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The Testimony of James E. Padgett, Esq.
(1852-1923)
December 28, 1915
Mr. Padgett wrote a letter to a Dr. George
H. Gilbert, Ph.D., D.D., who had published an article on religion
entitled "Christianizing the Bible," in the November 1915 issue of
Biblical World.
Dear Sir:
I hope that you will pardon me for writing you as I herein shall, for
your evident voluntary interest in a certain subject matter, and my
involuntary interest in the same, furnish the only excuse. I have read
your article, "Christianizing the Bible," in the November issue of the
Biblical World and am much impressed with the same, not only because of
its inherent merits, but also because its demands and suggestions are
very similar to those which have been made through me, in a way and
manner which I can scarcely expect you to give credence to;
nevertheless, I shall submit the matter to you, recognizing your right
to consider what it may say unworthy of your serious attention.
First permit me to state that I am a practical lawyer of 35
years experience, and as such not inclined to accept allegations of
fact as true without evidencing proof. I was born and reared in an
orthodox Protestant church and, until quite recently remained orthodox
in my beliefs -- that upon the suggestion being made to me
that I was a psychic, I commenced to receive by way of automatic
writing, messages from what was said to be messages from the spirit
world, and since that time I have received messages upon many subjects,
but mostly as to things of a spiritual and religious nature, not
orthodox, as to the errancy of the Bible.
I have not space to name the great number of the writers of these
messages, but among them is Jesus of Nazereth. I will frankly say that I
refused for a long time to believe that these messages came from Jesus,
because God, while He had the power, as I believed, would not engage in
doing such a thing; but the evidence of the truth of the origin of
these messages became so convincing, not only from the great number and
positiveness of the witnesses, but from the inherent and unusual merits
of the contents of the messages, that I was forced to believe -- and now
say to you that I believe in the truth of these communications, with as
little doubt as I ever believed in the truth of a fact established by
the most positive evidence in court.
I wish further to say that to my own consciousness I did no thinking in
writing the messages -- I did not know what was to be written, nor what
was written at the time, except the word the pencil was writing.
The great object of these messages from Jesus, as he wrote, is to make a
revelation of the truths of his Father. He asserts that the Bible does
not contain his real teachings as he disclosed them while on earth --
that many things that he said are not therein contained, and many things
that are ascribed to him therein he did not say at all -- and he wants
the truths made known to mankind. And I must say that many of these
truths which he has written I have never before heard of, and I have
studied the Bible to some extent.
One thing in particular impressed me, and that is what the truth is of
his bringing "life and immortality to light." The Bible does not state
it, and I have not been able to find an explanation of it in any
commentaries on the Bible. But enough of this. I merely wrote this to
assure you that I am serious in submitting the enclosed copy of a
message for your perusal; and I would not do this were it not for the
fact that the message comments upon your article and also upon another
article in the same issue of the Biblical World.
On the night of December 24, 1915, I read your article and, on the next
night, Christmas night, I received a writing of which the enclosed is a
copy. You will observe that a portion of the message is personal, but I
thought it best to send it as it came to me. And though you may not
believe the origin of the message, yet, you may find some thoughts
therein for your consideration.
Trusting that you will pardon my intrusion, I will subscribe myself,
Very respectfully,
James E. Padgett.
Jesus Comments on the Above Letter
and Provides Instructions On Publishing These Messages
A few nights later, a message signed "Jesus" commented upon Padgett's having sent a copy of the message,
and referred to his letter to Dr. Gilbert:
December 28, 1915
I am here, Jesus.
I came tonight to tell you that you did the right thing by sending the
message to the person who wrote the article upon the subject of
Christianizing the Bible, for I now believe that he will appreciate it
to a very great degree. He is not an orthodox churchman, but is the
preacher of a Unitarian church in the little town in which he lives, and
is a very broad-minded man.
He may have some doubts as to the source of the message, and may not
feel inclined to accept as true, your statements as to how you received
it, but yet his doubts will not be altogether of such a nature that he
may not have some hesitation in saying, that such a thing as your
receiving my message could not be true. At any rate, he will become
interested in the subject matter of the message and will find some
thoughts that he never before had.
I fully realize that, when my messages are published, the great
difficulty in their being accepted will be the doubt of the people as to
their source. But you will have to complete the book in such a way that
the testimony of the numerous witnesses, will be so strong that the
doubt will not be able to withstand the overwhelming evidence of my
being the writer of the messages. And when men read the same, they will
realize that the Truths which they contain could only come from a higher
source than mortal mind, and that the Hand of the Father is in them.
So, I will continue to write and you to receive the messages; and when
the time comes to publish them, I do not fear that they will not be, in
time, gladly received.
Very soon, I will write you another which will be of importance to
mankind. I will only say further, that I am with you trying to help you,
and to have you believe with all your heart in the Divine Love of the
Father, in my mission, and in your work.
Your brother and friend, Jesus
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