Sunsets Into Sunrises
Bishop Martin - The Progress of a Soul in the Beyond
- Chapter 191 -
MARTIN SUMMONS SATAN. SATAN TRIES TO JUSTIFY HIMSELF.
Martin does as suggested by John, and with the might of his will, he summons Satan, who immediately stands before him in the shape of a wretched man covered with countless burns, and he asks Martin:
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(Satan): "What else do you want with me? Isn't enough that you have made me already so wretched, as you can see from may appearance? Do you want to make me even more wretched? What have I done to you? Aren't you as happy as a spirit could possibly be, and that forever? Do you hope to increase your bliss by condemning me to the greatest torment? Oh, you weak spirit, how distant you still are from perfection and comprehension of God's eternal order!
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You look upon me as the most evil of all beings and, thus, by heavenly standards, the most cursed and detestable one. But I ask you: When did I ever abuse you as you did me? What harm have I ever done to you? You infringed God's laws on earth quite independently and did not need my enticement at all. If I had led you astray, the Lord would have made me responsible on your arrival in the spirit world, not you.
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When, with the help of the Lord, you caught the fish from the sea of your own wickedness and thus destroying your sins, you also removed the so-called dragon, thinking that it was I. But there you were quite wrong! You yourself were that dragon in the entirety of your gross sensuousness, not I!
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I am within you, too, of course, for I am your innermost being, except for your spirit. As once on your earth the Lord made the woman from Adam's rib, thus you and all creation have been taken out of me. However, I do not care about all that which has been taken out of me, and I do not judge it. Anyway, the Word of God is implanted through the Spirit of God in every human being, judging it constantly. If this is so, why do you keep condemning me and why are you filled with such unquenchable hatred toward me?
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Maybe you are still angry that in my transformation I pushed you back in the presence of the Lord when you wanted to kiss me! If I had not done that, you would have been lost in the sink of your gross sensuousness. But since I did push you back, humiliating you and thus doing you the greatest possible service, do I now deserve such treatment from you?
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As for these earthquakes which I called forth on the sun, they are necessary, or this globe would have become useless for its future destination, like an animal that keeps eating but cannot rid its body of the coarse, useless excrements. How long could it live in such a case and still be of service?
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Like you, also I am a servant of God - although under compulsion and with a very limited freedom. I must do what I do! And if I commit the least offense anywhere in the whole of infinity, I am punished severely. Of all servants, I am the lowest and most wretched one, condemned by the Creator. I can do nothing but what I have to do under compulsion, although I am in possession of the most perfect intelligence and would often rather act differently. This makes me even more miserable.
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How would you like to be in my place and be used by the Creator for the same purpose? How would you like it if some Martin did to you what you have just done to me? I have said enough; now it is your turn to speak!"