Hell

King Herod Writes on the Hells, and Relates That the Hells Are Actual Places Where Suffering Is Experienced.

Let me write just a line before you close, as I am anxious to tell you of a matter that may be of importance to you in reference to the descriptions of the hells which you received last night from Swedenborg.

He says that the hells are places as well as conditions, and that they have certain appearances and surroundings as a part of them that make the sufferings of the evil spirits increase. Well, this is true. And, in addition, I wish to say that not only are these appearances and surroundings real and existing to the consciousness of the spirit, but they are also real as a fact, independent of the consciousness. If there were no spirits in these hells, these appearances and surroundings would exist just the same.

So, you see, a great many mortals whom I have heard express their opinions to the effect that hell is a mere condition of the recollections of the spirit, and nothing more, are altogether wrong in such opinions. They will find that the consolation from such opinions, if there be any, will not be found whenever they may become inhabitants of these hells.

I have passed through all of them and know whereof I write. For there is no teacher so efficient and convincing as the teacher called experience.

If I had only my recollections and remorse as the cause of my sufferings I know that they would have been much lighter and not so excruciating as they were. No, mortals will not find any consolation in such a hope, for there is no foundation for such hope. And the poor, deceived mortal who bases his ideas of hell on such a hope will be sadly disappointed. When you consider for a moment, you will see that there is nothing unreasonable in the facts that I have stated.

You and all others who believe in the happiness of the higher Spiritual Spheres, not to mention the Celestial Spheres, believe that the happiness of the spirits who inhabit these spheres is increased and made more real by the beautiful surroundings and the fruits and living water that so many spirits have described as being a part of that higher existence. Then, why is it not as reasonable to suppose that there are surroundings and appearances in the hells that will make the condition of the spirits, whose evil lives have caused them to become inhabitants of these hells, one of even more unhappiness, and create more suffering and misery? This supposition is one that no reasonable argument can prove to be incorrect.

I merely wanted to add what I have said to what Swedenborg wrote, for I know that conviction must come where statements are based upon actual experience, and where knowledge is derived from sufferings which come from the actual existence of things that are sometimes alleged not to exist.

I will not write more now, but, in closing, will say that I have long since left these hells, and am now an inhabitant of higher spheres and a follower of the blessed Master.

When on earth, I was known as Herod, the King of Judea, and the poor, miserable, mistaken man who thought that by slaying the babes of Bethlehem he would maintain his power as ruler.

So, good night, and God bless you.

HEROD.

Emanuel Swedenborg Writes on the Hells.

Let me write a few lines, as I desire to write to you some truths about what you and your friend were discussing; namely, are there any such hells as are described in the messages contained in the book (Dr. Peeble’s Immortality) that you have been reading tonight.

Well, you must know that, in the spirit planes, hell is a place as well as a condition, and that, as a place, it has all the accompaniments that make it a reality to the spirits who inhabit it. Of course, the conditions of the spirits who are in these hells are determined by their recollections, worked upon by their consciences. But, notwithstanding that these recollections are the things that cause their sufferings, yet, the appearances of the locations in which they live are due to something more than these mere recollections. For, as you have been informed, all these spirits are in darkness, the degree of which is determined by their recollections. I mean that when the spirit has recollections of deeds done or not done, which are not so bad as the recollections of another, the former spirit is in a place where there is less darkness than the latter.

These places have their own fixed condition of darkness and of gloom, and many other attachments which increase the sufferings that spirits have to endure.

Of course, there are no fires and brimstone lakes, and devils with pitchforks adding to the sufferings of the spirits. But, yet, there are certain conditions and appearances which are outside of the spirits themselves, and which cause their recollections to become more acute and to work in a manner to produce a greater degree of suffering.

These hells may be places of caverns and rocks and barren wastes and dark holes, and other such things as have been written about. And mortals must know that evil spirits do not live in pleasant places, and that they suffer from this and from the punishments which their recollections bring to them.

