Message from Jesus, in The Gospel of God’s Love, on page 278.
“I have tried to explain to you why the great and important truth of my mission on earth, as I explained it to my apostles, and was taught by them and written by them, was not preserved and contained in the Bible, as it is now written and accepted by the church as canonical. The great desire in those days was to show and impress upon humans those teachings which affected their conduct on earth, and to hold out to them the rewards, both on earth and in the spirit world, that would follow from such living. And, as I have said, the leading of lives in accordance with these teachings would insure humans a great happiness in the spirit world – but not the happiness which my teachings, if observed, would lead to.
“In the various copyings and compilations of the writings of the apostles, many changes from the originals were made, and those dignitaries and rulers of the church who performed this work did not know the difference between those things which would bring about a purification of the natural love, and those things which were necessaary to fit a soul for entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. And hence they made the error of teaching that the living of a moral life would entitle the soul to a reward in the hereafter which they supposed would be the Kingdom of Heaven and immortality. This erroneous teaching has prevented many a person from gaining entrance into the Higher Kingdom, as they honestly and sincerely believed would be theirs when they passed into the spirit world.
“These moral teachings were intended to make a reformation in the lives of mortals, and to purge their souls of sin and error, and I did teach these moral truths extensively, because of the great need for such teaching. Mortals’ wills were out of harmony with God’s laws which affected the natural love; as well as out of harmony with the laws affecting the divine-love; and it is the object and plan of God to bring humans into harmony with both of these loves, and thereby enable them to enjoy all the blessings which are provided and waiting for them.
“As I said on earth, “Narrow is the way and strait is the gate which leads to life everlasting, and few there be that enter therein.” Amen