I AM HERE. Jesus.
I am here according to my promise, and desire to write to you on a
subject that all men should be acquainted with: “How the Divine Love
Enters into the Soul of Man.”
As I have told you before, man is a creature of God, having a body,
spirit and soul; and all these are necessary to make the perfect
man. But these three parts of man are different in their
characteristics and functions, and are separate and distinct; and
they have qualities that are unlike in their composition as well as
in the duration of their existence.
The body, as you and all men know, has an existence which lasts only
during the life of the mortal on earth. And, after that life ends,
it dissolves into its elements which no more can form the same body,
either in the mortal world on in the spirit world. For these
elements are merely things of matter, and may be and are used to
form other bodies and manifestations of the material of nature, but
not necessarily in the form of human beings. For they enter into
other forms, both animal and vegetable, and are so disseminated that
never again will they become parts of a resurrected body. Your
orthodox do not teach this truth, but think that the mortal body
will sometime be resurrected in some mysterious way.
No, when it has performed its function of maintaining and shielding
the soul and spirit of man during his earth life, the body exists no
longer. It cannot thereafter be a part of that man, and may be
considered as something that is no longer a part of him.
This body, though, as a matter of fact, even during the life of the
mortal, is not the same body during that life. For there are
continual changes in the elements that compose that body. One
element, or set of elements, gives place to others and becomes lost
or absorbed in the great sea of elements that help form, or
constitute, the Universe of God.
By operation of the Laws of Attraction and Repulsion, these
elements, as they replace others which disappear, conform themselves
to the general appearance or outline of the parent body so that the
identity of the body as well as of its appearance is preserved. And,
as a man grows older, the laws which make the changes in his
appearance cause these new elements to conform to these changes so
that, even while the material continues to envelop the spirit during
the short span of a man’s life, that material is not the same for
any length of time.
I make this preliminary statement merely to show that the material
part of man is not at all connected with the real man, so far as his
persistent nature is concerned. And this material need not be
considered in discussing the subject that I desire to write about.
The spirit part of man is that part which contains what may be
called the functions of life and the force and power existing in
him, and which immediately control him in his conduct and living.
This real, existing principle of life, unlike the body, never dies,
but continues to live after the spirit drops its envelope of flesh.
This spirit part of man contains the seat of the mental faculties
and reasoning powers, and uses the organs of the material body to
manifest these attributes. These faculties live and exist even
though the physical body may be in such imperfect condition that the
spirit may not be able to make its manifestations in such a way as
to enable the mortal to perceive or sense the material things of
nature, as they are called. To specify, even though the material
organs of sight may become impaired or destroyed, yet, in that
spirit body, which is within the physical body, exists the actual
sight just as perfectly and completely as if these impaired or
destroyed organs were doing their functioning; and the same is true
as regards the hearing and the others of what are called the five
senses of man.
And as to the reasoning faculties and mental qualities, they exist
in the perfect state whether the brain is healthy or not, or whether
it performs its work or refuses to do so. The qualities do not
depend upon the soundness or perfect workings of the organs of the
physical body in order that these spirit qualities may exist in a
perfect condition. But the proper workings of the physical organs,
or, rather, the proper and natural movements and manifestations of
the brain, and the conscious operations of the mental faculties, do
depend upon the spirit faculties being able to use these physical
organs in a proper way, and in accordance with the harmony of the
creation of the relative and correlative parts of man.
These spirit faculties, which man calls the intellect and the five
senses, are a part of the spirit body which is enclosed in the
material body, and which, in turn, encloses the soul. When the
material body dies, the spirit body continues to exist and live on
in the world of spirit, and, with it, and as continuing parts of it,
these intellectual faculties also, performing all their functions
free from the limitations that the physical organs placed upon them.
And when this change takes place, these mental qualities,
notwithstanding that they have not the material organs through which
they function when in the mortal frame, can conceive thoughts of
material things, and hear and see things of the material, just as
they did when they were enveloped by the environments of flesh and
blood, and even more perfectly.
