If you are one who assumes it was an easy thing for James Padgett to sit and receive messages from Jesus, I invite you to consider your assumption carefully. Who was he? Mr. Padgett was a lawyer by profession, and he was an orthodox Christian. Neither of these aspects of Padgett’s life favored an openness to ‘spirit communications’. The first (a lawyer) is basically an intellectual orientation, and the other is a life ordered by theology and beliefs (also very intellectual). The first deals primarily with facts, facts that can or cannot be proved in a courtroom of law. The second deals with tradition and history based on the formulation of the Bible and various doctrines and dogmas, as well as rituals and ceremonies. These are treated as ‘facts’ and nothing from contemporary spirit communications is recognized or included in faith statements and practice
When a person reads the messages that James Padgett received from spirit, we see clearly that in the beginning he only received messages from his wife and other family members, as well as a few close friends. This was private material and as might be expected not shared with other people. It was a difficult time for James. A new world of information was coming to him. In a sense, his life was turning upside down. Nothing was the same. How could he even think of sharing this upheaval with the “outside world”?
When it was told him (by his family in the spirit world) that Jesus desired to write messages through him, he nearly gave up the whole enterprise of sitting as a scribe to receive spirit communications.
In a recent message from spirit, the medium Al Fike received a message from James Padgett telling us about this period in his life. Here is an excerpt of the message received:
“I was initially not pleased or comforted by the first results of this contact. The words written were in my mind both heretical and controversial. My skepticism only increased as this purported Jesus continued to share his story and message that so challenged beliefs long held. I became so ill with confusion and regret that I burned the first attempts of communication. I could not believe these words that contradicted so much of my own Christian beliefs. Surely these things written were not true, just ravings from a deluded spirit."
Thankfully, James did not stay with these feelings and thoughts. With encouragement from his wife and family and friends, he continued and became an excellent scribe (medium) and received hundreds of messages over the course of time before his death in 1923.
In the recent message mentioned above, Mr. Padgett said this:
“My dilemma weighed so heavily upon me as I tried to sort through the facts of the situation as only a lawyer might do. I went over the teachings conveyed by this Jesus and confirmed by so many and reasoned with the information at hand. It eventually became apparent through much loving support and the reasoning’s of my own mind that if I attempt to follow this new concept of Divine Love, I might know for myself whether it is of merit or not. I began to ask God for this gift, not altogether convinced that God had any intention of listening to my prayer. It took some time and a number of prayers which were encouraged greatly by the spirits communicating to me but eventually I began to feel the Grace that is so familiar to me now, my life forever changed by the touch of God’s great Love. In this change, I began to accept what the angels would come to say and bring into my mind. I began to gain faith in the sure knowledge that God loved me and that His great Love was available to me whenever I asked with sincerity. The terrible regrets of my past and loneliness began to fade and a new hope and faith emerged with God’s increasing Love flowing within. I was on my way to being reborn in the Love and my passage was swift and sure with such angelic support.
“I have been favored in so many ways because I overcame my fears and doubts and allowed these priceless truths to be written by my hand but most assuredly not by my being. I grew and learned as the words flowed and my understanding increased with each prayer and each word of truth conveyed in the passage of time. Almost one hundred years have passed in the interim.”
You may read the message from James Padgett in its entirety by clicking on the following link:
A message from James Padgett received by Al Fike
In the next installment in this diary of a heretic I will write about the great gift of grace mentioned by James Padgett in his message.
– Joseph