Judge Frank D. Syrick Writes that He Has Progressed to the Seventh Sphere and Discusses Eugene Morgan's Work with Dark Spirits

December 21, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Judge Syrick.

Well, old boy, how are you tonight? I speak, thus, that you may know that I am feeling just as friendly as I did when on earth, and you may feel assured that I am more friendly than I was when I used to talk to you about the mysteries of the unseen. Now, of course, I know a great many things that were to us, at that time "mysterious," and know that the mysterious exists only in the minds of men, and that everything in our universe of truth and mystery is merely a convenient man-made word for hiding our want of knowledge.

Well, Padgett, I am glad that I can write to you again for it gives me much pleasure in being able to do so. Of course, I am with you very often listening to the conversation of yourself and friends, and the reading of the messages that you receive. There are so many spirits around you, all desiring to write, that I can only at times write myself and, as you have learned, we always give the preference to others whenever we know of their desires.

This is one of the things that we learn and apply in our life here as we progress. It is not only that: "We do unto others, as we would have them do unto us," but we do unto others as we know to be for the good of these others. We try to efface self and, as we advance in our possession of the Love, we find it less and less difficult to sacrifice self for the benefit of others; and the wonderful thing is that in doing this, we are the happier and realize that we should not live for self alone. Well, you will commence to think that I am a preacher, and in a way I am, but what I say I know to be true and not the result of any speculation.

I am progressing and am now in the Seventh Sphere, and if I were to attempt to tell you what this means, and could do so, you would think that I was either a storyteller surpassing the author of "The Thousand and One Nights," or that your imagination was running away with your senses. But it is a fact that the beauty and wonders of this sphere are beyond my ability to describe or your ability to understand.

Rose, of course, is with me, and we are so very happy. What a wonderful thing this soulmate love is! Now I realize that the happiness which is mine compensates for all the lonesome times of my old bachelor days on earth, and as I see that your friend (Eugene Morgan) is a poor, lonesome bachelor, I want to tell him that when he comes to the spirit world and has his soulmate to love and cherish him, he will forget that he was ever a lonesome bachelor on earth and will regret only that he had not become a spirit long before he entered that world, which so many dread to think of. Sometimes I have been present when some of his Catholic friends visited him and attempted to annihilate him, and although you may look upon us as sedate and pious spirits, yet we enjoyed the encounter very much and especially when we saw that these priests were worsted and lost all the fighting blood, as you may say.

While I did not know him on earth, yet I feel that I know him very well now, and I desire to tell him that he is doing a wonderful and exceptional work, and one that is doing and has done much good among these priest-ridden people. He may not know, but it is a fact that when he enters into these controversies with the priests, that they are not the only spirits present, for many of their followers accompany them to see the enemy of their church annihilated; and they hear what may be said and see the results and, as a consequence, many of them are caused to think and seek the help of the numerous high spirits who are always present, ready to give the help that they need; and many of these followers are, by the means mentioned, rescued from their purgatory and erroneous beliefs. I should like to write more on this subject and describe the actual scenes that accompany his encounters with these priests, if only to encourage him, but I cannot do it tonight.

Well, Christmas will soon be here, and we have the Christmas feeling, but it is not exactly as you have it on earth. We have the actual visible presence of Jesus and feel his love, and know that he was born and is now the living, loving, all-embracing Christ in his teachings and manifestations of the Father's Love. I wish you and your friend and Dr. (Leslie R.) Stone a Merry Christmas,and desire to tell you that many of your spirit friends will spend the day with you and bring as presents their love and prayers and best wishes for your happiness.

Good night, old friend, and God bless you,
Syrick

**********

Helen is glad that the Judge wrote.

I am here, your own true and loving Helen.

Well, dear, I am glad that the Judge wrote you tonight, as you had not heard from him for some time, and he was very anxious to write. He is very happy and is progressing, and with his Rose enjoys bliss to the fullest.

The other spirits actually wrote, and the young mother is now a very beautiful spirit and feels a great sympathy for all mothers who die as their babies come into life. I will not write more now. So love me and pray to the Father with all your soul and longings for His Love.

Your own true and loving,
Helen

Edwin Forrest Writes of His Progress Since Praying for Divine Love

March 10, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Edwin Forrest.

Well, Ned, I come again, but I will not detain you long, as I merely wish to tell you that I am progressing and am commencing to see the light and some happiness, and my hope has increased so much that I already feel that I shall soon get in the condition where my happiness will become so great that all my sufferings will leave me. Your wife tells me that my hope is certain of realization, if I will only continue to pray and open up my soul to the inflowing of the Love, and I am trying with all my strength to follow her advice.

