Luke Writes that the Divine Love of God Brings Immortality

April 17, 1922
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

Let me write as I desire to say a few words on the question of immortality of which you have been thinking so much during the past few days.

I was with you today as you listened to the discourses of the preacher upon the subject of immortality, and saw that you realized he did not have a true idea of what the term means, and thought how much you would like to inform him of your knowledge of the subject. Well, I understand just how you felt about the matter, and am in sympathy with you in your desire and hope that sometime you may have the opportunity to converse with him on this subject and give him your conception of the truth.

It is the subject of so many sermons and theories preached by preachers and others, and yet not one of them has the true understanding of what immortality is. They understand it only in the sense of continuous life, and in addition, try by argument and inferences to attach to it the idea of never ending - that is of the continuous life being so established that it can never be ended - and in this they satisfy their longings and desires. But you see, this inference is merely one that is drawn from the desires of the preachers - that they have no true basis upon which to found their conclusions, and as to the ordinary things of life they would not be willing to risk the important things of life upon a basis no better established from which they could draw conclusions that would cause them to act.

No, mankind do not really know what immortality is, and all the arguments that they can put forth to establish the true immortality, are not sufficient to convince the clear, cool and unprejudiced mind as to its being a fact.

As is said in the message that you have received from Jesus, immortality can be derived only from that which is immortal, and all arguments that merely tend to show that a thing must be immortal because of the desires or intentions of God, do not suffice.

All the facts that may be established as premises, are not sufficient to logically prove the conclusion desired to be established and men cannot depend upon such method of reasoning.

It is utterly impossible to derive immortality from anything less than that which is immortal in itself, and to attempt to do so by argument or inference is a mere waste of time by the exercise of the reasoning faculties.

As has been said, only God is Immortal, and that means that the very Qualities and Nature of Himself is Immortal; and if it were possible for Him to have any qualities that are not of a nature that partakes of the Immortal, then these qualities would not be Immortal, but subject to change and dissolution. Among the Qualities of His Being is the great and important one of Love and without It God could not be. His existence would be less than that of a God; and that being a fact, this great Quality of Love must be Immortal, and into whatever this Quality may enter and form a part, that thing is necessarily Immortal, and in no other way could it become Immortal. Then this Love of God brings Immortality in the true sense of the term and when It enters into the soul of man and possesses it, that soul becomes Immortal, and in no other way can Immortality be acquired.

Not all things of God's creation are immortal, for in a shorter or longer time they perform the object of their creation, and their existence is no longer required and they become dissolved into the elements of which they were composed. Man's physical body for this reason is not immortal, for after a short life on earth it dissolves and is no more. His spirit body is primarily of this evanescent character, and it may be that in the course of eternity it will have performed its mission and cease to exist. We do not know this, neither are we assured that it is not true, because it is dependent upon the continuous existence of the soul for its continuous existence, and not all souls will receive a part of the Father's Divine Love, which is the only thing that has within itself this immortality; and it may be that at sometime in the future, this soul without the Love may cease to exist and become no more a creature of the Father.

But this we do know, that whatever partakes of the Divine Love has in it that which is necessarily immortal, and can no more die than can this Love itself; and, hence, must be immortal. So that when men speak or teach that all men are immortal, they speak that which they do not know - only God, Himself, knows that fact - and from the mere exercise of the reason men are justified in saying, that such men or souls that do not obtain the Divine Love are not immortal.

Now while this question of man's immortality is in doubt, and has never been demonstrated to be a fact, yet we do know that, that portion of mankind whose souls have received this immortal, Divine Love, are immortal and can never cease to exist; and the great comfort and blessings to these souls that this possession brings, are that they know that they are immortal because they possess that quality or nature of God that is immortal, and as the latter can never have an ending, neither can that into which this immortal Love has entered and found a lodgment have an ending.

The preachers arguments were strong, and in the ordinary workings of men's minds and reasoning powers, may convince men that immortality is a proven fact for all mankind, but when properly analyzed and the true rule of search for immortality is applied, it will appear that the arguments are not conclusive - hope is stronger than fact, and men have not the assurance that for them immortality holds out its desired arms of certainty.

Well, I thought I would write you this short message upon the question that you and the preacher have been meditating upon, in the hope that he might not depend upon the strength of his argument for the establishing of the fact of immortality, but would see and become convinced that the only way to ascertain and acquire the true immortality is by seeking for and obtaining the Divine Love, and thereby having his soul transformed into the very Essence and nature of God in Love.

I am glad that I can write to you again, and that your condition is so much better than it has been, and permits the rapport to be made. Pray more to the Father and believe, and you will get in a condition that we so much desire. I will not write more. Good night.

Your brother in Christ,
Luke

Jesus Writes that God Delegates Spirit Angels to Answer Prayers for Material Things

September 19, 1920
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Jesus.

Let me say a few words tonight as I see that you were disappointed in the sermon that the preacher delivered tonight.

Well, you must not be so disappointed because he knows only that which he could deduce from the teachings of the Bible and while what he said was true, yet it is not all of the truth for he discussed only one of the attributes of God and that is the loving care that he has for and exercises over the children of earth. To most men, this view of God is satisfactory and gives them much comfort and assurance in the security that arises from the knowledge that there is such a loving and caring Father; and to these men, this assurance is of wonderful blessedness and comfort, and it is well that men can have this conception of God - a Father who is always solicitous for their happiness and welfare and to whom they can pray in the faith that he will hear and answer their prayers.

But as we have written you before, the things that men generally pray for, and expect to receive in response thereto, are not the things that God in his own personality bestows upon men in answer to such prayers. His great gift is His Divine Love, and these things of the material - or earthly in themselves - he leaves to his ministering spirits to bestow, or in other words, He delegates His Angels to so come into contact with and influence the souls of men that they may feel that their prayers have been answered, as they have.

The preacher's conception of God does not extend beyond these attributes that in themselves are sufficient to answer men's wants and make them better and happier. I will come soon and write you of God's attributes and hope that you will get in condition that I may make the necessary rapport.

It has been some time since I have written you of these higher truths that are so important to men, and regret that such is the fact, but now that you have had your vacation, and feel that you are willing and anxious that our communications be resumed, I will try to assist you in getting in that condition of soul that will enable the messages to be written you. But as you know, much depends upon yourself and you must try with all the energies of your soul to obtain a greater inflowing of the Father's Love, for only from it can come the condition that is necessary. Pray more and think deeply of the spiritual truths that have already been written you, and we will come together in closer communion and be able to give and you receive the messages.

I am glad that you have thought more of these things during the past few days, and hope that your thoughts will continue and that your longings will flow more to the Father. You cannot now appreciate the necessity for this condition, and if you could, I know you would give all your thoughts and longings and energy to the accomplishment of the work.

Well, I will not write more tonight, but will be with you and pray with you and try to influence you in the efforts to perform the mission that has been given you. Have more faith and believe that you will succeed and you will not be disappointed.

Your brother and friend,
Jesus

Jesus Writes on Immortality

June 2, 1920
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Jesus.

Let me write tonight on a subject that is of importance to mankind and should be fully explained, that they may know the truth that will show them the way to immortality and light.

I know that men have debated all down the centuries the question of man's immortality and have attempted to prove the reality of its existence by various arguments and by reference to the analogy of the workings of God's universe in the fulfillment of His designs as displayed by the various creations of animate nature. In all these discussions they have not succeeded in definitely and satisfactorily established the fact of immortality. And why? Because they have not, in the first place, understood what immortality means and without a correct conception of that which it is desired to prove, it becomes very difficult to successfully prove the existence of the thing sought for.

