December 19th, 1915
Received by James Padgett
Washington D.C.
I am here, John.
I merely want to say that I have listened to the message that you have read, and to the remarks of your friend and yourself, and I believe that you have a true conception of the truth as to these hells.
Swedenborg told you gave you a true description of their conditions as they actually exist, and Herod told you with the certainty of experience what he found to be true, and I, John, who have visited them in the efforts to allay the sufferings of the spirits who inhabit them, tell you that they exist as places, with all the darkness and surroundings that cause the sufferings of the unfortunate spirits to increase. I desire to make this statement so that this question of what hell really is may be settled for all time, so far as you are concerned.
I know that many mortals console themselves with the belief that because of certain natural laws, there cannot possibly be any hells such as the orthodox teach, and that therefore there cannot be any hells at all. But this conclusion drawn from the premise is not correct. The mere fact that because a man or spirit cannot burn eternally and never be consumed, does not justify the inference that such spirit cannot be punished by surroundings which have a fixed locality.
No, man must not rest in the belief of there being no such hells as Swedenborg has described, because if they do, they will be woefully mistaken and surprised should they live such lives on earth as will cause them to be placed in these hells. I merely wanted to say this much tonight, as I don't want you to receive any communication which is not in accord with the truth. It is of such vital importance that you receive nothing but the truth, that we who are interested in this work have determined that nothing but the truth shall come to you, and that whenever error or misstatements creep in we will carefully correct the same.
So without writing more tonight, I will say that I am,
Your brother in Christ,
John.