Sunsets Into Sunrises
Bishop Martin - The Progress of a Soul in the Beyond
- Chapter 199 -
JOHN'S INVITATION TO SATAN TO POSE FURTHER QUESTIONS. SATAN'S MEGALOMANIA AND ARROGANT ANSWER. JOHN ORDERS SATAN TO LEAVE THE SUN. SATAN BEGS FOR LENIENCY.
As Satan does not pose further questions and the expression on his face looks more foolish and perplexed than evil, John continues:
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(John): "What about it, Satan? Have you no further questions? Just now I would simply love to practically bury you in answers! However, you are silent, and so I must assume that you have just about come to an end with your wisdom and that your paternal inheritance, which you gained by force, has been wasted to the last coin! What have you to say to that?"
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(After a while, Satan replies shrilly): "There you are quite wrong! Rest assured, my wisdom is still quite infinite. I could still pose an infinite question, but how could you - a finite spirit - ever be able to answer it? Realizing that it would be quite impossible to expect satisfaction from you, I prefer to be silent. A dewdrop may quench the thirst of a gnat, but it would scarcely suffice a central sun! You might be able to understand more or less what I am hinting at with this parable."
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(Says John): "Oh yes, it does not give me a headache at all, but it tells me even more than you think. I see from it that when your imagined wisdom comes to an end, you have immediate recourse to your old, deceitful arrogance only to satisfy yourself. But that will not do any longer!
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Measure me and then yourself and you will easily convince yourself as to the range of infinity for each of us. I think that an infinity that can be measured is not worth very much, and this also applies to your infinity as well as mine. I assure you that he who considers himself infinite, has no idea what infinity really is. Or he may be a complete fool and quite incapable of comprehending it in all its aspects.
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You were foolishly talking about an infinite question. Would you ever come to an end with it? Now then, if your question would never come to an end, when is the equally infinite answer supposed to begin? You must realize that such bombastic words from you are nothing but the most absurd twaddle! Or can't you really see that?"
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(Says Satan): "I see everything if I want to. But some things I simply refuse to see because it does not suit me, a lord of glory. Do you understand my language?"
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(Says John): "Of course I do, for it is an old - and to all of us - a most familiar language. However, we do not intend to listen to that language, but order you now, in the name of the Lord, to leave this world with your central substance and return to the earth, to the place assigned to you. If there you will keep the peace, there shall be no further suffering for you. However, if you are restless and mischievous, it will be solely your own fault should you get a taste of the severity of the Lord's wrath!"
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(Says Satan): "Dear friends, don't do that to me! I loathe the earth like a nauseous carrion. Allow me to stay here. I promise you to stay forever quiet like a stone. But do not expel me from here!"