Gentle River Flowing

A Pause

2012-01-24T05:52:00.000-07:00

Dear readers and friends,

I am pausing for a period of time, and may or may not contribute more to this ongoing saga of my New Year's Experience.

Writing does continue, but not for publication.

I do have a little news to share. It is possible that the material in this blog will be used as part of the content of a new book. Just to give you a hint, I had an experience Sunday that may be the 'push' that I need to proceed with a more serious effort to write a new book.

This is a day-to-day experience, so you may want to drop by here every so often to see what is happening.

Some readers have written to me in private and asked about my health. All appears to be OK; even my tooth appears to be alright. Of course, as we all know all this can change nearly instantaneously.

And regarding my financial situation, a kind benefactor has come to the rescue and now I and my family live with less stress in this regard.

Until I return with more news, may you be well and happy.

With love to all,

Joseph

MY NEW YEAR’S EXPERIENCE – 13

2012-01-21T07:57:00.000-07:00

A New Chapter

If this were a book that I was writing (and it may indeed become a new book!), today I would begin a new chapter.

As I begin to type, frankly, I do not know where I am heading; as I begin I do not know what to write.

I feel that I am in new territory. I begin with this feeling.

When I was younger I hiked a great deal in the several mountain ranges near my home in Tucson (Arizona). Often I ventured on new trails and did not know what I would see and how difficult or easy the trail might be.

I remember one day when I set out to hike that it was early morning. It was daylight, but the sun was not yet visible. The trail was new to me. As I walked it meandered slowly but continually upward and sometimes along rugged terrain where the trail became almost indistinguishable among the rocks. All day I hiked; I had water and food, but I ventured too far and nearly did not make it back to my truck before dark.

Thus this morning I ask: Where am I going today on this trail that I have called My New year’s Experience? Will I get lost in my words and provide only confusion to those who may be reading this?

I have titled today’s writing “a new chapter.” A new chapter means a new chapter in my life. What does this invoke to write that I am to begin a new chapter in my life? Isn’t this supposed to happen only to younger people, and not to a man who will soon be 77? Is this true?

And a thought immediately popped into my head … could it be that I really will soon transition to a new life in the spirit world? Could it be? Is this my new chapter?

Possibly, this is true – and I will soon enough find out. And so will my readers, in one way or another.

But until that glorious day arrives when I pass into the greater life awaiting me, I will continue to write about a new chapter in this life that I feel awaits me today.

Before I close my writing for today, I want to share a dream that I had early this morning.

I awoke from a dream that had both inspiring aspects and troubling aspects. The inspiring part of the dream was that I saw myself involved in a beautiful situation that appeared to be a new school environment. I felt happy to be there and particularly with the people that I was with. When it was time to leave, I headed to a gathering in an amphitheater in a beautiful park, and yet on the way I got sidetracked within a huge natural setting for large animals, like elephants and tigers and others. I felt safe until I saw a rhinoceros looking straight at me and pawing the ground, poised and ready to charge. The only way out was to climb a steep sandy hill. I started to climb but had great difficulty; and the charging rhino came closer. This dream ended with me successfully inching over the crest of the sand dune.

Strangely, in the dream I was holding a book; it was old and tattered. It had a homemade cover; the cover was yellow and had a title written by hand, and the title was Canon.

I am beginning to see that the two are related; that is, my telling of my experiences hiking mountain trails, and sharing the dream that I had this morning.

To me the meaning is this: As I begin a new chapter in my life, I have in front of me wonderful experiences awaiting me, but there will also be difficulties, even dangerous sidetracks … yet in the end I will be safe.

But what about the book that I was carrying, the book with the title Canon? What does this mean?

My immediate thought it that it is a message to me that I will need to learn how to discard additional old baggage. I did not have this book in my hand while I was within the environment of the new school. I saw it in my hand only during the time that I was sidetracked in the environment with the animals, and particularly with the rhinoceros.
_____________________

To be continued ….

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MY NEW YEAR’S EXPERIENCE – 12

2012-01-20T06:44:00.001-07:00

New School and New Teachers

Yesterday I mentioned an old mind-set that needed to be removed from my soul. The picture of a bad tooth infecting my entire body is really a graphic picture of the condition of my soul. One unhealed error in the soul can have that kind of affect on the body.

Today I wish to shift direction and introduce the subject of a new school and new teachers. I was introduced to this subject 6 years ago, but hints of the existence of this new school were everywhere since my early childhood – only the fact is that the schools and colleges and universities and seminaries of our world had (and has) the effect of silencing this other school, the new school.

What is the new school with the new teachers? Where is it? And who are the new teachers?

The school that I am referring to exists in another world, the other world, the world unseen, the spirit world. And the teachers are those who once were mortal, and who are now living in the spirit world.

We have a huge assembly of such teachers; and I am not pointing to history books found in libraries of our physical world. I am pointing to individuals who upon their death, passed into a finer and more excellent world, and would love nothing better than to come and teach us about their new existence in their new world.

They who are now spirit are our greatest teachers – or can be if we will allow it. They wait to teach us the truths of our human existence, yet are held away and denied their voice. We are afraid, terrified that devils and demons will come to deceive us and destroy our existence on earth. What we are blind to see is that we ourselves are destroying our own existence!

There exists for us who are still on earth the possibility of a great change, a change that would more closely approximate and reflect the pure and lovely existence that our loved ones are presently experiencing in the spirit world. They want to help us; will we allow new teachers into our lives?

Will we allow the voices of our ancestors to come and teach us? Will we allow great teachers in our human history to return and teach us once again from the vantage point of their new life in the spirit world?

The experiences on New Year’s Eve awakened me to the reality of this new school with new teachers.

I was faced with a choice: Do I want to return to the old mind-set, or do I desire to move ahead into a deeper relationship with teachers from the spirit world?

Which will it be – the old school and old paradigms, or the new school with limitless growth and expansion and development?

_____________________

To be continued ….

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MY NEW YEAR’S EXPERIENCE – 11

2012-01-19T06:08:00.000-07:00

An old mindset came to visit

It has become clear to me that old errors of belief can linger for a long time in the shadows of our mind. I found that I had not yet been completely healed of all errors of belief.

Long ago I was a Christian minister, and though I was quite liberal in many beliefs, there were areas where I had not broken loose of what was a fear-based system. From a child I lived with the image of separation – separation from love and acceptance. Perhaps a case can be presented that I became a Christian minister because I was seeking love and acceptance. Always there loomed the possibility that I was not accepted, and that I was separate from God and His love.

In a recent experience I discovered that the grip of a fear-based system still existed in hallways of my mind. I came across these hidden hallways by reading a book. (If you re-read episode #3 of my New Year’s Experience you will see that the book is introduced there.)

Glenn Kleier’s novel, The Knowledge of Good & Evil, is the gift that helped me to see buried crevices where errors of old beliefs still lingered. An old mindset was uncovered waiting to be completely eradicated.

In graphic images Kleier paints a vivid picture in his book of my old mindset. Separation was clearly seen in the scenes of hell where individuals had no recourse to change and progress to higher realms of happiness and beauty. Mercy was absent in hell. And Kleier portrays God as somehow helpless to extend His love to the depths of hell.

Thus, my New Year’s Eve experience of pain and suffering was a picture of my old mindset in the process of being healed. Separation is not just an illusion; it is a fact of our own creation. Love is always present, and the possibility of change always available – yet, unhealed beliefs cannot see it or experience it, and errors of belief have the power to blind us to the existence of love. Hell is real, but it is never permanent. We can change. It may be difficult but it does happen. We can be changed by love.

The rather rapid healing that I experienced following a night of agony is proof to me of the presence of love, and the power of love to change even deeply hidden errors of belief.

Old mindsets disappear in the experience of love – God’s great love.

_____________________

To be continued ….

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MY NEW YEAR’S EXPERIENCE – 10

2012-01-18T06:48:00.000-07:00

Change through Love

Today when I began to write I had the idea to make the title “I am not immune.”

On one level of understanding the experience that I had on New Year’s Eve is because I am not immune. I am not immune to such things as tooth aches; nor am I immune to the deterioration of the physical body. I am not immune to the death of my body. One day I will die. I am not immune.

But to say that I am not immune is not to tell the whole story. The rest of the story is that there is something much greater happening in my life. The fact is I am much more than I presently realize. I am a child of God and I am constantly being changed through a process of God’s love.

Though it is true that it is God’s love that is changing me, nonetheless, it is completely dependent upon me and my choice. To be changed through love – the highest love – is not automatic. It involves willingness and openness to be changed by love. To be changed through love requires a desire and longing to be changed.

We are not creatures without free will. Free will is one of the greatest things about us. When we look around us and see the pain and suffering of humanity, we like to place the blame on God, that He made an imperfect world. Closer to the truth is that we are seeing man’s creation and expressions of our free will.

God’s great love can and will change us and our world, that is, if we desire it. It is our free will to invite change, or to reject it. Yes, we can and often do reject love.

I feel personally responsible for what happened to me on New Year’s Eve. Yes, it is true that I am not immune to the death of the body; but I no longer believe that I have to die through a process of pain and agony such as I experienced New Year’s Eve. There is a better way. It is the way of my willingness to be changed through love.

So once again I ask: If I believe in being changed through love, how then did I get myself into the situation I found myself in New Year’s Eve?

I keep dancing around the answer, and I realize this. Be patience, dear reader. Eventually I will get there.

_____________________

To be continued ….

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MY NEW YEAR’S EXPERIENCE – 9

2012-01-17T06:13:00.002-07:00

You are more than you realize

You have more of love – the Divine Love – in your soul than you realize!

As you know this love is the ingredient in your soul to change its very quality by the very infusion of the substance of the Father’s Great Soul. It is the only thing that can change your soul as it has existed since its creation.

You are a perfect child of God, and yet at times this slips from your consciousness, and becoming buried you tend to forget who you are – a beloved child of God.

Thus, you have need of reminding that you are more than you realize, and that you have more of the love in your soul than you realize!

Your soul possesses power to cause undesirable spirit influence to leave you. Yet when you are in a state of forgetting who you are, these lower spirits are able to come to you and as it were cover you with a cloud, having the result that you think you are powerless and cannot rise above their evil influences.

Remember, you have won the battle of the soul and have come out the victor.

Lift your drooping head and stand tall as a beloved child of God, for this you are.

Grasp the meaning of this and in the future, no matter how discouraged you may feel or how much your mentality may suggest the existence of things in you that are injuring your soul, or taking from it the presence of possession of God’s Great Love, believe what you have been told and experienced, you have fought the battle of the soul and won.

Love is who you really are, and this love is yours and cannot be taken from you by the wiles of lower spirits.

[A portion of the above is adapted from a message by John, the Apostle of Jesus, received by James Padgett on November 4th, 1916.]
_______________________
To be continued ....

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MY NEW YEAR’S EXPERIENCE – 8

2012-01-16T05:16:00.002-07:00

The Devil made me do it?

It may be a shock for some people to read this, but there is no Satan and no Devil – evil spirits, yes, but no entity called Satan or the Devil!

We are responsible for what we do and don’t do, for good or for evil.

Here I quote what one individual wrote about this. The author is a woman; her name is Helen. She wrote:

While, in many instances, the evil spirits influence mortals in their thoughts and actions, yet this is not always the case and it will not do for mortals to think so.

Men are not the mere pliant tools (or subjects) of these evil spirits, but are persons with free wills, controlled by their own appetites, and for them to believe that all their evil acts are the results of the influence of these evil spirits would place them in a very subservient and deplorable condition, and at the same time retard the development of themselves by their own thoughts and acts.

No, the evil spirits are always working evil, but all the thoughts and desires that mortals have and do, are not the results of the influence of these spirits.

Man must realize that in himself is the cause of his own evil thoughts and deeds, though increased by the influence of these spirits, and that he must master these thoughts that he be able to drive them from him and overcome them by thoughts of a different and higher nature.

It will not do for men to think that they are wicked only because of the influence of the evil spirits, for to think so would retard their development and at the same time take from them a realization of their own responsibility.

And on the other hand, the source of good thoughts is within themselves, and if they will only seek for this source they will be able to progress in their moral conditions; and while the good spirits can and do help them, yet primarily men must help themselves from the good that is within them.

Remember this, that whatever of evil is displayed or gives evidence of the soul being possessed by it, yet within themselves is the power to overcome and cause its eradication. I mean that men must make the effort … realize that they are masters of good and evil.

[Source: http://new-birth.net/tgrabjvol2/minor119.htm]

So, once again I ask: Why did I experience a night of hell? What did I do or not do that brought upon me such a hellish night on New Year’s Eve? In what way am I alone responsible for what happened? And why did I not die? Why did I live to tell my story?
____________________________

To be continued …

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MY NEW YEAR’S EXPERIENCE – 7

2012-01-15T08:24:00.002-07:00

Three days later – In the afternoon

I was swimming in the afterglow of recovery and healing. Included in this process was the slow unfolding of knowledge of my New Year’s Eve experience – understanding what happened to me and why.

No, I am not sharing with you a physician’s statement, for I did not go to a medical doctor or to the hospital for help and assistance. Nor did I visit a dentist to have a bad tooth pulled from my mouth.

Instead, I went the way I am most familiar with. I continued in the way of prayer and mindfulness of the presence of higher spirits assisting the development of my soul. This does not mean I do this work always alone and apart from my family; hardly. A person can maintain prayerfulness in the context of everyday life, in my case, preparing and serving breakfast to my family, and transporting my daughter to school; and grocery shopping; washing dishes and helping with laundry and other such things of ordinary life.

And help from higher spirits does not always come through the quiet voice within. It comes in a variety of ways. One way this help came to me happened in the afternoon while I was reading a discussion in a public forum on the Internet. A participant had posted information about spirituality and how important it is to maintain consistent prayer. The particular quote that caught my attention is this:

We could simplify by saying that spirituality is the level of tuning we have
to the external, invisible world. We are like radio receivers, and therefore, we
can filter frequencies that come to us, and we may tune in exactly to what we
want to become tuned to.

What I have said entails two important
consequences:

Firstly, when we ignore this principle, we are adrift in a
spiritual sense, that is to say, we don't tune in consciously, but we allow
momentary desires to determine our tuning, for good or for evil.

Secondly, when we are not able to maintain a constant and continuous
level of high spirituality, we also run the risk of entering into contact with
beings, with who we don't want to be in contact with.

Now, the best
advice one may give is constant prayer. We know that prayer elevates our
spirituality, and if we are able to fill our days with prayers, we are the
winners.

When I read this I was astounded. In this blog, on Sunday, January 8th (My New Year's Experience_2), I wrote these words:

Nothing prompted me that this day would end like none other that I have experienced. It is possible that I did not see the signs in front of my face. I say ‘possible’ because, though I endeavor to maintain a high level of spirituality, I am not so arrogant to place myself above human frailties and errors.

Today I ask myself a hard question: Is it possible that I had a night of hell because I walked into a place of contact with beings who I don’t want to be in contact with? Is that what my night of hell was all about? If so, why did this happen? And, perhaps more importantly, I ask: How did I come in contact with beings I don’t want to be in contact with?
_______________________

To be continued …

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MY NEW YEAR’S EXPERIENCE – 6

2012-01-14T10:40:00.004-07:00

Three Days Later

Recovery was swift. By the evening of New Year’s Day I was eating solid foods with no pain or discomfort. Weakness remained for 3 days. I slept a great deal, and whenever I had to leave the house, when I returned I was exhausted and had to rest.

What I describe above pertains to the physical aspect of my life. But there was something else that was happening. This pertains to my other life – my real life – my spirit life.

Just here I may lose some of my readers; I pray that I will not. For now I will talk about the most important aspect of my life, which is my spirit life – in other words, my spiritual life.

Some have said that we are spirit beings having a physical experience. In one sense, this is true. However, I mostly agree with the writer who said that our true self, who we really are, is a soul. This is the true person, the real ‘man’ … We are a soul, clothed in a spirit body and housed temporarily in a physical body.

Because I am a soul clothed in a spirit body and housed temporarily in this human body called Joseph, I am sensitive to influences coming to me from other spirits – beings or entities in other realms, from the spirit world. I am not unique or special. We all are sensitive to these outside influences.

Not New Year’s Day, but on Monday the day following, I ‘heard’ a voice … Not a voice as I hear when my wife speaks, or my son or daughter talks, but a voice nonetheless. The voice was soft and very quiet. And if I was only tuned to the noise around me, I would not have heard this other voice. If I was listening only to the chattering in my own mind that goes on constantly, I would not have heard the quiet voice.

What did I hear? What did the voice say? What were the words? The voice spoke a simple message and it was very brief. It was something Spirit wanted me to hear. The voice within said simply: “You are God’s beloved child.”

When I heard these words my heart melted with gratitude and thanksgiving. I did not hear something new, something no one else on earth knows or has not heard in many other ways before. I had heard it before; as my readers more than likely have also. But gratitude filled my soul when I heard the voice within speak this message.

And to hear the message again in the context of recovering from a night of pain and hell, the words were welcome into my soul with open arms.

Yes, I am a beloved child of God – as we all are.
___________________________

To be continued …

MY NEW YEAR’S EXPERIENCE – 5

2012-01-11T08:54:00.003-07:00

Night/Early Morning New Year’s Day

Restlessness – Thrashing – Groans – Delirium – Fighting … words I use in an attempt to express the unrelenting experience of a night of hell.

Lying in a bed of unrest and pain, my mind would not be still. The restlessness of my mind matched the discomfort of my body. My mind raced frantically to other scenes and other places and similar experiences trying to make sense and identify why or how I came to this present experience. To say the least, it was difficult to concentrate, but glimpses of the past did come, like random pop-ups on a movie screen, staying for view only momentarily.

I saw myself, a young boy of nine delirious with fever, rise from the bed and look down on his body, and continue upward through the roof and rise so high that he saw the earth below and higher flight passing close to the bright moon. There was no pain; only peace and comfort. I saw this child wake the next morning refreshed and well, succored by his mother.

Then I saw myself, a young religious zealot, fasting for 22 days with no ill affects, without pains, waking one evening feeling the oppressive power of some evil entity smothering life out of his thin body. Struggling to speak, he finally screamed with authority and using the beautiful name of Jesus commanded the entity to depart, and it did.

Thirdly, I saw a middle-aged man lying on a bed in the emergency room of a hospital, his wife already dead as the result of an auto accident, and he, lying in pain awaiting the care of physicians. Strangely, peace enveloped him.

And fourthly, I saw an older man who one year ago, nearly worked himself to death. Yet he did not struggle; and though in pain, he felt at peace. He did not desire to transition, but he did not fight what was to be.

These scenes from the past did not appear complete and in exact order as a photographic slide show. Thrashing about in a sleepless state, the memories returned in bits and pieces like a puzzle.

Groans and travails accompanied my continuing restlessness. Sleep did not come. Never once did I recall a state or feeling of fear gripping me. Instead, I felt determination not to slip away and transition to a happier and more peaceful place. The fact is, I was not willing to leave my wife and family. I had too much to do to leave them now.

The throbbing in my head did not cease, and the tooth screamed to be pulled from my mouth. My arms and legs ached; no position brought comfort. I cried to ministering angels to come and help … And I called out to a healer-friend to come to my assistance. And as best I could, I prayed to our Heavenly Father. Minutes turned to hours. No relief; no calmness; no peace – but only the presence of seemingly endless waves of agony.

Help Comes in the Morning

The appearance of the first light of dawn did not see me bounce from the bed, healed and whole.

Daylight brought blessed sleep ….

And later, several hours later, wakefulness came. I woke to sunlight streaming through the bedroom window.

The throbbing in my head had disappeared and the intense tooth ache was gone, leaving behind weaknness -- a faint shadow of the night of horrendous pain and agony.

____________________

To be continued

MY NEW YEAR’S EXPERIENCE – 4

2012-01-10T05:24:00.006-07:00

Early New Year’s Eve

I’ve been there, done that – speaking of a tooth ache – nothing to be alarmed about. These were my thoughts early New Year’s Eve.

Eating supper with the family was an impossible task, especially the lettuce. Not only did the tooth hurt, it became excruciating when I brought my upper jaw down to bite on a mini taco. Even shifting all food to the right side of my mouth didn’t help at all. The tooth in the upper left jaw pounded for attention.

Since I’ve had plenty of experience with aching teeth, neither I nor my family was alarmed; sympathetic, but not overly concerned. My wife reminded me of a homeopathic remedy we relied on situations like this. I assured her I would take something later when I was ready for bed.

Still dressed with 2 layers of clothes and an outdoor jacket and a wool cap, I took a large piece of pumpkin pie; it was soft, delicious and very easy to chew. With it I drank a large cup of Lemon Zinger tea mixed with a heaping teaspoon of Blue Agave Nectar.

After clearing the table, my wife, son and daughter used the table for a board game, while I headed for the soft chair in the living room to explore the features of my new Kindle reader.
Later everyone came in the living room to get things ready for the movie. They selected a film called “The Help.” I’d not heard of this film, but when it started I loved what my wife and daughter chose.

[From Wikipedia: The Help is a 2011 comedy-drama film adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's novel of the same name. The film is an ensemble piece about a young white woman, Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, and her relationship with two black maids during Civil Rights era America in the early 1960s. Skeeter is a journalist who decides to write a controversial book from the point of view of the maids (known as the Help), exposing the racism they are faced with as they work for white families.]

I was very cold, even colder than I was at the supper table. My daughter got a heavy blanket and covered me. I liked what I saw of the movie and wanted to see it all; but I became increasingly uncomfortable and after about an hour decided to go to bed. It was only 10 o’clock on New Year’s Eve night.

Midnight New Year’s Eve

BOOM! The noise did not wake me, but it did startle me. I knew it was coming, but I suppose I had forgotten about the midnight fireworks from a nearby gambling casino.

I may have dozed off, but frankly do not remember. The tooth was bursting with pain, and now my head throbbed something awful, feeling as though a strong man was inside my head pounding my eyes with a sledge hammer. Where on my body did I not ache? Who sent a bulldozer into the room to run over me?

My wife and daughter were in another room, watching the fireworks from a bedroom window. The Casino is located on a high hill overlooking Prescott, and as the crow flies only a half mile from our home. The view of fireworks from our home is unobstructed and spectacular.

I crawled out of bed to see what they were viewing, and to wish them a Happy New Year. I stayed only a few minutes. I was extremely weak and nearly fell over. Everything about my body hurt to walk, from my toes to my head. My wife asked if I had been taking the remedies she gave to me. I had, but seemingly to no avail.

