Sunsets Into Sunrises
Bishop Martin - The Progress of a Soul in the Beyond
- Chapter 172 -
MARTIN'S SERMON TO THE ASSEMBLED SUN-DWELLERS. HARD LIFE ON EARTH AS CONDITION FOR BECOMING A CHILD OF GOD.
1
(After these words, Martin faces the congregation and speaks): "All of you who have assembled on this extraordinary occasion in order to hear words of life from my mouth and, eventually, even from the Lord Himself, must not allow yourselves to be disturbed if a violent storm should threaten us. For God, the supreme, almighty Spirit Himself is visibly present here. It is He with Whom a while ago you saw me talk, although you did not hear us.
2
He, the sole true, eternal Lord and Creator of all infinity, has assured me for your sake that He will punish the evil spirit severely before your eyes should he dare to carry on with his wicked game. Having received such an assurance from the Lord Himself, let us patiently and without fear await what grace the Lord is going to bestow upon us.
3
I, who am now speaking to you, am not wise out of myself, and everything I shall say to you with the simplest of words, will be of the Lord. Do not expect anything high-sounding or sublime, but, instead, expect all the more truth and spiritual knowledge. I shall give you what I have. So, listen!
4
My dear partners in the grace of my and your God, my Lord and Father and your Lord and now, also, your Father. The almighty will of this Father has, since the beginning of time, endowed you in your magnificent world with so many privileges that a comparison with the inhabitants of my world would be futile.
5
You are so beautiful in your appearance that we earth-dwellers could not even imagine the purest angel of light to be more beautiful. The duration of your physical lives is not limited, so that every one of you may live as long as he chooses. The difference between your natural life and that of your departed spirits, is, in fact, so small that it does not matter very much whether you live with this body or without it. You can see your departed and speak with them whenever you wish, and you can even associate with us pure spirits as if you had already shed your bodies.
6
All this is vastly different in that harsh world where I and all those who are with me have lived in the flesh. There, the duration of a natural life is undetermined, but very short. If one of you would say, 'I am young,' he would be of very old age on our earth. I know that in this congregation there are many who, according to our earth chronology, are several hundred years old, yet here they are considered young people, whilst on our earth, they would be fabulously old.
7
You also have people here who are already so old that by our chronology they would be older than the entire human race on my little earth - maybe even a thousand times older. What great, im-' portant and sacred experiences such men must have accumulated! At the side of such experienced teachers, your spiritual education must have soared high, and your wisdom must have wonderfully deep roots.
8
In our world, one has scarcely realized what life is all about before one must already leave one's wretched flesh in a very painful way, usually not even knowing whether towards eternal life or death. Everything one has worked for must be left behind, be it honors, fame, splendors, virtues, scientific achievements, or wisdom. All this is completely disregarded by the Lord, and when the stealthy angel of death turns up to thrust his sword into one's heart, everything seems to have come to an end.
9
One has to die without a definite prospect for a reward, for faith and hope are all that our handed-down teaching will allow us concerning life after death. There is hardly anybody who has, like you here, already in the flesh a firm conviction regarding eternal life. Just think what a privilege it is for a free man to be a lord over his own life, as is the case with you in this world. He can freely enjoy all that he has achieved as well as the countless other privileges of such a life.
10
You are able to talk to the spirits of your bodily departed brothers and see them as if they had not died at all. In our world, perhaps one in ten thousand knows about life after the physical death and what it may be like. And still we are expected to sacrifice everything for a future life, of which we do not even know whether it exists at all. And those who do believe in it, have not the slightest idea, except for some fables, what it will be like.
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You will realize what an incalculable privilege it is for a human being to be a lord of his own life from the start."