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

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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