15th January, 1916.
Received by James Padgett
Washington D.C.
I am here, Jesus.
I come to-night to tell you that you are in a very much better condition than you have been for some time, and your rapport with us is so very much greater, that I feel that I should write you a message upon an important subject which is vital to the salvation of man from the sins and errors of his life on earth, and I will write a portion of what I desire to write.
Well, I will first say that there are so many men and women on the earth, who believe, or assert that they believe, that through their own efforts they can develop those soul qualities which are necessary to bring them in accord with the Soul of the Father, that I find that the task of convincing these persons of the errors of their beliefs, or assumption of beliefs, will be a very great one. This task will not be confined to those who have given real and deep study to the mysteries of life, both on earth and thereafter, but also to a much greater number who have a kind of smattering of this supposed knowledge, which the wiser or more learned publish to the world as a result of their investigations.
It is more difficult to convince the ignorant, who think that they know the laws of being and the plan of the workings of God's universe, than to convince those who have given sincere thoughtful study to the same, because the latter, generally, as they progress in their investigations become convinced that the more they should know as a result of their investigations, the less they really know.
I do not know just what is the most important subject for comment to-night relating to these matters, for there are so many, all of which I must at same time instruct you about; but I will write to-night about "The relationship of man to the creation of the world, and the origin of life."
Your Bible says: in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, etc., out of a void, and continued that creation until there was a perfect heaven with all its glories, and a perfect earth with inhabitants of every kind - all perfect and made just as an all wise and all powerful God would create; and as a climax to all, man, who was so perfect that he was made in the image of his Creator.
Well, this story is just as good and satisfactory as any that has been conceived and written by man, and is just as worthy of belief, but as a fact it is not true, for there never was a time or period when there was a void in the universe or when there was chaos.
God never created anything out of nothing, but His creations, such as are perceived by and known to men, were merely the change in form or composition of what had already existed, and always will exist as elements, though there will undoubtedly be changes in form and appearance and in constituent elements in their relation to one another.
God was always existent - a Being without beginning, which idea the finite mind, I know cannot grasp, but it is true; and so also everything which is in the universe to-day always existed, though not in form and composition as they now are; and as they are they will not continue to be, for change eternal is the law of his universe. I mean as to all things which may be spoken of as having a substance whether they be material or ethereal.
Of course, His Truths never change, and neither do the laws by which the harmony of the universe is preserved and continued perfect. Now, the earth on which you live did not always have an existence, as an earth, and neither did the firmament and the great galaxy of planets and stars, but they were not created out of nothing, and neither was there chaos, for in God's economy of being there is never any chaos, which if it should be, would mean the absence of the workings of His laws and harmony.
But the earth and the firmament were created - at one time they had no existence as such, and at a coming time they may cease to have such existence, and this creation was in an orderly way, according to design, with no element of chance entering into it; and such creation was not through what your wise men may call accretion or evolution - that is self evolution - for every new or additional exponent of growth or manifestations of increase was the result of God's Laws, which he operated in the creation of the creature.
There is no such thing as self evolution, or that development which arises from the unassisted growth of the thing developed, and this applies to all nature as well as to man. To grow, to become nearer perfection, implies the decay and disappearance of some elements which have performed their missions and work in the growth of the thing created, and never do the same elements continue in the development of that which the laws in their operations, bring to greater and greater perfection.
But in all this work of creation there are laws of disintegration and apparent retrogression operating, as well as laws of positive construction and advancement; and again these former laws do not operate by chance, but by design just as do the latter class of laws. The All Creator knows, when for the purpose of bringing forth the perfect creature - be it man or animal or vegetable or mineral - the laws of decay and retrogression as well as the laws of advancement and increased effectiveness shall operate, and He never makes a mistake in setting into operation these laws, and never pronounces the result of His work, "Not good."
As has been said, a thousand years are as a day with God, and while for many long years it may appear to man, there are retrogression and delay in bringing to perfection a creature of the Creator's works, yet that apparent retrogression is not such a fact, but only a course or method adopted for bringing forth the higher or greater perfection. I know it is difficult to explain these workings of creation to the finite, earthy mind but you may grasp some conception of what I desire to make known.
Man, in his creation, was not the slow growth as were some of the other creations of God, but was from and at the beginning made perfect, with the exception of the qualities of Divinity and Immortality. He did not grow from a lower creature, as some of your scientists have proclaimed, by the slow process of evolution, and this a self evolution, resulting from inherent qualities which were developed by experience, but he was created the perfect man.
I will stop for the present.
Your brother and friend,
Jesus