While the hells of the orthodox are greatly exaggerated in their descriptions, yet, there is some truth in the ideas which these descriptions convey as to the fact that the hells are places in which there is darkness and many accompanying appearances that add to the tortures of the spirits of evil.

I tell you this because I see you want to know the truth, and for the further reason that you do not believe that there are such distinctive places as the hells, and that the darkness which the spirits speak to you of in their communications is produced, in your opinion, by the conditions of the minds and souls of the spirits who write.

But such opinion is not altogether correct, and it is best for men to know that the mere recollections do not include all of what the hells are.

You say you have your hells on earth sometimes, and that is true to a limited extent. Many men suffer very much from their consciences and remorse. But when they come into the spirit world, if they have not gotten out of the condition which these recollections and remorse place them in, they will find that there is that place or location waiting for them which will add to their sufferings that arise from the recollections of evil deeds committed while on earth.

The evil spirits live in communities, for the Law of Attraction operates in these dark and lower planes just as it does in the higher spheres; and it causes spirits of like or similar conditions to congregate together and find consolation (or what they may think at times to be consolation) in one another’s company.

These hells are on the planes nearest the earth. And these spirits are not confined all the time to any particular hell. They have the privilege of moving at will along this plane. But, wherever they go, they find that they are in these hells, and they cannot escape from them unless they accept the help from spirits who can instruct them in what they must do.

When they come to you to write, they are not very far from these hells, because the plane in which they live is a part of the plane in which the inhabitants of earth live.

Of course, I don’t mean to say that that portion of the earth plane that surrounds your earth is composed entirely of these hells, for that is not true. The earth sphere has considerable light in it and some happiness. And you must further remember that there are many planes in this earth plane.

While their habitations are in these hells, those spirits have the privilege of leaving these particular localities and wandering for a short time in and over other parts of this earth plane, but this is only for a short time. They have to return to the places where they have been placed, and which this Law of Attraction, that I speak of, draws them to.

There are thousands of millions of evil spirits, and there is never a time when some of them—thousands of them—are not surrounding and trying to use their bad influences on mortals. We do not know why this is permitted, but only know that it is so. And here, again, the great Law of Attraction operates, for many mortals are in similar conditions of development and evil thoughts of what these evil spirits are in. And, naturally, these evil spirits are drawn to them and do come to them. And, frequently, it happens that, while visiting these mortals of similar conditions to their own, they attempt to influence mortals who are in a better state of moral and spiritual condition, and sometimes succeed in doing them harm.

But the great fact is that these evil spirits have a place of living where they have to remain until, by the operation of the Law of Compensation, they are relieved from some of their evil tendencies and desires and are permitted to progress.

My principal reason in writing to you is to have you know that there are hells of places as well as of conditions, and that these places and their appearances add to the suffering of the spirits by reason of what they contain.

As I have written a long time, I will stop and say that I am a Christian and an inhabitant of the Celestial Spheres, and one of the spirit band that is helping you in the great work of the Master. So, in leaving you, I will subscribe myself,

Your brother in Christ,

SWEDENBORG, the seer.

A spirit speaks on hell and the duration of punishment...

I merely want to say that I was present at the church tonight and listened to the preacher tell his congregation what he didn’t know about hell. What he said, in many particulars, was untrue. However, it was pleasing to hear him tell his people that there was no physical suffering, although he didn’t explain to them why there could be no such suffering. I mean that no spirit, when he goes into hell, carries with him his physical body, or any other body that has such substance that would be affected by fire and brimstone and the other unreasonable things that the churches have for so many years taught and terrified their members with, and, as a consequence, caused them to believe that the Father is such a "cruel" and "wrathful" Father, "demanding" that His "cravings for satisfaction" be supplied by the sizzling of the bodies of His children in fire. No, this damnable doctrine is not true, and I am glad to see that the churches are ceasing to believe it or teach it!

