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October 4th, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington D.C.
I am here, Paul.
Yes, I come tonight to write you upon a subject that may be of
interest to you and important to all mankind. If you are in condition
to receive my message I will write. Well, the subject is: What
is the real body that is resurrected at the time of the physical
death?
Of course there will be but one resurrection and that takes place
at the time the mortal becomes an inhabitant of the spirit world.
There will never be what is called a general resurrection of the
dead, for the mortal can die only once - I mean in a physical sense.
In order to live in the spirit realms, it is necessary that he have
a spirit body that preserves the identity of his individuality,
and having this body (and never having been without it after
the soul is incarnated in the earthly body) and not needing
an additional body, there is no possibility of another resurrection,
or of another body being added to the one that the soul already
has.
The body that dies when the man ceases to be a mortal disintegrates into its elements, and never again do these elements form the same body that becomes decayed, and hence it is impossible for that body to be resurrected. The only body that is ever resurrected is the body that encloses the soul of the mortal at the time he gives up the earth life.
I know that many believe that when the man dies, his conscious
existence ceases, and he becomes, as it were, dead in body, soul
and spirit; that although the physical body decays and returns to
dust or ashes, yet the soul and spirit in some mysterious and unexplainable
manner, continues to exist as an unthinking sleeping entity, not
subject to sensation or activity, and so remains until the great
day of judgment or of Christ's coming, when, in response to the
summons, it arouses itself, answers the summons, and again becomes
clothed in the body which it possessed while in the human form.
In their belief, it may not be the exact or identical body which
once existed, but the new body will be one of flesh and blood, and
of such a nature as to be in substance the same body that was dead
and buried and decayed.
But this is not true, for the very laws of nature, with which men are acquainted, prove the impossibility of such an occurrence, and many arguments have been formulated and declared to prove that such a resurrection cannot be - that it will be wholly impossible for the elements that constituted the old body to again assemble in the same form, and give to the soul the body that it discarded when it experienced its freedom from the bonds of the flesh.
But the advocates of this untrue theory respond that God is all powerful, and in some way, not understood by men, will resurrect this old body and clothe the soul therein so that the identity of the individual will appear. It must be remembered that God works and produces beings and entities in accordance with laws that he has established, and not by any special, sporadic act, irrespective of, and, as said, in contravention of these laws.
Man understands, to some extent, the workings of these laws in what he calls nature, or the normal, and some spirits understand not only what man understands, but also the workings of these laws that may be called above nature or super-normal, and the laws work the same and without change or interference in the one case as in the other.
As it would be impossible to clothe a mortal having one body of
flesh with another body of flesh, so in the spirit world it would
be impossible to clothe the spirit who has a spirit body with any
additional body, whether of flesh or other substance. This spirit
body is a thing of real substance, and not susceptible of being
enveloped in any other body. Well, I see that you are not in condition
to write and I will postpone the remainder of the message until
later. I have not written you for some time, and am glad of the
opportunity to again write. I understand what you mean and will
act on your suggestion as I think it a very wise and desirable one.
I will come more often and write.
So with all my love I will say, good night.
Your brother in Christ,
Paul
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