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I AM HERE. Jesus.
I am here according to my promise, and desire to write to you on a subject that
all men should be acquainted with: “How the Divine Love Enters into the Soul of
Man.”
As I have told you before, man is a creature of God, having a body, spirit and
soul; and all these are necessary to make the perfect man. But these three parts
of man are different in their characteristics and functions, and are separate
and distinct; and they have qualities that are unlike in their composition as
well as in the duration of their existence.
The body, as you and all men know, has an existence which lasts only during the
life of the mortal on earth. And, after that life ends, it dissolves into its
elements which no more can form the same body, either in the mortal world on in
the spirit world. For these elements are merely things of matter, and may be and
are used to form other bodies and manifestations of the material of nature, but
not necessarily in the form of human beings. For they enter into other forms,
both animal and vegetable, and are so disseminated that never again will they
become parts of a resurrected body. Your orthodox do not teach this truth, but
think that the mortal body will sometime be resurrected in some mysterious way.
No, when it has performed its function of maintaining and shielding the soul and
spirit of man during his earth life, the body exists no longer. It cannot
thereafter be a part of that man, and may be considered as something that is no
longer a part of him.
This body, though, as a matter of fact, even during the life of the mortal, is
not the same body during that life. For there are continual changes in the
elements that compose that body. One element, or set of elements, gives place to
others and becomes lost or absorbed in the great sea of elements that help form,
or constitute, the Universe of God.
By operation of the Laws of Attraction and Repulsion, these elements, as they
replace others which disappear, conform themselves to the general appearance or
outline of the parent body so that the identity of the body as well as of its
appearance is preserved. And, as a man grows older, the laws which make the
changes in his appearance cause these new elements to conform to these changes
so that, even while the material continues to envelop the spirit during the
short span of a man’s life, that material is not the same for any length of
time.
I make this preliminary statement merely to show that the material part of man
is not at all connected with the real man, so far as his persistent nature is
concerned. And this material need not be considered in discussing the subject
that I desire to write about.
The spirit part of man is that part which contains what may be called the
functions of life and the force and power existing in him, and which immediately
control him in his conduct and living.
This real, existing principle of life, unlike the body, never dies, but
continues to live after the spirit drops its envelope of flesh.
This spirit part of man contains the seat of the mental faculties and reasoning
powers, and uses the organs of the material body to manifest these attributes.
These faculties live and exist even though the physical body may be in such
imperfect condition that the spirit may not be able to make its manifestations
in such a way as to enable the mortal to perceive or sense the material things
of nature, as they are called. To specify, even though the material organs of
sight may become impaired or destroyed, yet, in that spirit body, which is
within the physical body, exists the actual sight just as perfectly and
completely as if these impaired or destroyed organs were doing their
functioning; and the same is true as regards the hearing and the others of what
are called the five senses of man.
And as to the reasoning faculties and mental qualities, they exist in the
perfect state whether the brain is healthy or not, or whether it performs its
work or refuses to do so. The qualities do not depend upon the soundness or
perfect workings of the organs of the physical body in order that these spirit
qualities may exist in a perfect condition. But the proper workings of the
physical organs, or, rather, the proper and natural movements and manifestations
of the brain, and the conscious operations of the mental faculties, do depend
upon the spirit faculties being able to use these physical organs in a proper
way, and in accordance with the harmony of the creation of the relative and
correlative parts of man.
These spirit faculties, which man calls the intellect and the five senses, are a
part of the spirit body which is enclosed in the material body, and which, in
turn, encloses the soul. When the material body dies, the spirit body continues
to exist and live on in the world of spirit, and, with it, and as continuing
parts of it, these intellectual faculties also, performing all their functions
free from the limitations that the physical organs placed upon them. And when
this change takes place, these mental qualities, notwithstanding that they have
not the material organs through which they function when in the mortal frame,
can conceive thoughts of material things, and hear and see things of the
material, just as they did when they were enveloped by the environments of flesh
and blood, and even more perfectly.
So, you see, when the mortal dies, the only thing that dies and is left behind
is the mere physical body. And, with the spirit body, there survives all those
things which can be said to be the real man, so far as the mind is concerned.
Hence, man never ceases to remember and to progress, and to know that he is a
being which death cannot destroy or change into something that he was not before
death came to him. And, thus, I answer the question: “When a man dies, shall he
live again?” HE NEVER CEASES TO LIVE. AND HIS LIVING IS NOT A NEW LIFE, BUT
MERELY THE CONTINUATION OF THE OLD LIFE WITH ALL THE THINGS OF MIND AND
CONSCIENCE THAT WERE HIS IN THE OLD LIFE.
