And since there was no explanation as to how this all came about in the order of progression from the material body to the spiritual body I was as much confused as Nicodemus was when he secretly one night came to visit with Jesus because of a public sermon that Jesus gave in the marketplace in Palestine.

Nicodemus was the son of a Rabbi who held religious discussions with groups as was custom of those days however he was not a priest and held no service in the Temple. Therefore Nicodemus was anxious to learn the truth of Jesus’ teachings and believed that Jesus to be a man of God. He wanted to know about the Kingdom of God and how to enter therein. He could not understand Divine Love or the transformation of the soul from the human into the divine through the Father’s love so Jesus used a parable as he usually did in speaking to the people. “Except a man is born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

All these thoughts only confused me more about spiritual things until one day while sitting in a Catholic church rectory I noticed on the shelf two books entitled “Modern Spiritualism” by Podmore. During my wait I decided to look at one of these books. I was able to gather after reading a few pages that it was very interesting and immediately decided to look for these two books in the library. I did obtain them and to my satisfaction many questions were answered that the Bible did not, or rather, could not. As a result of this first introduction to where we go from here, I started to visit spiritualist churches in both New Jersey and New York for about two years until I ran across the Spiritual Science Institute where I decided to study for the ministry. After four years in 1935 I was ordained a Healer as well as a Minister.

It was not until ten years later, when I came out of the service in 1945, that a total stranger in a New York restaurant began a discussion on spiritual gifts of the Father and mentioned the fact t that a new book came to his attention which had been received through the gift of automatic writing by a Mr. James E. Padgett of Washington D.C. under the title of “Messages From Jesus and Celestials.” And another time before this I had the pleasure of visiting a lady who also had the gift of automatic writing and received communications from such ancients as Apollonius and Pythagoras as well as many others and which convinced me beyond doubt that certain people had spiritual gifts and could communicate with the Spirit World. The luncheon discussion continued along this trend of thought with my new friend Dr. Arnet, who presented me with a copy of ”Messages from Jesus and Celestials” when I paid a visit to his office a few days later.

This Volume I of Messages From Jesus and Celestials completed my search for the truths of the Father. This to me fulfilled the Second Coming of Jesus on earth. Not in person of spirit but in his writings through Mr. James E. Padgett, his first instrument on earth, who obtained sufficient divine love in his soul to permit Jesus and other Celestial Spirits to write through him as disclosed in Volume I and II of Messages From Jesus and Celestials. I studied these messages for a period of three years and prepared sixty sermons and during this time I corresponded with Dr. Leslie R. Stone, the editor, who after minor changes approved my sermons so that I could use them.

Dr. Leslie R. Stone was a close friend of Mr. James E. Padgett and was present when Mr. Padgett was receiving communications from the various spirit writers, some evenings receiving as many as forty pages of material through the gift of automatic writing. After Mr. Padgett had received the Divine Love in sufficient quantity Jesus and other Celestial writers were able to write.

In his close association with Mr. Padgett, Dr. Stone was able to learn from Mr. Padgett the innermost secrets, which he was able to explain to his friends in later writings as follows:

This explanation in brief means that the spirit must control the brain and not the medium who owns the brain. Further questions might be asked such as why did not Jesus communicate the high qualities of truths received by Mr. Padgett before? In Volume II messages written by John entitled Laws of Rapport and Communication give an explanation of this fact. Here Jesus says that he had tried others before but was not successful until Mr. Padgett was used. The reason for this is that Jesus was unable to find an instrument who could be used for the purpose of receiving the high quality of truths before Mr. Padgett was selected for this purpose.

John said in his message that the brain has to be prepared by the development of the soul. The quality of a high truth requires that the brain be of that high quality so that the brain is able to receive the message. When he first started to receive writings from spirits Mr. Padgett could not receive the high truths until later after he had obtained the Divine Love of the Father. However, he could easily receive messages dealing with moral and ethical truths and of things of material nature.

Mr. Padgett was told by Celestial Sprits when receiving the early writings that he must pray to the Heavenly Father with all the earnest sincere longings of his soul for the Divine Love. When this Love came into his soul in sufficient abundance it would change the quality of his brain into that high quality that would enable the high spirits to write through him the highest truths which had been lost to the world after the earlier followers of Jesus died and which truths they were so anxious should be put into print and given to the world.

During the next ten years of association with Dr. Stone and after many visits to Washington D.S. I became concerned about the safety of these most valuable writings that so far were less than half transcribed or printed and Dr. Stone was getting along in years. He also had in his possession the writings of Mr. Morgan, another close friend of Mr. Padgett who also obtained the gift of automatic writing and received many writings from Jesus as well. However most of his writings came from the lower planes of the earth spheres. During the years up to 1955 I often suggested to Dr. Stone that he establish a foundation to preserve the writings.

On one of my visits to Washington D.C. Dr. Stone informed me that Jesus had selected a second instrument to continue with the work where Mr. Padgett left off and he was quite convinced from the messages thus far received that this new instrument was the answer to his prayers that someone be guided to him who could advise him on the future plans for the disposition of all the writings in the event of his sudden passing as had occurred in the case of Mr. Padgett. Although I wondered why I was kept in the dark it was several weeks before I was able to meet this new instrument at a meeting that was called by Dr. Stone whenever it was convenient for me to come to Washington. On November 7th 1955 Dr. Stone and the new instrument and myself were gathered in my hotel room and the following message from Jesus was received.

Several meetings were held in the next two months and the attorney made many suggestions for the incorporation of a foundation for the purpose of preserving the writings now in the possession of Dr. Stone and the possibility of forming a church. William Genser, Esq. worked out the final details for the incorporation of The Dr. Leslie R. Stone Foundation, the name finally agreed upon to honor Dr. Stone for faithful services over a period of thirty years on behalf of the Kingdom.

On January 12th, 1956 the second formal message was received from Jesus.

In each meeting thereafter that was held we felt the presence of Jesus in a loving atmosphere of serenity and we always felt that Jesus was our Elder Brother.

Reverend John Paul Gibson