February 25th, 1918.
Received by:James Padgett.
Washington D.C.
I am here, Jesus.
I am here and desire to write a few lines in reference to the great day of judgment, of which the preacher and teachers of theological things write so often. I know that the Bible, or rather some of the books, lay great stress upon this day when, as they claim, God will pour out His vials of wrath upon the ungodly and condemn them to an eternity of punishment.
There is, as you know, very great and diverse opinions among these learned men as to what is the meaning and significance of this day of judgment, and when, in a chronological point of view, it will take place; and all these varied opinions have many students and teachers who embrace and proclaim them to the world as being true and free from doubt.
Well, it is certain that all men must die and there will come the judgment, and that which follows the death is just as certain as is the death itself, and just as reasonable as is the following of any cause by an effect. So men should have no difficulty in believing in the judgment as a fact that cannot be avoided, just as death cannot be avoided.
But the word and the fact, judgment, when used as an effect or following of death, may have many meanings in the opinions and understandings of many men, depending upon what men may believe as to things that are called religious or scientific or philosophical. To the ultra-orthodox this term judgment means and necessarily comprehends the active pronouncement of a sentence by God, because of and determined by their lives and thoughts while living in the mortal life, irrespective of any of His general laws and the workings thereof. God is Himself the judge - personal and present - and by Him in this capacity are each man's life and works known and digested and made the basis of the sentence that He must pronounce in each individual case. God keeps the record of all of these acts of men, or, if man is conceded to be his own record-keeper, his records are, or will be, at the time of the great assemblage for judgment, opened up or brought into view so that nothing can be lost; and then, upon this record men will be sent to eternal happiness or to everlasting punishment, or, as some believe, to destruction or annihilation.
Others, not orthodox, who believe in the survival of the soul and the continuing memories of the acts and thoughts of men, teach that the judgment will follow death as a natural consequence of the operations of the law of cause and effect; and the effect cannot be escaped from, until in some way there comes to the consciousness of men a realization that the effect in their suffering has satisfied the cause and that there is nothing mysterious or unnatural in the appearance and workings of the judgment. They do not believe that God by any special interposition or personal punishing will pronounce the judgment, or determine the merits or demerits of the one called to judgment.
Besides these views, there are others extant and believed in, but the two that I have mentioned are principle ones and are sufficient to show what the large majority of thinking or rather believing, men conclude the term judgment as used in the Bible should mean or be understood to mean.
Well, the judgment of the human soul is an important accompaniment of the human life, both in the flesh and in the spirit world, and as regards the questions and punishments, hardly anything demands more of the thought and consideration of men, for it is a certainty that beliefs, true or false, he cannot avoid them. Judgment as certainly follows what men call death as does night the day, and no philosophy or theological dogmas or scientific determinations can alter the fact, or in any way change the character or exact workings of this judgment.
But judgment is not a thing belonging exclusively to the after-death period or condition, for it is present and operating with men from the time that they become incarnated in the human until they become disincarnate, and thereafter continuously until the causes of effects have been satisfied and there remains nothing to be judged, which happy ending is also a fact - for all men are dependent upon their progress towards the conditions of harmony with the laws that make effective as well as pronounce the judgments. While on earth these laws operate, and continuously man is being judged for the causes that he starts into existence, and the after-death judgment is only a continuation of the judgment received by men while on earth.
Of course - men may not know this - these judgments or the effects thereof, become more intensified after men have gotten rid of the influences of the flesh existence, and they become spirits, having only the spirit qualities. And because of this fact men must understand and try to realize that the expression "after death, the judgment" has a greater significance and is of more vital importance than the saying - that "judgment is with men all during their mortal lives."
After death the causes of the in-harmony with the law becomes more pronounced, and appear in the true meaning and force, and, consequently, as this is true the effects become more intensified and understood, and men suffer more and realize the darkness, and sometimes the gross darkness, that these effects produce. The in-harmony appears in its unclothed and unhidden reality, and the law's workings bring to men the exact penalties that their violations demand.
Man is his own bookkeeper, and in his memory are recorded all the thoughts and deeds of his earth life that are not in accord with the harmony of God's will, which is expressed or manifested by His laws. The judgment is not the thing of a day or a time, but is never ceasing so long as there exists that upon which it can operate, and it diminishes in proportion as the causes of in-harmony disappear.
God is not present in wrath demanding, as does the human who believes himself to have been injured demanding reparation by the one causing the injury. No - the Father is present only in love, and as the soul of the one undergoing the penalty, which his own deeds and thoughts have imposed upon him, comes more in harmony with the Father's will, He, as you mortals say, is pleased. Never an angry God, rejoicing in the satisfaction of a penalty being paid by one of His erring children, but always a loving Father rejoicing in the redemption of His children from a suffering that a violation of the laws of harmony exacts with certitude.
Then, as I say, the judgment day is not a special time when all men must meet in the presence of God, and have their thoughts and deeds weighed in the balance, and then, according as they are good or evil, have the sentence of an angry, or even just God pronounced upon them. The judgment day is every day, both in the earth life of man and in life in the spirit, where the law of compensation is working. In the spirit world time is not known and every breathing is a part of eternity, and with every breathing so long as the law requires, comes the judgment, continued and unsatisfied, until man, as a spirit, reaches that condition of harmony, so that for him, no longer the law demands a judgment.
But from what I have written, men must not suppose, or beguile themselves into that state of belief that will cause them to think that because there is no special day of judgment when God will pronounce His sentence, the judgment, therefore, is not so much to be dreaded or shunned. No, this state of thinking will palliate (lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness) only for the moment, for the judgment is certain, and is and will be no less to be dreaded, because the immutable law demands exact restoration instead of an angry God.
No man who has lived and died has escaped, and no man who shall hereafter die can escape this judgment unless he has, in a way provided by the Father in His love, become in harmony with the laws requiring harmony. "As a man soweth so shall he reap" is as true as is the fact that the sun shines upon the just and the unjust alike. Memory is man's storehouse of good and evil, and memory does not die with the death of the man's physical body, but on the contrary, becomes more alive - all alive - and nothing is left behind or forgotten when the spirit man casts off the encumbrance and the benumbing and deceiving influences of the only body of man that was created to die.
Judgment is real, and men must come to it face-to-face, and want of belief or unbelief or indifference or the application to mens lives of the saying "sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof" will not enable men to avoid the judgment or the exactions of its demands.
There is a way, though, in which men may turn the judgment of death into the judgment of life - in-harmony into harmony - suffering into happiness - and judgment itself into a thing to be desired. Elsewhere we have written of this way open to all men, and I will not attempt to describe it here. I have written enough for tonight. You are tired and must not be drawn on further. So with my love I will say good night.
Your brother and friend,
Jesus.