Note, This chapter is from "Communication With the Spirit World of God" by Johannes Greber. The copy is an optical reader

 copy and some letters or words may appear odd as the copy is being fixed and the rest of the chapter continually added. thank you.

 

Christ - His Life and His Work

"There is for us Christians but one God, the Father,
from Whom all things are and to Whom we shall all
return, and there Is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through
Whom all things came into being and through whom we shall return to God."
1st Corinthians 8; 6.

"WHAT think ye of Christ?" This question was written in
letters of fire before my eyes from the day on which I

had resolved to join the ministry. It was to be my duty, hence-
forth, to proclaim not only Christ's teachings to my co-religionists,

but also the truth concerning His person, His life and His work.
Who was Christ? Who had He been before He became a
man? Was He God, or only a Son of God? Was He, born of
woman, a man like ourselves in mind and body? Was He begotten

and born like all other men? As a child, was He obliged to ac-
quire knowledge, as are all children? Was He compelled to come,

step by step, to a recognition of God, and to travel the same road
travelled by all seekers unto God, in order to learn God's ways
and God's will? Was He exposed to the temptations of evil. and
to all of the fateful consequences attendant upon His choice, as
happens to all of us daily? Was it possible that He, like the rest

of mankind, might succumb to those temptations? Could He, per-
chance, like millions of others, be induced by the Powers of Evil

to forsake God? And if He had been sent to redeem humanity,
wherein did the redemption lie? What was the explanation of all
these correlated questions?
Consequently, after I had convinced myself at the spiritistic
meetings that God's spirits speak to men through mediums, as they
had spoken to the early Christian communities, my first thought
was to beg for full enlightenment on these problems concerning
Christ. My request was granted, to the smallest details, and that
knowledge thenceforth constituted the most precious possession of
my soul.
In what follows, I shall repeat the truths regarding Christ, His
life, and His work of Redemption, as they were imparted to me
by the spirit which taught them:
"You are in search of enlightenment as to the person of Christ,
His birth as a man, His life, sufferings. and death as a man, and
as to the truth relating to Redemption.
[ 300 .I

"A few of those questions I have already answered by telling
you of God's Creation and its later history, as well as of His Plan
of Salvation.
"At that time you were told that Christ is the highest of the
spirits created by God and the sole one to be created directly: that
the rest of the spirit-world came into being through Christ, and,
together with Him, formed a great spiritual community or kingdom
with Christ as its Head, as God had willed. In this kingdom Christ
was· therefore in a sense God's viceroy. Christ Himself was not
God, but only the first of God's sons, and owed His power, and
His glory and His kingdom to God. He was but one of God's
creatures and as such, not eternal like God. It was against Christ's
reign that the revolt of the spirits headed by Lucifer was directed.
After the defection of a part of the spirit-world and its fall into the
spheres of the Abyss, Christ volunteered to bring back the fallen
spirits to God's kingdom in accordance with the plan of Salvation
which God had conceived.
"Christ's work of redemption was begun immediately after the

apostasy of the spirit hosts had occurred. It was Christ Who cre-
ated the stages of regeneration of which I told you in detail in the

course of my teachings on God's Plan of Salvation. Thereby
Christ became the creator of the whole material universe, which
forms the ladder for the ascent of the fallen spirits from the Abyss
to the heights of God's kingdom.
"From the earliest days, after those spirits had risen to the
level of human existence, Christ became the leader of mankind, and

strove to turn men's thoughts, which ever tend toward evil. God-
ward. As opposed to Him. the ruling powers of Hell did their

utmost to maintain their sway over men. This led to a mighty
struggle between Christ and Lucifer over the spirits incarnated as
human beings. a conflict which forms the main theme of what has
been preserved to you in the writings of the Old Testament.
"In this conflict Christ was supported by the good spirit-world
under His command, many of the spirits volunteering to become
mortals, in order that they might, by preaching the truth and by
settinH the example of righteous living. lead men unto God.
"One of the celestial spirits whose incarnation on earth was
permitted was Enoch. who proclaimed to his contemporaries the
. true God and the riqht path to a knowled11e of Him. Moreover,
he particularly taught them of communication with God's spirit~
world with which he himself was in daily contact, for in his day.

l 301

almost all were given to communicating with evil spirits and had
been led into idolatry of the most abominable kind and into all
manner of depravity.
"Unfortunately the result of his efforts was not lasting. The
power of evil was so strong that the nations of those times became
addicted to abominations of which you of the present age can form
no conception. The highest of the infernal spirits made use of
human deep-trance mediums not only for speaking, but also for
purposes of propagation, for just as the spirit of a medium can use
his body for that purpose, so a strange spirit can enter that body
and, through it, propagate, the corrupt female world of the times
considering it an honor to be thus mistreated at the idol-worship.

You will find confirmation of this in the Bible, in the passage re-
lating that the "sons of God came in unto the daughters of men,

and they bare children unto them." (Genesis 6: 4.) The term
'sons of God' refers to those spirits which had taken a leading part
in the revolt against Him. These are the same spirits of which Job
says: 'Now it came to pass on the day when the sons of God
came to present themselves before the Lord that Satan also came
among them'. (Job I : 6.) In this case also it is only the apostate
sons of God to which the passage refers. for Satan, as you know,

was the second son of God. As rulers of the kingdom of Dark-
ness. these sons of God are not free to do as they like, but remain

subject to God's sovereignty. and are, at times, called to account
by Him.
"The efforts of Christ and his world of good spirits to influence
a race of men who had become corrupted almost without exception.
were fruitless. It was therefore imperative that the whole existing

generation be wiped out and replaced by a new one. The destruc-
tion was brought about by the Flood, from which only one family.

that of Noah, was saved to perpetuate a better race of men.
"However, very shortly after the passing of the Deluge, evil
once more raised its head among Noah's descendants, as witness
the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha and the family of Lot. The
more widely mankind spread out, the more zealously did men serve
the Devil by idol worship and unrighteousness.
"In order to accomplish His end in spite of the terrible sway
of evil over humanity, Christ strove, long before His incarnation,
to win over at least a small fraction of mankind to the cause of
God, a fraction which was to be the bearer of the faith and of the
hope of salvation for later generations. It was to be the yeast

[ 302]

with which the whole mass of humanity would ultimately he leav-
ened, the mustard seed. which in time would grow into the great

tree of the true religion and the search unto God, and gather all
mankind under its sheltering boughs. Once this tree had attained
a certain growth. the 'fullness of time would have arrived for the
Redeemer to descend to earth as the Son of man, to complete the
last part of His mission of salvation. Not until then would it be
worth while to build the bridge by which the righteous spirits could
cross from Lucifer's realm into the kingdom of God, even as you
do not build bridges unless the number of persons likely to use
them warrants their construction.
"The first to be chosen as the leavening and the mustard-seed
of the faith and of the hope of redemption, was Abraham, a man
of unshakable loyalty to God. Christ communicated with him, at
times directly, at times through His spirits, since Abraham himself
was an incarnated celestial spirit.
"His devotion to God was soon put to a severe test, as is the

case with all to whom God thinks of entrusting a particularly im-
portant mission.

"When you build a railroad bridge to be used by freight and

passenger trains, you, also, test its bearing-capacity before open-
ing the bridge to traffic. 1£ it fails to meet these tests it is strength-
ened. and if, even then. it proves unsafe, it is condemned, and a

new bridge is built. Even so, God proceeds in the case of mortals
selected to fulfill tasks of importance to His kingdom. 1£ their
power to endure fails under His tests, and if His efforts to
strengthen them are futile, they are put aside as unfit, and others
are taken in their places. It often happens that people otherwise
fit for God's great ends must be discarded because of disqualifying
defects for which they themselves are responsible, but which they
persist in retaining. Many are called, but few are chosen.
"Fearsome indeed was the test to which Abraham was put
when he was commanded to sacrifice his son, for 'he that loveth his
father or mother, his brother or sister, his son or daughter, or his
friend' more than God, is not worthy of performing God's great
work.
"Sorely tried though he was, Abraham proved steadfast, and
was rewarded with God's promise: ' . .. because thou hast done
this thing. and hast not withheld thine only son, in blessing I will
bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars
of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the seashore,

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MESSAGES FROM THE SPIRIT-WORLD

and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed'.
(Genesis 22: 16-18.) By the seed mentioned in this promise is not
meant Abraham's human progeny, for even had this embraced
all the nations of the earth it would not have equalled in numbers
'the stars of the heavens and the sand which is upon the seashore .
However, God does not exaggerate, and what He says is always
literally true. Abraham's seed was spiritual and would ultimately
embrace all of the fallen spirits, in the sense that his faith in God
and his devotion to Him would little by little extend to all who
had forsaken God. Indeed, it would not have proved a blessing

to Abraham had he had a countless human progeny which eventu-
ally might fall into evil ways. As a matter of fact, in later days

whole generations of Abraham's descendants forsook the true re-
ligion and turned to the worship of idols.

"Abraham's human seed of the second generation, Jacob and
his sons, were led into Egypt, where they were to settle in the
fertile land of Goshen, there to become a great nation, isolated from
the idolatrous inhabitants of Egypt, and free to uphold the true
faith .
"But long-continued worldly prosperity always endangers a

nation's faithfulness to God. Who therefore permitted the Heb-
rews. as Abraham's descendants had come to be known, to be sav-
agely oppressed by the Pharaohs and to be held in rigorous

servitude by them.
"It was not God Who instigated Pharaoh to pursue this course,
but the Powers of Evil which had realized that the Hebrew nation.
as the bearer of the true faith . was a dangerous weapon in Christ's
hands and might be used by Him against themselves. Hence, its
destruction was determined upon. and since this end was not being

accomplished by the forced labor which the Hebrews were com-
pelled to perform, the demoniacal powers suggested their exter-
mination to the Pharaoh by the simplest and at the same time the

most effective method. Every Hebrew man-child was to be killed
at birth. As a justification for this measure. the Powers of Hell had
filled the Kings mind with the thought that the Hebrews within

his dominions, having already waxed stronq in numbers, might be-
come a source of danger by allying themselves with the enemies of

Egypt. Evil well knows how to attack men, and the rulers of men
in particular. at their weakest point, which, with a Kinq, is always
a fear that his throne is in peril. Hence Pharaoh fell a ready
victim to the insinuations of the Evil Ones, and began the slaughter

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CONCERNING CHRIST - HIS LIFE AND WORK

of all of the newborn Hebrew male infants. According to Phar-
aoh's plan, this measure would have resulted in the extinction of

every Hebrew man within a comparatively short period, and when
this had been brought about, the Hebrew women having become
the wives or slaves of Egyptians, would have been absorbed by
that race and, like it, have fallen into idolatry. Thus at one blow
all the efforts of Christ and His spirit-world to provide for human
upholders of the true religion would have been nullified.
"But once again it happened, as it happens so often in Nature
and in the lives of men, that the very force which was intent upon
doing evil, promoted the cause of good, for the moment at which
a nation is driven to desperation by the slaughter of its children
on the part of the authorities, is also the most favorable moment
for persuading that nation to leave the scenes of its sufferings.
"There was still another and yet more potent reason why it
was high time for the Hebrew nation to be led out of the land of
the Pharaoh's. During the four centuries of their sojourn there
the Hebrews had gradually drifted toward Egyptian idol-worship,
until not a few of the members of that race were participating in
the pagan rites. This grave danger to the religion of the Hebrew
people could be obviated only by an exodus from Egypt, and the
present moment was the most propitious one that could be imagined
for the purpose, since the massacre of their infants was making
the sojourn there a living inferno for the Hebrews.
"To conduct so numerous, and by nature unmanageable, a
people out of the land, was a task which called for a great human
leader, hence Christ selected one of His heavenly spirits for the
purpose, and caused it to be born in human shape. The spirit so
chosen was Moses. As the son of Hebrew parents, he was saved

from death by Pharaoh's daughter, who saw to it that he was in-
structed in all of the sciences of the times, thus equipping him, as

a mortal. with whatever learning he would be called upon to dis-
play as the head of a great nation.

