Helen Writes that Mr. Padgett's Reading About the Old Prophets Had Little Effect on His Soul

October 30, 1918
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Helen.

Well dear, you have been in two conditions of soul and mind tonight. The one, rather repellent and out of sympathy with us, which prevented us from writing you, and the other, which you now have, congenial and in unison with us.

Your reading the prophecies of the old prophets did not have the effect of awakening in your soul those feelings and aspirations which were suitable to bring your soul in rapport with us, and largely, because those writings did not declare and display the true and loving Father whom we know and love. Our Father never had the feelings of wrath against His children that are in those prophecies ascribed to him. The Jehovah of those prophets was of a very different type from the Father whom we know and love and fear only in the sense that in some possible way we may violate the Laws of His Love.

Of course, as you know, the people of those times, prophets, priests, Kings and common people, never had or knew of His Divine Love, and their comprehension of God, was one who required sacrifice and obedience to his laws of right and justice as they understood them; and undoubtedly their prophets were, to a degree, inspired by the spirits of the higher Heavens as they then existed to warn and threaten and denounce, so that the people might be brought to a realization of their sins and induced to a return to that harmony with the law that would enable them to become rid of their sins and evil doings; and considering their conception of God, the means used by the prophets were the ones necessary to bring about these results.

A consideration of these means in comparison with the ways taught by the Master that lead to the Celestial Heavens will demonstrate the fact that, in those ancient days, neither prophet, priest nor people had any knowledge of the Divine Love, and that the privilege of these ancient people of obtaining the Divine Love was not in existence.

I, and the higher spirits, as they have declared, see no good that can possibly come to mortals of the present from a reading and understanding of these books of the Old Testament. The moral commands contained in them were pronounced and emphasized by the teachings of the Master, which needs no assistance from these old teachings in order that the Master's teachings should have a sanctioning. And as to the higher spiritual truths, these old scriptures contain nothing which can possibly enlighten or help man to acquire knowledge of these truths.

So I advise you not to waste your time in reading these scriptures, but rather use all the time that remains to you outside of the affairs of your practical life to learn and study and meditate upon the truths which have been revealed to you by the messages that you have received.

I would not, by what I have said, desire to be understood as depreciating the reading of these scriptures by people who have not the opportunity and privilege of hearing the truths that have been revealed to you, for in these scriptures are many moral truths and illustrations, which may be of benefit to these people; and undoubtedly essential to them in the particulars and under the circumstances mentioned. So my dear husband, continue to pray and believe.

[Question and answer.]

Well, I meant that these truths are not necessary to be read by the people of the present day, for in the New Testament are found these moral truths; and while not necessary, I would not advise that the people should absolutely fail to read the Old Testament, because some may enjoy the reading of these truths as they are therein contained and associated with the circumstances surrounding them. They may appeal to some people, and if so, work a benefit. I again say that they are not necessary but they may be helpful to some - the minds of all do not work alike.

Think of me in your prayers and love me. Good night.

Your own true and loving,
Helen

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

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

I am here, John.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Your brother in Christ,
John

Jesus Writes the Religion of the Future Will Be Founded on the Truths of the New Birth and the Transformation of the Soul into the Divine

November 6, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Jesus.

I have been with you part of the time as you were reading* the different explanations of the various religions, and tried to direct your mind so that you might conceive the difference between the things taught in those teachings and what we are revealing to you. Many things that are set forth in those teachings - that are mysteries and the results of speculation - will be revealed to you in their true existence and meaning, so that all defects or desiderata that arise because of the insufficiency of these teachings will be corrected and supplied.

I am glad that you read these sermons, for they demonstrate to you a number of truths that were known to the ancients but which fall far short of the truth. At those times there was no source from which our truths could come, either in the spirit world or in the mortal world and, hence, humans could not become inspired as to the vital truths that we are revealing.

The men who appeared as reformers and gave forth the truths that were unknown to their fellowmen were inspired by the intelligences of the spirit world, but that inspiration could not be greater or higher than the knowledge of the spirits by whom these men were inspired. And what I here say applies not only to the prophets and teachers of the Old Testament times, but to those of all the times and among all races preceding my coming to earth and making known the great truths which were revealed to me by the Father.

I noticed that some of these teachers and writers of essays at the great religious gathering attempted to speak of a future or world religion, and their claims were divergent but were based mostly on those foundations that will never support such a religion. They almost entirely based their concepts on principles of morality as understood by them, and the churches based their beliefs on the teachings of the New Testament, which in many and vital particulars are erroneous, especially, the basic one that I am God, the Son, and that my vicarious atonement and sacrifice must be the touchstone of the future great and ultimate religion. Well, as their claims are not true, it is certain that any religion based upon them cannot be true or lasting.

There will be a religion of the future and a comprehensive and final one, and it will be founded upon the Truths which you are now receiving, for it will be inclusive of all the other religions, so far as the truths that they contain are concerned, with the addition of the greatest of all truths affecting mortals - the New Birth and transformation of the human soul into the Divine.

When men shall come to make a comparative analysis of these existing religions and the one that I shall make known, there will be very little conflict in the vital principles, and my teachings will only add to the old teachings that which all men can accept.

Hence, you see the importance of our working more rapidly in our efforts to disclose and disseminate the truth. I will come in a few nights and deliver another formal message, and others also will come and write you. Many of the Celestial Spirits are qualified to teach the truths of the Father, and they are ready and anxious to do so. I will not write more now, but with my love and blessings will say, good night. Yes, I am with you as I promised and will continue to be.

Your brother and friend,
Jesus

*Mr. Padgett had been reading The World's Parliament of Religions at Columbian Exposition of 1893.

St. John Writes that God Answers Prayers for Material Things by the Work and Operation of His Angels and Spirits

April 25, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, St. John, Apostle of Jesus.

Well, He answers the prayers for things material by the work and operation of His angels and spirits, and they in that work are subject to the limitations of success as I have above mentioned. God does not exercise any arbitrary power to answer prayers, but when they are sincerely offered to Him, He works through His angels in answering them, and He does not by His mere fiat do so. His angels are always watching and working, and when the opportunity comes, they use their influence in the best possible way to bring about the ends desired.

As you know, man has a free will and that determines very largely the action of men, and such actions are never arbitrarily controlled by any Divine power. If the prayers of men as to material things can be responded to by the workings of the angels and spirits, they are; but if such response depends upon the will of men, then they are not received by mortals, except as the spirits may be able to influence that will and cause men to act in compliance with that influence, which is always used for the purpose of bringing about the response to the prayers that are, in their nature, proper and worthy to be answered.

Well, I doubt if any of those petitions were ever answered in the arbitrary way that is related in the Old Testament. God never answers prayer in that manner, and the petitions of the old prophets had no more influence to bring about the answers to the same, in the manner indicated, than have the prayers of the sincere and earnest man of these days. God was the same then as He is now, and worked through the spirits then as He does now, except that now He has angels of the soul development in the Divine Love, that He did not then have, and these angels are doing His bidding as well as are the spirits. But He does not answer prayers for material things except in a manner in consonance with laws controlling the free will and actions of men, as they may be operated upon and influenced by the work of spirits.

Sometime I will come and write you a message on this subject of prayer and answer. But this I want to say, that we can at times understand what will happen in the near future, and having such knowledge can tell to mortals what may be expected, or rather what will occur, and this we sometimes do.

