March 5, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, your Grandmother.
Yes, it is I. I want to tell you of my experience in progressing in the spirit life.
Well, when I passed over, I was received in the spirit world by your grandfather and my own dear mother who had been in the spirit world for so very many years. She was then living in the Seventh Sphere and was a most beautiful and happy spirit. Now she is far up in the Celestial Spheres, and occasionally comes to see me and tells me of the great beauty of her home and of the wonderful spirits who inhabit the spheres where she lives.
She lives in a high sphere of the Celestial Heavens and is with many of the redeemed spirits who lived on earth many centuries ago. She mentioned some of them who were well known on earth, such as John Wesley and his brother Charles, and Luther and some of his contemporaries who were engaged in the great reforms of those days. Whitefield is one she named, and Bunyan, also. They seemed to have reached this sphere by obtaining the Love that we have written you of. So, when I think that, through gradual development and progression of my spiritual being, there are these high spheres for me to attain to, I feel that my faith and seeking for the Divine Love have a great deal yet to accomplish in the way of soul development.
Well, shortly after I passed over, I progressed to the Third Sphere and thought that there the very seat of Heaven must be, because my happiness was so much greater than I ever anticipated.
Well, when I first entered the spirit world, I confess I was disappointed, because I did not see the Father on his throne and Jesus sitting on his right hand, as I had been taught to believe. But it was not long before I realized that such a belief had no foundation in truth, and that God has no throne, such as the writers of the Bible had declared, but that His Spirit is manifested everywhere and in all places, and is a Spirit that has no form in the sense that I had been taught to believe.
After living in the Third Sphere for some little time and having received much information from spirits who lived in higher spheres and having received a great abundance of God's Love, I progressed to the Fifth Sphere and found a wonderful home of beauty and harmony among spirits who had experiences similar to my own, and who had received the Divine Love to a degree, which gives us all this great happiness that I tell you of.
In some of the planes of this sphere are many spirits who have not received this Divine Love, but who have attained to wonderful moral and intellectual qualifications, but they were not so happy as were those who had received the Great Love of the Father. They gave their thoughts and works more to things that pertain to moral and intellectual progress than to the soul development in the Divine Love.
It may seem strange to you that these spirits could live in an atmosphere where so much of God's Love was manifested by the numerous spirits who had received this Love and, yet, not realize that this Divine Love is the one great thing absolutely necessary for their further progress and greater happiness. But such is the fact and many of these spirits of the greatest intellectual development are still pursuing their studies of laws that have to do solely with things that relate to the operations of spiritual laws and the causes of phenomena that astonish both mortals and spirits.
I have wondered many times that they have not had an awakening to the real and grandeur truths of spirit life and to the causes of the development of the souls of those with whom they come in contact, who are so much more beautiful and happier than are these students of merely spiritual laws and causes that produce only astonishing phenomena.
Strange as it may seem to some, intellectual progression is not necessary to soul progression. But with soul progression, by obtaining the Divine Love, comes a wonderful knowledge of these other things that I speak of. I, as you know, was a person of just ordinary mental acquirements, yet in this spirit world I have left behind me many great minds possessed of wonderful intellectual information. I mean not only as regards the progress of my soul, but also as regards the attainment of knowledge that these men are devoting their time and work to obtain.
Strange, also, it may seem to you, that with soul development in the Divine Love there comes intellectual development, but to us who have experienced this fact it is not strange, because the mind is only an attribute or, as I may say, a quality of the soul, and as the soul develops in the Divine Love, the mind must necessarily also develop.
Philosophy is merely the conclusion of minds that have given thought and investigation to the subject matter of that philosophy and, when it is determined by the mere mind, it is still uncertain and subject to revision and change as the mind may change. The mind, in its development, does not necessarily learn the full and real truth and in this spirit life, among these men of purely great minds that do not possess the Divine Love, there is as much variety of opinion, and as many disputes as to what is the truth, as there are on earth. The mind, of itself, cannot always discern the truth, because it is not infallible, even when it is the mind of a spirit and that spirit a highly developed one.
But as the soul develops in the Divine Love, this development means that what comes to it as a fact, is a truth - the everlasting truth. The soul does not learn all truths at once, but the truth that it does learn is one that never changes, and lets no revision alter or set it aside. No, truth of the soul's discernment is never shown to be error, and no error ever becomes a part of the soul's discernment of truth. So, you see, the great road to the ascertainment of the realities of God is through, and only through, the development of the soul by the inflowing of the Divine Love. The eye of the soul is that interior perception which needs not reason from cause and effect to discern and forever establish the truths of God.
So, how very necessary that men and spirits should learn the great fact, that if they would learn the truth of spirit life, they must endeavor to develop the soul's powers of perception by seeking for the inflowing into their souls of the Divine Love.
I could tell you many wonderful things to illustrate these propositions, if I had the time to do so, but I have not now, but sometime I will go more in detail on this subject, and then you will more fully understand what I mean.
Well, after I had lived in this Fifth Sphere and learned the great and wonderful truths that are taught therein, I progressed to the Seventh and there learned what real happiness is, as I thought. No spirit who has not received this Great Love of the Father lives in this sphere, because the mind is, as it were, absorbed by the soul to such a great extent, that without the soul development, the mind would have no place of lodgment. I mean that the mind, as such, then becomes so subordinated to the powers and operations of the soul perceptions that it cannot exist as mere mind, independent of the soul's development. In this sphere all is grand and beautiful to an extent that I cannot describe, because you have no possible mental conception with which I can compare such beauty and grandeur.
Our homes are very harmonious and without stain or anything that emanates from things other than the soul's essence and power. No mere intellectual happiness exists, and no spirit who has not this Great Love could possibly be happy there. But yet, while all this happiness exists, I was told that happiness is far greater in the Celestial Spheres and, consequently, I was not satisfied to remain in the Seventh Sphere, although I could not realize how my happiness could be any greater than it was. Yet, as I say, I was not contented to remain in my home there. And I was also told that there was a way to get into this Celestial Sphere, and a way so easy that the mere statement of it caused doubt. But I prayed for faith and the Divine Love, and on an occasion my faith brought the Divine Love into my soul in such abundance, and I progressed to the first Celestial Sphere, where I now am.
The Book of Revelation in the Bible, in its most extravagant description of the New Jerusalem, gives no true conception of what the beauty and magnificence of this sphere are, and I will not attempt to describe them, for I cannot. But a man, or spirit either, who has never seen the wonderful beauty of this sphere, cannot conceive of what its magnificence is.
I am so very happy that it seems to me there can be no greater happiness and, yet, my mother tells me that there is, and that the Divine Love of the higher spheres is so much more intense and filled with so much more of God's Divinity that I cannot have the slightest conception of what it is.
I am now trying to reach these higher spheres, and am told that faith and prayer for the inflowing into my soul of the Divine Love are the only instrumentalities that will enable me to do so. My prayers are constant and my faith is growing, and I realize that when the Holy Spirit fills me with this Divine Love, as I expect it to do, I shall progress. So you see, one great element of God's method of making His redeemed happy, is to set before them a higher mark for which they may seek with the assurance that it can be attained.
Well, I have written you quite a letter and feel that I must stop now, as I need to leave the earth's atmosphere for awhile.
So with all my love and blessings, I am your Grandmother,
Ann Rollins
Monday, May 21, 2012
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Helen Confirms that Jesus Wrote the Preceding Message and that She Now Resides in the Celestial Heavens
March 3, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, Helen.
