Mary Kennedy Writes that Dr. Leslie R. Stone's Parents and Sisters are Now Living in the Celestial Heavens

June 10, 1920
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Mary.

Let me write a few lines to my dear one, as you disappointed me when he was last here. I thought that certainly you were going to let me write and when you did not, I just couldn't help telling Helen that you were real mean, but you know I did not mean it - for you have been very kind to both the Doctor and myself. So I hope you will not feel bad, because of what I said. You see, we are not very different here from what we were on earth when something interferes with our love-making.

I noticed also a side remark of Helen, and I want to say that she was only jealous of me or very antagonistic for me to write. Of course, she did not know what I was going to write about and I will prove it!

Well, the Doctor knows how much I love him and I know how much he loves me, and it is not always necessary to write of this, but thinking of my messages, I believe I do always say something of love and I am glad of it.

But last night when he was with you, I wanted to say something else and I will tell you now what it is. I know that he is much interested in the progress of his own folks and their happiness. I wanted to tell him that his father and sisters are in the Celestial Spheres and know to the extent that this makes their certainty of immortality and a home in the Father's house that can never be taken from them. His father has been so very earnest in his prayers and longings for the Love that it came to him in such abundance that he found himself an inhabitant of the Celestial Spheres where his mother is, and Kate is with them. So that now we are all safe in the shelter of the Father's Love and know that forever and ever, we will abide in the Heavens of the Father. We are all so glad, that we had a regular old-fashioned love feast and praised God for His goodness and mercy.

I have been with Leslie a great deal lately and feel that he, too, is getting more of this Love in his soul, and if he could fully realize what it means, he would feel like shouting as the old Methodists sometimes do. I sometimes wonder at what all this means, and why we should be privileged to possess this Love and have the corresponding happiness; and this I know, that no matter how much men are disappointed in the earth life or spirits in the spirit world, the Father never disappoints them who long for the Love that is free for all, but how few realize what this freedom means. Only those whose Love from God enters and takes possession of the soul can have a possible realization of what God's free Love means.

I am so glad that day by day this knowledge is coming to my soulmate. And when I say knowledge, I mean something more than a mere intellectual knowledge. This latter, of course, is necessary, but it is not the knowledge that comes to the soul.

Tell the Doctor to pray more and more and believe with all his soul that there is no limit to the inflowing of the Divine Love to become his. I have written enough for tonight and notwithstanding Helen's remarks, I am going to tell him that I love him with all my heart and soul and will never leave him until the time comes for him to join me, and not then, of course.

I thank you very much for permitting me to write tonight, and you must believe that I love you as a sister, and would not for all the world call you hard names or make you feel that I am not your true, loving sister. His parents send their love to him and the assurance that they are helping him with all their powers and love. Good night and God bless you both, and in the end lead you to one of the glorious mansions that are waiting for you.

Your true friend and the only true love of the Doctor.
Mary

Mary Kennedy Writes of Her Happiness that Dr. Leslie R. Stone Now Has a Picture of Her

March 24, 1920
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Mary.

Let me write, as I am very anxious to say a word to my beloved. I listened to his mother as she wrote on the photographs and felt that, while what she said was true and must be believed, yet I could not feel satisfied until I could write him of the happiness that I have in the knowledge that he has a picture of me, though not a satisfactory one, so far as I am concerned. But, yet, he has one and will not now have to depend entirely upon his imagination to conceive what his soulmate may look like! If I could only have appeared to him as I really am, or to an extent, at least, that he could see without any inconvenience, I would feel so much happier and the more satisfied.

I love him so much that I could not restrain myself from writing, and I asked Helen to impress you to take the pencil in hand and give me the opportunity; and as she is in such rapport with you, I knew that she could succeed in causing you to do as I wished. I am very grateful and can only repay you by throwing around you my best influence and helping you whenever possible.

Oh, the wonder of it all, and how thankful I am to the Father that one little insignificant spirit such as I am, viewing all the hosts of spirits by whom we are surrounded, can enjoy such a blessing! Tell him that he must try to appreciate our privilege also, for it is the cause of a happiness that very few, comparatively, possess.

I am now in the Celestial Spheres, higher than he can imagine, and yet I have these pleasures of joy and bliss to come to him and tell him of my love and enjoy his presence. What a wonderful thing the soulmate love is and how it makes a spirit who possesses the Divine Love happier, in that it has a knowledge that this love of ours is not inconsistent with the Father's Love, and is the object of the approbation of the real, true Father. So you see, He is not a jealous God, as so many believe, but is anxious that all His children shall love and enjoy those things that He has provided for them, the least of which is not the soulmate love.

You have been very kind, and I will not write more now, only to say how much I love him and want him to be happy. Helen is here and says she will write you and tell you of her love and the things that await you when you come to the spirit world.

Your sister in Christ,
Mary Kennedy

Jesus Writes that People Who Believe in the "New Thought" are on the Wrong Track

June 15, 1919
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Jesus.

Let me write just a line for I desire to tell you that I was with you tonight at the convention of the New Thought people, and saw the impression made upon you by the discourses, and am pleased that what they said only confirmed your faith in our teachings. They are sincere in their efforts to obtain a knowledge of the truth, but the difficulty is, that while they are free from many of the orthodox teachings of the church, yet they have only the natural love and perceptions of the intellect, and to some extent, of the awakened soul in its natural condition.

They know nothing of the Divine Love or the way to the true Kingdom, and are depending entirely upon the spiritual feelings that come to them with the consciousness of an awakened soul, in its conflict with the things that prevent its purification and development into the perfect man.

These people are to be encouraged in their efforts and teachings so far as they disclose the true natural condition of man and the possibility of his becoming in harmony with the will of the Father in their natural love, and to that extent they are progressing beyond the old orthodox ideas of what the real man is, and what is incumbent upon him in order to get into the condition of happiness that comes with a purification of his love, and a longing in harmony with the laws of God governing that purification.

It is to be wished that these men will proceed in their teachings and thus give to mankind a knowledge of what man really is, and the possibilities that lie before him when he exercises the inherent powers that exist within. For concerning sin and inharmony, until the great truths of the New Birth and the transformation of the soul and the wonderful Kingdom of the Celestial Spheres are made known to men through our teachings of these things, these greater truths which lie beyond the knowledge of men at this time will not be his.

In their search for God, they are on the wrong track and will never find him, if they pursue the search in the way indicated by their discourses. God is not within men, nor do they live and move and have their being in Him, nor is He everywhere, waiting to be developed by men as they grow better and purer. No, they are mistaken in their thought as to God and His habitation and will learn when they come into a knowledge of the truth, that God is not in man or in everything that surrounds him, but is separate from him and from the environments in which they live and move and has His locality in the Highest Heavens, where He works out his purposes, and makes Himself and the evidence of His existence known to men by the energies that control the universe in which men exist. He can only be seen by the soul perceptions of a soul that has been transformed into the Divine Angel; to men in every other particular He is unseen and unknown, except as His laws and the effect of their operation disclose His being.

Well, I merely wanted to write this short message, and I am glad that you can receive it. Good night.

Your brother and friend,
Jesus

Jesus Writes About God and His Personality

April 7, 1919
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Jesus.

Let me write a few lines. I see that you were much interested in what the preacher (Dr. Swain) said tonight about God and His personality, and that you gave him several questions, which he could not answer. This must be expected, for to men is not given ordinarily a true conception of God, or who or what He is, and only by the development of their souls by the Divine Love can they obtain any conception of His being. As their souls thus develop, they become a part of His Divinity, and their soul perceptions become opened up to a realization of who God is, to a small degree at least, and then they know that He is something more than an all enveloping energy, supplemented by a purposeful will.

The preacher has not these soul perceptions and cannot conceive of God, the Soul, but can only express to you the truthfulness of the evidences of God's existence, such as the energy that he spoke of.

As you know, this energy is His Spirit, although the preacher has not the exact conception of what this Spirit is or how it operates. He confuses the soul and spirit, and makes the mere instrument by or with which God expresses His energy to be the real true substance of God, the Soul. He is right when he says that he cannot go back of this energy to find God, for his soul perceptions have not yet been awakened to a cognition of that from which the energy proceeds, or which is the very source from which flows all the manifestations that, to his mind, constitute God.

He is like the theologians and philosophers, who believe that these manifestations and energies and forces are the only God, the only personal God; and he may be shocked to hear that his teachings amount to only this. But it is true, and to him there is no more personal God than to the others, with this exception; that he attempts to believe that in some manner and in some way connected with this energy, there is a Will which has in it a purpose of love or kindness or fatherly care; but the real personal God, with his Great Soul of Love which is being always bestowed upon the individual man, he does not conceive of or make his own.

God is Soul, and only Soul, which has in it all the attributes of Love and wisdom and thought for the welfare of His creatures. He is a thinking and seeing God, and all the energies of His Soul are used to make men better and happier. As is the natural father of the man a personal father, so is the Great Soul of God, a Personal Father to all His children; and men when they have the development of their souls in the Divine Love will know that God is personal - something more than an all enveloping energy or force or mere manifestation of His existence.

