Angelic Revelations—the Gospel of God’s Love
Chapter 10
The Soul of Man
The Soul: What It Is and What It Is Not (Jesus)
The Soul and its Relationship to God, to Future Life, and to Immortality (Matthew)
A Discourse on the Soul by Cornelius, the First Christian Gentile
Jesus Declares That the Doctrine of Reincarnation is False and Utterly Without Foundation
How the Redeemed Soul is Saved from the Penalties That Sin and Error Have Brought Upon It (Jesus)
A Discourse on the Devolution and Evolution of Man (Luke)
The Necessity for Men Turning Their Thoughts to Spiritual Things (Luke)
The Soul of Man
The Soul: What It Is and What It is Not
I am here, Jesus
I come tonight to write my message on the soul, and will do so if we can establish the necessary rapport.
Well, the subject is of vast importance and difficult to explain, for there is nothing on earth known to man with which a comparison may be made. Generally, men cannot understand truth, or the nature of things, except by comparison with what they already know to exist, and whose qualities and characteristics they are acquainted with. There is nothing in the material world that will afford a basis of comparison with the soul; hence it is difficult for men to comprehend the nature and qualities of the soul by the mere intellectual perceptions and reason. In order to understand the nature of this great creation, the soul, men must have something of a spiritual development, and the possession of what may be known as the soul perceptions. Only soul can understand soul, and the soul that seeks to comprehend the nature of itself must be a live soul, with its faculties developed to a small degree, at least.
First, I will say that the human soul must be a creature of God, and not an Emanation from Him as a part of His Soul. And when men speak and teach that the human soul is a part of the Oversoul, they teach what is not true. This soul is merely a creature of the Father, just as are the other parts of man, such as the intellect, the spirit body, and the material body; and which, before its creation, had no existence. It has not existed from the beginning of eternity, if you can imagine that eternity had a beginning. I mean that there was a time when the human soul had no existence. And whether there will ever come a time when any human soul will cease to have an existence, I do not know, nor does any spirit. Only God knows that fact.
But this I do know: that whenever the human soul partakes of the Essence of the Father, and thereby becomes Divine itself, and the possessor of His Substance of Love, that soul realizes to a certainty that it is Immortal and can never again become less than Immortal. As God is Immortal, the soul that has been transformed into the Substance of the Father becomes Immortal. And never again can the decree, "dying thou shalt die," be pronounced upon it.
As I said, there was a period in eternity when the human soul did not exist, but was created subsequently by the Father. It was made the highest and most perfect of all God's Creation, and to such an extent that it was made in His image - the only one or thing of all His creations that was made in His image, and the only part of man that was made in His image. For the soul is the man; and all his attributes and qualities (such as his intellect and spirit body and material body and appetites and passions) are merely appendages, or means of manifestations given to that soul to be its companions while passing through its existence on earth; and also qualifiedly, while living in eternity. I mean some of the appendages will accompany the soul in its existence in the spirit world, whether that existence be for all eternity or not.
But this soul, great and wonderful as it is, was created in the mere image and likeness of God, and not in or of His Substance or Essence, the Divine of the Universe. And it (the soul) may cease to exist without any part of the Divine Nature or Substance of the Father being lessened or in any way affected. And hence, when men teach or believe that man, or the soul of man, is Divine, or has any of the qualities or Substance of the Divine, such teaching and belief are erroneous. Man is only and merely the created - the mere likeness - but no part of the Father or of His Substance and qualities.
While the soul of man is of the highest order of creation, and his attributes and qualities correspond, yet he is no more Divine in essential constituents than are the lower objects of creation, each being a creation but not an emanation of their Creator.
It is true that the soul of man is of a higher order of creation than any other created thing, is the only creature made in the image of God, and was made the perfect man. Yet man, the soul, can never become anything different or greater than the perfect man, unless he receives and possesses the Divine Essence and qualities of the Father, which he did not possess at his creation (although, with his creation, God bestowed upon him this wonderful Gift of the privilege of receiving this Great Substance of the Divine Nature, thereby becoming Divine himself. The perfectly created man could become the Divine angel if he, the man, so willed it, obeyed the Commands of the Father, and pursued the Way provided by the Father for obtaining and possessing that Divinity).
As I have said, the souls, the human souls, for the indwelling of which God provided material bodies that they might live mortal lives, were created, just as these material bodies were created subsequently. And this creation of the soul took place long before the appearance of man on earth as a mortal. The soul, prior to such appearance, had its existence in the spirit world as a substantial conscious entity, although without visible form, and, I may say, individuality. Yet each had a distinct personality that was different and distinct from every other soul.
