Tag Archives: hell

Fear of the Lord

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The merciful Hand of the Lord
Is upon me.
It is a fearful thing
To fall into the Hand
Of the Living God
He metes out judgment,
And punishment due.
Why then, do I lift my voice
In praise and thanksgiving?

In an instant,
I saw my desert.
Fear and trembling seized me,
As my mercy-cry
Pierced the darkness.

Caught in my descent,
His Hand reached
Into my Hell.
It is in my nature to fall,
In His nature
To show mercy.

His end is my good.
Even in judgment,
Mercy shows His Face.
Punished, I am now free.
Seeing His mercy
In His rendering of scourge,
I trust,
As once I feared to do.
May His Hand always
Be upon me,
As fear of the Lord,
Befriends me.

©2012 Joann Nelander  All rights reserved

Screwtape Letters – Behind the Scenes

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Priest Who Saw Heaven, Hell & Purgatory

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A priest who saw heaven, hell, and purgatory. The
death experience of Father Jose Maniyangat.
Fr. Jose Maniyangat is currently the pastor of St.
Mary’s Mother of Mercy Catholic Church in
Macclenny, Florida. Here is his personal testimony:
I was born on July 16, 1949 in Kerala, India to my
parents, Joseph and Theresa Maniyangat. I am the
eldest of seven children: Jose, Mary, Theresa,
Lissama, Zachariah, Valsa and Tom. At the age of
fourteen, I entered St. Mary’s Minor Seminary in
Thiruvalla to begin my studies for the priesthood.
Four years later, I went to St. Joseph’s Pontifical
Major Seminary in Alwaye, Kerala to continue my
priestly formation. After completing the seven years
of philosophy and theology, I was ordained a priest
on January 1, 1975 to serve as a missionary in the
Diocese of Thiruvalla. On Sunday April 14, 1985,
the Feast of the Divine Mercy, I was going to
celebrate Mass at a mission church in the north part
of Kerala, and I had a fatal accident. I was riding a motorcycle when I was hit head-on by a
jeep driven by a man who was intoxicated after a Hindu festival. I was rushed to a hospital
about 35 miles away. On the way, my soul came out from my body and I experienced death.
Immediately, I met my Guardian Angel. I saw my body and the people who were carrying me
to the hospital. I heard them crying and praying for me. At this time my angel told me: “I am
going to take you to Heaven, the Lord wants to meet you and talk with you.” He also said
that, on the way, he wanted to show me hell and purgatory. Hell First, the angel escorted me
to hell. It was an awful sight! I saw Satan and the devils, an unquenchable fire of about 2,000
degrees Fahrenheit, worms crawling, people screaming and fighting, others being tortured by
demons. The angel told me that all these sufferings were due to unrepented mortal sins. Then,
I understood that there are seven degrees of suffering or levels according to the number and
kinds of mortal sins committed in their earthly lives. The souls looked very ugly, cruel and
horrific. It was a fearful experience. I saw people whom I knew, but I am not allowed to
reveal their identities. The sins that convicted them were mainly abortion, homosexuality,
euthanasia, hatefulness, unforgiveness and sacrilege. The angel told me that if they had
repented, they would have avoided hell and gone instead to purgatory. I also understood that
some people who repent from these sins might be purified on earth through their sufferings.
This way they can avoid purgatory and go straight to heaven. I was surprised when I saw in
hell even priests and Bishops, some of whom I never expected to see. Many of them were
there because they had misled the people with false teaching and bad example. Purgatory
After the visit to hell, my Guardian Angel escorted me to purgatory. Here too, there are seven
degrees of suffering and unquenchable fire. But it is far less intense than hell and there was
neither quarreling nor fighting. The main suffering of these souls is their separation from God.
Some of those who are in purgatory committed numerous mortal sins, but they were
reconciled with God before their death. Even though these souls are suffering, they enjoy
peace and the knowledge that one day they will see God face to face. I had a chance to
communicate with the souls in purgatory. They asked me to pray for them and to tell the
people to pray for them as well, so they can go to heaven quickly. When we pray for these
souls, we will receive their gratitude through their prayers, and once they enter heaven, their
prayers become even more meritorious. It is difficult for me to describe how beautiful my
Guardian Angel is. He is radiant and bright. He is my constant companion and helps me in all

