, if agreeable to you, and write further.

In closing, I wish to say that I know the difference between the spirit who has the Divine Love in his soul, and one who has not, and that the mere time of a spirit's existence in the spirit world, does not necessarily indicate that the spirit possesses the Divine Love.
As Jesus said when on earth, "the first shall be last, and the last shall be first." And I may add that some will never be first or last, but only the reminders of what might have been.

Many Ancient Spirits Continue to Worship God, As They Did When on Earth


And what I have said applies to many other declarations contained in the Bible, such as, "He that believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved"; "There is no other name under heaven whereby men can be saved;" etc. This is the enunciation of a false doctrine, and misleading to the great majority of mankind, for they accept the declarations as literally true. Of course, if it be interpreted as meaning that he that believeth on the Truths that I teach, then the objection is not so great. But even then, the declarations do not go far enough. For men may believe in these Truths, and that belief may be a mere mental one, acquiesced in merely by the mind's faculties, without any exercise at all of the soul sense.

If to all these declarations shall be added the vital truth: "Except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven," and to this mental belief shall be added the soul's faith, then the doctrines will be truly stated, and men will understand what is necessary for salvation.

Belief and faith are not the same; one is of the mind, the other of the soul. One can and does change as phenomena and apparent facts change; the other, when truly possessed, never changes. For faith possessed by a soul causes all the longings and aspirations of that soul to become things of real existence; which, like the house that is built upon the solid rock, can never be shaken or destroyed.

I write thus tonight to show that the preacher did not explain the true meaning of the text in his sermon, and he did not comprehend the Truths that were intended to be conveyed, of which the text was susceptible (the text did not set forth my expressions, or in its literal interpretation, declare the Truth).

Believe in the Father, and trust me; for you will not be disappointed. And pray that this Divine Love of the Father shall come into your soul, so that you shall know that you are an accepted son of the Father. Keep up your courage, and have faith that whatsoever things you shall ask the Father in the name of His Love and Truth shall be given to you.

Verily, Verily, I Say unto You, He That Believeth on Me, the Works That I Do Shall He Do Also; and Greater Work than These Shall He Do Because I Go unto My Father." "If Ye Shall Ask Anything in My Name, I Will Do It."


She said that she was told when on earth that if she only observed rules and regulations of the church, and devoted herself to doing church work and looking after the interest of the church, so that it might be sustained and fostered, she would go to heaven just as soon as she had left the earth life - that that would be all that would be required of her, and that no other seeking or striving after God's Love would be necessary to enable her to get into the Heavens where God and all His angels are.

I do not think that mortals, when they become spirits, have any better opportunity, for sometime at least, to realize and accept these truths than they had when on earth, and the men or women who teach these things have a great sin to answer for, as Jesus said, cursed is he who believes and teaches these false doctrines. And I think he must have laid a special emphasis on the teaching as it affected not only the teacher, but many others who had faith in and accepted these teachings as true.

Mrs. Padgett's experience in trying to show a spirit the way to God's Love


So I say, these leaders of the worshipers at the orthodox shrines, may, if they will learn the truth of this immortality, or continuity of life after the death of the body, will make certain, that, for which they have only a hope, backed by their faith in what their Bible tells them is the truth.

Of course this hope and faith may become so strong as to satisfy their doubts on the question, but even then it is not knowledge. This faith and hope will pale into insignificance, when the mother, mourning for her recently departed loved one, hears his voice declaring to her that he is still alive, and has all his love, and longings for her, and that he is with her feeling her love for him.

But these teachers will not seek or if they do, and feel their hope and faith turn to knowledge, they will not declare the truth to their flock; and why not declare the truth to their flock; and why not? Because the creeds and dogmas and iron bands of erroneous beliefs, forbid them doing so. They will preach of the press, and, if necessary, will lay down their lives for such a cause, but, yet, when they come to deal with this question of supreme and vital fact, they are afraid to seek the truth, or, in seeking, find, declare the freedom of their beliefs frown the bondage of their creeds.

What a responsibility they have, and what an answer they will have to make! They bury the talent which is given them, and the accounting will be grievous.

But some day and soon, this truth will seek them with such overwhelming force, that their creeds will crumble, and in addition to hope and faith there will come to them knowledge, and with knowledge freedom, and with freedom,the pearl of great price which to them has so long been hidden in the shell of fear and bigotry.

Why the Churches Refuse to Investigate that Spirits Communicate


All men are the children of God, and His love and care are over all, and they are very dear to Him, otherwise He would not have rebestowed His love upon them and given them the privilege of becoming inhabitants of His Celestial Kingdom.

The mere fact that they are sinners makes them no less His children, who He is so anxious to redeem and fill with the Divine Love, and when the preacher says "they who are sinners are not the sons of God," he does not declare the truth, for they are all His sons--some to enjoy the pure life and bliss which the purification of their natural love will bring to them, and others to enjoy and inhabit the Celestial Kingdom which the New Birth will bring to them. But all are His sons, though some have wandered and become strangers to His love, just as was the prodigal son who left his father's house for a far country.

This doctrine of the sinful not being sons of God is a damnable and harmful doctrine, and will cause many to give up hope of ever becoming anything else than the sons of perdition--or as these orthodox say--of the devil.

The Father's mercy is for all, and if certain of His children do not choose to seek and receive the Divine Love which, when possessed, will make angels of them, yet they are His sons, and will in the fullness of time, or before the time of the great consummation, become pure and happy beings, as were the first parents before the fall.