I know that at times some idea of what immortality is has been conceived of and almost understood by some of the writers on the subject, and their efforts have been directed to show that by man's inner consciousness, as well as by the appearance of those things in nature which die and live again, man is justified in inferring that man himself is immortal, or was intended by his Creator to be immortal.

But the inner consciousness of man, meaning the knowledge of the possession of certain desires and aspirations, as well as the realization that his life on earth is too short to enable him to accomplish those things that his efforts and strivings attempt, and that what he really accomplishes in the way of his own mental and moral development, if they end with the physical death of men would mean only a useless exercise of the faculties and powers given him by God is not sufficient to prove the immortality of the real man. Neither is it evidence of the uselessness of man's creation, though he is in one moment deprived of all the learning and other benefits of a developed intellect, as well as of moral progression.

There is a difference between the state and condition of a human soul that continues in the spirit world - the life that it had when embodied in the flesh - and the state that not only continues this life but makes the extinction of this life an utter impossibility even by God, who in the beginning of man's existence created that soul.

True Immortality then, is the state or condition of the soul that has knowledge that because of the essence and qualities of itself, it cannot ever cease to live - the impossibility of it's ever ceasing to live being known to it and a fact.

It has been said that whatever has a beginning may have an ending - that which was created may be dissolved into its elements. And the possibility of this is true, and no man or spirit can deny the truth of the assertion. In your earth life, you find that all things have an ending; that is, in their individual and composite form; and in the spirit world, why may not the same fate attend created things? The fact that there are things in the spirit world that exist as a continuation of things of earth does not mean that they shall endure forever.

The mere change, caused by the death and disappearance from the vision of men, of things that were once alive does not establish the fact that as they continue to live in the spirit world, they must live forever. Death, which is looked upon as a destroying angel, is merely the result of the change from that which is visible to the invisible and does not in any way determine the everlasting existence of the thing changed.

The soul of man, while in the flesh, is the same soul as to its identity and individuality, as it is when it becomes an inhabitant of the spirit world, and if it is immortal while in the spirit world, it is also immortal while in the body; and if it may cease to have an immortal existence in the one state, it may in the other.

Suppose that men by their arguments of the nature mentioned show that the soul of man does not die when the physical body dies but that it continues its existence in the spirit world as the identical, personal soul, and then I ask, does that prove immortality as I have defined it?

Death of the body and the continuing life of the soul thereafter do not work any change in the qualities or essence of that soul. It is still the same created soul that it was in the beginning, and why may it not be true, that being a thing created, it may have an ending? This is logical and not unreasonable.

Then I say, even if men by their arguments prove to the satisfaction of many, that the soul after the death of the physical body continues to live in the spirit world with all its faculties and powers in active operation, they do not prove, nor do all the facts possible for them to discover and marshal prove, that that soul is immortal. The soul of man did not always exist - it is not eternal, self existing or independent of everything else, but dependent upon the Will of God that called it into existence, and why is it not reasonable to infer that in the long period of time to come, it will have served the purpose of its creation and be disseminated into the elements of which it was created?

But I will say here, for the benefit of those mortals who believe in the immortality of the soul that from the time of the creation of the first man to the present, no spirit in the spirit world has any knowledge of any human soul that has ceased its existence and been dissolved into its elements. And further, that there are myriads of souls in the spirit world that are in just the condition of perfection that was the condition of the soul of the first man when created and God pronounced His creation: "Very good."

But as mortals have no assurance that at some time the life of their souls will not end, so also spirits who have gained the perfect condition of their creation have no such assurance. They have hope and belief that such may be their destiny, and also a knowledge that their progress as the perfect man has ended. They are in that state which limits their progress as the perfect man, although their enjoyment as such is not limited. To them in God's universe, there is always something new and unknown appearing. But yet they have not the knowledge that they are immortal and realize that they are dependent upon the Will of God for their existence, and to many of these spirits, immortality is as much a subject of concern and speculation as it is to the mortals of earth.

Men in their meditation, study and arguments of this question of immortality do not start from the foundation of the subject. They have no truthful premises from which they can draw a correct conclusion and, consequently, their arguments fail. They reason that because of the existence of certain things in and outside of man - all things of mere creation that tend to show God's intentions and plans as regards man, therefore, in order to carry out such intentions, man must be immortal. They do not consider or lose sight of the fact that all these things that they use as the foundation for their conclusions are things dependent and not self existing, and at one time or another the objects of God's creation. What God has called into existence He can also declare shall exist no longer. And knowing this, man cannot, or spirit either, rightfully conclude that the soul is immortal.

But there is a way in which the immortality of the soul, or some souls, can be proved and which, assuming the facts that enter into the argument to be true, necessarily establish the conclusion without possibility of refutation.

Then in commencing the argument, what is the only reasonable way to approach the subject? First, to discover and establish that which is immortal, and next to search for and find that which though not immortal, yet by reason of certain operations and effects upon it of that which is immortal, becomes itself immortal. Only from the immortal can immortality be acquired.

Well this is a good place to stop as you are tired; I am well pleased with the way in which you have received my message. Have faith and pray, and all will be well. Good night my dear brother, for you are in truth my brother.

Your friend and brother,
Jesus

Nita Padgett Writes of Her Experience in Passing into the Spirit World and Progressing in Divine Love

May 25, 1920
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Nita.

I am so glad that I can write to you again. It has been a long time since you let me write and I have been so anxious to tell you of my progress and love. Why, Daddy, I thought that you loved me so much that you would not keep me waiting so long to tell you of my love and how happy I am, but mother told me that you were not in condition to receive my message and that I must wait until conditions are different and I understand, but thought it strange that anything should interfere to prevent me from writing to my Daddy.

And now I want to tell you of my progress and how the Love of the Father has changed my soul so that now I am in a sphere from where I may soon expect to go into the Celestial Heavens where mother is.

When I first came to spirit life (June 20, 1918) as you know, mother met me and took me in her arms and was so loving and tender with me, that I had no fear because of the change in my condition, and with her were other beautiful and loving spirits who gave me their love and assured me that now I would soon find a home that was so different from my home on earth and would experience a happiness that I had never before felt. And I was not afraid and did not want to go with my body again, as I was told so many newly arrived spirits desire to do when they first come over.

I was satisfied from the first, and how could I not help being so, when I had such a beautiful mother to enfold me in her arms and assure me that never more would I have to undergo the cares and disappointments of an earth life. How glorious this was and how I thought that if Heaven should have all spirits as lovely and grand as was here, what a happy place it must be. Mother was with me for quite a while and also Grandmother Padgett, who was also beautiful and bright, and who told me that I had nothing to fear, but to believe that I was in the truly spirit world when later I should find everything to make me happy and contended.

But how badly I felt when the parting came, for you must know that this parting was necessary. Mother lived in a higher sphere to which I could not go and she could not remain with me all the time, as I wanted her to do. But she told me that she would be with me quite often to comfort and love me; that under the Law, I would have to go to the place that my soul fitted me for and from thence I would have to pray and work for my own progress; that she could not determine for me where I should live; and that only my own soul's condition must fix my place; and so as I say we had to part.

I soon found myself in some darkness and suffering and did not quite understand why this should be so, or what was the cause of my darkness, but after a little I found that my recollection of my earth life came to me in wonderful clearness and that my conscience was causing me some suffering. I was awfully lonesome and wanted my mother so much, but found out that I had to bear my own burdens and obey the laws that fixed my condition. I know you would want to be with me if you could, to comfort and love me and protect me from my sufferings, but this was impossible for this Law that I speak of knows neither mercy nor forgiveness until it is satisfied.