"When he had grown to manhood, Christ spoke to him from
the burning bush and appointed him as the leader of 'God's people'.
Moses was called upon to perform, first of all. two tasks, one of
these being to reveal himself to the enslaved Hebrews as God's
envoy, charged with the mission of leading them forth from Egypt.
His second duty was to persuade Pharaoh to allow the Hebrews
to leave his realm.
"Superhuman power was conferred upon Moses by Christ, for

[ 305)

the execution of both of th~se missions, but the evil spirits, seeing
their plans thwarted, appeared in the theater of war in full force,
making use of the Egyptian sorcerers as their instruments.
"Then began the greatest battle among spirits, ever fought on
earth. On one side was ranged Christ with His good spirit-world.
and Moses as His visible champion; on the other, Hell with its
retainers. the Egyptian magicians. With the aid of God's spirits

standing invisible beside him, Moses performed the greatest mir-
acles which the world ever saw before the coming of Christ and

by which he hoped to convince both the Hebrew people and
Pharaoh of the Divine nature of his mission. By these signs which
took place before their eyes, God's people were to be moved to
render obedience to Moses as their leader, and Pharaoh was to
be induced to allow those people to depart.
"At first, and for the purpose of counteracting any effect Moses

might produce upon Pharaoh and the people. the evil powers ac-
complished miracles equal to his. but before long their efforts be-
gan to fail the magicians themselves were forced to admit: 'This

is the finger of God'.
"Never had such materialization of spirits been witnessed as
that which took place in this battle. On the part of Moses. a good
spirit, disintegrating his rod, changed it into a serpent; the same
thing was done for the sorcere!:s by the evil spirits. Entire hosts
of spirits were materialized as frogs at Moses's command, and at
the command of the magicians, low spirits did the like. Moses
turned the waters of the river to blood, with the aid of God's
spirits. and with the help of the infernal powers the same miracle

was performed by the magicians. God allowed the wicked to ex-
ert their powers to the utmost of their ability. in order that, in the

end, He might have the opportunity of showing His full omni-
potence. and thereby. above all. of fortifying the faith of the

Israelites, since this was a life and death struggle in which the

Hebrews. as God's people. were the stake. Israel was the first-
born of the true faith; should it fall a victim to Hell, a long time

must elapse before another nation fit to take that part could arise.
"Christ, God's First-born. fought against the first-born of Hell,
on behalf of the first-born human upholder of the faith and of the
hope of salvation. Christ was the victor. God's destroying angel
smote all of the first-born in the land of Egypt. and thus forced the
decision. Pharaoh and his people were seized with fear, and at the
insistence of his subjects, he allowed the Hebrews to depart. Trav-

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CONCERNING CHRIST - HIS LIFE AND WORK
elling in a pillar of cloud, Christ led the fugitives, and out of that
cloud He spoke to Moses, protecting the people from the pursuing
hosts of Egypt. The good spirit-world divided the waters of the
sea, and made the waves as a wall on the right hand of the people
and on their left. Putting their trust in Him Who spoke from the
pillar of cloud, the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the
midst of the sea, receiving their first baptism unto Christ, with full
faith in the 'Angel of the Lord', who was none other than Christ
Himself. God and Christ led Israel through the desert; it was
at Their behest that the good spirit-world brought forth water
from the rock and prepared manna. Hence Paul says, rightly:
'for I would not, brethren, have you ignorant, that our fathers were
all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all
baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all ea t
the same spiritual food; and did all drink the same spiritual drink:
for they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them: and the rock
was Christ'. (1st Corinthians JO : 1-4.)
"God and Christ, as well as the good spirit-world, gave to
the people whatever advice and instruction were necessary. It was
God Himself Who issued the Commandments on Mount Sinai.
"The long sojourn in the desert was necessary in order that
the people might be proved, to show whether their faith and belief
in God were strong enough to enable them to face the perils which
would threaten them on the part of the pagan inhabitants of the
country that later was to come into the possession of the Israelites.
It was imperative that they preserve their religion intact, since
otherwise, all of the work of the past would go for nought.
"Still another menace to their faith, against which provision

had to be made, was the greed for worldly belongings and the ex-
cessive love of material wellbeing, which ever tend to drive men

into the arms of evil.
"Christ resorted to every measure which would obviate, or at
least diminish this danger, taking radical steps to cure His people
of these failings by enacting legislation by which the Israelites, as
the Hebrews eventually came to be known, were obligated to the
payment of tithes. Furthermore, they had to offer their first-fruits,
or to redeem these with some other offering, and in addition, they
were called upon to make numerous sacrifices of beasts and fruits

such as burnt-offerings, meal-offerings, peace-offerings, sin-offer-
ings and trespass-offerings. for which only unblemished gifts were

accepted. When harvesting, they were forbidden to reap wholly

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MESSAGES FROM THE SPIRIT-WORLD

the corners of their fields or to gather the gleanings of the harvest,
which they must leave for the poor and the sojourner, and every
seventh year they might not till their land, but must let it lie fallow.
Every fiftieth year they must 'return every man unto his possession,
and every man unto his family '. Finally, the taking of interest was
forbidden, thereby foi:estalling usury at the outset.
"Should the people of Israel observe these statutes, the danger
of their being ruled wholly by worldly considerations and breaking
faith with God out of love for Mammon, would be brought within
reasonable limits.
"The other danger which threatened the faith was therefor
far greater: this was the idolatry of the nations with which the
Hebrews would be brought into contact in the so-called 'promised
land'. Their idol-worship was all the more dangerous, because,
like all of its kind. it consisted of tangible communication with the
evil spirit-world.
"The realm of the spiritual possesses a mystery of its own in
human eyes, and all mystery exerts an irresistible attraction on men.
Ghost-stories are the ones to which you listen with the greatest
attention, and wherever anything mysterious and spectral actually
or allegedly happens, the crowd will invariably gather.
"On this account the Israelites had, already in the past, been
allured by the mysteries of the Egyptian idol-worship. Saint Paul
refers to this in writing to the Corinthians when he says: 'Ye know
that when ye were Gentiles, ye were led away unto those dumb
idols. howsoever ye might be led'. I need scarcely add that the
Israelites did not content themselves with merely looking at images,
for lifeless stone and wood attracted the people of those times as
little as they attract men today. The allurement lay in the actual
communication with the low spirit-world. The speech by spirits
through images and human mediums, and the performance by them
of other marvellous feats were the factor that attracted people.
It was here that they were told so much that was mysterious; that
they received answers to their questions relating to their worldly
prospects, and that they heard alleged predictions as to the future,
something that all men welcome eagerly. Added to this, they were
told things highly gratifying to their human passions, for here vice
was elevated to virtue, while virtue was branded as vice. Whoever
once became addicted to this kind of spirit-communication found
it difficult to desist from the habit.
[ 308]

CONCERNING CHRIST - HIS LIFE AND WORK
"As the leader of God's people, Christ took two measures to
guard his wards from relapsing into idolatry.
"One of these measures was to give them the opportunity of
communicating with good spirits, as a substitute for the form of
spirit-communication which had been forbidden by Him. He gave
to the Israelites the tent of testimony, the breast-plate of judgment,

and the good mediums known to you as 'prophets', as I have al-
ready related to you at length in my previous teachings.

"As the second measure He commanded them, in the name of
the Lord, to exterminate certain nations into whose country they
were destined to migrate. Of these nations there were six which

had fallen into such idolatry and abomination that their reforma-
tion seemed impossible, while on the other hand there was every

reason to fear that should they be allowed to live, they would
corrupt the Israelites who had settled among them.
"The command to exterminate these peoples has led many of
you to look upon the God of the Old Testament as a cruel Deity
and to maintain that the writers of those portions of the Scriptures

were incapable of conceiving of a Christ-like Divinity, since other-
wise they would never have attributed such cruelty to the will of

God. In this they are mistaken. One and the same Christ

preached the conception of God which you find in the New Testa-
ment, and commanded the destruction of the peoples which I have

mentioned. In one case as in the other, Christ appears as the
Savior. By consenting to the extermination of those peoples, He

preserved them from sinking still further into idolatry and de-
pravity, and indeed gave them the opportunity of working their

way, in a new existence, out of the depths to which they had
fallen. The underlying motive was the same as that for which, in
earlier times, the human race was destroyed by the Deluge and
for which the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha were laid waste.
"To this motive must be added the even more important one
of preserving religion among God's people. When men make war,
they do not hesitate to shoot anyone who tries to induce a soldier
to desert, a measure which you accept as perfectly iustified. Was
not God equally entitled to the right of ordering the death of those
who were about to instigate His chosen upholders of the faith to
desert their colors and to go over to the Powers of Darkness?
Again, it was through God's people that the hour of the redemption
of all mankind was to be prepared; was Christ, then, to stand idly

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MESSAGES FROM THE SPIRIT-WORLD

by while this work, difficult enough at best, was being ruined by
those who were enemies of God and instruments of Lucifer?
"You mortals become very tender-hearted when God 's wisdom

and justice demand the destruction of utterly wicked and irre-
tl'ievably depraved people, lest they corrupt millions of others and

in order that they themselves may be brought back into the path of
salvation. Remember. also, that it was God Who did these things.
the Master of Life and Death, He Who had showed these people

unmerited forebearance. even though they had committed every-
thing abominable in His sight at their worship, going to the

length of sacrificing their own children as burnt-offerings to their
images. (Deuteronomy 12: 31.)
"When making war upon other peoples the Israelites were

commanded to conduct themselves humanely. 'When thou draw-
est nigh unto a city to fight against it. then proclaim peace unto

them'. (Deuteron 20 : 10.) They were forbidden even to injure
fruit-trees when laying siege to a city and were commanded to
build their siege-works of the wood of trees bearing no edible fruit.
"Moses received his first foretaste of the danger of idolatry on
the occasion on which his followers began their worship of the
golden calf. Soon afterwards. also when they approached the land
of Moab. 'the people began to play the harlot with the daughters
of Moab; for they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods:

and the people did eat, and bowed down unto their gods'. (Num-
bers 25 : J, 2.) The harlotry here alluded to was part of the pagan

ritual and was demanded by the demons through the mediums as
particularly pleasing to their gods. It formed an important part
of the religious ceremonies, as it does among all heathen races.
"Armed with the weapon of idolatry and its attendant abuses,
the Powers of Evil in the days that followed did much harm
among God's people and thereby. to the work leading up to the

Redemption. Whole generations of the Lord 's chosen race subse-
quently forsook the true God, almost without exception, a trans-
gression for which terrible vengeance was later exacted from them.

