The Life Elysian. Translated into Simplified “Modern English”. Chapter Nine. Who Rules in Hell?

"Can you see how this will end?" I asked Ladas.

"No! That would require the special gift of Zecartus, which I do not have, since it would actually interfere with my work. There are two paths available to the man that I can point out to you, but I can't say which one he will take. The better path would be for him to admit his mistake immediately, figure out the real cause of his weakness, and then work to fix things, being careful not to slip again. The problem with this approach is that it requires constant effort, whereas his usual way of living has been careless and indifferent to the moral weakness that played a big role in his fall. Avoiding this was much easier than fixing the damage now. On the other hand, if he doesn't put in the effort to meet this bigger moral challenge, every future temptation will lead to further and deeper ruin, because bad habits work together to destroy."

"Couldn’t you tell him this and warn him?"

"No. He’s made his choice and cut himself off from such help. If his religion had been more than just empty words, when the tempter began the struggle you saw, he would have asked for help, and there would have been plenty of help available to save him. But temptation blew away his fake religious shield and revealed the true man, one who was ready to take advantage of another for personal pleasure—a perfect match for the evil spirit who took him over and quickly defeated him. He carelessly set up his soul to fall into this unsuspected trap, and now he must face the consequences. No! We can’t help him right now. He first has to realize how he has sinned, then he will find a thousand hands ready to lift him up. I’ve now given you two examples of how these spiritual connections work; I will also show you an example of the punishment these unrepentant souls must endure."

He led me far away from the chaos of both sides of life, to a small place by the sea. It was one of those beautiful, peaceful spots of life, like the ones Heber wrote about, where "every prospect pleases, and only man is vile."

A few fishing boats were resting in a small harbor. Nature had taken care of this little fishing community, which couldn't afford to build their own protection against the sometimes-rough waves. All around, there were dozens of beautiful spots, in valleys, on hills, or peaceful retreats. The homes of the fishermen were built close to the water like devoted lovers to their chosen maidens, but those who had become successful and left their humble beginnings climbed the hill overlooking the bay and built grander homes, trying to hide any trace of their humble origins.

Ladas took me to the largest and most prominent of these houses, built by a clever man who had risen from the water's edge. As a child, he was the pride and amusement of the small community because of his cleverness, but as he grew, he became their worry and sorrow for using the same skills in harmful ways. As a young man, he learned that making money through cleverness was better than hard work. He realized that the man who could buy fish was wealthier than the one who caught them, so he left the boat behind. Success came easily to him.

It wasn’t hard for him to outsmart the honest, simple men he had left behind, and he quickly became an important figure in both the community and the church, sometimes even preaching from the pulpit.

He started lending money when times were tough, charging high interest and terms that caused half the fishing boats in the harbor to end up in his hands, taken by debt or unpaid interest. With the boats came their share of every catch, increasing his wealth while draining the village of its resources. His loan business needed a clerk, so he hired a girl whose father had died before he could settle a debt. After months of near starvation from her small salary, he ruined her life, driving her away from church, Sunday school, and home, leading her to suicide. The village held its breath, but didn’t dare speak out, and the church turned a blind eye, accepting a small donation.

Then came the long-awaited moment of the "mansion's" stone-laying, with the President of the Conference and other religious leaders present to honour the man whom God had so greatly elevated among his peers.

Few people in the area had realized what a saint their Shylock was until the President raised the flag of his admired success and encouraged others to follow it, presenting it as the reward for generous righteousness. While outsiders applauded, the people of the village groaned quietly.

It was a beautiful, clear day for the stone-laying. Perhaps a little too bright, too warm, and just a bit over-the-top in its praise, some whispered to each other. Events later proved their doubts were somewhat justified, for the roof hadn’t even been put on before the village circuit-steward was urgently asked to settle his life’s account.

“Thou fool! This night thy soul shall be required of thee; then—!!!”

