A brief history

A BRIEF HISTORY
of the
DIVINE LOVE MOVEMENT IN WESTERN CANADA

Since the 1950s, there has been a thriving Divine Love community on the west coast of Canada which began mainly due to the pioneering efforts of Alec Gaunt and Percy and Phyllis Hayes.

Alec Gaunt

Alec Gaunt was a naturally gifted psychic and healer who had a fascination with spirit communication. He was involved with spiritualist groups most of his life. His ability to communicate with spirit and know their intentions was extraordinary. He was a powerful healer and many local individuals received the benefit of his gifts.

In 1949, Alec and his wife Phyllis embarked upon a spiritual search for truth and together they researched many of the world religions and philosophies. It was during this time that Alec was guided to a used bookstore in North Vancouver, British Columbia, where he found one of the Padgett volumes published by Dr. Leslie Stone. As Alec was a gifted psychic, he was drawn to the book because he saw a light around it! He received promptings from his spirit guides to read this book and follow its teachings. This book interested Alec and Phyllis so much that they began praying for God’s[1] Divine Love.

Upon receiving the Divine Love in their souls, Alec and Phyllis knew that they had found the great Truth that they had been searching for – the way to God and at-onement with Him.

In a taped interview of Phyllis in 1997, she recalled the early history of the work accomplished by Alec, explaining how Alec became well-known for his spiritual work in distributing the Padgett volumes and that he gave many lectures based on the Padgett messages and healings in spiritualist churches in and around Vancouver during the 1950s and 1960s. Alec also started many prayer and discussion groups where he would speak to people and discuss the Padgett messages. Phyllis recalls that before Alec left the earth plane,[2] he had created 24 Divine Love groups—an amazing legacy that continues in western Canada to this day.[3]

Phyllis recounted that Alec and Phyllis corresponded with Dr. Leslie Stone and Dr. Stone came to visit them three times[4] in Vancouver from his home in Washington, D.C. Both Dr. Stone and Dr. Daniel Samuels collaborated with them for a number of years.[5]

For many years, Alec and Phyllis held weekly prayer groups in their home that included beginner and advanced groups as well as groups that focussed mainly on healing and learning about the spiritual laws.

Alec combined the development of mediumship with the prayer practise of receiving Divine Love. Alec and Phyllis understood the importance of praying for God’s Cloak of Protection when opening up in this way and they prayed for only the highest and best to surround them. Their goal was to continue the work that James Padgett started and to allow only Celestial spirits to communicate. As Alec and Phyllis continued to progress in Divine Love, their unique spiritual gifts continued to develop and strengthen; as did the spiritual gifts of other individuals in their groups who were also dedicated to soul progression by praying for Divine Love.

Alec had a strong and influential personality. He made it clear to those attending the prayer groups that each person was responsible for his or her own soul condition and that the condition they brought with them affected the spiritual condition of the prayer circle as a whole. Alec also emphasized the power of positive thinking to help in one’s daily efforts to think and act in loving ways.

Over the years, Alec and Phyllis worked with a few dedicated mediums in the Vancouver area. They received hundreds of messages that were recorded and transcribed[6] beginning in the 1950s until Alec’s death in 1970. Messages were received from many of the same Celestial spirits who were channelled through James Padgett – even Jesus of the Scriptures, his apostles, ancient teachers and healers, historical figures from ancient to modern times and many others.

Thus, Alec and Phyllis left a great legacy as they were largely responsible for developing a culture for the prayer practise that is still followed in various Circles of Light in western Canada to this day.

Some of the messages received during the last years of Alec’s life are now available electronically thanks mainly to the efforts of two dear soul sisters, Helge Mercker[7] who spent two years re-typing the old manuscripts from 2012 to 2014, and Darlene Gaunt (Alec’s daughter-in-law) who spent two years working with us editing, formatting and researching.  Messages of Love – Vancouver, B.C.  1958 – 1970.

Percy and Phyllis Hayes

Following Alec’s passing into spirit, Percy Hayes became involved with Phyllis in carrying on the spiritual work. Percy had also been a seeker of truth all of his life and when he read the Padgett volumes, he too knew that he had found the Truth that he had long sought for.

Phyllis was ordained through the International Spiritualist Alliance in 1970 and Percy was ordained through the Universal Brotherhood Spiritualist Church in 1972.

Percy and Phyllis discovered they were soulmates and married in 1972. Soon after they were married, they moved to Edmonton, Alberta. Phyllis gave readings in their home and they held various weekly prayer groups with interested seekers. Phyllis was blessed with psychic gifts and the gift of trance mediumship. Percy was always by her side and he prayed to be her spiritual “battery.” Percy had the gift of healing and together they were both great teachers of the Truths. They also spoke at various schools and spiritualist churches.

In 1987, they were ordained through the Foundation Church of Divine Truth and in 1991, Percy and Phyllis became trustees of the Foundation Church of the New Birth and were dedicated to the mission of the Foundation Church of the New Birth to preserve and protect the messages received through James Padgett for all time and without any changes whatsoever.

In the early 1990s, Percy and Phyllis moved back to the Vancouver area. They continued on with the spiritual work and held many prayer circles, healings and psychic readings in their home and they spoke at different spiritualist churches in Greater Vancouver (as Alec had done previously), including many times at the First United Spiritualist Church in Burnaby.