So, you see, when the mortal dies, the only thing that dies and is
left behind is the mere physical body. And, with the spirit body,
there survives all those things which can be said to be the real
man, so far as the mind is concerned. Hence, man never ceases to
remember and to progress, and to know that he is a being which death
cannot destroy or change into something that he was not before death
came to him. And, thus, I answer the question: “When a man dies,
shall he live again?” HE NEVER CEASES TO LIVE. AND HIS LIVING IS NOT
A NEW LIFE, BUT MERELY THE CONTINUATION OF THE OLD LIFE WITH ALL THE
THINGS OF MIND AND CONSCIENCE THAT WERE HIS IN THE OLD LIFE.
In the purely spirit life, the spirit body continues to contain the
soul, and will be its protector and covering so long as that spirit
body shall last. But, by disintegration, this body then begins to
change into what we may call spirit elements, with the formation of
new elements to replace the disappearing ones. This change in this
body is not caused by the same laws that operated to change and
disintegrate and replace the physical body, but by the law
controlling the development of the soul, which the spirit body
contains.
The soul is the real man because it is the only thing or part of man
that may become immortal, the only part of man that was made in the
image of its Creator, and the only part of man that may become a
part of the Substance of its Maker and partake of His Divine Nature.
I say “may,” for that is an important part of this great
possibility.
I know this possibility of the soul becoming immortal by partaking
of the Divine Nature of God is true, for it is a proven fact in the
case of many souls who are now in the Celestial Heavens. I also know
that there are many souls in the spirit world who have been there
for many centuries, and who have never received this Divine Nature
and consciousness of immortality. WHETHER SUCH SOULS WHO HAVE NOT
RECEIVED THIS DIVINE NATURE SHALL BECOME, OR ARE, IMMORTAL HAS NEVER
BEEN DEMONSTRATED.
THIS I DO KNOW: THAT IN THE ECONOMY OF GOD’S PLAN FOR THE FORMING OF
HIS KINGDOM, AT SOME TIME, WHEN, I DON’T KNOW, THIS PRIVILEGE OF
PARTAKING OF HIS DIVINE NATURE AND THE CERTAINTY OF IMMORTALITY WILL
BE WITHDRAWN FROM THE SOULS OF MEN AND SPIRITS. AND, THEN, WHETHER
THESE SOULS WHO SUFFER THIS CONDEMNATION WILL PARTAKE OF IMMORTALITY
NO SPIRIT KNOWS, ONLY GOD.
There are other things that I know and here tell you, and among them
is this: that so long as the soul does not receive this Divine
Nature, the mind, which I have described as being a part of the
spirit body, continues to exist and dominate both soul and body;
and, in its progress, it may attain to a condition of purity and
perfection such as was possessed by the first created living
souls—our first parents. Many spirits are now in this condition, but
yet are mere men, and their souls remain only in the image of
God—nothing more.
WHILE GOD IS MIND, MIND IS NOT GOD. AND, ALSO, WHILE GOD IS SPIRIT,
SPIRIT IS NOT GOD. SO, WHEN MEN TEACH THAT MIND IS GOD, AND THAT MEN
MUST SEEK TO ATTAIN TO THAT MIND AND THUS BECOME LIKE GOD, THEY FALL
FAR SHORT OF THE TRUTH. THE MIND IS ONLY AN ATTRIBUTE OF GOD. BEYOND
AND BACK OF THAT MIND IS THE REAL GOD—THE PERSONALITY—AND THAT IS
GOD’S SOUL. AND FROM HIS SOUL EMANATES ALL THESE ATTRIBUTES AND
MANIFESTATIONS WHICH MORTALS AS WELL AS SPIRITS MAY BE CONSCIOUS OF.
BUT WHILE GOD IS SOUL, YET, THAT SOUL IS A THING OF SUBSTANCE, WITH
A NATURE DIVINE, AND THE SEAT AND FOUNTAINHEAD OF ALL THE GREAT
ATTRIBUTES THAT BELONG TO HIM, SUCH AS LOVE AND POWER AND LIFE AND
OMNISCIENCE AND MERCY. AND, HERE, I MUST STATE ONE FACT WHICH MAY
STARTLE THOSE WHO BELIEVE AND TEACH THAT MIND IS GOD, AND THAT IS:
THAT WHICH IS CALLED THE HUMAN MIND, AND ALL ITS FACULTIES AND
WONDERFUL QUALITIES, IS A MERE SPECIAL CREATURE, JUST AS IS THE
SPIRIT BODY AND MATERIAL BODY OF MAN. AS I HAVE SAID, MAN WAS
CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD ONLY AS REGARDS THE SOUL. AND, HERE,
ALWAYS BEAR IN MIND THAT THE CREATION WAS ONLY AN IMAGE.
