02 Nov 1917

John: How and when God answers prayer. Laws of Rapport and Communication.

I am here, St. John, brother of James - Apostle of Jesus.

I come to you today because I see what your condition is and that you need encouragement, and as I am your special guardian I could not abstain from writing you as I have. So I say, trust in the Father and in our help and you will not be disappointed.

It has been a long time since I have written you in regards to spiritual things, and I desire very much to do so, as I have important messages to communicate, as have many other spirits who have been accustomed to write you.

While your material affairs are important, yet these spiritual truths are of more importance, not only to you but to the world for whom they are primarily intended. The world needs these truths more at this time than ever before, and the sooner we can complete our book of truths the better it will be for suffering humanity, and for many whose hearts are now lacerated because of the great destruction of human life caused by the war.

Well, I know that many believe that in some way God has an overpowering direction as regards the progress and outcome of the war, and in a certain sense this is true, for He is always interested in and seeks to reach the souls and hearts of mankind and, of course, desires that the great suffering and devastation shall cease.

But as the cause of all this was the evil desire and ambitions of men, He will let men, themselves, control the conduct and outcome of the war. He will not by His exercise of power in an arbitrary way end the war or determine which of the contending nations shall be successful, except in this, that through the instrumentality of His spirit, He will influence the minds and consciences of these men in such a way that right and justice will prevail, and the evil thoughts and deeds of men be stopped in their operations. His spirits are working to this end at this time, and have been for a long time, and so have the evil spirits been working to bring discord and destruction upon humanity.

The leaders of the nations have been, in a large degree, obsessed by these evil spirits, and have been influenced in many of their thoughts and acts by these dark ones who delight in seeing mankind suffer, and in evil asserting itself.

The spirits of truth are exercising a wonderful power over the hearts and souls of men, and one that will cause them to soon realize that evil must not be allowed to prevail and that truth and right must assert themselves, to the end that the war must not only cease, but that men must become more in unison with truth and justice. In this way the Father will answer prayer, and His Love will also continue to flow to men.

I know that prayers are ascending unto the Father from many men and from many of the churches of the respective contending nations for success, but only those prayers will be answered which tend to bring about the overruling of evil and injustice; and the spirits who are working the Father's Will, will answer these prayers only which in their answer will bring about the desired end.

As I have said, while God does not take interest in these matters by His arbitrary power and decree that the one or the other of these warring nations shall overcome and conquer the others, yet, He does by His angels exercise such influence upon the men who are engaged in the struggle, that in the end His Will, will be brought to pass. But men, immediately, must determine the course and results of the issue, and no miracle will be performed which will make one side the conqueror of the other, and while this is so, this determination by men will be influenced as I have stated.

Man has his free will and, as we have written you, that is never arbitrarily controlled by the Father, but in the exercise of that free will, whenever man violates the laws of God, man must suffer the penalty of that violation. This is a never changing law of the material as well as of the spirit world. When evil is sown evil must be reaped, and until this evil ceases to operate as a cause, good will not appear. The men who are directing the war must understand that this law is operating in the conduct of the war, and that evil thoughts put into execution will inviolably bring evil consequences.

You may look for an earlier determination of the struggle than some men now believe possible, yet ere that end comes many mortals will become spirits and find their homes - some in the darker spheres, and some in those of light and love, but all are the children of God and will not be forsaken by Him in the great eternity.

(question)

Well, you have not been in that condition of mind that has enabled us to make the necessary rapport with you. We must have a mind that is filled with thoughts of the higher things of truth, even though we do not use those thoughts. Our thoughts are all spiritual, and our truths can be received only by the mind in a spiritual condition, and you, lately, have not had so much of this spiritual mind as formerly.

Our contact has not been so close, and our rapport, necessary to enable us to express through your mind these spiritual truths, has not been so perfect. And when I say mind I merely mean the organs of the brain as influenced by the thoughts of the mind; for I will tell you what you may not know, that these component organs of the brain are not always and under all conditions receptive of the same control by the minds of spirits. You may receive through your brain a long and profound message of things pertaining to what you may call the material, and yet under similar conditions of these organs, not be able to receive messages of the higher truths; and the conditions of these brain organs are caused by the condition of the soul in the possession of things spiritual.

It is difficult for me to express just what I intend to convey but this you will understand, that upon the development and possession by the soul of things spiritual, depends the capacity of the human brain to receive the various kinds of messages. A medium who is merely intellectual and morally good cannot receive those messages of the highest truths, because there can be no rapport between the brain of such a medium and the mind of the higher spirit who may desire to communicate. And thus you will understand why it is that the messages from the earth-bound spirits or from those who have merely the intellectual development, are so vastly more frequently received by mediums than messages from spirits of the soul development.

A spiritual thought - I mean a thought which can come only from a spirit who has the development of the soul that makes that soul Divine - cannot possibly pass through a human brain which has never been developed by a soul in which the Divine Love has entered and worked its regenerating powers. Things of the material may be conveyed through a brain purely material, things moral through a brain which has been influenced by moral truths, and things spiritual through a brain which has assimilated those truths that come only with the development of the Soul by Love. This is the law of rapport and communication.

Well, I will not write more now.

But in closing urge you to have faith in us, and let your worries leave you, and pray more to the Father. Goodbye.

Your brother in Christ,

JOHN

Note: Continued in messages on 04 Jan 1918 (PJE19180104A) and 22 Oct 1918 (PJE19181022A).