Jan 2 1916 | Jesus comments on a book that Mr. Padgett was reading about fallen angels, which some churches believe in.
True Gospel Revealed Anew By Jesus. Volume 3
Jesus comments on a book that Mr. Padgett was reading about fallen angels, which some churches believe in.
January 2nd, 1916.
Received by James Padgett.
Washington D.C.
I am here, Jesus.
I come to tell you that you have not been in a very good condition of spirituality since last night when you read that book.
Well, in the first place I want to say that there are no such things as the fallen angels or any spirits except the spirits of those who once lived as mortals and who are living now as spirits. Of course many of them are what may be called evil spirits but they are not devils in the sense that the author describes them.
There never were any rebellions in heaven of any of the angels of God and whenever such a thing is mentioned in the Bible it has no foundation in fact for there never was a Seraphim or any other angel that fell and became the devil or Satan as he is called and you must not let your thoughts disturb your belief in our writing to you for we who profess to write to you actually do write. I know that it is very largely believed in the churches that there are such beings as devils of whom Satan is the chief, but such belief is wholly erroneous and has worked a great injury to the cause of truth and to my teachings.
The men who teach this false doctrine will have a great sin to atone for when they come to the spirit world and especially will the author of the book you were reading and not only for this false doctrine but for others which he teaches. He will find as soon as his breath leaves the body that there is a spirit world and that he is a living spirit and one who will find come to him the recollections of all his false teachings. I know that it may be said that he actually believes what he preaches but that fact will not alter the fact that his teachings are untrue and that he must pay the penalties of these false teachings until at last they shall no longer exist on earth.1
This may seem unjust when it is considered that he may be honest in his beliefs, but as I said on earth, the man who believes these false doctrines and teaches other men to believe them will have to pay the penalties of results of these teachings – not because they injured him and not even if taught insincerely – but because they injured others and as a consequence placed those whom he taught in a condition which is not in unison with the truth or with the laws of God. And that condition can only be reversed (reinclosed – as printed) by the truth (or knowledge of the truth) being possessed by these misguided beings. They can only come into the possession of the truth by being untaught as it were these falsehoods and being taught the truths. This will be the work of the author mentioned and all those who assist him in teaching these doctrines until all who have ever been deceived by such teachings have been shown the error of the same and brought to a knowledge of the truth.
This will arise not because of any special punishment inflicted upon him by God, but because of his realization of the great harm he has done to those who believed in and followed him in these teachings. He will need no other punishment than that of his own recollection and his conscience.
So I say, give no further heed to what you may have read and believe that I Jesus am actually writing to you and that all the others who claim to write are the spirits that they actually represent themselves to be.
I was with you tonight at church and heard the lecture and while it was undoubtedly interesting to many in the audience, yet it has no basis of fact upon which to rest. The medium did not know the things that she predicted and no spirit controlled her to make the prophecies and if such had she would not have been able to make such predictions. The only reason that the medium had for making the prophecies were the facts that she knows now exists, that will probably bring about the future as she stated it. But no reliance can be placed upon what she attempts to foretell, and if some of the things happen that she predicted, it will not be because she predicted them or because any spirit inspired her to make such predictions, but because they will be the natural effects of course that now exist or which will probably arise in the future.
Well, as to the discourse of which she spoke, she doesn’t know any more nor have any greater reason to declare that such a disease will prevail in your country than you have, and she has no reasons upon which to found any such prophecy. I do not see any condition which will bring about such disease in the way that she describes it. Of course there are men dying all the time of some disease or other and men will continue to so die and some may die of the trouble that she speaks of or of those akin to the same. But such disease will not prevail in the way that she described. So on the whole you need not give any credence to what she said in the particulars mentioned.
I have been with you a great deal today and I was glad when you went to the church of your birth this morning, while you do not believe in the wine and the bread as representing my blood and body, yet many of the people who partook of these have the Divine Love of the Father in their souls and are very close to the Kingdom, and the influence that attended this service was very spiritual.
Many of the spirits of mortals who had attended this church were present exercising a very spiritual influence on the worshipers and you could feel the presence of the same.
I must not write more tonight, but will say that you must trust in my love and believe that I am with you very often trying to help you and make your soul feel the great love of the Father flowing into it.
And with my love and blessings and that of the Father, I will say good night.
Your friend and brother,
Jesus.
1 This is a very early message and its likely that this comment could have been qualified. As it stands it would suggest the poor Pastor Russell is consigned to the hells for a very long time, and of course with inadequate means to change the views of his followers if he is himself a dark spirit. But that is not what is meant here, and that can be discerned by reading what Martin Luther has to say, given that he is in a very similar situation. What Jesus means here is that Pastor Russell will direct his attention to his followers until the last one has given up what he taught them, but that Pastor Russell will be able to progress, and can even become a Celestial spirit, just as Martin Luther has. The memory of his false teaching is what will cause him to spend much of his energies trying to undo that which he taught, but the memory will not be so harsh that he is unable to enjoy the heavens into which he will undoubtedly progress.