Jesus Writes As to Some of the Errors and Deficiencies of Christian Science

July 9, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Jesus.

I come today to tell you that I am pleased with you in your efforts to find the truth of what we have taught as to God and of the relation of man to Him.

I have been with you in your reading of several days past and have observed the effect upon you of the contrast between the beliefs and teachings of men, as you have read them, and the teachings of truth that we have revealed to you in our messages. While these writings that you have been reading have in them some things of truth, yet there are many things that are wholly untrue and the mere results of speculation. Today, if you feel in condition, I will instruct you as to some of the errors and deficiencies of Christian Science and the want of the true comprehension of its founder of the realities of being.

She writes and teaches that there is nothing real in sin and error and disease, and that their apparent existence is wholly due to the mortal mind, and that when this mind denies the existence of these things, they will no longer exist. Well, in this assertion there is a large grain of truth, but in order to understand and apply this truth, more than a mere denial of their existence must be taught and believed by man.

It is true that God never created anything of evil - or that which is not in harmony with His Nature and Essence, which are only good; and that to ascribe the existence of these evils and discords to God is erroneous and blasphemous. But the fact remains that these things exist, and the mere denial of their existence does not remedy the harmful results that flow from such existence.

Man suffers from evil and error and disease and has always so suffered since the fall from his state of perfection and always will suffer in consequence of there being in his consciousness these things of reality, and the mere calling them the result of "mortal mind," will not explain their existence or furnish a remedy by which they may be gotten rid of.

First arises the necessity of understanding how, and by what means, these things came into existence, and then it will become easier for the understanding of the means and the way by which they may be eliminated from the life and apparent nature of mankind.

As I have already told you, these things, foreign to God's creation, were created by man alone in the excessive and unlawful exercise of his will power in following out the suggestions and desires of his animal appetites, which unduly asserted themselves when man lost a part of his spirituality by his disobedience.

Their creation was the result of something more than what the founder of that science calls the "mortal mind," for the mind is only a part of man's being; and while the faculties of the mind must be used in the operation of all the powers and qualities of man, yet the mind is not the originator of all his desires and appetites and emotions. The emotional nature and affections are distinct from the mere mind, or the intellectual faculties, and as regards sin and error, are generally the creators of the same, although the mind may and does foster and increase these things so created.

Then man must understand that these excrescences to his perfect creation are real and existing, and result in his own damnation and alienation from the good, and are antagonistic to his original and natural condition of perfection, and that they cannot be swept out of existence by the mere assertion that they are not real.

Again, man must understand that they are the creatures primarily of the inordinate exercise of the animal appetites and desires, and not of the exercise of the mind, and (that they are) to be eradicated by the same process in reverse order as was used in their creation.

Of course, it must not be lost sight of that in using this process, the faculties of the mind must be brought into operation, just as they were in the creation of these existences. And the great fact to be remembered in this process is that these things are real, and not things of the mere imagination, which is the equivalent of the founder's mortal mind.

Now, when man grasps the meaning, as thus explained, of what these things really are, and how they came into being, then he will the more readily comprehend the way or the means by which they are to be destroyed and never again permitted to become a part of his being; for while they do not by nature belong to his being, yet by reason of his being the creator of them, they are, so far as his consciousness is concerned, together with all the results flowing therefrom, a part of his being; and that part which keeps him in discord with the laws controlling his own existence. The purity of his true being is always besmirched by the impurities of his own artificial being, and always will be, until he eliminates these impurities which, as to him and to his fellow man, are real, persistent existences.

The will, however, is the great force that must be used in the destruction of these excrescences, and as this will power in man is free and untrammeled, and in its operations follows the suggestions and desires of the appetites - both animal and spiritual - of man, it therefore becomes apparent that these appetites and desires must first be controlled and directed in that direction that will cause the will to be exercised in such a manner as to lead the thoughts and deeds towards the realization of the desires and appetites in harmony with God's Laws.