In your case, we all of the higher spheres, as well as many of the spirit spheres, know what your petitions have been in reference to these material matters, and we have been working to bring about a realization of the same on your part - not only because of your petitions, but because they are so necessary to the doing and completion of our work; and we have been using our influence to the utmost to accomplish this end. But as I say, we are all limited and have not the power to cause the happening of any event by our mere willing the same, even though we are doing the work of the Father.

This may seem surprising as well as disappointing to you, but it is a fact, and it is a great truth that: God helps those who help themselves.

Of course, you must not lose sight of the fact that while men must themselves do those things that bring about changes or happenings or phenomena in material things, yet we can influence - but not control absolutely - their desires and intentions, and their wills that put into operation or effect these intentions. No, these things, as to their immediate manifestations, are subject to the wills of men. God never by a mere act of the moment or of a physical character, places into the hands of any man riches or prosperity. These things must immediately be wrought and brought about by man, but man in doing this can and is wonderfully influenced by the workings of the spirits.

Well, that is a question that has caused men to doubt and consider and explain in various ways the so-called miracle of the loaves and fishes. As I was a disciple of the Master at that time, it is quite natural that I should be expected to state whether such a miracle ever occurred and, of course, I can state what the fact in relation thereto is. And notwithstanding that it has been used by preachers and teachers for many centuries to show the wonderful power possessed by Jesus, and thereby cause the people to believe in and accept him as God, or at least having God-like powers, and has been used to work much good among those who were seeking for the true religion, yet I am compelled and sorry to say that no such miracle ever took place. While Jesus had wonderful powers, and understood the workings of the spiritual laws to a far greater extent than any mortal who ever lived, yet he had not the power to increase the loaves and fishes as is set forth in the account of the miracle. To be able to do so would be against the laws of God governing the material things of His creation, and also beyond and outside of the powers conferred on any man or angel by any spiritual laws.

There are certain laws by which we, who are acquainted with and use them and may cause a dematerialization of physical substances, and also may to a limited degree cause a materialization of spiritual substances, but I am not acquainted with any law that would have operated, under the control of Jesus, to increase the loaves and fishes to the great number mentioned in the story referred to. As a fact, I know that no such miracle took place, and Jesus will tell you the same. There are other alleged miracles in the Bible that never had any existence as a fact.

Well, I have written you a long letter tonight, and I must stop, but I am pleased that you asked me about the response to prayers, and the miracle of the loaves and fishes, for your questions gave me the opportunity, to some extent, to explain these matters. But, as to prayer, you must wait until I deal with it more at large or in detail before you conclude that you understand the subject fully.

And I say to you pray not only for the spiritual things which God bestows through His Holy Spirit, but also for the material things which He bestows through His angels and spirits. The proper prayer will be answered sooner or later, and your prayer for that of which I have written will be answered, even though to you the response may seem a long time delayed.

With my love and blessings, I will say good night.

Your brother in Christ,
John

Martin Luther Writes on Swedenborg and Why His Mission was a Failure

February 28, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here. Luther.

I merely desire to say that as you read the pamphlet I read with you, and the description and explanation therein contained - as to who God is - are entirely erroneous and blasphemous. Jesus never claimed or taught, while on earth, that he was God, and this I say because he has so instructed us, and he never since becoming a spirit has made any such claim, and the teachings of the New Church in this particular are all wrong and tend to lead men away from the true conception of who God and Jesus both are.

Swedenborg has often conversed with me about his teachings and declared that his explanations as to God are not in accord with the knowledge that he now has, and that the teachings as contained in his books upon this subject were the results very largely of his own speculations, and the results of his endeavors in trying to reconcile what he thought was an absurd conception of the nature and being of God with the true interpretation of the Bible.

He could not accept the doctrine of the Trinity, as explained and accepted and taught by the Church and, hence, being a believer in the inspiration of the Bible and its infallibility of religious truths, he sought some exegesis (critical explanation or analysis) that might be consistent with the Bible, and at the same time in consonance with his ideas of reason and common sense. But, as he now says, he added mysticism to mysticism and irrational explanations to irrational explanations, and the result was that his teachings were more absurd and more difficult to understand than were the teachings of his church.

The doctrine of the Trinity, as you have been told, is not true and never had any authority in the teachings of Jesus or those of the Apostles and Bible writers, and was merely the deduction of some of the old fathers of the church arising from their speculations and desire to make of Jesus a God, though a lesser God than the Father, and at the same time one with the Father and a part of the Godhead that must be considered as being only one God, and as taught by the Old Testament writers and prophets that there is only one God.

This doctrine, of course, was absurd and, hence, was one of the mysteries of God, but nevertheless was taught as a truth and incumbent upon man to believe whether they could understand it or not which, of course, they could not. But the doctrine was not accepted by all the writers of the early days, for as you know, there were bitter controversies among these expounders of what they supposed to be the scriptures upon the question as to who Jesus was, and his relation to God. But as the years went by the doctrine of the Trinity became firmly established as a canon of belief in the church, and in my time on earth, it was believed and not questioned by the church; and I believed it also, although I could not understand it.

Now, Swedenborg was a member of the church that bore my name and which I was credited with having founded and believed in its doctrines, even as to the Trinity, and the actual transformation of the wine and bread into the blood and body of Jesus, and he continued in this belief up to the time of his wonderful visions of the spirit world and his experience in meeting the spirits and angels of that world, including Jesus, whom he in his writings claimed to be God, and with whom he had many conversations and from whom he learned the spiritual truths that he declared to the world.

As you have been told in the working out of the plans of the Celestial Angels under the leadership of Jesus, Swedenborg was selected as the instrumentality through whom the spiritual truths should be revealed to mankind, and in carrying out that plan, power was given to him to come in his spirit perceptions or his inner sight, as he calls it, into the spirit world and there see the conditions of spirits and angels, and also of their environments, and learn the higher truths from conversations with spirits and angels. And he did come in the manner indicated and communed as he has claimed, except that he never talked with God, but only with Jesus, who he misconceived to be God; and this cannot be wondered at, for Jesus was a spirit, so transcendent in glory and love and wisdom, that it was almost natural, as I may say, that the mortal in his new and unusual experience should conceive this glorious Jesus to be God himself. But it was not God, only Jesus, that this seer saw and listened to.

Having a conception of this kind, you can readily see that when he came into his mortal self again, and many times this occurred, he firmly believed that Jesus, who had form and individuality in the spirit world similar to what he had when on earth, was actually God, and it therefore became easy for Swedenborg to reject the doctrine of the Trinity, (and in its place proclaim) Jesus is God, manifested in the flesh, and God is Jesus, the Divine Man.

Of course, you must understand, that in the exercise of this seership, he experienced the doubts and fears, that at times what he saw and heard might not be things of actuality, and that possibly his imagination, or as in these latter days, what is called the subconscious mind, was deceiving him, and being a man of extraordinary mentality and strong convictions, as well as established faith in the doctrines of the church to which he belonged, many of his interpretations of what he saw and heard, and his teachings therefrom, were limited and flavored by his existing mental condition and faith.

He has told me that for many years before his experience as seer, he had to a more or less extent doubted the truth of the Trinity and accepted it only as a mystery, and because the church declared it to be a truth, and that after his experiences as such seer, believing in the statements of the Bible as the infallible words of God, and also believing that he had seen God in the person of Jesus, he sought an explanation of these Bible statements and a reconciliation of them with his belief that Jesus was God, and the result was his declared doctrine that Jesus is God.

