Sunsets Into Sunrises
Bishop Martin - The Progress of a Soul in the Beyond
- Chapter 64 -
HONEST CONFESSION OF THE MINORITE. - ROME AS THE CULPRIT. - BEGINNING COMPREHENSION AND BETTERMENT OF THE MINORITES.
1
(A Minorite comes forward and says): "Friends, let me say a few words which, should it turn out that they are of no use, might at least help to pass a little bit of time of the eternal rest ahead of us!"
2
(All the spirits): "Very well! We shall be happy to listen to you. Already in the world you were known as a wise, ingratiating orator. Go ahead, and speak as much as you want to!"
3
(The Minorite): "Brothers and friends, in the world all of us had in a way two gospels. On the one hand there was the ancient one by Christ, the Lord, and some of His disciples, and then there was the one of the Roman Catholic Church, claiming to be the only true church, since it believed, and still believes, to have inherited the Holy See from Peter, and to hold the keys for heaven as well as for hell.
4
We took an oath to be faithful to this church to the end of our days and to believe all it demanded of us - to believe irrespective of whether it was written in the Bible or not! We also vowed to consider everyone a heretic who thought or believed differently, and to condemn him.
5
We kept our oath in all detail, even if sometimes against our better judgment or plain common sense.
6
You are all aware of the fact that we were forbidden by the church to read the Bible, which was considered a deathly sin, except on Sundays, and then only the much condensed Gospels. All the rest only the theologians were allowed to read and comprehend. Instead, there were for us the Church Fathers, the breviary, the legends; also the rules of the order, Ignatius of Loyola, the relics, the images, the masses, the sacraments, the confession, and other things, many of which we can now openly condemn as evil follies.
7
Now we must ask: Can we be blamed for acting contrary to the true Gospel of Christ through the ordinance of the Roman Church, which must have been at least allowed by God? In accordance with all human, and surely also divine, justice, the real culprit must be made responsible. And we should be advised as to what attitude to adopt for our eternal future, and how we can make amends for what we ourselves may have done wrong."
8
(Say the others): "Well said! We have really enjoyed your speech! May the culprit be made responsible! The Holy See should be punished, and everyone who forced us into actions without giving us time to think it over, comprehend what we were doing, and consent to it, or otherwise!
9
We were baptized without our consent, and through this premature baptism, we were forced into the Roman creed, thus making the child in the womb already responsible. Or is it not crazy to have a newborn child, through certain representatives, swear an oath of allegiance without taking into consideration that the child, when grown up, may disagree with this vow, and, consequently, be forced into perjury? Is not that totally antichristian?
10
Christ Himself said that he who believed and was baptized would attain salvation. But how can a person be baptized before he has comprehended and accepted the Christian faith? Is not baptism meant to be a living demonstration that somebody has accepted the Christian faith for his sole guiding principle in life? And what does a new-born child know about faith, the Christian faith? The more you think about it, the more you realize the folly of it.
11
It is maintained that, as a result of baptism, remission of the original sin, as well as all sins committed prior to baptism, is obtained. How utterly foolish that is! Can any intelligent person condemn a child because his parents committed an understandable offense? And God, Whose wisdom is supreme, should keep holding children of more than the thousandth generation responsible for Adam's fall? And as to any sins committed prior to baptism - that is quite ridiculous since a child cannot possibly sin in its mother's womb!
12
And what sins could a heathen have who has only just been converted to Christianity, which in itself is heathenish enough? His would have to be sins against his pagan laws for, not having comprehended Christian laws, he could not really offend against them. And the remission of a heathen's heathenish sins would only mean confirmation of his paganism. The same would apply to a Jew, for to forgive a Jew in baptism for being a Jew for so long, would be the acme of foolishness!"
13
(The Minorite): "Friends, I fully agree with you! This Roman way of making Christians already in the womb really reminds me now of those ancient fairy tales about people selling themselves to the devil. For the vilest reasons of policy, one is practically sold to the devil already in one's mother's womb, and becomes his prisoner through Rome! And this antichristian, so-called 'First Christian Church' even calls itself the 'Mother Church', and its head 'Vicar of Christ'; consequently, vicar of God!
14
How peculiar - and still true - that we were all so wrong and did not even notice it that almost from our birth we were more or less of the devil! Baptism should have freed us from the silly original sin to make us children of God. And nice children of God we have been! Instead of away from hell, we were literally baptized into hell!
15
And to make sure that no one ever truly repented and thought of betterment, auricular confession was invented appeasing all deathly sins, entitling us priests to total absolution. Hereby every sinner was thrown back into his own sink of iniquity, making it impossible for him ever to become a new creature in Christ.
16
O brothers, brothers, that God allowed these things to happen will forever remain an unsolvable riddle for us! 'Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.' Fine perfection, indeed, when one had to be a stupid blockhead and is only now, as a spirit, beginning to realize, thanks to the heavenly light, in what error one has lived in the world.
17
We could say a lot more about this and prove without any doubt that the Holy See is the culprit, fully responsible for all our errors. However, what we, at this stage, understand only partly, the Lord Himself sees clearly in the brightest light, and He will have mercy upon us if we forgive from all our heart all those who were, and are still, responsible for all our darkness. That is how I feel about it. What is your opinion?"
18
All the others, with the exception of a few Jesuits, fully agree with the speaker.