Christ on His part sent the prophets, in an effort to win them back

to the good cause. these prophets. the mediums of the good spirit-
world. being hard put to it to maintain a successful fight against

the influence of the demons' mediums. or Baal's prophets. Most
of the true prophets were incarnated celestial spirits, although in
their life as mortals they were quite as much exposed to evil as was
the rest of mankind . but thanks to their efforts they succeeded in

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CONCERNING CHRIST - HIS LIFE AND WORK

preventing. at least, the complete eradication among the genera-
tions which were to follow of the belief in the true God and in

the Redemption.
"The time finally came when a great part of humanity was ripe,
at all events insofar as its desire went, to accept a belief in Christ's
act of redemption, and to cross the bridge which He was destined
to build over the gulf dividing the realm of the Abyss from the
Kingdom of God. Countless human souls stood waiting, eager to
cross.
"At last the fullness of time had come when under God's plan
of salvation, the Redeemer was to appear:
"Shortly before Christ was born upon earth. He sent a herald
to prepare for and proclaim His coming. This herald also was a

celestial spirit. Elijah, the same spirit which at a time when idol-
atry was at its worst, had gone upon earth on Christ's behalf and

had fought victoriously against the tools of the Forces of Evil.
After accomplishing his mission he had been taken back to Heaven
without having suffered the pangs of earthly death. Now, as
Christ's precursor, he was born as a mortal for the second time
as the son of Zacharias, and bore the name of 'John'.
"Even before John's birth the incarnation of God's Anointed
was foretold . The archangel Gabriel who had announced to
Zacharias that he was to be the father of a son who would be the
forerunner of Christ, was entrusted also with the message of the
coming of the Redeemer.
"Gabriel was sent to a virgin named Mary. living in Nazareth.
who had been chosen to be the Mother of the Savior.
The Human Birth of Jesus.

"Generation and birth within God's Creation follow immutable
laws. The union of the sperm of the male and the female is in
every instance imperative, a law to which there is no exception .
"Human propagation can therefore come about only if the germ
of the male unites with that of the female. Hence no discarnate
spirit, celestial or infernal. can beget offspring without employing
the human body and the human sperm.
"You interpret the Biblical account of the conception of Christ
as though a spirit from Heaven had begotten the Child in the

virgin's womb without the aid of a human body. This is an in-
correct interpretation and gives countless people, believers and un-
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MESSAGES FROM THE SPIRIT-WORLD

believers, good ground for denying, or at any rate tor doubting ,
the way in which the Son of God became a human being. Here
we have an instance in which the marvellous and the unusual.
although at the same time the normal, borders closely upon the
unreasonable, and hence the incredible.
"I will tell you the whole truth of the matter, for I know that
you can understand it.
"When a deep-trance medium's spirit has left his body :md a
strange spirit has entered, that spirit is capable of using the organs
of the body in precisely the same way as they can be used by the
medium's own spirit. Consequently a strange spirit, good or evil.
which occupies the body of a male medium, is capable of begetting
off spring with a woman. Did I not, when speaking to you of the
idolatry of ante-Deluvian times, particularly call your attention to
the carnal intercourse had by the evil spirits with the daughters
of men, by whom, according to the Bible's own testimony, they haJ
children? If this is possible for evil spirits, should it not be equally
possible for the good ones? If the fallen sons of God could beget
children through human mediums and so corrupt mankind, ought

not the true sons of God be able to do likewise on behalf of man-
kind's salvation?

"Now you will understand the human origin of Christ without
the need of any further explanation from me. The human medium
was Joseph , to whom Mary was betrothed. Spirits of God had
already repeatedly announced to Mary through Joseph, as their
medium, the coming of the Redeemer. Such spirit-messages were
nothing out of the ordinary; on the contrary, the Jewish people
were thoroughly familiar with communication with the spirit-world.

This is evident from the account in the Scriptures of the appear-
ance of the angel to Zacharias, who when he left the temple was

not able to speak, by which the people knew that he had been
visited by a messenger from God. (Luke 1 : 22.)
"Hence Mary was not alarmed when it came to pass that a
spirit entered Joseph as its medium and brought her the Divine
tidings, but she was greatly troubled at being addressed as being
'highly favored', by which it was indicated that she would become
a mother. This was beyond her comprehension, as she had never
had relations with any man and therefore had no reason to expect
motherhood. But 'the angel answered and said unto her, A Holy
Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of a Most High shall
overshadow thee; wherefore also the holy thing which is begotten

[ 312 l

CONCERNING CHRIST - HIS LIFE AND WORK
shall be called the Son of God'. The spirit then told what was
about to happen, although this is a point on which your Bible is
silent. It announced that as soon as it had left the medium's body,
a very high Spirit from Heaven would enter the same, and by this
Spirit she would become a Mother by the law which obtains
throughout Nature. And Mary replied: 'In my own eyes, I am a
servant of the Lord. Let it be with me as you have said'. (Luke
1 : 38.)
"After Gabriel had departed out of the medium and before
Joseph had awakened from his mediumistic sleep, Christ Himself
entered his body and through Him Mary conceived under the same
law that governs conception in all women. His spirit entered the
body of the embryonic Child during thelast momentsof the Mother's
pregnancy, or at that stage at which the incarnation of a spirit
occurs with all mothers, through the entry of that spirit into the
infant organism.
"That such was the way in which Christ was begotten was
well known to the early Christians, to wl'.om it was revealed in the
same manner as that in which I am revealing it to you. They knew,
therefore, that the mortal body of Christ was begotten by Him
through Joseph as His medium, by which I mean that the Holy
Spirit which, according to Gabriel's message was to come upon
Mary, was Christ Himself, Who wished to perform in person
everything that He held necessary to achieve the Redemption. It
was by Him that the most difficult preparatory work had been
taken in hand at the outset, by Him that God's people had been
chosen as the upholders of the faith, by Him that they had been
led, taught, admonished, wa rned and chastised. and by Him that
the high spirits of Heaven had been sent to earth as prophets. The
last step was the begettal of the mortal vesture into which He
was to pass after a few months within His Mother's womb, in
order that, by being born as a mortal. He might mingle with mortals
as one of them.
"As soon as Joseph had awakened from his deep trance Mary
related to him the things that had happened. It was a hard test
to which he now found himself subjected. Was he to believe wh3t
his betrothed had told him? Like all other men, he was but human.
Evil thoughts assailed him fiercely . The Powers of Hell had but
one end in view: to incite Joseph to doubt Mary and to cast her
off, for under the Jewish law, a virgin betrothed who was found
to have relations with another man, was stoned to death. Evil

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MESSAGES FROM THE SPIRIT-WORLD

sought to inspire him with the belief that Mary had deceived him.
and that she was now making use of the pretext that a spirit of
God had used Joseph 's body while he was in a mediumistic state.
There was nothing in the way of distrust, jealousy and bitterness
to which men are subject by reason of disappointment, that the
Evil Powers neglected to instil into Joseph , and under their on~
sets it seemed as though the burden placed upon him was more
than he could bear. At times ;he was minded to put his betrothed
away privily'. Privily, indeed it must be, for Joseph, being a
righteous man, was unwilling, in the absence of positive proof
that he had been deceived, to denounce a fellow~creature for an
offense the penalty for which was death. On the other hand, he

was not ready to make his betrothed his wife as long as any lurk-
ing misgivings persisted. Mary's sole defense was, that God

would reveal the truth to him in one way or another, for she, also,
suffered unspeakably under his suspicions. Then, during that very
night, an angel of the Lord appeared to the clairvoyant Joseph.
bidding him not to fear. This ended the conflict within him.
"I realize that this truth, - and it is the truth, - will appear
entirely too human and too much in accordance with the everyday
laws of Nature to convince you puny mortals. It is not marvellous

and mysterious enough to satisfy you. The human act of procre-
ation is something debasing in the eyes of many, who, as it were,

blame God for making it a part of the order of things. To their
way of thinking, God is wanting in chastity. Wretched beings
that you are, to so misjudge the most wonderful laws enacted by
God's omnipotence and wisdom, as exemplified in the procreation,
the prenatal life, and the birth of a child! Christ, the highest of
created spirits, did not find it beneath Him to beget His own
earthly tenement in conformity with the eternally fixed laws of
propagation, in order that He might dwell and suffer among you.
Even though the truth regarding His human paternity may not be
miraculous enough to suit you, for Him everything was miraculous

that happened according to the sacred laws given by His Heav-
enly Father, of which the Preacher says: "I know that, whatso-
ever God does, it shall be forever; nothing can be put to it, nor

anything taken from it; and God has done it, that men should
revere him'. (Ecclesiastes 3 : 14.)
"That reverence is something which unfortunately you do not
feel, and for this reason you account for the incarnation of Christ
by means of ingeniously concoted theories, which , because of the