Well, was not that a wonderful message of the Master? It was so full of things that should make men think and work to get this Divine Love that he spoke of.
I am happy to say that I have it now to a considerable degree, and the more I get of it the happier I am. I thought that I was happy when I entered the Third Sphere, and more so in the Fifth, and then supremely so in the Seventh but, really, I did not know what happiness was until I got into my present home in the Celestial Heavens. And I suppose, as I go higher, the happiness of each succeeding progressive sphere will be so much greater than that from which I progressed.
But, of course, the Master has been the Great Teacher, whose love and power have helped me more than all the others. He is so wonderful in love and wisdom that I almost adore him, although, he says that I must worship only God, and I follow his directions.
My experiences here are so wonderful that I hardly realize what it all means. My time in the spirit world has been so short and, yet, the wonderful knowledge of spiritual truths and the great happiness that I have received, cause me to wonder in amazement that such things could be.
You have had a long writing tonight, and I think I had better stop. So goodnight.
Your loving wife,
Helen
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, Helen.
Well, was not that a wonderful message of the Master? It was so full of things that should make men think and work to get this Divine Love that he spoke of.
I am happy to say that I have it now to a considerable degree, and the more I get of it the happier I am. I thought that I was happy when I entered the Third Sphere, and more so in the Fifth, and then supremely so in the Seventh but, really, I did not know what happiness was until I got into my present home in the Celestial Heavens. And I suppose, as I go higher, the happiness of each succeeding progressive sphere will be so much greater than that from which I progressed.
But, of course, the Master has been the Great Teacher, whose love and power have helped me more than all the others. He is so wonderful in love and wisdom that I almost adore him, although, he says that I must worship only God, and I follow his directions.
My experiences here are so wonderful that I hardly realize what it all means. My time in the spirit world has been so short and, yet, the wonderful knowledge of spiritual truths and the great happiness that I have received, cause me to wonder in amazement that such things could be.
You have had a long writing tonight, and I think I had better stop. So goodnight.
Your loving wife,
Helen
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Jesus Writes that God's Divine Love Brought by the Holy Spirit into our Souls is the Real Salvation to Become At-One with God
March 3, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, Jesus.
You are in a better condition tonight and I will continue my messages.
"God is a God of love, and no man can come to Him, unless he receives the Love of the Father in his soul." As men are by nature sinful and inclined to error and the violation of God's laws, they can be redeemed from that sin only by obtaining this Love; and that can be obtained only through prayer and faith in the willingness of God to bestow this Love upon whomsoever may ask for it. I do not mean that there must be formal prayers or compliance with any church creeds or dogmas; but the prayer that is efficacious is that which emanates from the soul and earnest aspirations of a man. So let men know, that unless they have the real soul longings for this Love, it will not be given to them - no mere intellectual desires will suffice. The intellect is not that faculty in man that unites him to God. Only the soul is made in the likeness of the Father, and unless this likeness is perfected by a filling of the soul with the Divine Love of the Father, the likeness is never complete.
Love is the one great thing in God's economy of real existence. Without it, all would be chaos and unhappiness; but where It exists, harmony and happiness also exists. This I say, because I know from personal experience that it is true. Let not men think that God is a God who wants the worship of men with the mere intellectual faculties, that is not true. His Love is the one thing that can possibly unite Him and them. This Love is not the Love that is a part of man's natural existence; the love that men have, who have not received a part of the Divine Love, is not sufficient to make them one with the Father; nor is that love the kind that will enable them to enter the Celestial Spheres and become as the Angels who are filled with this Divine Love, and who do always the Will of the Father. This Love is found only in the souls of those who have received it through the ministrations of the Holy Spirit - the only instrument of God's workings, that is used in bringing about the salvation of men.
I have seen the operations of the Spirit upon the souls of men, and know what I tell you to be true. No man must rest in the assurance that any other instrumentality or medium than the Holy Spirit, will enable him to obtain this Love. He must not rest in the thought that without this he can become a part of God's Kingdom, for no love but this Divine Love can entitle and qualify him to enter that Kingdom.
When on earth I taught the doctrine of salvation only through the workings of the Holy Spirit in fulfilling the commandments of the Father. Mere belief in me or in my name without this Love, will never enable any man to become the possessor of this Love. Hence the saying, "that all sins against me or even against God's commandments may be forgiven men, but the sin against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven them, neither while on earth nor when in the spirit world." This means that so long as a man rejects the influences of the Spirit he sins against it, and such sin prevents him from receiving this Divine Love; and hence, in that state he cannot possibly be forgiven, and be permitted to enter into the Celestial Kingdom of the Father.
God's Love is not that which needs the love of man to give it a Divine Essence, but on the contrary, the love of man in order to become Divine in its nature, must be completely enveloped in or absorbed by the Divine Love of the Father. So, let man know that his love is but the mere shadow of what the Father's Love is, and that so long as he refuses to receive this Love of the Father, he will be compelled to remain apart from the Father, and enjoy only the happiness which his natural love affords him.
I am so certain that all men may receive this Love, if they will only seek for it in the true way and with earnest desire and faith, that I know it is possible for all men to be saved. But men have the great gift of free will, and the exercise of that gift towards the seeking and finding of this Love seems to be a difficulty that will prevent a large majority of the human race from receiving this great redemptive boon.
My Father is not desirous that any man should live through all eternity without this Love; but the time will come, and very soon, when the privilege of obtaining this Love will be withdrawn from mankind; and when that great event takes place, never afterwards will the privilege be restored; and men who are then without It will be compelled to live through all eternity with only their natural love to comfort them and get whatever happiness they may be able to obtain from such love. Men may think that this time of separation will never come, but in that they are mistaken, and when too late, they will realize it.
The harmony of my Father's universe is not depending on all men receiving this Divine Love because in the workings of God's laws of harmony on men's souls all sin and error will be eradicated, and only truth will remain; but the mere absence of sin does not mean that all parts of God's creation will be peopled by spirits and men who are equally happy, or who are filled with the same kind of love. The man who is free from sin and has only his natural love, will be in perfect harmony with other men possessing the same kind of love; but he will not be in harmony with those spirits who have this Divine Love and the supreme happiness which It gives. And yet, such differences in love and happiness will not create discord or want of harmony in the universe.
Adam and Eve, or whom they personify, had not this Celestial Love - only the natural love that belonged to their creation as human beings, and yet, they were comparatively happy; but their happiness was not like that of the angels who live in the Celestial Heavens where only this Divine Love of God exists. They were mortals, and when temptation came to them, the love that they possessed was not able to resist it, and they succumbed. So, even though man may hereafter live forever and be free from sin and error, yet, he will always be subject to temptations which this natural love may not be able to resist. I mean that his nature will be merely the nature that Adam and Eve had - nothing greater or less.
Even in that condition he may be able to resist all temptations that may assail him, yet, he will always be subject to fall from his state of happiness, and so become more or less unhappy. This is the future of men who have not received the Divine Love.
But the spirit who has this Divine Love becomes, as it were, a part of Divinity Itself, and will never be subject to temptation or unhappiness. He will be free from all powers that may possibly exist for leading him to unhappiness - as if he were a very God. I mean that His Divinity cannot possibly be taken from him by any power or influence or instrumentality in all the universe of God.