The preacher says, in substance, that God is everywhere, and His presence may be realized by all who are willing to receive that manifestation, and that whether they are or not willing, that presence exists just the same. This is pantheism, toned down a little by his beliefs in a more personal God, but still pantheism, and wholly wrong and violative of God's being.

The source of things can never be the things themselves, although the things as they flow from the source have some of the qualities of the source itself, and so these manifestations of God's existence, while they are of His qualities, yet they are not equivalent of His presence or the source from which they flow. God is not everywhere, but in His Heavens, and all these expressions of His powers and will and energies are merely evidences that there is a source from which they all come, and they are not that source itself.

And again, the preacher said that God created the body of man and not the spirit, as he calls it, meaning the soul, so that the body is a creation by itself and cannot contain in it the spirit or the spirit body, but that this spirit is outside of the human body and is, in a general way, a part of one Great Spirit that is universal and everywhere and that, therefore, all men, no matter what their conditions may be in the earth life or in the eternity part of life, are brothers, and God is the Father of them all.

Well in this the preacher is mistaken, for every man has his own individual spirit and soul, and on the state or condition of that soul depends the happiness or misery of the man; and he is merely the brother of other men because he is a creature of God and made in his image, and not because he is a part of the universal spirit, which the preacher believes permeates everything and exists everywhere. And God is the Father, because these children are His creatures, the objects of His creation, and individualized, each working out his own destiny. As we have told you, some of these children will always remain the merely created children, while others will partake of His Divine Love and become a part of His divinity and inhabitants of the Celestial Spheres.

The preacher has many things to learn, and as he believes in the search for the truth, if he will let the Divine Love flow into his heart and transform his soul into the very essence and substance of the Father's divinity, he will be able to learn many things spiritual as well as of things material are governed by law, and unless the soul gets into a condition that enables it to see and realize the higher truths of the spirit world, it can never obtain knowledge of things spiritual, and one of the objects of such knowledge is God.

Well, I have written enough and will stop. With my love, I will say good night.

Your brother and friend,
Jesus

Abraham Lincoln Writes on How Man Can Come into Harmony with the Laws that Govern Him as the Created Man, Without Obtaining the Divine Love

March 13, 1919
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Abraham Lincoln.

Let me write a few lines tonight as you are in good condition to receive my message. Well, I see that you have been thinking a great deal about spiritual things and have longed for the Love of the Father, and by such thoughts and longings, you have come unto a condition that enables the spirits to make a rapport with you.

Tonight, I desire to write for a short time on the subject of how important it is for man to learn the truths of God in reference to the plan which He has prescribed for man's salvation, and his coming into harmony with the laws that govern him as the created man.

As you have been told, in the beginning man was created perfect and in all the constituent parts of his being made in harmony with God's laws controlling man as a perfect creature, and if he had never disobeyed the precepts of the Father, he would have always remained the perfect man.

Now this condition of man is a fundamental one, and the soul is in itself just as capable of that perfection as it was when created, and only by the sin of disobedience was it alienated from God and made the possessor of those things which tend to contaminate it and cause its pure condition to be overshadowed and dormant as to this perfection.

All of God's universe is perfect and subject to the workings of His perfect laws, and when that condition exists which shows that some one or other of His creatures are not working or being in harmony with these laws, it only means that in order for the restoration to the harmonious existence, man must renounce and get rid of these foreign things that have the effect of interfering with the harmony of His creation.

There is no such thing as total depravity or original sin, or the existence of any condition of the soul in this sin that cannot be remedied by the application of the proper treatment and the removal of the incubus. Man, in order to become perfect again as he was before the fall, is not required to be recreated or have imposed upon him that which will make him a new or different being from what he was in the beginning. The perfect man is still in existence, but is hidden from the sight and consciousness of men, and needs only his revealment by eliminating from him the covering which now hides his real self. Nothing new is needed, but only the riddance of the soul from those things which do not belong to it, and then the soul will appear just as it was created: a perfect soul made in the image of God, but not formed from any portion of the Great Oversoul of the Father.

For a long time now, man has remained in this condition of having his soul covered over by those things that are merely the results of the perversion of his appetites and the animal part of his nature, and it is only by a process of renunciation that these encumbrances can be gotten rid of, and man stand forth a free and glorious being, as he was before the burden of sin came upon him.

In this process, he needs no one to pay any supposed debt to the Father or to make an atonement for him, but he must himself, by his course of thinking, and consequent doing, remove the things that cause him to appear to himself and to others, the outcast from God's favor. And in order to accomplish this, he must first renounce the idea that he is a vile being and not worthy of the favor of the Father, and assert his belief that he, as the man, is the perfect creature of God, and can of himself regain the estate from which he has fallen, and let sin and error be removed from his present apparent existence. In doing this, he will be helped by the spirits of men, who from their own experience know that sin and error has no real existence in the economy of God, but in the living of man on earth, and in the spirit world as well, have a reality that has prevented men from finding their true selves.

The renunciation is not so much a matter of the intellect as it is of the moral nature of man; and he, while he must use his mind and its attributes in working out this renunciation, yet must try earnestly, and certainly use the moral faculties of his nature; for the perversions of these faculties are the foundation of his present condition of sin and error. This renunciation may take a long time to be accomplished, as men look upon time, but it will finally come to pass, and the harmony of God's universe will be restored. But in the meantime, men will suffer, for this renunciation is always accompanied by suffering, not so much as a necessary ingredient or penalty of the renunciation, but as a consequence of the changing of men's wills and desires in the process of reaching again the condition of the perfect man.

I will stop now, as the rapport has ceased, but will come again. Good night, I am your friend and well wisher.

Lincoln

**********

Helen comments on Abraham Lincoln's message on man's progress in his natural love.

I am here, your own true and loving Helen.

Well, dear, you have had a communication tonight from Lincoln, who thinks it advisable to write you as he did. He is now in the Celestial Spheres and knows what the Divine Love is, but said he wanted to write you a short message on man as he is, and as he may be; and he has told you just what the condition of man is, and how he is still the perfect man in his true self, and needs only an uncovering to stand forth as the being created in the image of God.

Good night, my dear husband.

Your own true and loving,
Helen

Spinoza Writes About a Medium's Inability to Predict the Future

January 5, 1919
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Spinoza.

Let me write a few lines, as I have not written you for some time and am quite anxious to give some thoughts that may be of benefit to you. I am not one of the spirits who write to you of what they call the higher truths, yet I have a knowledge of some of these truths and believe in all that has been communicated to you, for I know that the spirits who write you are of the Celestial Spheres possessed of knowledge that we, who live in the spirit spheres, do not possess.

Well, I merely want to say a few words in reference to the predictions, which you heard tonight, and as regards the source of the same. As you know, the woman is a medium gifted with the power of clairvoyance and inspirational receptivity and on many occasions, she perceives and receives some of the truths of the spirit world, and some of the persons whom she professes to see. Her communicants, though, are not of a very high order of development and she, herself, could not see the highly developed spirits, because the Law of Communication and Rapport applies to her phases of mediumship just as it does to yours. She is a very good woman morally with some temperamental defects and attracts spirits of moral worth and conditions, and her guides are in the condition that enables them to live in the brighter spheres, yet not having much spiritual development.

She professes to declare the predictions of her spirit friend, G____, as to what the future for the ensuing year will be in the experience of men and nations. Well, she has such a control, and he is a very intelligent spirit, and to some extent inspires her with his ideas of what the future holds out to mankind, and she with more or less exactness declare his thoughts as they are impressed upon her mind. But in connection with these thoughts, she incorporates thoughts of her own, believing that they are inspired also, but such is not the fact, though, possibly, these thoughts furnish as good grounds for the predictions as do the thoughts of her control.

I do not believe, at least I have never had it demonstrated to me, that any spirit can make truthful predictions, such as the medium expressed tonight; for spirits have not the powers of omniscience and are as dependent upon the workings of the Law of Cause and Effect as are mortals with this exception, that they can perceive many existing causes that mortals cannot and, hence, because of this knowledge can make predictions of the future happening of effects, that mortals cannot make. Take from spirits the knowledge of these causes and their predictions are merely guesses, which may or may not come true.

As you heard, she declared many things that are problems now existing and the subjects of much thought and study on the part of mortals who give their attention to these matters; and she, as one of them, had her own thoughts and had formed her own conclusions and believed that they were the results of inspiration, whereas they had their foundation in her own mind, arising from her knowledge of and speculations on these things.

The present conditions of the world are such that there exists great probabilities of the happening of many things that the medium predicted, and many persons having knowledge of these conditions will predict, if they be called upon, future occurrences similar to those mentioned by the medium, and if they should happen, it will not be because any spirits know the fact, but because there are causes existing which will necessarily bring them about.

Well, such meetings and such predictions will not do any harm, but, on the contrary, will cause many people to turn their thoughts to spiritual things and to spiritualism, which will tend to liberate their minds from the shackles that are now preventing them from seeking and understanding the truth.

I will not consume more of your time now, but hope to be able to write later. Goodbye, your friend,

Spinoza

**********

Helen confirms Spinoza writing and says that he is a very bright and intelligent spirit.

I am here, Helen.

