Sunsets Into Sunrises
Bishop Martin - The Progress of a Soul in the Beyond
- Chapter 48 -
BISHOP MARTIN'S FURTHER MARVELOUS DISCOVERIES ON HIS SUN. - THE REASON FOR THE DIFFERENCE IN STATURE OF THE SOLAR PEOPLES. - LOVE AND WISDOM AS THE TRUE MEASURE OF THE SPIRIT. - BISHOP MARTIN'S COMPLAINT ABOUT THE EARTH AND ITS INHABITANTS.
Bishop Martin once more turns to the sun and looks at the spectacles and marvels on its shining surface. After a prolonged scrutiny, he speaks again: "Just look, still the same sun, but quite different people. They are also very beautiful, but their beauty is bearable, similar to those seen on the other planets, even to the inhabitants of our earth.
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I see now several belts around the sun, parallel to each other, and within each of these belts I see humans, some tall, some smaller, some tiny, and - what's that? - there, in the far distance? I can see a giant race of men! They are so huge that the others could live as parasites in their hair like the ones familiar to us!
3
O Lord, forgive me my somewhat dirty remark! I realize it is improper here in the presence of the Sublime, but it slipped out while I was contemplating these giants. Although I have already noticed some very tall humans on the other planets, like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Miron, who were much taller than the inhabitants of my earth, compared with these giants, they, too, seem only like small parasites.
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On earth, a giant like this would tower above the highest mountains! Do tell me, my beloved Lord Jesus, my God and Master, why these men are so terribly tall. I was not supposed to ask You a lot of questions, but since I have not asked any yet, will You forgive me this one?"
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(Say I): "So listen carefully. Think of the different caliber guns, from the lightest to the heaviest, of the armies on earth. What would happen if you put the charge of a very heavy caliber gun into a light caliber? It would tear it to pieces, wouldn't it?
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What would happen to a planet if it were filled with the sun's power? Behold, if the earth, only for one minute, were submerged in the powerful light of the sun, it would dissolve like a drop of water falling onto a red-hot iron. In order to be capable of holding the vast power placed in it, with its full activity, the sun has to be of a very large size and matching strength.
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If you placed a feather on an egg, this would easily hold it, whilst a heavy weight would squash it completely.
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Could a giant wear the coat of a child? Of course not! But if he did try to wear it, it would, naturally, be torn to shreds.
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Thus, in the whole of creation, everything has its own measure; the small, in its way, in all its proportions, and so the large.
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As you now see that there are worlds of different sizes meant to hold corresponding power, thus the spirits on these worlds are of different calibers and, accordingly, their bodies are of different sizes.
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Not that the true, real caliber of a spirit is measured by his size, but only by his love and wisdom; however, these are still primordial spirits, which, in their free state, fill an entire solar system with their activity. Since they, too, want to participate in the beatitude of My Kingdom, they have to walk the path of the flesh. When they have shed their physical bodies, they will, owing to their gentleness and meekness, be of the same size as we are but, if necessary, also of their former size.
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Now you know sufficient for this sphere and your present state. So go on looking and speak about your observations, so that we may proceed to the eleventh door. So be it!
13
Bishop Martin once more contemplates the light-filled areas of the sun and soon discerns very large temples and dwellings, also roads and bridges of boldest design . There are majestically high mountains, whose main ranges surround the sun, marking the different belts, each of them with different inhabitants and different ways of life and customs. He also notices that two belts on both sides of the central or main belt seem to be very much alike.
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He still prefers the humans of the central belt to all the others, to whose beauty he has now got more accustomed, although they must not come too close, especially the women, who seem too enticing. Even the men excite him, for they, too, are so beautiful and have figures of such well-rounded softness which, on earth, could not even be found in the most attractive female figure.
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After looking around for a while, he notices a building in the middle of the central belt which, in its splendor and ornamentation, by far excels everything our Martin has seen so far. And walking around this building, he sees people of such beauty that he collapses as if in a swoon, unable to utter a word for quite a while.
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After some time, Bishop Martin rather moans than speaks, somewhat incoherently: "My God and Lord, who on earth could ever imagine anything like this? The sun is only known as a shining round celestial body, but who could expect this on its surface?
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What are you, earth, compared with this blessed splendor? What are your wild beasts of men compared with these indescribably beautiful beings, full of celestial glory, beauty, and sweetness?
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On earth, the more magnificent the palaces in which people live, the softer their skin and the more luxurious their clothes, the more heartless and diabolical they are! Here it is exactly the contrary. Ah, ah, this is unbelievable!
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Here, the wisest live in unprepossessing huts in the mountains, as I can see. On earth, the dwellings of the top shepherd of Christianity, who imagines himself very wise, are the largest and richest and most luxurious of all, and his clothes are of pure silk adorned with gold and precious gems. Here it is the other way round! Oh, oh, and men on earth are supposed to be children of God! Compared with these pure children of the sun, they are rather children of Satan!
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The Gospel has never been preached to these, but their nature is pure like the Gospel itself. It probably could not be any different, or this celestial order would be unthinkable. Yes, yes, here I see a living demonstration of the true, most perfect, unadulterated and correctly interpreted Word of God!
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Consider the lilies of the field: they toil not and reap not, and even Solomon in his glory was not arrayed like the least one of these! There I see many of these lilies; they have no plow, no knife, no scissors, no weaver's loom, and no embroidery frame. But where on the entire earth could a prince be found, or a princess, fit to even approach any of these celestial lilies?
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O mankind, obscuring and contaminating the earth, who are you and who am I compared with these solar races? O Lord, we are no better than devils and the world is hell itself in its worst form! That is probably also the reason why the stars are so far from the earth: to protect them from being contaminated.
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O God, You are holy and most sublime! But in Your wrath You must have spat out on some occasion, and from that curse of Yours the earth and its creatures must have originated!
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Forgive me, Lord, this remark, but I could not help it at the sight of this heaven. Earth and its inhabitants now make me shudder like a poisonous, stinking cadaver does!
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Send me into endless space, Lord, but never again back to earth, for it is to me like a hell of hells, and its people irredeemable devils with their main object to persecute the few angels among them.
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O Lord, o Lord, do send a proper judgment over this sole blemish in the whole of Your creation. The more I look at these splendors here, the more I feel that the earth and its mankind are not really Your work, but the work of Satan, the chief of all demons. There is nothing but vice, death, and destruction, of which You, o Lord, could never be the creator!
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Ah, ah, how magnificent and wonderful it is here, where the eternal order of Your Word is reigning! And how miserable and agonizing it is on earth, a curse emanated from You because it keeps opposing Your order! O Lord, send Your judgment, destroy it, annihilate it forever, for it does not deserve Your mercy!"
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(Say I): "Calm yourself! Although you have spoken the truth, you do not have the right understanding as yet. Let us now proceed to the eleventh door, where you will see many things clearer and form a different opinion. Therefore, follow Me. So be it!"