The storm was just beginning. When I returned to bed, the blankets and sheet were like a curtain call to a drama about to begin, the introduction to an evening of hell.
___________________

To be continued

MY NEW YEAR’S EXPERIENCE – 3

2012-01-09T06:22:00.004-07:00

The Afternoon of New Year’s Eve

After a light lunch I settled in the living room to continue reading a book that I started Thursday soon after it arrived. I had ordered it on Amazon Prime. It never fails to amaze me how fast something arrives after placing an order!

My wife and daughter had left to browse movie DVDs. It has become a family tradition to watch a movie on New Year’s Eve, so they went to shop for the evening entertainment. And my son was also gone; he went to his favorite place and activity, to exercise and play basketball at the YMCA. And Amber, Cookie and Kitty, our three cats, were busy in their activity – napping!

The book was still where I had left it, on the table next to the soft recliner. It’s a rather large hardback book with over 400 pages. I was almost finished. Yesterday I read practically all day and late into the night. It’s that kind of book; fast moving and action packed. It didn’t take long for me to be engrossed. It is a novel, a work of fiction. I had read the author’s first novel about 10 years ago and when I heard that he was writing his second, I had to have my own copy. Glenn Kleier is the author and his first novel has the title The Last Day. You cannot read this novel and not be impressed with the talent of Kleier’s writing ability, but also the enormous research that obviously went into it. Well, the novel I was now in the midst of reading treated me to these same qualities of the author.

The Knowledge of Good & Evil is the title of the book that I am reading. In some ways I find the book maddening. It is about a man determined to make contact with his dead parents. Ian was only nine when they died, and when he grew to adulthood he developed a passionate desire to prove they lived on. The method he chose was to die, well, temporarily, through controlled NDE (Near Death Experience) experiments. This alone is riveting to read, but the intrigues that Kleier builds around this is nothing less than the work of an astounding creativity and genius. The supporting caste is the Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and hardcore theological themes. Ian Baringer, the protagonist in the story, takes on the entire Church in his quest to find the truth of the location of his parents in the after life. The plots and sub-plots are nearly breathless to read.

Well, by mid-afternoon I finished Kleier’s book, laid it aside and for the first time noticed how very tired I was. Unusual for me, I went to our bedroom and crawled into bed. Usually when I nap, I do this in the recliner in my office and study (and prayer room).

I slept soundly for over 2 hours. When I woke I was cold and could not get warm, not even with extra layers that I put on. And I noticed that the mild tooth ache that I had been nursing most of the day had now turned into a throbbing pain.

___________________

To be continued

* * *

MY NEW YEAR’S EXPERIENCE – 2

2012-01-08T10:41:00.005-07:00

The Morning of New Year’s Eve

Nothing prompted me that this day would end like none other that I have experienced. It is possible that I did not see the signs in front of my face. I say ‘possible’ because, though I endeavor to maintain a high level of spirituality, I am not so arrogant to place myself above human frailties and errors.

Morning began as it usually does for me, in a room separate from the rest of our modest 3-bedroom home, praying and meditating and writing. I’ve been doing this for over 5 years, ever since I came across the writings of James Padgett, a lawyer who lived in the early 20th century in Washington (D.C.), and who at the age of 62 began to receive spirit communications from Jesus and others in the spirit world. Reading messages said to be from Jesus and other spirits in the world unseen is not something that appeals to everyone; that’s probably why the name James Padgett is not well known.

In my writings this morning I mentioned how I feel that December 2011 will go down as a major turning point in our family history. December began on a low note. Early December began in a cloud looming over us bearing financial disaster. Our troubles had been brewing and growing for a number of years, not unlike similar situations of hundreds of other families and individuals across America. But something happened in December that we like to call our Miracle Christmas. Several friends in different parts of the globe heard of our plight and sent gifts that defied our imagination. All but a small portion of their gifts went to pay creditors and outstanding debts, but a little went to purchase a few holiday presents. The gratitude and appreciation that I and my family experienced continued throughout the month.

Later the same morning

The next day (New Year’s Day) most stores would be closed and we needed supplies for the new school week that would begin on Monday. I went to purchase groceries and many other people had the same agenda; it was packed. I selected a cart and began walking what has almost become a set routine. I begin in the fresh vegetable department, and then proceed up and down aisles in succession. When you do your shopping are you more orientated to people or items on your list; or both? I am the latter sort. No sooner did I begin looking in the vegetable bins, that a woman nearby caught my eye. Did see look in my direction first? Or did I? It was only a brief contact. I assume she did the same, but I continued looking at the display of broccoli. The next aisle I saw her again. There were many other people walking up and down aisles; I saw each one, but not with the same kind of attention as this woman. After the 3rd aisle and the 4th, where our chance meeting happened again, I began to entertain the thought that I had met her before. But I don’t think so. “Was she following me?” I wondered. Meeting her happened several more times; then it was time for me to stop and go through checkout.

I chose a cashier that I like; she is super friendly and very conversational. There was only one other customer in line, and he had a light load in his basket. He was dressed in athletic shoes and shorts and T-shirt, probably stopping to shop on his way home from the gym. At first I thought he was speaking to me, but it was the person behind me, the same woman that I saw numerous times around the store. They began to chat about injured shoulders, and asking one another about their progress in healing these injuries. I interjected and offered the woman the opportunity to walk ahead of me. She laughed and said that would not be necessary. The man continued, and suggested that he may need to have surgery. After a few more words between the two, he was done at the checkout and bade goodbye to his friend.

I asked the stranger, “You two did not happen to be talking about rotary cuffs?” She said yes, and then we began to talk. I had injured my shoulders working too hard moving dirt at our home over one year ago. I briefly told her this, and explaining how my doctor prescribed a certain drug, which I took for only a short time. I felt that it was only covering symptoms, and not really helping me to heal. She listened attentively, and suggested that I had done the right thing when I quit the drugs. As I said goodbye to her, she encouraged me to continue to expect a full recovery.

Other than to buy a few necessities at the grocery store is the presence of the woman, a stranger, why I really went shopping when I did? I carried this thought with me as packed the groceries in the car and drove home.

________________

To be continued -

My New Year's Experience - 1

2012-01-07T07:07:00.005-07:00

Today I have determined to tell a new story - a story of a recent experience that I feel may grow into something quite large.

For the purpose of beginning this new story I will simply say that I had what I consider a NDE (Near Death Experience) on New Year's Eve. While others nearby were celebrating the transition from 2011 to 2012, I was in my bed feeling that I was slipping away to a different realm.

In the next several days (or more) I will share with my readers what happened to me on New Year's Eve, and what continues to happen.

With love,

Joseph

***

A Little Gold Tooth

2011-12-16T05:27:00.004-07:00

My sister was aware of a need in my family, and the other day she mailed me a gold tooth that her dentist had removed when he was repairing her teeth.

And so I took this little gold tooth to a person who deals in such things, and after he weighed it, gave me 55 dollars.

This may not seem like much, but to me it felt like I had a million dollars in my pocket!

With it I purchased groceries for my family, and a little gas for the car.

Today I am grateful for a little gold tooth. Thank you Dorothy!

LOVE IS THE ANSWER

May you be blessed today with a gift!

. . .

PSALM 103 & THE DIVINE LOVE

2011-12-15T10:13:00.003-07:00

In the early morning hour when I pray, I often begin with recitation of remembered Psalms. This practice is not new to me. Some 40 plus years ago, when I was an ordained Christian minister, the Psalms were inspirations to me to pray and to sing and worship the Creator.

However, now that I know the truth of the Divine Love and how it may come into the soul and transform it into a new creation, I use the Psalms, but rewrite them to express my new knowledge of the soul.

One of my favorite Psalms was and still is Psalm 103, the first 5 verses, but now rewritten.

The original version is this:

Bless the Lord, oh my soul,
And all that is within me,
Bless His Holy Name.
Bless the Lord, oh my soul,
And forget not all His benefits.
Who forgives all your iniquities,
And Heals all your diseases.
Who redeems your life from destruction,
And crowns you with loving-kindness
And tender mercies.
Who satisfies your life with good things,
So that your life is renewed like the eagles.

The above Psalm is from memory, so it may not be exact as you may find it in any particular translation of the Bible.

I have revisited Psalm 103.

And so nowadays, when I begin my morning prayers, and before I pray the Prayer for the Divine Love, as an Invocation I may sing or say something similar to the following:

Bless the Divine Love, Oh my soul,
And all that is within me,
Bless the Divine Love of the Father.
Bless the Divine Love, oh my soul,
And forget not all its benefits:

Divine Love removes all my sin and error,
And heals all my sickness and diseases;

It redeems my life from destructive pains and emotions and memories,
And it crowns me with loving-kindness and tender mercies.

It satisfies my life with good things,
And it brings to me new life and new birth,
So I shall evermore be with the Father in His Kingdom.

Divine Love is the greatest thing in all the world;
It is the only thing that will make me at-one with God,
And change my soul as it has existed since its creation,
Into a thing of Divine Substance,
Filled with the Essence of the Father.

Bless the Divine Love, Oh my soul;
Bless the Divine Love of the Father.

May you find blessings and help in a Psalm revisited with Divine Love.

Written by Joseph Babinsky on Thursday - December 15, 2011

. . .

PARABLE OF DESIRE FOR GOD'S LOVE - Complete

2011-12-11T07:03:00.003-07:00

A PARABLE OF DESIRE FOR GOD’S LOVE

Complete Parable

A woman who loved God traveled to a far country, to a location where she was told that a teacher of God would be present and where she hoped to ask a question that burned within her.

After a long journey she arrived and went to the place where the teacher was speaking. A large crowd was present; and when she saw the opportunity to ask her question, the teacher acknowledged her, and she said,

Dear teacher, I love God and I have a desire to know God and to experience His great Love. What must I do to develop this desire?

The teacher smiled and answered saying:

“You are blessed in that you have a desire to experience God’s great love.

“There is no person having such a desire and who longs for the Father’s love that will ever be disappointed and be turned away from our Father’s Love.

“We are His children and we are the object of His love. There is no royal road to experiencing God’s love. His love surrounds us and envelopes us all. And yet His love will never force its way into the soul. It never enters the soul of its own initiative; and no person is ever compelled to receive His Love.

“You ask, ‘What must I do to develop my desire for God’s Love?’ The answer is easy to understand and to follow, for you do not need a highly developed mind in order to know the truth of how a soul receives the Father’s love in abundance.

“Solomon said that faith and prayer on the part of a person will bring love – the Divine Love – into the soul. This, he said, is the greatest truth. And also you have heard it said that the one and only way that a soul will receive God’s great love is the way of prayer and longing for its coming.

“In the prayer that our elder brother gave to his disciples we are taught that we are God’s highest and greatest creation – this of course, meaning our soul. But there are teachers who make you feel that you are unworthy to receive God’s love, and others who endeavor to have you believe that you are a sinner or even a depraved creature. Do not listen to such people. There is nothing in our soul or in all creation that separates us from God and His love. It is our Father’s desire that we receive His love and that we partake of it until a great change takes place in our soul.

“We are His children and we are invited to grow in our relationship with God to such a degree that we will know that we are of the substance and qualities of His Great Soul.

“You may wonder how this happens. This happens when we continue without ceasing in the way of prayer and longing for the Divine Love. It is only we ourselves who will determine our destiny, and whether we shall become the completed creation of our soul. Our Father’s desire is that we will choose the course that leads to the divine angel, but He will never force us to make this decision. We remain His beloved children no matter what the choice is that we make.

“Thus, there is no ‘must’ in the answer to your question. It is simply the presence of a desire in your heart, and whether you will continue to follow your desire. Your desire brings the great love into your soul – bit by bit, drop by drop, increment by increment. The process of change is gradual, and this is why we are urged by our Celestial friends never to faint, and never to cease trying.

“We are asked by these Celestial angels never to cease to realize that God’s love is waiting for each and every one of us; and that when we come to God with faith and earnest aspirations, His Love will never be withheld from any one of us.

“The desire for God’s love may begin very small and be extremely weak, and we may even have unbelief. Nonetheless, if we will make the start, and what may appear to be a feeble start, I say to you that our Father will not turn a deaf ear to us. He hears our words but not our words only, for more than this, God feels the longings of our soul.

“Our soul – though with damage and injury – will experience healing. His love is the substance in our soul that will remove things from our soul that defile it and alienate us from Him. When we receive His love it will eradicate defilements, and with abundant love all such things will disappear. Love changes the essential quality of the soul, and is the only thing that will change the soul since its creation. With this love will come faith, and our faith will grow, and our longings will grow until we blossom into His loving children.

“Our Father in Heaven is all loving and merciful, and He smiles on us in all our weaknesses. He never rejects us, turns a deaf ear to us, ignores us, criticizes us, scolds us and condemns us. He loves us and keeps on loving us no matter what we feel or don’t feel. His love is always waiting and ready to help us; and if you can accept this, you will find Him ever so quick to take you into His arms of Love.

“This is why I said to you when I began to answer your question, that you are blessed in that you have a desire to experience God’s love. When you continue to follow and to express the desire in your soul for God’s great love, you will be filled with it.

“Anyone who desires God’s love already has a small portion of it. Go, then, and be filled with it in abundance!”

When she heard these things, the woman went her way rejoicing, for her heart was filled with joy …

~

WRITTEN WITH THE GUIDANCE OF CELESTIAL FRIENDS

BY JOSEPH BABINSKY - DEC 4th, 2011

. . .

PARABLE OF DESIRE FOR GOD'S LOVE - 5

2011-12-10T12:34:00.002-07:00

PARABLE OF DESIRE FOR GOD’S LOVE

Part 5 of 5

“Our soul – though with damage and injury – will experience healing. His love is the substance in our soul that will remove things from our soul that defile it and alienate us from Him. When we receive His love it will eradicate defilements, and with abundant love all such things will disappear. Love changes the essential quality of the soul, and is the only thing that will change the soul since its creation. With this love will come faith, and our faith will grow, and our longings will grow until we blossom into His loving children.

“Our Father in Heaven is all loving and merciful, and He smiles on us in all our weaknesses. He never rejects us, turns a deaf ear to us, ignores us, criticizes us, scolds us and condemns us. He loves us and keeps on loving us no matter what we feel or don’t feel. His love is always waiting and ready to help us; and if you can accept this, you will find Him ever so quick to take you into His arms of Love.

“This is why I said to you when I began to answer your question, that you are blessed in that you have a desire to experience God’s love. When you continue to follow and to express the desire in your soul for God’s great love, you will be filled with it.

“Anyone who desires God’s love already has a small portion of it. Go, then, and be filled with it in abundance!”

When the woman heard these things, she went her way rejoicing, for her heart was filled with joy."

…

WRITTEN WITH THE GUIDANCE OF CELESTIAL FRIENDS

BY JOSEPH BABINSKY - DEC 4th, 2011

~

PARABLE OF DESIRE FOR GOD'S LOVE - 4

2011-12-09T15:58:00.001-07:00

PARABLE OF DESIRE FOR GOD’S LOVE

Part 4 of 5

“Thus, there is no ‘must’ in the answer to your question. It is simply the presence of a desire in your heart, and whether you will continue to follow your desire. Your desire brings the great love into your soul – bit by bit, drop by drop, increment by increment. The process of change is gradual, and this is why we are urged by our Celestial friends never to faint, and never to cease trying.

“We are asked by these Celestial angels never to cease to realize that God’s love is waiting for each and every one of us; and that when we come to God with faith and earnest aspirations, His Love will never be withheld from any one of us.

“The desire for God’s love may begin very small and be extremely weak, and we may even have unbelief. Nonetheless, if we will make the start, and what may appear to be a feeble start, I say to you that our Father will not turn a deaf ear to us. He hears our words but not our words only, for more than this, God feels the longings of our soul.

Continued Tomorrow

. . .

PARABLE OF DESIRE FOR GOD'S LOVE - 3

2011-12-08T10:20:00.002-07:00

PARABLE OF DESIRE FOR GOD’S LOVE

Part 3 of 5

“In the prayer that our elder brother gave to his disciples we are taught that we are God’s highest and greatest creation – this of course, meaning our soul. But there are teachers who make you feel that you are unworthy to receive God’s love, and others who endeavor to have you believe that you are a sinner or even a depraved creature. Do not listen to such people. There is nothing in our soul or in all creation that separates us from God and His love. It is our Father’s desire that we receive His love and that we partake of it until a great change takes place in our soul.

“We are His children and we are invited to grow in our relationship with God to such a degree that we will know that we are of the substance and qualities of His Great Soul.

“You may wonder how this happens. This happens when we continue without ceasing in the way of prayer and longing for the Divine Love. It is only we ourselves who will determine our destiny, and whether we shall become the completed creation of our soul. Our Father’s desire is that we will choose the course that leads to the divine angel, but He will never force us to make this decision. We remain His beloved children no matter what the choice is that we make."

Continued Tomorrow

. . .

PARABLE OF DESIRE FOR GOD'S LOVE - 2

2011-12-07T11:02:00.003-07:00

PARABLE OF DESIRE FOR GOD’S LOVE

Part 2 of 5

“There is no person having such a desire and who longs for the Father’s love that will ever be disappointed and be turned away from our Father’s Love.

“We are His children and we are the object of His love. There is no royal road to experiencing God’s love. His love surrounds us and envelopes us all. And yet His love will never force its way into the soul. It never enters the soul of its own initiative; and no person is ever compelled to receive His Love.

“You ask, ‘What must I do to develop my desire for God’s Love?’ The answer is easy to understand and to follow, for you do not need a highly developed mind in order to know the truth of how a soul receives the Father’s love in abundance.

“Solomon said that faith and prayer on the part of a person will bring love – the Divine Love – into the soul. This, he said, is the greatest truth. And also you have heard it said that the one and only way that a soul will receive God’s great love is the way of prayer and longing for its coming. "

Continued Tomorrow

. . .

A PARABLE OF DESIRE FOR GOD'S LOVE

2011-12-06T09:34:00.002-07:00

A PARABLE OF DESIRE FOR GOD’S LOVE

Part 1 of 5

Continued Tomorrow

. . .

Today Dec 2nd 95 Years Ago

2011-12-02T06:28:00.004-07:00

Today, December 2nd, 95 years ago, Jesus gave to mankind the prayer as "the only prayer that men need offer to the Father. It is the only one that appeals to the love of the Father, and with the answer, which will surely come, will come all the blessings that men may need, and which the Father sees are for the good of His creatures."

May your soul be filled today with the Father's love as you pray with earnestness the prayer that James Padgett received from Jesus:

Our Father, who art in heaven, we recognize:

That Thou Art--art all holy and loving and merciful, and that we are the children of Thy care and not the subservient, sinful and depraved creatures that our false teachers would have us believe.

That we are the greatest of Thy creations and the most wonderful of all Thy handiworks, and that we are the objects of Thy great Soul's love and tenderest care.

That Thy will is that we become at one with Thee and partake of Thy great love which Thou hast bestowed upon us through Thy mercy and desire that we become, in truth, Thy children; and not through the sacrifice and death of any one of Thy creatures, even though the world thinks that one Thy equal and a part of Thy godhead.

That Thou will open up our souls to the inflowing of Thy love, and that then will come Thy holy spirit to bring into our souls, this, Thy love in great abundance until our souls may be transformed into the very essence of Thyself; and that there may come to us faith--such faith as will cause us to realize that we are truly Thy children and that we are one with Thee in very substance and not in image only.

Let us have such faith as will cause us to know that Thou art our Father and the bestower of every good and perfect gift, and that only we, ourselves, can prevent Thy love changing us from the mortal to the immortal.

Let us never cease to realize that Thy love is waiting for each and all of us, and that when we come to Thee with faith and earnest aspirations, Thy love will never be withholden from us.

Keep us in the shadow of Thy love every hour and moment of our lives, and help us to overcome all temptations of the flesh and the influence of the powers of the evil ones who so constantly surround us and endeavor to turn our thoughts away from Thee to the pleasures and allurements of this world.

We thank Thee for Thy love and for the possibility of receiving it, and believe that Thou art our Father--the loving Father who smiles upon us in our weakness, and is always ready to help us and take us to Thy arms of love.

We pray thus with all the earnestness and longings of our soul, and trusting in Thy love give Thee all the glory and honor and love that our finite souls can give.

THANK YOU!

2011-12-01T11:43:00.002-07:00

A big thank you to friends and visitors to this blog, and to veryone who vistited my online Bookstore and made a purchase during the recent sale.

You have helped my family during very difficult times. :) :)

Joseph Babinsky
Prescott, Arizona USA

Cyber Monday Continues

2011-11-29T13:42:00.005-07:00

I am amazed how well my books have been selling the last several weeks.

And now with Cyber Monday the sales have jumped a notch, and the slope is now slightly more vertical!

Thank you to everyone who has purchased one or more books during this recent fantastic sale.

Today and tomorrow (11/29 and 11/30) the "cyber" sale continues.

You can save 30% on all book orders when you use the coupon code

CYBERTUESDAY

at checkout. It is that simple.

Browse the list of my books at:

JOSEPH'S BOOKSTORE

Some books already are discounted, so you will be getting an extra 30% off your order during this extended CYBER SALE.

:) :) :) :)

Thank you ... and Enjoy your book!

Why Churches Refuse Spirit Communications

2011-10-09T07:16:00.004-07:00

Why Churches Refuse to Investigate the Truths

Received by James E. Padgett

It has been established as a fact for a long time, antedating even the Bible, that spirits or angels communicated to men.

The Bible itself has many instances where such occurrences were declared. But while orthodox teachers accept all these instances as true, yet they say that the occurrences were caused by some special interposition of God. And to a certain extent this is true – but this same cause applies also to all instances of spirit communication that have taken place since these Bible manifestations.

As we have told you many times, law – unchangeable law – governs all God’s universe, and nothing happens by chance. And so, every instance of spirit communion is the result of the operation of some law of God, working in an orderly manner. No spirit could communicate, and no mortal could receive the message, unless the law worked in such a manner as to permit or cause the same.

And here I must say that the same principle of law that enables the evil spirit to communicate or manifest enables the higher spirit to do the same. There is no special law for one and not for another.

Your land is filled with mortals who have developed in them such powers as enable the spirits to become in rapport with them, and thereby make known the fact that the supposed dead are alive, and able to declare the fact to mortals. These facts have been established to the satisfaction of men of all kinds and characters – to the scientist as well as to the man of ordinary intelligence; to the open-minded orthodox preacher as well as to the un-believer.