This love makes a mortal and sinful man an Immortal and sinless spirit, destined to live through all eternity in the presence of and at one with the Father.
So, if men would only think and realize the importance of obtaining this Divine Love, they would not be so careless in their thoughts and aspirations concerning those things which will determine their future state through all eternity.
The importance of these truths cannot be too forcibly placed before men for their consideration; and, when the time comes for them to pass over, the more they have pondered on and obtained a knowledge of these truths, the better will be their condition in the spirit world. The spirit world will not help them so very much to obtain a more enlightened insight into these spiritual matters, because in this world men differ and have their opinions just as on earth.
Of course, they have not all the temptations to indulge their passions and appetites, which they had when in the flesh; but as regards their opinion of spiritual things, the opportunities are not very much greater, except in this, that because of the freedom from the passions and influences of the flesh, they may sooner turn their thoughts to higher things, and in this way sooner realize that only this New Birth in Love of the Divine can save them entirely from the natural results that follow the possession of only the natural love.
A spirit is only a man without an earthly body, and the cares that necessarily belong to the obligations of earth ties. Even as a spirit, some retain these cares for a long time after coming over, and then are relieved of them by paying the penalties of a violated law.
Well, I have written long and must stop. So I say with my blessings and love, good-night.
Your fellow spirit,
Jesus
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, Jesus.
You are in a better condition tonight and I will continue my messages.
"God is a God of love, and no man can come to Him, unless he receives the Love of the Father in his soul." As men are by nature sinful and inclined to error and the violation of God's laws, they can be redeemed from that sin only by obtaining this Love; and that can be obtained only through prayer and faith in the willingness of God to bestow this Love upon whomsoever may ask for it. I do not mean that there must be formal prayers or compliance with any church creeds or dogmas; but the prayer that is efficacious is that which emanates from the soul and earnest aspirations of a man. So let men know, that unless they have the real soul longings for this Love, it will not be given to them - no mere intellectual desires will suffice. The intellect is not that faculty in man that unites him to God. Only the soul is made in the likeness of the Father, and unless this likeness is perfected by a filling of the soul with the Divine Love of the Father, the likeness is never complete.
Love is the one great thing in God's economy of real existence. Without it, all would be chaos and unhappiness; but where It exists, harmony and happiness also exists. This I say, because I know from personal experience that it is true. Let not men think that God is a God who wants the worship of men with the mere intellectual faculties, that is not true. His Love is the one thing that can possibly unite Him and them. This Love is not the Love that is a part of man's natural existence; the love that men have, who have not received a part of the Divine Love, is not sufficient to make them one with the Father; nor is that love the kind that will enable them to enter the Celestial Spheres and become as the Angels who are filled with this Divine Love, and who do always the Will of the Father. This Love is found only in the souls of those who have received it through the ministrations of the Holy Spirit - the only instrument of God's workings, that is used in bringing about the salvation of men.
I have seen the operations of the Spirit upon the souls of men, and know what I tell you to be true. No man must rest in the assurance that any other instrumentality or medium than the Holy Spirit, will enable him to obtain this Love. He must not rest in the thought that without this he can become a part of God's Kingdom, for no love but this Divine Love can entitle and qualify him to enter that Kingdom.
When on earth I taught the doctrine of salvation only through the workings of the Holy Spirit in fulfilling the commandments of the Father. Mere belief in me or in my name without this Love, will never enable any man to become the possessor of this Love. Hence the saying, "that all sins against me or even against God's commandments may be forgiven men, but the sin against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven them, neither while on earth nor when in the spirit world." This means that so long as a man rejects the influences of the Spirit he sins against it, and such sin prevents him from receiving this Divine Love; and hence, in that state he cannot possibly be forgiven, and be permitted to enter into the Celestial Kingdom of the Father.
God's Love is not that which needs the love of man to give it a Divine Essence, but on the contrary, the love of man in order to become Divine in its nature, must be completely enveloped in or absorbed by the Divine Love of the Father. So, let man know that his love is but the mere shadow of what the Father's Love is, and that so long as he refuses to receive this Love of the Father, he will be compelled to remain apart from the Father, and enjoy only the happiness which his natural love affords him.
I am so certain that all men may receive this Love, if they will only seek for it in the true way and with earnest desire and faith, that I know it is possible for all men to be saved. But men have the great gift of free will, and the exercise of that gift towards the seeking and finding of this Love seems to be a difficulty that will prevent a large majority of the human race from receiving this great redemptive boon.
My Father is not desirous that any man should live through all eternity without this Love; but the time will come, and very soon, when the privilege of obtaining this Love will be withdrawn from mankind; and when that great event takes place, never afterwards will the privilege be restored; and men who are then without It will be compelled to live through all eternity with only their natural love to comfort them and get whatever happiness they may be able to obtain from such love. Men may think that this time of separation will never come, but in that they are mistaken, and when too late, they will realize it.
The harmony of my Father's universe is not depending on all men receiving this Divine Love because in the workings of God's laws of harmony on men's souls all sin and error will be eradicated, and only truth will remain; but the mere absence of sin does not mean that all parts of God's creation will be peopled by spirits and men who are equally happy, or who are filled with the same kind of love. The man who is free from sin and has only his natural love, will be in perfect harmony with other men possessing the same kind of love; but he will not be in harmony with those spirits who have this Divine Love and the supreme happiness which It gives. And yet, such differences in love and happiness will not create discord or want of harmony in the universe.
Adam and Eve, or whom they personify, had not this Celestial Love - only the natural love that belonged to their creation as human beings, and yet, they were comparatively happy; but their happiness was not like that of the angels who live in the Celestial Heavens where only this Divine Love of God exists. They were mortals, and when temptation came to them, the love that they possessed was not able to resist it, and they succumbed. So, even though man may hereafter live forever and be free from sin and error, yet, he will always be subject to temptations which this natural love may not be able to resist. I mean that his nature will be merely the nature that Adam and Eve had - nothing greater or less.
Even in that condition he may be able to resist all temptations that may assail him, yet, he will always be subject to fall from his state of happiness, and so become more or less unhappy. This is the future of men who have not received the Divine Love.
But the spirit who has this Divine Love becomes, as it were, a part of Divinity Itself, and will never be subject to temptation or unhappiness. He will be free from all powers that may possibly exist for leading him to unhappiness - as if he were a very God. I mean that His Divinity cannot possibly be taken from him by any power or influence or instrumentality in all the universe of God.
This love makes a mortal and sinful man an Immortal and sinless spirit, destined to live through all eternity in the presence of and at one with the Father.
So, if men would only think and realize the importance of obtaining this Divine Love, they would not be so careless in their thoughts and aspirations concerning those things which will determine their future state through all eternity.
The importance of these truths cannot be too forcibly placed before men for their consideration; and, when the time comes for them to pass over, the more they have pondered on and obtained a knowledge of these truths, the better will be their condition in the spirit world. The spirit world will not help them so very much to obtain a more enlightened insight into these spiritual matters, because in this world men differ and have their opinions just as on earth.
Of course, they have not all the temptations to indulge their passions and appetites, which they had when in the flesh; but as regards their opinion of spiritual things, the opportunities are not very much greater, except in this, that because of the freedom from the passions and influences of the flesh, they may sooner turn their thoughts to higher things, and in this way sooner realize that only this New Birth in Love of the Divine can save them entirely from the natural results that follow the possession of only the natural love.