In the purely spirit life, the spirit body continues to contain the soul, and
will be its protector and covering so long as that spirit body shall last. But,
by disintegration, this body then begins to change into what we may call spirit
elements, with the formation of new elements to replace the disappearing ones.
This change in this body is not caused by the same laws that operated to change
and disintegrate and replace the physical body, but by the law controlling the
development of the soul, which the spirit body contains.
The soul is the real man because it is the only thing or part of man that may
become immortal, the only part of man that was made in the image of its Creator,
and the only part of man that may become a part of the Substance of its Maker
and partake of His Divine Nature. I say “may,” for that is an important part of
this great possibility.
I know this possibility of the soul becoming immortal by partaking of the Divine
Nature of God is true, for it is a proven fact in the case of many souls who are
now in the Celestial Heavens. I also know that there are many souls in the
spirit world who have been there for many centuries, and who have never received
this Divine Nature and consciousness of immortality. WHETHER SUCH SOULS WHO HAVE
NOT RECEIVED THIS DIVINE NATURE SHALL BECOME, OR ARE, IMMORTAL HAS NEVER BEEN
DEMONSTRATED.
THIS I DO KNOW: THAT IN THE ECONOMY OF GOD’S PLAN FOR THE FORMING OF HIS
KINGDOM, AT SOME TIME, WHEN, I DON’T KNOW, THIS PRIVILEGE OF PARTAKING OF HIS
DIVINE NATURE AND THE CERTAINTY OF IMMORTALITY WILL BE WITHDRAWN FROM THE SOULS
OF MEN AND SPIRITS. AND, THEN, WHETHER THESE SOULS WHO SUFFER THIS CONDEMNATION
WILL PARTAKE OF IMMORTALITY NO SPIRIT KNOWS, ONLY GOD.
There are other things that I know and here tell you, and among them is this:
that so long as the soul does not receive this Divine Nature, the mind, which I
have described as being a part of the spirit body, continues to exist and
dominate both soul and body; and, in its progress, it may attain to a condition
of purity and perfection such as was possessed by the first created living
souls—our first parents. Many spirits are now in this condition, but yet are
mere men, and their souls remain only in the image of God—nothing more.
WHILE GOD IS MIND, MIND IS NOT GOD. AND, ALSO, WHILE GOD IS SPIRIT, SPIRIT IS
NOT GOD. SO, WHEN MEN TEACH THAT MIND IS GOD, AND THAT MEN MUST SEEK TO ATTAIN
TO THAT MIND AND THUS BECOME LIKE GOD, THEY FALL FAR SHORT OF THE TRUTH. THE
MIND IS ONLY AN ATTRIBUTE OF GOD. BEYOND AND BACK OF THAT MIND IS THE REAL
GOD—THE PERSONALITY—AND THAT IS GOD’S SOUL. AND FROM HIS SOUL EMANATES ALL THESE
ATTRIBUTES AND MANIFESTATIONS WHICH MORTALS AS WELL AS SPIRITS MAY BE CONSCIOUS
OF.
BUT WHILE GOD IS SOUL, YET, THAT SOUL IS A THING OF SUBSTANCE, WITH A NATURE
DIVINE, AND THE SEAT AND FOUNTAINHEAD OF ALL THE GREAT ATTRIBUTES THAT BELONG TO
HIM, SUCH AS LOVE AND POWER AND LIFE AND OMNISCIENCE AND MERCY. AND, HERE, I
MUST STATE ONE FACT WHICH MAY STARTLE THOSE WHO BELIEVE AND TEACH THAT MIND IS
GOD, AND THAT IS: THAT WHICH IS CALLED THE HUMAN MIND, AND ALL ITS FACULTIES AND
WONDERFUL QUALITIES, IS A MERE SPECIAL CREATURE, JUST AS IS THE SPIRIT BODY AND
MATERIAL BODY OF MAN. AS I HAVE SAID, MAN WAS CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD ONLY
AS REGARDS THE SOUL. AND, HERE, ALWAYS BEAR IN MIND THAT THE CREATION WAS ONLY
AN IMAGE.