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CONCERNING CHRIST - HIS LIFE AND WORK
alleged miracles they involve, are full of contradictions. and fur~
nish good grounds to the skeptics for deriding the first step which
had to be taken in order that He might assume the shape of man.
"Had the incarnation of Christ not followed the laws of human
propagation, He would have differed fundamentally from other
men, and Saint Paul could not have said of Him that He was 'born
according to the flesh'. His body would not have come into being
from human seed. Christ became as one of you, even as regards
the generation of His mortal vesture by the human germ.
" Now, at your request, I shall speak of certain doctrines of
the Catholic Church which touch the subject I am discussing. As
you were formerly a priest of that church it is natural that you
should be particularly eager to learn which of its doctrines are
true and which are false.
"The Catholic Church teaches that the Mother of Jesus was
free from 'original sin'. This is true, but not for the reasons ad~
vanced by your former church. Like certain other mortals who
lived before her and who had been called upon to perform the
work of the Lord. Mary was an incarnated celestial spirit. The
same was true of Enoch, Abraham, Moses, Elijah, and others of
whom I have spoken. It was true too of John, who foretold the
coming of Christ and in whose shape Elijah returned to earth.
In Mary, therefore, there was incarnated, not one of those spirits
which had forsaken God, but one which had remained loyal to
Him. The sin of that desertion, of which all other terrestrial
beings are the heirs, did not rest upon her. That is the 'original
sin' from which she was free.
"On the other hand the Catholic doctrine that Mary as a mortal
was devoid of all sin, even of the most venial. is utterly false.
There is no mortal who has no human failings as you call them,
but these have nothing in common with that sin from which Christ
meant to redeem the world, namely. the sin of having rebelled
against God. That is the real sin. All others are human frailties
from which not even Mary was free. Nevertheless, she remained
true to God. as did also Moses. that high spirit from Heaven. in
spite of the fact that as a man he transgressed on more than one
occasion, and was punished by not being permitted to enter the
promised land.
"Again the Catholic Church is wrong when it maintains that
Mary remained a virgin even after the conception and the birth of

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MESSAGES FROM THE SPIRIT-WORLD

Christ. She was. thereafter. as little a virgin as is any woman
who has conceived and given birth to a child.
"Only before Christ's conception was she a virgin; it was not
intended that the Redeemer should be born of a mother who had

conceived and borne other children before Him. That is the mean-
ing of the words of the prophet: 'Behold, the virgin shall conceive

and shall bear a son'.
"It is furthermore contrary to the truth for the Catholic Church
to assert that no more children were born to Mary after the birth
of Christ. On what grounds do you assume that after the birth
of her First-born, she was willing to waive her right to be a mother.
or that Joseph was ready to waive his rights as a husband and a
father? The fact that Christ had brothers and sisters who were
born after him can in no way detract from His personality, nor
from His life, His teachings and His work.
"The references in the original texts of the New Testament to
brothers and sisters of Jesus allude to His own, fl.esh and blood

brothers and sisters, and not 'kinsfolk' as the Catholics try des-
perately to prove. Had 'kinsfolk' been in question. they would

have been called such. and not 'brothers and sisters', or do you
suppose that the language of those days had no word equivalent

to your word of 'kinsfolk'? You surely cannot maintain this seri-
ously. for in the story of the visit of the twelve-year-old Jesus to

the temple. it is related that His parents had sought Him 'among

their kinsfolk and acquaintance', whence you see that where kins-
folk are meant, the Evangelist finds the word to express the idea.

When somewhat later the same Evangelist writes: 'And there
came to him his mother and his brethren . . . (Luke 8 : 19), he is
surely not trying to convey the meaning that these were merely
kinsmen who happened to be with His mother, nor were the people

who told Him: 'thy mother and thy brethren stand without, de-
siring to see thee'. Matthew and Mark likewise relate that Christ's

'mother' and His 'brethren' had come to speak to Him; do you
believe that all three Evangelists used the word 'brethren' when
they meant 'kinsfolk', in which case that was the word which they
could and should have used? Any such assumption is foolish.
"Furthermore, in telling of the appearance of Jesus in His
native village of Nazareth, Matthew records: 'He went on to his
home city Nazareth and preached in the synagogue there. His

words impressed his hearers so deeply that they asked of one an-
other: From where has this man all this wisdom and the power of

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CONCERNING CHRIST - HIS LIFE AND WORK
his eloquence? Is he not the son of the carpenter? Is not his
mother's name Mary, and are not his brothers namedJamesJoseph
Simon and Judah? Do not his sisters also live there? How has
he come by all this'? (Matthew 13 : 54-56.) Can any rationally
minded person contend that this enumeration of the father, mother,
brothers and sisters of Jesus refers to kinsfolk only? Just as the
allusion in this case is to the real father and mother of Jesus, so too
His re()! brothers and sisters are meant. What purpose could be
served by calling over the names of His kinsfolk? The inhabitants
of Nazareth were astonished at His works and His teachings, and
asked each other, as you would under similar circumstances:
'Whence has He all these things? His father, the carpenter, is a

man like the rest of us. Mary, His mother, is a simple, unpreten-
tious woman, and His brothers and sisters are nothing out of the

ordinary, for his brothers James and Joseph, and Simon, and Judas,

live among us and we see them every day, but we have never dis-
covered anything unusual in any of them, and as for His sisters,

all of them live in this village and are no different from any of the
other women of Nazareth. How does it happen that of all the
family, Jesus is the only one who is so wonderfully gifted?'
"The contention that the expressions: 'brethren' and 'sisters'
as used here, refer to 'kinsfolk' only, is too trivial to be advanced

by anyone without an ulterior motive. You can see in this an in-
stance in which one untruth must be supported by another. The

Catholic Church has taken the unreasonable stand that Mary re-
mained a virgin in spite of the fact that she bore Jesus, a position

which would, of course, be utterly untenable in the face of an ad-
missfon that she afterwards gave birth to other children. On the

other hand, there are many references in the Bible to the brothers
and sisters of Jesus, and since this conflicts with the doctrine of
Mary's perpetual virginity, it becomes necessary to transmute these

historically established brothers and sisters into 'kinsfolk'. Other-
wise, the dogma of Mary's perpetual virginity, and with it, that

of the Papal infallibility, would fall to the ground.
"The birth of Jesus took its course like any other human birth.
as regards both the Mother and the Child. The newly-born Infant
was nursed, cared for and eventually weaned, as are all children.

"The message of the angels to the shepherds and their saluta-
tion of the Redeemer of mankind Who had appeared, the presenta-
tion of Jesus in the temple, the coming of the Wise Men of the

East, all happened exactly as it is related in your New Testament.

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MESSAGES FROM THE SPIRIT-WORLD

These Wise Men were Divine instruments and were highly gifted
with mediumistic powers. At home they were the dispensers of
the true faith , and through their communication with the good

spirit-world they had been initiated into many of the truths re-
lating to the salvation of mankind. The same spirit-world which

had announced the birth of the Savior to the shepherds, brought to
the Magi also the tidings of the happy event which had already
been foretold to them as impending, by messengers from God.
They were now invited to set out in search of the Child in Whom
the Son of God was incarnated. The name of the place at which
the Child lay was withheld from them, but they were told that the
gleam of a light would go before them to guide them on their way.
Not only the Wise Men, but everyone else saw this light. which
appeared as a bright star moving before them and leading them as
Moses and the people of Israel had once been led by the pillar
of cloud.
"Their journey took them first to Herod in Jerusalem. This

was an act of God. by which that temporal prince was to be ap-
prised of the human birth of Him Who was to rule the world, and

in order that the fate of the children of Bethlehem might be ful-
filled, as had been foretold by the prophet. Here again the forces

of Anti-Christ gave evidence of their activity by inspiring Herod
with fear for his throne and thus driving him to perpetrate the
slaughter of the children, in order that the new-born Herald of
the truth might perish.

"The Magi did not reach Bethlehem until a[ ter the presenta-
tion of Jesus in the temple, His parents having returned thither

from Jerusalem with the intention of resting a few days before
resuming their journey to Nazareth. It was immediately after their
arrival in Bethlehem that the Wise Men found them, and after

the latter had set out for home, the parents of the Child also pre-
pared to continue on their way, when a messenger from God ap-
peared to Joseph warning him to flee into Egypt with his wife and

child, as Herod, who on first learning of the birth of a new King
of the Jews had determined to destroy him, was now on the point
of carrying out his design.
"After the Babe had emerged from the years of infancy, His
childhood was like that of other children. He learned to walk and
to speak, and in time began to play, like the rest. On occasicns.
He misbehaved, as all children will. With the passing of His
boyhood His understanding developed, and inasmuch as He was

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CONCERNING CHRIST - HIS LIFE AND WORK

the incarnation of the highest of created spirits, He was also en-
dowed with intelligence of a high order. Nevertheless, He had

to learn things from the beginning as does everybody, even the
most brilliant minds. As a child He came to know of God exactly
as you yourself did, namely. by what He learned from His parents
and teachers. He listened to sermons on God in the synagogue
of His native village. and discussed them with His elders, of whom

He asked for explanations of the things which He had not under-
stood or w.1ich had impressed Him as being untrue.

"As a boy, moreover, He was assailed hy those temptations
which come to all children of men and which are sent of a strength
in keeping with youth's powers of resistance, temptations which He
overcame in the measure as His knowledge of evil increased with
the advancing years. Nevertheless, there were times when He
erred and was guilty of failings due to human weakness, as is the

case with the best of children. With every victory over tempta-
tion the Boy received from God greater inner strength and knowl-
edge of the spirit, but as His power of resistance grew, the Forces

of Evil were permitted to increase the violence of their assaults
upon Him. It is so with every mortal. and no exception was made
in favor of the Boy Jesus, for it is a law that applies to all men
alike that they gain in ability to resist sin with every victory over
temptation, while, on the other hand, Evil is left free to proceed
with more vigor than ever, with the result that the whole life of
a God-fearing man is a constant battle with the Hostile Powers.
'War is the lot of man upon earth'!
"As the Boy grew in years, the numerous errors of the Jewish
faith professed by His parents caused Him many an inward
struggle. All of these had been introduced in the course of time
by the Jewish Church in the form of manmade doctrines and alleged
amendments to the Divine commandments.
"When He had reached the point of being able to read and
understand the original texts of the Old Testament, He began to
question the interpretations given to Him by His Jewish instructors.
but whenever, in His youthful enthusiasm, He expressed these

views to His elders, He was severely rebuked. It was these con-
victions conflicting with the Jewish religious doctrines which at the

age of twelve He laid before the priests in the temple at Jerusalem
much to their amazement, putting questions to them and replying
to theirs out of His own wisdom.
"Undoubtedly He was in this respect what you call a 'child
 

MESSAGES FROM THE SPIRIT-WORLD

contention upon the fact that He called Himself the Son of God.
They argue as did the high priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees.
of whom the Bible says: 'Because of these words the Jews sought
more intently than ever to take his life. holding him guilty not
only of profaning the Sabbath, but also of making himself equal to
God by calling God his true father'. (John 5 : 18.)
"Christ did not defend Himself against the charge of having
called God His own Father, for He was a Son of God in a sense
which was not true of the other Sons of God, the Divine spirits.
He was not only the highest of created spirits, but the only one
whose celestial body had been called into existence by God. Of

the others, the spiritual part was God-created, whereas their celes-
tial bodies owed their existence to His First-born Son. Christ was

therefore not only God's First-born, but the only one whose whole
being was by direct Divine creation. He was alone of His kind.
He was His Father's 'sole offspring'.
"In another respect also He was the Son of God in a sense
which applied to Him alone. Upon Him, and upon no one else,

had God conferred the rule over creation. It was the same posi-
tion as that held by Joseph in the kingdom of Egypt. under

Pharaoh.
"In this particular, then, the Jews were right: Christ did call
Himself a Son of God in a specific sense. He was the Son of God.
"But against the charge brought by His Jewish enemies. that

He made Himself equal with God, Christ defended Himself vig-
orously. Again and again He protested that He was not from

Himself, and that by His own power He could do nothing. No
one who makes such an admission freely lays claim to the attributes
of a Deity, a conclusion so obvious that not even the high priests

and the scribes could have failed to see it, but although they un-
derstood well enough what Jesus meant by the phrase 'the Son of

God'. they professed not to, for they were seeking a ground for
His death and could find none better than to assert that Christ
was making Himself equal with God by calling Himself His Son.
Once they were committed to this pretext, they must adhere to it
at all costs; nothing that Christ could have said in refutation would
have been of any avail.
" It is true that Christ had full authority on earth and in Heaven,
but not from Himself. As Joseph held his power in Egypt by the
grace of Pharaoh, so Christ derived His power from His Father.
Neither Joseph nor Christ was the sovereign master.