It was the aftermath of this "then" that I saw when the process had been going on for years, without any break, moderation, or relief. The house, once the man’s dream and ambition, was finished and had become the prison of his earth-bound soul. I’ve mentioned how every part of the immortal home reflects some act, word, or deed from the previous life—and this was true here too!

Every detail of the house was a reminder of some usurious and dishonest act, an open robbery of someone who couldn’t defend themselves, the memory of a woman’s ruin, the hunger of underfed children, the curse of a broken family, a lie, an evasion, a theft dressed up in hypocritical regret, a cold, calculated revenge, and a firm will to crush others’ success. His life had been a busy one—his motto was, "A man has to work if he wants to get ahead," and the result of his life was also busy. A thousand chattering ghosts kept him busy with debts he had to account for. There was no escape. His unrepentant soul wouldn’t acknowledge its sin; but even though the odds were against him for the moment, he believed he would overcome them, and then the world would see what he could do.

Such was his defiant resolve when I saw him. His mask was gone, and the light of his religion had long since faded. He knew he was fighting against God, but he would fight until he won.

It was the most terrifying scene of punishment I had seen so far, full of a desperate struggle to escape, while at the same time raging with stubborn guilt.

But the hardest part for him was the knowledge that his punishment was seen and known by all the dead and living who passed by.

Ladas didn’t explain anything but left me to read the situation for myself and draw my own conclusions.

“Are you satisfied?” he asked after a moment. “If so, we can go, and I’ll show you how we help such souls when they truly seek help.”

We returned to the place where he usually worked, where we found several of his fellow-servants closely watching a miserable woman who had been brought down in some shameful conflict. She had fallen, struggling and crying in pain, her hands desperately pulling at her hair and ears, as if she thought tearing them off might bring her relief from the suffering she couldn’t escape. Suddenly, she jumped to her feet as though ready to dive back into the struggle, but she staggered back, as if another punishment was waiting for her. She gripped her head with both hands, swayed, and then, with a loud cry, broke into tears.

"My God! My God! Will this torment never end?"

I barely caught the words before she was surrounded and lifted up by the angels who had been waiting.

Their joy was so overwhelming it almost hid the sorrow of the woman. In that moment, I saw and understood how God’s promise to answer before they even call is fulfilled. I saw for myself how the eternal arms are always ready to lift up those who fall, needing only a repentant thought to bring them up into a place of salvation.

“It’s over, my sister; this part of your suffering is finished now, if you will come with us,” said one of the angels. “God is always more merciful to us than we are to ourselves. He has already heard your cry, and we were sent in answer to it even before it left your lips. Come, lean on us, and rest for a while, then we will guide you to a place where no more useless pain can reach you.”

“I cannot rest here!” she cried. “Oh, if you have any pity, take me away from this unbearable agony!”

“Come, then, and we will lead you to the path that leads to rest. How gladly would we carry you there if we could, but perfect rest is only found in holiness, and the sins of your past have so stained your life that you must first be cleansed before you can bear the purity you seek.

But God, in His infinite love for you, has made a way for you to reach it, and He will lead you there with His own hand. Do not be afraid. The worst is over now. Any pain you may face in the future will be for purification and preparation for the rest you desire. God is not angry with you—He pities you, loves you, and wants to bring you to Himself. Even the punishment you’ve endured was meant to turn you away from your sins and into His loving arms, and what is still to come will only be necessary to fix the past. Do you remember the story of the Prodigal Son? You will find that God is just the same in His dealings with you. He will welcome you like a Father, with a kiss, and will never let you leave His home again.”

“Go on, keep talking,” she begged. “I will go anywhere with you if you speak to me like that. You are kind! You don’t hate me! I can trust myself with you. You make me want to be good—that is, if I could be good! Go on, please. Yes, you can talk about God if you want to; just keep talking. If others had spoken to me the way you do, I would have listened I would have learned to love God a long time ago!”

