It seems such a very, very unusual thing to do , but this Irish lady, Mary, asked permission from Jesus to visit hell and HE granted her request: https://thepathlesstaken7.blogspot.com/2023/03/when-i-was-cast-into-outer-darkness.html WHEN I WAS CAST INTO OUTER DARKNESS I had a call to make an unusual request of the Lord, one that was curious for someone like me who likes to pray only nice things happen to me. I asked the Lord to consider my soul in my worst mortal sin and to allow me to experience being "cast into outer darkness" - for one mere minute. Essentially, I asked to feel the reality of Hell for 60 seconds and meet the same dire fate that befell the man in Matthew's Gospel who dared show up not wearing "a wedding garment" at the marriage feast for the King's son. The King is outraged on seeing a guest not dressed in the proper attire for his son's nuptial banquet. As punishment, the King has the guest bound hand and foot and cast into the place that sounds like a prison in black fog. Oh, but let me tell you it is worse than can ever be described, but I will endeavor all the same to approach a description. So, my prayer was answered. Oddly, I was in a state of grace when I made the petition, and that's perhaps why it was granted to me to be in that place of perdition where the man who had no wedding garment was sent. One night I had a dream where I was suddenly thrown into that same "outer darkness" of which Jesus speaks in Matthew's Gospel. First, I was shown a writ of my transgressions, and then like a bolt of lightning, I was absorbed down into an ever increasing blackness, like being vaccuumed into a hole of blackest mud, and the force of the suction was so strong I could not resist it. Then I came to a place of total seclusion. I felt at one with this place of bleakest night; that I was the dark and the dark was me. It was cut off from all that is good and lovely; there would never be the faintest feeling of love again, and I would never know any of my friends or loved ones ever again. The impossibility of ever receiving sanctifying grace, and of being separated from our Savior for all time pervaded my senses 'til an unbearable agony set in. But then, it was over, it had only lasted as long as I'd asked, and I woke up. One minute was more than enough for me. I wonder if the famed spiritual writer, Thomas a Kempis, author of The Imitation of Christ, ever made the same request as I did and had a true-to-hell experience which meant he wrote from knowledge when he penned his section on hell in his work, Meditations on Death. He wrote of it as, "a lightless and sinister subterranean cavern" wherein "there is an unfathomable opaque darkness...the senses and the mind are suffocated and reduced to a state of perpetual, tormented confusion." And I find this so agonizingly true to my minute of hellish mysticism that I think he wrote from having been thrust into total torture so that he could write travelogue of torment. Unlike me, Thomas a Kempis never deserved hell, perish the thought, but I think he was given a vision of hell so he could write something so visceral it would save souls from going there. I invited such a vision to sate curiosity and to compare my minute in misery to having that state for all eternity. Thomas a Kempis, however, is so benevolent in his zeal for souls to be before the Face of God that he renders so hot a depiction of hell that it burns itself onto the memory and his aim is primarily and most charitably to make others turn from sin. When the soul becomes one of Satan's spoils, the eternal segregation is "a state of utter isolation, bereft of all companionship" which sparks with St John Bosco's account of hell, that there is never friendship or even a kind glance to be had there. Yet, Thomas a Kempis is humble enough to concede, "we can never accurately describe it in words or depict it in comprehensible images" and there is his implicit humility because even though he stresses hell can never be portrayed in all its horridness, he still writes of the "inextinguishable fire of unbearable intensity" but he admits that a true understanding of hell, "exceeds the capacity of the human mind". Thomas a Kempis does not put himself forward as the author who can perfectly illustrate hell; rather he is like the rest of us, he falls short, but he will nevertheless do his damndest to save others from damnation. Unlike in a Kempis's time, however, I think it requires even more effort and more self-sacrifice to tell the ones who need to read Meditations on Death the most that they had better take its message to soul. My friends and loved ones who are dying to read it, are the ones who are the least likely to be going to hell because they have already reckoned with its reality. The ones who are anything but dying to read it, are the ones who are in the most danger of dying a bad death. If you are worried about someone, then this is the book for them, that said, it may take sublime courage on your part to give it to them because it could risk offending them, in their pride the person you think needs it the most has the air of immortality and may lack the humility to ever even admit the slightest risk they could go to hell. It is best to do the meditations yourself, and then tell someone who you believe might benefit that you found this set of meditations to be most helpful. Too often we wish for souls who we fret may be in jeopardy to do meditations on death that we have not done ourselves. I caution you against asking for a minute in hell as I did; it truly is that bad. Instead, read a Kempis's Meditations on Death.