[332 J

CONCERNING CHRIST - HIS LIFE AND WORK
"The Father alone, and none besides Him, is God. The power
resides in the Father exclusively, and in no other being. At His
own pleasure the Father can delegate this power to any spirit, in
and through which He performs His works. That power which
was conferred upon Christ, could nave been conferred by the
Father upon any created spirit other than His First~born Son, and
the great miracles worked by Christ could have been performed
by any other man had God given him the necessary power. Christ
Himself says frankly that the things He had done could be done
by any one who believed in Him. 'He who believes in me, shall
have the power to do the same deeds that I do, and even greater
deeds'. (John 14 : 12.) Belief in Christ is belief in God; not,
however, because Christ Himself is God, but because He is the
promulgator of God's teachings. 'The doctrine that I have taught
is not my own; it was my Father, who sent me, that directed me
what I should teach and in which words I should present my doc~
trine'. (John 12: 49.)
"Between the Father and Christ there prevails a perfect unity
of love, a unity to which each of God's creatures can attain and
for which Christ prays to God on behalf of His disciples.
' ... that they may be one, as we are one. I. united with them,
and Thou with me, so that they may attain to the highest perfection
of unity'. (John 17 : 22. 23.)
"You see how illogical it is for your former religion to base its
contention of the Divinity of Christ upon the phrase: 'I and the
Father are one', in the face of the fact that the same oneness that
exists between them is promised to all who believe.
"If you will study those of Christ's utterances in which He de~
scribes His relations with His Father, you will see the impiety of
referring to Christ as God; of picturing Him as the giver whereas
He is but the recipient Who can give to others only those things
which He Himself receives from God. The same sacrilege with
which the Jews charged Christ when they falsely asserted that He
made Himself God's equal. is committed today by the people who
today raise Christ to a level with the Deity, in spite of the fact
that He Himself spurned any such pretensions.
"Christ's contention concerning His own person, concerning
the source of His doctrine and the power which He possessed was,
therefore, that He had received each and everything from the
Father. From Himself He had nothing. He is not God.
"There were things which God withheld, even from Christ,

[ 333 J

MESSAGES FROM THE SPIRIT-WORLD

and which He reserved to Himself. Witness Christ's answer to
the mother of the sons of Zebedee: ' .. . but the places at my right
and at my left are not mine to give, for they will be bestowed upon
those to whom they are allotted by my Father". (Matthew 20: 23.)
"Again, nothing is known by the Son of the Day of Judgment,
the knowledge of which is the Father's alone : 'The day and the
hour of fullfillment are known to no one, neither to the angels of
heaven, nor to the Son, but to my Father alone. (Matthew 24: 36.)
"Nor was Christ allowed by God to evade the agony of death
upon the Cross. Hence His prayer in the garden of Gethsemane
that the cup be permitted to pass, was not answered.
"Christ's own family as well as the Apostles and those of the
people who believed in Him, saw in Him nothing more than a
'prophet - 'God's emissary'. It is true that His mother knew that
in Him was incarnated one of the 'Sons of God' for this had been
revealed to her by the angel, before Christ was born. But she

was also aware that He was human and that He had human in-
firmities. His conduct in public and the doctrines preached by

Him did not meet with her approval. She had known that His
creed differed materially from the doctrines held by the Jewish

religion, but to see Him proclaim His views openly to the multi-
tudes distressed her sorely. She had pictured to herself His mis-
sion on earth in a very different light. and when she heard that

Jesus in His sermons had spoken strongly about the spiritual guides
of the Jewish people and had publicly branded as false many of
the tenets of her ancient faith, she, in company with her other sons,
sought to restrain Him, and even tried to compel Him to return
to His parental home, believing that in this way she could allay
the ill will that His actions had aroused among the high priests,
scribes and Pharisees. 'And when his family heard it, they went
out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is out of his mind'.
(lvfark 3: 21.) 'At tha t time , not even his brothers believed in him'.
(John 7: 5.)
"That His mother and brothers should have discountenanced
His conduct in public is easy to understand. They believed that
the doctrines of the Jewish religion were true. Their ancestors
had lived and died in that faith , and the fact that now an own son
and brother should preach publicly that this faith embodied many
errors, was more than these simple and inexperienced people could
bear. Whatever they were told by their own clergy was final so
far as they were concerned. Moreover. they lived in fear of their

! 334 I

CONCERNING CHRIST - HIS LIFE AND WORK
fellow men. They were pointed at as the relatives of a man who
was assailing the faith of his fathers. They had frequently to
listen to criticism of themselves on that score by the head of the

synagogue of their native village. Their business interest suf-
fered. Hardest of all to bear was the news that the supreme

ecclesiastical council had excluded Jesus from the synagogue, and
had threatened to do the like with all those who adhered to Him
or acknowledged Him as the Messiah. 'For the Jewish leaders had
already agreed, to put a ban on all who might acknowledge Jesus
as the Messiah'. (John 9: 22.)
"The Jewish priesthood warned the people against Jesus and

His doctrines, resorting freely to slander as a weapon, and al-
luding to Him as a 'false prophet'. 'a man possessed of the devil',

'an agitator'. 'a wine-bibber'. 'a profligate'. who passed his time in

the company of wayward women and sat down at table with pub-
licans and sinners. There was no expedient so low that they did

not avail themselves of it to render harmless Him Who was a
menace to their hold over the people. They could not endure
to see the great mass of the people accepting as a religious truth
something that differed from what they themselves preached. It
was to them that the people owed obedience. What the clergy
did not believe, the people must not believe, under penalty of being
damned. 'Is there a single one among the leading people or the
Pharisees who has been brought to believe in him? Not a man; it
is only the common herd which understands nothing of the law.
Curses on it'! (John 7: 48.)

"It is the old, old hymn, intoned by the clergy of all denomina-
tions, as soon as it sees its influence on the people threatened by

an evangelist of the truth.
"You too will become better acquainted with that melody than
you have been in the past, as soon as you have made public the

truths imparted by me, when you will witness a repetition of every-
thing that took place in those days. The servant is not greater

than his master, and you will be called a renegade priest, a false
prophet, a madman, a man obsessed of the devil. a degenerate.
Even your friends will heap reproaches on you, and tell you that
you should have left well enough alone, and that what was good
enough for the rest of the cloth, was surely good enough for you
also. But be not afraid! Trust in God! What have you to fear
of men? And on the other hand, by disseminating the truth you
will be of great benefit to many. More than one member of the

[ 335]

MESSAGES FROM THE SPIRIT-WORLD

clergy even on reading your book will become convinced that it
contains the truth, even though they may not be disposed to admit
this openly. Things were no different in the days of Christ.
'Nevertheless, among the leaders of the people many believed in
Jesus although they dared not admit it openly for fear of being put
under the ban by the Pharisees, for they loved the glory that is of
men more than the glory that is of God'. (John 12: 42, 43.)
"Even the Apostles on more than one occasion felt doubts as
to their Master, for they also had formed a different conception

of the Messiah. Not until the day when Simon Peter gave utter-
ance to his conviction: 'You are the Messiah, the Son of God of

our Saviour', (Matthew 16 : 16) did His Apostles know that in
Jesus of N a zareth the 'Son of God' had come upon earth. This
conviction, however, had not been reached by Peter by reason of
Christ's words and acts nor by any process of reasoning of his
own, but by virtue of a revelation from God. ' ... this was not
revealed to you by men, but by my heavenly Father'. ( Matth~w
16: 17.)
"As to the manner in which the Divine revelations reached
Christ I have already intimated this to you, but I wish to go into
the subject more fully because it is essential to an understanding
of Christ's life and work. and in order to make it clear to you that
in this particular the experiences of Christ off er nothing a ltogether
new or previously unheard of.
"You have only to recall the way in which God had conveyed
His revelations and commandments to His instruments in the past.
How did He communicate with Abraham, Isaac a nd Jacob? With
Moses and Joshua? With the judges, kings and prophets? With
Zacharias, Mary and Joseph? In precisely the same way H e now
communicated with Jesus who in this respect was not favored above
those who had preceded Him as Divine instruments and emissaries.
God caused the spirit-world to enter into communication with Him
as with all the others, and through it He revealed all things that
Christ required for the fulfillment of the task before Him.
"The prerequisites for communicating with the spirit-world
were the same with Him as those which apply to any other person.
It was but natural that His mediumistic gifts were of the highest,
for He was the highest and purest of spirits incarnated in human
form, ever created by God. The ability to concentrate. and to
'submerge the spirit' of which I spoke to you in connection with

[ 336]

CONCERNING CHRIST - HIS LIFE AND WORK
the development of mediums, was possessed by Christ to an extent
never attained by man before or since. Moreover, no other human
medium has ever possessed a physical od as pure as that of Christ.
In Him then the prerequisites for communicating with the Divine
spirits existed to a degree which no other mortal can hope to attain.

"The problem given to Christ to solve on behalf of the king-
dom of God, was the greatest ever assigned to a mortal. hence it

was necessary that God send Him spirits in abundance, not only
as regarded their numbers, but also with respect to their strength
and ability.
"Among them went spirits of fortitude, to infuse new strength
into Him when His own began to fail in the battle with the evil
powers. Often these spirits were accompanied by those of hope,
joy. and peace of soul. Again, militant angels from Michael's
Legion came to His side, when Satan marshalled his legions in
full force, and when the fury of their assaults threatened to be

more than human strength could bear. Spirits of truth and un-
derstanding instructed Him as to the best way of bringing the word

of God before the multitudes or of answering questions concerning
Himself or His teachings. Spirits of wisdom taught Him how to
solve individual problems, but all this assistance came only after
He had exhausted His own resources without avail. With Him
as with all other mortals the motto holds good: 'God helps those
who help themselves'. If you would arrive at a goal. use your
own strength first, and if this does not suffice, God will intercede

with the aid of His spirit-world. God does not heedlessly dis-
tribute favor. and success. He demands that everyone exert him-
self to the utmost, and this He demanded of Christ also.