A spirit is only a man without an earthly body, and the cares that necessarily belong to the obligations of earth ties. Even as a spirit, some retain these cares for a long time after coming over, and then are relieved of them by paying the penalties of a violated law.
Well, I have written long and must stop. So I say with my blessings and love, good-night.
Your fellow spirit,
Jesus
Friday, May 18, 2012
Professor Joseph Salyards Describes Some Phases of Spirit Life and the Kind of Work that He Does in the Spirit World
February 25, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, Professor Salyards.
Well I am very happy and desire to write you on some phases of spirit life that I have observed in my experience of progressing.
I have noticed that the spirit, when it first comes into this life, is very often in a condition of darkness, not realizing where it is or what its surroundings are and, in many instances, it requires quite a long time for the spirit to realize that it is not still of earth. But in many cases this is not the condition of the spirit, for it seems to have an immediate understanding of its condition and surroundings. I attribute the first mentioned condition to be due to the fact that, when on earth, the mortal had no definite belief as to what the future life might be and, in many instances, believed that the soul went into the grave with the body to await the great resurrection day.
Some of your religious denominations are preaching that doctrine now and the consequence will be that all those who believe the doctrine will experience the condition of darkness and the want of knowledge of the continuity of life that I have spoken of.
The second class of spirits, or those who appear to realize immediately that they have passed from earth to spirit life, are those who, while on earth, believed that the spirit when it left the body passed immediately into the Heavenly Spheres, or into the opposite - I mean the place of the wicked. I know that many of this class have hardly realized that they were in Heaven or Hell for some little time after their entrance into spirit life.
Well, as soon as the spirits realize fully that they are no longer of earth, they commence to inquire as to where they are, and many of them ask questions that indicate that they are disappointed in not realizing the expectations that they had while on earth. It is very difficult at times to convince them that there are no such places as the heavens and the hells as taught by the churches for while our spirit world may be a heaven or hell to them, yet, the heaven or hell that they expect to find is not here.
Some, on the other hand, do not seem to understand that they have really left the earth, because, they say, if we had left the earth life, we would know nothing - quoting Job and some of the preachers: "the dead know nothing."
I have been very much interested in observing these different phases of the departed spirits' beliefs and thoughts. Now all this shows the absolute necessity of mortals understanding the truths pertaining to life and death.
This affords a very strong argument why Spiritualism should be more extensively and earnestly taught to mortals and why the false doctrines of those who teach either that the dead know nothing, or that the departed spirit goes either to heaven or to hell in the orthodox sense should be shown to be not only a false belief, but injurious to mankind.
Let the believers and teachers of Spiritualism make greater and stronger efforts to refute these harmful teachings, and they will be doing the cause of truth and of man's happiness a great good.
I am not only interested in these phases but in all others, which show that the spirits, even after they realize that they are still alive and must live as spirits, continue to show the fact that their orthodox teachings are false. Some say that they may yet be able to go back into the body and await the great resurrection day for deliverance, and say that they will soon see God, and that He will take them into His Heavens where they will find that eternal rest and peace that they were taught to expect when on earth; and the wicked, even, look in dread to have some devil come and carry them to the hells where torture of the most terrible kind they think awaits them.
From all this you may understand that we spirits, who know the truth, have a great work to do to enable these darkened spirits to understand and believe that their false hopes and dreadful fears have no foundation in truth and will never be realized.
This work many spirits are engaged in doing, and these spirits are not necessarily of the higher kind, for many spirits who occupy the earth plane and have no real spiritual enlightenment, are engaged in this work.
I am not now engaged in causing these dark spirits to see the truth, for I have progressed to higher things, and my mission is to teach the truths of the higher life, which I have been taught by spirits who live in higher spheres.
This work to me is one that is not only interesting, but which gives me the great happiness that comes with the realization that I have been the means of leading a spirit to learn to love God and to receive the happiness which the Love of God gives to spirits. I tell you that this teaching is the grandest that I ever engaged in in all my life. When on earth, as I taught and saw the young mind develop, I found much happiness in the knowledge that I was doing some good, but here, in my teachings, when I see a soul develop, I realize that I am doing a spirit that greatest of all good in bringing it at one in love with the Father; and happiness here and that of earth, is as the soul development is so much greater than the development of the mere mind.
My work is not confined entirely to this teaching. I also am engaged in trying to assist mortals to a true conception of the life here - I mean the spiritual part of this life. No man is entirely without spirit influence, whether good or evil. Many are susceptible to the influence of the evil spirits and for that reason the work of the good spirits is so much more difficult. "There is in man's nature that which leads him to evil thoughts so much easier than to good thoughts." This is an old saying, I know, but is a true one, and the fact that it has been said so often and for so long a time does not decrease the importance of it as a truth. So while men have felt this evil inclination in their nature, the fight between the good and evil influences will be somewhat unequal. The advantage, though, with the good influences is that what they suggest is truth, which will never die, while the suggestions of the evil influences last only for a comparatively short time.
When the material gives up the spirit being which it clothes, that being will then be relieved of many of these natural tendencies to evil thoughts and deeds; and while this mere separation does not make a devil a saint, it makes it so much easier for the spirit to get rid of many of these evil tendencies, and makes him more susceptible to the influence of truth and goodness.
You must not think from this, as soon as they have been in the spirit world for a little time, they become good spirits, for that is not true. Many evil spirits have been in the spirit world for a great many years and, yet, have their evil thoughts and desires, and all the evil qualities of hatred, malice, envy, etc., as when they were on earth.
Their giving up the earth life did not deprive them of their will, the greatest force or power that God gave to man, except that of love. And many of these spirits refuse to exercise their will in a way that will enable them to rid themselves of these evil thoughts and desires.
So you see, the mere fact of becoming a spirit does not mean that the mortal has become a good and saintly spirit. No, I am sorry to say that many men who were very evil on earth are still evil as spirits and their happiness, which they think they have, is only that happiness which they, as men, thought they realized from the exercise of evil thoughts and acts. Yet, there is one great redeeming fact connected with their dark and sad condition and that is, that in the end, whenever it so pleases God, all evil will be banished from the spirit world, and all spirits will be given that happiness, which comes from a nature free from sin and error. Not by the fiat of God, but by men seeking and doing those things that will free the soul from sin and error and again come into harmony with God's laws; just such, I imagine, as Adam and Eve enjoyed in the historical Garden of Eden.
But that happiness, while of a character that brings much contentment and peace, yet is not the true happiness which God is waiting to give all His children who ask and seek for the inflowing of the Divine Love in their souls.
I will not discourse on this great happiness tonight as it would take too long and you are somewhat tired, but will say that all men should seek for it both on earth and in the spirit world. When on earth I did not have it, but since I came here I found it and now possess it thanks be to God and His loving kindness. You folks all have it and many others too numerous to mention.
Let me stop now as I am tired and you need to rest. So with all my love and best wishes, I am your old professor,
Joseph H. Salyards
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, Professor Salyards.
Well I am very happy and desire to write you on some phases of spirit life that I have observed in my experience of progressing.
I have noticed that the spirit, when it first comes into this life, is very often in a condition of darkness, not realizing where it is or what its surroundings are and, in many instances, it requires quite a long time for the spirit to realize that it is not still of earth. But in many cases this is not the condition of the spirit, for it seems to have an immediate understanding of its condition and surroundings. I attribute the first mentioned condition to be due to the fact that, when on earth, the mortal had no definite belief as to what the future life might be and, in many instances, believed that the soul went into the grave with the body to await the great resurrection day.
