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Authors: Dennis, Nolene Prince
Tags: Christian
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IN DEEPER SLUMBER THE
DORMANT SPIRIT, WHILE WREATHING THY
MORTAL BROW WITH HUMAN LAURELS? ”
“Did you try to lead them to God? No! Instead you wrote learned essays and elaborate Bible expositions. You dressed your sermons with brilliant poetry and marvelous oratory, but the only result was that people were lulled into even greater apathy while you received honor for your clever words.”
At this point the former minister cried out, “Stop! Stop! Leave me alone! My remorse tortures me, and I have had enough! It never ends! Stop! Don’t cut me down! I know I deserve this suffering. I know that all my life I did things just for pleasure. I trifled with men’s souls and wrote about eternal things without any conviction. I put my prayers together only to please people. I interpreted the Bible to suit the selfish and fickle and proud, and I found excuses for those who oppressed others.
“This existence is pure horror! Sorrow has gripped me, and endless night! I hear the wailing voices; I see the madness of frustrated spirits. They haunt me! If I try to escape, I find multitudes of evils in front of me like ghosts. They give no rest to the souls here. My parishioners drive me mad with their bitter curses. The memories of my secret sins rise up like demons and give me never-ending pain. Spare me a deeper hell!”
As he said these things, the whole audience stood up and mocked him in his agony. The spirit who had rebuked him continued to censure him: “You knew very well that we would have done what you told us to do. But when we did wrong things—things that could cause us to end up in this place—you, our supposed teacher of religion, did not try to correct us! 4
“The Bible, that sacred book, is a gift of God to guide people to heaven! But it was misinterpreted by ministers and theologians like you. You all loved pleasure; your hearts were far from God. Your version of the Bible was a passport to this place!
“Now all we know is bitter grief. Our sins ripen here and turn into living things. The latest fashions that were once so important to us bind us now like unquenchable fire. And the money god we all worshiped sits like a ghost in the clouds of death that hang over the abyss.”
He shook his finger at the former minister. “Your life here is the consequence of breaking the law of life. You violated it! You were driven by your love of glory! Your kind of religion was hypocritical, like a clean white grave. On the outside you looked beautiful and pure, but on the inside your heart was a den of lust and pride, a lair of snakes’ thoughts. It was a tomb full of dead men’s bones, the legacy of other bigoted, heartless ministers and theologians. 5
“Do not curse your Maker,” he laughed mockingly. “This is your wellearned reward. Listen and I will quote you a Bible scripture that you so often preached so carelessly. Listen to this!
“‘The one who sows to please his sinful nature…will reap destruction.’ 6 Here is another: ‘For the wages of sin is death.’ 7
“Those verses ring so loudly here now. They reach every home of every spirit. They touch every part of our senses. Worse still, they are magnified to the utmost by the doom of this place.
“No, you false teacher, let God and His Word be true, 8 for sin has done this to us. We suffer because we have violated God’s law.”
A S HE SPOKE THESE WORDS A FEARFUL
TREMBLING SEIZED HIS FORM .
As he spoke these words, he began to tremble violently. He became more and more agitated until he and the rest of the congregation collapsed on the floor. As this happened, they seemed to lose their individualities and began to blend together into a mass of agitated life. Above this mass rose a thick cloud, so dense that it appeared to be a part of the writhing body below.
The sight was too much for me. I could not endure any more of these woeful scenes. I shrank back and cried, “Isn’t there a God of mercy somewhere, and can’t He see these things
DORMANT SPIRIT, WHILE WREATHING THY
MORTAL BROW WITH HUMAN LAURELS? ”
“Did you try to lead them to God? No! Instead you wrote learned essays and elaborate Bible expositions. You dressed your sermons with brilliant poetry and marvelous oratory, but the only result was that people were lulled into even greater apathy while you received honor for your clever words.”
At this point the former minister cried out, “Stop! Stop! Leave me alone! My remorse tortures me, and I have had enough! It never ends! Stop! Don’t cut me down! I know I deserve this suffering. I know that all my life I did things just for pleasure. I trifled with men’s souls and wrote about eternal things without any conviction. I put my prayers together only to please people. I interpreted the Bible to suit the selfish and fickle and proud, and I found excuses for those who oppressed others.
“This existence is pure horror! Sorrow has gripped me, and endless night! I hear the wailing voices; I see the madness of frustrated spirits. They haunt me! If I try to escape, I find multitudes of evils in front of me like ghosts. They give no rest to the souls here. My parishioners drive me mad with their bitter curses. The memories of my secret sins rise up like demons and give me never-ending pain. Spare me a deeper hell!”
As he said these things, the whole audience stood up and mocked him in his agony. The spirit who had rebuked him continued to censure him: “You knew very well that we would have done what you told us to do. But when we did wrong things—things that could cause us to end up in this place—you, our supposed teacher of religion, did not try to correct us! 4
“The Bible, that sacred book, is a gift of God to guide people to heaven! But it was misinterpreted by ministers and theologians like you. You all loved pleasure; your hearts were far from God. Your version of the Bible was a passport to this place!
“Now all we know is bitter grief. Our sins ripen here and turn into living things. The latest fashions that were once so important to us bind us now like unquenchable fire. And the money god we all worshiped sits like a ghost in the clouds of death that hang over the abyss.”
He shook his finger at the former minister. “Your life here is the consequence of breaking the law of life. You violated it! You were driven by your love of glory! Your kind of religion was hypocritical, like a clean white grave. On the outside you looked beautiful and pure, but on the inside your heart was a den of lust and pride, a lair of snakes’ thoughts. It was a tomb full of dead men’s bones, the legacy of other bigoted, heartless ministers and theologians. 5
“Do not curse your Maker,” he laughed mockingly. “This is your wellearned reward. Listen and I will quote you a Bible scripture that you so often preached so carelessly. Listen to this!
“‘The one who sows to please his sinful nature…will reap destruction.’ 6 Here is another: ‘For the wages of sin is death.’ 7
“Those verses ring so loudly here now. They reach every home of every spirit. They touch every part of our senses. Worse still, they are magnified to the utmost by the doom of this place.
“No, you false teacher, let God and His Word be true, 8 for sin has done this to us. We suffer because we have violated God’s law.”
A S HE SPOKE THESE WORDS A FEARFUL
TREMBLING SEIZED HIS FORM .
As he spoke these words, he began to tremble violently. He became more and more agitated until he and the rest of the congregation collapsed on the floor. As this happened, they seemed to lose their individualities and began to blend together into a mass of agitated life. Above this mass rose a thick cloud, so dense that it appeared to be a part of the writhing body below.
The sight was too much for me. I could not endure any more of these woeful scenes. I shrank back and cried, “Isn’t there a God of mercy somewhere, and can’t He see these things
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