St. Paul Writes that Hell is a Place and a Condition

November 20, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, St. Paul .

I come to write you on the subject that I commented on last night, namely: Hell and the duration of punishment; and if you feel that you are in condition to receive the message, I will begin and finish the same.

Well, as I said last night, the Hell of the orthodox preachers as formerly taught, that is a Hell of brimstone and fires, is not the true Hell and has no existence save in the minds of these orthodox believers.

The true Hell is a place and a condition and one is not separated from the other; and while the condition of the soul and the beliefs of men create the Hells to a very large extent, yet Hell is a fixed abiding place made and established and of such a character as to suit the inhabiting of it by the soul according to the condition of that soul.

To illustrate, a soul that is less vile and filled with evil thoughts and the recollection of evil deeds and false beliefs, is in a very different place from the soul that has more of this evil in it. The former soul would not find its habitation in the same place as the latter soul would - any more than would the highly developed soul find its home in the same place as would the soul that is less developed.

Heaven is a place, or many places, suited to the development of the soul, so Hell is a place suited to the souls of degradation and evil condition. I mean to be understood as saying that place and condition of soul are correlative terms, the home of the soul depending on the condition of the soul. As these different Hells vary, so they are suited for the souls of spirits according to the defilement of soul.

I see that you are not just in condition to write or to receive my thoughts, and I will not write more. But I will come soon and write fully on these matters. So with the hope that soon you will be able to take my message, I will say good night.

Paul