Mental and Moral Influence of the Medium.
Questions – Dissertation of a spirit on the mental and moral influence of Mediums on Spirit-manifestation.
226. (1) Does the development of mediumship depend on the moral development of the medium?

“No; strictly speaking, psychic ability depends on the organism, and is independent of the moral nature. This, however, is not the case as regards the use made of mediumship, which may be good or bad, according to the moral qualities of the medium.”

(2) It has always been asserted that psychic ability is a gift of God, a grace, a favor; why, then, is it not the exclusive privilege of the good, and why is it bestowed on people who are unworthy of it, and misuse it?

“All abilities are favors for which you should be grateful; but you might just as well ask why God grants good eyesight to malefactors, sharp wits to sharpers, eloquence to men who use it for evil purposes. It is the same in regard to mediumship; unworthy people are often endowed with it, because they need it more than others, and in order that it may aid their improvement. Do you suppose that God refuses the means of amendment to the wicked? On the contrary, He multiplies those means about them at every step; He places them in their hands; it is for those to whom they have been given to profit by them. Was not Judas endowed, as an apostle, with apostolic gifts?

God permitted him to be thus endowed, that he might afterwards see more clearly the odiousness of his treason.”

How much more consistent with the justice and goodness of God is the explanation we are now charged to give you of the treason of Judas, as having been, on the one hand, the result of the pride and presumption of a spirit still too backward for the trial he had persisted in attempting, and, on the other hand, of a permission which had only been granted him in order that, through a failure which was foreseen to be inevitable, he might be cured of those imperfections, once and for ever, by the misery he would thus have brought upon himself!”

“The treason of Judas was not the result of a predestination, which would have been in contradiction with the justice and goodness of God. Judas was the reincarnation of a spirit who, though proud and presumptuous, was desirous to advance, and had demanded, in the state of erraticity, to be permitted to take part in the special work upon the earth for which its Protecting Christ was then preparing; a participation from which he hoped to reap a rich reward.

In vain did his spirit-guides dissuade him from attempting a trial which they saw to be beyond his strength; in vain did they warn him that the influences of the fleshly life would obscure the remembrance of his aim and his good resolutions, and would, at the same time, rouse his instincts of envy and cupidity, and that he would thus be drawn into a failure all the more disastrous from the obstinacy to which it would due: he rejected their counsels, and persisted in his demand.

Christ foresaw that the terrible experience which Judas was preparing for himself would complete his purification from the evil qualities which were keeping him back; and He therefore acceded to his request.

The humble position of terrestrial life into which this proud, envious, and sensual spirit was born (as a condition of the trial he had so unwisely elected to undergo) weighed heavily upon him. Blinded as he was by the veil of materiality, he could not understand the respect and admiration with which the Celestial Envoy was regarded by all who approached Him, and his jealousy of the Master gradually assumed the form of hatred; tempted by his craving for luxury and sensual enjoyment, he robbed the common purse of which he was the custodian, and betrayed his Master for money.

“The interpretation of the Gospels hitherto received has represented Judas as having been predestined, from his birth, to do these evil deeds, and as having been given over beforehand to the Devil; his soul, according to that interpretation, had been created vile, abject, envious, luxurious, ungrateful, sanguinary, for the express purpose of fulfilling certain prophecies of the Old Testament.

“(The hand of the medium, having written the preceding statement, was suddenly controlled by a new influence, under which it again wrote, as follows:) “How great is that Being Who makes the very crime of the wrongdoer to become the starting point of his regenerative career of repentance and purification? “How good is that Being Who is always ready to forgive the sincerely repentant, Whose beneficence sustains him under the sufferings he has brought upon himself by his wrongdoing, and Who leads him on to deliverance through the reformatory influences of expiation and effort!
Glory to Thee in the Highest, O my God!
Judas Iscariot

“The hand of the medium, after writing this message, was again controlled by another influence, and continued thus:

“The love of God is extended to all His creatures. Let all those who have gone astray return with confidence into the path which leads to Him. They will all be welcomed; those who have wandered most widely, even more warmly than the rest: for it is not the innocent who need forgiveness, it is not the strong who need help and support.

Let all who regret their wrongdoing commence at once the work of self-amendment and pursue that end unwaveringly, as we have done; they will be aided and sustained, as we have been. For, like all of you, we have been guilty; but we have repented of our wrongdoing and have expiated, through painful and repeated efforts, the crimes we had committed. In the long series of human existences which have prepared and accomplished our purification, we have cured ourselves of the defects to which we had succumbed.

“Our Judge is just; but His justice is paternal, and His judgments are always proportioned to our powers of endurance.
He makes us pay, to the uttermost farthing, all that we owe Him; but He is a patient and merciful creditor, and gives us all the time and all the help that we need for paying our debt.

“Judas has achieved his regeneration through the purifying action of repentance, remorse, expiation, reincarnation, and progress; and he is now one of the humble, active, devoted auxiliaries of Christ.

His rehabilitation should show you that you must never shut out anyone of your brethren from your help and kindness, nor regard him as being excluded from the ultimate attainment of the purity and happiness for which you are all being educated, by Providence, through the trials and discipline of human life.”
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, assisted by the apostles;
Joseph of Arimathea & Simon of Cyrene

Taken from The Book on Mediums by Allan Kardec available from Amazon.

http://whitecrowbooks.com/books/page/the_book_on_mediums