Well dear, I am sorry that I could not write a while ago, but there were some spirits in trouble who wanted to write, and I did not feel justified in using force to drive them away, though White Eagle would not let them write. We must expect such interferences and abide the results for a while. You understand, I know, and will not think that I did not desire to write.

Well, you have received a letter tonight from a spirit who has written you before, and, as I then told you, he is a very bright and intelligent spirit, but not of the Celestial Spheres, and only knows the truths which came with the development of his soul in natural love. We have tried to help him but have not yet been successful in convincing him that what we tell him is the only way that will lead him to the happiness of the Divine. Yet we expect that sooner or later, he will understand and follow our advice.

Helen

Jesus Writes the Reasons Why He Selected James E. Padgett to do the Work of Receiving the Messages

October 25, 1918
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Jesus.

Well, my dear brother, time is passing and the necessity for the revealing is very apparent, as men are longing and waiting for that which will satisfy the natural cravings of their souls, and which the present religion called Christianity has not in it the qualities to satisfy.

I am pleased that you are in so much better condition, and that your Love is again becoming active and awakened and operating upon the qualities of your brain so that a rapport can be made, as recently explained to you by John in his message. And here I desire to impress upon you the necessity and desirability of your understanding thoroughly the truths set forth in that message, and of meditating upon the same and making a personal application of what is therein written.

I would like very much to deliver a message dealing with spiritual truth tonight, but do not think that your condition is such as will enable me to take possession of your brain and control the same that the qualities and truths of my message demands, and so I will not attempt to write the message, but, instead, will advise you somewhat upon the way in which you must think and act in order to perfect the condition which you must possess that the rapport may be made.

John has told you to pray often to the Father so that the Love may become more abundant and your soul become permeated with it, and to think thoughts of spiritual things, until by such thinking your brain may become, as it were, infused with these thoughts and thereby receive those qualities that will make its conditions similar to the conditions of the minds of the spirits who may wish to form a union with your brain and convey through it the truths that are waiting to be delivered.

And I confirm what John has written and, in addition, say that your praying must be more frequent so that the soul may be freed from the condition that the existence in it, of thoughts not spiritual, be established. You need not wait for occasions or opportunities to formally pray but all during the day and evening let your longings for the Love ascend to the Father. A long prayer, or even one formulated into words, is not necessary, as in order to have the longing it is not necessary that words should be used to give it form. The longing may be rapid as unformed thought, and as effective for the Father to catch, as I may say, the longing is quicker than the thought, and the answer to the same will come with as much certainty and Love as if you were to put the longing into the most exact form.

Prayers of this kind ascend to the Father and are heard and answered and, by a law of your relationship to the Father, affect the qualities of the brain in the way of preparing it for the union with the spiritual thoughts of the spirits who desire to write, as I have stated. Your thoughts of spiritual things or of the truths of the spirit world, as they have already been revealed to you, and especially those which pertain to the love and mercy of the Father, and to His will, in their passing and operating, also affect the qualities of the brain so as to produce the condition which is so necessary for our rapport.

It may be surprising to you that this condition is required in the brain of a human and also the development of the soul, which really produces the condition, in order that a rapport may be made so that the spiritual truths may be delivered; and, also, surprising that you have been selected from all the men on earth in whom this condition and development shall be made. And it may be more surprising to know that it is true.

There are certain qualities in your constitution, both spiritual and material, that render you susceptible to the influence of our powers and to the use by us for the purpose of our design and work, which determines one to choose you for the work in the way in which I and the other high spirits have heretofore used you, and it may seem strange to you that in all the long ages preceding, I have not found one human with the qualification to fit him for the work.

I have used others before, but they have failed to submit their minds and souls and beliefs and forethoughts to our influence and directions as you have so far done. Many humans have the qualified conditions of spiritual and material make up to perform our wishes and work, but as they all have free wills, which we cannot compel, and as circumstances and environments and education and beliefs are elements which affect and determine the possibility of our finding an instrument suitable for our purposes, we have not been able to find a medium who was qualified to be used for our work.

You, of course, understand that you were not selected because of any special goodness or freedom from sin, or because you were more beloved by the Father, or naturally, and I mean according to your course of living, by reason of any spiritual condition that you were in, for there were many superior to you in goodness and more in at-onement with the will of the Father, and whose love and the results therefrom, were more perfect than yours. So you will realize that you were not selected because of any special spiritual merits possessed by you.

As you have been told, all things in the spirit world, as well as on earth, are controlled by immutable laws, and all spirits as well as mortals are subject to those laws. The Law of Rapport and Communication must be complied with spirits, no matter how much elevated, and also by humans, and no spirit, by reason of the possession of any supposed power can set aside this law. But while spirits have not this power, yet they may have such knowledge of conditions that they can discern what qualities in the condition of a human are susceptible to the influence, and molding by the spirits, so that as a result thereof, the law may be brought into operation.

And this briefly will explain to you why I selected you as my medium and mouthpiece. For know this, that for a long time I have been endeavoring to influence and mold your mind and beliefs, so that your soul might become developed in such a way that conditions might be formed that would enable us to make a rapport that would permit of our controlling your brain to convey these messages of truth. You were naturally a medium and, for ordinary purposes, it was not difficult for the spirits to control and communicate through you the truths of the spirit world, which are not of a nature such as I and others have communicated in reference to the soul spheres and the relationship of God to man in the higher spiritual sense. As you read John's message you will the better understand what I intend to explain at this point.

There is another phase to all this, more personal to you, and this is that while we have been developing you for the purpose of doing our work and helping make effective our mission, your soul, as you, has been developed in its spiritual nature and you have become in closer union with the Father and have partaken to a large extent of His Love and, to a degree, been transformed into his essence, so that you have become a very different entity from what you were when your development for our purpose commenced; and, as a consequence, you will derive all the benefits that flow from an experience such as you have had.

You are now one of us in the progress towards the fountainhead of the Father's Love and have taken on a part of his immortality, and it depends only upon yourself how rapid your progress shall be towards a complete transformation such as spirits who are inhabitants of the Celestial Spheres possess. You need not wait until you come to the spirit world in order to make a rapid progression, although it will be more difficult for you to progress while in the flesh, as you understand, but wonderful progress may be made while in the flesh, and you have been told the secret of this progress.

And I will further say that you have a closer association with spirits that are nearer the Father and more possessed of His Essence and substance than have any humans of earth at this time. To you this may seem extravagant and improbable, but I declare to you that it is as true that I and many spirits who come to you and write are in the Celestial Spheres of God's immortality.

Well, I have written a long time and you are somewhat tired. Remember my advice and pray often and earnestly, if but for a moment, and the condition will be yours and we will come and continue our revealments.

With my love and blessing, I am, your brother and friend,
Jesus

Stainton Moses Writes that His Book "Spirit Teachings" did not Contain the Truth of the "New Birth" as taught by Jesus

September 14, 1918
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Stainton Moses.

Let me say a word. I have been present as you read the book called "Spirit Teachings" and saw that while many of the statements therein contained are in accord with the knowledge that you have of spirit matters, yet, that there is wanting the one great truth of the New Birth as it has been explained to you by the Master and other high spirits.

Well, you must not, on account of the fact that this truth is not alleged and explained by the spirits who wrote the messages that you have been reading, assume that these spirits were not of a higher order, or that they are wanting in the knowledge of many truths that the book portrays as to the relationship of spirit to man and man to God, and his future destiny. No, these spirits were real and genuine and taught truths as they understood them. They were limited in their knowledge by the amount of the progress which they had made in things spiritual and in attempting to teach, they were honest and declared only those things that they believed to be true.

Many of the truths that they declared are of vast importance and necessary for men to know in order to their own salvation. They show the way to the condition of the perfect man, and the struggles, and sufferings, and sacrifices that spirits will have to make in order to arrive at this condition, are not overdrawn, but on the contrary are merely the outlines of what will be necessary for men and spirits to undergo in order to become the perfect man or spirit.

These spirits have since the time of the writings learned of this formation of the soul into an Essence Divine by reason of the possession of the Divine Love and, hence, could not use their medium in making known this great means of perfect salvation to mankind.

These spirits have since the time of the writings learned of this truth and are now progressing towards the Celestial Spheres, which can be obtained only by the means of the Divine Love. You will notice in the teachings many expressions that are erroneous, and solely because the writers did not know to the contrary; but this fact must not cause you to believe that many other things which they teach are not true, for outside of and independent of this truth of the Divine Love and what it means to men and spirits, the teachings are true and should be believed.

I write this that you may not doubt the genuineness of the writings, or think that the same were not made by the spirits who professed to write. These spirits had a mission to perform and were earnestly endeavoring to acquaint the medium, and, through him, the world with the truths and the necessity of meditating upon the same and ceasing to be satisfied with the oldtime beliefs, which were so erroneous and misleading and harmful, as the spirits declared.

I have an enlarged knowledge of the things that pertain to the spirit world, and to the true plan of salvation as established by the Father, and have experienced the possession of the Divine Love and its operations and effect upon the souls of men, and how sufficient it is to relieve men from the sufferings and penalties of their sins that they would have to endure or undergo, were this Love not open and free for them to obtain.