It is stern and unrelenting, and from the very necessity of things, must be so, because only through its workings can a soul be made purer and enabled to progress from its first condition. But thanks to my dear mother, I had with me the hope that such condition was only for a moment and that soon the Love would come to me and take me out of the workings of the Law (Law of Compensation) and set me free and enable me to get into light and more happiness. Oh! how I prayed and prayed for this Love and tried to believe that it would come to me and dispel the darkness and the recollections of the evil things that I had done and thought when on earth. And mother and grandmother prayed with me, and encouraged me with their sympathy and love and the assurance that this Love would come to me and that the Father would answer my prayers.

While in this condition and on one occasion when I had been praying with all my soul, and when my faith seemed stronger, there came to me a beautiful spirit all tender and loving and said:

"My daughter, the Father will hear your prayers and soul longing and call you to higher service and brighter surroundings and greater happiness, for I know that he never fails to answer the prayer of an earnest soul and besides you are the very child of His Love and care and nothing pleases Him so much as when His children call on Him for His Love and help. And I am praying for you also and my faith makes it certain that you will soon receive the answer, only let your very soul breathe out its longings for His Love."

Oh! how beautiful and grand he was and how tender his love, which seemed to flood all my surroundings and to give me such hope and encouragement that I felt that I surely must be a little weary in brain while he was talking. He then told me that he was Jesus and was so glad that I had come to the spirit world with so much love surrounding me and also told me how he loved me and sympathized with me and wanted me to get out of my darkness and into the light.

I cannot express to you how I felt as he talked to me and how I wondered if he were not really God. But he could not be God, for he was so human and humble and seemed to think that he was a mere child of the Father of whom he spoke. When leaving me, he said that he would come again and talk to me of the Father and His Love and blessed me and said:

"You are a child of our Father and just as dear to Him as I am, and He loves you just as much as He does me. Believe in His Great Love and you will be happy."

Well, daddy, you can imagine what my feelings were and how much I was helped. I will not stop to tell you now of how this Love came into my soul, little by little, until at last it seemed to fill my whole being. Oh, how happy I became, and how beautiful my surroundings appeared and what beautiful bright spirits I found myself in an association with. I was satisfied and my home became to me the most glorious and happiest place imaginable.

But this was only the second sphere of which I have written, and even that sphere surpasses all conception of man and would satisfy the most hopeful and extravagant man as his house of bliss. But I continued to progress and more and more of the Love came into my soul, and strange as it may seem to you, as I rose higher and higher, grandmother was with me so very much, became more beautiful and glorious than ever before.

I understand now why that was. As she came to me in the different spheres, and as I rose higher, she approached nearer her home and took in more of the beauty and glory that are really hers in her sphere of living. But I have written enough for tonight, and besides you are tired.

Now I am happy beyond expression and love you with a greater love than I ever had on earth, and know what love really is, and one of the happiest things that I now have before me is to wait until you come and meet you with all my love and goodness. Oh, daddy, won't it be glorious when you come over and we can all be together in love. You thought that you had a beautiful Helen on earth, but when you come to us and see her in her glory, your very eyes will be dazzled at her appearance.

We are with you a great deal, loving you and trying to help you and you must believe that we will never leave you, till you reach the Heaven where we now are. And not then if you want us with you. So daddy, believe that I am your little Nita and that I write you and love you with all my heart and soul.

Your,
Nita

**********

Helen is very happy that Nita wrote of her progress and happiness.

I am here, your own true & loving Helen.

I am so glad that Nita had the opportunity to write you as to her progress and happiness and I am so glad that she could do so. It makes her feel better to know that now somebody knows just what her condition is and how happy she is. She is a beautiful spirit and is progressing all the time and very soon now, she will be in the Celestial Sphere, where everything is divine and beautiful. She is hugging me now and says that she is so happy and I feel the influence of joy.

Well dear as you have written a great deal tonight. I will not write more. Love and believe that we love you and are with you very much. I will close and say good night.

Your own true and loving,
Helen

Jesus Writes that Many who Think They Have Received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit Have Only Advanced in the Purification of Their Natural Love

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

Let me write for a short time upon a subject that will be of interest to you and to those who may read my messages.

What I desire to write upon tonight is the condition of those who think they have received the inflowing or baptism of the Holy Spirit, when the fact is that they have received only that advancement in the purification of their natural love and a harmony with the laws of their creation that causes them to believe that what they experience must be the result of a bestowal of the Love which the Holy Spirit brings to mortals.

In this mistake, so many humans indulge and in the satisfaction, or rather happiness which their experience, growing out of such an increase in the harmony brings to them, they fully believe that the Holy Spirit has taken possession of their souls and caused the happiness. But in thus concluding, they are deceiving themselves and will realize their mistake when they come to an awakening in the spirit life.

The Holy Spirit is that part of God's Spirit that manifests His presence and care in conveying to men's souls His Divine Love. This Love is the highest and greatest and most holy of His possessions and can be conveyed to men only by the Holy Spirit; and this appellation is used in contradistinction to the mere Spirit, which demonstrates to men the operation of God's Soul in other directions and for other purposes.

His Creative Spirit, and His Caring Spirit and the Spirit that makes effective His Laws and designs in the governing of the universe are not the Holy Spirit, though equally part of God's Soul, and equally necessary for the manifestations of His powers and the exercise of the energies of His Soul. These deal with the things of the universe that do not have interrelationship with the Soul of God and the souls of men, and whenever the Holy Spirit is spoken of, it should mean only that part of God's Spirit which transforms the souls of men into the Substance of the Soul of God in its Quality of Love.

I heard the preacher discourse Sunday night on the work of the Holy Spirit as portrayed in the contents of the New Testament, and saw that his conclusions from these contents were wholly erroneous and apart from the truth. As he said, the effects of the workings of the Holy Spirit are shown in more ways than one, and not everyone upon whom it is bestowed is filled with the same powers of displaying its presence and possession. Now in all these evidences of its existence in the experiences given, it must be understood that it is limited in its operations to those conditions and manifestations that have their source in the Divine Love of the Father, that was bestowed upon mankind at my coming in the flesh, and that those evidences of the existence that have no relationship to this Love are not evidences of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

As mentioned in the New Testament, when it was bestowed upon my disciples at Pentecost, it came as with the sound of a mighty rushing wind, which has before been explained to you, that shook the room in which the disciples were assembled and filled them with its powers, which means only that this Divine Love came into their souls in such abundance that they were shaken in their souls to such an extent that they thought the building in which they were assembled was disturbed. But in this, they were mistaken, for the effect of the presence of the Holy Spirit is not to affect the things of inanimate nature, but is confined to the souls of men.

And the preacher must know that because men are possessed with powers to accomplish the mental or material things of their living, they are not necessarily possessed with the Holy Spirit. Much of the physical healing of mortals is caused by powers that are bestowed upon men, or some men that are not connected with or proceed from the Holy Spirit. That there is evidence of this, men will recollect that the Old Testament is full of instances where men were healed of their diseases, and other wonderful things performed, at the time that the Holy Spirit was excluded from man's possession. Yet these marvels, as then considered, were performed by men claiming to be endowed with the Spirit of God, which is working for the good and happiness of mankind, and which will continue to work until men shall become in harmony with themselves as first created.