But these teachers will not seek, or if they do, and feel their hope and faith turn to knowledge, they will not declare the truth to their flock. And why not declare the truth to their flock? Because the creeds and dogmas and iron bands of erroneous beliefs forbid them doing so. They will preach of freedom of the press, and if necessary lay down their lives for such a cause; but yet when they come to deal with this question of supreme and vital fact, they are afraid to seek the truth, or, in seeking and finding, declare the freedom of their beliefs from the bondage of their creeds.

What a responsibility they have, and what an answer they will have to make! They bury the talent which is given them, and the accounting will be grievous. But some day, and soon, this truth will seek them with such overwhelming force that their erroneous creeds will crumble, and in addition to hope and faith there will come to them knowledge, and with knowledge, freedom, and with freedom, the pearl of great price which to them has so long been hidden in the shell of fear and bigotry.

[The above is an excerpt from a messages of the Apostle John received by James Padgett on April 23, 1916.]

BOOK OF TRUTHS - page 356

Online at: John's Message 23APR1916

* * * *

THE CHOICE - Book Reviews (3)

2011-09-23T05:41:00.004-07:00

A BOOK REVIEW

Geoff Cutler of Ettalong Beach, NSW, Australia wrote the following review of The Choice:

This is a great read.

It is really quite phenomenal how one person can go from being an evangelical pastor, to the condition of being a mystic, in one life.

Although of course that is precisely the path that the late M. Scott Peck first outlined in his fabulous book "The Road less Traveled" (and clarified in "The Road Less Traveled & Beyond"). But few manage it.

Joseph is surely a fearless seeker after truth!

One of the strengths of this book is I feel Joseph's coverage of doubt. Yes we should indeed be proud that we have had, or currently have, doubts. Doubt is one of the really powerful things that will lead us to real truth.

Doubt is a sign that we are alive, and questioning, and progressive.

****

The above review appears both at Amazon.com (Amazon Kindle eBook) and Lulu.com (the paperback edition).

* * *

THE CHOICE - Amazon Kindle eBook
If you do not have a Kindle …
Click here to download the Free Kindle for PC

THE CHOICE – Paperback Edition

Link to the New Website ...

The Choice for the Way of Love

* * *

THE CHOICE - Book Reviews (2)

2011-09-22T06:19:00.004-07:00

READERS COMMENTS

As mentioned yesterday I have received a few comments from readers that have read The Choice or are in the process of completing it.

The following are 3 book reviews that I have received.

Juli lives in Prescott (AZ), and only a short walking distance from my home. I love to walk and met Juli while I was watching the construction and expansion of a retirement village where she lives. Over the months we saw each other on my walks, often stopping to chat. One day I mentioned that I was a writer and that I self-publish books. She seemed interested so I offered her a free copy of The Choice. Several weeks after giving her the book, we saw each other and she let me know that she really liked it. In addition, Juli said that she planned to show it to some of her friends, which of course made me very happy.

Ruth is a cyber-world friend who lives in Florida. On occasion we have communicated by email. Ruth heard that I had a new book and purchased the Kindle Edition of The Choice soon after it was announced. She is writing a book review for Amazon, but in a private email she wrote: “Oh yes Joseph, I truly enjoyed your new book!”

Sue lives in a small town west of Cleveland (Ohio). Sue administers a beautiful forum on the Internet with the title "Inner Connections." I have known Sue through this forum for over 10 years. Sue purchased a copy of The Choice for her new Kindle reader. She has not read it through yet, but wrote recently in her public forum: “JoBab (my username on this forum), I am half through "The Choice" on my Kindle, I love it so far!”

Hopefully these three readers will write something about The Choice, and you will see their comments on Amazon.com or at Lulu.com, or perhaps both.

Tomorrow I plan to share the comment by the reader who mentions M. Scott peck in his book review of The Choice.

* * *

THE CHOICE – Amazon Kindle eBook
If you do not have a Kindle …
Click here to download the Free Kindle for PC

THE CHOICE – Paperback Edition

Please Note: My publisher is now offering a short sale on all books. Today and tomorrow only you can purchase the paperback edition of The Choice for an additional 15% of the list price. Use the coupon code OKTOBERFEST at checkout. This 15% sale includes all books.

Link to the New Website ...

The Choice for the Way of Love

* * *

THE CHOICE - Book Reviews (1)

2011-09-21T04:52:00.004-07:00

Book Review by the Author

So it is that I accomplished what I set out to do. Or did I?

The book is written and now available to purchase and for people to read. The author wonders what others will think of it after having read it. I have received a few comments, but not many. It is too early to have received many. Still, I wonder. Perhaps all authors do the same and wonder what others will make of a certain book.

One reader wrote a review that I may write about tomorrow in this blog. Something he said, however, I will mention here. He made reference in his review to the work and writings of M. Scott Peck, especially to his book “The Road Less Traveled.” The reader’s comment started me on a quest to re-read Robert Frost’s poem that he wrote in 1915 titled “The Road Not Taken”. Here is this poem by Frost:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

I love the entire poem. It is packed with levels of meaning, and we often select only one particular level as our own. Personally I choose the one word “sigh” that you find at the end of the first sentence of the last stanza. In the context of the entire poem that one word speaks volumes.

I sighed when I completed my book The Choice. I sighed because I realize that there are not just two paths in the woods to choose to walk, but many. And with our spiritual walk, there is not just one path to choose, but many. I happened to choose one, the way of the Divine Love. So I sigh, not in regret, nor with remorse, but with a realization that life is short (I say this though I have already lived 76 years), and there is so much I know that I have not experienced.

But I am at peace with the path that I have chosen, for it paints for me a picture of endless growth and development and progression to realms and levels that I cannot now conceive or even imagine. Thus I am very happy, though not fully contended.

[To be continued …]

* * *

THE CHOICE – Amazon Kindle eBook
If you do not have a Kindle …
Click here to download the Free Kindle for PC

THE CHOICE – Paperback Edition

Link to the New Website

The Choice for the Way of Love

* * *

THE CHOICE - Epilogue

2011-09-20T05:44:00.004-07:00

NO ONE IS EVER ALONE

The Epilogue is a story.

When I came to the end of writing Chapter 9 I felt that I was not done with this book; I had a feeling that something remained to be written. But of course I did not know what that something was.

I allowed the manuscript to lay dormant for a few days ... and I waited.

This period of waiting was not like the waiting that I did at the beginning of the book, where I waited and no word came.

I waited as a young child may wait for mother’s help, of his father’s presence.

Then after a short time I felt the inspiration to write a story, a story where my friend Martin would appear to sit with me and talk. As you may remember, Martin first appears in this book near the end of Chapter 1, where he came to visit with me when I came out of my experience of doubt.

In the Epilogue I write about my second visit with Martin.

Though it is a story I must say that it felt very real to me as I wrote it. In fact one reader, after he finished reading The Choice, assumed that my visit with Martin did actually take place. He assumed that Martin, my spirit guide, materialized.

My hope is that when you read the Epilogue in The Choice that the story of my visit with Martin will be as real for you as it has been for others.

* * *

THE CHOICE – Amazon Kindle eBook

If you do not have a Kindle …
Click here to download the Free Kindle for PC

THE CHOICE – Paperback Edition

Link to the New Website ...

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THE CHOICE - Chapter 9 (5)

2011-09-19T05:39:00.004-07:00

DESIRE FOR AN OPEN SOUL

The End is the Beginning

To complete this book is not an end in itself. The end is really a beginning.

For me personally it is to continue to feel the help and influence of the loving spirits who wrote their letters to mankind through James Padgett. The words in their messages are like springboards that carry us to connection with God.

The open soul is not a process of the intellect or the mind. It is so much more. Above everything the open soul is all about our desire to connect with God our Creator.

The person with an open soul lives with an attitude of gratefulness and thanksgiving.

He recognizes that he did not create the Divine Love, nor did he dream it into existence. He recognizes that the message of the availability of the Divine Love was given as a gift from above. Help came to him from without – from beyond himself.

It is true that it was his choice to begin the process of accepting the way to receive the Divine Love into his soul. And it is also true that it was the expression of his will that enabled him to seek through aspiration and desire this great love.

The human with the open soul recognizes that all the honor and glory is to be given to God … for it is the desire of God which brought the word concerning Divine Love to him and to all mankind.

The human with the open soul recognizes that he heard this word, received it and embraced it as his lifeline to ever increasing bliss and happiness and progress in this life and in the eternal heavens of the Creator-Father.

[Excerpts from Chapter 9, The Choice, pages 122-26.]

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THE CHOICE - Chapter 9 (4)

2011-09-18T05:59:00.004-07:00

DESIRE FOR AN OPEN SOUL

Trusting in Love

Trusting in Love means we trust every aspect of the transformational process – for it is a process, and not an experience of instantaneous change. It is a change that takes place gradually and requires of us a continual choice to allow the process to take place and continue within us, even though at times we wonder whether the transformation is actually occurring.

Trusting in Love means a dawning realization that the inflow of Love into the soul creates feelings within the soul, which generally are experienced by many people as warmth in the chest area of our physical body.

Trusting in Love means that we know that we are experiencing the essence of Love, and that Divine Love does indeed have substance, real substance.

Trusting in Love means that we are not fearful of Love and that we do not ever want to walk away from it.

Trusting in Love means that we agree with what the prayer says about us – that we are not the subservient, sinful and depraved creature that many of us have been taught and felt from our earliest childhood. We trust that what the prayer says is true about us – that we are the greatest of God’s creation and the most wonderful of all His handiworks. Thus we no longer give weight to self-hatred and feelings of unworthiness.

Trusting in Love means we know that when we ever experience trouble of any kind, that God is like a very kind and affectionate Mother, that She is always waiting and ready to help us, and take us gently and lovingly into Her waiting arms of Love.

Trusting in Love means that in some measure we grow to be more like our Heavenly Father each and every day – more holy, more loving and more merciful.

[Excerpts from Chapter 9, The Choice, pages 120-21.]

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THE CHOICE - Chapter 9 (3)

2011-09-17T05:49:00.005-07:00

DESIRE FOR AN OPEN SOUL

There is no special “magic” in the Prayer for the Divine Love.

Repeating the prayer 12 times in the morning, noon and at night, will not guarantee a person results. The prayer is not a new ritual to be made the central part of a new religious movement; nor is it given to us so that it can be like a holy grail placed upon an altar in a church with walls.

The prayer is given to individuals to be an encouragement to have heart-felt longings in the soul for union, connection and at-onement with God. A person already possessing yearnings in the soul for God will find revelations of great truth in the words of this prayer; and a person only beginning to awaken to our God-connection will be helped immensely to grow in their love for God by embracing and learning this prayer, and using it as a springboard to create a real and ever-increasing personal relationship with God.

Each and every part of this prayer is built on the feelings of trust. We cannot begin to say this prayer and make it our own, except that there is first a trust that this feels the right thing to do. When feelings are absent the words of the prayer merely fall quickly to the floor, or rise no higher than escaping breath of the person repeating the words.

But when feelings of the heart are involved, each word appears nearly limitless in depth of meaning. As a person uses this prayer regularly, levels of understanding and appreciation will develop; vistas of faith will emerge and grow, built upon all previous prayers. Our relationship with God will develop and expand, creating a sense that the expansion and development of the soul is without limit. At times the person who prays this prayer will desire to kneel in awe of the majestic process happening between himself and the Source of all Love and Joy.

The prayer promises a new birth of the soul – for it speaks of the human as the object of God’s Great Love, with the understanding that it is the will of God that we be at-one with Him through Love.

It is not enough that we are made in the likeness of God and possess His image. It is true that we are the greatest of God’s creation and the most wonderful of all His handiworks, and that we are not inherently sinful creatures … but this prayer would have us to know experientially that God’s greatest desire is that we partake of the substance and essence of His Great Soul and through this to become one with Him – new souls and His children in truth.

These are not mere words without substance. The prayer promises new birth and such promise goes out unconditionally to each and every human on earth and in the spirit world.

There is only one thing and one thing only that can prevent the transformation of the soul (which is the new birth), and that one thing is us – or as the prayer speaks this truth:

“... only we ourselves can prevent your love changing us from the mortal to the immortal.”

[From Chapter 9, The Choice, pages 119-20.]

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THE CHOICE - Chapter 9 (2)

2011-09-16T04:58:00.005-07:00

DESIRE FOR AN OPEN SOUL

How to Pray for God’s Gift of Love

There is no certain and proven way or method to pray the prayer for the Divine Love. This is an individual matter between us and God. Eventually we will find the best way that feels right for us, and that appears to work in bringing our Father’s Love into our souls.

In Chapter 4 we read a message of John. In it he said:

Divine Love is the result of individual acquirement… With God there is no respect of persons, neither is there any royal road to the obtaining of this Love. All must pursue the same way and that way is the one that Jesus taught – the opening up of the soul to this love finding a lodgment therein, which can be brought about only by sincere prayer and longing for its inflowing.

When James Padgett recorded the prayer for the Divine Love given by Jesus, his friend Dr. Leslie Stone was in the room with him and witnessed the writing of the message from Jesus. Yet neither James nor Leslie saw that the prayer would be of any real help for people. We know this because on February 6, 1917, John wrote the following message to James (and to Leslie):

I want to say a few words in reference to your conversation about the prayer and the importance of thoroughly understanding it, and its spiritual significance and the wonderful truths that it contains.

I heard you say that when you first received it there was in its meaning all confusion, and that you did not understand that it would convey any great truths, or help very much those who should offer it to the Father.

Well, I have no doubt but what you say is true, and there is a good reason for the same, and that is that it is so full of the declarations of wonderful truths and thoughts for soul aspirations that it was difficult, and almost impossible, for your mind or soul to grasp the same, and like every other truth that men do not understand, it does not at first reception appear to be a thing of truth that men can learn, and learning make their own.

But the truths of that prayer, when rightly analyzed, will appear sufficient to meet every necessity that men need or are in want of to bring them to a perfect at-onement with the Father and assure them of eternal salvation as His Divine children and the partakers of immortality.

This is not an unusual experience or response to the prayer, unique only to James Padgett and Leslie Stone. Our attraction to the prayer reflects the condition of our soul and also our beliefs. For example, if you are Christian you may be used to saying the “Lord’s Prayer” and cannot bring yourself to learn or say the Prayer for the Divine Love. Or you may a person that does not believe that there is a God, or if you do, you do not believe that God really cares about you and loves you. A person having this belief will have difficulty going to God in prayer. There are thousands of beliefs people have about God and the subject of prayer; so it is logical that there will be difficulty for an individual going to God in prayer and using the prayer Jesus gave through James Padgett.

[From The Choice, Chapter 9, pages 115-16.]

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THE CHOICE - Chapter 9 (1)

2011-09-15T06:16:00.004-07:00

DESIRE FOR AN OPEN SOUL

This is the last chapter and has as its purpose to encourage the reader make a choice for the way of openness to all that God desires for His beloved children. And the closest thing to the heart of our Heavenly Parent is that we become like Him – the expression of love – for God is love.

Chapter 9 begins with a prayer, the prayer for the Divine Love that James Padgett received in a letter from Jesus on December 2nd, 1916. James had already received 100s of messages from the spirit world, and he had received encouragements to pray on many numerous occasions, but he had not been taught how or what to pray. On December 2nd Jesus changed this and described to James that this is the only prayer that we need to offer to the Father. Jesus says of this prayer:

It is the only one that appeals to the love of the Father, and with the answer, which will surely come, will come all the blessings that we may need, and which the Father sees are for the good of His beloved children.

In Chapter 9 of The Choice I do not present the prayer exactly as Jesus gave it. I adapted it for my own personal use, and in this chapter I write about why I changed the prayer. Here is the prayer as shown in Chapter 9:

Our Father who is in heaven, we recognize that you are all holy and loving and merciful, and that we are the children of your care and not the subservient, sinful and depraved creatures that false teachers would have us believe. For we know that we are the greatest of your creations and the most wonderful of all your handiworks, and that we are the objects of your great soul love and most tender care.

We know that your will is that we grow in at-onement with you by partaking of the great love which you have bestowed upon us through your mercy and desire that we become your children in truth.

We recognize that when we pray our souls will open to the inflowing of your love, and that then will come your Holy Spirit to bring into our souls this, your Divine Love, in great abundance, until our souls are transformed into the very essence of yourself, and that there will come to us faith – such faith as will cause us to realize that we are truly your children and one with you in very substance and not in image only.

We long and pray for this faith, such faith as will cause us to know that you are our Father, and the bestower of every good and perfect gift, and that only we ourselves can prevent your love changing us from the mortal into the immortal.

And Father, help us never cease to realize that your love is waiting for each and all of us, and, that when we come to you with faith and earnest aspiration, your love will never be withheld from us.

Keep us in the shadow of your love every hour and moment of our lives, and help us to overcome all temptations of the flesh, and the influence of the powers of the evil ones who so constantly surround us and endeavor to turn our thoughts away from you to the pleasures and allurements of this world.

We thank you for your love, and for the privilege of receiving it, and we know that you are our Father – our loving Heavenly Parent who smiles upon us in our weakness, and is always ready to help us and take us to your arms of love.

We pray this with all the earnestness and sincere longings of our souls, and, trusting in your love, give you all the glory and honor and love that our finite souls can give. Amen.

Note: The full and complete prayer as Jesus gave it to Padgett may be read HERE.

[From Chapter 9, The Choice, pages 113-14.]

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THE CHOICE - Chapter 8 (3)

2011-09-14T06:07:00.004-07:00

DOUBT REVISITED

I Shall Progress

I am reminded of the beautiful letter given to James by his grandmother, Ann Rollins, where she speaks of her experience in progressing in the spirit life. I am placing her letter here because it has been a great influence and inspiration to me to continue in the development of my soul through desires for the Divine Love.

The excerpts below are taken from a very long message dated March 5, 1915. Here are the words of Ann Rollins as received by her grandson, James Padgett:

I want to tell you of my experience in progressing in the spirit life. Well, when I passed over, I was received in the spirit world by your grandfather and my own dear mother who had been in the spirit world for so very many years. She was then living in the seventh sphere and was a most beautiful and happy spirit. Now she is far up in the Celestial spheres, and occasionally comes to see me and tells me of the great beauty of her home, and of the wonderful spirits who inhabit the spheres where she lives.

She lives in a high sphere of the Celestial heavens, and is with many of the redeemed spirits who lived on earth many centuries ago. She mentioned some of them who were well known on earth, such as John Wesley and his brother Charles, and Luther and some of his contemporaries who were engaged in the great reforms of those days. Whitefield is one she named, and Bunyan, also. They seemed to have reached this sphere by obtaining the love that we have written you of.

So, when I think that, through gradual development and progression of my spiritual being, there are these high spheres for me to attain to, I feel that my faith and seeking for the Divine Love have a great deal yet to accomplish, in the way of soul development.

Well, shortly after I passed over, I progressed to the third sphere, and thought that there the very seat of heaven must be, because my happiness was so much greater than I ever anticipated.

After living in the third sphere for some little time, and having received much information from spirits who lived in higher spheres, and having received a great abundance of God’s love, I progressed to the fifth sphere and found a wonderful home of beauty and harmony among spirits who had experiences similar to my own, and who had received the Divine Love to a degree which gives us all this great happiness that I tell you of.

Well, after I had lived in this fifth sphere and learned the great and wonderful truths that are taught therein, I progressed to the seventh and there learned what real happiness is – as I thought.

But yet, while all this happiness exists, I was told that happiness is far greater in the Celestial spheres; and consequently, I was not satisfied to remain in the seventh sphere, although I could not realize how my happiness could be any greater than it was. Yet, as I say, I was not contented to remain in my home there.

And I was also told that there was a way to get into this Celestial sphere, and a way so easy that the mere statement of it caused doubt. But I prayed for faith and the Divine Love, and on an occasion my faith brought the Divine Love into my soul in such abundance, and I progressed to the first Celestial sphere, where I now am.

I am so very happy that it seems to me there can be no greater happiness, and yet, my mother tells me that there is, and that the Divine Love of the higher spheres is so much more intense and filled with so much more of God’s divinity that I cannot have the slightest conception of what it is.

I am now trying to reach these higher spheres, and am told that faith and prayer for the inflowing into my soul of the Divine Love are the only instrumentalities that will enable me to do so.

My prayers are constant and my faith is growing, and I realize, that when the Holy Spirit fills me with this Divine Love, as I expect it to do, I shall progress.

[The above is from Chapter 8 in the new book titled The Choice.]

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THE CHOICE - Chapter 8 (2)

2011-09-13T05:36:00.004-07:00

DOUBT REVISITED

Doubt May be Seen as a Temporary Gift

I feel that I have traveled a long road, returning to look once again at the subject of doubt. Only I think I now see something new about doubt and how it can be a gift to us who are on the path to receive more of the Divine Love.

There are such things as “little doubts;” these appear to come to us from time to time like the nuisance of persistent flies. If we focus our attention on these troubling doubts, yes, it is true that they can multiply and breed into clouds of despair and depression. This may be the case of the experience of James Padgett in the year 1919.

The antidote to doubt remains the same: Feed your desires with longings for the Divine Love.

It is possible for a person to see the presence of doubt as a gift to awaken us to the fact that we have not truly desired the experience of the Divine Love.

We must learn not to condemn ourselves when doubt arises and shows its presence. Receive doubt as a friend; in this situation doubt comes to show us that we need to try once again the experiment of the seeking, asking, longing and praying for the Divine Love.

It is only we ourselves that can prevent the Divine Love changing us from the person that we are now to a new being, a new human. When doubt arises, it is a gift that brings to us the realization of a choice. Will we follow the way that leads to the Divine Love? Or shall we join ourselves to a different path?

As we progress on this path, we grow in our realization that the way of Divine Love leads to the disappearance of all that separates us from God our Creator. And it is certainly true that the more of the Divine Love, the less we will experience doubt. With more of the Divine Love eventually there will be the complete disappearance of doubt. Thus, the presence of doubt is a gift that eventually disappears. When it comes to us (as it comes to each and all of us), its presence shows clearly the clarion call to a greater desire of the Divine Love. The choice is mine, and it is yours.

It is the experience of God’s love – the Divine Love – that is more real than anything in all the world. But no one can make the choice for love for us.

As Jesus said through Padgett, "As to the question, will a man become possessor or not of this love, it depends upon the man."

