What Are We? Body, Spirit or Soul?

james padgettThis is an excerpt from the Book Angelic Revelations of Divine Truth Volume II – Channelled text by James Padgett between 1914-1923 of Divine Celestrial beings. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking to understand spiritual laws and the progression of the soul. You can get this book on Amazon here 

“Man is a creature of God, having a body, spirit, and soul; and all these are necessary to make the perfect man. But these three parts of man are different in their characteristics and functions and are separate and distinct, and they have qualities that are unlike in their composition as well as in the duration of their existence.

The body, as you and all men know, has its existence which lasts only during the life of the mortal on earth. And, after that life ends, it dissolves into its elements which no more can form the same body, either in the mortal world or in the spirit world. For these elements are merely things of matter, and may be used to form other bodies manifestations of the material of nature, but not necessarily in the form of human beings. For they enter into other forms, both animal and vegetable and are so disseminated that never again will they become parts of a resurrected body. Your orthodox do not teach this truth but think that the mortal body is sometime resurrected in some mysterious way.

No, when it has performed its function of maintaining and shield the soul and spirit of a man during his earth life, the body exists no longer. It cannot thereafter be a part of that man and may be considered as something that is no longer a part of him.

This body, though as a matter of fact, even during the life of the mortal, is not the same body during life. For there are continual changes in the elements that compose that body. One element, or set of elements, give place to others and becomes lost or absorbed in the great sea of elements that help form, or constitute, the universe of God.

By operation of the Laws of Attraction and Repulsion, these elements, as they replace others which disappear, angelic revelations of divine truthconform themselves to the general appearance or outline of the parent body so that the identity of the body as well as of its appearance is preserved. And as a man grows older, the laws which make changes in his appearance causes these new elements to conform to these changes so that, even while the material continues to envelop the spirit during the short span of a man’s life, that material is not the same for any length of time.

I make this preliminary statement merely to show that the material part of man is not at all connected with the real man, so far as his persistent nature is concerned. And this material need not be considered in discussing the subject that I desire to write about.

The spirit part of man is that part which contains what may be called the functions of life and the force and power existing in him, and which immediately control him in his conduct and living.

This real, existing principle of life, unlike the body, never dies, but continues to live after the spirit drops its envelope of flesh. This spirit part of man contains the seat of the mental faculties and reasoning powers and uses the organs of the material body to manifest these attributes. These faculties live and exist even though the physical body may be in such imperfect condition that the spirit may not be able to make its manifestations in such a way as to enable the mortal to perceive or sense the material things of nature, as they are called. To specify, even though the material organs of sigh may become impaired or destroyed, yet in that spirit body, which is within the physical body, exists the actual sight just as perfectly and completely as if these impaired or destroyed organs were doing their functioning, and the same is true as regards to hearing and the others of what are called the five senses of man.

And as to the reasoning faculties and mental qualities, they exist in the perfect state whether the brain is healthy or not, or whether it performs its work or refuse to do so. The qualities do not depend upon the soundness or perfect workings of the organs of the physical body in order that these spirit qualities may exist in a perfect condition. But the proper workings of the physical organs, or rather, the proper and natural movements and manifestations of the brain, and the conscious operations of the mental faculties, do depend upon the spirit faculties being able to use these physical organs in a proper way, and in accordance with the harmony of the creation of the relative and correlative parts of man.

These spirit faculties, which man calls the intellect and the five senses, are a part of the spirit body which is enclosed in the material body, and which, in turn, encloses the soul. When the material body dies, the spirit body continues to exist and live on in the world of spirit, and, with it, and as continuing parts of it, these intellectual faculties also, performing all their functions free from the limitations that the physical organs placed upon them. And when this change takes place, these mental qualities, notwithstanding that they have not the material organs through which they function when in the mortal frame, can conceive thoughts of material things, and hear and see things of the material,just as they did when they were enveloped by the environments of flesh and blood, and even more perfectly.

So you see, when the mortal dies, the only thing that dies and is left behind is the mere physical body, And, with the spirit body, there survive all those things which can be said to be the real man, so far as the mind is concerned. Hence, man never ceases to remember and to progress, and to know that he is a being which death cannot destroy or change into something that he was not before death came to him. And thus I answer the question “when a man dies, shall he live again?” He never ceases to live. And his living is not a new life, but merely the continuation of the old life with all the things of mind and conscience that were his in the old life. 

In the purely spirit life, the spirit body continues to contain the soul, and will be its protector and covering so long as that spirit body shall last. But, by disintegration, this body then begins to change into what we may call spirit elements, with the formation of new elements to replace the disappearing ones. This change in this body is not caused by the same laws that operated to change and disintegrate and replace the physical body but by the laws controlling the development of the soul, which the spirit body contains.

The soul is the real man because it is the only thing or part of man that may become immortal, the only part of man that I was made in the image of its Creator, and the only part of man that may become a part of the Substance of its Maker and partake of His Divine Nature. I say “may”, for that is an important part of this great possibility.

I know this possibility of the soul becoming immortal by partaking of the Divine Nature of God is true, for it is a proven fact in the case of many souls who are now in the Celestial Heavens. I also know that there are many souls in the spirit world who have been there for many centuries, and who have never received this Divine Nature and consciousness of immortality. Whether such souls who have not received this Divine Nature shall become, or are, immortal, has never been demonstrated.

This I do know: That in the economy of God’s plan for the forming of his kingdom, at some time, when I don’t know, this privilege of partaking of his Divine nature and the certainty of immortality will be withdrawn from the souls of men and spirits, and then, whether these souls who suffer this condemnation will partake of immortality no spirit knows. only God” -Jesus

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Read my other blog about how spirit attachment can influence your thoughts and behaviours here

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