And so in many other of his teachings, based upon his experience in the spirit world, he embraced many errors and misconceptions of the truths, and to such an extent that, as you have been told, his mission, in its results, was a failure, and the truths that he had been selected to learn and declare to the world were never made known to mankind. This failure was disappointing to the spirits who conceived this plan and in whom were lodged the spiritual truths of God, and who were acting as God's instruments in their endeavor to make them known to humanity.

But it will be more satisfactory to you, and convincing to whomsoever may read the truths that you are receiving from these same high spirits that selected him, as their messenger, to have Swedenborg come himself and explain the workings of his mission, and the causes and particulars of his failure in doing the great work that had been assigned him to do.

He says that he has one consolation that many who have founded churches and attempted to declare spiritual truths upon which doctrines and creeds have been promulgated and believed in, and that is that his followers are so comparatively few in numbers and, consequently, so many less mortals are being deceived by his teachings. And I can appreciate the consolation that he may have in this fact, for my teachings and beliefs that are false as his are false, are believed in and followed by a very large number of mortals, to their injury.

Well, I am glad for the opportunity to write you tonight, and I am still waiting for the chance to finish my message to my people on the errors of continuing in my teachings, and the necessity for them to become undeceived and learn the truths that are now being declared to mankind. I will not write further. So good night.

Your brother in Christ,
Luther

Elias, Known as Elijah of the Old Testament, Writes an Encouraging Note for Mr. Padgett to Not Doubt the Work of Receiving the Truths

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

I am here, Elias.

I want also to encourage you in the belief that you have the great work to do, and that you must not falter or delay the coming of the messages, for if you will only think for a moment, you will realize that there is no other way in which these truths can at this time be conveyed to mankind.

You must not doubt, or cause yourself to hesitate for a moment to believe that the work has been imposed upon you as one not fitted to receive these truths. I know that sometime it is hard for you to believe that you have been selected to do this great work or that you are fitted to receive these great spiritual truths that are to be given to the world, but you must not let such thoughts linger in your mind, for it is a fact that you have been selected to do the work, and you must not shirk it, for if you do, mankind may remain a long time in ignorance of what the truth is, and the way in which it can take on the Essence of the Father, and become His true children, and partakers of His nature, so that the very Essence and Divinity of the Father may become a part of the people.

The work must be done by you and you must not doubt, but have a firm conviction of its truth and try your best to receive the messages. I merely wanted to say this much, as I am much interested in the work. Yes, there are a great number present, and you have around you a wonderful spiritual influence, which should cause you to believe that these spirits are present trying to help you.

I was Elijah of the Old Testament, and I actually lived and was a prophet among the Jews, and was not John the Baptist, nor was he a reincarnation of me as some of earth teachers claim. John was himself alone. He was in the flesh only once and was not a reincarnation of me or any one else.

I will not write more now, so good night.

Your brother in Christ
Elias

Saul Writes that God is a God of the Individual and not of any Race or Nation

January 31, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Saul.

I have not written you for some time and I would like to say only a few words and these are that never in all the battles with the Amalekites did God help me or bring to me victory, as is set forth in the Old Testament. Although some of the prophets, like Samuel, at the time might have thought, yet as I now know, it was not true. God was not the partial and particular patron of the Jews, and to Him is was just as sinful for the Jews to commit murder and the other horrible crimes that are mentioned in the book in connection with my life as King, as it would have been for the Pagans to have done the same thing.

God is not the God of any race, but He is the God of every individual child who comes to Him in true supplication and prayer, seeking His Love and help in his spiritual nature. God will respond and the individual surely will be helped. But should that individual come to Him seeking power and assistance to murder his fellow man, no matter how great an enemy he might be, God would not help him or approve of his desires, and this being so, you can readily see that He would not help any nation to commit such acts and gain the victory.

And I want to tell you here, that God is not a God of nations, but of individuals only, and only as the individuals that compose the nations can He be said to be a God of nations. He wants not the praise of men or of nations because of victory that they might acquire through bloodshed and cruelties ascribed to His help, but he wants the praise of men only because their souls may have been awakened to His Love and have acquired victory over sin and evil. Nations rise and fall and disappear from the face of the earth, but the individuals who compose these nations never die, even though the physical bodies die, and God is a God only of those things that never die, and He is interested in having the individual become victor over sin and the appetites of the flesh.

Of course, the individuals make the nation and give it its character and qualities and, hence, the nation will become sinful and cruel as the individuals that compose it become sinful and cruel. He does not deal with nations as such, but only with the small, but important, units that make the nation. Hence, for a nation to say that God is our God, or that God will help us to victory over our enemies, is all wrong. When the individual gains the victory over his greatest enemy, himself, then he can claim that God is his God and give Him the praise, and when all the individuals of a nation have gained that victory then that nation can proclaim that God is its God and render to Him praise for the victory. But only in such event is any nation justified in saying, "God is our God."

And here let me say that no Christian nation so called has yet, as individuals, attained to that condition of righteousness and victory over sin, that it can claim to be God's chosen nation. And so I say that I, Saul the King, before my alleged fall from the grace of God, was no more helped by God, than I was after that supposed event, for the reason that while outwardly I may have appeared to seek God's directions and listened to the advice of His prophets, yet inwardly, I was no more in accord with Him or reconciled to Him than I was after the momentous event.

God never helped the Jews, as a nation, to any greater extent than He did any other nation for they, as individuals, were no more in attunement with Him than were many individuals of what were called the Pagan nations.

When I went to Samuel in my despair, as the Bible portrays, and felt the burden of the sins of my life, I became nearer to God than I had ever been before, and He was more my God than ever, though I did not realize it. I merely write this to show men that they must not believe and rely on the statement that because I was said to have observed God's Will and obeyed His commands before the time that I realized defeat was certain to be mine, that God was any more my God then, directing and assisting me to overcome my enemies, than he was after that event.

I have written enough and will now stop. So with all my love, and the assurance that God is a God of the individual and not of the nation, I will say good night.

Your brother in Christ,
Saul

Elohiam, a Member of the Sanhedrin and Judge at the Trial of Jesus, Writes the Reason for His Crucifixion

January 22, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Elohiam.

I am the spirit of a Jew who lived in the time of Jesus and was a member of the Sanhedrin and sat as one of his judges at the time of his condemnation for blasphemy and iconoclastic teachings against the beliefs and doctrines of the Hebrew faith and was one of those who voted for the sentence of death upon him and, in doing so, was as honest in my conviction and action as it was possible for an earnest believer in his faith to be.

Consequently, I was without prejudice against Jesus as a man and, as I believed, a fanatic; and it was only because I was convinced that he was an assailer of, and dangerous to, our religion and the welfare of my race that I consented to his death.

Mortals of these days cannot fully understand the exact relationship of Jesus and his teachings to the security of our religion and the preservation of the faith, which we believed had been handed down to us by God direct through our prophets and teachers, and when we were confronted with what we believed to be the destructive and irreligious teachings of Jesus and after making the numerous efforts to suppress him by threats and persuasion without effect, we concluded that our absolute and indisputable duty to God demanded that he be removed from the sphere of his activity even though such result could only be accomplished by his death.