A soul's existence and presence could be sensed by every other soul that came in contact with it. Yet, to the spirit vision of the other soul, it was not visible. And such is the fact now. The spirit world is filled with these unincarnated souls awaiting the time of their incarnation. We spirits know of and sense their presence, and yet with our spirit eyes we cannot see them. Not until they become dwellers in the human form, and in the spirit body that inhabits that form, can we see the individual soul. And the fact that I have just stated illustrates, and in a way describes the Being of Him in Whose image these souls are created. We know and can sense the Existence and Presence of the Father, yet even with our spiritual eyes we cannot see Him. Only when we have our souls developed by the Divine Essence of His Love can we perceive Him with our soul perceptions.
You have not words in your language to explain these soul perceptions. And there is nothing in created nature, of which you have knowledge, in which a comparison can be made. But it is a Truth that the vision of the soul perception to its possessor is just as real - as I may say, objective - as is the vision of the mortal sight to the mortal.
In considering this matter of the creation of the soul, it may be asked, "Were all souls that have been incarnated, or that are awaiting incarnation, created at the same time, or is that creation still going on?" I do know that the spirit world contains many souls, such as I have described, awaiting their temporary homes and the assumption of individuality in the human form. But as to whether that creation has ended, and at some time the reproduction of men for the embodying of these souls will cease, I do not know. The Father has never revealed it to me or to the others of His angels who are close to Him in His Divinity and Substance.
The Father has not revealed to me all the Truths and the workings and objects of His creative laws, and neither has He given to me all power and wisdom and omniscience, as some may find justification for believing in certain of the statements of the Bible. I am a progressive spirit, and as I grew in love and knowledge and wisdom when on earth, I am still growing in these qualities. The Love and Mercy of the Father come to me with the assurance that never in all eternity will I cease to progress towards the very Fountainhead of these attributes of Him, the only God, the All-in-All.
As I was saying, the soul of man is the man - before, while in the mortal existence, and ever after in the spirit world. And all other parts of man, such as the mind and body and spirit, are mere attributes which may be dissevered from him as the soul progresses in its development toward its destiny of either the perfect man or the Divine angel.
And in the latter progression, men may not know it, but it is a Truth that the mind - that is, the mind as known to mankind - becomes, as it were, nonexistent; and this mind (and as some say, the carnal mind) becomes displaced and replaced by the mind of the transformed soul, which is in substance and quality, and to a degree, the Mind of Deity Itself.
Many theologians and philosophers and metaphysicians believe and teach that the soul, spirit, and mind are substantially one and the same thing; that any one of them may be said to be the man - the ego; and that in the spirit world, one or the other of these entities is that which persists and determines, in its development or want of development, the condition or state of man after death. But this conception of these parts of man is erroneous, for they each have a distinct and separate existence and functioning, whether man be a mortal or a spirit.
During all the centuries, while men have speculated upon and attempted to define the soul and its qualities and attributes, yet to them it has been intransitive and impossible of comprehension by the intellect, which is the only instrumentality that man generally possesses to search for the great Truth of the soul. Hence the question of what is the soul has never been satisfactorily or authoritatively answered; though to some of these searchers, when inspiration may have shed a faint light upon them, some glimpse of what the soul is has come to them. Yet to most men who have sought to solve the problem, the soul and spirit and mind are substantially the same thing.
But the soul, as concerning man, is a thing of itself, alone; a real substance (though invisible to mortals), the discerner and portrayer of men's moral and spiritual condition, never dying (so far as is known), and the real ego of the man. In it are centered the love principle, the affections, the appetites and passions, and possibilities of receiving and possessing and assimilating those things that will either elevate man to the state or condition of the Divine angel or the perfect man, or lower him to the condition that fits him for the hells of darkness and suffering.
The soul is subject to the will of man, which is the greatest of all endowments that were bestowed upon him by his Maker at his creation, and is, either in thought or action, the certain index of the workings of that will. In the soul, qualities of love and affection and appetites and passions are influenced by the power of the will, either for good or for evil. It may be dormant and stagnate, or it may be active and progress. And so its energies may be ruled by the will for good or for evil; but these energies belong to it and are no part of the will.
The soul's home is in the spirit body, whether that body is encased in the mortal or not. It is never without such spirit body which, in appearance and composition, is determined by the condition and state of the soul.
And finally, the soul or its condition decides the destiny of man as he continues in his existence in the spirit world - not a final destiny, because the condition of the soul is never fixed. As this condition changes, man's destiny changes; for destiny is a thing of the moment, and finality is not known to the progress of the soul until it becomes the perfect man (it is then satisfied and seeks no higher progress).