God Loves All of His Children. His Love and Care Are Over All, Even Though Some Are Strangers to His Love and Mercy.


The only Way then, is simply this: That men shall believe with all the sincerity of their minds and souls, that this Great Love of the Father is waiting to be bestowed upon each and all of them; and that when they come to the Father in faith and earnest aspirations, this Love will not be withholden from them. And, in addition to this belief, that they pray with all the earnestness and longings of their souls that, the Father will open up their souls to the inflowing of this Love, and that then may come the Holy Spirit to them to bring this Love into their souls, in such abundance that their souls may be transformed into the very Essence of the Father's Love.

The man who will thus believe and pray will never be disappointed, and the Way to the Kingdom will be his, as certainly as that the sun shines by day upon the just and the unjust alike. No mediator is needed, nor are the prayers or ceremonies of priests or preachers, for God comes to man, Himself, and hears his prayers, and responds thereto by sending the Comforter, which is the Father's Messenger for conveying this Great Divine Love into the souls of men.

The True Kingdom of Heaven That Jesus Taught on Earth - the Celestial Kingdom


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 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 supersede the belief in that which is false.
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.

The Belief by the Churches in the Efficacy of the Vicarious Atonement of Jesus, Has Caused Much Harm to Mankind


I will not say that man should not cultivate this love for his fellow man to the greatest possible degree, for he should; and if that should be the only kind of love that he may have, either on earth or in the spirit world, the more of it that he possesses the happier will he be, and the greater will be the happiness of his fellowman and fellow spirit. So when I said, when on earth, that men should love their God and love their fellow men as themselves, I meant that they should do so with all the possibilities of whatever love they might possess. Yet, if men would only learn, as they can, that there is no necessity for them to have only the natural love, but that they can all seek the Greater Love, and obtain the correspondingly greater happiness, and immortality.

Men do not realize this, though, and seem to be satisfied with this natural love, and the pleasures that ensue from its possession.

Jesus, On the love of man.


I know that men preach about the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, and urge men to attempt to cultivate the thoughts and deeds of love and self-sacrifice and charity in a way to bring about the greatly to be wished for unity of life and good purpose on the part of men. And by reason of this natural love, they can themselves do a great work in bringing about this brotherhood. Yet the chain that binds them together cannot possibly be any stronger than the natural love which forges it, and when that becomes overshadowed by ambition and material desires, the brotherhood will become greatly weakened, or disappear entirely. And men will realize that its foundation was not built upon a rock, but rather upon the infirm sand which could not sustain the superstructure when the storms arising from men's ambition and desires for power and greatness, and many other material things, beat upon it.

So I say, there is a great necessity for something more than man's mere natural love to help him form a brotherhood that will remain steadfast and firm under all conditions and among all men.

The Divine Love of the Father Will Not Only Make Man an Inhabitant of the Father's Kingdom but Also Will Bring About the Great Brotherhood of Man on Earth


Man does not have to wait to become a spirit in order to seek for and obtain this Love. For the soul on earth is the same soul as when in the spirit world, and its capacity for receiving this Love is just as great in one place as in the other. Of course, on earth, there are many circumstances and surroundings and limitations on man that prevent the free workings of the soul, in the way of aspirations and faith, that do not exist after man becomes an inhabitant of the spirit world. But nevertheless, and notwithstanding all these drawbacks and stumbling blocks of the earth life, the soul of man may receive this Divine Love without limitations, and to an abundance that will make him a New Creature, as the scriptures say.

The Divine Love of the Father Will Not Only Make Man an Inhabitant of the Father's Kingdom but Also Will Bring About the Great Brotherhood of Man on Earth


So I say, let men not devote so much of their time to those things which are of time only, while they remain in the world of time until the mortal becomes a spirit. Thoughts are things; and when applied to man's spiritual development, they are things of the most vital importance. A little thought may lead a soul to a dormant, hardly living state, or cause it to grow and increase into a thing of beauty and harmony with the spiritual possibilities of its possessor. And, as it has been said, where your treasures are, there will your heart be also. And so will your thoughts be that turn man's soul into darkness, or light.

The Necessity for Men Turning Their Thoughts to Spiritual Things


As I said when on earth, there is no other way to get into the sheepfold but through the gateway provided. He that attempts to climb over the fence is a thief and a robber. But this should be modified to fit the exact fact, for there is no possibility of getting into this fold by climbing the fence. There is only one way - that through the gate of prayer and sincere longing.

How the Divine Love Enters the Soul of a Human Being


I was the instrument in God's hands of leading men to His favor and Love. When I said "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life," I meant that through my teachings and example men should be able to find God. I was not God and never claimed to be. The worship of me as a God is blasphemous and I did not teach it. I am a son of God as you are.

Do not let the teachings of men lead you to worship me as a God. I am not. The trinity is a mistake of the writers of the bible. There is no trinity - only one God, the Father. He is one and alone. I am His teacher of truth, the Holy Spirit is His messenger and dispenser of Love to mankind.

Jesus is not God, but was sent by the Father


Our first parents were the children of God - His Own creatures, good and perfect - and after their fall, they were no less His children; for His Love was so great for them that, in the fullness of perfection of His Plans, He again bestowed upon them the privilege of receiving His Divine Love, and sent me to proclaim the fact and to show men the Way to obtain that Great Love. The death that had existed for all the long centuries was supplanted by Life potential, and I became the Way, the Truth, and the Life; and Immortality became a possibility to men.

God Loves All of His Children. His Love and Care Are Over All, Even Though Some Are Strangers to His Love and Mercy