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19“Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. 20“And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, 21and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. 22“Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. 23“In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. 24“And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ 25“But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. 26‘And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’ 27“And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house— 28for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 29“But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30“But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ 31“But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’ About the rich glutton and poor Lazarus in the beyond Who created hell? Only the malice of the spirits. 1. I continue: You are thinking: ‘Indeed, it is all true, if the Deity speaks like that to those who in their fullest freedom have isolated themselves in their nature. Hence this apparent scare tactic cannot enshrine that shock of a first impression. But what then is there to the tale of the poor Lazarus and the rich glutton, who without all grace is seen in the most terrible fire of hell, pleading and finding no ear, and between whom and the grace of God there is an unbridgeable abyss, over which there is no bridge into eternity? How does God’s love, wisdom and mercy address that?’ 2. Say I: “Dear friend, I well knew that you would bring up that question; I ask you in return, whether you can tell Me who actually cast this glutton into hell: God perchance? Such I am truly not aware of. 3. “Or has same turned to God’s love and grace in his necessary torment, in order to be freed? I know only that he turned to Abraham’s spirit and not to God! Abraham’s spirit nevertheless, although as a created spirit is exceedingly perfect, yet eternally not the Deity Itself, Who alone can help. And It is also in such cases the unbridgeable abyss, over which the spirits of differing natures must never shake hands, because her God’s most secret and deep wisdom and love are at work! 4. “If however this glutton finds himself in great misery, can the Deity be blamed for his casting himself mightily into it? Can injustice be done to the willing, if he desired what befell him? Speak your mind again!” 5. Says Robert: “Indeed, this is totally right again! But if the Deity is filled with the greatest love, which It is bound to be, as I begin to comprehend gradually, then the question begs itself: ‘how could the Deity have arranged such most tormenting place or condition, where a spirit has to first bear indescribable pain before he potentially nears perfection, and through that pass over to milder circumstances? Has there to be a hell? And do such spirits have to be capable of pain? Could not all this be arranged in a less cruel way?” 6. Say I: “Hearken, my dear friend, do you think that God set up hell in that way? Oh, here your are much mistaken! Behold, this was done by the spirits themselves, from antiquity. God merely permitted it in order not to curtail their freedom in the least. But that He should ever have created a hell, that no being in all the heavens can even remotely imagine. For if God could create a hell, then He would also have to be imbued with sin and evil, which would be an impossibility for God, for it is not possible for Him to act against His own eternal order. And so it is unthinkable that God out of Himself, in the actual sense of the word, could create a hell. But He can and must allow it to the freest spirits, if out of their completely perverted original order they prepare circumstances for themselves which indeed are most evil and wicked! 7. “You shall not however, throughout all infinity anywhere find a place which had already been founded by God as hell. For nowhere is there a hell outside of man himself. If however man of his own free will, by total disregard of God’s word develops hell, not turning to the easy keeping of God’s commandments: how can God be blamed if a spirit voluntarily abandons, mocks and blasphemes Him? 8. “Since God alone however is the true life and also the light of all lights, and hence also the only complete blessing of all beings, - it then also is understandable that a state of godlessness can have nothing pleasant, - since there can be no life, light or goodness without God! 9. “A man who abandons God, casting Him out from himself and not taking Him up again, necessarily must create a true hell within himself, which must be bad and wicked in everything. If such human spirit then, from such godless state, necessarily fares very badly – getting worse with time, then the Deity cannot be blamed. Because if the Deity were to nonetheless take over such being omnipotently in spite of the being’s most stubborn resistance then this would instantly annihilate such being, which would be against all divine order. 10. “For were the Deity to destroy even the smallest being that had once been set free out of Itself, then this would be the start of the destruction of all beings. Since the Deity however unchangeably established Its order for the non-destruction ever of whatsoever being of any selfdevelopment, the everlasting enduring of every being is thereby assured, and therewith the possibility of becoming an exceedingly blessed one, or remain unhappy, if desired! 11. “If someone owns a vineyard into which only precious vines are planted, the owner eradicating all precious vines afterwards, setting thorns and thistles in their place, finding more pleasure in such wild growths rather than in simple vines, - say, is the Deity also to blame, if this foolish owner takes in no wine harvest, becoming thereby a miserable person without means? 12. “Behold, such is also the case with all spirits who will not put up with God’s order, not wanting to nurture the splendid divine vineyard within themselves! If then harvesting thorns and thistles in place of superb grapes, can God be blamed as the Creator of such disaster? Tell Me what you think!” (From Hell to Heaven vol. 1, chap. 30) 1. Says Joseph: “Oh Lord, this I have once again understood completely, but there is another small item in Scripture I don’t fully understand, and that is the unbridgeable abyss in the parable of the rich glutton, whom You have placed in hell before the eyes of the world. If there is an unbridgeable gap between those who find themselves in Abraham’s lap in heaven and those of a terrible fate in hell, then how shall redemption from hell be possible? And other Scriptural passages also testify that salvation from hell shall hardly ever be possible for sinners against the Holy Spirit, with either very little or no forgiveness, and that out of Your very own mouth, oh Lord! What therefore is to be made of all this?” 2. Say I: “That which worldly lawyers say: ‘he who desires something can suffer no injustice! ‘ The unbridgeable abyss however consists in the unbridgeable difference between My freest order in the heavens and the infernal disorder opposing same in every aspect. Hence this text denotes only its irreconcilability and not the door-lock on someone found within same. 3. But it stands to reason that he who himself becomes fully hell through his voluntary abandonment of My freest order for the necessarily judged anti-order will not get out of hell too soon. It is known only too well how hard it is for a wickedly proud and all-domineering arrogance to attain to the gentleness and humility of heaven. It is not an impossibility, but a great difficulty. You shall in future have many an occasion of finding out how hard it is to completely lift someone out of hell. The proud always relapses to arrogance, the unchaste to unchastity, the lazy to lethargy, the jealous to jealousy and envy, the miser to meanness, the liar to the lie, the robber to robbery, the murderer to murder, the callous to recklessness. Even where their natures are rebuked a thousand times they keep reverting back to the same vices as soon as given the full freedom necessary for eternally free life. And the more they suffer a relapse the feebler they become and the harder it is for them to rise above their wicked sins in order to go over to My divine freedom as purified spirits. 4. But keep in mind that much of what is impossible to human spirits is still quite possible to Me, because all things are possible to Me!” (From Hell to Heaven vol. 2, chap. 227) The following parable of the rich man and the poor Lazarus was to show My listeners even more clearly the consequences that arise if a person fully surrenders to mammon instead of using it for spiritual purposes. It was to show them that in this way one receives his reward already on earth, whilst the reward for the other one is saved for another much longer life; the one life being-of a short duration, the other lasting forever. It will be quite as impossible for the worldly-minded to enter upon the road to beatitude - except if he does it from within -as it will be to the already perfected to return to worldly-mindedness. That the rich man in his torment had asked to save at least his brothers, whereupon Abraham replied that even if the dead returned to the world, they would be unable to convert one who does not believe in his religion and its principles, means that those who have completely surrendered to the world, or to mammon, would take little notice even if supernatural influences would approach them, as they had long since ignored the supernatural as non-existent and denied it with words and deeds. (The Lord’s Sermons, Sermon 34)
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