Some of your religious denominations are preaching that doctrine now and the consequence will be that all those who believe the doctrine will experience the condition of darkness and the want of knowledge of the continuity of life that I have spoken of.
The second class of spirits, or those who appear to realize immediately that they have passed from earth to spirit life, are those who, while on earth, believed that the spirit when it left the body passed immediately into the Heavenly Spheres, or into the opposite - I mean the place of the wicked. I know that many of this class have hardly realized that they were in Heaven or Hell for some little time after their entrance into spirit life.
Well, as soon as the spirits realize fully that they are no longer of earth, they commence to inquire as to where they are, and many of them ask questions that indicate that they are disappointed in not realizing the expectations that they had while on earth. It is very difficult at times to convince them that there are no such places as the heavens and the hells as taught by the churches for while our spirit world may be a heaven or hell to them, yet, the heaven or hell that they expect to find is not here.
Some, on the other hand, do not seem to understand that they have really left the earth, because, they say, if we had left the earth life, we would know nothing - quoting Job and some of the preachers: "the dead know nothing."
I have been very much interested in observing these different phases of the departed spirits' beliefs and thoughts. Now all this shows the absolute necessity of mortals understanding the truths pertaining to life and death.
This affords a very strong argument why Spiritualism should be more extensively and earnestly taught to mortals and why the false doctrines of those who teach either that the dead know nothing, or that the departed spirit goes either to heaven or to hell in the orthodox sense should be shown to be not only a false belief, but injurious to mankind.
Let the believers and teachers of Spiritualism make greater and stronger efforts to refute these harmful teachings, and they will be doing the cause of truth and of man's happiness a great good.
I am not only interested in these phases but in all others, which show that the spirits, even after they realize that they are still alive and must live as spirits, continue to show the fact that their orthodox teachings are false. Some say that they may yet be able to go back into the body and await the great resurrection day for deliverance, and say that they will soon see God, and that He will take them into His Heavens where they will find that eternal rest and peace that they were taught to expect when on earth; and the wicked, even, look in dread to have some devil come and carry them to the hells where torture of the most terrible kind they think awaits them.
From all this you may understand that we spirits, who know the truth, have a great work to do to enable these darkened spirits to understand and believe that their false hopes and dreadful fears have no foundation in truth and will never be realized.
This work many spirits are engaged in doing, and these spirits are not necessarily of the higher kind, for many spirits who occupy the earth plane and have no real spiritual enlightenment, are engaged in this work.
I am not now engaged in causing these dark spirits to see the truth, for I have progressed to higher things, and my mission is to teach the truths of the higher life, which I have been taught by spirits who live in higher spheres.
This work to me is one that is not only interesting, but which gives me the great happiness that comes with the realization that I have been the means of leading a spirit to learn to love God and to receive the happiness which the Love of God gives to spirits. I tell you that this teaching is the grandest that I ever engaged in in all my life. When on earth, as I taught and saw the young mind develop, I found much happiness in the knowledge that I was doing some good, but here, in my teachings, when I see a soul develop, I realize that I am doing a spirit that greatest of all good in bringing it at one in love with the Father; and happiness here and that of earth, is as the soul development is so much greater than the development of the mere mind.
My work is not confined entirely to this teaching. I also am engaged in trying to assist mortals to a true conception of the life here - I mean the spiritual part of this life. No man is entirely without spirit influence, whether good or evil. Many are susceptible to the influence of the evil spirits and for that reason the work of the good spirits is so much more difficult. "There is in man's nature that which leads him to evil thoughts so much easier than to good thoughts." This is an old saying, I know, but is a true one, and the fact that it has been said so often and for so long a time does not decrease the importance of it as a truth. So while men have felt this evil inclination in their nature, the fight between the good and evil influences will be somewhat unequal. The advantage, though, with the good influences is that what they suggest is truth, which will never die, while the suggestions of the evil influences last only for a comparatively short time.
When the material gives up the spirit being which it clothes, that being will then be relieved of many of these natural tendencies to evil thoughts and deeds; and while this mere separation does not make a devil a saint, it makes it so much easier for the spirit to get rid of many of these evil tendencies, and makes him more susceptible to the influence of truth and goodness.
You must not think from this, as soon as they have been in the spirit world for a little time, they become good spirits, for that is not true. Many evil spirits have been in the spirit world for a great many years and, yet, have their evil thoughts and desires, and all the evil qualities of hatred, malice, envy, etc., as when they were on earth.
Their giving up the earth life did not deprive them of their will, the greatest force or power that God gave to man, except that of love. And many of these spirits refuse to exercise their will in a way that will enable them to rid themselves of these evil thoughts and desires.
So you see, the mere fact of becoming a spirit does not mean that the mortal has become a good and saintly spirit. No, I am sorry to say that many men who were very evil on earth are still evil as spirits and their happiness, which they think they have, is only that happiness which they, as men, thought they realized from the exercise of evil thoughts and acts. Yet, there is one great redeeming fact connected with their dark and sad condition and that is, that in the end, whenever it so pleases God, all evil will be banished from the spirit world, and all spirits will be given that happiness, which comes from a nature free from sin and error. Not by the fiat of God, but by men seeking and doing those things that will free the soul from sin and error and again come into harmony with God's laws; just such, I imagine, as Adam and Eve enjoyed in the historical Garden of Eden.
But that happiness, while of a character that brings much contentment and peace, yet is not the true happiness which God is waiting to give all His children who ask and seek for the inflowing of the Divine Love in their souls.
I will not discourse on this great happiness tonight as it would take too long and you are somewhat tired, but will say that all men should seek for it both on earth and in the spirit world. When on earth I did not have it, but since I came here I found it and now possess it thanks be to God and His loving kindness. You folks all have it and many others too numerous to mention.
Let me stop now as I am tired and you need to rest. So with all my love and best wishes, I am your old professor,
Joseph H. Salyards
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Helen Expresses Her Deep Love for James and that Their Soulmate Love is For All Eternity
February 22, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, Helen.
Yes, I am when you need me and feel that I am your own true wife. I am not yet ready to let you see that you are so necessary to my happiness that I must be with you all the time, for if I do you will become so careless of my love and will think that all you have to do is say, "Come Helen," and I will be there. Thanks are not in order as you are too very much of a flirt to make me believe that you really mean "thank you."
But you are my darling Ned, and I love you and you know it, and I am glad that you do. You are too much in love with me to ever want another. I know and I thank God that He gave us to each other, for if I had not your love, I would not be so happy. Oh my darling, I so long to have you with me all the time, so that I could tell you of my great love for you, and that you are the only one that I love or have ever loved in all my life.
Be so true to me that no doubt will arise in your mind that I am the one that God selected for you. Let us continue to love God and then we will love each other with love that knows no ending or falling away. My love for you is not only for a time, but for all eternity, and we will never be separated after you come over to me.
Yes, it is possible, for I know that our love will become so real, that the mere fact of your being in the physical body will not prevent us from realizing that we are together in all the reality of our true being and love. You will not have to wait very long before you will hear my voice and feel my presence in a way that will convince you that I am with you in all my strength and real existence. Let us believe that we are one in spirit and love, and our realization of that fact will be strong that we will be certain that the union is true. Give me all your thoughts for awhile and you will learn that I am not only yours in spirit and love but in real personal contact and actual presence.