Now, in your common languages and also in your theological and philosophical terms, mortals who have passed to spirit life are said to be spirits, and in a certain sense this is true. But such mortals are not nebulous, unformed and invisible existences. They have a reality of substance more real and enduring than has man as a mortal, and are, in form and features, visible and subject to touch and the object of the spiritual senses. So when men speak of soul, spirit and body, if they understood the truth of the terms, they would say: soul, spirit body, and material body. There is a spirit, but it is altogether distinct and different from the spirit body, and also from the soul.
The spirit is not a part of the spirit body, but is an attribute of the soul, exclusively. Without the soul, it could not exist. It has no substance, as has the soul, and it is not visible to even the spirit vision. Only the effect of its workings can be seen or understood. And it is without body, form, or substance; yet it is real and powerful. And, when existing, it never ceases in its operations, and is an attribute of all souls.
Then what is the spirit? Simply this: the active energy of the soul. As I have said, the soul has its energy, which may be dormant or which may be active. If dormant, the spirit is not in existence; if active, the spirit is present and manifests that energy in action. So to confuse the spirit with the soul, as being identical, leads to error and away from the truth.
It is said that God is Spirit, which in a sense is true; for Spirit is a part of His Great Soul Qualities, and that which He uses to manifest His Presence in the universe. But to say that Spirit is God is not stating the truth, unless you are willing to accept the proposition as true that a part is the whole. In the Divine Economy, God is all of Spirit, but Spirit is only the Messenger of God by which He manifests the Energies of His Great Soul.
And so it is with man. Spirit is not man-soul, but man-soul is spirit, as it is the instrumentality by which the soul of man makes known its energies and powers and presence.
Well, I have written enough for tonight, but sometime I will come and simplify this subject. But remember this: that Soul is God; soul is man; and all manifestations, such as spirit and spirit body, are merely evidences of the existence of the soul - the real man.
With my Love and blessing, I will say good night.
Your
brother and friend,
Jesus
The Soul and Its Relationship to God, to Future Life, and to Immortality
I am here, Matthew (the Disciple)
I have not written to you for a long time, and I desire to say a few words on matters pertaining to the soul and its relationship to God, to future life, and to Immortality.
The soul is an image of the Great Soul of the Father, and partakes of features like this Great Soul, except that it does not necessarily have in it the Divine Love which makes the soul of a mortal or spirit a partaker of Divinity. The soul may existin man and spirit in all receptive qualities, and yet never have the Divine Essence to fill it, which is necessary in order to make man or spirit a new creature - that is, the subject of the New Birth.
Only that mortal or spirit who has received this Divine Love of the Father can be said to be Immortal; all others may live or they may not. It has not yet been revealed to us whether or not the life or existence of these spirits who have not the conscious knowledge of Immortality will continue to live through all eternity. But if they do, it will be because God so wills that they shall live. But their existence will be subject to change, and if such change should take place, only God knows what its character will be; while on the contrary, the soul that has acquired Immortality can never die. Its status as to a life through all eternity is fixed. And even God himself cannot destroy that existence because it is the possessor of that Divinity which makes God Immortal.
"The soul that sinneth, sinning, it shall die," means that the qualities which are necessary for it to obtain to make it a part of Immortality can never come to it; hence, as regards these qualities, it is dying and dead.
The soul itself will live, for no spirit could possibly have an existence without a soul. And when men attempt to teach that when the spirit of life leaves the body, the soul dies, such men do not state a truth. The soul will live as long as the spirit existence continues, and until the great change (should there be one) comes to that spirit.
So, all men must believe that the soul which God gave to man is just as much a part of man as is the spiritual or physical body. The soul is the highest part of man, and is the only part that in any way resembles the Great Father, Who is not body or spirit body in form, but is Soul. And the man's soul, as I have said, is an image of that Great Soul.
So you see, when we speak of destroying the soul, it does not mean that the soul which belongs to every spirit will be destroyed, but that the potentiality of that soul receiving the Divine Love and Nature of the Father will be destroyed.
Of course, the soul can be starved and placed in a condition of stagnation so that all its receptive powers will be, as it were, dead, and only some great miracle or unusual ministration can awaken it. But to say that the soul ever dies is erroneous.
In saying this, I do not include the possibility of some great change in the spirit of mortal by which such spirit may be destroyed. In such case, the soul will cease to exist as an individualized soul or entity. I do not know what would be the destiny of a soul in such event, and hence cannot prophesy. But unless there be such a great change, the soul will live, but not as an Immortal soul, possessing the Essence of Divinity (unless it has experienced the New Birth).
God, the Great Oversoul, may not recall to Himself the soul of any man in the sense of depriving that man of his soul. But His relation to that soul will be merely that of Creator and created, subject always to the will of the Creator; whereas the relationship of God towards the soul that has received the New Birth, and hence the Divine Nature, is not only of a Creator and created, but also that of a co-equal, so far as this great quality of Immortality is concerned. The soul of man then becomes self-existing, and not dependent upon God for its continuance to exist.