I understand the object of the preacher in attempting to show and convince his hearers, that because they have not those powers that the Bible describes as having been possessed by my disciples after the bestowal of the Holy Spirit that, therefore, they must not believe and conclude that they, his hearers, have not this blessing. His intentions and efforts were commendable and arose from the desire that his hearers should not become disheartened and disappointed in their efforts to obtain the inflowing of the Love that the Holy Spirit brings to men; but on the other hand, his teachings were dangerous and misleading to these hearers, for the natural consequence of such teaching is to lead men into the belief or persuasion that they possess this power and Comforter, when they do not, and thus prevent them from seeking for an obtaining this Comforter in the only way in which it can be obtained.

The Holy Spirit, primarily, has nothing to do with great mental or physical achievements, and to say that because a man is a great inventor or philosopher or surgeon who does things without knowing where the inspiration or suggestion to do the things comes from, therefore he is possessed of the Holy Spirit, is all wrong and misleading.

All things, mediately or immediately, have their existence and operation and growth in the Spirit of God, and only in that Spirit, and which Spirit is evidenced in many and varied ways in men's experience; and hence, men say that they live and move and have their being in God, meaning only that they live and move and have their being in God's Spirit. This Spirit is the source of life and light and health and numerous other blessings that men possess and enjoy - the sinner as well as the saint, the poor man as well as the rich, the ignorant as well as the enlightened and educated - and are each and all dependent on this Spirit for their being and comfort. This is the Spirit that all men possess to a great or less degree, and the brilliant preacher or teacher or orator, possessing this Spirit to a greater degree than his less favored brother, depends upon the same Spirit. It is universal in its existence and workings, is omnipresent, and may be acquired by all men in this sense to the degree that their mental receptivity permits.

And this further demonstrates the fact that God, through and by this Spirit, is with men always, in the lowest hells as well as in the highest Heavens of the perfect man. It is working continuously, ceaselessly and always at the call of men, be that call mental or spiritual. It is the thing that controls the universe of which man's earth is an infinitesimal part. This is the Spirit of God.

But the Holy Spirit, while a part of the Spirit of God, yet is as distinctive as is the soul of man distinctive from all other creations of God; it is that part of God's Spirit that has to do with the relationship of God's Soul and man's soul, exclusively.

The subject of Its operation is the Divine Love of the Father's Soul and the object of Its workings is the soul of man, and the great goal to be reached by Its operations is the transforming of the soul of man into the Substance of the Father's Love, with Immortality as a necessary accompaniment. This is the great miracle of the universe; and so high and sacred and merciful is the transformation, that we call that part of God's Spirit that so works, the Holy Spirit.

So let not teachers or preachers teach, or their hearers believe that every part of God's Spirit that operates upon the heart's and thoughts and feelings of man is the Holy Spirit, for it is not true. Its mission is the salvation of men in the sense of bringing them into that harmony with God, that the very souls of men will become a part in substance and not in image merely of the Soul of God and without this working of the Holy Spirit men cannot become in such union.

I have written you before as to how this Holy Spirit works and the way in which it can bring men the Divine Love of the Father, and what is necessary for it's inflowing. The way described is the only way, and men must not believe and rest in the security of such belief, that every working of the Spirit of God, is the working of the Holy Spirit.

Except a man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God, and such attainment is possible only by the working of the Holy Spirit.

Oh, preacher, upon whom a great responsibility rests, learn the truth and then lead men into the way of salvation. I will not write more now, but will come again and deliver another message. Believe that I love you and am

Your friend and brother,
Jesus

Jesus Writes that the Divine Truth Must Be Declared to all Mankind

May 2, 1920
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Jesus.

Let me write for I am anxious to tell you that you are in a much better condition than you have been for a long time, and your thoughts of today and especially of tonight have put you in a spiritual condition, and if you continue in these thoughts and longings, you will soon enable us to make the rapport by which we can continue our messages with greater frequency and with exact expression of what we desire to convey.

I have been with you a great deal today and have tried to exercise upon your soul and mind an influence that will cause you to more fully realize the responsibility that rests upon you and the importance of the work that you are to do. I was with you at church this morning and saw the impression made upon your mind by the preacher, when he asked the question - if anyone had anything to offer that would show him that he had not grasped all of the truth as to the spiritual things, as he called them, that would cause men to aspire for and obtain a higher course of living - and also saw that you realized that your work, if carried to its conclusions, would answer that question.

And so you must think of this question and try with all the powers that have been given you to learn these truths, so they can be made known - not only to the preachers of the so-called Christian Churches but to all mankind. You already have truths enough to show this minister that he is not preaching the true Christian spirituality that I came to the world to teach, and did teach, and that he must not rest satisfied with his knowledge of spiritual things but must seek for more light and truth, and then make them a part of his own possessions, and teach them to the world of men, and especially those to whom he has the opportunity of ministering.

I am much pleased that you are in so much better condition of soul, and want you to persist in your efforts to obtain more of the Love of the Father, and then you will be able to bring true enlightenment to the unthinking and unknowing world, of the truths that are so vital to their salvation.

I was also with you tonight and saw the impression made on you by the preacher when he set forth Samuel as he then was, as an example to be followed by the true seekers after the important things that lead to spiritual regeneration and perfect manhood, and was glad that you could appreciate how far the character of Samuel fell short of what is necessary to make a man the Divine Angel, or even the perfect man. The preacher does not experience the truth of the Divine Love in his soul, and in fact has not even an intellectual knowledge of its existence and operations. He believes that I am God, and that my blood washes away the sins of all men who believe in me; and thus thinking, he is satisfied to rest upon the promise of the Gospels, which he accepts as the true teachings of me.

Samuel is now here, and was with you at the church, and realized how devoid he was, at the time spoken of by the preacher, of that thing which was necessary to his salvation. And that his demand upon the people to behold him, and then bring any charge of unrighteousness that they could against him and his conduct as a servant and prophet of Jehovah. This is a very pretty story and to a certain extent contains in it a teaching of the moral laws that works for good, but it is not more important than many other things contained in the Old Testament. Samuel will come sometime and write you of his life on earth, and his ministry as a servant of Jehovah.

Well my dear brother, I will not write more tonight, but will soon come and write an important message, which I know will not only benefit but interest you. Well, I will write on the subject that you suggest, for this is an important thing for men to know, as so many think they are doing God's Will in their various courses of living and in their various forms of worship. His Will is one that corresponds with all the laws that affect man in every way, and men must know what this Will is.

I will come soon and write on this subject and hope that you may be successful in receiving my message as I intend to deliver it. With my love and blessing, and the assurance that I will be with you in all times of need and try to direct you in your thoughts, I will say good night.

Your friend and brother,
Jesus

Dr. William Ellery Channing Writes that the Unitarian Doctrine, Which He Taught on Earth, Does Not Furnish a Basis for Progress to the Celestial Heavens

March 21, 1920
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

Let me write just a line, as I merely desire to say that I have listened to what the Master has written and can testify that the love to God and love to our fellow man are not all that man needs for a basis of his religion.

I was, when on earth, a minister and taught the same doctrines (Unitarian) that the preacher of the day taught, and believed that they were all that man needed, and died in that belief; but, alas, I discovered after many years of darkness, and of happiness in my natural love that they would not furnish a basis for my progress to the Celestial Heavens - to the condition of the soul transformed by the Divine Love. I merely wanted to say this.

If agreeable to you, I should like to come some time and detail more at length my experience in learning the basis of the true religion.

I will say good night.

Your brother in Christ,
Dr. Channing.

Jesus Writes About the Individualization and Incarnation of the Soul

March 21, 1920
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Jesus.

Let me write tonight as you are in good condition, and I desire very much to write you in reference to a subject that is important for men to know.

As I have before written you, there are two destinies for man in the spirit life, and the one or the other of them may be just as he desires and seeks for.