But the doctrine that the preacher taught is quite as bad, and as useless as the former, for the reason that punishment of sinners and those who are out of harmony with God is a fact which they all will realize when they come to the spirit world. With that being so, to teach that this punishment is everlasting is as harmful as the one that I first mentioned. How strange that preachers and teachers will try to cause their people and listeners to believe that God is such a "wrathful" and "vindictive" Being, having less love and mercy than the most wicked earthly father has for his children! It is so very deplorable that these supposed instructors of what God is should make such attempts to blaspheme Him, completely disregarding His Great Qualities of Love and Tenderness and His Desire that all His children become happy.

Oh, I tell you that these preachers will have a woeful sin to answer for when they come to an accounting! And this will not be at the "great judgment day," as they teach, but will be just as soon as they enter spirit life and realize the great harm that they have done to many who have followed them in their teachings. And they will realize that awful result very soon after their entrance into the spirit world. For they will have come to them, as clouds of witnesses, the spirits of those who were under their instructions on earth, bringing with them all the evidence of the results of their erroneous beliefs and the stains of this great sin of blasphemy.

I, Paul, write this, for I have suffered from this very cause myself. When on earth, I taught some doctrine like unto the one that these preachers are now teaching, and, even now, I realize that I am responsible to some extent for many false beliefs. But I thank God that I am not responsible for all that is ascribed to me in the Bible, and that if my true teachings were known and taught, the blind and erroneous beliefs that are now so prevalent among Christians would not exist. I tell you that mortals do not conceive of the great harmful and deplorable results that flow from their beliefs in the Bible in many particulars. This book is one of falsehoods and forgery and imputations that have no resemblance to what the Master or any of his apostles taught. And you can readily realize how anxious we all are that these errors and untruths be removed from the minds and souls of men. The hell of the orthodox preachers, as formerly taught—that is, a hell of brimstone and fires—is not the true hell and has no existence save in the minds of these orthodox believers.

The true hell is a place and a condition, and one is not separated from the other. And, while the condition of the soul and the beliefs of men create the hells to a very large extent, yet, hell is a fixed abiding place, made and established, and of such a character as to suit the inhabiting of it by the soul according to the condition of that soul. To illustrate, a soul that is less vile and less filled with evil thoughts and the recollection of evil deeds and false beliefs is in a very different place from the soul that has more of this evil in it. The former soul would not find its habitation in the same place as the latter soul, any more than the highly developed soul would find its home in the same place as the soul that is less developed.

Heaven is a place, or many places, suited to the development of the soul. At the other extreme, hell is a place suited to the souls that are in a condition of degradation and evil. I mean to be understood as saying that place and condition of soul are correlative terms—the home of the soul depending on the condition of the soul.

As these different hells vary, so they are suited for the souls of spirits according to the defilement of soul.

As I said before, hell is a place as well as a condition. And the man who believes that it is nothing more than a condition of his mind or soul will be wonderfully surprised as well as disappointed. I know the condition of mind and soul creates a man’s hell to a very large extent, and that it is the chief source of his suffering and the darkness that surrounds and envelops him. Yet, this condition is not the only source of that suffering or of the darkness in which he finds himself.

Hell is also a place. It is a place that has all the appearances and ingredients that are in exact agreement with a person’s state as produced or caused by the condition of his mind or soul. It is not a place of universal character, fitted for the habitation of all souls irrespective of conditions of degrees of defilement and sin and darkness. It is not a single place, forming a common home for all fallen souls, but is composed of many and different places. And, as has been said, there are many hells, having gradations of appearance and surroundings that are suitable for causing the additional sufferings which souls may have to endure.

The expression, "the lowest depths of hell," is not a meaningless one, but portrays a truth—a real, existing fact that many spirits are now experiencing the reality of. In its broadest sense, hell is every place outside of heaven; and heaven is that place where everything entering into it—its appearance and qualities and its inhabitants—is in perfect harmony with the respective Laws of God and His Will concerning the same. And this statement involves the fact that there are several heavens. The heaven of the redeemed, or those who have received the Divine Essence in their souls and have become of the Divine Nature of the Father, is a distinct heaven from that wherein those live who have been restored to the perfect condition of their natural love that the first parents possessed before the fall—the condition of the restitution to mankind of that perfection which was lost by the disobedience of the first man and woman.