This, I know, is a subject not easy for mortal mind to understand. But when you shall have received the soul perceptions in addition to your natural mind, it will not be so difficult to grasp the exact meaning of my propositions.
I am
your brother in Christ,
Matthew
A Discourse on the Soul by Cornelius, the First Christian Gentile
Let me say just a word as to the soul. I have heard what Matthew said, and it seems to me that he did not describe what the soul is as clearly as desirable.
My conception of the soul is that it is that part of the existence of man which determines for him what his destiny shall be. It is the real thinking, willing, and conscious part of man. The intellect of man may die (this may seem unreal, but it is true) and man may cease to exist as a conscious thing, if his intellect were the only faculty that he possessed to make him conscious of his existence. However, the soul, so far as we know, can never die. It has as its qualities and elements all the perceptions and reasoning powers that the intellect has, and many more. The soul is the only faculty or part of man that performs the mission of knowing, reasoning, and determining after man has passed into the Seventh Sphere. And consequently, unless these soul qualities or perceptions are developed by the soul obtaining the Divine Love, a man or spirit cannot get into the Seventh Sphere, for he would be wholly unable to live there, understand, or do anything in that sphere devoid of this Love.
The soul needs no instructions from the mere physical senses, because those senses are not suitable to be used in the operations of the soul's faculties. And hence, a man who never cultivates these soul senses, as I will say, is not capable of understanding the higher spiritual things of the Celestial Spheres.
I will not write more tonight, but will come again.
Your
brother in Christ,
Cornelius
the first Christian Gentile
Luke Explains the Mystery of the Birth of the Soul in the Human Being. He Also Declares That There Is No Such Thing as Reincarnation
I am here, Luke
I want to tell you tonight of the mystery of the birth of the soul in the human being.
All souls which enter into mortal bodies, previous to such advent, are real, living existences, and made in the likeness of the Great Soul, though not having the Qualities and Potentialities of that Soul; and also, not having the form of individualized personality that they have after they become parts of the composition or form of the mortal and spiritual bodies of human beings.
In its existence prior to becoming an indweller in the mortal body, the soul has a consciousness of its existence, and of its relationship to God and to other parts of the Great Soul, and more especially, of the duplex character of its being; and by this I mean the sexual differences in the two parts of the soul, which in the way that they are united, constitute the one complete soul.
When the time comes for this soul to become an indweller in the mortal frame, the two parts that I speak of separate, and at the same time, only one of the parts enters into a mortal, and never both parts into the same mortal. And while this separation is necessary for the individualization of each part of this one complete soul, yet the two parts never lose that interrelationship, or the binding qualities that existed before their separation, and which continue to exist thereafter. And in the great future, after the work of individualization shall be completed, the two parts will come together again and reunite in a complete one.
This separation may exist a longer or shorter time, depending upon the similar development of those similar qualities that is absolutely necessary in order that this coming together in the original one, as it were, may take place.
As I have said, before its separation, this soul has a consciousness of its existence. And when its duplex character leaves it, or rather, it becomes two separated parts, thereafter, until its reentrance into the spirit world, this soul does not again return to these parts. But in order to regain this consciousness, it is not necessary that both of these parts shall come again into the spirit life at the same time. For if one part becomes a spirit, free from the physical body, and the other part remains in the mortal body, that part that comes into the spirit world may receive the awakening to this consciousness, depending upon certain conditions and developments.
It often happens that both these parts will return to the spirit world, and yet for a long time live as spirits without having a restoration of this consciousness, because of various reasons that may exist. The conditions of the development of the two parts may be so vastly different that the realization of this consciousness may be wholly impossible. And very often it is the case that, when these two individualized parts are informed that they are the soulmates of each other, they will not believe that information, and will live on in utter indifference to that fact.
But ultimately, the consciousness of their relationship will come to them, because their development, no matter whether intellectual or spiritual, will tend towards the awakening of this consciousness which is always present with them, although dormant.
Now, as to what this soul is in its constituent parts or shape or form, prior to its separation for the purpose of becoming an inhabitant of the mortal body, we spirits are not informed and do not know. We are often present at the conception and also the birth of a child, and realize that a soul has become enveloped in the flesh. But we cannot see that soul as it enters into that home of mortal environment because, as to us, it is invisible and has no form. But after its lodgment in the human body, we can perceive it and realize its existence, for it then assumes a form; and that form varies in different incarnations - that is, in the incarnations in different humans.
We have never seen the Soul of God, although we know that there is this Great Oversoul. Hence, we cannot see the soul of any image of the Great Soul, until it becomes, as I say, individualized.
