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I AM HERE. Luke, writer of the Third Gospel that was.
I come tonight to tell you of a Truth that is of very great importance to you
and to mankind, and I desire that you shall be very careful in receiving what I
may say. I am in a condition of love that enables me to know whereof I write and
to cause what I may say to be accepted by you as true.
I want to tell you that the Love of which we have been writing is the only Love
that can make a spirit or man at-one with the Father. And this is my theme: “The
Atonement.”
This word, as used in the Bible and interpreted by the churches and the
commentators on the Bible, carries with it a meaning of some price being paid by
Jesus for the redemption of mankind from their sins, and from the punishment
that they would otherwise have to undergo because of having committed sin; also,
the idea that God, as an “angry” and “insatiable” God, was waiting for the price
to be paid in order for His “wrath” to become “satisfied,” and so that man could
stand before Him acquitted of sin and the consequences of disobedience.
This price, according to the teachings of the churches and the persons named,
had to be paid by one who, in his goodness and purity, was capable of paying
this price—that is, one who had in him such inherent qualities, and, by his
sacrifice, was of such inherent worth as to satisfy the requirements of the
“demands” of this “angry” God Whose Laws had been disobeyed. And they also teach
that the only way such price could have been paid was by the death on the cross
of Jesus, who was the only person in all creation that possessed these qualities
sufficiently to meet these requirements. And, further, that by his death and the
shedding of his blood, the sins were atoned for and God was “satisfied.” This is
the orthodox belief of the “atonement” and the “plan” of salvation.
In short, a perfect human being free from all sin, a death on the cross and a
shedding of blood, and both necessary in order that the sins of mortals might be
washed away, and their souls made clean and fitted to become a part of the great
family of God.
But this conception of the atonement is all wrong, and it is not justified by
any teaching of the Master or by any of the true teachings of the disciples to
whom he had explained the Plan of salvation and what the True Atonement means.
In various parts of the New Testament, I know it is said that the blood of Jesus
washes away all sin, and that his death on the cross “satisfies” the Father's
“demand” for justice; and, therein, there are many similar expressions conveying
the same idea.
But these sayings of the Bible were never written by the persons to whom they
are ascribed, but rather by writers who, in their various translations and
alleged reproductions of these writings, added to, and eliminated from, the
writings of the original writers until the Bible became filled with these false
doctrines and teachings.
The writers of the Bible, as it now stands, were persons who belonged to the
church which was nationalized about the time of Constantine.* They had imposed
upon them the duty of writing such ideas as the rulers or governors of this
church conceived should be incorporated in the Bible for the purpose of carrying
out their ideas in order to subserve the true interests of the church, and to
give it such temporal power as it never could have had under the teachings and
guidance of the pure doctrines of the Master.
This false doctrine of the atonement has been believed in for nearly two
thousand years, and has been accepted by the so-called Christian churches and
promulgated by these churches as the true doctrine of Jesus and the one upon
which the salvation of man depends. And the consequences have been that men have
believed that the only things necessary to their salvation and reconciliation to
God were the death of Jesus and the washing away of their sins by the blood shed
on Calvary.
If men only knew how futile his death was, and how inefficacious his blood is to
wash away sin and pay the “debt” to the Father, they would not rest in the
assurance that all they have to do is to believe in this sacrifice and this
blood. Instead, they would learn the true Plan of salvation and make every
effort in their power to follow that Plan. And, as a consequence, they would
have their souls developed so that they would come into harmony with the
Father's Love and Laws.
ATONEMENT, IN ITS TRUE MEANING, NEVER MEANT THE PAYMENT OF A DEBT OR THE
APPEASING OF THE “WRATH” OF GOD. IT MEANT SIMPLY THE BECOMING AT-ONE WITH HIM IN
THOSE QUALITIES THAT WILL INSURE TO MEN THE POSSESSION OF HIS LOVE AND THE
IMMORTALITY THAT JESUS BROUGHT TO LIGHT. THE SACRIFICE OF JESUS COULD HAVE NO
POSSIBLE EFFECT UPON THE CONDITION OF MAN'S SOUL QUALITIES, AND NEITHER COULD
THE BLOOD-SHEDDING MAKE A VILE AND SINFUL SOUL PURE AND FREE FROM SIN.
God's Universe is governed by laws as immutable as they are perfect in their
workings. And the great thing to be accomplished by the Plan which He provided
for the redemption of men is to have every man come into harmony with these
laws. As soon as that harmony exists, there will be no more discord and sin will
not be known to humanity. And, so, only that which will bring man into this
harmony can possibly save him from his sins and bring about the At-onement that
Jesus and his disciples taught.
Man, when created, was endowed with what may be called a natural love and, that
love, to the extent of the quality that it possessed, was in perfect harmony
with God's Universe. And so long as it was permitted to exist in its pure state,
it was a part of the harmony of the universe. But when it became defiled or
impregnated with sin, or anything not in accord with God's Laws, it became
inharmonious and not at-one with God. The only redemption required thereafter
was the removing of those things that caused the inharmony.
Now, the only way in which this inharmony could be removed was by the natural
love becoming again pure and free from that which defiled it. The sacrifice on
the cross could not furnish this remedy, and neither could the blood atonement
accomplish it, because the sacrifice and the blood had no relation to the evil
to be remedied. So, I assert, if these things paid the “penalty” and “satisfied”
God, and thereby He had no further claim upon man for any debt supposed to be
due to Him from man, it necessarily implies that He kept the souls of men in
this condition of inharmony and would not permit the same to be removed until
His “demands” for “satisfaction” and “blood” had been met. Then, when He became
“appeased,” He would presumably permit men by His mere arbitrary declaration to
again come in harmony with His Laws and the workings of His Universe. In other
words, He would be willing to let men remain out of harmony with His Universe
and the workings of His Laws until He had His “demands” for “sacrifice” and
“blood” satisfied.
This, as is apparent to any reasonable person, would be a thing so foolish that,
in matters pertaining to his earthly affairs, even a mere man would not adopt
such a plan for the redemption of those sons of his who had been disobedient.
(I see you have a caller, and will continue
later.)
Questions about this article?
Ask a minister: fcdt@fcdt.org |
About James E. Padgett
Born August 25, 1852, Mr. James Edward Padgett
practiced law in Washington, D.C. Subsequent to his wife's, Helen,
passing in February, 1914, James learned from a psychic that he had
the gift of automatic writing. Based on the promptings of the
psychic and with a desire to reach his dearly departed Helen, he
commenced take messages from the spirits in the spirit world. At
first, James denounced the messages as merely coming from his mind,
driven by a strong desire to reach his departed wife. Eventually,
however, James could not deny the fact that information he was
receiving could not have possibly come from his own mind - for the
content of the messages surpassed his own education and knowledge.
Before his passing in March, 1923, James had accumulated hundreds of
messages from spirits and celestials in the spirit world.
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