Mortals usually believe that heaven is a condition. And the Bible, in which so many believe, attempts to describe this heaven with its streets of gold, and pearly gates, etc.; and, as a fact, it is a real, substantial place, having all the elements and appearances of a home of bliss which help to bring happiness and joy to its inhabitants, in addition to the happiness which their soul perfection and development cause them to have.

Then, as heaven is a place, having real substance that is perceptible to the spirits who inhabit it, why should not hell be a place of real substance also, with those qualities and appearances exactly suited to add to the unhappiness of those who are fitted for it? The spirit world, both heaven and hell, are places of substance, having their planes and divisions and limitations of occupancy. They are not mythical, invisible conceptions of mind, as you mortals ordinarily conceive ghosts to be. Also, the spirits of mortals are real and more substantial than are the physical bodies of mortals. Further, these planes and divisions, whether of heaven or hell, have a more real existence than mortals have in their places of habitations or confinement in the earth life.

The hells are places of darkness and sufferings, but in them are no fires or brimstone, etc., as have been so commonly represented by the preachers and teachers of the orthodox churches, because there is nothing therein that would feed fires or that fires could affect. And there are no devils or Satan, though there are evil spirits of men who are more wicked and vicious and horrifying than have ever been pictured of the devil and his angels.

In your communications, you have had some very realistic descriptions of hell from those who are actually living therein and who are realizing its tortures and realities, and I will not take the time here to attempt to describe it in detail. I will only say that, as it has not entered into the minds of men to conceive of the wonders and beauties of heaven, neither have they ever conceived of the horrors and sufferings of hell.

But, from all this, men must not understand that the punishment and darkness which the spirits of evil endure in the hells are specifically inflicted by the Father because of any "wrath" that He may have towards these spirits, or to gratify any "feelings of revenge," or even to satisfy any "outraged justice," for it is not true.

Man, when he becomes a spirit, is his own judge and executioner, submitting to and receiving the inexorable results of the law that whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap. This is a law that is necessary to preserve or bring about the harmony of God’s universe, which, of course, is absolutely necessary. And while it may appear to man, at first sight, to be a harsh and cruel law, yet, in its workings and results, even to the individual spirit who may suffer in the reaping, it is a most benign and beneficial law because the darkness and sufferings of a few years, as you mortals say, bring about an eternity of light and happiness.

The law must rule. But in all the apparent harshness and suffering and want of mercy, the great Divine Love of the Father overshadows the sufferer and finally makes the defiled and wicked soul become one of purity and goodness.

Men may never have thought of this fact: that if it were possible for these evil spirits to live in heaven, their sufferings and unhappiness would be greater than what they endure by living in a place that is more in agreement, in its surroundings and appearances, with their own distorted conditions of soul. So, even in their hells, the Father is merciful and good to them.

Regarding the second proposition by the preacher in his sermon—namely, the duration of suffering or of the life of the spirit in hell—his conclusion was that this duration of the spirit in hell is eternal, everlasting, and without end. How it must have hurt and violated the teachings of his soul and his conception of the Loving Father to have come to such a conclusion! But, yet, being bound by his creeds and the domination of his belief that the Bible is the sole authority upon hell as well as heaven, in the conviction of his mind (and here I want to emphasize mind, for his heart was not in agreement), he declared that the duration of the sufferings and life of the hells is eternal, and that the saying of Jesus proved it to be, not only because it was in the Bible but also because the true meaning of the original Greek word can have no other translation. He said this not knowing, or, if knowing, not recalling, that Jesus, even if he used such expression, did not speak in Greek, and that in order to obtain the true meaning of the word used by Jesus in back of the Greek word, he, the preacher, must go to the word as it was uttered by Jesus for its true meaning.

