In reply, the voice came in stern, severe mental tones, “Believe in me; you have a task to fulfill, and I have chosen you.” The words almost pounded in my mind. I resolved to obey its every direction; since it had told me only good things, surely nothing bad could come from it. So for two months I was “in training.” Always in its messages, it signed itself “Jesus.” The things I learned were good and beyond telling in this letter.

To make a long story come to the point, toward the end of the second month, the messages began to be mixed up and contradictory; the voice began to ask me to do the most ridiculous things that had no bearing on spiritual training. Although I tried to be true to my promise that I would do anything it asked me, I began to doubt that it was really Jesus, and I told it so. Then the hand writing began to change; there was a confusion about me that I can hardly explain; whatever force this was it went with me everywhere I went; at night when I awakened even, I could hear it talking to me. Finally I decided to put a stop to it, and I prayed with all my heart for guidance how to free myself from this strange thing that seemed to envelop me.

The next time I picked up a pencil it wrote this message: “Mary, you are being tormented by some mischievous has-beens who have nothing to do but make people miserable. They delight in being able to fool and dement gullible people on earth. Promise me that you will never let them write for you again and that you will not fool with such things. Believe in God. Know that your mother is living another life which you will disturb if you keep sending her distress thoughts, as you have been doing in the past.”

The writer then told me who she was, when she had died, and that she would watch over and help me, if I would be faithful in seeking only the highest. Since then I have left that business alone. But—the experience so convinced me that Jesus was only a name, that I have had difficulty in trying to believe that He really was the Son of God. I want to believe only the Truth.

Forgive me for such a lengthy letter, but it has weighed on my conscience, and I know you can explain what it was, why it happened. One of the two benefits I derived from the experience was that I have been most careful in believing a lot of teachings that I have contacted since.