21 Oct 1916

Why the greatest sin is against the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:29, Luke 12:10) that conveys the Divine Love into the soul.

I am here, Judas.

I come tonight to write a short message for I have been interested in what you and your friends have said regarding "the greatest sin"

Now, to me, for a long time, the greatest sin in all the universe of God was my sin in betraying Jesus to the Jews, and it was a real, living, blasting sin, and so enormous that I could not endure my life, and face the recollection of that awful tragedy; but since I have been forgiven of that sin and become a redeemed child of the Father and an inhabitant of the Celestial Heavens and a possessor of immortality, I realize and know that my sin was not the greatest, even though I suffered for long years after I became a spirit.

As sin may be committed by neglect as well as by affirmative action, and my betraying the beloved Master was a heinous one, but yet, even in my case, and as applicable to me, my greater sin was not seeking for the Divine Love of the Father. We were not ignorant of this, for the Master had taught us that this Love was open to and waiting for us to seek and obtain, and I had not sought for it in the right way, and of course had not obtained it; and in such neglect I was not the only one of the disciples that was guilty of that sin.

No, even we who had been with the Master for so long a time did not fully understand the importance of obtaining this Great Love, as we were more interested in his establishing his kingdom on earth and, as we thought, a material kingdom, to be controlled by spiritual powers manifested in him, and in us as his disciples. And the material, in our minds, was of more importance than the spiritual, and our expectations were that this great power would come, and that the Master would become our king.

As I say, he had taught us that this Divine Love was open to us, and that by prayer and earnest seeking we could receive it, but to us there were so many important things to be done, connected, as I say, more immediately with our earth lives, that we neglected the Great Gift that was ours for its seeking, and as a consequence, in my case, I had to suffer for a long time before I awakened to the fact, that it was not too late, even for me, to receive it.

My sin of betrayal had been forgiven me in that I realized that the recollections of it were leaving me and that I was progressing in the way of purifying my soul in its natural love, and that as the spirit of the onetime murderer, I was coming into happiness and light.

And then I had memories of what the Master had said to me about this Great Love, and after awhile I had sufficient awakening to cause me to make the effort to obtain this Love, and as that awakening came to me, my old-time associates, who had progressed to the higher spheres came to me, and in their great beauty and transcendent love, helped me to progress and to pray, until at last this Love came to me, and I realized that not only had my sin of murder been wholly forgiven, but that the greater sin of rejecting and neglecting to seek for the Divine Love had also been forgiven me. The sin of the murderer or of any violator of God's laws, other than that of rejecting the inflowing of this Love, may and will be forgiven a man and he will become pure and happy in his natural love, but such forgiveness will not make him an inhabitant of the Divine Heavens or an inheritor of immortality, while the forgiveness of the sin of rejecting the Holy Spirit, will not only take away from him the recollections and taints of all other sins, but will open up to him the very portals of the Celestial Heavens and give him a home in the Father's kingdom.

And thus, you see, every sin except that of sinning against the Holy Spirit, may be forgiven a man, with the result that he will become the perfect man, but the forgiveness of all these sins many times over, if it could so happen, would not make him the Divine Angel.

And I need not explain to you, for you can readily see from what I have written, that the greatest sin in all the world is the sin against the Holy Spirit - the sin of neglecting or refusing to let the Holy Spirit bring in and to the soul of man the Great Divine Love of the Father. And not only is this sin the greatest because of the results that flow from it, but because it will continue to be the unpardonable sin so long as man refuses to permit its forgiveness.

When the sin of murder and such kindred sins are committed, the sin then ends and only its consequences must be suffered and the penalty paid; but the sin against the Holy Spirit is a continuing sin, committed every day and hour and minute and never having an end until the mortal seeks and receives the inflowing of this Divine Love. As has been written you many times, yes, the large majority of men and spirits will continue forever and ever to commit this sin, and in the effects to follow, to them, it will become and is the unpardonable sin.

As we are much interested in you, and have determined that you shall not go astray to these Divine truths, my brother spirits of the Celestial Spheres, thought it fitting, as the world considers that I committed the greatest sin in all the history of the world, that I should write you on this subject, and explain that the greatest sin in all the world is the sin against the Holy Ghost.

We all know this, and while I write, you must believe, for it is true, that all of us and the Master too, declare that the sin I name is the greatest sin.

And now to be a little more personal, for your gratification and comfort, I desire to tell you, that you three will not be found guilty of having committed this great sin, for you have in your hearts and souls much of this Divine Love, and the Holy Spirit is with you quite often in answer to your prayers, and in answer to ours also, for we all pray for you, causing this Love of the Father to possess your souls, even as the leaven wrought in the batch of dough.

I have written longer than I expected and will now stop.

But be assured that you have our love and the blessings of the Father.

Your brother in Christ,

JUDAS