So do not doubt that I am with you now, writing this love letter as I promised you this afternoon, for I am actually writing it and you have nothing to do with it but merely hold the pencil. You do not deserve the blessings, which God has given you, but He is so loving and merciful, that He sees that you need His Love and my love to make you happy, and in the end become a spiritual man and a true follower of Jesus who is also your true friend and teacher. He will tell you all things that the Father has in store for you and will not let you go astray again as you did when we were living together on earth. So do not let the thought that you are too worldly or too great a sinner keep you from seeking the Love of the Father or believing that Jesus is interested in your welfare both on earth and in this world. Only believe what He may tell you and you will not be left to go wrong.
Try to let your thoughts turn more to God's Love and to mine.
Yes. they (parents and relatives) all love you very much, but not as I do, because their love is that of a parent, while mine is that of one whom God has decreed shall be the necessary part of a love that is one and a perfect whole. Our loves are not two but one, and if either part is not in true accord, the perfect one is not in existence. So you see, we must be sure that our loves are just in that accord that is necessary to make the perfect one.
Let us not write any more tonight, as I am tired and so are you. Yes, you did. Right. Under the conditions, we could not do what you desired.
With all my love and best wishes for your happiness.
I am your own true wife and sweetheart,
Helen
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, Helen.
Yes, I am when you need me and feel that I am your own true wife. I am not yet ready to let you see that you are so necessary to my happiness that I must be with you all the time, for if I do you will become so careless of my love and will think that all you have to do is say, "Come Helen," and I will be there. Thanks are not in order as you are too very much of a flirt to make me believe that you really mean "thank you."
But you are my darling Ned, and I love you and you know it, and I am glad that you do. You are too much in love with me to ever want another. I know and I thank God that He gave us to each other, for if I had not your love, I would not be so happy. Oh my darling, I so long to have you with me all the time, so that I could tell you of my great love for you, and that you are the only one that I love or have ever loved in all my life.
Be so true to me that no doubt will arise in your mind that I am the one that God selected for you. Let us continue to love God and then we will love each other with love that knows no ending or falling away. My love for you is not only for a time, but for all eternity, and we will never be separated after you come over to me.
Yes, it is possible, for I know that our love will become so real, that the mere fact of your being in the physical body will not prevent us from realizing that we are together in all the reality of our true being and love. You will not have to wait very long before you will hear my voice and feel my presence in a way that will convince you that I am with you in all my strength and real existence. Let us believe that we are one in spirit and love, and our realization of that fact will be strong that we will be certain that the union is true. Give me all your thoughts for awhile and you will learn that I am not only yours in spirit and love but in real personal contact and actual presence.
So do not doubt that I am with you now, writing this love letter as I promised you this afternoon, for I am actually writing it and you have nothing to do with it but merely hold the pencil. You do not deserve the blessings, which God has given you, but He is so loving and merciful, that He sees that you need His Love and my love to make you happy, and in the end become a spiritual man and a true follower of Jesus who is also your true friend and teacher. He will tell you all things that the Father has in store for you and will not let you go astray again as you did when we were living together on earth. So do not let the thought that you are too worldly or too great a sinner keep you from seeking the Love of the Father or believing that Jesus is interested in your welfare both on earth and in this world. Only believe what He may tell you and you will not be left to go wrong.
Try to let your thoughts turn more to God's Love and to mine.
Yes. they (parents and relatives) all love you very much, but not as I do, because their love is that of a parent, while mine is that of one whom God has decreed shall be the necessary part of a love that is one and a perfect whole. Our loves are not two but one, and if either part is not in true accord, the perfect one is not in existence. So you see, we must be sure that our loves are just in that accord that is necessary to make the perfect one.
Let us not write any more tonight, as I am tired and so are you. Yes, you did. Right. Under the conditions, we could not do what you desired.
With all my love and best wishes for your happiness.
I am your own true wife and sweetheart,
Helen
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Helen Writes that Her Husband and Soulmate Will Soon Hear Her Voice
February 20, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, Helen.
I am here to tell you that you are my own loving Ned and that I could not let you stop writing until I told you how dear you are to me. Yes, I am so very, very happy and am willing that you should share it all with me.
Yes, you will hear my voice soon in your own room. We will then talk love as well as write it. Oh, my darling, how much I love you tonight. I see your heart is open to my love and I want you to get so much of it that you will be happy all the day long.
I must not write much tonight for you are tired and you must not exhaust yourself.
Yes, he is full of love and his faith is very strong. He is a most unusual spirit and is strong for the higher things and will progress very rapidly. I know. He is with his soulmate a great deal and she has a wonderful influence over him and is leading him to the higher thoughts and greater love.
Alice is progressing. She is praying and believing she will soon be in the Third Sphere and she loves you so much and wants you to love her and continue to pray for her.
He says that you need not ask his father for he loves you too much to get offended. You must love him more and believe in him more and he will give you a communication that will satisfy you.
She is here, and says that you are very good to think of her and love her and that she returns your love and hopes that very soon we may all be able to talk as you desire. She is now trying to bring about conditions that will enable us to succeed.
I will stop and say goodnight.
Your own dear and loving,
Helen
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, Helen.
I am here to tell you that you are my own loving Ned and that I could not let you stop writing until I told you how dear you are to me. Yes, I am so very, very happy and am willing that you should share it all with me.
Yes, you will hear my voice soon in your own room. We will then talk love as well as write it. Oh, my darling, how much I love you tonight. I see your heart is open to my love and I want you to get so much of it that you will be happy all the day long.
I must not write much tonight for you are tired and you must not exhaust yourself.
Yes, he is full of love and his faith is very strong. He is a most unusual spirit and is strong for the higher things and will progress very rapidly. I know. He is with his soulmate a great deal and she has a wonderful influence over him and is leading him to the higher thoughts and greater love.
Alice is progressing. She is praying and believing she will soon be in the Third Sphere and she loves you so much and wants you to love her and continue to pray for her.
He says that you need not ask his father for he loves you too much to get offended. You must love him more and believe in him more and he will give you a communication that will satisfy you.
She is here, and says that you are very good to think of her and love her and that she returns your love and hopes that very soon we may all be able to talk as you desire. She is now trying to bring about conditions that will enable us to succeed.
I will stop and say goodnight.
Your own dear and loving,
Helen
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
A.G. Riddle Writes About James' Spiritual Healing and of His Happiness in the Third Sphere
February 20, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, your old partner:
I am very happy tonight and I am glad that you are so much better. You had a rather hard time of it and reminded me somewhat of the suffering that I used to undergo when I was on earth and in Washington.
Well, you are cured of the indigestion but the gas accumulates at times and makes it uncomfortable for you, but that will pass away before long and your digestive organs will soon be in perfect working order. The faith that you had in your prayers and the work of the Master, you were actually cured by your faith. The work done was only a means used to impress upon you with fact that God had answered your prayer. I do not see how you could have had such faith as you evidenced at the time, but it is a fact that you had it and as a consequence the cure was effected.
When you prayed as you did I was so very much impressed with your faith that I expected to see your prayers answered as they were. Jesus helped you to pray and also helped your faith. He also did the work that you observed through the power, which he possesses, and used White Eagle to manipulate your intestines and liver. It was a revelation to me I must confess and caused me to believe more than ever in prayer and faith.