I have that Love to a degree that has made me an Angel of the Celestial Spheres and a possessor of that immortality that was unknown to men when I lived on earth, and also unknown to the spirits who communicated the writings which you have been reading. They taught a part only of the truth of salvation and regeneration, and that the lesser part in importance, but the one which the large majority of men will know of and obtain, only.

I thought that I would write this to you, for I saw that you were very much interested in the "Teachings," and had in mind the question as to whether these spirits who wrote were acquainted with the great truth. And I am very happy that I am permitted to write, for I do not want those who have read and believe these writings to rest upon the assurance that the same contain all of truth, and that there is no other way to Heaven and happiness, except that set forth in these writings. It is so important that all of truth should become known to men, and the opportunity given to them to seek and find the great way to immortality and bliss.

I will not write more now, but sometime in the future, I should like to come and write further with reference to these matters. I thank you for your kindness in receiving this imperfect communication and will only say further, that the Divine Love and the New Birth and the Celestial Heavens where the Master is forming his kingdom, are truths, vital and unchangeable, and the desideratum of the happiness of mankind.

I will say good night, and while a stranger to you, yet, can subscribe myself, your brother in Christ,

Stainton Moses, the medium

Mary Kennedy Writes that No Other Love Exists in the Celestial Spheres Except Divine Love and Soulmate Love

May 1, 1918
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Mary Kennedy.

I will write a few lines if you will consent, and I know you will, for Helen says that you receive so many letters of love and encouragement from her, that you are wholly sympathetic whenever other soulmates desire to write to their other halves on earth, and especially when I come to write to mine, and Helen knows and never tells me an untruth except when she is trying to plague or tease me.

Well, I am very glad that I can write once more to Leslie (R. Stone), for it has been a long time, as it seems to me, since I wrote him, and I believe that he thinks so, too. I know that he is interested in me all the time, for the reason that I know he loves me, and where loves enter there can be no want of interest, and so it must be.

I am very happy and am progressing all the time in my soul qualities and in my position in the soul spheres where only the Divine Love exists, except the other love which belongs only to soulmates. Since I have become an inhabitant of the Celestial Spheres and realized what an absorbing thing the Divine Love is, I wonder that I can have so much of this soulmate love as I do, when I realize the fact, and know, that no other love exists in our spheres except the Divine Love and our soulmate love.

No love of mother or father, or any other love that belonged to the relationship of the human life has any place in our existence or happiness, for spirits cease to have brothers and mothers and other relations, but all are as one great brotherhood, whose nearness and unity depends upon the amount of the Divine Love that enters into the souls of the respective spirits, and in this, the Divine Love is different from our soulmate love in that the former is of one nature and substance, though possessed by spirits in different degrees, and is of the same quality and may be possessed by the souls of spirits alike, while the latter belongs only to the two soulmates, and no other spirit can enter into or possess any portion of that love which belongs to the two soulmates alone.

I often think of this fact and how good is the Father in giving us this Great Love which we partake of in common with all other spirits, yet, let us have this soulmate love all to ourselves. This may, at first, seem to partake of the element of selfishness, but it is not, because, while one of the two souls can and does have it, yet, no other soul is thereby deprived of any love that would make them unhappy or that would afford them any greater happiness. It is not selfishness but merely the possession of that which in itself makes the love of the two individual.

Now, from what I have said you must not infer that when we become inhabitants of the Celestial Spheres all the loves that were ours when on earth by reason of our human relationship are not with us, for it would not be true to make such an inference. The explanation is that the objects and the place of existence of the objects of our loves, determines whether we continue to have this love of the human relationship. If our parents or brothers or sisters, or others having a relationship whom we loved when on earth, continue to live in the flesh, or even in the lower spheres of the spirit world, then our earth love, as I may call it, remains with us, and our dear ones are just as much, or to a greater degree loved than when we were on earth or in the lower spheres; and out of that love grows our desire to help and influence for good our relatives.

But when these relatives become with us inhabitants of the Celestial Spheres, where the Divine Love is the Great Love belonging to us all, then, the love that is possessed by reason of being relatives one to another, leaves us and has no influence. As long as you remain mortals, we love you as parents or children or other relatives, but when you come with us to the Celestial Heavens, there remains no reason why such love should continue, for this Divine Love is sufficient for all and supersedes these other loves.

Well, I love my Leslie, and I will love him for and through all eternity because I know that he will come to me in my home and be united, his soul to mine. I am with him a great deal and my love for him never dies down or ceases to exercise its influence upon his soul and never will so long as we remain separated, which will not continue very long, as we who are in eternity view it. I have written too long already and must stop. But I want to tell him that he has his angels around and with him very much, and he is never left alone. When he prays, as I know he does, we are all with him praying to the Father for a greater inflowing of His Love into my dear one's soul.

Oh, how I wish that I could tell him of the extent of my love and what it means to him, and how much I want all the love that he can give me. He must think of me and keep up his courage and faith in the truths that have come to him, for he will never be disappointed in that faith or in the expectations that come from it. Good night, my dear one.

Your own loving,
Mary

Auguste Comte, a French Philosopher. Writes His Testimony of Progressing in the Natural Love

February 1, 1918
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Auguste Comte.

I am not one of those spirits who come to you and prate about the New Birth and the Divine Love and the Celestial Spheres, but am simply a spirit who believes what can be known from observation and the exercise of the reasoning faculties. I have been in spirit life for a great many years and am in a sphere of light and have much happiness and enjoy the life of an investigator of truth.

When on earth, I was known as a free thinker and by some as an agnostic and, consequently, was not very popular, except among a number who thought as I did, and who were what was considered followers of me in my beliefs and doctrines as regards the purposes of man's creation and his functions and duties on earth.

I believed and taught that the great duty and object of his creation were the exercise of good deeds and the offering of the greatest help to humanity in its living the life on earth. That humanitarianism was the great and vital religion of man on earth, and the only god to be worshipped was the god of human kindness and help, and that any and all other gods were the mere creatures of superstition and without real existence and of no benefit to mankind. There were a number of persons who believed and lived in that belief and endeavored to have it guide and control them in their course of living just as I did, and there are numbers on earth who believe and make such belief their religion.

I do not dispute the future existence of the soul, or that man should have a continuous progression during eternity, and finally reach a condition of happiness and perfection that would render unnecessary the application of the doctrines of humanitarianism that was so necessary while mortals.

And I have found since coming to the spirit world that my beliefs and teachings are filled with truth and have resulted in great benefit to me and to numbers of others who carried out to the best of their ability the Golden Rule of: "Doing unto others as they would have others do unto them."

Many of my associates of life are with me here, and we have a comparatively joyous congregation of souls engaged in the work of helping spirits who come to the spirit world not knowing their destiny, or what is before them in the way of living or thinking.

When I came to this world, I entered the planes of darkness and some suffering and had to work with all the efforts of my mind to make progress out of that condition by the exercise of thoughts of benevolence and the doing of good to those spirits whom I found that I could help. My state of freedom from those things that partook of sin was what determined my progress and for a long time I made very slow advancement towards the higher planes of thought and condition of purity.

But I realized that within me was that which was better than I had known or realized while on earth, and that if I should get rid of those things which kept that better part of me from developing, I would progress and so I struggled to get rid of these things and have myself become the master of the situation. I found that these contaminating things, which were really the creations of my mortal animal desires and appetites, were not a legitimate part of myself, and that I was not a true philosopher by permitting them to linger with me and for, to my deception, a part of myself - the undesirable part - and so I fought to banish them from my knowledge and recollections, and as I succeeded in these efforts, I found that I was advancing in light and truth and in harmony with what was pure and good.

I did not ask the help of any mediator to rescue me from my condition of darkness in some mysterious way, or pray to God to take me from my surroundings by means of some omnipotent power that He might exercise in my behalf. I was helped by other spirits who had advanced higher than I, but that help consisted of their advice and the encouragement that came to me when I perceived by their bright appearances and happier conditions that it was possible for me to advance also, as they assured me that they had been in my condition, and that by good thoughts and their efforts to help others, they had been enabled to forget and throw aside those things that caused their state of darkness and suffering. Yes, their advice and influence helped me very much to help myself. I realized the fact that, notwithstanding the help of others, upon myself principally depended the success of effort and the success of advancement.

So, as a spirit who has had the experience that I have related, I would advise all men to examine themselves and learn what is the cause of their condition of darkness and unhappiness, and then seek the means of ridding themselves of this cause, and if they will honestly make the effort they will succeed and become better and happier men.

There is no question that the temptations of the animal appetites and desires to accumulate those things that bring to them selfishness and greed and the want of charity and human sympathy, will prevent them from progressing in the development of the better part of themselves and keep it stagnant and retard its advancement; and men should know this and bend all their energies to curb these appetites and replace these desires with desires to help and serve their fellow men, and let their sympathy and love go out in active works of good to their brothers, for all men are brothers, even in the mortal life though to many it may not be apparent; but in the spirit life, it comes as a truth to all, for as each spirit becomes developed in his better part, spirits as a whole become developed, and a more universal happiness ensues.

Well, I have written a long time tonight and as this is the first time that I have ever tried to communicate to a mortal, I am some little tired, as you mortals say, and will stop. When on earth I was known as Auguste Comte and lived in France. I have no name here and need none.

