| |
As we have said, the greatest thing about God is His Divine
Love, "possessing His nature and composed of His substance, and which when
possessed by man to a sufficient degree, makes him divine and of the nature of
God" (Vol. I, "True Gospel
Revealed Anew by Jesus," p. 21).
To repeat, God's Love is different from the natural love,
which is the love God gave to man when he was created and which we "all possess
in a more or less perfect condition" (Vol. I, p. 21). The natural love gives us
the ability to love each other, but contains nothing of the Divine. The Divine
Love, however, the availability of which was rebestowed upon mankind with
Jesus' coming, "is not a part of man's nature nor can he obtain or possess it,
except he seek for it. It comes from without and is not developed from within"
(Vol. I, p. 35):
"IT IS THE RESULT OF INDIVIDUAL ACQUIREMENT, AND NOT THE
OBJECT OF UNIVERSAL POSSESSION. IT MAY BE POSSESSED BY ALL; IT CAN BE POSSESSED
BY ONLY A FEW; AND EACH MAN MUST DETERMINE FOR HIMSELF WHETHER IT SHALL BE HIS.
WITH GOD THERE IS NO RESPECT OF PERSONS; NEITHER IS THERE ANY ROYAL ROAD TO THE
OBTAINING OF THIS LOVE. ALL MUST PURSUE THE SAME WAY AND THAT WAY IS THE ONE
THAT JESUS TAUGHT: THE OPENING UP OF THE SOUL TO THIS LOVE FINDING A LODGMENT THEREIN,
WHICH CAN BE BROUGHT ABOUT ONLY BY SINCERE PRAYER AND LONGING FOR ITS
INFLOWING.
"THIS LOVE IS THE LIFE OF THE CELESTIAL HEAVENS AND THE ONLY
KEY THAT WILL UNLOCK THE GATES, AND WHEN THE MORTAL ENTERS THEREIN, ALL OTHER
LOVE IS ABSORBED BY IT. IT HAS NO SUBSTITUTE, AND IS OF ITSELF, A THING APART.
IT IS OF THE ESSENCE OF THE DIVINE, AND THE SPIRIT WHICH POSSESSES IT IS DIVINE
ITSELF. IT MAY BE YOURS, IT MAY BE ALL MEN'S AND IT MAY NOT. YOU MUST DECIDE
THAT QUESTION FOR YOURSELF, NOT EVEN THE FATHER CAN MAKE THE DECISION FOR YOU.
Many will say, how can this be? Immortality must be the grand result of performing good deeds and religious duties, of being redeemed from sin through the blood of Jesus. But this is erroneous: The idea of the redemption of sin through Jesus' blood is false, and no one will come to immortality through good deeds or religious duties. No, the only way to immortality is through the New Birth, or the acquirement of Divine Love in the soul through sincere prayer to the Father.
As the Divine Love begins its effect on the soul, the soul perceptions are engaged and opened up to comprehension of the Father's attributes, in a way not possible through the mind or mere intellect. And it is this transformation of the soul into qualities Divine that makes the soul immortal.
Jesus tells us that "immortality does not mean mere continuous existence, because every spirit and every soul may live through all eternity in their individualized form," but true immortality means that as spirits, we would be able "to live forever in the Father's Kingdom with natures Divine and not capable of being deprived of the great and true life which obtains only in that Kingdom" (Vol. II, p. 72). Indeed, the Father's Love "is the one Great Gift which all may obtain, and only man, himself, can prevent this love transforming his soul from the condition of the mortal to that of the immortal" (Vol. II, p. 149).
Other results of the gradual but progressive acquirement of God's Love through heartfelt prayer include a development of soul that allows for qualities such as compassion, goodness, great peace and happiness, wisdom, a lack of desire to sin, the ability to love all mankind, advanced moral and mental development, an absence of fear and worry, the presence of healing faith, and even, the showing of this great goodness upon one's countenance, which causes one to become very beautiful.
The final result of the acquirement of Divine Love is the transformation into a Divine Angel, now a soul fitted to inhabit the Celestial Heavens.