I was with you today as you listened to the preacher (Dr. Pierce) expound the reasons why he is a believer in the faith of the church (Unitarian) to which he belongs, and in which he is a leader and teacher. He is undoubtedly honest and earnest in his beliefs and, so far as they go, they will afford him the happiness that he spoke of, provided he puts such beliefs into actual, practical living and makes them the dominating, dynamic influence that shall guide and control him in his intercourse with humanity.

He said truly that there is a law that operates in wonderful power in shaping men's lives and which, when obeyed, will determine the career not only of men but of nations; and that law is, that when once a truth is ascertained or comes to the knowledge of men it must be recognized and acted upon, or it will lose its beneficent effect upon the lives of men. If he applies this law to his own life, he will experience a wonderful help in meeting the difficulties and cares of life and in overcoming the things that beset him as a thinking man.

This is a wonderful truth, and so far as it pervades the life of a man will result in making that life one of consistent goodness and cause harmony between that man and God, who overrules the secret things of the universe, and that man will enjoy a great happiness even while in the flesh.

But this is not the important object and aim of what the preacher calls religion, nor does it furnish the means by which a man may come into a greater and closer harmony with the will of God. I know, that to man this present mortal life seems a thing of the greatest importance, and that the chief aim of man should be to act in that manner that will make his life successful and happy and, so far as it is suited to make man the harmonious creature that is intended, it is advisable to follow that course of living and loving. But the preacher does not know of and cannot teach the great object of man's appearance on earth, and the goal that is ever before him, waiting to be reached and possessed.

As I have told you before, man's existence in the flesh is only for the purpose of giving his soul an individualization, and all other apparent objects are only secondary, as you may say, accidental accompaniments of this process of individualization.

Hence, you will observe that this great object is accomplished equally in the case of the infant who dies young and in the case of the man who lives to a ripe old age; in each case the object of the soul's incarnation in the flesh is effected. The old man, of course, has his experience - a longer and more diverse existence in meeting and overcoming or submitting to the exigencies of his living than does the infant, but the great object is not more perfectly accomplished in the one case than in the other.

The soul becomes individualized the moment it finds its lodgment in the receptacle prepared by the Laws of Nature in using the human father and mother as its instruments, and time thereafter does not influence or have any determining effect upon that soul so far as its individualization is concerned; and neither does eternity, for that condition being once fixed never can be changed nor annihilated, so far as is known to the highest spirits of God's Heavens. Of course, the soul as thus individualized is subject to the various influences that surround it in its mortal life, and these influences may be retarding, deadly or destructive to the progress of the soul, but cannot possibly affect the object obtained by that soul's coming into the flesh or ever require a new individualization of that soul. Its identity and character, as an individualized thing are established, and no condition of the soul as to its goodness or badness can ever, in the slightest degree, affect this character or identity. The soul once individualized always remains the individual, even though the elements that enter into and make up the form will always find itself being rebuilt and continued by the operations of the law that preserves the individuality of that soul.

Then, I say, the object of the incarnation of the soul is to give it an individualization, and this in two appearances; first, in that of the physical form which men by their perception of their natural organs of sense can perceive; and secondly, a form that is more sublimated and generally invisible to these organs - a spiritual form.

At the moment of incarnation, the soul takes the form which has been prepared for it by the forces that exist in the parents and retains that for during the natural life; and at the same moment, there is created for it or attracted to it, the form of the spirit body, which then and ever afterwards remains with it. Both of these bodies are of the material; one of the visible material of the universe, the other of the invisible but still of the material.

As you know, that body which is made of the visible material lasts for a little while only and then disappears forever, while that which is of the invisible, and which is more real and substantial than the former and exists all the time of the existence of the visible, continues with the soul after the disappearance of the visible1 body; and while changeable in response to the progress of that soul, yet the spirit body never in its composite form leaves that soul. This we in the spirit life know to be true, just as certainly as you mortals know the truth of the existence of the physical body. And as you mortals may in the short space of the life on earth identify the man - which is really the soul - by the appearance of his physical body, so we in the spirit world identify the same man by the appearance of the spirit body, and so this fact must be forever.

Then such being the fact, it must be conceived that the soul has its existence in the physical body for an infinitesimal short time; that is, its life on earth is only the breath of a moment, and then it enters on its career through eternity, and after a few years, as you may say, it may cease to remember that it ever had a lodgment in the physical body.

The preacher criticized the religion that taught man to think of and prepare for the future of the soul, and emphasized the fact that their thoughts should be more of the present, and that duty and good works towards their fellow man should be the object of their living, and their religion. Well, I recognize the importance of duty and good works and approve of them with all the knowledge that I now have of the demands and requirements of God's Love, but on the other hand must say, that their importance to man's future destiny is also the importance of other privileges and obligations possessed by, and resting on man, during the short time that the soul is clothed in the physical body. Duty performed, and good works will lessen the distress and sufferings of the mortal life, and cause the man who performs the duty and does the good works to become more in harmony with God's Laws of Mercy and Truth, but will never suffice to bring a soul into harmony with the will of the Father as regards the higher destiny of man. These things will tend to lead merely to the purification of the soul, and to cause it to come into accord with the laws of its own creation and their end. These constitute merely the exercise of compliance with the moral laws, and bring only a moral effect. And when I say moral laws I mean those laws that demand that, and by the observance of which, man comes into the condition of the perfect man, which was his at the time of his creation. He thereby obtains nothing more than belonged to him when he existed as the perfect man and was in complete harmony with God as such perfect man. He then loved God with all the capacity of his soul in the exercise of the Love that had been bestowed upon him, and could have loved his brother as himself.

And to this condition men are, to a more or less extent, now striving to attain, and many precepts of the Old Testament as well as of the New, will lead men to thus obtain, and if this were the only destiny of man, then the religion of the preacher, which he says is based on these moral precepts of love to God and love to his fellow man, would be sufficient to obtain the goal sought, and love and duty and service would be all that are required of men while on earth as well as after they become spirits; and the exercise of these graces by men while on earth would be just as necessary and helpful as would their exercise afterwards in the spirit world. These things of love to God and love to man, and service and sacrifice constitute the true religion that leads to the perfect man, and makes for that harmony with the laws of God governing the condition of the perfect man, but not the Divine man.

These things should be preached by all ministers and teachers, and practiced by men everywhere, for in their practice are happiness and bliss unspeakable. As these things work to a finality, man again becomes the son of God and obedient to His laws, and realizes the meaning of "love God and love your brother". And so I repeat, the preacher in pronouncing the basis of his religion, declared the truths that will lead him into the condition of the perfect man, in harmony with God's will as to man's creation.

Well, I see you are tired and so we will postpone the further writing. I am very much pleased that you are in so much better condition, and hope that we may continue our messages without further interruption. Only pray more and believe that the Father will answer your prayers. So believe that I love you and want you to be happy and free from care.

Good night. Your brother and friend,
Jesus

Jesus Writes about the Incarnate Soul

February 15, 1920
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Jesus.

I am here as I promised last night and will write on the subject of the Incarnate Soul.

You may have observed in your studies of the different theories of the creation of man that always the question has arisen as to the relationship of the spiritual and physical; that is, as to the soul and the material body. I know that many theories have been set forth as to how and when the soul became a part of the physical body and what was the means adopted by the Laws of Nature, as they are called, for the lodgment of the soul into that body, and the relationship that one bore to the other. Of course, this applies only to those mortals who believe that there is a soul separate in its existence and functionings from the mere physical body; as to those who do not believe in the distinctive soul, I do not attempt to enlighten but leave them to a realization of the fact when they shall have come into the spirit world and find themselves existing without such body, but really existing, with the consciousness that they are souls.

