James E. Padgett and Divine Love

 

Born: August 25, 1852

Passed: March 17, 1923

James E. Padgett was the oldest of three sons born to John H. Padgett and Ann R. Padgett.  He and his siblings, Edward and John, were born in Washington D.C.  The son of a butcher, Padgett grew up in the nation’s capital: he was only eight years old when the American Civil War began.

Padgett studied in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia at New Market Polytechnic Institute, which first opened on September 5, 1870. Joseph H. Salyards was one of the school’s two opening principals. Padgett became good friends with Professor Salyards, and after Professor Salyards passed away, he came and wrote many messages through James E. Padgett.

By 1872, Padgett returned to Washington D.C. and was studying law under Albert G. Riddle, Esq.  Mr. Riddle was a former Congressional Representative from Ohio, and he was a personal friend of President Abraham Lincoln. By 1876, Padgett was a practicing attorney, and in December 1877, Albert Riddle, Francis Miller and James Padgett announced the association of their new law firm, specializing in Insurance and Railroad business. Padgett became a prominent attorney as a member of the Washington D.C. bar.

James E. Padgett marries Helen Worman Heyde

On December 15, 1880, Padgett married Helen Worman Heyde, daughter of Rev. George Watson Heyde and Susan Olivia Whitehill Heyde. Rev. Heyde was a Methodist minister, and for 25 years he was also the chaplain of the Seamen’s Union Bethel, in Baltimore, Maryland. Helen was 18 years old, and James was 28 when they married.

James and Helen had three children: Edward Riddle Padgett, Harry Heyde Padgett, and Helenita Padgett. The Padgett family lived in Washington D.C. while James Padgett practiced law in various capacities throughout his 45 years as member of the bar.

Helen and James were married for thirty-two years, but in 1910, Helen and James separated. After a lengthy illness, Helen passed on February 12, 1914. James was devastated at the loss of his wife, who was a just over 51 years old at the time of her passing. Padgett turned to the Spiritualist groups of Washington D.C. in an effort to make contact with his lost love.

James E. Padgett goes to meeting on Spiritualism

During the time of Padgett’s life, there were many public mediums and spiritualist groups or societies.  During one spiritualist meeting, a medium named Mrs. Maltby told Padgett that his wife was present, and she described Helen nearly perfectly.  Mrs. Maltby also went on to say that Padgett also possessed the gift of mediumship through “automatic writing”, and that he must endeavor to develop his own medium skills.

Padgett began attempting to receive messages from spirit, but in the beginning he could only see scribbles on paper, which he said looked liked “fish hooks” and “hangers”. However, Padgett continued, and he eventually was able to make out a short paragraph – it was his wife, Helen. She wrote to Padgett that she was often with him and was so happy to be able to communicate in this way.

Padgett had serious doubts that he was receiving messages from his departed wife. He insisted it was a trick of his own mind. He asked Helen for proof, and she wrote about experiences that the couple shared that only she would know. Still, Padgett doubted, and he believed it was of his own mind or sub-conscious mind.

Still doubting his mediumship skills, Padgett began to read and study on spiritualism and life in the spirit world. He continued to receive messages from Helen, and he asked her in which sphere did she reside. She answered that she was in the Second Sphere. Having studied the spirit world at some length, Padgett knew that Helen should advance to a higher sphere. At first, Helen declined because she thought it was so easy for her to be close to Padgett from where she resided. Padgett insisted, and Helen said she would speak with Padgett’s grandmother, Ann Rollins, who had been in spirit for some time.

Helen wrote to Padgett that she met with his grandmother and what a glorious spirit she was. She was dwelling in the “High Celestial Heavens”. She had told Helen that the only way for a spirit to progress to the Higher Celestial Realms was through prayer to the Heavenly Father for His Divine Love.

In addition to Helen’s messages, Padgett received messages from his mother, Ann R. Padgett, his father, John H. Padgett, and his grandmother, Ann Rollins. His mother confirmed what his grandmother had said that soul progress to the Celestial Heavens can only be accomplished through prayers to God, asking for His Divine Love.

Helen took the advice of these spirits, and through subsequent messages, Padgett could follow her progress through the different spheres of the spirit world. Helen prayed for God’s Divine Love, and she found that as her prayers were answered and she received God’s Love in her soul, she noticed a change in her spiritual appearance. Because of the change in her soul condition, she was becoming “etherealized” and “brighter.”

As Helen progressed through the spheres, she advised Padgett that he would benefit greatly from the same prayers while he was still a mortal on earth. Padgett refused that he could benefit from such, but the spirits insisted. They wrote many messages to Padgett, stating that they were dwellers of higher spirit spheres and possessed knowledge of Divine Truths, and that even Jesus himself would come to Padgett and corroborate what they had said.

Jesus did come and write through Padgett, but Padgett thought it was absurd to think that Jesus of the Bible would come to write him any messages. He threw many of the early messages from Jesus in the trash.

Padgett, still a practicing attorney, never went public with his medium skills. He only shared his experiences with a few close friends that he had met at spiritualist meetings or séances. His closest friends, Doctor Leslie R. Stone, Dr. Francis A. Goerger, and fellow attorney, Eugene Morgan had “instinctive feelings” that these were, in fact, messages from Jesus.

By the time Padgett starting saving messages, the earliest message from Jesus was dated September 28, 1914, and it refers to a message from a few days prior. In this message, Jesus urged Padgett to pray for Divine Love, and Jesus wrote of other Truths that Padgett found astounding as a long-time Methodist and Sunday school teacher. The message urged him to “Go to your Father for His Help. Go in prayer, firmly believing, and you will soon feel His Divine Love in your heart.”

As an attorney, Padgett found facts hard to accept without certain proof. This was no different, and he doubted that he had received any messages from Jesus. He asked Helen, as well as his mother, father and grandmother, asking who it was that wrote, and was it really Jesus. All of them corroborated that Jesus had written.

Padgett, and his few close friends, began to pray for Divine Love. As they did, they could physically feel the Love of the Father in the area of their hearts.

Over the course of the next nine years, James E. Padgett received over 2,500 messages from various spirits. He received messages from friends and loved ones he knew while alive as well as High Celestial spirits. Padgett was able to help spirits in lower dark spheres, and with the help of his wife Helen, and his grandmother Ann, and others, they were able to learn about Divine Love and transform their souls and become redeemed Children of God and entitled to enter the Celestial Heavens.The hand written messages of James E. Padgett were given to Dr. Leslie Stone when Padgett died. Dr. Stone had as his mission to ensure that the messages were published. Today, there are four volumes of messages published by the Foundation Church of the New Birth, the entity founded by Dr. Stone. There are also many other Internet sources (linked here) where you can read the published messages, as well as scanned copies of the original hand-written messages that still exist.

Whether you believe in the source of these messages or not, they teach one primary Truth – the gift of God’s Divine Love. But you can prove the existence of this Love yourself by taking “the test.” Say the prayer for Divine Love, and see for yourself as you can feel God’s Love as it comes into your soul.

We can all become redeemed children of the Father as we share in his Divine Essence through the gift of His Love. “This is the great miracle of the universe.”

 

See our Resources page for links to many reference sites to read more about The Padgett Messages and James E. Padgett.