John Writes About the Law of Communication and Rapport

January 4, 1918
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, John.

I desire to write for a short time tonight upon a subject that I consider important, and you may consider interesting. As you may know, it has been some time since I wrote anything of a formal character and I regret very much that so much time has gone by without my being able to communicate some of the spiritual truths, and also regret that your condition has been such that I was unable to make the rapport with you that is necessary in order that I may deliver to you these messages of the nature mentioned.

I have explained to you in a former recent letter, in a brief way, the Law of Communication and Rapport, and that Law, if you will try to understand it, will enable you to comprehend the reason why we have not been able to communicate these higher truths. It may seem to you that if we control your brain and not use or transmit your thoughts but only the thoughts which come from our minds, it would be immaterial what the nature of our thoughts might be, and that as your brain is used by us as a mere instrument we, having possession of your brain, would have the power to write anything we might desire. And upon a mere superficial glance at the assertion, it could be reasonably supposed to be true.

But, as we have told you before, rapport and our ability to use your brain are governed by laws, and one of these laws is that a high thought cannot be transmitted through a human brain which is not in the condition that qualifies it to receive the thought, just as the brain, in matter pertaining to mere material knowledge cannot receive a conception or comprehension of some intellectual truth with which it has not had acquaintance, and transmit it. A brain cannot be used by the mind of the human to make known or present a problem in geometry, when that brain has never been used by the mind to acquire an acquaintance with or knowledge of the principles of geometry. This is an incomplete analogy but it may serve to illustrate what I mean.

In the conception by the human mind of a truth, material or spiritual, the brain must be used in order to manifest or make known that conception. This is absolutely true where the idea or thought originates in the mind of the man who is using his own brain to formulate or manifest that idea or thought. The mind may have the thought or knowledge of some branch of learning, and yet when it has never used the brain to put that thought or knowledge into concrete form, the brain cannot manifest or transmit it. This Law applies specifically to the capabilities of the brain where it is attempted to be used or controlled by the mind of the man who owns the brain. And from this you will see that it is possible for the human mind to have thought and knowledge of things, which it cannot use the brain to express.

In many of your material things of life, such as great inventions, the knowledge of these inventions is in the mind. It may be for a long time before it is formulated and expressed by the brain, and sometimes it never gets through the brain at all. The mind and the brain are not one and equivalent things; the one is the operator, the other is the thing used to operate with, so that the possessions of the operator may become manifested to others.

But this Law, applying to and controlling the relationship of the mind and brain possessed by the same man, does not so absolutely apply to and control the relationship of mind and brain, where the mind is that of a spirit and the brain that of a mortal, for in such case the mind may take such complete control of the brain, that the former's manifestations are not governed or limited by the special experiences or want of experiences which the brain may have had in its use by the mind of the mortal along specific lines of expression or manifestation. Thus, as you may know and as it has been demonstrated by the work and experience of many human mediums, the minds of spirits have controlled the brains of these mediums, so that such brains have transmitted from these spirits expressions of various kinds of languages and mathematical truths with which such brains never have had any acquaintance or become exercised in expressing.

In these instances, the brain is used merely in the sphere of intellect and the spirit who takes possession of that brain and uses it to express and make known the knowledge of the spirit's mind, is doing no different thing in essential to what the human mind, controlling its own brain, could have done had the brain been exercised in those directions. The capacity of the brain, whether exercised or not by the human mind controlling its own brain, limits the power of the spirit to control in the manner and for the purpose mentioned.

But this Law has a further phase, and that is, the greater the general experience of the brain in its exercise by the human mind, the more perfectly can the spirit mind control it. All this is dependent upon facts which I cannot linger here to explain, such as the mediumistic qualities and susceptibilities of the human whose brain is attempted to be controlled by the spirit.

And the same laws apply to the disclosure of truth and principles along the moral planes. A spirit cannot possibly use the brain of a mortal to convey or transmit through it moral precepts or truths that that brain is not capable of receiving. And I do not mean by this that the brain must have had any acquaintance with any or many particular moral truths, or must have been used by the human for the purpose of receiving or imparting these precepts, but must be in its essential capacity, potentially be able to transmit and receive these truths. And so the capacity of the brain to receive and transmit these moral truths, limits the control of the spirit over the brain to express through it, these truths.