[The above are excerpts from The Choice, Chapter 8, pages 108-11.]

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THE CHOICE - Chapter 8 (1)

2011-09-12T11:16:00.004-07:00

DOUBT REVISITED

When I first discovered the pattern of doubt in the life of James I was shocked and extremely disappointed. I suppose this was so because I wanted James to be a hero, valiantly displaying firm results of what it is to receive the Divine Love. This hero worship of James changed into respect and appreciation of the work that he did to receive hundreds of messages from the spirit world between 1914 and 1923 (the year of his death).

I discovered that James was an ordinary person, yet very extraordinary in his ability to receive spirit communications. I say that James was an ordinary person because he did not become a new religious leader on earth; he was not charismatic; he had no huge crowds following him and his work as a medium. He had no great influence on the world or in the city of his residence. James was a lawyer and remained such his entire adult life.

It is important to realize that James Padgett did not publish his own writings. They remained unpublished for almost 20 years after his passing. If it were not for a close friend, Dr. Leslie R. Stone (a chiropractor), it is not improbable to conclude that the messages James received may have been lost when he died. Dr. Stone published James’ mediumistic work, beginning in 1941, but this was only a small book containing a few of the messages. All the messages in their final form were not published until 1972, several years after Dr. Stone’s death (1967). And it was not until some 10 years ago that the Padgett messages were archived on the Internet, at the website http://new-birth.net.

When I consider the life of James Padgett and the history of the publication of the messages that he received, I am amazed that anyone knows of James and the existence of the spirit communications he received. Perhaps this is by Celestial design; I do not know this for a fact but only speculate.

In the 5 years that I have known about the Padgett messages and the Divine Love, I have met in person only a handful of people who follow and practice the way of Divine Love. This is not to suggest that only a handful of people are experiencing the Divine Love! By all means no! As I understand it from various sources, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, within the umbrella of the Divine Love movement. There are individuals and small pockets of people or groups scattered across the world.

In addition to this, there is the large population of people who have received the Divine Love into their souls and yet do not realize what it is that they have. For example, when James Padgett visited various church groups, he was often upset with the doctrines and dogmas being preached and taught in those churches. However, Jesus and other Celestial writers reminded James that untruth found in doctrines, dogmas and beliefs do indeed hinder the progressive nature of the Divine Love, but nonetheless, many of the people in the churches James visited had a good portion of the Divine Love in their souls.

[Above is an excerpt from Chapter 8 of the new book The Choice, pages 105-06.]

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THE CHOICE - Chapter 7 (4)

2011-09-09T05:44:00.004-07:00

A NEW LIFE – A NEW DAY

Power to Transform a Life – Stories from the Spirit World

There are many messages received by James Padgett that could be shared to show the power of the Divine Love to transform a life. I have selected only a few (in this Blog I will share but one – the story of Hugh Taggart, a friend of James Padgett).

We first meet Hugh Taggart on December 31, 1914 through an excerpt of messages received by Mr. Padgett.

How am I to attempt to do that in which I have no faith?
So after all, I guess Mackey is not such a big fool to try the experiment. And having confidence in you as a friend that has at heart my welfare, I will do the same as Mackey has promised to do.
So you can pray for me too, and I will pray also. But of course I will not be able to have any belief that my prayers will be answered. So you see I am not only hard headed, but hard hearted also.
If it depends on my will I am more than willing, not only that, but if there be a God and the love that you speak of, I will forever thank that God for taking me away from this condition of blindness and unhappiness. Yes, I am willing to pray to God to help me to believe, and if that will bring relief, then there will be no difficulty, for I will make such a prayer with all my heart.

[Above is an excerpt of a message of John Padgett received on December 31, 1914.]

Hugh Taggart – 1

I will never forget our first argument after I became a spirit on this great question of how I might be rescued from my awful condition of suffering and darkness, and with what earnestness you maintained the position that you took and tried to show me that there was a way by which I could get light and happiness and relief from my torments. Mackey and I often talk about it, and we wonder that you could have had such knowledge of these spiritual matters and such faith to maintain the truth of their existence. But you were right and your faith was not misplaced. Old friend, I thank you again, and God bless you! I am now in a condition of light and suffer very little and realize to a great extent that there is such a thing as the love of the Father, and that it may be mine.

I pray and my faith is becoming stronger all the time. The great proof to me, aside from what I see in the condition of other spirits who claim to have this love, is my own change in soul happiness and in desire to progress to the higher spheres, which your band tells me exists, and that I may find my home there if I will only pray more to the Father and let my faith enlarge. To me this love and faith is a new revelation. Of course, when on earth I heard of God’s love and of faith, but to me they meant nothing more than the rhapsodies of the enthusiastic religionists, whose emotions had overcome their normal reasoning powers, a will o’ the wisp, as it were. But now I know the reality of these things, and I find that the emotions are in things pertaining to the soul more certain leaders than are the reasoning faculties. I am quite happy at times, and I hope to make such progress in my soul development as to be happy all the time. You are my true friend and I love you as a brother now.

[Above is an excerpt from a message of Hugh Taggart received July 22, 1915]

Hugh Taggart – 2

If I could only have had such a great blessing conferred on me when a mortal, how many weary hours of darkness and suffering I would have avoided when I came to the spirit world.

Well, I have progressed very much, and am still progressing, and am in the third sphere. And what happiness and glory are mine. Never, when on earth, did I conceive of such beauty and magnificence, and peace and rest in action. The lifetime of an octogenarian would not enable me to describe the wonders and beauties of this place, and I feel that somehow you should know something of it, but I will not try tonight as it is late.

But let me tell you that I would not exchange one little moment of the bliss I have here for a whole lifetime of earthly happiness. I know now what the divine love means and what the new birth is that you used to tell me about; and when I thought that these things were the creatures of the imaginations or speculations of the priests and preachers and religious cranks, I little realized that they would become mine and things of greater reality than the sun that used to shine in my office windows.

Sometime I will come and write you a long letter describing my progress – for which you are so much responsible and for which I will never cease to thank you as long as eternity lasts.

[Excerpt from a message of Hugh Taggart received November 4, 1916]

[Above from Chapter 7 in the new book The Choice, pages 92-96]

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THE CHOICE - Chapter 7 (3)

2011-09-08T05:39:00.004-07:00

A NEW DAY - A NEW LIFE

The New Human

I am in the beginning phase of realizing that the creation of a new human is possible.

I am not referring to a test tube baby or some mechanical genetic engineering accomplishment.

I am referring to a transformation of an existing human (a man, a woman, a boy or a girl, a child) into something completely new and different.

And in saying this I am not referring to some new religion or religious phenomenon – a change brought about by conforming to new religious rituals, dogmas or theologies. I am referring to something real that may take place within a human to bring about a completely new being.

I am referring to something that is completely dependent on human action, yet the actual transforming agent that brings about the new creation comes from beyond the human.

The power of transformation waits on the outside of the human, waiting for an invitation from the human. Without active human response, the transforming process cannot begin or be completed once begun.

The process of transformation does indeed take place within the human, yet will not proceed any further than the human will allow or permit.

The transforming process is simple and at the same time the most difficult thing a human will ever attempt.

What is it that makes the creation of the new human – though simple – so terribly difficult?

The human is a wonderful instrument, much more grand and powerful than we presently understand.

Though we have to some degree already achieved spectacular things in the fields of science and engineering that have made a few lives comfortable and pleasant, what has thus far been accomplished stands like infantile play things compared to what may yet be seen in the creation of a new human through the agent of transformation direct from the soul of our Creator God, our Heavenly Father.

[Above is a quote from Chapter 7, page 87, of The Choice.]

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THE CHOICE - Chapter 7 (2)

2011-09-07T05:47:00.003-07:00

A NEW DAY – A NEW LIFE

An Ingredient in the Soul

In a message received by James Padgett on November 10, 1916, Jesus wrote:

And as water may become colored by an ingredient foreign to itself, and which changes not only its appearance but its qualities, so this Divine Love changes the appearance and qualities of the soul, and this change of qualities continues ever thereafter.

“Water is pure and given to help nourish your body. But water in its pure state is often changed by the addition of an ingredient foreign to itself. The water may change color, but it may also be changed in quality until the water is no longer helpful to the physical body, but harmful, and in some instances, deadly.

“The soul is pure and innocent when it incarnates into a human body forming within the mother’s womb. In its life prior to birth in human flesh the soul is without blemish or defect. It is perfect. However, this pure and undefiled soul immediately starts to absorb ingredients foreign to itself from the mother’s soul, some good, but many that are detrimental to its intended growth in the womb. The little innocent and pure soul becomes changed in qualities by these ingredients received direct from the mother’s soul.

“What you are doing in your prayers for the Divine Love, is that you are engaged in a process that is designed to place another and different ingredient into your soul. This ingredient is direct from the soul of your Heavenly Parent. This ingredient we call the Divine Love. It is the real substance of the Love Nature of your Mother’s great soul. If you will be constant in your prayers and not grow weak, but persevere, this substance of your Heavenly Mother’s soul, will transform your soul. You will become not only the perfect man that you were intended to be, the image of God, but more than this, you will become a new human having divine substance; you will become a divine angel.

“You must not blame or fault your mother for giving your soul ingredients that defiled it and made it alien from God; she was ignorant of what she was doing and what was actually happening to your little soul growing within her womb. Her soul experienced the same thing in her mother’s womb, and her own mother the same, and on down through the centuries.

“Today you and many others are stopping this degenerative process. By earnestly desiring help from your Heavenly parent, you are feeling an ingredient within your soul reversing the damage in your soul, and you are feeling lighter, happier and more at peace. Yet, something more than this is taking shape. Your soul is becoming something different; it is in the process of being transformed.”

... Yes, I tried the experiment and I do try it again and again and I have found that the experiment works. Prayer works. Sincere longings and aspirations really do bring results. Yes, I admit that it is hard work, for it requires of us time and effort. It is energetic work. It must be a continual choice ... a decision and an act of our human will.

Love is waiting and it never comes to anyone on its own initiative. Love, the Divine Love depends completely on the willing and enthusiastic invitation initiated by me (or you). Love, the Divine Love is waiting for each and all of us. And it is only we ourselves who prevent the ingredient of our Heavenly Mother’s soul from changing our soul to a divine child.

[Excerpt from Chapter 1 of The Choice, pages 84-86.]

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THE CHOICE – Chapter 7 (1)

2011-09-06T05:56:00.005-07:00

A NEW DAY – A NEW LIFE

Preliminary

This chapter is divided into two parts. In the first part we will look at the shift that happened in my life when I chose the way of Divine Love. In the second part I have selected various persons from the spirit world and what they had to say about the Divine Love – how it became the catalyst for a remarkable change in their life.

The change in my life was gradual and certainly not nearly as dramatic as the change that happened to individuals whose stories I have selected to provide in this chapter. The Divine Love changed them in a gradual way also, but the overall transformation, I feel, is quite amazing and worth sharing here.

The Beginning of My Transformation

This is how the new day and the new life began for me.

Firstly, the new day began for me by reading and studying and meditating on the messages received by James Padgett, some of which are provided in this book.

Secondly, and actually first in importance, my new day and life has as its foundation the practice of longing and desiring and praying for the Divine Love.
With effort through praying for such love to enter my heart, in the year 2006 I began to experience a new warmth enveloping and moving about in my chest area. Others have experienced this love differently. I have learned to trust that this experience is the Divine Love I feel, which was spoken of by Jesus and John and others in the messages received by James Padgett.

Five years ago I made the choice for the way of the Divine Love.

I have discovered that there is a substance growing within me that I cannot attribute to anything else but the presence of God’s Love – the Divine Love. I may neglect it and I experience this neglect; and I find that the Divine Love is always available when I turn from my neglect and again seek this great love. As Jesus wrote in a message given on December 2, 1916, “it is only we ourselves who can prevent this love changing us.”

When we choose the way of Divine Love, we find that the Divine Love is always waiting and always available. It never forces its way into our life, and never enters the soul without our invitation. And the Divine Love will never be withheld from us; when we determine that we desire and long for this love, we find the truth of its presence in the experience of its coming into our soul. This can be in the way of an experiment; many people have tried it and found it to be true. The experiment is simply this: Pray to the Father for the inflowing of His great love. We will discuss this experiment next.

[From The Choice - Chapter 7]

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THE CHOICE - Amazon Kindle eBook Edition

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THE CHOICE - Tomorrow Chapter 7

2011-09-05T17:12:00.004-07:00

Tomorrow - Tuesday, September 6th - I will continue writing about the new book, The Choice.

We will look at Chapter 7 which has the title "New Day - New Life."

In the meantime I would like to announce that my book publisher, Lulu.com, is having another outstanding book sale. They have offered 20% off any book order now through September 9th.

All you need to do to get this discount is remember to use the coupon code SEPTEMBER when you check out.

This 20% off is in addition to the discounts already available on most books. Browse; I am certain you will find something interesting for your own library.

See you here tomorrow!

Joseph

THE CHOICE - Chapter 6

2011-09-04T06:28:00.003-07:00

WHAT IS THE SOUL?

The Soul is …

The soul is the center of the universe of a human being.

There are two coverings given to the soul. One covering lasts a short while, the other quite longer.

Firstly, there is the visible covering that we commonly call the physical human body – bones and sinew and muscle and nerves and blood and organs and brain and eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, tongue and throat, and arms, legs, hands and feet. Well, there you go, a human with a certain shape and coloration and configuration, some beautiful and others not as beautiful. This is a partial description of the outer covering of the human soul.

Though this physical being is grand and wonderful in complexity and construction, yet it has no life in and of itself. Alone, it is material and has no life of its own. Remove the soul, and the human body crumbles like a deflated balloon. Without a soul the human does not exist.

The life of the first covering of the soul is brief. For some, it is only a brief moment in the womb of a mother, while others may live beyond four score and ten.

The second covering of the soul is the spirit body. The spirit body is similar in appearance and construction as the physical body, but without the heaviness of the material body of the earth. Some people with developed psychic abilities may see aspects of the spirit body in terms of auras around the physical body. This spirit body continues on into the spirit world when the earth envelope of the soul (the human physical body) is discarded (dies).

We have coverings of the soul – the physical body and the spirit body – but what is the soul?

The soul has existence prior to the appearance of the physical body and the spirit body.

The soul exists in a realm of splendor, bathed and enveloped in an etheric home of love and harmony. It has no shape or form, except as we might imagine it existing as a shimmering ball of love and light.

In Chapter 6 we present excerpts and snippets from the spirit communications received by James Padgett; these excerpts describe and discuss the soul. In this Blog we show only two messages, one from Luke and the other a message from Jesus

Luke (The Writer of the Third Gospel)

I want to tell you of the mystery of the birth of the soul in the human being.

All souls which enter into mortal bodies are, previous to such advent, real, living existences, and made in the likeness of the great soul, though not having the qualities and potentialities of that soul, and also, not having the form of individualized personality that they have after they become parts of the composition, or form, of the mortal and spiritual bodies of human beings.

The soul, in its existence prior to becoming an indweller in the mortal body, has a consciousness of its existence and of its relationship to God and to other parts of the great soul, and more especially of the duplex character of its being; and by this I mean the sexual differences in the two parts of the soul, which, in the way that they are united, constitutes the one complete soul.

When the time comes for this soul to become an indweller in the mortal frame, the two parts that I speak of separate, and only one of the parts enters at the same time into a mortal and never into the same mortal. And while this separation is necessary for the individualization of each part of this one complete soul, yet the two parts never lose that interrelationship, or the binding qualities that existed before their separation, and which continue to exist thereafter, and in the great future, after the work of individualization shall be completed, will come together again and reunite in a complete one.

[The Above is an excerpt from a message of Luke, received by James Padgett on January 13, 1916]

Jesus – The Soul

The human soul is a “creature” of God and not an emanation from Him, as a part of His soul; and when men speak and teach that the human soul is a part of the “OverSoul,” they teach what is not true. This soul is merely a creature of the Father, just as are the other parts of man, such as the intellect and the spirit body and the material body, which, before its creation, had no existence. It has not existed from the beginning of eternity.

There was a period in eternity when the human soul did not exist, and was created by God. And when it was created by God it was made the highest and most perfect of all God’s creation, to such an extent that it was made in His image – the only thing of all His creations that was made in His image, and the only part of man that was made in His image. For the soul is the man. And all his attributes and qualities, such as his intellect and spirit body and material body and appetites and passions, are merely appendages or means of manifestation given to that soul, to be its companions while passing through its existence on earth, and also, qualifiedly, while living in eternity.

These human souls, for the indwelling of which God provided material bodies, that they might live mortal lives, were created, just as, subsequently, these material bodies were created; and this creation of the soul took place long before the appearance of man on earth as a mortal. And the soul, prior to such appearance, had its existence in the spirit world as a substantial conscious entity, although without visible form and, I may say, “individuality,” but yet having a distinct personality so that it was different and distinct from every other soul. Its existence and presence could be sensed by every other soul that came in contact with it, and yet to the spirit vision of the other soul it was not visible.

The soul, as concerning man, is a thing of itself, alone – a substance real, though invisible to mortals. The soul is the discerner and portrayer of men’s moral and spiritual condition – never dying, so far as known, and the real ego of the man. In the soul are centered the love principle, the affections, the appetites, and the passions, and possibilities of receiving and possessing and assimilating those things that will either elevate man to the state or condition of the divine angel or the perfect man, or lower him to the condition that fits him for the hells of darkness and suffering.

The soul is subject to the will of man, which is the greatest of all endowments that were bestowed upon him by his Maker at his creation, and is the certain index of the workings of that will, either in thought or action. In the soul, qualities of love and affection and appetites and passions are influenced by the power of the will, either for good or evil. It may be dormant and stagnate, or it may be active and progress. And so the soul’s energies may be ruled by the will for good or evil, but these energies belong to it and are no part of the will.

The soul’s home is in the spirit body, whether that body is encased in the mortal or not, and it is never without such spirit body, which in appearance and composition is determined by the condition and state of the soul.

And finally, the soul, or its condition, decides the destiny of man as he continues in his existence in the spirit world. Not a final destiny, because the condition of the soul is never fixed; and as this condition changes, man’s destiny changes. For destiny is a thing of the moment, and finality is not known to the progress of the soul (unless and until it becomes the perfect man, and, then satisfied, seeks no higher progress).

Now, in your common language, and also in your theological and philosophical terms, mortals who have passed to spirit life are said to be “spirits”. And in a certain sense this is true, but such mortals are not nebulous, unformed and invisible existences. They have a reality of substance – more real and enduring than has man as a mortal – and are, in form and features, visible, subject to touch, and the object of all the spiritual senses. So when men speak of “soul, spirit and body,” if they understood the truth of the terms, they would say: soul, spirit-body, and material-body.

[The above is an excerpt from a message of Jesus, received by James Padgett on March 2, 1917]

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THE CHOICE - Chapter 5

2011-09-03T05:54:00.003-07:00

HOW A SOUL RECEIVES THE DIVINE LOVE

Excerpts from Spirit Communications
Recorded by James Padgett

There are nine messages provided in Chapter 5 of The Choice from a much larger possible selection from the Padgett messages. In this Blog only messages one and three are shown.

One – Jesus

It must be understood that the Divine Love of the Father is an entirely distinct kind of love from the love which the Father bestowed upon man at the time of his creation, and which man has possessed in a more or less condition of purity ever since that time.

This Divine Love was never conferred upon man as a perfect and completed gift, either at the time of his creation, or since my coming to earth, but as a gift which is waiting for man’s own efforts and aspirations to obtain, and without which it can never become his, although it is always close to him, waiting to answer his call.
Then, understanding what this love is, and that man must seek for it, and what its effect upon the soul of man is, it becomes very important that man should make the obtaining of it the one great object of his aspirations and desires.

For when he possesses it to a degree that makes him at-one with the Father, he ceases to be a mere man, and becomes of a nature of soul existence that makes him divine, with many qualities of the Father – the chief of which is, of course, love. And it also causes him to absolutely realize the fact of his immortality.

Man does not have to wait to become a spirit in order to seek for and obtain this love, for the soul on earth is the same soul as when in the spirit world, and its capacity for receiving this love is just as great in one place as in the other.
Of course on earth there are many circumstances and surroundings and limitations on man that prevent the free workings of the soul, in the way of aspirations and faith, that do not exist after man becomes an inhabitant of the spirit world.

But nevertheless, and notwithstanding all these drawbacks and stumbling blocks of the earth life, the soul of man may receive this divine love without limitations and to an abundance that will make him a new creature.

When the way to obtain this love is so easy and the joy of its possession is so great, it is surprising that men will be satisfied with the husks of formalism and the satisfaction and delusion of mere lip worship and intellectual beliefs.

This love is waiting for every man to possess who sincerely and with true soul aspirations seeks it. It is not a part of, but surrounding and enveloping every man, but at the same time forming no part of him unless his longings and prayers have opened up his soul so that it may flow in and fill him with its presence.

Man is never compelled to receive it, as he is never compelled to do other things against his will; but as in the latter case, when in the exercise of that same will, he refuses to let the Divine Love flow into his soul, he must suffer the penalty, which is the utter and absolute deprivation of any possibility to become an inhabitant of the Kingdom of God, or Celestial kingdom, and of any consciousness of the fact of his immortality.

Let men turn their thoughts and aspirations to God, and in truth and sincerely pray to the Father for an inflowing into their souls of His Divine Love, and have faith, and they always find that the Father will bestow His love upon them, in accordance with the extent of their aspirations and longings – which are mediums of opening up their souls to the workings of the Holy Spirit, which, as I have before written, is the messenger of God for the conveying of His Divine Love from His fountainhead of love to the souls of the prayerful and aspiring men.

In no other way can the Divine Love be possessed by man; and always it is an individual matter between the particular man and the Father.

No other man or body of men or church or spirits or angels can do the work of the individual.

As to him, his soul is the only thing involved, and only his aspirations and his prayers and his will can open up his soul to the inflowing of this love which makes him a part of its own divinity.

Of course, the prayers and kind thoughts and loving influences of good men and divine spirits and angels can and do help the souls of men in turning to His Love and in progressing in its possession, but as to the question, will a man become possessor or not of this love, it depends upon the man.

[Excerpt – message of Jesus, received by James Padgett on February 28, 1916]

Three – Jesus

The only way in which the soul may become an inhabitant of the Celestial spheres is by its obtaining of the Divine Love and thereby become a partaker of the divine nature of the Father; and this can be accomplished only by the inflowing of the Divine Love, by means of the operation of the Holy Spirit, which is the instrumentality used by God to carry this love to the souls of men.

