LX. Verba Moysis.

LX. Verba Moysis.

Therefore, it is also written about this: Where are the gods in whom they placed their trust, from whose sacrifices they used to eat the fat and drink the wine? This should also be understood in this way. Where is their glory, in whom the gluttons placed their hope, while they indulged themselves excessively at various feasts, knowing that this pleased them? For their glory is nothing other than torment and the condition of misery among lost people, as they are caught by their own seductions and led into confusion. And this is their confidence: that their food is excessively consumed, through which they have a false sense of security. Therefore, as they insist on foolish feasts, they consult with one another, because just as fire is ignited from straw, so all evils arise from the gluttony of the belly. What confidence or victory can those have who kill, and what do they lose when they kill everything? The devil knows that a person cannot live without food and that they must keep God's commandments; therefore, he first tempts them to break God's commandments regarding food and drink, so that later they can be more easily deceived; for what he has in mind, he persuades them to accomplish in their actions. Evil spirits are appointed to infernal torments because of their wickedness, and they have no joy other than in deceiving people, as long as a person can do good or evil; for afterwards they will have no joy, but only complete punishment. For they sought through idolatry that men would offer victims, fat, and wine for foolish feasts of those who celebrate, because what God commanded to be burned in the Old Testament, these people give for their banquets, since God commands abstinence from both food and sin for people, which the devil completely contradicts. Abstinence doesn't satisfy the appetite for food, but it sharpens the cravings of the belly. Therefore, I pray that whoever serves God may flee from gluttony and restrain their appetite. These things are about repentance. To the glory of those who are. These words are for the souls being purified and saved; they are faithful, and the faithful should keep them in mind and reflect on them with a good understanding. Then I saw other spirits from the same multitude, whom I heard crying out like this: "What is this that He who is called God is doing?" And what does it matter that Lucifer desired honor? And they instill bitterness in these people, and they persuade them to show themselves as bitter toward God's commandments and toward others. What will it be for those who are in bitterness? They will suffer the penalties of those who have sinned in bitterness. And I saw a great fire of black, red, and white color, in which many fiery vipers were, who emitted a great deal of fire from their mouths. And the souls that, while they were in their bodies, had served under the fault of bitterness, were burned in this fire, and were tormented by the same vipers. Because of the infidelity they had hidden within themselves, they endured a dark flame; and because of the bitterness that was in their hearts, they suffered a red flame; and because of the desire and laughter they had in them, they were punished by a white flame. But because they had raised a bitterness of contradiction in their words and actions against divine command and human affection, they were tormented by those vipers. And I saw and understood these things. And I heard again the voice of the living light saying to me: "These things that you see are true." About their repentance. Therefore, those who oppose God and others through bitterness, if they have refused to submit to the adversities of the spirits mentioned and the punishments described, should serve through fasting and prayers according to the quality of their excess, and according to the command of the judging authority, since they have despised God in great bitterness. The sin of bitterness is a serious offense. It leads to a hardened heart. What can be done? Bitterness rejects God; it doesn't love His goodness, seeks not His mercy, and has no affection for His judgments. Instead, it gnashes its teeth against them with wicked words, choosing security in everything for itself; it neither foresees what it will become through fear nor through love of God. For whatever he wants, he does. But what he does not want, he corrupts in his wickedness, for he is a bitter and harsh man who flees from wisdom, rejects happiness, and adds to his troubles: he seeks to know how to grasp each thing and how to divide and reject it according to his own will. These things are read in W. He afflicts love when he hates her works, and when he places truth against falsehood. Moreover, this man immerses himself in that bitterness, selling his life for the works of death, drinking the cup of death, and in the deceit of inquiry, he seeks to understand how to grasp each thing and how to divide and reject it according to his own will. This man sometimes kills, while promising to be his defender. Therefore, he does not sow what he will reap in the field and for his benefit; nor does he gather into barns what God dispenses to his children; but through the works in which he labors wickedly, he accumulates a dreadful groan for himself; he does not desire the joy of life, but in his embrace he bears the burden of pain, in which he does not call upon God. These things have been said about the souls of the repentant, who are being purified and saved; they are faithful, and let the faithful pay attention to them, and let them be kept in the memory of good knowledge. And I saw other spirits of that multitude, who were shouting and saying: 'Lucifer has greater and more marvelous wonders in himself than those that are in God.' We know who Lucifer is, but we do not want another God. These people urge one another to impiety, to their own great detriment, as they love and imitate it. About the punishment of the wicked. And I saw a great fire, with molten lead and burning sulfur mixed in, flooding everything, and every kind of fiery worm was contained within it. But the souls that imitated wickedness in their bodies were tormented by these punishments, so that because of the evil of that same wickedness, they felt the heat of this fire, and because of the unbearable weight of it, they suffered from the burning lead; and because of the indignation with which they had scorned others, they were punished with sulfur; and because of the fury they had shown in that same wickedness, when men had refused to know, they were tormented by the horror of those same worms. And through the living Spirit, I saw and understood these things. And again, from the living light, I heard a voice speaking to me: 'These things are true.'