And if mortals of the present day could understand our deep religious convictions and the sense of obligation that rested upon us to protect and keep whole the divine doctrines and teachings of our faith and especially that one which declared the oneness of God, they would not judge the action of the Jews in condemning Jesus to death to be a thing unusual or unexpected. He stood in the position to us and to our religion of a breeder of sedition just as in modern times men have occupied the position towards the civil governments of breeders of treason and have suffered the punishments, which have been with approval inflicted upon them by such governments.

But to us he appeared not only guilty of treason to our national life, but of treason to the higher and God-given life of the religious government of our race, the chosen one of God, as we sincerely and zealously believed.

Even in latter days, men have appeared and claimed to be the especially anointed of God with missions to perform and have gathered around them a following of people whom they have impressed with the truth of their character and mission and of their teachings, and for a short time were permitted to declare their claims and doctrines and then suddenly brought to death by the decree of those who were in authority, as trouble-makers and enemies of the church or state and have been forgotten and their doctrines disappeared from memory.

And only in the instance of Jesus has his death been remembered through all the ages, and those who were the cause and responsible for his death have been desecrated and cursed and charged with the murder of God.

Well, I write this to show you that the Jews who took the life and demanded the crucifixion of that just man were actuated by motives other or different from those that have many times since caused the very followers and worshippers of that Jesus to murder and crucify other men who have claimed to be the sons of God endowed with special missions for the salvation of mankind.

The sincerity of the Jews who took part in this great tragedy cannot be assailed, and even their Roman masters at the time understood that the demands for the death of Jesus did not arise from personal spite, or the satisfaction of any revenge against the individual, but solely because they believed and so declared that Jesus was an enemy and would-be destroyer of the divine faith and teachings of the Israelite nation, and a seducer of the people, and it is only because of the subsequent rise and spread of his teachings and the truths that he declared - which have made so large a portion of the inhabitants of the earth followers of him - that the act of the Jews in causing his death has been called the great crime of the world and the people themselves to be hated and persecuted and destroyed as a nation and scattered to all points of the earth.

I do not write this to excuse or palliate the great error which we committed in causing the crucifixion and death of the true son of God, but only to show that they, though as I now know, mistakenly did that which other men with the same faith and convictions and zealous for the religious preservation of the nation, be these men Jews or Gentiles or pagans, would have done in similar circumstances.

But the great element of tragedy in all this is not that Jesus was crucified, but that the Jews were so mistaken and failed to recognize and accept Jesus as their long looked-for Messiah and Deliverer, not from their material conditions of bondage, but from the bondage of sin and error in which they have lived for so many centuries. This, I say, was their tragedy, and it has been their lasting and deadly tragedy from that time until the present day, and the prospects are that it will continue theirs for many years to come, and that generations of them will pass from the earth life to the spirit world under the shadow of that great tragedy.

They still believe - and that belief is a part of their existence and as firmly fixed as in the days of the great mistake - that they have Abraham for their father and that his faith and example are sufficient to show them the true way to God and salvation and that they are the chosen people of God, and by worshipping the one and only God and observing the sacraments and feasts and commands of God that were given to them by and through Moses and the prophets and as are contained in the Old Testament, they will find the heaven of God here on earth and after death rest in the bosom of Abraham. That the observance of the moral and ethical precepts of their Bible is all that is necessary to develop their spiritual natures, and that beyond such development there is nothing to be desired or to be sought for. That some time they will attain the Adamic condition of reward and happiness, which is the ultimate of man's future existence.

Some are still looking for the coming of the Messiah who will restore to them their former glory and rule on earth as the king and governor of all the nations and that they will be his chosen subjects and selected to assist in the administration of that Messiah's kingdom. How certain it is that their dreams will never be realized and that unless they have an awakening to the true nature of their God, they will never become inhabitants of the Father's kingdom.

And I want to say to my people with the certainty of knowledge arising from experience and actual observation, that Jesus of Nazareth was the true Messiah who brought to the world, and first to the Jews, the truths of God and His plans for the salvation of mankind and their restoration to all that they had lost by the fall of their first parents because of their disobedience, and that if the people of my nation had received him and accepted and followed his teachings, they would not now on earth be the scattered, homeless and persecuted race that they are, and in the spirit world would not now be satisfied with their homes and happiness in the Spiritual Heavens, but would be, many of them, inhabitants of the Celestial Heavens and the possessors of immortality and God's Divine Love.

You have received many messages describing the plan of the Father for the salvation of men and what the Divine Love is and how it may be obtained and its effect on the soul of man and spirit when once possessed, and I will not attempt here to enter into an explanation of these things, but with all the love that I have for my race, superadded to a knowledge of the great error and insufficiency of their faith to bring them into at-onement with God, I advise and urge them to seek the truth and apply it to their individual souls and affirm that the truth is contained and the way be found in the messages that you have received from Jesus and the other high spirits.

I am a believer in these truths, a follower of the Master and an inhabitant of the Celestial Heavens; but I want to say that these truths did not come to me as a part of my faith until many long years of life in the spirit world, and that some of these years I lived in darkness and suffering. So I will say good night and subscribe myself

Your brother in Christ,
Elohiam

Esau, Son of Isaac, Writes on the Beliefs of Some Ancient Jews in the Spirit World Haven't Changed Since Their Earth Lives

December 4, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Esau, son of Isaac.

I was the son of Isaac and the brother of Jacob, and the one whom the Jews regarded as having sold his birthright for a mess of pottage, but I was misrepresented in this regard, as I did only that which necessity compelled me to do. But all that is long past, and now I am an inhabitant of the Celestial Heavens, for in the world of spirits all things are made right, and I became a possessor of the Divine Love after I had received knowledge of its rebestowal at the coming of Jesus.

Many of the characters of the Old Testament have never yet realized this great transformation, because in their conception of self righteousness are contented in that conception and worship God as they did on earth, although they have ceased to offer sacrifices of animals, because they have none in spirit life to offer, yet they still have the belief that sacrifice is necessary, and in their imaginations, they offer what to them is symbolical of the offerings that they made in the earth life.

Yes, that is quite a natural supposition, but you must know that mind and the beliefs of mortals continue with them when they become spirits and who will not permit themselves to be convinced of the errors of their conceptions of Deity, and many of these spirits of old are in that condition now. They refuse to believe or even listen to the truths of existence and their relationship to God, as they did when on earth. They have eyes but they see not and ears but they hear not, and enveloped in the darkness of their beliefs, they decline to let in the light, or to permit the truths that are so apparent to others to illuminate their souls. A mind that is shut in by bigotry and intolerance is just as persistent after the mortal becomes a spirit even though a change in its surroundings in what you might call its physical existence and in its possibilities for learning the truth, yet many of these spirits absolutely refuse to recognize any change, or possibility of change, in their spiritual condition.

It is not surprising that you may not understand how it is possible that these spirits of the kind mentioned could live all this great period of years, as you estimate time, in this condition, surrounded by spirits who have found the truth and display that possession in their appearances and happiness, and especially by some of their old associates who have entered into the light and not be influenced by these appearances and the experiences of these associates but, nevertheless, it is true, and the difficulty of converting these bigoted spirits seems to grow the greater as they advance in their progression of mind and natural love. They are happy in a relative sense and in their beliefs they can conceive of no other belief or cause of progress that could bring to them greater happiness and, besides, they are firmly convinced that they are doing the will of God in their manner of worship and in their symbolical sacrifices.