Well, I have heard what you said and am a little surprised to hear you make the assertion that you do, but I have no pride of superior or exclusive knowledge and while I doubt that you can demonstrate what you say, yet I am willing to have you make the experiment, and will enter it with an open and unprejudiced mind, and only hope that you may be able to show me a way better than the one I have pursued.

I have never seen or conversed with spirits of the Celestial Heavens, though I have been informed that there are such; but as, when on earth, I did not believe in ghosts, so here, I have not believed in these Celestial Spirits, and thought that they were merely creations of the distorted imaginations of the spirits who told me of the existence of these Celestial beings. You must not be surprised when I ascribe to some of the spirits distorted imaginations, for there are many such spirits just as there are mortals on earth with distorted imaginations. The fact of being in the body does not confine distorted imaginations and diseased minds to the earth life only. Yes, I am ready to meet your Celestial Spirit.

There comes to me a beautiful, bright spirit, such as I have never seen before, who says that he has answered your call and is ready to perform the work of love of showing me the easier and better way to development, and it depends on me whether I will learn that way or not, and if I am willing, he will teach me. Well, I am surprised, I confess! I will go with him and learn all that he can teach me. I will come again.

Good night.
Auguste Comte

**********

Helen comments on spirit who wrote and went with Prof. Salyards.
   
I am here, your own true and loving Helen.

Well, dear, I had some difficulty because of spirits who wished and tried to write, but White Eagle succeeded in inducing them to desist and I then took control. I am glad that you are feeling better tonight and I was expecting that John would write, but conditions are not just favorable and he did not stay. You must make the effort to get in condition, so that he can make the rapport as he desires so much to finish his message.

The spirit who wrote you I never saw before, but he appeared to be a very bright and sincere spirit and desirous of learning anything possible to learn. He has no soul development in the Divine Love and I know that he will be interested in what shall be told him. He went with Prof. Salyards and was much impressed at the appearance of the Professor and his kindly invitation to go with him. I hope that he may learn the Way. I will not write more tonight. So, sweetheart, say good night.

Rev. Fontaine Writes of His Experience of Passing into the Spirit World and the Results of His False Beliefs

July 1, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

Let me say only a few words as I am anxious to write and tell you that I was with you tonight on your last visit to the home of my son (Mr. Fontaine), and was hoping that the opportunity would present itself for me to write; but, as you know, I was disappointed, and I know that my daughter was also, for she expected that in the event that you should call at her brother's home, she would be able to get a communication from me.

As I could not write there, I thought I would accompany you home in hope that I might write, as I am now doing, for I heard you say that you had received a letter from your wife every night, and if that should happen tonight, that I might have the chance to write.

Well, I want my daughter to know that I approve of her searching for the truth, which she may find in spiritualism, if properly sought for; and, notwithstanding that some of my family do not believe in it and treat it with indifference or disbelief, yet, in it many truths may be found. It is a truth itself and is waiting for mortals to investigate and learn that it is true, and that in it are those truths that will lead them to much greater happiness than they now have on earth, and infinitely more than they can possibly find should they come to the spirit world without a knowledge of these truths.

As they, I mean my family, know that I was a strict orthodox and believed in the teachings of the Bible as the church to which I belonged taught, and which I, myself, taught, and died firmly established in that belief, and came into the spirit world wholly impregnated with this belief, expecting to meet Jesus and be admitted to the presence of God; and, according to my beliefs, I was justified in having such expectation. But, alas, how different was my experience when I left the mortal world and how my expectations shattered in a moment, as it were!

As my spirit left my body, I was fully conscious of the change that was taking place, and knew that I was dying, but was perfectly calm and without a particle of fear. I suffered no pain, or dread of what I should meet, but rather felt a happy expectation in the thought that my troubles of the earth life were past forever, and that soon I would be at rest and find my home among the chosen children of God and have Jesus welcome me and take me in his arms of love.

All the expectations that I possessed before my passing were with me, and much accentuated, and no doubt of my realizing the same for a moment entered my mind to disturb my hopes. I also expected to meet my loved ones who had gone before and enjoy the happiness of their presence and purified condition of soul.

Well, I soon found myself a spirit, dissevered from my body, possessed of joy and, as mortals say, lighter than air. Figuratively speaking, I seemed to be walking on air with nothing to interfere with my ascension to the bright realm where I expected to find my beloved ones and the Christ of my beliefs and love.

I hardly realized my separation from my body before some of my loved ones met me, and welcomed me with love and cheer, and told me that they were so happy that I had come over, and that I must not be afraid or doubt that I was then an inhabitant of the spirit world.

I could scarcely tell you how happy I was and how the memories of the cares and burdens of my earth life left me, and how I seemed to be in an atmosphere of love and heavenly joy. The meeting with them was more than I had anticipated, and I thought how it had not entered into my mind when on earth to conceive of the beauty and grandeur of the spirit home, which Jesus had said he was in Heaven preparing for all those who believed in him, and in the great sacrifice and atonement that he had come to earth to make for men and which he did make.

But soon, I remembered that my great expectation was to see Jesus, and feel the influence of his love, and also, get into the Heaven where the Father was and join with the mighty hosts in singing halleluias and songs of thanksgiving. And I then asked my angel loved ones where Jesus was, and when I should enter into the presence of the Father, and receive His benediction of approval as a faithful and obedient child.

And then, in a loving way and, in a manner to make my disappointment less intense, they told me that Jesus was in the Celestial Spheres, and the Father, they had never seen - that He was a way up in the Spheres where no spirit had yet entered, nor had any spirit seen His face or heard His voice - no matter how exalted and developed that spirit might be. That I was mistaken in my beliefs and that it was only by the development of my soul in Love could I possibly ascend to the Celestial Spheres where the Master was.

That belief in the blood washing or in the vicarious atonement would not fit my soul for the Celestial Spheres, and that only the Divine Love in my soul and the freedom from my erroneous beliefs would enable me to become a possessor of the mansions that Jesus was preparing for those who became in at-onement with the Father. That what they told me was the truth, and that sometime Jesus would tell me the same thing; and while I could not go to his home, yet he frequently came to the earth plane and endeavored to help and comfort spirits who had not the soul Love that enable them to become children of the higher spheres.

Well, you can imagine my astonishment and disappointment and how the nakedness of my beliefs appeared to me! And as I thought of the long life that I had given to the cultivation and establishment of these beliefs and expectations in my own mind, and that I had no other knowledge or hope of salvation, I become doubtful of everything that was told me; and my God became no God, and Jesus, as my saviour, became no longer my saviour, but a man who had deceived me during all the long years of my life; and I became resentful and hardened and refused to believe in anything.

For I thought that, while on earth, I was honest with myself and honest with God, and that when the Bible had been certified to me as God's true revelation, with the certain and only plan of man's salvation, and I had devoutly believed in its plan and endeavored to live the life that entitled me to salvation, thus, as I say, I thought of these things and the realization of my deception made me rebellious, and I almost hated spirits and God.

For a while, I was permitted to indulge in these thoughts without interruption, and then my friends told me that these thoughts were very harmful and would prevent me from learning the true way to salvation and happiness, and that the longer I indulged in my feelings of resentment and thoughts of having been deceived, the greater would be my stagnation in my progress and the darker would become my surroundings.

Very soon they told me that all things in the spirit world were controlled by the unchangeable laws of God, and that these laws required that I should go to the place that my soul's condition fitted me for, and that they would have to leave me for the time being. And they said further, that all the beliefs in all the world will not determine the place in which a newly arrived spirit will have to find its home, unless those beliefs be true; and that the beliefs that I had, and on which I depended for my salvation, were not true.

Well, I found my place, and with it darkness, in which I remained for a long time, refusing to believe what was told me as to the true way to light and happiness, and, just here, I want to say, that it is not an easy thing to lay aside or get rid of the beliefs of a life time on earth, even though the surroundings and disappointment of the spirit show that such beliefs must be false; and that belief - a merely intellectual belief - is a very important factor in determining the temporary destiny of the soul.

I have written a long time and I will not relate in detail how I learned the truth and found the light, and was started on my progress to the higher spheres or how Jesus came to me and showered on me his love and told me of the things that would be mine, if I would only follow his advice. He said that the great stumbling block to the progress of a spirit in its search for the truth and the mansions in the higher spheres is this erroneous and damning belief in his vicarious atonement, etc., and which so many spirits who come to the spirit world bring with them.

I am now very happy and am in the Fifth Sphere, where there are beauty and happiness beyond all conception; and if the opportunity was mine tonight, I would endeavor to give you some faint idea of my home and its surroundings, and of the beautiful spirits who are my associates.

Some day, I know this home will be hers, for she will not have the burdens of the beliefs that I had to overcome. And just here, I must say, that as she knows how very dear she is to me, and how much I, who have so much of this Great Love of the Father in my soul, must love her, she must also know that I would not deceive her for all the world; and knowing this must take my advice and seek for this Great Love of God, which made such a happy spirit of her father. Let these old orthodox beliefs as to the plan of salvation leave her, and pray direct to the Father for His Love, and she will receive all that is necessary for a great earthly happiness and for a joy unspeakable in the spirit world.

