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I AM HERE. Jesus.
You were right in your surmise that I was with you to-night, and as you imagined, I was standing close to you at the time the preacher was delivering his discourse, and you felt the influence of my love and sympathy, and also received the thoughts that I was superimposing on your brain.
The preacher's sermon was an advance upon the beliefs of the orthodox in many particulars, but in the most important particular and in the one that will affect mortals most vitally in their progress in the spirit life, he was wrong, very wrong. I refer to his declaration that he saw or knew of no statement in the Bible that would justify him in asserting that there would be an opportunity for the spirits of mortals to receive pardon or to progress from the condition of hell to that of light and heaven in the spirit world, when they had not started on that journey in the mortal life. This, as I have told you, is a damnable doctrine, and one that has done more harm all down the centuries from the time of my living on earth, than most any other teaching of the church that claims to be representative of me and my teachings.
MANY POOR SOULS HAVE COME INTO THE SPIRIT WORLD WITH THIS BELIEF FIRMLY FIXED IN THEIR MINDS AND CONSCIENCE, AND THE DIFFICULTIES HAVE BEEN GREAT AND THE YEARS LONG BEFORE THEY COULD AWAKEN FROM THIS BELIEF AND REALIZE THAT THE LOVE OF THE FATHER IS WAITING FOR THEM IN SPIRIT LIFE JUST AS IN THE EARTH LIFE, AND THAT PROBATION IS NEVER CLOSED FOR MEN OR SPIRITS, AND NEVER WILL BE UNTIL THE TIME OF THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR MEN TO BECOME INHABITANTS OF THE CELESTIAL HEAVENS, AND EVEN THEN, THE OPPORTUNITY TO PURIFY THEIR NATURAL LOVE WILL NOT CEASE, AND NEVER WILL, UNTIL ALL WHO HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY SHALL BECOME PERFECT MEN IN THEIR NATURAL LOVES.
Had he searched the Scriptures, in which he so implicitly believes, he would have found an authorization for him to declare that even in the spirit world, the spirits of the unsaved sinners on earth, who died without having become reconciled to God, had the gospel of salvation preached to them; and furthermore when he declared that the Bible says that I said "that he that sinneth against the son of man it shall be forgiven him, but he that sinneth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world nor in the world to come," had the preacher placed the natural and only implied construction on this declaration, he he would have found that the sinner who neglected the opportunity on earth, would yet have another chance for salvation in the world to come, as the spirit world is referred to.
So that, even according to his own source of belief and foundation of his knowledge of these things of the future, he would be justified and even required, as an honest preacher of the Scriptures, to declare that probation did not end with the physical death of the mortal.
It is so sad that the creeds and fixed opinions of these preachers, formed from the teachings of the old fathers, as they are called, should be men of soul development, such as this preacher has, and teach the damnable doctrine that I speak of which he declared.
There is a hell, or rather hells, just as there is a heaven or heavens, and all men when they become spirits, will be compelled to occupy one or the other of these places; not because God had decreed that any particular spirit because of his earth belief or condition shall occupy that place, but because the condition of his soul development, or want of development, fits and fixes him for that place and no other. God has made His laws of harmony and these laws are never changed, and when any particular soul gets into a condition of agreement with these laws, then that soul becomes at one with the Father and an inhabitant of His heavens; and so long as that soul remains out of such condition it is in hell, which is the condition of being out of agreement with the harmony of God's laws. This is hell and there is no other comprehensive defiinition of it: every thing or place that is not heaven is hell. Of course there are many gradations of hell, and the inhabitants of these gradations are made by the condition of their soul development, which is determined by the quantity and quality of the defilement and sin that exists in these souls. The soul is developed as the love becomes purified and sin eradicated, and just as this process progresses the soul becomes developed.
God has decreed that His universe, both of men and things, shall be harmonious, and only the creature, man, has become out of that harmony; and as the universe shall continue, the only destiny for man is, that he shall return to that harmony from which he fell by reason of his own misdirected will. Had God decreed, as the preacher by necessary implication, declared, that the sinner who dies in his sins shall forever remain in his sins and in a state of antagonism to such harmony, then God, Himself, would necessarily become the cause and power of defeating His own laws of harmony, which no sane mortal whether he believes in the Scriptures or not, would or could believe.
GOD'S LAWS ARE FIXED AND UNCHANGEABLE AND ALWAYS IN HARMONY WITH ONE ANOTHER AND WITH HIS WILL, AND KNOWING THIS, EVERY THINKING MAN WILL KNOW AND SHOULD KNOW THAT WHENEVER A PROPOSITION OR OPINION IS PUT FORTH BY PREACHER OR LAYMAN OR PHILOSOPHER OR SCIENTIST THAT SHOWS THAT IN ORDER FOR A CERTAIN CONDITION OR TRUTH TO EXIST, GOD'S LAWS WILL HAVE TO WORK IN CONFLICT WITH OR IN OPPOSITION TO ONE ANOTHER, THEN THAT PROPOSITION OR OPINION IS FALSE AND HAS NO FOUNDATION IN FACT. AND SO TO ACCEPT THIS DECLARATION OF THE PREACHER THAT THERE IS NO PROBATION AFTER DEATH, OR AS HE SAID, CHANCE TO PROGRESS OUT OF THE HELL WHICH THE MORTAL CARRIES WITH HIM TO THE SPIRIT WORLD, MEN WILL HAVE TO BELIEVE THAT THE LOVING FATHER, FOR THE SATISFYING HIS WRATH AND MEETING THE DEMANDS OF HIS SUPPOSED JUSTICE, WILL SET HIS LAWS IN CONFLICT WITH ONE ANOTHER AND DESTROY THE HARMONY OF HIS UNIVERSE.