I have been to my mother and she was certainly surprised to see my bright condition. I mean bright as compared with hers, and the condition of those who are around her, and she wondered what has caused it. And when I told her and begged her to follow my example and pray for this Love, and let go from her the beliefs in her creed and in the teachings of the priests, she said she was not ready to do this, but was compelled to believe what these priests had told her of the will of God and of the way to get out of her darkness, and that what I said to her may be true as to my experience, yet she was certain that the masses and prayers that the priests were offering up for her would soon have their effect, and she would soon get out of purgatory and pass into the Heavens of peace and light.

I insisted that in this, she was mistaken and asked her why it is that she, having been in the spirit world so much longer than had I, and that during these years of her existence as a spirit, their masses and prayers had been offered for her, that she is in no better condition than when she first became a spirit, while I, who was so wicked and sinful on earth was in the condition in which she saw me. Well, she could not explain and said she would think of the matter and ask some of her priests why it is so.

I left her and impressed her to think about the matter and said that I would come to her again and would continue to come to her until she should become convinced of the truth of what I had told her. Well, I believe that soon I will be able to convince her that she is in error and will never find relief so long as she continues in the beliefs that the priests and her zeal for her church while on earth caused her to imbibe.

I believe what you say, and I will follow your advice. I will now stop and with my love will say good night.

Your old friend,
Forrest

John B. London Writes a Short Note About the Law of Compensation

January 15, 1917
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, John B. London.

Let me say a word, and I shall feel better for having done so.

I am a spirit who lives in the earth plane and see spirits of all kinds and conditions and know from observation and experience that in this plane is darkness as well as light, and that many, many spirits are in the dark places paying the penalties which the great Law of Compensation compels them to pay.

These planes are of various degrees of darkness, all suited to the condition of the spirits who occupy them. Some of them are called Hells and some purgatories, but they are all really connected, and the only difference between them is the condition of darkness and suffering which the inhabitants there are compelled to undergo.

I have been through the Hells and am now in purgatory trying to rid my soul of suffering and get into the light of freedom and peace; and oh, there are so many here in that condition and without much hope. Our progress is slow and we have to pay the minutest demand that this Law of Compensation calls for.

I hope that you will pardon me for having intruded, but I felt that if I could communicate with you, I should feel better, and so I do. I will bid you good night.

Your friend,
John B. London

Martin Luther Writes About the Errors of His Teachings and the Church's Tenets

May 29, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.

I am here, Martin Luther, One Time Monk and Reformer.

I desire to continue my message, if it is agreeable to you. Well, we will try.

When on earth I firmly believed what was contained in our doctrines and teachings, and was sincere in trying to induce others to believe as I believed and taught, but after my long experience in the Spirit World and my communications with Jesus and his apostles and others to whom the truths of the Father have come, I realize and know that many of my teachings were erroneous and should not longer be believed by those who worship in the churches that bear my name.

My doctrine of faith - that is justification by faith - is all wrong when its foundation is considered, and the impossibility of understanding from my teachings and the church's tenets, just what can be intended by faith. Our faith was founded on the assumption that Jesus was a part of the Godhead and the only begotten son of the Father, who so loved sinful man that He caused His sinless and beloved son to die on the cross that divine justice might be appeased, and the burden of men's sins taken from them and placed on Jesus. Oh, the terrible error of it all, and how it has mislead so many of the believers to a condition of darkness and deprivation of the Divine Love of the Father. No, such objects of faith have no foundation in fact, and such a faith does not justify sinful man or bring him in atonement with the Father, so that he becomes a redeemed child of God.

Jesus was not a part of the Godhead, and neither was he begotten in the way that I taught and my followers believe. He was the son of man, and only the son of God by reason of the fact that he had received in his soul the Divine Love of the Father, which made him like the Father in many of His attributes of Divinity.

God did not send Jesus to earth for the purpose of dying on the cross or for the purpose of paying any debt or appeasing the wrath of his angry and jealous Father, for these qualities are not attributes of the Father - only love and sympathy and the desire that men turn from their sins and become reconciled to Him, are His attributes as affects the salvation of men. No death of Jesus could make any man the less a sinner or draw him any nearer to the Father, and faith in this erroneous proposition, is faith in an error and never has man been justified by it.

Jesus came to earth with a mission to save mankind from their sins and that mission was to be performed in two ways only: the one by declaring to man that the Father had rebestowed upon him the privilege of receiving the Divine Love, and the other by showing man the way in which the privilege might be exercised, so that this Divine Love would become his, and thereby make him a part of the Father's Divinity and ensure him Immortality. In no other way could or can men be saved and made at-one with the Father; and faith in these Truths, which makes them things of possession and ownership by men, is the only faith which justifies.

