Paul Denies the Vicarious Atonement

 

I am here, Paul

Yes I am here, and I want to say just a few words. The book on the "vicarious atonement" that you have been reading - about the ransom price and the blood of Jesus and the sacrifice on the cross - is all wrong, and you must not believe what it says.

Well, I know the Bible ascribes to me the teachings of these things, but I never taught them. And I tell you now, as I have told you before, that the Bible cannot be depended on as containing things that I wrote; for there are many additions to what I wrote, and many omissions of what I wrote. And so it is with the others whose names are stated as the writers of the New Testament.

Many things contained in that book were never written by any of the alleged authors of the book. The writings of any of us are not in existence, and have not been for many centuries. When they were copied and recopied, great additions and omissions were made, and ultimately doctrines and dogmas were interpolated that we never believed or wrote at any time.

I have to say this, and I wish to emphasize my statement with all the conviction and knowledge of the Truth that I possess: Jesus never paid any debt of man by his death or his blood, or an alleged vicarious atonement.

When Jesus came to earth, his mission was given to him as he progressed in his soul development. And not until his anointing was he wholly qualified to enter upon his mission or the work thereof.

The mission was twofold; namely: to declare to mankind that the Father had rebestowed the Divine Love which Adam (or the first parents) had forfeited, and secondly, to show man the Way by which that Love could be obtained, so that the possessor of It would become a partaker of the Divine Nature, and Immortality.

Jesus had no other mission than this. And any statement by the preacher or teacher, or church doctrines or dogmas, or by the Bible that his mission was other than I have stated is untrue. Emphatically, he never claimed that he came to earth to pay any ransom for mankind, or to save them by his death on the cross, or to save them in any other way than by teaching them that the Great Gift (or privilege of obtaining Immortality) had been bestowed upon them, and that they could obtain It by prayer and faith.

The author of the book is all wrong in his theories. But if you accept the statement of the Bible as true, he makes a very forcible presentation of the Scriptures. However, the Scriptures do not contain the Truth on this subject, except by the New Birth that Jesus taught. And that being so, his explanations and theories must fall to the ground. Someday, and that very soon, he will come to the spirit world and have an awakening which will cause him much suffering and remorse because of his teachings of the false doctrines that his book contains.

I did not intend to write so long a letter when I commenced, but your questions required answers, and I could not give you answers in less space.

But nevertheless, if you shall obtain any benefit from what I have written, the time consumed will be compensated for.

I must stop now, but will come again sometime.

Your brother in Christ, Paul
 


 

I am here, Peter the Apostle

I write to corroborate what Paul said - both as to the errors of the author of the book that you have been reading and of the Bible upon which he bases his arguments and conclusions.

There are some of the epistles credited to me, and I did write some to the members of the church over which I had supervision.
But the epistles as contained in the Bible are untrue and conflicting with my beliefs in many particulars, then and now; and I never wrote such conflicting statements. I never wrote that Jesus paid a ransom for mankind, or that his death on the cross saved men from the death which they inherited from Adam, or anything of the kind that insinuated that men were saved by any act of Jesus which satisfied the "wrath" of God or, as the author said, "satisfied Divine Justice."

Justice was not an element in the Plan of man's salvation - only Love and Mercy, and the desire of the Father that man become reconciled to Him; that is, come to Him and receive the Great Gift of His Divine Nature. No blood-shedding or death of Jesus or vicarious atonement could have accomplished this, for none of these things would affect the soul development of a man.
The matter of soul development is an individual matter, and can only be accomplished when man seeks for the Great Gift of Divine Love, and receives it in his soul and develops it. He then becomes a partaker of the Divine Nature, and one with the Father.

How deplorable that men will teach this erroneous doctrine of blood atonement! How very much harm it is doing to mankind - and to spirits as well. For many spirits come into the spirit world with their beliefs so firmly established in this doctrine that they frequently remain for years in that condition of belief. This causes stagnation of their souls' progress, and greatly delays their obtaining a knowledge of the Truth.

This author, when he comes to the spirit world, will undoubtedly have to pay the penalty of his erroneous teachings. And very probably that penalty will be that he will have to "unteach," if I may use the word, all the spirits who believed in and followed his teachings of these false doctrines when on earth.

But men will know the Truth someday, and the Truth will make them free.
You must try your best to get in condition to take the messages which the Master desires to write, so that they can be published to the world.

I am your brother in Christ, Peter