These ancient spirits, as you call them, but who are young as compared to many in the spirit spheres, have their synagogues and temples of worship, and their priests and servants and worshipers according to their old beliefs. And the ceremonies attending their gatherings for worship are very little different from what they were on earth. They have all their vestments and attire and other accompaniments that on earth distinguished them from the common people, and they say their prayers in public and delight in appearing as holy spirits, the specially chosen of God, just as they did on earth, and as they are developing more and more in their natural love and taking on the condition of perfection, so far as the perfection of the first parents as they existed before the fall, they may remain in this condition of belief as to their relationship to God and as to their proper and only way to worship Him throughout all eternity.

They decline to receive the knowledge of the truth of the New Birth, and as that is a thing that is optional with them and its rejection does not prevent them from becoming the "perfect man," as you have had explained to you, there is no absolute necessity as they think they should be Born Again in order to enable a restoration of the harmony of that condition and relationship that they may have to the Father.

Of course, until the day of the consummation of the Kingdom of the Celestial Spheres, they will have the opportunity to become recipients of the Divine Love and the transformation into Angels redeemed, but it is doubtful if very many of them will ever elect to accept this great privilege.

I am glad that I could write to you tonight, as it is a new experience with me, but one that gives me great satisfaction, and I will come again, if agreeable to you, and write further.

I wish to say in closing that I know the difference between the spirit who has in his soul the Divine Love, and one who has not, and that the mere time of a spirit's existence in the spirit world does not necessarily indicate that the spirit possesses the Divine Love. As Jesus said when on earth: "The first shall be last, and the last shall be first." And I may add that some will never be first or last, but only the reminders of what might have been. I will not write more.

Your brother in Christ
Esau

Josephus Writes on the Creation of the First Parents and the Difference in Their Qualities, Which Made the Perfect Pair

June 3, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Josephus.

I come tonight to write a few lines upon a subject in which you may be interested as I have observed that recently you have been reading my History of the Jews, and there are some things in that book which require correction. I don't mean that I desire to correct the whole book, but I do want to say something on some of the subjects that you have been reading about.

Well, you will notice that I attempted to tell of the creation of the world and of man, and that what I said was taken from the Old Testament, and that I elaborated a little upon what is contained in Genesis. My work was not taken entirely from the Old Testament for in my time on earth there were other books dealing with this subject that were entitled to just as much credence as was the Old Testament and from these books, I obtained much information that is contained in my writings.

But the truth of the things which I wrote, I find now to be not the truth in many particulars and should not be accepted as such. The description of the creation of man is not in accordance with the facts, and the story as related in the Old Testament, and by me, is not the true story of the facts of such creation. I have not the time now to enter in detail into a correction of the errors contained in these descriptions, except that I wish to say a few words as to the creation of man and also his fall.

He was not made of the dust of the ground, but was made of the elements that existed in the universe of a different order from the mere dust of the ground, and was so created by God for the purpose of forming the mere physical body of man. The two persons called our first parents were created at the same time, and not one out of the rib of the other. Therefore, the man and the woman are equal in their dignity, and in the relationship which they bear to God, and the one is of just as much importance in the sight of God as is the other. One was created stronger, physically, than the other and also was given a stronger mentality, for the exercise of the reasoning powers, and the workings of the physical organs of the body. And the other, while weaker in these particulars, yet was given more of the spiritual and emotional nature and also, an intuition by which she could understand the existence of things just as accurately and more quickly than could the man by the exercise of his reasoning power. One was just as the other as respects the gifts bestowed, and together, they were the perfect pair - male and female were they created with diverse functions and duties to perform in the perfect workings of the laws of God.

Power and love were theirs, and neither was made the superior of the other, nor was the one to be subject to the other, and had it not been for their fall there never would have been the subjection of the female to the male.

When the disobedience took place and the consequent fall, the qualities of the spiritual were taken from them to a large extent, and the animal qualities, as they may be called, asserted themselves and then the male felt his superiority by reason of the fact that he possessed a greater amount of these animal qualities; and the female became subordinated and continued to be ever afterwards, for the male, not having these spiritual qualities to the extent that his mate possessed them, and not being able to realize the greater existence of these qualities in the female, believed that the physical was the superior, and as he possessed the physical to a larger degree than his companion, he determined that he was the superior and, therefore, asserted this superiority, and the female observing that this physical superiority did exist, submitted herself unto the male and so continued until now.

As man degenerated, this domination of the male intensified, and in some parts of the earth, the female became nothing better in the sight of the dominant man than one of the lower animals.This degradation continued until man found the lowest place of his degeneracy, and when the turning point came, the qualities of the woman came to be more recognized, but very slowly, and for many thousands of years this inequality continued, and man remained the master.

As man evolved from this low condition and the moral qualities began to come more into his consciousness, and the animal nature became less dominant, the condition of the female commenced to improve, and as education came into the life and practices of men, woman's opportunities became more extended, and she was more and more recognized as approaching the equal of her companion. In some countries of the earth, her equality was recognized, but not in many.

The Jews recognized the equality of the woman in all matters pertaining to the home or the domestic life, and continued the distinction which had previously existed, only in respect to public affairs and the qualities of the mind - women were not permitted even by them to develop their mental faculties, and were taught that they were things that belonged to the male, in all matters pertaining to the state or religion of the race.

The consequence of this course of life was that the woman developed the spiritual qualities, which were hers to a larger extent, and her refinement and emotional nature and love principle exceeded those of the man to a great degree, and she became in her soul nearer the image of the Divine.

I have noticed that this progress has continued with the passing of the years, and now in some of the nations of earth the equality of the woman has become recognized, notwithstanding the fact that the laws of these countries did not permit her to exercise the rights of man, as she is his equal only in the home or in social life.

But a time will come when she will be recognized not only by the individual man but by the man-made laws as his equal in every particular, and the further fact will appear that she will be his superior in matters pertaining to the spiritual.

As the time approaches when man shall return to his former state of purity and harmony with the Laws of God, the spiritual qualities will assert themselves and the animal will become subordinated, and woman will stand before God and man as the latter's equal, and in these soul qualities, his superior; for in the beginning, in this particular, she was his superior; but that superiority existed only in order that what in this regard was lacking in man, was supplied by the woman, and the perfect pair was one.

You may think that this is a digression from what I first intended to write, and so it is, but I thought the occasion a proper one to tell mankind the future of the two integral parts of the perfect creation of God.

I will not write more tonight, but sometimes will come again and write. So with my love, I will say good night.

Your brother in Christ,
Josephus

Solomon Writes About Some Great Truths of the Father

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

Solomon, of the Old Testament.

I come only to say that very soon I desire to write you another message conveying to you some great truth of the Father. I will not write more now but will soon come.

Prayer and faith on the part of mortals and Love - the Divine Love - on the part of God. The latter is waiting and the former causes it to enter into the souls of men. No other truths are so great and momentous to men.

Let what I say sink deep into your memory and try the experiment. I know you do try, but try and then try and never cease trying. Love will come to you and with it faith, and then knowledge, and then ownership.

I could write for a long time, yet, but I must not as you are tired. So with my love and blessings, I will say good night, and may the Father's Love take possession of you.

Your brother in Christ,
Solomon

Saul Writes About the Old Testament; Many Things Therein Declared Never Had Any Existence

April 7, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Saul.

I very much desire to write a short message tonight as I promised you a short time ago. I will not detain you very long and will try to make my message as succinct as possible.