This love never forces itself into the souls of men, and comes only when men seek for it in sincerity and with effort. It is waiting for all men to receive it, but never comes into the soul of its own initiative and without invitation.

So the important question is: How does Divine Love come into the soul, and what must men do to induce its inflowing?

There is only one way, and that is by the opening up of the soul in such a manner that this love, when it comes in response to sincere seeking, may find a condition of openness that will allow it to find lodgment and an abiding place harmonious with and satisfactory to the qualities of its own existence.

The only means by which this can be accomplished are prayer and faith.

When a human in true earnestness and sincere aspirations prays to the Father for this Divine Love, such prayer not only brings love, but causes those portions of the soul which are capable of receiving this love to open up to its coming, and to work in such a way as to attract the love.

The Holy Spirit never performs this work of preparing the soul for the reception of this love, but merely brings the love and causes its inflowing when the soul is in condition to receive it.

In answer to prayer, there are instrumentalities of the Father working to prepare the soul condition that is required, and these instrumentalities are the bright spirits of the Celestial heavens, whose duties, among others, are to answer the prayers of the penitent in the way of influencing the soul that turn the thoughts and aspirations to this Divine Love and its operations.

The Divine Love is a thing entirely apart from the nature of man, even in its purest state, and was never conferred on man at his creation, as was the natural love; and consequently, when man obtains this Divine Love, and it becomes a part of his soul qualities, his nature changes, and he becomes a “new creature.” An additional something has been conferred upon him, and it becomes impossible for him to remain the mere man that he was (and always would be, except for this change in his nature).

I know that men do not understand the distinction between a man with only the natural love and one with the Divine Love, but the distinction is so great that the one, when possessed to a sufficient degree, makes man a part of divinity, while the other, no matter how fully possessed and how pure it may become, makes man merely man (though a perfect one).

Whosoever will pray in sincerity for the inflowing of this Divine Love will receive it.

It is not a respecter of persons, and the sincere aspirations of the soul of any human, be he prince or peasant, rich or poor, will invariably cause this love to come into his soul and change his nature so that he will become a new creature, and one not subject to death forevermore.

I have made plain how this love flows into a man’s soul, and in addition, what its effect is when possessed by man.

There is nothing in all God’s universe that can take its place for the purpose of making a man at-one with the Father, and of causing him to become divine, insofar as he possesses this love.

So I say to all men, pray and pray and never cease to pray for the inflowing of this love, for there is no limit to its abundance, or the amount which man or spirit can obtain. In the Celestial heavens we spirits continually pray for an increased bestowal, and always our prayers are answered – but always there is more to follow.

[Excerpt from a message of Jesus, received by James Padgett on May 8, 1916]

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THE CHOICE - Chapter 4

2011-09-02T05:44:00.006-07:00

THE DIVINE LOVE

In Chapter 4 of The Choice there are 4 messages provided from a much larger number of possible selections. The first is a message of the Apostle John, followed by a message from Ann Rollins, the grandmother of James Padgett; and third, a message from Matthew, an Apostle; and finally a short message from Samuel, an Old Testament Apostle. In this Blog only John's message is provided.

John the Apostle

I am here, John –

I come tonight to say only a few words in reference to love – the Divine Love of the Father which He rebestowed upon mankind at the coming of the Master.

The Divine Love of the Father is the greatest thing in all the world. This Love is the only thing that can make man at-one with God, and change the soul of man as it has existed since his creation into a divine substance filled with the essence of the Father. There is nothing else in all the universe of God that can cause man to become a new creature and an inhabitant of the Father's Kingdom; and when men possess this Love then they possess everything that will make them not only the perfect man but the divine angel.

Then men will understand the moral precepts of brotherly love and also the Father's oneness, and they will not have to seek for other help in order to bring into the life of the human race those qualities that will bring to it peace and good will.

Then will every man know that every other man is his brother, and be able to do unto each as he would have the other to do unto him – and this without effort or sacrifice on his part. For “love works its own fulfillment and all its beneficence flows toward the fellow-man as falls the dew from heaven.” Envy and hatred and strife and jealousy and all the other such qualities of man will disappear, and only peace and joy and happiness will remain.

The Divine Love is so abundant that it may be possessed by all men by the mere seeking and the sincere longing for its inflowing. But man must understand that it is not his by matter of right, nor is it ever forced upon him, but comes only in response to the sincere earnest prayer of a soul that is filled with longings for its coming.

This love comes not with observation of mere moral rules, or with good deeds and the exercise of the natural love of a man towards his fellows, because no man can possibly merit it by any deeds or acts or kindness of heart that he may have. All these things are desirable, and they work out their own rewards, and bring the happiness and peace that result from good thoughts and kind deeds; but all these do not bring into the soul of man this great love. It is the Father alone who bestows this love, and only when the soul is opened up to its reception can it possibly find its home in that soul.

It is greater than faith or hope, because it is the real substance of the Father, while faith and hope are the qualities which a man may possess by his own efforts, and which are given him that he may realize the possibility of obtaining this love. They (faith and hope) are merely means; love is the end and fullness of their exercise.

Men must not believe that all love is the Divine Love, for it is very different in its substance and qualities from all other loves. All men have, as a part of their possessions, the natural love, and they need not pray for a bestowal of that. But this Divine Love is not a part of man's nature, nor can he obtain or possess it except he seeks for it. Divine Love comes from without and is not developed from within.

Divine Love is the result of individual acquirement and not the object of universal possession. It may be possessed by all; it can be possessed by only a few … each man must determine for himself whether it shall be his.

With God there is no respect of persons, neither is there any royal road to the obtaining of this Love. All must pursue the same way and that way is the one that Jesus taught – the opening up of the soul to this love finding a lodgment therein, which can be brought about only by sincere prayer and longing for its inflowing.

This love is the life of the Celestial heavens, and the only key that will unlock the gates; and when the mortal enters therein, all other love is absorbed by it. It has no substitute, and is, of itself, a thing apart. It is of the essence of the Divine and the spirit which possesses it is divine itself.

It may be yours; it may be all men’s – and it may not. You must decide that question for yourself … Not even the Father can make the decision for you.

In closing let me repeat that the Divine Love is the greatest thing in all God’s universe, and not only the greatest, but the sum of all things, for from it flows every other thing that brings peace and happiness.

I will not write more tonight, and with my love to you, and the blessing of the Father, I will say goodnight.

Your brother in Christ – John

[Message of the Apostle John, received by James Padgett on April 5, 1916]

[From Chapter 4 of The Choice]

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THE CHOICE - Part Two: Chapter 3

2011-09-01T04:20:00.005-07:00

So I begin

While finishing the last section of Journey of Doubt I wrote these words:

As I bring this portion of my writing to a close, I am wondering what to do about the Journey of Doubt. Why did Martin advise me not to share my journey with anyone? Shall I allow it to fade away? Is the Journey of Doubt complete?

It is important to realize that I did absolutely nothing with the manuscript I wrote for Journey of Doubt. It did not find its way into a book until this year, 2011. The words you are reading on this page were written 5 years later. Interestingly, I feel that no one in the world would be reading this had I not recently discovered a new world of publishing, namely, the world of electronic books (eBooks).

On July 1, 2011, I saw that some of my associates in the field of self-publishing print books were looking at creating electronic books (eBooks). This intrigued me; and as I knew nothing at all how to go about this, I created a new learning adventure for myself. Within a period of 16 days I not only investigated the process of creating eBooks, but I actually began converting four of my earliest paperback books to this new publishing venue.

But something remarkable happened to me when I did this; of all things I felt a new appreciation for the writings I did, some as far back as the year 2000!

This is what happened. In creating eBooks I was forced to re-read the older manuscripts. And by re-reading my early writings I came to a new understanding of my journey, for that really is what my books are all about, namely, my journey in this life to discover who I am.

And because I began creating eBooks by “resurrecting” my first paperback books, I saw a sequential order that amazed me. After I completed formatting my fourth eBook titled I Thought I Killed Jesus, I began to wonder how I could create a transition piece for the writing and publishing work I did following my journey of doubt 5 years ago. I felt that a gap existed in my sequential order of books.

This is the question that faced me: How did I make the choice to release the old and embrace the new – the way of Divine Love?

Somehow this question and train of thought carried me to the awareness of an unfinished manuscript that I wrote in 2006 but never published, namely, Journey of Doubt. I find these steps to the awareness of the existence of a forgotten manuscript very, very remarkable, and somewhat mysterious. I sensed the gentle hand of influence of loving spirit friends and guides, especially my friend Martin.

I began writing Journey of Doubt on June 16, 2006. The background as to why I started to write about the subject of doubt is that at that time in my life I felt I was being sucked into a place I did not feel I could handle. At the time I was a willing student of "A Course of Miracles". I was happy with the Course, and I was also busy writing material that I felt inspired by the Course to create. I was content with the work I was doing and creating. And more importantly, I was happy and not restless and seeking a new spirituality.

As already mentioned, some of the material that I had written during the time prior to the journey of doubt evolved into four books; all are now Kindle eBooks. Two, Matthew’s Choice, a novel, and, I Thought I Killed Jesus, also a novel with commentary, were written while I was a student of "A Course in Miracles".

It happened that while I was doing research on the Internet in order to add additional material to the short novel (I Thought I Killed Jesus), I came across the writings of James Padgett and the subject of the Divine Love. To say that “I came across the writings of James Padgett” is not strong enough; for I feel that I stumbled into his writings. While reading Padgett’s work, I felt an attraction to continue. But because of my love for "A Course in Miracles," I began to feel torn between this love and the new attraction to James Padgett and the subject of the Divine Love. This is the period in my life when I began to experience extreme doubt, and began to write Journey of Doubt.

Today I feel that if I had not had the experiences that I did in 2006 dealing with the subject of doubt, I would not be devoted today to the experiences of the Divine Love, and you would not be reading this. I would probably still be the happy student of "A Course of Miracles" that I was before I chose the way of Divine Love in the later part of 2006.

This eBook (and now also a paperback book), chronicles two time periods in my life, where “Part Two” shows the influence that the work of James Padgett had on me to make a new choice in my life.

A Course in Soul Transformation

One morning I awoke from an evening of sleep and heard the words, “This is a course in soul transformation.”

Prior to hearing these words I had been meditating how I took a full year to complete the Workbook for students in "A Course in Miracles". In that 12-month exercise, we were taught that it is a course in mind training.

The way of the Divine Love is much different. It is not a course to change the mind (though this will eventually happen), but it is a process designed to change the soul of man as it has existed since it was created. And this process extends foreword, if needed, beyond this present physical existence to include our life in the spirit world.

The change of the soul as it has existed since its creation is called “soul transformation”.

Soul transformation is the process that includes (and not limited to) the desire of a person to try with determined effort the great experiment of receiving the inflow of the essence of Divine Love that transforms the qualities of the soul into a new soul.

How does this transformation happen? And what is the process?

To begin to answer these questions I will first show what the Divine Love is by providing a message from the spirit communications received by James Padgett. It is a message given by the Apostle John to James Padgett on August 5, 1916. This message will be given in its entirety, and then it will be followed by excerpts from the same spirit communications on a variety of subjects.

[The above is from the book THE CHOICE, Chapter 3.]

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THE CHOICE - Part Two, Introduction (2)

2011-08-31T05:48:00.004-07:00

When I walked away from our city park, I did not immediately begin to search the Internet for the website my friend Samuel provided me. But I did thumbtack the index card to the corkboard located next to my computer desk for later reference.

Three days later, I was sitting at my desk preparing to type an article I planned to write pertaining to A Course in Miracles; I happen to look up at my bulletin board and saw the index card hanging from a thumbtack starring at me. I decided to take time and open the web address printed on the card. I found it without difficulty and just like Sam told me it is called New-Birth. It had an interesting sub-title which intrigued me a great deal; the sub-title is called, A Spiritual Journey begins.… Once I started to read I did not stop. In fact, I read material that I found there the rest of the day and solidly for two days.

Why do I feel I was led to read the James Padgett messages?

One thing stands out very clearly in the picture of my spiritual journey, and this is the apparent hunger within my heart to know the truth. My journey is the cry of love for God. An answer to my prayers was sent to me by way of introducing me to the Padgett messages about the inflowing of God’s Great Love. There is no presence of coercion from any direction or person to look at the Padgett messages, but I definitely do feel the presence of a very kind and gentle invitation.

I am reminded here of something I feel Jesus spoke to me regarding my life as a student of A Course in Miracles. The following is part of that conversation:

Joseph, do you not recall how I told you in the Course that there are many spiritual paths, and that the Course is only one of many? Do you recall reading this?
Yes, I do.
Accept that there are many ways I work through and with other individuals. And the path they are walking is not yours. You do not need to be concerned they walk your path, nor that they speak enthusiastically about yours.
But, Jesus, my friends seem to suggest that I should not stay with the Course, and that I walk only with what is in my own heart. They want me to see beyond the blue book I have come to love.
In time Joseph, you may indeed choose to walk a different path. This is not your path now. Your present path is to read and study A Course in Miracles. This is important for you to accept. There is a reason why I called you to look at A Course in Miracles at this particular time in your journey. There is a work that I have for you to do and it will be shown to you as you proceed along this road. Do not expect other people to see your path, especially those that are close to me in their own current path. Just as you are having difficulty seeing their path, so are they having trouble focusing on your chosen path. Accept your path, and I will continue to work with others in their path. The total picture is much larger than any one person in this physical life sees and accepts.

The above conversation takes on a completely new meaning for me as I write these words. The entire message is meaningful; but the last sentence is especially highlighted for me today where Jesus said: The total picture is much larger than any one person in this physical life sees and accepts.

I have discovered that there is a dimension of the operation of Truth that no human is privileged to know in Its most complete form (yet we are encouraged, nonetheless, to quest for it). After all, the spiritual journey is a pathway where light must continually be sought. In other words, I am my Father’s child, and only He knows the complete and total picture.

As already mentioned, I was relatively happy in the work I was doing as a student with A Course Miracles. However, a new light on my path revealed a new door. I heard a call to open this door and walk a different direction. I responded. I made the choice to go a new direction.

[THE CHOICE, from the Introduction to Part Two]

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THE CHOICE - Part Two, Introduction (1)

2011-08-30T06:06:00.005-07:00

A NEW COURSE

A Story (Visionary Fiction)

Sam telephoned. The last we spoke was one year ago. There was something very important that he wanted to discuss with me, but not on the phone; he wanted to meet with me. I probed him about the urgency of this visit, but he would only say that he preferred to speak with me in person and share new information. And he could not arrange any other time but this to meet with me.

I did not ask more questions. I agreed to meet him. I felt he was determined not to say anything more to me until our scheduled meeting on Thursday.

Samuel Steele and I were friends from many years ago. We were both pastors of churches in a small city in southern New Jersey. Except for the chance meeting with Sam last year, I hadn’t spoken with him in over 30 years. Our conversation a year ago centered mostly on my interest and work with "A Course in Miracles," but I did tell him about a few books I had written. Today he mentioned that he had purchased two of my books, Faces of Joseph and Gentle River Flow, and read them both. And about the book for "A Course in Miracles," he only said that he looked at it.

His call today did not reveal what his specific intention might be. My mind certainly conjured up all sorts of scenarios; but finally, I put aside my thoughts and accepted the fact that Sam wanted to talk about something he considered extremely important.

Spring weather finally arrived in our mountain country of Arizona. Trees were bursting with fresh green colors; fruit trees were in blossom and the bright yellow flowers of the forsythia bushes were already falling to the ground. Because the morning air was warm I decided to walk the mile and a half to the city square for my nine o’clock appointment with Sam.

The timing was perfect. As I rounded the intersection and crossed the street to the park surrounding our County Courthouse, I saw Sam approaching from the opposite direction. We met at the bench practically simultaneously.

Sam had the biggest grin on his face and spoke first. “Hello, Joseph!” he nearly yelled.
“Good morning, Samuel!” I replied as we greeted with a firm handshake and hug.
“Your town is very beautiful in the spring, and it is such a lovely day,” he said as we sat down.
Sam’s grin and cheery disposition were infectious.
I laughed and replied, “I love our spring weather too; life is emerging everywhere and it appears to be expressing itself in you too!”
“Yes, I suppose I am a bit excited today, and the season of spring certainly helps, I agree.”
Sam immediately continued, “Joseph, please excuse my apparent rush; I don’t want to delay our conversation and the reason I asked to meet with you. I may not have opportunity to visit with you again, so I want to cram in as much as I can in the time that we have. Do you mind that we proceed?”
“No, I certainly don’t mind; I suppose I am as ready to listen as you are to speak. Last year I did most of the talking; today I feel it is my turn to listen. But, first, a quick question; why do you say we may not have an opportunity to meet once again?”
“I prefer not to take time to speak with you about this. It is not important. Now, if you please, allow me to begin.”
I respected and honored Sam’s desire not to answer my question; so I settled down to listen to my friend.
Sam began by saying, “Joseph … I thoroughly enjoyed your books and many parts in each really got me thinking, especially where you write about the Bible and how it came to be handed down to us in its present form. I saw a freedom in your words that I admire and it stirred me to think in a fresh way about many different aspects of this subject. You gifted me with a new freedom to examine truth. I love how you bring this gift to the reader without doing it with a sense of condemning other people and their long-cherished beliefs. So, first, I want to thank you for this gift, Joseph.”
“Why, thank you, Sam!” I responded. “I never thought of my writing in the way of giving a gift to readers. I am grateful to hear that you experienced this.”
“Joseph,” Sam continued, “Let me tell you what happened to me as the result of reading your books. When you wrote what you did about your past life regression, I nearly missed a blessing. Because of my beliefs and prejudices, I considered passing this chapter by ignoring it. Several months after I read it, I became very curious about the character you identify as the centurion who stabbed the side of Jesus when he was on the cross. I began to do research about him and found many strange and awful stories about the centurion that I could not bring myself to accept. The point, however, is that I kept doing research.
“During a particular research I was engaged in on the Internet, I came across information about Pilate that I had never seen before. As it turned out, the source of this information came from a channeled source, which astounded me. It was claimed as having been written by Judas Iscariot through someone with the initials ‘H.R.’”
“Yes,” I interjected, “there are many channelers. But I am not familiar with this Judas source.”
“As I dug further in this research I discovered that channeling by automatic writing was done by someone named James Padgett, though Padgett did not do the Judas-writing. Have you heard of James Padgett?”
“No, I can’t say that I have,” I answered.
“This is something that you will need to look into, Joseph.”
Sam handed me a card, “I have taken the liberty of writing down the website where I found this information.”
I looked at the card Sam gave to me; it was a three by five index card, and written on this card were the words, www.new-birth.net. I recognized the reference as being an Internet site. The “new birth” threw me off and I was about to comment on this when Sam continued.
“Joseph, when I first saw the reference to new birth I thought I had stumbled into a Baptist church web page, but I was mistaken. This website has information and messages supposedly from the hand of Jesus, using James Padgett as the medium.
“I read many of the messages and surprised myself because I saw that I was beginning to like what I was reading. I know that if I had come across these messages early in my ministry, I am positive I would have rejected them completely. These messages were written between 1914 and 1923 by James Padgett. Mr. Padgett was a lawyer; I believe he was a district attorney in or near Washington, D.C. His writings were not generally made public until many years later, after his death. Almost one hundred years later they still are not well known.”
“What is it that attracted you to these messages, Sam,” I interrupted. “Why did you continue to read them?”
“This is hard for me to confess, Joseph, but it seems very clear to me that I was wrong in many of my beliefs as a Baptist preacher. I can hardly believe I am saying this to you. Please read this material for yourself, Joseph; then you may be able to understand what I am about to tell you.
“In these messages Jesus tells how – except for a few exceptions – he was completely misunderstood by people, even the disciples he chose to be closest to him. He said that as events and teachings were eventually written down long after his death, very few of his true teachings and actions were recorded correctly. As the years went by and the distance grew further from the actual events, the scribes recording the teachings and actions did not understand the messages, and consequently distorted them again, until there was practically no association at all between his teachings and the final version we find in our scripture.
“The closest record we have to Jesus’ own words is found in John’s Gospel,” Samuel continued, “but even that book contains too many distortions to allow a complete and confident understanding of Jesus’ teachings about salvation.
“Joseph, I can’t begin to tell you how my countenance fell when I read this. I felt this way because I saw my errors when I saw my beliefs in the greater light of what I was reading.”
My friend was very overcome with tears while telling me this. I did not think he would be able to proceed. But after a pause, he did.
Sam smiled at me and said, “Joseph, I am too old to start again and do it right. But I can do what I can about correcting my own beliefs before I die. I want to take something of Jesus’ truth with me when I lay down this old body. From what I understand, Jesus teaches that I will have opportunity to change in the spirit world, when I lay aside my physical body.”

* * *

Sam looked down at his watch and explained that he was already late to meet his son.
He stood up and said, “Joseph, I apologize; I must leave. My son and I are leaving shortly to return to California.”
Then my friend added, “When we met the first time on this bench a year ago, you gave me information to seek. Today it is my turn; please research what I have told you. Read the Padgett material for yourself. This may be exactly what you were looking for thirty years ago when you sought the Pentecostal experience; this might also have been what you were looking for when you became a student of A Course in Miracles. The message I give to you today is much simpler and certainly easier to understand than the Course. I am not asking or suggesting that you stop your work with A Course in Miracles. I am just asking you this: Will you promise me that you will at least look into the Padgett messages?
“I will do this, Samuel. I promise you that I will take a look.”
We shook hands and hugged each other.

While Samuel was walking away from me something in my heart said that we would never meet again. But then, a different feeling leaped in my heart; I felt that I would indeed see Samuel again, only not in this life.

[THE CHOICE - From the Introduction to Part Two "Journey of Faith"]

- To be Continued

* * *

THE CHOICE - Chapter 2 (Continuation)

2011-08-29T05:40:00.004-07:00

NINE DAYS REFLECTING ON THE EXPERIENCE OF DOUBT

The water represents more than the sea of consciousness. The water – in this case, the ocean – represents unlimited spiritual resources as well as the unlimited presence of love. When I swam outward from the shore and into the sea, I placed myself in an experience of complete trust. This trust is the surrender I needed in order to receive the gift of calmness. The gift of calmness is connected to surrender which in turn allowed the flow of love. Love, as represented by the water, was present from the moment my first toe touched the water and certainly when my entire body was completely submerged. Love enveloped me creating the condition for the entrance of the gift of calmness.