I am with her very often in her earthly troubles and try to help and console her, and sometimes I do succeed a little. She must remember that these trials are only for a moment, and then will leave her forever, and that the love and influence which her father is throwing around her will never leave her; and that in that moment which mortals dread the most - I mean of death - her father and other loved ones will be with her and take her in their arms of love, and she will have never a fear or dread as to where she is, for love will be so great that her soul will respond in such a way that all else will be forgotten. So tell my daughter to try to not let her troubles and cares worry her so that she will neglect the presence of the consolation, which we try to bring to her.

Well, I have written as much as I feel that I am justified in doing as your time is needed for others as well, but your wife, who is so good, says that I must not fear that I have consumed too much, for she is always interested in the making known to mortals those things that will make them happy on earth and certain of Heaven.

I should like to say something to my wife, but I see that she is not in condition to receive my message, for she is suffering as I suffered, unconsciously, in the dogmatic beliefs of her church. Oh, if I could only come to her in my appearance of earth and tell her of the errors of her beliefs, and of the truths that have made me free and a true child of the Father, I would do so with the rapidity of light, and with the hope that my love for her would give me. I never loved her on earth as I do now, and when she comes to the spirit world, she will not come a stranger, for a greater love than she has ever conceived of will meet her, and she will know the lover.

Tell my daughter to read what I have written to her mother, and even though her mother will not believe, yet some of the things that I have said will find a lodgment in her memory, which will come with her to the spirit world and help her in her disappointment in not having her expectations realized. And what I have said to you, my daughter, I say to my sons, and urge them to think of these things that are so vital to them as mortals as well as when they become spirits.

Sometime, with your permission, I will come again and write to my folks. So thanking you and with my love to all my dear ones, I will say good night.

Your brother in Christ,
Fontaine

**********

Helen Confirms the Message from the Orthodox Minister

I am here, your own true and loving Helen.

Well dear, you are a little tired and I must not write much. The spirit who wrote you was at the home of his son as he says, for as you know I was there and I saw him there. He came home with you and I told him to write, for I knew that he was very anxious.

He is a very bright spirit and has much of the Love in his soul and is anxious that his wife and children should believe what he wrote. What a privilege they have in having such a father to be with them, and give them the influence of his Love. If mortals could only understand the great fortune of having a dear one in the spirit land who has the amount of Love in his soul that the spirit who wrote you has.

Your own true and loving,
Helen

Swedenborg Writes on Earth He Did Not Know of the Divine Love; Luke and Helen Confirm

April 8, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Swedenborg.

I merely want to say that I have been reading my work as you read, and that I now realize how many statements of error and untruth I made in that work. The errors are so many that it will take a longer time than I have tonight in which to give you a bare outline of them. But I will soon come and write you and hope that you can give me an evening when I can write without limitation of time.

Since I have been in the spirit world, I have found that there are so many statements in my writings of my experiences while in the mortal, when I was permitted in my spirit - or as I then said "interiors" - to enter the spirit world, that were not truly conceived or interpreted, that it is absolutely necessary that I should correct and describe in accordance with what I now know of the truth, and especially is this necessary as I have on earth a large number of mortals who believe in my teachings and are trying to follow them in their lives and deeds. So you will appreciate my anxiety to be permitted to write. Tonight, I will not write more.

Well, I am sorry to say, that I did not know of the Divine Love, which by its reception into the soul made angels of men and recreated them, so that their souls became in their very substance, Divine. I did not know of this Love as contradistinguished from the love that was bestowed upon man at his creation, and which, in itself, has nothing of the Divine. No, I was ignorant of this and never learned it in the spirit world in my visits to that world, nor in my conversation with spirits.

I know now that no matter how great is the ruling love of a man for falsity and evil when he enters the Hells, he will have the opportunity to have that love changed, and that ultimately the loves of all who are in the Hells will be changed into the love for good; in some instances into the Love of the Divine, and in others, to the purification of their natural loves to that which will make them perfect men. These are some of the things that I desire to write about, and there are many others equally erroneous.

I am in the Celestial Spheres and, of course, am an angel of God and the possessor of His Divine Love that has caused my soul to become Divine and immortality to become to me a thing of understanding and possession. I will stop now, and with my love and the blessings of God and all the Divine Angels, I will say good night.

Your brother in Christ,

Swedenborg

**********

Luke affirms that Swedenborg wrote.

I am here, Luke.

I come to tell you that you must not doubt that Swedenborg wrote to you, and what you wrote, or rather, received, in answer to your questions, he actually wrote. We are all desirous that he shall write you on the subjects that he has expressed a desire to write upon, for many of the teachings and doctrines that are contained in his earthly writings are erroneous and must be corrected, for they are being studied and believed in by many mortals, and all to their leading away from the truth.

The one great error or untruth that must be corrected is his teaching, that Jesus is God. This is blasphemous and abhorrent to all the angelic spirits, and more so to the Master than to any other, and for the correction of this, Swedenborg must write. Well, I will not write more tonight, except to say this, that another anniversary of the resurrection of the Master, as it is believed, has come, and men are worshipping Jesus as God, and sending their praises and thanks to him as the great redeemer of the world by his death and resurrection, while as you know, his death had very little to do with that redemption, and his resurrection was not the resurrection that he taught could be the experience and possession of all mankind.

It is pitiable and destructive to the truth for men to believe and teach that the mere resurrection of the spirit from the body is the resurrection that Jesus came to teach and demonstrate; and when we see each year the repetition of the observance of the anniversary of this rising of Jesus from his physical body, and all the false beliefs and teachings, we realize more and more the necessity for our truths being made known to the world.

So you must work harder and pray to the Father to increase your soul development so that our messages may be more rapidly received. Remember what John said a few nights ago and believe, for the promises then made will soon be realized by you. I will come soon and write a message. With my love and great desire that we become closer in our rapport and more expedient in our work, I will say good night.

Your brother in Christ, Luke

**********

Helen confirms that Swedenborg wrote.

I am here, your own true and loving Helen.

Well dear, I come to say that Swedenborg actually wrote you, as I realize that you had a doubt come into your mind as to whether he really wrote. He actually answered your questions in his own words, and not any thought contained in his answers came from your mind. Luke also wrote, and you must believe. Good night and God bless you.

Your own true and loving, Helen

Elias Writes on the Subject: "Do the dead communicate with the living?"

April 1, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Elias.

I will write a few words in respect to the sermon that you listened to tonight on the question: "Do the dead communicate with the living?"

The preacher is a believer in what he enunciated and the only trouble with him is that he has very little knowledge of the truths of spiritualism and, hence, his ability to teach these truths is very limited.

The mere fact that the soul and spirit of man continue to live when they shuffle off the mortal coil, as he described it, is but the first truth of this great subject and is one that all spirits learn immediately upon their separation from the body no matter what their religious beliefs may be or whether they have any such beliefs or not.

This fact is one about which there can be no difference in knowledge. They all know, in a moment, as it were, that there is no such thing as the death of the soul - the real man. But this, as I say, is the mere beginning of knowledge and beyond the fact of this continuous existence, this knowledge serves no purpose as to the destiny of man.

The preacher was much interested in the book about which he was talking and found in it some statements that are confirmatory of the beliefs that he already possessed, and some statements that are new to him and which gave him somewhat larger views on the subject; but necessarily these views are not of the vital truths,  which a more complete or extended knowledge of spiritualism will give to him.

The spirit of whom he was talking knew little more than what appeared to his senses and, of course, these things are only those that come to the knowledge of the spirit when it first enters the spirit land. Its truths are not learned in a moment and frequently - not for centuries - and as to the higher truths are never learned by a great majority of the spirits. So that what is contained in the book referred to is very consoling to those who believe that their loved ones are waiting to meet them and will receive them when they cease to be mortals with love and affection and joy and, further, that these loved ones are with the mortals while on earth watching over them and trying to help them, yet no information as to the lives that these spirits must lead in the spirit world as soon as their status is determined by the great Law of Attraction and what the future may be and is disclosed to them and for the reason that the spirit communicant did not know.

But, as the preacher said, it is a glorious knowledge to possess that man after death still lives, and that his soul does not have to wait for some great resurrection day to realize that it has life and consciousness.

The preacher is still in the dark as to the conditions of spirits and their destiny, and as to the means provided to attain to the Heavens and become released from the Hells, by the Father's Love. To merely live is not the end of men or spirits, and the fact of living as a spirit of today, instead as a mortal of yesterday, does not demonstrate immortality; and the consoling thought that the preacher expressed from the fact of continued existence after death are merely the wishes of desire based on such existence.

The preacher has, at this time within his own soul, that which is freed from the limitations of his erroneous beliefs in many supposed truths would cause him to know that the life in the spirit world is something more than the mere living, and that this living is only a means to the realization and possession of that immortality that is so often preached about and hoped for.