The rapport of the spirit with the human is determined by the development of the brain and the moral qualities of the human at the time the rapport is attempted to be made - and this means the actual development of these conditions and not what they may appear to be to other humans, or even to the individual himself. And this development determines to a large extent the power of the spirit to use the brain to disclose the truths, either intellectual or moral.

A medium can receive only such truths as his condition, according to the nature of the truths, is susceptible to the forming of a rapport by the spirit. The possibility of rapport, and the kind thereof, lie at the foundation of mediumship and determines and limits the power of the spirit to convey its thoughts and the capacity of the mortal to receive them.

When the medium is in a certain condition of development, the spirit writing can form the rapport according as that condition harmonizes with the condition of the spirit; and it is impossible unless the harmony exists, for the spirit to write these things which require a greater degree of development than the medium at the time possesses. Hence, you will in a way understand why so few of the higher spiritual truths have ever been delivered to the world through the mediumship of any mortal who has been possessed of gifts of either automatic writing, as it is called, or clairvoyance or inspirational powers.

As to those truths, which did not require a higher degree of development than was possessed by the medium, there arose no difficulty in transmitting the same, and many mediums have been very successful in receiving the truth suited to their condition. And this fact and Law, also, will explain to you why the same spirit may communicate through several mediums, and yet the communications be of a dissimilar character; that is, the communications through one medium contain higher or lower character of truth than those transmitted through some other medium; and with the result that those mortals who have heard or read these different communications, especially when critical, have been prone to believe that the same spirit was not making both communications. But this is not a just conclusion, for while the spirit was in the same condition, possessing the same knowledge at the time of both communications, yet the mediums, because of their difference in development, were unable to receive the same character of messages.

You may search the whole history of spirit communications and of mediumship and you will not find any messages of the character of those that have been transmitted through you, and for the reasons that I have stated.

Swedenborg was the last and nearer perfect instrument for receiving these higher truths, and yet he, because of his want of soul development and his being bound, to a more or less extent, by his orthodox beliefs and scientific knowledge that caused him to coordinate and fit in these truths with his ideas of correspondence and such like conceptions, was a failure, and could not be successfully used to transmit these truths which we have been communicating through you. And after him other gifted and, in some respects, successful mediums were used by spirits, of the higher knowledge and progression to convey truths, but their conditions were such that, under the workings of the Laws governing rapport, these mediums could receive only those truths which their conditions of development permitted them to receive. The workings of this limitation was not dependent upon the condition and ability of the spirits to impart these higher truths, but upon the capacity of the mediums to receive them.

You, yourself, have had experience as to how this Law works and controls communication and rapport. For as you know, it has been a long time since you were able to receive any spirit messages of these higher truths, although the spirits have been present with you many times, ready and anxious to make the rapport and deliver their messages; and you have been willing, intellectually, to receive them, but because of your condition or want of condition, the spirits could not deliver them and were compelled to wait until you get into the necessary condition. From all this you will comprehend why so very few messages containing high spiritual truths, or even moral truths, come through mediums. The mediums, mostly, are so developed that they can receive only messages dealing with the material affairs of life, and which kinds of messages I am compelled to and can truthfully say, are those that are largely desired by the mortals seeking information from the spirit world.

Again in your reading of spiritual literature, you may have observed the great diversity of opinions of spirits upon the same subject, and sometimes contradictory opinions, thus causing doubt on the part of mortals, as to what are the facts existing in the spirit world as to the subject of inquiry. Well this is due very largely to the condition of the mediums, and also to the knowledge of the spirits who attempt to communicate; for the knowledge of spirits is limited by the extent of their progress and development.

Many spirits believe that what they have learned is true, and so give authoritative expression to the facts of their knowledge, and often believe what they know is all that may be known of the subject on which they communicate. And these are mostly honest in their beliefs and truthful, as they think, in their messages. And thus it is well for mortals to understand that everything written or spoken by spirits, at all times, is not to be accepted as the finality of truth. And on the other hand apparently contradictory statements should not be taken as fraudulent merely because they are contradictory. A spirit with greater knowledge using a medium in harmony with itself, can convey to men the more exact and greater extent of truth than can a spirit with less knowledge and development using a medium in harmony with itself.