As sin and evil are not the creatures of the spiritual desires, but wholly of the animal, then to eradicate from man's being these things of evil and sin, the efforts of man must be directed towards the supplanting of the unlawful and inharmonious animal desires and appetites, by appetites and desires arising from the same source that is in harmony with the laws creating this very source.

Man was created by God with animal appetites just as he was created with spiritual aspirations, and the one is just as harmonious with the laws of his creation as the other, and the loss of the spiritual aspiration, or the perversion of the animal appetites, similarly causes man to become out of harmony with these laws. So that man in order to become free from these foreign parts of his being, must strive, not by a denial of their reality, but by the effort to supplant them, to recreate, as it were, in himself the animal appetites that are consistent and in harmony with those which were his when he was made the perfect man; in other words, to destroy the beings of his own creation and possess only those of the creation of God.

Of course, in this effort, he will have to use his mind, mortal or otherwise, but in addition, he will also have to exercise the faculties of his emotional and affectional nature, which are not of the mind but the soul. Mere negation or belief will not be sufficient, but desires and cravings for these things which engender sin must be supplanted by desires and craving for those things, which are in harmony with his creation.

So, I repeat, the teachings that sin and error and disease are not real and are no part of man's being, as he now exists and lives, is erroneous and when not understood, harmful, and not sufficient to bring about the regeneration of man.

In one sense, it is true that sin and error and disease are not real, but that means that so far as God's creation of man is concerned, they have no existence, for He created only that which was good and in harmony with His perfect laws. But as man is a creator as well as a creature, and as these things are the creatures of man alone, then so far as the being of man is involved, they have a reality which will persist until their creator - man - has destroyed them.

I am pleased that you gave me the opportunity to write today and am also glad to find you in good condition.

Your friend and brother,
Jesus

Judge Louis I. O'Neil, a Friend of James E. Padgett, Writes of His Experience in the Spirit World

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

I am here, Louis I. O'Neil.

Yes, it is he who was called Judge. I merely want to say a word as I have not had the opportunity to write you for a long time.

I am now in a better condition than I was and am in more light and have less suffering thanks to the beautiful spirits with whom you brought me in contact. I find that as I get rid of some of my old beliefs, the better I am and the more progress I make and the less darkness surrounds me.

Your wife has helped me a great deal and she is a wonderfully beautiful spirit and filled with love and kindness.

I see a number of my old friends, but I am sorry to say that a great many of them are in darkness and suffering. Lyscomb is in a very bad condition and has not progressed any, thus far, though I have tried to help him some, but as you know he had a dogmatic and all-knowing temperament on earth, so he has the same qualities here, and it is hard to make him see things differently from what he thinks they are or should be.

You may know that he frequently visits his old haunts in the neighborhood where he spent so many hours in drink and he is still drinking as he thinks and seems to get a kind of satisfaction out of the deceit and he does not seem to be inclined to turn his thoughts to anything of a higher nature.

I tell you that the appetites of earth are strong with the spirits who come to this world with them unsatisfied or not gotten rid of and it is so sad that he has them to the extent that he has when he passed over. But sometime I hope that he will have an awakening to the true condition of his existence and to the necessity of his having his thoughts away from these things and seeking those things which will enable him to get out of his awful darkness.

Now you must not think from this that I am a very highly developed spirit for I am not, but just as the higher spirits have a work to do, so have I and my work, of course, can be only with those who are in a worse condition than I am and strange as it may seem to you every time I help one of these lower spirits, I realize that I help myself. What a wonderful provision of God this is, and if men would only realize this, they would live more in accordance with the Golden Rule.

Yes, I have seen Maurice Smith and John Clark and many others that we both know, and also Perry. He is in a bad condition, too, and does not seem to be much inclined to listen to the advice of some spirits who come to him. Your grandmother seems to be trying hard to help him and he seems to have more confidence in her than in any other spirit and at times it looks as if she is helping him and I have no doubt that she is, but then he will relapse back into his old condition and bewail the awful deed that he committed. As you know he was a man of deep conviction and he seems now to have some conviction which holds him to his conditions of suffering and darkness.