I was safe in the ocean because I was at-one with this love. Fear, expressed in hesitancy to enter the ocean, was the block to the experience of love. But fear disappeared the moment I chose to walk forward into the water. Love called to me and invited me to join with her (in the water) and I accepted this invitation.
[The Choice, Chapter 2, page 23]

Today begins the eleventh day of my journey of doubt – the day when I first stood at the edge of the sea and asked, why on earth an ocean.

I certainly began with an experience of doubt, and the doubt was very real, yet as I journeyed into the ocean the doubt disappeared. When calmness arrived through trust and surrender, nagging doubt evaporated.
[The Choice, Chapter 2, page 24]

When doubt arrives welcome it. Go with doubt when it arrives; go with doubt as far as it will take you.

Doubt is not your enemy but a friend who will lead you as far as it is able to carry you. Where will doubt take you? Doubt carries you to your own authentic and true self. Doubt is like a sword which cuts through all that is pretentious and unreal about you. It cuts through beliefs and habits which have nothing whatsoever to do with the real you. Beliefs accumulate within you and you think these beliefs are what constitute and define who you are. Doubt enters in order to enable you to see these beliefs for what they are, namely, a door locked and sealed, cutting you off from your true self.
[The Choice, Chapter 2, page 25]

Doubt does not seek to create a new doctrine or dogma. It does not seek rest in the security of a structured thought system. This is also true about seeking to establish a new set of beliefs; doubt does not seek the comfort of a new belief system. Along the way doubt destroys the belief in beliefs. Doubt seeks no followers, nor does it ask for disciples. Others may choose for themselves to follow you and to call themselves your disciples, but the authentic doubter canonizes no one.
[The Choice, Chapter 2, page 26]

Who am I?
This question is the heart of the way of inquiry and focus of authentic doubt.
True doubt does not condemn. In this sense doubt is closely aligned with unconditional love. Do you love yourself enough to doubt everything you think you know and believe about yourself?
Are you willing to make further inquiry about your self? When doubt carries you to a place of darkness and denial, will you condemn yourself for having chosen this path, or will you continue with your inquiry to find the answer to the question, who am I?
[The Choice, Chapter 2, page 27]

Today I feel light as a feather blown about by a summer breeze. I write these words because I am trying to express a connection I feel that I have made today with my true self. I suspect that the next step for me is to merge and fuse with this true self, so that words will become more expressive of the joining that I am experiencing.
[The Choice, Chapter 2, page 29]

Many people get lost in the forest of spiritual pathways because they do not trust their own heart. They trust the word of a stranger and relinquish their own power to an outside source. They would rather trust another person’s word than follow the prompts which come from their own heart.
[The Choice, Chapter 2, page 30]

As I bring this portion of my writing to a close, I am wondering what to do about the Journey of Doubt. Why did Martin advice me not to share my journey with anyone? Shall I allow it to fade away? Is the Journey of Doubt complete?
Has doubt now completely disappeared?
And more importantly, am I now in a new waiting mode … waiting to experience where this journey will next carry me?
Waiting is not always easy, but it is necessary.
[The Choice, Chapter 2, page 31]

* * *

THE CHOICE - Chapter 2

2011-08-28T12:17:00.007-07:00

NINE DAYS REFLECTING ON THE EXPERIENCE OF DOUBT

I will ask you questions that I have already asked myself:

Have you never experienced the place of desiring to know something about yourself – or anything for that matter – and this desire took precedence over everything else in your life?

Have you never felt yourself up against a rock wall and the only way was through it?

Have you never been so overwhelmed with a problem that you just knew you needed help beyond your known abilities and knowledge?

Have you never experienced the complete willingness to forget everything you have ever known in order to push ahead into something completely new and different – where the new and different came to you as an unknown?

Have you never desired to connect and commune with the deepest aspect and mystery of your own being?

Have you never experienced deep longings to commune with the Being beyond all thought and knowledge, call this Being what you will – God, All-That-Is, Creator or Whatever?

Questions like the above carried me to the edge of the ocean, and finally into it.

The answer I sought was not to be found by walking in the direction that I had already come.

My answer was forward, that is, into the sea of darkness … and no where else.

For me there was no other choice.

[The Choice, Chapter 2, page 22]

* * *

THE CHOICE – Chapter 1

2011-08-27T05:59:00.004-07:00

Please don’t ask how I came up with the idea of writing the allegory that appears in chapter 1.

I have no remembrance how it was created.

But I do recall that at this time in 2006 I was feeling I was in an abyss of doubt and did not know which way to turn or what to do.

When I had the vision of myself at the ocean it felt very right and good. And I did not question that in the vision I was standing at the shore of the ocean.

And from this feeling words came to me. What developed next was the image (which was very real to me) of leaving everything on the beach and plunging into the ocean – not as a suicide, but a hearty swim.

You will have to read the book to see what happened before and after I entered the ocean.

It is a fascinating allegory of my experience of doubt.

May you enjoy reading it.

* * *

THE CHOICE - The Prologue

2011-08-26T14:57:00.005-07:00

Part One of THE CHOICE has the title Journey of Doubt, and I think it would be interesting if I could tell how I came up with the idea of a journey of doubt. But that was over 5 years ago and I did not keep records as to how the idea came about. I suspect that it simply grew as I was in the midst of writing in my personal journal.

In the Prologue I begin by sharing writings from my journal. When I wrote in my journal in 2006 it is clear that I was in a state of perplexity, and this is reflected in how I was unsuccessful at receiving a message from my spirit guide, who at that time I called Malachi.

Now it can be said that I was never certain that Malachi was his name, but it seemed to suit him, and I felt comfortable using that name.

However, Malachi slowly drifted from my consciousness, and was replaced with a character named Martin. I do not recall how Martin came on the scene, except to say that he began to appear in short stories I began to write. Martin appears in 2 important parts of this book, THE CHOICE, but you will read more about Martin later.

The Prologue serves to introduce the reader to the subject of Part One, namely, the Journey of Doubt. The state of perplexity that I was feeling in 2006 developed into an overwhelming experience of doubt. Of course if I tell too much about this doubt and the things going on in my life that precipitated it you will have no reason to read the book! I will say that my doubts grew to such a degree that I felt I had to come up with something to express the depth of this doubt. And this eventually led to the creation of Chapter 1, “Sea of Darkness.”

But all the time that I was recording these things in my journal I was not conscious that I was writing a manuscript for a new book. The dates I provide in the Prologue are actual dates in my journal.

The name “Prologue” did not appear until 5 years later when I began to organize this material into a book with the title THE CHOICE.

* * *

THE CHOICE - Paperback Edition

2011-08-26T05:13:00.004-07:00

Yesterday I anticipated that I would be able to announce that the paperback edition of THE CHOICE is available.

However, the FedEx delivery did not arrive at our home until very late in the day, and family obligations prevented me from reviewing the new edition until early this morning.

I have reviewed the book and am extremely pleased to report that it has been approved for distribution by my publisher Lulu.com.

Following this approval, it will be an additional 4-6 weeks before it will be available to purchase through Amazon.com and other book outlets worldwide.

Until then, it may be ordered at Lulu.com. The link to this new paperback book at Lulu.com is:

THE CHOICE

Please note that if you purchase this book today or tomorrow (August 27, 2011), you will receive the usual 10% discount plus an additional 20% off your order when you use the coupon code SCHOOLED at checkout.

I have a good feeling about this new book.

I have asked my spirit guide about THE CHOICE, and received a “green light” to go ahead with this book project. I have been told that the subject matter has the potential of helping many people to a closer connection with our Creator-Father.

Enjoy!!

With love,

Joseph

* * *

THE CHOICE - eBook Edition

2011-08-25T06:28:00.004-07:00

ANNOUNCEMENT

I am happy to announce that the eBook edition of THE CHOICE for Amazon Kindle is now available.

If you do not have a Kindle you may download the free Kindle for PC HERE.

The announcement for the paperback edition will follow later today. I am still waiting for FedEx delivery truck to arrive with the new copy for my review.

Happy reading!!

ENJOY!

* * *

THE CHOICE - Preface

2011-08-25T05:24:00.004-07:00

PREFACE

This book is a memoir created with the unique blend of writings in spirituality and story-telling (fiction), joined with excerpts from the spirit communications received by James Padgett between 1914 and 1920. It is a confluence of several of my writings – a manuscript unfinished 5 years ago and selections of writings done since 2006.

The memoir covers a short but very important period in my life 2006 – 2011, and is divided in two parts.

The first part was created as a stand-alone piece with the title Journey of Doubt. It reflects a real experience of massive doubt during a time of transition to a new understanding of my “self” and reality. Except for editing, this part remains as it was originally written in 2006.

The second part is titled Journey of Faith and has been gestating for nearly same number of months a child is normally in the womb awaiting birth. I knew that the subject matter was waiting to be written, but I had no strong feeling that the time was near until the first day of July this year. Even then, I did not realize that I would be bringing together the two parts into one book. Focusing still closer, a new title was given to me when the book was nearly completed. I had assumed the title would simply be Journey of Doubt—Journey of Faith.

Why did I change to the new title The Choice?

Firstly, while I was editing and repairing a few sections in the manuscript, I grew weary and felt that I needed a rest. When I began to drift into sleep I was entertaining the thought to give the new book a simpler and shortened title. Two words immediately came to me, namely, “the choice.” I gave no further thought to this and drifted into sleep on the soft recliner in my office.
When I woke about one hour later, I immediately picked up my pen to jot notes in the manuscript, indicating the new title.

Secondly, the new title parallels closely the title I gave to a novel that I wrote while I was a student of A Course in Miracles (the title of that book is Matthew’s Choice). In a sense this book, The Choice, is a continuation of the novel, Matthew’s Choice. Part One of The Choice takes place during the time in my life when I was struggling with remaining with A Course in Miracles or to move on to a new spirituality which I like to call “the way of Divine Love”.

Thirdly, the new title, The Choice, is an underlying theme of the Divine Love, which will be discussed in Part Two.

And lastly, the shorter title looks very clean on the new book cover, always an important point for an author and publisher.

There is one additional thing I feel is important to mention in this Preface. In Chapter 1, toward the end of the allegory of the “Sea of Darkness,” you will see that I tell a story of a friend with the name Martin. I also tell a second story of Martin and this appears in the Epilogue.

Martin is an interesting character and has a history of his own. We first meet Martin in two stories that I wrote and published as a paperback book in 2005 with the title Gentle River Flow. These stories are also included in chapters 13 and 15 of the new eBook publication of Gentle River Flow for Amazon Kindle.

When you read the stories of Martin, you may find it difficult to remember that they are works of fiction, for the situations and the character of Martin feel so ‘real’. This is so because there is often only a very thin line between what is fiction and nonfiction.

Finally, though it is true that each of our journeys is quite different and unique, I have a feeling that you will enjoy reading this small book, The Choice. It is entertaining, informative, and inspirational and in some places quite challenging. And it may also be a life-changing book for you, as my journey of doubt was for me, and as my continuing journey of faith is.

Joseph Babinsky
August 11, 2011

* * *

THE CHOICE - Book Description

2011-08-24T18:44:00.004-07:00

This new book is a memoir created with the unique blend of writings in spirituality and story-telling (fiction), joined with excerpts from the spirit communications received by James Padgett between 1914 and 1920.

It is a confluence of a manuscript started and left unfinished 5 years ago, and selections from writings done since 2006. It covers a short but important period in the life of Joseph Babinsky from 2006 to the present.

The book is in two parts.

The first part is titled Journey of Doubt and uses an allegory as a way to picture a massive transformation in which the author shifts from one understanding of reality to another.

In the second part we are shown a glimpse of the author’s Journey of Faith, where he travels a long lonely road from a life as an ordained Christian minister to a place many years later where the influence of spirit communications changed the course of his life.

The Choice is a thought-provoking book, well put together, and entertaining and inspirational – a good read.

* * *

THE CHOICE - Back Cover

2011-08-24T11:19:00.001-07:00

Front Book Cover - THE CHOICE

2011-08-24T11:10:00.003-07:00

The New Book: "The Choice"

2011-08-24T10:43:00.004-07:00

Tomorrow I will announce that the new book titled THE CHOICE will be available both in paperback (Lulu.com) and as an eBook at Amazon Kindle.

The proof copy for the paperback edition is scheduled to arrive at my door tomorrow. If everything looks good (as I expect it will), I will announce that it is available for purchase.

And yesterday I uploaded a new edition of THE CHOICE to Amazon Kindle and it also is expected to be ready for purchase tomorrow.

This is the first time that I have published a book simultaneously both as a paperback and as an eBook. This is an exciting time for me!

If you do not own a Kindle, no worry. You do have a PC, so you can download a free Kindle for your PC. Here is the link to download your free copy of Kindle for PC:

KINDLE FOR PC

Look for the announcement tomorrow about the paperback and eBook editions of THE CHOICE.

****

Nourishment

2011-08-23T12:45:00.002-07:00

As rain comes to nourish the earth -
And flowers blossom to give color and fragrance,

So love comes to nourish the soul -
And joy flows to give light and laughter.

***

Why am I writing another book?

2011-07-23T15:38:00.004-07:00

Why am I writing another book?

Don't I already have enough books?

The answer is both yes and no.

If I were to stop creating new books today, I feel that I would be satisfied.

Nonetheless, while I have the desire and the urge to write and publish books, I intend to keep on doing it.

In addition, this book will be different than any other that I have written. It will not be a printed book (paperback); at least not in the works at this time. The first edition will be an eBook published for Amazon Kindle.

In fact, this new book with the title The Choice, had its birth during the process of making 4 of my earliest books into eBooks for Kindle. When I saw the order of these 4 early books (2004-2006) and the subject matter they contained, I began to feel a desire to show my readers the huge transition I went through when I started publishing books related to spiritualism and on the subject of the Divine Love.

The Choice is a transition piece that reveals the spiritual struggle that I went through in mid-2006. This is why the sub-title is Journey of Doubt.

I feel you will enjoy the allegory I use in the beginning of the book. My 13-year old daughter read it and said, "Dad, I can hardly wait to read the rest of this. I think it will be your best book ever." Hah ... the words of a true optimist, a loving daughter.

The Choice, an eBook ... coming soon to Amazon Kindle.

I am writing a new book

2011-07-22T03:17:00.005-07:00

The last two weeks have been busy days for me. The reason?

The title says it all ... writing a new book.

The book is well along, as the first part was completed 5 years ago, and some sections of the second part are collections of writings that I have done between 2006 and now.

It is a 2-part book (surprised?) ... The 1st part is titled Journey of Doubt, which includes an allegory to show what the experience of doubt was all about.

And the 2nd part is titled Journey of Faith. It is the longer of the two parts of the new book.

Until the other day, I assumed the titled of this new book would be the combined names of the two parts: Journey of Doubt and Journey of Faith. But this changed.

Now the new book title is simply this: The Choice.

Later today or tomorrow I will show the proposed book cover image, and perhaps talk a bit about the cover.

THE CHOICE - a new book coming soon.

eBooks now available

2011-07-20T08:22:00.004-07:00

I have recently learned a new "trade," namely, that of publishing my books in the format for Kindle eBooks.

Since I do not have a Kindle reader I thought this new way of publishing my books was closed to me.

However, a friend informed me that there is such a thing called Kindle for PC ... and that it is FREE!

Well, I downloaded the Kindle for PC and immediately ordered one book that another friend had availabe at Amazon.com, an eBook for Kindle. When I received it (within moments of ordering) and began to browse through his book, I was excited and decided to learn a new trade.

So after a lot of trial and error (mostly error) I began to feel comfortable to try an upload to Amazon. I failed! This self-directed training period lasted a good week, but I finally succeeded and now have 4 books available at Amazon.com -- eBooks for Kindle.

If you don't have a Kindle, try the FREE Amazon Kindle for PC. Click on one of the eBooks listed below and you will see at the right hand side of the page places to link to either order a Kindle or where to click to download the FREE Kindle for PC.

Here are the links to my Kindle eBooks (for a limited time the price for each book is $0.99).

The Magical Dream Forest
Short stories that I once told to my son

Gentle River Flow
Ramblings of a wanna-be philosopher

I Thought I Killed Jesus
A short novel of the Roman soldier that stabbed Jesus

Matthew's Choice
A novel inspired by A Course in Miracles

Take a look ... I feel that you will enjoy each of these books. They are in paperback but now in eBook for Kindle at Amazon.com.

Welcome me to the new world of electronic publishing!!

Amazing (IMHO).

MUSICAL RAPTURE A Healing Gift for Humanity

2011-06-24T08:37:00.003-07:00

A free download of the MUSICAL RAPTURE is available at the following website:

HERE

Or click here to go directly to the FREE MP3 DOWNLOAD

I enjoy this music and often have it playing softly in background as I am writing or doing general work on the Internet.

And I use it frequently for periods of deep meditation.

If you can accept this information, the music is channeled. Read about in the links given above.

Enjoy!!

How to physically experience God's Divine Love

2011-06-03T04:15:00.000-07:00

BIRTHDAY THOUGHTS

2011-05-20T08:54:00.004-07:00

Reflections on my 76th Birthday
By Joseph Babinsky
May 20, 2011

Early this morning I began the day with prayer – the prayer for the Divine Love of our Heavenly Father.

I have learned that this Divine Love is waiting to be given freely to everyone who asks. Though it is a gift, yet it will not come into the soul on its own accord, nor will it ever force its way into the soul. It is a gift, and yet we must seek and ask for it. This is not a game of hide and seeks … it is a matter of us knowing that the Divine Love exists, and that it is our will and our desire to possess it that will cause it to flow as a gift into our soul.

So I began my day as I normally do, longing and expressing the desire of my soul to have this Divine Love flow into my soul freely and abundantly, so that I may be transformed – to be changed into a new creature, a new being, and to experience the continuing process of my soul being changed from a mortal creature into a divine being.

This is the greatest gift that I will receive on my birthday: The realization that I am a loved-child of God, His most wonderful creation, and that I am the object of His great love and most tender care. I am no longer the scared and lonely child, the child frightened by and of a multitude of things. And I am certainly no longer the “bad boy Joey” and “beggar boy Joey” – Joey being the name that I was called when I was a little child.

Today I am 76, and I feel that I am slowly but assuredly being transformed by a love greater than my self and coming from outside of myself. This love does not come from within me, but from without, from the Source of All That Is – from God our Father and Mother in Heaven.

The gift of the Divine Love is the greatest experience a human may have. It satisfies and at the same time creates a deep yearning and desire for more. It flows like a fountain, and it is free and abundant.

Nonetheless, I have learned that I am able to stop the flow of the Divine Love any time that I choose. I can cooperate with its flow, and I can also hinder its free flow. I can allow it to heal all my childhood injuries and disharmonies, or I can be like a builder who dams the flow of a river. But unlike the image of a river, I can literally stop the flow of love so that it cannot enter the inner places in my soul – the dark sides of my soul.

Love, the Divine Love, is the greatest thing in all the world, and yet it is the most gentle and most silent “force” in the entire universe. It is plain and simple, yet it remains hidden from the highly developed minds and intelligence of humanity. The Divine Love is power to transform the soul – the real inner me – and yet I have found that the human has the power through free will to deny its existence and refuse its transforming power.

Today during prayer I laughed aloud (yes, one can laugh while praying!). I laughed because I realized that I have never walked this way before. I realized that I do not really know what the Divine Love will do as the ingredient within my soul to bring about the new birth of my soul. Oh, yes, I do indeed possess slight knowledge of Divine Love’s transforming power given to me through reading messages from Celestial spirits received by James Padgett between 1914 and 1920; but I do not have personal experience of what the transformation process of my soul feels like. Yes, to be honest, I have had many experiences of receiving the Divine Love, but each step in the transformation process is completely new. This is so important to realize. Each step in the process is new, really new! It often dawns on me, as it did this morning that I have never been at this particular place before. It must be this way. Transformation is not instantaneous. It is incremental, one step at a time.

And so this morning during prayer I laughed. I am enjoying the process. It feels good to receive the Divine Love. But it is only I myself that can prevent the transformation of my soul, and I confess that I often do prevent it.

It is unsettling to be aware that if I allow the Divine Love to flow much deeper than it has already flowed, something may snap or crackle. After all, the soul is the real me and my physical body is only a temporary covering for my soul. Think about it: What if my soul receives so much of the Divine Love that my physical body actually begins to experience the effects of the soul being changed? For example, several years ago I had 6 teeth with crowns, and these had been in my mouth for nearly 20 years. One day while eating, these old crowns broke and fell out. Now I have no front teeth! Well, this morning while I was praying I felt a snap in my mouth. I laughed again. The thought came to me that I am growing new teeth! What if my soul is being healed to such a degree that my physical body is beginning to show signs of my soul’s healing? No wonder I laughed.

I would that my entire body is so engaged in the prayer for the Divine Love, that my soul will be free to express the change that it is undergoing through my physical body. But the soul is primary; it is first. The change of the soul through Divine Love happens silently, quietly, unseen. And then slowly, imperceptible at first, the physical body begins to express the change happening within the soul.

Here is the win-win aspect in this transformation process: If my soul is not developed enough to express major changes to my physical body there is no need for me to deny that transformation is in reality happening. Why? Because, if I permit it to happen, the transformation of my soul will continue on and on while I remain in this physical existence, and will continue on and on when I transition to the spirit world!! Thus, it is a win-win process!

And this is why today, on the occasion of my 76th birthday, I celebrate the gift of the Great Love of the Divine Love. It is the greatest thing in the world.

******

PREACHERS SPEAK FROM HEAVEN

2011-05-19T03:34:00.006-07:00

From the FOREWORD to

Preachers Speak from Heaven

Early in my lifetime, I was a preacher.

In 1964 I was ordained a minister in the United Presbyterian Church, and labored as such for the next 10 years. In 1975 I was again ordained, this time as a minister in the United Pentecostal Church. Here I stayed until 1987. Then in 1999, I walked away from all forms of organized Christianity.

Change does not come easy, and it was not an easy decision for me to change my beliefs. Yet, change is constant – that is, if we are willing to follow the leading of our hearts.

In some ways I admire the constancy and loyalty that I see in some of my friends who have neither changed their beliefs nor their allegiance to their particular church affiliation. This has not been the story of my life, my personal journey of faith and belief. In my search for truth I have changed my beliefs numerous times. The constant in my life was and remains my desire to know and experience truth.

