May 29th, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington D.C.
I am here, Martin Luther, One Time Monk and Reformer.
I desire to continue my message, if it is agreeable to you. Well, we will try.
When on earth I firmly believed what was contained in our doctrines and teachings, and was sincere in trying to induce others to believe as I believed and taught, but after my long experience in the spirit world and my communications with Jesus and his apostles and others to whom the truths of the Father have come, I realize and know that many of my teachings were erroneous and should not longer be believed by those who worship in the churches that bear my name. My doctrine of faith - that is justification by faith - is all wrong when its foundation is considered, and the impossibility of understanding from my teachings and the church's tenets, just what can be intended by faith. Our faith was founded on the assumption that Jesus was a part of the Godhead and the only begotten son of the Father, who so loved sinful man that He caused His sinless and beloved son to die on the cross that divine justice might be appeased, and the burden of men's sins taken from them and placed on Jesus. Oh, the terrible error of it all, and how it has mislead so many of the believers to a condition of darkness and deprivation of the Divine Love of the Father. No, such objects of faith have no foundation in fact, and such a faith does not justify sinful man or bring him in atonement with the Father, so that he becomes a redeemed child of God.
Jesus was not a part of the Godhead, and neither was he begotten in the way that I taught and my followers believe. He was the son of man, and only the son of God by reason of the fact that he had received in his soul the Divine Love of the Father, which made him like the Father in many of His attributes of Divinity.
God did not send Jesus to earth for the purpose of dying on the cross or for the purpose of paying any debt or appeasing the wrath of his angry and jealous Father, for these qualities are not attributes of the Father - only love and sympathy and the desire that men turn from their sins and become reconciled to Him, are His attributes as affects the salvation of men. No death of Jesus could make any man the less a sinner or draw him any nearer to the Father, and faith in this erroneous proposition, is faith in an error and never has man been justified by it.
Jesus came to earth with a mission to save mankind from their sins and that mission was to be performed in two ways only: the one by declaring to man that the Father had rebestowed upon him the privilege of receiving the Divine Love, and the other by showing man the way in which the privilege might be exercised, so that this Divine Love would become his, and thereby make him a part of the Father's Divinity and insure him Immortality.
In no other way could or can men be saved, and made at one with the Father; and faith in these Truths, which makes them things of possession and ownership by men, is the only faith which justifies.
I write this for the benefit, more particularly, of my followers so that they may learn the vital truths of their salvation and change their faith in the death and blood sacrifice of Jesus, to faith in the rebestowal of the Divine Love, and in the further truth that Jesus was sent to show the way to that Love, and that he thereby and in no other manner, became the Way, the Truth and the Life.
I know that the acceptance of these truths will take from them the very foundation of their beliefs, and many will refuse to accept my new declarations of truth, but nevertheless, they must accept, for truth is truth and never changes, and those who refuse to accept it on earth will, when they come to the spirit world, have to accept it, or exist in a condition where they will see and knew that their old beliefs were false and rested on no solid foundation; and the danger to many will be that when they realize the utter falsity and non existence of what they believed to be true, they will become infidels, or wanderers in spirit life without the hope of salvation or of becoming redeemed children of God.
I fully realize the errors of my teachings on earth, and the responsibility that rests upon me for these teachings which are still spreading, and I am almost helpless to remedy them. And so, I write this message, hoping that it may be published in your book of truths.
I, Luther, the one time monk and reformer, declare these truths with all the emphasis of my soul, based on knowledge in which there is no shadow of error, and which I have acquired from experience not founded on the claimed revelations to man by the voice of God. My knowledge is true, and nothing in opposition can be true, and the beliefs and faith of a man, or of all the inhabitants of earth, cannot change the truth in one iota.
The Roman church taught the communion of saints, and I declare the communion of spirits and mortals, be they saints or sinners. That church taught the doctrine of purgatory and hell, and I declare that there is a hell and a purgatory and that probation exists in both places, and that some time in the long ages to come, both places will be emptied of their inhabitants, some of whom will become redeemed children of God and dwellers in the Celestial Heavens, and others will become purified in their natural loves and inhabitants of the merely spiritual spheres.
I pray and desire that my followers may become inhabitants of the Celestial Heavens and partake of the Divine Nature of the Father and Immortality.To them I say, hearken to the Truths as Jesus has and will reveal them in his messages to you, for in the Truths which he shall thus declare, they will find Life Eternal and the at-onement with God, for which they have for so many years been seeking in darkness and disappointment.
I will not write more to-night, but will come again soon, and reveal other vital truths, if you will find for me the opportunity.
So with my love and blessings, I am
Your brother in Christ,
Martin Luther.