https://onepeterfive.com/hell-is-re...-28373267&mc_cid=37257d1858&mc_eid=5e35a84a6a Lucifer, King of Hell; Canto XXXIV of The Inferno, by Dante Alighieri; Illustration by Gustave Doré Purgatory and Hell: Forgotten Destinations – Part I If one were to sample the doctrine of today’s sermons and books, one would think that every human being who has ever been and ever will be follows the high road to heaven. No matter that some paths are crooked, others straight; they all go to the same place—that’s the only destination on the other side of life. “God writes straight with crooked lines,” we read in the gleeful brochures for self-discovery workshops. But there was a thirteenth-century poet, Dante, whose great poem Divina Commedia takes a different line. He thought that there were three possible destinations and devoted an equal number of cantos (33) to each one: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso. The titles of the three parts are revealing and worth a little thought, especially by those who are tempted to think that souls die only in order to rise upwards into eternal bliss. If we manage to push through the brambles of scholarly deconstruction and reach back to the simple words of the Gospels, we may even discover that Jesus Himself held similar views. Perhaps Dante, although he was a medieval Catholic (and medieval Catholics, as historians tell us with a hint of disdain, made a lot of things up), was not making things up after all. This series of articles will present several meditations on the afterlife, with particular attention paid to the neglected habitations mentioned in the title. If we can grasp more clearly just a few truths about the world to come—something of its geography, so to speak, and the characteristics of its inhabitants—we may be able to infuse into our lives a greater yearning for the paradise we hope to attain by God’s grace, a deeper gratitude for the purifying power of divine love, and a wholesome loathing for the punishment reaped by unrepented mortal sin. As St. Thomas Aquinas says, “Let our thoughts. . .dwell on retribution, imitating the holy King Hezekiah: ‘I said, in the midst of my days I shall go to the gates of hell’ (Is 38:10). A mind which goes down to hell often in life will not easily go down there in death.” * * * The Catholic teaching on the two everlasting abodes of the afterlife is not a curious idea spun out by theologians; it is found explicitly in the New Testament. Indeed, there are few doctrines on which the inspired Word of God speaks with greater clarity. In his first Epistle, St. John teaches the distinction between mortal sin, or the kind of sin that kills the life of grace in the soul, and venial sin, which displeases God but does not destroy the presence of grace: If any one sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he will ask, and God will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin which is mortal; I do not say that one is to pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin which is not mortal. (1 Jn 5:16-17) The Last Judgement, Hell, circa 1431, by Fra Angelico On the basis of this distinction (see the Catechism 1854–64), the Church has taught from the very beginning that unrepented mortal sin bars entrance into heaven, since the condition for entering heaven is that one’s soul be filled with the grace of Christ, and it is this grace that mortal sin destroys. Similarly, tradition has interpreted Christ’s washing of the disciples’ feet as a sign that he wishes to cleanse them of venial sins before they partake of His Body and Blood. In response to St. Peter’s statement “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!,” our Lord says, making an exception for Judas: “He who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but he is clean all over; and you are clean, but not all of you” (Jn 13:9-10). Eleven of the disciples were “clean all over,” but their feet were soiled with the day’s traveling; therefore Christ cleanses them of this lesser uncleanness. St. Paul confirms the teaching on heaven and hell in countless places. Here are just a few: Do you not know that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. For he will render to every man according to his works: to those who by patience and well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. (Rom 2:4-8). Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Gal 5:19-21). Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Cor 6:9-10). One can well imagine St. Paul urging us today to pay attention to his words: “Do not be deceived”—do not be deceived by liberal theologians or psychiatrists, by the mass media or the powers of this world. There will be judgment and retribution for all men according to their deeds. It does not matter whether you think there will be, or whether you think it’s fair. God has made His intentions and plans perfectly clear, and He will not be talked out of it by anyone. His first and abiding mercy was precisely to tell us very clearly how we are to live in order to inherit eternal life, and what we must avoid doing if we will avoid eternal perdition. Even if we had only the text of the Epistles, it would be possible to establish the truth of the Church’s unbroken testimony. But it is our Lord Jesus, the teacher of St. John and St. Paul, who speaks most fearfully and threateningly about the final judgment. Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.” For many are called, but few are chosen. (Mt 22:13-14). Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. (Mt 7:13-14; see Lk 13:24). Not every one who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.” (Mt 7:21-23; see Lk 13:27). Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. The Son of man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. (Mt 13:41-42). Then he will say to those at his left hand, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Mt. 25:41). Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. (Mk. 16:15-16). He who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him. (Jn. 3:36). While it would be unhealthy to become preoccupied with such terrifying verses instead of devoting one’s energy to praising God, seeking His will in prayer, and building His kingdom by a life of good works, nevertheless, if we forget them, if we encourage or allow others to forget them, or worst of all, if we deny their truth, we betray the integral teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ. To do this is nothing less than to betray the Person of Christ, for in denying His words, one denies the incarnate Word of the Father. Jesus came to save sinners who repent, who throw themselves upon the Father’s merciful love; He did not come to grant indiscriminate amnesty for the indifferent, the lukewarm, the unconverted, or the wicked. Quite simply: eternity is at stake in how we live our lives here and now, what we believe, what we do and refrain from doing. (This series originally published December MMXV and includes material originally published in The Catholic Faith, vol. 5, n. 2, March-April 1999.)
Does anyone suffer from a phobia? Imagine your phobia is Claustrophobia - your worst nightmare is getting trapped & caught in a tiny, tight space, stuck, in utter darkness, no escape - the utter panic is indescribable, the overwhelming panic attack shocks your entire personality overwhelming the senses- you would rather die than be stuck there without hope of release. Now imagine you are stuck in that state for eternity - Whatever your phobia imagine being stuck in that panic state for eternity - now we begin to understand hell a tiny bit for indeed it is indescribable in human words. PS - I suffer from claustrophobia
I happened upon this video a few days ago while looking for something else. I find it to be very credible indeed. Descriptions of what he saw while in Hell match the Scriptures and other credible revelations. The "worm dieth not," the fact that people are begging for a second chance parallels the rich man who neglected to help poor Lazarus. It's 30 minutes long. The ending is amazing.
This comment maybe will seem anti-tradition but I think there's not much difference between paintings of demons torturing people( and naked people! ) in hell and watching a horror movie about violence and death. Many people probably imagine their enemies being the sinners instead of saying "oh no that could be me". We dont let kids watch the Jason movie, but we let them see a painting of demons butchering people? Hell is bad because its means you hate God. if there is tortures they shouldn't be drawn into pictures ... I have this opinion because I studied psychology in uni. so I know horror and violence stimuli will create very bad reactions in most average people. lets be honest, most people are just...people. not saints.
Agree, it was worth watching. His testimony was incredible. He witnessed the unimaginable , and he was so detailed in his description.
Yes. It rang true in all of the details. It amazed me that the people kept calling out for another chance. For one thing, I cannot fathom how long eternity will be, because my mind is finite, not infinite.
Hell is something of a dark mystery. We have so many testimonies from saints and others about it. Recent Marian Apparitions from Fatima onwards have included vivid descriptions. But still a Dark Mystery. It reminds of what St Paul said regarding heaven; 1 Corinthians 2:9 However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who love him— I suspect as with heaven we can only get an inkling of what hell might be like. St Teresa of Avila one time got a letter from her father saying he going away on a Retreat and intended meditating on hell . She wrote him back advising him not to, better to concentrate on something else. Blessed Julian of Norwich was upset one time considering hell and asked Our Lord about it. He answered that, https://www.centreforoptimism.com/a...be-well-and-all-manner-of-thing-shall-be-well "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well" I asked our Lord one time about Hell and it being Eternal and He showed me Hell,at the end of time Hell being frozen like a fly in Amber. Like a still shot from a video.
