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This is what Christ sees all the time, from Heaven above: people walking steadily towards Hell, people who have refused to listen to Him, refused to give up all their sins - particularly grave sexual sins which they could abandon, by His grace, if they were willing.
People in Government, in any country, who promote legislation which encourages abortion or sexual immorality, or other serious evils, will find themselves moving along the 'broad road' to Hell, unless they repent before they die. In Hell, there is no love, peace, purity or joy but only fire, terror, noise, anger and pain.
The evil one, like a great serpent, has been thrashing about in fury. Though he tries to drag Christ's people into Hell, Christ has won the entire battle. By the prayers of Christ's Virgin Mother Mary, His followers can arm themselves against Satan's tricks, assaults and temptations.
Those who refuse to obey God and refuse to repent of their sins, and persist in rebellion until death, fall into Hell when they die; and although the smoke still rises up from Hell, we need to remember that Christ has already won the great war between good and evil, and the evil one has been thrown into the depths.
Just as people fleeing from a war-zone might rush to another area that only someone high above can see is also under bombardment, so people who sin and turn away from the self-discipline and sacrifice necessary for followers of Christ can find themselves on a new road, which does not lead to peace, but to even worse turmoil - in Hell, if they do not repent before they die.
The attraction of sin often masks the danger further ahead. It's as if Satan prepares a trap for us: like a bright entrance to a tunnel, promising great pleasures - though a careless person will find himself on a sloping path with no handholds. It leads straight to Hell.
Satan is a liar. Satan clearly disguises temptations, so that sinful behaviour is made to seem attractive and safe, when in reality it is like following a pathway which leads to doom: a path through an attractive entrance, but which soon slopes downwards, to Hell.
Everyone who has visions in prayer should be very cautious, and seek the advice of those in authority in the Church. They can prove their love for God by their obedience. People who insist on what their 'visions' ask of them, even against the request of Church authorities, are in danger of being led astray. Some visions come from Satan, who loves to give pleasure if he can thereby draw people down to Hell.
There is not one person in a whole town or country who will escape judgement. God is kind and merciful; but everyone, at death, will have to account for his or her behaviour during earthly life, and proceed towards Heaven or, by their own choices - towards Hell. Everyone will be judged: Housewives, doctors, engineers, cleaners, politicians, models, schoolboys... no-one can opt out.
The Catholic Faith is simple. Through Christ, our Saviour, we can change. Every person on earth has decisions to make about his or her behaviour. Every decision forms part of a life in the service of God, or life in the pursuit of selfish endeavours, to the exclusion of God. Everyone will be judged, at death, on earthly behaviour - whether a housewife or doctor, cleaning lady, victim of crime, or criminal. Each finally reaches Heaven or Hell.
When members of the Clergy, or theologians, or other people in the Church urge people to believe that behaviour once everywhere known as sinful is nowadays to be seen as reasonable or even good - such as contraceptive use, or sexual activity outside marriage - they endanger souls. To encourage people to sin is to help them on the way to Hell. The demons lie in wait for careless souls just as wild animals lie in wait for safari tourists who are foolish enough to leave the safety of the path.
We must avoid the 'broad road'. Those members of the Clergy, and other Catholics, who advise people that what the Church says is gravely sinful behaviour is not in fact sinful, or simply not worth making sacrifices to avoid, are encouraging people to walk along the broad road that leads to Hell. They risk sharing the fate of the people they have helped to commit mortal sin and who, if unrepentant at death, reach Hell.
By fervent prayer, we can withstand evil spiritual assaults. When we share the truths of the Gospel with new fervour, or in new ways, we can find that we have stirred up the anger of the evil one, who tries to distract or disturb us in prayer, by horrible sights of the fires of Hell, or by problems in ordinary life; but we must remember that Jesus is stronger; Jesus is Lord, and we are right to trust in Him and to feel safe in His love.
When a person deliberately commits an act offensive to God - whether by sexual immorality or uncharitable acts against a neighbour - it is as if he releases into the world some of the smoke of Hell, from underground, and is glad to have done so, hoping to be hidden with his misdeeds. But God can see everything, including that soul's desperate need of rescue, before he dies.
A man with a spirit of violence is rarely still, but rushes here and there, seeking pleasure in his greed, and his lust for revenge. Yet unless he repents before he dies he will one day slide down into Hell, calling out to God, in terror, but too late. That man will experience, at last, what he had mercilessly inflicted upon his victims, and will suffer with those cruel demons forever, in Hell.
As a river follows its course, downwards, so a person freely sets his own course. If he chooses - by the grace of Christ - to aim for sanctity and Heaven, in the love of Christ, he will move in that direction - if he chooses selfishness and sinful pleasures he will be choosing to move steadily towards Hell, unless he repents in time.
People wonder if Christ and the Saints can be joyful, if they know that some souls are in Hell. The answer is that anyone in Hell has got what he wanted. If he freely chose to reject Christ, until death, he now has no contact with Christ: just as he chose; nor has he the joy, peace and beauty which are found in Christ, alas. So the Saints pity the lost souls, but realise that the damned choose their destination.
Some people say: How can the Saints be happy, if they know that some souls are in Hell? Just as an adventurous person, centuries ago, risked death in the Wild West, because he longed for excitement, and took no notice of friends' advice, so some souls risk damnation for the excitement of sinful pleasures; they listen to no-one and will arrive in Hell unless they repent before they die; and the arrival will be their own choice.
Those members of the Clergy or Religious Life who mislead the faithful by direct dissent from Church teaching or by subtle suggestions that she is wrong on matters of faith or morals, are offending God, endangering souls, and indeed propelling themselves towards Hell by their behaviour. Unlike some heretics who have the virtue of honesty, even if mistaken, these dissenters corrupt the Church from within, whilst claiming to be orthodox.
Those politicians who repeatedly seek to encourage further abortions are as if moving their desks further and further away from their proper place, so that those people are sitting within an inch of Hell - into which they will fall unless they repent before they die.
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