The preacher spoke, as he said, as a scientist, and not as a religious teacher, and yet the deduction that he made when he declared the eternal existence of the hells, violated one of the fundamental laws of science and that is, that two conflicting laws in the workings of God's universe cannot both be accepted as true, and that the one of these two that is in harmony with all the other known laws must be accepted as true.
Then I say, that founded on the Scriptures or founded on science, the preacher had no basis for making the untrue and deplorable statement, that physical death ends man's possibility of progressing from a condition or state of hell existence into that of purity and freedom from sin and into harmony with God's perfect laws and the requirements of His will.
THE PREACHER SPOKE FROM HIS INTELLECT AND MENTAL BELIEFS OF LONG YEARS STANDING AND THE MEMORY ECHOES OF WHAT HE HAD HEARD SAID BY OTHER PREACHERS AND TEACHERS WHO LEFT UPON HIS CONSCIOUS BELIEFS IN THEIR FALSE DOCTRINES. BUT DEEP DOWN IN HIS SOUL, WHERE THE LOVE OF THE FATHER IS BURNING AND THE SOUL SENSE IS GROWING, HE DOES NOT BELIEVE THIS DOCTRINE, FOR HE REALIZES THAT THIS LOVE OF THE FATHER IS SO MUCH GREATER AND PURER AND HOLIER THAN ANY OTHER LOVE THAT EXISTS IN HEAVEN OR ON EARTH; AND THE FATHER FROM WHOM IT COMES MUST BE HOLIER AND MORE MERCIFUL AND FORGIVING AND THOUGHTFUL OF HIS CHILDREN THAN OF ANY MORTAL FATHER OF HIS CHILDREN. AND THEN AS A MORTAL FATHER HAVING IN HIS SOUL THE DIVINE LOVE, HE KNOWS THAT HIS CHILD COULD NOT COMMIT ANY SIN OR OFFENSE THAT COULD POSSIBLY BECOME UNPARDONABLE, OR THAT HE WOULD NOT PERMIT, AND GLADLY, THE CHILD TO REPENT OF AT ANY TIME. AND SO HE WOULD SEE, THAT IF HE REFUSED TO THE FATHER, FROM WHOM THIS DIVINE LOVE COMES, A LOVE AND SYMPATHY THAT WOULD CAUSE THAT FATHER TO BE AS FORGIVING TO HIS CHILDREN AS IS HE, THE EARTHLY PARENT, THEN THE GREATEST ATTRIBUTE OF THAT FATHER, GOD, WHO IS ALL LOVE, WOULD NOT BE EQUAL TO THE LOVE OF HIS CREATURE. THE DERIVATIVE WOULD BE GREATER AND GRANDER AND PURER AND MORE DIVINE THAN THE FOUNTAINHEAD FROM WHICH IT IS DERIVED.
No, the preacher in his soul does not believe this unnatural teaching , and at times, he travails in his soul at the conflict that takes place between the mental bondage of his intellectual beliefs and the freedom of his soul sense, the creature of the Divine Love that is in him, and the only part of Divinity that he possesses.
And thus is demonstrated the great, real paradox of the existence in the same mortal at the same time, of an intellectual belief and a soul knowledge as far apart as the antipodes. And also is demonstrated the truth, a great truth, that the mind of man and the soul of man are not one and the same, but are as distinct as the creature of a special creation, the mind, and the creation of that which is the only part of man made in the image of his Maker, the soul, must necessarily be.
BUT SOME DAY THE SOUL KNOWLEDGE WILL OVERCOME THE MENTAL BELIEF, AND THEN THE PREACHER WILL KNOW THAT HARMONY AND INHARMONY CANNOT EXIST FOR ALL TIME--THAT SIN AND ERROR MUST DISAPPEAR AND PURITY AND RIGHTEOUSNESS MUST EXIST ALONE, AND THAT EVERY MAN AND SPIRIT MUST BECOME AT ONE WITH THE FATHER, EITHER AS AN INHABITANT OF THE CELESTIAL HEAVENS OR AS THE PERFECT MAN THAT FIRST APPEARED AT THE CALL OF GOD, AND BY HIM PRONOUNCED "VERY GOOD."
I have written enough for to-night and must stop, but before doing so, I want to say that I have been with you today and saw that you were very happy in your thoughts and in your soul ex-experience. Other spirits were also with you, throwing around you their love and influence. Persevere in your efforts to obtain this Divine Love, and pray to the Father and it will come to you in increased abundance, and with it a wonderful happiness.
I will come soon and write you another message.
So with my love and blessings, I will say good-night and God bless you.
Your brother and friend,
JESUS.Vol. I, p. 114