Percy and Phyllis conceived of and starred in their own television show called “The Psychics.” The show ran courtesy of a local community television station located in Surrey, BC. Viewers called in to ask random, unscripted questions to Reverends Percy and Phyllis Hayes who taught that everyone was psychic and psychic gifts were gifts from God to help mankind through the maze of life. They taught that an individual’s life was not written in a book somewhere but that each soul created its own destiny with its own free will. The show was very popular; it ran weekly from 1992 to late 2001.[8]

Albert and Jeanne Fike

Jeanne first heard about Divine Love when she was 18 years old when she had a “chance” meeting with Dr. Daniel Samuels and his wife who, she found out, were visiting Vancouver from New York City. They crossed paths while they were all touring a museum on the campus of the University of British Columbia. Jeanne realized that she must have been guided by the angels to meet Dr. Samuels and his wife when three years later she was introduced to the Padgett volumes and the Foundation Church of the New Birth, she recognized a photograph of Dr. Samuels in the material sent to her by the church!

This same divine synchronicity continued to unfold in her life when Jeanne explains that one of the mediums involved in Alec’s Divine Love prayer groups mentored Al Fike beginning in 1973 and another one of these mediums mentored Jeanne beginning in 1970. A few years later, after Alec’s death in 1970, these two mediums reconnected and decided to start a prayer circle in West Vancouver (this prayer circle continues to the present day). In 1975, Jeanne and Al met one another for the first time in this prayer circle. They were married in Stanley Park in 1976!

From 1975 to 2010, this prayer circle with its core group of nine members came together for weekly prayers with the singleness of purpose to support one another in their individual and collective purpose to pray for Divine Love!

During these years members of the prayer group made connections with other Divine Love followers in California, the Foundation Church of the New Birth and the Foundation Church of Divine Truth.

In 1982, Al and Jeanne were guided to take a road trip with their young family to Southern California where they met and prayed with Victor Summers and other Divine Love followers in San Diego. Victor, who was then the head of the Foundation Church of the New Birth, had in his possession most of the original transcripts of the messages from Jesus and Celestials received by automatic handwriting through James Padgett from 1915 to 1923 and was very happy to show this incredible treasure to Jeanne and Al.

In July 2012, Jeanne and Al were prompted by their spirit guides to host a Divine Love Retreat at their home in Gibsons, BC. The inspiration for the retreat had started after they had met a few Divine Love followers in San Diego who were eager to visit Canada. Initially, the Fikes expected only five people to attend and so they were astonished in the end to have a group of 43 people from as far away as Africa, Australia, Hawaii, across the continental United States and Canada come together to pray!

The Divine Love Sanctuary Foundation

The Divine Love Sanctuary Foundation (DLSF) was established as a nonprofit society soon after the July 2012 Divine Love Retreat, with its mission “To awaken humankind to the wonders of Divine Love and to be channels of love, peace and healing for our planet.” The founding directors are pictured to the left.

The DLSF believes that God is guiding all Divine Love followers to unite together in the bonds of Love to create a worldwide network of Light as part of God’s Plan for the Salvation of Mankind.

Compiled by Al and Jeanne Fike and Darlene Gaunt[9], March 2017

[1] Note to reader: We lovingly refer to “God” throughout this document and we believe there is only one God, who is a God of Love and God alone is who we worship. We know that God is known by many different names (i.e., Creator, Heavenly Father, Source, The Almighty, The Most High, All in All, Jehovah, etc.) and we believe it does not matter which name you choose when you call out to God, God hears you: When you reach out to God, God reaches back to you in Love.

[2] Alec Gaunt passed to the spirit world in 1970.

[3] One of the groups that Alec started included Al and Jeanne Fike, who prayed in the same prayer group for over 40 years for Divine Love. Al and Jeanne continue to pray in this same prayer group as well as other prayer groups that have developed from this original group. They are directors and founding members of the DLSF and through the DLSF they have helped others form Circles of Light in various parts of the world. In 2016, Jeanne and Al were both ordained as ministers by the Foundation Church of Divine Truth.

[4] There is evidence of the work done by Alec and Phyllis in the writings of Dr. Leslie Stone and in the writings of Dr. Daniel Samuels.

[5] In an August 3, 1998, letter from Phyllis to Reverend Jocelyn Harleston of the Foundation Church of the New Birth, Phyllis enclosed writings from Jesus through Dr. Daniel Samuels regarding the work of Alec and Phyllis in 1955.

[6] Alec and Phyllis used the most sophisticated technology of the day to record the messages that came through: a reel-to-reel tape recorder, an IBM Selectric typewriter and a Gestetner machine!

[7] Helge Mercker is a current board member of the DLSF.

[8] The show’s named changed to “The Psychic” in about 1998 as Percy hosted the show alone until 2001. Phyllis passed to the spirit world in 2000.

[9] Darlene and John Gaunt have been members of the Foundation Church of Divine Truth, Inc., since 1990. Darlene was ordained through the Foundation Church of the New Birth in 2005 and has been an honorary trustee of the Foundation Church of the New Birth since 2009. Darlene is Percy’s daughter and she is married to John, Alec and Phyllis’ son.