The Great Gospel of John
Volume 8
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord and His adversaries
- Chapter 41 -
Polygamy.
I said: "He who among you gentiles will walk in My teaching will also gladly hear such an advice from Me. But concerning polygamy, it should be with My followers as it was in the beginning with the people on this Earth, since God has created only one first man and gave him only one woman. For he who has married already a woman to who he has given his full love and unshakable faithfulness, and who will then marry a second and a third woman - and some even more - then he commits indisputably adultery against the first woman, and in the law it is stated: 'You shall not commit adultery'.
2
I say to you that polygamy is evil, for it makes the soul very sensual by the great lustfulness of the flesh. It is and remains evil lewdness, whoring and obvious adultery.
3
All those who are afflicted with these diseases will not enter God's Kingdom. How could they? Their soul is indeed buried too deeply in the sensual flesh of their body and cannot understand nor feel anything spiritual. Therefore, such sensual people cannot or hardly come into God's Kingdom. For wherein the actual Kingdom of God consists I already have explained to all of you more than sufficiently.
4
But no matter how harmful polygamy is for the soul of man, still I do not give you a law against it, but I leave everything up to the free will of every person, showing you the truth and giving you a good advice.
5
It is the same when a man keeps female slaves as cohabitants or concubines, for also with them he is breaking the marriage regarding his official woman.
6
However, a man who is not married with a woman, but is only living his lustful life with cohabitants is as evil and often even more evil than many weak adulterer, for he harms not only his own soul but also the souls of his sensual cohabitants. Such people are already in this world preparing for themselves a wicked and bitter fate, and an even worse and bitterer fate in the beyond, for by their way of life they have wasted almost all ethereal life elements of the soul.
7
He who, according to My teaching desires a quick and complete rebirth in the spirit of his soul, needs to live a life that is as chaste as possible and should not let himself be charmed and seduced by the flesh of young and adult women, for this draws the life of the soul outwardly and by that he prevents greatly the awakening of the spirit in the soul, without which however no complete rebirth of the soul in his spirit is imaginable or possible.
8
A good marriage that is combined with reason, wisdom and self-denial does not hinder the spiritual rebirth, but lewdness and lust makes it impossible. Therefore, avoid these more than the pest.
9
Even if after some time the sensual people of both sexes change their attitude completely and start through great self-denial to live a complete chaste life and receive by such a real penance also the complete forgiveness of their sins, then they still will with difficulty or not at all attain to the full spiritual rebirth in this world, but only partly. Because the soul of such people is already busy enough to free himself of his flesh in such a way that he can hear the warnings of the spirit that are necessary for his salvation. Although, such a person can still become very wise and can accomplish many good things, he hardly will come to the full extent of the active power that performs wonders. Such a soul can only attain to this in the beyond.
10
Such a soul is like a person who has been sick and weak for many years and has finally recovered by a true and correct medicine. Yes, such a person is now indeed healthy, and he can, when he will live from then on very orderly, also remain healthy and reach a high age, but he hardly will reach the power of a person who has been completely healthy since his childhood, because firstly his inner muscles, nerves and fibers were not able to be developed properly because of the long sickness, and secondly, what is most important, they also were not able to be trained in the different movements and efforts.
11
Since such a person, because of the long lasting sickness is not able to easily reach the full power of the body of a very healthy person because of the lack of the inner development of the muscles, nerves and fibers and because of its lack of exercise, so it is also with a soul who has been sick for a long time, because he lacks the first development of the true and pure love for God, and consequently also of his faith and his will. However, if he will lack already the first, then he certainly will lack even more the exercise of the 3 basics that were mentioned, and the inner power of these 3 life's elements of the soul of a complete recovered sensual person will always stay behind, although in Heaven there is more joy for the full conversion of 1 sinner than over 99 righteous ones who never needed to do penance. For if the love, the faith and the will of a person truly want to be active in power, they must already since their early age be properly developed and then be well trained.
12
But as I have the power to heal completely the heaviest and the longest lasting sickness, even in such a way that the person who has been healed by Me becomes as powerful as if he has never been sick since his birth, so from now on, a soul of a completely converted sinner can still attain to the same inner power as the soul of a righteous one who never needed to do penance. However it will cost him great effort to deny himself.
13
He who has children should train them already since their early age in those 3 basics, then they will easily conquer the world in themselves.
14
Look, all this I am giving you only as good advice and not as some law, for under a compelling law, you, a human being, cannot become the founder of your salvation. However, he who will impose himself such an advice of Me in his will as a compelling law, and will act and live accordingly, will do well. Did you well understand all this now?"