Sunsets Into Sunrises
Bishop Martin - The Progress of a Soul in the Beyond
- Chapter 35 -
BISHOP MARTIN'S FIRST MISSION AND HIS EXPERIENCES. -AN APPARENT MENAGERIE. - "WITHOUT ME YE CAN DO NOTHING."
Bishop Martin gladly walks toward the apartment, accompanied by Me, Peter, and the wise bookseller, the latter following respectfully behind us. At the door, Bishop Martin leaves us behind to join the thirty people within.
2
It must be pointed out that our bishop is now no longer in his own, but in My purest divine light, of which, however, for very good reasons, he is not yet quite consciously aware. In this light, everything looks different from what it looks like in natural light, thus also the souls or departed spirits.
3
N.B. - "Departed" must not be confused with "deceased" in this case. Here, "departed" denotes a state of condemnation as the consequence of various sins (defects of the soul) after leaving the physical body.
4
Due to this order, Bishop Martin, on entering the apartment, is faced with mainly animal shapes instead of humans; not wild beasts though, but rather the timid and stupid kind. Only a few have a crippled human shape, covered with tumors. Most of them look like hunted hares, starved asses or oxen, and some like stunted, mangy sheep.
5
When our bishop finds this peculiar crowd, instead of the thirty Protestants he had expected to find, hiding from him in the corners, he is for a moment petrified. Then he takes a deep breath and says to himself: "What is this infernal spook in the Kingdom of Heaven, the house of the Lord? What a sight! Maybe there are also rats and mice here, and maybe lots of smaller pests!
6
What a sight! Really! And how does that go together with the Holy Scriptures, where it says that nothing impure can enter the Kingdom of God? That couple of mangy sheep over there, those five cretins covered with horrible tumors, all those dirty, emaciated oxen and asses, and some extremely shabby hares - what an exquisite party for the first or highest heaven! This would be some company to enjoy the delights of heaven with!
7
It is my bad luck to be used as April Fools' Day messenger, that is if the month of April does exist at all in heaven!
8
This is too crazy! Whatever will I do with this good-natured menagerie? And where are the thirty Protestants I brought here? Have they, perhaps, been turned into these animals? That would be really funny, considering that this is the center of the highest heaven.
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The Lord is the Lord, indeed - this is now my deepest conviction. My love for Him tells me that. But why has He played this practical joke on me? He knows best. Is it possible that He wants to fatten these animals? That would not be a very promising enterprise.
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But what am I twaddling like Ass No. 31 of this party? I'd better return to where I came from. So long, my dears, I shall be glad to see you again!
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After this laconic address, the bishop returns to us with a puzzled expression on his face. But I ask him immediately where the thirty are.
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(Bishop Martin replies): "O Lord, surely You know that better than I. Those in there couldn't be the thirty, but if they are, such a metamorphosis wouldn't be at all fitting for the first and highest heaven.
13
Without speaking the language of cattle, if they have a language, I do not think much could be done with the inmates of that room. You, of course, understand the stones and can speak to the elements and command them. But what can I do?
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Therefore, oh Lord, since You must have been aware of what I would find in that room, You probably set a trap for my stupidity!"
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(Say I): "Not at all, friend! You set that trap yourself. Don't you know that every new servant must get instructions from his master before he sets out on an errand?
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It is not enough if I say to you: 'Go there!' and you go, and I say: 'Come here!' and you come. The important thing is the 'why' and the 'how'.
17
Isn't it written: 'Without Me ye can do nothing'? Therefore, when I sent you to that apartment, you should have confessed to Me: 'Lord, without You I can do nothing!', and I would have given this matter quite a different turn. However, you entered the room right away with a sort of self-confidence. Consequently, you had to find out for yourself how little one can do without Me.
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In the world there are, unfortunately, as many independent performers of actions as there are men, and as many different minds as there are heads. But here it is quite different! For here, there is only one self-reliance, which is the one in Me - and only one mind and one cognition also in Me and through Me! And where this is not the case, there is nothing but self-deception.
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May this be your guiding principle for the future! But, now let us all go into that room and see what we can do with your would-be heavenly menagerie, and whether these animals will understand My language. So be it!"