He has much of the Divine Love in his soul, and that soul is struggling to expand and get in condition to receive more of this Love and is prevented from so doing only by the erroneous beliefs that he has imbibed and misconstrued by his long years of living in what he calls the truths of the Bible and the fear that if he loses such beliefs or questions the truth of the source of his beliefs, there can be no salvation for him. And this is not surprising, for he knows no source of correction of these errors of his beliefs, and as a wise man - and wise only because he does not know how to obtain greater wisdom - he holds on to his beliefs and reverences the source thereof - and his intellect is satisfied.

But the soul, the important soul, which can be fed only by its own perceptions, is like the imprisoned bird, panting and struggling to beat down the bars of its imprisonment and get out into the freedom of God's wide atmosphere. And his mind - the misguided mind - is the bars of his soul's freedom and prevents it from opening up its own perceptions. If the preacher only knew the truth and the way to open the doors to his soul's prison, he would long for that truth and seek that way with all the energies of his soul's powers and would then become free and progress towards the attainment of the certain knowledge of immortality.

But this I will say now, that sometime he will learn the truth and the way, and his beliefs will become in accord with the longings of his soul and the shackles of his mind's erroneous beliefs will be loosened and fall from him, and then he will realize that he is a true son of the Father privileged to partake of the Great Love without limit in his onward progress to the Celestial Spheres.

The church was filled with many spirits interested in the discourse, anxious to learn any truths that might be declared, but they learned nothing, for what he declared as truths, they already knew, notwithstanding that these spirits were of all kinds - wicked and dark and suffering and bright and happy, and mostly still men without the physical body.

Well, I thought it might be advisable to write as I have, so that if the preacher should ever hear this message, he will see the necessity for seeking the deep and real truths that disclose the conditions and destinies of the spirit of men. And besides, he will also realize the importance of his knowing these truths, so that he may teach them not only to men, but to spirits as well, who form the vastly larger part of his audience. I will not write more now.

With my love and prayers for the Father's blessings on you, I am

Your brother in Christ,
Elias

Mary Kennedy Writes She is anxious for Her Soulmate to Obtain an Increased Abundance of the Divine Love

March 29, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Mary Kennedy.

I am here, and I will not keep my own dear soulmate (Dr. Leslie R. Stone) waiting any longer, for he is just ready to explode from the anxiety that he has to hear from me. He may not acknowledge this to you, but it is true, for I can read his soul and do not flatter myself when I tell you this.

Well, it has been some time since I wrote him even if you do not think so, but it has been to me, for if you could only realize the happiness that I experience in writing to him, you would understand that sometimes we spirits know what time means in the spirit world, though many of them tell you that they do not know what time means. Well, it may be so, but I doubt that they who say this have ever had the experience of waiting for the opportunity of writing to their soulmates on earth.

I have been with him a great deal, as he knows, and have become a part of his thoughts and tried to respond in a sensitive way to his thoughts of love that he has sent to me, and sometimes I realized that I succeeded.

Well, tonight I desire to tell him that I am more interested in his happiness, which comes to him from the inflowing of the Father's Love than from any that may come from the inflowing of my love, and while I do love him with all my soulmate love and want him to realize it in all its fullness, yet I am more anxious that his soul shall be opened up to this Greater Love that is so necessary to his eternal salvation and a home in the Celestial Spheres. And besides, I must tell him this that the souls that have this Divine Love developed within them have a more wonderful capacity for this lesser love than those who have only the development of the natural love. To the former there is no end of happiness and to the possibilities of progress.

From my writings, and especially from those in which I attempt a little pleasantry, Leslie may sometimes think I may be a little frivolous or not so serious as a spirit of my development and possession should be, but of this I want to disabuse his mind, for he must know that when there is great joy and happiness growing out of love, even the Divine Love, there will be gladness and pleasantry, and sadness or continued seriousness will have no part in that happiness.

I am very serious at times and meditate with great earnestness and soul longings on the truths of the Father and the meaning of His Great Love, and my soul goes out to Him with all the reverence and adoration that He would ask of me, and when I pray for my soulmate and for his progress in this Love, then am I most serious and let the longings of my soul go to the Father with all the earnestness that I possess.

No, he must not think that I am a frivolous soulmate flitting from sphere to sphere as one of the spirits wrote you in reference to us who have the Love of the Father in our souls and seem to he so bright and airy. Only those who are in darkness or who are bereft of this Great Love are habitually serious looking with never a laugh or a song to make glad the heart of some other spirit or perchance mortal. Why, if I had to always be serious or apparently an angel of deep thought trying to solve the problems of the universe, I would not be the possessor of the Love that I have, and my face would not shine as the sun, which is the appearance of those spirits who have this Love of the Father in their souls as I have it. I am not flattering myself, as you mortals say, but am stating to you a truth that cannot be gainsaid by any in our spirit planes where we, of the redeemed souls, live and love and pray.

Of course, when I come to your room or into the earth plane, I do not bring with me my real appearance which my soul produces, for I would not be what the spirits who live on this plane could endure and, then, I am only a beautiful spirit as we are sometimes described by those who write, but, as I am, only those who are like me or higher than I can see or understand. And so I am trying to help my dear one to get so much of this Love in his soul that, when he comes to our spirit world, it may not be long until he can be in condition to see his Mary as she really is. Well, I am thankful that I could write this tonight for I so much desired that he should have some conception of me as I really am.

Tell him that my love is with him all the time, whether I am his Mary in the lower plane or his Mary in the higher Heavens, where she appears to her spirit associates in all the beauty of her glory, a glory that can come only with and from the possession of the greatest of all Loves. I thank you and will not write more. So, my dear friend, with my sister's love to you and my soulmate's eternal love to him, I will say good night.

Your sister in Christ,
Mary

John Writes that There is no one in all the World at this time who is Fitted to do the Work

February 11, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, John.

I come tonight to tell you that your condition of soul is very much better than it has been for some time, and you are more in unison with the Father's Love than you have been for some time and you realize that this Love is working in your soul and making you happy.

I have been with you a great deal today as you copied the messages and saw that you enjoyed the truths that they contained. The message* describing the progress of the soul is one that contains the truth of how the soul finds the true way to the Love of the Father and to progress to the Celestial Spheres. It is a very clear and convincing portrayal of the necessary course that every soul must pursue, which comes into the spirit world devoid of the Divine Love. There is no other way in which that soul can find its true development, and the message is one that will appeal to the honest seeker after salvation and the happiness which only a perfect atonement with the Father can give.

I also see that you have been thinking a great deal about your future on earth in carrying forward the work that you have been selected to do, and I am glad that the great work is becoming to you a matter of such importance and seriousness; for important it is, not only to the world but to you; and this you will realize when you consider what was told you a few nights ago - that there is no one else in all the world at this time who is fitted to do the work which you are now doing and which you must continue to do during the whole time of your stay on earth.

As you progress in this work and as these truths come to you and your soul becomes more filled with this Love, you will to a greater and greater degree realize and understand the wonderful importance of the work; and you should now bend all your energies to developing your soul and its perceptions and to carrying forward the work.

We understand, as well as you, the disadvantages under which you are now laboring and the necessity for getting into that position with the harmonious surroundings that will enable you to give your whole time to the work, and we are endeavoring to bring about these necessary conditions and will succeed in our efforts, and you must have faith; for faith will help you very much to work in conjunction with us and so cause the consummation of our desires and plans much more rapidly.

To us the accomplishing of this work is infinitely of more importance than to you, because we realize as you cannot, what a failure to have these truths made known to men would mean to them in the way of depriving them of opportunities that are so requisite to their future salvation, both on earth and in the spirit world.

So I say, let not yourself become discouraged, but believe and you will find that our promises will be fulfilled, and the work will go on, and the truths be made known to humanity.

I am with you a great deal trying to develop your spiritual nature, and by this I mean your soul, for as this develops the better able you will be to receive our truths and properly transmit them to the waiting world, so that men may readily see and understand the truths of God and the only way to His kingdom of Love and immortality. Doubts as to the teachings of the churches are now penetrating and permeating the minds of many, very many of those who are nominally Christians, and the perception of God is almost blunted, and they attend worship only because of a kind of feeling of duty and impression that it is right for them to do so. They know nothing of the Divine Love of the Father's nature and of the plan for their salvation.

Their prayers and worship are only those which come from the lips or a kind of blind intellectual belief. Their soul longings do not enter into their prayers and, as a consequence, their petitions for God's Love and mercy go no higher than their heads, as has been said. This condition of men is very injurious to their future welfare and cannot possibly lead them to the Father, and so long as it exists men can never become in an at-onement with Him. Only the inflowing of this Love can reconcile men with God in the higher and desirable sense. Of course, they may become in harmony with Him by a purification of their natural love, but that is the harmony only that existed between Him and the first parents before their fall, and is not the harmony which Jesus taught and which was the object of his mission to teach. When he said "I and my Father are one," he did not refer to the at-onement between the mere image and the substance, but to the at-onement which gives to the souls of men the very substance of Father.

I should like to write more tonight, but you are tired and should not further be drawn on as it will make you feel bad physically. So I will say good night and stop.

Your brother in Christ,
John

*Mr. Riddle on the Progress of the Soul.

Cornelius, the Centurion, Writes of the Importance that the Truths of the Way to Salvation be Revealed

February 7, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Cornelius.