She spoke in a frantic, disjointed way, with long pauses because she was exhausted, but the storm that had so violently torn her apart was slowly fading as the rescue group carried her further and further from the place where she had been trapped. It wasn’t just the comforting words of the spirit who spoke to her that helped, but also the atmosphere of love and trust created by the group around her. This had a steadily calming effect as they moved her into a more hopeful state within her own personal hell.

“We won’t follow them,” said Ladas. “Her situation wouldn’t give you a clear idea of what hell’s true regime is.”

If I had been given the choice, I might have followed to learn more about the woman who had stirred my sympathy and curiosity, but my guide was clearly following a specific plan for my learning. Reminding myself that it’s impossible to follow things to their ultimate end when the consequences stretch into eternity, I accepted his suggestion and crossed over into a different direction, away from the path of the group helping the woman.

Our new path led us into a land of relative darkness, full of dangers and pitfalls, dirty and full of fears, where men and women wandered like frightened shadows, trying to avoid being noticed while also crying out for help and compassion.

We had barely crossed over when I heard a cry that sent a chill of fear through me.

“Help! Help! I’m blind!”

In response, I heard laughter.

“What’s that?” I asked.

Ladas pointed out a woman not far away.

“She wants to reach a place where she can feel safe, but that’s impossible because she has no confidence, even in herself.”

“Why is that?”

Ladas studied her carefully for a moment before answering.

“She’s an example of the hell of moral cowardice. On Earth, she had wealth, which she misused lavishly, believing she was atoning for neglecting her duties as a woman.

She avoided anything unpleasant and, with money, thought she had the right to escape anything that might be even slightly disagreeable. Because of her donations, people indulged her harmless ideas and reassured her that it wasn’t necessary for her sensitive feelings to be upset. They told her God would accept her service through others. Now you see her after she has lost the privilege of wealth, in a place full of challenges related to class and noble birth, where moral cowardice has turned into total blindness at the very moment when sharp sight is needed to avoid countless real pains caused by her past fears. We cannot help her. She deliberately created her own hell and must stay in it until she has paid the full price for the misery she caused. Only then will she be freed, gaining back her sight and finding the way to the safety she seeks.”

After this, I witnessed an agony I won't try to describe in detail. It was the punishment given to someone whose "inhumanity to man" is likely the lowest form of sin’s depravity: Nero, the self-indulgent and petulant matricide of Rome.

Those who want to understand this vision must remember that in hell, every crime is met with unyielding and relentless justice, dealt with separately and thoroughly; also, the soul of even the worst criminal in the process of discarnation (separating from the body) is as sensitive to suffering as the soul of the brightest saint is to joy. There is only one level of feeling in the afterlife, and every soul is attuned to its precise emotional pitch. Now, try to understand the offenses that need to be atoned for in this case, and if you can, calculate the remaining debt after what has already been endured, and the current state of the soul upon whom justice is still being exacted.

If you can make this calculation, it will give you a small idea of what hell is like.

I had no desire to stay longer in the presence of such torment, each moment of which was the just consequence of what the person had done—cold-bloodedly and with mocking cruelty. Nor did I want to go further in understanding how hell adapts to the different kinds of punishments it must carry out as the agent of Divine justice. I had seen enough.

If only the people on Earth could see the vision before me, it would create a plea for righteous living and behaviour that no human ear has ever heard.

"It seems almost unbelievable," I said to Ladas, "that a person can earn such a punishment in just the few short years of one life."

"It’s a powerful statement about a man’s ability to do good or evil," he replied. "It’s not part of my role to disturb or interfere with this wretched man, or I might have pointed out to you the chart always hanging before his eyes, where he can track and see every single pain he suffers. He can see what he has already paid for, as well as what he still owes. There can be no argument about any overcharge or injustice in his case. His memory and conscience act as judges, and they cannot be bribed nor stray from righteousness in any decision they make."

"The helplessness of his situation seems to make it even more horrifying, but it’s a small relief to see that he’s neither bound nor locked up behind prison doors."

"There’s no need for those things," Ladas replied. "He is his own guarantee against escape."

"Do they ever try to escape?"