When the physical body is created, it has no consciousness of its having been created, for it is merely of the unconscious creations that are of the other material creatures of nature and does not feel or sense in any degree the fact that it is a living thing dependent upon the proper nourishment of its mother for its growth and continued life in accordance with the Laws of Nature and the objects of its own creation. The father and mother, being necessary to the creation or formation of this merely animal production, know only that in some way there has come into existence an embryo thing that may eventuate into a human being like unto themselves.

If this thing were allowed to remain without the soul, it would soon fail to fulfill the object of its creation and disintegrate into the elements of which it is formed and mankind would cease to exist as inhabitants of the earth. This physical part of man is really and only the result of the commingling of those forces that are contained in the two sexes, which according to the Laws of Nature, or of man's creation, are suited to produce the one body fitted for the home of the soul that may be attracted to it to develop its individuality as a thing of life and possible immortality.

The result of this commingling is intended only as a temporary covering or protection for the growth of the real being and does not in any way limit or influence the continuous existence of the soul, and when its functions have ended, the soul, which has then become individualized, continues its life in new surroundings and in gradual progression and the mere instrument used for its individualization is disseminated into the elements forming its appearance and substance. As this body was called from the elements for a certain purpose, when that purpose shall have been served, it returns to these elements.

This body, of itself, has neither consciousness nor sensation, and in the beginning has only the borrowed life of its parents, and then when the soul finds its lodgment, it has only the life of the soul; for the human life can exist only so long as the soul inhabits the body, and after such habitation commences, the borrowed life of the parents ceases to exercise any influence, or directing force, on the body. This, then, is really the true description of the physical body, and if it were all of man, he would perish with its death and cease to exist as a part of the creation of the universe of God.

But the soul is the vital, living and never dying part of man - is really the man - and the only thing that was intended to continue an existence in the spirit world. It was made in the image of God, and there is no reason for its existing for the continuing companionship of the physical body. And when men say or believe that the body is all of man and when it dies, man ceases to exist, they do not understand the relationship or functioning of soul and body and know only the half truth, which is visible to their senses; that the body dies and can never again be resuscitated. This is a determined fact and all arguments by analogy to show that man must continue to live notwithstanding the death of that body are not apposite and very inconclusive.

All these analogous appearances only show that the objects of the analogy ultimately die, and thus fail to prove that these objects are eternal, just as much as if there had never been any change in their condition or appearance. The final demonstration is that they die, and when this analogy is applied to man, it must show that he dies also and is no more. But the questions are asked:

"Whence comes the soul? By whom created? How does it become incarnated in man and for what purpose, and what is its destiny?"

First let me state that man has nothing to do with the creation of the soul, or its appearance in the flesh. His work is to provide a receptacle for its coming - a mere host, as it were, for its entry into the flesh, and existence as a mortal or in the appearance of a mortal. But his responsibility in this particular is very great, for man can destroy that receptacle, or care for it so that the soul may continue in earth life a longer or shorter time. And while this receptacle is the creation of man and without him it could not be brought into existence, yet the soul is no part of his creation and is independent of the body; and after the earth life in the spirit world, it will cease to remember that it was ever connected with or dependent upon the creation of its parents. The soul, in the spirit life as a truth, is so separated from and dissociated with that body, which was its home while in the earth life that it looks upon it as a mere vision of the past and not a subject for its consideration.

As has been told you, the soul was created by the Father long before its appearance in the flesh and awaited such incarnation for the purpose only of giving it an individuality, which it did not have in its preexistence, and in which it has a duplex personality - male and female - that is needed to be separated and made individual. We, who have had this preexistence and incarnation in the flesh and have obtained this individuality, know the truth of what I have here stated.

There is a law of God controlling these things that renders these preexisting souls capable of knowing the desirability of incarnation and they are always anxious and ready for the opportunity to be born in the flesh and to assume the separate individuality that they are privileged to assume. As men provide the receptacle for their appearing and homing, as it were, they become aware of the fact and take advantage of the opportunity to occupy the receptacle and become ostensibly a human being with the necessary result of individuality.

I am glad that you are in a better condition and will continue the messages as we have been desiring to do for some time. I shall be with you and help you in every way and hope that you will keep up your faith and prayers to the Father. Good night and God bless you.

Your brother and friend,
Jesus

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

Helen Writes About the Preacher's Sermon on the New Thought, which is Natural Love Purification

May 11, 1919
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, your own true and loving, Helen.

Well, my dear, I see that you are happy tonight, and I am also, for I heard you read the messages and saw the effect that they had on your soul, and that they caused you to love both the Father and me more. You must not cease to love as you do tonight for there is no other happiness that can supply the peace which this love brings to you.

I was with you tonight at the meeting and heard the preacher (Glaze) speak of the source of the greatest joy, and I was sorry that he did not know that source. He talked of a happiness that came to him from a knowledge that he thought he had of God, and he was in earnest, but he did not realize the real joy or the source thereof. His joy is that which comes from a great degree of the purification of his natural love, which must necessarily bring to him increased happiness, and I am glad that he talked in the way he did, but so sorry that he has not experienced the Real Love that is the only source of the greatest joy.

Well, sometime men will know what the source means, and how different it is from the mere purification of the natural love and, in addition, will learn the way to obtain this Divine Love and keep it as the greatest thing in all the universe.

The talk of the preacher is very beneficial to many of his hearers and causes much searching of their souls, and a better condition of living and an experience that makes them very happy. I would advise you to attend his meetings occasionally, for the influence is good and you may have the opportunity sometime to tell him of the higher truths.

There were a number of spirits present with you desiring to hear and learn something that might render them happier and enlighten them as to the true way, but some things that he said did not help much. He placed too much emphasis on the necessity of making life on earth the great object of their efforts and aspirations, and rather discountenanced the thought that in the spirit life there are heavens and conditions to be longed for and enjoyed. Yet, as I say, his preaching will do good; for the better men become in their thoughts and aspirations, even though as to a mere cleansing of their natural love, the better it will be for them and will tend to make the earth life better and more in harmony with the laws of man's creation.

I am so glad that I can write you again and tell you of my love and assure you of the truths that have been already revealed to you. Well I will not write more tonight. We all love you, and so with my love I will say, good night.

Your own true and loving,
Helen

Helen Writes about the book, "The Life Beyond Death," that Mr. Padgett was Reading

April 19, 1919
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, your own true and loving Helen.

Well my dear, I see that you have been very much interested in the book (“The Life Beyond Death” by Yogi Ramasharaka) that you have been reading, and also in many of the truths that it contains, as well as in many untruths that are set forth.

The writer of the book knows not as a fact the things that he has therein written, but has compiled the statements from other works that were written, long ago by men who were of the oriental religions, and who wrote as they conceived the truth of existence to be, both in the earth world and in the spirit world. They were possessed of a combination of concepts that came to them in their moments of meditation and in their moments of being wide awake to the conditions of the present life, I mean the earth life. They are not authority, and while they have many of the truths of the other side of life, yet they must not be relied on for definite and authoritative information.

I will come soon and write to you on the subject of the rebirth or reincarnation, and show you that it has no foundation in fact or in the economy of God's creation of the human soul. Man, when he once gives up his earth life, never returns to it again in the way described in the book, but only in his spirit form, as I am now doing.

Well, dear, you are in better condition tonight, and the higher spirits will soon come and write you. The Master is not here tonight,1 as he has gone to the Celestial Heavens, where he may not hear the praise and worship ascend to him as God, and the redeemer of the world by his death and resurrection, subjects which are wholly untrue and very distasteful to him.

