| |
I am here, Jesus.
Once again I am present with my beloved co-workers for the Father's Kingdom and I am happy to be able to preside spiritually over this meeting where the definite plans for the formation of the first real church to teach mankind the Way to the Father have been formulated and discussed, and in this connection I wish to thank most heartily the Rev. John Paul Gibson for his ardent work and interest in promoting our cause and helping the plans of the Father in bringing about the means by which people may learn to turn to Him and obtain His Divine Love and Blessings.
It is true that I was not concerned during my mission on earth as the Messiah of God with the means of settling disputes in my so-called church,* FOR AS A MATTER OF FACT, I HAD NEVER AT ANY TIME WHEN ON EARTH ENTERTAINED THE THOUGHT OF ESTABLISHING A NEW CHURCH. I WAS WHOLEHEARTEDLY ATTACHED TO MY OWN RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION, THE TEMPLE AT JERUSALEM AND TO THE ASSEMBLIES AND SYNAGOGUES OF MY OWN RELIGION, JUDAISM; AND I WAS A RELIGIOUS JEW INTENT UPON LIVING UP TO THE HIGHEST IDEALS OF JUDAISM IN THE WAY OF THAT ETHICAL STANDARD OF LIFE AS PREACHED BY OUR PROPHETS AND THE LAWGIVERS, ASIDE FROM MY MISSION AS MESSIAH AND BRINGING TO MANKIND THE AVAILABILITY OF THE FATHER'S LOVE. AND WHAT I "ATTACKED," IF THAT BE THE APPROPRIATE WORD, WERE SIMPLY THE ABUSES AND ENCUMBRANCES WHICH THE LEGALISMS OF THE CHURCH ORGANIZATION HAD CAUSED TO SPRING UP TO WITHER THE BEST WHICH JUDAISM AS A RELIGION HAD PRODUCED.
I meant to work strictly within the established Hebrew Church and to affect needed reforms from within as well as to introduce the principle of the NEW HEART, and NEVER DID I AT ANY TIME THINK OF BREAKING AWAY FROM JUDAISM AND TO ESTABLISH A RELIGIOUS BODY SEPARATE FROM THIS RELIGION.
I AM TODAY AS I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN, A HEBREW BY RELIGION AND BY RACE, AND ANY SUCH PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT WHICH IMPLY OR OTHERWISE STATE THAT I EVER INSTITUTED A NEW RELIGION OR THOUGHT TO ESTABUSH A NEW ORGANIZATION FOR WORSHIP IS FALSE AND ENTIRELY UNFOUNDED, AND HENCE I NEVER WROTE THOSE LINES IN MATTHEW ALLEGEDLY GIVING INSTRUCTIONS REGARDING DISPUTES FOR MEMBERS OF A NEW RELIGIOUS GROUP.
Now I wish to say that the Church of the New Birth... is seeking to show mankind the way to the Father which had been lost after I had given my message to man and had delegated the continuation of the work involved to my disciples and apostles. These co-workers of mine were not always of the same mind, nor of the same disposition, nor of the same degree of faith, and it would be indeed asking too much of you to expect that equanimity of mind or unity of approach among you, separated as you are by enormous distances, which was not always attained by the company of my apostles even though they were united with me in person throughout our travels and mission in Palestine, and the recipients of my daily instructions, advice and encouragement.
When on earth, I encountered different personalities in Peter, John, Andrew, my brother Judah (Jude), Judah of Kireath (Iscariot), Matthew, James, Nicodemus, Miriam, my mother, and Joseph, my father, Miriam of Magdala, and many many others. My parents, strangely enough, had less of an understanding of my love than did those who were friends; one who loved me dearly deserted me, caused my death; two great apostles, Paul and Peter, broke with each other on the question of circumcision for non-Jews. Paul won the day -- and these many centuries the gentiles have not received circumcision; yet today circumcision is being more and more practiced in hospitals among these self-same gentiles, and by gentiles, and the victory is now seemingly of Peter.
In the clash of personalities among my friends in my day, my parents sought to uphold the religion in force; some apostles wanted me to become king in Judea and wage war on Rome; another sought to force my hand by thinking my healing was done through mysticism. Few understood my mission, and even then imperfectly.
Any religious differences among my followers or any disputes of a personal nature were settled by me amicably and without recourse to the legal and technical formulas presented by churches of today..., and all our differences were settled not in the formal manner which you have just heard as proposed and discussed but in an informal way as befitted the men who followed my teachings and saw in prayer to the Father the only real efficacy for these disputes and occasions of ill will and misunderstandings. This Love gives humility, forebearance, forgiveness, and if you do these things, you show that God's Love is there. Prayer to the Father causes the Love to shine in your souls and become active; it displaces, or causes to displace, in time, suspicion, jealousies, competition. I desire to judge no man but, he who will, let him come to the Father and pray.
Some of my disciples managed to plant into the souls of succeeding decades of men the seed of prayers to the Father for the Love that transforms the soul and gives everlasting life. Distorted and twisted by churchmen who sought to conciliate Hellenistic paganism with moral and ethical Judaism, the teachings of the Divine Love were eradicated from the earth until, through the spiritual receptivity of Mr. Padgett, I was again able to teach the good tidings of the Father's Love and the need of sincere prayer to Him to receive His Love, eliminate the earth plane motives that dominate mind and soul, and to seek everlasting Love and Life in His mansions of the Celestial Heavens.
My work is not to judge between man and man, but to bring to mankind the knowledge of the Father's Love, which will enable man to replace sin and error from the human soul with Divine Love, wherein we are all one in the Father's Love. It was this I taught, for this I prayed, and for this that I was hauled from prayers to the Father on the Mt. of Olives, beaten by high priests' servants and Roman soldiers, and led to death by crucifixion.
Let us work together for the Church of the New Birth, and grow each of us in grace and in His Love, through earnest prayer to the Father, and may His Love overflow into our souls in abundance unto eternal life. I am
Jesus of the Bible
and
Master of the Celestial Heavens
___________________________________
* Refer to Matthew, Chap. 18, Vs. 1-17.