So many preachers and commentators on the Bible attempt to determine a most vital truth by a shade of meaning that they conceive a particular word in its original may have had. But they are not justified in concluding that such word had, at the time used, such shade of meaning, or that the original, as they conceive it to be, was the original word actually spoken or written. They seem to lose sight of the fact that the writings of the Bible—I mean the manuscripts to which they make reference to prove the correctness of their conclusions—are far removed from the original writings, and that, by reason of the copying and recopying of the word upon which they rely, the shade of meaning that they give it in their interpretations may not be an exact translation of the word originally used. Of course, they have no way of learning this fact; and, consequently, they have to resort to the best authority that they can have access to. But, under such circumstances, it is not a justifiable thing to have a vital question of man’s future and destiny determined by the shade of meaning that may be given to one or more words, without reference to other declarations of the same book that have relation to the subject matter of the inquiry.

The preacher said that, in his conclusion as to the question, he must be governed by the Bible alone, that he had no right to indulge in speculation concerning the philosophies of other men, and that he could find nothing in the Bible that would justify him in coming to any other conclusion than that the duration of punishment in hell is eternal. Well, he was not honest with himself; for if he had searched a little more deeply and had given as much credence to other parts of the Bible as to the passage that he quoted, he would have found a strong statement to the effect that the evil spirits in hell have the possibility of leaving it; and not only that but also that a part of the great mission of Jesus, upon whose supposed declaration the preacher based his conclusion, was to show the Way and induce these spirits of evil to leave their hells. This was the Master’s first work after he became a spirit, and he would not have attempted to preach to these wicked spirits in hell if there had been no possibility of their ever leaving it.

Also, the preacher might well have considered more deeply the contradiction presented in the Bible that, at the time of Noah, because of their great sins when mortals, God punished His children as He never punished any other of His children for their disobedience, utterly destroying them by one great catastrophe, removing His only living human creatures from the face of the earth, and thus leaving only Noah and his family to serve as a reminder of the great failure of God Himself in His Creation of the most perfect and the "Very Good."

No, in addition to recognizing this obvious contradiction, if the preacher had searched the Bible, he would have found that the hell that contained the spirits of all the human race that were living at the time of the flood (except Noah and his family) was not eternal in its duration.

And, again, had the preacher searched even further, he would have found that the Master himself declared by necessary implication that, at least for some of the wicked who became inhabitants of hell, there was the possibility of release upon certain conditions. I refer to the declaration attributed to him where he said, "He that sinneth against the son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but he that sinneth against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world nor in the world to come."

Now, to any reasonable man, there is only one interpretation of this declaration, and that is: that for any and all sins, except that against the Holy Ghost, there is forgiveness in the next world as well as in the mortal world. And that being a fact, it is an irresistible conclusion that the Father would not compel a spirit to remain in hell after He had forgiven that spirit’s sins.

No, the preacher had not searched the Scriptures, as he was duty bound to do. Could he have rid his mind of the beliefs that the creeds of his church had driven into his intellect, and of the teachings of the ancient fathers, as well as of the churches that had taught such false and damnable doctrines for so many years, his conclusion would have been very different.

The preacher repudiated the old teachings that there would be physical suffering in hell, or fire or brimstone, etc., and expressed his commiseration for those preachers and others who had taught such doctrine, and for their awful responsibility and accounting. And his commiseration was needed and appropriate. But I want to say here that he needs as much commiseration, if not more, for the preaching of his false doctrines, as did those preachers to whom he refers. He has more light, or may have, and his accounting will be correspondingly greater.

I have written a long letter, and you are tired and I must stop. But, before doing so, let me declare the truth to be that hell is not a place of eternal punishment, that all the hells, as well as other parts of the spirit world, are places of progression, and that the privilege of probation is not taken from any spirit, no matter how wicked; for all are god’s children. And, in his plans for the perfecting of the harmony of the universe and man’s salvation, all the hells will be emptied and the hells themselves destroyed.

But men must not think from this that the duration of suffering in these hells is necessarily short, for that is not true. Some of the evil inhabitants of these places have been in such darkness and suffering for centuries, as mortals count time, and may be for centuries more. But the time will come when they will have the awakening to the fact that they may become children of light; then, when they make the effort to progress, they will succeed.

