The Sermon on the Good Shepherd
I am here, Jesus:
I should like to write you, if you are in condition, on the passage in the tenth chapter of John's Gospel on my supposed sermon on the good shepherd.* This sermon was given by me in much the tenor it is found in the Gospel of John, except that some material was added to the original as recorded by John which I never said, and which John, as you may readily understand, never wrote; and that is the insistence and repetition of the theme that the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.
I never said that the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep but that he guides and protects his sheep, and shows his sheep the way to the sheepfold; and I simply meant by that, that the sheep were the people of Israel, or simply human souls, and that I was the good shepherd in that I guided them and showed them the way to the Celestial Heavens by teaching them that way by means of the influence to their souls of the Divine Love which, beginning with me, was now open to all who should seek it in earnestness and sincerity.
Never did I say in this sermon of the good shepherd that the Father loves me because I lay down my life for my sheep, nor that I resigned it voluntarily, nor that I could lay it down voluntarily and take it up again, injunctions which I had received from my Father. And if you will analyze these statements a little, you will see the contradictions and absurdity of the statements, which were instituted in order to place emphasis on my death on the cross as the way to salvation and to the Father through the mysterious efficacy of my blood -- an idea which pervaded the early Christian church among the articulate Greeks who saw in this conception a mode of salvation which harmonized with their own pagan concepts of salvation through the death of their gods who were then resurrected.
No man can lay down his life voluntarily unless he commits the gross sin of self-destruction, and the hour of a man's death is known only by the Father. And no man can leave the flesh and take up his fleshly body again, as it is understood in this case and refers to my resurrection; but this, as you know, was accomplished by a materialization and not a true taking up of the fleshly body.
So you see that at every step important material regarding the New Birth and the way to the Father was eliminated and other material interpolated dealing either with an impossible miracle or statements imposing beliefs in the vicarious atonement or the Trinity, and thus vitiated the contents of the Gospels as they were written by my apostles and disciples, and have eliminated almost entirely the way to at-onement with the Father. Thus it has become indispensible for me and the other high spirits to write you the truths of the New Testament and point out the distortions and interpolations where and how they now exist side by side with the true statements therein contained.
I am grateful to you for this opportunity to write you tonight and for your condition which enabled me to make a satisfactory rapport. And with my love to the Doctor** and you, and with my blessings to the Father for His Divine Love to come upon you in great portions, I shall close now and sign myself
Jesus of the Bible
and
Master of the Celestial Heavens
___________________________________
* Jesus also refers to the Good Shepherd (the Heavenly Father) in Revelation 5.
** Dr. Leslie R. Stone.
The Sermon on the Twenty-Third Psalm
I am here, Jesus:
As I have said before, my teachings in the Nazareth synagogue and in other places in Galilee, such as Capernaum and Magdala, were designed to affirm the moral laws of the Mosaic code, but were also designed to present the Glad Tidings of the Rebirth and the difference in man's soul which that Rebirth signified. And in these various synagogues and other places, I made use of Old Testament material to infuse into it the new teachings.
I do not wish at this time to reveal to you all of the sermons I used in connection with my teachings, which have been forgotten and never given to mankind except as those were recorded in the Gospels and later emasculated by the copyists, whose incomprehension was responsible for the revisions and eliminations.
Now, one of the best known sermons was the twenty-third Psalm, written by David, and I used this Psalm in my teachings to show the distinction between the old teachings and those which I gave to the people as part of my mission. In this Psalm, God is described as a Shepherd who leads His flock beside the still waters and the green pastures; and this was really a description of Heaven, for there are actually such things to make the soul happy in his Celestial home.
And again, the Psalm gives to the people an understanding that death does not mean the cessation of the conscious personality of the soul, for the Psalm mentions, "Yea, though I pass through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil for Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me." And this picture, which the people could understand, really meant that God's messengers would care for the troubled soul entering the spirit world and that faith in the Father would enable His ministering angels to help the soul to progress in the spirit world to the point where that soul would eventually be happy and live in a sphere of light. And the Psalm describes this by means of the feast, "My cup runneth over," and the Father's feast for the soul in the presence of its enemy. And here I showed that the soul with the Divine Love eliminated thoughts of vengeance, or overcoming enemies, away from it, and entertained only sentiments of love for its fellow soul.
And when the Psalm says, "And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever," I simply meant life in the Paradise of the Hebrews with no certainty of immortality, whereas the soul possessed of the Divine Love obtained by faith in the Father that this Love was now available, and that it could be obtained by earnest prayer to Him, had a consciousness and possession of immortality.
Thus I was able to point out the differences in the Psalm when I referred to the natural love of man and when it was applicable to man seeking and possessing the higher Love. And I was able to do this with many Psalms and other passages in the Old Testament, to show the greater glory that comes to the possessor of the Divine Love, available to all who would seek it in earnestness of soul.
I have written enough for tonight, and with my love to you and Dr. Stone, urge you to seek for more of the Divine Love for your soul, as I urged my fellowman to do when I was on earth and a mortal.
Your elder brother and friend,
Jesus of the Bible
and
Master of the Celestial Heavens