Now, from what I have written, it is apparent that in order to get the greater truth and more extended knowledge of the spirit world, mediums should make the effort to obtain larger and more intensive development of their spiritual natures as well as of their intellectual capacities. This acquirement is absolutely necessary to the reception of the higher truths which are so vital to mankind.

So you see, communication and rapport depend upon the condition of both spirits and mortals working in unison; though more I may say upon the condition of the mortal; for if the medium is in the proper state of development, there being always many spirits present with that medium in condition and readiness, a rapport can be made.

The Master is here tonight and has heard my communication and unites with me in saying: "Have faith and seek with all your soul for this Love."

Believe that I am your special Angel friend.

Your brother in Christ,
John

Swedenborg Writes that He Does Not Want James Padgett to be a Failure in His Work for the Kingdom as He Was

December 23, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Swedenborg.

I have heard the messages that you have just received and I desire to impress upon you the necessity and importance of striving to follow the advice therein given, for if you fail now to do the work upon which you have entered, your regrets when you come to the spirit world will be so great that you will find it almost impossible to get rid of them even if you progress to the soul spheres where the Love is all so abundant.

I know what I write for that was my experience and it seemed to me that everywhere I turned as I sought to progress I saw before me the word "failure" and for many long years it was my ghost of a recollection. Failure as you may know is comparative, and men may fail in their ambitions and desires for fame and wealth and position, and yet when they come to the spirit world they realize that such failures mean comparatively little and in their progress in the truth, they soon forget their failures and cast them behind. But when a mortal has conferred upon him a work which does not have for its object the accumulation of wealth or the attaining of fame or position, but the great and vital end of showing men the way by which they can become reconciled to God and partake of His very Nature in Love and obtain immortality, and also has given to him the privilege of receiving the Great Truths of God in relation to the salvation of men, then I say that failure means a great catastrophe for him and a greater calamity for humanity, and that man is in a condition of mind and recollection beyond description.

Very few men have had conferred upon them this great privilege and power and responsibility, and I was one of them and was a failure not because I did not try to receive and deliver the truth, but because I prevented, by my preconceived ideas of what the truth should be, the real and pure truth from coming to me and thence to humanity. In a way I was unconscious of my failure or of the existence of conditions in me that caused the failure; yet when I came to the spirit world and realized the failure that I had made, then everything was a failure to my conscience.

In your case, you have no such preconceived ideas to hamper you or prevent you from receiving the truth, for you are used merely as instrument for these truths to transcribe and they are delivered in the very language of the writers, and your failure if such there shall be, will be entirely due to your indifference or want of effort to get in condition that will enable the messages to be written. You must see your responsibility and your duty, and I may say your love that should urge you to work and you must not become a failure.

I am your friend and brother and co-worker in making known these truths and only write because I as a failure can speak from experience. So my brother turn your thought more to this work, and if necessary sacrifice every worldly consideration to carry forward your work and make perfect your efforts to fulfill the great mission with which you have been blessed.

I will not write more now. May the Father bless you with His Love.

Your brother in Christ,
Swedenborg

**********

Helen says that Swedenborg wrote with authority.

I am here, your own true and loving Helen.

Well dear, you have received some important messages tonight and I hope that you will read and ponder them, for they are of great spiritual importance, not only to the work that you are doing but also to you personally. I shudder to think of what the consequences might be if you would make a failure of the great privilege that has been bestowed upon you, and you must think of what Swedenborg wrote, for he would write as one having had an experience with a knowledge that came from the experience.

But I know that you will not be a failure and that you will give your best endeavors to the accomplishing of the work. I wish to tell you also, that you should pray more for the Love and long for it with all the longing of your soul, and then as it flows into your soul, I know that your desire to accomplish this work will so increase that there will be no possibility of failure. So sweetheart, follow the advice given you and determine that the great work of the Master will not this time be a failure through you.

