John Writes that Men or Prophets Cannot Tell What Will Happen Centuries Ahead.

March 10, 1918
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, John.

I see that you are in a much better condition tonight and that your soul is more in harmony with the spirits of the higher spheres, and we could write now, but your hand and arm are tired, and this is a matter that we always consider and try not to cause you any unnecessary fatigue.

Other spirits are here tonight, hoping that they might have written, but under the circumstances they will not. The Master is here also, and says that he will not attempt to write tonight as he intended, but will soon come and deliver a message.

I am glad that you are feeling so much better spiritually and physically, and I feel that you will continue to do so. So pray more to the Father and turn your thoughts to spiritual things, and you will find a wonderful happiness that even the worries of your daily life cannot take from you.

(John responds to questions asked by Mr. Padgett.)

No, emphatically. And those who believe that there ever lived such mortals are greatly mistaken. The highest of us spirits cannot know or foretell the future in the sense in which the seers and prophets are supposed to have done in the centuries of which the Old Testament wrote.

No man, whether in the flesh or in the spirit, ever has the omniscience of the Father and to foretell what will happen centuries ahead is a power that belongs only to the Father. So that all the attempted application of prophecies as contained in the Bible to the happenings, or future happenings of the present day, are futile and without any justification. Man must depend upon the condition and acts of this day to determine what will happen in the short time that some expect the world to last.

What a position for them to take, when we, who live so close to the Father, cannot possibly know. All this, of course, refers to the material affairs of men in their lives on earth. As to spiritual things, we can tell what the future of each man or nations of men will be if certain conditions are observed or not observed.

Well, I will write you on this subject when the opportunity presents itself. I will not write more now. With all my love and the blessings of the Father I will say good night.

Your brother in Christ,
John