I am here, Jesus:

I am here tonight to continue my messages of the Gospel truths, and I shall continue with John on what commandment I gave my disciples and how obedience to this commandment would bring what has been called theComforter; for in John 14 I said, as it is reported in the New Testament: "If ye love me, you will keep my commandments. This is my commandment, that ye love one another even as I have loved you." And this statement meant that, as the Messiah, I was giving a commandment which was to be placed with, and above, the Ten Commandments of Moses; and this commandment was the Law of God's Love.

I told my disciples that they were to love one another, not merely that they were to love only themselves, but all mankind, for "one another" was a term which meant not for the circle of the disciples, alone, but for all people; and this love was to include human beings who despitefully used them, and they were to love their enemies as well as their friends.

And that love which they were to entertain for mankind was not the natural love given to all men at their creation by God, but the Divine Love which God had rebestowed upon mankind with my coming; and this Love could be obtained by my disciples if they believed that it was available and that it could be conveyed into their souls through the action of the Holy Spirit.

This was the meaning of the very important phrase, "as I have loved thee." For it meant that I had loved my disciples with the Divine Love which God had implanted in my soul because of my longings for His Love, and that my love for my disciples and, I should add, for all mankind, was the Divine Love which was in my soul and which I had obtained from the Father. So that my disciples, and all mankind, could, by prayer to the Father, obtain the same Divine Love in their souls which filled my own. And this Divine Love was to be the Love with which my disciples were to love one another and all mankind.

This was the only commandment which I gave to my disciples, and no other, for I did not command them to drink or eat bread in memory of me, for such an act could have no merit in bringing the Divine Love into their hearts and could only be an act of veneration which I could not possibly have wished to impose upon my disciples; and this regardless of whether or not I thought death might be near. But I did say, rather, "and I will pray to the Father and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever." And while I did not say this in so many words, or with those exact words, I simply meant that I would, as I always did, pray to God so that their souls would be opened up to the Divine Love, which is what the writer meant by the Comforter; and that this Love would continue to be conveyed in more and more abundance into the souls of my disciples throughout all eternity. I did not mean that I could pray to the Father to send His Divine Love to my disciples merely because of my prayers, but I meant that the souls of the disciples would have to long for the Father's Love so that it could enter the souls that were in that condition to receive it.

I also said, "If a man love me he will observe my message; if ye keep my commandment ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His Love," which was another way of saying that those disciples who believed I was the Messiah and loved me would believe that my soul was an immortal one through the Divine Love and pray to the Father for His Love as the way to at-onement with Him and immortality, which was the message I taught and which I asked my disciples, and all my hearers, to apply to themselves and actually pray, and the result would be that they would be filled with the same Love as I was and that we could thus have a mutual Love for one another in the same way that as I prayed to the Father and received more of His Love, I loved God more and more, and His Love for me was in my heart.

These writings from John are correct, in that they show that Love was the great subject of my teachings, but they do not explain the Divine Nature of the Father's Love towards His children, or the fact that I was filled with His Divine Love and sought to have my disciples obtain it as well, through the one way it could be obtained -- through prayer. It does not explain that this Love with which my disciples were to love one another was something more than the ordinary love which humans have for each other, or the special nature of my love for them and humanity. But, if these interpretations are added, then the real meaning of these passages from the Gospel are made manifest.

I have written you tonight on the subject because of your desire to obtain confirmation as to the truths of certain portions of John's Gospel which needed explanation, and because you felt they were close to, if not possessing, the truth; and I shall come again and write you on more material in the Gospels which originally dealt with my teachings of the Divine Love before they were stricken out, or so mutilated as to be unrecognizable.

I think I have written enough for tonight, and so I shall say good night to you and the Doctor* and with my love and blessings to him and to you, I shall close and sign myself your friend and elder brother,

Jesus of the Bible
and
Master of the Celestial Heavens

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* Dr. Leslie R. Stone.