This book contains the stories of religious figures that changed their beliefs about life after death when they found that realities of the spirit life were not as they expected. Many were remorseful that they could not easily return to correct what they had taught and preached on earth. They express the desire that those on earth who are being influenced by their writings and sermons might no longer be so.

What may we learn by reading their accounts?

Firstly, we learn that death opens up new possibilities for enlightenment and change. It is readily apparent to many persons upon entering the spirit life that much of what we were taught (or that we ourselves taught) is not the whole and complete truth! Death of the physical body is the beginning of our new life. This is what these preachers tell us, if we listen to their words.

Secondly, we may learn that the so-called “dead” do indeed communicate with those of us on earth. We may disdain the idea of spirit communications, yet if we are able to put aside our feelings and judgments concerning this, we will learn a great deal from our friends (and loved ones) in the spirit world that we cannot learn in any other way.

As I have already mentioned, I have changed my beliefs often during my 75 years on earth. But the greatest change happened after I began to read letters from the other side of the veil called death. And the most important changes started in 2006 when I began to read the writings that the medium James Padgett received between 1914 and 1920. A few selections from his writings are provided in “Part One” of this book.

In “Part Two” I include some of the writings of Anthony Borgia; his work follows that of James Padgett by several years. The first book of Anthony Borgia that I read is titled Life in the World Unseen, where Mr. Borgia introduces to us to Robert Hugh Benson, who when on earth was a priest in the Church of England, but later changed his beliefs and was ordained a Catholic priest in 1904, becoming a monsignor in 1911. “Part Two” begins with an excerpt from Life in the World Unseen and then follows with most of the material in Anthony Borgia’s small book, Facts.

If you are reading the kind of subject matter in this book for the first time and have an open heart and mind, it is not unreasonable of me to expect that you will experience a wonderful treat. On the other hand, if you are closed to the idea that individuals now living in the spirit world can communicate with us on earth, you may have an argument with the words on every page!

Perhaps because I once was a preacher, in an interesting and mystical way I see myself now as a helper to these religious figures who spoke through James Padgett and Anthony Borgia. Through their words, gathered and presented to contemporary readers in this book, we discover that the spirit world is an extremely beautiful, orderly and purposeful place. And we may also find ideas and principles that can be applied now to make our lives richer, happier and more enjoyable.

I offer this book with a hope and a prayer that it will benefit you and many others.

The link to the new book is as follows:

PREACHERS SPEAK FROM HEAVEN

This book presently has a 20% discount offer.

***

THE KING'S SPEECH - 2

2011-03-08T08:47:00.006-07:00

MY STORY
After Viewing the Movie:
The King’s Speech

Notes by Joseph – Page 2

This movie reaches the audience on many levels, and in my opinion this explains why it is extremely popular (and won the highest honor at the Academy Awards).

It is not only for those who once (and perhaps still do) stutter and stammer. It is for us, but the appeal of The King’s Speech is not limited to this group.

Tom Hooper, director of The King's Speech said:

"We all have blocks between us and our best selves. Whether it's shyness, insecurity or anxiety, we navigate these on a daily basis. Bertie had a profound version of that block. I think the story of someone overcoming that block to their best self is a universal story."

The blocks “between us and our best selves” are tremendous obstacles, and they are as varied as the many faces of humanity. A movie like The King’s Speech can give the viewer a jolt to his memories, where he is enabled to feel the essence of his unique blocks, and walk away with a new courage and determination to do something about them.

Yet, when he walks out of the theater and feels the sting of the cold evening air, he may awake quickly to the fact that he does not have a friend like Logue to come alongside and assist him.

To do it alone is not the answer that this movie gives. Self-help can carry us a far distance, but not far enough.

We all need a friend like Logue; Logue represents the helper we all need and long for.

But where will find him?

THE KING'S SPEECH

2011-03-07T10:46:00.005-07:00

MY STORY

After seeing the movie

THE KING’S SPEECH

Notes by Joseph

This is so funny. When I first heard the words "the king's speech" it was on the radio in my car around the beginning of January (2011). I assumed the voice on NPR was talking about Martin Luther King, Jr., and his famous speech I Have a Dream.

I didn't think about this again. Then a few days later (still early January) I was listening to NPR and heard mention of the nominees for best picture of the year academy awards. When I heard The King’s Speech, I said aloud to myself: "Hmm ... This is interesting that they made a movie about Martin Luther King' speech!"

As before, I didn't give this much thought ... or even care enough to investigate the movie with the title The King's Speech. I rarely pay attention to popular movies.

Then a few weeks ago, I was listening to National Public Radio (NPR) as I drove along in my car, and caught a program already in progress. I did not get any of the names involved in the discussion, but the subject was "stuttering." This caught my attention because I had this speech impediment as a child and young man. Then I heard that this was the gut of the movie, The King's Speech. Now I was very alert. I decided that I had to see this movie.

To top it off, I watched the Academy Awards program, which I normally do not do. I saw that The King’s Speech was among the nominations for best movie of the year. When I saw highlights of the movie, my feelings were reinforced that I must go see this movie.

Yesterday (Thursday, March 3rd) I went to see The King's Speech!!

Wow!

I fully realize that there are different strokes for different people ... BUT for me this movie triggered a hundred levels of my life, sparking memories that have been buried for 75 years!!

Yes, I know that this is a movie about a completely different person. After all, HE was a KING, with all the rights and advantages of such royalty. But the overtones that drifted from the huge and wide screen broke through to this "old man" sitting alone in a seat in a theater. I was touched on levels I cannot now find words to describe.

As a child I stuttered, and as a young man I stuttered. Yes, if you met me now, and listened carefully, you may not detect that I any longer have a speech impediment. But underneath the veneer of my present-day speech, there are loads of memories of a very fear-filled childhood.

In the reality of the context of this movie, I was alive on earth. I was a child forming in the womb of my mother in August of 1934 giving birth to me 9 months later in 1935. On levels I cannot now describe, in some strange and mystical way, this movie is also my story.

I cried during the movie, and if I allowed myself to be so free, I could have yelled and screamed, but I did not. When I came out of the theater, I cried. While I was driving home alone, my body shook, and I did not know why. When I arrived safely home, I nearly collapsed from exhaustion and weakness, and I did not know why.

I shall go see this movie again; I must. I missed too much. For one thing, I had to get up and leave for a few minutes to go pee!!! So I will go see it again.

One scene stands out clearly while I am writing these words. If you saw the movie, it is the scene when Bertie (the future King George VI) goes to visit his brother, Edward. His older brother is now King, and he is entertaining guests, introducing them to his girlfriend and soon to be wife, Mrs. Simpson. He is leaves the party to go to the wine cellar in search for a special bottle of wine, and Bertie tags along, pleading with Edward not to go through with the thought of marriage to a divorced woman. At one point the two brothers stand face to face, and the older brother confronts Bertie, but Bertie cannot reply. His tongue is tied; he stammers and cannot get a word out.

I nearly fell to pieces at this point. Memories came flooding back; I cannot yet see who the accusers are that are mocking me, and have me in such a state of fear that I cannot speak.

I did not have a friend. Bertie did.

If you have not gone to see this movie, I recommend The King's Speech with a 10 star rating.

**********

A NEW LOOK AT MY BOOKSTORE

2011-02-14T13:46:00.003-07:00

I am working on a new look for my online bookstore.

Check it out.

I sure hope you like it!

JOSEPH'S LIBRARY AND BOOKSTORE

//////..\\\\\\

SLIDESHOW OF BOOKS

2011-02-12T16:41:00.001-07:00

A Link to Joseph's

LIBRARY OF BOOKS SLIDESHOW

Enjoy!

THE GREATEST GIFT

2011-01-05T05:30:00.006-07:00

Praise for the Way of Divine Love

A View from the Vantage Point of the Spirit World

The Divine Love of the Father is the greatest gift in all the world. This Love is the only thing that can make man at-one with God, and change the soul of man as it has existed since his creation into a divine soul filled with the essence of the Father. There is nothing else in all the universe of God that can cause man to become a new creature and an inhabitant of the Father's Kingdom; and when men possess this Love then they possess everything that will make them not only the perfect man but the divine angel.

Then men will understand the moral precepts of brotherly love and also the Father's oneness, and they will not have to seek for other help in order to bring into the life of the human race those qualities that will bring to it peace and good will.

Then will every man know that every other man is his brother, and be able to do unto each as he would have the other to do unto him – and this without effort or sacrifice on his part. For “love works its own fulfillment and all its beneficence flows toward the fellow-man as falls the dew from heaven.” Envy and hatred and strife and jealousy and all the other such qualities of man will disappear, and only peace and joy and happiness will remain.

It is so abundant that it may be possessed by all men by the mere seeking and the sincere longing for it’s inflowing. But man must understand that it is not his by matter of right, nor is it ever forced upon him, but comes only in response to the sincere earnest prayer of a soul that is filled with longings for its coming.

Good thoughts and kind deeds do not bring into the soul of man this Great Love. It is the Father alone who bestows this Love, and only when the soul is opened up to its reception can it possibly find its home in that soul.

Men must not believe that all love is the Divine Love, for it is very different in its substance and qualities from all other loves. All men have, as a part of their possessions, the natural love, and they need not pray for a bestowal of that. But this Divine Love is not a part of man's nature, nor can he obtain or possess it except he seek for it. Divine Love comes from without and is not developed from within.

Divine Love is the result of individual acquirement and not the object of universal possession. It may be possessed by all; it can be possessed by only a few … each man must determine for himself whether it shall be his. With God there is no respect of persons, neither is there any royal road to the obtaining of this Love. All must pursue the same way and that way is the one that Jesus taught – the opening up of the soul to this love finding a lodgment therein, which can be brought about only by sincere prayer and longing for its inflowing.

It may be yours; it may be all men's, and it may not. You must decide that question for yourself. Not even the Father can make the decision for you.

The Divine Love of the Father is the greatest thing in all God’s universe!

_____________________________________________
The Apostle John – August 5th, 1916

Adapted from the Writings of James Edward Padgett

THE WAY OF DIVINE LOVE_5

2010-12-31T05:06:00.003-07:00

One of my goals in the New Year 2011 is to stay on schedule to publish the new book, The Way of Divine Love.

This new book will showcase the writings of James Padgett that he did between 1914 and 1920.

It is a compilation of most the major writings that talk about the subject of the Divine Love.

In it will be The Teachings of Jesus, which we may call "the lost teachings of Jesus," teachings that Jesus did 2000 years ago, but that never got into the New Testament of the Bible.

THE WAY OF DIVINE LOVE 4

2010-12-28T08:16:00.005-07:00

On the back cover there are two subtitles to the new book The Way of Divine Love.

The first is titled "The Greatest Gift."

The second is titled "The Greatest Truth."

The greatest gift is the Divine Love.

And the greatest truth is the awareness of the Divine Love and how it may be invited into the soul to bring a New Birth.

The Apostle John is the author of the brief message concerning the first sub-title, "The greatest Gift."

And Solomon, the well-known man of wisdom of old, is the author of the brief message relating to the second sub-title, "The Greatest Truth."

The Apostle John wrote the following:

The Divine Love of the Father is the greatest gift in all the world. This Love is the only thing that can make man at-one with Him, and change the soul of man as it has existed since his creation into a divine soul filled with the essence of the Father. There is nothing else in all the universe of God that can cause man to become a new creature and an inhabitant of the Father's Kingdom; and when men possess this Love then they possess everything that will make them not only the perfect man but the divine angel.

It is so abundant that it may be possessed by all men by the mere seeking and the sincere longing for it’s inflowing. But man must understand that it is not his by matter of right, nor is it ever forced upon him, but comes only in response to the sincere earnest prayer of a soul that is filled with longings for its coming.

Men must not believe that all love is the Divine Love, for it is very different in its substance and qualities from all other loves. All men have, as a part of their possessions, the natural love, and they need not pray for a bestowal of that. But this Divine Love is not a part of man's nature, nor can he obtain or possess it except he seek for it. Divine Love comes from without and is not developed from within.

Divine Love is the result of individual acquirement and not the object of universal possession. It may be possessed by all; it can be possessed by only a few ... each man must determine for himself whether it shall be his. With God there is no respect of persons, neither is there any royal road to the obtaining of this Love. All must pursue the same way and that way is the one that Jesus taught – the opening up of the soul to this love finding a lodgment therein, which can be brought about only by sincere prayer and longing for its inflowing.

And Solomon wrote the following:

James Padgett asked the question of Solomon:

What is the greatest thing in all the world?

Solomon answered and said:

The greatest truth is prayer and faith on the part of mortals,
and Love – the Divine Love – on the part of God.
The latter is waiting, and the former causes it to enter into the souls of men.

No other truths are so great and momentous to men.

Let what I say sink deep into your memory, and try the experiment.
I know you do try, but try and then try and never cease trying.
Love will come to you and with it faith, and then knowledge and then ownership.

Both these messages, the one authored by the Apostle John, and the other by Solomon, are presented in their entirety in the new book, The Way of Divine Love.

//////DIVINE LOVE BOOKS\\\\\\

THE WAY OF DIVINE LOVE_3

2010-12-27T07:31:00.004-07:00

I did not expect to write or post to my blog until tomorrow ... but I went to browse in old things that I wrote (and published to this blog), and found something that I want to re-post. It is an aricle that I wrote back in May 2006, when I was in the midst making a choice, and in the process of transitioning between A Course in Miracles and The Way of Divine Love.

I enjoyed reading it so much that I choose to re-post today, Deember 27th, it in its edited and updated form.

I hope you enjoy it. Here it is:

Divine Love and ACIM

Recently I received a comment from a reader of my blog. This reader is curious and asked the question whether I am leaving behind my work with ACIM (A Course in Miracles) in favor of The Way of Divine Love.

This is a very good question and the answer is quite easy.

For the moment [May of 2006], yes, I am choosing Divine Love over the journey with ACIM. The following is offered as the background for making this choice.

I have stepped away from ACIM. Maybe I shall return, perhaps not; time will tell. [The fact is, I did indeed walk completely away from ACIM. It is now December 2010, and I remain on the path of the Way of Divine Love.]

To those familiar with ACIM, my stepping away from it is not because I fear God's Love. On the contrary, it is because of Love and the experience of Love that I choose to walk away.

I didn't think there was anything "out there" that would be able to distract me and woo me from ACIM. I thought I was well-grounded and firmly rooted in A Course in Miracles. But the unexpected happened. The choice to change arrived when I came across the writings of James Edward Padgett, which he did 55 years prior to Helen Schucman, beginning in 1914.

Which Jesus will I listen to?

Both, Helen (ACIM) and James (Divine Love), point me to an experience of God's Love. The first(ACIM), is a very long and drawn out process, requiring a great deal of intellectual capability. The other (Divine Love) is short and brief, and very simple, requiring only a little willingness to ask for God's Great Gift of Love. One deals with the mind, the other calls deeply to the heart. One believes in reincarnation, the other denies the existence of reincarnation. Both pathways supposedly originate from the Jesus of the Bible; yet the metaphysics within each is vastly different.

So, I ask, are the two pathways from the same Jesus?

If they are one and the same Jesus, did Jesus of ACIM return 55 years later through Helen Schucman (1965) in order to correct the voice of Jesus through James Padgett (1914)?

It is interesting to me that the writings of James Padgett contain what are claimed to be the updated and real teachings of Jesus; and this same claim is made for ACIM. Both claim to be the correction of contemporary Christianity; both claim to bring corrected information about the Bible, in particular, the New Testament.

It is also very interesting to me, that ACIM has taken off like a rocket and sells millions of copies of the book and related material in other books (Ken Wapnick and Gary Renard), and has adherents numbering perhaps in the millions.

ACIM is very much in the eye of the public, while the other older, much older spirituality (Divine Love), by nearly 50 years, is not in the eye of the public. And, as far as I know, it (Divine Love) has a comparatively very small following. There are no well-known books about the Divine Love on the bookshelves of stores and libraries.

This tells me something very important and I am trying to listen closely to the Voice within.

Where I go with this, it is much too early to tell. I know that I am pulling away from ACIM. I may or may not return to it. At this time [May 2006] I am choosing the very quiet and gentle voice, the little known voice, that is inviting me to taste from the fountain of Divine Love and see it is "real". The voice of the Holy Spirit I am now listening to, asks me to feel the presence of God's Love and to experience It. Love is all that really matters, for Love is all there really is. Divine Love is calling to my heart and I am answering [and in 2010 I continue to listen and answer].

What is this Voice of Love promising me? This Love is saying that when I ask for It and receive It, this Divine Love joins me to God and makes me at-one with Him. This is the message I am discovering in the writings received by James Padgett ... received from Jesus 55 years before Helen Schucman began to take notes in 1965.

The messages of Jesus through James Padgett are about God Who Loves and Loves and then Loves again and again. In this, both ACIM and Padgett agree: God is not vengeful, and there is no hate in Him; God did not create this world of sin, pain and suffering (this is man's doing; he alone is responsible). And the way out is to accept the atonement for oneself. In ACIM, atonement means to forgive what really never happened; in Padgett, atonement means to accept and receive the inflowing of God's Divine Love and become at-one with Him.

My choice is Divine Love.

Original Copyright © 2006 JOSEPH BABINSKY. All rights reserved.

Re-written and revised: December 27, 2010 by Joseph Babinsky.

Life, Spirit, Spirituality, God, Jesus, Christianity, Love, Holy, Change

THE WAY OF DIVINE LOVE_2

2010-12-27T06:25:00.004-07:00

This morning I tabulated the number of books that I have self-published on the subject of the Divine Love.

I could hardly believe the number I came up with!

23 Books!!

This new book with the title The Way of Divine Love will be my 24th book!

Is it necessary to publish this book?

Several months ago someone wrote an e-mail to me and suggested that I should consider deleting some of the books that I have published. "You have too many," this person wrote!

In one way he is absolutely correct ... maybe this is the negative aspect of the self-publishing process. I have the freedom to publish whatever I desire to publish, and I do. I like this freedom, but I have a feeling it is very difficult for prospective readers to decide which to choose from the list of the many books that I have published.

So, in one sense, I admit that this book is redundant.

But I choose to go ahead with this project anyway, and I will try to explain why I have made this decision ... Tomorrow!

/////DIVINE LOVE BOOKS\\\\\\

THE WAY OF DIVINE LOVE

2010-12-26T07:18:00.005-07:00

This is an advance notice of a new book that will be published in early 2011.

The title is The Way of Divine Love.

I first learned of the "Divine Love" almost 5 years ago (in the spring of 2006).

Before reading certain material that changed my mind, I assumed that the term "divine love" was merely another way of saying the word "love." But I learned differently, and have been investigating it as well as experimenting with it ever since I first heard of Divine Love in 2006.

The subject of Divine Love is not an easy thing to grasp, and/or accept. I don't mean to say that it is a tough principle or thought-process to understand intellectually. It is not.

I intend to write about this subject as the days go on.

But I may not write and post what I write to this blog everyday, but then I might. If I feel the desire to write (and post here), then I will.

Anyway, I wanted to announce this book today, and prepare you to look for it in the New Year 2011!

Personally, I feel it is a great way to start the New Year ... thinking and talking about my favorite subject: The Way of Divine Love -- and publishing books about it!

/////DIVINE LOVE BOOKS\\\\\

Why in the world read writings from spirits?!?

2010-11-04T11:40:00.006-07:00

I desire to write a short piece on why we should read spirit writings.

First, it is obvious to me that there is no such thing as death – oh, yes, I do realize that our physical bodies have limits, and that we all will one day lay aside our individual physical body.

Physical death happens ... this is a fact.

BUT LIFE CONTINUES … whether, for some, in this present existence – or, for others, in the spirit world.

We have been tricked!

The majority of us have been tricked into believing that speaking with the so-called dead is a spooky thing, or that if we do talk with spirits, then we are playing with devils!

HA!

How absurd … and HOW VERY UNTRUE!

It is a long history of brain-washing that has resulted in our believing that we cannot (and must not) talk with loved ones in the spirit world.

We all have the inherent ability, but very few have trained ourselves to do it. And this is why we have been tricked into not doing it!

I choose to read spiritualist literature, number one, BECAUSE I CAN!

I have the free will to read things that people receive from the spirit world, and so I do.

I READ SPIRITUALIST LITERATURE BECAUSE, number two, I derive great personal benefit from the wisdom and love of the spirits who live in the beautiful realms of life beyond ours, and come to give messages to us.

BUT not all spirits are wise and lovely!

Some spirits are mischievous; others lie and deceive -- just like they did when they lived in this physical existence!

We may make mistakes in regards to the spirits we listen to or read, but when we learn to rely on our feelings, we will quickly sort out the deceivers and liars from those who are both wise and loving.

When I first began to read the writings of JAMES PADGETT, I sensed that I was reading the words of spirits that I could easily learn to trust -- and I did; I learned to trust them and their words.

I came to feel that what I was reading was direct from the individuals they signed themselves to be.

Thus ... when JESUS wrote a message and signed his name, I came to trust that it was indeed Jesus of the Bible, and not some deceiving imposter.

Over 200 different spirits came to write messages through James Padgett.

Some spirits only came only once; others came often, and quite a number of others returned to write many messages. The main writer was Helen Padgett, James Padgett's wife. And the next most prolific writer was Jesus of the Bible.

If you have never read spiritualist literature, you owe it to yourself to do this.

Reading spiritualist literature will open vistas you cannot now imagine.

It will open your soul.

My suggestion, of course, is that you read the writings of James Padgett. These writings can be trusted. But you be the judge.

The messages that James received are of the highest level of wisdom and truth.

But don’t just take my word for it; investigate this for yourself and see if this is not true.

Here is another benefit for you when you read spiritualist literature ...

During the process of reading spiritualist writings, you may develop your own psychic ability!

And you may begin to receive letters from your loved ones now living in the spirit world. (I have a feeling that they are waiting to speak with you.)

Good luck and happy reading!

Your friend,

Joseph Babinsky
Author and Publisher

BOOKS /////\\\\\BOOKS

JOSEPH'S ONLINE BOOKSTORE

***

I was Astonished

2010-11-03T09:14:00.006-07:00

In the spring of 2006 I began to read the writings of James Padgett.

I did not go looking for Padgett or his writings. Before I saw them, I knew absolutely nothing about him or his mediumistic work. For me, the name James Padgett did not exist.

