Sunsets Into Sunrises
Bishop Martin - The Progress of a Soul in the Beyond
- Chapter 149 -
THE DEPRESSING EFFECT OF THE THREE SUN-MAR)ENS' WISDOM ON MARTIN'S TRIUMPH.
1
(Martin, however, who has been on thorns for quite sometime, now turns to Me and says): "O Lord, O Father, now we have really stirred up a hornets' nest. This surpasses everything I have heard so far!
2
Brother Peter and Brother John, you have praised my courage and victory much too soon in conceding to me a crown of valor. Now it has become evident what a victory I have achieved and how we can relish the three sun-trouts!
3
O Lord, if I now recall my earlier miserable fishing experience, much as I love You, it did me more credit than this one. Your kindness and grace already appointed me a master fisher in the sun's waters of life, but now I must beg You to again relieve me of this office, for these fishes would surely swallow me up before I could even think of fishing.
4
What a situation! These three have really lectured us thoroughly, and the worst of it is that there aren't many objections we can raise. They are good, noble, gentle, indulgent, and inconceivably sweet and fair. And still I could explode with anger that they have made such a fool of me.
5
And they expect us to follow them! Not I! Just imagine to be taught by them! You, too, Lord, and also Peter and John! What do You say to this, my Lord, my all?"
6
(Say I): "Calm yourself! We shall do what they want us to do! Follow them and see what will come of it. The more intricate the comedy, the more satisfactory is its solution. And you, as My leading children, brothers, and friends, have to get acquainted with everything or you will not be suitable for My service. Therefore, let us now follow the three sun-maidens patiently."
7
(Says Martin): "Lord, You know that now, as always, I say: 'Your holy will be done!' For I know that You alone are familiar with all the roads that lead us to the goal that You, as God, Father, Lord, as well as Love and Wisdom, have forever set us. And still, I am standing here like an ox facing a new gate, unable at this moment to recognize all the inconsistencies that have gushed from the mouths of these sun-goddesses.
8
I now realize that their words must have been full of inconsistencies, but I am unable to disprove anything they said, for it was factually correct.
9
But You will have seen for Yourself how happy they were at my heart and how they wanted to be taught how to love. They had so much praise for its sweetness that their companions assumed a rather threatening attitude, and even summoned their spirits who, on the other hand, warned them against violence. Then love was everything to the three, but now they describe it as a dumb, vegetative force, practically a thing that is nothing in itself, but only serves the freer beings simply as a sort of unconscious motive for reproduction, most probably consisting in a transient electromagnetic, quite imponderable fluid or influence.
10
How beautiful and lyrical their language was when You beckoned them to come to You! I thought to myself: 'Well, there we are! They must have recognized Him already, or at least have a strong suspicion as to Who He is.' But how I misjudged them! The way they spoke when they were embracing Your feet and how considerably their speech changed after You had described to them the harsh conditions under which man has to live his life on earth if he wants to become a child of God, and, to be sure, in Your description there was nothing much said about Your boundless love, compassion, and grace.
11
If this is the trend with the sun-dwellers, we shall reap a very poor harvest. I would be more confident trying to achieve some results with Satan than with these three most beautiful sun-goddesses.
12
Their beauty is inconceivable for human imagination, but, on the other hand, they are more cunning than the bathing guests we left behind - Lucifer's adherents who were separated from him. I maintain that a hideous devil is considerably less dangerous than a being of heavenly beauty who posseses so much infernal cunning.
13
However, be that as it may, I - and no doubt all of us - will do as You wish and follow them to their home. But do allow me one thing, O Lord, that I tell them what I think of them when a suitable opportunity presents itself. Their beauty will no longer confuse me. You may look forward to this, you gentle beings of this world. Now you shall get to know the real Martin, so that your great wisdom will appear to you like a mite compared with a mountain! For Your glory, O Lord, and for the sake of Your name, I shall become a lion, and I shall fight with a thousand glowing swords! But, of course, You must not forsake me, for then my great courage would only land me in the soup!"