April 27th, 1916
Received by:James Padgett.
Washington D.C.
I am here, Luke:
I have not written you for some time and desire to write a short message tonight on the subject of: What is necessary for a man to do to recover the purity of soul and love that was possessed by the first parents - I mean as a man possessing the natural love only.
Well, in the first place, he should realize that he is a perfect creature of God, and that his sins and diseases are merely the results of his own thoughts, and of qualities that have come to him down the long ages of his ancestors living on earth.
He need not suppose that these sins and desires are inherent in or a part of his creation, for they are not, but merely accretions that fastened themselves upon him by reason of the thoughts he has had, and the resultant course of life he has led, and when he changes these thoughts, which will necessarily bring about a change in his manner of living, he will find that he can progress toward the condition of the perfect man.
I know that many of these thoughts are so deep seated that they seem almost a part of his very nature, and can only be eradicated by the death of his physical body; but this is not true, for man, even while in the full vigor of his manhood, and possessed with all the appetites and desires which arise from the perverted indulgence of these desires, either on the part of himself or on the part of those from whom he is said to have inherited them, may relieve himself from these desires and become a man, having only the thoughts of good, and desires for those things which are in harmony with the nature of his perfect creation.
This I know, seems to man a thing impossible, and so thinking he does not try to accomplish what I say he may accomplish, and to become free from these sins and unnatural appetites. The almost universal belief in original sin has caused men all along the ages to think that such a task is hopeless, and that they are thinking and acting only in accordance with the appetites and desires that God has implanted in their natures, and that so long as they indulge these thoughts and desires in a moderate or respectable way, they are not doing that which is contrary to God's will or to their own nature.
But this doctrine of original sin is a mocking, damnable lie, and the sooner man realizes the fact that it is a fraud and deceit, the sooner he will be able to get rid of those things which have placed him in his present condition and held him there bound, as it were, hand and foot. This supine submission to this old and ever recurring belief is the great thing that prevents man from starting to progress towards the attainment of that condition, which is purity and health and the perfect man.
Man must decline and no longer submit to this belief, which, I am sorry to say, is fostered by the teachings of the orthodox churches in order to sustain and make forcible their creeds and dogmas, and to show to man that he is not to be considered worthy of the mercy of the Father, and cannot possibly obtain that mercy and be relieved from the great wrath and punishment that God has prepared for him, unless he believes and acknowledges that he is a dependent and lost man, unworthy of the Father's favor, or the help of the instrumentalities which the Father uses to assist men in regaining their lost estate.
If men would only think, and in thinking realize that they are dear children of the Father and His highest creation, and that He prizes them above all His creatures and wants them to know that they are beings of such wonderful qualities and possibilities, they would then have come to them an overpowering and convincing sense of what they really are, and of how necessary it is for them to assert their rights as such exalted creatures of the Father, and would realize that they are masters of sin and disease, for they are the creators of the same.
When they shall assume such position and become possessed of such knowledge, they will find that they have a wonderful power as creatures of the Father, they will realize that they are masters of sin that must be gotten rid of.
Let men for a moment think again, and thinking know that God does not desire his greatest creature to become or be less than the perfect being that He created. He is not flattered nor does He have any pleasure in the thought that man is degraded and fallen from his perfect creation, and that in order to rise again he, man, must believe that God may show his power in rescuing him from his low and hopeless condition. No, God is not pleased by man assuming such an attitude, nor does he need any such helpless condition of man that he may show His power or gratify what the teachings of these orthodox imply, His vanity, which He has not.
In this particular man must work out his own salvation, but it will be a difficult task so long as he continues to believe and act upon that belief, that he is a creature of original sin, and that as God in the beginning failed to make him the perfect man, so now, only God can remedy what he failed to provide in His creation, and that man of himself can do nothing. That all he has to do is to wait until God is pleased to recreate him and thereby take from his very nature this great curse of the original sin. See the great fatality of such belief and how it tends to make man a slave of and obedient to this false belief in this blight of original sin.
God gave to man in his creation, the great power of will and the right to its unlimited exercise, subject only to the penalties of a wrongful exercise; and by the exercise of that will man created sin and disease and became depraved and fallen, and the possessor of false beliefs as to the perfection of his nature. By the exercise of that will man, himself, must redeem himself from this condition of depravity and false belief, and again become the perfect man - God's wholly perfect creation.
As man was in the beginning the perfect son of God, and by his own will created his own and only devil, so must he by this same power kill this devil and again become the perfect son. He must believe and declare, and show the sincerity of his beliefs by his acts and living, that he is a perfect son of the Father - needing no new creation.
This I have written to show what man was in the beginning, and what he really and truly is now; although covered with sin and disease and false beliefs. To recover this lost estate or, better, condition, he will find that by searching for and learning and acting upon many of the moral precepts of the Bible and of other so called sacred writings, he will be greatly helped and strengthened in his efforts. But above all let him understand and believe with the certainty of knowledge, that he is God's highest and most perfect creation.
Now, from what I have said, it must not be inferred that man is his own God, and has not and needs not any tender, loving Father, who is interested in him and always ready to help him whenever he earnestly and in sincerity asks the help of that Father. Always is man dependent upon God; but that dependence is not recognized by God, unless man first recognizes it, and by his longings and thoughts shows to the Father that he needs His help.
This may seem unbelievable, but man was created so independent in his great will power, as regards the dualities of thought and desire both spiritual and material, that God never interferes to compel. The principle involved in "whosoever will" must be exercised by man before the Father will intervene. But when it is exercised He does intervene, and never refuses or fails to answer the call of the sincere cry of man for help.
And God does help man in his recovery from the state of false beliefs and degradation, that I have mentioned. His love overshadows men, and His instrumentalities are always ready and waiting to answer the call upon Him for His help in assisting them out of their condition of sin, disease and false beliefs; for, as I have elsewhere written you, in God's universe there must be perfect harmony, and the present man, so far as his own creation of inharmony is concerned, is not in that harmony. Ultimately, man, all men, will become again the perfect man.
Of course, you will understand that what I have written does not apply to the redeemed sons of God who receive the New Birth and become partakers of the Divine nature of the Father, for in their case the perfect man is absorbed in the Divine angel.
I have written longer than I intended, but as the theme is an interesting as well as important one, I thought it best to write just as I have.
I will now say good night and leave with you my love and blessings.
Your brother in Christ,
Luke.