I want to write merely a few lines tonight. I am so very much interested in you and your work, that I feel that I should give you some encouragement in the way of letting you know that there are many spirits present here tonight who love you very much and desire that you should receive their messages of love and truth.

As I have told you, I am in the Celestial Spheres and know what the Love of the Father is and what immortality means, as I am the possessor of the Love, and the conscious owner of that immortality. The world is now so anxious to know the truths that pertain to God and to man's relationship to Him, and the messages that you are receiving will give to the world what it so much longs for.

I know that the Christian doctrines as contained in the Bible and taught by many preachers and priests are the only doctrines that the Christians have any knowledge of and, consequently, are accepted by them as being the inspired revelations of God, and the truth of what He is, and what man must do in order to obtain salvation. And these people rest securely in these beliefs, and in the assurance that the Bible way is the only way to salvation; and resting in these beliefs, the world does not see the necessity for obtaining the only thing that will make them in at-onement with God, and make them inhabitants of His Heavens.

I merely write this to show you that it is of the greatest importance that the truths of the way to salvation be revealed to all mankind. I do not think that I have anything more to say tonight, and so will leave you. With all my love, I am

Your brother in Christ
Cornelius

Nero Writes His Testimony, of Meeting His Soulmate, and How Divine Love Changed the Vilest Sinner into a Celestial Angel

January 16, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, the spirit of one who lived on earth the life of a wicked man, and a persecutor of the Christians, and a blasphemer of God and everything that was pure and holy; and when I had lived the life to its end and shuffled off the mortal coil and became a spirit, I also became a dweller in the lowest Hells where all is darkness and torment, and the abode of devils and everything that tends to make the spirit unhappy and at variance with the loving God.

I introduce myself in this way in order to demonstrate to you the wonderful power of the Divine Love, for now I am an inhabitant of the Celestial Spheres, and know that this Love is not only real, but is capable of making the vilest sinner a partaker and owner of the Divine Essence of the Father.

My sufferings were beyond all description and I was the most desecrated of mortals, and was almost worshiped by the devils of Hell because of the great injury that I had done to the followers of Jesus who, in my time, were possessed of this Love and faith, which even the terrors of the wild beasts of the arena, or the torches of my own evil designs could not cause them to renounce in this great religion that the Master had taught them, and the disciples were still teaching when I put so many of them to death.

The devils loved me for the very evil that I had done, but strange to say the spirits of those who I had sent unto the spirit world before their time were not revengeful to me or came to me with their imprecations or cursings.

Then when I had been in the spirit world a sufficient time to realize my surroundings and the nature of these evils, these spirits of the martyrs, which I had made, came to me in sympathy and pity and, in fact, tried many times to help me out of my great sufferings and darkness. I did not understand all this unexpected kindness and evidence of love, and I would not for a long time believe that these spirits were sincere; and so I suffered for year after year, and century after century, and became convinced that my condition was fixed and that for me there was no hope, and that the God that I had heard of was not my God, and that devils were the only companions that I was destined to have through all eternity.

And so I endured, wishing to die, but I could not. Oh, I tell you it was horrible and beyond all conception of mortals! The Law was working and I was paying the penalty, and there seemed no end to the penalty. I could find no consolation among those who surrounded me, and the pleasures that I first enjoyed became to me mere things of mockery and derision, and my darkness and torment became the greater. How often I called upon God, if there be a God, to strike me dead, but the only answer to my call was the laughter of the grinning devils, who told me to shout louder as God might be asleep and may be deaf.

What to do, I knew not, and so I became isolated as best I could from these terrible associates and many years of my living were spent in the darkness of lonesomeness with never a ray of hope or the whisper of one word to tell me that for me there might be a fairer destiny. And so time went by and I waited in my misery for some kind power to come and annihilate me, but I waited in vain. During all this time the recollections of my earthly deeds were like hot irons scorching my soul and burning my body, as I thought, and the end came not.

Well, I suffered the tortures of the damned, and it seemed to me that I was paying the penalties for all the sins and evil deeds that had ever been committed by all the wicked kings and rulers and persecutors of earth. Many times the shrieks of the Christian children and the groans of the men and women as they were being torn asunder from limb to limb, or burned as living torches which I had made of them, came to me and increased my torment. I lived the life of centuries of torment in a few moments, as it seemed to me, and not one cooling drop of water was mine. It may seem impossible that I should have continued to live in this ever increasing suffering, but I did, because I was compelled to. The Law did its work and there was no one to say "enough." I might write a volume on this suffering of mine, and yet you would not comprehend its meaning, and so I will pass it by.

In my loneliness and suffering there came to me on an occasion a beautiful spirit, full of light and love, and all the beauty of early womanhood, as I thought, and with eyes of pity and longing, and said:

"You are not alone. Only open your eyes and you will see the star of hope, which is the sign of the Father's Love and desire to help you. I am a child of that Father and the possessor of His great enveloping Love, and I love you, even though you took from me my young life when you threw me to the wild beasts to satisfy your desire to gratify your thirst for innocent blood, and see the suffering and hear the groans of your victims, yet, I love you, not because I am a human with a kindly nature and a forgiving disposition, but because I have in me this Divine Love of the Father, which tells me that I am your sister, and that you are a child of the Father, just as I am, and the object of His Love just as I was the object of His Love. You have suffered, and while you suffered, His great Love went out to you in sympathy and desire to help you, but you, yourself, prevented it from coming to you and leading you to light and surcease from sufferings.

"And now I come to you, your young and innocent victim, who had never done you any greater harm on earth than to pray for you and ask the Heavenly Father to take away from your heart, the great wickedness that caused so many of my people to suffer persecution and death. We all prayed for you and never asked our Father to curse you, or do anything to you to make you suffer. And we have prayed for you often since we came to the spirit world, and we are now praying for you, and this because we love you and want you to be happy.

"Look into my eyes and you will see that love is there, and what I tell you is true. And now, can you not love us a little and open up your soul to our sympathy, and let your feelings of gloom and despondency leave you for a moment, and realize that in this world of spirits there are some who love you?"

Well, to say that I was surprised, does not express my feelings, and as I looked into the lovelit eyes of that beautiful spirit, I felt the great sins of my earth life overwhelm me, and in my anguish, I cried: "God be merciful to me, the greatest of sinners."

And for the first time in all my life in the hells, tears came to my eyes, and my heart seemed to have a sense of living; and there came to me feelings of remorse and regret for all the evils that I had done.

It would take too long to tell what followed this breaking up of my soul, all shriveled and dead, and suffice it to say that from that time, I commenced to have hope come to me, and to get out of my awful condition of darkness. It took a long time, but at last, I got into the light, and this Love which the beautiful spirit first told me of gradually came into my soul until, at last, I reached the condition of bliss in which I now am.

And during all the time of my progress, this radiant loving spirit came to me very often with her words of love and encouragement, and prayed for me, and never left me when I became, as I did at times, doubtful and discouraged. And as my awakening continued, the Love came into my soul, and as she told me of the Heavenly things that would be mine as I progressed and reached the soul spheres, where beautiful homes and pure bright spirits are, I became more and more bound by my love to her.

After a while I got into the Third Sphere and realized that what she had told me was true, only I had not been able to comprehend the greatness of the truth. She then commenced to tell me of the happiness of the beautiful spirits of the two sexes, that I so often saw together, and explained that they were soulmates, and that their love was the greatest of all the loves except the Divine Love, and that every spirit in all the spheres had its soulmate and at the proper time would find it.

My love for this loving spirit had then become so intense that in the very depths of my soul, I wished and prayed that my soulmate might be such a one as she; and, at last, I became so filled with my love for her that I told her that the only thing in all the Heavens that I needed to make full my happiness was she as my soulmate, but that I realized that that desire was hopeless as I had destroyed her life and, of course, she could not be my soulmate. And oh, how I suffered when I realized that she could not be mine, but was another's.

As I told her of these longings and hopeless feelings of my soul, she came close to me and looked into my eyes with such burning love and threw her arms around me, and said:

"I am your soulmate and knew the fact a short time after you came to the spirit world and entered your Hells of darkness and during all the long years, I prayed and prayed for the time to come when I could go to you with my love and awaken in your dead soul the response to my great love. And when the time came that I could go, I was so thankful to the Father, that I almost flew to you, with some dread of disappointment I confess to tell you that you were not neglected or unthought of, but that there was some love in the spirit world that was going to you. Of course, I could not tell you of my soulmate love, for you would not then have understood, but as your soul awakened and the Love of the Father came to you, I became happier and happier and have waited so anxiously for this moment, when I could tell you that this love that had been consciously mine for so long is all yours."

Well, I will draw the veil here, but you can imagine what my happiness was, and as I progressed from sphere to sphere, my happiness and love for her increased and increased. Thus, I have told you the story of the life in the spirit world of the wickedest man that God ever permitted to live and gratify his feelings of hatred and revenge. And I, who have passed through this experience and realized all that it means, say that the Divine Love of the Father is able to and does save the vilest sinner and transforms the chiefest of devils into a Celestial Angel of His highest spheres.

I have written long and you are tired. I thank you and will say good night and subscribe myself,

Your brother in Christ,
Nero, The Roman Emperor, and at one time persecutor of God's true children.