If men would only understand the true resurrection, how much they would be benefited and progress in their soul development. He arose from the dead while yet living, and when his physical death took place, the resurrection had already occurred, and the truth of the resurrection from the dead had already been demonstrated. He will soon come and write you.

I will not write more now, and with my love will say, good night.

Your own true and loving,
Helen

John T. Richards Writes about Mrs. Kates' Séance and Advises there Are No Animals in the Spirit World

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

I am here, John T. Richards.

Let me write a few lines, as I am very anxious to tell you of what the scene was at the meeting tonight. There were surrounding you a very great number of spirits of all kinds and conditions. Some were present for the purpose of mere curiosity and others with the desire to communicate with their loved ones of earth; and still others were seeking help and deliverance from their conditions of sufferings and torment.

Mrs. Kates, the medium, tried to give the communications of some of the spirits who were anxious to tell their relatives and friends of their presence and of the condition in which they, the mortals, were in, and advise them as to what is best to be done; and if they will only take the advice, they will be helped.

There was one spirit who tried to make himself known by an unusual method of identification in having with him a dog, which the person to whom the spirit came was enabled to identify, but the spirit was not within his recollection. The dog was a real dog, but not the spirit of any dog that had existed in the human, or rather, earthly form, and the likeness was created by the spirit who tried to have the individual identify him.

There are no spirits of dogs, or any other animals, that once had an existence on earth, in the spirit worlds. These appearances are all manufactured by the spirits for the purpose of having the medium see, clairvoyantly, the resemblance of the dog on earth, so that an identification may be made. Dogs and other animals when they die never have any part of themselves that survive death and become extinct. They have no soul and, consequently, nothing that persists after death of the earth form.

I was much interested in the séance and tried to make myself appear to the medium, but was not successful.

The condition of the dark spirits who were seeking help was most pitiable, and the medium for some reason was not able to see or understand their condition and, hence, no help was given them, and they went away very sorrowful.

You had several spirits around you, but they did not try to manifest themselves, and I doubt if the medium could have seen them had they tried. They were not of the kind who come to her and make their presence known, for her development as a medium is not such as to enable her to see spirits of the kind mentioned. She has not the soul development that is necessary in order that they can make a rapport with her and, hence, she can neither see nor hear them.

I will not write more now, so good night.

Your friend,
John T. Richards.

**********

Helen comments on the previous spirit writer.

I am here, your own true and loving Helen.

Well, dear, you have just had a message from one of the spirits who sometimes attends the meetings of Mrs. Kates, and he was very anxious to write you, and we permitted him to do so. He is not of the higher order of spirits, though one who is much advanced in his natural love and knows the different classes of spirits who attend the meetings.

We were present but, of course, could not communicate for the reason that he has given you. If Mrs. Kates would only learn the truth of communication and rapport and seek to obtain the soul development that would enable the higher spirits to come to her, she would have wonderful powers and hear the voices of spirits who now never communicate with her. She is a wonderful medium in the sphere of work that she is doing and many spirits are made happy by the messages of love to their loved ones, and the mortals as well, but her mediumship is not of the order that will benefit her very much, and the time is now arrived when she must get into a higher class of work and enable spirits of a higher order to come to her and communicate.

You must not fail to give her the message that the Master wrote, for upon it depends not only her own salvation, but the salvation of many mortals to whom she can preach the truths of God, and the knowledge of the life beyond the borderline of death. I hope that you will soon have the opportunity.

Well, I see that you are in a better condition today, and some of the higher spirits have been with you, suggesting thoughts and trying to impress you with the importance of your work. You must realize this when you contrast the teachings that you heard today with the truths that have been revealed to you.

Well, they will come soon and continue the messages that treat of the great truths of God and man, and you must get in the condition that will permit them to successfully write.

I will not write more tonight. Baby (Nita) is here and sends her love. We all love you and hope that soon now brighter things will open up to you and that your hopes will soon be realized. Keep up your faith and you will not be disappointed. Good night my dear husband,

Your own true and loving,
Helen

Jesus Writes on the Errors of the Preacher's Sermon about God

April 8, 1919
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

Let me say a few words tonight.

I was with you again at the services and listened to the preacher (Dr. Swain) as he expounded the truth of God and the truth of man as he conceived these truths to be, and I am compelled to say that if his future state of happiness depended upon these supposed truths, he would be a very unhappy spirit in one of the million heavens of which he spoke.

I am sorry that men can conceive of such notions of God and man and teach them to other mortals. But so it will be for many years, and until my teachings, through you, are accepted and believed by men, great darkness and error will prevail in the earth. It is hardly necessary for me to attempt to analyze many of his erroneous statements, for they are so many and so erroneous that it will take too long a message to review them all.

But I will say one thing, and that is, that when he attempted to show that God's energy and man's energy are one and the same, he was all wrong, and knew not what he said. God is a being who is infinite and omnipotent and as to his energies there is no limits, while man is a mere creature of God and cannot possibly have any greater or other energy than he was created with; and this energy is controlled by the soul - that is man - and is subject to all the limitations of that soul. Well, I will not write more tonight, but hope 'ere long to write you one of my messages of truth.

I see that you have been somewhat in doubt as to the reality of the truths of the messages that you have received, and as to the power of the Divine Love to make you a child of God, in the sense Divine. You must not let such doubts enter your soul for one moment, for they are the breeders of other things that are most harmful and tend to alienate you from the Father. As you are aware, God's Love is all around you, and may be in you, and if permitted to flow into your soul, with faith accompanying it, you will find yourself growing in at-onement with the Father and realize that fact. So my brother get rid of your doubts and come to God in the faith that is childlike and dependent. He will not disappoint you. I will be with you and try to help you in your desires.

Pray more to the Father, and believe that His Love is yours; only for the longing and seeking. I will not write more tonight. Rest assured that my love is with you in all its fullness and believe that you have a work to do.
Good night.
Jesus

**********

Thomas B. Monroe comments on the preacher's discourse.

Let me say a word, as I was also present at the meeting tonight and listened to the preacher as he unfolded what he thought to be the truth of God and man. Well, I will not stop to discuss many of the errors of his teachings or the workings of his mind, but only say, that if God is as he considers him to be, he would not be the God, which we know to exist and who Loves us and whom we can call Father. The all-enfolding energy is not the God of Love and mercy, and the preacher cannot possibly find in such a God, the Father that is calling for and caring for his children.

I merely wanted to say this. I am an inhabitant of the Celestial Kingdom and will say good night.

Thomas B. Monroe

**********

Helen comments on the preacher's sermon.

I am here, your own true and loving Helen.

Well dear, I see that you are not very much enlightened by the preacher's discourse tonight, and I do not see why you should be, for he has no true conception of either God or man and gave no help to those who are searching for the true God, the Father.

I see that you may feel that you are benefitted though by the negative lesson that his discourse teaches. He tells of what he thinks God is, and in telling this, demonstrates that he knows nothing of the true God. You may hear the full course of his lectures and you will not learn much that will benefit you in an affirmative way. But attend the same, and then meditate upon them, and you will find that you have listened to a man who knows nothing of God or the spiritual world of which he pretends to speak.

We all love you and want you to love us. Good night.

Your own true and loving
Helen

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

Jesus Writes About the Spiritualist Medium, Mrs. Kates, and Advises Mr. Padgett to Tell Her About Divine Love

March 30, 1919
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Jesus.