my ministries, especially my healing ministry. I experience his presence everywhere I go and
I am grateful for his protection in my daily life. Heaven Next, my angel escorted me to heaven
passing through a big dazzling white tunnel. I never experienced this much peace and joy in
my life. Then immediately heaven opened up and I heard the most delightful music, which I
never heard before. The angels were singing and praising God. I saw all the saints, especially
the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph, and many dedicated holy Bishops and priests who were
shining like stars. And when I appeared before the Lord, Jesus told me: “I want you to go
back to the world. In your second life, you will be an instrument of peace and healing to My
people.You will walk in a foreign land and you will speak in a foreign tongue. Everything is
possible for you with My grace.”After these words, the Blessed Mother told me: “Do
whatever He tells you. I will help you in your ministries.” Words can not express the beauty
of heaven. There we find so much peace and happiness, which exceed a million times our
imagination. Our Lord is far more beautiful than any image can convey. His face is radiant
and luminous and more beautiful than a thousand rising suns. The pictures we see in the world
are only a shadow of His magnificence. The Blessed Mother was next to Jesus; She was so
beautiful and radiant. None of the images we see in this world can compare with Her real
beauty. Heaven is our real home; we are all created to reach heaven and enjoy God forever.
Then, I came back to the world with my angel. While my body was at the hospital, the doctor
completed all examinations and I was pronounced dead. The cause of death was bleeding. My
family was notified, and since they were far away, the hospital staff decided to move my dead
body to the morgue. Because the hospital did not have air conditioners, they were concerned
that the body would decompose quickly. As they were moving my dead body to the morgue,
my soul came back to the body. I felt an excruciating pain because of so many wounds and
broken bones. I began to scream, and then the people became frightened and ran away
screaming. One of them approached the doctor and said: “The dead body is screaming.” The
doctor came to examine the body and found that I was alive. So he said: “Father is alive, it is
a miracle! Take him back to the hospital.” Now, back at the hospital, they gave me blood
transfusions and I was taken to surgery to repair the broken bones. They worked on my lower
jaw, ribs, pelvic bone, wrists, and right leg. After two months, I was released from the
hospital, but my orthopedic doctor said that I would never walk again. I then said to him:
“The Lord who gave me my life back and sent me back to the world will heal me.” Once at
home, we were all praying for a miracle. Still after a month, and with the casts removed, I was
not able to move. But one day while praying I felt an extraordinary pain in my pelvic area.
After a short while the pain disappeared completely and I heard a voice saying: “You are
healed. Get up and walk.” I felt the peace and healing power on my body. I immediately got
up and walked. I praised and thanked God for the miracle. I reached my doctor with the news
of my healing, and he was amazed. He said: “Your God is the true God. I must follow your
God.” The doctor was Hindu, and he asked me to teach him about our Church. After studying
the Faith, I baptized him and he became Catholic. Following the message from my Guardian
Angel, I came to the United States on November 10, 1986 as a missionary priest… Since June
1999, I have been pastor of St. Mary’s Mother of Mercy Catholic Church in Macclenny,
Florida. Fr. Jose Maniyangat

Hell – the Abandonment of Hope

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We are made with a longing to look upon the face of God.  This is our hope; this is our fulfillment.  What eternal frustration to reject that for which we are made.

We catch a glimpse of  souls on the way to hell, frolicking and laughing in apparent merriment, quipping “How dull a place, heaven.”  Self-satisfied and mocking, they murmur one to the other, “Give me the place of movers and shakers”; “Yes, a place for interesting, unbridled, minds.” “Amen, a place for unleashed and raw emotion.”

Dante has the hell-bent, running in constant activity after a banner upon which nothing is written. To what end the writhing corruption of sin, the lust for feeling until nothing is felt at all.

We are made for so much more.

Lucifer, Who is He?

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“Souls fall into Hell like snowflakes fall from the sky.” (Our Lady to the children at Fatima)

No Proof – No God?

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Continuing the theme:  being “amazed how people can have core beliefs with no proof behind them?”

A response:

And amazed you should be! Seems you use that amazing brain of yours to go well beyond the five senses (you depend on for proof.) Proof, though, deals with measures. You can’t measure wonder, hope, compassion, mercy and forgiveness but you can experience them. (I forgot love.)

The response to my response:

What is it that makes you base your beliefs on the Catholic ideas rather than Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Scientologist, etc? I think they all have explanations for what’s immeasurable. Is that where the hope comes in? Just pick one and hope the others are wrong?

Amazed someone was actually asking, I got carried away:

Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, all reflect experience of this life and contain much that is true. God is not limited to speaking to Catholics. People of all faiths seek and listen for Him. However, the act of seeking and listening doesn’t make everything we image or conclude true. I think many people will  except only what doesn’t conflict with their wills and desires. Truth is not relative, however. It simply is. One belief is not as good as any other. Having an explanation doesn’t make the explanation true. For instance, Hindu pantheism saying that everything is one and everything is God; God being a force, impersonal and pervading everything throughout the universe. In fact, the universe is God. That makes God part of the material world, which obviously means He can not be spiritual in his entirety.He must share our material imperfections. He’s now subject to change. Now he possesses something. Now, he doesn’t. “Not very Godly,” I’m thinking. In fact, very limited in space and therefore not all-present. Makes it very difficult to call the Hindu idea of god, God. He’s part matter and therefore made up of parts. The Hindu God is described as impersonal making Him not a person. I am a person and possess person-hood which the Hindu God does not. I’m now one up on their idea of god. I am a person precisely because I have spiritual substance, soul. I have immaterial thoughts and like you deal with, manipulate and generate thoughts every moment of consciousness. Yet the Hindu god in not conscious, just pervasive nothingness. You can believe this if you like, but then you have to reject other ideas that contradict it. Can’t all be true, even with the best, most broadminded,  intentions. Disregarding logic makes it easier; enter pop-culture, pop-everything; not well thought out, just popular for a time. It works for awhile, but there’s still that elephant in the room-the Four Last Things.

Bringing up Death is an appeal of sorts for a need to survive, even if it only in memory or our work, our art, our writings, etc. Probably not the smartest argument to make for as Dinesh D’Souza writes, quoting Woody Allen, in D’Souza’s book, “Life After Death-the Evidence”:

“I don’t want to achieve immorality through my work. I want to achieve immorality by not dying. I don’t want to live on in the hearts of my countrymen. I want to live on on my apartment.”