"When the sick required His attention, spirits of healing came

to His rescue whenever His own native healing powers proved in-
adequate to cure the diseased od of the patient, although in many

cases these powers sufficed to bring about the desired end without
the help of the healing spirits.
"Nevertheless, Christ did not cure everyone who appealed to
Him, for there are cases in which sickness is a punishment sent
by God, to be suffered by the patient for a period commensurate
with his offense. Christ's power of clairvoyance and clairsentience

enabled Him in every instance to tell whether or not the suppli-
cant's plea should be granted. Moreover, a belief in God and in

Himself as God's envoy was exacted by Him in every cure which
He effected.

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MESSAGES FROM THE SPIRIT-WORLD
"Not in all cases was the cure permanent, for many individuals
relapsed into their former ailment as soon as they lost their faith
in God and in Christ, the main purpose of H is healing being to
bear witness to the truth of H is message.
"In connection with 'raising the dead ', I am compelled to say
something that may surprise you. In all cases so referred to, both
those mentioned in the Old Testament and those ascribed to
Christ. the spirits of those who were thus raised had not actually
passed into the Hereafter. No one who has actually died can
again come to life; his spirit can never again take possession of
the body from which it departed at the moment of corporeal death.
This is a Divine law which admits of no exceptions. His race on
earth is run, without recall. Only by rebirth can his spirit ever
again take human shape.
"All individuals recalled to life by Christ were those whose
spirits had indeed emerged from their bodies but still remained
connected with the same by a slender band of od. This was so
feeble, that the spirit could not have returned to the body either by
its own efforts or by virtue of any human assistance, and that, in

consequence, death would have ensued very shortly by the rup-
ture of the odic band. In the case of Lazarus, this had already

become so weak that the vitality which could be conveyed to his
body was insufficient to prevent the setting in of decay. Hence.
neither the odor which accompanies that process nor the livid spots
which appear at its inception are infallible symptoms of flnal
decease.

"The fact that the 'dead' so raised were only cases of sus-
pended animation is clearly indicated by the words of Christ when

He raised the daughter of Jairus: 'The girl is not dead, but asleep'.
(Matthew 9 : 24.) These words have been explained as a jest,
but Christ did not jest in such matters, least of all when He was
engaged in proving the Divine character of His mission to the
people. In the case of Lazarus also He calls the attention of His
Apostles to the fact that death had not taken place, for on hearing
of the man's sickness, He said to them: 'This sickness will not end
in his death, but will serve to glorify God'. (John 11 : 4), and
when. as his friends thought, Lazarus had died. Jesus said again:
'Our friend Lazarus is fallen asleep; but I go. that I may awake
him out of sleep'. But when once more His Apostles failed to

understand Him, Christ. seeing the uselessness of further explana-
tions which in any event they would have misunderstood. said:

[ 338]

CONCERNING CHRIST - HIS LIFE AND WORK

'Lazarus is dead'. This was perhaps not a strictly accurate state-
ment of the condition of Lazarus, but it was the only one that He

could use, for at the time Lazarus was already in his tomb, and
people thought of him as being dead. Had this really been the
case. Christ would not have said a few days earlier: 'This sickness
is not unto death', nor could He, after the entombment, have used
the words: 'Our friend is fallen asleep'. On both occasions Christ
stated the truth, since Lazarus was dead not in reality. but to all
appearances.
"Nevertheless. nothing that I have said detracts from the merits
of the case. for what Christ did could not have been accomplished
by any human power. but only through the power of God. This
is true of every instance in which Christ recalled the dead to life.
Human power was of no avail, and the Divine spirits interceded,
accomplishing whatever was needed to allow the return of the
spirit into the body. Christ, by clairvoyance, observed the work
of the spirit-world. and at His word, the spirit was reunited with
its body and the seemingly deceased arose.
"It does not occur to you mortals that such things are done in
accordance with Divine laws. This is true not only of the raising
of the dead, but of all other miracles performed by Jesus. When
He turned water into wine, this task also was accomplished by the
Divine spirit-workl. and for this reason not even He was able to
bring about the transmutation instantly. as His mother wished.

His 'hour was not yet come'. because the spirit-world had not com-
pleted the necessary work, for time is required, even by spirits.

" It is because you do not understand these processes that you
fail to grasp the meaning of certain words found in the Bible which.
in consequence, have been incorrectly rendered into your several
languages. Thus your version of the Scriptural account of the
raising of Lazarus contains a sentence which must impress you as
utterly incomprehensible: 'Seeing her weeping, and that the Jews
who were with her, were likewise· in tears, Jesus was so moved
with indignation in the spirit and troubled himself'. (John 11 : 33.)
Why indeed should Jesus be moved with indignation and trouble
Himself at the sight of the weeping sister and friends of a man

who had died? On the contrary, the original text reads: 'A shiv-
ering passed through his spirit and he was shaken', for when

spirits come near you and allow their powerful odic radiations to
act upon you, you too feel a sensation of shivering and actually
begin to shake. The sensation is an agreeable one in the presence

[ 339)

MESSAGES FROM THE SPIRIT-WORLD

of good spirit-beings, and unpleasant when it originates from the
proximity of evil ones. It was the sensation produced by the
nearness of good spirits which passed through Christ on this
occasion; the powerful odic radiations of the spirits about Him.

infusing Him with their strength, by virtue of which He consum-
mated the work of the spirits with the summons: 'Lazarus, come

forth' .

"To raise the dead was something that Christ could under-
take only when He had been assured by messengers from God

that such was the Divine will, for all signs which bore testimony
to the power of God were manifested solely when they were of
special service in promoting the aggrandisement of the kingdom of
God or the sanction of His Emissary and the latter's teachings.
"In public Christ never mentioned His connection with the
Divine spirit-world, of which He spoke only when compelled to
do so. Thus He replied to the Jews who reproached Him with
casting out demons with the aid of Beelzebub: "But if I drive out
the demons with the help of one of God 's spirits, then indeed the
spirit-world of God has already come to you'. (Matthew 12: 28.)
"Associated with the gift of clairvoyance in its highest form
which was peculiar to Jesus, was His ability to recognize the mental
state of persons and to read their thoughts. In all times there

have been people similarly gifted, although your age has no un-
derstanding of this matter and above all, does not realize that here

also there are involved certain eternal laws governing these
phenomena.

"Even in the case of Christ these laws applied in every par-
ticular. and were taken into account by Him in the sense that He

always selected the time and place for communicating with spirits

with a view to securing the conditions most favorable for the pur-
pose. He Who counselled His adherents to withdraw to their

inner chambers for prayer, Himself sought shady hillsides in the
cool of the dusk and the night, for light and warmth and the
noises of the day exert an exceedingly adverse effect upon the

formation of the od required for communicating with the spirit-
world. Hence He preferred the solitude of the woods and gardens,

and the darkness and coolness of the night.
"Furthermore, all predictions of the future made by Christ had
been learned by Him from the messengers sent to Him by His
Father.
"You have been in the habit heretofore of regarding Christ's

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CONCERNING CHRIST - HIS LIFE AND WORK
miracles and prophesies as evidence of His Divine nature. This
conclusion is entirely erroneous. You confuse the Workman with
His implement. The Workman is God. His visible implement
may be any being whatsoever, while His invisible implements, are
the Divine spirits assigned to that being. A little reflection on
your part would enable you to discover this fact for yourselves.
When you, personally, used to preach on the 'Divinity of Christ'
and tried to prove this by means of His miracles and prophesies,
did it never occur to you to draw a comparison between Him and
God's emissaries who had preceded Him? Did not they perform
miracles similar to those performed by Christ? Were the miracles
accomplished by Moses any less wonderful than those which
Christ performed ? Were the transformation of a rod into a
serpent, and that of water into blood, the killing of the first-born
of Egypt, the passage of the Red Sea, the flow of water, caused
by the stroke of a rod and many other signs given by Moses of
less account than the transformation of water into wine, walking
upon the waves or conjuring the storm? If, then, you cite the
acts of Jesus as evidence of His Divine status, you are bound to
concede the same character to Moses. Were not the sick healed

and the 'dead' raised by many mortals who were Divine instru-
ments? Then these mortals also are entitled to be regarded as

Divine, as are Joshua, Elijah, Elisha and other great prophets, not
to mention the Apostles, since they performed miracles equal to
those performed by Christ, and according to His word, ·greater
works than these shall they do'. You can cite not a single miracle
performed by Jesus which has not been performed in the same or
in a similar manner by other mortals acting as envoys of God.
You misunderstand completely God's purpose in bringing these

miracles about. You do not pause to think that God must estab-
lish His instruments as such by the performance of the unusual.

before He can expect humanity to recognize them as Divinely
appointed.
"In the fulfillment of their mission, all of God's envoys have

suffered greatly at the hands of men. Every one has had his Cal-
vary. They have been the vessels from which radiated the Divine

truth and light, a light which mankind, lying in the bonds of dark-
ness. could not endure, as being too bright for eyes afflicted with

sin. Men turned from the light and sought to destroy the human
vessels which served as lamps. So it has always been; so it is
today, and so it will remain while there are human eyes sore with

[ 341]

MESSAGES PROM THE SPIRIT-WORLD

sin, which ache when the light of the truth is turned upon them.
The Evil Powers. and all mortals enslaved by them, hate this
light and its bearers, and do their utmost to encompass their
destruction.
"How desperate, then, would be the efforts on the part of Evil
to break the power of the greatest Light-Bearer Who ever came
upon earth! How painful the road that Christ had to travel!
"His inner sufferings at the hands of Evil were hidden from
human eyes, and therefore nothing is said about them by the Bible

beyond the very casual account of His temptation in the wilder-
ness. Yet the onslaughts made upon Him there by Satan were so

savage, that any one of the earlier Divine emissaries would have

abandoned God, if He had allowed the Powers of Hell to pro-
ceed against him with the same vigor as He permitted them to assail

Christ. Moreover, the bodily tortures which Jesus had to undergo
until His last breath were such, that His predecessors could not
have held out against them, the less so as they had to be borne in
addition to mental suffering equally severe.
"It is true that the sufferings of Christ had a higher significance
than did those of any other of the Divine prophets. For them,
death spelled the fulflllment of their tasks, if they had remained
true to God. For Christ, however, the end of His earthly life
marked only the fulfillment of a portion of His mission, the more
important part of which was still to be completed therea fter, by
gaining a victory over the Prince of Darkness. His crucifixion
was a condition precedent to that victory. not indeed . crucifixion

in itself. but His ability to endure it without faltering in His loy-
alty to His Master. He might, indeed, while yet alive upon the

Cross, have lost faith in God a t the last moment, and gone over
to the Enemy. Had He done so, He would have died upon the
Cross nevertheless, but defeated and apostate. Until that moment,

He had stood upon the defensive against the terrific hail of mis-
siles that Hell poured upon Him; had He yielded, all would have

been lost. The effort at redemption would have failed and Christ
would have been a prisoner of the Prince of Darkness.