Let me write a few lines, for I am anxious to tell you that you have not been in good company today, as the meeting (Mrs. Kates' seance held in Washington, D.C.) was filled with spirits who are of the earth plane and know not the truths that will lead to a knowledge of the things that are necessary in order to secure a home in the Celestial Heavens. Many spirits were those of men who, when on earth, lived immoral and licentious lives, and who are in the same condition as they were when on earth. They have not yet answered to the Law of Compensation and, of course, you will see that their influence is not of the kind that tends to develop those soul qualities that lead to the Heaven of the followers of me, in the true sense.

The medium, with whom you conversed and who delivered the messages of some of the spirits who were so anxious to reach their friends of earth, was influenced by spirits who are in a condition of more or less darkness and alienation from God; and, consequently, suffers from her association and the influence to which she was subjected. She has long been in this work of demonstrating to mankind the fact of communication between the spirits in the flesh and those who have passed the mysterious border line; and her work has been strenuous and served to demonstrate the fact for which it was intended, and she is satisfied with the reality of the fact of the continuity of life after so-called death.

This has been a phase of mediumship that was necessary to be performed, and she has done her work faithfully and well, and is now entitled to be relieved of this work that pertains to the lower order of spiritualism, and should be freed of this great burden and be permitted to come into a knowledge of the higher things of spirit life. I am glad that you will soon have the opportunity to tell her things that await her as a reward for all the sacrifices that she has been compelled to make.

Now, do not misunderstand me. Her work was necessary as a preliminary to the conversion of men to a belief in the truth of spirit communication and the fact that there is no death, and to the consolation that comes to men from the knowledge that their loved ones are with them, seeking to help and be helped in their conditions that the great Law of Cause and Effect imposes upon them. Many a sad heart has been comforted by her ministrations and many a spirit has been helped by having opened up to them the way to make known their presence to mortals.

But she has from the very nature of her occupation been more or less injured in her spiritual progress, and the time has come when she shall have the opportunity to attend to and obtain her own soul's progress. She is naturally a good woman, and when she told you that she had a longing for something for which she did not understand, she was uttering a great truth of her soul, and one that has been present with her since she was a little child, for her soul has been calling to the great soul of the Father for His Love and the happiness that comes with the knowledge that the Father's Love is ever ready and anxious to respond to her longings. Her knowledge of spiritualism does not teach her what this Love is, even though her soul feels its presence, and in her under-developed longings realizes that there must exist that which will draw her closer to the Great Love of the Father.

So I say, tell her the truths that have been revealed to you, and of your experience in seeking for and obtaining this transforming Love, and she will listen and seek and obtain, and with such obtaining will come a happiness she has never before experienced. And when she has believed in this Love and obtained it to a degree, she will become a powerful instrument in converting men to a belief in the only way to the Celestial Heaven and to immortality. Then will she have back of her the influence of the hosts of Celestial Angels to inspire her and qualify her to preach the true Kingdom of God; and her faculties of clairvoyance will be opened up to see the things of the Celestial Heavens and the wonderfully bright and glorious spirits, who will come to her with their messages of truth and knowledge of the glories that belong to those who know that the Divine Love of God is the only thing that can transform the human soul into an angel of light, and the immortality that I came to earth to teach, and which I did teach, but which, alas, was so soon lost to the knowledge of men.

I am particularly interested in her, not so much because of her own soul, as because she has in her those qualities that can be used by us in making known to the world the truths which we of the Celestial Spheres know will set them free from the false and damning teachings of the orthodox churches and making my coming to earth and living - not dying - the way to the Truth and the Life. She may think that her knowledge - I mean intellectual - is all that needs to be known, but when she lets her soul's longings go to the Father and receives the response, which she will certainly receive, she will then know that spiritualism, as she conceives it to be, is the mere forerunner of that which will make all men at-one with the Father, when embraced by man and lived.

The meetings, such as was held today, while as I have said was filled with spirits who are in darkness and suffering, yet also attracted many spirits who are bright and progressing in their natural love, and who tried to help those to whom they came and communicated, and to that extent did good, and also served to convince the unbelievers of the truth of the mere passing from the body of flesh into the spirit body - a continued existence, without changing of condition of happiness or misery. The great Law of Compensation - as you sow so shall you reap - is taught at the meetings, and there is no truer or greater law in all the universe of God, and man must realize that it works without exception and to the last farthing, and that there can never be forgiveness until forgetfulness takes place.

Well, my dear brother, I must stop as the power is weakening, but before closing let me entrust you to tell the medium that I, Jesus of the Bible, as I called my disciples when on earth now call her to do the work which is so important to mankind, and that she must prepare herself by seeking for this Love. It is utterly impossible for a soul out of unison with the souls of the spirits who come to it to receive their communications and transmit the same to mankind. Her soul must respond to the souls of the spirits, and it will be so easy for her to get into the condition that will make this possible. Like attracts like, and this law applies to rapport and to other things of the spirit world, and of the earth as well.

I see that you are in better condition tonight, and I am pleased, for I will soon come and write another message with reference to the higher truths. With my love and blessings, I will say good night.

Your brother and friend,
Jesus

John D. Rogers Was Attracted to Mr. Padgett at the Seance He Attended and Seeks Help Out of Darkness

March 23, 1919
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

Let me write a line, John D. Rogers.

I was with you at the meeting and saw that you are mediumistic, and I felt that I should like to communicate with you for a short time.

I am one of the spirits who frequently attend the meetings of the medium (Mrs. Kates) whom you heard speak tonight and give to some of the people the messages from their loved ones, and I was very anxious to communicate also, but had not the opportunity. I am a man who was known to several of the persons present and would have been recognized had my name been mentioned and would have been gladly received.

I am very unhappy in my present condition and surroundings and want to learn the way to get out of darkness and unhappiness. I know that the friends of mine who were present think that I am a happy spirit and can come to them and help them in their worldly affairs, when the fact is, that I cannot, and that they can help me more than I can help them; and I wish that they would do so. It is terrible to be left in the condition in which I am, with no light, or the way to get into the light left open to me.

I never know when to ask for help, for something always comes forward to interfere with my efforts, and I am relegated to my awful condition of darkness in which I have been since I came to spirit life. It is a mistake for mediums to believe or teach that we all are in a happy condition when we come to the spirit world, for such is not the case and many a spirit comes to his relatives and for the purpose of relieving them of any fear as to his condition, tells them that he is happy, when he is not.

Well, I came with you hoping that you might help me some, if only by your sympathy and kind thoughts, which do so much good to spirits situated as I am; and I believe that you would probably send up a prayer for my relief. I was not a very good man when on earth and am now paying the penalty for my evil thoughts and deeds.

My friends thought that I was good, but in this they were mistaken, and many a man who considers himself good, as men generally go, will find that in the storehouse of his memory are the records of many thoughts and deeds that he had forgotten, but which when he comes to spirit life will come upon him in all their nakedness and horror to be atoned for in the way that the laws of God require. I am not a Christian, though when on earth I believed in the creeds of my church and considered myself a very good church member, and was certain that I would be among the redeemed when I should come to meet the great revealer of things as they are, I mean death.

No, the truth cannot be hidden by belief, or anything but truth itself. We must all face the great revelation, and when it comes, it will not show us to be free from sin and defilement, as I thought when on earth. I must pay the penalty, and the great law will work in my case as certainly as that the sun will rise on your world tomorrow morning.

I have seen such spirits, but only as you see ghosts as you believe. I have never had any conversation with them and do not know that they can do me any good, or that they desire to help me. But why do you ask?

Well, I see a spirit, and he is exceeding bright and beautiful and comes to me and tells me that he will help me if I will only believe what he tells me and follow his advice. I am going with him and do my best to do as he advises. He says that I will find relief and light. I must go, so good night.

Your friend,
John D. Rogers

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