I know that many men look upon me, as depicted in the Old Testament, as having been a great sinner and violator of God's Laws. Well, that is largely true, for I did not let God's Will control me as I should have done and, consequently, I became in discord with His Will, and did many things that were contrary to His Laws. Of course, my knowledge of these Laws was limited to the teachings of Moses and the prophets, as they were given to me by tradition and word of mouth.

The books which are part of the Old Testament were not written in my time, and many of these Laws came to me by tradition. The Old Testament contains many sayings which were written long after the times that they purport to have occurred, and many things therein declared never had any existence, except in the minds of men who, at much later periods, conceived that it might be wise to write these things. Many alleged incidents connected with my life never had an existence and were merely the fictions written by subsequent writers.

We had very few writings in the shape of manuscript in my time, and men depended upon tradition and memory.

Well, the history of my life and doings was not written at the time it purports to have been written. I was a real person and a king, and some records of me and my people were actually written, but they were very few and, as time went, by the imagination and ingenuity added to them in the way of tradition, and then those books relating to me, as they are now contained in the Bible, were compiled from some of these writings and from tradition.

The story of my experience with the "Witch of Endor," as she is called, was not written at the time; but it is a fact that I had visited her and had an experience somewhat similar to that related in the Bible. I had with me at the time of my visit some of my followers, and they saw and heard what took place, and after my death, they repeated and described what had taken place to my countrymen, and also to the followers of David; and some parts of this occurrence became inscribed on the materials which we used to preserve some of the occurrences of those times. But there was not kept any accurate history of the scene. The people of those days had retentive memories, and for long years afterwards this incident of my life was handed down from generation to generation, and some parts thereof were written by some scribes and other parts by other scribes.

I merely write you this to show that you need not give credit to the supposed truths of many sayings of the Old Testament, for many of these accounts had no existence.

I know that what I have written is not of much importance, but while you are receiving these truths, you had as well learn something of what was true in my life.

I will not write more tonight, so thanking you, I will say good night.

Your brother in Christ,
Saul

Moses Writes About the Importance of the Jews Learning the Truths of God Proclaimed by Jesus.

November 9, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

Moses, the Prophet of God of Ancient Days.

I have been with you on several occasions when some of the ancient spirits wrote you, and I was much interested. I am still the faithful servant of God but, in addition, a believer in Jesus, who is the greatest of all the sons of the Father, and the only one of all God's messengers who brought to light, life and immortality.

I could not have said this before his coming. I mean that I could not have said that other great reformers and teachers of the truths of God had not done this, because I did not know before the coming of Jesus what life and immortality meant - and no man or spirit before that time knew this great truth.

I am now in the Celestial Heavens with many of the old prophets and seers who have received this great gift of the Divine Love, and many who lived and died since Jesus' time are also Celestial spirits partaking of immortality. I now see that many of my teachings were not true - that love did not enter into them, but rather the spirit of retaliation, which is absolutely no part of the truths of the Father. The Jews still look upon me as their great teacher and law-giver, and many of them observe literally my laws.

And I want to tell you this fact, because I believe that when you publish the messages of the Master, should you publish also what I may write, many Jews will believe me, and that I and many of those who taught my teachings are now engaged in showing the spirits of Jews, who come into the spirit world, the truths as taught by the Master.

The Jewish nation is the most strict of all people in their beliefs in and observations of their religious doctrines as set forth in the Old Testament and, hence, will be among the last of all men to accept the truths, which I now understand and teach. But I hope that something which I may communicate to you will cause them to think and become believers and observers of this New Revelation of the Truth.

They have fought and suffered for their religion in all these centuries and are still doing so, and the one great thing, that more than any other has prevented them from accepting the teachings of Jesus and believing in his mission to mankind, is that his followers, or those who attempted to write his teachings, and those who interpreted the same, declare and maintain that Jesus is God - that the true God was three instead of one, as I in the decalogue declared.

This has been the great stumbling block to the Jews, and when they read, as they may, that Jesus himself declares and proclaims that he is not God but only his son, and that they are also his sons, they will look upon his teachings with more tolerance, and many of them will be inclined to accept his Truths and the Truths of the Father; and Judaism in its religious aspect will gradually disappear, and the Jews will become a part of the one great religious brotherhood of men, and as in our Celestial Heavens, there will be on earth no more Jew and no more Gentile, but all will become one in their belief in the Father and the mission of Jesus. He will be accepted as the Messiah not only of the Jew but of the whole world, and then God's chosen people will not be a very small minority of God's children, but the whole world will be his chosen people.

I am so interested in this phase of the Great Truths that shall be given to and accepted by men, because I was - more than any other man - responsible for the present beliefs of the Jews, which causes them to hold themselves separate and apart from all the rest of mankind as the chosen and specially selected of God's people.

I will not write more tonight, but I feel that I must ask you to permit me to write again, as I have a mission to perform on earth to undo a work which I so effectively performed when I was the leader of my people. As Jesus is teaching and will teach all mankind the way to the Father and immortality, I must teach my people the way to get rid of these erroneous and false beliefs, which are contained in the Old Testament.

So thanking you, I will say good night.

Moses, the lawgiver of the Jews

Aaron, the Prophet of the Old Testament and Brother of Moses, Writes About the Necessity of Receiving Divine Love to Obtain Immortality

October 23, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am the spirit of Aaron, the prophet of the Old Testament and the brother of Moses, as it is written. I merely want to say that as you read the message from the spirit of Henry Ward Beecher, I read also and that is a wonderful description of what immortality is and how it first was given to mankind after the fall of the first parents.

I know the truth of what he wrote, for I experienced the want of this Divine Love for many thousand years before the coming of Jesus and the rebestowal of this Divine Love, which is the only thing in all God's universe that can bring to man immortality.

So let this great truth be preached to all the world and let man know that until he gets this Divine Love, he can never become immortal. It is so difficult for man to understand this truth, and for those who come forward as the teachers of men in spiritual things to comprehend that only this Love will save them from their sins and make them a part of the Divinity of the Father and certain of immortality.

I lived at a time when we had not the privilege of getting this Love and, as a consequence, immortality; and we had to find our happiness in our natural love and that meant a love towards God as well as towards our fellow man; but this love, while it enabled us to experience much happiness, yet it did not give that Divine Essence or nature which now makes our happiness supreme and also at-one with the Father.

I had many experiences in teaching the Hebrew children that there was only one God, but at that time my conception of God was not what it is now. I then thought more of Him as a God of wrath and jealousy than as a God of Love and mercy.

In my contest with the magicians of the Egyptian Pharaohs, I was afforded the help of the spirit world, and unusual powers were given me, such as I had never had before nor ever afterwards; but it was for the purpose of causing the king to let the people of God, as we called ourselves, depart from Egypt. When this was accomplished, I never again possessed those powers or had any occasion to.

But those powers were merely the influences that came from the spirit world, and God Himself did not speak to me or to Moses, as it is written; merely his spirits, or angels, told us what we must do and gave us the power to do it.

This power is still existing and, should the occasion arise again, it will be given to the instrumentality that may be selected to do the will of the Father. Even as to Jesus, who had the greatest power conferred upon him of any mortal that ever lived, this power was given him by the angels of God in obedience to the commands of the Father.

I cannot explain to you now in what way these commands were given by God, for you would not understand me, if I should make the attempt. But suffice it to say, that the higher angels have such soul perceptions that they can receive and understand these instructions of the Father. All this is, I know, strange to you, but it is true, and because you do not understand, you must not doubt that there is such a close relationship between God and His Celestial Spirits that they know what the Will of the Father is.