I was a serious student of A Course of Miracles (ACIM), and had been for several years. I gravitated to James Padgett the same way that I was attracted to the writings of Helen Schucman. When I discovered that Helen received channeled material from Jesus, I felt compelled to read her work. By the time I was introduced to ACIM, the thick blue book was already a well-known spiritual masterpiece. In contrast, though writing much earlier than Helen Schucman, James Padgett’s work was not at all well-known, and still isn’t.

I began to read Padgett’s writings on the Internet, at a location where they were made available to the public. And it seems that this happened purely by accident. I was searching on the Internet for background information for a book that I was in the midst of writing. How I arrived at the website and began to read the Padgett messages I will never figure out – at least not in this lifetime.

For me, reading the Padgett writings was an immediate attraction. I did not drop ACIM overnight, but it wasn’t long before I was no longer interested in reading or studying A Course in Miracles. In Padgett’s work I felt that I had come to my true home.

To express my feelings mildly – I was astonished.

I was astonished that material, that was extremely meaningful to me, yet was practically unknown.

I was astonished that some of my closest friends, to whom I immediately went to tell of my introduction to James Padgett, were lukewarm and even antagonistic to the Padgett messages.

I was astonished that I experienced feelings of closeness to the subject matter, though I had never seen it before.

I was astonished that many of the spirits who came to write their messages through James Padgett felt so near to me as I read and studied their words.

I was astonished that Jesus, a primary writer of messages through Padgett, never felt more real – or as close to me – as he did as I read his words.

And I was astonished above all this to realize that God became for me someone very personal and approachable. God became to me my Father as well as my Mother – my true Parent.

This sense of astonishment is still with me over 4 years later.

***

Padgett’s Faith Grew

2010-11-02T05:53:00.006-07:00

It was not always a smooth and worry-free path that James Padgett walked as he developed into a medium to receive spirit communication from Jesus.

In other words, James did not change instantaneously from an Orthodox Methodist believer to a believer in the messages that he himself was receiving.

It can be shown, by reading the messages in the exact order that James received them, that he experienced doubts and unbelief during the entire 6 years (1914-1920) that he received messages from his friends in the spirit world.

Nonetheless, above this, James was able to experience times of utter joy and happiness, and achieved such a condition of his soul that Jesus and other spirits were able to communicate great truths through his mediumship.

For example, on page 99 in the large volume titled BOOK OF TRUTHS, Jesus came and wrote a message, where he said to James:

I am here, Jesus –

I was with you today and I heard you declare your belief in me and my being the Jesus of the Bible. While it did not have much impression on the hearers, yet it will cause them to think, and possibly lead them to a realization that I am the true Jesus and that my teachings which you will receive are the teachings of truth. I was much pleased that you declared yourself so emphatically and earnestly, and that your faith in me is so fixed and certain.

You have advanced yourself in the way of your spiritual development by such positive assertion of your belief, and you will find that your faith will increase and you will progress in your development very rapidly. I will now be able to communicate with you more satisfactorily than before, for the mere fact of declaring your belief in such a way, and the knowledge that those to whom you spoke do not believe that I am other than God, a part of God, will help you beyond what you may conceive. You are now much more in rapport with me than ever, and you will soon realize that you are very near the kingdom of the Father.

[Jesus continues …] I must not write more now, but I want to assure you that your action today is of more significance than you realize, and you will soon see the importance of what you declared in the presence of those who doubt the truth of your declarations.

The above message from Jesus was received by James Padgett on April 4, 1915.

However, in order to show contrast, 4 years later, on April 8, 1919, James received the following message from Jesus:

I see that you have been somewhat in doubt as to the reality of the truths of the messages that you have received, and the power of the divine love to make you a child of God, in the sense divine. You must not let such doubts enter your soul for one moment, for they are the breeders of other things that are most harmful and tend to alienate you from the Father.

As you are aware, God’s love is all around you, and may be in you, and if permitted to flow into your soul, with faith accompanying it, you will find yourself growing in at-onement with the Father, and realize that fact.

So my brother get rid of your doubts and come to God in the faith that is childlike and dependent. He will not disappoint you. I will be with you, and try to help you in your desires.

Pray more to the Father, and believe that His love is yours – only for the longing and seeking.

[The above message, dated April 8, 1919, and is on page 620 in BOOK OF TRUTHS.]

I love the honesty that I see in the Padgett messages.

This is part of what drew me to read Padgett's writings in the spring of 2006.

I saw in the struggles and ups and downs in James’ life a commonality that I was able to identify with.

And I saw that faith does not just happen by accident ...

Faith does not grow instantaneously overnight ...

Faith requires work and commitment …

Faith will grow when a person has a passionate desire for it to grow.

***

Tomorrow: “I was Astonished”

***

Jesus: I am Not God – Pt. 3

2010-11-01T06:14:00.004-07:00

The following are teachings of Jesus in various messages received by James Padgett.

The messages may be found in the larger book titled Book of Truths.

September 19, 1915 – Jesus

They [preachers and theologians] do not know that only the flowing of this divine love into their hearts in answer to prayer is what gives them this new birth. They think that my blood has something, or rather that it is the great and only cause of this new birth and they will continue to think so. I would not let this matter deter you from attending their meetings because, as I have said, the spirit is present with them. Of course they will learn differently when they come to the spirit world and see that I am not God.

Yes, I know that is what all the orthodox believe but that does not make it a fact, for no devil ever comes and teaches the things that I have written you.

April 23, 1916 – Jesus

Today has been one when mortals – and I mean those who profess to be followers of me – have offered their worship and songs of praise to me and to God, but I am sorry to say, that He has been worshiped in a secondary sense, and I brought into prominence as the Savior of mankind, and as the important one of the three that constitutes the Godhead. How wrong and sinful this all is; and how I deplore these erroneous beliefs and understandings of men. If they would only know that I am not God, and no part of the Godhead, but only a son and spirit filled with His divine love, and one having knowledge of Him, and His plans for the salvation of mankind, they would get nearer to God in their worship, and receive more of His divine love in their souls and partake more of His divine nature.

But I realize that this belief in me as God, and that my death and sacrifice on the cross were necessary to their salvation, will be hard to eradicate, and that many who now live will pass into the spirit world before the truths which I come to teach and declare will be published to the world.

December 26, 1917 – Jesus

I have no vicar on earth. In the first place, I am not God, but a mere spirit – child of God – and one that worships Him with all the devotion of my soul, praying for an increase bestowal of His love and for a complete unity with Him, and with the longings to progress eternally in the development of my soul.

***

Tomorrow: Padgett’s Faith Grew

***

Jesus: I am Not God – Pt. 2

2010-10-31T06:27:00.005-07:00

The following message was received by James Padgett, dated September 24, 1914.

It is interesting to read this message in the context of the testimony of James Padgett, where he wrote: “I will frankly say that I refused for a long time to believe that these messages came from Jesus...”

And then also to read the same message in the context of the testimony of Dr. Leslie Stone, where he wrote: “I do not know exactly when the first message signed ‘Jesus of the Bible’ was received, for as I write this, more than forty years later, I cannot remember the date. Padgett evidently felt it was absurd to believe that Jesus had written him and, alas, threw away the message.”

September 24, 1914 – A Message from Jesus

I was the instrument in God’s hands of leading men to His favor and love. When I said “I am the way, the truth and the life,” I meant that through my teachings and example men should be able to find God. I was not God and never claimed to be. The worship of me as a God is blasphemous and I did not teach it. I am a son of God as you are. Do not let the teachings of men lead you to worship me as a God; I am not.

The trinity is a mistake of the writers of the Bible. There is no trinity; there is only one God, the Father. He is one and alone. I am His teacher of truth; the holy spirit is His messenger and dispenser of love to mankind. We are only His instruments in bringing man to a union with Him. I am not the equal of my Father; He is the only true God. I came from the spirit world to earth and took the form of man, but I did not become a God—only the son of my Father. You also lived as a spirit in that kingdom, and took the form of man merely as a son of your Father. You are the same as I am, except as to spiritual development, and you may become as greatly developed as me. When on earth, I was the only son who had, until then, become vested with the divine love of God to the extent of being wholly free from sin and error. My life was not a life of earthly pleasure or sin, but was given wholly to my Father’s work. I was His only son in that light. He was my Father as I knew Him to be. He is not a spirit of form like myself or yourself.

I was born as you were born. I was the son of Mary and Joseph, and not born of the holy spirit as it is written in the Bible. I was only a human being as regards my birth and physical existence. The account in the New Testament is not true, and was written by those who knew not what they wrote. They have done the cause of God’s truths much injury. Let not your belief in that error keep you from seeing that my teachings are the truth.

***

Tomorrow: Jesus: I am Not God – Pt. 3

~~~

Jesus: I am not God – Pt. 1

2010-10-30T05:42:00.003-07:00

In preparation to show my readers a few messages of Jesus received by James Padgett, I will first show, through the words of Padgett’s friend, Dr. Stone, the difficult path James had in receiving spirit communications, especially messages purported to be from Jesus.

A few days ago I quoted a short portion of the testimony of Dr. Stone. Today I provide a lengthy portion from the same testimony. Usually I do not post such lengthy writings in my blog, but today I make an exception.

Dr. Stone wrote:

At this point, Mr. Padgett did not believe the evidence of the writings that his dead wife had actually communicated with him. In fact, he wanted to know what proof she could offer, or was there, to show that a spirit was actually writing, and if so, whether that spirit was actually Helen. The writing that followed provided incidents in their lives that could only have been known to both. Padgett thought even this could be explained as material coming from his own mind, as well it might, except that the writings came too quickly for his mind to formulate thought, and the messages kept on insisting that it was not his mind but hers that was operating, with emphasis on her love for him and the happiness she could obtain by being with him.

With his interest in Spiritualism greatly aroused by these strange writings, and anxious to set his mind at rest, he began to read books on the subject. I remember his reading J. M. Peeble's Immortality, and his frequent attendance at séances. There he was given to understand that spirits, if given the opportunity and under right conditions, can communicate with mortals, and that apparently, in his case, the writings he questioned came from his departed wife. He was advised to continue to take messages while learning more about the spirit world. Among those things he learned was that souls have their mates, and that spirit life, contrary to what is taught by orthodox religions, was one of constant progress through the various realms of the spirit universe.

At the end of one of these writings, he asked what plane or sphere she was in. He received the answer that she was living in one of the planes of the Second Sphere, where a certain amount of light and happiness is present, but that she had no desire to make progress to other spheres, because she could at that time make contact quite easily with him on the earth plane and write to him by controlling his brain and hand. Padgett told me he could feel her presence intensely, which produced in him a feeling of happiness that was alien to him, except when she wrote.

Padgett confided to me that he would like to see Helen progress, and told her so. He informed her that through his own spiritual studies, he knew she could make her way to higher spheres and increased happiness as a spirit. Helen replied she would find out from his grandmother, Ann Rollins, who had been a long time in the spirit world, what steps were necessary to make progress to higher and brighter spheres.

I do not know why Helen turned to her husband's grandmother for guidance in the spirit world. Many of Mr. Padgett's early messages were destroyed because they were of such a personal nature that he did not wish others to be acquainted with their contents. But I do know that affinity of spirits in the other world is due to affinity of the soul, and not to any relationship one may have in the flesh. And from what Mr. Padgett told me of his grandmother, and from the messages which she subsequently wrote, she must have been a very kind and warmhearted woman. At any rate, Helen later wrote about her meeting with Ann Rollins who, she said, was a glorious spirit dwelling in the high Celestial Heavens.

Ann Rollins, surprisingly enough for Padgett and those of us who were present at the time, had informed her that spirit progress to the higher celestial realms could be obtained only by prayer to the Heavenly Father for His love through earnest longing of soul. In addition, Padgett's mother, Ann Padgett, also in the spirit world, wrote through her son corroborating this information. Both spirits were thus instrumental in giving Padgett (and those like myself who used to be present at these writings) the knowledge that soul progress to the Celestial Heavens was achieved only through prayer to God for His divine love.

These sessions, held to obtain writings from Helen, had become a channel through which a deep, religious note had been injected, replacing the personal material. From the scores of messages from Helen written at this time, and which are in my possession, we can follow her rapid progress to the higher spheres. Helen took the advice of these high spirits and prayed, and she found her prayers for the Father's love were answered, and that It came into her soul in a way that caused a purification of her desires and thoughts, with a corresponding change in her soul and spiritual appearance. She said that her spirit body, reflecting the changing condition of her soul, was becoming etherealized and brighter. She then wrote that she had reached the Third Sphere where happiness was greatly increased.

Shortly thereafter, she suggested that since she had done what Padgett had wished, and had been able to progress to a higher sphere, it was fitting that Padgett should seek to better his soul condition as well. In fact, she suggested that we should all do so. She stated that since the soul is the same, whether in the flesh or spirit body, it could be transformed by prayer to the Father for His divine love - not by ordinary intellectual prayers that came from the head, but from the heart and soul.

Padgett refused to lend credence to this information. The spirits insisted that, as inhabitants of the higher realms, they possessed knowledge of this sacred truth, and that Jesus, himself, ever interested in bringing the truths to mankind, would come to corroborate their affirmations if Padgett would give him the opportunity.

I do not know exactly when the first message signed "Jesus of the Bible" was received, for as I write this, more than forty years later, I cannot remember the date. Padgett evidently felt it was absurd to believe that Jesus had written him and, alas, threw away the message. As a matter of fact, Mr. Colburn, who up to that time had formed a part of our fellowship, declared he could not be persuaded that Jesus had actually written. However, his friends, Dr. Goerger, Mr. Morgan and I had an instinctive feeling that Jesus had written a genuine message.

The earliest message allegedly from Jesus to Padgett which is in my possession, therefore, is dated September 28, 1914, and refers to an earlier message written a few days before. It is a long message, urging Padgett to pray for the Father's love, and stating that certain passages in the New Testament, thoroughly believed in by Padgett, were false. The Master went on to say that he was neither God, nor had he been conceived by the holy spirit in the way taught by the preachers of the churches. Further, that "...neither is God spirit only; a spirit of mind. He is a spirit of everything that belongs to His being. He is not only mind, but heart, soul, and love." The message urged Padgett: "...Go to your Father for His help. Go in prayer, firmly believing, and you will soon feel His love in your heart."

Padgett was doubtful. Though he was not entirely certain of the genuineness of the family spirits, he felt the need of asking whether Jesus had really written. I have published some of the messages which he received from Helen, Ann Rollins, his mother, and his father, John Padgett, all corroborating that Jesus had written. You will also find some of the early messages which he received from the Master. They tell Padgett to have faith that he is Jesus, and they encourage him to pray; but they are simply preparatory in nature, and do not contain the wonderful contents and information which came when Padgett had achieved that condition of soul which enabled him to obtain them.

At this point, it came forcibly to Mr. Padgett and to me that such messages could not possibly be the brainchild of his own heated imagination. He had been, as I discovered, an orthodox Methodist, and had for many years taught Sunday School in the Trinity Methodist Church in Washington, D.C. His conception of religious doctrine was simply that which emanated from this Protestant church. This view of soul progress was contrary to what he had been taught. He had no idea of "divine love" in contrast to the natural love, or what it might be, and realized that such a conception was foreign to his thinking, and never could have been a product of his own mind. He therefore felt assured, and I agreed with him, that these writings were actually not only from Helen, Ann Rollins, his mother, and departed spirits of mortals, but also from the Master, himself. He decided to follow those instructions which he himself had never entertained, and which by that very fact had to come from outside intelligences which were communicating to him in this way.

He—I should say, we—began to pray for the Divine Love, letting our soul longings go out to the Heavenly Father; and in time, a feeling came glowing into the region of our hearts. We felt this emotion grow stronger and stronger with continued, fervid prayers; and as we did so, our faith in God became solidified and absolute. Never before had Padgett, nor I, felt so sure of the real existence of the Father and His divine love and mercy. The cold, intellectual concept which we had entertained of Him had been transformed, through prayers for His love, into a warm, glowing, living feeling of closeness, of at-onement with the Heavenly Father, whose love and mercy and goodness we could sense were personal and real.

***

Tomorrow: Jesus: I am Not God – Pt. 2

Testimony of James Padgett

2010-10-29T05:38:00.006-07:00

In response to an article that James Padgett read in Biblical World, he wrote a letter to the author of the article, Dr. George H. Gilbert of Dorset, Vermont. The letter is dated December 26, 1915, and the following is a portion of that letter:

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 (Methodist) 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 Nazareth. 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 …

***

Tomorrow: An early message from Jesus received by James Padgett – “I am not God.”

A friend writes about James Padgett

2010-10-28T05:45:00.005-07:00

James Padgett did not publish his own writings. This was done by Dr. Stone starting about 20 years after the death of Padgett. Dr. Leslie R. Stone, a chiropractor, was a close friend of James Padgett.

The following quote is an excerpt from a testimony that Dr. Stone wrote in 1959 or 1960 for the republication of the messages under the title of True Gospel Revealed Anew by Jesus. He wrote this about his friend:

At this point, I must state that I was very often in Padgett’s room when he was receiving these writings, and that I am the eyewitness to the formation and development of Mr. Padgett as the medium par excellence through whom the truths of the Heavenly Father and life in the spirit world have come to mankind. My first contact with Mr. Padgett was in September 1914.

Mr. Padgett invited me to visit him regularly at his home at 514 E Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. Padgett told me that the messages he was receiving were from his wife, Helen, who had died early that year. She had written him many things about the spirit life she was living, describing her experiences at the time of her death, the sphere of her spiritual abode, and her love for her husband in the flesh who, she had then discovered, was her soulmate.

I was thereafter very often present as he continued to receive these messages. They came in a rapid sweep of connected words that obviously gave no time for thought on the part of the writer, and in fact he often insisted that he had no clear idea of what his pencil was writing until he read the messages afterwards. It was in this way, then, that he received from 1914 to 1923 some twenty-five hundred messages, many of them coming – I have not the slightest doubt – from those highest spirits whose signatures were testimony to the personalities they represented.

***

Tomorrow: The Testimony of James Padgett.

What if One Morning

2010-01-23T15:12:00.005-07:00

What if one morning …

Joseph Babinsky ~ January 23, 2010

What if one morning you woke and felt that something had changed?

In this scene when you wake up you are still covered with bed sheets and you also feel that you really need to go to the bathroom to relieve yourself. You turn on the light and see the same face that requires a shave, and the small skin disfiguration on your cheek has not disappeared. None of this bothers you, nor does it pull you away from the feeling that something is different.

You change from your bed clothes and put on the clothes you laid beside the bed the night before. After you are dressed you head toward the kitchen for the usual glass or two of water, and then walk to the room where you go to pray early every morning.

Even while you are praying the feeling remains that something is different. And so after prayers you decide to write. When you begin to write you have no idea what you will write other than to say a few words about a feeling that you woke with this morning.

This happened to me today.

What is different? There is a feeling deep within me that something has changed.

“Thy Love is with me.”

That’s it!

Five words … five words that point to the feeling that something is different. I am aware that this feeling would not have arrived if there had not been all the previous days and years of praying. Something very real is taking shape within my soul; I am more conscious of this today then I was yesterday or the day before that … and this day one year ago or three years ago, the day when I made a commitment to pray regularly and more earnestly.

Five years ago I completed my first book, and titled it, Faces of Joseph. It is a book about my spiritual journey; it is a memoir. Back then I did not know about the Divine Love; I had never heard the name of James Padgett, and the name of AJ Miller was not even a faint shadow in my thoughts … and at the time I was writing that book I had no knowledge of the soul or the need to heal childhood injuries. But I did have a deep desire to investigate who I am … and that’s why I titled the book, Faces of Joseph. I felt that I have worn many different faces in my life, almost like an actor may play one part in a movie and then in another movie play a part completely opposite of the previous role. Faces of Joseph is now completely out of date only because the real me, my soul, is emerging … finally.

However, there is one important aspect in the book Faces of Joseph that will never be out of date. In it I tell a whole lot about my childhood. I introduce readers to Joey, my childhood name. In a real sense, the entire book is about my little child trying to figure out life. Looking back, I see now that it is the story of my soul awakening. Through the writing of this book, I came to know my child, Joey, and his struggles … and in my old age I have become friends with Joey. And now that I know the way of Divine Love, I am in the process of helping myself today by helping Joey to be healed of all the injuries that he acquired shortly after he was conceived, and his growing up in a particular family.

Something wonderful happened this morning. I woke up not being afraid to go with Joey to those things that hurt him deeply, and that caused him to be terrified, feeling alone, abandoned and unwanted. I touched on many of these things while writing Faces of Joseph, but today I was given the gift of a feeling of the presence of love that will enable me to go much deeper to help Joey. Five years ago I was a friend to Joey; today I feel that I am a healer, going with Joey to places of the origin of his hurt and pain.

If I do not do this, if I am unwilling to do this, I am blocking the gift of love.

God desires through His love to remove from my soul all that tends to defile it (see the message by Jesus, October 5, 1914, Book of Truths, p. 8).

The defilement of my soul did not begin when I was a teenager, or the things that I did (or did not do) when I became an adult.

My soul began pure and undefiled, but this rapidly changed shortly after I was conceived, perhaps in the moment when my mother became aware that she was pregnant for the twelfth time.

Unnamed at the time, the new life growing in my mother’s womb was not wanted – not good news to her and to the father, and the ten siblings present in the home.

This is where I must be willing to go with little Joey, that is, if I truly desire the Divine Love to flow deeper into all portions of my soul. Only I can prevent God’s love changing my soul, transforming it to a new creature.
-
When I began to write this morning, I did not know what I would write, or where my words would carry me.

But here I am.
*
In a visual way (which feels very real to me), I see myself reaching out to the small hand of the young lad waiting.
*
“Joey,” I say, “Let us go together to heal all your wounds.”

His smiling, trusting face begins to change. His eyes begin to reveal terror; he sobs and tears begin to flow.

I take Joey to my arms and hold him gently, warmly … and we walk hand in hand into a mist of darkness.
*
We are not alone; we are never alone.
*
*

~~~
.
Joseph Babinsky

***********

2009-10-23T09:13:00.008-07:00

NEW INDEXED EDITION OF
BOOK OF TRUTHS

NOW AVAILABLE

A Prayer for Divine Love in Video

2009-10-16T04:43:00.003-07:00

ON YOU TUBE

THE PRAYER FOR DIVINE LOVE

VIDEO 1

With the Music of Lisa Gerrard

VIDEO 2

Narrated by Care Darby Walsh