I was with you at church tonight and realized that you enjoyed the services very much and especially the music and your soul experience and considerable happiness from the Love that came to you. And there was much Love with and around you, for many of the spirits were present, but Jesus was not there. Again has Christmas come, and the people are now worshiping their Jesus as God, a worship which is very distasteful to him and one which he hopes by the truths of the messages that he is delivering to you will cease, when these messages shall become known to the people. He realizes how much harm such worship does and also realizes that he is a mere son of the Father as are many and all spirits who have received His Divine Love in their souls and become a part of His Divinity; and Jesus knowing that he is merely a child of the Father, dependent upon Him for His Love and Mercy, avoids all opportunity of hearing the praises and worship of those who substitute him in the place of the Father. So distasteful and blasphemous is this worship to him that he even gives up his work in the earth plane among spirits and men until the time of this universal worship of him shall pass by.

I am so glad that this great truth of the only one and true God, the only being to be worshiped, is being revealed to mankind. So you see how important that you do your work. Well, you have written a great deal tonight and are tired and I will not draw on you further. Love me and believe that I love you, and pray to the Father to give you His Love and strength to perform your mission. Good night my dear husband.

Your own true and loving,
Helen

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

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

I am here, Swedenborg.

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

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

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

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

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

Your brother in Christ,

Swedenborg

**********

Luke affirms that Swedenborg wrote.

I am here, Luke.

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

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

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

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

Your brother in Christ, Luke

**********

Helen confirms that Swedenborg wrote.

I am here, your own true and loving Helen.

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

Your own true and loving, Helen

Rev. Chauncey Giles Writes that After He Met Jesus in the Spirit World, He Learned the Truth

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

Let me write you a line, for I am interested in what has just been written you, for when I lived on earth, I was a Swedenborgian or New Churchman, and believed in the doctrines of that Church, and especially in the cornerstone of its beliefs, and that is that Jesus was God, and the only God to be worshipped as such and accepted as the incarnate God, who came to earth and lived and taught among men the coming of God into the flesh.

Well, I, when on earth was a leader or preacher in that Church and during the course of my ministry, I not only taught but wrote many pamphlets and some books upon this doctrine of God becoming man in the form of Jesus, and on many other doctrines, that I now know to be untrue.

And my authority for saying that this fundamental doctrine of the Church is untrue, is that I have seen and talked with Jesus in the spirit world and learned that he is only the spirit of a mortal, but the highest and most glorious spirit in all the Heavens and is not God; and I have never seen God, nor any spirit who has seen Him with the spirit eyes, though Jesus and others of the highest spirits say that they have seen Him with their soul perceptions, which must be true because Jesus is so much like God in this: that he cannot tell a lie.

But I know that there is a God, and my knowledge is based on certainty, but the basis of this certainty I cannot explain to you, as you could not comprehend my explanation. But God lives and rules and loves, and is present with us and with you in some or many of His attributes, and Jesus is not this God.

I wish that I could come to my people and tell them of the errors of their beliefs, and the truths as they exist and to the extent as now known to me, but I have no hope of ever being able to do so, for one of the cardinal doctrines of the Church is that with the passing of Swedenborg passed the possibility of all communications between God or His angels and mortals as to spiritual truths, and that it is contrary to God's will that mortals should attempt to penetrate the veil that separates the two worlds.

How such beliefs as I taught now cause me suffering and regret, for I see no way of remedying the wrong that I did, and of turning the thoughts of my followers into the paths that lead to truth and the certainty of Heaven.

As this is my first attempt to communicate, I am somewhat tired and must stop. But I thank you for the opportunity and hope that some time I may have the privilege of again writing. Notwithstanding my erroneous beliefs, I have in my soul some of the Father's Divine Love, that enables me to sign myself,

Your brother in Christ,
Chauncey Giles

**********

Helen Confirms the Messages about Swedenborg from Martin Luther and Chauncey Giles

I am here, your own true and loving Helen.

Yes, Luther wrote, and the other spirit I don't know, but I have no doubt that he is whom he represents himself to be. He seemed to be in much earnestness and was very anxious to write, and seeing that he was a good spirit with a message, we let him write, and he felt better by having done so.