I know that men have often wondered and asked the question as to the preexistence of the soul that has been incarnated, and what qualities and attributes it had during its preexistence. And as to these particulars, I wish to say that, although we are inhabitants of God's Celestial Heavens, we spirits have little information; though we know that the soul - and I mean the complete soul in oneness - has an existence prior to its becoming individualized. You may ask how we know this. Well, it will be hard to explain this to you so that you may comprehend. But this I can say: that by our soul perceptions, we spirits of the higher soul development can understand the existence of these souls as images of the Great Soul. And the qualities of these images are such that, while we cannot sensibly, as you would say, see these souls or their qualities, yet we are conscious of their existence. To use an illustration that is not altogether appropriate: You understand that the wind blows, yet you cannot see it.
And we further understand, and such is the result of our observation, that when the soul - and keep in mind that I mean the two parts when I say soul - once becomes incarnated and assumes an individualized form, it never thereafter loses that individuality. Hence, it never again returns to its condition of preexistence, and can never again become reincarnated in the existence of any human being.
There is no such thing as reincarnation. All the theories and speculations of men upon that question, which conclude that a soul once incarnated can again become incarnated, are wrong. For the incarnation of a soul is only one step in its destined progress from an invisible, formless existence to a glorious angel, or to a perfected spirit. In this progress, a soul never retraces its steps. It is always progressing, though sometimes stagnation takes place. But it continues as an individualized spirit until it reaches its goal in fulfillment of the Father's Plan for the perfecting of His Universe.
This is a subject that is difficult of treatment for several reasons, among which is the fact that we spirits, no matter how high our attainments, do not have the information in order to give a full and complete description of the soul and its qualities prior to its incarnation; and you mortals are not capable of comprehending the full truth, as we may try to convey it to you.
I have made this effort to give you some faint idea of the soul, as you are in good condition tonight to receive my ideas. But I realize how inadequate my attempt has proved to be. But from it, you can understand that the soul has an existence prior to its finding its home in the physical body; that it is duplex and has a consciousness of the relationship of its two parts; that after it has received the experience of the mortal life and received an individuality, it returns to the spirit world; that, at some time, that consciousness will come to it again, and that the two parts will become one unless, in the development of these separate parts, barriers have arisen that may prevent their reuniting. And further, that this soul will never again retrace the steps of its progression and become reincarnated.
I will now close, and with my love and blessings, say good night.
Your
brother in Christ,
Luke
Jesus Declares That the Doctrine of Reincarnation Is False and Utterly Without Foundation (message from "New Testament Revelations")
I am here again to write you about a subject that has created interest among you, the doctor and others, and that is the article on reincarnation. In the Padgett messages, various communications dealt with the falsity and absurdity of this doctrine, which holds that the human soul can reincarnate from one fleshly body to others in succession over periods of time, and that, as a result, the soul has an opportunity to lessen its desire to sin, and thus finally achieve purification while in the flesh.
If you will examine the question a little more closely, you will see the impossibility of the soul in the spirit world to be reincarnated in the flesh, for the reason that the soul, for this supposed phenomenon, would have to shed the spirit body in order to enter a mortal body, since the soul is incased in a spirit body which is physical in nature, but not of a gross material of what mortals call the material world. And that spirit body, which is the envelope and protector of the soul, is that which gives the soul its individuality as a conscious entity, and remains with the soul so long as the soul lives. In the spirit world, no spirit has ever been deprived of its soul. And no spirit body thus hypothetically divested of its soul has ever died or been disintegrated, or has disappeared from its habitat, except as it advances from one sphere to another while making progress either to the Sixth Sphere (or Spiritual Paradise) or to the Celestial Heavens and Immortality.
As far as is known today by us in the spirit world, the spirit, that is to say, the soul and its spirit body, may live for all eternity, if God so requires it, even if it does not possess the consciousness of Immortality through possession of Divine Love; and it will certainly continue to live throughout all eternity - the soul and its indissoluble spirit body - if it does possess the Divine Love, Immortality, and at-onement with the Father.
As soul cannot be taken from, or torn from, or in any other way deprived of its spirit body, once it has come to the spirit world, it would be equally impossible for the spirit body to enter the human body of another human being. For only a soul without a spirit body can enter a human body. And on the death of this body, the soul manifests its spirit body. The doctrine of reincarnation is, therefore, utterly without foundation. For it is impossible, let me repeat, for a soul with its spirit body to enter a human body to be born again in the flesh.
When a human being dies in the flesh, his soul has already achieved, under ordinary circumstances, the purpose of his creation; that is, individualization and the creation of receptacles for souls. And in his spirit body, in size, shape, appearance and nature, is the complete creation without the envelope of flesh.