"If, on the other hand Christ held out against the most dread-
ful anguish of soul and body inflicted on Him by the Infernal

powers. the moment of His death on earth would mark also the
beginning of the second part of the War of Redemption. He.
Who as a mortal. had stood on the defensive against the Powers
of Hell, would now. as a spirit, advance to attack them in order

[ 342 l

CONCERNING CHRIST - HIS LIFE AND WORK
to render His victory complete. To force the decision He would
descend into Hell. 'He also descended into the lower parts of
the universe'.
"However, I shall dwell a little longer upon the first stage of
this war, the most important that was ever fought, and pass in
review those hours of Christ's human suffering which you call the

Passion, seeing that humanity appreciates far too little the un-
speakable anguish which this Divinely-sent Bearer of the Cross

was forced to endure in order that men might be saved.

"On the evening before His death Jes us was in the guest-
chamber of a house, in company with His disciples. The feast of

the passover which He was observing with them was also His
farewell feast, but who among you can measure and realize the
anguish of His soul? He knew from

the Divine spirit-messengers

that all preparations for His arrest and speedy execution had al-
ready been made. He knew that one of His disciples had had

dealings with the high priests and for a traitor's reward of thirty
pieces of silver had declared himself ready to deliver his Master
to them. And at that very moment, the traitor was lying at table
with Him. They were not seated about a long table, as you think,
and as they are shown in your paintings. but were reclining upon
the skins of animals, elevated, at the head by bolsters, gathered
in groups of three about low taborets, their left elbows resting on
the bolsters, their right hands serving to convey the food before
them. At the same taboret with Christ reclined John and Judas.
John to the left. his head close to his Master's breast, and on His

right. Judas, who dared not meet his Master's eye and was an-
xiously awaiting the moment when he could leave the chamber

without attracting attention.
"The Master's heart bled on seeing before Him His traitor in
this youth, whose terrible end He foresaw. 'It had been good for
that man if he had never been born'. As He looked upon him,
Christ's eyes filled with tears, for His heart was filled with love
for even this lost brother. In His mind arose a picture of what
within a very few hours was to be a reality: Judas, despair in his
soul, standing, rope in hand before the tree on which he was to
end his own life, and beside him Lucifer, ready to take the spirit
of him who he had led astray, into the Pit. Terrified at the vision.
the Master trembled.

"As for the other Apostles, would they stand by Him and con-
sole Him in the hour of His martyrdom? The events that the

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MESSAGES FROM THE SPIRIT-WORLD

next twelve hours were to bring forth passed before His mind's
eye. He could see them all fleeing in terror for their own lives,

and Peter, shaking with dread before a maid, denying all knowl-
edge of his master with oaths and curses. He saw the devils

crowding about the door of the guest-chamber, ready to seize upon
His disciples as they went out, and in this very night fill their
minds with doubt of their Master, in order that they might offer
no support or help to One Who was doomed to die. 'Satan hath
asked to have you, that he might sift you as wheat'. Why had
Satan desired this? Only now it had been divinely revealed to
him what he had at stake in this war. God's sense of justice did
not permit Him to conceal any longer from Lucifer the fact that
the battle which was now to open between him and Christ was to
decide the sovereignty of Hell over the fallen spirits. God had
revealed to Lucifer that Christ, should He remain steadfast
throughout the death-agony which was at hand , would thereafter
as a spirit advance to an attack upon Hell at the head of the
celestial legions; that he, the Prince of Hell would be overcome
and would be deprived of an essential part of his sovereignty. At
this news, Satan trembled; then, appealing to that sense of the

Divine justice which on one occasion had given him absolute sov-
ereignty over the fallen spirits, he demanded that God observe

strict neutrality in the decisive battle which was impending. What
Satan asked was, that God withdraw His hand entirely from Jesus.
leaving Him not even any human support, while allowing Hell to
have a free hand. Should God accede to these demands, Lucifer
hoped that by doing his utmost. he would succeed in breaking the
spirit of this Jesus of Nazareth at the last moment, and in driving
Him to despair of His cause.
"God granted the terms asked by Satan with the sole exception
of reserving to Himself the right to strengthen Christ's purely
physical vitality. Had He not done so, Christ would have died
in the garden of Gethsemane, and His martyrdom would never
have reached consummation.
"At Lucifer's desire, all the mental and physical anguish on
earth, crowded into a few short hours, was to be concentrated
upon his antagonist, coincidently with an attack to be launched
upon Him and His followers by the entire infernal hosts. For
Jesus, alone. betrayed by one of His disciples, deserted by the
others, denied any Divine aid against the forces of Hell, Lucifer
hoped to prepare an end worthy of a Judas.
(344]

CONCERNING CHRIST - HIS LIFE AND WORK
"After Judas had left the guest~chamber, and even as Jesus
gave to His Apostles the wine and the bread symbolical of His
approaching death, His heart was bleeding from a thousand
wounds. He was human, as you are, and had no advantage over
other mortals during this hour and those which were to follow.
On the contrary, He lacked even those things which are most
men's, to fortify and console them in the hour of suffering.
"Picture Him now, going out into the dark of the night to the
garden of Gethsemane. The night is no man's friend, least of all
his who is overwhelmed with sorrow. His disciples, on whom the
evil spirit~forces are already at work, walk silently beside Him, in
dread of what is to come. Under the burden of His mental tor~
ments, He too is silent.
"At the remote spot in the garden, chosen by Him as the place
in which to offer prayer for strength, Lucifer is in wait with his
ablest assistants, ready to break down their intended victim's
spiritual resistance by their united efforts. This is the very oppor~
tunity which God has conceded to the Prince of Darkness.
"Human words would fail to portray the terrors of the visions
held up by Hell to its victim in this brief hour. As once the same
Lucifer, when he tempted the Son of Man in the wilderness, had
shown to Him the kingdoms of the world in all their splendor in
order to cause His fall, so now and to the same end he exhibited
to Christ all that is fearful and detestable in mankind, causing to
pass before His eyes pictures of blaspheming, sinful humanity in
its full viciousness and corruption, in a steady succession of hid~
eous pictures. Next he showed to Jesus the supposed 'fruits' of
His years of endeavor among the Jews as God's people, pointing
mockingly to His disciples, one of them actually approaching at
the head of a multitude, the others fast asleep near by, with never
a word of comfort for their Master and unwilling to sacrifice a
single hour of sleep for His sake. 'And wouldst thou die to prove
thy gospel, for such as these?' Lucifer's mocking voice sounded
in His ears, 'for such as blaspheme thy Father and will condemn
thee as a fool if that thou givest thy life for this perverse genera~
tion. And hast thou taken thought what thy end will be?' Before
the clairvoyant eyes of his trembling victim there now passed the
scenes of the suffering in store for Him; His capture, the flight of
His disciples, Peter's denial, the roar of the multitude which but
a few days earlier had hailed His entry into Jerusalem and which
now thirsted for His blood, the death sentence, the flagellation,

[ 345]

MESSAGES FROM THE SPIRIT-WORLD

His captors' brutality, the crown of thorns, Calvary, the Cruci-
fixion, - everything painted in its most terrifying aspects, in order

that He might give way to despair and abandon His resistance.
All the while the spirits of hopelessness and desperation were
driving the maddest of thoughts into the mind of this victim of
theirs whom all had forsaken . His pulse throbbed , His whole
body was shaken with fever, His heart threatened to burst. The
terror of death seized upon Him, drops of blood oozing from His
pores and trickling to the ground. Through it all. His disciples
were sleeping peacefully.
"The meager outlines preserved by your Bible of the story of

the Passion of Jesus fail utterly to convey to your minds the an-
guish of soul and body suffered by your Redeemer. Indeed, many

of the worst tortures are not even mentioned in the Bible. Thus.
nothing whatever is said there of the frightful hours which He was

compelled to spend in the underground dungeons of the court-
house, fetid and swarming with vermin, into which the soldiers

had thrust Jesus after they had scourged and mocked Him and
crowned Him with thorns, and after they had rubbed salt into the
countless deep gashes left by the lash upon His lacerated body and
had bound His hands, lest by removing the salt He might find
some relief from His unspeakable torments.
"Never did man endure such torture

as did this Son of God
incarnated . Through its human tools. Hell did its worst, for in
Him it recognized its greatest foe who could ever appear on earth.
But not even the physical sufferings which it prepared for Him
could equal those which His soul had to endure; moreover, both

forms of torment, mental and bodily. were applied to Him simul-
taneously. Add to this that to the last He was without any human

consolation, and, what was still harder, without any Divine aid.
God had withdrawn His protecting hand and had left Him helpless
to the devices of Hell. The cry uttered by Jesus as He hung
dying upon the Cross: 'My God, my God. why hast thou forsaken
me?' reveals in full the mental agony which He felt on finding
Himself forsaken by all in this hour of supreme physical suffering .
Satan should never be able to allege the excuse that his failure to
reduce this mortal to submission was due to the help received by
his victim from external sources. He should be forced to confess
that he had met his match in an unaided human being, who, in
spite of the most excruciating torments of mind and body. could
not be driven to desert His God. (Matthew 27:46) (Mark 15:34)

[ 346)

CONCERNING CHIHST - HIS LIFE AND WORK
"The Biblical account, according to which the mother of Jesus
stood by the Cross, accompanied by John, is incorrect. Even this
consolation was denied Him. Not one of those dearest to Him
was near, at the Crucifixion. They could not have borne the
sight, as where , indeed, can you find a mother who would look on
while her child was being crucified? Again, you go so far as to
assume that Mary was standing by the Cross throughout; had she
been present at all, she would surely not have remained standing,
but would have fallen unconscious. Hence it is also untrue that
Christ exclaimed from the Cross: 'Woman, behold thy son!' and

to the disciple: 'Behold thy mother'. He did, in fact, speak sim-
ilar words to Mary and John as He was being led from the court

after Pilate had pronounced the death-sentence and while His
mother and John were clinging to Him in anguish until they were
torn away by the soldiers. His mother had been present at the
trial, as had the disciples, and had never lost hope that it would
end in His favor. for there constantly recurred to her mind the
story of Abraham, whose son was spared from sacrifice at the last
instant, even as the knife with which he was to be slain was being
bared. To this day there has not been a mother who would not
attend a trial in which her child's life hung in the balance, nor
on the other hand is there a mother who would go to witness the
execution of her own off spring.
"To see His mother on the verge of swooning from agony and
terror cut Jesus to the soul. and all He thought of was to spare
her any further sight of His own suffering. He therefore begged
John to take her to his home until everything was over, and spoke
lovingly to her, urging her to go with John and to implore God for
strength in this hour of tribulation, and telling her that the things
which He must now suffer were as the Heavenly Father had wille.d
and that after three days she would see Him again/John ,19:25-21)
"John willingly acceded to his Master's request and took the
mother, pierced by a thousand sorrows and keeping to her feet
only with the utmost effort, to his home; not permanently, as might
be gathered from the text of your Bible, but for the time being, to
remove her from these harrowing surroundings. At that home also
foregathered others, who had remained faithful to Jesus. Some
time later, when it was fair to assume that the crucifixion had been
carried out, some of them, among whom was Mary Magdalene ,
went to a spot whence the site of the execution could be seen, and
returned to relate the death of Jesus. (Mark 15:40)