I am in a Celestial Sphere and am very high up, but not so high as are the apostles. But I am high enough to know to be true what I write you of my own knowledge. I will not write more tonight, but will come again sometime and instruct you in the laws obtaining in our Celestial Spheres. So with all my love, I will say that I am,

Your brother in Christ,
Aaron

St. John Writes to Encourage James Padgett to Pray Earnestly for Increased Faith in God to Remove His Worries

September 26, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, John.

I only want to say that the faith that the preacher spoke of tonight as being possessed by Elijah is the faith that you must try to obtain, and then you will realize that you will be superior to all the worries and troubles that may come to you. This is the kind of faith that overcomes every obstacle and makes you a true child of the Father and one whom He will never forsake or let go unprovided for.

I was with you at the services and I tell you that the minister made a forcible application of the truths taught by that instance in Elijah's life as related in the Old Testament. If men would only learn the efficacy of that kind of faith in God, they would become so much happier and possessed of that great peace of which the Master spoke. I am telling you this not as a speculation or a theory, but as the result of knowledge and actual experience. The same faith that existed in Elijah was the same faith that existed in the martyred disciples of Jesus, and the same faith that you and all other men may now have.

God never changes, although men's conceptions of Him do, yet no matter what these conceptions may be, the same God rules and lives and, as the preacher said, is present with you; and faith in Him is always accompanied by a power that never fails in working out His truths. I, John, tell you this, because I want you to obtain that faith as you will need it in the great work which you have before you, and which can only be done by one whose soul is developed by such faith.

I was present tonight at church, because I had been with you a large portion of the day trying to influence and encourage you with my love and influence.

Very soon you will again commence to receive the messages of the Master and continue to do so until they are completed. And what messages of truth they will be. As the minister said tonight there will be troublers, but their mission will be similar to that of Elijah; that is, will show to mortals the true God and that genuine faith and steadfastness of purpose will bring to mankind the salvation of the Lord.

I will not write more tonight, but will say before I stop, try to get this faith, and you may get it even as Elijah had it, by earnest persistent prayer, accompanied by belief. The Lord gives faith to him who seeks for it in earnestness and longing desire.

I will say further that you are progressing very much in your soul development, and if you will only trust in the Master's promises, very soon the worries that you have will pass away, and you will be free to do the: work without being distracted by anything that militates against the exercise of the soul perceptions, which are so necessary in your work.

So my dear brother, I will say good night and God bless you.

Your brother in Christ,
John

Jehosephat, a Jewish Medium from the Old Testament, is a Christian Redeemed by the Divine Love of God

September 12, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Jehosephat.

I was a character in the Old Testament, and I want to say just a word. I am a Christian, and redeemed by the Divine Love of the Father.

I was not a very religious man when I lived and never knew what the love of God was, although you might think from my association with Him as portrayed in the Bible, that I was a righteous man.

I was a man possessed of great mediumistic powers, and through me the spirits would communicate those things which they said came from God. But I was not a teacher myself and was not in condition to teach spiritual truths, for I was only a Jew of the Pharisees who had certain intellectual beliefs as to what kind of worship should be given to God, and what men should do otherwise in their dealings with one another.

I merely wanted to say this, so that you might know that while we are what you would call ancient spirits, yet, we are interested in your work, which the Master has called upon you to do.

I will say goodnight,
Jehosephat

St. John Writes That Adam and Eve Were Created Instantaneously and Not By Evolution

August 30, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, John.

I merely want to say tonight that you must soon prepare to take messages which the Master and some other high spirits desire to write. Let your arrangements be such that you can take those messages without any one being disappointed, for when you say that you will receive them and then something comes up to prevent, the spirits feel that you have not interest sufficient, and they are disappointed.

Well, that will be satisfactory and we will make our arrangements to comply with that understanding.

I know, though, that you have been in a condition of love and soul during the past few days and have realized that the Father has been close to you, and you have been happy. So continue to turn your thoughts to the Father and His Love and you will find that there will come to you an increased Love and a great happiness.

I feel that your faith is growing and that the rapport between us all is steadily increasing. I did not intend to write more tonight, as we will all wait until the time that you have named.

Well, I have already told you that that Book (Revelation) was written as a kind of allegory, and that now it is of no practical use, and should not be given much attention. Besides it is not as I wrote it - for many interpretations and additions have been made. At any rate it is of no importance, and men lose much time in trying to solve what they call its mysteries.

Well, Aman is a general term, which means first or highest, and when applied to man it means the first or highest creation. As it is applied in Revelation to Jesus, it means the man who first received the Divine Love of the Father after its rebestowal. I will come to you sometime and explain this matter more fully.

Yes, they (Aman and Amon) came to you and gave you their names, which were the names that they were called by after their creation. They were both created instantaneously and became living souls in a moment, and did not grow from a germ by the slow process of evolution. Their story of the fall is substantially correct as I have learned from them and from the Master.

The names Aman and Amon are correct, and were known thousands of years ago to the early inhabitants of the earth and who descended from them.

The story of their fall was, of course, known to their immediate descendants and became known for some generations after their deaths to their more remote descendants; but after awhile the names became forgotten, but the substance of the story of their fall did not, and there were at one time manuscripts showing the account of the fall, but they disappeared long before the time of any of the present writings, though the story of the fall with various changes and amendments came down the ages, until the writers of the Old Testament incorporated such tradition in the Book of Genesis. Of course, Adam and Eve did not exist, and neither is the story as to their fall true. It is only symbolical in the way of showing that man once occupied an exalted and happy state, and by his own disobedience fell, and with his fall came the condition of evil and sin.

Well, I must not write more tonight. So remembering what you say,

I am your brother in Christ.
John - Apostle of Jesus

Lot, of the Old Testament, Writes That He is a Follower of the Master and He Helps Jesus With His Work

August 10, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington D.C.

Lot, of the Old Testament.

I come because I now am a follower of the Master, and want to add my testimony to that of others of olden times who have written you that Jesus is alive and the ruler in the Celestial Heavens, and is now working among men and spirits to show them the way to eternal life and the Divine Love of the Father.

I am not a Hebrew who would have denied him had I lived when he came to the earth for in my thoughts and belief, I expected the coming of the Messiah and to me Jesus was that Messiah in all the qualities and spiritual possessions that I expected him to have.

Of course, when I lived we had not the privilege of knowing what the Divine Love of the Father means, - we only knew that there was a God and that God loved us as we thought, as His chosen people and wanted us to live correct lives on earth, and thereby receive His blessings as mortals, and all the rewards that an obedient life might bring to us. But as to this Greater Love which makes Angels of us all who possesses it, we had no knowledge, nor had we ever been taught by our seers or prophets that such a Love existed and as I now know the privilege of obtaining it did not then exist. Only with the coming of Jesus came that Love again to man and spirits.

But God had for us a natural love in contradistinction to the Divine Love and we had for Him a love which when fully purified makes us spirits with a happiness that is beyond all conception of human happiness. But even of that happiness we were not taught, and only did we have glimpses in the teachings of our prophets that such happiness might exist in the future life.

I was a lover of God as I then understood what God was; but such love was not that which arose from my conception of Him as a tender loving Father, but more as a stern wrathful God - one of jealousy and always watchful and ready to punish for disobedience to His commands. And yet we also learned that when we obeyed Him and did His Will, He would reward us.