I am now so very happy in my new sphere that I cannot explain to you what that happiness means. I cannot express myself in language sufficiently strong and descriptive that you may comprehend. But this I will say, that my happiness now transcends all conception of what happiness might be when, as a mortal, I sometimes thought of the afterlife and the happiness, which might be in store for me when I passed over.
I am in the Third Sphere but I am not contented to remain there for your mother has told me on many occasions of the far greater happiness existing in the higher spheres. I am now striving and praying for this greater happiness and I will never be contented until I get it. Your wife is in a much higher sphere and is so very beautiful and so exceedingly happy that I know that where she lives such happiness must exist.
I am also happy because I have my soulmate with me so very often and her love is so great and pure that it leads me on to higher things and enables me to seek with so much earnestness the great Love of the Father, which I now believe is working for me if I only will strive to obtain it and have the faith, which all who have obtained to a very large degree of this Love tell me of.
Your grandmother is so wonderfully beautiful and filled with the Love that her very presence inspires me to believe and seek for the happiness of these higher spheres.
Well, as you want me to tell you of some of the laws of the spirit world, I will say that the one great law is that God is Love and that He is willing to bestow that love on anyone, spirit or mortal, who ask Him for it. I am not only very happy but I find that my mind is expanding to a great extent by reason of the Love that I possess. No man or spirit can possibly be filled with this Love and not have the wisdom that necessarily comes with the Love. I am not so much interested in purely mental phenomena as I was before I received this Love and believed in a Father of Love and Truth, but I am nevertheless able to understand many things to a far greater degree than I could when I had merely the mental pursuits in mind.
I am not yet fully conversant with the laws of communication as I told you I would learn and instruct you in, but I know enough to be able to say that every spirit is trying to communicate with their friends on earth and why they are not able is because the mortals are not in that condition of psychical rapport that will enable them to receive the communications of the spirits. I do not yet know why one mortal is susceptible to these influences in such a way as to be readily understood and another mortal is not. Some spirits say that this law controlling this matter is not even understood by spirits who have been here for a great many years and who have given considerable study to the subject.
But this I do know, that when the rapport exists the communications become stronger with the exercise of the powers. You have this power to a very large degree and if you will continue to try to exercise it, you will find that manifestations of several kinds will be disclosed. Your writing powers are very great and will grow as you continue to write but beside this phase you have the potential ability to have other manifestations such as independent voices and slate writing. This latter I think will soon come to you and when it does you will get messages that will have their great value to you in convincing you that what you write in this method is written by the control of the thoughts of your friends who profess to write.
You will also get the voices very soon as I think, and when you do you will be able to converse with us in your room at night when you are alone. But I don't know of any manifestation as satisfactory to both spirit and mortal as the writing such as you are now doing for we have the opportunity for such a greater extent of communicating and interchanging of thought. I am perfectly delighted at the possibility given me of writing you in this way. So you must believe that I am writing to you and that all the others of your band are doing the same thing.
Your wife has more power in this regard than any of us and she does not hesitate to write you whenever you call her. She is a wonderful spirit in her grasp of spirit things and in her love for the Father. So you must not let any doubt come into your mind when she writes to you and tells you of so many wonderful things and of her love for you. She seems to love you with a love that has no limit or possibility of growing less.
I am now going to tell you of my progress in this love and happiness. When I last wrote you I told you that I had commenced to have faith in the Father and had received some portion of His Love. Well, since then I have been praying and asking God to give me more faith and love and as I prayed my faith increased and as my faith increased more of this love came into my soul and with it an increased happiness.
So I would not stop striving until I realized that my soul was commencing to get such an inflow of this Love that it seemed that all things which tended to retard this influx were leaving me and only love and goodness were taking possession of me. I am now very far advanced over what I was when you first commenced to talk to me of this love and I shall, through all eternity, remember and thank you for what you did for me. I was also so fortunate to have your mother and wife with me very much trying to show me the way to this truth of the New Birth and then when your grandmother came to me it seemed as if I could not resist the influences to seek and try to pursue.
So really when I had received enough of the spiritual awakening to realize who Jesus was I gave him my close attention and as he continued to show me the way to the Father I commenced to grasp the truth and believe that my salvation depended on my receiving this great love and becoming a finer and better man. I tell you that Jesus is the most wonderful of spirits that I have seen or heard about. He is so filled with love and goodness that there seems no doubt in my mind that he is the son of the Father in the spiritual sense of the term. I mean that he is so much nearer the Father and in so much and many of his attributes that he is the only son in the sense of being at-one with the Father.
We are all sons of the Father, but there is such a difference in our spiritual conditions that the contrast between Jesus and us is so great that we can readily believe that he is the one true son and that his great love and knowledge of the qualities of the Father makes him the only begotten in a different way physically from other men, no immaculate conception or birth from the womb of a virgin. I do not believe this dogma and the Master says that it is not true for he was truly, so far as his physical being is concerned, the son of a man and woman as you or I am.
Now I am also convinced that mankind cannot be saved from their sins unless they follow the way showed them by the Master. No man can save himself and I wish strongly to emphasize the fact that man is dependent upon God for his salvation from the sins and errors of the material man. I do not mean that men have not a work to do themselves for they have. God is willing to save them if they ask it and acknowledge that with His help they can be saved, but unless they do ask and believe He will not interfere with these conditions. So you see I am not only a believer in God and Jesus but also in the doctrine that men cannot save themselves. I thought that man was sufficient unto himself when I was on earth but now I know that he is not. Man may be comparatively happy and free from what is called sin, that is a visitation of God's laws, but that happiness is not the same nor is man's condition the same as when he gets this Divine Love from the Father.
I will not speak longer on this subject tonight but simply say that when on earth I thought that by my own exertions I might possibly become divine, yet even as a spirit I know that man is not divine and cannot become so in all eternity unless he receives this Divine Essence which comes to him in the New Birth. Divinity is of God alone and only He can bestow it on man. Man not having this divinity cannot create it by his own efforts. So believe what I say and strive to get it and you then succeed and become as the redeemed in the Celestial Heavens.
I am with my earth wife and son a great deal trying to show them the way and I am glad to say that light is breaking in their hearts and perceptions. I believe that very soon they will fully realize that the only way to get true happiness and peace is through the way of the New Birth.
I am trying to show them this way and they are having more faith in me. And your dear wife is with them too so very much. She seems to have a great influence over them. Especially over Bert, who believes that she is so very good and pure that he wonders why she is such and it causes him to think what she tells him as the cause must be true. Your father is with me a great deal, too, and he has helped me very much and he is now progressing so rapidly that he will soon be with his soulmate in the Fifth Sphere. Your good mother tells me this and she knows so many things pertaining to spiritual progress.
I must stop now for you are tired and so am I.
Well, I will tell you of those things the next time I write.
So with all my love and blessing, I am your old partner,
A.G. Riddle
Received by James Padgett
Washington, D.C.
I am here, your old partner:
I am very happy tonight and I am glad that you are so much better. You had a rather hard time of it and reminded me somewhat of the suffering that I used to undergo when I was on earth and in Washington.
Well, you are cured of the indigestion but the gas accumulates at times and makes it uncomfortable for you, but that will pass away before long and your digestive organs will soon be in perfect working order. The faith that you had in your prayers and the work of the Master, you were actually cured by your faith. The work done was only a means used to impress upon you with fact that God had answered your prayer. I do not see how you could have had such faith as you evidenced at the time, but it is a fact that you had it and as a consequence the cure was effected.