This soul appears in the spirit world laden with the inharmonies of its earth life. But since it has the opportunity of eliminating these inharmonies and becoming a purified soul in the spirit world through the exercise of its will and moral force and repentance, or becoming a Divine angel through prayer to the Father for His Divine Love and Mercy, transforming the soul into the very Essence of the Father, it is therefore absolutely unnecessary for the soul to go back to the flesh for another chance to purify itself; for the loving and merciful Father has already provided a plan that would enable the soul -the real man - to attain purification. And here, God shows Himself to be more merciful than He might have been had He decreed successive trials in the flesh for the process of purification. For man, while thus seeking to purify his soul, would at the same time have to contend with the sinful influence of the flesh; and his ultimate purification would thus indefinitely be delayed, or perhaps never accomplished, until the very end of time. You can thus see that God has shown His love for His created children by providing a way for them to be purged of their sins while being free of baleful influences of the flesh (which would only hinder, and make more difficult, their tortuous progress toward purification).
As regards the sayings in the New Testament, the first thing is that I never had any thought of reincarnation when I asked my disciples, especially Peter, "Of whom do the people say I am?" That question was formulated simply to have them state whether they considered me the Messiah, as some of them already did, although not in the spiritual sense or the exact understanding that I had brought Immortality to earth in my soul.
Again, you were right in thinking that I said: "But I say unto you that it was one like Elijah is come," and not: "But I say unto you that Elijah is come." For I did refer to John the Baptist, who, in his type of sermon and in his temperament, and even in his garb and food, was a throwback to Elijah. But here the similarity ended. For each of these lived different lives, and are individual souls, and are both living in the Celestial Heavens at the same time; and this is a physical impossibility with reincarnation. For in this doctrine, if Elijah were John the Baptist, only one soul and only one spirit body would be involved.
(question)
The child born blind did not sin, nor did its parents, but suffered blindness because of the physical defect in his mother which prevented the perfect development of the fetus in her womb; and thus, this defect has prevented the perfect manifestation of God's Work of creation. This defect is one of many to which the imperfect world of the flesh is subject. And it is for this reason that purification of the soul, while in the flesh, would be a task of countless centuries, and a punishment worse than the most evil hells of the spirit world in its duration.
(question)
The quotation from Revelation, Ch. 3, Vs. 12: "He shall never more go out," referring to the "Temple of my God," is an allusion of the soul possessing the Divine Love to such a degree that Immortality is a conscious possession, and its home is forevermore the Celestial Heavens, although the writer, himself, understood very little of this, and had in mind a purified soul and not a Divine soul, with its habitat in the Sixth Sphere.
Jesus of the Bible
How the Redeemed Soul Is Saved from the Penalties That Sin and Error Have Brought Upon It
I am here, Jesus
When the soul is in a condition of sin and error, it is not responsive to the inflowing of the Holy Spirit. In order to get into a condition of receptivity to these influences, it must have an awakening as to its actual condition of enslavement by these things. And until such an awakening comes to it, there is no possibility of its receiving the Love of God into it, and of turning its thoughts to the Truths of God, and to the practices of life that will help it in its progress towards a condition of freedom.
I would not have mankind believe that any soul is compelled to stay in this condition of slavery to sin until the Holy Spirit comes to it with the Father's Love abundantly bestowed. The mission of the Holy Spirit is not to awaken man's soul to a realization of sin and death, but merely to bring to that soul this Love when it (the soul) is ready to receive it.
This awakening must come from other causes that influence the mind as well as the soul, and cause them to realize that the life man lives is not the correct life, or one in accord with the demands of the Laws of God, or with the real longings of their own hearts and souls.
Until this awakening comes, the soul is really dead so far as its having a consciousness of the existence of the Truths of its redemption is concerned. And such death means a continuance in such thoughts of sin and evil, and in the life which may lead only to condemnation and death for long, long years to come.
But to come nearer to my point of discourse, I would like to say that the soul that is existing in sin and error will have to, sooner or later, pay the penalties for such sin and error; and there is no escape from the payment of these penalties, except in the redemption that the Father has provided by the New Birth. These penalties are only the natural result of the operation of God's Laws, and they must be endured until the full penalty is paid. Even though a man may progress to a higher condition of soul excellence and have much happiness, yet he must pay the last farthing and thus release himself from these penalties.
With much Love, I am
Your
friend and brother,
Jesus
A Discourse on the Devolution and Evolution of Man
I am here, Luke, writer of the Third Gospel that was
Well, I desire to write a few lines on the subject contained in the book which you were reading tonight. I mean the book dealing with the creation and fall of man.
Well, the man who wrote the book is endeavoring to reconcile the Bible doctrine of the creation and fall of man with the scientist's doctrine of evolution, and to show that these two views of the subject are not antagonistic, and if properly understood, one may be used to support the other.