[ 347 J

MESSAGES FROM THE SPIRIT-WORLD
"His mother staid at the home of John only so long as she
lingered in Jerusalem. In the end she Ieturned to Nazareth, the
home of her other children and her own. Naturally, she often
revisited Jerusalem to see the Apostles, in particular John, as long
as they continued their sojourn there.
"As during His life Christ had been confirmed as God's envoy
by signs, so was He in the hour of His death. The sun's light failed
for three hours, and a darkness came over the land, not by reason
of natural causes but as a sign from God. At the moment when
Jesus gave up the ghost, the veil of the temple was rent in the
midst, as a token that the wall dividing the realm of God from that
of Satan had been shattered by His death. The earth shook
and the rocks were rent, but the story recorded in your version of
the Gospel of Saint Matthew that the dead had arisen from their
tombs and had been seen by many in Jerusalem is a falsification
of one of the original. accurate texts, which reads: 'The veil in
the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom; and the
earth did quake; and the rocks were rent; and the tombs were
opened; and many bodies of those who had fallen asleep were cast
forth. Many, who had come from the holy city, did see the bodies
lying there'. This text which is accurate, therefore records what
naturally would, and did happen, namely that the tombs carved
into the rocks were opened by the earthquake shocks and that the
bodies were cast out upon the surface, and were, of course, in
plain sight of the many who had come from the city to witness
the crucifixion and who would have to pass close to the shattered
tombs.
"Here you have merely another of the many instances of the
falsifications introduced in the past into the Sacred Texts, for
very particular reasons. The false doctrine had been set up that
the earthly bodies of men will be resurrected on some future day,
and in order to sustain this doctrine with passages from the Bible,
this particular passage, in addition to others, was distorted by
altering the original text which read: 'The bodies of those who
had fallen asleep were cast forth', into: 'Many bodies of the saints
that had fallen asleep were raised'. The word 'saints' had to be
interpolated if only for the reason that it would never do to say
that the bodies of the unsaintly also had been raised at the death
of Christ. Still greater a difficulty remained to be overcome in
falsifying this passage, inasmuch as the Church holds that there
could have been no resurrection prior to that of Christ, Who was

[ 348]

CONCERNING CHRIST - HIS LIFE AND WORK
the first of the dead to arise. Hence it was necessary to insert
the sentence: 'after his resurrection they entered into the holy city
and appeared to many'. They who committed this falsification
did not pause to consider that it had already been expressly stated
that the bodies were raised on Good Friday, or three days before
Christ's resurrection and whether they appeared to the people of
Jerusalem on that same day or on Easter Sunday in no way enters
into the question. Besides, where did these bodies which allegedly
had risen on Good Friday pass the intervening days? Where
were they after Easter Sunday? Did they return to their tombs
and if not, where did they go? It is strange that not one of the
other three Evangelists speaks of this resurrection on Good Friday.
and as a matter of fact, Matthew did not say the things that are
attributed to him, as you have seen from my explanation.
"Christ was dead. His earthly death had released His spirit
from its material vesture. As a mortal He had withstood all the
onslaughts of Hell and had thereby performed the first part of
His Messianic mission successfully. He had not been conquered
by Hell. Nevertheless, this alone did not insure His victory over
the Enemy whom He had repelled, for in a battle between two
opponents, he who acts wholly on the defensive, is not truly the
victor, even if he succeeds in defending himself against the other's

attacks. In order to claim a victory he must overpower his an-
tagonist and force him to acknowledge himself beaten.

"This was true of Christ as well. As a man He had repelled
all the attacks of His mighty opponent; He had done all that man
can do. Now, however, that He was freed from the flesh, He

could, as a spirit, advance upon His enemy, the Prince of Dark-
ness, and descended into Hell relying upon the all-conquering

Divine power, which as a mortal He had earned by His loyalty

to God, Who now sent to Him the Heavenly hosts as His com-
rades in arms. Now began a struggle like that which had oc-
curred when Lucifer with his adherents had battled with the

Heavenly Legions in the days of the great Revolt of God's spirit-
kingdom. The present battle was waged in Lucifer's realm and

was a duel between him and Christ, as well as a general engage-
ment between the legions of Heaven and those of Darkness. This

mighty conflict raged until it had invaded the lowest depths of

Hell into which Lucifer and his followers had been forced to re-
treat. Then, when the defeat of the Powers of Hell was no longer

in doubt, many of those who had formerly served it but who, never-

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MESSAGES FROM THE SPIRIT-WORLD

theless, repented of their disloyalty to God, went over to the side
of the Heavenly hosts and fought with them against their former
oppressors. The number of those who thus deserted grew from
moment to moment.
"When Lucifer saw that all was lost he begged for mercy. He
who in the desert had tried to tempt the Son of God by offering
Him the kingdoms of the world, now stood quaking before Him

Whose faith in His Sonship of God he had then sought to under-
mine and trembled at the thought that this same Jesus of Nazareth

intended to deprive him of all his sovereign power, and that the
moment had arrived when he himself with all his followers would
be doomed forever to the Pit of Darkness. He was but too familiar
with the prophecy which foretold that the time was coming when
he, as the Prince of the kingdom of the dead would be hurled into
the uttermost depths, shorn of all his power and deprived of his
sovereignty over God's fallen children.

"Christ however disclosed to him that he was not to be de-
prived of his sovereignty entirely, hut that this was to be restricted

to apply to those of his subjects who were whole-heartedly devoted
to him, but that any who desired to leave his kingdom and to
return to God must be released unconditionally. They were no
longer to be regarded as his subjects. He might. if so disposed ,
bind them to himself by artifice and guile, but not by force, as
hereto tore.
"Satan accepted these terms. He had no other choice, and
had, in fact. expected much harder conditions. The title by which
he held his sovereignty and which God Himself had once issued
to him was changed to suit the wishes of his conqueror, Christ,
and God, in Whose name the Victor maae terms with Lucifer is

the just and almighty Protector Who warrants the exact observ-
ance of these peace-stipulations. To His power everythmg, even

Hell, is subject. His commands must be obeyed even by those
who are His enemies.
"Thus was concluded the mighty task of redemption. In all

of its important aspects, God's Plan of Salvation had been real-
ized. The gulf that yawns between the Realm of Darkness and

the kingdom of God had been spanned by a bridge which could
be crossed freely by all who desired to leave Satan's Foreign
Legion and to return to their old home in the land of God. No
sentinel in the service of Hell could prevent them from passing the
frontier.

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CONCERNING CHRIST - HIS LIFE AND WORK
"Surrounded by His triumphant hosts, Christ returned from
Satan's stronghold to the sphere that once had been the Paradise,
and the cherubim who had since stood on guard at its entrance
lowered their flaming swords in salute to their Lord and Master
and His victorious spirit-legions. In Paradise a halt was made

until the day on which, with Christ at its head, the great proces-
sion re-entered the portals of Heaven.

"During this time, however, neither Christ nor His host of
spirits had been idle. Their stay in Paradise must be utilized to

spread throughout all Creation the news of the Redeemer's tri-
umph and to urge all who were minded thereto that they begin

their homeward journey. Especial pains were taken to seek out
the countless sufferers in the lower spirit-spheres in order that
they might be instructed, admonished, cheered and consoled, and
incited to arouse themselves to set out upon the road to the
Father's house which Christ had laid open. Christ Himself was
foremost in counselling these unhappy spirits and in seeing to it
that as many as possible of them should

take the homeward path
without delay. This is indicated in the words of Saint Peter:
' ... in which also he went and preached unto the spirits in
prison, that aforetime were disobedient, when the long suffering

of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a prepar-
ing .. .' (1st Peter 3 : 19, 20.)

"Materialized in human form, Christ appeared to those who
had been closest to Him in life and had borne much sorrow with
Him and on His behalf: His mother, the Apostles and His friends,
"The day arrived on which He returned to the spirit-hosts
which were awaiting Him in Paradise, after He had said farewell
to His friends on earth and had assigned to each his task. This
was the day of the Ascension, on which, as a conquering hero,
He led His army back into the kingdom of God.
" From the time at which the Redemption was achieved by
Christ it has been free to those who have fallen from God to make
use of the opportunity thus offered to them. Satan's prison-camps
have been thrown open by Christ's victory, and their inmates
are free to leave; whether or not they avail themselves of the
opportunity, rests with them.
"Christ has indeed built the bridge, but whether it is used in
returning home is left to the decision of each individual, who must
not shirk the hardships attendant upon the journey. Consider
what the prisoners taken in the World War were ready to under-

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MESSAGES FROM THE SPIRIT-WORLD

go after peace had released them from their captivity, wandering
from the furthest steppes of Siberia with bleeding feet, week after
week, in their efforts to make their way back to their native land.
"The prisoners of Satan must do likewise if they would find
their way back to God. Christ will be beside them ready to help

them to overcome the hardships they will face in their wander-
ings. His messengers show them the way, strengthen, cheer and

console the travellers, and raise to their feet those who have
stumbled and fallen from exhaustion. But the homeward bound
traveller may not turn back and re-enter the ranks of the enemy
by deserting God; if he does, the longer it will be before he can
again come to the resolution: 'I will arise and go to my Father'.
But every one, without exception, will see the day on which he
can no longer appease his hunger for peace and happiness with
the husks of evil. and will resolutely set out on the homeward
path.
"For some, the span of a single human life will be sufficient.
Others must suffer for hundreds, and still others, for thousands

of years, sundered from God in their race for the gold of happi-
ness which they seek in the counterfeiters' dens of iniquity, and

led by Satan's will-o'-the-wisps from one delusion into another.

It is by their own fault that they must pass through repeated in-
carnations, and that they were so slow to find the Road of Light

which the loving care of their Father and of His Son, the
Redeemer of the fallen, has built for them.

End of Chapter, Christ His Life and Work, in  Johannes Greber's book "Communication With the Spirit World of God"