I AM HERE. Jesus.
I come tonight to resume my discourse of several nights ago. As I
was saying, man is the creature of God, made in perfection and
instantaneously, as it were, and not having a slow growth as other
creations. And when he was created, he needed no evolution or
additional attributes to make him the perfect man. His physical body
was perfect, and also his spiritual body and his soul.
In addition to these three constituents, he had a Gift which he
forfeited by his disobedience, which was never restored to him until
my coming, and which, when possessed by him, made him more than mere
man. As to those things which were made constituent and absolute
parts of him, they were perfect, and no evolution was necessary to
give them any increased perfection. Man was a more perfect being
then than he is now or ever has been since his fall from his
condition of perfection.
After his disobedience and the consequent death of the potentiality
of partaking of the Divine Nature of the Father, which is the Gift
mentioned above, man was left in a state where he depended
exclusively upon the qualities which he then possessed for his
future happiness, and the freedom from those things which would
cause him to lose the harmony that then existed between him and the
laws governing his being.
THE GREATEST OF ALL THE QUALITIES BESTOWED UPON HIM WAS THAT OF THE
WILL POWER, WHICH WAS WHOLLY UNRESTRICTED IN ITS OPERATIONS,
ALTHOUGH, WHEN EXERCISED IN A MANNER WHICH BROUGHT THIS WILL IN
CONFLICT WITH THE LAWS CONTROLLING THIS HARMONY, MAN HAD TO SUFFER
AND PAY THE PENALTIES OF SUCH VIOLATIONS. BUT, NOTWITHSTANDING THAT
THESE PERVERSIONS OF THE EXERCISE OF THE WILL BROUGHT THE SINS AND
ERRORS WHICH NOW EXIST ON EARTH, GOD DID NOT PLACE ANY LIMITATIONS
ON THIS EXERCISE.
MAN, IN HIS CREATION, HAD BESTOWED UPON HIM APPETITES AND DESIRES
PERTAINING TO HIS PHYSICAL NATURE, AS WELL AS DESIRES OF HIS HIGHER
OR SPIRITUAL NATURE; AND THEY WERE ALL INTENDED TO WORK IN HARMONY
AND NOT IN ANTAGONISM. AND, IN SUCH WORKINGS, MAN WAS KEPT PURE AND
FREE FROM SIN—WHICH IS MERELY THE VIOLATION OF GOD'S LAWS OF
HARMONY. BUT AFTER THE FIRST DISOBEDIENCE (WHICH IS THE GREATEST
DEMONSTRATION OF THE POWER OF MAN TO EXERCISE THAT WILL, EVEN WHEN
GOD HAD FORBADE HIM TO DO SO), AND AFTER MAN LOST THIS GREAT
POTENTIALITY THAT I SPEAK OF, SUCCEEDING DISOBEDIENCES BECAME
EASIER. AND, AS THESE DISOBEDIENCES OCCURRED, MAN LOST THE DESIRES
FOR THE SPIRITUAL THINGS TO A GREAT EXTENT, AND THE ANIMAL OR
PHYSICAL PART OF HIS NATURE ASSERTED ITSELF. THEN, INSTEAD OF
EXERCISING THESE APPETITES WHICH BELONGED TO THE PHYSICAL NATURE IN
SUCH A WISE WAY THAT NO INHARMONY WOULD ENSUE—AND HERE LET ME SAY
THAT, EVEN AFTER THE FALL, IT WAS POSSIBLE, AND EVEN EXPECTED, THAT
MAN WOULD EXERCISE THESE APPETITES IN THE WAY MENTIONED—HE INDULGED
THEM BEYOND THEIR PROPER FUNCTIONS. AND HE INCREASED SUCH INDULGENCE
UNTIL HE COMMENCED TO FIND, AS HE THOUGHT, MORE PLEASURE IN SUCH
INDULGENCE THAN IN THE THOUGHTS AND EXERCISE OF HIS HIGHER NATURE,
AND THE ASPIRATIONS WHICH BELONGED TO IT.
This deterioration of man was not sudden, but gradual, until, at one
time, he became in a state or condition of being bordering on that
of the lower animals. And, in fact, because of this indulgence of
these appetites, he seemed to be transformed into the lower animal.
Yet, he remained man—a being created in the image of his Maker.