But he has not succeeded in this, nor can he, for this reason, if there were no others: that man did not evolve from the beast or lower animal, but was always man, the creature of God, perfect in his creation and wholly natural.
There was nothing of the supernatural about him, and he never possessed any nature of the "superman," from which he fell at the time of his disobedience. He has never been anything more or less than the perfect creation of his Maker, although he has degenerated in his qualities and in the exercise of his will.
Evolution, or the doctrine of evolution, has its limitations. Its founder and those who follow him, either wholly or in a modified way, are not able to retrace this doctrine to the fall of man. Hence, when they attempt to pass beyond that stage when man seemed to have been very degenerate and a product of the animal progenitors, they get into the field of speculation, and knowledge ceases to exist.
Man was not created with any of the Divine Qualities, as the writer seems to think, but was made the merely natural man that you see now (without the defilement of his soul qualities). And purification involves only the elimination of those things from his soul that caused the departure from the perfect condition of his creation. That is, when he was created, man was in perfect harmony with the Will of God and His Laws. And when he shall be restored to that harmony of unity with these laws, he will then be in that perfect condition which was his before the fall.
So the idea put forward by the author that man was created with something of the Divine in him, which rescued him from a condition of physical imperfection, and that he lost these Divine Qualities when he fell into that imperfect condition, is all wrong.
The great truth connected with man's creation is that man was created perfect. And as regards his order of creation, or the qualities of his moral and physical nature, there could be no progress, for the next step in man's progression would have been the Divine.
Thus you will see that man was so wonderfully and perfectly made that he was only a little lower than the angels. And by angels, I mean the souls of men which have ceased to be incarnate, have partaken of the Divine Love, and have become a part of the Father in His Divinity of Love. I do not mean the mere souls in the spirit world which have only the development of their moral qualities. These latter, whenever they have become purified and in harmony with the Laws and Will of God, are only men perfected in their natures and organisms, as they were at the time of man's creation.
The perfect man possesses those qualities and attributes that were his at the time of his creation, and he cannot progress or become greater or other than he was at the time of such creation. He was made perfect as a creation; and beyond the perfect, there can be nothing greater evolved from the qualities and faculties, one and all, that made him perfect. And, to progress, there must come into man's nature, from without, the Divine Love - that which will add to these qualities and faculties (which, you may understand, is no part or method of evolution).
When the first parents fell, they destroyed the harmony of their existence with the Laws of God. And they were also deprived of the great potentiality of becoming Divine in their natures of Love and Immortality, like unto the Father. But, as mere created men, they fell from perfection, and not from Divinity. Nor were they deprived of the possibility of living forever in the physical bodies by that fall, because those bodies were made only for the purpose of enabling the souls to individualize themselves, and thereafter, die and become dissolved into their derivative elements.
The physical body was never created to live forever. And men were never created to live on earth forever. For a greater and larger world was provided for their eternal habitation, where things are real and only the spiritual exists. The earth is a mere image of the realities of the spirit world, and exists only as the nursery for the individualizing of the soul.
That you may not misconceive my meaning, remember, the soul is the man - the ego - and that when man fell, it was not the physical part of man that fell, except as it was influenced by the soul. Rather, it was the soul that fell. And the sentence of "death" was not pronounced upon the physical, but upon the soul potentialities. And hence you may see that, when man shall again become the perfect man, it will not be necessary that the physical body be restored.
Even if it were not contrary to the physical laws of the universe (or, to speak more correctly, to the laws controlling the material part of the universe) that the material body of man be resurrected and again house the soul, it would not be necessary. For the soul has its spirit body, which manifests its individuality. There is no necessity for the resurrection of the physical body, and there will be no such resurrection, for God never does a useless thing.
As I say, man has never ceased to be the man of God's Creation, although he has become degenerate and defiled, and at one time in the history of his existence, devoluted to that degree where, save for the essential qualities of his creation, he appeared to be lower than the brutes. But he was always the man of God's Creation, and never an animal of the lower order.
The scientists, in their geological search and research, in their finds of fossils and traces of ancient man, and in their biological theories conclude that man was of a lower degree of intelligence and manner of living; and they may be justified in so concluding. They may also conclude that he has gradually evolved from that condition and state, and draw apparent correct theories therefrom. Yet, when they attempt to go further, they enter only into the realm of speculation, and become lost in the darkness of mystery. They can rightly acclaim the evolution of man from where they lose him in their retracing of that evolution, but they can know nothing of his devolution anterior to that time. And hence, their speculations are without foundation of substance.