Swedenborg was here tonight and is very anxious to write and soon he will as he feels that he must write a message on the subject that you have been interested in recently. I will not write more. So with my love I will say good night.

Your own true and loving,

Helen

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

John Writes to Confirm the Truth as to the Existence of the Hells

December 19, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, John.

I merely want to say that I have listened to the message that you have read, and to the remarks of your friend and yourself, and I believe that you have a true conception of the truth as to these hells.

Swedenborg gave you a true description of their conditions as they actually exist, and Herod told you with the certainty of experience what he found to be true and I, John, who have visited them in the efforts to allay the sufferings of the spirits who inhabit them, tell you that they exist as places, with all the darkness and surroundings that cause the sufferings of the unfortunate spirits to increase. I desire to make this statement so that this question of what hell really is may be settled for all time, so far as you are concerned.

I know that many mortals console themselves with the belief that because of certain natural laws, there cannot possibly be any hells, such as the orthodox teach and that, therefore, there cannot be any hells at all. But this conclusion drawn from the premise is not correct. The mere fact that because a man or spirit cannot burn eternally and never be consumed does not justify the inference that such spirit cannot be punished by surroundings which have a fixed locality.

No, man must not rest in the belief of there being no such hells - as Swedenborg has described - because if they do, they will be woefully mistaken and surprised should they live such lives on earth as will cause them to be placed in these hells. I merely wanted to say this much tonight, as I don't want you to receive any communication which is not in accord with the truth. It is of such vital importance that you receive nothing but the truth, that we who are interested in this work have determined that nothing but the truth shall come to you, and that whenever error or misstatements creep in we will carefully correct the same.

So without writing more tonight, I will say that I am,

Your brother in Christ,
John

Herod Writes Further On the Description of the Hells

December 18, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Herod.

Let me write just a line before you close, as I am anxious to tell you of a matter that may be of importance to you in reference to the descriptions of the hells which you received last night from Swedenborg.

He says that the hells are places as well as conditions, and that they have as a part of them certain appearances and surroundings that make the sufferings of the evil spirits increase. Well, this is true, and in addition I wish to say that not only are these appearances and surroundings real and existing to the consciousness of the spirit, but are real as a fact, independent of the consciousness. If there were no spirits in these hells, these appearances and surroundings would exist just the same.

So you see, a great many mortals whom I have heard express their opinions to the effect that hell is a mere condition of the recollections of the spirit, and nothing more, are altogether wrong in such opinions, and they will find that the consolation, if any there be from such opinions, will not be found whenever they may become inhabitants of these hells.

I have passed through all of them, and know whereof I write; for there is no teacher so efficient and convincing as the teacher called experience.
I know that if I had only my recollections and remorse as the cause of my sufferings. they would have been much lighter and not so excruciating as they were. No, mortals will not find any consolation in such a hope, for there is no foundation for such hope, and the poor, deceived mortal who bases his ideas of hell on such a hope will be sadly disappointed. When you consider a moment, you will see that there is nothing unreasonable in the facts that I have stated.

You and all others who believe in the happiness of the higher spiritual spheres, not to mention the Celestial Spheres, believe that the happiness of the spirits who inhabit these spheres is increased and made more real by the beautiful surroundings and the fruits and living water that so many spirits have described as being a part of that higher existence. Then why is it not as reasonable to suppose that in the hells there are surroundings and appearances that will make the conditions of spirits whose evil lives have caused them to become inhabitants of these hells of even more unhappiness and create more suffering and misery. This supposition is one that no reasonable argument can prove to be incorrect.

I merely wanted to add what I have said to what Swedenborg wrote, for I know that conviction must come where statements are based upon actual experiences and where knowledge is derived from sufferings which came from the actual existence of things that are sometimes alleged not to exist.

I will not write more now, but in closing will say that I have long since left these hells and am now an inhabitant of higher spheres and a follower of the blessed Master.

When on earth I was known as Herod the King of Judea, and the poor, miserable, mistaken man who thought that by slaying the babes of Bethlehem, he would maintain his power as ruler.

So good night and God bless you.
Herod

* * * * * * * * * *

Mrs. Padgett Confirms Herod's Message   

I am here, Your own true and loving Helen.