Well, if we only knew while on earth what the truths of this spirit world are.

You certainly are wonderfully proud to have revealed to you all these things and I am told that the spirits from the Celestial Spheres come to you and give you their messages of truth. I will confirm this is unaccountable and you must wonder too, for when I was on earth, I did not know that you had any conception of the things that come to you now.

I know that I did not, and that my beliefs were only those which were to rely upon what the Bible taught as I thought, and there was no reality to me in these teachings and the only effect was to create in me beliefs which I now see in many particulars were all wrong. At least they have now been realized and I am told that they will not be and yet they cling to me in a way that holds me to my present condition. I wish when on earth I had known what you now know, for if I had I would, I am certain, be in a better condition of light and happiness.

Well, I have written a long time and I feel better for having done so and I thank you for the opportunity. So with my kind regards and in hope that I may come to you at sometime and write again.

Your friend and well wisher,
Louis I. O'Neill

John Padgett Writes About James Padgett's Friend Who is Still Frequenting the Bar Rooms Even Though He is Now a Spirit

November 11, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Your Father.

I have been much interested in your conversation tonight, and I see that your two friends are firm believers in spiritualism and in the communications while you receive from the spirits who profess to write.

Of course, Dr. Stone who is a believer of some years standing has no doubt whatever; but Mr. Morgan, having so recently embraced this belief, is at times a little skeptical, and this is natural; but his belief will grow, and we firmly believe, as do you, in the near future, and he will be a great help to you and to the cause. He is now undergoing that change in his ideas of life here and on earth, that he will soon realize the truths as we shall teach them to you.

I want to say a word in reference to the message, which you received from your friend, Mr. Lipscomb. He is a spirit in a very dark and depraved condition and shows upon his spirit countenance the results of his dissipated life on earth. His soul has very little development, and his mind is in such a condition that he will require much discipline through suffering before he will commence to see the light and comprehend that the truths of God are eternal and never change, and that he must accept these truths before he can progress much.

He was so anxious to write to you and expressed his desires in such a pitiable way, that we thought it would do him good to permit him to write and he did. Mr. Riddle has talked to him and endeavored to show him the way to light and relief, but at this time he is not in condition to receive or understand these truths, and he has gone back to his dark and dreary condition and his hell, as he calls it.

We will not desert him, though, but will continue to use our influence and love to help him, and in course of time, he will realize that he must ask help from the Father, and then he will receive it. He is not of a very reverent turn of mind, and his ideas of earth are with him still, and will remain with him until he becomes persuaded that there is only one thing that will take him out of his darkness and suffering.

There is another thing that I wish to tell you, and that is that he is still visiting the bar rooms, which he so frequently visited when he was on eart, and is drinking his whiskey and other accursed drinks as he thinks. The attraction of this stuff and these places is holding him fast to this manner of living. So you see his life here is not much different from what it was on earth, only he is not able of himself to indulge in these appetites, but must use the appetites and organs of some of his late earth friends to satisfy his appetite. This, of course, is a matter of imagination, but to him it is as real as was his drinking on earth, and for the time being, causes him to believe that he is actually satisfying his cravings. But while he is not doing so, he is working injury to some mortals whom you know in that he is causing them to drink more than they otherwise would.

Oh, the curse of habits and evil appetites once acquired and never gotten rid of. So his only salvation now is for him to have some great awakening as to his true condition, and then his reform may commence, but until then it is almost hopeless to try to help him. I will not write more of him tonight, but say that we will not permit him to write again until he gets into a better condition.

We are all very happy and are with you a great deal loving you and trying to help you. You must not let your worries possess you so much for they do you harm. Yes, I know that it is difficult not to worry under such circumstances, but soon you will not have cause to worry as we have told you. Well, you may lose faith and we can hardly blame you, but the relief will come just the same.

I will not write more tonight.

Your loving Father,
John H. Padgett