No, man has not evolved from the lower animal, but only from himself when he reached the bottom of his fall. In this particular, the history and experience of man is this: he was created perfect; he sinned; he fell from the condition of his created state; his condition at the bottom of his fall was inferior in some phases to the brute animal; after long centuries, he commenced to rise from his base condition, and had made progress when the scientists, by their discoveries, found evidence of his condition then; and since then, he has been the subject of their "evolution."
But the scientists and all mankind must know that, all during these centuries of descent and ascent, man was always man, the greatest creation of God - and the most fallen.
Well, I have written enough for tonight. But as I was with you today as you were reading, and saw the misconceptions of the writer of the book, as well as those of the scientists to whom he referred, I thought it advisable to write the few incompleted truths about the subject.
I will come soon and write.
So with my Love and blessings, I will say good night.
Your
brother in Christ,
Luke
The Necessity for Men Turning Their Thoughts to Spiritual Things
I am here, Luke of the New Testament
I desire to declare certain truths with reference to the necessity for men turning their thoughts to spiritual things, and letting the material things of life consume less of their time and thoughts.
In the first place, that which is eternal is of more importance than that which is temporal and has an existence for a short time only, even though these things of time are necessary to sustain and preserve man while living his life on earth.
I would not be understood as implying that these material things are not necessary and important for man to acquire and use to the best possible advantage, for they are a necessity to his earth existence. And it is not only a privilege but also a duty for man to make the best possible use of these material gifts, and to place himself in that condition which will enable him to enjoy, to the utmost, these things that have been provided for his material comfort and happiness. And further, it is his duty to bend his efforts to develop the use and application of these things so that the greatest possible benefit and utility may be derived from the proper use of them.
And to do this, I understand that man has to give a portion of his thoughts and devote a part of his time to their consideration, and to the means and methods by which the best results may be brought about. In doing this, man is not disobedient to the Father's Laws or to the requirements which the laws of his own being call for.
The discoveries of the inventors are desirable, and men's work in making these discoveries is commendable; and so are efforts of the merchant and mechanic and financiers to succeed in their different undertakings, and as a result, accumulate money and use it for their comfort and sustenance.
But these things, or the thoughts and efforts used to accomplish these results, do not help the soul development, or even the development of the spiritual side of man's nature. And if man devotes himself to these pursuits for the greater number of his hours of living, when he comes to lay down these burdens and pass into the land of the spirits, he will find that he is very poor indeed - that the eternal part of his being has developed little, and that his soul is only fitted for a place where those who have laid up their riches on earth must necessarily go.
So attractive is this accumulation of money and the gaining of fame or position to man that, when once engaged in, and especially when accompanied by what he calls success, he naturally devotes his whole waking time and thoughts to these efforts. And as a consequence, very little of this short time on earth is given to thoughts of, and strivings for, things of the higher kind.
If mortals, and especially those who are so arduously and constantly engaged in the effort to win the success that I have just mentioned, could only see and know the condition of those with like aspirations, who were engaged in similar pursuits when on earth and who are now in the spirit world, they would realize the utter futility of such efforts, and the great soul-killing harm that the so-called "success" on earth has brought to these spirits.
And while we may assume that many of these spirits did not do affirmative wrong or injury in their work, and did not enter into the condition to which I refer because of any such wrong or injury, yet they are in a stagnated and shriveled condition of soul and spiritual qualities, and all because they neglected the development of their souls, or the cultivation of their spiritual qualities, while earnestly pursuing these material things.
Their sin was that of omission. It is a sure one in its results, and the more common one among men who think too much of material things, or think not at all, or are indifferent to everything, and who are satisfied to live in an atmosphere or state of vegetating contentment.
The law operates the same upon the man who neglects his spiritual nature because of his absorption in material things, as upon the man who is guilty of such neglect because of indifference or contentment with the pleasures that these material things give him. In both cases, the results are the same: The soul remains stagnant and the spiritual qualities lie dormant. And the man of such neglect will find his place in the spirit world to be one of darkness and suffering.
Life is short
and time is fleeting, even though a man may live his allotted time of
When the start is thus made on earth, it is so much easier for the continuous progress of the soul in the spirit world. If not, the awakening may be delayed for years, and the progress which follows it may be, and is generally very slow.
So I say, let men not devote so much of their time to those things which are of time only, while they remain in the world of time until the mortal becomes a spirit. Thoughts are things; and when applied to man's spiritual development, they are things of the most vital importance. A little thought may lead a soul to a dormant, hardly living state, or cause it to grow and increase into a thing of beauty and harmony with the spiritual possibilities of its possessor. And, as it has been said, where your treasures are, there will your heart be also. And so will your thoughts be that turn man's soul into darkness or light.
So, with all my Love, I will say good night.
Your
brother in Christ,
Luke
