Nine Days in Heaven: A True Story by Dennis, Nolene Prince Read Free Book Online Page B

metaphors, and clever persuasion.”
    She gestured around her. “The waving trees, the shining fruit, the objects of gold, the moving phantoms, the deceiving waters—such a dazzling picture, but they only mock me. I yearn to satisfy my hunger and thirst, but my desire creates an illusion of cool waters I can never drink, of delicious fruits I can never taste, refreshing air I can never feel, and peaceful sleep I can never enjoy. I am fully aware that these things around me are only delusive fantasies, but they are a cruel and controlling magic that dominates and confuses my mind.
    “I am continually attracted to evil. I am the slave of perversion and deception and the evil that controls them. My will is dying, and as it dies, so does my hope of mental freedom. Instead I am becoming convinced that I am a fundamental part of this whole revolving fantasy.”
    She looked at me, her eyes full of despair, and pointed around her. “This place, cut off by that dark cloud, is one great sea of perversion and depravity. Here, you find lust and pride, hatred and greed, ambition and strife, love of self, blasphemies and mad partying, all fanned into a raging fire. If some evil is not the specialty of one spirit, there is always another to provide it. The total effect is the combination of every evil. This is where I live, and I am bound by it.”

“ B Y THIS STRENGTH OF EVIL I AM
BOUND AND IN IT I EXIST .”

    She forced my attention to the groups of people milling around. “These are the ones who exploited the poor, the employers who robbed workers of their wages, others who put heavy burdens on the weary. Those who followed false religions are here, as well as hypocrites, adulterers, and murderers. So too are the suicides, those who were not satisfied with their lives and brought them to an end.
    “If people only knew about the dark and awful night that they fall into when they die unprepared, they would make every effort to postpone their death rather than speed up its coming—no matter how great their troubles. They would use their common sense and improve their lives. Earth,” she added, “is a place of testing for everyone.” 4
    She forced me to walk along a path off to the side. “Do you think life is full of grief on earth? Well, here, no matter where you look, you find many more new reasons for gloom. Is your hope of finding happiness on earth fading? Well, all you will ever know in this place is unceasing, unsatisfied, and unholy desire.”
    She paused, a look of pain spreading across her face.
    “Not only that, but your senses here are infinitely more acute. On earth there are many sins that do no more than give your conscience a twinge. But here, those same sins penetrate into the very essence of our existence, and the pain becomes a part of us. In addition to that, the awareness of suffering and the ability to suffer are far greater here than they are on earth.”

“… IN LIKE PROPORTION IS THE
CONSCIOUSNESS AND CAPABILITY
OF SUFFERING HERE, SUPERIOR
TO HUMAN SUFFERING .”

    She stopped in front of me and looked me in the eye.
    “Marietta, it seems futile to try to describe our deplorable condition here. I often wonder, is there no hope? But I know the answer. How can disharmony live in the middle of harmony? When we were in the body, we were often warned about the consequences of our lifestyle. But we loved our own ways better than those that are good for us. Now we have fallen into this fearful place. We have caused our own sorrow.”
    Her face twisted in pain as she reflected.
    “God is just. He is good. We know this state we are in is not the result of a vindictive law of our Creator. Marietta, this misery came about by our breaking the moral law. 5 We should have obeyed it, and then we would have been safe. We would have lived in peace and wholeness.
    “But sin!” she rasped, “You parent of endless troubles! You insidious enemy of peace and heaven! 6 Why do mortals love your ways?”
    At this