THE MIND OF MAN WAS A SPECIAL CREATION, JUST AS WERE THE MINDS OF
THE LOWER ANIMALS, DIFFERING ONLY IN DEGREE. AND IF GOD HAD NOT
GIVEN TO MAN A SOUL AND THE SPIRIT BODY TO ENVELOP IT, AND IN WHICH
HE PLACED THIS MIND OF MAN, WHEN MAN DIES THE DEATH OF THE PHYSICAL
BODY, THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE END OF HIM, AS SUCH DEATH IS OF THE
BODY, WHICH IS NOT A PART OF THIS SOUL IMAGE OF GOD.
AS I HAVE HERETOFORE WRITTEN TO YOU, WHEN GOD CREATED MAN AND MADE
HIM IN HIS OWN IMAGE AS TO THE SOUL, HE ALSO GAVE TO MAN THE
POSSIBILITY OF OBTAINING THE SUBSTANCE OF THE FATHER; THAT IS, OF
HAVING THAT SOUL WHICH WAS A MERE IMAGE BECOME THAT SOUL WHICH IS OF
THE SUBSTANCE OF THE CREATOR. I HAVE ALSO EXPLAINED TO YOU HOW MAN,
BY HIS DISOBEDIENCE, LOST THAT POSSIBILITY, AND, FOR LONG CENTURIES,
WAS DEPRIVED OF THIS GREAT PRIVILEGE; AND HOW IT WAS AGAIN RESTORED
TO HIM AT THE TIME OF MY COMING TO EARTH SO THAT NOW, AND FOR
NINETEEN CENTURIES PAST, HE HAS THE POSSESSION OF THIS GREAT GIFT OR
PRIVILEGE OF PARTAKING OF THE SUBSTANCE OF THE FATHER.
WELL, BY THE WAY THAT HAS BEEN POINTED OUT TO HIM, WHEN MAN BECOMES
POSSESSED OF THE SUBSTANCE OF THE FATHER’S DIVINE NATURE, EVEN IN AN
INITIAL DEGREE, HIS SOUL COMMENCES TO CHANGE AND LOSE ITS CHARACTER
AS A MERE IMAGE, AND STARTS TO PROGRESS TOWARDS THE ATTAINMENT OF
THAT CONDITION WHEREBY THIS IMAGE DISAPPEARS AND THE DIVINE
SUBSTANCE TAKES ITS PLACE. AND, AS THE PROGRESS CONTINUES, HE
RECEIVES SO MUCH OF THE SUBSTANCE THAT HIS SOUL TAKES ON THE DIVINE
NATURE OF THE FATHER, AND HIS AT-ONEMENT WITH THE FATHER BECOMES SO
PERFECT THAT HE BECOMES AN INHABITANT OF THE FATHER’S KINGDOM. THIS
OCCURS WHEN HE BECOMES FITTED TO ENTER THE FIRST CELESTIAL SPHERE.*
AND JUST HERE OCCURS ANOTHER THING WHICH MAY STARTLE THOSE WHO TEACH
THAT THE MIND IS THE ESSENCE OF GOD, AND THAT IS: THE MIND WHICH
MAN, BOTH AS MORTAL AND SPIRIT, POSSESSES, UP TO THAT POINT IN THE
PROGRESS OF THE SOUL WHERE THE TRANSFORMATION INTO THE DIVINE NATURE
TAKES PLACE, BECOMES A THING OF NAUGHT, OR, RATHER, BECOMES ABSORBED
IN THE MIND OF THE SOUL, WHICH IS THE REAL MIND OF THE FATHER. AND
THEN, AND EVER AFTER, ONLY THIS MIND OF THE SOUL IS THAT WHICH
ENABLES THE REAL DIVINE MAN TO UNDERSTAND THE THINGS OF GOD TO HELP
HIM IN HIS PROGRESS.
I will continue later. You are tired. But remember that I love you,
and that you have me with you at all times to help and sustain and
comfort you.
Good night, my dear brother.
Your friend and brother,
JESUS.