THE MIND OF MAN WAS A SPECIAL CREATION, JUST AS WERE THE MINDS OF THE LOWER
ANIMALS, DIFFERING ONLY IN DEGREE. AND IF GOD HAD NOT GIVEN TO MAN A SOUL AND
THE SPIRIT BODY TO ENVELOP IT, AND IN WHICH HE PLACED THIS MIND OF MAN, WHEN MAN
DIES THE DEATH OF THE PHYSICAL BODY, THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE END OF HIM, AS
SUCH DEATH IS OF THE BODY, WHICH IS NOT A PART OF THIS SOUL IMAGE OF GOD.
AS I HAVE HERETOFORE WRITTEN TO YOU, WHEN GOD CREATED MAN AND MADE HIM IN HIS
OWN IMAGE AS TO THE SOUL, HE ALSO GAVE TO MAN THE POSSIBILITY OF OBTAINING THE
SUBSTANCE OF THE FATHER; THAT IS, OF HAVING THAT SOUL WHICH WAS A MERE IMAGE
BECOME THAT SOUL WHICH IS OF THE SUBSTANCE OF THE CREATOR. I HAVE ALSO EXPLAINED
TO YOU HOW MAN, BY HIS DISOBEDIENCE, LOST THAT POSSIBILITY, AND, FOR LONG
CENTURIES, WAS DEPRIVED OF THIS GREAT PRIVILEGE; AND HOW IT WAS AGAIN RESTORED
TO HIM AT THE TIME OF MY COMING TO EARTH SO THAT NOW, AND FOR NINETEEN CENTURIES
PAST, HE HAS THE POSSESSION OF THIS GREAT GIFT OR PRIVILEGE OF PARTAKING OF THE
SUBSTANCE OF THE FATHER.
WELL, BY THE WAY THAT HAS BEEN POINTED OUT TO HIM, WHEN MAN BECOMES POSSESSED OF
THE SUBSTANCE OF THE FATHER’S DIVINE NATURE, EVEN IN AN INITIAL DEGREE, HIS SOUL
COMMENCES TO CHANGE AND LOSE ITS CHARACTER AS A MERE IMAGE, AND STARTS TO
PROGRESS TOWARDS THE ATTAINMENT OF THAT CONDITION WHEREBY THIS IMAGE DISAPPEARS
AND THE DIVINE SUBSTANCE TAKES ITS PLACE. AND, AS THE PROGRESS CONTINUES, HE
RECEIVES SO MUCH OF THE SUBSTANCE THAT HIS SOUL TAKES ON THE DIVINE NATURE OF
THE FATHER, AND HIS AT-ONEMENT WITH THE FATHER BECOMES SO PERFECT THAT HE
BECOMES AN INHABITANT OF THE FATHER’S KINGDOM. THIS OCCURS WHEN HE BECOMES
FITTED TO ENTER THE FIRST CELESTIAL SPHERE.*
AND JUST HERE OCCURS ANOTHER THING WHICH MAY STARTLE THOSE WHO TEACH THAT THE
MIND IS THE ESSENCE OF GOD, AND THAT IS: THE MIND WHICH MAN, BOTH AS MORTAL AND
SPIRIT, POSSESSES, UP TO THAT POINT IN THE PROGRESS OF THE SOUL WHERE THE
TRANSFORMATION INTO THE DIVINE NATURE TAKES PLACE, BECOMES A THING OF NAUGHT,
OR, RATHER, BECOMES ABSORBED IN THE MIND OF THE SOUL, WHICH IS THE REAL MIND OF
THE FATHER. AND THEN, AND EVER AFTER, ONLY THIS MIND OF THE SOUL IS THAT WHICH
ENABLES THE REAL DIVINE MAN TO UNDERSTAND THE THINGS OF GOD TO HELP HIM IN HIS
PROGRESS.
I will continue later. You are tired. But remember that I love you, and that you
have me with you at all times to help and sustain and comfort you.
Good night, my dear brother.
Your friend and brother,
JESUS.
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Questions about this article?
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About James E. Padgett
 Born August 25, 1852, Mr. James Edward Padgett
practiced law in Washington, D.C. Subsequent to his wife's, Helen,
passing in February, 1914, James learned from a psychic that he had
the gift of automatic writing. Based on the promptings of the
psychic and with a desire to reach his dearly departed Helen, he
commenced take messages from the spirits in the spirit world. At
first, James denounced the messages as merely coming from his mind,
driven by a strong desire to reach his departed wife. Eventually,
however, James could not deny the fact that information he was
receiving could not have possibly come from his own mind - for the
content of the messages surpassed his own education and knowledge.
Before his passing in March, 1923, James had accumulated hundreds of
messages from spirits and celestials in the spirit world.
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