And from this position of low degradation of degeneracy, man slowly
commenced to progress towards the attainment of his original
condition before the fall. Never in all this time was his freedom of
will taken from him, nor did God attempt to control such will. But
always the Laws of Compensation worked, and man suffered as he
continued to create sin and evil.
But as man on earth continued to degenerate and to permit what is
sometimes called his animal nature to dominate his spiritual nature,
many men died and continued to die, and their physical bodies went
back to the dust of which they were created. And their spiritual
selves became inhabitants of the spirit world where, in a longer or
shorter time, they were freed from the desire to exercise these
animal appetites. And the spiritual part of man again asserted
itself until many of these spirits became free from sin and evil,
and in harmony with the Laws of God controlling their natures and
conditions as they existed before their degeneracy and before the
disobedience commenced.
And these spirits, thus made free, and in their spiritual dominance,
commenced to try to assist man to direct his will in such ways as to
rid himself of submission to these appetites while living on earth,
and to become again a true man, as in his creation state, minus the
potentiality that I have mentioned. But these efforts on the part of
spirits have been slow in their effects. And while men have been
almost regenerated in individual cases, yet, as a whole, the
progress has not been as rapid as is desirable. Sin and evil still
exist in the world, and men's perverted appetites and desires still
control them to a large extent.
Of course, in some parts of the earth, this progress from the bottom
of degeneracy has taken place faster than in others. And, hence, you
have your distinction between the civilized and the uncivilized
races or nations. But this does not necessarily mean that the
civilized people, as individuals, have made greater progress in the
manner indicated than have the individuals of some of the so-called
“uncivilized” nations. For it is a fact that, among some men of the
former nations, there are perversions and manifestations of
perversions of these appetites that do not exist in the latter
nations.
Advancement in the intellectual qualities does not necessarily mean
progress in the spiritual asserting itself over the perversions of
these appetites. For will is not a thing entirely of the mind, and
neither are these appetites and desires. In back of the mind are the
affections, usually called the heart's desires, which is the seat of
these appetites from which these desires arise. And, as they arise,
the will is influenced by them; and, as the will is influenced, then
come positive thoughts and deeds.
It is not surprising that your scientists believe and preach the
doctrine of the evolution of man from a lower species of animal or
from an atom (or from something that they cannot just understand or
give a name to) because, in their studies of the history of mankind
and of the created world, they find that man has developed and
progressed amazingly from what appeared to have been his condition
in some ages past.
But history does not extend to the time when man was in this lowest
condition of degeneracy. Hence, all the conclusions that these
scientists reach are based upon facts, sufficient unto themselves,
which show the progress of man only after the turning point of his
degeneracy. They have no facts (and, of course, when the word
“facts" is here used, it refers exclusively to the material things
of nature) showing them the gradual decline of man from his state of
being a perfect man to that when his retrogression or degeneracy
ceased, and his progress of return to his former estate commenced.
SO, IF THE SCIENTISTS WILL BELIEVE AND TEACH THAT MAN, INSTEAD OF
EVOLVING FROM AN ATOM OR SOME OTHER INFINITESIMAL SOMETHING, OR FROM
A LOWER SPECIES OF ANIMAL THAN MAN, EVOLVED FROM HIS STATE OR
CONDITION WHEN HE WAS AT THE BOTTOM OF HIS DEGENERACY, TO WHICH HE
HAD DESCENDED FROM THE PERFECT MAN, THEN THEY WILL BELIEVE AND TEACH
THE TRUTH. AND THEIR THEORY OF EVOLUTION WILL THEN HAVE, AS ITS
FOUNDATION OR BASIS, A FACT, WHICH NOW IT HAS NOT—ONLY A
SPECULATION.
This, in short, is the history and Truth of the creation of the
universe of man, of man's fall and degeneracy, and of his evolution
and progress. And through all this creation and subsequent existence
runs life, permeating it and always with it; and the Origin of life
is God.
I have finished and I hope that you find some instruction as well as
entertainment in what I have written. I will come again soon and
write you another Truth.
The fact that you waited for sentences to be formulated to express
my thoughts merely means that I was manipulating your brain so that
the proper expression or idea could be conveyed to your hand as I
wrote it.
You have my love and blessings, and I am more interested in you and
your work as time passes. Keep up your courage and your desires will
be fulfilled.
Your friend and brother,
JESUS.