So you see the God of my days and the God of the present, as we now conceive Him to be, are not similar. And all men should now understand and believe that Jesus Christ brought to light, and by that I mean to the knowledge of men, the possibility of their knowing the True God of Love and Mercy; and also, that because of that Love and His Great Mercy in the rebestowal upon mankind of the possibility of men becoming possessed of the Divine Love of the Father which would make them one with Him and certainty of Immortality.

It was long years after Jesus came before I received this Divine Love or believed the great truths which Jesus taught. I was so satisfied in my happiness as a spirit possessing merely this natural love which had been purified and freed from sin and error, that I thought there could be no greater love or no greater happiness. But in the course of time I had reasons to think that there might be another if not greater love in operation in the spirit world, because of the wonderful beauty and brightness of some of the spirits that I at times met. And I started to make investigation of the matter, and as a result, I learned of this Divine Love, and at last sought for and found it. And what a treasure I found!

I am now so filled with it, that my happiness is beyond all conception of not only man, but of spirits who live in lower spheres than I do.

I must not write more to-night, but I will tell you that I am one of the many Celestial Spirits who are interested in and now are engaged in doing the great work for the redemption of mankind. Jesus is our leader and we are all following him in the effort to redeem the world, and by that I mean the individuals who comprise the world. For you must know that redemption is an individual matter and not one that can be accomplished in the way of redeeming a nation or a race as a whole. So you see back of this work is the great power of the Celestial as well as of the spiritual heavens.

I have written enough for tonight.

Well, the incident of my wife turning into a pillar of salt is like a great many others related in the Old Testament. These incidents are mere figures of speech used to illustrate some moral or spiritual truth. My wife was never turned into salt, but died a natural death and her remains were buried where mine were buried. She is now in the Celestial Heavens, also.

So my dear brother, I must say goodnight,
Lot

Saul of the Old Testament Writes That He Was Once a Wicked Man But Became a Redeemed Spirit and Resides in the Celestial Kingdom

August 7, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

Saul of the Old Testament.

I am the same Saul that called up Samuel, or rather who caused the woman of Endor to do so. I was a wicked man in those days and knew not the love of God, and very little of my fellow mortals. I was a cruel man and a worker of iniquity, and violated God's laws in many ways. As you have read, I came to the end of my resources and went to consult Samuel as the last resort. I did not know that God had abandoned me until Samuel had told me.

Yes, He did and was my protector as long as I obeyed Him and did what was right in His sight. I know that He did, because when I obeyed Him, I was successful and happy. I only knew from what the prophets told me, and they claimed to have communications with God in some way. I believed this and, hence, thought that God was protecting me.

I am a redeemed spirit now and am happy in the Love of the Father. I became a lover of the Father and an inhabitant of His Kingdom long after Jesus proclaimed the Great Truth of Divine Love restored. Before that I was a spirit who lived in the happiness which I experienced in developing my soul and becoming a good spirit, free from sin and error, but this happiness is not that which I now enjoy.

I want to confirm what Samuel said as to the woman of Endor. She was not a witch or evil woman, but was a medium and received communications from the higher spirits of the spirit world. She had been abused for centuries and should not be further thought of as a wicked woman.

I will not write more tonight.

Well, do you suppose that we of the spirit world stand still in our mental advancement? I know all the important languages of the earth and can write them and understand them. Do not think that spirits do not learn here just as they learned as mortals. The only difference is that they can learn so much more rapidly and can retain their knowledge more easily than mortals can.

So I will say goodnight.

Your brother in Christ,
Saul

Samuel the Prophet Writes that Mankind Must Seek for Divine Love in Order to Obtain Supreme Bliss

August 5, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am Samuel the Prophet.

I want to tell you that I am in a condition to tell you of my existence here in the spirit world, and what I know about the truths of the doctrines of Jesus as I have learned them since I became possessed of the Divine Love, which he brought to earth and to the world of spirits.

I have lived a great many years in this spirit life, more than you may think from the account of my earth life as contained in the Old Testament, for that book does not state correctly the time when I lived as a mortal. Many thousand years have gone by since I lived and performed my work as prophet and teacher on the earth, and I have in all these long years learned many things about the spiritual world, and its conditions and laws.

In the first place, I am not a spirit who was given over to the evils that men are usually possessed of when they become spirits, because when I lived on earth I was very close to the Father in His thoughts and love. I mean the love which He gave to man at that time. This love, while not the Divine Love, yet, was a love that was sufficient to make men happy when they possessed it free from sin and error and tried to do the Will of the Father as they understood that Will. Many men thought that they understood this Will, when in reality they only knew that which the laws of Moses taught them to be right in the sight of God. But some men were given a deeper insight into the mind and love of the Father to bless and make men happy in their natural love and, consequently, were closer to Him and better understood His Will and what was pleasing to Him.

I have since my becoming a spirit learned many truths, which I did not understand on earth, and which are necessary to know in order to be able to enjoy this love in its fullness. I never, though, possessed this Divine Love until after Jesus came to earth and showed men and spirits what this Love meant and how necessary it was to obtain it in order to become a part of God's Divinity.

I do not now see that I was any more in favor of God, as I then possessed only this natural love, than were many others who had the privilege of receiving from His Angels the inspirations, which came to them at times, and which made them able to tell the inhabitants of earth what was the purpose of God to have them do. I was only a man in the sense that I was only possessed of this natural love and, hence, could get no higher in the spiritual world than this natural love would enable me to attain.

I am now in a Heaven, which this Divine Love has opened up to me, and which enables me to enjoy the great happiness which that Love causes all to have who possess it.

When I lived in the spirit world before obtaining this Divine Love, I was only possessed of that happiness which comes from the natural love, and I knew nothing of the happiness which I now possess. So you see, the spirit which has not this Divine Love can go no higher in the spiritual spheres than it is fitted to occupy by reason of this natural love, and the principal source of happiness is this natural love and the development of the mental faculties. On earth it is possible for a man to obtain this happiness and live in the Heaven of the perfect natural man, as I did prior to my obtaining this Divine Love.

I was a spirit in the highest of the spiritual spheres and was very happy, as I thought, but when I obtained this Divine Love, I realized that the happiness of my former condition was as nothing compared to that of my present condition and I, therefore, want to tell all mankind that they must seek for this higher Love if they wish to obtain a bliss that is supreme.

I know that this rambling talk may not seem very instructive, but I merely wish to emphasize the fact that I lived a mere man, though in the spirit form, before I obtained the Divine Love, and that only with the coming of that Love in my soul did I partake of the Divinity of the Father.

Well, they are still in the spiritual heavens because they have not yet embraced the Christ doctrine of Divine Love. They are living and teaching the doctrines that they taught on earth, only much improved.

I don't know, except that they have been satisfied with what they taught and the happiness that they live in. It may seem strange to you that they have not found this Love in all these years, but it is a fact, and they are not seeking for it. I feel that they have neglected a great opportunity and have lost very much by letting all these years go by without having sought the great truth.

The different teachers of the various religions which have come to earth are occupying planes in the spiritual heavens all to themselves. They, the Jews, still think that theirs is the only true religion, and that they are the chosen people of God, and that all others are mistaken in their doctrines.

Well, I must stop. So thanking you for your kindness, I will say goodnight.

Samuel