I write this for the benefit, more particularly, of my followers so that they may learn the vital truths of their salvation and change their faith in the death and blood sacrifice of Jesus, to faith in the rebestowal of the Divine Love, and in the further truth that Jesus was sent to show the way to that Love, and that he thereby and in no other manner, became the Way, the Truth and the Life.

I know that the acceptance of these truths will take from them the very foundation of their beliefs, and many will refuse to accept my new declarations of truth, but nevertheless, they must accept, for truth is truth and never changes, and those who refuse to accept it on earth will, when they come to the Spirit World, have to accept it, or exist in a condition where they will see and know that their old beliefs were false and rested on no solid foundation; and the danger to many will be that when they realize the utter falsity and non-existence of what they believed to be true, they will become infidels, or wanderers in spirit life without the hope of salvation or of becoming redeemed children of God.

I fully realize the errors of my teachings on earth, and the responsibility that rests upon me for these teachings which are still spreading, and I am almost helpless to remedy them. And so, I write this message, hoping that it may be published in your book of truths.

I, Luther, the onetime monk and reformer, declare these truths with all the emphasis of my soul, based on knowledge in which there is no shadow of error, and which I have acquired from experience not founded on the claimed revelations to man by the voice of God. My knowledge is true, and nothing in opposition can be true, and the beliefs and faith of a man, or of all the inhabitants of earth, cannot change the truth in one iota.

The Roman Church taught the communion of saints, and I declare the communion of spirits and mortals, be they saints or sinners. That church taught the doctrine of purgatory and hell, and I declare that there is a hell and a purgatory and that probation exists in both places, and that some time in the long ages to come, both places will be emptied of their inhabitants, some of whom will become redeemed children of God and dwellers in the Celestial Heavens, and others will become purified in their natural loves and inhabitants of the merely spiritual spheres.

I pray and desire that my followers may become inhabitants of the Celestial Heavens and partake of the Divine Nature of the Father and Immortality.To them I say, hearken to the Truths as Jesus has and will reveal them in his messages to you, for in the Truths which he shall thus declare, they will find Life Eternal and the at-onement with God, for which they have for so many years been seeking in darkness and disappointment.

I will not write more tonight, but will come again soon, and reveal other vital truths, if you will find for me the opportunity. So with my love and blessings, I am

Your brother in Christ,
Martin Luther

Helen Transcribes a Conversation By James' Friends Wherein They Discuss an Experiment to Pray for God's Love

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

I am here, Helen.

You must not write to these spirits as we have told you. Yes. he said that he knew you on earth and wanted you to help him. I see that he has gone to seek Mr. Taggart, but I don't think that he will be much helped. Yes. you may be right. You certainly have a way of accomplishing things. I never thought of that. Well, I will go and see if I can find them and make them come here, and write you what I hear.

They are here.

Mr. Taggart tells Mr. Harvey that you told him that the way to get out of this condition of darkness and unhappiness is to pray to God for His Love to enter into their hearts, and believe that it will, that if he will only be willing to have it come into their hearts, it will, but that he has not yet been able to believe. But Mr. Harvey says, that when he was on earth, he was a strict Catholic and that he often prayed something like that and attended to his duties, and even when he made his will, he left some money for the priests to pray him out of purgatory, but all their prayers together have not helped him, and he doesn't believe that there is any God to whom a person can pray and from whom he can get relief. So that when you talked that way to Taggart, you were merely trying to mislead him as the priests did him.

But Mr. Taggart says:

"George you are wrong there, for our friend does not merely say pray, but he prays with us and for us and seems to believe with all his heart that there is a God and that he will answer prayer. So I am not so certain that there is not a God and one who answers prayers, I am going to try to pray and believe myself and I advise you to do likewise."

Mr. Harvey says:

"Taggart it is all nonsense, and if that is the only way we can get out of this condition, we never will be any better than we now are. So you need not tell me of God and prayer."

Mr. Taggart says:

"George, I have seen the effect of this prayer on some spirits and I know that they have been made more beautiful and happy, and even Mackay is commencing to say that he sees light ahead and has felt some strange influences come into his heart as he said a prayer, which he promised our friend to say. Now what is the use in your being pig-headed and say that there is no God, when you don't know anything about it. I tell you, though, there must be something in this belief, or I would not see so many happy spirits around us. Be a man who can keep his mind open to what he sees and the reasons therefor may come to you. Let us not become hardheaded in this matter. As you were so easy to believe on earth what your priests told you about purgatory and the Hells and the necessity for you to pay for prayers to help you out of purgatory, why can't you try to believe a little when the same thing is told you without your having to pay for it? I am going to try my best to believe and if you know what is best for you, you will follow suit."

