From page 414, in The Gospel of God’s Love, The Padgett Messages: “The social life is beyond all conception. The spirits have their times of visiting, and times of staying in their homes; of many pleasures as well as of work and helping spirits and mortals; of singing, music and laughter as well as of prayer, contemplation of deep spiritual truths. Yes, in the lighter social pleasures, as well as in the solitary meditations and aspirations of the soul’s progress, there is happiness, enjoyment and freedom from those things which defile or make inharmonious the thoughts and desires of these spirits. All is gladness, and there are none who have the solemn downcast countenance that many of earth imagine portrays the truly rightous and redeemed mortals.
“Love knows no sadness; and as the soul speaks its condition by the appearance of the spirit body, the soul being full of gladness and joy, the spirit body’s countenance can express only these emotions of the soul. This is the result of the law which declares nothing can be hidden, and every spirit must show forth the truth of its condition.
“There are no jeweled cities or streets of gold, or pearly gates, or other things which the book ascribed to me sets forth in its attempt to describe heaven. These things would not be made of gold or diamond or the like, for when such materials are compared to the beauty of the things which heaven really contains, they are as the faint light of a candle compared to the light of your noonday sun. Truly, the mind of man cannot conceive of the glories that await the love-lit soul when it comes to its heavenly home.
“There is another misconception that the preacher had, following the teachings of Revelation, and that is that the Kingdom of Heaven is a walled city – the ‘New Jerusalem’ – in which all the spirits of the redeemed live, singing their loud hosannas to God. There are cities, of which your earth cities may be called correspondences; but there are also villages and hamlets, homes in the country, surrounded by green fields and shady vales, through which run rivers and streams of silvery hue and clear as crystal, also placid lakes which afford the pleasures of boatiing, sailing and other amusements. Each spirit is provided the place that is most attractive to where they wish to be.” (End of message)