When you prayed as you did I was so very much impressed with your faith that I expected to see your prayers answered as they were. Jesus helped you to pray and also helped your faith. He also did the work that you observed through the power, which he possesses, and used White Eagle to manipulate your intestines and liver. It was a revelation to me I must confess and caused me to believe more than ever in prayer and faith.
I am now so very happy in my new sphere that I cannot explain to you what that happiness means. I cannot express myself in language sufficiently strong and descriptive that you may comprehend. But this I will say, that my happiness now transcends all conception of what happiness might be when, as a mortal, I sometimes thought of the afterlife and the happiness, which might be in store for me when I passed over.
I am in the Third Sphere but I am not contented to remain there for your mother has told me on many occasions of the far greater happiness existing in the higher spheres. I am now striving and praying for this greater happiness and I will never be contented until I get it. Your wife is in a much higher sphere and is so very beautiful and so exceedingly happy that I know that where she lives such happiness must exist.
I am also happy because I have my soulmate with me so very often and her love is so great and pure that it leads me on to higher things and enables me to seek with so much earnestness the great Love of the Father, which I now believe is working for me if I only will strive to obtain it and have the faith, which all who have obtained to a very large degree of this Love tell me of.
Your grandmother is so wonderfully beautiful and filled with the Love that her very presence inspires me to believe and seek for the happiness of these higher spheres.
Well, as you want me to tell you of some of the laws of the spirit world, I will say that the one great law is that God is Love and that He is willing to bestow that love on anyone, spirit or mortal, who ask Him for it. I am not only very happy but I find that my mind is expanding to a great extent by reason of the Love that I possess. No man or spirit can possibly be filled with this Love and not have the wisdom that necessarily comes with the Love. I am not so much interested in purely mental phenomena as I was before I received this Love and believed in a Father of Love and Truth, but I am nevertheless able to understand many things to a far greater degree than I could when I had merely the mental pursuits in mind.
I am not yet fully conversant with the laws of communication as I told you I would learn and instruct you in, but I know enough to be able to say that every spirit is trying to communicate with their friends on earth and why they are not able is because the mortals are not in that condition of psychical rapport that will enable them to receive the communications of the spirits. I do not yet know why one mortal is susceptible to these influences in such a way as to be readily understood and another mortal is not. Some spirits say that this law controlling this matter is not even understood by spirits who have been here for a great many years and who have given considerable study to the subject.
But this I do know, that when the rapport exists the communications become stronger with the exercise of the powers. You have this power to a very large degree and if you will continue to try to exercise it, you will find that manifestations of several kinds will be disclosed. Your writing powers are very great and will grow as you continue to write but beside this phase you have the potential ability to have other manifestations such as independent voices and slate writing. This latter I think will soon come to you and when it does you will get messages that will have their great value to you in convincing you that what you write in this method is written by the control of the thoughts of your friends who profess to write.
You will also get the voices very soon as I think, and when you do you will be able to converse with us in your room at night when you are alone. But I don't know of any manifestation as satisfactory to both spirit and mortal as the writing such as you are now doing for we have the opportunity for such a greater extent of communicating and interchanging of thought. I am perfectly delighted at the possibility given me of writing you in this way. So you must believe that I am writing to you and that all the others of your band are doing the same thing.
Your wife has more power in this regard than any of us and she does not hesitate to write you whenever you call her. She is a wonderful spirit in her grasp of spirit things and in her love for the Father. So you must not let any doubt come into your mind when she writes to you and tells you of so many wonderful things and of her love for you. She seems to love you with a love that has no limit or possibility of growing less.
I am now going to tell you of my progress in this love and happiness. When I last wrote you I told you that I had commenced to have faith in the Father and had received some portion of His Love. Well, since then I have been praying and asking God to give me more faith and love and as I prayed my faith increased and as my faith increased more of this love came into my soul and with it an increased happiness.
So I would not stop striving until I realized that my soul was commencing to get such an inflow of this Love that it seemed that all things which tended to retard this influx were leaving me and only love and goodness were taking possession of me. I am now very far advanced over what I was when you first commenced to talk to me of this love and I shall, through all eternity, remember and thank you for what you did for me. I was also so fortunate to have your mother and wife with me very much trying to show me the way to this truth of the New Birth and then when your grandmother came to me it seemed as if I could not resist the influences to seek and try to pursue.
So really when I had received enough of the spiritual awakening to realize who Jesus was I gave him my close attention and as he continued to show me the way to the Father I commenced to grasp the truth and believe that my salvation depended on my receiving this great love and becoming a finer and better man. I tell you that Jesus is the most wonderful of spirits that I have seen or heard about. He is so filled with love and goodness that there seems no doubt in my mind that he is the son of the Father in the spiritual sense of the term. I mean that he is so much nearer the Father and in so much and many of his attributes that he is the only son in the sense of being at-one with the Father.
We are all sons of the Father, but there is such a difference in our spiritual conditions that the contrast between Jesus and us is so great that we can readily believe that he is the one true son and that his great love and knowledge of the qualities of the Father makes him the only begotten in a different way physically from other men, no immaculate conception or birth from the womb of a virgin. I do not believe this dogma and the Master says that it is not true for he was truly, so far as his physical being is concerned, the son of a man and woman as you or I am.
Now I am also convinced that mankind cannot be saved from their sins unless they follow the way showed them by the Master. No man can save himself and I wish strongly to emphasize the fact that man is dependent upon God for his salvation from the sins and errors of the material man. I do not mean that men have not a work to do themselves for they have. God is willing to save them if they ask it and acknowledge that with His help they can be saved, but unless they do ask and believe He will not interfere with these conditions. So you see I am not only a believer in God and Jesus but also in the doctrine that men cannot save themselves. I thought that man was sufficient unto himself when I was on earth but now I know that he is not. Man may be comparatively happy and free from what is called sin, that is a visitation of God's laws, but that happiness is not the same nor is man's condition the same as when he gets this Divine Love from the Father.
I will not speak longer on this subject tonight but simply say that when on earth I thought that by my own exertions I might possibly become divine, yet even as a spirit I know that man is not divine and cannot become so in all eternity unless he receives this Divine Essence which comes to him in the New Birth. Divinity is of God alone and only He can bestow it on man. Man not having this divinity cannot create it by his own efforts. So believe what I say and strive to get it and you then succeed and become as the redeemed in the Celestial Heavens.
I am with my earth wife and son a great deal trying to show them the way and I am glad to say that light is breaking in their hearts and perceptions. I believe that very soon they will fully realize that the only way to get true happiness and peace is through the way of the New Birth.
I am trying to show them this way and they are having more faith in me. And your dear wife is with them too so very much. She seems to have a great influence over them. Especially over Bert, who believes that she is so very good and pure that he wonders why she is such and it causes him to think what she tells him as the cause must be true. Your father is with me a great deal, too, and he has helped me very much and he is now progressing so rapidly that he will soon be with his soulmate in the Fifth Sphere. Your good mother tells me this and she knows so many things pertaining to spiritual progress.
I must stop now for you are tired and so am I.
Well, I will tell you of those things the next time I write.
So with all my love and blessing, I am your old partner,
A.G. Riddle
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