December 25, 1914
Received by James Padgett
Washington D.C.
I am here, Jesus:
You are my dear brother, and I will tell you what I desire you to do at this time. You must not let the little worries of your business life keep you from giving your thoughts to God in worship and in prayer, and from believing in me and loving me as your friend and teacher, for I am; and wish only to have you do those things which will make you more at-one with the Father and love me more. You must try to let all your thoughts turn to the mission which I have selected you to do, for I have chosen you and you must do my work. As I am the one that God selected to do His work when I was on earth, so you are the one that I now select to do my work by giving to the world my messages of truth and love. I will soon commence to write them and you must preserve them until such time as you shall be in condition to publish the same, which will not be very long, for I have already told you, the means that will enable you to give your whole time to me will soon be at your command.
I do not want you to think that you are not worthy to do this great work, for if you were otherwise, I would not have selected you, and this fact alone should be sufficient to make you not doubt that you are a suitable person for the work.
Let me tell you now that no matter what you may think will happen to your business affairs and work, I will look after you and remove all obstructions so that, as I say, you will soon be able to commence your duties.
In my teachings I want to show that I am only my Father's son as you are His son, and not to be worshipped as God. He is the only God and the people who today are worshipping me in all parts of the world are not doing what I desire, for they are putting God in the background and making me their object of worship, which is all wrong and which I am so anxious to have ceased.
They must look upon me only as a son of God and their elder brother who has received from the Father His full Love and confidence, and which I am bidden to teach to them. You are not to let anyone tempt you to let your love of God be displaced by any love that you may have for me, for your love for me must not be of the kind that you have for Him. He is the only God and you must worship Him alone. So be careful and make the distinction, or you will make a most egregious (flagrant) mistake.
I am your own dear brother and teacher and love you with a love that I have for very few of the mortals. Why? Because I see that you will become a true follower of me and will love God as I love Him. Only, I do not want you to think that you are now in a condition that leaves you free from sin or the necessity of progressing to the Father with all your heart for an inflowing of His Love. You must get all this Love that is possible and that can be gotten only by prayer and faith. So in your prayers, have faith and the time will come when you will become very close to the Father and enjoy His Love to a degree that few have so far obtained.
Yes, it is possible and, as I say, it will take place, only do as I have told you. Yes, I will help you with all my power and love, and you will succeed. Only try to believe and you will realize before you come to the spirit world that God is your Father to a degree that will enable you to live very near Him as I am living. Your faith is now very great as I know, and notwithstanding the fact that at times you have doubts and get despondent, yet your faith is there and it will grow in intensity and become so strong that it will never again be shaken. You must now let me stop as you are tired and need rest.
Yes, there are many things in my life as written in the Bible which are true and many that are not true. These I will tell you when I come to write my formal messages and you must wait until then. Yes, I did, but not in the sense that it is taught. To forgive sin is only to let the true penitent feel that just as soon as he prays God to blot out his past offenses and truly believes that He will do so, the sins are no longer held against him for which he will have to account. I could not myself forgive sin, for I was not God, but I could tell them truly that if they repented, God would forgive their sins. Later I will tell you in detail what real forgiveness is and what it consists of.
As for the healing act which I performed at the pool of Bethesda*, I am reported to have said, "Is it easier to say, 'take up thy bed and walk,' than for God to forgive your sin?" Well, that is the way it is recorded, but that is not what I said. Actually I said, "That thou may know that the son of man through the power of God can forgive sin, I say unto you, `take up thy bed and walk'." It was only as God's instrument in showing man the way to His Divine Love, that I could bring about forgiveness of sin, and not by any power of my own. If God did not forgive, I could not and neither can any man.
I know that a church claims that authority, but it is not correct. It has no power to forgive sin or to grant any favor or indulgence to mankind, and its assertions of that power is a mere usurpation of what God alone has the power to give.
So let us stop now -
Your own true friend and teacher.
May God's blessing and mine rest upon you tonight.
Jesus.