The sooner that mankind learns that hell is not a place of punishment to satisfy the "wrath" of an "angry" god, but merely the natural and necessary living place of the spirit whose condition of soul and mind demands that location, the better off they will be. Further, that that condition changes, and it will change. The hell of a spirit’s habitation will change until, finally, for that spirit, all the hells will disappear.

You are tired and I must stop. So, thanking you, and leaving you my love and blessing, I am

Your brother in Christ,

PAUL.

There Are No Devils and No Satan, Considered as Real Persons and

Fallen Angels. The Same Power of God Exists Today, as in the

Days of Jesus on Earth, to Cast Out These So-Called "Devils."

I am with you tonight to warn you against letting any doubt enter your mind or heart as to our actually writing to you, for we, and none other, are actually in communication with you.

The book that you read is a snare and a lie, for there are no angels who have become devils, as the author of that book declares. Never were there any angels who, through ambition or any other reason, revolted against the Power of Government of God, and thereby lost their estate as angels. Never was there any Lucifer, and never were there any angels who were thrown from the battlements of heaven into hell, as it has been written. And, as I told you before, there are no devils and no Satan, considered as real persons and fallen angels.

THE ONLY SPIRITS IN THE SPIRIT WORLD ARE THOSE WHO AT ONE TIME WERE MORTALS AND WHO LIVED LIVES ON EARTH, SHORTER OR LONGER. AND WHENEVER ANGELS ARE MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE—OR, RATHER, IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, IN PLACES WHICH CONTAIN MY SAYINGS OR THOSE OF THE APOSTLES, AND I MEAN THOSE SAYINGS WHICH WERE ACTUALLY SAID—THE WORD "ANGEL" ALWAYS REFERS TO THE SPIRIT OF SOME MORTAL WHO HAD PASSED THE LINE BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH AS COMMONLY UNDERSTOOD.

I desire to tell you of these things at large very soon, and to instruct you as to who were the angels of God that are supposed to have had an existence prior to the creation of man and of the world, and who the inhabitants of heaven were before the Spirit of God entered into man and caused him to become a living soul, as the Bible says. But the time is not yet ripe for me to instruct you in these matters because there are so many more important Truths to be taught to you first—Truths which are vital to man’s salvation and happiness on earth and in the spirit world.

But this you must believe: that no devils ever write to you or in any manner manifest to or through any of the numerous mediums who are used to show the existence of spirits of men in the spirit world, no matter whether these mediums be good or evil.

There are spirits of all kinds (just as there are mortals of all kinds) having all the traits and characteristics of mortals. And some of these spirits may be justly called wicked or evil spirits, and even devils. But they are nothing more or less than spirits such as I have described.

I know that the belief of the majority of mankind is that there are such things as devils, and that they are independent creations of God and made by Him to tempt and inflict all kinds of trouble and unhappiness on mortals. And because of the great number of years that these beliefs have existed, and the fact that many of the churches still teach that such devils do exist and that they are at all times trying to tempt and injure men, it is hard and will be difficult to induce men to believe that there are no such things as devils, which is the truth.

I know that the Bible, in many places, speaks of my casting devils out of men and of men being possessed of devils, and of the apostles casting out devils and of their not being able to cast out some of these devils. But I tell you now that the Bible is all wrong in this regard. The writers and translators of the Bible never understood what the word "devil" meant, or was intended to mean, as used in these various instances. As I have told you, there was never any devil or devils in the sense mentioned and taught by the churches. Consequently, they never could have possessed mortals or have been cast out of them. It is true that, by the workings of the Law of Attraction and the susceptibility of mortals to the influence of spirit powers, mortals may become obsessed by the spirits of evil—that is, evil spirits of men who once lived on earth—and this obsession may become so complete and powerful that the living mortal may lose all power to resist this influence of the evil spirits, and may be compelled to do things that he will not desire to do, or may show all the evidence of a distorted mind, and even may present appearances of a lost will power as well as of the lost ability to exercise the ordinary powers given him by his natural creation. And in these instances referred to of casting out devils, wherever they occurred (and they did occur in some of the instances mentioned), the only devils that existed were the evil spirits who had possessed these mortals.

