February 19th, 1916
Received: by James Padgett.
Washington D.C.
I am here, the spirit of one who died a great many years ago in a far distant country, and when the truths of Christianity were known and practiced by the followers of the Master in the purity in which he taught them. I was a disciple of his but I am not known to history, and like a great many others who lived in those days, I worked in a humble way among the poor and simple of the earth. My work was mostly in the country outlying, but close to Palestine, and I was one who received from the spirit world the communications of those spirits who had lived on earth as Christians; and these communications were received in our public worship and interpreted or made plain to the common people by those teachers who had the gift of interpretation.
It was such communications as these that John referred to when he advised us to try the spirits to learn whether they were of God; or in other words, to learn whether they were spirits who had a knowledge of the Christ doctrines, and who came to teach us the truths as they saw them to exist in the spirit world, and who were followers of the Master.
I know that Jesus taught the New Birth and the Divine Love, and the re-bestowal of the great gift which had been forfeited by our first parents at the time of their disobedience.
I also know that he never taught us to look upon him as God, or that any death that he might die would save us from our sins or bring us in at-onement with the Father, or that the Father demanded any sacrifice in order to satisfy his wrath or pay any debt that man might owe to Him.
No, the things last mentioned were not embraced in our faith or understanding of what the truths of the Master's teachings were.
We also had the wonderful powers which Jesus possessed in the way of healing, casting out evil spirits, etc., and we never looked upon them as miracles, but as the result of the exercise of the powers which came to us when we received the Divine Love and had the faith which made this Love and all that accompanied it, things of real existence.
Jesus was always the man of love and mercy and benevolence, and never tired of his great work of doing good to the mortal; but these works were merely subordinate to the other great mission that he performed.
Above everything else, he was a teacher of the Father's Love, and the necessity of man's receiving this Love in order to become at-one with the Father, and an accepted child, whose inheritance was immortality and heaven.
So you can readily see what a departure there has been from our teachings and faith and practices, and the lives of simple followers of the Master.
Now I see that belief in the dogmas of the church and mysticisms of God are what constitutes the Christian, and soul development is little preached, or really understood, either by preacher or people; and the real secret of man's salvation has been lost to the world.
I am now in the high Celestial Spheres, where the Love of the Father is most abundant, and the spirits of men live in eternal happiness, with the knowledge that immortality is theirs.
I will not write more tonight, as it is late and you are tired.
But before I stop, permit me to say, that you are receiving the revelation of the true religion of Jesus, as well as truths which pertain to the condition and existence of the spiritual world, and the Celestial Heavens.
So with my love and blessings I am,
Your brother in Christ,
John,
the lowly follower of the Master, John Yorking (I was a Jew.)