Well sweetheart, you have had a letter tonight from a spirit who ought to know what he is writing about, as he was a most wicked man and, as I have been told, suffered the torments of the lowest hells.

But as to you personally, I want to say that it will make no difference to you what the nature of the hells is, or whether there be any or not. You will never see them unless, when you come over, you have a desire to visit them for the purpose of doing good to some poor unfortunate. And I thank God for this assurance and knowledge.

I will not write more tonight.

With all my love, I am your own true and loving
Helen

Swedenborg Writes About the Truth of the Hells and Describes Its Location and Appearance

December 17, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

Let me write a few lines as I desire to write you some truths about what you and your friend were discussing; namely: "Are there any such hells;" as are described in the messages contained in the book (Dr. Peeble's Immortality) that you have been reading tonight.

Well, you must know that in the spirit planes, hell is a place as well as a condition and that, as a place, it has all the accompaniments that make it a reality to the spirits who inhabit it. Of course, the conditions of the spirits who are in these hells are determined by their recollections worked upon by their consciences. But notwithstanding that these recollections are the things that cause their sufferings, yet, the appearances of the locations in which they live are due to something more than these mere recollections for, as you have been informed, all these spirits are in darkness - the degree of the darkness in which they live being determined by their recollections. I mean that when the spirit has recollections of deeds done or not done, which are not so bad as the recollections of another; the former spirit is in a place where there is less darkness than the latter.

These places have their own fixed condition of darkness and of gloom and many other attachments, which increases the sufferings that spirits have to endure.

There are, of course, no fires and brimstone lakes and devils with pitchforks adding to the sufferings of the spirits, but yet, there are certain conditions and appearances which are outside of the spirits themselves, which causes their recollections to become more acute and to work in a manner to produce a greater degree of suffering.

These hells may be places of caverns and rocks and barren wastes and dark holes and other such things as have been written about; and mortals must know that evil spirits do not live in pleasant places and suffer only from the punishments, which their recollections bring to them.

And while the hells of the orthodox are in their descriptions greatly exaggerated, yet there is some truth in the ideas, which these descriptions convey as to the fact that the hells are places in which are darkness and many accompanying appearances that add to the tortures of the spirits of evil.

I tell you this because I see you want to know the truth, and for the further reason that you do not believe that there are such distinctive places as the hells; and that the darkness, which the spirits in their communications to you speak of is, in your opinion, produced by the conditions of the minds and souls of the spirits who write.

But such opinion is not altogether correct, and it is best for men to know that the mere recollections do not include all of what the hells are.

You say you have your hells on earth sometimes, and that is true to a limited extent, and many men suffer very much from their consciences and remorse, but when they come into the spirit world, if they have not gotten out of the condition which these recollections and remorse place them in, they will find that there is waiting them that place or location, which will add to their sufferings that arise from the recollections of evil deeds committed while on earth.

These evil spirits live in communities for the Law of Attraction operates in these dark and lower planes just as it does in the higher spheres and causes spirits of like or similar conditions to congregate together and find consolation, or what they may at times think to be consolation, in one another's company.

These hells are on the planes nearest the earth, and these spirits are not confined all the time to any particular hell. They have the privilege of moving at will along this plane, but wherever they go, they find that they are in these hells, and they cannot escape from them, unless they accept the help from spirits who can instruct them (in) what they must do.

Well, when they come to you to write, they are not very far from these hells, because the plane in which they live is a part of the plane in which the inhabitants of earth live.

Of course, I don't mean to say that that portion of the earth plane that surrounds your earth is composed entirely of these hells, for that is not true, as the earth sphere has in it considerable light and some happiness. And you must further remember that there are many planes in this earth plane.

These spirits, while their habitations are in these hells, have the privilege of leaving these particular localities and wandering for a short time in and over other parts of this earth plane; but this is only for a short time, and they have to return to the places where they have been placed, and which this Law of Attraction, that I speak of, draws them to.

