November 4th, 1916
Received by:James Padgett
Washington D.C.
I am here, John.
I merely want to say that what the Master and I said a few nights ago to Dr. Stone applies to your friend who is with you now, and he must realize the fact; and I wish he would take a copy of the writings and insert his name wherever that of the Doctor occurs.
He has more of this Love in his soul than he realizes, and although at times he has some doubts, and the Love seems to be dormant, yet it is there, and he must not lose faith in the fact. As long as he is a mortal these times of doubt and want of feeling of the presence of the Love will come to him, but he must not let this discourage him, for as certainly as the sun shines he has fought the battle of the soul and has come out victor, and he is now an accepted son of the Father. I would not tell him this if I did not see the condition of his soul and the presence of the Love resting and living in it.
We have all been much interested in his transformation because of the difficulty that has attended his fight - greater than he may conceive of. And when he commenced to get into that condition of awakening, he had the assistance of many more of the higher spirits than he has been informed of, for we left him alone scarcely any of the time when the change was taking place. And besides, he was so unfortunate as to have around him some very evil spirits who had such a hold upon him that it was not an easy work to cause them to leave him. Of course, we could have dispersed them without any difficulty by the mere exercise of our will, but that was not the desirable or effective way of ridding him of these incubi, for whenever we should leave him they would return to him and his condition become much worse than before. And consequently, the only effective way - and the one that was pursued, and the only one that can be with certain and lasting results pursued - was to have his soul develop, so that in itself it would possess that power that would cause these spirits to leave him and render him innocuous to their influences, whether we were present or not. And in this we were successful. And all this means that our work was simply to turn his thoughts to the Father and to cause him to have faith in prayer; for when all is said, it was the result of prayer that brought the Divine Love which made him able, because of his own soul's power, to disperse and keep from him these evil spirits.
And in this I do not intend to be understood as meaning that he was relieved from the presence of these spirits in the way of attempting to communicate with him, for that amounts to very little as regards his soul condition; but I do mean that the influence of these spirits on the condition of his soul became of no effect, and that they could not, after he received this power, affect the transformation and growth of his soul. As long as he, or any other mortal, remains mortal, he will be visited at times by some of these undesirable spirits, and will feel their influence in a spiritual sense; but they will never have any power to swerve his soul from its progression to the higher development. The fight, of course, will continue all through the earth life, and at times the influence of these spirits upon his mental faculties and animal appetites may tend, for the time being, to retard or hold still the progress of his soul development; but, directly, these evil influences can never have any effect upon the condition or qualities of his soul.
I want him to fully grasp the meaning of what I have written and in the future, no matter how discouraged he may feel or how much his mentality may suggest the existence of things in him that are injuring his soul or taking from it the presence of possession of this Divine Love, he must believe what I have told him and that he has fought the battle of the soul and won, and that this Love is his and cannot be taken from him by the wiles of Satan, as the preachers say. It may lie dormant to his consciousness, and the happiness that arises from its active existence may seem to leave him; yet the Love is there and will assert itself. Temptations will come to him, and he must continue to fight - not to keep the Love, but to prevent the Love from becoming dormant and the happiness from disappearing. He has had his resurrection from death to life, and he cannot die again. I would like to write longer, but others desire to write and I must stop. So, with my love and blessings on you both, I will say good night.
Your brother in Christ,
John.