"No! Hell is not a place of rebellion, but a place of acceptance of justice, and every soul within it has learned from experience that the love of God is as strongly present there as it is in the highest Heaven. This realization may cause one of the sharpest pains in hell—the regret for having so horribly sinned against such unchanging love, which still shows pity when one might expect deserved revenge. Here, sin is clearly seen by the sinner as a willful and deliberate act against what is known to be right, or as an equally criminal refusal to protect what is right. The purpose and mission of hell is understood to be the best that eternal love and wisdom can offer to fully redeem a soul from sin, preparing it for divine sonship. The first stage of life was greatly misunderstood, misdirected, and misapplied; men, in their ignorance, have tried to understand eternal laws through the lens of so-called human justice, which can be manipulated and is largely influenced by speech, whims, or other weaknesses of Earth.

Because God does not set up a tribunal in every marketplace and punish every offender immediately and publicly, people think that sin is only punished in theory, and bold sinners act without fear, racing from one sin to the next. In doing this, they only add to their condemnation. They know, and admit, that natural laws are not subject to whim! You cannot bribe a fire to stop burning a child, nor can you blame the fire for doing so because the child didn’t know better. It’s the nature of fire to burn, and it’s the nature of sin to punish. No one can play with either without facing the inevitable consequences. The idea that punishment is delayed doesn’t change the truth, and in this, people only harm themselves more. When a criminal is convicted on Earth, society protests the public punishment and mercifully orders that it be carried out privately, within the house of correction. Hell is God’s house of correction, designed to save the lost and lift up the fallen; and it’s so effective that no soul that has passed through its gates would hesitate to say, 'I have sinned.'"

"Not one?" I asked.

"No. Such a thing would be impossible. Let me draw your attention to a forgotten or overlooked insight Christ shared in His parable of Dives in hell. The rich man was so aware of love and sympathy that he believed he would be granted a request for cooling water. But when he realized that his situation was beyond the reach of justice, his thoughts immediately turned to the salvation of his brothers."

"I never saw it that way before."

"We all have much to understand before we fully grasp the true message of the gospel Christ preached," my companion replied.

"Is the system of isolation common?" I asked, prompted by the two examples I had seen.

"No. The way people are treated varies as much as the sins they need to atone for."

"With such a perfect law in operation, one might wonder what’s left for the Devil to do."

"What devil do you mean?" he asked, speaking with a soft, deliberate tone, emphasizing his point.

"I mean the great enemy of mankind."

"The archangel who fell from Heaven?" he suggested.

"Yes; Lucifer and all his followers."

"Have you ever thought about what the effect of such a disruption in Heaven would be, if it were true?"

"If it were true!" I gasped. "Of course it is true."

"Why 'of course'?" he asked.

"Because—well—it must be! We know it is."

"Say rather that you have been taught to believe it is. You cannot know, because it is not true! The story is a creation of priests to justify the existence of their religion. The whole structure of priesthood is built on lies and immorality. God’s messages to Earth always come through the inspired words of prophets, not through symbols, ceremonies, or ritualistic practices. The sacrifices He requires are subdued passions, selfish gains given up for others, acts of love shown to Him through service to the suffering. His chosen altar is pure devotion set up in humble hearts; His temple is a life dedicated to His service through helping humanity.

Christ was a prophet who was crucified because of the influence and hatred of the priests, which should have forever condemned the false religion they represented. He had nothing but condemnation for it and always stood against it, seeing it as a product of hell—the symbolism of which is, as priests love their symbols, error, misunderstanding, and the need for correction."

"But do you really mean to tell me there is no Devil?"

"I do. I’ve never found such a being, and if he existed, I would have encountered him many times in my work. But let me ask you to think for a moment about what the existence of such a being would mean, and you’ll quickly understand what an impossible, absurd, and totally unbelievable state of things would be required to allow him to exist."

"If this is true, all the other things I’ve learned seem insignificant in comparison."