Well, there are thousands of millions of evil spirits, and there is never a time when some of them - thousands of them - are not surrounding and trying to use their bad influences on mortals. We do not know why this is permitted, but only know that it is so. And here again, the great Law of Attraction operates, for many mortals are in similar conditions of development and evil thoughts to what these evil spirits are and, naturally, these evil spirits are drawn to them and do come to them. And frequently it happens, that while visiting these mortals of similar conditions to their own, they attempt to influence mortals who are in a better state of moral and spiritual condition and sometime succeed in doing them harm.

But the great fact is, that these evil spirits have a place of living, where they have to remain until by the operation of the Law of Compensation, they are relieved from some of their evil tendencies and desires when they are permitted to progress.

My principal reason in writing you is to have you know that there are hells of places as well as of conditions, and that these places, by reason of what they contain and their appearances, add to the suffering of the spirits.

As I have written a long time I will stop and say that I am a Christian and an inhabitant of the Celestial Spheres, and one of the spirit band that is helping you in your great work of the Master. So in leaving you, I will subscribe myself,

Your brother in Christ,
Swedenborg the Seer

Solomon Writes and Explains Why James E. Padgett Was Chosen for Jesus' Mission and That Jesus' Work With Swedenborg Was Unsuccessful

October 1, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I came merely to say that I have listened to your conversation tonight and was much interested, because you have discussed that phase of man's destiny which is most important in all the economy or plans of the Father.

Your being chosen to do this work was not the thing of the moment, but for a long period of time the highest spirits of the Celestial Heavens have considered this great question, and the way by which the great truths of God and the necessary plans for man's salvation could be made known to mortals.

Heretofore, the difficulty has been in finding a man gifted with mediumistic powers, who had the unbiased mind and, yet, a knowledge to some extent of the soul's requirements, and who could be used for the purpose of receiving these great truths and transmitting them to humanity.

Some years ago, as you say, a selection was made of a man to declare these truths, and to him much power and spiritual knowledge were given, and even that power of leaving the body and visiting the world of spirits that he might see for himself the actual condition of things as they there existed and to declare to mankind the results of his observations. And he did observe and declare many truths, but the difficulty in the way of his realizing the pure truth and interpreting the things which he saw was that his mind was too much biased by what he had read and believed from the writings as contained in the Bible; and, hence, his efforts failed to accomplish the great purpose intended by the mission given him. I am here referring to Swedenborg, the seer, as he was called.

This was a great disappointment to these Celestial Spirits who had projected such a plan for revealing the truths to mankind. At the head of these Celestial Spirits was Jesus, as he is now. Since that time, the time has never been propitious for a plan of this kind to be attempted again until now.

But now, instead of having the mortal, through whom this plan is to be worked, leave his body and come to the spirit world, and then relate the results and interpretations of his observations, it has been determined that the truths shall be declared to the mortal in the words and thoughts of these spirits, so that no mistake or wrong interpretation can possibly occur; and, hence, when we saw the possibilities of your becoming a medium with powers sufficient, and a soul capable of development to receive these thoughts and words, it was decided to select you and make you the medium for doing this great work. Of course, Jesus was the active superior spirit in making the selection and we all submitted to his judgment.

But such is the decree, and now you will understand why you were selected and the fact that you have been selected. I have told you this tonight, because I have been selected by the others to do so. And I, as the wise man of old, tell you from a knowledge founded on fact.

So both of you realize your missions and strive with all your might to acquire this great faith and soul development which are absolutely necessary to a successful performance of the work.

We are with you very often trying to incline your thoughts to the higher things and to fill your souls with their influences, which our love for you creates around you. So in behalf of all of us who are promoting this great work, I give you our love and blessings.

Your brother in Christ, Solomon, the wise of the Old Testament and the more than wise of the followers of Christ.

* * * * *

Helen Confirms That What Solomon Wrote is True

I am here, Helen.

Well, you have certainly had some wonderful messages tonight. What Solomon wrote you is true, for I have heard the Master say the same thing, as he has told me that you have been selected because of the reasons Solomon gave. How you must thank the Father for such a favor and blessing.

What a work is yours and what a responsibility, also. But you will not fail for you will have such help from the Celestial World as will not let you fail. I will not write more, but only say that I love you with all my heart.

Your own true and loving,
Helen