James Padgett

Mr. James Edward Padgett was born August 25, 1852, in Washington, D.C. and attended the Polytechnic Academy Institute at New Market, Virginia. In 1880 he was admitted to the bar in Washington, D.C., and practiced law for 43 years. He was an able lawyer with a high standing at the bar and at one time held the title, Assistant District Attorney.

He married Helen W. Heyde and they had three children, two boys and a girl. Mr. Padgett was raised in the orthodox Methodist doctrine, and had for many years taught Sunday School at the Trinity Methodist Church. His religious understanding was simply what he learned from the Protestant church.

Mr. Padgett’s wife passed away in February of 1914 at the age of 52. Mr. Padgett took an immediate interest in Spiritualism and attended many séances in an effort to hear from Helen and witness for himself evidence of life after death. At one particular séance, the medium advised him that his wife was present and wanted him to know that she was very much alive and desired to communicate with him. The medium described her perfectly and told Mr. Padgett that he had the gift of automatic writing. She told him that his wife suggested he should pick up a pencil and pad at home and then she would try to control his hand and write.

Mr. Padgett did as his wife suggested and found that his pencil moved automatically to produce what he called “fish hooks” and “hangers”. After a short while, he received a legible message from Helen and eventually started receiving messages from high Celestial spirits.

At first, he did not believe the authenticity of the messages. But later he acknowledged that they could not be coming from his own mind because the information came too quickly for his mind to formulate thought and the content was at odds with his Protestant upbringing.

Mr. Padgett was 62 years old when he received his first message. He received over 2,500 messages between 1914 and 1921. His close friend, Dr. Leslie R. Stone, transcribed many of the messages and published the Book of Truths in 1940. He was later joined in his publication efforts by Dr. Daniel G. Samuels and Rev. John P. Gibson. The Foundation Church of Divine Truth was established to disseminate the Divine Love Truths communicated by Jesus and the Celestials through the medium of James Padgett.