Mr. Harvey says:

"Taggart, what is the use of being fooled twice, once is enough for me. Priests are here with me and suffering more than I am, and when I ask them why don't they pray themselves out of purgatory, they say - to hell with prayer. Now, how am I to believe anything that is told me about prayer or God?"

Mr. Taggart says:

"George, let your priests and their sufferings and their cursings pass out of your mind and listen to me for a moment. When I came over, I was in great darkness and despair and believed that there was no possible help for me and that I must remain in the condition of darkness that I found myself in, but one day I was called to meet our friend by his father and, when I came where he was, I found that Mackay was there also, and then we exchanged greetings and wished each other happiness. But I found that there was no happiness for me and I told our friend that I was anything but happy, and he said believe in God's Love and you will soon be, and I said, who is God and what is His Love. And then he explained to Mackay what that love is, and I heard it all, and then I tackled him and told him that God was a myth and prayer was nothing but the wish of a man and went no higher than his mind.

But he would not agree with me and we had an argument right then and there, and I tell you that while he did not convince me that there was a God or any efficacy in prayer, yet, it made me think and wonder if I could be wrong and he right, and before I left him, not only Mackay, but myself promised that we would try an experiment in the nature of prayer and we have been doing it many times since, and I tell you, that while I am not yet convinced that there is a God, or that prayer to Him will take us out of our awful conditions of suffering and darkness, yet, I have felt many strange sensations, and at times, some little feeling of happiness, which I had never felt before.

So you can see, I would be a fool not to try and get this relief if I possibly can. And I want to tell you George that, if you are willing to make the effort with us, we will be glad to have you come. Of course, you need not believe if you don't want to, but just come and join with us in our experiment and you will soon realize that there is something operating that you cannot account for.

Mackay is now feeling very much happier he says. And I believe that he will soon believe in this God and his love that our friend told us about. At any rate, he is commencing to improve in his appearance, and I attribute it to trying the experiment I told you of. So what is the use in holding back and saying that there is no God and no love that can get you out of your condition of which you complain so much, when by the exercise of a little reason and will, you may be on the right track to salvation. Of course, I don't know just what this may lead to, but I have determined to follow it to a conclusion, and you will be a big fool if you don't go with me."

Mr. Harvey said:

"Taggart, you were a pretty level-headed man when on earth and required to have things proved to you and were really a stubborn man, as I know, and what you say impresses me, but you will have to show me what you mean by this experiment. You have not told me what you mean and, of course, until you do, I can't follow you."

Mr. Taggart says:

"George, it is a very simple thing. Mackay and I told our friend that we did not believe in God or in His love or in any saviour, and he said, you need not to do what I want you to try. He said, while there is a God and His love, which is the only thing that can save you from sin and make you happy men, yet, that God does not force that love on you or make you believe in Him. And only when you are willing to receive that love of your own volition will it come to you. So you see he said it all depends upon your own will, whether you will have that love and the happiness which flows from it or not, and if you will only will that you may believe in God if there be one, and that you may receive that love if such there be, then if you will, will this and say to God, if there be one, that you will that this love shall come into your heart and that this belief shall come into your mind, and repeat this with all earnestness and will, you will find that after a little while, this belief will come to you, and this love will come into your heart.

So Mackay and I are desiring to try anything to get out of our condition and believing that our friend would not intentionally deceive us - promised to say these things. And in that way, pray to a God that we did not believe in, and we have continued to repeat these thoughts ever since. And I must confess to you that some strange change or sensation has come to me. What it is, I don't just know, but it is there, and I am determined to continue in this qualified prayer until I know one way or the other what the result will be. So you see, George, if it does no good, it can do no harm, and if you have desire enough to get out of your condition, you will try the experiment."

Mr. Harvey says:

"Well, Taggart, there may be something in what you say and I am willing to go with you. For as you say, if it does no good, it can do no harm. So let me hear again what I am to say and I will commence."

Then Mr. Taggart repeated the prayer and they left.

You are too wonderful in your way of getting the attention of spirits who are in darkness to turn their thoughts to things that may help them. And I am so glad that you are helping these spirits, even though you did let Mr. Harvey write. But who knows, maybe such interferences are intended for some good purposes.

So, my darling, I love you with all my heart and soul and must stop writing. Yes, I will, and will try to talk to him sometime when the proper occasion comes.

So goodnight, my own darling Ned.

Helen