"Let’s put that aside for now. Going back to the very beginning of this story, think for a moment about how the fall of angels, as the story goes, would destroy the possibility of Heaven."

"How so?"

"If his supposed rebellion ever did happen, Heaven would be more free from sin than Earth. Where would the perfection and certainty of its holiness be, since sin had once started in the mind of someone so close to God? Such a fall would destroy peace and trust forever, and without those, Heaven couldn’t exist."

"It does seem that way."

"Again," he continued, "the idea of such a being existing is a blasphemy against God."

"How?"

"Because if such a fall had happened, it would not only have been known by God, but also planned by Him, or else He would not be all-knowing and all-powerful. And if He did plan it and still has these qualities, then He would not be holy or true. Therefore, it’s impossible for a Devil to exist and for God to remain. Righteousness forbids it; it’s a contradiction and cannot be reconciled."

"But the question is whether the moral difficulty might be resolved in ways that the human mind is not capable of understanding right now."

"Some problems are of such a nature that it will take ages for us to fully understand them, but this is not one of them. It is perfectly reasonable to say that what goes against reason and truth, within the limits of human understanding, can never be reconciled to them beyond those limits. For example, nothing will ever make two lines drawn at right angles run parallel, and this is exactly what the idea of God and a Devil existing together looks like. As I said, the two are a contradiction and cannot be reconciled in terms of reason or intelligence, either now or in the future.

It’s very different when we question things like the nature and substance of God—assuming He has substance—in which case we can hope that future knowledge will reveal what we cannot understand now. But the question of whether a Devil exists is completely at odds with every moral quality of God, and the more we explore this idea, the more it becomes tangled in contradictions. The real mystery is how intelligence can keep considering the tradition as something worth thinking about."

"Of course, you’re speaking from the higher understanding you have gained from experience here."

"Even if I were speaking from that higher understanding, Christ has shown that our knowledge is available to those on the other side. But all it takes is honest inquiry for anyone to prove this idea false on their own. The clergy knows this well, and to protect themselves, they forbid any inquiry unless it is interpreted by them. But you and I are beyond their control, and since I prefer to completely remove error to prevent future confusion, let’s look a little further into this issue, which we’ve only begun to touch. According to tradition, Lucifer’s goal in starting his rebellion in Heaven was to gain more power than he already had. Milton says: -"

"‘Aspiring to set himself in glory above his peers,

He hoped to equal the Most High,

If He opposed, and with ambitious aim

Against the throne and monarchy of God,

Raised impious war in Heaven, and battled proudly

With vain attempt.’

The contradictions of this priestly story now come thick and fast, and it’s hard to find any logical thread through the maze of nonsense. Did Lucifer make a vain attempt? Before his rebellion, he was an archangel seeking power equal to God’s. What did he lose in his failure? His place in Heaven, which he was never suited for because of his inner impurity. What did he gain? A throne—if not the one he wanted, it was still a throne—with one-third of Heaven’s host to follow his command; he gained freedom from service, became Prince of the powers of the air, and God of the world, which he took from the Creator through his revolt.

To redeem this world, God is said to agree to the murder of His own innocent Son, in an attempt to correct all the past mistakes, inconsistencies, immoralities, and problems, but no one has ever explained how this is supposed to work. Meanwhile, the Devil continues to hold power as if no atonement has been made, and most of humanity falls under his rule, with God unable to stop it. Surely I need say no more about such a false and immoral idea, which insults reason and blasphemes against the love and wisdom of God."

"Then the entire system of theology must be discarded, because without the Devil, it all falls apart."

"It’s not the desire to know something about God that we reject, but the harmful, useless error of creating restrictive doctrines about Him based on speculative philosophies and teaching them to the world as if they were God’s true message, using Christ’s name as authority for doing so. This is why the earthly ministry has failed, and why the declaration of truth has returned to us. A house or kingdom divided against itself cannot stand; and God reigns alone in Heaven, on Earth, and in Hell—always and forever the same, all-powerful to save. To us and all of creation, there is only one God, and there is no other beside Him."