And this obsession obtains today, just as it did then, for the same laws are in operation now as were in existence then. Many a man is in a condition of evil life and disturbed mind from the obsession of these evil spirits. And if there were any men of today in that condition of soul development and belief that my disciples were in, they could cast out these so-called "devils" just as the disciples cast them out in the Bible days.

But men have not this faith, though there are many who have been blessed with the inflowing of the Holy Spirit. But they have not the belief that such work as the disciples performed can be performed by them now. And, in fact, the most of them believe that it would be contrary to God’s Will to attempt to exercise such powers; hence, they never attempt to do such work.

BUT WHEN MEN LEARN THAT GOD IS THE SAME IN ALL AGES; THAT HIS LAWS WORK THE SAME WAY; THAT MANKIND IS THE SAME, SO FAR AS THE SOUL’S POSSIBILITIES ARE CONCERNED; AND THAT THE FAITH WHICH GOD MADE POSSIBLE FOR MAN TO ATTAIN MAY BE POSSESSED BY HIM NOW, JUST AS IT WAS POSSESSED BY MY DISCIPLES, THEN THEY WILL ATTEMPT THIS WORK OF BENEFICENCE AND WILL SUCCEED. THE SICK WILL BE HEALED AND THE DEVILS CAST OUT, THE BLIND MADE TO SEE AND THE DEAF TO HEAR, AND THE SO-CALLED "MIRACLES" WILL BE PERFORMED AS THEY WERE IN MY DAYS ON EARTH.

THERE IS NOT AND NEVER WAS SUCH A THING AS A MIRACLE IN THE SENSE OF HAVING AN EFFECT PRODUCED BY A CAUSE WHICH WAS NOT THE RESULT OF THE ORDINARY WORKINGS OF GOD’S LAWS; FOR THESE LAWS, IN THEIR WORKINGS, NEVER VARY. AND WHEN THE SAME LAW IS CALLED INTO OPERATION UPON THE SAME CONDITION OF FACTS, THE SAME RESULTS WILL ALWAYS BE PRODUCED.

SO, LET A MORTAL HAVE IN HIS SOUL THE SAME AMOUNT OF GOD’S DIVINE LOVE WHICH THE BIBLE WRITERS MEANT, OR SHOULD HAVE MEANT, WHEN THEY SPOKE OF BEING ENDOWED BY THE HOLY GHOST; AND LET HIM HAVE THE NECESSARY FAITH THAT, WHEN HE PRAYS TO GOD, HE WILL GIVE HIM THE POWER TO EXERCISE THIS LOVE IN A SUFFICIENT DEGREE TO PRODUCE THE DESIRED RESULTS; AND THEN LET HIM TRY TO EXERCISE THE POWER OF CASTING OUT DEVILS OR HEALING, ETC., AND HE WILL FIND THAT SUCCESS WILL ATTEND HIS EFFORTS. GOD IS THE SAME AT ALL TIMES AND UNDER ALL CIRCUMSTANCES, AND ONLY MORTALS VARY IN THEIR CONCEPTIONS AND CONDITIONS.

SO, I SAY, THERE ARE NO DEVILS AS INDEPENDENT CREATURES OF GOD, IN CONTRADISTINCTION TO THE SPIRITS OF MEN WHO ONCE LIVED ON EARTH, AND YOU MUST BELIEVE THAT THERE ARE NOT.

I tell you now that the teachers of such false doctrines will have to pay the penalties for their false teachings when they come to the spirit world and see the result of these false teachings. And no relief will be granted until they have paid the last farthing. To believe such doctrines entails results that are bad enough for any spirit to endure. But for a teacher to teach others these beliefs and convince them of their truth, whether he actually believes them or not, causes sufferings and duration of sufferings for that teacher of which men have no conception.

I will not write more tonight but, in closing, will say that you have my love and blessings. And I will fulfill my promises so that you will realize your expectations and be in condition to perform the work that you have been selected to do.

So, my dear brother, I will say good night.