Sunsets Into Sunrises
Bishop Martin - The Progress of a Soul in the Beyond
- Chapter 159 -
ABOUT MUSIC IN THE SUN-WORLD. PETER'S EARNEST WARNING TO MARTIN TO OVERCOME HIS SENSUOUSNESS.
1
(Martin): "But I now hear something like the sound of bells. What can it be? It sounds beautiful! So there is music here, too! I cannot make out any rhythm, but it still sounds beautiful. I wonder what musical instruments they are using."
2
(Says Peter): "It is a kind of bell, dear brother, similar to those used by the ancient Egyptians, and today still used by Persians and Hindus. Only here, their sound is much purer than on earth. These bells consist of a kind of disc which is hit with resilient hammers on the occasion of great festivities, or also natural phenomena, which are not unusual here.
3
For lesser occasions, they have little bells with which they give various signals. They also have a kind of harps in the handling of which they are masters. However, you will only hear those when you are already inside the dwelling. Now you know what you were so anxious to find out. But, as they will be coming out any moment, let us be silent and await them."
4
(Martin asks another question, hurriedly): "Friend, are we in the right position for their reception?"
5
(Replies Peter): "We are neither soldiers nor comedians! What gave you such an idea?"
6
(Says Martin): "I beg you, dear brother, do not be annoyed with me or I will really despair. Whenever I open my mouth lately, nothing but nonsense seems to come forth!"
7
(Says Peter): "That is almost true, and the reason for it is that you keep talking and asking without having been invited by the Lord to do so. Besides, you still possess a considerable amount of sensuousness, circling and twisting in your soul like small serpents. That still keeps clouding the senses of your spirit to such an extent that you are only able to speak with some wisdom if your slumbering sensuousness is not stirred up anew by some external stimulus.
8
I beg you for the sake of the Lord, do pull yourself together at long last and make a resolution not ever to covet what is unworthy of your spirit. As a result, your spirit will become more and more enlightened and you will at all times speak words of pure wisdom. Otherwise, you will never get away from your foolishness, and the Lord, instead of guiding you to higher levels, will place you on the moon of your earth for a thousand earth years.
9
In a moment a multitude of the most beautiful and alluring women and daughters of the sun will make their appearance, and I now tell you, in the name of the Lord, in all earnestness: This is as far as the Lord intends to guide you to at last rid you of your sensuousness. If you pass this test, it will be most beneficial to you. However, if you fail, you will find yourself suddenly deserted by us, no longer on the sun, but on the most barren grounds of the moon. You have already previously had an encounter with a philosopher of that world.
10
Everything that happened with you and around you since your arrival in the realm of spirits took place mainly for your sake in order to make of you an efficient worker in the Lord's big vineyard. As the Lord has told you Himself, you could become a useful servant for Him, particularly in this world; and that is why He does such great things for you, in order to make of you a true angel. But you, too, have to make some effort, in view of all that the Lord is doing for you, else you will prepare a miserable lot for yourself. At best, you would become just a miserable rag-picker in the true Kingdom of God, with which you have not yet got acquainted.
11
Now you know the meaning of all this. Do pull yourself together once and for all. Be earnest and good, and if you are upset by too much beauty, look to the Lord and you will find peace. You must become so firm that even much greater beauties will be unable to move you, and that only because you are and want to be forever the Lord's. Only then can you be admitted to the true heaven where countless, inconceivable beatitudes are waiting for you, of which you have as yet no idea.
12
So far, your eye has not seen what the Lord has in store for those who love Him truly and faithfully - those who do not, like you, forget Him almost completely at the sight of a smooth, well-rounded female skin, while the situation is not too bad, and have recourse to Him once more only when they are in a desperate fix through their folly.
13
Look, Martin, this is what you have been like so far and, as you have repeatedly admitted yourself, you have always been more beast than man. But now that we are in sight of the goal, do shed once and for all what is still bestial in you, in the name of the Lord. Put off the old Adam in you completely and put on Christ in the fullness of love. Then you will immediately be admitted into the true, actual, permanent heaven, the New Jerusalem, whose citizens I, John, and countless others have already been for a very long time. Do you understand me, Martin?"